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  • Rescued school girls and governance in Lagos

    It the time the al-Qaeda outlaw Osama bin Laden was killed by a special assault team of the United States military in Abbottabad, Pakistan in May 2011, pundits suggested that were Presidential election to be held in the US ahead of the scheduled date in 2012, President Barack Obama, under whose watch the Jihadist was nailed, would easily have secures reelection.

    Pollsters returned the verdict that although such economic issues as marginal job losses, poverty and oil prices fluctuation were trending as likely voting determinants, Obama’s major feat on the security front would clinch massive popular support for him and his Democratic Party.

    This turned out to be prophetic because more than a year later at the poll, America’s first black president was reelected, a strong influencing factor being the role he played in taming insecurity ascribed to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist activities against US territory and the country’s global interests.

    When keen observers also take a critical look at the security situation in Lagos State under the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, they can’t but conclude that indeed he has made a difference that is turning out to be a game changer. It would absolutely count for him when he seeks reelection as it did for Obama, according to observers.

    He has tackled insecurity in Lagos such that as the day follows the night, arrests invariably follow the perpetuation of a crime. We are at the stage where committing felony would be unattractive to the criminally minded.

    Now, the background to this observation is the abduction and rescue of the three female students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School (BMJSS) at Ikorodu on the outskirts of Lagos.

    It took place at an in auspicious time: the state government was battling a seasonal feud between two factions of the Road Transport Workers Union at Oshodi that had temporarily arrested social and economic activities in the community; communal violence had also broken out in the densely-populated area of Ketu  Mile 12 market, claiming several lives, destroying properties running into hundreds of millions of Naira and injuring scores of residents. It lasted for days and led finally to the closure of the popular market.

    While all these lasted, Governor Ambode shuttled between these hot spots and security outposts. But some scoffed at him and his government on the issue of the students abduction. On Wednesday March 2, 2016, one leading national newspaper wrote: “Despite the fact that the students were kidnapped on Monday night and the information had been widely circulated neither the Lagos State governor Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, nor his representatives had visited the school as of 8pm on Tuesday. The state government had also yet to make a statement on the abduction.”

    Many went on to liken the BMJSS development to the tragic Chibok girls tale that saw the kidnap of more than 200 students in 2014. They have not been rescued since.

    But it was a short-lived comparison because the entire arsenal of the security apparatus Ambode had been assembling was scrambled into action. It delivered the expected result as the girls were rescued some six days after their captivity. The Police arrested the culprits and retrieved the valuable information while also recovering lethal weapons from the suspects. Such was the success of the operation that no ransom was paid to the kidnappers.

    Hear what Emmanuel Arigidi, one of the suspected kidnappers of the Ikorodu school girls said about the level of security in the state: ”I know that security in Lagos State is now tight and I was telling others that there was no way we would get away with this kind of job considering the level of security in the state. When I told them that we should end the assignment, other members of the gang threatened to kill me and then I took Canoe to run away”.

    The school population and parents of the victims as well as the generality of the society in Lagos and Nigeria are heaving a sigh of relief and hailing the security architecture that has offered such salutary conclusion to what was unfolding as one abduction too many following the unresolved Chibok riddle.

    But really, this pleasant outcome was not a surprise to those who have monitored Ambode’s unprecedented contribution to a highly motivated and efficient police in the state. His administration has given a hefty crime-tackling equipment worth about N4.765b to the Force. These include three helicopters, two gun boats, 55 Ford Ranger vans, 100 4-door salon cars, 10 Toyota Land Cruiser pickups, Isuzu trucks and 115 Power bikes. In tow are 15 Armored Personnel Carriers, APC, bullet proof vests, helmets along with Improved Insurance and Death Benefit Schemes for officers. In the offing is the installation of Close Circuit Camera TV Coverage for Lagos and more equipments to assist security agencies in effectively doing their job. Even then, the Light Up Lagos Project that has seen all the nooks and cranny of the state with street lights is also designed to compliments the efforts of security agencies.

    Ambode says this is “In conformity with the overall policy thrust of (the) administration built on a tripod… Security, Job Opportunities and Improved Infrastructure.” It is the synergy of technology, intelligence work and political will at play.

    A government with this mindset is the objective of the ideal state, where government’s sole occupation is to cater for the all-round welfare of the people, through securing them against anti-social elements and the economic vicissitudes of life. Economic and social enterprise with political activities and the development of the citizen can only take place where there is security and a body language in government that suggests that crime would not go undetected, unprevented or unpunished. This is the primary aspiration of government, whether they are in Khaki or in politicians’ Agbada.

    The safe return of the BMJSS girls has delivered two take-aways: Lagos with its burgeoning population of more than 20 million people is safe for business, leisure and habitation; secondly it has a government which, as it partners with the Police, does not take tax payers money and security fund for granted.

    Just as the governor said on the day the girls were rescued, : ”Let me warn that the State Government will not tolerate kidnapping or any forms of crime in the State. Our position is clear and unambiguous, Lagos state has the capacity and the will to go after every form of crime and criminality in order to safeguard lives and property in the state”, it is becoming increasingly clear that anyone who doubts the government resolve to protect the state, would have himself to blame.

    And at a time when cynicism has been on the rise with the continued missing of the Chibok girls, observers are quick to remind Nigerians that with the right leadership-like the one that was demonstrated in Lagos in the past week by the governor-the country can still get it right.

    • Anibaba, an economist wrote in from Gbagada.
  • When lying becomes a vocation…

    When lying becomes a vocation…

    Ayn Rand was a Russian-born American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She gave the world one of the most truthful and popular quotes when she said,

    “People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim. What I’ve learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one’s reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one’s master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person’s view requires to be faked…The man who lies to the world, is the world’s slave from then on…There are no white lies, there is only the blackest of destruction, and a white lie is the blackest of all.”

    Rand’s statement was aptly corroborated by

    Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, a German philosopher, cultural critic, poet, and Latin and Greek schools thus,

    “I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”

    The above quotes draw us to the nagging reality about telling lies. When an individual or group elects to make lying an art and a vocation, the consequences of such a decision is that the immediate community of the liar(s) is endangered. Not everyone has the time to go an extra mile to dig the veracity of a statement made by a habitual liar.

    The current situation in Benue State paints the above picture succinctly. Since May 29 last year, the now opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has deployed its propaganda machinery to lie to the good people of the state. Their object in the felonious trade is no other than the Samuel Ortom administration. No day passes without one lie or the other being told against the Ortom administration. From the laughable allegations of bailout funds diversion to the ridiculous claims that officials of the present administration are building and buying structures in choice locations of the country, the PDP propaganda team has used the social media to swear, wait a minute, in whose name? (certainly not that of God) that the current government is not leading well. But on each occasion I check, I do not see their claims backed by evidence/verifiable facts.

    But Benue people are no fools. The people know the truth. The good people of Benue know who received over one trillion naira between 2007 and 2015 and spent without appropriation, a whopping sum of N219 billion while over N151 billion went missing from the state coffers making the Justice Elizabeth Kpojime Judicial Commission of Inquiry to recommend that 52 individuals and 10 corporate bodies be made to vomit N107 billion and further investigation be carried out into additional N44 billion.

    Benue people are much aware that the Ortom administration has not taken fresh loans as the opposition claims. The people know that the recent funds of N10 billion and N5.5 billion which came to the state in the last few weeks are the same loans the State House of Assembly approved last year which we publicised. The government could not access the loans until now. So any claim that the government of Benue State has taken fresh loans is pure mischief.

    The opposition has tried without success to hoodwink the people into believing that the N28 billion the present administration received late last year to clear the backlog of salaries which the immediate past Government of Gabriel Suswam refused to pay is bailout, in other words, free cash from the Federal Government. But the truth is that the money is not a grant. It is a loan and the Benue State Government has already started paying back the loan. Just imagine what the N28 billion could have done for Benue if it were not for payment of salary backlog. That money can change any sector of the economy for the better. But it is not to be in Benue as the funds have been used for the payment of salaries owed workers. Fair enough, isn’t it?

    The Ortom administration has refused to be weighed down by the barrage of lies told daily by the opposition. The Governor and his team are moving on as hope rises in the horizon for the people of the state.

    Already, Governor Ortom has approved the construction 12 roads in different parts of the state nine of which were awarded by former Governor Gabriel Suswam but the projects were abandoned and the contract money gleefully shared by members of that administration. The affected contractors have been mobilised back to site and work is set to be completed on those roads this year.

    Here are the road projects:

    1. Zaki Biam – Afia – Gbeji road 46.52km
    2. Taraku – Naka – Agagbe road 61km
    3. Oju – Obussa – Utonkon road 52.00km
    4. Otukpo – Utonkon – Igumale road 55.61km
    5. Oshigbudu – Ogbaji road 10km
    6. Igbor – Ikpa – Wannune road 36.732k
    7. Vandeikya – Kotiyough – Adikpo road 32.00km
    8. Ge – Ikyobo – Agbeede – Amua – Anshagba road 37km
    9. Tordonga – Zaki Biam with spur to Tsewuaze – Tiza – Shila road 45.14km

    Below are the new road contracts so far awarded by the Ortom administration while it constructs the ones listed above which were awarded during the last administration but were abandoned and the money found its way into private pockets:

    1. Daudu – Gbajimba road
    2. Makurdi Outer Ring road (Mobile Police road) Mobile Barracks –  Adeke – Welfare Quarters – Yaikyo – Apir road 24km
    3. Origbo – Imande – Akpur – Gbajimba road 40. 397km

    As we speak, the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board is advertising in various national newspapers calling for tenders for the construction and rehabilitation of over 700 primary schools – 4th quarter 2011 to 4th quarter 2015. Similarly, there will be conduct of geophysical survey/drilling of boreholes, construction and supply of teachers’ tables and chairs, procurement and installation of computers/portal construction in primary and junior secondary schools across the state.

    Water is now running through taps in Katsina-Ala and Otukpo as a result of deliberate efforts by the Ortom administration to complete the abandoned water projects. Recently, the office of the Special Adviser, Development Cooperation, SDGs and NEPAD, Dr. Magdalyne Dura, publicly opened bids for the construction of primary health facilities in the 23 local government areas of the state.

    Governor Samuel Ortom believes that Benue people deserve good services and he is committed to completing any abandoned project which can bring smiles to the faces of the people while embarking on new ones.

    On Wednesday, the 10th of February, the Benue State Government signed an agreement with Torra KFT for the completion of the Wannune Tomato Factory which is aimed at creating hundreds of jobs for the people. The same approach is being applied to other comatose state-owned industries.

    Already, the training and retraining of thousands of teachers has been in the state.

    Governor Ortom has refused to be weighed down by the numerous challenges he faced following the numerous pitfalls the immediate past administration set for him. One of the traps was that the present administration did not only meet an empty treasury, it actually met a deficit treasury.

    We have published many times other achievements of the Ortom administration in the last 9 months so I wouldn’t go into the full long list now but perhaps one needs to take a quick look at some of the things the Ortom administration has done in a few months despite the daunting challenges it has faced within the same period:

    – Trimming of Government size from the previous 17 Commissioners to 13 and advisers from 28 to 18. This is to reduce the cost of governance, a significant departure from the prevalence of waste witnessed during the last dispensation.

    – Resolution of disputes with unions a few days after taking over and the resumption of Benue State University (BSU) from strike.

    -Payment of accreditation requirements of College of Health Sciences and BSU Teaching Hospital leading to granting of accreditation by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria after 12 years.

    – Rehabilitation of School of Nursing and Midwifery for re-accreditation.

    – Immediate commencement of payment of full salaries at state and local Government levels after the workers had not received their wages for a period of several months.

    The Government also paid minimum wage to primary school teachers in the state.

    – Promotion of peace between farmers and herdsmen as well as deepening inter-state peace building efforts.

    – Introduction and prosecution of Amnesty Programme which led to the recovery of over 400 arms, thousands of ammunition while over 700 youths embraced the amnesty and surrendered their weapons. The initiative has brought peace to various parts of the state.

    – Setting up of Judicial Commission of Inquiry into funds which accrued to state and how they were utilised between 2007 and 2015 as well as the Administrative Commission of Inquiry into the sale and lease of government property within the same period. The Judicial Commission of Inquiry submitted its report recently and indicted 52 individuals and 10 corporate bodies who are to refund over N107 billion to the coffers of the state. A white paper has already been issued on the Kpojime Commission’s report.

    – Collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA for the establishment of Benue State Information Technology Development Agency, BITDA

    – Partnership with the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology and the Rockefeller Foundation for training of 1,500 unemployed youths from the 23 local government areas of the state on how to access online jobs.

    – Re-engagement with Development Partners, UN, UNHCR, UNFPA, World Bank, IFAD, USAID for the provision of Education, Health services etc.

    – Signing of MOU with Chinese, German and American investors on infrastructure.

    – Release of funds for construction and equipping of laboratory at the Akperan Orshi College of Agriculture, Yandev, and rehabilitation of Agric Training centres in Mbatie and Otobi.

    The Ortom administration has also taken proactive steps to boost the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR of the state by introducing the Point of Sale (POS) machines which is already helping in plugging leakages and increasing the revenue base of the state. It is the first time that this is happening in Benue State. As I write, the monthly IGR of Benue State is well above N500 million.

    Today, citizens of Benue can proudly name figures which have accrued to the state as income because, for the first time, a Governor has decided to be transparent. Even primary school pupils now know how much Benue has as and how much is being spent. Governor Ortom has included labour unions like NLC, TUC and NUT for the first time, as part of the joint account committee and they know precisely what comes to the state and how it is disbursed.

    The people know that the lies peddled against the Ortom administration are merely what they are – lies!

    The opposition in Benue State can help deepen our democracy better if they engage the present administration on issues. That’s how it is done elsewhere.

    Akase is Chief Press Secretary to the Benue State Governor.

  • LG inaugurates new classrooms, shopping complex

    Executive Secretary of Agbado/Oke Odo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, Hon. David Famuyiwa, on Tuesday inaugurated an ultra-modern shopping complex in Ajasa Market and a six-classroom block with modern facilities at Ilapo Community Primary School in Alagbado.

    It was a joyous moment for the pupils as new desks and chairs were also distributed to them.

    The council boss noted that the projects were intended to enhance the quality of education in the school as well as trade and commerce in the council area. He said: “We are confident that the projects we are commissioning today will, to a large extent, improve the lot of teachers and pupils of the school. We, therefore, want to assure you that our government is actually committed to her promise of bringing positive changes to our society.

    “The new building consists of two offices, two toilets, drainage, culvert and furniture, including desks and benches. However, we have also commenced the construction of Shotunde and Owodunni Streets at Alagbado, while repair work has been carried out on Lawal and Omisesan Streets among others.”

    While commissioning the school building, Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Princess Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf urged the teachers and pupils to make the best use of the facilities.

    “The best way to appreciate the laudable gesture of Hon Famuyiwa’s administration is for the pupils and teachers of this school to ensure that the facilities are not damaged or misused so that more of this gesture can come to this school.”

    The traditional ruler of Meiran community, Oba Adisa Oroja, charged residents, teachers and pupils to protect the new facilities put in place in the school.

    The lawmaker representing Alimosho Constituency 1 in the State House of Assembly, Hon Bisi Yusuf, admonished property owners to desist from encroaching on the school land.

    Hon Yusuf warned that he would not hesitate to drag offenders before the leadership of the Lagos State House of Assembly for possible sanction. He said: ”We will no longer tolerate people who encroach on landed property meant for school project, hence, those who have trespassed on the land on which Ilapo Community Primary School is sited should leave or else I will personally lead a protest to the State Assembly to eject trespassers.”

  • Mantu’s shocking lack of remorsefulness

    In an interview with an online medium, Premium Times, Nasir Ibrahim Mantu shocked the public by revealing that he would have more daringly and even suicidally engineered ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo’s third term in office. He regretted his timidity, he groaned, for had he summoned the courage, in his twisted opinion, Nigeria would have been better for it. “The truth is if I had known Nigeria would find herself where we are today, I would have even taken the last drop of my blood to ensure it happened because it would have been in the greatest interest of the nation,” he had argued.  “We never envisaged we would be here. Since Obasanjo left, the way this country has been run up to this moment, I weep for Nigeria.” And had Chief Obasanjo secured a third term in office, Mr. Mantu added, his successors would have also benefited from that gratuitous political gift. He gave no further explanation for this extremely opaque reasoning, nor why it is so pressing and indispensable that it overrode the need to defend the integrity of the constitution.

    It is not clear why nature permitted the historical conjuncture that foisted Chief Obasanjo and Mr. Mantu on Nigeria between 1999 and 2007. One had an exaggerated sense of his own importance, filling the State House to its last pore with all sorts of drama, vainglorious posturing and overwhelming political trickeries and gambit; and the other suffused the upper legislative chamber with such mercenary tendencies and mendacity that it was impossible to exaggerate its villainous impact on the society in any essay of the period. Perhaps the conjuncture was to teach Nigerians the value of real leadership when they see one; or mourn the absence of true leadership when they endure its consequential pains. After a prefatory period of needless and unproductive acrimony, both Chief Obasanjo and Mr. Mantu, who had become Deputy Senate President, entered into a convoluted executive cum legislative romance and political wantonness to the point that the pair became inseparable. That relationship, alas, was extended to its conspiratorial end in 2007 when both gentlemen intrigued unsuccessfully for more years in office.

    But at least now, the country has a confirmation, if it ever needed one, that Chief Obasanjo actually schemed for an extra term in office, an extra that could have dragged on for much longer than the foolish architects of the scheme envisaged. Though Mr. Mantu tried to insulate Chief Obasanjo from the crazy scheme, his response to a question on the failure of the conspiracy, wherein he stated that the former president was disappointed all their efforts came to nought, showed clearly that regardless of the silence shrouding it, it was something all the conspirators looked forward to eagerly. Chief Obasanjo himself has angrily rebutted allegations he schemed for an elongated tenure, claiming on one occasion that had he really pined for it, and on account of his special relationship with God, all he needed to do was just ask God for that favour, and it would have been his with a snap of the finger.

    However, except Chief Obasanjo, no one else in Nigeria really believes the lie the former president tells himself that he didn’t scheme for an extra term, at least not those who voted him into office and yearned eight years later to throw off his yoke, and certainly not his zany, the inimitable and eloquent Mr. Mantu. Though he waffled a bit in the first part of the interview published by the online medium, the former Deputy Senate President left no one in doubt he craved some absolution for his many political malfeasances. It was, therefore, surprising that he regretted not going the whole hog in the third term conspiracy, a conspiracy he canonises and excuses on the grounds that Chief Obasanjo’s successors were poor imitations of leadership.

    But much more than Chief Obasanjo, the focus should now be on the eminent Mr. Mantu who represented his Plateau State constituency for eight years in very controversial circumstances. It did not occur to the former Deputy Senate President that by owning up to the third term conspiracy, and in addition regretting its failure, he was in fact giving his countrymen a window into his dark and unfathomable soul. It was apparent he thought the scheme a noble one. It was clear he was and perhaps will continue to be proud of the scheme. In many ways, he seemed to be saying he lacked the capacity to decipher the absolute and indefensible wrongness of constitutional subversion. Indeed, in the interview, Mr. Mantu implied many disconcerting things than he actually voiced, with most of his direct answers downright deplorable and unflattering. He portrays himself the archetypal Nigerian leader: cynical, detached, undiscriminating, illogical, ideationally perverse, and tending towards hedonism and, incredibly, obscurantism. Chief Obasanjo is trapped in the past, resisting, in fact oblivious of, new ways of doing things; Mr. Mantu, on the other hand, is entombed in hideous history.

    In Mr. Mantu’s thesis, the idea of third term is justified on the grounds that Chief Obasanjo’s successors had brought the country to a horrible pass. This implies that he presumed the former president a lodestar, closer to an ideal president than any the country has ever produced. Does this thesis hold up under close scrutiny? In the first instance, with the exception of President Muhammadu Buhari, the other two presidents since 2007 have been direct products of Chief Obasanjo’s jaundiced and hubristic intervention in presidential politics and elections. Even then, in terms of democratic credentials, the late Umaru Yar’Adua was far better than he, more temperamentally suited for the highest office in the land, and more noble, methodical and generally culturally agreeable. Alhaji Yar’Adua seemed in fact set to offer a far better quality of leadership to Nigeria in four years than Chief Obasanjo gave in eight tumultuous years.

    In like manner, had ex-president Goodluck Jonathan not lacked personal discipline, opening the national treasury to all-comers as he did especially in the last few months of his presidency, he would have appeared a much more convincing democrat than Chief Obasanjo. Under the latter, elections were an invitation to war, and the opposition went into it with its arms and legs chained. Under Dr. Jonathan, he largely allowed the principle of balloting free rein, culminating in 2015 with the victory of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). Overall, Chief Obasanjo’s management style was appalling and disreputable. He left no lasting legacy and bequeathed no enduring political culture. If Mr. Mantu campaigned for a third term for the ex-president, it was misguided and self-serving. It had nothing to do with Chief Obasanjo’s supposed qualities, nor with his programmes and policies.

    Second, and more crucially, there is no record anywhere, not even in his scathing autobiographies, of Chief Obasanjo’s original contributions to the concept of democracy, federalism, constitutionalism and the rights and privileges of citizens. Indeed, rather than contribute something original and relevant, Chief Obasanjo introduced disharmony and disarticulation into the polity, leaving his country reeling under the weight of political impositions and economic ephemerality. It was expected that more than eight years outside the Senate would have led Mr. Mantu to a keen study of the Nigerian condition and a substantial reflection on the policy miscarriages of the past decades. It seems all but clear that the former Deputy Senate President spent his years in pasture chewing the cud on his own superficial understanding of what it means to preside over the affairs of a complex and modern nation. It is little wonder that, like his adopted mentor and other fading legislators and former governors, he must struggle very hard to be heard or seen because he had neither done nor said anything profound for anyone to enthuse over.

  • Road carnage and tragedy of Nigerian life

    Recently, a truck conveying people from the North to Lagos was reported to have fallen off the “long bridge” on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Dozens of people were killed in that disaster. Months ago, a truck which was reportedly “driving against traffic” on the Benin-Sagamu expressway had run into a bus conveying students of the Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ogun State, killing them all. A few years ago, as a result of the traffic snarl caused by the barricade which police officers had set up on a highway in order to extort money from drivers, the brakes of an oncoming petrol tanker failed. It rammed into the long queue of vehicles and exploded, setting dozens of cars and their occupants ablaze. Only last weekend, there is a report of the death of a minister in yet another road mishap.

    In one picture, you see the gory remains of human beings strewn across the expressway. In another, you see beside the wreckage of vehicles, blood-soaked corpses on the roadside. Sometimes the famed “good Samaritans” cover the faces of such corpses with rags or even leaves.

    This is the curious story of Nigeria, where life appears to be worth nothing, judging by the nature and frequency of road traffic accidents and indeed accidents of any nature including those from low-hanging electric cables that fall ever so often and electrocute human beings. But even more curious is the fact that these incidents do not seem to rouse the authorities in any way. If the victims are lucky, a governor or VIP passing by may make a quick stop at the scene, with his publicity team ensuring that good photos of the VIP assisting accident victims are taken. Or as in our present circumstances, sundry eulogies that suggest that the victim was the best thing to have happened to mankind are mouthed by VIPs. Tragically, that is typically where the story ends, until the next tragedy.

    The only real tangible attempt to address the issue of road carnage in Nigeria on a national scale was that of the regime of Ibrahim Babangida who in the late 1980s, set up the Federal Roads Safety Commission, FRSC, modelled after a similar programme by the second republic governor of Oyo State, Bola Ige. Ige’s program had reportedly been very successful at reducing road carnage in Oyo State, largely on account of the zeal and innovativeness of Wole Soyinka who led it. Not unexpectedly, therefore, in setting up the Federal Roads Safety Commission, Babangida appointed Wole Soyinka as chairman.

    Under Soyinka’s oversight, the FRSC got to work very quickly and in a short while, began to tangibly entrench road safety awareness and practices in Nigeria. The FRSC officials themselves seemed to be in perpetual patrols and Nigeria’s perpetually over-speeding drivers would instinctively slow down on sighting them. Also remarkable was that Soyinka’s FRSC recruited hundreds of road safety volunteers whom it called “Special Marshalls.” These Marshalls synergized the efforts of the regular FRSC officials and were to be seen all over the country, flagging down over-speeding vehicles or even controlling traffic at notorious bedlams. All of these were done pro bono by these marshals, many of whom were professionals ordinarily engaged in different activities in sundry spheres of life.

    Even though there is hardly any data to support this, empirical evidence would suggest that the FRSC was very impactful in its early days and very visibly so. The master-stroke of recruiting “Special Marshalls” from the populace enhanced the social appeal and credibility of road safety consciousness and consequently buy-in by the public.

    But as with most things Nigerian, the FRSC has over the years tended to have lost focus. A few years ago, it decreed that all vehicle owners in Nigeria must buy reflective stickers and paste same on the rear of their vehicles. It refused to heed any alternative argument that today, vehicle rear lights come with reflectors anyway, making the reflective stickers superfluous and even grossly unsightly on vehicles. If I recall, it took the intervention of a minister to make the FRSC back down on this ridiculous “decree”. It later turned out that people with connection to the FRSC top echelon had imported container loads of these stickers and the new “all vehicles must use reflective stickers” directive by FRSC had simply been a ploy by the FRSC to help their friends dispose of these stickers profitably.

    Recently, the FRSC again decreed that vehicle number plates needed to be compulsorily changed across the country. Owners of motor vehicles would need to discard their number plates and pay afresh for new number plates, which it claimed would now come with “special security features.” As it turned out, the only difference between the old number plates and FRSC’s new plates was that the “new” ones had a map of Nigeria on them. Thankfully a court of law has since come to the aid of Nigeria’s hapless motorists by ruling that there is nothing wrong or illegal with using the old number plates.

    Today, rather than patrol our roads and help ensure that motorists adhere to the tenets of safe motoring including driving only at safe speeds, FRSC officials are more likely to be seen in street corners, obstructing the free flow of traffic under the guise of apprehending defaulting motorists. You are likely to see parked nearby, their weather-beaten pick-up trucks which appear worse than many of the vehicles they apprehend, one of the many tragic ironies of this once laudable institution.

    Yes, road carnage in Nigeria is often a fallout of sundry factors including bad and unlit roads as well as the typical lackadaisical attitude by Nigerians to safety and maintenance in general. But it doesn’t take genius to realize that the bulk of road traffic accidents arise from over-speeding. The average Nigerian driver appears to have a tendency to turn any stretch of smooth road, wherever it is located, to a race track. Again, tragically, government convoys are the worst offenders in this regard, driving as if they literally own the roads.

    Road carnage is at its peak today and our governments owe us a duty to address it squarely. It needs to very aggressively redress our attitudes to road safety and inculcate a new mindset that alerts Nigerians to the imperative of safety on our roads. Doing so will also mean that stiff penalties including jail terms should be paid where people wilfully risk the lives of other road users by driving badly or driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, among others. The Federal Government would also need to integrate road patrolling into its tolling programme for federal roads. Such patrolling should address road safety as well as road security.

    There is an imperative to re-awaken and aggressively reorganize the FRSC which seems to have gone the way of the typical rotten Nigerian behemoth. But while we await the effort of the Federal Government in this regard, nothing stops the various states from implementing something similar in their domains. Apart from saving the dozens of lives that are ordinarily lost daily, such initiatives will also help ensure that scarce resources including manpower in hospitals across the country are deployed to more pressing areas than victims of needless carnage on our roads.

     

    • Okoruwa is a business executive in Lagos

     

  • Telecoms as Nigeria’s best PR tool

    No sector has advanced the international image of Nigeria like telecoms. Since the advent of what has been rightly dubbed the ‘telecom revolution’, the image of Nigeria in the global communication circuit has shot to the heavens. At the global telecom fest annually organised by the International Telecommunication Union, ITU, from country to country, Nigeria has in recent years enjoyed special attention and mention. The accolades are the same during the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, CTO, conferences which Nigeria has had the privilege of hosting twice since the advent of the telecom revolution. The reasons are not far-fetched.

    In the recent history of global telecoms, Nigeria has held the record of being the fastest growing mobile market in the world for five consecutive years; Nigeria telecom more than many elsewhere in the world has guaranteed the highest return on investment; it has generated more jobs, steady jobs, and millions of ancillary jobs than any sector in the local economy. It has grown to being a major contributor to the GDP; currently telecom contributes about 10 percent of the GDP. It has spluttered to well over $32 billion industry from a paltry $50 million in year 2000.

    At international forums, the telecom sector has attracted positive global commendation for Nigeria more than any other sector. Presidents, techies, technocrats, corporate moguls and leaders of international organisations have consistently cited the Nigerian telecom regulatory model and growth gradient as a template for others.

    It is little wonder, therefore, that since the telecom revolution buzzed in Nigeria, other countries have made several sorties to the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to understudy the nation’s regulator. From Kenya to Ghana to Botswana, the NCC has played host to delegations who have journeyed to Nigeria to study the Nigerian telecom regulatory template.

    In January, 2011, the US Federal Communications Commission, FCC, the equivalent of the Nigerian telecom regulator, NCC, commended the giant strides recorded in the Nigerian telecom industry, giving credit to the Nigerian telecom regulator for bringing Nigeria at par with several advanced nations of the world.

    Mignon Clyburn, Commissioner of the FCC at that time during a meeting with the Nigerian delegation, said after comparing notes about how Nigeria has strived to better the sector over the past years and what has been achieved so far, that the Nigerian regulator appears ahead of other African countries and indeed, some more advanced countries of the world in telecom regulation. The Nigerian NCC delegation to the meeting at the FCC headquarters in Washington DC that year was made up of the chairman of the commission, Peter Igoh, Executive Vice Chairman, Eugene Juwah and Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Okechukwu Itanyi. The lady commissioner of FCC commended the Nigerian delegation. She observed that it was the first time the commission would host a delegation of telecom regulatory institution from Africa.

    Clyburn said the FCC was keen on how Nigeria, and indeed Africa, marches on to exploit the benefits of telecom and ICT. The two-day meeting hosted by the FCC under its International Visitors Programme, IVP, discussed issues of mutual bilateral telecom regulatory best practices, with an interactive session where the two telecom regulators exchanged ideas on the different dimensions and challenges and agreed to continue to share idea and information. Topical issues discussed at the meeting included telecom compliance and enforcement regulation, universal service, competition and interconnection, rules-making procedures and ethics among others.

    Perhaps, the ITU forums, more than any other, are where Nigeria’s international reputation has continued to soar. At the ITU World in Dubai 2012, Nigeria was the only country listed on the opening session, aside the host nation – the United Arab Emirates – to address the global audience made up of government officials from around the world, chief executives of global telecom brands, investors, other stakeholders and international media.

    The then Secretary-General of the ITU, Dr. Hamadoun Toure, had on several occasions voiced his admiration for the strides of Nigeria telecom, and was never shy of recommending it as a model for other nations.

    By every yardstick, telecom has emerged in recent years as the most effective public relations tool for Nigeria. The signs are all over the place and the brilliant statistics epigraph the arrival of Nigeria on the global telecom stage. The tradition has continued without any sign of abatement.

    The incumbent EVC of the Commission, Professor Umar Danbatta, has not only continued in the tradition of regulatory excellence, he has so far demonstrated that the NCC is willing and ready to position Nigerian telecom as the undisputed enabler for productivity for other sectors. Danbatta whose appointment has been largely hailed as one of the best and most pertinent appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari recently unfolded his eight-point agenda for Nigeria telecom. The agenda is embedded in a five-year plan which targets primarily a pervasive rollout of broadband services across the nation as a way of addressing the knotty issue of quality of service.

    Danbatta sure knows his way around the sector. An accomplished Professor of Electronics Engineering and alumnus of the University of Manchester, he was in his element when he presented his vision to the media recently.  His roadmap is clear; carefully crafted and conceived to fit into the vision and goals of the government of President Buhari: to create jobs, wealth and widen the revenue base of the economy away from crude oil receipts while maintaining a high degree of fiscal prudence and good corporate governance.

    The success story of Nigeria telecom has continued to win more international accolades and attract partnerships for the nation. Recently, the Global System of Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), the umbrella body for all mobile operators, equipment manufacturers, vendors among others opened talks with the NCC on capacity building, and sundry ways to attain an accelerated growth in the mobile sector.

    A couple of days back, the Nigeria telecom narrative was, again, a reference point for many speakers at this year’s Nigeria Summit organized by the authoritative international magazine, The Economist. Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, Philip Walker, Regional Manager, The Economist Intelligence Unit and other speakers while commenting on the global oil crisis and the opportunities it presents for Nigeria to diversify her economy all cited the critical success recorded in telecom as an indicator that with the right political will, good mix of policy and robust regulatory framework, the nation can achieve much in other sectors in a manner that would make earnings from oil look like peanut.

    Without disputation, it is safe to say that in the global corporate matrix, Nigeria telecom has consistently been numbered among the best, often ranked with those of some Western economies. The impact of this growth stretches beyond achieving digital inclusion and connecting the unconnected; it has helped to galvanise other sectors. Just for once imagine what would have become of the actors and players in the nation’s youth-dominated entertainment sector. Players in music and moviedom now sell their content via mobile platforms out of the reach of pirates; they have become the faces and brand ambassadors of telecom service providers and their services; Nigerian music has become our quintessential caller tunes and putting money directly in the pockets of the artistes.

    The impact of Nigeria telecom is felt most when you are attending international ICT forums. You will feel proudly Nigerian to hear the encomiums poured on the nation’s telecom regulator by globally renowned icons in the sector, including heads of governments. It is a zero to hero story; it makes me feel proudly Nigerian in the international circuit and I relish every moment of it.

    • Ojobo writes from Abuja.
  • Authority to rape and maim

    Authority to rape and maim

    The young man, Yinusa, a Muslim-Fulani, who recently abducted, Miss Ese Oruru, a Christian-Urhobo, resident in Bayelsa State, forcefully converted her to Islam, willy-nilly married her, raped and impregnated her under his father’s roof, in Kano, no doubt acted with audacious impetuosity. Could it be that Yinusa (aka Yellow) views Miss Oruru and her family, as culturally and religiously inferior, and as persons who can be treated as one pleases, without any consequence? It appears so. Indeed, Yinusa operates within a cultural time-warp that makes him view the underage Ese, as an object; which he can forcefully acquire for his personal entertainment.

    This cultural and religious impetuosity may have been emboldened by the emergence of President Mohammadu Buhari (PMB), a Muslim-Fulani, as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Perhaps, the protagonists of this cultural imperiousness, now believe that with one of their own, as the Commander-in-Chief, the secular authority of Nigeria can be subpoenaed and suborned, to accede to this cultural and religious superiority? It is also possible that the other variant of this burgeoning malaise may be the increasing audaciousness of some Fulani herdsmen, for long terrorising parts of the country.

    I recall that while President Goodluck Jonathan held sway, as President, I had argued on this page, that his emergence, may have induced in his kinsmen, a sense of unbridled entitlement, to the wealth of this country, which is mainly from the hydrocarbon energy sourced from their backyard. Indeed, the recent exposure of the daredevil, criminal aggrandizement of the resources of this country during Jonathan’s era, substantially by his kinsmen, seems to have validated that enquiry? So, could the audacious abduction, forced marriage and rape of Ese Oruru, and a few more like her; the braggadocios appropriation of other peoples’ farmland as grazing fields by gun-running Fulani herdsmen across the country; the alleged warmongering actions, by Hausa-Fulani lads in Ketu, Lagos, last week, be PMB’s kinsmen’s way of asserting their new privilege in the Nigerian project?

    Before the young man, Yinusa, took Ese from Bayelsa to Kano, to present to his family, as a piece of ware from his sojourn in far-away land, he obviously had no scintilla of doubt that he was acting within his rights and would easily secure the support of his family, the traditional authority and his religious leaders in that venture. True to this assertion, Yinusa’s father, no doubt, warmly and excitedly welcomed him, and went ahead to mobilize his cultural ambassadors and religious authorities, to bless the marriage. Significantly, when Ese’s ‘inconsequential parents’ showed up in Kano, and raised their objections to the abduction and forced marriage of their 13 year old daughter, Yinusa’s father quickly and effortlessly mobilized the traditional institutions and religious leaders, to defend their son’s well-earned prize from his sojourn.

    Unfortunately, it is not only Yinusa that suffers from this aberration apparently arising from an inherent abnegation or lack of recognition of any other superior mores or laws, which we call the constitution or other statutes of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It appears that Yinusa and his collaborators (including Yinusa’s family and those conscripted from within the Kano emirate council), sees the Nigerian constitution, the Criminal Code or the recently enacted Child Rights Law, as all inferior to their superior tradition and beliefs, regardless of what the rest of us may think. Indeed, if the mother of Miss Oruru was of any importance to those who stole her daughter, her trip to Kano in search of her daughter would have provided an opportunity for Yinusa’s family to attempt to woo their in-law.

    Had Yinusa’s father who is now blabbing in defence of his son considered Ese’s father or his family to be of any value, he would have taken a trip to Bayelsa, after his son returned with ‘his bride’, to respectfully ask his potential in-laws, to give or bless their daughter’s hand in marriage even if Yinusa’s family had unilaterally imposed the marriage. If for one reason or another, Yinusa’s father was indisposed, for the several months that Ese was under his son’s forced custody, he would have grabbed the opportunity when Ese’s father humiliatingly came to Kano in search of his daughter to show some respect to him and his family by making peace overtures to him.

    As narrated by Ese’s mother, in an interview, she was not allowed into the Sharia court that was supposedly dealing with Ese’s matter not minding that the woman was not just an interested party, but was actually a party, if indeed there was any cause, for judicial intervention; both as a parent, and as a friend of Ese, considering that her daughter was an under-age at the time the Sharia court was pretentiously adjudicating her matter. According to Ese’s mother, a certain traditional office holder, in the Kano emirate council, warned her not to go near her daughter or touch her, for either the daughter or herself would have to die for such an act. To give a façade that her daughter has become privileged, the fraudsters organized a charade by chauffer-driving the girl into the Emir’s palace, even as their in-law was treated as a non-person.

    The other manifestation of this strange authority to kidnap, rape and maim, is from the marauding Fulani herdsmen, ravaging many parts of Nigeria. The recent clash in Benue State that claimed many lives and the destruction of properties worth several millions of naira between some herdsmen and some villagers is just one manifestation of this malady. Like in Benue, many communities across the country have had gruelling experiences and scars from similar tragedies. In fairness, while this crisis have been manifesting for a long time before the emergence of PMB, it appears the situation has degenerated dangerously. Of course, I am not suggesting that the President is giving any form of support to these criminalities. I am only arguing that his privileged position, may have provided some audacious impetus, to some of his misguided kinsmen, like Yinusa or the herdsman with AK47 riffle.

    Thanks to Punch newspaper, of last Sunday, Nigerians have become aware of other variants of Ese Oruru. According to the report, there is one Progress Jacob, aged 13, forcefully abducted by Musa, in January now forcefully converted and re-named Aishat. Another is Blessing Gopep, now re-named Mariam, aged 12 when stolen, by Iliya and Umaru in August 2015. Also mentioned is one Linda Christopher, now re-named Aisha, stolen at 16, in November 2015. Finally, is Lucy Ejeh, now re-named Lewusa, and aged 15, when stolen in October 2009. According to the report, a so-called Sharia Commission has assumed jurisdiction over the custody of the girls, and the parents have been asked to come for negotiation.

    I hope the President would quickly send a clear message, to Yinusa and company by openly supporting their prosecution under the relevant laws. Also, the Emir of Kano, and other Moslem leaders, should quickly ensure that any person involved in similar abduction, rape or maiming of other Nigerians, on the false altar of culture or religious allowance is handed over to the police for prosecution. In our country’s interest, secular and religious authorities must join hands to stop these madness.

  • Ndoma-Egba at 60

    Ndoma-Egba at 60

    How time flies. My family returned to Ogoja, soon after the civil war. At this time the main form of recreation or entertainment was from school activities, mainly inter-house and inter-school competitions, also, football, athletics, debates and quiz competitions. Victor Ndoma-Egba, then a student in the famous Catholic school, Mary Knoll College, Okuku (then in Ogoja, now in Yala), was regular in those debates and quiz completions which usually drew crowds from a public hungry for entertainment and refreshment.

    He was a sensation of sorts.

    The 1973 South Eastern State Quiz finals, which held in Calabar and anchored by the veteran broadcaster Aloysious Ekanem, of blessed memory, was an epic. Esien Oku, now an architect, and George Amadi, who became a Professor of Law and recently deceased, represented the equally famous Hope Wadell Training Institute, Calabar while Victor and Aloysius Ononye represented Mary Knoll.

    I recall our neighborhood being glued to available radio sets. Mary Knoll lost narrowly but, her representatives were truly worthy.

    The story was that Calabar, the state capital, was in animated suspension while the competition lasted.

    A few years later, Victor, then fresh from the NYSC and a new lawyer came to live on our Iwong Morphy Street with his friend Paul Erokoro. Both had just joined Kanu Agabi, the austere, seminal and radical lawyer who became Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice. Greg Ngaji was to join them.

    All four became commissioners at different times in Cross River State.

    Kanu and Victor, who was appointed at the remarkable age of 27 years, in the old Cross River State ( now Cross River and Akwa Ibom States), Paul, in the new Cross River State and later Greg, Kanu, Victor and Paul became Senior Advocates of Nigeria with Victor becoming the first ever to be elevated to the rank while in the National Assembly and outside practice or academics, while Kanu,Victor and Greg became senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with Victor becoming Deputy Senate Leader in the Sixth Senate and Senate Leader in the Seventh Senate. Kanu and Victor were thus both Senators and Senior Advocates of Nigeria

    When Victor, and Paul, came to live on our Iwong Morphy Street, Igoli, Ogoja things changed for us the younger ones in the neighborhood. Parents, especially mothers constantly reminded their children to be like the duo more so with the stories of their courage and exploits in the law courts. They were far more responsible than their ages, hungered for success, worked very hard, were focused and single-minded and showed early signs of leadership with the spartan discipline of their boss Kanu Agabi. It is, no wonder that each of them became a success.

    My knowledge of Victor, which is not personal, but, from his records, shows that he is not an accident of history. His example confirms that hardwork, focus, single minded determination and integrity pay and that he certainly is a child of destiny. In 1980, barely 24 years old, the then Governor of Cross River State Dr. Clement Isong appointed him chairman of the Board of Governors of Government Secondary School, Ikom while President Shehu Shagari at about the same time appointed him into the Board of the Cross River Basin and Rural Development Authority. At 27, he became Commissioner for Works and Transport (which also  had responsibilities for Lands, Housing, Town Planning, Water Resources and Rural Electrification). He concurrently acted as Commissioner for Justice and was pioneer Chief Executive of the State’s Directorate for Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure) set up by the then Military President ,General Ibrahim Babangida .

    He severed an unprecedented two terms as chairman of the Calabar Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, an unprecedented three terms as President of the Calabar Chamber of Commerce, three terms in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Member National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar  Association, Member of the Body of Benchers. In the sixth Senate, he was the leader of the Nigerian delegation to the Association of Senates, Shooras and Equivalent Councils in Africa and the Arab World (ASSECAA) then headquartered in Sanaa,Yemen. In the Seventh Senate he was member of the Pan African Parliament in Midrand, South Africa and leader of its Nigerian delegation. He was a delegate to the 50th United Nations General Assembly, New York and President of the First ever Africa Legislative Summit which bought heads of Parliaments in Africa and the Carribeans to Abuja in Abuja in November 2013. He sponsored 38 bills including the Freedom of Information Bill which is now an Act of Parliamentand many motions and his voice was loud and clear at the floor of the Senate. Many projects litter the Cross River Central Senatorial District he represented to his credit, has had a scholarship scheme since 1980, a free computer programme and attracted the National Open University of Nigeria and a specialist hospital to Ikom. It is generally agreed that he was an outstanding senator.

    Remarkably after these many years in the public glare, there is no whiff of scandal or controversy around him. This speaks volumes of his character. I am told he was to be a Catholic priest. This and his background explain his persona. He remains humble, simple, approachable and generous. He saw the geography of his birth as an opportunity rather than a limitation. He is active in his Catholic faith and is happily married to the very beautiful Amaka, a former banker now school proprietress and has a lawyer cum professional footballer son and two girls. Very widely travelled, he reads, writes and plays lawn tennis avidly. No wonder his youthful looks.

    He set up Ndoma-Egba, Ebri & Co, the oldest partnership in his part of the world, many enduring businesses and is socially responsible.

    As Victor turns 60, Nigeria and indeed the world will hear more of him. I congratulate him and pray for many more years in good health and inner peace and contentment and that God’s mercies will rest and abide with him. At 60, he owes society a debt, his documented life’s story and experiences. Victor you owe us these. Write you must.

    • Okoro, an actuary, recently returned to Nigeria after years of sojourn in Europe.

     

  • Ezekwesili’s market obsession

    Ezekwesili’s market obsession

    In her three part article published last week in some newspapers, former education minister, Oby Ezekwesili in an attempt to venerate the market economy and canonize the private sector, traded extensively on factual inaccuracies, poorly substantiated arguments and invested it with the typical personal ego of Nigerian elite.

    One is concerned at her sweeping conclusions and generalizations even in matters, she does not have adequate grasp. In the third part of her article, she wrote that in 1978, the then Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping embraced the principles of the market. She further claimed that “it was less than three decades of abandoning communism and embracing what China calls “socialist market economic principles”, that it achieved the record two decades long double-digit growth.

    Actually 1978 was epochal and a turning for China but it was not because “Deng Xiaoping embraced the principles of the market”. Following the chaos unleashed by the gang of four, at whose head was Chairman Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, during the Cultural Revolution, China suffered enormous setback in her overall national construction and socialist modernization. Leading cadres of the communist party of China, including Deng Xiaoping who was party general secretary and vice premier has been purged and dubbed “capitalist roader No 2” by the gang of four and their mob of the red guard. Even the highly respected premier Zhou Enlai was similarly taunted as a prospective “capitalist roader”. Chairman Mao who was then, worried at the turn of the Cultural Revolution warned the gang of four about establishing a plant factory that manufactures and sticks labels at people. Even though, he acceded to the purge of Deng Xiaoping, he vehemently refused his expulsion from the party. Deng had been a veteran of long march, in which the communist party marched or trekked more than 6,000 kilometers for more than a year through 11 Chinese provinces, crossed over 15 mountain ranges and 10 rivers including the Yangtze river. Deng Xiaoping was the editor of the party press, the red flag and took notes at the historic Zunyi conference in 1935 at which Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai emerged the party leaders.

    Following the death of the key leaders of the Chinese revolution in 1976, (Premier Zhou Enlai died in February, army commander Zhu De died in June and Mao himself died in September) and the end of the Cultural Revolution, China was simmering with indecisiveness. In December, 1978, the Communist Party of China convened the historic third plenary session of the 11th central committee meeting of the party. At the historic meeting, Deng Xiaoping who led the discussion and presented a report on the difficult phase of the party and urged his colleagues that the party must return to its fine tradition that the “criteria for judging truth is practice”, and emancipating the mind through seeking truth from fact. Affirming the party’s proletarian outlook and its Marxist theoretical foundation, Deng warned that without emancipation of the mind, people would be wrapped up in the trammels of conventional ideas, bend in whatever direction the wind blew and practice book worship which was divorced from reality.

    The policy implication of the historic third plenum of the 11th central committee of meeting of the Chinese Communist party, CPC was the landmark economic reform and theoretical ramification was the unique practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics. At no point was socialism and communism repudiated, but China maintained that it was at a primary stage of socialism and it would take several years even hundreds to reach the advance stage, which is communism. Infact recently at the 18th congress of the communist party, the party affirmed that it is the core duty of every communist to believe in the communist future and work assiduously to its realization.

    At the 14th national congress of the communist party, the party established the socialist market economy as the goal of the economy. Against Ezekwesili’s opinion that China repudiated socialism, China’s economic reforms from the beginning were decidedly socialist and its architect, Deng Xiaoping firmly convinced that “economic reform is the only way to develop the productive forces but also made clear that “in the course of reform, it is very important for us to maintain our socialist orientation”.

    State directed or centrally planned economy is not exclusively socialist, nor is the market economy the preserve of a capitalist economy. Whether with a private sector-led market or state directed market economy, there is a need for a strong, developmental and democratic state able to enforced its own laws and hold the ring for fair competition among all stakeholders. South Korea under the military dictatorship of General Park, the father of the current South Korean leader, Ms Park, created the framework for its current dynamic economy by huge state investments in core and priority areas of industry. And these are the stories of all modern capitalist market economies, including the advance Western countries of Europe and North America.

    Following immediately after the victory of Bolshevik party in Russia in 1917, Vladimir Lenin established the New Economic Policy, (NEP) which gave preponderance to market economy. One of the key figures in the political bureau of the Bolshevik party, Nikolai Bukharin advanced the view that peasants should be left to get rich by allowing the market to determine the prices of their produce. The extensive Stalinist bureaucracy constructed after the death of Lenin and following the victory of the Josef Stalin faction against the opposition led by the Leon Trotsky ensured that the incipient market economy did not survive.

    Ezekwesili’s fascination with the market which is no less than any thoughtful socialist is admirable; but her ideological deification of the market smack of the faith-like belief, for which she roundly berated President Buhari, whom she accused of holding on, to befuddled ideology. Even her refrain that “the best politics is good economics”, fall short that “economics is the concentrated expression of politics”, a point adequately grasped by the French economist, Thomas Piketty.

    In his massive work, “capital in the 21st century”, published in 2014 and globally acknowledged as epochal, he observed that “when the rate of return on capital exceeds the rate of growth of output and income, capitalism automatically generates arbitrary and unsustainable inequalities that radically undermine the meritocratic values on which democratic societies are based. There are nevertheless ways democracy can regain control over capitalism and ensure that the general interest takes precedence over private interests, while preserving economic openness and avoiding protectionist and nationalist reactions”. It is to that endeavour that Piketty devoted his 685 page tome.

    Inspite of the messianic hubris contained, Ezekwesili’s three part article is welcome development to the discourse of policy challenges to rebuilding a bludgeoned economy as ours.

    • Onunaiju, a journalist is director of Centre for China Studies, Abuja.

     

  • Let the judiciary be

    Recently, President Muhammadu Buhari was quoted as saying that he was worried about the role of the judiciary in the on-going war against corruption. The opposition party and some lawyers considered it as an intimidation of the judiciary. My guess is that the President came to this conclusion because of the seeming legal barriers being placed in the path of prompt and effective prosecution of people alleged to have engaged in acts of corruption. This is in view of various injunctions and rulings by some judges which had resulted in seemingly unending adjournments. This has, no doubt, stalled the speedy trial of these accused people and thereby serving to frustrate effective prosecution.

    If my guess about the view of the President is right, then he has spoken the minds of very many Nigerians who are equally worried by the role of the judiciary in this instance.

    It is nauseating to observe that most of these accused people suddenly remember that they have to seek medical attention for one ailment or the other as soon as they are charged to court for unjustly enriching themselves at the expense of the public. And, it looks as if many of our judges are ever willing to grant them reliefs to go overseas for medical treatment. This coupled with other hurdles that prosecutions have to surmount in form of unending injunctions and adjustments tend to support the view that the judiciary is also frustrating the effective prosecution of accused people.

    In all these shenanigans, the judiciary appears not to be sufficiently worried to see the need of putting its house in order soonest. As things are, it will not be far from the truth to say that more and more people are losing confidence in the ability or willingness of the judiciary to play the expected role in getting accused persons promptly prosecuted.

    The government, particularly, through its agencies in the vanguard of the anti-corruption war appears not to be helping matters. For one, the agencies seem to be making too much noise or giving too much publicity to its activities even when corruption allegations are still being investigated. Such unnecessary publicity unduly raises the hope of the populace that the anti-corruption war is on course only for such hopes to be dashed when it is taking ages to get the accused persons brought to justice. Unfortunately, this appears to have been the trend since the anti-graft agency was established years ago. We have been inundated many times with screaming headlines like “Corruption case had been established against 21 former governors”, and high profile allegation against top political functionaries. In most of the cases, we only got to hear about the allegation while alleged offenders are never disclosed or even made to face justice. Indeed, this is the most-disturbing aspect of the activities of the anti-graft agency. This, coupled with some apparent cases of selective prosecution of people accused of corrupt practices have justified the claim that the anti-agency is only sent after selected opposition targets by the government of the day. The recent case against the current Senate President has been cited in certain quarters as even an example of selective prosecution. This school of thought believes that the Senate President might not have been charged if he did not go against the arrangement of his party in emerging as the Senate President. Talking about the case of the Senate President, one wonders why he did all he could to avoid prosecution if, as he is now claiming, he can prove his innocence at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

    Lack of diligent prosecution is also a key weakness of the anti-graft agency. What can one make of a situation where after prolonged and long investigations, the agency pins a 90 – count charge against an accused and at the end of the day fails to make at least one of such charges stick. If this is not gross incompetence, then I wonder what it is! Whenever, the anti-graft agency fails to get an accused convicted, most of the time due to incompetent prosecution, the judiciary is seen as having been compromised.

    Also, the decisions at various election tribunals tend to give the judiciary a bad name. The verdicts on these election petitions are now hailed or condemned depending on the interest of the party concerned. If the verdict favours it, it is hailed if not it is condemned. Even, in these election petition cases, the judiciary has been exposed to odium due to the “inadequacies” in the electoral laws on which the judiciary has no control. After all, the judiciary only has to interpret the laws made by the other arms of government. I want to posit that it is only in very rare cases that an electoral ‘victory’ can be overturned in the present circumstances. I understand that the electoral law contains some chapters that alleged electoral mal-practices must be proved to have substantially negatively affected the result of the election before it can be overturned.

    And, trust our politicians, they do all they can to perpetrate various malpractices during the elections, cover their tracks as much as possible and blackmail the electoral body into declaring positive results for them. They then wait or dare the loser to go to the tribunal knowing fully well that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to prove their allegations beyond reasonable doubt as having substantially and negatively affected the result declared by the electoral body. There is also the issue of the very long time it takes to get a final verdict from the judiciary on such petition. At the end of the day, the complainants or petitioners often return from the courts with the notion that justice had not been done.

    One must admit that many officials in the judiciary seem not to be helping matters in the way they grant injunctions and adjournments. In essence, it will be safe to conclude that such officials are compromised. However, the work of the judiciary had been substantially made difficult by the inadequacies, actions and/or inactions of other arms of government. So, it appears that Nigeria is only getting the judiciary it deserves. On its part, the leadership of the judiciary must do all in his power and that very quickly to put his house in order. Attempts should be made, on a continuing basis, to flush our compromised officials and indeed sanitize the judiciary for more effective service delivery. Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done.

    It will be in the best interest of everybody if the judiciary lives up to expectation in the ongoing to battle against corruption which had eaten too deep into the fabric of this nation. By bringing the guilty ones to book, we will be putting an end to the era of impunity.

    We are gradually getting to a stage where all public officers are seen as rogues and anyone who is wealthy is perceived as rogue or a friend of rogues in public office. A sure way of arresting this trend of perception is to allow the judiciary to be in the forefront of the on-going war against corruption. On its part, the courts should do their jobs as they ought to be done and help us sanitize this country by ensuring that no individual found guilty of corrupt tendencies escape appropriate sanctions.

     

    • Osunro writes from Ibadan.