The Nation Newspaper

Category: Wednesday

  • Punish 40% IGR deduction initiator. Grants and TSA

    Punish 40% IGR deduction initiator. Grants and TSA

    President Tinubu has suspended as inappropriate timing, the massively condemned ‘40% federal deductions from tertiary institutions’ so-called Internally Generated Revenue’. President Tinubu, please also remove university grants from having to be deposited in the TSA.

    Is the 40% deduction suspended or cancelled? Perhaps it will be cancelled or remain a sword of Damocles against other government organs but especially tertiary institutions at the whim of National Assembly, NASS, the ministries of education and finance, the accountant general’s or auditor general’s offices, which could abuse office and ‘disappear’ the 40%, once seized.

    Yes, this law is an ass, a general law but it was maliciously applied, demonstrating malicious or vengeful intent against the educated class or total ignorance of the funding and financial struggles of tertiary institutions and their primary constituency, students, parents and guardians. The law reduces developmental manpower for the country. It is terrorism, and deserves to be treated as terrorism, because such laws are destructive of academic initiative, paralyse performance and destroy the desire to aim for an excellent impact and stunt national growth.   

    The officer who implemented the law against the education institutions is not to be overly blamed because if he did not try to implement an existing law, he may have been found guilty of negligence of duty or ignorance of the law. However, it is a very fiscally and politically sensitive matter, the implementation of which would certainly cripple the universities struggling to compensate for deliberately poor federal government subventions. It could cripple any compensatory creative approaches the struggling universities initiate to supplement failed federal funding. The officer involved should have suggested to his minister or the decision chain that the matter be decided by the president for ‘political fallout risk assessment’.

    Presidents do not like to reverse policy, even stupid policy, especially when a good ‘Policy Risk Assessment Meeting’ would have killed the problem before announcement.

    So, on the counts of naivety, arrogance and pure insensitivity, that person should be reprimanded, demoted and punished to teach administrators the bitter lesson that decisions do destroy citizens lives.

    Time and time again Nigeria is put at risk, loses billions on bad contracts or is made to look stupid in the public and international eye by the action and inaction of its often high-up officials charged with policy making or implementation. And when they screw it up, the country and its citizens go through agony and suffering. But please note that there is never any apology to the citizens or reparations offered. Unfortunately, they are not even investigated but let off free, without even a query, an inquiry, a judgement, a reprimand or more severe punishment. Nigeria can trace who made that 40% law by going through the minutes of meetings and other records.

    Read Also: NASS legislative aides lament 15 months unpaid salaries

    We must not let this slide or we will continue to have bureaucrats with more immunity than the NASS politicians from the extremely dangerous consequences of their actions. Too often, initiators of poorly thought-through government policies escape in a blaze of retirement glory leaving the citizens to suffer from their incompetence. The person who initiated or suggested the ‘40% deduction should be summoned if retired, stripped of national honours, denied national honours in future and forced to apologise in public for such a stupid law. It is only such an action which will make other civil servants, political appointees and special assistants step back from being overzealous in their actions and destabilising the country. Nigeria deserves and expects and demands much better from its employees, be they civilian and political.

    It was hoped that President Tinubu would also respond to the call reinvigorated just two weeks ago when the issue of the need to extract university grants from being compulsorily included in TSA, Treasury Single Account, was discussed in this column. This step has severely reduced grant inflows because of the difficulty of accessing the funds by recipient researchers as and when required leading to financial and administrative bottlenecks and inefficient execution of research projects resulting in delays in timelines and failure to meet research deadlines thus disgracing the researcher, the department and the institution given the grant. Nigeria’s academic landscape is already being painted for the international research grant donors as one with a high risk of grant outcome failure to deliver research due to the TSA trapped funds stifling research.

    Our youth manage somehow to shine through the quagmire governments offer them as education in sometimes disgraceful settings. Every school and tertiary institutions would be much worse off without such grants, alumni, parents, guardians, scholarships and bursaries. 

    We are hoping for larger education budgets, millions of scholarships and bursaries at state and LGA level, child and teacher friendly classrooms, libraries and clean toilets in schools. But the political class abandoned its primary responsibility to the citizenry and instead selfishly spent N160m/jeep/NASS member (shamefully the minimum wage of 5,333.3 workers x360 NASS members =1,920,000 minimum wage workers salaries) amounting to many billions for NASS and then Presidency, first lady vehicles. Politicians and corruption are mainly responsible for our destructive rubbish naira value. Politicians must ‘calm down’ and temper  greed with political sagacity and should have had the political wisdom to postpone by  6-12 months the multibillion purchase of vehicles, spread the payment over four years, and transfer that budget to education, health, roads and transportation. That decision would have allowed the country slightly recover financially before heavier irresponsible political financial burdens.

  • Ajaero’s Labour pains

    Ajaero’s Labour pains

    For the past five months, the threat of a strike by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has hung over the new government and country like the Sword of Damocles. At 12.00 midnight on Monday the union carried out its threat. 

    Usually, such strikes are executed in pursuit of workers’ welfare. But this is a peculiar action called not because earnings have been eroded by hyper inflation, or as a result of delay in unveiling a new minimum wage. A shutdown is happening because NLC President Joe Ajaero was set upon by a band of thugs at Owerri airport – leaving him with a black eye.

    Ajaero by reason of his position as Congress’ leader has a place In the pantheon of VIPs in Nigeria. So, for him to have been assaulted and dragged on the floor by unknown roughnecks, as he has reported, was shocking. Not only was he bruised physically, his ego as head of the nation’s main trade union was battered. In a sense also, the institutional ego of the almighty NLC was affected.

    Not surprisingly, its response to the manhandling of its leader was a recourse to the nuclear option – a nationwide strike. Such an action should ordinarily be a weapon of last resort. Deploying it over this matter shows how stunned Labour leaders were by the development.

    The immediate trigger to the assault was the decision of Ajaero and his union to visit Imo, ground activities across the state, ostensibly because workers were owed 30 months salaries. This claim was vigorously denied by the state government which promptly secured a court injunction stopping the planned action. Labour would not be deterred; they pushed ahead in defiance of the judicial restriction.

    The NLC claims thugs who beat Ajaero were supervised by a certain aide of Governor Hope Uzodimma who, interestingly, has a portfolio designated “Special Duties.” What followed the rumble at the airport is still mired in confusion. The union leader says after the assault, he was handed to the police. Initial reports claim he was arrested. The cops insist they only took him into protective custody to prevent his lynching by an angry mob.

    But why would the visit of a union leader to lead protests over unpaid salaries stir up such passions? It was scheduled just days to the governorship election in which the NLC’s client Labour Party was a major participant. Imo also happens to be Ajaero’s home state. The conclusion on the part of the government was that the supposed protest was just a brazen intervention to tilt the poll outcome in favour of his allies. 

    As the union cried for justice over the attack on its leader, there were two important reactions. Governor Uzodimma went on television shortly before the election to wash his hands off the assault. He said even if the beating was meted out to a lesser personage he would have been displeased. It was an expression of sympathy that fell short of an apology. 

    A few days later, Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, ordered an investigation into the the incident. But these interventions were not enough to mollify the NLC which clearly wanted more. But what is more? Perhaps President Bola Tinubu censuring Uzodimma? Would the arrest and prosecution of the ‘Special Duties Adviser’ who allegedly oversaw the assault have sufficed? Perhaps some imaginative punishment for the Commissioner of Police would have done the trick. 

    The Owerri incident is a prime example of the bloated expectations of the powerful in Nigeria. They expect special treatment and when that is not forthcoming, they attack institutions. The incident at the Imo State capital was a local one and the perpetrators were locals. The options for redress should logically be local. 

    Since the NLC leader and his associates are not in doubt as to those behind the attack, they could have initiated legal action against them – whether they are governors, police, Special Advisers or thugs. To declare a national strike over this local assault is to mismatch crime and punishment. To use your Congress in this way to exact revenge is abuse of power.

    To drag in the Federal Government is to perpetuate something very wrong in this country, where the president has to get involved in every little matter: he has to order an investigation if a couple has a domestic falling out in Enugu, or a local government chairman and his governor are at daggers drawn in Bauchi. This country doesn’t have to revolve round the office of the president.

    Between the abortive Imo protests and the current strike, the NLC leadership hasn’t come out smelling of roses. It marched into Owerri nonchalantly disregarding an existing court order. It has now embarked on its strike disobeying another injunction stopping it from doing so. In Nigeria everybody is a law unto themselves. They obey what laws they choose to and justify their lawlessness by pointing to some other person’s recklessness. 

    The grand hypocrisy of it all is that organizations like the NLC are always quick to preach about the rule of law. They claim to want a better society where things are done in an orderly fashion, yet have embarked on an action that diminishes the judiciary as an institution. 

    Read Also: Old banknotes remain legal tender indefinitely, says CBN

    If governments in the past have been caught ignoring the courts, we don’t have to join them in the gutter of disobedience. There’s a higher moral ground for those willing to climb up there. But in embarking on the path it has chosen, the union is no better than the thugs who took the law into their own hands by beating Ajaero.

    As things stand NLC has taken a calculated gamble with the timing of its action. It comes at a period when millions across the country are struggling economically. For them daily income is vital for survival. Can they afford to join the union in their indefinite flight of fancy? 

    There’s nothing novel about calling such strikes. What the current Labour leaders should ask their predecessors is sustainability of the action. We may just be seeing a situation where union leaders are disconnected from average workers who just want to get on with their lives with minimal disruptions.

    The objective of this strike is so nebulous that it verges on the ridiculous. The union says the walk-off would continue “until governments at all levels are alive to their responsibilities.” At what point would this landmark have been attained? What are the indices for making this judgment? More importantly, who appointed the NLC assessors of government performance?

    For a young administration battling economic turbulence and trying to find its balance, a national strike is bad news. It would be under pressure to restore normalcy. But how it does that would determine how it would be perceived going forward. Will it bend in the face of every pressure or stand its ground as indication it won’t be pushed around? It is the NLC today, but there are other groups and interests just waiting to test the government’s will. The coming hours and days would be very revealing.

  • Apply pre-emptive lessons from AGF plea bargain case

    Apply pre-emptive lessons from AGF plea bargain case

    The former Accountant General of the Federation 2011-2015, Jonah Otunla is reported to have returned N6.392billion N6,392,000,000  following a plea bargain with EFCC’s former head, Ibrahim Magu, who is himself under investigation. Magu is reported to have promised avoidance of prosecution in return for returning the money to government. However, EFCC is prosecuting and he, in return, is seeking the protection for breach of promise. This case firmly demonstrates the flaws in the plea-bargaining tool as operated in Nigeria. We were told there were plea bargains with others including the Abachas.

    What is the guiding principle in terms of percentage of stolen funds that Nigeria gets back with plea bargaining? Nigerians are unaware of the total stolen sum found before the N6.3b was identified as returnable. What exactly was found with him?  What has been left with him, remembering that every kobo is a lifeline taken from the hopes and dreams and table of every single child, youth, girl, boy and adult in Nigeria? Every single stolen naira is bloodstained and soaked in the blood of Nigerians. Why can’t the thieves see this damage before they steal? Why is our financial security system so weak, that more than N6 billion can disappear with no alarm-N40/Nigerian assuming a 160m population?

    Then even the next Accountant  General [2015-2022] Ahmed Idris was identified recently having stolen N109+billion and was only caught, not by EFCC or ICPC, but because he was reported to the police when he sent an 18 year old girlfriend  to purchase a house for herself. Luckily, she informed her uncle who, shocked, reported to the security agencies. It was only after that investigation, stimulated by an honest and protective uncle, that such that huge amount was discovered. He returned N30b initially = N187.5/Nigerian at a population of 160m.

    The questions are several. What demon possesses such high office holders, gatekeepers of Nigeria’s financial existence that they should fail, and undetected, rape and pillage funds they are sworn to safeguard and inform government of any thieves. How does any official get the arrogance and boldness to access and remove such a huge quantum of money in multiple fraudulent acts, without raising any red flags. Most other countries would have collapsed under the burden of such monstrous serial thefts. But there are many more similar frauds at federal and state and LGA levels and in MDAs. We must recover all our money from such people and not a plea bargain even before we know the total stolen. Theft of even N1 is fraud, corruption and can kill someone somewhere in the country. So, there should be no percentages kept by the thieves when interrogated. In fact, we must remember that because of this particular ‘big man in sensitive and responsible office’ fraud, our naira has become toilet paper, more of our children are born dead and more mothers die trying to give birth in hospitals unfit to deliver goats, our children go to places miscalled schools lacking in every form of learning aid from a decent learning environment like intact roof and furniture and toilets, wall charts, sports equipment a laboratories and libraries, well-educated and well remunerated teachers using modern teaching tools and schools and pupils  and even teachers lacking text books. There is blood on the ground. If we equate each naira stolen to a drop of Nigerian blood needlessly shed, we have 6,392,000,000 blood stains and  6,392,000,000 drops of blood shed by our citizens.   

    Read Also: Tinubu committed to improving lives of vulnerable communities – Shettima

    All the main issues around plea bargaining, full evaluation of the theft and recovery of the stolen funds- 100% recovery or less – must be discussed in public. A plea bargain in an honest society can never include allowing the thief to keep even N1 of the nation’s scarce resources. We must reject every effort to collaborate criminally with the thief and allowing the thief to keep even a naira. We must say ‘100% recovery of all identified stolen funds must be done.’ PLEA BARGAINING STEP ONE: CALCULATE ACCEPTABLE VALUE OF POSSESSIONS, EARNINGS OF THE THIEF TO ESTABLISH HONEST FINANCAL PROFILE.

    STEP TWO: 100% RECOVERY OF ALL, EXCESS OVER EARNINGS, STOLEN MONEY. NO KEEPING OF EVEN A SINGLE NAIRA.

    STEP THREE: CALCULATE PROSECUTABLITY IN PROPORTION TO DEGREE OF COOPERATION/TRUTHFULNESS OR LACK OF IT.  In other words, all must go to punitive prison in my view for at least life if theft is more than N10m, to compensate for the lives lost due to the absence of the stolen funds in Nigeria’s financial system. But a shorter prison time may be recommended for a cooperative thief who saved EFCC/ICPC investigative time, while a longer prison time may be demanded for the thief who is slow to reveal full ramifications of the corruption net around him or her.

    STEP FOUR: THE CRIMINAL JOURNEY SHOULD BE STUDIED, LESSONS TAUGHT TO SERVING EFCC/ICPC OFFICERS FOR IMMEDIATE PREVENTIVE IMPLIMENTATION to prevent a recurrence.

    STEP FOUR: THE RESULTS SHOULD BE MADE PUBLIC. 

    What are the lessons learnt from the ongoing Emefiele vs Nigeria case. It involves unbelievable sums that could topple any government. Are they recovered and hopefully not re-stolen. Even NASS’s failed oversight function allowed no audited accounts for eight years. 

    Of course, such thieves had predecessors who may require screening. Such cases should be taught immediately in our universities.

    Finally, did he do all the criminal paperwork and banking of N6,392,000,000 alone? Was he a fraudster surrounded by saints or accomplices?

  • Nigeria’s opposition parties and the future 

    Nigeria’s opposition parties and the future 

    Peter Obi, candidate of Labour Party (LP) at the February 25, 2023 elections, finally weighed in on the Supreme Court verdict that dismissed his appeal. He, like Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) flag-bearer, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s, insists the justices did a terrible job.

    It’s hard to know if Obi truly believes he won the same election Atiku also claims to have won. He does accept that with the judgment he has exhausted all legal remedies and committed himself to rebuilding LP and nurturing his Obidient Movement. Those are the moves of a man planning to fight another day. 

    His intervention, together with Atiku’s before him, provide a canvass for looking at the immediate future of Nigeria’s opposition parties. The omens are not too bright, unfortunately.

    That’s not good for the country because to further entrench democratic culture, we need thriving opposition parties. But their future can only be guaranteed when they stand for something; when they are seen as credible governing alternatives to the ruling party. As it is, there’s not much that separates the four largest parties in the land.

    Perhaps, what hampers the opposition most today is fragmentation. It was the reason PDP held power for 16 years and could have gone on for much longer, if their rivals had not become wise in 2014 and pooled their resources under APC. 

    What we are witnessing is a return to the scenario in 1999 when PDP had rock solid national spread, while its opponents were scattered in weak groups like All Peoples Party (APP), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Alliance for Democracy (AD) and so on.

    Today, the likelihood of opposition parties coming together to form a broad-based entity to challenge the ruling party is extremely remote because of the dueling ambitions and egos of their leaders. 

    Despite a record 30-year run of defeats, Atiku has signaled he will give it another go in four years. But it is clear that governors who control his party may not be invested in that project. Their relatively temperate reaction to the Supreme Court judgment stood beside Atiku’s burn-down-the-barn remarks like night and day. 

    As I argued last week, Atiku has shown through his brief flirtation with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the past, that he would gladly run on another platform if he’s denied the ticket in 2027. This would further fragment what used to be the locked-in PDP vote. 

    One of the big stories of the 2023 general election was the performance of LP. Credit for this is often ascribed to Obi. Still, his popularity didn’t get him the ultimate prize because he failed at a crucial hurdle. To win the presidential election you need a platform that can prevail in four of the nation’s six political zones. His party fell far short of this requirement.

    This, despite the fact that the opposition were offered an electoral environment tailor-made for defeating the ruling party. In the run-up to the polls the Muhammadu Buhari administration inexplicably embarked on the suicidal naira swap that starved the country of badly-needed cash. Coupled with long-drawn fuel scarcity, an enraged populace were primed to punish APC and its candidate. 

    There were other factors that contributed to Obi’s performance that were unique to this particular poll. They may not be there next time or may not generate the same emotional pull. 

    For instance, not since M. K. O. Abiola ran with Babagana Kingibe in 1993 has the polity been so divided over religious balancing. The same-faith Tinubu-Kashim Shettima ticket drained support for the ruling party in large swathes of the Middle-Belt and the predominantly- Christian South.

    Read Also: JUST IN: Peter Obi to address press today

    If the Islamisation scare doesn’t become reality before 2027, then religion would have been seriously defanged as a political factor and may not be as helpful to Obi when he runs again. 

    And run, he’s certain to do. He has served notice of his intention to rebuild LP. That shuts down the hopes of those dreaming he would return to PDP – offering them a better shot at wresting power from APC. 

    But he has his work cut out for him. His lopsided vote in his home region and anaemic performance in several others, is now his biggest albatross. He emerged more as a regional project than a national messiah. How he’s going to achieve an image makeover that presents him as anything other an ethnic or religious champion, would be interesting to watch. 

    Obi’s major problem is his limited appeal. What he needs going forward is to broaden the scope of his acceptability. If he’s hoping to achieve that using his Obidients, then he just tripped getting out of the blocks. During the campaigns this movement didn’t make him too many friends. Their readiness to deploy any tactic, no matter how low to further their cause, was a turn-off to many voters. That’s just unfortunate because no one ever became president with a narrow base. 

    Yes, he did well with the youth demographic but even this must be put in context. In February, he ran against Tinubu and Atiku who were 70 and above, Rabiu Kwankwaso was within touching distance of the duo age-wise. For younger voters, Obi was, therefore, the youngest on parade. In four years time he would be 66 – hardly the convincing poster boy as youth representative. 

    To make matters more interesting, Tinubu has stolen his thunder with a cabinet chock full of people in their 30s and 40s. Such has been his enthusiasm for infusing young blood into the system that he even sparked an uproar when he briefly appointed the 24-year-old Ibrahim Kashim-Imam chairman of the Federal Emergency Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) board. 

    Up North, the fragmentation continues with Kwankwaso’s NNPP. His hopes of building a third or fourth force are dangling by a fragile judicial thread. If the courts rule against his party in the Kano gubernatorial contest, then he’s cooked. Such a loss in his lone stronghold can only strengthen APC going into future contests. 

    Clearly, in Nigerian politics the more things change the more they remain the same. In the Second Republic, Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe’s  Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) and others, couldn’t challenge the behemoth National Party of Nigeria (NPN) because of their failure to sacrifice their ambitions for a larger goal. 

    It is the same story today. If political structures remain as they are going into the next elections, power won’t change hands – and it won’t be because of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) manipulation or judicial sleight of hand. 

  • The President, performance bond, and service delivery

    The President, performance bond, and service delivery

    No one doubts that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a bold, courageous, determined, focused, and astute politician. For those who still doubt his governance credentials at the national level or doubt that he means business as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the cabinet retreat held Wednesday, November 1, 2023, through Friday, November 3, 2023, offered a glimpse of his governance acumen and preparedness. Coming in the sixth month of his administration, the cabinet retreat shows that the President has completed his homework and is ready to roll.

    What the press missed in reportage of the retreat is that it was the capstone of a series of preparations in the last six months. Those who wanted the retreat to have held earlier forgot that the most useful retreats are those for which sufficient background work had been accomplished.

    That’s why the President took his time to work through such background preparations. Thus, during the past six months, the Central Delivery Coordinating Unit, in collaboration with the offices of the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination and the Head of Service, held bilateral engagements with all heads of ministries, and the Head of the Civil Service to develop the mandates or deliverables that would facilitate the actualisation of the major priorities and focus areas of the administration, 2023-2027. The major priorities were derived from the Renewed Hope Agenda, the National Development Plan 2021-2025 and various sectoral plans. The bilateral engagements were followed by robust technical sessions, involving many technical partners, including KPMG, McKenzie, and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

    Furthermore, each minister has met with the Permanent Secretary and top civil servants in his or her ministry and informed them of the Renewed Hope Agenda and the President’s mandate and areas of priorities. Some have even held their own retreat, while others will do so shortly. Besides, shortly after assuming the duty, the ministers also had to work on and defend their budget for 2024, bearing in mind their mandates and priorities.

    The cabinet retreat came as a capstone of all these activities and was divided into four major phases on (1) administrative processes; (2) managing relations with relevant stakeholders; (3) technical presentations; and (4) panel sessions on major focus areas. These sessions were followed by a detailed presentation on the performance evaluation mechanism of the Results Delivery Unit. The final event was the signing of the performance bond. The remainder of this essay focuses on these last two events.

    The main purpose of the ministerial performance bond is to ensure collaboration between ministers, who are the arrowheads of government policies in their respective ministries and their permanent secretaries, who are responsible for coordinating other civil servants in the implementation of the policies. Without a working synergy between political officeholders and career civil servants, policies and their implementation will remain poles apart.

    An even broader context, which the President elaborated upon in his opening and closing addresses, is the tendency for civil servants to see political appointees as come-and-go officials. Ministers coming into government circle for the first time could be dribbled by dubious civil servants whom one Governor once described as “evil servants”. Those among them who view public service merely as ise ijoba (government job) could be particularly dangerous. Their behaviour was recently demonstrated in the encounter between former Governor David Umahi, now Minister of Works, and the civil servants in his ministry, who did not show up for work on time.

    Another context for the performance bond is the provision of a reference point for future evaluation of the ministers’ performances by the Result Delivery Unit. The ministers and the civil servants need to be on the same page regarding the mandates for their ministries, if they were to achieve desired results. The tripartite bond cements the relationship between the two, on the one hand, and between them and the President, on the other hand. Once the bond is signed, neither can deny knowledge of the other or of the tasks they must accomplish together.

    Read Also: 2024 budget will deliver ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda to Nigerians, says Senate leader

    The performance bonds are not just signatures on paper. Each performance bond articulates key mandates or deliverables for each ministry; establishes key performance indices; provides timelines for accomplishing particular tasks; and establishes the basis for quarterly performance measurement, beginning in the first quarter of 2024. This is precisely why a Delivery Unit is necessary.

    The Unit, headed by the Special Adviser to the President on Policy, Hadiza Bala Usman, consists of a group of specially trained technocrats in service delivery mechanisms. In consultation with the National Bureau of Statistics and with performance bonds in mind, the Unit has developed performance metrics and delivery tracking templates for periodic measurements of progress in achieving the deliverables according to defined priority areas. It has also developed bottleneck resolution mechanisms to resolve bottlenecks and sundry issues that may occur in the course of service delivery.

    Even more importantly, the Unit has developed a dashboard for performance content management. The dashboard provides a bird’s eye view of results achieved across all priorities and focus areas at any given time. Such a dashboard will provide an early warning system that triggers timely remedial actions when targets are not met.

    Even more interesting from the point of view of citizen participation is the Presidential Delivery Tracker, a mobile App that enables third party monitoring, by allowing citizens to monitor and report on key projects of the ministries. By including citizens in performance monitoring through a mobile App, we may be entering an era of inclusive governance and accountability we’ve never seen before.

    The take-aways from the retreat are unmistakable. The President is ready to lead and he has used the retreat as an occasion to inspire and charge his cabinet and top civil servants to be ready to serve. He wants everyone working with him to share the same vision and possibly work at the same pace, hence the performance bonds. As the opening quote clearly shows, we also see a President, who is not shy to hire and fire. Moreover, this President clearly values data as the basis for planning and performance evaluation and he is thoroughly in tune with the technology of modern governance. The clarity of his thoughts and vision is symbolised by the clarity of the opening and closing addresses as well as the content of the cabinet retreat.

  • Ministerial lessons from jet crash; ‘Presidential what?’

    Ministerial lessons from jet crash; ‘Presidential what?’

    We thank God that the HS125 private jet plane crash in Ibadan did not kill or injure anyone including the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu. Plane crash victims are few, a special class of blessed citizen. I know a survivor of the 1973 Kano plane crash. There are questions. Did the minister hire the plane in his personal financial capacity as ex-CBN director, apparently a very good job, and ex-governorship aspirant? Or did the Tinubu government hire the plane to bring the minister home for the weekend? Does it hire a plane each for its 47 ministers every weekend x52 weekends =2,444 times annually x 4 years =9,776 two-way flights = 19,552 flights in four years. Governance is disgustingly expensive.

    How can such ministers ever develop better public air services, high speed rail and expressways when they never get stuck and just go by jet? Google says a jet is $4,500-6,000/hour. Will Nigeria, the minister, or the insurance company pay the damage? A jet is not repaired in Dugbe-Alawo. Last week we saw Wike on a jet. Maybe one day a minister will say ‘Thank you Nigerians, I will go commercial, to mingle, learn the truth and cut costs.’

    Years ago, I saw Governor Ladoja on an Overland flight. Times have changed, perhaps? But the citizens still suffer, unchanged. Serving ministers should be cost-cutting, please.

    Beyond jet use [or abuse], such near-death experiences may be divine messages for a moral upgrade. Only the individual will know what the Almighty stopped or what message was delivered as the minister alone knows his own heart – nefarious or nation-building, corrupt or incorruptible, legacy or illegal.  Nigeria is abysmally behind, deserving 100,000-1m/Mw. The minister must further power legacy projects and decisions against generator/diesel/petrol cabals. God has given him time. ‘We are landing’ changed to ‘We are crashing. Heads bent forward arms folded overhead’ and he changed from powerful minister to ‘I beg you God, spare me and I will transform the Nigerian Power sector’.  

    We thank God for answering. Now give us even more ‘Transformer Service’.

    Too many Ministers end up with EFCC/ICPC/court circus. Abacha loot still trickles in, $150m from Paris. To ‘Change Nigeria’ you will be discussing ‘all things honest and good’ which will be your and your President’s Power Legacy. Nigeria needs a truly visionary ‘Transformer Minister of Power’. Is it you? Let this be a Saul-to-Paul conversion. Is one required? Only the minister can answer that question. But we will all know in four years.

    A year or so ago, a minister died in a lone vehicle car crash. Instead of speed limit enforcement and fixing the potholes nationwide, the National Assembly, NASS mathematicians decided it needed better jeeps? Oh yes! We pay N160b, budget appropriation with no extra pothole filling except through dedicated, untouchable by NASS, SUKUK and other specifically targeted today, 15 loans. A political greed lesson but no real national lessons learnt.

    It is a miracle that the Lagos-Ibadan expressway is now motorable today, 15 years overdue specifically due to the NASS greed or insensitivity which diverted N150b Fashola/Buhari budget allocation in 2019/20+ cycle to more infamously corruptible constituency projects.  

    The minister should please share his story with his Federal Executive Council co-ministers in the hope mass ministerial reduction in transport costs, more legacy projects and erection of EFCC, ICPC, TI, NEITI early warning anti-corruption structures in their ministries.    

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    Presidential WHAT? So, the words ‘Presidential Yacht’ are not so simple. We are used to different interpretations for the same words by lawyers, liars, politicians, civil servants, et cetera. Even our language sometimes means the opposite. ‘I am coming’ means ‘I am going’ and ‘I may come back but do not wait up!’ The word politician means prone to thuggery, bribery, election malpractice and stealing. We imagine a Presidential Yacht is a large ship at the disposal of the presidential family especially the idle rich presidential children’s profligacy. History says that President Azikiwe was on a yacht. But amazingly we are told in our budget it is some kind of naval code for a super naval weaponised gadget with everything and accommodation for the President as Commander-in -Chief! So, when is a yacht not a yacht but a battleship? Is the code to deceive Boko Haram or pirates?

    President Buhari approved the N5billion yacht bill and President Tinubu is signing the cheque. Is it already being outfitted for Nigeria? Who to believe? Is the budget inflated? Politicians and the military, judging from Abacha and other generals, pad budgets, and even ‘saintly’ NASS is not buying and has cancelled the purchase and reallocated the funds to the national loans scheme. Maybe a good idea but maybe not!  

    The N160billion spent on NASS vehicles and the proposed billions for the presidency vehicles should be adding to the weak education and health budgets. The downside of this Presidential Yacht cancellation palaver could fearfully be one more lawsuit against Nigeria, this time for ‘Presidential Yacht Breach of Contract’.  Buhari’s first experience was when he forced Nigeria to pay £185m for cancelling the first Lagos metro- Jakande Rail in 1983 which was 1/3 of the £600m total cost. Now Buhari claims for himself the P&ID judgement liberating us from paying $11b. Thanks. Nigeria thanks ‘The Incorruptible Judge-Justice Robin Knowles. Law schools should name Halls and Prizes after Knowles. Babangida’s name could not account for $12.2b gulf war oil windfall money? Similar amounts. Interesting.

  • Atiku’s miscalculations

    Atiku’s miscalculations

    Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the February 2023 general elections, fancies himself a democrat. Unfortunately, he lacks the qualities of those who can be so described. 

    The 19th century American philosopher Williams James described the ‘democratic temperament’ as comprising ‘a willingness to act, the placing of public good ahead of private comfort, generosity toward one’s opponents, and mutual respect among citizens of different viewpoints, races, genders, classes, and religions.’

    I would add that a democrat accepts that electoral contests can only have two outcomes – win or lose. They respect rules, conventions and don’t set out to destroy institutions which are constitutionally mandated to manage these contests or adjudicate when disputes break out. They also know there’s time for everything; a time for electioneering and a time to move on.

    Atiku’s post-election conduct over the years shows he lacks the democratic temperament. This deadly deficiency has led him, time and again, to make costly miscalculations that have blighted what could have been a stellar political career with recurring cycles of defeat. 

    On Monday, the former VP formally reacted to his latest loss at the Supreme Court. It was a bilious outing that diminished him. He didn’t congratulate the winner – Bola Tinubu; not that it mattered. In this, he’s queuing behind the likes of Donald Trump in the column of graceless losers.

    What shocked me the most, however, was his blithe tarring of the Supreme Court as ‘compromised.’ As usual, he didn’t provide particulars of this ‘compromise’, just as he didn’t table one shred of evidence to back claims that he won the February election. But in a moment of extreme recklessness he put a question mark on the integrity of the seven justices who sat over his appeal, as well as the three others who were not on the panel. That is not fair, reasonable or rational.

    I know that losing politicians picking on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the courts is national sport in Nigeria. But savaging important institutions of a country you aspire to govern just because you lost an election, fairly or unfairly, is despicable.

    His scorched earth personal attacks against Tinubu, his erstwhile comrade-in-arms were all too revealing of an individual for whom nothing matters – not the past, not the present, not the future. His only reason for living is being installed president of this nation. For thirty years he has invested his all pursuing this one goal without success. It’s not because of a gang-up of the cosmos against him: he must have been doing something wrong.

    Back in 1999 when then PDP presidential candidate, Olusegun Obasanjo, was prospecting for a running mate, legend has it he was totally sold on picking the charismatic former Kano State Governor, Abubakar Rimi, until one-time Minister of Works, Tony Anenih, intervened.

    He reportedly warned Obasanjo that if he went ahead with Rimi, he should make sure there was a policeman always standing outside the door as they would fight regularly. But if he wanted someone who would be one hundred percent loyal he should appoint Atiku who had just been elected governor of Adamawa State. His counsel was accepted but as we would soon see, even the famed wheeler-dealer was mistaken. The even-tempered image of the man he was promoting would turn out to be a mere veneer.

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    Many have said that in Atiku Obasanjo saw someone he could groom to take over as president. But his VP was a man in a hurry. In no time his associates started marketing a poisonous political concoction called the ‘Mandela Option.’ It was so named because the veteran South African leader had elected to stand down after just one term on account of advanced age. It was his choice.

    Obasanjo didn’t see himself in similar circumstances. He was still vigorous, mentally alert and determined to serve two terms if the voters agreed. While has dreaming, his scheming deputy was quietly taking over the PDP. By the time the 2003 electoral season rolled over the president found himself going on bended knees to beg Atiku for support. It was a humiliation he never forgot. It was a miscalculation that the man he once thought of installing as successor paid for dearly, as he was reduced to just drinking tea in office and finally driven out of the ruling party.

    In 2011, after Goodluck Jonathan, had taken over following the death of Umaru Yar’Adua, the mood within PDP was that the incumbent should be allowed to take the presidential ticket. Atiku disagreed and rallied three other Northern aspirants – Aliyu Gusau, Bukola Saraki and Ibrahim Babangida – to offer a regional challenge to the emerging consensus. The ex-VP was chosen as the Northern consensus candidate and took his challenge to the convention floor on Eagle Square, Abuja. 

    Despite his best efforts, he was resoundingly defeated. Clearly sensing the fate that awaited him at the convention ballot, his speech to delegates was classic Atiku. It was a bitter and explosive attack on his rival and the party leadership who he insinuated had already rigged the outcome against him. He would sulk for the next four years, biding his time.

    In 2015, he was planning another run for president. Again, Jonathan who wanted a second term stood in the way. He had the option of waiting patiently for another four years, preserving PDP as the potent platform that had bragged it would rule for 60 years. Instead, the impatient Atiku joined the revolt of five governors and others who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). That critical move empowered the nascent opposition, emasculated the ruling party and led to its downfall. 

    It was another Atiku miscalculation. He had overconfidently assumed he would walk in and pick up the ticket. He underrated the level of support that the APC legacy groups had committed to Muhammadu Buhari. After he was worsted at the Teslim Balogun Stadium late in 2014, he went into another massive sulk – retreating from virtually all party activities.

    Sensing that Buhari would seek a second term in 2019 and APC with its commitment to power rotation would not hand the ticket to another Northerner in 2023, Atiku staged a predictable return to his PDP vomit. After losing handily four years ago, he rehashed his usual post-defeat chorus. 

    But the ex-VP’s defining miscalculation happened in this electoral cycle. His decision to run against the power rotation principle that argued it was only fair that after eight years of Buhari, the next president should come from the South, broke his party. It was partly why Peter Obi left and took the Southeast with him. It was the reason Nyesom Wike fought him till the bitter end. When he had the option of sacrificing then party chair, Iyorchia Ayu, to appease aggrieved members, he chose to thumb his nose at his opponents. The upshot was that a divided house lost to a more cohesive one.

    Atiku believes a coalition of the judiciary and INEC felled him. He is free to live wherever he chooses: in Dubai or in denial. The historical fact is that a presidential election was held in which the traditional PDP vote fractured three ways because of the Turaki Adamawa’s grand miscalculation.

    He is now compounding his error by attacking the Supreme Court over an irreversible election outcome. If Atiku didn’t believe in the integrity of our courts, why subject himself to their adjudication at tribunal and apex court levels. If judgment had gone in his favour would he have made the same assessments? 

    He has hinted he might join the race come 2027. Again, he is assuming that the PDP was created only for the actualisation of his presidential dreams. He thinks the party would be ever ready to hand its ticket to a man who has lost again and again. I dare say if the party declines him the ticket, he will look for another platform on which to run.

    A true democrat has an understanding of the times. A few days ago, former US Vice President Mike Pence dropped out of the race for the Republican Party ticket in the face of the robust bid by his former boss Trump. He said after quiet contemplation he came to the conclusion that ‘this is not my time.’ A true democrat is realistic. They know when to call it a day. Fake ones don’t, they are driven only by their primary obsession. Nothing else matters. 

  • Accept corruption & die or reject corruption & thrive

    Accept corruption & die or reject corruption & thrive

    It is obvious at federal, state, local governments and private sector level and especially the contractor and finance/banking subsectors that corruption is ingrained in, and is a far too large part of our politics, bureaucratic, and private business lives in Nigeria. Almost everyone is forced to pay or is on the make, but definitely not everyone. Some may ask ‘where has honesty gotten my forebears?’ After all, their salaries and pensions have collapsed in value right before their eyes, crippling them financially and disgracing them in the eyes of the extended family.  

    The persistent fall in the value of the naira, from N1=$1.5 with no black market then invented or needed, back in the 1973 to N197=$1 in 2016 and then to N800-1,000 -1,300=$1 in 2023. These cataclysmically traumatic financial results defy logical explanation in normal societies bearing in mind that Nigeria was once such a society fortunately endowed with a hugely valuable export, oil -refined and unrefined. It also had generous foreign exchange inflows into the country from a large diaspora spectrum whose origin lies in national trauma.

    That trauma, all political or milito-political, can be recorded as the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth wave of economic migrants forced to flee. First for civil war reasons, then the draconic military rule under Buhari 1, then the Babangida exodus, then  bloodthirsty rule of Abacha/Al-Mustapha and then Buhari 2 and the aftermath of 60 years of military and civilian misrule culminating in the current post Buhari 2 japa syndrome. Too many countries are forced by their leaders to choose to stay and suffer undeservedly and die in near penury or flee for personal, family and social survival and actual growth and financial success. Stories of difficult journeys, disasters like terrifying drownings, imprisonment, slavery, organ harvesting and disappointment at destination country are rife and caused by political failure.  

    Let us not forget that almost every single one of the estimated 10-15million Nigerian Diasporas was forced to flee due to the fundamental and financial failures of the Nigerian state to offer a safe, secure and sustainable education and job opportunity and in order to provide a more normal, predictable, work-result oriented environment. Daily, millions of them remember Nigeria with nostalgia and weep at the memory of their journey- a journey they took because the government had murdered governance.

    But the current set of politicians seems immune to learning lessons from the criminal and profligate past political eras. This best manifestation of complete disconnect of the 2023-7 political class with the reality on the ground are the refusal of the members of either house or both houses of National Assembly, NASS to drastically cut their Salaries and Perks and also their acceptance of the 360 jeeps NASS at a cost of N160,000,000,000 . It seems no amount of citizen suffering will turn NASS from its chronic illness of greed manifest by its profligate ways.    

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    Every kobo or naira the government groups steal is common criminal stealing. Have they no shame? Is the expected overwhelming desire to serve their citizens turned to so much hatred so quickly, the very next day after appointment? We the people are millions per state and over one hundred and fifty million nationwide. The population figure estimates are corrupted, criminally inflated by about 25-30% for sectional, political and economic advantage. Even the election could not get over 31m voters out of around 90+million voting card registrations. This even raises questions on the validity of the voters register. Where is everybody, every election?

    Nigeria cannot afford any corruption in the 2023-7 governance cycle because so very much has been stolen over so many years by so few representing the many making the foundation and superstructure so very fragile that it could collapse at any time. We really cannot endure as a functioning country any more of the huge number of N100multi-billion thefts reported regularly about the criminal leadership in far too many of Nigeria’s ministries, agencies and departments, MAD. If we continue like this, the country will descend into fiscal MADness.

    We must not allow one day more without initiating a huge fight against corruption while the new batch of potentially corrupt officials is still settling down into office and before this 2023-7 batch get used to or are inducted into the corruption machine.

    Corruption must be fought before it happens, not after it happens when the damage, death and disaster have already been done and the infrastructure is substandard and liable to collapse, when the patients, especially our pregnant women lose life’s delivery battle and have died sometimes with the child from lack of equipment  and medicines and facilities, when students are forced to under-learn and under-achieve and fail due to an uninspiring learning environment or when road crashes occur due to lighting lack and gaping hungry unfilled potholes.       

    All Nigerians must rise up to prevent and not just detect corruption. Nigeria can ‘ACCEPT CORRUPTION & DIE or REJECT CORRUPTION & THRIVE’ but there must be more frequent forensic auditing sometimes monthly as a prevention of corruption strategy by NEITI , EFCC, ICPC, SERAP etc. The disgrace to the Auditor General’s and Accountant General’s offices must be reversed.

     It is good that ASUU has received its withheld punishment for striking, no-work, no-pay, salary but all eight months backlog should be paid for justice as ASUU was fighting for improved tertiary education in general.  

  • Aketi, Lucky, and the future of Ondo state

    Aketi, Lucky, and the future of Ondo state

    These are not the best of times in Ondo state. They are not the worst of times, either. Nothing in the governance crisis in the state in the last few months comes remotely close to the 1983 political crisis being invoked by some commentators. In that crisis, the state was totally paralysed. Some people were killed and their property destroyed. Others ran away from the state or went into hiding, while the majority held their breath. I was as much a witness of the 1983 crisis as I am of the present governance crisis in the state.

    Without a doubt, the current situation in Ondo state could have been better than they are but for the behaviour and selfish actions of a few characters, notably, the Deputy Governor, Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa. However, before I get to his case, it is important to briefly examine the facilitating factors that brought him to the fore.

    The key factor is Governor Rotimi Odunayo Akeredolu’s illness. It is easy to blame him now that the state also has caught his illness. However, he did what was necessary to ensure that the state remained healthy. Basically, he did major two things.

    First, he did what he could to move the state forward in key sectors. A few examples will suffice. One key area is the growth of the state’s Internally Generated Revenue from about N670 million to over N3 billion per month. He worked hard at it, by developing new policies and structures, such as the ODRIS building complex opposite the famous Dome, and hiring a whole complement of staff for tax collection. As of the latest assessment, Ondo had the fastest growing IGR among the 36 states. Interestingly, at least in terms of traffic and patronage, Akure Airport is also the fastest growing state airport in the country.

    With available resources, Governor Akeredolu was able to construct or renovate over 500 kilometers of roads and over 800 primary and secondary schools throughout the state. He also constructed a fly-over bridge at Ore to ease the heavy traffic flow and accidents at the junction of the Sagamu-Benin and Ondo-Okitipupa roads. Similarly, he commenced the very first flyover bridge in Akure, the state capital, to ease traffic congestion. He piloted the University of Medical Sciences at Ondo and the Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology at Okitipupa to full accreditation of all their programmes. He also established the UNIMED Teaching Hospital Complex, by converting the State Specialist Hospitals at Akure and Ondo into Teaching Hospitals. This was complemented with a 200-bed building complex each at Akure and Ondo. Over 500 hospital staff, including about 200 doctors, were also hired.

    He took similar strides in Agriculture and the Blue Economy, by ramping up on Public-Private Partnership in agricultural and industrial production. For example, he developed the Red Gold Project, focusing on large scale palm oil cultivation and processing in partnership with the National Oil Palm Producing Association of Nigeria. Accordingly, an oil palm plantation was birthed with over 12,000 hectares of newly planted oil palm. In addition to the Ore-Irele Ondo is fast emerging

    Other projects have also taken root at the Ore Industrial Park. One is the Gas Inland LPG Terminal developed in partnership with Alles Charis LPG to produce large inland storage. Another is the Linyi Hub, which has so far developed five industries, with additional three underway. To boost the industrial plans, license was obtained for a deep seaport. The fact that none of these projects is located in your neighbourhood or that the road leading to your house (like mine in Idanre) has not seen the hand of the government at all does not mean that the government has not been doing anything as some in the media would like to make us believe.

    The second major thing Akeredolu did to ensure that the state remained healthy, while he was away, was to transfer power to his Deputy. Unfortunately, however, the erstwhile trusted Deputy became so over-ambitious as to have betrayed the trust. Once power was transferred to him, his focus shifted from the state to himself. He focused on how he would be the substantive Governor after the anticipated demise of his boss. He also started work on he would win the governorship election next year. In service of these objectives, he started obtaining, or making requests for, funds, which are all documented in the allegations against him by the House of Assembly. He even started doling out positions, including that of his Deputy, in anticipation of electoral victory. It was even alleged that he promised the Deputy position to more than one person!

    What is worse, he allegedly released his boss’s medical records and maligned him through his aides, who engaged in a negative media blitz against the Governor. Those records were said to have been obtained surreptitiously through female aides close to the Governor. Trust politicians! Aiyedatiwa’s moves quickly led to divisions within the administration, especially among the cabinet members. Following his footsteps, those who were interested in the governorship race were forced to start making moves. The result was an unnecessary governance crisis.

    It was not total failure, however, as alleged in the press. Many projects are going on, including the construction of the flyover at a dangerous intersection in the state capital. Wale Akinterinwa, the Commissioner for Finance and Chairman of the Palliative Committee, is also driving a robust, 11-point, Subsidy Relief Programme across the state.

    Aiyedatiwa’s various moves were not lost on his boss. Similarly, all his financial requests were documented, including his alleged foray into Local Government funds. Perhaps to divert attention from their boss’s actions, Aiyedatiwa’s media aides focused on the Governor’s ill health, pontificating and fabricating lies. No wonder then that Akeredolu fired them on his return, while the House of Assembly initiated impeachment proceedings against the Deputy.

    It is to be expected that Aiyedatiwa would seek to defend himself. He has been going about it in a frenzy. He filed several court injunctions, corralled the support of the party at the national level, colluded with lawyers and various groups, and got some media outlets to put pressure on his sick boss. In the process, words, such as “incapacitated” and “unfit”, are being used in describing the Governor. Aiyedatiwa acknowledged all his “supporters” with a post, thanking them all for “standing by me”. There was no single acknowledgement of his boss in the post, because it is apparent that the boss is the target of his fight.

    How did Governor Akeredolu come about this guy? His wife is said to have suggested Aiyedatiwa to him. Or how else would Aketi have chosen as his Deputy someone who has neither executive nor governance experience and was repeatedly rejected by the party and his own people in previous runs for membership in the National Assembly, once as a Representative and once as a Senator? Even his nomination to serve on the NDDC Board was rejected.

    Akeredolu should have known that Ondo state could not be lucky with Lucky. He should be impeached to give room for the state to breathe.

  • Guess ‘who will be corrupt 2023-2027?’

    Guess ‘who will be corrupt 2023-2027?’

    It is important to encourage ASUU and NUT in Social Studies, political and social science courses, schools and universities to introduce a real time ‘Current Societal Corruption in the Curriculum’ and teach ‘Corruption Current Affairs’ about the recent conviction of a Major General, the publication of the large possessions of a deceased military officer, last week’s huge funds recovered in London Courts from a Nigerian governor and his collaborators, a minister in London for corruption, the ludicrously huge recoveries from several accountants general and auditors generals, the sums from the recent EFCC boss and lower corrupt officials under EFCC and ICPC investigation.

    Let us pay attention to a deadly serious game ‘Who will be corrupt in Nigeria 2023-2027?’ We cannot afford to find out after they have stolen billions. We must place an army of monitoring officers at major corruption points identified from the forensic lessons of past corruption investigations.

    We must prevent the theft of even one kobo in 2023-27. Nigeria must learn that ‘Prevention is better than cure’.  With the years of hugely costly corruption investigation and prosecution efforts ascribed to many years of vigilance by SERAP, TI, NEITI, ICPC, EFCC, we expect them to turn to prevention of financial crimes.  All the ministers and heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, are already appointed. Who among them will be corrupt? Our history tells us that many will be corrupt. Pray they prove history wrong. Will they surpass their predecessors’ conviction rate?

    Corruption at every level of society is the root of all evil in Nigeria. STOP CORRUPTION: START RECOVERY! Honesty and monetary and policy morality are personal decisions on one’s personal journey through life. They should not need to be taught but the effects of corruption need highlighting.  

    ASUU and NUT should link the amounts stolen to the lack of equipment, facilities, services and medical standards throughout the country and particularly in their own institutions. Realistically, can we be surprised that Nigeria is crippled financially now? Corruption has been a cancerous gangrenous ulcer. Enough is enough! Nigeria cannot survive another round of thieving leadership across the ministerial, banking, agency, auditing, accounting or financially monitoring spectrum.    

    Sadly, too many of those caught with unexplained funds and matching missing money from accounts, almost always manage to escape after miraculously falling ‘sick’ complete with drama props like neck collar, wheelchair, walking stick, crutches, sometimes a stretcher and the almost routine and well-practiced fainting attack or outright collapse for evaporated public sympathy. They never faint before they steal. They are never sick enough to stop them from stealing in the first place.

    We had a minister faint and fall to the ground in NASS. We fully sympathise with him for his hypoglycaemia or dehydration before the NASS interview. However, we earnestly pray that that was not a rehearsal for any EFCC investigation when he leaves office. We hope that politicians and civil servants will not use the video to practice ‘How to faint and collapse without injury to yourself’ after future corruption.

    The corruption cases above are all in the media spotlight but no longer stimulate revulsion or anger. The corruption cases have so traumatised Nigerians that we are immune to pain, the norm rather than the exception. Nigerians trivialise or disconnect from the enormity of the theft and from the impact of the loss of such huge sums on the Nigerian society, Nigerian economy and the lives of every Nigerian citizen.

    The thefts enumerated above of Nigeria’s wealth have nearly irreparably damaged Nigeria’s health but are the corruption iceberg tip, sinking Nigeria, raping and ruining citizenry in their beds, schools and hospitals, on roads and in workplaces.

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    While some celebrate, we mostly must mourn the naira now at N1,150: $1, a naira which is of less value than a sheet of toilet paper, though it was given to us by our elders and obviously our moral betters at N1:$1.5. Why and who are responsible for this cataclysmic falling standard of living? The naira was destroyed by the action and inaction of those who could have saved it, over many years, but chose not to, preferring to contaminate the sacred secrecy of office and abuse the immunity of the positions they occupied, partly also due to impunity and a tornado of personal greed over citizen’s needs. Glaringly, the failure to create a Sovereign Wealth Fund in the 1970s has hampered the current economy. Add to that printing of unbacked naira notes, implementation what are now clearly crazy schemes, the refusal to prevent the massive theft and fraud across the oil sector, black market round-tripping of dollars by bank officials and their collaborators and the failure to implement long term strategies in preference of short term solutions for personal or other gain against the rest of us.  

    Yes, you will certainly find billions, even trillions, in your portfolio as president, vice president, Head of Service, minister, NASS legislator, CBN governor, CBN director, CBN official, Auditor General, Accountant General, Agency Head, Governor, State legislator, commissioner, LGA chairman. But not a kobo is your money. How do we get it through to your souls and spirit, that all that money, every kobo and naira has Nigerian baby’s face on it and is our collective Nigerian money? Don’t become a common thief stealing the future from Nigeria’s babies, please.

    To be called Excellent, Distinguished and Honourable, you must be HONEST with Nigeria and Nigerians.