The Nation Newspaper

Category: Segun Ayobolu

  • Re : Champions Africa needs

    •I commend you on what you rightly observed about our mentality as a nation. I cannot agree less with you but as it may, sports if properly and well organized is a tool to national development. Sports, if well organized in any environment, is like an octopus with many branches that can reach every part of human endeavour. You can find sports in health, science, economy, law, sociology, psychology, nutrition etc. Even the unskilled labourer will have their share. If well organized, the poor will benefit more. Sports attracts poor people than the rich, Joseph Olutoyinbo, Minna, 07031517060

    •I really can’t thank you enough for your article ‘Champions Africa Needs’. How I wish we have more writers as honest and fearless as you are. Stay blessed, Britto, 08066938700

    •I agree that global sports supremacy is no path to meaningful national development. The question is, how many mouths does soccer feed in Nigeria?, Amos Ejinmoye, Kaduna, 08039727512

    •I think your article yesterday deserves commendation. Keep writing on that. Thanks, 07037158336

    •‘Champions Africa Needs’ is quite thoughtful. How I wish you would apply the same objectivity when it comes to the appraisal of ACN, kuteyi R.R, Ondo, 08062549133

    •Dear Segun, I am on your train on your piece: ‘Champions Africa Needs’. I saw beyond the charade, A.T. Mozie, Nsukka, 08033912409

    •Segun, thanks for yesterday’s piece. Do you know I was wondering if I am the odd one in this unnecessary hoopla about winning AFCON. Somebody even told me the transformation agenda of Jonathan is working. Personally, I see this madness as a distraction and the mediocrity of our rulers, 08083525724

    •Hello Segun, I just read your ‘Champions Africa Needs’. Thanks. I totally agree with you. The truth is that both the African leaders and the led are so illiterate though some may be just lettered. Do you see the attention they pay to issues that should not be our priority? Do you see how our unemployed youths focus on European league as if it in any way benefits them? Can an illiterate who does not even know or agree he is an illiterate be saved from his own ignorance? The Prophet Mohammed (Peace be unto him), taught that “The rescue of the ignorant is his question”. In our case the leadership and the led just follow without questioning “How does this benefit us”? No! if others are in it, we should be in it too. This is the attitude; an attitude of illiteracy. Therefore, we are going deeper in ignorance and our rescue is increasingly seeming a mirage than a thing ever to be attained, ShafihiKasimu-Ozeto, Abuja, 08091130804

    •Baba Sege, kudos on your illuminations today – ‘champions Africa Needs’. God bless you, LanreLugboso, 08054741162

    •My friend, give credit to whom it is due. If they had failed, same you would have lambasted Eagles, Keshi, NFF and Jonathan. Wise up, 08035768323

    •What has football got to do with Nigeria’s do-or-die politics? We have won an elusive trophy and it’s worth celebrating. All the countries that participated went there to win. Drogbaappreciated the fighting spirit of the young footballers so the issue of luck does not arise. If you have nothing good to write about this great achievement, please hold your peace, 08067177318

    •Segun, I want to say you made my day today for your in depth and down to earth piece – ‘Champions Africa Needs’. That is the golden fact. For Allah’s sake, what the hell is the practical impact of winning a football competition to the lives of majority of poverty-stricken Nigerians? As you rightly observed, luck on our side did the miracle. However, my kudos to Keshi for shaming his detractors, 08069310296

    •I agree with your article in totality. Thanks so much for that. Pius, 08068469668

    •If it is not an achievement of the Jonathan administration, is it an achievement of your father’s administration?, 07064958094

    •Thanks Segun for your illuminations – Champions Africa needs, Nestor, 08037433992

    •Mr Ayobolu, having just read your piece: ‘Champions Africa Needs’, I just wanted to thank and congratulate you on a great piece. With Best wishes, Anna Zalik, (a Canadian currently in Nigeria), 08098240803

    •Well said bro. Enough of mediocrity. Thanks for the paradigm shift; Africa’s crying need is excellence. Shallom!, Ariel, Lagos, 08168652214

  • Re : Centennial Delusions

    •Jonathan’s presidency is to say the least colourless, colonialist and fascist in all its ramifications. Under this nebulous and banal regime, the nation is celebrating her subjugation, subservience and political servitude to unabashed foreign rule. PDP once again is bereft of reason and cultural history dragging the nation inexorably to intellectual sterility and political mayhem. Where are the nation’s historians? Lugard’s bid to unify the nation was purely economic, a political masterstroke to deploy local resources to administer the vast territory for the greed of British overlords. It’s time we halt PDP and Jonathan’s vicious cycle of heinous rule started by Lugard’s ignoble indirect rule of 1914. We should resist this modern day slavery, AyodeleFagboun, Akure, 08169482226

    •“Centennial delusions should have been better captioned as ‘Centennial façade’, 08138971607

    •I’ve just finished reading your article in The Nation newspaper edition of 20/02/13. I must commend your literary and grammatical dexterity, Begi Solomon, Makurdi, 08061134115

    •Sir, you just hit the nail on the head about these Abuja-based centenary celebration inventors with your write up. Keep it up. I am a victim – a graduate of engineering with no job, 08033754008

    •You Yorubas hatred of Jonathan and his family has turned to obsession. Don’t forget that he is cleaning the mess a Yoruba man left behind. You can blame PDP all you want, Nigerians are not stupid, 08166802603

    •‘Çentennial delusions” is a joyful celebration of the beginning of Nigerian slavery and servitude to the British government. It’s quite unfortunate that our government will prioritise the mark of slavery over the mark of freedom. What a nation, what a leadership, AlhajiAdeyCorsim, Oshodi, Lagos, 07057631041

    •Dear Segun, your piece titled ‘Centennial Delusions’ touched me the most in The Nation’s Saturday paper for its relevance. What Federal Government madness to think of celebrating such and in such a manner, DasheMaximo, Jos, 07080471643

    •Mr SegunAyobolu! When will you believe in something good out of the lot? Be open-minded had been my advice on your write up. The President made it clear abinitio that the celebration and commemoration would be low-key. What else do you need? Is 2014 from 1914 not real as 100 years? Did the three regions not emerge from Lugardism? Did 1960 independence not come from Lugardism? What of many products past and present from the three regions? The Nobel Laureate from which Nigeria? Compare today’s infrastructure with 1914 at least in quantity, LanreOseni, 08023023745

    •You did well in your write up. You are in my prayers, Onuchukwu J, 07032686005

    •Hi Sege, the Centennial celebration, I am sure, is another ‘project’ off the stable of the ever prowling political vultures in Abuja with connections in high places. The government knows there is nothing to celebrate. They are, as usual, just looking for something to divert our attention from their crass ineptitude. There’s a bright side to this anyway. Since they said its going to be private-sector driven, let’s allow their friends who pocketed billions of Naira of fuel subsidy money put part of same into good use for once, Olu, 08033013597

    •Segun, your piece on the centenary celebration abridge the same conclusion of your principals and I feel it is high time you guys in The Nation portray intellectual discourse in your opinions rather than projecting that same Lai Mohammed political sycophancy on anything can never be good unless it is coming from his cronies. Segun, between 1914 and 1964, you lost so much time to appreciate why we must continue to celebrate Nigeria in the appropriate context not in this bandwagon style of condemnation. Nice piece but you can do better, 08057716603

    •Hi Segun, I agree with your summation about the stupidity of celebrating Lugard when an academic conference would have been enough. But unfortunately, the blackmail that the celebration is “private sector financed” would make them ignore your position. What a big shame and a self-destructing rush to what you aptly describe as “avoidable poverty”, 08037988252

    •Thank you for your work on centenary delusions. You know Ayim is just a balloon that is just there as a painted Sepulchre. There is nothing to celebrate. We are just deceiving ourselves, Chuks, 08035410176

    •Only a bastard celebrates his mother’s concubine. The white colonizers represent our mother’s concubine and if we celebrate the day our mother gave birth to the child born out of rape from the white conquerors shows how shallow the brain of those taking refuge in the inner chamber of Aso Rock. GEJ and his team are bereft of ideas and that is why they will spend Nigeria’s hard earned money on inanities. Even if all our roads have been painted black, all hospitals in world class status, the aged and unemployed collecting monies from government, will that make them lose their senses and commit abomination? Is it not contradictory if we celebrate the day we were free from bondage and at the same time celebrate the day we got into bondage? Those who conceived this idea need psychiatric attention, 08098117071.

  • Centennial delusions

    Centennial delusions

    It is the classic tale of two countries. There is the Nigeria whose purported birthday, Lord Frederick Lugard’s grandchildren in Abuja will be celebrating with billions of Naira throughout next year. That Nigeria for them will be a hundred years old next year. They date their Nigeria’s birth to the arbitrary amalgamation of the Northern and Southern parts of the country by the forces of British imperialism on January 1, 1914. For them, it is a historical event we must celebrate with pride. In their words “The centenary celebration will present an opportunity for us to count our blessings as a nation, celebrate our dexterity and resilience as a people, and resolve to launch into the century with renewed determination, hope and expectations.” And they list so many blessings for us to count – thanks to Lord Lugard: Nigeria is the largest black nation and the 7th most populous country in the world. The country has a huge domestic market, human resources and awesome capacity for transformation. Nigeria has over 100 million active cell phone lines and the largest internet traffic in Africa. She has over 24 million pupils in primary schools, over 6 million in secondary and over one million in tertiary institutions. Nigeria has over 100 million literate people. The list goes on and on and the Abuja centenarians enthuse that “the story of Nigeria is one of admirable and remarkable progress. Nigeria’s 100th birthday provides a wonderful opportunity for all Nigerians to proudly celebrate in the nation’s story of freedom, achievements and aspirations.”

    But the deceptive statistics above do not tell the story of the real Nigeria; the hapless and helpless country inhabited by the teeming number of poverty-stricken Nigerians who are non-admirers of the British colonial bandit and mindless imperialist, Lord Lugard. The Abuja centenarians are obviously exiles existing far from the real Nigeria. It is a richly endowed country whose people are mired in humiliating poverty. It is a cursed land of horrendous corruption. It is a cesspit of crime. It is a paradise of banditry. It is a den of kidnappers. It is a kingdom of armed robbers. Hunger stalks the land. Millions of its youth wallow in joblessness. It is a hell hole of suicide bombers. Its education system at all levels is in shambles. 20 million of her children are out of school. The health sector has virtually collapsed and her wealthy elite routinely seek medical succour abroad. Even the current First Lady was reportedly recently resurrected from a 7-day death experience in a German hospital. It is a Nigeria that is so blessed yet so plagued. Blessed with arable land, it is a major importer of food. We can go on and on. A serious and purposeful government would not waste billions of scarce resources on a vain and absolutely unproductive celebration of Nigeria’s subjugation by colonial imperialism. Given our natural and human resource endowment, there is no excuse for the pathetic state of contemporary Nigeria 100 years after her purported creation. This is a real source of shame. It is really amazing how the mind of the Jonathan presidency works. This centenary celebration brain wave should never have been approved by any focussed and thinking leadership.

    The organisers of the centenary jamboree claim that the celebrations “offer us a unique opportunity to affirm the obvious truth that Nigeria is not a historical accident, rather the product of a long and mature consideration.” This is pure fiction. Any notion of Nigerian unity was far from the mind of Lord Lugard in undertaking the amalgamation. In a rigorous study, Professor Eme Ekekwe avers that: “There was really no serious attempt made politically or administratively to unify the country. Lugard’s attempt in 1914 at ‘amalgamation’ was really not aimed at this at all…What Lugard was really seeking in 1914 was some device that would enable him to shift around for purposes of balancing his books any financial surpluses available from any of the virtually separate territories. The individuality of the territories was maintained.” The whole idea of the amalgamation was simply for British administrative and fiscal convenience. This is why the British continued their divide and rule policy long after the amalgamation to prevent a united indigenous front against colonial rule. The North and South were deliberately kept severely apart and effectively compartmentalised long after the amalgamation. What is really heroic about our history and worth celebrating is the capacity of the Nigerian nationalists to overcome the ‘divide and rule’ antics of the British and forge a common front to fight for the country’s independence – a feat achieved in 1960. We should as much as possible distance the unity and dignified existence of Nigeria from the self-seeking antics of a colonial pirate like Lugard.

    Let no mistake be made about it. There is a vast qualitative difference of no mean significance between pre and post-independence Nigeria. This centenary celebration fantasy seeks to fraudulently mask this difference. Even after the amalgamation of 1914, Nigeria remained a colonial dependency. She had no sovereign will of her own. The people were British subjects, not Nigerian citizens. Nigeria existed as a Lugardian territorial contraption that housed ‘second class’ citizens subject to the will, whims and caprices of the colonizing power. The Union Jack flew over Nigeria’s, British owned territory rather than the Green-White-Green flag that today symbolises our autonomous nationhood. Nigeria had no legal existence in international law before 1960. The British monarch was Nigeria’s effective Head of State. It was a condition of national servitude and indignity. Our genuine, self-respecting nationhood began when we attained independence, not when we groaned under imperial jack boots. The Abuja centenarians clearly fail to appreciate the devastating and destructive impact of colonial subjugation on the psyche, confidence and self –esteem of the peoples of pre-colonial Nigeria. The amalgamation was the culmination of the military subjugation, cultural alienation, psychological disorientation and humiliation as well as economic emasculation of the well- structured and organized communities that preceded the colonial conquest. In the words of Professor Claude Ake, “The colonizers convinced themselves and tried to convince us that our level of civilization was sub-human. They abolished our history, assaulted our institutions and denigrated our culture. Supported by economic and political coercion, the assault on our humanity has inculcated a deep sense of inferiority which we still wear like an albatross”. This is a critical factor in the persistence and deepening of underdevelopment in Nigeria and Africa.

    Nigeria’s great nationalists – Herbert Macaulay, Nnamdi Azikiwe, ObafemiAwolowo, Anthony Enahoro, Aminu Kano, Adegoke Adelabu, Ahmadu Bello, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Michael Imoudu etc – refused to live under such dehumanising, humiliating conditions. The youths of the Zikist movement, Nigerian students, the market women of Aba and Abeokuta, the railway workers, the Iva Valley Mine workers in Enugu, were all part of a mass movement that said no to Lord Lugard’s Nigeria. Their exertions brought that inglorious colonial era to an end and ushered in independence in 1960. On October 1, 1960, the Union Jack was lowered and the Green-White-Green flag was unfurled to signify the commencement of Nigeria’s existence as an independent, self-determining nation. Yes, the amalgamation is an undeniable and important historical event. If its centenary is to be commemorated at all, an academic conference to assess its importance and implications for Nigeria’s history will do; not a year- long jamboree that will gulp billions when millions of Nigeria are trapped in avoidable poverty. This whole scheme looks like another self-enrichment scam for the benefit of Nigeria’s greedy power elite. That the jamboree will be funded by the private sector is beside the point. In a poverty-ridden country like Nigeria, neither the public nor the private sector must be encouraged to engage in frivolous and wasteful expenditure of this nature. President Jonathan should halt this madness today. We are celebrating nothing but centennial delusions.

  • Champions Africa needs

    Champions Africa needs

    It was the great economist, Joseph Schumpeter, who observed that the individual caught up in a crowd tends to drop to a lower level of mental performance as the herd instinct takes over. Following Nigeria’s unexpected victory at the last Orange African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2013, the country has become one huge crowd of cheering fans of the Super Eagles. It has been quite comic watching members of the Federal Executive Council, Governors, legislators, business moguls, oil subsidy rogues, pensions thieves, armed robbers, kidnappers, jobless victims of the Nigerian system and all sorts of characters all shouting themselves hoarse in applause of the soccer heroes of the moment. All of a sudden, the boys and their handlers are being described in superlative terms. After 19 long years, they are said to have restored Nigeria’s glory as kings of African soccer. While I enjoyed the matches I watched during the tournament, I have resolutely refused to join the maddening crowd – and with no apologies. Was this truly a deserved victory; a feat we really planned hard, organized efficiently and worked systematically to achieve? I think the ‘gods’ have only conspired once again to give us an undeserved short term ‘goodluck’ triumph, which will have long term negative consequences in sports and other spheres of national endeavour.

    Of course, this is to take nothing away from Coach Stephen Keshi, who did the best he could to produce positive results in difficult circumstances. I am sure that not even the one time Captain of the all-conquering 1994 Eagles Squad was confident of attaining this level of success given the level of our preparations compared to other participating countries. For over two decades, we allowed our sports facilities, including major stadia across the country, to deteriorate abysmally. Virtually all youth and schools competitions, through which new talents were spotted and developed, were abandoned. The once vigorous local football league that supported a vibrant, ever soaring Super Eagles national team became a huge joke. Just as an oil-producing country, we embarrassingly export crude oil only to import the refined commodity thus creating a huge ‘fuel subsidy’ scam, we export local football talents to better organised foreign leagues and import the refined ‘products’ to play for an externally dependent national team. Yes, kudos to Keshi for his courage in injecting six players into the victorious 2013 Super Eagles Squad. But there is no doubt that those lucky players will soon be on their way out of bondage to a mediocre local league that offers them little or no future. The system is thoroughly broken. It will take more than the current illusory euphoria to fix it.

    During the last London Olympics, Nigeria achieved the superlative feat of not winning a single medal. It was at the Paralympic games that what some perceived as the dented reputation of the country was somewhat salvaged. Of course, I did not join the bandwagon of competitors who lamented our barren performance at the Olympics. Rather, I was miffed that a poverty stricken country like ours could have expended close to $2 billion in participating in an event that is of little practical significance to the living conditions of the vast majority of our people. What would we have lost if we had simply sat at home and expended our time, energy and resources on issues of more crucial significance to a country in the suffocating grip of pathetic underdevelopment? What the hell does it matter whether or not Nigeria is football champion of Africa? Will that status of dubious value feed millions of our hungry compatriots, create jobs for the teeming unemployed, fix our dilapidated infrastructure or save the lives of those who die from easily curable diseases as a result of a health sector that has practically collapsed? African champions my foot!

    I seriously think that African countries must seriously re-think their sports policies to reflect both the abject living conditions of their people and their own fragile position in the political economy of global sports competitions. I do not want to be mistaken. Sports and other forms of leisure play a crucial role in human life. They help promote physical fitness and emotional wholeness for individuals and groups. Sports can help channel the energies and talents of youths creatively and nurture healthy bonding in communities. But focussing expenditures on thousands of functional sports facilities to serve the recreational needs of communities makes infinitely more sense than erecting difficult to maintain multi-billion dollar structures with the aim of hosting meaningless mega-competitions for the financial benefit of global sports associations like FIFA and their global corporate collaborators. Commenting on the perhaps unintended consequences of spectator sports like soccer in our contemporary world, Professor Noam Chomsky stresses their tendency “to divert people,” to “get them away from things that matter,” to “reduce their capacity to think”. From this standpoint, sports is for him an example of the indoctrination system, something to pay attention to that’s of no importance, which keeps people from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some chance to do something about”.

    Just imagine someone describing the Super Eagles AFCON Cup victory as “an achievement of the Jonathan administration!” This is both diversionary and illusionary. I remember the euphoria that gripped Greece when that country unexpectedly won the European Cup in 2004. The 2004 Athens Olympics also contributed significantly to the country’s latter economic meltdown. Today, Greece is one of the fiscal basket cases in Europe. Let no one deceive us. Global Sports supremacy is no path to meaningful national greatness. It is a luxury that can be indulged later when a country has got the vast majority of its citizens out of the horrible pit of poverty. When South Africa was bidding to host the 2010 World Cup, for instance, former President Thabo Mbeki said, “The basis of South Africa’s bid was a resolve to ensure that the 21st century unfolds as a century of growth and development in Africa…We want to ensure that one day, historians will reflect upon the 2010 World Cup as a moment when Africa stood tall and resolutely turned the tide on centuries of poverty and conflict…” Can you imagine such utter nonsense? Reflecting on the 2010 World Cup, Professor Patrick Bond of the University of Kwazulu-Natal noted that nine host cities across South Africa built ‘white elephant’ stadiums at a cost of above $400 million. This amount of money, he said would have covered home upgrades for 100,000 homeless people in each of these cities! Yet, none of these stadia can consistently fill their stands at events today. To add insult to injury, FIFA refused to allow the Kwa Zulu-Natal provincial government to use its original World Cup logo, which had ‘KwazuluNata’l added to 2010 FIFA World Cup. That right to use the World Cup branding and display their logos was reserved for six FIFA- accredited corporate giants – Adidas, Sony, Visa, Emirates, Coca Cola and Hyunda-Kia Motors- at a cost of $125 million each.

    As part of the marketing strategy, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa was dubbed the People’s World Cup. Yet, as another study of the event notes “…with an unemployment rate estimated between a low of 27% (including hunting of wild animals and begging as employment) and a high of 40% (including those who have given up looking for a job) and with many in employment earning around $150 or less a month, it is difficult to imagine many celebrating the game by actually going to the stadium”. I cite these as examples to show the illusion of global sports as routes to true greatness. Dear Nigerians, wake up from this dream today! Let us strive to be African champions in good governance, transparency, healthcare, education, science, technology, accountability and infrastructure. That is true championship! The President of France visited Mali the other day and was welcomed by the masses as their saviour because of that country’s decisive action against extremists in Northern Mali. Let this illusory celebration of emptiness in Nigeria stop today. Re-colonization of Africa beckons – dangerously.

     

  • Understanding PDP’s amazing audacity

    Understanding PDP’s amazing audacity

    The battle has been fierce, intense and unrelenting. All kinds of weapons –assault rifles, tear gas canisters, bazookas, hand grenades, cluster bombs and even unmanned drones – have been freely used on both sides. I refer to the raging civil war currently rocking the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). On various occasions, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has launched vicious attacks against the Goodluck Jonathan administration accusing the President of utter incompetence in tackling the Boko Haram insurgency. In one instance, Obasanjo recommended his drastic and ruthless handling of the Odi situation to Jonathan suggesting that the latter was soft on Boko Haram. We will recall that President Obasanjo ordered the levelling of the entire Odi community of Bayelsa State following the murder by elements of the community of Nigerian soldiers on official duties. During his last presidential media chat, Dr. Jonathan retorted that when he visited Odi as Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, all he saw were the corpses of innocent children and old people rather than the militants that perpetrated the crime. Undaunted, Obasanjo has launched further salvos at Jonathan in interviews on both CNN and the New African magazine questioning the incumbent’s competence in effectively discharging his role as the country’s Chief Security Officer.

    A careful observer will note that in this exchange of brickbats, the two PDP leaders have been careful to distance the PDP as a party from their respective administrations. But in reality, what Obasanjo was saying is that the incompetence of the PDP government under Jonathan has been responsible for a precarious security situation that has led to the death of hundreds of people in many parts of Northern Nigeria. In the same vein Jonathan countered that a PDP government under Obasanjo in sanctioning the massacre of children, women and old people in Odi committed a crime that is difficult to dissociate from genocide. This is a severe self-indictment on the part of a party that yet boasts its capacity to cling to power at the centre for the next six decades. What really explains such amazing audacity?

    Launching her own devastating machine propelled rockets from another section of the battlefield, a former Education Minister in the Obasanjo administration and one-time Vice President (Africa) of the World Bank, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, accused both the late President Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan administrations of wanton financial recklessness. Speaking at the Convocation lecture she delivered at the University of Nigeria (UNN), Nsukka, she alleged that both administration’s had frittered away $67 billion in foreign reserves and Excess Crude Account (ECA) left behind by the Obasanjo administration. This is again another devastating indictment of the PDP.

    In the first place, if the PDP Obasanjo administration realized so much revenue that it could accumulate such huge reserves, why did it leave the country’s infrastructure in virtually all sectors in such a parlous state? Again, is this not an indictment of the PDP’s leadership succession processes? Did the party seriously assess the competence of Yar’Adua and Jonathan before imposing them on Nigerians through incurably flawed elections? Indeed, in his new book “The Accidental Public Servant”, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, revealed the very cavalier manner decisions are taken in high quarters as regards the leadership of this country. He claimed that Obasanjo, doubting the competence of Jonathan, wanted to back a Buhari/Ngozi Okonjo Iweala ticket for the 2011 election. If Obasanjo was unsure of Jonathan’s competence, how did the latter emerge as Vice-Presidential candidate under the old soldier’s watch? In any case, in his first coming as military Head of State, Buhari ran a highly nationalistic administration that stoutly resisted the policy dictates of the IMF and World Bank. How could he then be expected to work harmoniously with a Vice-President who is a dyed in the wool neo-liberal World Bank economist? Is this the kind of shoddy thinking that led Obasanjo to impose a most inept and mediocre leadership on the country following his exit in 2007?

    In responding to Ezekwesili, the trio of Labaran Maku, Doyin Okupe and Reuben Abati only succeeded in further severely indicting both the Jonathan administration and the PDP. In the first place, they were completely silent on the substance of her allegations. What exactly was the $67 billion in foreign reserves and Excess Crude Account left behind by the Obasanjo administration expended on? With such gargantuan expenditure profile, how can we explain the abysmal level of poverty in which Nigeria is still mired? Rather, Jonathan’s aides insinuated without the slightest scintilla of evidence that Ezekwesili embezzled funds allocated to the Ministry of Education during her tenure. Why, as many analysts have asked, did they wait for Ezekwesili to make her damning disclosures before trying to taint her character and integrity? Are there other allegedly corrupt public officers that the administration is keeping mum over because they are of ‘good behaviour’? Has massive looting of public funds become so routine and normal under the PDP? In the words of Dr. Abati “They managed to leave the country in darkness, with less than 2000 MW; abandoned Independent Power Projects, mismanaged power stations…”. Mind you, the presidential spokesman is here referring to a PDP government! It certainly cannot get more entertaining.

    Yet, despite its glaring non-performance and the washing of its dirty linen in public, the PDP remains supremely confident of its capacity to overwhelmingly win future elections and continue to steer the affairs of the nation. The PDP national Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, is completely disdainful of the announcement by four political parties – Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) – to merge into a new party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). Reacting to the news, Alhaji Tukur jokingly told news men “If you go for a football contest, you have the top striker. You know Lionel Messi? PDP is Messi in that contest. They (opposition parties) are no threat at all. It (merger) is better. It inspires the PDP to action. In that contest, tell them (opposition parties) that I said PDP is Lionel Messi”. Unfortunately, the PDP in running the affairs of Nigeria since 1999 has not exhibited the brilliant skills of the diminutive soccer star in tackling the multifarious challenges confronting the country. But the PDP’s audacity as well as Alhaji Tukur’s arrogance and utter contempt for Nigerians is quite logical and understandable.

    The lack of any reasonable linkage between governmental performance and electoral outcomes is clearly the reason for the PDP’s continued amazing self confidence. Even as their existential conditions have worsened steadily under the PDP’s watch since 1999 and Nigeria totters on the brink of state collapse, the PDP has won successive elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011 with the party maintaining a firm hold on the centre and the majority of states. It is thus all too easy for the PDP to conclude that Nigerians are incurably masochistic taking sheer delight in ever increasing misery.

    No matter your perception of the PDP, you must recognise that it is serious minded in its pursuit of its mission of maintaining a strangle hold on power and sharing the bounteous national cake among its members while allowing those at the grassroots to scramble for the crumbs. Unknown to many for instance, the PDP has a training school for its cadres! At a time it was run by my former teacher, the exceptional political scientist, Professor Fred Onyeoziri. Any party that seeks to dislodge the PDP at the centre must aim to be better structured, more efficiently and transparently managed as well as stand on a higher moral pedestal in terms of its vision and mission. And as one of this newspaper’s columnists recently noted, the PDP is unlikely to approach the 2015 election in a fractious state. The contending factions, knowing what is at stake, will most likely resolve their differences at the appropriate time. Despite their current differences, for instance, the picture of ex-President Obasanjo praying fervently for President Goodluck Jonathan at the Aso Villa chapel on Sunday, February 3rd, speaks volumes.

    Let no mistake be made about it. The PDP is a highly focussed party with a clear idea of its mission. It is essentially an elite cartel – a huge umbrella to protect diverse factions of Nigeria’s hegemonic elite from being beaten by the heavy rain of poverty that is the lot of their fellow country men and women. In merging to form the APC, the opposition parties must not seek to become just another mirror image of the PDP. Beyond individual jostling for positions, attention should be paid to the philosophical basis and ideological clarity of the nascent party. If the aim is simply to dislodge the PDP while Nigeria is left structurally and functionally disabled as she currently is, the country will have to seek redemption elsewhere.

  • Preconditions for meaningful reforms

    Preconditions for meaningful reforms

    In spite of her honest admission that the process of reforms still has a long way to go in Nigeria, there is still the prevalent optimism that runs through the new book by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that considerable progress was made towards ‘Reforming’ a hitherto ‘Unreformable’ Nigeria during the Obasanjo presidency. This column disagreed with this view last week contending that the country remains as ‘unreformable’ as ever today despite Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s best efforts between 2003 and 2007. Of course, the economic team under her leadership made valiant efforts to launch reforms in several sectors –the budgetary process, public procurement, fiscal transparency, re-invention of the customs and ports, revitalisation of the civil service, privatisation of unprofitable state enterprises and tackling the country’s debilitating debt crisis among others. But today, the country is again heavily indebted. The civil service remains as lethargic and unproductive as ever. The budgetary process is still grossly inefficient and lacking in efficacy. Nigeria remains a cesspit of abominable corruption. Privatisation has become another profitable mechanism for criminal enrichment. The oil sector remains as opaque as ever while an abundantly blessed country remains unfathomably under the spell of oil dependency.

    As I argued last week, the fundamental problem was that the reform process between 2003 and 2007 was undertaken as an essentially technocratic and elitist enterprise. As Dr. Okonjo-Iweala writes on page 124 of her book, “It was clear to me from the outset of the reform process and the formation of the Economic Team that President Obasanjo saw the team as technocratic and wanted to keep it that way. He also had political advisers, and he was politically adroit himself. He wished for this team to focus on economic issues. Initially, we also clearly saw ourselves in this light. We would keep away from politics since in any case most of the politicians left a lot to be desired”. This gulf between politicians and the reform technocrats is well documented in the book. Nowhere, for instance, does Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala makes any reference to the manifesto of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). In fact, she mentions the PDP only once in a book that runs into nearly 200 pages. What this tells us is that the PDP was and remains essentially an election winning machine. It is not guided by any grand policy goals or vision. Since the PDP was philosophically, programmatically and ideologically famished, it had to surrender policy direction and leadership to a group of technocrats who held the party in utter disdain and saw their loyalty as being first and last to the President personally.

    The Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala-led technocrats therefore crafted the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) entirely on their own and later vigorously marketed the programme to the political class! But the politicians were supposed to have won elections based on a social contract with the electorate as regards a policy platform to be implemented. However, there was hardly any nexus between NEEDS and the PDP manifesto with the result that many leading members of the ruling partywere not only lukewarm but openly subversive of the reform agenda. Reforms in a democracy cannot be ends in themselves. Efficient budgetary processes, transparency in public procurement or a more effective civil service are means to the qualitative delivery of specific promises to the electorate by a political party. A political party can only be meaningfully judged by the electorate on the basis of its success in fulfilling its pre-election promises. The PDP can confidently assert that it will win future elections emphatically partly because, despite the dismal state of the country under its watch, it is difficult to pin the party down to any specific policy platform. The party has no doubt been a huge success in holding down the Nigerian cow for the various factions of its ravenous elite to continue milking the dying animal to their heart’s content.

    In the second republic, the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), despite its nebulous ‘One Nation, One Destiny’ mantra, concretely committed itself to reviving agriculture (Green Revolution) and the mass provision of shelter. On its part the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) had its four cardinal programmes: Free education, free health care, full employment and rural integration. Alhaji Aminu Kano’s People’s Redemption Party (PRP) had far reaching radical policies to liberate the talakawas of the North from the chains of feudal tyranny. The nearest we have to these policy-oriented parties in this dispensation is the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) with its emphasis on the provision of affordable education, health care, massive job creation and radical modernisation and expansion of infrastructure. Meaningful reforms are thus possible only when a disciplined, visionary, focussed and purposeful political party is at the vanguard of the process.

    A second precondition for meaningful reforms is a visionary, committed, decisive yet restrained presidency. Under our current constitution, the presidency is the centre of gravity of the governance process. The wellbeing of the polity depends largely on the energy and dynamism of the presidency.

    The Nigerian presidency, I have said before, is perhaps the most powerful political office in the world. It has been deliberately granted such enormous powers to be able to hold the country together and be a positive force for development. But the fierce contest by contending social groups for this plum position has had fractious implications for the polity. Moreover, only a saint would have the enormous powers of the Nigerian presidency and not misuse it. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is an unalterable law of politics from which the Nigerian presidency cannot be exempt. Since the commencement of this dispensation in 1999, we have seen the capacity of the president to castrate his own party, destabilise the opposition, ignore the National Assembly, muzzle the judiciary and utilize his vast powers of patronage for purposes subversive of democracy and development. As Sam Omatseye graphically put it, the presidency is an albatross on the neck of the nation. Taming its excessive powers is a necessary condition for meaningful reforms and modernisation. And this is also true of the expansive powers of the executive at the lower levels of government at state and local government levels.

    The third precondition for meaningful reforms and transformation is the radical decentralisation of powers, resources and responsibilities from an overbearing and unproductive centre to the lower levels as I argued last week. The current so-called federal structure is abnormal and deformed. Unfortunately, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala appears to believe that the current system is not even centralised enough. In her words on page 125 of her book “Another problem was that in Nigeria’s very decentralised governance set-up the governors of states controlled almost half of the country’s revenues and, according to the constitution, enjoyed considerable autonomy in the use of those resources. They also enjoyed immunity from prosecution, courtesy of the same constitution, and they had very little accountability to anyone”. In reality, the Federal Government controls more resources than all the states combined. Yes, there is monumental corruption at the state and local government levels, but this pales into insignificance compared with the rampant criminality at the centre. The solution to the problem is not more centralisation as Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s analysis indirectly suggests, it is to enhance the institutional autonomy of the police, judiciary and anti-corruption agencies to deal decisively with corrupt elements at all levels. Right now, corruption cases are prosecuted at the behest of the presidency and mainly against its perceived adversaries. That is surely no path to the much desired reforms and transformation. I enjoin opposition leaders and their strategists to read Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s book. There are useful lessons there to guide future action.

  • As unreformable as ever

    As unreformable as ever

    It was shortly after she had assumed office as Nigeria’s Finance Minister after resigning her prestigious position as Vice-President and Corporate Secretary of the World Bank. She was attending a retreat convened by the President along with other members of the Economic Management Team. At one of the sessions, the President abruptly announced that the Budget Office along with its Director had been transferred from the Ministry of Finance to the Presidency. Shocked that such a crucial decision affecting her ministry could be taken without her knowledge, the new appointee promptly packed her papers and left the venue of the retreat. After consultations with family and friends, she tendered her resignation letter to the President the following day. The President flung the letter at the bewildered former international civil servant saying she was free to go. She later learnt that was the ex- soldier turned farmer’s exceedingly polite way of turning down her resignation. The President later rescinded his position on the relocation of the Budget Office and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was fully welcome aboard the post-colonial national economic jungle known as Nigeria.

    These and other interesting insights are provided in the book titled ‘Reforming the Unreformable: Lessons from Nigeria’, published last year by Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. This highly readable book gives an account of Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s stewardship as Nigeria’s Finance Minister between 2003 and 2007. In lucid prose devoid of arcane and obscurantist academic jargon, the author paints a graphic picture of her diagnosis of the country’s economic challenges on resumption of office, the steps taken by the economic team under her leadership to find solutions and the immense challenges they confronted in the process.

    Of course, there is much to disagree with in this book. Given her over two- decade career at the World Bank, for instance, it is not surprising that Mrs Okonjo-Iweala adopts rather uncritically the neo-liberal philosophical and ideological underpinnings of western International Financial Institutions. Thus, state intervention in the economy is inherently bad. Privatisation, liberalisation and deregulation are inevitable, redemptive panaceas for national transformation. She gives no inkling that greedy and reckless international creditors were as culpable for Nigeria’s huge debt overhang as corrupt, unpatriotic and visionless Nigerian leaders. On the appointment of Charles Soludo as Economic Adviser to President Obasanjo, she writes, “we needed a sound macroeconomist – something Nigeria had not had in many years…” This is very untrue and insulting. On the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), Okonjo-Iweala avers that “…we could truly say that NEEDS was a home-grown Nigerian strategy and action plan to reduce poverty and create wealth- a plan put together by Nigerians for Nigeria”. This is an exaggeration. Most Nigerians were absolutely unaware of what NEEDS was about. In any case, NEEDS died with the Obasanjo administration. Not even Mrs Okonjo-Iweala has mentioned the acronym once in her second incarnation. Transformation agenda is the new mantra.

    In spite of these observations, however, the book as I said is extremely well written. The author’s mental clarity is not in doubt. Her analysis of the country’s economy is pungent and penetrating, which is not surprising given her intellectual and professional antecedents. But then, why the rather condescending title ‘Reforming the Unreformable’? Is it a reflection of her frustration at the impediment of her many ambitious reforms by the forces of graft, stagnation and retrogression? On reading through the book, I discovered that this is not the case. Rather, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala is convinced that the Economic Team under her leadership in the period under consideration indeed made considerable progress in reforming institutions and processes hitherto considered unreformable.

    Thus, in the first paragraph of her concluding chapter she enthuses “The implementation of reforms in the second Obasanjo Administration (2003-2007) broke a cycle of despair and cynicism among Nigerians about the prospects and future of their country. It showed that it is possible to bring about change, that there are Nigerians selfless enough to do this without sinking into corruption or personal gain, and that indeed it is possible to reform this hitherto unreformable country”. Of course, very few Nigerians will agree with this assertion. Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala is more realistic in the very next paragraph when she writes “But did the reforms launch Nigeria on a path of sustainable growth and development? The jury is still out. Nigeria has certainly been growing at a respectable 7 percent average annual rate since the reforms, but it is clear that the Nigerian economy has not yet fundamentally transformed, is not yet creating the number of jobs needed to absorb the youth, and faces a large unfinished reform agenda”.

    Make no mistake about it. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala and other members of her economic team – Nasir El Rufai, Nuhu Ribadu, Oby Ezekwesili, Charles Soludo etc. – did a yeoman’s job in the most difficult of circumstances and amidst intense opposition as detailed in the book. An annual Fiscal Strategy Paper was introduced to map and monitor expenditure to enhance fiscal discipline. They initiated the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Medium Term Sector Strategies (MTSS) as three year rolling budget frameworks to ensure continuity in execution of long-term projects, most of which were usually abandoned. The Due Process mechanism was instituted to enhance transparency in the procurement process while a Cash Management Committee was put in place to regularly reconcile accounts between the Budget Office and the Office of the Accountant General to ensure timely quarterly release of budgetary allocations. Mrs Okonjo-Iweala even made sure budgetary allocations to all tiers of government were published in the media for public awareness. The War Against Corruption was intensified through the EFCC and the initiation of the Fiscal Responsibility Bill. But all Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-‘Wahala’s’ efforts hardly made a dent on an unreformable structure.

    Attempts to enhance transparency in the management of public funds only made corruption more efficient by ensuring adherence to due process in the looting of the public treasury. The privatisation process was often perverted by graft and cronyism. Even the publication of budgetary allocations to the different tiers of government did not arouse the public to demand greater accountability from public officers. More people only clamoured for their own share of such an abundant national bounty! Mrs Okonjo-Iweala was elated that Nigeria paid $12 billion in 2005 to get a debt cancellation of $18 billion and exit the Paris Club of debtors. Not only have the promised benefits of debt forgiveness not materialised, today, Nigeria is smiling all the way back to debt peonage. She was happy that during her first coming, fuel subsidies of at least $1 billion were eliminated. Today, the economy groans under a far heavier weight of the contentious fuel subsidy. We take one step forward and ten steps backwards. The more things appear to change, the more they remain the same. What then is really wrong?

    I think the answer partly lies on page 19 of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s book. The Economic Team she writes decided that “…if we were to make any headway in improving economic and social performance of the country, we had to begin with macroeconomic and budgetary reforms”. Wrong. Any meaningful social and economic transformation agenda must begin with fundamental political reforms. Of course, this is beyond the brief of any economic team. It requires determined, principled and visionary political leadership that will push through a fundamental restructuring of our deformed federal polity; radical decentralisation of powers, responsibilities and resources; greater institutional autonomy for the police, judiciary, electoral and anti-corruption agencies among other measures. In the continued absence of such a selfless and purposeful leadership, Nigeria will remain as unreformable as ever no matter Okonjo-Iweala’s exertions.

    Just think of it. Right now, a President who is supposed to give Okonjo-Iweala and her team the full backing of his office for the realization of the transformation agenda is deeply embroiled in the raging civil war within his party with 2015 firmly in focus. As he dodges scud missiles from the direction of Ota, launches bazookas of his own, keeps an eye on suicide bombers from the northern sector and seeks to contain possible snipers among governors and legislators of his party, will he have any time for any transformation agenda? I pity the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and her team. They are severely on their own. After her current tour of duty, I hope Dr. Okonjo-Iweala will not have to write another book titled: ‘Abandoning The Unredeemable’.

  • Re: A president’s holy hypocrisy

    Last week I inexplicably wrote that the Nigerian civil war occurred between 1969 and 1971 rather than 1967 to 1970. I tender my sincere apologies and thank the numerous readers that drew my attention to the error.

    Today I publish some of the reactions to my piece of Saturday, 22nd December, 2012. Kindly read and ruminate.

    Segun, for sure you will never see anything good in Mr President. I think the man is wallowing in the disjointed system he inherited, so don’t blame him much and moreover tribalism, religious and political affiliation that has been a snag in this country, are not helping matters. So he needs prayers. We all need prayers including you.

    God bless Nigeria,

    Don Ezeala, 08064843000

     I read your column on ‘A President’s Holy Hypocrisy’. I appreciate your concern but sir, I humbly wish that you please note the following: the altar that President Jonathan knelt belongs to God not Pastor Adeboye. God’s door and worship places are in this period of grace open to ALL MEN. The owner of this vineyard will separate the vine at His chosen time.

    God bless and keep you sir, Makanjuola, 08152243411

     Did Salami pay you? Will your paymasters do better than Jonathan? How many other ordinary Nigerians have suffered more injustice? Show more respect when writing about the president,

    08139010472

     Holy hypocrisy – Did I hear you say that people don’t know their votes for GEJ will foist clueless leadership on them? Where have the voters been since 1999? You mean they don’t know what the party he comes from represented? Oh, I remember they voted for GEJ not PDP. Thoughtless people who never learn. You all voted along sentimental lines all because a guy once had no shoes. Truth is the country is getting what they deserve for lack of wisdom at the polls. Come 2015, the mistake will be repeated for Nigerians never learn from mistakes, 08064286736

     Jonathan pitted what he termed the 40% Yoruba against the 60% other tribes (read Ijaw) in Lagos during the 2011 elections. He did not mind the consequences of his utterances so long as he became President. With 2015 in mind, he kneels before a Yoruba pastor for redemption. What a geek! Jonathan is not only a hypocrite; he is a snake as depicted by Sam Omatseye, Foster Adeleke, 07059540595

    Marijata or what do you call yourself? How much were you paid to run down Mr President? Maybe he should have gone to babalawo to prostrate so that we can hail him. You have written virtually everything about this man. I am waiting for the day you will write about how Jonathan makes love to his wife. I am sure you are seeking for attention but nobody will grant you that hence you cannot rule your tiny village in Kogi State, stupid man, 07063121321

     I think you got it wrong on Saturday. What is bad in kneeling down for prayers? He swore to uphold the country’s constitution. Does that mean he shouldn’t practice his religion? Abaa! Even the bible says leaders should be prayed for,

    Sola Awe, Osogbo, 08022467206

    Sir, the President thinks that kneeling can solve the problem, not knowing it takes heroism, entrepreneurial culture, power and political drama, risk taking, courage, hardihood and vision not sympathy. Mr Segun, please tell him we cannot be fooled again, AdemolaNajim, 08068069798

     If people like you are not employed to do dirty work by running down the President because he is from the minority, what is wrong for leader kneeling down to before a man of God? Can you tell us which of the former Presidents of Islamic faith attended a Christian ceremony? Enough of this rubbish,

    Sam, Port Harcourt, 08037986593

     Segun, ‘A President’s Holy Hypocrisy’ is really a masterpiece in the way we Christians display our Christian life and ‘bornagainism’. The President’s hypocritical posture got to its apogee when he could not take care of his brother who died of malaria and his haggard-looking children; let alone other Nigerians or infrastructure like East-West road. As a crafty man, he chose to pretend on serious issues ravaging the country like failed security, elevated corrupt practices, total decay in infrastructure and appointment of failed politicians into juicy posts like Nigeria Ports Authority in order to help him in 2015. But Nigerians will never be tricked by those shoeless, Christian, Ph. D and regional sentiments. We need a prepared, purposeful and fearless leader who will not surround himself with praise singers and charlatans. We cannot be tricked for the second time. We are tired of him,

    Chike, 08033078336

     Compliments of the season, Sege. Read your Saturday stuff but I am beginning to have problems with the definition of ‘free and fair election’. Is it an election where the number of armed security men are more than registered voters or the one in which people are disenfranchised by a concocted voters register? Jonathan is President if we like it or not so Baba Adeboye cannot be blamed for allowing him to talk. What we have to live with for now is that Nigeria is on auto pilot. So, on our knees!, Regards,

    Olu, 07036646361

     Your December 22 article on the President’s hypocrisy was superb. Ride on, 08063812854

     What I understand of the Holy Ghost is it inspires us to passionately seek and adhere to the right things and hate evil, so if by now the President is not ruthlessly dealing with the challenges that are confronting the nation, it simply means the Holy Ghost he seeks continues to elude him. If I were him, I will be thinking of vacating the seat for a naturally ruthless person like Adams Oshiomhole or MuhammaduBuhari and continue to seek the Kingdom of God off the seat. If not, on it, God will always demand of him his stewardship and that may cost him dearly,

    Charles Iortyom, Makurdi, 07030437547

     It is like you are not mentally stable. It is not your fault, 08034225504

     Look Mr Segun or what you call yourself, what is it that Mr President did to you that you cannot forgive and pray for his repentance? Me thinks you are not a Christian because if you are go to Mathew 7:1. You are under God’s judgement for judging your fellow man. You are not a Christian and with an unforgiving spirit. First remove the spoke in your eyes before trying to help others. You unrepentant, selfish, pretending, unworthy servant,

    EzemaOzalla, 08179790654

     Hypocrisy is the middle name of the political class in Nigeria. Just imagine some years back, Agagu went to the Redemption Camp to thank the Lord for his victory at the polls, not too long after Mimiko also gave a testimony on his victory. The list of opportunists who mount the altar from the Obasanjo era is endless, from the opposition to the ruling party. People who perform rituals, make their godson to swear oath and rig elections now go to camp for prayers. What a shame!,

    Kola Alao, Lagos, 07069010873

     Sege, quite an interesting piece; really illuminating. Many Nigerians now know President GEJ as a deceit and a big mistake,

    Adey, Oshodi, Lagos, 07057631041

     Your article on this subject I admit was spot on. However, your question as to why would the G.O. allow his venerated altar to be cynically manipulated for political ends should find answers in the working relationship that exists between political leaders and religious leaders to perpetually keep the citizenry focussed on heavenly quest and God’s kingdom so as not to make demands on political leadership. The deliberate teachings of religious leaders on prosperity, God’s kingdom and the fact that this world is theirs take the pressure off political leaders. Keep illuminating, Williams Nuatin Genesis, Badagry, 0807776755

    “Is his treatment of Salami the action of A God-fearing man?” That indeed is the question! “Daddy G.O.” prayed for the President (perhaps on request) concerning his ‘onerous job’. At post-prayer session, he should have gone the whole hog and admonished him to ‘act right’ in Salami’s matter in fulfilment of God’s injunction in Ecclesiastics 12: 13-14; Strange that since the Holy Ghost Congress and open prayers, the President has simply gone back to ‘high stake’ politics and befuddled the nation with his decision to reappoint Chief Annenih as NPA Chairman!, 08034726625

    Segun, if you were a Christian I would have referred you to many places in the bible for you to know how God works. Jesus said he came for sinners not for the righteous and as many as receive him he gives the power to be children of God. God said he uplifts those who humble themselves but debases the haughty. Another thing I will let you know is that kings and rulers are made by God be they good or bad. They are installed for a purpose. God said in the bible that He raised Pharaoh of Egypt up for the sole purpose to show his might, so however it may be, leave Jonathan alone. There is a hand that kept him there and His purpose is best known to him. Nobody can undo what he has done except God permits it, 0806121‘0106

    Segun, you said it all. Jonathan hasdefinitely lost focus. The most painful is that of Justice Salami. They are with the swash-buckling Justice Minister, Adoke, playing away with time till when Justice Salami’s retirement comes. Jonathan never thinks or acts like someone who has a doctorate . He’s only there for history, 08136665522

    Segun, I’ve been your regular reader with high interest but your President’s holy hypocrisy has exposed your lack of real knowledge. Has Buhari, IBB, Abubakar or late YarÁdua ever entered a church? Are you saying GEJ should compromise his faith to please the devils?,Akpegi U.A, Abuja, 08138048180

    Uncle Segun, I was telling a young man in my office recently that some people that gave testimony in a thanksgiving service would have been struck dead if it were the time of holiness. Most of our altars are polluted. I am not surprised at the President’s hypocrisy but I think they should fear their creator, 08020645743

    My dear brother Segun, I just read your illuminating piece of a deceitful President. May the good Lord deliver us from this wicked soul, 08081862575

    There is no better way to express my appreciation over your article today. More grease to your elbows,

    Chris Itodo, Makurdi, 07030156730

    Mr Ayobolu, even though there are many things wrong with our country but there is nothing wrong in the President going to the RCCG event; there is also nothing wrong if he is recognised there; even the bible says Honour the King (Proverbs 24:21). I think you are mixing your dislike for the President with his faith, his freedom to express himself in a religious manner fit for him. Earlier this year when the Vice President was shown in Saudi Arabia performing his religious rites, why didn’t you echo a similar sentiment? I can feel so much bitterness and harsh judgements issuing from your column; I know if you were the Holy Ghost, you would have rained down liquid fire on the President at the altar but God does not have the heart of a man. You made some good points though, Cyril Musa, 07054002641

    You are not a disinterested commentator; you are an aggrieved partisan. I am certain that the Holy Ghost will not be embarrassed that a sinful President knelt or came before the throne of grace, Teyo, 08159500393

    Good day sir. I read The Nation newspaper almost daily. I like their stuff. I learn from your write ups too but the one thing I don’t understand is how you don’t usually see any good thing done by Mr President. More annoying, you won’t even proffer alternative solution to whatever you are talking about. Worst, you hit it hard either on that Christian pastor, CAN leadership etc. I may be wrong but it is not fair. Hit the Muslims a day or two, let’s see if the world would remain the same again,

    Kingsley, 08037395242

    This is my second time of responding to your write up on political issues. I am amazed that you are criticising the President for his humility in kneeling before a man whom you accept as a man of impeccable integrity and undeniable credibility. What is shameful or embarrassing in that act? The greater hypocrisy is from people like you who are always attacking people like Jonathan and Oritsejafor and turning a blind eye to the real people wrecking our society in the name of making this nation ungovernable. Why don’t you turn your attention on those sponsoring killings in the North? They have succeeded in destroying what was once a great region such that people are now running away from the North including even Northerners themselves. Please note that God will judge you people when you abuse the privilege you have in influencing public opinion by reason of where you work, 08069690340

    God is not a man so he never sees the way men see. The President may have gone to seek the prayer of pastor Adeboye with the mind of “Lord have mercy on me a sinner”. Hence he would return home justified by God than those who criticised him over that move. What can only he do in the midst of many frustrating his effort for their selfish and corrupt interest? Nigeria’s poor general condition is just the continuation of what Jonathan inherited and not easy to solve than calling on God as other reasonable Nigerians,

    08067549105

    Mr Segun, I wonder why you didn’t win any award at the just concluded NMMA. Your write up of today to me spoke the minds of millions of intellectually upright people. I think people like you, Mr.Osuji, Mr.Omatseye and a lot of you who have the audacity to always say the truth in this our religion infested society deserve great commendation. Keep the fire burning. This write up is of A+ rating,

    08035502412

    May God bless you and increase you in wisdom for that beautiful write up in today’s paper. You raised several fundamental issues. Keep it up bro, Bode Thomas, Akure, 08034978855

    Mr Ayobolu, why are you always castigating the President even when he went to church to pray? When has it become an offence as a Christian to kneel down in front of a clergyman in a church for God’s sake? Enough is enough for you these agents of evil who are bent on bringing this country down, Prince AdeniyiAdedoyin, 08132940725

    Dear SegunAyobolu, your article today makes a must contribution from me for the simple reason of saving you and some of your ignorant readers. Please for you and your family’s sake, do not write on anything about God. A man saw the Ark of the Lord falling and went to help to stop it only for God to strike him dead immediately for he is not supposed to touch the Ark. This is exactly what you have done. My prayer is that God will forgive you this time. But if you are in doubt, try and see if my God will not do what he said he will do. Adeboye will allow and bless anybody kneeling before him according to the direction of the spirit and not according to your law. He is seeing the spiritual Jonathan and not the physical Jonathan you are seeing, Andrew Udeze, Abuja, 08133790744

    Your article shows how timid and partial Nigerian journalists are. Jonathan is a politician. Why should Pastor Adeboye always surrender his pulpit to the high and mighty whenever they come calling at his Congress? Does Pastor Adeboyeafford lowly placed Nigerians such privilege? Would Christ have discriminated on the basis of a person’s social status? How often have you had the courage to criticise Pastor Adeboye for buying a private jet in the midst of abject poverty in a country where over 70% live below $1 a day? Would Christ have done that? Be courageous in speaking the truth and I assure you that the heavens will not fall,

    08033856295

    Segun, your piece is thought provoking. It is time Jonathan’s media handlers advise him to stop insulting our sensibilities. He should read Galatians 6:7 “God is not mocked. Whatsoever, a man sows that he shall reap”, AgabaOkpe, 08037031507

  • Mko Abiola’s forgotten reparations crusade

    Mko Abiola’s forgotten reparations crusade

    Towards the end of 2012, an explosive new book by Africa’s first literature Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, titled: ‘Harmattan Haze on an African Spring’ was quietly released to the reading public. I guess this must have been about the same time that Professor Chinua Achebe’s highly controversial and contentious book, ‘There was A Country: A personal history of Biafra” also emerged on the country’s literary firmament. The focus of Achebe’s book is Nigeria and the civil war that rocked the country to its very foundations between 1969 and 1971. On its part, Soyinka’s latest literary offering takes an incisive look at the African condition exploring how her tragic and bitter past has shaped the present but may also contain those elements necessary for the redemption of a much abused continent.

    ‘Harmattan Haze on an African Spring’ is a characteristically ‘Soyinkaesque’ tour de force traversing diverse spheres of human knowledge including history, geography, political economy, literary and visual arts, philosophy and psychology among several others. Without exculpating Africans from responsibility for the present condition of the continent – its backwardness, ceaseless conflicts and deepening underdevelopment – Soyinka insists that a confrontation with the continent’s history and a refusal to sweep its lessons under the carpet is foundational to understanding Africa and charting a viable path to her socio-economic, moral and political rejuvenation.

    I am not very much concerned in this piece with Soyinka’s rather controversial advocacy of a return to pristine pre-colonial African spirituality as part of the necessary processes for the salvation of the continent. Like Achebe, Soyinka extols the tolerance, accommodation and liberal spirit of African traditional religions comparing this to the perceived totalising authoritarianism and hegemonic aspirations of Islam and Christianity on the continent. Traditional African spirituality, he believes, has a lot to teach contemporary Africa on the virtues of religious tolerance but also stemming the destructive tide of sectarian extremism in diverse parts of the continent. For me, the most moving parts of Soyinka’s rendering of our history are those in which he dwells at length on the slave trade and its’ terribly dehumanizing implications for the black race.

    Soyinka’s vivid imagery confirms Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s press statement on 28th June, 1961, that “From the beginning of recorded history, the black man has been the conspicuous butt of all manner of inhuman treatment. In the palaces of the Arabian potentates – both in the Middle East and in North Africa – he was degraded and enslaved. When the so-called ‘Dark Continent of Africa’ was discovered, the European marauders hunted him down like a common beast, captured him, and sold him into slavery in the Americas and West Indies.” Awolowo goes on to detail the negative consequences of colonialism and neo-colonialism for the African continent.

    Of course, we are aware of Walter Rodney’s seminal work, ‘How Europe Underdeveloped Africa’, which proved incontrovertibly that the very same exploitative forces of slavery and colonialism responsible largely for the underdevelopment of Africa also played pivotal roles in the socio-economic and industrial ascendancy and triumphalism of the West. Yet, there are those who, despite these glaring facts of history, see in the position of scholars like Rodney only an attempt to push onto others the responsibility for Africa’s predicament while denying Africans of any culpability. This was certainly the view of President Barak Obama, when in his speech to Ghana’s parliament on Saturday, July 11, 2009 he said: “It is easy to point fingers, and to pin the blame for these problems on others. Yes, a colonial map that made little sense bred conflict, but the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants.”

    This kind of superficial reading of history will surely benefit from the following insight from one of Africa’s foremost scholars, the late Professor Claude Ake: “The slave trade disorganized and devastated Africa on such scale that she was forever available for domination by virtually everyone. Not surprisingly the Europeans carved up Africa among themselves, colonized her and proceeded to complete the work of disorganization and debasement which had begun with the slave trade. A great deal of emphasis has been placed on the detrimental economic effects of colonization. But this was not necessarily its most damaging effect. In all probability, it contributed less to our problems than the political and cultural policies. Colonialism was premised on the inferiority of the colonised. That premise is the very content of the ‘civilising mission’”. Ruminating on these issues reminded me, once again, of the indelible role of the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola in the history both of Nigeria and Africa. Mention the name Abiola today, and what comes to mind are either his numerous philanthropic activities or his bid for the country’s presidency in the historic but cruelly aborted June 12, 1993, presidential election.

    But Abiola meant much more than these. He was easily the wealthiest black man in his life time. A key mission he adopted later in his life was the vigorous campaign for the payment of reparations to Africa for the depredations of slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism. Abiola selflessly deployed his enormous resources towards the attainment of this end of correcting a historic injustice and monumental crime against humanity. Given a rationale for his crusade in a speech in London in 1992, Abiola declared “Our demand for reparations is based on the tripod of moral, historic and legal arguments. Who knows what path Africa’s social development would have taken if our great centres of civilisation had not been razed in search of human cargo? Who knows how our economies would have developed…?”. In December 1990, Abiola convened and sponsored the first world conference on reparations at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos, where he formally inaugurated the reparations campaign. The campaign moved to the continental level in June 1991 when the Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity now the African Union as well as the 55th Council of Ministers of the Union passed a resolution recognizing the injustice of slavery in Africa and affirmed the continent’s right to reparations.

    The Eminent Persons Group set up to steer the reparations campaign convened the first Pan-African conference on Reparations in Abuja in April 1993 with participants drawn from Africa, Asia, America and Europe. The conference issued a communiqué reiterating the imperative of paying reparations to Africa for the physical and psychological brutality, socio-cultural dislocation and economic dysfunction caused by slavery, colonialism and imperialism in general; acts of injustice without parallel in human history. All of these efforts were personally funded by Chief MKO Abiola even though the Babangida regime later donated the sum of $500,000 to the cause. It was as the campaign was gaining momentum that Abiola ventured into politics to contest Nigeria’s presidency on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) – a distraction that led to his eventual tragic fate.

    But why did MKO abandon the reparations crusade? Could he have seen that paying reparations to largely corrupt, decadent and oppressive African states would be like pouring water down a basket? Could he have noticed that most African leaders in their brazen contempt for and mistreatment of their own people are no better than the pre-colonial slave masters and their African collaborators? Could he have noticed that the majority of African leaders have slavishly and voluntarily sold their intellects to western International Financial Institutions like the IMF and World Bank and lack the capacity to pursue autonomous policies that can liberate the socio-economic potentials of an otherwise well endowed continent?

    Indeed, Professor Nworisara Nwolise of the Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan, recently noted that if a slave ship were to berth on the ports of African countries today, millions would voluntarily scramble to get aboard and be relieved of the agony of an existence no different from hell on earth. Surely, it cannot get worse than that. True, the case for reparations to Africa for the depredations of slavery and colonialism remains unassailable. If the Jews have been paid billions in reparations for the holocaust that lasted roughly twelve years, how much should Africa be recompensed for dehumanizing slavery and colonialism that lasted over 400 years, deprived the continent of the best of her human resource while also mercilessly exploiting her natural and mineral resources? But right now, African leaders simply lacks the moral integrity to make a case for reparations. Indeed, the way Africa is largely misgoverned today simply validates the case of those who argue that the slave raiders actually did the captured slaves a favour by liberating them from the ‘heart of darkness”. What a great pity.

  • BRF: My man of the year

    BRF: My man of the year

    In the beginning was the word. That is true not just in the spiritual, religious sphere. It is also particularly true of politics. At the beginning of politics, there is the word. But for the continuous and sustenance of politics, there must continue to be the word. For, the essence of politics, it’s central nervous system, is communication. And the building blocks of communication are words. In despotic politics, it is the tyrannical, unquestionable word. In democratic politics, it is the seductive, persuasive word. But that is a central dilemma of democracy. When does persuasion become cynical and devious manipulation? After all, the iconoclastic Professor Noam Chomsky has warned that in supposedly democratic societies, corporate monopolies easily ‘manufacture consent’ through the manipulation of the media. Words can be honest and true. But words can also be deceitful and false. President Obama rode to power in his first term largely on his soaring rhetoric of hope. He has won re-election by persuading Americans of his sincerity and good intentions even if his promised hope remains, largely, a dream deferred. But Hitler also rose to power substantially on the power of his xenophobic oratory. Will the most eloquent orator or the most clever debater capable of beguiling the gullible majority necessarily make the most effective and patriotic leader? That remains a central riddle of democracy.

    In Nigeria, politicians also love words. This year, for instance, our leaders have issued a torrent of words. But they have been largely sad, desolate, despondent words in the form of condolences, regrets and expressions of shock after suicide bombings, assassinations, air crashes and sundry other avoidable tragedies. But in this festive season we have been drenched in a surfeit of words offering hope and optimism for the coming year. President Goodluck Jonathan, for example, has solemnly assured us that he would continue to move towards his promised transformation Eldorado at his current snail’s speed so as not to make mistakes associated with undue hastiness. He indeed gave his teeming Facebook friends the good news of improvements in the country ‘s power and transportation sectors. A substantial proportion of the President ‘s Facebook friends appeared not too pleased with what they probably considered a strange gospel from St. Jonathan. Many of them sounded quite unfriendly in vehemently pointing out to their presidential friend the vast gulf between his rosy assertions and their harsh existential realities. A good number of them appeared somewhat in a hurry for the arrival of 2015 to enable them pass a verdict on a President’s self satisfied leisurely stroll through the pleasurable corridors of power in a country obviously in a hurry to unravel under the weight of multiple tragedies. This is a good sign. For democracy to survive and be strengthened, more and more people must develop the capacity to weigh and consider the words of elective office holders, compare them with reality and take rational decisions at the polls.

    Since his assumption of office in 2007 and especially in his second term, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State has most times neither spoken nor acted like a typical politician. He is not a soaring orator. His public discourse often sound more like the coldly logical reasoning of a sober Senior Advocate in a court of law. In a way he sometimes reminds me of President Obama. Some of his actions may be unpopular even if necessary. He may not have satisfied some of the high hopes his outstanding performance has raised. But you always have a feeling that he means well; that some of his apparently harsh decisions are actuated by the purest and noblest of motives. During the last electioneering campaigns in Lagos State, some of his opponents made a big deal of the issue of taxation in Lagos State. One of them in particular promised to reduce taxes, increase workers’ wages and at the same time provide Lagos with a new network of ring roads. Of course, Lagosians saw through the elaborate fakery and gave Fashola a resounding victory at the polls.

    Some people have told me that Fashola has slowed down considerably in his second term; that his performance since 2011 has been below par. Of course, I disagree . First, I think the Fashola administration’s exemplary first term performance had raised hopes abnormally of a super human second term outing. Even then within the limits of resource, institutional and constitutional restraints, I am convinced that the administration continues to pose a path-breaking performance in diverse spheres. Lagos continues its steady pace towards being Africa’s model Mega city with so much going on in diverse spheres – education, health, the environment, infrastructure provision and poverty alleviation among others. More importantly, having laid a firm foundation in his first term, it seems to me that Fashola has opted for a less obtrusive and intrusive style in his second term allowing Institutions and processes to work routinely rather than personally projecting himself. Of course, there are rare exceptions like when he was forced to personally apprehend a military officer driving on the BRT rote contrary to the law. But this is unsurprising since Fashola himself has never used the siren or used the BRT lane even when held up in traffic.

    Fashola has phenomenally accelerated the radical modernization and expansion of infrastructure commenced by the Tinubu administration. As that process intensifies, it becomes imperative to commence the radical adjustment of the mental infrastructure of the people who will utilize this in accordance with the demands of a fast developing Mega city. This is what has apparently necessitated such tough measures as the new traffic law, the severe restriction on the operation of Okada, the introduction of tuition fees at the Lagos State University (LASU) and the collection of tolls on the Lagos-Épé Expressway – a Public-Private-Participation (PPP) project. Yet, the critics have also not appreciated some of the palliative measures of the administration including the provision of alternative artisan training skills for ex-Okada riders, the maintenance of a hugely funded scholarship scheme for indigent students of LASU and indeed the non-commencement of the tuition fees with students already admitted into the university.

    As patron of the Island Club, Governor Fashola utilized the opportunity of the annual Christmas Eve dance to reiterate his beliefs about government and his expectations of Lagosians and indeed Nigerians. In his thoughtful words: “ I believe that the dreams we aspire to as a people and as a country cannot be delivered to us by anybody. We must want it hard enough to begin to act to earn it. Law and order must be our gold standard. No revolution will bring a better life to us either, because I have heard the various calls for revolution. But the revolution we need is in our hearts. No leader can also force us to do that unless we are persuaded that it is necessary and I believe that it is necessary”. His central message was that a societal revolution must begin with a revolution in the habits, attitudes Andy values of the individual. This is probably why he places so much premium on enforcing law and order and ensuring that individual conduct is compatible with societal harmony and sanity. Continuing he told his audience “Sometimes I struggle to understand where we want to go. But in spite of these struggles, I am clear in my mind what kind of society I want to live in, grow old in and die in. In my life time, I want to see a reliable electricity power supply in Nigeria. It is not just praying about it. It is about talking about it and doing something about it”.

    Those could easily have been from Barak Obama’s lips talking about America. Fashola is certainly serious about what the award winning columnist, Sam Omatseye, calls building “a decent society”..This requires courage and Fashola has shown lots of it in 2012 for which he deserves commendation. But it also requires tact and patience so that the hawkish and selfish proponents of an indecent society are not given the opportunity of restoring the years of the locusts. Yes, the politician thinks of the next election and the statesman the next generation. But it will certainly help the next generation a great deal if the patriotic, statesman wins the next election. Here I would like to refer to President Obama’s interview in the current edition of Time magazine, which chose him as Man of the year. Obama said what struck him most about a new film on Lincoln he had watched with his staff were the compromises and deals the 16th President had to make in pursuit of his effort to abolish slavery. Obama noted that you sometimes have no choice but to get your hands dirty even in the pursuit of high minded ideals. Lesson: Governor Fashola must consider in some instances short term tactical compromises to win long term strategic objectives. Even then, BRF has had the courage to take tough decisions that may make him personally unpopular in certain quarters but are in the long term interest of Lagos State. It takes leadership to insist that Lagos State cannot run an Okada economy in the 21st century and that LASU cannot continueto be run like a glorified secondary school. Yes, for focus, vision, selflessness and tenacity, he is my man of the year.