The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • New Pope, new hopes and expectations

    New Pope, new hopes and expectations

    Argentina  in recent times has been widely known for the Falklands War   with  Britain and before that  for the debt default crisis of 2001 that almost collapsed the global financial system. On  a happier note  though Argentina is  respected   widely as the nation that gave the world soccer happiness – as the country that produced first Diego Maradona  and  now  Lionel Messi   of Barcelona.   Just last week the magic of Lionel Messi  put paid to   Italy‘s  AC Milan’s dream at the UEFA Champions League with a masterful display by the magical Argentine, Messi. Yet,   the  biggest  global news this last week  was the election of an Argentine by the Conclave of Cardinals  in  Rome  as the    new Pope  Francis and successor  to Benedict XVI, the first  Pope Emeritus in 600  years.

    However,  it was not only in Rome that an historic change  of guard or a unique event was taking place. Similar events in terms of magnitude and importance took place in China where  the Chinese Communist Party confirmed the new  President   Xi Jinping  as  president of the biggest nation on earth in terms of population; and in Kenya where  a new president Uhuru  Kenyatta was elected in spite of a case pending against   him  before the International Criminal Court at  the Hague.  Also  in Afghanistan President Hamid  Karzai rattled American nerves by lumping both ally and enemy together when he accused both the US military and the Taliban  of exacerbating the state of insecurity in his  nation on the eve of the departure  of US troops from Afghanistan next year .Similarly in Nigeria the Nigerian president gave  a State Pardon to his former  boss  who was jailed for embezzlement of public funds  and dashed  all  hopes of successfully fighting corruption in Africa’s biggest  black nation.    In essence then, from the speedy   and fruitful   Conclave in Rome, to the murder and mayhem on  the streets  of Kabul,  to the smooth transition in Beijing   and Nairobi; as well as the horror  created in Abuja, change  and transition underpin  the events and personalities on display in my analysis this week .I  will illustrate  my  observations in this regard with deductions which I think will be apparent to the discerning eye in all these situations.

    Again,  let us go back to Rome for the election of  Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario  Bergoglio   of Bueno Aires aged 76 as the new Pope  Francis. To  me this is a very  smooth  transition as some say  the  new Pope was second to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the last Conclave in 2005  that saw the emergence  of Ratzinger  as the next Pope  Benedict XVI. Which simply means that the Conclave decided that the no 2  should take over where the no 1 has stepped down. Which really should be expected  of a College  of Cardinals which is no more that a gathering of conservative minds,  very suspicious of any drastic change especially after the rude awakening from the fact that it is possible for a pope  to resign, something that  had not happened for a long time.

    However, it is in the choice of an Argentine that I want to dilate on,  in the light  of what Argentina represents in the comity of nations – in essence its sovereign reputation. First,   in global finance Argentina represents  something of  a way ward child,  and most finance houses hold their breath doing business with that nation because of the threat of debt default. Indeed  an Argentine ship was seized in Ghana  of recent on account of the debt default saga   that  happened  at  the start  of the millennium. In  politics  however  Argentina  is a  highly  legalistic nation in that it has brought to book all past military  leaders who staged coups and toppled   democratically elected governments to gain power.

    These  included past military generals like Viola  and  Videla  as well as Galtieri  who was jailed for taking Argentina to the Falklands war without proper preparation leading to a disgraceful defeat by Margaret Thatcher’s Britain. So  Pope Francis ascension to the papacy in Rome is a  boon and a great boost to the ego and pride of Argentina  as a Latino nation and to Argentines generally. I wonder  how Britain or Britons will  feel about the emergence of an Argentine  Pope given  the two nations well known truculence  over the  tiny Falklands  Islands. I  also cannot resist  chuckling at what Argentina’s former colonial lord, Spain,  now in austerity chaos  and distress that has caused Spaniards to take to the streets in riot, do  now that they have to pray to an Argentine Pope at mass. Really,   the emergence of a Pope  from the slums and dirty streets of Buenos Aires, after the highly intellectual Benedict XVI  shows  God is not sleeping after  all;  and that even the poor masses of the world have  their hope in high places  as their champion and  past traveler in the bitter  experience of  crass poverty now occupies the high and exalted seat of St Peter in the Basilica  in Rome.

    Similarly  in Beijing  the Chinese leadership  gave the western world a  lesson in orderly transfer of power from one generation to the other albeit in  a 10 – yearly mode. This is in spite of the fact of the skepticism of those in the west who call  the Chinese leaders despots with scant regard  for human rights. Yet  the Chinese are the largest creditors of the US in that they hold the largest chunk of US treasuries  in the world. The situation has been compared to cold war ideological war between the US  and the former US SR when  mutual deterrence or  annihilation  was the name of the game. Only  that this time the game between China and the US  has been called  the financial mutual deterrence or  annihilation war because one can not do without the other in terms of trade and global business and as such they must cultivate themselves in the interest  of   global peace  and  stability. Instead  of scoffing at the democratic credentials of Chinese leaders,  the west is better advised learn something from the slow but sure progress and order in China under their leadership.

    Kenya’s  successful  election has shown that democracy is maturing in that part of the world as the people spoke and showed that democracy in local display can be immune to international pressure and clamoring. Uhuru Kenyatta has been elected and there has been no violence as happened last time around. Although Rahoula Odinga has threatened to go to court he should let sleeping dogs lie  and allow peace in Kenya. This is because Kenya’s CJ is known to be close to Odinga and his verdict will not be respected or acceptable if he overturns the voters verdict. A  word is enough for the wise.

    President Hamid  Karzai’s outburst against both the US forces in Afghanistan and  his enemy the Taliban as birds of the same  feather, also is a fine example  of ingratitude in high places. But for the Americans Karzai  would  have been  ousted out  of power   long ago  in Afghanistan  by the Taliban. Now  for him to say that  both his enemy and ally are  prolonging the war is extremely strange  and nasty. Anyway  that seems to be the fashion that US allies  in the region reward the Americans after taking their money to help snuff out terrorists in the region. Just last week the President of Pakistan an ally of the US met with the President of Iran to sign agreement on the building of an oil  pipeline between the two nations. This is after the US has spent millions on Pakistan to fight terrorists that all parties in the region know are funded by Iran, an implacable enemy of the US.

    Lastly  in giving state  pardon to former  Governor Alamieyesiagha, to whom he was a deputy governor President Goodluck Jonathan  carried cronyism and impunity to  new heights in the fight against corruption  in Nigeria . Undoubtedly the cancer of corruption is a major hiatus  facing the Nigerian nation state . But  at least the government can avoid embarrassing itself  by not bringing opprobrium on itself in enacting a pardon which after all is just an act of mercy. It  leaves a bitter taste in the mouth to discuss  this pardon  which  is an  avoidable embarrassment to Nigerians  not only at home but in the diaspora. We  know that it is within the president’s power and that of the Council of State to do what has been done. We  also know that the saying is true that to whom much is given much is expected. This was one pardon too many and is a real pity for Nigeria’s  sovereign reputation.

  • The menace of ghost workers

    SIR: The discovery of 45,000 ghost workers by the federal government following the personnel audit carried out shows the level at which corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of the nation. The phenomenon of ghost workers is not new in Nigeria. The syndicates operate at all levels of government. In the present circumstance, the 45,000 ghost workers detected through the personnel audit did not enter the pay roll by mistake but a deliberate effort to defraud the nation using administrative and bureaucratic instruments.

    It sounds incredible that out of 153,019 workers in the government pay roll, 45,000 of them were found to be ghost workers. The figure cut across 215 Ministries, Departments and Agencies, according to the audit report. It shows the desperation of some top government officials to amass wealth at public detriment. Indeed, a nation beset by nest of fraudsters is bound to face a lot of economic challenges as the current situation suggests in Nigeria.

    The inability of the government to identify the sponsors or find out the details of the detected ghost workers gives an impression of official compromises and elite conspiracy to exploit unjustly the wealth of the nation.

    There are bases to direct criticism at Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance, for telling the whole world during a media briefing on the 2013 budget in Abuja that Nigeria cannot trace any of its officials responsible for introducing 45,000 ghost workers into the government’s pay roll. The excuse of non-availability of biometrics given by the government to justify its failure to find the culprits is also not acceptable. It is equally amazing that the government is requesting the Nigerians to come up with ideas on how to fish out the ghost workers on its pay roll.

    If Nigerian leaders are honest, there shouldn’t be problem identifying and prosecuting the culprits. In my view, since salaries are paid through the banks, it shouldn’t be difficult to track down the culprits. For each person operating an account with the bank ought to have passport, finger prints, signature and reference letter to properly identify him/her. In essence, the bank is deeply involved in the scam. Obviously, the salaries of the non-existent workers form part of the monthly salary schedules that go to bank and get cleared by human beings who are themselves workers. The distressing incident is made possible by connivance of the personnel department, salary section and bank officials and the racketeering is sustained by a chain of syndicates whose parasitic tendencies are causing the nation billions of naira annually.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has responsibility to monitor and investigate the syndicates who exploit the lapses in the nation’s personnel data base to defraud the nation. So far, the EFCC seems helpless in uncovering the fraudsters. Even if the conspiracy is veiled in secrecy, I think there are enough civil service rules, control measures and regulatory alternatives to uncover the brains behind the ghost workers’ malady.

    The issue of ghost workers is not a new challenge to the nation and stories relating to it are fanciful headlines in the dailies. Yet, no drastic step has ever been taken to trace, apprehend, and prosecute the racketeers and their collaborators. It is high time the government took decisive action on the perpetrators of the financial crime by thorough investigation and prosecution.

    • Onike Rahaman,

    Oyo State College of Agriculture, Igboora

  • APC is a call to save Nigeria’s democracy

    SIR: Is democracy a blessing to Nigerians or a bane? Democracy as we all know is “the government of the people by the people and for the people”. But the reverse is the case in Nigeria. The dispensation in Nigeria has been bastardised and it has failed in portraying the core values and qualities that democracy is intend to represent from inception.

    Now I’m quite sure that the emergence of the APC will mark the birth of saviour of Nigeria’s democracy. Nigeria will be free from all mischiefs or misfortunes that democracy has caused it all these wasted years. APC is a progressive and selfless party which has emerged purposely to bring out the good and glad tidings of democracy into reality for Nigerians to witness and enjoy.

    PDP has ruled Nigeria for over 12 years without considerable development and they have vowed to rule Nigeria for another 50 years when we have not seen the dividend of democracy in the years they have ruled the country. Though they became scared by the emergence of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), they are much more scared now by the emergence of All Progressives Congress (APC).

    As for the furore over the registration of APC by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), leading figures of APC should stand firm until the party is registered.

    APC is the hope of Nigeria’s deliverance. Nigeria is today in dire need of good leadership, tolerance and people who can get things done correctly. Nigerians are counting on APC for deliverance now that our democracy totters towards collapse.

    • Adama Abraham

    Ibrahim Babangida Badamasi University, Lapai

  • The unfortunate report on polio in FCT

    SIR: The recent report of two polio cases in FCT is unfortunate and embarrassing and it shows that more still have to be done in the fight against the disease. For polio cases to be reported in Federal Capital City where two ministers of health, the two ministers of FCT and the First Lady reside shows that the government is not serious about fighting the scourge.

    Instead of Minister of State for FCT, Jumoke Akinjide to take responsibility for the situation, she was blaming the reported cases on the influx of the people to the FCT.

    How many people enter Abuja per day or per month compared to Lagos? Because if it is about the influx of the people, Lagos ought to be reporting polio cases everyday given the high rate of movement into the city.

    I expect Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu to be able to give more convincing reason than that given by the FCT minister.

    What steps are the ministry of health and the ministry of FCT taking toimmunise the children entering Abuja and other children in the satellite towns within FCT?

    It is embarrassing that Nigeria is still one of only three countries in the world where polio still exists. In this, we are in the company of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

    The campaign to stamp out polio received the first jolt in 2003 when the governments in some northern states and some Islamic leaders rejected the polio vaccines on the ground that it was a western ploy to arrest population growth in the Muslim world.

    Against all odds, Nigeria has reduced polio by 95% as at 2011. But the crippling disease still threatens Nigeria’s children.

    Awareness must be carried out in some of the northern states where polio vaccination is still being resisted. The killing of nine health workers involved in polio vaccination in Kano State last month must be condemned by all. Muslim clerics in the North must also enlist in the task of properly educating their members that polio vaccination means no harm, they must be informed that some Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia and Malaysia had cooperated with World Health Organisation in ensuring that their populations were well covered by the polio vaccination.

    If China and India with the populations of over 1 billion each are polio free, I believe Nigeria with population of 170 million has no excuse to be in the company of three countries where polio still exists.

    • John Tosin Ajiboye

    Osogbo Osun State

  • How not to cut your nose to spite your face

    The English playwright and poet, William Congreve (1670-1729), wrote in The Mourning Bride, “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.” It is not a mystery why many scorned women and men take pure delight in hurting their spouses or partners. A scorned woman, as a recent case in Britain is showing, thinks nothing of cutting her nose to spite her face if sufficiently provoked. Indeed, she would as soon gouge out her eyes to spite her head if the circumstances required it. Congreve came to life once again, as he often does when spouses are at war, in the highly publicised case of the philandering Chris Huhne, 58, and his spurned wife, Vicky Pryce, 60. Huhne, a Liberal Democratic Party top shot and former cabinet minister, unceremoniously left his wife in 2010 for another woman, the bisexual Carina Trimingham, a media consultant. Spousal betrayal is commonplace except that in this case, a decade ago, the vulnerable Huhne had made his ex-wife to accept punishment on his behalf for a traffic offense, and the woman was bent on revenge.

    Pryce, a notable economist in her own right, tipped off the press on how Huhne had perverted the course of justice in 2003. The subsequent trial, which was meant to humiliate the former Lib Dem high-flyer, unfortunately consumed Pryce herself and ruined the reputations of both the adventurous politician and his scorned ex-wife. In the process, Peter, one of the pair’s sons, displayed unadulterated loathing for his father by sending him bitter text messages deploring his atrocious lies and infidelity. With an investigation and trial that lasted long enough to complete the ruination of Huhne’s public image, followed by an eight-month jail term for each of the disgruntled pair, and harsh public commentaries on the Huhne family, it is surprising that both Huhne and his ex-wife hold out any hope the family could still be redeemed and relationship between children and parent healed with the passage of time.

    However, the least problematic part of the Huhne scandal is the humiliating trial or even the jail terms, out of which the couple will serve only four months each. The real tragedy is exemplified by Peter’s text messages to his father, and Justice Sweeney’s characterisation of the couple. Said Peter to his father in one of his texts: “You are the most ghastly man I’ve ever known. Does it give you pleasure that you have lost almost all of your friends?…Leave me alone. You have no place in my life and no right to be proud…You are an autistic piece of s**t. You make me feel sick…You don’t think about anyone but yourself. You are a pathetic loser and a joke.” The trial judge was even more damning. Said he to Huhne’s ex-wife: “…In November 2010, motivated (I have no doubt) by an implacable desire for revenge, and with little consideration of the position of your wider family, you decided to set about the dual objective of ruining [Huhne] whilst protecting your own position and reputation in the process. Your weapon of choice was the revelation of his part in the offence in 2003. But it was a dangerous weapon because it had, in truth, been a joint offence.”

    But perhaps the most evocative comment on the fall of Huhne and Pryce is the one by her brother, George Courmouzis. In his view, “Anger blinds you and humiliation breeds revenge. And this is what drove her.” Had she kept quiet, the offence of 2003 would probably have stayed buried forever. It is true Huhne would have gone on enjoying his life, and Pryce would have stayed rejected and humiliated. But her reputation would have remained intact, her peace of mind guaranteed, and her children would have continued living in the tranquillity she had woven around them.

    It is not certain whether Pryce reflected at all on the consequences of her action, nor ever feared she would find herself in jail so suddenly. She may have achieved the goal of ruining her ex-husband, but that objective has come at a heavy price. No wonder it is said that once a woman sets her eyes on a man, he would be lucky to escape her charms. But such a man would need far more than luck to escape a scorned woman’s revenge. This is not chauvinism; it is perhaps simple biology, a biology that will see women activating their defensive mechanism of bringing the house down on their families just to get even, to reenact hell, or to generally dissuade bored men from libidinous adventurism.

  • Governor as trouble-shooter

    Since I left my comfort-zone, the newsroom in June 2011 to start operating as a member of the Ogun State Government, I have never been scared or saddened by any development than by the events of March 5. Despite the fact that the news had been in the air at the weekend that the state House of Assembly might erupt in crisis, I believed that the 24 gentlemen and the two ladies would always manage their differences and be tamed by the facts of our recent history.

    When the legislators again gathered as a committee of the whole on March 4 to screen our new Attorney- General and Commissioner for Justice, Mrs. Abimbola Akeredolu and I watched the news of how the session went unimpeded with the woman getting a handshake from all the legislators, I became more than sure that all was under control. However, when the news came that Tuesday morning, that the House had been divided to two warring camps ready to do battle, I became worried.

    At that point, there was little anybody could do but to pray. Though, I am not a politician, I can say that through regular contact with all our legislators at official and unofficial fora convened by my boss, Governor Ibikunle Amosun, I have a good relationship with all or most of them. However, by that Tuesday morning, no relationship would suppress the high-stake power-game that was about to play out. As a member of the executive which, from all indications, was not involved in the bickering in the legislative arm, why was I scared by the events of March 5 in which Ogun State again tested the veracity and functionality of Baron de Montesquieu’s theory of Separation of Powers and the corollary checks and balances?

    I knew that with the House of Assembly in crisis, with members damaging their symbol of authority, the mace, and different allegations aimed at drawing attention and currying favour in the public opinion divide, we would be sending danger signals that the state was about to return to the jungle era of 2009 to 2010. Ogun State that has in the last 20 months been making a gradual return to its usual progressive, development-driven state would now be seen to be relapsing into the ugly period when we got unsolicited front-page news mention for the wrong reasons.

    When the House of Assembly is not in session because the membership is divided against itself, its leadership is in dispute and its chamber is surrounded by security men who were battle ready to prevent breakdown of law and order, what can the executive achieve? Only an executive arm that wants to play the ostrich or delude itself would revel in being an oasis of peace surrounded by a troubled legislature.

    More importantly, the fight in the legislature makes my own job as a spokesman for the government more difficult. Instead of talking about development projects and life-changing policies and programmes aimed at truly rebuilding our dear state, the information manager becomes a reactionary or propaganda agent who either has to defend an allegation or raise a counter-allegation in defence of the government. In any case, the government will always be drawn into debates about who is playing what role in the House of Assembly.

    By extension, the fight in the House has the potentials to cause an unpleasant distraction and divert public attention from the various on-going development efforts. The hundreds of kilometres of roads being expanded to create room for six-lane ‘Ogun Standard’ roads, the model schools under construction which will redefine infrastructural provision in public secondary schools, the model hospitals which will soon dot the landscapes of each of our nine federal constituencies, various policies aimed at making our state the preferred investors’ destination and the revolutionary projects and programmes aimed at restoring the state’s comparative advantage in agriculture, among other life changing policies, were about to be stalled and dwarfed by the events of last Tuesday.

    Again, it should be noted that many believe any fight in the House of Assembly is a proxy war between key characters in the executive, the ruling party or the political space as a whole. Those who have experienced a similar situation in our state under the previous administration vowed that if the group opposed to the House establishment did not have some money bags already sponsoring their action before the fight broke, they would have several offers within 24 hours.

    It is as a result of these considerations that my heart jumped into my mouth as the facts of the fight in the Ogun State House of Assembly unfolded. However, I was very relieved that evening when Governor Amosun chose not to attend the meeting of leaders of the new party, Action Progressive Congress (APC) holding in Abuja. He then assured everybody that the crisis will definitely not last.

    It was a good test of his popularity and reputation when he invited the legislators to a meeting in his office the following morning and all of them were present. I remember one of the legislators telling me before the meeting commenced that he cried most of the night because he realized the implication of such a bitter fight on peace and progress in the state. Another one said he was sure that with the governor’s intervention, normalcy will be restored because all of them have utmost respect for the governor, whose programmes, policies, bills and nominees have always got the approval of the legislature after all necessary debates.

    It is in the light of all these considerations that one should see the timely intervention of Senator Amosun in nipping in the bud an ugly development which could have consumed the state. The governor’s timely intervention ensured that mischief makers did not capitalize on the situation. The speedy trouble-shooting prevented a situation where combatants embark on ego-trip and get entrenched in their different positions.

    By playing the role of a peacemaker in a fight in which one of the groups was already erroneously being touted as having his support while the members of the other were making insinuations against the position of the Governor, Senator Amosun chose to be a statesman rather than a politician. He played the role of the father-figure to the feuding legislators. By putting the interest of our dear state and its good people above political expediency and personal ego, the governor has shown that he is the father of all.

    More importantly, it was the governor who suggested the popular line on which the reconciliation in the House of Assembly is now based. He was the one who said the legislators should go and apologise to the good people of the state who elected all of them into office. While leading the way in tendering apology to the people, he also found the right symbolism in the 106th birthday of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, which coincidentally was that very day the legislators were re-united. I believe Governor Amosun came out of the situation as the typical cultured, progressive and patriotic ‘omo Ogun’.

    While I pray that Ogun State should never return to that era when we were a shame to other truly democratic societies, I know that the governor needs to continue to enjoy the goodwill of all stakeholders so that he can be able to rally all, at all times, for good causes.

    • Olaniyonu is Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ogun State

  • Ogun Assembly needs prayers

    SIR: The frequent uproar and skirmishes at Ogun State House of Assembly call for serious concern and concerted efforts before the worst happens. During the last legislative period under the Daniel’s administration, the assembly was polarized into two groups and did not sit for months, yet jumbo allowances were paid for work not done. Then, a group of the legislators made us to believe that it was fighting for the future of the state by opposing the executive request for bond (or bondage as it was called then) from the capital market.Some of the principal actors in the house then are in the present assembly. Yet, the same bond has been approved unconditionally. Our Honourable legislators owe us an explanation.The Ogun legislators are not reputed to be championing good governance via innovative legislative Bills. They are not fighting the executive because of the interest of the masses. They do not bother to serve as check to the executive. Most of the laws in the state are copied from Lagos where the legislators are devoted to legislative business. Our legislators are hereby challenged to name a Bill ever proposed and passed into law aimed to offer succour for the welfare of the people of the state.Coincidentally, most of the Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria today have their headquarters in Ogun State. The time has come for them to intervene and decree special deliverance to free the assembly from the forces and spirits of retardation, stagnation and upheaval.The latest crisis is alleged to be caused by the composition of House Tender Board. The question is, of what importance is the board to legislative business? Are our legislators elected to award contracts? A discerning mind would know that behind all these brouhaha is the sharing of our common wealth. It shall be well with Ogun State House of Assembly.Femi Ogunbanwo, EsqLagos

  • Nigeria not a secular state

    SIR: To protect your privacy, remote images are blocked in this message. Display images

    I beg to disagree with President Goodluck Jonathan as reported in The Nation, page 60 of Tuesday March 12 describing Nigeria as a secular state.The dictionary defines ‘secular’ as ‘not connected with spiritual or religious matters’. Also wikipedia says, ‘a secular state is one that supports neither religion nor irreligion.The Nigerian state supports Christianity and Islam.The Nigerian state sponsors people on religious pilgrimages; in Nigeria,there are religious houses in state house/s); the Nigerian government declares public holidays to mark religious festivals; recently,the media reported that a top government official went to Rome to represent the country at a religious event. Also recently, a Nigerin government in the south-south region donated state money to a religious organisation. In fact,the President was reported to have made the remark referred to above at an occasion where some states were reported to him for not sponsoring Christians on pilgrimage. In the light of all these,,how can we say that Nigeria is a secular state? No doubt, secularity in state matters may be desirable. However, it is not possible inNigeria. Nigeria is a multi-religious state and we do not have to pretend otherwise or be ashamed to say so. Nigeria is a muslim country. Nigeria is a christian country. Nigeria is a country of indigenous beliefs. Any government that thinks otherwise is deluding itself or just being hypocritical. I, for one, I am very proud of this religious pluralism which I believe is God’s gift to this country and should be guarded jealously from generation to generation.

    • Adisa Aro Seidu,Ojodu-Berger,Lagos

  • Jonathan’s visit to Borno, Yobe

    SIR: President Jonathan’s visit to Maiduguri affords every keen observer of the present insurgency the rare opportunity to decipher the administration’s largely incoherent counter-terrorism strategy. Ever since the beginning of the war on Boko Haram, we have been inundated with claims by the government and its (in) security agencies that the ongoing military campaign – despite its deplorable excesses – is strategically well-grounded.

    We once had the president prophesy that the Boko Haram will not last beyond June 2012. His police chief had earlier declared Boko Haram’s days numbered while a defense chief contended that the insurgency will only come to an end when and only when Boko Haram runs out of suicide bombers.

    So far, months have passed, police chiefs sacked, and defense chiefs reshuffled even as Boko Haram campaign of terror runs amok.

    Our current counter-terrorism strategy is counter-productive in that it incites further escalation by its constant targeting of defenseless civilians. This necessitates the need to re-examine the strategy with the aim of decreasing its support, diminishing its presence, limiting its ability to operate and squeezing it out of its safe havens. Such strategy should be specifically geared towards targeting the ideology rather than the individual terrorist, because every individual terrorist is redeemable, salvageable and worthy of dignity as a human. It is only through counter-ideological confrontations that we can effectively achieve these strategic goals of defeating terrorism in all its ideological hues.

    It is misleading to posit Boko Haram as a strictly religious or political phenomenon. No Nigerian Muslim would want his religion to be presented in such destructive, bloodletting and atavistic form. Such simplistic generalization and counter-factual condescension miss many important points: Are Boko Haram adherents having no other goals and dreams in life than suicide bombing and violence? What had they been doing all their lives that they were both Boko Haram and non-violent prior to the 2009 escalation?

    We live in a country riddled with numerous politically-induced demographic disparities where the assuaging fabrics of social welfarism are shredded to pieces by elite greed and political nepotism. Those socio-economic and cultural imbalances are more visible in northern Nigeria where the near absence of civil activism and a conformist cultural orientation have conspired to entrench a regime of impunity and elite insensitivity across the region with little resistance. Yusuf craftily tied his message around those elements of our socio-political discontent.

    Military approach alone cannot defeat terrorism. After eleven years of stalemate in Afghanistan, the US is finally reaching to the Taliban with the hope of striking a deal. I am not an advocate of incoherent strategy of containment. Boko Haram has been losing the publicity battle within its operational bases, and so does the military. It is this realization that is forcing a rethink among Boko Haram’s ranks that led to the recent offer of dialogue. Dialogue at this time presents the government with a double-edged opportunity to co-opt the moderates among the insurgents, an action which has the potential to alienate the group’s extreme core or trigger factional strife that will see both factions expend or seriously weaken each other. This will also demonstrate the government’s willingness to assume responsibility and to dialogue without undermining its resolve to use force to protect the citizenry when necessary.

    Regrettably, any chance for peace has been pre-empted with the president’s renunciation of dialogue and the publication of the government kill list that places bounties on the group’s top command.

    There seem to be only three types of victims of the FG/Boko Haram war: those who are innocently killed or maimed; those who are falsely accused or smeared; and the rest of us who are helpless, vulnerable, and terrified to speak out.

    Jonathan’s visit to Maiduguri affirmed one important point: that the ghosts of terror have not only infiltrated his administration, but have also impaired his ability to think and act like a leader capable of trading-off short-term political exigencies for future stability and not vice versa. With that now clear, Jonathan’s visit to Borno cannot be condemned for waste of resources.

    • Ahmed Musa Husaini

    Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

  • Changing the face of lottery in Nigeria

    About five years ago, many Nigerians saw lottery as an immoral adventure. They considered it a social taboo which should not be encouraged in any decent society. Like gamblers, those who played lottery were labelled as greedy and selfish people, looking for cheap ways of to make money. So when such people play lottery, they did so in street corners and other covert locations far from the preying eyes of naïve moralist who condemned them even though they knew little or nothing about lottery.

    Today, the story is different. Nigerians are better informed and can now differentiate between lottery and gambling. Many of those who castigated lottery players and operators have come to realise that asides empowering people, lottery is a goldmine that can be used to foster national development if properly managed.

    Without mincing words, the lottery business in Nigeria has experienced an unprecedented growth in the last four years. Like a phoenix rising from ashes, the industry once dead has grown to become one of the wealthiest and best managed sectors in the country today. Those familiar with on-goings in the lottery world can attest that Nigeria’s lottery industry has grown in leaps and bounds and can favourably compete with those in America, United Kingdom, France and other countries where lottery is popular.

    Not just that, they can also attest that the growth presently experienced in the industry was birthed and sustained by Peter Igho, the Director General of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC).

    Before Igho’s appointment in 2009, the NLRC was in complete disarray. Like many other government agencies, it existed without much impact. The commission’s headquarters was a three room apartment in Abuja with less than a dozen people on staff.

    Many Nigerians lost faith in the lottery system because the agency constitutionally empowered to regulate the business was docile. Some operators as they are wont to do, took advantage of this docility to fleece Nigerians of their hard earned money. In those days, anyone could wake up in the morning and decide to start a lottery promo. They announce incredible prizes, lure innocent and unassuming members of the public to play only to hoodwink them at the end of the day.

    And so when Igho came on board, his first task was to clean up the Aegean stable created by years of docility. He was faced with a daunting task of confronting shylock lottery operators who were used to making money without remitting a percentage of it to the government as stipulated by relevant laws. He also had to bear the burden of restoring integrity in order to make people believe that lottery can be used to promote worthy causes.

    This huge task required crisscrossing the length and breadth of the country to ensure that lottery operators in Nigeria were duly licensed by the NLRC as required by law. It was also the responsibility of the commission to ensure that lottery promotions in the country are transparent and that winners got their prizes.

    Looking back now, one can only commend Igho for the transformation he has brought into the lottery business. From a small office in Abuja, the NLRC now has offices in various parts of Nigeria with over a thousand staff on its payroll. There is virtually no part of the country where a lottery promo is held today without representatives of the NLRC being on ground to witness it to ensure transparency.

    What Igho has done with the NLRC is testimony of his knack as a seasoned administrator and patriotic Nigerian willing to sacrifice personal comfort for national development. Under his watch, the lottery commission has saved over three billion naira into the Trust Fund which will be used by the government to promote good causes as stipulated by the Lottery Act of 2005.

    Igho deserves commendations for many reasons. The mind shift of many Nigerians towards lottery today is traceable to the enlightenment campaign he embarked on as soon as he was appointed as the head of lottery commission. It is to his credit that a once ignorant population now knows that lottery can indeed be a viable tool for poverty alleviation in Nigeria as it is done in other countries.

    But for his enlightenment campaigns through various mediums, many Nigerians would never know that the Great Walls of China, the renowned Academy in France where Napoleon Bonaparte was schooled and the other great edifices around the world were built with lottery funds. A good number of lottery players would also not have known that the Lottery Act of 2005 mandates lottery companies to give out 50% of their takings to those who play, 20% to the government for good causes while the company keeps the remaining 30%.

    Like a messiah, Igho came with a positive message about lottery. He showed us all that beyond the shenanigans of greedy operators who abused the system, there was something good about lottery if it is well regulated.

    With him at the helms, it is a win-win situation for all. The government makes enough money to construct roads, build schools and hospitals, give out scholarships to students and promote other good causes. Winner smiles to bank and the lottery companies make enough to remain in business.

    The most glaring evidence of Igho’s transformation of lottery in Nigeria is highlighted by the decision by the Federal government to set up a lottery promo for the centenary celebrations next year. The centenary lottery will not only empower many Nigerians and generate funds for the government; it will strengthen our unity as a nation. Indeed, Peter Igho has changed the face of lottery in Nigeria.