The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • On qualification for national leadership

    SIR: Nigeria’s Presidential election campaigns are getting murkier and murkier by the day and indeed disappointingly personal and vain. There is too much mudslinging and little or no enlightenment. Currently, loud and mischievous questions are being raised by the ruling party and its agents about Buhari’s qualification to lead the country. If they are not saying that he is too old for the job, they are telling us that Buhari cannot possibly be healthy enough for the task. They even presume to foretell and pronounce on the poor man’s longevity.

    A brief look world-wide in the 20th and 21st centuries at the success of leaders tells us that we should not hold any hard and fast views.

    China and Japan post-1945 had a history of very old people managing the affairs of these two great oriental economies. Mao Zedong and Chou En-Lai in their mid-to late seventies laid the foundation for their successor, Deng Xiao Ping to bring one billion people out of poverty into self-sufficiency in food supply and an economy second only to the United States.

    For several decades after World War II, Japanese politics restricted the position of prime minister to those between 75 and 80 years old! Considering the Japanese economic miracle it wasn’t such a bad idea.

    German post-war recovery and prosperity was led and guided by two old people: KonradAdenauer who became West German Chancellor at the age of 73 and his Economics minister, G. Erhard.

    Another 70+ General Charles de Gaulle led French resurgence after the war. In Britain three old men Churchill, MacMillan and R.A. Butler managed British recovery through the 1950s and 1960s.

    In Saudi Arabia the last three kings ascended the throne in their 70s and 80s and see what transformation Saudi Arabians have enjoyed in the last 40 years. If you think that this achievement is solely due to oil resources take a look at Nigeria and consider what poor use we made of our resources.

    Looking at the other side of the argument consider the remarkable achievement of Lee KuanYew, a young man in his 30s when he assumed the premiership of Singapore. Today Singapore is a beacon of efficiency, growth, discipline and prosperity. Or the case of General Suharto of Indonesia whose administration lifted 100 million of his people from stark poverty to reasonable levels of income and employment. .

    Consider also the impact of another young man, John F. Kennedy. In 1961 he galvanized and kick-started American technological achievement by inspiring oratory which led to the landing of a man on the moon and satellite communications which has transformed the whole world.

    America’s President Nixon ran one of the most outstanding foreign policies in post-World War II US history. But that is partly because he brought in a foreign policy guru, Henry Kissinger, on board.

    Here, President Jonathan stumbled on a talented engineer, Prof Barth Nnaji, and brought him in as Minister of Power. For a while, our electricity supply seemed to improve, but then the same President forced the Professor out over a non-issue. And the result: all the apparent gains in the Power sector collapsed. This goes to underscore the point that to assemble a good team is the hallmark of good leadership. That, to my mind, is the stuff great leaders are made of. Without the capacity to identify and appoint reliable and competent lieutenants, no leader can excel. And this appears to be the real problem with the Jonathan administration!

    I think that President Goodluck Jonathan has an image problem; a serious credibility problem. Many Nigerians doubt his sincerity and commitment to the wellbeing of the Nigerian state and its citizenry. People ask: what happened to the greedy plunderers of billions of naira of our Pension Funds during the life of this administration and other suchextremely greedy looters of the national treasury? When will Nigeria rise above this kind of problem? It is extremely doubtful whether such a fundamental change and reversal of fortunes can manifest under the type of leadership offered by Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and his team!

    • Uchenna Nwankwo,

    Lagos

  • Muck raking in Abia politics

    Muck raking in Abia politics

    IR: Bullies are cowards, it is said. They are also empty. This is why, when overwhelmed in an encounter, they leave the issue and easily resort to throwing mud at their opponents.

    This is sadly, the current situation in Abia. With political parties getting through with their governorship primaries, such has been the grave unease in Abia Government House and state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    For a party in government and power, there should not have been need for it to be bothered, ordinarily. But that, incidentally, is its nemesis. With a performance record that is still out for the jury, the party further shot itself in the foot by a highly flawed primary that foisted a less-fancied Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu on the members as candidate.

    In going about the bizarre choice, the handlers of the PDP in the state, had carried on with the culture of impunity that had characterized its activities in the past. Of course, then, the political space was so much circumscribed that any person that picked the party’s ticket, regardless of how intellectually and temperamentally inadequate, readily embarked on victory lap, even before the polls. There was really no opposition, in the true sense of the word. The immediate impact of such odious arrangement was the history of underdevelopment that had trailed the state, especially in the last 16 years.

    Consequently, for a state that its founders had, over 23 years ago, envisioned to be a leading light among its peers, its development profile, has remained piteous. But because the beneficiaries derive a lot from this unprincipled rentier system, they treat any attempt at change as an affront.

    It is on this backdrop that the onslaught against the aspiration of Dr. Alex Otti, the state governorship candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), by PDP and agents of the state government, will be adequately appreciated.

    While taking a dive from his apparent comfort zone where he had successfully led a relatively sure-footed Diamond Bank, for Abia governorship, Otti, had reckoned that the engagement was not going to be a tea party. Confronted with the discovery of a poorly managed entity characterized by acute infrastructure decay, dilapidated education system, bungled health care system and ill-motivated workforce, among others, there would have been the temptation to back pedal. But for a man that interprets perceived problems, rather, as projects, Otti has not been deterred from his dream.

    At many forums, he has declared that service to Abia and not exercise in self-aggrandizement, has been the driving force behind his aspiration. The APGA candidate, has in this respect, laid out a template for fixing the state. In his manifesto, he has established roadmaps towards repositioning the state’s education, health, agriculture, economy and other sectors.

    He has also given hints on how he intends to re-engineer Aba, the hitherto commercial hub of the South East and South-South regions that has painfully suffered criminal neglect in recent times.

    In going about the agenda, Otti has identified interplay of ideas as the surest way of lifting Abia from its current state of near hopelessness.

    The expectation therefore, had been that his opponents, especially the PDP, would have taken his challenge in good faith and come with superior argument, if any. But that is not the case. Rather, the party and its candidate, Okezie Ikpeazu, of course, backed by the state government, have chosen to side step the main issue of the discourse and have resorted to muck raking and shadow-boxing.

    The latest in this regime of misguided undertakings has been associating the APGA candidate with actions and antics that are not in his character. Among this is the curious allegation that he has been going about with hoodlums dressed in military and police uniforms. The allegation had further been extended to the ridiculous extent of accusing him of working with the military to bamboozle Abians. Having failed on that, there had also been an attempt to drag Diamond Bank into the fray, by accusing it of partnering the APGA candidate. The next phase of the propaganda is expected to be the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), being accused of favouring Otti.

    For Abia PDP and its candidate, there seems to be no limit in the muck-raking.

    • Emma Ogbuehi

    Umuahia, Abia State

  • When politicians go gaga

    When politicians go gaga

    IR: Nigerian politics and politicians are peculiar;  comparatively different from other westen democratic political processes. Their style remind of the award-winning play – Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again by Ola Rotimi, a comic swipe at ideological misfits and opportunists who strut over the ever-accommondating political landscape of contemporary Africa.

    Those who fail to learn from history are bound to perish in the pitfall of the past generations. Our politicians have shown that they have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing by their daily activities and behaviour.

    Professor Bolaji Akinyemi once alerted the nation that the way and manners the two political parties at the forefront of the political contest were going about the race for power is becoming frightening and that whichever of the two that may eventually win could cause violence in the land. Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General and other great world leaders intervened and caused a peace accord to be signed; little did we know that it was a mere paper work that would not stop violence in our polity. From Lagos, Kano, Gombe, Ekiti, to Rivers, it has been violence all the way. The latest took place in Okirika Local Government Area in River State, where the campaign rally of APC gubernatorial candidate was terminated with rain of bullets by unknown political thugs. A policeman was reportedly killed and 50 others injured despite the guarantee the party received from the Police Commisioner.

    The president has not condemned the attack at Okirika. Tension is on the rise daily, but are there no beautiful ones among the political groups that should call for time to heal the wounds, to bridge the chasms that divide the nation in order to build a better and new nation?

    The daily pebbles of insultive words at political opponents cannot win an election; it will only inflame the volatile political atmosphere. It is time to call Ayo Fayose, Femi Fani-Kayode and their likes to the banquet of love and peace. Never before have we descended to gutter levels as we have these days, when the very people aspiring for leadership cannot console broken hearted youths with words of hope. Instead of providing the youths with empowerment programmes as it is being done in Osun under the leadership of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who within four years has gainfully employed and empowered over 60, 000 youths; a phenomenal scheme that has received World Bank and international admiration, some feel the best they could do for the jobless youths is to engage them as political thugs, armed them to maim and kill political opponents.

    Any government which lay claim to legitimacy is expected to ensure there is a measure of social welfare for its citizens; guarantee their security irrespective of social status and religious beliefs. It is just and right that people’s right to freely choose the type of leaders they want is guaranteed. That is the more reason, President Jonathan must allow the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC ) to perform its duties as electoral umpire.

    The military need not be told that their duty is to protect the nation from external attacks, while the internal security of the country lies with the police as provided for in the constitution. Leaders go, leaders come but the nation must continue to exist. We must prove to the world that we have come of age to conduct our affairs without any bloodshed. We must tell the all powerful AIG Joseph Mbu that in a democratic society, a suspect is presumed innocent untill the court says otherwise. Nigerians are saying no to shoot  at sight or “ kill 20 men that kill a single policeman”.

    •Yomi Obaditan,

    Osogbo, Osun State.

     

  • Playing politics with human lives!

    Playing politics with human lives!

    IR: After months of turning the blind eye to the criminality in the north-east, President, Goodluck Jonathan confessed last week that his government all along took Boko Haram for granted! The president even issued a presidential order to Nigerian troops to get Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, before E-day! This is a radical departure from the president’s usual recriminations! It is as well proof, if more was needed, that the government all along took Nigerians for granted by playing politics with an insurgency that has claimed more than 13,000 lives, placed hundreds in captivity, displaced thousands, and virtually grounded the economy of the north-east.

    Of course, Boko Haram is not Jonathan’s creation; he inherited it! But then, the Boko Haram insurgency was one of the inherited ills the president consistently swore to tackle since his inauguration in 2011. What is more, he has effectively been in the saddle for five years. Is it the blood of 13,000 Nigerians that suddenly awoken the president to the danger posed by Boko Haram? Or, is it the reality of March 28 that suddenly stirred the president? For all Nigerians cared, he could have passed the buck as usual, especially as he did with shifting the February 14 elections, by claiming that he was not consulted on the security situation!

    If anything, recent ‘gains’ against Boko Haram further firm the belief that the civilised world was not unduly hysterical in accusing Nigerian authorities of playing politics with the insurgency. It is repulsive enough for a clueless government to resort to intimidation of voters in its attempt to cling to power! But the line is crossed the moment government turns the blind eye to, and is even desirous of scoring cheap political point, from the decimation of its most-prized resource! Whoever turned the blind eye as Boko Haram members abducted, raped, maimed and killed Nigerians and despoiled the north east is complicit! And much of the blame should be placed at the doorstep of President Goodluck Jonathan, a man who has a special knack for regional and parochial politics.

    Now, a word for attention-seeking publicists who flaunt President Jonathan’s veiled meekness as his main qualification for leadership. Lest we need being reminded, no great leader was ever described as meek, unassuming or incapable of hurting a fly! Nelson Mandela never turned the other cheek and, despite his gentle disposition, Mahatma Gandhi was never meek! So were the world’s best-known political leaders in whose class starry-eyed publicists lamely wish to place President Jonathan! When the chips are down, what really matters is when supposedly good men prove incapable of doing any good.

    The choice before Nigerians on March 28 is clear: it is either to back a tested race horse or an untested, patently incompetent cart horse! Sadly, even some of its best known supporters consider the idea of Nigeria’s present ruling class and vision as a contradiction! Four years ago and, for obvious reasons, a dark, cart horse was chosen for a crucial race. The decision left Nigerians in a lurch! Today, those who backed the race horse are not standing alone; next month, they will be joined by millions who were fooled, cajoled and threatened into making a costly mistake. After the self-imposed and avoidable miasma of the past 16 years, the election of an incorruptible and visionary statesman will be a welcome balm on the country’s jaded nerves.

    Now, a prayer for Nigeria: God! Direct Nigerians to elect leaders who will not play politics with the lives of their subjects. May March 28 not produce ill-prepared and divisive leaders who employ religion and ethnicity to cloak their incompetence! Can somebody say Amen?

    • Abdulrazaq Magaji,

    Abuja

  • Shame, NLC, shame

    SIR: ‘’Against popular opinion and allegations of a sinister motive, INEC has been made to postpone the general elections. We would want to register our disappointment about this development…any further attempt to frustrate the process of the general elections by whatever means, a postponement or otherwise, shall be resisted.’’ –Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on February 9, condemning the postponement of Nigeria’s general elections.

    Fate has an uncanny way of bringing us face to face with the bitter truths concerning the lies and deceits we surreptitiously, deliberately design and peddle as gospel truths which at once cast us in the image of saints and demonize others. The Greeks called it nemesis. For their presumption and holier than thou posturing, which the Greeks called hubris, so eloquently captured in the above quotation about the postponed elections, the NLC was sufficiently and well shamed and exposed only three days later when it ironically, woefully, failed to conduct its own general elections as they ended midway in utter pandemonium!

    For the records, the NLC’s 11th delegates’ conference was convened in order to hold elections into executive positions on Thursday, February 12. But this was not to be as the elections suddenly ended in chaos. The depressing pictures of scattered ballot boxes, torn ballot papers and upturned and broken tables and chairs that showcased the commotion that characterized the botched elections is a perfect replay of the typical narrative and scenario that have become a worrying, recurring decimal in Nigeria’s wider political landscape, elections especially.

    We have become so used to talking about and castigating the Nigerian political elite of corruption and all of its various ugly derivatives that we forget that, one way or the other, we ourselves have become willing accomplices in these devious crimes or are, worst of all (as we have seen in the case of the NLC), even more culpable culprits because we have bred and raised our own versions of this prevailing monstrosity. But what makes it more reprehensible is the fact that we secretly perpetrate this corruption and hide under the veneer of the privilege, a sense of immunity, integrity and respect our being unionists and social critics confer on us. We shamelessly perpetrate even more grievous sins than those for which we take delight and relish in maliciously accusing and castigating others so as to appear as saints.

    Nigeria is slowly inching towards the precipice because those ferocious flames of corruption are being further fanned by hypocrisy and this cynical holier than thou attitude. Generally speaking, institutions in Nigeria are still weak and at best still slowly evolving. And the price of this is this pervasive weakness in character and a blurred perception of what is wrong and right in both the ruling elite and the citizenry as a whole. And the leadership of labour is by all intents and purposes part and parcel of this ruling elite, despite the illusion of their being self-styled comrades.

    • Chris Gyang,

    Jos, Plateau State

  • Country of swift boaters?

    SIR: ENVISAGE, what these persons would have done – had they been Nigerians, during the Richard Nixon Watergate investigations, in the United States in 1973: George Bush Snr (Chairman Republican National Committee), Leonard Garment (Counsel to the President), J. Fred Buzhardt (Special white house counsel for Watergate), General Alexander M. Haig Jr (Chief of staff, the White House), Charles G. Bebe Rebozo (Friend of the President), they would, even in the face of unflattering evidence, take to the press to refute all accusations and pray Nigerians to see all scheme as that by the president’s political enemy.

    As with all things in Nigeria, the Watergate scandal would have found itself in the current of air, forensic experts would have told us the break-in into the Democratic National Congress office, and bug of prominent people were stories planted by the opposition, and Nixon would have served out his second term as president and become a revered statesman.

    But in the US during that era, the only person involved in an abrasive maneuver and cover up was president Nixon, two of his counsel (Fred Buzhardt and Leonard Garment) did what no  presidential aide had ever done in history: they asked him (Nixon) to resign due to the devastating evidence against him.

    Imagine what Vernon Jordan, Bill Clinton’s best friend, go-between, confidant, during scandals regarding Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones would have done, were he a Nigerian.

    He would haven taken efforts to the press to haul over the coals on the benefactors of both ladies and, accuse them of being front-runners of the opposition and, that the ladies were spies planted to tarnish the image of the president. But in the US, he was the first to unsettle Clinton and asked him: “ Mr. President, look me in the eye, did you do it.”

    Imagine how a soldier’s recorded audio tape of how an election was rigged would be likely viewed by the governments in the United States, Australia, the UK, Japan and even Ghana etc. The governments will appoint Ombudsmen to investigate the damning revelations, they will not point fingers elsewhere as that of the swift boating antics of perceived political enemies. The named culprits over there can never take  the moral high ground like ours over here to engage in more holistic preachments in the presence of cheerleaders and many others with clouds of debauchery over their heads who become self-styled Major Domo in project ‘destroy Nigeria.’ They would be blacklisted by their establishments and societies never again to aspire for any elective offices, would not be appointed to offices and would be discharged from the arms services.

    It is not unusual for people in our country, to take to their hills to hide for safety after offering services as whistle-blowers. There are no witness protection programmes here. But it is sacrilegious, that a whistle blowing soldier is in the wind and, is not protected by his establishment’s hierarchy, he is not court martialled to obtain the truth for posterity and for wrongdoers to be reproved. Yet the state expects civilians to come forward and provide information to law enforcement agencies on criminality.

    If a soldier trained with tax-payers money to be alert at all times feels insecure and flee for acts not subversive to our sovereignty and whose behaviour is seen, almost akin to that of swift boaters, who then is safe?

    Imagine what would happen to the family of the policeman killed by ‘direct bullets’ calculatedly shot into a campaign rally in Okrika recently. A rally that didn’t take place in a war zone in eastern Ukraine. It would take forever and a day for the state to give the family and many others who die on active duty what are due them and eternity for the state to keep on trading blames and forever to be in the usual sleepy state not to be able to put names on the shooters and their benefactors. The same way buses for campaigns were burnt elsewhere, people beaten and others went beserk to destroy campaign posters, yet these acts are  always linked to enemies or to unknown people.

     

    • Simon Abah

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State

  • INEC is playing with our future

    SIR: We are compelled to appeal to Professor Attahiru Jega the chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, through your national newspaper, to please prevail on the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Ogun State to please make available the Permanent Voter Cards of the recently registered voters so as to enable them exercise their franchise in during the general elections Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of the state.

    It is appalling that after the commission had voided the registration of nearly 60 percent of the voters that registered in 2011, the commission has not deemed it fit to provide many eligible voters with the PVC. The action portends serious danger to the future of our people in this area of the state as any failure in releasing the card will render us ineligible.

    It is equally sad that INEC has not commenced any voter’s education exercise hence we are in the woods election-wise whenever the exercise commence. It worrisome that less than 50 percent of registered voters have collected their PVC in Ogun State while majority continue to flood INEC offices within the local government offices on daily basis without any positive sign from the commission.

    We are of the firm belief that should the electoral commission continue to foot drag on the issues raised, it might be dancing to the drum beat of a political party or playing an already agreed game-plan and crafted by a faceless group, government or  some jittery candidates.

    It is in view of this that we are now appealing to the chairman of INEC, human rights groups, the government and all good people of Nigeria that they should not fold their arms and allow the electoral commission to systematically disenfranchise us in the name of non-availability of Permanent Voters Card.

    It is our right to vote and having taken the pains to register in spite of all odds we faced during the registration exercise, we must be allowed to vote.

     

    • Chief Femi Oni

    Sango Otta, Ogun State.

  • Youths and Nigeria’s future

    SIR: Are the Nigerian youths prepared to take on leadership roles? Given that the world is on the fast lane of transformation, can we truly advance competitively in the comity of nations without harnessing the potentials of youth?

    Certainly, Nigerian youths have come of age; they are qualified, lettered and have what it takes to take our nation to the next level. They have left so much mark in the sand of time in their chosen professions here at home and abroad. Support, encouragement and the enabling environment to excel is what it takes to spur the youth to move Nigeria to greater heights. As a nation, the leadership potentials of the youth should be identified by the youth themselves and jointly harnessed by the society.

    In the build up to the 2015 general elections, it was clear that Nigerian youths have again been deprived of another golden opportunity to showcase their potentials as capable driving forces in the development of our dear country. It is evident in the candidates contesting various elective positions amongst political parties. To be able to make the desired change, the youth should endeavour to be faithful and loyal members of political parties of their choice and volunteer to employ right attitudes. This will afford them the opportunity to be able to force the tired to retire gracefully.  Most youth act as though they lack direction. They have become ready prey to the antics of the experienced grandfathers by their actions and inactions thus limiting their chances of assuming leadership positions. If we continue to support the old politicians for the reason of stipends they dangle as baits and even become violent tools in the hands of politicians, the expectation is for the remaining aged to march as quickly as their walking sticks could permit them into the political rings.

    As youths, any act of violence and bids by politicians to employ youths to satisfy their insatiable political thirst should be avoided.  The youths should prove that they can assume their rightful place as leaders. Nigeria can achieve greatness in the hands of her youths. What is needed is the enabling environment to excel. The shape and future of our nation is too much valuable to be assigned to the aged.

     

    • Oliver Uche Eze

    Kaduna

  • General elections: Need for caution

    SIR: History being a body of facts of past events is supposed to be guide to the present. History, it is often said, repeats itself. However, one significant repercussion of history repeating itself is the higher cost attendant to that repetition.

    The unfolding melodrama of election date shift is very instructive and when such incident is placed side by side with what happened before with similar similarities, one may be able to decipher what may likely be the result.

    Therefore, we need to do some excursions into the past.

    The rigging of the 1964-65 elections in the former Western Region in Nigeria became the precursor of the 1966 coup and its aftermath led to the avoidable Civil War in Nigeria. The costs in terms of financial and human resources, the massacre of innocent Nigerians as well as the attendant internal emotional disharmony and psychological trauma of that era must never be contemplated or repeated. Some of the people who ignited the unfortunate saga paid for their crimes but the majority of the people who suffered were innocent.

    The Gowon era in Nigeria was the most glorious. After the Civil war, General Yakubu Gowon introduced the Reconciliation, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction policy popularly known as 3RS. It was the era of mass reconstruction and development. General Gowon through Professor Adebayo Adedeji brought National Development Plans which were properly supervised. Gowon promised to handover to an elected government in 1976. Sometime in 1974 Gowon reneged on his promise and declared that 1976 was no longer realistic. That marked a turning point and Tai Solarin wrote an article titled “The Beginning of the End” and so it was with Gowon which the end of Gowon came in 1975. Those who spearheaded that saga had their fingers burnt.

    Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) ran the affairs of Nigeria for eight years from August 1985 giving himself a coup as a birthday gift. He made use of many Nigerian good brains and evolved a culture of political sagacity. He adopted the two party system and Option A4 for elections. Babangida’s end finally came with the annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections. Adjudged to be the freest, most credible and most peaceful, the MKO/Kingibe ticket beat all centrifugal forces – religious bigotry, tribal animosity, north-south dichotomy and all embers of disunity. It showed that Nigerians could and can live in peace and can make choices of their own when allowed. A group of wicked people who never meant well for this nation scuttled that progress.

    From the historical facts above, one comes into unassailable conclusion that those who reneged on their promises have always had an unenviable end: Gowon, Babangida and this may extend to anyone else. Obasanjo was able to survive in 1979 when he handed over as scheduled. Nigerians even had to call him back in 1999 and he only missed the repercussion of backsliding when he quickly retraced his steps when some sycophants were urging him on for a third term.

    Our current crop of leaders will do well to learn from the above.

     

    • Olusegun Olatubosun,

  • Life pensions to presidents and others condemnable

    SIR: The Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) condemns the recent passage into the constitutional amendment the granting of life pensions for Presidents, Vice President, Senate Presidents and House of Representatives Speakers by the National Assembly. It is another attack on an average Nigerian who has been made to wallow in poverty in spite of the stupendous wealth of the country. It is absolutely immoral and wicked of National Assembly whose members claim to be the representatives of the common people to elect to defraud the nation by committing public resources to the already rich few. Currently, Nigerian politicians, and especially National Assembly members, are the highest paid in the world. It is clear that the insatiable quest of politicians to loot the better part of the nation’s wealth is not quenched by the humongous amount politicians award for themselves at all levels, thus the new attempt to give politicians permanent wages, even after they have left offices.

    We call on Nigerian labour movement to reject this latest fraud, and mobilize its members, civil society and oppressed and poor Nigerians out in mass movement against this fraud. This should be linked with building mass movement against all anti-poor capitalist policies.

    It is worrisome that the same National Assembly members that found it difficult to legislate mere N30, 000 minimum wage for workers, found it easy to award several millions to bourgeois politicians as salaries and life pensions. Today, the education sector is in ruin as a result of chronic underfunding, but the National Assembly sees no reason to commit public resources to public education. Why should they, when they can easily send their children to the best schools around the world using public resources? Is it then accidental that Nigeria is one of the most unequal countries in the world with just one percent of the population cornering up to 80 percent of the nation’s wealth? According to statistics, more than 40 percent of the working population is jobless while poverty rate is more than 70 percent. Yet, every year, less than 18, 000 politicians in power take as much as over N1.3 trillion as salaries, allowances and perks of office; an amount that is more than four times the total budgets for health.

    It is condemnable that the same politicians who have severally and collectively ruined the nation’s economy and destroyed the country’s social fabrics, as a result of their corrupt and pro-capitalist rule, are now the one getting the choicest part of our economy. Today, most state governments and even federal government owe workers’ salaries, using the excuse of fall in oil revenue, itself a product of the gross mismanagement of Nigeria’s economy by successive governments. Yet, the same excuse is not applicable to salaries of politicians, and now life pensions for leading politicians.

    All of this shows that Nigeria’s capitalist political class, organized in the major political parties are united in their pro-rich, anti-poor neo-liberal policies that put public wealth in the pockets of the rich few. While they tell us to tighten our belts for economic prudency, they award themselves the juiciest of salaries and allowances, while committing public policies towards their private businesses.

     

    • Segun Sango

    Socialist Party of Nigeria

    Wuse II, Abuja