The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday

  • Gyrations in the education sector (II)

    Gyrations in the education sector (II)

    When in February 2023.   The then 98 year old Jimmy Carter was admitted into hospice care, many of those who were closest to him were sure that he had only a few days to live. I chose not to wait until he was dead to pay tribute to him and so I celebrated his life in an article. Almost two years on, Jimmy Carter may not be well but he is very much alive. I am writing this on the day of his one hundredth birthday and I am sending him hearty greetings and very best wishes for the rest of his life. Jimmy Carter, like other mortals, has had his fair share of triumphs, failures and even tragedies but through them all, he has remained true to the idles of a genuine human being, a man for all seasons. Since he entered hospice care, he has lost his wife of seventy seven years but he has not allowed this to kill his zest for life. One of his grand sons has been quoted as saying that his grand father is hopeful of living just long enough to cast his vote for his fellow Democrat, Kamala Harris in the up coming presidential elections. Georgia where he has spent his long life is a swing state and his vote may just be important to the outcome of the election. May he live long enough and more to see another Democrat in the White House.

    The First World War battles consumed so many men that conventional wisdom at the end of it was that any ambitious European country needed to have a humungous body of men under arms in order to even think of waging war. After all, the British lost sixty thousand men on the first day of the battle of the Somme and any loss on that scale was not sustainable over a long period. The victorious Allied nations especially France were determined to cripple Germany’s capacity for waging war forever. The ingenuous plan through which they intended to achieve this stern objective was to limit the size of the German army to such a number as to make it nothing more than a ceremonious force. Part of the treaty forced down the constricted throat of the defeated enemy was that her armed forces was to consist of a hundred thousand men only. The German response to this stifling restriction was to build an army in which every member had received advanced officer training of the highest calibre around which a formidable army could be built in a matter of a couple of months. Later on, Germany was able to build up a truly frightening war machine around the spine provided by her highly trained officer corps and had become a serious threat to Europe. This example proves the crucial importance of training to any body of people dedicated to the performance of any task. The purpose of education in any society is to produce that small but critical mass of people to provide leadership to the masses. In Nigeria however, it is apparent that we have dedicated our efforts to train a large body of rabble to provide the leadership needed in a modern, functional society. That choice is making it impossible for the country to build that critical mass needed for the take off which we so badly need to build a coherent society.

    Read Also: The Bob that is risky and his entanglements

    In the dim past, at a time when the Nigerian society had a well defined shape, emphasis was placed on giving education to those who have proved their worth, the benefit of outstandingly good education. Even then, the number of people who wanted an education, at least in the southern parts of the country was in considerable excess of available places in the few institutions available. The competition to secure a place in a secondary school for example was a figurative fight to the death as this was recognised as the first crucial step on the ladder to future success. In those days, pupils were attracted to certain primary schools which had acquired a solid reputation for placing their charges in a reputable secondary school. And in any case before the establishment of the Nigerian Colleges in Zaria, Ibadan and Enugu, there were no tertiary institutions in the country. Today, there are probably more institutions rejoicing in the name of university, polytechnic or College of Education than there were primary schools In the period immediately after the Second World War throughout the length and breadth of the country. This begs the question as to the quality of education available in the myriad schools and colleges which are in operation today.

    Those of my contemporaries who were in the primary school at the time of Nigerian independence would remember the drill we were put through throughout the period of our stay in the primary school. First, there were those weekly tests, the results of which were carefully written up into our report cards at the end of the week. We delivered up those cards to our parents who went through those reports and were brought up to date with our progress or the lack of it. Then, there were examinations at the end of every term. The end of year examination which arrived with dry harmattan winds were particularly intimidating as they were promotion exams. Those who failed were not promoted to the next class which also meant a miserable Christmas period bereft of any personal celebrations in the midst of general celebrations. The suffering attached to failure was painfully sharp and immediate but more serious on the long term as the avenue to future academic accomplishment was on the verge of terminal blockage. Passing through the primary school was a veritable obstacle course towards the secondary school or, in the Western Region, something called the Modern School.

    The biggest obstacle to a secondary was the entrance examination. In the last year of primary school, ambitious students began to attend lessons in preparation for entrance examinations to various secondary schools. Some teachers were famous for placing a considerable number of their clients into some of the top secondary schools and their afterschool institutions were oversubscribed. I was fortunate in having teacher parents who made sure that my nose was firmly pressed to the grinding stone throughout the period of my preparation for the entrance examination season because merit was the only consideration for success in the secondary school stakes. All my own study was in-house, a situation which I found to be almost intolerably irksome. I was woken up at the crack of dawn and confronted with unappetising exercises at a time when I thought I should still be asleep and when I came home from school, those exercises were waiting to greet me. There was no window of freedom from the grind and when I showed any signs of flagging, my mother reminded me of the dire consequences of failure to spur me on.

    I suppose that I now have the privilege of writing this piece because, in the end, I was able to navigate the formidable obstacle course which marked my admission to Igbobi College.

    Founded thirty years before I darkened her formidable doors in 1962, the school had acquired an intimidating reputation for elite level education for pupils who had shown that they had the innate ability to cope with the tough demands of the Igbobi College brand. The entrance examination demands were fiendish. The coveted entrance examination form to the school, unlike other schools, was not on open sale but no more than half a dozen forms but frequently fewer were sent to targeted reputable primary schools, to be completed for by the best pupils in the school. To lay hands on the form which qualified one to attend the entrance examination was therefore a little more than a minor triumph. In the language of today, it was a big deal.

    All the boys who turned up at various examination centres on examination day were local champions, those boys whose position in their school examinations were seldom south of third. At that point, they were hoping to score enough points to be invited to participate in the interview process. For most other schools, their interview was over in one day but not Igbobi College. Anxious candidates, about two hundred of them reported at the school on a Friday evening and did not regain their freedom until the following Tuesday morning. During that unforgettable weekend, they were subjected to rigorous tests in English and Arithmetic and a one on one interaction with the principal. High performance in these tests was not enough as the candidates had to show their prowess in athletics and football. Even today, I have not shaken off my belief that my admission to the school owed more to my ability to run very far and my dexterity with a football at my feet than to my rather limited ability to solve arithmetic problems. Whichever way I secured that precious admission, I still regard it as the greatest achievement of my career as it opened the door to a world ruled by merit. It has ingrained in me absolute contempt for mediocrity which is now a byword for the Nigerian education system.

    Unfortunately, there was a time when even Igbobi College could not escape being drawn into the maelstrom of the fraudulent Nigerian education system. Igbobi College, by an accident of geography is situated within that axis of Somolu, a suburb of Lagos famous for its slum character disposition and home to an army of small scale printers. There was a time when the Lagos State government decided in its lack of wisdom to dismantle iconic schools like Igbobi College in an attempt to give some form of education to everyone who so much as showed just a flicker of interest in acquiring a modicum of basic learning. That obstacle course which existed to sift the wheat from the chaff in those who chose the school was removed and the old school opened her gates to everyone who cared to enter them forcing the school to put on the mantle of her Somolu environment. This sad fate has been extended to many of those schools which had built up a solid reputation over several decades. The foundation of Igbobi College was however dug so deep that like the famous phoenix she has risen from the flames which had all but consumed her in that dark period of her exile from excellence. I wonder if that miracle could be extended beyond my old school but reality has dampened my expectations in this direction.

  • Food silos

    Food silos

    We cannot make any headway in agric without expanding our storage capacities

    Hardly is there any of Nigeria’s public official, whether at the federal, state or local government level that did Economics up till the secondary school that would not have come across the problems militating against agricultural development in the country. For this, we owe a lot to people like the late Owa Obokun of Ijeshaland, Oba Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran and O. A. Lawal, two of the then most prominent Economics authors in those days. What is sad about the Nigerian story is that agriculture, just like any other thing in the country, remains at the crude or subsistence level that it was more than four decades after the Aromolarans and the Lawals gave us the basic insight into how to tackle these challenges.

    Government after government has continued to parrot the need to take agriculture to the next level. Yet, it’s all noise and little action. All motion; no movement. That is why this is still how far we have come on this critical area of human existence. We cannot feed ourselves. Even the uneducated should know that a nation that cannot feed itself is doomed.

    Now, it has taken another expert from an international agency, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), to remind us about a well-known problem that is making it impossible for us to feed ourselves affordably.  Ibrahim Ishaka, a Food System/Nutrition Specialist at FAO told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview in Yola, Adamawa State, that Nigeria loses about 50 per cent of its agricultural products along the food supply chain. Ishaka, who spoke on the lines of a training programme organised by FAO said that food wastage poses a significant challenge to Nigeria’s agricultural sector, with serious impact on food security, economic growth and environmental sustainability. The training was part of the “Emergency Agriculture-Based Livelihoods Sustenance for Improved Food Security” programme, targeting Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

    Of course, Ishaka also listed other factors militating against agricultural development in the country. “Some of these challenges include technological barriers, inefficient harvesting techniques, pest infestations, and lack of access to modern farming tools, all of which contribute to losses during harvest, largely influenced by consumer behaviour,” he said.

    According to Ishaka, other factors contributing to post-harvest losses are inadequate storage facilities, poor handling practices and poor transportation infrastructure. “These factors result in significant losses, especially for perishable goods such as fruits and vegetables.” He also listed inefficient food processing methods, improper packaging, inadequate storage, and unhealthy consumption habits as further exacerbating food waste.

    Read Also: Power minister puts cart before horse

    Much as we should be grateful to Ishaka for reminding us, once again, of the need to pay more serious attention to agriculture, particularly storage, he told us nothing new. That is why I for one would hardly support any initiative today that would involve workshop or symposium on most issues in Nigeria. In terms of talk shops, I doubt if there is any country that does that as much as we do, on any issue under the sun. What do you expect in a country where talk is cheap? We have the best of papers presented on those occasions gathering dust in government establishments, that is, where the public officials who spent a fortune assembling the participants and getting the papers out have not traded them by barter with the nearest groundnut seller. We have since found out that most of these talk shops are organised not necessarily for any public good but to enable some ‘evil servants’ do what they know how to do best: pilfer our common patrimony. One of our ministers recently had cause to lambast some of the people in her ministry who organised one such talk shop without the minister’s permission. This tells us how desperate they can be when it comes to diverting public funds through such activities.

    So, rather than organise talk shops, governments across board should encourage their officials to fish out the papers presented on related issues in the past, with a view to seeing which of them can be implemented as is, and which can be implemented after a review. It is only in extreme cases where there is a dearth of knowledge materials on any issue that talk shops should be approved. I know our ‘evil servants’ (they are the corrupted elements of the civil servants, some of who still exist in many ministries and parastatals even today) would still find a way of circumventing this, but nothing stops us from trying, and with certain safety valves.

    Be that as it may, it is pertinent to say that before the advent of crude oil in the country, agriculture was the mainstay of our economy, with each of the then regions specialising in areas where it had comparative advantage. Thus, we had the groundnut pyramids and cotton plantations in the north, palm oil cultivation in the east, cocoa and rubber plantations in the west and the southern part of Nigeria. Generally, each region was pulling its weight and cutting its coat according to its size. It was from agricultural proceeds that the Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo did some of the wonders that he did in the then Western Region, many of them first of their kind, either in Nigeria or even in Africa.

    Wikipedia has this to say on Awo’s achievements: ”Controversially, and at considerable expense, he introduced free primary education for all and free health care for children in the Western Region, established the first television service in Africa in 1959, and the Oduduwa Group”. We are here also talking about Cocoa House, completed in July 1964 and commissioned in July 1965. At a height of 105 metres, it was the first skyscraper in West Africa and was, from 1965 to 1979, the tallest building in Nigeria ”all of which were financed from the highly lucrative cocoa industry which was the mainstay of the regional economy” (emphasis mine).

    Many of our older citizens would readily recall with nostalgia how Malaysia came to take away our palm oil seed to cultivate and now that country is doing far better than us in palm oil production globally.

    There are no two ways to it: we must return to the farm. This is a reality that many of us, including governments, seem to have realised. That is why we are talking about farming and agriculture from all the corners of the country. Interestingly, the northern part of the country had been doing well in this regard until the coming of Boko Haram and other terrorists who have made the farms in the region in particular, and the entire north east and North West in particular, danger zones. With farmers now living in the fears of terrorist attacks, many have abandoned their farms; many had been killed, many others abducted. The lucky ones among the farmers pay tax to the terrorists and bandits before they are allowed to farm. Erosion has, of late, come to add to the woes of farmers in the north. So, we have by far one of the most food security complications in recent times.

    But, as I said earlier, it is heartwarming that many organisations and individuals seem to have risen to the challenge of raising awareness on the need to go back to the farm, with many actually taking the leap of faith. Here, it is significant to mention the cooperation of the governors in the south west who have decided to return the region to the glory of old in agriculture. Before their June meeting in Lagos, some of us in the region had been warning that the Yoruba race risks food slavery unless something was done urgently in the region to revive agriculture. At the last count, I am impressed by the news report on their activities in this regard. There are also initiatives like the Young Farmers Club, an initiative of the First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, which is designed to catch them young, among several others across the country. 

    It must be acknowledged that in terms of farming, some efforts had been made and continue to be made toward food self-sufficiency. We have had programmes like Green Revolution by the Shagari regime, Operation Feed the Nation in the military era. We may say these were not far-reaching enough. Even then, they served as constant reminders of the pride of place that agriculture should represent in our minds and lives.

    But one core area that has often been downplayed in the agricultural food supply chain is storage. This is where Ishaka’s observation comes handy. Even despite the activities of bandits in the north, we seem to still have problem with storage of agricultural products. Most of what our farmers produce rot away due to inadequate or lack of storage facilities. The result is that we cannot have reasonable supply of food products all-year round, irrespective of whether we are in the rainy or dry season. Thus, we have seasonal price fluctuations. This is not good enough. It is a disincentive to farmers, apart from the wastage involved.

    We seem to be making the same mistakes of the past; that is, focusing on production without having adequate consideration for where to store the excess for the rainy day. Anyone travelling into the country’s hinterland would see how much of farm produce decay by the roadside; yet, we are crying of hunger. This has to be corrected; otherwise, we would be having plenty at some time, and nothing or so little at other times.

    This is something that is clearly avoidable because we have the good soil to grow much of what constitute our staple food items. A country with an annual budget of N28 trillion cannot afford to be spending N2 trillion of this on food imports. Not when we have the wherewithal to do better.  As Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, observed, “It is a shame that a country of over 200 million people with so much arable land, reputed as the largest producers and cultivators of food items, spend so much money importing food.” It is inadequate storage that is making us release food items from the strategic reserves without having much impact on supply. At any rate, when last did we expand the capacity of our food silos? When last did we build new ones?

    We made the same mistake in the electricity sector where we keep expanding generation whereas transmission and distribution networks are too fragile to carry what is generated.

    It is important we heed Ishaka’s advice and follow through the pieces of advice by other experts if we are truly desirous of getting out of the food palaver. When we get the food equation right, we not only succeed in food security, we also curb unemployment and foster socio-economic stability. 

  • Mixed signals on constitution review

    Mixed signals on constitution review

    Two weekends ago, the Senate Committee on Constitution Review collaborated with the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) to organise a two-day retreat in Kano on constitutional amendments. It was indeed a revelatory retreat, signposting how difficult and tedious reworking the Nigerian constitution has become.  It was fairly easy for the attendees to reach some consensus on the issue of local government autonomy, which they indicated they would back partly because the Supreme Court had already done the hugest part of the task, but it was difficult to reach a similar consensus on the issues of state police and return to First Republic regionalism. Pontificating on constitutional amendment in the press and in other fora is always far easier than contending with controversial constitutional issues in the appropriate for a. The retreat is a both a reminder and wake-up call that restructuring Nigeria fundamentally will task the ingenuity of Nigerians and their leaders.

    The Supreme Court had in an executive suit filed by the country’s Justice minister and attorney general, Lateef Fagbemi, declared that key issue of funding the councils must be delinked from the apron strings of governors. The Court deployed what it called purposive and teleological interpretations of the constitution to arrive at the conclusion that sustaining the status quo would defeat the intendment of the constitution. With the exception of some governors, Nigerians lauded the ruling and indicated they would abide by it. It was a creative birthing of a reformed constitution, but it also triggered the desire to rework the constitution to help erase the contradictions and anomalies it threw up regarding the status and operations of the councils. Sensibly, the National Assembly seems poised to realign the letter and the spirit of the constitution to enable the third tier of government function optimally. For the national lawmakers taking a second and third look at the Nigerian constitution, therefore, the local government amendment was a fait accompli, uncomplicated and even attractive to the populace.

    Read Also: FG recognises outstanding young achievers

    However, the more controversial issues of state police and regionalism appear far too demanding of public integrity and probity to lend themselves to quick and easy appreciation and interpretation. It is unhelpful that there has been no legal suit, let alone a widely acclaimed Supreme Court decision, to facilitate a better understanding of devolution of state policing and regionalism. Late last year and early this year, when passions ran high over insecurity, there seemed to be a consensus on state police. Last February, when he met with governors in Abuja, President Bola Tinubu administration lent qualified endorsement to the idea of state police, but insisted that more needed to be done to make it a reality. According to Information minister Mohammed Idris, a consensus seemed to have been formed at the meeting. But months down the line, it has begun to appear that no such consensus was formed, especially given the fact that the idea had become bogged down at the state level. Would it take a spectacular breakdown of security in the states to revive the subject? In fact, at the two-day Kano retreat, some lawmakers cast doubt on the devolution of state police, arguing that it would cost the states huge sums as well as be subject to abuse.

    The subject of regionalism was even more controversial, as the retreat showed, with opinions sharply bifurcated between the North and the South. Even though Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele indicated that regionalism was not on the cards for constitutional amendment, a few lawmakers could not resist the temptation to sound fierce and uncompromising on the matter, perhaps because discussions on the subject were rife on the social media. Two opinions illustrate these sharp, incidentally regional, divisions. In the opinion of Abdul Ningi (APC, Bauchi Central): “I have heard so much about regional government or federalism, and I have heard people advocating such ideas. For a start, no matter how you see it, the current document (1999 Constitution) is still the grundnorm. It has also stipulated how it is going to be amended. Having said that, it is also imperative to know that it isn’t just enough for anybody to come and say they are the representative of one ethnic group or another at the National Assembly. The question that arises is: when was this mandate canvassed? When was it received? You are a representative of a particular ethnic group in Nigeria, at what time were you given the mandate to canvass that?

    He continued, with a hint of sarcasm: “The only people that are given this mandate to look at the Constitution and amend it are, of course, members of the National Assembly. Therefore, it is important for those who go about selling these ideas, false ideas in my opinion, that they are representatives of the people, to let Nigerians know where they are coming from, on whose mandate, and when was this mandate given to them. We have seen how the regional government was operated in the past. My part of the country that I am representing didn’t enjoy the development of that so-called regional government that was based in Kaduna. We aren’t going back there again! I am speaking for my senatorial district. It is either the Nigerian Federation or nothing…As far as regional government is concerned, my constituency, my people aren’t for it…”

    On the other hand, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari (PDP, Oyo North) was enthusiastically and nostalgically pro-regionalism. Said he: Recall that the regions were able to harness their resources in the First Republic. We were able to harness all our resources. There was no dominance of particular resources. In those years, the North was known for the groundnut pyramids, the South West for cocoa. We should be able to do that. When you make the center less attractive, you cut off corruption. You can’t wipe it off, but you can cut it down, because there is what is called ‘watch your team.’ People will watch their team within their locality or within their region.”

    Short of a major upheaval, it is clear that constitutional amendment will not be a cakewalk. Assuming lawmakers can even transcend their disagreements, as the 2014 National Political Reform Conference showed by its many far-reaching proposals, there is nothing to suggest that the general population would go along. The dividing lines have over the years unfortunately hardened, almost irredeemably. Yet, the sooner the country honestly grapples with its existential issues before they spiral out of hand, and while they still have the initiative, the better. It won’t be easy, but there must be substantial give-and-take in order to help Nigerians fashion a better, resilient and stable society.

  • Power minister puts cart before horse

    Power minister puts cart before horse

    Power minister Adebayo Adelabu last week gloated that some 40 percent of Nigerians enjoyed about 20-hour electricity supply daily. He is probably right, and it is indeed a feat unprecedented in contemporary Nigeria. To him he has found and developed a power supply and eco-friendly paradigm that appears capable of resolving decades of inefficiency in the sector. Generators are less in use, and noise pollution greatly reduced. On the surface, he has done very well.

    Read Also: FG recognises outstanding young achievers

    The problem, however, is that his probably serendipitous paradigm repudiates his initial promise to do price discrimination that protects the less affluent. It is true that his policy is generating a lot of revenue for power companies, but not only has he started to obliterate the stratification he spoke profoundly and empathetically about months ago, he is today herding everybody – class be damned – into the same Band A category. The objective originally was to provide sufficient electricity to all people, despite paying differential tariffs; now the minister’s goal is to provide power to all people who must pay exorbitantly despite not being able to afford it. It is iniquitously putting the cart before the horse.

  • The enduring allure of aurochs

    The enduring allure of aurochs

    In search of our great ancestors

    As Nigeria celebrated its sixty fourth independence anniversary this past Tuesday, the usual grumblings, rumblings and dark mutterings about the less than enviable circumstances of the nation reached a crescendo. This is not just a matter of elite self-flagellation.  The lower masses, battered by political, social, economic adversities and spiritual disorientation, also indulge in self-pity and mournful excoriations of their tormentors. In a weird scenario of self-exculpation, elite fulmination about the state of the country develop a sonorous din terminating in rancorous debates distinguished by their partisan furies.

      And that is without any sense of irony. The people of the South West have a way of describing the farcical pathos. “Ajala, who is it that has beaten you this black and blue?” they asked the poor battered fellow obviously thinking he would be fazed and browbeaten into submission. “Isn’t it you?”(Eyin naa nuu) the young man retorted damning the consequences. Nigeria’s post-independence political elite bear the responsibility for taking the nation to the cleaners. You cannot beat a child and expect it not to cry. Yet they feign ignorance and even innocence of their monumental heists.

      As a guru of ill-tempered grouching and foul recriminations, yours sincerely can attest to the fact that the last anniversary Nigerians spent relatively free of rancour and sulphurous ventilations was in October 1974 exactly fifty years ago. That was in the last phase of Gowon’s administration. Even then, there were already dark clouds in the horizon as Gowon’s political judgment and weak-willed inability to rein in his key lieutenants came under increasingly strident criticism from the press and the public. But the national fiscal binge and the feel-good factor occasioned by multiple digit growth obscured the rumbling.

    Read Also: FG recognises outstanding young achievers

      However, by October the following year, Gowon had been swept away from power by a coterie of junior colleagues. There was a brief and momentary respite in October, 1985 when the image of a newly emplaced Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida thoroughly drenched in drizzling rain and refusing all entreaties to leave became a fetching symbol of renewed hope and national rejuvenation. But it all proved a tragic chimera as the SAP regimen took hold and the national mood soured and sullied all over again. What eventually did it for Babangida was his phantom transition programme which was designed and executed as a terrifying cul de sac, beginning from nowhere and leading to nowhere.  A people can endure economic brutalization for some time, but not when it is combined with political brutalization.

    As a ringside observer of the Nigerian predicament in the past fifty years beginning from undergraduate insurgency to full blown political dissidence, one has been busy inveigling and denouncing the dire fate that has overtaken the nation through regular critiques at strategic independence anniversary.

      In 1984, in a special edition commissioned by the Newswatch quartet of Dele Giwa, Dan Agbese, Ray Ekpu and Yakubu Mohammed to commemorate the twenty fifth anniversary of the nation coming up the following year, the columnist described the nation as a confounding and compelling paradox. After publication, Dele Giwa, in a thank you letter, described the piece as by far the best and most memorable in the entire collection. Ten years after in another specially commissioned piece for Africa Today, the London-based magazine, to mark the thirty fifth anniversary of the nation, yours sincerely dismissed the country as a giant toddler trundling about unable to get up and go. By then, the national mood had darkened considerably. Dele Giwa had long been violently dispatched to join his ancestors. In a matter of weeks, Ken Saro-Wiwa would follow.

    The entire nation cowered under the despotic and brutal sledgehammer of General Sani Abacha. Yet in a cruel irony, there is an emerging consensus that the Kano-born goggled one ran the best economy of the whole lot of them with the exchange rate stable throughout his tenure and inflation kept at bay despite his periodic sieges on the Exchequer. Notoriously tightfisted at the personal level, Abacha forbade anyone born of a mortal to join him in his raids on the treasury. Only those who militarily and professionally threatened his suzerainty, or those who cunningly attempted to ambush him in his barely disguised quest to rule the nation in perpetuity were made to pay a prohibitive price. But once again and Nigerians being a politically-minded people, it was this attempt to abolish them politically that cast a dark pall on his tenure and not how he ran the economy.

       Having thrown everything one can imagine at the nation at independence over the decades with risible and negligible results, one has come to the damning conclusion that the obdurate has finally met the obstinate. As they say in this part of the nation, it is the person scooping away water from the ocean that will be exhausted and not the inexhaustible stuff. Why not try something else this time around, an inner voice admonished. Upon further troubled ruminations on this historic quandary, one was struck by a flash of illumination. It was at this point that the gargantuan image of aurochs came looming in the horizon.

       The fate of historically distressed and acutely discomfited nations reminds one of the plight of aurochs just before they were hunted into extinction in Central Europe. The last one was killed in what is now Poland in a forest in 1627. But what are aurochs?  Aurochs, or erus as they were known to the early Germans, were the savage and primitive progenitors of the modern-day cattle or cow. It must be observed that some researchers have objected to this classification, insisting that the utterly pliable domesticated modern cow is too docile and amenable to have descended from the fierce and fearsome aurochs. They must have come from a dwarf sub-species bred and domesticated for the purpose of human use and consumption in Europe before being infiltrated into other parts of the globe.

    Ruggedly inured to pains, solidly standing and just below the average elephant in height, built like an ancient Soviet tank and primed for murderous exertions like a heavyweight boxer on steroids, the aurochs was not a sight to contemplate in philosophical equanimity or beheld in wondrous awe. It was the acknowledged master of the ancient jungle far more punitively proactive than the elephant which is normally a very intelligent and peaceful animal until it is rubbed the wrong way. Described by Julius Caesar as fearing neither man nor beast, this impressive beast roamed far and wide in the jungle spreading panic and havoc until it became a threat to humans and the eco system.’

      Yet in a curious development, some scientists are attempting to summon aurochs back to life through genetic cross-pairing with its old DNA in an effort to “rewild” European forests. This may well be a Freudian yearning. There may well be a deeply spiritual dimension to the crisis of modern civilization which cannot be explained away by recourse to regular religion. In many spiritual circles, aurochs are revered symbols of potency, virility and power. Given dire developments in contemporary European and American politics, particularly the attenuation and miniaturization of their leading political figures, it is obvious that the entire European and American political eco system and their hysterical eco-chambers need a genetic rewiring—-or “rewilding” as the case may be— to make a dent on their monumental social, economic and political predicaments. Europe and America need a return of their human aurochs, those world-historic personages who dictated the pace of human development in earlier epochs.

     Given the circumstances and the totality of western dominance in human affairs in the last six hundred years, the fate of the African continent particularly its seething summit of human conglomeration like Nigeria cannot be more concerning. The disarticulation of Africa’s recent history from its remote antiquity as a result of colonial incursion has left a wide gulf that has made it impossible to plot the linkage between even its ecological past and the present. But there is still a lot of architecture in the historic ruins and catacombs of calamity. In all likelihood, Aurochs, or certain genetic cousins, must have roamed the wilderness of the continent in an earlier age before inhospitable conditions made it impossible for them to survive.

        Whatever their excesses and foibles all societies need their larger than life, extra-dimensional figures to set agenda. When they go beyond their remit or exhaust their political and historical possibilities, countervailing forces set in to put them in their place. But they act to push history along towards new vistas and society towards fresh horizons. Africa has produced its own surfeit of human aurochs even if many of them are shrouded in myth and mystery. Their heroic and Herculean exertions at the behest of their societies continue to reverberate across time and zone. The urgent task at hand is for African nationalists to commit to an intellectual excavation of the heroics and derring-do of these great sons and daughters of Africa as tropes of redemption and restoration in a world in which the Black person has become an endangered species.

      These remote and ancient avatars are spread across the length and breadth of what has come to be known as Nigeria and it suggests that no pre-colonial Nigerian society had a monopoly of heroism. Among these mighty aurochs are: Oduduwa, Moremi, Oranmiyan, Shango, Oba Ovonramwen, Nana Olomu, Queen Amina, Nana Asmau, King Jaja, Reverend Ransome-Kuti, Lisabi Agbongbon, Sodeke, the remarkable Egba leader and the literary trio of Equiano, Cuguano and Sancho, former slaves and early superpowers of the pen who seized London saloons by the scruff of the neck with their bewitching exotica in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century .

    A river which refuses to acknowledge its source and tributaries is most likely going to disappear. If they are minded to protect and project the heroic heritage of the nation and inaugurate a new national narrative, the federal authorities should commission some of the nation’s seasoned historians to write annotated biographies of these great men and women as a way of acknowledging the labours of our heroes past. With the entire world in the grip of a new emergency that bespeaks a momentous paradigm shift, it is morning yet on creation day for the continent of Africa.

  • Beyond World War 111

    Beyond World War 111

    The prospects for peace in our time, either with honour or without honour dim. The hopes of global statesmen and international diplomats for a rational resolution of the Middle East meltdown pall rather frighteningly. As Iranian ballistic missiles rain over Israel for the first time since the Islamic Revolution in response to Israel’s high-tech blitz of the entire region, it is obvious that human history is entering into a new type of violent contention the likes of which has never been seen before. Men, munitions and materials will be surplus to requirement as the latest war technology battle antediluvian methodology of warfare.  Districts, suburbs, city centres and even whole nations will exist today only to become huge hollow craters the following morning with youths and toddlers eking out a truly feral existence on the margins of the apocalypse. In its horrific butchery, it is going to be the Charge of the Light Brigade all over again, except that this time around there will be no designed battle zone and civilian casualties will outnumber dead soldiers. Welcome to the Third World War and the global Fourth World.

      In such circumstances when global conflagration appears inevitable, seasoned diplomats have a field day trying to spin their way through the murderous mess. Enter Thomas R. Pickering. Pickering is a well-respected impressively credentialed senior American diplomat and international conciliator with considerable intellectual acumen. The burly envoy is also a past master of the classic diplomat gobbledygook. When he was asked by Aljazeera on Thursday evening whether he didn’t think Benjamin Netanyahu’s documented evasions of President Joe Biden and refusal to pick the American president’s calls constitute a calculated snub, Pickering’s poker-faced response was that “the evidence of action is not the action of evidence.”  Can some of our esteemed readers help in decoding, deciphering or declassifying this diplomatic cable?

    Read Also: FG recognises outstanding young achievers

      In our previous commentaries on the worsening political situation in the Middle East, we came to the following conclusions and while we give a rehash of the main points, the various principalities in the conflict will do well to note. In seven decades of turbulent and traumatic existence, Israel has transformed into a new type of warrior-state never seen before in modern history. As a nation, it is imbued with a new strain of the mesada complex and will fight until the last man falls off the cliff rather than surrender or moderate its point of view. This poses a grave threat and danger to global peace and the post World War 11 consensus.

      As we have said here before, the civilized world will give a wide berth to and grant free passage to a disturbed person armed with nukes rather than risk going down with him in a nuclear confrontation in which no one would be standing. The emergence of another disturbed person with nukes will not deter Israel. In its psychosis of belligerence, it will just mean the more the merrier. There is a lot to be admired about the nation of Israel. The spectacular strides it has taken, both militarily and economically, within such a relatively short spell, remains unequalled and unrivalled in the annals of modern civilization. But in creating this extraordinary and exceptional nation, the hegemonic western powers, always too clever by half, might have created the condition for their own superannuation. Hegemony is not always a question of raw power. Israel is the nemesis of western civilization.

      As for the Arab and the ancient Persian communities, it is time to cut their losses and seek a peaceful resolution of the murderous conundrum in order to live to fight another day. Israel does not take hostages and will not bat an eyelid about obliterating the entire enemy territory. There can be no doubt that Israel has won this round of the war among genetic siblings. As long as America supports Israel, it is going to be an unequal struggle until America is probably taken down by its own internal contradictions. It is time for the emergence of a new generation of pragmatic Arab and Iranian leaders who will see beyond the current piteous humiliation of their people the possibility of a new beginning with modernity in all its ramifications.                                                                                                               

  • Oladeji Fasuan: The living colossus is 93

    Oladeji Fasuan: The living colossus is 93

    The Numero Uno Ekiti Patriarch, alongside his bossom friend and compatriot, Aare Afe Babalola.

    A ku odun oni Sir.

    Papa, as you very well know, I can hardly be happier than I am today, having been under your unflappable wings since when my eyes were where my knees are, feeding endlessly from your extremely deep well of knowledge, fortrightness and an unwavering ability to always say it as it is, no matter whose ox is gored.

    These are all traits I have tried, in my own little way, not only to emulate, but to also demonstrate in my personal life.

    In Nigeria where you have served on several Federal Boards, in Western Region where you not only midwived many of the region’s unforgetably impactful corporations, as well as served as Chief Executive of some, but especially in Ekiti, a state whose very creation you championed alongside others which included, interestingly,  your then young Secretary, Biodun Oyebanji, now incidentally,  the state’s Executive Governor, your name will forever remain unforgetable, and absolutely imperishable.

    Your name will,  however, blossom the most in our Are – Afao neck of wood, where you have been, and will forever, remain the NON PAREIL.

    You have been our shining light and have impacted our corner of the state far beyond what I can begin to write about here. We are all celebrating you today, as always PAPA, thanking the Almighty God for your life and for the distinct BLESSING you have been to humanity.

    Happy Birthday Sir and  many Happy Returns” – the columnist’s comment on Lanre Fasuan’s Face book post announcing Papa’s 93rd birthday this past week.

    Read Also: FG recognises outstanding young achievers

    Although this piece would have been more timely last Sunday, not celebrating Papa on his birthday, as has become the  columnist’s wont for close on twenty years on these pages, would have been absolutely unthinkable.

    However, lest I sound monotonous, what I shall be doing here today, is select from the numerous articles, the one I consider as most quintessentially representing Papa’s driving force, namely: God in his life – that one  important element which has shaped his entire life.

    Published at his 90th

    birthday on Sunday, 3 October, 2021 and titled:’Chief Oladeji Fasuan: About The Most Storied Ekiti Personality, Past & Present’, it reads as follows:

    “As he turns a glorious 90 years on on terra firma, October 1,  2021, I write to celebrate an individual who can be said to have seen it all, solely through the grace of God.

    On every of his birthday, almost since this column debuted, I have written a tribute to Chief Oladeji Fasuan, the inimitable public servant, indomitable essayist and board room guru who had a hand in the establishment of several of the Awo- era industries in the Ikeja/ Ilupeju/ Apapa Industrial Estates, and a consumate Nigerian patriot to boot.

    “Had the young Deji Fasuan been only half as rascally as he was in elementary school, he most probably would never have attended Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti and his entire life trajectory would certainly have been different”, wrote  Chief in his 415-page Autobiography: Scaling Accidents Of Life.

    “It was at a class in Are-Ekiti in 1945. I sat on the last row and, as usual, was certainly not listening to my class teacher when I impulsively answered ‘I Will Sir’.

    Asked what I was affirming, I looked clueless, whereupon he told me:’like it or not, I will send your name to Dallimore for the entrance examination to Christ’s School, next month”.

    I would not only subsequently write the exam but  passed and got  admitted”.

    According to Papa, his life ambition before attending Christ’s School was as uncomplicated as just wanting to pass Standard six, become a pupil teacher and, if  lucky, attend  St Andrew’s College, Oyo,  but God purposed by far differently for this octogenarian from  Okedoba Quarters, Afao-Ekiti.

    I am bringing to the public space in this piece today, glimpses of his life of ‘Divine’ Accidents, the seventh, and last of which, would see him get catapulted to the position of the Chief Executive Officer of a very important corporation in  Western Region.

    After a short stint in the civil service, Chief Fasuan in 1955 miraculously – since he never at any time applied for admission by himself, gained admission to Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, where he graduated with honours in Economics in 1959.

    A rash of jobs later, he got employed at the Western Nigeria Development Corporation (WNDC), where, as Liaison Officer, he represented the  Regional  Government on the board of many companies in the emerging Ikeja, Ilupeju and Apapa Industrial Estates. Among these were the Nigerian Textile mills, Wrought Iron Nigeria, Pepsi Cola, Ikeja Airport Hotels, WAPCO, Guinness, Nigerite, and Dunlop.

    In his book ‘Scaling Accidents of Life’, the author is seen copiously quoting, with  an amazing power of recall, events of the last 70-75 years, both here in Nigeria and elsewhere around the world.

    In his Foreword to the book, Aare Afe Babalola, Owner and Founder of the incomparable Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti,(ABUAD) wrote: This book  is a rare and robust compendium featuring a combination of the author’s humble beginning, his rich experience as an Investment Banker and Public Servant of note, and one  guaranteed to be a useful and helpful companion for those who desire to learn a lesson in contentment and honesty”.

    Divided into 36 chapters, seven of which are devoted to the seven ‘accidents, the book could justifiably have been titled: God In My Life.

    The second ‘miracle’ – he calls them divine accidents – teaches a lesson in openness, and the essence of  not being unnecessarily secretive in dealings with friends. 

    The author’s friend, one Mr Joseph Adeniyi, used his knowledge of the details of his friend’s school certificate result to respond, on his behalf, to an advert for admission into Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone. That was an advert Papa  would never have seen, at all, as he was visiting home in far away Ekiti when it appeared in  newspapers. As it turned out, his letter of admission arrived  weeks before that of the friend who applied for him and who had, indeed, began to think that he probably wasn’t admitted.

    The third accident was much more fortuitous. Cash strapped most of the time at the University, how he was going to spend his December holidays in 1955 was clearly beyond him as he could neither pay his passage back  to Nigeria nor afford to pay  the University for  his accommodation and feeding during the 4-week vacation.

    He was still ruminating over this when, on the Saturday preceding  commencement of the vacation, mother luck took him to the CMS Bookshop in town.

    While glued to the section on biographies, he got a gentle tap on the back. Turning, he was face to face with the Archbishop of West Africa, Anglican Communion, who was based in Lagos, but made a brief stopover in Freetown on his way to England. On enquiries, His Lordship not only got to know that he is a Nigerian, but that he was from Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti. “Ooh, you must be a good boy”, said the Archbishop, who promptly introduced him to the local Priest. The literally stranded young man would be the priest’s guest, not only on that occasion, but on many more. This was nothing but the hand of God.

    The fourth  also revolved around money, this time, his fees, failure to pay  which would have seen him ‘sent down the hill’ – that is, drop out.

    His fees before now were being paid from his personal savings as well as all  manner of  hardly sufficient fund raisers by relations. The inadequacy led him to  the Ekiti  Teachers’ Training College, Ikere Ekiti, with which he signed an agreement to teach for two years for every year of his sponsorship on  graduation.

    By the time the second tranche was due, the school headship had changed and the new Principal, to continue at all, had  added some disagreeable conditions  which he , in turn, promptly rejected though he knew not how he was going to pay his fees in order to continue his studies.

    This was when another miracle happened. The College Bursar, totally out of the blues, inadvertently sent the money to the University thus saving his brushes.

    The fifth happened in far away United States of America.

    On his way to attend  a World Bank Project Analysis course in the spring of ’72,  he  had a brief stopover in London where, at the African Continental Bank branch, he  changed  his pound sterling traveller’s cheques to dollars but  inexplainably forgot to collect them from the Manager, Mr C.B Akintola.  He did not discover this until his plane landed at the Foster Dulles Airport in Washington. Expectedly, he looked completely lost as  he went through airport formalities. That was the point at which a total stranger forcibly tucked a five dollar bill in his pocket and advised he took a train, rather than a cab, to his hotel. Entering his hotel room, he met an envelope, addressed to him,  containing 25 dollars, intended to cover his preliminary expenses. The A C B Manager later forwarded his traveller’s cheque to him.

    The sixth accident had to do with a plot in his  office which

    collapsed completely, and redounded to his advantage. He was unjustly transferred to the Industrial department which they considered a ‘Siberia’ with the intention of  hampering his progress, only for him to have much faster rise than the plotters.

    As it would happen, the  incumbent Acting Head of Department had to be transferred because he did not possess adequate qualifications and Papa was  promptly made to head the department.

    The seventh, and final accident, happened when his name was number one on the list of those to be compulsorily retired, shortly after he had just been promoted as Director of Investment supervision.

    That was during the general civil service  purge but upon further enquiries by then governor, General  David Jemibewon, the Secretary to the state  government wrote an opinion, describing Chief Fasuan in superlative terms. The situation drew the ire of the governor who promptly ordered the immediate removal of his boss and appointed him in his stead.

    Many more instances will qualify as  divine accidents in the life of the unabashed, straight talking Chief Oladeji Fasuan; a man in whom there is no guile and who has, with enormous justification, earned the reputation of one who always says it as it is”.

    No matter how much I do not wish to sound monotonous, no article on Chief Fasuan would be complete without a mention, no matter how little, about the leading role he played in the struggle for the creation of Ekiti state; a struggle which amongst other challenges, saw many of today’s Ekiti titans, atimes, sleeping on the Abuja – Ekiti road, whenever it was they started their return journey back home to Ekiti late on the then quite treacherous 397.8 kilometre road, which took no less than about 7 hours.

    To be fully, and properly educated on that intense struggle, I recommend a reading of Chief Fasuan’s magnum opus:’Creation of Ekiti State: The Epic Struggle of a People.

    Chief Fasuan was the Vanguard of a struggle that saw to the coming together of our respected Obas and Chiefs, illustrious captains of Industry, intellectuals and sundry professionals, all putting heads together in the Committee For The Creation of Ekiti State on which Papa served as  Chairman, with each member tapping into his/her contacts; all eventuating in the creation of an Ekiti state, at a time when big names in Nigerian politics, commerce and the professions, in many other parts of the country, did not sniff theirs.

    Happy birthday, Papa.

    Many Happy returns.

  • Possibilities in Nigerian politics

    Possibilities in Nigerian politics

    Probably more than any other social phenomenon and entity, politics and politicians have had an unimaginable level of bad press. For example, in a Borepanda.com set of political jokes, one says: “Politics is the most accurate word in the English language. Poly = many. Ticks = blood sucking parasites.” Another one claims: “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it and then misapplying the wrong remedies.” Moreover, a sarcastic jocular conversation between a father and his child goes thus: “Kid: Dad, I want to be in politics when I grow up. Dad [replied]: Are you insane? Have you completely lost your mind? Are you a moron? Kid [responds]: Forget it. There seems to be too many requirements.” In addition, an insulting political riddle is: Question: “What’s the difference between a politician and a snail?” Answer: “One is slimy, a pest, and leaves a trail everywhere and the other is a snail.” But the ultimate political insult, from Laughfactory.com, is: “Politicians and diapers have one thing in common: they should both be changed regularly … and for the same reason.”

    This kind of negative stereotypes or prejudices seem to be the reason why many people who have moral scruples steer clear of politics. However, they are rightly admonished as follows in this Plato quote: “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” In fact, as Charles de Gaulle said, “Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.” This is profound, because politics affects virtually every aspect of our lives. This made the European Parliament President Roberta Metsola to exhort Europeans as follows in relation to the Parliament’s elections from 6-9 June, 2024: “Go to vote. Otherwise, others will decide for you.” This is important, because as Otto von Bismarck puts it, “Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable – the art of the next best.” It may therefore be difficult to predict the creative extent to which politicians can go in achieving victory or exercising the electoral mandate with which they have been conferred.

    This is not to say that politics doesn’t come with bruises even for politicians. In a 20 February, 2018 news item in The Cable titled “Remi Tinubu: I was hurt by how my husband was trashed after 2015 elections,” the future First Lady, Senator Remi Tinubu, was reported to have said: “I was hurt [by] what they did to my husband after the campaign. He didn’t say a thing. We were running three campaigns in my house, and for him to be trashed like that…”  She was further reported to have noted regarding Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reaction to his shabby treatment by his erstwhile beneficiaries: “I said ‘you are still helping out? Why are you helping out? He said, ‘this country matters to me more.’”

    Read Also: FG recognises outstanding young achievers

    Politicians everywhere are unbridled optimists. For example, Mandela says: “I am fundamentally an optimist. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.” This kind of unbridled optimism was manifested in the electoral destiny of then presidential aspirant Muhammadu Buhari. As narrated by Asiwaju in his famous Emilokan speech, Buhari had lost presidential elections there times and had decided that he would not contest again. In the never-say-die spirit of dyed-in-the wool politicians, Asiwaju said he told Buhari: “You will run again. We will back you, and you will win.”

    Providentially, Buhari won the 2015 presidential election and served for two terms. This development is consistent with the following assertions of Daniel Kahneman: “Optimistic people play a disproportionate role in shaping our lives. Their decisions make a difference; they are inventors, entrepreneurs, political and military leaders – not average people. They got to where they are by seeking challenges and taking risks.”

    It’s about one and a half years now since the current President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, was sworn into office. But the losers in that election or those who did not want him to contest or want him to win are agonising still. The result of the election that presaged the swearing-in belied pundit projections. Media pundits who previewed the 2023 elections predicted that because he was a Muslim from Southwest Nigeria, he had no chance of winning the primary election of the All Progressives Party (APC) or the presidential election.   Religious pundits predicted that the Muslim-Muslim ticket would fail, because 2023 was not 1983. Ethnic pundits, especially the vocal elements in the Pa Ayo Adebanjo faction of Afenifere, predicted that true to type, the Northern elite would betray Tinubu and make him lose the elections. Political pundits identified some powerful individuals as the ones who determined who would become President, and that since he didn’t have their support, he would lose the election. In spite of all these pundit predictions, Asiwaju won the election, signaling the possibilities in Nigerian politics.

    Such possibilities have also been manifested in the camp of his opponents. In spite of the continuing claim that Mr. Peter Obi won the election, his new outreach efforts, going beyond his ethnic and religious comfort zones, indicate that in his heart of hearts, he knows what his true performance in that election was. If he really believed that he won, but was rigged out, his preoccupation should have been with preventing the ‘riggers’ from being able to rig him out again in the next presidential elections. However, he has embarked on courting blocks he ignored or actively denigrated in the run-up to the 2023 elections. The apostle of the 2023 elections as “religious war”, the exponent of “Yes, daddy”, and the patent holder for “Church, take back your country” is now visiting mosques, taking part in joint iftar – fast-breaking sessions with Muslims – and building boreholes in parts of Northern Nigeria, among other activities. It’s thus possible, after all, to teach old dogs new tricks in Nigerian politics.

    Another opposition-related demonstration of possibilities in Nigerian politics is in Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s letter to the Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, in which he proposed as follows regarding the ongoing constitution review process: “The office of the President shall rotate among the six geopolitical zones of the Federation on a single term of six years flowing between the North and South on the single term of six years respectively.” This proposal is ironical, because one of the reasons for the weakening of his party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), ahead of the 2023 elections was his refusal to concede the candidacy of the party to a southerner, after President Muhammadu Buhari, who is a northerner, had spent eight straight years in office. Moreover, underscoring the possibilities for self-realisation in Nigerian politics, Atiku Abubakar noted, in his 64th Independence Anniversary message on 1 October, 2024: “opposition parties languish in weakness.”

    The 21 September, 2024 Edo State governorship elections have come and gone, but they have thrown up all sort of issues which have serious implications for political consciousness and political behaviour. First is the issue of candidate selection, especially in the PDP. Internal democracy seemed to have been undermined through the imposition of a candidate largely alienated from the masses and could not address the electorate directly in their language without the assistance of an interpreter.

    Second is the issue of political harmony. In this regard, possibly due to the arrogance of power, the incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki had fought his benefactors such as former Governor Adams Oshiomhole of the APC and prominent members of the PDP who accommodated him in the party when he had problems within his former party, APC; he had virtually ‘decapitated’ some legislators politically by making it impossible for them to effectively represent their constituencies; he had set out to politically annihilate his Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu; and he engaged the Benin traditional leadership in a running battle. The aggregate hostility of the aggrieved forces made possible the defeat of Obaseki’s preferred candidate in the governorship election, Mr. Asue Ighodalo.

    Third, the Edo election showed how far political hard-work and sustainable legacies could go in endearing a politician to their constituents. This was most remarkably demonstrated in the case of a septuagenarian, female voter who made the notable sacrifice of going to vote at that election in spite of her ill-health. The Nation report on the woman goes thus: “A septuagenarian, Fatima Jimoh, has said that she left her sick bed to vote in the Edo governorship election because of her love for former Governor Adams Oshiomhole. Jimoh, who was aided by her daughter, said she wanted to make Oshiomhole happy by ensuring his party won the polls. After voting at Unit three, Ward 10, Iyamho Primary School, Jimoh said, “I am not feeling well. I like Oshiomhole. I come out of illness to vote.” This is significant when it is noted that elderly persons like her, among millions of other citizens, were making sacrifices to validate democracy, at a time when some prominent Nigerians had been trying to undermine liberal democracy.

    Those who, like the Edo septuagenarian, are so committed to and can make so much sacrifice to sustain democracy should be given optimum opportunities to take part in key aspects of the electoral process. One of such aspects concerns the question of deciding who represents the different constituencies. It is in this light that the issue of the direct primaries mode of candidate selection should be revisited. In November, 2021, the National Assembly passed a bill requiring that the candidates for the different elections should be selected through direct primaries. This decision was widely applauded. However, it required the assent of the President at the time, who would not sign the bill into law until the options of selecting candidates by indirect primaries or consensus were included in the bill. Due to the exigencies of the time, the National Assembly complied with the dictates of the President.

    When the members of a constituency take part in the selection of a candidate, through direct primaries as happened in 1983, the chances of making the politician more committed and more responsive to the constituents are higher. The prospects of bringing to book more effectively erring politicians who get to office through the votes of such constituents are also higher, given the fact that constituents know their leaders more closely.

    All in all, as participation in the Edo governorship election underscores, very many Nigerians believe in the country, appreciate good governance and hope for good times.   

  • Reform pains: better days are ahead of us

    Reform pains: better days are ahead of us

    Until he flew out of Abuja on Wednesday afternoon, enroute the United Kingdom (UK) where he has been scheduled for a two-week working leave, it was pretty much a busy week for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu; on Monday, he swore in the 32nd substantive Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Kudirat Kekere-ekun; then on Tuesday, led a rather colourful parade in commemoration of Nigeria’s 64th Independence Anniversary celebration. Though it was celebrated low-key, the activities that marked it were not any less tasking and you can imagine the roles he must have played, even when he was not physically at some of the occasions.

    The Independence Day Anniversary is always a day to look forwards to in those days, like back in our primary and secondary school days, besides the holiday that ruled going to school out for that day, it was a day to see mastery, precision and colourful displays by the military, other uniformed paramilitary formations and even from school children. But then, we have grown up and the world has changed a whole lot, we now have to celebrate measuredly. Before now, it was for only security reasons that we suspended jamboree-like celebration of the Independence anniversary, these days, it has been for economic considerations and the sort of atmosphere it has cast on the land.

    Before the parade, which started at about 8:50am, with the marching in to the parade ground by the Guards Brigade, President Tinubu started the day with a nationwide broadcast. It was the opportunity for the President to lift the spirit of the nation. In the first place, celebrating the anniversary low-key was a deliberate action of government. It was announced by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume. In a statement issued by his office, the SGF, while inaugurating an inter-ministerial committee for the 2024 Independence Day celebration, which was tasked with organising and executing all approved activities line up, said “the 64th Independence Anniversary celebration will be low-keyed to reflect the trying times the nation is undergoing”.

    So with that tone set, President’s message to Nigerians was tailored to address the various issues, concerns and challenges we are all dealing with, telling us again that he is not oblivious to the prevailing situation and that he is already applying the appropriate policies and reforms to the situation. He is not just applying these reforms and policies, they are already showing signs that they are not wrong for achieving the desired reprieve in our situation.

    Read Also: FG recognises outstanding young achievers

    Many Nigerians, especially those that have reasons not to be his fans, who will not waste time to join the blaming trail any time there is any circumstance they feel appropriate enough for them to vent against the President, his administration or even Nigeria itself, have blamed the current economic situation on the reforms so far introduced by Tinubu. However, in the speech, he took the time to establishe his reason for thinking that the best way to help the country overcome the never-ending socioeconomic milieu we have always lived with is through the reforms and the steps his administration has so far taken.

    Like the analogy he has employed a couple of times to simplify the current state of things; gold does not just tune to its final fine state without going through the fiery furnace, same way a new life never gets born without the pains, blood and sweats of labour. Nigeria, going by what most political economists have said about its rather precarious state, was actually on the verge of insolvency when Tinubu took the reins of leadership. The seeming affluence and comfort we were enjoying were cosmetic and it was just a matter of time before it all comes crashing on all of us.

    Going by his explanation in the speech, without the hard decision to reform the economy and set our indices appropriately, collapse was imminent. He only dived in because it was inevitable. He did not do it without a vision though, as a matter of fact, some of the results he expected have started materialising and he is sure that in no distant time, all citizens who have stayed back to be part of the current harsh climate will find relief because the purpose for it all will start making practical sense soon enough. 

    “Fellow Nigerians, as I address you today, I am deeply aware of the struggles many of you face in these challenging times. Our administration knows that many of you struggle with rising living costs and the search for meaningful employment. I want to assure you that your voices are heard. 

    “As your President, I assure you that we are committed to finding sustainable solutions to alleviate the suffering of our citizens. Once again, I plead for your patience as the reforms we are implementing show positive signs, and we are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. 

    “My administration took over the leadership of our country 16 months ago at a critical juncture. The economy faced many headwinds, and our physical security was highly impaired. We found ourselves at a dizzying crossroads, where we must choose between two paths: reform for progress and prosperity or carry on business-as-usual and collapse. We decided to reform our political economy and defense architecture.

    “Fellow Nigerians, better days are ahead of us. The challenges of the moment must always make us believe in ourselves. We are Nigerians—resilient and tenacious. We always prevail and rise above our circumstances”, he assured.

    The story of that speech would not be complete if I do not make a mention of some of the negative criticisms that trailed it. It went from some saying they did not feel what the President was trying to communicate, to others almost calling him a liar. Those feelings and insinuations have been dealt with variously by different people. For instance, Temitope Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, in his explainer titled “President Tinubu’s Drive for Foreign Direct Investments”, dealt adequately with the President’s hint to “our country attracted foreign direct investments worth more than $30 billion in the last year”.

    An overall Sentiment and Topic Analysis of the speech has also been done by the University of Ibadan Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Statistical Analysis (UI-LISA) and its final submission is that it portrayed an overarching tone of optimism and trust. The academic work, which was made available by Professor Olusanya Elisa Olubusoye, tended to address those negative views once and for all. The UI-LISA’s findings suggest that President Tinubu’s speech exuded confidence in Nigeria’s ability to overcome its current challenges.

    “The speech carried an overarching tone of optimism and trust, designed to reassure Nigerians of the government’s unwavering commitment to addressing the country’s economic, social, and security challenges”, the analysis stated.

    Before the anniversary and the speech, the President had on Monday performed a critical assignment; the swearing-in ceremony of Justice Kudirat Kekere-ekun as the 32nd substantive Chief Justice of the Federation. It presented another opportunity for the President to reaffirm his administration’s unwavering commitment to preserving the sanctity and independence of the judiciary, a vital pillar of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy. The judiciary, he noted, serves as a moderating force, ensuring that everyone remains in check, and its independence is crucial in sustaining the people’s confidence in democracy. As the last hope of the common man, the judiciary provides redress when wronged, and its impartiality is sacrosanct.

    “The judiciary is an important pillar constituting the tripod that holds our constitutional democracy. Indeed, the Nigerian judiciary, at various times in history, has proven to be the moderating force ensuring everyone remains in check. Your role as the last hope of the common man serves to sustain our people’s confidence in democracy, knowing well that there is an important arbiter that can always give them redress if they are wronged. For this function, it is important that our judiciary remains truly independent. It is my administration’s total commitment to preserve the sanctity of the judiciary. 

     “While we may have reasons to interface as complementing components of the same government, under my watch, the government will also be mindful of the clear line demarcating the two of us. We will never interfere or abuse the relationship between us as separate organs of government in our democracy. This is important for sustaining our constitutional democracy”, the President said.

    The President also made an appointment in the course of the week. On Sunday, he appointed a governorship aspirant in Oyo State in the 2019 elections, Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe, as Director-General and Global Liaison for the Nigeria-China Strategic Partnership. He celebrated the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, on his 70th birthday on Tuesday. On Friday he celebrated former Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, on his 70th birthday celebration and one of his long-time political allies and friends, Chief Henry Ajomale, on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

    Also on Friday, he wowed members of the House of Representatives by yielding to a specific request they made. It happened that in his Independence speech, he doled some national honours out and the members of the Lower Chamber contested the honour bestowed on their Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas. Tinubu had awarded the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) to Abbas and the Deputy President of the Senate, while the President of the Senate and Chief Justice of the Federation were awarded the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON).

    The honourable members of the Lower Chambers kicked because they rather saw the honour as something reflecting on their personage as a House, prompting them to make comments like “we’re not inferior to…”. In any case, the President heard them loud and clear and he effected a change on Friday, awarding a new honour to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, making it at par with the President of the Senate and the CJN. Abbas is now a GCON, just as his House demanded.

    President Tinubu will be staying this week and part of the upcoming one abroad. He left for the UK for a working vacation, which his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said is part of his annual leave. Being abroad has never deterred him from making shocking moves or running the system, besides, he always says he has a capable deputy, who always knows what to do in different circumstances, hence you can be assured that the wheel of state is not going to be grounded.

  • They are eating the dogs!

    They are eating the dogs!

    I am sure that some people have tuned in today for a continuation of our discourse on education and I apologise sincerely for pivoting to another subject entirely. I can only hope that this week’s offering will be found acceptable, if only for its entertainment and interest value.

    Not being an American, I really should not be bothered about the identity of who emerged from the four yearly circus that culminates in the selection, election, anointing or whatever other words that can justifiably be used to describe that process by which a new American president is inaugurated at the end of every four year cycle. Apart from anything else however, the so called presidential election offers a riveting spectacle if only from the point of view of the frenzy which attends it. Apart from this, every presidential election occupies a whole year during which a slew of candidates criss-cross the country mostly insulting each other in their attempts to attract attention to themselves and win, or perhaps squeeze out, is a more appropriate phrase, as much attention as they can from the electorate who are likely to have become fatigued by all the near madness to which they have been subjected over the election season.

    Read Also: Shettima at UNGA

    The first presidential elections in the USA took place in 1788 and was won by George Washington, the much acclaimed father of the nation. Although it was supposed to be a contest, the process was adroitly manipulated to ensure that the winner could only be George Washington who was more or less handed the post on a platter. That process was a far cry from what has followed over the last two hundred and thirty years. The population of the USA when Washington was elected as president was three million; six hundred thousand of them being slaves who had no business with the election as they were not even recognised as human beings by the extant constitution. In the same vein, women were not allowed to participate as they were not regarded as being responsible human beings who could be trusted to make any contribution to the running of society and this being so, were not and indeed, could not be  invited to participate in the electoral process. So far the Americans of the day were closely following the process laid down more than two thousand years before by the citizens of Athens who were the originators of the practice of democracy. In ancient Athens all freeborn males were required by law yes, by law, to participate in the government of the city. In a departure from this practice in America, only men who had property worth a prescribed value could cast their vote and that vote was only good enough to vote for an elector who then voted directly in the election of the president. So much for one man, one vote.

    The slaves who were almost inevitably black were not allowed to vote until the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution was passed in 1870 in the wake of the Thirteenth and Fourteen Amendments which freed them from slavery and granted them citizenship of the Republic respectively. As for the women, they did not acquire the right to vote until 1920 and not before a long and bitter fight. This shows the power of legislation in that the mores of governance of the country were continuously being recast, redrafted and reinvented to suit changing conditions within the polity. I am sure that there is a great deal to be learnt from this example. Constitutions are not to be set in stone but can, and indeed must be amended appropriately with the passage of time. Those demanding that the Nigerian constitution be scrapped and replaced with another one amenable to their preference are hereby invited to take note.

    The American experience further shows that the executive arm of government could also be a powerful tool in nation building. American elections over the years have produced results which have led to changes out of all proportion to the power of any singular event. Such was the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. Such were the passions aroused by this election that by the time of his inauguration a couple of months later, eleven states, all of them situated south of the Mason-Dixon line had succeeded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. With Lincoln determined to maintain the status of the Union, war was inevitable and it duly broke out three months later and raged on furiously for the next four years. At the heart of this vexed issue was the subject of slavery.

    For two hundred years, the prosperity of the infant states of America depended on the unjust institution of slavery, the appropriation of labour provided by men and women who were excluded from society and served only one purpose, that is to create wealth for other men. But you cannot create an environment within which justice reigns under such circumstances and in one word, you cannot build a just and equitable society on injustice which is why the question of race continues to dominate the public space in the United States right down to this moment and perhaps it is no coincidence that the ongoing election is a straight fight between a black woman and a privileged white man bravely flying the flag of white supremacy. The irony of the situation is simply outrageously delectable.

    The election of 1860 which brought Lincoln to power was pivotal as it led to the civil war which cleared the American augean stables of the filth of slavery. It needs be emphasised however that although Lincoln was personally opposed to slavery, his primary interest was to preserve the integrity of the union. If he could achieve this objective without freeing a single slave, he was quite prepared to do so. But as the war progressed, he came to realise that slavery was the cancer that was going to destroy the union from the inside if it was not excised. He may only have been pragmatic by freeing slaves but since then until now, this act has given him the tittle of Emancipator and the greatest president ever, even greater than the first president whose position as father of the nation is unassailable. To crown it all, Lincoln, who had just begun his second term as president did not survive to enjoy the peace he had worked so hard to forge and through his assassination he achieved the awe inspiring status of a martyr.

    The war which Lincoln fought was followed by the period of Reconstruction which gave some hope to the newly freed slaves who, in spite of serious disadvantages were able to take some steps even as they learnt to walk in the new environment which their emancipation had created. They had to start from scratch, the rosy promise of a mule and forty acres of land to give a start having been largely set aside, they nevertheless began to make their presence felt. During Reconstruction, the newly freed slaves began to participate in the politics of their society and began to make their way in Local, State and National politics so much so that some of them were sent to Washington as members of Congress and some states had a black governor. But another round of presidential elections put paid to all that.

    After the civil war, the South was occupied by Federal troops which were there primarily to protect the civil rights of the newly freed former slaves and whatever progress was made was achieved under the protection of their guns. Then came the election of 1876 which was not only characterised by extreme violence but gave an inconclusive result and this led to what has come down in history as the Rutherford Compromise. Victory in the election was conceded to the Northern Republican candidate, Rutherford Hayes on condition that the era of Reconstruction was brought to an end and Federal troops withdrawn from former Confederate territory. This done, slavery was more or less reinstituted in the South even though there were no slaves to answer to that name. For the next one hundred years a brutal regime of segregation was instituted, spoiling the lives of generations of black people permanently and profoundly.

    I am a child of the sixties, perhaps the most iconic decade in the history of mankind. At the beginning of that decade, most of Africa was colonised and at the end most of the continent had attained the giddy heights of independence. Over in the States, black people were strictly segregated having to take the prone position of third class citizenship, with the combined weight of their white compatriots pressing them into the mud. By the end of that decade however, they had begun to drag the sweet air of freedom into lungs which had been compressed for more than three hundred years. Since then, we have had eight years of a black presidency and now, there is the possibility of a black and Asian woman occupying the White House after the current round of presidential elections.  The white supremacists are however fighting a bitter rear-guard action to prevent this. The United States has been built on a foundation of lies and injustice but the time for readjustment has arrived and that country will never be the same again whatever is the result of the coming elections. Trump, the flag bearer of the white establishment has seen the hand writing on the wall but he is not giving up. He cannot give up. But he can only revert to type by using lies and bluster to stop the march of history. He is making a desperate attempt to rally his troops by feeding them with lies and propaganda such as claiming that the situation in the USA is so bad that black migrants had taken to eating the dogs of their white neighbours in Springfield, Ohio. A study has shown that a majority of his supporters believe this nonsense. There are forty days or so to election date. They are days to look forward to.