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  • Tinubu: Statesmanship and success stories

    Tinubu: Statesmanship and success stories

    The occasion of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s birthday is a good time to reflect again on his politics, statesmanship, contributions to nation- building, and the useful lessons that can be learnt therefrom for the attainment of the change that Nigeria sorely needs. This is what we grapple with in this piece as we felicitate with Asiwaju as he celebrates his 65th birthday.

    The former governor of Lagos State and national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, shines brightly in the orbit of the few political leaders in Nigeria who provide archetypal leadership, and enthusiastically and courageously commit themselves to the realisation of enduring democratic governance, sustainable economic development, unalterable collective prosperity, enhanced human dignity, unfeigned justice, untainted equality, solid moral purpose, and consistent adherence to the rule of law. All of these are appreciable ideals that this political tactician has been known to pursue unwaveringly since he set his feet on the path of politics in Nigeria, beginning from 1989 when he campaigned to be elected as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    In his numerous undertakings, the picture comes clear that Asiwaju Tinubu forayed into politics with a pristinely clear mission. His leadership style, politics, and judgements regarding the choice of who to walk and work with reveal a mind that understands and wields political power as a tool with which to reconstruct the social condition of a vast number of people for good. His is a knowledge-powered leadership, for he knows too well, to appropriate the words of the columnist, Tatalo Alamu, that “knowledge matters and human capital is the driving agency behind all societal advances.”

    This reflection on the statesmanship of Asiwaju Tinubu and the success stories that characterise Lagos State between 1999 and now is not as much a celebration as it is an attempt to underscore the fact that considerable lessons and inspiration are locked in the chest of the purposeful leadership that this progressive politician has been identified with, time and again. The richness of his views on nation-building, his demonstrable fidelity to the lofty principles of democracy, his uncanny ability to identify, attract, and maintain excellent minds, his detribalised disposition, his remarkable ability to connect with Nigerians of varied tribes and religious persuasions, and, of course, his untiring commitment to the attainment of a viable federal system, constitute an encyclopaedic tome of visions from which many usable ideas can be unloaded for the transformation of the country.

    As Governor of Lagos, and a leader that knows his own mind, Tinubu decided to challenge the workings of our federalism within the rules set by the system, knowing full well that a liberal democratic system is one, according to David Easton’s system theory analysis, with input, processing, output and feedback components which, therefore, has capacity for learning, readjustment and redefinition –in short, it does have a capacity for self-correction. It does offer a sufficiently shrewd and savvy political leader enough opportunity to manoeuvre to get the work done. Thus, in a democratic setting, a leader must possess the will, intelligence and democratic temperament to work within the ambit of the system to achieve the desired objectives.

    The leadership lesson here is that a development-oriented, democratic leader must also be a system builder; and you cannot build a system by standing aloof from it. You can only do that by engaging it, subjecting it to the tests of performance and exposing its weaknesses and imperfections to compel adjustment and correction. This is how a leader supports and helps contribute to democratic growth and development.

    Of a truth, democracy is meant to give practical effect to the idea that a leader’s place is with the people and not above them. This underscores the need for a leader in a democracy to possess a democratic temperament, which recognises and accepts the idea that development must be people-oriented, people-focused and people-driven.

    But the significance of the role of leadership is not all there is to democratic development and development through democracy. While the salience of the leadership factor is not in doubt, the supporting role of the people cannot be ignored or discountenanced. The idea is that, even in spite of democracy, leaders cannot be left alone to their own devices. The goodness of leaders is never to be taken for granted. It is to be constantly demanded.

    One other urgent lesson for us to learn as a country is in the area of leadership recruitment. There is no gainsaying the fact that one of the key problems we have had with poor leadership in the country is not unconnected with how we recruit people into leadership positions. This, of course, is a process that has suffered chronic subversion from our unique brand of retrogressive politics, which has similarly affected and afflicted other areas of the country’s development.

    We have thus promoted and entrenched mediocrity in vital leadership positions at perilous cost to our future development. The major determinants of our leadership recruitment have been standards other than excellence. We have relied on such retrogressive criteria as “God-father,” ethnic, tribal and blood ties, politically safe candidacy, sycophancy, etc. for determining those who we elevate to leadership positions and critical decision-making posts in our public sector. Accordingly, those recruits have gratefully paid back by bringing the country down to their level.

    A country can only be as good as the quality of its leadership. Hence, a transformational leader would select his team with the same high-mindedness that matches his big visions. He would shirk any narrow consideration that would diminish his achievement and defeat his objectives. Like Asiwaju Tinubu did with the team he picked in Lagos, a transformational leader would go for excellence and be cosmopolitan in his search for talents.

    A development-oriented leadership must rise above the petty concerns of parochial and provincial advantage at the expense of national development. Nowhere in the world has the subversion of excellence by mediocrity produced great results. Development-engendering leadership is far from being a fluke; it requires visionary discipline, programmatic diligence, unwavering political will and single-minded focus, and selfless dedication to the project of national rebirth and development. This is the sort of leadership that can break the country free from the quay of underdevelopment to which it appears to be permanently moored.

     

    • Jimoh and Adesola wrote in from Osogbo, Osun State

  • Ugwuanyi and prisons

    The 1972 Prison Act needs rejig to accommodate state prisons, and even private funded prisons. Presently, most prisons in Nigeria are overcrowded shanties; and except for a few interventions, most of the prisons are still the old structure left behind by the colonial masters in 1960. The prison officials are under-remunerated, disillusioned and corrupt, while the system they supervise is grossly underfunded and run as an unwieldy behemoth from Abuja.

    On their part, the prisoners are abused, underfed and maltreated; unless, of course, the few VIP prisoners who are able to bribe the officials and pay their way for minimal comfort. But who cares for the ordinary prisoners? Because the governments, particularly the federal government, do not bother much about the state of our prisoners, churches and other non-government organisations have tried to fill the gap. Now, many churches run full-time prison ministries; and the Catholic Church’s JDPC and St Vincent De Paul devote a lot of resources to that.

    In most cases, it is only the poorest of the poor that end up as prisoners in Nigeria; and a large chunk of them are persons awaiting the drudgery trial under our inefficient criminal justice system. No doubt, our prisons are rarely correctional penitentiaries. They are more like concentration camps, or dehumanising centres, for the poor and the dregs of the society. Except for high profile cases in which the government has interest, and as such, mobilises the human and material resources, the prosecution process is very inefficient.

    With minimal resources to pay a lawyer and provide a paltry bribe for the police prosecutor, and in some cases judicial officials at the lower court, most offenders get easily discharged, if not acquitted, for offences they are guilty of. Where a complainant tenaciously pursues a criminal infraction against him, using personal resources, the accused need only bide time, for in due course, either the investigating police officer (IPO) is transferred, or the untrained police prosecutor mismanages the case, or the complainant gets disillusioned.

    So, when recently the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), noted the relative low number of persons in the prisons, vis-à-vis Nigeria’s population, in comparison with other jurisdictions, he was actually lamenting the grossly inefficient criminal justice system, which aids the poor to be goaled and the rich to go scot-free, even when otherwise guilty as charged. Because of the peculiar Nigerian situation, visiting the prisoner, may approximate more appropriately to the huge favour that Jesus Christ contemplated when he said, concerning the righteous, in Matthew 25:36: “I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”

    Perhaps Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, of Enugu State may have joined his Christian obligation at this Easter period with his official responsibility to cater for all residents in the state, when he recently visited the prisoners in his state as part of his 53rd birthday celebrations. Significantly, the Governor has started a programme to pay honorarium to lawyers who volunteer to help free the overcrowded prisons in his state. Considering that I expressed my concern to him when it was reported last year that Enugu State has one of the highest number of awaiting-trial men in prisons, I congratulate the Governor and feel elated that he is taking steps to change the dynamics.

    I also read that the Governor has upgraded facilities at the prisons in the state, which is commendable. But while Governor Ugwuanyi may be fulfilling his official and spiritual obligations, I believe Nigeria needs to improve its criminal justice system. The inhuman condition in most prisons across the country is partly responsible for the jailbreaks and the attempts we experience. It is also likely that such inhuman condition is one more reason why an accused person gains sympathy and connivance by officials, to avoid going to jail.

    Perhaps it is time to tinker with the 1999 constitution, which lists Prisons as item number 48 in the Exclusive Legislative List set out in Part 1 of the Second Schedule to the constitution. By virtue of section 4(1) (2) and (3) of the constitution, the exclusive legislative power of the national assembly on all matters in the Exclusive Legislative List is preserved. The import is that while states have their laws and their courts to try an accused person, where they secure a conviction, or need a temporal custody of the accused person, they have to rely on the federal prison and its officials.

    Again where the offence is of a nature to be tried in the Magistrate court, they may also have to rely on the police prosecutor, a federal official, to do the job. The outcome is that the states and the federal officials gift each other the inefficiency in their own system. Sometimes, there is collusion to undermine each other and such undercurrents are also partly the reason why our criminal justice system is so inefficient. So, as Ugwuanyi fulfils his dual obligations, he could also ponder whether the states should not make a case for state prisons, and an apex state court, to conclusively deal with offences against state laws.

    If amending the 1999 constitution, to tamper with the exclusivity of the federal government on prisons will be cumbersome, the national assembly can expand the powers of the Minister-in-charge to include authorising the establishment of state prisons or even private prisons. Indeed, the federal executive can also, under the present law, issue a guideline, to gift state options to run their own prisons. Section 2(1) of the prison act provides: “the minister may, by order in the federal Gazette, declare any building or place in Nigeria to be a prison and by the same or a subsequent order specify the area for which the prison is established.”

    One other worrisome challenge in the prison is the abuse of drugs and other unwholesome substances by the prisoners. It is common knowledge that the prison’s officials trade in such privileges, which in turn exposes the prisoners to ill-health. Even the jailbreaks are buoyed by the use of drugs, even though I will not discountenance desperation by prisoners who serve under excruciating and inhuman conditions. Perhaps the government should commission a sociological study on the contribution of inhuman prisons to our inefficient criminal justice system.

    In the meantime, a government that is fighting corruption and hoping to goal the corrupt should also expend resources to build real correction-centres, which is what a prison ought to be. Otherwise, if they send corrupt persons to prisons and harvest hardened criminal at the end, then they have solved one problem and created another. Also, our governments should enforce punishment for those who offend section 14(1) of the prison act dealing with the offence of giving or taking from a prisoner: “any alcoholic liquor, tobacco, intoxicating or poisonous drug or article prohibited by regulation made under this Act.”

     

  • Thanks, Fashola

    Thanks, Fashola

    On Thursday, March 16, 2017, my father, Boniface Umenzekwe, was buried in my hometown, Achina in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State. Aged 90 years, my late father, better known by the sobriquet “Ihenyirimmadu,” died in January, 2017. Between the time of his departure and burial, I travelled countless times from my base in Lagos to Achina, all by road, to prepare for the funeral ceremonies which, in keeping with the culture of the Igbo people in Anambra State, were bound to be elaborate and expensive. I am the only child of my parents, so the funeral arrangements fell on my shoulders. I still wonder how I could have coped with the humungous challenges if my father had departed a few years ago when roads were in such a mess that many bereaved families stayed on the Lagos-Benin Road with bodies of their beloved ones for more than a day.  And this brings me to the crux of this article.

    The Lagos-Sagamu-Ijebu Ode-Ore highway has changed dramatically in the last one year. So has the Lagos-Ibadan highway where Julius Berger is doing a damn good job. This was perhaps the busiest road in the country, yet the Olusegun Obasanjo administration abandoned it for years.  Both the Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan governments were running around in circles on this critical road. The quality and speed of the ongoing reconstruction work on this expressway must be one of the remarkable achievements of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, which will on May 29 mark its second anniversary. Since I use the road extensively, I have no hesitation in praising the Buhari administration for doing the right thing. And I commend, in particular, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, for exhibiting leadership and dynamism.

    As already indicated above, it is not just on the Lagos-Ibadan section that massive rehabilitation work is going on, of all the roads I have been using extensively in recent times. If Julius Berger is doing a most impressive job on the Lagos-Ibadan Road, Reynold Construction Company is arguably doing superior work on the Sagamu-Ijebu-Ore Road. Frankly, to call what is going on there mere rehabilitation is a gross understatement. It is even more than ordinary reconstruction. The thickness of the asphalt is far more than that used when the road was constructed the first time in the 1970s; probably this is in recognition of the enormous load on it now. State-of-the-art drainage facilities are now being provided, channeling flood water from the road to appropriate places. This means that the road will last. Reinforced upstand kerbs are now replacing pipes and railings on bridges, designed to prevent persons and vehicles from plunging into rivers, streams, rivulets and valleys. Upstand kerbs also help people with acrophobia, or irrational fear of height.

    Given the quality of work and the frenetic speed of execution, people now drive from Lagos to Onitsha in a little over five hours. Just two years ago, the same journey used to take at least nine hours. It was worse on Sundays, even a year ago. It was usual to spend up to three hours on one spot in Ondo State where the road failed woefully or was under reconstruction. Nigerians’ impatience on the road and general rough driving habits used to result in gridlock here, forcing many into driving on village bush paths. This chaotic situation was most pronounced on Sundays because many people travel on Sundays.

    The failed sections of the Lagos-Sagamu-Ijebu Ode-Ore-Benin Expressway may be located outside the Southeast geopolitical zone, but it would appear that it was people and businesses from this zone that bore the brunt of the messy state of the road. Most travellers who use the road are from the area, and the people from the place are the major investors in transport business, ranging from Ekene Dili Chukwu to The Young Shall Grow, to Eekesons, to Chisco, to ABC, etc. The very poor condition of the road forced them to change their business model. For instance, instead of investing in big luxury Volvo or Mercedes buses from Brazil, they switched to Toyota minibuses which our people curiously call Hummer Bus. While mini buses can manouvre their way through bush paths, luxury buses can hardly do so. In fact, luxury bus operators were forced by the almost impassable nature of the road to remove their front grills, thus distorting their aesthetics.

    One is glad to report that Fashola is doing well also in the heart of the Southeast. The Onitsha-Enugu highway is getting a serious facelift for the first time in some 20 years, that is, since the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came to power in 1999. The Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway is being reconstructed, in addition. There is a tinge of irony in all this. For the six years President Jonathan was in office, not even one federal road in the Southeast was fixed. Yet, the Igbo political operatives were fanatical over him, and in the process drove the Igbo people into a terrible political direction. They falsely claimed that Jonathan was Igbo. This shows the wretchedness of nepotistic and expedient politics. Portions of the Benin-Asaba Road and the Benin-Ore Road failed badly when Mike Onolemenem from Edo State was the Minister of Works, and nothing was done to fix them. And lest we forget, under Obasanjo’s presidency, federal roads in Yorubaland, including the Lagos-Otta Road, fell into the worst state of disrepair ever. To repeat the obvious, Jonathan could not fix any federal road in his home state of Bayelsa, let alone Rivers State where he spent much of his life.

    Today, it is a young man of Yoruba extraction who is reconstructing roads all over the country, regardless of the political leaning of Nigeria’s component parts. Fashola has always been very impressive. The good work he is doing is now cited by Igbo politicians for joining the All Progressives Congress en masse. As the saying goes in communication science, the best form of propaganda is to do the right thing. I am personally indebted to Fashola for energetically reconstructing roads which enabled me to prepare very well for my father’s funeral. He will always be in our thoughts and prayers. My father, wherever he may be now, must be pleased with Fashola.

     

    • Umenzekwe is a Lagos-based businessman
  • Repositioning NIMASA

    Repositioning NIMASA

    With the rise of international trade, shipping in Nigeria becomes more sophisticated with each passing day. And the agency charged with regulating shipping matters in the country is Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA.) Set up ten years ago, the agency had National Maritime Authority (NMA) and Joint Maritime Labour Industrial Council (JOMALIC), both formerly parastatals of the Federal Ministry of Transport, as its predecessors. And currently heading NIMASA is Dr Dakuku Peterside, who was appointed as Director General on March 10, 2016.

    Less than six months after assuming office, the Peterside-led management upgraded Nigeria’s subscription of the Lloyds list intelligence to a full bouquet, which gives the agency unfettered access to current maritime industry data. This has improved the volume and quality of data available to Nigerian maritime stakeholders.

    Following a directive from the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, to reform NIMASA, the agency under Peterside restructured its operations to operate beyond JOMALIC and NMA format. In addition to this, the agency, since Peterside took over, has repositioned itself according to a Medium-Term Strategy Growth Plan to deliver on its mission within three years. The plan is built on five pillars, including Survey, Inspection and Certification Transformation programme; Environment, Security and Search and Rescue Transformation programme; growing indigenous tonnage and ship building; Digital Transformation Strategy; and Structural and Cultural reforms, including changes to work ethic and attitude of staff as well as processes and procedures.

    For those who know him, these moves are in tandem with how Peterside, who has a doctorate in Management Science (Organisational Behaviour) from the University of Port Harcourt, operates. The man who has garnered the reputation of a technocrat held various posts before being appointed as Rivers State Commissioner of Works from October 2007 to January 2011. After that, he contested election in 2011 and was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives between May 2011 and May 2015 , and he served as chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) where he actively participated in the oil sector.

    Since NIMASA is a behemoth, the DG recognised the need to be nimble to be spike efficiency; hence many powers have been decentralised at its zones. Consequently, payment of bills by stakeholders as well as issuance of sailing certificates which used to be completely coordinated from the head office can now be obtained at the zones, leading to ease of doing business and overall productivity. Of course, this step would bring about more responsibilities to the zones, most of which are now headed by substantive Directors. With the online revolution, NIMASA is proactively ensuring that its zones operate in a semi-autonomous manner to enhance the operation of the agency.

    Nigeria is a member of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), and in January 2016, it became mandatory to subject member states to comply with the IMO Member State Audit Scheme (IMSAS), a scheme developed by the IMO. Peterside subjected NIMASA to the scheme, and Nigeria was well-rated after the exercise.

    Furthermore, the United States Coast Guard recently visited the country for the purpose of ascertaining the level of security at Nigerian Ports on the basis of the International Ships and Ports Facility Security (ISPS) code. And following their inspection, NIMASA, which is the body charged with the responsibility of maintaining security at the country’s ports, was highly commended by the U.S. Coast Guard delegation.

    This position reinforces the management’s resolve towards ensuring that all ships and ports in the country are safe. At the opening of a training organised by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in conjunction with NIMASA on ISPS code compliance in Lagos, Peterside said NIMASA will continually update its staff with knowledge and technologies to comply with the ISPS Code.

    “Our people and values are hallmarks of a good and strong organisation,” Peterside was quoted as saying.  It is expected that Peterside should appreciate organisational methods, given his background. He has attended leadership and management courses at the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University USA; Kellog School of Management, Chicago, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia-Atlanta; Galilee College Israel and USB Business School Stellenbosch, South Africa, among others.

    Peterside also said: “Recognising that our greatest asset is our people, the leadership of the maritime industry in Nigeria is committed to building a skilled, talented and effective workforce. This is why we take advantage of every training programme to equip our people and prepare them for new challenges that come up daily in the course of carrying out their assignments.” Walking the talk, the Peterside administration has motivated over 300 staff via promotion, including staff due for promotion to Director cadre.

    NIMASA is set to build new offices in its Eastern and Central Zones, following a recent approval of the Board of Directors to construct new offices in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and Warri, Delta State.  This is a sure way of achieving the objective of positive decentralisation of  NIMASA activities.

    In addition, the new NIMASA management has demonstrated absolute commitment to the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF)

    Regarding the digital transformation of NIMASA, the agency is set to fully automate its operational and payment processes. Aside from hastening the processes for its various stakeholders, the move will also create a transparent financial reporting. And by ensuring complete digitisation of NIMASA processing, stakeholders will, for instance, be able to register their vessels and all other transactions with NIMASA with a click of a button on their computers. Measures have also been put in place to ensure that the security of such on-line transactions being encouraged by this administration is not compromised.

    It is noteworthy that activities like this buoy the country’s maritime image. Hence, despite being out of the IMO Council for over 50 years, under Peterside’s leadership, Nigeria is repositioning itself in international maritime politics. And in April NIMASA will host African maritime administrators in Abuja for the third Association of African Maritime Administration (AAMA) Conference. The Peterside-led management, having received a presidential nod, will vie for election into category C of the IMO Council.

    As Peterside marks one year in office this month, NIMASA has made impressive progress towards rebranding. A repositioned NIMASA is expected to feature strongly at the AAMA event. It is to Peterside’s credit that the agency’s much-needed repositioning was conceptualised and executed during his tenure.

  • Reforming Nigeria’s rail system

    When British colonialists built the first railway in Nigeria in 1898 linking Lagos and Abeokuta in the old Western region, which is today’s  South-west Nigeria, it was only Britain, the United States of America and a few other countries that had such facilities at the time. Naturally, anyone would expect that almost 119 years down the line, Nigeria should have built an excellent National Rail Network with latest models of fast-moving trains seen in the developed economies, but that is not the case here.

    Paradoxically, while many countries that started train services long after Nigeria have perfected that mode of transportation by using it for efficient human transportation and bulk cargo haulage, our system remains in a near-comatose state. In countries like Germany, France, United Kingdom, even in South Africa and Egypt, for instance, underground and surface rail tracks are linked to the seaports, airports and land borders. This ensures efficient movement of people and facilitates quick distribution of needed goods like machinery, bulk cargo like cements, wheat, fertilizers, precious stones, perishable and non-perishable food items like tomatoes, cows and medicals, among others.

    In South Africa, the Metrorail operates commuter rail services in the major urban areas. The Metrorail system consists of over 470 stations, over 2,220km of tracks and carries over 1.7 million passengers daily. In the United Kingdom, trains are preferred to buses and, in some cases, planes, due to efficiency. If you want to travel to France from UK, many prefer trains to planes on daily basis. In all these countries, modern light rail, monorail and latest electric trains are rapidly replacing the old locomotives. According to global records, Europeans and Asians operates the fastest high speed trains in the world, as seen in Shanghai maglev, Harmony CRH 380A and Targo Avril. Some go as fast as 360km/hr, making them excellent alternatives to air transportation.

    But unfortunately, today Nigeria still relies heavily on the slower locomotive trains (some as slow as 35km/hr) that pollute the atmosphere. Worse still, the country is yet to develop hubs and spokes system for the trains to ensure total coverage of Nigeria. The railways remain a major revenue earner for operators and government alike. It is also a major employer of labour, which informs why developed nations seek to sustain and improve the sub-sector. Some transport analysts have described our railway services as a monumental disgrace, attributing its perennial wobbly and sorry state to blind politics, corruption, unchecked graft, ethnic differences and other challenges. They insist the railway sector should be well-developed as Nigerian roads are death traps, while air travel remains elusive to the masses due to their weak purchasing power.

    A retired Director of the Transport Ministry once said that some haulage cabals, in their selfish bid to take over the lucrative inter-state transport/haulage business, masterminded the systematic killing of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) so that their businesses could thrive. They did not want to compete with the railway, especially for the haulage of heavy goods. Trains will definitely be more efficient and cheaper. They bribed their way to ensure that successive Transport Ministers and Managing Directors of the NRC were their anointed candidates. So the transport cabals worked with these political appointees to make the railway sub-sector moribund. This is so because every year funds earmarked for rail track mordernisation through the budget were squandered. Rail tracks were never maintained, while some of the tracks have been washed off by erosion and all that. The trains were in a comatose state. Many of the coaches have been abandoned for decades to rot away. Yet if you go to the NRC office at Ebutte Meta, you will see activities, but no productivity. They languish there doing nothing but feeding fat on the perennial system rot.

    For many decades, the nation’s rail system has been starved of the political will to move it to the next level.  The last administration of President Goodluck Jonathan did some work to revitalise our rail system. Some experts noted that the revamping of the sector by the last administration was more of a political campaign strategy than a long-term repositioning effort. They alleged that the quality of the rail tracks and coaches deployed were not top-of -the-range as the lion’s share of the NRC funds was diverted to finance campaigns. With the lack of political will to sincerely revamp the sector, massive graft was allegedly uncovered.

    But in recent times, it has not been business as usual. With what the current minister is doing there and his appointments in the railway sub-sector, things are taking shape and our railway sector is coming back to life.  This is why these cabals are not happy with the current Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi. They were most unhappy with President Buhari because of this appointment. President Buhari has vowed to clean the rot in the NRC as his administration intends to use train services to open up businesses at various agrarian towns and villages that have been denied access to modern transportation, with the construction of Lagos-Ibadan rail project and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano that will eventually terminate in Lagos and that of Lagos to Kano. Then with Calabar-Port Harcourt-Aba-Onitsha-Benin-Lagos rail project being undertaken by the Chinese Government, I believe for the first time we have seen a political leader who has the political will to do the needful in this sector. I believe this sector will create over one million jobs, both formal and informal jobs.

    With reference to the specific Lagos-Kano and Calabar to Lagos rail projects, I will like to state that the two projects are very important projects to the Nigerian masses, and I believe that is why this present government included them in 2016 and 2017 budgets. We in the South- east who travel almost every day by road will like these projects to be completed. We will be very grateful if President Buhari completes Calabar-Port Harcourt-Aba-Onitsha-Benin-Lagos. I believe when it is completed, these routes will be the busiest of all. If Lagos-Ibadan rail project is completed, I believe it will reduce the populations in Lagos and the cost of housing will come down. This is because if I am from Ogun, I do not have any business living in Lagos.  When I know that with the fast train I can be in Lagos in the next 30 minutes, why pay heavily for rent in Lagos. It can equally help to reduce accidents on our roads and save our environment from pollution.

     

    • Paschal, a public affairs analyst, sent this piece from Awka

  • The slaughter slab

    Ivory tower Inaugural lectures aren’t the perfect place for convergence of idealist conceptualisations of the ‘gown’ and grisly practicalities of the ‘town.’ But that was what you got when an academic deployed the tool of intellectual inquisition to committedly utilitarian ends, the way ‘Lai Olurode of the University of Lagos (Unilag) did last week when he gave an Inaugural lecture titled ‘The Slaughter’s Slab as a Metaphor.’

    The lecturer, a Professor of Sociology at Unilag and former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), avowed upfront that his brand of sociology was “interventionist and practical…driven by civic tradition and social commitment, in opposition to armchair sociology.” That was the approach he deployed to interrogate familiar peculiarities of the Nigerian political culture.

    Drawing on his five-year experience as election manager in INEC, Olurode was concerned to unravel the culture of impunity in Nigerian elections that has made the country into “an expansive slaughter’s slab.” He said he used that terminology as “a metaphor for different forms of political killings and the ease with which people resort to self-help in advancing their self-interest.” His endgame: to propose ways of dismantling the slaughter’s slab and enthroning a decent political culture. And you really won’t miss his drift if you recall that the spectre of violence never fails to haunt even the most rudimentary of Nigerian elections – including council and state legislative polls.

    A core motivation for deviant electoral culture in this country is the elite’s desperation for political power. Foul is fair and political players spare no quarter – ‘do-or-die,’ they say – to retain or get into power. The qualitative difference in the typical politician’s approach to electoral contests, compared with a military interventionist, is that while the other wields rude force of arms to seize the reins from unarmed incumbents, the politician levies moral subterfuge maximally to outpace his opponents. In both cases, there is brute dealing and human blood gets unconscionably spilt. Actually, some coups have been bloodless, whereas there’s hardly been an election without immediate or remote killings. The question Olurode pursued in his lecture was: why this desperation here, unlike in other climes where political actors abide by rules and accommodate unfavourable outcomes of elections?

    One ready answer is the sheer profitability of political power in this country. Olurode argued that the collapse of agriculture-based rural economy in Nigeria and the shift to centralized oil rents fuelled the greed for political power, because “the easiest way to access money is by seeking political inclusion within the state realm or use privileged connections to secure employment or government lucrative contracts that need not be executed.” He identified some variables that have contributed to electoral violence to include reckless abuse of incumbency, and that with seeming societal indulgence; politicians’ fixation with desired electoral outcomes and foreclosure of objective probabilities; questionable conduct of key stakeholders, including election officials and political parties; economic deprivation of the majority of citizens, which make them vulnerable to sinister motivations by desperadoes; failure of the Judiciary to promptly deliver sanctions for infractions; the role of cultural workers, the media and electoral mythologies in fuelling hate sentiments; and violent socialisation of the polity from our long history of military intervention in power.

    Of these variables, I personally found the economic deprivation of citizens most instructive. Year upon year, and almost progressively, more Nigerians fall below the poverty line, making one wonder if there isn’t a conspiracy by the power elite to hold citizens in subjection through penury contrary to the expected duty of government to better their lot. Or how do we interpret official data from the National Bureau of Statistics cited by Olurode, which showed percentages of Nigerians in poverty as: 1980 (27%), 1985 (46.3%), 1992 (42.7%), 1996 (65.6%), 2004 (57.8%), 2009 (78.3%), 2010 (69%) and 2012 (74%)? In explaining the connection between penury and election violence, the scholar said: “Unemployment level is high, so are restlessness, hopelessness, despondency, disillusionment, social discontent, distrust, high rate of inflation and anger…The violence that often accompanies the electoral process is largely to be understood from this pessimistic economic outlook.”

    Scholarly interrogation of practical challenges would be worthless without actionable proposals for redress. And so, Olurode in his lecture recommended:

    1. i) Reactivation of the rural sector to address economic deprivation of the citizenry. “The transformation of Nigeria’s rural sector will resolve basic existential challenges and attract some away from the slaughter’s slab,” he said.
    2. ii) Acculturation of Nigerian laws to address peculiar sociological circumstances of citizens. For instance, Olurode advised a rewrite of the Federal Constitution into a people-driven document to replace the existing one that was militarily imposed. He as well canvassed systemic reforms that would formally accommodate traditional rulers in modern politics, and a shift from the present first-pass-the-post/winner-takes-all outcomes of elections to proportional representation that is more accommodating of opposition.

    iii) Curbing the impunity by political parties and their members through reforms; including empowering INEC to suspend or cancel registration certificates of offenders, training police personnel to recognise their role as agents of the state and not of office holders, reconditioning the mindset of politicians and ill-influenced electorate through intense civic education, and constitution of an Election Offences Commission to relieve overburdened INEC of the task of bringing offenders to justice. Olurode here threw in a call for electronic voting, saying: “Election technology has proved a valuable asset in curbing acts of impunity and in making elections truly competitive. The time to do electronic voting is here and INEC can commence the process with gubernatorial and bye-elections that will fall due before the 2019 general election.”

    1. iv) Capping the burden of election costs by: (a) imposing an election cost tax payable by every adult of voting age, (b) enforcing subscription by party members, and (c) putting legislation in place to promote the role of volunteers in the electoral process. Olurode added: “The disparity in salaries and allowances between political office holders (whether appointed or elected) and public/private workers should be narrowed so that public office seekers will not be given to aggressive and deviant behaviours;” and
    2. v) Active participation of the citizenry as well as judicial activism by the courts and INEC. “The courts and even INEC should continue to adopt liberal interpretations of laws/regulations which guide the electoral process, with a view to promoting active participation of citizens. INEC need not be defensive of all election outcomes. It should be bold to disown an election or any electoral process which failed to meet credibility standard, after all it is an umpire,” Olurode said.

    I would rather, though, that the suggested election cost tax is imposed on political officers holders with their sumptuous wages, and not on voters merely seeking to exercise their constitutional franchise.

  • Ogun: The burden of being number one

    To the uninitiated, it would appear like a jolt from the blues. In fact, it would be difficult to see it coming. But not so for those who may have been keenly following developments in the Gateway state in recent years.

    For those in this latter group, the recent data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, indicating that Ogun State is Nigeria’s leading producer of solid minerals could not have come as a surprise.

    Titled, “State Disaggregated Mining and Quarrying Data (2016)” the NBS, in its report, lists limestone, laterite and granite as Nigeria’s leading types of solid minerals. It also mentioned that there are sizable quantities of expensive gems such as topaz, sapphire, tourmaline and gold.

    “The States Disaggregated Mining and Quarrying Data for 2016 reflected Nigeria produced 43,495,423.12 tonnes of solid minerals last year. Ogun State produced the highest tonnes of solid minerals among the 36 states and the FCT.

    “The state produced 16,376,547.50 tonnes of solid minerals representing 37.65 per cent of the total tonnes of solid minerals produced,” the report said.

    It added that, “Kogi and Cross River states followed with 12,739,318.65 and 2,997,678.73 tonnes of solid minerals produced representing about 29.29 per cent and 6.89 per cent of the total tonnes of the minerals produced.

    “Borno and Yobe states, both from the Northeast Zone, produced the least tonnes of solid minerals with 1,250 and 883.08 tonnes of minerals produced respectively.”

    Now, those who had taken time to look into developments in Ogun State in recent times would have seen this coming. In fact, anyone with more than a passing interest in the socio-economic transformation that Ogun State has gone through in the last five to six years would have found the NBS report as long overdue.

    And the reason for this is not far-fetched. To start with, the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led administration in Ogun State, right from the blast of the whistle in 2011, had embarked on a deliberate policy to navigate the economy of the gateway state away from its traditional reliance on federal allocation.

    At a time when federal allocation was more than sufficient to foot the bills, Amosun had insisted on diversifying the economic base of Ogun and expanding the tax bracket. He chose to change the story of Ogun from a largely civil service state to a bubbling commercial and industrial hub that is ready to take full advantage of its proximity to Lagos and its status as the Gateway to not only the rest of Nigeria, but also the West African sub regional market.

    To achieve this, the governor knew that he needed to not only attract private sector investments, but also create an enabling environment for private sector players to operate. He immediately set to work on achieving these. And perhaps one of the first signs that his effort had started yielding results can be traced to the ranking of Ogun on the Ease of Doing Business Index by the World Bank.

    At inception of his administration in 2011, Ogun State was ranked number 35 in Nigeria as far as the Ease of Doing Business rating was concerned. That was the sorry tale he met in office. Within a year in the saddle, that story changed. By the time the report was released in 2012, the Gateway state had climbed from the bottom of the ladder to the top four positions.

    One of the immediate results of this feat is that today, Ogun State has emerged the fastest growing State economy and is now the industrial capital of Nigeria by all indices. “We have been able to attract 543 new industries in the five years of our Administration, all of which have invested not less than $50 million each. Of these industries, 110 have invested between $200 million and $2 billion,” Governor Amosun said recently.

    Quite naturally, the status of Ogun State as the industrial capital of Nigeria would reflect in the state’s Internally Generated Revenue, IGR profile. At inception, Ogun State was, at best, only generating about N750m as IGR per month. Again, the Amosun administration went to work on this and soon raised the profile from N750m to a peak of N7bn. By the time the country ran into economic recession, the IGR nosedived from its peak and now oscillates around N4bn monthly. Today, Ogun is only next to Lagos in terms of IGR profile.

    Although these are developments to be celebrated, they are also a source of concern for the Ogun State Governor. “Yes we are the industrial capital of Nigeria and we contribute so much to the Gross Domestic Product of the country through the activities of the industries within our territory but this has not reflected in what we get from the federation account,” Governor Amosun says.

    The governor is often quick to point out the fact that whereas Ogun has recorded the highest percentage increase in IGR growth and contributes more than any other state of the federation to the coffers of the Federal government in the non-oil sector, what the state gets from the federal allocation does not reflect this reality in any way.

    “Whereas we are responsible for the lion share of the non-oil income of the country and happily shoulder a lot of responsibilities due to the presence of these large number of industries in our state, when it comes to allocation we are still way down at the bottom of the ladder,” Governor Amosun said recently.

    The Ogun State governor has also had cause to complain about instances where mining licenses are issued, by federal agencies based in Abuja, to companies who then proceed to undertake activities that may be injurious to local communities without having any recourse to the state government.

    Such, he said, often result in environmental degradation, tension between mining companies and their host communities as well as security and infrastructural challenges among others.

    In order to put an end to the bittersweet experience, the Ogun State governor wants a situation where states are carried along in the process of issuing mining licenses to prospective miners. Not only that, Governor Amosun wants a review of the revenue allocation formula of the federal government in order to ensure that states that contribute more to the coffers also get more from the coffers.

    Although the federal government, speaking through the Minister for Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, recently promised to ensure a 13 per cent derivation for states with solid mineral deposits, it remains to be seen how soon this promise will be implemented.

    Not only that, one would love to see the day when the revenue allocation formula will also adequately compensate a state like Ogun that bears the burden of providing and maintaining infrastructure for the large number of industries within its corridor.

    Until then, Ogun State will continue to experience the joy and pain of being the industrial capital of Nigeria. It will continue to bear the burden of being number one.

    Soyinka is Senior Special Assistant (Media) for Governor Ibikunle Amosun.

  • A change of guards for the change government

    It was purely in the realm of speculation in some quarters that a cabinet shakeup was imminent, and that Edo Ex-Governor Oshiomhole had been penciled down for a ministerial position.

    Well if that is so, that would be good because he is one man I would describe as resourceful. He would be an asset in cabinet. But for some other people holding certain offices, the time for SHAKE-OFF has long come, so let us say goodbye to those ones. This administration is fast approaching the mid-term mark and a change of guards by then is quite in order to steer the ship of state in the second half of the term.

    I must say I cannot understand why it is that when a new president steps in; those on political appointments do not automatically bow out. That is the case with the American presidential system which Nigeria’s is patterned on, but this aspect is never pursued. In America, even judges bow out when a new Number 1 citizen comes in. Here, when people are given a presidential ‘Thank you – for – services’ and then replaced, these appointees march to court to sue the new president!

    Notice that in other climes there is always that transition between elections and handing over; and there has never been the first election petition; talking about in other African countries. That period is for fine-tuning one’s cabinet appointees, transiting in/out of official residence and briefings here and there. But over here where we jettisoned the transparent OPTION A4 and gleefully held onto our rigging machinery; that transition period is devoted in the main to election petitions, tribunals and post election violence and skirmishes. Not much time is left of this for making up an appointment list.

    I was interviewed by some national dailies last year and one of the things I said was that the CBN Governor and the Chief of Army Staff should be dropped. As at the time of that interview, their poor performances had not sunk to the woeful levels we have it today.

    The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (I am believing that is the one with a group of old academic theorists; the same as has been in the last 20 years) that group needs to be disbanded FOREVER.

    The state of the economy is the reason and the proof of their emptiness; evident.

    There is a cunning way people who hope for political positions go about their ‘lobby’. They go to the press and fire a steady stream of criticism against the government in position, attacking every single step or misstep taken with relish. Dr. Reuben Abati even co-hosted a television program with government criticism as its theme. It has worked for many. Femi Fani Kayode was openly  abusive of the PDP president, was made minister of Aviation – and then started hurling his abuses at the APC. Even Dr. Abati mentioned above was made presidential spokesman! And from the second he got his desired appointment to the end of that administration – THE GOVERNMENT COULD DO NO WRONG.

    Now what am I saying – beware of Doctors Abati and Oby Okweselesi Nwodo. So desperate is Dr. Oby for a cabinet position that it only remains to hand her CV to any friend of a friend of a friend of Buhari. But her woeful performance in the Obasanjo administration marks her out – for good. It is simply amusing to note that Abati is hungry for another opportunity in the Change government – he has suddenly found his tongue for criticizing presidents again! What can we say… don’t mind him, jare.

    Given our enormous challenges in all three sectors (all major), then Mr. Fashola’s portfolio is far too large for him, even for anyone. That Ministry needs now be split. Power, Works and Housing!

    The EFCC: I quote the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki verbatim            “I want to urge the president to nominate another person  since Magu can no longer act as the Chairman of the EFCC” …I want to urge him (the president) to do same urgently.

    As a woman I have not felt any direct impact of the Ministry of Women Affairs. Neither has any woman I know. I guess I am too far removed. What is worrisome however is that I am increasingly innundated by news reports of horrifying ordeals of Nigerian women. Cases of domestic violence, assault and killings, rape, rampaging herdmen attacking women and last week, the case of police brutality on a nursing mother with her little baby. Sherifat Bello, killed by her husband for ritual purposes and buried in a shallow grave. Titi – the murdered banker! I have not seen the Minister or the Ministry of Women Affairs in any of these. And I wonder.

    Is there anybody AT ALL in charge of the Human Rights Commission?      If so with all that’s going on in every locale nationwide, it is clear that he/she is unable to handle things. Fresh blood is Needed, so that less blood is Spilt please.

    Please is there a Minister for Justice?! That person must be thanking his stars everyday that GANI FAWEHINMI, THE NATION’S GADFLY IS NO MORE!! The Justice Minister really needs to see that this third arm of government is a democratic bedrock and not just one more political appointment. Isn’t it even they in the legal profession who say that Justice Must Be Done, And Must Be Seen to Be Done? The Minister must sit up now, shape up or ship out.

    The delay in budget implementation in an economy in recession is not a recipe for success. The Finance Ministry needs to be beefed up. The Minister Mrs. Kemi Adeosun is doing a great job. There could possibly be 2 ministers of State in that Department, or an agency that can properly interpret economic blueprints to have an impact on the people – the reason for government at all.

    Now this is so important that I wish, like Governor El-Rufai that I could send a memo directly to the President. There should be a sense of normalcy this time in the nominations for cabinet appointments. No rude shocks now of a list replete with opposition party members, while those who were sold out for this presidency, who worked hard in risky circumstances, are not even considered in the formation of government.

    This Is Because The Person Who Cannot Identify With One’s Vision, Will Only Bring Di-Vision.

     

  • I am a girl, so what ?

    I am a girl, so what ?

    I get into an argument with a boy. He slaps me. I feel the pain. Yet they tell me I provoked him.

    I get into an argument with a boy. I slap him. They tell me I have no respect.

    Like I don’t have a right to be angry……..

    So, my level of respect for people is judged by my degree of silence in the face of brutality…..

    Because I am a girl.

    So what?

    I am not allowed to show anger. I must sit with my legs stretched out even if it hurts. I must not talk ‘anyhow’.

    Because I am a woman.

    My husband cheats on me, I am told to tolerate it……to save my marriage because ‘it is in their nature to cheat’

    I cheat….and I am sent packing with my box on my head and my little child still sucking my left nipple.

    Three years later……little child is tagged a bastard.

    Because I am a woman.

    I am judged as a good girl if I know how to cook, clean and do laundry for my man. And when I don’t know how to, I am useless.

    My character does not count.

    Because I am a woman.

    He is 28 and runs a company….”ahhh wonderful! Successful at a very young age”.

    I am 28 and I run a company “Hmmmm, she is not even married. My dear, marry as soon as possible. You don dey old”.

    Because my life ends at forty

    Because I am a woman.

    I am not allowed to have wits or be a prodigy…….

    Because when I am financially buoyant….without a rich dude beside me…then, I am a generous leg opener.

    Chai.

    Because I am a woman.

    I am raped. Then, it is my fault because the strap of my bra is pink. And if I am way younger, I will be flogged because I ‘allowed’ the 25-year-old brother next door to touch me.

    I am bleeding and sore….yet, they force me to admit I enjoyed it.

    Because I am a woman.

    Education for girls

    Education is the light of life. It cultivates life. It makes people social and civilised. It gives us knowledge, skills and techniques to apply in our practical field. It gives us ideas to do things in different places.

    It gives us ideas to find out the right and wrong, good and bad, etc. The next thing it gives us is the sense of responsibility. We can’t do anything until we are responsible.

    The number of girls nearly makes half of the human population.

    To leave the girls uneducated means to make half of the people uneducated. The girls of today are the mothers of tomorrow. It is said that mother is the first teacher and home is the first school of a child. Now, we can realise what the children of an uneducated mother will be like.

    If a man is educated, only he is educated, but if a woman is educated the whole family is educated. We must educate mothers to educate children. Only then we can educate the family. Gradually, we can educate the locality, society and then the whole country.

     

    • Umeh is a social entrepreneur and student empowering girls in rural communities to take ownership of their lives

  • SGF and Senate confraternity 

    The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is proving to be the lord of the manor.  It seems to have become a lord unto itself.  This Nigerian Senate, no doubt, is no respecter of the Nigerian people and, of course, President Muhammadu Buhari.  To discerning minds, the Senate has become a confraternity that is working against the interest of the people of Nigeria.

    This is the conclusion that a reasonable man will arrive at.  Take the case of Ibrahim Magu, the twice rejected Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).  Magu’s name was submitted to the Senate by the President for confirmation as required by the Constitution.  The Senate, acting on a report from the Department of State Security (DSS), rejected Magu’s nomination, citing adverse security report as its reason.

    The President, having thoroughly investigated the allegations against Magu, re-submitted his name for confirmation as EFCC Chairman.  The Senate, the second time, went ahead and rejected the nomination, regardless of Mr. President’s letter to them, absolving Magu of any wrong doing.  Rather, the Senate told Nigerians that the DSS had forwarded another report to it on the March 12, confirming to the Senate that Magu is not fit and proper to be EFCC Chairman. It is noteworthy that the DSS is an agency of government under the Executive.

    The second case is that of Hameed Ali, a political appointee and the Comptroller-General of the Customs Service.  Ali, an unblemished, Spartan, diligent and incorruptible army officer was asked by the Senate to come and explain a policy that seems not clear to the public.  He was, however, directed by the Senate to appear in uniform.  Today, the Senate seems to be more interested in seeing Ali in uniform than in the explanation he has to give on the seemingly unclear policy of arresting car owners who did not pay the correct customs duty on their vehicles.  As expected of a Senate that is more interested in the form and NOT the substance, Ali was ignominiously walked out of the hallowed chambers of the Senate simply because he did not appear in uniform.

    However, legal luminaries and respected legal practitioners have opined that the Comptroller-General of Customs does not need to appear in uniform.  According to them, there is no law in the statute book demanding that wearing uniform by the Comptroller-General of Customs, a political appointee and not a serving staff, is a condition precedent to appearing before the Senate.

    Apart from this, the Nigerian Senate is more concerned about the uniform and NOT the performance of this honest gentleman who, within a short time, has sanitised the Customs Service by reducing corruption, ineptitude and crass opportunism.

    Let us take the third case.  I mean the case of David Babachir Lawal, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).  In a manner suggesting witch-hunt and mischief, the Senate levelled serious allegations against the person and the office of the SGF.  It went further to ask the SGF to resign.

    The Senate, it must be noted, did not invite Lawal to come over and state his own side of the story simply because the Senate had made up its mind on what to do.  Clearly, the Senate did not give the SGF a fair hearing.  After convicting the SGF, the Senate passed a resolution, directing the President to sack the SGF.

    President Buhari, a consummate democrat with respect for the rule of law and due process, mandated the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to investigate the allegations and report back to him.  The Attorney-General took his time and painstakingly did a thorough investigation and returned a verdict of not guilty.  The President has no reason to doubt the Attorney-General.  He, therefore, considered the case closed.  The Senate, however, will have none of that.  The Senate is now coming full circle.  It is coming through the back door to reopen the case simply because they either do not like the face of the SGF or because they have a personal score to settle with him.

    It must be noted that the Senate has not accused the SGF of non-performance.  It also did not give the SGF a fair hearing because the Senate never asked the SGF to come forward to explain his perceived role in the alleged contract scam.  Rather, the Senate went on a vendetta journey, thinking the opportunity has presented itself for them to nail the man whose closeness to Mr. President they do not like.

    In all these three cases, it is clear to  discerning minds that the Senate is not interested in making laws that will impact positively on the lives of the people of Nigeria; rather, they are more interested in rubbishing President Buhari.  If the truth must be told, the Senate does not seem to like the change mantra of this administration.  Rather, the Senate may be more interested in the business -as-usual style of the previous administration.

    Let me say it the umpteenth time, that this reopening of the case of the SGF is a very clear case of vendetta, mischief and opposition to the choice of Lawal as SGF.  The Senate is indirectly fighting President Buhari.  More than this, the Senate is not interested in the welfare and well-being of Nigerians; rather, it is only interested in settling scores and fighting perceived enemies.

    What all these suggest in totality is that the Senate has turned itself into the prosecutor, the judge and a confraternity that is out to frustrate President Buhari.

    What is left for these gentlemen to do is to, perhaps, approach Courts of competent jurisdictions to save them from the jaws of the Senate confraternity.

    Luckily, the Judiciary is also being sanitised and the new Chief Justice of Nigeria has promised that the Courts will dispense justice without fear or favour, ill-will or affection.  There is every reason to believe Justice Onnoghen, a man of impeccable character and a judicial officer of immeasurable experience.

    Meanwhile, the SGF should take solace in the fact that he has won in the court of public opinion.  This is because Nigerians have seen the truth; and the truth has set him free.  Magu and Ali will also be vindicated in the fullness of time.