The Nation Newspaper

Category: Segun Ayobolu

  • 100 days in trumpland

    100 days in trumpland

    It has been 100 exciting and most memorable days of Donald Trump’s unusual presidency in the United States. His presidency so far has been the fascinating spectacle it promised to be ever before the boisterous, billionaire businessman assumed chief tenancy of the White House. Americans and the entire world are daily being entertained by the veritable reality TV show that governance has become in Trumpland. But that is exactly why my initial distaste or dislike of the man is gradually turning to grudging admiration. There is something unpretentious and likeably down to earth about Trump’s presidency. Not for the Trump presidency the hypocritical posturing that presidential politics and governance tends to be in America and more irritatingly so under President Barrack Obama.

    Celebrated widely for being the first black man to be elected into the world’s most powerful office Obama sauntered and whimpered through a somnolently unmemorable two terms.  In office but hardly in power, this undoubtedly cerebral black president’s body language evinced nothing but seeming subliminal apology for his racial identity prompting an annoying and insulting condescending attitude towards blacks both in America and Africa. But then, I digress.

    You may hate him. You may love him. It does not matter. Trump is to himself true. He is unabashedly white and proud. He is American and arrogant and does not see why Latinos and blacks and unruly immigrants and extremist Muslims should become pestilential locusts in his beloved country. Trump is no Obama misleadingly creating the impression that the President of America can also be a harmless pope. He is no Hillary Clinton whose compassionate moralizing gloves would hide the iron fist of America’s militaristic imperialism. With Trump you know exactly where you stand. He is a pathological manipulator of the truth whose aides proudly trumpet their right to inhabit their own unique world of alternative facts and manufactured realities. But then, was it not Winston Churchill who famously stated that in politics truth is often protected by a bodyguard of lies or something to that effect?

    During the campaigns Trump proudly flaunted his allegedly illegal tax infractions as evidence of unexceptional brilliance in exploiting the loopholes of the system for self enrichment to the apparent approbation of millions of his country men and women. Unlike the ascetic Obama apparently with eyes only for his beloved Michele or a workaholic Hillary Clinton with a passion first and foremost for recondite policy papers, the worldly Trump can hardly restrain himself at the sight of attractive women and is prone to boasting lewdly about his conquests to boot! Yet, the voluptuary Trump is the toast of otherwise morally puritanical Christian evangelicals in his country. The point is that Trump does not deny his sinfulness and human frailties but makes no excuses for them. He is like that self-conscious sinner that Jesus talks about in the Bible who comes to the father, admits and humbly asks for forgiveness for his faults.

    On the other hand, liberals like Obama and Hillary come across like the haughty Pharisee who flaunts robes of self-righteousness before the father demanding justification because they are at least not as bad as the Trumps of this world. The seeming intellectual superciliousness and superior moral affectations of these liberals promote a condescending ethical relativism that blurs the dividing line between right and wrong with grave consequences for society. Hence, the restraining influence of God or religion is barred from schools, the judicial system and public life in general. Consequently, sexual perversions of all sorts proliferate. Abortions, sexual diseases and predation, rampant divorce, teenage pregnancies and other assorted ills flourish. Violent crimes of all kinds plague society.

    In a climate of moral anarchy that leads to widespread disintegration of families and the prevalence of dysfunctional values and attitudes, a substantial number of people become chronically habituated to dependence on a welfare system originally designed as a corrective to the inequities of an unjust class society. It is within this context that the rise to political prominence of demagogues like Trump can be properly situated.

    I am impressed so far by Trump’s doggedness and tenacity in trying to fulfill his campaign promises against great odds even if I disagree fundamentally with his values and philosophical premises. At least he stands for something. He is unlike those liberal relativists who do not believe strongly in any values and thus all too readily fall for anything.  I listened to some CNN analysts during the week who dwelt on the fact that Trump has the lowest poll ratings of any American president in the first 100 days and that he has not made any meaningful effort to reach out to and win support beyond his republican political base. In the first place, given how wrong and misleading the polls were before his election against the run of play (apologies to Segun Adeniyi), I don’t see any reason why Trump should take these alleged low poll ratings seriously now.  Again, it was because they did not believe strongly enough in the liberal values they professed that first the Bill Clinton and later Barak Obama presidencies, consciously moved the Democratic Party so much ideologically to the right that it became difficult to distinguish from the Republican party. Why should Trump make the same mistake?

    The so –called ‘Third Way’ championed by the social democrats like Bill Clinton in the US, Tony Blair in Britain, Gerhard Schroder in Germany and Francois Mitterrand in France in the early to mid eighties represented nothing but a capitulation to far right neo-liberal policies that addressed the symptoms rather than the root causes of what essentially remains a fundamental and protracted crisis of capitalism.  The implication in the US has been an ever increasingly ideologically defanged Democratic Party that was unable to arouse sufficient enthusiastic support among its traditional electoral base to prevent the triumph of Trump in the last election despite Obama’s purported high poll ratings and Hillary’s predicating her campaign on the need to perpetuate his legacy.

    Some have expressed the view that the Trump presidency constitutes a grave danger to the world given the administration’s bombing of an air force base in Syria as well as its current saber rattling in North Korea.  During the campaigns, Trump gave the contradictory impression that he would scale down America’s military engagements in the world while at the same time significantly enhancing the country’s military capacities that he believed had been considerably weakened under Obama.  Trump has no doubt given the indication that America under him will not only profess its military prowess but will not hesitate to assert it either in concert with willing members of the international community such as China or alone. However, as has been demonstrated so far in his first 100 days, American institutions are sufficiently strong and resilient to deter any reckless adventurism either in terms of domestic policy or militarily abroad.

    It is highly unlikely, for instance, that Trump will get the requisite backing from the military establishment for a preemptive first strike against North Korea that could prove so costly in terms of human lives that it would not be worth the effort. Already the administration has unsurprisingly indicated its willingness to continue on the path of strategic restraint with North Korea while keeping open the military option. In any case, given her antecedents as Secretary of State and her rhetoric during the campaign particularly with respect to Syria and Russia, there is no reason to believe that Hillary Clinton would not have been more bullish on foreign affairs as President.

    Trump in these 100 days has moved in the direction of significantly scaling up military expenditures while substantially cutting down on spending on welfare for the disadvantaged and vulnerable sections of society. These were also the policy trajectories of the earlier conservative administrations of Ronald Reagan and the two Bushes and to a milder extent the Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Obama Democratic administrations. Trump is also bent on massive tax cuts for the wealthy and far reaching deregulation of the economy purportedly to stimulate investment and economic activity, create jobs and boost prosperity.

    As has always been the case in the past, these trickle down economic policies will most likely result in short term economic booms only to be followed by recessionary contractions far more severe than preceding ones. If Trump’s economic policy bubbles burst as will most likely happen sooner or later, the American electorate may be confronted with the unfolding French scenario where they may be forced to seek salvation outside the framework of the two dominant establishment parties.

  • Lessons from Abuja Airport runway repairs

    Lessons from Abuja Airport runway repairs

    In December, 2016 alone the facility handled about 5000 domestic flights justifying its rating as the second busiest airport in the country after the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA) in Lagos. Completed in 2000 and officially opened for operations in 2002, the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, recorded a growth in passenger movement at the facility from 2, 126, 645 in 2005 to 4, 341, 637 in 2015. Yet, this critical facility’s runway, designed and built to last for 20 years had, before the advent of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, functioned for 35 years without undergoing the requisite periodic, comprehensive maintenance. It was thus inevitable that critical portions of the runway had completely failed constituting a danger to flight and passenger safety and necessitating its closure for six weeks from March 8 this year to enable far reaching repairs and upgrade.

    Of course, it would have been easier and more convenient to assume that since no major air mishap had ever occurred at the airport, luck would continue to smile on the facility and all would always be well. Unfortunately, as several air crashes in the nation’s aviation history has shown, once an ordinarily avoidable air fatality is allowed to occur through complacency, neglect or carelessness, the consequences are eternally irreversible. It would also have been perhaps more preferable and popular with the flying public if the airport had been allowed to continue to function normally while necessary repairs were carried out piecemeal possibly at night. The federal aviation authorities however deserve commendation for firmly standing by the decision to completely shut down the airport for the stipulated period while preparing the Kaduna Airport as an effective although admittedly inconvenient alternation for the duration of the Abuja airport repairs.

    As the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, rightly said at the time in reaction to popular opposition to the closure of the airport, “The total architecture of the runway failed touching on the safety component of our operations which we cannot negotiate. So we better stay safe than do something stupid. We decided to close down the airport and make a total rehabilitation of the runway itself in the interest of safety”. Apart from the distance of about 200km between Kaduna and Abuja and the rampant incidence of criminality on the road, most people were pessimistic as regards the possibility of the six-week deadline being met for the reopening of the Abuja facility. This was a reflection of a chronic and largely justifiable lack of confidence in the ability of public authorities in Nigeria to meet set objectives within specified timelines.

    To the surprise of all, however, work on the Abuja airport was completed ahead of schedule and the facility was opened for use a day before it was formally expected to resume operations on April 18. The new Abuja airport runway was reconstructed using new technology such as glass glide for the first time in the country to reinforce its durability and prevent surface cracks. Apart from the runway, other facilities have either being newly provided or upgraded at the facility to meet the global protocol on standard and best practices set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Lift and escalators for the aged and physically challenged persons have been provided at the departure hall of Terminal B. A new terminal, the D wing, which had long been abandoned has been rehabilitated, equipped and put in use complete with its own fingers for flight boarding. The local B wing and the international C wing have been given a comprehensive face-lift including the overhauling of their air conditioning systems and provision of new toilets, VIP lounges and other ancillary facilities.

    However, the cost of allowing the Abuja airport runway to deteriorate over the years due to lack of maintenance was the expenditure of another N3.2 billion on the preparation of the Kaduna Airport to serve as an alternative. But this has luckily not been a waste after all. For, the Kaduna Airport has now been substantially upgraded and now enjoys an expanded and improved runway, enhanced fire cover, more efficient instrument landing system, improved air space services and weather reports, the repair of its Voice Omni-directional Radio Range (VOR) and other navigational aids and the completion of a previously abandoned passenger terminal.

    In order to ensure that the Kaduna Airport does not lapse into disuse thus frittering away these gains, it would certainly be wise for the aviation authorities to commit additional funds to further modernization of the facility. The experience of the last six weeks has shown that Kaduna can be a viable aviation route if the necessary facilities and conditions are made available. The new Kaduna-Abuja train line, started by the preceding Jonathan administration and completed by this government, improvement on the road between the two cities, provision of free shuttle bus service and the maintenance of tight security facilitated the smooth and safe movement of arrivals at Kaduna Airport to Abuja.

    The cooperation and harmonious operations of the Ministries of Transport; Power, Works and Housing; the Kaduna State government and Julius Berger Plc, which made the completion and reopening of the project ahead of schedule possible is laudable. Surely, the more we have of this kind of inter-governmental and inter-agency rapport rather than the needless conflict, rivalry and turf wars that has been a huge distraction to the Buhari administration,  the more effective and productive use will be made of what remains of its tenure.

    President Buhari has expressed his appreciation to the Ethiopian government for that country’s extraordinary cooperation with Nigeria during the period that the Abuja airport was closed. Unlike most other International carriers that refused to fly to Kaduna, Ethiopian Airlines was reportedly the first to land an aircraft at the Kaduna airport on the very day the Abuja airport was closed and consistently maintained its operation on the route for the stipulated six weeks. The Airline’s Airbus A350 was also the first to land at the repaired Abuja runway on the very day it reopened. This is certainly an inspiring indication of the immense possibilities of inter-African cooperation if the political will and commitment can be mustered.

    Given the over N400 billion reportedly expended by the Dr Goodluck Jonathan administration on the expansion and modernization of 17 domestic and five international airports across the country, including a $1 billion Chinese loan for the same purpose, it is amazing that most of our airports are in the state they are today. Yet, rather than continue to whine and moan over the mess inherited, the aviation authorities simply went ahead to do what they had to do to enhance the operational safety of the Abuja airport. This is the kind of spirit Nigerians expect to see from the Buhari administration in the days ahead.

     

    Federal University, Oye Ekiti shows the light

    As a young member of the Editorial Board of the defunct Daily Times in the mid eighties, I benefitted enormously from the presence of the then Dr. Kayode Soremekun as a visiting member of the Board.

    The political scientist, international relations expert and specialist in the national and global politics of oil was then on sabbatical from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). His contributions on the board were radical, enlightening, uncompromising, irreverent and penetrating. One of the articles I remember him writing for the Daily Times was titled ‘Nigeria and the Pertamina affair’ in which he likened the opacity and corruption that characterized the management of Nigeria’s oil sector under the Babangida regime to that of Indonesia’s graft ridden state owned Pertermina oil corporation. In another piece, titled ‘Bitter Life’, he descended heavily on the then flamboyant First Lady, the late Mrs Maryam Babangida’s  Better Life for Rural Women pet project describing it as of little relevance to the lives of millions of poverty stricken Nigerian women. It certainly took great courage to write such articles under military rule and on the platform of a paper like the Daily Times.

    At the inception of the Buhari administration, Professor Kayode Soremekun was appointed Vice Chancellor of Federal University, Oye Ekiti (FUOYE). I am not surprised at the choice of three eminent Nigerians who will on Saturday, 29th of this month be conferred with honorary degrees by the university. They are a centenarian and retired principal of Ekiti Parapo College, Ido-Ekiti, Chief Adepoju Akomolafe; 89-year-old retired principal of Christ’s School, Ado Ekiti, Chief Francis Daramola and the first indigenous principal of Queen’s College, Lagos, Efunjoke Coker. They will be conferred with honorary Doctor of Educational Administration in recognition of their contributions to education, scholarship and manpower development in Nigeria. Justifying the decision at a pre-convocation briefing, Professor Soremekun submitted that honorary degrees should not be reserved exclusively for politicians and moneybags arguing that “The gesture is to remember these great Nigerians, who contributed to scholarship. It is sad that we are all suffering from amnesia which makes us forget people so easily. With this, we will be setting a new moral standard for society”. Surely, FUOYE is commendably showing the light for others to find the way.

  • A tiger’s tigritude

    A tiger’s tigritude

    Reacting to the implicit racism and Eurocentric superiority complex particularly in French colonialism that sought to liberate black Negroes from their supposedly inferior and backward pre-colonial cultures and traditions into an assumedly higher French culture and civilization, a number of African intellectuals came up with the concept and philosophy of negritude.  Their intellectual exertions had the objective of celebrating African cultures, beliefs and values. They sought to rekindle pride in African historical achievements and to demonstrate that African civilizations were at par or at least not inferior to those of other races and in particular to debunk the racist insinuations of colonial political and philosophical thought as regards the alleged barbarism, superstitious inclination and savagery of pristine African cultural beliefs and practices.

    Speaking at a conference in Kampala, Uganda, in 1962, a clearly impatient and apparently unimpressed Wole Soyinka famously criticized the negritude movement with the immortal quip that ‘A tiger does not proclaim his tigritude; he pounces”. Elaborating on what he meant by that biting phrase in Berlin in 1964, the Nobel laureate explained that “a tiger does not stand in the forest and say: I am a tiger. When you pass where the tiger has walked before, you see the skeleton of the duiker; you know that some tigritude has been emanated here”. Rather than dissipating energy on waxing lyrical about the greatness of African culture, history and traditions, therefore, I infer that Soyinka’s criticism implied that it will be much better to make the case through Africa’s concrete achievements in our contemporary world.

    Soyinka’s reference to the tiger and its tigritude came to my mind, once again, in contemplating the rather unpleasant, uninspiring and unanticipated trajectory the President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption war has taken particularly in recent times. The administration has suffered at least four serious setbacks in its bid to bring perpetrators of brazen acts of corruption to justice and recover for the benefit of the Nigerian people the humongous amounts of public funds stolen by a microscopic and unscrupulous minority. These are the acquittal and discharge of a judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Adeniyi Ademola as well as his wife and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) for corruption allegations following a no case submission made by the defence and upheld by the court. Others were the court order unfreezing the account of Mr. Mike Ozekhome (SAN) holding the sum of N75 million legal fees paid the senior counsel by Governor Ayo Fayose and believed to be proceeds of corrupt enrichment; the unfreezing by another court of the sum of $5.9 million belonging to former First Lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan, which the EFCC argued was the proceed of legal infractions and the discontinuation on the directive of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Alhaji Abubakar Malami, of a charge of criminal diversion of the sum of N1.9 billion from the amount voted for the construction of the East-West road.

    While some have attributed the serial failure of these high profile anti-corruption cases to scale judicial hurdles to what has come to be popularly known as ‘corruption fighting back’, others have blamed the fiasco on a perceived judicial gang up against both the Buhari presidency and the anti-corruption war. Of course, there has not been a scintilla of evidence to back up the latter conspiracy theory. This column finds it difficult to disagree with renowned human rights lawyer and activist, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) when he contends that “Having reviewed the circumstances under which the corruption cases were lost by the Federal Government, I can say, without any fear of contradiction that there is no basis blaming the judiciary. It is also not a case of corruption fighting back. As far as I am concerned, the cases were lost due to official negligence and lack of inter-agency cooperation by the federal Ministry of Justice, the anti-graft agencies and the State Security Service”.

    Anyone who has followed the absolutely unnecessary turf war between the EFCC and the Department of State Services (DSS) particularly with reference to the so far abortive effort to get the Senate’s confirmation of Mr. Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman of the EFCC as the agency’s substantive head, will see that the Buhari administration is prosecuting the anti-corruption war with a badly polarized and dangerously fractured army. It is common knowledge that a house divided against itself cannot stand. In contradistinction to the Buhari administration, the anti-corruption forces stand firmly united in their common greed and ferocious tenacity to uphold the iniquitous status quo and retain their criminal loot at all costs and by all means.

    Yet, spokespersons of the Buhari administration continue to proclaim the so far largely impotent tigritude of the anti-corruption tiger. Speaking on a recent Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) Hausa programme tagged ‘Hannu Da Yawa’, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, pledged the determination of the administration to fight corruption to a standstill despite the strong resistance by some individuals and groups hell bent on thwarting the effort. In his words, President Buhari “To keep that trust of ordinary Nigerians who voted him into office, he has vowed to give corruption a good fight. He will not let them down…The war against corruption in Nigeria is one of those clashes between good and evil where good is determined to triumph”.

    No less vehement is the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in affirming the unwavering commitment of the administration to taming the contagion of corruption. Urging Nigerians not to be discouraged by the recent negative judicial outcomes against which the federal government has appealed, the minister averred that “The war against corruption is going to be long, tough and arduous, but this administration is equipped physically, mentally and intellectually for the long haul. We must win this war because the law is on our side. This is only the beginning, so any setback will not deter or discourage us”.

    Of course, both Garba and Mohammed have undertaken their duties with the requisite professional competence and diligence. But achieving concrete success in the anti-corruption struggle must go beyond well crafted and sweet sounding words that amount to no more than the anti-corruption tiger proclaiming its tigritude. Rather, it must become manifest in judicial convictions that can serve as a deterrent against future acts of graft. It is not enough to raise the expectations of the public through sensational media reports of the uncovering of stupendous cases of embezzlement of public funds or the discovery of obscene cash hauls in the most unlikely of places.

    What are two crucial factors making it very difficult for Buhari’s anti-corruption war not only to loudly proclaim but also demonstrate its tigritude by pouncing on and vanquishing those caught in its web? The first is the perceived nepotism in the president’s appointments, which are widely seen to be unjustly skewed in favour of the North. In a context in which, public appointments are seen as opportunities for criminal accumulation of public resources for private gain, nepotistic appointments are likely to be read, rightly or wrongly, as a deliberate and conscious creation of avenues for the beneficiaries to empower themselves financially contrary to the spirit of the anti-corruption war.

    The second and not unrelated factor is the seeming reluctance of the administration to subject those of its top functionaries accused of alleged corruption to the strictest standards of accountability and integrity. Such exhibition of double standards creates the impression that in the anti-corruption war, all animals are equal but some are more equal than others. If the administration is able to address these shortcomings and demonstrate its honesty of purpose in the war against graft; it will enjoy such tremendous public good will and support that will make a compromised legislature or a judiciary minded to give corruption a soft landing through vacuous technicalities think twice.

    El-Rufai as enfant terrible

    It is instructive that one of the most devastating and unsparing critiques of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has come from none other than the gadfly and enfant terrible, Mallam Nasir El Rufai, governor of Kaduna state. For a man believed to have unfettered access to the President, it is baffling that El Rufai would be willing to commit to paper and thus risking its leakage to the media in the intrigue-laden inner recesses of shadowy presidential caucuses, his severe put down of both the person of Buhari and his administration, which he says comprises mostly inexperienced and clueless officials who do not share the vision of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Speaking with State House correspondents shortly after joining Buhari for the Juma’at prayer at the Presidential Villa yesterday, El Rufai expressed his disappointment that such a sensitive private communication to the apex office in the country could have been leaked by sources he claims are right within the presidential villa. Yet, El Rufai maintained that he acted with the best of intentions and would not hesitate to fire another memo to the presidency if he considers it necessary. While El Rufai’s courage is admirable, his incendiary missive is not unlikely to become a veritable weapon in the hands of Buhari’s opponents and adversaries as the race towards 2019 gathers momentum. Going by an earlier April 2015 memo from El-Rufai’s to the president, Buhari surely has much more to worry about than the so-called ‘Lagos group’ within the APC, which Rufai accuses of exaggerating its role in Buhari’s electoral triumph without stating why Buhari’s three previous attempts at the presidency failed without the support of the South-west. He asserts without proof that members of the ‘Lagos Group’ of his imagination were scheming to control key revenue generating agencies suggesting that his memo was fuelled more by the frustration of his own agenda by cleverer factions around the Buhari presidency than by any altruistic commitment to the public good.

  • Magu in the belly of the whale

    Magu in the belly of the whale

    Nothing illustrates better the disabling dysfunction that characterizes the Muhammadu Buhari presidency as a whole and its anti-corruption war in particular than the executive’s protracted face off with the senate as regards the stalled confirmation of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as substantive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Twice the presidency’s request in this respect has met a brick wall at the upper legislative chamber and the senate is now pushing an even harder line of refusing to confirm President Muhammadu Buhari’s nominees to fill vacant positions of Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) for two weeks in the first instance until Magu ceases to act as the commission’s in line with the legislators’ demand.

    The 8th senate has confoundingly grown in confidence and arrogance despite its low esteem in the eyes of the discerning public and the questionable moral integrity of a number of its members that taints the body as a collective. Most amazingly, though standing on a higher ethical pedestal largely because of Buhari’s own untainted personal anti-corruption credentials, it is the executive that is bending over backwards to seek a truce with a legislature widely perceived as morally crippled and that from what is obviously a position of weakness.

    It is difficult in the first place to understand why Magu had to act for so long before his name was forwarded to the senate for confirmation. He had proven his bona fides as head of the EFCC operations under the chairmanship of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. Magu was reputedly responsible for some of the high profile investigations that exposed the vulnerable underbelly of many otherwise untouchable political big wigs including the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki when he was governor of Kwara State (2003-2011). It was because some of these politicians had come to acquire considerable influence during the Umaru Yar’Adua presidency that Magu was hounded out of the EFCC, persecuted and punished unjustly by the police authorities, detained briefly and even had to flee the country at a time. Yet, the Department of State Services (DSS) cites the allegations against him by his traducers as one of the reasons why Magu failed its ‘integrity test’.

    Given his diligent and dogged prosecution of the anti-corruption war as Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Magu had made many enemies for himself among the decadent political elite. There is no way he could have had a smooth sail through the Senate, for example with not only the head of the upper chamber but no less than a dozen other senators  being under the rigorous and uncompromising searchlight  of the EFCC under Magu’s supervision. There are also reports that a number of governors worked against his confirmation particularly because of the EFCC’s ongoing investigations into alleged   illegal diversion of Paris Club bailout funds by some states. It would surely have been a completely different scenario if his name had been sent earlier to the senate and he had resumed office as substantive chairman of the agency ab initio.

    But then this kind of lethargy and systemic immobility on the part of the Buhari presidency is not exclusive to the Magu case. Nearly two years into this administration, ambassadors are yet to be posted to several countries including those very critical not just to the country’s foreign policy but also her domestic economic policies particularly in these recessionary times. In the same vein, boards of most federal parastatals are yet to be either constituted or reconstituted. Those appointed in the preceding dispensation are still sitting pretty on the boards even as the presidency continues to exhibit a paralysis of the will that is simply inexplicable.

    Part of the problems with the administration’s anti-graft war despite Buhari’s undeniably honest intentions is the President’s apparent disdain for partisan politics. This is not necessarily a bad thing especially as we have had cause to condemn his predecessors who cheapened and devalued the exalted office by descending without caution into the partisan arena. However, if the President is averse to politics, he must have a competent and skilled team with the network and diplomatic astuteness to manage this critical area for him. This is especially so because the signature policy of his administration, which is the anti-corruption war, is being fought within the context of politics.

    Thus, the President’s anti -corruption war is being hobbled, for example, partly by lack of cooperation from the legislature, an arm of government indispensable to the fight against graft, largely because of Buhari’s initial indifference to the character of those who emerged as leaders of the National Assembly. It is not enough for the administration’s functionaries to complain at every turn that corruption is fighting back. That refrain can be very annoying. Of course, corruption is not expected to sit back and fold its arms while it is clubbed to death. It will necessarily fight back and it is doing so effectively under the current headship of the senate, whose political dexterity one cannot but respect despite the huge moral albatross under which he labours. His ability to command the support and allegiance of majority of the senators across the board despite his immense vulnerabilities is truly remarkable.

    The management of the President’s politics has not been helped by the sheer complacency as well as lack of purpose or focus of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the chairmanship of Chief John Odigie Oyegun. Is it not astonishing that it was only this week that the National Working Committee (NEC) of the APC met formally with the senate caucus of the party nearly two years after the inauguration of the 8th Senate? Such complacency and incompetence is inexcusable. Oyegun may have been an outstanding federal Permanent Secretary and performed creditably as Edo State governor on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the aborted Third Republic. However, the blunt truth is that he seems out of his depths in his current assignment. The Buhari presidency is in dire need of a party that is more dynamically, vibrantly and proactively led if it is to make more meaningful progress with its anti-corruption war and other key planks of its policy platform.

    Equally uninspiring is the administration’s handling of the intra-organizational politics of its own presidency. This is why it is so difficult to blame the senate for stone walling on Magu when another agency under the presidency, the Department of State Services (DSS), provided it with a damning security report to nail the embattled Acting EFCC Chairman. To be sure, President Buhari must be commended for giving the DSS a free hand to do its job. As far as I know this is the first time in this dispensation that the secret service is being given the organizational autonomy to do its work professionally without undue presidential interference. Even then, this statement must be qualified when due note is taken of the DSS’s continued illegal indefinite detention of former National Security Adviser (NSA) to President Goodluck Jonathan, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (retd) and spiritual head of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Mallam El Zak Zaky in defiance of court orders that they should be released. It is difficult to believe that the motive here is genuinely that of protecting the national interest.

    Nobody says that the DSS should automatically clear any nominee for public office simply because the President desires it. What appears incongruous is that the secret service apparently gave Magu a clean bill of health with the presidency before the latter forwarded his name to the senate only for the same DSS to ambush him at the latter end. The greater embarrassment is not for Magu but the presidency which comes out of it all looking amateurish, unsure and uncoordinated. It would have been tidier for the DSS to make its report on Magu available to the presidency so that his name would not have been forwarded for confirmation at all.

    Some of the allegations against Magu by the DSS cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand. Perhaps the most serious is his reported fraternization with an allegedly shady businessman under investigation by the DSS. Yet, no business links have been established between Magu and the said businessman. Magu’s vehement denial of the allegation that the businessman paid for his official accommodation has not been disproved either by the DSS or the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) responsible for securing and paying for the residence. No nexus has been established between EFCC official documents reportedly found in the businessman’s residence and Magu. No conflict of interest against Magu has been established. He has not been found culpable of any corrupt practices. At best he can be blamed for some degree of indiscretion. But compared to the moral putrescence of some of the senators who gleefully adjudged him as failing some nebulous ‘integrity test’, Magu is a veritable saint.

    Buhari may be tempted to offer Magu as the sacrificial lamb whose blood will be shed to propitiate the senate gods with feet of clay in the purported interest of more harmonious legislative-executive relations. But if the capacious corruption whale succeeds in swallowing Magu and mortally decapitating his EFCC career, will the next Chairman of the agency who receives the senate’s approbation,  not tread ever so cautiously and timidly so that he or she does not ultimately end up in the Leviathan’s belly? Will this not signal ominous portents for Buhari’s anti-corruption war?

  • When was Tinubu sleeping?

    When was Tinubu sleeping?

    (What a week it has been of fulsome and certainly eminently deserved applause across partisan divides for National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on his 65th birthday. To commemorate the occasion, I reproduce today an abridged version of a piece I published as Chief Press Secretary to the governor, in the This Day newspaper of July 8, 2001, at least to give one perspective on the no easy path traversed by the Jagaban Borgu on the path to today’s still unfolding glory.)

    Again and again, one confronts the view in media commentaries and private conversation that the Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has at last woken up to the responsibilities of his office after a long slumber. The impression created sounds rather funny. It is as if Governor Bola Tinubu simply went to sleep after assuming office in 1999 and governance in Lagos State promptly proceeded on vacation. While deep in sleep, Governor Tinubu must have projected himself astrally into space, visited the abode of the gods and obtained a magic wand to enable him perform dazzling acts of abracadabra.

    It will be recalled that barely a month after he assumed office as Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu came under a heavy barrage of savage criticisms from impatient analysts and vengeful political opponents desperately seeking to draw blood. They accused him of lethargy and non-performance and wondered why he could not follow in the action-laden footsteps of Marwa or Jakande. The cartoonists had a field day chastising Tinubu for the innumerable pot holes and veritable craters that characterized Lagos roads, the skyscrapers of refuse heaps that had embarrassingly become the trade mark of the centre of excellence and the high crime rate resulting in the untimely demise of scores of innocent citizens.

    The critics would give no quarters. It did not matter to them that the bad roads, refuse heaps, water scarcity, high crime rate and other problems were inherited from successive regimes by the Tinubu administration. Lagos State vividly illustrates the dilemma and herculean challenges confronted by Nigeria’s public office holders in the post-IBB/Abacha/Abubakar era. The most populous, ethnically heterogeneous, economically strategic and politically viable in the country, Lagos State was left to decay to an unimaginable degree during the wasted years of the military locusts. Any meaningful effort to re-build Lagos State and address the cause rather than the symptoms of problems in the post-military dispensation could therefore not be a rushed affair. It required deep thinking; careful planning and systematic, focused implementation of well thought out policies which might not yield discernible fruit in the short run. This was the challenge Tinubu set for himself while displaying a rare and courageous willingness to sacrifice short term populist acclaim in the larger public interest.

    Today, Tinubu’s decision to choose the higher moral ground of statesmanship rather than petty political partisanship appears at last to be yielding results. Even his severest critics are now singing a more refreshing, up-beat tune. As his various programmes crystallize, mature and bear fruits, the public is becoming increasingly more appreciative of the governor’s vision and sense of mission. What I find personally very interesting is the new surge of support in the state even for policies which only a while ago were derided as being unnecessarily inconvenient and burdensome for the individual. I refer to policies such as the intensive demolition of illegal structures that obstruct drainage channels, construction of road demarcations to enforce traffic discipline and the introduction of measures to enhance safety of vehicles on Lagos roads among several others.

    Even as the opinion writers, analysts and editorialists laud Tinubu’s performance, however, most of them still insist that he slept for too long before waking up. Indeed, they seem to suggest he would have continued sleeping but for the cacophony of their virulent criticism. None of these critics has thought it fit to own up to what was obviously a grave error of judgement on their part. None has graciously admitted that Senator Tinubu was probably right after all in taking his time to lay a solid foundation for the successful and effective delivery of his programmes.

    I find it necessary to challenge and correct this erroneous notion at least for the records. When, I ask once more, was Tinubu sleeping? Was he sleeping when even as governor elect, he had commenced exploratory talks with energy firms in the United States for the revolutionary Independent Power Project (IPP) that has broken the back of monopoly in the country’s energy sector? Have we forgotten the spate of ethnic and communal clashes instigated in Lagos State in the early period of the administration with the aim of derailing our nascent democracy? Was Tinubu sleeping when he held scores of meetings with various ethnic, cultural and communal groups to soothe frayed nerves and restore peace? It is so easy to lose sight of the fact that without an alert and responsive governor at Alausa, the enemies of democracy could have succeeded in their plot destabilize the entire country through sponsored disaffection and violence in a sensitive cultural melting pot like Lagos.

    Was Tinubu sleeping when he introduced the Private Sector Participation (PSP) scheme in refuse management that not only generated 10,000 new jobs but also decisively addressed the refuse problem in the state? Was he sleeping when he introduced   novel schemes like the Highway Managers and Drain Ducks with a combined strength of 7,000 workers to keep the highways clean as well as clear drainage channels in the state? Was he sleeping when in his first year in office, he recruited 3,000 new graduates into the civil service? Was it a sleeping governor who in his first year in office supplied close to 100,000 pairs of desks and chairs to primary and secondary schools, rehabilitated 41 secondary school buildings at a cost of N51 million, constructed wall fences in 17 schools to enhance security and supplied biology, chemistry and physics equipment worth N20 million to 25 secondary schools?

    Was he sleeping when he paid N99 million as NECO examination fees for 90,000 SSS III students and N50 million as bursary award to over 5,000 students in tertiary institutions as well as Lagos State law students? And these were all in his first 12 months in office. By the end of his first 365 days as chief helmsman of Lagos State, Senator Tinubu had rehabilitated over 500 pot-hole infested roads, modernized the refuse dump sites at Solous, Olusosun and Abule Egba,  purchased sophisticated equipment worth over N300 million for the state’s hospitals. His administration had initiated comprehensive judicial sector reforms including enhancing welfare of judicial officers, upgrading and modernizing court facilities as well as establishment of the Office of the Public Offender (OPD) to provide free legal services to indigent persons as well as the Citizen Mediation Centre (CMC) as an alternative and faster dispute resolution mechanism. All these could certainly not have been accomplished without the governor and his team consistently burning the midnight oil.

    It will be recalled that the Tinubu administration inherited a budgetary outlay of less than N15 billion. This was raised to N19 billion in the 1999 budget and then N43 billion in the Y2000 budget. This unprecedented quantum budgetary leap is a function of the herculean challenges the governor has set for his administration. A less ambitious governor could easily have set himself a less demanding agenda.

  • Encouraging news on Abuja Airport runway

    Of course, it is inexcusable that the runway of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, had to be temporarily closed on March 8 for six weeks to allow for comprehensive repairs in the interest of passenger safety. But it was understandably a problem inherited by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and inaction on its part could not have been alternative. The good news is that the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, and his Information and Culture counterpart, Alhaji Lai Mohammmed, during an inspection tour of the project have said ongoing work is 57.5% complete and all is set to meet the target date of reopening the airport on the 19th of April. Other gains of the improved new facility will include an upgraded terminal to improve passenger comfort, and the provision of a lounge for the elderly and physically challenged according to the ministers. But then, once the Abuja facility reopens the aviation authorities should also seize the opportunity to address any challenges noticed as regards the Kaduna International Airport that was chosen to serve as alternative for domestic and international air operations in the interim. There is no reason why the functional and operational status of the Kaduna airport cannot also be enhanced in the interest of the state and the nation.

  • Ibb’s revelation

    Ibb’s revelation

    In a public lecture he delivered at the University of Lagos in the mid 1970s, the great Dr Nnamdi Azikwe had advocated some form of diarchy in the country making a case for what he called ‘democracy with military vigilance’. He was of the view that the military had come to stay on the country’s political terrain and the most realistic and pragmatic thing to do was to find ways of accommodating the institution in governance. Of course, the military still had a puritanical professional image at the time and was perceived even by many scholars  as a ‘modernizing’ influence in Africa. The massive corruption and inept governance that characterized the President Shehu Shagari administration in the second republic (1979-1983) reinforced the view that politics was inimical to rapid development and that some form of dictatorship could make for rapid socio-economic progress. This was why the General Muhammadu Buhari military regime was received with enthusiasm in 1983 and many Nigerians believed that the forced exit of the politicians was good riddance. However, the reputation of the military had become frayed with time when it became obvious that not only was the kleptocracy of its top brass worse than the civilians but the country witnessed retrogression rather than any meaningful development in virtually all spheres of life under the military.

    When it beat a humiliating retreat from the country’s politics and governance as an institution in 1999, however, the retired military elite had become an ‘emergent power factor’ in Nigeria to borrow from the title of Professor Bayo Adekanye’s, book which exhaustively discusses the transformation  of the retired military elite into an influential faction of the political class. Giving an insight into the economic basis of the political ascendancy of the retired military top brass in his inaugural lecture, ‘Military Occupation and Social Stratification’, delivered at the University of Ibadan in 1993, Professor Adekanye writes, “…the work is about the role of and influence of the top retired military officers in Nigerian society, where, it is found, increasingly large numbers have come to assume pivotal positions, particularly in government and politics, the public bureaucracy and parastatals, the worlds of trade and commerce, subsidiaries of multi-national corporations as well as in agriculture. Available to the top retired military are resources like wealth, their ex-military and ex-government connections, skill, prestige and experiences; and these they exploit as bases of new influence”. Nigeria”.

    In an uncharacteristically unambiguous and forthright revelation, former military President General Ibrahim Babangida told a delegation of the fractured Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who paid him a visit at his Minna hilltop residence recently what role the military played in the formation of the party. According to the fabled ‘Maradona’, “From the formation stage, I saw PDP as the (Irish Republican Army (IRA), the military wing of the PDP.  I thank God that we came up with the concept that PDP should rule for 60 years. When I say we I mean my boss, T.Y. Danjuma, Obasanjo, General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau and others. Continuing IBB told his guests, “PDP can rule for 60 years if they put their house in order. I am happy the house is being put in order. PDP is the only party that has been accepted from top –down. Its presence is being felt and will continue to be felt throughout the country. You need to work on getting up back again and find a solution to your problems”.

    IBB’s assertion on the possibility of PDP ruling for 60 years reveals that former Chairmen of the party who boasted that the PDP would be in power for six decades were not just being frivolous. It was actually a plan which the ‘military wing’ of the PDP wanted to actualize but for the triumph of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the last general elections. The military mindset of prolonged civilian rule by one party is patently anti-democratic and does not take into account the will of the people. Even though he had been drafted and funded to run for the country’s presidency straight from prison in 1998, by the retreating military, Obasanjo obviously had his own plan of elongated personal rule as revealed by the infamous third term agenda, which he continues to deny most unconvincingly.

    It was indeed the Obasanjo administration’s  strong arm tactics in undertaking a hostile takeover of the PDP, imposing and instigating party leaders at will, disregarding internal party democracy and actively destabilizing opposition parties that laid the basis for the gradual ossification of the party’s organs and the insidious erosion of the party’s values that ultimately led to its electoral defeat at the centre and its near collapse today. At a point, the PDP was even bold enough to de-register all party members and asked those desiring to be members to register afresh. Of course, Dr Goodluck Jonathan simply continued with the personalization of the party rendering it no better than a spineless parastatal subsumed under the presidency.

    The military is a highly respected professional group and in many advanced democracies, it even gives those who have faithfully served patriotically their countries in the military occupation an advantage in politics. But the respect and prestige as well as the position of advantage occupied by many of Nigeria’s retired military elite in politics is a function of rampant corruption and unbridled wealth accumulation through the criminal privatization of state resources. The ongoing trial of top military officers by the Buhari administration for embezzling billions of naira meant for the procurement of military equipment as part of its anti-corruption war is evidence of how deeply this menace has eaten into the fabric of the military. This is why Buhari’s personal rectitude and ascetic discipline is all the more impressive given the critical positions he has occupied both within and outside the military.

    However, admiration for Buhari’s personal qualities should not be allowed to result in a ‘cult of personality’, within the APC with personal rule by the president and his kitchen cabinet substituting for party supremacy. That is what led as I said earlier to the decline and ultimate fall of the PDP. In many ways, the PDP reflected the centralized and hierarchal organizational structure of the military with the President at the head of the chain of command. The APC should strive to run a more decentralized system by devolving more powers and responsibilities to its regional and state organs. Again, it is only a strong party platform that can hold governments at all levels accountable to implementing its manifesto.

    Expressing his continued support for the two-party system, which his government foisted on the country with the two government –created parties, the National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Babangida said “Gradually my earlier suggestion about the practice of a two-party system is coming to the fore in the country. In 1999, when I was advocating for a two party system, some of my colleagues had their doubts but I told them that it provides a choice which is the first essence of democracy”. There is no doubt that a party, which desires to win national elections such as the presidency must have broad based national support if it is too fulfill the constitutional stipulations for winning. However, that should not preclude those who desire to contest just regional, state or even local government elections from doing so on the platform of parties of their choice.

    Another take away from the PDP’s implosion that the APC will do well to learn from is to avoid the ultimately self-defeating objective of trying to contrive crises within opposition parties. The existence of a strong opposition party will at the end of the day be a blessing in disguise for the ruling party by keeping it on its toes.

  • Still on foreign policy

    Still on foreign policy

    Last April I had argued in this space that the foreign policy of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration had so far been too tepid, tentative and unimaginative. While I had written glowingly about the dynamism and vibrancy that characterized the country’s engagement with the international community under the Murtala/Obasanjo military regime, particularly its commitment to the liberation of apartheid South Africa and other African countries still under colonial bondage, I also underscored the fact that such activist foreign policy had become unrealistic with the Nigeria’s protracted economic decline. Again, the ideological radicalism, albeit limited, that informed the country’s foreign policy outlook at the time has become irrelevant and jaded with the collapse of the communist bloc, the decline of ideology in international relations and the current global triumph of neoliberal capitalism and market forces. Even then, the very fact of the deepening of economic crisis and underdevelopment in Nigeria and Africa as well as the continent’s unabated slide to irrelevance cannot excuse an absence of creativity and boldness in foreign policy even if the country can no longer afford the luxury of unproductive global adventurism or posturing as the fabled giant of Africa.

    Despite the economic stringency of the period, for instance, the country’s foreign policy still evinced some measure of innovative, out of the box, thinking under military President Ibrahim Babangida particularly during the tenure of Professor Bolaji Akinyemi as the regime’s foreign minister. Professor Akinyemi’s intellectual imprint was obvious in such policy initiatives as the Technical Aid Corps scheme, Nigeria’s audacious effort to organize a concert of medium powers as a critical actor on the international terrain and a vigorous bid under the country’s leadership to revive the Pan-Africanist spirit. It was Akinyemi’s view that the decline in Nigeria’s economic fortunes should not necessarily diminish her capacity to think and act with vigour and decisiveness as an influential African country.

    Apart from the lack of a viable economic base to sustain a vibrant foreign policy, the eradication of apartheid in South Africa and the elimination of the last vestiges of colonial rule on the continent, in my view, contributed to denuding Nigeria’s foreign policy of the coherence and focus it had been known for. With the total liberation of Africa as its centerpiece, the objectives and strategies of the country’s external relations were clear and well defined. In comparison, the concept of ‘economic diplomacy’, for instance, which seeks to hinge the country’s foreign policy on her strategic economic interests, has not been well defined and has had only negligible impact on Nigeria’s objective material realities. This may be a function of Africa’s weak and structurally dependent position in the international political economy that makes it difficult for the economy of even a resource endowed country like Nigeria to be a strong weapon of foreign policy. The changing dynamics of the global economy has largely stripped a key resource like petroleum of the global potency that enabled Nigeria to play such a critical role in the struggle against apartheid and colonialism in Africa.

    Even more nebulous is the concept of ‘citizen diplomacy’, with which the country experimented as a foreign policy objective during the tenure of the late Chief Ojo Maduekwe as foreign minister under President Olusegun Obasanjo if I am not mistaken. I do not see how any country’s foreign policy cannot but be about the interest and well being of its citizens in the first place. Nigeria’s foreign policy under Obasanjo (1999-2007) had the stamp of the Ota chief’s international clout and influence boldly written on it. Along with President Thambo Mbeki of South Africa, Obasanjo toyed with such concepts as the ‘African Renaissance’ and the possibility of working towards this being ‘the African Century’. Nigeria played a key role in the initiation and actualization of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), which was launched in Abuja in 2001. Among the goals of NEPAD were the facilitation of sustainable growth, stemming the marginalization of Africa, intensifying the integration of African states as well as working towards the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). A key feature of NEPAD is the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), which is a platform for African countries and leaders to review their performances on specified indices and hold each other to account.

    Even as the Buhari administration approaches its two-year mark, I am still of the view that its foreign policy could do with greater coherence, focus and vibrancy. I have not had any reason to change my view that the ample knowledge and skills of the Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, could be maximally utilized in several other areas by the administration. As I wrote in my earlier column, “With a political science degree from Colombia University in New York and degrees in law from the London School of Economics and Cambridge University, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, is quite cerebral and accomplished. But is he being utilized in his area of maximum competence? I do not think so. If he were, the President would not have to personally conduct his own global diplomacy leading to severe criticism of his frequent travels abroad”. While the President has since significantly cut down on his foreign trips the Minister has not in any way stepped up his own visibility and presence on the international stage.

    Of course, the distinguished diplomat, Ambassador Olusola Sanu, disagreed strongly with my views and was gracious enough to write a response which was published in this space. According to the highly respected statesman, “After reading Ayobolu’s article, I came to the conclusion that he is deeply unhappy at the fact that President Buhari took on the portfolio of foreign affairs and decided to be the Nation’s Chief Diplomat. In doing so, Mr. Ayobolu believes that the brilliant, erudite, Geoffrey Onyeama, Buhari’s Foreign Minister has been sidelined and has not been allowed to showcase his erudition on the international stage. I am not sure that Mr. Onyeama will be as unhappy as Ayobolu when he observes the manner in which other Heads of State receive his boss, President Buhari, as he presents his case to his counterparts all over the world. I suspect that the Foreign Minister will be happy that some of the aura of an achiever will rub off on him. And in time when we overcome most of the challenges facing us, the current Foreign Minister will travel alone all over basking in the achievement of his boss”.

    I really think that President Buhari has made a bold statement as regards his integrity and anti-corruption credentials that the world has taken due note of. The Foreign Minister ought to have by now become the chief salesman to the world of the President’s anti-corruption mission and aggressively projecting a new image of Nigeria globally. Indeed, Ambassador Sanu in my view articulated a clear and succinct foreign policy focus for the administration when he wrote “President Buhari is using his personal attributes, his integrity, his intolerance of corruption and those who practice it in driving his foreign policy. These attributes of his have endeared him to world leaders and gained him results”. The Ambassador has in my view hit the nail on the head. Buhari’s anti-corruption passion can become the driving force of our foreign policy. That would also imply of course that a commitment to democracy and good governance in Africa would become the second leg of the Buhari administration’s foreign policy. For, it is only truly democratic governance that can guarantee the transparency and accountability that will make it difficult for corruption to thrive.

    Under Buhari, we must become as committed to the cause of democracy and the eradication of corruption in Africa as we were to the struggle against apartheid and colonialism. In other words, Africa must once again become the centerpiece of our foreign policy as we lead the struggle for the second liberation of the continent from the twin evils of corruption and dictatorship. But that is not a job for the president personally to do. It is the responsibility of his Foreign Affairs Minister to come up with innovative ideas and initiatives to help actualize the foreign policy vision of the president. In making these goals the central plank of our foreign policy, Nigeria would also be putting pressure on herself to set the highest standards of integrity and democratic governance in Africa as we would be like the proverbial city on a hill.

    Nigeria should take the lead for instance in galvanizing other African countries to undertake a comprehensive review of NEPAD with a view to assessing its successes and failures and building on it gains. In the same vein, Nigeria should lead the way in working effectively to strengthen the APRM, which so far only exists in theory. While Nigeria played a commendable role in dislodging Yahaya Jammeh’s sit tight dictatorship in tiny Gambia, how can we deploy our strengths and influence in Africa to help at least to begin to rid the continent of the several other bigger but no less despicable corrupt tyrants that litter the continent? In her book, ‘Hard Choices’, Hillary Clinton writes about one of President Obama’s reasons for picking her as Secretary of State. In her words, “In real life, President-elect Obama presented a well-considered argument, explaining that he would have to concentrate most of his time and attention on the economic crisis and needed someone of stature to represent him abroad”. Buhari’s anti-corruption war at home needs someone of stature to project its gains vigorously and imaginatively abroad.

  • All for Lagos

    All for Lagos

    It is understandable. Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, Governor of Lagos State, is a leader in a hurry. In the next two months, the Chartered Accountant turned politician will reach the half time mark of his four year first term tenure. By this time next year, Lagos and other parts of the country will be in hyperactive election/re-election mode. There will be little time left for meaningful pursuit of the fulfillment of election promises. We can thus appreciate the frenetic pace of governance in Lagos and a few other states since May 29, 2015. The dazzling achievements of Mr Ambode’s first year in office seem today like eons away.

    The Ambode administration has since moved on light years further along the path of elevating Lagos to new heights of excellence transforming the megacity into one vast construction site in the process. Work is going on actively on the comprehensive regeneration of the Ojodu-Berger axis of the state, construction of the expansive Abule- Egba Flyover project as well as the Aboru- Abesan Link Road and Bridge, expansion and modernization of the Lekki Interchange, construction of the 10 Km bridge in Badagry to link the exotic Whispering Palms resort and the massive transformation and modernization of the sprawling Oshodi interchange.

    But then, the governor has his sights set even higher. Apart from constructing five new stadia and Arts Theatres, respectively, to be located in each of the five divisions of the state, Ambode’s prime vision is to expand, reconstruct and modernize the critical road linking Oshodi to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport. Describing the road, the entry port to Lagos, as a national embarrassment in its present state, Governor Ambode says his administration has already appropriated money for the project in the 2017 budget. In his words, “The state currently has a design of 10 lanes to come from Oshodi to the International Airport with interchange and flyover that would drop you towards the Local Airport. The contractor is already set to go and everything as I said has been completed and we already have the cash, but alas we are having challenges with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (FMWH). This is a Federal and not a State road. The FMWH believes they should do the road but they have not been able to do it all these years past”. Mr. Ambode believes that the N2 billion appropriated for the road by the FMWH in the 2017 budget is grossly insufficient compared to the over N8 billion, which Lagos State already has at hand for the project. He emphasizes that if given the approval, Lagos State is poised to commence the job within two weeks and complete it within a time frame of six months.

    Mr. Ambode is equally piqued that six months after President Muhammadu Buhari approved the handover of the Presidential Lodge, Marina, to Lagos State the FMWH has yet to honour the directive to enable the state gain access to the premises. Yet, the historic venue has been earmarked to play a pivotal role in ongoing programmes to celebrate Lagos at 50, which will climax on May 29. Ironically, the Minister currently in charge of the FMWH is none other than Mr Ambode’s immediate predecessor as Lagos State Governor, Mr.  Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN). Even though they may differ in temperament, disposition and political orientation, Ambode and Fashola also share a number of similarities. Both are accomplished professionals in their respective spheres. They are proven competent public sector leaders. Both are passionate about the best interest of Lagos. And the duo has a disdain for bureaucratic red tape and undue delays to policy and project delivery timelines.

    In his unsurprisingly legalistic response to Ambode, Fashola firstly seeks to establish that he has been supportive of Lagos as Federal Minister in the current dispensation. This he says he did by approving the use of the Federal Ministry of Works yard at Oworonsoki for the Lagos State Government to create a lay-by to ease traffic, approving Lagos State being granted the Rights to manage the Street Lighting on the 3rd Mainland Bridge and also supporting the approval of a World Bank Loan of $200 million to Lagos State, which had been denied by the previous administration. These are, of course, all highly commendable gestures. But there appears to me to be no reason why the Minister cannot also ensure prompt action on the no less important and critical requests from Lagos State as regards the International Airport Road and the Presidential Lodge, Marina.

    On the International Airport Road, Fashola points out that Lagos actually presented a request to take over four roads. According to him, “Due to the fact that two of the roads also connect Ogun State, the Federal Executive Council could not reach a decision on them because it requested the input of the other state government affected”. Surely, this cannot apply to the International Airport Road, which is wholly within the territorial jurisdiction of Lagos State. Saying that Lagos State’s request has been presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC), Fashola explains that Federal Executive Council Memorandum are debated and commented upon by all members and in cases of roads, surveys, maps and other material have to be provided to assist members understand the location of and connectivity of the roads, (in this case Four roads), in order to assist how they vote on the Memorandum”.

    It appears to me that what is needed here is for the Minister to deploy his widely acknowledged persuasive and logical reasoning skills to make a convincing case to his Ministerial colleagues to approve the Lagos State government’s request. The technical issues of surveys, maps and other material will be handled by competent professionals in affected ministries who are not necessarily members of FEC. The role of the latter to the best of my knowledge is essentially political. Most members of the FEC may not necessarily have the training or competence to make sense of what to them may be no more than esoteric technical documents.

    On the issue of the Presidential Lodge, Marina, the Minister was equally painstaking in his response. According to him, “As far as the Presidential Lodge is concerned, it is under the management of the Presidency and not the Ministry. After the approval by Mr. President that the Presidential Lodge be handed over to the State Government, there was a directive to the Ministry to work out the modalities for handing over. The ministry has prepared a vesting instrument to convey the transfer and all that is needed is a survey plan”. The only little dilemma here is why it was the FMWH and not any other ministry that was directed by the Presidency to ‘work out the modalities’ for handing over the facility to Lagos state! Matters get even ‘curiouser’ when the Ministry writes that “The Presidential Lodge is a high security location and officials of the Ministry also require security clearance to enter in order to do any works. Access to the lodge is not under the control of the Ministry”. This is a very serious matter. So which Ministry, Department or Agency will grant necessary security permission for the requisite access to ensure the President’s directive is carried out?

    The Minister complains that “If there is any lack of cooperation, it is on the part of the state government that has refused to acknowledge not talk of approving the Ministry’s request for Land for the National Housing Programme in Lagos”. Does this then suggest that the FMWH is deliberately stalling the Lagos State government’s requests because of this reason? That would surely not be a good exhibition of statesmanship. This is more so because as a well known advocate of true federalism, Mr. Fashola really ought to be steering the country’s housing policy away from the past unproductive practices of the Federal Government acquiring land for housing programmes that invariably end up as waste pipes and avenues for rampant corruption. There can be no genuine excuse for the FMWH under Fashola not to expedite action towards actualizing these two requests that are in the best interest of a state he governed with passion and distinction for two terms

  • Onukaba Adinoyi Ojo – another avoidable casualty

    The last time I saw  and interacted with Dr Onukaba Adinoyi Ojo, consummate journalist, author, biographer, playwright, theatre artist and performer as well as unassuming intellectual, it was somewhere in Abuja and he was exploring the possibility of contesting the Kogi State governorship election. Of course, I knew he had little chance of success on a political arena where, most times, honour, dignity, integrity, loyalty, duty, credibility and competence take tenth place to filthy lucre, treachery and crass opportunism. Although I had left the Daily Times before he became Managing Director, we had become fairly closely acquainted through our professional roles during the presidential campaigns that ushered in this political dispensation in 1999. On one occasion, he graciously autographed for me three of his published plays, which, unfortunately, and to my regret I never got around to reading. I am told that when he left Daily Times as MD, Dr Onukaba Ojo did not take a pin with him – not even his laptop! Such honesty! A more modest and unassuming human being you could hardly find. This great but unsung Nigerian is the latest untimely casualty of the utter ‘state of nature’ – violent crime, bad roads, arrant corruption – that our otherwise beloved country has become. We can only pray that God Almighty rest his soul and grant his loved ones divine peace and solace.