The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Technology as missing link in job creation

    After months of denying the obvious realities of the quagmire plaguing us as a nation, I was jolted into reality at a stakeholders meeting organized by Solar Challenge Nigeria, organizers of first Nigeria Solar Car Challenge –an attempt to pull resources together towards achieving the laudable initiative of developing a solar powered car. According to the organizers, the challenge is aimed at reviving research in science and technology and to place Nigeria in a better pedestal amongst the comity of nations in research endeavours. The solar powered cars that would be used in the challenge are to be built by the participating institutions.

    Eight institutions registered for the competition; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; Kings Polytechnic, Ubiaja (hosts); National Centre for Energy Research and Development, University of Nigeria – Nsukka; Adamawa State University, Federal University Oye, Ekiti; Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, University of Nsukka, National Centre for Energy Research – Sokoto. Interestingly, a secondary school, Word of Faith College, Benin City, in Edo State also showed interest via a concerned student named Famous who wished to be part of the initiative.

    One salient point I would like to draw from the above is that technological development is not restrictive. An average secondary school student needs a well prepared mind towards innovation, home grown technology and development as against the “cut and paste” syndrome prevalent amongst our engineers. The system has so much limited the capabilities of the youths that we look abroad for everything that can be made at home. Hardly do our secondary schools engage in practicals again. Gone are the days of Introduction to Technology (IntroTech), Agricultural Settlements (where each student plough, tend and harvest his/her piece of land), and Home Economics amongst others. We lost virtually everything to the commercialization of education!

    Our tertiary institutions are beyond redemption; laboratories are empty, workshops are full of cobwebs and obsolete equipment, engineering garages are full of abandoned projects and students’ research works in the social sciences and humanities accumulate dust in the libraries. None of our students’ projects ever get tested or given practicality once submitted, after all, ours is a certificate country. The lecturers’ burden is to give project topics, award marks and not to confirm originality or veracity of such projects. A good number of such projects are even plagiarised, but who really cares?

    The universities are under funded and lecturers’ earnings are tied to the apron of an unwilling government. The system stifles every sense of belonging and cripples every means to engage in constructive and productive research. For three months now, our universities have unceremoniously been under lock and key because the federal government is too “poor” to fund the rejuvenation of our universities from abyss of decay and quack productivity. But we can travel everywhere and even offer aid to “less” developed economies as if we are ourselves developed. Ours is a government which fails to smell its own filth.

    Every citizen except the government knows that science and technology is a basic strategic tool for development. There is no gain saying the country has to explore high technological investment as a tool for growing the Nigerian economy, except one wants to deceive oneself. Recently at the presentation of a book by former Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Turner Isoun, “Why Run Before Learning To Walk – Reflections on technology as a strategic tool for development in Nigeria”, in Abuja, Prof. Nimi Briggs, said, “Nigeria must acquire versatile technologies that will deliver multiple and diverse services that are owned and implemented by Nigerians. Key among these are space, information and communication technology, biotechnology, energy technology and climate change adaptation technologies”.

    Can versatile technologies be delivered when both the private and public sector finds it extremely difficult to invest in scientific and technological research? The drive for a competitive solar car research amongst tertiary institutions by Solar Challenge Nigeria is a case in point. Despite laxity in governmental and corporate supports, the resilience of the organizers needs to be commended. Against all odds, the organizers have stuck to their guns in championing an initiative that would trigger green approach to transportation, sustainable energy, protect the environment and enhance viable employment.

    At independence, Nigeria could be likened to a precocious child – skilled at birth. We were the pride – Africa’s Giant, but today, those who look to us, have moved ahead. While other countries were switching to efficient cars that have eliminated petroleum products, importing of refined crude products under obnoxious subsidy that benefits the few remains our lot. And when we decided to stand against such crookedness, a Subsidy Re-investment Programme (SURE-P) was foisted upon us. One would have assumed that such fund would be channelled to dig out the root of our insufficiency, invest in science and technology, obliterate unemployment and secure the present to sustain the future. But what do we have – a charade!

    At the last Presidential Media Chat, President Goodluck Jonathan made tacit comment about solar energy powering our street lights; but renewable energy can do more. What matters are leadership, research development, tax incentives and public policy at the federal and state levels. Renewable energy (Sun, wind and bio-fuel) is too readily available not to add significant impact to our near comatose economy.

    In a report by American Solar Energy Society (ASES) in conjunction with Management Information Services, Inc (MISI), an internationally recognized economic research firm based in Washington D.C., they forecast that 37 million jobs and $4,294 billion annual revenue would be generated from renewable energy and energy efficiency by 2030 in the United States alone. The forecast provides a sector-by-sector analysis of where the opportunities are in the rapidly changing renewable energy and energy efficiency industries. It subdivided the sector areas to include solar thermal, solar photo-voltaic, bio-fuels, and fuel cells (in terms of revenue growth) and job areas in the following aspects; electricians, mechanical engineers, welders, metal workers, construction managers, accountants, analysts, environmental scientists, and chemists.

    Considering the Nigeria environment that is deficient, miserable and groping for a sustainable energy life, wider job range can be envisioned. All that is needed is a government that believes in it self and is determined to lead in the direction. There is an urgent need for government and private entities to come together to save the face of our science. We all need to become proselytizers for science and technology. Citizens must not only pay lip service but ingrain the gospel, finance the ministry and make sure it grows into making Nigeria an industrialized nation. Science and technology innovation could generate millions of jobs and proffer a solution to a myriad of national problems, we just have to look more inward and give financial support to what adds collective value against individual goals.

    I have nothing against the support for creative arts which has had unparalleled sponsorship from the telecommunication sector in recent time. Neither am I against talent hunts, for the companies involved; the end justifies the means. In a nation where T.V and Social Media have taken productive endeavours from the youths coupled with fallacious syndrome of mega millionaire music stars, one could not expect less. Our youths have long imbibed the get-rich-and-famous-syndrome.

    To the Twitter activist, development crusaders, Uhuru stands far ahead. If we need drum, let us campaign for more sustainable involvement of government and private corporations in science and technology. The amount needed to revive Science, Technology and Innovation, is small compared to what is currently expended on reality shows. We can’t criticize what we get from abroad when we don’t have alternatives, and the only way to get alternatives, is to re-awaken our intellectual capabilities. I believe in science and technology to get us started; I believe in what Solar Challenge Nigeria is doing.

    •Mojeed-Sanni writes from Lagos.

  • A nation without a statesman

    Nigeria is walking deep into more ironies. Dogs are no more eating dogs. The cheetahs are now food for dogs. Government is no more governing, it is now being governed. Citizens are no more protected by the police, they are now the casualties of the police. Once, there was Apo 6, now we have Gudu 9. Death is no more strange to people, it walks in the streets in the midst of the people. Nations are fasting and praying against atrocities, we are here celebrating Boko Haram and other iniquities. ‘Gbomogbomo’, a Yoruba word for kidnapping, was an uncommon crime in the past, today, it is a commercial venture with its own structure. In time past, people wailed and wailed for losing their kids to ritual killers today parents themselves are hawking their kids for a fee. Crisis used to be a visitor in the past, now it is a bona fide citizen of Nigeria. What private schools collect as school fees from a child today was the total budget for the education of a whole community in those days. And yet we say we are making progress. The progress that is destroying the gains we made in the past.

    The truth is that we need the urgent intervention of a wise man. The intervention of a sage. A sage that is a messiah. A messiah of intervention not a messiah of occupation. A messiah wearing the mantle of peace. More succinctly, we need a statesman: one that will be the conscience of the nation; one whose intervention can halt the raging storm troubling our nation. This is the crux of the matter; there seems to be no such man in our land. We have no statesman that we can depend on to bring things back to order.

    It is freaky that none of our leaders since independence, particularly those who are alive, has transformed into a statesman. It is more confounding that all of them but one stumbled and fumbled while in power. Yakubu Gowon, a repentant born- again General, was shovelled out of office in 1975 by Murtala Mohammed and company for being unfaithful to even his own promise to hand over power to civilians. His repentance and present vocation of praying for Nigeria has earned him the forgiveness of the nation for whatever minor role he played in the Dimka Coup, but forgiveness does not erase the recording of history. Therefore, he has to live with this stigma.

    Obasanjo was not badly rated in his first time out as Head of State in 1976 to 1979, albeit his careless sarcasm which had a veiled reference to Chief Obafemi Awolowo almost affected his rating. His statement, “we know those who will not succeed us” was undignified and impertinent. This explained why the whole 12 2/3 saga was seen as part of the plot by his government to prevent Chief Awolowo from succeeding him. Nevertheless, Obasanjo’s second coming in 1999 to 2007 was an anticlimax to an image already on the slope. His third term project signposted a major deterioration in whatever was still left of his credibility and integrity. It is a sad commentary on Nigeria’s leadership that it is the same Olusegun Obasanjo that is dominating national discourse pretending to be a statesman. Why must we continue to desecrate our national altar by allowing men who are indebted to sanity to induct themselves as oracle of the nation when indeed we all know that they cannot even put their houses in order? Aside from the nonsensical controversies which Obasanjo’s contributions to national discourse normally provoke, there is virtually nothing intellectual, sensible, “statesmanlike” and edifying in most of his contributions. At best, and possibly because of their dramatic presentation, they only provide a sort of comic relief for a nation that is perpetually under tension. Statesmen are not made by lousy visibility and promotional theatrics but by their discretion to maintain dignified silence when there is no uproar.

    Shehu Shagari, Nigeria’s president from 1979 to 1983, is a failed ‘statesman’. The profligacy of his government has no precedent. It was a government that was bereft of vision, mission, character, ideas and wisdom. He secured a political victory through a judgment of the Supreme Court that should never be cited as a precedent because of its peculiarity. If the election that brought him to power was controversial, the one that swept him from power was a monumental fraud with a notorious slogan tagged ‘landslide’. So, what does he have to say on electoral malpractices as a statesman? There was nothing about Shagari and his government that was good for precedent.

    Muhammed Buhari is one man whose ‘sins’ in office have also been forgiven judging from the effusive sympathies people showed him for his many failures in politics. The stigma of the 53 suit cases, the high-handedness of his government which slided into unprecedented tyranny and despotism and the retroactive killings of citizens for crimes and offences committed before the death law came into existence, were just a few of what disqualified Buhari from being a statesman. In addition, his religious disposition is also suspect in view of certain statements he made in the past which did not dignify his personality as a statesman. A statesman should be tolerant of other people’s religions and show some respect for their God or gods.

    Ibrahim Babangida that was favoured by many positives and projections to be Nigeria’s statesman that ever lived having conducted the most peaceful and credible elections in the history of Nigeria in 1993 bungled the opportunity when he annulled the same election. By this heinous action that plunged Nigeria into many days of infamy and mayhem, everything called honour and integrity was squeezed out of him. These days, when he speaks on any national issue, nobody pays attention. It is the people’s way of telling him to contend with the shadow of his evil. Babangida is a ‘staleman’ not a statesman.

    Abdulsalam Abubakar, another General that once occupied the highest seat in Nigeria between 1998 and 1999 kept faith with his transition programme by handing over to Olusegun Obasanjo. But his short intervention was not enough to enrich his profile for the status of a statesman. He was just a providential opportunist.

    I have respectfully excluded Nigeria’s dead leaders from this list in order to allow them to rest in peace. The turbulence of their sojourn on earth was sufficient trouble to contend with in their graves. Besides, their departure does not make any difference to the fact that a nation of about 150million people has never produced and may never produce- going by the decline in the quality of leadership – a statesman of the same aura and personage like Nelson Mandela of South Africa.

    What our leaders should know is that Mandela became a universal legend because his heroic exploits in the era of apartheid and the long years he stayed in jail were complimented by his very rare and ‘unafrican’ decision not to seek a second term at the expiration of his first and only term. He shunned both local and international pressure for his continued stay in power.

    If we claim that Mandela’s enigmatic status was only because of his role during apartheid, what do we say of Robert Mugabe who was also a colossus in the emancipation struggle in Zimbabwe. Of course, Mugabe’s image has nosedived tragically even within his own country because he stays too long in power to command any respect just like it would have happened to Mandela if he also overstayed his welcome in power.

    We need somebody like him (Mandela) in our public space at this critical period. Government needs the input of its citizens on some of these critical issues because it knows that it does not have the monopoly of knowledge and wisdom. This is where the statesman comes in: to assist the government in proffering solutions to some, if not all of these issues: kidnapping, Boko Haram, insecurity, killings in Ombatse, political and ethnic conflicts, government’s loss of focus as a result of distractions, frequent ASUU- government disputes, economic crisis, unemployment, infrastructure deficit, leadership tussles and many more.

    I have an exhaustive list of respectable Nigerians whose interventions in the past had got Nigeria out of some crisis situations but I think they are more of social critics and activists than statesmen. A social critic is at best an active member of the civil society who takes it upon himself to ensure that every policy of government is in the best interest of the people and the country. They operate more with the passion and vehemence of concerned citizens who are very protective of the people and their country.

    The list includes but not limited to the following Nigerians: Olubunmi Cardinal Okogie, Bola Tinubu, Wole Soyinka, Bishop Gbonigi, Matthew Kukah, Tam David-West, Bolaji Akinyemi, Bala Usman, Abubakar Umar, Femi Falana, Jide Osuntokun, Baba Omojola, Balarabe Musa, Eskor Toyo, Emeka Anyaoku, and Alex Ekwueme and other unidentified ones.

    I concede that these are all noble men with integrity, honour and credibility. They are people who distance themselves from government and they are men who talk to government with candour. They are men of wisdom, knowledge and uncommon maturity but they lack the transcendental mystique of an avatar which is one of the special qualities of a statesman. Wole Soyinka, an intellectual who does not indulge in extravagant adoration and exaltation of political leaders, surprised me when he referred to Mandela as an avatar- a god in human form- in his book, You Must Set Forth At Dawn.

    A statesman therefore, is a person around whom there is a mystery of a god, a belief of a genius, a similitude to the supernatural, a tale of the unusual, a story about the uncommon, an explanation for the unknown and a testament of a mythical narrative. A statesman is a person whose perceptive power moves him to the level of a prophet. He sees many years ahead when others are battling to understand the present. He is like a god but he is not a god. He is one of us; he does not enjoy any immunity against mortality. What make him special are the incredibility of his perceptive instinct, humility and the rarity of his sacrifice to humanity.

    I have approached this discourse and evaluation from a captious angle in order to restore the quality of our value system. If we keep encouraging value fluidity, we will one day find ourselves in a situation where the society will attach importance to what every Tom, Dick and Harry calls himself. Already, those who have never added value to our collective corporate existence are calling themselves ‘elder statesmen’. In virtually all the political parties, every elderly person (including those with questionable antecedents and zero-credibility) in the party is an “elder statesman” as if statesmanship is about old age. If we therefore decide to liberalise the template for statesmanship in order to accommodate people on the basis of sentiments, the value we are trying to enhance will sink into banality.

    The question now is: when shall we have a statesman that will become an exemplar for all that is good in leadership? Goodluck Johnathan is the only Nigerian President who has the convenience of becoming the first Nigeria’s statesman ever if he does not allow the trappings of power to delete him from his place in history.

  • America’s new wave of secessionists

    America’s new wave of secessionists

    It seems to be sweeping the nation, with Texas seeking to become its own country and parts of Maryland, California, and Colorado trying to break off into new states. But do any of these movements have a chance? Caitlin Dickson reports

    Five counties in Maryland want to form their own state. So do eight in Colorado and one in Northern California. And the Lone Star State is on its way becoming an independent “island nation,” according to an influential Texas Republican.

    The wave of U.S. secession movements, the largest since the South tried to break up with the Union, is being fueled by a deep urban-rural split, said Frances Lee, a professor at the University of Maryland’s department of government and politics. The fault lines are partisan affiliations and social issues such as reproductive rights and gun control. So it’s no coincidence that the counties seeking to break free generally identify as conservative or libertarian, nor is it a coincidence that they tend to be in rural areas. “This has a lot to do with the current composition of the White House,” said Lee. “Rural counties want to secede from states where they’ve been on the losing side of politics—even at the state level.”

    In an interview with The Washington Post, Western Maryland Initiative leader Scott Strzelczyk said his region, along with several others across the country vying for the title of America’s 51st state, is determined to separate itself from “the dominant ruling class.” Strzelczyk, an information technology consultant, said he is frustrated with Maryland’s influential Democratic Party. “If you don’t belong in their party, you’ll never have your views represented,” he told the paper. “If we have more states, we can all go live in states that best represent us, and then we can get along.” Although the Western Maryland Initiative is little more than a Facebook page today, it’s gaining traction and support from members of the community eager to offer their services and suggestions for the formation of their dream state.

    The movement in Colorado has made a bit more headway. Officials from eight counties met in July to start drawing up boundaries for a state dedicated to bettering the lives of those living in rural northern and northeastern Colorado. “Our voices are being ignored in the legislative process this year, and our very way of life is under attack,” Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway said in July, adding that not only is the effort “not a stunt,” it is indisputably motivated by a feeling of disenfranchisement among people in rural communities. Weld County is one of six in Colorado that will vote on a secession initiative in November.

    Many of the rural counties itching for independence in northern Colorado are dependent on the oil and gas industry, said Kimberly Karnes, a professor of political science and geography at Old Dominion University in Virginia. So it stings when liberal politicians who live far from the range push for things like renewable energy. “Issues such as energy policy, gun control, taxes, and social issues often break on a rural-urban divide,” Karnes told The Daily Beast. “So if the state legislature produces a policy that a majority of residents in the urban and suburban areas prefer, it leaves the rural residents feeling like they are ignored, which over time can build to resentment and lead to the choice of extreme response, such as secession.”

    Just last week, the Board of Supervisors in Northern California’s Siskiyou County voted almost unanimously to make a declaration of its intention to break off from the state and invite neighboring counties in California and Oregon to join them in forming a new state called “Jefferson.” Ahead of the vote, more than 100 citizens gathered to debate, most of them apparently in favor of separating themselves from the regulations and values supported by their state’s more populous and liberal Southern region.

    The last time a state successfully sought approval from the state legislature and Congress for secession was West Virginia in 1863. And while clusters of counties have attempted unsuccessfully to form their own states over the years, social media and the Internet have allowed these movements to gain more traction than they may have in the past. Now, instead of simply commiserating with their neighbors about the liberals in the capitol and trying to get a representative with their values elected, disgruntled Californians can find and meet like-minded residents around the county, encouraging them to give secession a shot.

    And then there’s Texas. A couple of weeks ago, Texas railroad commissioner and aspiring attorney general Barry Smitherman declared that the Lone Star state has “made great progress in becoming an independent nation.” Smitherman, whose job is to regulate the state’s energy industry, not its railroads, argued that Texas’s “energy resources, fossil and otherwise, and our own independent electrical grid” make the state “uniquely situated” to “operate as a stand-alone entity” if the United States falls apart.

    Texas’s motivation for wanting to break free doesn’t fall along the same rural-vs.-urban pattern of the rest of the counties seeking secession. That’s hardly a surprise. In political science, “Texas is Texas. It doesn’t really follow what other states do,” said Karnes. “There’s really an independent political culture of that state that definitely identifies with its independence, the Republic of Texas. It doesn’t follow the trend of what these other states are doing. It’s in its own unique situation.”

    Still, that doesn’t mean Texas has a greater chance of seceding successfully than western Maryland or northern Colorado or “Jefferson.” Even if one of them were to get the approval of both Congress and their state legislatures, they’d be faced with a barrage of new issues such as how to collect taxes, provide education, or transfer public records from the original state to the new one. How would a new state—with a rural economy that in many cases has long been propped up by its state’s urban and suburban economies—fund all these programs?

    The list of issues Texas would face as its own country is even longer. Creating a military, setting up trade agreements, and finding a way to compensate for the federal funding it receives—whether or not its lawmakers want to admit it—only scratches the surface of what it takes to form a country. As for the counties seeking statehood, even if they accomplished their goal and became “the promised conservative or libertarian utopia these residents so often seem to want, the state is still a part of the United States of America, meaning it answers to and must work within the U.S. system, as it currently operates,” said Karnes. “For residents who want more personal freedoms and less government intrusion, they may find that even in a new state, Uncle Sam is still a frequent visitor in their community.”

    Courtesy: The Daily Beast

  • Riding on the wings of fresh paradigm

    Riding on the wings of fresh paradigm

    Rev. Chris Okotie’s initial forays into elective politics which started dramatically in 2002 caught my attention, and like most Nigerians, I was taken aback. I’d questioned the rationale behind his audacious bid to contest the presidential election, wondering how he’d combine tending his flock at his Household of God Church, Oregun, Lagos with the rough and tumble politics of Nigeria.

    I had reasoned like millions of others that it would be difficult to combine running his pace-setting teaching ministry with politics. So, I concluded that the whole thing was probably a joke or some publicity stunt. But more than ten years down the line, especially with his sensational court victory which voided the deregistration of his party, FRESH Democratic Party, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the man of God has literally shifted the governance paradigm, and millions of mockers like me have become admirers or followers. He has brought politics of issues, rather than persons to national discourse.

    Well, if you accuse me of being a turn-coat or cross-carpeter, that is your problem; after all, failure is an orphan, but success has many fathers. We learned this game of riding on the wings of success from our political godfathers and governing elite who cross over to winning parties once they lose nominations or elections. Simply put, it is in our genes.

    Political in-fighting is always going on in all the parties, in our embattled country where the plight of impoverished 112 million Nigerians is ignored by the governing elite, led by Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who is in office, but yet to prove beyond reasonable doubts that he’s in power, except because he is President and lives in the Aso Rock with his gutsy wife, Dame Patience, otherwise called “mother” of Mr. Rotimi Ameachi, Governor of Rivers State.

    Amaechi himself is a “rebellious” son who has teamed up with six under-employed, over ambitious northern Governors, to try and unseat his “mother” and her husband from the presidential villa, when father Jonathan had, through stealthy maneuverings and deft political calculations, planned to renew his mandate in 2015. What kind of a son is that who rebels against his father on the throne? Ameachi is a Christian, at least, by all indications, so he must have been inspired by Absalom in the Bible. Let us pray he does not end up like King David’s rebellious son. According to Rev. Okotie in one of his articles: “Provision of basic amenities ought to be the subject of political discourse not the ongoing skirmishes between presidential aspirants. Almost on a daily basis, the headlines are dominated by new attack lines and mudslinging between feuding politicians who are jostling for power, while little is said about the dividends of democracy”. Good talk!

    In legal terms, President Jonathan can run in 2015, if he so decides because the constitution gives him that right. Any of the seven rebel Governors can run. Any Nigerian who meets the constitutional requirements can run for any office. So the present drums of war beating in the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, is uncalled for.

    But let us get it straight. The Nigerian presidency is not a chieftaincy, academic or religious title which could be conferred honoris causa on the highest bidder. It is a serious business to govern a nation of 160 million people with great potential as one of the world’s emerging economies. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Nigeria’s GDP at Purchasing Power Parity, PPP, nearly doubled under President Olusegun Obasanjo, from $170.7 billion dollars in 2005 to $ 292.6 billion in 2007. The GDP per head also jumped from $692 per person in 2006 to $1,754 per person in 2007. That was six long years ago, and inspite of the ineptitude of the PDP-led administration, the current economic indicators are even better.

    Now, having already yielded our initial target of being one of the world’s 20 emerging economies by 2020 to oil-rich gulf kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, according to experts, may become one of the 30 top economies by 2030. That projection is based on the assumption that our rulers will change the governance paradigm and focus on the business of managing the nation’s economy rather than looting the treasury.

    So, in real terms, the leadership of Nigeria is not a tea party. It should be handed over to someone who has a workable, realistic and transformative vision with proven leadership skills and a firm commitment to arrest the present slide to the abyss. This is not a time to bicker over cake sharing or who gets what, or what zone is next to produce the president. These are archaic concepts.

    In the academic world, you get a PhD degree not by zoning, tribal, racial or religious consideration, but by writing an academic thesis. If you pass, you then qualify to be called Dr. Jack or Jill. So must the presidency. A contestant must convince us with his thesis which in this case is the manifesto or blueprint by which he hopes to govern. Elections in this country must be contested by such standard rules of engagement, not primordial sentiments as is the case currently.

    Again, this is why I agree with Rev. Chris Okotie who has been promoting the concept of paradigm shift as a way of rebranding, repositioning and repackaging our governance apparatus and personnel after more than 52 years of movement without motion. The first thing to do in achieving this all-important change is to jettison the geriatric propensity in our polity. Look at the statistics of our leadership faculty. The average age of those who control the levers of power in the ruling PDP is 70. In the states, the average age of Governors is 50 which should be what ought to obtain among the presidential aspirants. A 50-65 age bracket is still not bad for a presidential aspirant.

    However, like India’s Mamohan Singh showed, if a head of government is over 70 and is performing well, he earns himself the right to be in power and even renew his mandate, if his health permits. Zimbabwe on the other hand, where Robert Mugabe (89) is in power is a typical example of how inept old leaders could stagnate a potentially great nation. What was called Rhodesia in the pre-liberation days under racist Prime Minister Ian Smith was labelled as the “Pearl of Africa” because of its thriving economy, despite global sanctions imposed because of its apartheid policy. Smith ruled a nation that almost achieved parity with developed economies in terms of the excellent state of infrastructures and standard of living. All that has given way to poverty in Mugabe’s black-ruled Zimbabwe after 28 years of monumental mismanagement.

    When faced with this predicament, it is time to try a fresh governance template; or what do you think?

    •Okey wrote from Lagos.

  • Nigeria: Correct diagnosis

    Nigeria: Correct diagnosis

    Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State is a son to me. But as I sit here reading the Fawehinmi Memorial Speech which he delivered in Lagos some time ago, I am not just a father proud of a worthy son, I am also a grateful Nigerian – an old Nigerian grateful to a prominent young Nigerian for his very helpful perception of the daunting ills of our country.

    His diagnosis departs bravely from the type that we Nigerians are used to hearing from our leaders. He dares to pin-point Nigeria’s central disease. He dares to expose the baselessly romantic picture that a lot of Nigerians habitually paint about our country. And he dares to point out the only viable path to making our country orderly, harmonious and successful.

    Very many prominent Nigerians prefer to avoid telling the truth about our country. Some of these, out of fear of losing their shares in Nigeria’s oil wealth, or out of a desire to keep the power and loot which they already hold, make a habit, as the Bible says, of calling evil good and black white. You will hear them often using the word “great” for Nigeria. But they are not being truthful.

    I suggest that if you want to assess whether your country is great, you should perform this exercise. Sit back, select any year in the past (make it as far back as you can remember), and visualize various things in Nigeria’s life as they were by that date and as they are today: the local primary school near your house; the state hospital nearest to you; the quality of education you could expect your child to get at school or university then and now; the chances of your graduate son or daughter getting a job then and now; if you are a citizen of the Western Region and you knew Obafemi Awolowo University campus then, how does its condition then compare with what it is today; the quality of safety and security in your street, your town, your state, your country, then and now; your access to electricity then and now; if your town had water supply then, the condition of it then and now; if your life involves travelling long distances in your country, the condition and safety of the highways then and now; the level of your confidence in your local government, state government, federal government, Police Force, the Nigerian military, your government’s Civil Service, then and now; your chances of being financially comfortable then and now; etc, etc.

    The answers you are most likely to get from this exercise cannot possibly sustain the statement that our country is “great”. On the contrary, Nigeria is a country that is squeezing and crushing its citizens more and more, day by day. For any country, that is not a definition of greatness.

    In his Fawehinmi Memorial Lecture, Governor Kayode Fayemi dared to say those things as they really are. And as for the inevitable consequences, he summed them up as follows:

    “We have witnessed the rise and resurgence of ethnic and religious militia, communities and groups who have taken up arms against each other and the state, the privatization and erosion of the state towards narrow gains and selfish interests, the lack of subscription of diverse peoples and groups to a common mythology or purpose, the desertion of the state, and a host of other indices that reveal the essentially problematic nature of citizenship in the country”. All of these and more, he added, have tended gradually to lead towards the implosion of the British experiment that is Nigeria.

    He then expertly put his finger on the fundamental roots of Nigeria’s malaise. Our country is a country of many different nations and cultures – “the British brought together ethnic nationalities that were autonomous political, cultural and economic units” and governed them without proper attention to their obvious differences. As our country was handed to us at independence, it was “foreign in its conception and organization”, and it bore the destructive cancer of the imbalances which the British had deliberately inculcated into the scheme of Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates in 1914 and after. All these resulted in serious “fault lines and fissures”. Consequently, as soon as the British departed, the elite classes of the different nationalities embarked on “competition for political and economic advantages in the attempt to govern and control the resources of the state”.These brutal and often murky rivalries resulted in the consequence that there was gradually imposed on our federation a structure that cannot possibly produce anything but conflict and failure. Ultimately, therefore, the heart of the Nigerian problem is the “National Question”.

    Let me explain the National Question. Each nationality in Nigeria, large or small, is an organism that has evolved gradually over thousands of years. Each has its own territory, life, history, and ambitions.It is laughably unrealistic for any Nigerian to think that any Nigerian nationality can be suppressed for the sake of building Nigeria, or that his own nationality can possibly “dominate” Nigeria indefinitely, or to ask that Nigerians should junk their ethnic identities for a Nigerian identity, or to think (as some Igbo folks do) that, because we are all now Nigerians, their own nation is welcome to grab any part of the patrimony of any other nation. In the modern history of the world, no two nations belonging to the same country have been as close and interwoven as the English and the Scotts who have been in Britain together for about 600 years. And now the Scotts are preparing to quit Britain and establish an independent Scotland of their own. That is the way the human world operates. How many multi-nation countries or empires of the past still exist today? No nationality that is now part of Nigeria can give up the possibility or thought of one day having a separate country of its own and determining its own destiny. Asking any of these nationalities to agree to die for the sake of Nigeria is an exercise in folly and futility. As for Nigeria as it is today, no matter how much it is loved and desired by some of us, it will come to an end – as some of the nationalities now in it take their exit. There is nothing unknown or evil in that. The immaturity that makes us rush for guns at the mention of the word “secession” will pass away.

    Therefore, the key to the Nigerian problem is to find, together for now, a sensible and harmonious pattern of relationships, or structure, for our federation. At independence, we had a federal structure that was fairly right. We ought to have built on, and refined, that. Instead, some powerful ones among us proceeded to erode and brutalize it – until now we have a chaotic unitary mess. All in all, rather than roll out the drums to celebrate the centenary of the 1914 Amalgamation, we should call out Nigerians to put heads together to find the path forward to Nigeria’s stability.

    “The question of the national structure is the central issue that will not go away”, Kayode Fayemi says very correctly. This young man’s perspicacity is drawing much attention to him and a huge amount of support to the party of which he is one of the intellectual leaders.

  • Terrorism a major threat to global peace

    Terrorism a major threat to global peace

    The following is President Goodluck Jonathan’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

    On behalf of the Government and People of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I salute you as you preside over the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. I assure you of the full support and cooperation of the Nigerian delegation.

    I also wish to extend our commendation to the Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon, and place on record, Nigeria’s appreciation for his focused and committed leadership of the United Nations system.

    This Session is coming at a particularly trying period when our world faces a number of critical challenges which make it imperative for us to work within the Charter of the United Nations to meaningfully address them.

    It is therefore apt that the theme, Post 2015 Development Agenda: Setting the Stage, signposts our desire and determination to actively cooperate for the improvement of the overall welfare and well-being of the most vulnerable citizens of the member-states of our Organisation.

    Nigeria appreciates the consultative nature of designing the Post-2015 development agenda. Earlier in the year, we supported this global outreach through inclusive consultations and surveys of a number of Nigerians who have expressed their aspirations with respect to the world they expect beyond 2015.

    A major highlight of this process, which has increased national ownership of the agenda, is the emphasis on the eradication of poverty as the overarching principle in the formulation of the successor framework.

    Indeed, tomorrow, we will be hosting a side event on the implementation of the MDGs, in collaboration with the UN, a number of African countries, and our development partners.

    As I had cause to say to this Assembly last Session, 2015 is not a destination but only a milestone to a better, safer, healthier and more compassionate world. Let us therefore renew our commitment to the processes that will develop the post-MDGs framework.

    Mr. President, This objective is of particular resonance to us in Africa where the challenges of poverty, illiteracy, food insecurity, and climate change continue to engage the attention of the political leadership.

    The good news however, is that in the last decade, a sustained democratization process across the continent has made significant difference in governance processes, institutions and structures. Today, we have a renascent Africa that has moved away from the era of dictatorship to a new dawn where the ideals of good governance and an emphasis on human rights and justice are beginning to drive state-society relations. This is the present reality of Africa that must replace the old prejudices and assumptions about the continent.

    We are firm in our conviction that democracy is fundamental to achieving the requisite stability that will enable the realisation of a sustainable post-2015 development agenda in Africa.

    This emergent Africa will require the continued support and partnership of the international community. An Africa that is no longer merely a destination for aid but one that is involved in constructive, multi-sectoral exchanges on the global stage. Our continent stands ready to continue to engage the rest of the world as a partner in formulating a global development agenda that will guarantee peace, security and stability.

    I wish to express my appreciation for Nigeria’s selection as co-Chair of the Expert Committee on Financing Sustainable Development.

    The importance of this Committee’s assignment cannot be overstated. For the post-2015 development agenda to be realistic, it must be backed by a robust financing framework which I hope will receive the strong backing of our Organisation’s more endowed members.

    Mr. President,

    Nigeria’s commitment to sustainable peace and security propels the country to action along with member states of our sub-regional and continental organisations, whenever stability is threatened in our continent. In recent years, Africa has had its share of conflicts notably in Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Somalia.

    It is noteworthy that African leaders, with the support of the international community, have demonstrated the capacity to work in concert and decisively in pursuit of long-term solutions in the affected States. While a lot more still needs to be done, we are convinced that progress is being made.

    The recent Presidential elections in Mali herald a new beginning that should translate into peace and prosperity for its people and provide a stronger basis for stability within the sub-region. I congratulate President Boubacar Keita. Similarly, the political transition process in Guinea Bissau holds much promise. Among African leaders, there is a greater determination and focus on the transformation of the continent. This is the required impetus for the achievement of development objectives

    that will benefit the people, and rebrand the continent even more positively.

    Although our world has not witnessed a global war since the establishment of the United Nations, there have been several conflicts with devastating consequences and impact in virtually all regions of the world. As global citizens, we have a sacred duty to free our world of wars, rivalries, ethnic conflicts, and religious divisions. Our collective effort in our drive for a better world will continue to bind us together.

    Mr. President,Nigeria continues to support the efforts of the United Nations in addressing the global initiative to combat the menace of the illicit trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons. We have redoubled efforts to address this onerous challenge within our borders and across the West African sub-region.

    In doing so, we also recognise the need for a broad-based global partnership in the on-going battle against trans-border crimes, including terrorism and acts of piracy. It is regrettable that these scourges are sustained by unfettered access by non-state actors to illicit small arms and light weapons with which they foster insecurity and instability across our continent. For us in Africa, these are the ‘weapons of mass destruction’!

    It is, therefore, in the light of our collective obligation and unceasing struggle to end this nightmare, that I congratulate Member-States on the adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in April this year. Our hope is that upon its entry into force, the ATT would herald an era of accountable trade in conventional arms which is critical to the security of nations.

    In line with our continued commitment to this project, Nigeria has signed and ratified the Treaty. We will continue to engage other Member-States for its successful implementation.

    Mr. President, Terrorism constitutes a major threat to global peace and security, and undermines the capacity for sustained development. In Nigeria, the threat of terrorism in a few States in the North Eastern part of our country has proven to be a challenge to national stability. We will spare no effort in addressing this menace. We are therefore confronting it with every resource at our disposal with due regard for fundamental human rights and the rule of law.

    Nigeria will like to place on record its appreciation to the international community for its support in this regard. The reign of terror anywhere in the world is an assault on our collective humanity. Three days ago, the stark reality of this menace was again brought to the fore by the dastardly terrorist attack in Nairobi, Kenya. We must stand together to win this war together.

    Mr. President,Piracy, like terrorism, is another menace that has attained worrisome proportions, especially in Africa’s coastal waters. At the bilateral and multilateral levels, Nigeria has promoted cooperation to mitigate its impact and consequences on the security and economies of the affected coastal states.

    Indeed, in June this year, the leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Gulf of Guinea Commission met in Yaounde, Cameroon, and came up with practical steps to collectively confront the menace of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. This effort will, no doubt, require reinforcement and wider support and collaborative action on the part of our international partners.

    Mr. President,The situation in the Middle East remains volatile. The reported use of chemical weapons in the Syrian crisis, is unacceptable. Nigeria condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the use of chemical weapons that are prohibited by International Conventions.

    We applaud the current diplomatic efforts to avert further escalation of the crisis. We urge all parties involved to end the violence and seek a negotiated solution, including the instrumentality of the United Nations.

    The threat which nuclear weapons pose to the survival of the human race is to be understood not just in the context of aspirational nations but also the nations already in possession of such weapons. Nuclear weapons are as unsafe in the hands of small powers as they are in the hands of the major powers. It is our collective responsibility to urge the international community to respond to the clarion call for a peaceful universe in an age of uncertainty.

    We can attain this objective if we adopt measures and policies that will promote nuclear disarmament, protect and renew our environment, and push towards an international system that is based on trust, mutual respect and shared goals.

    Mr. President,I believe that I express the concern of many about the slow pace of effort and apparent lack of progress in the reform of the United Nations, especially the Security Council. We believe strongly, that the call for democratisation worldwide should not be for States only, but also, for International Organisations such as the UN. That is why we call for the democratization of the Security Council.

    This is desirable for the enthronement of justice, equity, and fairness; and also for the promotion of a sense of inclusiveness and balance in our world.

    Our support for the United Nations Security Council in its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security has been total and unwavering. We have, in previous membership of the Council, demonstrated both the political will and capacity to engage in key Council responsibilities. Nigeria has therefore decided to seek election for the 2014-2015 Non-Permanent Seat of the UNSC.

    I am pleased to state that Nigeria has received the endorsement of the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union. We urge this august Assembly to endorse Nigeria’s candidature.

    Mr. President, Our world continues to be confronted by pressing problems and threats. No statement that will be made during this Session can exhaust the extent of these problems. The world looks to us, as leaders, to provide hope in the midst of crisis, to provide guidance through difficult socio-political divisions, and to ensure that we live in a better world.

    We have obligations to the present generation, but we have a greater obligation to generations yet unborn who should one day inherit a world of sufficiency irrespective of the circumstances of their birth or where they reside on the globe. We must work to make that world a reality in recognition of our common heritage.

    We must strive to eradicate poverty, hunger, disease and human misery; we must eliminate the scourge of nuclear, chemical, biological, as well as small arms and light weapons. We must dedicate ourselves to working together to address global, regional and national challenges and deliver a more peaceful, equitable and prosperous world for all. It is our duty. We must not fail.

    I thank you.

     

    •Dr Jonathan is the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria

  • ‘How are you, today?’

    As a form of greeting, the question was intriguing. Whenever Frank Olusola Macaulay asked, “How are you, today?” he laid an unmistakable stress on the word, “today.” That was his way of highlighting the reality of a new day, different from past days, filled with fresh possibilities. The greeting carried a spiritual import, saying to the recipient that the new day brought new grace, new hope, new strength, and new ideas, which could spark a new song and new joy. This unshakable conviction about the constant flux, conveyed through his emphasis on “today”, is a lesson for me.

    This was the man who, in the 1970’s, took my younger brother, Olaolu, and I to see the old Lagos Prison in Broad Street, just before it was demolished, and asked us to write essays on our experience, promising to reward the better writer. We were in secondary school, and it was an eye-opener for us.

    He earnestly believed that he would attain age 85, and always maintained that his faith was Bible-supported. “Ask, and you shall receive”, was his mantra whenever anyone questioned his projection of certainty about how long he would live. He celebrated every birthday by reminding his family and others of how many years he supposedly had left. But he died at age 83 on August 22, which was 24 days before his 84th birthday on September 16th.

    Macaulay was born in Lagos in 1929. His grandfather, Frank Gurney Venn Macaulay, who raised him, was the younger brother of Herbert Macaulay, the famous Nigerian nationalist. He straddled the country’s colonial and post-colonial eras and was, therefore, at a vantage to make comparisons. In this context, he often expressed his admiration of the English and wished that post-Independence Nigeria would not only sustain the positive developmental standards of the colonialists, but also improve on them.

    He was born to a devout Christian family with a rich history of missionary work; his great grandfather was Rev. Thomas Babington Macaulay, founder and first principal of the CMS Grammar School, Lagos, the oldest secondary school in Nigeria, started in 1859; and his great grandmother, Abigail Macaulay, was the daughter of Rt. Rev. Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the acclaimed first African Bishop of the Church of England, and the first to translate the Bible into Yoruba.

    This family background inspired Macaulay throughout his lifetime. He was proud of his roots and heritage without being pompous. His sense of family was exemplary, and he was passionate about the Crowther/Macaulay Descendants’ Union and its motto, “In Unity we stand, divided we fall.” He served enthusiastically as Secretary of the group for many years, and technically retained the position until his exit. He was always aware of the location of family members and their contact details, and was generally relied upon to play a linking role whenever there was a need for family gathering.

    After his education in Lagos, he had a stint at Taylor Woodrow Company, before joining Shell in 1958. Two years later, in 1960, he married Eleanor Bodunrin Macaulay (nee Williams), his lifelong other half. It was at Shell that he bloomed, and he retired at a Senior Supervisory level after 30 years at the company. He was honoured with a long-service award during his career at Shell. As a Shell pensioner, he was a keen unofficial ambassador and projected a positive image of the company.

    Macaulay placed a premium on education, and made sacrifices to ensure that his five children got a good education. He provided a stimulating home environment for informal learning, and made it easy for his household and, even outsiders, to keep abreast of the news by consistently ensuring a supply of newspapers and magazines. He also kept a useful library.

    He was quality-conscious without being showy, and exuded contentment. This aspect of his personality was informed by a deep spirituality beyond the formal structures of organised religion. He regarded every man and woman as a brother or sister with whom he shared a common humanity, and was a loyal friend to those he bonded with. “Life is interesting, and we are here to learn,” he often said. He had admirable sartorial polish, and was generally regarded as a gentleman.

    He loved church music and, at different stages, he was a band member and played the Euphonium at the Salvation Army Lagos Central Corps; and choir member at the First Baptist Church, Lagos. His tenor voice was a delight to listen to when he sang, and in his latter years he participated in the activities of a Sierra Leonean singing band in Lagos.

    There was an adventurous side to him, and he was interested in sports, especially boxing, swimming and soccer. Natural medicine fascinated him, and he was constantly trying out various nature-based preparations. He was equally fascinated by the lives that Nature has, and kept pets such as dogs, cats, rabbits and birds; he also liked to tend plants, and took pleasure in gardening.

    His parting shot, from his notes, would be this quotation: “How do you beautify the Earth? You do this by the Good Thought, which comes from you, by the assistance you give your brother-man to rise materially and spiritually, and by the assistance you give other life than man to be more beautiful than you met it – IN SHORT, SERVICE TO MANKIND IN LOVE.”

    Baba Femi, I came through you; and I will always appreciate how you raised me. I owe you a debt of gratitude for your love, care and guidance. Peace to you, on the other side. Daddy, how are you, today?

    • Macaulay is on the editorial board of The Nation

  • How mental illness could lead to suicide

    The most common cause of death for people aged 15 – 24 is suicide, which is the 13th leading cause of death worldwide, according to World Health Organization (WHO).

    The United Nations body submits that people who die by suicide is expected to reach 1.5 million per year by 2020.

    The aggregate number of people who die by suicide suffer from mental illness.

    Recent estimates suggest that the disease burden caused by mental illnesses will account for 25 per cent of the total disease burden in the world in the next two decades, making it the most important category of ill-health (more important than cancer or heart diseases).

    Regarding this prospect, mental illness is the major problem that is challenging the health sector worldwide which should be a major concern.

    Mental illness is medical conditions that disrupt a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning. It’s also the ineffectiveness, mal-functioning of the cerebellum or inadequate vitality of the brain to operate. Mental illness is not the result of personal weakness, poor upbringing or lack of character.

    Serious mental illnesses include Major Depression, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Panic Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTCD), Borderline Personality Disorder Impulse Control, and Addiction Disorders.

    Schizophrenia is one of the psychotic mental disorders and is characterized by symptoms of thought, behavior, and social problems which psychotic disorder is a good example.

    However, Psychotic disorders involve distorted awareness and thinking. Two of the most common symptoms of psychotic disorders are hallucinations — the experiencing of images or sounds that are not real, such as hearing voices — and delusions, which are false beliefs that the ill person accepts as true, despite evidence to the contrary.

    Schizophrenia is considered to be the result of a complex group of genetic, psychological, and environmental factors.

    Medications that have been found to be mostly effective in treating the positive symptoms of schizophrenia are first- and second-generation antipsychotics.

    Health-care practitioners diagnose schizophrenia by gathering comprehensive medical, family, mental-health, and social/cultural information. In addition to providing treatment that is appropriate to the diagnosis, professionals attempt to determine the presence of mental illnesses that may co-occur.

    People with schizophrenia are at increased risk of having a number of other mental-health conditions, committing suicide, and otherwise dying earlier than people without this disorder.

    Bipolar Disorder can easily be characterized and revolves around mood that range from the low level of depression and mania at a goal. However Bipolar is a distortion, long-term situation that rebel your thinking faculty.

    People with   Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) feel remorse which heighten their emotions and make them do extremely what they ought not to have done and they acted abnormally. With OCD, upsetting or scary thoughts or images, pop into a person’s mind and are very hard to turn off. People with OCD feel strong urges to do certain things repeatedly and more so, in order to banish the scary thoughts, one can try to ward off the bad thing they dread, or to make extra sure that things are safe or clean or right.

    Most People that fall victim of impulse control disorders are unable to resist urges, or impulses, to perform acts that could be harmful to themselves or others. Pyromania (starting fires), kleptomania (stealing), and compulsive gambling are examples of impulse control disorders. Alcohol and drugs are common objects of addictions. Often, people with these disorders become so involved with the objects of their addiction that they begin to ignore responsibilities and relationships.

    Mental illness can affect people of any age, race, religion, or income.

    Psychosocial treatment such as cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, and peer support groups and other community services can be component of treatment plan that assist with recovery.

    Heroin, Cocaine, amphetamines, alcoholic drinks and the likes are the cause of addictive disease. This particular disease gives different result like developing their tolerance with the objective of heightening their emotion to do things extra ordinarily.

    Moreover, Cocaine addiction may also involve disruption of the endogenous opioid system in addition to the well-known primary effect of cocaine in blocking reuptake of dopamine by the synaptic dopamine transporter protein

    It should be noted that mental disorders including depression are real, treatable health conditions.

    Yet a significant number of those with mental illnesses who die by suicide do not contact health or social services near the time of their death. In many instances there are insufficient services available to assist those in need at times of crisis.

    Although the attempt to fight stigma has been quite limited by undertaken public educational programs in reducing the stigma associated with mental illness and suicide.

    Just as physical health is important, so is good mental health. Mental illness and psychological disorders have good treatment options with medications, psychotherapy, and other treatments.

  • Nigeriaism, patriotism and development

    THE more the merrier goes an age-long adage. However, considered from the context of population, or in the sphere of population density, it is indeed a farce. It masks differences (be it religion, cultural, ethnic, or sheer multitude of people)

    By Nigeriaism, we mean the nationhood of the entity called Nigeria and the history behind the nation. Patriotism on the other hand is devoted love, support, and defence of one’s country – national loyalty. The concept of patriotism can best be captured or can be conjured better in expressing it as ‘Nigerianism’.

    Since the amalgamation, has Nigeria showed any sign of being a nation? Has the country made any progress in sorting herself out on the way forward of becoming a country? Have the peoples of the country accepted one another truly?

    The answers to the following puzzles will not be in the affirmative. The current system is just a farce. The Nigerian leaders and proponents of one united, harmonious Nigeria are deluding themselves; this delusion comes from the erroneous belief that “the more the merrier” or what in Igbo Language is called igwebuike –the higher the number, the stronger we become or simply crowd is strength.

    This was why Nigeria got her independence in 1960. Historically, Nigeria like Ghana was to have her independence in 1957 but it was extended to 1960 because the northern part of Nigeria was not ready for self-government and the southern Nigerian had to wait for their northern brothers. Why did the south wait? The only answer is Igwebuike.

    Furthermore, the hypothesis that was given by the likes of late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe was that Nigeria has to be one in order to dominate in Africa. They were successful in waiting, merging, having independence together and becoming the most populated country in Africa. But did they dominate Africa? Yes, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa – and so what?

    In fact, instead of the country to be merrier owing to her population, the country is even suffering the ignominy of a criminally large population. Worse still, the country has failed incredibly in her pursuit of dominance at both the regional (Africa) and global stage.

    The other disheartening issue is that Nigerians have failed to appreciate the marriage. There is no respect among ethnic groups; hatred, stereotyping, and ethnic bias are a common sight in the country. We identify ourselves as “Ibo”, “Hausa” or “Yoruba” before Nigeria. Our actions, body language all point to the fact that we have not accepted like we say, “the other tribe or ethnic group”. The proponents of one Nigeria are afraid of going against the grain of public opinion but like any other concept, we have to engage in rational discourse.

    With poverty looming over us, hatred, and bad-mouthing showing up perpetually, it is obligatory that we explore and obviate this problem. But what has caused this problem to linger is the fact that people are afraid of the consequences of pointing out the way forward. And the way forward is to divide Nigeria into different countries, or practice confederalism or resource control federalism –some call it true federalism.

    A divided Nigeria will accelerate development. The current system is an embarrassment to federalism. The quasi-federalism we operate now has killed the cardinal attribute that describe Nigerians. It has ended competition, hard work and passion for the development of the country. It enthroned parasitism, where states sit idly by and wait for the central government to dish out the monthly allocation from the resources of other states. This parasitic system buoyed some state leaders to kill any zeal of creativity in revenue generation. It is an act unbecoming of a federal state. And in effect, it destroyed the competitive nature of the regional setting, killed the focus and vision of the regional actors. All these forced the country to retrogress as well as eroding any form of patriotism that the citizens must have imbibed.

    The hypothesis of this piece is that a divided Nigeria will expedite development. This view may seem radical, pessimistic and unpatriotic. The closest that Nigeria can go to development will be either to divide, or practice confederal, or the true federal system.

    Another salient flaw in this system is the bloated nature of the system. Because we see the country as a cake, that must have informed our irrational system that suck the nation dry. The executive arm is bloated, the legislative arm bloated and criminally ineffective. The emoluments of those in government are heavy load to the resources of the country. It is like having a six year old baby carry one hundred kg of load. The load from these criminal salaries of those in government is suppressing any development that will come to the country.

    So, how can dividing, or practicing a confederal system or true federalism-a system which gives the state power to control her resources, help develop Nigeria? We will evoke the concept of another Ibo saying, “NkembuNkem”, nkeanyibunkeanyi”-my own is my own and our own is our own. This will allow the distinctive countries-that will come out of Nigeria, states – in case of confederalism or true federalism to see to the development of their place. The people and their leaders, we assume, will have a shared sense of duty and committed to developing their place. They will do this by reducing cost, by being sincere- they will eradicate or reduce corruption and wear a thinking cap on how to develop their country or state. And the people on the other hand will be patriotic, obedient and participate in causes of development. We view the success of the regional setting in the early 60s as a sequel of this concept of “nkembunkem”- my own is my own.

    Nigeriaism has failed so far to stimulate development in Nigeria. It also has failed woefully to integrate the peoples of Nigeria; thereby, acting as a fertile ground for ethnic bias, parasitic attitude, lack of patriotism, bitterness and hatred. Like we have hypothesized, for Nigeria to develop, there should be a sense of ‘my own’ on the part of leadership and followership. And this can only come by dividing the country or practicing a confederal or true federal system. The magic is that it will give the power of development to states, regions etc. this singular act will bring a sense of shared duty in the regions or states.

    In essence, for Nigeria to move forward, she has to try a new style other than being stuck on this unworkable one.

    •Temple is a doctoral student at the University of Canberra, Australia.

  • A fight between two lions

    A fight between two lions

    Five months ago I left the PDP and I told the world why I chose to do so. I also said that the party had hit the rocks and that it was a sinking ship. Few believed me at the time but today even the most chronic of doubting Thomases have changed their minds. The division within the ruling party has now become so self-evident that only a fool would believe that things can ever be the same again between those that honestly believed that they had cornered the market on our country and that they would rule Nigeria for the next 100 years.

    Never in the history of our nation has the ruling party at the centre suffered the kind of division and open rupture that the PDP has suffered in the last few weeks and months.To most this is a blessing in disguise but to the members of the party itself it is a terrible affliction and nothing less than a curse of monuemental proportions. Yet anyone that is familiar with the way God operates will understand what is going on and will appreciate the fact that only the Lord could have done this- He has divided their tongues and caused them to turn their swords upon one another.

    The truth is that the PDP stopped operating like a political party quite a number of years ago. For the last few years it has been nothing more than a cult of personality and power- a contraption that was put in place simply to take power, under the guise of democracy, and to keep that power ad infinitum.  It’s sheer incompetence in governance at the federal level in the last five years and it’s insensitivity to the plight of the ordinary people and to the fortunes of Nigeria are manifest for all to see.

    Yet, that is of the least concern to those that control and lead the cult. This is because their only purpose and raison d’etre for being together is to hold on to power at all costs and to share the resources of our nation amongst themselves. With that power comes the most extreme and insufferable manifestation of arrogance and this explains why it is that no-one, no matter how big or small, matters to the PDP.

    As long as they hold the centre and control the purse strings they believe that every single Nigerian not only has a price but also bows and trembles before the Almighty federal government. They forget that with hubris always comes nemesis and that like the mythological Greek character Icarus, the closer they fly to the sun the more the wax that holds their wings together begins to melt.

    What is going on in the ruling party today has little to do with the ordinary people of Nigeria. It is simply an internal and brutal struggle for the very soul of the party which is being waged between the new order, led by a relatively weak, inexperienced yet desperate president and the old order, led by a highly experienced, dangerous, calculating, patient and ruthless former president.

    The latter group is fully backed by elements from the old ruling military establishment who have effectively been running the affairs of this country and determining who would become what since 1966. President Goodluck Jonathan came to power on the backs of these people though he never asked for it and, in fairness to him, he now seeks to assert himself and break free of them. They, on the other hand, see the PDP as their construct and their creation. They see it as THEIR platform. They believe that they literally own it and that they also own the president that they afforded the rare privilage of mounting it in order to acquire power by their collective resolve.

    That platform was conceived and established by a tiny group of exceptionally powerful men led by General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida and General Aliyu Gusau in 1998 almost immediately after General Sani Abacha was murdered and General Abdulsalami Abubakar came to power. Its objective was to keep Nigeria one, to bring General Olusegun Obasanjo to power, to keep the progressives and radical elements out of it and to protect the interests of the powers that be, the ruling class and their business associates.

    Given this scenario it does not take a genius to figure out the fact that the stakes here are enormously high.  In the minds of the protagonists and antagonists one thing is clear- whoever ends up controlling the PDP, they believe, will end up controlling Nigeria with its vast oil and gas resources and it’s enormous influence on the African continent. What they fail to appreciate is that once the internal struggle for the soul of the party becomes too pronounced, too bitter, too violent and too extreeme, it creates the potential for destroying the very foundation of the platform itself and it may well result in the loss of power for them all.

    With an increasingly disciplined and well-organised opposition in the form of the APC, whose ranks are growing by the day, this seems increasingly likely. Consequently for the first time in the last 14 years of democracy in this country, as a consequence of the divisions within the PDP, the opposition may well be set to take power by 2015.

    Yet regardless of this both sides in this internal conflict are so drunk with power and the lust for it that they fail to see or appreciate this point. To them, there IS no oppostion and there IS no other platform that will be allowed to take power.

    They believe that even if they fight one another from morning till night for every day of the month for the next one year, once an election comes whoever wins that fight and ends up controlling the party can and will rig the elections and take power in 2015. It is this strange and peculiar disposition and mindset that has seized their minds that moves me to describe what is going on within the PDP today as a fight unto death between two factions of blind, desperate and reckless men.

    Both sides are so used to power and the wielding of it that they are not mindful of the implications of their recklessness and extreme and uncompromising positions. This may be good for Nigeria because it clearly signals their collective end but it is not good for either of the two warring factions themselves. My view is that at the end of the day both sides will lose simply because one will come out on top, though badly wounded, weakened, dissipated and diminished and the other will be utterly crushed.

    Whichever way it goes by the time this fight is over the party will end up being a shadow of its former self and a pitiful counterfeit version of the original brand. Given the circumstances, there can be little doubt in anyone’s mind that the glory days of the PDP are longer over and more likely than not shall never return.

    Permit me to end this contribution by making an analogy. The lion is the king of the jungle and the story is often told about how he controls his pride and runs his kingdom. We can learn a little from that here. The lion remains head of the pride for as long as he lives. He has all the females at his beck and call and he gets to eat before anyone else even though he rarely hunts with the others. His role is simply to lead and to rule, to lay down the law, to define the boundries, to give orders, to judge others, to enjoy the spoils of office, to mate, to procreate and to protect the pride from outside aggression.

    He is the king and he settles all disputes with a mighty roar and an iron claw. So protective of his own power is he that the minute his own male offspring begins to approach adolesecence or manhood he throws them out of the pride to go and fend for themselves. If they insist on staying he will fight and kill them. No-one challenges his authority and neither does he brook or tolerate any opposition to his rule.

    He may delegate power or authority from time to time to others, but as long as he lives, he is king. The only way to remove him from power is for a younger and stronger lion to come from outside, or indeed within, and to kill him. Once that is done the younger lion becomes king and remains king until he is also toppled and killed by another. What is going on in the PDP today is very similar to the lion’s dance.

    We have, on the one hand, the old lion and his loyalists, who delegated authority and power to his favoured son 2011 and who now wishes to re-assert his authority and reign him back in.