The Nation Newspaper

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  • Politics as war

    Two events in the past week triggered my interest to write on politics as war and to launder vicarious liability in the law of tort to help tame our murderous third class politics by means of arms. Of course I am aware that tomes have been written on war as the extension of politics by means of arms.

    The more memorable of the two events was the picture in the media of the minister for transportation and former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi and his successor and current governor Nyesom Wike, after their so called peace parley with the chiefs of police and state security service. The picture of the foursome in one national daily portrayed the peace parley as a farce, as the two gladiators sternly looked away from each other even while shaking hands.

    The other was the recent rehash by President Muhammad Buhari of the motive behind the dawn coup of August 27, 1985, that overthrew him as the military head of state, in an interview with a newsmagazine. According to the president, he was overthrown because he had formalised the process to sack some top military officers accused of gross abuse of power and corruption. Many commentators have tried to proffer the reason why the president chose to release the bomb now. My guess is that he dredged up the scarecrow to ward off potential intruders as the 2019 presidential election war approaches.

    So for our politicians, whether in Rivers State, Abuja or elsewhere, it is all about elections, even when only one quarter of their current mandate has been used. By going right away for the jugular of his former military colleagues, the lesser mortals – the bloody civilians, will realise that the 2019 elections is not going to be a tea party. Again, perhaps there is already an intelligence that the Peoples Democratic Party, which has zoned its presidency to the north, may approach IBB and his former intelligence chief, General Gusau, to lead a civilian variant of the 1985 power wrestle.

    On his part, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who can be described as the foremost presidential election warrior of this republic, considering his many election battles, is adamantly throwing himself up as the opposite of the unitary credentials of the president. So, while the president is saying the present structure of the country is okay, the Turaki Adamawa has become the new champion of restructuring. For these gladiators and their potential compatriots, while we are shouting ourselves hoarse about the prevailing cruel economic conditions, they are already busy plotting for the next electoral battle, even when the casualty figures from the recent electoral war front, in the north-east and Niger Delta particularly, are yet to be interred with any form of honour.

    For Rivers State, the political war in its intensity and casualty figure is not much different from a full blown internecine war, elsewhere. Until very recently, a week or two will not go-by without a gruesome mass murder in one locality or another in the state, between what has been fancifully referred to as war among cultists. But we cannot forget that originally the clashes were the fallout of disagreements between the followers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive Congress (APC). The narrative changed when calls were made for a state of emergency to be declared in the state.

    Of course, the immediate prize for the raging war in Rivers State is the outstanding electoral positions in the federal legislature and the state assemblies, which has remained inconclusive after two attempts, because of the prevalent insecurity. Apart from the two major gladiators Amaechi and Wike, there are undoubtedly smaller warlords, superintending their local turfs and turning elections in Rivers State into a war without end. The result is that many innocent people are daily maimed, disposed of their valuable properties or even killed by violent political activists, without any consequences or liabilities for those directly or vicariously responsible for the carnage.

    If I have my way, the law of tort, particularly its variant on vicarious liability ought to expand to hold accountable those whose servants or agents, wilfully or negligently cause harm, losses or even death, to innocent bystanders. Perhaps with the potential of a liability to pay heavy damages looming, many of our political gladiators would encourage their followers to behave better. I know, some will dismiss the proposition as fanciful, but if an employer can be vicariously held accountable for the negligent act of his employee, say a driver, I propose that party agents should also be held liable under such legal principle.

    Of course I appreciate the existence of liability for criminal negligence and the possible award of damages for wilful destruction of property, but I doubt if any of the existing remedies, will adequately answer as pungently as vicarious liability in tort for most of the mayhem that result from political warfare in a third class democracy like ours. Also I appreciate the availability of tortious remedies for trespass to person that may result from assault, battery or false imprisonment. But like a financially limited employee, the political servantsare incapable of paying substantial damages for the huge loses caused innocent bystanders during political wars.

    A cursory look at the definition of the legal concept of vicarious liability will explain such possibility. According to learned author, Ese Malami: “vicarious liability is the liability of a superior for the conduct of a subordinate. Thus, vicarious liability is the liability of one person usually a superior for the conduct of another person usually a subordinate such as, the liability of an employer for the conduct of an employee in the course of employment”.

    To deter political actors from turning our low level politics to internecine wars with all its consequences, judicial activism should ground vicarious liability for the conduct of identifiable agents of political leaders, on the principle of law that: “he who does anything through another person does it himself”.

    So political agents should appropriately come within the definition of a servant, even when there may be no clear contract of service, or a clear instruction to do harm, in the cause of political thuggery. To accommodate these mayhem caused by political actors in third rate democracies in many third world countries, the various tests to define a servant to ground vicarious liability, should be expanded to accommodate this specie of modern day plague.

    After all, learned author Salmond defined a servant thus: “a servant may be defined as any person employed by another to do work for him on the terms that he, the servant, is to be subject to the control and direction of his employer.” To make our uncaring political gladiators liable, the test on servant liability, made out by Denning LJ, in Young vs Box & Co Ltd should apply. The law lord said: “To make a master liable for the conduct of his servant, the first question is to see whether the servant is liable. If the answer is “yes”, the second question is to see whether the employer must shoulder the servant’s liability.”

  • The most corrupt people in Nigeria

    The most corrupt people in Nigeria?

    Men in their 50s – especially the civil servants.

    At that age, men have lost their idealism, the stark reality of the Nigerian state stares them right in the face.  I had often wondered why,and have always felt embarrassed when, in the past, I pass through immigration at Lagos Airport and I’m asked for ‘something’ by the grown men who manned those desks.  But now that I get to spend a lot more time in Nigeria, I know why.

    Men in their 50s begin to think seriously about retirement.  In Nigeria when you retire, you are on your own and everything is in the air.  You live in a state of perpetual uncertainty.  You are never sure if you will get your regular entitlements or whether some civil servant thief will make off with it or stick it in his personal account for a few years to accrue obscene interest as that civil servant (ironically) prepares for his own retirement.

    But before all that, men in their 40s and 50s in Nigeria face awesome challenges.  For all intents and purposes, they are their own local government: They provide their own electricity, their own water, their own security and provide for their own healthcare. Often times they maintain their local roads, they pay heavily for the education of their kids and some relatives, mobile phone charges are astronomical, and girlfriends to married men don’t come cheap at all.

    An average civil servant in one of the big cities, say, Abuja or Lagos, could earn N1,200,000 per year.  Rent alone is about N600,000.  Abuja is particularly bad in that regard.  Please completely discount public or government schools; these died a slow painful death several years ago.  So three kids in private schools might cost N300,000 per term.  There are three terms in a school year.  We haven’t even talked about food, fuel, NEPA, clothes, weekend Gulder, church money, or money for aged parents yet.

    And then nothing happens in Nigeria but marriages and funerals.  These cost a grip as well.  Where is the civil servant going to get the money for all of that?  The Nigerian terrain is very unforgiving and very unsupportive.  Government does not provide any social security support or cushion.  In fact, government through its many agencies constitutes itself into a huge drain on people’s resources.  There are many, many agencies, particularly on the roads, asking for money for one thing or the other.

    In 2014, I was in a company vehicle in Ogun State when I was stopped by some chaps in garish uniform.  They demanded that I produce an “Ogun State Driver’s Badge.”  I thought they were kidding but they weren’t.  I explained that I was only visiting but they advised that I give them a little something or go to their office.  I elected to go to their office.  Their boss was in the same colourful uniform, but he had on cowboy boots and a farmer’s hat.  Long story short; today, I am a proud owner of “Ogun State Driver’s Badge, 2014.” It costs N5,000.  You don’t need me to tell you that I haven’t smelled Ogun State since then.

    But this is what workers go through every day.  On top of that, they see elected politicians and other government officials making off like bandits unchallenged.  Plus, people like mechanics and plumbers are just itching to cheat you.    The strain of simply living shows; frayed nerves and high blood pressure are never too far behind.

    So what does the civil servant or worker do?  They become contract gate keepers.  They’ve set up a system whereby every competitive government bid goes through them.  You don’t get a look-in unless you agree to split the money 70:30 with the worker.  They would even prefer for you not to execute the job so that they can repeat the whole process the following year and ensure that their kids’ school fees are paid.  This is why, despite heavy government investment, some infrastructures remain in perpetual poor state.

    For those workers who are not in a position to influence contracts, they find other ingenious ways to fleece the public to augment their finances.  So the lecturer will deliberately fail his students, whether they passed or not, until the lecturer is settled.  The Police or Custom official continues to harass fellow citizens for money.  They see your non-cooperation as injurious to their existence.  They think you understand but that you are deliberately undermining them and short-changing their family.  This is why some of them often turn ugly.

    And with retirement looming, the worker becomes more desperate, more dogged and more corrupt as he prepares for that great uncertainty.  He has to build a home for himself, buy another car or two, perhaps support graduate kids who don’t have jobs, etc, etc.

    The corruption is insidious and, at the moment, the situation seems intractable.  Paradoxically, this situation has made every worker – particularly civil servants – ‘yes men.’  They are forever eager to parrot and excuse every government misdeed.  They cannot afford to lose their jobs so they become cheerleaders and further abet their own long term struggle.  An unfortunate vicious circle.

    Change will have to come from the top and it will require a lot of determined hard work and visionary, strategic leadership.  But in the meantime, the worker has to cope with the vicissitudes of today and prepare for the uncertainty of tomorrow…

     

    • Egbejumi-David writes from Lagos

  • Constituency ‘Porkjects’

    It has always been a dubious cost line in Nigeria’s public financials and perennial flash point between the executive and legislative arms of government. But the ego fight presently raging in the House of Representatives exposesthe sleaze surrounding appropriation for constituency projects in our national budgets like nothing seen before now. From all indications, legislativeappropriation for constituency projects is pork barreling at its best. (It is apparent, I hope, that ‘porkjects’ used in the title of this piece is a contraction from ‘pork’ and ‘projects.’)

    The National Assembly (NASS) hadpassed the 2016 budget on March 23. As if that wasn’t late enough, President Muhammadu Buhari declined to sign the document into law until May 6 amidst back-and-forth with the Legislature over “grey areas” said to have the distorted the government’s basic vision for the economy. Estimates for some specific projects were identified at the time as problematic, like that for the proposed Lagos-Calabar rail line; while Health Minister Isaac Adewole, at the budget defence, famously told legislators that he could not recognise the proposals then on the table as those that emanated from his ministry. Some budget officials apparently had taken the liberty to rewrite certain estimates as funds to be released into their private pockets. It was a scandal at the time that visibly fazed the President, with his one-dimensional ethics, and undermined his anti-graft crusade.

    But there was another leg of the budget “grey areas” that we now get a clearer view of what went down – no thanks to recriminations that lately ran amok in the House of Representatives over appropriation for constituency projects.The blame game popped in the House following the removal ofAbdulmuminJibrin (APC, Kano) as chairman of the Committee on Appropriation. Speaker YakubuDogara announced the replacement of Jibrin penultimate Wednesday with another House member, Mustapha Dawaki (APC, Kano), sayingJibrin had met him and volunteered to discontinue as appropriation committee chair”due to pressure of the work.” With the controversy that dogged the passage of the 2016 budget, however, very few bought the Speaker’s story and knew thatJibrin was pushed. This was readily confirmed byHouse insiders, who were widely reported as sayingJibrin was sacked at the behest of his members in the appropriation committee for allegedly using his chairmanship to hijack budgetary provision for constituency projects.

    Jibrin initially postured that he resigned, but returned smoking shortly after with allegations that the Speaker and three other principal officers of the House soiled their hands in the appropriation process and should quit.According to him, SpeakerDogara, Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun, Minority Leader Leo Ogor and House Whip Ado Doguwa “were not comfortable with (his) independent position and (his) refusal to cover up their unilateral decision to allocate to themselves N40billion out of the N100billion allocated to the entire National Assembly.” He further alleged, among other things: “The four of them met and took that decision, in addition to wasteful projects running to over N20billion they allocated to their constituencies…My inability to admit into the budget almost N30billion personal requests from Mr. Speaker and the three other principal officers also became an issue.” He didn’t spare mentioning that about 10 standing committees of the House inserted some 2,000 projects worth N284billion in the budget, and that he complained to Speaker Dogara but was ignored.Talk about budget pork!

    The accused principal officers dismissed the charges as fabrications and an afterthought by Jibrin, smarting from his removal as appropriation committee chair. Instructively though, Deputy Speaker Lasun acknowledged that there were “conventions and precedents as it relates to budgets and projects for principal officers of the National Assembly.”

    Weighing in last week, the chairman of House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, AbdulrazakNamdas, accused Jibrin of unilaterally inflating the 2016 budget by N250billion but was rebuffed by NASS leadership. He obliged an insight into legislative convention, saying: “The leadership of both chambers, including the appropriation and finance committees,are normally and traditionally allocated certain percentagesof these funds for inclusion in the appropriation bill for projects.The remaining is distributed to members of the National Assembly for inclusion of their preferred projects in the budget. This has been the established tradition over the years.”

    If you call that ‘padding,’Namdas would say you are just ignorant of the law, because the power of appropriation lies squarely with NASS, courtesy of Section 81 (1) of the 1999 Constitution that tags the President’s budget proposals “estimates.” The implication, according to him, is that the Legislature is at liberty to raise or raze those estimates.

    Whatever may be true as against what is muck in the allegations, the wheeling and dealing in legislative appropriation shows enough that constituency projects are a filthy cesspit in public financials.In principle, the idea is to ensure minimum government presence in every electoral constituency by having a project sponsored by the relevant legislator sited there. But the funding and execution of those projects over the years have tended between idle patronage for personal political gain and outright pilferage of the public treasury, rather than utility considerations for the constituencies. Appropriation for the projects is alsocharacterised by legislative arbitrariness that the executive has always found at variance with the actuality of national revenue stream. But once those projects are embedded in the budget, they assume a statutory character on account of which NASS often holds the executive fiercely liable in event of default. Even with the dire nature of our present economic realities, when Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) BabachirLawal hinted recently that the 2016 constituency projects as captured in the budget might not be implemented in view of huge shortfalls in revenue projections, legislators rose up in arms and summoned him to a hostile inquisition. He held his ground, though, given the inescapable reality.

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been unsparing in condemning the legislators over constituency projects. Speaking after a private parley with President Buhari last week, he said:”They are the contractors, the jury, the judge and prosecutors. They put the projects in budgets and they do the projects by themselves or through contractors they nominate. Where is integrity? Where is honesty?” He as well faulted the framework for implementation, saying: “Who supervises the job? Who ascertains that the job has been done? It is not in their place to execute projects.”

    I, for one, doubt the moral ground on which the former president stands in his tirade. Constituency projects found their way into Nigeria’s appropriation law as a compromise with legislatorsduring his tenure, and records showed that he actually disbursed the cash designated for that expenditure head to the lawmakers in 1999. But he has also never hidden his strong distaste for the whole idea, and non-implementation of constituency projects was one of the charges on which the House, led by Speaker GhaliNaaba, attempted to impeach him in 2002. Now, you can’t beat his case on why constituency projects constitute a waste of public funds, as he said last week: “The question to ask is: assuming they execute the contracts – although we know they don’t, they usually pocket the monies – but assuming they execute the contracts, what becomes of the projects in future when they cease to be in the National Assembly? Who maintains them? When a project is not built by states, local governments or the federal government, they do not have a future.”

    Truth be told: appropriation for constituency projects in our national budgets is pork barreling that this country can ill-afford now or at any other time.

  • NDIC and health of financial institutions

    Transparency and accountability is the spinal cord of corporate governance. Nothing demonstrates how genuine a corporation’s commitment to these tenets than its annual report, in which it presents to the public for scrutiny its scorecard, with a view to building confidence and conveying assurances to the public. The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) is in the lead of league of such corporations with uncompromising commitment to transparency and accountability. The corporation has since released its 2015 annual report to the public. As usual, the report x-rays the true situation of our financial institutions. And, in doing this, it calls spade a spade.

    The importance of the NDIC’s annual report cannot be over emphasized. It is a tool for stock investors to analyse and rate the strengths of their portfolios; to bank depositors it is a barometer to measure the financial status of their banks; and to the policy makers a means to know when to apply appropriate measures to stem any downward slides that can temper with the equilibrium of the financial system of the country.

    The NDIC report is blunt where it needs to be; conversely it offers praises where there is appreciable progress; and sounds caution were it is needed. The report is blunt when it reports that out of the 42 primary mortgage banks (PMBs) in operation, a total of 14 failed to render returns to the NDIC. It reports that, as a result, unpaid premiums from nine PMBs amounted to ¦ 238.30 million in 2015.  In the same vein, it frankly reports that the quality of Microfinance Banks (MFBs) risk assets deteriorated further as the Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) increased to 23.13 percent in 2015, from 18.54 percent in 2014 which exceeded the prudential maximum threshold of 5 percent.”

    On the other hand, however, the report praises the rise in shareholders’ funds of the PMBs when it says: “The PMBs shareholders’ funds increased by 93.91 percent to ¦ 138.92 billion in 2015 from ¦ 71.64 billion in 2014. The subsector Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) was 74.04 percent as at December 2015 which exceeded the prudential threshold of 10 percent.”

    The NDIC 2016 reported sounded a cautionary note to shareholders of Microfinance banks that “The unaudited profit before tax for MFBs decreased by 77.63 percent to ¦ 1.68 billion in 2015, from ¦ 7.51 billion in 2014. Also, return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) for the subsector declined from 3.39 percent and 14.70 percent in 2014 to 0.47 percent and 13.74 percent in 2015, respectively.”

    In addition to x-raying the true situation of our financial institutions, the NDIC’s annual report also informs the public how it is relieving some of its obligations such payments to depositors of closed banks. The report indicates  that the corporation made a cumulative payment of ¦ 6.796 billion to 426,324 insured depositors of the closed DMBs as at December 31, 2015 as against ¦ 6.795 billion to 426,320 insured depositors in 2014. Similarly, it made a cumulative payment of ¦ 2.86 billion to 81,328 depositors of the closed MFBs as at December 31, 2015, as against ¦ 2.77 billion paid to 80,178 depositors in 2014. Also, the NDIC made a cumulative payment of ¦ 45.05 million to 595 depositors of closed PMBs as at 31st December, 2015 as against ¦ 2.02 million paid to 30 depositors in 2014.

    The NDIC’s report is a primary source of news of innovative policies the corporation is embarking upon. In the report we learn that the corporation, during the year under review, extended deposit insurance coverage to subscribers of mobile money operators (MMOs) via the concept of pass-through deposit insurance up to a maximum of ¦ 500,000. Similarly, we learn that the corporation reduced the premium paid by banks by ¦ 9.09 billion in 2015 following the reduction of the premium-base rate from 40 basis points to 35 for each DMB/NIB under the Differential Premium Assessment System (DPAS).

    But the most important aspect of the report is always the section on the risk assessment of the banks carried out usually by NDIC, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). In the report under review the corporation reports that the two regulatory bodies duly carried out  routine risk assessments of all the 24 DMBs while the NDIC alone conducted risk-based examinations of 205 MFBs and 6 (six) PMBs. The examinations were with a view to providing reliable information on their financial health, particularly as it affects the quality of risk assets; adequacy of loan loss provisions; capital adequacy; their level of compliance with banking rules and regulations; risk appetite; and adequacy of risk management frameworks.

    It was during such risk assessment exercises that the issue of the non-performing loans and other risk management issues of banks are uncovered and appropriate remedies proffered. The example that readily comes to mind is the recent CBN intervention in the management of Skye Bank due to its high loan exposure which stood at the sum of N700 billion. It was for such a reason that NDIC has been clamouring for more powers to deal with these issues as soon as they are noticed. Part of the corporation’s proposal for an amendment to its Act is to have the power to enforce the recommendations contained in its Examination Reports, to strengthen its supervisory capacity. This is to prevent a situation where a bank is examined and the same lapses observed in previous examinations report are repeated due to failure of bank management to implement the earlier recommendations as well as to ensure prompt corrective action is taken on problem banks.

    Despite the recent Skye Bank exposure story, the NDIC 2015 report shows that for Deposit Money Banks (DMB), overall total loans and advances rose by 5.56 percent, while capital adequacy ratio stood at 17.66 percent in the period under review, compared with 15.92 percent in 2014, and exceeded the minimum threshold of 10 percent and 15 percent for national and international banks respectively. The DMBs’ total loans and advances to the Nigerian economy stood at ¦ 13.33 trillion in 2015, showing an increase of 5.56 percent over the ¦ 12.63 trillion reported in 2014. The non-performing loans to total loans ratio for the industry increased from 2.81 percent in 2014 to 4.87 percent in 2015, within the regulatory threshold of 5 percent.

    On the other hand, the unaudited profit-before-tax (PBT) of the DMBs stood at ¦ 588.86 billion as at December 31, 2015 representing a decrease of 2.02 percent over ¦ 601.02 billion reported as at December 31, 2014. The decrease is hardly a surprise to anyone, given the contraction of the economy in the last quarter of the 2015.

    Overall, the report concludes that “the banking industry remained stable and sound during the period under review.”

    Recall that this position was re-echoed by the CBN in the wake of change of management of Skye Bank Plc due to its rising loan exposure.

     

    • • Hassan is an Abuja-based business and financial analyst.

     

  • Nigeria tomorrow: We can negotiate it now

    Nigeria was midwife by the desperate British colonialists, who were in search of raw materials for their industries in the seventeenth century. The collectivities that made up the present Nigeria were several independent nations that were long running their affairs. The fusion of the said nations was by force, as their consents were never sought. The union confirmed Frantz Alexander description of various ethnic groups as “ antagonistic cooperation”. They continue to occupy same “geographical expression “ but directly or indirectly hostile to each other. Even after a century coexistence, the hosility among the various ethnic group became far more pronounced than ever before. Egoistic interests remain the most powerful weapon the political elites use in galvanising and securing their selfish interest.

    On 19th December, 1959, in Kaduna, Sir Ahmadu Bello stated: “ When this current political battle is over, I will divide this country of Nigeria between two of my trusted lieutenants,  one for the North and one for the South. Today, I have the lieutenant for the South here and this is why we are here”. That statement had since made the Southern politicians to be weary of the  former followers till date. Daddy Onyeama, a renowned Jurist, once declared that “ Ibo’s rule over the whole of Nigeria was only a question of time. And that the “ Ibo domination of Nigeria is a matter of time”. So in January 15, 1966, when Kaduna Nzeogwu-led coup struck and the casualities of that coup were majorly Hausa and Yoruba, the Northern army officers revenged the death of their kinsmen six month later by murdering the igbos both in the military and civilians.

    Fourty years later, the Igbos are back in the abandoned Biafra Republic agitation, but unlike the Ojukwu Chukwuemeka’s arms struggle,  but on a peaceful demand for the right of secession. The Igbos are no fools for getting back in the trenches especially, but their demand is a child of necessity, due to the continuous denial of fair sharing of political patronages. The Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, while reacting to the lopsided appointments protests, declared: “ If I selected people whom I know quite well in my political party; whom we came all the way right from the All Nigeria’s People Party, Congress for Progressive Change and APC, and have remained together in good or bad situation; the people I have confidence in and I can trust them with any post, will that amount to anything wrong? “. The President ought to have remembered Section 14 (4) and 147 (3) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, as amended. A situation where out of 36 ministers appointed by the President in which 24 were chosen from the North is a violation of our Constitution. An examination of the the security appointments lists tilted to the North by 90%.

    The Niger Delta areas has continued to protest over the environmental degradation they suffered. History will continue to remind us that there was once one Niger Delta warrior called Adaka Boro, who led his youthful groups on a 12-day war of Republic of Niger Delta. The young man lost the battle but later fell at the Biafra war front. Next after him, as was prophetically proclaimed, that others would certainly continue after Boro was the Environmentalist Ken Saro Wiwa and his Movement for the  Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) that used instrument of persuation to draw attention to the degradation of the Ogoni land, but the late General Sanni Abacha used divide and rule to scatter the movement and later brought the group leaders, including Wiwa, before Special Tribunal with criminal charges on his kneck that eventually led to their hanging without waiting for their case to be appealed.

    The MEND and the Ijaw Youths Congress refused to allow Wiwa and Boro to rest in their graves, by implication, they declared the Kaima Declaration in 1998 seeking for “ self freedom, self determination and ecological justice”. They were eventually placated with amnesty programmes by the late Yar’Adua’s administration. The 2015 election promised to plunge the nation into a needless civil war, which was averted through prominent Nigerians and international interventions. But there were threats that if the election failed to favour the incubent  President, the incoming President might not find things easy. Maybe that threat was what led to the birth of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) or not, the Niger Delta Areas is currently smoking with bombs of oil pipilines today and the Nigerian economy is lying postrate and dying. If the ADC should have their ways, there is the likelihood of declaration of Niger Delta Republic. The Federal government too is not likely to fold its hands and close its eyes to such declaration.

    The question to be addressed by the people of Nigeria is the question of “ whether the continued membership or unity of Nigeria is negotiable or not”. Prominent Nigerians and non-Nigerians have expressed their views on the negotiation of our togetherness.  From the history, other nations that have either separated peacefully or by violence have emerged; India and Pakistan, Sudan that has been divided into two as Northern and Southern Sudan, Northern Korea and Southern Korea are not left out. The Yugoslavia settled their separation by war in 1991 to 2001 before they broke-up into six. Scotland had tested their continous stay in the United Kingdom through referendum and they are still not satisfied with the outcome. Since our union was not based on mutual amalgamation but was done through coercion by the rampaging colonialists for economic exploitation. It is time to give attention to the agitators, who felt they want self-freedom and a republic of their own.

    The clamour for restructuring is now stretching from the South to the North, and the present Federal Government cannot but respond to the people’s demands. Although there is no provision for succession in our Constitution,  but our National Assembly members will have to drop their personal agenda for life pension and legslative immunity and address the issue of self-freedom and secession. It has even been mentioned by the House of Representatives that they would be considering the recommendations of the last National Confab. In case the recommendations did not include and answer to those who are agitating for secession, there is nothing stopping the National Assembly from inserting referendum in the Constitution for those who see the need to move out of the present Nigeria states. We can no longer pretend as if there are no challenges on our membership of the goegrahical expression called Nigeria.

     Over hundred years of coexistence as a country, we have refused to become a nation, we are daily moving apart than ever before. The few who prefer the continuity of Nigeria are possibly the political elites that derive personal profits from the position they are occupying. Economically, the present union is gradually finding it difficult, if not impossible, to perform their duties of securing life and properties, as stipulated by Section 14 (4) of the 1999 Constitution. The quasi-Federalism has impoverished the states, who today are with bowls in their hands, begging for the little monthly stipends from the centre.

    The nation is gradually becoming hard and unsafe over the ongoing bombing of oil instalations and sensitive places by those who are discontent by the nature of things in Nigeria.  We are gradually going down the river but before we all get drowned in the muddled river of restructuring and seccetion,  let us come to the peaceful round table, where we can amicably settle our future direction because of our children and the coming generations.

  • In Nigeria, the intelligent also cry

    It is a crime to be intelligent in Nigeria,” Tope, one of my friends posted a few weeks after we wrote our UTME.,

    We took our exam in the same center. On June 8, 2011, we stood in long lines waiting for the police to check us before we could enter the main lecture building in the Faculty of Technology, University of Ibadan. We had been instructed not to bring any calculators because the examination board would provide them. I brought one just in case we weren’t provided with any.

    As we entered the hall, the invigilators asked us to turn in our calculators. Later on, the invigilators discovered that the examination officials had not sent calculators in our packet. People who had not brought calculators had to leave the hall to find ones they could use. I quickly grabbed mine from the front of the hall. It took a while before the hall settled again for the commencement of the exam.

    Early in the morning a week later, I began to receive phone calls from friends sharing their scores in JAMB with me. When I tried to check my own results with a scratch card, the following message showed up on the website “You cannot view the result as it has been withheld for further screening.” I began to contact other people who had been in my center and they said that they had received the same message when they tried to check their results. A few days later, I finally received very low results. In the other school leaving certificate examinations I took, I had the highest results among my classmates but I ended up receiving one of the lowest JAMB results in my class. The other people who sat the exam in my center began to receive unusually low results compared to other centers or the message, “You cannot see your results because you colluded with other candidates/examiners/external agents.” Tope received the message accusing him of cheating, which is an offence punishable by eighteen years of imprisonment. It was after this that he asked on Facebook whether it is criminal to be intelligent in Nigeria.

    We discovered through JAMB officials and other sources that our center had been pegged a “center of excellence.” The examination board felt that the students in our center must have cheated because there were some very high scores. Meanwhile, there were a lot of students from good schools including the Oritamefa Baptist Model School, the International School Ibadan, Oladipo Alayande School of Science who wrote the UTME at this center. JAMB did not bother to carry out any verification tests before coming to the conclusion that we must have cheated while deciding to give us either arbitrarily low marks or withhold our results. My parents sent a letter to JAMB protesting my arbitrary score and got this reply, “The released score is not a raw score but a normalized score because JAMB is not a Certificate Exam, it is a selection exam. Therefore, the raw score has to be normalized based on the exam of the subject population.” What kind of normalization had been carried out that gave everybody in my center either low scores or an accusation of cheating especially when some of these same students did so well in other school leaving certificate examinations? ,

    I was fortunate. JAMB ultimately did not hinder my progress. I enrolled in A’ Levels and wrote the SAT while applying to colleges in America. I ended up at Harvard University on a scholarship. Tope’s parents eventually had to go to Abuja to beg the JAMB officials to release his results to him so that he could apply for admission. Some weeks later, JAMB released very low results to him. Tope managed to register for the second batch of the post-UTME screening at his first-choice university. He obtained the highest mark out of all the candidates who participated in the screening and gained admission to his course of choice. How about the students who could not pursue these options? What became of them? Another student in my center who received the message accusing him of cheating was taking the UTME exam a second time. He threatened to take his life. His mother reported that she had to go and plead with JAMB officials in Abuja to release any results to him so that he could apply for a spot in university.,

    If it were left to me, I would scrap JAMB. But this seems unlikely to happen, which is why I am against the blanket cancellation of the post-UTME exam that has provided a safety net to students who have been messed up by JAMB. As the communiqué released on June 27, 2016 by the Association of the Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU) communicates, my story is not that unique among the experiences of many Nigerian youth who have been victims of the issues that have plagued JAMB for many years such as “arbitrary JAMB scores, special/miracle centers which give undue advantage to some candidates, impersonation, payment for manipulation of JAMB scores by highest bidders.” Furthermore, these problems have been compounded with new issues with computer-based testing such as the malfunctioning of computers and network problems. In fact, the range of JAMB scores this year varied based on the day that one sat the test. The AVCNU communiqué also references empirical studies, which demonstrate that the quality of students admitted to university have improved since the introduction of the post-UTME.,

    The chief argument of the Minister of Education and other individuals for the annulment of the post-UTME examinations has been the cost of these exercises but this should not be an excuse to surrender the fate of Nigerian students and indeed our nation to an incredibly unreliable exam. Perhaps, some of the money that has been allocated to run the UTME exam can be remitted to universities to subsidize or eliminate the cost of the post-UTME exercises. Or even better, the money that has been stolen from the coffers of this country can cover the costs. If not, history will judge us harshly as we leave the fate of the educational system of our nation to its destruction in the hands of the arbitrary and unkind JAMB machine.

    • Omigbodun has since graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Anthropology & African Studies from Harvard University,

  • Open letter to PMB

    Often, people usually talk about the first 100 days of a president’s achievements in office. In many countries, it has now become a standard yardstick to gauge the effectiveness of the presidentin getting his or her new policies passed. The first 100 days is so important in a democratic system of government. It is a period that welcomes the new change as everybody is in the mood of accepting new ideas, programmes and policiesthat will move the country forward. There is hardly any serious opposition to the new President’spolicies during this period. The period is usually regarded as that of grace or honeymoon. Smart presidents usually capitalize on this period to get their policiespass into laws. A good example isUS President Obamawho got his affordable health care, Obamacare, passed into law during this period.

    The 100-day yardstick was established byFranklin D. Roosevelt of the United States in 1933.When he was sworn in as the president on March 3, 1933, the US was faced with the catastrophic state of depression. In addition, there was mass unemployment. The unemployment rate stood at about 25 percent. There was also the problem of inflation, bank failures and widespread loss of confidence. Banks were shutting down. Accountholders were losing their life’s savings. Businesses were running out of enough cash to keep going. FDR had no choice but toaddress the problem head on.He said in his inaugural speech March 4: “This nation asks for action, and action now. Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require.”

    His success in winning congressional approval became the model for future presidents in dealing with Congress during the first 100 days in office.

    PresidentMuhammadu Buhari may not be FDR: The problems he currently faces in Nigeria are similar to what President Roosevelt faced when he took office in 1934. Presently in Nigeria today, there is a high rate of unemployment, massive inflation, acute non-payment of salaries,and starklylack of both local and foreign cash flow.There is no regular power supply, potable water, security and standard road network in other words, basic amenities.

    Unlike FDR’s 100Days, President Buhari has a much longer grace period of one yearto address Nigeria’s teething problems. It is unimaginable for a worker or family to be without a monthly salary for six months. This is a serious egregious problem that needs to be addressed urgently.

    We all know that President Buhari did not create all these problems.It is a lot of sacrifice for him at this stage of his life and instead of staying with his beautiful family, chose to once more try to lead this country aright. However, one cannot but wonder how a career militaryofficer with military background that once ruled this country with draconian decrees–is now at the helms, navigating the intrigues of democracy with Senators and Congressmen some of who were still in theirdiaperswhen he first came to office,  December 31, 1983.

    President Buhari, you got this job again for over a year now, there is no time to waste. The problems are enormous and mounting. Among many of these daunting problems- two of them stand out that need urgent attention now, massive unemployment and non-payment of salaries. Confronted with similar situation in 1934, FDR said in his inaugural speech March 4, that “his task is to put people to work.”In order for the President Buhari to address these problems of mass unemployment and non-payment of salaries head on, he needs to embark onbuilding road network across the nation NOW.

    From history,nearly all advanced nations of the world first started by investing in road building.They embarked on road building for the primary purpose of addressing the issues of acute mass unemployment, economy and nation building. The end product of their actions paid off asthey were able to put many people to work and stabilized their economies. They developed superb road network infrastructure that are regularly maintained across their entire nations. Road building started in the ancient Rome, and the modern history shows the Germans builttheir Super-highways – autobahns in the 1930s. The Americans under General Dwight D. Eisenhowerwas captivated with the German highway system which influenced him to embark on massive construction of the interstates highways in the United States. We have seen how new developing nations and emerging economies have also started by investing on building roads.

    This is an opportunity for President Buhari now to start on nationbuilding by constructing modern highways. Start by constructing new and dualizing all trunks A and B roads across the nation. This is a shovel-ready project that will instantly put people to work. Employ credible indigenous and foreign road construction companies that will constructmodern road networks with rest areas. These will provide instant employment for millions of young and able-bodied across the nation.

    The benefit of road construction cannot be over emphasized as it will bring jobs to every corner and nook of Nigeria instantly. Consider that nearly all road contracting firms pay their worker weekly or bi- weekly. It will instantly jump-start the current stagnant economy by putting money into peoples’ pockets. Road construction provides both direct and indirect employments.

    Road construction provides direct employment for highway construction professionals such as road firm employees- road engineers, designers, tractor operators, managers, accountants,clerks, specialists, drivers, quality controllers, skilled, and unskilled laborers, etc.  The local area for the road construction usually provides thecatchment zone for the unskilled laborers thereby ensuring job opportunities for the locals.

    Road construction also provides indirect employment also. These include supply of materials for the roads such as cement, sand, asphalt, bitumen, quarry, iron rods and metals fabrication industries.There will be supply contractors for the road materials and equipment. Also importantly, are the local foods and water supply industries-from the local farmers to the food canteens and fast foods forworkers.

    Also most importantly is the maintenance. The maintenance culture is what Nigerians need to cultivate both individually and institutionally. As individual needs to maintain their houses so also is the government. The road maintenance department will provide jobs for hundreds of thousands on permanent basis for the new highway network.  This will replace the mundane Public Works Department- PWD.

    In general, workers in this road construction willsubsequently spend and invest their earnings in the immediate local communities thereby generating economic activities acrossthe geographicalareas, which will have ripple effects on state, and national economies. It will also provide thousands of road construction related incomes and jobs such as housing and transportation. It will also create a large number of new roadside related businesses.

    The implication of this is that it will relieve federal, state and local governments from the acute stress of youth unemployment by providing jobs.Gainful employment will curb spate of robberies and other nefarious activities that exist as a result of unemployment. Providing jobs will restore a sense of purpose and wellbeing to individuals. Road construction will generate the revenues that will stabilize the economy that will form the bedrock upon which other government programmeswill be built such as agriculture and mining all of which need good solid road for transportation.

    For President Buhari, there is a discernable pattern of governance and achievements between the way he governs now and the first time he came to office between 1983–85which was characterized with probes, War Against Indiscipline and loss of jobs due to downsizing in other words, Lean and Mean Workforce. While the intentsmay be altruistic and noble at both times, the middle class is being crushed economically due to lack of employment, loss of jobs, and in many cases non-payment of salaries. It presents a state of sacrifice with a hope of a better morrow which many may not even live up to reap the dividends.

    It is time to add another approach by doing something new and bold that will assuage the plight of workers and the middle class.The middle level will benefit immensely by investing on road building head on.Dear President, probes alone will not cut it; the ordinary man is neither directly affected by probes; all he needs is job and he needs it now.

    President Buhari, if this is what you can achieve in your first term of your second coming in office, people that voted for you will not be disappointed as it will be regarded as substantial investment in nation building and also an observable project that will go a long way to justify your second coming. It is the easiest and most achievable nationwide project whileother challenging projects such as regular power and water supply, may follow later.

    Failure to embark onaggressive nationwide road construction will be another missed opportunity that will be catastrophic and regrettable.

     

    • Dr. Fagbemi, writes from the United States.

  • To Keshi, a tribute

    I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news of your death. How could you die so soon with so much to still offer Nigeria, Africa and the world? Where were you rushing to? How can you leave us just like that? Keshi!Haba Coach!! Haba Big Boss!!! These and many more questions are still running through my mind even as I write this tribute to you.

    You are one Nigerian that really makes me proud that I am Nigerian. And I know you make many other Nigerians proud of our nation. Throughout your career as a football player and coach, you tried your best to represent our nation in a positive light. I really do appreciate you for that.

    And I just want to say thank you, Keshi.

    While writing this, I came across this quote by Ralph Marston. He said “What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it – would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have.”

    After reading the quote I found myself asking: Did Nigeria appreciate you, Keshi? Did we as Nigerians really appreciate you the way we ought to? Did we appreciate what you did for us as a nation in the area of football? Did we appreciate the influence you had on the game of football (as a player and coach) here in Nigeria, Africa and in other parts of the world?  Did we honour you the way you should have been honored as our FOOTBALL ICON? Did we celebrate you while you were still with us? Is it possible that you were taken away from us prematurely because as a nation we neglected to appreciate the gift we had in you?

    Why do we take for granted the people who represent Nigeria in a great and positive way? WHY? I really wonder WHY? Keshi I am sorry we as Nigerians did not appreciate you the way we should have when you were still here with us. Please forgive us.

    As Pele the world’s greatest footballer once said “Success is no accident. It is studying, sacrifice and most of all love of what you are doing or learning to do.” Coach Keshi your success as an accomplished Nigerian international football player and coach was not an accident. You worked hard at your game as a player! As a captain you worked hard on your teammates. You brought out the best in them and motivated them to score the goals and win the games! As a coach you worked hard on your players and inspired them to go way beyond the call of duty and they did because you had set the example for them emulate.

    You worked smart. You studied hard! You even learnt a new language (i.e. French) in the pursuit of greener “football” pastures. You were committed to the game of football, your teammates, the players you coached and your nation Nigeria. You loved the game of football! You were the game! And the game was you! You were a game changer. And you were the game maker! You always found a way to get the job done despite the many unending challenges you faced from many different quarters. You loved your nation Nigeria and you loved Nigerians and the Super Eagles fans. You were a football legend from my nation Nigeria! I am so proud of you!

    And I just want to say thank you, Keshi.

    You played in five African Cup of Nation tournaments. You were the Super Eagles captain when they won the African Cup of Nations Cup (AFCON) in Tunisia in 1994. And in spite of all the bad press and publicity you were getting at the time, you were the game changer that helped the Super Eagles to win the AFCON Cup and qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA. Your commitment to playing for Nigeria was exemplary. When the Super Eagles had to play matches in Nigeria you didn’t wait for your ticket to be sent to you before appearing for the match. You would fly into Nigeria on your own funds and later work out how to get a refund later.

    You scored a total of nine goals (as a defender) while playing international football for the Super Eagles and Nigeria. You appeared 64 times in the green white green colours. You understood every word in the saying “Play for the name on the front of the shirt and they’ll remember the name on the back.”That is exactly what you did!

    And I just want to say thank you, Keshi.

    Some time ago Jose Mourinho said “I hate to speak about individuals. Players don’t win you trophies, teams win trophies, squads win trophies”. You had a great insight of that and that is why you were an extraordinary team player. You spoke up for your teammates. You stood up for your teammates. You put yourself on the line for the sake of your teammates, so much so that they nicked name you “BIG BOSS”even though you were teammates. Your teammates knew that they could count on you and that you had their backs covered. You went out of your way to introduce and expose Nigerian football players to European football clubs and other football clubs around the world. You helped many Nigerian football players become international professionals players in Europe and other countries. You represented Nigeria so well abroad that football scouts and agents came to Nigeria looking for more gifted football players like yourself.

    You were the only coach to date that has taken the Togolese national team to the World Cup. You also coached the Malian national team. After which you coached the Super Eagles. You are probably the only African that has coached three different national teams in Africa.

    There are only two African soccer stars in history that won the AFCON Cup as player, captain and also as a coach. And you are one of the two. You and Egypt’s Mahmoud El-Gohary. As the captain of the Super Eagles, you and the Super Eagles) won the AFCON Cup in 1994. And as a coach, you and the Super Eagles won the Cup in 2013. Arsene Wenger once said “A manager [in this case a coach] is a guide. He takes a group of people and says, ‘with you I can make us a success; I can show you the way.” As a coach you did exactly that in Togo, Mali and Nigeria.

    And I just want to say thank you, Keshi.

    Your death is painful to me. It hurts that you left so soon. My heart aches when I remember you are no longer with us.

    Nigeria lost a GREAT FOOTBALL ICON and LEGEND in you, when you played your last game and left this football field of life.

    You are a LEGACY. And you left a LEGACY. You achieved so much for yourself. You achieved so much for others. More importantly you achieved so much for our nation Nigeria. You made us Nigerians proud! You left a part of yourself in each of our hearts to stay behind as you go on to the great beyond. You sowed a seed in our hearts so that each one of us can also leave a LEGACY in Nigeria just like you did!

    Thank you Keshi, for the numerous things you did in your lifetime that made us proud of you and our nation Nigeria.

    I will miss you! We will miss you!! Nigeria will miss you!!!

     

    Ms Simoyan writes from Lagos.

  • Jibrin Vs. Dogara: A case of sour grapes?

    When in December 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2016 Budget to the National Assembly (NASS), hopes were high that the ‘budget of change’ would revive the dwindling fortunes of the economy. Ever since, it has been one controversy to another.  From initial report of the budget being missing to several padding of figures to its line items, Nigerians were inundated with different tales daily. While these controversies raged, the chairmen of the appropriation committees in the Senate and House of Representatives, Senator DanjumaGoje and Hon. JibrilAbdulmumin being at the centre of it all were literally in the eye of the storm. AbdulmuminJibrin, the member representing Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency of Kano State, however was the more controversial owing to the fact that he was more visible and vocal.

    The storm would later degenerate into a face-off between the executive and the legislators – no thanks to the outbursts of Jibrin. At almost every instance, he not only sought to cast aspersion on the executive, he it was that sold the narrative that the former was responsible for the padding of the budget. The general belief then was that the National Assembly discovered this padding and was doing all it could to correct the situation. That was what Jibrin sold to Nigerians.

    The story has however changed. Last Thursday, Hon Jibrin released a statement accusing Speaker YakubuDogara and the leadership of the House of Representatives of unilaterally allocating to themselves projects worth N40billion out of the N100billion allocated to the entire members. Jibrin had been sacked a day earlier by the Speaker for what many considered as the role he played in the budget impasse. Jibrin’s story however was that his sack was the result of his refusal to admit the Speaker’s request for the N40billion, N30billion of which he said is personally for the speaker’s constituency.

    Jibrin’s decision to spill the beans would ordinarily be a welcome development.  However, the question that begs for answer is why the decision to open up at this late hour? If Jibrin is claiming to be accountable or with clear conscience, why did he choose to speak after his sack from the appropriation committee?

    In his statement on Thursday, Jibrin accused Speaker Dogara, among other things, of wining with President Muhammadu Buhari and dinning with the president’s enemies. He said his decision to open up is because the Speaker added in a statement announcing his replacement – despite asking to be allowed to resign – that the House leadership had already concluded plans to oust him from the appropriation committee.

    Does this not smack of selfish game play by Jibrin? Does the statement not indicate that he decided to speak out because it has to do with his person and not because of his love for taxpayers, the National Assembly and even the nation? Should the self-righteousness being claimed by Jibrin not have been demonstrated long before his sack?

    It ought to be clear to discerning Nigerians that Hon. Jibrin’s volte face declaring support for the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, the same man he sold to Nigerians as having presented a hugely padded budget, is nothing but a smokescreen to pitch tents having lost credibility in the eyes of the House leadership.

    It is now public knowledge that Jibrin used his position and privilege as the chairman, House Committee on Appropriation to sneak in projects to the tune of N4 billion for his constituency, at a time some lawmakers had no projects in their own constituencies. Worthy of note is the so-called Muhammadu Buhari Film Village which he single-handedly inserted in the budget and sited it in his village without the consent or knowledge of the President – a project that has since been flatly rejected by the people of Kano State. Need one mention also the N250 million project for the construction of an International Tourism Market in Argungu, Kebbi State, smuggled into the budget of the National Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC)?

    Nigerians can today better appreciate why President Buhari refused to sign the budget.

    In the situation, Speaker Dogara was faced with two choices: Either to back an erstwhile ally and strong supporter said to have used his privileged position as chairman of a very powerful committee to engage in untoward activities, or to honour his vow and oath as Speaker and hence protect the nation’s interests. The first option was a no go hence he chose the latter.  In fact, Dogara before then held series of meetings with President Buhari, where he pleaded and promised to handle the situation. This was why the speaker, after exhaustive consultations, informed Jibrin of his removal – a decision was taken ever since the Speaker was presented with overwhelming details of Jibrin’s many infractions.

    Jibrin must come out to tell Nigerians what his game plan is and what he hopes to achieve by throwing spanners in the wheels of the House. Jibrin has successfully muddied the waters by refusing to explain to his audience that there is a statutory allocation for constituency projects and that recommending these is neither a crime, nor is it padding, as attracting federal attention to their constituencies is one of their duties as lawmakers.

    It should be clear and evident to all discerning minds that AbdulmuminJibrin is a man drowning in the pool of his own serial infractions, and hence will surely do/say everything he can to drag someone down with him. As it appears, the bigger that fellow, the better it will be for him. In this particular instance, it couldn’t get bigger than the Speaker himself. Jibrin has released several documents which supposedly prove Dogara’s complicity in some crime, but not one of the many pieces of paper he has released so far would stand up to scrutiny either before the unbiased public or in a court of law. Nigerians will readily recall that Dogara’s tenure as chairman of the House Services was marked with not a single allegation of wrong doing and his stellar record in the 6th and 7th assemblies was why majority of members passionately supported his speakership bid.

    The evil that men do lives after them and those who come to equity must do so with squeaky clean hands. Unfortunately for Jibrin, this is one battle he cannot hope to win as Nigerians are only too aware of his antecedents.

     

    • Onyemere, a public affairs analyst and social commentator, wrote in from Lagos.

  • To distinguished senators and honourables

    Distinguished senators and honourable members of the National Assembly;greetings.  May we humbly bring to your knowledge if you do not know already that you are the Third Arm of government of the Federal Republic.  It is a highly exalted office with mandate and responsibility for making laws for our general good. It is such a great honour and privilege to be so elected as members of the legislature from amongst millions of equally qualified Nigerians as leaders to make good laws to shape the future of our great country.  As leaders in that dignified position, you are clothed with great eminence and authority to carry the Coat of Arms of our nation.  It follows also that to occupy such position,you are to be above all appearances of impropriety to enable you unqualified freedom to exercise the power of that office as checks and balances over the power of the other arms of government.  You are not only to make laws but must be imbued with moral character and temper of the nation because law without morality is like cake without the icing.

    Like the judicial arm, the National Assembly hasresidual power to enforce the supreme and fundamental purpose of the law, to conserve not only the safety and order but also the moral welfare of the state.  The National Assembly should therefore be the custosmorum of the people.It does not matter the platform under which you were elected into the National Assembly but the moment you have won your election, you become Senators of the Republic not PDP or APC. You are to discharge your duties with utmost altruism putting the nation first.

    Distinguished Honourables, you have a four year tenure subject of course to revalidation of the mandate; already this is the second year running and in no time, you will start angling and scheming for alliances and re-election.  It is therefore necessary to reflect on your activities and score cards so far.  May we therefore draw your attention to your stewardship as seen not perceived by the general public.

    You made history during your inauguration when you stabbed your parties at the back against arrangement or agreement for leadership position of the National Assembly.  You destroyed organizational loyalty and put selfish personal ambitions above party loyalty and interest of the nation.  We saw display of treachery, disloyalty and betrayals of party’s ethos which has been an albatross on the Eighth Assembly making it unable to deliver on any constructive and productive work of lawmaking.

    In scheming for office, it turned out that you ignored and threw morality to the winds when you allegedly tampered with the House Rules in order to defeat due process and justice.If the argument is that you did not tamper with the rules yourselves, you became beneficiaries and benefactors of the skewed rules.  You did not stop there; the next course of action for you as federal lawmakers was to be throwing chairs over chairmanship and membership of committees.  Just as the dust settles down from the fight over appointments you again unleashed on the nation the brouhaha over sundry allowances.  What about the N32 million SUV (cars)?    Perhaps one would just remind you that this is a country where the minimum wage is N18,000 and virtually all the states of the federation owe workers’ salaries in arrears with some threatening to down size the workers strength.

    You did not even stop for a moment to look at the pressing issues of the moment in the nation such as unemployment, insecurity, infrastructural deficit, ethnic agitation, religious intolerance, inflation in double digitsetc; you want pension and immunity for yourselves. Immunity for what? You must have a questionable past or record to be contemplating immunity.  If this is the case, you do not deserve to be dignified with such an exalted office in the first place if the purpose is to build protective wall against past malfeasance.  You have completely abandoned your responsibilities and duties to the nation and did not at all appear to understand the enormity of the demand of your office.  You did not realise that your loyalty is first to the nation and your people and not any individual.  That is why you would abandon your legislature schedules at the hallowed chambers to besiege the Code of Conduct Tribunal where the Senate President is standing trial for an alleged false declaration of asset; a criminal allegation.  That is why you find it convenient to leave your hallowed chambers and follow the Senate President and his deputy to the High Court where they are facing trial over an alleged tampering with the House Rules; a criminal offence. You have ignored the fact that you are custodians of public morals or not seem to be aware at all.

    To hear some of you argue vociferously that the National Assembly or the Senate is under trial because a few individuals are asked to account for an alleged criminal conduct belie the quality and character of people you have chosen to become.  Is the Senate President or his deputy or any other member for that matter the same thing as the Senate?  It is like equating Napoleon with France.

    Each time there is allegation of immoral turpitude against any member of the National Assembly we see the Honourables rise up in arms that it is an attack against the Assembly; like the recent allegation that some randy Honourables who could not control their libido and were engaging pimps in America. To be agitated the way you were and summoning the American ambassador to Nigeria to appear before you, ignoring all diplomatic ethos is balderdash.  Couldn’t the House have conducted a discreet investigation without all the hoopla it unleashed on the media?  Methinks it is puerile, infantile and bereft of common sense and logic to think and behave this way in that exalted office.

    Distinguished Honourables, your behaviours are becoming intolerable and the ways and manners you are conducting your affairs unacceptable.  Even in expression, your language is not dignified and ennobling to say the least.  How would a distinguished senator threaten to impregnate someone else’s wife and another senator to the bargain over parliamentary altercation in the so-called hallowed chambers? The world is watching and the people of Nigeria who elected you are watching.  Remember also the people reserve the right and power to recall you when it becomes manifestly clear that you have become real liabilities.  Nigeria cannot afford to continue to have cheap people as leaders.  As if that is not enough, you are now threatening to impeach the President; over what?Haba! Madness should have method. Take note that Nigerians are on standby to occupy the National Assemblyif youignore and refuse to offer quality service to the nation.  A word is enough for the wise.

     

    • Kebonkwu Esq writes from Abuja