The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • NIA: Much ado about appointment

    In the last couple of weeks, one of the issues that have caught national attention is the recent appointment of Ahmed Rufai Abubakar as Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). Prior to his recent appointment, Abubakar had worked in the presidency as senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Foreign Affairs/International Relations.

    May be because of the nature of his assignment, he was a face that worked behind the scene as one of those tackling issues connected with Boko Haram insurgency and other security challenges.  His latest assignment therefore is a major one, given the fact that President Buhari has promised among others to defeat Boko Haram which until recently has held Nigeria by the jugular.

    Back to the appointment of Abubakar. One would have thought that his appointment by President Buhari would have received thumbs up even among government’s critics.

    The question then is: Did Buhari make a mistake by appointing his aide on foreign affairs and international relations to replace Ayo Oke who was sacked as NIA DG?

    Till date, nobody has faulted the legality/ constitutionality of the action of the president in appointing the new DG. All that we have been inundated with on the social media and the mainstream media are allegations that have been rather personal and unsubstantiated.

    Some of Abubakar’s critics claim he holds dual citizenship, schooled in Chad and married to a Moroccan.

    Questions have also been raised about his suitability for the job, having allegedly retired as an Assistant Director who also failed career exams twice.

    An Abuja-based lawyer was even on Channels Television recently where he raised the aforementioned issues with all the energy at his disposal.

    However, when the anchor of the programme asked him to substantiate his claims, he claimed to have gotten his facts from the social media! Curiously, the lawyer and others who have been peddling these rumours have not approached the courts over an otherwise constitutional issue.

    Though one is at a loss on why the man in question has not dignified his traducers with a response, his position as an intelligence officer may be a major challenge, as was the case when Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onoghen was to be elevated to his present position.

    Meanwhile, there has been no information about the Chadian passports of Mr. and Mrs. Abubakar to link them to Chad or any other nationality that may well expose them.

    Though President Buhari may not be perfect, there is no debating the fact whatever success that has been recorded in the fight against insurgency is a collaborative effort among the intelligence community. It will therefore not be out of place for the President to appoint somebody who has distinguished himself within the fold to a higher office.

    Abubakar in particular has worked with the president and he must have seen something that many of us do not see for him to have appointed him NIA-DG.

    Even at that, Abubakar parades impeccable credentials and has had a distinguished career in the Foreign Service where he rose to the level of a Deputy Director. Before his appointment as SSA by President Buhari, he was the Senior Political Adviser at the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) a regional initiative coalition of countries of the Lake Chad Basin, deployed to fight Boko Haram in Chad. He was also Director, Political Affairs at the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA) in Dakar, where he directed and coordinated technical support for Special Representative of the Secretary General for West Africa, SRSGWA in spearheading UN’s efforts in the countries of West Africa and Mauritania.

    As an aide to President Buhari on Foreign/International Relations, he provided technical support to the chief of staff to the president on issues related to foreign policy and international relations.

    On the subject matter, Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity was categorical. Hear him:  “A lot of half-truths, misinformation, and outright falsehood have attended the announcement of a new NIA Director General. Some of such unfounded stories include that Abubakar retired from the services of NIA as an Assistant Director because he failed promotions examinations twice and had to quit, willy-nilly. Others claim he is married to a Moroccan and so, cannot hold such sensitive security position while others say he was born and bred in Chad, and he holds dual nationality. All these have been widely disseminated on the social, and some mainstream media.

    “The new NIA DG retired from the Foreign Service as deputy director (not assistant director) and three times during his career, won merit awards for competence and meritorious service. Failing promotion examination can only exist in the fecund minds of fiction writers.

    “His last position before the new appointment was as senior special assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs/International Affairs where, again, he quietly proved himself.

    “Abubakar parents hailed from Kastina State and had settled in Chad at a point in their lifetime. The new DG did his primary school in Ndjamena (then Fort-Lamy), but returned to Nigeria for his secondary and university education. He never, at any time, held Chadian nationality.

    “Mr. Abubakar’s only wife hailed from Kastina State, indeed, from the same community as the husband. The story of being married to a Moroccan can only be tale by moonlight, concocted by people who love a fib.

    “The president appointed the new DG because he had worked closely with him in the past two years and sincerely believes that he would add value to the NIA,” the presidential spokesman said.

    Coming from Adesina, a man that speaks the mind of the president, one can safely say that the controversy over the issue at hand has definitely been laid to rest. The onus now lies on Nigerians to give the new NIA DG all the support needed to succeed in his new assignment. Abubakar definitely has a rich repertoire of experience. The best we can do is to give him the necessary backing at this critical period of our national history.

     

    • Ejokparoghene, a political activist, writes from Warri, Delta State.

  • Not a ‘shithole’ but hellhole

    African countries are in angst with American president, Donald Trump, for allegedly describing them derisively as ‘shithole’ countries. Their reactions, one of which was the summoning of American ambassadors in some African countries, including Nigeria, were exercises in futility. Meanwhile, President Trump is having fun for rattling these poverty-stricken countries, and by extension shaming their shameless, clueless and kleptomaniac so-called leaders.  We all know that Trump is not given to niceties of protocol when he feels strongly about issues – he says it as he sees it.  And his constituency loves him for his shooting from the hip – over 60 million of them gave him their votes in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to romp into the White House.  But, honestly, I can’t fathom all the brouhaha that the blah-blah has attracted. A true son of his father would smile at the idiocy of being called a bastard but a bona fide bastard will go for the machete for his illegitimacy being thrown at his face.  That is how I see the reactions of many African countries, their self-righteous columnists and other analysts as well as their Black kindred from the Caribbean ‘shithole’ of Haiti.

    Now, let us deconstruct the genesis of the alleged Trump labeling.  The American president allegedly made the remarks in the heat of argument on immigration reforms that he claimed would force the U.S. “to take large numbers of people from high crime countries which are doing badly” mostly from Africa and other low income countries during a meeting with U.S. lawmakers at the White House. It was Washington Post that broke the story, quoting an unidentified aide in the White House, a third party source not at the meeting but claiming to have been briefed about what transpired, including the controversial remarks attributed to Trump to this effect: “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?’’ ; “Why do we need more Haitians ?  Take them out’’. Other media outlets lapped up the story, including news agencies which spread it across the world, thereby generating global ripples as do-gooder sympathizers joined the fray but whose interventions only served to reinforce the denigration of countries of the black race.  Basically, the remarks, at a close-door meeting, were not made for public consumption, so what the Washington Post reported was a LEAK.  It signposts an emergent trend in American journalism, a transformation from newspaper to ‘leakspaper’ of anonymous source stories, a journalistic virus that is spreading to other countries. It is instructive that a global media outlet that recycled the story criticized Trump, only to publish the picture of miserable-looking Nigerians pricing second hand clothes at a depressed location that it claimed is somewhere in Ikeja, Lagos  ! That, to me, is a clever mischief.

    It is not inconceivable that President Trump actually made those remarks. Even his tweeted denial had a smack to it: “The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made – a big setback for DACA”. With specific regard to Haiti, Trump had tweeted: ‘’Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said ‘take them out’. White House spokesman, Raj Shah had, in defense of his boss, explained that Trump only wanted “merit-based immigration” of people who can “grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation”. The interpretation of all these is that Trump would prefer immigrants from rich, stable countries exemplified with his preference for immigrants from Norway, as against turning the U.S. into an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp for people from poverty-stricken, conflict-ridden countries many of which, sadly, are in Africa. It tallies with the Yoruba disposition, expressed in the saying – the rich befriends the rich and the poor relates with the poor!  And I don’t know why this Trump position should come as a surprise. He was honest enough to have articulated his anti-immigrant position even during the campaign, however unpopular it was made to be by the media, but he was still voted for. So, he is in fact advancing his electoral pledge of America First, irrespective of who is disadvantaged or feel insulted.

    Africans, particularly Black Africans and their brethrens in the Caribbean, need to do a reality check on how they have remained a drag in the world, marooned in poverty and violent conflicts, of which Nigeria has most recently become the poster nation. The truth is, Nigeria is the shame of the Black World, mired in undeserved poverty and horrendous, violent criminality that is making life nasty, brutish and short. (apology to Thomas Hobbes) Unfortunately, a run of myopic, mediocre leaders, who cannot see the larger picture and how the destiny and pride of the Black World are intrinsically tied to Nigeria’s success story have literally ran the country aground. There is manifest callous disregard for life forcing people to flee the land of their birth with those settled abroad not willing to return to their fatherland.  Many middle class parents in Nigeria today are in agony resulting from this non return of their U.S.-based children. Prof. Jide Osuntokun wrote in his column in The Nation of Thursday, January 25, that he had sought reactions of friends in America to Trump’s alleged remarks:  “I called a few friends of mine in the USA to sound out their opinions about what is going on. Incredibly as it may sound, the Africans among them including Nigerians said they agreed with Trump’s description of their continent as “shithole”. They blame the leaders of Africa for this insult”.

    I am not surprised. Each time I visit the U.S. on vacation, Nigerians usually asked whether I have come to stay, permanently. When I reply that I am not spending more than three weeks, they often wonder: You mean you are returning to that god-damn country!! Yes, Nigerians in Diaspora describing Nigeria as god-damn.  Black people are at the bottom of the totem pole in the hierarchy of nations and consequently suffer indignities across the world. As a Washington correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria in the mid 1980s, I encountered attempted put downs. I’ll cite an instance. There was this Black American female employee at the laundry that I patronized who got cheeky when I sought explanation why my clothes were not ready as at scheduled time: You  poor people from Africa must be grateful for being here, she snapped at me. But when I told her of the elite neigbhourhood (Woodside, Silver Spring, in metro Washington) where I lived and being a foreign correspondent with office in Downtown D.C., that shut her up and she showed respect thereafter. You see, she knew people of her status don’t get into that neighbourhood. But then, that is the depth of contempt for Africans among many Americans, even low class Americans, pretences to the contrary notwithstanding. So, anger against President Trump is misplaced. In a situation where a cow is worth more than a human life and murderous militants and kidnappers hold sway, with impunity, Nigeria is not just a ‘shithole’ but a hellhole. Period.

     

    • Dr. Olawunmi is Senior Lecturer, Bowen University, Iwo.

  • The problem of a cattle colony

    The modern world is thinking smart and creating digital community but here we are in Nigeria going back into primitivism and placing more value on cattle than human life.  Our leaders in the 21st century prefer to encourage citizens to remain foraging in the open field and sleeping with cattle in the bush in the worst form of itinerant nomadic life style.  Nigeria did not become cattle colony today as citizens have always played the cattle since independence.  How else would you describe a place where leaders treat citizens more like sub-human apes and brazenly steal and waste our common patrimony in the worst form of abuse without resistance?

    It is only in a cattle colony that the chief herdsman and his shepherds would eat up the lush green and succulent grass meant for the cattle without civil resistance.  The ordinary man on the street lives in deprivation of the basic necessities of life and we inundate God with supplication for divine intervention.  Yet God gave us head and mind and we fail to employ them to solve our problems even the basic ones that are within our strength.  More than ever before, religion has become opium for the people and government promote religious activities more than creative ventures to develop the society.  We cannot continue the way we do and expect the mercies of God as the scripture says, ‘can we continue in sin that grace may abound, God forbid!’

    We are witnessing the worst form of insecurity in Nigeria today that is paling the insurgency in the Northeast into insignificance.  Today, with armed security escort, people dread to travel road Abuja-Kaduna.  Even when we are carrying our prayer beads and wearing cassocks, we are scared to travel the road.  Travellers on that road have to write their Wills and tell relations to prepare a handsome ransom for kidnappers and marauders that have taken over the road.  The same is true of Lokoja – Okene roads and indeed roads across the entire country.  There is a yawning security gap and whatever the security forces are doing is just a tip of the iceberg.   Whatever theory of security we may choose to parrot, the reality is that we are not safe in Nigeria even to our homes that should provide some measure of safety including the poorest neighbourhood and shanties.  There seem to be no coherence in the fight against insurgency and insecurity and where efforts are made, it is selective in its clinical execution that leaves citizens in doubt about government honesty.

    Benue State has been in the news for too long for the wrong reasons that have elicited global attention because of the activities of killer herdsmen who have gone berserk killing innocent citizens and burning down homes.  Security responses have been lethargic and lacklustre and it is becoming so intolerable that people may not have any other choice but resort to self-help to protect themselves.  This may have far reaching effect to our corporate existence and is capable of determining our fragile federation which we do not seem to know what to do with it.   In all the killings and loss of lives in such bizarre circumstances across the country, the president had never found it necessary to visit the scene to condole with the people himself.  The government template in reactions to all the killings is to condemn in strong terms, and promising to bring perpetrators to book which it has never done.

    The response of the security and intelligence communities leaves one at a loss whether we truly can trust our government to protect us.  When the communities that have come under attack would allege with first-hand information that the invaders and killers are Fulani herdsmen, the security and intelligence communities are quick to respond that the perpetrators are foreigners with automatic weapons.  In all these, they have not been able to fish out these foreigners to persuade Nigerians that it is not our brothers and kinsmen within the Nigerian border that are behind it as they are wont to believe.  By now, the security community should know the routes of these foreigners and engage them decisively and allow Nigerian communities to leave at peace with one another.

    The Nigerian electorate invested so much capital in President Muhammadu Buhari arising from his perceived no-nonsense bearing during his stint as the Military Head of State in 1983 believing that he could combat insecurity and fight corruption.  Remember it was the same government that jailed some alleged corrupt politicians for up to 300 years in prison.   Today, the president and his team are hardly able to deal with even the most basic of the need of the citizens besides the nagging problems of insecurity and the economy.

    Well into two months, Nigerians are still agonising at the queue at the fuel pump waiting to buy petrol in an oil producing nation.  Appointments in perceived key and strategic positions are lopsided and the president and his team see nothing wrong about it.  Rather than address the genuine concern of interest groups and the nation at large to assuage the nerves of people hurt across the country, they prefer a diatribe and pour venom on detractors and the opposition.  The honeymoon is over with the Buhari’s All Progressive Congress-led government as there is no redeeming feature in the government to give hope to Nigerians who are justifiably despaired.

    President Buhari has surrounded himself with the worst breed of ministers ever known in our modern history and he does not seem to know what to do with them.  The government would be suffering from amnesia to say that Nigerians are impatient if after three out of four year’s tenure without achievements in the key sectors contained in the manifesto of the APC and still expect people to queue behind them.

    The cattle colony has been created in our minds long before now and making it a big issue today, to me is unnecessary distraction.  Itinerant lifestyle may have been the traditional way of life of our Fulani herdsmen but if our leaders still prefer them in the 21st century to remain in the bush chasing cattle, wasting lives and farm lands, then someone has to question the corpus mentis of our leaders.

    This is the time for us to organize as Nigerians; not as Hausa Fulani, Yoruba, Ibo or Efik.  It is not an issue of North-South dichotomy; it is not about Christians and Muslims which our leaders have promoted above our humanity and oneness.  We must demand that government should do its duties and provide safety and security for every Nigerian; they must remove weapons from unauthorized persons and non-state actors.  There are still genuine Nigerians in this country with patriotic fervour not the merchants who parade themselves as political leaders and honourables without morals.  Let us remove the cattle colony from our mentality and give Nigeria direction.

     

    • Kebonkwu Esq writes from Abuja.

  • Remove fuel subsidy, create a million jobs

    price controls are regarded by economists as one of the worst forms of intervention in markets. Over the years, the history of governments implementing price controls has shown that it is a failed venture. If truth be told, no measure implemented to control prices can overcome the basic economic forces of supply and demand on a long-term basis. Government involvements in price control of any product always inevitably lead to scarcity, price gauging, rationing or black markets. Subsidy can be systematically exploited by those involved. Therefore, the price of a commodity or service should not be dictated by the government but by simple economic laws of supply and demand as well as competition. It is unfair to fix the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) (commonly referred to as petrol or fuel) or any product or service across board. The cost of petroleum products should rise or fall depending on the crude oil price worldwide.

    Lately, Nigerians have been buying petrol between ¦ 200 and ¦ 300 without serious negative consequences for the country. This clearly shows that if subsidy is removed and there is competition among importers, the pump price will inevitably crash to about ¦ 190 or less. There is no gainsaying that in a hundred years, the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) would never have achieved the level of coverage now provided by MTN Nigeria, Globacom, Airtel and 9mobile. Yes, NITEL may have been cheaper but then, purchasing a mobile Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) was an uphill task. Look at Nigerian Airways of old and compare with many local and carriers that we now have; also consider Aero and Arik Airlines airport terminals in Lagos. This in my opinion shows that, private sector intervention is the key for real development in Nigeria. These privately-owned companies have a reputation for better salaries, improved staff welfare packages, and they invest so that they can make good profits on a long term. The developed economies of the world are evidences of the roles entrepreneurship activities have played in economic development.

    To achieve this economic development in Nigeria, oil marketers or business men or women should be able to import petroleum products and sell at whatever price. The government should not force them to sell at a loss to themselves. The simple economic theory of demand and supply will bring down the cost of petrol. In my view, it will be best for the government to stop interfering in commerce and focus on collecting taxes from the importers and distributors. In addition, if the federal government must give licenses; licenses should not be given to 20 or 100 importers but to 10,000 importers or more. Anyone who wants an import license should get it without much bureaucracy.

    The present government must act swiftly to address the issue of subsidy honestly in the best interest of Nigerians. The government has no option than to do the needful in eliminating subsidy payment and servicing. The continuous payment of subsidy is a scare to the survival of the economy. Whilst subsidy removal will fully open up the sector for the needed investments and development it seriously requires, it should not be removed immediately or abruptly. All major marketers should be allowed to sell above ¦ 145. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) can continue to import petrol for one year while allowing any company to import petrol and sell at whatever price they want. I would suggest that NNPC maintains its price at ¦ 145 for the first three months and then remove ¦ 5 from the subsidy every three months until there is no subsidy. Nigerians will have been used to varying petrol price by then. Market economics will definitely bring the price to a stable average over time. While NNPC is divesting itself from fuel importation, it must have at least three months’ supply to cushion any shortage or price hike from crooked cabals. Such cartels will always seek to associate and set higher process, but NNPC can release hundreds of millions of litres from its supplies to counteract the monopolists.

    Assuming Nigeria consumes 30 million litres of petrol and diesel per day, with the standard value added tax (VAT) rate at 5%, the Federal Government will reap a huge N100 billion in tax revenue from petrol sales. This is in addition to import duties that will also be collected. If we add this to more than N250 billion we are currently losing to subsidize petrol per year, we can construct roads in every village in Nigeria within three years from the more than one trillion naira saved. I believe this will be an enormous step to employment generation and boost infrastructural development instead of the payment of subsidy into the hands of a few hands.

    The removal of subsidy will no doubt be an incentive for private refineries, job creation and national development. The State of Texas alone in the United States has 47 operating refineries. Crude oil is currently being piped to Kaduna Refinery, and with subsidy removal Kaduna State alone may have nothing less than four private refineries serving not only northern Nigeria and Cameroon, but also the landlocked countries of Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso. There will also be private refineries in neighbouring states to Kaduna since access to crude is assured. Tens of thousands of construction jobs will be created within few years subsequently leading to hundreds of thousands of jobs for refinery workers and truckers. Many allied companies and services will set up shops also leading to more jobs. The Dangote refinery currently being built in Lagos is expected to provide more than 80,000 direct and indirect jobs according to widely circulated reports. The job opportunities and rapid infrastructural development that will occur in Kaduna and neighbouring states within 10 years of subsidy removal will shock naysayers.

    On the other hand, the South-south region will also be a major beneficiary of subsidy removal. I can envisage Delta and Rivers states having two to three private refineries each. Hundreds of thousands of jobs will also be created as well as rapid infrastructural development. Refined products from the South-south can also be exported. It is my conviction and hopes that local shipping companies will thrive as well. This will also lead to private refineries springing up in several states.

    It is time Nigerians begin to see and believe that Nigeria will ultimately become a petrol and diesel exporting country. Believe me it is going to happen and it will happen fast if we remove the subsidy. This pain of long queues and expensive petrol once in a while is not going away as long as subsidy remains. Subsidy failure has contributed to the nonexistence of local refineries and the curtailed developmental growth. Malaysia and several countries have since abandoned the subsidy policy, thereby boosting resources for employment generation and infrastructural development. The federal government should take the inevitable decision to do what other governments failed to do by partially deregulating the downstream sector of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. Please join me in encouraging the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to be courageous enough to stop payment of subsidy on petroleum products so that millions of jobs can be created as well as economic growth.

    • Prof. Tonukari teaches Biochemistry at the Delta State University, Abraka.

  • Fashola’s challenge to Igbo leaders

    i was a few months ago at once pleasantly and shamefully surprised to watch on both the prime Channels Television news and Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Network Service as the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, flagged off the reconstruction of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway which has been a death-trap for upwards of a decade. Awarded to a leading multinational, the reconstruction work has been going on at a frenetic speed even in the rainy season. The reconstruction is reminiscent of the massive work going on such federal roads in Southeast as the Onitsha-Enugu Highway and now the Calabar- Odukpani Road in Cross River State.

    I say that the reconstruction of the Enugu-Port Harcourt highway brought about in me the paradoxical feelings of elation and shame because much as all of us are happy at the long-awaited development, it highlights how top Igbo political leaders have been using their positions to manipulate their followers while feeding fat at their expense. To underscore the point one is making, I crave your indulgence to quote in detail a passage from a new book entitled The Politics of Biafra and the Future of Nigeria by Chudi Offodile who served in the National Assembly with Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and ex Senate President Pius Anyim who was to hold the powerful position of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation under President Goodluck Jonathan. Like Ekweremadu and Anyim, Offodile is a lawyer and comes from the Southeast. He was also in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) like the two. So, Offodile should know what he is talking about. Here is the passage from pages 189 to 191 of the interesting and fearless book.

    ”Pius Anyim’s achievement as the SGF may be the Centenary City Project located in Abuja. The records also show that the two projects central to the economic development of the South East zone were left unattended to and remain death traps. I refer to the Enugu-Onitsha highway and the Enugu Port Harcourt highway. Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President did not consider the two roads important. His politics remain unabashedly self-serving. As a serving senator, he ensured the election of his brother as chairman of their local council and another as a member of the Enugu State House of Assembly. Deploying his huge financial war chest, he was about to disrupt the zoning arrangement in Enugu State to run for governor in the 2015 elections. The firm resistance mounted by the former governor, Sullivan Chime, ensured that the Nsukka zone took their turn.

    “Anyim and Ekewremadu are from two neighbouring communities, though in different states. Anyim is from Ishagu in Ebonyi State while Ekweremadu is from Mpu in Enugu State. To approach both communities, you must drive approximately 30 kilometres on the Enugu –Port Harcourt highway from Enugu Airport. After the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku Ozala, three major turns to the left lead to Ishagu and Mpu, two communities of about 20, 000 people  where the Federal Government, at the behest of the two gentlemen, sank an estimated sum of more than N20billion to build one of the best road networks in Nigeria.

    “The tragedy is that the crucial Enugu-Port Harcourt highway, which connects Aba, Umuahia and Okigwe, remains a death-trap. These gentlemen prioritized roads leading to their village mansions, ancestral shrines and farmlands over the all-important Enugu-Port Harcourt highway. The Enugu-Onitsha highway with the highest vehicular traffic in the Southeast connects the commercial centres of Onitsha and Nnewi to Enugu International Airport, but the road to the airport is no longer passable. Yet, for eight years, Ekweremadu, as Deputy Senate President, signed off on the national budget before its presentation to the President for assent.

    ”It is clear to me that imperfections in the Nigerian arrangement are compounded, in the case of the Southeast, by a declining quality of leadership that has pushed the younger Igbo generation to embrace separatism and yearn for Biafra. If the two gentlemen who scrambled for and occupied the two highest positions zoned to the Southeast had acted in the collective interests of the zone, the state of physical infrastructure in the zone would not be as bad as it is now. “

    The self-serving leadership of the Southeast which Offodile discusses with erudition and fearlessness in his book on Biafra may not have attributes peculiar to the zone’s leaders. Profound leadership deficit is a nationwide problem. Our leaders use the people as cannon fodder to be used and dumped while pretending to be service-oriented. Perhaps it is more pronounced in the Southeast.

    By refusing to fix the critical but awfully dilapidated Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway which passes by what Americans would call their neck of the wood but prefer to build new, state of the art roads in their villages which in economic terms lead to the middle of nowhere, both Anyim and Ekweremadu personify the village mind-set which many current Southeast politicians possess. Interestingly, it is Fashola, the erstwhile Lagos State governor, who is now reconstructing not just the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway but also the other critical highway in the Southeast which has been in a total mess for years, the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway. Media accounts say the reconstructed part is far better than the original construction, with new drainage facilities and other things now being added.

    Without using words, Fashola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has portrayed the wretchedness of what modern political scientists call prebendal politics in Nigeria, in which what matters is where you come from and the religion you profess, even though you may be worse than a barracuda in devouring the resources of your people while pretending to be espousing their interests. By reconstructing most impressively the Onitsha-Enugu Road and the Enugu-Port Harcourt Highway, among the infrastructure critical to the Southeast and by extension the nation, Fashola has thrown a huge challenge to Ekweremadu and Anyim as well as others around the country pretending to be devoted to the service of their zones. There is still hope for Nigeria, with selfless leaders like Fashola. May his type grow rapidly across the nation.

    • Chief Ekwunife, an economist and management consultant, lives in Enugu.

  • Of ‘shitholes’ and ‘shitty’ jibes

    President Donald Trump in his pushback against Michael Wolff’s damaging book, Fire and Fury, touted himself ‘a very stable genius.’ He truly must be. Because with just another of his famously unguarded weigh-ins, he has elevated a hitherto unprintable obscenity into a pervasive print word. That must surely count for a streak of genius! And it wasn’t that he did anything outside of character when he cast his latest slur on those axes of the world he’s negatively fixated with; he had never been reputed for moderating his xenophobic hubris.

    The United States leader was lately reported labelling African nations and the southern American states of Haiti and El Salvador “shithole countries.” That, he allegedly did, during a parley on immigration at the White House with a bipartisan group of senators penultimate week. Although he offered tame denials, saying the language he used at the meeting “was tough, but this (‘shithole’) was not the language used,” the remark fitted so well with his personality that many took it as given he did use those words.

    And really, antecedent should be a reliable guide. This latest remark that was first reported by The Washington Post matched with previous blusters attributed to Mr. Trump. In December 2017, for instance, The New York Times scooped an immigration meeting that was held in June, where Trump reportedly remonstrated 40,000 visas issued to Nigerians because once they have seen the U.S., they would never “go back to their huts” in Africa. At that meeting he also deplored the 15,000 immigrants from Haiti that year, grumbling that they “all have AIDS.” The White House vigorously denied those claims, but credibility deficit weighed too heavily on its side.

    That is not recalling the many ‘Trumpscript’ narratives before Trump took office, like when he allegedly said African-Americans were lazy and good at nothing other than gallivanting and making love. And there was the alleged rally in Wichita, Kansas where he purportedly vowed to get rid of Nigerians to make America great again if he won the presidency, saying: “Why can’t they stay in their own country? Why? I’ll tell you why: because they are corrupt. Their governments are so corrupt they rob the people blind and bring it all here to spend. And their people run away and come down here and take our jobs! We can’t have that!”

    With such pedigree, the ‘shithole’ comment that came to light recently isn’t anything new. Only that nobody ever gets cozy with insults; and so, there’s been sheer outrage in the global community over Trump’s latest remark – not the least, expectedly, from those nations he called out.

    The African Union (AU) was “frankly alarmed” by Trump’s statement. “Given the historical reality of how many Africans arrived in the United States as slaves, this statement flies in the face of all accepted behavior and practice,” its spokesperson said. Individual countries as well weighed in. Botswana slammed the American leader as “reprehensible and racist,” saying it had summoned the U.S. ambassador to clarify whether Botswana is one of those being regarded as “shitholes.” Haiti’s envoy to the U.S. called the comment “regrettable” and deriving from “clichés and stereotypes rather than actual fact.” In the week following the remark, some countries including Nigeria and South Africa summoned respective American ambassador for clarification of the Trump statement. Even the United Nations (UN) human rights office deplored the comment as “shocking and shameful,” and to boot “racist.”

    It is noteworthy, though, that the U.S. leader’s comment by no means reflected his country’s collective value. Many Americans openly recoiled at the remark, ruling that it fell far below the ethical standard of the United States presidency. Among other interventions, the Haiti envoy to the U.S. was reported saying he had been “bombarded by emails from the American public apologising.”

    There is much that can be said in deconstructing the extreme narcissism of Mr. Trump, which flies in the face of even the most basic norms of international engagement. But we really shouldn’t bother with that, because he will sooner than later return with another rant in affronting slight of persons whose genetic make-up he seems simply unable to muster any regard for. With his fixation, the American president is better left to his self-doting world. Rather, since Nigeria is numbered among African nations he smeared in one brushstroke as “shithole countries,” we should turn inwards to interrogate just how ‘shitty’ we may have gotten.

    The Spectator Index headed up on its twitter handle last week with a gloomy pointer: it reported that Nigeria ran-up after war-torn Yemen as the world’s lead nations with the worst record of electricity supply in 2017. In a survey of 137 countries that the Index attributed to the World Economic Forum (WEF), Nigeria ranked in infamy ahead of natural disaster-prone Haiti and conflict-ridden Lebanon, which came in at the third and fourth places. Insurgency wracked Pakistan fared better at the 23rd position while South Africa held the 41st spot. If you wanted some guide on how this survey profile impacted practically, you got one in the Central Bank’s business expectations report issued last week, which showed that 62.6 percent of surveyed firms cited poor electricity supply as a major constraint to their operations in the fourth quarter of 2017.

    And electricity is by no means the only factor locating Nigeria on the backwater of civilisation, going by earlier tweets on The Spectator Index’s handle. A survey attributed to the United Nations (UN) placed this county second in infant mortality ranking with 89 deaths to 1,000 live births. In the survey, Nigeria trailed only Angola having 96 deaths, and fared worse than Pakistan (69 deaths), Kenya (59), India (41) and South Africa (38). Another WEF survey on infrastructure quality in 2017 placed Nigeria at the 131st spot among 137 countries. Other than developed nations in that survey that expectedly ranked better, Nigeria also trailed Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan and Brazil, among others.

    Yet another 2017 survey of math and science education quality in 137 countries by the WEF placed Nigeria at the 118th spot. And the country ranked 127th in security out of 137 countries in another 2017 survey by the WEF. In yet another survey by the International Telecoms Union (ITU), 25 percent of the Nigerian population were found connected to the Internet in 2017, compared with other relatively disadvantaged countries like Brazil (59%), Turkey (58%), China (53%) and India (29%). And that isn’t mentioning the challenge of corruption going by the last Perception Index (2016) published by Transparency International, which placed Nigeria 44th behind North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Iraq and Zimbabwe; but ahead of Iran, Russia, China, India, Turkey and South Africa among others.

    These and many more survey reports had previously been announced by The Spectator Index. And just to be sure, the Index isn’t by any means a political or partisan platform. It frequently announces survey reports on sundry issues including global unemployment, HIV infection rate, economies and GDP growth rate and, indeed, popularity surveys on prominent world leaders.

    And so, even though we could justly take umbrage at Trump’s racist rant, that isn’t what we really need. The rant should rather fire up Nigerian leaders now and into the future to earnestly salvage our country from the ‘shithole.’

    Please join me on kayodeidowu.blogspot.be for conversation.

     

     

  • Nigeria’s descent into state of nature

    No one is in doubt that Nigeria is a great country, specially blessed with abundant human and natural resources. It is also not untrue that the country has experienced growth and development since her political independence in 1960. However, Nigerians are divided as regards whether the development recorded tallies with the available resources. In my opinion, the greatest development that a nation can boast of is the peace and security of its citizenry. Has Nigeria done much on this since her independence?

    The human person is a development-oriented being; we have developed from the Stone Age to the Jet Age. Man has conquered nature, but he needs to do more in order to conquer himself. Man still remains the worst enemy of man. No wonder Martin Luther King Jnr said: “… modern man suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring contrast to his scientific and technological abundance; we have learned to fly the air like birds, we have learned to swim the seas like fish, and yet we have not learned to walk the Earth as brothers and sisters”.

    The Hobessian State of Nature is a conceptual description of the political life of man before the emergence of democracy. It was given by Thomas Hobbes, an English Philosopher (1588-1679). The Hobbessian State of Nature is “a time of war where every man is enemy to every man” and a “time wherein men live without other security than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them withal”.

    Though this state of nature need not have even existed, rather it describes Hobbes’ assumption of what life would be like without government. In Hobbessian State of Nature, the life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.

    What is life for ordinary Nigerians today? Nigeria’s political terminology is in chaos, because the authority is not pronouncing the correct definitions. While survival and self-satisfaction are beginning to define our existence as a people, good and evil are painfully being defined in relative terms. The fear of violent death dominated Hobbes’ life and work. He wrote: “Fear and I were born twins”. In spite of this, he made great contributions to politics and law during his time through his writings.

    The good people Nigeria must rise up to save this country or risk its disintegration. I love Nigeria, I believe in her unity but unity built on structural justice. Recent happenings in our beloved country are symptoms of a sick country touring the path of anarchy. To save this nation from reversing into Hobbesian State of Nature, governments at all levels must be sincere or more honest in carrying out their constitutional duties, primarily ensuring a trustworthy security of lives and property.

    Though democracy may be practised differently by different countries, the key elements of a democratic government are universal. These are found in Thomas Jefferson’s definition; democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people. To save the Nigerian state from collapsing, men and women of goodwill – Nigerians who believe in Nigeria – must use every legitimate means politically to call the “drivers” of this nation to order, since constitutional power belongs to the people.

    Why the increasing ethnicism, nepotism, sectionalism, religious supremacy and political rascality among our leaders? “I belong to everybody, and I belong to nobody”. If only our leaders had truly put 50 percent of this into practice, a more just, peaceful and prosperous Nigeria should have been running, and not just standing, by now.

    Our democratic institutions are weakening by day. The ordinary citizens are losing hope in the present political leadership of our country. In fact, the credibility of the government of the day is at stake. Does the political class believe in Nigeria? Do they know that they are leaders or rulers of Nigeria because there is a Nigeria and Nigerians? Our president and the government must work harder to avoid the emergence of rebel groups in any part of this country. Killers of innocent civilians must be named appropriately without fear or favour; and dealt with in accordance with the laws of our country. Nigerians need a Nigerian President. We need a father who sees the entire country as his constituency regardless of tribe or religion. Justice is the primary solution. What legacy is the government of the day going to leave at the end of its tenure in office? A wounded and heart-broken citizenry? Mass graves of innocent citizens or citizens with lifetime disabilities caused by government failure provide adequate security? If the killers of the defenceless Nigerians are called mere criminals, then who is responsible for ending their criminality?

    I am afraid of a revolution in this country if the people’s hope is finally and permanently crushed! Unfortunately some of the causes of the 1776 American Revolution and the 1917 Russian Revolution are right here with us namely: insecurity, suppression of freedom of expression, nepotism, despotism, selective justice, abysmal silence on serious national issues, economic hardship, corruption, breakdown of law and order and managerial inefficiency.

    Is ethnic and religious pluralism a blessing or a curse?  The U.S.A is a good example of an orderly and progressive pluralistic nation. Ethnic and religious homogeneity is not a yardstick for national cohesion and political stability in a country; Somalia offers an example in this regard. Good leadership founded on justice is the key thing. Before the 1917 Russian Revolution, Russia was described as a prison house of nations. Is the federal government aware that the country is unsafe? Many have become refugees in our country and some held captives, worse than prisoners, in the hands of gunmen.  Many lives have been wasted by unknown gunmen, sometimes by unknown soldiers or unknown policemen under the watch of a known government we elected to protect us. The politicization of religion and ethnic superiority or racism must be properly and objectively dealt with or these may lead our beautiful country into chaos. Nigerian leaders ought to learn from the U.S.A as regards religious liberty. After the 1776 American Revolution (War of Independence), Thomas Jefferson said: “The state would tolerate all religions but give formal favour to none”. All the citizens of this country must bear in mind that until every ethnic group, followers of every religion, every section and every individual in this country is safe, we all are not safe.

    The philosophy of first class and second class citizens must give way to mutual respect and equality before the law of the land. Are some citizens more Nigerian than others? The collective silence of the good people of Nigeria in this challenging time is not healthy for our national survival. Unless we speak responsibly and fearlessly against the wrong management of our common heritage – Nigeria – we all will pay the price. The prominent Protestant Pastor, Martin NiemEller, who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler wrote: “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak, because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak, because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me”.

    Government is a basic necessity for civil peace, but when personal security is threatened due to government failure to maintain peace, it is by nature that people will resort to individual capacity for self-defence. Self-defence, either personal or national is a natural right, but it is necessary that government provides adequate security in order to prevent the citizens from reversing back into the nasty and brutish state. We need an active, alert, informed and thoughtful government to do this. Nigerians are peace-loving and hardworking people, always ready to support their leaders in nation building. As a matter of urgency, the federal government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari must end the violence in the land through justice and dialogue, create an enabling environment for economic prosperity and let us again rise as the giant of Africa.

     

    • Rev’d Father Gimba is of St. Dominic’s Catholic Church, Yelwa-Yauri, Kebbi State.
  • Buhari’s republic of impatient people

    Buhari’s republic of impatient people

    The catastrophic opening of the year 2018 with wanton killings of about 80 persons in well coordinated attacks in Benue State by the perennial killer squad (Fulani herdsmen) has called to question the sloppiness of Nigeria’s security architecture and the look-away attitude of the executive. It shows on the one hand, the powerlessness of farming communities and impending food insecurity, and on the other hand, the growing audacity of the marauders and an impending implosion it foregrounds.

    But do those being killed have a right to life guaranteed under the Nigerian constitution? Did President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) ever promise Nigerians that they will be proud of their country when he assumes power? I hasten to conclude from this opening that the lives of ordinary Nigerians mean nothing to the ruling class. And it is sad that the lives of those who laid the golden egg of PMB’s presidential ascendancy have become worthless and sacrificed for political exigency and inactions. Interestingly, if we dare to ask questions, we are labelled impatient cohorts who want an Eldorado just within few years of his presidency. This resonates in his New Year speech, about the same time people were being massacred in Benue State, when he stated: “We Nigerians can be very impatient and want to improve our conditions faster than may be possible considering our resources and capabilities…When all the aggregates of nationwide opinions are considered, my firm view is that our problems are more to do with process than structure”.

    Staying with process is vital as it reveals what the President is doing to make the structure enduring. The big question is, how impatient can we be said to have been when we look at health, economy, education and security?

    We live in two worlds in Nigeria. There are things designed for the rich and the poor. One of those is the health care system. PMB has continued to benefit from the sound health infrastructure in the United Kingdom yet replicating such is yet to be considered for the benefit of ‘ordinary’ Nigerians. We have lost count of those who died of wrong diagnoses in our so-called hospitals that the ruling elite during commissioning will call ‘ultra-modern health facilities’ but wait till their families experience fever, they set out for London. Or is it the brain drain occasioned by the lacklustre body language of the handlers in Health Ministry? Recently, Yusuf Buhari, the president’s son rode a bike on a smooth-stretch of road but crashed along the line. He was hospitalised and enjoying in private medical facility when there are public facilities of ‘world class standards’ provided by the federal government in Abuja and all over the country. Hypocritical governors and their cronies in lawmaking chambers thronged the hospital to wish him well. This is not bad though. However, they have yet to find the same candour to visit the decimated lands and farming communities in Benue to wish them well or even ask for prayers for them. While on sick bed, Yusuf Buhari got fortified with DSS, Army, and Police while the farming communities in Benue in need of protection don’t have.. Such is life. But is it too much to demand the same health care services being enjoyed by the President and his family? Mr President poor people bear all the pains in Nigeria….when will it be our turn?

    Nigeria is securely insecure with killings here and there and yet the PMB government continues with the propaganda of ‘technical decimation’ of Boko Haram while technically empowering killer herdsmen. Where life matters, a single death is a great loss. Such is the concern of UK and USA who alert their citizens in Nigeria to impending terror attacks. In our own republic, security of lives and properties has become more selective. It is extended to where the heart of the handlers are and against those not within the favour radar. We cannot separate two people who are fighting by restraining the hand of one of the feuding parties for the other as is being done in the case of herders’-farmer war. How can we be championing unity where those who kill are allowed to determine the terms and conditions for peace? Does that not amount to rewarding bad behaviour? Would the situation have been the same if the son or daughter of our elites have been killed by herdsmen? Where is justice and rule of law when colonies or ranches are being championed for killers and burial sites for farming communities? The poor have reasons to be impatient because they know that the rich are securitized while the masses remain ‘soft targets’ for death.

    Education has been more decimated under PMB with the downward trend in allocation to funding education in the national budget. Across the board, public primary and secondary schools and tertiary institutions are being dealt a big blow by the ruling elite and starved. Teachers and lecturers are allowed to go on strike so people are conscripted to patronise schools established by powerful elites and their cronies. But what stakes do they have to make our education great and world class when their wards school abroad? They want the masses to remain subservient knowing that, a mind that knows is one that truly free. Unfortunately, their foreign trained kids will not enjoy their lives as the kids left uncared for will become a menace to the society. Relatedly, JAMB jubilates by remitting billions extracted from over one million applicants who jostle for less than 500 thousand available spaces! Yet PMB felt the masses are “impatient” in asking when will it be their turn to enjoy increasing access to qualitative education in Nigeria?

    The economy is quantitatively improving, not qualitatively impacting on the masses. I laugh each time the president and his vice said they ‘feel our pains’. How can they? Do they queue for fuel? Do they go to the market to buy tomatoes except as photo-ops? Do they know that people’s livelihood have been threatened since last year due to their inability to fix the oil and gas sector? Do they know that power is central to the economy? How much of efficient power has the president produced when the State House still budgets for diesel? Democratic questioning is essential to call to question leadership’s dereliction of constitutional duties. Those who do not want to entertain and/or accommodate complaints must learn to be fair to all, perform their constitutionally assigned roles or never offer themselves to contest 2019 elections. As Beautiful Nubia observes in his song “The Small People’s Anthem”, some people can’t find their way. Some people live by the day. Some people have all the funds. Few people take all the funds. Poor people get all the pains. Small people look to the sky….when will it be our turn?

    • Dr Tade, a sociologist sent this piece via dotad2003@yahoo.com

  • High interest rates caused by low productivity

    Too little reasoning, wisdom, knowledge and understanding guide African development activities. This is the bane of African development. Nigeria for example, in view of the many studies which show that mere capital investments do not promote sustainable economic growth and industrialization (SEGI), insists on planning with the premise that  capital investment promotes promote SEGI. Consequently, Nigeria has been computing and announcing high GDP rates of growth rates for decades without achieving real growth and development.  Sadly, there have been no people in government since 1999 to understand that mere GDP growth does not serve any useful purpose because it does not solve the common problems of any society. The unemployment, poverty and high crime wave situations have been worsening since 1999. This article is writing to show that interest rates are determined fundamentally by the level of productivity in a nation; high interest rates coexist with low productivity. The persistently high interest rate in Nigeria over the decades is a cardinal proof that the Nigerian economy has been stagnating.

    Nigeria has an artisan/agricultural economy characterized by very low productivity, notwithstanding the number of telecommunication masts erected since 2002, the number of GSM phones owned by Nigerians, the length of paved roads in Nigeria, the number of power generating plants, crude petroleum wells and reserves, gas plants in the Niger Delta and the number and size of banks in Nigeria. These structures do not determine the level of development of a nation.

    The level of industrialization of a nation is determined by five learning-related variables. They are: 1) the number of people involved in productive work or employment in a nation; 2) the level of education/training of those involved in productive activities in the economy and of the people of the nation; 3) the linkages among the knowledge, skills, competences and sectors of an economy; 4) the learning rates or intensity in the economy and especially among the workforce; and 5) the experience of the workforce and the learning history of the society. All the variables are related to the learning-man and learning-woman. Moreover, the higher are the values of the variables, the better is the economy. A national growth rate measurement based on some or all of these variables would reflect the true economic situation in the nation. A nation achieves the modern Industrial Revolution (IR) when these five variables attain critical values.

    Industrialized nations are productive nations. The industrialized and productive Western and Asian nations have not always been industrialized. They learnt slowly and achieved industrialization in 2000-3000 years. They began to manufacture many products after they achieved the modern IR. In productive nations, many things including money (capital) are abundant. After all, the appropriate quantity of money in circulation in a nation represents the total value of the goods and services in it. When the supply of a commodity is high and the demand is normal, using the economists’ supply-demand principle, the price is low and vice versa. This is the reason interest rates regimes in Europe and the United States of America are low and are in the range of 0-5 per cent. In Nigeria and other African nations, interest rates are high because of low productivity; everything including money and investment capital is scarce. Yet there is an abnormally high demand for money. Consequently, the price of money (interest rate) is high, 20 per cent and higher. It is clear that interest rate regimes are determined by levels of productivity. Deregulation cannot change this fundamental relationship.

    The abnormally high demand for money in Nigeria in turn is due to the false claim that mere capital investment promotes sustainable economic growth and industrialization (SEGI).  Economists, accountants and bankers do not understand the science of economic growth and development. They also lack a sense of history and so do not know the development experiences of Western and Asian nations. They think that national economic management can be premised on frivolous claims about deregulation magic. They calculate GDP changes by whatever methods and claim that Nigeria is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. They are wrong.

    The unemployment, poverty and high crime wave situations in Nigeria have been worsening while economists announce high rates of growth without development. Growing economies demand employment of all categories (Lewis, 1972). Employment is the blood of an economy.  The growth Nigeria needs is that which is promoted by increase in employment and learning, and measures increase in the capabilities to solve problems including production.  The unemployed educated youths in Nigeria and the knowledge they possess constitute the power the economy needs to achieve the growth that increases the capabilities of our nation for solving problems including production. Economic stagnation – lack of economic progress, is the problem of the Nigerian economy whereas mass unemployment is the symptom.

    Britain did not establish public educational systems till after it had achieved IR and fought the two World Wars (Dent, 1975). So, Britain had the apprenticeship scheme coexisting with mass unemployment for centuries. That is, though European nations did not have formal educational systems, they experienced mass unemployment for many centuries. European nations’ experiences suggest that it is not inappropriate educational systems that produce mass unemployment. Stagnation or very slow economic growth is always the cause of mass unemployment. European nations which had no educational systems experienced mass unemployment for centuries before they became industrialized. Britain achieved the first modern IR in the period 1770-1850 (Gregg, 1971). When Britain achieved the IR, the adult males and females in the nation were not enough to fill available job openings. Employers of labour had to resort to employing children to work for many hours in the day. That was the basis of the scandalous child-labour in Britain during the early times of the European industrialization.

    History, therefore, demonstrates that rapid economic growth and industrialization are the solutions to mass unemployment and poverty, not self-employment and entrepreneurship. Businessmen can make large profits in stagnating economies. Those who claim that it is alright for Nigeria to announce growth without development for decades and claim that Nigeria is doing well are only managing the nation towards social, economic and political crises. The persistently high interest rate over the decades in Nigeria shows clearly that the economy has been stagnating. High interest rate coexists with low productivity. Increasing productivity decreases interest rate and true inflation.

    Africans with Western social sciences background (economists, sociologists, anthropologist, psychologists, political scientists, etc.) and those of related areas of knowledge (lawyers, administrators, business managers, accountants, bankers, etc.) who are influencing public policy must stop promoting the claim that mere capital investment promotes sustainable economic growth and development. That is how African nations can focus on true development efforts to improve productivity and reduce interest rates in Nigeria and other African nations.

    • Professor Ogbimi writes from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife.
  • Fulani herdsmen and the killing fields of Benue

    Fulani herdsmen and the killing fields of Benue

    The news headlines are literally dripping of blood! Let us list a few of them: ‘Armed Fulani Herdsmen kill 50 in Benue’. ‘Another 55 people killed by Fulani herdsmen in Taraba state.’ ‘Killings by herdsmen: Soyinka lambasts FG.’ ‘My people have been abandoned by the FG’-Gov. Ortom of Benue State. ‘Fayose holds security summit with hunters over killer herdsmen, calls for them to be labelled as terrorists’.

    But the one that got me intrigued was the claim by the presidency that Nigerians have not raised much concern by way of publicity on the mindless menace. As a response I hereby  reproduce  my opinion essay first published on March 27,2016.This is to show why governments at all levels must take public affairs analysts more seriously, even as they are enjoined to live up to their responsibilities to the people.

    The scarce regard for the sanctity of human life, as callously exhibited by the spate of senseless killings of defenceless Agatu people by fully armed, rampaging Fulani herdsmen in Benue State diminishes us as a nation, as a people. Yet, it did not all start today. From the states of Plateau through Taraba to Benue, the blood-thirsty marauders masquerading as pastoralists, but driven more by an expansionist agenda have wasted thousands of innocent lives. With impunity as their wielding stick, they still walk our streets as free men because here we are not equal before the laws of the land. That is just part of the pain.

    The other is the obvious utter negligence of duty, or at best the lukewarm attitude of security personnel to the wanton wasting of the priceless lives of fellow citizens. Policing, should ordinarily inculcate the culture of sensitive information gathering, identifying potentially volatile areas of conflict and deploying well-trained personnel there to forestall such issues from exploding to unmanageable conflagration. Taking proactive measures would have saved thousands of lives. Prevention, as the wise ones say is not only cheaper but wiser than cure. But as we have witnessed in the horrendous macabre dance of death by the insurgency monster and politically-motivated killings before, during and after elections, our security men have been left wondering what really went wrong. It is therefore, hardly surprising that conflicting figures of casualty are given, after the deadly deed is done.

    For instance, while one Paul Ede, the coordinator of the civil society groups put the number of Agatu people sent to their early graves by the Fulani militia men as 400, the Commissioner of Police, Benue State Command, Paul Yakadi claimed that: “only three corpses were seen in Aila and Adagbo”. It was a similar account of shadowy figures paraded in 2015 after Egba, another Agatu village was brought to ruins by some Fulani herdsmen when media reports put the figures of the victims at 90 but the then Police Commissioner of Benue State, Hyacinth Dagala claimed only 30 corpses were recovered.

    It was however good enough that the police chief painted the larger picture in a more honest perspective for the recent killings. He explained how the invaders moved en mass from Loco and Doma in the neighbouring Nassarawa State and brazenly sacked seven villages in Benue State. In the mindless mayhem that followed, many Agatu villages were razed to rubbles, some 7,000 occupants thrown into disarray after which their places of origin were taken over by the army of Fulani herdsmen and some 5,000 cattle. The excuse being given in some quarters that the recent attacks came as reprisal mission of vendetta for the killing of a Fulani chieftain by some Agatu militia men further exposes the obvious lack of prompt response to potentially combustible situations. That tragic event was said to have taken place back in 2013. So far, the two wrongs committed have not added up to a right.

    The current horrifying spectacle reminds one of how in December 2011, some armed Fulani men invaded a village somewhere on the Plateau at the dead of night, burnt their huts to ashes and used nets to ‘capture’ those running for their dear lives, only to be hideously hacked to death with daggers, axes and cutlasses, as if they were some sacrificial fowls. It was a similar gory tragedy back in 2013 when 74 mobile policemen and four DSS operatives were assaulted and their lives brutally wasted by the Ombatse cult group in Nassarawa. Did these gory tales take place in the 21st century Nigeria, one may be compelled to ask? Yes, of course. Worse still, no one was brought to book, to pay for the priceless lives lost. That again, shows us just how equal we really are before the law.

    This saddening, sorry situation throws up mind-riveting questions. What would have happened for instance, if it was the Agatu people that had gone up North to kill Fulani herdsmen, for some spurious reasons? Who has been arming them with sophisticated weapons, including AK 47 rifles? Why have both Suswan, the former Benue State governor and his successor, Ortom found it one Herculean task to curb the menace of blood-seeking Fulani herdsmen? Why couldn’t they borrow a fresh leaf from the erstwhile governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, whose administration established grazing fields for the cattle rearers beyond which they could not graze? Why haven’t the Police nabbed even one person and bring him to trial over these atrocities? What lessons are our political helmsmen passing on to the current and future generations, if they have grossly failed to abide by the dictates of Section14 Sub Section 2(b) of the 1999 Constitution, (as Amended) which expressly states that the primary purpose of government is to first and foremost guarantee the security of the lives and property of the citizenry as well as provide their welfare?

    The answers to these burning questions would go a long way towards restoring the confidence of the citizens in government, as a protective and providing father figure. Our legislators should come up with laws to guide the activities of nomadic Fulani herdsmen and offenders made to face the full wrath of the law. Equally important, is for both the state and federal governments to find a lasting solution to the recurring ugly decimal of innocent, harmless Nigerians finding themselves defenceless before fellow armed citizens of whatever professional or religious disposition. Many a farmer, as it happened to Chief Olu Falae, have found themselves haunted by the spectre of armed pastoralists laying claim to lands they do not own. They behave as if their cows were more important than the cash crops they trample on, or turn to foodstuff, or the irreplaceable lives of the owners they waste.

    Indeed, the frequency and gravity of the killing spree by Fulani herdsmen should inform us that we are greatly under-policed. It also shows that the current centralized policing system, just like that of our political power structure, is antithetical to the dictates of an enduring democratic culture. We need more of community policing, in a similar way that we deserve a diffusion of power from the bloated federal centre. Both breed bad blood. Impunity must be done away with. A Truth and Reconciliation Committee should be set up by the state government to get to the root of these recurring and worrisome inter-ethnic clashes and bring them to an end. Above all, Nigerians must be treated as equals before the law.

    • Baje, a public affairs analyst, writes from Lagos.