Yes, Nigerians are happy to see considerable cooperation between  both the Executive and the Legislature but for a certainty, Nigerians are by no means looking forward to an obsequious legislature which will forget that it is co-equal with the Executive, with some of its members allowing themselves to be used to test  he resolve of Nigerians

 

“WE have told those clamouring for restructuring, saying they want a parallel body to-do it, that they are wrong. The sovereignty of the people resides with the parliament, so, to restructure the country, you must approach the National Assembly”. – The Presidency.

It is not for nothing that President Muhammadu Buhari has now twice asked those clamouring for restructuring Nigeria to approach the National Assembly, nor was it fortuitous,  that Sen. (Prof.) Oserheimen A. Osunbor. KSC, in being requested  to choose a topic of his own for a lecture at the Law faculty of the Ajayi Crowder University, Oyo, elected to talk on what he captioned: CONSTITUTION AMENDMENT IN NIGERIA: CONCEPTS AND MISCONCEPTIONS”.

Let us capture, at some length, his reasons for that choice. Said he:

“When the Vice Chancellor, Rt. Reverend Professor Dapo Asaju requested me to come and give a talk to the Law Students on any topic of my choice, I had no hesitation at all in accepting. The only challenge was what topic I should speak on. This is because there is so much to talk about in Nigeria today (not necessarily a specific Law subject) which should sufficiently attract the interest of the generality of students. Of course, Law students, like Lawyers should, and do, take interest in current issues of public interest. Amongst the most talked about today are the issues of Corruption, “True Federalism”, Fiscal Federalism and Resource Control, Restructuring, Security and the war on Terrorism, State Police, Corruption in the Judiciary and Judicial Reform as well as Constitution Amendment. I have publicly expressed my views on all these in the past; at public lectures and newspaper interviews …”

“I have chosen on this occasion to speak on Constitution Amendment because the Constitution, being the fundamental law of the land and hence the grundnorm holds the key and provides the framework, legal and institutional, within which all other problems confronting our nation can be addressed and resolved”

He spoke further..

“Since the inception of the current democratic dispensation in 1999, each successive session of the National Assembly has embarked on constitution amendment exercise. The 5th and 6th Sessions of the National Assembly effected some amendments of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999. The 7th National Assembly also undertook a very ambitious Constitution review exercise covering well over 100 different matters at great financial cost to the public but the exercise yielded no benefit for the country to the disappointment, if not anger of many. One civil society group was reported to have threatened to sue the National Assembly for the refund of the sum of N4 billion naira, allegedly expended on that futile exercise (This day, Monday 8 June 2015, page 53.

This article’s raison detre therefore, and so early in the year, is concerned with where the quote from Professor Osunbor ends because Nigerians needn’t be told that the National Assembly has, since 1999, served only itself, in the process, turning  Constitution amendment exercises to a  money gobbling sinkhole. It is alleged to have once again voted a hefty N1Billion for the same purpose in the current budget. I will indeed, be surprised if most members know, in Osunbor’s words, that the constitution “holds the key, and provides the framework, legal and institutional, within which all other problems confronting our nation can be addressed and resolved”.

It is that important.

So thoroughly nauseated was I with the National Assembly on this selfsame subject that on Sunday, 30 July, 2017 I wrote as follows on these pages in a piece I captioned: “Constitutional Amendment: An absolutely self-serving National Assembly”: “Should the National Assembly ever have its way with these convoluted constitutional amendments, Nigeria will be guaranteed to make no headway, whatever, this entire century. The members are so arrogant, and self- serving they will not be bothered whatever happens to this country. They showed this total disdain for Nigeria’s well-being the way they egregiously shut out devolution of powers to states which a responsible National Assembly should have realised is the most assured way of stemming the mushrooming, fissiparous tendencies tearing at the very heart of the nation. And were they perspicacious enough, they should have known that it was disingenuous to base the approval of Local Government autonomy on the laughable excuse of fighting executive- induced corruption at that level for, were that to be true, there should have been  no justification for having a national assembly which has turned oversight functions to an avenue for corruption, harassing and intimidating heads of federal  agencies. I make bold to say that they need not be a professor of Law to know that all these self-serving amendments are an exercise in futility. It is only a truly Peoples’ constitution that can get Nigeria back from its present perilous road to Golgotha. Why should they need be told that Nigeria is at the precipice, on the brink? Where is their love of country as opposed to self-love?  IPOB, and several other groups are on the prowl, strenuously challenging the country’s very existence, yet what gnaws at them is having immunity, being members of the Council of state and subordinating the country’s president to themselves in constitutional matters. Are they so remiss they don’t know that the federating units in this country are two: federal and state? So from where did they manufacture autonomy for local governments? If INEC could hardly make a success of conducting national elections, is it reasonable to inflict Local Government elections on it?  How does this amendment accord with federalism and in which civilised country of the world is this the norm? If the idea is to stop state governors from tampering with local government funds, who will protect Nigerians from these rapacious legislators whose humongous quarterly allowances, owe nothing to the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission?”

Let’s invite the Cicero, Uncle Bola Ige, the late Attorney-General and minister of Justice of the Federation, to rejig their memory. Wrote the erudite lawyer and statesman, inter alia, in his column in The Tribune of  27 April, 1996: “Nigeria is the only federation in the whole world where the federal government decides how, where, and when a local government council must run. In all civilized countries, and in all democratic countries, it is the state or provincial or regional government that legislates on local government”. Writing further, he said: “Unfortunately, the Murtala-Obasanjo federal military government began the nonsense that has remained with us ever since when it set  up the  Ibrahim Dasuki  commission whose recommendation is the worst disaster to happen to local government system in Nigeria because it was there that the idea of uniformity in size, scope and administration was introduced”.

The National Assembly has again embarked on another constitution amendment  exercise which a senator, mentioned in this piece, was honest enough to confess had yielded nothing positive to the country. One may say , in mitigation for the present leadership of the National Assembly  though, that they are a far cry from the totally selfish one that preceded it; one in which its numero uno member was going from one court to another on which days, the Assembly was on virtual holiday.  Happy is it too, that it has demonstrated love of country by the unprecedented  seriousness with which  it handled the year’s budget but even these should not send us into any delirium to make us forget  that the Assembly still has within it, a huge chunk of the predatory elements who made the 8th Assembly what it was, that is, who  see membership as only a means to self aggrandizement. Some of these elements have so soon shown themselves in the type of bills they sponsored, and which the senate, surprisingly, is aggressively  progressing whereas the House has shown much more maturity in its handling of very sensitive matters. Yes, Nigerians are happy to see considerable cooperation between  both the Executive and the Legislature but for a certainty, Nigerians are by no means looking forward to an obsequious legislature which will forget that it is co-equal with the Executive, with some of its members allowing themselves to be used to test  he resolve of Nigerians.

On the contrary, Nigerians are looking ahead to a proactive, serious and patriotic National Assembly  that will effectively take in hand the following issues amongst others: separation of the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and State from the Minister/Commissioner for Justice, Financial Independence for the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation and the State, as well as a timeframe for submitting ministerial or commissioner nominees, to the Senate or the State House of Assembly for confirmation, say,  within thirty days of taking the Oath of office, especially now that some state governors literally take like a  full year.

Resolving the Power Devolution conundrum is number one, and it is a sine qua non.

By Femi Orebe

---

Unfortunately these legislators are themselves so misdirected some of them point fingers at the President when Nigerians cry out from their extreme want.

---

In a speech marking the 40th anniversary of her ascension, Queen Elizabeth 11 referred to the year 1992 as ‘Annus Horribilis’ – a latin  phrase  meaning “a horrible year ;  one  she would  not look back   at  with undiluted pleasure”.  It is the opposite of  annus mirabilis, which, in turn,  means a “wonderful year”. Incidentally, the London Telegraph has already wondered aloud as to whether she would not call 2019 “Annus Horribilis 2”. What with the cascading problems in the royalty, one being Prince Andrew’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the late American convicted sex offender?

I go back then to my article:  ‘Lest Nigeria strays into war’,  first published, July 28, 2019 ,  but which will be heavily edited to reflect current realities because Nigeria needs to take a fresh look at, and change  course, on a number of issues lest it falls flat on its face.

I urge a clear-headed reading of this piece, in the knowledge that it is far too easy for some of our compatriots to read extraneous meanings into articles of this nature. I have, indeed, recently been accused of fighting a proxy war, one which I knew not existed, if at all it does. Happily, those who know me, or have been reading me for the past 15 years, or more, know that such rude aspersions will never succeed in gagging me.

LEST NIGERIA STRAYS INTO WAR

“Re your last week article: ‘Rwandan genocide: Elementary lessons of history’ . The historical account you gave on what triggered the First World War, and what culminated in the Rwandan genocide, are as scary as they are frightening. And it requires no extra-sensory perception to know how indicative they are of what may befall Nigeria if President Buhari remains undecided as to the way out of the near implosion in our country” – Emmanuel Egwu – Ebonyi State.

In Nigeria today, it is increasingly looking like: to your tents O Israel, with needless problems daily mushrooming. In vain have I made the point   that nation building is not a sprint, but a marathon. While most of my readers claim to understand this, they also say that there is no level playing – ground anywhere in our country. They claim to have severally drawn attention to the President’s seeming disdain for restructuring, or Power devolution, which many see as the correct way forward, in solving our myriad problems of nation building.  Remind them that the President has , indeed, already proclaimed his love for true federalism,  and you are promptly told to name  one single  move he has made in that direction since he so, announced,  or if  the report of his party’s El Rufai Committee on Power Devolution is not just gathering dust wherever it is.  There are many more issues tearing at the very heart of Nigeria and Nigerians, about which they never cease complaining, and to which they need urgent solutions, if Nigeria is not to self destruct. A list of such matters should not delay us. Rather, we will take some of these head  on in the hope that  the President, the legislators and heads of governments in the states and the local governments  would accord them all the attention required to effect positive change.

Only this past week on the Channel’s TV Sunrise Daily programme, I heard a discussant say things to the effect that you cannot love your country if it cares not for you, you cannot serve it in love, nor can you wish it well, or serve it willingly. This is a challenge to our leaders at all levels since the happiness of the majority of the people is the  raison detre of government.  The happiness of the people,   despite whatever the President,  and  the  state governors  are doing,  still lag far behind the peoples’ expectations.

For instance, given the level of poverty in the land, with 69 per cent living below the poverty line, no matter the sophistry of the Senate spokesperson, Nigerians can NEVER imagine how on earth N37B can be voted for a mere renovation of the National assembly whose members’ huge salaries and allowances, are a daily source of angst for most Nigerians. This amount of money, for such a ridiculous purpose, is particularly gratuitous at a time thousands of Internally displaced persons are so shortchanged, many are submit ting themselves   to having unwanted pregnancies.   It is worse that the President was said to have specifically approved of this outlandish amount to renovate a building that was built in 1999 for only $35.18 m. It is hoped that their conscience will moderate this,  unlike the constitutional amendment exercise which for four sessions now the Mational Assembly has turned to a sinkhole , having just allegedly voted a billion naira with no guarantee that anything would come out of it. The way these people are going, in a country ravaged by poverty, one can only hope they don’t draw more than opprobrium to themselves. No wonder they are aggressively pushing a Hate Bill, but somebody should please tell our Federal legislators that Nigeria is on edge; that not everybody can any longer afford his/ her children’s school fees or guarantee even their feeding. Unfortunately these legislators are themselves so misdirected some of them point fingers at the President when Nigerians cry out from their extreme want.

Not too long ago, I had the privilege of being invited by the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) to give a pre – meeting talk and bad as things are, I remained sanguine enough, to make the theme of that talk a total disdain for another war or dismemberment of Nigeria under any guise whatever. I underpinned my optimism on a few fundamentals one of them being the fact that even in the Southwest , where  voices  have become very trenchant given the spate of kidnappings  that  some of our most respected Obas have had to weigh in, the most urgent demand in the region is still restructuring, not war not dismemberment of Nigeria. It is believed in these parts that restructuring would better facilitate development as every part will be able to develop at  its  own pace and a spirit of positive competition would sprout grandly all over the country to the benefit of all.

Despite my disdain for war in Nigeria, however, there are  some critical issues which, if not checked, have the distinct possibility of worsening  our present  circumstances..

Two of these  are lack of respect for the rule of law and Fulani exceptionalism. I have heard Presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu, for instance,  try to rationalise  disrespect for court decisions on the nebulous ground that individual right must not be allowed to undermine collective right. Fine, but he must also   know that neither him, nor the Attorney- General of the federation, has the slightest  right to disobey a court ruling as the only course of  action open to them is an appeal to a higher court.  I would be surprised if I had to tell Malam Shehu that the three arms of government are co-equal, and that the judiciary is constitutionally vested with the duty of adjudicating between the remaining two. That the Attorney-General was said to have proffered that argument is one more reason why that office must be split. It would be a monumental error if the presidency underplays the fact that the congress of a country whose President, out of very deep respect, hosted ours in the innermost recesses of the White House, would now be giving our President lessons on how to respect the rule of law. It outrightly demeans our country and we do not need such lessons; not from the U.S  Britain or wherever.

On Fulani exceptionalism, it will be a monumental lie for our security agencies to claim  that  they have not heard the trending story  about  the federal  government allegedly making efforts    to  encourage, if not  instigate, a massive influx into Nigeria, of Fulanis from outside Nigeria  with the sole purpose of  drastically  sexing up  the Nigerian demographics  from what they currently are. The near monopoly of the headship of the security agencies by officers of Northern extraction, and the recent presidential directive on Visa – free entry of Africans  into Nigeria . have been cited as efforts in that direction.   I  personally do not believe that a statesman of President Buhari’s standing,   so well  regarded  at home, and  internationally , to the extent that the African Union made him its anti- corruption Tzar, and  about the  the first , if not the only  African Head of state to be accorded  the type of   reception  U . S President Donald Trump gave him, would  ever submit to anything so  puny and  ethnically driven.

Yes, I am well aware that the likes of Miyetti Allah never ceases to say that only Fulanis own Nigeria but that exactly is how far that chimera must be allowed to go . Every sincere effort must, therefore, be made by the federal government to disabuse the minds of millions of Nigerian about this as its reality will not augur well for Nigeria or Nigerians.  Every ethnic group in Nigeria deserves to  prosper,  and luxuriate ,  but they are  obligated to fully respect the rights of  others .

Founded in 1956, following the structural changes in the West African Students Union,  the National Union of Nigerian students (NUNS), predecessor-in-title to the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS), was a union encompassing all Nigerian students in tertiary institutions of learning.  In the piece below, on the occasion of  the 50th anniversary of its 13th convention, Oladele Ajala, then secretary to the University of Ibadan Students’ Union, and a delegate, writes a refreshing recollection of the event, which his university, with my good friend, Yinka Bada, as president, hosted. Incidentally, yours truly was on the University of Ife delegation, led by the President, Femi Adenuga.

He wrote:

Dear Femi,

Further to my recent reaction to your Sunday column, I now forward to you, “a report” on the 13th National Convention of the National Union of Nigeria Students (NUNS), now defunct. Being the Secretariat of NUNS, it was the University of Ibadan that hosted the convention on 13th December, 1969. At the convention were delegates from the following institutions: 1) Ahmadu Bello University main campus; Samaru, Zaria.

2) Its Institute of Administration, Congo campus, Tundun-Wada.

3) Ado Bayero College of Education, now Ado Bayero University, Kano. 4) School of Pharmacy (can’t readily remember its location anymore). All the above institutions came under the umbrella of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

5) University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos.

6) College of Education, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos

7) University of Ife, Ile-Ife

It is important to note that both the Yaba College of Technology and the Federal School of Science, Onikan, and the College of Education Akoka, Lagos, routinely followed the leadership of  the University of Lagos Student’s Union.

8) University of Ibadan

There were, at that time, five Universities in the country but the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, could not attend as a result of the civil war. The University of Ibadan as the then Secretariat was not eligible to vie  for the union’s leadership as a result of which it became the ‘beautiful bride’, in the massive contestations that would soon ensue for offices,  and, ipso facto,  the secretariat for the 1970/71 session.

Quite expectedly, all the three other universities were keen on having it.

Ahmadu Bello University relied on its own strength and that which was provided by its three a fore-mentioned allies with a combined number of 29 delegates. It also relied on the commitment already made by the previous student Union of the University of Ibadan, then led by Dayo Abatan, to attract the ABU support for its bid during the 12th National Convention in Zaria. The University of Lagos, with Yemi Adefulu as President, led an aggressive campaign, directed mainly at the University of Ibadan for support but the University of Ife was certainly not as aggressive. I cannot now remember the number of delegates from either Institution but they were each less than that of Ahmadu Bello. Ibadan had 8 which included the President, the secretary, Mr. Alex Adedipe, who Ibadan was positioning for Director of Travels, Tokunbo Solarin and Edet Ekerendu. As it subsequently happened, Lagos and Ife naturally neutralised each other because neither was willing to trade off any of the offices.

Perhaps I should mention that the speech by the ABU students’ president and leader of its delegation, an experienced politician, and well known supporter of Mallam Aminu Kano, was so persuasive, it literally settled it in favour of ABU. He said things to the following effect: ‘though we have cooperated with NUNS since inception, it would surprise you all that not once has Ahmadu Bello held its secretariat, that is, having the NUNS’ president elected from ABU; wondering whether others do not believe that ABU is a bona fide member of the union. He concluded by saying it was time the organisation bestowed on ABU the privilege of having control, and taking charge of the NUNS’s secretariat. The speech by Godwin Obveagela, a student of Veterinary Medicine, who was in his seventh year at ABU and had attended many NUNS conventions which he punctuated severally with “when we were in Lagos, when we were in Zaria etc, was particularly poignant and as many of us from Ibadan, Lagos and Ife were attending the convention for the first time, none could contradict him. And I for one was highly impressed as I have been with the eloquence of Said Abubakar who was going to be the National President of NUNS, if ABU succeeded. Other ABU students who helped their case considerably were the popular Bros Ade, and Tom Ikimi, both of them Architecture students. The pertinent question, however, was what ABU achieved with this opportunity which, am afraid, was nothing, though I must add, for no fault of theirs.

In January of 1970, the ABU Students’ Union a issued a 20 – page memorandum of complaint against the Ahmadu Bello University authorities which immediately doubled down by closing down the university. The students union leadership immediately moved to the University of Ibadan, appealing for our support. We allowed them to set up a temporary Secretariat to organise, and streamline their campaign against the ABU autocracy. The U.I student’s union also immediately sent a delegation which included some ABU students, to the University of Lagos to organise how ABU would be liberated. This led to the first demonstration in Lagos which saw us going all the way from Akoka to Lagos Island to protest the closure of ABU and demanding its immediate re-opening. The demonstration was subsequently joined by both secondary and primary school students and led to the complete “take over” of Carter Bridge.

Back in Ibadan, our support for ABU students almost resulted in the closure of our university because students invaded the central portals lodge, and seized all the keys to the lecture rooms, staff rooms as well as those of the three gates to the university, almost paralysing all university activities.

But wise counsel prevailed.

Perhaps I should mention that because of the crisis the NUNS Secretariat at ABU achieved nothing; it could not even organise the annual Summer Flight to the United Kingdom which Nigerian students always eagerly await. When the U.I Student’s union subsequently requested, and got the support, of the U.I authorities to make an alternative arrangement which it did through the very resourceful Mr. S. A. O Odumuye, the Student Affairs’ Officer, Said Abubakar, the NUNS President, allegedly leveraged on the good offices of  Mallam Aminu Kano, then a cabinet minister under the Yakubu Gowon administration,  to have it cancelled.

There was, however, during the long vacation, a conference/ seminar at the Institute of Administration, Congo Campus, Zaria which was at the instance of the NUNS Secretariat, partly sponsored by the United States Information Service. At the event, the U.I Student Union presented a paper on “Illiteracy and poverty” and concluded that Illiteracy was the most serious of our problems as a country, and therefore suggested that education must be made free and compulsory. It went further to suggest that if the government provided free education to all Nigerians, it could then ask  all  freshly graduating Nigerian students to serve the nation for a year. Thus was it, that the U.I Student Union initiated the National Youth Service scheme.

I should not forget to mention that on the eve of the convention that is, on the 12th December, 1969,  Bolade Oshinowo, who had won election to the post of  Public Relations Officer in the UI Students’ union, using the slogan: ‘Red for Revolution”, brought the British sensational ‘Beatles’ whose then reigning music: “All we are saying give peace a chance”, was played throughout the night, and the following morning, as the convention was about to commence, quite a number of  UI students were chanting “All we are saying, no convention”. From that point on, the slogan “All we are saying” has become like cast in stone among Nigerian students whenever they are protesting.

In conclusion, I wish to thank the Almighty God who has kept me and all the Nigerian students of higher institutions of that era – half a century ago – who are still on this side of the GREAT DIVIDE.

It can only be God.

POST SCRIPT

As a honest and courageous supporter of President  Muhammadu Buhari, when I observe an error I speak out. When he scores a bull’s eye – as he did in disbanding the illegal NDDC board hurriedly approved by an unreflecting senate – I commend him from the rooftops as I do now.

That for me is the essence of genuine support, not fighting any non- existent, so called proxy war, as some dimwits have wrongly surmised.

I heartily congratulate the traumatised peoples of the Niger Delta like Emma Okotieboh, and all those in the beleaguered territory which pays Nigerian’s bills, who have written to thank me after reading my article; WHO IS AFRAID OF TRANSPARENCY IN NDDC?

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all Nigerians, my readers in particular.

Why would the senate treat the budget of a critical agency of development with such unprecedented condescension?

 

THE omens are bad in the 9th senate. If there was an arm of government in which Nigerians had expected to find some sobriety, which they believe would do everything it could to, at least, atone for the mala fide of the preceding 8th, erase the chicaneries of its ‘singing and dancing’ members – both now happily gone into political limbo – while nor forgetting the supercilious devilry of its then  leadership, it is the current senate.

But how wrong things have proved.

While Nigerians are still busy discussing the Hate speech bill sponsored by one of its members and  now being rushed through at jet speed so that, as Abdullahi Bodejo of Miyetti Allah has told Nigerians” “all Fulani-haters” could be hanged” – without a doubt, a good enough reason for this senate to entertain such a bill.  Here they are again, standing like a man mountain against President Buhari’s attempt to clear  the Augean stable the NDDC has become ; being run opaquely, with its contracts “being neither published, tendered for, nor subjected to any form of due process”, as alleged in a recent advertorial.

Granted that the president had forwarded some names to it for confirmation as members of the NNDC board, but he had, on discovering that the interventionist agency was being very corruptly run, rapidly moved,  through his communication of 26 October, 2016, to ask  that  senate  stayed  further action on the confirmation process until he would have received the report of the forensic audit he was putting in place to probe the activities of the NDDC from inception. He had also taken the opportunity of that communication, to inform the Senate that he was setting up an Interim Management committee to oversee the affairs of the agency, in the meantime. Of none of these presidential acts can the senate claim ignorance.

So why, in all that is decent, was the senate so eager to confirm the nominees, especially, when Nigerians are well aware of its historic tardiness in such matters? Were the senate introspective enough, given the grave vine allegations that one of its members has about 300 contracts under his belt in the agency, it should have exercised maximum caution in its handling of the matter. One would have expected that rather than rush, it should have taken that window of opportunity to correct the egregious infractions of the NDDC law it had committed in approving individuals to positions which are not in accord with the prescriptions of the NDDC law. Rather than  make those corrections, the Senate has now directed its relevant committee to liaise not with the Interim Management board currently superintending over the affairs of the agency, but  only with the yet to be inaugurated board,  in handling the NDDC budget approval – a clear illegality. An attempt to stick by this awkward decision is to deliberately want to sex up the forensic audit.

Why would the senate treat the budget of a critical agency of development with such unprecedented condescension? What importance are they attaching to routine confirmation that  failure to  inaugurating the board, instanta, would now tantamount to an ‘impeachable” offence for which they would go on to commit the unprecedented act of embedding  an un-inaugurated   board into the  affairs of a government agency?

Is the Senate under any obligation to safe any of its members whose hands may have been caught smack in the NDDC cookie jar?

May I plead with the distinguished senators to please spare a thought for the poor Niger -Deltan who, despite his huge God-given resources, on which live these senators, and others, like Arabian Sheiks, is seen only as the flotsam and jetsam of society; the dirt poor, South south hoi polloi, without light, without water but who in reality, should be treated like royalty in a country where he is the milchcow, and whose lands we have collectively degraded beyond question.

I enjoin them to fear God, and immediately heed the president’s call to allow transparency become the order of the day in the NDDC. Senate must immediately reconsider its illogical stonewalling, and let its appropriate committee work with the Interim Management Committee.  After all, this will not be the first time a board is not inaugurated immediately the president constituted it. I am sure that the case of the National Insurance Trust Fund Board, which took a whooping two years to inaugurate, cannot be news to our distinguished senators. Indeed, in that case, the president had to redeploy the nominated chairman, the respected veteran Labour leader, Frank Kokori to the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS

But that is not all as closer home to this columnist, and right here on these pages, I wrote more than one article regarding the failure of the minister of education to inaugurate the boards of the several agencies in the federal ministry of education. And not once, did we hear that any of the boards  was  procured to do a thing before inauguration.

Why the Senate, in spite of all these not so hidden facts, would continue to hamstring the work of the INC, claiming that it would deal only with an inchoate board, must remain a mystery.

 ANOTHER RUGA FACADE? NOT SO FAST.

Few days after a North central politician, and senator of the Federal Republic, sponsored a Hate Speech bill over which he has become extremely garrulous, posing like it must, willy nilly, become law, an almost comatose national commission for nomadic education  has announced that it has gazetted 141 grazing reserves which, it says, is spread over the entire six geo political zones of the country. These grazing reserves, like the supposedly dead RUGA, will have the following facilities even if the natives, and ipso facto, the land owners, do not know where their next meal would come from: “schools, security, markets, clinics , livestock service centres, access roads, milk and meat processing centres etc.”

The ever perspicacious Yoruba would say: aje ke lana, omo ku loni …, that is, a witch cried last night and a child died this morning. Who does not know that the witch has been at work.

You only have to add this mystifying information to Miyetti Allah’s Abdullahi Bodejo’s threat that the hate law, when passed, would see those he describes as “Fulani haters” hanged, to know that the bill and the speed with which it is being rushed in the senate has everything to do with re- introducing Ruga , albeit, through the back door. Apparently no matter the amount of opposition, these people never take no, for an answer. But we’ll see how far they can go, given the single minded determination of some states to reject this coy internal colonisation. We must, however, still thank those behind the plan for limiting their horizon, for now, to the Northern states of Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Kaduna, Zamfara, Plateau and Nasarawa. As far as the South, is concerned the Buhari government can spend trillions to develop these states so that in future, they too would start to contribute, meaningfully, to the country’s GDP.

For now, the commission should concentrate on turning the North to the meat processing region of the country in addition to its huge agricultural endowments both of which could, very soon, become huge foreign exchange earners. Concentrating pastoralism, plus its entire value chain in the North will not only stop the farmers/herders problems, it will maximally reduce unemployment in the North and significantly check the daily migrations down South.. This will, much more importantly, give socio- economic development in the North, a quantum leap.

But I have a sneaky feeling some people are playing politics with all this  keen, I suspect,  on changing Nigerian’s demographics.. Otherwise, there would have been no going back to this Ruga-like contraption. If in doubt, let us press to work, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano state, who is obviously more honest than many Nigerian politicians regarding the herdsmen/farmers palaver. Said the governor:”I am inviting herdsmen from all parts of Nigeria to relocate to Kano because we have enough facilities to accommodate them. We have grazing land in Rogo, Gaya, Kura, Tudun Wada, Ungogo and other places, where facilities have been provided to accommodate the herdsmen and their cattle.” Speaking further, he said: “Falgore Game Reserve can take care of millions of herdsmen and their cattle in Nigeria. The location has been designed to accommodate schools, human and animal clinics, markets, recreational centres and other social amenities that would provide the herdsmen enough comfort to take care of their animals and transact their business without any hindrance.”These killings must stop. We cannot afford to continue to witness these senseless killings in the name of Fulani herdsmen and farmers clash over lack of grazing land when we have a place like the Falgore Game Reserve, which is being underutilised.”

Why then are some people keen on looking for what is not lost?

 

 

As I asked two weeks ago on these pages, I ask again: what is going on in this country? What is eating up the APC? Why has it become so groggy with victory it wants to snatch odium from the jaws of victory? Must the folly which saw it completely eliminate itself from the legislative houses in Zamfara and Rivers be allowed to consume the party? If its national chairman is daily harassed, being asked to resign from office, must the National Assembly, where it boasts a very healthy majority, be turned to an enemy of the people?

Has it not occurred to the National Assembly leadership that had President Muhammadu Buhari not already vehemently disavowed of tenure elongation, most Nigerians would have held him vicariously responsible for all these shenanigans? Should it take rocket science to know that? How long ago were we being arrogantly told that PDP would rule Nigeria like forever? Pray, where is it today? No wonder the saying that those who the gods will destroy, they first make mad. How many Nigerians will a hate speech law rescue from the pangs of hunger? How many kilometres of roads will it add to our road infrastructure or how significantly will it reduce Nigeria’s medical tourism? When will these overfed people come to appreciate Nigerians’ true needs? Of course, when you pocket a hefty N13.5M as monthly expenses, in addition to your regular salary of more than $2,000″ – thanks to Senator Uba Sani – you can afford to play God.

But God is not mocked.

I was so pissed off with the sponsor of this Bill, a senator of the Federal Republic for that matter, who was so remiss he wouldn’t be bothered with the hundreds of Nigerians dying daily from hunger,  ill health, vehicular accidents on our notorious roads, from some murderous Fulani herdsmen, and other anti social elements like Boko Haram, that I couldn’t help writing the following on Face book on 18 November, 2019 in reaction to an article in which a certain comrade Jonathan Vatsa, former Niger state APC Publicity Secretary, claimed that it was Abdullahi’s party,  the APC, which introduced Hate speech into the country:

“I was not going to comment on the article below, until I came across the fact that the man who proposed the death penalty in his Hate Speech bill, is one Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, the Senate Deputy Whip, who represents Niger North Senatorial District. When last did he visit home? How will a hate speech law bring food to his people’s table in Niger State? Of all the challenges bedevilling Niger state, of course, like many other states in the country, should this be his priority? In case he is  unaware of them, may I refer him to The Nation of Sunday, November 17, 2019 page 11, and This Day of 30 September, 2019 to read the articles titled: “Niger Roads Now Highways of Death” and “Niger’s Highways Of Sorrow And Death”, respectively?

But that is not all.

He should also get The Punch of Monday, November 18th to see how Niger state features conspicuously in what the paper captioned: “The Unbelievable Tales Of States Where Learning Takes Place Under Trees”

He is advised to take special interest in the section dealing with the state of affairs at the Suleiman Barau Science and Technical College, Kwamba, whose “students, the paper wrote, “ sleep on bare floor, in dilapidated hostels, and defecate in the bush” , as well as the state of affairs in the “six other technical schools, and five vocational schools” in the state. Won’t these students thank him for some dividends of democracy instead of some hazy, ill-defined hate speech law?

Unfortunately, this senator is archetypical of our Abuja politicians who, until they begin to nurse gubernatorial ambitions, leave their respective governors severely alone to singlehandedly face the challenges in their states while they eagerly shop for so- called intervention “envelopes”. There are, by far, too many critical and urgent issues currently tormenting Nigerians which should, ordinarily, have attracted the attention of any serious legislator rather than a hate law which has already been condemned by the U.S, U.K, EU and the UN.

What then does the Hate Speech Bill prescribe?

Titled National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speech Bill, it proposes that any person who uses, publishes, presents, produces, plays, provides, distributes and/or directs the performance of any material, written and or visual which is threatening, abusive or insulting or involves the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour commits an offence if such person intends thereby to stir up ethnic hatred, or having regard to all the circumstances, ethnic hatred is likely to be stirred up against any person or person from such an ethnic group in Nigeria.

Pray, who defines all these nebulous ‘ifs’, the party in power?

According to the bill, any person who commits this offence shall be liable to life imprisonment and where the act causes any loss of life, the person shall be punished with death by hanging.  Happily, this devilish, last part has been expunged by the senate.

Ethnic hatred, it says, means hatred against a group of persons from any ethical group indigenous to Nigeria (meaning what?). On Ethnic Discrimination, the bill penalises a person who discriminates against another person if, on ethnic grounds, the person without any lawful justification, treats another Nigerian citizen less favourably than he treats or would treat other person from his ethnic or another ethnic group and/or that on grounds of ethnicity. Did he really think through this clause, given the president’s well known skewed appointments? This is one of the reasons we are warning them before their law begets unintended consequences as members of the opposition would simply rush to court and, relying on the President’s appointments, successfully prove this against him since the law is no respecter of persons.

The bill also prescribes that a person is guilty of ethnic harassment if he justifiably engages in a conduct which has the purpose or effect of violating that other person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment for the person subjected to the harassment. With particular reference to the word ‘justifiably’, it is obvious this clause can also benefit from a rephrasing.

Also, continues the bill, a person who subjects another to harassment on the basis of ethnicity commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to an imprisonment for a term not less than ten years, or to a fine of not less than N10 million, or to both.

The bill goes on and on criminalising whatever catches the sponsor’s fancy. If the sponsor of the  bill can be pardoned for not sufficiently thinking through it, not so the senate which has been rushing its readings like it is in a hurry to crush Husain Bolt’s  100 metre record. The manner the senate is trying to see it to fruition, one would think it is a bill to strengthen the government’s Social Investment programme; that programme that has seen hundreds of thousands of Nigerians out of grinding poverty. One wonders as to what these senators know that other Nigerians don’t.

Happily, besides the demonstrations now spreading all over the country like Californian fire against the obnoxious bill, some highly respected voices have spoken up against it, among them: Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, His Eminence, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). We  are also comforted by the fact that we can trust  President Buhari never, ever to assent this gruesome bill.

However, should the unexpected happen and it becomes law, they should not forget to name it the: “Aliyu Abdullahi Sabi” law. That way, Nigerians will never forget his yeoman’s efforts.

 

I STAND on this platform in obedience to and in compliance with the ‘summons’ served on me by the Vice-Chancellor of this esteemed University through a letter with Reference No:VC/C-2/VOL.III/30, dated 20th February, 2017, signed by Professor Mrs. O.B Ajayi; inter alia, intimating me that the Governing Council, Senate and management of Ekiti State University, having ”taken notice of your (my) immense contributions to the overall development of the nation and your enviable philanthropic credentials, as well as your significant impact on the advancement of the frontiers of knowledge in the country, have decided that you (I) be invited as the Honourable Guest Lecturer at the convocation lecture of the University holding on Thursday, 30th March, 2017.” In trepidation, I accepted the ‘summons’, without losing sight of my limitations, especially being conscious of the fact that the people of Israel wondered as to when Saul, the first King of Israel, started prophesying alongside  the prophets, that they started asking if  ”Saul, was also among the prophets?”

The above quote captures the essential Wole Olanipekun SAN, OFR – humble,  generous, complex and so multi-sector ally engaged, I had to, for the very first time in my featuring dignitaries on this column, ask him for a short bio data  to help me gauge where, other than law, he  places the most emphasis.  Luckily, as it turned out, I am still expecting it.

Just as well since I know our man like my palm and this piece, anyway, is not going to be a historical narrative about when, and where, this legal juggernaut  and outstanding philanthropist was born etc. Rather, I intend, in this short piece, to out his thoughts on several issues.

Chief  Wole Olanipekun was born in Ikere-Ekiti, is two years shy of the biblical 70; attended Amoye Grammar School, Ikere –Ekiti, the University of Lagos, graduating in Law as well as attended the Nigerian Law School. He was  President, Nigerian Bar Association and in 1991, became the youngest recipient (as at then) of the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He is now, imperceptibly, becoming the ‘numero uno’ Pro-Chancellor of Universities in Nigeria , having brilliantly piloted the affairs of the council of the Nigerian premier University of Ibadan 2004-6, and is the current Pro Chancellor, of the Samuel Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo.

Though I did not get the short bio I requested, Chief Olanipekun has, unknown to him, made my task very easy  as I would, most probably, do no more than delve into his: ”Breaking the Jinx – the cyclical nature of Nigeria’s problems”, that is, his aforementioned Convocation lecture: a copy of which he had instructed his Personal Assistant, Adebowale Oladini, to mail to me on 2nd May, 2017,  just as he has, always, unerringly delivered to me, my  personalised copy of Chief Olanipekun’s annual diary.

To that, 87-page, 32, 200 –word lecture, we now turn.

Wole’s thoughts are deep, and, extremely diverse. They touch on all the issues currently feeding the Nigerian conundrum. It is apposite then that we start with his views on Universities. A University, he says,  ”should be an arena of freedom, where, not only academic certificates are churned out year in year out, but  where true leaders are nurtured, and armed with mental, psychological, physical and spiritual armament to forge a true renaissance. A true University, he goes  on  cannot,  and should not, be a place where voices of dissent are stifled, or where robots are programmed and unleashed on the society under the guise of anointing them with the nominal suffixes of B.A, B. Sc, LL.B etc.”

On the amalgamation  of Nigeria, he  contends that it was neither voluntary, requested, nor clamoured for. The consent of the amalgamated protectorates, he says, was neither sought for nor obtained. Nor did the British, according to him, act in good faith.  Rather, they  were dishonest, mischievous, disrespectful, and malicious as they  deliberately planted seeds of future discord by arbitrarily creating internal boundaries  and capriciously  lumping unrelated ethnic groups with others to form  regions  that are totally alien to their own nationalities, culture, etc.

It is for that reason,  he believes,  Awo  once  said that “Nigeria is not a nation, but a mere geographical expression”and  Zik saw it only as a “political, social and economic marriage of convenience,” while Ango Abdullahi  essayed  that it would be a lie, “If anybody tells you that the large informed opinion in the North is against the dissolution of Nigeria”.

Concerning these, Chief Olanipekun’s seminal thoughts are as follows: “It becomes clear that the further we strive, as an amalgamation of nations, or a multi-ethnic contraption, the more acutely we continue to angle ourselves away from true nationhood. In doing so, we consign the destiny of generations yet unborn to a dark enclave where, even hope dares not tread. It then becomes clear that in breaking free of generational disillusionment, we must begin our journey of redemption by recalling our past, using same as a vehicle for the moral rearmament of our present, with a view to redeeming our future”.

On corruption, Chief Olanipekun is so expansive we would, willy nilly, have to précis his views even where, for proper elucidation, we would  have to substantially quote him verbatim.

He sees corruption as “a hydra-headed monster that is capable of bringing any society to the precipice of perdition. Perhaps, he says, apart from genocide, (a crime against humanity), there is nothing as lethal, pernicious and virulent, as corruption in any society. Every country of the world, he goes on,  denounces this monstrous disease that destroys any system it enters and so the whole world is alive to the onerous responsibility of stamping it out. Every country decries it and endeavours to run a corrupt free administration because it is the only passport to good governance, accountability and responsiveness to the yearnings and aspirations of the people. While the forms of corruption vary, he continues, they are generally construed to include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, embezzlement just as promoting mediocrity over meritocracy is also a potent form of corruption”.

The end result of political corruption, he  claims, is Kleptocracy, meaning “a rule by thieves”. This phrase, according to  him describes, “with stunning accuracy, what Nigeria has had the misfortune of experiencing since independence, and in his view,election rigging is at the zenith of the corruption organogram, as it destroys the very basis of democracy”. “The ballot box,  he says, represents the power and potency of the people, and at every successive election in Nigeria, we witness unprecedented rigging, which in turn, foists on the electorate,  choices they did not make.

Going further, he asserts that since colonial times, up  until the last census exercise in 2006, every census in this country has  been manipulated to get  undue political advantage, targeted at rigging elections, revenue allocation, State and Local Government creation, etc. In effect, the very foundation of  our democracy has been subjected to serial corruption , and now, there’s hardly any guarantee that this will abate”

“Beyond corruption in governance, our dear country is also besieged with pervasive moral qua ethical corruption. This, he says, manifests in the growing culture of mental and attitudinal laziness, a liking for get rich quick schemes, wealth without commensurate work, sweat and toil. These have become the bane of our youth. A lot of young men in every nook and cranny of our country, he concludes, no longer celebrate the virtues of hard work, industry and innovation; whereas, hard work, perseverance, diligence, industry and assiduity have always been our watchword. Corruption in Nigeria and the world today has assumed the status of res ipsaloquitor.

The virus called corruption has entrenched itself in virtually every area of our national life. Over the last decade, Nigeria has consistently ranked high on the Global Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International, as one of the most corrupt countries in the world; indeed, we were ranked the 136th most corrupt country amongst 145 countries for year 2016 – a mere nine countries short of being the most corrupt”

He goes on, and on, that very soon, this article might soon have a part two, to enable one do full justice to Chief Olanipekun’s very deep thoughts; thoughts deep and seminal enough to encourage a study at the graduate level by an eagle-eyed student keen on honing his/her academic credentials. And that student, I can vouch, will not lack sponsorship.

Let me conclude by congratulating my highly cherished aburo with whom I have been close for over half a century on his 68th birthday, just as I salute my great Egbon, the affable, and delectable, Chief Tunde Ogbamola, who turned a glorious 80 on Saturday, 23rd November, 2019.

Happy birthday and many happy returns to these wonderful, and  proud Nigerian patriots of Ekiti extraction.

 

First and foremost, what’s happening? Who are those eager to propel President Buhari’s name onto the negative side of history despite his best efforts at righting several wrongs in the country, even if he were to succeed only in finally, and effectively, clubbing corruption, our number one problem, to submission? Who are these people fighting battles Buhari most probably didn’t send them? Who are these enemies of freedom of speech and of association, two fundamental freedoms all over the world, that Nigerians must now have to go to court to protect theirs?

Why this near total disdain for court decisions which, of course, did not start today in this administration but with the long running Col Dasuki case? And can Omoyele Sowore singly topple this government? How many battalions has the Pope got?

How come Lai Mohammed now waxes lyrical, ever eager to circumscribe free speech? Has he forgotten, so soon, the amount of scurrility he threw at President  Goodluck Jonathan, half of which, not even Femi Fani Kayode has managed against  President Buhari? Yoruba bo nwon ni ti a ba ran ni nise eru, a fi tomo je – meaning of  course, that if  you’re sent to deliver a slavish message,  you do  it like a free born. Mokan mokan  loye nkan o.

Is the current, totally needless and anachronistic exertions of the National Assembly, feverishly trying to pass a law regulating the social media, and, another, prescribing the death penalty – in this day and age – for a nebulous hate speech, the way to show you are cooperating with the executive branch?

Why are some people so eager to take us back to the  Abacha  days minus,  of course, its state sponsored assassinations? How come the Army, and even Customs,  now unilaterally give directives they have no constitutional powers to give as in the court – halted identification exercise and the order banning sale of petroleum products 20 kilometres to the border?

What is afoot? Why this creeping totalitarianism? No matter how crafted, a Hate Speech Law,  in the year of our Lord two thousand and nineteen, would be, to use PDP’s words, “savage, repressive, cruel and murderous”. To imagine that the bill even proposes a death penalty – where, for God’s sake,  are the  David Mark’s and the Sola Adeyeye’s of yore?

I digress.

By far the most litigious group in Nigeria today must be the  politicians who head to court in droves every election cycle, as if  they must – the reason INEC  is currently battling with about 1600 court cases according to its chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu. This he disclosed at an interaction with the Senate committee on INEC.  Asked how the commission funds these cases, the chairman said that the commission makes budgetary provisions, based on projections of cases adding that the number of in-house lawyers handling them are now completely inadequate. The above should give Nigerians  an idea of  what  huge  amount  of money goes into this meaningless  legal extravaganza that benefits only individuals.

Consider for instance, the Atiku/PDP case against the election of President Muhammadu Buhari about which the Supreme Court recently made the final pronouncement. While Atiku going to the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal was logical,  progressing beyond it  was absolutely ill -thought  of , given the incurable issues that emerged from the tribunal – legal facts that made a complete nonsense of the case going beyond the tribunal stage, as even a non lawyer should see, ahead, the futility of such an effort. For instance, isn’t it forlorn to call only five polling agents as witnesses from  the 191,000 polling units where the law prescribes that for a petition to succeed, the appellant must present a polling agent from each of the polling units across the country to testify? The interesting case of the so-called INEC server is another. How a prosecution counsel could wish  to validate the most important part of his case, upon which  depended  the fate of  the entire case, by relying on a witness who would, at best , be described as a hack, must reckon as the joke of the century.

According to the PDP candidate that ‘server’ had given him victory over Buhari by allotting to him a total of 18,356,732, against Buhari’s 16,741,430  but when he was to provide  irrefutable  evidence for that salacious claim, he did no better than present a witness  – David Ayu Nyango Njoga, an uncertified I.T ‘expert’ from Kenya, assisted by a   poor Osita Chidoka, both of who failed miserably to prove anything; the reason the Supreme court threw off that leg of the case by holding “that the  manual provided by INEC made no room for electronic transmission of results, and that  for that to happen, the Electoral Act must be amended to that effect”.

Nor was that all.

The   issue of   President Buhari’s qualification was another leg of the  case which  no serious prosecution counsel should have pursued further  after the  tribunal has held that: “ Mr Buhari is not only qualified, he is eminently qualified to contest the election  because  ”  the evidence tendered  regarding Buhari’s qualifications  could not  be relied upon, since the PDP did not issue or make the certificate, nor was a   ”candidate  required ,  under the Electoral Act  , to attach his certificate to his form CF001…”

Why  in the face of all these  incurable defects did the litigants still choose  to go to  the Supreme court?  Were there a higher court, Atiku would obviously still be in court , no matter how obvious these lacunae. As the multi- award winning Chairman of The Nation’s Editorial Board, Sam Omatseye,  puts it in ATIKU’S REQUIEM: “ …t hey hope, in their fantasy, that they could court the heavens and so God is made flesh, wrestles like Jacob and upturns the ruling. Not even the assertion that the Supreme Court is infallible because it is final is any consolation”.

In trying to answer the   question,   as to what motivates the politician’s eagerness to always head to court,  it  is conceded  that  Atiku, as  one of Nigerians richest  politicians , if not by far the richest, does not exactly fit into the class of those whose primary focus is  to share in the stupendous loot  our politics offers, especially at the National Assembly where,  no thanks to  former President  Obasanjo’s  inflicted  successors, whose  personal  weaknesses t he National Assembly members exploited to become totally unconscionable, awarding themselves perquisites that were   far and  above   what   the Revenue Mobilisation, Fiscal and Allocation Commission   approved for them, and took   whatever salaries and allowances caught their fancy .

To understand Atiku’s motive,  therefore, we may have to press former President Obasanjo into service as he generously answered this question in his book, : My Watch , wherein he wrote:  (slightly edited): “What I did not know, which came out glaringly later …was his propensity for poor judgment, his belief and reliance on marabouts , his trust in money to buy his way out on all issues and his readiness to sacrifice national interest for self and selfish interest”.

Shall we just say then that his motivation was simply power. Being already so rich, Alhaji Atiku Abubkar  wanted power.

While we would have to leave the former vice president to ponder these obviously harsh words from a man he remains ,  like forever,  beholden to, we must,  as a nation, do something about the sinking hole our politics has become, and forcefully  rein in a National Assembly whose membership  has become so attractive  former governors, most of who ruined their respective states now rush to,  increasingly turning it to a sinecure position. Since the Revenue Mobilisation Commission has become so prostrate it no longer serves the national interest – witness also its inability to come up with a new revenue sharing formula  in over a decade,  Nigerians must put heads together to untie  the inscrutable nut the National Assembly has become ,  gulping annually, a minimum of N125B almost for   doing   nothing.

It has been suggested, for instance, and in respected quarters too, that we do away with the senate. While that is a proposition that may take time to eventuate, I think concrete steps must be taken to rescue Nigeria from the stranglehold of a mere 469 citizens.

But  the rapacity does not stop there,

It is the craze for loot that makes politicians think nothing of what becomes of their political party even where they had held high positions like governors, legislators, ministers etc . This is what has decimated the APC in places like Zamfara, Rivers and is presently manifesting in Bayelsa State.  Many more may actually be in the offing in places like Edo and Ondo states – two states where elections are at hand, and where politicians are, traditionally, in the habit of fighting to the death.

The essence of this piece, therefore, is that what motivates most of our politicians is not service to the people but loot and unless Nigerians move to sanitise this ugly situation, we would, continually, be under their stranglehold.

I WROTE as follows in reaction to the piece below by Sir Remi Omotoso:

My ever worthy Knight of the shining armour and co- in – law in the highly reputable Alfonso family of Akure and Lagos.

Respects.

Incredible and absolutely  seminal articles have graced the Ekitipanupo Forum since its inception  over a decade ago, but I doubt if any would gladden Okan Adetunmbi, the inimitable originator of the forum – ‘home’ to over 2000 Ekitis, home and Diasporan – than  what you served us here which has not only  exposed the colossal ignorance  of naysayers, but completely  blew  off,  all the shibboleths behind which opponents of this highly strategic infrastructure have hidden to try  to shoot it down.

I thank you most sincerely for offering, pro bono, to the Fayemi government, the  extremely valuable results of your many  travels, studies and abiding interest in the development of Ekiti, our motherland.

For obvious reasons, my earlier article for the week  is now rested to enable us further interrogate the Ekiti Airport project, leveraging in both your article and Dr Dikun Adedeji’s.

Ekiti a gbe a o.

STILL ON THE EKITI AIRPORT PROJECT 2

Sir Remi Omotoso.

My dear compatriots,

In o kun o.

I have followed with keen interest the various views expressed by many of our people. Some are for and some are against the establishment of an airport in Ekiti, everyone advancing reasons for position taken. In a democracy, this is what it should be: you talk and I talk and democracy no go vex. However, a responsible government under a worthy leader would take a decision on any matter hopefully in the best interest of the people.

Let me state upfront that I was a member of the committee set up by Dr Kayode Fayemi during his first coming to consider the pros and cons of having an airport in Ekiti. There was hardly any view expressed today that didn’t come up during our committee meetings. Tope Porta’s views on this forum on the airport almost covered the views of those on the committee who were opposed to the establishment of the airport. The views of Femi Orebe and Femi Ebenezer more than covered the views of the proponents of the establishment of the airport at Ado-Ekiti. From outside of the committee were also strong views. Late Prof. Mike Filani, a highly respected Transport Geographer didn’t see the need for the airport, at least for now. He didn’t see its viability from the passenger size and also didn’t seem to see the prospect of agribusiness so soon to keep the Airport alive and running. His views in my personal discussion with him were that the airport would only serve elitist interest and would be grossly underutilised. So, the committee had a wide array of views to base its decision on.

I must disabuse the minds of some of us who felt that Chief Afe Babalola who was chairman of our committee wanted the airport “tipa ti kuku”(by all means) for the relative comfort of the parents of the young students of the Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD). Yes, this could be part of his interest in the airport but beyond that, Chief Afe Babalola has the largest private commercial agribusiness in the Southwest of Nigeria today. His mango farms which runs into hundreds of hectares 1will benefit from the Ado-Ekiti airport by way of export.

As a member of the committee, I was the most vociferous canvasser for the airport to be established to be run largely as a specialised agric. produce cargo airport. I submitted that apart from Ekiti State, the west of Kogi, the south-east of Osun, and a good part of Akoko north-west will serve as good catchment areas of the Ijan Road Ado-Ekiti airport, almost entirely for agro cargo export.

There has been the pessimistic question asked by those not in support of the airport: what and where are the cargoes? Here are the agro products:

      1)  YAMS.

Today, Ghana is reported to be among the largest exporters of yams, largely  to the US. In 2016, Ghana exported $N27.5m and was reported to be the 6th largest exporter and holds 10..3% of world yam export. Ghana total annual production is put at about 6.6m/tonnes compared with Nigeria production of 32.3m/ tonnes but with no notice in the world market for export.

Yagbas in Kogi west and the Igbiras are great yam producers along with us in Ekiti North, Akoko Northwest and Northeast. A good proportion of  the 32.3m/tonnes must be between Benue and Ekiti and those locations mentioned in Kogi.

Now, please, reacall that ENGR. SEGUN ONI in his days as Gov. of Ekiti established a YAM CONDITIONING PLANT in ILASA EKITI which was not completed and commissioned before he left office. If the current Fayemi-led Govt get this plant completed and put to use through sale or lease to a private company, Ekiti would be ready to take over Ghana’s position in the world in the export of YAMS. The yams are airfreighted.

 2)FRESH PINEAPPLE FRUITS

The market for fresh pineapple fruit export from West Africa is dominated by Ghana and Cote D’ivoire. I visited Ghana some years back to find out more about the success of the country just to see how Ekiti can enter this lucrative business. All around Greater Accra, young families own, courtesy govt empowerment programme, each hundreds of hectares of pineapple farms cultivated under strict pytosanitary certification for specific offtakers. The offtakers also in collaboration with govt ensure extension services are provided which assures consumers confidence in direct consumption without any further quality control. As at the time of my visit about 2011, at least a Boeing 737 cargo plane load of pineapple was exported daily from Kotoka airport.

The demand for organic fruits is exploding in the world and Ekiti stands to benefit from this development. Ekiti share same geographical and ecological conditions with the Pineapple producing region in Ghana. Add pineapple export to that of Yam and you will begin to see the viability of Ijan-Ado Ekiti Airport. There are more promising fruits from Ekiti  you can add to these because of their commercial potential.

3) BANANA/PLANTAIN.

The Ikere-Ilawe- Igbara Odo Axis has best clime and ecology for Banana and also plantain similar to what prevails in Ghana where export to Europe is thriving. If govt helps to establish strains and off-taíers the business potential is huge. Obviously,  bananas are plantains are usually airfreighted.

4) MANGOES and AVOCADOS.

Oga Aare Afe Babalola has a large mango farm as part of ABUAD. I understand the mangoes ere of Israeli strain. When they are in full blossom, the Ijan-Ado road airport will be a huge advantage.

5) CHILLI PEPPER.

This is also in huge demand in the world market. This is a crop women deal in a lot. Some cooperative movement of a sort can engage in growing and processing for export.

All these crops and more are more than enough to justify the establishment of a medium size cargo airport in Ado-Ekiti designed to be scalable with adequate cargo-handling systems and facilities.

Ekiti is an agrarian landlocked State. This should not disadvantage us if we embrace agribusiness seriously on an industrial scale. It should not be long before we start to add value.I saw an astonishingly beautiful factory in the outskirts of Accra where fruit COCKTAILS were being prepared and shipped out of Kotoka airport to various locations in Europe from where they are distributed to various food chains in those locations.

Some have argued that AKURE AIRPORT can still serve the purpose of handling the business. I have my reservations on this. Akure isn’t designed for cargo handling.  Secondly, it has its drawback on cost of getting these products to Akure. In the cost configuration for them, freight is a key factor and can negatively affect competitiveness. The nearer point of production is to point of airfreight the better. It’s no brainer that yams will leave Ilasa Yam conditioning Plant and get delivered to Ado airport than to Akure airport located on Akure-Owo road. If I were involved in the business, I would prefer Ado. Apart from the cheaper transportation costs, Ado airport will have holding facilities for my export haven been designed to handle agro cargoes.

MY APPEAL TO EKITI STATE GOVERNMENT.

Please,  as the airport is being constructed, let adequate preparation be commenced to prepare the farmers that will produce the agro cargoes. The gestation periods of these crops must have worked into them land preparation, the selection and preparation of the farmers, their training and psychosocial conditioning. It should be possible for this new crop of farmers to operate like any other businessmen and women without being isolated in farm settlements.

 

 

 

By Femi Orebe

I think opponents of an airport in Ekiti are simply being short sighted.

At the ground breaking ceremony jointly performed by the Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, and the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, and witnessed by Aare Afe Babalola, founder and chancellor of ABUAD, the fastest growing university in Africa, doubling as Chairman of the Airport committee, Dr Fayemi signalled the commencement of work on the agro-allied cargo airport, which is aimed at boosting the state’s agricultural, tourism and educational endowments. It will, he said, cost N20M and would be completed in 24 months. Whoever knows Dr Fayemi can take that to the bank. It is conceptualised as part of the state’s integrated development strategy and would be financed by the African Development Bank and the Africa Export/Import Bank both of which appreciate the short and the long term justification for the project. It is being enthusiastically supported by the federal government which rapidly processed all the necessary documents for the commencement of activities.

The idea of an airport in Ekiti has been variously described. For instance, it has been described as “an airport to nowhere”, and rather than an airport, several alternative uses of so huge an amount of money have been proffered by critics. For instance, the  government has been  offered,  pro bono, an advice to: “Let massive employment generating activities flow in to Ekiti; construct Ado – Akure – road to a world standard  for fast movement of goods, services and human traffic between the two states and as for freight services, let the Nigerian Railway Corporation  develop the south west rail corridor”. “If there is unbearable congestion at the Akure Airport, then begin to think about an airport in Ekiti State”.

You would not but think Ekiti owns the Nigerian Railway corporation, can compel the federal government or that standard roads are built with peanuts.

As would soon become obvious, I have not always been persuaded of the need for an airport in Ekiti, especially when the Akure airport, barely 40 kilometres away, lies largely prostrate, so very underutilised that a one-time governor of Ondo State had to subsidise flights to it.

But that is ancient history.

At its suggestion sometime around 2011, during the first tenure of Governor Fayemi, Ayo Obi, an aviation expert who considered me close enough to the government, contacted me to let the governor know that there are some Ekiti patriots, experts in the aviation business, who were not only excited about the project, but would lend their maximum support, in whichever way, needed. Ayo wrote at some length to me on 6 January, 2011.

“My Dear Egbon,

CONSTRUCTION OF AN AERODROME/AIRSTRIP IN EKITI-STATE

“Please recall our conversation and subsequent stand on the above subject matter during our last meeting at a special function. I also recall that you expressed the view that construction of an airport or airstrip in Ekiti is an elitist project”, and will, therefore, not have your support.

The reasons advanced by you and others are well respected. However, they are erroneous.  Let me begin by indicating that the federal government has since commenced action on construction of airports in conjunction with State governments nationwide, as exemplified by the Gombe Airport project. Funds have been earmarked for mapping, infrastructure, soil tests and consultancy works. Gombe took advantage of this and has since become a full-fledged airport. If Ekiti State fails to follow up, the funds may be diverted or used to upgrade other airports and we would be the loser”.

After giving the names of his “group of patriotic indigenes of Ekiti State and experts in the industry”, he wrote:

“WHY EKITI STATE NEEDS AN AERODROME OR AIRSTRIP

1.CONSENSUS

– Globally, aviation is one of the greatest inventions of man which he has continuously used for his advancement.  It is generally acknowledged that it is a strong promoter of commerce, industry and socio-economic development. It is also an integral part of national security.

2. FUNDING

The federal government funded construction of virtually all airports and allied aviation infrastructural facilities for decades and still do in many States of the Federation.

There are 22 major airports funded by government, while over 150 airstrips and helipads exist in various parts of the country. The federal government has availed funds for the construction of an aerodrome for Ekiti State.

3.COMMERCIAL /INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES (Short and long term)

– Transportation and ease of same for (would be) investors in and out of the state.

– Hub and spoke transportation system (aviation term) a system linking urban and rural areas with development.

-Open up the state for development.

4.EMERGENCY NEEDS AND SITUATIONS

-Evacuation of sick patients in dire need of help or transportation of disaster victims.

-Transportation of urgently needed organic parts (organ) or any other medical materials (vaccines in endemic situations)

-Transportation of relief materials /evacuation of indigenes during disasters in life and death situations.

-Transportation of scientific specimens.

5.AGRICULTURE (Futuristic reasons, considering massive development of agricultural programme of the state)

-Exports of perishable commercial agric products viz flower, pineapple and others  – as being presently done from South America to USA/Canada; Ghana and South Africa to Europe.

-Transportation of animal species or special breed and other species of plants for commercial and scientific purposes.

6.TOURISM

Promotion/Attraction of tourism industry especially in areas of:

1. Game reserve
2. Water falls (Ikogosi) and

iii. Other conservation programmes

7.SECURITY/SAFETY

*Avoidance of hazardous roads and other inherent dangers on our roads

*Expeditious deployment of security operatives and materials, especially in emergency situations.

While substantial changes have occurred especially in the mode of funding, the fundamental reasons for an Ekiti airport, as identified by Obi, like the state government, remain intact.

I am, therefore, completely persuaded that an airport in Ekiti will not be a wrong investment, nor will it be a white elephant.

My reasons are as follows.

First, and foremost, I have an implicit confidence in Governor Kayode Fayemi who I know thinks through his projects.

As recently as 22 October, 2019 when the news broke, incorrectly it turned out on our Christ’s School, Ado – Ekiti set’s Whatsapp chat group that the Ekiti State government was going to fund an EKITI ELDERS N500MILLION CENTRE TO PROMOTE CULTURE, I instantly wrote as follows in reaction to a chat asking why the governor would embark on that when he has only four years to go.

“You raised the most crucial question here about the governor’s number of years and I say, it is in fact three, not four years. What the Fayose government did to many of his projects should be an eye opener. This is not a small amount of money. I know that Dr Fayemi thoroughly thinks through his projects and honestly cannot be accused of shopping for projects from which to personally profit – he is not your typical Nigerian politician.

This may, however, still turn out a wrong project, even if an APC government succeeds his”.

That is the level of my trust in a governor I know to be very thorough and never given to perfunctoriness.

And as if mirroring his thoughts, or had read him on the airport before hand,  the following is how I reacted to a critic of the Ekiti airport project  on the Face book  on 26 October, 2019.

“You only succeeded in affirming that, of a truth, talk is cheap.

As for an airport in Ekiti, there are solid arguments to be made for either side.

Personally, I would look at the mode of funding; whether or not the government has secured a loan with a long gestation period, or not. That done, I will look at what’s going on in the state. For instance, thanks to Aare Afe Babalola’s ABUAD, Ekiti is fast becoming both an educational and Health care delivery  preferred point of call in the country.

ABUAD is the fastest growing university in Africa, with students coming from far, and near. The National Universities commission actually dubbed it a MIRACLE.

But that’s not all. There’s no health facility in this country today that has anything comparable to ABUAD’s cardiac facility.

With its tele-medicine capability experts from anywhere in the world can simultaneously participate in an open heart surgery.

The Ikogosi Tourist Resort, developed tastefully to the highest standards and  was being managed by a  private company during the governor’s first term, is again being re- engineered to be a  first choice tourist centre or at least one of the topmost few in Nigeria. It will have sporting facilities, e g golf course, just as it will host an educational institution for graduate studies.

A massive agribusiness project is currently ongoing in the state. The World Bank is partnering the state to develop all the necessary infrastructure, and would assist in funding the roads in all the farming communities in the entire 16 Local Government Areas. Meanwhile, the state has embarked upon a massive land clearing programme for its agribusiness programme which is going to involve private companies mostly from outside the state.

In the meantime, the Ikun Dairy project for which Governor Segun Oni, many years ago, perspicaciously imported cattle/cows, is again being resuscitated in partnership with Promasidor, a top of the range company in the sector, which will soon be manufacturing millions of tonnes of milk in the state.

I invite you to go to my Face book wall to read my last Sunday article in which I wrote at length on the state of Nigerian roads. Go from there and get the same Sunday edition of The Nation to read its feature article which it dubbed South East Highways of Grieve.

As it is in the Southeast, so it is everywhere in Nigeria.

Now given the state of insecurity all over the country, are these the roads you want parents and their young children, from all over the country, to start going through to Ekiti?

What is wrong with a cargo airport in Ekiti given all the above with facilities for people going to tourist centres, or to ABUAD for both education and medical treatment and to other places of interest?

What is the problem with Ekiti flying fruits, flowers, yams, banana etc out of this country to earn foreign exchange, or must we forever rely on handouts from Abuja?

Can Ekiti consume all the milk Promasidor will soon be producing right there in Ekiti?

Can’t naysayers see what all round development this will bring to the state?

I think opponents of an airport in Ekiti are simply being short sighted. A good leader must be strategic, have a vision, and run with it. Any good governor in Ekiti today should be able to envision the state 20 years away from now. That is leadership.

We are not saying an Ekiti airport will immediately compare with Ikeja airport but to use the Akure airport to shut down an Ado- Ekiti airport is to demonstrate great ignorance. I certainly need no lessons on how much little activity goes on at Akure as I am a regular user of the airport, but it was certainly not put there for the same purpose an Ekiti cargo airport is being primed to serve. Therefore, to compare both, one would need to make a distinction between the purposes they are designed to serve.

So my brother, I can understand where you are coming from. You are pretty far away from home, and may not know all that is going on or are being planned.

I can assure you that when next you visit, if it’s not earlier than the completion time, you just might be flying home to Ekiti”.

What more can I say?