The Nation Newspaper

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  • Ugwuanyi’s post mid-term spotlight

    Recently, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s administration in continuation of its commitment to the entrenchment of good governance in Enugu State, took far reaching decisions aimed at impacting positively on the lives of the people of the state, especially the rural dwellers.

    The state Executive Council (EXCO) at its first meeting after the second year anniversary of the administration, approved the award of contracts for the execution of multiple development projects worth over N750 million, in line with the state government’s vision to open up more rural areas to boost socio-economic activities as well as address the untold hardship being encountered by the dwellers because of the deplorable condition of their roads.

    The council at the meeting awarded contract for the construction of the Agbani – Afor Amurri road in Nkanu West Local Government Area to Ambeez Services Limited at the total sum of N240,455,078.20. It also awarded the construction of the Nkanu East Local Government Area Headquarters section of the intractable Amechi-Idodo – Amauzam – Amagunze road to Arab contractors Nigeria Ltd. at the total sum of N40,072,953.38 because of the nature of the soil texture of the area.

    In a bid to complete the ongoing construction of the Enugu State Medical Diagnostic Centre, and give the entire premises a facelift befitting the centre’s status, the Ugwuanyi administration also approved the award of contract for the external work at the centre at the contract sum of N233,218,262.81.

    At the same meeting, approval was equally given for the payment of N204,987,028.68, covering all the outstanding debts owed to Setraco Nigeria Limited by the previous administration in respect of the rehabilitation of major roads in Enugu Urban, namely: Abakaliki dual carriage way, Ogui/Fire Service dual carriage way and rehabilitation of New Haven roads (Chime Avenue), among others, as a means of enhancing good business relationship with the construction company.

    Away from the approvals for infrastructural development projects, the council in line with the policy thrust of the administration approved the full implementation of inclusive educational policy at the Special Education Centres at Oji River and Ogbete, Enugu to ensure the training of the physically challenged and healthy children in the same learning environment for better integration in the society after schooling, starting from 2017/2018 academic session.

    The idea, according to the Commissioner for Information, Godwin Udeuhele, who addressed journalists after the meeting, will enhance the opportunities of the physically challenged children trained at the centres to transit to junior secondary school, and “to promote social skills development of these children, as well as reduce the suspicion gap between these two categories of peers”.

    While approval for the release of N39,172,378.80  to enable the School of Public Health Nursing (Health Technology, Nsukka carry out its accreditation exercises in order not to lose its accreditation status and the consequences therein, was given, the council had in the meeting also approved the bill for a law to provide for the establishment of the Enugu State Debt Management Office and for other matters connected therewith and after that forward same to the Enugu State House of Assembly for legislative action.

    Explaining further on the issue, the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Miletus Eze, said that “the Debt Management Office will enable the state to ascertain its debt profile and to be able to manage its debt obligations in a most transparent manner”.

    All these multiple approvals were part of Governor Ugwuanyi’s post mid-term spotlight aimed at delivering more dividends of democracy to the people of Enugu State. The vision is an attestation of the governor’s steadfastness to continue to render selfless service, fulfil his campaign promises to the people of the state, against all odds, and ensure equitable development.

    On the Amagunze road in Nkanu East L.G.A awarded to Arab Contractors Nigeria Ltd., Governor Ugwuanyi’s decision to rehabilitate the dilapidated road was borne out the difficulties being encountered by the people of the area, especially during the rainy season, to access their council headquarters. It is pitiable to note that the section of the road for construction leads to the headquarters of Nkanu East L.G.A – the only council in the state without a good access road to the headquarters.

    Kudos must therefore, go to the governor for the bold initiative in acceding to the yearnings of the people of the area to ameliorate their sufferings by commencing the process to rehabilitate the major access road to the council’s headquarters and beyond.

    On the newly awarded Amurri road, it would be recalled that the people of the community had for decades clamoured for government’s intervention because of the road’s deplorable condition, which was reported to have become “a physical and psychological affliction to Amurri people”.

    The people had alleged that “the oldest signpost on the road was erected in 1919”. They had complained bitterly of total neglect and marginalization by the past administrations, adding that the road’s deterioration had diminished economic activities in a town famous for food products, such as garri, ogbono, palm oil, among others.  They were worried  that their community which borders Awgu Local Government Area at Agbogwugwu and Ogbaku has hundreds of thousands of hectares of extremely rich fertile lands (between Amurri and Ogbaku) trapped and turned into virgin forests because of inaccessibility to them as farmlands.

    All these challenges prompted Ugwuanyi’s surprise visit to Amurri in November 2016 to see for himself and ascertain the true state of the road for state government’s immediate intervention. The governor did not only drive through the road to the community unannounced, he halted his convoy at various intervals to interact with the astonished villagers on the most important need which the state government might help them with, which they all agreed was “Amurri Road”.

     

    It is also pertinent to note that the governor on return to Enugu invited Amurri leaders, where he expressed regret over the negligence for a long time and promised that the award of the contract for the road will be made in 2017 to enable his administration capture it in the budget.

    Today, the contract has been awarded and work will soon commence on the road. The governor’s swift intervention on Amurri road as a priority project of his administration is a clear indication of his commitment to the well-being of the people of the area and the state at large. It goes a long way to prove his sensitivity to the plight of the people. It has given credence to the governor’s sincerity of purpose and vision in ensuring that no community will be left out in the distribution of infrastructure and other basic amenities.

    Ugwuanyi in a move to extend the frontiers of development to the rural areas, had, in October 2016, flagged off phase one of 35 infrastructural projects across the 17 Local Government Areas of the state. Interestingly, 26 projects out of the 35 had been completed and commissioned in spite of the severe economic recession in the country, and still contracts for more developmental projects are being awarded.

    From the foregoing, it is clear that Ugwuanyi, against all odds, is poised to sustain the tempo of good governance in Enugu State to continue to give the citizenry of the state, the true heroes of democracy, quality leadership inspired by his love for the people and vision to sustain the dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of Enugu State.

     

    • Amoke writes from Enugu State.

     

  • Anti-corruption fight and judicial mockery

    Besides ethnicity, religious bigotry and fanaticism, corruption is the leviathan monster that if we do not agree and come together to tackle it will consume the country. Corruption in Nigeria is a huge industrial complex traversing the entire landscape of the country from the rural areas to the urban centres.  It is therefore national, institutional, systemic and indeed a life-style.  As a country, corruption has caused a humungous waste of our resources and reputation so much so that the former British Prime Minister found it convenient against all diplomatic niceties to refer to Nigeria as ‘fantastically corrupt’  when the President of Nigeria, the largest black country on earth was visiting the United Kingdom.

    The fight against corruption has always been tempered with ethno-religious sentiments whenever there is a move against corrupt persons in government or in the private sector.   Worst still is the fact that the government agencies and institutions for fighting corruption have not exhibited and deployed adequate skill and rhythm thereby exposing them to lampoon for lacking in professionalism.

    Contrary to the helpless lamentation of the President, the judiciary and rogue lawyers who hold on to the weak strands of technicality to defeat the course of justice or outright perversion are not really the problem in the fight against corruption.  The real problem is that a cross section of Nigerians has refused to join in the fight which they view through the prism of political partisanship and ethnicity.  This is in addition to relative incompetence of some of the agencies responsible for the fight against corruption that prefers sensational media trial and publicity to meticulous gathering of evidence in order to secure conviction.  The law does not operate as a voodoo cult; you have to place something before a court before you get something in return.

    It is not the place of the judge to read the lips and body language of anybody but decides issues on the quantum of evidence placed before him which he puts on the imaginary scale.  Thereafter, the impartial blind-folded virgin will bring down the sword and deal the blow not looking at the face of whosoever is before her, rich, poor, beautiful or ugly.

    In a situation where the anti-graft agencies rush to court with suspects before gathering evidence or without gathering tangible evidence   hoping that the judiciary should do its job for it is an affront on the Nigerian Constitution.  In all the high profile cases being prosecuted by the anti-graft agencies, I am not aware of any conviction being recorded.  All we see are the small fries and foot-soldiers being convicted while the barons are left to escape like the last drama that played out in the Code of Conduct Tribunal where the principal member of the National Assembly was discharged and acquitted.

    We agree that experience matters in law just like in other professions but knowledge and competence to effectively and efficiently prosecute criminal cases is not a function of year of call of a lawyer or conferment of privilege in terms of inner or outer bar.  There are competent lawyers without title who are hungry to display their skills.  Rather engage these vibrant lawyers who have no access to the media to advertise themselves, the anti-graft agencies are busy looking for overfed senior lawyers who do not have anything again to prove to prosecute their cases.

    The judiciary is a product of the larger society and cannot be better than what it is today given the way and manner selection or employment to the Bench is made.  Not to talk about the fact that our value system has been corrupted by inordinate quest for material things.  In the days of the Eliases, the Oputas, Kayode Esos, Mohammed Bellos, you had justices with great moral strength, intellectual bearing and philosophical disposition.  The same period witnessed serious minded practitioners with integrity at the Bar who helped to shape our law and judicial precedents which can stand the test of any jurisdiction anywhere in the world in contradistinction to today’s cash and carry black market judges and practitioners that we have.  This is with utmost respect to a few principled, committed and brilliant judges like Justice Kolawoles of the Federal High Court that are not tainted and have not been tarred with the brush of corruption.

    To truly deal with corruption, the entire citizenry has to come on board and support the fight. Before we get into the train, the relevant anti-graft agencies should bear the amour of professionalism and neutrality. Corruption has no tribe or religion and its impact affects all of us in equal measure as it weighs the nation down. The campaign by the National Assembly that it is being unfairly targeted by the executive when there are specific allegations against some members is puerile and a great obstacle to the fight which every patriot should be concerned about and resist.

    The critical question to ask in the circumstances should be, ‘are there evidence against the individuals alleged or not?’  We should not be concerned whether the agencies are not proceeding with everyone suspected or alleged of one heist, infraction or the other at the same time.  However, where such allegations are made, Nigerians should insist that at the appropriate time everybody involved should be brought to book no matter whose horse is gored.  Nobody should be a sacred cow and nobody should be above the law. As Bracton the philosopher famously held in the 13th Century, “The world was governed by law, human or divine. The king himself ought not to be subject to man but subject to God and to law because the law makes him king.”

    The whole world is watching the shenanigans of members of the National Assembly who are behaving as if government exist only for them and their selfish interest.  The quality and content of their debate is infantile in the extreme just as their histrionics is an insult to a nation that parades such a fine array of intellectuals and patriots.    The fight against corruption should not be left for the agencies alone; it is a fight for every well meaning patriot.  Sending suspects and accused people to court without any shred of evidence is a judicial mockery; a good trial is a product of good investigation. The investigative agencies should deploy greater skill and professionalism and rise above media trial in the court of public opinion and sensationalism and gather credible evidence to win the fight against corruption.

     

    • Kebonkwu Esq is an Abuja-based attorney.

     

     

  • Layers of conspiracies

    Some members of the National Assembly appear to be conspiring to bring the executive to discomfort, just as the executive had done to a number of legislators by indiscriminately waging the war on corruption on them. To buttress the uncertainty in the relationship between the executive and the legislature, there was even a subtle manoeuvre last week, to draft the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to act for the acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, when he travelled out of the country.

    No doubt, the two arms of the National Assembly have some stones to grind with the executive. Who will forget the disconsolate Bukola Saraki, peering throw the cage for an accused, while he battled his corruption charges at the Code of Conduct Tribunal? Or the melancholy of Speaker Yakubu Dogara, as he ran helter-skelter seeking presidential shield, when Honourable Abdulmumin Jibril, originally a member of his cabal, sought executive support to unhinge him?

    Now that the leader of the National Assembly and Senate President has gained some temporal relief following his acquittal from the Code of Conduct Tribunal, a plot seems afoot for a shadow boxing with the reigning prince, Prof Yemi Osinbajo. But as Machiavelli taught in The Discourses: “there is … no enterprise in which private persons can engage, more dangerous or more rash than (conspiracies), for it is both difficult and extremely dangerous in all its stages.”

    But the stakes are so high that Saraki and his followers may not give a damn. Being a battle for their political lives, they may go for the broke. With President Muhammadu Buhari substantially dislocated from his presidency by ailment, especially in the run-up to 2019, leaving a more vulnerable Osinbajo to the hawks; will an ambitious Saraki seek to march into the presidency with another unmarked car, like when he quested for the senate presidency?

    For again, as Machiavelli taught: “that lust for domination which blinds men; blinds them yet again in the way they set about the business.” So, will the Saraki-led legislators blindly go for the executive jugular, if not for a vantage 2019, at least to stave off the threatened appeal against his acquittal by the CCT, while hoping to get his accused colleagues some reprieve from the EFCC?

    In this season of conspiracies, some members of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) could be willing allies, at least against the EFCC. Last week, the forum aped the senators at the beginning of Saraki’s trial, when it released a duplicitous statement from its official, urging the EFCC to leave their chairman Governor Abudulaziz Yari alone, despite the serious allegation of diverting with cohorts, about $3 million of the Paris Club refund fund, to a private enterprise.

    If majority of the governors truly authorised the statement issued on behalf by the forum, then one can say the vultures are indeed gathering against the leadership of the EFCC. But the subsequent assertion of the Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, at the commissioning of the zonal office of the EFCC, in the name of the president and the acting president, that Magu stays, could either be a repudiation of the NGF’s position or mere grandstanding.

    But regardless of the import of El-Rufai’s intervention, there is no doubt now that there are as many officials in the ruling party as there are outsiders in the opposition party, who want Ibrahim Magu out of the EFCC. The press release by the NGF clearly shows that those indicted by the commission are in a state of panic, just like the senators who sought to upgrade a mere motion to the force of legislation.

    While the Senate is entitled to insist on their legislative powers to confirm presidential appointees, where an act of the National Assembly has so provided, including the appointment of the EFCC chairman, the assertion that the acting President must obey a legislative motion misses the point. A motion is a mere legislative prayer that a certain thing be done, and it is rather presumptuous for the Senate President to fly off the handle to insist that the acting President must obey a legislative motion.

    So the declaration last week by the Senate President concerning the Magu saga, that: “we can’t pass laws and say these laws should not be obeyed. It is very clear these resolutions as passed must be acted upon by the acting President;” is a terrible mis-joinder of power and privilege. Clearly the laws legitimately made by the legislature must be obeyed, but a resolution of the legislature, which is mere motion must not be obeyed.

    Of note, where a valid law is not obeyed, the legislators or any interested party should simply approach the courts, as provided by section 6(6)(b) of the 1999 constitution as amended, to declare the negligent party guilty of an infraction of a law. Threats to stop work, or engage in work-to-rule like a trade union, as the senators have threatened, is an aberration.

    But of course, Magu’s confirmation saga is a mere rehearsal by desperate actors in the deadly struggle for 2019. Who will blink first, between the senate and the presidency, remains to be seen in the days ahead? Still talking of conspiracies, Machiavelli warned the prince thus: “a prince, therefore, who wants to guard against conspiracies, should fear those on whom he has conferred excessive favours more than those to whom he has done excessive injury.”

    Machiavelli went further: “For the latter lack opportunity, whereas the former abound in it, and the desire is the same in both cases; for the desire to rule is as great as, or greater than is the desire for vengeance.” The trouble for the ordinary Nigerians is that while the legislators and the executive are slugging it out, the affairs of the state will suffer. If the Senate carries out its threat not confirm any new nominee from the executive, it is the ordinary Nigerians that will suffer more.

    As the conspiracies unfold, Nigerians and even those who issued the ultimatum to the acting President, will be watching to see how he reacts. Without much pedigree in executive position, and without the full prerogatives of an executive president, Prof Osinbanjo may appear a fair game, to those who are used to having their way. Of note, the ultimatum is also a subtle threat to President Buhari in absentia, and I doubt, if Saraki could use similar words, if Buhari was around.

    Perhaps, Prof Osinbajo with stealthy demeanour may prove a tough nut like President Buhari, if he resolves to act according to his belief, regardless of whose ox is gored. But that would involve taking on the Senate and at least a faction of the NGF, who are afraid of Magu’s leadership of EFCC. Alternatively, he could summon his mediatory skills to hammer out a deal, and make the Magu saga a mere storm in a tea cup.

  • Fort Dino

    Any elected representative in political office who truly knows legitimacy derives from voters should welcome the occasion, no matter how dubiously orchestrated, to spot-check his/her mandate with the people. If strongly validated at such opportunity, he secures a moral high ground to rebuff the hurdlecrowd and hecklers within the power elite, and stay the course with his agenda that had thereby been shown acceptable to electoral constituents. And where he survives, but just by the teeth, he gets the best cue to recalibrate his program in alignment with the electors’ preferences. Either way, he gains something; unless he is wholly rejected by the constituents, in which case he had no business being in the office.

    That was the logic of the gamble by British Prime Minister Theresa May who called a snap election for June 8, this year, that turned awry. Scheduled poll was not due until 2020, but May had hoped a renewed mandate and bigger parliamentary majority for Tories would strengthen her hand against party rebels and opposition cynics hassling her over Brexit negotiations with the EU. Only that the gamble backfired, resulting in leaner Tory presence in the British parliament and compelling the coalition deal that currently sustains her in office.

    It is evident that Nigeria’s Senator Dino Melaye wouldn’t dare a voluntary gamble at revalidating his mandate from Kogi West senatorial district voters – at least, not outside the electoral cycle. And when the occasion was foisted on him by purported constituents lately seeking his recall from the Senate, he bunkered up in the legislative chamber to demand protection from persons who ostensibly sent him there to represent them. Only last week, Dino Melaye sought mandate protection from the Senate against supposed voters who had given him that very mandate. And curiously, the Senate dug into the trenches to provide the shelter he sought. It is the Americans who call their military formations forts, we call ours garrisons. But for brevity, you could say the Senate’s other name at the moment is Fort Dino.

    The ‘distinguished senator’ has for some time been at loggerheads with political ally turned foe, Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, who he fingers for alleged dubious plot to oust him from the Senate. And that may well be true: politicians spare no quarter in their attritious turf wars. But he would not even allow the possibility to be interrogated in line with the Nigerian law. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on June 21 received roughsacks containing signatures purported to be from 52.3 percent of the registered voter population in Kogi West, demanding Melaye’s recall from the Senate. And Section 69 of our Constitution (as amended) provides for those signatures to be “duly verified” by INEC, which the electoral body scheduled August 19 to do in all polling units within the constituency. The outcome of such verification, according to existing law, should determine whether the electoral body would conduct a referendum to allow Kogi West constituents openly have their say on Melaye’s continued stay in the red chamber. But the senator preemptively headed to court to leash INEC from proceeding with the statutorily prescribed process, and reports at the weekend were that he secured an order stopping the commission.

    Melaye had earlier last week stepped up his ambuscade by rallying the Senate to delegitimize INEC’s process. Coming through Order 14 at the chamber’s plenary on Tuesday, he not just again accused the Kogi governor of masterminding the recall bid, he also indicted the electoral body as complicit in the alleged subterfuge. “The score of both valid and invalid votes in the election that brought me into the Senate in 2015 was 118,000, but my governor and his appointees in four days claimed they got signatures of over 188,000,” Melaye said. “They got INEC’s database of registered voters and copied into a recall register, and forged all the signatures. As I speak to you, I have over 120 dead certificates issued by the National Population Commission, and these people’s relations have sworn to affidavits and these certificates have been deposited. The names of all these dead people appeared on the recall register submitted to INEC,” he added.

    The catch here is: since INEC has not complained of its database being hacked, the alleged copying, if true, must be with insider collusion by the commission. Of course, nothing is beyond the pale in these matters, and I doubt that the INEC leadership would vouch for every single staff member. But the whole point of the scheduled  verification of signatures is to demonstrably expose such shenanigans, so why wouldn’t Melaye brook going through with that process?

    Then, it was well within the senator’s right of free speech to make those allegations; what was troubling was the Senate’s seeming fore-conclusion on them. Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who presided at the plenary, waved off Melaye’s anxiety by dubbing the recall bid futile. “I am wondering why we are dissipating energy on this matter and wasting precious legislative time on a matter we should not. What is happening in Kogi in respect of Senator Dino Melaye, as far as the Constitution is concerned, is an exercise in futility,” he said.

    His confidence was not hinged on Melaye’s acquittal based on recall procedures outlined in Section 69, though, but on some curious interpretation of Section 68(1)(h), which provides that a member of the Senate (or House of Reps, as the case may be) shall vacate his seat if “the President of the Senate…receives a certificate under the hand of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission stating that the provisions of Section 69 of this Constitution have been complied with in respect of the recall of that member.”

    Ekweremadu hinted that this provision is for a magisterial, and not administrative function, saying: “When they are done, they will go back to Section 68, which states that the President of the Senate receives from the chairman of INEC the recall of the member. They would also present evidence satisfactory to the House or the Senate; so they need to come back here and convince each and every one of us that they have done the correct thing. Unless they do that, they cannot even give effect to it.”

    Senate President Bukola Saraki, who was in the chamber at the time, cheerled his presiding deputy who has endured in that office across dispensations. “As they say, 10 years is no joke in leadership. The Deputy Senate President has explained the processes. So let the process speak for itself. I really don’t know why efforts are being wasted that should have gone into more important things. Eventually, it must come back here for us to decide whether it is satisfactory or not,” he said.

    I am not a lawyer and would not even hazard legal arguments here, but I dare say the Constitution’s intent can’t accord with the Senate’s interpretation. It is against the grain of justice for an accused (or his prejudiced class) to adjudicate in his own matter. If the constitutional requirement is meant as suggested, the National Assembly is a veritable fort and no member will ever get recalled by aggrieved constituents.

  • Nigeria’s plans lack growth elements

    Nigeria has had many plans and budgets since independence in 1960. But they have always lacked growth elements. So the 2017 Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) lacks growth elements. Nigeria had four National Development Plans in the period 1962-1985: 1962-68, 1970-74, 1975-80 and 1980-85. Nigeria also adopted the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and its Rolling Plans in 1986. SAP remains the main programme Nigeria is implementing today, because the principal elements, philosophy and ideological inclination in 1986 have not changed; they have been the bases of managing the Nigerian economy.

    Nigerian government officials claimed to have been implementing reforms, NEEDS, 9-point Agenda, Vision 20:2020 and Transformation Agenda, and now ERGP (the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, 2017). However, SAP’s elements:  the mandatory currency devaluation machinery (the foreign exchange market) now known by various names, privatization of public enterprises and adoption of deregulation (frequent increase in petroleum product prices) as the economic philosophy for managing public projects and activities and technology transfer strategy remain the principal features of the Nigerian economy.

    Some Nigerians and their foreign friends, the World Bank and IMF who have been influencing Nigeria’s economic policy over the decades, like to deceive the ignorant public that it is the name of a programme that counts, rather than the elements. They are wrong. It is the elements of a programme that determine its impact on the people. Nigeria has been achieving growth without development (GWD) for decades because Nigeria’s planning and budgeting processes lack growth elements.

    Consequently, unemployment, poverty and high crime wave have been worsening. Also there are no physical structures to show for the trillions of naira budgets announced every year and the rapidly growing national debts. Nigerian governments have merely been wasting resources and imposing unnecessary and untold hardship on the ignorant and unsuspecting citizenry. Growth elements must be introduced into Nigeria’s planning, if the nation is to make progress.

    The purpose of this article is to explain how the missing growth elements can be introduced into Nigeria’s planning and budgeting processes to promote growth that makes positive impact on the people, growth that promotes competence-building (or growth that increases individual and national capabilities for solve problems including production) and growth that promotes the transformation of the Nigerian economy from its agricultural status into an industrialized one with a view to eliminating mass unemployment, poverty, hopelessness and high crime wave.

    Nigerian governments have always emphasized capital investment and erection of complex infrastructure. These do not and cannot promote the desired growth. Economists measure changes in GDP every year.  But it is not mere changes in GDP that Nigeria and other African nations need. The industrialized European and Asian nations and the United States of America were like African nations of today, a long time ago. That is, they had agricultural economies and were unable to produce/ manufacture scientific products. However, they learnt over the centuries and acquired the knowledge, skills and competences (KSCs) they now use in solving problems including manufacturing.  It is for this understanding that learning is the primary basis of industrialization that virtually all nations in the world have educational institutions today. Sadly, still, Western education (economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, psychology, etc., and related fields like accounting, management, banking, law, etc.) does not understand the human development process. Economists and others whose expertise derive from acquiring Western education and related fields were brought up to believe that mere capital investment promotes sustainable economic growth and industrialization, so they throw money at all problems. They do not understand what the scientific transformation of an economy from its agricultural status into an industrialized one entails.

    All persons are born as crying babies. The baby soon begins to babble (learns how to talk), acquires the competences to talk and talks. The baby who could not babble grows up to be a dumb adult. Talking or speaking is a skill. The child must also learn how to read and write, otherwise, it grows up to be an illiterate. No one or nation is born with the skills to produce scientific products. All knowledge, skills and competences are acquired through learning. One who wishes to be a good dancer must learn how to dance. A nation which hopes to manufacture many products must develop the people to manufacture them. The talented pianist must play the ordinary tunes before using his talents to compose extra-ordinary tunes. Learning and acquiring new knowledge, skills and competences and applying these in solving problems including production, are the primary sources of achieving sustainable economic growth and industrialization. Nigeria is stagnating because it has been neglecting learning activities.

    Learning and building KSCs for solving problems including production go beyond establishing educational systems and running them grudgingly.  Education should always be considered a part of the learning process . Quite often, educationists view education as an end by itself. Viewed this way, many nations have educational systems because others nations have; education is seen as a social burden which every nation bears. Also, education viewed this way co-exists with mass unemployment and poverty as it has been the situations in Africa and Latin-America nations for decades.

    The duality of nature – up/down, man/woman, night/day, right/left, etc., suggests that there are two sides to learning, education and training. An individual may acquire education (fundamental principles) or training (practical skills), alone or combined. Anyone who acquires either theory or practical skills, alone, is a mediocre person. The versatile individual is one who acquires both theory and practical skills to appreciable levels. Nigeria has a mediocre and illiterate work force.

    In any nation, all workers including the artisans and craftsmen are also involved in learning. In Nigeria and all other nations in Africa, there is no linkage between those learning in educational institutions and the rest of the economy. Lack of linkage brings weakness to a system, whereas linkage creates strength (because the system enjoys economies of scale, using the economists’ concept). So, the Nigerian learning system virtually does not exist, weakened for lack of linkage and because the learning people either acquiring theoretical principles, alone, or a small quantity of practical skills alone. Virtually all the 300,000 graduates armed with a lot of theoretical principles produced by the university system in Nigeria, join the unemployment queue every year.

    Nigeria  can introduce growth elements into its planning and budgeting processes through the following thoughts and activities: 1) accept and adopt the proven theory that learning is the primary basis of promoting KSCs-build-up and industrialization; 2) set up a standing training framework to ensure that all graduates of educational institutions must acquire curriculum-based complementary practical skill for  sufficiently long times (4-5 years for the university graduate) to possess necessary competence;  and 3) ensure all necessary linkages within learning groups and between learning groups are established.  This is how Nigeria can promote rapid industrialization as solution to unemployment, low productivity, poverty, indiscipline, high crime wave, hopelessness, etc.

  • Lagos APC Primaries: The antics of a custodian

    Lagos APC Primaries: The antics of a custodian

    Party leaders in Lagos State knew the forthcoming Local Government election would generate tremendous interest. They knew the election would attract a large army of aspirants. This intense interest in participating in governance at the grassroots level should be understandable. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode had drastically opened up the state with massive developmental projects and infrastructure which have positively impacted businesses and government revenues. And the statistics are not unflattering. The Economic Confidential, an economic intelligence magazine in the country, in its recently-released Annual States Viability Index (ASVI) showed that 14 states are insolvent as their Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) in 2016 were far below 10% of their Federation Account Allocations (FAA) in the same year. According to the report, only six states, with Lagos at the top, are viable. The interesting thing, however, is the report further indicates that the IGR of Lagos State put at N302 billion is higher than that of 30 states combined, excluding Ogun, Rivers, Edo, Kwara and Delta states whose IGRs are very impressive at more than 30% each. The report also shows that only Lagos and Ogun states generated more revenue than their allocations from the Federation Account by 169% and 127% respectively. No other state has up to 100% of IGR to the federal allocation.

    Pundits who put these figures of increased revenue generation in perspectives say the figures may have had its effect on the jostling for the Local Government election in the state. Going by these favourable IGR figures, they argue that it is not impossible that some local governments in Lagos could equate some states in terms of revenue generation. So by extension therefore, running for the chairmanship of such local governments in Lagos seem akin to running for the governorship of some states, hence the rat race for the chairmanship and councillorship positions. Indeed, the number of those who came forward to contest the LG poll is bewildering. Within the All Progressives Congress (APC) alone, a whooping 1,806 aspirants turned up to contest for the councillors in the 377 wards and 488 for the chairmanship in the 20 Local Government Areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas in the state. The Assistant Publicity Secretary of the APC in Lagos, Hon. Abiodun Salami, who unfolded the figures in a recent interview with an online newspaper, said the 1,806 persons officially obtained nomination forms (not expression of interest forms) for the councillorship positions in the 377 wards.

    How does a party manage this humongous number of aspirants in a way to produce quality candidates to compliment the good work been done by Governor Ambode, and with little acrimony? And add to this the fact that winning the APC ticket is tantamount to winning the eventual election as the APC does not seem to have any effective opposition in the state. The APC leadership in the state knew it had to put on its thinking cap and fashion out an arrangement that would be democratic and at the same time throw up credible candidates who can make significant impact in the local councils, the closest arm of government to the people at the grassroots. 

    In its wisdom therefore, the party opted for a combination of direct and indirect primaries, the latter encompassing consensus arrangement. This was agreed upon at the Stakeholders’ Meeting in April at ACME Road, Ikeja Secretariat of the APC in a bid to stem the tension, bitter acrimony and untoward violence wholly direct primaries would have engendered. Indeed, the APC constitution provides for both direct and indirect primaries. It must be pointed out that the consensus approach and candidature through affirmation are key democratic processes. In areas where the consensus arrangement could not resolve the issue of candidature, direct primaries were arranged. The final ratification of the approved candidates who had emerged by consensus and direct primaries in a few contentious areas were then slated for Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos on May 25. Ballot boxes and papers were put in place for the vote in respect of the few contentious areas. The process had gone far enough. The ratification of the large army of candidates who had emerged by consensus had been done, and election was being called for the few contentious areas when trouble broke out and the process could not proceed.

    Since then, however, the multi-level conflict-resolution mechanism put in place by the party had virtually resolved the problem. Where there are still pockets of complaints, consultations and discussions and negotiations have been employed to deal with them and they are still ongoing. It should be borne in mind that no system is perfect and humanity has not come up with a model that is without its problems.

    APC Deputy Spokesman Salami spoke further about the method put in place to resolve perceived problems. He said: “After the primaries, we have in place the Appeal Committee headed by a distinguished Lagosian, a former Deputy Governor of the state, who has so much at stake and who is known to be a man of integrity. There are still other mechanisms again to explore even if you are not satisfied with the Appeal Committee. We have the Executive Committee made up of representatives from each of the local governments that make the state. So if you have not exhausted all these avenues and you are out there protesting or saying all sorts of things, we don’t pay attention.

    “As a party, we are so organised and would not allow anybody to coerce us. It is for you to sell yourself to us, convince us that this is why you want to serve the people not, force yourself on us. The stage of appeal has just wound up and the Executive Committee that have all it takes to handle the situation, having been running the party over the years at the state level. Expectedly, we at the Executive Level have a stake in the party and the state and we are looking at some of the complaints. For instance, I represent a local government, same with many others who are also state officers; even the state Chairman (Chief Ajomale) is representing a local government. Notwithstanding that, as a state chairman, if you bring a petition from his local government, we all look at it meritoriously”.

    I have taken the pains to explain the electoral processes employed and the conflict-resolution mechanism put in place, which has virtually resolved all the contending issues, in order to expose the shenanigans of people like former Lagos Commissioner for The Environment, Mr. Muiz Banire, who claimed no primaries were conducted. As APC Legal Adviser, though he resigned from the office the other day, Banire is only been clever by half. The party’s constitution approves of both direct and indirect primaries. His vituperation is that of a man lost in the scheme of things in Lagos and now battling for relevance. He is simply out to confuse the unwary by giving the impression he is fighting for certain principles or for the people. Nothing can be farther from the truth.

    Pray, where was Banire “the custodian of the party’s constitution,” when the party’s governorship primary election was badly manipulated in Ondo or when the seemingly abhorrent was employed in Kogi in the name of candidate-replacement method?

    Now, the custodian has suddenly woken up from his deep slumber. This is the same Banire who was a beneficiary of consensus and compromise through which he held sway as Special Adviser and Commissioner for 12 unbroken years. The problem with Banire is he could hardly appreciate the huge burden on the shoulders of party leaders in ensuring equitable distribution of positions in the state. Imagine what may likely happen if every position and seat in Lagos is left to be the vagaries of election. Yet Banire who is crying wolf has never contested, talk less win an election in Lagos. He expects the grass to be greener at all time. When things do not go his way, all hell must let loose. But not a few had known that his streak of providence was bound to run out and now that it has, Banire has suddenly become the aggrieved, fighting for the fabled oppressed.

     

    • Balogun, a political analyst, writes from Ikorodu.
  • Utomi and the leadership project in Nigeria

    Utomi and the leadership project in Nigeria

    Many would have thought and indeed have asked me repeatedly why I had not celebrated Pat Utomi since I started this series in 2012 given my great admiration for him in a measure that has grown into deep friendship since we met again at a workshop we both addressed about a decade ago. Sometimes in 2016 however, I was compelled, as part of my critical celebration of those I chose to call intellectual heroes and heroines in the Nigeria project, to do a piece on Professor Pat Utomi. In that piece, I referred to him as an avatar and a patriot. I began the article thus: The name of Pat Utomi stands for so many things—teacher, administrator, public intellectual, policy analyst, and entrepreneur. He is unqualifiedly a patriot and my sense of a great mind with an incredible blend of depth and breath. He is an activist that loves Nigeria enough to engage her failings and her possibilities. He is equally a committed elite who does not shy away from rigorous analysis about Nigeria’s political economy. In fact, there is no aspect of Nigeria’s socioeconomic and political landscape that Professor Utomi does not traverse solidly with sufficient evidence and demonstrated knowledge. His boundless energies and intellectual expansiveness places him in the same critical space as Arthur Nwankwo, Ibrahim Tahir, Odia Ofeimun, J. K. Randle, Rasheed Gbadamosi, Chinwezu, Dele Cole, Doyin Abiola, Sonala Olumhense, Olatunji Dare, Jibrin Ibrahim, Ferdinard Agu, Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, Issa Aremu, Olusegun Oshinowo, Patrick Okigbo, and if I may, the younger vibrant Abimbola Adelakun, and others, to name just a few who are not just cerebral and scholars in their own right, but could be relied on to articulate definite directions for Nigeria. And the extent of his patriotism is reflected in his desire, however symbolic, to be at the helms of Nigeria’s affairs to direct proceeding.

    But, it seems to me clearer now that the significant essence of Patrick Okedinachi Utomi cannot be contained within one piece. His status as a quintessential public intellectual, amongst many others in Nigeria, is crucial to the understanding of what is needed, again amongst many, to evolve a stable and sustained development paradigm for Nigeria. Nigeria needs her public intellectuals. In that same unassailable logic, Nigeria needs intellectuals in the mould of Pat Utomi who are patriotic enough to continue to write and advocate in the ardent optimism that Nigeria will eventually come out of the woods of postcolonial development and democratic listlessness. In this article, I want to focus on Professor Utomi’s legacy of reflection on the Nigeria leadership and institutional crisis.

    I am not sure that a consummate scholar like Utomi would be fazed by the intellectual dilemma between institution and leadership. This distinction constitutes one of the standard but complex discourses in the social sciences. The essence of the distinction is to see which is primary in the understanding of national development between the leadership factor and the institutional factor. For the advocate of leadership, this seems significant because it takes a leader to facilitate the dynamics of institutional stability and coherence. On the other hand, the theorists of the primacy of institutions contend that there is no leadership that can even ever hope to function with some measure of success if the enabling institution is not available in the first place. How then do we undermine the dichotomy between leadership and institutions seeing that both are required to make a state function optimally in terms of democracy and development? Is it even sufficient to just conclude that both are necessary in nation building, and then move on? Or, is the distinction inherently false?

    It seems to me that Professor Utomi has managed to grasp the two horns of the dilemma between leadership and institutions by not only dedicating his intellectual and policy analyses to the two but by equally working tirelessly to ensure that both constitute the focus of his advocacy for the progressive evolution of Nigeria as a democratic state. In other words, as far as Professor Utomi is concerned, Nigeria’s sociopolitical and economic future cannot afford the sterile discourse on the distinction between leadership and institution. Their relevance in the Nigerian context must be determined by their simultaneous evolution.

    Pat Utomi’s relevance in Nigeria’s public sphere is built around his solid reputation as an intellectual who has mastered the capacity to match postulations with advocacy, and policy analyses with sociopolitical and economic realities of the Nigerian state. We do not have in him an armchair theorist who spews ideas and paradigms that are too far-fetched to enable us make sense of our collective situation and predicament. On the contrary, Professor Utomi’s solid credentials are carved out of a seamless multi-sectoral linkage made up of the private sector, academia, management, and the public sector. The experience accumulated through all these spheres of endeavour tells of an individual who is aware of where he is going. The significant thing for us here is that the very act of going somewhere for Utomi, and unlike the average political elite in Nigeria, is intricately entwined with the Nigerian national project. When he founded the African Democratic Congress party to contest the presidential election in 2011, it becomes clear that Pat Utomi has a greater vision than just the betterment of the self. Of course he failed to win the election, but that is entirely beside the point.

    The point consists in the boldness it requires to inject oneself constantly in the public sphere as a simultaneous act of rebellion and patriotism. Failure at the polls has not in any way dented Professor Utomi’s nationalist ardor. And that is where my interest as a reformer lies. I see a critical similarity between my failed desire to achieve my professional ambition of institutional transformation of the civil service through reform as an expert-insider and Utomi’s incessant denial by our Lilliput’s political elites of critical policy space to translate vision to legacy. Both attempts were attempts to serve in the face of the obvious failure of leadership itself. And such bids arise out of the conviction that something critical can and should be done to rescue the dysfunctional situation in the civil service and in the nation respectively. Reform is a serious business. And only the courageous knowledge worker with expert’s blend of what it takes to balance what it requires as ‘doing the right thing’ and ‘doing it right’ in a manner of speaking, can dare its complexities. Since the logical destination of a reformer is to achieve an office which would constitute what I have called a reform space that permits significant reform imperatives and authority, it stands to reason that a public intellectual like Utomi would eventually desire the office of the president of Nigeria.

    What should concern us is the vision and ideals that defines Utomi’s understanding of leadership. The answer is simple; he is fascinated, at a fundamental level, with the relationship between human dignity, democratic ideals and managerial enterprise, and how these three could facilitate an institutional capacity that can grow development. This explains his long tenure at the Lagos Business School, and eventually the founding of the Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL) whose objective, as the website declares, is “the elevation of the dignity of the human person, beginning from Nigeria. The sense of a great duty and a big burden to improve the quality of life of young people, in our society, by building good values in them, led to the setting up of a Centre for Values in leadership.”

    What I see in the idea of the CVL is a very clever combination of vision and a methodology. The vision to be a centre for leadership development is straightforward and fundamental enough. But there is something more behind it, if my deduction is correct. I read the CVL as a reform space that enables Pat Utomi to ground the culture of value leadership in a crop of youths with the underlying intention of building a leadership culture that is strong enough to undermine what Richard Joseph famously called the prebendal political behavior of the present crop of Nigerian political elite. Since independence in 1960, there has been a gradual but steady dissociation of the ruling elite from the social contract that binds the government to the governed in democratic relations of duties and responsibilities. But with the debilitating intervention of greed and political corruption, the Nigerian state has become a conglomerate of prebends rather than a dynamics of democratic welfare that empowers the citizens. And since a gloomy statistics of youth unemployment constitutes one of the consequences of the short-circuited social contract, what better way to reignite the youthful energies and reinvent the idea of leadership than through a catch-them-young framework of programmes and innovation that reward leadership skills and competences?

    Professor Utomi ought to know because he is a rare intellectual who has consistently remained outside of the dynamics of anomie and corruption that has entrapped the Nigerian elite. Alongside others, Pat Utomi walks a lonely, enervating but patriotic path that seems to require more frustrating energies than what is required to steal some billions from the Nigerian treasury. He belongs to the corps of a few critical intellectuals committed to what I have called “empathetic scholarship” who remain committed to the Nigerian project, no matter what. Patrick Utomi has been celebrated a few times. When he writes, we all pause to listen and ponder his consistent reflections on the Nigerian condition, even though we may not always agree with him. He is one of the bright stars in the firmament of the Nigerian public life. But all these would not really matter if we refuse to take cognizance of his specific brand of patriotism and activism which choose to not only critique the Nigerian condition but to also programmatically build access points from which we can begin to address what is wrong with Nigeria. Professor Utomi chose leadership and values as an entry point into what is wrong with us. And this is significant because it is with the youth, whom the CVL targets, that we can commence a generational reinvention of Nigeria as a nation with budding potentials.

     

    • Dr. Olaopa is the Executive Vice Chairman

    Ibadan School of Government and Public

    Policy (ISGPP)

    Ibadan

    tolaopa2003@gmail.com

    tolaopa@isgpp.com.ng

  • How Balewa declared state of emergency in the West in 1962

    LIKE play, like play the crisis of the Action Group reared its ugly head at the party’s annual convention held in Jos, Plateau in January 1962. It was at the convention that the General Secretary of the party, Chief Ayotunde Rosiji (1917-2000) resigned and Mr. Samuel Goomsu Ikoku (1912-1997) took over as the Chief Scribe of the party. Chief Anthony Eromosele Enahoro (1923-2010) became the deputy leader of the party. Mr. Ikoku had earlier defeated his father, Dr. Alvan Ikoku by 59 votes in the Eastern Nigeria House of Assembly election. The 8th convention of the party was held in African Sports Club in Jos with Chief Ajibola Idowu Ige,SAN(1930- 2001) elected publicity Secretary of the party and with Professor Samuel Adepoju Aluko(1929-2012), Prof Hezekiah Adedunmola Oluwafemi Oluwasanmi (1919-1983), Professor Victor Adenuga Oyenuga(1917-2010),Chief Arthur Edward Prest(1906-1976), Professor H.E. Ajose, Dr. Sanya Dojo Onabamiro (1913-1985) and Professor Akinlawon Ladipo Mabogunje(85),in attendance. At the convention, the then leader of the party, Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909-1987) was on one side, while the Premier of the Western Region at that time, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola(1912-1966) was on another side.

    The crisis snowballed into a major national crisis, the consequences of which we still face today. On May 29 1962, the then Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa(1912-1966) summoned an emergency meeting of the Federal House of Representatives which was then the Federal Parliament in Lagos during which he moved a motion on the Action Group crisis. The full motion is hereby reproduced and the reply of the then opposition leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The motion reads thus:” I rise to move the Resolution standing in my name which reads as follows:”That in pursuance of section sixty-five of the constitution of the Federation, It is hereby declared that a state of public emergency exists in Western Region and that this resolution shall remain in force until the end of the month of December, nineteen hundred and sixty-two.”

    “Members know the reasons why Parliament has reassembled today. For the past week or so there has been no properly constituted Government in Western Nigeria. I would like to recapitulate briefly the events which have led to this impasse and in doing so I would like to emphasise that the Federal Government had been motivated solely by the desire to ensure that peace, order and tranquility are maintained throughout parts of the Federation. “ A political crisis developed within the Action Group which was the party in control of the Government of Western Nigeria. Following the crisis the National Executive of the party deposed Chief Akintola as Deputy Leader and asked him to resign his appointment as Premier of Western Nigeria. On the 20th of May, the Premier advised the Governor of Western Nigeria that in view of the political crisis which had been developed in the Region and of the rival claims of the two factions to a majority support of the electorate in the Region His Excellency should exercise his powers under section 31 of Part III of the Constitution of Western Nigeria to dissolve the Legislative House of the Region.

    The Governor refused. “On the same day the Premier asked the Speaker, for the same reasons, to convene the Western House of Assembly for Wednesday, May 23rd to consider and pass a Motion for a vote of confidence in the Government of Western Nigeria but the Speaker also refused. The following day the Governor purported to exercise the powers vested in him by section 33(10) of the constitution of Western Nigeria set out in the Fourth Schedule to the Nigeria Constitution Order-in-Council 1960 and purported to remove Chief Akintola from his office as Premier of Western Nigeria with effect from the 21st of May. Chief Akintola thereupon filed a Motion in the High Court challenging the power of the Governor to remove him from office in the manner he did.

    The matter is still before the court for determination. “The Governor, nevertheless, proceeded to exercise the powers in normal circumstances vested in him by section 33(1) of the Constitution of Western Nigeria by purporting to appoint Chief D.S. Adegbenro to be Premier of Western Nigeria with effect from the 21st of May. A meeting of the Western House of Assembly was summoned for the 25th of May. “As Members know, two unsuccessful attempts were made on that day to hold meetings of the Western House of Assembly; the first one ended in a violent uproar and disorder.

    The police had no alternative but to use tear gas to disperse all Members, but before then the House had become a shambles. I was then approached by one side to the dispute to allow the Nigeria Police to guard the Chamber of the Western House of Assembly so that another meeting could be held, this time, in the House of Chiefs which was to be used as the House of Assembly. The other side almost immediately warned that it would be unwise and risky to allow such further meeting to be held. Before the attempt to hold a second meeting I felt impelled to issue the following release: “The two factions in the Action Group have contacted the Prime Minister regarding the holding of another meeting of the Western Nigeria House of Assembly today.

    The Prime Minister cannot stop the meeting from taking place but because of the fight which has broken out in the House this morning if the parties decided to hold a meeting of the House of Assembly they may do so. It must be on the strict understanding that there will be no police protection within the Chamber. If, however, any party insists on being afforded police protection within the Chamber the police may be so present, but the Federal Government will not accept any decision reached as a result of such proceedings in the Chamber.

    If in spite of all the efforts of the Police there should be an outbreak of violence or any disorder, the Police have authority to clear the Chamber and lock it up.” “Shortly after the release had been issued, I received a further report from the Inspector-General of Police that an attempt had been made to hold a meeting under Nigeria Police protection but that it has resulted in a far greater uproar and commotion than the earlier one.

    The Police therefore cleared the Chamber and locked it up. “ In the afternoon of the same day, May 25th, the Council of Ministers met to discuss the situation. The same evening I made a nation-wide broadcast explaining the position of the Federal Government in the matter, and in the course of any broadcast, I made the following observation: “No responsible Government of the Federation could allow an explosive situation such as that which now exists in Western Nigeria to continue without taking adequate measures to ensure that there is an early return to the Region of peace, order and good government.” “I said a few moments ago that the past week or so there does not appear to have been any validly constituted Government in Western Nigeria. In the light of the violent incidents on May 25th which badly shattered both Houses of Assembly, it is difficult to see how the public affairs of the Western Region could possibly be carried on in an atmosphere of warring factions of a party in power so sadly rent asunder in the old world struggle that will ultimately do nobody any good inside and outside Western Nigeria.

    This is the background against which I ask honourable members to assess the situation and to authorize the Government of the Federation to take appropriate measures in accordance with the provisions of our constitution. “Allegation of conspiracy have been made against the Federal Government, that it had planned the whole crisis in order to take over the Western Nigeria Government. It has also been said in certain quarters that this parliament would be abusing its powers were it to declare a state of emergency because the sad and unfortunate occurrences had not extended. “Nothing could be rather from the truth.

    We are surely not responsible for the chain of events that led to the party and personal wrangles and the attempted by-passing of the Western Legislature and to the mutual dismissal and counter dismissal between the Governor and Premier. The question at issue is whether in the absence of a duly constituted Government in Western Nigeria, the Federal Government have no responsibility for ensuring peace, order and good government in that region. The main purpose of this Resolution is to seek Parliament’s approval for measures which the Federal Government proposes to adopt in order to ensure an early return to Western Nigeria of peace, order and good government. Watch out for Chief Awolowo’s reply next week. •Eric Teniola, a former director at the presidency, resides in Lagos.

  • Gov Ajimobi: Ko sele ri as a recurring decimal

    WITHIN the Oyo State socio-political space today, the most common parlance is ‘’ko sele ri’’, a yoruba coinage which literally translates to ‘’never happened, experienced or existed before.’’ This imaginative but apt coinage was actually an ‘’honorary title’’- Ko seleri 1 of Oyo State- conferred on Governor Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi by the body of common people, the masses, by virtue of his well deserved victory at the 2015 governorship polls that gave him an un- precedented second term in office as governor of Oyo state. It was an unparalleled feat waiting to be equaled in the long chequred history of politics in the state. Now, ‘’Ko sele ri 1’’ has become a rhythmic phrase chanted time after time at most public functions the governor attends these days. This presents an accurate picture of the people’s appreciation for an endless flow of good governance that has brought Oyo state to the forefront of rapid growth and development. Perhaps at this point, and in retrospect too, it is necessary to examine the contributing factors that over time added great value to governance and ultimately led to this ’title’ bestowal. The main focus of this piece actually.

    Like a recurring decimal, these contributing factors that could best be described as novel and pacesetting achievements, happened at different intervals during the first four years of the Ajimobi led administration. Indeed, they were in themselves ‘’ko sele ris’’, the totality of which paved the way for Gov. Ajimobi’s second term victory. The first and perhaps most important factor was the governor’s rare ability to exercise a resilient and irrepressible political will in making far-reaching decisions that eventually changed the fortunes of the state for the best, regardless of whose ox was gored. For a fact, from the inception of his administration, Ajimobi’s body language was quite clear. In an audacious manner, he called the bluffs of the fifth columnists by putting his foot down firmly and courageously in executing his reformation, regeneration and repositioning agenda. Consequently, his vision and drive, coupled with well articulated initiatives and programmes ensured restoration of peace, security and political stability, long overdue resuscitation of decaying infrastructures and environmental revival and upgrading.

    Next factor was the restoration of peace, security and political stability that were almost non-existent before the advent of Gov.Ajimobi’s government. It is on record that the governor inherited a state of anarchy, of which brigandage, thuggery, hooliganism, loss of lives and property in great proportions were sad spectacles of the time. This unhealthy phenomenon left him with no choice than to proactively put together initiatives that would within a short time entrench peace and stabilize the polity. Predictably, the governor rose to the occasion in a very robust manner, for he did not only provide appropriate leadership at this instance, but also led the charge in implanting a sustainable regime of peace that has permanently changed Oyo’s typecast of a violent and unruly state to one of the most peaceful states in the country today.

    With a peaceful and tranquil environment in place, the stage was now set for meaningful development and socio-economic stability. This commendable peace effort in fact set the pace for monumental and unprecedented achievements of the Ajimobi led government. A fact check revealed that the first four years of his administration witnessed the construction and rehabilitation of over 250 roads across the state while dualization of major entry points to major towns in all the geo-political zones of the state were completed to taste and commissioned accordingly. Furthermore, the Mokola fly-over bridge, the first ever by a civilian governor was commissioned within two years of his first term. In addition to this, government constructed several bridges, including the Bodija Restoration Bridge and dredged many rivers, streams and canals that effectively checkmated flood disasters that constantly ravaged the state, especially Ibadan, the state capital for so many years prior to Ajimobi’s administration.

    It is also worthy of note that Oyo state is fast becoming one of the choicest investment destinations in Nigeria, thanks to Gov. Ajimobi’s strategic peace, environmental enhancement and public infrastructure resuscitation initiatives that continue to attract both local and foreign investors to the state in large numbers. At the last count, his administration has attracted at least 30 new companies that have yielded a turnover of about N32bn and created over 3000 jobs. In fact, the National Bureau of Statistics figures of Foreign Direct Investment Inflow in Nigeria revealed that Oyo state had within 4 years attracted a total of $64.8m investment, placing the state second only next to Lagos state in the south west. Six years down the line, Gov. Ajimobi continues to render transparent and accountable stewardship reinforced by integrity and good governance. He is busy consolidating on his first term achievements by stepping up the tempo of making life more meaningful to the common man on the street through the never happened before (ko sele ri) legacy projects implementation, even despite serious financial constraints.

    For instance, the road revolution legacy projects continue unabated with the recent flag off of the dualization of the Idi-ape – Basorun – Odogbo Barracks Road; dualization of Agodi gate – Old-Ife Road to Adegbayi Junction; Expansion of Oke-odo – Agodigate – Idi-ape to Iwo Road Interchange; Eleyele – Ologuneru to Akufo Junction, all in Ibadan metropolis, and the dualization of Saki Township Road. The latest addition is the revival of the Ibadan Circular Road, an idea conceived by the late Lam Adesina government, but neglected by successive administrations. According to reports, when completed, the Circular Road is expected to ease intra and inter city traffic congestion, especially in Ibadan which is fast becoming an industrialized city under the current administration.

    The road is also expected to boost trade and commerce and ultimately engender better standard of living of the people. Other pacesetting achievements of the Ajimobi led administration include, among others, the establishment of a farm settlement in Aawe, Afijio LGA which has engaged 1000 youth farmers to pioneer organic farming, modeled after the Songhai Farm in Porto Novo; Health initiatives aimed at giving the citizenry more access to quality health care such as – Free Health Mission interventions that has recorded over a million beneficiaries from all the nook and crannies of the state, and the establishment of the First Health Insurance Scheme which instantly provided employment for about 750 health workers in the state.

    Others include a veritable welfare programme that has empowered and provided succor to about 1,200,000 people in the last six years; and finally, a recently unveiled Transformation Industrial Park along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, a Free Trade Zone established with the aim of upgrading the civil service status of the state to that of an industrialized one. In conclusion, the foregoing narrative could best describe Gov. Abiola Ajimobi , popularly hailed as the Architect and Builder of modern Oyo state, as an accomplished change agent that irrepressibly continues to steer the ship of the state to new directions. He remains resolute in sustaining the Oyo state pacesetter status through a holistic restoration, transformation and repositioning of all sectors of the state economy. •Yomi Layinka is Special Adviser (Communication & Strategy) Oyo State Government

  • Rethinking the Nigerian federation

    There is a sense in which the unsettling state of the world today describes the state of our country Nigeria. It is so pathetic, so embarrassing and so fearful that disaffection, doubts, gloom and anxiety have come to dominate discourses among global leaders at every opportunity and meet.

    It is even more frightening that a sizeable proportion of internal activities of most nations of the world are on the defensive against torrential threats to existence rather than breaking new grounds of human advancement and world peace.

    In Europe the arguments about British exit from EU is resonating with the current, increasingly pronounced security challenges in the UK. Whereas America, Middle East and even the smaller but economically gifted nations are dealing with economic recessions, insecurity, terrorism, racial prejudices all of which are drawing attention of statesmen to ask the questions : What happened to us? What have we got wrong? When did we take the wrong step? Will this world continue as one piece ?

    In Africa, particularly in Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, South Africa, Mali and a few more nation – states, leading questions about redefining nationhood are presenting themselves for answers through the wars and social disaffection pervading the entire lands. In nation states like Syria, Libya, France, Iraq and others, the call is equally too close for comfort.

    With the foregoing, I am suggesting that there is nothing happening to our country, Nigeria at present that is new or strange or out of place with happenings elsewhere in the world. The Yoruba have a proverb that captures the matter succinctly: “A kò rí irú èyí rí, a fi ndérù b’olórò ni”.

    In other words, our vexatious experience today as a country is all a dialectical process of answers asking questions about themselves in order to confirm their state of existence. I believe Nigeria already has answers to its questions; it is just the will to ask the right questions the right way, with the right words, at the right time, with the right temperament and for the right purpose that is our task in building our own nation.

    I am also suggesting that we must get beyond these problems because it is in our best interest to do so. The answers which are asking questions in Nigeria today are: We need a new nation where equity, justice, peace and progress shall be the guiding principles of coexistence. We must redefine our nationhood. We need to create a new nation and create new citizens who have a different infrastructure of mind from those of present Nigerians.  We need a new Nigeria, now!

    The questions which the answer is asking therefore are: when then is the nowness of our now for our rebirth? Will our nationhood come by force of arms or with mutual understanding? What manner of nation do we want to have? Will it be on agreed points and issues negotiated and debated? Will it be with open arms and warmth? Will the risks be worth it? Do we have the capacity to evolve it and so forth.

    Let me buttress the worrisomeness of my above assertion with quotes of the words of a few  Nigerian leaders. On Tuesday the 3rd, June 2017, Jerry Gana, Professor and former Minister of Information, former secretary, Board of Trustee of the then ruling PDP made a declarative statement when asked about the fate of Nigeria in the future.” I don’t know what tomorrow holds, only God knows it but if they think when it comes to break up, we will go along with the North, then it must be a huge joke. We have already told them that if they allow this country break up, we are not going with the North. We are staying where we are. So, just take notice. If it comes to that, we will tell you that we are not Arewa, we are middle belters, 10 states for that matter.”

    Even Professor Ango Abdullahi, tempestuous academic, controversial administrator and foremost Northern leader, in his comments on the 4th of June 2017, had this to say: “If people are still asking for Biafra after 50 years of Civil war, then it is necessary for us to sit down and ask ourselves how we want the nation to be.”

    Another elder statesman, respected academic, constitutional lawyer and former President Ohanaeze Ndigbo Prof. Ben Nwabueze while ruminating on the current state of Nigeria, argued that Nigeria will not know peace until it restructures itself to reflect ease, consensus and justice. Hear him: “The power at the centre of the federating units is too much. It is prone to abuse and misuse. Every Nigerian has a right of equality and respect in this joint stock company called Nigeria. The Nigerian nation has the responsibility, indeed the obligation to treat every tribe or race equally.”

    Similarly, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, elder statesman and former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, was forthright and resolute in his own precious summation on the current existential challenge of Nigeria . He says: “If we had six federating units, you would have more viable basis for planning economic development. Our country continues to under perform because of the 36 states we now have. We must wake up from our state of denial  and face the facts about our underdevelopment “.

    I am not going to encumber us with the violent words of Nnamdi Kanu of Independent  People of Biafra, (IPoB), nor those of Alhaji Asari Dokubo of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer force, (NDPVF), nor that of Mazi Nwazurike of MASSOB and their ilks.

    We know their radical positions already. We also know that their words reflects the extreme position of anger, frustration and violence against the Nigerian nation as it is today.

    The situation is so challenging, yet frustrating, so embarrassing and yet so marveling. Nigeria today appears to have defeated researchers, commentators, observers and analysts as its issues have been over flogged almost to a saturation point. Today realities have overstated themselves, Truth has moved almost beyond constancy to stagnancy while appearance and realities are now at conflict with themselves. In the circumstance where leaders and men of power inexplicably appear clueless and lethargic about how to respond to these challenges, fear comes in and seems to rule our world without bounds.  The facts of our existence as a nation called Nigeria today fill one with horror.  This indeed is the worst of times.

    Nigerian elites, and by this reference I mean those who lay claims to some appreciable level of education in the country, not partakers of the current unprofitable parody of the essence, the certification process which ensures the ubiquity of graduates who lack confidence and understanding, continue to romanticise with the idea of a suitable political system. While some have issues with the current presidential system and advocate for a return to the parliamentary system practised in the First Republic, others agitate for devolution of powers from the centre to the so called federating units. Some still feel uncomfortable with that arrangement. They settle for confederacy.

    Restructuring is the new slogan in the political lexicon of the country. Political pundits, jobbers, erstwhile policy makers, former political office holders, civil society organisations, human rights entrepreneurs, upgraded street urchins, among others, are relentless in their agitation for a new political order. Very few have been able to articulate their positions as justification for this call beyond the facile, sometimes annoying, references to some unfortunate incidents involving ethnic groups. Some want more states not minding the fact that the existing ones are on the brink of insolvency.

    Others want more local governments for increased revenue allocation from the centre. For some still, it is “resource control”.  There seems to be this pervasive belief that once these divergent political aspirations are actualised, the country slips into a blissful moment without much exaction. Nothing can be more illusory than these hopes hinged on slippery and shifting ground.

    Those who want this country to disintegrate ignore many facts, the most prominent of which is the artificiality of the state structure in determining origin. The most outspoken of the proponents of restructuring have been unable to articulate their position beyond the incoherent statements made on devolution of powers. Some funny persons are even insisting on the implementation of the recommendations of an appointive committee known as the National Conference, 2014.

    They do not consider it as arrogance to have a handful of selected persons, not elected by the people, recommend on matters which require constitutional amendments, and insist on the implementation of same as the “irreducible minimum” for peace in the country.

    Until Nigerians begin to see themselves first as brothers and sisters with shared destiny beyond the artificial amalgamation of the colonialists, there will be no end to the agitation for self-determination. The Federal Government must, as a matter of urgency, take steps to discourage the activities of certain elements who harbour extraneous reasons other than the expressed. On no account must anyone be allowed to use our air space to disseminate hate speech.

     

     

    • Excerpts from a paper delivered yesterday by Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu at the Obafemi Awolowo University, lle-Ife.