The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Panacea for peace

    In a multi-ethnic society like Nigeria, there will always be conflict. While the country should develop the capacity to manage the conflicts as they arise; more importantly the leaders must seek the ability to minimize the incidents or causes of conflict. When conflicts are properly managed or prevented, there would be peace, and when there is peace the society prospers. So, developing the ability to manage or prevent conflict should be one of the trainings our leaders should be exposed to.

    A leader who does not possess the capacity to manage or prevent conflict will stumble from one crisis to another; unfortunately to the detriment of the people he or she leads.  In this enquiry, let us appreciate some of the key terms from different perspectives. Peace is defined as: “freedom from disturbance”, “agreement and harmony among people.” It relates to: “tranquillity, calmness, restfulness and quiet.”

    Interestingly, a former president of United States of America, Ronald Reagan, said: “peace is not absence of conflict; it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.” On the other hand, conflict is defined as “a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one.” It relates to: “dispute, quarrel, squabble, differences of opinion.” Most of the conflicts afflicting Nigeria are political, but in recent times, we now have more of religious, cultural and social conflicts.

    On its part, conflict prevention has been explained as “a peace operation employing complementary diplomatic, civil, and, when necessary, military means, to monitor and identify the causes of conflict, and take timely action to prevent the occurrence, escalation, or resumption of hostilities.” Conversely, conflict resolution “is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict and retribution.”  It is also defined as “Intervention aimed at alleviating or eliminating discord through conciliation.”

    There may be a dispute as to the number of ethnic groups in Nigeria, but there is no dispute that the number runs into several hundreds. Perhaps that explains the multi-layers of conflict that afflict the country, ranging from the minor to the more serious ones that threaten the corporate existence or foundation of the country itself. In definitional terms, “an ethnic group or an ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities such as common ancestry, language, history, society, culture or nation.”

    To manage or prevent conflict in a multi-ethnic society like Nigeria and thereby engender peace, the panacea is simply “to do unto others as you will want others to do unto you.” But a more pragmatic process of ensuring that conflicts are prevented or managed, have been developed by Rotarians. It is called: “the four-way test.” According to Wikipedia: “The Four-Way Test of the things we think, say or do is a test used by Rotarians world-wide as a moral code for personal and business relationships. The test can be applied to almost any aspect of life.”

    It is made up of 24 words, and was developed by Herbert I. Taylor an American from Chicago as his ultimate plan to save a dying company Club Aluminium Products Distribution Company from bankruptcy, way back in 1930s. Taylor offered Rotary his 24 words when he became a director of Rotary International in 1940s and Rotary adopted it as a moral code for personal and business relationships. The test asks us to test every action, word or step by asking first: “is it the truth, is it fair to all concerned, will it build goodwill and better friendships, and finally will it be beneficial to all concerned?”

    Rotarians recite the four-way test at every Rotary meeting. In my humble view, it is perhaps one of the greatest gifts of Rotary to the world, because the 24 words are eternal guide to life and relationships. There is no doubt that the four-way test is a variant of the golden rule: do unto others what you would want them do to you. For Christians, and I believe Moslems and Animists may have a variant, Jesus Christ taught the golden rule in Matthew 7:12, when he said: “so in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

    In a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria, conflict would be minimal if not completely eliminated, if leaders and followers regardless of ethnic membership relate with one another truthfully, fairly, with the motive to build goodwill, to encourage better friendship, to act in a manner beneficial to everyone within the community and even beyond.

    When an issue affecting persons of different ethnicity in the country arises, leaders and followers can resolve such disputes by simply applying the four-way test to the complaints, testimonies, presentations, accusations and disagreements. They can justly end the dispute by applying the four-way test in their decisions, judgments, resolutions and instructions.

    Of note, the four-way test can be used to eliminate fake news, which has become one of the new causes of conflict in multi-ethnic communities. For instance, those who forward volatile messages that could ignite ethnic passion should first ask themselves whether the content is true; whether it is fair to all concerned, whether it will bring goodwill and better friendship, and finally whether it will be beneficial to all concerned.

    Once the message does not meet the requirements, a person wishing to build peace or prevent conflict or resolve an existing conflict should not forward such a message. Pastors, Imams, Babalawos and other religious leaders can also apply the four-way test to the messages they deliver to their congregation. By applying the principles of the four-way test, messages which can ignite unruly passion will be eliminated.

    The four-way test of the things we think, say or do can also help to eliminate the scourge of hate speech in a multi-ethnic community. No doubt, any message which meets the four-way test cannot be a hate speech. To deal with hate speech, Rotary should offer our beleaguered country the four-test as antidote. Power buffs, like chiefs, obas, council and state government officials will provide efficient leadership by applying the four-way test in their relationship with members of the public regardless of their ethnic origin. It will help them treat members of the community equally.

    Applying the four-way test would help promote love and peace in a multi-ethnic community.   As Mahatma Gandhi said: “whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.” He also said: “The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.” On his part, Albert Einstein said: “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” Finally, as Mother Theresa said: “Peace begins with a smile.”

    Happy Sallah Nigerians.

  • The road block tragedy in Taraba

    For the umpteenth time, the Nigeria Army is in the news over allegations of crime and unpatriotic conduct of some of its members. And for the umpteenth time also, Taraba State is at the receiving end of this perfidy that has become the trademark of military operations in the country, particularly in areas with security challenges.

    The issue, this time, is the dastardly murder by soldiers from the 93 Battalion of the Nigeria Army in Takum, Taraba State, of four persons – three police officers and one other person – at a road check-point somewhere near Ibi, in Ibi Local Government Area of Taraba State.

    The policemen were drawn from the highly efficient Intelligence Response Unit in Force Headquarters, Abuja. They had arrived Taraba State for a covert operation intended at fishing out a notorious kidnapping kingpin in the state. They had fully accomplished that mission and were on their way out with the suspect in their “net” when, somewhere at a road check-point not so far from the operational base of the suspected criminal, soldiers pumped live bullets into their vehicle, killing everybody in the car except the suspected kidnapper. The story has it that the suspect who was in handcuffs had the equipment broken with the help of the soldiers and was immediately set free.

    This incident has, understandably, generated a huge amount of outrage and condemnation from in and outside the country. It has brought into the front burner the suspicion that has lived in the minds of most Nigerians for long that the army is not only a part of the  country’s problem of insecurity but a big promoter of this phenomenon that has made our homes and our highways unsafe.

    General T.Y Danjuma, one of Nigeria’s most respected army officers even in retirement, was the first Nigerian to demonstrate the courage in voicing out the truth that everybody was running away from. At the 2018 convocation of the Taraba State University, Jalingo, where he was guest of honour, General Danjuma told the whole world that the Nigerian military officers were biased in their handling of herdsmen attacks and killings of innocent people that was threatening peace, unity and economic activities in the country. He accused the military of not only looking the other way while people were being slaughtered and their homes set ablaze or taken over by the invading herdsmen but, in some cases, colluding by aiding the invaders to kill and maim.

    His courage was applauded by most Nigerians in and around the country except among the military hierarchy where the truth from the retired military icon was found to be too bitter to be swallowed. They then went ahead to do what they always did in such circumstances – to sit in judgment in their own case. General Tukur Buratai, Chief of Army staff, set up a committee to investigate Danjuma’s allegations. The committee toured some parts of the country and at the end, absolved the army of any wrong doing. Nobody believed them and yet they did not care.

    The recent check-point incident is yet another embarrassing dent on the image of the army. As usual, the army is desperate to exonerate its men from blame. This attitude has not, and will not, help the declining image of the army. For example, the army, in reaction to the incident, said its men were reacting to a distress call. What distress call? They have been challenged to make the identity of the distress caller public but have been unable to do so several days after.

    They have also been unable to answer most of the pertinent questions raised by the incident. Why, for example, is the suspected kidnapping kingpin the only survivor of the check-point killing spree? And why was he released in a hurry by the army. Why didn’t the soldiers see the need to keep him longer for debriefing by their bosses in order to get a full and authentic story about the mission of the team of detectives? Why did the soldiers need to fire at the vehicle when there was no obvious sign that they were a threat to their safety? All these point in one direction – that the police detectives were killed to save the suspected kidnapper from the grip of arrest. That is, they took sides with the criminal against the innocent. This, obviously, is a vindication of Danjuma, the elder statesman who the army tried to vilify for telling them the truth they did not want to hear.

    Taraba State has not been particularly lucky with soldiers deployed to assist it in tackling its security challenges. I can recall the very sordid record of the military men who served in the now rested operation Ayem Akpatema who abandoned their brief of maintaining peace and started invading the private homes of innocent people and took away their kitchen knives, cutlasses, their money and other valuable properties while they ignored herdsmen carrying AK47 rifles. They protected the criminals while they arrested and tortured innocent and unarmed youths. It took the protests of Takum women activists for that military operation to be disbanded.

    That is not all. I also remember the story involving herdsmen that were rampaging Takum Local Government Area between 2017 and 2018. During one of such major attacks on communities in the LGA, the herdsmen fled after killings scores of the natives, leaving behind their cows. Governor Darius Ishaku directed that the cows be handed over the battalion commander for safe-keeping. The idea was to use the cows to fish out those who did the killings. The directive was ignored and the cows were secretly to the killer herdsmen.

    During the 2019 elections, there were complaints from many parts of the country against the less than noble role of the military in the exercise. It was the same during the earlier governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states. In Taraba State, people in military uniforms took part in the conflict that arose from attempts by some groups to stop supporters of the winner party in the gubernatorial and state House of Assembly elections from celebrating their victory. Most of those killed in the crisis were supporters of the winner party and allegations were rife that people in military uniforms were responsible for the killings.

    This recent killing of police officers on a legitimate duty to Taraba State is one case too many against the army. It is surprising that rather than own up to this unfortunate case of murder, apologise to the country, the police and the families of the victims, the army is defending the action with stories that cannot convince even a five-year old.

    On this issue, Nigerians expect the army to open itself to scrutiny. It should allow the erring soldiers to be publicly investigated and disciplined if found culpable.

  • Enugu: Clarion call on security agencies

    It is a fact that before the recent security breaches in Enugu State, the state was adjudged one of the most peaceful states in the country. This is even more so since Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi assumed office in 2015. Indigenes, residents and visitors to the state would readily testify to this assertion. To achieve this enviable feat, the Ugwuanyi administration must have done a lot in the area of security and others, which for its delicate nature could not be placed in the public domain. This reduction of crime to its barest minimum in the state attracted investments and investors to the state and engendered peaceful co-existence among the people, irrespective of their status, tribes, religions and political affiliations.

    Surprisingly and ostensibly for political reasons, some bad elements in the state seemed to be perturbed and uncomfortable with the enviable heights the state has attained in the area of security and others under Ugwuanyi’s watch. One would therefore be right to suspect that this might be responsible for the sudden resurgence of security breaches such as kidnapping and killings in the state.  Without apportioning or heaping blame on anybody, the killing of a Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. Paul Offuh and the subsequent kidnap of the traditional ruler of Obom-Agbogugu, Igwe Sunday Orji and his wife in a quick succession along Ihe-Agbudu Road in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu state is not only an indictment on the heads of security agencies in the state, but has put a dent on the state security architecture under their watch.

    Some have ignorantly blamed the governor for the ugly development and even went further to politicize and by so doing trivialize the ugly situation. That is unwarranted, condemnable and uncalled for. There is no way politics could be mixed or placed above human lives, not under Ugwuanyi’s government. This didn’t happen at the peak of the last general elections, why now?  So, those insinuating such or mixing the development with politics are pure mischief makers. The elections are over in the state and 2023 elections are too far to be a subject of discussion for now.  Besides, it is only those who are alive till 2023 that will play politics and nobody knows who will be alive by then.

    Meanwhile, it is public knowledge that governors being the chief security officers of their states are more in theory than practice in Nigeria. The governors’ roles are complementary to the federal security arrangement and this mainly in logistical support. This is where those always quick to criticize state governors whenever there are minor security lapses in their states forget; that the centralized, command and control system of Nigerian security, makes it practically impossible for state governors to take total control of the security situation in their respective states without undue interference from the powers-that-be at centre.

    This has remained the bane of securing the country since independence and nothing has changed till date.  Is it not in this country that the immediate past governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Abdullaziz Yari, openly declared his readiness to resign as the chief security officer at the peak of banditry and killings in his state?  The only difference in Enugu is that Ugwuanyi’s government has been and is still very supportive of the security agencies in the state; and has from the inception initiated several people-oriented projects, policies and programmes that have kept the people engaged, happy and peaceful , especially the youths and thus drastically reduced the crime rate in the state.

    Apart from this, Ugwuanyi ‘s government in 2016 established the Neighbourhood Watch and equipped them to work with the security agents  across the state.  With the recent rise in cases of isolated crimes in the state, the state government has announced the immediate employment of 1700 forest guards and 5200 vigilantes to assist the security agents in securing lives and properties in the state and also announced plan to establish Ministry of Internal Security. What else does anybody expect the governor to do to secure the state? Do they expect the governor to chase away the non-indigenes in the state, especially the herdsmen? No, that is unconstitutional and unacceptable.

    It is the constitutional responsibility of the security agents to secure any state with the support of the governments. The security agents owe Nigerians explanation on what brought about the sudden resurgence of crimes in a particular axis of the once peaceful state of Enugu in recent times.  Is it that the barber does not know how to shave or that the blade is blunt? While the menace of the herdsmen and their expansion agenda cannot be ruled out in this case, conspiracy, compromise and collaboration among the security personnel, locals, politicians and criminals to sabotage the peace of the state cannot also be ruled out in this situation.  This is a possibility, unless we have forgotten that it was the rat in the house that informed the one in the bush that there is fish at home?

    The case in Taraba State, where some military personnel shot dead three police personnel from Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team, Abuja and freed a kidnap kingpin, Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume, who is now at large without clear explanation by Army authorities should be an eye opener to Nigerians on the role of some security personnel in aiding and abetting crime in the country. Also in Zamfara State, the state government recently suspended the Emir of Maru, Alhaji Abubakar Gika Ibrahim and the district head of Kanoma, Alhaji Ahmed Kanoma, after being allegedly indicted by the investigative panel set up by government unravel those behind the killings and banditry ravaging the state. There have been several cases of security breaches across the country, where the security personnel, the criminals and the locals have been found culpable. There are also cases where security personnel have forestalled crimes.

    Again, if the story as reported in the Daily Trust newspaper of August 7, that 25 minutes after Rev. Fr. Offuh’s murder along Ihe-Agbogugu road, money in his bank account was withdrawn through the ATM machine is found to be true, it means that his killing is more than the eyes can meet. Thus will be a good clue for the security agents to unravel those behind his killing and other subsequent crimes in that axis in recent times.  This is a hard nut the security agents in Enugu must crack well if they know their onions and want their image redeemed. To achieve this, they must close ranks, a eschew intra and inter security rivalry, materialism, concentrate on their jobs and work with the state government and people of the state collaboratively, closely and sincerely to ensure that the state is adequately secured. That is their primary responsibility and nothing more. They need to justify the huge taxpayers’ money being spent on them by the governments of the country.

     

    • Nwabuko, wrote from Emene industrial Layout, Enugu.

  • Int’l Youth Day: are we still leaders of tomorrow?

    The popular axiom, “The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow” has generated so much controversy such that as youth with so much anticipation, we grew up believing the saying that the youths are the leaders of tomorrow as a promise of hope and some sort of assurance of a better tomorrow.

    However, whether it’s true or ambiguous, the underlying message of the axiom imposes a responsibility on essentially two parties – the youths who are the leaders of tomorrow and the adults who are the leaders of today.

    X-raying the unfair sidelining of the youths over the years, it is not out place to clamor for a new system of government called ‘youth-o-cracy’ – a government of the people, by the youths and for the people but sadly, our leaders of yesterday are still voraciously clinging on to the baton of power, leaving us to wonder when exactly is the future going to arrive for the youths.

    The youths of any nation can be likened to a fire, creeping forward a spark at first, then growing into a flame and “boom” brightening into a blaze. Youths are the building blocks of every nation. The stronger the youth of a country, the more developed that country.

    Read Also: Nigeria and the global youth forum

    Most significantly, the UN’s annual International Youth Day is a reminder that young people around the world are often relegated to the sidelines and excluded from having a say in key decision-making process that will affect them.

    The leadership cadre across African countries is filled with aged politicians who are of the notion that nation building is their exclusive right and as such youth should not be given a chance. Perhaps, their stand explains why youths are said to be leaders of tomorrow which is yet to arrive.

    If we are to solve the most pressing issues of our time, we need to tap into the dynamism of the youths and young social entrepreneurs who are disrupting inertia with exceptional innovation and creativity. The youth make the biggest demographic bracket of every nation, therefore empowering them is the logical option.

    At this junction, It is time for the youths to stop seeing themselves as too young. We all have something. In a society different strata and groups of people live; such as young, old, rich and poor; the most important and significant proxy of a society which plays a decisive role is the youth and fresh generation of that society

    The youths need to understand that life is not just a series of calculations and a sum total of statistics. It is about experience and sacrifice. It is something more complex. it’s about participation, contribution and making-a-difference.

    Alao Abiodun is a journalist. He can be reached via Alaojoshua200@gmail.com

  • Dissonances hobbling oil economy

    The oil resource curse has been Nigeria’s bane. This reality is well known. Yet no discernible effort is being made to transcend the pitfall, even as Nigeria’s political leaders, business elites and experts continue to exhort Nigerians to look beyond its oil era. In reality, it is not the vagaries of the global oil market or the growing emphasis on renewable energy that has posed the greatest challenge to Nigeria’s oil political economy; rather, it is the lack of political commitment to diversification coupled with corruption. This exemplifies the dissonance that has hobbled the nation’s oil industry and national growth.

    One dissonance is exemplified by talking down the importance of oil, reflected in statements like “agriculture will eventually overtake oil”, “technology not oil will drive the economy” and “Nigeria’s biggest export is not oil but its people”. The last point references the fact that remittances by Nigerians in Diaspora, which stood at $25 billion in 2018, have virtually overtaken oil revenue. These assertions rest on a flawed understanding of the dynamics at play. By constitutional mandate and formula, revenue from oil is collected by the federal government and shared with all the states. That is not the case with export earnings from agriculture. Moreover, technology has remained the main driver of oil production ever since the first oil exploration in Pennsylvania in the late 19th century. Presently, advanced technology is also the prime driver in the evolving shale revolution. Thus, technology and oil are co-joined drivers of economic growth.

    Individual Nigerian families remain the primary beneficiaries of Diaspora remittances; and these resources are spent on business formation, health, education, housing, wedding, burials, baptisms, and other forms of extended- family support. Though increasing in volume, home bound remittances are informal and unregulated and hence inherently unpredictable; and no credible fiscal policy can be predicated on flow of remittances. They also rest on a paradigm of migration of some of the country’s best and brightest professional and skilled workers. Remittances are not shared revenue, but government is a residual beneficiary of remittances through possible accretion in capital account. Today, although oil accounts for nine percent of the GDP, it contributes 90 percent of Nigeria’s export income and 70 percent government revenue. The compelling and real strategic challenge for Nigeria’s economic management is that there is no substitute on the horizon to oil as a source of export income and government revenue.

    Another dissonance is reflected in how oil producing states are determined. Nigeria has 11 oil producing states, namely, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Cross River, Edo, Imo, Abia, Anambra, Ondo and Lagos. But pockets of oil deposit are believe to exist in states like Kogi, Enugu, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Ogun and Borno. Yet some areas or states with oil deposits receive limited exploration attention. Recognized vicissitudes of Nigeria’s oil industry include huge losses from militancy and theft. Both result in huge loss of revenue. However, several states sharing contiguous borders have also experienced partial or total loss of derivation revenue and accruing benefits due to policy dissonance, and specifically through delimitation issues, and “arbitrary attribution of oil wells following the implementation of the Onshore/ Offshore Dichotomy Abrogation Act 2004.” At issue is the loss of revenue rights and prevailing ambiguities as to which federal institution can statutorily pronounce a state as “oil producing”. So long as these challenges and the attending dissonance remain unaddressed, Nigeria risks being trapped in the quagmire of extreme poverty amidst immense wealth and natural resources.

    The nexus between non-deregulation of the oil sector and rise in subsidy costs is yet also another source of dissonance. Notwithstanding its ranking as the largest crude oil producer in Africa, Nigeria has remained heavily dependent on the importation of petroleum products to meet its domestic energy demands. A combination of circumstances – harsh operational environment and huge downstream divestment by IOCs – compels huge production costs that can only be offset by subsidization. Moreover, opaque government regulations and non-market-based pricing continue to impact the industry negatively. Sectoral divestments continue unabated. In 2016, ExxonMobil and Oando Plc respectively divested 60 per cent of their stakes in the downstream sector. Remedial efforts by the marketers, to shoulder the cost of importing petroleum products continue to be hamstrung by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s inability to meet forex demands routinely or through special market intervention sales. Based on its 2018 consumption pattern, Nigeria will expend some N746.79 billion in fuel subsidy in 2019. This is an average of N2.046billion daily with the consumption of 55million litres per daily. This is reflected in the disparity between the landing cost of fuel which is N171per litre, with NNPC selling at N138 per litre and the independent vendors at N145 per litre, leaving the taxpayers to subsidize N37 per litre. This subsidy amount could be dispensed with through full deregulation.

    The tardiness in the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) is yet another source of policy dissonance, which has led to missed investment opportunities for Nigeria. The effort to articulate and adopt a new framework for governance of Nigeria’s oil and gas resources began over a decade ago. That effort initially focused on adopting a comprehensive Petroleum Industry Governance law that had four components, namely unbundling the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation; Fiscal Framework; Host and Impacted Communities; and Petroleum Industry Administration. Three years ago, that bill was broken up into separate parts, with the current focus of the PIGB on creating four new entities to improve the efficiency and transparency of the proposed new entities. In reality, the bill which has been passed by the National Assembly and awaiting presidential assent has as its main objective the privatisation of the oil and gas assets. Moreover, at present, there is a growing divergence – and indeed dissonance —between the way oil and gas resources and solid mineral resources are managed. The stay of action by the president on the Nigerian Petroleum Industry Governance Bill may have a new justification – and indeed provides an opportunity for — a constitutional review on natural resources control and ownership, and for a harmonized national policy framework between oil and gas, on one hand, and solid minerals, on the other.

    The desultory management of the environmental impact of oil exploration in the Niger Delta is another source of dissonance. Successive governments at the federal level have enacted a significant body of environmental laws to govern the conduct of oil companies and the management of their operations, with a view to mitigating the adverse consequences of oil exploration and production in that region. The magnitude of the problem has been captured in a report drawn up by “a group of independent environmental and oil experts have put the figure of oil spill, both onshore and offshore at 9 to 13million in the 50 year period (1956-2006)” . To put into comparative perspective, “people living in the Niger Delta have experienced oil spills on par with Exxon Valdez every year for the last 50 years” The wreaked Exxon Valdez oil tanker spilled 262,000 barrels of oil in area known as Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska in March 1989.

    Several reasons have been adduced to explain the broad and persistent pattern of poor compliance and enforcement of environmental regulations in the oil and gas sector. These include lack of adequate funding for monitoring and enforcement activities; lack of technical expertise on a range of environmental policy and management issues; lack of adequate information on the environmental impact of the oil companies; overlapping regulatory responsibility for the oil industry; and the weak regulatory regime. However, the real reason for lack of vigorous enforcement of oil-related environmental degradation appears to lie elsewhere: it is in the structural limitation, stemming from the nature of the oil industry in Nigeria, in which the main foreign oil companies are operated as joint ventures with the federal government. NNPC is the institutional vehicle for the joint ventures between the multinational oil firms and the federal government. NNPC—which is a federal public enterprise — holds an average of 50-60 per cent in all the major foreign oil companies operating in Nigeria. The joint venture makes the federal government an owner. As an owner, the government seemingly has more interest in the revenue stream from the oil production than environmental protection. There is thus an inherent tension between the federal government’s role as an owner and as a regulator. Amnesty International echoed this observation when it noted that “the level of dependence of Nigeria on oil and the fact that the Nigerian government is the majority partner in joint ventures are fundamental problems which underpin regulatory failures” in the oil industry.

  • Akwa Ibom: Much ado about UK advisory

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, FCO of the United Kingdom via a statement posted on its website on June 17, cautioned British nationals against travelling to 21 states, including

    Akwa Ibom, in Nigeria. The FCO stated, in part, that “There is a high threat of kidnaps throughout Nigeria” and that “Kidnaps can be motivated by criminality or terrorism, and could be carried out for financial or political gain”.

    The FCO groups Akwa Ibom in “riverine areas”. Others in the category are the other states but one in the Niger Delta region – Cross River, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta. Fifteen of the states are in northern part of the country, which has been the worst hit of Boko Haram terrorism and farmers-herdsmen communal clashes in recent time, while the remaining one state is Abia in the South Eastern part of Nigeria.

    A week after the FCO statement was issued, the Akwa Ibom State government, through the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Emmanuel Ekuwem, made a riposte, kicking against inclusion of the state’s name. Perceiving the UK’s security directives to its nationals as erroneous, particularly with the inclusion of Akwa Ibom, the state government advanced its contention in the following words: “We believe Akwa Ibom State was erroneously given a mention in the report based on the agitation for equitable distribution of God’s given resources by the youth of the Niger Delta zone, which fortunately today, through several laudable government intervention programmes, has been significantly reduced.”

    While Ekuwem cited glib and presumptuous comments of some topnotch persons in Nigeria, including some top personnel of security agencies in the country that Akwa Ibom “remains one of the most peaceful, safe and secure States in Nigeria”, the UK’s position seems to be relying on reality evidenced in the grievances of people at the lower rung of the society and other residents at the hinterland, who, recently, had been at the receiving end of multi-faceted crimes of banditry, kidnaps, armed robbery, rapes, cult-related clashes, assassinations,

    youth restiveness among others, particularly between early 2017 and late 2018.

    Within the period, about 200 people were said to have been killed, scores of women raped while private properties worth millions of naira were either destroyed or carted away by gunmen in Ukanafun and Etim Ekpo local government areas of Akwa Ibom State. There were

    spillover effects in some part of the neighbouring local government areas of Ika and Oruk Anam. Kidnap incidences, which demands for ransoms ranged from N1, 000 to N100 million, were almost hourly happenings.

    To further buttress how safe he believes Akwa Ibom is, Ekuwem stated that “One of the largest American oil and gas companies, Exxon Mobil, operates peacefully in our state”. Meanwhile, he refused to mention that Idongesit Udom, who retired as a manager

    in Exxon Mobil and relocated to his village in Ukanafun, was kidnapped and got his right hand amputated for his failure or inability to pay ransom pegged at the rate of his multimillion state-of-art Sure Foundation Polytechnic. By this, Ekuwem only succeeded in portraying how those who live in the villages, however their status, matter to the Akwa Ibom State government. Pity to the rural dwellers!

    Measuring on the 36-states-and-Federal-Capital-Territory structure of Nigeria, 21 states is close to two-third of the whole Nigeria, so, why was the state government so forward in countering the UK’s directive to its citizens? Was the state volunteering to rise up to

    the occasion for the Federal Republic of Nigeria?  Does the statement by the Akwa Ibom State government imply that the state is immune from insecurity that has been ravaging Nigeria for years now?

    The presumption that Akwa Ibom is the safest place in Nigeria, which state officials often gloat about, could be true only to the extent that Ukanafun, Etim Ekpo and the environs, which have been ravaged by criminals, are not part of the state. Amidst the presumptuous reveling that Akwa Ibom is more safe and secure than other places in Nigeria, the state government often provides security details armed to the teeth, to some top professionals and businessmen, who visit the state, including those of Akwa Ibom nativity, who move about freely in Lagos and Abuja.

    Insecurity is everywhere in the world today just as it is as old as human history. The differences in security situation from one place to another are marked mostly by conscious effort in an organised society to maul the tide of the malaise. The UK, by that security alert, is doing what other countries that place value on its people have been doing over time.

    In addressing how the Akwa Ibom State government has been fighting crimes, it would have sufficed to mention high profiles cases that the state government has successfully prosecuted for the past five years through the state Ministry of Justice.

    Akwa Ibom State government is losing from the start, and would lose at the end, in its contention with the UK as to the current security situation of the state. It has nothing to do with UK’s level of sophistication, which dwarfs that of Nigeria, let alone Akwa Ibom, but more to do with the power of truth over falsehood.

    Yours truly concedes that candour seems to run in the DNA of the Ekuwems and so his

    untainted personal tract record, which might have largely contributed to his ability to carve a niche for himself in private entrepreneurship before becoming a public servant. Many people,

    including this writer, would probably queue behind the SSG on matters where

    truth and honesty are required. But regarding his official position on the security situation in Akwa Ibom, only those who live life of lies would line up behind him.

    If at all the UK versus Akwa Ibom contest is necessary, the first and fortified step to win the war is to defeat criminality, which is still rearing its ugly head, in the state. And the best way to successfully check the monster is to face the reality with truth.

     

    • Ekanem sent this piece from Lagos through nsikak4media@gmail.com

  • Tears for a priest

    What could be the motivation for the gruesome murder of a Catholic priest? A catholic priest is relatively poor, does not own a business, and is never in contention for a contract, or advancement in critical sectors of the economy. A priest mainly dresses drab in his cassock, is unmarried and never in contention for the hottest bevies in town, and do not contend for titles. He owns no farm or pasture. So, why have priests become targets for herdsmen in Enugu State?

    Last week, Rev. Fr. Paul Offu, the parish priest of St. James the Greater Parish, Ugbawka in Nkanu West Local Government Area, in Enugu State was gruesomely murdered by the herdsmen. A picture of the priest lying in a pool of his blood in an open truck should break the heart of any human being. A disconsolate Catholic Bishop of Enugu, Most Rev. Dr. Callistus Onaga, lamented: “if there are crop of bad herdsmen in the state they should be fished out and we will continue to live in peace with the good ones.”

    Why would the bad herdsmen be allowed to give bad name to all Fulani herdsmen in the country? Nearly two weeks to the murder of Father Offu, another Priest Rev. Fr. Ikechukwu Ilo escaped assassination in the same axis of the state, in the hands of the same bad herdsmen. To show their discontentment, over 200 priests in the Enugu diocese marched on the street, demanding that the murderers be apprehended to face the law.

    A bewildered Catholic Bishop of Enugu wondered: “why we get worried when our priests are attacked is that it shows the level of insecurity other Nigerians face daily.” He went on: “our priests are very much respected and honoured by the people (locals); so if these things can happen to them, what happens to the flock.” No doubt, the priests are revered by the locals in that part of the country even though occasionally you see cases of intransigence by a few. But to contemplate murdering a priest is an ignominious and unpardonable abomination.

    So, why would herdsmen whose primary business should be to tend cows, turn to gun-toting men, targeting those who they have nothing in contention with? As bad as it is, one can situate herdsmen attack on farmers, which is a war waged by bad herdsmen to forcefully gain access to food for their cattle. But how can one situate the gung-ho attacks by these bandits on helpless priests who own no farms, fields or any form of pasture that could be the target of a herdsman?

    Same last week, five persons travelling on the Benin-Sagamu expressway to Lagos to join their brethren at a conference of RCCG ministers were captured in a commando style, by the bad herdsmen. It was on the same route that the daughter of Afenifere leader was gruesomely murdered recently, leading to a national uproar. As I said on this page following that mindless killing that rattled the federal government, criminality is a regular feature on that unfortunate national artery.

    One wonders the motivation for herdsmen to bust onto a national highway, to shoot travellers or kidnap them? Ransom perhaps for the kidnap; but what is the motivation for the mindless killing of those who are not contending anything with the killers? I can hear readers saying, just to terrorise them. Well, yes, such acts of criminality fit into the definition of terrorism; but terrorism to achieve what purpose? Could it be to drive home a point that the terrorizers are ruthless and should be allowed their way elsewhere?

    While we ponder these queries, governments at all levels, especially the federal government which has control over the national security apparatus must wake up to confront these bad herdsmen and other criminals making life unbearable for Nigerians. As the General Overseer of the RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, whose pastor and church members were kidnapped asked: “As a father, how do you think I should feel to hear that five of my children have been kidnapped while on their way to attend the ministers’ conference?”

    Luckily, the police in Ogun State have reportedly found out the den of the kidnappers in the forest, and have rescued the victims. Also, it was reported that some suspects have been arrested. I hope they expose the sponsors and their gang. The named victims Chidozie Eluwa, Chiemela Iroha, Okor Ohowukwe and Ibeleji Chidinma are lucky to gain their freedom, perhaps because of the pressure from the highly influential Pastor Adeboye of RCCG and the vice president, who is a pastor of the church, on the security agencies to free the victims.

    In Enugu State, where Father Offu was killed by the bad herdsmen, as I write, the federal government is yet to apprehend the murderers. With the vice president barely settling down from the trips he made in the south-west after the killing of Mrs Olakunri, who will the president send to appease the people of the state and the zone? Or is the death of Rev. Fr. Offu not enough to arouse an upheaval? Perhaps, like Stalin, the authorities may ask: “The Bishop! How many divisions has he got?”

    But the Reverend Father is a priest of the most High God, and the wrath of his father is a consuming fire. As the Bible said, ‘touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm.’ The bad herdsmen who have made priests in Enugu State an easy target are digging their graves, and would soon meet their comeuppance. In the meantime, the federal government must also deploy the drones to the south-east to expose the criminals giving President Muhammadu Buhari’s ethnic group a terrible profiling.

    The order by the president for the killers to be fished out must be carried out by the security agencies. No excuse should be acceptable to the people of Enugu State. The bandits who killed Rev. Fr. Paul Offu and those who shot at Rev. Fr. Ikechukwu Ilo must be fished out by the security agencies quickly, so that they can face the law. To delay is to expose the good herdsmen to the anger of the people, and the good herdsmen deserve to be separated from the bad ones, just like the grains from the chaff.

    The governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s promise to fish out the killers is reassuring. He should give a matching order to the leadership of Miyetti Allah in the state to fish out the culprits and hand them over to the police. They should know that failure to solve the dastardly murder of Rev. Fr. Paul Offu would do grievous damage to the relative peace in the state.

  • Makinde: Working to build an enduring legacy

    In understanding the innate meaning of government and the art of governance, it can be perceived to mean the act of administering a given set of people or resources and ensuring effective and efficient distribution of social amenities for the general good of all.

    The government decides on what to do to better the lot of the largest sum at any point in time.

    The government, therefore, must be able to both think and act well so as to be able to address the genuine needs of the people it governs, and not just a perceived one. This is judicious use of government discretion.

    By evaluating the structural foundation of the Engr. Seyi Makinde administration in Oyo State, and with all what one has seen so far, it would not be out of place for any sincere pundit to be able to predict the erection of a sound and an enduring governmental structure in the state.

    And, on the above premise, it is high time that bitter and partisan politicking was given the boot not only in Oyo State but the whole of Nigeria altogether.

    For us not to just be counting mere calendar age for Nigeria as a country with nothing to show for it progress-wise, we should endeavour, for our general good, to ditch party politicking in Nigeria and go instead for ‘personality politicking’.

    As it were in the Nigeria of today, and per our Constitution, any ill-advised electoral decision would cause the citizenry to pine away for four good years at the least.

    Therefore, Nigerians generally and the good people of Oyo State particularly should learn to shine their eyes always in attempting to elect their leaders.

    Enter Governor Seyi Makinde

    On assumption of office, Makinde left no one in doubt of his resolve in taking the state to the next level of development. He is unarguably the best candidate, going by evaluations from sundry socio-political pedestals, in the last gubernatorial election in Oyo State. He is undoubtedly a gentleman, cool-headed, firm in a dignifying way; one who loves and fears God, and also a staunch believer in the right of all Oyo people to live well.

    Barely two months ago, the whole of Oyo State went agog with the cheering news that the present administration of Engineer Seyi Makinde has abolished payment for the Common Entrance School Examination, and has even gone further to direct that such fees as having already been taken from pupils be refunded to them forthwith.  The only time any such thing happened in the history of Nigeria was 40years ago.  In fact, upon election as the first Executive Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, issued what can best be described as a premature Executive Order.  This was sometime in September of 1979 after he had been elected. He ordered that parents of students and pupils resuming that month should not pay school fees.  But the then military administrator od Lagos, Commodore Ebitur Ikiwe, fired back, insisting that the parents should pay and that once Jakande was sworn-in on October 1, 1979, he can begin to issue Executive Orders.  And upon being sworn-in on Monday, October , 1979, Jakande ordered that the fees must be refunded to parents.  I know this to be true because my parents benefitted from that refund.  Jakande made that possible and went on to become the best ever state governor in Nigeria – not minding the pretensions by some today whose brand of politics is hinged on hero-worship, which in itself is a function of corrupt enrichment.  Shall we then safely say Governor Makinde, starting on this progressive note, is set to liberate the good people of Oyo State from years of inferior governance?  Yes, we can.

    For, this is an administration that is yet to clock 100 days in power but has shown signs of greater things to happen. This is well-advised government discretion, as it goes a long way in touching the very souls of many indigent Oyo State parents. Verily, no Civil Engineer that is worth his salt needs to wait for a building to be fully erected before he would be able to determine its structural endurance; he is able to determine this by just evaluating the foundation thereof.

    As we all know in elementary political science that peace and security are indeed sine qua non of every government, Governor Makinde promised to turn around the security architecture of the state in order to bring in foreign investors, just as he said his administration has four main pillars with Agric value chain as a key aspect to promote foreign investment.

    For us in Oyo State, the last two months have been spent mainly rebuilding institutions that had been turned into total ruins, and providing lasting foundation. The governor has also embarked on providing the infrastructure that will guarantee that the state is governed as a modern state.

    Also, he has initiated the process of reaching out to international development partners to bring them in for the development of the state. Everywhere he had been in the last two months, the story had been the same – forward-looking agenda.

    As part of the efforts of government to provide a lasting superstructure for governance in the state, the Makinde government, last week, set up the contract review committee, to review projects and contracts awarded by the immediate-past administration. Even babes and suckling were aware of the arrant disregard for probity and accountability that reigned in the state in the last eight years and indeed the massive fraud that percolated government.

    When the committee submits its report in the next few weeks, government would have found a way out of impunity that characterized the last eight years and for posterity. As intangible as this may appear, it will conform to the words of Marcus Garvey that a people without the knowledge of their past are like a tree without a root.

    In the government’s bid to bring succour to our senior citizens in the state, government has committed about N280 million as payment of gratuities to 100 retired civil servants for 2012 on grade level 1 – 17 in the state. It is an underscore of government’s care for retirees.

    In the area of labour relations, Governor Makinde has succeeded in reversing the trend where workers in the state were the least paid in the whole of South West. As intangible as it may sound, unlike the practice in the past, workers in the state now collect their salary on 25th of every month, a feat which has been resoundingly applauded by all civil servants in the state.  For a state governor who openly declared his asset and his worth, it is reassuring that here is a state governor who  wants workers to get paid for job done.

    The vision of this government, however, extends beyond the above. It is believed that what matters most to him is the superstructure of governance that is, in the last two months, being put in place. Never will the state of our infrastructure be as deplorable as we had them in the last eight years; never will corruption be an insignia of government of the state; never will our infrastructure go moribund; never will the people of Oyo State live inferior lifestyles: these are the assurances Governor Makinde has been giving the people in the last two months.

    Obviously, it is proved that nobody tangoes with God and wins. The good people of Oyo State should endeavour to cooperate vibrantly with the incumbent government for them to experience an enduring betterment in Oyo State this once.

    • Alonge is a teacher based in Ogbomoso

  • Princeton Lyman greatness to irrelevance thesis: Deep thinking Nigeria’s future

    Recently, WhatsApp began trending with the article version of a panel discussion of the former United States Ambassador to Nigeria and South Africa, the late Princeton Lyman. The panel discussion was at the 2009 Achebe Colloquium at the Brown University, United States. The article is titled “The Nigerian State and the US Strategic Interests.” That Lyman’s presentation still resonates almost nine years after its thoughts were brilliantly and forcefully presented from the deep perspectives of experience and perspicacity is a testament to the fundamental significance of the arguments of the seasoned diplomat as to the present global condition of the Nigerian state. The ambassador deconstructed the basis of Nigeria’s strategic influence in Africa and the world. He argued eloquently that to still insist that Nigeria’s population, for instance, constitute a strategic strength for Nigeria is to simply be playing the ostrich while other truly strategic states have already transformed the dynamics around the issues of global strategic thinking. And they have done this in ways that have truly transformed their global positioning. According to him, to keep repeating the national cliché that Nigeria is a great nation (or that one out of every five Africans is a Nigerian) is a national sentiment already defeated by Nigeria’s underdevelopment.

    I understand where Ambassador Lyman’s conceptual and practical challenges are coming from. The idea of “strategy” is a strategic discourse in international and global relations. It points at those significant elements of a state’s sovereign existence that could count as bargaining chips in the state’s relationship with other states, and in ways that could also enhance the state’s developmental efforts. It is in this sense that Nigeria’s huge population and status as a global oil player become critical strategic factors. We all are familiar with the stakes of crude oil and the politics of international regulatory organizations like OPEC. We all are equally familiar with Nigeria fundamental roles in shaping the political and cultural discourses and dynamics on the African continent. When the last xenophobic attacks occurred in South Africa, Nigerians indignantly reminded the South Africans about the role of Nigeria not only in the agitations against apartheid, but also about the critical assistance Nigeria provided in securing the release of Nelson Mandela and ultimately in ending the apartheid system. We have equally pointed at the various peacekeeping campaigns in ECOMOG in which Nigeria is a critical partner.

    What we are missing in this rhetoric of relevance is the crucial fact that the concept of strategy in international relations is not founded on any static framework. Strategy is strategic because it keeps evolving. States adjust their strategic reflections to deep global challenges and the dangers or possibilities that such challenges and events pose to their existence and development. Let us return to the politics of global oil. It is increasingly becoming clear that the strategic role of crude oil in the international markets has changed radically, especially for countries like Nigeria where it constitute the major economic product. The United States that once was Nigeria’s biggest buyer of oil has ceased been so. And this is because the United States, like most other states, keep reflecting on their economic status and how they can cancel out their strategic weaknesses. It is simply bad strategy for the United States to keep itself enslaved to Nigeria’s oil and the terrible fluctuations of the global oil market and pricing dynamics. Immediately the United States stopped importing Nigeria’s oil the reality of global strategy ought to have dawned on us. That was the period the Nigerian state ought to have commenced another level of serious national conversation and strategic reflection on the economic dangers of perpetual monoeconomy as well as the inherent virtues of getting diversification to happen as not just an emergency, but a national survival issue. Unfortunately, we are not there yet. Nigeria is still marinating in the illusion of national and continental grandeur founded on a rapidly diminishing sense of our relevance and significance.

    I read this illusory sense of grandeur and Nigeria’s present underdevelopment as arising from a fundamental difference between triviality and the substantive elements that makes for strategic decision making in any state. As far as I am concerned, the difference between strategic relevance and strategic irrelevance of any state is a function of such a state’s decision-making quotient. By “decision making quotient,” I refer to the state’s decision-making processes and institutions, and their outcomes vis-à-vis the objectives the state has set for itself in development terms. The difference between Nigeria and the United States (or other developed states for that matter) is the differentials in the decision-making quotients of the two states. When a state ultimately fails and another does not, we must look to the functional optimality of their decision-making apparatuses. Larry Diamond once warned that there are four possible factors that could lead to state failure. One, the administrators failed to anticipate a problem before it surfaced; two, those managing the decision-making apparatuses fail to see the problem for what it is when it surfaced; three, they ignore the problem even when properly perceived; and finally, failure of attempts to resolve the problem.

    The real problem with the decision-making processes and institutions of the Nigerian state is that the logic of strategic developmental reflection on the past and future of the Nigerian state has been subordinated to the superfluity of politics. Politicians always look for political capital that will assure their place on the scheme of power. Every decision is weighed critically to ensure that they yield the most political possibilities. The difference between releasing money for the upgrade of a minor road and the rehabilitation of a major teaching hospital is that the former provides more political capital for the governor’s reelection bid. Thus, politics in Nigeria, like in most states across the world, manifests the worst form of self-centeredness. In essence, politics detract from the strategic significance of a larger picture by reducing everything to the immediate and to the present and the now. Development does not matter as long as the politicians keep a tight hold on power while satisfying the network of clients and patrons.

    Permit me to cite an example in the administrative history of Nigeria. It is a worthwhile example since its consequences are still with us today. In 1974, the Udoji Reform Commission was set up and it released its recommendations as to how Nigeria’s administrative framework could be transformed in line with the managerial revolution which have impacted other states’ decision-making quotient. The Udoji Report recommended the institution of a performance management dynamics vide what then was understood as planning, programming budgeting system (PPBS) and management by objective (MBO) backstopped by project management tools and techniques that would change the performance output of public servants as well as increase the productivity profile of the Nigerian state. Unfortunately, the military regime, at the time, calculated the political capital of this Report rather than see the developmental consequences. In deciding to implement the monetary aspect of the Report, the administration gained sufficient popularity. However, the failure to put in place a performance management metric that would have put Nigeria’s administrative framework on an optimal basis has constrained the functionality of the public service to date.

    How then can we say the Nigerian state is making progress if we are locked into the timelessness of present selfish considerations that fails to see the trees for the wood? What then is strategic reflection if we persistently insist on trivial national pursuits rather than generating national conversations on the status of Nigeria in the eyes of Nigerians themselves and in the eyes of others? Nigeria’s foreign policy statement has become a documentary narrative of what greatness we used to have. It fails to feed into current and evolving global strategic positioning that is founded on economic strength and power. Nigeria’s major challenge since independence is that of facilitating a nation building framework that would enable the emergence of a genuine nation out of the diverse constituents the colonialists cobbled together. After fifty-nine years of independence, Nigeria has still not managed to appropriate the decision-making dynamics that would have fashioned a civic orientation that answers the national question. We are still as divided as we were at the immediate post-independence period. The kind of insecurity and violence that engulfed the first Republic in the 60s is threatening us again. And yet we have not found a way out.

    Becoming strategically relevant is not a function of dwelling on Nigeria’s historic relevance. Rather, it has to do with increasingly firming up those historic moments with a fundamental perception of global and regional circumstances, and responding to these circumstances with a deep sense of national significance. Such significance derives from deep thinking Nigeria’s development and national challenges. Nigeria’s national question is deeply connected with Nigeria’s economic development. Answering the national question is a developmental issue. And to make sense of this challenge is to deflect the decision-making apparatuses of the Nigerian state into substantive matters devoid of the egoism and narcissism of bad politics. The politics that is strategic is the one that focuses on the destiny of the Nigerian state vis-à-vis its continuing relevance in the global world. Nigeria’s present political architecture will make us increasingly irrelevant not only in Africa but in global reckoning ultimately.

    The Nigerian state is situated in the context of so many moments of history.

    • Tunji Olaopa

    Retired Federal Permanent Secretary

    & Professor of Public Administration

    tolaopa2003@gmail.com

    tolaopa@isgpp.com.ng

     

  • A new beginning

    The vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, on a visit to Anambra State recently, called for a new beginning in the relationship between the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the people of the Southeast. This column on many occasions, called for that rapprochement, arguing that the Southeast has no reason to put all her eggs in one weak basket, placed on the unbalanced head of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose legs have been wobbling since 2015.

    In his remarks, published by his media aide, Laolu Akande, the vice president reminded south-easterners that President Muhammadu Buhari on two occasions he ran for the presidency, had as vice-presidential candidates, two eminent Igbo sons. One was Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, and the other was Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, and both of them were no minnows in politics.  So, when PDP agents say that historically President Muhammadu Buhari hates the Igbos, I wonder where they get their facts.

    The vice president also reeled out projects that the Buhari presidency has undertaken in the south-east, to include the on-going second Niger Bridge, completed Zik Mausoleum, Onitsha-Enugu expressway rehabilitation, electrification project at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, and of course the social investment programmes very dear to the vice president’s heart. While the Southeast deserves more projects, this column commends those projects as potentials, a détente between the zone and the Buhari presidency could generate.

    The vice president also noted that Anambra State is one of the seven states that have two ministerial nominees. While the state has always had that privilege, perhaps because of her per capita contribution to the party, it is noteworthy that under the Buhari government, the special favour is maintained. Of course, the returning minister and former Governor Chris Ngige, is a juggernaut in the party.

    Going forward, what Igbo elites should do, is to work for the interest of the region in any party they are in, while not negating the overall interest of Nigeria. For instance, they should take a stand on the boiling issue of insecurity in the country, and push for amendment of the constitution to allow for state and local police authorities. While opponents of the ruling party are entitled to disagree with the party, it is retrogressive to associate membership of APC with sabotaging of the region’s interest.

    After all, the PDP government could not gift Nigeria any significant restructuring, while in power for 16 years. So, it is untenable to give the impression that APC’s inability to address the problem is because a Buhari who has an axe to grind with the Igbos is in power. Therefore, since the faulty national security structure predates Buhari, a bipartisan approach would be more productive that smear campaigns.

    While Buhari’s opponents can claim that insecurity has arguably worsened or has created a dangerous mutant under his watch, the solution would only come under a bipartisan approach to the challenges. So, instead of the Igbo elites wasting energy demonising their kit and kin who feel comfortable in the APC government, they should concentrate their energy in finding solution to the hydra-headed problems bedevilling the nation. As I have said, the fundamental challenges can only be solved via a bipartisan approach.

    So, abuse qua abuse, will not lead to the Promised Land, which the country badly needs to stave a total breakdown of law and order. With former Governor Rotimi Amaechi returning hopefully to the Ministry of Transportation, the new beginning should include, adding the Southeast to the Northeast railway, in the federal government’s railway modernisation programme. Cutting a deal on that major infrastructure project can only come via a deft rapprochement with the central government.

    The leaders of Southeast in government must therefore wake up and make hay while the sun shines. It is not fair to take the benefits due to leaders of the party in the zone, but fail to work to build the party in the zone and ensure the people benefit from the government. Luckily, the constitution ensures every state has a minister. The occupier of that coveted position must use the visibility conferred by it, to grow the party and ensure what is due to the state gets to it.

    In some states, there were protests over the re-nomination of former ministers. My home State Enugu, was one of them. The state chairman of the party protested that the party was not consulted before Geoffrey Onyeama was re-nominated for the new federal cabinet. While the president could choose not to consult with the party in making his choice, the chosen one owes a duty to nurture the party, as a representative in the cabinet.

    Even when the president is doing his final term in office, it is in his interest the party is sustained and if possible returned to power, if the legacies of the president is to be sustained. So, the survival of the party is as much in the interest of an outgoing president, as it is in the interest of a budding successor. Unfortunately, the drawback caused by the absence of cohesion amongst party officials in southeast states, is made worse by the failure of their representatives to use their visibility to promote the party.

    For instance, this writer severally called upon former Governor Rochas OKorocha to use his position as the only APC governor to build the party in the zone, but he squandered the opportunity. Now he is running from pillar to post, with neither party nor the people supporting him, as Governor Emeka Ihedioha is turning him and his family into an endangered specie in the state. While as Imo State governor, Okorocha was beclouded by an ill-mannered determination to foist his son-in-law on the state at all cost. As happens in such silly endeavours, he is left to lick his wounds, alone.

    One project that should also form a cornerstone of the new beginning, preached by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is the upgrading of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport to full international status. Recently, the federal aviation authority reeled out the airports they are working on their landing instruments, and no mention was made of the only international airport in the Southeast. If Buhari’s government wants a cohesive country, it must disregard partisan detractors and ensure a fair distribution of national resources across the geo-political zones.

    Perhaps, it is good the immediate past Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, is returning to government, most likely his former ministry. The action governor of Enugu State, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, must ensure a good working relationship with whoever emerges as Minister of Aviation, to contribute his quota for the Enugu airport to be upgraded to full international status by the federal government within the next four years.