The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday

  • Ajaero, NLC effectively above the law

    Ajaero, NLC effectively above the law

    Lawyers, activists, opposition politicians, and trade union executives and members have all but deified the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president Joe Ajaero. Last Monday, the union leader was invited by the police for an interview on a number of allegations against him relating to terrorism financing, cybercrime, and treasonable felony. He declined the invitation through his lawyers, insisting that because of prior engagements, he could only present himself on August 29. The police are likely to ignore the arrogance in his response and wait for him till then. It is after all only days away. But immediately the NLC received the invitation, the union went ballistic, convened a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, and came out with fire-breathing resolutions. Among other measures, they would shut down the nation immediately the union leader was arrested, they threatened, including shutting down telecommunication services and the national grid. It is not clear whether there is any nation not at war that would allow such massive and disruptive shutting down of critical national infrastructure, but Nigeria allowed it the last time the NLC went on strike in June.

    After its Tuesday meeting the NLC NEC determined as follows: “The NEC notes with grave concern that rather than extending the apology demanded by the Congress for the earlier invasion of its national headquarters by security agencies, the Nigeria Police has chosen to embark on this spurious and fortuitous journey of intimidation, harassment, and witch-hunting. This is nothing but a travesty and a blatant attempt to stifle the voice of the working people and their leadership, as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions 87 and 98.

    “The NEC directs all affiliates and state councils to immediately commence the process of mobilising their members across the nation. The Congress will not hesitate to take all necessary actions, including mass protests and industrial actions, to protect the integrity and independence of the labour movement. If anything happens to the President of the Congress or any other leader of the Congress in furtherance of these tendentious allegations by the State, NEC puts all its affiliates and state councils on notice to proceed on indefinite nationwide strike action by 12:00 Midnight today (Tuesday).

    “The NEC calls on all civil society allies and the general populace to stand in solidarity with the Nigeria Labour Congress in this critical moment. The fight against injustice and oppression is a collective one, and we urge all Nigerians to rise in defence of our shared democratic values.”

    The Tuesday NLC NEC meeting was a sad day for democracy and unionism in Nigeria. Effectively, the NLC put the cart before the horse and indicated that they and their president were above the law. For a union that hypes the need for the rule of law and due process to prevail, and worries about what it considers the decline of democratic practices due to collapsing institutional guardrails, it is shocking that they thought nothing of their contempt for due process. It is of course possible for the administration to nurse a grudge against Labour, and even more possible that it might want to harass the union. However, what the police issued was in the interim nothing but an invitation to Mr Ajaero to clarify the allegations against him. Should the NLC not have waited to hear out the police? Should they not have waited to see whether their leader would be detained? Would the police, pursuant to the invitation, not at one point or the other be forced to issue a statement detailing what transpired between them and the union leader had Mr Ajaero honoured the invitation? At what point does an invitation amount to harassment? And what shared democratic values are they talking about? The NLC neither knows what that means nor respects it.

    Read Also: Ajaero: He who comes to equity…

    From the three paragraphs quoted from the NLC NEC statement above, a few disturbing things emerge. Firstly, the union has become so badly politicised that it now sees itself as one of the three legs of the official political opposition. Secondly, it is alarming that the NLC acts like a herd, with no voice of reason or caution among its leaders. They are giddy with excitement and heady and impatient about issues pertaining to the current administration. Thirdly, it is remarkable that just one invitation was enough to cause the NLC to jump to so many conclusions, including describing the police letter as ‘spurious’, a ‘witch-hunt’, and an ‘intimidation’, etc.

    Better judgement should have led the NLC to wait to know what the police had on Mr Ajaero. As a matter of fact, whatever actions the NLC opted for would have been informed by the outcome of the interview. Even more depressing, the NLC seems to be saying that Mr Ajaero as an individual could never run foul of the law, and that the Labour leader is equivalent to the NLC and vice versa, in short that he is indistinguishable from the union. Is this the sad depth the union has sunk that it will not wait to weigh the evidence the police claimed to have against their leader? And in any case, what is Mr Ajaero afraid of: arrest, detention or damning evidence? He has led series of harassing industrial actions against the government; why is he loth to be harassed, if indeed he is being intimidated? Neither the NLC nor its leaders are above the law. After all, they have erased the dividing line between the union and its political subsidiary, the Labour Party (LP). They cannot expect to be treated solely as Organised Labour, behind which they take refuge to play partisan politics of the most pernicious type.

    When next the NLC attempts to shut down the national grid or cut telecommunication services like coup plotters do, they must be prepared for the repercussions, for there is nothing in Nigerian law that gives them the right to levy such catastrophe on the nation. Mr Ajaero has promised to make himself available later this week; he had better, if he is not to send the signal that he and the union are effectively above the law. After the interview, he should address the press and give the public insight into why the police longed to have his company, especially after they stormed a shop located inside the Labour House building in Abuja.

  • God of miracles

    God of miracles

    That was what I experienced on August 13

    But for the fact that Tuesday, August 13, 2024 was the day set aside for the presentation of an internet connectivity equipment to the Department of Mass Communication of the University of Lagos by my set, the Class of 1984, to mark 40 years of our graduation from the department, the day would have started and probably ended like any other day.

    But it was not.

     On that day, I faced the University of Lagos venue of the presentation of the internet facility to the department rather than the office on Fatai Atere Way in the Matori area of Lagos State for the regular Tuesday Management Meeting that I had taken permission to be excused from.

     Within two and a half hours or so, we were through with the presentation, which was only the first leg of the activities for the day.

    The second leg was a dinner at the prestigious De Riggs, Elsie Femi-Pearse Street, Off Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, later in the day.

    In order to be able to arrive the venue from the university campus on time, I drove straight to the office, which is closer to Lagos Island, than return home. In less than two hours, I was done with all I had to do in the office and then drove to the island for the dinner.

    Everything went well at the dinner. We had fun. It was a reunion indeed as some of us that never met, probably since our graduation, were able to connect again.

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    Then, at about 9.00 p.m., I put Google Maps to work to navigate my way back home. It pointed in the way of Third Mainland Bridge and I decided to obey it. This was something I usually avoid, even in daytime. I have always expressed my preference for my old, reliable Eko Bridge. But somehow, I missed where I was to turn towards Third Mainland Bridge on my way back by some 20 to 30 meters before I realised this. Many drivers were driving at the speed of light for security reason; so reversing was not an option. Somehow something just told me to drive on, that probably it was divine intervention that made me miss where I should have turned towards Third Mainland Bridge. That singular decision was my saving grace.

    Miracle number One.

    Shortly before I got to Ojuelegba Bus Stop on Western Avenue, I noticed my car started to jerk. Then the engine went off. I waited a few minutes and started the ignition again, it responded. I was happy, only for it to start misbehaving as I climbed the bridge at Ojuelegba. At that point, something told me it was better to reverse and try to talk to people at the Fire Brigade station just at the foot of the bridge to allow me park the car with them until the following morning.

    As I was trying to reverse on the still busy road, people started telling me that fuel was leaking from the bottom of my car. I perceived the odour too and I was really scared. This was fuel (as in petrol; not diesel, not engine oil) leaking from the engine of a car that had travelled several kilometers from Lagos Island and most parts of the engine were already hot, I mean very hot.

    Miracle Number Two.

    An ‘area boy’ then requested to help me push the car to the Fire Brigade station or at least to a place where it would not pose a risk to other road users. He also volunteered to help me get a mechanic or rewire to check what was wrong with the car. I never liked the idea of roadside mechanics experimenting with my car, but, I had no choice at that point.

    Anyway, before the man returned, God had raised a genuine mechanic who also offered to help. I told him what was wrong. After checking the fuel pump, he said there was no problem with that and made straight for the engine. It was then we saw that the hose taking fuel to the engine had given way. He asked for plier and I gave him. In no time, he had cut off the bad portion and fixed the hose firmly again. At this point, the ‘area boy’ who had gone to look for a rewire or mechanic returned and said he did not see the fellow. I thanked him and gave him some money. I could see he was not particularly happy that help had come while he was away. They don’t like solution coming at such critical moments, preferring instead, a situation where stranded motorists would be at their mercy and they would be calling the shots, especially as it was night.

    Anyway, having thanked and paid him off, I offered to drive the mechanic who eventually fixed the problem to Maryland Bus Stop from where I would branch off to Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way, en route Agege. He said he preferred to drop at Onipanu Bus Stop. He entered and we drove off. I thought the worst was over.

    After dropping him at Onipanu, the car began to misbehave again. Somehow, I had my eyes on a popular church at Obanikoro that I would park the car there overnight. About 100 or 120 metres to that church, the car suddenly stopped again.

    As if they had been expecting something like that, two ‘area boys’ again surfaced. It was getting to 10.30 p.m. and everywhere was dark. They asked what the problem was and I told them. I suggested that they help me push the car into the nearby church premises. As they were pushing the car, they suddenly stopped and came to me to ask for what I intended to give them before they laboured far. I said they should rest assured that I would compensate them reasonably. They didn’t seem to understand what that meant and named their price: N15,000! I said if they turned me inside out, they couldn’t get anything near that. I didn’t know where the confidence came from because I was alone with them in the dark. They grumbled and after a while resumed pushing the car. This time, they suggested I should park it on the street nearby instead of the church. Before I knew what was happening, they had pushed the car pass the church gate towards the street they suggested. When I suddenly realised this, I asked them to push it back towards the church and somewhat reluctantly, they did until we got to the church gate.

    Miracle Number Three.

    At that point, another of their type came and they started an argument. I didn’t know whether it was because they didn’t want to share whatever I wanted to give them with the fellow or they were just pretending not to know him. But I told the fellow that I was okay with the two people but he insisted on staying put. No problem. At least I knew those I gave a job to do.

    The security man at the church gate then opened the gate to see those knocking. I moved closer to him and narrated my plight. He said he would not be able to help me because the church authorities wouldn’t like such. We talked and he then agreed, called his colleagues and that was how I paid off the two ‘area boys’. I knew I should not go out alone that night because those guys would hide somewhere and surface as soon as I get out to get a vehicle to take me away from there. The security men advised that I call Uber or Bolt. None was available. It was getting to 11.00p.m. They then suggested that the three of them would join me to stop a bus in front of the church and they did. Eventually, I got one bus to take me to Maryland. Somehow, something was telling me it was not the right bus. Only two men were inside with the driver; one sitting at the extreme back and another in the left corner of the middle row. The seat beside the driver was vacant and I opted for that. Somehow, we got to Maryland safely and I jumped out, even though they were proceeding towards Ikeja that I was going.

    I joined another bus from Maryland and, mercifully, it was the same bus that took me to Agege because I felt some peace inside it. No fear of ‘one chance’ as in the previous bus.

    I called my decision to continue on Eko Bridge route instead of Third Mainland Bridge that Google Maps initially planned for me Miracle Number One because the vehicle would have stopped in the middle of nowhere if what happened had taken place on Third Mainland Bridge, considering that it took me to as far as near Ojuelegba Bus Stop or so before breaking down. Unlike Western Avenue where there were still people who were willing to help, there would not have been anything like that on Third Mainland Bridge. The least trauma I would have suffered would have been to lose my phone, my wristwatch, money, and may be, be forced to transfer whatever was left in my account to the hoodlums on the Third Mainland Bridge, who would always surface at such critical moments. It would be a miracle for one to escape from them with physical injuries alone; that is when they were not just inspired to throw one into the lagoon.

    That the car did not catch fire was Miracle Number Two. Given the distance I had travelled before realising that petrol was leaking underneath, only God could have given petrol such patience.

    Then, the ‘area boys’ whose fangs God had rendered ineffective as I was talking to them, indeed commanding them and they were obeying when, in actual fact, I would have been mincemeat should they decide to attack me, was Mistake Number Three. I was all alone with them and anything could have happened.

    Definitely some other miracles would have happened that I didn’t mention or reckon with. I give God Almighty all the adoration for not making a good day turn to a bad one for me.

    I also thank God that we did not hear any bad news from the other people that attended the presentation and the dinner. Mine that would have been was averted by divine mercy.

    Only the God of miracles could have given such safety and security cover.

  • The British vote for change V

    The British vote for change V

    It is difficult to find another British Prime Minister who was better prepared than Gordon Brown to step into that office when he did in 2007. By that time, he had spent a little more than ten years as Chancellor of the Exchequer, the next person in rank to the Prime Minister and his neighbour on Downing Street. He was also by acclimation, the undisputed deputy leader of the Labour Party.  His management of the British economy when he was  chancellor has been described as masterful and effective, perhaps the best that had been seen in Britain in the modern era. Great things were expected of him but he was tufted out of office after only three years during which time the Labour Party lead in the polls after the 2005 elections had dwindled quite perceptibly over time until it was eroded to nothing.

    Looking back at his career, it can be said that he was better suited to the hallowed cloisters of academia than the hurly burly of politics and yet he showed such devotion to politics that no woman, and at least two beautiful and accomplished ladies had tried to do so, had the stamina to woo him away from that distraction and was not persuaded to settle down to marriage until he was knocking on the doors of his fiftieth year.

    Unlike his counterparts in the Conservative party at his time, Brown was born into the British middle class as his father was a minister in the Church of Scotland and was brought up on church premises. John Major left school with three O levels at sixteen, at which age Brown was entering the University of Edinburgh on a scholarship to study history. Nobody was surprised when he got a first class degree and went on to acquire a doctorate in his field. However, he was by no means a book worm as he showed noticeable skills on the sports field. Taking everything into consideration, he should have been successful if not outstanding in the office of Prime Minister. Unfortunately, a combination of a lack of people skills and the economic climate of the time ensured that his stay in office did not exceed a period of three years. It has now become apparent  that he was not politically astute enough to seize his moment and set a date for a winnable election in 2009 when the odds were in his favour but chose to wait for another year which was expected to deliver a sure victory. Unfortunately, his tide had ebbed by 2010 when he had to call an election; it only led to a hung parliament. His efforts to form an electoral pact with the Liberal Democrats in order to engineer a majority in Parliament failed, consigning Britain to fourteen years of a Conservative comedy of errors which presented the country with no less than five Prime Ministers, one of whom was in office for forty-seven chaotic days!

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    There was no party with a majority after the 2010 elections and this led to the formation of a coalition government led by David Cameron, another Prime Minister with Scottish origins, making him the third in a row after Blair and Brown. He was solidly upper middle class and was in fact on the fringes of minor aristocracy as he was descended from a long departed king even if this was through an ancestor whose birth was illegitimate. The stigma of illegitimacy was not recognised by the denizens of the upper crust and was a status that that could actually be flaunted. It is also worth noting that as late as 2015, the British government had just finished paying off the loan taken all those years ago to pay off the former slave owners who had their slaves taken from them when slavery was ended in British territories in 1834. Just to be clear. The slave owners were generously compensated for the loss of their human property whilst the slaves who had worked for no reward were abandoned and left to their limited fate. Two hundred years later, the descendants of those slaves are still suffering from serious economic disadvantages. On the other side of the coin, slave owners including the Camerons who had appropriated the labour of human beings supposedly created as they were in the image of God, had laughed all the way to the bank, their already exalted social standing having been further enhanced by a small pot of gold.

    Unlike the three Tory Prime Ministers before him, he was not only born into wealth and privilege but was born with a brain which was better tuned to learning than most of his contemporaries. This being so and so, he breezed through Eton and Oxford with ease emerging from the later institution with a first class degree, almost inevitably in the amalgamated course of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE), the preferred course of study for many successful British politicians since the Second World War. Together with his studies however, the young Cameron exhibited a streak of indulgent behaviour which in less privileged circles would have earned him stern censorship but appeared to enhance his reputation as a jolly good fellow of the social pull his exalted family put at his disposal.

    Cameron came into the office of Prime Minister, at forty-three, the youngest to do so in modern times with a stern determination to fix what he regarded as ‘broken Britain’. With his background in economics, his main preoccupation was the economy which in the aftermath of the global crash of 2008 appeared to him to be fragile and dangerously so. He was determined to fix it through monetary control. This meant that he was looking for salvation from the market, the purest form of economic control. As much as possible, money was diverted into private control with government playing the role of indulgent umpire. This meant a savage cut in public spending and the privatisation of public enterprises including the Royal Post. Private holdings grew at the expense of the social responsibility of government and societal infrastructure began to crumble from neglect;  roads, railways, schools and education in general began to totter and health services began a slow but perceptible decline which soon led to sustained crisis in the much vaunted National Health Service, the jewel in the crown of the British welfare system which had been laboriously and sometimes painfully stitched together by mainly successive Labour governments since the days of Clement Atlee.

    The British electorate, educated through many generations to defer to those who were deemed to be socially superior had decided that the Tories were the natural party of government and perhaps not unexpectedly, the party under Cameron handily won the 2015 election and the Coalition government with the Liberal Democrats gave way to a Conservative government now free to pursue her own interests without reference to any junior partner.

    Over the years, starting from the days of New Labour, it was clear that the British people had taken a pitch to the Right. They had come to see that their country which for so long had dominated the world was now, at best only a medium level world power, floundering in the wake which the USA created. Sad as it was, they were still clinging to the myth of being a nuclear power and to prove their military potency were still tagging along to any war in which the USA involved herself. This meant that British war planes were dropping bombs all over the place in Bosnia, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and even in Sierra Leone where in addition they put boots on the ground as they did in a few other theatres of war. They also began to feel that they were not being given the respect they commanded in the hey days of their global domination. It became easy for them to think that they were being victimised by the evolving world order and that their problems had been imported into Britain by immigrants who were to be blamed for every affliction that held them in thrall. The official response was to create a hostile environment for immigrants especially those who did not have the legal status to remain in Britain. For example, the right of spouses of Britons to live with their partners in Britain could no longer be guaranteed under the prevailing climate of the country. What can be described as a lunatic right wing of the Conservative Party and a crazier group of people in UKIP were hell-bent on reclaiming Britain for the Britons. To appease these deranged people, Cameron decided to organise a referendum to decide if Britain should withdraw from the European Union in a movement described as Brexit. Cameron was so optimistic about victory for those who wanted Britain to remain in Europe that he neglected to make any contingency plans to cope with a withdrawal from the European Union. There were no plans to cope with this result and with his political career in ruins, Cameron had no option but to resign as Prime Minister in 2016. He was succeeded as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party by Theresa May, a clergyman’s daughter. May had been a prominent member of the Cameron government and had been the Home secretary who had had been responsible in her own words for ‘creating a hostile environment in Britain for illegal immigrants’ . If she could not frighten illegal immigrants from fleeing Britain, it was not for lack of trying.

    Unfortunately, May was perhaps even more confused than Cameron about what to do about Brexit, a policy which she had inherited. As was the case with Cameron, May had supported Britain’s continued membership of the European Union. In opposition to this, Britons had decided to withdraw from the European Union in order to exercise sovereignty over their affairs but apparently, they were bat ignorant about how the process of disengagement could be worked out. For example, they suddenly found out that unlike before, they could no longer hop across the English Channel without a visa as they used to do neither could they simply send whatever they wanted to anyone in Europe without extensive and complicated paper work. And yet there could be no going back on Brexit as the roving finger had written and having written had moved on. It was incumbent on May to get Brexit done but is was soon clear that she did not have the head for such complicated matters. A considerable number of people in her party were relentless in their pressure to get Brexit done come hell or high water. Unfortunately, May was not gifted with the flexibility required to navigate through the mine field which Brexit represented and eventually, she was hoist on that petard and after losing a string of  confidence votes within her party and in Parliament, she had no option but to resign her positions as leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of Britain. She was succeeded in both positions by Boris Johnson.

    It is quite interesting to note that before those votes of no confidence, May had survived a general election which not surprisingly had produced a hung parliament.

    Boris Johnson, the man who took over from May was a garrulous caricature of a human being, a serial divorcee who quite genuinely was not quite sure of the number of children be had fathered. He had been a contemporary of Cameron at Oxford and had indulged heartily in all the dastardly escapades with which he and his friends had amused themselves with. As a matter of fact, he did not appear to have grown out of those juvenile tendencies which bordered on the delinquent by the time he assumed the leadership of the Conservative Party as well as the office of British Prime Minister.

    To be continued

  • The national assembly needs a reputational makeover

    The national assembly needs a reputational makeover

    Under the sterling leadership of Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, SAN, as Charman of ICPC, the  board instituted a novel initiative of ensuring accountability and transparency in the implementation of  Constituency Projects.

    A portion of the initiative’s report reads:

    “In addition, findings under the phase two exercise revealed that there were projects sited on private properties of the sponsors or their cronies – breaching Procurement Act 2007, using personal companies to execute government projects, passing off or round tripping of projects, converting projects vehicles to personal property, and lack of needs assessment before projects are sited.

    Furthermore, the exercise uncovered lack of synergy between outgoing and incoming legislators, such that projects initiated by the former are abandoned by the later. Another shoddy dealing uncovered was collusion between sponsors’ aides and contractors to defraud Nigeria and contract over-invoicing.

    Other key findings of the exercise was that despite the annual appropriation of N100 billion for constituency projects, some projects were duplicated in the mandate budgets of some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) – which the same National Assembly approves – as constituency projects. This, did not only fuel corruption,  it also distorts national planning, leading to poor and inefficient budget performance”.

    Above is how the National Assembly, routinely, pads annual budgets.

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    From the above, it becomes crystal clear  that the huge emolument of National Assembly members, concerning which Nigerians have shouted themselves hoarse, complaining ad infinitum, is only one of the many ways the country is being rapaciously  shortchanged by those expected to lead by demonstrating unimpeachable behaviour.

    Each successive session of the National Assembly has been worse than the one it succeeded and it has become obvious that in the matter of resolving opacity in that arm of government, Nigerians are, no doubt, between the  devil and the deep blue sea.

    I say that because

    they  make our laws and would not  snatch lolly from their own mouths, the way British Prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, snatched milk from school children by making laws to outlaw their own corruption.

    Unfortunately, Nigerians are yet to see the executive branch do anything to mitigate it.

    The dilemma does not end there.

    In the article, ‘Wake Up RMAFC’, The Nation, Sunday,18 August, 2024 I  wrote about how the RMAFC Chairman inellegantly, if not shamelessly, washed  the agency’s hands off any responsibility for checkmating a National Assembly  paying its members allowances that are  far in excess of  what  it recommended for the President’s approval; which approval it knew never given but was, instead, self -awarded. Nothing can be more irresponsible than playing that dumb on the excuse that the constitution does not, expressly, include that in its mandate.

    Suppose, for instance, that Assembly members were paying themselves a hundred times the figures they recommended after an exhaustive  consideration of relevant data. Would it still be rational to claim ignorance of what was happening; thus calling RMAFC’s very existence to question?

    Which was why I was thoroughly flabbergasted when I saw the following  reaction, by a supposedly educated Nigerian, to my article referenced above.

    He wrote:”The author,  I am sorry to say, is ignorant. RMAFC did its job; recommended a pay package which the president sent to NASS in the form of an amendment bill and it was passed into law.

    If NASS members are paying themselves more than was recommended, it is neither known to RMAFC (perhaps because they live in China – columnist) nor the duty of that body to police or audit NASS bla bla bla”.

    If he has been around, and not marooned on some faraway island, he should have known, as I showed in the article  that the allowances National Assembly members currently earn, is not a product of the process he wasted time describing; but rather,

    the result of self – help by the law makers who thought nothing of suffering Nigerians.

    The article reads:”When, during  the past week, the EFCC finally caught up with Hon.Dimeji Bankole, the erstwhile Speaker of the  House of Representatives,  Nigerians came to know that under his leadership, the House of Representatives has been borrowing, illegally, for un-appropriated purposes. It was with an eye on such funds that the following new  allowances

    were approved at an executive session on  March 30, 2010 : Speaker, N100m

    Deputy Speaker, N80m, House Leader, N60m,  Deputy House Leader, N57.5m,

    Chief Whip, N55m, Deputy Chief Whip, N54.5m, Minority  Leader N54.5m,

    Minority Whip, N50m, Deputy Minority Leader, N50m

    Deputy Minority Whip, N50m’.

    The payment of outstanding allowances, dating back to 1999 – 2007, all from these un-authorised funds was also approved .

    To  meet these unilaterally approved emoluments, the House leadership  resorted to borrowing and decreed that  all the loans should be  included in the 2011 budget as if Nigeria were a banana Republic”. 

    But some questions arise: aren’t Nigerians entitled to know what  is captured in this so – called running costs? Are they taxed, or not, and since they should be paid as an advance, are these funds ever retired as is the practice in government?

    The opacity in the affairs of the National Assembly simply rankles.

    Can Nigerians be allowed to see the electronic traces of these so- called expenses supposedly made in our behalf? Nigerians, acutely aware of their several

    recesses, often ask how long members actually sit, even though they always claim they are busy on committee – those juicy committees – duties.

    In the U.S from where we copied our mode of government, Congressmen who want a particular project in their constituency know that they have to lobby the relevant agency in the executive branch unlike here where “Senate President Godswill Akpabio could, according to BudgIT, effortlessly, allocate projects worth N90bn to his constituency of only 10 Local Government Areas”.

    If we are helpless in making the National Assembly members contrite, can they, by themselves, humbly retrace their steps along the path of rectitude, even if out of pity for poor Nigerians, 131M of whom were, in ’23, said to be multidimensionally poor? I feel certain that those two chambers have within them, some of the finest Nigerians, patriots indeed, some of who have been so troubled and so conscience – stricken, they have ‘whispered loudly’, the figures most of their colleagues would dare not mention even in their closets. Without a scintilla of doubt, there must be within the National Assembly, even if a tiny minority, men and women of conscience, who must be feeling pained at what percentage of the National resource is devoted to catering to the stupendous living style of only 469 Nigerians – (Senate  109, and House,  360); men and women who are, in no way more Nigerian than the rest of us. Only this past week, Senator Ishaku Elisha Abbo, who represented Adamawa North Senatorial District in the 10th National Assembly, in a currently trending WhatsApp  video, told Nigerians that, whereas he earned a cummutative N14.4M monthly, his former colleagues now earn N29M monthly. Please don’t try multiplying that by 12.

    In the article:’Reducing Nigeria’s Monstrous Cost Of Governance Through The President’s Personal Example’

    of 2nd July, 2023, I wrote:

    “With respect to this nerve racking problem, that is, reducing the cost of governance, President Tinubu is in a situation analogous to that of the great Chief Obafemi Awolowo when the  following was written about him:

    “To accomplish these, Awo and his colleagues were determined to blast their way through whatever problems, and compel the force of any adverse circumstance to serve their will. This was because they had put in, long and hard preparations …”

    “With 30 years of productive engagement in Nigerian politics, preparing his life long ambition of becoming the Nigerian President’, he should be able to own that assertive pronouncement about AWO, regarding his own preparedness for office.

    In consequence of that, he should now go ahead and deploy  his well known attributes as a dogged strategist, combined with his varied experience, and not inconsiderable network, to do that which his predecessors couldn’t do.

    President Tinubu just has to tame the conundrum of Nigeria’s unsustainably high cost of governance, especially the atrocious emoluments of members of the National Assembly which is the elephant in the room.

    It will, no doubt, be difficult because that is another arm of government. But if the President would start with himself, and substantially reduce the emoluments going to the executive branch, he would have, through such example compelled same in the legislative arm.

    The President will have to lead by personal example; one that would be so irresistible, members of the National Assembly would have no option. He must demonstrate that the Nigerian presidency became his life ambition  only because he saw the office as the utmost position from where he could positively impact the lives of Nigerians,  irrespective of clan, tribe or religion. A country that serially borrows to implement its annual budget should, if led by a serious government, never run a government half as expensive as Nigeria presently is. Making it

    worse is the fact that Nigeria presently suffers a huge revenue shortfall, a fact further exacerbated by massive oil theft that has run like for ages. The President should now realise that significantly reducing the cost of governance is long overdue. It is no longer a stitch in time which, as they say,  saves nine. It is, indeed, already late. And two things he can be sure of  are: that he will have the overwhelming support of Nigerians, and the National Assembly would have no option whatever, lest Nigerians ‘storm the Bastille’.

  • Women and the challenges of insecurity

    Women and the challenges of insecurity

    I am immensely grateful for the wonderful opportunity that the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN) has given me to be the Keynote Speaker at the Formal Opening of the 39th Annual National Conference on Friday, 23 August, 2024, in Akure, Ondo State. I congratulate the Association for continuing to be the vintage platform for protecting and promoting the interests of Muslim women, in particular, and those of Nigerian women, in general. FOMWAN is sharply-focused without being insular. This is reflected in the optimally broad theme for this year’s National Conference which is “Women and the challenges of insecurity.”

    In addressing this issue, I wish to begin by asking the question, “What is insecurity?” For this presentation, insecurity would be understood as having the feeling that one is unsafe or actually being exposed and subjected to various forms of violence or deprivation and indignity in the domestic or public sphere. Violence may involve psychological or emotional abuse and may result in lack of confidence or low self-esteem. Violence may also be physical and may result in various forms of bodily harm or loss of life. 

    In some situations in the domestic domain, women may be the agents of insecurity, and in others, they may be the victims. Women are believed to perpetuate insecurity through such actions as nagging, jealousy, neglect or even physical violence. Women are also, more commonly, victims of insecurity arising from, for example, emotional abuse, circumscription of freedom, and blame for lack of male children by spouses who have a preference for sons. These attitudes negate two Qur’anic principles.

    First, with respect to the primary purpose of marriage, the Qur’an, Chapter 30, Verse 21 admonishes as follows: “And of His Signs is that He has created mates for you from your own kind that you may find peace in them and He has set between you love and mercy. Surely there are Signs in this for those who reflect.” In other words, from the Islamic perspective, marriage is truly marriage only when it is a source of peace for both spouses. Second, the Qur’an, Chapter 16, Verses 58-59 states with respect to the disbelievers: “Whenever one of them is given the good news of a baby girl, his face grows gloomy, as he suppresses his rage. He hides himself from the people because of the bad news he has received. Should he keep her in disgrace, or bury her alive in the ground? Evil indeed is their judgment!” These two verses are relatable to the  Qur’an, Chapter 2, Verse 216 which states: “Perhaps you dislike something which is good for you and like something which is bad for you. Allah knows and you do not know.”

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    The following story of Maryam in the Qur’an, Chapter 3, Verses 35-38 is also instructive: “Remember when the wife of ‘Imrân said, ‘My Lord! I dedicate what is in my womb entirely to Your service, so accept it from me. You alone are truly the All-Hearing, All-Knowing.’ When she delivered, she said, ‘My Lord! I have given birth to a girl,’ – and Allah fully knew what she had delivered – ‘and the male is not like the female.  I have named her Mary, and I seek Your protection for her and her offspring from Satan, the accursed.’ So her Lord accepted her graciously and blessed her with a pleasant upbringing – entrusting her to the care of Zachariah. Whenever Zachariah visited her in the sanctuary, he found her supplied with provisions. He exclaimed, ‘O Mary! Where did this come from?’ She replied, ‘It is from Allah. Surely Allah provides for whoever He wills without limit.’ Then and there Zachariah prayed to his Lord, saying, ‘My Lord! Grant me – by your grace – righteous offspring. You are certainly the Hearer of all prayers.’” Following from this example, we should be praying for righteous and divinely-blessed children, irrespective of their sex.

    The high risk or actual occurrence of domestic violence in the form of wife-battering or husband-battering is another form of women-related insecurity. The strange thing about this kind of spousal violence is that it cuts across age, class, educational, gender, ethnic, religious, occupational, national and racial boundaries. So, you can find a poor, illiterate African or European person engaging in spousal abuse just as you can find a rich or middle class highly-educated professional one indulging in it. In the 16 December, 2023 edition of The Cable, one case that circulated widely on social and mainstream media was reported with the caption: “TRENDING VIDEO: Akwa Ibom ‘lawyer’ brutalises wife, locks her out.”

     Cases of domestic violence increase in moments of social or economic difficulty. For example, a 2021 research report by Alex R. Piquero and four others, titled “Domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic – Evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis,” notes as follows: “[T]he evidence is strong that incidents of domestic violence increased in response to stay-at-home/lockdown orders, a finding that is based on several studies from different cities, states, and several countries around the world.”     

    Women are also subjected to widowhood-related emotional violence. In some cultures, the belief that women are inherently evil makes the wife the principal suspect when a man dies, even where the cause of death is obvious. These women are therefore made to go through different humiliating and unsafe cultural practices to prove their innocence. Related to this is the disinheriting of widows. The more common demographic pattern in many places is for younger, less economically secure women to marry older, more financially stable men. When such women are then widowed and concomitantly fully or appreciably disinherited, economic difficulties arise which contribute to what has come to be known as the feminisation of poverty.   

    In the public domain, insecurity is manifested in kidnapping, arson, vandalism, suicide bombing and other violent attacks on agents of government and other citizens. Though these forms of violence have been associated with men, women are starting to be identified as suicide bombers and collaborators with kidnappers. For example, a month ago, an editorial of Leadership.ng, titled “Resurgence of suicide bombing,” stated: “Residents of Borno State, North East Nigeria, were on June 29, 2024 reminded that despite efforts by the security agencies, the dark days of suicide bombing are still with them. This reminder came in the guise of three female suicide bombers who detonated Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in strategic locations, killing 32 persons, while 52 others were injured. They targeted a wedding, a funeral and a hospital in coordinated attacks, disguising … as wedding and funeral guests to gain access to the venues. More shocking is the report that one of them had a child strapped on her back who was killed after the bomb went off.”

    This notwithstanding, women are more commonly victims of violent crimes. One case that is gaining immense national attention now is the abduction, on 27 December, 2023, of Dr. Ganiyat Popoola, an Ophthalmologist with the National Eye Care Centre, Kaduna, who is a mother of five young children. While her husband along with whom she was abducted was released in March 2024, she and her young nephew remain in captivity. Medical practitioners across the country have been agitating robustly for her freedom. Besides the risk of rape, forced marriage and holding women as sex slaves, women are also vulnerable in situations of insecurity simply for being mothers. For instance, when violence occurs or is about to occur, apart from considering their own safety, mothers have the safety of their children to contend with, and this may compromise their escape response time. Lactating mothers also have to contend with breastfeeding their infant children in situations of inadequacy or even total absence of food.

    These are apart from the risks of sexual and other forms of violence and exploitation that women face in the vulnerable environment of internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. Moreover, in some parts of the country, females are targets of ritual murder, due to the strange belief that the use of female body parts, especially female genitals, in rituals, confers spiritual power and wealth.

    The different problematic situations could be prevented or remedied in various ways. Personal initiatives in this regard include the acquisition of optimum education, both Islamic and Western. This would increase women’s chances of getting paid appointments that can facilitate economic security. Alternatively, women could acquire robust artisanal or trading skills to enhance economic self-reliance. Establishing or joining positive social support groups could also ensure women’s psychological and emotional health. Moreover, it would not be out of place, wherever possible, for women to acquire martial arts or self-defence skills. Women who have the means and the need for them could also procure licensed arms.

    Some government initiatives could also provide women with opportunities for economic security. The hope for increased access to such opportunities comes, in particular, from the recent enhancement of Local Government autonomy. In the past, some governments at that level established small scale or cottage industries which employed a significant number of women.  At that time, information centres were also established to make access to information easy and facilitate the officials’ access to citizens’ feedback. Since it has been observed that women constitute the most active party members and the predominant voters in many parts of the country, FOMWAN could leverage on this trend to enhance female political education and participation, and increase female access to funding for investment and other facilities for economic well-being.

    This can be made effective through working with the Supervisory Councilors for women affairs and related officials. There are also corresponding officials at the state and federal Ministries of Women Affairs/Special Duties with whom FOMWAN could collaborate. Collaborative enlightenment or consciousness-raising programmes could also be run with security agencies such as the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and the Nigerian Armed Forces.

    I have outlined above different forms of violence that result from insecurity and some of the ways in which they could be addressed. Furthermore, I wish to recommend that FOMWAN collaborate more extensively with other women associations to implement joint programmes towards enhancing the personal, domestic, social, economic and communal security of women in Nigeria. It is also desirable for FOMWAN to engage more young females more robustly to be able to pass down effectively the noble values of the association. Given the nationwide presence and systematic structure of FOMWAN and the need to ease coordination and facilitate the achievement of its enlightenment mission, it would be immensely helpful for the association to establish a FOMWAN Radio, to start with.

     I commend FOMWAN for the impressive initiative of bringing the very critical and quite topical issue of women and insecurity to the fore, and thank the association for the opportunity to be part of this immensely invaluable programme.

  • Presidents do need ‘Brief Work Stays’ away from the corridors once, once

    Presidents do need ‘Brief Work Stays’ away from the corridors once, once

    It was a week filled with a lot of surprises and flashes of unexpected actions, right from the start of it. It was the week President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced plans to briefly vacation in France and it was the week he returned again to perform a very critical and sacred national assignment; the swearing in of a new Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN). Although it started out as though it was going to be a very quiet and uneventful week, it gradually and eventually turned out to be more than it pretended it had to offer.

    On Sunday, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, announced that the President had been scheduled to travel to France the following day. “President Bola Tinubu will embark on a trip to France on Monday, August 19, departing from Abuja, the nation’s capital. The President will return to the country after his brief work stay in France”, was Ngelale’s message and it was the message that set the tone for the feeling that it was going to be an easy week, with less work. I bet most people later discovered they misread how it was going to pan out.

    Some have since been wondering what the ‘brief work stay’ is all about, especially as they could not hear or read that it was a state visit, a bilateral or multilateral event. While not sounding like yours truly is in the President’s mind or took the trip with him, it is easily one of the actions of a leader’s easiest to decode and explain. He is the President of a nation of an estimated 231 million people, having to listen and attend to every voice and interest, you will agree that the needed energy to service such a huge mass cannot be just a marathon, it needs to be constantly relieved and recharged.

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    A very popular and present example of what I am trying to describe is the American system. The President of the United States (US) does not just continue going on at the White House, once in a while he is expected to visit Camp David, the Presidential Retreat home. Though it is on the American soil, the feeling of the President while heading there, each time, would be “phew, some respite again”, another moment to escape, not just the maddening noise of the American bureaucracy and other cares, but the heavy weight of trying to show the way to the rest of the world.

    Just as a citizen, who is the head of a home and executive an or manager of a section of some sort of organisation, you already know what it feels like escaping to be with friends and buddies at your regular pub or garden.

    Okay, let us say for you it is not an escape from the demands of family and work, you should also know how feverishly you would need quiet and calm when you need to do some brains-tasking thinking or studying, just the way a writer seeks the quietness and serenity of unpopulated spaces to be able to birth the next finest work of art. You might have also heard of how captains of sea-going vessels would need seclusion from time to time, in their cabins, to be able to find their rhythms and coordinates accurately.

    So it should not be difficult to figure out what Tinubu’s ‘brief work stay’ in France is all about; he is leading a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and variously diverse nation, one of the largest in the world, with all the octopus-like tendencies. Imagine how very demanding that could be. Just imagine, very objectively now, how much energy, in whatever form, that will take from you per second. Tell yourself if you would not burn out and need constant refreshing and recharging. Ensure to focus on the current socioeconomic situation and the attempt by economic and political oppositions trying to undo what you are trying to do to make life easier for your family and business organisation. Need I paint the picture any further?

    After leaving on Monday for the brief get-away, most likely to reassess the progress of things and probably use the time to open some new diplomatic channels, everybody back home around the Villa had heaved the relief sigh, as the President is known to be a workaholic, who has both the day and night schedules. However, on Thursday, news broke that the President might be heading back home that evening, suddenly it became public knowledge that a new Chief Justice of the Federation was due to be sworn in on Friday, following the retirement of Justice Olukayode Ariwoola.

    He arrived early Friday morning, had a few hours of rest and confirmed the rumour of his return at some minutes past 11am for the swearing in ceremony of the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN). Actually, he suspended his work stay in France to personally handle the administration of this particular ceremony for many reasons. Besides the fact that it is a statutory duty of the President, this was one of the very rare occasions as the incoming CJN is a woman, the second in Nigeria’s judicial history. Most emotionally, this is someone coming from his Lagos State home-base, someone he seems to know from her family background.

    Addressing her as ‘Tokunbo’, a name not many Nigerians knew her by, safe for people who knew her from way back and back to her homestead, then the President referred to her backgrounds, saying “distinguished ladies and gentlemen, Nigeria’s acting Chief Justice Kudirat Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun comes to this position with admirable family and professional pedigrees”. You only say that about people you are deeply familiar with. It has been gathered at some point that Justice Kekere-Ekun was a judge in Lagos when Tinubu was the Governor of Lagos State.

    Much more than that, the President himself indicated his very popular family in Lagos and that of Mdadam CJN are not strangers when towards the end of his speech, after the swearing in ceremony, he said “today, a day on our calendar, is divine. You’re a Lagosian, and I am one. To the memory of our both parents, I say God’s speed”. That moment has been described as one of his most emotional moments. It has even been described as one of those “Lagos moments” in the Council Chambers of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa.

    Beyond the emotions of the moment, it was another opportunity for him to charge the systems to rev and serve their purposes. This time around it was the legal system. He charged the new chief office-holder to fill the office properly, drive the system as it is designed run. He urged the acting CJN to defend the independence of the judiciary and promote the cause of justice, emphasising the importance of strengthening mechanisms that will uphold and enhance integrity, discipline, and transparency in the judiciary.

    “Undoubtedly, the position of the Chief Justice of Nigeria comes with enormous responsibilities as the head of all judicial institutions in the country. It is a position of considerable influence that demands temperance and sobriety. The occupant of the office must exude the highest level of integrity in the discharge of their duties. This is more so because of the finality of the Supreme Court’s judgments.

    “I, therefore, urge your Lordship to be faithful and loyal to the Constitution when discharging your duty as the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria. I also encourage you to defend the judiciary’s independence and always promote the cause of justice. It is vital that you strengthen all mechanisms for integrity, discipline, and transparency in the judicial sector, and pursue other reforms or initiatives to sustain and build public confidence in the judiciary”, the President charged.

    Even before he returned, he never stopped working from ‘yonder’. A number of significant appointments and reappoints were made during the week. For instance, while he was in France, he replaced Alhaji Jalal Ahmad Arabi as Executive Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), with Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman. Same Monday, he appointed a new management team for the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), with Engineer Jennifer Adighije as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

    He continued with new appointments on Tuesday, selecting Mr. Daser David as President/Chief Executive Officer of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI). He also appointed Reuben Oshomah as Executive Director, Marketing, and Mrs. Adama Kure as Executive Director, Finance and Administration of the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT).

    It was the same Tuesday that Ngelale, who doubles as Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Action (SPEC), announce President Tinubu’s authorization for the establishment of the Climate Accountability and Transparency Portal and other measures to ensure efficiency and accountability in the nation’s participation in the 29th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, slated for November 11-22, 2024. The measure in this new drive will help Nigeria save nothing less than N10 billion in costs at the COP29.

    On Wednesday he did more appointments/reappointments and approved the conversion of an institution. He started with the reappointment of Professor Abdurrahman Abba Sheshe as Chief Medical Director of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, for a second and final term of four years, effective from December 5, 2023. He also reappointed Professor Yusuf Jibrin Bara as Chief Medical Director of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi, for a second and final term of four years. Same day, he approved the takeover and conversion of Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia, to the Federal University of Lafia Teaching Hospital, Nasarawa, in response to a request by the Nasarawa State Government.

    He also registered with the personal feelings of specific individuals and communities back home. For instance, On Wednesday, he sent out his condolences and sympathies to the government and people of Jigawa State, especially those directly affected by a devastating flooding which claimed lives and destroyed yet to be accurately quantified amount of property. Late same day, he mourned the gruesome murder of a traditional ruler in Sokoto State, Alhaji Isa Bawa, District Head of Gatawa District in Sabon Birni council area, reassuring Nigerians that his administration is aggressively removing threats to ensure the security of the nation and that these desperate acts of terror will be effectively countered.

    Now we are in a new week, all that is required of you, that is if you have chosen to be faithful with reading this weekly column, is to wait to see what the President will unveil in the new week. Stay on.

  • Threatening and blackmailing Nigeria

    Threatening and blackmailing Nigeria

    In the space of three weeks, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) twice threatened the federal government with strike. For the trade union, strike has ceased to be an instrument for advancing workers’ rights; instead, it has clearly become a political instrument. In the early days of the hardship protests, particularly after a few people reportedly lost their lives, the NLC threatened to take action. According to the union, “…With unconfirmed reports putting casualties at 40+ in two days of managing the #EndHunger protest across the country, we have sufficient reasons (backed up by reports and video clips) to call to question the professionalism of our security personnel as this represents nothing but MASSACRE of citizens…Members of organised labour will be left with no choice than the moral burden to act in the protection of ordinary citizens.”

    The NLC has, in short, partly become a human rights organisation. After the police raided a rented shop in the NLC building (Labour House) in Abuja on August 7, the union again threatened to embark on industrial action if “harassments of its members persisted”. It went ahead to call for international inquiry. It is an indication of the contempt many Nigerians have for their country, that every offended person reports Nigeria to the international community. The union has also indicated that it might call for nationwide shutdown if the government did nothing on the invasion of the Labour House, where the national headquarters of the NLC is domiciled. Though the NLC itself occupied only a section of the building, and has let out spaces to other businesses, one of which the police said they targeted in their search for terrorism backers as well as sponsors of the August 1-10 protests, the union remains unpersuaded. For the union, every provocation could lead to a strike.

    In Edo State, Governor Godwin Obaseki is also issuing his own fiery threats. If a free and fair governorship election was disallowed in Edo in September, it would trigger a major crisis, he warned. But such Trumpian dictum was not the exclusive preserve of Edo. Kano also used it to devastating effect when its governorship election result was still under litigation, and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) had secured victory at the Election Tribunal and Court of Appeal. Kano would burn if the Supreme Court did not validate the election of Abba Kabir Yusuf, the Kwankwasiyya movement bellowed. Whether the government took heed and enabled the courts to succumb is not clear. What is obvious is that Governor Yusuf retained the coveted throne. But these threateners are by no means alone. Even the hardship protesters also issued and continue to roll out their own doomsday threats. The threats can only mean one thing: too many Nigerians have absolute contempt and hatred for their country. Some protest leaders and lawyers have issued ultimatum to the government to release protesters still in police custody or face legal action, with dark hints of some other subterranean countermeasures. It has not occurred to the protest leaders that some of the protesters might have breached the law by inflicting violence on the society or engaging in looting.

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    But by far the worst threats have come from faceless protesters and some known activists who specialise in inciting the populace. They warned that if the government failed to address their grievances, they would regroup and return stronger. Other protest leaders have even set a date, October 1, for street action the government would not be able to manage. EndSARS would be a child’s play, and the August 1-10 protest would be like a dress rehearsal, they said ferociously. Their demands were anything from 10 in some cases, to 15 in other cases, and 20 for another group of protesters. Many of the demands had little to do with hunger or economic hardship, while other demands were brazenly political and partisan, to the point of even calling for the overthrow of constitutional order without a corresponding plan to get Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities to consensually agree to that wish list or ensure peace during the constitutional reprogramming.

    Like the October 2020 EndSARS protesters, the EndBadGovernance protesters also undermined their agitation by diluting their demands. The August protest was supposed to be about economic hardship, but very quickly it became a partisan political advocacy with one or two opposition political parties becoming the locus of the campaign. Then, rather than provide leadership for the protest, the inspirers talked themselves out of providing leadership for the street action for fear of arrest, lent themselves to politicians to use, unadvisedly captioned their protests “10 Days of Rage”, and allowed violent persons and groups, many of them children, to hijack the protests barely a day after they began. In the end, the government has reportedly traced the financing of the protests to shadowy and aggrieved political characters and discovered that the reasons for the protests transcended hunger or hardship.

    Indeed, had the United Kingdom protests not occurred simultaneously with the Nigerian protests, Nigerian protesters would still be hyperactive denouncing their government on social media had the UK not exhibited political and judicial toughness in handling their protests. The threats may not necessarily reduce in frequency and intensity, but neither the threateners nor the government will henceforth take the frenzied noise on social media at face value, especially if, like the UK, the social media inciters are brought to book.

  • Lagos govt and monthly sanitation

    Lagos govt and monthly sanitation

    Nostalgia will not let Lagos State government rest. Hints from government agents and environmental activists suggest that the Lagos State government might be contemplating restoring the monthly environmental sanitation rightly and sensibly scrapped in 2016 for being ‘economically unrealistic’. There are still no sound economic or social arguments for the restoration of that monthly three hours shutdown in a megacity, for every hour of arrested economic activities is a great and unquantifiable loss unmitigated by the benefit of any cleanup. Sanitation should not be episodic, as the civilized world already knows, but Lagos thinks otherwise, perhaps because some states still retain that anachronistic measure.

    But perhaps Lagos is awash with cash and can afford to shut the state down for three hours every month. However, most Lagosians are not awash with cash; they are barely eking out a living. It would be unwise to deprive them those few hours, believing wrongly that it is after all just a brief period. But by far the most pertinent reason against monthly sanitation shutdown is the fact that the country’s nerves are still very raw from the protests, and citizens are still suspicious and resentful of the people in government whom they consider privileged and unfeeling. The police recognised that danger of a still restive population and quietly withdrew the e-CMR revenue scheme days before the last protests.

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    Enforcing the monthly sanitation scheme, after many years of abandoning it, will provoke unnecessary resentment against the government. More importantly, it will not keep the state clean. Why make more enemies and create resentment over needless regimentation? If the state can’t find a better and smarter way of keeping the environment clean always, erroneously believing that one Saturday in the month is the answer, it would be clear they have not given the subject any serious reflection. In any case, if Lagos returns the errant scheme, it can rest assured the next administration will scrap it, assuming the contradictions that will follow the scheme will wait that long. Restoring monthly sanitation is an admission of failure; it is humiliating to the Lagos government that it is even considering that ancient model for a modern city and economic hub.

  • Council of State’s Vote of Confidence, A Needed Boost for the Marathon of Reforms

    Council of State’s Vote of Confidence, A Needed Boost for the Marathon of Reforms

    It was somewhat of a busy week for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for many reasons, but it was also a week that brought lots of reassurance and satisfaction for him. Busy because it was another week to juggle both local and international assignments and make a perfect delivery to his primary mandate; the Nigerian people. He sat over the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Monday, convened the maiden National Council of State (NCS) meeting of his administration on Tuesday, and jetted out to Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, for a state visit on the invitation of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

    The week also came with what has been considered one of the most exciting experiences of his stay in office, so far, because it was the week during which one of the most important organs of the Nigerian state, the National Council of State, which consists of those you will consider the most important figures of the country, gathered at the State House, at his behest, to deliberate on recent developments around the country, including the recent #EndBadGovernance nationwide protest and the embedded treasonous elements it came with, and decided to make a strong solidarity statement for democracy by passing a vote of confidence on President Tinubu.

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    The import of convening of the Council of State meeting and the significance of the action it took in passing a vote of confidence would be better appreciated when you understand what the Council is all about. The National Council of State is an organ possessing an advisory status that is higher than what the statutes bestow on even the FEC. It draws its significance from the nature of its composition, which includes the President himself as the Chairman of Council; the Vice President as Deputy Chairman; former presidents and heads of state; all former Chief Justices of Nigeria; President of the Senate; Speaker of the House of Representatives; all the Governors of the states of the Federation; Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation; the National Security Adviser (NSA), and others.

    Now imagine this august gathering, after listening to briefs from various members of the administration, including a security brief by the NSA, Nuhu Ribadu, who revealed to them that the nation and the government just managed to escape a trap set by those who had other plans than protesting hunger or insecurity, then deciding to condemn the use of subterfuge to effect a change of democratically elected government and passing a vote of confidence on the President, condemning the unconstitutional attempt and giving kudos to the citizens. It must have been one of the best days of his stay in office.

    Giving an account of the meeting, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, said the Council, especially after listening to the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, commended Nigerians for resisting unconstitutional attempts to alter the government, emphasizing that any change must be through the ballot box. He said the NSA had reassured the gathering of the security agencies’ readiness to protect Nigeria’s democracy and territorial integrity.

    Alake also revealed that the meeting featured presentations from seven ministers, including Alake himself, on the progress, prospects, and challenges in their respective ministries, with a focus on the Renewed Hope Agenda’s emphasis on economic diversification. The ministers who made presentations included those from the Ministries of Economy, Finance, Budget, Works, Trade and Investment, and Agriculture.

    Alake noted that the presentations were well-received, with positive feedback from the Council. The meeting’s composition included former heads of state, governors, the National Security Adviser, Attorney-General, and other stakeholders. The gathering reaffirmed the commitment to democracy and economic diversification, with a unified resolve to address challenges and capitalize on opportunities.   

    Also, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), expressed unwavering support for President Tinubu, passing a unanimous vote of confidence in his leadership. Updating journalists on the outcome of the meeting, Chairman of the NGF, who is also the Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, highlighted the governors’ satisfaction with the presentations by members of the federal cabinet. An executive session between the NGF members and President Tinubu followed, resulting in frank and fruitful discussions. AbdulRazaq said, “members of the NGF also passed a vote of confidence on Mr. President. We wish him well and pray for God’s guidance for him”

    The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, also presented a reassuring picture of Nigeria’s economy to the Council, updating the gathering on the progress made in implementing the President’s macroeconomic policies. He highlighted encouraging data from the first half of the year, showcasing economic growth, a surplus in trade and current account balances, stabilizing exchange rates, and slowing inflation. Edun attributed these improvements to support from foreign and domestic investors, particularly in infrastructure projects and foreign direct investment.

    Edun further identified significant opportunities for growth, citing non-oil exports, which reached $55 billion last year, and the service sector, including software, computer, accounting, and personnel services. He emphasized the potential for young Nigerians to provide services globally through the internet and telephones, creating a new avenue for economic growth. He assured the Council that efforts to address the high cost of living, support agriculture, industry, and small-scale businesses would continue. With an optimistic outlook, Edun concluded that Nigeria’s economy and society are poised for growth and progress, driven by the administration’s economic policies and interventions.

    Listening to these updates by officials of the government definitely reassured those you will describe as the ‘key stakeholders of the Nigerian Federation’ and definitely earned President Tinubu their confidence and needed support.

    A day after securing that landmark support and vote of confidence, President Tinubu went on pursuing the agenda for a stronger national economy. You will recall that one of the targets of his administration is attracting more foreign direct investments through stronger diplomatic ties with friendly nations. Also, he has made it clear from the onset that strengthening diplomatic and bilateral relations with other African countries will lead the focus of his administration’s foreign affairs policy. So on Wednesday he embarked on a three-day state visit to one of the neighbouring countries within the Gulf of Guinea, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, on the invitation of Equatorial Guinean President, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

    While in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, the landmark agreement on Gulf of Guinea Pipeline Project was signed, a $2.5 billion project, which is meant to deliver Nigeria’s natural gas feedstock to Equatorial Guinea’s LNG, gas, and methanol plants. The project is expected to create substantial employment opportunities in the gas value chain, with construction of the pipeline involving workers from both countries. According to a statement by the President’s spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, that agreement covered legislative and regulatory measures for the gas pipeline, establishment and operation, transit of natural gas, ownership of the gas pipeline, and general principles.

    Beyond the gas treaty, the two presidents agreed to boost trade between the countries and explore joint export opportunities. The visit also, among other exciting benefits, saw to the resuscitation of the Joint National Commission, with its first meeting scheduled for November. The Commission, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, will facilitate cooperation on safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea.

    Meanwhile, the visit to Equatorial Guinea was another platform for President Tinubu to call the attention of leaders of the African continent to the common challenges facing Africa and its people. To him, solving the myriad of challenges facing the continent would continue to be elusive until solutions are sought, developed and applied from within.

    “Concerning Africa, conflicts and conflict resolution were discussed. We discussed various areas of conflicts and what we can do to promote peace. We talked about promotion of peace and stability in our countries, and growth and prosperity on our continent. In the same way that Europe and America have kept themselves and found a solution for their conflicts, we have to look at both inadequate capital, industrialization efforts, research and development programmes, and enlighten our people, navigate our way through problems. Instead of the crisis and conflicts that we see in the Republic of Congo, and others, we have to look inwards to solve problems ourselves”, the President said.

    The week saw more than just the Council of State meeting and the state visit to Equatorial Guinea. There was a FEC meeting on Monday, which was preceded by the swearing in of a new Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, in the person of Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack. Monday was also the International Day of the Youth and the President ensured to use the opportunity to reassure Nigerian youths of his administration’s commitment to their development and expressed his confidence in the ingenuity and versatility of the Nigerian youth.

    In the new week, he is expected to continue with taking steps at realizing the Nigeria of our dream, especially with the boost recently received from the Council of State and the Governors’ Forum.

  • Wake up RMAFC

    Wake up RMAFC

    In your case, with all due respect, you’re not supposed to fix your salaries. But you decide what you pay yourself, the allowances that you give yourselves (including) newspaper allowances.

    “You give yourselves all sorts of things, and you know it is not right. It is immoral, (yet) you are doing it, the Senate is doing it, and you are beating your chests about it. In some cases, the executive gives you what you’re not entitled to. You all got N200 million (each).” – Former President Olusegun Obasanjo while addressing some members of the the House of Representatives who paid him a courtesy call in Abeokuta recently.

    Apparently, for some agencies of government, the fear of the National Assembly is the beginning of wisdom. On top of that ignominious ladder is  the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission whose

     Chairman, Mohammed Shehu, in the process of trying to shield the Assembly from attacks like the one by President Obasanjo, was furtherest from the truth when, this past week, he caused the following statement to be issued to the Nigerian public on how the Assembly’s jumbo emoluments came about.

    According to him: “A breakdown of their monthly earnings revealed that each Senator collects a monthly salary and allowances of N1,063,860, consisting of a basic salary, N168,866:70; motor vehicle, fuelling and maintenance allowance, N126,650:00; and personal assistant, N42,216:66;

    Read Also: Obasanjo more disillusioned than ever

    domestic staff N126,650:00; entertainment, N50,660:00; utilities, N50,660:00; newspapers/periodicals, N25,330:00; wardrobe, N42,216,66:00; house maintenance, N8,443.33:00; and constituency allowance.

    “It is instructive to note that some allowances are regular while others are non-regular. Regular allowances are paid regularly with basic salary while non-regular allowances are paid as at when due. “For instance,  furniture allowance (N6,079,200:00) and severance gratuity (N6,079,200:00) are paid once in every tenure, and vehicle allowance (N8,105,600:00) which is optional, is a loan which the beneficiary has to pay before leaving office.”

    I urge Nigerians to pay necessary attention to these huge sums of money at a time hunger has driven millions of Nigerian youths to the street in what they called the Days of Rage.  Yet as you read this, our senators are yet to indicate that they would give up anything to cushion the effects of the poor economy to mirror the House of Representative members who, cleverly, slashed 25 per cent of their salaries for six months rather than give off even 10 per cent of their humongous allowances as sacrifice.

    While a layman, with no relationship, at all, to the Revenue Mobilisation Commission can be forgiven for making the incredulous statement by the Chairman, it is absolutely beyond rationality for the him to try to sell that  statement to Nigerians except, of course, he has  been away from this country in the last decade and a half because, sometime within the period,  National Assembly members awarded  to themselves, allowances that were far and above those ever recommended by the commission.I cannot understand the Commission Chairman now playing dumb to that fact, as he did in his statement.

    We shall,however, come to that anon.

    But he was not yet done as he  went on:”the RMAFC does not possess the constitutional authority to enforce compliance with the  remuneration package for lawmakers.” That statement will be strange to Nigerians.

    But then what other agency of government does?

    Further expatiating, he said:“The commission also wishes to use this opportunity to state that any allegation regarding other allowance(s) being enjoyed by any political, public office holder outside those provided in the Remuneration (Amendment) Act, 2008 should be explained by the person who made the allegation”.

    Really?

    Why not by those enjoying them? I urge the reader to chalk that up to government agencies’ infernal fear of the National Assembly with its powers over budget approval.

    He then capped it all up, hectoring: “To avoid misinformation and misrepresentation of facts capable of misleading citizens and members of the international community, the commission considers it most appropriate and necessary to request Nigerians and any other interested party to avail themselves of the opportunity to access the actual details of the present remuneration package for political, public and judicial office holders in Nigeria published on its website: bla bla bla.”

    My reaction to that is this:

    If the allowances on the website bear any semblance to the actual allowances currently being earned by National Assembly members , it would only mean that RMAFC, behind our backs,  was browbeaten into subsequently approving allowances which it  knew nothing about; nor granted in the first instance which will be quite a shame. And if that turns out the case, it would mean that while government refrain in this harshest of times has been that ordinary Nigerians should further tighten their belt and make additional sacrifices, even where that might mean a family having no more than one meal a day, all that concerns Almighty RMAFC is more enjoyment for National Assembly members; a people who, as Olatunji Ololade recently put it, already “enjoy obscene privileges and spoils from the commonwealth.”  This, indeed, is the reason our elections have become a do or die affair.

    Now to the ‘koko’ of the matter in pidgin – speak.

    The RMAFC Chairman had deliberatel about it. the claim by a Senator, Abdurrahman Kawu Samaila(NNPP, Kano South) that he collects N21M monthly besides his salary of  nearly N1000 per month even as that confession was actually an additional evidence to what  Senator Shehu Sani had, long ago, told Nigerians about him earning N13.5M monthly which means that our ‘Ogas at the top’ have since increased their lolly by a princely N6.5M per month, an amount enough to pay the salaries of  nearly 100 workers @ N70,000 per month.

    So just in case RMAFC truly doesn’t know how those mountainous allowances came about, let me help them.

    I’II do that by quoting the relevant portion, only, of my article of 12 June, 2011 on these pages, titled:  ‘It Is Time We Storm This Bastille’.

    It reads as follows:

    “When, during  the past week, the EFCC finally caught up with Hon.Dimeji Bankole, the erstwhile Speaker of the  House of Representatives,  Nigerians came to know that under his leadership, the House of Representatives has been borrowing, illegally, for un-appropriated purposes. It was with an eye on such funds, we learnt, that the following new  allowances were approved at an executive session on  March 30, 2010 : Speaker, N100m

    Deputy Speaker, N80m, House Leader, N60m,  Deputy House Leader, N57.5m,

    Chief Whip, N55m, Deputy Chief Whip, N54.5m, Minority  Leader N54.5m,

    Minority Whip, N50m, Deputy Minority Leader, N50m

    Deputy Minority Whip, N50m’.

    They also agreed payment of outstanding allowances, dating back to 1999 – 2007, all from these un-authorised funds .To  meet these unilaterally approved emoluments, since the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, KNEW NOTHING about them, the House leadership  resorted to borrowing. First it took a N2.5billion loan from  the  National Assembly, then another NI.5 billion from the Senate  Committee on Appropriation, followed by N6 billion from  diverse sources; all by a body fully aware that it is illegal to spend unappropriated funds,  and despite protests from the office of the Clerk of the National Assembly. This is grand impunity, if ever there was one.

    The  Clerk’s negative reaction caught no ice with the House leadership which  further sourced the N6 billion loan, all of which they DECREED should be  included in the 2011 budget, as if Nigeria is a banana Republic. 

    Meanwhile, they continue to bandy about RUNNING COST. Where exactly are they running to and where has this led Nigeria in 25 years, that is, since 1999?

    If it is truly running cost, do these legislators retire the amounts advanced to them to know how it was spent?

    Enough is enough.

    Let me conclude this article by telling members of the National Assembly a thing or two about Sweden.

    Sweden, a Scandinavian country with a population of 10,673,669, is one of the wealthiest, most socially just, and least corrupt nations on earth.

    Swedish Ministers and MPs do not have official cars – not to talk of buying cars costing N150M for each of its members – nor do they have private drivers. Instead, they travel in  buses and trains, just like the citizens they represent”.

    Any lessons?