The Nation Newspaper

Category: Thursday

  • Death so cruel

    One of the mysteries of life is death, which is a debt all human beings must pay. It is certain that all of us will die, but we don’t know when and where we will die. The rich will die and the poor will die. Only the almighty God can unravel the mystery of death, but we don’t know His number in order to call Him for the fine details about why people die; when they will die and where. Nobody has the key to unlock this mystery other than Him. Another thing about death is that it does not operate on the basis of age. It does not matter whether you are young or old when it comes it does not bother about age.

    This is why death will take the son and leave the father or take an older person and leave his younger sibling. Nobody can understand this mystery. All we know is that we will die. So we prepare for this inevitability as soon as we wake up everyday. Each day that we spend in life we count as bonus. Deep down inside us we know that death is lurking around somewhere. As we survive each day we pray that the end should not come soon. We pray to live long, but each day that we live brings us nearer to the grave. We are all afraid of death no matter what we say at times.

    But why should we be afraid of death when we know that it is an inevitable end that will come when it will come? We are probably afraid of death because we don’t know why we die or where we are going to after our death. Some will say when we die we go to heaven or hell. This is a spiritual belief which some people don’t buy into. If we can help it many of us won’t like to die. We want to live as long as Methusela, who according to the Bible, lived for 969 years, a no-mean feat. In this present age and time, none of us can live that long, except God wills it. These days, we have people living up to 150 years and a little above that before they die, yet it is still a far cry from the 969 years that Methusela lived.

    Even at over 100 years, people still don’t want to die, if they can help it. At the smell of danger we run for dear live despite our common complaints that things are not well with the country. If things are that bad, it should be expected that those grumbling about hard time, would be ready to quit the stages. You will be making a mistake if you think like that. Despite their loud complaints, such people are not ready to die. They are ready to continue to endure until ‘’things get better”. Nobody knows when things will get better, but we are ready to wait, no matter how long for the tide to turn in our favour.

    The good man dies and the bad man dies. But at the passage of each of them the difference is clear. When the good man dies, the people mourn as in the case of the late Chief MKO Abiola and when the bad man dies, the people rejoice as in the case of the late Gen Sani Abacha. I am not mocking Abacha in death. No, far from it. How can I do that when I know that sooner or later I will also die? No man should rejoice at the death of his fellow man because we don’t know how, when or what will kill those left behind. The people rejoiced over Abacha’s death because they perceived him as an extremely wicked person. If given the chance many would have stoned him to death before he fell to the grim reaper in his secluded fortress in Aso Rock.

    There is a lesson in the death of the good man and the bad man for those alive. The moral in it is that we should live our lives in such a way that when the end comes, people will celebrate and not mock us either in public or in the secret confines of their homes. It was Mark Antony, who said in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar that ‘’the evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones’’. If as noble as Caesar was, his good deeds were overlooked by the conspirators who killed him, what then do we expect to happen to the evil-minded ones in our midst. Life is a stage on which we play our part and leave when the time comes, yielding space to the next actor. Shakespeare put it succintly in his play As you like it : ‘’All the world’s a stage, and all men and women merely players, they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages…’’

    Yes, we play many parts in life, but I am not so sure that all of us complete the seven ages mentioned by Shakespeare before we bow out. Whether we like it or not, at whatever of the ages death meets us we have no choice than to leave. For former Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa, erstwhile National Security Adviser (NSA) Gen Andrew Azazi, Dauda Tsoho, Commander Muritala Daba, Lt Adeyemi Sowole and Warrant Officer (WO) Mohammed Kamal, the end came last Saturday. Ironically, they were returning from a funeral when they were killed in an helicopter crash. None of them knew that the end would come when it came. They probably had many plans for themselves and their families. This is the thing about death; it disrupts man-made plans, turning things upside down for those left by the deceased.

    Yakowa was a governor. He

    hadtheburdenof

    shoulderingthe responsibilities of a volatile state like Kaduna. He was discharging these responsibilities to the best of his ability before death came in the dense terrain of Okoroba in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. Yakowa was a quiet and unassuming man who did his job without fuss. He was gentle, humble and humane. He wasn’t your archetypal governor who entered a gathering with the kind of noise that some of our governors are known for. If you are not told you will not know that he is a governor if you are meeting him for the first time. Why should such a man die, you may want to ask? This is where God shows His awesomeness. He does what He wishes at any time He likes.

    He is the one who has the power of life and death and the way He chooses to use the power cannot be queried by us His creations. It is sad that death does not distinguish between a good and a bad man because if it does it will not take the good guys and leave the bad ones. Yakowa was such a good man that you start to imagine if really he was a politician. But he was; it’s just that he didn’t allow himself to be carried away by politics of the Nigerian variant. He played politics as a polished and urbane man. The death of men like him in the kind of circumstances that he died can shake men’s faith. But for the discerning mind, there is no better time than this to move closer to God. What has happened has happened. It is something that cannot be helped. So, we must accept fate. As the Bible says : ‘’Man is like a breath, his days are like a fleeting shadow’’.

    No matter how painful the death of Yakowa, his friend, Tsoho, Gen Azazi, Commander Daba, Lt Sowole and WO Kamal is, the truth is we cannot bring them back. It is painful and sad that we lost these patriots in such circumstance. But the fact remains that if they were destined to die that day they would have left us irrespective of wherever they might have been. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken; who are we to query the Lord. To die in the course of sharing in the grief of your fellow man, as these men did, is not to die in vain. We will always remember them for this last good deed to humanity. May their souls rest in peace.

  • Nigeria to borrow more

    Nigeria to borrow more

    Nigeria’s foreign debt stock is beginning to rise again. Currently, the total debt stock is about $15 billion. But the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, announced recently that Nigeria is seeking about $7 billion new loans, of which nearly half are loans requested by some of the states governments. Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said the foreign loans were required to finance much- needed investment in physical infrastructure, particularly in the woeful power sector that has become a national nightmare and embarrassment.

    The objective domestic economic and financial environment for the proposed loan is quite propitious. Over time, Nigeria has achieved relative macroeconomic stability. Though still rising, inflation is relatively modest. The naira exchange rate is more stable. The foreign reserves are quite healthy to the extent that Nigeria has, under the Sovereign Wealth Fund, placed $1 billion in the international finance market for lending to other international borrowers. At an estimated annual average of 7 per cent, the economic growth rate is quite impressive. It is one of the highest in Africa. But it is fuelled largely by the record increase in oil prices and incomes. Not by non-oil exports. With the rise in oil prices and healthy foreign reserves, Nigeria’s balance of payments is in order. Nigeria can meet its import bill without much strain. International confidence in the Nigerian economy has been restored. Lenders, both bilateral and multilateral, are more willing to lend to Nigeria now, in the belief that, unlike in the early 1980s when Nigeria ran into balance of payments disequilibrium, it is now in a better position to repay its foreign loan without too much hassle. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Nigeria is currently one of the highest in Africa, surpassing that of South Africa, still Africa’s largest economy. So, based on the existing health of the domestic economy, it is possible to argue as the Minister of Finance has done with some conviction that now is the time for Nigeria to borrow externally to meet its investment gap of nearly $10 billion annually.

    However, despite these seemingly positive factors, some legitimate questions should be asked by the public about these planned foreign loans. First, have both the federal and states governments really identified the infrastructure projects to be financed by these foreign loans? Second, are the loans project-specific, and will they be used for the purpose intended? Third, do we really have the managerial and technical capacity to manage such huge foreign loans? Fourth, are these new loans sustainable in the long run? Can they be repaid without too much stress on the domestic economic and economic growth?

    If Nigeria’s past record in managing foreign loans is any guide at all, we are likely to come to the sad conclusion that we have failed to use foreign loans wisely. By the time the Shagari government was overthrown in 1983 by the military, Nigeria’s foreign debt stood at over $40 billion. It could no longer service the loan. Technically, it was in default on its debt servicing which was several times above its average annual GNP. But there was really very little to show for the massive borrowing. The infrastructure, for which the loans were obtained, continued to deteriorate. But like the captain of a sinking ship the Shagari government continued to assure the public that all was well with the economy. It borrowed more and more.

    But the overwhelming evidence is that the foreign loans were simply frittered away and diverted into private pockets. The nation hardly benefited from them. The loans, or at least some of it, had to be repaid. Some financial relief was granted with the writing down of some $18 billion of the repayable loan. It was Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala who, during the Obasanjo administration, arranged the bail out. Now, she is the one seeking new loans for the Jonathan government. But even then, the burden of the financial mess into which the country got itself, fell on the poor, who had to suffer the inevitable cuts in social spending involved in the ensuing economic reform programme. Even today, nearly thirty years later, we have not yet fully recovered from the economic and financial consequences of the structural adjustment programme. Jobs lost have not been recovered. Investments in the social sector have declined sharply, lower than the levels in the 1970s. Investments in education and health have continued to fall.

    If past experience is any guide, then we have to contend with the real possibility that some of the loans will again end up in private pockets. Given the widespread corruption in the public sector, some of the loans will, as usual, be frittered away by the bureaucrats and ministers. Even the Finance Minister is in no position to monitor the use of the loan once it is released to the executing agencies. Foreign lenders do not have the ability, or even obligation, of ensuring that borrowing countries will use the loans granted them honestly and prudently. No matter what happens they will get their loans back, with the due interest. In fact, it is often the case that foreign lenders connive with borrowers from the poor countries in diverting the loans to private pockets. So, there is little or no pressure from the foreign borrowers to ensure fiscal discipline in spending by the borrowers.

    We currently run a budget deficit at all levels of government in the country. The federal deficit is about a third of the entire budget. The domestic debt stock has increased hugely, putting pressure on lending to the business sector. Even then, the rate of implementation of the vast federal budget is barely 60 per cent. It is probably even less. The situation in the states is not much better. Very few of them are financially viable. There is very little to suggest that the proposed loans will fare any better in terms of the implementation of the projects for which we are borrowing. Some of these new loans will go towards funding the overblown public administration. Estimates of this vary from 50 per cent to over 70 per cent of the total budget. The jobs expected from new investment in the economy have not materialised. It is by no means certain that these new loans will generate more jobs in the economy.

    All governments like to spend and borrow money. But as we have seen even in some of the rich countries, such as Greece, Spain, and Italy, or even the United States, the biggest foreign debtor, most of this lending goes towards public consumption, rather than productive investment in the economy. The fiscal responsibility act should include a ceiling on foreign borrowing. We must also contend with the vagaries in the oil sector. The medium to long term forecast is that oil prices will fall, particularly when the United States, the largest importer of Nigerian crude oil, achieves self sufficiency in domestic oil production and consumption. By 2020, it could be a net exporter of oil. This huge oil market will be lost to Nigeria.

    In the circumstances, the federal and states governments government should borrow less, and generate more revenue internally. Due to poor and ineffective tax administration in the country, the rich hardly pay any tax at all. When they pay, it is far less than they should pay. Public corruption must be curbed. The scam over the so-called oil subsidy must be brought to an end. If there is any subsidy at all, this should be fully established. The proposed expenditure of N2 billion on a new banquet hall in the Presidency, and another N7 billion for a new residence for the vice president, are wasteful. It should be reviewed urgently. When obtained, the foreign loans should be utilised more judiciously in the productive sectors of the economy, so as to avoid the situation in which the country found itself in the 1980s when its huge foreign debt became unsustainable. We must not fall into another foreign debt trap.

  • 2012, year Jonathan chose pdp over Nigerians

    2012, year Jonathan chose pdp over Nigerians

    ‘It was a lonely year for the president.  His dear Dame  Patience needed  for support after every day of governing Nigeria which is in itself war, spent part of the year in a German hospital for food poisoning while the  restless  Nigerian  journalists, always in search of tragedies, speculated about the worst’

    The outgoing year 2012 will probably rank as the most testing period of Jonathan’s presidency. The anniversary of January 1, the day his detractors claimed he declared war on Nigerians that gave him a landslide victory is approaching. And these detractors are many. Those who had warned if we voted Jonathan, he would sell the nation to PDP, those of us who harassed him every week for allowing the PDP that Nigerians never voted for to hijack his government, civil society groups, labour unions, students, unemployed graduates, N18, 000 minimum wage agitators and elder-statesmen whose demonstration in support of poor Nigerians had to be cut short by the police.

    To this long list, we can also add university teachers especially those of the University of Lagos that put the president in his place over his attempt to rename their university, one of the few internationally recognized Nigerian brands, Moshood Abiola University (MAU).

    Also in our group of President Jonathan bashing are civil society groups, opposition parties led by ACN publicity secretary who would criticize the president when his wife failed to dress to his (publicity secretary) taste. We also have Tunde Bakare, the pastor with a caustic tongue who had been questioned more than once by the secret police for abusing the pulpit. Of course, we also have the president’s number one sworn enemy, General Muhammadu Buhari who daily invokes images of blood and death in the midst of daily flow of blood of innocent Nigerians whose lives were cut short by those who seem to kill for fun.

    We can also add to the list, the National Assembly especially the lower house which threatened to impeach the president for shoddy implementation of the 2011 budget. Curiously among those who gave President Jonathan nightmares within the year is ex-President Obasanjo, his godfather. Long after the president had said he was neither Pharaoh or a military General, General Obasanjo insisted Jonathan ought to have toed his line by leveling up a large portion of north eastern part of Nigeria to teach those who harbour troublesome children a hard lesson just as he did to the people of Odi in Delta and elsewhere in Benue State. Obasanjo was not done. He said the president was weak on corruption, thereby confirming what other detractors of President Jonathan have been saying.

    It was a lonely year for the president. His dear Dame Patience needed for support after every day of governing Nigeria which is in itself war, spent part of the year in a German hospital for food poisoning while the restless Nigerian journalists, always in search of tragedies, speculated about the worst. But God was and is still on the throne for a president fervently remembered in daily prayers by jet age prosperity prophets. Speculating journalists and others with morbid thoughts were shamed by triumphant return of Dame Patience Jonathan destined to enjoy the fruits of her labour as a newly promoted permanent secretary, in Bayelsa State.

    For succour and support, in the absence of his wife, the president was left with his information crew made up of the information minister who had to be cautioned by the National Assembly for his over enthusiasm . We have Dr Reuben Abati, who was doing what he knows how to do best, mesmerizing with beautiful prose about ‘the president Jonathan they don’t know’. Of course, Dr Doyin Okupe was always there for the president. He defended him vociferously on the attempted change of Unilag name to MAU and the CBN governor’s failed attempt to introduce N5, 000 naira bill.

    It was also Okupe, the self styled president ‘attack lion’ who was to later call the attention of the detractors to President Jonathan’s daring act of sending the son of his party chairman for probe on account of his alleged involvement in fuel subsidy scam. For a president who according to Okupe still has political ambition, it was an act of courage rare among Nigerian politicians especially the PDP breed.

    Now we have been told that the case currently before an Ikeja High Court, has been ‘adjourned till January 30, 2013 to enable Mahmud Tukur, son of the national chairman of the PDP and his co-accused, Abdullahi Alao, the son of Ibadan-based business man, Abdulazeez Arisekola-Alao, Alex Ochonogor, and Eterna Oil and Gas Plc. to settle the N1.8bn subsidy fraud charge preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’. But can the president really dictate to the judiciary? I don’t think so, except it has to do with a Justice Salami who ruled against PDP indicted ex-governors who stole their opponents’ mandates.

    But this is a year the president cannot wait to end because of other unresolved issues that have continued to haunt him. The president had been stampeded by PDP buccaneers, to remove what everyone except his ministers and those he himself described as ‘oil cabals’ said was a phantom subsidy on January 1. He had ignored the National Assembly demand for the “publication of the list of the beneficiaries of past fuel subsidy and presentation of facts and figures on the true picture of the subsidy”. The lower house subsequently set up an ad hoc committee to probe the fuel subsidy regime covering three years 2009 -2011. The actual budget expenditure on subsidy for both petrol and kerosene was found to be N261.1b in 2006, N278.8b in 2007 and N346.7b in 2008

    We were also told the actual budget expenditure on subsidy for both petrol and kerosene was tolerable when five companies including NNPC were involved. Bare faced stealing only set in after PDP increased the number to 140 marketers. The president has not told us why we still need about 115 marketers if the names of the 25 the government claimed soiled their hands are removed.

    Based on estimated daily consumption of petrol by Nigerians at 31.5 million litres while that of Kerosene is nine million as against other incoherent figures fraudulently bandied around by relevant government officers, the House ad hoc committee proposed a budget of N806.766billion for the 2012 fiscal year for payment of subsidy on petrol and Kerosene. The president is yet to tell us why that figure is now going up to N1.2trillion. Is it that average daily consumption of products that is not available has gone up or that our epileptic four refineries have finally packed up.?

    The president promised to build three refineries in Bayelsa, Kogi and Lagos. The one in Lagos was to produce 200,000 barrels a day and Kogi 100,000 while the planned Balyesa Greenfield Refinery to be built in partnership with the China State Construction Engineering Corporation, according to the NNPC Group Executive Director, Engineering and Technology, Mr. Billy Agha, would create 7,000 job opportunities. The president needs to tell us why we are not making progress in this regard.

    It is only chest-beating economist like Sanusi, the CBN governor who would argue about throwing people out of jobs in the banking sector and the bureaucracy when America is trying to put everybody back to job will guarantee development. If America is subsidizing American car manufacturers to keep workers on their jobs, we are better off losing N1.2 trillion as subsidy to support refineries, energy or even the agricultural sector if such efforts will create jobs for our teaming youths currently embarking on a journey of no return of second slavery to Europe and America. Sanusi and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala are only obsessed with economic growth long after America Brazil and other parts of the world have shifted attention to human development.

  • Readers’ parliament 23

    Who’s your daddy?” (1 and 2)

    You have said the mind of sane people still remaining in the church. The most foolish people are those that even with the glaring diversion of our hard-earned money into their personal accounts, we still can’t talk to a “man of God.” Church is another business: “Me and my sons” limited. 08079279831.

    What a beautiful and educative write-up you have here. You have expressed exactly my views but most times those close to me think I am an unbelieving individual who is too proud to be subservient to any of their fraudsters called daddies. 07038001105.

    The problem is that most believers are not interested in truly and faithful worship of God rather people are just interested in their wicked desires. There is no more dignity in labour. Everyone wants to make it without working hard. Present day pastors and church founders are preaching their own gospel, not that of Jesus Christ. From Sunny Okafor. Nkpor. 08035755641.

    Who is this? What religion is he representing? Could this not probably be the foretold antichrist? These and many other questions will definitely be agitating and tormenting the minds of the few of the Nigerian faithful who will care enough to read this masterpiece of exposition but will not reason deep on its intent and thus miss its intended purpose –that is, a call to add a little bit of sensibleness to their misconstrued faithfulness. For those who will not read the article for whatever reasons aside from those who see any attempt at redirecting their incorrigible wayward daddies as an affront to Christ. Our prayer is that people of like mind, effrontery and boldness like you…who are truly interested in honest and sincere belief should not rest even when it is sure that your fans will be very few. Have solace in the fact that truth and honesty are orphans in the morally and religiously deprived society that we find ourselves. Keep up the finer work.08032078292.

    Hello, Mr. Olatunji, I have been following your article and I love your presentation. I totally agree with you where you wrote:“he strips the believer of intellect and thought, he silences his ability to think.” That’s what is happening to the two major religions in Nigeria. I find it very depressing that people can no longer think on their own. I have wondered while reading the article if this writer is a free thinker, only to be disappointed in the last paragraph in which you mentioned “God-given intellect.” NANDIP. From Wuse 2, Abuja. 07037793312.

    Thank you Olatunji for your piece. You have put it just as it is. My prayer is that this truth will set free all who have been bewitched by these hirelings. God bless you. From Ben Ilebode ESQ. Benin City. 08033015690.

    You are on point but how many people will listen to you? The soul of the Nigerian believer has been sold to the smooth tongue of the daddies’ greed and craze for materialism in the name of religion. This philosophy thrives on pervasive poverty and a hopeless economic situation occasioned by inept political leadership.08057797241.

    Your article was very good. May God bless you to unravel more. Nigerian pastors are shamelessly corrupt. Thanks. 08038772010.

    This is about the best local article that I have read in a while. God bless and keep you. 08098422768.

    You have just hit the nail on the head. People rush to spiritual homes for deliverance forgetting that deliverance lies within us just as the kingdom of heaven is in us. From Biodun Soga. 08060006790.

    That was an excellent piece bro. So glad to find out someone else is in their right senses. Let them worship on God, the father. 08023506040.

    I have read Part 2. You are a serial, blatant, cureless clown who tells the truth with religiosity, sentiment. Shame. From Pity. Kehinde Olalemi. Ibadan. 07041851806.

    May your pen never run dry. I enjoyed the article. I hope those who have ears will listen. We are in a state of decadence that makes people believe easily and get quickly brainwashed that there is miracle waiting for them at the expense of their intellect and ability. The so-called daddies capitalize on the socio-economic problems of the country to exploit them claiming that by paying their tithe, miracle is on the way. From Rotimi Akinbiyi. 08033050814.

    The creeps in our worship houses (1&2).

    My friend, it appears you are qualified to be appointed a ‘chartered writer’—From 08187209543

    Kudos! I consider myself a victim of our desperate pastors because my wife is hooked on their opium. Our society is gradually slipping into the abyss because of illiteracy and unwillingness amongst the literate to read. We have more “men of God” and less godly men. 08037400478.

    Mr. Ololade, I read your June 3, opinion. The question is, ‘are u five years early or one day behind the time?’ I am surprised that a Nigerian could say such a thing in this 21st Century. It’s okay, it’s an opinion. Jacob. 08034679229.

    Nobody made them pastors, apostles and bishops and till tomorrow, they are fakes, they claim God spoke or called them. The biggest liars in the world is and among them adhere to the teachings of Jesus Christ? They go all length and even make magic and yet, prosperity , healing etc is not achieved because the source is satan. In Nigeria, less than 10% are real Christians. Thanks. 08039456567.

    You have told the pastors the truth. Until you tell your Islamic terrorists the truth, I will continue to believe you are suffering from Logorrhoea. Truth. 07041851806

    Ola, you have not come by a more candid expository on our National malady in our time as yours on page 21 in The Nation of August 12. If I could, I will post unedited to all Nigerian Pastors hoping they will understand. Keep it up. From E.J Ebong. 08038137269

    There is no reward for goodness other than goodness. The truth you have said in the Nation about the true nature of Islamic Banking will be a success for you and your entire both in this world and hereafter. Amen…From Goodluck! 08065392578

    “The Creeps in our worship houses 1 and 2”: Nobody made them pastors, apostles, and bishops and till tomorrow, they are fakes. They claim God spoke or called them yet they are the biggest liars in the world. Is any among them adhering to the teachings of Jesus Christ? They go to all lengths and even make human sacrifice to make magical prosperity, healing and so on. In Nigeria, less than one per cent of the people are real Christians. Thanks. 08039456567.

    Olatunji, I have not come by a more candid and expository piece on this national malady in our time. If I could, I will post it unedited to all Nigerian pastors hoping they will understand. Keep it up. From E.J. Ebong. 08038137269.

    There is no reward for goodness other than goodness. The truth you have said about the true nature of Islamic Banking will attract success to you and your entire household both in this world and the hereafter. Amen. From Goodluck. 08065392578.

  • Annus Horribilis (2)

    The death of Olusola Saraki the Waziri of Ilorin and the god-father of Kwara politics was most unexpected and Kwara politics will never be the same again. Olusola Saraki born of an Ilorin father and a Saki mother was a quintessential Yoruba man with Fulani heritage. He trained as a physician qualifying in 1961 in England. He came home to set up a medical practice in Lagos and achieved great success by having the retainerships of several companies and industrial houses in Lagos. It was surprising to many of his friends in Lagos when he decided to go into politics in Kwara and he bestrode the political landscape of Kwara like a colossus for several decades. He made governors and unmade governors until he was able to make his son Bukola Saraki governor and his daughter Gbemi, senator. He wanted Gbemi to succeed her brother. This was not to be because Bukola Saraki rightly had a different opinion. Father and son had to part politically but before long both were reconciled and certainly Olusola Saraki must have died a fulfilled man knowing that his legacy will survive in his children. Some of us for historical and ancestral reasons have abiding interest in Kwara politics. It is our hope that the passing away of Saraki will usher in peace, stability and development in Kwara state and that Kwara will become part of the mainstream of Yoruba politics for which it has always been.

    Before the death of Saraki, Hope Harriman, a foremost Estate Surveryor who had contributed hugely to the development of this profession in Nigeria passed on in distant Washington DC. I got to know Mr Harriman very well at a time he was married to Deola my cousin and whenever I met him, he was always excited about talking about their two sons whom he affectionately referred to as his Ekiti Boys. He was very proud of these young fellows whom he sent to Cambridge where he himself had studied. Mr Harriman was in Government College Ibadan with my late brother Abiodun in the late 1940s. He was a colorful man and highly cerebral just like his late brother Ambassador Leslie Harriman. He was a member of a group called the Patriot. He was an Elder statesman who was worried about the decline of Nigeria. As an Itsekiri man, he agonized over the threat against his people posed by the larger neighboring nationalities of the Ijaws (Izon) and the Urhobos. He did whatever was possible to bring peace to Warri and Itsekiri land. He was an avuncular man who enjoyed life to the fullest. He will be sorely missed.

    The assassination of General Mohammed Shuwa in Maiduguri came to most people as a shock. General Shuwa, a Shuwa Arab/Kanuri man was one of the heroes of the Nigerian Civil war. He was a rather dour and quiet military man who was not as successful as Benjamin Adekunle, the famous black scorpion of the 3rd Marine Commando Division of the Nigerian Army. It is ironical that both Gen Shuwa and Adekunle have been living in relative obscurity and isolation after their heroic actions in the civil war. I wish the Federal government will do something to ennoble Adekunle who is still alive and for the family of General Shuwa who had passed on to eternity.

    The demise of Justice Kayode Eso in faraway London also came as a surprise and I would be writing separately about him because he deserves a full length treatment and homage as the best Chief Justice Nigeria never had.

    Coming nearer home, the cold hands of death struck within my family in the passing away of my older brother Peter Agboola Osuntokun a gentleman, if there was ever one. A man who inspite of the fact that he was not cerebrally endowed, worked very hard to leave a legacy behind. He would be missed by the family particularly by his immediate children and wife and by the larger Osuntokun family. In the same vein, Yemi Ogendegbe whom I have known as a brother since 1956 when his father was Western Nigeria Regional Minister of Works. Yemi and I were also in later years at Ibadan Grammar School after I left Christ School for my higher School Certificate Course in Ibadan. He was a very handsome man, pleasant and gentle to a fault and also had a wonderful smile. It was a shock to me when I heard that he died suddenly without being ill. My heart goes to Mama who is very much alive in her 90s and to Yemi’s siblings. His death just shows graphically the futility of life.

    The passing into glory of these titans should raise fundamental questions in the minds of our leaders and should make all of us understand that we are but mere players on the stage of life and that no one lives forever and that power is transient that wealth itself is of limited value. J.J. Rousseau says that’ all men are born equal in the sense that they are all born naked’. We brought nothing into this world and when we go, we will go with nothing. This is why King Solomon says all accumulation of wealth is vanity because at the end of the day, the man who accumulates wealth will not be here forever to spend it. All of us and particularly our leaders should try and have a sense of history and be moderate in whatever they do. Power is not the end of life and it is what one brings to life that matters. Building mansions and estates and buying jets and having fat accounts when the vast majority of humanity is suffering may bring us fame for some time but this will not endure and one day, the owner of life will call us home. This is the lesson in this horrible year or ANNUS ORIBILIS.

  • A nation under spell

    Nigeria was not always like this. Even though we had our challenges, they were looked int speedily with the government of the day do the needful to assure the citizenry of their safety and security. We didn’t appreciate what we had then. We probably thought that the government was not doing enough to protect us then; now we know better. If government at the national level then strove to maintain law and order, the same cannot be said of the present administration under whose watch life has short, brutish and nasty.

    To the government, it is normal for things to be the way they are. This is why it could say that ‘’Nigeria is safe’’, a political statement, which it knows is far from the truth. If it knows that it was not true why then did it make/ The answer is obvious. It was made for the sake of foreigners who may be interested in investing in the country. Our government forgets that foreigners are no fools; they have their embassies and high commissions and can easily obtain information about the country from there. Lying about a nation’s state of security in order to attract foreign investments should not be an attractive option for a government with such a challenge on its hands.

    What the government should be looking for are solutions and not to compound issues by trying to pull wool over the people’s eyes. Every nation has its security challenge no doubt, but the difference is in their respective attitude towards remedying the situation. Some tackle the problem head-on, while others pay mere lip-service to the challenge. Unfortunately, we are in the latter group. Rather than be making progress as a nation, we are regressing. Problems that were solved some 20 to 30 years ago have returned to haunt us without the government being able to proffer any solution. What can then be said of us as a nation?

    Rather than accept our shortcomings, we have chosen to live in denial and the implication of this choice is that we are not ready to solve our enormous problems. Is it that the government is incapable of solving these problems? Or is it sidestepping these problems for political reasons? With the way things are, the government has virtually abandoned the people to their fate. With a government like this, we have only God to run to now for help. What is wrong with us? What is it that makes our government behaves without a care for the people? Do we have a government?

    Of course, we have, but its impact is not being felt. What we have is a government only in name, no more, no less. If Nigeria were to be a human being, many will say that, that person is under a spell. Are we not under a spell as a country from the look of things? A country which is suffused with oil but imports refined products for domestic use. Today, we are in the grip of a fuel shortage, which has virtually grounded the country. From Sokoto to Gusau; Minna to Ilorin; Ibadan to Lagos; Port Harcourt to Asaba; Benin to Enugu, motorists are stuck in fuel queues. For many, the filling stations have become a second home. They sleep and wake up at these places, yet they don’t get petrol to buy. Diesel and kerosine are different kettles of fish. Their prices are out of the reach of the common-man. And the government’s response to that is that diesel is not for them.

    What about kerosine, a product which is widely used by the common-man? The product’s price has shot through the roof and the poor cannot afford it. Yet, this is a product that Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole described as ‘’common-man specific ‘’.With the price ranging between N120 and N150 per litre no poor man can afford it. The government is not concerned about all this. It has ceded its powers to marketers who now play games with the importation of fuel.

    Because a lot of money is involved in the deal, they have held the nation to ransom, demanding payment for job not done . Many of them do not import fuel but they get paid all the same in a huge subsidy scam to which the country has lost trillions of naira. Subsidy is meant for the less privileged but it has been hijacked by the well heeled with the connivance of those in power. Today, the most lucrative business in town is oil marketing. Whether you have a registered company or not; whether you have an office or not, once, you have the right connections, you are in business. The millions will start rolling in without you doing anything.

    This is how many marketers bleed the country with those in power turning a blind eye. The present fuel scarcity, we were told, was caused by the vandalism of the System B2 pipeline at Arepo in Ogun State sometime in September. The vandals later killed three officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) who were sent to fix the pipe. Since the destruction of the NNPC has not been able to send other engineers to repair the damaged pipe for fear of their being attacked by vandals.

    Does it mean that we are at the mercy of criminals? If NNPC cannot send its men to repair such an important pipe for fear of hoodlums, then we are in for a long drawn fuel scarcity. The System B2 supplies all of the Southwest fuel and some parts of the North, particularly Ilorin , Kwara State. Must we watch and allow hoodlums to seize major national assets? What is the government doing to flush out these vandals from not only Arepo but other places where they are operating?

    Government must know when to bare its fangs and when to be soft. This is a time to be hard on people such as pipeline vandals and the like who are drawing back the hand of the clock. Boko Haram has turned out to be the menace it is today because of the government’s lukewarm attitude to serious national crises. What about kidnappers? These ones have turned kidnapping to an art all because the government has been indulging them. The truth of the matter is these boys are making a hell of money from the illicit trade. This is why they have kept on kidnapping people. They won’t stop unless we are ready to match them fire for fire. Is government ready to do that or will it keep on paying them ransom in secret while coming out to tell the public a different story?

    We have what it takes to become great; what we need is the will to do what is right and take certain drastic actions no matter whose ox is gored. We are not a cursed nation; so we should not behave like one.

  • V-P’s lodge and PDP profligacy

    Namadi Sambo as a PDP prince is an accomplished Nigerian who made his fortune first, as a successful architect, and later, as a contractor to northern state governors. Before he was forced into politics by his people, he could afford any luxury money could buy: houses, exotic cars and private aircrafts , long before ownership of private jets became a fad among PDP serving governors, their contractors and our soul winning prosperity prophets that fervently support them with prayers. But Namadi remained a very humble man. Even as an accomplished man prevailed upon by his Kaduna State people to serve as governor on the platform of PDP, he remained himself – a self effacing humble man.

    Namadi has not changed much long after President Goodluck Jonathan, who has a weakness for those who swim in money picked him as his vice president following Yar’ Adua’s death. His executive functions as spelt out in the constitution includes ‘participation in all cabinet meetings and, by statute, membership in the National Security Council, the National Defence Council, Federal Executive Council, and the chairman of National Economic Council.’ Beyond this, the VP only enjoys delegated powers like deputy governors, commissioners and ministers/special advisers to the President. In fact he recites the same oath of office like them.

    Sadly, Namadi has been under severe strain since accepting to trade his peace, freedom and limitless powers of a state governor to serve under President Jonathan. First, his family house in Tundun-Wada area of Zaria came under the attack of gunmen following the post election violence that greeted Jonathan’s celebrated landslide victory. In recent times, the house still undergoing renovation has come under attack once again by the rampaging Boko Haram insurgents who injured a police man and killed a poor shoe maker who had the misfortune of trying to earn a living by practicing his trade not far from the VP’s house.

    Besides these attacks from hoodlums and Boko Haram insurgents, Namadi has come under severe attack of Nigerians. He has been blamed for the ongoing N7 billion VP mansion initiated in 2009 long before he was dragged from his comfort zone as a governor to become vice president. He has similarly been widely criticized for the additional N9b PDP contractors claimed is needed for a mansion reported to be nearing completion.

    Namadi has also been called upon to carry the can for the N8.4 b PDP fortune seekers budgeted for his office in the 2012 budget. Out of this N1.7 billion (approximately $10.3m) was to be spent on trips, N1.3b (approximately $9.7m) on office stationeries, N2b on repair/maintenance of office/residential buildings. Others were, N382 million for vehicles; N53 million for office furniture; N1.7 billion for office building and residential quarters.

    All the above budgetary provisions were supposed to be statement of intensions but since Doyin Okupe not too long ago told us that for PDP, such provisions amount to licence to spend, we can safely assume all the above provisions have been fully implemented. After all, PDP is only accountable to PDP.

    If I were to advise the VP in view of the on-going Namadi bashing, for funds others claimed to have spent on his behalf, I would have counseled the VP’s resignation to spite PDP and save his own integrity. After all, PDP has demonstrated these past 13 years that it can run the presidency without a vice president.

    It started with President Obasanjo. Following blame game over corruption by the president and his deputy, (PDP family quarrels are usually over the sharing of our resources among its members), Obasanjo did not only chase Atiku Abubakar out of office, but also out of his official residence which he transferred to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) under the guise of abiding with Abuja master plan. Atiku ended his term hiding in one of his private houses in Abuja.

    Those who attributed the good fortune of the nation to the fact that Obasanjo did not come to grief during his term, didn’t need to wait for long. Yar’ Adua sadly soon came to grief. PDP proved once again that the post of a vice president was superfluous. A bereaved nation soon discovered that, Yar’ Adua’s wife, his son in-laws, Ibori and other wayfarers that constituted his kitchen cabinet took over the running of affairs of the nation. The ailing president was flown abroad without the knowledge of Vice President Jonathan. The nation’s budget was forged. Contracts were awarded. While the president was away in Saudi Arabia hospital, the vice president had no idea of how resources of the nation were being deployed.

    But for the intervention of civil society groups led by Pastor Tunde Bakare, who with his caustic tongue, forced the law makers to come up with what was called the ‘doctrine of necessity’ Vice President Jonathan was effectively sidelined in spite of the constitutional provisions.

    By resigning honorably, to spite PDP, Sambo will not only stop his name from being used to perpetuate further evil, such a patriotic act will also save the nation about N35b being the sum total of the amount PDP wants to spend on the mansion and two years budget allocations to the VP’s office. This interest free money will help the process of development

    Unlike in the US where president Obama needed to borrow $100m towards training mathematics and science teacher over the next 10 years to prepare American youths for competition against Chinese youths, Jonathan can deploy N35b for revolutionizing the educational sector by producing well equipped teachers and Ph.D holders that will mould our youths for the challenges of the future.

    From the FCT’s proposed N50b 2013 budget, President Jonathan can add the amount earmarked “for the designing and construction of the residences of the President of the Senate, David Mark; his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu; the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal; and his deputy, Emeka Ihedioha”. It is public knowledge that these top public officers already have personal mansions in Abuja. And since this is a legitimate endeavour under our constitution, they should be encouraged to use their personal houses or lose the rent to the state as it is the case in Britain.

    In any case neither President Jonathan nor the minister for Federal Capital Territory has told Nigerians what became of the mansions built for the senate president and the speaker by the Obasanjo administration. If as in its character, PDP has sold the mansions to its members, shouldn’t the proceeds be deployed towards building the proposed new mansions instead putting fresh burden on tax payers?

  • Here is the news….

    Here is the news….

    FOR a long time, agents of violence dominated the headlines. They were all over the place: Boko Haram, kidnappers, armed robbers and their cousins, the subsidy scammers as well as ethnic warriors, who kill whole families in one fell swoop.

    Not anymore. Our celebrities are back. They elbowed their way back to the front page last week. As usual, they did it in a big way. Dr Mike Adenuga Jnr, chairman of mobile giant Globacom, donated N500million to Bayelsa State flood victims.

    When Adenuga was named the chief fund raiser for the Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation the other day, those who claim to know the reclusive businessman swore that he would rather plough his personal cash into the relief efforts, rather than go cap in hand to raise money. Pride? Not really. Style? Sure. Ever seen a bull begging? But, many are asking if the business guru plans to let the cash go round all the flood-ravaged states. Why Bayelsa first? Is it the worst-hit? Is it because the President comes from Bayelsa? The questions are many, obviously coming from those who are not aware of Adenuga’s capability to spring surprises.

    Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the immensely endowed – the richest in the black world, says Forbes – president of the commodities king Dangote Group and chairman of the committee, had earlier donated N430million to the relief efforts. He instantly hit the headlines and went back to his business of making money. He returned last week in a frightful manner – isn’t that the way of the rich? – by shutting down the Benue Cement Company in Gboko, Benue State. Thousands of jobs are now hanging in the balance.

    Dangote Cement complained that the government had opened a floodgate of imported brands, precipitating a glut in the market and sparking a painful disinvestment plan. Public affairs analysts went to town. Will BCC be shut for good? If there is a glut, why are prices not crashing? What is the fate of the legion of workers and their dependants? Will the government succumb to “ blackmail” and ban importation of cement?

    Dangote Cement has invested a fortune in manufacturing. It deserves to reap the fruits of its labour. Importation is easier and cheaper – fewer workers to pay, no huge diesel bills, no spare parts headache and, therefore, more cash to make. If local manufacturers can get the market flooded, why allow importation, even as prices have stayed up there? The Nigerian economy defies all theories in the book. Here, the law of supply and demand hardly gets its due. Everything is upside down, in the language of the songster, the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

    Sanusi Lamido Sanusi also grabbed the headline. He slammed federal character, saying it promotes mediocrity. He demanded to know the relationship between the number of ministers and the principle. Many in the audience at the National Economic Summit in Abuja were wondering when the number one banker will stop talking. He had on November 27 in Asaba said that there was no economic sense in spending about 70% of our revenue on civil/ public servants, even as we are faced with a mammoth infrastructural deficit. His lucid postulation, expectedly, raised so much dust. Unionists were falling over one another to attack Sanusi. Many abandoned the message and went after the messenger. A man known for speaking his mind, the Central Bank chief almost apologised.

    Sanusi need not fret. He is entitled to his views, no matter how bitter such views are. With a suffocating bureaucracy, the economy cannot improve. The elite should insist on true federalism where the centre is made less attractive and there is devolution of power to the states. The Federal Government has become an overfed elephant, weighed down by its massive size and driven by a complex brain box that frequently malfunctions. It is stuck, like a truck with flat tyres. A situation where, according to the enfant terrible, 70% of earnings goes into recurrent expenditure is absurd.

    It is interesting that the Sanusi theory has come at a time the House of Representatives is threatening to order his arrest for shunning its summons. Remember the loquacious banker has been defending the right of the bank not to surrender its budget to scrutiny by the legislature, following the tradition in other places. Will police chief Mohammed Abubakar be asked to seize Sanusi? We are waiting for the drama which, like so many of such past braggadocio, may end in a sickening anti-climax.

    Those who had been asking where former Edo Governor Lucky Igbinedion had been got an answer. There were photographs of the former governor representing his dad the Chancellor at the Okada University, decked out in full academic regalia befitting of an experienced professor of Atomic Physics, his trademark moustache glittering, smiling as students were handed certificates during the convocation.

    How time changes. Not long ago, Igbinedion was accused of fleecing Edo of a huge amount of cash. He was hauled before a court. All that was left was for him to be sentenced to prison. But fate – sorry, I take that back – Justice Marcel Idowu Awokulehin intervened. He ruled that the former governor should pay a fine and go in peace. Plea bargain. Igbinedion then kept a low profile. Now, he is back; not to those days of lavish bunga-bunga continental parties and repulsive display of wealth. No. It is the academic circle, a world of freedom. Will students spare a thought for his experience?

    Women were not left out. Folorunso Alakija was listed as the world’s richest black woman by African Business Magazine. Instead of jubilation, it was condemnation that filled the air. Her critics started comparing her with the super star Oprah Winfrey. Some said she is a hairdresser; others described her as a tailor turned fashion designer. How did she come about an oil block? Has she ever been to Oloibiri? Which magazine is so called? The scornful questions were many.

    I am told the National Association of Beauticians and Hairdressers has sworn that it will no longer stand by and watch its leading lights being subjects of mockery by idle hands. It has briefed a Lagos lawyer who is well versed in litigation to file a writ on its behalf because, according to a source, every opportunity it has to shine on the national or international stage is snatched away and derided – remember former Speaker Patricia Olubunmi Etteh? Is it a crime to be a hair dresser?

    In the United Kingdom, the Duchess of Cambridge checked into a hospital to treat acute morning sickness. Then, the media hit the overdrive in celebration of a less than two-month phenomenon. Television stations descended on the story in a ravenous manner. It was as if they were reporting the Olympics all over. Newspapers cast sensational headlines and ran indepth analyses about the Royals. All this for a baby that was still being formed in the womb? It was difficult to understand.

    But the excitement ended in a tragedy when two Australian DJs played a prank, calling the hospital and getting a nurse to put a hoax call through for the Duchess. Realising that she had fallen for a prank, Nurse Jacintha Saldanha committed suicide. The contrite pranksters have been crying. When “honour and humour clash”, should the resolution be suicide? The lesson? Even sensation has its limits in an unnecessarily exciting matter. But will anybody commit suicide here on questions of integrity? How many men – and women – of honour do we have?

    Also on the foreign scene, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi issued a set of decrees that conferred on him some absolute powers. The people rose in unison to express their disappointment that a man who rode to power on the crest of a popular movement would so soon bid to entrench a dictatorship. At what point will leaders be jerked into the consciousness that the people’s power is supreme?

    That was the week of the rich–and the powerful. Now, kidnappers are back. On Sunday, they snatched Prof Kamene Okonjo, the 82-year-old mother of Finance Minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in Ogwachiuku, Delta State. And on Monday, they grabbed Mrs Tayo Rotimi, wife of the former military governor, Brig.-Gen. Oluwole Rotimi, who was also Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States. Both women are yet to be found. What a country!

     

    Obasanjo: From Ghana to Osun

    ORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo must have been wondering why Nigerians are so difficult to please. Despite the strenuous schedule on the farm in Ota, he accepted to lead ECOWAS election monitors to Ghana. Instead of praising his selflessness, critics have been so unsparing. They say he is the apostle of do-or-die elections and that his democratic credentials are suspect, considering his handling of the two elections that took place during his tenure. He was also desperate to secure a third term, they say, forgetting that Obasanjo had said that if he had craved tenure extension, God would have given it to him the way a father would hand his kid a toy.

    Back from Ghana, Obasanjo rushed down to Osun to settle the chieftaincy dispute at Orile-Owu. Then, he was asked to unveil the statue of the late Chief Bola Ige, the former Attorney-General and Justice Minister. Ige was murdered after resigning from the Obasanjo administration. His killers remain unknown to date. How did Obasanjo feel unveiling the statue?

     

  • ‘My life has been a struggle’

    ‘My life has been a struggle’

    He was a political neophyte when he joined the Victor Attah administration in Akwa Ibom State as Commissioner for Local Government Affairs. When he indicated intention to succeed his boss in 2007, nobody gave him a chance. Today, the story is different. Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio has come of age politically. By 2015, he will complete his two terms as governor of the state. Since he is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, Akpabio plans to move to the Senate to, according to him, serve his people who have asked him not to quit politics yet. 

    As governor, Akpabio, who turns 50 today (Sunday, December 9), believe he has touched the lives of his people. In this interview with Lawal Ogienagbon, Deputy Editor, and Ibrahim Kazeem, Akwa Ibom State Correspondent, Akpabio speaks on his journey in life.

    AS your name Godswill a product of your political fortune?

    It is a coincidence that my name is Godswill. I think it has more to do with my belief in God. My late brother taught me that everything in life radiates from God and the Bible is clear on that. The ways of prosperity are there, enshrined in the Quran and the Bible, that seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all other things shall be added unto it. That was what my late mother taught me. My name is God’s will and I believe strongly that God has a divine purpose for every man. You don’t just come into the world and believe that you don’t have direction. You definitely came into the world for a purpose. God placed you in your family for a purpose and therefore God gave me the name Godswill for a purpose. And that name He gave me was for me to do His will and to continuously seek His face and say let God’s will be done in my life. In 2007 when we were going for election, I did not say God make me the Governor of Akwa Ibom. I said let God’s will be done. I believe there is a lot of relationship between my name and my action. It is only through God that things are possible. The will of God is in this administration and that is why Godswill is being done and there is a direct relationship between the name Godswill, what is happening and the fortune of Akwa Ibom today.

    You always say you are being propelled to perform by anger, what is the source of this anger?

    Any Nigerian who has lived to be 50 years knows that the source of our problem is not lack of resources but how to utilise the natural resources for the benefit of all Nigerians. Every research in Africa and in the world shows that the problem of Nigeria is not availability of resources and how to utilise the resources; leadership is the bane of Nigeria. I became angry with the situation I saw and I said I wished God will give me the opportunity to be a leader so as to show the difference. Why was I so angry? I lived in Lagos and each time I came home, I will not be able to drive my car to my village. My village is sedentary, it is on the road between Ikot Ekpene and Aba, the road that comes from Umuahia, in Abia State. For 29 years I had no road to my village. The federal road between Ikot Ekpene and Aba was totally out of function and all the filling stations on that road were closed down. Even to get Okada to get into the road was a problem. We used to have pipe-borne water in the 60’s and we even saw some of it when we came back from the war. By the 80’s there was no water to drink, people had to resort to streams and I say what is happening in Nigeria. I could enter train in 1973 to Zaria to go and take entrance exam in the Nigerian Military School. Thrity years after, the train disappeared. If by 1990 as a young lawyer I could drive my car from Lagos, from Lagos I could drive seven hours and by the 8th hour, I am in Ikot Ekpene in my state and I would go to a restaurant to eat. From 1990, about 15 years after, the road disappeared between Lagos and Akwa Ibom. Don’t you think there is a reason to be angry? So the question there is what we are going to bequeath to our children if in my own time, the trains the cheapest means of transport have disappeared? I was a young boy of 10 years old when I travelled alone by train to Zaria to attempt to enter Military School. Thrity years after, no train and nothing. So, what about children who are not as privileged? I wasn’t a privileged child, but I was able to find my way to Zaria to take entrance examination. Can you say the same today of children who are orphans? Where would they get money to enter a plane since the roads are no longer there; the trains are no longer there. There was a reason to be angry. That is why when I came, I approached development with anger. I can tell you even as I am talking now the feeling of the anger is coming back but I am trying to reduce it. When I look around and drive round Uyo and I see over 34 to 38 urban roads that we have done, the anger starts reducing.

    I was angry because of the decayed infrastructure; I was angry because of the number of children that were hawking in Lagos State from Akwa Ibom. I was angry because every groundnut seller in Port Harcourt was from Akwa Ibom State. I was angry because every single person in Lagos or Rivers states is from Akwa Ibom. I was angry because if you find 50 children that were trafficked from Nigeria to Gabon, 40 of them would be from Akwa Ibom State. I was angry because every house in Lagos or Abuja had an Akwa Ibomite as an housemaid because they had no money to go to school. So, with the policy of free and compulsory education and the inherent triple school enrolment and the number of children from orphaned homes being taken care of here in Uyo, Akwa Ibom children are no longer in servitude. My wife is sending them to school and those orphans now have hope that in spite of their situation in life they can become something and the anger starts subsiding. I am happy now that you cannot easily find an Akwa Ibom child that is about the age of five who is still into slavery and servitude. I was angry because I lived as a young lawyer in Lagos and on one, two or three occasions I rescued some Akwa Ibom girls raped by certain expatriates some of whom were Indians. In a particular estate in Ebute Metta a woman used hot iron on the breast of a 12-year old from Akwa Ibom because she dared to say she wanted to visit home because the father was thinking of sending her to school and the woman asked her. Is school for your type?’ and used the iron on her breast. I went to the police station out of anger to represent the girl. The anger is going down.

    At 50, according to you, a man should start counting down. Why?

    Do you know why I was afraid to be 50, it is because I love counting up but when you are 50, you start counting down. When you are five and 10 years old, you keep counting up but when you are 50, you can hardly count 50 again.

    As a young person, you celebrate first birthday, second birthday, 30, 40 but once you get to 50, you are not likely to count to 50 again. It is difficult to count up to 40 again. When the first 50 is over, can you ever count 50 again? Even if you are to count 50, you are to count down. Very few people in our generation count 50. Even if you were to count 50 you can’t count up again. But it is to the glory of God that one should be 50.

    What has life been like in the last 50 years?

    Life has been a mixture of ups and downs. I have learnt a lot in the last 50 years. First, as a young child it was very traumatic, I had a lot of challenges. Second, as an adult and somebody with a feeling that you have worked hard and succeeded in life, you also learnt the travails of life that the Mexican play, The Rich Also Cry, which used to be on the television, came to mind. While the poor cry, the rich also cry. At what stage would you really say that life has been smooth? It has been very rough. Everything has been a struggle. The struggle to obtain education, the struggle to get school fees, the struggle to look for a place to do NYSC. As a young lawyer if you go to anywhere they will ask you if you have any Executive Director working in a bank. When you say no, they will send you out of the office. I stayed for two months in Lagos looking for where to do my NYSC, but I couldn’t because they wanted to link your name to a manager of a bank, and through you they will get briefs. But I wanted to practice law. Even I went to the oil industry, those to be taken had already been taken. Those in the oil industry want their children or their relations to do NYSC in those places. Sometimes merit is not recognised in Nigeria. It is only connections and we allow mediocrity to thrive in the society. A lot of young bright people are not given the opportunity to display their talent. So it has been a lot of challenges. It is sadness and joy. Joy in the sense that you have been able to graduate as a lawyer, sadness that it wasn’t possible for you to get a place to do NYSC. Joy in the sense that you now surmounted that problem, sadness in the sense that you could not get a permanent job that could give you decent living. Joy in the sense that you are able to surmount that other aspect and sadness in the sense of the absence of a decent job, the struggle must continue and then eventually you get to a point of saying that I’m a state governor then you discover that the rich also cry. The politicians try to paint you in a colour that is not yours. The only thing that has given me sanity is my dependence on God

    Can we now say that at 50, you are now fully developed politically? In 2007, when we were talking about choosing the PDP candidate for this state, it was a tug of war and God used a particular line Chief Ufot Ekaete. Today we hear that you are your own man now, you don’t have God father. How true is that?

    I have never had a Godfather in Akwa Ibom State. Your reading of the Akwa Ibom political situation in 2007 is totally wrong. Please, do a little bit of more investigation. Chief Ufot Ekaete was Secretary to the Government of the Federation. He was not in my political campaign team for the governorship of the state in 2007 before the primaries. The PDP primaries, I believed strongly that he had his own sympathy. When you interview him he would tell you who his preferred candidate was. I never had a Godfather before I emerged as the candidate of PDP in Akwa Ibom State. That was why there were so much troubles but I thank him for being a man of integrity and truth. Chief Ufot Ekaete was among the Akwa Ibom elders that came out in my support and said since he has won the primaries, we must stand by his victory not that he was a Godfather who put me to win the primaries. He was among the elders who spoke the truth that we don’t know how the young man won the primaries, but he won it, therefore, he should be given the opportunity to contest a governor of the state. For that, I remained grateful to him but interms of the primaries I had no single elders in the state of national prominence that was in my camp. Infact, I used to dress up some of my PA’s with their chieftaincy dresses whenevr we were going for meetings.

    Let me give you a little bit of clarification so that you can understand. In 2006 we had about 56 to 57 aspirants. There was a particular aspirant from Ikot Abasi Local Government Area that had the blessing of the then SGF before the primaries and ofcourse the incumbent governor had a particular aspirant. I don’t want to name names. The elders that should have come together to support another aspirant all went into the race themselves. They all wanted to be governor.

    If I wasn’t politically mature in 2006 as you were saying but I managed to win the primaries out of 57 people then that is the kind of political immaturity that I want. Here is the man, young man that was the chairman of rally and mobilisation committee for PDP re-election in 2003 and chairman of the rally and mobilisation committee of Obasanjo/Atiku campaign mobilisation in 2003 for Akwa Ibom State. I went round the state to canvass support for the governor of the state with the youths of the state for his re-election in 2003. He was not political matured but he was the chairman of all the campaign committees for Obong Victor Attah on rally and mobilisation in the state. I organised the 31 local governments rallies for the 31 local governments in the state. I mobilised support in 329 wards with the youths of the state for the then governor to win re-election in 2003. I also organised the PDP Presidential rally at the Uyo Township Stadium that was second to none, never seen in the history of this state. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was so excited and announced that he had never addressed this kind of rally even in Western Nigeria. This was a young man totally politically immature in 2006 and therefore, he became a Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and they had over 539 cases in court on chieftaincy matters but he sat in judgment in the chambers daily and all the communities in court withdrew their cases from in court and came before him. Also communities that never had Paramount Ruler for 14 years withdrew their cases in court and settled them. A community like Uruan that was in court for over nine years was able to get a Paramount Ruler during my time. People felt that he was a man of justice therefore his pronouncement was respected by all because I gave justice to all irrespective of your status. This was the same young who wasn’t politically matured but he was the last to declare for governorship in the state because of the respect he had for the former governor. When he realised that the former governor had his own preferred candidate he refused to go into the race until women went to the primary school and stayed there. Thousands of Akwa Ibom women said they were going to go naked unless Godswill Akpabio declare for governorship of the state. Grudgingly, he was the last to enter the race and when he entered, he never said he wanted to be governor he just told Akwa Ibom people, let Godswill be done.

    Do governors need a summit to come together on regional integration? For instance, we have BRACED commission in the South South and given the incessant border disputes between governors over allocation of oil wells. Don’t you think the regional integration is being threatened?

    Also what has happened to the Southern Governors’ forum?

    I am actually not an activist at 50. I am a governor at 50. So what you are talking about will be a better question for people who are involved in activism. I won’t know much about it. It is a very good idea but it is not the oil well that will divide the South South. There will always be differences. But we must focus on things that unite us and one of those things is how to integrate ourselves economically. We can do things that will be of general advantage to our people. The oil wells you mentioned are things that could divide the people. Let us not focus on oil well. Let us focus on economic integration.

    You talked of economic integration, for instance, Uyo-Calabar/Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene road are in the state of collapse? The roads though federal, can there be an integration between the three states?

    I am working on how the three sister states can collaborate for the repairs of the road. I have written to President Goodluck Jonathan and he has given me approval to work with my brother states of Abia and Cross River and ensure that those roads are not only done but they are dualised. I got the approval from the Federal Ministry of Works. President Goodluck Jonathan graciously granted the approval and that for me is how to integrate the state. that is why I said let us focus on things that will benefit our people and not on things that will divide us. The oil well is all about money issues but if we focus on truth then there will be no conflict. The reality is that for instance, I don’t want to speak for Bayelsa and Rivers States but if what I am hearing is true that these were the issues that were done in the year 2000 and not things that were done in 2012 then you can see that the protagonists are a little bit unfair to the president because the reporting tends to give the impression as if it is being dine under the presidency of Bayelsa. For instance, look at the Akwa Ibom issues, it was settled even in the Supreme Court in 2005 when Cross River State went to the Supreme Court. They explained to Cross River State that if Bakassi goes to Cameroun, there is no way you can talk about oil well on the deep sea, yet, the current administration still went back to the Supreme Court. I tried everything possible to stop them from doing so. I even wrote a letter to them saying that it was unnecessary offering assistance at that time but they still went to court. So those are the issues. It is the individual attitude that could threatened, the unity of the South South because oil wells are not movable assets. They are permanently fixed. If we all believe in justice and speak the truth then there will be no conflict in the regard. As a governor I decided that the best way to move forward is to focus on things that can unite the South South and not on things that can divide the South South. Let the BRACED commission concentrate on economic integration, commonality, and comparative advantage in agriculture and how we can create wealth system for our people. Right now I am intervening on the road from Arochukwu to allow the people from there get to Akwa Ibom State. so that they can also make use of the Ibom International Airport. That is also what informed my request to Mr. President to grant me permission to dualise road from Uyo to Aba in Abia State and from Uyo to Calabar in Cross River State. I am going to be working with my brother governors in that regard so that we can create common facilities/infrastructure that will enhance the living standard of our people and not to focus on things that divide us. That is why I said at 50 I will never be an activist. I will only be a man who speaks the truth.

    What is your position on the call by some sections of the North calling for the review of the Onshore/Offshore dichotomy?

    That was a settled issue. We should not reopen old wounds. Even when that policy was in place the entire Nigerians described it as obnoxious. Obnoxious in the sense that it was a clear case of an unjust policy and then Nigerians decided to find a solution to it. They went through alot of processes before finally arriving at a compromised position. I need to tell you that thousands of oil wells in Nigeria are still offshore. The onshore/offshore dichotomy is still there but the compromised position was that for oil wells between 200 meters isobaths, we should pay derivation but oil wells beyond 200 meters isobaths, no derivation because that is almost like international waters. So, oil wells within the shadow waters that impacted alot on the aquatic life with the region and affect the livelihood of the people who are predominantly fishermen and the impact of the oil spill also spills on the land and destroyed the possibility of agriculture. Since the people are riverine and depend on the water but the water is already black as a result of the activities of oil exploration. They should get compensation. So, we got to a compromised position. The position was that we should pay derivation up to 200 meters but some of my colleagues in the North when they are granting interview, you hear them saying 200 nautical miles. Nigeria doesn’t even have the capability to police up to 200 nautical miles. So you have to correct some of these distortions. These things are being done and propagated in order to confuse and cause bad blood between the north, the south south and oil producing communities. That is not the correct position. The reality is that the dichotomy is still there. I give you an example, if dichotomy was totally removed, the highest oil producing states in Nigeria will not be in the South South, it will be Lagos State. That is where you have Bonga Oil field that produces up to 800,000 barrels per day but it is deep offshore. It is beyond the 200meters isobaths. That is why Lagos is not a derivation state. That is the simple truth. There are lots of thousands of oil wells in Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom that are beyond 200 meters isobaths that we are not getting derivation on but the ones within 200 meters isobaths that impact on the landmass should be regarded as part and parcel of the land for the purpose of derivation and yet people are not still happy. In 2012, when American decided to quadruple oil production and trying to compete with Saudi Arabia in oil production and our greatest partner is America. Shouldn’t we be worried that a time may come that oil will have no value? It is a time we should be talking of more dependence on oil instead of thinking about how to diversify the economy?

    From Nassarawa to Zamfara we have mineral deposits. From Jos, we have bauxites everywhere in the North. There is no part in this country that God has not embedded mineral resources in the soil. Why don’t we set up corporation and even increase derivation to make it attractive to our sister states to go into major exploration and exploitation of these mineral resources so that we can diversify our economy. We have things embedded in the soil all over Nigeria, we have not talked about that, we are depending on crude oil. Is it the time in 2012 that we should be talking of how to grab more oil so that we can share more revenue while forgetting the environment impact on the people such as oil spill, gas flaring that is affecting peoples’ lungs, acid rain and the rest of them.

    I am not into that argument. I want to thank the President and the Attorney General of the Federation who issued a statement and pointed out that that was a settled issue. That Nigeria should move forward not backward. That is an issue that will move the country backward. For me I want to move forward. If we start the issue today, it means that we are moving backward and we are not patriotic. Also that some people are elected to destroy Nigeria and I think it is important for us to bring leaders into this country who will rather build this country than dividing the country.

    You have a grass to grace story. What is the greatest lesson you have learnt in life and what impact do you want it to have on the lives of people?

    Perseverance is the key. If you persevere you will succeed. Then don’t depend on your ability, depend on God. Any child no matter the circumstances of your birth, persevere, work hard and realise that there is only one place in the world where success comes before work and that is in the dictionary. That is where you see S before W. In real life, it is work before success.

    Before you got married, what was your relationship like with the opposite sex?

    I was very timid because I was a very poor man. You know you only have confidence when you have money in your pocket. So, I congratulate young men who are handsome and rich. But the rest of us who are good looking even when girls try to get close to you, you will think they are trying to mock you. I have not always been a ladies man. Humanity gets attracted to my personality. That is why when I was a student in the university I didn’t join any cult because I felt I had too many friends and therefore I was a cult onto myself. So, I said how can you carry a cult into a cult. Already the name Godswill Akpabio was an attractive name. I am very sociable and a mixer. I have always been that kind of person all along. In secondary school, I was a general senior prefect and I have the largest number of school sons. Everybody wants to be Goddy A school son. Instead of me having school sons that washed clothes for me. I washed clothes for my school sons. I washed plates for them, they stayed with me and I have to make sure they are clean. I will ask them my friend have you changed your pants today, they would say Goddy A I want to be your school son. I would tell them if you want to be my son you must be clean. I rather served my school sons instead of them serving me. That was why I had many school sons. So, that kind of personality has always been there for me.

    I was the speaker of the Students’ Union Parliament in the University of Calabar. The students said I should contest for president but I refused. I pulled out in the last minute because of family considerations. They said they had the money to sponsor me for president but I told them supposing the union is dissolved and I am sent home, will I start over as a poor man?

  • A nation threatened by imitation

    A nation threatened by imitation

    Inside Kemi Asade’s sleek flagship store on Lagos city’s Broad Street, two ladies persistently ogled the new ubiquitous N48, 000 Hermes leather tote bag. One was stunning in freshly acquired Ralph Lauren N27, 000 blue chiffon check dress; the other however glowed attractively in a N25, 000 DKNY pink patterned chiffon dress. They were both putting on Christian Louboutin sling-back heel platform sandals valued at N24, 600 respectively. Their entire outfits were bought from the shop except their watches which they reportedly bought on shopping spree in the United Kingdom.

    They strolled around the store haughtily, momentarily flipping price labels with intimidating chips on their shoulders. Velvety, clipped notes wafted from their lips like the scent of crisp naira. The effect was priceless. The four store attendants tripped on themselves, each jostling to be the one to attend to the parading deep pockets.

    Asade simply grinned and managed a smug smile. And the reason was hardly far-fetched; the two ladies, she explained, were very big-spenders and daughters of a senior Nigerian Navy Admiral thus her certainty of making a killing by the patronage of her elegant, promising customers.

    But just when they were expected to make good with their purchase, the two ladies muttered silently and quite assuredly to the store attendant. Then they turned around and made for the door. Promptly Asade sprang to her feet to ask cheerily for the reason they were leaving and one of the pair sashayed nearer to tell her that they had to get to the bank.

    But the shifty grins on their faces as they made for the door indicated otherwise hence the reporter excused himself and took after the departing pair. Three blocks from Asade’s store; her two “loyal” customers cut a sight counting animatedly crisp naira for the purchase of 40 pairs of the same handbag that they assured Asade they were coming back to buy.

    Further findings from the store owner, Margaret Okojie, revealed that Asade’s customers had actually come purchase knock off (counterfeit) versions of the tote bags. According to Okojie, the sisters had recently brokered a deal with her to purchase counterfeit versions of the bags from her every quarter.

    “They said they were opening a boutique in a high end area of Opebi Ikeja. A mutual friend introduced them to me. She actually saved them from spending millions of naira importing bags that will gather dust in their shops. Very few people can afford to buy $10, 000 (almost N1million) Gucci bags or N60, 000 to N70, 000 worth of Chanel and Prada bags. Most ladies visit expensive boutiques to window shop and take pictures of latest bags only to come to my store to buy same bags between N2, 500 and N7, 500,” revealed Okojie. According to her, Asade’s customers only patronise her when they intend to buy original versions of her designer products for personal use and whenever they intend to use original brands of the bags to attract customers’ attention and lure them to purchase mostly knock off versions of the designer bangs in their store.

    It’s an unforgivable fraud but Nigerians do love a good bargain. For instance, Sayo Aweda, a banker and one of Okojie’s “most loyal” customers was found perusing a hanger stacked with fake Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and Chanel handbags. She was looking for a counterfeit of the new Kate Spade bag because the gold-plated metal strap on the one she bought in a high end boutique in Opebi is broken. “I bought it at N35, 000 and I don’t want to pay another N35, 000 another one yet,” she said with a shrug.

    It’s a familiar refrain these days. Counterfeit shopping has become something of a sport, much to the chagrin of luxury-goods manufacturers. Fake designer bags are everywhere, it seems and it has become so easy to acquire that it’s virtually abominable in certain social circuits, particularly among the middle class and low income earners to flaunt the real thing.

    Once limited to shady stalls on Lagos Island and low budget boutiques scattered around Lagos mainland, counterfeit luxury goods have gradually found inroads into many high end boutiques across Lagos and Abuja. They are also found online and in malls, and have even turned up at discount and used goods stores. Among the ladies-who-lunch crowd, purse parties, where guests buy inexpensive fakes in private homes while they sip champagne, are the latest trend. With all this fun, cheap merchandise, why buy the real thing?

    Kayode Adebisi for instance, lost his wife and a child earlier in the year when his car brake failed to hold on the Lagos-Ibadan highway. Adebisi had paid his auto mechanic to replace his worn brake pads for him and the repairer, according to him, collected money for an “original used brake pad” known across local mechanic villages as “follow come part.”

    Having patronised the same mechanic for four years, Adebisi harboured no reservations about the safety of such used part or the skill of his favourite artisan. Nor did the latter’s work ethic ever gave him cause to smart and fret. But that was to change sooner than he imagined. Few minutes before they got to Ibadan, Oyo State, the car brake suddenly failed Adebisi and he crashed into a stationary articulated truck even as he pressed frantically on his vehicle’s brake.

    He claimed perceived some terrible burning odour from the engine but it smelt like some vehicle clutch was burning. He said: “I used a vehicle with auto transmission gear so I heard no cause to worry. I thought it was some passing vehicle’s clutch burning. So I speeded on ignorantly.” And the consequence is better imagined. No sooner than his vehicle’s brake failed him, he slammed on the brakes and the car skidded and swerved into the stationary truck by the roadside.

    As you read, he is bedridden. He is healing from an excruciating fracture at his pelvic region and he experiences recurrent back pain. But every pain he feels pales beside the unbearable agony of losing his wife and child.

    Further findings revealed that the brake pads installed in his car by his mechanic was actually a knock off model of his preferred German brand. But much as Adebisi would like to have his ‘trusted’ mechanic suffer for what he did, the latter desperately claims his innocence claiming he bought the auto part from a trusted auto parts dealer. “I never knew he had started mixing original and fake parts,” he lamented.

    Lateef Durojaiye, an auto mechanic and proprietor of Ogun State based Baal Opeyemi Motor Works, noted that the defaulting mechanic may be telling the truth. According to him, most of the auto parts currently in circulation are “fake.” And more worrisome is the fact that erstwhile dealers in original auto parts have started mixing their merchandise with all manner of counterfeit and substandard parts.

    Apparently miffed by the scourge of the importation of substandard products into the country, the Federal Government has vowed to atop importation of counterfeit goods into the country particularly by Asian nations. The Minister of State, Trade and Investment, Samuel Ortom said that because President Goodluck Jonathan was no longer comfortable over the development, he summoned the relevant agencies to meet with National Assembly on the way forward.

    Ortom lamented that 80 percent of counterfeit and substandard goods that come into the country are from Asian countries.

    Those directed to meet with the National Assembly included the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), and National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

    It is very hard to obtain accurate statistics on counterfeiting, mainly because it is a clandestine activity but Joseph Odumodu, Director General of SON, revealed that Nigerians spend N1 trillion annually to import substandard goods. Odumodu explained that 20 per cent of road accident is caused due by substandard auto parts while over 200 lives have been lost to collapsed buildings occasioned by substandard products within five years.

    According to him, Nigeria could save N500 million annually by buying correct bulbs instead of buying counterfeit that won’t last. Odumodu said faking, counterfeiting and substandard goods are global phenomena but the Nigerian case is worse due to obsolete and weak legislation.

    “We are strong patrons of substandard goods. We know the real ones but we claim that we don’t have money to buy them. Average Nigerian importers are criminals, murderers and killers. We must do something about them.”

    Products targeted by the faker cut across items like drugs, tyres, household utensils, phones, electronics, clothing materials, IT equipment, as well as food items like beverages, milk, canned foods, toys, cables, automatic voltage regulators, amongst several others.

    It is estimated that Nigeria loses about N50 billion annually to importation of fake and substandard products. Of this figure, trade in substandard auto spare parts accounts for about N20 billion. Especially startling is the fact that the fake auto parts market is dominated by adulterated parts of a popular Japanese product with large market in Nigeria.

    Counterfeiting is a hugely lucrative business, with criminals relying on the continued high demand for cheap goods coupled with low production and distribution costs. The illegal activities related to counterfeiting take advantage of unwitting consumers and bargain-hunters, exploiting people’s appetites for cut-price brands or simply their financial position.

    While the costs are difficult to quantify – and do not include non-monetary damage such as illness and death – the value of counterfeiting is estimated by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation for Development (OECD) to be in the region of $250 billion per year. And while counterfeiters continue to reap significant profits, millions of consumers are at risk from unsafe and ineffective products.

    A bargain gone wrong

    Counterfeiters are involved in the illegal production of knock-offs in virtually every area – food, drinks, clothes, shoes, pharmaceuticals, electronics, auto parts, toys, currency, tickets for transport systems and concerts, alcohol, cigarettes, toiletries, building materials and much, much more. Often the temptation for consumers can be too strong to resist, with many not understanding the risks and ramifications attached to this illicit industry. Buying a counterfeit handbag or pair of jeans, for example, might not be regarded as an illegal transaction – simply a cheaper way to wear the latest fashion goods.

    However, often little thought is given to how the money may ultimately end up in the hands of organized crime groups or how the industries that rely on legitimate sales suffer. Even obscure purchases like safety goggles or electrical plugs that have been illegally copied and reproduced present significant risks, given their lower quality. Counterfeit cigarettes also present multiple risks: they are even more harmful than genuine cigarettes, as they may contain much higher levels of nicotine and other dangerous chemicals such as arsenic, benzene, cadmium and formaldehyde.

    One devastation too many

    Recently, former President Olusegun Obasanjo warned of an imminent revolution in Nigeria.

    Obasanjo’s call was hinged on the prevailing high rate of youth unemployment, which he estimated to be about 72 per cent. Youth unemployment in the country is currently pegged at 75 per cent. Unemployment rate in the country increased to 23.90 percent in 2011 from 21.10 percent in 2010 according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Historically, from 2006 until 2011, Nigeria unemployment Rate averaged 14.6 Percent reaching an all time high of 23.9 Percent in December of 2011 and a record low of 5.3 Percent in December of 2006.

    Besides robbing millions of youths of opportunities to be productively engaged in local industries and other indigenous growth efforts, the ramifications of counterfeiting affects everyone, with Governments, businesses and society being robbed of tax revenue, business income and jobs. The flood of counterfeit and pirated products creates an enormous drain on the global economy by creating an underground trade that deprives Governments of revenue for vital public services and imposes greater burdens on taxpayers.

    It also leads to more public resources being spent on fraud-detection methods by public sector authorities and larger intelligence and policing budgets being needed to counter sophisticated schemes and networks. Counterfeit goods also undermine employment, as products are copied and produced illegally, thereby displacing sales of original merchandise and reducing the turnover of legitimate companies. Fraudulent medicines also have a direct impact on increased medical costs due to prolonged treatment periods and medical complications in the spread of treatment-intensive diseases. The prices of products also go up because companies increase security systems to counter organized criminal activities and have to invest more in research and development.

    Taming the scourge

    Yemi Ogunsanwo, Managing Director of Crest Communications suggested the need to build more awareness of the scale of the problem. He said that private companies complicit in counterfeit trade should be named and shamed, and codes of conduct more rigorously enforced. He emphasized coordinated and cross-sector action at the international level as vital measures for identifying, investigating and prosecuting counterfeiters.

    Consumers also have a responsibility to exert their influence with their purchasing choices according Hamida Shittu, a clothier and fashion designer. According to her, counterfeiting networks will continue to operate as long as customers support it. If your favourite designer brand is clearly not made by your favourite designer, stay away. Beyond these obvious counterfeit products, stay alert to other warning signs. While these purchases may save you money in the short term, the longer-term losses are far more costly, she said.

    Nigerians have continued to spend a fortune on the importation of finished consumer products that could be sourced locally if efforts are made to patronize locally made goods. The National Bureau of Statistics claims that “Mineral products, raw hides and skins, leather etc, textiles and associated articles and vehicles, aircraft and associated parts, represented the highest growth in imports between the third quarter of 2011 and the same period of 2010 while crude oil exports contributed 95.3 per cent of total exports”.

    This has resulted in the continued low capacity utilisation and low production in Nigeria-based companies and industries resulting in high unemployment figures in the country, according to the trade statistics. The United Nations Development programme (UNDP) recently raised concerns over the increasing rate of poverty and unemployment in Nigeria. DaoudaToure, the Resident Representative of UNDP, made the observation in Abuja at the 53rd Annual conference of the Nigerian Economic Society (NES).

    Toure noted that “for almost a decade now, Nigeria has been recording consistently high economic growth rate that has not produced commensurate employment opportunities and reduction in poverty among its citizens.” He urged the government to engage in growth patterns that generate jobs on a large scale to mitigate youth unemployment and a shift from jobless growth strategies toward inclusive and pro-poor growth strategies that equip youths and women with required skills for decent employment.

    But this may prove very difficult to achieve given the average Nigerian youth’s mentality about locally produced goods. Cornelius Akpan, a shoe maker who recently relocated from Aba to Lagos, disclosed that he experience has taught him to attach foreign designer labels to his locally made shoes. Thus at his shop, many counterfeit brands of Gucci, Marc Jobs, Kenneth Cole among others are on display to the delight of many high end customers – mostly boutique owners who come to buy them in large quantities at a normal rate of N4, 500 to N5, 000 per shoe although they sell them, fully packaged as originals at ridiculous rates of N17, to N45, 000 per shoe.

    Then there is Bolanle Awe who jets out every month to purchase counterfeit versions of designer shoes, hand bags and clothes in Dubai. Likewise, Fidelis Okhagbue, an auto parts dealer, travels to China more frequently as the Chinese market, he claims, is more profitable than any other. True, many vehicle parts dealers in Nigeria travel to China to determine the quality of the items they buy. Most times, they place orders for low quality goods in order to attract low prices and attract higher patronage.

    This explains why most imported knock off goods in Nigeria bear Chinese labels. Unfortunately, the regulatory authorities in the country simply ask importers to pay penalties and permit them to take delivery of their goods to the detriment of the end users.

    “We have a crisis situation. We now insist on certificate of free trade,” according to Odumodu, SON boss who declared that the agency will go beyond seizure of substandard goods and embark on re-export of such goods. In response to the devastating effect of the trade in counterfeit goods, SON launched its zero tolerance campaign against fake products last year. And till date, the regulator claimed it had removed about N3 billion worth of substandard products from circulation.

    The life of counterfeit goods through back alleys, mafia connections, and sweat-shops into the homes of middle-class Nigerians and impoverished children trying to obtain malaria medicine constitutes a national malady of devastating proportions.

    The sharp contrast between the Sex in the City, a popular sitcom’s idealization of a good knockoff Hermes bag as a status symbol, and the overnight “ghost shift” worked at factories, pumping out counterfeit goods in China as well as the devastation of the knock off produced on a developing country like Nigeria is no doubt unimaginable.

    It ruins the chances of a country like Nigeria to rise through the doldrums of self-inflicted economic decline and unemployment to the socio-economic Eden of its dreams. But who cares; as long as there is a ready stream of knock off goods, counterfeit product dealers like Awe and Okhagbue will continue to travel to Dubai and China import knock offs as usual. And if it means killing the economy and luring more Nigerian consumers to their deaths, so be it.