The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Boko Haram: Unending bloodletting

    What an age of unremitting blood fest: from Kano to Borno to Sokoto, there is no letting up as the Boko Haram insurgents remorselessly re-enact themselves with a confetti of body bags and broken limbs. No week seems to pass now without a report of a bloody attack in one part of the North. Last Sunday, the sect struck at a mosque in Konduga, outskirts of Maiduguri, capital of Borno State. The worshippers had come under a massive gun assault in the midst of prayers with no fewer than 40 people killed and several injured. The attackers were said to have been decked in army fatigues.

    Boko Haram also scored a big hit in Kano, July 29 when it let off multiply explosions killing about 45 persons. On Saturday, July 27, about 22 were killed in Dawashi and Mainok in Borno State. Though the activities of the sect came to limelight in 2009, it has been engaged in near full scale war with the Nigerian military with the imposition of state of emergency in the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa on May 14. There was massive deployment of troops to these Northeast states and environs which led to initial successes upon the routing of the insurgents. But it may have turned out that what was won was a pyrrhic victory. The insurgents have continued to prove invincible by regrouping and striking through guerrilla methods.

    Fighting a phantom, moving enemy must be trying for even the best army in the world; and grappling with an environment of possible sabotage, blacklegs and fifth columnists would be daunting to say the least. Then again, fighting rebels without any concrete cause beyond the espousal of hate, bigotry and half-baked religious mantras is outright daunting. So throwing more soldiers at them as we seem to have done so far will only prolong and muddy the war. The war must be prosecuted more at the realm of mind games and gadgets; we seek advantages through telecommunications, surveillance and air power. We must be able to profile them, pre-empt them, second-guess them and rout them. We must develop highly rapid response capabilities. But most importantly, the military top hierarchy cannot afford to take nary a nap, as the ‘boys’ would seize any opportunity to pull surprises.

    Now that it has become obvious that the terrorists are largely cross border elements who are enjoying enormous foreign support, every Nigerian must stand up to support the effort to chase them back where they cam from. Sunday’s attack on worshippers in a Mosque in Konduga must be the first direct, premeditated assault on Muslims. It only proves that the group is desperate and seeks to make some quick and notable gains, it wants to maintain a semblance of invincibility. As it stands most of the North of Nigeria has been devastated by the activities of this violent Islamists. Apart from bombings and gunfights, there are also armed robberies, kidnappings and the destruction of the school system among other government infrastructure.

    For the North of Nigeria which was lagging behind the rest of the country, the Boko Haram carnage will take decades and huge funding to put to order. While we chase the destroyers over the hills and across the waters, are we ready to join other members of the world community to begin to do things the proper way? Are we ready to begin to attend to the conditions precedent to these crises? Like curbing corruption, implementing our budgets faithfully so that its impact will be felt down to the lowest individual in the society? If we do not enact a radical change in the manner we run our country, we will always be dogged by challenges such as Boko Haram, kidnappings and all such vices. We may never be able to stop this cycle of bloodletting.

  • FRSC and Aregbesola’s score-card 

    SIR: I was very happy when I read an online report by hotnewsnaija.com that the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) lauded the governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, for giving priority to safety and security of motorists through construction of roads and stationing of ambulances on major roads across the State for emergency purposes. That the governor was scored high on road safety and security by a federal agency further adds credence to our conviction as citizens of the state that the choice we made in electing him in 2007 was the best thing to do.

    According to the report, the high-rating of Osun as a state whose government demonstrates great efforts in reducing carnages on roads in 2012 was done recently by the Chairman of the FRSC Technical Committee in the state, Prof. Joseph Fawole, when FRSC officials from Abuja visited the governor. Undeniably, anyone who visits any part of Osun will be first welcomed by ongoing massive road construction projects there. It appears no area in the state is left unattended to and there seems to be no discrimination as to whether a particular road is state or federal.

    Thus, Prof. Fawole gets it very right when, as the report says, he flintily posits that ‘What we are currently seeing in Osun is that you (Aregbesola) have brought safety into the lives of all and sundry. It is no gainsaying that you have exemplarily demonstrated the serious role of being your brother’s keeper. You made us proud some time ago when we heard in the news that you personally engaged in the rescue operation of accident victims. The number of ambulances, which you stationed at different locations of the state and the road network in all the six zones of the state, place you above other governors in prudent spending and love for your citizens’.

    Road construction is one of the ways through which the administration of Aregbesola is modernising Osun. I am yet to read or hear about any modern state that does not place high premium on building of road infrastructure. Provision of quality road infrastructure is very critical to achieving socio-economic development. And where roads are in good condition, it will greatly help in checking the rate at which lives are lost through road accidents. Nigerians know too well that one of the leading causes of avoidable deaths in the country is road accidents, facilitated by bad roads that exist in many parts of the country. These death traps, as many would describe them, often rob the country of many human resources.

    But the government in Osun is already addressing the scourge of road accidents with provision of good roads within its borders. The intensive assault declared against bad roads in Osun is now resulting in the enrichment of human resources and economic prosperity. With new roads springing up in the state, the unsightliness that horrible roads bear is disappearing. And where for whatever reason accident occurs on any of its roads, there are ambulances on hand to attend to the victims and in the process save lives for, as we do know, many accident victims always die as a result of absence of quick rescue intervention.

    Aregbesola leaves no one in doubt of his understanding that the main responsibility of any responsible government is the development of human capacity and good life. This is what we experience in the state. The FRSC is right – human beings are the focus of the actions of the present government in Osun.

    • Ebenezer Farinde,

    Ikire, Osun State

  • To the drawing board

    Preamble

    In a deeply thoughtful poetic out stanza, an Arab poet coined some philosophical wordings that have since remained axiomatic by all standards for people who can reason and draw the best lesson from the advantages of their reasoning. The wordings partly go thus:

    “We persistently blame our era for the calamities afflicting us when the only blame ascribable to our era is actually our own misdemeanour…….”
    Prompted by the news of another massacre last Sunday allegedly committed by the vandals called Boko Haram inside a Mosque in Kondoga, Borno State, where 44 civilians were reportedly killed in cold blood and yet another attack on the security forces in Bama leading to the death of 12 soldiers and seven policemen, this column, (The Message) quickly dusted its archive once again in search of facts about the wreath of thorns that littered our way to this stage of our common journey as a nation. And no document came more handy than a lecture delivered by His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa‘ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto at Harvard University, the United States on October 3, 2011.
    The title of the 33-page lecture which had once been fully analysed in this column under the topic ‘A voice from Harvard’ was ‘Islam and Peace Building in West Africa’. In that lecture, His Eminence enumerated the causes and effects of violent crises in the West African sub region with particular reference to Nigeria. He blamed such crises on three major issues: (1) political struggle for supremacy between the elite and the poor masses (2) bad governance on the part of the ruling class and (3) primordial ethno-religious sentiments. The most prominent of these three issues according to him is bad governance which engenders corruption, joblessness, poverty, exploitation, suspicion and general bitterness in the land.

    Observation

    Looking at the situation of Nigeria as a nation abundantly blessed with enormous wealth, one will surely find a puzzling irony in the fact that some citizens of such a nation can be paid a paltry sum of N5000 by some agents of Satan to kill innocent people mercilessly and burn their property with impunity as in the case of Boko Haram. Also, the abysmal level of penury and squalor in the land seems to be a sharp contradiction of what Nigeria ought to be as against what she currently is vis a vis her wealth especially as the so-called ruling class lives in extravagant affluence while the masses live in abject poverty. There are many questions on this hopeless situation to which His Eminence’s lecture had proffered solution since 2011. The summary of the lecture is that no smoke can be found where there is no fire. However, while the Federal Government and its agencies focus on the effect of violence, His Eminence believes that it is only by tracing the root cause of our calamities that we can find a permanent solution to them.

    Excerpts from the lecture

    “….Many people (outside our country) consider Nigeria as a theatre of absurd conflicts and interminable crises.  They may be justified in holding this view; with the Jos crises festering for years, with post-election violence and suicide – bombings, it is difficult to think otherwise.  When we consider Nigeria’s population of about 150 million, half the population of West Africa; its over 250 ethnic and language groups; its regional and geo-political configurations; its landmass and its diversity in religion and culture; we may be constrained to reach a different conclusion.  Nigeria may, after all, be a paragon of stability which, as God Almighty has willed, shall undergo all the trials allotted it early enough in its national history”.
    “But in all fairness, systemic ethno-political and religious crises, like the ones we have witnessed in recent years, do not have a long history in Nigeria.  They all began in the late 1980s, following the intense competition for power and influence especially among the western educated elite; the Kafanchan crisis of 1987, in Southern Kaduna, was quickly followed by the Zangon Kataf and other crises; all in the same vicinity.  The democratic dispensation, which began in 1999 also came with its set of problems, the most visible being the Shari’ah Crisis and the First Jos Crisis which led to the declaration of state of emergency in Plateau State”.
    But these crises, varied as they were, reveal the multi-dimensional nature of Nigeria as a political entity. We witness the primacy of politics in almost all these conflicts.  In the struggle for power and political supremacy, politicians exercise no restraint in aggravating the socio-religious and ethnic cleavages, which characterize the geo-politics of the Nigerian state.  It should not be forgotten that the Second Jos Crisis of November 2008 was also ignited by a botched Chairmanship election in Jos North Local Government”.

    Second Dimension

    “The second dimension to these crises, especially in Kaduna and Plateau States, is the indigene/settler dichotomy, which is yet to be addressed properly by the Nigerian State.  Many ethnic groups in these conflict areas see the other ethnic groups as foreigners who should not enjoy the full rights of bona fide residents.  Most of these disenfranchised Nigerians also happen to be Muslims.  However, those who oppose this dichotomy argue that these so-called settlers had spent more than two hundred years in the areas they reside.  Moreover, as Nigerian Citizens, they have the full right to reside wherever they wish and pursue their legitimate business without let or hindrance.  After all, they cannot be settlers in their own country”.

    Third Dimension

    “The third dimension of Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises is their potential to become a systematic national crisis.  When a person is killed in any of the areas of conflict, his co-religionists, especially in the cities react violently and begin to kill anyone they think is related to him.  This often triggers further reprisals in other parts of the country where victims come from.  It took a lot of efforts by the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council [NIREC] which I co-chair, and other state authorities, to treat each crisis independently and reduce the risk of systemic reprisals”.

    Fourth Dimension

    “The fourth dimension of Nigeria’s crises is poor leadership and the bad governance usually associated with its management.  Many of those charged with authority in the states where these conflicts occur are also parties to the crises.  They make feeble efforts to control the violence and do so only when much of the damage has been done…”

    Governance

    “….The issue of poor leadership and bad governance also explains how the Boko Haram movement has been able to transform itself from a small Hijrah group in Yobe State, escaping from the uncertainties and contradictions of the Nigerian State, to a militant movement able to wreak havoc and destruction once provoked.  Those in authority were prepared to court the leaders of this group when it suited them and to trample on them like flies when they were no longer useful…However, the recent bombing of the United Nations Office in Abuja has introduced an international dimension to terrorist’s activities, a development, which is hitherto entirely new to Nigeria”.

    The promise of dialogue

    “….When I became the Sultan of Sokoto in November 2006, some of the major problems I found on ground were the after-effects of the Riots, especially in Kaduna, Jos and some parts of the North East as well as a disturbing atmosphere of mistrust, fear and hostility, especially between the leaderships of Nigeria’s two major religions: Islam and Christianity. To resolve these knotty issues we chose the path of positive engagement, which we thought would engender meaningful discourse, improve communication and understanding and change the dynamics of our operating environment to that of trust and confidence…”
    “….The Nigeria Inter-Religious Council [NIREC] provided the right platform for this engagement. The Council, itself a product of Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises, was composed of 25 members each from the two religions and co-chaired by myself, in my capacity as the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria [CAN]. The approach of NIREC was simple and practical. Firstly, we affirmed the sanctity of human life, Muslim and Christian, and insisted that anybody who takes the law into his hands, regardless of the circumstances, must bear the full legal consequences of his action. You cannot believe it, but despite the frequency of these disturbances, only a few people have ever been punished for perpetrating any act of violence. The masterminds go scot-free. Secondly, while appreciating the fact that we are required to look after the interest of our co-religionists, we must pay attention to the other dimensions of our conflicts. As many were preparing to declare a religious war in Jos, for example, we laboured hard to draw attention to the other dimensions of the crisis. It was a conflict between Muslims and Christians quite alright, but it was not a conflict between Islam and Christianity. When Nigeria’s President called for a parley among stakeholders, we made bold to declare the Jos crisis a political crisis. Thirdly, we adopted a tactical approach to conflict resolution. Whenever, there is a break-out of violence, we work together to restore law and order and ask the quarrelsome questions later. We take this approach to minimise loss of life and to ensure that the crisis is contained in the primary area it occurred. Also, we devised a quarterly meeting schedule that took us to all parts of the country. It was heartening to many to see us working together and preaching peaceful co-existence and religious harmony even in areas, which never registered an ethno-religious conflict”.

    Duties of NIFAA

    “I must point out that it was also our view that inter-faith action should transcend conflict resolution. For it to be effective, it must affect the life of the common man. NIREC floated the Nigeria Inter-Faith Action Association [NIFAA] to take up this challenge and NIFAA has been very active in the control of the dreaded tropical disease: Malaria. We also find that we must act together to address issues related to electoral reform, good governance and anti-corruption. I am therefore glad to state that the goodwill and understanding which these activities were able to generate, have given impetus to the development of inter-faith dialogue to a new level. I always remember, with happiness, the seminar organized by the Christian Association of Nigeria [CAN] in April 2010, on ‘Knowing Your Muslim Neighbour’, where I presented a paper on the topic. The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs [NSCIA] gracefully reciprocated by inviting CAN members to its formal meeting in Kaduna, where the CAN representative gave a lecture on Islam in the Eyes of a Christian and both Muslim and Christian scholars, gave inspiring responses on the scriptural basis of mutual co-existence. Despite serious setbacks in recent months, many of us remain committed to this positive engagement and to the promise that dialogue offers the resolution to Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises”

    Looking ahead

    ‘’…Understanding the multifarious nature of Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises should strengthen our resolve and determination to deploy all the energies and resources at our disposal to see to their resolution.  Our inability and reluctance to take meaningful action go to challenge not only our common humanity but also our self-worth.  It is, therefore, important for us to appreciate, first and foremost, the importance of consensus building within the polity, with a view to ameliorating the current state of political polarization in it.  The Nigerian political class must be able to speak and understand one another as well as to develop a minimum national agenda to chart the way forward.  The political class must also be able to open dialogue on a variety of national issues, including the perennial problem of power rotation and willingly enter into agreements that they can honour with dignity….”
    “….Also, governance, at all levels, must translate into tangible benefits for all Nigerians, regardless of their ethnic and religious affiliation.  Nigeria has the resources to make life more pleasant for its people.  It is equally imperative to address the poverty problem as well as the needs of the youth population both in all the geo-political areas of the country.  In a situation where over 50% of our population is jobless at less than 19 years of age, we are definitely sitting on a time bomb much deadlier than that of Boko Haram unless we take urgent action to defuse it….”
    “….Furthermore, there should be renewed determination to address both the Jos and Boko Haram sectarian crises.  The Federal Government must take   its security responsibilities seriously by effectively containing these crises.  But beyond that, a genuine dialogue must be initiated, to begin healing festering wounds and to bring genuine understanding and reconciliation amongst the entire people of Plateau State and beyond.  The social dimension of the Boko Haram cannot also be resolved by mere use of force.  This is the reason why I have consistently suggested dialogue and education to counteract its message, especially those aspects dealing with modern education.  Millions of Muslim pupils are already outside the school system. Millions more will definitely follow if urgent intervention is not undertaken to enlighten the younger generations.  And the question I have always asked is What kind of society can we build in the 21st century when our youth turn their back on Science and Technology and are unable to produce the next generation of doctors, engineers and other specializations necessary for sustaining the socio-economic development of the society?….”

    Conclusion

    “….Finally, we should not neglect the impact of the International environment on Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises.  Happenings in the US, Iraq, Afghanistan, Norway, Netherlands, the UK and France are as current and relevant as events in Jos, Maiduguri and Abuja. We must preach international tolerance and moderation.  The fight against extremist groups should never be perverted to become a fight against Islam and its doctrines.  We should all remember that in the final analysis, it is not what the perpetrators of violence do that really counts.  It is the actions we take, individually and collectively, that would shape the fate of humanity….”

    Comment

    For those who can deeply comprehend the above excerpts from His Eminence’s lecture of 2011, there can be no better choice than returning to the drawing board for a permanent solution. In no part of the world has any wound inflicted by sectarian crisis been healed in the contemporary time through the barrels of guns. Nigeria cannot be an exception. The causes of our crises are much more fundamental than their effects. And addressing the   effects alone to the exclusion of the cause may be an approach too far from the solution. God save Nigeria

  • Abia’s tortuous journey to 22

    By August 27, Abia State will be 22 years old having been created out of the old Imo State by the Ibrahim Babangida administration. Scientifically, the age of maturity for human being is 12 years, but at 22, Abia State is still crawling. Successive governments in the state, especially during the military era, ran its affairs with impunity and recklessness. But they did not do it without the collaboration of civilians from the state who often served as fronts for the military to loot the state. Under the guise of businessmen and government contractors, they registered phoney companies and government contracts were awarded to them and funds released to them. At the end, no contract would be executed and nobody would ask for the refund of the public fund already paid to them.

    That was the kind of leadership provided for the state for more than a decade. The hope and expectation of the people for a change in the status quo with the inception of democracy in the country in 1999 was never to be a dream come true. This was because the same characters that connived with the military leaders to impoverish and under-develop the state for almost a decade ploughed the looted funds into the politics of the state and hijacked the political leadership.

     So nothing changed in terms of leadership style, aside of change from military rule to civilian democracy. Desperate to recoup after years of military rule, some politicians served as conduit pipe to siphon state resources and to suppress the people. Between 1999 and 2007, there was no sign of governance in the state, especially in the area of infrastructural development. But government in the state ranked top in the promoting unnecessary political controversies to attract undue attention from the public and in the area of media propaganda.

    Decayed infrastructures begging for government attention were abandoned, while officials built their business empires and those of their family members, converting government assets into family assets at will. The state-owned newspaper was destroyed and its printing press used to establish an anti-government private-owned newspaper in Lagos. Voodoo politics was also introduced in the state and an intriguing matriarchy took charge of government decisions, while the son became the ceremonial leader of the state. A suburb in Bende council area of the state became a Mecca of sorts for politicians seeking appointment into the government. Nobody dared ask question or criticise government policies or actions, which were in most cases anti-people.

     By the time the second term of the government expired in 2007, the state was left worse than it was met in 1999 in terms of decayed infrastructure, absence of access roads, a health sector in shambles as residents sought medical care in neighbouring states. The state of education was pathetic and the rate of examination malpractices was at the peak as special centres which encouraged examination malpractices became dominant in the state. The state debt profile was as high as N29.9 billion. No foundation was laid for the incoming government to take off. The civil service meant to drive government’s policies was bogged by petty and clannish politics, encouraged by the government. The state capital Umuahia remained the same glorified village it was upon its creation in 1991.

    Coming into the office as governor in 2007, Chief Theodore Orji, a seasoned public servant came with a vision and blueprint on how to transform the state. But his predecessor on whose party’s platform Orji was elected had a different agenda which was the maintaining of the status quo in the state. Stifled and hounded on many fronts, Orji was just a figurehead and the system at the national level encouraged the situation at that point. Having seen it all in government as Chief of Staff for eight years, Governor Orji tarried for the best time to strike and liberate the state from the menace of godfatherism, a feat he achieved before the 2011 general elections, after due consultations with the people on what they wanted. Thereafter, the state breathed air of freedom. And since then, Orji’s government has been in hurry to cover lost ground. It is no doubt a daunting task, but the government has remained resolute.

    Today in the state, there is no incessant political crisis especially in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Brothers do sit down now and discuss the way forward for the state. A new Government House befitting of a state capital of 22 years old is under construction. So also is an ultra-modern International Conference Centre, a new Workers Secretariat, and so many other giant developmental strides in different sectors of the state including the civil service that has been reformed and repositioned for effective performance. The kidnapping menace that nearly crippled activities in the state is now a thing of the past. That is why the state has remained the most peaceful state in the country today and has become a haven for prospective investors. There is also steady power supply in the capital and its environs courtesy of the power evacuation from Ohiya power station by the state government in partnership with the Federal Government.

     It is obvious that the present government that is laying solid foundation for the development of the state. And in the face of this obvious fact, some misinformed and hired arm-chair critics who were part and parcel of the poor leadership that bedevilled the state for more than a decade plus are now expecting the present government to use resources and funds realised in the past six years to tackle accumulated decayed infrastructure of more than a decade. This is without raising eyebrow or asking questions on what happened to the funds that accrued to the state since its creation that were obviously mismanaged by successive governments before now.

     The Abia liberation paved way for the solid foundation laid by the present government and what is paramount is sustaining the situation and improving on it to ensure that the dark years of political godfatherism and looting will not find its way back to the government of the state. So ahead of 2015 general elections, all hands must be on deck to ensure that people of questionable characters will not find their way into the Abia Government House. They are already jostling for the seat, but when the time comes, the people will make their choice. They are wiser now, and the present government has set a pace that the incoming government must follow to make great impact.

    • Elder Ugbuaja, wrote from Arochukwu, Abia State.

  • Is Nigeria caught in a deadlock economy?

    Is Nigeria caught in a deadlock economy?

    Many countries over the world, including “third world countries” had had one plausible transformation stride or the other, ranging from human capital development to technological advancement; a product of a successful implementation of economic policy goals. The World Bank review shows that growth is seen to rise by an average 5.6% in 2013 in Sub-Saharan Africa for resource-rich countries which includes Nigeria; a positive scenario that denotes a decline in poverty and unemployment. Notwithstanding what the figures shows, serious developmental challenges still swarm in Nigeria in relations to governance and transparency; our “economists” seem to have failed to avail on themselves simple economic realities and parameters that would aid a realistic evaluation and implementation of policies that will leap-frog the country into the ambits of economic success driven nations.

    It is noteworthy of mention to remind us that a country that does not focus on the factors that over the longer term matter greatly for its economic success is a country whose prosperity is in jeopardy. While economic success is a panacea to growth, its practical and direct impact on its citizenry in relations to well-offness and financial power to access all their basic and essential services could be a better measure of a country’s economic strives. For more than three decades, the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Competitiveness Reports have examined the many factors enabling national economies to achieve sustained productivity improvements and economic growth.

    Nigeria’s Statistician-General had once told the world that he disagreed with the public notion that his Bureau’s positive figures on Nigeria’s growth had not in any way impacted on the lives of Nigerians by way of employment generation; thus, he failed to provide us with a statistical record of the over 70% underemployed Nigerians labouring in the production arm of the private sector, neither did he examine the statistical records and negative impact of growth on the employment exploitation sagas that requires employable Nigerians to part lump sums as bribe to get employed in the public sector. For an ordinary economic student, this scenario is a negative index towards National Income and adversely affects inflation in an economy; the absence of tax on such monies also dwindle the effects of the country’s fiscal policies.

    However, my concern is in the near absence of the country’s “economists” professional focus on factors that had aided other nations across the globe in attaining economic success. These factors – which range from good governance and macroeconomic stability to the efficiency of markets, education, technological adoption and innovation potential, to name but a few – drive the productivity enhancements on which a country’s present and future prosperity is built. On a narrow outlook, these factors, as it may benefit the current Nigeria’s reality includes – but not limited to – Peace (empowering human resources of the country), Honest governance (Representative democracies that are able to have peaceful transitions of power), Capital (the making of money with money, other than embezzlement), Population control (not as in the case of Lagos state), Infrastructure (Not mere advertorial of awarded contracts) and Skilled labour (supporting education with manpower development).

    Well, figures they say “don’t lie”; Nigeria recorded an all-time drop in inflation rate of 8.6% in June 2013, the lowest since April 2008, propelling growth at 6.6% in the first quarter of 2013. However, GDP in the last quarter of 2012 was impressive at 6.99% even though inflation index was higher at 6.9%. The reason for the fall in GDP was attributed to a slow growth in production from the non-oil sector. In other words, the non-oil sector had a drop in production to meet its output in the preceding quarters; this drop could also be proportionally attributed to a shortfall in the factors of production, which labour seems to be a vital influence in this case. Where do we place the Statistician’s assertion that employment generation had improved with economic growth?

    No doubt, Nigeria is making progress in industrial growth, the absence of infrastructure to complement the concerted efforts of attracted investments is slowing down employment opportunities that abounds the ever increasing work force. It is expected that honest governance, in a quest to list Nigeria among economic successful nations, will provide the needed impetus that will motivate a free market economy (market efficiency) where robust investments will engulf the non-oil sectors as “witnessed” in the $3 billion investment in the sugar sector in the first quarter of 2013. Economic success is a complex and often-elusive goal! A positive success can be pronounced if there is a drastic decrease in maternal deaths (not just data from the cities), a huge fall in child mortality rate, stabilizing HIV infection, increased primary school education and completion, as well as fall in the number of people living in extreme poverty.

    Despite the impressive economic data on Nigeria’s growth, serious developmental challenges thrives; governance and transparency remain weak, absurd and unnecessary legislations, continuous rise in maternal mortality death rate, a rather standstill than falling education system, a poor democratic institution with a vague respect for rule of law, hyper-unemployment rate, decayed infrastructure, abject poverty; the list is ever growing. One seems to wonder if Nigeria is not caught in a deadlock economy!

    A redirection of focus can see Nigeria imploring people friendly policies that will ensure economic efficiency, liberalization of priorities for the future; a salvage over the developmental challenges that had hindered real growth. It is real growth that will provide a GDP per capita of the people’s ability to meet their basic needs as well as a government’s ability to garner the tax revenues needed to foster continued economic development with programs that foster health, education and the general welfare of the people. It is real growth that will ensure the provision of infrastructure in roads, bridges, airports, and seaports, power and telecommunication networks, as well as the natural infrastructure – navigable rivers, accessible coastlines and level landscape provide. To get these things right, Nigeria need to take a long-term view on her economic policy goals; who knows, many of her citizenry could fall in the “middle-income” status.

  • Can we build a workable Nigeria?

    Can we build a workable Nigeria?

    I started my message of last week with the frustrating statement: “Being a citizen of Nigeria can often be a weird experience”. Today, I expand that statement. For any people or nation large or small, being a part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is more than a weird experience. It can often be a debilitating experience. It ought not to be so; but it is so. Nigeria makes everything weaker and poorer. As someone put it some time ago, Nigeria is the only place where gold rusts.

    One can see it in every direction one cares to turn. I turn around and look at the late 1950s, the years when I was a young adult and a university undergraduate. And then I compare with the Nigeria of today. The contrast is so staggering that it can give a person a heart attack. Today, one hardly sees the spirit of enterprise and pride in Nigeria anywhere. What one sees most of the time is the spirit of hustling – a kind of soul-destroying hankering after some share in the petroleum money. You can see it on most faces.

    In the 1950s, life was joy and pride to live. Aside from the usual noise of politics and the politicians, society was bouncing in all directions. In all parts of our country, our farmers were blazing the trail to our country’s prosperity. Yoruba farmers led the pack. Countless thousands of them retreated into the deeper forests of the Yoruba farmlands and hacked out small cocoa plantations. Soon, they became the most productive African farmers on the African continent. Their cocoa exports became the largest source of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings, and the main provider of funds for the ambitious development programmes of the Western Region – Nigeria’s pace-setter region of that era. Farmers in the Eastern Region, led by Igbo farmers, poured out large quantities of palm oil and palm kernels to add to our country’s exports. Farmers in the large expanse of our Northern Region, led by the Hausa farmers, became the largest producers of groundnuts for the world market. Pictures of the groundnut pyramids in the city of Kano stood on our school walls all over Nigeria, and added enormously to our pride – the children of the great world power that was on the rise in Africa. In the schools in those days, our children had a litany that they memorized and proudly recited: Nigeria is the largest producer of this product in the world. Nigeria is the largest producer of that product in the world. Nigeria is the largest producer…

    The three regions of our federation were engaged in a spirited rivalry in those years. Each region was led by a group of patriots, some of whom served in elective positions, and the others in civil service positions. None of them thought that public office was the route to personal wealth; and all of them were eager to make great names for themselves and establish great heritages.

    Naturally, I knew my own Western Region the most. From all accounts, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his team were giving us in the Western Region the most far-sighted, most sagacious, and most productive government, not only in Nigeria but in all of Africa. In our region’s Civil Service, a man named Chief Simeon Adebo, head of the Civil Service, was giving us one of the most professional, and one of the most dependable, governmental bureaucracies in the world. In nearly all areas of development, our Western Region was flying on eagle’s wings. We young people proudly called our Region “First in Africa”. But keeping in the front was by no means easy. The Eastern Region was chasing our Western Region very hard and very creditably. And though the Northern Region was starting with a handicap – low levels of education – it too was running unbelievably fast. For 500 years, the Blackman had suffered a poor image in the world. Here now came, at last, a Blackman’s county, Nigeria, to wash away that image.

    But today, all of that has crashed and vanished. On the faces of Nigerians, one doesn’t see the same confidence, the same push, the same resolve, the same air of the conqueror that one used to see. Most Nigerians are now slinking around to find some way to steal or to defraud, or some clever way to dissemble their act of begging, or actually begging shamelessly. Nigeria is back where the Blackman has been for five-hundred years among the races of the world – at the bottom.

    Why? What went wrong? We love power. We love riches. We love to acquire power and wealth, but we do not have any noble purposes for either. We would twist and distort political and societal order in order to grab power and wealth. But we have no noble purposes that we want to use the power and the wealth for. In our hands, power and wealth tend to become agencies of destruction.

    Look thoughtfully at the history of our country from 1952 to 1962, and then from 1962 to date, and you will see what I mean. Our British colonial overlords gave us some limited self –government in 1952, with continued supervision by British officials. As I said earlier on, our leaders (our Awolowos, Ahmadu Bellos and Azikiwes) made it work wonderfully. Their success was proof that this is something we can make a success of. Our sensible next step should have been to spread power out some more by giving the minorities in each a region a region of their own. But, even without our doing that, we were achieving considerable success.

    However, there was a safeguard – the continued presence of the British, which made sure that nobody could seek to grab more power than was provided for in the system. But, as soon as the British left in late 1960, the persons in control of the Federal Government wanted more powers. They now saw the regional governments as obstructions to the exercise of full federal power. And since then, the Federal Government has relentlessly grabbed power and rendered all sections of Nigeria subdued and impotent. Even our present president, President Goodluck Jonathan, himself from one of the most defiant peripheries of Nigeria, is enjoying reigning in the midst of the federal control of all power and the federally-generated chaos, corruption and poverty.

    In the 1950s, we lived to see our many peoples dipping deep into the resources of their culture to give our country prosperity and pride. By crushing and subduing our peoples, we have killed the spirit and the possibility of prosperity in our country.

    We can, if we try sincerely and hard, return to the possibilities that we had in the 1950s. But we are never likely to do that. The ones who want power at all costs are too good at manipulating the rest of us, and the rest of us are too lacking in perception to free ourselves from being manipulated. For instance, just look at our two large nations – the Yoruba and the Igbo. In all conceivable aspects of development and modernization, these two nations want, fundamentally, the same things in this world. Yet, the two are ever working against each other in the affairs of Nigeria – rather than working together and giving most of the rest of us the leadership we need to reorganize our country and return to orderliness and progress. Dr. Pius Ezeife recently said one of the truest and saddest things ever said in Nigerian politics. He said,“As a civil servant in Lagos, I observed the Nigerian politics and found Igbo and Yoruba going parallel lines in Nigeria politics. And as parallel lines, they will remain parallel slaves in Nigeria politics”. Many of us, different nations that desire a rational and workable federation for Nigeria, prefer to operate as parallel lines – and as parallel lines, we shall remain parallel paupers, beggars and slaves in a chaotic and poverty-ridden Nigeria.

    The answer is self-evident. We have to work together – work together not to get power for anybody or any group, but to put our country back on the path of order, sanity and prosperity in the world. We can do this. And if we are absolutely disinclined to do it, then, in the name of humanity, let us do the other self-respecting thing – namely, agree to part ways peacefully.

  • When Akpabio came under fire

    When Akpabio came under fire

    SIR: Gov. Godswill Akpabio has done creditably well in his six years in office, and this is recognised nationwide with accolades and awards from different institutions, groups, traditional and political leaders.

    But his power of hiring and equally firing is taking the shine off him of late. With the recent sack of his former Secretary to the State Government Obong Umana Okon Umana and last year’s sacking of his former Deputy Governor Nsima Ekere, all for allegedly nursing ambitions to inherit his hot seat. This has seen the Governor being criticised at various fronts. That reminds us of the proverbial saying that life is like a goalkeeper, people will hail and cherish you for the tremendous saves you have made, but the one silly mistake you make will be forever remembered and reference.

    • Diana-Abasi Alphonsus Udoh

    Copenhagen, Denmark

  • Wike: Minister or militant?

    Wike: Minister or militant?

    SIR: “So far in the history of the world, there have never been enough mature people in the right places’’ George Chrisholm

    It is side-splitting and devastating, how Nyesom Wike, Minister of State for Education has brought opprobrium on the enviable position he is occupying. The blooper he exhibited recently at Obio/Akpo Local Government Area, where he said he will make life miserable and dangerous for the government and people of Rivers State was reprehensible and lugubrious. His boasting that “we will make sure they will not sleep again, as they are sleeping now. They will not sleep with their two eyes closed. One eye will be open because they know there is danger” was not expected from a responsible public officer of this great nation, which prides itself as the giant of Africa and pride of black race on earth. It is propagation and exposition of nuisance value and precarious liability, which is not marketable in this present dispensation.

    Politics apart, there is an acceptable conduct and code of ethics expected from a minister of this great nation for that matter.

    I wonder what other evidence the Inspector General of Police, Muhammad Abubakar needs to invite him for interrogation on the security risk and the danger his utterance portend to national peace and unity.

    No matter the level of political differences and disagreements between him and the state government, he should be reminded that he is a public servant; for him to desecrate public office and sink into political frivolities is not acceptable.

    Why is it that President Jonathan has not taken any drastic step to stem the negative tides in Rivers State if not that he that pays the piper and hence dictating the tunes of this minister appointed by him? If the President wants to convince the Nigerian public of his non-culpability in this case of absurdity, he should sanction his erring minister.

    I had followed his works as minister of state for education responsible for Federal Unity Schools. I enjoyed how he had been on the necks of the unity school principals to get them to be above the board, and to be financially responsible and accountable. Events unfolding in recent times show that the minister has since kicked off the 2015 rat race.

    If the ambition of Wike is to set Rivers State on fire and make life unbearable by mobilizing ex-militants to unleash mayhem on the people, then good luck to him. But he should by now tender his letter of resignation honourably before the President wakes up from his slumber and spit him out of his cabinet unceremoniously. His shift of attention from his primary assignment has rubbed off on the masses negatively by allowing the predators among the Unity School Principals to cheat on the poor masses.

    The educational sector needs an indomitable, committed, socially responsible and emotionally intelligent officer to take charge; not an individual encumbered with other things.

    • Pastor Mark Debo Taiwo [JP],

    Takie, Ogbomoso.

  • In defence of Chief Akande:

    The statement issued by Reuben Abati the official spokesperson for the presidency on August 11, criticizing the interim chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande for describing the Jonathan government as a “kindergarten presidency”, is paltry, whining and falls in the category of world class political tantrums. In a most predictable fashion, the rabid nature of the reaction confirms the truth that Nigeria is being run by little minds and irritants. This kind of rascally mindset displayed by the minders of the Presidency continues to contribute greatly to the unravelling of a government spinning out of control.

    Those of us opportune to have read the statement from the presidency now realize the office of the spokesman has shifted from being the mouthpiece of serious governance to that of the National Cry-baby. Their statutory task, that of serious governance, they did not address at all. They insist on telling us what they should tell themselves.

    Thus, their eagerness to assume the role of the country’s top complainant is predictable. Instead of trying to minimize opposition criticism by providing the nation with decent governance, their strategy is to complain that the opposition complains too much. The performance of government, upon which the great fate of the nation hangs, is immaterial to them. In fact, the nation and its multitudes be damned as far as they are concerned. After all, the same President on live television told Nigerians he does not give a damn about some of the things that affects them.

    They claim that Chief Akande disrespected the office of the presidency with his remarks. In truth, Akande was merely exercising his democratic rights to speak about the dire state of this government. Not only was he exercising his democratic rights, he had a moral duty to criticize this government for it is government in ruins, a stumbling, bumbling mash of self-seekers, opportunists and the myopic. What Akande said of them was mild compared to what the average person says of this government on a daily basis. If the office of the presidency is to respond to every harsh criticism levied at it, that office shall be a busy one. It will have to issue 150 million press statements aimed at almost every Nigerian, including half the members of the very inner circle of this very government. Nigerians are now used to the countless insulting press statements and reactions from the duo of Abati and Okupe.

    They reacted so vehemently to the Akande statement for two reasons.  First, the truth hurts. Second, they are afraid of the APC and seek to intimidate it. However, they might as well stop on the second point.  With the fate of the nation at stake, the incompetent will not be able to intimidate into silence the committed.

    Let us add two other important points. If they want people to honour the office of the presidency, they should practice what they preach. The people who most dishonour that office are those who currently occupy it. The way this entire government goes about its job embarrasses and burdens the nation. There is nothing important that they do right and nothing they somehow accidentally get right that is important. They are the party and government of partying and flashy public events. When it comes to policies for the people they grow tired and disappear from view.

    Thus, why must the people, who are the bosses in a democracy, respect the elected public servant when it is clear that the person they elected does not respect them? Wisdom says that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. In this instance, what the presidency feels is fair treatment of the public, the public has every right say it is also fair treatment for the presidency. Let the hired criers cry on. The average people are in their humble homes crying. Those who cause their suffering might as well join in. When the government starts implementing people oriented policies and tackle the problems that confront us as a nation, then we will rejoice and the criticism will cease.

    Also, they need to understand the function of government.  Those now in charge of running government don’t even understand their role and proper limits. They should return to school. The response to the Akande statement should not have come from the presidency.  Akande is the leader of an opposition party, a partisan political figure. If they saw fit to reply, the response should have come from the PDP’s over-exercised mouth.

    Those who run the highest office of our national government do seem like children who dropped and broke a glass then simply cry when someone points out what they have done. Instead of crying, they should clean the mess they made. Until Reuben and the Presidency he fanatically seeks to defend accept they owe Nigerians plenty of performance and explanation, they will continue to languish in immaturity, self-delusion and hence rightly called a kindergarten government. The same right my brother Reuben Abati exercised in telling Akande off is what Akande also exercised in telling the President some bitter truth.

    Akande has spoken for millions of Nigerians and it is well within his right.

  • Kudos to Fayemi on rural development

    SIR: I write to commend Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, for putting rural communities on the track of development since his coming to office in October 2010.

    On Thursday, July 4, the heaven opened up in Oye-Ekiti in a downpour that lasted for two hours. It was the day Fayemi presented cheques totaling 300million naira to 82 communities in the state to carry out various projects that would make life easier and better for them.

     Earlier, the Governor had brainstormed with chairmen and secretaries of Community Development Associations (CDA’s) in the state along the line of the eight points agenda of his administration. Little did I know that the decision made at that meeting will have far-reaching benefits on the lives of the citizens as the governor would later hand over the cheques totaling N300 million to execute several developmental projects.

    After presenting the cheques to the benefiting communities, the governor admonished them to make judicious use of the funds to fast-track the development of rural areas and prevent undue migration to the urban areas of the state. This was not the case in the past, particularly before Fayemi’s administration where the rural dwellers found it difficult to execute projects that would benefit them and make them less dependent on the state capital.

    Some might ask: what is the big deal about the cheque presentation to the rural communities? The answer is – it will enhance their rapid development. And if it is that simple, why did it not occur to the previous administration? Moreover, Fayemi’s 5km road projects in every local government have been completed all in the bid to encourage aggressive rural development in Ekiti.

     Certainly, rural areas in Ekiti state have never had it so good and this giant step to improve standard of living of the people in the grassroots must be lauded by lovers of development. When these projects like civic centres, modern markets, palaces, drainages, cottage hospitals etc are completed, value is being added to rural populace who should also enjoy dividends of democracy.

    • Odewale Sina,

    Ido-Ile, Ekiti