The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Nigeria, No”Geria

    My Nigeria, your Nigeria, every Nigerian’s Nigeria! At time t, Nigeria was born and has been under the spell of amalgamation (1914-2013). Now, at time t2, on the eve of 100 years of cursed amalgamation, things have begun to fall apart (apology to the literary icon, Professor Chinue Achebe). We see our amalgamated Nigeria now as “No Nigeria” or “Nogeria” for short. Ironically, it is also the eve of time t2, the 100th insipid anniversary celebration of this amalgamation of cursed memory.

    At this stage I should look back and recall my honest assessment of Nigeria in my inaugural lecture (No 167) at the Obafemi Awolowo University on March 9, 2004, entitled “ Political Scepticism: Nigeria and the Outside World”. The substance of a part of this lecture (with some embellishments) contains, in my judgment, some germs of truth.

    Contradictions and absurdities:

    In 1914, two monsters were cloned into the Nigerian society by our colonial masters. These monsters, which we may call a monstrous couple” contradiction and absurdity” later gave birth to two sets of twins: first, indiscipline and lawlessness and second, greed and corruption, with the second set of twins coming barely one year after the first. In this case, you could hardly differentiate amongst their ages, heights and appearances. They were identical twins and all of them were males. So close were these sets of twins that whenever you saw Taiye of the first set of twins (indiscipline), you saw his Kehinde (lawlessness), and whenever you saw the second set of twins and saw the second Taiye (greed), you saw his Kehinde (corruption). Then the two sets of twins agreed to work and run together in a relay race. As soon as indiscipline (1st Taiye) picked up the race, he passed the baton to lawlessness (1st Kehinde) who then passed it on to greed (2nd Taiye) and, finally, to corruption (2nd Kehinde) whose job was to finish the race. Thus, indiscipline (1st Taiye) and corruption (2nd Kehinde) became the alpha and omega of the mighty relay race. As the alpha, indiscipline, (the eldest child), had the single honour of starting the race while corruption (the youngest child), as the omega, finished the race in a grand style and thus became the most famous of these monsters of cloned parentage (colonial masters). By the circumstances of their amalgamated births, so entrenched were these monsters that they have completely taken over Nigeria and governed her through their ministers in charge of graft, embezzlement, bribery, lack of accountability, inflation of contracts, gangsterism, armed robbery, serial bombings, ritual killings, lies, and everything that is bad under the sun and moon! I therefore see Nigeria as a cloned nation right from amalgamation. It is probably because of this artificial origin that the Nigerian social, economic and political maladies have defied human comprehension while her numerous problems have become permanently insoluble, including the problem of underdevelopment by which the largest country in Africa remains a gigantic dwarf. Perhaps we need a cloned solution to a cloned problem!

    Nigeria is a country full of contradictions and absurdities. When Levy Bruhl wrote many years ago that Africans were incapable of second order thought, he meant that African thoughts and cultures were pre-scientific and pre-logical, using the term pre-logical to describe a kind of thought that is not free from inner contradictions or inconsistencies. Although I had criticized Levy Bruhl’s audacious position somewhere else, I have since pitiably come to the realization that there might be some truth in the brutally frank assertion from a colonial anthropologist and ethnographer of repute. In so far as a people’s actions and behaviours are products of their thoughts, we can safely say that their actions and behaviours are reflections of their thought system. So, if Nigeria is a land of contradictions and absurdities, then, it is not unreasonable to argue that their thoughts are not free from inner contradictions and absurdities. Therefore, my scepticism about Nigerian democracy is based on the perceived contradictions and absurdities in our social, political, economic and even religious behaviours, and the manifestation of these contradictions and absurdities in the forms of indiscipline, lawlessness, greed and corruption – the offspring of amalgamation. Contradictions and absurdities may actually be seen as the defining characteristics of our social, political, economic and religious behaviours as highlighted by the two sets of twins that gave maximum effect to the natures of contradictions and absurdities in the Nigerian state.

    Nigeria is such a big nation of contradictions and absurdities that it may have presented itself to the outside world as one big theatre of fraud, owing to these contradictions and absurdities. In logic, it is known that any statement (whether true, false, meaningless or absurd) follows from a contradiction like “Mr. Oke was in Lagos and not in Lagos at the same time”, i.e. p and not p. From this contradictory statement, any statement whatsoever follows, like “my dog is a rabbit” or “the moon is made of green cheese”! This is to say that, from a contradiction, anything or any statement follows. Perhaps this is why, without knowing the reason, it has often been said that Nigeria is a country where anything goes or happens (apology to a former Chief of Army Staff, General Salihu Ibrahim). It is trivially true that “a country of anything goes” is a country full of contradictions and permanently in a state of flux or anarchy where life is (because of lawlessness) in the Hobbesean sense, “nasty, brutish and short!”

    From the contradictory nature of our society thieves, including pension and oil thieves (pardoned or unpardoned), villains and nonentities can become anything under the Nigeria sun. High society criminals who should be under the bar or permanently put away can become celebrities, senators, governors, ambassadors and captains of industry as rewards for their criminalities activities and inhumanity to man. Taking contradictions along with absurdities as the roots of our problems and the Field Marshall of our social, political and economic maladies, we no ticed that its two sets of twins which are more vicious maladies have seized our nation with ferocious intensity and spread their tentacles over Nigeria and the outside world. Indiscipline, lawlessness, greed and corruption have displaced God by which we have substituted MONEY as an object of ferocious worship in our society, to the extent that we are neither accountable to God, our creator, nor to humanity at large. How close are we to Sodom and Gomorrah!

    The amalgamation of different nationalities in Nigeria by our colonial masters, whether deliberate or not, has put together strange bed fellows, an amalgamated people of assorted and different terrain, weather, cultures, languages, social habits, religions, educational interest, world views, moral and value systems. Thus, since amalgamation, the different nationalities have fought to outdo one another in the sharing of the national cake baked from oil, various taxes and other sources of wealth like sports and educational achievements not evenly baked by all the nationalities. Since independence we have witnessed acrimonious fight for just or unjust resource allocations that eventually went into private pockets. It has been every nationality to itself with the sole ambition to grab and grab for each nationality as much as you could from the national cake, even if it means rigging of population census and grabbing by cheating. This cheating has led to people’s indiscipline, lawlessness, greed and corruption in which we now find ourselves as a result of the contradictions and absurdities inherent in amalgamation, and the contradictory situations and behaviours that have prevented Nigeria from growth and development over the ages. This ugly event is what we are celebrating next year. What a contradiction in thought and perception!

    It is in Nigeria that you witness various contradictory situations and behaviours. Nigeria, an oil rich country, is one of the richest in the world and yet it remains a country where there is perennial shortage and exorbitant cost of fuel products. It is a country where less than 5% of her people are stinkingly rich but 95% live in abject poverty as wretched of the earth. Surely, if fresh air were not given free by God to both the rich and poor alike, 95% of Nigerians would have died of lack of oxygen which they could not afford because it would have been hoarded by the 5% wealthy Nigerians. It is a country which sells electricity to neighbouring countries but suffers from epileptic supply of electricity at home. It is a country where 95% of her people do not have access to potable water. It is a country where her leaders, including religious leaders, preach morality in the morning but break it at noon! It is a country which has about 2000 religious denominations of assorted kinds and descriptions, always conducting aggressive prayers at revivals and vigils in many churches and mosques on a daily or weekly basis, but full of ungodly and wicked people. It is a country where people rig elections and then go to churches or mosques to give thanks to God for successful rigging, as if God was behind the act. It is a country which badly craves for economic recovery but her leaders engage in economic sabotage such as systematic looting of the treasury and money laundering. It is a country which professes love for education, sports, economic, political, scientific and technological progress but worships mediocrity that is antithetical to any progress whatsoever. It is a country where federal character means unitary character in allocation of key appointments (as in INEC, ministry of aviation and all the ministries, parastatals, departments and other agencies)

    In Nigeria there is no enforcement of laws because those who are to enforce these laws are themselves lawless and corrupt people. It is in Nigeria that we use corruption to fight corruption, and it is where justice denied at home is granted abroad. Nigeria is a country which has no concept of time and its direction. Nigeria is where people do not keep to time or plan for tomorrow because there is no tomorrow. It is a country where there exists a federal system of government that is at the same time unitary in style and practice. It is in Nigeria that patriotism is at zero level, where people hate their country and prefer to migrate to foreign lands in desperate search for the Golden Fleece. It is a country where parents prefer their children to acquire their thought systems early in life in a foreign language (English) instead of their natural languages known as the mother tongue. It is also in Nigeria that suffering and smiling take place simultaneously (apology to Fela Anikulapo”Kuti). It is a country that is craving for democracy yet her leaders are trying to prevent strong opposition from emerging as a political party after a well researched and internationally publicized acronym. And there are many more of these contradictions and absurdities in our society. But from those I have mentioned, it is easy to see why we can derive a basket full of maladies from contradictions and absurdities that have made Nigeria a laughing stock in the international community, and a country where anything goes and nothing works, including our democratic experiments that have turned out to be everlasting experiments in political, social and economic failures.

    From the foregoing, the word Nigeria is perhaps too deceptive a name to use for a country as bad as ours. From the activities and behaviours of her leaderships and governments Nigeria is becoming such a no-go area for decent people, especially for the international community, that a change of its name from Nigeria to No”Nigeria or No-geria (Nogeria) may have become inevitable. But this name (a not too good one) may be changed for a better one (after the rescue mission at the 2015 elections) that would relieve us of the pains and hell we had gone through from being identified with the name “Nigeria” in the international community. The truth must be told.

    Professor Makinde is the DG/CEO of Awolowo Center for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance of the State of Osun, Osogbo.

  • As Aba’s Geometric Power takes off

    As Aba’s Geometric Power takes off

    When President Umaru Musa Yar Adua on November 1, 2007 laid the foundation stone for the construction of the 140 megawatts Aba power plant to be constructed by a private power company, Geometric Power Systems Limited at the plant site in Osisioma-Ngwa, Abia State, not many Nigerians believed that the project would materialize at all. This was due to the persistent and perennial failure and crisis that had accompanied power sector reforms in the country that had thrown vast part of the country into perpetual darkness for years now. A development which had grounded many industries and discouraged foreign investors from investing in the country.

    The project according to its designs was expected to be commissioned in April 2009, but will be now commission next month as deadlines were shifted to accommodate contingencies and tackle challenges. ( GPSL company which was owned by former Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji initiated and commenced the construction of the model power plant with an intention to serve the industrial hub within the Aba-Port Harcourt axis.

    Most industries in the areas have gone into extinction owing to poor power supply system of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and so constructing of a model integrated power plant like the Aba plant was not only a good business initiative, but also good move to save the economy of the South-east region from total collapse.

    As the power plant is set to take off operation any moment from now, kudos and praises must go to the brain behind this noble project, an illustrious son of Igbo land, Prof. Barth Nnaji for believing in Nigeria, despite the disappointment and humiliations he has suffered in it. Also to be commended for making the project a reality is the Abia State Government under the leadership of Governor Theodore Ahamuefuna Orji whose government provided enabling and secured environment for the project to be executed.

    The company encountered a lot of challenges while constructing the project. Top among the challenges was the problem of insecurity which was occasioned by the kidnapping menace that crept into the state then. A menace that compelled workers of the company at the site to flee then for fear of being kidnapped. This was at a time notorious and politically motivated kidnappers took over the commercial city of Aba and its environs in a desperate bid to ground governance in the state for selfish reasons. Works were brought to a halt at the site, while commercial activities were grounded and residents fled for safety. There were calls for the state of emergency to be declared in the state by some people which include opposition politicians in the state and the then President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Mr Joseph Daudu (SAN).

    Orji’s government was never deterred with the kidnapping challenge then, rather it tackled the challenges headlong by providing all the needed logistics for the security agencies in the state to dislodge the rampaging kidnappers and restore normalcy in the area. This the security agents achieved when they gunned down the leader of the kidnapping gang in the area, Obioma Nwankwo aka Osisikankwu in a gun battle and flushed out his co-kidnappers in the state. That was how normalcy was restored to the area and the power company continued their project. A feat the few cynical political enemies of the state governor did not believe his government could overcome.

    Obviously, if normalcy and security were not restored in the area by the state government then, there is no way the power plant could be executed and the idea of Aba returning to its lost glory would be a thing of the past by now. Ahead of the commissioning of the power plant, the state government has already completed the Osisioma Ngwa-Geometric road making access to the project site easy for the company workers and other communities around the area.

    Fulfilling her promise during the rainy season last year, the state government had since the ending of last year commenced massive rehabilitation and reconstruction of many federal and state roads in Aba. The roads include Azikiwe road, Cemetery road, Milverton Avenue, Eziukwu/ Okigwe round about, Ama Ogbonnaya, Nwala by Faulks road to brass junction, linking Aba Owerri road, Ngwa road, Ohanku road, Eemelogu road (completed awaiting drainage) Ehere road, Omoba road, Umuola road, Ikot-Ekpene road from Opobo junction to Bata, Omuma by ACCN, Nwigwe by Nwagba Avenue, geometric access road, and Aba-Port Harcourt road. The development is already boosting commercial activities in the city with massive influx of business projects ahead of the Geometric power plant take off.

    Beside, it could be recalled that the present government in Abia State had last year partnered the Federal Government to evacuate power from the 132 Power station in Ohiya Umuahia. Since the commissioning of the project, there has been steady power supply in Umuahia and its environs.

    A situation that has made the state government’s rehabilitation of the Umuopara Regional Water Scheme a possibility, as the Water Scheme has since commenced operation, providing clean water for the residents of the state capital and its surrounding communities. Since then also, the medium and small-scale industries and several artisans in the state capital who were before now off business due to epileptic power supply have re-opened shops and business is booming.

    With the take off the Geometric power plant any moment from now, Aba will surely become a haven of investment in the country as all the ailing industries in the commercial city will be revived and employment opportunities would created. It is a credit to the Orji administration that these achievements were being made possible at this point he is taking the state to the next level in the area of infrastructural developments, security and peaceful co-existence. With steady power supply in Umuahia, Aba and its environs, Abia state will go down in history as the first state in the country with steady power supply since the return of democracy in the country in 1999.

    • Dr. Uwa, a medical practitioner wrote from Aba, Abia State

  • Agriculture revolution: The Ogun example

    Wednesday, February 13, was another red-letter day in the history of Ogun State. It was the beginning of another epoch, when the state turned a new page in its quest to raise the standard of living of its people.

    If anyone had forecast as at 1960 when agriculture accounted for 92.7 per cent of our foreign earnings that a time would come when food would become a major problem in Nigeria, he would have been advised to go for a psychiatric test. In the same vein, if a prophet had predicted as at 1980 when one US dollar was less than one naira and a pound sterling exchanged for about a naira that a time would come in Nigeria when a dollar would exchange for 150 naira and a pound for 250 naira, or that the time was near in Nigeria when those at home would live on abroad, importing everything, including chewing sticks and bottled water, he would literally have been tied to the stake, stoned to death or sent to the guillotine for summary execution.

    But the reality of our situation now stares everyone in the face. Prices of foodstuffs keep on skyrocketing thus increasing the cost of living and lowering the standard of living of the majority of Nigerians.

    At least, it is not contestable that we spend N1billion daily on importation of rice from the strategic reserves of India and Thailand… I had thought Thailand was even far below us in the 60s while India was our contemporary, just like Brazil and Malaysia. In the same strain, over N50billion is being spent annually to import frozen fish even though we have the capacity to produce enough to meet our needs.

    We cannot pretend not to have missed it at a particular point in time.It is generally agreed that the economic managers of the oil era should have expended the petro-dollars on mechanized farming and in opening up the rural areas through provision of roads, railway, electricity, potable water, etc.

    It is not disputable that investment should have been made in agro-processing industries so that the value chain offered by mechanized agriculture (tillage, harvesting, marketing, storage, sales),especially in the area of employment, should have been fully exploited.

    Nor is it open to debate that farm products such as pineapples, plantain, banana, tangerines, oranges, pepper, etc, ought not to rot away anymore in Nigeria, especially during their seasons, just because we have no means of preserving or processing them into finished products that can be used locally and the excess sent abroad for foreign currencies.

    Indeed, that Nigeria blew the opportunity of an agrarian revolution that would have made the present generation live in abundance is widely acknowledged.

    But we have passed the era of lamentation. What we need now is action.

    February 13, was the day the loud silence of 33 years in the agriculture sector was broken in Ogun State. In one iconic gesture, 86 pieces of multi-million naira land clearing and preparation equipment were launched by the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun. It was the first time since the creation of the state in 1976 that such quantum purchase would take place at one fell swoop. The farm machinery include4 CAT bulldozers,30 MF 275 Xtra tractors,33 Baldan Disc Ploughs,15 Baldan Disc Harrows, 2 Baldan Rotary Slashers and 2 Baldan 4 Row–Planters.

    In effect, the inauguration of these implements marked the setting-out of Ogun State on the road to mechanized agriculture. With these machines, about 80 per cent of the burden of farming has been lifted off the shoulders of farmers. Indeed, the third cardinal programme of the Senator Amosun-led administration is Increased Agricultural Production leading to Industrialization. This can only be achieved by supplanting subsistence farming with mechanized agriculture. The era of using cutlasses and hoes should gradually give way to the use of ploughs and harrows.

    At any rate, the farming population is already aged and farm labourers are difficult to come by these days, hence the rising cost of food in the country.

    On the inaugurated equipment, Amosun had this to say: “We appreciate the need to make these implements easily accessible to our farmers. Towards this end, I wish to announce that the rate for hiring them has been subsidized so as to create a relief to our farmers. Operation and maintenance arrangements have also been made with the equipment suppliers to make the scheme sustainable.”

    Some of the steps taken so far by the administration to revive agriculture and renew the interest of our youths in the sector include the following.

    Resuscitation of Farm Settlement scheme with the commencement of a Model Farm Estate in Owowo, in Ogun Central. The first set of participants willbe admitted this year. The samewill be replicated in the other two senatorial districts of the state.

    Complete rehabilitation of the moribund three government owned fish farms located at Ilaro, Odeda and Ikenne. Production activities have since commenced on these farms.

    Restoration of the state government Central Feed Depot at Kotopo in order to stabilize the cost of livestock feeds in the market.

    Disbursal of agricultural loans to over a thousand farmers under the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme. The state is about to commence the next phase of the scheme.

    And to further prove that Ogun is not toying with the idea of reclaiming its glory in the agriculture sector, any genuine investor, local or foreign, interested in agriculture will have a discount of 80 percent on land acquisition.

    The state has keyed into the Growth Enhancement Support scheme of the Federal Government, which “seeks to lift 20 million farmers from the six geo-political zones out of subsistence to self-sufficiency.” Indeed, Ogun State is collaborating with the Federal Government on all fronts to revamp agriculture in the country, including the realisation of its promises to the state, viz. establishment of three large processing rice mills to process the highly nutritious Ofada rice, upgrading of 33 SMEs to produce high quality cassava flour and establishment of one large scale high quality cassava flour plant of 240 metric tonne per day.

    This writer is particularly upbeat about the Model Farm Estate initiative of the Amosun administration. Just like the model schools and roads, the model farms will be of the Ogun Standard, which sets benchmarks for others.

    As someone who not only practised agriculture in the secondary school but literally grew up in the farm, I knew the regrets in those days included lack of electricity, modern farmstead, potable water, access roads – which implied that we had to carry heavy baskets of farm produce on our heads and trekked kilometres to get to the market. Of course, we didn’t find all that funny at all; and we had to till the land with hoes and cutlasses…in addition to the burden of being cut off from civilisation! It’s not surprising that none of my generation returned to farm, including those who secured degrees in agriculture despite the interest of some of us in farming…

    All that will now change in Ogun with the desire of the current government to revolutionize the sector. With other laudable schemes in the pipeline, including encouraging all year-round farming through the use of irrigation and total exploitation of the value chain provided by commercial agriculture (the governor keeps harping on this ‘value chain’), there is no doubt that it’s just a matter of time before Ogun takes its pride of place in agriculture in the country.

    • Opeyemi is Special Assistant on Media to Governor Amosun

  • From the cell phone

    For Segun Gbadegesin

    Yes, Ayekede should be allowed to go home. If not in the spirit of Easter, then in the spirit of moral justice or, at least because of his ingenuity. What of those using sea vessels to steal our oil or those raking in millions from oil subsidy? From Samuel Ekohimi (Lampese, Edo State)

    In a decent society where mothers teach there children the words of God and how to behave and relate well with people, moral revolution cannot be reversed. Today we in a society, where moral values have been abandoned, we don’t respect our culture any longer, we are no longer emulating our fore fathers, corruption has eaten up in to our system. Decency is no longer in our society. From Hamza Ozi Momoh Dockyard Apapa Lagos.

    Re-Reverse moral revolution: At first, one would want to disagree with the title of your write-up as encouraging moral decadence but having gone through the write-up, you were really saddened by what moral decadence had turned the society to. Teachers in Nigeria could not be apportioned any blame for children, pupils and students’ reverse moral revolution since our society copied the Western world by abolishing CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. That really built most of us, up both at Primary and Secondary schools. At the tertiary institutions, we were not taught how to be well-behaved. Lanre Oseni.

    Re: The world has become a global village with the internet as the village square. The media has a strong influence on the information age generation perception of morally right traditions and what is not nowadays. It takes a highly discerning mind for a youth of this information era to be able to know the difference between what may be wrong though a lot of people are doing it and what is morally right and be able to stand out of the crowd. Purposeful mentorship, laden with examples and not precept is the key. From Olumide Soyemi Bariga.

     

    For Olatunji Dare

    When you point an accusing finger at somebody, the rest for is pointing at you. Dismissing Awolowo as mediocre or the nobel as inconsequential says how small Achebe mind is. Anonymous.

    The literary vacuum Achebe left behind will be very difficult to fill. His Things Fall Apart inspired the whole world. May his gentle soul rest in peace. Good night. From Hamza Ozi Momoh Docyard Apapa Lagos.

    I presumed that when The Arrow of God (death) came calling, Chinua was No Longer At Ease. For him, Things have Fallen Apart and The Anthills of the Savannah stood up in awe for A man of the People. Indeed, The Trouble with Nigeria is that; There Was A Country and, There Was an Achebe. From Temitope Vincent, Akure

    Re-Achebe: A literary titan and his times. Late Chinua Achebe, the great. He popularised Igbo culture. He popularised Nigerian culture. He did those through his great prolific prose-writing. Late Achebe did his best but his best was inadequate to earn him Nobel Laurete. That was a matter best known to the Stockholm panelists. No doubt, almost all, benefited from THINGS Fall Apart and Arrow of God. May late Achebe’s soul rest in peace, ameen. I foresee a day, late Achebe would be posthumously awarded the Nobel Prize causing literary war songs between Soyinka’s fans and late Achebe’s admirers. From Lanre Oseni.

    Thanks for your piece on Achebe. The problem with Achebe was that he never believed there was a good person outside the Igbo. This tribalist tint tainted his literary status and reduced him to an Ibo town crier before his demise. From Kura Marcus, Kaduna.

    Your essay on Achebe in the nation of Tuesday, April 2,2013 was very remarkable and cultured but devoid of prose with which your essays normally portrays. Infact you wrote like Soyinka. From Engr Charles, Calabar

    “And what a teacher he was!” Achebe was a teacher of tribalism,bigotry and ethnic chauvinism who died a frustrated man because his tribe could not dominate other tribes in Nigeria. From Banji Fabiyi Akure.

    That Achebe wrote Awo was a tribal leader meant he was so in the real?Is it so all becus Achebe said it ? Opinions are opinions. From Nse Williams

     

    For Gbenga Omotoso

    April fool has long disappeared in Nigeria. It has become April bomb and gun shooting across the land. In those days, we did watched American film trick on television performing April fool, but in Nigeria ours is April shoot. We cannot longer go to the motor park for travelling, the fear of bomb has become the beginning of wisdom in travelling by plane, even walking with bear footed is no longer safe in Nigeria of today. April fool has become fools to Nigerians because is not longer at ease. From Hamza Ozi Momoh Apapa Dockyard Lagos

    Hmmm okay ooo! A call for change in orientation…somebody and nobody syndrome(swagz and learner tinz). Anonymous

    Indeed there is no April fool again. We Nigerians have seen and heard of terrible events and incidents. What more can we expect. Anonymous

    I like reading your write-ups. The story of have notes is not limited to Nigeria. Its really sad to see how men dressed in a little garb of authority make angels weep. Its worse in countries like India and other SE Asian countries! !!! Anonymous

    Gbenga, your editorial on April fool amid Easter blues is a true reflection of our society today.How about the police pension thief that got a slap on his back as his sentence by an Abuja judge for stealing N32bn. Lord have mercy. From Chief Benson Nwobum, Kaduna

    RE-APRIL FOOL AMID EASTER BLUES. April fools had been part of merrymaking of enjoying Easter festivities. However, that colouration was terminated in Nigeria consequent upon Boko-Haramic continued destructions. May President Jonathan get assistance from God to move swiftly to conquer unrest in the Nation and power electricity to the country, uninterrupted, ameen. Give him the help to conquer oil-thieves of 32.400 litres of petrol, drown kidnappers and stabilize justice. He should rise against Indiscipline and deal with corruption as well as thuggery of those who kill and destroy at will! From Lanre Oseni.

    Thanks for this wonderful write up. Nigeria is a very funny country where every day is turn to a mind boggling April fool. The real April fool has since been buried. Watch out, because that April fool may cost your life. From Wisdom I. From Doka, Kaduna

     

  • Bayelsa: From cynicism to confidence

    It is universally settled in the western world, that the chief business of government is to bring development to citizens. As Aristotle suggested, the critical benchmark for measuring development is people’s quality of life, not to be confused with wealth. It is the prospect of people to realize their full potential as human beings. As espoused by Mahbub ul Haq in the first Human Development Report, “the basic objective of development is to create an enabling environment in which people can enjoy long, healthy and creative lives.” Whereas, standards of living are difficult to measure, indicators of social development are available: – Employment, Agriculture, Health, Infrastructure, Investment, Safety and Security, Education, and Good Governance, among others.

    How does Governor Dickson’s administration fair measured against these universal standards? The primary obligation of any government is to protect the public, the lives and property of the people. This requirement cannot, obviously, be unqualified for the reason that there will always be those determined to breach the law or undermine whatever safety measures are put in place. But it is the government’s job to do its best in ensuring that in a free society, people can go about their lives facing the least‘ possible risk of crime or harm. The state government has been conscious of its responsibility in this regard. As it is said, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. As a direct strategy to prevent the youth from being idle and ensure security and safety for the people of the state, the government is taking aggressive steps to create opportunities for the youth by making Bayelsa State the investment magnet of the Niger Delta.

    The Bayelsa State Secret Cult and Kidnapping and Similar Offences (Prohibition) Law 2012, was proposed by the governor and has been passed and duly signed into law. The Anti-kidnapping law prescribes the death penalty for the crime of kidnapping.

    Considerable funds have been committed to strengthening the police force in the state to effectively discharge its obligations. The formation within its ranks of Doo Akpo, a well trained and equipped Rapid Response Unit, monitoring both the land and the waterways, has been well received by the people. In addition, there is a twenty-four hour, aerial surveillance over the entire state, which gives timely information to Doo Akpo.

    Also, the importance of health in personal life cannot be overemphasized. It has come to be regarded as a prerequisite for optimum socio-economic development of man. Health care as a right of every individual has been recognized in many countries.

    Apart from plans to upgrade the 500- bed Hospital in Yenagoa to a state-of-the-art specialist facility, comparable to any other in the world, modern General Hospitals are being built in each of the local government areas, thereby eliminating the need for people to commute outside their areas of residence for medical attention. With the global trade in fake drugs reaching several billion dollars yearly, the establishment of the Bayelsa State Pharmaceutical Company being handled by former DG, NAFDAC, Prof. Dora Akunyili, to procure, produce and distribute drugs, can be considered a key development, indeed, a huge boost to effective health care delivery.

    To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jnr. darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Ignorance cannot drive out ignorance, only education can do that. Progress in education is critical for human development in its own right and because of the links to health, equity and empowerment.”

    Here again, the Dickson government has been active in confronting the challenge. Free and compulsory education throughout primary and secondary tiers of education has been declared and is being purposely implemented. Schools are being renovated and new ones built. Science and laboratory equipment are being supplied to the schools. Uniforms and books are free and available. Arguably a major example anywhere else in Nigeria is the building and equipping of residential quarters for teachers and school heads. An agreement has been reached with a reputable Canadian institution to train teachers from the state. There is growing enthusiasm among young graduates to take up opportunities in teaching. There is a scheme that automatically assures graduates with a minimum second class upper division, scholarships to any institution of learning in the world for further studies. Impecunious but brainy children from the creeks of the state also have a special scholarship programme in place to school anywhere in Nigeria and abroad. This is commendable.

    Staying true to the traditional occupation of the people-fishing, the government is making significant foray into modern aquaculture. People are being trained to handle and manage fishing trawlers. Large scale fish and shrimp production is on stream. Rice farms in Isampou, Peremabiri and Yenagoa have been revived with the potential to produce enough grain for the entire West Africa market at full capacity.

    Infrastructure equally scored very high in current development in the state. The state capital and beyond, wear the look of a mammoth construction site. Winding road network linking all senatorial areas together and out of the state are progressing rapidly. The determination of the government to align the state with the standards obtainable in other jurisdictions is tangible.

    It was Barack Obama who said Africa did not need strong leaders, but strong institutions. Interestingly, one area in which Governor Dickson has shown strong leadership is the establishment of strong institutions. In keeping with his campaign promise, he insisted on the passage of the Bayelsa State Accountability and Fiscal Responsibility Law. This law, in effect, recognizes the fact that leaders are de facto servants of the people, by compelling the government to give monthly stewardship of the monies entrusted to their charge. This the governor personally discharges in the monthly Transparency Briefings before journalists and Bayelsans from all walks of life.

    A further requirement of the law is the compulsory savings of the state for the proverbial rainy day. Far from being mere window dressing, today government business is not shrouded in secrecy, indeed ordinary Bayelsans know how much the state receives, spends and saves on a monthly basis.

    Supplementary to the transparency briefings, a Committee on Information Management has been setup, with a view to affording people opportunity to call dedicated hotlines and make inquiries about government activities. All the above are impressive democratic ideals which we appreciate as institutional values in our organization and we see them as fundamental tom good governance.

    The foregoing has boosted the confidence of Bayelsans in the good intentions of their government and the investing public in the integrity of the state to protect their investments. The corollary of this is the record influx of investors into the state. The employment projection for the youth in this regard is pretty good.

    A major concern for many people trying to do business and engage with governments in Nigeria is where to direct inquires and get honest, reliable answers. The Diaspora/International Relations bureau, headquartered in the Governor’s office, is not an office in name only, but a fully equipped and functional Bureau. Here, concerns on bilateral ties to the government and business are promptly treated.

    Governor Dickson, the visionary of the new Bayelsa may be affectionately called “Countriman” as testament to his enduring affinity with the common man. There is nothing common about the robust agenda he has set for the state, nor in the determined fashion he has set about executing it. Many of his initiatives have been brilliant, bold and courageous. He has surrounded himself with the most discerning and astute minds, regardless of their state of origin. Most notable of all his policy directives thus far, has been his Transparency Initiative, fueled by his desire to change the governance culture in Bayelsa State.

    • Joffa is of the League for Accountable and Responsive Governance.

  • Harnessing regional abundances

    The sustained agitation for the manifestation of our regional selling points has never been this feverish. The preponderance of opinions is that it will herald a new vista for Nigeria, if faithfully embraced. Again, it appears to be a prescription, which will strengthen the professed indivisibility, which our country is desirous of protecting.

    Just recently, the former Vice President of Nigeria, Dr Alex Ekwueme steered a new body in town: Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly (S.N.P.A) to advocate for a return to the six zonal arrangements which the generality of Nigerians sympathise with.

    Constant resonation of this reality had always featured in the charismatic devotion of some present-day gubernatorial stewards to inject life into some latent and comatose legacies of their regional heroes past. This is symptomatic of a renewed zeal in Abia State to strengthen Dr. Michael Okpara’s mile-stone in agriculture exemplified by the once vibrant Abia Palm at Ohambele in Ukwa East local government area. This effort is being complemented by a rare initiative of locating farms in each of the 17 local government areas of the state under project “liberation farms”.

    In my estimation, we stand to substantially reward Nigeria, if there is a deliberate regional effort programmed to maximize the mineral and agricultural competencies of a region devoid of federal encumbrances. A federal structure, which empowers component units to express themselves exploratively and pay economic homage to the centre will in my minds eye, engender healthy competition in the polity and herald a departure from our present monolithic and precarious arrangement which is hopelessly tied to uncertainties of the global oil market. A recent and widely reported decline in America’s demand for Nigeria’s crude drives home the point I am trying to infer.

    This submission is without prejudice to the demand for even distribution of state creation as against what presently obtains. If anything, it will fast track development in the six geo-political regions, given a foreseeable scenario of regional stakeholders going the extra-mile to maximize the potentials located in their domain.

    Lord Lugard’s unification of 1914 meant only the loose affiliation of three distinct administrations of Northern, Western and Eastern regions. Consequently, each region was still administered by a lieutenant governor, who bestrode independent government services. This latitude enabled each governor to coordinate virtually autonomous entities that had overlapping economic interests, but little in common politically or socially.

    However, our reception of democratic tenets as ingredients of political and economic development will make it imperative for its replication in all geo-political entities of the country. Consequently, while we seek to deregulate the economic atmosphere of each region, our shared democratic values will be administered nationally for constant promotion and maintenance of our national identity.

    As earlier on somewhere highlighted, the inevitability of synergy, in the face of dwindling economic resources, has become imperative. In a lecture, I, delivered, during the public policy forum of Business Hallmark, July 4, 2012, I did observe that the need to seek integration of contiguous states, especially those already bonded together by cultural and historical affiliations has become unavoidably expedient for states to be in a position to harness and accelerate their economic development. Having constituted a look at the past and how it compares with the present, it is obviously evident that at the point of independence, the colonial British and Nigerian nationalist routed for a broad based federal system of government.

    Each of the regions, through their inaugural heroes, sought to exploit their potentials to develop and this ushered Nigeria into the healthy era of celebrating regional competencies. The north covered up for agricultural deficiencies, prevalent in other regions, and we could hear of the groundnut pyramid, which featured prominently in Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings.

    Same spirit of enterprise played out in the eastern part of Nigeria as it was widely reported that by 1960, Chief Michael Okpara, Premier of defunct eastern region, had laid a solid foundation, upon which the economy of the region stood without mineral resources. The strength of then eastern region motivated many political and economic permutations to posit that the region will ultimately actualize Nigeria’s long held desire to be among the most industrialized countries of the world.

    We could also hear of the cocoa merchants in the west ably piloted through the foresight arising from the well-established Odu’a Investment Company, in 1965. Odua’s blue-chip subsidiaries spanned publishing, manufacturing, and properties such as the Western House in Broad Street Lagos, Cocoa House in Ibadan Oyo State and other industrial concerns like Durosyn paint and Polyplast, Airport Hotel Ikeja and so on.

    A praise worthy resilience and tenacity of purpose have kept some of Odua Investments going, while many have also gone the way of others.

    Given the enormity of merits located in revisiting a reformed regional structure, it has become unavoidably necessary to stimulate a healthy debate in that direction. A broad based national conviction will usher in a sincere adoption, as investments will be directed to regions with comparative advantage for a significant rise in the nations’ productive capacity.

    Let us remember that at independence when regions prospered, it was simply because each of them found a reason to prosper through collaborations with the contiguous localities, and the federal government was undoubtedly the beneficiary in its transformed economy. Consequently, leaders of the regions saw no attraction in operating from the centre. We can, if we put our minds to it.

     

    • Orji, Governor of Abia wrote in from Umuahia.

  • Nobel and how not to judge Achebe

    In one of the most poignant ironies of global literary history, the creator of Things Fall Apart, doubtless the most famous African novelist, died without the Nobel Prize for Literature, undeniably the world’s grandest literary decoration. Long after Chinua Achebe’s death on March 21 at age 82, it is likely to remain a puzzle to many how it happened that the prestigious award eluded him. However, Achebe’s loss again prompts age-long questions about aesthetic objectivity and the determination of artistic value. He lived long enough and his oeuvre was sufficiently broad, which led many to argue that the Swedish Academy, custodians of the yearly Nobel Prize, not only had adequate time but also available body of work to have reached a favourable conclusion on Achebe. If this did not happen, could the reason have been that he simply did not measure up?

    Achebe’s most recent laurels before the end, the 2007 Man Booker International Prize and 2010 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, provided deep insights into his stature in the world of letters. It is interesting that on the judging panel of the International Prize was the South African female writer and 1991 Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer who said Achebe was “the father of modern African literature” and that he was “integral” to world literature. Also of interest is the fact that there were 14 other finalists for the award, worth 60,000 British pounds, including the female British novelist Doris Lessing, who was awarded the Nobel Prize later that year. The biennial literary award, given to a living author of any nationality for a body of work published in English or generally available in English translation, rewards one author’s “continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage.” The judges for the year compile their own lists of authors and submissions are not invited.

    It is intriguing that Achebe was preferred for the International Prize ahead of Lessing who was picked for the Nobel Prize in the same year. It is uncertain whether Achebe was among the Nobel finalists that year, or any other year for that matter, because nominations are officially kept secret for 50 years. Achebe was the second recipient of the International Prize, began in 2005, and which in 2011 was given to the American novelist Phillip Roth. After Roth was announced as the recipient, Carmen Callil withdrew from the judging panel, saying “I don’t rate him as a writer at all; in 20 years’ time will anyone read him?”

    Indeed, this divergence is significant because, on the issue of artistic longevity and reader appeal raised by the judge, Achebe continues to enjoy a wide readership more than 50 years after his first novel. In fact, the 50th anniversary of Things Fall Apart in 2008 was a global party. It is fascinating that one of the 2011 finalists, John le Carre, asked to be removed from consideration, saying that he does not compete for literary prizes. It is a matter for conjecture whether the award would still have gone to Roth, irrespective of le Carre’s withdrawal. However, it goes to show how even extra-literary situations can intervene in the award of literary prizes.

    Although the $300,000 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, which recognizes artists who have had an extraordinary impact in their field, is, unlike the International Prize, extra-literary in scope, its award to Achebe at a ceremony in New York, nevertheless, made a huge statement for his literary accomplishments.

    Even though Achebe produced other worthy novels, they were overshadowed by Things Fall Apart, his1958 debut novel and pioneering work of African fiction, which reportedly sold over 10 million copies and was translated into some 45 languages in his lifetime. It is rated among the best written in English, and in the estimation of many, by itself, guarantees Achebe’s place in the pantheon of literary greats. Achebe’s then unprecedented plot of a pre-colonial African people, the Igbo, who lost their pristine condition to Westernization, catapulted him into the limelight, even before his other novels, No Longer at Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), A Man of the People (1966), and Anthills of the Savannah (1987).

    It is remarkable that Achebe’s pre-eminence in the continent’s literary firmament, particularly because of Things Fall Apart, led to cases of mistaken identity where people mistook other prominent African writers for Achebe. Kenyan novelist Ngugi wa Thiongo said he had been a victim and, according to him, Nigerian playwright and 1986 Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka said the same too of himself.

    By the time Soyinka received the Nobel Prize, the first African to do so, Achebe’s magnum opus was close to its 30th year, and his most recent novel was published 20 years back. Although Soyinka was reportedly a popular choice, many wondered about Achebe. Before his demise, three other African writers were recipients of the Nobel Prize, the Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz (1988), and South Africans Nadine Gordimer (1991) and J.M.Coetzee (2003).

    Since age is no disqualification, it remained a theoretical possibility till he died that Achebe could be eventually picked for the award despite his advanced years. After all, Doris Lessing, the oldest recipient of the award, got it at 88. But the ways of the Nobel Prize are mysterious, probably more than any other major literary award. To be eligible for the 112-year-old Nobel Prize, now worth about $1.4 million, a candidate must be nominated by a stipulated qualified person. In its work in choosing a Nobel Prize winner the Swedish Academy is assisted by a Nobel Committee comprising four to five Academy members, elected for three-year periods. It often happens that the same names are put forward time after time, until the nominee either wins the prize or dies or the sponsors give up.

    It is noteworthy that the Swedish Academy has long been controversial for its apparent Eurocentric bias as well as sometimes baffling decisions, and there is a thought-provoking list of widely acknowledged “great writers” who never won the Nobel Prize while supposedly lesser writers did. One recent instance involving 2004 Nobel laureate, the Austrian female novelist and playwright Elfriede Jelenik, provides food for thought. According to reports, Jelenik herself believed that she should not have received a Nobel Prize and that she had only been chosen for “being a woman.” A member of the Swedish Academy, Knut Ahnlud, shared Jelenik’s belief and resigned over her selection, claiming she had “done irreparable damage” to the prize.

    From these happenings, it is evident that if Achebe went to the grave without the Nobel Prize, it is not necessarily a statement against the aesthetic intensity or artistic profundity of his fiction. The questions are: What standards of assessment determined his inappropriateness for the prize? Was his fiction deficient in form or content? Or was he unlucky for non-artistic reasons? One thing is certain, though, for a writer who produced fiction that belongs to the literary canon, Achebe’s exclusion from the Nobel Prize ironically provides enlightenment on how not to judge literature.

     

    • Macaulay is on the editorial board of The Nation

  • Oshiomhole:  Master story teller at 60

    Oshiomhole:  Master story teller at 60

    At a church service to mark his birthday anniversary on April 4 last year, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole told the audience the story, among several others, of how in his growing days in his native home of Iyamho, Etsako West Council Area of Edo State where he was born 60 years ago, the natives, including his father, would dash into the bush at the approach of tax collectors and resurface when signalled that the invading government officials had left.  The collectibles included personal income taxes, especially under Schedule Two, for those in opposition political parties as well as bicycle and radio licence fees. As a lad he always wished he could ride in the car, a land rover most probably, the tax officials used then.

    He recounted how, as if ordained by fate and at his father’s pleading, it was the same tax collectors’ ‘’official’’ car that took him out of the village on his long and tortuous journey through life to Government House where today it is his lot to manage taxes and their collectors as well as numerous official vehicles of all makes and sizes.

     Of course, everyone present was entertained by the celebrant who, but for God’s intervention, may possibly have remained in his village to tell stories by moonlight. He still tells stories, only that these days he tells the stories of his involvement in labour activism, while working at a textile factory in Kaduna; his climb to the pinnacle as No. 1 leader of labour in the country; his travails as defender of the rights of the working poor; his foray into the murky political waters and war with the “god fathers” and his conquests over those who want to perpetually keep the state poor and under-developed.

    Each story Comrade Oshiomhole has had to tell touched on his life as a child, young man, husband, father and grand-father, unionist and leader of government. What stories will he tell at 60 years of age? They probably will centre round his passionate drive to achieve his vision for Edo State and its people. He will tell the story of how in the last four years as governor, he has had to fight and subdue the witches and wizards that conspired with corrupt government officials to keep development away from the people. Portable water supply, for example, had eluded several communities in the state owing to a resigned belief that water could not be found underneath their land.  The story of the many successes in the provision of water to Ekpoma and other rural communities across the state using three state of the art Dando drilling rigs will be told for many years to come. From Ogbido, Ogbona and Iraokhor to Iruekpen, Ugbogui, Udo and many more the people now enjoy this basic facility which had eluded them for ages.

    Comrade Oshiomhole  at 60 will tell the story of how he met a deliberate state policy which created ‘’disaster’’ of streets and roads in the state. The state of roads, state and federal, was so bad the people had come to believe that nothing could be done about them. It was in that state of despondency that Oshiomhole came to the rescue. Today at 60, Oshiomhole will tell the story of how he resolved to rehabilitate, construct and reconstruct major roads not only in the state capital, Benin City, but also in other urban centres across the state. Intra and inter-city road networks spanning several hundreds of kilometres have been constructed and reconstructed all over that state. In Benin City, gateway roads like Airport Road, Akpakpava Street, Mission Road, Sapele Road, Oba Market Road, Siluko Road, Sakponba Road, Dawson/Uselu/Ugbowo/Oluku Road have been reconstructed to make them befitting of capital city status. These roads and streets and many more now have covered drains, walkways and street lights.  Upper Mission Road, Upper Lawani and many other roads in Benin City and elsewhere across the state are currently receiving attention. He will tell the story of how he has turned Five Junction around. Residents of Benin now journey from their faraway parts to see and appreciate the new face of this area which was erosion ravaged.

    At 60, Oshiomhole will gleefully tell the story of how he reclaimed Costain-Isonorho and adjoining streets in New Benin area of the state capital made impassable by refuse from people who subjected the inhabitants to daily abuse of offensive odour and disease. Today, the whole of the area has tarred streets with walkways, covered drains and street lights. It is now renamed Gani Fawehinmi Layout. He will tell the story of how he embarked on the very ambitious project of draining Benin City of ravaging flood water which had rendered many homeless and many roads impassable. Steady progress is being made on the massive canal from Ugbowo through Evbotutu/ Ekenwan to Oko/Ogba River which is expected to hold and take flood water from several secondary drains under the Benin storm water master plan.

    He will tell the story of how in the past four years he took several communities across the state from darkness to light through provision of electricity to communities that had taken darkness as a way of life. Oshiomhole will tell of the transformation his government has brought to the school system in terms of infrastructure and personnel. From Edo North through Central to the South Senatorial District very many primary and secondary school buildings have either been renovated or reconstructed. The Red Roof Revolution, under which all renovated or reconstructed buildings wear red coloured aluminium roofs, floor tiles, pvc ceiling and electric fans, has been carried to all nooks and crannies of the state. He will tell the people of how more than 50,000 children attending private schools have returned to the public school system because of this transformation and how children of the poor in public schools now feel like those of the rich. For the first time in Edo state, education is truly free from primary to secondary level with all forms of levies abolished. Students at the state-owned Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma have had their fees reduced considerably too.

    At 60, Oshiomhole will also tell the story of how he turned the health care delivery system in the state around. From mere consulting clinics, hospitals in urban centres have benefitted from his administration’s policy of massive infrastructural and manpower development. Rural communities across the state now have fully renovated or new primary healthcare centres equipped and manned by qualified personnel. He will tell the story of how he has restored normalcy to traffic management in the state with the establishment of a traffic management agency charged with the responsibility of organising, co-ordinating and managing traffic in the state. Order has returned to motor parks and roads in Benin City. The Comrade Bus has become the most popular means of intra-city transportation in the state capital as well as between the capital and other major towns and  villages.

    The comrade  tells good stories, and I am sure he will not forget, at 60, to tell the story of how he has helped to redefine politics and governance not only in Edo, but in the whole country. He will tell the story of Edo State of four years ago when the swan song was lamentation without development and how he has had to involve the people in the development of the state as partners. He will tell us that never again will the people be taken for a ride by elected officials.  He will say that ‘’never again will someone come in the future and say that ‘sorry Edo can’t work, sorry there is no money to do anything; sorry we can’t pay salaries, sorry we can do nothing about erosion’’. Comrade Oshiomhole will tell the people how the ‘’one man, one vote’’ mantra has come to stay as a strong electioneering slogan built around leadership by the people. He will tell the people how he is prepared to take the state to the next level of development and solicit their support by paying their taxes and rates promptly.

    What will the people of Edo State tell Comrade Oshiomhole as he celebrates 60?  The relationship between the comrade governor and the people has been very cordial. This has been demonstrated by the outpouring of emotion each time the governor is cited in public places, not only in Benin City, but everywhere in the state. School children, market women,the young and the elderly troop out to welcome the governor anywhere he goes in appreciation of the good work he has been doing in the state. The people will, therefore, tell the comrade governor that they love him and wish him a happy bsirthday.

  • Okorocha’s leaps in the dark

    Okorocha’s leaps in the dark

    The Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, set the tone for his approach to governance with his maiden broadcast on June 6, 2011. During the broadcast, the governor, tagging his administration Rescue Mission government, announced a coterie of policies and far-reaching decisions regarding the state and its people.

    This came at a time when the governor’s partners in governance, particularly the legislature and the executive council, were yet to be inaugurated and constituted respectively. Thus, several major policies were initiated without consultation or being made to pass through rigorous scrutiny by the legislature or any other relevant body.

    As it is generally known, any public policy initiated by a government under separation of powers system must be backed by an enabling legislation. That is, the legislature must pass such a policy into law. This also allows for public participation and contributions through legislative hearings on such a bill under consideration.

    As is often the case, if there are negative reactions from the public or the legislature regarding the bill, the executive may withdraw it or it may not be passed into a law that would later become a policy of the government. This enables the government to save the cost it would have otherwise committed to the execution of the policy. This is the hallmark of responsible and responsive governance.

    This has not been the case with the administration of Governor Okorocha. He instituted a number of policies and embarked on some projects which have been generating rancour and controversies between the government and the governed. The government has had to reverse some of these policies based on the public’s reaction or rejection of the policies.

    One of such policies is the relocation of the Imo State University main campus from Owerri zone to Ideato in Orlu zone. There were widespread public reactions and opposition to this move but it fell on the deaf ears of the government. Without an enabling legislation, the government acquired land and immediately started construction of new structures for the university. Hundreds of millions of naira were spent.

    Several of the buildings had been completed. Out of the blues, Governor Okorocha, while interacting with a group of media practitioners, announced that his government was reversing its decision and returning the Imo State University back to Owerri zone based on negative public reactions. He also announced that the structures already developed in the Ideato zone would be appropriated for the newly proposed Imo-European University. He claimed that the proprietors of the new university would reimburse the state treasury for every penny the government spent on the project.

    The governor also embarked on the spree of awarding contracts without taking into account the paucity and volatility of the state’s source of revenue. Over a hundred road contracts were awarded. Contracts were also awarded for the building of a hospital in each of the 27 local government areas of the state. The government also embarked on the construction of over 320 security gates in Owerri, the capital city. The road projects have largely been stalled. The hospitals have also been abandoned. The security gates have only not been abandoned but have been dogged by the controversy of the governor claiming that he never approved the construction in the first place.

    The government further mired itself in bitter controversy by announcing the dissolution of the constitutional offices of elected local government councils and replacing them with illegal transition committees during his maiden broadcast. Statutorily tenured commissions of the state were also dissolved during the same broadcast.

    As a result of its several illegal acts, the government has been subjected to over 300 citizen law suits. It is most likely that at the end when all the judgments from the various law suits may have been entered, the government’s treasury will be so burdened with judgment debts that the state will be hard pressed to finance any capital project.

    With the illegal transition committees, the government will also end up paying two salaries for every political office in its local council areas. The July 5, 2012 Court of Appeal verdict has established that decision.

    Critics have characterized Okorocha as exhibiting destructive bulldozer-like attitude through his actions and conduct, tagging him with the label of ‘bull in a China shop’. As a result, the governor has alienated himself from the well-meaning citizens of Imo State. His policy and project summersaults have projected him as undisciplined and immature administrator.

    It behoves a responsible potential government to make credible campaign promises after factoring in necessary cost implications. As a commentator observed, trying to execute campaign promises made purely out of emotions, when the resources are not available for execution, only advances the hardships of the general public. A responsible government should bite only that which it can chew.

    It is also pertinent that any policy or project of a long term nature must be backed by law or popular public opinion before it is embarked upon. This is the essence of democracy. As an observer once said, when the head of any administration imposes his will through executive fiat, it is no longer a democratic government but rather, an autocratic or imperialistic one.

    Consultation and sensitization translates to due process. This brings about transparency.

    • Uzodima writes from Imo State

  • Essential Oshiomhole @ 60

    Essential Oshiomhole @ 60

    Today April 4, the two-term globally acclaimed former President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Comrade Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole marks his 60th birthday anniversary. At its maiden merit award edition recently in Lagos, the Labour Writers Association of Nigeria (LAWAN), among others honoured the Comrade Governor for being a Pride of modern Trade Unionism. It was instructive that Labour writers singled out the governor for the merit award. Indeed the significant part of the citation was devoted to his almost four decades-long trade union career (1971-2007). Undoubtedly the essential and perhaps most critical attributes of Adams Oshiomhole is trade unionism. LAWAN certainly got it right; the life and times of Adams show that his main strenuous preoccupations have been with the improvement in the working and living conditions of working men and women. Not surprising that Adams the unionist, advocate, negotiator, the striker and mass organizer any day captures public imagination rather than Oshiomhole, twice democratically elected governor, (the latest in which he won in all the 18 local governments, being the land-mark 18/18), the statesman, the humorist, peace-maker, pace-setter, the dancer, friend, father and grandfather.

    A decade well before Comrade Adams started his working career in Arewa Textile Mill in Kaduna in 1971, Nelson Mandela (precisely in 1961) had said ‘Struggle is my life’. Looking at the well documented activities of the labour leader in the last four decades one can conveniently conclude that ‘Struggle is his (Adams’) life’.

    As his assistant as well as deputy for years and eventual successor as the General Secretary of the National Union of Textile and Garment Workers’ Union of Nigeria (NUTGWN), I bear witness that thousands of national and local collective agreements on wages, allowances, gratuities, hours of work, etc bear the bold signature imprint of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in the textile industry. The union years of Adams were in a developmental, industrialising Nigeria. In the 70s and 80s, in Kaduna town alone, there were over 10 large integrated textile mills that employed on the average 2,500 workers. United Textile Nigeria alone employed about 5000 workers. The latter group that extended as far as Funtua and Guzau in Katsina and Zamfara states respectively had combined 10,000 workforce. Indeed nationally, there were as many as 200 textile mills with as many as 150,000 workers. Textile industry was the largest employer of labour followed by government. The labour market challenge was not unemployment but ensuring that work was decent in terms of pay, hours of work and security of work. This was where Comrade Adams and his colleagues audaciously made a difference. They courageously and selflessly checked the authoritarian labour regimes of mainly Asian employers from China and India. Instead, textile union under the stewardship of Adams and scores of organisers that included late Muhammed Bello, Alhaji L A Shittu, Alhaji Umoru Muhammed, late Emmanuel Amadi, Andrew Asagbohi enthroned what the Swedish political economists, professors Bjorn Beckman and Gunilla Andrae called Union Power in Nigerian Textile industry(1999) ( the only sector to be so studied).

    This singular all-time record achievement in textile union eminently qualified Adams, deputy President of NLC to become the fourth President of NLC where his impact was even more globally felt in areas of improved minimum wage, serial resistance against persistent fuel price increases and bold engagement with private sector employers against casualisation of labour force.

    A look at the issues that preoccupied Adams and his comrades show that what labour unions do are as all-inclusive as they are diverse; wage increase, decent jobs (anti-casualisation), petroleum pricing and deregulation, privatisation, education (ASUU/Government conflicts), democracy (electoral bill, probity among politicians), anti-corruption, nationalism (Bakassi) national unity, organizational and capacity building. Significantly, the forms of struggle employed by Adams were knowledge-driven. Indeed it was the quality of knowledge that Adams brought into the struggle that marked him out among other NLC leaders after Hassan Sunmonu and Ali Chiroma, (the first and second Presidents of NLC respectively).

    Interestingly, Adams the unionist was not as politically partisan. Indeed compared to unionists like Frank Kokori of NUPENG and Pascal Bafyau, the late former President of NLC, (the most partisan unionist) Adams was political party-shy even as he ideologically insisted that unionists cannot be apolitical. Today it is a great paradox that Comrade Adams remains the most successful politically-exposed trade unionist, winning two keenly contested elections including landmark judgement that validated his first victory. The spontaneity, passion and mass enthusiasm that trailed Adams’ political datelines from his dramatic declaration of gubernatorial interest in Edo on the platform of Labour Party (LP) in 2007, to the court verdict electoral victory in 2008 as well as electoral triumph in 2012 has commendably rekindled the nostalgia of the wonderful political tradition of popular leaders like Zik, Aminu Kano, Abubakar Rimi, Balarabe Musa as well Awo at their respective political rallies. Late Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN did a “friendly fire” when he raised a fraternal objection to Oshiomhole’s governorship aspiration on the account that his pan-Nigerian credentials eminently qualified him for the presidency.

    As Edo State governor, even his political opponents bear witness to his unprecedented transformation in primary healthcare facilities and the building of new hospitals across the three senatorial districts and the 18 local governments. His administration witnessed unprecedented improvement in education infrastructure, mass renovation of public schools, provision of learning aids and instruction materials, adequate deployment of teachers and model schools.

    He also provided jobs through public works with thousands of youths employed and secondly through industrial development as witnessed by the recent monumental investment of over $2billion by Alhaji Aliko Dangote in the fertilizer plant at Agenebode. Adams has shown that comrades could be effective state actors just as well as they are effective non-state actors.

    His greatest strength is even on the soft issue; he has demonstrated that being in public office does not necessarily change one’s loud advocacy for good governance. On the contrary, Adams has been as loud in demanding for accountability and transparency in governance just as when he was a labour leader. As regular interventionist in national discourse, he is never on the fence. He had at several times interrogated the assumptions of neo- liberalism ,insisting that contrary to the received wisdom, government has business in business and that governance cannot and should not be left to market forces. Some of his interventions made a positive difference such as his decisive mediation in ASSU/Federal government protracted industrial crisis of 2010! Some interventions were understandably controversial such as his moderated position on fuel subsidy issue in 2011. In all, his voice was loudly counted! The Essential Oshiomhole is commitment to what you believe in. A participant of Course 9 in 1988, he is a member of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS). Happy birthday comrade governor!

    • Aremu, mni, is Secretary General of Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI)