The Nation Newspaper

Category: Thursday

  • Can CBN save the naira?

    Can CBN save the naira?

    As in 1985-86, Nigeria is again at loggerheads with the international financial institutions. It is under strong and persistent pressure from the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to devalue its national currency. At a recent meeting of the WB/IMF group in Lima, Peru, a senior official of the IMF was reported as urging Nigeria to devalue its currency promptly ‘as a way of adjusting to the reality of the current (global) economic conditions’. These conditions include the sharp decline in the global price of oil, as well as a fall in the price of non-oil/commodities exports. Specifically, the IMF claimed that exchange rate pressures in Nigeria and other oil producers had been considerable since last year. Nigeria’s oil exports and revenues have fallen considerably, while the high demand for foreign exchange in Nigeria has continued to exert considerable pressure on the exchange rate of the naira. In other words, while earnings from oil and non-oil exports have in the past year declined by over 70 per cent, the demand for foreign exchange to finance Nigeria’s huge import bills has not fallen. Because of Nigeria’s high import dependency, there is a supply/demand gap in foreign currencies that is putting pressure on the naira exchange rate. There was also some reference by the WB/IMF to ‘uncertainties in Nigeria’ abroad about the May elections and the policy direction of the new Federal Government regarding urgent policy reforms. These were claimed by the WB/IMF as additional factors that have led to pressures on the naira. Very few will dispute this claim.

    But the CBN Governor has rejected the calls for the devaluation of the naira. As an alternative to a more flexible exchange rate, the CBN has introduced administrative measures that are intended to limit access to foreign exchange, as well as a ban on some 41 listed import items as a way of reducing the demand for foreign exchange. The CBN Governor has vowed to defend the naira at all costs against any devaluation, adding that it was a question of nationalism. Economic nationalism is good and popular, but it has to be based on the prevailing global economic realities. If it has any potential of hurting the economy, then it should be reviewed. The WB/IMF has dismissed the CBN administrative measures aimed at import restriction as detrimental to the Nigerian economy, as both local and private investors see these measures as very detrimental to their economic activities. There is already considerable concern in the Nigerian business circles over these restrictions as they could lead to a loss of industrial productivity and jobs. Instead of these administrative measures, the WB/IMF are urging the Federal Government and the CBN to permit the naira exchange rate to adjust so as to reduce the demand for more foreign exchange, and to help contain the level of imports that is no longer sustainable in the light of the external shock (the decline in oil revenues) to the Nigerian economy. So far, the CBN has ignored these local and foreign pressures to devalue the naira.

    In all these, it appears that, right now, the Federal Government is in support of the position of the CBN that the current exchange rate of the naira should be maintained at all costs. In effect, for now, President Muhammadu Buhari does not appear to be in favour of any further devaluation in the exchange rate of the naira, despite its volatility. This is not surprising. When he was in power from 1984-85 as a military ruler, Buhari firmly rejected similar calls by the WB/IMF on Nigeria to devalue its currency. Then, as a result of a similar global oil shock and recession, Nigeria faced a severe external shock worse than the current one, with severe balance of payments disequilibria, a huge foreign debt, and lack of foreign credit. Nigeria had drifted into economic chaos during the inept Shagari government which lacked the capacity to effectively tackle the underlying structural problems of the Nigerian economy. Tougher economic measures had become urgent and imperative. The nation was on the verge of total economic and financial collapse. Productivity in the manufacturing companies fell sharply, leading to a rise in unemployment, and long food queues. Nigeria resorted to rationing ‘essential commodities’ as a result of severe import restrictions. The military took advantage of the economic chaos and seized power from the Shagari civilian government.

    In response to the severe economic and financial crises, the new Buhari military regime also resorted to import licensing, trade by barter and counter trade. But all these administrative measures failed to address the underlying structural imbalance in the domestic economy. Buhari rejected the advice of the WB/IMF to introduce a structural adjustment programme (SAP), the highlight of which was the devaluation of the naira, to curb imports and promote non-oil exports. Buhari considered the measures being urged on him as impractical and politically inexpedient, as it could lead to an inflationary spiral in food prices, and other vital imports. In Egypt, similar currency devaluations had led to ‘bread riots’ and instability in the Arab world, a situation that could threaten the survival of his new military regime. He considered the WB/IMF prescription for devaluation as an invitation to suicide and so rejected it.

    But in December, 1985, Babangida replaced Buhari as military ruler. Shortly after, he introduced what he called a ‘home grown’ SAP after a long and heated debate in the country, with the overwhelming majority of the Nigerian public rejecting any devaluation of the naira. But courageously, he pushed through the tough economic and financial reforms that the situation called for, including the massive devaluation of the naira. The reforms soon paid off. Imports fell and non-oil exports expanded considerably. Nigeria returned to fiscal balance and balance of payments equilibrium. New foreign credits were extended to Nigeria, the food queues ended and the economy recorded a modest growth. Of course, the global rise in oil prices assisted the process of economic recovery, but the exchange rate adjustment introduced at the time by the Babangida regime and the CBN made this recovery possible. Had he not taken those urgent and necessary monetary and fiscal measures, particularly the devaluation of the naira, Nigeria’s economic crisis would have worsened. Of course, Babangida later abandoned some of these effective economic and financial measures for reasons of political expediency. This soon undermined the modest economic recovery achieved during his regime.

    Right now, we are at a similar crossroads as in 1985-86 when the issue of the adjustment of the exchange rate of the naira evoked very strong negative response from the government and the Nigerian public. Again, the CBN has rejected all calls for a downward adjustment of the naira. But can it really save the naira from further devaluation? Will its administrative measures to restrict imports restore stability in the naira exchange rate? I consider this unlikely. Right now, the official exchange rate of the naira to the US$ is about N200 to 1, while at the parallel market, the exchange rate is N238 to the US dollar. This is a clear indication that the naira is overvalued. One indicator of overvaluation of a currency is the difference between the official nominal exchange rate and the parallel market exchange rate. The parallel exchange rate is probably nearer the net effective exchange rate than the official rate. The rate in the parallel market will drag the official rate down until there is an equilibrium in exchange rate. One possible cause of the probable overvaluation of the naira is the rising inflation rate that now stands at nearly 10 per cent, the result of the expansionary policy of the Federal Government in recent years.  So, the issue of devaluation is not simply a question of nationalism or patriotism. It has more to do with the global recession, the fall in the value of our exports, and the failure caused by our inconsistent and tepid economic reforms over the years to diversify the economic base. Nigeria’s domestic economy is not yet mature. Growth is still fragile as it depends mainly on oil exports. This situation makes it difficult for the Nigerian economy to successfully withstand the external shocks we have now had for a year. Market conditions are not always perfect. They can be easily manipulated by financial speculators. And devaluation is not always the answer to external shocks of the kind now facing Nigeria. But any alternative offered by the financial authorities must be effective, sustainable and credible. Administrative restrictions lack these qualities.

    To save the naira from further devaluation, oil exports and revenues need to rise significantly. The short term prospects for this are not encouraging. Commodities’ prices are also falling, and do not offer Nigeria any real alternatives. Nigeria’s foreign reserves now stand at less than US$30b, enough only for four to six months’ imports. The SWF of US$1b has been depleted by US$700m to meet domestic deficits, leaving a paltry balance of US$300m. Our foreign debt is growing, exports are falling and there is a rising demand for foreign exchange from the manufacturing sector. The volatility of the naira exchange rate is leading to capital flight and a disincentive to both local and foreign investment in the economy. Planning in industry is made more difficult by the volatility in the exchange rate of the naira. Foreign investors will be looking to other countries with financial stability, particularly in respect of exchange rates. In the circumstances, it will be tough for the CBN to maintain the current official exchange rate of the naira.

    Of course, the World Bank and the IMF are sometimes wrong when they urge devaluation on developing countries facing external shocks, irrespective of their respective situation. Some countries need it, while others do not. And the decision to undertake the necessary exchange rate adjustment is not simply a question of patriotism or nationalism. Even China, the second largest and fastest growing economy in the world, has had to devalue its national currency by nearly 30 per cent to boost its exports. The result has been positive. This year, China’s economy will still grow by nearly 7 per cent, while Nigeria’s growth rate will fall from nearly 7 per cent to only 2.5 per cent. Actually the US wanted China to revalue its currency. Instead, it devalued it to promote its exports. Many of the advanced industrial countries have also had to devalue their currencies at one time or the other. In 1966 the British Labour government devalued the pound sterling when it needed to borrow from the World Bank and the IMF. Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Mexico are some of the BRIC countries that have had to devalue their currencies in recent years to cope with external shocks to their economies. Most African countries, including Ghana, Zimbabwe and Tanzania have had to devalue their currencies in the past year. If it devalues Nigeria will not be the only African country to do so. And it is always better to devalue early than later under stronger international pressure and much tougher economic reforms that can lead to social and economic instability in the country.

    So, if it decides to devalue the naira, Nigeria will not be an exception as it is simply a matter of adjusting to external shocks. If we do not devalue now, then we will have to take additional economic and financial reform measures, as tough as those of the Babangida years. These will still have to include the devaluation of the naira. Such reforms will have to include a review of the existing oil subsidy which cannot be sustained financially for much longer. Major reforms will also have to be undertaken in our oil sector to eliminate the vast corruption and oil theft there. The cost of government will have to be cut considerably. As long as the reform measures are socially fair and transparent, they will be accepted by the Nigerian public. Smuggling of imports into Nigeria through our porous land and sea borders will make nonsense of the present strategy of import controls. Unless there is a significant recovery soon in our oil exports and revenues, I believe that Nigeria will be forced to devalue its currency, the naira, before too long. In fact, by the second half of next year the dollar exchange rate could be as high as N300. An early and modest devaluation of the naira will be in the overall economic interest of our country.

  • Beyond Falae’s ordeals

    Every government in a federation, it must be emphasized, is equal in status to and independent in its sphere of its activities from the other governments in the federation including the federal government. Each government is responsible for the peace, order and good governance of its area. It is a flagrant derogation from that function and advice devoid of sense or worthy of precedent to have a regional or state government without the physical organ essential and indispensable to the discharge of its primary functions”.

    The above was Awo’s presidential address at the 4th Annual Congress of Action Group at Calabar, April 28-May 2, 1958. Fifty-seven years after that historic clarification, we continue to live in denial, running a unitary system in the name of federal arrangement. Insecurity, pervasive corruption, infrastructural decay, collapse of the health and educational sectors are some of the baleful legacies of a ‘path to Nigerian freedom’ our leaders traded for today’s anarchy. A section of the political elite in the north, obsessed with power, and a section of the political elite from the east, driven by greed back in 1962, jointly rejected the Path to Nigeria Freedom. Dumping  Awo and his “Path to Nigeria Freedom’, a seminal work he published in 1947, where he had advocated a federal arrangement for a heterogeneous  and multi-cultural society like ours in Calabar prison, they swore if he ever came out alive, he would be too old to question how they governed Nigeria. Until the emergence of Buhari few months back, those  forces  have jointly ruled or ruined the nation since independence either as NPC/NCNC, NPN/ NPP or as PDP wheelers and dealers and in between along the line by ‘an army of anything is possible’.

    Today, we are all victims of a rejected Path to Nigeria Freedom, the armed Fulani herdsmen who lay waste the middle-belt regions, the defenseless subsistence impoverished crop farmers who are left to their fate by their states as targets of mindless killings , the illiterate and uninformed Igbo street traders forced out by hostile environment where no history of kingdom ever existed but hilariously crown themselves kings in their host communities where they are left as canon fodders during violent upheavals, and the rest of us witnesses and chroniclers of the tragedies brought on a people by self-serving leaders who know the Path to Freedom but chose path to servitude.

    Two weeks ago, 77-year old Olu Falae,  a former Finance Minister and a former Secretary to Government was abducted from his farm near  Akure, made to trek  several  kilometres barefooted through bush paths and swampy areas and set free  only after the payment of N5m ransom by his family.

    Many have condemned the treatment meted out to Chief Falae by criminals as Fulani herdsmen. Yinka Odumakin, the Afenifere spokesperson has warned if the federal government failed to stop the herdsmen from attacking the Yoruba people, the people of the South-west might have to defend themselves. He didn’t say with what or if he and our revered Afenifere elders are counting on the support of ex-President Jonathan, their buddy and his newly empowered and heavily armed Niger Delta militants. Femi Fani-Kayode, ex-President Jonathan’s campaign manager has also described the Fulani cattle herders as the ‘new pests of the nation’, accusing them of terror, intimidation, theft, murder, rape, abduction, mutilation etc.

    A week after Chief Falae’s humiliation, some ill-educated Igbo traders in Akure, openly challenged the authority of the paramount ruler of Akure, their host community.

    Chief Falae reacting to his own ordeal after regaining his freedom says – “I have not gone to farm in any other person’s territory. I have every right to farm here and live in peace here.” He therefore appealed to Commissioner of Police and the IG for protection. But the trouble with such appeal is that even from his own account of his ordeal, the chief ought to know by now that the only people guaranteed of protection by the state seem to be powerful criminals as senators, governors or their fronts in the private sector who after a stint in prison or EFCC detention, move around with police convoys while law-abiding Nigerians work out their own security arrangements privately or through residents associations, village vigilante groups or armed ethnic militias.

    The humiliation of Falae and the challenge to the authority of the Deji of Akure were not isolated cases. Violent clashes have occurred between Fulani herdsmen and their host communities in Benue, Plateau, Nassarawa, Kaduna and other parts of the north since independence. Violence only assumed new dimensions in the last five years when   heavily armed Fulani herdsmen laid waste the whole of middle-belt regions killing scores of innocent farmers.  Similarly, long before last week’s Akure confrontation between Igbo traders and the Deji of Akure, we have had the Oba of Lagos,  whose great grandfather, Chief Esugbayi, the then Eleko, had his  recognition and salary withdrawn in 1913 for championing the appeal against the colonial state’s forceful acquisition of Chief Oluwa’s Apapa land up to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council which ruled in Chief Oluwa’s favour on the ground that even “treaty of cession had not annulled communal rights to land”, told by some Igbo traders that ‘Lagos is no man’s land’.

    I think the current development in the South-west once again underscores the need to return to Awo’s ‘Path to Nigeria Freedom’ which was abandoned because of selfishness of some Fulani power seekers, Igbo greedy elite and their Western House NCNC Yoruba sympathizers led by the late Remi Fani-Kayode who after decamping from AG, led the crusade for an illegal and immoral declaration of State Of Emergency in the West on May 29 1962.

    Since war is not an option despite the righteous indignation of Odumakin and Femi Fani-Kayode in the circumstances where it appears only Fulani herdsmen move around wielding AK47 assault rifles unchallenged by security forces, and  Igbo palm-oil, gari, yam flour, pepper, okra and vegetable sellers routinely closing their shops to punish Yoruba at the slightest provocation, a more creative response is needed as answer to the threat posed by the invasion of Yoruba nation by violent herdsmen and Igbo petty traders who want to be kings in strangers’ land which by Igbo culture is expected to be ‘abandoned and left for the owners of the land who know how to appease their own gods’ in case of any calamity.

    What Yoruba who ask only of good governance from Nigeria need for the survival of its people and culture and ultimately encourage enemies of “path to freedom” to see its virtues is regional integration. Within a federal set-up even with its imperfections, it is only the Yoruba people that can defend their culture. The current Yoruba political leaders must therefore find a way of bringing in Ayo Fayose minus his infantile fantasies and Olusegun Mimiko who has for the greater part of his stay in politics worked against the collective interest of the Yoruba people either as ex-President Jonathan ‘stomach infrastructure’ ambassador for the South-west or as the rallying point for errant Yoruba politicians already sent on forced retirement by their more creative sons.

    As a first step, an integrated South-west can set up ranches as commercial ventures to fill the vacuum created by northern state governments who are unable to appreciate that such ventures can open up a path to the freedom for their poor cattle herdsmen who enjoy no government support in a competitive, globalised world where a pastoral farmer in the West gets a government subsidy of $2 for a head of cow.

    The success of the South-west experiment has the potential of becoming a pathfinder for regional integration of the ‘yam belt’, cotton belt, grain belt and tomato belt’, all in the north where government support is needed to lift the poor Fulani herdsmen and crop farmers out of poverty.

  • Mob parody

    Years pass like a dream of mist and our informed analyses, like a drunkard’s fart. It’s the stink that’s nauseating. It pervades every nook and cranny. It lingers. It assaults our airspaces like bad breath. Few things…very few things are more pathetic than a critical mob; gangs of columnists, journalists, hatchet writers and career critics may stir up strife but their efforts eventually pass as the hum of mosquitoes seeking to make a noise like thunder. Like the rest of the Nigerian mob, the social media critic, newspaper columnist and journalist symbolize a tiresome mercenariness of complacency, avarice and inertia. However, unlike the rest of the Nigerian mob, this critical mob epitomizes the tragic manifestations of the pious frauds of citizenship, like microbes hastening the decomposition of corpses.

    Nigerians love being conned and the Nigerian ruling class knows that; so does the Nigerian critic. The latter knows that, if you can deceive the citizenry in grand and entertaining styles, you will get away with it more often than you could count thus the continual deception, impoverishment and murder of the Nigerian masses.

    Like the masses or totality of the Nigerian mob, the critic suffers exposure to pain and humiliation for too long in the hands of the ruling class thus ending up in a pitiful state evocative of a condition of enthrallment in which the hypnotized individual finds himself in the hands of the hypnotizer. Careful observation would however, suggest that foremost crusaders of the critical mob variously suffer paralysis of the intellect as does every hypnotized subject; consequently, the latter becomes enslaved to an object, a need, money, a perversion or an idea by which the hypnotizer (oftentimes the ruling class) directs and belittles him at will.

    It’s a shame that I belong to the journalistic segment of this pathetic societal divide; as a journalist and newspaper columnist cum social critic, I am not in any way distinguishable from the rot emblematic of my colleagues in the Fourth Estate of the realm. However, much I as could try to absolve myself of blame, the society is wired to see all journalists as a bunch of shameless liars, pawns to tyrants and junkyard dogs.

    We essentially epitomize a style of living which cultivates sincerity and is at the same time a fraud. We arrogate to ourselves rights to nobility and free speech by twisting truth into relative truths and true lies, in an existence that we have learnt to rationalize as gracious and irrevocably necessary. This has to be odious; it is.

    Despite the cowardice and duplicity of Nigeria’s critical mob, it is amusing to see other constituents of this mob divide tirelessly chastise and identify the Nigerian journalist as a bane to progress and monumental disgrace to the society. To this, many a journalist and newspaper columnist have responded that the society essentially wishes that the journalist do not effectively fulfill his responsibilities to it. Likewise, I have corroborated such argument claiming that big business and politicians’ ownership of mainstream media gives them intimidating capacities to influence and set the agenda for the media and society in general.

    This is an intimidating reality no doubt; it is obscenely silly and self-serving of the Nigerian society to continually muscle in the media’s job and prevent it from discharging its duties effectively and yet turn around to identify the Nigerian press as fraudulent and disgraceful.

    However, this does not in any way ennoble the shamefulness and irresponsibility of the Nigerian press. Journalists, unlike the social media critic, delusional citizen or online journalist, press secretary or special media adviser to the ruling class, are expected to fulfill more sensitive and crucial roles to the society.

    The Nigerian journalist should be the hero that perpetually cramps himself into demanding roles of watchdog. It is shameful however, that the contemporary journalist takes unpardonably dense and gruesome human elements for gods and worships them as such; by enslaving himself to such characters, the journalist is duly taken for some idle, nondescript human integer, extant in the world to entertain tyranny and have a few naira and demeaning errands thrown at him that he might get to enjoy a taste of the good life or a semblance of it.

    Be it as Special Media Adviser to the President, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Personal Assistant to the MD, Corporate Affairs Manager or any other title created for an enslaved press intellectual within public or private sector, the journalist shirks his role as societal watchdog; he becomes lapdog, dung-dog or junkyard dog of the ruling class. In the strict slave system in which he works, there can scarcely be such a thing as crime; whatever his principal does is fair and justifiable – his ultimate aim is to keep his employer happy and thus guarantee the security of his meal ticket. It is no surprise therefore that the journalist and newspaper columnist who ought to serve as a check on the bestiality and excesses of the ruling class eventually become the defender and justifier of such vile.

    Those who are not yet lured into the loop of schemes and largesse of the ruling class painstakingly become gadflies to the ruling class. They taunt and condemn every measure, utterance and action of the country’s leadership in desperate bid to bully whatever government excites their greed and duplicity till they include them as recipients of crumbs of the proverbial “national cake.”

    As crucial appendage of Nigeria’s critical mob, the press has mutated into a contemptible factor, trollopy in conduct and pitifully cast in the stormy waters of Nigeria’s sociopolitics. Far flung in the murky waters, many have drowned, a paltry few struggle to swim against the tides while many more hang suspended, to be forced up or down by the chance currents of a sleazy, vicious world. How can such human elements fulfill the roles of watchdog and moral compass of the society?

    For too long, the Nigerian journalist has tirelessly fulfilled the role of criminal constituent amid the nation’s critical mob divide. So doing, he becomes blamable for every ill and any ill symptomatic of the country’s steady descent the slope of amorality and currency-activated self-destruct.

    What is however, true of the journalist is peculiarly true of other human elements of the Nigerian society; contemporary happenstances attest to the fact that the current generation of Nigerians, the youth in particular, is afflicted by an intense tumult of self-interest, gluttony and intricate trashing of spirit that destroys whatever nerve could be mustered in pursuit of truth, personal and societal progress.

    Poverty and job insecurity are ascribed as our reasons for betrayal; true, the society betrays the journalist by the hour but it’s about time we stopped repaying perfidy with perfidy. It’s about time we evolved dependable and practicable means of creating and instituting a leadership, society and media practice we could trust.

    We could begin by ditching our familiar whining and blame-mongering to evolve a culture of truthfulness and conscientious citizenship. It is no longer permissible to contend that the journalist is only a reflection of the society he serves. By advancing such argument, we box ourselves into straits of sophistry and frantic rationalizations. This is unacceptable of purported men of letters and conscience of the society. Truth is what we should speak. Truth is what we should be guided by.

  • The evil men do

    PRESIDENTS are expected to be men of their words. They do not talk for the fun of it. They speak when necessary and with authority. Whatever they say is law. They are our earthly gods because of the powers they wield. The presidential seat carries a seal of authority that grants the occupant absolute power. But leaders that are wise do not use such powers absolutely because, according to  Lord Acton, ‘’power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’’.

    Leaders use their powers in different ways. Some use their powers to help people; others use their powers to oppress. Why do men seek power? They seek power in order to contribute their quota to the socio-economic development of their countries.

    The president epitomises the government he leads. As the first citizen, the buck stops at his table. His orders are final and they must be carried out by his aides, except otherwise stopped from doing so by the court. Where there is no such order, the president’s word is as good as taking it to the bank. Where you have the president’s word, you can go to sleep, rest assured that all is well. No subordinate can reverse the president’s order because they know the consequences of such an action.

    When presidents speak, they speak with authority. They are firm and assertive because they hold the four aces. They can do and undo. Former President Goodluck Jonathan knew too well the enormous powers of his office before he directed that families of victims of the March 15, 2014 Immigration job tragedy be employed. In a March 26, 2014 letter from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Jonathan directed that three members from each victim’s family be given immediate and automatic employment. At least one of such family member must be a female, he added.

    Last March just before the elections, the former president at an elaborate ceremony at the State House, Abuja, received some members of the victims’ families. At the end of the visit, each family went home with N5 million. The families were also reminded to send the names of their members, for employment. They returned home happy and praising God for what He has done. What they did not know is that it might have been a ploy to get them to vote for Jonathan and his party in the last election. If it wasn’t, why didn’t Jonathan keep his promise to them before leaving office last May 29.

    Over one year after the presidential promise, the families are still running helter-skelter, hoping upon hope that they would get the promised jobs. No fewer than 16 applicants died in the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment tragedy. Because of the job crisis in our land, 6.5million persons were said to have applied for the non-existent immigration job online after paying the non-refundable N1000 fee. A consultant was said to have been given the job. The then NIS Comptroller-General David Parradang denied knowledge of the exercise, claiming that it was the brainchild of former Interior Minister Abba Moro. Between Moro and Parradang, someone is certainly not saying the truth. Since Jonathan could not move against these men, he thought the way out was a political solution.

    But seven months after he promised them  jobs, none of them has been employed. They are still pounding the streets in search of jobs, with many calling daily at the NIS headquarters without luck.

    Pressed to the wall, they took their case to the National Assembly, begging for justice. They told the lawmakers that the letters of appointment given to them have been withdrawn. Why were the letters withdrawn? Is it that they were illegally issued, as claimed by the Ministry of Interior’s Permanent Secreatry, Abubakar Magaji , before the House of Representatives probe panel? Could letters issued on the president’s authority said to be illegal?  At the public hearing of  the House Ad hoc Committee on Immigration Recruitment Stampede on Monday, members of the audience were stunned to hear that Jonathan’s employment order was ‘’merely symbolic’’. I do not seem to understand why Magaji described the former president’s gesture as such. What does he mean by ‘’symbolic gesture’’?

    Is he saying that there was no intention to employ these people ab initio? If that is the case, why then were their hopes of a job raised? What does it say of a sitting president that his order was made in vain as Magaji is now insinuating? What will it cost the ministry to employ these people since we are being told that the problem is getting the fund to pay them?

    Why were the appointment letters withdrawn? Hear Magaji : ‘’Following the failed recruitment exercise in 2014 that led to the loss of lives, the president approved the setting up of a presidential committee and mandated it to assist the board to conduct the aborted recruitment of Immigration Service. The presidential committee carried out the exercise without the involvement of the board, which is against the provisions of the board’s Act. From what we are working on, up till today, there is no single approval by Mr President to carry out such exercise. We are only hearing it from the papers’’. The lawmakers also heard that the March 26, 2014 letters signed by the SGF were not approved by Mr President, hence they were termed ‘’ceremonial letters’’.

    Will these people also lose their money despite not getting the job they so much laboured for? Where is the money they paid as application fee? In government’s coffer or in a private account? Can the money still be recovered? What is the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) doing to recover the money and bring the perpetrators of this big time fraud to book? Will we continue to keep silent  like this without  bringing succour to those affected? Deputy Comptroller of Immigration Yahaya Mangwi, who represented NIS management at the probe, denied knowledge of the fund, saying : ‘’We don’t know where the money has gone to. We didn’t know about the recruitment; we just saw advert in the newspapers’’.

    Magaji may have his own agenda in blocking the employment of these people. It may not all be about money and illegal issuance of letters, but more of a personal thing. Who is he fighting over these people’s employment?  Indications that there is a feud between the ministry and NIS over this matter also emerged at the hearing. The board’s Secretary, A.A. Ibrahim, who signed the letters of 400 assistant superintendent officers and 1,600 junior workers said Magaji stopped the employment and also ordered the withdrawal of the letters. Who is a permanent secretary to counter the president’s order? What does he know that made him act that way?

    No matter the wrangling between the ministry and its agencies, this should not be allowed to truncate people’s future. These job seekers have suffered enough. Those who should suffer are the evil men and women causing them anguish and pain. And sooner than later, EFCC should be able to bring these evil doers to justice.

  • When an elephant dies

    When an elephant dies

    So many theories have been deployed to explain the fate that befell former Petroleum Resources Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke and former Bayelsa State Governor DSP Alamieyeseigha, the self-styled governor-general of the Ijaw Nation.

    Mrs Alison-Madueke was arrested in London for alleged money laundering and corruption, details of which are yet to be spelt out even as many emergency analysts and theorists have gone to town with what they have sworn is the ABC of the matter. Can we blame them? As our elders say, when an elephant dies, all manner of knives show up.

    The arrest generated so much hysteria because Mrs Alison-Madueke was perceived as one of the principalities and powers in former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, which elder statesman Edwin Kiagbodo Clark disrobed in the market place the other day after many years of strutting the land, proclaiming the former President as his godson in whom we all must be well pleased. Now, says Clark, Jonathan lacked the will to fight corruption. How times – and people –  change!

    In a raid on Mrs Alison-Madueke’s home, 27,000 pounds cash was reportedly seized. There were also rumours that she was being held with some of her family members. Many, spurred by the feeling that the former minister was set to have her day with the law, rushed from one court to the other seeking information on the rumoured arraignment of the once powerful former minister.

    As usual in cases of this nature, an army of  doubtful legal experts has sprung up, forecasting  how the case will go, the punishment (when an accused is found guilty), chances of extradition and other related issues. Some of them are even talking about a plea bargain, saying madam would be let off the hook should she agree to surrender some cash, which they derisively refer to as her “loot”.

    Doctors – majority of them charlatans posing as genuine professionals – have also weighed in after the family confirmed that Mrs Alison-Madueke was suffering from cancer of the breast. How strong should an accused be to face trial? When did the ailment begin? Was that why she was not seen after Dr Jonathan lost the election?

    Without any respect for the laws of defamation  and simple decency , many have hit the Internet to speculate about her peccadilloes, especially those of very intimate nature, which this paper, being a family newspaper, would never be caught enumerating –  in deference to our readers’ sensibility. They write authoritatively about the incredible wealth of her associates, who live like kings and party like Hollywood stars, cruising the world in private yachts and buying homes in the most exclusive neighbourhoods in the most expensive cities.

    In Mrs Alison-Madueke’s travails, some have found a comic relief, displaying the fecundity of an average Nigerian’s mind even in a situation that demands extreme sobriety. The other day in Ibadan, an old woman was wondering why the noise about “this innocent and beautiful woman”. What they allege she has taken, said the woman in the local accent, is small (die sa ni) – a kind of onomatopoeic contraption of “Diezani”.

    A commentator, apparently one of those bitter critics, scolded those who cried out that the former minister was being witch-hunted. “Let’s kill all the witches and see if we’ll be able to get the truth in these matters,” he remonstrated to the amazement of all. How do we know the witches who many of our leaders claim to be hunting them whenever they are called to account? Don’t witches hunt ordinary and poor people, including those who are nowadays referred to as extremely poor? If they do, why don’t they complain?

    When the rumour mill alleged that Diezani would be in court with her mother and brothers, another commentator asked rhetorically: “What do we say when members of a family are arrested?” He quipped: “This is surely not a case of partners in crime; it must be family in crime.”

    On the Internet, the portrait of the North Korean leader, Kim Jon Un, the one who reportedly fed his uncle to starving dogs for mismanaging the economy, corruption, womanising and drug taking, with his trademark deadly frown, was posted. It carried the caption: “The way other members of the Looters Academy (2011-2015) will be looking at Diezani, like don’t you have conscience?”

    There was also the former minister’s beautiful portrait. She is decked out in the traditional dress, something like a Kaftan, a big headgear on her head and a blue necklace playing on her tender neck. Her face is wreathed in smiles. All her accessories are blue –to match, as they say. Then the clincher of a caption: “When they said Mrs Alakija was the richest woman in the world.”

    Many were moved when the Alison-Madueke family lawyer confirmed that the former minister was indeed battling cancer. The compassion the disclosure elicited was remarkable. This, I think, may have been responsible for the reduced  negative criticisms of her tenure as 0il minister and her cancer battle. Adversity has a strange way of drawing sympathy – thanks to our common humanity and the reality that there is a leveller, after all .

    Alamieyeseigha’s case was different. He answered the final call after the United Kingdom  requested for his extradition  to face  trial for alleged money laundering. It is not all new. The former governor was arrested in London on September, 2005 for carrying one million pounds cash on him. In his account, about 1.8million pounds was discovered. The gloomy prospect of being sent to jail was strong. DSP, as he was excitedly called by his associates and admirers, jumped bail and fled the United Kingdom in controversial circumstances, the mystery of which his death has deepened.

    An account said he was robed like a woman in hijab, sneaked out of his home and headed for a special route where he was driven out of town before taking a flight to a West African country. He then flew home to Nigeria.

    Another account spoke of how the late Alamieyeseigha simply headed for Heathrow, checked in like any other passenger and flew back home. In July 2007, he was jailed two years. He lost many assets, forfeited to the government of Bayelsa State. In the United Kingdom and the United States, he lost a fortune. Dr Jonathan pardoned him in 2013. But, like that of a really bad wound, the scar remained indelible.

    Now, the myth and all the worldly affairs will be interred in a six feet grave in his home in Amasoma, Bayelsa State. The end.

    The late Alamieyeseigha was said to have been devastated and shocked by the news that he was to be bundled back to the United Kingdom. He fell into a coma and died last Saturday at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital of cardiac arrest.

    Some commentators, drawing from the “great escape from London”, refused to believe that Alamieyeseigha was, indeed, dead. They called for an autopsy and demanded a public display of his body because, according to them, the man could spring a surprise.

    At home in Bayelsa, Alams (another nickname of his) remains a hero. The state government has declared a seven-day mourning, following the demise of “a rare gem”. Governor Seriake Dickson described his death as “a very painful and monumental loss to the entire Ijaw nation, which he has always stood firm for in all its ramifications”. He condemned “the way he was harassed and forced to abandon his treatment abroad”. Flags are to fly at half mast and the opening of Dickson’s campaign was put off in deference to a dearest leader.

    From a United Kingdom prison, former Delta State Governor James Onanefe Ibori, also known as Ogidigboigbo has penned a remarkable obituary, dripping with gripping emotion . A eulogy and an elegy mixed in good prose. He described  the late Alamieyeseigha as “ a victim of virulent politics” . He said the man was not corrupt, adding that he built only one house. A young fellow sneered at that tribute and asked cynically: “One house? Okay, how many did he buy?”

    To Ibori, who is serving term for money laundering, Alams was “a victim of great hypocrisy masquerading as nationalism and anti-corruption fight”. He hailed him as a champion of resource control.

    Many have argued that Alamieyeseigha’s death may have been unnatural, considering the timing, which coincided with the United Kingdom’s request for his extradition. Did he poison himself after concluding that death was more honourable than disgrace? Was it a case of hypertension and diabetes as claimed in unofficial medical circles? Could it all be part of his tummy tuck surgery? Why should some people think it could all be a scam? The death of a scam or the scam of death?

    The lesson of it all is the reality of the futility of material acquisition as an end in itself and not as a means to an end, which is the comfort of the majority of the people and the well-being of the society. Many of such acquisitions, which are meant to be agents of comfort, often turn out to be agents of discomfort and even death. Ah! What a lethal irony.

    But the big question is: do men learn?

  • Clark: Travails of ethnic irredentist

    It was as if ex-President Obasanjo did not dump the PDP with his characteristic theatrics, tearing his PDP membership card publicly not too long ago. It was as if some five PDP governors, some senators including Bukola Saraki along with scores of members of the Lower House did not dump PDP. We seem to have suddenly forgotten Abubakar Atiku, a former Vice President and a founding father of PDP has been moving in and out of PDP in pursuit of his dream of becoming Nigeria’s President one day. Audu Ogbe was a former PDP chairman just as Senator Gemade. They have long dumped PDP.

    We have no evidence that any of the above past pillars and leading lights of PDP was ever haunted. We can however not say the same of Pa Kiagbodo Clark who has known no peace since he told the nation two weeks ago that he ‘no longer belongs to PDP’. He has gone through severe stress and strain since the presentation of his testimonial on ex-President Jonathan, his beloved son, to Nigerians. As Jonathan’s father, it was his opinion that “Jonathan didn’t have the political will-power to fight corruption”; and complaining to no one in particular added, “Drivers of yesterday are living in palatial buildings now under his government”. As Comrade Joseph Evah, Coordinator of Ijaw Monitoring Group (IMG), puts it: “Chief E.K Clark is the father of former President Jonathan and since no one can understand a child more than his father, no one should try to fault a father’s assessment of his son”. Unfortunately with the ongoing war against Clark, it is as if it is now a crime to dump one’s party or for a father to give a honest testimony about his son.

    In any case does, anyone who lives in Nigeria need to be told that ‘Jonathan was too weak to fight corruption’? Under Jonathan, corruption hit us on the face wherever we turned. Stealing – which was not corruption under Jonathan presidency – of billions of pensions fund was perpetrated right inside the Head of Service’ office.  The appointed hunters of the rats disappeared with substantial part of the recovered billions and declared ’wanted’ by police who often provided police escorts when they attended state functions sometimes with the president. $20b oil money was not accounted for by NNPC according to the CBN governor who subsequently lost his job for his indiscretion. N1.7 trillion was stolen by PDP leading lights and their children and their fronts through the fuel subsidy scam. A minister of aviation colluded with some car dealers to defraud the nation of N250million on armoured cars and shortly afterwards accompanied President Jonathan on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. A minister allegedly spent N10b leasing aircrafts but was shielded by the courts and the executive from appearing before a House probe. Many former governors who are now serving senators are facing EFCC charges in various courts. Pa Clark now under attack by all manners of people hiding under the anonymity of the social media, had in my view, only stated the obvious, i.e. that corruption was another name for Jonathan government.

    And I don’t think Pa Clark committed any crime by choosing to defend his Ijaw son, right or wrong, following Obasanjos satanic letter to his estranged godson. He after all made it very clear he was speaking as an Ijaw ethnic irredentist adored by his people, unlike Obasanjo who was rejected by his Yoruba people. It should therefore not come as a surprise that where others saw corruption and a weak president, all Clark could see back then was an orchestrated conspiracy of the rest of the country led by Obasanjo and the northerners against an Ijaw man; where Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala talked of theft of about 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily, all he saw was Ijaw youths empowered by Jonathan through pipeline monitoring contracts secretly cornering parts a of what naturally belongs to them. It was no surprise therefore that when Clark was confronted with the impropriety of empowering known enemies of the state by Jonathan, he angrily shot back with an undisguised disdain whether anyone expected Jonathan to favour northerners above Niger Delta militants who live in the creeks.

    In a way, Obasanjo was the source of Clark’s current travails. Clark had in a letter described by Junaid Mohammed as ‘extremely irresponsible and unbecoming of an elder’s statesman, ‘not only tried to defend Jonathan but to question Obasanjo’s integrity. Instead of asking Jonathan to address free stealing going on under his nose, Clark wanted Obasanjo who had only N20, 000 in his account according to Code of Conduct Bureau record when his military boys brought him out of Gashua prison and imposed on us as president in 1999, to account for his affluence after eight years in office. Pa Clark was egged on by the likes of Afenifere’s spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, who was reported by newspapers to have given ‘kudos to Clark for his wonderful letter’, elder statesman and founding member of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai who after describing Obasanjo’s letter to Jonathan as ‘an affront to Ijaw people’ had asked Obasanjo to defend himself on the allegations against him in Chief Clark’s letter. There was also the third Republic Governor of Anambra State, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, who praised Clark for his efforts saying “not replying Obasanjo will mean an insult to President Jonathan”.

    Today Pa Clark alone faces inquisition. Now many are saying he has no moral justification to condemn a son he had led astray. Indeed, one exasperated commentator in the social media rudely asked Clark “to keep quiet and allow other Nigerians to judge Jonathan’s stewardship,” Since he was part of the rot in Jonathan’s administration. Another commentator described Clark’s statement as the “height of betrayal and backstabbing to find favour with the current administration”. He went on to warn President Muhammadu Buhari not only ‘to distance himself from persons like Clark’, but also to ‘extend the searchlight to people like Clark’, who he claimed without proof, are fabulously rich.

    Another fellow strongly believes Jonathan’s association with Pa Clark brought him nothing but misfortune.  According to him, as Obasanjo’s godson in 2011, Jonathan secured a pan Nigeria mandate but as Clark’s adopted son, his threat and those of his militant children to pull down the nation except Jonathan was adopted for a second term forced the rest of the country to mobilize against him during the 2015 election.

    Unfortunately for Pa Clark, social commentators who cannot remember he was a federal commissioner back in the 70s with a widespread circle of influential friends – long before shoeless Jonathan found his bearing – now say he rode on the back of Jonathan to raise billions with which he set up  ‘Edwin Clark University in his village. Less restrained others even say 85 years old Pa Clark exploited his relationship with Jonathan to consummate his marriage to a bewitching beauty from the wealthy Sodipo family of Abeokuta back in 2013. Attack on a statesman, albeit self proclaimed, cannot get any more bizarre. And finally one cheeky fellow says if Jonathan was too weak to fight corruption, it was precisely he was weakened by elders like Clark who encouraged him to surround himself with governors and politicians without character.

    In all this, my sympathy lies with Chief Edwin Clark. No one in my view should begrudge self-confessed ethnic irredentists the right to protect the interest of his people. Clark’s only disservice to our nation however was his insistence, 60 years after Bode Thomas and some of our founding fathers settled for regionalism within a federal frame work, to protect the country from the rule of one-eyed king, that Jonathan despite his known disabilities must continue in office just because he is an Ijaw man.

  • Many farewells and good byes

    In recent times, many eminent Nigerians have crossed the great divide between the living and those who now belong to the ages. No matter how old our loved ones may be, we do not want to lose them. The question then arises what is the age when we will be comfortable with the death of our loved ones ? The Bible in one breath said 70 but in another breath it says 120. I have not met any one who will want to live for 120 years. It is therefore safe to assume that  the time one should go is when one is no longer useful to society. It follows that longevity should go hand in hand with how useful a person is to his or family, immediate or national environment. In other words age is mere number!

    When I heard that Chief (Mrs ) H.I D  Awolowo passed on, I called one of her children to commiserate with her and to say mama lived well and died strong! She died at a time when she was still aware of her environment and that her death called for celebration. Of course I know no matter how old she was, the children would still mourn her departure and naturally shed tears of sorrow. But her death is a celebration of life. As believers, we know what has happened is a transition to a higher realm. On her own, outside the achievements of her husband, mama was in the words of her inimitable husband, a jewel of inestimable value. Need anyone say more? Nothing can be added or removed from that testimony.

    When Deacon Gamaliel Onosode joined the saints triumphant, I shed some tears not because he was too young at 83. But because we may never see the like of him again in this country. Onosode graduated from the University of Ibadan in 1957 with a honours degree in Classics and was recruited for management training by the British and from then on he never looked back. At one time or the other, he was chairman of several blue chip companies that were Nigerian branches of British transnational companies such as Lever Brothers, Dunlop, Nigerian Breweries, Cadbury, National Acceptances Limited that metamorphosed into NAL Merchant Bank  among many others. Wherever he went, he had the Midas touch and every thing he touched turned to gold. He never soiled his hands as would have been the case with other Nigerians. Whenever he was not listened to as chairman, he did not throw his weight around, he simply left quietly without making a fuss. This kind of behaviour earned him the sobriquet of Mr Integrity. What better accolade can one dream to have in a country where corruption cries to high heavens for intervention. With this kind of reputation, the nation sometimes called on him either as a Special Adviser to the corrupt and inept Shagari regime or as mediator between the government and one industrial body or the other such as in dispute between the Academic Senior Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU). In whatever position he found himself, he served well. Onosode the romantic that he was even toyed with the idea of running for president. But he was before his time. A country deserves the leader that it gets and obviously Nigeria was not deserving of a leader like Onosode. Nothing but apparent headache came out of his political venture. But we must acclaim his trying. Many of us are closet or arm-chair politicians who cannot take the plunge into the real political competition.

    One of the areas Onosode left an indelible mark is in guiding universities to the right path of doing things properly. In this regard at different times, he served as chairman of council and pro- chancellor of the universities of Ibadan and Lagos. He remained the pro-chancellor of the University of Lagos until politicians saw such a position as part of the spoils of office and moved to take over in their usual buccaneering approach to public life. I remember listening to Onosode doing a clinical analysis of what is wrong with Nigerians being the fact that our people live two lives of separating public life from private life. He said whatever is wrong in private life cannot be right in public life. We are very frugal with our personal resources yet we go on to loot the national treasury and waste state resources thoughtlessly. We abhor and deprecate dishonesty in our individual lives but see this as being smart in public life. We are individually religious but our religion is forgotten when dealing with the affairs of state. He  was clean in character and in appearance, always well dressed in western suits except when for cultural reasons, he may be found in his native Urhobo attire. Even though he could afford living in the high-brow areas of Ikoyi or Victoria Island, he remained till the end in his bungalow in Adelabu Street with the masses in Surulere, Lagos.

    On a personal note, the Kayode Osuntokun Trust approached him  some years ago to chair its annual lecture in memory of the late Professor Kayode Osuntokun, my brother. He asked what he was supposed to do. He was told all he had to do was chair the occasion and call for a few questions after the lecture. He agreed that since the man being honoured was a honorable man, he would do us the honour of presiding. On the day of the lecture, he announced that he would like to donate some money to the Trust but he had no money at that time but he was expecting some money from his investments and that as soon as he got the money he would send a cheque. We had actually forgotten his promise when his cheque of a substantial amount of money came in . That is the kind of man Onosode was. He was a blessing to mankind and a challenge to us in Nigeria to rise above our petty jealousies and pedestrian life to a life devoted to serving man and God. Onosode  demonstrated that we must be Christians in truth and in deed and not just in name. Vox populi vox Dei – the voice of the people is the voice of God – so goes the Latin saying that Onosode would have been familiar with in his lifetime and  we Nigerians affirm  the goodness and righteousness of this man  and we believe that God in His infinite mercy will look favourably on his soul. Onosode was a simple but not simplistic Nigerian, a man of culture and erudition, a renaissance man if ever there was one!

    When tragedy struck in Saudi Arabia,  one prayed that no Nigerian would be involved. But as we waited with bated breath for details of the casualties, we were told by the Saudi authorities that some African pilgrims did not follow strict instructions and thereby precipitated the stampede that led to the death of close to 1500 souls. We still felt maybe our people were not involved. When we learnt of those involved like Tijani El -Miskin and our own dear Hajia Bilkisu Yussuf, our sorrow was deep and we became inconsolable. First of all, we learnt through the Iranians who lost up to 500 souls that the Saudis were lying. What the Iranians told the world was that a Saudi Prince was approaching where the pilgrims were performing their rites and in an attempt to make way for him by his large security detail, a stampede ensued. The racially motivated statement by the Saudi government was quickly withdrawn to be replaced by promise of compensation! What value can one place on lives of the departed souls?

    Bilkisu Yussuf was a friend and a colleague. She belonged to the radical group of Northern Nigerian intelligentsia nurtured by our friend Bala Yussuf Usman, the radical historian from Ahmadu Bello University. Bilkisu was a radical and at the same time a conservative Muslim lady. She rose to the height of editing the Triumph, a newspaper founded by Abubakar Mohammad Rimi’s government in Kano in 1979. She was a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on International Affairs. In fact, I gave her name to our chairman Chief Emeka Anyaoku as a replacement for Professor Joy Ogwu when she was appointed Foreign Minister. Bilkisu served on this council for about 10 years through the presidencies of Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan. She was a very useful member ferreting information from different sources on the problems facing Nigeria externally. She also belonged to innumerable NGOs particularly devoted to girl-child and women issues as well as the issue of peace and religion. She never missed her prayers in spite of her sometimes punishing schedule. It is only God who can make plain the reason for her death in Saudi Arabia. May God forgive her sins and have mercy on her soul.

    From the lives of these three people who made impact  on various areas of our national life, we know that it is the courage that one brings to life that counts and not the tonnage of our gold and diamonds. We are all on an earthly journey and what will matter at the end is whether we are an instrument for good or ill and a curse or blessing to our generation.

  • Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu and the burden of genius (2)

    Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu is a supporting actor in President Muhammadu Buhar’s ‘change’ fiction or drama of ‘change’ if you like. At a glance, he seems an ideal ambassador of ‘change’ but has he the political and ideological bent to actualise Mr. President’s anti-corruption crusade in the oil sector? Has he the nerve to turn his office into something more than a labyrinth and political jailhouse? If he fails, his name and reputation will suffer for it.

    There is no gainsaying the Nigerian corridor of power is booby trapped to thwart genius. A rabble of genii has fallen in recent past to her decadent pleasures and cruelties. By their deeds, they become a profanation of sterling stewardship in public office. After Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Reuben Abati to mention a few, one gets the feeling that entrusting a genius with a Nigerian public office is an exercise in futility. It’s akin to trying to tie the Mediterranean with palm fronds for storage against drought.

    Time was, when the argument was entirely against the ‘system’ thus making a case for the genius. But a new school of thought emerges and it advances the perspective that the genius should no longer be let off the hook by the simple technicality of his perceived powerlessness against a corrupt system and hostile work environment. That is simply one way to look at it and it is a grossly skewed portrait of the status quo presented in defense of the genius.

    Managing a public office is no walk in the park, particularly in Nigeria, yet the Nigerian genius with an Ivy League education and impressive track record, eagerly accept to serve the country, promising hope and positive change. It is always fascinating to see such individuals however, morph into grotesque apparitions of the patriots they were meant to become. Annoyingly, they do so with unpardonable cheek and a swivel-it-finger-in-your-face stance.

    Kachikwu should be different. He should be that interpreter of ‘change’ who keeps his wits about him. He shouldn’t fall to the lure of the decadent and all powerful ‘system.’ Can he? His predecessors suffered irreparable loss of self; Kachikwu shouldn’t. Salaciousness, lewdness, avarice and extreme covetousness are familiar hyper-states that destroyed preceding genii by stifling their minds and enslaving them to the attraction of vulgar luxury and other unimaginable obscenities. Lots of promising folk have extinguished in name and status on this charred, crimson path. It takes a man of integrity and strong personality of unusual kind to scorn and tower above such decadence.

    In the unfolding drama of ‘change,’ greed is the depravity that Kachikwu should shun. The ‘young oil Turks’ and the aging cabal dominating the oil sector over which he currently presides have overtime, evolved an enduring culture of acquisitiveness, self-centeredness and mediocrity as the benchmark of stewardship and moral fibre in the nation’s oil sector. With the connivance of the immediate past administration, they created and sustained a daemonic lyre of gluttony and lust as the language of transaction and service in the oil industry.

    Consequently, the need for competence and accountability was serially altered into an imperial hankering for unearned dividends and mechanised pilfering. Public service in the oil sector thus split into two, taking on the forms of a vulgar gladiatorship by perverse civil servants and leisure-class banditry by aberrant oil magnates.

    At the twilight of the last administration, Nigeria came face to face with the snazzy promiscuity and dishonesty of the characters that ran the oil industry aground. President Buhari swore to retrieve the country’s looted funds from these bandit breed. To this end, the nation is treated to a tragicomedy-styled hunt and prosecution of the culprits at home and abroad. While it is too early to give the president kudos for operationalising his anti-corruption crusade beyond platitudinous jingle, one cannot but appreciate the haunted glares of the culprits as they scurry for safe havens abroad, their trails littered with their plundered and pasty spoils.

    Kachikwu had better take in the imagery of nemesis and remorse. Let it guide him as he serves as the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) or as he prepares to assume his touted new portfolio as a minister for the oil sector.

    Lest we forget Kachikwu’s assurance to Nigerians that although the challenge of cleaning NNPC will be a bumpy ride, it will be exciting and it will eventually yield positive results. Positive results for whom? It’s about time the NNPC boss understood that Nigerians are more aware and interested in their affairs. Nigerians are paying his salary and they deserve more than his subtle retractions and fragile excuses.

    Agreed, fuel is being sold at N87/per litre at the moment but for how long? Nigerians expect him to evolve a regime that would make fuel more affordable to the citizenry and eliminate insititutionalised corruption in the NNPC. Nigerians expect him to furnish the country periodically, with details of the workings and actual proceeds of the oil industry. It is not only the president that he is accountable to in such respect. There are a lot of other products refined from the nation’s crude oil, in the spirit of accountability and his touted love of transparency, let Kachikwu furnish Nigerians with a transparent account of the workings of the oil corporation. Nothing should be done in secret anymore. It’s about time Nigeria stopped watching helplessly as her public officers, NNPC top executives inclusive, meet with oil magnates in hotel lounges and suites abroad. Any such meeting done in secret with a select few often reek of suspicious or malicious intent against the progress of the nation’s oil sector and the country in general.

    It could be rewarding fellating Kachikwu’s ego but that would be disastrous to his persona and career as a public servant. Nigeria needs Kachikwu to evolve and uphold professionalism and moral culture impervious to degeneration and machinations of the oil industry’s bogeymen.

    If Kachikwu succeeds at his current brief, the ricochet of his exploits would serve a greater purpose than justifying President Buhari’s second term agenda, if actually the president nurtures any such ambition. Besides ameliorating the pains of the citizenry, his sterling success and patriotism at his job, will stand him in good stead for more significant leadership role in future. Kachikwu needs to evolve an enduring moral code unyielding to any baggage from his past – if any such baggage actually exists – and amenable to higher responsibilities in future.

    Agreed, moral codes could be somewhat obstructive, relative and counter-productive, particularly when pitched against a vicious circle of leeches and reprobates but ultimately, moral codes are of inestimable benefits to civilisation. Without them, we are vulnerable to the degenerate barbarism of gluttony, amorality and wanton tyranny of the self-seeking and covetous. It was a lack of moral code and personal ethics that ruined the names and reputation of immediate past genii in Nigeria’s power circuits.

    Picture a future with an unsullied Kachikwu, Okonjo-Iweala, Babatunde Fashola, Reuben Abati and their likes in sensitive public offices and as drivers of the Nigerian State. Imagine a future whereby such men and women are peacefully ushered off the corridors of power after meritorious service in the interest of the collective – that would be a future to die for no doubt.

    At the risk of sounding Polly-Annaish, Kachikwu should understand that public service and valour need to be progressively planned, not cashed in upon or taken advantage of; and that there are all sorts of questions and consequences to ponder before he adopts the next economically or politically expedient measure. At  the end, Kachikwu will be judged by how adroitly he scorns or tones to a minimum, the arrogance implicit in leadership and corruption characteristic of power.

  • Senate’s self-serving confidence vote

    Dr Bukola Saraki, long before becoming the Senate President, was undoubtedly one of the most powerful Nigerian leaders. In 1990, with just about one year post NYSC experience, he became a director of ‘Societe Generale’, a bank owned by his father. The billions he allegedly borrowed within the same year without collateral was said to have hastened the collapse of the bank.  Following the pressure mounted by Societe Generale Paris, which owned a majority stake in Societe Generale Nigeria on the Inspector General of Police to question Saraki about illegal and “unauthorized withdrawals of money,” he was soon after slammed with felony theft and felony conspiracy charges. (Police file no. AR-1360/X/F/Vol.12 on December 7, 1990, as quoted by Sahara Reporters). But Nothing came out of it despite a 30-count indictment against the Sarakis just as nothing came out of his alleged involvement in the Intercontinental Bank’s debt rip-off and the ‘case of alleged conspiracy, forgery and stealing of the sum of N21 billion belonging to Joy Petroleum’ probably because laws in Nigeria, as some have argued, are made to protect the powerful.

    In 2003, Saraki’s father promoted him governor of Kwara, a fiefdom he had impoverished for over 50 years. He was there until 2011 when he moved on to become a senator.  When the PDP turned the heat on him for assuming the role of a whistle blower in the fuel subsidy scam by claiming that Joy Petroleum which he allegedly had interest benefitted from the N1.7 trillion fuel subsidy scam, he traded PDP off for APC.

    Similarly when APC, his new party in its wisdom believed he did not have the moral strength to drive the change mantra upon which the party defeated a sitting government, Saraki who does not believe there is  anything money, influence and ‘politricks’ cannot buy, traded off the victory of his party with the opposition. While his 51 other elected party members were having a meeting at another venue,  he, by his own account, hid inside a small car in front of the senate chambers for three hours after which he sneaked in to be adopted Senate President by 48 opposition senators and about eight of his supporters.

    When his wife was invited by EFCC following PDP’s (Kwara) petition, over some contracts linked to her while he was the governor, Saraki who has never been associated with failure in his various battles with the judiciary and his different parties, saw only a ‘witch-hunt’.

    That was soon followed by his arraignment  before the Code of Conduct Tribunal by the office of the Attorney General which slammed him with the following charges: Making anticipatory declaration of House 15A&15B McDonald, Ikoyi, Lagos; Failure to declare property on Plot 2A, Glover road, Ikoyi; Failure to declare property on No 1, Tagus Street, Maitama, Abuja (Plot 2482, Cadastral Zone A06, Abuja; Failure to declare property No. 3 Tagus Street, Maitama, Abuja (plot 2481, Cadastral Properties Limited); Claiming to own property on no 42 Gerald Road, Ikoyi and earning N110,000,000,00) per annum at a time the property was under construction; Failure to declare N375m GTB loan converted to 1.5m pounds sterling and used to purchase property in London; Operating a foreign bank account; Transfer of $3.4m from GTB to foreign bank account during tenure as governor and failure to declare leasehold interest in no 42, Remi Fani-Kayode Street, Ikeja among others.

    Saraki ran to a high court in Abuja with all the SANs money could buy in order to stop his appearance before CCT. Leaving nothing to chance, he also approached the Appeal Court. Meanwhile some SANs like Agbakoba   who had earlier warned APC against sanctioning Saraki for trading off the victory of his party was on Channels Television.  First he said, by virtue of his status as SAN and former President of NBA, he was sure the High Court was superior to the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Then he wanted the CJN to make an urgent public pronouncement to clear the air. If Agbakoba appeared confused, no one was deceived.

    Saraki was to tell reporters after his arraignment that ‘most of them (charges) are frivolous, mischievous and not current’ while his Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu, issued a statement admitting  ‘some of the issues contained in the sheet are subjects of issues earlier decided on or on-going in courts’. Saraki also speaking to his colleagues during plenary says, “I wish to reiterate my remarks before the tribunal, that I have no iota of doubt that I am on trial today because I am President of the Nigerian Senate, against the wishes of some powerful individuals outside this chambers.’

    Two conclusions can be deduced from the above. First, that some of the allegations against Saraki are true after all. This however has not stopped 83 senators (48 PDP and 35 APC) from passing what Senator Kabir Marafa, the Senate Unity Forum’s spokesman described as ‘worthless self-serving motion brought to abuse the collective sensibilities of Nigerians and supported by some overzealous neophytes that see the Senate President as a Divisional Police Officer and the committees as roadblocks.’  Second, if it takes immoral usurpation of the senate presidency seat for Saraki who has been engulfed in endless judicial battles since 1990 to finally clear his name by establishing ownership and explaining the sources of funding for all the properties his detractors attributed to him, I think it will be victory for him and for Nigeria.

    Marafa has given what appears a plausible explanation for the disgraceful role of his 35 APC senators in the senate’s assault on the sensibilities of our people. He says they are probably after juicy committee chairmanships. The role of the 48 PDP senators who have never broken rank however is understandable. They all share a common world-view with their leading light, David Mark, and Ike Ekweremadu, who jointly presided over the 7th Senate, celebrated as the most expensive legislature in the world where members smiled to their banks while PDP wheelers and dealers almost wrecked the nation’s economy through monumental stealing.

    There is also a lesson to be drawn from the betrayal of our nation by the 83 senators who chose to bury their heads like ostrich in the sand instead of confronting the issues of morality and ethics before them. Their hypocrisy is in the character of our self-serving political class who after identifying our derailed federal arrangement  as the source of corruption, crisis of indigenship, infrastructural decay, collapse of the educational and the health sectors, chose to apply as palliatives  what has often been described as ‘social engineering efforts of the military’ viz NYSC, Government colleges, federal universities, quota system of admission into the tertiary institutions and bureaucracy, senseless funding of LGAs by federal government to which they are not accountable.

    However, the public is not deceived by self serving vote of confidence on Saraki by powerful senators such as Andy Uba, Buruji Kashamu, Mohammed Goje, Theodore Orji , Joshua Dariye, Jeremiah Useni, Biodun Olujimi, Godswil Akpabio, and Stella Oduah who like him believe the law is only for the protection of the most powerful.

  • Democratic rights and responsibilities

    When the original 13 colonies in British North America revolted against the Crown in 1776, their battle cry was no taxation without representation which was saying they would pay if their government was elected by them and responsible to them. The British loss of America was due to her refusal to understand this ordinary meaning of democracy. They did not quite learn a lesson from this experience because they repeated the same mistake in all their colonies and dependencies from Canada to the Indian subcontinent, Africa and Australasia. One after the other, the process of decolonization was completed whether Britain liked it or not. Colonies and protectorates have become history except in a few islands where there are too few people to make independence and self-government sustainable.

    Self-government was conceded to the western and eastern regions of Nigeria in 1957 and the northern region in 1959. Nigeria as a whole became independent 55 years ago on October 1, 1960. We are expected to govern ourselves on the basis of government of the people by the people for the people with government expenditure provided by the people through taxation which could either be direct or indirect. Citizenship goes with responsibility. The fact that we in Nigeria have had our government run on funds accruing to us largely from taxes and sale of hydrocarbon resources has made corruption rampant since revenue of government is not derived from our labour and sweat.

    In most modern democracies citizens do not only contribute money to run the state, they also offer themselves as soldiers in periods of national emergencies. The idea of a citizen army was fundamental to republican democracy as enunciated and practiced by revolutionary France through the levee en masse as distinct from the old type of armies controlled and commanded by the old aristocracy. The upshot of this piece is that if people desire to govern themselves, they must be ready to discharge their own part of the bargain by properly funding the government. This also enjoins the people to take possession of the government through transparent process of democratic elections. The people must ensure that those who claim to represent the people are legitimately elected on the basis of universal suffrage of one person one vote without any chance of rigging as had often been the case in our country. As we often say in Nigeria, people must assert and defend their democratic rights by not only voting at elections, but also protecting their votes until they are counted and collated.

    All these are easier said than practiced because many times those who control the levers of power in the state have sometimes manipulated the organs of government to pervert the cause of electoral justice by depriving people of their legitimate rights to elect their own government. It is this kind of scenario that made John Locke to suggest that the people have the right to revolt and change the government because as he argued, government is based on contract between the ruler and the ruled and if and when one party breaks the terms of the contract, the covenant binding the two parties is therefore revoked and setting up a new government will be in order. Not only this, governments are set up for the good of the people and as the American Declaration of Independence  claimed that governments are set up to guarantee certain fundamental and inalienable rights such as the rights to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness. In other words government is a serious business and should not be taken lightly and those who offer themselves for service must be those who are called and not those with Buccaneering intention of going into government for personal pecuniary self-aggrandizement. When governments are properly set up even the major religions of the world say government must be supported because God is not a God of chaos because without government man would revert to a state of nature in which according to Thomas Hobbes life will be short nasty and brutish without any form of civilization. In other words it is in the interest of right thinking people to preserve government.

    What is government? It is characterized by a functioning bureaucracy answerable to the executive which also monopolizes all the organs of legitimate means of violence such as the police and the armed forces. The power of the executive arm of government is moderated and checked by the legislature constituted by the elected representatives of the people and empowered to make laws for the good governance of the state. These two arms are complemented by the judiciary which arbitrates cases between the people and the government and ensures legality in the affairs of state, as well as ensuring legality of relations among the people and various corporations and commercial activities in the state. Functional government is therefore expensive; however the existence of a functioning government is the hall mark of civilization.

    I am going into all this to establish the fact that we have no alternative but to find ways and means to support our various governments in spite of dwindling resources available to the state following essentially what is the collapse of the global oil and gas market and consequent reduction in national revenue. For a long time our various governments have had to rely on unearned income from commission charged on oil and gas production. Taxes were hardly paid except by those earning salaries. The vast majority of our people paid no taxes at all. This would have been excusable if all who did not pay taxes were poor. But this included the rich entrepreneurs and captains of industry and commerce as well as big time farmers and proprietors, all kinds of institutions and medical facilities as well as all kinds of NGOS and sectarian bodies. There is a need for all states to levy property taxes on property owners and the burden of this would fall on those able to bear it with the proviso that those living in their own homes would pay less than taxes levied on leased out properties as currently the case in Lagos. This is the only way states will be solvent and not rely on borrowed loans to pay civil servants. These times call for everybody to fulfil their obligations to the state by paying their taxes.  It is the duty of government to ensure that all taxable adults pay taxes and that nobody has the right to enjoy national and municipal facilities without paying for them. There are no more free lunches anywhere. Whatever is good costs money be they be good schools, hospitals, roads, railways, communication and aviation facilities etc.; no one should be free-loaders at the expense of the state. There is no point for anybody demonstrating and demanding free education at all levels. There is nowhere in the world where that is available. Not in the USA, China, Cuba or anywhere. We can only talk about free universal primary education and one hopes our various governments would not only provide this but strengthen it. The travesty of what goes for primary schools in Nigeria need to change. I have always advocated that primary school buildings should be as good as university buildings as one finds abroad and in Southern Africa. The present sheds and huts called primary schools should give way to aesthetically architectured buildings. Primary schools should be so attractive that young people would want to keep coming there. The pupils there must be fed once in the afternoon every day. The present situation of children of the elite avoiding schooling with the children of the masses would have to give way correspondingly with the improvement in primary schools. What applies in the case of primary schools must apply to the secondary level where parents would have to contribute even if minimally to the cost of education at that level. Higher education would have to be paid for if standards must be maintained. Scholarships must be given to children of the poor by their local governments.

    How we finance government in a time like this will require financial and administrative ingenuity. The size of government would have to be cut. Do we really need the horde of legislators at local, state and national levels? Must they also be full time? Do we need a bi-cameral National Assembly? Do we honestly need the horde of bureaucrats administering underdevelopment? Do we need 40 ministers and the existing ministries all over the place? Do we need 36 federal universities and 40 state universities that are poorly funded and requiring heavy administrative costs? Do will need the same number of poorly-run polytechnics turning out unemployable young people? We have so many questions which we must begin to pose because of the need for rational decisions to be taken if the purpose of government is to be achieved.

    We cannot solve our problems in the course of this government or even in our own lives but we must begin in order to hand over to the next generation a legacy that will justify that we once lived in this environment or else our children and grand children will curse us and they will be right to do so. Government is too important to be left in the hands of those who are in government. We as guardians of the present must play our part by being watchful and ensuring that government would not depart or deviate from the well trodden path of good governance, political and fiscal rectitude.