The Nation Newspaper

Category: Thursday

  • In the future of our dreams…

    Everybody has an opinion on Muhammadu Buhari. Too many folk argue for and against the National Assembly, the corrupt judiciary and anti-corruption campaign. Add these to the antics of juvenile lawmakers, crooked attorneys, a shady populace and moral duplicity of the executive and you have a perfect condiment for a soap box tirade.

    But I would be insulting good reason by burning depth and wit on such worthless issues and characters. I would rather speak to the breed on whose watch Nigeria may resurrect and survive. I speak of the Nigerian youth. I speak of you and me.

    Beneath our passionate cry for change subsists a spinelessness that ornaments even the deserter with the valor of knights, thousands of miles from the scenes of combat and the valiant’s death. We have failed to make a response ideal to our cause. We have failed to display courage necessary to our survival and adequate to our time.

    It’s every man for himself. The successful journalist, doctor, banker, engineer, police officer to mention a few, do not care about anything and anybody else. It’s what Evelyn Waugh describes as the sly, sharp instinct for self-preservation that passes for wisdom among the rich. Hence the desperation of the Nigerian youth to get rich, within the bounds of that dear old “wisdom” and thought process that infinitely manifests as foolishness.

    Such is the mentality of several youths, regrettably lacking in guts and flimsy in substance. Our utterances persistently echo as discontent, insignificant as the spores of fungi yet impinged on the base surfaces of our minds. It’s shameful to see what cowardly lot we have become.

    We dream of the future and talk of change within the limits of our intelligence, forgetting that the world of such future that we anticipate, will foster a more demanding struggle against the limits of our intelligence; not a cozy rose bed in which we can lie down to be waited upon by a more compliant fate and forgiving time.

    Our cries are for a historic revolution, bloody or not. Yet our thoughts pander between the dangers of revolt and the inherent benefits in accepting the status quo in a prudent act of self-preservation. Hence we revolt by impotent words and a mad, desperate dash for wealth or what we’ve learnt to coin as our share of the Nigerian dream.

    This is our Nigerian dream: a lush, breathtaking future that de-emphasises toil and accords our vanities a caressing glance. In the future of our dreams, we hope to keep strings of constantly increasing bank accounts at home and abroad. We hope to drive the best cars, live in palatial mansions in posh neighbourhoods. We hope to own and enjoy the most lucrative businesses.

    In the future of our dreams, everything would work out just fine. Injustice and iniquity will persist. Public officers won’t be accountable to the electorate. Elections won’t be fair and free of fraud and other irregularities. Public service will fluorish by the whim of a criminal civil service.

    In the future of our dreams, we shall have more beautifully planned cities in replacement of our slums. We will bury the poor in the backwaters and project the rich and their gated communities to lure the world to the Nigerian dream.

    In the future of our dreams, more liberal journalists, writers, musicians, artistes shall be enslaved to deep pocket politicians and criminal masterminds.

    In pursuit of our dream future, we coalesce into riotous camps of retrograde youths, offering ourselves as willing tools to every devious politician, godfather and criminal mastermind with deep pocket and a destructive plan.

    Every youth seeks the easy shortcut to the future of his dreams. Collectively the sum of our dreams manifest as the worst human expression of  vanity, civilization and desire. We do not do much to improve our plight. This is why it is easy for most of us to ignore the human social crisis in Nigeria’s northeast while they obsess about Big Brother Nigeria’s reality of lust and ill bliss.  There is no conscious effort to mobilize ourselves for the good of our kind.

    Most youth pressure groups are a sham. Individually, members hustle to project themselves as the leaders of thought and drivers of hope of this generation. I speak of the self-styled “youth leaders,” “advocacy gurus,” “evangelists” and “mentors” endlessly seeking local and international merit awards, presidential tea sessions and handshakes for leadership and inspiration they are yet to offer – and are infinitely handicapped to offer.

    This shameful lot refuse to contribute their quota to the pursuit and achievement of the collective good. Yet they desperately apply for international and local funding, for their shady schemes and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Too many of them are muscles and agents of Nigeria’s crooked ruling class.

    Too many youth fall for their ruse thus indulging in unprecedented self-deception. The solutions we project are ill-suited for our problems. We conveniently apply the balm to our chests, while our hearts clog with lust for unearned victuals and ill-gotten wealth.

    Eventually our deceitfulness and greed roost with devastating consequences in our lives. Little wonder we have Boko Haram, Niger Delta militants, kidnappers, Yahoo Boys, and every other corrupt youth scattered across our tribes, workplaces and pressure groups to the detriment of all and the Nigerian dream.

    But rather than speak as much truth to ourselves as we love to speak to power, we conveniently ignore our dread for the truth in relation to our kind. The impact of our dishonesty extend far beyond our travails as you read. It gets scarier knowing we shall undoubtedly pay for our duplicity whether we like it or not as we are doing now.

    The post oil subsidy removal palliative cash has crashed from its fabled N1.3 trillion to N426 billion and then nothing. Thus our subsidy removal protests were in vain. The youths that died have died in vain. President Jonathan and company got away with fraud. Buhari and company are getting away with nepotism and more politically-correct racket.

    Shall we continue to do nothing about it? This is the minute we dismount the soap boxes in our living rooms, bars and offices to launch a decisive protest. This is the moment we act. The incumbent ruling class were done with us on March 28, 2015, immediately the new ruling party was announced. They will not remember us until election time. Let us begin to forget them.

    Is it so hard to evolve a party for the Nigerian youth?

     

    •To be continued

  • Bamaiyi and perfidious Generals

    General Ishaya  Bamaiyi’s ‘Vindication of a General’ which came out recently once again calls attention to the tragedy of our military misadventure into politics since 1966.  It is the story of betrayal of our nation by the custodians of our constitution. In character with earlier contributions from other Generals, it was first tales of self-conceit. Bamaiyi told us he was feared by General Abdulsalami Abubakar and some of his people who thought he could overthrow Gen. Obasanjo’s government”. He also wants us to know he was different from other Abacha Generals as he lived above board. “They started by checking army accounts to see if I had stolen money. They spoke to the Director of Army Finance and Accounts, DAFA, Maj. Gen. Omosebi who told them he had never worked with an officer who believed in accountability like I did” , he stated with an apparent satisfaction. The book is also about the tales of conspiracy and intrigue that characterized the Babangida and Abacha years and his personal wars with his fellow treacherous Babangida and Abacha Generals in an era when the military according to Saliu Ibrahim, a former Chief of Army Staff, had become “an army of anything is possible”. And finally, Bamaiyi’s tales also confirm General Gowon’s thesis that the military lost its innocence with its involvement in politics and Professor Omo Omoruyi, Babangida’s confidant and the brain behind his derailed transition programme, that the “nature of the armed forces especially after the second coup, has been dog eat dog” and that “Nigeria can never be in peace until the political generals and political soldiers leave the scene”.

    Bamaiyi narrative is all about war of succession. It is either about the marginalization of Abacha according to Col Kangiwa Umar which Omo Omoruyi, the Aso rock professor of military political intrigue told us was the derailment of a pact between Babangida who was to spend five years and hand over to Abacha, or the balance of terror among warlords angling to take over from Babangida as military president or from Abacha as head of the military if Abiola succeeded in retrieving his pan-Nigeria mandate. These were the preoccupations of our generals while they unleashed terror on critics murdering Pa Rewane inside his house, Kudirat Abiola on the street of Lagos in broad day light, Tosin Onagoruwa close to his father’s house and many others.

    First Bamayi started from the area that touches him most. He had hoped to take over the military under MKO Abiola’s presidency. Abiola’s sudden death put an end to that dream. Bamayi now wants Nigerians to hold Abdulsalami, the then head of state responsible for Abiola’s death. Bamaiyi is right. The problem however is how to convince Nigerians he is different from his other perfidious generals who are driven only by self-interest. His case is not helped by the claim of Gabriel Ajayi, who was accused of co-plotting the 1995 coup. While describing Bamaiyi as a liar, he dismissed his tales as a comedy of errors. “How could he claim that Gen. Abdulsalami should be held accountable for Abiola’s death when he was among those who tortured Abiola before his death?” he had asked.

    Next, Bamaiyi has an axe to grind with ex-President Obasanjo under whose administration he was detained for eight years. He maintains Obasnajo was part of the phantom Diya 1995 coup even though Bello Fadile who was said to have privately and publicly apologised to Obasanjo, claiming he was tortured to frame him’ has exonerated Obasanjo upon release from prison. Bamaiyi went on to insist his eight years’ incarceration stemmed from his opposition to Obasanjo who was imposed on the country in 1999 as president by Generals Theophilus Danjuma, Babangida, Aliyu Gusau and Abdulsalami Abubakar. He says Obasanjo wanted to assassinate him because of his principled opposition to his candidacy. Reaction, an incensed Obasanjo asked: “That I wanted to kill him? What of the people he killed? My government did not plot to kill him,” adding “My government asked him to answer to those that were alleged to have been killed by him and that is legitimate”.

    Of course, Bamaiyi has nothing but disdain for Oladipo Diya who was one of the warlords under Babangida. He has continued to insist he was behind the phantom coup and that General Malu was right to have condemned him to death. Diya has not denied. In fact he had told Abacha ‘if the army has decided to remove you and I didn’t join them, I could be a target’. Abacha, then went on to remind Diya how ‘he had been instrumental several times in the past in saving Diya’s career and how he went ahead to make him the CDS” {Tell. Jan.26. 1998). That Diya and his other generals did not realize that they were being set up by Bamaiyi speaks volumes about the worth of generals under Abacha who according to some accounts was never reckoned to go beyond a colonel in the military.

    Abdulkarim Adisa , a groveling  General, who once swore  to die for General Babangida, his benefactor and who was also roped into the  phantom coup is not alife lo react to Bamaiyi’s tales. For General Olanrewaju however, Bamaiyi was trying to twist history. Bamaiyi’s book he says,  “can open the eyes of all Nigerians to see the footprints of an ambitious soldier that Bamaiyi epitomises as detailed in every account of the power play, which appears unfavourable to him, but favourable to both General Abdulsalami Abubakar as Abacha’s successor and General Olusegun Obasanjo as 1999 civilian president. He lost out in the power play.”

    Bamayi also had problem from the home front. His brother, he says wanted him jailed while in detention. The Emir of Zuru he helped installed, he says wrote Maccido and Gusau to have his assets investigated.  Bamaiyi seems to have problem with everyone. While he blames Obasanjo for his detention, he also acknowledges that when he visited Gusau in his office, he was told “an investigation was on and that CP Danbaba said he (Bamaiyi) had authorized him to issue a weapon with which Mr. Alex Ibru was shot”. The question is whether it was possible for CP Danbaba who was alleged to anchor the activities of the Abacha killing squad in Lagos to forget the identities of members of his group.

    It is not enough for Generals who owned their epaulets by the grace of professional coup plotters or as Omo Omoruyi puts it, the duo that “have been engaged in this coup thing all their life” to deny and denounce Bamaiyi’s tales. The travails of our nation started with pact between the two professional coup makers on August 5, 1986. They did not only destroy the military as Gowon has observed, they also left behind baleful legacies. Structural Adjustment Programme that we were told would last for 18 months went on for five years. We today reap its effects in form of imported labour of other societies while our own children roam the streets in search of jobs. The Directorate of Foods, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) like Better Life for Rural Women with its alleged N400m funding from Central Bank collapsed with Babangida. His synthetic two parties we were told would allow the masses at the grassroots to mobilise the urban elite they look up to for direction collapsed on their head. The N5b spent on building headquarters for the two synthetic parties was a waste just like the N40b frittered away on a transition programme that was designed to fail. The czar of the Centre for Democratic Studies ( CDS) that was to breed new breed politicians according to Omo Omoruyi, traded away Babangida’s interim contraption ‘on a platter of naira’ while the new breeds produced by the school graduated into national politics where they breed nothing but corruption. The perfidious Generals for the above reasons need to tell their own stories.

  • NIA and $43m

    NIA and $43m

    Last week, the EFCC made another stunning discovery of over $43 million funds, some of it in other foreign currencies, hidden in a luxury apartment on Osborne Road, Ikoyi, a plush haven for the rich in one of the most affluent areas of Lagos. The discovery of the hidden funds was highlighted by the media and caught the attention of the public as never before. Media reports of huge looted public funds recovered by the EFCC have become commonplace and almost a daily affair in our country. But what made the latest discovery of these hidden slush funds more disturbing is that, unlike other similar cases of looted funds discovered, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) actually claimed ownership of the hidden funds as soon as it was discovered by the EFCC. It also claimed ownership of the luxury apartment in which the huge slush funds were hidden. The annual rent on the apartment was given as N20million.  In fact, it was reported by the media that the Director-General of the NIA, Amb. Ayo Oke, made a spirited and desperate effort to save the funds from seizure by directly remonstraining with President Muhammadu Buhari to stop the EFCC operations. Wisely, the President declined to intervene in the murky matter and gave the EFCC a free hand to conclude its operations and investigation of the source and ownership of the hidden funds. Had President Buhari halted the EFCC operations, he would have been widely suspected by the public of an official cover up, or of being selective in his anti-graft war, the only thing going for this government.

    Now, the NIA has claimed that the funds in question were duly authorised and allocated to it by former President Goodluck Jonathan for covert domestic intelligence operations, which were to cover the whole country. Obviously, the alleged covert intelligence operations either did not take place, or were incomplete before President Jonathan left office in 2015. The NIA did not specify the nature of this planned covert domestic intelligence operations and why, two years after President Jonathan left office, the funds had not yet been returned to the treasury as it should have, but carefully concealed instead in the expensive Osborne Road luxury apartment, where it was eventually discovered by the EFCC. It is disturbing that the source of the huge funds remains unknown. The CBN, which should know, as most of the funds are in foreign currencies, says it has no idea of the source of the funds. This means it did not directly sell or authorise the sale of the funds to the NIA. The only other possible source of the foreign funds is the bureaux de change, and this suggests very strongly some form of round tripping by the NIA in converting the funds from naira to foreign currencies.

    Since he has been named directly in some of these slush funds, former President Jonathan has a duty and honour to come out into the open and assist the nation over this matter. He should come clean and, if the claim of the NIA is true, admit that he authorised such huge funds for covert intelligence operations in our country. The public now expects the EFCC to invite and question him over the matter. He cannot continue legally or morally to claim immunity on matters such as these which are clearly criminal and damaging to the international image of our country, now at its lowest ebb. It is understandable that the Buhari government is being very careful about humiliating a former president. But it is time for the government to stop treating ex-President Jonathan with kid gloves on matters pertaining to massive public corruption under his watch, and his alleged involvement in many of these slush funds. It is also in former President Jonathan’s interest that his involvement, or not, in these sordid financial affairs be investigated and determined so as to end the growing speculation regarding his role in the slush funds being discovered all over the country.

    The claim of the NIA that it got the huge slush funds from ex-President Jonathan cannot be entirely ruled out. It is quite plausible. Fearing his defeat in the 2015 presidential election, former President Jonathan is believed to have handed out huge sums of money to all and sundry, people of shady character, who he thought might swing the election in his favour by outright rigging of it. Most of the looted funds and covert domestic intelligence operations in the 2015 presidential election, including the brazen bribery of INEC officials all over the country, have been traced by the EFCC to these men of questionable character. It all proved futile in the end as Jonathan lost the election. But there are probably a lot more of such slush funds hidden, in all sorts of places in the country, which were not fully utilised in the election, and not yet recovered. The Osborne Road fund is probably one of such funds that, if not found, could easily have ended up in private pockets.

    But there is another dangerous dimension to the disgraceful financial saga worth further official investigation. The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), through the Directorate of State Security (DSS) is normally responsible for covert domestic intelligence operations. This is why, as claimed by Col. Dasuki (retd), the former National Security Adviser to ex-President Jonathan, now under investigation and prosecution, his office secured $US3.5b from Jonathan for covert domestic intelligence operations in the country in the 2015 presidential election. The purpose of the slush funds was obviously to criminally subvert the election and the democratic process in our country..

    The remit of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) is different. It is in foreign intelligence, not domestic intelligence, or covert domestic operations. It should not normally be involved in covert domestic intelligence operations. It is the Nigerian equivalent of the British MI 16, while the DSS is the equivalent of the MI5. In the US, the FBI is responsible for domestic security intelligence operations, while the CIA handles foreign intelligence operations. Of course, there is some collaboration between the two agencies, but the public in Britain and the US would be aghast and horrified if it were to find out that the MI6 or the CIA were being used for covert domestic intelligence operations. In fact, the NIA is the successor of the defunct Research Department of the Foreign Ministry, and the National Security Organisation (NSO), both of which handled our foreign intelligence operations. With the exception of the late Umaru Shinkafi, the heads of both the NSO and its successor, the NIA, have been drawn from the Foreign Ministry. This is why, if true, the alleged plan to involve the NIA in covert domestic intelligence operations is disturbing. The job of the NIA is to spy on foreigners, not on Nigerians. Now, it is being made to spy on our people as well. This is unacceptable as, in effect, we would have two separate intelligence agencies, and several others, involved in domestic intelligence operations and spying on Nigerians. With this overloading of intelligence agencies in our country, Nigeria is looking increasingly like a police state. This is why the Nigerian public has become so disdainful of our security agencies.

    Many Nigerian ambassadors and senior diplomats were often  directly involved and engaged in some highly sensitive foreign intelligence activities that required the financial support and collaboration of the NSO. But the funding of such operations were paltry and fully accountable.  That was in the 70s and 80s. I am sure the NSO did not then have ‘safe houses’ in which it hid slush funds. Obviously, since then a lot has changed in our foreign and domestic intelligence agencies which now so casually, and without any accountability, handle billions of funds in foreign currencies.

    This trend of hidden slush funds by the intelligence agencies represents a direct threat to the security of our nation. We cannot afford a situation in which the security services may become collectively richer than the entire nation. This can easily lead to the subversion of our fledgling democratic process. As is well known, the security agencies have often been complicit in the overthrow of both military and elected civilian governments in our country. They were certainly involved in the overthrow of President Shehu Shagari in 1984 with dire consequences for our country. And their role in the political crisis that led to the death of MKO Abiola is despicable. The situation calls for a complete overhaul and reorganisation of our entire security services to make them slimmer, less costly and more professionally competent.

  • General Adebayo in our ever green memory

    When I heard the news of the demise of General Adeyinka Adebayo known as “Bob” to his friends and “Oga Bob” to younger Ekiti people who were close to him, I felt a large part of my lived history and experience are gone. General Adebayo’s place in Nigeria’s history is settled. He was the first Nigerian chief of staff, army, a position he held before the cataclysmic events of 1966 when the army intervened by force in the politics of Nigeria. When the counter coup d’état took place and General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi was killed, he was next to Brigadier Babafemi Ogundipe in rank. When the latter’ s orders were refused by a sergeant who said he was waiting for his captain, it became obvious that order had broken down in the chain of command  in the army and that only the person who had the command of the troops could lead.

    Brigadier Ogundipe was spirited to London leaving Adebayo as the most senior combatant officer, senior to Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon who was announced as the new head of state, an appointment which Lieutenant Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegu Ojukwu rightly but unrealistically disputed saying Colonel Adebayo was next in rank above them and should rightly have been given the command of the armed forces and therefore headship of the Nigerian state. This was a rather difficult time in Nigeria. Colonel Adebayo as a senior army officer at that time having experienced the killing of fellow senior officers like Ironsi, Brigadiers Ademulegun, Maimalari and others like Colonel Yakubu Pam, Abogo Largema, Ralph Shodeinde, and Unuigbe, felt that there was no point offering himself to be slaughtered just to prove his seniority. He also knew that in a military putsch, seniority would give way to those in effective command of troops. Initially he wanted to retire but he was prevailed upon by his colleagues to stay and that if he left, the unity in the increasingly polarized army would be gone.

    The killing of his junior colleague Lieutenant Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, the military governor of Western State and a compatriot from the same Ekiti where Adebayo came from provided a solution of what to do with the most senior officer not having a command.  He was quickly made to replace Fajuyi at the beginning of the gathering storm of an impending civil war. He tried very much to use the rapport he still had with Ojukwu to persuade him against secession from Nigeria especially during the negotiations at Aburi in Ghana. The pain of the slaughter of Igbos in the north was too much to overcome. War became inevitable.

    Administering the West posed some problems for General Adebayo. He needed to collect poll tax to finance his administration at a time when there was no oil revenue because of the war. Secondly, the shadow of Obafemi Awolowo just released from prison loomed very large in the region. It was as if the people did not really know who was in charge. There was also the enduring bitter division in the West between the Awolowo and Akintola forces with the effect that even the military governor had to gingerly negotiate his way in the treacherous political firmament of the region. Trouble in form of farmers’ revolt soon reared its head occasioning the loss of several souls before the so-called “Agbe Koya” rebellion could be put down by negotiation and by force involving chief Awolowo coming to the region to meet rebelling farmers.

    While this was going on, war was raging in the eastern part of Nigeria and Adebayo was constantly in Lagos to advice on the military strategy needed to end the military campaign. When the war mercifully ended, Major General Adeyinka Adebayo was posted to the Nigerian Military Academy in Kaduna to undertake the arduous task of training and retraining junior officers and military cadets of the army. I believe he remained at this post before he retired after the overthrow of General Yakubu Gowon in 1975. One of the ‘ifs’ of Nigerian history is whether the civil war could have been avoided if the order of succession in leadership had been respected and Adebayo rather than Yakubu Gowon had become the head of state. One thing that is certain is that Adebayo as a sociable man would have gotten along well with his officers because he was a polyglot, comfortable in the major languages of Nigeria. He was a thorough and total soldier and had risen through the ranks and could be called a soldier’s soldier. He loved the army and soldiering as a profession. The 1966 interruption in normal military and army life horrified him.

    On a personal note, I got to know him through my brother Captain Edward Abiodun Osuntokun of the Nigerian Army Electrical, Mechanical Engineers (NAEME) of the old days in 1963. Adebayo even though a senior officer as a colonel, brought him close to himself and when my brother died as a result of medical malpractice at the Military Hospital in Yaba , the then Colonel Adebayo was inconsolable. He insisted on court martial trial of those culpable but our family prevailed on him that it was not necessary because the deed was already done and no useful purpose will be served. This was a terrible time in our family and it was through this tragedy that our ties with Adebayo’s family became strong. When he was military governor in the West, my brother Kayode Osuntokun served pro bono as State House doctor. When I was a young lecturer in the Jos campus of the University of Ibadan between 1972 and 1974, I always stayed in his house at the Military Academy in Kaduna en route to Jos.

    On his staff in the academy were Colonel Ibrahim Babangida and Major Ike Nwachukwu. He was always protective of his junior officers. I remember going out with them to Hamada hotel for a night out one day and when he sighted a soldier wobbling along the hotel corridors he shouted at him to halt, then he enquired who he was. He turned out to be the drunken driver of the then Brigadier Murtala Muhammad who was sleeping in the hotel. He promptly ordered the driver to be locked up while his boss should be informed in the morning. Adebayo cared for people. He was generous to a fault. He was particularly fond of his Ekiti people especially those who were making waves in academia and the professions. When he joined politics in 1979, he surprised many people about the effortless ease with which he operated almost capturing the chairmanship of the NPN without spending a dime compared to the huge amount the likes of Moshood Abiola and Adisa Akinloye spent. He found a niche in politics and remained engaged in politics till the very end as one of the leaders of the Yoruba elders. He finished his earthly journey well and strong. He was a contented man and all his children did well with Adeniyi Adebayo, a lawyer, and his first son rising to the position of governor in his own state. Adebayo deserves national recognition for his service to the nation and country. He was not a tribal or sectional leader or a local champion. Nigeria must find an appropriate symbol for his services. Naming a military institution or cantonment like Odogbo in Ibadan or the one in Ikeja would perhaps be the least that can be done to immortalize this great and worthy son of Nigeria.

  • Loose cannons

    OSBORNE, the highbrow seaside abode of the rich in Ikoyi, Lagos, is a child of controversy. What is today known as Osborne Foreshore Estate was born in crisis following the forceful acquisition of the land from the state by the military government.

    You can never miss Osborne on your way to Ikoyi through Kingsway Road. It sits in all majesty by the roadside, with its exotic mansions jutting out into the sky through high wire fences. Until last week, we thought all that makes Osborne tick were houses, houses and houses. We never knew that there was a vault sort of inside the belly of this billionaires’ playground in which a fortune was hidden.

    In one of the apartments there, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) found $43.4 million, 27,000 pounds and N23 million. The shocking find came on the heels of the recovery of money in other parts of Lagos a week earlier. The Osborne cash haul is, however, generating more heat than the other recoveries. The drama surrounding the recovered money is becoming more interesting by the day. But, it is a disturbing drama. Disturbing because a serious national issue is being politicised by those who should know better.

    Rather than allow EFCC to do its job, Governors Ayo Fayose (Ekiti) and Nyesom Wike (Rivers) as well as former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode have jumped into the fray and declared that Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi owns the money and Apartment 7B in House 16 where it was found. How do they know? Were they aware that the money was being kept there before it was found? If they knew, why did they not inform EFCC or the other anti-graft agencies? Their silence over the money until it was found makes them accessory after the fact. So, if the EFCC had not found the money, Wike, Fayose and Fani-Kayode would have remained silent forever knowing full well that a crime is being committed!

    I find Wike’s outburst over the recovered cash most annoying of all. This is a man who has been battling Amaechi, his predecessor, since he took office on May 29, 2015. He has fought Amaechi with all he has. He set up a panel, which indicted Amaechi for alleged wrongdoing while in office. The panel claimed that he sold the state’s gas turbines and did not account for part of the proceeds. According to Wike, it was part of the proceeds that EFCC recovered in Osborne. At a late night briefing in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, last Friday, Wike demanded the return of the money to his state within one week.

    Of course, the money must be returned to its true owner whenever that is confirmed. For now, we cannot take Wike’s word for it until the outcome of EFCC’s investigation into how the cash got into that Osborne apartment and who owns the place.

    Ever the rabble-rouser, Fani-Kayode declared that Amaechi owns the money and pooh-poohed the claim that it belongs to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). Joining the fray on his master’s side Lere Olayinka, an aide to Fayose, said : ‘’Just hearing with one ear that Amaechi may have link to the House. Cover up game has started! Rotimi Amaechi owns the house… Abudu lives in Flat 7A, money found in Flat 7B. I still dey come’’. All these exchanges  were on Tweeter to which Amaechi’s media aide David Iyofor has since responded.

    Beyond these exchanges is getting to the bottom of the matter. How did this cash haul get to Osborne? Who took it there? Was it taken there by NIA? Is that where NIA keeps money and other exhibits? Where did NIA get the money from? Did it seize the cash or is the money part of its running cost? Are security agencies permitted to keep money in ‘safe houses’ without the knowledge of higher authority? Are there no authorised places for the keeping of such money? Wike or any other person with a rightful claim to the money can come forward to do so, but with proof. The law says he who alleges must prove. For now, Wike is the only one laying claim to the money.

    Where is his proof? There is no need for any noise over this money because the matter is now in public domain. Whether the cash belongs to Rivers or not, we will soon know. In matters like this, our politicians should exercise restraint and exhibit the highest sense of decorum before they talk to avoid overheating the polity. They should not jump into this case just to make political capital out of it. This is a serious national issue which must be dealt with seriously. If Wike, Fayose and Fani-Kayode are true patriots, they should be concerned with assisting investigators to unravel the case instead of whipping up sentiment. Rather than call on  the clergy to pray for Rivers to get back money, which may not even belong to it, Wike should come out with hard evidence to show that the cash is truly the state’s. If he cannot do that, he should keep quiet and await the investigation report. There is no point playing to the gallery.

    The Buhari administration has a serious case on its hands. If it  resolves this matter transparently, it will win more converts to its anti-graft war. But if it does not, the government would have proved its detractors right that the anti-corruption crusade is a sham.

  • Is Nigeria’s collapse unavoidable?

    Every country has its inner, intrinsic, structure. A country that is made up of one nationality (a people with their own homeland, culture, language, etc.) is different from another country in which many different nationalities, each occupying its own homeland, are combined. To exist in reasonable harmony, a country’s man-made structure (that is, its constitutional structure) must harmonize as much as possible with its intrinsic structure. When the leaders and rulers of a country organize their country in ways that are manifestly and defiantly disharmonious with their country’s intrinsic structure, they condemn their country to instability, discord, conflicts, and probably disintegration.

    The refusal of Black African countries to respect this wisdom is the principal reason why almost all independent Black African countries have been experiencing instability, conflicts and violence. Different European empire builders came, grabbed some expanse of African territory, ignored the African nationalities that inhabited each such territory, and called it a new country – with one name and one government. For the next 40 years or so, the colonial rulers were so busy trying to make profit from their African ventures, and they were so distracted by big troubles (two World Wars and a Great Depression) in their own continent, that they could not pay serious attention to issues such as appropriate constitutional structure for their African territories. In the course of the 1960s, under pressure from Africans demanding independence, and from a world that was becoming hostile to imperialism, the European colonialists hurriedly cooked up some sort of leadership for their African possessions and left. That is the basic story of every Black African country since independence.

    At that point of independence, a great task fell on the shoulders of the new African leaders of each of these countries – the task of organizing their country properly and giving it a chance to be stable and peaceful – so as to be able to develop and prosper. The core of this task was to ensure that each nationality in their new country (no matter how small) would be respected, and feel comfortably and proudly belonging, in the new country. In every country made up of many different nationalities and given only one central government by the colonialists, it was necessary to restructure by creating constitutions allowing the various nationalities to have some freedom to manage some important parts of their own affairs. That means we Black Africans should have chosen some sort of federal structures for most of our countries after independence.

    Unfortunately, in not a single one of Black Africa’s multi-nation countries did the leaders even ask what needed to be done in this all-important matter of living together as one country. Just a few examples will do. In Black Africa’s first independent country, Ghana, the various nationalities asked at independence to be allowed to manage some of their own affairs locally. A constitution of that nature was easily possible.  But the first ruler of the new country, and the great hero of Africa, Dr. Nkrumah, thought that their requests were dangerous to the unity of Ghana, and he launched a political fight aimed at stamping the requests down. That led to crises and big troubles – all of which could have been avoided. These troubles destabilized Ghana and (reinforced by economic troubles) ultimately destroyed the great hero.

    In nearly every one of our other countries, the leaders simply assumed too that their countries were already finished products as organized by the colonial rulers, and that all they needed to do was to make their governments strong and capable of stamping down any show of freedom by any of the component nationalities. And the results since then in country after country have been conflicts, military coups and barbaric military dictatorships, mind-boggling corruption, pogroms, efforts at ethnic cleansing or even genocide.

    South Sudan is our youngest country in Black Africa.  After decades of brutal sacrifices in bush wars, South Sudan, comprising about 80 different nationalities, wrenched itself free from Arab-controlled Sudan and became an independent country in July 2011. Many leaders of the different nationalities proposed that the nationalities should be given some freedom to manage much of their affairs locally, and that the central legislature should be “the voice of the nationalities”.  We were all very happy when the leader of the independence war, our brother Salva Kiir, as president of the new country, said during the independence celebrations that South Sudan would be a country “where cultural and ethnic diversity will be a source of pride”. Very many Black Africans (including this writer) rushed letters to the leaders of South Sudan congratulating them and begging them to be mindful of the fact that their country was a county of many different nationalities – and to avoid the mistake that other Black African countries have been making. Sadly, it did not work. President Kiir soon rejected all advice about a federal structure or decentralization. His Vice-President and many others (belonging to various nationalities), accused him of aspiring to a dictatorship. The nationalities plunged into conflicts – and became engrossed in mutual killings. International observers on the spot are now reporting that hundreds of thousands have been killed, and countless thousands are being killed month after month.

    It is the same pattern as this in almost all our countries – with only variations of detail. The Nigerian story is easily the most bizarre and most painful of all. Nigeria is the Black African country with the greatest promise of prosperity and greatness – the home of about one-fourth of all Black Africans, one of the most literate populations at independence, and the land of enormous natural resources (including great land, forest and mineral resources, and some of the richest crude oil and gas deposits on earth). To protect their economic interests in this naturally rich country after it would have become independent, the British colonialists sought to hand Nigeria, at independence, to “a friendly people”. Fearing the highly educated Yoruba and Igbo of the South, they maneuvered the constitution, the population census, the internal boundaries, the politics and the elections, and thus placed Nigeria’s federal power in the hands of the Hausa-Fulani of Arewa North who were the least educated and patently the least ready for the tasks of modern development. The British also established for the new overlords the direction by which they would be able to use their control of federal power to widen their dominance and to keep their control going indefinitely.

    But all of those were the acts of British foreigners fending for their own country’s interests. The duty of Nigeria’s new rulers of Nigeria was obvious and different – it was to make Nigeria stable, successful and prosperous. Unhappily, the group which the British foisted upon Nigeria, the Hausa-Fulani political leadership, chose not to work for the success and greatness of Nigeria. They chose to use their control of federal power to entrench their sectional control eternally over Nigeria – in the Nigerian military, in the Nigerian federal civil service, over all corners of Nigeria, to convert federal agencies (courts, electoral commission, police, secret service, etc.) into the tools of Fulani sectional ambitions, to use federal money to corrupt, emasculate, and enslave prominent citizens all over Nigeria, and to resist any attempt at evolving a true federal system that would have decentralized power across Nigeria. Even when some southerners (Obasanjo and Jonathan) have been allowed to sit on top of the system, their presidencies have changed nothing. Enticed and stupefied by the enormity of power and money under their control as presidents, they have simply gloried in it all – and even added to the centralization of power, as well as the despotism and the corruption.

    In the past 18 months, back in control of Nigeria under the Buhari presidency, the Hausa-Fulani leadership has gone back to the game of intensifying the centralization and the special privileges of the Hausa-Fulani. In just about one year, Hausa-Fulani appointees have been filled into more than 80% of positions in the leadership of virtually all federal agencies. Fulani herdsmen have become a special breed of citizens that are free to carry rifles brazenly in a Nigeria in which possession of fire-arms is a serious crime, a special breed of citizens who are free to slaughter non-Fulani and non-Hausa farmers across most of Nigeria with essentially no fear of arrest.

    Judging from the way Nigeria is now tottering fearfully, the rejection of the Hausa-Fulani system of control has reached the point of generating Nigeria’s collapse. Professor Ango Abdullahi said recently that it is the Arewa North that has been bearing the burden of Nigeria’s unity. He is wrong – very wrong. In fact, it is the Arewa North that has been destroying Nigeria. The future of Nigeria is now locked in one unavoidable reality: change structure, or perish.

  • Between Tukur Buratai and the intolerable politician

    Some mischievous mind will read this and conclude that it is paid for. It is. The readers skimming through and those taking their time to read, have paid for this. The subject of this piece, Gen. Tukur Buratai, paid for this. He paid in kind. His towering humility, patience and grace, are creditable imbursement for this piece. By leading the Nigerian military to reclaim 23 local government councils from dreaded terrorist sect, Boko Haram’s stranglehold in Borno, he has earned this compliment. But naysayers may stew in scorn – it could be therapeutic.

    Prior to his appointment as Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), just four of Borno’s 27 local councils were under government control. Thus Borno’s political elite as its citizenry, dwelt in a clime of extreme fear and despair.

    But in a manner reminiscent of the shrewd and excellent Army General and military administrator he once was, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Buratai as the country’s COAS. And that was undoubtedly one of the very few insightful and excellent decisions he took since he assumed office as Nigeria’s number one citizen.

    Buratai is indeed a charming man. In a clime where public officers: governors, council chairmen, legislators and their errand boys or aides if you like, parade their bulk like tin gods, Buratai displays unusual humility and tact.

    For instance, the manner in which he granted this writer an interview few weeks ago – courtesy an introduction by Gen. Lucky Irabor, Nigeria Army Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole – contrasted sharply with the haughtiness and stench of the random politician or public officer’s ignoble character. Several Nigerian governors, legislators and the glorified errand boys and girls that they love to call aides, could learn a thing or two from Buratai, the army general.

    To this end, I present once again, excerpts from the narrative of my encounter with Buratai. In the course of the interview, Buratai recollected the brutal happenstance that nearly cost him his life, while visiting soldiers fighting on the nation’s frontiers against Boko Haram.

    “I was with them and my convoy was ambushed by Boko Haram. Instead of withdrawing back to Maiduguri, I said, ‘No! We are in this together. I can’t go back. We must all go together to clear the ambush,” revealed Buratai.

    “No! We must advance to clear them!’ I said. So I advanced with them and that was how we cleared the ambush. If the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) does not turn back, who would turn and run from such an ambush. I advanced with the troops and it paid off.

    “Unfortunately, we lost two soldiers; one of them was an officer. One other soldier, a Brigadier-General, got wounded in the attack,” he said.

    How many Nigerian public officers would endanger their lives, in a show of moral courage and support to the nation’s troops?  The incident, according to the COAS, was one of the major turning points in the country’s war against Boko Haram; that the Chief of Army Staff was advancing to visit the troops at the war front and Boko Haram attacked him in an ambush made good read. But that he refused to retreat to the safety of his guest house in Maiduguri and instead, advanced with the troops to ‘clear the ambush’ resonates even as you read, as the best of military legend.

    The legend is true. Buratai did direct an assault against Boko Haram, under hostility and intense gunfire. Boko Haram militants struck at his convoy about 45 kilometers or 28 miles east of Borno’s capital, Maiduguri. General Buratai had been visiting troops to encourage them and boost their morale in their fight against the terrorists.

    But between the villages of Mafa and Dikwa, remnants of Boko Haram laid an ambush on the entourage of the chief of army staff. The army killed 10 of the terrorists and captured five. Two soldiers got killed and five were wounded in the ambush.

    Buratai chooses to lead by example. Unlike the average Nigerian governor, legislator, council chairman flaunting hideous airs and entitlement to ‘rule’ like power drunk despots where they should ‘serve’ and ‘lead,’ Buratai descends into the trenches to inspire the nation’s troops.

    From his perch at the Nigeria Army Headquarters, it could be hard to make out the regular people: the infantry soldiers and officers serving as buffer and hauling themselves as human shields against the hail of enemy bullets, that Nigeria might live.

    But Buratai would not be the over-indulgent general with tired girth sitting in his oversized Abuja office, to command the troops. He knows other ways to exert a commanding presence, like actually making contact with the men and woman he is leading.  He’s careful and pragmatic, which makes sense, because he spent most of his career as an infantry soldier and officer.

    He’s almost reticent yet confident which could be confusing. But therein subsists the peculiar riddle of his persona. Buratai doesn’t unravel to middling eye and mind. He doesn’t do the high society party circuit, because he is not a social butterfly. He prefers to eat at home with his wife when he’s not breaking bread and maasa (rice cake) in the trenches with the troops. Then he gets back to work – because Tukur Buratai is Type-A-workaholic.

    I can hardly say the same of several Nigerian governors, legislators among others, in the country. Most of them display unforgivable lack of tact, brilliance and skill. The Ogun State governor for instance is frantically building bridges over cratered roads even as the peasants who braved the sun and rain to elect him die in ghastly road accidents, as you read. And this minute, his counterparts in the nation’s Niger Delta region are busy squandering precious time and resources perpetuating depravity and filth, celebrating the victor in Big Brother Nigeria (BBN)’s perverse reality.

    This writer is definitely not interested in whatever ‘heresies,’ ‘alternative truths,’ ‘rumours’ or ‘outright truths or lies’ are bandied about Buratai; this summation is inferred from established facts and personal experience.

    Buratai’s milestones and manhood are vastly simpler yet more enigmatic than the random politician’s. He believes that “leadership is all about the people you lead.” Thus he takes “…the soldiers, the troops in general, as the most important aspect of soldiering.”

    Buratai descends into the trenches with his men to achieve success. He broke bread with them and transformed the Borno theatre of war into an unusual victors’ space founded on purely patriotic needs. The Nigerian Army chief divorced the military from previous afflictions of public apathy and scorn and thus inspired a military culture characteristic of the quintessential patriot soldier, all in bid to recreate a Nigerian military with a different story; a gripping yarn founded on patriotism and culture indigenous to the people they are meant to protect. It’s the stuff gallant soldiers are made of.

    •To be continued

     

     

  • Thoughts on a new cabinet

    Thoughts on a new cabinet

    Is a cabinet shake-up imminent?

    The media have so reported  a couple of times, with some quoting “authoritative sources” as saying that President Muhammadu Buhari has made up his mind to either reshape his team or disband it.

    It took the President months to set up the cabinet. He took his time. Critics and advocates of today’s popular fast food-style of doing things, no matter how serious or sacred, scorned him for being “Baba Go-Slow”. He would not be stampeded. He stood firm.

    Less than two years into his four-year tenure, the speculators, manipulators and self-appointed regulators are on song again. Will Buhari succumb to pressure and disband this team in whom he seems to be so pleased? If  he does, will the new team include familiar names or relatively unknown men and women? Will he just move people around? Will he have a complete overhaul?

    Here are a few suggestions as to who should make the cabinet, were the President inclined to take another look at his team. It is all in the spirit of the patriotism for which “Editorial Notebook” is well known.

    Zamfara State Governor Abdualaziz Yari remains unrepentant over his comment on the lethal meningitis outbreak that has hit his state and some others in the North. That is the way it should be. The chairman of all governors should never be seen as a weakling who will suddenly disavow his pronouncements on any issue, no matter how sensitive, just to dodge a fight.

    What did His Excellency say to provoke the huge outrage that greeted his simple and logical comment, which, according to a reliable State House source, was made after a thorough research involving an army of religious giants and top-flight scientists, who remain anonymous because of the ethics of their trade?

    “What we used to know as far as meningitis is concerned is the type A virus. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has carried out  vaccinations against  this type A virus not just in Zamfara, but many other states.

    “However, because people refused to stop their nefarious activities, God now decided to send type C virus, for which there is no vaccine. People have turned away from God and He has promised that ‘if you do anyhow, you see anyhow’. That is just the case of this outbreak, as far as I am concerned.

    “There is no way fornication will be rampant and God will not send a disease that will not be cured.”

    They, those fellows who usually hide under some dubious nomenclatures, such as analysts, stakeholders and critics, descended on Yari. They said his theory had no scientific backing? How about its logic? They tore at the messenger and dumped the message. When did God start discussing with our governors?  Is Yari a philosopher or an exponent of theocentric edification? They asked scornfully.

    Minister of State for Health Osagie Ehanire, apparently without any proof, dismissed Yari’s theory. He said the outbreak had nothing to do with Nigerians’ moral and spiritual lifestyles. Not to be left out, the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi, hit Yari for his “not Islamically correct statement”.

    The fact remains that Yari has brought a new perspective to our health issues. The nation can gain a lot from His Excellency’s newly acquired expertise, no doubt.  I nominate him enthusiastically for the health portfolio?

    Asked how the anti-corruption war can get more muscle, former President Olusegun Obasanjo suggested that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should hire ogbologbo lawyers to prosecute its cases.

    What a timely piece of advice, coming when High Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), once popular for his rights advocacy, is celebrating a rare feat of defeating the EFCC thrice in one month.

    A brief background. One of  Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose’s bank accounts was frozen by the EFCC. Ozekhome went to court and got the account unfrozen. Then the EFCC checked Ozekhome’s bank account Nestling in there was a hefty sum of money, about N75m. The EFCC impounded it. The lawyer cried out. He said it was a deposit from his client, the governor, for services rendered.  Outrage. But when has a lawyer’s professional fee become the subject of a public debate in beer parlours and soccer viewing centres? Do doctors disclose their fees?

    There is no doubt that Ozekhome is the kind of  ogbologbo Obasanjo had in mind.

    Interestingly, he is also defending Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Raymond Dokpesi, who is charged with alleged corruption for collecting about N2.1billion from the Office of the National Security Adviser. How about the  garrulous SAN for Attorney-General  for the anti-corruption war to hit a new phase?

    Until his academic records became the subject of public scrutiny, nobody knew that Dino Melaye, the distinguished senator representing the good people of Kogi West, had a third class degree.

    The other day when the Senate was discussing how to encourage patronage of made-in-Nigeria goods, Melaye stood up, gathered his agbada, cleared his throat and urged Nigerians to shun foreign spouses. Only a genius could have found the link between these seemingly dissimilar subjects.

    In the heat of the probe of his academic records, Melaye stormed the Senate in a doctoral degree holder’s gown. How he pulled this off remains a mystery till date. The busybodies, who always think everybody’s business is theirs, went to town. They excoriated the distinguished senator for no just cause: “Does he have no shame? Where did he get the gown from? Isn’t this wilful denigration of scholarship? Did he hire it? Why is he celebrating a third class?” They went on and on, lampooning the ingenuity of this inventive fellow.

    For Dino, I think Minister of Education will not be a bad idea. His talents will find full expression and blossom like  daffodils in spring. Our youths, many of who are said to be enjoying his scholarship, will know that with a third class, you could be on your way to fame – and fortune – faster than ever thought.

    Solomon Dalung should retain his job as minister of Youths and Sport. Instead of his great achievements, many talk only about his dressing,  his military police beret and khaki shirt and trousers. Some describe him as an ex-soldier-turned- Lagos Island hotel doorman. To others, he is a Nigeria Civil Defence Corps (NCDC) recruit awaiting his first set of uniforms.

    The other day when the honourable minister told a House of Representatives panel that the money allocated to the Olympic Games was “well spended”, his critics protested. It was as if he had committed a murder. Trust Dalung; he took it all on the chin.

    For weeks, some youths were in Lagos preparing for the ITTF African Junior Championship in Tunis. They were sent home last weekend when the ministry could not fund the trip. Again, the minister is the whipping boy.

    There is no doubt that contrary to the popular opinion that sport is dying, and  our youths are more interested in reality shows, such as the just concluded Big Brother Naija,  all is well. Dalung should retain his job – for his calmness in the face of a clear storm.

    Many are impressed by the tactical way Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir David Lawal fended off questions over the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) contracts, among them the controversial N1.3billion grass-cutting job he was said to have awarded to a company in which he had an interest. A well organised man, Lawal has since dissociated himself from the scandal. An attempt by the House to summon him over that matter was rejected because it was the subject of a legal dispute. Besides, he was expressly cleared by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).

    It has been suggested in some circles that Lawal should be minister of Works and Due Process. I concur.

    Ben Murray Bruce (where in the world is he?) periodically issues videos in which he comments on matters of national interest. He once said civil servants and politicians were stealing because they had no hope of ever owning a home.  The distinguished senator recently advocated that government officials should be jailed for bad behaviour. And many were asking: “Are senators included?” “Is taking money from banks and not paying  good behaviour?” They taunted the urbane senator – all because the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) sealed off his movie houses, an action that lasted just a few days.

    I have heard some perceptive observers say Murray-Bruce will do well as minister of Tourism, when his skill as a beauty pageant organiser is pressed to service. They have a point, considering the government’s desperation to diversify the economy.

    The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, was once quoted that all he wanted in life was to sit on the revered throne. He has achieved that.  An Islamic scholar of no mean stature and a finance expert of immense energy, Sanusi does not suffer fools gladly.

    In doubt? Ask the Goodluck Jonathan administration, the Seventh Senate and, most recently, Yari and other leaders of the North.

    There is the rumour that the Emir would not mind being president. That seat being not vacant, would he like to be Finance minister, even if it is just a rehearsal for the real show?

    The nominations continue.

  • Our economic problems in correct perspective

    Nigeria is in recession is a fact. My prayer is that we do not transit from the present recession to depression. A cynic once defined recession as when your friend loses his job and depression as when one loses his job. Economics is a common sense science based on empirical but not experimental knowledge. The study of economics was for decades subsumed within the study of history until about the 19th century when in Scotland, it became part of what was called political economy.

    Many historians still approach the study of history from the angle of political economy. This is a hangover from the Marxist interpretation of history which sees political development from the prism of economic relations. Economics as we now know it became an independent field of study as late as the first decade of the 20th century. This means that the so-called utopian economists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries were strictly speaking not economists but philosophers. Neither can one also categorize Adam Smith the author of the “Wealth of Nations” (1776) and the father of free trade, political liberalism and perhaps an early prophet of globalization an economist in the strictest sense of the word.

    At the University of Ibadan, economics was first taught within the Department of History with emphasis on economic history. It was not until the late 1950s that the Department of Economics came unto its own. The debate is still out whether economics is strictly arts or science. Of course, economics is science just as history is also science, science here defined as knowledge. In fact, in many American and Canadian universities, history is taught within the faculty of social science because just like mathematics is the foundation for all the sciences both physical and biological, so is history the foundation of all social sciences. In fact history in the old Soviet Union and modern and successor Russian Federation, history is studied under the rubric of historical sciences.

    Pardon my long preamble. The reason for the recession in Nigeria can be explained easily. As a country, we were involved in harvest and over time we were eating not only our fruits, we also ate the seeds. The lack of savings led to the situation that when the price of our sole commodity – oil fell in the world market, our economy went into a tail spin. To compound matters, the militancy in the Niger Delta led to a 50 percent cut in production and consequent reduction in revenue.

    That is not all. The militants blow up of oil and gas pipelines including those carrying gas to electrical power plants led to reduction in power generation and distribution and reduction in industrial production and dependence on locally generated electricity by individuals. All this add to cost of production making prices of locally produced goods uncompetitive. This led to workers lay off and social disequilibrium manifesting in increased crime and criminality. The critical role of electricity is obvious when we compare electricity generated for a population of 180million in Nigeria being not up to 4000 megawatts compared to South Africa’s 150,000 megawatt for a population of less than 50million people. Industrialists in Nigeria say our minimum requirement is at least 100,000 megawatts

    Available policy choices in this circumstance are severely limited. We can solve our problems by increased production in the agricultural sector to cut food dependency on foreign countries. This is the reason for government through the Central Bank of Nigeria increasing support for rice growers since within a generation, Nigerians have suddenly become addicted to rice eating with the result that we are the second rice importing nation in the world. If India and China each with a population of around 1.3 billion can feed themselves, we should be able to do the same considering the fact of our vast arable land. This will require determination and serious planning by the state and federal governments and individual entrepreneurs. We should also find ways of abandoning the imports substitution wrong strategy on which our industries are based. We should plan to replace all imports in the food industries. The same should apply to all other industrial production as much as possible. The preferential allocation of foreign exchange to so-called industrial sector should stop. Industrialists after all these years should source for foreign exchange independently of the government or the central bank. Industries should export to source for their foreign exchange.

    All the four petroleum refineries should be given gratis, that is, free of charge to foreign companies with the only proviso that they should be made to function. This will end the corruption of annual budgets for repairs which in most cases are shoddily done or not done at all. Hopefully the Dangote refinery will come on stream early in 2019 and the combination of the production of all these refineries should turn us into refined petroleum exporting country like most of OPEC countries.

    The savings from the revamped agricultural sector, the now functioning refineries, and the refocusing of the entire industrial sector would release foreign exchange to lift up the value of our currency and impact positively on the growth and development of the economy to the extent that we will be in a strong position to rebuild the Niger Delta in a win-win situation for the whole country. But whatever it will require including handing over the power sector to foreigners for a while, we must fix the power sector so that power will be available all the time. Without power, we will be groping in the dark and our innumerable generators will continue to ruin our environment and our health. Regular supply of electricity is the key to industrial development and modernization of all vital sectors like transportation, communication, health, education and research.

    Lastly let us hope the current difficult situation would have taught us a lesson about prudential management of national resources away from squander mania of the previous regimes when our problem was not money but how to spend it. In this regard, I would like to advice the Lord Bishop of Ondo (Anglican Communion) to face his pastoral duties and not turn his pulpit into a political platform sermonizing about not probing previous regimes that may have been corrupt. Is the Lord Bishop totally ignorant of about almost 700 thousand dollars and billions of Naira seized by the federal government from members of the previous regime if as reported that the bishop said people are hungry while government is probing corruption. Can he not see the connection between a prostrate economy and the deleterious effect of corruption?

    No country is perfect and immune from the boom and bust cycle of economic life. What we need do is to put the economy of our country on an even keel so that we are able to absorb all future economic shocks. We should not continue in this current state of dependency on the West or on the East. No country is totally an island but total dependency is not healthy. I also do not believe that the management of the economy by the current government is the cause of the current recession. The problem began a long time ago. What has happened is the cumulative effect of years of bad management. There is enough blame to go round. Let us ensure that when next we are faced with economic problems, we will have the buffer which heritage savings like sovereign wealth fund will provide.

  • Sagay’s anguish

    Itse Sagay does not need any help in his current battle against the  bullies in the 8th Senate  which he has predicted ‘will go down as he worst in our nation’s history’ neither does he require any support  to withstand the subtle intimidation from  beseeching  APC, the party in government but not in power. He has abundantly demonstrated over the years that he is capable of fighting his wars against any form of injustice.  It will however not be out of place to remind APC to face its own demons. Sagay is not APC nightmare but Bukola Saraki who traded off  its victory for a port of porridge  and adopted blackmail and self- help tactics to hold on to his coveted trophy. Sagay is similarly not responsible for APC’s failure to cut off a leprous finger and rule with as few as 20 pro-Nigeria senators that share its philosophy. He also did not ask APC to wait until its very foundation is threatened with the same strategy Saraki deployed to destroy PDP, his former party as recently observed by ex-President Obasanjo. Except APC leadership, that had expected  Saraki to suddenly become a left handed man at middle age, Nigerians know Saraki who has never lost a deal since he joined politics is a vicious  trader of influence and power. His father, Oloye Saraki was a victim of his son’s brand of politics. Bukola Saraki was the whistle-blower in the fuel subsidy scandal that finally exposed PDP before it finally disintegrated. Ribadu and Lamornde, past chairmen of EFCC who crossed his path in the past ended up with bloody noses. It is also no more in doubt that Magu’s current travails is not unrelated to his  investigation of Saraki and his wife over alleged financial malfeasance  as well as  some ex-governors turned senators who allegedly stole their states blind when they held sway as, in the words of  London prosecutor of convicted James Ibori, ‘thieves in government houses’.  Senator Ndume suffered the worst fate. For forcing   Saraki and Melaye to clear their names over  Nigerian Customs Service and Sahara Reporters allegations  through a Senate internal  probe that has since confirmed a multimillion bullet-proof SUV vehicle cleared with forged papers to evade the tariff accruable to government was an addition to the Senate President’s fleet; and that irrepressible  and loud  Melaye managed to graduate  from ABU with a third class after spending eight years for a four -year programme, he  was suspended for six months.

    Itse Sagay must have been anguished that our nation is under siege as Saraki has continued to hold us to ransom after capturing the 8th Senate.  Our senators don’t feel obliged to tell us what they pay themselves as salaries. All we know is that some of them who denied collecting double salaries admitted collecting pensions in addition to their huge salaries alleged to be the highest in the world. When El Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State recently dared the senators to inform the nation what they earn as salaries, they resorted to blackmail by challenging him to first disclose his own salary and security vote.

    The travails of Sagay who has fought injustice all his life started when he recently decided to take up arms against senators who according to him  “ think they have power and decided to be unjust, oppressive and dismiss the interest of this country with levity and contempt.”.  He cited as an example the rejection of Magu who he says is “one of the best in a country that is like a cesspool, smelling and rotten with corruption “, as EFCC chairman. He says the Senate which  ‘seems to see itself as  if it is presiding over kindergartens  has developed kindergarten mentality by asking ambassadorial nominee to recite national anthem or by ordering the Customs Comptroller General to wear uniform like a school boy instead of addressing the issues of shortchanging Nigerians’.  He says  the Senate’s directive to the President to first sack Magu before it performs its constitutional duty of confirming names of INEC commissioners  was ‘childish and irresponsible’. But for claiming the Senate is filled with people of questionable character, Deputy Senate leader Bala Ibn Na’allah who insisted the senators do not have questionable characters, pleaded with his colleagues to summon Sagay to come and help them identify if he is aware of any. When Sagay was summoned, he threatened to sue the bullying senators who according to him “have no sense of responsibility, who have no feeling and are there for just vanity and are ready to bring down the country in order to feel important”.

    Tragically, APC leadership that has not been able to find its bearing in the last two years let alone demonstrate to the public what it is doing about APC dominated sick Senate, the subject of Sagay’s anguish, now says it believes ‘the comments attributed to Prof. Sagay are uncalled for, regrettable and could further complicate the relationship between these vital arms of government’. Except the leadership of APC that lives a lie, most Nigerians are aware there can be no meeting point between President Buhari who is committed to fighting corruption and the corrupt-ridden judiciary and the legislature. It is just as well that noble Sagay has insisted APC is not in a position to lecture him on what the relationship between institutions of democracy should be.

    Visibly irritated Sagay must however take solace in the fact that ours is a nation that often finds a way around a problem rather than solve it. In this regard, a brief resort to memory will help. The credit for the federal arrangement that heralded in our independence for instance must go to the colonial masters that served as umpire. They told us some truth about ourselves which for reasons of greed and the desire to dominate others, some of our founding fathers refused to acknowledge. The umpire literarily imposed the three regional federal structure on us.

    By 1962, one leg of our tripod that constituted the federal structure was deliberately removed by those who wanted to dominate others. After the Nigerian judiciary failed to solve that simple problem, the Privy Council, the then highest judicial body tried to bring in sanity. But those who have always held our country down passed a retroactive law to reject the Privy Council ruling.  Again, the task before the military, the custodian of our constitution in 1966 was simple. But instead of restoring order by upholding the sanctity of our constitution, they took over power, plunged the nation into a civil war and between 1970 and 1999 embarked on what has come to be known as social engineering efforts through which they took over education from primary school to university, health sector from primary health care to teaching hospitals, roads and agriculture ending up with a constitution without a residual list. The only thing they have not done is solve the problem. In 1993, Abiola won a pan Nigeria mandate. It was annulled by Babangida who like Idi Amin of Uganda had wanted to hold on to power.  Instead of restoring the mandate freely given to Abiola by Nigerians, the enemies of our nation bargained for an illegal Interim National Government. In 2015, APC and its presidential candidate won a landslide victory over its PDP rival. Saraki and Melaye traded the victory for a senate presidency. Today two years down the line, only a few Nigerians remember the source of our current nightmare. And by intimidating Sagay, APC, the major stakeholder seems to be saying that Saraki’s capture of the 8th Senate has become a force- majeure. Dancing around problem is in our character.