The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Fuss over poll order

    If members of the National Assembly have their way, as they seem intent on doing, presidential poll would tailguard the sequence of the Nigerian general election due next year. And if that gets to happen, the election management body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), would be arm-twisted over the timetable it has already announced, which heads up with national elections comprising the presidential and national assembly polls.

    The national lawmakers dug their heels deeper into the gameplan late last week as the Senate fell into line with an alteration to Section 25 of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended, being proposed by the House of Representatives. The House had late last January altered the principal act by inserting a new sub-section 25 (1) providing that: ‘Elections into the office of the president and vice president, the governor and deputy governor of a state, and to the membership of the Senate, the House of Representatives and House of Assembly of each state of the federation shall be held in the following order: (a) National Assembly elections (b) State Houses of Assembly and Governorship elections, and (c) presidential elections.’

    Besides tweaking the sequence of elections already made public by INEC, the deal being proposed by the national lawmakers involves three streams of elections. The commission in its timetable had outlined two streams of poll by combining national (namely presidential and national assembly) elections on one day and state (i.e., governorships and state houses of assembly) elections on another day.

    To engender certainty about election schedules in Nigeria in the absence of statutory specification of dates as one would find in other electoral jurisdictions, INEC had since March, last year, announced a standardisation of national elections to henceforth hold on the third Saturday in February of a general election year, while state elections are to hold two weeks after. For the 2019 elections in particular, the commission early last January outed with a notice of poll scheduling national elections for February 16th 2019, and the state elections for March 2nd.

    As things presently stand, however, National Assembly members are among other amendments proposing a three-phased election schedule that would conclude with the presidential poll, which seems to be tossing the electoral body’s work plan in the thrash bin. My aim here is to interrogate the propriety, and that is not mentioning legality, of the changes being proposed by lawmakers.

    History offers some help in understanding how INEC hit upon two-streamed election schedules, as opposed to three streams being canvassed with the NASS amendment. Up till 2011, elections were conducted in at least three phases, and they typically kicked off with nationally assembly elections and concluded with the presidential poll. But following the reforms of 2011 that restored integrity to the ballot box – invariably, though, with cost escalation arising from hugely expanded logistics –  clamour surged from the Nigerian public for all elections to be conducted simultaneously on the same day. In any event, the clamour aligned with global best practice, because that happens to be the pattern in most developed democracies and, indeed, developing democracies like Kenya, Liberia, Egypt and South Africa.

    In response to the public clamour, and with only nascent strides yet achieved in restoring integrity to Nigerian elections, INEC under the former leadership of Professor Attahiru Jega balked at taking the plunge down the one-day-for-all-elections route. But it did scale down the scheduling profile by collapsing national elections into one day, and state elections into another day for the 2015 general election.

    The notice of poll for the 2019 general election recently published by the current Professor Mahmood Yakubu-led electoral commission was obviously in keeping with that cost-cutting and public responsive initiative. Only that the amendments now being proposed by national lawmakers are primed to overturn all that.

    The legislators have argued that the proposed alteration in no way infringed the statutory independence of INEC to schedule and conduct elections. Among others, the chair of Senate committee on Electoral Act amendment, Senator Suleiman Nazif, was last week reported saying re-sequencing of the 2019 elections through the proposed  amendments of the principal act did not conflict with extant provisions. Sections 76(1), 116(1), 132(1) and 178(1) of the 1999 Federal Constitution, as amended, for instance, empowers INEC to appoint the date for respective election – but with 2010 amendment caveat, to wit: ‘in accordance with the Electoral Act.’ Nazif stated: “For avoidance of doubt, this amendment bill with the inclusion of section 25(1) which makes provision for sequence of elections different from the one earlier rolled out by INEC has not in any way violated any provisions of the laws governing the operations of the electoral body.”

    On the face of things, he could seem right. Because the apparent logic is that the Constitution, by way of the 2010 amendment, already commits INEC to exercise its assigned powers in deference to the Electoral Act – which exactly is what NASS members are pushing to amend to suit their re-scheduling fancy. But this logic begs the question of the effect of subsection 15(a) of Part 1 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Federal Constitution, which prescribes that INEC shall ‘have power to organise, undertake and supervise all elections to the offices of the President, Vice-President, the Governor and Deputy Governor, of a state, and to the membership of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the House of Assembly of each state of the Federation.’

    Some of us would argue, and the commission could as well, that the constitutionally endowed power to ‘organise’ and ‘undertake’ elections invariably involves INEC setting the dates and sequences it fancies for such elections.

    But we could as well leave arguments about fine points of law and consider practical implications of the proposed reordering of the 2019 elections. And the place to begin,  perhaps, is by asking what or whose interest the arrangement being proposed is likely to serve. I do not pretend to be infallible on this matter; but so far as I see, the proposed re-sequencing would only possibly shield national lawmakers up for election from the proverbial bandwagon effect of the presidential poll.

    But if that is all there is to gain from the proposed plan, the price for Nigeria to pay in material and social dislocation costs by having three election days in 2019 rather than two is unduly monumental. Recall, for instance, that the country is usually locked down on election days, with tailspinning dislocation of social and economic activities, including local and international travels. Some have actually wondered why the NASS won’t consider grouping all legislative elections – national and state assemblies – into a steam and executive elections – governorships and presidential – into another stream, if only for minimal disruption of INEC logistical designs.

    That, of course, isn’t counting the sheer escalation of the material cost of staging three elections as opposed to staging two. Such escalation would come from mobilising, deploying and demobilising more than a million regular and ad hoc polling officials as well as security agents for three election days. Actually, it could also overtax the psychological potential of these essential polling staff. And that is not to mention similar levies to be borne by domestic and international election observers.

    Truth be told, the proposed re-sequencing of the 2019 elections by NASS is a terribly bad idea and should be discarded.

     

    • Please join me on kayodeidowu.blogspot.befor conversation.   

  • Obasanjo, His Obasanjo

    At a time like this, the counsel is appropriate: Concentrate on the message, and leave the messenger safely alone. So, I will resist the temptation to lay into an irretrievably flawed character and concentrate on the value of the message.

    For Obasanjo, whether with his spouses, children, peers or those who occupy or aspire to the offices he once held, it is a contest in which there must be one winner: Obasanjo. And not just Obasanjo, but Olusegun Obasanjo. One cannot but ruefully retrospect that if he somehow achieved his ambition of becoming the UN Secretary General, perhaps the country would have been rid of his megalomania and messianic  hypocrisy, and unbundled him on the world stage; for he is an actor who craves the klieg light long after the ovation is over.

    Obasanjo, as he admitted in the letter, had advertised Buhari’s so-called weaknesses on the economy and foreign relations to no end. And, yes, Buhari may be weak in those areas, but there are certainly men of quality and vision helping out in those areas. Buhari’s economic team, though understated and often maligned is proving to be one of the most effective yet in the nation’s history.

    The failing of past governments has been clear. From a rural agricultural base at independence, the country transformed to an import-dependent economy upon the discovery of oil at the turn of the decade. Instead of growing our agricultural base and using the new wealth from oil to transform to a globally-competitive human capital and industrialized giant that we could be, we abandoned even the rudimentary agriculture that had served us very well until then and engaged in the export of crude oil for the personal aggrandizement of the new men in power and their collaborators, home and abroad.

    This was the challenge that faced the country for several decades until the inception of this democracy in 1999, and which Obasanjo as president couldn’t do much to reverse unfortunately. So, when Obasanjo talks of ‘round-tripping’ in the inner circles of the present government, one wonders what exactly he means. In fact, my enquiry did not yield much apart from the mild rebuke: “You know Obasanjo knows everything!”

    But on reflection, the retired General must have had the humungous sums in local and foreign currencies found in the NIA vaults and in places where they should not be in mind. What he accuses the Buhari government of however has indeed been the business of every past government, and that it is much in the public domain these days means that the present one is serious about eradicating it or at least reducing it to its barest minimum.

    If anyone, more so Obasanjo who knows the inner workings of government wants to be fair, what is on display, whether with the former SGF Babachir Lawal, NIA’s Oke and now Maina’s cases, is deep-rooted systemic rot which needs painstaking and proper interrogation to get to the root. Especially in the Maina case, he is certainly not alone, but in fact represents a racket that has been at the bottom of the many failed civil service reforms. A purported sack cannot be enough, no matter how quickly executed. Obasanjo, I recall, was part of the Murtala Mohammed’s experiment, full of fury and decisiveness, which many later adjudged to be a failure, and in fact, having the opposite effect of promoting the malaise that it sought to cure in the first place.

    Buhari lived through it all. And that is why when he made his recent statement about taking his time to come to decisions and having to live with his conscience thereafter. I thought that instead of the insults he got, what he deserved was praise. This is indeed our country, and we have seen it all. The good, and the mostly bad times!

    Which makes one to ask: do we really know the nuances of the system of government we have chosen and the change we voted for? Sadly, even Obasanjo betrayed his ignorance of both in his recent communication. Like God’s mills, the mills of democracy grind slowly, but unlike God’s mills, they hardly grind exceedingly well. This is the bitter truth we must tell ourselves. I remember many commentators judging Obasanjo’s first term (1999-2003) as having achieved very little. In fact, the most that could be pointed to was the reforms in the military and the liberalization of the communication sector. Of course, a lot more was cooking on the economic front, like the debt-forgiveness negotiations which benefit was reaped in his second term.

    Change, by its very nature, is like birth pangs of a woman. It comes with excruciating pains and dislocations. It can be slow and gradual too. As an individual, I am perhaps one of the worst affected. In my middle years and with no gainful employment, apart from a part-time job, I admonish myself and millions of others in my shoes that we may be hungry now, but we must never fall for the trap of anger. Anger is a negative emotion which does not yield anything good and lasting. What the present situation of the country requires is a deep introspection and to understand that every great nation went through these painful birth pangs before setting on the path of irrevocable development. The often cited Lee Kwan Yew’s Singapore endured his benevolent dictatorship for 15 years before the breakthrough came; Gorbachev’s USSR swallowed the bile of Glasnost and Perestroika and the dismantling of the anachronistic USSR to break forth in the 15 wonders of freedom and progress that it has become today.

    The journey that the immediate past government and the PDP as the party then in power was taking us on, could only have arrived at one destination: Golgotha! Obasanjo cannot completely absolve himself of blame from this outcome. As soon as he took the reins of office, he re-created the PDP that brought him to power in his own image. The organs of the party which are supposed to facilitate a robust generation and processing of government policy were discountenanced and completely discarded. The few like the present agriculture minister, Audu Ogbeh who had the presence of mind to caution were humiliated and thrown out. Under who did Chris Uba’s Anambra, Zaki-Biam and Odi massacres occur? Under whom did EFCC become a vindictive machine for achieving narrow and little political ends, despite the best efforts of the pioneer leadership of the outfit?

    All this go to show that the problems we have in our polity, go beyond strong men. We need institutional and structural reforms. I am glad that stakeholders including the ruling APC which committee just submitted its report continue to interrogate the issue. Some of the lapses observed so far under the present Buhari administration should have proved conclusively to all doubters, if there are still any, that our country is in urgent need of real reforms. And unlike, the maddening crowd out there, that is not something to take lightly or without deep contemplation. That is why again, instead of crucifying President Buhari for calling for more reflection on the subject in his New Year message to the country, we ought to take a step back and reflect. He may not be necessarily averse to restructuring like many career reformists would have us believe. His might rather just be a caution that we cannot run away from the reality that men run, and processes would be built on, whatever structure we eventually come up with. There is some merit in the argument that perhaps our problem is not structural alone, but also men and attitude! And one does not cure the other.

     

    • Owaiye is a public affairs analyst.

  • Osun airport MRO facilities: a model for maintenance of aircraft in West Africa

    Every year, Nigerian airlines spend billions of naira to service aircraft in the fleets outside the country because we do not have functional Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities. Governor Aregbesola has called for the establishment of MRO facilities over the years which have fallen on deaf ears, and the country has continued to lose hard currency because her airlines do so abroad. One of the major challenges confronting the aviation sector in Nigeria is the lack of facility to carry out maintenance checks on aircraft.

    New Osun Airport MRO facilities will save Nigeria billions of naira annually, which is one of the lessons that the strategic mega project taught Nigeria. When the first phase of MKO Abiola International Airport, Ido Osun, Osun State, is completed, the facility will save the country foreign exchange of billions of naira per annum. As aircraft manufacturers move towards composite materials and avionics become more sophisticated, the Osun Airport hangar maintenance facility will need to respond to the new requirements. The aircraft maintenance facility will resemble an industrial facility which will require remediation of toxic effluents, air pollution permits, safety standards for working in hazardous areas and a high tech facility with laboratories and clean rooms.

    The Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility at Osun Airport is nearing its completion. On request of the state government, the federal government pledged support for the project, and the facility will become a national hangar. However, a nice and large hangar does not necessarily mean that the technical knowledge and man power will be available to run the facility and provide high-quality maintenance services. Who will become responsible for operating the facility and provide maintenance services? Will domestic and foreign airlines be interested in using the facility?

    In order to better serve several airlines in Nigeria, Osun Airport Aircraft Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facility is in good location. All facilities provide light airframe maintenance for both narrow body and wide body aircraft. Osun Airport facility is our home base, and covers nearly 2.7 million square feet (about 250,000 square metres or the size of 47 football fields). It was specifically designed to provide a smooth flow of work and material. Airframe maintenance work is performed in one area, aircraft engine maintenance work in another, and component maintenance in yet another. Meanwhile, all three are tied together by an efficient, reliable multi-vehicle transportation system capable of delivering material and parts quickly.

    Osun Technical Operation hangar features state-of-the-art design, and is devoted to specific responsibilities for the maintenance, repair and overhaul of your fleet.

    It has been revealed that West and Central African carriers expend at least $1bn on maintenance of their aircraft annually outside the region. This is as airlines in the country spend at least $1.8m regularly in carrying out C-Checks on their aircraft outside the country. The federal government has also said that it would formulate policies that would make Nigerian airlines to remain in business rather than allow them to close shop.

    Engr. Isaac Balami, the immediate past president of National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), has disclosed that all the airlines in the West and Central Africa expend $1bn in maintenance of their aircraft.  “Airlines in this region expend $1bn on the maintenance of their aircraft annually, but with this now, such maintenance can now be carried out within the region and this will reduce capital flight out of Nigeria and the sub-region.”

    Leasing of maintenance and repair space can be costly. Osun Airport will build its reputation on the availability of space and excellent service to aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul companies. Osun Airport will provide multiple types of space availability and facilities to accommodate the needs of airport operation. With a smoother start-up and transition process, tools, equipment and materials to the airport with greater ease and less complication, Osun airport will deliver.

    After waiting for more than 20 years, the people of Osun are now set to witness the launch of the country’s best airport hangar facility. With an initial capacity of three million passengers a year, the mega airport is among the largest airports in Africa. Over time, its capacity is expected to rise to 10 million passengers a year, making it one of the highest-capacity airports on the content.

    The new multimillion dollar airport is seating on a 4,500-hectare piece of land in a less crowded area with no heavy traffic jam like in the overcrowded capital. It also has a larger terminal and runways with a capacity to host more people and flights.

    Boosting the economy in Osun

    With a new airport that can accommodate more passengers and flights, the economy of Osun is expected to expand. The government of Senegal also hopes that the airport will help to diversify the country’s economy, which has for a long time relied on Abuja. The airport will serve as the centrepiece of the “Airport City” and the team is already planning to develop commercial installations such as hotels, malls, and other business facilities around the facility. At least 1,000 local retailers will be allowed to operate duty-free shops on the site, which will have a direct impact on the local economy.

    Since the liquidation of Nigeria Airways by the federal government in 2004, which had functional Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities that could occupy at least two Boeing aircraft at a time, airlines in the country have resorted to taking out their aircraft outside the country for required checks. Unfortunately, a country like Nigeria with its pedigree as ‘Giant of Africa’ does not have an aircraft MRO facility.

    Osun airport will be the first in Nigeria to provide a functional Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities in the 21st century.

     

    • Donald writes from Benin City inwalomhe.donald@yahoo.com

     

  • 2019 election: Why youths shouldn’t be passive

    2019 election: Why youths shouldn’t be passive

    Election is a conventional group decision-making process by which a group of people select an individual to represent them in a public office. The formal expression of their choice is voting.

    Subsequent to the release of the 2019 election time table by INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission), politicians are beginning to form alliances, some are being broken, while the electorate are expectant of the much sought after dividends of democracy promised since 1999.

    The erudite youths are prepared to take their shot in the political arena come 2019 as the incumbent legislature has heeded their clamour for youth representation through the passing of the not too young to rule bill in 2017.

    However, the most fascinating questions about an election often deviate from who won, but such questions as why people voted the way they did? Or what would be the aftermath of the election? Or why a particular candidate had more vote?

    Nevertheless, these questions are not always easily answered because the distinctive facet of election must be merged with a more general understanding of electoral behaviour to create a full explanation.

    Hence, according to the three major research schools of the scientific study of voting behaviour, they research based answers to the question of voting behaviour. They are:

    ·         The sociological model which lays emphasis on social factors as the major reason behind voting behaviour

    ·         The psychological model of voting behaviour, which relates voting behaviour to party identification

    ·         The theory of rational choice which explains electoral behaviour, taking as its starting point the work done within the political economy that relate economic parameters (resources, goods, and technology) with a political outcome of choice. It establishes a direct analogy between consumers and votes and between enterprises and political parties. According to this school, if companies seek to maximize profits and consumers act to maximize the utility, we can, then theorize in the sense that voters seek to maximize the utility of their vote as the parties act to maximize electoral gains obtained from their political proposals.

    However, the Nigeria election outcome is largely determined by the type of people that vote (learned and unlearned), rigging, sharing of foodstuffs, power of incumbency, and popularity of candidate cum party.

    Thus, if the Nigerian youths want to maximize the opportunities availed by the passage of the not too young to run bill, and make governance to tilt in their favour, they must not only show their supports on social media, but also come out en masse to put fingers down on Election Day for their preferred candidates. They must debunk the idea that votes don’t count because, he who wants political representation in a democracy must first believe in voting as a way of winning election.

    The erudite class of Nigerian youths over time have often detached themselves from the market women, farmers in rural areas,  bus conductors, commercial bus drivers who in the actual sense are the ones who come out to vote on Election Day. The language an average Nigerian electorate with little or no education understands are the usual cups of rice, salt, petty cash that are been shared by politicians to canvass for votes, because they constitute a large number of the society, thus making them a major decider during elections. However, the direct implication of receiving petty cash, foodstuffs, floating unsustainable empowerment programmes during campaign and election is that, it renders the electorate gutless and unable to demand for accountability from political office holders after elections.

    After been fully aware that apart from the factor of rigging, those who determine our fate in an election are the aforementioned group of people, it all boils down to the following questions:

    ·         Are the Nigeria youths ready to woo the ill-educated citizens who are not conversant with social media in order to get their votes?

    ·         Are the learned youths ready to come out and vote during elections?

    ·         Can Nigerian electorates vote without the influence of money?

    Benjamin can be reached via: dadabenjamin@yahoo.com

  • In defence of Justice Taiwo’s judgment

    In defence of Justice Taiwo’s judgment

    I read The Nation’s beautiful editorial of Sunday, February 4, titled “A conundrum” followed by the rider “Good for federalism. Bad for anti-corruption. That is the import of the court judgment on EFCC and states’ finances”.

    While I agree with you that the judgment of the Ado-Ekiti Federal High Court judge, Justice Taiwo Taiwo, delivered on January 30, which is the peg for your editorial is good for federalism as you posit, I beg to disagree with the reminder of the two legs of your rider that it is “bad for anti-corruption” as well as a licence for miscreants and felons to pillage state resources. I also am of the opinion that the editorial was slightly harsh on the judge, even though you did not mention his name throughout in the said editorial. The judge only did his job and, in my considered opinion, marvellously well. I do not know Justice Taiwo from Adam but only feel that being in a position where he cannot be expected to offer a defence; I should offer him this service as amicus curia!

    We have complained ad nauseam that we are not practising true federalism but a unitary system in the garb of federalism. The cry all over the land is a return to true federalism, which is what the agitation for restructuring of the polity is all about. There is too much concentration of power – and resources – in the hands of the federal government to the chagrin of the states (that are supposed to make up the federating units) and the local governments. In fact, the very existence of the local governments, standing as a full-fledged tier of government independent of the states and which are being made even more powerful with new legislations giving them financial autonomy from the states, is another aberration of a federal system properly so-called. Local governments ought to be the creation of each states and not the other way round of the federal government under military jackboot arbitrarily creating local governments, short-changing a section of the country and favouring another in the process. This is one of the injustices in the system that is not allowing the various nationalities making up this country to mesh and become a nation.

    Unfortunately, however, we were the ones that played into the hands of the military in that once a little problem emerges, rather than confront it head-on, we try to cut corners around it. When it became clear that states were not being fair in the distribution of resources, we advocated for local governments created by fiat from the centre, never minding that this undermines the practise of true federalism. Now, rather than retrace our footsteps, we are digging in and sinking deeper into the miry clay. Those holding the advantage in the present skewed system do not want to let go while those holding the short end of the stick are agitating for redress. We thus have the unsavoury proverbial situation of a chicken that perches on a rope: neither the chicken nor the rope finds the situation palatable.

    The federal government emasculates the states and local governments in the awesome powers it ascribes to itself to the chagrin of the latter; which is why, whereas state governors are the so-called chief security officer of their respective states, they cannot even give orders to a DPO, not to talk of the Commissioner of Police or State Director of the DSS. The two other tiers of government, where much of the responsibilities lie, are also short-changed in the allocation of resources, with the federal government appropriating the lion’s share to itself. Not satisfied with these, the federal government has also been in the habitual practice of using its monopoly of the coercive powers of the state to frustrate, intimidate, and even punish state governors, as you rightly noted in the editorial. In other words, the powers which we are reluctant to concede to the states because they have been abused in the past and or will be abused now have also consistently been abused by the federal government. A current example is the herdsmen’s atrocious killings all over the country, about which the federal government has demonstrated inertia; nay, complicity, while the state at the receiving end lay prostrate. Were there to be state police, the situation would have been significantly different; but we kick against state police because we think the states had in the past abused and or will abuse it. If I may ask, what of the federal government that has not only abused its control of the police but also of the armed forces and the intelligence agencies in this regard?

    As stated by you, and rightly so, EFCC had, in times past, been mindlessly compromised for the promotion of the political chicanery of those who paid the piper. Matters could not have been worse in the hands of state governors. Yet, we have not asked for the scrapping of the EFCC or for the federal government to hands off its control. And it is not as if anyone could beat his chest and vouch that there is no corruption in the EFCC. In fact, for whatever it is worth, the DSS has twice indicted the EFCC’s acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu, as being unfit to hold office. Repulsive as it is to see a state House of Assembly become the play-thing of a governor, it is not only in the states that the legislature has become such a caricature of what it is supposed to be. We have seen similar or worse shenanigans at the centre. Yet, we did not advocate for the eradication of the National Assembly or demand that it is divested of its constitutionally-assigned duties. Respectfully, let me say that Justice Taiwo’s judgment does not necessary amount to an erosion of the fight against corruption. I dare to say that, in fact, it can – and should – promote it by giving it more verve and panache. How many cases in Abuja alone can the EFCC handle, not to talk of all over the states? With the states setting up their own EFCC, more will be achieved in the anti-corruption war. And with the state House of Assembly being told to be alive to its responsibility of ensuring that the funds it appropriates are judiciously used, Taiwo is helping to deepen, rather than erode, the anti-graft war. He should be commended for this.

    As for any House of Assembly that makes itself a rubber stamp, their shame and good grief! But if, as a result, we run away from true federalism and promote a system that has concentrated too much powers and resources already in the hands of the federal government, we shall only be cutting our nose to spite our face. As they say, we cannot have our cake and eat it. We must be conscious to deepen democracy and restore true federalism. States should set up their own anti-graft agencies. State Houses of Assembly should be up and alive to their duties. As citizens, we must hold their feet to the fire. I want to believe that the theatrics of Governor Ayo Fayose on the floor of the Ekiti State House of Assembly should be seen simply as politics. It is the duty of the honourable members of the House to proceed afterwards to do the needful with the state budget; otherwise, they, and not necessarily Fayose, should carry the can. Whoever has sworn to an oath of office must observe it and those for whom tasks have been set must diligently undertake them; otherwise, our renascent democracy will be endangered again and we shall, sooner than later, be back to square one.

     

    • Bolawole is a former newspaper editor.
  • COSON-MCSN feud: matters arising

    COSON-MCSN feud: matters arising

    For over two decades, an acrimonious relationship has lingered between the leaderships of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) and the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN). While Chief Tony Okoroji shepherds COSON, Mayo Ayilaran is the CEO of MCSN. At the heart of their hostility is who should be the rightful manager of the wealth accruing from the public performances of the rights of musicians, sound recorders, and performers of music. COSON prefers management of these rights by a single collective management organisation (CMO), but MCSN wants a multiple CMO system.

    The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) is the legal regulator for the industry. In April 2017 and reacting to a petition submitted to his office by MCSN, Abubakar Malami, SAN, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) gave directives for the immediate approval of MCSN. Expectedly, COSON has gone to court to challenge the AGF’s decision. Okoroji of COSON, for reasons better known to him, has been leading protests against the AGF, accusing him of being a meddlesome interloper and attempting to ‘kill’ the music industry.

    The Copyright Act 1988 (as amended) and the Copyright (Collective Management Organisations) Regulations 2007 are the applicable laws to this discussion. The Copyright Act defines a CMO as ‘an association of copyright owners which has its principal objectives as the negotiating and granting of licenses, collecting and distributing of royalties in respect of copyright works.’ The opposite of CMO is individual management of rights. Almost all countries prefer CMO because of its advantages such as suitability to manage rights in the secondary copyright market, economies of scale advantage that leads to reduced transaction cost, availability of blanket licensing, special benefits to upcoming artistes, and collective enforcement power.

    Copyright confers exclusive right on all musicians (with recognised exceptions) to authorise the use of their songs by any user, such that anyone who uses their songs without authorisation will be liable for infringement. The implication of this in practical term (using Olamide as an example) is that anyone, any business, or any broadcasting corporation who desires to use Olamide’s WO track for some commercial purpose must secure his approval before use. This imposes a herculean obligation on Olamide who has to enforce his right against all of these people/businesses. For instance, against how many individuals can Olamide enforce this right? How many radio or TV stations in Lagos alone can he visit? What about other users of music such as shopping malls, eatery, nightclubs, hotels, etc. in the 36 states of the federation and FCT? How many of them can he single-handedly visit to enforce this right?

    These challenges make CMO a preferred option. Under a CMO arrangement, Olamide and other musicians willingly come together to form an association of owners. They then assign/license their rights to this association.

    Since section 39(2)(a) of the Copyright Act provides that CMOs must be non-profit organisations, their management are only permitted to deduct up to 30% of the royalties collected as running costs before distributing the remainder to all members as royalties. Thus, with this arrangement, artistes like Olamide no longer need to embark on the strenuous and expensive individual management of their rights.

    By the combined reading of sections 17 & 39 of the Copyright Act, any association of more than 50 people acting as a CMO by negotiating and granting license, collecting and distributing royalties to its members in respect of copyright works must obtain approval or exemption from the NCC. In 2009, MCSN, COSON and the Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria Ltd (WASP) submitted applications for approval as CMOs. Relying on section 39(3) of the Copyright Act, NCC in 2010 approved the application of COSON and rejected those of MCSN and WASP on the ground that their applications failed to comply with statutory requirements. Section 39(3) prohibits NCC from registering more than one CMO for a class of right if it (NCC) is satisfied that the existing CMO adequately protects the rights of its members. This is the basis for the argument that NCC can only register one CMO for a class of right. This means that, prior to the AGF’s directive in April 2017, COSON was the sole (legal) CMO for musical works, sound recordings and the rights of performers in Nigeria.

    Since only COSON secured approval to act as CMO in 2010, why has MCSN continued to act as a CMO? The inability of the Nigerian courts (comprising of the FHC and the different divisions of the Court of Appeal) to agree on the correct interpretation of sections 16, 17, & 39 of the Copyright Act is the reason for this anomaly.

    The 1992 amendments to the Copyright Act introduced government regulation into the business of collective management of rights. Section 32B of the amendments (this is now section 39) is relevant to this discourse. The section introduced an extensive regulatory framework for collective management of rights in Nigeria. For instance, it laid down in section 32B (2) conditions that a prospective CMO must meet before securing approval from NCC. In section 32B (3), it made the approval of an additional CMO in the same class conditional on the ‘inadequate protection’ clause. Subsections 4 to 6 made it an offence to operate as a CMO without NCC’s approval and then imposed penalties for doing so. Subsection 7 empowered NCC to make regulations necessary to give effect to the new section. Lastly, subsection 8 defined collecting societies as association of copyright owners with the objectives of negotiating and granting licenses, and collecting and distributing of royalties. Any association, society or organisation engaged in all of these responsibilities must secure approval before it can operate as a CMO.

    To regain its regulatory power, NCC sponsored amendments to the Copyright Act again in 1999 and one of the new amendments was section 15A (now section 17). This section made it clear that, notwithstanding the provisions of any other laws, (including section 15 that allowed ‘owner, assignee and an exclusive licensee’ to institute action), any association of MORE than 50 people, performing the function of CMO as defined under section 32B(8) must obtain NCC’s approval under section 39 or must be expressly exempted by NCC.

    With this new provision, one will expect that the court will understand that it is not the intention of the parliament that an association should operate as a CMO without approval. This is where the mischief rule would have been apposite. It is very clear that the mischief that the parliament intended to curb by this amendment was to preclude an unapproved CMO from operating as such. Unfortunately, even after this amendment, the different divisions of the Court of Appeal continued to hand down conflicting judgments with one group holding that MCSN could not operate as a CMO using section 15 (now section 16); and another group holding that the 1999 amendment did not preclude MCSN from suing for infringement as ‘owner, assignee or an exclusive licensee.’

    The House of Representative tasked its joint Committee on Justice and Judiciary to probe the controversy. The committee recommended the immediate approval of MCSN as a CMO. The whole House of Representative passed a resolution to give imprimatur to these recommendations in December 2013. NCC, however, did not obey the recommendation on immediate approval.

    The AGF’s directive will benefit the industry by ensuring the protection of more members. It will also promote healthy competition between the two CMOs. On the long run, the need to win rights holders over to their side will lead to more creativity, more accountability and more respect for rights holders between COSON and MCSN. It will therefore be right to submit that the AGF’s directives will make (and not mar) the music industry.

    Contrary to the agitation from COSON, the provisions of the applicable law, not politics, inform the action of the AGF. This is in line with the provision of section 50 of the Copyright Act.

    In sum, both COSON and MCSN should face the reality of this new dawn; hence they be left out. Instead of this continued bickering, blackmailing, and trading of abuses, they should concentrate on how to convince rights holders of their efficiencies.

     

    • Olatunji is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania, Australia. 

  • Obasanjo as scourge of other leaders

    Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has again lived up to his reputation as the scourge of those who had ruled Nigeria in recent times with his recent special press statement on President Muhammadu Buhari in which he advised him not to run for the second time in 2019.  He based his advice on what can be listed as 11 ‘inadequacies’ in Buhari’s administration. Many informed Nigerians felt until now that the former president would not be able to attack President Buhari and his government because of the new found affection between the two after Jonathan’s government was terminated at the 2015 presidential election. In that election, ex -President Obasanjo did not hide his preference and support for the then candidate Buhari, despite their cold relationship when Obasanjo was president between 1999 and 2003.

    For the past two and half years , Chief Obasanjo had been unusually supportive of Buhari at least in the public and  this has made the inimitable Ayo Fayose, the Ekiti State Governor to tell the whole world that Obasanjo was forced to support Buhari’s government so that Buhari would not probe him and  his government. By this latest press statement, Obasanjo has shown again that he is not afraid of anybody in speaking his mind. The action of Chief Obasanjo has led many people to conclude that he has the proclivity to bring down any president that he felt is out of sync with his own vision of Nigeria. The administrations of Shagari, Buhari and, Babangida which came before the present democratic dispensations came to grief after Obasanjo had criticized them. Abacha regime which came after these regimes, tried to cage him but he survived and Abacha with his heinous administration expired. His criticisms of those in power continued during the present democratic dispensation where the civilian regimes of Yar’Adua and Jonathan were blighted by his criticisms even though it was he that foisted the two regimes on Nigerians. It is on record that Obasanjo had at one time or the other criticized in a very virulent manner, revered leaders like Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, General Yakubu Gowon and Malam Aminu Kano. In fact, no leader of any note has escaped his criticisms except perhaps General Abdulsalam who released him from prison and paved the way for him to become the president of the country in 1999. His criticisms of his former vice, Atiku Abubakar is an albatross that may prevent Atiku from achieving his long standing ambition to be of president of Nigeria.

    The problems pointed out in Obasanjo press statement written in beautiful prose as afflicting the government of Buhari  included poverty inducement, insecurity, nepotism, lack of national cohesion, gross dereliction of duty, lack of progress and hope for the future, poor management of internal politics, widening inequality, poor governance, gory bloodshed in the land and encouragement of impunity. After highlighting these inadequacies, he advised Buhari not to seek election  in 2019 but to take care of his health after which he could join other former Heads of State in the side-line to use their “experience, influence, wisdom and outreach” for the good of the country. He then called for the formation of a ‘ coalition for Nigeria’ which he said would not be a political party but a movement to ‘salvage and redeem the country’.

    An dispassionate observer of the governance in Nigeria under President Buhari would no doubt come to  an inescapable conclusion that things are not going well in the country. My take on President Buhari is that he has not convinced me that he fully prepared himself for the task of governing Nigeria. As somebody who craved persistently for the highest post in the land and who succeeded through the grace of God at the fourth attempt,  I expected him to come aboard with a well-honed blueprint prepared by different experts on how to get Nigeria out of political and economic doldrums. Somebody like the late Chief Awolowo who craved for the same post like President Buhari had a well prepared blueprint any time he contested for the post. It is my believe that the much-vaunted achievements of the present government in fighting insecurity and curbing corruption were not based on any rhyme and reason. The lack of clear blueprint to guide his governance could not at be attributed to his old age or infirmity, after all President Franklin Roosevelt who was in charge of USA during a very turbulent period got USA out of great economic depression and contributed in no small measure to the defeat of Hitler during the second world war, while he was on wheel chair.

    Chief Obasanjo has expectedly been confronted with a lot of criticisms after he released the bombshell. The government spokesman tried to counter Chief Obasanjo by reeling out economic statistics which can be faulted but failed to address the many main issues raised by the new Ph.D. holder in theology. This should be expected and we cannot digest the message without scrutinizing the messenger. Through God’s providence, Chief Obasanjo had ruled this country longest as the Head of State. Although there were some positive developments during Obasanjo’s administration which included reduction in nepotism, high profile of Nigeria in the comity of nations and visible empowerment of workers through salary increase, there were many unforgettable negative developments. Under him we had highhandedness in governance, numerous assassinations in the land, corruption in low and high places, incessant hike in fuel prices, perfunctory attention to infrastructural development, tepid attention to power sector and refusal to obey court orders. To me, the most glaring failure of Obasanjo while he was leading us was his failure to build a lasting democratic platform for Nigerians.

    By his actions and inactions when he was in power, Obasanjo missed the golden opportunity to be in the same league with great leaders like Roosevelt, Ataturk, Churchill, Lee Kwan Yew and Mandela. His penchant for foisting leaders on the country by abridging democratic processes of appointing candidates for elections when he was holding sway in PDP made the country to have Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan as presidents. The abysmal failure of Goodluck Jonathan as president led to the emergence of Buhari who had initially given up his ambition of being the president after failing three times. The latest press statement on the competence of President Buhari is like somebody pointing a finger at somebody and the good adage says  that the other four are pointing to the person pointing the finger. All was not rosy when Obasanjo was in power and he can now luxuriate on his many international achievements and his high profile in Africa and the rest of the world,  but all these are dented by his failure to lay the foundation for propelling Nigeria with its abundant potentials to greatness during his tenure.

    Chief Obasanjo’s advice to President Buhari not to contest in 2019 is not likely to be heeded  despite his glaring  inadequacies. While it may affect Buhari’s electoral fortune adversely in the southern part of the country, it is unlikely that it will make a dent on his electoral fortune in the far north where he has cult like followership. However, President Buhari government is badly flawed as pointed out by Obasanjo. The greatest undoing of this government are the glaring nepotism in the appointment to key positions in the country, its treatment of some Nigerians with kids gloves while other are subjected to hard knock which gives the impression that there are sacred cows and underdogs in our God-given country, and its latest inability to call the rampaging fiendish Fulani herdsmen to order. Nigerians deserve something better.

     

    • Prof Lucas writes from Old Bodija, Ibadan.

  • Don’t shoot down the message

    To people in government, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s epistle which was like the State of the Nation address under the All Progressives Congress -led government is full of bile and toxic.  Hate or love him, the wily old fox and Owu warlord as a predator, knows when to prime his guns.  He carefully chooses his targets when they are most weak and vulnerable and never miss his chances.  His poisoned pen and caustic tongue do not spare anybody; he speaks truth to power even though he himself thoroughly abused power when it was entrusted on him.  When General Sani Abacha was behaving like a deranged tiger, Obasanjo was one of those that challenged him and he almost paid with his life when he was roped in on a phantom coup.

    Obasanjo may not be the moral compass of the nation but his measured epistle eloquently mirrors and echoes the feelings of a broad spectrum of the Nigerian society.  Chief Obasanjo is self opinionated and cocky but the recent epistle addressed apparently to his old comrade, General Buhari was patriotic and could not have come at a better time.  To the extent that it addressed germane national issues in the face of erosion of confidence in the government, it cannot be self-serving.   The country is sliding into irredeemable rot that it required honest expose even though it comes from someone perceived as morally bankrupt.

    The APC-led government is driven on the locomotive of propaganda and they have failed to realise that they are in government and in power.  If anyone therefore were to go and give them gratuitous advice in secret, they would thoroughly smear the person with patches of lie and odium.  No comment, letter or criticism of any other Nigerian dead or living would have elicited the same effect as Obasanjo’s.  I think the important thing is to ask ourselves whether the issues raised in the so-called letter were of honest concern to Nigerians; if the answer is in the affirmative, then we should not kill the message.

    Talking about his Third Force, we may not bother ourselves with his prognosis since he himself has had the chance many times over to overhaul our political space but failed; after all he virtually hoisted late Umaru Yar’Adua and Jonathan on the nation.  We should be talking about a democratic alternative and a departure from the political locust of APC and PDP refrains.  Obasanjo and his minions in PDP and APC are political spent force which Nigeria must cut off from if we are to make progress as a nation.  We do not need an Obasanjo or any of these politicians scheming for relevance and making laws for political expediency to be able to reposition themselves to continue the rape of the country.

    The so-called beautiful brides in the rank of the leading political parties being positioned to secure power are not different in material particular because what a snake sires would not resemble a lion.  If we are to rescue Nigeria, there must be a clean departure from the past.  Young or old, we need Nigerians who would feel at heart passionately as Nigerians first.  If for instance, an Aminu Tambuwal or any relatively unknown politician having the face of a youth should have the political credential, then he should come out from the pack, organise and build a party that will have a pan Nigerian outlook.   The current French President, Emmanuel Macron rebelled against orthodoxy and formed his own party distancing himself from the two mainstream parties and in less than two years, he won the presidency.  His ascendency was a product of conception of clear political road map for a New France.

    For me, Nigeria truly needs a firm, fair and just leader not an apostle of compromise or someone who would be feeding on the crest of ethnicity and religion.   I do not wish to proselyte for Obasanjo, but he has always been detached from religion and tribal considerations as a leader while his successors embrace same as their strongest points to power lever.

    The APC is an amalgam of strange bed-fellows and they needed one person with some measure of credibility and integrity and they found one in Buhari.   The party is not driven by any ideological persuasion and it lacks any intellectual base through which they can mobilize the nation.  This is the reason why they are so fixated that there is no alternative to Buhari whom they have exposed his vulnerability and weakness that he is becoming increasingly of little electoral value.

    Groups rightly or wrongly feel marginalized because government tends to tilt to cleavages that do not serve the interest of the entire country.  This is the reason why people agitate for rotation of power to different groups and regions of the country and fight dirty to get it.  When elections are lost and won, a leader should see the entire country as his constituency.  You do not need one hundred percent vote across the divides before you accept everybody as your supporter; that would not be democracy.  A leader who relates to people and group according to the number of votes cast for him during election is an incurable irredentist and the people should stop such character from further plaguing our country.  Our quandary now is that we do not have high hope in the mainstream parties, the APC and PDP.   Unfortunately, the other parties exist only in name and are mere appendages of these parties.  These nominal parties are owned by money bags that use them as spare tyres for those who lost out in getting nomination from their parties.

    This is the reason why we must interrogate the Third Force of Obasanjo and embrace a fresh new organization or party to be financed and run by the people themselves.  People should resist going to queue behind these desperate politicians who are in politics for the wrong reasons instead of serving the people.  We are losing it as a nation; look around you, there is no security, no job, and unemployment is climbing and spreading like a malignant cancer.  Our infrastructures have virtually collapsed.  All these are indications that we are relapsing into a failed state.

    You may not accept the messenger, you may indeed hate him, but you cannot dispute and fault the validity of Obasanjo’s letter.   This is the only reason why the echoes the epistle is reverberating.  So, let us not shoot or kill the message.

     

    • Kebonkwu Esq is an Abuja-based attorney.

  • Alex Ekwueme

    At a time like this, Ndigbo, would say: ka madu n’akwa onye ozo, ka ona akwa owe ya. This roughly translates: ‘as one is mourning the dead, so he is mourning oneself’. The burial rites of Dr Alexander Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme (1932 – 2017), Ide Aguata, who died last November, naturally heralds deluge of eulogies from far and near for Ekwueme was a star. As William Shakespeare wrote, in Julius Caesar: ‘When beggars die there are no comets seen; The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes’.

    Yes, Ekwueme was a prince, an exceptional prince, indeed; but he remained connected to the lowly. He had friends among the high and mighty and the economically dispossessed across the country. One of his greatest legacies remains his scholarship programme, mostly to study abroad. A programme he started before he ventured into politics. Ekwueme loved education and was a genius who earned degrees in diverse fields as architecture, law, philosophy, sociology and history.

    In spite of his numerous laurels, Ekwueme remained very humble. That humility enabled him to serve under a less academically accomplished President Shehu Shagari as Nigeria’s vice president from 1979 to 1983 without fuss. Materially and mentally wealthier than his principal, he never disrespected him or projected his stardom to undermine him – a trait which our present intellectually sagacious vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo shares. Indeed, I was moved by Osinbajo’s eulogy at the funeral of Dr Ekwueme which underscored the importance of that noble asset.

    Perhaps, it is that trait that threw up Ekwueme, first as gubernatorial aspirant in the old Anambra State and later a vice presidential candidate and vice president to Shagari just like Osinbajo in the present dispensation. As Ekwueme recalled in an interview, he was pressured at a reception in his honour after his doctorate degree to come home and vie for the governorship candidacy of National Party of Nigeria (NPN), which he lost to Chief C. C. Onoh, Okaa Omee Ngwo. But when NPN zoned the vice presidency to the old Anambra and Imo states, his compatriots choose him, in absentia.

    Clearly effusive, Ekwueme is not like most of his compatriots who hire trumpeters to remain relevant. After the Shagari regime was toppled, he suffered an undue long detention in and out of prison; yet he never made an issue about it. Many in his shoes, would have tried to blackmail the country, at every turn, after the Uwaifo investigative panel came out with the report that he did not enrich himself, as a vice president. Nothing but his sense of proportion stopped him from constantly reminding Nigerians that having been wrongly detained and denied ascendency to the presidency, following the 1983 coup, it was his turn to be president, at every political circle.

    So, though he was very learned, he was never bombastic, or tried to impress, cheaply. Unlike many other politicians, he didn’t make a din of his intellectual contributions, like the six geo-political zones, which will serve the country better, if entrenched into our constitution. The need to restructure Nigeria along the six geo-political zones, which he championed at the 1994/95 constitutional conference, has continued to reverberate as the solution to the myriad of problems holding Nigeria by the jugular and trying to strangulate her.

    He also proposed rotational presidency, and a vice president from the six geo-political zones, which many taunted as below our democracy. Yet, when President Umaru Yar’Adua passed on, while on the throne, the entire country was almost brought to fracture, just because, the section of the country where Yar’Adua came from, could not contemplate the presidency leaving that zone, without enjoying two terms. The same scenario reared its ugly head, when President Muhammadu Buhari fell ill last year.

    With degrees in sciences and arts, Ekwueme was a pragmatic politician, but not a coward. After suffering detention for years in the hands of the military following the sacking of democracy in 1983, he stayed away from politics for better part of the former military President Ibrahim Babangida’s transition brinkmanship. While Babangida was playing on the intelligence of the political class, with an unwinding transition programme, Ekwueme stayed away. But when Sani Abacha, who snatched power from the interim Head of State, Chief Earnest Shonekan, tried to transmute to civilian president, through treachery and deceit, Ekwueme threw in his hat to save Nigeria.

    Despite the grave risk in confronting Abacha’s brutish dictatorship, Ekwueme led a group of eminent Nigerians to call for return to democracy. This group which metamorphosed into the G-34, later birthed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). While he laboured to build the party, it was not his lot to win the presidential candidacy of the party. At the 1998 Jos convention, after he lost to Obasanjo, he delivered a well-mannered speech congratulating the winner and pledging to work for the success of the party.

    True to his promise, he raised funds for the election campaign of Obasanjo, and worked for the party’s success at the polls. Unfortunately, once Obasanjo emerged President, Ekwueme’s importance began to dim. Many in his shoes would have worn their misfortune like uniform, but not Ekwueme, who took it in his chin and exhibited his cultured manners. He never left the party, nor sponsored an alternative platform, to put pressure on the party.

    He never avariciously threatened the party, nor engaged in such mendacity as campaign of calumny against its leadership, whether at the federal or state level. While his influence in the party loomed large in Anambra State, where he hails from, he was never openly in a fight over who would gain one position or favour. Unlike some of his contemporaries, he was not always in the trenches over who will be governor, or who will occupy one office or the other. While he had his preferences, or even candidates, it was not a do-or-die affair, for him.

    No doubt, Ekwueme’s departure has created a vacuum in the leadership hierarchy of Ndigbo. While his presence did not electrify, like Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Owelle of Onitsha; nor elicit worship, like Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Ikemba Nnewi; Alex Ekwueme, Ide Aguata, laid his sagacious intellect and cheerful leadership skills, to serve Ndigbo, just as he did for his country. At the critical junctures of Nigeria history, he stood taller than other tall trees. He was a single Iroko that was a forest. He never wavered nor sold a cause, for pieces of silver.

    Now that Ekwueme has joined his ancestors, it will serve Ndigbo, to relearn his skills and immerse in his style. Nigeria, also needs to heed the wise counsels of the avatar, if she desires to depart from the gory of death and hatred. As Ekwueme said: “Nigeria should become a nation rather than a country. Ghana is a country. The type of massacre of people from certain groups that takes place from time to time in Nigeria won’t happen in Ghana….”

  • Obasanjo and the third way

    Understandably, most reactions tend to analyse the messenger – Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ) at the expense of the content of his  Tuesday January 23, essay  entitled “The Way Out: A Clarion Call for Coalition for Nigeria”. Having been on Nigeria’s driving seat for decades with all of us as his passengers, we are all understandably somewhat afflicted with some OBJ messenger-message syndrome!

    As illuminating as most comments are, the two eyes must be on the ball, not on OBJ’s legs as a player. I’m excited that there is a renewed national and even global concern about Nigeria. This is a welcome worthy departure from the saturated run-on-the mill parochial shouting match stuff in both the main and social media. Therefore, for better, for worse, the third way is an idea that is already here with us!

    OBJ has commendably raised the noise level on the need to reinvent Nigerian nation. This is one of the main objectives of National Intervention Movement (NIM).

    I have been overwhelmed with calls by many compatriots since NIM was announced few months ago with demands for new national perspectives and new national actors. The calls are even more strident in the last few days. The legendary great African author/story teller, Chinua Achebe, reminded us that There was Once a Country! Indeed there were once compatriots regardless of diversities who fought gallantly against British colonial imperialism compelling a significant independence in 1960. Nigerians fought against military dictatorships of varying hues with enormous sacrifices in the 80s and 90s. Since 1999, in quantitative terms, Nigeria is truly an election destination with a remarkable electoral retrenchment of incumbent President Jonathan Goodluck two years ago! Almost 20 years after the return to civil rule, this democracy needs quality control. We need new political parties and movements with visions and pan-Nigerian development agenda. We must return to ambitious corruption free nation-building project like other countries. In the last few days, Nigerians are commendably out of the self-imposed cyclones from binary divisive ”we” versus “them” unhelpful narratives caused by governance crisis.

    It’s refreshing we are agonizing and organizing on Nigeria and examining its positions in the contemporary world. That is what the third way is all about; neither “North” or “South”, “West” or “East” but a functioning, fairer, just and productive Federal Republic of Nigeria and invariably working Africa. There is no “Christian” or “Muslim” uninterrupted electricity supply. With the lowest energy per capital in the world (5,000 megawatt for 180 million people), this is the only dark country of believers. We are all regrettably united by energy poverty! It’s time we all rose in bipartisan political way to match and demand for power abundance.

    I envisage soonest a national mass rally against uninterrupted power supply and for energy abundance. That is third way; neither the old two discredited ways; bedroom lamentations and corrupt official excuses! There can’t be industrialization without electrification!  Nigeria must just add value to its abundant raw materials, build industries like China or perish like South Sudan! And there can be no sustainable jobs without sustainable industrialization made only possible by electricity supply. We should soon match on the streets for immediate beneficiation to all raw materials against dumping, smuggled and imported goods. There is no “Muslim” poverty or “Christian” unemployed poor. On the contrary, the few billionaires, (most of them corrupt without visible value adding enterprises!) lack religious labels.

    National Bureau of Statistics, (NBS) reports millions lacking jobs. Most unemployed have certifications; diplomas, multiple degrees but lack the real “degrees” to terminate income poverty: JOBS and JOBS! The new slave returnees from Libya (scandalously after 300 years of abolition of slavery!) hold Nigerian passports. We must reinvent functioning Nigerian labour market to absorb this abundant human energy for development, and development.

    We often discuss resource control in relations to non-renewable resources like crude oil, solid minerals when enlightened nations know that the major resource is human resource. We should deepen the existing Contributory Pension reform and motivate trained workforce with good pay for national productivity. Lest we also forget; there are no good “PDP” or “APC roads.” Ask the FRSC; all Nigerians, child and mothers are potential instant death statistics on national death traps called roads. Unacceptably, the governors, senators, president and vice president elected to fix the roads fly in chattered flights! Some charitable commentators including the Minister of Information, Lai Muhammed have acknowledged the patriotism of OBJ with his latest intervention. But again lest we forget – the national anthem we recite by route every day opens with six opening inspiring words: “Arise, O compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey”. With 180 million fellows, men and women, Nigeria has the highest number of compatriots in sub-Saharan Africa!

    OBJ should therefore not necessarily be the only compatriot standing. No more   fashionable cynicism and pessimism on the side lines with attendant paralysis by analysis. Lets us all do “an OBJ” and engage “at conversation with the centre, not sides” in “The Art of Thinking Together”. The third way is “wide” enough to enlist all compatriots. Today Nigeria  is confronted with an urgent challenge to unify its wonderful great diverse peoples, particularly  the millions of the oppressed poor, frustrated business men and women, youths and women in the re-construction of a common platform for development, for a just and  egalitarian society free of all oppression. Third way tasks our energy to ensure the pre-eminent participation of all its great people especially women and youths. A 48-hour response by presidential information mill (judging by the standard of Buhari slow motion government!) as articulated by Minister Lai Muhammed is refreshing. The self confession of the minister that the administration took OBJ’s constructive legitimate suggestions in good faith is even inspiring.

    Third way means a radical departure from present additive procrastinations while the nation is on its knees. It means elected officials talking to Nigerians with humility not through arrogant and often incompetent, unelected or unelectable proxies. Third way also calls for competency test for those who dare to canvass for our votes. Do they perceive Nigerians as citizens, or subjects in their conquered sovereigns? So much for apologetic governors “without apologies”! We must make the point that this is a republic of citizens with constitutionally guaranteed rights not a preferred “Shithole” of the rouge President Donald Trump of (sadly!) America. Minister Lai Muhammed dignified the administration as well as all Nigerians by reeling out government scorecards (even if some are not impressed). That is the third way; it’s neither the usual dismissiveness of the government in office nor the predictive unthinking cheer mob reactions of the so-called opposition.

     

    • Aremu mni, a labour activist, writes from Kaduna.