The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday

Party deformation in perspective

Party formations in post-military Nigeria are in a serious crisis. But this much should be expected in a military assisted democracy and from societies in the throes of traumatic transition from despotic rule to a democratic empowerment of citizens. It is usually a tense and fraught process with the possibility of reversal and regression. Since there is no global roadmap for recovery and recuperation, every nation is a unique patient with its own unique pathologies .

In such circumstances, even the fundamental principles of party formations in modern societies are called to question. However, in countries that have successfully weathered the inclement storm of autocratic and anti-democratic adversities, notably in Ghana, South Africa and Latin America, there has always been one cultural product which makes a signal and significant contribution. That is the quality of human capital at the apex of leadership.

This is why it is unfortunate that while party formations in Nigeria are in serious crisis and the country itself is roiling in deep dysfunction, the ruling party, the PDP, the self-advertised largest party on the continent, should be openly squabbling about posts. For a party that has ruled Nigeria for all of 14 years since the departure of the military, the PDP is nothing short of a national tragedy after the opportunity cost to the nation has been factored in.

The fixation of its ranking members on the politics of allocation of resources devalues politics as a struggle for the allocation of values. The degeneration of politics to a fierce struggle for state loot hobbles everything in its wake because it makes it impossible for political society to operate at a level compatible with the more refined ethos of a truly civilized polity. This subsistence politics with its violent and crude Hunter-gatherer code of conduct reduces everybody in its orbit to the level of primitive cave-dwellers.

In the end, nothing probably could beat the brilliant description of the PDP by one of its founding fathers as a rally. Rallies are usually very riotous and sometimes have to be broken up when they degenerate to sheer anarchy. The political preferences of this column are very well known, but since we are talking about the crisis of party formation, we are talking about a crisis of the nation-state.

A national crisis is not an opportunity for crude recrimination or insult-vending. But it must be noted for the benefit of analytical clarity that unlike some of its lesser competitors that can be held down to and measured against some professed ideals, the PDP, despite its array of organic intellectuals and free-floating technocrats, boasts of no ideology apart from a nebulous pan-Nigerianism which masks its true provenance as a mere power-grabbing machine.

Yet it must also be stated that until the opposition groups transcend their own limitations, the PDP will remain rampart and rampaging and they will remain its mere dialectical mirror image. In an under-developing nation, power grabbing is a cogent manifesto because it puts food on the table and under the table as the case may be and until the ghosts also summon themselves to the banquet. In fact, until the opposition parties come up with the formula for a merger or mega-alliance, the next supper is not the Last Supper and the political gourmets will continue to dine in some style. The mind boggles not just at the culinary logistics of making a meal of a whole country and the crude arithmetic of the feeding frenzy.

For the sake of objective analysis, and as it is at the moment, the Peoples’ Democratic Party is a prebendalist machine for scientific extortion and extraction; a perfect instrument of primitive accumulation based on industrial corruption. The savage oxymoron of this formulation is a perfect example of what happens when instances of old feudal formations take on the garb of modernity and its cutting edge technology. When prebendalism which is a throwback to old feudal Europe becomes a modern phenomenon and when corruption is industrialised, scientific precision is brought to bear on primitive extractive predation. The nation is frozen in a time-warp. Cavemen parade as statesmen.

But we cannot complain too loudly about the sluggishness of a river in midstream without examining its source. It is only through this kind of holistic analysis that we can achieve true illumination of our precarious predicament. Like its old forebears, the PDP is a product of certain structural, political and economic configuration of Nigeria as engineered by the dominant faction of the old military and as designed by the original colonial conquerors of modern Nigeria.

In the event, it is doubtful whether the two military transitions we have had so far are real transitions from military rule to genuine democracy or a mere transfer of power and personnel for the same predatory purposes. In business parlance, it was just a shuffling of Holdings. The same can be said for flag independence and the ceding of power to an indigenous political elite which did not represent a fundamental rupture of political praxis but a continuation of colonization by other means.

In the case of colonial transition, power was ceded to a compliant and complacent political class superintended by a master-nationality which had demonstrated superior political organization and the military initiative required to hold down the country by feudal fiat or by force if and when it became inevitable. In the subsequent political order, only the Action Group, of all the major parties, showed signs of a discernible and coherent ideology and a master plan for national development but was regarded as the most dangerous customer by both the departing colonial masters and their local inheritors. The party was to suffer savage persecution.

For Nigeria’s ancient and modern power-masters, ideology does not matter and neither does a master plan or even democracy. But as we have been taught in school, this is also an ideology and a default master plan , a modern manual for political and economic bankruptcy and a cover for anti-democratic gaming. Famously, General Obasanjo, the superintending military Caesar of the first transition, rumbled that it was not always the case that the best man would win a political contest.

Up till that point, the relationship between Awo and the military establishment had been wary and cagey. Despite the admiration of many ranking officers for his sterling personal qualities, the dominant military establishment viewed the Ikenne titan as a dangerous customer and a threat to their collective aspiration which they equated with national stability and order.

In fairness to Obasanjo, he had tried to help the old man broaden his national base and appeal by transferring him from the chancellorship of the then University of Ife to Ahmadu Bello University. But in all his political career, the late philosopher-politician had fought against the homogenization of the Nigerian ruling class which was not based on principles and shared ideals. It was a non-starter. An earlier warm and cosy relationship with the urbane and affable Governor Robert Adeyinka Adebayo had ended in a public spat over the Agbekoya uprising.

Chief Awolowo repeatedly insisted during his epic campaigns that he was not interested in probing the military as an institution. It was the wise thing to say. But as the heat of political commotion got to him, the old man issued a tense clarification. While he was not interested in probing the military as an institution, any departing military officer who wandered into the murky waters of partisan politics would have his background subjected to “searching scrutiny”. It was the shortest and sharpest political suicide note in post-colonial history. It led to a frantic and messy exit for the military through a legal legerdemain of dubious mathematical provenance.

With General Babangida’s permanent transition, we got to the realm of political football with neither fixed goalposts nor fixed time. Injury time began immediately after the referee’s whistle. The game ended abruptly after an angry crowd invaded the pitch. The umpire lost his empire and almost his life. Babangida had famously quipped that while he did not know who would succeed him, he knew who would not. It became a self-fulfilling anti-democratic prophesy. Babangida was forced to hand over as a holding device—or is it Holdings device?— to a colourless interim contraption. Three months after, the military dropped all pretences and swept back to power.

It is this anti-democratic gaming that is the basis, genesis and nemesis of the Fourth Republic. In a supreme instance of irony, when General Obasanjo collected back power in !999 from General Abubakar, he was doing so from the parade ground commander who bade him farewell as a departing military head of state twenty years earlier. But no two historical conjunctures are similar. Obasanjo’s erstwhile military subordinates were ceding power to him based on a constitution he himself admitted he had not seen up till that moment.

In the event, the “constitution” turned out as an explosive-laden device; a patchwork of incoherent rambling that vouches for the people without the people and with the sole aim of indemnifying the departing military against loss and loss of face. Fronting for this historic fraud as usual is a grand coalition of “big” people from all over the national spectrum, a coalition of contraries without any shared notions or beliefs except a shared obsession for capturing power for the sake of loot.

But it must be obvious to even a political fool that you cannot continue to gourmandize on the national cake without baking something in return. Both the cake and the nation will disappear one day. In its classical incarnation, the nation-state paradigm was designed as a wealth and cake-creating machine meant to liberate humanity from the throes of feudal servitude and the realm of feral necessity where people are not better than foraging animals. As it is evident in Jonathan’s tragic presidency, the “turn by turn solution” is no solution because it is based on preferment without principles and eating without first sweating.

As we can see, the PDP is a victim of its own provenance and genesis. Its implosion is almost inevitable. As it is today, it is like a sealed pool of barracudas that have sniffed blood. We must pity the poor man from Otueke who does not seem to comprehend the Leviathan nature of the forces ranged against him. If the PDP implodes without a clear alternative, then it is going to be a national catastrophe of unimaginable magnitude. Stateless Somali would be a child’s play.

To our beleaguered compatriots, it should be clear that much as this is a crisis of party formation and democratization, it is also a fundamental crisis of nationhood. But if we get the crisis of party formation and democratization off our back, we may find ourselves in an advantageous position to resolve the crisis of nationhood. What is needed now is a broad-based national movement of all known agencies of peaceful change which will come up with a blueprint for national emancipation and act as a countervailing force to a failing and flailing PDP. If Jonathan wants to aid the process and retain a measure of the initiative, then he should urgently set in motion the mechanism for the convocation of an Emergency National Summit that will take a critical look at Nigeria since 1914.

January 20, 2013
Farmer Oaks versus Farmer Hoax

It is far from the madding crowd of Wadata Plaza, the PDP’s intrigue-soaked headquarters. For the umpteenth time, it is meet to alert fellow countrymen —as they say about the ease with which superior reality trumps and trounces outlandish fiction in Nigeria. Even the most accomplished novelist must now shiver in reverence about how actual reality in the country often outstrips the most malarial of imaginative constructs. Nigeria is a great novel perpetually in progress.

It has been reported that the youthful and bubbling Minister of Agriculture in the latest edition of OFN (Operation Fool Nigerians) has officially countermanded his own permanent secretary, Ibukun Odusote, to insist that there was no going back on spending 60 billion naira to procure mobile phones for farmers. Phew, what a phoney racket!!! How a supposedly tested technocrat could find himself embroiled in this seamy scam remains one of the great twists of an engrossing novel. In the past, it was fertilizers that fertilized unconscionable looting, now the World Bank wonk and policy whizz kid has introduced his own Mobile Banking. Farmer Hoax finally meets Farmer Oaks.

Ever heard of Gabriel Oaks? If you haven’t you are not likely to have heard of Thomas Hardy. Hardy was one of the greatest novelists of all time. In the glorious sixties, his classic novels such as Far From the Madding Crowd, Jude the Obscure and The Mayor of Casterbridge constituted the staple fare of those tortuous O and A level exams. Farmer Oaks was the protagonist of Far From the Madding Crowd. It was a riveting tale of roiling passion and unrequited love. Oaks was a man of pious virtues, uncommon nobility and sturdy integrity. In a moment of trusting stupidity, he allowed a knave shepherd to run his entire flock over the cliff. Poverty and penury became his lot.

We must watch how reality abuses fiction. In the nineteenth century, Honore de Balzac, the great French novelist, was so stunned by the outlandish and improbable reality of French society that he simply appointed himself a Social Secretary who would record happenings for posterity without any embellishment. In the end, Balzac himself could no longer distinguish between reality and fiction. On his deathbed, the great man called out for a certain Dr Banchioc as the only physician capable of saving him. “Call me Banchioc!! Only Banchioc can save me now!!” the novelist screamed.

The great snag was that there was no such living doctor. Banchioc was one of Balzac’s own great fictional creations. And there the matter rested. But so too did the great novelist. As the Yoruba will say, a farmer who planted a hundred tubers but who claims to have planted two hundred must eat his fictional yam after consuming his real harvest. Can any rural farmer forward the telephone number of the honorable minister? Agrarian communication, my foot.

January 20, 2013
On our nation’s unity or uniformity (2)

We said in this column last week that political and cultural leaders, particularly those from the north are fond of putting the cart before the horse of Nigeria’s unity. They often argue that all discussions must begin and end with the inevitability and non-negotiability of the country’s unity in a language that is reminiscent of military government’s famous No-go Areas. Many leaders who see themselves as owners and guardians of the country’s unity have the tendency to reduce all issues pertaining to the health of the country to their understanding of what it means for Nigeria to be united. Today’s focus is on homilies, particularly from retired or serving military leaders from both north and south about unity as the panacea to all problems facing the country.

Response from military leaders to complaints about the health of the nation falls into the same pattern with those of most leaders from the north. For example, when General Obasanjo was civilian president, he was fond of calling calls for re-structuring of the country as a means of restoring true federalism as synonymous with calls for secession or disintegration of the country. Even after his departure from power, his views on calls for true federalism remain the same. The military dictator that General Obasanjo succeeded in 1999, General Abubakar Abdulsalam, is also not left behind in the race to use sermons to keep the country united. He has said on several occasions that Nigeria has been together for too long for it to break, regardless of untoward events that threaten the country’s unity. This sermon is in preference to discussing the threats to the nation’s unity and looking for ways to neutralise such threats.

Even one of three executive presidents that is not a civil war hero like Obasanjo, Abdusalam, and others, President Jonathan, is more eloquent that retired generals in his effort to oversimplify the issues that have potential to affect the country’s unity. He has chosen the metaphor of marriage to convince Nigerians and friends of Nigeria that there can be no threat to the nation’s unity, after 100 years of marriage of proverbial Northern Prince and Southern Bride. Saying this to the hearing of Boko Haram, President Jonathan’s optimism about the age of a married couple as a guarantee against divorce is ample. Nobody should expect the president to feel otherwise, as no sane person would want a country that he rules to disintegrate. At the same time, citizens should expect more than homilies from the president.

The latest vibrant voice in support of the sermon of uniformity or the ideology of unity at all cost is the governor of the Central Bank, Sanusi Lamido. In his own variant of efforts to cover the contours of the nation’s diversity with the blanket of uniformity, Sanusi takes advantage of his exalted position to ask for banning of religious and socio-cultural organisations such as CAN, JNI, Afenifere, Ohanaeze, and other and groups that feature the country’s cultural diversity. Sanusi’s call falls into the pattern of thought that believes that muzzling signals of diversity is the best way to ensure the unity of the country. His recommendation is in sync with a view more prevalent among political and cultural leaders in the north (than among their southern counterparts) that uniformity is the answer to the question of how to manage and optimise the country’s diversity.

Our concern is not that there is no space for sermons from political and cultural leaders. Sermons are an intrinsic part of socialisation of citizens, especially of efforts in all cultures to create compliance habits in the citizenry. For example, all major religions of the world exist and thrive on sermonising. One indispensable tool of politicians and their supporters is sermonising or preaching. It is a universal practice that leaders whose interests are likely to be affected adversely by calls for interrogation of the status quo and for change by those that feel that the status quo does not promote their interests have to adopt the sermonic mode to keep what they perceive to promote their own interests. Otherwise, such political and cultural leaders resort to violence, to sustain their current advantages.

The point at issue is the danger inherent in leaders’ proclivity to use sermons as a way of skirting issues that may be fundamental to the health of our nation. It is an understatement to say that our country is at risk. It is at risk at the hands of Boko Haram forces that set out to destroy western education; impose Sharia jurisprudence on the country; and kill or maim innocent citizens with a view to browbeat the government and citizens into accepting their worldview. The nation’s health is also endangered because citizens feel that the governance of the country is circumscribed by a constitution that citizens from various sections of the country believe to have been imposed by a handful of military dictators who appear to have set out to remove most of the federal principles and practices that nurtured the country’s unity from 1946 to 1966.

It is reassuring that the most authoritative cultural leader in the north, the Sultan of Sokoto, has called on all interests in the country to respond to the nation’s security and other challenges with a high sense of realism. He has asked all parties to the Nigerian experiment to enter into heart-to-heart dialogue on how to keep the country peaceful, united, and progress-friendly. One hopes that other leaders of thought in the north and in the military will pay attention to the Sultan’s sermon on conditions for peaceful co-existence of diverse cultures in one nation-state.

The tension militating against progress in our country will not go away because articulate leaders and organisations are able to use the mantra of unity as the beginning and end of political debate, just as the call for visionary leaders may not be at variance with demands for a conducive political structure and a constitution that reflects the yearnings of citizens. Most modern democracies thrive on constitutions negotiated by citizens or those given the mandate to prepare a constitution on citizens’ citizens.

As we have argued several times in the past in this column, a major source of tension in our country today, apart from the worldview and ideology of Boko Haram, is not opposition to the unity of the country. It is the opposition of many of the country’s leaders to calls for open dialogue on how to manage the nation’s diversity in a manner that will sustain and enhance the nation’s unity. A conducive constitutional framework is (more likely than not) to enrich the qualities of political leaders with inclination for good governance.

January 20, 2013
Re: Beyond promises of deliverance

Your article of January 6, 2013 was, as usual, highly cerebral and thought-provoking and I am proud to say that as one of your ardent readers, I have come to derive so much from reading you and your other very brilliant columnists over the years. However, for the very first time, I want to disagree with your analysis that seems to suggest that the people and not leadership is the problem with Nigeria.

Is it really so that Nigerians “have contrived to make their homeland the most wretched on earth”? Evidence suggests that, on the contrary, those who Nigerians have been unfortunate to have as rulers (I hate to call them leaders) since independence have been solely responsible for the sorry state of affairs. The author of From Third World to First World paints a graphic word picture of how Nigerian rulers shortly after independence exhibited so much corruption, ostentatious living, selfishness and inept leadership while he and his team were frugal and laboured selflessly to transform their country. Now, the result is there for all to see. Sir, I ask, what has changed between then and now? You yourself admitted that President Jonathan’s team is not “Nigeria’s finest”. So, what miracle are you expecting from such a collection? Or, did the people put them there?

It is indeed very worrisome that the President does not see corruption but attitude as Nigeria’s greatest problem. Is the practice of corruption not an attitude, albeit a negative one? If the various revelations of mind-boggling figures from various sections of government in corrupt practices do not bother the President, it simply means that our situation is hopeless. Let the looting continue. The common man is certainly not responsible for the outrageous and over inflated N16 billion that the government wants to spend on the Vice President’s official residence. Nor are they culpable in the annual allocation of N150 billion to take care of less than 500 individuals in the National Assembly. Mark you, nobody oversees the budget of the National Assembly and no audit is carried out at the end of the year to know how this stupendous sum is spent. If this is not corruption, then lexicographers should give us a new definition! Yet, we are talking of transformation. If our rulers are not transformed, it is asinine and the height of hypocrisy to ask or expect the followers to transform.

You talked of Nigerians going back to their old ways shortly after Major-Gen. Buhari left the scene. Agreed. But what kind of leadership did General Babangida provide? If succeeding governments had sustained that legacy of enforced discipline, it would have been part of us by now. That was how organised countries were able to institutionalise order and it has become part of them today. It is a fact that humans by nature need sanctions in order to rein in their excesses. Where there is no sanction, the tendency is for people to act with impunity. The recent riot in Britain when youths went on a looting spree just because there was a breakdown of law and order for a few days is a classic example. Also, a little over a decade ago, policemen in Brazil went on strike and several hundred decided to commit all manners of infractions. This only proves that lawlessness is not peculiar to Nigeria, it is a worldwide malaise. But where leadership is seen to be firm, just and leading by example, the people have no choice but to follow the lead even if reluctantly. I agree with you that “No government will work… as long as Nigerians retain their contempt for the rule of law.” But who is the greatest violator of the rule of law? The answer is very obvious. Take a look at the issue of traffic you mentioned. Have you ever experienced top government officials being chauffeur-driven? It is always an exhibition of sheer madness. Woe betide you if you are sluggish in getting out of their way. Your vehicle will be vandalised and you will be lucky if you escape without a few bruises. The recent altercation between Governor Okorocha and Senator Chris Anyanwu over the right of way is a good example. All this happened right in the very presence of their security details. Remember also former Governor Ohakim. There are so many others. What example have these top government officials set? Is it any surprise then that their subordinates also terrorise road users on their own in the absence of their masters? Even money bags that are not entitled to the use of siren used it with impunity, complete with police escorts and also harass other road users.

And, talking of people “stripping off miles of transmission cables with a view to selling same”; while admitting that such an act amounts to sabotage and deserves severe sanctions, have you forgotten so soon that a former President spent US$16billion on this same power problem without results and did not honour the invitation of the National Assembly to come and explain how? Or, of the House of Reps committee members who did the probing but were also found to be corruptly involved? How did the case and so many others bordering on corruption involving the high and mighty end? Such malfeasance, I dare say, is the exclusive preserve of our rulers. While it is so easy to pillory the wretched-looking policeman who collects pittance from motorists, it is meet to ignore an IG who stole N17billion but who today is a free man. If “ripping aluminum railings” to make profits is a “deranged behaviour”, then certainly, our overfed but irredeemably kleptomaniac public officials in all arms of government surely need the services of a world-class professor of neuro-surgery to examine their brains, because, only demented minds can carry on such senseless acquisitions in the face of grinding poverty and dwindling national resources.

I do not believe that Nigerians are as bad you portray them. Yes, there could be very few malcontents. As we all know, just a handful of Nigerians in the Diaspora have contrived to give Nigeria a bad image by their iniquitous activities compared to the hundreds of thousands who are living clean. As you rightly observed at the outset of your article, Nigerians are among the “best minds”. The problem with Nigeria is that we have been saddled with a succession of horrible rulers lacking in vision and selfless service but abundant in shenanigan, selfishness, and other forms of despicable attitudes. As long as such people continue to rule us, we should not expect our situation to change except we are ready to call them to order. In a situation where unworthy people are appointed based on party patronage, cronyism and other sundry considerations; where our law-making chambers are peopled by indicted governors, pedophiles, corrupt ex-military autocrats and others with malformed personalities, the people will only be too glad to follow in their bad footsteps. Like Tatalo Alamu once said in one of his articles, Nigeria is a great country waiting for a great leader (I add, leaders). When those leaders appear and take charge, mark my words, the followers will be inspired to emulate them and things will certainly take shape. For now, Nigerians only have bad examples to emulate.

January 20, 2013
Azazi: Tribute to a noble man

Life is good but death is inevitable. Opulence is desirable but good health and longevity are divine gifts. That is why the Holy Bible states in Psalm 39: 5, 6 & 11 that: “Indeed You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but a vapour. Surely every man walks about like a shadow; surely they busy themselves in vain; he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them. …You make his beauty melt away like a moth; surely every man is vapour.” (NKJV).

It is in confirmation and conformity with this truth that many people die in fearsome and tragic circumstances that reflect quick disappearance of vapour into the air. Hence, death is an irretrievable loss of human life just like vapour cannot be retrieved from the air. The fact remains that no tragic event is ever anticipated or welcomed; but one of the most shocking of such bad occurrences in 2012 was the air mishap that claimed the lives of General Andrew Owoye Azazi, the immediate past National Security Adviser, NSA, the amiable Governor of Kaduna State, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa and four others on Saturday, December 22, 2012 in the home state of Azazi, Bayelsa.

Azazi’s death, like that of Yakowa or any other tragic incident, still remains a nightmare especially to those who were close to him through official and personal relationships. He was a complete gentleman. He related very warmly with people not on account of their status or the level of intimacy with him but as a lifestyle; he treated and addressed people with humility, respect and candour.

He was a congenial person to work with. Azazi never for once made his staff or subordinates feel that he was the boss but a team leader. Even as Chief of Army Staff, those who knew him intimately maintained that he was “very civil and fair minded in all his dealings…too gentlemanly that some people could not believe that we still had his ilk in the military.”

Azazi’s disposition to issues had never been hinged on any other factor than merits and facts; unlike some other ‘big bosses’ whose mood often dictate their reactions. He was a good listener and a meticulous decision maker. Regardless of who was offering an idea, the late Army General usually respected, accepted and applied superior views, arguments and ideas. He enjoyed engaging his aides in sound intellectual debate as a norm towards taking feasible and defensible decisions.

Azazi was very desirous of good governance, peace and credible public administration while in office as the NSA that he willingly offered help and co-operation to a few MDAs not only in the area of security but in some ways of enhancing their operations. Labaran Maku, Information Minister, had in a live telecast in January 2012 acknowledged this co-operation offered to his ministry by the office of the NSA.

Poor information management is a major but often ignored problem of government. Azazi believed that if your employers (Nigerian people) are not getting correct assessment of your performance, it would give them the reason to give your tenure a poor rating. This, he believed had been the major channel often appropriated for misinforming the public and blackmailing the government. Hence, Azazi nurtured a robust relationship with the media through which occasional interactive sessions were held with media executives.

Azazi changed the cult-like administration of national security. He believed that Nigerians should be adequately and regularly informed about their security situation; whereas withholding information for too long often encouraged foreign media to inundate Nigerians with distorted facts.

He was a patriot of the highest order. He would stop at nothing to defend the corporate interest and integrity of Nigeria whenever the need arose. One of such instances was when the United States alerted its citizens, nay, Nigerians that some designated spots and hotels had been marked for attack by a terrorist group. Hours after the announcement, Abuja, indeed, most parts of Nigeria were struck with fear as vocal Nigerians asked what our security chiefs were doing if information like this could elude their notice.

Azazi was miffed not at the piece of information but at the needless sensation and panic the announcement generated. Explaining to a select media executives at an interactive session barely a week after, he said the information was not new. “We had been on top this situation since we got wind of this plot. In fact, we alerted our security collaborators and the management of the facilities concerned to step up security checks and surveillance. Thus we moved security personnel into the marked areas to void the plot.

“But when we asked the US officials (after the announcement) if there was any development on this information other than what we already know, they said none. But in the US, security alerts flow in torrents per minutes yet they won’t send such panicky alerts to their public. All you will notice is the swarming presence of security agents, gadgets and dogs within the affected areas. They won’t throw their people into needless panic or fear like they often do to us.” The beauty of it was that the US officials did not only apologise but also reversed the statement less than 48 hours later.

The perennial bombing of public and worship edifices and killing of innocent people by an extremist Islamic terror group, Boko Haram, characterised most of Azazi’s tenure as NSA. In fact, the dare-devil activities of the ruthless sect eventually led to his removal and a few others from office. Explaining the reason for his abrupt sack, President Goodluck Jonathan said Azazi and others had been quite efficient at fighting the terror upsurge, but their removal was a way of responding to the security challenge as a change of government’s tactics.

While maintaining the norm of working behind the scene to ensure adequate security, his prognostic approach to information flow with astute military intelligence had been the pivot upon which the national security network had been sustained. He supported the idea of dialogue with the sect leaders. He strongly believed that government could use the ‘carrot and stick’ method. While dialoguing with the terror group, military force would be used to counter its insurgency. “We will not fold our arms because we are discussing with Boko Haram and allow them to keep killing people. We will of course repel and foil their planned onslaught, burst their hideouts and arrest their members while still appealing to them to embrace dialogue,” Azazi had said at another parley.

In proffering solution to the security challenge, Azazi was a proponent of state police option. I’m not sure if he ever made this public but he believed the tendency for abuse of the process by state chief executives could be taken care of in the provisions of the law. He also had a feasible idea on how to achieve effective policing. Meanwhile, Azazi had embarked on a strategic overhauling of national security network through which enhanced security system would be put in place. This project, for which he desired to be remembered as NSA, could not be nurtured to fruition unfortunately because he didn’t stay long enough in office.

His Asaba (Delta State) statement which traced the unabated upsurge of terror attacks in the country to the conflict of political interests in the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, was typical of Azazi’s candour. Even when I told him that President Jonathan seemed not to be on the same page with him over his statement, he said: “I can’t join issues with Mr. President. He’s my Commander-in-Chief. I have simply expressed my mind and those concerned know very well what I’m talking about.”

Azazi’s life after his tenure of office was that of rest; this was evident in his fresh look. Also, he had more time for his family and private business. On August 30, 2012, he celebrated the wedding of one of his children in Lagos. The joyful event took place a few days after an on-line publication alleged that he bought a choice property in Abuja at a very costly amount. He wasn’t perturbed as he asked the authors to forward the details of their findings to any anti-graft agency. Unknown to many people, Azazi went into real estate business immediately after his retirement as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in August 2008. In fact, he was on his way to the airport on a business trip to the United States in October 2010 when President Jonathan invited him for the NSA job. He usually reacted to such spurious allegations with witty anecdotes believing that cheap blackmail was a burden of leadership or success in our nebulous society.

As NSA, his duty primarily was to advise the President on security matters based on of information and intelligence reports at his disposal. While his office co-operated with that of the Inspector General of Police and other service chiefs, NSA’s office directly supervises the State Security Service, SSS, and the National Intelligence Agency, NIA.

A brilliant and consummate intelligence officer Azazi had one of the fastest growing military careers in the present day democratic Nigeria. Between May, 2006 and June, 2007 the late General was decorated with the ranks of Major General, Lieutenant General and General.

Many who called or sent sms to express grief at his sudden exit described him as a “great man.” His ilk are few among the top echelon of the society. He had seen it all but not blinded by the spoils of office. He was philosophical about life; hence he said to me: “Whenever I was in a convoy with siren blaring ahead of us, I often asked myself ‘is this what life’s all about?’ of course not. I see opulence and power as ephemeral and I was never excited about them. Though it was a privilege for me to experience this for a little while, making the best of every opportunity for humanity is enough satisfaction for me because I know there is more to life than all these.” This was the personal creed of General Azazi and he lived a noble life spurred by contentment, service to humanity and fear of God. Good night Azazi the Great.

Awe is a Lagos-based media

consultant

January 20, 2013
Regular water intake vital to ‘sound’ health

Nigerians have been urged to improve the quality of water they drink for effective function of their body organs.

According to Dr Raymond Akinlade of Royal Hospital, Lagos, water is a medium for chemical reactions in the body.

“It moves nutrients, hormones, antibodies and oxygen through the blood stream and lymphatic system,” he said.

He said drinking water is vital to health because it makes up about 60 per cent of the body weight. “Every system in the body depends on water. Taking enough and quality water reduces the risks of some diseases in the body, the energy level is greatly affected by the amount of water we drink,” he said.

Akinlade said inadequate supply of water to the body would prevent the brain from performing optimally, adding that it may also trigger headache. “Lack of water can lead to dehydration, a condition that occurs when you don’t have enough water in your body to carry on normal functions.

“Dehydration is very risky to the health of the old and the young,” he added.

Akinlade identified the symptoms of dehydration as excessive thirst and fatigue.

Others are headache, dry skin, dry mouth, little or no urination, dark colour or strong smell urine, hunger, muscle weakness and dizziness.

On benefits of water to the body, Akinlade said drinking enough water helps to regulate the body temperature through perspiration which dissipates excess heat and cools the body. He said we lose about two pints of water daily by just exhaling, so it is crucial that we take water so our lungs would be moistened as we take in oxygen and excrete carbon dioxide.

He said some diseases are reduced by having enough water in the body.

“Asthma is frequently relieved when water intake is increased. When there is sufficient water, wastes are effectively removed, which results in improved kidneys. Water also lubricates the joints as joint pain frequently decreases with increased water intake,” he said.

He noted that nothing can take the place of water. “Fruit juice, soft drinks, coffee and others may contain substances that are not healthy, and may actually contradict some of the positive effects of the added water.

To improve water intake, Akinlade said, people should drink a glass of water first thing in the morning and first thing before, during and after meals. “Drinking a glass of water will help you to stay in control of your eating, and therefore help to keep your weight in a healthy range. Drinking water during the meals helps in digestion of the food,” he added.

January 15, 2013
‘It took a while for me to forgive my mother’

Abiola Laseinde has had a productive career life having worked with some of the major corporate organisations in Africa. At present, the young mother of two boys serves as the legal manager for Cadbury West Africa. Inspite of her victories, it has not been a rosy ride for this lawyer. Raised by a single parent, she was forced to pay her way through school and fought to preserve her dignity while at it. Speaking with Rita Ohai, she shared some of her challenges and how she overcame them.

Being a lady at the level of your career, what are some of the things you did to rise at such a fast pace?

It starts with God in the sense that I had a pretty rough childhood. At a point in my life, I was left all alone. I had to look for a way to get sponsored through school because I wanted to go to school but my background was filled with challenges.

My getting an education was funded partly by the community and the church. So very early in life I learnt that I had to be determined. Immediately I was able to get some succour for my education, I was ready to give it my best shot. I was qualified as a lawyer 13 years ago and since then it has been a climb for me because I did not lose my focus and determination to succeed.

I also had this thing for excellence; wherever I had worked, I always wanted to do things to the best of my abilities. I do not believe in eye-service. I can be very impatient with lazy people because I am not one. I believe that your work should speak for you. I am a lover of helping people develop their capacity and that has helped me. I enter a team and quickly align with the objectives and priorities and I run with it.

You said you were left alone at a young age, explain what that means?

My parents were separated just before my 10th birthday and we had to leave with my mum. It was not easy for my mother to bring us up.

At a point in time, while I was in the University, my mother told me that I would have to drop out of school to help her work as a caterer because she could not pay for the law school fees which was very expensive. I refused and that caused a lot of bad blood between both of us.

At that time, she felt that maybe if I had taken a break to help her as a caterer, I may have saved enough money to continue with school later but I just felt that would be the same thing as terminating my destiny. So I had to work with my hands a lot to survive because I realised as a very young Christian at the time that any other means of getting money was not an option for me.

I had a lot of temptations because by God’s grace, I am beautiful and I had offers of all sorts. I went to one of the most notorious schools in this country, Edo State University, which is right on the road to Abuja. So we always had all sorts of stop-over’s from Abuja which was rocking at the time. For me, that lifestyle was a no-go area.

Could you share some of the things you did as a young woman to make money?

Very early, I started trading. I could sell anything. I could sell ice to an Eskimo by the grace of God. I think my hands were just blessed. I would get the okirikas of this world, take them back to school and sell them at almost one thousand percent profit. Those were the clothes I was wearing back then. When I went home on holidays, I was always looking for some part-time job to work at. Whether it was as a receptionist, housemaid or anything, I did not mind the fact that I was an undergraduate because I wanted to go to school the clean way.

What do you think are some of the challenges children from broken homes face?

When parents are taking decisions to separate or divorce, they never ever think deeply about what the effect will be on the kids. All of a sudden, two people’s luggage becomes one person’s load. It’s as good as one of the parents just dying and it is not easy.

For some reason, our parents are selfish in the sense that it took a while for me to really forgive my mother. I did not understand why she would tell a young child who was making straight A’s in school to drop out and come and work. I believed that she should have done everything humanly possible to keep me in school instead of throwing it back at me.

Separation should not be an option if it is possibly to keep the family together. If it is possibly for the two fighting parties to just keep themselves alive, they should stay in the marriage for their children’s interest.

The few times I had to tell my dad that he was not being responsible and that if only he knew that my life and my brother’s life were fertile grounds for them to sow on so that they could reap in future. But he just said I was talking nonsense because I was less than 10 years old then, but like my mum used to say, big words used to come out of my mouth.

You talked about being able to blend in any team, how have you been able to handle the ‘office politics’ that comes with it?

Initially, with my kind of heart, I was a bit naive to ‘office politics’ and I used to think that everybody had my kind of heart that always assumes positive intentions, but with time I got to learn that office politics is as real as the air we breathe.

I tend to balance things out. If I am in an environment that has a lot of those issues, I try to just maintain a focus on objectives. I did a lot of study on emotional intelligence and how to manage people and their emotions.

By the grace of God, I have gained some experience and I can handle any situation. Also, my childhood and all the struggles I have been through helped a lot. When I was back in school, many of my classmates used to think I was older than my age due to my dressing and carriage.

As for dealing with the politics, you need to realise that it is always there. You do not go looking for it but you need to have a laid down strategy when it bounces in your face. You have to blend and learn how to carry people along and manage emotions. Some people have their own hidden agenda and you have to anticipate it positively.

There’s widespread concern about the strength of character of the average youth. For you who chose not to compromise, what do you think is the problem with many of them?

It would be difficult for me to imagine what my life would have turned out to be if I had a Blackberry or other kinds of phones. I did not even have the opportunity to own a social media platform or an e-mail address. Right now, they have so many things contending for their attention. There is so much decay in our society. If you ask a child what they want to become in future, they will say they want to become politicians because it is the easiest way to become rich. Whether they are boys or girls, that is all they want to be.

Parents need to be more involved in their children’s lives now more than ever because of all the things competing for their attention. It starts with inculcating the right values form the home. I had church values which are the same thing as saying I had moral values. My family members would also tell me to make sure I did not go and get myself pregnant and all those things stuck.

Knowing that you handle a huge amount of responsibilities at work, how do you pacify your husband so that he gives you time for your job?

My husband is my mentor and friend. He believes in my development. If I am in the boardroom and I have a problem to solve, before I pick up a law book, I call him first and he will have something to say. He is a very wise man and I pick his brain a lot.

I do a lot of travelling and he supports me tremendously. Anytime I go a trip, once I know my husband is at home, my heart is at peace. We have a very tight relationship and he is always proud of my achievements and I can rely on him one hundred percent.

January 13, 2013
When time is not a woman’s best friend

Rita Ohai writes on the challenges women face managing time.

TIME is usually not a woman’s best friend.

It is common place to find men seething in frustration as they wait endlessly for a lady to put on her make-up, get dressed before she saunters graciously out of the house leaving a trail of excuses in her wake.

For the average woman, wasting time is a normal occurrence and sometimes a necessity. Adeline Chiejine, an insurance broker who says she spends about an hour getting ready for work, corroborates this hypothesis.

“I am not a morning person, so when I get out of bed, it could take me a while to move into the flow of things. That is not to say that I always reach the office late but because of all the things that I need to do before leaving the house, coupled with Lagos traffic, sometimes I do not have a choice.”

In contrast, Imoh Egba, an architect and mother of two, believes that the only way to satisfy her family and achieve her personal daily targets without going insane from the pressure is to live by the clock.

She says, “Using my time wisely is something that has become a part of me. In the earlier part of my life as a young woman, I may not have seen it as important due to the fact that I did not have so many responsibilities. But I have a lot on my hands now and the only way I can make all the loose ends meet is by paying attention to the nitty-gritty, such as doing things in a timely fashion so I can do everything that needs to be done.”

Like Imoh, many successful people understand the value of judiciously utilizing their time for peace of mind.

According to management experts, time is like money. If you control how you use it, you can create a productive and profitable working environment. If you don’t, you can spend your working life always being busy, but not getting the important things done.

In our days, people spent most of their time working. There are times that they feel that they will never manage to escape from the four walls of the office and are lost in the various projects and tasks they have to finish. The solution to this vicious circle is to get organised and start managing your time! Here’s how;

1. Make a list of what should be done

Make a list of what to do and try to constantly renew the list and keep it up to date. Include in this list both urgent and non-urgent things so as never to forget or ignore something again. Keep the list all the time with you, in your briefcase or in your daily agenda.

2. Allocate your time correctly

Include an estimated time frame for each action and the date by which each task must be completed. If the order that each task must be completed does not matter it may be possible to complete something during an unexpected free time. For example, you can look for information on the Internet while you wait in your office to start a meeting.

3. Set your own deadlines and meet them

Be realistic about the deadlines you set and try to meet them. It is true that any work gets exactly the time allocated for it. Have you ever noticed how quickly you can finish something you have to write, give assignments and take decisions on the last day before your vacation? Although we tend to complete many things when we are under pressure, it’s less stressful and much more professional to establish and follow an action plan.

4. Use your time intelligently

Consider the case to check your e-mail only certain times of the day and let the answering machine respond to your calls so as not to interrupt your work for a couple of hours. If possible, avoid dealing with the same job or the same e-mail again. Never open e-mail address if you do not have time to read and edit, that is, to answer it, send, or delete it.

Do not spend all your time chatting with people who do not add any value to your life. If you have to, try and avoid them and only meet with them in your spare time and if you absolutely have no choice.

5. Be constantly busy

Keep your skills in shape by having at least one project to be involved. Two or more (projects) would be even better because you are given the opportunity to change speed and to focus on something else for variety. To deal simultaneously with different projects assures that you will always have something on which to work. Also, it keeps your mind alert and renews your prospects.

6. Choose carefully your projects

Make sure that your work has some value for the company and that it raises your skills. There are many good reasons why you cannot accept to take part in a meeting and refuse to take an additional project. Successful people know how to say no. Ask yourself, ‘will this promote my career?’

7. Do not waste your minutes

It is an integral part of human nature to postpone unpleasant tasks. Plan some of the more pleasant tasks of the project to be made after any unpleasant tasks. If you do not like to work with numbers, plan to do the accounts in the morning when you are still fresh and there are not so many things to distract your attention.

You must give greater attention to how you spend your time. Watch how successful businessmen allocate their time and emulate some of their time management practices. Success comes to those who know how to manage their time well!

January 13, 2013
More of the same toward Africa and the black world

•An empire is its greatest enemy.

An empire’s demise comes in unscripted, nonlinear steps. Unforeseen events and competitor nations arise to challenge the imperial seat. When guided by figures touched with the spirit that gave it greatness, the empire casts aside adverse events and rivals with singular purpose. At the empire’s most fecund stages, a political consensus exist that all other interests are subservient to the imperatives of collective greatness. No deed, from the noblest to the tawdriest, is outside the ken of the empire’s architects so long as the deed serves the empire. Every empire is built on equal parts heroism and crime because no empire comes without the taking of another’s possessions or life. A saint cannot erect a worldly empire; for he will love his foes not crush them. Nor can the abject madman because his endless folly will turn to defeat any victories gained. Building an empire requires a statesman capable of being saint or sinner depending on the situation. By creating an empire, the leader bequeaths more than wealth and power to his successors. It is for them to launder history by bleaching pristine his scarlet deeds; he also gives them the comfort of power and wealth whereby they can afford to act more humanely in maintaining the rare thing they have inherited than he did in building it.

Paradoxically, things never work as planned. The dynamics of imperial institutions eventually places the empire in the hands of those incapable of maintaining it. Success turns the political culture into a lathe of arrogance. Greed and ambition become high morality. Virtue and honesty are banished from secular practice. Money comes to count for everything because it can buy anything, including the souls and minds of society’s great men. Nothing that can be done without money is worth doing. A few great men and women still exist but none participate in governance. Those who govern are neither great nor evil. They are not sufficiently profound or possessed of an unshakable vision to be either. They are more interested in position and title than in achievement. The deeds that interest them are the ones that gain entrance into valued realty not the ones that gain entrance into history’s ledger. They would rather cut a bad compromise than stand for right.

These leaders preside over the slow leveling of a great edifice. The reduction happens so gradually and in such minute increments that no one involved realizes the descent. They believe things shall be as they always were. They see no great problems, so they take no warnings. They are sober, unimaginative figures who do not rock the boat because they never realize they are at sea. Impervious to the debt they owe history, they believe they own history. As such, they study nothing and understand even less. Their wisdom consists of their prejudices and ignorant notions of other nations and peoples.

Success has giddied them. A fatal turn of perspective is had. No longer do the empire’s leaders satisfy their personal ambitions within the context of the empire’s progress. The mindset shifts to exploring how the empire can satisfy the leaders’ selfish aims. They confuse being powerful with being all powerful. Thus, the treasury is squandered on wars in distant places of little consequence. The state becomes highly militarized. The people become inured to war. It becomes a national pastime much like organized sports. The more militarized the state, the less real its democracy and more imbalanced its economy. Yet, no true threat really exists.

Living without a genuine mortal threat, internal unity weakens. Competing elites see each other as enemies. They spend more time bickering than in sanitizing the body politic of the rot that may ultimately lay them low. A glittery decay sets in. Termites busy themselves at the woodwork. The mirror becomes a sword. The vast empire ceases being an extraordinary singularity. It fissures into a multiplicity of haggling constituencies led by lackluster personages. Inertia sustains the empire for a time but grandeur eventually fades. Because the leaders are below par builders and visionaries, they can’t save the empire by reviving the spirit upon which it was built. Instead, they summon real and imagined enemies to fight; they seek to lead through fear instead of inspiration. The military is called the save the empire where no danger exists.

Those in charge see themselves as different and superior to other people. They can no longer listen or learn. They believe what they want has the force of right and of law. But all it has is the force of force. They have inserted themselves into an unwinnable paradox. A durable empire is based on a balancing of interests between the center and the periphery. Thus, an empire that despises the diverse people under its umbrella is an empire in search of its own undoing.

Against this backdrop, President Obama’s new foreign policy team must be weighed. While disavowing imperial proclivities, American politicians’ frequent references to America as the “lone superpower” and the “indispensable nation” has but one meaning. America expends more on its military than all other nations combined. America has a military installation in most nations. If this is not imperial, than nothing is.

Senator John Kerry is the nominee to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton’s popularity surpassed her effectiveness. She travelled much but accomplished little. The world is no better than when she took office. The thrust of foreign policy remains in the talons of the military and intelligence combine mainly populated by hawkish conservatives who would rather destroy than dialogue with an adversary. Clinton was just the application of a liberal face to Prussian foreign policy. She was a glorified public relations officer. The oft dour Kerry will make the same pitch but with significantly less charm. Above all, he is an establishment man who will not ask even small questions about big matters. He’d rather excite himself by asking big questions about small matters.

Former Senator Chuck Hagel is the Defense Secretary nominee. Like his predecessor, Hagel is a moderate Republican. He is more cautious on Iran and more willing to see defense budget cuts than any known Republican since Abraham Lincoln. This moderation will estrange him to the uniforms in the Pentagon. These bureaucratically canny generals will make Hagel an outcast in the very department he is to run. The generals and the immense martial infrastructure atop which they sit will have their way. Hagel will make a decision but the generals will bury it then do as they please. Hagel will be powerless to stop them. They will salute him yet detest him all the while.

These underwhelming appointments signify that policy toward Africa will remain at low ebb. During his first term, President Obama kept Africa at arm’s length. He treated it like the ambitious man does the bumptious country cousin who pops up unexpectedly at the boss’s cocktail party. Afraid of being criticized as a radical, Obama did everything he to run away from things black, short of jumping out of his skin. Most observers state President Bush was more engaged and humanitarian on Africa than Obama. For once, conventional wisdom is right. Since the tact proved successful there is no reason why Obama would shift.

The contours of Obama’s approach toward sub-Saharan Africa are seen even in the western hemisphere. Beyond the bland indifference toward Black America, just look at Haiti. That nation is an African microcosm that was cargoed to the Antilles. Although it sits at America’s doorstep, the welfare of its people is that of the Congo. Haiti’s leadership is a motley collection of factotums to American interests but that avails nothing. So long after the devastating earthquake, the displaced still live in the same conditions that existed the week after the tribulation. Although former President Clinton is the UN’s coordinator for Haitian relief, he attracts no criticism for this dismal condition. In truth, Clinton struts about more like the American pro-consul than like a humanitarian. He has registered more progress in turning north Haiti into a resort of the rich and an industrial camp where American textile companies can open factories exploiting desperate Haitians at indecent wages.

Haiti sits atop significant but dormant oil and gas reserves because the United States has determined exploration is not in condign for the time being. Haiti seems accursed. This is not so. It merely suffers the consequences of the sentence imposed on it for having the temerity to declare itself an independent black republic some two centuries ago. What Haiti now eats Africa will soon taste.

The cornerstone of America’s African policy is AFRICOM. While AFRICOM started under his predecessor, the Obama’s indifference to the black world has allowed the military to give AFRICOM greater push. AFRICOM attempts to establish a large, permanent American military presence on African soil. Its purported reason — to help Africa build democracy — is laughable. A tumescent military is an internal threat to American democracy. Under the war on terror, the military and intelligence communities pressured the civilian establishment into legislation giving both the military and intelligence agencies unprecedented power to surveil, detain and kill citizens without recourse to judicial protection. It makes little sense that these institutions threatening democracy at home would nourish it abroad.

America’s Africa policy has two cynical objectives. First, the flow of natural resources to western economies must be safeguarded. This has adverse ramifications. African industrialization conflicts with American interests and thus American will do what it can to discourage this approach to economic development.

Second, America wants to ensure that terrorists groups don’t attain the capacity to harm the American homeland. The objective is to contain terrorism not end it. The American people want terrorism ended but the vast, lucrative condominium of military power sees things differently. In perpetual war, there are perpetual profits. Victory ends the funding banquet. Victory over terrorism would bring two defeats. The first one would be that of the terrorists. The second would be that to the expansion of the military. Thus, the military wants the threat tamed but also alive to keep afraid the America’s civilian leadership. This way, military funding remains at high velocity; the military’s influence in government grows like weeds in the untended garden.

Consequently, American never resolves nor retreats from chronic troubled spots. Somalia is as it has been. Congo is as it has been. Sudan has been split in two and now both sides are ready to lunge at the other’s throat in a moment’s notice. The insecurity attendant to the partition has put the Chinese on their heels. America now encroaches where China thought it had economic suzerainty. Oil is discovered in Uganda. America increases military aid and deploys Special Forces to find Joseph Kony’s Lord Resistance Army. Yet, they can’t find the jungle prophet because they are not looking for him. They would rather he exist because he brightens the halo of danger. The true reason for this and similar missions are to keep danger at the right level so that rival mining interests are deterred and pro-American one feel secure enough to work.

The American military now rehashes in Africa its escapades in Latin America decades ago. That experiment ended badly. Latin American militaries grew too mean and overconfident because of their American benefactors. Democracy was either beaten or blackmailed in the process.

The permanent deployment of a superior foreign military on African soil means trouble and less independence. For the foreign military to benefit Africa, it would have to place Africa’s interests above those of its home nation. This is impossible, particularly given that the American military already exalts its special interests above those of the nation it is meant to serve. The more African governments rely on foreign militaries for their stability is the more they forfeit independence. A nation’s domestic and foreign policies becomes dictated from abroad. Leaders of such nations are in danger of becoming glorified stenographers copying what others have told them.

This is particularly true given the nature of the current American government and military. America is a strong but uneasy empire seeking to reassert itself with a strong hand. American democracy has ossified to the point where only moneyed elites influence matters. The two richest and most powerful elites are Money Power and the military complex. Both are highly conservative and both disdain for representative democracy. Money Power constitutes the government behind the government. The military complex constitutes the government within the government. Neither is government by the people. Both are governments that bypass the people.

Nominally, President Obama sits atop the perch. However, he did not rise to the top as the head of a reformist movement. He got there by making a pact with the status quo. Being perceived as pro-black would break the pact he signed. In the end, he is a constrained, moderate leader of an imperial power working toward preserving its interests which are basically to return to the power relationships with Africa that existed two-three decades ago. Thus, Africa should expect no great succor from him by way of policies that would promote equitable economic development. In turn, Africa should not let the imperialists exploit Obama’s heritage as a device to outmaneuver Africa on its own soil. Africa must stand and think for itself for it does not have a brother in the White House. It might not even have a reliable friend there. All you can be sure of is that the empire will continue to grind away to get what it wants until such time that the empire has ground itself to dust or some miracle takes place allowing America to recover its better through governance by its more democratic, statesmanlike elements. In the dangerous neighborhood, one should pray for a miracle but prayer should be made with one eye open and the door locked.

08060340825 (sms only)

January 13, 2013
Victor Dolores

(How the Sad Tropics reclaimed their own)

It was bound to come. The ultimate rebuff had a ring of inevitability about it. The first claim lacked scientific validity or empirical validation. It was a spoof, designed perhaps to absolve contemporary western consciousness of the blame for the monumental fiasco that Africa in general and Nigeria in particular had turned out to be.

We are of course talking about the report a few years back which placed Nigerians as the happiest people on earth. Surely, something did not add up. This was probably a new phase of globalisation and its neo-colonial siege against the rest of humanity.

And yet amidst all the doubts and disbelief, there was the nagging suspicion that there was some core truth to the claim. When you meet a truly happy and contented Nigerian, despite the historic debris of collapsed hopes and expectations around him, it was the happiness and heartfelt contentment based on sound philosophical conviction rather than the naïve imbecility traditionally associated with innocent humans just emerging from the Stone Age.

Are these people perpetual gluttons for sadistic punishment? Are we simply incapable of the prodigious exertions of citizenship that is the hallmark of the truly modern society? Or are we products of a lost civilisation marked by innocence and sweet natured compliance with horrendous adversities? And yet, stories abound in the past of stirring and heroic revolts against emperors, tyrants and sundry tormentors of their people. Were those old folks truly our ancestors or some lost tribes of the Ark?

We can now report that the claim about happy Nigerians has suffered a remarkable double sucker combination. Their swiftness and devastating import suggest that the bankrupt political elite that have ruled Nigeria since independence may be running short of mystical voodoo statistics to shore up their inglorious hegemony. Additionally, it may suggest a coming re-colonisation in some form and the fact that our ruling elite may no longer have some metropolitan shelters to run to after blitzing their own countries.

While this may not totally absolve the west of its historic complicity in the African tragedy, it may go a long way in setting a template for the resolution of the crisis. If you do not bury a dead man because of his family, you will have to bury him for the health hazards his corpse constitute. Some nations are becoming a menace to global health. Unfortunately, most of them are in Africa and Asia.

The first sign that the myth of the happy Nigerian was about to be clinically and scientifically exploded came a few weeks back. Using globally verifiable indices, the report of The Economist Intelligence Unit indicated that of eighty sampled societies, Nigeria was about the worst place to be born in the year of our lord 2013. Coming swiftly on its heels is the latest Forbes’ ranking which indicated that among global nation-states, Nigeria is the 20th saddest nation on earth.

Despite its stupendous oil wealth, or perhaps because of it, Nigeria is roiling among other tropical laggards with the preponderance coming from what is known as sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria is in excellent company among such hell-holes as Central African Republic which clinched the pride of place and the Republic of Congo (2nd), Afghanistan (3rd), Chad (4th), Burundi (6th) followed by Togo, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Angola, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Sudan, and Mozambique..

Nigeria’s citation among these stricken human habitués is as compelling as it is riveting.” The best and worst, Nigeria ranks 123rd overall on the Legatum Prosperity Index. Decades of corruption have squandered great oil and gas wealth, while new concerns involve sectarian violence.”

It can be seen from this dire survey that corruption and the Boko Haram scourge leveraged by social cannibalism in other parts of the nation have hobbled Nigeria and turned the nation into a living Hades on earth. The dreams of our founding fathers have turned into a catastrophic nightmare. Yet our rulers are busy squabbling over a dying nation, preoccupied with sham elections which bring neither solace or succour to the distraught and disoriented citizenry. If we deceive ourselves, the international community does not.

It was said of Mohammed Ali that he used to romanticise and rhapsodize about Africa as the idyllic land of his abducted ancestors. But the infantile illusion fell apart during Ali’s epic slugfest with George Foreman in the old Zaire in 1974. As soon as the great man saw the chaotic zoo that was downtown Kinshasa with its feral denizens, he was said to have knelt down and thanked his maker that his ancestors did not miss the slave galleon.

Let us get this clear. As we have noted once in this column, appropriating Leo Tolstoy, all happy nations are the same, every unhappy nation is unhappy in its own way. There is a confounding conformity about all happy modern societies. You expect electricity, you expect the transportation system to run smoothly, you expect justice and fair play, you expect your votes to count in periodic elections in which sovereignty returns to the people, you expect security of life and property, you expect adequate health care, decent shelter and good schools for your children. Above all, you expect the machinery of governance to function smoothly and transparently without the clog of corruption and graft.

It is a wry understatement to assert that post-independence Nigeria has failed its citizens in every material particular. But let us not slander ourselves. There is some architecture in the ruins, as Shakespeare would say. In the old West, Obafemi Awolowo came very came close to the gold benchmark in modern governance, and in the current Republic, there have been some heroic and remarkable stirrings, particularly in the attempt to transform Lagos into a modern megalopolis and the construction boom we are witnessing in a few states.

But despite these token twitches and in the face of the overwhelming structural failure of the nation which is accelerating into a comprehensive state failure, Nigeria remains a uniquely unhappy nation which must be uniquely tackled by concerned Nigerians. The fundamental problem is that having had Nigeria created for us by colonial interlocutors, the Nigerian political elite have failed to create true Nigerians. Rampart ethnic nationalism is the default product of this failure of visionary imagination and of our inability to forge an organic community from the contending and often mutually contradictory yearnings of pre-colonial nationalities.

This is why since independence, every ascendant group at the federal level, whether military or civilian, soon degenerates into a tribal caucus or a berserk personality cult with sit-tight rulers who can only be removed after momentous national uprising. But unless Nigeria witnesses this fundamental reinvention which will turn it into a genuine nation rather than a post-colonial plantation for extractive predation, we may have to say a final goodbye to Lord Lugard’s iron cage very soon. It is going to be a messy and chaotic finale indeed.

January 13, 2013