The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Building a better, stronger and united Nigeria

    The 2013 result of the Economist Intelligence Unit of Where-to-be-born Index, which attempts to gauge which country will offer the most excellent opportunities for a healthy, safe and flourishing life in the years ahead,  ranked Nigeria as number 80 out of 80 countries evaluated. This makes Nigeria the most awful country to be born in out of the 80 countries analyzed!  This is how low we have sunk in recent time. Contemporary statistics about the country, across major sectors, have been baffling. For instance, Nigeria remains one of the few countries lagging behind in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals while our ranking on the corruption index remains abysmal. Similarly, Nigeria is among the only five countries in the world with the existence of polio. This is aside being ranked third in the world in the prevalence of AIDS/HIV.

    With regards to public security, we are not faring better either.

    From all indications, these are not really the best of time for our beloved nation. How did things get to this level? At what point did we derail from the agenda of our founding fathers? Well, if we are to be frank with ourselves, we all (every Nigerian) have a part in the present sorry state of our dear nation. The usual style in various discourses on the state of affairs in the country is to lay the blame on the doorsteps of leadership. However, in as much as it is undeniable that the availability of a focus and visionary leadership is pivotal to the progress of any society, it is equally a fact that, in our case in Nigeria, the followership is itself a major concern. When we talk of corruption, for instance, the general tendency is to point accusing fingers to those in government. But the reality is that there is hardly a sector in the country where corruption doesn’t thrive.

    There is no point in passing the buck. We should stop the blame game. The way forward, is for every one of us to have a rethink. If some are building and others are pulling down, the building will definitely collapse.  No matter what happens, this is the only country that we can call our own. Politics, religion and ethnicity should not be used as platforms to divide us. It doesn’t matter where we are, we can get to where we ought to be if we are determined to build a stronger and united nation that will be the toast of coming generations. We can do it. We have the potentials. We have the resources. All we need is a strong resolve to start afresh. Let nothing divert or deter us from this noble course.

    Despite the myriads of our challenges, all is not gloomy with the country after all. It is cheering, for instance, that for the first time in our history , we have had the rare prospect of holding on to democratic governance for 15 un-interrupted years. With steady economic growth, a stable democratic government and broad support from development partners, the Nigeria of our collective dream and aspiration could be attained. However, to consolidate democracy, restore a functioning economy and promote sustainable economic growth, we need to strengthen the various organs of government and other institutions of governance. There is basically nothing about the country that is wholly peculiar. Several countries around the world have had similar or same experiences as Nigeria. The only difference is that while others identify their challenges and frontally work on them, we seem to cover up ours and keep on living with the pretext that they never exist.

    What does the future hold?  In spite of the misgivings and several hiccups, Nigeria, will yet rise again. Time after time, in one culture after another, human beings have proven their resilience; they’ve shown that great things are possible and that man is capable of incredible successes in spite of monumental odds. Nigeria and Nigerians must not be an exception. Even as we think and get perplexed and angry, about the events of the last five decades, we must not give up hope. It looks bad and ugly; still, we must not despair. We must keep focusing; keep doing the right things for our country. We must do all we can to escape the condemnation and damnation of history and posterity. We cannot be the people and the generation that gave up even as others fought to save their own countries. Nigeria is our country, it is the one we truly own. Let us be united in saving our nation. Our outward expression of unity will reflect our inward unity of purpose.

    On a lighter but serious note, it is no longer news that all the states in the country have beautiful slogans that showcase their peculiarities. For instance in Lagos, we pride ourselves as the “Centre of Excellence”. However, the truth is that, the whole country has sufficient human and natural resources to attain excellence in all ramifications. All we need is to properly harness these resources. In the North-east, Adamawa prides itself as the Land of Beauty because of its pleasant scenery. Nevertheless, beauty is virtually a visible feature across the country. If only we could strap up all the striking tourist sites across the country, Nigeria would attract greater investment and, indeed, be accorded much respect across the globe. In the North-west, Kebbi is renowned to be the “Land of Equity”. How wonderful would it be, if equity truly reigns supreme across the land? In the North-central, Kwara is regarded as the “State of Harmony”. If only we could eschew all forms of bitterness and other divisive tendencies, we could actually build a nation where harmonious interface is the order of the day.

    On a final note, for the sake of the coming generation of Nigerians, we need to build a united and stronger entity. Since providence has brought us together, despite glaring differences, it is of necessity that we brace all odds and embrace harmonious living. Nigeria has the potential for greatness, if only all hands could be on deck. We must therefore, go forward and upward in all ramifications. We are not a failed generation. We are not a degenerate generation. We are not an accursed generation. We are good people, Great Country. Let us all work for a better, stronger and united Nigeria for the things that unite us are deeper and more important than the things that can separate us. “To live in unity is good and pleasant. To live in disunity is scandalous”.

    One would like to close with the enduring  words of Gerald R. Ford, the 38th president of the United States of America, USA: “even though this is late in an election year, there is no way we can go forward except together and no way anybody can win except by serving the people’s urgent needs. We cannot stand still or slip backwards. We must go forward now together”.

     

    •Odutola is Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

     

  • Showing concern for the sick

    There seems to be an upsurge in what is gradually becoming a social problem, going by the several reports of Nigerian hospitals holding patients hostage for their inability to settle treatment bills. This trend, which has been observed in both public and private hospitals, has elicited great concern among health watchers and stakeholders.

    This continued practice of keeping patients, against their wish, is not only a violation of national and statutory global human rights instruments; it is a serious embarrassment and international shame. While it may not be that easy to pinpoint to the exact degree of the problem, there are ample reasons to believe that it is now assuming a more frightening proportion. A cursory look at the ‘imprisoned’ patients shows that they are mostly the poor, the very sick, abandoned and neglected members of the society, cutting across all ages and gender. They are often times jobless and without any known means of survival. That is why the government should be alive to its constitutional responsibility by having a virile social security, to take care of the sick that cannot pay their hospital bills, the unemployed, the old people, the physically-challenged, the homeless and abandoned children, among others.

    Certainly, there is the need for hospitals to shield themselves against the encumbrances of unproductive debts, holding people in captivity because they are incapable of footing their bills is rather illegal since they have not committed any known criminal offence. In a country where only the wealthy can afford access to quality healthcare, the operation of a health insurance scheme would have readily be the most logical way to bridge this gap between the rich and the poor, but this has not been the case with our National Health

    Insurance Scheme that is virtually in disarray. The inability to adequately provide a good social health insurance in the country can be traced, among other reasons to the poor budgetary allocations to the NHIS and the non-passage of the Health Bill by the National Assembly. The health insurance package, as obtainable in other climes like the United Kingdom, the scheme is primarily funded through the general taxation system.

    Ordinarily, patients given medical treatment should realize that when they access medical treatment in any hospital, they are more or less into a contractual agreement, whether written or unwritten and

    as such, each party should legally fulfil its own part of the deal, meaning that there should be the provision that will clearly state the conditions or terms on which the service is being rendered. While it is appreciated that some patients are truly indigent and unable to offset their hospital bills, it is just fair that the interest of the hospitals should also be protected. Otherwise, they will soon run out of resources to effectively run the health institutions. Hence, individuals owe themselves the duty of paying for health care services the same way they pay for other goods and services.

    That was why Dr Osahon Enabulele, President of the Nigeria Medical Association insisted that this practice of detaining patients is not unethical. “This has nothing to do with ethical conduct, if anything at all, the bridge of ethics would have come into place if a patient came into the facility and was not attended to, especially if it was an emergency. This is certainly ethical bridge; the first responsibility is to save life. It does not bother so much on ethical issues. What I expect the professional to do as a way of sorting out issues like this is to go the extra mile to inform local authorities or the state government where the patients come from and put the case before them or even religious bodies and expect them to come to his aid”, he stated.

    To worsen matters, many wealthy Nigerians and political office holders  are addicted to travelling to the United States of America, Russia, Germany, Britain, India, South Africa and other foreign countries annually on medical trips, spending an average of between $20,000 and $50,000 per trip.  This lust for overseas Medicare is a manifestation of the fallout of the poor state of the nation’s health system. Hence, this should no longer be allowed to continue if we are serious about turning things around. Or, what stops the country from serving as a reference point in medical tourism? Last year alone, India was said to have earned over $250 million from fellow Nigerians that besieged the country, seeking better medical care, as its total projected earnings from medical tourism is said to hover between $1 billion and $2 billion.

    Nigeria, like other Sub-Saharan African nations, is still lagging behind in basic health indices. For instance, it leads in the world in malaria scourge by contributing 25 per cent to global burden and the second most burdened nation in terms of HIV/AIDS, as about three million Nigerians are said to be currently living with the disease. To this end, budgetary allocations to the health sector should be increased and spent judiciously in providing the necessary infrastructure. State governments – as a concurrent responsibility – should not consider health care provision a sole burden of the federal government to provide qualitative healthcare, by exploring the public-private partnerships. There can never be any sustainable development when a nation’s health sector is in shambles.

    Therefore, government should be more committed to addressing this decadence by discouraging public officials and political appointees from seeking medical treatment abroad. This could be very helpful and in view of the realities of our time, hospitals should be re-branded to vigorously have functional and sustainable social responsibility packages and other initiatives, which can be worked-out in the settlement of bills of indigent patients. That is where the role of non-governmental organizations, philanthropists and corporate organizations come in. They should be encouraged to do more for humanity.

    The NHIS should be repackaged to achieve better results while the passage of the National Health Bill should be expedited. On a final note, the relevant hospitals should investigate and carry out an audit on those patients that have overstayed and found to be truly incapable of off-setting their bills. Those who fall under this category be released without further delay while those who are able to pay, but could not do so at a go, should be allowed to pay installmentally after being released and after signing the necessary legal documents. Keeping them in perpetual bondage is definitely not the solution.

    • Kupoluyi wrote in from Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta

  • Time to rise against Boko Haram

    This time it is in a boarding school in Yobe, one of the northern states.  Children have been slaughtered in their sleep.  The report was on one of the African TV channels on the Sky platform. The crime scene is a unity school. Boko Haram has desecrated the altar again. After all we have been through as a nation, must our children be butchered so?  Remember, the price we paid, and our resolve – “To Keep Nigeria One is a Task that Must be Done!”

    The news report included a clip of an interview with President Goodluck Jonathan – a file tape – evidence that we had encountered this challenge before.  It required a voice-over to make our President’s speech discernible; that is just a mild irritation regarding the insinuation that the Nigerian president didn’t speak clearly.  It would not matter if it were merely an insult or perceived dent to our collective ego.  What matters more is the symbolism of the president’s physical and aural posturing.   These were very symbolic, suggestive of the kid gloves with which this matter of Boko Haram is being handled. The President appeared to be wringing his hands, while pledging to do his best.  The image spoke of a man, indeed a nation perplexed by a band of hoodlums.  That file tape had been recorded after a previous atrocious incident committed by the group and there has been several.

    According to their profile on the BBC News website, the Boko Haram was established in 2002.  Their mission and grievances are unclear; though they have declared a war against western education, it is not clear what they seek to achieve by their wanton destruction of life, and they have been getting bolder in their senseless aggression towards the rest of us.  According to BBC’s timeline of their activities, their earliest attacks was in 2009, that is five years ago.  Records from Nigerian media which have more intimate knowledge of the localised incidents will no doubt be more comprehensive; they are like to have accounts of earlier albeit ‘smaller’ incidents which world media had missed.  Not so those in states like Borno, Bauchi and Yobe who felt the blows dealt.  These are states in the extreme north-east, but the people (victims) are our compatriots.  In terms of social infrastructure, their needs are far greater than what is required in most other states.  Yobe is far behind on various indices of development and Boko Haram merely compounds the situation, laying siege on the locals, redefining concepts of nationality and citizenship by the selection of their targets, instilling fear, deepening isolation and stifling meaningful economic or development activity as well-meaning development agents stay away.  I mean who wants to die?  In its 12th year of existence, Boko Haram continues to wax strong.

    By 2011, the group gained national and global notoriety, first by attempting to disrupt the inauguration of the President in May.  Some of our international guests gave that ceremony a miss.  On that occasion there was no big bang in Eagle Square Abuja, but some Nigerians in the northern states paid the price for Boko Haram’s publicity. There was another media spectacle which they created in June.  It was a forerunner for more despicable acts to follow, a blatant act of defiance to the authorities.  The move shouted loudly, “Catch me if you can!”   They took on the Police Headquarters in Abuja with such impunity.  In this they had desecrated the altar, but not much progress was made in apprehending them and securing the nation.  By August, global media attention was secured by bombing the UN building in Abuja.  World community had been defied; Boko Haram gained recognition as a terrorist group with two fingers in the air.  The response from our leaders? Pledges and promises, some hollering, some arrests, some criminals paraded, some vagabonds roam free, and the carnage continued till the mother of all atrocities.  We thought we had seen the worst with that attack on the churches in Abuja on Christmas day 2011.  Three years later, many senseless violent acts in between, and here we are again lamenting the killing of defenceless children in the dead of night. Haba!  This is no act of terror, it is an act of cowardice that must be stopped.

    Why have we been so helpless in tackling this issue?  Is there a growing numbness in citizens and leaders alike, to the situation?

    As citizens we have been ‘quiet’ for too long.  Our silence makes us complicit, so no more of that.  We must cash in the dividends of democracy and call on our president to stop ‘wringing his hands’ and ‘pledging his best’. He is an elected President, he must give an account of his stewardship now.  As the commander-in-chief of the nation, what has he done?  Who or what are the obstacles in his way?  We have seen in other shores, what leaders do when children are massacred.  These are not even the consistent purging that the Boko Haram campaign is turning out to be. We have seen the response of the leaders in those places; their sorrow, sense of indignation and resolute commitment to root out evil. Not so in this case. Our president dare not visit the crime scene, make solemn declaration to obtain justice for the slain.  Or can he?  What would he do if any of the deceased were his children? Come to think of it, they are!   These were students in a Federal Government College, while in school, they are wards of the federal government, just like the youth corpers who are in the service of the nation.  Many of these have also been slain by the same Boko Haram in the course of their service, with what reprisals?  Boko Haram is getting more audacious – launching their attack in government premises on hapless children as they sleep.  It really is time for a concerted effort.

    Frankly the President is not the only one to be indicted.  Everyone who has ever ruled or led in this country, every person of political (religious or economic) influence (and that includes the traditional structures – emirs, obas, obis, all the titled persons in the land, lords spiritual and temporal, captains of industry with extensive distribution networks), if you have a sphere of influence and can reach people in your constituency you have a duty and a role to play.  The closer you are to the grassroots, the more effective you can be.  But to those whom we have elected to govern must the burden fall.  Don’t you just wonder what happens at the governors’ forum?  What about our legislators, councillors and local government chairpersons?  Are they simply jostling for power – deliberating on who should lead, who is in or out of favour.  This is the time for action, not for sharing spoils of war.  It is time to form lobby groups and networks that can appeal to the good sense of those propping up Boko Haram.  It is time to reap the benefit of the extensive and expensive political machinery that we run.

    I say on this occasion, let the women take the lead.  Let’s take a cue from the Leymah Gbowee (2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner) and the Liberian Women’s Mass movement for Peace. They “prayed the devil out of hell”, on their knees and with their heads. Surely, Nigerian women can do so too! Already there are calls for rallies, for prayer and fasting.  That is a start. Let us rally women’s groups nationwide – market women’s associations could be the focus for our grassroots movement.  Let us say “No more of these violent acts!”  We are more in number than them, we should not be intimidated.  They have machetes, bombs and guns, but we have our cooking pots and feminine wiles.  We can constitute a superior intelligence force as our sisters in Liberia did.  But we must be resolute and refuse to compromise.  The task is daunting, but it may not even be so onerous, once there is the political will to act, and efforts are not compromised.

    If our mothers – Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, Madam Tinubu, Margaret Ekpo, the Aba women, Hajiya Gambo Sawaba and all their collaborators could put a stop to oppression in their time, so can we.  Really enough is enough. Our Liberian sisters eschewed the temporary comforts to get lasting gain for their children.  Women of Nigeria, arise against violence from Boko Haram and those who one way or another aid their dastardly acts.

    • Dr Esan writes from School of Media & Film, University of Winchester, UK

     

  • Ahmed and the northern economy

    Walking through the streets of Kaduna, you see several relics of the city’s once fabulous and thriving textile industry. Kaduna was once the centre for textile industry while neighbouring states of the north also shared in the prosperity of the region that was linked to its then thriving agricultural sector.

    But that was then. Today the textile industry in Kaduna is a shadow of itself. So are other industries that once made the north proud. The region has lost its once firm grip on the productive sector of the economy and is currently subject to the dictates of allocations from oil revenues from the South-south.

    Recently, leaders of the north under the auspices of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, gathered to rub minds on how to extricate the region from this ugly situation, reverse the trend and restore the glory of the north as they met it when many of them were toddlers.

    And in looking for a man to draw a map to point the way forward, they found one in Abdulfatah Ahmed; the eloquent and resourceful governor of Kwara State, without doubt a man with testimony on the topic that became the focus of the gathering: “Northern Nigerian Economy Free of Oil Revenue”. In Kwara, Ahmed, first as Commissioner for Finance and later Economic Planning before assuming the mantle of leadership of the state, has been part of an award winning strategy to reposition the state, and indeed the nation’s understanding and involvement in agriculture. He is a man with deep experience in the mix of politics and economics, who is passionate not only about diversification of our economy, but potentials of an agribusiness.

    Those who chose him were sure they made the right decision after listening to his lecture. It was an admixture of bitter truth about the realities facing the region and what it can do to save the situation. He left the leaders to ponder on two critical questions: For how long will the north allow others to threaten her with economic strangulation unless she moved in a particular political direction? When will oil revenues that are outside the control of the region cease to determine the future of the people of Northern Nigeria?

    According to Ahmed, the extent to which Northern Nigeria controls its economic resources will ultimately determine the degree of its political power and by extension, its freedom. In other words, if the north cherishes real political freedom and power, it should strengthen its agricultural base where it has comparative advantage over other regions.

    His words: “ I hold that only effectively planned and managed agribusiness can sustain a Northern Nigeria economy free of oil revenues. Additionally, l assert that in order to achieve the agro-based prosperity that this region so deserves, we must also engender good governance, grow the right institutions to implement appropriate policies while entrenching equity and respect for rule of law as the foundations of agro-led prosperity”.

    “However, we must not mistake agribusiness for the ad hoc and centralized approaches to commercial agriculture that we have implemented over the years. Neither do I advocate the isolated agriculture programs implemented with limited success by states in the region. Rather, I propose an approach that fully explores specified value chains by providing inputs to farmers and connecting them to consumers through the financing, handling, processing, storage, transportation, marketing and distribution of agro products. Each point of this value chain promises significant opportunities for economic activities, jobs and markets that will also grow the revenues of other components of the chain especially the small holder and large commercial farming concerns.

    He went on: “An obvious benefit of this approach is the emphasis on value addition as opposed to the sale and export of primary produce that has dominated our agriculture over the years. Furthermore, this approach also makes it possible to forecast demand and therefore the expected financial returns due to its demand driven approach. The demand driven approach ensures that farmers and others along the value chain know from the beginning who will buy their produce or require their services. Indeed, Northern Nigeria’s antecedents in agriculture and its current share of the food supply market in Nigeria clearly demonstrate that its agribusiness opportunities are limitless. There remain largely untapped opportunities for agribusiness in the region, especially in view of high prices for food locally, regionally, and globally. Definitely, the economic future of this region lies squarely in appropriately planned agribusiness.

    “However, to achieve this vision of agribusiness-driven prosperity in Northern Nigeria, we must move beyond rhetoric and return to the basics.”

    What were his proposed solutions to the challenges facing the region?

    He listed them as follows: “One, we must put in place the necessary ingredients for building a prosperous agro-based economy.  Two, we must focus on human capital development through the provision of functional education and access to affordable health care. Three, there is need for greater collaboration among the 19 northern states so that each can leverage on the others’ strengths in agribusiness for optimal resource utilization and to eliminate wastage.

    “Four, I call for a Northern Nigeria Agribusiness Summit to fashion a roadmap for the restoration of our regions prosperity.  Five, at the core of successes and failures in our polity highlighted earlier is the quality of governance. Political parties must entrench a democratic tradition that ensures adherence to rule of law, equity, and good governance by those elected on their platform.  Six, as part of efforts to free the Northern Nigeria Economy, the 19 component states must increase their Internally Generated Revenue.”

    But above all, there was still a clincher the leaders were asked to literarily put in their left palm to avoid eating with it. He said:  “let me make something very clear. For as long as the greater proportion of those without western education live in Northern Nigeria, for as long as majority of our people live below the poverty line, as long as we harbour the largest number of people afflicted by disease, as long as our region remains a theatre of war, as long as our youths remain afflicted by unemployment, the vision of agribusiness-based prosperity that I have outlined above will remain a mirage.”

    Thus he said it has become  a matter of urgency for northern leaders to take firm action to end despair and deprivation in Northern Nigeria. And the way to do it according to the banker-turned politician is to prioritize people-focused governance that urgently transforms the lives of the average northerner.

    Speaking, the no nonsense General Buhari charged northern governors not to allow Governor Ahmed’s submission go the way of similar recommendations submitted to the Northern States Governors’ Forum 10 years ago.  Earlier in his submission, Chairman, ACF Board of Patrons, General Yakubu Gowon, said Ahmed’s submission was timely, though warned that oil revenue should not be regarded as a curse simply because such revenue has been misapplied in the past at the expense of the well -being of most Nigerians.

    At the end, participants agreed that Ahmed had provided a workable solution to the restoration of the glory of the north. What is left now is the action to implement the policy directions he provided.

    •Oba writes from Ilorin.

  • The travails of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

    The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is not my favourite person and I have differences with him on many issues. I must however, commend his immense courage for speaking out and exposing the monuemental corruption in the government that he once served and that has now decided that they no longer require his services.

    Two weeks ago, he claimed that 20 billion US dollars had gone missing from the coffers of the NNPC. Today he has been suspended and relieved of his duties for exposing the rot and speaking the truth. I have little doubt that the next thing that will happen is that he will be subjected to a formal probe and the EFCC will be called in to investigate his tenure of office. They will throw everything that they have got at him including the kitchen sink simply because he refused to play ball with them and cover up their penchant for monuemental corruption and graft.

    Some of us have been there before and we know what it is like. If you speak truth to power and you take on the system be rest assured that the system will fight back and they will attempt to destroy you and all that is yours. Yet none of that matters because the only thing that is relevant is the fact that history and posterity will be kind to Sanusi on this matter based on the choices that he has made.

    He spoke out when others chose to remain silent and to compromise. Unlike others, he refused to sell his soul to the devil and to sell his heritage and birthright for a mess of pottage. Despite the significant differences that I have with this man in terms of our different outlooks to how and what Nigeria ought to be as a nation I salute him and commend him for his efforts.

    I also make bold to say that with his noble stand he has assured himself of a great place in the next dispensation and he will play a key role in the future of this country one way or the other. May God guide and protect him in all his endeavours and may he continue to speak out with courage and strength and not allow himself to be intimidated or silenced.

    Long is the road of righteousness and

    truth and it is often tarred with the

    spikes of persecution, misrepresentation and falsehood. Yet at the end of the day it is the only road that is worth taking and it is the only one that leads to lasting honour and glory.

    May that honour and glory find Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and may God reward him for putting the interests and welfare of the Nigerian people before that of the woeful and rotten administration that he once served.

    This government has once again shown that it has no shame and that it is utterly bereft of any semblance of decency or morality. A man blows the whistle and exposes the fact that 20 billion USD has been stolen and instead of commending him and promoting him he is accused of wrongdoing, criminalised, villified and suspended. It is only in Nigeria that this sort of thing can happen.

    It has happened to me and many others before and now it is happening to Sanusi. I commend his courage and his ability to stand up and speak the truth to power. No matter what the government accuses him of now and no matter what trumped-up charges or baseless allegations they may come up with against him in order to justify their actions, the Nigerian people will always be grateful to him and indebted to him for exposing the rot and filth that constitutes the very foundation of the government that he once served.

    The level of impugnity and disdain that the Jonathan administration has for the people and for probity and accountability is second to none. The message that they are sending is clear- no whistleblower is safe in this country and in this government. Their intention is to destroy all those that have the courage to stand up to them and to intimidate us all into silence but they will fail woefully.

    The more people they seek to destroy for no just cause and the more innocent men and women that they persecute for telling the truth and for exposing their monuemental corruption and incompetence, the more they shall be resisted by people. What they have done to Sanusi is disgraceful and they ought to bury their heads in shame.

    Pertinent and appropiate are Sanusi’s own words when, after he was informed about his unceremonious suspension, he responded all the way from Niger Republic by saying ‘’you can suspend an individual but you can’t suspend the truth’’. He immediately boarded the plane and headed for Nigeria knowing full well that the security agencies were waiting for him.

    The plan was to arrest him on arrival in Abuja but he cleverly diverted his chartered flight to Lagos where close friends of his, including the former Minister of FCT Mallam Nasir El Rufai, a true and loyal friend and brother if ever I knew one, was waiting for him. He managed to avoid arrest but on arrival at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos the authorities stopped him briefly and took his passport from him.

    By that single act they have served him notice of their sinister intentions. In the coming days, weeks, months and even possibly years they will seek to humiliate him, to denigrate him, to malign him and to destroy his entire future. That is their intention but I firmly believe that it is not the intention of God and consequently they will fail. Providing he continues to stand firm and strong and remains undaunted such an evil plan cannot work and will not work simply because, as the Holy Bible says, ‘’the counsel of the ungodly shall not stand’’. It also says ‘’to subvert a righteous man in his course is not allowed’’ and that ‘’many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord will deliver him of them all’’.

    No matter how long it takes and no matter what they put him through Sanusi’s innocence will speak for him before God and before the Nigerian people. It is from the fiery furnace of persecution, misrepresentation and victimisation that true heroes are born. There is a spirit that emboldens and that stirs the passion and the soul of true warriors once they are sufficiently provoked. That spirit is known as the spirit of truth and it cannot be intimidated or denied.

    I must confess that it is very clear to me that Sanusi has that spirit and is possessed by that virtue. I say this because he was intelligent enough to know that with his utterances and his explosive disclosures about the graft in the NNPC and at the Ministry of Finance he was stepping on very powerful toes, treading on very dangerous grounds and swimming in very troubled waters. Yet despite the obvious dangers he continued and he was quite unmindful and unperturbed about what the direct consequences of his actions may be in terms of his personal safety, the security of his tenure of office or his career as a public servant.

    He was prepared to stand by and

    speak the truth no matter what

    and he was prepared to pay any price no matter whose ox was gored. That is the stuff of which heroes are made and I salute his courage. How I wish that more of our people were made of such stern stuff. If President Jonathan was really interested in fighting the war against corruption he would stop using his security agencies from tormenting and harassing innocent people.

    If he wanted to suspend some of his key officials and if he really wanted truth and justice to prevail he would not have targetted an innocent whistleblower who had constituted himself into a thorn in his flesh but instead he would have suspended Mr. Andrew Yakubu, his Group MD of NNPC, Mrs. Dieazani Allison-Madueke, his alluring Minister of Petroleum Resources and Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, his Minister of Finance pending the investigation into the missing 20 billion USD. Until he does that and as long as he continues to cover them all up and treat the Nigerian people with contempt and impugnity, no right-thinking person will take him or his administration seriously. This is all the more so for the following reasons. Firstly because it is a matter of public record that the accounts of NNPC have not been audited since 2005, secondly because Mrs. Allison-Madueke and the NNPC have admitted that 3.5 billion USD was spent on kerosene subsidy without appropriation and specifically against Presidential directives and thirdly because, Okonjo-Iweala has conceeded that at least 10.5 billion USD has gone missing and she has called for a formal probe into the whole matter so that all the figures can be reconciled. How I wish that at this point she would have resigned. The Ngozi that I once knew, who was a woman of impeccable breeding and deep substance and character, would certainly have done so.

    Sadly not many of the Jonathonians are familiar with the works of William Shakespeare simply because Shakespeare is not too popular in the creeks. Yet the few amongst them that are up to the task would do well to consider the words of Julius Caeser when he said “it is the custom of the immortal gods to grant temporary prosperity and a fairly long period of impunity to those whom they plan to punish for their crimes, so that they may feel it all the more keenly as a result of the change in their fortunes”. Those amongst the President’s supporters that truly love him and that have his interest at heart would do well to explain to him the import of these deeply profound words and wise counsel from Shakespeare’s ‘’Julius Caesar’’. In doing so they may save him and his entire court of royal jesters from a whole load of misery that undoubtedly awaits them in the future. As for Sanusi Lamido Sanusi it is very clear to me that the sky is the limit for him. Whether he likes it or not his journey into the turbulent world of partisan politics has just began and I suspect strongly that he has an appointment with destiny.

    Permit me to end this contribution with the following observation. In the last few days, much has been made about the fact that I have criticised Sanusi quite often in the past and that I have openly disagreed with some of his actions as Governor of Central Bank. It has also been said that on another occassion I raised some fundamental questions about what I described as his ‘’flawed and indefensible’’ position on the oil subsidy debate in 2012, his controversial views on Boko Haram, his position on revenue allocation vis a vis north and south and his harsh and historically inaccurate assertions about the Yoruba people a number of years ago. It is true that I opposed him on those matters and that I took those positions on those issues and I stand by each and every one of them. I do not see any big deal in that. Yet, many appear to be rather surprised that I would now be one of those that is defending the very same Sanusi that I have opposed in the past.

    Those that have expressed such surprise and that see this as some kind of glaring contradiction simply do not understand me. And neither do they appreciate the complexities of national debate and the importance of being completely detached and objective when it comes to any form of intellectual or public discourse. The truth is that I do not take positions against individuals but rather on specific issues. Hence I may be your friend and defender one day and your greatest critic and detractor the very next depending on what your position is on any specific matter. That is the essence of public discourse and intellectual debate. That is it’s nature. We must not be motivated or moved by personal considerations or by our love or hate for any individual but rather by principle, morality, logic, facts and figures, justice and the rights and wrongs of the specific issues of the day. No-one is all good and no-one is all bad. And neither is anyone, including yours truly, always right.

    The fact that I have disagreed with

    Sanusi over the last 20 years on a

    number of matters including his assesment of the Yoruba people, his views about the cause of the scourge called Boko Haram, the oil subsidy issue and the ‘’National Question’’ does not mean that I ought to support the fact that he is being treated in the most deplorable way by President Goodluck Jonathan. Though he and I disagree vehemently on many things it does not mean that we are enemies for life and neither does it mean that I should relish in it and remain silent when he is being treated unjustly and when he is being persecuted, humiliated and rubbished by the Federal Government. This is all the more so when he has courageously exposed the rot in the Jonathan administration. He may have got it wrong on other matters but on this issue I make bold to say that Sanusi got it right and he did the proper thing. He deserves my support, just as he deserves the support of all right-thinking people, and he can be rest assured that he has it.

  • Taming the menace of Boko Haram

    It is not an understatement that one of the greatest challenges confronting the nation and which the governments have been battling without any iota of achievement is the insurgency of an Islamist sect called Boko Haram. While some people believe that the insurgency is a result of social, religious, economic, and political imbroglio, the main cause of the insurgency in Nigeria still remains a closed book to the majority. This sect started as anti-government policy campaigners, vandalising government properties and killing innocent people under the pretext of being anti-western education. It claimed to be an anti-western culture, working against the modern ways of governance and trying to establish Islamic Sharia rule.

    Nigerians, especially majority of Christians and even some of the Muslims who were of the view that Boko Haram represented Islamic doctrine had challenged devout Muslims to find means of curbing the nefarious activities of the sect that is painting Islam a bad colour. Its injurious acts could even ignite another religious war in the country if not quickly nipped in the bud. However, with time, it is increasingly becoming clearer to Nigerians and the international community that Boko Haram was just a criminal gang using the name of Islam to perpetuate evil.

    The menace of the sect is rooted in the Northern part of the country especially in Borno, Bauchi and Yobe States. When the cause of the insurgency was first believed to be political, the federal government of Nigeria set up a panel to engage the sect members in a dialogue as a tactic to bring down the intensity of the insurgency. The strategy has proved to be unworkable since the sect refused to be engaged in any discussion with the government. Maybe this is because the arrangement was not well planned from the beginning by government. We are all aware that the insurgency was formed in the Northern part of the country by some unscrupulous Northerners. We do know what the sect claimed to represent at its formation – being an anti-western education, and we also know that the level of education among the people of the North is nothing to write home about. Some of the youths in the region are less or not at all exposed to western education but Arabic teachings. And they are highly submissive to their leaders. They are easily influenced by their leaders. These youths are the ones that are mostly influenced to join the sect and wreak havoc on the country. If there could be liberation of their minds from ignorance, these youths will be useful for development rather than being deployed as Boko Haram members.

    While I do not condemn the dialogue strategy by the government, I still hold the view that one best way of taming the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northern part of Nigeria, is for the government to find a way of educating the Northern youths by funding their education properly and making them be at par with their Southern counterparts. This could be achieved by opening more schools in the area. He who opens schools closes the gate of war. Give them new orientations and open their eyes to the modern world: modern governance, modern education, modern war ammunition of pen rather than sword and bombs which they are currently exposed to.

    It is glaring that military attack solution launched by the government has not achieved much since the Joint Task Force(JTF) went to the troubled states of the federation. This is because the Nigerian military is under equipped. The Boko Haram’s sophisticated weapons are more efficient than those of our military. This is why the military are often overpowered by the insurgents. And the other reason is the hypocrisy of the government and the federal government’s insincerity about the root cause of the matter.  The JTF itself has not been helping matters; it is a bundle of deceit. How many times have they claimed to have killed the leader of the insurgents? Only for Shekau to most times reappear on you-tube through which he has been dishing out fresh threat of deadly attacks either on the JTF itself or on innocent citizens. JTF too has been killing innocent people in the guise of killing Boko Haram members. If JTF has been truly killing larger number of Boko Haram members, then why do we still have them more in the battle field? Let the JTF declare its inability to subdue the insurgents and pave way for a new workable strategy.

    The April deadline to end the Boko Haram insurgency promised by the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh remains just only a month without any sign of victory in sight. Well, we shall all wait and see what Badeh will do, maybe he will eat his words or probably extend the deadline for crushing the insurgents.

    That some northern politicians who were aggrieved by President Goodluck Jonathan’s disregard for zoning arrangement, which was the vehicle that brought him to the seat of Vice President in 2007, when he contested for the presidential post in 2011 are the brain behind the Boko Haram insurgency to make the nation ungovernable for Jonathan may not be the real reason since there has not been any solid evidence to prove the authenticity of the claim. If this is the cause as claimed by some political observers, then Jonathan should in the interest of national peace apologize to those people so that the menace of the sect can be curtailed. Since Jonathan was also the product of zoning, I would suggest he tenders his apology at least to appease those he has wronged about zoning and let the country enjoy her deserved peace once again.

    It is interesting to note that because of the monstrosity of the sect’s perfidious acts, the University of Ibadan Vice Chancellor, Professor Isaac Adewole, has publicly said that the school was ready to initiate a study of the Boko Haram. I would implore the institution to embark on this quickly alongside another on new beneficial technological areas that could more benefit the nation .

    Since everybody seems to be expecting the President to make his intention known about 2015 presidential election-the major reason why the polity is seriously being over heated- the president should not think twice about dropping this ambition if this is the only condition that would allow enduring peace to return to the north and Nigeria in general.

     

    •Adebayo, a journalist lives in Lagos.

  • Suswam and Gemade: Options before PDP

    Let me state from the outset that I am not from Benue State. It therefore stands to reason that I cannot also be from Benue North-East Senatorial District, one of the three senatorial districts that make up the state, and about which seat in the Upper House of the National Assembly I am writing.  So, anybody can conveniently question my interest and locus in the political dealings in the district.

    I am involved in this enterprise for two reasons. One is my relationship with the occupants of the seat since 1999 as a reporter (both for Vanguard and THISDAY at different times) covering the activities of the Senate. Two is the great concern the scramble for the seat has generated in social and political circles in the build-up to the 2015 general elections.

    Today, as publisher of The Congresswatch magazine, I have a wider role in relation to the entire Legislature. Regardless, my interest in the Benue North-East Senatorial seat, in particular, has been deepened because of my close interactions and relationship with occupants of the seat.

    Significantly, in 2007, I struck up a friendship with Senator Joseph Akaargerger, who was then the custodian of his people’s mandate from the senatorial district. Akaargerger was and remains a sedate but highly fecund persona. A former military administrator of Katsina State and holder of a Ph.D degree in Law, he brought his brilliance to bear in his contributions to debates on the floor of the Senate. I do not want to dwell on how he emerged as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the expense of former National Chairman of the party, Chief Barnabas Gemade, at the party’s senatorial primaries in 2007, a process that was superintended by George Akume, who was then in the saddle as governor of Benue; and how he lost the seat to Gemade in the 2011 senatorial election.

    That Gemade won the 2011 election did not come as a surprise. In fact, his victory was expected. The Nomyange U Tiv (Rising Sun of Tiv) enjoys more political prominence both locally and nationally than Akaargerger, having been a Federal Minister and National Chairman of the ruling PDP. Had it not been due to the conspiratorial alliance perfected by Akume, Gemade would not have lost to my friend, Akaargerger, at the party primaries in 2007.

    Gemade brushed aside the incident, remained in the party, gave the seat another shot in 2011 and won. Interestingly, in 2011, the incumbent Governor Gabriel Suswam was in charge of the party machinery and with his support, Gemade clinched the party ticket. Akaargerger had tried to save his senate seat by moving to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), on which platform he contested against Gemade in the senatorial election but lost to Gemade.

    Akaargerger has since returned to the PDP.  The import of this is that there is something very unique and attractive about the PDP platform. Leaders of the party would decide one day to jump ship and, always, like prodigal children, would later return to the party. I have deliberately made reference to this tendency to decamp against the backdrop of reports linking Gemade with a plot to leave the PDP.

    I sincerely took the reports with a pinch of salt because Gemade’s political pedigree does not portray him as someone who would abandon a house he built to be a tenant in another house on account of injustice or unfairness. After all, he had suffered injustice before now when former President Olusegun Obasanjo forced him out of office as PDP national chairman. His pre-determined and controversial defeat at the 2007 senatorial primaries did not also make him to run to another party out of desperation for elective office.

    He had remained unruffled, and had decided to bide his time. This is why, when it was reported, very recently, that he was contemplating leaving the PDP if he was denied a return ticket to the Senate to represent Benue North-East Senatorial District, I found it difficult to believe. The narrative had it that Suswam is interested in the seat at the end of his eight-year tour of duty as Benue governor; whereas, Gemade is interested in seeking a second term in the Senate.

    This scenario presents a jigsaw puzzle that would require the leadership of the party, including the presidency, to unravel. Here is a governor who has been loyal to the party, seeking a senatorial ticket. Should he be told not to exercise his right to aspire to any position in the land because of the ambition of another man? And if he is not told not to run, would he not deploy everything (read state machinery) at his disposal to overrun his opponent (in this instance Gemade)?

    But when one begins to analyse the development further, one is likely to point to the fact that the governor, who is about 49 years old, has had enough of elective offices having been in the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007 and having been governor from 2007 to 2015. Attempting to proceed from there to the Senate where he is likely to spend another eight years or more would be giving too much to one man in a state where there are people who are equally good or even better than him.

    This brings me to Gemade’s re-election bid, which is being threatened by Suswam’s senate ambition. Ideally, in the democratic spirit, Suswam should be allowed to slug it out with Gemade for the party ticket. But it is common knowledge that the contest would be skewed in favour of the incumbent executive head and the outcome of the primaries would be fractious on the party.

    And I ask, is the PDP ready for more crises within its fold? Would it not be in order for the PDP and the presidency to quickly identify potential flashpoints like the Benue North East senatorial contest, wade into them with compromises that would make political actors happy? Would it not serve the interest of the party and the presidency, for instance, to prevail on Suswam, a younger Tiv man, who has had his fill of elective posts, to allow his elder brother, Gemade (65 years), to enjoy a second term in the senate? And, would it not be ideal for the party and the presidency to consider an appointive post for Suswam with an assurance that he would be sustained in office for the period of four years?

    Lest either Suswam or Gemade misunderstands my motive and interest in this matter, I am interested overall in the wellbeing of the PDP. Indeed, while I once enjoyed interactions with both Suswam and Gemade, time and events have eroded such interactions. Nonetheless, the position that I have canvassed above is, to my mind, a fair one and I hope the duo as well as the party and the presidency will give these issue and others similar to it a thought in the interest of PDP victory in the 2015 general elections.

    • Ojeifo, journalist and publisher, sent this piece from Abuja.

  • A day of gory tales at the US consulate

    A day of gory tales at the US consulate

    Every upsetting creation has its own odd value, though. This blustery morning, it was a huge rat hurdling in the bathroom that thankfully stirred me from the bottom of deep sleep. Time was 4am, the hour Lagos would be in slumber, but applicants seeking the US visa that day had to be on their feet: Some came with little children, some with breast-sucking infants; some on wheel chairs, some in the last days of their pregnancy, some moribund, with fatal illnesses but able to trudge. Some were punks, seeking cheap escape from the awful economy.

    Some with frivolous claims, but not to outcast those with genuine judgment. For many Nigerians, undying impressions about US and her civil image would not come through sumptuous dinners with the Ambassador, which they are unlikely to have, but rather through the mandatory come across with the temper or idiosyncrasies of an interviewing officer usually caged behind a steel glass, leaving visual and audio pin-holes as the only means of contact with locals. The five torment hours of this reporter revealed the raw nightmares of Nigerians, rich or poor, armed or defenseless, royals and peasants.

    In the past, I had appeared courtesy of the United Nations’ invitation to speak on indigenous issues and also subsequently as a guest speaker on self-determination at international Yoruba conferences, and therefore, ‘robbed’ of the piercing grief.

    This Friday, some came from remote towns and villages, from crisis-torn Yobe State to far off Calabar to meet the largely irreversible visa appointments, traveling several of kilometers. Even in this odd hour, at the office located in down town Lagos, overlooking a long stretch of splashing and clapping sea, sometimes mixed with the faint, harmonious chorus of crickets and frogs, hundreds of applicants already milled in the shadow of the dwindling darkness. Many had slept on the bare floor, and had their bath or defecate in the adjoining bait of the roaring sea. I thought: history is never static.

    The old is pregnant with the new and the new contains elements of the old. Barely 300 years ago, our forebears who were taken into slavery against their wish, would not have imagined their great grand children would battle, out of their own volition to seek passage to the land that degraded them and which they had detested.

    However, encounters of many visitors at the US consulate make them believe that though laws of slavery have been expunged, but the mindset, that tiny invisible box, of some consuls, remains as it was four centuries ago. “What has changed is the form, not the content of slavery”, one dying applicant who sought medical attention in the US but whose visa was rejected told me that Friday. For one thing, the 5-hour experience of this reporter left vestigial traces of repugnant memories of Nigerians as underdogs. It appears like a daily routine of trauma.

    One applicant who had three kids lined them up on the bait of a drainage near the embassy, all night long, for a 6.30 am appointment. For Ebong, he came in from Calabar, it was his third trip having missed the appointments in spite of an all night agonizing bus travel, spanning 20 hours. Two of his cousins with their three kids perished few years ago on their way to a visa appointment. As we snaked through the line, one dead beat ebony black pregnant woman was seen moaning through the horrific line of largely hopeless applicants, including some women, some of who had to be frisked by male security guards.

    Outside the embassy, there were no toilets; women and children are at the mercy of a dungeon-like pit, managed by thugs. A young man told how a pregnant woman was raped near the on-looking, gibbering and furious beach. After the start whistle for the screening was blown, after 5am, a dutiful chocolate coloured lady announced the rules for applicants.

    A comic police guard rolls out the “dos” and “don’ts”, which included not bringing your “anointing oil” into the embassy. But nothing could be so perplexing as the sometimes humiliating questions thrown at applicants, especially terrifying questions that infringe on the privacy of the individual and the dignity of the human person. For hundreds of thousands of Nigerians seeking the US visa for scientific research, ill health, human rights conferences, medicare, knowledge-driven events, securing the US visa has become as difficult as an elephant passing through the needle’s eye.

    An Ekiti medical doctor at the point of death who needed medical attention abroad was denied last month, because he had “no tie” with his country. Ties are sometimes defined in economic terms, placed far above the family. Leader of the Coalition of Nigerian Right Groups, (CONRIG) said his appearance was like passing through a “torture chamber.”

    At the end, the consular told him with ignominy to ‘go and apply for Visa lottery.” He vowed never to apply for the US visa in his lifetime. Rasaq Olokooba of the Coalition of O’odua Self Determination Groups, (COSEG) had a running battle reminding his questionnaire that he was going for a conference that promotes global security and his denial would amount to a classic case of betrayal against the cherished image of the US.

    The rules say you must have a fat account, suggesting that financial standing overrules the dignity and public reputation of the individual, a horrendous reminder of how the US appears to promote transient ethics at the expense of values that sustain humanity’s utilitarian grandeur. You should not have a relation in the US, meaning that you largely need to deny your own, since most Nigerians have relations in the US.

    One applicant once said an official almost hit him with her scorn when he asked him how many children he had and he said 12. Visa applications appear to be largely anti-children, as if every Nigerian would take their children abroad for auction or as if children do not have the right to free movement. A source said black officials at the consulate are hardly allowed to go on holidays abroad with their offspring. Another narrated she was questioned years back why she had another child when she was yet to wean her infant.

    One first class Oba in Yorubaland told me he heard of new regulations that reject Obas submitting passports with their heads covered. It is a taboo for an Oba or King to leave his head barren. Largely, it appears Nigerians are generally seen as dishonest, bruising the collective ego and hosting the boosting of generalisation.

    For one thing, the Nigerian authority, considering the influx of applicants for the US visa, should know it is her responsibility to protect the dignity of her citizens applying for legitimate visit. Abuja should show interest in the way her citizens are treated by some officials who encounter trauma daily at the “trial box.” The South East states should prevail on the US to have a consular in Enugu and same for Kano. This will reduce the pain and anguish of applicants and the deaths associated with long travels. The US may wish to adopt the German and British models, where applicants submit visas to be processed in weeks, leaving a fair deal for both parties. The US authority should make her consuls abide by the relevant laws of her own country which promotes the dignity of mankind.

    The US should train and retrain her officials on the ethics of the host country. It is unethical to ask a woman unknown to you if she was pregnant, more, to the listening ears of several other applicants. Yes. Some Nigerians are liars. Some are drug couriers. Some are cheats, but not all Nigerians are. In fact, only very few Nigerians are. Hasty generalization is a mark of illogic. It simply runs against critical and logical thinking. As the old saying goes, there may be moments when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time we fail to speak out.

     

    Adeoye is an activist and journalist and CNN African Journalist of the Year Award winner

  • The harm in federal character, zoning and regionalism

    Section 14(3) of the 1999 Nigerian constitution says: “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a  manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to  promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies.”

    In full acknowledgement of the good intentions of the framers of the 1999 Constitution, as necessary to address the need for balancing the interests of the multiplicity of ethnicities in our country and the disparate levels of literacy and economic progression, I believe that with the increasing ethnic-based disturbances, continued balkanisation of the country by non-sustainable ethnicity-driven state creation, the acrimonious political discourse that is fuelled not by substance but ethnic or regional considerations, the citadel of incompetence and mediocrity that, for the most part, is the civil and public service today, given the related diminished standards, the time has come for re-consideration of the Federal Character requirements.

    The concept and practice of allocation of federal and state government positions, issues advocacy by zones or regions, political aspiration by zoning, undermine the principle of fair-play and unity that is, seemingly, the objectives of the requirement.  Specifically, mediocrity, continued ethnic rivalry and balkanisation, gerrymandering of political aspirations, regional factionalism, a system that seeks to put geo-political affiliation ahead of performance and qualifications, a polity that is perpetually heated up, are all products of the “fair-play” arrangements of the Federal Character, quota and zoning mechanisms.

    Federal Character requirements may superficially convey the impression that there is a balancing of geo-political representation at the federal Ievel and ethnic or tribal at the state level, but viewed unemotionally, it is a practice that is deleterious to a nation that seeks to be among the first twenty economically developed countries by the year 2020.  How does an allocation of federal government positions ensure that we have the best and the brightest in those positions?  What happens if a particular region lacks persons with the requisite skills, proficiency and expertise to fill its allocation?

    What about the subordinate personnel, from a different region, who has superior qualifications?  How does such allocation foster the competition amongst the regions and states that is necessary to boost literacy and economic levels which, ultimately, should result in the production of personnel who are able to compete with their peers on a national level, or on international level against those countries such as Belgium, that have to be pushed out of the top 20 economies by Nigeria’s economic ascendency.  Do we really want to continue to teach our children that you can study hard (or not) and then leave it to prayers, that when you seek to perform your civic duty, as a federal or state employee, that you have the luck of having geo-political zone balance in favour of your state of origin?

    If our mechanism for recruiting and promoting our current and future policy makers and implementers is already flawed, how can we expect the organs of government to function at a performance level that results in the delivery of the “benefits of democracy?”

    It is frightening when we realise that these individuals make and implement policies that impact all aspects of our daily lives. As Nigerians, we have never shied away from competition.  It is this need to be the best that we can be that is manifested by the professional, academic and entrepreneurial excellence of our citizens in more organised societies. It is also this pursuit of one-upmanship that also fuels the chaos that is our daily lives. Alas, this chaos cannot be constructively channeled, because we are depriving the brilliant performers of the opportunity to contribute to our nation’s socio-economic growth, thanks to Federal Character requirements.

    Contemporary times reflect a nation that has not learned from the horror of its 1966 civil war and is ever more divided along tribal, ethnic, regional and religious lines.  As a nation, we are seeing more events of loss of life caused by tribal or ethnic affiliation. We are subjected to daily bombardment by the news media of political events, activities and shenanigans with underpinnings of tribal, zonal and regional affiliations.  The run-up to the presidential election of 2010 was full of the strife associated with whether or not the presidential slot was zoned to the North and the reverberations of that period continues until now, with ramifications for the upcoming 2015 elections.  Similarly, the various state-level political party structures are caught up in fights as to where succession has been zoned to or the number of times a particular tribe has assumed an office. Has the relatively recent instance of the deportation of economically disadvantaged Anambra citizens from Lagos or the eviction of non-indigene civil service workers from some South Eastern states (supposedly based on the challenge of meeting the minimum wage increase) indicated that we are anywhere close to the promotion of national unity that is specified in Section 14(3) of the constitution?

    I am a firm believer that the tapestry of the Nigerian nation is stronger and prettier because of the diversity of our people. Together, we are better than we are apart.  However, we may never achieve the togetherness if we continue to institutionalize measures that divide us.

    The use of the Federal Character, zoning and quota mechanisms are artificial constructs that remove the fairness principle from how we live and work.  These are heinous mechanisms that put deserving people at a disadvantage to the detriment of our governance structure.  In our constant cry for visionary leaders, we must acknowledge that we will never find those stellar leaders if we continue to utilise a quota system that gives precedent to tribal, state or zonal affiliation, instead of personal attributes of excellence.

    It is my hope that in the forthcoming national discussions, that there is a robust and consequent review of the Federal Character or any such requirements that do not truly foster unity, fairness, meritocracy and nationalism. The iconic American civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King said, in his “I have a Dream” speech (March on Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963), that he dreamt of a nation where his children “will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.”  Our aspiration as a nation should be similarly so, with judgment not on the basis of tribe, ethnicity, zone, but on character and the ability to contribute to nation building.

     

    • Azu Obiaya writes from Abuja

    onweazuka@gmail.com

  • Before the national confab begins

    Since President Goodluck Jonathan announced the plan to convene a national dialogue in his last Independence Anniversary address, many Nigerians have been apprehensive about the likely outcome of the exercise that has been greeted with so much controversy due to leadership crisis and distrust.

    While receiving the 4,000-page report of the Senator Femi Okurounmu-led Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC), President Jonathan had promised that the conference would actually hold early this year. Most people were, however, taken aback when the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim announced modalities for the 492-delegate conference, which fuelled the people’s fears that its outcome might not really reflect the yearnings of Nigerians because of the disparity between the committee’s recommendations and the approved guidelines.

    The committee’s 38-item agenda had recommended that the conference should have no ‘no-go’ area; it is to be managed by 13-member secretariat under an Executive Secretary with two members from each geo-political zone; majority of delegates to be elected directly on the principles of universal adult suffrage; each senatorial zone is to send four elected delegates; each state government to nominate one delegate; the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to nominate one delegate; the President to nominate delegates for key interest groups; the nominated delegates not to exceed one-thirds of total number of delegates, and the conference to hold for at least three months and not more than six months. The committee also proposed that the conference should hold between February and July, 2014, while President should send a bill to the National Assembly for an enabling law, or alternatively, convene the conference via provisions of Section 5 of 1999 Constitution, while the emergence of delegates is to be based on any of four options.

    In the final template released, the Federal Government will now nominate 20 delegates of at least six women, while state governors and the FCT administration will nominate 109 delegates – three from each state and one from FCT. Bodies like the Nigeria Guild of Editors, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, Nigerian Bar Association, the Judiciary, the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Nigerian Environmental Society, National Youth Council of Nigeria and National Association of Nigerian Students will nominate members.

    Also to have representatives are: National Council of Women Societies, Market Women Associations, the International Federation of Women Lawyers, the National Association of Women Journalists, the Academies of Science, Engineering, Education, Letters and Social Sciences, Civil Society Organisations, religious leaders, Nigerians in the Diaspora, political parties that have representation in the National Assembly and the People Living with Disabilities. The Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria, political/cultural and ethnic groups, among others, will also have representatives at the confab.

    Other nominations include 37 elder statesmen – one per state and the FCT – by the president. These nominees will also include retired military officers, the police and the state security service from each of the nation’s six geopolitical zones. Other delegates will be traditional rulers (two per zone and one from the FCT), retired civil servants (one from each of the zones and the FCT), and the representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress and Organised Private Sector.

    Certainly, the primary purpose of a National Conference is to address and find lasting solutions to the problems that have been plaguing Nigeria since 1914. These problems border on the quest for the attainment of economic, social, cultural, religious and political justice and equity. Nigerians have tended to live with so much suspicion that having a national collective aspiration seems more Herculean than ethnic and tribal affinity of the over 300 ethnic groups. The nation’s albatross has worsened with the failure of the constitutions, which had never been people-oriented, to redress the fundamental defects. No wonder, Sir Hugh Clifford, Governor-General of Nigeria between 1920 and 1931, once described the nation as a mere ”collection of independent native states separated from one another by great distances, by differences of history and traditions and by ethnological, racial, tribal, political, social and religious barriers.”

    This fragmentation has continued till date. Even on the conference, a lot of agitations from many quarters continue to trail representations on primordial lines and if these are not addressed, the expectations of the conference may be compromised. The way out is for the various interest groups that feel marginalised to team up to present a common cause. It should be realised that there is no way that the all the delegates can be representative enough to reflect all shades of opinions in a heterogeneous state like Nigeria. What should top the agenda at the conference are burning issues like the devolution of powers, fiscal federalism, local government autonomy, state police, and ensuring appropriate status for the FCT, institutional corruption and so on. To ensure transparency and participation, the government should ensure that proceedings of the conference are transmitted live at every stage!

    On the outcome of the conference, Anyim had said that it would be by consensus but in the case where a consensus is not achieved, it would be by a 75 per cent majority after which, the conference is to advise the government on the legal framework, procedures and options for integrating its decisions and outcomes into the 1999 Constitution and other laws of the country.

    The onus lies on the government to ensure that the delegates discuss under an atmosphere that allows for genuine brainstorming and undue influence. And more importantly, the outcome should be subjected to a referendum, otherwise the whole exercise would amount to a jamboree, a waste of time and resources, as many pessimists believe, based on past experiences. Nigerians cannot forget so easily, President Jonathan’s pre-emptive stance that the report of the proposed conference would be submitted to the National Assembly for ratification. This ought not to be. We should never fail to recognise that the 1999 Constitution confers sovereignty on the people and, therefore, the best that could happen is for Nigerians to merely cede part of their sovereignty to the members of the National Assembly and not for the legislature to subsume the peoples’ authority.

    The duty of the Sovereign National Conference is to address and find solutions to the key problems afflicting the country. It is for this single reason of legitimacy that the people have unrepentantly called for a Sovereign National Conference. The late human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Gani Fawehinmi once said: “The primary concern of Nigeria since 1914 to date is to remove all obstacles which have prevented the country from establishing political justice, economic justice, social justice, cultural justice, religious justice and to construct a new constitutional frame-work in terms of the system of government-structurally, politically economically, socially, culturally and religiously”. This should be the thrust of the confab lest it becomes a missed opportunity. Anything short of this may be useless as many skeptics have been telling us. And who knows whether they will be vindicated at the end of the day or not?

     

    • Kupoluyi writes from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta,