The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Aregbesola honours Olikoye Ransome-Kuti

    It the time amiable Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, Nigeria’s one-time Health Minister, died in 2003, he had become a leading world figure crusading for the upgrade of the health system to cater for the poor. He proposed “an all embracing system to provide health-care in an integrated way, rather than through vertical disease-specific programmes.”

    He pursued this religiously and finally broke his philosophy into what later became known as Primary Health Care (PHC).

    Ransome-Kuti has since been known as the father of primary health care approach to the health problems of the nation.

    What is the kernel of PHC? It is simply that the solution to the mother-child (or community) health problems lies in the communities from which the people come, and not elsewhere.

    He proved this with an experimental family health clinic to assess the effectiveness of nurses in the direct delivery of preventive and curative services to mothers and children. It was this project that provided the impetus for the establishment of the landmark Institute of Child Health and Primary Care of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos and an academic programme as part of pre-service medical training.

    Professor Ransome-Kuti, health minister from 1985-1992, is now regarded as the best health minister Nigeria has ever had!

    And 10 years after his death, there is a nostalgic yearning for his ideals, following the serious slide in the conditions of the health sector notably in the rural areas. We would not have experienced the grave setbacks we have witnessed under successive governments in Nigeria if we had leaned on the submissions of this great son of Africa.

    But there is hope because in the State of Osun, the government of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has adopted precisely these principles: he is resorting to the policy of providing clean and good water for the rural folk (and of course to all the citizens) as a holistic health revamp strategy.

    For as the administration is proving, there is a linkage between the availability of water for all, and general economic and social development across all sectors.

    The state of Osun government is very much on course in its strategy to ensure that every resident in the state enjoys access to potable water supply for there is a clear synergy entailed in this objective. To use just one example, it would be frankly rather self- defeating to pour in money into the health sector without access- to- water – for- all at the heart of a holistic health revamp strategy. For as the late Professor Ransome Kuti emphasized continuously throughout his distinguished career, the momentum must start at the area of primary health care. Now, since most of the diseases here are water-borne, the availability of water resources is vital.

    This across the board synergy is why the Aregbesola administration has staked so much resource on the provision of clean water for all. We are not scoring political points but just stating the obvious in pointing out that the present government in the state of Osun is starting out from a very low base. When the government came into office, six major water works and 45 micro water works were operating below capacity in the state. The major water works which were designed for a combined capacity of 226,000 litres of water per day were producing only 23.7 percent litres per day, while the Micro water works with combined capacity of 13,400 per day, were producing only 18.6 per cent of their capacity. This situation is drastically changing.

    The Aregbesola administration, in the circumstance, had its work cut -out. Government has had to redress the balance from two fronts: putting in place facilities that will bridge the gap between demand and actual production, as well as putting in place the institutional mechanism that will ensure the sustainability of the facilities that will fulfil this objective.

    In order to ensure sustainability and continuity, the government is ensuring that personnel are well- equipped and trained for the maintenance of the facilities upon completion, while counterpart staff would be attached to each of the projects. Every avenue will be considered in moving things forward. Opportunities available will include twinning arrangement with experienced international water utility organizations, as well as to explore the possibility of Private Public Partnerships.

    Sustainability is of course vital which is why a pricing and payments system is strategic to the water access- for- all strategy. In view of the level of investments made by government, the authorities expect distinguished and responsible citizens to partner with government in paying modest water rates to sustain robust water initiatives: If the standard of the re-reinvigorated water policy is to be maintained, everyone of us, the governed and the government, must be willing and ready to play their parts very well. As a first measure, the state government is embarking on Consumers’ enumeration, after which a ‘’willingness to pay study ‘’ will be conducted. Even as the rehabilitation of this water works is progressing, government is supplying water through tankers to homes to ameliorate the pains of the citizens. The cost is minimal and bearable and the mode of payment to the banks simplified.

    We can see from the observations made above, that the Aregbesola administration is actually walking – the – talk. Noteworthy is the fact that the N 417m contract for the emergency work on Ede Water Works was awarded at the inaugural executive Council meeting, held at the executive council chamber of the Governor’s Office, just a few hours after the new commissioners were sworn in.

    At the 2014 election in Osun State, the citizens should identify candidates who in turn identify with them through their people-based policies to vote for. Their votes should not be wasted on those who would seek to impoverish them.

    Aregbesola is following in the footsteps of the man who struggled tirelessly to improve life in the rural community through a policy that entailed direct health care delivery on the platform of drinking water which would prevent fatal communicable diseases.

  • From the cell phone

    For Olatunji Dare

     

    Somebody should tell this president the home truth. Insecurity, kidnapping, oil theft and the like are the order of the day to which the president cannot find solution yet, he went ahead and constituted what I call ‘chop chop’ committee for dialogue. If the president means well for Nigerians and has no hidden agenda, he should make the country a safer place before any committee could be constituted. The president should tell us why sudden change of his mind on the confab. Jonathan should know that Nigerians’ integrity cannot be compromised. Nigerians are watching. From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Apapa, Lagos

    On Kaduna, I agree with you partly because the Middle Belt is more ideological and religious than geographical. At least half of the population of Kaduna is Christian. People of the Middle Belt are found in large numbers in states like Kebbi, Gombe and Adamawa. Many in the South do not know this because they only speak on Election Day. Anonymous

    Where do you think Jonathan got his substantial votes from? Why did he not get as many in states like Bauchi, Zamfara or Sokoto? If religion is included in the next census, Nigerians will be shocked by the make-up of many states in the North in general. Anonymous

    Re: An October surprise. To me, there was nothing surprising about the October 1st broadcast of which the proposed National Dialogue/Conference was salient. I commend Mr. President for acceding to the age-long yearning for National Conference. Whoever is again, opposing the President’s dialogue proposal is an enemy of this country, a pretender, selfish and a sponsor of anti-development. Simple or complex, let them go and dialogue and we see the output! Before now, I was an opponent of the conference. Now that Mr. President is conceding, what else do we want? From Lanre Oseni

    “An ‘October surprise’” is another voice amongst several voices advocating national dialogue. What some of the brilliant advocates have not exemplified is the mode of participation. Whether by selection or election, and if by election whether it will be different from those of our parliament. Whether the election will be flawless, and whether government will not influence the outcome. Again whether the conference will not amount to duplicity, and a further expenditure on our resources. Please educate us. Alhaji Hon. ADEYCorsim, Oshodi, Lagos.

     

    For Segun Gbadegesin

     

    This government by my assesment is a government of deception, wickedness, and vengiance. I have never seen any country in the whole world where insecurity is thriving and the government is constituting comittee for dialoque. The whole country is in comma still the president does not give a damn about the happenings in the country. The president should realise that, power is tracient that whatever he does now eigther good or bad will remain in the boook of history for him. The sudden change of mind of the president shows the hypocracy of the committee. From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Apapa, Lagos

    Sir, how will security be function, in the state that has no discipline! we need a discipline man like what Gen. Buhari did in 1983. From Talle Makaniki

    “Security and the national conference” are two issues that can help us shape our nation in the mode of a mature democracy. But sir, how do we determine participation at the national conference? Will it not amount to duplication of our parliament and a further waste of national resources? For those who claimed that state police will be used to harass oppositions, it must be stated that the present federal police is also being used by the federal government to harass oppositions. Ngige’s abduction while serving as a governor, and the current situations of Rivers State are glaring examples. From Alhaji Hon ADEYCorsim, Oshodi, Lagos

    Re: “Security and national conference”. Those who understood our problems and have been calling for a national conference to discuss them politically and economically after the first republic fell know the implications involved if we refused. Our third republic is threathened if care is not taken. Now that the president has acceded to these clamours, I hope our problems which are not insurmountable will be objectively discussed to fashion out a workable constitution with a self-determination clause entrenched for those who will want to opt out from the union in future without any acrimony or bloody fight. On the sensitive issue of security, we are afraid that states will abuse it if a state police is created, but in line with a true federal system which we know befit our structure, states must have their own police and not a national police as we have it now. From Prince Adewumi Agunloye

    Let us stop deceiving ourselves that governors will abuse the control of police, mechanics will surely be put in place to guide against such exceses and for funding, we all know that most states currently commit a lot of money to policing because the federal government is not doing enough. Also, taking police officers to terrains they are not acquainted with is actualy a diservice, police should work in places they are very conversant with to make them more proactive and effective. Simply put, Nigeria is over due for state police. From Olu-Adewoju

     

  • Six weeks to reimagine Nigeria

    How poorly President Goodluck Jonathan is rated on believability was again evident when he took the nation by surprise with his brainwave on “national dialogue.” The negative stock response from some quarters not only demonstrated the magnitude of Jonathan’s credibility crisis; it also raised the question of what he could do to polish his image. Ironically, Jonathan must have calculated that his move would be redemptive, given his record of opposition to a national conference on the country’s form and content. Perhaps he deserves sympathy, even pity; for trustworthiness, which appears to be a major deficiency for him, is integral to successful political governance.

    However, it is food for thought that his critics see him only in one-dimensional terms, refusing to concede the possibility of reform, even if remote. If those who promote such flat characterisation of Jonathan would be restrained in their prejudice, they might appreciate that illumination is accompanied by blindness. Furthermore, it amounts to a gambler’s fallacy to foreclose change based on observed history. Who, among his antagonists, could have imagined that Jonathan would choose the country’s 53rd Independence anniversary to make a reversal on the need for a national conference? It was a masterstroke, and the fact that quite a few minds on “the other side” considered it a positive made a statement about Jonathan’s redeemability.

    Whether he was merely being politically correct, it is noteworthy that Jonathan attributed his volte- face to people-influence, saying, “In response to the yearnings of our people, we had decided to take on the responsibility of decisively and genuinely exploring the option of a National Conversation.” Even more significant is the membership of the 13-man committee he set up to draw up within six weeks “ a feasible agenda”, and make recommendations to government on “structure and modalities”, “representation”, “time frame” and “legal framework,” among others. At least two members of this advisory panel are interesting for their personalities and image, which would seem to endorse Jonathan’s seriousness.

    The group chair, Dr. Femi Okunrounmu, an engineer, former university teacher and senator (1999-2003), who is of the progressive school with a reputation for straightforwardness, should be given some credit for accepting the role in the face of general frigidity on the part of the opposition. There is no doubt that he must be conscious of the political risk involved in his association with the administration’s contentious project, and the possible impact on his image in the progressive camp should things go awry. The fiery Col (Retd) Tony Nyiam, famous for his part in the failed April 22, 1990, coup that sought to redesign the country and, like Okunrounmu, an outspoken campaigner for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), is another member deserving of notice because of his contrariness.

    It would be too smooth to rationalise the inclusion of these fighters as Jonathan’s way of seducing the opposition, without appreciating the fact that they have minds and also have their integrity to protect. Indeed, it is interesting that Okurounmu highlighted Jonathan’s “sincerity and commitment”, which he said “are further buttressed by the fact that he has not established any so-called “no go” areas for this committee.”

    The committee’s variegated structure certainly promises a captivating tension of perspectives, which is invaluable in the effort to reimagine Nigeria. Essentially, the appeal of this project is the opportunity it provides to take another look at the country’s design for a possible reinvention. It is, therefore, premature to conclude, as some observers have done, that Jonathan’s initiative is a continuation of attempts by past leaders to throw a red herring, not actually focused on restructuring but exploiting the public mood to drive personal ends. The serial insincerities by previous leaders in connection with restructuring the polity cannot logically invalidate Jonathan’s experiment. In addition, it is simplistic to label the committee as “diversionary”, with the paradoxical suggestion that its work is of little relevance, while insisting that redesigning the country is of urgent importance.

    Not surprisingly, politics of the negative kind is visible in the counter-response to the committee, with allegations that Jonathan’s overriding objective is to prepare the path for his second-term dream in 2015 by using the mooted national dialogue to perhaps soften resistance to his ambition. This logic is abstruse because, on the contrary, fundamental governance issues are expected to determine voter behaviour; and it would be shallow thinking for Jonathan to believe otherwise. In case he didn’t think of it, Jonathan, by his historic action, has further opened his administration to the certainty of barbs that would follow should it turn out that he was just posturing.

    Perhaps it needs to be stressed that the process of reworking the country would require not only commitment, but also time. It would be surprising if there are those who reckon that the loose ends can be tied before the next general elections, which are under two years away. Certainly, there should be no rush, and continuity of the course should not depend on whether Jonathan returns. This is a systemic challenge, and it will test the patriotism of the political elite.

    The clamour for restructuring has refused to go away since its beginnings decades ago; and the failure, particularly of the democratic structures, to correct the perceived errors over the years has contributed to its longevity. Those who are obsessed with SNC as well as those who are fixated on the status quo are guilty of tunnel vision. “Whatever is given can always be reimagined,” wrote the Irish Nobel prizewinning poet Seamus Heaney in words that are apposite for Nigeria.

    The insistence in some quarters on a conference is fascinating, for not only does it preclude other creative possibilities; it also presumptuously suggests that the rigid proposal is a silver bullet. Similarly, the argument for “things as they are” is not only short-sighted; it is also unconstructive. However, there must be a way out of the labyrinth.

    Whatever the outcome of the committee’s work, it would have advanced the search for nationhood, and that is important. In the end, the challenge is to dream again, which is a necessary condition for having any dream come true.

    • Macaulay is on the editorial board of The Nation

  • Curbing the excesses of social media

    Social media is the ‘new media’ that accelerate conversations in a more interactive way that makes communication more effective and worthwhile. It is an online media that takes communication beyond the limitations of the traditional media, which most often delivers content but doesn’t permit readers, or as the case may be, viewers or listeners, to participate in the formation or development of the content. Ron Jones’ definition of social media seems quite apt, that it is, “a category of online media where people are talking, participating, sharing, networking, and bookmarking online.” Currently, there is an array of social media networks in the world, ranging from social sharing sites such as YouTube, Twitter to LinkedIn and Facebook among others.

    Social media’s rise to prominence could be attributed to its ability to create the kind of fun that catches people’s attention. Equally, the opportunity it affords everyone to freely share ideas and disseminate information makes it popular among various kinds of people across the world. More so, social media has created an avenue where anyone, who so desires, can find friends, business contacts and become part of a community of people, who interact and share thoughts online. In short, social media offers an opportunity to be seen and be heard without any restriction, which the traditional media does not give.

    Social networking sites which started from Orkut, followed by Twitter and Facebook, have become the vogue across the world, especially among the youth because it makes communication easy, seamless and highly interactive. Just a few clicks and you can chat with your friends and family, sitting at a different corner of the globe. Facebook is, perhaps, the most popular social network in the world today. It is also one of the two most frequented websites in the entire internet. It routinely trades places with Google as the most visited web service, and by the company’s estimates, now has over 800 million active users. That’s more regular visitors than the entire internet had in 2004. As at June 2012, Facebook had over 955 million active users, more than half of them using it on mobile devices.

    The social media has numerous advantages, some of which have radically transformed our world. For one, it makes information dissemination faster and easier. It also provides unlimited platform for genuine business transactions, as it offers businessmen the opportunity to promote their goods and services for a global market. Indeed, the social media has made our world an interesting and exciting place.

    Being a global phenomenon, social media increasingly gets embraced in Nigeria by a variety of people on daily basis. The social media commonly used in Nigeria include Facebook, 2go, yahoo messenger, BBM, Netlog, Badoo, Eskimo, Twitter, Nimbuzz and WatSAPP amongst others. They all offer their users unrestricted access to chat with friends, relations and other acquaintances. However, like every of man’s invention, the social media, if not properly regulated, could be a source of unending trouble and frustration in an already troubled world, primarily due to abuse.

    Sometime ago, the Senate President, Senator David Mark, proposed that measures be put in place to check the negative tendencies of the social media in the country. His proposal was hinged on the seeming lack of control of the platform. On many occasions, the authenticity of information posted on the various social media is suspect. In his view, media practice, particularly journalism processes and scrutinizes news gathering and dissemination and thus exercise control in addition to operating a feedback mechanism which gives room for rebuttal when practitioners erred. But the social media affords a faceless character the platform to post devious and phony information but without any compelling process or law to enforce rebuttal. At the end of the day, the victims of such misleading information are faced with the task of responding to issues that never existed. However, the views expressed by the Senate President on the subject were misinterpreted in many quarters to be an attempt to gag the social media.

    The truth, however, is that whether we like it or not, there is a need to regulate the activities of social media. If there is established mechanism in place to control the traditional media, there is no reason why same should not apply to social media. Anything contrary would only lead to chaos, especially in a country like ours where we already have enough divisive and confusing tendencies. The polity has, in recent time, become so edgy that an unregulated platform of social interaction, such as currently exists with our social media, could become a catalyst for social turmoil.

    The recent crash of an Associated Airline aircraft, with registration number 5N-BYT in Lagos, which killed 13 of the passengers on board, is a pointer to the danger of an unfettered social media. On the fateful day, various social networking sites came up with diverse unconfirmed information concerning the tragic incident. Unfortunately, most of the information was misleading, confusing and false. For instance, it was reported in some of the social media sites that the entire family of the late Dr. Agagu was involved in the air mishap, and that all of them had, indeed, died. Not only this, some other people, who were not even on the plane, were said to have died in the crash. One of such names that was bandied, in almost all the social media, was that of Gbenga Obasanjo, son of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who impeccable family sources claimed was nowhere near Lagos as at the time of the sad occurrence.

    Without doubt, there is a need to put in place clear and proper directives on how delicate and sensitive developing news stories should be handled in the social media. It is professionally and morally wrong for any medium to authoritatively disseminate information on crucial matters they are not sufficiently informed. The most irritating aspect of it is that those responsible for disseminating wrong information on the social media don’t usually consider it essential to retract the information based on current reality. One simple rule of journalism is that if the story changes based on further information, the reporter should indicate as such and apologise for initially misleading the people.

    In as much as it is true that, all media are embedded in cultural contexts that end up determining how and why they are used and that technology brings certain constraints and affordances, it is still true that it is the people that should ultimately be considered as more important. Therefore, it is crucial that social media, and indeed all media, always verify information from credible sources before dissemination. It is also vital that those who visit social media platforms for information should always make efforts to substantiate the veracity of such information before posting it out to others as the gospel truth. For instance, efforts should always be made by the public to corroborate news, especially BREAKING NEWS, which emanate from social media with credible traditional media for authentication.

    Operating a loose information dissemination mechanism is not the best for any society, as any society where such is allowed would pay dearly for it. The earlier the social media is made to conform to some forms of rules and regulations, the better for all of us, because people outside will only rely on information that we write about ourselves to make judgments about us. God bless Nigeria.

    • Ibirogba is Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lagos State.

  • Anambra 2013: Facts about Ngige’s exploits

    AHEAD of the forthcoming Anambra governorship election, there have been desperate and calculated moves by some people fronting for vested interests in the election to run down some candidates, particularly that of All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator (Dr.) Chris Nwabueze Ngige (OON) in the media. These attempts have manifested in deliberate distortion of facts on the political exploits, strengths and antecedent of Ngige in the politics of the state and the country at large since 1999.

    To put the record straight for the benefit of the public, Dr. Chris Ngige is from Anambra Central and not South, and he is currently the Senator representing the zone in the Senate. After his retirement as deputy director of hospital services in the Federal Ministry of Health after many years of meritorious service, he made a foray into the murky waters of Nigerian politics as one of the founding fathers of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) alongside former Vice President of the country, Chief Alex Ekwueme, Senator Jim Nwobodo and others. Many current governorship aspirants who are parading themselves as PDP stalwarts now were nowhere near the party then. Ngige was later appointed the protem zonal publicity secretary of the party in the South-east in 1998 and later the assistant national/zonal secretary of the party in the zone between 1999 and 2002. The same year he was conferred with the national honour of Order of the Niger, OON, for his diligence and accountability in public service.

    It was from there that he emerged the governorship candidate of the PDP in Anambra State in 2003. His initial ambition was to become a senator, but he was persuaded by the party stakeholders to run for the office of the governor. The Central zone senatorial seat of the party was wrongly given to Senator Ikechukwu Abana, which Senator Ben Obi later reclaimed from him as the authentic candidate of the party via Appeal Court judgment. Ngige was declared the winner of the governorship election in 2003 by INEC.

    Within his short period in office as governor of the state, Ngige redefined governance in the state through his pragmatic approach to leadership and provision of basic amenities which were lacking in the state for long. He set the pace and made the people realise that with sincerity, commitment and transparency, the state government could do much for the people in terms of good governance and provision of basic amenities. Today, his achievements, especially in the area of infrastructural developments that cut across the state are obvious and unprecedented, against the limited resources available to him.

    As governor, Ngige demystified political godfathers in the state when he took the battle for the soul of the state to them, despite the tremendous backing they enjoyed from the Presidency. He fought and put his life on line for the liberation of the people of the state; even when he had the option of settling the godfathers financially and remained in office, he resisted it and fought for what was right. His refusal to dance to tune of the desperate godfathers changed the political leadership as his successor cashed on the liberation to enjoy peaceful governance.

    The judicial/ presidential conspiracy that led to his removal from office as a governor is known to Nigerians. His removal was beyond not winning the election, but his refusal to open the state treasury to the godfathers which was the tradition in the state before he assumed office.

    Upon his removal from office, he was given a clean bill of health by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at a time most ex-governors were dragged to court by the EFCC for alleged corrupt practices, while in office.

    True to his type and belief, Ngige left PDP and co-founded the now defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) with the likes of Senator Bola Tinubu, former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and others. This was at a time nobody gave his new party a chance of making an in-road into South-east zone, but Ngige proved the doubting Thomases wrong as the party has remained a force to reckon with in the zone, especially in Anambra State where the party won two national and six state assembly seats during 2011 elections.

    When it became obvious to Governor Obi and his party APGA that they do not have the majority members in the state assembly after the 2011 election, they quickly lured the ACN members representing Anambra West constituency and Nnewi South 1 constituency respectively to defect to APGA. That was how APGA was able to get majority members in the state assembly today. There was a pending suit in the court instituted by the party challenging the illegal defection of their members as it was contrary to the provision of 2010 Electoral Act.

    During 2007 general election, despite that Governor Obi was the incumbent governor, APGA lost all the elective seats in the state to PDP before the Supreme Court judgment removed Senator Andy Uba as governor. Even when the election of Senator Ikechukwu Obiora of Anambra South zone was nullified, the APGA candidate Mr. Azuka Okwuosa lost the re-run again to Obiora.

    In the 2010 governorship election in the state, there were manipulation of voters’ registers in the areas where Ngige has strongholds. Majority of the voters in the state were disenfranchised in the election by INEC. Even at that, Ngige defeated Obi clearly in the Central zone in the election and his party defeated Obi in late Ikemba Odimegwu Ojukwu’s ward in Nnewi.

    In the 2011 Anambra Central senatorial election, despite Governor Obi’s support to APGA candidate, Prof Dora Akunyili, Ngige defeated her twice in the contest. Today, Obi is the only sitting governor in the country, whose senatorial seat is occupied by opposition party. His party, APGA did not win any senatorial seat in the state during the 2011 general election.

    With these verifiable facts about Ngige’s political values and strengths across the state, can anyone wave him aside in the November 16 governorship election in the state without incurring great risk? His party’s victory in Anambra West State Assembly’s election in 2011 was evidence that he was on ground in Anambra North zone. So also, the victory of his party in Nnewi South 1 State Assembly seat in 2011 was another manifestation of his strength in Anambra South zone. The people know their true leaders no matter the amount of propaganda and falsification of bare facts by armchair writers and critics for a peculiar purpose. Truly, all the major contenders in the race have their strengths and areas of strongholds, but the lot is on the people to make their preference.

    • Okoli, a member of Youths Movement for Anambra 2013, wrote from Onitsha, Anambra State.

  • Sovereign Wealth Fund and intergenerational equity

    On May 11, 2011 the Nigerian Senate approved the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority Bill, 2010, which sought to establish a sovereign wealth fund to manage excess profits from the country’s sale of crude oil. Before then, it had been passed by the House of Representatives, in line with the Nigerian Constitution. It was subsequently signed into law by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR. More than a year later, on August 28, 2012, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and the Honourable Minister of Finance, Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala announced the appointment of the Chairman of Board and Management team of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA)

    This was a welcome development as there has been a lot of concern by well-meaning citizens about why a major oil producing nation like Nigeria with revenues totaling $50.3 billion in 2011 alone, could not meaningfully establish a sovereign wealth fund like other natural resource-rich nations such as Angola, Singapore, Norway, UAE-Abu Dhabi etc.

    According to experts, a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) is a state-owned pool of money that is commonly established from balance of payments surpluses and funneled into investments rather than simply keeping it in the central bank or channeling it back into the economy.

    However, the major argument for establishing a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) is the idea of intergenerational equity. Natural resources are finite, and through the instrumentation of an SWF, a country can diversify revenue streams by devoting a portion of its reserves to an entity that invests in the types of assets which act as shields against systemic risk, and in the case of Nigeria, against oil related risk.

    Before the creation of the NSIA, surplus funds, mainly emanating from the sale of Nigeria’s crude oil were held in the Excess Crude Account (ECA), which was created in 2004 to act as a stabilization fund against budget deficits arising out of oil price volatility, and to potentially fund domestic infrastructure investments.

    It is important to note that with its establishment and formal take-off, the Excess Crude Account (ECA) has been replaced with the NSIA under three pools namely, the Future Generations Fund, the Nigerian Infrastructure Fund, and the Stabilization Fund.

    Briefly, the Future Generation Fund targets a diversified portfolio of appropriate growth investments in order to provide future generation of Nigerians a solid savings base for such a time as the hydrocarbon reserves in Nigeria are exhausted;

    While the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund will invest in infrastructure projects in Nigeria that meet the country’s targeted financial returns and contribute to the development of essential infrastructure. Potential areas for investment include transportation, energy and power, water resources, agriculture, among others, in order to stimulate growth and diversification of the Nigerian economy, attract foreign investment, and create jobs for Nigerians; and

    The Stabilization Fund will provide stabilization support to the Federation revenue in times of economic stress

    The Nigerian Government injected a take-off cash of $1bn into the NSIA making it the third largest SWF in sub-Saharan Africa, after Botswana’s $6.9 bn and Angola’s $5 bn funds.

    Recently, at the inauguration of the Governing Council of the NSIA Board at the Presidntial Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday, September 18, 2013, President Jonathan stated that the initial $1 billion investment in the Fund is not inconsequential as not many sovereign wealth funds have started out with such amount.

    The President reiterated that although the NSIA take-off gives the Government credibility, its sustainability depends on continuous contributions and broad-based support from all Nigerians.

    The key concern for many Nigerians, however, is to see fiscal astuteness and transparency in the management of the fund, especially, considering the controversy that trailed its establishment.

    According to the Harvard-trained head of the NSIA, Mr. Uche Orji, although the seed funding of $1 billion is a modest sum by global standards, the Fund, through the government’s disciplined contributions, could become one of the largest pools of capital in Sub-Saharan Africa.

    Most importantly, Mr. Orji strongly believes that the NSIA’s sound corporate governance and risk management pillars will be the key factors that sets it apart to achieving its objectives. The enabling Act clearly intends the Fund as an independent organization as has been captured in its “F-I-T “operational model, namely, ‘Financial sustainability, Independence in decision-making’; and Transparency in process.

    In line with its mandate, the NSIA makes investment with the expectations of profitable returns. Already, the authority is working hard to evaluate a number of infrastructure projects across the country some of which include Second Niger Bridge, Gurara Dam Phase 2, seaports investment and an aircraft leasing company to ease the financial burden in the airline industry and promote greater visibility in its operations.

    It is hoped that the development of well-conceived infrastructure projects by the Authority will also provide a platform for national pension funds to invest in credible undertakings.

    Earlier in September, the NSIA made its first investment of $200m in US treasuries and a US corporate bond portfolio.

    For now, it might be presumptuous for Nigerians to appraise the nascent fund, but for establishing international best practices in governance and investment procedures, the 2013 Assets-based Fund Rankings by Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute has placed the NSIA in the top ranking chart of Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute ahead of Venezuela, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia, Gabon etc. which were all established long ago.

    Unequivocally, the establishment of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) is a mark of political courage on the part of President Goodluck Jonathan. It is fundamentally, a practical component of The Transformation Agenda and the Vision 20:2020; and a further attestation of the Administration’s commitment to fiscal responsibility and building a savings base for the Nigerian people, enhancing the development of Nigerian infrastructure and providing stabilization support in times of economic stress.

    · Dr. Ezenwa writes from Maryland, USA

  • Death of a dead man

    Death of a dead man

    The quiescence of the dead to object to their eternal confinement six feet below, certifies the reality of their non-existence. We, the living, also grope in a void of vanity that we proudly call existence. The movement of the living from the void to the darkroom below is wrapped in mystery. I have seen mysteries to a point of not being mystery-awe.

    The Agagu episode was not a mystery as such but something like it. A dead man Olusegun Agagu was enclosed in a casket of gold with all his vanished accomplishments – former governor of Ondo State, former chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Minister of this and that, Dr this. Chief that, ex- His Excellency etc. His corpse was on the way to its final resting place in Iju Odo in Ondo State. The man in the small metal box was isolated in the belly of the plane while others were seated in the cabin. The man could no longer sit with the living among whom were my good friend and big brother, Tunji Okusanya (Snr) a.k.a. Rector, his son, Tunji (Jnr) and other people of mixed importance. In less than two minutes of take-off, the plane crashed and closed the gap between the living and the dead. The accident was a dramatic illustration of the dead burying the dead.

    When Jesus said, ‘Let the dead bury their dead’, it was not a parable. It was a poetic mockery of mortal humanity. He saw no difference between the dead and the living. What separates them is time and space of tenuous insignificance. One sleeps in perpetuity while the other functions in the chaos and ructions of human existence. For one, the politics of life has ended. For the other, he skedaddles with death in the politics of hide and seek. When mourners and undertakers assemble for the funeral of a departed one at a cemetery, their posturing and pretensions notwithstanding, they are flirting with the rehearsal of their own funeral. The difference is in time and space; one sleeps that day, others will come to sleep on other days. The cemetery gate is the metaphor of life and death; the barrier between the dead on the other side and the dead on this side. While some dead are sleeping in the graves in the cemetery, the other category of “the dead” (the living) are on long-queues outside the cemetery gate uncertain of whose turn is next.

    The dead in the graves are the ones that have been eternally denied the right of redress and corrective privilege for all their actions when they were outside the cemetery. But those at the gate are the living that still have the privilege of correction. The stories of those inside the cemetery have sufficient lessons for those outside it. But very foolishly, many who are still outside the gate will still go inside the cemetery with the same blunders committed by those within, believing that eternity is nothing but a fantasy promoted by those seeking recompense for their perceived self-righteousness.

    The circumstances of the literal narrative of the accident excite me just as its figurative dramatisation. According to the Ojomo of Iju Odo, Chief Sehinde Oguntoye, who obliged us an insight into a pre-tragedy prophesy given by an unnamed Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Prophet, the town, on the receipt of the revelation, went on a 3-day revival of fasting and prayers. Hear him: “We have just finished a 3-day revival because we saw it coming and if not because of the revival, the calamity would have been more brutal and serious”.

    My initial reaction was to pooh-pooh the statement but when I saw the pictures of some Mafoluku residents giving thanks to GOD for re-directing the plane which was almost crashing on their houses to an isolated area, I withdrew my rebuff of Chief Oguntoye’s spiritual triumphalism.

    Another spiritual rhapsody was introduced to the narrative when Dr. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State urged all Nigerians to intensify their prayers as a way of cleansing our nation of all its profanities and iniquities. He made the call when he paid a condolence visit to his bereaved Ondo State counterpart, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko. Fayemi’s prayer alert is troubling. Of all the countries of the world, Nigeria appears to be the one with the highest number of churches, pastors and prophets who are very very close to government and political leaders. Even if I don’t know what goes on in other churches, I know that in my own church, prayers are always said for Nigeria during some of these special programmes. If all these prayers are still to be intensified as Fayemi suggested, it shows that most of our churches have either not been praying for the country, or have not been sincere in their prayers, or that GOD is not accepting our prayers for one reason or the other.

    Countries all over the world had been granted autonomy by GOD to run their affairs but here in Nigeria, we keep showing our incapability to manage our affairs ourselves. We bother GOD for virtually everything that other countries have taken for granted. We organise vigils, special prayers and even visit prophets before we take a flight, before we travel from one part of the country to the other, we pray to get jobs, we pray before writing exams, we pray to get contracts, we pray before attending political meetings/rallies, before our children go for national service, we pray not to be victims of Boko Haram, kidnappers and ritual killers. Even simple thing like eating also requires prayer otherwise… we pray when our drivers take our children to school and pick them from school, we pray before we sleep. With all this list of ‘befores’ coming from Nigeria alone, when will GOD rest?

    While I am not doubting the intervention of GOD in human affairs either to make things happen or prevent tragedy from happening, I am only saying that GOD should not be blamed for what is purely our own deficiency. When man fails to play his part in the drama of life, he looks for a scapegoat in GOD that has played His part. Of course, it is always convenient for man to blame GOD for his own negligence and failure. Raising objection to the spiritualisation of obvious secular matters should not be an excuse for pharisaic spiritualists to label me a pundit of agnotism –I am not and I will never be.

    Our post-tragedy attitude reveals one thing – human existence is a puzzler. As soon as a tragedy occurs, we cry, we shout, we moan, we mourn and we grieve. Afterwards, I mean in a very short period, we begin to laugh, we rejoice, we frolic, we enjoy, we razzle and continue with life as if nothing had happened. The one that is dead is the one that is doomed. This is why I think government attitude to tragedies is spiteful. It is convenient for the government to deal with tragedy in a casual manner because Nigeria is one nation where tragedies are on queue. As soon as one erupts, the next on the queue allows just some few days of hoopla before it takes it own turn and it does not take time at all.

    If the government is therefore overwhelmed with tragedies and lacks the capacity to prevent them, it is because we have allowed tragedies to become a routine occurrence, hence death no longer shocks us. In any case, death itself is now in surplus. It is so cheap that everybody can now afford it. Look at it: death in the air, death on the road, death in the hostel, death of religion, police death, death of poverty, death of acid, death of depression, inheritance death, death on the sea, lovers’ death, death in the train, death at political rallies, death of fire. There are some death parastatals as well; Boko Haram, kidnappers, ritualists, Doctors strike, and so on and so forth.

    Besides, government’s strategy in the management of tragedy needs some elevation. Making predictable moves all the time does no credit to its creative capacity. Immediately the tragedy occurred, I was expecting government to set up a panel to investigate the cause or causes of the crash. And it did. Yes, it may be the natural action to take but my concern is that the country is becoming notorious for its festivals of probe. Government has never shown the political will to release past investigation reports or even release White Paper on them. Why must we always set up panels to investigate tragedies when we can set up one to prevent tragedy so that we can stop turning funerals into a way of life.

    The death of a dead man is far-fetched, eldritch, curious and preternatural. Methinks we are exaggerating the fatality of death knowing that nobody dies twice. Everyman, whether in a casket or in a mansion, dies once. When therefore a corpse in a casket, on its way to its final resting place, is assaulted again by death, such bizarre attack is misplaced venom from the one that has the final encounter with everyone that carries the flesh of sin. This second death is nothing but an evil expression from the one that is proud of the superfluity of its sting. Otherwise, why waste your sting on a man that is already gone?

    The riddle of the Agagu tragedy lies in the multitude of victims that became the casualties of the cabbalistic fellowship between death and its evil accessories that were engaged in a conspiracy of revenge over covenant breach. Agreed that death is the conclusion of life’s vanity and the finality of the unrewarding labour of man on earth but why must another man depart consequent upon the unfaithfulness of the other to the obligations of his covenant? Why did GOD allow a collateral damage of the innocent in the crossfire between death and the brotherhood. The Christians are not wrong when they refer to GOD as unquestionable. What then is the point of engaging GOD in a dialogue that will end in rhetoric? I therefore submit myself to a mystery I can NEVER unravel.

  • Rivers: A chronology of impunity

    Rivers: A chronology of impunity

    In its most recent intervention on the seemingly intractable crisis in Rivers earlier this month, my party said it is very important for Nigerians to pay attention to the situation in the state, because everything happening there suggests it is being used by President Goodluck Jonathan as a testing ground for fascism.

    We made that assertion with all seriousness, considering the level of lawlessness, impunity and constitutional infraction going on in the state. As I intend to show shortly, democracy has been stifled in Rivers and this constitutes a clear and present danger to democracy in the nation at large, if left unchecked.

    Suffice it to say that, shorn of all pretences, the root cause of the Rivers crisis is the 2015 elections, specifically the presidential poll.

    Because he is hell bent on running and obsessed with winning at all cost, President Jonathan does not give a damn (to use his own language) if Nigeria, not to talk of Rivers, disintegrates in the process. That was why we alerted Nigerians to the situation and quoted the Iate Irish political philosopher Edmund Burke, who said all it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing.

    Back to the 2015 elections, I can say without equivocating that if the President and his puppets succeed in their current anarchic experiment in Rivers, they will simply re-enact the Rivers scenario in as many states as possible in the run-up to the elections, thereby ensuring the polls will be everything but free, fair and credible – with consequences too grim for anyone to contemplate.

    Imagine the antics of the arrowhead of the presidential onslaught in Rivers state, Alternative Inspector-General of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu, being replicated in other states? Imagine an Mbu or his like as the Commissioner of Police in any state during an election? He will simply ask his men to disperse all monitors and party agents, coerce the electoral officers into writing the result and then dare anyone to challenge him (Mbu). In other words, he will give cover to uniformed

    thugs and assassins who will decide the outcome of the election.

    Under President Jonathan’s watch and Alternate IGP Mbu’s self-assumed authority, Rivers state now has two parallel governments, one being run by Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, who was elected by the good people of Rivers State, and the other by the Commissioner of Police (now Alternate IGP) Mbu, who derives his unlawful authority from President Jonathan.

    To those who may think we are exaggerating things, a few examples of what has transpired in Rivers State in the last couple of months will prove beyond doubt that we are not just crying wolf where none exists.

    1   On the 6th of May 2013, Mr Mbu practically provided the needed backing for a group of hired thugs and ex-militants with dangerous weapons to unlawfully and forcefully invade the Rivers State House of Assembly to terrorize its members, sack them and other management staff members from the complex and prevent the lawful exercise of legislative functions.

    2   A caretaker committee lawfully set up for Obi/Akpor Local Government Area was prevented from delivering governance to

    the people due to the sealing of the LGA secretariat by police operatives acting under Mr. Mbu’s directive.

    3   Security details were withdrawn from the principal members of the state government, including but not limited to the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Attorney-General and principal judicial officers of the state

    4   On the 17th of May, 2013, the same Commissioner of Police summoned the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Otelemaba Dan Amachree, to appear before him on Monday, 20th May, 2013, following an open letter written by the Speaker to President Jonathan to intervene to restore peace to the unnecessarily-charged political climate of Rivers State.

    5   On the 22nd of May, 2013, Mr Mbu again provided cover for a sponsored protest by over 5,000 ex-militants and other criminal elements brandishing dangerous weapons to completely take over and parade the streets of Port Harcourt, thereby creating fear and an atmosphere reminiscent of pre-amnesty siege in the minds of right-thinking residents. Curiously, bus-loads of ex-militants from neighboring Akwa Ibom State, Bayelsa and Delta State, complete with their dangerous weapons and paraphernalia of secret cult membership, were cleared to join in the unlawful procession by the Police.

    6   On the 26th of June, 2013, Mr Mbu almost engineered an unnecessary but deadly riot by directing his men to restrain over 500 people – including traditional rulers – from the Orashi communities of Rivers State from paying a scheduled and legitimate courtesy and solidarity visit to the State Governor at Government House, Port Harcourt.

    7   In July 2013, a potential bloodbath at the Island Community of Bonny was averted only by the maturity exhibited by the young members of the Rivers Leadership Advancement Foundation in the face of serial provocation by members of the Rivers State Police Command

    8   When sometime in August, five colleagues of Governor Amaechi – who felt they were exercising their constitutional  rights of free movement and association – had the temerity to pay him a solidarity visit in Port Harcourt, they were molested and humiliated at the Port Harcourt Airport by hired thugs under the protection of Mr Mbu

    9   On September 26th, police operatives used tear gas to cause a potentially-deadly stampede through the forceful dispersal of 13,201 newly-recruited and trained teachers who had gathered at the Liberation Stadium in Port Harcourt for the final round of their training, orientation, mobilization and deployment to primary and secondary schools.

    10 To cap it all, a few weeks back, the Rivers State Command blockaded a road leading to the Government House in Port Harcourt, forcing the Governor’s convoy to turn back and take another route to his official residence.

    These are just a few of the reign of terror that has been unleashed on Rivers by Mr. Mbu, and it should be clear to any discerning mind that what is going on in Rivers State goes far beyond political or personal differences between the first family and Governor Amaechi. It is simply the takeover of an elected government by a clique aided and abetted by President Jonathan and Mr Mbu.

    The situation in Rivers State is the worst nightmare for any democracy. The rule of Jonathan and the police has replaced the rule of law, and Rivers has become a police state in its most brutish form.

    More worrisome is that in spite of the well documented allegations of abuse of office, high-handedness and disrespect for the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria against Mr Mbu, neither the Presidency nor the Police hierarchy has deemed it fit to subject his indiscretions to any review.

    A petition to the Police Service Commission (PSC) by the State Governor, in his capacity as the Chief Security Officer of the State, has yet to receive any attention and, even if it did, its outcome is yet unknown. Similarly, resolutions passed by the National Assembly asking for the redeployment of Mr Mbu have been given the toilet paper treatment. Even the 21-day ultimatum issued to the Inspector General of Police and the PSC on Sept. 27th by the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress to redeploy Mbu or face an indefinite workers’ strike will fall on deaf ears.

    Against this background, is anyone still in doubt that Rivers State is indeed in a state of anomie? Is anyone still in doubt that Fascism, in its classic sense, is far off? The theatre of the absurd in Rivers State must be stopped immediately to restore the rule of law and save our democracy.

    Some people have accused the APC of crying more than the bereaved on the Rivers State issue. Our response is that we in  the APC are indeed the bereaved anytime the rule of law is supplanted with the rule of the jungle; and we are the bereaved anytime a democratically-elected President thumbs his nose at the Constitution of the Federal Republic.

    The system of government that we operate does not make provision for an imperial presidency, who can neither be criticized nor opposed. Therefore, when an elected President begins tottering on the edge of Fascism, the mechanism built into the system to check that must automatically kick into action.

    •Lai Mohammed is the Interim National Publicity, All Progressives Congress (APC)

  • Afe Babalola and Figure 21

    Afe Babalola and Figure 21

    People often ask these nebulous questions as to what is in a name and what is in a number. My answer to the first question came sometimes in April, this year, when I read the story of a family blessed with a set of triplets after waiting for 10 years.

    Through the sheer length and meaning of the names given to each of the triplets, with the longest one having 26 letters followed by 25 and the shortest, 19: TanitoOlorunobatoseyitan,MosinmileileriOluwatikiiye, Oluwaseohunarafunmi, this family has shown its immeasurable joy and gratitude to God.

    Surely, there is so much to and in a name. So, we can say it with names.

    As for numbers, we are told, in number theory,  that a lucky number is a natural number in a set which is generated by a “sieve” similar to the Sieve of Eratosthenes that generates the primes, with number 21 (under reference) being a member of the surviving sequence.

    The term, introduced in 1956 in a paper by Gardiner, Lazarus, Metropolis and Ulam, also suggests calling its defining sieve, “the sieve of Josephus Flavius” because of its similarity with the counting-out game in the Josephus problem.

    Lucky numbers, we are equally made to understand, share some properties with primes, such as asymptotic behaviour according to the prime number theorem.  Needless to say, there are infinitely many lucky numbers.

    Juxtaposing the lucky number theorem with Aare Afe Babalola, SAN,  and his new baby, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, one is tempted to remember Juju music maestro, King Sunny Ade, who sang in one of his records in the 80’s that “Ori to mi a d’ade, o pe o ya, o ni lati d’ade”, meaning no matter how long it may take, a man destined to be king and lead his people, will surely be crowned a king sooner or later.

    Sunny Ade sang this song in commemoration of the ascension to the throne of Oyo by the incumbent Alaafin, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi, Bablola’s intimidate friend and client. If Sunny Ade’s song was apposite to Oba Adeyemi then, it is no less apposite to Babalola, the Founder and Chancellor of the wave-making ABUAD, even when Babalola’s formal education ended at the elementary school level.

    Many things stand out the less than four years old university, which is graduating its first set of 120 students in the College of Sciences and College of Social and Management Sciences on October 21 after only three and half years of intensive, strike-free academic works, an uncommon accomplishment in a country where their colleagues are still battling and sweating to complete first or second sessions in other universities where four year courses take between six and eight years. No thanks to all manners of strike actions by all manners of unions in the universities.

    Looking at Babalola’s antecedents and rustic background, perhaps Sigmund Freud, the primogenitor of dreams, could not have dreamt that Babalola who suffered grinding poverty and deprivation during his early life, but triumphed to be what he is today, could rise up to establish a university which has been rated by the World Universities Webometric as number 2 Best private university and Number 13 of the totality of 157 Universities in Nigeria in barely three and half years of existence.

    Truly, like Sunny Ade sang, ori to mi a d’ade, o pe, o ya, o ni lati d’ade.

     But what informed the establishment of ABUAD?

    Babalola, who providence saved three times from being consumed by rampaging tigers when he was growing up, is always quick to point to his eight years stint as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the University of Lagos, during which time he was able to see, bare-facedly, the rot and decay that characterized public universities in Nigeria and his burning determination to stem the ugly tide by establishing a university that will reform functional education by providing and leading others in quality education, service, industry and character as well as discipline.

    A man given to great dreams and their actualization, Babalola quickly pumped everything he had, time, money, energy and the goodwill he had cultivated in his several decades of legal practice, into this dream project, so much so that the model modern university which was established in 2009 commenced uninterrupted academic works on January 4, 2010.

    The monumental investment in ambulatory and non-ambulatory matters remind one of the mercurial words of Georges Sada, the Iraqi Air Force General, in his book, Saddam’s Secrets wherein he said “if you want to understand what is important to a man, look at where he spends his money”.

    Whereas Saddam, in his warped and twisted ambition to control the Arab world, busied himself spending the wealth of Iraq and its oil money to acquire tanks, missiles, bombs, guns and explosives as well as Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), which he consistently denied, Babalola, a self-made man, is deploying billions of Naira and other resources to run a university primed to produce world leaders and achievers who can stand on their own anywhere they find themselves after graduation.

    No wonder an appreciative parent recently described him as a missionary and not a ‘mere’ Founder of Afe Babalola University because this particular parent sees him in the mould of great and selfless Christian Missionaries of old like Henry Venn, who founded CMS Grammar School, Lagos, the first secondary school in Nigeria, on June 6, 1859 and Archdeacon Henry Dallimore who established Christ School, Ado-Ekiti in 1933 to shape destinies and light the lamp on the country’s educational path.

    Having said so much about the university, let’s then address the point in issue: the place and significance of figure 21 to Babalola. Although there is no law saying convocation ceremonies should of necessity be held on particular days, but as far as one’s memory and experience could attest, convocation ceremonies have always been week-long activities, with the grand finale coming up either on Fridays or Saturdays.

    But here we are, ABUAD’s first convocation ceremonies, which will flag off next Thursday, October 17, with a Press Conference will climax on Monday, October 21, perhaps the first of its kind. This got one curious to the extent of asking the multiple chief if he was born on 21 of any particular month.

    A pleasantly unusual man, Babalola said:”my brother, I don’t know when I was born” an assertion further corroborated in  his entrancing book Impossibility made possible where he wrote inter alia “…My parents could not tell me the exact date when I was born. This was because both parents could neither read nor write. It was not a disgrace or strange that they could not. Indeed nobody in the family or that quarter of the town could read or write (then)”.

    If he was not born on 21, the question still arises as to whether figure 21 has any significance in his life, bearing in mind that his first car, from Stuttgart, Germany, was registered WP 2121 while yet another one in subsequent years (a white Mercedes Benz 200) was registered OD 2121 E and now the grand finale of ABUAD’s first convocation ceremonies is on October 21, 2013.

    Babalola did not give a direct answer, but he quipped: “Figure 21 could really be my lucky number. I recall in those days, if I had a judgment fixed for 21st day of any month, I was almost sure to win such a case. Besides, I have since discovered that anything I do on 21 always come out to be very successful and I believe this first convocation of our university will not be an exception. It will follow the same pattern. It will be successful”.

    But in the same book, Impossibility made possible, Babalola revealed more about figure 21 when he said: “Almost all my children were born on the 21st of the month…So those who say there is nothing in a number are mistaken”.

    There may be a universal dimension to the phenomenon of lucky number after all. For example, Americans attach importance to particular numbers, the more reason number 13 is omitted in most elevators in America because 13 is seen as unlucky number.

    It is on record that the 13th Rocket that fired Astronauts into space caught fire, killing all the Astronauts, which was explained off with the belief that 13 is not only an unlucky number, but an ‘evil’ one at that. But that is neither here nor there.

    Whatever might be the nexus between Babalola and figure 21, the fact remains that he associates a high dosage of success to the number.  It has worked for him before. May it continue to work for him now and in the future.

    •Olofintila writes from Ado-Ekiti.

  • To Chief Charles Adebiyi @70

    Today, October 12, Chief Charles Olumide Adebiyi, B.Sc. (Hons), FRICS, FNIVS, PPNIVS, MNIM, CRA, God willing, would be ushered into the distinguished club of septuagenarians, as he marks his 70th birthday. A highly talented, multi-skilled, detribalised, humane and humble personality, I met Chief Adebiyi, as he is fondly called, sometime in 1996, when I joined the law firm of Sam Azuara and Company. Chief Adebiyi, the founder and Chief Executive of Charles Adebiyi and Company (1978), Chartered Estate Surveyors and Real Estate Consultants, was the life-wire of my late colleague, Sam Azuara’s chambers. But he was more than a very important client; he was our mentor-in-chief.

    Chief Adebiyi, who trained as an Economist at the University of Lagos, rose to become one of the most revered Estate Surveyor in the country. From my vintage position as one of his external Solicitors, I was privileged to learn that nearly all the big names in the Real Estate business in Nigeria, trained directly under him. And what a teacher Chief Adebiyi is! I remember vividly many of them that passed through his mill, since I met him. For any of them to be summoned to present an account of an assignment to the chief, was like being summoned to the shrine (Marian shrine, I know chief will prefer). Many of them who were my friends will rehearse their presentations several times; for chief was too deep to be easily satisfied. Indeed there are few compatriots in the profession that can match the professional and intellectual fecundity of Chief Adebiyi.

    Chief is multi-talented. In the public sector, he was elected President, Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (2004-2006); Governor, Rotary International District 9110, Nigeria, (2001-2002). Appointed, Member Land Use and Allocation Committee, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja (2000-2004); Member Court of Governors, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, (2008 – to date). Within the private sector, Chief Adebiyi, apart from excelling in his profession, was the chief promoter and Vice Chairman of Midas Merchant Bank, and its affiliates. He is presently a Director, Alarab Properties Limited; Director, Medilag Ventures Limited; and Executive Chairman NIGCHIN Global Trading Company Limited. Chief Adebiyi’s firm was among the pioneer in Securitization of Properties and also Geographic Information Services (GIS). A workaholic, Chief was a marvel at any Board meeting, or any in any fora, where a sagacious application of the intellect was in contention.

    A humanist; the chief regales in service to mankind, whether in the church or in Rotary. As a devout Roman Catholic, he is a member of the Catholic Church of Presentation, G.R.A Ikeja, Lagos; and is the Vice Chairman of the Parish Pastoral Council. He also serves his faith as a member, Archdiocesan Land and Building Commission. In Rotary, a faithless but humane group of professional persons, Chief Adebiyi has served meritoriously in various capacities, culminating in his being elected the Governor, District 9110, Nigeria in 2001. In that position, he exercised the onerous responsibility of supervising all the Rotary clubs and fostering the work of Rotary in Lagos and Ogun states. Chief is inherently kind, and would not hesitate to share his time, talent and treasure, even when the resource available is scarce.

    During his tenure as District Governor, perhaps part of the golden era of District 9110, the international theme for that year was ‘Mankind is Our Business’. And that fitted into the essential Chief Adebiyi. As a non-rotarian in 2001 (I joined Rotary in 2002), I was amazed at the level of sacrifice, that Chief Adebiyi made for Rotary as Governor, a not-for-interest and a non-paying vocation, that nearly consumed his professional practice. Because our office was in the same building as his, and were virtually in-charge of his lawyers work, I was usually astounded as day-in-day-out, Chief Adebiyi kept away from burning office matters, to serve the District. To further astound, each time I went to see chief at home to deal with issues begging for attention, he was charmingly happy at his vocation, which for me was completely destabilising several expansion programs that chief was undertaking with us in tow. I have since found out, that chief was making the best investment – service to humanity.

    Chief Adebiyi also has the exciting trait of being detribalized. Of course I am not talking about the empty gabble of politicians seeking votes, across tribes. But I refer to a man who will not discriminate against another because of the circumstances of birth. In his office back in the days, you had persons of all tribes and religions, learning and having equal opportunity to the bargain under his tutelage. At the time I met him in 2006, Sam Azuara, an Igbo, was perhaps his closest solicitor, and the relationship which subsequently extended to me, was more of mentoring. Since I knew Chief, I have never caught him, whether privately or officially disparaging another person based on tribe, religion or such other fixations that most times have no relationship with capacity and competence.

    Chief also has a fascinating intellect, and is an incomparable original thinker and pioneer. Even when the matter is one of a different professional matter than his area of core competence, he will critically offer suggestions and insights. At several Board meetings that I was privileged to attend with him, his usual performance can be likened to that of a field marshal, with uncanny perception of problems and prospects, often proffering the winning ideas and solutions, at such a speed that beguiles any observer. Yet even with such capacity, he remains charmingly humble, and ever ready to sacrifice his personal interests and positional advantage for a less qualified colleague. Of course chief has paid huge prices for that trait.

    As his hoary years draw near, chief can conveniently look back with contentment, in appreciation of the grace of God, and for a wonderful wife, Chief (Mrs) Funlola Angela Adebiyi, and their lovely children. Not to talk of his numerous friends, both in high and low places. Also for his service to God and humanity, and the several pet projects that he had expended his classical intellect to accomplish. Chief has deservedly been severally honoured, with many chieftaincy titles. He is the Otun Baale of Wasimi, Ikeja; Gbobaro of Orile Agege, Lagos State; Bobaseye of Oke-Ona Egba, Ogun State and the Borokin of Ikeja land, among other deserving honours. Chief Adebiyi deserves all the honour. So here is toasting 70 hearty cheers to Chief Charles Olumide Adebiyi. May I also wish him many happy returns of his birthday, longer life, more prosperity and unqualified good health.

    • Barrister Amalu is columnist and visiting member of The Nation Editorial Board.