The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Between Macaulay and Lugard

    “If you know your history, then you would know where you are coming from” – Bob Marley in Buffalo soldier. “Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft” – Winston Churchill

    I thank Allah for His mercy. Yours comradely recently turned 53 years. But how old is Nigeria was the question that preoccupied my mind at the annual early morning January 8 fitness exercise that  usually heralds my birthday.   President Goodluck Jonathan has promised a centenary amalgamation celebration this year, meaning officially Nigeria is already assumed to be 100 years old.  To this extent my rhetorical question; how old is Nigeria remains purely academic.

    Nigeria is certainly a country that is increasingly knowledge-shy and in which by the day rigour of knowledge is proving to be a sacrilege. How else does one characterise a country that last year (2013) shut down all public universities including the (departments of history) for six months on account of God-knows-what and for which no minister has lost his job?

    Certainly a country in which all its polytechnics are still under lock and key for Allah-knows-what-reason, academic analysis is certainly a luxury. However, this unacceptable underdevelopment of Nigeria through repeated schools’ closures only makes academic analysis even more urgent and necessary. Is Nigeria indeed 100 years old? Is amalgamation worth being celebrated? In his New Year message, President Jonathan devoted a great deal to the 100 years of Nigeria’s amalgamation by the British colonial authorities.

    I agree with the legendary Reggae star Bob Marley, who in the popular track, Buffalo Soldier sang that; “If you know your history, then you would know where you are coming from”. The point cannot be overstated. Nigeria was in existence well before amalgamation of 1914 by the British. For instance, the first official trade union, Civil Service Union was formed in 1912. That was two years before the British administrative amalgamation of the north and southern protectorates. Therefore, simple common sense shows that there was indeed a country called Nigeria before Lord Lugard and his amalgamation. Also let us remember that Lord Lugard the first Governor-General of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria amalgamated a colony, not an independent nation. Indeed Nigeria did not join the League of Nations (the preceding global union before United Nations was formed in 1945). And Lord Lugard was a British (note; not Nigeria’s!) representative to the League of Nations from 1922 to 1936. Nigeria only joined the United Nations after its legitimate independence in 1960. While Lord Lugard desired to keep the amalgamated colony in perpetuity for eternal exploitation, the true founding fathers of modern Nigeria, the nationalists reclaimed a country that was already in formation in its diversities and inter relationships thousands of years well before Lord Lugard arrived Nigeria. No wonder that Nigeria has outlived the British colonialism which terminated in 1960 after independence.  Of course, 1914 is a landmark in colonial exploitative campaign in Nigeria. However President Jonathan should avoid the pitfall of presenting Lugard as the founding father of modern Nigeria. Lugard (and indeed none of the British colonial masters) was NOT the founding father of Nigeria! The founding fathers of modern Nigeria are Nigerians themselves.  They are the nationalists who lowered the notorious Union Jack and replaced it with Nigerian flag of Green, White and Green in 1960.

    One notable founding father was Herbert Macaulay. Macaulay (not Lord Lugard) was one of the first Nigerian nationalists who fought British imperialism for which he was jailed twice. Herbert Samuel Heelas Macaulay was a Nigerian nationalist, politician, engineer, journalist, and musician who as far back as 1908 started the struggle to expose European corruption and exploitation and freedom for Nigerians well before Lugard’s arrival in Nigeria. He formed the first Nigerian political party on June 24, 1923, known as the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP). He was popular with the Nigerian masses such that he won all the seats in the popular elections of 1923, 1928 and 1933. Subsequent nationalists like Nnamdi Azikwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Raji Abdallah, Aminu Kano, and Tafawa Balewa got inspiration from Macaulay to commendably achieve independence in 1960. In 1944, Macaulay co-founded the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) together with Azikiwe and became its president. The NCNC was a patriotic organization formed to bring together Nigerians of all stripes to demand independence. According to history, in 1946 Macaulay fell ill in Kano and later died in Lagos. The leadership of the NCNC went to Azikiwe, who later became the first president of Nigeria. Azikiwe himself was born on November 16, 1904, in Zungeru, present day Niger State 10 years well before Lugard’s amalgamation in 1914. The historic fact  that Zik was born in Zungeru further indicates that there was never a distinct North or South as clinically presented by divide-and rule-colonial strategists. On the contrary, there were peoples of Nigeria who have related and settled in different parts of present day Nigeria well before   Lugard arrived and formalised what was obviously a compact and a united territory. What is worth celebrating is Nigerian independence not colonial amalgamation of a colony. America celebrates it’s independence from the British rule in 1776 not when the British formalised it’s colonisation in 1607. And if you ask me further I would have preferred we truly celebrate Nigeria last year as a 50 year old Republic. The year 1963 was when we had the first Republican independent constitution. All these conclusions remain purely academic in a country that is increasingly knowledge shy and even suffers loss of memory (history) in addition.

     

    • Aremu, mni is Vice President of Nigeria Labour Congress

  • Awards as testament to Delta Beyond Oil vision

    Achievements may be viewed from diverse prism depending on the parameters employed and the benchmarks set. Success in one clime could therefore pass off as failure in another. But in all of human history and civilization, men that evolve ideas and visions that shape the future of their worlds beyond their generations have never gone down unnoticed and are proudly admitted into halls of fame. Delta Beyond Oil programme, which has conferred on the governor, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan the rare privilege of the architect and pioneer of a Nigeria beyond oil philosophy and initiative, is one such pragmatic initiative of a leader of modern Nigeria.

    Governor Uduaghan in 2013 made history by winning four coveted awards from leading newspapers in Nigeria. First, the Leadership newspapers named him their Governor of the Year for 2013. In the same breadth he emerged as The Sun, Vanguard, and Nigerian Pilot Man of the Year for 2013.

    The common denominator that earned the governor these awards was his novel programme of Delta Beyond Oil. The Sun in announcing the governor as winner of its 2013 Man of the Year declared: “Uduaghan got the winning votes for envisioning Nigeria beyond oil and taking practical steps about it in Delta State.” This was also shared by Leadership: “For his vision of a state beyond oil-a vision beyond time and politics-and for building bridges of peace across one of Nigeria’s most disparate communities, massively building and renewing infrastructure and placing the economy of Delta State on a solid footing, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan is the Leadership Governor of The Year 2013.”

    Vanguard in its profile on the governor also observed: “underlying the successes of the Uduaghan administration in Delta State is vision: looking beyond the present. It is that vision that is driving the administration’s passionate pursuit to position the state outside the perimeters of the shock from fluctuating oil revenue. The policy framed as Delta State beyond oil encapsulates the three cardinal philosophy that was the hallmark of the Uduaghan administration at inception…For his visionary steps in governance, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan is the choice of Vanguard Editors as the Man of the Year, 2013.”

    Nigerian Pilot newspapers on its part noted that the choice of Uduaghan as its Man of the Year was informed by the governor’s landmark achievements since assuming office in 2007.

    The newspaper informed that Uduaghan emerged after “critical appraisal of the performance of all 36 state governors in virtually all areas of assessment.”

    The Uduaghan administration came into office in 2007 with a clear cut vision that aimed at moving the state away from an oil dependent economy. A critical analysis of the governor’s policy thrust from inception reveals the Delta Beyond Oil policy as being at the root of his three-point agenda of peace and security, human capital development and infrastructure development. The diligent implementation and prosecution of these programmes laid the foundation blocks upon which the superstructure for a state that that is not tied to the vagaries and fluctuations of oil revenue is being erected.

    Palpable sense of insecurity, militancy, piracy, armed robbery and other violent crimes confronted the administration when it came into office. Knowing that peace and security was the bedrock of development and investment, the governor quickly formulated a security architecture that comprised among other measures, equipping security agencies with modern communication and operational tools, joint police-military patrol teams, waterways security committee, advocating amnesty for militants. Today, the state apart from isolated criminal cases is one of the peaceful in the country. Credit also goes to the governor for the success story of the federal government’s amnesty programme, being the first to canvass that position.

    The governor has also put in place the infrastructure base that is helping to diversify the economy of the state. The successful delivery of the Asaba International Airport which has since begun commercial flights, the on-going extension of the run-way at Osubi Airport, the dualization of the Ughelli-Asaba Highway to connect Delta Ports to the Eastern markets at Onitsha, Nnewi and others, Koko-Ugbenu Road project to link the Koko Export Processing Zone are projects of great economic value, some of which have started to have multiplier effect on the state.

    The government’s free primary and secondary education, bursary and scholarship programmes are helping to build capacity and skills to drive a non oil dependent economy. The free medical schemes, namely: free maternal healthcare programme, free under-five programme, free rural health programme and standard health institutions are keeping the populace healthy. Already Delta State Micro-Credit Programme that won Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) awards for three consecutive years, 2009 to 2011 has not only reduced poverty but helped to produce entrepreneurs from small to medium scale. Some of the enterprises now earn foreign capitals, exporting their produce outside the country.

    According to the governor, ”The ultimate goal of Delta Beyond Oil is to provide employment for our teeming population. Specifically we are concentrating on agriculture, culture, tourism, solid minerals…” The youth empowerment through agriculture and farmers support and assistance programmes, the Delta-Obasanjo Farms at Ogwashi-Uku are practical steps the administration has taken in the area of agriculture. The Delta Leisure and Wildlife Resort at Oleri and Ogwashi-Uku and the Warri Industrial Park and other multi-billion dollar projects like the 16 billion gas city projects, fertilizer plant that are sited in the state due to the foresight and influence of the governor have the potentials to turn around the economy of the state.

    The Governor is finishing strong on his vision. Unequivocally, the awards of Man of the Year and Governor of the Year are well deserved in all respect.

    • Onothoja, an archivist lives in Warri, Delta State

  • What do youths want?

    The singular and most frightening demographic fact of twentieth century Africa is the bulge in its youth component whose consequence constitutes a paradox of untold proportion. The youth is, without doubt, the most active proportion of any continent’s or state’s population whose unbounded energies constitute a threat if not channelled to productive endeavours. Africa’s youth population is leaping in geometrical proportions, yet there is no correlative employment into which to channel their humongous exuberances.

    Now, here is the tragedy: By 2030, it is expected that many African countries would find themselves within a demographic window of opportunity that would allow them to reap the benefits of what has been called the ‘demographic dividend’. This results from the transition of the youthful population of a country to working-age adults relative to children and the elderly. The middle group is usually reserved for the youths who, it is expected, will have fewer children and would thus provide enormous boost for a state’s economic profile. We have the example of the East Asian countries and their economic miracle as illustration of the immense possibility of a demographic bulge.

    Yet, that bulge portents a serious challenge to most African states. And we also have the example of the Middle Eastern states and the Arab Spring as illustration of the negative dimension of such a bulge. There are about 65% of Africa’s total population today that are under the age of 35; there is a further 35% that stands in the demographic gap between 15 and 35 years (this makes for about 200 million people between age 15 and 35); and the continent offloads at least about 10 million of this youthful population into the labour market either as unemployed or unemployable. These figures are expected to double by 2045. In Nigeria, close to 70% of the population, translating into about 80 million people, are within the youth age bracket. More than 38% of this figure is currently unemployed. And the figure keeps rising!

    We can therefore interject the question: What do the youths want? This question provokes the awareness of our collective insensitivity as well as the willingness and readiness to take institutional steps to correct the imbalance in policies that engage the youths in national and continental agenda. The question is equally a rebuke to the youths who have no inkling of their manifest destiny and thus have abandoned hope of ever receiving the baton of national influence that would enable them to claim tomorrow. I don’t mean this as a critique. And this is because, apart from taking the radical way of unmitigated violence, the youths seems to have been locked into a constitutional closure that deny them legitimate avenues for contributions. Thus, while we pay lip service to the rhetoric of the role of the youths in the vanguard of democratic governance as well as within the political economy of a state, the youths continue to represent all that is bad within our development profile: kidnapping, robbery, internet fraud, political thuggery and militancy.

    The index of negativity which we decry today is essentially a national and continental indictment of our lack of institutional foresight about the role of the youth as a demographic imperative in our nascent development. And, surprise of all surprise, this institutional deficit is even enshrined in constitutional provisions. It therefore becomes obvious that our inability to respect the youths as an inevitable component of national development derives ultimately from our lack of diligence about making the constitution an enabling document that would allow the youths several avenues for participating. For instance, the only reference to ‘youth’ in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution surfaced in the term ‘National Youth Service Corps decree’ mentioned in Part Three, 315 (5). And this is a critical indication of the substantive exclusions of the youths that the constitution perpetuates, especially with regard to certain significant posts in the polity. Chapter two—Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy—section17 (3f) states that ‘children, young persons and the age are protected against any exploitation whatsoever, and against moral and material neglect.’ We are at a loss therefore to reconcile this constitutional contradiction.

    Yet, any meaningful onslaught against the danger of unleashing the negativity of youth unemployment, as the Arab Spring pointedly demonstrates, must be through an institutional reform. And there is no best place to begin than with a serious tinkering with the constitution. The constitution of any state represents the tangible document for promoting a political culture of a deep respect for the law contained in the legal document. Constitutionalism is premised on the notion that the government is tasked with the duty of making available provisions that would enable every segment of the state live meaningfully. And this can be achieved by engaging with the letter and spirit of the constitution. And in some instances, it becomes imperative to reinforce these constitutional contents with regional and continental initiatives and advocacies that energise what the national constitutions lack. In this case, I have my mind on the African Youth Charter, a definitive statement of intention, enriched by several other regional, continental and international programmes of actions and statutes, concerning the future roles and integration of the African youths in the mainstream development, democratic and political dynamics of their various African states.

    The evolution of what can be called a ‘new constitutionalism’, therefore, would be an abiding concern with strengthening, through the legal provisions of the constitution, a framework for integrating the youth constituent of the state into the governance processes that, in the final analysis, determine their future prospects. Studies have shown that there are two major factors that would be significant in determining Africa’s future economic growth, and especially with regards to whether or not African states would be able to reap the demographic dividend. These factors are, first, a bulge in the number of working adults and, second, the evolution of institutional quality—strong rule of law, efficient civil service and stable socio-political environment by which the demographic bulge can be effectively utilised. We have already achieved the necessary demographic bulge; we have an army of willing youths whose patriotic zeal remains untapped. And, this constitutes further news: these young ones do not care to be restrained by the usual ethnocentric biases that we have allowed to slow our progress for so long. What is needed to move forward, therefore, is finding the right constitutional arrangement for engaging them.

    To achieve the objectives of youth participation and empowerment requires several policy decisions and institutional initiatives that look to the youths as a constitutional necessity. The following can serve as the starting point of such constitutional reform:

    The first initiative requires strengthening constitutional means for increasing the respect for the rule of law. When the law is respected, it generates multiplier effects which enhance other democratic practices that benefit the youths;

    Constitutional enactments that remove exclusionary clauses restricting the youths from elective offices, and recognise in them viable participants in the governance processes. This can begin by making specific provisions regarding the youths and their roles in national development; evaluation and review of youth participation strategies in national affairs (i.e. the imperative of having a youth chapter in all political parties with youths serving as executives); evolution of elaborate national empowerment schemes that focuses the energies and attention of the youth.

    Education serves a significant function in the attempt to orient the direction of the youth towards national development; and the existing National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) can be capacitated with constitutional muscle that replicates its organisational strength in the 36 states of the federation as a ready avenue for youth convergence and deployment for national affairs.

    Herbert Hoover, one time president of the United States remarked that ‘Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.’ In the final analysis, the youths and the constitution of a state represent the incomparable ingredient of progress if both can be made to synergise through a deep respect for the law of the land which recognises the youth. When all is said and done, the youths in Nigeria, and Africa, constitute our first and last hope. Beyond the demographic dividend, the youth is the future.

    •

    Dr Olaopa is Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Youth Development

    Abuja.

  • Lagos: Defining moments in 2013

    The year 2013 has, undoubtedly been a crucial one for the Lagos State government and indeed, Lagosians at large. It has been a year of consolidating and sustaining innovative governance, which the Fashola administration is widely renowned for. With regards to budget implementation, the state government recorded a third quarter performance of 70 percent for the 2013 Budget. The shortfall from an aggregate half year performance of 72 percent to 71 percent is attributed to revenue shortfall and delay in remittances of national statutory allocations.

    The year witnessed the execution and commissioning of several infrastructural projects by the state government. The Lekki-Ikoyi Bridge, the first cable/suspended bridge in Nigeria and the entire West Africa was recently handed over for the use of Lagosians. The 1.38km bridge connects Ikoyi-Alexander Street to Lekki-Admiralty Way. Other on-going projects of the state government include the Okokomaiko to Marina Light Rail project, Adiyan Waterworks, Lagos Badagry Expressway, Apapa CBD Road Networks, Mushin Isolo Road, Isolo-Isheri-Ijegun Link Bridge, Ayinke House Maternity Hospital and the Atlantic shoreline protection project among others. Government has equally handed over several inner roads across the state. The Market Road in Badagry which has been provided with cable ducts to avoid the need to cut any part while trying to lay cables is one of such.

    With regards to food security and youth empowerment, the state’s Agricultural  Youth Empowerment Scheme (AGRIC YES) has continued to give hope to hundreds of youths in the state. Recently, government  handed over 32-tonnes capacity per day high quality cassava flour mill and a 50, 000 capacity automated five-unit broiler houses, among other facilities, to the scheme. The progress and achievements recorded by the AGRIC-YES scheme is a pointer to the fact that investment in agriculture remains a solid platform through which unemployment could be tackled.

    The governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN), also hosted the third Lagos Corporate Assembly tagged “BRF MEETS BUSINESS” where he urged local producers  to embrace innovations that would give them competitive edge. Providing insights into various areas impacting business and standards, the governor advised local entrepreneurs to adopt new business models that could give them the much needed breakthroughs.  Similarly, the governor led a state delegation to meetings with major Public Private Partnership financial institutions and construction firms in Beijing, China. At each of the meetings, Governor Fashola emphasized the investment opportunities inherent in the highlighted areas of infrastructure and the role direct financing through such institutions could play in bringing identified projects to reality.

    The Lagos Liveable City Conference 2013, with the theme, “Preparing for the Mental and Social Health Needs of the Lagos Mega-city”, also took place in the year. At the opening of the conference, the governor explained that the project of governance in a mega city “is firstly and lastly for the people and about the people including the man on the street who must be able to live in it. He must be able to breathe in it. He must be able to dream in it – dream for himself, for his family, for his succeeding generations. He must be safe in it”.

    To sustain the pace of its infrastructural development, the government held a completion meeting for its N87.5 billion programme, rounding off its N167.5 billion issuance programme. Although the offer recorded a stellar 139 percent total subscription of N121.72 billion, the state did not accept all given the limitation of the programme size and the state’s disciplined approach to financial management. The bond, another milestone by the state given that it is the largest bond issuance ever completed by a sub-national in the history of the Nigerian capital market, was aimed at satisfying the needs of the 21 million residents of Lagos and allowing them achieve their dreams.

    Ensuring easy access to qualitative heath care remains a top priority of the state government. This is being partially done through the Free Medical Mission of which the 29th edition was held in Badagry where over 10,000 residents benefited. Similarly, the Oregun Flagship Primary Healthcare Centre, the sixth in the series, was handed over for use. The initiative has brought about significant reduction in the indices of infant and maternal mortality across the state.

    Concerning security, the operational scope of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund is being continually expanded. Government also hosted the fund’s 7th Annual Town Hall Meeting on Security with an assertion that the collective investment of the state and citizenry in crime prevention is paying dividends visible in lower crime rates when compared with last year. Progress being recorded from year to year through the initiative, has developed a security apparatus that has improved upon what was inherited. For instance, since the state traffic law was enacted; the incidences of motorcycle related robberies reduced from about 60percent in 2012 down to 16 percent in 2013.

    In its drive to make Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, the number one choice for domestic cooking in the state, the state government has commissioned yet another Skid Plant in Ikorodu. One of the priorities of the administration is to revamp and reposition the energy sector in the state . Governor Fashola recently commissioned the 10.6 MW Alausa Power Project that would power the entire State Secretariat, Alausa and Obafemi Awolowo Way. The state independent power project, has helped in lighting up  several places and landmarks like the Carter Bridge which is a very critical bypass into Lagos which was abandoned for many years because it was unsafe as well as Simpson Street in Lagos and the Ramp on Marina close to the Third Mainland Bridge. Twelve streets have equally been lit up in Alimosho area and is already having enormous economic benefits.

    To accelerate the dispensation of justice, Governor Fashola recently commissioned the combined High/ Magistrate Courts in Ikorodu, which he renamed in honour of the third indigenous Chief Judge of Lagos, Ademola Candide- Johnson.

    Certainly, 2013 has been a successful one for the government. Characteristically, government has mapped out strategies to ensure that 2014 is a much better year. Two more power plants to be sited in Lekki and Ikeja GRA respectively are in the pipe line just as government continues to focus on public maintenance of law and order, provision of qualitative education, health care delivery, youth empowerment, rural development, sports development among others.

    It is, however, important that Lagosians work with the state government in its bid to make 2014 a better one. Qualified residents should partake in the state residents registration exercise while eligible ones should ensure prompt payment of their taxes and other dues. They must also not engage in acts that could jeopardise law and order in the state. It is in doing this that the plans and aspirations of the state government for the year could be achieved for the good of all.

    •Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

  • Belgore and Kwara APC

    Regrettable. That is the one word a reasonable individual familiar with the political workings of Kwara State as well as a burden for the emancipation of our nation would use to describe the latest outpouring of emotions by Mr. Dele Belgore, SAN, and one time gubernatorial candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria on the merger of the nPDP with the APC in Kwara.

    Let me isolate the issues that so much bother Belgore in the very emotional interview he recently granted one of the national dailies. One, that while the decision of the national leadership of the APC to accept the nPDP into the fold of the APC is a welcome development, the decision to accept the same nPDP members in Kwara State into APC is foolish. ‘I understand it from the point of view of national politics’, he said in the media chat.

    I doubt, judging from his subsequent utterances, that  he really understands. I wonder how what is agreed as a necessity for the political development of the nation will have no relevance to the local platform of the same polity. If it is good at the national level, how would it become evil at the state level? Who makes the national leadership of any party if not people representing the local organs?

    It seems to me that Belgore is only reluctant to tell the leadership of the APC what he really wants in the state: express gubernatorial ticket of the party. Perhaps that is the genesis of his crisis with the state leaders of the party before the merger? He had raised the same contention when the legacy parties, ACN, CPC and ANPP were still working on the merger that has made the opposition party a force to reckon with today in Nigeria. He made numerous outreaches to media personalities promoting the argument that having been the gubernatorial candidate of the ACN and having won the highest number of votes among candidates of the legacy parties, he deserves to be the candidate in the next election. But now applying the same rule to the merger of nPDP, our brother is unhappy. Regrettable.

    The second issue of bother to Belgore is that the nPDP members, under the leadership of Senator Bukola Saraki, will add no value to the APC. Definitely it is a summary dismissal of the combined wisdom of the leadership of the APC. It is a subtle way of castigating the elders who went round the length and breadth of this country, risking their lives, canvassing the evolution of a truly national opposition party with enough strength and spread to truly challenge the PDP in the 2015 election.  To Belgore, they have not done well because they included Kwara on the list of states they consider as truly progressive and which should join the increasing fold of like minds across Nigeria.

    His other partner, Bunmi Olusona, also recently went out in the media to say the legacy parties would win Kwara without the nPDP. He brandished some spurious data to prove  the might and power of the parties. But one simple question: How many people voted for Olusona in his hometown at the last election when he was gubernatorial candidate? What has he done there till date that makes him believe he will still win one polling unit in his ward? On the day of the last election, where was Olusona? On the prayer mountain, I was told by a bird, praying, instead of mobilising voters. What he should have done first he did last and he expected miracle. Regrettable.

    Please let somebody tell Belgore that the coming of both Saraki and governor Abdulfatah Ahmed into the fold of the APC is already adding real and positive values to the party.

    A reminder: Belgore also claimed a government agency said Kwara is unbankable. False. He should go and check his record again. Methinks that as a lawyer, facts are supposed to be sacred. So why did Belgore conveniently ignore the retraction of the same agency on the same subject? Or does he want to say that since that allegation was raised two years ago no bank has been dealing with Kwara?  So how does Kwara access its funds? How does Kwara pay contractors?

    I understand it if he claimed he cannot see any work in progress in Kwara. I understand it if he says there is no transformation going on in the state. I understand. He cannot see them because he is not the one in charge. He may not be able to see Kwara State University, but others can see. The respected Professor Ibahim Gambari is the Pro-Chancellor. Let Belgore consult him. The university has held one convocation and it was not in secret. He may not be able to see the International Aviation College, but others not blinded by personal ambition can see it.  It is located on the expressway out of Ilorin and just held its maiden graduation, produced the youngest Nigerian pilot. Belgore can send his team there.  He may not be able to see the benefits of the Kwara Bridge Employment Scheme but the thousands of Kwarans who have benefitted from it can see. They are in the ministries and parastatals, excited that government has opened to them a window of opportunity. Belgore should look out for them. He may not be able to see the thousands of small scale businesses generated by people who have been given access to loan in designated microfinance banks, but Nigerians of good conscience can see them. It is a project that has given life to micro finance banks and empowered the population of small scale entrepreneurs. He may not be able to see what government has done in the health sector until he takes a personal, unbiased tour of comprehensive renovations at the general hospitals in Omu-Aran, Offa, Ajasse-Ipo, Kaiama and Ilorin.  What about massive road construction going on across the state? Ambition. Yes, personal ambition and desperation will not allow our barrister to see those ground-breaking achievements for a state almost at the terra firma of federal allocation and constrained IGR. Regrettable.

    And lastly, he pretended he had nothing to do with the PDP. This is regrettable because those who walk the politics of Kwara understand that he is merely waiting for a little time to join his ilk in the party. Like somebody joked the other time, Belgore is now APC in the day and PDP in the night. It is, like Wole Soyinka’s play, the metamorphosis of a selfish propagandist. I cannot speak for Saraki, but I want to advise Belgore, if the Almighty has destined the man to be the leader at this point in time, why fight the decision?

    Adebayo writes from Ilorin

  • Cert. scandal: How long before Jonathan sacks Oduah?

    Cert. scandal: How long before Jonathan sacks Oduah?

    It never rains but pours. The storm is certainly not over for the embattled Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah who is now embroiled in a scandal of towering proportion – certificate forgery.

    Stunning revelations by the intrepid online whistleblower, SaharaReporters, revealed that Princess Oduah (‘Princess’ as she has insisted she be addressed), lied about her Masters degree.

    In her citation to the Senate during ministerial screening in 2011, Mrs. Oduah claimed she attended St. Paul’s College, Lawrenceville in Virginia, United States, from 1978-1982, where she bagged her first Degree in Accounting. “On completion of her first degree, she was not lured into taking up paid employment but was determined to have the best education and at the highest level, so she immediately stayed back to study for her Masters Degree which she achieved in 1983,” the citation said.

    Thorough investigations have revealed that St. Paul’s College, Lawrenceville in its 125-year history never ran a graduate (masters) programme. More so, there was no trace of evidence that she earned a Bachelor’s degree from the said university.

    Barely 24 hours after her claim to have acquire a Masters degree from St. Paul’s University in the United States was punctured, further investigation uncovered another false claim by the embattled Minister – fast gaining notoriety for earthshaking scandals – that she lied on oath to the Nigeria Senate, and indeed the Nigerian people, in her audacious claim that another American ‘university’, Pacific Christian University based in Glendale, sometime in 1998, awarded her an honorary doctorate degree in Business Administration.

    Investigation by grapevine online news platforms showed that there is no university in Glendale called Pacific Christian University. It was on the strength of this qualification she was grilled and eventually confirmed by the lawmakers as a minister. This is a scandal and the law should be allowed to take its course.

    Silence, they say, is acquiescence. Unsurprisingly, all her aides and spokesmen of departments and parastatals under her ministry have so far failed to respond to enquiries by journalists to the latest findings indicting the minister. To lend credence to the these scholarly journalistic work, it has been observed that frantic efforts have been made by the minister and her aides to revise her profiles on the internet in a desperate bid to clean up every reference to St. Paul’s College and Pacific Christian University. On Wikipedia for instance, it was observed that her page was edited 19 times between 1.56am and 5.05pm on Tuesday, January 7.

    Meanwhile, the dust is yet to settle on the reckless abuse of office by the Minister’s approval of the purchase of two bulletproof BMW cars at an unimaginable cost of $1.6m (or about N255m) by the National Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), a federal agency under her ministry’s supervision. Coscharis Motors Limited, a dealership from which the two BMW cars were purchased by NCAA, gave N112million to the aviation minister, Ms Oduah as kickbacks while Cosmas Maduka, who owns Coscharis  Motors, pocketed N60 million for each of the two BMW cars.

    But how long will President Jonathan continue to shield her from anti-corruption agencies despite massive criticism trailing her corrupt acts is the big question on everyone’s lips. Many reason that with the latest revelations, she does not deserve to stay one more second as a minister of the federal republic. The longer she remains in Jonathan’s government, the more embarrassment she becomes to the country, making a huge joke of the much touted anti-graft crusade of the present administration.

    President Jonathan should not use any probe panel to cover-up or create a leeway to delay investigations, lull public outrage and ultimately distract the anti-corruption agencies from prosecuting the aviation minister. At this point, Ms Oduah is (seemingly) unshaken; the subterfuge of a panel has been a fortress.

    Those who revel in ignominy have resorted to such crude ways as clannishness to support her reckless abuse of office. Such Nigerians have been blinded by ethnic jingoism that no deed is too heinous as long as the offender is of their ethnic bracket. For such staunch backers, she is being ‘persecuted because she is igbo.”

    It is inconceivable that such tribalists try so hard to validate impunity with ethnicity. It is even more worrisome when so called enlightened Nigerians join in this stupefying vulgarity.  Nigeria will turn the corner when we stop invoking the ‘ethnic card’ to perpetuate criminality and defend corruption.

    The Senate must now do more than ‘take a bow and go’ during subsequent screening exercises. Independent verification of documents must be done by the upper chamber of the National Assembly and not left to security agencies alone that it now seems take orders from powers above.

    The most probable option left for Stella Oduah is to throw in the towel, if for nothing at all, so she can save us all the embarrassment she unduly attracts to the country.

    Our sit tight leaders have already gained a reputation that no amount of disgrace constrains them to lose their tight grip on power. What better way can President Jonathan prove to Nigerians that he is dedicated to taking the fight against corruption in 2014 up a notch, as he promised in his new year message, by asking her to step aside.

    The damage she has done to his administration is incalculable. The fight against corruption requires leaders at all levels with high voltage public morality. People who occupy public offices must be made to feel they have moral obligations to our sensibilities to save us from being the laughing stock of the bemused international community.

    It is time we began to address the issue of academic dishonesty in public service in Nigeria. We need to raise ethical standards and morality that’s the more reason why the Stella Oduah certificate scandal should not be swept under the carpet. If other scandals can be ‘ignored’ by this government, certainly not this.

    If Oduah is left to continue as a minister, then it sends the wrong signal to young Nigerians that you can cheat your way to attain such lofty heights in government. Every effort of the government at curbing exam malpractice and certificate forgery will effectively be brought to its knees if this shameful act as widely expected, is ignored by Mr. President.

    If Jonathan had given her the boot in response to the outrage that greeted her BMW scandal, he would have maybe, saved his administration this embarrassment.

    In this part of the world where politics of mudslinging hold sway, issues of certificate forgery are lethal weapons in the hands of the opposition. It is weighty enough to nail her political coffin. Nigerian political history is replete with examples. But it takes bovine guts to hang on to your job in the face of public opprobrium when you’reprivy to mystifying facts about your certificates. Her bravery has become her undoing.

    One is only left to wonder how many political office holders have forged certificates. It is a shame that in the 21st century with advancement in science and technology, authenticity of documents of public office holders cannot be easily verified by authorities saddled with such responsibilities. It is left to the imagination how many ministries such scandals exist, worse still, we may never know the extent of the rottenness in such places.The integrity of some ministers in Jonathan’s government have long been questioned. This justifies that. Merit and competence have long been thrown in the dust bin.

    Searchlights should now be beamed on more certificates of political office holders.

     

    Theophilus Ilevbare is a public affairs commentator. Engage him on twitter, @tilevbare. He blogs at http://ilevbare.com.

     

  • Healing the continent

    Nigeria’s 100-year existence hardly calls for celebration considering the plight of Black people in Africa and beyond. Centuries after the abolition of slavery, the race is no nearer political emancipation and ideological conceptualisation.

    Yet, Africa’s most populous country and the world’s largest collection of Blacks could not have had a more auspicious beginning. Cobbled from the Northern and Southern Protectorates by Great Britain in January 1914, it took its name from the resource-filled River Niger (or Niger River) courtesy of incumbent Governor-General Sir Frederick Lugard’s future wife, Flora Shaw.

    However, progress since independence on October 1, 1960 barely justifies the country’s enormous potential. While President Goodluck Jonathan and a tame executive do their best to excuse the jamboree launched with a presidential dinner on February 4, 2013 in Abuja, the country’s failure to fetch international reckoning disturbs.

    Before his December 5, 2013 demise, anti-apartheid hero and South Africa’s first Black president, Nelson Mandela, rued Nigeria’s prodigal leadership. Black people would be truly free once Nigeria stood up for the continent and Black folks elsewhere, the old man asserted. I couldn’t agree more.

    Often called the ‘Giant of Africa’, Nigeria is also Africa’s top producer of crude oil and the world’s fifth-placed supplier. With huge deposits of valuable minerals as well, the expectations are not misplaced. Much of the wealth remains untapped, however, and the petroleum is mainly exported unrefined – an economic situation fuelled by the country’s failure to refine minds through comprehensive education.

    After the colonial masters relinquished power, the political class squandered the country’s resources and instituted poverty. Europe may have underdeveloped Africa, as Walter Rodney argued in his famous book, but politicians assisted by a succession of military tyrants have for years sustained the notion of Nigeria as an overseas territory subject to foreign beliefs, culture and commerce.

    Students of history who wonder at the relative ease of Portuguese infiltration and British conquest need look no further than qualities common to leaders, past and present: sentimental, discriminatory and domineering. These traits and more greased the chains of slavery and helped the old British Empire avoid its predicted sunset.

    The unfavourable channel of trade remains open today, with the commodities simply changing form. In place of pepper, salt, tobacco and other basic products of the bygone era, doctors, lawyers, engineers and managers constantly depart Nigeria’s shores to plug economic gaps in more developed societies.

    But race relations run deeper than market forces. Spurred by the Civil Rights movement headed by the late Martin Luther King Jnr in 1960s United States of America, Black ascendancy appeared imminent in the 1990s when Mandela emerged from a 27-year prison term to surmount racial segregation and ensure majority rule. The feat helped Barack Obama break down the colour barrier in the U.S.

    Obama inspired Black people worldwide, but America’s 44th president is a finely balanced specimen of Black-and-White. In support of race theories that suggest condescension by Whites and reverence by Blacks, the former surrendered the son of a black Kenyan father and white American mother while the latter claimed him.

    In the event, Mr Obama embraced the American will. Flying his homeland’s cause in the course of duty, he managed more than once to spurn Nigeria’s advances, if not its cry for help, until the recent designation of the Boko Haram sect as a terrorist group.

    With Mandela’s exit and Obama’s second and conclusive term in the White House winding down, however, Blacks worldwide must determine how best to tread the trail blazed by the pioneering duo. We may begin by examining and addressing tendencies. Why do Black people grandstand and crave domination? Indeed, why do some shun enlightenment for ephemeral pursuits?

    These posers appear magnified in the upper echelon of private and public organisations. Government officials trained abroad choose to propound policies certified by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Agriculture and Finance ministers, Akinwunmi Adesina and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, seem adept at laughable schemes involving farmers and the Sovereign Wealth Fund, in particular.

    Worse, expatriate CEOs now sprout in conglomerates and reputable companies badly managed by indigenes under the Indigenisation policy of the 1970s. Expatriates from Europe to Asia enjoy better treatment from security agencies and the establishment on account of lighter skin.

    What is it with the Black man? He is colourful, to be sure. His languages and traditions attest. And he evinces a wealth of ideas in art and culture. He clings to the past while Europeans managed to overcome the strife and serfdom that attended the early periods through the postulations of experts and practice of leaders.

    To ride economic challenges, for example, Britain’s Adam Smith kindled the industrial revolution with his theory of division of labour while Thomas Malthus’ warnings helped prevent population explosion as wealth increased. Americans Peter F. Drucker and Abraham Maslow helped ground management theories.

    The continent’s leaders do not help matters. They would stay on for a second term, a third term and yet another while their countries’ economies take repeated battering from poor policy making and implementation. With poor economies and inadequate education, impoverished minds barely trace the thick line between decency and moral compromise.

    For instance, the continent would be better off without the African Union building handed out by the Chinese, the rather opportunist backers of political relics Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir. The continent could as well do without the memory of Idi Amin, the marshal of Ugandan killing fields, and Jean-Bédel Bokassa, the imperial terror of the Central African Republic (CAR).

    Considering bloody strife in CAR, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, the need for more perceptive leadership cannot be overstated. Add the terror of Islamic fundamentalist sects in North Africa, Mali and Nigeria, and an overwhelmed Africa needs the West to end economic disaster and accommodate refugees in the interim.

    Under Obama, the U.S. has stepped up intervention. The United Nations, besides mediating in the perennial North Korea-South Korea, Japan-China and Israel-Palestine conflicts, engages similar muscle.

    But only Africa can heal itself. To galvanise folks in the Diaspora, the continent must compete better in international circles. The U.S. raised the bar with the first man on the moon in 1969 and the old Soviet Union leapt after. Mars, at the current rate of technological development and space exploration, looms. Nigeria dawdles; so does Africa.

    The bell tolls, and there’s no question for whom. If global warming, ozone layer depletion, an apocalyptic dinosaur-era meteor strike or a combination of natural phenomena causes mankind to mass on a single continent tomorrow, the outcome is predictable: only the fittest would survive. And a second period of slavery is better imagined.

     

    Fagbemi is a staff of The Nation

  • Aregbesola: The ultimate honour

    And so one after the other in the year of our Lord 2013, the awards saluting the remarkable achievements of State of Osun Governor Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola rolled in.

    Hundreds of kilometers away in Ghana, the respected Integrity International magazine had noticed what the governor was doing to redefine governance in a continent that had for ages suffered at the hand of its leaders. It gave Aregbesola its Integrity Award declaring that the man had offered what it called “outstanding quality and integrity” in political administration. The journal lamented that much of the post-independence era had given Africa leadership without integrity; it concluded that things had however been different with the advent of the Ogbeni in Osun.

    Another accolade later came in. Aregbesola bagged the Odua Person of the Year 2013 award on account of the serious effort he has injected into the project of restoring the Yoruba nation its pace-setter role it clinched under the illustrious age of Papa Obafemi Awolowo. There has been a sudden renaissance in interest in the culture, arts, history, politics etc of the Yoruba, thanks to a focus on the Omoluabi spirit championed by Aregbesola.

    Business Day newspaper also awarded the Osun governor two honors: Best Governor in Urban and Rural Infrastructural Development and Youth and Sports Development. According to the paper, Aregbesola had made what, by extrapolation, would turn out to be a permanent impact on the polity in the state of Osun. You can’t fault that decision because any meaningful push you exert on society through the solid blocks of infrastructural development, the youth and sports, would invariably touch the soul of society in the future. In other words you can’t develop and progress without addressing challenges in those critical areas.

    Then as the year 2014 broke, Daily Independent newspaper unveiled its Man of the Year in keeping with its tradition of more than a decade. Its board of editors picked Rauf Aregbesola from a tough crowd of achievers that included accomplished private sector players, performing governors, ministers, politicians and legislators from the ranks of the opposition and ruling party.

    In an engaging and dispassionate discourse, Daily Independent argued that Aregbesola deserves the honor because no other public officer has applied as much distinctive initiative to re-engineer society as Aregbesola has done. He has changed the concept of governance, the paper’s editors argued.

    I need to quote them at length for us to grab the depth of their appreciation of what the governor has bestowed on Osun and Nigeria

    This is what the editors said: “Aregbesola’s belief in the sanctity of the rule of law is exemplary. Engr. Rauf Aregbesola, on the platform of the then Action Congress (AC) contested for the Governorship of Osun State in the April 2007 elections, and won. To be so declared, however, took close to four years of what must go down as one of the most titanic mandate recovery legal battles of all time, and a moment for the manifestation of the omnipotence of the Almighty God and his steadfastness in support of those who rely on Him.

    “Having gone through the tribunal of first instance, an appeal and a retrial tribunal, the second appeal court, delivering judgment on October 26, 2010, declared Aregbesola governor and ordered he be sworn in the next day.

    “Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, since assuming office as Governor of the State of Osun on October 27, 2010, has redefined the meaning of governance in the public sector, not just with symbolic posturing, but real and sustainable interventions that will presently enhance the quality of life of everyone that lives or works in the State of Osun. Rebranding of the state as the Ipinle Omoluabi (State of the Virtuous) started from himself, adopting the title Ogbeni, simply Mister, in deference to the singular Excellency of the Almighty God. In just over a year, the chronicle of his achievements is astounding, and may be summarised as a chain of “O-Models”, the most astonishing being the engagement of 20,000 youth in the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme within his first 100 days in office; an accomplishment without precedence that has become the model for others to follow.

    “Rauf is a born strategist. Throughout his life, whether as a pupil, student or career man; political appointee or governor, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola has applied the art and science of strategy to ensure success in all endeavours in which he is engaged. He strategised and was outstanding as a student. He strategised and was efficient and effective as a career man. He strategised and was accomplished as a grassroots politician. He strategised and was excellent as a commissioner in Lagos State. He strategised to reclaim his mandate when he was rigged out in the race to offer selfless service to the good people of Osun. He strategised to lay a sound foundation for a regenerated Osun State knowing that sustainable development does not happen with ‘quick fix’ methods, tools, and techniques. He is strategising to position Osun and the good people of the state appropriately in the geo-economic milieu of Nigeria. He is a fervent believer in the dictum that strategists do not fail and so will not fail the people of Osun.

    “Committed to a better, egalitarian society, Aregbesola, though fully anxious to build a society with massive physical infrastructures that promote better living, believes in first pursuit of those human values that can pave the way for the emergence of that total man, who is socially responsible. Hence his dogged pursuit of programmes extra-curricular schemes, such as the Calisthenics, Omoluabi Boys and Girls Club, and other schemes aimed at re-orientating the youths to channel their energies towards a society where the promotion of the common, collective goods will dominate the crazy pursuit of the good of the self.”

    Honours that are heaped on men and women of ideas are welcome when they come from individuals and groups who have set themselves the task of guiding society through constructive criticism and encouragement. That was the point the famous French writer was making in the quote at the beginning of this essay.

    What then is the ultimate honour for a public officer upon whom so much laurel has been heaped? I believe the logical step is for the citizens to re-elect him and allow a consolidation of the achievements that have attracted uncommon universal acclaim.

     

    • Barrister Oyatomi is director of Publicity, Research & Strategy, All Progressives Congress (APC), State of Osun.

  • Hope springs eternal

    There is so much death in this country. So many tears. So much evil. So much betrayal. So much sadness and so many tragedies. So much corruption and deceit. So many shattered dreams, broken hearts and wounded souls. So much injustice and insensitivity. So much greed and want. So much bloodshed, blood-letting and blood-spilling.

    Welcome to Nigeria- the Federal Republic of Shattered Dreams. A country in which sadism, failure, iniquity, injustice, wickedness, persecution, cover-ups, lies and abuse of power are enthroned. A land in which “men of God” do not pray but instead sell the anointing and buy private jets. A country where common decency, kindness and human compassion has no place. A nation in which the rulers pay homage to the baphomet and make open sacrifices to Satan.

    A country where ignorance and mediocrity is exalted and in which excellence and knowledge is scorned. A nation in which truth has no place and in which those that tell it are hated and treated with contempt. I weep for my country and each day I pray that God delivers her from the blood-sucking and relentless demons that plague and afflict her. Yet, despite all, hope springs eternal.

    The foundation for our current situation was laid many years ago and since that time we have seen so much suffering and failure at virtually all levels. We were plagued with leaders who lacked vision, who lacked intellect, who lacked sincerity of purpose and who were antagonistic to those that dared to challenge their visionless and purposeless policies. Our country is currently bedevilled with so much negativity that it is easy to look around and just give up. Yet I say that we must never give up because “hope springs eternal”.

    The Bible says though the night may be dark yet “joy comes in the morning”. The wise ones say you cannot have a message without a mess. You cannot have a testimony without a test. You cannot get to the top of the mountain without first going to the bottom of the valley. This is true. And out of Nigeria’s “mess” shall surely come her “message”. Out of Nigeria’s “test” shall surely come her “testimony”.

    We have been to the “bottom of the valley” and therefore we shall get to the “top of the mountain”. Our dream for a better Nigeria shall never die and neither can our collective prayers be in vain. I refuse to give up because I know that the God that I serve never fails. He alone rules in the affairs of men. He alone forges the destiny of nations. Out of a deep void and formlessness He ordered the creation of the world. He established it by the power of His word and He gave us dominion over it.

    In the same way He created Nigeria for His purpose and for His glory and that purpose and glory shall surely be established. It shall come to pass and it will be manifest to the entire world. We shall see it and we shall be established in it as a nation and as a people. If God can do it for others, He can do it for us too. We can be great and, by the grace of God, we shall be great. This is my dream and this is what I see. And believe me when I tell you that it is prophetic.

    A Nigeria where every man and woman, regardless of faith, ethnicity, status or political persuasion finds a common cause and relishes in our collective humanity. A Nigeria where the rich have a conscience and the poor have hope. A Nigeria where joy and peace reign supreme and where bombings and killings are a thing of the past.

    A Nigeria where the descendants of Ishmael and Isaac and the adherents of the two great Abrahamic faiths of Islam and Christianity live together in peace, harmony and mutual respect. A Nigeria where the secularity of the state is respected yet where God is revered and honoured by all. A Nigeria where the knowledge and fear of the Living God reigns in the hearts and minds of the people.

    A Nigeria where every man is His brother’s keeper, where leaders show compassion to those that they lead, where justice is done to all and where political persecution has no place. A Nigeria where decency is rewarded, where dissent is tolerated, where non-conformity is encouraged and where equity is enthroned. That is the Nigeria of my dream.

    A Nigeria where youth unemployment is low and where every individual, no matter how high or low, can aspire to any position and live his or her dream. A Nigeria where human life and human dignity is sacrosanct and where fairness is the watchword of every soul. That is the Nigeria of my dream.

    I have no fears about the future of this great nation because the God that I serve never fails. The Bible says the nations are “as a drop of water before Him”. He sits above the circles of the earth and He counts the earth as His footstool. Yet despite His sheer awesomeness and majesty, with Him lies great compassion and mercy.

    I am persuaded that once we make the right choice our date with destiny, as a people and as a nation, will come far sooner than we can possibly imagine. In his book titled “The Wretched of the Earth” Frantz Fanon said the following- “each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover it’s mission and fulfill it or betray it.” Past generations in Nigeria have not lived up to expectation. This is the bitter truth.

    Dr. Martin Luther King jnr., after delivering his celebrated and inspiring “I have a dream” speech, was felled by an assassin’s bullet on April 4 1968. To those that killed him, his dream died with him. Yet they were wrong. They did not know that great dreams, once birthed, never die. That is why the Word of God said “if the princes of this world had known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory”.

    If those that murdered Jesus, and the devil that inspired them to do it, had known that He would honour His word and rise up three days later they would not have crucified him. They persecuted Him, they humiliated Him, they beat Him, they tortured Him, they spat on Him and they killed Him yet they could not kill His dream or abort His mission. His dream lived on and became a reality for all mankind to see.

    It was the same with Martin Luther King. They killed him but his mission had already been achieved and his vision came to pass 45 years after his sacrificial and selfless death. This is indeed the stuff of which dreams are made. Great things are birthed in great dreams and if you dare to dream nothing is impossible.

    I have a dream for Nigeria. I have a dream that one day Nigerians will see themselves as Nigerians before anything else and they will not regard their country and its people as a collection of strange bed-fellows that do not love or trust one another.

    Yet this dream can only be fulfilled when those amongst us that call ourselves leaders preach, practice and display discipline, temperance, holiness, morality, restraint, tolerance, mercy and the fear of God in the conduct of our affairs. It can only be made manifest when we stand up and fight against evil, tyranny, injustice, indecency bad governance, the abuse of power , political persecution and sheer wickedness.

    I have come here today to tell you that Nigeria and the Nigerian dream lives on and that it shall be made manifest for all to see in the fullness of time. I therefore urge you to be strong, to hold your heads up high, to be proud of who and what you are and to stand firm. The vision is for an appointed time. Though it may tarry it shall not prove false. Just hold on and always remember that, despite all, ‘’hope springs eternal’. God bless you and God bless Nigeria. Happy new year.

  • Case for dialogue without constitutional strings

    The decision to host a national dialogue in the wake of many National problems is good. It should be seen as opportunity for citizens to participate in decision-making aimed at finding solutions to National problems. However before the final whistle is blown for take – off, there is need to reflect on the appropriate name and nature of the proposed national gathering- a name and conference that would win the confidence and support of majority citizens and preserve the peace and unity of the country.

    Based on current mood of the nation and careful review of reactions to the Advisory committee, it is clear that Nigeria needs a non – constitutional conference – a fact finding and problem solving summit devoid of constitutional apron – strings. We suggest NATIONAL MANAGEMENT /LEADERSHIP SUMMIT to proffer solution to identified problems and sift those for Executive and Legislative actions. What the country desires is not a brand new constitution but new progress – minded elites with the right attitude to do the right thing such as the provision of man’s basic needs, fair-play, justice and equality of all citizens before the law as already contained in 1999 constitution. The furore observed during the Advisory committee’s work was over a constitutional conference and not a national dialogue per se.

    Part of the assignment of the Okorunmu’s Advisory Committee was to “submit report to enable government brief the nation on the nomenclature, structure and modalities of the dialogue”. But given the hard ideological posture and persuasiveness of an influential section of the elites and the body language of the committee, there is the fear that it might not come out with recommendation based on reality of today but on some preconceived ideas of few but powerful and influential educated elite who had been spoiling for a constitutional conference for no just reason. The sharp division within the elite and hostile reaction to the idea of a conference as being diversionary suggest a house on fire and thus unsafe place for constitutional conference aimed at redesigning country.

    A creative interpretation of the advisory’s committee’s terms of reference will show that government desired maximum participation of citizens in the preparation for the proposed conference to enable her make informed decision. However, for many reasons, this was not possible: citizenry participation was low. In particular, a section of the elites rejected the proposal and boycotted the committees work. There was so much rancour and heartaches caused by ‘warring’ parties whose extreme positions precipitated some crisis of confidence. What became obvious was a mixed grill of reactions both for and against a constitutional conference but those against seems more in number and outside the corridors of power. But as Nigerians, the feelings of opponents could not be ignored without hurting the cause of the proposed conference itself.

    Most of the issues being peddled are not serious enough, many of them are not even constitutional while some are already contained in the 1999 Constitution and can easily be handled by the National Assembly which has the power to amend the constitution. Some are ridiculous and laughable. Contrary to the elites who argued that a constitutional conference is the only way out, there are other ways to attain the same goal. One of such ways is the Management / Leadership Summit. It is far less costly, more cost effective and easier to organize than a constitutional conference. This is even more so when most of the serious problems of the country are operational and managerial in nature – for example corruption, sectarian disturbance, insecurity and unemployment, kidnapping and poor governance.

    There are other reasons for ruling out a constitutional conference. One of them is the democratic structures already in place especially the National Assembly and the need to strengthen them. The framers in their wisdom laid down procedure for amending the constitution. President Jonathan was elected to serve the country and protect and defend the constitution and not to set it aside or replace it by rewriting a new one as some of the educated elites have been pushing with impunity and disregard for laid down rules for constitutional amendment. Let’s learn to play by the rules of the game, grow, nurture and strengthen our institutions instead of trying to cut corners.

    All the elite’s talk about lack of Nigerian inputs to past constitutions and their ‘military imposition’ are untrue and insincere. Apart from the fact that that there was Nigerian input because the military men were foremost Nigerians and worked together with civilians, there is never a time all Nigerians would gather in one room for purpose of constitutional writing. The writing of a constitution is not everybody’s business but a select few working on behalf of others. The 1999 constitution is thus not fraudulent in stating ‘we, the people of Nigeria’…Will a new constitution now be said to be written by ‘we, the people of the mars?’And will all Nigerians be put in one room or field for purpose?

    Decision to hold a constitutional conference ought to depend on popular demand and driven by maximum citizenry participation and active support of the elites. But this was not the case. Participation of citizen has been low leaving scanty empirical evidence of support for a constitutional conference. Participation became a popular approach to governance in the1970s when it came to be realised that people are more eager and willing to support programmes and projects which they were involved in formulating, executing and evaluating. Thus citizenry participation became the vogue and the Advisory Committee was to facilitate this through wide consultation with citizens for the planned national dialogue. There is no doubt that that the concept of popular participation is a powerful tool in modern management if properly applied because we need maximum citizenry participation for the success of programs. Part of those to be mobilized for the proposed

    National Dialogue was the elites’ class but unfortunately a significant part of it proved difficult and unwilling to participate.

    This should be a major source of worry for the planned national conference – even much more so for a constitutional conference. It is an unhealthy signal because in practical terms it means that many people including a significant part of the elites would not support and accept the decisions of the conference.

    Many of the problems today such as terrorism – sectarian uprising and kidnapping, armed robbery, election rigging /malpractices, religious and ethnic intolerance, corruption, unemployment, poverty, underdevelopment, tribalism etc have nothing to do with the constitution but the ineptitude of the elite. Issues of structure had been addressed long time by breaking the big three regions inherited at independence to 4, 12, 19, 21, 30 and 36 of today to allay the fear of domination in the country. However the elites suffering from over – dose of classical notion of federalism and affliction of being like the Jones syndrome or greed for power have continued to twist things for unpatriotic reasons as though the world –nay Nigeria had been stagnant since 1914. They blame constitution unduly. Nigeria is not in need of new constitution but a new set of patriotic and development oriented elites with positive attitude to nation-building. In short, constitutional conference held a thousand times cannot solve the nagging problems of the day without good men with the right attitude on stage to do what is good and right. Most of the issues peddled for constitutional conference betray ignorance, lack of creative thinking, insincerity, unpreparedness by the elites to accept the common nature of humanity, equality and brotherhood of human beings as well as their unwillingness to make strategic sacrifice in the national interest.

     

    • Abhuere Ph.D, FNIM is former Director Corps Welfare and Inspection NYSC Abuja