The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Between Abeokuta and Abuja

    In a day the All Progressives Congress (APC) held a hugely successful congress in the 236 wards in Ogun State, I returned to Abeokuta at about 8pm to the warm embrace of the illumination provided by the new highways. From Breweries Bus-stop, cruising towards the city-centre, I was fascinated by the illuminated skies around Akin Olugbade road, provided by the lights adorning the beautiful roads constructed by the Amosun administration. Momentarily, I thought I was somewhere in Europe.

    Who could have imagined this is possible in Abeokuta?

    I recall that Pastor Tunde Bakare came to Abeokuta not long ago and echoed the same words: no one would have thought these things are doable. But Senator Ibikunle Amosun has surprised everyone. A couple of our friends in the media who are from Abeokuta have equally expressed pleasant amazement. One said he found it difficult to locate his house by virtue of the transformation of the state capital.

    If Amosun could accomplish all these in less than three years, one can imagine what the state will look like by the time he completes eight years.

    Hear the United States’ Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle, as reported in the Vanguard, Nation, Daily Independent (28/02/14). “What I see is fantastic, rapid development in Abeokuta. The roads, the bridges, the flyovers are very, very impressive.”

    Imagine if the Ambassador had had the opportunity to visit Ota, Aiyetoro, Ilishan/Ago-Iwoye, Ijebu-Ode, Sagamu and out-of-the-way areas like Ilara/Ijoun, etc. where the “very very impressive roads, the bridges, the flyovers” he saw in Abeokuta are being replicated!

    Interestingly, I passed through Ota on that fateful day of the APC Ward Congress on April 5, and gasped for breath! This is an area I frequented between 2005 and 2011. Is this Ota? Who could have imagined the possibility of all these three years ago? The beautiful Ota township roads, the pedestrian walkways – under construction; that axis used to be hell in terms of appalling state of the roads and attendant human sufferings.

    So, it is actually possible to jump-start development… But my mood has now changed.

    To think that Amosun accomplished all these – to speak in local parlance – by managing money, cutting this, cutting that, reducing that cost, cancelling that other one altogether – sometimes making enemies in the process, since some people are already used to getting free money from political office holders at the expense of development – has the tendency to make one feel downcast. Here are the reasons.

    The Federal Government sits on 52 per cent of the revenue allocation from the federation account while the 36 states share 26 per cent. It has been like that before President Jonathan came to power, so it has nothing to do with him per se. Among those 36 states is Ogun. When you divide the 26 per cent by 36, you have 0.7 per cent – but that is assuming the allocation is shared equally. But it is not, so Ogun State ends up with about 0.3 per cent out of the 26 per cent every month.

    Despite the gargantuan 52 per cent being collected by the federal government, virtually all the federal roads in Ogun State are in tatters: Atan-Agbara road (Agbara is an industrial hub in Nigeria), Owode-Ilaro road, Ikorodu-Sagamu highway, etc. I’m sure the Minister of Works has never heard the names of some of these roads let alone their locations. You see the futility of having federal roads in Nigeria. You see the grave injustice in the federal government getting as much as 52 per cent while the states are starving.

    Wait a minute; the Nigeria Police Force is an agency of the federal government. But it is from the paltry sums being collected by the states that the police are equipped. So, from the meagre 0.3 per cent Ogun receives from the federation account, the police are also being funded! Until the federal authorities started their problem of don’t touch this federal road, don’t touch that one, Ogun had been taking from the 0.3 per cent to repair the completely failed portions of the so-called federal roads. Imagine the amount the state government spent to repair parts of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and several other federal roads! This is because the masses don’t like to differentiate between federal and state roads. Once any road is in Ogun territory, then Amosun must be responsible for its maintenance and reconstruction!

    Again, despite the pretensions in the concurrent list, power is still in the exclusive list of the 1999 Constitution. By the time the modernization going on in Abeokuta, nay Ogun is completed, there is no guarantee that the entire state capital can be illuminated like London, Paris or Berlin because Abeokuta currently gets 20 megawatts whereas it needs at least 80 megawatts, according to Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company! This much I experienced last Saturday, after I exited the illumination of Akin Olugbade, Ibara-Totoro and The First Bridge, and moved to Abiola Way, facing Ijaiye/Sapon from Iyana-Mortuary – all modern highways constructed by the current government.

    Is it then proper for electricity to still be in the exclusive list (notwithstanding the so-called deregulation, backed by a subordinate legislation) when each state, local council, community, household, etc. ought to have the freedom to generate its own electricity and use it for its own purpose – in the 21st century?

    For the umpteenth time, I ask that these federal roads should revert to the states. The Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and National Assembly (NASS) should ensure that in the new revenue allocation template, Abuja (FG) gets 25 per cent from the Federation Account, while Abeokuta (Ogun) receives 1.5 per cent. Each of the 36 states should receive at least 1.5 per cent from the federation account. We are all from the states, there are no federal people. Concentration of powers and money at the centre has ruined Nigeria, drained it of vitality and made its development elusive for many lamentable years.The federal government should now concentrate on core federal matters such as foreign affairs, currency, and defence while powers are devolved to the states. With more revenue to the federating states and a truly federal constitution, the states will be in a position to maintain the highways (at cheaper costs), open up the bowels of their lands, revive agriculture, provide potable water, construct railway, generate and distribute electricity, provide security for their own people, and indeed, develop at their own pace – re-enacting and promoting healthy rivalries of the glorious days of the 50s and 60s… and building a strong and enduring United States of Nigeria.

    • Soyombo, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abeokuta.

  • Boko Haram: Seeking for global support

    The African way of explaining the recent decision by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) to assemble governors from the northern part of Nigeria at a roundtable to discuss the contemporary threat to the peace of the region and by extension the stability of Nigeria would be to say the Americans have a clear understanding that when there is pepper in your throat, both the eyes and the nose suffer for it.

    Without doubt, the current spate of insurgency in the North of Nigeria is a spoonful of pepper in the throat of the nation and expectedly, wisdom dictates that even though it is the nose that is currently dripping with mucus, the eyes will soon gather its own tears, if there is no water to quickly douse the fire in the throat. Nigeria is the nose. Insurgency is the pepper we have eaten. And the Big Brother, the United States of America clearly understands that whatever affects the largest single collection of blacks in the world, the  largest economy in Africa, may soon migrate to trouble its shores.

    Apart from the governors who currently wear the shoes and know where it pinches,  the faculty assembled by UISP to diagnose and recommend measures for the troubling development posed by the Boko Haram group and other forms of insurgencies, was arguably African in mind even if they are Americans by birth and orientation. They were men and women who have had contacts with Nigeria since the early days of the country’s independence. They were also experts in the field of dealing with insurgency and the political challenges common to evolving democracies.

    Take for instance, Ambassador Jonnie Carson, currently Assistant Secretary of State for Bureau of African Affairs. Carson’s 37-year Foreign Service career includes a two-year posting to Nigeria, 1969-1971. Kristin  Lord, acting President of USIP was from 2009-2013 Executive Vice President and Director of Studies at the Centre for a New American Security where she oversaw the centre’s research during which the centre published more than 110 reports and policy papers on technology and national security and the military, among others.

    There was also Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield,  Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs who  like Carson, had served in Nigeria. There was also Dr. Johan Paden; without doubt a versatile authority on the politics, culture and religion of the north of Nigeria. Although currently a professor of Public Administration at George Mason University, Paden had held the same position at Ahmadu Bello University and Bayero University, Kano before relocating home. Paden served as international monitor with the U.S delegation during the Nigerian presidential elections in Kaduna (1999), Kano (2003) and Katsina (2007). His latest work is titled “Post-election Conflict Management in Nigeria: The Challenge of National Unity.”

    Jennifer Cooke, Director of CSIS Africa Programme has authored many CSIS Reports, and most recently led a study commissioned by the US-African Command that examined potential sources of instability in a range of African countries.  There was also Georgia Holmer who since 1996 has been working on programes to understand and prevent violent extremism, radicalisation and conflict through the Women Preventing Extreme Violence (WPEV). Holmer had worked 10 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a terrorism analyst in some countries.

    Governor of Niger State and chairman of the Northern Governor’s Forum, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, led 11 other governors to the roundtable discussion. Initially threatened by snow, the discussion commenced a day behind schedule. Glued to the grime of security challenge, extreme poverty, illiteracy, deprivation and uncertainty, the governors waited to cross fertilize ideas on combating terrorism and poverty.

    The Niger State governor’s submission was that  tackling the economic, social and political challenges facing the North is a task that must be accomplished if leaders must get Nigeria and indeed Africa on the right pedestal of development; elites in the political, religious and traditional class in the north must take up the challenge of finding realistic and sustainable solutions to the myriad of problems and  politicians must be ready to embrace meaningful change in the cultural practices that shape the economic and political development of the region.

    Kwara State Governor, Alhaji AbdulFattah Ahmed highlighted  the lamentable reality that the indices of social and economic conditions indicate an increasing democratisation of poverty in the face of growth.  “ Today, the North has highest proportion of Nigerians living in poverty, the highest number of school age girls not attending school and the largest component of Nigeria’s unemployed youth. As of 2012, the average poverty rate of the states in the North-west geopolitical zone remained the highest at 71.4 per cent followed by North-east 69.1 per cent and North-central, 60.7 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The North also lags behind in gender development and empowerment,” Governor Ahmed lamented.

      Ahmed told the panelists that  the ‘pervasive residual superstition’ ‘stops our people from demanding better service from the leadership and certainly from taking more proactive steps towards their own material well-being.’ Like others, the governor argued against the direction of poverty as the causative factor of the crisis in the north, but accepted that poverty clearly aids the violent conflicts in the region. He also provided a well-thought out pragmatic solution to the challenges of the north.

    His words: “From the conflict between cattle-rearers and farmers to the Boko Haram insurgency, the struggle for or lack of access to economic resources contribute to these crises. If we create conditions for the prosperity of a greater percentage of our people, therefore, we will at least reduce the number of people available or amenable for conscription into violent activities”.

    Governor Ahmed argued that the North’s agricultural resources can provide an antidote to the socio-economic stagnation and crises that have brought the region to its knees. We must explore and promote investment along key agriculture values to reclaim the agro-allied prosperity this region once knew.

    “The solution lies in going back to the basics, sustaining good governance, implementing agribusiness, and promoting human capital development, especially functional education and access to quality healthcare.”

    In the end, Governor Kwankwaso summarised the expectations of the Nigerian team from their American interventionists: apart from the usual diplomatic support for the country, the US should consider instituting a peace and security programme that will ensure a holistic and comprehensive approach to addressing current and future conflicts in Nigeria.  This could also involve activities that will reduce poverty through job creation, education, infrastructure and institutional development.

    On his part Governor Ahmed invited international donors to support his efforts at transforming agriculture, especially by promoting all seasons farming using advanced irrigation systems and making the state an international investors’ destination.

    Responding on behalf of other international agencies, administrator of United States Agency for International Development, USAID, 41 year old Rajiv Shah, who sits atop more than $22 billion intervention fund, promised the preparedness to intervene in the areas of agriculture, health, education and power.

    • Oba, writes from Ilorin

  • Adeleke abhors political violence

    The comment by the Omisore Campaign organization, to the effect, that the first executive governor of Osun State, Senator Isiaka Adeleke instigated unprovoked assault on Police Affairs Minister, Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan and Senator Iyiola Omisore, is a blantant lie without foundation. It was just an attempt to drag the good name of Adeleke unjustly in the mud. The reported incident at Ideal Nest Hotel, Osogbo on April 2, was to say the least, a demonstration of desperation on the part of Omisore Campaign Organization to create unnecessary political tension within the PDP and particularly, create unjust harassment of a particular gubernatorial aspirant and his supporters for the party primary held on Saturday, April 5.

    Throughout his political career, Senator Adeleke has always preached politics without bitterness. He canvasses at all times for peace, concord, amity and tolerance among politicians and their supporters. He came into the present race to salvage the badly dented image of PDP in Osun, occasioned by lack of transparency and maturity on the part of present PDP Executice Committee in Osun, to carry everybody along as stakeholders without bias.

     What therefore, is the active involvement of a serving minister like Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan, with a particular aspirant of PDP in governorship primary race, when actually Adesiyan should be seen, superintending over the security of Nigerians and non-Nigerian alike, across the 36 states? Why did the Minister of Police Affairs become a biased chief security officer and allowed himself to be openly identified with a particular aspirant against his oath of office to be fair to all? He subjected Senator Adeleke, to unwarranted intimidation and harassment at Ideal Nest Hotel on April 2.

    Glory be to God, that the Osun State Commissioner of Police, through a signed refuttal by the command PPRO, DSP Folashade Odoro, has denied ever telling any newspaper reporter, that Senator Adeleke brought thugs to Ideal Nest Hotel on April 2, to cause trouble. This reassuring message from the Commissioner of Police, has put a big lie, to the ungodly impression created by Omisore Campaign Organization, that Adeleke is a “trouble maker”. Where therefore did the Omisore Campaign Organization get their fact “that the ex-governor stormed the hotel with thugs armed to the teeth”? Let us play politics with absolute candour, love and tolerance for each other and everybody, because at the end of the day, politicians will still pat themselves at the back.

     Senator Isiaka Adeleke after losing out to Senator Mudashir Hussen in the 2011 Osun West Senatorial election, promptly wrote a congratulatory letter to the Senator and placed same on radio, television and print media. To Adeleke, seeking for a political office should not be a matter of life and death, if truly one wants to serve the people.

    What is the big deal in Senator Adeleke exchanging pleasantries with fellow party members, particularly the Honourable Minister of Police Affairs, Adesiyan, whom Adeleke appointed a Director-General in a ministry, when he (Adeleke) was governor in 1992? Is that the way, Adesiyan would pay back Senator Adeleke by being unduly rude to the latter on April 2, at the Ideal Nest Hotel? It was maturity on the part of Adeleke that made for peace as against what Omisore camp painted out. Adesiyan should not have compromised himself so heavily as evidenced in his support for Omisore, having become a federal minister. He should be called to order by the President, so as to enable Nigerians have confidence in a sensitive post such as Ministry of Police Affairs.

     Nigerians, particularly the presidency, should be alerted, that the current Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan should apply caution in the discharge of his duties as a minister of federal republic, whose duty it is, to protect all Nigerians and non- Nigerians alike. Elections and indeed politicking, should be an avenue to serve the people. We call for decorum on the part of Adesiyan in the discharge of his duty as Police Affairs Minister. Somebody was there before him and somebody will come after him. Posterity will judge the matter.

     It is out of place to tag Adeleke an APC agent working to destabilize PDP. As a founding father of PDP, Senator Adeleke can never abandon the ship of the party. He is not a deserter or a quitter like some PDP big wigs did recently and left for other parties.

    Where is the proof that some of Adeleke’s siblings registered for APC? What are their card numbers? Why should politics be all this dirty. If Senator Adeleke decides, if at all, to move to any other political party, he won’t do it in the dark but openly. But that is not the case and will not be. Adeleke is a loyal member of PDP and will stay with it through thick and thin.

     Adeleke, as an apostle of politics without bitterness, will not create enmity with anybody because of difference in the political parties they belong to. He has a large heart, which accommodates diversity of persons and opinions, not minding creed, colour, tribe or religion. He is not a sentimental politician, who keeps people at bay.

     The innuendoes and blantant lies being peddled by Omisore’s agents will soon collapse like a pack of cards. Truth is constant. Adeleke will stay with and in PDP and work for its progress. He was not scared away from the April 5, PDP governorship primaries, but only took a patriotic decision, because no life is worth losing over transient political post. He is at peace with himself taking that wise decision.

     The Senator towers above being used by anybody or political party to bring PDP into disrepute. He will however, not allow himself to be dictated to by some political contractors, whose stock is to trade away their integrity for a pot of porridge and their future. The Presidency and indeed the national headquarters of PDP, should do the right thing fast, by investigating the reported Ideal Nest April 2, incident, to know who the real culprits are.

    Again, Senator Adeleke will never shy away from associating with the good name of President Jonathan before, now and in the future. In God Almighty, Senator Adeleke places his hope. To come back as Osun governor is not a do or die matter for him. Being the first governor of Osun is a record forever, when those now clamouring to emerge as PDP candidate were after all nowhere near active politics in 1992.

    • Lawal is is media adviser to Senator Adeleke.

  • Lamido’s irredentist threat

    Irredentism derives from the Italian word irredento which means ‘’unredeemed’’. The term gained currency in the late 19th century and early 20thcentury among Italians agitating for the reunification of the Italian speaking parts of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Since then irredentist claims have occurred all over the world usually between contiguous states with common ethnic affinities. Such claims have been the cause of wars between countries. For instance, India and Pakistan have fought many wars over Kashmir.

    In Europe, irredentism was a driving force that led Nazi Germany to embark on an expansionist trajectory. In the run up to the Second World War, Hitler annexed his native Austria in what is called Anschluss and also the German speaking Sudetenland in the former Czechoslovakia in 1938, sending alarm bells ringing across the continent. Russia’s recent annexation of Crimea was partly based on the fact that it is populated mostly by Russian speaking people.

    Not long after independence, the OAU saw the danger in allowing countries to revise colonial boundaries with the potential for instability on the continent. It is no surprise that respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each African country is one of the cardinal principles of the OAU and its successor, African Union.

    The Lamido of Adamawa, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Muhammadu Barkindo Mustapha’s irredentist bombshell at the national conference came as a shock to many. He said if push came to shove, he would vote with his feet, carrying his people along to join their kith and kin, the Fulani, in northern Cameroon. He was quoted as saying that: “There is a state in Cameroon called Adamawa and if I run to that place, I can easily be assimilated…The larger part of my kingdom is in Cameroun” Those ethnic champions who had dominated the airwaves for so long threatening brimstone and fire if they weren’t allowed to go their separate ways, now know that they don’t have a monopoly over ‘’jingoism’’ as the Lamido put it.

    I believe that the Lamido’s outburst was not premeditated but was made on the spur of the moment in a fit of pique. Not surprisingly critics have accused him of having a hidden agenda. In a country obsessed with hidden agendas, wherever those agendas are hidden must be bursting at the seams by now.

    I don’t intend to join issues with the Lamido, I am more interested in the historical import of the monarch’ statement. As a member of a royal family myself, I cannot commit lese majeste against an exalted traditional ruler of the Lamido’s standing. For me, the Lamido’s statement provided a rare but timely glimpse into Nigeria’s history, a subject that is tragically no longer on the curriculum of our schools.

    This year Nigeria celebrated the centenary of the amalgamation of the north and south in 1914. At a time when a national conference is underway with a view to charting a brighter future for the country, it is necessary to remind ourselves of what was there before the advent of colonial rule. It is a welcome reminder of the history of the ancient kingdoms, found mainly in the north and south western parts of Nigeria.

    Of particular interest is the impact of colonial boundaries in partitioning various ethnic groups especially the ubiquitous Fulani who are all over west and central Africa.

    Two of Nigeria’s eminent historians, Professor Anthony Asiwaju and Professor Bawuro Barkindo have carried out studies and published widely on the impact of colonial boundaries. Nigeria’s boundaries were delimited and demarcated between the late 19th century and early 20th century.

    Cameroon is unique among Nigeria’s immediate neighbours as having a triple colonial heritage. Initially colonized by Germany, it was later split into two administered by Britain and France as a League of Nations mandate territories after the First World War and later under UN trusteeship after the Second World War. Southern Cameroon was a province of the former Eastern Region of Nigeria while northern Cameroon was a province of the former Northern Region until the plebiscite of February 1961 when northern Cameroon voted to remain in Nigeria while southern Cameroon voted to join the republic of Cameroon.

    In demarcating Nigeria’s northern boundary with Niger, Cameroon and Chad, Adamawa and Borno kingdoms and the Sokoto Caliphate lost some of their territories to the neighbouring countries.

    In the case of Adamawa, the Lamido at the time the boundary was demarcated in 1904 lamented that the ‘’Europeans had cut off the body of his kingdom and left him with only the head’’ a fact which the reigning Lamido alluded to in his statement. Today Fulani rulers of Cameroonian towns such as Ngaoundere, capital of Adamawa region, are also known as Lamido.

    The colonial powers imposed and deposed traditional rulers of the ancient kingdoms at will. One bizarre situation occurred in Borno where two colonial powers Germany and Britain installed two rulers. Shehu Garbai was installed by the British in the part of Borno under their control while his cousin Shehu Sanda was installed in the German controlled part of Borno. This anomaly was later rectified during a boundary revision of 1919 after Germany was knocked out of the colonial race. Today parts of the ancient kingdom of Borno can be found in Chad, Cameroon and Niger with the Kanuri among their citizens.

    An example of how the colonial powers played fast and loose with the African territories under their control was shown in the revision of the boundary between Nigeria and Niger in 1904. Britain ceded parts of Sokoto to France in return for concessions on fishing in Newfoundland, a province in Canada which was then under French rule. Border towns in Niger such as Birnin Nkonni and Maradi were formerly parts of Sokoto. Hausa is the dominant language spoken in Niger.

    In the South-west, the Oyo empire was the preeminent entity holding sway over most of the kingdoms in Yorubaland. Oyo lost some of its territory to the kingdom of Dahomey as Benin was then called, following the Anglo-French demarcation of the boundary and the partition of the Yoruba. Ketu and Sabe were two Yoruba kingdoms that ended up in Benin Republic. Today their traditional rulers Alaketu of Ketu and Onisabe of Sabe are known to make occasional visits across the border to commune with their kith and kin in Nigeria.

    In other parts of Africa other groups were similarly partitioned. For instance the Ewe people of Togo have their kith and kin across the border in the Volta region of Ghana. The case of Somalia is even more significant in this regard especially given the fact that it refused to acknowledge the sanctity of its colonial boundaries and sought to redraw them. The Somali are to be found in neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia. Somalia’s territorial claims against its neighbours on behalf of Somali speaking populations have complicated interstate relations between them since independence. Kenya and Somalia have had border clashes over the years. Ethiopia and Somalia have fought wars over the Somali populated Ogaden region in Ethiopia.

    As an official policy, Nigeria has never made territorial or irredentist claims against anyone of its immediate neighbours. Instead of being a source of conflict, the common ethnic affinities have helped in fostering good neighbourly relations between them since independence. Moreover, given their porous nature, the boundaries have proved to be no serious barriers to freedom of movement of persons and goods. The advent of the insurgency in the north east has however complicated matters necessitating the need for tighter control of our borders with Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

    The Lamido’s words would have been music to the ears of the Cameroonian authorities. The irony of his threat to be ‘’assimilated’’ back into the Adamawa region of northern Cameroon would not have been lost on those who remember the UN-sponsored plebiscite of February 1961 in which northern Cameroon voted to remain part of Nigeria while southern Cameroon opted to join the republic of Cameroon.

     

    • Dr Oyewumi lives in Abuja.

  • Between APC and PDP

    Events in Nigeria have shown that Nigeria is a land full of milk and honey. But in the past 15 years, Nigeria has been a nation where evil triumphs to the extent that a land full of milk and honey is full of abject poverty, cries, neglect and misery. Just get a copy of any newspaper any day; it is all bad news – of corruption, graft, embezzlement, kidnapping, killings of all descriptions – ritual and non-ritual, Boko Haram, rape, gangsterism, armed robbery, lies, sophistry, extreme love of money, impunity, miscarriage and perversion of justice, adultery and everything that is bad under the sun!

    The sins in Nigeria are committed out of indescribable love for money and power. The love for money and power which is the root of corruption, is jealously guarded by politics which, in Nigeria today, is the sure road to unclean wealth and corrupted power. Every Tom and Harry wants to go into politics because it is a lazy way of making easy money out of the common wealth of Nigerians. The road to political power as money spinning machine is extremely dirty, full of sins, lies, deceit, ungodly, unclean and unrighteous behaviors. Because of love for money and power, politicians can go to any length, including killing of political opponents, blackmailing and outright rigging. This is why politics in Nigeria is simply a do or die affair, and not for service but for personal self aggrandizement.

    Now, between the APC and the PDP is the presidency. While the PDP would like to hold on to power at all costs, the APC would like to do everything at its disposal to upstage the PDP at the 2015 elections. However, there is already a general feeling in the country that after more than 14 years of PDP’s reign, there is need for a change. The reason for this is that when the masses of Nigerians look back to many years of general poverty, want, neglect, woes, general hardship and unspeakable agony caused by corruption, they clamour for a change of government. The question now is: Should all these be allowed to continue for another four years of extreme grief and gnashing of teeth? The people have to decide their own destiny by saying enough is enough!

    The 2015 elections would be the most keenly contested in the history of Nigeria, with the two big parties – APC and PDP – making it a fight to finish. Nobody on earth knows precisely what would happen, whether or not there would indeed be election, or what would happen after the election.

    But winning elections may not be easy for the ruling party, as the opposition party is poised to give them a fight. But in order to do that, the APC must get its acts right. The APC’s successes in the 2015 polls depend on many factors. The most important is unity, selflessness and strong resolve to succeed. If the party wins, everybody wins; if it loses, everybody loses as a result of greed, selfishness and ambitions of some individuals. This, of course, depends on the party’s ability to appreciate the importance of winning. To do this, the APC should go for the best candidate that can sell, like hot cake, against President Jonathan who, although is rated low on popularity rating as a result of the catalogue of woes his administration has unleashed on the people of Nigeria, enjoys the power of incumbency and a huge war chest to prosecute the election to a horrible conclusion. In this connection, we can only pray that it is not all Nigerians who take money from a political party that would vote for that party as a matter of necessity. Voting is a matter of conscience, not of bribe. It has happened before, and there is no reason why it should not happen again.

    Perhaps one of the greatest factors that would determine the success or failure of APC at the national and presidential elections is its choice of presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Already, the North has been given the presidential slot. Obasanjo from the South West had occupied the seat of president from 1999 – 2007. At present, Jonathan, from the South-south, is occupying the position of president. The South-east may justly claim that now, the presidency belongs to their zone as that position had previously been occupied by Obasanjo from the South-west (1999 – 2007). But already the presidency has been zoned to the North. If APC thinks of getting support from the South-east, it must choose its vice-presidential candidate from that zone. Apart from giving this zone a sense of belonging, it would boost their chance of producing the next president in the near future. Also, if it wants to enjoy popular support in all zones of the federation, it must avoid Christian/Christian or Muslim/Muslim ticket, as the issue of religion in 1993 may not be the same or volatile as it would be in 2015.

    On this matter, I had made a suggestion before, that a candidate from the South-east like Imo State, an APC state, stands the best chance of producing the vice-presidential candidate. A candidate from Rivers State in the South-east is also a good candidate, but notice that his zone has produced the incumbent president. Therefore, if it is agreed that the president must come from the North, the logical choice is a candidate from the South-east. Party and national interest must be placed above personal interest and ambition. APC must not throw away this divine chance to rule Nigeria. So, be careful and be wise!

    What is going on in the judiciary is something to be carefully watched by all Nigerians. Nigerians as well as the international community know very well that there was not only a division but a commotion and earthquake in the PDP. It was a crisis that went on for a long time, from which a faction sprang up and which eventually led to a full blown division when members who saw themselves as pushed to the wall broke away as a faction, thus leading to a full blown division in the PDP. Even the President and the chairman of the PDP ran from pillar to post to prevent the materialization of the faction and eventual division in the PDP, all leading to a smoke. Eventually, a faction of five of the governors who were members of the PDP left for, and merged with, the APC as the last resort. If this was not a serious crisis, faction and division that led to a point of no return, one does not know what it is. Newspapers were awash with the news of the crisis which was even known to the international community. Yet somebody came out as if he was from another planet, to say there was no crisis, faction or division in the PDP. When some governors and legislators defected from other parties to PDP, the defectors were received with pomp and pageantry. That precedent was soon forgotten.

     

    •Prof Makinde, FNAL is DG/CEO, Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo, Osun State

  • Ekiti: The gathering storm

    Someday historians and political scientists will oblige us with some books as to why the federal government just would not allow the internal political dynamics of Ekiti—a state with no drop of oil, no access to the Atlantic, and neither a gateway to the world—to play themselves out during elections in that state without its heavy-handed intervention. The federal government would rather fight rough and dirty in that state’s elections even with the predictable outcome that it is more likely going to leave the scene limping with bruised body and a bloody nose. It’s amazing why the federal government is always willing to invite self-inflicting wounds on itself and its integrity further damaged, not only before Nigerians at home and abroad but also in the international community. The emergence of Ayo Fayose, a former governor of the state as the flag bearer of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the June 21 governorship election may very well be a strong indication that there probably will be a sequel to the 2007 classic Ido-Osi drama in which Ayoka Adebayo, the lead cast of characters, played the fantastic role of both the protagonist and antagonist in rapid succession. The storm is, once again, gathering.

    Fayose’s emergence as the winner of his party’s primary election was at best an electoral decoy and at worst realpolitik in its raw form. Either way, these two trajectories are intended not to terminate at the water’s edge of Fayose but that of Opeyemi Bamidele, a credentialed progressive renegade and a potential Labour Party (LP) flag-bearer. The two, who will eventually become conjoined political twins, are to be the main catalysts in both the micro political component of winning Ekiti State – however unrealistic – and securing the constitutionally required 25 percent of the votes from Ekiti State for Jonathan in 2015, which is the macro political agenda. If this grand scheme works, Ekiti will then become the guide to be used to forcefully pry open the impregnable South-west (minus Ondo State) geo-political zone for the one-quarter of the votes necessary for Jonathan’s re-election. This is the end game, and most certainly the most important to the party.

    Ayo Fayose emerged the PDP flag-bearer not only because he has managed to build an aura of political indispensability around himself –rightly or wrongly believed by his party – but the party also (s)elected him because he’s well-suited to play the leading role in the thuggish component that rigging needs in order to thrive. It is pointless trying to draw President Jonathan’s attention to the dangers that the emergence of Fayose portends by concerned Ekiti groups, however well-meaning because reversing course by the party will negate its pre-determined goals. Every political space has its own realities that its gladiators must either deal with or change. Because Nigeria is still very much at the rudimentary level in its democratic political evolution, thuggery and rigging, unfortunately, are some of the “known knowns,” that will remain part of the body politic for some time. It is therefore important for the Fayemi administration to factor-in this egregious human political behavior not because it’s willing to participate but because it wants to mitigate.

    As a war strategist, it’s a given that Fayemi knows that the best guarantee for peace is to prepare for war. He may therefore have to constitute a ‘war cabinet’ within his campaign organization to nip in the bud any impending violence or other forms of brigandage usually characteristic of Nigeria’s elections. This will no doubt be very tasking in light of the fact that ‘David’ Fayemi will face ‘Goliath’ Jonathan, by extension, in a political duel. Since he did not ask for this looming war, Fayemi’s chances of victory are quite high not only because of his strong performance records, but because the June 21 electoral war would be won not with brawn but brain, which the ruling party has demonstrated repeatedly that it has very little of. What then are the options available to Fayemi and/or this ‘war cabinet’? He must choose one of these three strategic policies which are Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), Balance of Terror (BOT), and Containment.

    MAD is a non-starter. It is suicidal and Fayemi cannot compete with the federal government for the materiel needed for this option. The Balance of Terror strategy is appealing because it would force the opponents to seriously weigh the implications and consequences that their actions would have on their own safety not to talk of their overall objectives. Though it seems appealing, the problem with this option is that it would not only be out of character for the Fayemi administration to raise a terror machine equal to that of his opponents but that this option would give the opponents cover to do that which they know how to do best: rigging. And this is self-defeating. Containment is probably the best option. Simply put, it is the concerted efforts to make it impracticable for the opponents to carry out their nefarious activities. But its implementation can be equally tasking. Since Fayemi will no doubt be fighting on three fronts (local, Ondo, and the federal), he will need a good dose of financial resources and the involvement of a good chunk of his people for effective intelligence gathering, which will play a central role. The governor and his ‘war cabinet’ must know who is coming to town now more than ever and who they are visiting. Ekiti State may have to maintain outposts in its borders most especially with Ondo and Kogi states in order to keep track of official vehicular movements coming from these states and where they go once they’re in the state. The containment strategy is not to restrict anyone’s movements but to let those coming into the state with the intention of wreaking havoc that they’re being watched. This option is best because it also places the Fayemi administration on a higher moral ground.

    As earlier said, Fayose may be the PDP flag bearer; his utility value for his party is to spearhead the thuggish aspect of the electioneering which would make rigging to be relatively easy in some areas. It’s also to energize whatever it is left of the party’s support base in the hope that this base will coalesce into block votes. With the votes of PDP supporters solidly behind Fayose, and with Opeyemi Bamidele being able to have raided a significant chunk of the progressive votes from Fayemi, the governorship election would have been goaded into a run-off between Fayemi and Bamidele. With this scenario, Abuja can then throw everything in its arsenal behind Bamidele whom it is hoped could either win the run-off or would have secured enough votes to guarantee the President at least his 25 percent from the state in 2015. Either way PDP will consider itself to have won Ekiti State.

    • Odere is a media practitioner. He can be reached at femiodere@gmail.com.

  • Of triumphant FRESH and adamant INEC

    The renewed bid by Chris Okotie-led Fresh Democratic Party (FRESH) to assert its right to function as a political party in Nigeria after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) refused to honour the court verdict that nullified the party’s deregistration, is set to take another turn. The party had won the battle against its deregisteration by INEC on June 29, 2013 at Justice Gabriel Kolawole’s Federal High Court 5, Abuja. The judge overturned the deregistration of the party as announced by the commission on December 12, 2012. But curiously, INEC has still not recertified the party whose certificate was cancelled.

    The foregoing intransigence would possibly explain the commission’s failure to include FRESH on the current ballot papers for the forthcoming elections in some states. The situation has fuelled suspicions in the camp of the party that there are surreptitious moves to ensure that Okotie does not contest the 2015 presidential election. A press conference was recently organised by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to publicly protest INEC’s refusal to abide by the judgment that reinstated the party as a legitimate contender for political power in Nigeria, while FRESH’s legal consultant, Fred Agbaje, has equally threatened to resort to legal action to compel INEC to respect the verdict.

    Shortly after the court verdict, the Chief Press Secretary to Prof. Attahiru Jega, Kayode Idowu, had told the media at a press conference that Fresh,”is back to the stable of recognised parties.” But in a strange twist of events, INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of the South-west, Prof. Lai Olurode, in response to FRESH’s press conference, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that “deregistered political parties could not field candidate come 2015, unless they seek re-registration… there was no law that said that no legal provision precluded such political parties from reapplying to be reregistered provided they met the requirements.”

    He also said: “If a deregistered party has not gone to court or the power of INEC has not been described as illegal by a court of law, that party cannot field a candidate come 2015. The only exception is if the party has gone back to seek re-registration, which is possible under the law. There is no law that says you cannot apply as a de-registered party if you think you have complied with the requirements of registration. For a party to be recognised as a political party as enshrined in the constitution, that party must be in compliance with the laws, rules and regulations. The laws, rules and regulations must be as laid down in the constitution and in the Electoral Act.”

    Olurode again said that “if the court ruled against the exercise of the powers given to INEC, the commission had no choice but to obey the rulings of the court with regard to specific provisions of the law.” The commissioner, however, said that “for whatever reasons, the court could not rule that INEC ought not to have de-registered a party.” Olurode also added that “this was so especially if the party was able to show that the commission had not complied with certain provisions of the law.”

    But Prof. Olurode’s ambiguous and contradictory statement failed to directly address the issue of INEC’s position on FRESH’s recertification, the purported request for a temporary registration, or an application for re-registration by Fresh Democratic Party. It will then appear that INEC, which claims to be a law-abiding institution and a law-governed institution covered by the laws of the country, has resolved to ignore the verdict of a competent court. One wonders if this position of self-conferred immunity by a government agency is not tantamount to emasculating the judicial system, and taking us back to the days of the military juntas.

    An editorial titled A registration ordeal, published in the Daily Independent of March 24, stated that “…Ordinarily, in a democracy the freedom to associate should be all encompassing… the registration, deregistration or could it be ‘decommissioning’ (to use the appropriate military expression since the military mindset still appears to prevail) of political parties has no place in a democracy. We had thought that the valiant effort of the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi had put this matter to rest. Unfortunately, it has not. The ghost of authoritarianism has not, alas, been laid to rest.

    “For this reason, we believe that political parties such as the Fresh Democratic Party have a democratic right and indeed a political responsibility to engage in another round of legal tussle with the Independent Electoral Commission(INEC) over the commission’s refusal to recognise the party after it recorded a legal victory over its deregistration last year.

    “The party and others sidelined have every reason to be disconcerted. For instance, their supporters were disenfranchised during the recently concluded Anambra State governorship election, due to the non-inclusion of the party’s name on the ballot papers. The ballot paper for the Anambra election was released more than 30 days after the party had secured its landmark judgment. The non-inclusion of the party is a clear violation of the spirit and rule of the law. It is also in contempt of the court.

    “Of course, they have every reason to fear that this trend will repeat itself in the forthcoming governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states. In addition, Fresh Party’s members could also find themselves unable to vote for their presidential candidate in the presidential election. This will be most unfortunate, running as it were against the democratic ethos.”

    It could not have been better put. This new display of governmental immunity appropriated by INEC, which is supposed to be a non-partisan umpire, may become a reference point in government’s bid to emasculate the judiciary and the legislature. The judiciary should be the last resort in the quest for justice, but when INEC unabashedly refuses to recognise a court verdict, which it had the right to appeal, any hope of free and fair elections may be gone with the wind.

    Following the comments by Prof. Olurode, FRESH’s Legal Adviser, Barrister Kola Dopamu, responded in a press statement, saying: “I think it is very unfortunate. I do not see FRESH going back to beg for registration. It appears the Prof. (Olurode) is not abreast with the real issue. He wants a baby that is already born to go back into its mother’s womb and be born again. Impossible! It is an attempt to frustrate the gains of the judgment, and we must resist it.”

    FRESH’s press conference and decision to pursue a legal course of action may just be well timed, as any delay in seeking redress in court may be tantamount to allowing a precedent which will haunt this nation for a long time. Like the infamous June 12 saga whose scars are yet to fully heal, another long-drawn battle is in the making, unless the judicial and executive arms of government intervene to ensure that another dark hole is not created in our nascent democracy.

     

    • Elakhe wrote in from Lagos

  • Reflections on the NIS tragedy

    On Saturday March 15, tragedy struck the nation from unexpected quarters. A job interview exercise turned bloody leaving about 19 people dead and many more wounded. Sadly it was not the first time applicants had died in such circumstance. In 2008 the nation lost 18 people to similar exercise by the same ministry- the Ministry of Internal Affairs. No lesson seemed to have been learnt. Employment venues are the most unlikely places to expect death but the carelessness of the elites had made everywhere unsafe and death trap of sort. We were used to reports of death from Boko Haram attacks, armed robbers, kidnappers, herdsmen, ritual cultists, and road accidents but not venues employment interview. Now we know better. Applicants can easily die attending job interview. Unemployment can truly be dehumanizing and as we have seen it is also a killer pill. Such death for the sake of employment and survival captures vividly the rotten side of our economic system -market capitalism. It is a soulless and uncaring system where only the ‘fittest’ survives. Ironically most of those affected were youths known for abundant raw energies and acute lack of economic strength who wanted to make decent living and positive contribution to nation building through good employment.

    Unemployment has remained a serious national problem for long especially within the last 30 years when we began to observe ever increasing number of unemployed graduates. According to Nigerian Bureau of Statistics 1999-2001, unemployment is on the increase. T he statistics showed that unemployment jumped from eight percent in 1999 to 13.3% in 2001, then to 21.66% in 2009 to 23.9% in 2011. Such trend demands a special set of policy to tackle unemployment in Nigeria involving essential investment in infrastructure, agriculture, rural areas etc in order to create job opportunities. However nothing serious seems to have been done to address it over time. March 15, tragedy is thus a sad and cold reminder of the failure of our development policy over the years and a wake-up call to positive action.

    Specifically the horrible event invites us to address two related problems namely the crude and rotten recruitment process into the public service where favoritism and corruption rather than fair-play and merit reigns supreme and the serious and endemic nature of unemployment and poverty as a time bomb awaiting explosion. There are reportedly over 40 million unemployed and most of them graduate youths. In such society we need no expert to tell us that we are sitting on a keg of gun powder. What we saw in the NIS interview was a classic case of soaring demand far in excess of supply and unimaginative response to the situation by those handling the situation. As we now know about 770,000 applications were received for 4,556 vacancies. The story of over subscription was in fact only being retold and reinforced to establish an ugly trend. In 2008 when we recorded similar tragedy about200,000 were invited to compete for only 3000 jobs.

    Often ignored but important in the discussion and analysis of unemployment in Nigeria is the recruitment process. It is very vital to understanding the stampede of March 15. It is a serious and rigorous exercise far more than often appreciated in Nigeria. Recruitment into the public service in Nigeria is probably the worst in the world. Certainly it is unclean and unfair. It is ridden with corruption and devoid of merit. In a way it contributes to the frustration of the unemployed. There are rules and regulations for recruitment into public service but more often than not the rules are violated by the operators. Thus most of the advertisements for job vacancies are done only as mockery of the public to fulfill all legal obligations. More often than not the jobs are sold or distributed to board members, management team and their associates of the recruiting agency. Recently there were talks of some jobs for ‘biological children’ only of managers of a federal agency and ‘reserves of vacancies for some interest group’.

    It is the long term effect of the corrupt or heavily flawed system of recruitment in Nigeria that should worry us the more. It is at the roots of the poor service delivery in Nigeria and shall remain the greatest obstacle to the progress of the country if not reformed. There is nothing magical about the development of nations- it is the result of the combined efforts of working citizens. The progress of any society depends on the effective and efficient performance of the workers. The process of appointment here is critical because in any place where there are incapable and incompetent hands nothing good could happen. Poor service delivery as associated with public service of Nigeria today is a sad reflection of the quality of men and women at work. It has roots in the recruitment method. Most of the workers having come to the service through the back door do not often see reason to work hard to justify their employment. And because of vain connection at the top such officers are often punished. Rather they are spared due sanction or discipline for rule violation. They remain protected and uncorrected with bane effects on service delivery and progress of society. This is why consequence management has been so difficult and ineffective in the public service of Nigeria- a tool that is so handy and effective in the private sector especially the banks. And that is why Civil service reforms that speak of change of attitude had not achieved the desired results. They are directed to the wrong people- workers who should not have been employed in the first place but for the flawed recruitment system where connection to the top people and not merit and competence matters more.

    Not surprising therefore, one of the matters arising from the Saturday debacle has been the call for heads to roll, more specifically the sack of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Controller General of Immigration. However, on a deep reflection and with due respect to the dead, I do not think that impulsive sacking without investigation is the best response in the circumstance. While blanket action is not good, a sack without overhaul of the recruitment system and a resolve to do what is right always will leave us with nothing better. We must learn to dig deep for the truth before punishment and to put in place measures to build confidence in the system of recruitment in the country by ridding it of corruption. Certainly the organization did not originally set out to kill but to employ. To some extent there was merit in the move given the unhealthy culture of secrecy and corruption that had characterized recruitment into the public service in the country.

    •Abhuere is of the Centre for Childcare and Youth Development, Abuja

  • Together, we can make progress against Neglected Tropical Diseases

    In Nigeria and across Africa, neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a daily reality for many children, families and communities. Despite efforts to control and eliminate them, trachoma, human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), lymphatic filariasis, leprosy, onchocerciasis (river blindness), soil-transmitted helminths and schistosomiasis continue to threaten Nigeria’s citizens.

    NTDs disable and disfigure more than one billion people around the world. Beyond the lives impacted, NTDs also limit economic productivity and development, helping to perpetuate a vicious cycle of poverty.

    However, I believe we have an immense opportunity to break this cycle and address these diseases in the near future. Indeed, in recent years we have made tremendous gains against NTDs.

    Much of this progress was catalyzed by the 2012 London Declaration on NTDs, which united international pharmaceutical companies, global health organizations, private foundations and governments from donor and endemic countries behind the goal of controlling and eliminating 10 of these diseases by the end of the decade.

    This partnership was a turning point for NTDs. Shortly after, I made NTD control a personal priority and joined the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases as a Special Envoy to help raise awareness of the urgent need to combat these diseases and improve the health of our citizens.

    In Paris this week, global leaders gathered to discuss the gains made since the launch of this partnership. I was pleased to hear African country leadership heralded as a crucial force on progress against NTDs. Much of this progress was highlighted in the Uniting to Combat NTDs: Delivering on Promises and Driving Progress report released this week.

    Globally, 74 countries —including Nigeria— now have national plans to guide their NTD efforts. Last year, all 47 Ministers of Health in the WHO Africa Regional Office endorsed a regional plan to eliminate lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis in Africa and strengthen efforts to eliminate other NTDs. Governments around the world passed a resolution at the 2013 World Health Assembly to hold themselves accountable on progress against NTDs.

    Most importantly, these frameworks are not just symbolic documents that have been signed and forgotten. Countries are taking ownership of the issue because they recognize that NTDs cause needless suffering across families, communities and countries.

    This is translating to progress on the ground. Nigeria has become a model for other countries on NTD efforts, launching its national plan for NTD control, making strong progress in mapping disease prevalence and successfully verifying its elimination of Guinea worm.

    Around the world, efforts to combat NTDs are being scaled up. US$2.7 billion has been committed to the effort. Pharmaceutical companies have donated 100 percent of drugs needed and are working together to develop more effective drugs and diagnostics. Global health organizations and enterprises are working to ensure treatments reach those in need, and new partners are joining the effort.

    As we look to 2020, we cannot allow our successes to make us complacent. While significant progress has been made, challenges remain in reaching our targets against NTDs. Only with sustained leadership of endemic governments and strategic partner collaboration can we fully eliminate NTDs from the African continent and world.

    As a former President of Ghana, I encourage Heads of State and Ministers to join the global effort against NTDs and work hand in hand with the global community to ensure every child and person who needs treatments receives them. Collectively, we can spur the development and implementation of integrated NTD plans, incorporate NTDs into our existing health efforts and build the capacity needed to address these diseases. By doing this, we can provide comprehensive care to all of our citizens.

    Investing in NTDs is an investment in a healthy and prosperous future for Africa. Each dollar not only improves health, but also gives individuals the ability to rise out of poverty and contribute productively to society. Together, we can and will reach our goals and give our communities new hope for the future.

     

    • Kufuor is former president of Ghana (2001-2009) and former chairperson of the African Union Commission (2007-2008). He is currently the NTD Special Envoy for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases.

  • Where corruption and insurrection go hand in hand

    Nearly every country facing an extremist insurgency is run by a kleptocratic clique. Corruption, in other words, has security implications.

    On Feb. 20, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan fired his respected central bank governor, who was trying to discover what had happened to an estimated $20 billion that disappeared from the nation’s oil revenue over an 18-month period.

    Four days later, across the country in the parched northeast, members of the Boko Haram extremist group attacked a public boarding school, shooting children in their sleep and setting school buildings afire. It was the latest in a string of massacres by the group, whose statements call for an Islamic state ruled by sharia law in Nigeria.

    Is there any connection between the president’s actions and the Boko Haram insurgency?

    Motivations for complex phenomena like insurgencies never stem from a single driver. Still, a remarkable correlation exists between severe and systemic corruption and ideological extremism. Of the bottom 11 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index — a well-known annual ranking of perceived corruption in nations around the world — eight harbor a violent extremist movement. Not one of the 11 countries identified as least corrupt does.

    In fact, nearly every country facing an extremist insurgency, from Nigeria to Afghanistan to the Philippines, is run by a kleptocratic clique. And almost every popular revolt aimed at toppling a government in recent years, from the Arab uprisings to Ukraine’s revolution, began as a protest against acute corruption.

    Corruption, in other words, has security implications.

    Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, exemplifies some of them. For months before his ouster, the central bank governor, Lamido Sanusi, had been denouncing the gap between the sales price of exported oil and the amount of money that actually reaches government coffers. Most of the missing billions are believed to have been diverted to the pockets of the president and his cronies — with the help of the oil minister, who keeps the accounts.

    As one Western official in the capital, Abuja, put it in November: “The oil minister is Jonathan’s ATM.”

    Nigeria is a textbook example of the “resource curse.” It is blessed with vast mineral and oil wealth, but government officials have diverted much of those riches to their own pockets. As a result, Nigeria’s development outcomes are hardly higher than those of its destitute West African neighbors.

    Given the widespread graft at the top, it is no surprise that corruption permeates every level of government. Police officers shake down street vendors and bus passengers; they imprison people just to release them for payment of an illegal “bail.”

    “Most of our men joined the police to make money,” concedes Muhammad Guri, commander of a police bomb squad in the northern city of Kano, the target of numerous Boko Haram attacks on police stations.

    The worst offenders, say many Nigerians, are civil servants. Oil money that does make it to government coffers is often funneled to lower-ranking officials through contract fraud.

    Layers of padding in the contracts ensure kickbacks for the civil servants involved in awarding them, as well as hefty profits for the contractors themselves. In this way, even government spending that was supposed to contribute to economic development or health or education is hijacked for personal gain.

    Many Nigerians suggest the emergence of Boko Haram was in part a reaction to this systematized corruption. The group’s moniker translates to “Western-style education is sinful.” Many Westerners assume the name to be a rejection of tolerance, critical thinking and the scientific method; the significance may be quite different.

    But in Nigeria, the entire system of schooling is part of the corrupt structure. Students pay others to take their exams. Parents pay for a place in university.

    Even in nursery school, says Esther, the mother of a 3-year-old boy, “if you give something extra to the teacher at the end of the week, she pays attention to your child. If not, your child gets cranky.”

    University spots are extremely tough for ordinary Nigerians to secure, and plum jobs in the civil service are open only to college graduates.

    Kemi Okenyodo, director of the anti-corruption advocacy group CLEEN, puts it this way: “At least initially, Boko Haram had the principle of kicking back against the corruption in the state. It wasn’t against Western education per se. Western education was seen as a tool for corruption and oppression.” Many Nigerians share this analysis.

    None of this excuses Boko Haram, which perpetrates savage attacks on ordinary people who are victims of government corruption themselves. But militant, puritanical religious views of the type espoused by the group are a common reaction to acute corruption well beyond Nigeria. The reflex is visible among disenfranchised youths across North Africa, and in Somalia, Afghanistan, Central Asia and elsewhere. And government corruption is a common theme in foundational Al Qaeda documents.

    Closer examination of the correlation between corruption and extremism, and of how severe corruption interacts with other risk factors to fuel international security challenges, could inform better policy approaches.

    Secretary of State John F. Kerry recently condemned the “unspeakable violence” of Boko Haram militants before announcing increased counter-terrorism assistance for Nigeria’s government. As so often when confronted with extremism, U.S. decision-makers have allied themselves with the corrupt government and abusive security services.

    Missing from Kerry’s statements was any criticism of the suspension of the central bank governor or of the vast official theft of oil money, a crime that affects all Nigerians and may be providing fodder for the very extremists U.S. leaders would like to help eradicate.

    • Chayes, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace contributed the piece for Los Angeles Times