The Nation Newspaper

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  • Redeeming features of Awo’s statue

    Redeeming features of Awo’s statue

    So much has been said about this statue of a man in a million. It is larger than life as it sits magisterially on a gigantic ornate seat befitting of a man of leadership mien. Here sits the most hallowed Yoruba person living or dead – the figure of the legendary sage himself: the veritable Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo.

    Awolowo, London-trained lawyer and economist, did very well as a political leader. He became the premier of the Western Region in the years immediately before and after the nation’s independence. It was during the same era the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello was premier of Northern Region and the Owelle of Onitsha, Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe was premier of Eastern Region.

    The man more popularly remembered by his sobriquet Awo, was highly knowledgeable, disciplined, strict and skilful. He worked with the best of heads and hands in his government and was adjudged by most Nigerians, including his political opponents to have performed meritoriously at his post.

    He built the first television station in Africa. He built the multi-storey Cocoa House and the giant state-of-the-art Liberty Stadium. He also built a labyrinth of tarred roads throughout the region. These stood the Western Region out as most developed among the regions in the First Republic before the invasion of the military in 1966.

    Pertinently, Awo built schools in every town and village, and declared free education throughout his region. Yours faithfully was a beneficiary between 1961 and 1962 at Iyanfoworogi, Ile-Ife in today’s Osun State.

    This declaration of free-education throughout Western Region placed most of the children and youth of the region in the school system when majority of their counterparts still remained as cow-drovers, palm-wine tappers, fisher-men and rustic farmers in other zones.

    Even Awo’s fellow-leaders from other regions of Nigeria have given the sage hi-falutin plaudits. The most famous of such praises came from no lesser a personality than the Ikemba of Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu who described Awo as “the best president Nigeria never had”.

    So great has Awo grown in the heart of Nigerians, especially those of the Yoruba stock that right now the current Lagos State government which wants to leave a legacy of great service to the people, like Awo, has decided to further honour Awo with a statue.

    This Akinwunmi Ambode government that has turned the Lagos metropolis into a giant construction site has rolled out the drums to celebrate the exemplary leadership that Awo gave in his time.

    The government thus decided to build a new statue to celebrate Awo. It has been erected at the junction of Lateef Jakande and Obafemi Awolowo ways at Alausa, the seat of Lagos power.

    This latest honour done Awolowo has been hailed by all and sundry, especially as it has placed the man strategically at the entry-way to the place of Lagos governance.

    But there have also been some critical voices, not against the creation or location of the statue but voices pointing out some inexactitudes in finishing details of the figure.

    Prominent scholar, diplomat and columnist, Professor Jide Osuntokun in his column in The Nation on November 9, in frowning at some questionable traits in the visage, says the statue does not sufficiently resemble Awo and demanded that it should be uprooted and discarded.

    In a recent interview with Vanguard, Awo’s son-in-law, Pa Soyode (father of Nigerian’s current deputy first lady, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo) also mildly criticized the statue saying “Awo never wore a boot”. He also revealed that Awo went for the best of shoes and would buy three pairs of his favourite, keeping one in Ikenne, one in Ibadan and one in Apapa. He said the shoe worn for Awo’s statue does not reflect Papa Awo’s preferences.

    Government has answered all criticisms by saying the statue is a work of art that cannot be expected to come out exactly as God created Awo.

    Nevertheless, when yours faithfully went to see the statue on Saturday November 11, it was highly impressive, attention arresting at its post in the administrative heartland of the Centre of Excellence. It has become a tourist landmark, where the young and old visit to catch a glimpse of the famous sage. It is the object to which all eyes are fixed as the traffic light turn red arresting vehicular movement to give right of way to others at this major road junction.

    It is the spot where some pedestrians halt the trek to see and reverence the great leader. It is the place where phones, cameras are put to much use snapping images of the legend.

    In truth, more traits that didn’t quite recommend the statue were also observed. The shoes were not boots if by a boot is meant a footwear that covers the ankle and sometimes part of the feet. But it was definitely pachydermous and not related to the elegant shoes that Awo wore.

    Similarly the Yoruba native agbada, buba and soro in its pristine Yoruba culture that Awo symbolized are not worn with socks or shoes that have strings.

    All said and done, all inexactitudes of the Awo statue are not enough to warrant its dismantlement. That would amount to throwing away the baby with bathwater. A skilful artist can still make all amends with the statue on its seat.

    All these done, it will be easy for Nigerians to side with Awo’s daughter, Ambassador (Dr) Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu who in an interview in The Punch praised Lagos State that has generously honoured Chief Obafemi Awolowo by this statue.

    The messages thereby will not be lost that Lagos State is advocating that we as a nation should have a new beginning of building Nigeria a-right. A task that is possible as Awo has shown how – more than 50 years ago – before the advent of petro-dollars

     

    • Amupitan writes from Isolo – Lagos State.  

  • SEC and capital market regulations

    Laws – and regulations deriving from them – achieve their purposes if they are applied and enforced in equal measures to all in the society.  The real test of any law and every regulation, therefore, is enforceability, which is reflected in extent of compliance.

    Every country has laws and rules that govern every facet of its life. These are usually embodied in a constitution that guides its policies and govern the behaviour of the populace. One of the most important facets of modern society, which the government pays attention to, is the economy. All the moral misdemeanour of President Bill Clinton, for example were overlooked because he was implementing the right economic policies in place and was swiftly re-elected. We all can remember the famous campaign slogan of the 1990s “It’s the economy, stupid,” which was directed at his Republican opponent in his bid for re-election.

    Countries, Nigeria inclusive, establish statutory bodies, from time to time, to regulate behaviours of individuals and corporate bodies within the boundaries of their economic activities or transactions.

    In Nigeria, we have very formidable regulatory institutions that regulate our economy. They include the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and Nigeria Port Authority (NPA), to mention a few. All these bodies are doing their utmost best to regulate, develop and stabilize our economy. In their efforts to regulate our economy, these institutions often court the ire of some people or corporations deluded by the feelings of being “too big to be touched” and all hell is often let loose when their interests are affected.

    Thus, it is commonplace that, in the course of carrying out their functions, regulatory agencies come in contact with all manner of people — some understanding others not. However, whatever the case may be, regulators have the stipulated rules to guide them and compliance with the rules is all that matters. People, whether in their individual capacities or as representing corporate entities, have the tendency to whip up sentiments to elicit sympathy when they find themselves in conflict with the rules. No one should be beguiled by these selfish natural tendencies of the humankind.

    More often than not, these sentiments are nothing but exaggerated and self-indulgent defences for clear failings on the part of the defaulting party. Such sentimental people often claim the chutzpah to drag regulatory bodies to courts of competent jurisdictions or even the “public court” playing on the gullible nature of the ordinary persons. Their chief weapon of choice is assassination of the characters of the heads of such regulatory institutions in the media. If the regulatory bodies are not lucky, an opposition politician may pick the news and cash in on the media hype to hit back at the entire government in power.

    Therefore, to avoid falling victims of deliberate distortion of facts, the public need to find out what are the possible reasons behind the sudden media hype about the activities of such regulatory bodies or the sudden interest in the character of their heads. More often than not, a careful investigation will lead to people having questions to answer in their interaction with such regulatory bodies are behind the negative campaigns.

    The discerning public should always be guided by the meritorious work of our regulatory institutions and judge them on that basis.

    Let us use the example of the Securities and Exchange Commission. How far has it gone in delivering on its key mandates of protecting the investor and development of the capital market? At what cost has its accomplishments been to its image?

    In 2015, the current Director General (DG) of the SEC Mounir H. Gwarzo, assumed the position at helm of affairs. He made a solemn promise to implement the Capital Market Master Plan.  Capital market stakeholders put the plan together in 2013. On assumption of office, the DG had his eyes on rejuvenating the retail end of the capital market which suffered heavy losses following the capital market crash of 2008.

    As of December 2014, Nigeria’s market capitalization stood at N16 trillion. The new DG believed that, if fully mobilized, the market capitalization of the largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa ought to be far greater than that. Today Nigeria has recorded some progress because by the second quarter of 2016, the total capitalization stood at N17.28trillion.

    One of the innovative ways of encouraging growth in the retail end of the capital market is fast tracking the dematerialization of shares (moving away from physical share certificate regime), which can be achieved through electronic transfer under the e-dividend platform. I once argued that dematerialization is an incentive to encourage retail investors come back to the capital market en masse.

    It is a known fact that the market is one predominantly dominated by equities and government bonds. This means that market capitalization and activities are concentrated in a few economic sectors (indeed, two sectors — consumer and industrial goods — make up about 75% of the equities market) and stocks (the five largest companies by market capitalization make up 56% of the equities market).

    To address this skewed situation, the DG set up a market-wide committee to engage potential companies for listing. The committee has done extensive work liaising with regulatory agencies, interest groups and companies on the imperative for listing. In addition, about three companies have been identified that will be listed this year.

    On the question of what regulations, oversight and enforcement mechanisms need strengthening, as part of the master plan, the SEC held a conference in conjunction with the National Assembly on the legal challenges facing the capital market. Immediately afterwards, it set up three law review committees to look at all the major laws, including the Investments and Securities Act (ISA), the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), Investment and Trustees Act, Warehouse Receipt Bill, etc.

    The committees have largely completed their work. Their recommendations will form the capital market’s consensus positions on the review of those laws. These recommendations promise to be a major landmark in the nation’s financial services architecture, and it will enhance the capacity of SEC to navigate through the requirements of the NASS. Significantly, the report of the committees has the buy-in of all stakeholders in the market.

    All these are pointers to the commendable efforts of SEC to develop our capital market and to take it to enviable heights.  To achieve these, the SEC must continue to put regulations first, shunning all sentiments in ensuring total compliance with the regulations by all operators in the Nigeria’s capital market.

    Globally, the norm amongst regulatory agencies is, when compliance is the matter, all sentiments are shoved aside. This should not be any different with our own apex capital market regulator, SEC.

  • Veritas varsity and peace-development nexus

    A conference on Peace and Development in Nigeria by a centre backed by a university is bound to occupy a striking presence on the radar of those who, perforce, have to maintain such radar, either as peace journalists, peace activists or as formal students of Peace Studies. This is the fortune of Veritas University, Abuja, (also known as The Catholic University of Nigeria) and the conference on Peace and National Development it is holding on November 20 – 21, as part of activities marking its 10th anniversary. Peace and development remain two of the five most contested concepts in the post Cold War era, the other three being security, power and the state. So much contestation around peace that Peace Studies, for instance, which jumped out of International Relations (protesting realist framing of peace as absence of war and, Strategic Studies as a performance of war), have come round to inhabiting the same academic homestead with the same IRs and Strategic Studies. Now, they are all studied under Critical Security Studies.

    This time though, all three have, to a great extent, pushed out realism and its rationalist epistemology and, substantially, replaced it with the emancipation analytics. Contestation around development has been no less fierce, including the argument that even talks of post-development or of ‘death to development’. Professor Aturo Escobar, the American educated Colombian anthropologist and the leading exponent of post-development theory says this is because development has been a story, an alienating narrative by which the story tellers nurture underdevelopment instead of development. There is no likelihood this conference would escape manifesting a Nigerian version of this contestation.

    This is more so if it is linked to the question of where the African voice is in all the debates and contestations. It is no national chauvinism to say that asking about the African voice is also asking about the Nigerian voice. It is not only that Africa is still the centrepiece of Nigeria’s foreign policy; it is also that there are no alternative countries to Nigeria in terms of territorial, demographic, resource endowment stature vis-a-vis the responsibility of leading Africa. It is thus a tragedy that Nigeria has been going down over the years in terms of a coherent, stable and focused polity. But what it means is that there would be nothing surprising if a Nigerian entry point and an African voice are heard at the Veritas conference.

    But why an African voice on peace and development? To what extent would such a voice be African in a terribly fluid and an ambiguous world? If concepts such as peace and development are nothing but what we make of any or each of them, then the implication is that a conference on peace and development by a university in a country desperately in search of both peace and development as Nigeria must be some turning point in itself. We can say so because such a conference opens up the space for imagining or producing peace and development in accordance with Nigeria’s specificity. The Nigerian specificity becomes important in the context of the critical credo that every theory is for someone and for some purpose. If theories are not innocent interventions, then the Nigerian specificity is the only way to achieve originality in thinking and doing peace or development or constructing the nexus between them. In other words, peace is not about some universal master codes, master keys or master techniques with which to resolve conflicts. Peace is more about the voice that constitutes the power that frees all those structurally constrained from freedom and self or collective realisation. This is another potentially big angle to the Veritas conference.

    Closely related to that is the point that Peace Studies has been growing in Nigeria lately, beginning with the pioneering efforts at the University of Ibadan which now has a full-fledged Institute for Peace Studies. However, the totality of Peace Studies in Nigeria still lacks an overarching paradigmatic wager in the same manner that History, for instance, defined itself distinctively in the 1960s and thereafter in Nigeria, beginning with the Ibadan School of History and its methodological feat and then the ABU, Zaria School of History. If the African voice is the Nigerian voice and vice-versa, then this methodological self-definition is an imperative. The way peace is studied is constitutive of peace itself. This conference being substantially an academic exercise offers Nigeria her closest and earliest opportunity for an insight into how academia is constructing and constituting peace or the Peace – Development nexus.

    There is, unarguably, a rather Veritas University specific but no less a plausible explanation for the excitement in the air. Veritas University articulates a notion of a Centre for Peace and Development that is a cross between the old and the new as well as the ecclesiastical and the academic. In addition to the goodwill and collective standing of the Catholic establishment in Nigeria which owns the university, there is a uniqueness in this that cannot escape attention as well as attraction of many. The argument here is that there must be something inherently promising about a conference organised by such a centre backed by such a university. By the old, one is referring to the sense of the centre espoused, for instance, by Prof Mike Kwanashie, the Vice-Chancellor and the intellectuals around him. Prof Kwanashie is not a formal student of Peace Studies but an economist. But he speaks to holism in Peace Studies that formal students of the field would envy. This is not sycophancy but a recognition of the height their generation of scholars took academia to before the coming of crisis into academia in Nigeria. That is the element of the old in Veritas University’s Centre for Peace and Development while the new are the contemporary environment, attitudes, agenda and analytics enveloping the study and the production of peace.

    The ecclesiastical and the academic are self-explanatory in terms of ownership of Veritas and academic nature of the venture. Being a combination of the old, the new, the ecclesiastical and the academic necessarily turns the centre into a torchbearer in the prospects of returning Nigeria to the culture of debate, the death of which is at the root of the current, steady deterioration of the country. Some egg heads have been shouting themselves hoarse that the quantity and quality of debate in Nigeria is not adequate to sustain the country. All such voices are absolutely correct. Every country is as good or as hopeless as the quality and direction of debates taking place in its universities, policy mills, think tanks, bureaucracy, the military, political parties and the media, among others.  There is no great power today that is not a product of such debates. Neither Britain, the United States nor China, the newest great power, has attained that status without debates provoked by their Halford Mackinders.

    Nigeria does not seek to be an empire in either its territorial or discursive senses. Still, it needs quality debates on the key requirements for managing complexity in the 21st century. This makes contestations over ideas on peace and development a matter of priority. No university is inherently indebted to the country in terms of producing such ideas. The long connection between Catholicism and the education industry would, however, appear to tie Veritas University to the task of rising to the challenge of discourse and power in the search for peace and development in Nigeria, Africa and the world. This conference has the potentials to fulfil that. It cannot but be so for a Centre for Peace and Development imagined into being within just 10 years of the university’s existence and which at barely one year of age is able to stage a conference at which all voices are scheduled to be heard – Christians, Muslims, Judaism, Hinduism, traditional religion and more. That would be a remarkable statement on governing diversity that Nigeria itself cannot but note.

     

    • Onoja is a researcher in the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at Veritas University, Abuja.

  • FFK’s unwarranted attacks on Osinbajo

    In the age of “alternative facts”, the media has been awash and desecrated with fake news, “post-truths” and outright untruths; where people who claim to be authors or journalists in their write-ups gleefully revel in these three 21st century media-related anomalies.

    And it seems a few notable names, including a former minister of aviation, have since been co-opted into the small, bitter crowd that dishes out such anomalies, disjointedly stewed with plenty of bile and hateful statements.

    Such persons have also attempted to denigrate the personality of Vice President Yemi Osinabjo, SAN, by giving their forced readers a bumpy ride with personal biases and bitterness in their words.

    Albeit, in the real world, where truth, fairness and objectivity, not alternative facts, still count for something, such articles are, at best, inconsequential, as these articles only succeed, in the end, to be indigestible to objective, sane minds, and also leave a bad taste, even in the mouths of neutrals.

    Let’s face the facts, instead of being clouded by the unreason in these disjointed articles against. Osinbajo, including one written by a former minister of aviation.

    The man who is sometimes referred to as FFK need to be reminded that officials under the former administration of Goodluck Jonathan were involved in corruption that stank to the heavens.

    On the Vice President’s comments that “100 billion naira and $289 USD million was withdrawn in cash by President Goodluck Jonathan two weeks before the presidential election ostensibly for security. This was unprecedented stealing and it led to the economic recession that we are suffering today”, FFK didn’t even present one fact when he alleged that it was “wild, baseless and frankly absurd allegations and willful and premeditated display of perfidy”. All he attempted at were unwarranted personal attacks on the Vice President, with unfounded statement and libellous claims.

    It should be pointed out to FFK that Osinbajo only scratched the surface when he mentioned that amount. Since 2015, Nigerians have come to realise the monumental corruption that happened under Jonathan’s watch; from former Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani Allison Madueke, to former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, and many other officials in the former administration that have been accused of corruption. The list goes on. Nigeria is still recovering from this wanton thievery of its national purse.

    To cover his lack of facts, he based his false claims on false claim; that he could only support with more false claims.

    Again, for the umpteenth time, there is no $25 billion NNPC contract scam anywhere. A quick reminder for FFK: no contracts were procured by the NNPC. Prof. Osinbajo, while as Acting President, only approved Joint Venture Financing arrangements.

    Also, there is no agenda by President Muhammadu Buhari to Islamise the country. Like Osinbajo noted, both the Islamic Development Bank and Sukuk bonds are not evidence of any plans by the present administration to Islamize Nigeria.

    For instance, Nigeria joined the bank in 2005, under the administration of a Christian, President Olusegun Obasanjo, while the country is today the fourth largest shareholder of the bank.

    All the article raised were simply a long list of personal grievances against the person of the vice president and the fact that he is committed to the service of his fatherland. FFK, as a former minister, should know and understand the chain of command and being under authority. Both President Buhari and the vice president are united and work together to achieve a common goal of this administration: to make Nigeria better.

    Sadly, it seems the necessary qualities of leadership, among which is service, is lost on FFK who was once a minister. It now seems that he was more focused on pursuing his selfish motives than working for his country and in tandem with his former principals.

    Also, President Buhari’s comments to the World Bank were taken out of context. The Presidency and the World Bank have since come out to clarify this. The North-east was what the President asked to be given more priority, and the north-east of the country is just a subset of northern Nigeria. In case he pretends not to know, international agencies like the World Bank and NGOs usually give more priority to crisis areas like the North-east that had been ravaged by insurgency.

    The vice president, also has condemned, in strongest terms, every form of religious, tribal or ethnic sentiments and violence by any group or individual. He also condemned hate speech, which he described as acts of terrorism.

    Even attempting to explain the bulk of disjointed statements in the article is labouring, as it lacks substance; it is almost akin to giving prominence on the table to a badly prepared dish.

    Many have adjudged the vice president, Prof. Osinbajo, to be forthright and honest. FFK and co should ask the Niger Delta elders forum, PANDEF, Christian and Muslim leaders, some of whom came to visit the Presidential Villa, Abuja recently, or even the man on the streets about the vice president’s leadership, his selfless service to fatherland and his candour. Then people should ask the same of FFK. The answers, I am certain, would be as different as night and day.

    Nevertheless, I refuse to go low, like FFK, with a series of needless personal attacks. But I would kindly leave him and his likes the wisdom in the words of the former First Lady of the United States, the elegant Michelle Obama, whose husband former US President Barack Obama, embodies everything that FFK has, sadly, shown he isn’t; leader, patriot and role model:

    “How we urge them to ignore those who question their father’s citizenship or faith. How we insist that this hateful language they hear from public figures on TV (or online) does not represent the true spirit of this country. How we explain that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level. No, our motto is: when they go low, we go high.

    “With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us. We, as parents, are the most important role models. And let me tell you, Barack and I take that same approach to our jobs as President and First Lady, because we know that our words and actions matter”.

  • A glimpse into Obiano’s governance style

    There are many features to admire and appreciate about the Philosophy of Confucius, including his Canons, the Nine Classics, The Way of the Higher Man, Rectification of Names,and The Great Learning.  Like Socrates – another great man – Confucius expressed his thoughts verbally and left us to rely on his disciples to read about him. As great as he was, he also admitted there were several things he did not know. For instance, when one of his disciples requested that he tell them about the dead, he replied cryptically: ”While you do not know life, how can you know about death?”. Asked what constituted wisdom, he answered: ”Only to give one’s self earnestly to the duties due to men, and, while respecting spiritual beings, to keep aloof from them, may be called wisdom”. At a time, Confucius’ disciples were unhappy with him for not being able to solve for them what are considered metaphysical realities – the mysteries of heaven and death. The only metaphysics he recognized was the search for unity in all phenomena, and the efforts to find some stabilizing harmony between the law as right conduct and the regularities of nature. He even derided metaphysics as immodesty without a little laughter. There were more…
    Confucius had some words about oppressive governments, which he expressed to his disciples in practical terms.  Once, he was said to be passing through a rugged mountain and saw a woman wailing uncontrollably. On enquiry, the woman said that her husband and father-in-law were killed by a tiger at that spot and ”now my son has met the same fate”. When Confucius asked why she persisted in living in so dangerous a place, she replied that there was no oppressive government there. Deriving a lesson therefrom, Confucius taught his disciples that oppressive governments were more ferocious than the tiger.
    Often, we equate oppressive governments to military regimes, but this is not always the case.  Any government could be good or bad depending on its principal actors. The case of Anambra State under Governor Willie Obiano is revealing:
    On assumption of office on March 17, 2013, Obiano inherited over N100 billion in savings from his immediate predecessor, Peter Obi. During Obi’s tenure, Anambra State was adjudged by reputable national and international agencies as the least-indebted and as the state with the best network of roads in Nigeria. The state witnessed the provision of critical infrastructure; increased presence of federal and development partners, improved security, transparency  and accountability, and social services, among others. Such were the tremendous investments in education that the state’s rating in external examinations rose significantly from the 26th/27th position to Number 1 nationwide.
    Many people and organizations marvelled at the level of  progress; some wondering by what ‘magic’ Peter Obi achieved those heights. The people were pleased with Obi because by doing the right things, he did not oppress anybody.  Then came several awards for his attainments in several sectors. On the contrary, Anambra State has continued to slide each day under the mismanagement of Chief Willie Obiano. Under his watch, the state has dipped to 7th position in external examinations and leaped backwards to be rated the most-corrupt state in the country! While the number of bank branches in Anambra State tripled during Obi’s tenure, Obiano has not attracted any more.
    As is evident across the state and demonstrated severally by those who should know, Obiano has been steering the ship of Anambra State backwards right from his assumption of office. He made so much noise in his early days in office that he seemed to have forgotten about governance in the ecstasy of victory. Sadly, he is still celebrating; and marked this month with the appointment of several more aides. Presently, he has a retinue of over 1,000 aides, more than 500 of who are from his home town, Aguleri. Such are his nepotistic and parochial inclinations that even as he has practically neglected the infrastructural needs of the state, he has completed over 35 roads in his native Aguleri. In the meantime, most of the abandoned roads have since developed gullies that are threatening to cut off several communities; compelling them to embark on self-help palliatives. Indeed, Obiano’s oppressive policies have had debilitating effects on the majority of Anambrarians and their communities.
    On the Government sensitivity scale, there is no gainsaying that Willie Obiano will rate abysmally. How is it responsive to the yearnings of the people?  Is the government prudent or sees the treasury as an object of loot? What is the government response to the provision of infrastructure? What is the government doing to attract industries? Is Obiano’s government prudent? Comparing the administration of Peter Obi with the Obiano government, the people of Anambra identify Obi with the pleasure of wisdom, while Obiano is with the wisdom of pleasure. While Obi used most of his time exploring means of improving Anambra, the Obiano administration is drenched in Hedonism [pleasure-seeking] and Epicureanism [Let us eat today for tomorrow we shall die].  As governor of Anambra State, Obiano has lived it up to a gross and  unwholesome scale. Consider some of his tastes and idiosyncrasies at public expense: 50-vehicle convoy,  imported customized wines [he recently imported 100 containers of wine with his portrait & APGA logo imprinted on the bottles], blew N5 billion to celebrate his first 100 days in office in 2014,  procured over 400 vehicles for his re-election campaign but not even one for the public schools, to mention a few.
    Is Obiano’s government open and straightforward? Certainly not, as its activities are laced with a profusion of lies and propaganda that have held the people hostage. To date, the Obiano government has spent over N6 billion on the propagation of falsehoods  that have further seared the sensibilities of Anambrarians. For over three and half years, Obiano persistently denied he inherited about N75 billion [some of it in US Dollars] from the Obi administration. Then the bubble burst with the courageous expose by The Nation newspapers of his surreptitious sale of the Dollar savings meant for the State. Confronted with the ultimate truth at the gubernatorial debate of November 12, he admitted lying to the people. Is that not enough reason for a decent person to throw in the towel and ask for pardon? Would Anambra people give him another mandate he has abused for four years?
    Among his other claims is that he had completed 51 roads. I personally went through the list to discover that about 48 of the roads he mentioned were actually started and completed during  Peter Obi’s tenure as governor. He  lied that he exported Ugu [Pumpkin] leaves worth US$5m even as no one in Anambra State has identified the farm or garden where he cultivated such a volume of the highly-perishable vegetable. Goaded by his aides and mania for grand-standing, he also boasted of an order to export 10 million yam tubers. Sadly, none of his aides reminded him that Anambra State is not even self-sufficient in yam production; as the bulk of its supplies come from Benue and Taraba states.
    In the last three years or so, the Obiano government has consistently insulted the sensibilities of Anambra people by its oppressiveness, insensitivity, ineptitude and clouded purpose. But with the election at the corner, Anambra people now have a golden opportunity to  end the long and terrible nightmare of oppression.  Who do we look for? When Tsze-loo asked Confucius, ”What constitute the higher man?”, the Philosopher replied: ”The cultivation of himself with reverential care.”
    In Oseloka Obaze we have a higher man. All the vices exhibited by Willie Obiano and identified in him are not with Oseloka. People [myself included] and organizations that have worked or interacted with him can assert with surety that he pursues with dedicated ardour the tenets of good governance.

    •Obienyem wrote from Agulu, Anambra State.

  • Between OGFZA and INTELS

    The ongoing travails of Integrated Logistics Services (INTELS) Nigeria Limited dramatize the fact that the league of mediocre enjoys fighting top-notch achievers for unjustifiable reasons.  The newest actuator of these growth-retarding travails is the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA). OGFZA for hollow excuses has decided to wage a war of attrition against INTELS.

    To be candid, it is not surprising that in an environment governed by “pull-him-down syndrome”, INTELS is now a serially victim of fiendish policy attacks. The surprising element is the eagerness of public institutions to play the ignoble role of architects of economic misfortunes. OGFZA is aware that if INTELS prestigious niche in logistics service is dislocated, the lofty aspirations of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, 2010 will be jeopardized.  This spells economic woes for a nation in the throes of change.

    By this action, the economic fortunes of INTELS are in jeopardy. Also, over 15,000 Nigerians and their families are likely to experience the dehumanizing wretchedness of income volatility occasioned by joblessness. Sadly, this might happen when Nigeria is still recovering from economic crunch, and lacks social security for her teeming citizenry. The financial sector is not immune to the overshadowing grimness, because INTELS secured loan from many banks to develop critical infrastructure in some ports.

    This refusal to renew its license is mainly informed by INTELS chivalrous protestation of unjustifiable charges. INTELS perceives the land lease/sublease registration charge by the free zone regulator as an extortionist feint. According to INTELS, it is ethically and legally senseless to pay the lease/sublease registration charge to OGFZA, sincethe land it occupies was leased from the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

    In the prevailing global economic order, experts in legitimation and de-legitimation of companies rank the connect-and-collaborate model of leadership above command and control tactics. Said differently, sapient regulators do not operate without viable consensus-formation mechanism and smart conflict resolution protocols.

    The aspiration of OGFZA to be a specimen of bureaucratic excellence is undermined by its inept handling of INTELS’ complaints. It suggests a patent lack of collaborative mechanism. Hence, when it noticed the crisis of command thrown up by INTELS noncompliance, it resorted to coercive power. The soft power of dialogue could have ended this impasse, if bureaucratic autocracy and arrogance of power did not cause a failure of common sense.

    It is an expression of civility for power to listen to truth, to dissent, to complaint, to grievance, when key economic actors contest the legitimacy of policy-prescribed actions. The credibility of any regulator is endangered, when it resorts to intimidation and negative representation of the organizational character of companies. OGFZA’s characterization of INTELS as an institutional free rider that evades charges and flouts prescribed norms smacks of ethical deficit. For reasons like this, it is clear why when many Nigerians consider the operational ethics of public agencies; they do not see enthralling panoply of civility to draw inspiration from.

    OGFZA’s magisterial conclusion about “unauthorized” disposal of INTELS assets even before the commencement of the proposed audit is premature and redolent of bad faith. If the audit is eventually conducted, and INTELS is found wanting, it will be easier to contest its credibility, and tough to execute its recommended sanctions. Already INTELS has disclosed its readiness to sue OGFZA for allegedly destroying its image. It is unclear what strategic national interest OGFZA seeks to achieve by stimulating this vortex of scandal.

    Evidently, laudable ideas for sustainable development cannot be translated to reality, if the ethical foundation of corporate governance is not solidified, and a culture of zero tolerance for contraventions entrenched. This implies that the consequences of infringements should be nondiscriminatory. If INTELS has erred, it should suffer the consequences without undue media trial, and toxic diatribes.

    To promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth, government must make the business environment friendlier; reduce risk of business failures, and enhance bureaucratic competences. Competent bureaucracies do not allow political sentiments to dictate their actions. In fact, they are immune to partisan politics.

    Desperate political agents feel vulnerable without annexing bureaucratic institutions. So, they employ mercurially dictatorial antics and inducement to turn public institutions to outposts of their political groups. When they succeed, ethics is the first victim. Arbitrariness becomes a rule of conduct. Transitions to doom begin with arbitrariness. The converse is also true. Adherence to law opens amazing chapters of economic bloom.

    Before the 2015 elections, Nigerians observed with utter dismay how the then ruling or ruining elite through its bureaucratic allies  made frantic efforts to emasculate President Buhari. They almost made him unelectable, claiming he lacked the requisite educational credentials to vie for the presidency. Mysteriously his certificate disappeared from military archives. The point to note is bureaucratic malfeasance is becoming a defining element of pre-election conspiratorial gambits.

    Public institutions should be mindful of the season we are in. The 2019 election is about 14 months away. Nigerians tend to view issues like this through political prisms. Particularly, since Atiku Abubakar a co-founder of INTELS is a visible, viable, and vocal political actor gunning for the presidency.

    Some commentators claim that certain political agents are fearful of Atiku Abubakar. They nurse the fear that his political structure may have significant influence on the outcomes of 2019 elections. This fear is perennial; it is a galvanizer of negative political and economic actions. Some of the actions are simplistic rehash of Obasanjo’s crafty moves in 2007 to confine Atiku to a political black hole.

    In fact, Obasanjo’s actions had historical antecedent. The credit for political emasculation by inflicting economic hemorrhage goes to late General Sani Abacha. During his lack-lustre autocratic rule, he seized Nigeria Container Services (NICOTES), the progenitor of INTELS. The seizure of NICOTES was occasioned by the pro-democratic agitations of arrowheads of Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), notably, Shehu Yar’Adua, and Atiku Abubakar.

    The vestiges of neo-patrimonial governance of military autocracy are visible in Nigeria’s political landscape. They influence political antics.  Some of its distinctive elements like subjective ethics, cronyism, imposition of candidates, and personal rule would influence backstage activities before and during 2019 elections. In a way, Nigeria’s dismal practice of democracy could be attributed to the hangovers of military politics, which have attenuated society’s conscience.

    The popularization of subjective ethics by agencies of government must be seen as a prelude to social instability and economic doom.  Subjectivism lacks merit outside the ambits of private endeavors. Therefore, it should not dictate the trajectory of public policies.  At the cusps of transformation, Nigeria gets overwhelmed by anemia, because, she is a seeming alien to objective ethics.

    Statements credited to the Managing Director of OGFZA, Umana Okon Umana, tacitly suggest pendulous swings. It is puzzling why OGFZA swings from the moral high ground of providing policy solutions legitimized by participation, flexibility, horizontality, and inclusiveness to the pedestrian plane of brewer of controversies. Attempts to rationalize why they have held INTELS by the jugular are unhelpful to their reputation.

    It seems needful to remind the OGFZA boss that the single overriding communication objective (SOCO) of executive interventions in crisis situation is to offer clarity. It is not a mark of sapience for chief executive officers to speak in order to win arguments, particularly, by lacing their press statements with sophomoric sophism.

    Tensions and disputes are inevitable in terrains where heterogeneity of interests abounds. They have the potential to generate innovative ideas for the good of all. Regrettably, simple issues that could be addressed by healthy institutional interactions were allowed to snowball, acquire anti-progress tendencies, and drive a wedge between the two organizations.  The diminution of institutional resources caused by this politically motivated firework does not in any way open new frontiers of economic development for Nigeria. Rather, it may narrow the spectrum for 15,000 Nigerian families to savour the bliss of unmitigated economic prosperity.

     

    • Ibie is a Lagos-based public commentator.
  • Obaseki: Winning hearts and hands

    Obaseki: Winning hearts and hands

    Frantz Fanon, the Algerian-born Revolutionary, Pan-Africanist and Psychiatric wrote these eternal lines – “Every generation must out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it or betray it.” We may ask ourselves, what is the mission of the political class in Nigeria today? You may say: Restructuring of Nigeria. Others may say: Fighting corruption. Yet, some may say: Fighting injustice and inequality. Still, some may say: Resource control. For some, it is diversifying the economy from its mono-product oil-based character to multi-cultural, multi-products and resource-endowed economy. Still, others may see the mission as that of forging unity and peace in Nigeria. And some may say it is the mission to fight crimes like armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, etc.

    Indeed, all such prognoses are not completely off the mark. They simply encapsulate the social realism in today’s Nigeria. As a partisan political gladiator and student of society, I can boldly articulate the mission of the present generation of Nigerian politicians. That categorical imperative (to borrow from lmmanuel kant) is the social-economic development of Nigeria.  Indeed, as Karl Marx and Frederick Engels correctly concluded over a century ago – Economy! Economy!! and Economy!!! is the centre of gravity. Today, all the woes dwarfing Nigeria: the devious struggles of centrifugal forces threatening to abolish the Nigerian project and the crimes in the polity are all fallouts of the economic crises in the land. Facilitate the economy, create jobs, create business opportunities, eliminate or reduce poverty drastically, expand credit for all categories of business people, liberalize access to land, get poor people’s children out of the streets and send them to schools and the country will firm up. There is the likelihood that the looming threat to national security will abate and so, the emphasis in the governance equation in today’s Nigeria should be on the fixing of the national economy. The emphasis should be on how to get the economy out of the woods. Create jobs for well over 29 million unemployed Nigerian youths and stem the tide of the embarrassing migration of youths to Europe through unholy routes from which many of them have perished. So, as Marx and Engels contended, it is the economy. It is the economy.

    Governor Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki of Edo State is not under any illusion. His background fully equipped him with the consciousness that if he fixes the down-sliding economy of Edo State he would have solved a greater deal of the problems of the Edo peoples. He knows very well that if he stimulates the economy and attracts both foreign and domestic investors to the state, he would create more jobs and lift millions of the citizens above poverty. He would put food on the tables of the citizens. Productivity becomes higher and the revenue base of the state will also shore up. Obaseki is fully aware that he would drastically cut down on the crime rate in the state when the enabling economic environment is created for the citizens to leverage their economic activities and create wealth for themselves and the state.

    Since assuming the mantle of leadership on November 12, 2016, the governor has harped on the economy. In this while, he has resurrected the various farm settlements clustered across the state in the three senatorial districts. He has brilliantly cultivated the state branch of the Manufactures Association of Nigeria (MAN) and conferred with the leadership on how to promote manufacturing of products and reviving the industrialization of the state. For the governor, Edo State must reclaim its prime place as the food basket of Nigeria. To achieve this, agriculture business which comes from agric-based or agric-oriented small and medium scale enterprises are solicited to put their skills in use and promote boom in agric productivity and marketing of agric products in the state, across Nigeria and in the international market. To bring his great dreams to fruition, Obaseki has continued to host and confer with critical stakeholders and players in the private sector, especially microfinance institutions the Bank of Industry (BOI) the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) and the World Bank to ensure the availability of funds for business men and women in the state. While the governor is working with knowledgeable and resourceful people in the private sector to revamp the Edo economy, it is interesting that the governor has also devised ingenious political master-strokes to build the political structure of the All Progressive Congress (APC), to properly fit the party’s rank and file members and get them ready for the new political economy in the state which he envisions. The on-going reforms in the Edo State Civil Service is a critical effort at attaining the desired liberal and liberalized political economy that will bring the citizens to the critical centre of economic productivity while gradually  jettisoning the rentier oil economy mentality. Obaseki factors in all critical variables to achieve his objective. He latches on the legacy of his predecessor in office, the inimitable Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.  Obaseki is working on technical colleges across the state with the objective to provide the technical manpower which the state and Nigeria are critically in need of. Other schools and higher institutions are receiving facelift with committees working to assess the needs of tertiary institution in the state and put them in proper functioning conditions.

    The Obaseki  model is all encompassing as it straddles from law and order to culture, political culture and stability, and of course, promotion of peace, unity through justice and fair play in the Edo polity. He has displayed to party apparatchiks that he is a true, original party man with respect for party membership and hierarchy by ensuring that members and the leadership are involved in leadership recruitment and governance.

    It is pertinent to point out that commissioners, Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants and Special Assistants working with him today were recommended from the party structure in the wards across the state. Each ward has an appointee in Obaseki’s government. What is more, one great lesson which the Obaseki political philosophy is teaching today is the peaceful, mutually respectful and cordial relationship between him and his predecessor, Oshiomhole. Politicians and Nigerians do have some lessons to learn from the great political romance and understanding between Oshiomhole and Obaseki. Obaseki was the leader of the economic team of Oshiomhole. The period provided ample opportunity for Obaseki and Oshiomhole to work out the ideological bent of their development agenda for Edo State. Little wonder Obaseki had no difficulty continuing the good work which Oshiomhole started. Today, massive infrastructure developments are going on across the state while networks of roads are being constructed across the three senatorial districts.

    Obaseki’s knack for harmony, peace, law and order is well couched in the Private Property Protection Law which came as Executive Bill and signed into law by the governor.  That Law which criminalizes the Community Development Association’s (CDA’s) activities in the state is one singular law which won the hearts of the people –Edo State indigenes and non-indigenes alike. That law won the heart of the people by bringing sanity to land transactions and property development which the CDAs made a nightmare to prospective developers. We must also commend the visionary leadership of Oba-Ewuare II for the royal blessing he gave to the private property protection law. The law is an elixir for property development in the state. Aside, the object of promoting free trade and investment in the state, the law also projects Obaseki’s predisposition to law and order in society. The governor further displayed his love for law and orderliness in society with the recent reforms and transformation of the Edo State Traffic Management Agency. The young men and women donning the traffic management agency uniforms are not only dutiful, managing road traffic situation, they are wonderfully cautious to motorists and other members of the public. The traffic personnel have so endeared themselves to the members of the public by their commitment and self- discipline that they are winning hearts for the Obaseki government. One only hopes that they will sustain the good work in the days to come.

    Back to the economy. It is the driving engine for social transformation of any society. Obaseki’s decision to fashion an economic blueprint after the federal government’s Economic Growth and Recovery Plan (EGRP) is positioning the state economy for a post-oil boom. This visioning is one that should be embraced by the three tiers of government and it should considerably influence the economic behaviour of the government and citizens. This is why the governor’s Alaghodaro Investment Summit is key to the ideological orientation of his visioning for the people of Edo State.

    As psalm 42 says; “the Deep calleth to the Deep”. Obaseki is deep. He is winning hearts already with his transformative policies and programmes. He must also win more hands for the great task ahead.

     

    • Honourable Obahiagbon is the former Chief of Staff of Edo of State Government.

  • Absurdity in Zimbabwe

    president Robert Gabriel Mugabe and his beleaguered country are in the news once again for another wrong reason. Mugabe, always a crafty politician even in his old age is now scheming to make his wife Grace succeed him as the President of Zimbabwe. In order to achieve this aim, he has just orchestrated the removal of his long-time associate, Emmerson Mnangagwa as the Vice- President of the country. Mnangagwa is accused of ‘consistently and persistently exhibiting traits of disloyalty, disrespect, deceitful ness and unreliability’. Mugabe and his cronies in the ZANU– PF have not told the world when the Vice-President started exhibiting all these unwholesome traits but the world knows that for many years the man has suffered pungent verbal abuses from Grace, Mugabe’s wife who has never hidden her feeling that getting rid of Mnangagwa and his supporters would guarantee her the post of the President of the country after the exit of the aging Mugabe.

    The action of Mugabe and his cronies is nothing but a primitive mode of political nepotism clothed in absurdity and which should not be tolerated in Africa in this 21st century.

    Before analysing the implication of this Dark Age political shenanigan in Zimbabwe, I will like to trace the journey of how Robert Mugabe brought himself and his country to possibly irredeemable political infamy.

    When Zimbabwe, formerly known as Southern Rhodesia became an independent country in 1980, Robert Mugabe who became the country’s first Prime Minister was the toast of millions of freedom loving people all over the world because of his dogged role in the liberation of his country. The independence struggle of Zimbabwe was grim as the British government under the imperious Margaret Thatcher was unwilling to grant independence to this country. After the independence of Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia) and Malawi (formerly Nyasaland), Britain sat on the independence of Southern Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) because Britain wanted to make it as a buffer between independent African countries above river Limpopo and the racist apartheid South Africa which was under a minority white government.

    Britain was however forced to change course because of the liberation struggle which was strongly supported by Nigeria under the then General Olusegun Obasanjo’s military government which nationalized Shell BP owned by Britain. This action of Nigerian government jolted Britain. Nigeria also helped to broker peace between Mugabe and his rival Joshua Nkomo to form a united front called ZANU–PF. With this united front, the two of them were able to confront successfully the racist government in Southern Rhodesia under the wily Ian Smith and independence was achieved for Southern Rhodesia and named Zimbabwe. At independence in 1980, Mugabe became the Prime Minister and the charismatic Nkomo became minister of Internal Affairs and was rightly regarded as ‘the father of the nation’ because he started the liberation struggle before Mugabe who shot into limelight by taking over the leadership of ZANU from Ndibanige Sithole in what can be regarded as a palace coup when they were in prison.

    Few years after independence in 1980, Mugabe and Nkomo disagreed violently as the two of them suspected one another because each of them was seen as representing the two major tribes in Zimbabwe that had been having age-long debilitating competition among themselves. Mugabe is a Mashona , the majority tribe while Nkomo was a Matebele,  the minority tribe. Mugabe in order to get rid of Nkomo in the post-independence government unleashed a reign of terror on Matebeleland. Mugabe used fiendish soldiers trained in North Korea to decimate Matebeleland and many people were killed and maimed and Nkomo himself had a narrow escape to England. By this act, Mugabe became the undisputed leader of the newly independent Zimbabwe and through his actions Nkomo’s people in Matebeleland became more or less serfs to the Mashona people of Mugabe. Nkomo died in 1999, broken and disgraced despite his tremendous contributions to the independence of Zimbabwe. The Mashona people now today call the shots in political and economic activities in Zimbabwe.

    Initially Mugabe used the contentious land issue in Zimbabwe to consolidate his hold on power. He blamed Britain for the land problem in his country because Britain reneged on its promise to make money available to pay compensations to the white farmers who were to give up their choice land for the new black African farmers. This led to his famous quip that ‘ the only white man you can trust is a dead white man’. However, the lands appropriated from the white farmers were distributed among Mugabe’s cronies instead of being given to the deprived landless black farmers who needed the land to eke out their sustenance. The new land-owners lived in the capital at Harare leaving the land untended. The net result of this was that the once vibrant agricultural sector in Zimbabwe based on tobacco production collapsed and it has never been revived. From that time, Mugabe lurched from one political crisis to another as the economy collapsed and currency of Zimbabwe became worthless. Inflation went over the roof. He blamed everybody except himself for the economic woes of his country brought about by his poor economic policies.

    After 37 years in the saddle as the iron fisted ruler of Zimbabwe, the 93-year old Mugabe has lost steam and turned his country to a pariah state. As he knows that he cannot live for ever, he is now making desperate efforts to install his second wife, Grace who he met when she was a low grade secretary in his office as the President. The obvious scheming of Robert Mugabe to make his wife who is 52 years old and who is more than 40 years his junior as his successor is a sad reflection of unsavoury political development in Africa. We saw this selfish action in Togo where the late Eyadema, after ruling the hapless country for 38 years, was succeeded by his son Faure. The same odious situation assailed the sensibilities of Africans in Gabon where the late diminutive Omar Bongo after ruling his otherwise rich country for almost 40 years was succeeded by his son. I am sure that Museveni, the aging dictator in Uganda and Paul Kagame his counterpart in Rwanda are waiting for their sons to succeed them. Some African leaders are trying to create political dynasty in Africa not through democratic processes but through dictatorial fiat.

    What Africa needs at the moment is not primitive political dynasty as exemplified in Togo and Gabon and which is being copied in Zimbabwe.  Africa now needs business dynasty where entrepreneurship is supported by family lineage.  I know of many family enterprises in Europe which had been sustained over the years by family members. Here I will give an example of Burton and Colier tailoring enterprises that had been run by family members since the 18th century in England. Unfortunately this trend is very rare or non-existent in Africa. Africa should now focus on how to develop family enterprises in the continent not on spurious family succession in governance which is nothing but political jobbery and nepotism. This is the nauseating political absurdity that Mugabe is trying to foist on the hapless people of Zimbabwe. If Mugabe succeeds in making his wife to succeed him, he will be replicating what Juan Peron the Argentine dictator did in the seventies when he made his wife Isabel Martinez de Peron to be his Vice President between 1973 and 1974. The wife subsequently succeeded him as the President of Argentina and ruled between 1974and 1976. This arrangement triggered off many years of political and economic instability in Argentina which only abated when democracy was restored in the country in the eighties.

    No country in Africa should copy this political nepotism with its attendant instability.

     

    • Prof. Lucas writes from New Bodija, Ibadan.

     

  • Their lordships’ burden

    Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu gave voice to a new elephant in the room concerning African electoral democracy, namely the judiciary’s role in facilitating or wonking the culture yet toddling on the continent. Lungu called out the recent precedent of loose-swinging judicial activism by justices in Kenya, with the raucous aftereffects, and admonished his country’s wigs against going that route out of sheer imitation.

    Speaking penultimate week at an event in Solwezi, northwest Zambia, the president impliedly conceded the separation of power principle; but he also counseled his country’s judiciary against adventure. “My message is: just do your work, interpret the law without fear or favour and look at the best interest of this country. Don’t become a copycat and think you are a hero if you plunge this country into chaos,” he said, adding: “I am not intimidating the judiciary. I am just warning you (judges) because I have information that some of you want to be adventurous. Your adventure should not plunge us into chaos, please. People are saying Zambian courts should emulate Kenyan courts… (they) should be brave and make decisions that are in the interest of the people. But look at what is happening in Kenya now…”

    Lungu was talking about a challenge by opponents to his eligibility for another term in Zambian elections due in 2021. He took office in January 2015 following the death of President Michael Sata, and stood for the 2016 poll in which he emerged tops amid fierce contestation by the opposition. The country’s constitution prescribes a five-year presidential tenure renewable once, and opponents argue that the 2016 mandate was his second and in effect final term, whereas supporters insist it was his first since he merely completed the deceased president’s tenure. “Whether I am eligible to stand or not in 2021 should not be dependent on the case in Kenya,” the Zambian leader said.

    His referencing of Kenya hinted at a buzz among Africa’s power centres – executive lynchpins and possibly judiciaries’ as well – about tap-on effects that the East African precedent portend for the entire continent. Kenyan supreme court in a historic verdict on September 1st voided the country’s presidential election of August 8th, by which the electoral commission had returned incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta as re-elected purportedly with 54 percent of the votes cast over challenger Raila Odinga’s 44 percent. Although domestic and international observers were unanimous that the poll was credible, the supreme court held that the electoral body “failed, neglected, or refused to conduct the presidential election in a manner consistent with the dictates of the (Kenyan) constitution” and ordered fresh vote within 60 days.

    That verdict was Africa’s first of such against a sitting incumbent, and it showed the Kenyan judiciary asserting fierce independence and a courage that defied moderation by non-juridical considerations.

    Ignore now the self-interest motivation for Lungu’s counsel to the Zambian judiciary, his dread of tap-on effects of the Kenyan verdict seems already playing out. Only last Monday, the supreme court of Liberia staunched the country’s presidential run-off scheduled for the next day and ordered the electoral commission to go dirt digging in allegations of “fraud and irregularities” stacked against the original poll by a candidate who isn’t even factored into the run-off.

    Ex-football international George Weah had topped the 10th October presidential election with 38.4 percent of ballots cast, Vice-President Joseph Boakai ran up with 28.8 percent, while Charles Brumskine of Liberty Party placed a distant third with 9.6 percent votes. A run-off was warranted because no candidate polled more than 50 percent of the votes as required by Liberian law for a straight win, and it was to be a square-up between Weah and Boakai. But Brumskine piled petitions against the October poll, on account of which the supreme court ordered last week that the run-off be shelved until the electoral commission probes the charges. The catch is, the tenure of outgoing President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf expires shortly and Article 50 of Liberia’s 1986 Constitution stipulates that a successor be installed “at noon on the third working Monday in January of the year immediately following the elections.” With the open-ended pendency now imposed on the run-off, and the likelihood of ensuing litigation whenever it eventually holds, the application of that constitutional clause seems up in the air.

    Kenya had glowed with judicial preeminence on the heels of the supreme court verdict in September. But take a look at that country now, as Lungu – even if for a spurious motive – indicated. You could well say the East African country has morphed from a powerhouse to paradise lost, and it’s no thanks to the zero sum mentality that typifies Africa’s power elite. Following the September verdict, Kenyatta and Odinga dug their heels into odd trenches that sent their country on degenerative tailspin. But Odinga, at whose instance the August poll was voided, easily takes the prize for nihilism. He pressed for open-ended delay of a rematch slated for October 26th until the electoral commission met opposition shopping list for self-overhaul, while Kenyatta insisted that the vote should go ahead. And when the opposition challenger could not have it his way, he called a boycott of the fresh vote, which resulted in a paltry 38 percentage voter turnout in contrast to the uniquely high 79 percent turnout recorded for the August poll. He has since said the opposition camp was transforming into a resistance movement – with all implications of that move for polity stability.

    Meanwhile, the supreme court that had invalidated the earlier poll seemed too exhausted now to rein in the tense escalation of partisan bile. A bid by opposition agents to throw judicial spanners in the scheduled rematch fell through when the apex court, on the eve of polling day, declined to hear a petition to postpone the vote because only two justices showed up – three short of five justices required to form a quorum of the seven-member court. And as Chief Justice David Maraga announced the apex court’s inability to hear that petition, you could guess he and his colleagues must be ruminating the value their earlier verdict added to building Kenyan electoral democracy.

    With unbridled desperation of political gladiators in most African countries, Nigeria inclusive, for the power pie, their lordships may need to define the boundary between a tendency to exploit judicial processes for anarchic ends and seeking justice for genuine grievances.

     

    Jega on youth participation in elections

    Youths have vital roles to play in deepening the democratic culture across Africa and they should be pointedly coopted, says former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega.

    He proposed that priority be given to enhancing youth participation in the electoral processes “because this would expand the democratic space, nurture inclusivity, bring the boundless energy and creativity of the youth into the political and governance processes, and significantly facilitate the entrenchment of a culture of electoral integrity, which is now most desirable for deepening democracy in Africa.”

    The former INEC chair was keynote speaker at the 4th Annual Continental Forum of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) organised by the political affairs department of the African Union (AU) in Kigali, Rwanda, at the weekend.

     

    • Please join me on kayodeidowu.blogspot.be for conversation.

  • Masses in deprivation trap

    Nigerian masses are the citizens who drive the country’s economy, and are being short-changed on a regular basis by the system.  They toil day and night to produce the wealth of the geo-polity, but get maximum penury and gloom in return, for their efforts both at the public and private levels of engagement.  A few Nigerians – members of the ruling oligarchy lay siege to the ordinary people.  These oligarchs and their friends are the ones reaping the fruits of the labour of the masses, who are of course, inside the deprivation trap.  The attitude of the ruling class is not unconnected to our European slave trade encounters coupled with colonisation that followed later.  In other words, both external (neo-colonial) and internal factors are responsible for the deprivation trap that keeps the ordinary Nigerians down.  Deprivation trap is tantamount to an idea of hell on earth.

    Poverty is a universal.  It is neither Western nor Eastern.  This underscores the reason why despite the socio-cultural sophistication of most European countries and North America as well as some Asian geo-polities like China and Japan, poverty continues to occupy a space in their vocabularies of popular essence.  But the intensity and capacity to tame poverty vary from one country to another.  Thus, for example, more than half a million people were homeless in the US as of 2016.  Indeed, the number was much higher in 2010 or thereabouts, before it began to reduce due to government’s positive interventionist policies.  Homelessness is one index of extreme poverty.  These very poor Americans are still living on the streets, inside vehicles and in temporary shelters.  However, the number is negligible when compared to the entire American population of over 325 million humans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s report on November 3.

    Similarly, Nigeria as of November 3 has a population estimate of over 192 million (2.53 percent of the total world population).  Out of this figure, about 112 million citizens, are experiencing dire poverty or near-complete destitution.  They live below poverty level (less than one dollar daily) according to the National Bureau of Statistics.  Therefore, the Nigerian experience of material poverty is very critical and it needs urgent attention.

    Monumental poverty remains a devil to wrestle with, despite the fact that Nigeria has launched in recent years four satellites into space.  Aside from this, Nigeria has crude oil reserves estimated at 35 billion barrels as well as incredible 100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.  Consequently, the Nigerian leadership system that is generally bereft of vibrant ideas and vision, can afford to be second to none in pampering its political class by paying its federal parliamentarians or National Assembly members, the highest salaries in the world.  This translates to a basic wage of 122,000 pounds. It doubles what the British parliamentarians earn. It is also painful to note, that Nigeria from the eve of its political independence in 1960 to-date has received at least $400 billion in foreign aid.  This is about six times what the U.S. pumped into the project of reconstructing the entirety of Western Europe after World War II.  But despite this, at least 70 percent of Nigerians are living from hand to mouth.

    It is an irony, that contemporary Nigerian masses, despite their spirit of hard work, can be trapped in a cycle of maximum material poverty.  Most families can no longer provide for themselves in terms of such basic needs as food and shelter, due to chronic low incomes and hostile business environment.  Life to most Nigerians today, is like a hell.  More and more Nigerian masses are being isolated from social infrastructure like good schools, health care system and employment opportunities.  They are also extremely vulnerable, leading to their over-dependency on the few rich individuals within the same community.  This situation leads to several forms of child abuse, prostitution, and human trafficking.  There is need to critically analyse the above external and internal factors, as a pre-condition for developing appropriate strategies to crush or at least reduce such ugly scenarios to the barest minimum.

    The economic and socio-political performance of Nigeria cannot be neatly separated or excluded from the European slave trade entanglements and colonial experience, which some analysts belonging to the school of minimalism, would want us to ignore.  It is submitted here, that Nigerians can only gloss over this reality at their own peril.  Our development discourse must create a space for Europeanisation.  It has become a part of our national patrimony.  Every human society has to learn from the lessons of history, in order to avoid as much as possible, the danger of repeating the mistakes of the past.  Colonisation promoted ethnic and to a limited degree, religious divisions and tensions.  The European colonisers used a “divide-and-rule” mechanism to destroy the age-long, indigenous Nigerian culture of caring and sharing.  They replaced our ideology of communalism with individualism embedded in economic exploitation and political oppression.  This was done by using differentiated “favours” and penalties to win and enjoy local loyalties. The numerous ethnic tensions, mistrust, distrust, misjudgements and misconceptions as well as the general accentuated division we experience today, have their deep roots in our colonial past.

    The European slave trade and colonial entanglements were the cause of Nigeria’s de-industrialisation as from the late 15th century.  Before the advent of Europe, the territory later christened Nigeria experienced robust industrialisation.  There was good archaeological evidence of profound dramas of human technological progression in the Nok Valley region of Nigeria.  The settlers of this area, same as other parts of Nigeria were masters of iron metallurgy (smelting and blacksmithing) as far back in time as 500 BC.  They advanced from purely making and using stone technologies to iron productions without any assistance from outside.  By this period, many parts of Europe were still at the Stone Age level of civilisation.  This means that Nigeria was once ahead of parts of Europe.  It is hard to believe the story, but the archaeological record is our witness.

    This historical fact including others underscores the reason why Africanist scholars abhor and reject the racist theory called Social Darwinism or Evolutionism.  According to this theory, Nigeria – a microcosm of Africa, was unchanging technologically and culturally and was therefore, backward until the advent of Europe.  That is to say, that Nigeria was on the bottom rung of the ladder of civilisation until Europe came to civilise it.  The central point of the colonialist and neo-colonialist argument was/is that Europe should be commended for coming to help Nigeria via the lens of colonisation.  It is pertinent to note here, that the coming of Europe with scrap iron among other items and services, gradually led to the collapse and/or neglect of our indigenous industrial behaviours.  The culture of dependency started from this period and the menace is still with the country up to now.  The scenario brought about the promotion and prolongation of Nigeria’s raw material economy – an anathema to sustainable industrial behaviours.

    It is lamentable that the Nigerian government up to now is merely hewing wood and drawing water for the hostile international economic system while Nigerians continue to die of starvation on a daily basis.  Again, the various governments down the ages have been taking foreign loans, gifts and grants.  There is nothing fundamentally wrong with this, provided the monies are spent in a prudent manner.  But this is not the case in Nigeria.  Many abandoned projects arising from external loans dot the country’s landscape while the masses groan under the weight of huge foreign debts with their poisonous economic implications.  Although Nigeria is a component of the global village, its participation in it (international community) has to be critical.  No foreign aids are value-free.  This government, at least for posterity sake, should dance with the developed world in a critical fashion.  Everything now is on the table of our dear President – Muhammadu Buhari, who has been destined by Providence to lead Nigeria (at this critical point in its chequered history), out of the woods.  It is advisable for him, to be careful of die-hard, sycophantic admirers and/or advisers who would never tell him the truth about the state of the nation.  President Buhari can still become Nigeria’s Churchill or Mandela even as the clock ticks.

     

    • Prof. Ogundele is of Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan.