The Nation Newspaper

Category: Tony Marinho

Our Girls; National Conference: Demand automatic dismissal and 21 years for election cheating!

Our Girls’ from Chibok are still missing since April 15. Still no news and Chibok area has been attacked again. We pray.

Happily the Non Sovereign National Conference has endorsed Diaspora voting, something very easy to organise in developed countries. Perhaps INEC and the political leadership fear the disgrace of the results, both in ease of getting the results and the possible swing effect of the vote.

Corruption is about who gets what office, installing persons and particularly undeserving relations in posts they have no moral right to occupy, thuggery with maiming and murder, inflicting Grievous Bodily Harm for whatever reason, enacting immorally punishing laws to cripple the citizenry while squandering the funds so generated, the non-supply of libraries and textbooks and novels and science equipment and sanitation and quality teachers to schools, the unleashing of unsupervised agencies on the masses for traffic or tax controls.

Will the real Nigerians please make themselves seen and heard? You, no doubt, have your own list of true Nigerians. Nigeria’s graves are full of rotting flesh and dried bones of true Nigerians. It is a pity we cannot say the same for the corridors of power where Salaries and Perks leave little for Nigeria while those who actually die, gain next to nothing for the very questionable privilege of dying for Nigeria.

When exactly did politics become synonymous with or part of the definition of stealing? The issue of party funding must be spelt out clearly to protect the budget. What is the method of party funding in and out of government? The lack of clarity and transparency in party funding is a national corruption calamity which costs the citizens dearly and will bring down the country if not made transparent and public. Parties must be forced to stop stealing [from] the budget. Nobody is open about party funding. Should it be a percentage of the salaries of party appointees? If the country thinks political parties are entitled to 1%, 0.5% and 0.1% of the budget for 1st, 2nd, 3rd at the polls, then let the Non-Sovereign National Conference say so, OK? Let it say so and allocate it through National Assembly (NASS). But stop stealing, legally and illegally, for the sake of the children. Parties must stop stealing from the budget or they are no different from any other thief or a policeman who takes bribes at checkpoint and then arrests a thief for stealing in the market.

Let the Non-Sovereign National Conference protect Nigerians from Protocol in Nigeria by approving the insertion of ‘All Protocol Assumed to Be Observed’ as acceptable introduction in our constitution to protect all Masters of Ceremony. Let us insist that Nigerian time is dead and lectures, conferences and meetings can start promptly and not wait for political dignitaries.

We have trivialised the violence of politics and made it part and parcel and accepted. ‘Vote rigging’ which is stealing the mandate of the people, ‘political murder’, political thugs, political thuggery and political violence all should simply be named according to the criminal code. Stealing with intent to defraud, premeditated murder, thuggery, causing Grievous Bodily Harm etc. The dark cloak of politics does not make a murder less deadly, or a beating less bloody or an election less evil than stealing from a bank after killing the staff or the security police! Until the punishments are the same as for out-of-politics crimes, political cheating will continue.

Politics must learn from sportsmanship and have a radical rethink. We, through the Non-Sovereign National Conference, should demand dismissal for cheating in elections, never a rerun. A rerun is not for a cheat but for a genuine mistake like a false-start and now you can even get dismissed for a false start. Armstrong, the cheating cyclist and hundreds of other athletes even in Nigeria have been dismissed, and suspended, not offered a rerun. When a politician cheats in a political contest, he should be dismissed and prosecuted and jailed for the very serious crime of ‘attempting to steal the people’s mandate through fraud and deception’ and the financial crime of ‘attempting to extort salaries and perks through falsifying the facts by illegitimate and illegal means’. The second in the race should automatically take his place and so on until there is a candidate who is found without stain. Cheating is not a legitimate political tool just because most do it. It is criminal and must lead to dismissal and banning from political office for up to life. The political party also has a supporting role in this and should also be punished for similar offences as it often seizes power with cheating and sometimes inflicts even more violence than a military coup. The accepted name of ‘election malpractice’ trivialises a serious criminal offence which is worse than ‘examination malpractice’ for which the same politicians voted to jail youth culprits for 21 years. What is good for the bad youth is better for the bad adult politician who should know and do better. Both party and candidate should be separately severely punished for criminal activities committed by either or both. Such punishment can be monetary but must include a ban of the party for a time in proportion to the damage to the nation. Nigerians must demand that their phone cameras are legitimate weapons against checkpoint and election malpractice and be authorised to use them unhindered by uniformed authority.

July 2, 2014
‘Our Girls’: Victims and Survivors Fund; Solar projects; Dora, Dr Adegoke Kalejaiye. RIP

‘O The call by American Congresswomen for a Trust Fund for the families and victims of violence, bomb blast and now the especially ’Our Girls’ from Chibock, is an addition to the repeated call in this column on the same issue when it was suggested that a Victims’ Fund be set up by the federal government provided it does not get contaminated or corrupted by the operators. Shamefully, nothing was done then except pay some hospital bills. We pray compensation, medical expenses, further treatment like mobility and hearing aids, scholarships for survivors and dependents will all be addressed.

The N34billion solar project in one of the states is a wonderful step in the right direction. All states should encourage the erection of solar systems as an alternative to a 40-year failed national grid which will continue to fail in the foreseeable future. It is obvious that at the slow pace of power reform, Nigeria’s companies do not have the mental capacity to provide the required 100,000Mw needed right now even by 2050. If we were Japan or the UK, such electricity power would have been provided overnight by offshore electricity barges and giant generators. Unfortunately we seem to have no capacity for such emergency dynamic solutions.

Again, a big salute to Dora Akunyili who died last week in India. Among several landmarks she led a spirited, dangerous and life-threatening fight against fake drugs which was partly successful. Unfortunately, as with anything conceived for good, some within the organisation she headed were believed to have partly high-jacked the opportunity of mandatory registration to extort from manufacturers for the issuance of NAFDAC licences. True or false, in memory of Dora Akunyili, NAFDAC should , like Caesar’s wife, clean up any smell of corruption by close supervisory monthly reporting on the honesty of staff- including bank checks of families, attention to applications and transparency in testing and reasonable, not exorbitant fees for tests. NAFDAC should not be allowed to rot.

We say Nigeria lacks role models, but it does not. The problem is that our role models are not brought to the public’s and media’s attention. Many good Nigerians live their whole lives servicing the jammed wheels of progress and die almost unannounced. Indeed it is those Nigerians, citizens engaged in the various professions and vocations, working tirelessly for years throughout their lives who keep Nigeria going through all the political corruption, darkness and irresponsibility, through the power-failures and the nation’s petroleum and financial upheavals. Paradoxically it is not the politicians, budget, electricity or security situation that keeps Nigeria going. It is the huge workload of many unannounced but outstanding, dedicated and exemplary artisans, traders, transporters, farmers, teachers and professional who work day-in and day-out for family survival that keep the wheels of Nigeria going in spite of the evil machinations of the political class.

One such outstanding Nigerian is Dr Adegoke Kalajaiye, a name you may or may not know. Perhaps I should use the term ‘was’ because he passed away at 59 on June 5. He went to Government College Ibadan and had his medical training abroad. You will certainly know the name if you have been a member of any of the families of the thousands of patients he has treated or scanned for babies or prostates or gall bladders or livers during his career. I have had the rare privilege of having worked with Dr Kalejaiye since the early 80s, first at Oluyoro Catholic Hospital Ibadan and later in medical practice which eventually became a partnership. Dr Kalajaiye represented the quintessential true Nigerian, not hard to find if you look. He was better than punctual as he was always early to work arriving around 7-7.15am daily for the 23 years we worked closely together. He commenced every day by praying for a successful medical day. He became our ‘Bishop’ conducting all our prayers at any ‘happening’ in the clinic. He worked consistently during each day and ended the day with prayers. He had excellent and positive attitude to work and fellow workers. In the 30 years I have known and worked with him, I do not recall a raised voice or misunderstanding as we always seemed to have the same goal, objective and methodology in any discussion or action. We never once misinterpreted the action or inaction of each other. He was always sartorially elegant but not flamboyant. He was a very good professional, delivering service in a hospital setting for 10 years before specialising in ultrasound. But he was much more than a good prayerful doctor. His medical professionalism was rewarded with an appointment to the Baptist Teaching Hospital Board. He had close brothers and sisters and was a family man who with his wife, brought up his four wonderful children to distinction and he had a grandson. May God protect them all. He was a strong member of the Full Gospel Men’s Fellowship. He was a powerful voice in the Baptist Choir and Choirmaster. Dr Kalajaiye was always available for rehearsals. He was a great writer, devoting his annual leave to writing a spiritual book each year and ‘Where Will You Spend Eternity’ was a poster in his consulting room. This week as we bury this wonderful man and already miss him greatly, May His Gentle Soul Rest In Perfect Peace and may God bring succour to his family.

June 18, 2014
‘Our Girls’; CBN Gov: ‘Up Naira, Down Interest Rates’; National Conference and party funding

Our Girls’ are still missing since April 15, though 14 have escaped. The death toll since then from the Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen is over 1000 human beings! What manner of country will we leave for our children?

We mourn Dora Akunyili and the late Emir of Kano and all those murdered by Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen. It seems Lamido Sanusi has had his life’s ambitions fulfilled. First Bank big-shot, introduced to President Yar’Adua as a ‘Northern’ candidate by First Bank chiefs, flamboyant and queried Governor of CBN and now is it 57th Emir of Kano. Congratulations. What does it mean for Nigerian true federalism? We have seen the man behind the Emir’s mask. Can the new Emir control his herdsmen?

Is the new CBN governor Emefiele, ‘just another CBN Governor’ or a ‘Great CBN Governor’? How he spends our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) money must be our concern. The number of people in poverty depends on the currency exchange rate. Devaluation forces many more people to earn ‘less than a dollar a day’. Improving the naira lifts many out of poverty. Does anyone in banking understand this equation? ‘Just another CBN Governor’ will yield to banking greed, ‘stability’, high interest rates and naira collapse. A ‘great Nigeria-loving CBN Governor’ will see poor Nigerians engaged in struggle, working hard with self-help banking -‘esusu’ and ‘ajo’ – for rents, school fees or generators to operate business. A Great CBN Governor will strategise to ‘UP NAIRA, DOWN INTEREST RATES’ and reverse the 40 year fall of the naira, one naira a week or a month. In five years we could be back at 1981 and N1:$1 or at least Abacha’s 1997 and N88:$1 with no loss of ‘stability’.

A Great CBN Governor should force banks to make money available for the hard-working masses by reducing the interest rates to single digits. Is he going to sacrifice the naira for ‘stability’ –an excuse to devalue the naira but not appreciate the naira?

To properly stimulate entrepreneurship and business in homes across Nigeria, access to single digit interest rates is essential but interest rates are kept high by CBN and banks which make billions quarterly. Can they be changed? All Nigerians deserve access to the low interest single digit breaks being selectively offered to the textile industry, agriculture, Nollywood, aviation and industry ‘waivers’. Strangely, there is no special interest rate for medical equipment. The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), with an annual budget of N300m could easily set up a single digit interest rate bank ‘NMA Bank’ with N100m/year-a billion in 10 years. In fact Nigeria would not need these unfair ‘favoured negotiations’ if all interest rates were 5-9%. Selective interest rates are wrong. For all, or, for none.

Nowhere do we see the Non-Sovereign 2014 National Conference N-SNC discussing the institutionalised corrupt funding of political parties at a time when governance is increasingly ‘by extortion’ with gangster-like Internally Generated Revenue machinery. This is seen on streets, at traffic lights and in LGAs where ‘uniformed and mufti thugs’ terrorise the roads with primitive nails-in-stick barricades, often fake ID cards and outrageous demands for original receipts for luggage and radio licence etc. The police checkpoints have been smuggled back on the heels of the tinted window crackdown, the Boko Haram terror and yet we want international tourism! We are fully aware that most political parties and their agents extort with ridiculous fines and fees and rates, intimidate through uniformed agents, inflate contracts by 30-100%, sell posts, and create fictitious contracts- all corruption.

So let the N-SNC address and solve the corrupt funding of political parties as a weapon against corruption which will reduce the cost of governance by up to 30% and make the naira buy more books in schools, more kilometres on our roads, more equipment in our schools and hospitals and more sports equipment.

Until and unless Nigeria tackles funding of political parties there will be no serious reduction in government corruption.

Congratulations to Nigerians for the excellent decisions by the N-SNC to insist on cancellation of any ridiculous pension and severance pay scams or schemes for National Assembly (NASS), Governors, Commissioners and State Assembles. Collectively we have saved billions. How greedy can a politician get? The N-SNC must ensure that LGAs also become part-time councillors. Politicians should have proper jobs as well as serve the people.

However, the ‘ONE HOUSE SOLUTION’, the second half of the people’s ‘NASS Survival Strategy’ did not scale through and it is a flagrant failure of the N-SNC delegates to heed the people’s voice for a merging and collapsing of the two houses, Senate and House of Representatives, into one smaller house was thrown out. Everyone in Nigeria except the serving and retired senators and representatives knows that Nigeria cannot afford to bleed cash to cover the cost overruns, the SAP, ‘Salaries And Perks’, and Constituency Allowances in billions demanded to be controlled by NASS members. There is nowhere else in the world where mislabelled ‘dividends of democracy’ like sewing machines are bought with the government money. It is wrong. How dare they boastfully distribute the ‘gifts’ when the money used belongs to the people?

From all parties NASS members appear greedy self-styled ‘distinguished and honourable’ people. Repeatedly they have turned out to be ‘undistinguished and dishonourable’ and far too full of senatorial and honourable importance. Nigeria has first-hand experience of NASS workings and corruption. One NASS house is more than enough trouble for Nigeria.

June 11, 2014
‘Our Girls’ ‘Mubi; Psychologists and terrorists; Political gifts; Federal might Vs State right

Our Girls’ kidnapped in Chibok are still missing in action since April 15. The media reports show that there is far too much political hot air and malicious accusations across politics since the kidnap. All this political manoeuvring could be curtailed and concentrated towards ensuring the safe release of ‘Our Girls’. In spite of their abhorrence of ‘western education’ be sure that Boko Haram is reading the Nigerian press and must be laughing to their stomachs in the Sambisa Forest. The evil ones must be very happy with the altercation between the political parties. This is exactly what Boko Haram want –to fragment the polity. Just this last Sunday there was another bombing of a football viewing centre in Mubi, Adamawa claiming between 18 and 40 lives. The Nigerian public is sickened by the pettiness of cheap political gimmicks surrounding Boko Haram’s horrific activities. Certainly the terrible ‘Our Girls’ issue is a security and political issue. But more importantly, it is also a traumatic personal issue to all Nigerian families especially the parents. They will be daily disgusted by the disgraceful political bickering displayed in the media. We are ashamed and are shamed as a nation by these outbursts which must be stopped. This is the time for unity, one voice and one motive –to get ‘Our Girls’ back.

The psychologists when they are employed in the military will tell us about the psychopathic and megalomaniacal profiles of the Boko Haram leadership and the meek and fearful or blackmailed or paid follower-ship willing to put on armed vest and blow themselves up for religious fanaticism or hatred of other people, their religion and even their tribe. Most fanatics you cannot change. They have to be dealt with, confronted and defeated militarily, socially and politically. Can they be negotiated with?

Many Nigerians would really like to see any negotiation with someone who wants females to be treated like dirt, wants a ban on western education and has planned and executed the strategies which resulted in hundreds being blown up, shot and kidnapped. There are of course many other Boko Haram idle ‘follow-follow’, rent a crowd hangers-on with no ideology who will need reorientation, re-education. Our psychologists must plan and speak out now to prevent a bloody tomorrow from our youth by reducing the youth becoming terrorists and potential Boko Haram members tomorrow. How do we today take actions to reverse the train of events which creates a Boko haram person in the future? Current assessment results in the belief that Boko Haram is the result of a complex evil mix of place, lack of opportunity, background, political thugs declaring their independence of political masters, political failures, religious bigotry, western education failures, the Libyan war and weapons spilling into the Sahara and Sub-Sahara and the ready receptacle of social insignificance and political incompetence at LGA and State level where the millions meant for development, especially of the youth, are stolen every single month.

Every effort must be made to make today’s’ path of youth development smooth so that they will not be attracted by the rumoured $3000 per recruit, or intimidation to join Boko Haram et cetera. He who steals from children and the youth should be fearful of God’s pronounced judgement. Good full rounded education including exposure to good books, role models and sports equipment must be in every school.

The huge wage bill of political officeholders allows them to ‘give away’ generators and sewing machines and scholarships. Is this not government money? All that should stop; the money trail cut and re-routed through normal government channels. Name one country where the political office holders dish out such items. They are not dividends of democracy but demonic demonstrations of a misguided democratic experiment high-jacked for personal financial gain. Does Obama’s wife dish out free bags of potatoes? For every bag of rice, generator, exercise book, motorcycle the political donor keeps much more back. It must be stopped.

The federal government has created a new group to man the federal highways particularly in Lagos. Is this another effort by federal to undermine Lagos? The question is ‘when will the federal government see itself as servant and guardian of all and work complimentary to the efforts of each state in helping the citizens to survive? The federal government should not destroy selected states because they are not from the ruling party. Young men in a brand new uniform will not add value to the traffic in Lagos. They may just harass citizens. What the federal government can cunningly do to win the hearts and minds of the citizens is to repair, replace and pay contractors to do those decayed roads so boastfully called federal roads.

It is sad that the true federalism of our founding fathers, a ‘true partnership between federal and state’ appears to be totally lost by the arrogant, selfish post-militarised federalists of today. Abuja federalism is the problem with Nigeria. Has the Non Sovereign National Conference 2014 lost the battle with the false federalist elite on true federalism? Instead of supporting states, federalists often usurp states actions. The politically greedy federal ‘anti-state’ stand on the budget, waterways, federal highways and mining in states must be countered if Nigeria is to survive as a happy, not master-servant, country. Enough of the unpopular boxing match ‘Federal Might Vs State Right to life!’ let us all run side by side.

June 4, 2014
‘Our Girls’; late Dr Iwatt of ASUU and UNICAL- catch killers; Learn from India’s Politics

Perhaps houses built with ill-gotten loot and seized from kidnappers in Anambra, Lagos and elsewhere should not be destroyed as punishment but made into ‘Government Houses’ to be used as maternity homes, orphanages, hostels or even given to victims or sold outright and the funds used to repay those families of victims for the money extorted under duress. Nigeria has a housing deficit of 17million houses. Two wrongs do not make a right.

‘Our Girls’ are still being searched for in the Sambisa Forest. Since April 15, more than 600 people have been killed by Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen and increasing political violence and campus attacks. We have millions of refugees and thousands suffering the collateral damage of the bombs of war including damage to eyes and ears like ruptured eardrums. Then add psychological problems like loss of a relative, fear, sleeplessness, insecurity, hypersensitivity to noise and darkness and abnormal response to sight of blood.

The 22 year old British student Elliot Rogers’ killing of six people in the USA highlights the need for parents to take more interest in their children’s activities. He was reported by the family to the police who gave the all clear. He was able to acquire four weapons for a killing spree. What is the relevance to Nigeria? Remember Murtalab, the underpants bomber, was also reported by his family to police. In addition we have many students who are armed members of secret campus cults which regularly cause violence, including the broad daylight killing of Dr Godwin Iwatt, a lecturer in Microbiology, University of Calabar (UNICAL). A researched ‘ASUU National Annual Campus Violence Register’ would make grim reading and probably outdo ‘Campus Casualties’ or ‘Campus killings’ worldwide combined. Are such killings ever solved? Many years ago in University of Ilorin, a lecturer was murdered in his house. I met his son some years later. Was there support from ASUU? How much is the ‘ASUU Violence Support Grant’ to victims and their families? There have been how many victims since then. In America even though they have the murderer in the mortuary, the investigation is on-going at each of the points he fired at people, a total 12 crime scenes in all, cordoned off for forensics. In Nigeria do we even have cordoning-off tape? That would be a big contract! What is the level of CID/Forensics in Calabar? Was Dr Iwatt’s office cordoned off for forensics or just cleared of his blood for the next potential victim to take his place?

Perhaps there is shortage of lecturer’s rooms in UNICAL and ‘anyway –e don die, so wetin again?’ Dr Iwatt was upright and UNICAL’s University Examiner. Was he killed for those reasons? ASUU local and nationwide should nosily repeatedly and consistently demand the solution to this ASUU murder or it will be open season on ASUU lecturers nationwide. ASUU does not apply enough strike and encourage enough press coverage to guarantee the safety and security of its membership. ASUU needs new departments concentrating on and articulating progressive ideas on several areas including the ‘Comparative Safety of ASUU members by Campus’’, ‘Comparative Research Grants at home and abroad’, ‘Comparative Quality of Education Review’ etc. ASUU should go to the press for the assault and murder of its members. Killing of teachers is not ‘Ok’ whether they are in university or in secondary school or the 167 teachers murdered so far by Boko Haram. In UNICAL, the focal population is small, university administration computers are available with photos and other vital data on all students who could be immediately and remotely involved for a photo-parade to identify the murderers. He had been attacked repeatedly. Will our police interview all the students, isolate 50 suspects for lie detector tests and ‘whereabouts on the day of the attacks and the murder’ alibi checks? All university security services should have credible information from informants and embedded moles on most cult members. ‘Show me your friends…. ’. Each suspected student should independently write down his top 10 friends and movements during the previous 10 days and by elimination and cross-checking alibis, the culprits will stand out. It will take police-work. Cults are not new but that does not mean that they cannot be overcome. Investigating police must also remember that cults often invite ‘foreign cult members’, mercenaries, to act on their campus. Every year the list of the wrongful dead grows on campuses worldwide and especially in Nigeria. Their murderers go on to graduate, do NYSC and take their place in the country’s government and university system. Simple statistical averages will tell us that, over the 40 years of mutant cultism in universities, some lecturers, professors and even VCs with murky pasts must have maimed and even killed in the past. Simple statistics show that some politicians now sitting in high political office and pontificating had to be associated with thugs and organisers of political mayhem. People like Daramola, Funso Williams, Uncle Bola Ige and a thousand others ‘dead from politics’ did not murder themselves. There is probably blood, direct and indirect, on many representative and senatorial hands.

The Indian elections are yet another lesson for our politicians, INEC and citizens in planning for and playing the political game, election campaigning and voting. In spite of the numbers it was noted for the lack of political violence. Contrast this with Eastern Ukraine massive violence and obstruction from ‘Pro-Russians’.

May 28, 2014
‘Our Girls’; Questioning security; Employ psychologists please; Will the $10m be stolen also?

Our Girls’ from Chibok are uppermost in our minds and actions and require a collective non-partisan political will. There is a public perception that the Dame Jonathan summons to Chibok related officials was actually in bad taste. Many people think however it revealed serious flaws in every level of national, state and LGA management, security and supervision. As a result of this and the seeming unserious sluggish uncoordinated planning and response to Chibok, Nigerians are worried and not for the first time are asking about the state of readiness of their armed forces in spite of the military hierarchy having unlimited access to the nation’s finances for years. How far has politics compromised its professionalism to meet threats?

Generations of Nigerians are used to military excesses and many at home and abroad, still bear the scars of being on the receiving of soldiers and killer squads from the Abacha era even as Al Mustapha has walked ‘free’ in body if not in soul. But with Boko Haram and the Fulani cattle herder menaces and the coming political violence threatening every home now, this generation, is questioning the generals –retired and serving and the police hierarchy. Are they ready or will they stand aside and watch, saving only politicians and billionaires? This is supposed to be a new democratic era.

The questions Nigerians want answered include – What manner of material and mental support does Nigeria give to those under arms as compared to soldiers in foreign countries? What quality and quantity of arms have they? What is their state of mind and body and weapon preparedness to meet guerrilla warfare? What happens to the armed forces budget that they require ’emergency’ billions extra? What is ‘welfare’ and who gets what out of ‘welfare’? What is the welfare package for our other ranks soldiers in our current warfare? When do the other ranks get paid and rotation in and out of war zone? Why was there a mutiny? Do soldiers in the field get adequate supplies as we have never seen police at checkpoints ever being supplied with food and water? What is the point of Jaji and all those military manoeuvres?

Regardless of corruption today and in the past military era, Nigeria must further empower its armed forces to contain Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsmen and later the thugs of democracy. It must also upgrade its toilets to clean and functional, a human right for its foreign security advisors.

How many of our hundreds of unemployed psychologists are employed in the police, the armed forces and other security units and even NGOs and for staff and victim support? For the first time in Nigeria’s history, we are thankfully being forced by international anti-terror protocol to involve psychologists to care of anguished parents, families and initiate standard Post Trauma Psychological Protocols (PTPs), for dealing with anxiety and trauma memories on release. We had no such psychologists for the victims of Fulani herdsmen, bomb blasts at Nyanya or for the survivors of the several other attacks since Chibok which have claimed over 350 Nigerians since Chibok. This Post Trauma Psychological Protocol must be part of the medical preparations for the reception of the Our Girls’ and victims and family at every other emergency that produces physically and psychologically traumatised survivors and relatives.

Of course our armed forces are good. Look at their track record internationally. For our investment in them, they have to be. From their pledge of service they must be good. They have pledged their lives and many have lost their lives, often unsung, to protect us. Already how many soldiers have paid the ultimate price to keep us safe from Boko Haram? How do we honour those already dead? Do they even get a public military funeral? Though we do not judge success by the casualty figures, the estimated 8,000 ECOMOG soldiers dead in Liberia and Serra Leone are bloody testimony to the sacrifice of our young Nigerian men. Where is their memorial? Did they get a military burial? We all know that the Navy and the Air Force have been under-supplied for years supposedly because of the expense of training and purchasing and especially properly maintaining sophisticated planes, helicopters and modern ships. However is the army in the same poor-equipment boat? Nigerians pay little attention to maintenance. Is it so in the Armed Forces?

Certainly Nigerian authorities pay little or no attention to communications updates even in the police. Remember David Mark’s remark, as a high military government minister, about the phone not being for the poor. Of course we all have cell phones now but do the armed forces personnel have modern high-tech communication gadgets that we see in modern warfare during the capture of Bin Laden for example? Many Nigerians want to know if we have any elite troops not the type unleashed during the Abacha terror when Al Mustapha worked infamous CSO for the dreaded Abacha.

International donors’ $10m school security fund will substitute for education funds mismanaged or stolen over the years. Donors should demand evidence of recent funding in the 500 schools for books etcetera and how much of the vote for the selected schools was received. The $10m donors will merely replace funds routinely ‘redistributed’ from the LGA accounts monthly. Each LGA in Nigeria has had enough money to turn schools and hospitals into good quality premises delivering good education and health.

May 21, 2014
‘Our Girls’; $10m school aid; Simple Solar; Dangote/Dajuma/Glo/MTN Foundation $5million grants

There are ‘our Girls’, kidnapped on the April 15, 29 days ago? The management of the case seems worse every new revelation from inaction on an early warning to a delay of weeks in scientific pursuit. Is this not a job creation opportunity in spying? Were the escapees, school workers and the citizens properly interviewed for recorded concrete usable evidence in terms of names called, languages used, facial and clothing and body and weapons characteristics to build up multiple criminal or terrorist case files for future questioning of Boko Haram suspects for complicity in this kidnap? Of course, abi? Or are we expecting foreigners to interrogate them for us? Of course not.

Nigerians watch television and are not stupid. Nigerians know how other countries fight terror. Nigerians are outraged at the high cost of security and ‘security votes’ or slush funds for no returns. Nigerians know the abused word ‘welfare’ used in the armed forces to disguise cash payments for ‘whatever’. Nigerians are shocked at the apparent lack of commitment and urgency in the anti-terrorist actions of government and its usually heavy-handed security organs. Nigerians know there is more to national and state security than guarding politicians and millionaires while forcing citizens off the road with rough government driving, sirens, koboko whips and batons and accidental discharge of weapons. Nigerians deserve better.

Sadly, expected plans to rescue ‘Our Girls’ suggested by citizens through the media including studying local and international satellite imaging and paying informers, were not immediately implemented. It has taken our women and international outrage to get a response. Pity. And by outrage I do not mean the theatrical Chi or is it Kai, there is God O! from Mama Jonathan deserving a ‘Worst Performance’ Oscar. Did her handkerchief have onions to bring on Presidential tears? Everyone knows that the first 24 hours is key in any chase. Nigeria thought that this was being done. Do the security forces not train for security threat scenarios? It is inconceivable that the Nigerian military did not initiate an immediate ‘Hot Pursuit’ they cannot reveal for security reasons. Nigerians are disappointed and 280 of ‘Our Girls’ are still in Sambisa Forest. Things should be in top gear at all times, not because of the World Economic Forum, but because of Nigerians living ordinary lives. Nigerians deserve better. They deserve similar security to the WEF. The same level of security should be extended to the rest of the country and not just politicians.

The $10m international grant for education in 500 schools is well meaning but must be seen in the light of a country that abandons its schools and waits for foreigners to come and replace the money Nigerian state and LGA and Federal governments mismanage, misappropriate and steal. The grant rewards those who steal with even more money to replace the stolen funds. Will they steal the $10m also? The 500 schools will be lucky to see 10%, $1m, or less unless the money is converted to material like teacher training scholarships, posters, books, sports equipment and science equipment from the foreign countries.

There are existing and future solutions to Nigeria’s huge electricity power problems which will eventually be able to light many homes in villages across the world off the grid. No doubt Nigeria’s faculties of technology and engineering in our universities and their students are burning up the internet and on fire from studying the new electricity creations worldwide to solve our own power problems. Anyone interested in the business angle or the technical angle of this area of development should for example check out BBC’s Horizons programme on 11-5-2014 for details of a few new suggestions like the Gravity light as an alternative to kerosene lighting and the football light which stores power by being kicked around and then can be plugged to a light for reading at night. Remember that the main problems of night lighting in villages are smoke and fumes and cost of renewables like fuel. And do not forget to research the Indian Grandmother Solar Engineer Project which has been around for some years and has reached many African and Asian countries but as usual has not yet Nigeria. As usual the main issue is funding.

The recent award of $5million by Danjuma Foundation for a Nigeria South Africa Law Link Project is good. So are Dangote’s promises of progress on job creation from a multibillion dollar investment in industrial development. May we recommend to them that they fund the domestication of some of the many good solar and other lighting and power generation ideas flying around worldwide to lighten up the miserable lives of Nigerians and quickly empowering them through lighting solutions. Light at night is power and there are many millions of children in darkness. Imagine Dangote Foundation or Danjuma Foundation or Glo Foundation or MTN Foundation separately or coming together to deliver 10m such footballs/Gravitylights/Indian solar lights to 10m village homes and off-grid city homes every year as part of a ‘Light is Life Project’. Children deserve light at night. The scientists have done their work, now it is time for the philanthropists and business to bring the new light to the people in need. But will that happen? After all, Nigeria has never harnessed the sun and solar power before. And anyway, these new power sources will cut kerosene imports and some people will fight this. So will we make progress?

May 14, 2014
Free ‘Our Girls’; World Economic Forum policing and Triple Terrorism: Boko, Fulani, Political

We are waiting for the rescue of ‘our girls’ over 200+ young innocent Nigerian girls seized in the pursuit of education in a secure area. Was this attack not predicted? Surely we have enough service personnel to surround the relevant part of the Sambisa Forest and execute a shrinking or strangling noose ‘No One in No One Out’ effect while opening whatever channels come up for dialogue and negotiation with Boko Haram which however specialises in the indiscriminate killing and blowing up of men, women, youth and children of all races and sexes as a modus operandi. Another miscalculation is that the borders with Chad and Cameroon were not closed with boots on the ground to prevent any cross border transfer of the girls. Unfortunately this post-kidnap failure has led to stories including that the girls seized at Chibok are beings sold into slavery and forced marriages. Indeed, very worryingly, Nigerian women say that thousands of children have silently been kidnapped in the area with no noise in the press. And meanwhile the Fulani-Nigeria war continues unabated claiming 10-80 lives daily, in spite of ‘peace meetings’. Who is going to pay compensation to families of those ‘killed-for-cow’ by herdsmen across states? Is this not armed robbery, terrorism and a war against defenceless Nigeria? Is this not saying ‘My cow is more valuable than your human life? This Nigeria, sha. So we have a triple terrorism. Security is inadequate. In the cities and towns the police know where the criminals are. However the police often accommodate crime and criminals. If the police can police the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Abuja let them extend their expertise nationwide to protect Nigeria from the onslaught of the terrorists –Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, and the terrorism of political thugs. Note that the political terrorists are as vicious as Boko Haram, yet our police and military allow them to roam around accompanying evil politicians unchallenged. These political terrorists, thugs, are hired, supplied with weapons including machetes, and paid by aspirants to Nigeria’s various political offices including governor, senator, representatives, LGA chairman and councillors. They are no different from Boko Haram and should be called as such. They are no different from Fulani herdsmen and should be called as such. In 2015, will we allow such terrorism to be disguised as ‘politics’ and political campaigning’? Where will the police, now securing Abuja WEF be then to arrest all the political terrors nationwide to clean up elections for honest politicians to step forward? It depends entirely on the police. We will need impartial police. After the Rivers State debacle, that may be a mirage but there is still time and hope for ‘A Political Terrorism-Free 2015 Election’. So far the experience in Ekiti State suggests the need for a massive anti-terrorism police presence to thwart the political terrorism of the usual suspects in the political fray too afraid to face an honest election campaign. Do we really know Nigeria? It has become a very different place from when we grew up. The amount of security effort to protect the World Economic Forum delegates is an eye opener to all including the police. All Nigerians deserve a higher, honest, upright, efficient, well equipped and well paid police and armed forces. The days of giving a loaded gun to a psychologically unbalanced person who may have just been drinking to a state of drunkenness, just because he has a uniform on, should be over. Will the true Nigerians please stand up! Nigeria is so desperately in need of true Nigerians. Every day we hear of and see the bodies of true Nigerians being slaughtered, blown up, run over, machete, machine-gunned, drowned and even killed in the line of duty. We know that the ECOMOG lost between 3,000 and 8,000 troops, human being, unsung true Nigerians. Where are they buried, where is their memorial? Are the maimed, widows and children catered for? Where are the names of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in foreign lands, inscribed in ‘West African Marble’ like the little Military grave at Atan Cemetery, Yaba, Lagos? In those days the families around the cemetery smelt the smell of death as bodies of soldiers were buried at night. My late aunty told me and I personally witnessed an ECOMOG funeral in Sango Cemetery Ibadan where the wife, who was not informed arrived suddenly during the funeral. Her unforgettable words were ‘My husband is dead and you could not even tell me so I could bring the children to his funeral’. Whose duty is it to write condolence letters to the families of dead soldiers? Is it Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence or Special Adviser or the Vice President or the President who writes these letters? The highest honour a man can give his country is that he lay down his or her life for that country, often in the security services! But do not forget the hundreds of farmers, students, youth who have also been forced to lay down their lives due to the inability of the country’s government to defend them in their villages, farms and schools. Is such a country worthy of receiving that final fatal honour from any citizen when it treats its citizens, alive or dead, and their surviving dependents, so shabbily? Too many Nigerians are Nigerian in name, by mere geographical accident of birth without working at making Nigeria a pride to live in.

May 7, 2014
Boko/Fulani/Bank interest Rate/CSR Wars: Matters of Urgent Conference Importance

Nigeria is at war. The second war is the Boko Haram war. ‘Our Girls’, 200+ girls, kidnapped from school, are still ‘missing’ with no encouraging information or ‘Daily News Bulletin’. Instead we hear of new contracts for roads. Over 200 girls and their captors are not too tiny to have left a heat trail to be picked up by the daily satellite surveillance, our spies and our paid informers. No doubt there is an Air force and military ring of steel tightening around the area in the Sambisa Forest by the magnificent Armed Forces of Nigeria who at last have something to prove at home after their ECOMOG victories.

We salute our brave men under arms and in foxholes, eyes penetrating the darkness of that forest seeking their targets and attempting to free the hostages with minimum or zero casualties. Even one dead girl will be too much for any parent to bear, though Boko Haram has maliciously already executed many girls and children and unborn babies in the Nyanya, Abuja bombing. Certainly Nigeria expects the early release by ‘ANY MEANS NECESSARY‘of ‘Our Girls’ so cruelly kidnapped by Boko Haram. Our whole government and private sector energy as a nation should be targeted towards freeing ‘Our Girls’ As Soon As Possible.

Meanwhile Nigeria must not forget the daily 10-50 victims of the Fulani herdsmen’s ‘Right of Cow Way’ war and assault on Nigerian farmers across seven states, north and south who on retaliation are labelled as demons. Nobody lies down to die. The Non Sovereign National Conference must address this issue.

If meat is the cause of war –fast on, turn to fish. Will Nigeria embarking on a three to six month prayer and ‘FAST FROM MEAT’ stop the war? SAY NO TO MEAT. All wars are financial. Why are Nigerians so insensitive to the rights of others as to demand and actually eat meat brought to their tables at the cost of human lives? Incredible insensitivity! Even one life is one too many for your lunch of meat. ‘Blood Meat’ brought to our tables by the murder of over 3000 and displacement of millions of farmers and families members is unacceptable and must be rejected. The Fulani-Nigeria must be stopped by a ‘MORATORIUM ON MEAT EATING’ until peace returns. It is small price to pay to instil sanity. We should have enforced this long ago.

Meanwhile Nigeria is fighting a third war after the Boko Haram and the Fulani –Nigeria War. It is the ‘The Cement War’. Check cement bag prices worldwide. Cement is N2,300 per bag, up from N600 a few years ago, pre-rich man, whereas worldwide the average price is N500. Is this the price we have to pay to host the richest man in Nigeria and Africa and 23rd or 25th richest man in the world among us, excluding Nigerian and African past heads of state who are publicity shy? The price Nigeria is paying is too high. Building prices have shot up. The richest get invited to Davos to pontificate, with corner-mouth, on the imperatives of mass housing and poverty reduction. Excuse me, but ‘cement charity and fair play’ begin at home with the normal, not inflated, cement prices in Nigeria. Just imagine the cost to Nigerians of fuel when the richest man’s Lagos Refinery comes on stream. Has he got the guaranteed petroleum deliveries denied all previous refinery planners since Obasanjo’s feeble or frustrated private refinery initiative?

There is also a ‘Bank Interest Rate War’ against Nigerians needing loans. The banks first quarter profits, and secret bank bonuses, are as usual obscenely mind-boggling and why not, with interest rates shamefully still at 22-25% except for the chosen few in some economic areas. Four banks have a collective profit in excess of N12b. Cut Interest rates! In normal societies this translates into a Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, fund of 1%+ or N120m. Where is that money? Is it well spent? N120m is twelve N10m youth centres countrywide or 36 in a year. And that does not include the CSR from other banks and 1000 other companies. CSR could be better coordinated than it is.

Just as we complain to the Non-Sovereign National Conference about poor and over-centralised central government, we must also complain about poor CSR with over-centralisation in the headquarters. Why should head office in Abuja spend all the CSR vote? Every manager should be able to spend money in the locality of the bank, perhaps in proportion to earnings. AGMs and shareholders must monitor and direct CSR activities of their companies and the service companies their company does business with and ‘RECOMMEND THAT COMPANIES AND BANKS IN PARTICULAR ‘DECENTALISE CSR FUNDS’ TO BRANCHES and DISTRIBUTORS. A bank or company with a branch or distributorship in your neighbourhood should be doing serious CSR in your community. CSR is not a joke and should not be given maximally to sports like polo and golf. A lot of CSR is well motivated and well spent. However, in our dysfunctional society without any social security net, CSR is actually life-saving, life-changing and a desperately needed helping hand. Without CSR many NGOs and ‘Homes’ especially those servicing the poor, the orphaned and physically and mentally challenged will die. CSR has the additional burden of providing relief in crisis areas.

Will the true Nigerians please stand up! Nigeria is so desperately in need of true Nigerians.

April 30, 2014
Happy Easter?; Oil price increase; Do LGAs have a future?; ‘ONLY 129 girls’

The murder of security personnel and the kidnap of 129 students with 49 found and the Nyanya, Abuja bombing claiming 75 lives with hundreds injured terrorise us all just as political violence terrorises us. The ‘heat signal’ generated by vehicles carrying maybe 3-400 people must show on foreign satellites. When will that convergence of information from international satellites on the Sambisa Forest lead to recovery of the terrorised girls? If you were not a distraught parent, you should have shared their pain with prayers and donations. Just perhaps you had a ‘Happy Easter’ even without electricity and you spent four or 10 hours longer on the road.

Nigerian political authorities have traditionally misspent/stolen the budget before elections. This 2014 budget should not be diverted to political war chests for 2015. With the budget passed, government must give Nigerians 130,000+Mw, the East-West Road, the Second Niger Bridge and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, start the Solar Revolution and fund textbooks and novels in all school. These ‘Matters Of Urgent National Importance’ do not need Economic Summits. They are not nuclear physics, but political ABCs, achievable by a forceful visionary leadership with a sense of history. Power is not the power of corruption bank accounts but the power to participate for positive change and persuade others likewise.

Nigerians need to use information better. The price of oil is $104. The budget oil benchmark is $77 or so. This nearly $30 difference and unbudgeted gain for 2.5million barrels day, 22% in billions of extra naira earned. We must prevent that 22% disappearing into the Excess Crude Account or follow the missing $20billion or the First and Second Gulf Oil windfalls. The money must accelerate development.

Nigeria has job opportunities that should have been created long ago. But now, even education leads to unemployment. The government in the past and present has misused Local Government Areas (LGAs) which should have had a ‘stay and work at home’ development policy. But no one created the developmental and conducive environment at LGA level. Most LGAs are rundown by gangster governments. Who wants to work in an LGA without good without good facilities and staff?

In any other country, the terrors of our time would require a cross party solution since politics and the poor decisions of the political class are causes of LGA, state and federal problems and the solutions. But here ‘we blame passing strangers for our body odour and dirty underwear’ fulfilling the well-worn African proverb of ‘pointing one accusing finger at others while four fingers point back at us’. The calculated destruction or non-construction of the LGA level is caused by local, state and federal machinations. Most LGAs were never developmental, but just another level of corruption, political financing with voter manipulation and punishment-or-reward for foe or friend, with no serious service. Initially LGA councils notoriously meet only monthly on allocation day to share funds among the traditional rulers, bigwigs and hangers-on. Indeed it was this coupled with theft of salaries for teachers that helped ruin education. This corruption forced the transfer of LGA budgets to the states to guarantee salaries and LGAs were run by the occupying state political party. Even indigenes refused to spend allocated funds on schools, education and health preferring to steal everything. Only few states are genuinely interested in the citizens or want to protect their political flank. Many LGA staff have questionable credentials and motives with no ‘service to others before self’ attitude and often leave LGAs worse off.

The value of LGAs versus their cost and consequences needs reassessment. The power of the LGAs is too absolute with thugs as enforcers. LGAs must have non-political citizens in LGA Council Committees. ICPC and EFCC should be preventive ‘Early warning’ at LGA council meetings to help stop corruption, stupid LGA taxation, levies and political mayhem. Our Non-Sovereign National Conference should ask why there were 77 in old Kano before Jigawa was split off and now 44 LGAs in Kano and only 20 in Lagos. Is the discriminatory fiat of maximum military might and ethnic arrogance not correctable by this NSNC? Perhaps we should cancel LGAs funding from federal entirely and have states do so as most of them already manage to corner the LGA budgets through one subterfuge or the other –from co-signatories to accounts to stalled LGA election schedules. The questions are –would states run better under the governor? Of course Governor ‘He or she’ may deprive LGAs which did not vote for ‘him or her’ but that is the political game worldwide. Politics must be played fairly with justice to all. If LGAs had carried their weight even with the funds available to them over the last 50 years, there is no reason why any citizen would need to travel for greener pastures. Can the failed LGA system be fixed, rendered accountable and of ‘Service with a Smile’? We are all in an LGA. Has an LGA Chairman or official ever once written or sent a message to congratulate anyone you know or their parents for ‘Exemplary Service to the LGA’? Of course not! Only demand notices!

Whenever there is a dispute over tragedy numbers, even ‘one’ victim should never be addressed as ‘only one’. Government agencies must never use ‘ONLY’ for the number of dead. For the families that ‘only one’ death is 100% loss.

April 23, 2014