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Category: Tuesday

  • Kidnapping in southeast

    Kidnapping in southeast

    During the Christmas holiday, while in the southeast, I heard some stories about kidnapping which I wish to share here, hoping it will elicit actions from the security agencies. The first is that some locals are collaborating with kidnapper herdsmen, who still operate freely in the region. A senior citizen told me of how at a meeting of Imezi-Owa/Eke/Oghe security committee, with police and Fulani leaders, they were told by the latter that their renegade members operate in concert with local associates who provide information on potential lucrative victims and their movement. Obviously, the Imezi-Owa/Eke/Oghe axis is their playground.

    The second is that some turncoat military personnel manning checkpoints connive with and condone the nefarious activities of the kidnappers. A kidnap took place, on the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, within Imezi-Owa axis, and shortly after an escapee alerted the local vigilante, which quickly mobilized in hot pursuit of the bandits. As the armed vigilantes were closing on the kidnappers, they were stopped as they tried to cross the old Enugu-Onitsha road, within Udi axis, where there is a military checkpoint. All efforts to get the military personnel to assist in pursuing the criminals were rebuffed. 

    The military personnel also reportedly warned the vigilante squad not to cross the road in pursuit of the bandits, otherwise “they would be wasted”. Sensing affinity between the military men and the kidnapper herdsmen, the vigilante squad turned and went back the way they came. A similar incident reportedly happened along the Ugwogo-Nike to Opi-Nsukka road, a popular den for kidnapper herdsmen. After a kidnap incident, escapees ran to a nearby military checkpoint to request the soldiers to quickly intervene to save the kidnapped victims.

    The escapees were reportedly told by the military men that they needed to get approval from their headquarters before they can leave their checkpoint. The three incidents show that kidnapping in the region is festering with some local content. It is no longer criminal activity of herdsmen who invade from outside to destabilize the region. While originally, the invasion of herdsmen was to kill, main, destroy and incite national conflict, the offspring kidnapping, has become some form of commercial activity.

    The recent experience of high profile politician, Chris Uba, who was attacked in Anambra State, which claimed the lives of two policemen and four other persons, shows that the criminals operating in the southeast are emboldened and are very well armed. A friend from Abia State told me that a renegade IPOB group invaded his community last year, got everyone including the traditional ruler to swear an oath of secrecy, and thereafter operates from the community. When I asked why the people didn’t report to the police, he said similar attempt elsewhere resulted in ruthless reprisals. Some friends from Orlu, Imo State, stopped travelling for Christmas since 2021

    Moreover, following the attacks on rural police stations in 2022, many closed down, leaving the rural arears grossly under-policed. The state governments in the region, with the support of local communities, have since resorted to local vigilantes as alternative police. The challenge however is that the vigilantes are poorly armed, when compared to the killer herdsmen-kidnappers and their local collaborators. Again, there is the problem of sourcing the minimal arms they possess.

    In one incident, the arm possessed by one vigilante was traced as a stolen gun, and it took a lot of effort by the community to get the user released by the police. Of course, despite the best efforts of the state houses of assembly, across the federation, the vigilantes bear arms at the mercy of the federal government. By the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and the Fire Arms Act, only the president or his authorized subordinate can authorize sub-national security agencies to bear arms.

    The clamours for state police as panacea to the insecurity in the states have not gained commendation from the present federal executive. Hopefully, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s (PBAT) Renewed Hope Agenda would address the issue of restructuring, including the thorny issue of state police, which many believe is key to ameliorating the challenges of insecurity across the country. As insecurity and criminal activities by armed non-state actors have become common phenomenon across regions, the need for state police is evident across the length and breadth of the country.

    This column hopes the emergence of new crop of leaders in the southeast would trigger a more collaborative effort in the region, especially with respect to security. It seems the new leaders, despite their differences in political alliances, appear more collaborative and transformational. In Enugu and Abia states, for instance, you have small men with big dreams. Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu, from the 2024 budget, surely has his eyes on transforming the state from what is derisively referred to as civil service state, to medium economic power, amongst states in the country.

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    Under the previous administrations, governors in the region could not make much progress with their regional security project, called Ebubeagu. Even before it was fully conceptualized, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) hijacked the project and started a caricature. They could not even meet together, as the former governor of Anambra State, Willy Obiano, accused an unnamed colleague of engendering insecurity in his state. It was only Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, the current minister of works, who trudged on to form Ebubeagu in his state, albeit amidst controversies.    

    So, to stem kidnapping and other forms of insecurity in the southeast region, the governors need to collaborate, and pull resources together to deal with the challenges. Luckily, they have in power, a president who has foresworn to change the trajectory of governance in the country for the better. PBAT though an astute politician, has shown that he is determined to ensure the progress of the country under his care. The fears of the previous era, where commissioners of police for instance, were sent to states with dubious agenda seem to have ended under the leadership of IGP Kayode Egbetokun. 

    One area the federal police and vigilantes should collaborate is intelligence gathering and dissemination. There should be a reporting line, between vigilantes and police, which can be monitored and accessed. With operational guideline, the interdependence will ensure greater efficiency. The federal authorities can also embed intelligence officers amongst the police and military men sent to man checkpoints in the region. The stories of alleged collaboration with kidnappers which I was regaled with are heart-rending. And the complainants see the security men as occupying forces.

    Finally, it is hoped that enhancing efficient security architecture forms part of the grand plan of Governor Peter Mbah? For not much progress can be made in an unsecure environment.

  • In America: 2024,shaping up like 2016

    In America: 2024,shaping up like 2016

    January 6, 2024, marked the third anniversary of the terror unleashed on the U.S. Capitol by a frenzied mob grimly resolved to cancel – pardon my employing the locution du jour – one of the most hallowed traditions of the American political system: The peaceful transfer of power to the winning candidate.

     In light of what has happened to America under Donald Trump‘s debauched presidency, it can be said that the tradition had remained in place mainly by default.  When it was put to a severe test for the first time the previous year in recent memory, it came out so bruised and battered that few will now cite it with confidence as an American tradition.

    Call it the Trump Effect: the erosion of values, the corruption of institutions, the suborning of the machinery of government, the capture of government and its underlying processes, the use of terror or threat of terror as an instrument of governance, demeaning high officials of the state by the use of coarse, vulgar language, utter disdain and disregard for the rule of law, and even common decency.

    On January 6, 2021, American lawmakers convened in the Capitol to affix the final seal on the election of Joseph R. Biden as the 46th President of the United States.  His opponent, Donald Trump, would have none of it.  He had laid the ground for an insurrection by leading millions of his Twitter followers to believe that the only way Biden could win – or Trump lose – was if the vote was rigged.

    Trump lost; ergo, the election had to have been stolen. The legislators were in effect convening to consecrate a theft.

    “Show strength” and “stop the steal,” he exhorted them as they stormed the Capitol   “That’s the only way you are ever going to take our country back.”

    For the next 187 minutes, America and indeed a global television audience watched in horrified disbelief as a surging, seething, murmuring, bilious crowd, men and women, veterans and enlisted persons, scrambled up the ramparts and raced up the steps to the landing, men and women, young and old, belting out blood-curdling imprecations, smashed windows and doors and impaled police officers with flagpoles and just about any object they could weaponise.

    There was no mistaking the grim resolve, the murderous frenzy with which they went about their mission.

    When they bellowed “Hang (Vice President) Mike Pence” over and over again, they were not posturing or grandstanding. They had erected a scaffold on the grounds, a noose dangling ominously from it.  Trump would say later that it was a pity they didn’t hand him.

    From a private room in the White House, Trump watched the proceedings with glee, according to a former staffer. Not even the frantic pleas of the First Lady and his oldest son could move him to try to restrain the demons he had loosed on the Capitol.

    As they slunk away, the insurrectionists performed one final act of obscenity:  They plastered the chambers with excrement.  That is the kind of company Trump keeps.

    You would think that this assault on every good thing America claims to stand for would call forth a groundswell of denunciation and recrimination.  Perhaps civil society was too stunned for words, too traumatized to make a  concerted move?   Perhaps the outrage, then muffled, would gather momentum and translate into an insistent demand for an accounting, for justice, and yes, for punishment?

    You would think that the character who masterminded this brazen assault on the political and moral values on which America’s claim of exceptionalism rests would have by that very act disqualified himself from seeking any elected office.  And if he tried to muscle his way into the local School Board, he would be disenfranchised even if, unlike Trump, the fellow was not standing trial on 91 criminal charges in various courts across the country.

    Civil society could find no coherent voice, no rallying point.   Even President Joe Biden, newly vested with political and moral authority, could not employ it to change the narrative.  He consumed this precious capital in pursuing a bogus bi-partisanship and continued to do so even as Trump blockaded his legislative agenda at every opportunity.

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    Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who had at first blush placed the blame squarely where it belonged, would declare that he would vote again for Trump if Trump secured the Republican nomination.

    Even before the insurrectionists dispersed, the shock, the horror of the siege was already dissolving.  With ample support from his ultra-right confederates, Trump wasted no time recasting the events of the day Trump as an excursion, and a patriotic one for that matter.

    And the new narrative has taken such a hold that, if you had not witnessed the insurrection as it unfolded and had no access to their iterations and reiterations across the media, you would have entertained some doubt about whether it transpired. 

    Even before the insurrectionists dispersed, the shock, the horror of the siege was already dissolving.

    The police who lost six of their officers to the mob were being as denounced as bullies and human-rights abusers. The insurrectionists were cast as freedom fighters and patriots, and as tourists who just took a day off to check out the attractions and delights of Washington, DC.

    And even among those who witnessed it, many could be forgiven if they now doubt the evidence of their own eyes.  Such has been the slickness, the intensity of the recasting.

    If reality is so susceptible to manipulation at this stage before the full coming of Artificial Intelligence, wherein lies the future of society, of civilization?

    But it is not sober, remorseful, penitent Trump that has achieved this improbable feat. It is the good old Trump, only more venal, more demagogic, and more sociopathic, driven by grievance and a desire to exact vengeance, not merely on those he says have corruptly employed the machinery of the state to persecute him but on virtually on all institutions of state.

    In frenzied speeches before fevered crowds, he has characterized not just those institutions but the entire American establishment as illegitimate, and doomed. And it is his singular mission of his second coming to dismantle it.  Perhaps he will refashion it after his own image later, but he is not letting on.

    That is how we came to the conjuncture where, almost all a sudden, the concepts and ideals on which the United States founded and nurtured a political system that has been the envy of much of the world for centuries increasingly count for less and are now held with little conviction.

    The Rule of Law became the rule of Trump, which could mean one thing one day, another thing the following day, and yet another thing the day after; in short, Trump’s caprice.  Trump tied up the judicial system in knots, the better to emasculate it.  The doctrine of “separation of powers” was exposed as the elaborate fudge it always was.

    It is early yet in the Election Year, and 2024 is not 2016.  Trump’s lock on the Republication nomination is so tenacious that it is almost inconceivable that he could lose it.  But it is not inconceivable that President Biden, whose support has slipped significantly among younger voters and minorities could lose the race the way Hilary Rodham Clinton lost it to Trump in 2016.

    If that happens, Biden’s blank cheque underwriting Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu’s genocidal war in Gaza is sure to be cited as one of the reasons.

  • Hostage to the flesh envelope (2)

    Hostage to the flesh envelope (2)

    Betta Edu as a cabinet minister flaunted a brisk gait and a mobile eye. She also had smart retort and a cheery smile. Yet she was suspended in ugly circumstances, tongue-locked in spittle cuffs of theatrics.

    At 37, Edu was the youngest minister in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet. Her appointment as the Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Minister seemed revolutionary. It depicted Tinubu’s administration as a force with a strapping innate promise.

    Thus Nigerians dared to believe that Tinubu’s tenure, unlike Muhammadu Buhari’s, won’t flail as a grim arena of virtue’s canoodling with vice.

    Many hoped that, unlike Buhari, Tinubu wouldn’t subsist as a disheartening superintendent over systemic failings and corruption. He shouldn’t.

    No sooner did Edu get fingered in an alleged diversion of more than N585 million naira ($640,000; £500,000) of public money into a personal bank account than she was suspended by Tinubu.

    Edu lost her job barely six months after she assumed office. Last week, local media buzzed about a leaked document that allegedly showed the minister instructing a senior treasury official to transfer the money to the personal account of Bridget Oniyelu, the accountant for the government’s Grants for Vulnerable Groups initiative instead of a government account thus drawing public outrage.

    President Tinubu ordered an investigation of Edu’s ministry and called for a reform of government institutions that run the National Social Investments Programmes Agency (NSIP) stressing the need to “win back lost public confidence.”

    But Edu has denied any wrongdoing even as she submits to grilling by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Also being grilled at the EFCC headquarters is a former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, over alleged fraud in handling N37.1 billion social intervention funds during her tenure under then President Muhammadu Buhari.

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    Halima Shehu, the suspended chief executive officer of the NSIPA, is also under investigation by the EFCC.

    Some have commended the Tinubu administration’s swift reaction to the Edu scandal. But decisive as it was, it offers no reason for the administration to engage in self-adulation. If anything, the presidential media unit has wisely shunned premature and vulgar masturbatory praise.

    The logic is simple: if there is no self-pleasuring like the immediate past administration of Muhammadu Buhari, no cynical fog of hostility or solipsism may hang over it.

    There is no gainsaying Tinubu inherited a tumultuous landscape chockfull of woe, cutthroat politics and corruption. Through it all, however, he must display invigorating alertness. He mustn’t superintend timidly half-awake or smugly half-asleep.

    He must shun, henceforth, the fallacy of affirmative action that catapults denizens of the sleaze pits into Nigeria’s high offices. Any woman seeking public office must earn it through brilliance, character, integrity and hard work, likewise her male counterpart.

    Right now, the Nigerian woman in public office suffers the smudge of sullied scrutiny and virulent aspersions – no thanks to Edu, Umar-Farouk, Shehu, and others.

    Lest we forget former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, who set the pace for predatory femaleness in Nigeria’s corridors of power.  In August 2023, British police charged Alison-Madueke with bribery offences.

    “We suspect Diezani Alison-Madueke abused her power in Nigeria and accepted financial rewards for awarding multi-million-pound contracts. These charges are a milestone in a thorough and complex international investigation,” said Andy Kelly, Head of the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) International Corruption Unit.

    Alison-Madueke, 63, served as petroleum minister from 2010 to 2015 under former President Goodluck Jonathan and also acted as OPEC president from 2014 to 2015.

    She was arrested in London in October 2015, a few months after leaving office, and has also been the subject of investigations in Nigeria and the United States.

    The ex-petroleum minister has denied the corruption allegations even as assets worth millions of pounds relating to her alleged offences have been frozen as part of an ongoing probe by the UK security agency.

    The NCA accused her of having benefited from at least £100,000 ($127,000) in cash, chauffeur-driven cars, flights on private jets, and gifts from designer shops such as Cartier jewellery and Louis Vuitton goods, to mention a few.

    The US Department of Justice also recovered illicit assets totalling $53.1 million linked to Alison-Madueke in March 2023. Nigeria’s EFCC claimed that about $153 million and more than 80 properties had been recovered from Alison-Madueke.

    There is no gainsaying Alison-Madueke, Umar-Farouq, Shehu and Edu, among others, made news for the wrong reasons. Their scandals incite the lore of the sullied female public officer who parades the baleful searing eye of the Gorgon archetype.

    In public office, the latter scorches power with her lust. Perhaps because her burning eyes see nothing but loot to prey upon. It would, however, be unfair to tar every Nigerian woman with the sullied brush of corruption as there are women of proven genius and integrity deserving of public office – if only they could beat the odds of party privilege, status and connection.

    The afflictions of inadequate primary healthcare centres, substandard education, gender violence, and economic insecurity, persist where women fail to participate in national, state, and grassroots politics on progressive terms.

    Yet the argument that if more women get into politics, there would be less failure in governance falls flat on the face against the backdrop of monumental corruption perpetrated by female public officers.

    While it may be argued that the culprits are victims of an interplay of forces led by powerful male elements holding sway over public and private institutions, their misdemeanours are a manifestation of flawed choice, an ultimate human dilemma triggered by survival instinct in a blemished system.

    More women suffer the scourge of tarnished awareness in this political high drama that renders their conscience, a pitiful hostage of its flesh envelope; “whose surges and secret murmurings they cannot stay or speed,” says Paglia.

    The gravest challenge to our hopes and dreams as a nation is the messy political transactions brokered at the grassroots and on the corridors of power, every minute and hour of every day.

    We must end these acts by transforming moral outrage into concrete steps to curb such violations. President Tinubu did well to suggest a reform of NSIPA and a thorough investigation of the scandalous Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation. He must also superintend the inquisition to a convincing closure.

    We can no longer shut our eyes to the venomous superstructure foisted on us by insentient politics and toxic social economies.

    Edu and co enjoyed perfect opportunities to assert the mythologised superiority of the female and youth in public governance, and they blew it.

    It’s a fallacy that women are purer than men and immune to the pull of greed. To insist so would be simplistic and sexist perhaps. The connection between gender and corruption is more complex than platitudinous chant suggests.

    As President Tinubu shops for replacements for compromised female positions, let him seek candidates whose hearts honour the integrity of public office and whose conduct signals a more virtuous approach to governance.

    Women of proven native intelligence, whose lust and virtuosity are rigidly controlled and averted from illicit spoils. Not the ones that legitimise besmirched femaleness as a rudiment of affirmative action nor the reckless femme fatales with lustful, roving eyes trained to slither, pierce, and possess. But perceptive heroines and patriots, groomed to unite and honour public governance, persona, and thought.

  • Nigerians abroad and the franchise

    Nigerians abroad and the franchise

    Many of the winners in last year’s General Election are chafing at the formidable problems that confront them daily – problems they are now expected to solve with the utmost dispatch by an increasingly restive populace.  Many of the losers are yet to come to terms fully with their loss and with their diminished standing and clinging positions which now mean little in the scheme of things; the age of candidates for political office will matter no more than it did in 2023.  The issues that animated the races may seem less salient now, but they are no less urgent.

    This year and the next will be all that the administrations at the federal and subnational levels have at their disposal to tackle challenges seriously and, with some luck bring them under control.   Whatever remains of their statutory terms will be devoted to preparations for the next cycle of elections and the power calculations that will govern them.

    It seems unlikely that the Seven-Point Agenda the Nobelist, Professor Wole Soyinka, presented to President Bola Tinubu during his recent visit shares many points of convergence with the Seven-Point Hope Revived Agenda of the president’s ruling All Progressives Congress.   For the country to move forward, the authorities will have to accept the reality that theirs is not the only agenda in town, nor even the one that can best serve the best interests of the people.

    A great deal of pacting lies ahead.

    One item seems likely to get greater traction in the negotiations ahead: enfranchising millions of Nigerians in the so-called Diaspora. When Nigerians use that term, I suspect that they have in mind, for the most part, Nigerian communities in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. But there are also substantial Nigerian communities in Western Europe.  It can be said without much exaggeration that, wherever you have human habitation, you are likely to find more than a handful of Nigerians, what with the escalating phenomenon of “japa.”

    It will be contended early in the debate that to extend the franchise to Nigerians in North America and Europe, without also extending it to Nigerians resident in Asia, Australia and Latin America, not forgetting Antarctica, will be inconsistent with the equal-protection clause of Nigeria’s Constitution.

    Does the Independent National Commission, INEC, as presently constituted have the capacity to conduct elections in this extended terrain, which covers only a fraction, admittedly a large one but nevertheless only a fraction, of where Nigerians have made their homes?

    If it has failed repeatedly to master the logistics of printing, distributing; counting and collating returns, certifying and announcing them when operating in Nigeria’s geographical scale only, it can hardly be supposed that it will develop these capacities adequately to extend the franchise to Nigerians in the Diasporas between now and 2027 or anytime soon thereafter.

    Who will police the polls?  Or will the elections be outsourced to the authorities in each locale?  In that case, there will be a multiplicity of jurisdictions.  The resulting conflict of laws will be so formidable that it will take a lawyer of the late Professor Ben Nwabueze’ genius and resourcefulness to resolve them.

    There is, of course, the more fundamental issue of who is a Nigerian, an issue that will haunt those charged with compiling and maintaining the integrity of the Voters Register.  Who, for this purpose, is a Nigerian?

    Possession of a Nigerian passport or birth certificate does not answer the question.  I have often cited in this space the case of a white, 70-year-old American television journalist, Mike Wallace who obtained from the Somolu Birth Registry in Lagos, a certificate identifying him as a 40-year-old Nigerian farmer born somewhere in Akwa Ibom State some forty years earlier, and then used it to obtain a Nigerian passport in central Lagos on the same day.  U.S. Embassy officials told Wallace that the documents were as genuine as could be.

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    That was some three decades ago, during which a great deal has changed.  But anyone determined and dollar-laden enough can replicate Wallace’s feat today.   You can have as many passports as you are willing to pay for under the table.

    The story ended in a way that saddened everyone.  One of the officers who enabled the scam was later identified by a visiting American news crew, and the dramatic footage was broadcast in the United States.  On its being rebroadcast in Nigeria, the passport officer at the centre of the scam committed suicide. 

    To be shamed in a manner that will redound to one’s entire family’s eternal discredit mattered much more then than it does today.

    Even in the absence of the foregoing objections, it cannot be assumed that enthusiasm for the diaspora franchise will be uniform across Nigeria.  In those sections of Nigeria from where there has traditionally been a smaller volume of “japa” traffic, or where the dividends of japaism are hardly visible, I suspect that enthusiasm will modest at best.

    In those areas, any attempt to extend the franchise is likely to be seen as an effort to create a new species of Nigerians surreptitiously to alter the balance of demographic forces to the advantage of some groups and the disadvantage of others.  The more vigorously some sections of the country espouse it, the more vociferously will others denounce it.

  • A defining year?

    A defining year?

    For most Nigerians, the salutation – Happy New Year – has come to mean more than usual wishes about the potential good that the new year could deliver. In fact, it has become something of a desperate, high-intensity prayer that the dark palls enveloping the country will yield to the promise of a new dawn. In other words, for the once-upon-a-time happiest people on planet earth, the phrase goes beyond mere routine, temporal transition. It is rather a supplication of sorts for Divine intervention to enable them make a clean break from those dark elemental forces that seek to devalue their humanity – forces beyond their control. Something of a forlorn hope that something, no matter how minute, could still be salvaged from the mass debris that their national landscape had become. 

    Yes, country hard, or as the Americans are wont to say –It is the economy stupid. I understand that these are moments when the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)’dreary data will hardly suffice to capture the reality that defines the daily grind of the ordinary Nigerian. And it is not as if the fellows at the NBS are not doing their best; it is merely stating that the arc of Nigeria’s moving averages on all of life’s indices are far too complicated no matter whether the measure(s) is/are single or multiplex! 

    New year or not; surely one needn’t a gaze into the crystal ball to appreciate the difficulties that lie ahead in the coming months. Inflation is currently at an all-time high at 30 percent; food inflation is much worse at nearly 50 percent; the few manufacturing entities remaining in the country are practically on life support – no thanks to the combined forces of the crushing foreign exchange regime, infrastructure deficit, and smuggling of cheaper and sometimes fake or substandard products.

    As for agriculture, the sector limps on with farmers either unable to access their farms due to the ravaging insecurity in parts where bandits and other outlaws have taken over or such other structural constraints that Nigerians are only too familiar. In the circumstance, Nigerians can only but wonder if there is anything of promise in the new year.

    Simply put: Nigerians’ anxieties about what the future portends are certainly not without basis. After all, in the energy sector, they have heard such countless deliverables in megawatts of electricity that ended up like the smoke. A nation that in 1964 started and delivered the Kainji Dam in just four years (1968) has since been unable to make a headway on the Mambilla Hydro power project several decades after. Obasanjo came with grandiose promises on thermal plants but delivered nothing after spending a record $16 billion. Nearly two decades after what is supposed to be the revolutionary Power Sector Reform Act, the country is still headed nowhere with our supposed saviour-operators acting more like Ogbanjes as against entities truly out to do business.

    Same with the petroleum sector; surely, few Nigerians remember that Shell D’Arcy actually built Nigeria’s first, 38,000 barrels per day capacity oil refinery at Alesa Eleme near Port Harcourt in late 1965. Possibly, fewer still remember that the military took it over; expanded it, and subsequently, three additional refineries were built to raise the nation’s stake in petroleum refining to 425,000 barrels of crude daily. That was before the locusts took over and ran everything aground. Ever since, the entire country has been locked in a no-motion mode – hung on the debate on subsidy and appropriate pricing of the products, with the country only now looking up to an individual to salvage the situation!

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    Just as tragic is the mess that we have made of our agriculture hence our inability to feed ourselves. As a secondary school student in the late 70s, when the study of agricultural science still made sense, such concepts as agricultural extension services were not textbook stuff; we saw them in live demonstration with farmers interacting with extension workers.

    I recall that in my school – Titcombe College, Egbe, Kogi State, practical agriculture was something that students took delight in; in fact, we actually had a massive orchard that supplied students with citrus in season! Today, most of our so-called policy makers only remember the farmer either when there are intervention freebies to share, or the subject is farmers-herders clashes – something they find handy to rationalise the pervading poverty of ideas at the highest levels of government! 

    Yet we wonder why the country is not only ranked among those on the bottom on the Human Development Index but why poverty stalks around our neighbourhoods.

     Nothing, I dare say, suggests that year 2024 is not going to be different however. At the cross-over service on the eve of the new year, I recall my pastor saying something about the darkest hour of the night being the closet to the morn. That may well be. Only that I cannot now recall if he added that if wishes were horses, that beggars would ride. In other words, if truly Nigerians have gone through such terrible times that it hard to imagine anything worse, that in itself is no guarantee the miracles that they are ever so eager to pray about (and which they have long outsourced to God) will drop without human exertion. Clearly, we can’t be doing things the same way while expecting a different outcome.

    As I see it, only hard work, more hard work and honestly of purpose particularly by actors in and out of government, will make all the difference in year 2024.

    Yes, with or without the crystal ball, I still see hope.  True, the Holy writ speaks of hope deferred as making the heart sick; I believe that we have now reached the point where all things being equal, things should begin to look up. 

    Let me anchor my hope on three things.

    First, I see the coming of the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Complex as something that would revive the wearied Nigerian spirit. Talk of the many benefits – from easing the demand for forex and with it the potential for shoring up the naira’s value, to the multiple jobs along the value chain – Nigerians surely shall, going forward, have many reasons to rejoice.

    Second, I see the power situation improving. Clearly, one needed not to be an incurable optimist to appreciate that the current situation cannot be allowed to continue. It is – and that is putting it mildly – embarrassing. It is hard to imagine President Bola Tinubu – a president sworn to renew the hopes of Nigerians – leaving the initiatives to the current club of clueless operators. I see drastic change in the air. While this might come incrementally, I see it enduring!

    Thirdly – on the security sector – we may have been on the same fruitless spot for so long that many have begun to lose faith. Whereas the Tudun Biri fiasco by the military and the Yuletide massacre by bandits on the Plateau are as unfortunate and regrettable, both incidents have merely brought what I consider a fierce urgency to the quest for a comprehensive solution. I see things beginning to cool down in virtually all the hot spots in the country – under the firm, able direction of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    I close. I hear Nigerians daily say that things must change. I agree; only that change must begin with you and me. We must start by doing those little things that our common humanity, if not citizenship, demands of us.  Once again, Happy New Year.

  • New year resolutions for leaders

    New year resolutions for leaders

    We begin the year, by urging Nigerian leaders in politics, economy, religion, and society to introspect and make resolutions to lead better in 2024. While on holiday, one question that I was asked severally by those who know about my exertions in this column, was whether Nigeria would ever be great again? When I answer affirmatively, those who knew that I supported the emergence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT), lampoon me about the state of the nation.

    They point at the economy, insecurity, and social disharmony, and ask whether anything good can ever come from an APC-led administration? Despite my affirmation, some adjudge that while Buhari put a heavy yoke on them, Tinubu has added to the yoke, and they say that while Buhari chastised them with whip, Tinubu is chastising them with scourge. Every effort to sift the chaff from the grain and explain that Tinubu needs time to clear the Augean stable left by the previous administrations is derided as mere propaganda.

    Of course, the economic indices lend credence that majority of Nigerians are in distress. Food inflation, leads the pack of challenges that political and economic leaders, must wrestle to the ground in the new year. At above 30%, it is a miracle that Nigerians are not dropping dead on the streets because of hunger, or are they? The last quarter of the year was particularly assaulting, as food inflation reached 32.84% in November, forcing the national inflation rate to 27.3%, an 18-year-high.

    With an estimated 88.4 million Nigerians living in extreme poverty in 2022, that means that there was an increase in the number of Nigerians who could not afford one meal in 2023, when their leaders live in affluence. While grappling with multi-dimensional poverty, they are assailed with the news that the National Assembly has approved a N28.77 trillion budget for 2024. Many had asked me if it is not better that the approved budget is shared, so that everyone can manage his or her entitlement as he/she deems fit.

    Any explanation that the nation’s budget of about $34 billion is not enough for the amorphous responsibilities facing the country is met with disdain. And before further effort to break down the responsibilities which the budgeted expenses cannot not meet, one is assailed by allegations of monumental corruption in the Ministry of Social Development, Disaster Management, and Humanitarian Affairs. While the former Minister under President Buhari, Sadiya Umar-Farouk, is under investigation by the EFCC, the current minister Betty Edu has just been suspended over allegations of corruption.

    How those in government feel comfy to mismanage resources earmarked to lift suffering Nigerians from poverty should assail any person with any sense of moral rectitude. Does it mean that those concerned have no worry about consequences of their misbegotten actions? Have they no fears that the curses from these deprived fellows they have stolen from could harm them and their families? Have they no worries that there is a supernatural force that could punish them for their malevolent actions? And yet these fellows pretend to be faithful Christians and Muslims.  

    Tragically, while a lot of attention is focused on the federal government, the rot going on in the states and local governments are hardly noticed. Most state governors treat the state as a private fiefdom, and with weak state houses of assembly, the resources put in their care as a private chest. What happens in the state also replicates in the local councils, where once the interest of the governor is taken care of, the rest of the resources is shared like war booty.

    The governors sadly also treat the 1999 constitution with respect to the guarantee of democratically elected officials at the local government with levity. Section 7(1) provides succinctly: “The system of local government by democratically elected local government councils is under this constitution guaranteed; and accordingly, the government of every state shall, subject to section 8 of this constitution, ensure their existence under a law which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils.” This clear provision is observed in breach across political parties and states, as if the constitution is inconsequential.

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    Sadly, in most states, where there is semblance of elections at the local government levels, what they practice is a caricature. Even within the same party, there is no trust, as we see in Ondo State. There, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa who was the deputy governor under late Rotimi Akeredolu is determined to ensure the departure of the caretaker chairman and councillors appointed before his emergence. In Benue State, Governor Hyacinth Alia is determined to sack the elected 23 local council chairmen and legislators, using the House of Assembly as a decoy.

    Interestingly, in the election held barely one year to the 2023 general election, which the ruling party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lost, the former governor and his henchmen ensured PDP cleared all 23 local government areas council seats, as well as all 276 councillorship positions, beating the APC and other parties in the state. In the general election, Governor Samuel Ortom could not win his senate election, and his party was roundly beaten by the APC which is now trying to regain control of the councils through caretaker committees.     

    While the political leaders have no qualms about what is fair and just in their area of jurisdiction, buccaneers masquerading as economic leaders employ all means, fair or foul to advance their business interests. Whether in banking, telecommunications, airlines, food industry and other sundry businesses, the basic rules of fair trade are turned upside down. One glaring act of impunity is in the transportation sector, where both the land and air transporters choose to make a kill against travellers. This column is looking forward to the impact of PBAT’s laudable palliative for those who travelled by rail and motor transport during the yuletide.

    Strangely, air fares to the eastern part of the country during the yuletide were doubled and in some cases tripled by the airlines. The reasons for the discriminatory increases against travellers to eastern part of the country are not in the public domain. Of interest, Nigerians protest against such practices by foreign airlines within the country, but local airlines are freely practicing similar discriminatory practices within the country. Just like the airline operators, motor transporters also jacked up the cost of transportation during the yuletide.

    The ordinary Nigerian is also abused by religious and traditional leaders through sundry means. While religious leaders use fake prophecies to exploit the poor and the gullible, traditional leaders exploit them through all manner of levies. This column urges leaders across all strata to make resolutions to change for the better in 2024.

  • Where have all the prophets gone?

    Where have all the prophets gone?

    Not long ago this was the season in which all manner of prophets did brisk business – shoeless tramps in the seedier parts of town and on the fringes of the beaches dispensing their wares to individuals and the collectivity, trailed by a retinue of onlookers, passers-by and pickpockets, as well as in the better neighbourhoods where they did brisk discreet business with discriminating patrons.

    Urban sprawl has shoved those of them with few assets farther and farther from the city centre, to the point when you are now most likely to find them in franchises of white-garment churches, which have to make returns to a mother church presided over by a Most Holy Primate, assisted down the line by other prophets ranked in descending order of divinity.

    They are doing roaring business and doing it largely unnoticed.  A scandal bobs up here and there usually where a high-ranking official has crossed the forbidding divide from Holy Communion to communion of the unholy kind, or has mixed up church funds with his personal bank account.

    Among the faithful, these matters are usually discussed only in hushed whispers. It may result in an expulsion, but nothing stops the erring official from founding his own church and assigning himself a higher title and rank than the last one, and the sole prerogative of handing out lucrative franchises.

    The contours of this commodification of religion were already visible in the 1970s.  The phenomenon attained its notorious height during the mid-1990s, a period overlapping what his fawning acolytes call the IBB Era.  The internet had not then become ubiquitous, and the few publications that peddled junk and smut were called by their proper names.

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    Nobody took them seriously.

    You did not need to be a research scholar or crackerjack reporter to monitor the mega-churches closely; there were only a few of them.  And they were led for the most part by colourful personalities whose end end-of-year predictions, ranging from a bulletin on the health of a political leader of consequence to the fortune of the nation’s cashew crop in the commodity market, were eagerly awaited by policy-makers and producers.

    Not a few invested them with the sanctity of Holy Writ.   The major newspapers and some of their commentators paid generous attention to the predictions. So did political officials often caught up in the news, however tangentially.

    Suppose you are holder of the ticket of a major political party, and the prophet emerges from seven days and seven nights of fasting and abjuring things of the flesh and declares with critical solemnity that it had been revealed to him that the name of the winner of the coming presidential election is to be found in the Holy Bible.

    If you are a candidate and were in early life baptized as Benjamin, or Jeremiah, as Nnamdi and Obafemi Awolowo respectively were, what does that piece of intelligence do to you or your followers, or for that matter to your opponents, even though, without formally renouncing those hallowed names, you had not answered to them for more than decades?

    If, on the other hand, you were Shehu Shagari, Aminu Kano, or Waziri Ibrahim, that intelligence could not have given you much cheer nor kindled celebration in your circle.  You could hear the air seep out of the balloons at their campaign headquarters.

    In this instance, however, the joke – was on Zik and Awo.  Their baptismal names were in the Bible all right, but so also is Shamgar which, come to think of it is close enough to pass Prophet Godspower Oyewole’s test.  And it was Shagari who was declared winner and confirmed as such on appeal and at the court of last resort.

    Who, but an authentic Man of God, could have anticipated and foretold this singular outcome?

    Consider, next, this lead, wrought from sooth by a contemporary of Oyewole’s, variations of which could be heard in any street corner or read in their newsletters:   A political heavyweight from the North Central geopolitical zone will die in a ghastly motor accident during the year.  Bad news, bad news, and more bad news. Floods and earthquakes, setting off mass displacement and suffering of Biblical proportions.

    But there was always in the foreground an event, an occurrence an incident that bore a close resemblance to the prophecy.

    The Minister of Information, the theatrical Alex Akinyele, thought it was bad for national morale and development that soothsayers kept harping on negative issues instead of the positive, uplifting things happening around them instead of dredging the sewers.  He hinted darkly that if they persisted in harping on the dark side of things, government might be compelled to step in.

    A tidal wave of positive prophecies followed – bounty harvests, an appreciating, Naira, falling food prices, but it was hard to tell whether this change resulted from chance or from the exertions of the Better Women, DIFFRI, MAMSER, or the People’s Bank.  What is known for sure is that hysterical prophecies of disasters and doom ebbed dramatically.

    It was bruited by the usual conspiracy theorists that officials who had a huge stake in playing up the brighter side of things had induced the soothsayers to put their often-doleful imaginations for once where their hungry mouths were, and then sit back and enjoy the dividends.

    That was then. Today, the political and social climates are vastly different.  Even if you could induce the traditional media to hew to a particular line or creed, could you get an alternative media that are not even social in name to do the same?

    I had done a column in which I had dismissed the most of temperate and urbane of the tribe, Dr Gabriel Okunzua, whose authority derived from communion with spirits and witches and wizards and plants, as little more than a con artist like the rest of them.

    One day, a student in my journalism class at the University of Lagos brought me an invitation from the parapsychologist himself.  He said he would like to meet with me at my earliest convenience.

    My mind raced back to a story a colleague told me long ago.  The colleague, a staffer on another newspaper, had written an elegant and engaging puff piece about a celebrity who was famous for being, shall we say, famous, since few in the attentive audience remembered what her celebrity had consisted in, to begin with.  The story touched on her henpecked second husband, whom she had wedded in a ceremony that met every definition of excess.

    The lady worked up a rage of volcanic proportions. Brushing aside the rules, she called up a huge loan the publishing house in question was owing the bank, where she wielded considerable power and influence. Next, she demanded that the publisher bring the reporter to meet her face to explain his contumely.

    I will leave Uncle Sam to favour us in his much-awaited memoirs with a narrative of how he navigated that treacherous passage.

    To return to the main story:

    Not to worry.  The student assured me that Okunzua had had taught my older brother and pioneering paediatric surgeon, Professor Paul Omo-Dare at the old CMS Grammar School, Lagos, and was an avid reader of my column.

    One Sunday afternoon, after service at the Protestant Chapel at the University of Lagos, I drove to the tidy arboretum that served him as home.  There he was in the midst of shrubs and plants of all shapes and sizes, doing what he did best:  talking to and listening to them.

    His welcome was disarming.  How is Paul these days?” he asked.  I am so glad that he fulfilled the vast promise he showed at the Grammar School.  Tell him to feel free to stop by whenever he is in the neighbourhood

    Not a word about my article that I thought had offended him gravely.  Not a word then, nor at any point during my 45-minute visit.

    After whispering to a plant for about a minute, he told me calmly that nothing would come out of my application for a position with a New York-based international agency, though I was better qualified than most of the applicants.   How he came to know this quest which I had shared with only my closest friends baffles me to this day.

    Then he struck a note that was even more jarring.  The way things were shaping up, he said, I would have to return to the United States soon with my family.  In the ten years since I returned from doctoral studies at Indiana University, I had never seriously contemplated such a move.

    Three years later I was headed to Illinois, where I have lived ever since.

  • Emefiele: Finally the chicks are home to roost

    Emefiele: Finally the chicks are home to roost

    The above were the concluding words in the piece by this columnist on August 22. That was barely a month after President Bola Tinubu appointed Jim Obazee as a Special Investigator to probe the apex bank and related entities.

    Well, the long awaited report is out. While there were little surprises contained in it at least in a general sense of the findings to yours truly, the team certainly did a yeoman’s job of putting the dots together, going as far as putting faces and names to those activities that border on heist, subversion if not treason. I had titled the piece Emefiele: While men slept…to underscore which I considered the criminal complicity of the Buhari presidency, the supine indifference of the National Assembly and of course the somnambulist anti-graft agencies that would only act after the deed is done.

    That was some four months ago. Enjoy… 

    ‘It is not typically the norm that the apex bank gets to make the front page of newspapers as ours has been doing of late; certainly not for those unsavoury things that the bankers’ bank and its erstwhile top gun are being linked of late. Even for all the strange things right up to the bizarre misbranding that happened to the institution under Godwin Emefiele, it is certainly a new thing the lender of the last resort, is not only being stripped of its traditional mystique, but is clothed with the most unflattering colours of impunity.

    We have seen some rather disturbing images of the institution in the past. Nigerians would most likely recall a former CBN governor being accused of doling a whopping N1.257 billion for lunch for policemen and private guards; of making bogus payments to airlines for currency distribution as well as holding an account balance of N1.423 billion for an unidentified customer since 2008. And yet another charge – alleged payment of N38.233 billion to the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Plc in 2011 for the “printing of bank notes” whereas the turnover of the entire printing and minting company group is N29.370 billion”.

    For most Nigerians however, the image of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) somewhat endured of an institution still largely steeped in best practices, a piggy bank where the nation’s vast trove of cash is warehoused for the public good and the place for the banks to run when things sunder; an institution not afraid to wield the big stick when the situation called for it. 

    Even when the institution appeared to have morphed into a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for all manners of schemes and purposes under the sun, there remained a multitude only too willing to give the bank the benefit of the doubt. Of course, if you were a beneficiary of those massive ‘interventions’ that have since turned to freebies under the most specious monetarism ever conceived by a financial services regulator – from the hundreds of billions spent on the scam called anchor growers scheme that has left the populace yearning for rice and more rice to the other sectoral interventions that ended up as a gross betrayal of our penchant to throw money at fundamental problems – you’d probably have a word of prayer for the ‘accident’ that was the immediate topmost banker.

    The lessons have been rather slow in coming, no doubt. The chicks, however, would appear to have come to roost soon enough. True, if the country saw the early signs of the affliction  in the unbridled incursion into the fiscal space by Godwin Emefiele’s apex bank, most Nigerians probably considered it a lesser affliction than the permanent ‘sleep mode’ of the do-nothing Buhari economic management team.

    Read Also: Emefiele as personification of Nigeria’s systemic rot

    Remember, we are referring here to a time when global oil prices headed south and production dwindled – a time the EMT, clearly out of their depth had no answers let alone the presence of mind to venture into any deep thinking. Theirs was to pile up debts and more debts even as the nation bled from forces that an otherwise serious leadership could have controlled or mitigated.

    Example: our paltry OPEC 1.6 million per day quota could not be met because the government couldn’t confront the menace of crude theft. Yes, a nation that one did two and half million barrels per day found itself barely able to do a quarter of that output. And with neither the capacity nor the will to ratchet up the tax to GDP ratio then at a measly 7.5 percent, the economic management team, faced with a revenue crisis, and without the foggiest idea of how to get out of the bind thought little of outsourcing the tedious work of finding a solution to a man ever too ready to play the errand boy to special interests. And our man: like the Idi Amin of old, decided to flood the space with massive amount of naira notes without as much a thought for national productivity or inflation, reducing the banks in the process, to mere guinea pigs in his one-track inflation targeting obsession.

    Sure enough, that bizarre orthodoxy that borders on brazen outlawry that characterised Emefiele’s tenure as CBN governor would eventuate in the N23 trillion overdrafts – the so-called ways and means that the nation’s treasury is currently burdened with.

    Even that would not compare with the mind-boggling arbitrariness and abuse of office that is currently the subject of an inquiry by a special investigator.

    While men slept…

    The above phrase echoed in my mind as I ruminated on some of the key findings that bordered crass mismanagement of the apex bank by Emefiele as captured in that financial statement. We are here referring to the financials covering the whole of six years of Emefiele (2016 to 2022) only now being made public after his suspension from office!

    Guess why no one bothered to ask? The N23-point something trillion naira ways and means advances! Why bother to open the books to those already drowning in illicit credit advances – a simple case of quid pro quo!

    We have further learnt from the books that Emefiele’s CBN borrowed humongous sums from foreign lenders while pledging our assets (securities) as collaterals. Courtesy of Emefiele, our dear country is indebted to two United States banks – JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs in the sum of $7 billion and $500 million respectively. Nigeria’s treasury – again thanks to Emefiele has, additionally, been committed to a 30-day forward contracts totalling N3.15 trillion with undisclosed counterparties; and this is aside another $3.2 billion owed an unnamed party as foreign currency forward contract payables—with no notes providing clarity on the transaction accompanying that item – all of them collateralised with Nigeria’s foreign assets!

    And what did he do with the dollar-denominated loans? The answer, it would appear, is still blowing in the wind! As for the foreign reserves which Emefiele and company have long fetishized, we are learning yet again that the actual figures are only half of the tidy sum often advertised! Our dear country Nigeria, it would appear, may have long been on the wild ride to nowhere!

    I do understand why, in a country where sleaze comes in their dozens, and where the cost of impunity is denominated in dollars, the racy developments would shock no one; but then, to the extent that the underlying issues of opacity, of a clearly out-of-control monetary authority with chief texts in brazen outlawry that is unprecedented in the annals of the nation’s central banking history, the country can only overlook their dire implications to its peril…’

    Here’s wishing you, dear readers, a most prosperous New Year!

  • Bookending 2023

    Bookending 2023

    Do they know it’s Christmas in Gaza?

    Whoever thought that Hamas’s sneak attack on Israel and Israel’s response would develop into one of the bloodiest conflicts of the past 50 years?

    The attack, on unarmed civilians,  was brutal through and through. As missiles rained on the Israeli homeland from Gaza, Hamas militants struck, leaving a scene of devastation that Israel had not seen in its wars with its neighbours since its creation in 1948.   Casualties, numbering more than 200 dead, included youths in their innocence gamboling in an open-air concert, and residents of several settlements relaxing in their homes.  The infiltrators hustled more than 100 persons of various nationalities into captivity in Gaza.

    The attack shattered the myth of Israel’s unsurpassed mastery of intelligence and surveillance, a mastery it had parlayed into a diplomatic asset and a protection racket for jittery regimes in Africa and the Third World.   It shook the nation’s confidence in its armed forces as never before.  It rendered hollow Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s posturing as the leader who could best guarantee Israel’s security.

    Israel’s immediate response was swift, massive, and justified.   At the risk  of being stamped with the anti-Semite label, the deadliest political crime in America and most odious in Israel’s lexicon, I ally myself with those who have been saying that the response has since become vengeful, unrelenting and indiscriminate, as even Israel’s staunchest ally, the United States, has had to acknowledge. 

    For weeks on end, Israel carried out more than 200 bombing raids on the Palestinian homeland.  It has pulverized more than 60 percent of the homes and the infrastructure in Gaza and forced the civilian population to embark on march after perilous march from one devastated location to another, marches with few parallels in their depredation.

    The global sympathy, support and solidarity that Israel enjoyed several weeks into the attack has for the most part evaporated as the Palestinian dead are scooped up by excavators are shoved into mass graves day after day.

    Some 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s carpet bombing.  Hundreds, perhaps thousands, lie buried under the rubble.  Contrary to Israel’s claims that its lethal ordinance is dropped with surgical precision on carefully chosen targets, a detailed analysis has found that no more than 60 percent of them is released with anything resembling precision.  The rest are about as precise as a blunderbuss.

    The goal, Israel vowed from the outset, is to exterminate Hamas and render it forever incapable of launching another attack.  From seeking to exterminate Hamas, however, it is but a short step to exterminating the Palestinian people, especially when the one is conflated with the other.

    Calling it the Hamas-Israel War or Israel-Hamas War is duplicitous.  Rarely in the history of armed conflict has there been such inequality, such asymmetry of resources, between belligerents.  One enjoys almost  unchallenged use of the skies, a monopoly of heavy armaments and munitions, to say nothing about sheer numbers, in every department of warfare.

    As if these factors did not in themselves confer on Israel a prohibitive advantage, Israel has reportedly resorted to the use of white phosphorus in battle –  a substance that, according to the best authorities, causes severe burns upon contact with the skin or eyes. The smoke alone causes  gastro-intestinal irritation.  The evidence for this incendiary charge was strong enough to move U. S. President Joseph Biden, Israel’s chief enabler, to urge Israel publicly to cease and desist.

    It has to be said, again, that Hamas brought this unspeakable calamity upon itself and upon the Palestinians. But the world was slow to remark the disproportionate response and the scale of the human misery Israel unleashed.  It is as if conscience, or what the philosopher Immanuel Kant called “the moral law within us, went on vacation. 

    Read Also: The Israel-Hamas war: Conflict of the year

    It is as if those on whom this dreadful punishment was being visited day after day – women and children, the aged and the infirm, for the most part – are less than human.   Country after country trumpeted Israel’s right to defend itself and its population but was silent, funereally silent, about the means and the scale.

    A ceasefire, a pause in the bombing – euphemistically called “air strikes” – they said, parroting Israel, would only enable a crippled Hamas to regroup and attack Israel all over.  When the community of nations finally found its voice and called for a ceasefire, the United States vetoed their resolve, and the  UK abstained. 

    They opted to allow Israel to finish the job – to allow it to apply a Final Solution of sorts to the Palestinian problem.

    Medicines Sans Frontiers was right to call the veto “a vote against humanity.” When a world body founded with the aim of “saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war” is blocked from moderating a war that has subjected unarmed women and children to horrific reprisals, one must ask:  Whatever happened to our humanity?

    Well might today‘s Palestinians ask, as Shylock the Jew did in Shakespearian England:

    If you cut us, do we not bleed?                                                                                                                                                          If you slap us, do we not swell up?                                                                                                                                                     If you spit on us, do we not get wet?

    As I was composing this piece, I found myself wondering how Henry Alfred Kissinger who, as United States National Security Adviser and Secretary of State and mediator in the so-called Six-Day War between  Israel and Egypt, would have fared in that role in the present conflict.

    Kissinger died some three weeks ago, aged 100 years. He was a manipulative figure.   In death as in life, he was admired and reviled in equal measure.  There are those who regard it as a historic injustice that he was not put on trial and convicted for war crimes in Vietnam. Kampuchea (formerly Cambodia), Chile, and many other theatres of conflict.  And there are those who regard him as one of the greatest statesmen of his era or any era.

    You could not but acknowledge his brilliance, his grasp of strategy, the sweep of his scholarship rooted in German history, especially the career of the Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich, and the Concert of Europe  From these and other sources, he drew profound insights on the use and abuse of power, which he applied to his world.

    He was amoral through and through.  Power was the only thing that counted in international relations. Values have no place there.

    For all his brilliance and scheming, it was in Nigeria that Kissinger came a cropper.  He sought to foist a leader on Angola, which had just expelled the colonial overlord Portugal from its territory in a titanic liberation struggle that lasted more than two decades  Three main liberation armies were battling to fill the vacuum left by the fleeing colonialists:  Agostinho Neto’s Marxist-orientated MPLA, Holden Roberto’s FNLA, and Jonah Savimbi’s American-backed UNITA.  The MPLA had the strategic advantage of controlling the capital, Luanda, and the instrumentalities of state power.

    The country’s future hung on the outcome of a special summit of the OAU, convened to determine which of the warring factions would win the OAU’s recognition as the sole legitimate representative of the sovereign state of Angola.  The climate of opinion in Nigeria, driven by students and the labour unions, favoured the MPLA, and so did the government of Murtala Muhammed.  His foreign minister, the dynamic and articulate Joe Garba stood resolutely by Angola.

    Sensing a foreign policy defeat, the United States, which wanted to foist Savimbi, a former operative of the brutal Portugues secret service PIDE on Angola, put it about that an unnamed West African country had been given $100 million by the Soviet Union to champion the MPLA’s cause.

    Newsweek magazine upped the ante, asserting that the country the State Department had in mind was Nigeria.  Kissinger was setting out to cajole, bully, or blackmail it into toeing America’s line.

    At a time when most countries would have given just about anything to rate a visit by Kissinger, Nigeria told him angrily to stay at home. Murtala Muhammed went on to lead Nigeria’s delegation in place of his previously scheduled deputy, General Olusegun Obasanjo and delivered a fiery speech that mobilized African support for the MPLA.

    It has been said that Kissinger and the United States never forgave Murtala Muhammed, and that they engineered the coup attempt that claimed his life several months later.  The evidence I have seen is fragmentary.

  • Towards effective public administration 

    Towards effective public administration 

    • By Wahab Shittu

    The public service in Nigeria (including educational institutions) grapples with a number of issues and challenges. These include  increased range of individual rights protection, higher risk of termination of employment, reduced job quality and security, cases bordering on gross misconduct, ethical problems (such as conflict of interests, loyalty or values, including attempts to achieve some form of private gains to the detriment of the masses), problems of accountability and many others of diverse complexities. 

    These problems and many others in the educational sector for example have resulted in the growing number of litigations and petitions within the educational sector necessitating the urgent need to cut associated costs arising therefrom. This has raised the discourse on how to evolve processes and mechanisms for preventing and resolving such disputes.

    In response, a number of initiatives are being put in place. Nigeria has updated employment and labour laws, including regulations and codes. Some have created or supported new dispute resolution mechanisms and institutions, while others have reconfigured existing institutions, or modified procedural rules. Innovative models have been initiated, such as online and telephone dispute resolution options.

    Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is a collective term describing a number of processes, such as mediation, conciliation and arbitration, utilised in attempting the resolution of disputes and conflicts outside the formal court processes. The appointment of a third party neutral, or neutrals, who are usually experts in the dispute subject matter as well as experienced in ADR, can offer parties a number of benefits, which include autonomy, flexibility, control, confidentiality, cost-effectiveness and time-saving. Depending on the ADR mechanism used, the parties may experience a much less formal process and more direct interaction with the neutral(s), rather than just via their attorneys or legal representatives, than in normal court proceedings.

    Based on the foregoing, this paper attempts to contribute ideas in the search for an effective and result-oriented public administration reform initiative for our country. The objectives will be to sustain, support and build key institutions and processes as well as ensure the development of professional and modern civil service and public administration that will guarantee service delivery quality and optimal performance for the good of society. There is no doubt that our country is in dire need of public service reform that will focus on the improvement of dispute resolution systems in the public service as well as deliver on the establishment and usage of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. 

    In recent times, we have witnessed an upward increase in the number of disputes within the public sector, which is not only time-consuming but also often does not address the underlying issues and problems these disputes present.

    Consistent with the theme of this retreat thus: “Addressing current legal and administrative problems in the educational sector” this paper will identify critical issues in the management and control of litigation in public service with a view to proffering suggestions and recommendations for reducing litigation/administrative lapses in our educational institutions. 

    In doing justice to the topic, I will raise two questions for resolution. First, what are the critical issues in the management and control of litigation in the public service? Secondly, what options are available for reducing the spate of litigations in the public service?

    Litigation in Public Service:

    Litigation refers to the process of resolving legal disputes through a court or other judicial proceedings. In the context of public service, litigation can arise from various sources such as student grievances, employment disputes, contractual disagreements, or regulatory compliance issues. It is essential for educational institutions to have effective management and control mechanisms in place to minimize the occurrence of litigation and handle any legal challenges that may arise. Litigation is here used loosely to include all other dispute resolution mechanisms including the role of mediation in facilitating the settlement of employment disputes that may arise in the workplace. By mediation it is meant an alternation dispute resolution mechanism which is non-binding, informal confidential and facilitated by a neutral third party who actively promotes amicable settlement of disputes. The essence is to allow parties to arrive at their own solution with the help of a mediator without the matter going to adjudication. 

    Significantly, workplace mediation has assisted in resolving disputes such as employment discrimination, workplace harassment, wage and overtime disputes and termination issues. The caveat, however, is that this may not legally be enforceable against the parties. 

    In the UK for example, workplace alternative dispute resolution is steadily gaining ground as a means of bringing employers, employees and trade unions together to resolve disputes without having to resort to litigation. We will later address the attraction of this mechanism as a vehicle for reducing litigation in the public service.

    Administrative lapses:

    Administrative lapses encompass a range of shortcomings or failures in the administrative processes and practices within educational institutions. These lapses can include inadequate record-keeping, non-compliance with regulations or policies, improper decision-making, lack of transparency, or failure to address grievances in a timely manner. Such lapses can lead to legal disputes and increase the likelihood of litigation.

    Perspective reduction of litigation/administrative lapses:

    The prospective reduction of litigation/administrative lapses refers to adopting proactive measures and strategies aimed at minimizing the occurrence of legal disputes and administrative failures within educational institutions. 

    This perspective emphasises preventive actions rather than reactive responses to legal challenges. 

    By addressing potential issues before they escalate into full-blown disputes, educational institutions can save valuable resources, maintain their reputation, and ensure a conducive learning environment for students.

    Public Service:

    The term public service includes the following:

     a. The Civil Service: the career personnel of the presidency, ministers, extra-ministerial departments, the National Assembly, and the Judiciary.

     b. The Armed Forces, the Police, and other security agencies e.g para-military organisations

     c. The parastatals or public enterprises.

    Meaning of Public Service

    The meaning of Public service is contained in section 169 of the 1999 Constitution as encompassing the civil service (Ministerial departments), statutory corporations or parastatals, judiciary, legislature, educational institutions, financially wholly or principally owned by government at the State, Local and Federal levels, Nigeria Police or Armed Forces and other organizations in which the Federal or state governments owned controlling share or interest. Public service in Nigeria encompasses service in government departments, agencies as well as statutory or public corporations. Sometimes employees of limited liability companies where the government has controlling shares are referred to as public servants In Nigeria, the Country’s government bureaucracy is the public service. This is because government at whatever level enunciates and implements its policies, programs and projects through the instrumentally of the public service. Most public services are service–oriented. 

    Meaning of civil service 

    The Civil service is an organ created to ensure that policies and programs of any government at any particular time are carried out. 

    The Civil service as part of Government never dies because of its perpetual nature and the changing nature of constitutionally elected government, it has to be endowed with specific peculiarities or leanings of that government. Further characteristics of the civil service are that:

     a). It has to be non-partisan to enable it to serve any government of the day 

    b) It has to be made up of experienced men and women with the technical and professional know–how to enable it to implement government policies.

    c) It has to be orderly and also ensure that the orderly administration of the country is continuous. 

    d). The Civil Service is indispensable since it continues the traditional role of keeping the functions of government running no matter what changes occur in the administration of the country. 

    e). It operates under rules which guide its conduct

    f) The Civil Service is an entity but operates in hives of activities, divided between ministries and departments. Each department has its set functions and goals.

    Before going into the main thrust of the paper, it will be necessary to clearly define the functions of public service.

    Functions of Public Service 

    The public service (Ministries, Departments, and Agencies) has always been the tool available to the Nigerian government for the implementation of development goals and objectives. It is seen as the pivot for the growth of African economies. It is responsible for the creation of an appropriate conducive environment in which all sectors of the economy can operate maximally. 

    The functions of public service include implementing and enforcing economic, political and social policies of the current government; designing and implementing public service; raising revenue for the government; ensuring managerial, political and financial accountability; serving the people; monitoring and evaluating the performance of organizations (Public, private or non – governmental) that are rendering service on behalf of the government; driving all development initiatives; delivering quality public service (such as education, electricity, water and transportation). 

    The public service plays a very crucial role towards nation-building.

    Critical issues in the public service that could give rise to conflict situations

    Generally, it can be said that critical issues in management and control of litigation in the public service can be summarised to include the following: inadequate legal framework, inadequate resources, financial or otherwise, poor communication and collaboration challenges, corruption and abuse of power, political interference, issues of transparency, issues of accountability, access to justice, adherence to equity considerations, compliance with due process requirements and respect for the rule of law and rights protection standards.

    However, in greater detail, there are several other critical issues that need to be addressed to ensure the effective management and control of litigation in public service in Nigeria.

    Generally, conflict in the public service and all Nigerian public organisations could arise as a result of many factors. First, causes are attributable to non-structural factors. By this we mean sources of conflict within the service that are as a result of the way tax activities and employees are arranged and defined. These conflicts may arise as a result of differences in backgrounds, values and poor communication skills. 

    There may also be structural causes of organizational Conflict in the public service. This may arise as a result of structural characteristics within the organization rather than personal disputes. 

    Factors responsible include work interdependence, differences in unit orientation and goals, differences in performance criteria and reward system, mutual dependence and limited resources, and differences in status amongst others.

    The point, however, must be made that conflict is not entirely an evil phenomenon because it could lead to constructive impact depending on how it has been managed. Functional conflict is said to have occurred when the outcome leads to improved organisational performance or effectiveness. 

    In general terms, we may now identify potential causes of conflicts in public service.

    Misconduct in the public service

    The Public Service Rules 2021 is fully loaded on instances of misconduct that could arise in the public service. Section 3 defines misconduct as a specific act of wrongdoing or improper behaviour which is inimical to the image of the service and which can be investigated and proved. It can lead to termination and retirement. 

    It includes scandalous conduct such as immoral behavior, unruly behavior, drunkenness, foul language, assault, battery, refusal to proceed on transfer or to accept posting; habitual lateness to work, deliberate delay in treating official documents; failure to keep records, unauthorised removal of public records, dishonesty, negligence; sleeping on duty, improper/inappropriate/immodest dressing while on duty, hawking merchandise within office premises, refusal to take/carry out lawful instruction from superior officers; malingering; insubordination; and discourteous behavior to the public.

     Lack of adequate legal rramework

    One of the critical issues in the management and control of litigation in public service in Nigeria is the lack of an adequate legal framework. The current legal framework in Nigeria is inadequate and does not provide clear guidelines for the management and control of litigation in public service. This has led to confusion and inconsistencies in the application of the law, which can result in unfavourable outcomes for the government and its citizens.

    Inadequate resources

    Another critical issue in the management and control of litigation in public service in Nigeria is the inadequacy of resources. The government and its agencies often lack the necessary resources, including funding, personnel, and infrastructure, to effectively manage and control litigation. This can result in delays and inefficiencies in the litigation process, which can be costly and time-consuming.

    Poor communication and collaboration

    Poor communication and collaboration among government agencies and stakeholders is another critical issue in the management and control of litigation in public service in Nigeria. There is often a lack of coordination and cooperation among government agencies, which can result in conflicting interests and positions, and can undermine the effectiveness of the litigation process.

    Corruption and abuse of power

    Corruption and abuse of power are also critical issues in the management and control of litigation in public service in Nigeria. There have been instances of corrupt practices and abuse of power by government officials and legal practitioners, which can undermine the integrity of the litigation process and result in unfavourable outcomes for the government and its citizens.

    Lack of transparency and accountability

    The lack of transparency and accountability is another critical issue in the management and control of litigation in public service in Nigeria. There is often a lack of transparency in the litigation process, which can result in a lack of accountability among government officials and legal practitioners. This can undermine the confidence of the public in the government and the legal system.

    Inadequate Training and Capacity Building

    Inadequate training and capacity building are also critical issues in the management and control of litigation in public service in Nigeria. Government officials and legal practitioners often lack the necessary training and capacity to effectively manage and control litigation. This can result in inefficiencies and errors in the litigation process.

    Political Interference

    Since 1999, Nigeria has clearly seen an increase in the number of educational institutions. Despite the rise, there has been a decline in educational quality, which can be linked to political involvement in a variety of decisions including choosing Vice Chancellors, Provosts, and Rectors of institutions.

    Furthermore, the majority of reform initiatives in education fall short in part because of leaders’ divergent political philosophies. There is also a lack of consistency between administrations. Certain schools that did not fulfil the required standards are nonetheless permitted to operate in the accreditation area.

    Inadequate Record Keeping and Documentation

    Inadequate record keeping and documentation are also critical issues in the management and control of litigation in public service in Nigeria. There is often a lack of proper record-keeping and documentation of litigation proceedings, which can result in confusion and inconsistencies in the application of the law.

    Inadequate funding

    One of the primary reasons for administrative lapses in educational institutions in Nigeria is the inadequacy of funding. The government has consistently failed to provide sufficient funds for the education sector, resulting in a lack of resources for teachers, infrastructure, and other essential needs. Funding serves as the life-wire for the management and administration of most sectors of the economy including the educational sector. Availability of funds plays a significant role in determining the provision of quality education at all levels. The quantity of funds made available during budgeting will go a long way to improving the quality of education. Ige and Obe, opined that without adequate funding, standards of education at any level shall be tantamount to a mirage that is, building castles in the air. Money is important in a school because it is used for constructing buildings, purchasing needed equipment, paying staff’ salaries and allowances, maintenance of the plants and keeping the services going This has led to a decline in the quality of education and an inability to provide students with the tools they need to succeed.

    Nigeria is experiencing a teacher shortage for a number of reasons, including low pay, unfavourable working conditions, and a dearth of possibilities for training. Nigerian educators lack the drive to do their best work. Not only do they receive inadequate compensation, but they also fall short of those in other industries. Maybe, as society would say, they are waiting in heaven for their reward.

    In addition to their low pay, teachers occasionally do not get their regular promotions. They do not receive consistent promotions. Their morale may suffer as a result. Though teaching and learning should go hand in hand, occasionally low morale among teachers makes it difficult for them to inspire students to study. The majority of students are unwilling to take courses in teaching; their principles, interests, and approach towards a career in teaching are uninspiring. Sometimes, people only resort to education faculties after experiencing frustration in other faculties, this affects the prestige placed on the teaching profession.

    Inadequate infrastructural facilities

    The lack of adequate infrastructure is another significant challenge facing educational institutions in Nigeria. Many schools lack basic facilities such as classrooms, libraries, and laboratories, making it difficult for students to receive a quality education. This is as a result of inadequate funding which has led to a decline in the standard of education and an inability to provide students with the skills they need to succeed in the 21st century.

    Corruption

    Corruption is a pervasive problem in Nigeria, and it has had a significant impact on the educational system. Corrupt practices such as bribery, nepotism, and embezzlement are common in educational institutions, and they have contributed to a decline in the standard of education. Corruption has also led to a lack of accountability and transparency, making it difficult to address administrative lapses.

    Weak administration

    The weak administration of educational institutions in Nigeria is another significant factor contributing to administrative lapses. Many educational institutions lack effective leadership, and there is a lack of accountability and transparency. This has led to a decline in the standard of education and an inability to address administrative lapses.

    Lack of data

    The lack of data is another significant challenge facing educational institutions in Nigeria. The lack of reliable data is hindering effective planning and implementation of educational policies. A lack of statistics on student enrollment, teacher numbers and qualifications, demographic trends, and buildings and other learning facilities is currently hindering planning.

    Policy instability

    The country has faced numerous changes in education policies, and this has created uncertainty and instability in the educational system. This has caused uncertainty in the educational policy of the country as every government in power wants to introduce its own policies. Odukoya, Bowale, and Okunlola, (2018) observed that policies were abandoned by governors and their predecessors due to a lack of funds for continuity. Politics and frequent changes in government negatively affect the implementation of the National Policy on Education.

    Strike actions

    Strike actions by teachers and other educational workers have also contributed to administrative lapses in Nigerian educational institutions. These strikes have disrupted the academic calendar and have had a negative impact on the quality of education. Strike actions by different unions in educational institutions are another problem hindering effective educational administration in Nigeria. Unions like the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Academic Staff of Colleges of Education (ASCE) had embarked on strikes severally in pursuit of best standard practices in Nigeria tertiary institutions. Due to poor working condition, majority of these unions always embarked on strike actions.

    Brain drain

    According to the National Open University of Nigeria, brain drain refers to the migration of academic staff from institutions in the country to overseas institutions or equivalent institutions where their services are better rewarded. The causes of brain drain can be attributed to the low level of academic staff salaries during the past decades; and the declining financial attractions of higher education employment in workloads. Many professional teachers are leaving educational institutions to other professions where their working condition is better. Many Nigerian students who pursue higher education abroad do not return to the country, leading to a shortage of skilled professionals in the educational sector. This has led to a decline in the standard of education and an inability to address administrative lapses.

    Federal Character in Nigeria

    Although the need to have every ethnic group duly represented in the public service of the country is laudable, however, federal character undermines democracy and excellence in the public service. It means that the best can be left out of the service and the worst picked. This system has continued to weaken Nigerian public administration, making the processes of service delivery towards national development more challenging than they could otherwise have been. One of the manifestations of the implementation of implementation of the federal character is poor employee procurement practice which resulted in unethical behavior among public sector workers. The implementation of the federal character system has failed to bring into the Nigerian public service, a competent and motivated workforce that could support administrative effectiveness for enhanced performance in the implementation of government policies for sustainable development.

    Culture

    Culture plays a significant role in shaping the character of public servants in Nigeria. The culture values respect for elders, un-common loyalty, and brotherly love, which has influenced the way Nigerians live. However, this has negatively impacted service delivery in the public service. Employees may not be disciplined due to age, religious, or ethnic affiliation, and personal loyalties often outweigh technical supremacy. Additionally, loyalty to individual offices may outweigh the public service itself, leading to nonchalant attitudes and a focus on personal interests.

    Ethnicity and Nepotism

    The Nigerian public service is deeply influenced by primordial relations, with ethnic sentiments and tribal sentiments disintegrating the national identity. The merit system index, supposed to guide appointments and promotions, has not been applied objectively, and cooperation depends on ethnic origin. Favouritism in the service extends administrative favours to ethnic bloc members, friends, and relations, violating the principles of impartiality and impersonality in the public service.

    The administrative lapses in Nigerian educational institutions are a complex issue with numerous contributing factors. Addressing these challenges will require a comprehensive approach that includes increased funding, improved teacher training, and a commitment to transparency and accountability amongst others.

    Management and control of litigation in the public service

    Significantly, the effective management and control of litigation in public service, particularly within educational institutions, represent an intricate challenge in the realm of governance. Educational institutions play a pivotal role in shaping the future of nations by imparting knowledge and skills to the next generation. However, they are not immune to legal disputes and administrative lapses, which can disrupt their core mission and divert resources that would otherwise be directed toward education and research. This paper delves into the critical issues surrounding the management and control of litigation within educational institutions, emphasizing the imperative of reducing litigation and administrative lapses from a holistic perspective.

    Litigation and administrative lapses in educational institutions encompass a broad spectrum of issues, including but not limited to academic disputes, employment matters, regulatory compliance, student grievances, and financial accountability. The consequences of these issues can be far-reaching, resulting in financial burdens, damage to institutional reputation, and, most importantly, undermining the quality of education offered to students.

    This paper takes a multi-faceted approach to address these critical issues, exploring the intricate relationship between educational administration and litigation. It delves into the factors that contribute to the rise of legal disputes and administrative failings in educational settings, including the intricacies of governance, policy formulation, and implementation within these institutions. Moreover, it sheds light on the impact of litigation on public funds and resources that are desperately needed for the advancement of education.

    The management and control of litigation in public service are not limited to reactive measures aimed at resolving legal disputes. Instead, it necessitates a proactive strategy that encompasses policy development, staff training, compliance monitoring, and conflict resolution mechanisms. The paper will explore the best practices and innovative approaches that educational institutions can adopt to minimize litigation and administrative lapses, thereby channelling their resources and efforts towards their core educational mission.

    Furthermore, the paper will underscore the importance of a legal and administrative framework that not only prevents disputes but also provides a fair, transparent, and efficient process for resolving conflicts when they do arise. Striking a balance between preventing litigation and ensuring justice is served is a complex task that demands a nuanced and well-crafted approach.

    In conclusion, this paper aims to illuminate the pressing need to address the critical issues in the management and control of litigation in public service, specifically within educational institutions. The reduction of litigation and administrative lapses is not just an economic concern but a fundamental imperative for fostering an environment conducive to learning, research, and the overall growth of the educational sector. By examining these issues comprehensively and proposing effective solutions, this paper strives to contribute to the ongoing discourse on the transformation and improvement of public service management in the context of educational institutions.

    The management and control of litigation in public service, particularly in the context of educational institutions, is a critical issue that requires careful attention. This topic involves the reduction of litigation and administrative lapses in order to ensure smooth functioning and effective governance within educational institutions. To gain a comprehensive understanding of this subject matter, it is important to clarify some key conceptual issues.

    Litigation in public service in Nigeria is a complex and challenging process that requires effective management and control to ensure that the legal rights of the government and its citizens are protected. The management and control of litigation in public service is critical to the smooth functioning of government operations and the delivery of public services. There are several vehicles for the reduction of litigation/administrative lapses in our educational institutions available from within and outside the public service structures. A brief consideration of some of these mechanisms can now be considered. First, we deal with the internal mechanism within the public service for the resolution of disputes.

    Public Service Rules as a Litigation Reduction Mechanism

    Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms are an important aspect of the Public Service Rules (PSR), as they offer alternative methods for resolving disputes outside of traditional litigation processes. The PSR recognizes the importance of ADR in promoting efficiency, fairness, and transparency in the resolution of disputes within the public service

    Rule 100302 empowers a Superior Officer who becomes dissatisfied with the behaviour of his subordinate must inform the officer in writing giving details of unsatisfactory behaviour and to call upon him to submit within a specific time such written representation as he may wish to make to exculpate himself from disciplinary action.  

    Rule 100303 provides that where a Tribunal of inquiry set up by the Government makes a recommendation of a disciplinary nature on an officer, the Federal Civil Service Commission/Board shall not act on such recommendations until it has called upon the affected Officer to reply to the allegations made against him by the Tribunal of inquiry.

    Rule 100307 detailed the procedure for dismissal of an Officer who has been found guilty of misconduct under the Rules. Interestingly, the Rules allow the Officer to make representations before the Tribunal and witnesses are also called by the Tribunal. The officer is allowed to ask the witnesses questions. When the Tribunal/Board has concluded its inquiry, it sends the report to the Federal Civil Service Commission to make the final decision. 

    Chapter 11 of the Public Service Rule makes provision for handling appeals and petitions by officers in the public service. 

    According to Rule 1010201, aggrieved officers, without prejudice to their constitutionally guaranteed right are mandated as much as possible to exhaust all avenues provided in the public service Rules and Circulars for redress before proceeding to court. This is in addition to obtaining permission from the Head of Service of the Federation before proceeding to Court.

    Rule 110204 outlines the channel through which an aggrieved officer can submit his petition for it to be addressed. An appeal/petition must be submitted through the proper departmental channels, namely through the petitioner’s immediate superior officer and the Permanent Secretary/Head of Extra-ministerial Office, who will forward the appeal/petition with his comments and recommendations to the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission or Head of the Civil Service of the Federation in accordance with administrative instructions in force at the time.  

    Rule 110201 sets the time frame during which appeals/petitions in the public service should be completed – six months. 

    Significantly, actors in the educational sector in particular and public servants in general are strongly advised to take the public service rule as a social contract between them and their employer in other to enhance their performance, welfare and the tenure of their professional careers and forestall conflicts that could lead to disputes within and outside the public service. The starting point is for all participants at this retreat to grab a copy of the public service rules, and read and digest them for proper understanding in a manner to forestall disputes. This will be a useful preventive therapy that will reduce friction and associated costs that could be deployed for other productive endeavours.

    The takeaway therefore should be public service rules as a social contract whose provisions are stated and should be obeyed by all public servants for harmony.

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    ADR Labour Settlement Mechanism in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) by the Third Alteration Act 2010 as dispute reduction mechanism

    The above is considered as one of the most outstanding innovations introduced by the Constitution to resolve labour disputes in the public service with particular reference to educational institutions. 

    Section 254C(3)  of the 1999 Constitution (as amended by the Third Alteration Act 2010) provides as follows:

    “The National Industrial Court may establish an Alternative Dispute Resolutions Centre within the Court premises on matters which jurisdiction is conferred on the court by this Constitution or any Act or Law: 

    Provided that nothing in this subsection shall preclude the National Industrial Court from entertaining and exercising appellate and supervisory jurisdiction over an arbitral tribunal or commission, administrative body, or board of inquiry in respect of any matter that the National Industrial Court has jurisdiction to entertain or any other matters as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly or any Law in force in any part of the Federation.”

    Order 24 of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2017.

    This rule provides:

    “The President of the Court or a Judge of the Court may refer for amicable settlement through conciliation or mediation any matter filed in any of the Registries of the Court to the Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre (hereinafter referred to as the Centre) established within the Court premises pursuant to Section 254C(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended by the Third Alteration Act, 2010) and Article 4(5)(a)-(e) of the Instrument of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre…

    1.            (1) Where parties to any mediation or conciliation processes are unable to settle their dispute amicably, the Director of the Centre shall submit a report to that effect to the President of the Court or the Judge of the Court who made the referral without the record of the mediation r conciliation session (s).

    (2) Where the matter was not resolved by the Centre, the matter shall be remitted to the President of the Court or the Judge who referred the matter within five (5) working days, to be set down for adjudication in accordance with the Rules of the Court.

    1.            Where parties are unable to settle their disputes through the mediation or conciliation process, the Court may set the matter down for hearing and determination on its merits, and the procedure laid down for trial of cases under the Rules of Court shall be followed for the determination of the matter…”

    The provision empowers the National Industrial Court of Nigeria to establish an Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre within the premises of the court. These provisions lay credence for alternative approaches for amicable settlement of labour, employment and industrial disputes.

    1.            National Industrial Court of Nigeria Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre Instrument 2015

    Article 4 Provides:

    “The mandates and functions of the ADR Centre shall amongst other things be the application of mediation or conciliation technique in the settlement of disputes between or amongst parties, 

    1.            To enhance and facilitate quick, efficient and equitable resolution of certain employment, labour and industrial relations disputes within the jurisdiction of the Court;

    2.            To minimize, reduce, mitigate and eliminate stress, cost and delays in justice delivery by providing a standard ADR framework for fair, efficient, fast and amicable settlement of disputes; 

    3.            To assist disputants in the resolution of their disputes without acrimony or bitterness; etc.”

    Significantly, this system affords disputants the opportunity to adopt mediation, conciliation and neutrals in the settlement of employment disputes which shall be less costly, speedy and more effective and efficient in the settlement of labour disputes. By Order 2 (2) of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Centre Rules, 2015, ADR Centre “means the Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre. This was established by the Court pursuant to Section 254(C)(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and by virtue of Article 2(1) of this National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) ADR Centre Instrument, 2015. Conciliation means bringing two opposing sides together to attempt to settle the matter without proceeding to trial. It is also a process of an amicable settlement of disputes in a friendly and win-win situation. Neutral means an impartial and unbiased individual appointed by the President of the Court in accordance with the provisions of NICN, ADR Centre Instrument to mediate or conciliate in a dispute or issue referred to the NICN ADR Centre.

    Mediation seeks compromise and a win-win situation, while arbitration seeks to justify a win-lose verdict. Significantly, while other processes require information gathering, arbitration focuses more on evidence, witnesses and law application to reach an award. One of the key features of the ADR system with the National Industrial Court is that mediation can be identified as neutrality, confidentiality, flexibility, voluntariness, party control and facilitation.

    Diverse management approaches to conflict resolution in the public service

    It is proposed by way of recommendation that workers in the public service should be more involved in the decision-making process so as to reduce the rate of conflict, this means there should be an effective communication network between the workers and management. Emphasis needs to be placed on early responses to individual employment disputes before they escalate into conflict situations. Areas of conflict identified will help management or managers to make necessary adjustments and changes so as to come up with a better way of correcting it. Five management approaches at conflict resolution are recommended. These include integrating, obliging, dominating, avoiding and compromising. 

    Integration involves openness, exchanging information, looking for alternatives and examining differences so as to solve the problem in a manner that is acceptable to both parties. 

    Obliging is associated with attempting to minimize the differences and highlighting the commonalities to satisfy the concern of the other party. In adopting the dominating style, one party goes all out to win his/her objectives and as a result, often ignores the needs and expectations of the other party. When avoiding a party fails to satisfy his/her concern as well as the concern of the other party. Lastly compromising involves give and take whereby both parties give up something to make a mutually acceptable decision.

    Proposed options for mediation in the public service

    Evaluative Mediation 

    A mediation style is concerned primarily with reaching a deal, with a greater focus on expected court outcome and lesser focus on parties’ respective interests. 

    Facilitation

    A process involving parties who are not so much in dispute as in a state of potential dispute and who wish to engage in dialogue in order to reach an agreement. There may be tensions between the parties’ viewpoints or interpersonal or other relationship difficulties. The facilitation process is designed to ensure that the discussion between the parties is constructive, with the objective of achieving better understanding and avoiding future disputes. 

    Facilitative Mediation

    A mediation model which focuses on facilitating the negotiations between parties with the goal to help everyone achieve their interests and to reach a durable, long-lasting agreement. Facilitative mediators usually do not comment on what would happen if the matter escalated to the next tier in the dispute resolution process (for example: formal grievance, tribunal or court). 

    Grievance

    A formal method for an employee to raise a problem or complaint to their employer, usually under the employer’s published grievance procedures. Reasons for filing a grievance in the workplace can be a result of, but not limited to, a breach of the terms and conditions of an employment contract, raises and promotions, harassment, bullying and discrimination.

    Litigation as a last resort

    Litigation is also an option which may be considered as a last resort. However, it is fraught with several challenges. As much as possible aggrieved elements in the public service ought to resist the temptation of deploying litigation as a conflict resolution mechanism for a variety of factors. This includes the element of delay because the problem in Nigeria is not access to justice but exit from justice. Our civil and criminal justice systems operate at a speed chosen for the convenience of the legal practitioners and defenders rather than the convenience of the court or the ends of justice. There is also the problem of deliberate abuse of procedural tools that does not seem to be any limit to the number of adjournments that may be obtained. 

    There appear to be few if any, effective sanctions to ensure that a defender in civil or criminal proceedings cannot delay or frustrate the proceedings.

    There is also the problem of misuse of interlocutory appeals. It is amazing that virtually any issue can be taken all the way to the Supreme Court provided the appellant can formulate grounds of appeal based upon errors of law, regardless of whether the point being appealed involves any public interest. It is all too easy to dress up factual questions as questions of law. 

    Thirdly, Nigerian law is excessively and destructively procedural. Our civil and criminal justice system is obsessed with form rather than substance. Over 70% of reported litigation is on procedure.

    Fourthly, there is also a case management challenge. Ideally, in determining the appropriate way to manage a case, the court should have regard to the need to prevent any case from being conducted in a way that interferes with the resolution of other disputes and wastes the resources of the court. Unfortunately, in many cases, our courts are unable to rise effectively to overcome these challenges.

    Fifthly, our court registries are chaotic, dirty and poorly managed with a negative impact on the administration of justice.

    Sixthly, there is the use of jurisdictional objections to frustrate trial proceedings. 

    The seventh point is the negative judicial attitude. There are instances where some judges have not given judgments in concluded matters over a year after the conclusion of trial and argument. Every three months, counsel is asked to readopt.

    There are other issues such as the defective system for the appointment of judges, delays in prosecuting appeals, low incidence and quantum of costs and inadequate funding and resources available to the judiciary all of which impact negatively delivering effective and efficient adjudication. Our system indeed requires urgent surgeries. 

    The question to ask is whether public servant are prepared to go through this frustrating experience in their resolution of grievances and disputes arising from their workplace experiences. I ask again, are you prepared to face these hurdles arising from the litigation in our courts? 

    Suggestions and recommendations

    Mediation offers a critical attraction in the resolution of disputes in the public service. In strengthening the existing ADR mechanisms in Nigeria, we can draw lessons from comparative jurisdictions around the world. 

    The United Kingdom – Civil Service Mediation Service (CSMS)

    The UK Civil Service Mediation Service was launched in 2012. The CSMS is designed to mediate disputes involving members of the civil service. The CSMS operates in collaboration with 42 separate departments and agencies with the majority having their own internal in-house mediation service. A department that is too small to have an internal mediator can approach the central mechanism of the CSMS can be approached to intervene in disputes within the department. The CSMS thereby effectively functions as a resource pool when demand cannot be met internally or where departments are too small to operate their own in-house service. To access the CSMS, the complainant contacts the internal HR personnel or mediation resource who will either seek to deal with the matter via an internal mediation process or forward the request on to the CSMS where no mediators are available internally. 

    Interestingly, there is no charge for mediation and all mediators are volunteers, with a “day job”, who give their time as an additional corporate contribution. As an example, should department A send in a request and department B have mediators available, department B would then cover any travel and subsistence costs for those mediators to attend and undertake the mediation. In return, as and when department B may need external mediators, the department sending those mediators would similarly cover the associated costs.  

    The United States Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS)

    The United States Federal Civil Service is an independent agency whose primary responsibility is to promote sound and stable labour-management relations through a variety of mediation and conflict resolution services. The FMCS is involved in a wide range of mediation services which include the mediation of collective bargaining negotiations and grievances, training for labour and management in skills and processes aimed at improving the workplace relationship, and the referral of private arbitrators for the settlement of controversies over the application or provisions in a collective bargaining agreement. The FMCS is a completely voluntary step, taken prior to any arbitration, which provides an opportunity for a third party neutral to assist the parties in reaching their own resolution of the dispute. The mediator does not make a binding decision for the parties, but rather guides them to their own mutually acceptable resolution of the grievance, assisting in cooperative problem-solving between labour and management. 

    FMCS provides professional services to a wide range of federal, state, and government agencies on a cost-reimbursable basis. The FMCS assist federal agencies in resolving disputes, trains persons in skills and procedures employed in alternative means of dispute resolution, designs conflict management systems, builds capacity for constructive conflict management, and strengthens inter-agency and public-private cooperation. Through this work, FMCS seeks to reduce litigation costs and to promote better government decision-making.

    Australian Civil Sector Mediation

    The Australian Public Service Regulations (Regulation 5.1(4)) acknowledge alternative dispute resolution as a means of resolving employee complaints. Some agencies in Australia, in particular the Department of Defence (DOD), have invested significantly in alternative dispute resolution and formalised it as a strategy for responding to workplace conflict. The Employee Assistance Program assists DOD employees who are experiencing difficulties of a personal or work-related nature. It offers a confidential work-based intervention program designed to enhance emotional, mental and general psychological well-being. The program provides short-term preventative and proactive interventions for issues that may and do adversely affect performance and well-being. The program aims for early detection, identification and resolution of work and personal issues.

    Cyprus 

    In Cyprus, the process of dispute resolution in the workplace involves four stages. In the first level, the supervisor is called to intervene in a dispute in a bid to resolve such dispute. If not resolved, the worker will be referred to higher authorities in the workplace. The first two stages are known as non-judicial ADR

    The third stage, if required, is a referral of the worker to the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance for mediation. This must be completed within 15 days. If a settlement is not reached at this stage, the complaint is referred to binding arbitration.

    It is the responsibility of the Ministry to appoint a mutually acceptable arbitrator within one week of the special request from both parties and to provide administrative support to the arbitrator – thus, access to arbitration is by mutual agreement only. The Ministry issues the arbitrator’s decision 15 days after the last arbitration meeting, or within three days in the case of dismissals.

    Germany

    Germany has a labour court that has jurisdiction to entertain all labour-related disputes. However, every matter brought before the court would first begin with the process of conciliation. The purpose of this approach is to achieve an amicable settlement, usually a compromise between the parties, before recourse to a formal hearing. The parties may also agree to a private mediation at this stage. 

    For non-escalated disputes, all employees have the right to have their grievances heard by the works council. It is then possible for a company-level arbitration committee to be established. In practice, in most cases where a works council exists, an employee might first address the council; the works council would then seek to resolve the matter with management, sometimes using informal mediation. Where there is no works council, the trade union would seek an out-of-court agreement with the employer. In cases of individual dismissals, the works council must be consulted.

    Italy 

    Recourse to the judicial authorities for the resolution of a labour dispute must be preceded by a mandatory attempt at conciliation – referred to as ‘administrative conciliation’. This takes place before a special board instituted by the relevant Provincial Labour Directorate. Where a judge ascertains at the beginning of the court procedure that no attempt has been made to use conciliation, the proceedings may be suspended and the parties ordered to use the procedure.

    Identifying challenges in public administration

    Research findings have identified that political interference, corruption, inadequate funding, self-induced anarchy by the administrator, favoritism and nepotism etc., as some of the challenges public administrators face in implementing public policies in Nigeria. The findings have further shown that despite the moderate achievements in democratic governance and being rich in natural and human resources, there remain many politico-administrative challenges to be addressed in Nigeria. In addition, ailing public administration has resulted in disturbing socio-economic indicators which are among the worst in the world. Findings reveal that, notwithstanding the dramatic administrative reforms, citizens’ confidence in government service is near a historic low because of poor service delivery and exclusionary policies. 

    Based on the foregoing, this paper concludes by offering the underlisted suggestions and recommendations for enhanced public service delivery in the educational sector, particularly in curbing the high incidence of litigations and costs associated with the sector.

    Recommendations on legal measures to curb high rate of litigation in the educational sector

    The high rate of litigation in the educational sector in Nigeria is a significant concern that requires effective legal measures to address. Litigation in this sector can lead to numerous negative consequences, including financial burdens on educational institutions, delays in the resolution of disputes, and a strain on the overall education system. To curb this issue, several legal measures can be implemented:

    Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

    One of the most effective ways to reduce litigation in the educational sector is by promoting the use of alternative dispute resolution methods such as mediation and arbitration. ADR provides a less adversarial and more collaborative approach to resolving disputes, allowing parties to reach mutually acceptable solutions outside of the courtroom. By encouraging the use of ADR mechanisms, educational institutions can save time and resources while fostering a more harmonious environment for dispute resolution.

    Strengthening Internal Dispute Resolution Mechanisms

     Educational institutions should establish robust internal dispute resolution mechanisms to address conflicts before they escalate into full-blown litigation. This can include setting up dedicated committees or departments responsible for handling disputes within the institution. These mechanisms should be designed to provide fair and impartial resolutions, ensuring that all parties involved have an opportunity to present their cases and have their concerns addressed.

    Clear Policies and Procedures

    Implementing clear policies and procedures within educational institutions can help prevent disputes from arising in the first place. By establishing guidelines for various aspects of education, such as admissions, disciplinary actions, grading systems, and employment practices, potential areas of conflict can be minimized. These policies should be communicated effectively to all stakeholders, including students, parents, teachers, and staff members, to ensure everyone understands their rights and responsibilities.

    Training and Capacity Building

    Providing training and capacity-building programs for educators and administrators can contribute to reducing litigation in the educational sector. These programs should focus on equipping individuals with knowledge about relevant laws and regulations governing education, conflict management skills, and effective communication techniques. By enhancing the legal literacy and dispute-resolution skills of those working in the sector, potential disputes can be resolved internally, reducing the need for external litigation.

    Strengthening Regulatory Bodies

    Regulatory bodies responsible for overseeing the educational sector should be empowered to effectively address complaints and grievances. These bodies should have clear mandates, adequate resources, and competent personnel to handle disputes efficiently. By ensuring that regulatory bodies are capable of addressing issues promptly and fairly, individuals may be more inclined to seek redress through these channels rather than resorting to litigation.

    Conclusion 

    In conclusion, curbing the high rate of litigation in the educational sector in Nigeria requires a multi-faceted approach that includes promoting alternative dispute resolution methods, strengthening internal dispute resolution mechanisms, implementing clear policies and procedures, providing training and capacity building programs, empowering regulatory bodies, and conducting public awareness campaigns. By adopting these legal measures, it is possible to reduce litigation and create a more conducive environment for educational advancement in Nigeria.

    *Shittu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), law teacher and prosecutor, presented this paper at a retreat organised by the Federal Ministry of Education on November 29 in Keffi, Nasarawa State.