The Nation Newspaper

Category: Jide Osuntokun

  • G.A. Akinola: Distinguished historian, patriot

    The news of Dr Akinola’s transition came to many of us as a shock. We felt a terrible sense of loss. He was for a short time in the University of Lagos in the 1970S but he spent most of his life time teaching history at the University of Ibadan until he retired.  While at Ibadan he was known for his sense of perfection. He would never send a paper for publication until he was sure it was perfect. He shared this attitude with my classmate Benson Mojuetan of the same Department who despite his erudition and being the first person in the graduating set of 1966 to get a Ph.D, he refused to publish and be promoted. The late Dr Bala Yusuf Usman of Ahmadu Bello University simply refused to submit his papers for assessment in spite of the fact that we knew he had done enough to earn a chair of history at his university. Universities the world over have strange but interesting characters. Nigeria also had its fair share. I remember reading a seminal and well researched and written paper by Dr Akinola in the Journal of Historical Society Of Nigeria ( JHSN) on the important topic of Benin-Ile Ife Relations  in pre-colonial times . As far as I am concerned it is the most authoritative piece on the topic. This is because  he threw illumination on an historical event  that has been so much  politicized that  what could have been celebrated as positive inter group relations has been reduced to superiority contest. He never subscribed to the concept of “publish or perish” determining promotion in academic institutions. Unfortunately no other criterium has been found at least in the humanities to assess excellence and academic output. But in the sciences, technology, and medical sciences, breakthroughs could be measured in terms of technological discoveries or in the treatment of certain diseases or pharmaceutical innovations as contributions to knowledge. In other words if for some strange reasons an academic shuns publications, it will be difficult for the system to appreciate the excellence of such an academic.  In the USA there is what is called teaching professorship. Perhaps Akinola would have earned a chair of history under this rubric. There is no doubt in my mind that Dr Akinola was worth more than some of our professors in terms of academic knowledge, scholarship and clarity of expression.

    Akinola comes from Igbole in Ekiti, the same town that produced the professor of physics of Ekiti academic mythology. “Ojo ugbole” in my childhood was mythologized as the poor child who had no money but whenever he entered a book shop he would move into a corner and by the time the bookshop was about to close the precocious Ojo would have read a couple of books and would repeat this until he would have finished reading most of the books he wanted to read. Later the same Ojo went and got a doctorate in physics with his specialty in the broad area of Sound. Stories were told about how he ran around with bells tied round his waste while he measured perhaps the speed of their sound. Later I met the same Professor Ojo who taught and retired in the then university of Ife. He was actually married to the sister of my friend Fola Adediran. He turned out to be a normal venerable academic but everyone of my generation knows the Ojo Igbole story. Dr  Akinola did not have the mythology that surrounded the professor of physics. But I must say Akinola was cut from the same Ojo Igbole cloth. He left Christ’s School, Ado Ekiti before my time but we met the fame of the Christ School boy who got excellent grade in English language which was very rare if not impossible especially in a rural environment in which the school was located . Our school had no problems doing exceedingly well in the traditional sciences and the humanities but English language was in its own special category. That was the rarified academic height Akinola belonged. He wrote what was adjudged an excellent thesis for the doctorate of philosophy in history in 1971 of the University of Ibadan.Unlike most of his colleagues he did not revise the thesis for publication as part of the Ibadan history series under the general editorship of the late Professor J.F. Ade – Ajayi.

    Our paths crossed in Hamburg in 1968 when he and I were carrying out our field research in Germany. We stayed together in an Hotel- Pension in Hamburg. I still remember the interesting discussion we had on European people and their politics and history when we challenged the owner of an hostel of discrimination against us by not renting rooms to us in his hostel. The German without knowing the import of what he was saying told us he did not mind having people of other races in his hostel and to prove it he said he had Italians living in the hostel. In other words he lumped Italians with us blacks. This reminds me of how the English used to treat Irish people up to the 1960S when they would advertise for tenants and clearly state “ No Irish , No coloured , No Chinaman (Chinese), Jap (meaning Japanese ) ok”. Racism would always ruin human relations.

    I remember when I was on Sabbatical leave in The University of Ibadan from 2001 to 2003  I used Professor Ajayi’s office and I saw how Dr Akinola read with relish all newspapers and news magazines he could lay his hands on in order to write his occasional interventions in the newspapers which were laced with much erudition . He critically examined the 2011 elections which brought President Jonathan to power and dismissed the whole thing as a farce and a joke carried too far. He said Delta, Rivers, Cross River and Akwa Ibom States returned between 85 to 100% of their registered votes and that this was statistically impossible and was a global record if it truly happened. This was the kind of painstaking task he set for himself even in newspaper contributions.

    When he retired I was worried for how he would meet his pecuniary needs. I suggested to him, in fact I pleaded with him to take a contract job in one of the new state universities. He laughed and said how could he do that after complaining that standards had fallen in his dear University of Ibadan. If the universities in Nigeria had the necessary freedom Akinola should have been retained on contract to impart not only knowledge but to teach students and staff of old time scholarship and use of language which have unfortunately departed from our universities.

    In retirement Akinola kept to himself. He was not the clubbing type. He did not attend parties and the usual frivolous celebrations in which much money is wasted in Nigeria. I do not remember him wearing voluminous agbada like most of his contemporaries. He had no need for them. His simplicity was simply overwhelming. One is more likely to see him in his short knickers strolling along the roads of new Bodija and minding his own business but absolutely disappointed about the lack of progress in Nigeria and how the country is on a slippery slope to violence.

    Adieu Oga. Rest In Peace. You lived an unblemished life. There was no scintilla of scandal where ever you worked. You left a good and imperishable name which your children should be proud of and I am sure in the eyes of the Almighty you have earned your rest.

  • With Fayemi in truth and indeed

    The primary election of who to carry the flag of the APC into the coming gubernatorial election in July has finally been concluded in spite of the expected stiff competition and attendant acrimony. In a contest where 33 equally qualified professional and experienced men vied for one position the person who emerged must necessarily have overwhelming merit. Dr John Kayode Fayemi Ph.D London   In truth and in deed has merit. The task at hand now is the need for collective leadership which the leadership of the APC in the South West and the nation at large has called for .Ekiti State is blessed with good people and there is no reason why our putative state should not do well. Now that Fayemi is leaving the federal executive we pray that the president will immediately fill the vacant position with chief Segun Oni who was previously governor of the state and who came second to Fayemi in the primary election and who until recently was vice chairman of the APC for the South West. He is an excellent person for any position requiring experience, honesty and tact.

    Fayemi is tried and tested and has proved himself to be a good manager of people and resources. In his first incarnation as governor of Ekiti he was too busy thinking like Obafemi Awolowo, about how to make the lives of the people better that he forgot he was first a politician before being a governor and allowed himself to be rigged out of the gubernatorial position. He really had no chance in the face of overwhelming odds. His opponent, while using federal might under President Goodluck Jonathan, got Fayemi on Election Day, confined to his country home and prevented from coming out of his compound while the current governor and his supporters including people like senator Obanikoro were roaming the state with bags of money accompanied by police and soldiers to ensure the election was no contest. That is now history. After having been dealt a cruel blow President Jonathan cynically conferred on Fayemi the National honour of CFR (Commander of the order of Federal Republic). As a Christian Fayemi took his plight with equanimity and was later called to serve as minister of Solid minerals where for more than two years he has carefully laid down the rules to guide solid mineral exploitation and the revival of the moribund iron and steel sector of the economy in spite of the meddlesome intervention of the National Assembly which sometimes leaves law making only to assume executive actions. To Fayemi charity begins at home. He could easily remain a federal minister and distant himself from the banality of the local politics of his state and bury himself in the much more exciting politics at the Centre. But for Kayode Fayemi, all politics is local

    Fayemi has been a good representative of Ekiti people. Ekiti people are known for the courage, doggedness, hard work and academic brilliance among other attributes. We are also known for culture, respect for elders, honesty and service. I grew up knowing all these attributes and seeing my parents bowing to the demands of societal values. I know Kayode Fayemi epitomizes these values. Ability to out shout your opponent and to bring down governance to the level of the hoi polloi is not what a developing society that is desirous of catching up with the rest of the world needs, rather it needs sobriety, introspection, reflection and policies based on research and experience. This is how the rest of the world operates. This is what Kayode Fayemi has come to be known for.

    I remember the first time I met Professor Chike Obi the great mathematician who, said Ekiti people within a generation caught up with all those who preceded them in the acquisition of western education. This is the Ekiti that I am proud of and not the Ekiti of “stomach infrastructure “I do not want to be misunderstood. Every man has a role to play in the stage of life. The current governor, no doubt has done his best but we do not want a third term for him because that is what electing Prof Olusola will mean. Even prince Adeyeye the former propagandist of the PDP and an Ekiti patriot has said this much. After the boisterous last four years we need some time of quiet and respite to plan for an uncertain future. We are entering a phase in our national life which requires thinking out of the box and the future belongs to those who can think while standing.

    In kayode Fayemi’s last Administration We all saw how he crisscrossed the state with good roads. I remember Femi Fani- Kayode  and Ribadu asking him ,in my presence ,what was the  magic wand he used to accomplish  the extraordinary and excellent network of roads in Ekiti when compared  with the terrible situation   they witnessed in Kogi State  while  driving from Abuja to Ekiti in 2013. Ekiti is a poor state depending almost totally on federal statutory allocation and external technical assistance if we have a governor like Fayemi who was able to tap that source when he was in power. Ekiti would have to look inwards and find ways to increase internally generated revenue through tourism ,the hospitality business and mechanized agriculture .Professor Olusola the PDP  side kick of Fayose May be educated  locally but he lacks the global experience and exposure to run a modern state. His experience does not go beyond tutelage under the pedestrian administration of a man with limited education but with more enthusiasm than wisdom. I know that the present governor has won the support and admiration of all of us for resisting killers disguised as herders terrorizing innocent people in the state. I salute him for his courage. He has earned his rest and his deputy should go back to his class room where because of his young age he can still give many years of fruitful service to the Nation.

    I write this not to curry any favor from anybody.  There is nothing I want more than to leave this world and Ekiti State better than how I met it .I write because I am a stakeholder in Ekiti. My great grandfather was one of the commanders of the Ekiti parapo army and my family has been at the vanguard of protecting Ekiti interest in modern times. God willing, if Fayemi wins, I will only offer advice if asked and would not accept any remuneration whatsoever. I want the best for  Ekiti so  that like the romans of old my son can say “ civis Ekitius sum” and expect to be accorded the respect which our hard fighting ancestors have earned for us.

  • Non passing of budget is dereliction of responsibility

    In the last three years of the Buhari Government the National Assembly has routinely delayed the  passing into law of the budget submitted to it by the president . It sometimes  delays the approval and or modification till the middle of the year . Yet this is the most important duty of any responsible parliament any where in the world . A national budget is the road map to a nation’s economic direction for the year . It sets out the expectation of economic performance and the revenue and expenditure of government. From it the central bank derives  it’s policy of whether to raise interest rate or not . Foreign investors study it to explore what sectors would be most profitable for investment. Banks study it to determine the rate of lending and what area of the economy to lend to .  Individuals also study  the budget so as to plan their lives  on what to buy and at what prices, what to expect in terms of interests on savings and debts and for pensioners what to expect in the year and finally individuals want to know if taxes would go up or come down .In short no serious parliament will trifle with the appropriations process .

    In Great Britain the presentation of the budget is done  with pomp and pageantry in Autumn (Fall) usually in September or October . After the formality accompanying the budget presentation the chancellor of the exchequer  would later on  give the detailed  breakdown and its policy implications and also the philosophy behind it . When the Conservative(Tory) Party is in power in Britain , budget is driven by attempt at  ensuring fiscal responsibility, reducing the role of the state , reducing fiscal deficit, reducing and cutting down the welfare state and reduction of capital tax to encourage investment . and increase in Defence spending  and reduction of the national debt .When Labour is in power expansionist ideas about raising the minimum wage abolition or reduction of university fees , increase  in budgets for health and social welfare as well as increase for International assistance to poor countries and reduction in Defence expenditure  and general increase of taxes paid by the wealthy and corporations…  It is expected that by Christmas parliament would have approved  it so that people would know  what to expect in the new year .

    The budget presentation in the USA is less formal and it too is usually in Fall say from October to the end of September the following year . The great debate is usually about whether to increase or lower the national debt . This debate is usually ideology driven with the Republicans wanting to lower the national debt , while at the same time increasing Defence spending while cutting taxes and vastly reducing welfare packages and entitlement programs while the Democrats usually go in the opposite philosophical direction . Sometimes when the approval takes time , approval from Senate is sought to tide over the period of waiting and because of political wrangling government work has been known to be shut down for the reason of lack of money to pay its workers . This cannot happen in Britain or in any parliamentary democracy because there is really no absolute separation of powers as in the USA and other presidential system patterned after it . In Britain the executive is part of parliament and this is why some of us have been advocating a return to the parliamentary system we had before and after independence.

    In Nigeria both at the regions and at the federal level the budget Day was a day of formality , pomp and pageantry. Those old enough will remember budget presentation by chief  Festus Samuel Okotie -Eboh who held the post of minister of finance from 1958 to  January 1966  when he was assassinated during the first coup d’etat in Nigeria. He usually came into parliament accompanied by two servants carrying his long itshekiri wrapper after him . In the western region the ceremony was equally colorful . This writer should know because his 34 year old brother was minister of finance in 1956 in the western region the most prosperous and difficult to catch up with region in the country in terms of development.. The point I am making is that it is a pity that we no longer take the work of government with the seriousness it deserves . Rather members of parliament are roaming around inspecting buildings under construction and inviting contractors to see them in secret as part of their so called oversight duties. They find time to visit errant members with police cases apparently in solidarity with  their colleagues and with the thought that if  and when they too get into trouble their colleagues will shut down parliament as they have been doing in the last three years with little or no provocation. This is not right . These people are being paid huge salaries, allowances and constituency budgets totaling one million per day in a country where the minimum wage is 18,000 Naira which many of the impoverished and impecunious states cannot pay . The result of no budget is that government legally falls back on the contrivance of running on the previous budget to pay salaries , pensions and other emoluments without legal grounds to embark on any developmental projects .

    A year before a general election  in Nigeria , parliament is either deliberately or unintentionally sabotaging the Buhari Government. What I find curious is that the APC has a majority in both Houses of Parliament viz the National Assembly and the Senate. The reason for this anomaly is that we are not running a government based on political party system . If we were , some of those who are acting as cogs in the running of government would have been expelled by the party and from parliament because once you withdraw the whip from them they would have nothing to stand on . How did we get to a situation where a majority party cannot pass its budget . It is the fault of the president who “belongs to nobody but to everybody “  The result is what we are witnessing where the tail is wagging the dog and a senate run by  its president who is always on tour and its deputy who belongs to the opposition party whose duty it is to bring down the government. If the situation were not pitiable and a serious contradiction of party government to the detriment of smooth operation of government and predictable development I would have said the APC is making a unique contribution to the politics of government.

    What is to be done? Pressure should be mounted on the legislature to do its work. There is a need to look into the remuneration of members of parliament to reduce the humongous allowances they are earning  so that they can come down from their Olympian height to the level of struggling humanity . There is a need to look at the party structure before the next election . There ought to be an irreducible minimum behavior a member of parliament will not be allowed to cross before such a party man is shown the way out . The premier of western Nigeria chief SLA Akintola a political giant compared with these Lilliputians running around was expelled from the Action Group for anti party activities . So also was ozumba Mbadiwe the man of “timber and caliber” expelled from the NCNC for the same reasons  . We must try and reinvent proper political parties rather than what we have at the present which are mere coalitions and agglomerations of interest groups sometimes working at cross purposes and against each other .we must transit from this to a proper party system . The president should use the enormous powers in his hand to mound his party together and weed out parasites eating at the core of the party . The president must come out  and declare that he now belongs not to everybody but to his party whose mandate it is to run a functional government determined to do his best for the country according to the mandate solemnly given to him by the Nigerian people . After leaving office he would have the pleasure and luxury of belonging to everybody but right now he belongs to the APC who brought him to power.

  • Trump and his Middle East Policy

    President Trump’s threat to pull out of the agreement with Iran to prevent it acquiring nuclear weapon is not a wise move .The agreement under the Obama administration was negotiated by the p5+1 meaning the United States, Great Britain , France, China , Russia and Germany. The five countries are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council ( UNSC) while Germany is the most important country in Europe but for having lost the Second World War is not a member of the UNSC.when  kofi Annan was  Secretary General Of the United Nations (UNSG) there was a spirited attempt to review and restructure the Security Council which would have possibly brought into it countries like Germany, India, Nigeria, Brazil , Japan and May be Turkey, Egypt or Iran to represent the Muslims and the Middle East geo-political region.It seems the whole idea remains for the time being dead.

    In a nutshell the deal tries to deny Iran the  possibility of access to the material it would need to make nuclear bombs by stating that Iran’s uranium stockpile will be reduced by 98% to 300kg for 15 years. It also stipulates that the level of enrichment must also remain at 3.67%. Iran will retain no more than 6104 out of the 20,000 centrifuges it possesses . Iran was also to be subjected to intrusive  International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitoring . This Agency Of The UN  based in Vienna is an International organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose including nuclear weapons. Since the agreement with Iran was signed in 2015 the country has been in compliance with the terms of the agreement. The agreement in some areas is to be in force for 25 years and in some areas for 10 years . But the Iranians are saying that Iran clearly stated that it will never become a nuclear weapons state because possession of weapons of mass destruction is against the dictates of Islam . Opponents of the deal particularly the Israeli prime minister  Benjamin Netanyahu  accuses Iran of lying when it said it never planned to have nuclear weapons in the first instance. Netanyahu in secretly acquired Iranian  nuclear research  documents  exposed what he suggested was Iranian advanced plans to build atomic bombs up to 2013 .Because of this and implied hiding of the program from the  p5+1 during the negotiations Iran should not be trusted and compensated by lifting of UN sanctions on the country. Of course Israel itself a nuclear power is an interested party and it can be expected to exaggerate alleged Iranian perfidy up to 2015 when the agreement came into being. Those who negotiated the deal say there is nothing new in what Netanyahu is saying because they were aware of Iran’s advanced knowledge of nuclear research and that  ,that was why they signed the deal with Iran.

    But right now Europe as represented by Britain , France , Germany and Russia as well  as China and the IAEA are saying Iran is in compliance with its  international obligations. Both  President Macron of France and  chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany have made trips to  Washington DC to persuade Trump that he should stay in the Iranian deal. Nobody knows what the mercurial President Of America would do on May 12 when he has to certify the agreement or pull out the United States out of it . This particular American President seems to be bent  on undoing whatever Barack Obama his predecessor did in office in order to wipe out the latter’ s legacies. Trump appears to have a point when he said Iran has not been a force for good in the Middle East in recent times . He points to Iran’s military adventures in Yemen , Syria, Lebanon ,and Iraq where Iran is actively involved in either supporting the Hisbollah in Lebanon , the Hoothies in Yemen , the Shi’a militia in Iraq and the Shi’a Alawite in Syria and those rebelling against the regime of Abdel Fattah el – Sisi  in Egypt. Trump argues that lifting of sanctions against Iran and America’s  return of Iranian funds confiscated following the Iranian revolution against the shah in 1979 has financially empowered Iran to such an extent that it can support all kinds of incendiary movements all over the Middle East including giving the Houthis rockets to fire at Saudi Arabia. Trump also complains that the agreement should have captured Iranian missile program  which poses potential threat not only to Israel but even some European countries since some Iranian missiles have a range of 1000 miles. The response to Trump was that there was an urgency to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons and that including other issues would have deadlocked the negotiations and that short of war what was agreed was the best option in that period and circumstance .

    What therefore is the way forward.?  If America pulls out of the Iran deal the other signatories May continue with it but because America would sanction any country that trades with Iran this may constrain countries like China and the European Union countries like Germany, France and Great Britain from flouting American laws prohibiting trade with its enemy .in other words American withdrawal may have devastating effect on the deal if it does not kill it outright.And if the USA kills it Iran would withdraw from it and we would be back to status quo ante . Iran would then go back to its nuclear weapons program.  How would this then be in favor of Israel and the rest of the world ? Trump says Iran would not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons . But how will he stop Iran from doing this apart from going to war or preemptive strike perhaps in collaboration with Israel, to destroy whatever is known about Iranian nuclear weapons infrastructure.This will be dangerous for every country in the Middle East because Iran is a powerful country with the ability to set the whole of the Middle East on fire exploiting the Sunni/ Shi’a schism within Islam . Abrogating the Iranian deal may also have unintended effect on the planned deal with North Korea. This is because North Korea may feel whatever agreement it reaches with the Trump administration may be cancelled by its successor and may therefore not be as forthcoming as it would have been .

    The option suggested by  President Macron and  chancellor Merkel that the deal should be maintained while  an addendum on missile development should be separately negotiated with Iran  makes sense . The question to ask is if Iran will agree to do this . Iran may not agree to do this and if it agrees it may say a comprehensive nuclear weapons agreement including with the state of Israel would have to be put on the table. This will then become a complex negotiation and the more complex  it is the less the likelihood of agreement and in the meantime the  Iranian nuclear bomb  program will be progressing without internationally binding constraint as it is now.

    The irony of all these is that Trump says he wants to withdraw from the Middle East cauldron yet by threatening to abrogate the Iranian deal he will get sucked more into the Middle East . America  is dangerously goading Saudi Arabia to resist Iranian influence  and if shove comes to push Sunni  Egypt would line up on the side of Saudi Arabia and the whole of the Middle East will be sucked into a Sunni / Shi’a problem bringing in at the periphery  Sunni states of Turkey and Pakistan . The world does not want this and the earlier we realize this the better but the onus on Iran is to moderate its desire to spread its influence in the Middle East .The people of the Middle East have suffered too much  in the last decade beginning with the  so called “Arab spring “ which has now morphed into “Arab winter” with wars in Syria , Yemen , Iraq, the Sinai part of Egypt , Libya , Lebanon  , Algeria  and Palestine  and even small Qatar is not left out the problems. What the Arabs want is to be left  alone to develop their lands and not to spend trillions of dollars acquiring deadly weapons from America, China, Russia and the European Union  to fight one another.

  • Peace on the Korean Peninsula?

    In the last plenary session of the UN General Assembly ( UNGA) in  October 2017 , President Donald J Trump of the United States threatened “fire and fury” on the “ little rocket man”  Of North Korea and his regime if he dared to attack either South Korea, Japan or Guam as Kim Jong un the young and apparently unpredictable chairman of the Communist Party and head of state of North Korea  had threatened to do . This was after several missile launches some across Japan frightening the proud people of that country  into running to hide in nuclear shelters. The climax of what appeared to be a policy of brinkmanship was when North Korea tested intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching continental United States and not just Guam,  that people in the USA began to panic.

    Even if Korea were to be destroyed in retaliatory strike , because of long standing  American strategy of Second strike capability , meaning in a surprise attack America would still have enough nuclear arsenal to destroy its enemy, North Korea would have done a lot of damage to America. It was because of this realization that the Pentagon began to plan for preemptive strike to destroy North Korea. This was also deemed prudent on the grounds that North Korea may not yet have mastered the reentry mechanisms to make its ICBMS work perfectly. The auguries were not favorable for peace. In the case of war, whether conventional or nuclear, everybody will suffer. North Korea had artillery guns in place targeting Seoul the capital of South Korea with millions of people there and 35000 American troops stationed there. North Korea could also possibly hit Japan its former colonial master  and an American ally and hundreds of thousands  of American troops on the island of Okinawa. If Kim Jong un was not challenged the possibility of Japan developing its own nuclear weapons was clear  as even President Trump once suggested and some nationalist forces within Japan were toying with . Something has to give and President Trump’s saber rattling came in useful . On top of this the United Nations  imposed the stiffest sanctions ever , amounting to almost partial economic blockade on North Korea.

    In the UN sanctions China was key to its effectiveness. Once China bought into it, it was only a matter of time before the effect was felt in already impoverished North Korea which was spending up to 80 % of its resources on Defence and the nuclear weapons program. To perceptive onlookers what the North Koreans were doing was designed for the preservation of their regime. In other words they learnt from American invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan and NATO overthrow of Muamar Ghadafi in Libya and constant threat to Iran that the same treatment will be meted to North Korea  unless it had nuclear deterrence. It now seems they have perfected this and it’s delivery mechanism. This perhaps is why they are confident to talk from position of strength as a nuclear weapons state. The unpredictability Of President Trump of America also was a factor compelling North Korea to come to the negotiating table.

    What does North Korea hope to get from talks with the United States? It apparently wants an end to the state of belligerency which still exists between north Korea and the USA and South Korea since there was no formal peace treaty after the Korean War in 1953 .

    On June 25 1950 the Korean War began when some 75000 soldiers of the Korean people’s army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of South Korea to the south. The war ended inconclusively on July 27 1953 with an armistice signed by the warring parties without much change in the territories previously held by both sides. The war witnessed China intervening militarily by throwing in 300,000 troops while the Soviet Union supplied North Korea with weapons. On the side of South Korea the USA provided 90% of the troops  and at a time the officer commanding the  so called UN forces in the south the famous General Douglas MacArthur mooted the idea of striking China with nuclear weapons but was overruled by president  Harry Truman. The devastation on both sides was immense but due to American generosity and hard working South Koreans , South Korea has become an industrial giant and  a rich  country while the north remains poor and its former  industries have become moribund . This is the war Kim Jong Un wants to formally end.

    If he succeeds in his talks with President Trump he would expect the UN sanctions to be lifted. Foreign investment will pour in as has been the case with China and Vietnam which were former communist enemies of the United States. kim also expects eventual removal of American troops from the peninsula and eventual unification obviously under the Northern regime’s leadership. In return he will be expected to completely disarm ,dismantle and destroy its nuclear arsenal , embrace the principle of freedom and fundamental human rights and peaceful relations with her neighbors and the international community . It will be expected to behave as a normal country and obey international norms of interstate relations .

    . The first inclination that Kim Jong un was about to come out of his self- imposed cocoon was when he publicly stated in January 2018 that he would seek for peace on the Korean Peninsula. His southern counterpart that was hosting the Winter Olympics then extended invitation to the North Korean regime. This was against President Trump’s advice that the South Koreans should not be seen to be following a policy of appeasement. The North Korean government not only accepted but sent a large delegation including Kim’s sister, cheer leaders  as well as the ceremonial head of state of North Korea and quickly assembled athletes. Even though the latter did not do well, but just like the ping pong diplomacy between the USA and China in the Nixon years in the 1970s , the winter games provided a much needed opening to break the ice in north and South Koreas relations . Since then the two Koreas have met in the demilitarized Zone between the two countries with both leaders symbolically stepping on each other’s country across the DMZ.  This is the prelude to a much more important Kim Jong un-Donald J Trump talks .

    The talks holding in three or four weeks’ time in yet unannounced city with Singapore being in contention for this historic meeting of Trump and Kim Jong un cannot possibly deal with all the issues . But the American president sitting with the  North Korean President amounts to formal recognition . This can be followed with signing  of a formal end to the Korean War . Ending the UN economic sanctions would follow good behavior such as ending nuclear and missile tests and beginning of nuclear disarmament perhaps at the same time of gradual withdrawal of American troops. The remaining issues will take time to negotiate but once there is a commitment to peaceful resolution of all issues the world will be able to breathe a sigh of relieve. But nothing can be taken for granted because this same commitment was reached with President Bill Clinton only for the untrustworthy regime to renege and back out . The auguries for peace are good . The regime has unilaterally changed its clock to the same time zone with Japan and South Korea. This may be a little gesture but it could be a sign of what to come. There may be no immediate breakthrough on all fronts but certainly we are further away from the belligerent and bellicose environment we were in just a year ago and as Winston Churchill once said, it is better to “jaw- jaw than to war-war”

    It is now clear that the North Korean leader is not a mad man as previously thought. All he seems to want is survival of his extreme Stalinist regime in a world in which Russia has embraced some kind of capitalism and guided democracy and China though still a communist country, but only in name, but in actual fact  it is practicing some kind of capitalist gerontocracy . Kim Jong un wants economic development for his country but in a secure sovereign environment. He seems to feel secure enough to open up to the world since the country has become a nuclear weapons state feared and respected and  hopefully responsible like China and Russia in which orbit it would like to rotate . As long as the West is not expecting Kim Jong un to give  up everything his country has laboured to achieve under the totalitarian leadership of the three Kim’s including his  grand father , his father and himself a reasonable modus vivendi can be reached with him to guarantee international peace and security.

  • Reminiscences about Christ’s School Ado-Ekiti

    I was in Christ’s School Ado-Ekiti between 1956 and 1960 as a teenage boy. I had the greatest time of my life in this school. The school is a sectarian school belonging to the Anglican Communion. When I was there, the entire population of the school was about 250 students from form one to five. We sat for our Ordinary Level certificate of the University of Cambridge Overseas Examination Board at the end of the fifth year.

    There were 50 students per form and each form was divided into two classes of 25 each. Each class was small enough for all the students to know each another and for the teachers to know each of us by our first names. We had good teachers and dedicated teachers. Of course we did not have as many graduate teachers as in the various government colleges. But our teachers and students were determined to do well.

    The secret of the success of the school lay in the leadership of our principal the Reverend Cannon Leslie Donald Mason, an English gentleman and a devoted missionary who gave his life to serve others. He embraced the “in loco parentis” concept of standing as a parent for all of us while we were in school. He was not only a teacher, administrator, cleric, doctor and nurse; he was also a strict disciplinarian. He actually moulded our character. He ran the school as a typical British public school on the model of Harrow, Eton or Winchester. This included waking up early in the morning at 6am to pray before going out to do physical jobs such as cutting the lawns and taking care of the gardens generally .

    Praying was very important in the life of the school. We prayed at 6am in our various dormitories after which we cut grasses and kept our lawns green and tidied up our various dormitories before going to the cafeteria at 7.30am. We prayed before and after each meal.  Then we would go to the chapel for congregational service between 8.30 and 9am conducted by the school principal. Then we would march to the classrooms accompanied by the school bands.

    The academic activities began immediately and lasted till about 12.30pm when we would have a short break till 1pm. Academic activities would then resume until 2pm when we would go for lunch. After lunch then we would go to our different dormitories for siesta of one hour. We had four dormitories named Harding, Dallimore, Bishop (Mason), and Babanboni houses named after Anglican missionaries who opened the Ekiti area to Christian proselytisation in the past.

    Our siesta lasted for one hour and by 3.30 pm we were up and headed for personal studies and games which then ended at 6pm and by 6.30pm we went for dinner which ended at 7pm and we would go for evening studies affectionately called “Prep” till 9pm. Then we would end the day at the chapel before going to bed. “Lights out” was at 9.30 pm.

    This routine was repeated every day of the week with the exception of Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was generally for cleaning of our dormitories and our surroundings and for games. We were allowed to go out of the campus for about five hours once in a month if we wanted to go out. Those who had nowhere to go stayed and played on campus. On Sunday, we would worship in our chapel in the morning and evening. Our uniform during the week was white shirt over blue shorts. On Saturdays, we wore khaki shirts over khaki shorts. On Sundays, we wore white shirts over white shorts while the senior boys in form five wore white trousers.

    The senior boys ruled the schools like army captains over their recruits. Prefects were appointed from the senior form and a head boy was on top of the prefectorial hierarchy. Secondly, seniority started from form two upwards and if you were one year ahead  of any other student, you wielded considerable power over those one year below you. There was fagging and bullying of junior students and everybody looked forward to when they too will be seniors. We dared not call our seniors by name even if you were older and you came from the same primary school or home. We had to prefix their names by “senior”.

    We celebrated academic excellence and we followed the example of old students who did well after school and we tried to follow what they did. This made our students to do very well in our final year examinations. But whatever we did was anchored on discipline. Punishment was sure and swift for any infraction of school regulations. We had three types of punishment. The lesser one was what was called “school imposition” which was for minor offenses. There was “Yoruba imposition” for anybody who spoke Yoruba on the campus. This banning of Yoruba language was to enforce the mastery of the English language. Finally there was what was called “school detention” which was reserved for serious offenses such as stealing or fighting or cheating. Any student who got into school detention three times could be expelled. Expulsion was very rare in the school.

    Apart from academic activities, the school also encouraged students to participate in farming, carpentry and bricklaying. A few students were involved in running the generating plant that provided the school electricity because Ado-Ekiti in those days did not have municipal potable water and electricity. Students also ran the school health centre after rudimentary training by experts and the school principal. On the whole, no one could pass through the school and not be prepared for the outside world. This was a great thing for teenagers exiting the school after five years. Some left the school into life of work as teachers and as clerks in government and commercial organizations. Many left and through self-help of going to Advanced Level schools, found their ways into the universities at home and abroad and made something of their lives as doctors and secondary school teachers and university professors and civil servants.

    There was no guidance and counselling about what young people could do after school. Until recently, very few Christ’s school old students became engineers, lawyers, surveyors, architects, pharmacists, insurers or estate managers. We did not know much about professional courses. Those who became doctors were by chance and this is why there are many old boys who are professors across Nigerian universities after their doctorate degrees in various academic areas. This is because all they wanted to be was become physicists, chemists, zoologists, botanists, mathematicians, historians, economists, geographers and so on. Unfortunately, this is responsible for the dearth of entrepreneurs in Ekiti.  The role of this school in Ekiti State, southwestern Nigeria and Nigeria has been phenomenal and there are few schools that have made this kind of impression that Christ’s school has made in Nigeria.

  • Can Nigeria afford our current presidential system?

    For the benefit of younger Nigerians, it is important to state that we used to have a parliamentary system of government in which both  key functionaries of the executive and  the legislative branches of government worked through the parliament. Ministers were chosen from the ranks of elected members. They were political leaders on their own whose opinions the premier and leader of the House had to take cognizance of. Each minister was in the House to argue and shepherd his bills through parliament until they became laws. The minister of finance was a very important cabinet position and in some cases was regarded as possible successor to the premiership or prime ministerial position because the success or failure of a government depended on how the economy was run. There was collective responsibility and the premier could reshuffle his cabinet any time in case a minister was not performing well or had lost popular support. Such a minister would be shunted to another less important ministry and will be made the ‘fall guy’ for a policy that was commonly agreed to by the party . In this way, government gave the appearance at least of having a listening ear to the electorate. Parliamentary debate was important and an inarticulate minister or premier or prime minister stood no chance of success. This system of government demanded reasonable amount of knowledge and level of education from participating parliamentarians. This system was built on strong political parties with well organized leadership architecture that prepared manifestos on which political parties contested elections.

    Such was the case by which the Obafemi Awolowo party by all acclamation ran the government of Western Nigeria successfully between 1951 and 1959.

    The system provided for a recognized opposition whose leader was recognized by the constitution and tradition. The opposition leader was recognized and provided for with official quarters and ministerial salary. A government falls if it loses a vote of confidence in parliament. Because of the importance of parliamentary debates, parliamentarians who could debate well were favoured with cabinet positions. It was during one fierce exchange between Alhaji Adegoke Adelabu, leader of the opposition and the premier of Western Nigeria, Chief Obafemi Awolowo sometimes in 1956 that Adelabu accused the government of making a “peculiar mess” of a certain situation which on hearing this, his excited illiterate supporters in the gallery shouted “penkelemesi”. This stuck to Adelabu for the rest of his life and became an appellation which industrious Yoruba talking drums artists made popular as “Adelabu penkelemesi”. At the centre in Lagos, Chief Ladoke Akintola made mincemeat of the government through his mastery of the English language as a lawyer and former editor of a major national paper the Daily Service.

    Parliamentary democracy is efficient, cheap and swift unlike the much more expensive, clumsy and slow presidential system with its parallel bureaucracy distinct from the normal civil service. In our experience in Nigeria where it takes forever for annual budgets to be passed, budgets in parliamentary system is a matter of weeks not months so that the real work of government can commence in earnest. There is no clear separation of powers between the legislative and the executive as in the presidential system and the principle of collective responsibility makes for solid work before policies are tabled in parliament unlike what we see in Nigeria where the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. The bevy of legislative assistants makes the current system not only expensive but also makes confidentiality difficult to enforce.

    In the First Republic, the legislature was run on part time basis. Every member at regional and federal levels had their full time jobs as teachers, lawyers or business women and men. They were paid sitting allowances when parliament met. The same was true of local government areas some of which are now states.  But what do we have today?

    We are now told that the cost of maintaining a senator per day is one million naira which includes constituency allowances of N200 million a year, monthly running cost of N13.5 million, salaries of N750,000 a month and sundry allowances for housing, cars, clothing, newspapers, touring, hardship etc. We probably have the most expensive governance architecture in the whole world. What operates at bicameral legislature at the federal levels also operates at the unicameral legislatures at the state and local government administrations. With bloated bureaucracies at federal, state and local government administrations, these add up to make operating cost of government to consume close to 80 percent at the federal level and more than that at state levels and in most cases 100 percent at the 774 LGAs which were created without rhyme or reason but on the basis of vested interests of the military leadership who imposed this untenable system on the country.

    The result of all this is that there is neither development nor growth in Nigeria and the economy. There are also no well-articulated policies on infrastructure, education, health and the unsustainable growth of the country’s population which is becoming a time bomb now and in the nearest future. There is a virtual collapse of the roads network in Nigeria. Roads that were once motorable even when we did not have oil have become death traps. The railroad is still waiting for completion in spite of the daily promises we are subjected to, “hospitals are mere consulting clinics”. Public primary and secondary schools have been abandoned to the poor while the elite send their children to private primary and secondary schools. The same is true of the strikes-plagued tertiary institutions which the elite are now boycotting in favour of schools abroad and in other African countries in west, east and southern Africa. The power situation remains the same and yet everyone knows Nigeria will never develop until we fix the power problem. The GDP of this country will quadruple the day we are able to fix the power situation. In Nigeria we have given up on urban water supply. My house built in Ibadan over 20 years ago has never had water except from my dugout well at the back of the house. Regular water and electricity are things we fast and pray for in Nigeria. Yet we set up governance infrastructure on the same level and on a level much more expensive than in the United States. Something has to give.

    The signs of things to come can be seen in the wanton killings of people particularly in the north-central part of Nigeria by the so-called herdsmen, cattle rustlers and the inevitable militia gangs protecting their people. These are the issues our leaders should be tackling and not who becomes one elected office holder or the other because at the end of the day, the spreading violence may make the state disappear as in Somalia, Libya, Central Africa Republic, Guinea-Bissau and previously in Sierra Leone and Liberia . When that happens, there may be no state or people to govern. The time to prevent this eventuality is now and not in the future.

  • General insecurity: What’s to be done?

    The convocation remark by General T.Y Danjuma at Taraba State University, Jalingo, has generated a lot of comments, disquiet and interest. This is because of what was said and who said it. Coming from the retired chief of staff of the army and defence minister of the country means his comments on general insecurity in our country cannot be ignored. The General’s statement needs to be thoroughly interrogated and solutions to the issues he raised must be found. The usual statement that it is when a mad man realizes that he is mad that the cure of his madness begins applies to our country from the diagnosis of the General. From Danjuma’s diagnosis of the sickness of our country, we can begin to find cure to our national madness. What exactly is our problem? Is it political tribalism or ethnic tribalism occasioning ethnic cleansing? Or is it the struggle for economic resources particularly land which is becoming scarce because of climate change? Or further still, can it be because of poor education or no education at all? Is the situation complicated by religion or conflict in world view that Germans call weltanschauugen? Perhaps if we know exactly what has suddenly precipitated this national malady, we may be able to find a comprehensive cure.

    I find it difficult to believe that the ethnic background of the political leadership in the country can be responsible for this sudden collapse of internal order and peace and paralysis of the security forces in the face of these serious challenges. Apparently, this situation must have been building over a long time before suddenly coming to the surface following the economic crisis occasioned by the recession. There is growing violence in the rural areas and it is beginning to be seen in the cities in the growing wave of violence and robberies by jobless young men snatching bags from women and people snatching motorcycles from their riders. Sometimes innocent people are killed during such operations. Because of this creeping violence, night life economy has become a victim because people hurry home before dark to avoid being attacked in the largely unlit streets of our cities. The killing of farmers by so-called herders and the cases of cattle rustling by criminals are unfortunately killing the economy and are sure to lead to food insecurity and mass starvation and disease. What is happening in Nigeria is a civil war in which the towns for the time being remain oases of peace but for how long if we do not find radical solutions to these existential problems. There can be no development without peace. This is a challenge this government must confront head on.

    The government unfortunately must fight different kinds of wars on different fronts. The problem in the Northeast is not going away and Boko Haram can still strike at will even if it is not holding any easily identifiable district. Its recent display of force and bravado in Dapchi has struck terror into the hearts of rural Nigeria. The frightening thing is that this jacquerie  is spreading into many states not directly related to the Boko Haram although there is an extant view that some elements of the Boko Haram have metamorphosed into the AK47-wielding cattle herders who seem to enjoy wanton killing even without any cause or provocation. We definitely have the problem of the spread of light weapons and small arms in the country. Some are as a result of the collapse of Libya and infiltration of al Qaeda in the Maghreb and West Africa. Other weapons are coming through our ports and porous borders. Some politicians are already stockpiling light weapons to be given to hard men who will be used as battle axes during the coming elections. Some militants in the Niger Delta are already armed and if the government does not stop the herders from attacking farmers, there will be gradual move towards self-help. Who knows whether this will be the solution based on the theory of balance of terror at a rudimentary and local level? If terrorists know that everybody is armed, they may think twice. This, I believe is what General Danjuma as a military tactician and strategist is talking about. This is a well-tested theory. But as we can see, it has not worked in the maintenance of law and order in the USA. At a macro level of super power nuclear deterrence, it has worked but within national boundaries it may not work.

    So what is the solution? The answer is good governance. National resources must be judiciously utilized so that all our citizens have a sense of belonging and feel that they are stakeholders in the peace and security of the country. The level and quality of education need to be improved nationally but particularly in the North. There is a need to put emphasis on female education in the North and gender balance nationally. Some of our problems begin at home so we need to guarantee minimum national education and nutrition. This must be accompanied by radically reduced size of the family and the onus must be on the man. No man should have more than two children unless he can prove he has the resources for more than two children.

    We must put an end to cattle rustling and killing by herders. We must disarm these herders and others who may have armed themselves in resistance. Since the herders started this problem, disarmament must begin with them but everybody must be seen to be disarmed. During the process of doing this, a state of emergency lasting a month or months must be declared in all affected areas. The police and the armed forces and other security forces must be equally deployed so that joint operations can be mounted to avoid any accusations of partiality. I cannot understand security forces being asked to remain neutral in the face of killings. They must intervene to deal ruthlessly with whoever may be taking other people’s lives. That is what governments exist to do. When governments fail to do this, then we are back to state of chaos. Open grazing, we must accept, belongs to the past and the future of the cattle industry is through ranching as it is done in most parts of the world. If needs be, government can subsidize the process of setting up ranches initially.

    As for political tribalism, the national government no matter how it was elected and no matter the ethnic background of the man or woman leading it, must represent and express the national will. It is in the interest of any national government to be so totally fair that no scintilla of partiality must be able to stick to it. In a multi ethnic and plural society like our country, any perceptions of some people being favoured at the expense of others is not only dangerous but a threat to the corporate existence of our country. The onus is on the leadership of this country to demonstrate that it understands the burden of leadership which it must carry without fear or favour.

    Already in international circles, people are already peddling religious rumours and identifying religious coloration to the spate of killings particularly in the North. Foreign newspapers are already calling on their governments to intervene to save certain religionists. We have seen this before during the unfortunate Nigerian civil war. We should not give room to external forces to complicate an internal problem which we ought to be able to solve if we are fair, equitable and determined. We need to demonstrate our capacity to maintain law and order in our country or else our enemies will find reasons to intervene in our domestic affairs and to ridicule us. We must not leave crevices in our walls for lizards to entire our homes.

  • Judgement without justice

    I had once written about miscarriage of justice a year or so ago in Osun State. That was when a high court judge sentenced three young boys to death for stealing by force a motor bicycle. The robbers’ ages ranged between 19 and 22. I had argued that even though armed robbery carried mandatory death penalty, the judge who in this instance was a mother herself could have used her discretion to send the boys to jail for a few years to learn a hard lesson especially since nobody died during the robbery incident. I am for tough punishment for errant behaviour, but such punishment must be measured and not excessive. Laws are made for social reformation and not for unusual punishment

    In the same country a director handling police pensions was accused of stealing N24 billion in 2013. He was taken to court by the EFCC and a high court judge in Abuja jailed him for two years with the option of a fine of N750,000 which he promptly paid and was seen being later driven out of the court premises in a Mercedes Benz car. A fine of less than one million naira for stealing N24 billion can hardly be described as adequate punishment to deter others. The EFCC appealed the judgement asking the higher court to make a ruling on if the High Court judgement was defensible judicially. The Court of Appeal reversed the decision of the lower court and fined the director by the name of Yusuf and asked him to return N23 billion to the Treasury and go to jail for six years. If this offence had been committed in China, this senior civil servant would have been executed. The lower court had dismissed all the 29 counts against him and merely condemned him for betraying the trust of retired policemen to whom the money belonged. I do not know why the appeal court ordered the man to refund N23 billion rather than N24 billion he was accused of stealing! At least this is still progress. Those who are shouting about the nation’s poor rating in corruption index had better look more at the judiciary that seems to enjoy throwing out all cases of corruption before it even when the evidence is poking it in the face . Who does not remember the case of a former governor who was declared innocent of several counts of corruption, money laundering, graft, bribery and sundry other nefarious practices by a high court judge in Asaba. The same man was later jailed for the same offences and served about seven years in London as guest of Her Majesty’ s prison.

    Cases drag on till eternity in Nigeria without closure with one injunction following adjournment until the presiding judge dies for the case to start de novo before another judge while the charade begins and rolls on as before until the case is forgotten outright. Many criminals with stolen money are roaming the streets freely and enjoying their loot asking for permission to go abroad for medical treatment in the same country where petty thieves are having their hands and limbs cut off on orders of Sharia court judges. The legal profession ought to examine itself instead of lawyers being masters of ambiguity defending a client in one court and prosecuting another case of the same offence in another court without any conscience about public good. I remember several years ago when a certain high court judge in Kano while sentencing a criminal to jail said he wished he were permitted by law to sentence the defence lawyer to jail at the same time for misleading the court and perverting the cause of justice. Using the same argument, appeal courts while reversing bad judgements of lower courts should be empowered at least to disrobe bad judges or demote them to the level of magistrates. That will send a strong message that bad and corrupt judges and lawyers are not above the law. The judiciary is so critical to the rule of law that if people lose respect for it, they may resort to self-help and rule of the jungle. When apparently obvious criminal cases are thrown out on mere legal technicalities, this does not help the cause of justice. The law may be an ass, but judges should not behave like asses. It is obvious that judgements are sometimes for sale to the highest bidder.  A “big” man in Lagos once said rather than hire an expensive lawyer, he would seek out the judge privately and offer him what would have cost him to hire a lawyer and get the judgement he wants. It reminds me of an American judge in Boston Massachusetts who drunkenly said he takes bribes from litigants before his court and when people were aghast with this open confession, he added that he normally takes bribes from both sides and then declare judgement based on law. Even though his logic made sense, he was immediately removed from the bench as a judicial rascal and bad example.

    In Nigeria we have great judges before like the late Justices Kayode Esho and Chukudifu Oputa but they are few and far between. The process of judicial appointments is faulty. It depends on the executive at state and federal levels and it is a case of who pays the piper dictates the tune. Good lawyers are also not ready to abandon their lucrative practices to go to the bench. The salaries of judges are too low and not commensurate with the burden they carry and the temptations they face. Of course salaries are generally low in Nigeria but if legislators are going home with huge amount of money computed at more than one million a day in salaries, allowances, running costs and constituency projects, one can make a case for judicial officers to be paid much higher than they are earning. Perhaps the country can borrow a leaf from Lee Kuan Yew, the late prime minister of Singapore who paid public servants a lot of money so that they were not tempted to steal unless they were insanely greedy. I remember when I was ambassador in Germany, my Singaporean colleague earned five times my Foreign Service allowances. To be able to do what was done in Singapore, our country would have to move from our present economic pedestal of primary production to industrial and service economy. But in the meantime, there is a need for revolutionary reform of our judiciary. The present situation where people run from one court of equal jurisdiction to another of the same with the purpose of seeking contradictory judgements ought to be frowned upon and stopped in order to maintain judicial integrity. The qualification of judges ought to be raised and well scrutinized. There have been cases of fake lawyers being appointed judges and presiding in courts for years before being found out. The Justice Kayode Esho’s findings some years ago exposed this and instead of the culprits being charged to court and jailed, they were simply removed and asked to go home.

    Finally this brings me to the philosophical basis of the judiciary. One is familiar with the platonic idea of laws being a manifestation of imperfect state because there is no room for laws in an ideal state where everything will work perfectly under a philosopher king. But since there is not the likelihood of a utopia anywhere on earth, laws must exist to regulate human interaction and relations so that society can be governed on the basis of equity and fairness and the rich and the poor can expect to be treated equally. Rather than permit the rule of the mighty man, society will be governed by laws which will operate neutrally with no respect to persons. This is what our judiciary is supposed to rise up to. The question is have they risen up to it? Do we in Nigeria have justice for every one or judgement that is priced above the means of the common man?

  • African free market

    The recently signed protocol in Kigali Rwanda to set up an African economic community is already plagued by lack of unanimity. First of all, there is nothing new in the idea which was first articulated in the 1991 Abuja charter on the same issue of a common market in Africa. What the Kigali treaty is attempting to do is to bring into reality an idea whose time has come. There are examples to go by. The European Union provides a useful paradigm for Africa to follow. Africa can learn from the problems of the European Union which have led to the impending withdrawal (BREXIT) of Britain and threatened expulsion of economically insolvent Greece. The fact that Nigeria and South Africa stayed away from the Kigali protocol at least for now raises fundamental issues about the process of the negotiations preceding the signing of the protocol and therefore foreshadows the future viability of the project.

    It seems to me that Nigeria was on board until the last minute when organized labour and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) began to voice some misgivings about the deal on two grounds of possible flooding of Nigerian market with goods coming from Europe and Asia being repackaged as goods of African origin and therefore leading to market loss for manufacturers and unemployment for Nigerian workers. I do not know why South Africans stayed away because they are likely to be the biggest beneficiary of an African common market in view of their developed manufacturing base. Perhaps the staying away of Nigeria made nonsense of the whole idea in view of the fact of Nigeria’s huge market for South African goods and services.

    Whatever the case may be, nobody can seriously argue against the idea of Africa pulling together to protect itself in a world of rising nationalism and protectionism particular in America and Europe. Ironically, it is China a communist country that is currently championing free trade which has been an article of faith of capitalists since Adam Smith wrote his book the “The Wealth of Nations” in 1775. Of course China is championing free trade not out of altruism but enlightened self-interest. This is because China is more or less the workshop of the whole world and free trade as far as China is concerned is freedom to sell its cheap goods in all markets of the world whether in developed or under developed countries.

    One of the strongest arguments in favour of African common market is that intra-African trade is negligible. Even where the idea of economic integration is well and alive as in the ECOWAS, Southern African Development Community (SADC) and in the MAGHREBIAN countries, trade within those areas are also almost at rudimentary levels. There is hardly any economic contact between East and West, North and South of the continent facilitating closer economic interaction and trade. This lack of economic cooperation may be why the quantum of African trade with the rest of the world remains abysmally small sometimes put at about 4% the same with small Belgium. To increase this is what is at the back of the minds of economic planners for Africa. For example, instead of 53 national airlines, one well-endowed airline operating in a continental open air space regime will not only be more viable and efficient but will also be able to compete with foreign airlines on the continent. Manufacturers will also benefit from economy of scale when servicing a tariff free continent wide market. Transport and electrical grids serving across borders would break down inherited colonial artificial boundaries separating African peoples, labour and capital.

    The problem really is ensuring a win-win situation for individual countries. This is the crux of the problem. To avoid benefits going to either the big economies alone or the smaller ones that can be infiltrated by foreign economic interests to reap the benefits of a big market, things will need to be properly worked out.

    For some time the EU has been putting pressure on ECOWAS to revise the so called Lome convention to give its members unfettered entry into its market without adequate protection for domestic manufacturing companies. If not properly negotiated, the new African market could be a Trojan horse by which African economy will be subverted by stronger European and Asian economic power. This was the case when under the AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity) Act enacted in the USA on May 18, 2000 now renewed till 2025. Sub Saharan states in Africa were granted access to the United States market. Chinese companies took advantage of this by setting up textile companies in Southern African countries of Lesotho and Swaziland. The result is that previously prospering textile manufacturing companies could not compete and benefit from AGOA. This was the experience in Nigeria and this may have been the reason why organized labour in Nigeria has been hostile to the coming common market in Africa.

    Nigeria should however not become a cog in the wheel of African economic integration and progress. Whatever concerns we have must be put on the table so that we can find appropriate solutions that would be acceptable to other countries. I am of course aware of a possible gang-up of smaller and poorer countries against Nigerian interest. This is because in recent times, perhaps because of our internal problems in the militancy in the Niger Delta and insurgency of the Boko Haram, Nigeria has been punching below its weight in global and African affairs thus allowing the likes of Rwanda to dictate the tune without the ability to pay the piper. The original common market for Africa was first mooted by Nigeria in Abuja in 1991. Our country’s diplomacy should have been out in the front directing negotiation favourable to our economic aspirations instead of waiting until the last minute to block the movement towards greater integration.

    We will of course make some sacrifices and provide funds for the secretariat hopefully to be domiciled appropriately in Abuja while we open our air space to a commonly supported African aviation. One thing that is clear is that this continent will not make it until we have the necessary transportation and communications links. I remember having to travel to N’djamena in the 1980s from Lagos via Paris before coming to a neighbouring country of Chad. This is probably still the case today. The insecurity problem most African countries face is probably the result of their isolation from each other and the rest of the world. Any organizational instrument that will obviate the terrible situation will be a welcome initiative. I can also think of the problem of water management on the continent in which a continental approach will be better than unilateral or bilateral approach. The current prickly relations between Ethiopia and Egypt over the massive dam across the Nile in Ethiopia  comes readily to mind because if the Nile does not flow to Sudan and Egypt in correct volume, it will be disastrous to all the riparian states downstream from the Ethiopian highlands. The shrinking of Lake Chad can be reversed if the course of the Shari and Ubangi Rivers in the CAR are diverted to the lake. The underutilized Congo River can be exploited for electricity to a wider spectrum of countries in central and even West Africa. Financing which is the main problem for gigantic projects would be easier to negotiate with the force of a continental economic union backing them. In other words, walking away from the economic union or Zollverein is not the solution; the solution is to make the economic community work for every country with each country contributing to the pool of economic activities based on each country’s comparative advantage.