The Nation Newspaper

Category: Thursday

  • APC: What prospects?

    APC: What prospects?

    A new political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), a broad coalition of three political parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and the All Nigerian Peoples’ Party (ANPP), has emerged on the Nigerian political scene. The registration of the new party by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after some disturbing hesitation and delay is commendable. It allayed widespread concerns that, under pressure by the PDP, the ruling party, the new party may not be registered. That would have been tragic. If there was such pressure from any political quarters, the INEC chose very wisely to reject it. In doing so, the INEC has restored public confidence in its electoral impartiality, vital in a democratic state.

    The emergence of this broad coalition of parties has generated some expectations and euphoria in Nigeria’s politics, particularly among the various opposition parties that have now merged and their supporters. The new party’s leaders are up beat about its electoral future. Many believe it is now time for change in the country, and that the new party may provide a credible alternative to the PDP Federal Government. Since the return of the country to civilian rule in 1999, the PDP has been in power, a total of 14 years. At the federal level at least, Nigeria was beginning to look increasingly like a one party state, or a one party dictatorship. After 14 years in power, the PDP Federal Government had become increasingly lethargic and complacent. That was partly because it did not have to contend with any serious opposition to its hold on power. The various opposition parties were too weak on their own to successfully challenge the electoral dominance of the PDP, itself an amalgam of various and often conflicting political tendencies.

    From that perspective, the emergence of a new broad coalition of parties should be considered a positive development in Nigerian politics. Nigeria needs a united, strong, and credible opposition party to check the excesses of the PDP Federal Government and make it more accountable and transparent. This has nothing to do with the performance or non-performance of the PDP Federal Government. Rather, it has to do with the fact that democracies function better where the opposition party has an electoral chance of replacing the ruling party in government. Even if the PDP Federal Government were doing quite well, it would still be necessary to have a strong opposition party that can present a clear alternative in policy choices to the nation. That is the essence of a true democracy.

    But will this new political alliance work? Does the emergence of the APC present the nation with the prospect of its becoming an alternative government? Can the APC seriously challenge the dominance of the PDP in the 2015 federal elections? The APC must face the fact that the PDP is still quite formidable. As the ruling party, it has enormous financial resources that it can use to influence the outcome of the elections. The new opposition cannot match these vast PDP resources. The president’s powers of patronage are quite enormous and he will use some of this to win votes in critical areas at the 2015 elections. In recent weeks, President Jonathan has been going up and down the country with some political goodies to mobilise support for his government.

    At this point, one can only speculate about the political future of the new alliance, as there are far too many imponderables and uncertainties in the political equation. To start with, the history of political grand alliances in Nigeria has not been a happy one. Grand coalitions are not new in Nigeria’s political history. Even the PDP itself is a kind of grand political alliance welding both the progressives and the conservatives together. From 1959, Nigeria has been governed, except under military rule, by grand party coalitions. Even during the current civilian dispensation, at least two such alliances among the opposition parties have been formed to dislodge the PDP from power. But, except the PDP, which is pan-Nigeria, the other coalitions or alliances have all failed. This is because Nigeria has for long been dominated by regional or tribal parties, a situation that reflects the tribal political structure of the country. Such regional political parties have block, or ‘captive’ votes that they can trade off with other parties in a coalition such as the APC.

    The logic of Nigerian politics has been that regionally, or tribally based political parties, cannot win federal elections on their own and need to enter into some form of political alliance with other equally regionally based parties. It was this situation that led to the formation of two grand party alliances in 1964 in the run-up to the federal elections. The NPC and the regionally based National Democratic Party (that had replaced the AG in the West) entered into an alliance, while the NCNC and the rump of the AG formed the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA). But these opposition alliances collapse when they lose elections because they are not really bound together by common values or policies, but by regional political interests, of which the most important is the capture of political power at the centre. The APC alliance will probably hold until after the 2015 presidential elections. If it loses that election it will probably collapse and the constituting parties will revert to their regional political stronghold. If it wins this will be a major feat.

    But the emergence of the APC is merely the first step in a long political journey. It will encounter many formidable challenges. A lot still has to be done by the alliance to dislodge the PDP from power. The alliance must avoid a descent into playing the regional card or pursuing regional interests as this will weaken the resolve and unity of the party. It is clear that the APC has some conflicting and contradictory tendencies in its fold. It is a coalition of both the progressives and the conservatives. Some of the politicians who have now embraced the APC worked actively in the past with the military. Their credentials as progressives are somewhat suspect. Many of them have no electoral appeal or credibility and could even prove to be an electoral liability to the new party. The major historical tragedy of the progressives in Nigeria is their inability to stay and stand the heat together. This was the case in 1993 when Abiola won the presidential elections on the platform of the SDP. When the military annulled the election many of those in the SDP, who had worked with Abiola, simply walked away and left him in the lurch.

    As a new coalition of parties, the APC should begin to mobilise the electorate at grass roots level for support and build strong party structures all over the country. Every hamlet, village, and towns must be involved in the mobilisation, and be made to believe that peaceful change, through elections, is possible in Nigeria. This is particularly vital in the North where federal elections are usually won or lost in the country. No political party has ever won federal elections in the country without getting the overwhelming political support and votes in the North. Obasanjo lost in the SW in 1999 but won the presidential elections with the backing of the North. That is where the major electoral battle is to be won. Now, this should lead the APC to present a credible Northern candidate in the 2015 presidential elections. Zoning of political offices, though deplorable, is a reality in Nigerian politics. It cannot be ignored. But such a candidate must be a youthful and visionary candidate that can swing the votes in the North and win the presidential elections for the APC. The party should avoid bringing in yesterday’s stodgy men who have little or nothing to offer the country.

    The party must also spell out in clear terms why it is different from the PDP, the ruling party, and why it deserves the broad support of the electorate. The public would like to know how the APC is going to tackle such prevailing critical challenges as mass corruption, state of insecurity, infrastructure deficit, poor health and education service deliveries, and the growing rate of unemployment in the country. These are some of the key economic problems facing the country. To have any chance of winning the 2015 presidential elections the APC must offer a credible alternative to the blundering and inept PDP Federal Government.

  • Welcoming the APC

    Welcoming the APC

    The emergence of the APC is good for Nigeria because it provides our people a viable alternative to the PDP government that has been in power for more than 14 years. Most Western democracies operate a two-party system i.e. there is always a party in government and another one in opposition keeping the one in government on its toes and providing a standing alternative to the government in power. This is the essence of democracy in many Western countries. There are of course countries in continental Europe like Germany and France where as a result of their culture, coalition governments of sometimes two or three parties seem to be the rule because of the intense factionalization in those countries. It reminds me of what General Charles De Gaulle used to say about French men that if you lock two French men in a room and ask them to form a political party; they are likely to come out with three political parties. In the history of Nigeria, the first time we ever had a semblance of a two-party system was during the Babangida era when two parties: the SDP and the NRC were decreed into being. Although we tend to criticize the military for all our problems, the imposition of the two-party system by General Babangida at that time was a master stroke. This was the system that gave us the best election that we have ever had and that produced MKO Abiola as the President that was never sworn in. Hopefully, the emergence of the APC will lead to credible elections 2015. At least we now have a choice of two national parties; one that has been in power for 14 years and for which we have nothing to show for it, and another that is ready to take power and has some credentials especially judging from the performance of some components of it in the South-west and in the North-east. The assemblage of seasoned politicians with credibility like Buhari and Tinubu and others should give the APC some leverage with the Nigerian voters. A lot of work of course has to be done in fashioning out a manifesto that is at least left of centre and that would be totally opposed to the abysmal corruption that the PDP has elevated to a philosophy of government. The two main planks of the APC for now are firmly rooted in the South-west and the North generally so demography favors the APC come 2015. Democracy is about one-man vote and with the lack of performance of the PDP generally, it should be possible for Buhari, Tinubu and other APC leaders to mobilize support in the North and in the South-west and also because the PDP itself is collapsing from inside, it will not be impossible to get the other parts of the country to join a winning band-wagon.

    All these of course are predicated on the kind of candidates the APC is able to choose for its presidential ticket. I speak as an outsider, if Buhari and Tinubu are able to control their personal ambitions and to look for a younger combination of credible people to run on the APC platform, the party stands a good chance of winning. The party should avoid anything that may make it look like a tribal or a religious coalition or party because its opponents would definitely exploit this if there is a tendency of the party in that direction.

    As for the Yoruba people, they now have a choice to make. The PDP used to appeal to some elements in the South-west by suggesting that the people would reap a lot of democratic dividends if they belong to the mainstream. The APC being a national party and more ideologically in tune with Yoruba political tradition should give the South-west the opportunity of genuinely belonging in the mainstream of Nigerian politics just as was the case with the SDP. The kind of mainstream offered by PDP has been found out to be totally not in consonance with Yoruba political tradition. After all, Obasanjo as president dragged the Yorubas into the so-called mainstream and they have nothing to show for it. The collapsed infrastructure in the South-west is a testimony to the PDP’s misrule even under Obasanjo. I would like to point out that what is good for Nigeria should be good for the Yoruba people. The Yoruba people do not want to be favored over others and they do not want to be discriminated against. Rather, what they want is equitable representation of all groups at all levels. Any fair assessment of the present regime cannot but come to the conclusion of total marginalization of the Yoruba people and the South-west. A situation in which the first 10 positions in the country do not have a single Yoruba among them is totally unacceptable for a people constituting about 40 million of Nigerians. The strength of the APC in the South-west is directly related to this marginalization.

    Secondly, the performance of the former ACN governors particularly in the upliftment of the infrastructure of the area is a strong testimony of what APC when it controls the federal government will do in the South-west. The PDP used to control the South-west before now and people should be reminded that their governors did virtually nothing for the people. In fact, people are now asking why it has been relatively easy for the ACN in the South-west to transform the infrastructure in the area while their predecessors were not able to do much. Just go to Ibadan, Abeokuta, Ado-Ekiti, Osogbo and Benin City and see what has been accomplished. These are the issues. Yoruba people are highly educated people and they like to play politics of issues not of personalities. Even though leaders like Tinubu, Akande, Osoba, Adeniyi Adebayo, Kayode Fayemi, Amosun, Ajimobi, Aregbesola and others are good mobilizers, but mobilization alone would not do unless there are issues around which people can be mobilized and the main issue in the South-west is the non-performance of the PDP and the marginalization of the Yoruba people. It is not just the leaders in the South-west who are saying this, ordinary commuters on the dilapidated roads and those who need power to run their small businesses and those who need security in their homes and on the streets are grumbling loudly and who do they blame, they blame the PDP federal government and this is rightly so. The issue is not about Tinubu delivering the South-west or Buhari delivering the North. In fact, nobody can deliver anybody. The point is the disenchantment, disillusionment and dissatisfaction of the people with what is going on.

    If the PDP were wise, they should quickly realize that the issue is not about personalities but about programs and performance so any campaign based on discrediting Tinubu, Buhari and other leaders of the APC would not wash. This question of issues will also resonate I must say among other Nigerians even in the South-south not to talk about the South-east. It is unfortunate that politics in Nigeria is based on the coalition of ethnic groups against other ethnic groups. One hopes that 2015 would usher in the same kind of movement that produced the same result of the election of a Muslim-Muslim ticket of MKO Abiola and Babagana Kingibe in 1993. As for the Labour Party in Ondo being a vanguard for the division of the South-west in 2015, I do not see that happening. The Labour Party in Ondo is built around the charismatic leadership of Olusegun Mimiko, a young man that I admire very much. But this is a flash in the pan when Mimiko finishes his second term, the Labour Party will be swept out of the South-west. There have been instances of political parties built around a one-man charismatic leadership in the past.

  • Akande and Jonathan’s combative aides

    Akande and Jonathan’s combative aides

    Chief Bisi Akande, the interim chairman of newly registered APC, must by now be wondering what he said about an elected president to warrant the verbal assault from President Jonathan’s combative media aides. He must be having a nostalgic craving for the old constitutional monarchy of his people where leaders earned their positions, answerable to the people and can be told to abdicate if they betray the trust of the people. Part of what may be agitating his mind could also be whether we have not made a mistake to trade the old reliable system for the current variant of PDP democracy where losers resort to self-help and where might is right.

    The old man had incurred the wrath of the angry and combative media experts when he last week stated that ‘following two meetings he had with the president since 2011 and two other long telephone conversation on two other different occasions to discuss serious challenges facing the country, he came to the conclusion that the president has reduced governance to kindergarten level and that he is not serious-minded.’ He also accused him handling national issues with levity as well as of embarking on witch-hunt of political enemies citing the cases of Asiwaju Tinubu who was dragged before the Code of Conduct Bureau, even while the president has refused to declare his own assets and Rotimi Amaechi, who was being persecuted because of what the chief described as ‘his insistence that the allocation of the country must be judiciously shared among local, state and the federal governments.’

    The above is what the president aides dismissed as “an unguarded and intemperate outburst, not only an unbecoming lack of respect for the person and office of the President of his country, but also a complete disregard for the patriotic feelings of the millions of Nigerians who voted for President Jonathan and who continue to appreciate his sincere efforts to positively transform the nation.’ He was also accused of ‘rudely and falsely describing President Jonathan as a ‘kindergarten’ leader who treats national issues with levity’. It doesn’t matter whether there is an element of truth in this claim for the president who has not found time to publicly address the ongoing ASUU strike or thought it necessary as the father of all in the on-going intra-party crisis in Rivers to call to order rascals who claimed to be fighting his family’s wars. They also did not forget to warn “Chief Akande and his fellow-travellers to remember that there are laws against libel and defamation of character in this country even if there are no legal impediments to indecorous, hypocritical and unpatriotic vituperations.” As a final shot, they said “It is certainly rude, ill-mannered, uncharitable and hypocritical for Chief Akande to falsely and cavalierly allege that a President who toils tirelessly every day of the week, evolving and implementing workable solutions to Nigeria’s problems, is handling national issues with levity.’ For maximum effect they cited one of the president major achievements- ‘his well acclaimed deft handling of the insurgency.’

    And for accusing Jonathan of playing ethnic and religious politics in order to divert attention from his bad governance, the media aides have also taken a swipe at El-Rufai, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. They dismissed him as a ‘serial liar.’ They want Nigerians to note that El-Rufai ‘profaned the name of Jesus Christ on Twitter by tweeting a joke which is too indecent to mention in the presence of civilized persons’.

    And to demonstrate that President Jonathan does not play religious and ethnic politics, they called attention to the president who ‘though a Christian took part in the just-concluded Ramadan fast and broke his fast with Muslim faithful every evening.’ Besides they cited ‘the quantum of funds that Jonathan had spent on education specifically tailored for Islamic itinerant scholars known as the almajiris,’ to demonstrate his tolerance of all religions.

    The PDP through its acting secretary Okeke also descended heavily on Chief Akande claiming that ‘the main agenda of Akande and other prominent members of the APC were to liquidate the nation’s economy’. He did not say how but added that ‘Akande and El-Rufai were aggrieved because of the refusal of the President to join the APC when he was invited’. I suspect a tinge of blackmail is allowed here to justify the righteous indignation of the president’s media aides and PDP.

    President Ebele Jonathan has for over two years worked under severe strains. The thankless albeit a privileged job of paddling the affairs of our great nation has started to take its toll. Watching him closely during his last visit to his godfather, ex-President Obasanjo in Abeokuta, the scars have become very visible. He is fast aging, while some of his ministers, special advisers, and some rabble rousers who claim to be the president co-crusaders are developing rosy cheeks and rotund faces.

    The angry media aides have been called upon to assuage the president’s apparent feelings of despondency, celebrate his self-acclaimed giant strides, and insulate him from the offensive actions of some of his PDP feral party members. They are also aware the president as a toy in the hands of PDP political warlords is called upon to take responsibility for the mundane, the ludicrous and outright invidious actions of PDP unruly family members. But the media experts are equally aware that the opposition is the weakest link.

    For instance it was not the president but PDP that influenced the emergence of Ahmadu Alli as chairman of PDP as well as his chairmanship of PPRA. Yet his presidency suffered collateral damage when the later was accused of presiding over the loss of about N1.7 trillion in phantom fuel subsidy. When poor Nigerians were indirectly called upon to pay through taxation, which experts said best described the fuel pump price increase, the president took direct responsibility. When his economic advisers misinformed millions of his admirers who gave him a landslide victory that the price increase would affect only the middle class car owners and the wealthy Lagos residents, the president alone faced the outrage of commuters, petty business owners and 140 millions Nigerians that the minister for power claimed have no access to electricity.

    When overzealous police officers under the police commissioner Joseph Mbu shut down a section of Port Harcourt where the first lady has her mansion erected, making it impossible for even the governor to move, the president is called upon to check the excesses of his unelected wife. When the governor of Balyelsa appointed the president’s wife, Dr Patience Jonathan, a permanent secretary to operate from the presidency in Abuja, the president was accused of nepotism. Even when Bipi the leader of a gang of five that illegally attempted to take over Rivers State House of Assembly proclaimed the first lady a messiah for whom he was prepared to lay down his life, the president was the one accused of blasphemy by his fellow Christians. As we can see from the account of how Nyesom Wike emerged as a minister, infiltration of the president’s cabinet by leaders of the South-south militants as well as the North-east Boko Haram was the handiwork of PDP.

    But as I said on this page last week, both Doyin Okupe and Ahmed Gulak failed to protect the president from bad press because instead of focusing on improving the quality of their product, they adopted an outdated media model of leaving the substance to chase the shadows. The product and its qualities contribute to the making of a successful brand. The decision by Reuben Abati to now join and invigorate the efforts of the duo will not make the press legitimize President Jonathan’s assault on the spirit of the constitution. It is also not likely that angry verbal assault on Chief Akande by combative media aides while ignoring the important issues he had raised will suddenly lead to a change of fortune for a government that has not only failed to meet the aspirations of the people, but generally considered as very corrupt by both national and international press.

  • ‘It’s the economy, stupid’

    The economy is a reflection of a country’s development. If a country is doing well, it shows in its economy and if it is otherwise, it also shows. So, the economy is the pivot on which every other thing rests, especially the core elements of the economy, such as manufacturing, banking, finance and insurance, transport, oil and gas and human development.

    Every nation strives for a productive economy and not a consuming economy because of its derivative benefits. In a productive economy, the per capital income is good and the people live well. A nation’s economy says a lot about it. Its strength and ‘’vulnerabilities’’, to borrow the word of the all – knowing Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo – Iweala, are the determinants of how well an economy is doing. How well is our economy doing?

    Okonjo – Iweala answered this question in an interview in ThisDay on Sunday four days ago. Her answer : ‘’Our economy is strong, with vulnerabilities’’. Yes, we are all vulnerable in one way or the other; so in that wise, Madam Minister was not saying anything. What she should have told us in simple and plain language is either that the economy is doing well or it is not doing well. Rather than do that, she chose to talk from both sides of the mouth.

    That same Sunday, the African Development Bank (AfDB), answered the same question and chose to shoot straight from the hip. Without mincing words like Okonjo – Iweala, AfDB said the Nigerian economy did not do well last year, quoting its African Economic Outlook (AEO) report. The government fought back swiftly, dismissing the report as ‘’false and political’’. Can AfDB play politics with such matters? What will be its gain in being political in a report that covers all countries on the continent?

    Our government is alleging that AfDB was biased against it when statistics showed otherwise. The only basis on which it can sustain the bias argument is to prove that the statistics used is not correct. If the government cannot do that, the best it can do in the circumstance is to look through that report once again and see how it can work with it to improve the economy. There is no need to grandstand over this very serious issue if the government has the interest of the governed at heart. Even in the United States (US). which is far developed than Nigeria, the issue of the economy is taken seriously. This was why in 1992, former President Bill Clinton, who was then campaigning for office, focused on reviving the ailing American economy. The catch phrase of his campaign, coined by master strategist James Carville, was : ‘’It’s the economy, stupid’’. Till today, whether in America or any other country for that matter, it’s still the economy, stupid.

    The AfDB as the continent’s leading financial institution owes it a duty to make its owner member – states to be alive to their responsibilities whenever their economies are not doing well. If it does not do that, it means that it is not doing its job. What then will be the essence of having the AfDB if it cannot comment on the economies of countries under its purview? If the government must know, the AfDB is not there to make life comfortable for countries on the continent whose economies are not doing fine. No, its job is not to praise sing governments, but to ensure that they do the right thing for their people by developing a robust economy. An economy can only become strong when it is properly managed and those at the helm are not stealing as some leaders are doing in Africa.

    We are where we are today in Africa because of the thieves in power on the continent. Many of them know next to nothing about the economy, so they find the criticism of their economic policies hard to swallow. As I said, the AfDB was only doing its job by presenting its report on the African economy and a wise government will take a look at the document and make amends where necessary. It is not for the government to bellyache and impute motives to what the bank did. Despite the bank’s low rating of our economy, it noted that the future is bright if we do the right things. So, it was not condemnation all the way as government officials have been painting it. The AfDB noted that the economic growth last year did not translate into job creation and poverty alleviation, adding that unemployment rose from 21 percent in 2010 to 24 percent in 2011. ‘

    The report said : ‘’The Nigerian economy slowed down from 7.4 % growth in 2011 to 6.6 % in 2012. The oil sector continues to drive the economy, with average growth of about 8 %, compared to -0.35 % for the non – oil sector. Agriculture and the oil and gas sector continue to dominate economic activities in Nigeria. The fiscal consolidation stance of the government has helped to contain fiscal deficit below 3.0 % of gross domestic product (GDP). This, coupled with the tight monetary policy stance of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), helped to keep inflation at around 12.0 % in 2012. Short and mid – term downside risks include security challenges arising from religious conflicts in some states, costs associated with flooding, slower global economic growth (particularly in the United States and China) and the sovereign debt crisis in the euro area.

    The AfDB could not have done that because it is supposed to aid the growth of the same economy.

    So, it refrained from throw

    ing the baby away with the

    bathwater in its assessment. Proffering the way out, it said : ‘’There is a high need to diversify the Nigerian economy into the non – oil sector. This will help expand the sources of growth and make it broad based, both socially and geographically. Further development of agriculture, manufacturing and services could broaden growth, create employment and reduce poverty’’.

    Monday, Mr Labaran Maku, Information Minister, faulted the AfDB report, saying it was based on old data. ‘’The AfDB report based on 1996 – 2010 statistics is therefore behind time and does not reflect the real achievements/results of this administration in tackling poverty and unemployment in Nigeria in the last three years. This government has undertaken significant policy reforms targeted at addressing the challenges identified in the report. These policy interventions have contributed positively to turning things around beyond the picture painted in the report. Poverty is a national challenge that transcends the whole country cutting across party divides. In reality, the responsibility of fighting poverty does not rest solely with the Federal Government. States and local governments share in this responsibility too. Dealing with poverty as a partisan phenomenon will be trivialising the problem’’. This is the problem with our leaders. They view every criticism from the political prism.

    They see nothing constructive in any criticism of their policies and actions. Their belief is that their political foes sponsor such criticisms against them. Unfortunately, this is the light in which the government is seeing the AfDB report. It is imputing political motive to the AfDB action. I will not be surprised if the government accuses the opposition of sponsoring the report instead of taking a critical look at it in order to make use of the salient findings therein. Will we ever grow if we continue to think like this? May God give us leaders with large hearts, who will not see every criticism as a ploy to bring them down. By the way, Mr Maku, where are the jobs?

  • To sound like a broken chord…

    There is a patience of the wild that holds motionless for endless hours, the police constable at an illicit checkpoint, the kidnapper in his lair, the assassin in his ambuscade and the public officer on his perch – this patience belongs primarily to the predator while it hunts its prey.

    Today however, a terrifying thing has happened; of the ubiquitous prey, a more frightening ogre has evolved: the contemporary Nigerian youth. And by his emergence, we suffer a throwback to the most terrifying of humanity’s savage past. His emergence portends a physical and mental conundrum of sort; the consequence is seen and felt all about us.

    Oftentimes, it manifests in uncontrollable spasms that have seen us bury our best and elevate our worst in abject negation of the cycle of the universe and morality. But who needs morals in a nation where fair is foul and foul is fair?

    Today, the Nigerian youth live through each day hardly contemplating or criticizing their living conditions. They find themselves born into dehumanizing squalor or somewhat indecent circumstances and they accept such sordidness as their fate – thus they exhibit no conscious effort to better their lot.

    Almost as impulsively as the beasts of the wild, they seek the satisfaction of the needs of the moment, without much forethought that by sufficient endeavour, they just might improve their living conditions.

    However, a certain percentage of the nation’s youth guided by personal ambition; consciously strive in thought and will, to attain more privileged status that remains the exclusive preserve of more fortunate members of the society. But these very few hardly worry to secure for all, the advantages which they seek for themselves. This explains the number of self-seeking and treacherous ‘human rights activists,’ ‘women’s rights activists,’ journalists and columnists parading our streets.

    Very few men are indeed capable of that kind of love that drives martyrs to persistently rebel against glaring social evils in the interest of less fortunate members of the society. But there exists a few however, that are truly bothered by the impoverishment of their fellow citizens regardless of any jeopardy it might attract to them personally.

    These few, driven by compassion tirelessly seek, first in thought and then in action, for some way of escape; some new system of society by which life may become richer and devoid of escapable evils that mars the present. But surprisingly, such men oftentimes fail to win the support of the very victims of the injustices they wish to fight.

    More unfortunate sections of the Nigerian youth are hopelessly ignorant, apathetic from excess of toil and disillusionment, apprehensive through the imminent danger of chastisement by the holders of power, and morally defective owing to the loss of self-respect resulting from their degradation. To excite among such youth any conscious quest to improve the status quo proves basically a hopeless task, as antecedents of such efforts have proven.

    Hence despite our claims to modernity, higher education, sophistication and relative rise in the standard of comfort among the youth and wage-earners in the country, the Nigerian society or youth to be precise, have failed woefully to achieve better living conditions and a better society even in the throes of rising demand for more radical intervention and reconstruction of the social order.

    It is no surprise however that the nation’s youth has persistently proved a dismal failure. And the reasons are hardly far-fetched: the Nigerian youth has a problem with differentiating between appropriate and inappropriate political behaviour.  That is why the nation’s democratic experiment like any other system of governance practicable by us was doomed from the start.

    What exactly has democracy offered? A 4-1-9 progressive plan that booms circumspectly like it had been doctored as part of a cold-war era propagandist scheme? But despite our self-righteousness and persistent cynicism with the current order, we really cannot explore a more worthy alternative than what we have now. The average Nigerian can’t bear to be led by a truly honest, visionary and accountable leadership. That explains why we opted for the incumbent leadership.

    It’s the way we are programmed to live. I’d say we possess an overwhelming and oft-convincing inclination to self-destruct, thus our lack of a coherent and defensible political ideology essential to the evolution of a progressive leadership and state.

    The average Nigerian is no more electable than the leadership he endures yet he loves to speak truth to power even as he functions simultaneously to smother his own voice in the riotous gabble of his exultation of the same ruling class whose eradication he claims to pursue. No matter who is elected, the demographic and economic realities of Nigeria will persist, and there is a very limited range of politically-viable solutions for dealing with them.

    No man; be he a distinguished columnist, lawyer, soldier, or public officer in any office can command the tides of history. The few that appear to have done so–the Napoleon’s, Caesar’s, Hitler’s–were really nothing more than the most capable at making it appear that they command the tides, when in fact they were simply skimming along with them.

    There is an urgent need for the Nigerian youth to consciously evolve in thought and will, in pursuit of a more balanced social order. Such conscious evolution can only be achieved by a re-orientation in scholarship and purification of thought and action.

    The foundations of scholarship and knowledge must be clinically reconstructed to guarantee more progressive responses to internal problems of work and wages, families and homes, of morals and the true value of life. These problems must be resolvable by an average youth by reason of his constitution and exposure. This informs a greater need for study and thought and an appeal to the rich experience of past and current mistakes in the journey towards the avoidance and reduction to the barest minimum of future foibles.

    The answer to Nigeria’s widening income and social gap – which has so far manifested in preventable crises and persistent state of insecurity – is to found an educational process geared to steer successfully, the commonplace trains of thought away from the dilettante and the fool stereotype.

    It’s about time poor, struggling members of the nation’s working class learned to scorn the maxim that holds that if their stomachs be full, it matters little about their brains; the paths to stable peace and security winds between honest toil and dignified manhood. That proverbial better society that we seek calls for the guidance of skilled thinkers, the loving, reverent comradeship between the low income earners and ambitious middle class emancipated by training and culture.

    Such human elements would no doubt be conscious of the fact that not even the sustenance of oil subsidy, higher wages and a fairer economic system could protect its members from the usual handicaps and monstrosity constituted by the incumbent and predatory ruling class.

    Hence they would be able to understand that such social enterprise and gesture towards change must be mooted and achieved by the youth themselves in further substantiation of their capacities to assimilate the culture and common sense of modern civilization, and to pass it on, to some extent at least, to posterity.

    • To be continued…

  • Financing development in Nigeria

    Since the discovery of oil in large quantities, particularly since 1970, the question of taxation has not always been in the front burner of discussion but with the inevitable decline in oil and gas receipts, we must begin to discuss alternative sources of revenue in this country. First of all, it is not healthy to depend on what amounts to collection of commission from oil companies by the national government and sharing it down the line to the states and local governments. This comprador capitalism is not healthy. The side effect of this mode of financing development is the rampant corruption in the country because the ordinary people are not feeling the pinch of taxation. Oil and gas money apparently do not come from people’s pocket so they are not in a position to protest against embezzlement at all levels. The inevitability of decline in national revenue arising from stealing of crude oil and under-declaring of production by multinationals as well as sabotage of gas and oil pipelines by criminals parading themselves as militants and finally the development of shale gas in the United States and Canada and possibly in Europe and Asia will no doubt have serious consequences on national revenue in Nigeria. This may save us from the curse of oil which has ruined the mentality of our leaders and the psyche of our people. The days of cheap money may be coming to an end. This should not be a cause of worry for the ordinary people; in fact we should look forward to it. Since 1956 when oil was discovered in Oloibiri, the present day Bayelsa State, we have not really exploited to the full, the use of oil for our national development but now that the days of cheap money is coming to an end and we have still not industrialised our economy or developed necessary infrastructure for an industrial take-off, we have now to begin to look at alternative sources of financing for development. Apart from a few people who are employed in the private and public sectors and who have taxes deducted at source from their salaries, most people in Nigeria do not pay taxes. This may sound unbelievable that there are billionaires in Nigeria who are in self-employment who pay no taxes. Taxing these people is a veritable source of revenue for development if government is serious about its responsibilities.

    There are two ways by which taxes can be collected – this could be in direct or poll taxes on income but since this is going to be difficult because of our poor statistics and limited commercial intelligence and the unfairness of levying uniform taxes on all. It may be wiser to rely on consumer taxes as well as property taxes.

    Consumer taxes can be imposed on everything that we buy especially in shops, restaurants, pharmacies, and other such organised places. Property taxes can be levied as the name implies on all landed properties in the country. Lagos state calls this land use levy. It is not a popular way of taxes but it is necessary, I applaud Lagos state for this innovation which if I must say comes directly from Canada. I also recommend this land use taxes to all states of the federation and the federal capital territory in Abuja. The caveat is that this is a state tax and not a federal tax and on no account should the federal government meddle in raising property taxes. In any case, any sensible person knows that the federal government in Nigeria is the most powerful federal government in the world and our president enjoys untrammelled power that is not comparable to any president in any place in the world and we do not want to increase this power. One hopes that the discussion on the constitution would severely devolve power from the centre to the states and the regions.

    Other taxes that should be raised are excise duties on industrial products manufactured in the country and my suggestion is that these excise duties should no longer belong in the province of the federal government. They should be state taxes in order to boost the revenue of the state so that development can be local rather than being sucked into the Aegean stable of the corruption at the centre. The federal government of course will continue to collect custom duties as well as mineral taxes and in this regard, it may be useful to have a profound discussion on mineral rights including oil and gas. The time may already have come to find a way out of the stealing going on in the oil-producing areas by resolving the question of ownership in favour of the oil and gas and mineral producing areas of the country. The federal government will therefore be in a position to impose any percentage of tax ranging from 0-100% on mineral production.

    Nobody likes to pay taxes and this is not a unique foible of Nigerians, it is universal but payment of taxes is necessary. There can be no democratic representation without taxes. We cannot have government of the people, for the people, by the people without the responsibilities that go with it in terms of sustaining the government through taxes and there can be no room for the people as stakeholders unless they pay taxes and the only way by which the people can take possession and own the government and be observant about what is going on is if they pay taxes to sustain the government. Hence, payment of taxes is good for the people because this is the only way they can rein in corruption through their oversight of government expenditure. All our cry of corruption will remain futile cry unless we are involved in funding the government but as of now, only a few taxpayers can legitimately shout foul when corruption is exposed. The others feel that government money is nobody’s money and can be stolen at will. In the 1960s, during the height of the Agbekoya rebellion in the old western region, the reason why the rebellion was widespread was because people were called upon to pay taxes particularly in the rural areas. The people were not opposed to paying taxes, what Tafa Adeoye and his people complained about was that money was being collected without commensurate development. In order to stop this bush fire from spreading, the government in the western region had to suspend the poll tax. This may not be the experience in the north where Jangali or cattle tax has been paid from time immemorial. What the history of taxation teaches us in Nigeria is that government must respond to the developmental needs of the people if there is going to be peace and the reason why we still have peace in spite of apparent lack of development and positive government response to our developmental need is because by and large, most Nigerians are not paying taxes. I call on our governments at the local, state and federal government levels to begin to educate our people about the need to pay taxes if we want development. This is the time to do this so that it is a gradual process rather than wait until the hydrocarbon market collapses before we embark on fire brigade method of levying taxes that will be needed to fund government operations. A stitch in time saves nine, if we do nothing now, we may not be able to do it when the time comes.

  • Boko Haram: A Maiduguri resident’s first – hand account

    I had always looked forward to meeting someone from Maiduguri, the epicentre of the activities of Boko Haram in Borno State. What will the person look like? Will he look terrified? Will he bear visible scars (not necessarily from personal attacks) of the Boko Haram insurgency? And most importantly, will he be willing to relive his experience in the sect’s enclave. Yes, whether we like it or not, Maiduguri has become Boko Haram’s enclave because it holds sway there.

    For many of us down South, Maiduguri or any of those places where Boko Haram rules are not where we want to visit even when the opportunity arises to do so, with little or no cost to us. As journalists, we literally run away when we are told to come and go to Maduguri on assignment. With mouths wide open, we look at the person talking to us with eyes that that say : old boy na now I know say you no like me.

    It is as if the person suggesting that we should go to Maiduguri wants us dead. On such occasion, we tend to forget that there are people living, schooling or working in the town. This is why I had been anxious to meet someone from there. The good Lord answered my prayer a few weeks ago when I met a female student from the beleaguered city. If I had not been told that she is from Maiduguri, I wouldn’t have known that she is from there because there were no telltale signs of the trouble over there on her.

    She looked every bit like any of the girls you run into on the streets of Lagos daily. With a shiny, ebony black skin, Jennifer, let’s just call her that, did not carry the burden of coming from a place like Maiduguri on her face at all. Instead, she smiled knowingly as Adeniyi Adesina, the Deputy Editor (News) of this paper, and I chatted with her. She pardoned our benign ignorance as we regaled her with how we believe that Maiduguri must be looking like now with Boko Haram ruling the place.

    Jennifer laughed and laughed, saying in between her laughter that things are not like that at all. Maiduguri, she told us is ‘’peaceful’’. ‘’Peaceful’’, Niyi and I shouted, adding : ‘’With all that we have been hearing that place cannot be peaceful’’. ‘’In fact, the peace of Maiduguri had long been shattered’’, I added for effect. The girl looked at me and laughed, wondering what could be wrong with this man who, as the Yoruba would say, ‘’wants to know a child more than the mother’’

    Our encounter with Jennifer was an eye – opener of sorts for Niyi and I about how little we know of what is really happening in Maiduguri besides the Boko Haram insurgency, which has been dominating reports from there in the past four years. Is Maiduguri that safe for habitation that a girl like Jennifer could come from there and be bold enough to engage Niyi and I in discussion about her much beloved town. Even though, Jennifer says she is from Biu, on the outskirts of Maiduguri, she stays more in the Borno State capital than in her home town.

    As a reporter, my mind kept going back to that encounter with Jennifer. Is it that Maiduguri is safe and we are painting a different picture of a ravaged town in Lagos? How do we get her to put this in writing? The reporter in me wanted a story as told by her in order to put a human face to the Maiduguri conundrum. But I could not do that without her permission. To use her story without her consent will be a breach of trust and confidence. Because of the confidence Jennifer has in this paper, she has agreed to tell her story herself soon. Niyi and I were able to convince her that it would take people like her to come out and talk for Nigerians to know that things are not as bad as they believe in Maiduguri. ‘’If you don’t talk, we, like most Nigerians, will continue to believe that Maiduguri is a no go area. But you have just come from the place, looking good, well kept and healthy. There cannot be a better poster child for Maiduguri, at least for now, than you’’, we told her. This was all Jennifer needed to open up during our private discussion later. “Before the death of Moham

    med Yusuf, the sect’s

    founder, in 2009, Maiduguri was peaceful’’, she bagan. ‘’There was cordial relationship between Muslims and Christians. Life went on smoothly. People went about their businesses without being molested. There were no fears of any attack. Things changed after the death of Mohammed Yusuf. His followers wanted to avenge his death because they believe that he was killed by security men. That was when this problem started. People started staying away from the streets to avoid being attacked or caught in the crossfire of attacks.

    ‘’In the heat of this, the government imposed curfew on Maiduguri. Even before the curfew, by 6 p.m., you won’t find people on the streets. Many would have returned home. I attend the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), The campus is peaceful. We go for our lectures regularly without any cause for alarm. Students are in school; even those from the South are among us. We relate very well. We don’t have any reason to fear for Boko Haram. You can’t even know a Boko Haram member. You may even be living with a member of Boko Haram without knowing. There is nothing to distinguish a Boko Haram member from other people.

    ‘’Before Mohammed Yusuf’s death, you could know a Boko Haram member by his dressing. Then, they wore long beards and their trousers were not full length. I don’t remember the kind of dress they wore. The university is on Maiduguri – Bama road, but there is no problem on campus. Lectures are going on. It s difficult to know who a Boko Haram member is. Even, they can be among soldiers and policemen. If you inform the police or the army about any Boko Haram member, you may be looking for trouble because you will be found out and killed. Now, they don’t dress like they used to do while Mohammed Yusuf was alive. So, you cannot tell who is a Boko Haram member or not. But the town is generally peaceful. Women go to the market; children go to school. If Boko Haram attacks anywhere there must be reason for it’’.

    ‘’Is it then safe for me to visit Maiduguri?’’ I asked. ‘’Yes’’, she answered, ‘’as long as you don’t go and report any Boko Haram member to the police’’, and we burst into laughter. You will soon meet Jennifer, mind you, not that Jennifer, in this paper.

    Wild, wild Wike

    They call him Nyesom Wike and he is the Minister of State for Education, a position he got, courtesy of Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi when the going was good between them. In their party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), nobody can become minister in a state without the governor’s nod. So, it amounts to empty boast, today, by Wike that Amaechi had no input in how he became minister. He can tell that to the Marines. Wike spoke like that because of the rift between him and Amaechi. We can understand that. Shouldn’t he have limited himself to that statement instead of pouring invectives on Amaechi? You don’t address a governor like that no matter your grievances. What reconciliation are we then talking about if Wike can be allowed to shoot his mouth in public like that? His masters had better call him to order.

  • President Jonathan Sagamu road-show

    President Jonathan Sagamu road-show

    The image of President Jonathan behind the wheel of land-mover to mark the kick off of work on the long abandoned Lagos-Ibadan expressway was not only insensitive but equally an assault on the sensibilities of Nigerians who had been at one time or the other marooned on that road for hours, sometimes days or have lost loved ones in the harvest of deaths occasioned by PDP 14 years of misrule, of corruption and of abandoned projects spread across the nation. That the collapsed Lagos-Ibadan expressway has been the most visible is because of its impact on our overall socio-economic development. It is only in this part of the world that politicians behave as if they are doing those who elected them a favour.

    Tragically, PDP that should be apologizing to Nigerians, victims of the party’s inept leadership, has been celebrating what was nothing but a ‘Sagamu charade’, as another manifestation of President Jonathan transformation agenda. The party has now said, through Caesar Okeke, its acting secretary, that the flag-off was a demonstration of President Jonathan’s love for the people of South-west as the exercise has ‘‘put the lie’ to the insinuation of marginalization against South-west by the Jonathan administration’. But PDP forgets that the people of South-west, like their true representatives, the ACN governors that snubbed the Sagamu charade, have the capacity to interpret even the motive behind greetings. These are highly principled and proud people who at the height of intimidation and oppression by federal government backed Akintola NNDP’s ‘Ijoba Tulasi’ (government by force) loudly proclaimed ‘if you see my hand, you cannot see my heart’. They can differentiate between those who treat them with contempt and those who treat them with respect.

    Not even the Works Minister, Mike Onolememen’s statement that federal government renewed interest on the road was informed by the fact that “It is a major artery that connects Lagos, major Nigerian seaports, to other states of the federation and forms not only a part of the Trans-Saharan Highway that links Lagos on the Atlantic Ocean to Algiers on the Mediterranean Sea but also part of the Trans-African Highway”, has stopped the celebration of the absurd by PDP buccaneers who assumed the abandonment of this all important road for 14 years hurt the South-west more. But the truth of the matter is that the South-west that has many alternative inter-state roads through Agege, Ota, Ikorodu, Epe, Sagamu, Ijebu-Ode to Ibadan, Abeokuta and Ilaro; is not the greatest victim of federal government 14 years of insensitivity. Those hit most are other Nigerians from South-south, South-east, North-central and North-west that have no alternative to traversing through the road to ferry their goods from the country’s major port and the nation’s economic nerve centre.

    Governor Fashola of Lagos recently observed that ‘all manner of things happen in an election season’. But let us pretend we don’t know the president is a veteran of politics of subterfuge, politics of trade-off, that the flag off of work was motivated by politics of 2015, and that the acting PDP scribe was right about the president’s new found love for South-west. The problem however is that judging from PDP antecedents and the numerous abandoned projects all over the country; successful completion of the road in spite of the flag-off with fanfare is not assured. Indeed the only thing that appears certain in spite of PDP fraudulent celebration of yet to be implemented transformation agenda is that relief for motorists that ply Lagos-Ibadan expressway is a forlorn hope. The reasons are apparent.

    First, we have passed through this same road before. Obasanjo, Jonathan’s godfather once embarked on similar road show when he flagged off with fanfare, the Ibadan-Ilorin expressway in 2001. Last week, after 13 years of politics of ‘motion without movement’, the current PDP minister of works assured Nigerians that efforts ‘are being made to complete the Oyo-Ogbomosho portion of the road.’

    There were other road shows by successive PDP work ministers. Adeseye Ogunlewe flagged off the rehabilitation and reconstruction of this same Lagos-Ibadan expressway shortly before the 2003 election. Under Tony Anenih currently the chairman of Nigeria Ports Authority and chairman of PDP (BOT) as Minister of Works, over N300b budgetary allocation for roads construction, brought little relief to road users. There was also the road show by the current minster of petroleum that had, as minister of works, wept and sobbed like a baby while supervising the suffering of motorists on the collapsed Sagamu-Ore Benin expressway. The revered Oba of Benin who did not want his palace desecrated was said to have barred one PDP minister of works from entering his palace.

    One other reason to assume the whole flag off was a political gimmick or a publicity stunt that is not likely to end the nightmares of motorists plying the Lagos-Ibadan expressway anytime soon can be deduced from the candor of the president who has already indirectly hinted that the funds to construct the road are not readily available. The president is more cautious than his PDP riotous merchants and celebrants.

    This is understandable. He already has his cup full. The Presidential Projects Assessment Committee (PPAC) he set up in March 2011, to look into cases of abandoned federal government projects claimed that there were 11,886 abandoned projects that will cost an estimated N7.78 trillion to complete. The Institute of Project Management of Nigeria (IPMN) and the president’s Special Assistant on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Professor Sylvester Monye have given the breakdown and the spread of some of the projects to the public. They include the 400 metre long Utor bridge along Asaba-Ebu-Uromi road awarded in 2006 but abandoned in 2009, Ikorodu-Sagamu road and Lagos-Otta road project awarded in 2001 but abandoned by both Impresit Bakolori PLC and Julius Berger because of ‘inadequate funding,’; the 36 kilometres Bodo-Bonny road in Rivers awarded in 2002; the abandoned 285 NNDC projects and 1,994 rural electrification projects among many others spread around the various geo-political zones of the country.

    Experts have claimed that ‘it will take more than five years budgeting about N1.5trillion annually to complete these abandoned projects’, if government does not add new ones. But , as recently argued by Nasir El Rufai, ex minister for Abuja federal territory, “rather than these figures compelling the government to accelerate… the government would rather continue the weekly charade of awarding new contracts or re-awarding old ones at higher prices during its weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meetings.”

    To many cynics and government critics, it is only logical to assume the Lagos-Ibadan expressway flag-off perfectly fits into this charade conceived in the main to raise money for 2015 which has already taken on the character of ‘do or die election’ as evidenced by the on-going PDP’s vicious intra-party battles.

    Government’s failure to give sufficient information on the contract is further fueling this suspicion. For instance the public would like to be assured that N1.3b rate for a kilometre of road is competitive. And if according to the minister of works, “government concession agreement with Messrs Bi-Courtney to develop …, a distance of approximately 105 kilometres under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement” was at a cost of N98.5b in 2009, they want to know why 127 kilometres is now costing N167 billion. Although the money is not even there to start with, but a gloomier prospect is the project getting stagnated after the election, to be followed by an upward review of cost by a 100 percent as recently witnessed by the stagnated vice president’s official mansion and the abandoned Lagos-Otta road.

  • Allah-De: A master’s passage

    Allah-De: A master’s passage

    FIRST, a confession. I am the least qualified to write the obituary of this great man, whose departure was as quiet and graceful as the life he led. His voice was loud, not in physical terms, but in the literary sense, as expressed in the evergreen column he wrote to whip indolent leaders, keep the ordinary man in high spirits and illuminate the dark alley of a political scene that we had.

    The late Hadj Alade Idowu Odunewu passed on without drama in Lagos on July 25. He was 85. There was a rain of tributes –from the President, governors and many eminent citizens, including frontline journalists who knew him intimately as I never did.

    But, thanks to Mr Lanre Idowu, one of the few remaining links between the old and the new schools of Nigerian journalism, I had an opportunity to contribute to “Nigerian columnists and their art”, a collection of articles he edited to mark the late Hadj Odunewu’s 80th birthday in 2009. Here are excerpts from my contribution, which I reproduce as a mark of my admiration for one of journalism’s greats:

    The columnist’s agenda

    For the Nigerian journalist, working could be like warring. Everyday could be like going to battle. It is not enough to be a good reporter, writer or editor; one must also be blessed with sharp instincts to know what to do at any time.

    But the journalist is only experiencing what others in the society are also feeling. The slight difference, however, is that for the journalist, the shoe pinches more because of the peculiarity of the trade.

    Practising journalism under the military was, at best, a dangerous pastime and, at worst, a suicide mission. What else was to be expected? The military were not responsible to anybody. They ruled like lords, by orders and decrees, not by law and constitutionalism. In fact, every time a new military regime mounted the throne, the Constitution became the first casualty. Then, decrees were spawned like mushrooms in the rains.

    It is, however, noteworthy to say that even as the risks mount, the courage to go on thickens. So, Nigerian journalists have not been found wanting in the discharge of their duties. They were there at the vanguard of the battle for Independence. They were there in those heady days of military rule; even in the days of Sani Abacha, the despot who seized the nation by the throat and turned Nigeria into a leper among decent countries. Many journalists fled into exile; the unlucky ones got clamped into jail without trial. The more the world rose to condemn the flagrant abuse of rights in Nigeria, the tougher the General became. He entertained no intellectual discourse. He rarely spoke –when he did, it was in an opaque manner that betrayed neither rhyme nor reason –.

    To escape the Abacha plague, journalists – as creative as ever – unleashed a new genre. Welcome guerilla journalism! Many publications sprang from underground, their addresses unknown by the authorities; their writers faceless but fiery fellows whose pens dripped with a deep passion for a great country. Anyway, Abacha died on June 8, 1998 – mysteriously.

    With the return of democracy, the atmosphere lost most of its smudge. This is not to say, however, that all is well. No.

    The Obasanjo presidency was always being nudged to perform. The criticisms, the administration believed, were harsh. The cat-and-mouse relationship got to a crescendo when it was clear that former President Olusegun Obasanjo might not call it a day on May 29, 2007 at the end of his two-term eight-year tenure. The third term scheme collapsed –thanks to a vigilant press which saw far ahead what the plot meant for the country’s future.

    Most Nigerian newspapers do not interpret the news. They are satisfied with a simple presentation of events which form the ingredients of the meal that the columnist brings to the table. So, many look up to the columnist’s analyses and interpretation of news as it breaks.

    A good column should be like a soothing balm, giving hope where there seems to be despair. In it must be found the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. It must be exciting. It must be humorous, with a sting in the tail. And it must give the reader something to remember.

    Most Nigerian columnists are gripped by politics, which is in all areas of our national life. One cannot blame them. Why? The political scene is a vast canvass of all that is good and bad, hot and cold, fair and foul. It is a kingdom of light and darkness, both rolled into one. Therefore, no matter how insulated from politics a public commentator may want to be, the environment gets him entangled in it. Politics shapes our lives.

    Many columns have made remarkable impacts on their readers. Consider Olatunji Dare’s Matters Arising, one of the longest running columns in The Guardian. Many years after it stopped running, many are still enamoured of the column’s style – witty, breezy, yet deep and, sometimes, downright hilarious, full of friendly punches that evoked tears and laughter at the same time. The articles have been compiled into a book of the same title, Matters Arising. Happily for the reader, Olatunji Dare has started writing again; every Tuesday in The Nation.

    Columns are not ordinarily expected to sell newspapers. Not so for Matters Arising. It helped to boost the sale of The Guardian on Tuesdays.

    The Gbolabo Ogunsanwo column in The Sunday Times was, also, a crowd puller. Femi Ogunsanwo (1978) describes it as “by far the most popular column ever written by a Nigerian journalist”. The column was so popular that when the writer went on leave, readers demanded his return.

    Life with Gbolabo Ogunsanwo resurrected in The Comet. It retained its huge appeal, though it was not regular. Then, it disappeared and never returned. The paper itself was rested about one year ago. Even now, many are still talking about the column. Several attempts to bring it back remain unsuccessful .

    Gbolabo Ogunsanwo’s column was only one of the many the Sunday Times was proud and lucky to have. There were other first class writers. In fact, in Femi Ogunsanwo’s Sunday Times (The first 25 years), they occupy the fifth chapter where they are referred to as “The five powerful columnists”.

    Here they are: Ebenezer Williams (Abiodun Aloba), who is described as “the first great” columnist of the Sunday Times. His column ran continuously from December 23, 1953, to October 1, 1960, according to the book, which states: “In terms of longevity and popularity, four other writers qualify for the Sunday Times hall of fame of great columnists: Peter Pan (Peter Enahoro), Alla-de (Alade Odunewu), Sad Sam (Sam Amuka) and Gbolabo Ogunsanwo). All these columnists were also editors of the Sunday Times.”

    Several new columnists have since mounted the stage, plying their trade in a no less engaging manner. Unlike in those days, many editors do not write columns, apparently believing that this area of journalism should be left for editorial writers and others who belong to the academic community, but not necessarily journalists. Among the new columnists are the youthful writers in Thisday: Simon Kolawole, Kayode “The Marxist’ Komolafe and Ijeoma Nwogwugu. There are in The Sun Louis Odion (Bottomline), Amanze Obi (Broken Tongues), Funke Egbemode and Femi Adesina. The Punch has Azubuike Ishiekwene’s Viewpoint. There are in The Nation on Sunday Palladium, deep and punchy, written by Idowu Akinlotan. Tatalo Alamu, scholarly, witty, hilarious and dramatic, also appears on Sunday.

    Dan Agbese’s column in Newswatch is delightful for its incisiveness and humour. So are Yakubu Mohammed’s (Newswatch) and Ray Ekpu’s (Newswatch). In fact, many knew Ekpu, Agbese and Mohammed more as columnists than as directors of the magazine.

    There is also Muhammed Haruna, the former editor of New Nigerian whose column is run by The Nation and Daily Trust. His is easily the most recognisable voice from the North. In fact, many call him the “star of the North”. The Candido column ran for years in New Nigerian. An incisive comment on people and events, the column appeared for more than 30 years.

    There is a striking difference between today’s columnists and the old hands. Unlike the new kids on the block, the old-timers did not only inform and educate, they entertained as well, and went beyond that to make clinical predictions that came to pass. I recall how Allah-de, writing in The Comet, predicted that the newly appointed Eagles coach, Dutchman Bonfere Jo, would not last. A few days after, the coach was fired. Talk about the columnist as an oracle! Besides, there was humour. You read the late Aig-Imokhuede’s Notebook in Vanguard and laughed all day. Such columnists are hard to come by now.

    To the charge that columnists do not see anything good in government, my response is that since they are part of the society, their thoughts and actions are not insulated from the experience of the society. They, through their writings, embark on an idealistic battle for the utopian. They never achieve this, but along the line, society is enriched and the future has a past to refer to – thanks to the columnists.

  • Just me…being self righteous

    Death will be that undiscovered country that we shall all visit. In that country, everybody shall be stripped of titles and accumulated wealth. Nobody shall be referred to as “Your Excellency,” “OON, CON, GCON” “Africa’s richest billionaire” and so on. In that country, the truth of our follies and the septic belly of our idiocies shall become even more pronounced and visible to all. Those of us, the billionaires particularly, who send so-called “prayerfully powerful” Alfas on holy pilgrimage to Mecca to seek for Allah’s forgiveness and infinite mercies on their behalf shall realize that they had simply been foolish. No amount of prayers-by-proxy, sacrifices and so on, shall move Almighty Allah to forgive them and grant them eternal peace and paradise if their handiwork is tantamount to evil.

    They shall all die eventually. It wouldn’t matter if they are buried in Victoria Court Cemetery or Atan Cemetery; it wouldn’t matter if their remains are unrecoverable in the event of their demise in a ghastly accident or assassination. Immediately they pass on, they shall begin to pay for their handiwork like the rest of us. They shan’t escape the trials of the grave.

    No priest, highfaluting ceremony of absolution from ‘original sin,” redemption and so on shall ennoble the Christians among us with the “infinite grace” of Almighty God if they remain evil at heart. If they like, let them build as many gigantic Churches and temples as they like, let their offerings and tithe tower beyond the rafters and sky-high, it shall never make them pious before God. May it not make them pious before God.

    No priest or Alfa can intercede with God on our behalf. We shall all die: President, governor, first lady, special advisers, ministers, accountant, journalist, activist, dibias, babalawos and so on. And even our tiniest depravity shall be summoned to witness against us.

    Those who profess to be godly live like they answer to some blind, stupid, and partial god. Almighty Allah is not stupid, silly or blind. Jehovah is neither partial nor handicapped by greed for worship houses, outlandish sacrifices and exaggerated humility. Chineke, Eledumare is surely no perverted wimp that we could corrupt by wile and insincere tokens of sacrifice and worship.

    May he judge us all according to our handiwork; He shall judge us all according to our handiwork. In the face of such imminent reality, it’s amusing me to see the ruling class administer our lives like they are answerable to no one. It’s even more bizarre to see many of us, the youth particularly, lend themselves as willing tools to the antics and designs of the ruling class. Many a self-styled professor of truth and champion of the masses’ rights have turned into junkyard dogs and dung dogs for the same ruling class they used to criticize.

    Talk is cheap really and Nigerians love to talk a good game. That is why everyone: literate, semi-literate and illiterate, display flawless capacities to decipher and summarize the political and socio-economic problems afflicting Nigeria, just for the fun of it or the benefit of applause.

    Besides a few good men and real heroes who have staked their lives and personal comfort to protest the gross ineptitude and bestiality of the ruling class and the society at large, most of us have accepted to remain acquiescent; when we are criticized for being unacceptably docile, we respond that there is infinite wisdom in choosing our battles wisely and keeping our mouth shut.

    Nonetheless, we continue to mount the soapbox in our living rooms, around our dinner tables and in the ubiquitous ‘beer parlours’ criticizing our leaders, casting blames and justifying our pathetic and apologetic existence.

    The tragedy subsists in our customary lamentation about the state of the Nigerian nation; every time our conscience is roused with a damning report, as it is still customary of us, more racist politicians and activists suggest that we split and go our separate ways touting it as the only solution to our league of extraordinary problems.

    There is no wisdom in secession unless it serves to eliminate the same bogeys that make Nigeria a living hell for us. Secession, I maintain, is the fruit of ‘reason’ that we need to be wary of and I will continue to say this hoping every prospective muscle – that is, the youth – by which the separatists hope to achieve their dreams of dissolution, would listen and learn to let the secessionists risk their skins and their lineages to actualize their platitudes.

    Let every political godfather, public office hopeful and so on send their sons and wives and daughters on to the streets to wield cutlasses, guns and bombs. Let the ruling class recall their children from their Ivy League schools and exclusive mansions abroad to march on the streets and hack to death perceived oppositions to their political ambitions. Let every youth from humble background and the breadlines mobilize instead to collectively seek an end to the ruling class’ reign of terror.

    Violence and bloodshed is never the answer; secession is never the answer to our woes.

    The biggest misconception about separation, insurgence, self-determination or whatever the separatists choose to call it is that it could be peaceful and that the end result would be a conscientious and citizenry-centred dispensation.

    It’s all dirty, greedy politics; the separatists want the youth to fly the flags of their dream nations, they want everybody to brandish a bumper sticker that bellows, “Death to the Federal Republic of Nigeria!” They call anyone that’s anti-war and anti-secession, “pacifist,” “traitor” or whatever colourful adjective suits their rage. Then they promise the youth a prosperous future and better fate under their dream nation. Consequently, youth that ought to know better buy into such farce and they all begin to dream and talk of the great uprising that would set them free from the living hell Nigeria has become.

    Even when we see through the promises of the separatists, we choose to ignore it for the love of paltry inducements and instant gratification. It’s about time the Nigerian youth started postponing immediate gratification and endure hard sacrifices spurred by conviction that the future can be better than the past.

    But we face a far more difficult problem at our moment in history. What do you promise youth who have been told they can have anything they want, who are repeatedly urged to seek the best of all possible circumstances without shedding sweat for it? How do you tell them that “the good times,” as they have known them or heard of them, will definitely come back?

    The Nigerian youth needs a new vision to help them deal with reality, a promising story of the future that helps them let go of the pains and disappointments of the past. We need a grand vision of possibilities that Nigerians may pursue and dream on: the country’s rich socio-cultural and political tradition, the right of all citizens to larger lives. Such dreams should never be about getting richer than the guy next door or accumulating obscene wealth for applause and to show off but the right to live life more fully and engage more expansively the elemental possibilities of human existence.

     

    • To be continued…