The Nation Newspaper

Category: Tuesday

Reflections on management of Nigeria’s economy

The Nigerian economy has been off the rails over the last four decades or so. The situation took a turn for the worse as it literally dropped off a cliff and now lies in a ditch, face down. The manifestations are obvious; youth unemployment is high, poor power supply, poor road network, obsolete rail system and sub-standard educational and health systems. Overall, the average Nigerian is living in appalling conditions with mud or mud-brick [dwelling] houses using firewood as cooking fuel and depending on kerosene as source of lighting. Only limited households have access to pipe-borne treated water for drinking and cooking. To boot, many people in the country use the bush as toilet. Infant and under-five mortality rates are very high. In the area of security, Nigeria has not fared well either with several incidents of kidnapping and terrorism occurring every month. A generic reason for this parlous state of the Nigerian economy and wider society is the poor perception of what economic management really means. It is perhaps not immodest to assert that our top managers of the economy have not demonstrated sound understanding of what it takes to manage a modern economy.

A modern economy thrives on the platform of a lean and highly-efficient government, an enterprising and active private sector, functional infrastructural base and a robust academic environment. These would be supported by a highly-mobile military and people-friendly Police force. As complements, a modern economy needs an articulate, educated and enlightened political class as well as a neutral and fair judiciary and strong labour movement. Therefore, the fundamentals of modern economic management are derived from proper understanding of the structural linkages within the economy. Such appreciation would be reflected in what to do when there is an upsurge in economic activities (boom) and what not to do when there is a slow-down. It is the interaction of the policy and economic variables that usually engage managers of a modern economy at the macro level where the central government operates on a routine basis. At equilibrium, the right mix of policy variables will produce the desirable level of economic variables and the citizenry would be reasonably at peace – obtaining the goods and services they require at the right places, the right time and the right prices with full employment.

There are two other segments of the economy that needs attention; the meso and micro segments. Between the macro level of the economy on one hand, and the micro level [comprising consumers and producers] on the other, there is the middle or meso level. The two sets of meso level economic variables relevant to modern economic management are markets and infrastructure. Markets form part of the mechanisms through which economic and policy variables transmit signals or connect to operators at the micro level. Policies or other forms of interventions alter market conditions faced by individual households and producers through changes in relative prices and quantities traded. The other component of the meso economy is infrastructure. Three types of infrastructure are readily discernible, namely: economic, social and institutional. Investment in economic infrastructure like roads, electricity and irrigation facilities promotes economic activities and boosts money supply, thereby stimulating production.

Government needs to also invest heavily in social infrastructure as they impact positively on the lives of individuals as well as promote production. The foremost social infrastructural facilities are related to the provision of health services, educational facilities and water to the population. Institutional infrastructure forms the bedrock of public administration and internal and external security. Included here are all government institutions at all levels of government. Top rate performance of these institutions on a sustainable basis is a sine qua non for efficient management of a modern economy. With optimal levels of infrastructure in place, the right enabling environment would have been created for the micro economy to thrive.

Our economic managers must realise that in managing a modern economy, the least attention should be given to political, religious and ethnic considerations. Rather, the primary focus should be on such economic factors as creating an enabling environment for the private sector and markets to function efficiently. It is pertinent to note that no road, electricity facility, school, hospital, police or military force is owned by political parties in Nigeria. Neither are any of these infrastructural facilities solely used by Moslems, Christians, Hausas, Igbos, Efiks, Binis, Yorubas, Fulanis, Nupes or Urhobos. They are of universal usage; indeed, public goods and services in which we must invest. Nigerians must also amend their attitude towards the management of infrastructural facilities in the country. We tend to build facilities and then go to sleep. Even as the population increases regularly, we do not plan to upgrade, maintain, sustain and expand our facilities. With increased demand and stagnant supply, the facilities soon become over-stretched and decayed.

Nigeria is a particularly strange case, completely at variance with propriety and defying logic. Most states are too poorly resourced and managed to have any economic future due to high cost of administration. In spite of these facts and owing to ignorance of and insensitivity to current realities, many people are agitating for the creation of more states as if new entries will run on auto-pilot. For the size of our economy at present, the cost of governance is very high. Why are there so many public institutions in the country? Why should salaries in public service not aligned with the scope of responsibilities and schedules? Why should our law-making be a full-time job? Why should the lawmakers, Ministries and CEOs of public institutions have the power to engage Special Assistants and Advisers at the expense of government even as many of them have little value to add?

Nigeria has to take the counsel of the US President Barak Obama. On a visit to Ghana some three years ago, he had advised Africans that the way to progress is to build strong institutions rather than strong leaders. Failing to do this, African countries cannot leap forward into the 21st Century. For instance, we cannot lay claim to building strong institutions in Nigeria if a major political party [as an institution] can put forward a felon for high office and he “governs” a State for eight years; subsequently planting his scion as a key player in government. How then was the man expected to focus on good governance. Rather, he looted the State treasury of billions of Naira, evaded the law in his country only to be convicted through diligent prosecution in another country. This clearly exposes Nigeria’s weak institutional infrastructure.

• Dr. Akinyosoye, an Applied Economic Policy Analyst and Data Management Specialist writes from Ibadan.

November 6, 2012
No sacred cow, please

Violence, killings and terrorism are fast becoming the norm in Nigeria today such that the society is no longer shocked each time Boko Haram strikes. As if here is Iraq, Pakistan or Afghanistan, Nigerians are beginning to react with less concern to the unnecessary bloodletting in the country by these terrorists.

There seems to be a sense of déjà vu each time there is another attack on Christians/churches and other innocent Nigerians in the north by Boko Haram leading to loss of lives and properties. Save for those affected in one way or the other, the rest of us seem to have lost count of the number of terrorist attacks and associated deaths/killings since we were pushed on this path by some forces of darkness and are going about our businesses as usual as if nothing is amiss.

Hope is a tool Nigerians have been using since the existence of time to tackle their helplessness especially in the face of seemingly overwhelming adversities. Hope of a better tomorrow seems to make them live longer even when that tomorrow may never come. Little wonder then that we have been ranked the happiest people on earth even in the face of one of world’s most excruciating poverty.

With our security forces seemingly incapable of protecting us against the onslaught of Boko Haram, Nigerians have resorted to hope, prayer and in some cases self help to free themselves from the grasp of these terrorists. But instead of the security situation as regards Boko Haram getting better, we are sinking deeper into this bottomless pit with seemingly no end in sight. Instead of our witch abandoning her witchcraft she kept on giving birth to daughters, so the matter continues.

But since we are told that God is always behind the patient, the patience and hope of majority of Nigerians in this Boko Haram matter seems to be paying off as it does appear that we are getting closer to unraveling those behind this terror against the rest of us.

Remember President Goodluck Jonathan alleged some time ago that our judicial, legislative and even the executive arms of government have been infiltrated by either Boko Haram operatives or sympathizers. Though he failed to name names, most of us believed him but were and still disappointed that he’s not been able to bring them to book. That seems to be about to change and the National Assembly has been his first port of call.

Can you still recall one Senator Alli Ndume representing Borno North senatorial district in the National Assembly? The lawmaker accused some time ago of being in bed with Boko Haram? Yes, the same person who is currently battling prosecution in court to clear his name on this terrorism matter. Well, another Borno senator is being fingered again for allegedly aiding and abetting Boko Haram. His name? Senator Ahmed Khalifa Zanna representing Borno central.

Both ‘distinguished’ Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have vehemently denied either backing for Boko Haram or support for terrorism. This is not a court of law, so I would rather leave the prosecution to prove its case if any against them and allow the court to judge.

My concern here is not about their guilt or innocence but the fact that prominent people are being linked to this terror organization confirms my stand that there was no way Boko Haram or any such organization can survive without the support, tacit or full of the leaders and elders of the area concerned. At the risk of abuse and name calling by some elements in the north, especially the northeast axis, I’ve shouted myself hoarse calling for security searchlight to be beamed on the elders, leaders and even traditional rulers of areas where Boko Haram is firmly rooted, Borno and Yobe states in particular.

The story filtering from Borno and environs shortly after the terrorists began their killings was that former Borno State Governor Senator Alli Modu Sheriff was behind Boko Haram and that he created the group as the militant arm of his campaign organization and indeed his administration, not only to win elections, but also to suppress his opponents. If this was true, he indeed succeeded in his mission as he not only won the elections (not all though) for his All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) but also ruthlessly dealt with the opposition, especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Since all bad intentioned things cannot last forever, we were told SAS, as Sheriff is better known, fell apart with his boys who, with the type of training, ammunition and orientation they have been taken through opted for terrorism instead of a quiet and peaceful reintegration into the society. Welcome to Boko Haram. That was the story we were told.

Now after years of silence, SAS is fighting back and has pointedly accused the PDP in his State of not only being behind Boko Haram and terrorism in Borno, but also fingered Senator Ahmed Khalifa Zanna as being their godfather. Uhuuuum!

Following the arrest of an alleged Boko Haram operative recently in a Maiduguri house said to belong to Senator Zanna, by security agents, the lawmaker even though admitting the suspect is a relation denied having anything to do with him and said the house in question does not belong to him but Sheriff. SAS, he said should be held responsible. Uhuuuum.

This is getting interesting. It appears both have something useful to say or know something useful about Boko Haram that could lead us to the solution to this problem and I think it won’t be a bad idea if both are taken into custody by security agents for thorough investigation. Coming out now and throwing this accusation and counter accusation could mean that the heat was getting closer to them and they felt it’s better to open the Pandora box now than keep quiet and suffer alone.

When JTF began its campaign against the terrorists in Borno, a certain group of elders and leaders of thoughts accused the military of high handedness and called for troops’ withdrawal. Why? May be not unconnected to their desire and determination to protect their personal interests as events have now proven. Do we still need any further evidence to convince us that these so called elders and leaders are part of the problem?

There are so many of them out there masquerading as leaders and elders, hobnobbing with government in the day but having dinner with Boko Haram at night. Security agents should painstakingly make effort in seeking them, taking them and using them to get to the root of Boko Haram and stamp out terrorism in our land. Nobody involved should be spared, no sacred cow, but at the same time, no innocent soul should be punished.

October 30, 2012
How we court disasters

The national flood disaster highlights a basic deficiency in our approach to unpleasant situations and that is the idea of waiting until disaster strikes before taking action.

Faced with imminent danger, successive administrations in Nigeria invariably adopt a wait and see policy rather than coming up with an initiative to avert the crisis. In effect, this nation has witnessed several avoidable disasters resulting in a cyclical pattern of development that rejects progression. In many ways, our attempt at nation-building replicates Albert Camus’s Sisyphean myth as whatever gains we record are usually cancelled out by incessant disasters and then we find ourselves always rebuilding.

The waiting game in itself is a product of the conflict between personal interests and the interests of the larger society. Those entrusted with leadership positions in Nigeria over the years tend to sacrifice common good for selfish ends. Societal problems are attended to only in emergency situations. So long as a problem has not deteriorated to that level, it can wait.

The reaction to disasters is also predictable. First, an enquiry is launched into the cause or impact of a problem that has been waiting to happen. Then again, resources that should have been utilized to keep the problem in check will be invested in disaster management. Sometimes fatalistic principles are invoked to justify disasters. In the Bauchi State post-election killings for instance, those that should have offered protection to the slain corps members declared that they were destined to die during their service year.

We must, therefore, go beyond blaming nature for the calamity witnessed in most parts of the country recently as the real source of the havoc is the failure of those in authority to respond to the threats posed by the global climate change. Although there were predictions of torrential rainfall and early flood warnings, no efforts whatsoever were made by the federal or any state government to assess the impact of the climate change on the nation or to devise the means of checking it.

The fact that all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory are flood-prone should have propelled the two levels of government into action. Besides, in July last year, Lagos State and some communities in Ogun State were completely submerged after a torrential rainfall. That incident left a trail of destructions which should have served as a wake-up call for the government. Yet, no lessons were learnt.

But, as soon as the phenomenon assumed an alarming proportion, affecting 30 of the 36 states of the federation, the Federal Government countered with a mitigation package. A Technical Committee on Floods Impact Assessment was immediately raised and mandated to tour the disaster areas. From its interim report, N13.3 billion was dispatched to all the states to combat flood.

Some ministries and agencies of the Federal Government among them, the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Environment, National Emergency Management Agency and National Commission on Refugees, received N4.3billion to join the states in providing succour to the victims. The government is now shopping for more funds through another committee, the National Committee on Flood Rehabilitation, to further mitigate the impact of the disaster and ensure a post-impact rehabilitation of the victims.

In addition to these short-term measures, belated medium and long term measures to check future flood disasters are in the offing. Practically all the states of the federation now have committees on flooding. Already, governors of the affected states are saddled with the responsibility of providing flood victims with accommodation, relief materials and medical facilities.

If these measures had come at the appropriate time, this tragic situation could have been turned into an advantage. Other nations overcome such problems through massive construction of artificial outlets to absorb water from torrential rainfall since floods occur when rivers, the soil and vegetation cannot absorb water. In the dry season, the water so collected is released for irrigation purposes. Evidently, the Federal and state governments were under the illusion that the global phenomenon of flooding will never get to us and the nation has paid dearly for their inaction.

Today, Nigeria presents the sorry picture of a nation at war with nature as the antagonist. Several lives have been lost. Hundreds of thousands of people have abandoned their homes and belongings to run for their lives. The displaced are now crammed in refugee camps and surviving on relief materials as obtains in a typical war situation. As many people have observed, the crowded rehabilitation camps are another recipe for disaster. What will follow is an outbreak of epidemics and as usual innocent children will bear the brunt.

Highways have also been taken over by water leaving scores of passengers stranded and food scarcity looms as farmlands have been destroyed. Floods are also known to cause soil erosion, induce structural damages to buildings and endanger the lives of other species. Losses from flood in monetary terms usually run into trillions of naira. According to media reports, the nation loses about N6.75 billion oil revenue daily to flood.

There is no doubt that the impact of the flood disaster will remain with us for a long time to come. About 32 years ago, the first civilian governor of the old Imo State, the late Chief Sam Mbakwe, had called the attention of the nation to the devastating effect of floods but no one took him seriously. He was rather branded a ‘weeping governor’ for weeping for victims of a flood ravaged community.

It is unfortunate that some of us have become accustomed to reactive measures. The encomiums being lavished on the Federal Government since the release of the flood intervention funds point to this. The governors are also being praised to the skies for offering salvation to victims of the flood disaster.

Viewed correctly, there is nothing to cheer about. Whatever the Presidency and the governors have done is to assuage the pains inflicted on the victims in particular and the nation in general by their failure to carry out their constitutional duties. There is no reason why Nigerians should not have been insulated from a disaster of such magnitude after metrological warnings and given the consequences of floods to individuals and the economy. This is more so as we have scientists at the helm of affairs who should know the implications of forecasts based on empirical evidence.

We must begin to demand that those in authority do things the right way so as to save the populace unnecessary mental and psychological agonies. If nations that experience flooding from different sources such as failure of dams, tsunamis and high tides have found ways of containing the situation why should Nigeria where the only source of flooding is torrential rainfall find itself in such a mess?

Just like fire, water has two contradictory qualities. It is both life-giving and destructive. Any nation that ignores the dark side of water does so at its own peril.

• Dr Nnadi, writes from Lagos.

October 30, 2012
Ave Iohannes, Cardinal (designate) Onaiyekan

Among those who know him or have followed his career with interest, the only surprise in the translation to Cardinal of Dr John Onaiyekan, Archbishop of the Catholic Diocese of Abuja, is that it did not come much earlier.

I belong in both categories.

Onaiyekan and I were born the same year but six months apart in Kabba, Kogi State, and had our primary education there, he at St Mary’s Catholic School, and I at St Andrew’s Anglican School.

Our paths rarely crossed, since we lived in different parts of town, and even when we staged the obligatory Empire Day march every year to the Divisional Office, each school maintained its own formation.

That changed in 1956 when both of us were among a group of primary school pupils specially selected – so we were told — to travel to Kaduna to join our counterparts from other parts of Northern Nigeria to greet Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Phillip on their maiden visit to Nigeria. It was during the trip, and our four-week encampment in Kaduna, that I got to know the boy behind the legend.

His brilliance had long been the talk of the town. Among his peers, he was deemed the person most likely to succeed, not just on account of that brilliance, but also because of his dutifulness, and his impeccable good manners. He had everything going for him, including a handsome, athletic gait that would grow even more winsome in the years ahead.

His given name Olorunfemi (God loves me) could not have been more prescient: He was prodigally gifted.

Back then, the best pupils headed to Government College, Keffi, or the Provincial Secondary School, Okene, via the Northern Common Entrance Exam. Onaiyekan had already decided, it would seem, that those prestigious secular institutions would do little to prepare him for the life of the cloister.

He could have headed to St John’s College, Kaduna, easily the best-known Catholic secondary school for boys in Northern Nigeria and one of the best in the nation. Instead, Onaiyekan chose to go to the little-known Mt St Michael Secondary School run by the Catholic Mission in bucolic Aliade, near Otukpo, in today’s Benue State. There his brilliance and humility instantly endeared him to the authorities and to fellow students.

A schoolmate two years ahead of Onaiyekan once told me how he would call Onaiyekan to some quiet corner, far from the embarrassing gaze of colleagues, to seek his help with knotty problems in geometry or the proper use of the ablative absolute in Latin.

In his final year at Aliade, Onaiyekan’s brilliance thrust him – and his school – into the national limelight. He came first in the entire Northern Nigeria in the entrance examination into the two-year Higher School Certificate (HSC) programme to prepare students for university matriculation.

His prize was the Isa Kaita trophy, donated by Alhaji Isa Kaita, the much-respected Northern Nigeria Minister of Education. This achievement so impressed the premier himself, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, that he journeyed all the way to Aliade to present the trophy to Onaiyekan.

With that feat, and a performance of the same vintage in the West African School Certificate examination, Onaiyekan stood to receive a government scholarship to study anywhere he pleased. By the time the WASC results were released, he had already enrolled at the SS Peter and Paul Major Seminary, Bodija, in Ibadan, to prepare himself for the priesthood.

He could have elected to study mathematics or physics or biology or literature or chemistry or indeed any subject at the most renowned institutions in the world, for such was his prodigious talent. He could have become a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, or an architect. With proper coaching, he could have earned a decent living in professional soccer as a goalkeeper outside these shores.

In the academy, he would no doubt have changed more than a few footnotes. He might even have played a leading part in changing a paradigm. But his commitment to the priesthood was unshakeable.

That commitment took him to Rome for further studies, culminating in a doctorate and versatility in Italian, French, and German and Spanish, took him back to Bodija as a professor of Sacred Theology, and saw him shuttling between wherever he happened to be based and Rome to participate in some of the most important deliberations at The Vatican.

Thus, his translation to the College of Cardinals was a forgone conclusion. The only surprise, as I was saying, is that it did not come much earlier. Something tells me that he has arrived only at a station, not the terminus.

In Nigeria, Onaiyekan has been a font of inspiration, always appealing to the moral law within us as Immanuel Kant called it, always speaking truth to power in measured terms but without equivocation, always seeking to promote acceptance and deepen understanding, always exhorting those who have taken the destiny of Nigeria in their hands to make it the country that Providence has endowed it most bounteously to be.

Not for him, however, the shrillness and sanctimony of a great many of the evangelicals and Pentecostals who are forever invoking “holy ghost fire” on those who don’t share their faith or fervour.

Sometime in 1968, Onaiyekan, then principal of St Kizito’s Secondary School, Isanlu, in Kwara State, came on assignment to Oro, also in Kwara State, where I was teaching at the Grammar School. During the visit, he said Mass at the local Catholic Church.

Not being a Catholic, I did not attend the mass. But it clings in my memory. A friend who was in attendance told me how young women literally swooned that a man so handsome could have chosen to be a priest of all things, and the older women wondered and wondered how his parents could have allowed him to make such a wrong-headed choice. It must be that he was orphaned in childhood and had no one to give him proper guidance, some of them speculated.

No, he was not orphaned. His father was warden of the Catholic Church in Kabba, and even if Onaiyekan was his only child, his father would still not have objected to his entering the priesthood. He is not an only child, however. His older sister was one of the first set of students to graduate from Ahmadu Bello University, where she took a degree in chemistry. Nor is she his only sibling.

While in Oro, Onaiyekan came to my residence on the Grammar School compound. What seemed to engage him the most in my bachelor home was my bookshelf, chockfull of an eclectic collection of which I was really proud. He picked out one volume from the collection and asked whether I had read it.

It was “The Phenomenon of Man”, by the French Jesuit theologian and paleontologist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and I told him rather tentatively that I had read it.

“Did you understand it?” he asked in the manner of a solicitous family doctor.

In the book, with an elegant and engaging preface by the evolutionary biologist Sir Julian Huxley, de Chardin combined insights from his study of fossils with insights from sacred scripture to explain the universe and Man’s place in it.

I told him I found large sections of it tough going.

“Do you have French?” he asked, again in the manner of the solicitous family doctor.

No, I told him.

“No wonder you found it so hard.” He said. “The French original is far easier to understand.”

That is the image of Dr Onaiyekan that has remained with me ever since: the image of the solicitous family doctor, which translates in clerical terms into the good shepherd, tending his flock ever so solicitously.

The other image is that of a rather reticent savant, more concerned to guide and to make people better and wiser than to appear clever.

Ave Iohannes, Cardinal Onaiyekan.

October 30, 2012
A war Lagos must win

It seems unlikely that the protest by angry Okada riders last week took Lagosians by surprise. The resort to jungle tactics supposedly to protest the Lagos Traffic Law as it affected the activities of the group was largely expected. At the end of their rage, 10 Bus Rapid Transit buses were reportedly destroyed just as their anger was sufficient to guarantee hell for innocent Lagosians caught in the middle.

Much as the rights of citizens in a democracy to protest laws considered injurious to their group interest is conceded, the problem begins when such protests extend beyond the boundaries set by the law – in terms of its wanton violation of the rights of other citizens and brazen disregard for the demands of public order and safety. Such niceties were obviously lost on the hoodlums who vandalised the BRT buses and blocked the highways in the course of protest.

Even now, it must have dawned on the rioters that the battle with the state government on the restriction on Okada to designated routes is one they are unlikely to win. Surely, it cannot be that the mob desires a return to the ancien regime when they held court handing summary judgments to their hapless motorists’ victims on the highways.

Of all the factors said to have spurred the state government into taking the drastic steps to curb the menace represented by the Okada riders, the least articulated is the frightening counter-culture spawned by the rise of the business of ferrying human cargoes with motorcycles. To me, if the nation has enough reason to worry about the public safety and environment issues involved in the operation of Okadas, they have even far more to worry in that destructive culture of self-help and instant gratification that it spawned.

I am aware of the arguments that have served as self-justification for the business; that it emerged as self-help in the context of the suffocating economic environment of the 80s, something of a functional, creative response to the unprecedented unemployment and constricting opportunities faced by youths. Today, it has since become a way of life and sadly for many, an escape from the rigours and disciplines of learning a trade, and for some no hopers, a cover for criminal activities.

Like any law, the Lagos Traffic Law is far from perfect. I believe however that the law has carefully balanced the concerns for security, public safety, infrastructural and the environment with the needs of the operators. Beyond question, the law did not even pretend to be anything but a disincentive to the trade. However, it serves one important purpose of pushing the frontiers of the debate on public policy, forcing the nation to rethink the anomalous surge in a business that continues to put many innocent lives and limbs at risk.

Traditional explanations about the staying power of the business being linked to poverty and unemployment are probably as true today as they were in the 80s when they first emerged. However, it seems to me that the surge in recent years and their staying power would have to be located outside of this traditional explanation to embrace what is clearly the penchant by those involved in instant gratification. Of course, majority of those in the business are neither sufficiently educated to take advantage of the limited opportunities in the labour market, nor do they possess sellable skills to be gainfully employed by self or anyone. It has also been argued that the low capital threshold and the fact that there are very minimal barriers to entry make it doubly alluring.

There is however question that the business thrives because many involved would not even consider the option of either learning a trade or trying their hands on other worthwhile economic activities. The latter is something to worry about not only because it explains the dearth of critical skills, it is also the source of raw aggression and the accompanying group action often associated with the business.

The question of the extent of accommodation that could be allowed the operators in the rapidly transforming megacity would certainly remain “live” just as the larger issues of public policy involved would remain open to debate for some time to come. It is, I guess, a derivative of the let-live argument which attempted to rationalise the sprawling squalor of Makoko or its jungle variant in Ajegunle both of which the government in Lagos has had to confront at different time in the past. Even then, it seems that the Lagos State government is far-sighted than many would rather give it credit for at this point in time. One can only hope, at least for the sake of the future of this country that the state government, as indeed other state governments that have restricted the operators will stay the course.

October 30, 2012
Triumph of spite?

No one can accuse any electorate of spite.

As John Milton argued in Paradise Lost, God has given Man the free will to choose; when queried on why God “allowed” Satan to steal into Man’s paradise. But a caveat: good or evil, Man reaps the consequences of his choice.

And so, it is with every electorate – not the least the Ondo electorate that just returned Olusegun Mimiko as governor. They would greatly rejoice at their choice, if the governor delivers the el-Dorado he promised. But they would gnash their teeth and lament to no end if they found they had sold themselves a pig in a poke. It is nothing spiteful. It is just desert for wise or foolish voting.

But if the electorate is quite blameless on the question of spite, the various gatekeepers that drove the dynamics; and helped shape the outcome of that election were not.

In “Ondo and the limit of spite” (September 25), Ripples x-rayed the Ondo gubernatorial election as no more than a proxy battle against Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) national leader, by a coterie of embittered interest groups: failed ACN gubernatorial aspirants, the Afenifere grandees who sought with gusto a last ditch chance to unhorse their perceived nemesis and, of course, Governor Mimiko himself, who was fighting the political battle of his life.

A sub-set of the Ondo “battle plan” was elite hostility and conspiracy, as hallmarked by political irritants like Pastor Tunde Bakare and co; and by how the media aligned themselves in the fray (“Ondo: now the crunch”, October 16).

Also, fatal to the ACN cause was its politicisation of South West economic integration, as distinct from making it a clinical electoral issue. If it had demonstrated it was the most committed and, given its governments’ record of performance, was best placed to swing South West integration, perhaps the outcome could have been different.

Instead, its insistence that all South West states must belong to one party (hardly a partisan crime, but costly electoral gaffe) before integration could succeed fired the brainless but devastating primordial counter-emotion that propelled Mimiko back to office, despite a hugely suspect first term performance, considering the N600 billion trove at the governor’s disposal.

Victory, therefore, went to the most ruthless blackmailer and the most cynical manipulator of emotions. That is hardly salutary. But the good thing is that in Mimiko’s victory have come seeds of his self-destruction; just as in ACN’s defeat has come seeds of its self-redemption. To learn the right lesson, therefore, is crucial.

That takes the discourse to the gloating that has greeted the result. The Afenifere grandees’ holy bile and Pastor Bakare’s holy spite have morphed into reckless triumphalism, leading to a lot of gibberish, hasty attributions and crazy projections, as to be expected of a camp that got a rare victory over a perceived perpetual nemesis.

It is all so reminiscent of Leo Tolstoy’s classic, War and Peace. After the Russo-Austrian alliance inflicted a rare defeat on Napoleon Bonaparte, in a minor battle at Schon Grabern, the Austrian part of the alliance and the cocky Russians thought of galloping from victory to victory over a now subdued French Emperor Napoleon. It took the alliance’s comprehensive defeat at Austerlitz to smash that illusion!

Still, in the midst of all these grandstanding, clear moves are there for the politically discerning.

Goodluck Jonathan, the man that won the 2011 presidential election by good luck, has started dropping political IOUs for 2015. After Adams Oshiomhole won re-election, the Edo governor went first to Aso Rock, praising the president to high heavens, for “allowing” his re-election – was Jonathan supposed to do otherwise?

Then after Mimiko’s win, his first port of call, with his wife Kemi in tow, was the same Aso Villa, the Jonathans’ special guests to celebrate with First Lady and birthday dame, Patience. Of course, wily Jona and his media managers ensured the photo of that celebration hugged the choicest pages of newspapers the next day!

In due course, en route to 2015, the pair of Oshiomhole and Mimiko, no matter their respective parties’ stand, would pay back Jona’s IOU!

As Jonathan manoeuvres to secure a future political fortune, the Afenifere grandees swoon to secure a past (and lost) glory, putting their titanic fate in the hands of Mimiko, their new champion. “To be thus is nothing,” the evil Lady Macbeth told her regicide husband in Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, “but to be safely thus …” As Lady Macbeth goaded her husband to inevitable doom, so would the Afenifere titans goad their new charge to over-reach himself.

But even without the titans’ prompting, Mimiko probably harbours enough hubris to go after Governors Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) and Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), when their own elections are due in 2014 – and why not? Didn’t this twain align against him in his own re-election? In doing this, however, Mimiko would be part of such improbable alliances, which would only expose his empty ideological core, outside a survivalist instinct; and manifest seeds of his inevitable self-destruction.

The ACN governors therefore have their jobs cut out for them. Fayemi and Aregbesola may be beginning to stamp their developmental vision on their two states, much more penetrating than what Mimiko has done in his oil-rich state in four years. But they must do much more, and present a score card that shows a clear and marked difference. Only such clear-cut quality and excellence can withstand the three-pronged conspiracy to come: from Jonathan, fighting for 2015, from Mimiko, seeking his pound of flesh and from the Afenifere rump, on a quixotic quest for lost glory.

Ogun and Oyo states, though not due for election until 2015, must press hard their party’s record of solid performance in government – and bond with their people as they do so. And so must Lagos which, after the Tinubu and Fashola years, would be transiting into a new government.

But beyond partisan gains and losses, the greatest casualty of the Ondo election is clearly South West integration, ironically the most crucial agenda for Yoruba welfare and development in a neither-nor federal Nigeria. For the umpteenth time, awry politicking has put the Yoruba at a crossroads, with Nigeria itself at a fearful juncture.

In the First Republic, from the Action Group (AG) schism sprouted the Ladoke Akintola centrist forces, which slowed down the old West’s pre-independence developmental head start. Now, 52 years after independence, with the national question still potently unresolved, the Trojan horse is wily Mimiko and his LP, backed by a medley of embittered elite, many of them close to the grave, but who hate and spite have blinded to the future of their offspring.

The ACN must therefore rouse itself. It must consolidate its governments’ development charter, fix its vexatious candidate nomination dynamics, and kick-start the economic integration process, if only as a model of what to expect. On this score, a progressively insular-looking Lagos must take the lead.

If ACN does all these and does them well, it may yet win the big war, after losing the battle with the Ondo debacle.

October 30, 2012
Osun State or State of Osun?

What is in a name? In linguistic philosophy, name denotes as a sign for a thing, person or thought, or more accurately, of real or imaginary, mental or material phenomenon by which it is known. The sun, the earth, Osun State, the Emperor of Japan and the President of Nigeria are singular names that denote real things, including that of a person. In Yoruba language, a name not only denotes, but also has meaning (connotative). The same goes for Igbo and Hausa languages. Yoruba names are like sentences that have meanings. Thus we have Oluwabiyi (God has given birth to this (boy/girl)), Babatunde (dead father has come back to life, like in reincarnation), Omosini (child buries his parent) and Oluwarotimi (God stands by me). In Igbo, Chukwuemeka (God has done very well), Chijioke (God is the keeper and sharer of gifts and fortunes) and in Hausa, Maigari (one who owns the land). “Osun” and “State” are concrete and nameable things. What precisely then is the meaning of Osun State when translated into Yoruba language? It is simply Osun Ipinle. What is the meaning of Osun Ipinle? I really don’t know, but Osun Ipinle is an unmeaning mark or label because it is non- connotative. The same applies to California State (California Ipinle), New York State (New York Ipinle), Columbia District (Columbia Àgbègbè) etc. But we can give proper meaning to Osun State (Osun Ipinle) by renaming it State of Osun ( Ipinle Osun i.e. Ipinle ti Osun) because, unlike the latter, the former does not denote anything. If, for the sake of argument we say “to be is to denote”, then Osun State or Osun Ipinle is only officially recognised on paper or in the mind or imagination, but does not exist in reality as it does not denote anything.

“Ipinle Osun” is meaningful while “Osun Ipinle” is not, in Yoruba language. Similarly, we can translate California State (California Ipinle), New York State (New York Ipinle) and Columbia District, CD (Columbia Àgbègbè, Ileto) to meaningful ones like State of California (Ipinle California), State of New York (Ipinle New York) and District of Columbia, DC (Agbegbe Columbia). We are not expected to treat Osun, California, New York and Columbia as if they are adjectives qualifying the word “state” and “district” precisely because they are not attributive of any quality, property or accident of an object or thing.

We can now see that “Osun” and “State” are both proper nouns and concrete names where one cannot be used as an adjective qualifying the other as in Osun State. But we can use one as possessing or belonging to the other, like the State of Osun (i.e. State belonging to Osun), just as the State of California, State of New York and District of Columbia (DC) as states belonging to California territory, New York territory and District belonging to Columbia territory respectively. Which means that, in Yoruba language and probably Igbo or Hausa language, what we erroneously call Osun State, Anambra State, Bayelsa State, or Kano State is actually the State of Osun, State of Anambra, State of Bayelsa, or State of Kano.

Governor Rauf Aregbesola has done well by pointing out the erroneous naming of a state by those who use the name of that state to qualify the word or term “state”, like the controversial “Osun State”. We can understand why this confusion has arisen. English is a foreign language which we can easily distort, maim or kill owing to lack of understanding of the linguistic analysis of the English language and consequently of our own language(s). But if we fail to understand this much, why then do we fail to understand the linguistic analysis of our own language by simply comparing it to an analysis of a foreign language like English? The interesting thing is that this Aregbesola’s version appears to be the one used in more civilized countries like the USA, where the State of California (Ipinle California) or State of New York (Ipinle New York) translates to Aregbesola’s State of Osun (Ipinle Osun).

One would have said that Aregbesola prefers the version State of Osun to Osun State in order to align with the more popular names like State of California, State of New York or State of Colorado but for the fact that he seems to have relied purely on Yoruba linguistic convention which led him to the understanding of Osun State (Osun Ipinle) as The State of Osun (Ipinle Osun) or State of Omoluabi and not Omoluabi State. This is a result of original thinking which might have been the thinking behind the naming of states in the US. Perhaps the strong message Aregbesola wanted to send to all Nigerians is contained in his lecture entitled “Culture, Democracy and Good Governance” delivered at the prestigious Oduduwa Hall of the Obafemi Awolowo University on July 17, where he sees his state, The State of Osun, as Ipinle Omoluabi (the State of Omoluabi) as a state of virtuous people. Hence, the State of Osun (Ipinle Omoluabi) is to give emphasis to the meaning of Omoluabi as a state inhabited by virtuous people and equally ruled by people of virtue, freedom, wisdom and profound thinking (ìfogbóntáyése)”a state whose leaders are carefully selected to bring good things, by means of good governance, to the state and the black race.

From the look of things, it appears that other states would have to follow suit if they are to give effect to the proper meaning of the names of their respective states. In this connection, the State of Osun is not the only Ipinle Omoluabi in the country. All the ACN states are naturally known as Ipinle Omoluabi which other states in the federation can emulate in rapid succession. Why then the unnecessary controversy?

As I have said, it is probably because of our lack of sufficient understanding of the English language and its import about which we have a control that we quarrel unnecessarily about the naming of a state (the word state not being our language). It is, therefore, surprising that an important figure like the Secretary to the Federal Government (SFG), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, came out with his sermon that Aregbesola’s adoption of the State of Osun instead of the previous Osun State was either wrong or unconstitutional. Happily enough, the energetic and brilliant, activist, lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), had dismissed Anyim’s argument with a shrift, and thrown his (Anyim’s) sermon to the dustbin of legal history. Falana in The Nation newspaper Sept 29, p60), “it is not stated anywhere in the constitution that it is illegal to refer to any particular “state government” as “the government of a state” (italics mine). For the avoidance of doubt, he argued that Section 176 of the constitution refers to “the governor of a state” and not “a state governor” while Section 194 refers to “the government of a state” and not “a state government”. By the same token, Section 270 of the same constitution refers to the High Court of each state and not a State High Court; House of Assembly in each state and not State House of Assembly. He concluded that the Governor of the State of Osun, Aregbesola, has not violated the constitution while Aregbesola’s position is supported by the United States of America which, incidentally, operates a Presidential System of government which we claim to have copied.

On a more serious note, I think if Anyim is to be taken seriously we should now talk of “President of Nigerian Federal Republic” instead of “President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”. If we are to go by Anyim’s position, “Nigeria Federal Republic” is the right name while “Federal Republic of Nigeria” is not! But the latter is what properly is in use, and not the former. I think we should give honour to whom honour is due, in this case to Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for telling us that he is better known as Governor of The State of Osun than Governor of Osun State, as Jonathan is better known as President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria than President of Nigeria Federal Republic.

Other states should take a cue from Aregbesola’s insight and meaningful translation and consequent renaming of Osun State to The State of Osun. Enough of meaningless and misleading controversy that leads to nowhere. The bottom line is: The State of Osun or Ipinle Osun as Ipinle Omoluabi has come to stay. Anything to the contrary is a mere show of illogicality and primitive mentality on the part of politicians.

• Professor Makinde is DG/CEO, Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo.

October 23, 2012
‘There was a country’: Ogbunigwe, Abagana ambush; Achebe, Okigbo and Ifeajuna

THE OGBUNIGWE BOMB: commonly known as Ogbunigwe during the Biafran war, its fame and mystique traveled wide on both sides of the divide. Considered a technological breakthrough of Igbos during the war, the bomb, which may well be a higher version of today’s I.E.Ds (improved explosive device) was deployed to great effect by the Biafran army.

With the economic blockade of Biafra having a telling effect, the people turned inwards, devising survival strategies and apparatuses. Apart from extracting and refining their own petrol; they also had improvised armoured tanks and piloted their planes. The renowned Professor Godian Ezekwe led a team of scientists in what was known as the Biafran Research and Production Unit, RAP. This think-tank group is said to have developed rockets, bombs and telecommunications gadgets.

According to Achebe, quoting another great author, Professor Chukwuemeka Ike, the ogbunigwe was put to so much devastating effect against the federal troops that the fear of the explosive was the beginning of wisdom for them; to the extent that the Biafrans succeeded more with it than any imported weapons. Ike in his book, Sunset at Dawn: A Novel about Biafra, captures it thus: “You must have heard that the Nigerians are now so mortally afraid of Ogbunigwe that each advancing battalion is now preceded by a herd of cattle.”

Boasting about this feat in what is regarded his last official wartime speech, Ojukwu said: “ in three years of war, necessity gave birth to invention… we built bombs, rockets, and we designed and built our own refinery, and our own delivery systems and guided them far. For three years, blockaded without hope of import, we maintained all our vehicles.

“The state extracted and refined petrol, individuals refined petrol in their back gardens. We built and maintained our airports, we maintained them under heavy bombardment… we spoke to the world through a telecommunications system engineered by local ingenuity.

“In three years, we had broken the technological barrier, became the most advanced black people on earth.”

THE ABAGANA AMBUSH: March 25, 1968 probably remains one of the most memorable days in the Nigeria –Biafra war. It was the day the Nigerian side suffered the heaviest single loss in the war. Known as the Abagana Ambush, the Second Division of the Nigerian Army led by Col. Murtala Muhammed had finally crossed the Niger Bridge after failing in the first attempt (having been repelled by the Col. Joe Achuzia’s guerrilla army and suffering heavy casualties). Having crossed into Biafra, the plan was to link up with the First Division led by Col. Shuwa penetrating the Igbo heartland through the north from Nsukka. As Achebe notes: “The amalgamation of these two forces, the Nigerian Army hoped, would then serve as a formidable force that would ‘smash the Biafrans’”. Col. Muhammed was said to have assembled and deployed, a convoy of 96 vehicles and four armoured cars to facilitate this plan on March 31, 1968.

However, Biafran intelligence was said to have got wind of the move and a Major Jonathan Uchendu was charged with working out a counter-attack strategy. With a 700-man team, a counter- attack plan was hatched that essentially sealed up the Abagana Road while the troops lie in ambush in a nearby bush waiting patiently for the advancing Nigerians and their reinforcements.

Achebe writes that “Major Uchendu’s strategy proved to be highly successful. His troops destroyed Muhammed’s entire convoy within one and half hours. All told, the Nigerians suffered about 500 casualties. There was minimal loss on the Biafran side.” It was probably the most resounding battle ever won by the Biafrans in the entire war.

ACHEBE, OKIGBO AND MAJOR IFEAJUNA: Christopher Okigbo, the cerebral poet and Achebe had known from their Government College, Umuahia days. Though Okigbo was two years junior to Achebe in class, they struck up friendship very quickly and maintained the closeness till Okigbo’s tragic end in the war front. After Umuahia, they were to meet again at the University College, Ibadan, and while Achebe was in the Nigerian Broadcasting Service in Ikoyi , Lagos, Okigbo was West Africa manager for Cambridge University Press. Their friendship was such that Okigbo was godfather to one of Achebe’s sons and on many occasions during the ensuing tumult in Igboland, Okigbo played ‘father ‘ role to the Achebe house- hold.

When the war was in full force and all the Igbo personalities had returned, Enugu was the natural settlement for most of the elite returnees in the early days before the ancient town was bombed into submission by the federal forces. It was in Enugu; precisely on Michael Okpara Avenue, that Achebe and Okigbo set up their publishing outfit called Citadel Press. It was indeed the idea of Okigbo who thought out and even worked out the whole project before getting Achebe to come on board. The crux of it all was to publish educational materials, including children’s books and books that would capture the ongoing crisis.

The first book Citadel Press worked on was, “How the Dog Became a Domesticated Animal,” by John Iroaganachi. Achebe and Okigbo chose to rework the folktale and turn it around to become, “How the Leopard got its Claws.” This book never got to see the light of the day before the shelling of Enugu became unbearable and most people had to scamper and relocate further into the hinterland.

While Citadel still functioned, Okigbo had brought a manuscript from Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, one of the five majors who plotted the January 1966 coup. The twain were thoroughly disappointed with Ifeajuna’s account of that critical event of Nigeria’s life. Hear Achebe: “I read the treatise through quickly and became more and more disappointed as I went along. Ifeajuna’s account showcased a writer trying to pass himself off as something that he wasn’t. For one, the manuscript claimed that the entire coup d’etat was his show, that he was the chief strategist, complete master mind, and executer, not just one of several. He recognized the presence of his coconspirators but did not elevate their involvement to any level of importance.”

Chukwuma Nzeogwu, one of the chief protagonists of the January 1966 coup called the manuscript a lie while Achebe and Okigbo thought it too irresponsible to deserve publication. The manuscript was later to vanish to the regret of Achebe who thought it could have been preserved at least as a version of what transpired on that fateful January of 1966. Christopher Okigbo who had become a Major in the Biafran army was to be felled in the war front in August 1967, in Ekwegbe, close to Nsukka.

Achebe who had fled from Enugu under the hale of shelling returned to Citadel Press after the war to find the small building reduced to ruble. It was instructive that a number of buildings in the vicinity had been unscathed by the conflict, but this one was pummeled to the ground. It was the work of someone or some people with an ax to grind, he thinks. TOMORROW: THE ECONOMIC BLOCKADE AND STARVATION; EPILOGUE

October 23, 2012
The news from Scotland

Last week, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond signed an agreement to put the Union of England and Scotland consummated back in 1707 to the ultimate test: To hold in Scotland, no later than 2014, a referendum to determine whether Scotland will leave to form a separate, independent country, or remain part of the United Kingdom.

Not a few Nigerians desirous of correcting or revising what the former premier of Northern Nigeria Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto, famously called “the mistake of 1914,” will find this arrangement an attractive model. It is unlikely to happen here in their lifetime.

But as they contemplate this development, those who are forever declaring that the “unity”of Nigeria is “not negotiable” — those making feverish preparations, no expenses spared, to celebrate and consolidate the “mistake of 1914” — ought to take a deep breath.

If a Union forged more than three centuries ago among people who have a great deal in common and among whom there is nothing like the mutual execration that is the hallmark of the Nigerian experience, is to be subjected to a referendum, who can in good faith assert that an arrangement foisted by British imperialism on the peoples inhabiting a space the colonialists created principally for administrative convenience and commercial exploitation is sacrosanct and should remain so for all time?

The Scots may yet elect to remain part of the UK, as indeed most Nigerians are likely to elect, I suspect, if presented with the same choice about their country. Polls suggest that only 28 percent of the population of Scotland favor outright independence, whereas 58 percent favour staying with the UK, with more powers for the Scottish government on defence and the economy.

But nothing is foreclosed. The exercise will be transparent and wide-open, and both parties have pledged to abide by the outcome.

Compare that with the charade that major political actors in Nigeria are staging in the name of effecting “amendments” to a Constitution so shot through and through with defects, the best authorities have said, that nothing less than a new one can respond adequately to the needs, hopes and fears of those whose lives will be governed by it.

The proper forum for preparing such a document is a constituent assembly. President Goodluck Jonathan has chosen, instead, to co-opt a trainload of committees comprising for the most part handpicked members, with a remit to prepare a draft for the approval of a National Assembly whose members are concerned more with the benefits of office than with the attendant duties and responsibilities of office.

This process will produce, according to Dr Jonathan, a “people’s Constitution,” though “the people” are largely absent from the scheme, invisible. Civil society groups, which Dr Jonathan has hailed as the “true representatives of the people” figure in his scheme only as a notion, and a token one at that. Theirs is not to suggest the way forward, but to lend a patina of credibility to the scheme.

Even the leadership of the Nigerian news media has been co-opted to lend tacit approval to a process that the news media should subject to searching questioning because it is so manifestly underhanded, as has apparently the leadership of the Bar.

The best that can be expected is that the exercise will paper over the cracks and conveniently leave fundamental problems of Nigeria’s existence for another time, thus driving existing wounds inward, there to fester.

A committee of former chiefs of the Nigeria Police Force, now vested with unassailable wisdom despite the unflattering record of their performance in office and of the institution they once headed, says that the police establishment should continue to be centralised in a country that is supposed to be a federation. One of them has even gone so far as to declare that the establishment of state police would lead to a civil war.

Case closed, based on substantially on the supposed authority of these experts, on the objections of some state governors in the North, and on the claim that it would be “abused.” Is the present centralised system not abused daily, and abused egregiously? In whatever case, what makes abuse by state authorities more objectionable or invidious than abuse by federal authorities? Why not institute measures that would minimise and punish abuse?

Rejecting the demand for state police on the ground that it will be abused is akin to preventing a child from taking those first, faltering steps on the ground that it would fall and injure itself, perhaps badly. When will it learn to walk?

It has also been contended that the establishment of state police would also lead to setting up of state prisons. The answer to that is: So what? In the First Republic and in the era preceding it, there were no regional prisons. But there were Native Authority prisons, and they served their communities quite well.

Dr Jonathan is not interested in a fundamental re-ordering of the governance of Nigeria. The existing set-up is given, and all that can be done is to tinker around the edges. A full-time bicameral federal legislature that consumes a sizeable portion of the nation’s recurrent expenses but contributes very little to the well-being of the public is apparently to remain in place, a return to the parliamentary system that some very thoughtful Nigerians have proposed having been foreclosed.

It has been argued that the composition of the Senate gives concrete expression to the equality of the states. Thus, Bayelsa has the same number of senators as Lagos and Kano. Can’t a less burdensome arrangement be devised that expresses the principle in ways more beneficial to the and at a much smaller cost?

There is continuing talk of creating more states even as some states are finding it increasingly difficult to render basic services, much less engineer meaningful development. But there is no thought of providing an avenue for states desirous of doing so to coalesce into larger units that can better meet the needs of the populace.

This past September, Philip Asiodu, one of a handful of the Yakubu Gowon-era civil servants consecrated by the media as “super permanent secretaries” because of their enormous contribution to, and influence on public policy, presented a public lecture in Abuja that is sure to rank among the most thoughtful, informed, and wide-ranging discourse on public service in Nigeria in recent memory.

Given its provenance, the discourse was far from radical. Rather, it was a comprehensive agenda for reform, but one that is far more insightful than anything Dr Jonathan’s trainload of committees has produced thus far.

There was a great deal in Asiodu’s lecture that those who have settled for a review rather than a re-write of the Constitution should have embraced. But did they even bother to read it?

To them, it is far more rewarding to keep the country on the trajectory of an ever-shrinking circle.

October 23, 2012
Abia’s planned probe of Orji Kalu

I have always believed that the bane of developmental democracy in Third World countries especially in Nigeria since 1999 is that some of those entrusted with leadership positions do not consider themselves accountable to the people while in office and would also not willing account for their stewardship outside public office.

The anti-corruption agencies in the country appeared to have gone to slumber, while non-governmental agencies and civil society organisations in a bid to survive the prevailing economic hardship in the country have made their organisations available for disgruntled politicians to use in feathering their political nests at the detriment of rest of us. This is what has brought the country’s anti-corruption fight to its knees and it is quite unfortunate and too bad for the future of the country.

If not so, how would one justify the baseless attack by Emma Onwubiko of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria HURIWA on the government of Abia State over its planned probe of the administration of Chief Orji Uzor Kalu as governor of the state between 1999-2007?

Constitutionally, every Nigerian including the leadership of HURIWA knew that Abia State government has not done anything illegal in its plan to probe Kalu’s administration in the state. For HURIWA leadership to describe the probe as a carefully choreographed and graphically plotted political witch-hunt of Kalu by the state government raises a lot of question on the role of the organisation in eight years of Kalu’s administration in the state.

Even as the probe has not yet started, HURIWA is already crying more than the bereaved, and had gone ahead to put the cart before the horse by blackmailing Abia state government for performing its constitutional role. The organisation’s leadership continues to launch misguided attacks on the state government, now it has gone further to show hatred and malice with their recent action.

People entrusted with leadership positions should always be ready to account for their stewardship anytime, any day. Whether they have any skeleton in their cupboard or not is another issue altogether. If they feel that opportunities were not given to them to prove their innocence or otherwise before the probe panel, they can take their case to court. That is the rule. Meanwhile, linking the probe with 2015 Igbo Presidency campaign is nonsensical and immaterial because I do not see how Kalu can single-handedly, even with support of his acclaimed allies, realise Igbo Presidency without the support of other major stakeholders in the zone especially the governors that control the resources and structures.

If the present government in a bid to satisfy the yearnings of the people succumbed to pressure to probe of Kalu’s administration, Kalu should not be worried if he has not done anything wrong during his stint as governor. Governor Orji should equally know that his government is not immune from probe by his successor if he leaves office and the need arises.

As a people, we should learn how not to politicise everything especially issues that have to do with the welfare of the people. Conscience is an open wound only truth can heal it no matter how long it takes. After all, it is better late than never. Kalu’s probe is not the first of its kind in the country since the inception of democracy in 1999 and will not be the last. That is the beauty of democracy. There is need for accountability in governance and politicians should not be scared of such within or outside office.

What the HURIWA leadership should have done is to wait for the setting up of the probe panel and monitor its proceedings closely to ensure that fair hearing is given to all parties involved before making a conclusion. The individual is not bigger than the state, so Kalu having ruled the state for eight years as governor should be ready to submit himself for probe to prove his innocence or otherwise. It is a responsibility he owes the people of the state for whom he managed their collective resources for eight years.

Sentiment and emotion has no place in law, but evidence and facts are sacred. For HURIWA leadership to tag the probe a kangaroo one even when it has not taken off exposed their ignorance and bias. Has HURIWA leadership forgot that even Kalu as a governor of Abia state once set up judicial panel of inquiry that indicted some of his perceived political enemies in and outside the state? Where was HURIWA leadership then and what effort did they make to assist those that were indicted by the panel then?

The leadership of HURIWA should not reduce the body to a platform for the campaign for Igbo Presidency just because it is led by an Igbo man. That is not what human right groups and civil society organisations are known for.

In the same vein, aligning Kalu’s probe with the performance of the present government in Abia State lack substance, because the people of the state are in better position to assess the two governments and pass a credible judgment based on what they had experienced and seen on ground in the state. There is need for organisations to do their research and investigation very well before making a categorical statements on issues affecting the people or passing judgment on any issue, especially now that Freedom Of Information (FoI) Act is already law, thereby making investigative journalism and research work easier.

Everyone knows that if the present government in Anambra State set up a probe panel to look into the administration of Senator Chris Ngige during his time as governor of the state, Ngige will speedily and easily submit himself for probe without raising eyebrow knowing full well that he has nothing to hide. This is because the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under Mallam Nuhu Ribadu gave him a clean bill of health when he was removed from office as governor. This was despite the obvious political differences between him and President Olusegun Obasanjo then over the control of the state between him and his estranged godfather Chief Chris Uba who enjoyed Obasanjo’s support in the crisis.

It was the same time that Ribadu told Nigerians that almost all the governors that will be leaving office in 2007 were corrupt and that they will be arrested and tried immediately they leave office. Ribadu, true to his promise arrested most of them including Kalu immediately they left office and charged them to court to face trial. But some of them who were in the good book of the then President of the country, late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua worked with the Presidency under him to remove Ribadu from office to frustrate their trial.

That was how the commission under Waziri went to slumber over the trials of some of the ex-governors and today it appears the commission is more docile than ever before. So when all these were happening, where was the HURIWA leadership and what were their positions and efforts in ensuring that the ex-governors charged for alleged corrupt practices were brought to book? There is need for non-governmental agencies and civil society organisations to remain focused and steadfast in pursuit of their aims and objectives and avoid being used by politicians to achieve selfish political aims.

• Kiri, a lawyer, wrote from Wuse, Abuja

October 23, 2012