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  • On Oshodi Market demolition

    Most people think there is only one market at Oshodi in Lagos and this market was in the first week of January demolished by the Lagos State government. There are actually more markets in this ever bustling place, each flowing into another. The one destroyed is known as Owonifari Electronics Market, located directly under the bridge of the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway. For some reason, up to 70% of the traders at the Owonifari Market are from Ihiala in Anambra State and environs. Therefore, I should have more than a passing interest in developments in the market, including its recent demolition. Indeed, I did play some role in the drama surrounding the market in the last two years.

    Towards the end of January 2014, leaders of the Owonifari Market Traders Association visited me in my residence in Lagos with a passionate plea that I speak to the then Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, to postpone the impending demolition which had been planned since 2007 as part of the strategic effort to make Lagos a megacity. The government had reasoned that the open market was awfully located, right under the very busy Oshodi bridge with absolutely no safety facilities. If a tanker had over the years fallen from the bridge, as has in recent times become almost a common occurrence on the Ojuelegba bridge in Lagos, the fatalities would have been unimaginable because of the large number of traders. It had about 500 registered traders, but in reality there were some 2,000 traders at the Owonifari Electronics Market; each trader sublet his or her stall to three others.

    The Lagos State government did provide an alternative market but the traders rejected it for sundry reasons, including the fact that the structures are storey buildings, rather than bungalows which they preferred for ease of moving their goods. They were not persuaded by the explanation that land is a very scarce commodity in Lagos in view of the state’s small geographical size and the exponential growth rate of its population currently put at 21million. Nor were they interested in the argument that electronics dealers in bigger markets on Lagos Island have their stalls in storey buildings, to say nothing about manufacturers in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere producing in high-rise buildings. I was to understand from Kalu Onuma, the efficient head of the Ndigbo Lagos secretariat, that the Igbo leadership in Lagos has for long been advising the market leaders unsuccessfully to drop their opposition to doing business in stalls located in storey buildings.

    Frankly, the leadership of the Owonifari Market is difficult. It hired the services of Ben Nwabueze, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Africa’s most engaging constitutional law scholar as well as the founding secretary general of Ohaneze Ndigbo, in their fight against market relocation. They quickly disagreed. The traders now turned to Jimoh Lasisi,  SAN, a fine gentleman.  He took a dispassionate look at their case and told them that the law was not in their favour, all the more so since the Land Use Act vested land ownership in the state governor. The traders had relied on a letter from an official of the Federal Ministry of Housing to argue that the state government had no right over them since they were operating under a Federal Government bridge. Jimoh asked them to look for a negotiated settlement. That was how they approached me. “These traders do not like the truth or professional advice, so I am surprised that they could meet someone like you”, Lasisi told me when I visited him in his office at Onipanu on Lagos Mainland.

    Immediately the governor set the February 14, 2014 date for a meeting with leaders of the Owonifari Market, I contacted, among other influential Igbo people in Lagos, the following persons to join us: Anya O. Anya, president of Ndigbo Lagos and a multi-award winning professor; President of Aka Ikenga, Goddy Uwazurike, a lawyer; Charles C. Ifeanyi, former deputy chairman of the Council of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry and former president of the Lagos State branch of the Association of Anambra Town Unions who retired from the Customs service as the number three man; Joe Anyigbo, the first African to become an executive director and later acting chief executive of the American petroleum giant, Chevron; Pat Utomi, a highly respected scholar at the Lagos Business School; and Emmanuel Chukwuneta, an engineer and entrepreneur, whose firm was instrumental to the building of the multibillion naira Lagos Trade Fair Complex. Since the meeting was taking place on the Valentine’s Day, my wife had to join us!

    Fashola, serious as ever, had assembled a large team of relevant permanent secretaries, commissioners and special advisers. The atmosphere of the meeting was convivial but certainly business-like. Those of us on the traders team went through the prepared speech once again and agreed on the prayers, but I was taken aback when the traders suggested that I plead with the governor not make any declaratory statement. I was actually infuriated. How could the governor be asked not to make a declaration at such an important meeting? The traders took the opportunity of my private audience with Fashola just a few minutes to the commencement of the meeting to request Chiefs Ifeanyi and Anyigbo, two highly respected traditional title holders in my Ihiala hometown and who are particularly close to me, to prevail on me to change my mind. They succeeded. I, therefore, found myself awkwardly pleading with the governor before this impressive audience not to make a declaratory statement. He must have felt embarrassed, but nevertheless obliged. He took copious notes of every speech.

    Fashola did ask the traders some soul-searching questions: “Do you think, in all honesty, that history will forgive me if a tanker loaded with petrol or kerosene or gas should fall down from the Oshodi bridge and wipe out thousands of you doing business under it? Many of you travel to China and other countries for business, but would you like your partners to visit your shops under the bridge? Would you like your children to join you in trading under the bridge after you have trained them in universities?” Rising to his feet as he was about to depart the hall, the governor added: “You have been in conversation with the state government for years over the relocation of the Owonifari Market without reaching an agreement. You are free to meet me anytime you want me. You have the telephone numbers of the Honourable Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Tunji Bello, and my Special Adviser on Communication and the Media, Mr Hakeem Bello”.

    Owonifari Market leaders left the meeting satisfied. But curiously none has bothered to take my phone calls or return them, let alone visit me, since the meeting. They all ignored my text messages about the need for a follow-up a meeting with the Lagos State govenment. On January 6, my wife called from Lagos while I was still holidaying in my hometown to break the news of the demolition of the Owonifari Electronics Market. Quite a number of the victims are my own relatives.

     

    • Adinuba is head of Discovery Public Affairs Consulting.

  • The Power Bug

    Senegal’s President Macky Sall last week slashed his term of office by two years, making good on a proposal he made last year. The Senegalese constitution stipulates a seven-year term limit, which had been in place since 1960 when the country secured independence from France. But President Sall, who was elected in 2012, cut his own term to five years, meaning the next presidential election will be in 2017 and not 2019. The president was reported as saying the decision was part of a 15-point constitutional development action plan he is advocating for. By last week’s announcement, he preempted a referendum that had been proposed to hold in the West African country in April 2016, but on which there was partisan bickering over cost concerns. Sall’s predecessor, Abdoulaye Wade, who took power in 2000, had promised to get the tenure reduced to five years, but failed to do so in his 12-year rule. While making the term reduction proposal last year, Sall reportedly said: “Have you ever seen presidents reduce their mandate? Well, I’m going to do it. We have to understand, in Africa too, that we are able to offer an example, and that power is not an end in itself.”

    One isn’t sure if President Sall’s unilateral pronouncement is legally valid under Senegal’s constitution, but there is no question that his move is uniquely ennobling and refreshingly un-African. I mean, this is one continent that is blighted by power potentates and life presidents. For whatever his pronouncement is worth, Sall is in a class of his own. Nguema Mbasogo has ruled Equatorial Guinea since 1979 and is holding firmly on, same as Eduardo dos Santos in Angola, also since 1979. Robert Mugabe has been in power in Zimbabwe since 1980, and Paul Biya in Cameroon since 1982. Yoweri Museveni has ruled Uganda since 1986, while Sudan’s Omar Hassan al-Bashir has been in power since 1989. Before he fled power amidst a violent uprising in October 2014, Blaise Compaore had ruled Burkina Faso for 27 years and was actively plotting a constitutional amendment to extend his rule. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, who came to power in 2001, has pushed forward by up to four years the presidential election that was constitutionally billed to hold in November 2016. Congo-Brazzaville, last October, passed a constitutional amendment to extend the reign of Denis Sassou Nguesso, who already has ruled the country for 31 years. And there are many more.

    We needn’t say much here about seminal literary interventions, like Wole Soyinka’s A Play of Giants, that have satirised the unwholesome trend. There is a recent peer critique that is significant enough. During his three-nation tour of East Africa in July 2015, President Barack Obama jabbed at calcified regimes in Africa and the failure of leaders to respect constitutional provisions on term limits. In an address to African Union heads of governments in Addis, Ethiopia, he tutored his African peers on some rudiments of leadership morality. “Nobody should be president for life. Your country is better off if you have new blood and new ideas,” he told them.

    The American leader, who himself serves out his own second term in office this year, presented himself as a model for giving up power when term limits are reached: “I’m still a pretty young man, but I know that somebody with new energy and new insights will be good for my country. It will be good for yours too.” To make the point, he allowed himself some immodesty: “I actually think I’m a pretty good president. I think if I ran, I could win. There’s a lot that I’d like do to keep America moving. But the law is the law, and no person is above the law, not even the president.” He also submitted that the familiar argument from necessity by perpetual rulers won’t wash: “When a leader tries to change the rules in the middle of the game just to stay in office, he risks instability and strife, as we’ve seen in Burundi. And this is often just a first step down a perilous path. Sometimes you’ll hear leaders say, ‘Well, I’m the only person who can hold the nation together.’ If that’s true, then that leader has failed to truly build their nation.”

    Burundi as an example of the disgraceful power bug was spot on. The country has been wracked by violence since President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his intention to seek another five-year term in office. Nkurunziza has ruled his country for 10 years, and Burundi’s constitution allows a president to be elected twice – making a total of 10 years in power. But the president went hair splitting with his country’s constitution, saying he had been elected only once, as it was the Burundi parliament that posted him in power in 2005, following which he stood for election five years later. He defied protests by his countrymen and the international community to stand for re-election last year. And though he was declared winner, observers adjudged the poll as not free, fair, credible or inclusive, and the United Nations mission said it held “in an environment of profound mistrust by political rivals.” Nkurunziza regardless took oath for another five-year term in August 2015, which would see him stay in power for 15 years – that is, if constitutional provisions are henceforth respected.

    The latest tribesman of the bug is Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, who has confirmed that he will seek a third term when his present tenure expires in 2017. Kagame became president in 2000, but he has effectively been in power since 1994 when his rebel forces entered Kigali to end the genocide by Hutu extremists in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed. Rwanda’s constitution stipulated two seven-year presidential terms until a recent change that effectively opens the way for Kagame to stay in power until 2034; because by the amendment, he can run for another seven-year term in 2017, followed by two five-year terms. Kagame is celebrated as a restorative leader who brought stability and economic growth to the formerly war-torn country, and more than 98% of Rwandans voted in a referendum last December to lift the term limit and allow him to extend his time in power. But he is also widely perceived as repressive of opposition and the media. In any event, if good performance accords a leader an indefinite right to power, Africa is really miserable to have a paucity of eligible persons. Besides, only a negligible number of Africa’s potentates can be said to be good leaders.

    By all means, Sall is an African example that deserves to be celebrated. Here in Nigeria, there is some respect, if only nominally, for constitutional term limits. Former President Goodluck Jonathan, in 2015, assayed the Nkurunziza formula, but the electorate drew the line; and he has since eminently redeemed himself with the graceful concession of defeat. But the power bug pulsates in the mindset of politicians who ignore their governance responsibility once elected and actively scheme for another term, even though as permitted by the constitution. Or those who, knowing they are no longer eligible for an office, employ all manners of chicanery to post surrogates as successors. The words of Macky Sall should be instructive: Power is not an end in itself.

  • Okonkwo Ngige: Exit of a colossus

    There is no better window into the illumining  life of late Akunnia Pius Okonkwo Ngige than this very angle that touches on nationalism, honesty and selflessness. The scarcity of these virtues has hobbled our dear nation to the knees as the cascade of corruption cases, which have dominated discussions since June 2015, bear it all out. Young Pius arrived Enugu in 1940 and was absorbed after a while into the Public Works Department (PWD) of the Eastern Regional Colonial Administration, now known as Ministry of Works.  He rose to an Assistant Foreman, Building and later, a Supervisor; a privileged position for a Nigerian in the colonial administration. Among others, his team was instrumental in building many hospitals especially in the old Onitsha province where a scheme, One Health Centre, One Village successfully ran. However, he sharply disagreed with British senior engineers over poor conditions under which Nigerian junior workers and artisans worked. Absence of Medicare, compensation for injuries at work, inequitable remunerations and negative profiling of indigenous workers were top of the issues. . There was also the controversial cutting of ëknack upí (lunch time) to thirty minutes from one hour.  He was not just an ordinary supervisor; he also had a burden of expectations from junior workers, who in admiration of his nationalism nicknamed him ìoppositionî leader. He pressed for a redress but it fell on deaf ears of these white overlords at loss over the agitation of ì Mr. Ngigeî who they thought being a supervisor, would align with them. He detested injustice and promptly resigned in 1958 to the chagrin of his bosses. Interface this nascent patriotism to the rampaging canker of corruption confronting the nation today!

    Born in 1910, into the wealthy family of Obidiwe , the first son of  Ngige, the influence of Whiteman on Obidiwe took his first son to school.  He enrolled first at Catholic Mission School,  Umuru Ide Alor,  later Central School Ekwulu , Nnobi where he had his Standard 5 with the famous educationist, James Okigbo, father of foremost economist, late Dr. Pius Okigbo as headmaster . Low enrolment forced the Colonial Native Authority to relocate Standard Six to a distant Ajali in todayís Orumba. The alternative was at Amawbia near Awka and his father would neither allow his first son to sojourn among strangers or be far located from him. Thus, the end of the quest for further education but he was already well equipped for life struggle, as events will show later.

    He was full of self-conviction and determination. He told me in 2009 that he quietly rejected suggestion by his father to take to farming after schooling, instead, moved to Onitsha under the tutelage of his uncles Dominic and Peter in February 1928. A cockerel shows early signs of ì masculinityî. Leaving his unclesí trading posts, he quickly aligned interest in vocational skills, making carpentry and furniture making a choice. That was how he built his capital and veered into the then flourishing bicycle rental service, building a large fleet. According him however, ì bad people started renting and disappearing with the bicycles,î thus depleting his fleet.  He was not daunted but obviously not cut for the notorious Onitsha business environment.  He therefore moved to Enugu where his education and vocational skill would be better deployed for life struggle. Whatís more, his brothers, P.N Okeke who later became Minister of Agriculture in the Eastern Region, Bernard Ojukwu and Ezekiel Obiegbu were already leading lights there.

    And he was bound for success.  When he left the PWD in 1958, he established his own private building construction company, P.O Ngige and Sons Enterprises. This multi-purpose company also veered into horticulture, handling some beautification projects in Enugu metropolis. PONSEL Nig. Ltd as the company later metamorphosed into was also involved in the post civil war reconstruction program of the Gowon Regime and was awarded a major sub-contracting work in the re-construction of Enugu-Nsukka-Opi-Ogurute-Oturkpo Road. He proved his competence as he credibly completed this task in record one year. His business was very prosperous and it reflected in the life of his relations in the large Ngige family.  He was a lover of education, making sure all his children had university education. His brothers, cousins and nephews, all benefited immensely, as some had the privilege of attending famous Colleges like CIC, Enugu long before independence.  If his compassion for the poor was measured by his love for education, which he freely availed, his kindness for fellow mankind also expressed eloquently. Here was a man who gave his Enugu home free to fellow returnee Biafrans at the end of the civil war.

    Instructively, his contributions to the development of his community were prominent. He participated actively in the formation of Alor Development Union while his Enugu home also nurtured the Aniolisa Social Club that pioneered development in Alor.  In his Urueze_Ide village, he became a rallying point as his city culture and uprightness came to the forefront. In the 50s, he plastered an age long family house which he also roofed with zinc, becoming the first around, hence the name ì gbam-gbamî meaning zinc as that house is still known today. He was the pillar of Ngige family and was father to all.

    Baptized on May 27 1927, he was a devout Christian and  a pioneer leader at St. Maryís Catholic Church Alor.  He wedded his lovely wife, late Priscilla Okafor from Nnobi in 1943 and was barely a month away from emerging as the longest living Alor baptized catholic during the centenary celebration held in October 2015.  Akunnia lived his faith. He fought obnoxious traditions and rescued a twin from Akunne family of Alor who was to be killed . This twin was later named Pius, after him.

    He believed in honesty and uprightness, the major reason he left Onitsha. In Enugu, the nickname ìOkwedikeî meaning Mr. Integrity was the result of his unbending stricture to transparency. Severally, he was elected unopposed as the treasurer of the Indigenous Federated Association of Nigerian Contractors, East Central state and for many years was the treasurer of the Ogbete Enugu Landlord Association. Akunnia was not a politician but was progressive and Spartan in thinking. He had scorn and disdain for unbridled material acquisition. He saw partisan hate politics in the political travails of Awolowo in the 60s, and was jocularly said in the hearing of all that Awo was in ìpolitical nga,î(jailed for political reasons)

    Men who lived up to his age often turn oracle and he did. He prayed and blessed all who came around him and predicted he would leave on September 1, 2015 and eventually left on the 4th. In Igbo, no man with diminished posterity is ever counted great.  Akunnia lives on in Sen. Chris Ngige, the Minister of labour, Emeka Ngige (SAN) and Edwin Ngige, an accountant.  With him abounds a lesson that with God, man is fully in charge of his own fate.  How? He quietly rejected his fatherís adviser to be a farmer and sojourned to Onitsha.  When Onitsha business environment turned unpalatable, he wasted no time in relocating to Enugu where he employed his education and vocational skill. He would not stomach the injustice by Whiteman in PWD and resigned. He tried his hands on buying and selling at the end of the war and needed no oracle to decipher his destiny was not there. Finally, he saw very early, the advantages which vocational skill possess over white-collar job.

    • Nwachukwu is SA Media to Labour & Productivity Minister
  • Thoughts on Dickson’s victory

    Thoughts on Dickson’s victory

    The victory of the Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson, in last Saturday’s concluded governorship election hardly comes as a surprise. Indeed, it was a well-deserved victory for Dickson and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) going by the concrete achievements of the governor and his popularity with the ordinary people.

    And true to his personality of a politician of conviction, Dickson cancelled the celebration of his victory in honour of those killed and dedicated his crown to God, Bayelsans who voted and victims of the election violence.

    Self-effacing almost to a point verging on shyness, Governor Dickson doesn’t seem like one who would have chosen politics as a vocation. However, beneath that look lies a steely resolve. It is that gritty spirit, coupled with a yearning for public service, that has helped him navigate the often vicious world of politics.

    Although he has held public office as Chairman of the defunct Alliance for Democracy, Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of Bayelsa State, member of the House of Representatives from 2007 until early 2012, he mostly kept a low profile and stayed away from the limelight. So he was a largely unknown politician outside his home state until he took the nation by storm with his sponsorship of the amendment of Evidence Act bill, the first ever since 1954. But the old saying that fortune often favours the meek would change all that on February 14, 2012, when he was inaugurated as Bayelsa State governor.

    Some may have viewed Dickson’s triumph then as the predictable outcome of being the candidate of the ruling national party in a president’s home state. But such cynical notion would have been validated if he had lost in the recent gubernatorial election where the implied support from Abuja was totally absent. This victory was despite the fact that some figures within his party were, curiously, bent on frustrating his re-election bid.

    Many of these politicians decamped to the APC while some of them remained in the PDP to give the governor the fight of his life, not because he has not delivered on his campaign promise to Bayelsans but simply because he has refused to service the greed of the elites.

    This in conjunction with the deployment of federal might to capture Bayelsa State by hook or crook made the governorship battle the fierciest in the Niger Delta. But Governor Dickson’s resolute focus on the crown, his community to community campaign on issues, his track record of service delivery and concrete achievements in the last four years, his popularity and organic link with the electorate, the regular citizens who vote were the instruments which kept the APC at bay from Bayelsa.

    Dickson’s victory is therefore a bold reaffirmation that people’s will should always triumph above federal might once a people resolve to stand by their leader.  There is a subtle but poignant point inherent in the triumph: it established Governor Dickson as a preeminent voice in the Niger Delta; it curtailed what would have effectively been a resounding humiliation for the PDP, the Ijaw nation and subversion of a people’s choice to decide who governs them.  Indeed, a defeat for Dickson would, conceivably, had unleashed a domino effect across the Niger Delta states and change the political equation in the region.

    In other words, a denial of Dickson’s well deserved victory would have changed the pendulum in favour of APC in the Niger Delta / South South states where periodic elections would hold and re-run elections ordered by the courts. It is against this background that I agree with political analysts who posit that the re-election of Governor Dickson has saved the nation from drifting to a one party state. If the APC takes all Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom states where re-runs are expected as well as retain Edo, then Nigeria can be effectively described as a one party system and that would breed bare faced dictatorship!

    For Dickson, however, the contest was never about notching up bragging rights; it was a question of rendering service to the electorate. And it was by no means the typical soapbox rhetoric. Mounting the saddle in a state where spending on public utilities had always seemed like an afterthought, there are actually compelling reasons to assume the state of affairs would remain decadent.  Dickson shook up such cynicism in the people by proving that service delivery in politics could indeed be the norm and not the exception.

    In doing so, he kindled a new political consciousness in the people that repulsed the old decadent order and embraced an option that promises a better future. It was such progressive thought – reinforced by Dickson’s fidelity to the common good – that nurtured a sense of obligation in the people, reflected in the decision to resist the shenanigans that made the Bayelsa election a near bloodbath to retain the governor in Creek Haven.

    It was altruism at work and it has been the defining virtue that underpins all of his actions as a public servant. This selfless commitment to the public good has inspired a new work ethos in the state where the workforce is predominantly civil servants. The results are proving to be inevitable socio-economic benchmarks of assessment for states across the federation.

    A brief highlight of his scorecard makes this self-evident: construction of 450 kilometres of roads in the last three years; rebuilding the Isaac Adaka Boro road into a six-lane highway; and building Bayelsa’s first ever flyover. These and several other impressive works were implemented in spite of declining revenue from the federal purse. Anyone familiar with the philosophy on which the governor’s development vision revolves won’t find this surprising. For him, an enduring economic growth can be achieved only through investments in sectors that are not tied to the vagaries of oil price. This explains his strong emphasis on human capital development and the drive to make agriculture in the state a profitable venture. The importance he attaches to that goal is underscored by the fact that many indigenous companies have been beneficiaries of the administration’s policies on award of contracts.

    Of course, committing over N30 billion to the state’s free education and scholarship programmes is another ample demonstration of that conviction. He has, in addition, built 400 primary schools across the state, 24 model boarding secondary schools in the state’s 24 constituencies, and rebuilt many secondary and tertiary schools, including the previously moribund Bayelsa State College of Arts and Science.

    Youths for whom tertiary education might have otherwise been a mirage have seen their dream come true. The scholarship scheme launched by Dickson funds bachelor’s and master’s degrees as well as doctoral programmes in Nigerian and foreign universities for thousands of Ijaw-speaking people.

    The commitment to agriculture has actually yielded immense fruits as evident in the number of plantations with thriving cultivation of rice, cassava, plantain, vegetables, and palm produce. The ancillary industry spawned by the state’s programme in agriculture has been just as impressive, with the Ebedebiri Commercial Cassava Starch Processing Plant coming on stream. Experts say the plant could actually generate over 30 thousand jobs at its optimal capacity.

    He may have been re-elected as governor, but the larger beneficiary of that victory is the Bayelsa electorate. Election of the state’s helmsmen – as in many other states – had long been subject to external whims which were seldom ever in sync with the wishes of the people. Dickson’s election has put an end to that and laid the foundation for democracy to flourish.

    • Comrade Onumah is a public affairs analyst, wrote from Yenagoa

  • Lovers don’t say goodbye

    Hamdalat Abiye Abiodun Aremu (née Ajisegiri), my darling wife died on Tuesday December 15, 2015 in Lagos while on a brief holiday with her parents.  The burial took place in Ilorin on Thursday, December 17, 2015. The 8th day Fidahu prayers for her held on Tuesday December 22, 2015.

    After two long weeks of agony, global bagful of condolences is making a difference in the most difficult healing process of our lives. Some solidarity messages understandably raised the painful nostalgia of sudden and unnotified deaths of our beloved! One was from Maiduguri.

    Commiserating with me, Zainab Bala Muhammed, the widow of my dear late Comrade Dr. Jubril Bala Muhammed reminded that it was 14 years since Bala’s departure hit us like a thunderbolt. Bala died in an auto-accident on his way back to Maiduguri.  In similar vein, brothers and relatives of late comrade, Abdulrahaman Black Masa, also my dear late friend recalled his death on the January 27, 2004 in Lagos without any noticeable illness. Indeed I had expected him in Kaduna for our usual ED Kabir/ Sallah rendezvous.

    Just like yesterday, decades of sudden losses had passed by.  Due to these tragic memories, I did a reflection entitled “Grave Concerns”. It was a singular challenging tribute to of departed comrades which later included Abubakar Jika of Bayero University, Kano and late Chris Abashi. Death has long been likened to robbery whose impact denies us our valuables. This truism dawned on me with the deaths in quick succession of these comrades. Myself, late Dr. Jubril Bala, (he was a pride of Department of Communication, University of Maiduguri), Chom Bagu and Lamis Shehu Dikko (currently Ajia Katsina) were ABU School of Basic (Basico) 77/78 Alumnus. At our final years, we became victims of the prevailing authoritarianism and repression of students’ activists in ABU in the early 1980s.  Chris Abashi was 1982 President of National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS), who eventually became the chairman of Nassarawa Eggon Local Government Council, also at a point ANPP deputy gubernatorial candidate. If the reflection on my departed comrades proved so tough, then a reflection on my late mother and wife in recent times is better imagined. I have since happily made known the eternal ‘Take aways from my mother’ in my tribute to my mother.

    Hadjia Afusatu Amoke Aremu died Thursday September 24, 2015 at 91, interestingly on the day of EID Mubarak! My mom’s at 91 was celebration of longevity. My wife’s death at mid-age in quick succession is one additional loss too heavy to bear. “Nothing shall ever happen to us except what Allah has ordained for us” (Quran 9:51).

    I was away in Geneva representing the NLC at the Workers symposium on Decent Work Global Supply Chains billed for December 15-17, 2015. On same the day, I and my wife spoke after the subhi prayer. Strangely, 4pm I received series of feverish text messages the most intriguing announcing her death. Nelson Mandela’s quotable quote after the death of his mentor, comrade, 1964 Rivonia trial co-accused and anti apartheid fighter Walter Sisulu almost sums up my agony: ‘His absence has carved a void. A part of me is gone’. My darling Hajia Hamdalat Abiodun Aremu is an iconic symbol of the extended Ajisegiri/Aremu family. My mother (her mother-in-law), gave her the title “Iya Aremu” because of the caring and loving way she handled the entire family. After Allah, she was a selfless unifier, problem solver, hard-worker, adviser, mentor and above everything else, she was a mother to all. My mother had her last breath in her caring hands. The impact of “Iya Aremu’s death is therefore better imagined. She comforted us not to agonize over the death of my mother on a Sallah Day.  On the contrary, true to her ever positive disposition, she reminded us of fulfilled life.

    Who then comforts us after her own death at a relatively younger age? Whence the healing words from a tested lover? True to her teachings, we take solace in the bagful of her globally acknowledged good deeds. The last few of these deeds are still fresh in my grieved mind. I bear witness that my wife died at her brother’s place in Badagry while on a brief holiday with her brother Dr Ayodeji Ajisegiri, also a friend. She had earlier been with her 89 years old father, Alhaji Abdul Lamid Ajisegiri who she spoke with at least twice a day. Her solidarity with closed and extended families and family friends was well acknowledged. She had planned that once we arrived Ilorin for the holidays, we would continue our usual service in tying the knots of families, multiple identities, kinships, visiting the bereaved, promoting solidarity and compassion in the community. My wife’s compassion with others was indivisible, spontaneous and indiscriminate. Her last e-mail contained our usual monthly budget with the usual social support and transfers to relatives in need, not for her children or herself. Her birthday was December 22, yet December budget contained no single item for any celebration or personal indulgence.

    Undoubtedly my egalitarian disposition flows from Islamic injunctions and my ideological grounding in socialism. But Allah naturally endowed my non-ideological wife with globally acknowledged selflessness and the art of giving. My wife had long been giving her “time” her “skills”, her “money” and “gifts of reconciliation” well before former American President Bill Clinton, the 41st American President authored the seminal book; Giving; How Each One of Us Can Change the World (2007), the book my wife read with joy for the obvious fact that it theoretically legitimized her appreciated deeds. Totally selfless, a bundle of generosity as enjoined by Almighty Allah, we inherited a number of wonderful children from my late junior brother. She was the mother of all children without inhibitions. After Allah I owe all my successes to my wife; abundance of children, wealth generation and trade union struggles lasting over two decades.

    I have written books on varying socio-economic subjects. My wife was co-author, the first proof reader. It’s time we intensified the advocacy for gender mainstreaming. Governments and corporate organizations must mainstream women in the families, at workplaces, governments and society at large. The two women in my life, namely my late mother and wife, have shown that what many good things many men cannot do, women can even do better. My wife has shown that life is not how long but how well.  I agree with the author who admonished that; “ When you wake in the morning, do not expect to see the evening, – live though as if its only today you have”!

    Tears certainly are not enough. We however take consolation in her legacy of worship and work as enjoined by Allah. Comrade Governor Adams Oshimhole summed it up when he said that she had “a heart of gold”. In modesty, he however did not reveal the fact that her late wife, Clara, mentored my wife in selflessness, sacrifice, support, perseverance and the virtue of the fact that only death can do us apart. Comrades Adams, Hassan Sunmonu and late Paschal Bafyau, all former NLC presidents were witnesses to our marriage in 1990 that lasted for rewarding 26 years.

    In 1986, South African racist merchants of death cowardly shot down the plane of Samora Machel, the great African patriot and founding President of Mozambique. Graca Machel his widow and later day wife and widow of Nelson Mandela in her tribute to her first husband said “Fighters never say good bye”!

    Hamdalat was never a “fighter” in the tradition of Samora but a lover like Graca. My experience has shown that not just fighters but genuine lovers like my dear wife (out of eternal love!) never say goodbye! We are excited that her presence and imprints are still discernable.

     

    • Aremu mni, is General Secretary, Textile Workers Union, Labour House, Kaduna.

  • Army/El Zakzaky showdown

    Let me begin with nostalgia about beautiful, peaceful Nigeria of the 1970s where religious tolerance was manifest, violent cults were unknown and one can travel any time, even all night, without any fear. Today, Nigeria has changed, for the worse, as extremist religious dissidents, communal warriors, violent criminals and other sundry deviants ravage the land.

    One recent incident brought these nostalgic thoughts into bold relief: the army’s confrontation with Sheikh Ibraheem El Zakzaky’s Islamic Movement in Zaria, Kaduna State between December 12-14, 2015. It highlighted the near state of anomie in the land in which various dissident groups have carved out ‘kingdoms’ over which they preside, according to their own rules.  This is why a religious group could so brazenly bar the country’s Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai,   from ‘trespassing’ over ‘its territory’!  It is the height of provocation, an arrogant repudiation of state authority denying the army chief’s official entourage passage on a public road. We cannot mince words or become mealy-mouthed in this kind of encounter.

    For law and order to be restored in this country, the authority of the state must be asserted at all times. Revelations since the encounter indicate El Zakzaky runs a fiefdom in Zaria with non members of his movement being literally ‘hostages’, which informed the jubilation by neighbours who felt liberated by the army’s showdown with the sect. That the group had successfully intimidated the former Kaduna State governor, Ramalan Yero, who was denied passage on that road earlier in 2015, must have emboldened El Zakzaky’s faithful to attempt to face down the army chief. It amounted to El Zakzaky, wittingly or unwittingly, inducing his flock to commit suicide. Spiritually and psychologically enslaved religious fanatics are prone to this type of tragedy. An American Christian evangelist had, decades ago, taken his flock to Guyana in Central America and induced them to drink cyanide, a poison, to go to heaven– of course, they all died.

    In relating with the military, we need to understand the mentality of army personnel – soldiers, especially infantry men and commandos, are trained to kill and against the background of humiliation recently suffered by the army from the Islamist Boko Haram insurgents, the El Zakzaky dare would seem to the soldiers one more humiliation by a religious group that cannot stand and should not stand.  I believe the greater blame should be on the leadership of the Islamic Movement for putting its followers in harm’s way. For El Zakzaky who reportedly lost three sons in an earlier encounter with security agents, one would expect some level of soberness. We need to ask: What does the Islamic Movement stand to gain in its mindless, avoidable confrontation with state authorities? How do such confrontations improve their religious purity?  What is the value-added to the Movement?  El Zakzaky, we are told, is a First Class graduate of Economics from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Brilliant guy. Why then has he chosen this path?  Are there no people such religious leaders like El Zakzaky respect who can be a moderating influence on them?  El Zakzaky reminds one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, celebrated author of the classic Sherlock Holmes series who once noted, with respect to Prof. Moriaty whose criminal exploits became a European nightmare, that when a brilliant mind turns anti-establishment, to crime, he is most dangerous.

    One wonders whether at any point in time El Zakzaky takes the sanctity of life of his followers into consideration. Why would a leader with such faithful followership, create a situation where such followers become cannon fodder in his confrontation with the state?  An interview in the Nigerian Tribune of Jan. 9, with Isa Waziri Gwantu, a mass communication lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and an El Zakzaky devotee, is illustrative of the frightening level of indoctrination and mindset of those hooked on the opium of religion. Asked why the sect is always having problems with security operatives, Gwantu asserted:  “it is not unconnected to the war declared on Muslims all over the world by ‘globalists’. It is not a secret that the Nigerian security agencies are proxies of the forces behind the ordeals of Muslims in different parts of the world like Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Myanmar”. Does this not smack of El Zakzaky followers being brainwashed to perceive security operatives as enemy forces that must be resisted?

    The army has been accused of overkill in its reaction and various bodies are putting the military on the spot. While we await the outcome of the investigations and probes, the public and its component groups must appreciate that in a Nigeria edging towards a lawless jungle, the essence of government is to maintain public order, a responsibility of armed security agencies, and people are better advised not to engage in conduct bordering on anarchy that will incur serious repercussions. It is a practical reality. The army, speaking through the General Officer Commanding (GOC) One Mechanised Division, based in Kaduna, Maj. Gen. Adeniyi Oyebade, at a press conference on January 6, had been unequivocal that it had no apology for the encounter with the Islamic Movement. The GOC had declared: “ The so-called clash was avoidable, the Nigerian Army has no issues with the Shi’ite members … We have problem with those who choose to challenge the authority of the state, who do not recognize the laws of the land…So, in the cause of doing our work we make no apology to any group”. The army, in the circumstances, cannot be expected to surrender to orchestrated public opinion, including those of bleeding heart Columnists and editorial writers, who often fail to call renegade groups and neo-anarchists to order but would rather make excuses for these public-disorder elements. This disposition cannot foster the peace we all so earnestly desire in the land.

    The showdown between the Islamic Movement and the Nigerian Army has lessons for the government and members of the public. A major function of government is surveillance of the environment which entails monitoring activities of groups –religious, communal, cultural, ethnic, professional as well as individuals. Religious leaders should, particularly, come under continuous surveillance, because these leaders have a hold on people’s hearts and emotions that no other institution of society commands. This monitoring is to preempt deviant and hate preaching. But government must also strive to regain people’s trust by being pro-people in its policies. Many perceive government as an oppressive institution from which they escape to seek spiritual refuge in the religions which makes it possible for religious leaders, Muslim and Christian, to play God.

    As for the public, we need to relate with armed security operatives with caution and restraint considering that are often irritable and seem to be permanently under stress.  That is the reality we have to deal with, for now, till our security agencies become more civil. To tauntingly provoke or confront an armed person is suicidal.  Period.

    • Dr. Olawunmi, a Senior Lecturer, Department of Mass Communication, Bowen University, Iwo is former Washington Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

  • As Lagos light up project reaches top gear

    The Victorian Society of London in the late 19th Century witnessed a series of murders committed in the East End slums by a man the media called Jack the Ripper. He did it in the ill-lit corners and alleys of the city, suggesting that lack of flood light was a strong factor aiding the commission of serious crimes including robberies and killings.

    Taking a cue from the studies that followed the operations of Jack the Ripper under the cover of darkness, successive city administrators of the colonial capital rapidly started work on lighting up inner London and most parts of this highly industrialized capital.

    Now nearly 130 years after, here in Lagos, Nigeria, before our very eyes, we are witnessing the strategic deployment of the lessons of lighting up a city to erect enduring security architecture.

    This is one of the dividends of democracy the government of Akinwunmi Ambode is dropping in its path as it seeks to fulfill the governor’s campaign promises.

    He did pledged barely few days into his administration that he will burden himself with the gigantic task of lighting up Lagos in his tenure. In less than 200 days of his stay in Government House, Ambode went on to set up the Lagos Power Advisory Committee, which he asked to liaise with the Ministry of Power for the implementation of his plan. The eventual goal is to flood Lagos with light all day, all week in the next two years.

    Ambode’s dream isn’t only for the major urban centres. He has spoken of feeding all the highways in this mega city that used to be the nation’s capital. Needless to say, the state hasn’t lost its prestigious status as the financial hub of Nigeria, the country considered as the economic power house of Africa.

    By early January, the administration had succeeded in fulfilling  its promise at key points of the state. A nocturnal check from Berger to Lekki, Ikorodu to Lagos Island and the entire Ikeja axis as well as Victoria Island and Ikoyi reveals the citizens of the Ambode era savouring more active street lights than the preceding generations did.

    The point to note also is that Ambode does not believe that there are enough roads yet to match his promise to turn Lagos into Africa’s New York: a 24-hour economy. How to do that? The governor wants to add modern roads. It is belabouring  the point to ask if he would also kit the streets to come with lights. It has become a sacred duty for Ambode to ensure electricity is available in every street under his watch.

    Such is this solemn vow that he is planning to start having BRT operations at night. Indeed he can’t have a 24-7 economy without a road transportation system in tandem. New York  that was famously described by legendary singer, Frank Sinatra as a city that never sleeps, and such other big world cities derived their popular appellation partly from having a ceaseless public and private transit profile. These cities don’t go to sleep because their cab, bus, air, sea and rail operations don’t go to sleep.

    We must also refer to another idea of Ambode to live out his dream. He is pleading with individuals and corporate bodies to light up their streets and neighbourhood. He says the state will work out a plan to duly recognize “such gestures in due course.” This is the sincere invitation of a humble governor to involve fellow citizens in the noble business of governance.

    Observers are quick and discerning enough to note that these seeming aesthetics of lighting up Lagos and beautifying its landscape are in the main, a part of the objective to secure Lagos and prevent murderous and criminal Jack the Rippers from wreaking havoc in the state. The security equipment worth N4.8b in the form of helicopters, power bikes, marine patrol facilities, vehicles etc the governor recently gave the Police would amount to little if the streets and alleys remain unlit. These places would serve as the black spot and dens of hiding for fleeing criminals if they are left the way they are: in complete darkness. That is what miscreants feed on at dusk and deep into the dark night.

    When Ambode talked of a plan to have BRT function all day and far into the night, he added a condition: it would be so when all the street lights are fully operational. He underscored the complementarities of fully functioning flood-lit streets to the presence of equally well-equipped security personnel.

    It was the same quest for sanity in the polity and a good life for the people that led the governor last week to demolish the home of criminals that went by the name Owonifari Market at Oshodi. The goal is to create an enabling environment undergirded by security, safety of lives and the prosperity of the citizens.

    I believe that is what Ambode meant when on May 29, 2015 he presented his inaugural speech to those who elected him as their governor. As he concluded his short but vision-laden paper, he spoke of creating an “iconic infrastructure for the benefit of all.”

    What does an “iconic infrastructure” mean? At the academic level, it may suggest an idealistic craving by society for the translation of its dream about what the society values, wants or desires for its sustenance. For me, it is the totality of what a government should offer as its irrevocable duty to the people. It means offering the ultimate in development in all its ramifications: compassionate governance, security, prosperity, dream fulfillment, sense of participation in governance, capacity building for each individual. This is iconic infrastructure.

    And just like any other projects he has ventured into since May 29, 2015, Ambode  has left no one in doubt of his determination to make sure that all streets and corners in the state are light up. A drive from Ojodu Berger to Ojuelegba at night and from Ikorodu to Island has clearly shown that the governor is on the verge of again fulfilling his promise of lighting up the state in the next two years.

    As we await another Ambode’s magic wand in a critical area that would fundamentally transform the state to take its rightful status as a megacity, one only hope that the passion that the governor has exhibited in the past few months will not wane.

    • Anibaba, an economist, wrote from Gbagada, Lagos.   

  • Ganduje’s strides in education sector

    On November 30, 2015, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, OFR, Governor of Kano State proclaimed a renewed effort targeted at revolutionizing and transforming the state’s education sector into a more qualitative, vibrant, efficient and result-oriented one.

    In a well-attended event, graced by prominent and illustrious individuals and groups, Governor Ganduje, crossed into the hallowed annals of history to unveil two committees formed for the singular purpose of solving the myriads of problems besetting the education in the state.

    The twin committees, namely the State Education Promotion Committee and the Local Government Education Promotion Committee seek to work on a joint mandate to re-invigorate the state’s education sector in order to meet the requisite standard that will serve as a model to other states across the country.

    What makes the idea of these committees a laudable one is the courageous resolve of Governor Ganduje to release the sum of N10 Million to each of the 44 local government areas of the state for logistics so that they can kick start the work without delay. This brings the total amount released to the local government committees to the enormous sum of N440 million.

    In these austere times characterized by rapidly decreasing oil price and the general economic slowdown being experienced across the country, Governor Ganduje, has certainly achieved an exceptional feat that no other state is able to achieve.

    Appositely, the governor’s timely and humane decision was taken in consideration of his longstanding and deeply entrenched experience as a teacher, lecturer and a veteran administrator whose commitment to education is universally acknowledged.

    Highlighting his determination to uphold the sanctity of education, Ganduje, recalled a statement he made during his inaugural speech: “…it is universally accepted that the foundation of qualitative education starts from the basic or primary level. This administration intends to take necessary measures in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, with a view to ensuring that all children are enrolled in primary schools nearest to them as soon as they attain school age”.

    The governor’s idea of forming the education promotion committees stems from the stark reality that no matter the commitment of government to the cause of education, it cannot succeed totally without the much needed input of well-meaning individuals, groups and international humanitarian organizations.

    This is why the committees is composed of membership that cut-across public and private sectors as well as the political and traditional institutions in order to demonstrate the seriousness that the education sector commands at all levels.

    At this juncture, it is necessary to briefly introduce the committees so as to give an insight into their workings and potentials for success:

    The State Education Promotion Committee has 35 members led by Alhaji Tajuddeen Aminu Dantata as chairman. The committee is set to among other things to monitor and evaluate rehabilitation projects carried out by the local government committees; mobilize financial and material support from well-meaning groups and pay regular visits to schools with the aim of ensuring prompt attendance of pupils and teachers and monitoring quality delivery of knowledge.

    The Local Government Committee is set up in each of the 44 local government areas of the state with the leaders of the APC caucus in each of the LGAs as chairmen. Before any critic raises a hand on this, let it be quickly known that the local chairmen of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in each of the LGAs, being critical stakeholders, are also members because Dr. Ganduje understands perfectly that education is an all-inclusive venture.

    Overall both committees are expected to meet the following objectives: To rehabilitate schools for conducive learning condition, provide infrastructural materials for quality teaching, to instill discipline and punish errant staff as well as ensure adequate number of teaching personnel in schools.

    Anybody who means well for Kano would know that Ganduje has astutely set Kano on the path of unprecedented progress and development in all facets of life by taking the all-important step to reshape education in the state. Fortunately, Kano people have extra benefits to enjoy in this regard because the Deputy Governor, Professor Hafiz Abubakar who is also the Honourable Commissioner of Education will add impetus to this noble scheme.

    As a veteran academic who reached the pinnacle of his career to become a professor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC, Academics) at the reputable Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Professor Abubakar certainly possesses what it takes to turn education around.

    Although the governor and his deputy have taken the lead to re-vitalize education for the betterment of our society, we all have a collective responsibility to give them our maximum support in order to succeed.

    As Dr. Ganduje pointed out, the subsisting “policy on compulsory and free primary education poses greater challenge to our ability to achieve the objective of this all important endeavor”.

    This is because the policy does not only affect children that are already enrolled in primary schools but also the over three million Almajiri children studying in Quranic schools who also need to be absorbed into the formal education sector.

    In view of this, it is necessary to understand that the task before the Kano State government is a colossal one that requires total encouragement and support from all citizens from all walks of life. In fact, it is in appreciation of this reality that Ganduje seeks to extend his vision to other northern governors whose states are also affected by same challenges as the Almajiri Syndrome.  As he aptly stated: “This indispensable policy, a noble objective to ensure of education for all can only be achieved through tenacious and sustainable implementation of the policy of compulsory and free primary education in the state. Indeed all contiguous states across the affected regions must adopt same (policy) in order to ensure a decent life for children and unfettered access for all”.

    The setting up of the education promotion committees has come as a timely intervention borne out of Dr. Ganduje’s steadfast, dogged and extreme passion to restore dignity to education as the necessary tool for social change and the catalyst for development.

    • Kudu is Senior Assistant (Print) to Kano State Governor.

  • Pathway to effective public service delivery

    The public service is an important institution anywhere in the world. It is the machinery that formulates and implements the decisions and policies of the government. To that extent, the success of any government in carrying out its statutory and constitutional responsibilities of maintaining law and order as well as engendering socio-economic and political development of any nation depends largely on the type of civil service which the country has. Thus, there is the likelihood of a government to meet the aspirations of the mass of the people over which it rules if the public service, which executes policies, is proactive, enlightened and incorruptible. Conversely, no government can achieve the modernization of the society if its public service is made up of mediocre and corrupt officers who divert the resources meant for the commonwealth to their private pockets.

    There is no doubt that the Nigerian public service has, over the years, contributed to the development of the country. Although the country has been characterized by political instability and socio-economic problems which have negatively rubbed off on all other institutions of the state, the principle of anonymity and non-partisanship of the civil service have largely empowered it to do justice to its statutory duties over the past decades. Much as military governments, which ruled this country for many years, dealt a devastating blow to the principle of security of tenure of public servants by subjecting public servants to premature retirement, many civil servants have continued to contribute their quotas to national development.

    To be sure, the overconcentration of power in the hands of some public servants by the military, as in the case of the era of “super perm-secs” and the prevalence of the culture of corruption in the country, in no small way impaired the role perception of these public servants. However, many of them lived above board. They performed and continue to perform their duties truthfully and conscientiously. In spite of the avarice, greed and the culture of primitive accumulation of wealth which reign supreme in the country, many of these public servants remain contented with their salaries. They have refused to join the pillaging of the national treasury. In the discharge of their official duties, they do not solicit for bribes. They treat all Nigerians they meet in the line of duty equally. It is this type of public servants who had no problem to go along with the practice of “Due Process” in civil service when former President Olusegun Obasanjo introduced it. It is also this set of civil servants who saw nothing bad in “mopping up” the treasury of ministries and government departments at the end of each year. The underlining factor behind their ability to adapt to the new rules of accountability, particularly the excellent financial control mechanisms introduced by the Federal Government since the civilian government of Obasanjo is their incorruptibility, their patriotic disposition and the abiding desire to maintain their honour and integrity in a country where honest men and women are in short supply.

    But for many, the ethics of their work have no meaning. And unfortunately, this group of erring public servants is in the majority. They have no conscience. They have no interest of the country at heart. Rather than play the role of agents of national development which they are statutorily meant to play, these public officials have, by their conduct over the years, sabotaged the efforts of successive governments to modernize Nigeria. Instead of faithfully executing the policies of government, they look for ways of cutting corners. Self-aggrandizement is uppermost in their mind. In order to cater for their interest, records are falsified with impunity, they embezzle public funds kept into their care, solicit and take bribes and are only concerned with what comes to their pockets rather than quality service delivery.

    The adverse effects of unethical behavior of some public servants cut across all the sectors of the society. For instance, most of the roads in Nigeria which are mere death traps are today in that sorry state as a result of corrupt activities of government officials. After taking kick backs, roads which are clearly sub-standard are approved as jobs well done. The diversion of patients from government hospitals to private hospitals is another dimension of the unpatriotic conduct of some public officials. Through this singular act, government has lost huge amount of revenue that would have contributed substantially to the provision of social amenities to the people. The relative ease with which the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of People and Goods is exploited by organized criminal groups to traffic human beings, firearms and hard drugs in Nigeria is a function of corrupt security agents who, for pecuniary gains, allow these traffickers to move freely within Nigeria and across the borders.

    The security challenges currently bedeviling Nigeria in the form of proliferation of militant groups across the country and terror attacks by Boko Haram are fuelled by the availability of arms and ammunitions which flow freely in the country as well as the widespread circulation of narcotics in the country, the proceeds of which are used to fund insurgency. The list of the negative effects of unethical behavior of some public servants in Nigeria is almost inexhaustible. It suffices, however, to say that the signature of corrupt behavior of some public servants in the country cut-across all the facets of the Nigerian society.

    In the light of the damaging consequences of this immoral behavior, what steps do we need to take in order to reap maximum benefits of a people-oriented public service and bring Nigeria to the pathway of steady national growth? First, government must holistically re-orientate the public service. The idea of reducing the workforce by way of sacking civil servants can only be counter-productive. For public servants to shun corrupt practices, their job security must be assured. Governments at all levels must enlighten their workers on the need to stick to work ethics and the advantages of having the interest of the country at heart while they discharge their duties.

    Secondly, the Civil Service Commission, the Code of Conduct Bureau, SERVICOM, the Public Complaints Commission and other bodies that are statutorily charged to ensure ethical conduct and practices should be manned by people of integrity who are wholeheartedly committed to the task of uprooting moral decadence in the country. These agencies should be well funded, independent and supported by both public and private sectors in carrying out the onerous duty for bringing about the desired ethical renaissance across the Nigerian populace.

    Equally important is the need for the country’s judiciary to be truly independent and incorruptible. This important arm of government, which interprets law, should live above board in all its activities. As a deterrent to any judge with corrupt disposition, stiff sanctions should be spelt out for any proven manipulation of judgment. The judiciary should be the last hope of the common man. But in many cases, it is not so in Nigeria. The rich are often favoured at the expense of the poor. This has allowed criminals with the wherewithal or well-heeled godfathers to get away with their evil acts. No individual should be bigger than the law. In this case, the government must demonstrate the political will at all times to investigate and bring to justice the rich who are behind most of the crimes that have been perpetrated in this country.

    Last but not the least, government at all levels must take the welfare of public servants seriously. Salaries and allowances of workers must be paid as at when due. No matter may be the efforts of government on the orientation of its citizenry, particularly the workers, these efforts will count for nothing if their salaries are not paid regularly. This is so because no hungry worker will reject bribe. It is therefore imperative for government to put in place a long-term plan that will prevent its frequent inability to pay workers’ salaries regularly. No nation can experience developmental strides without the wholehearted commitment and loyalty of its workforce.

    • Bamigbetan is of the National Commisiion for Museums and Monuments, Owo, Ondo State.
  • Otti Vs Ikpeazu: Interrogating the noise

    Otti Vs Ikpeazu: Interrogating the noise

    There is a reason Abia state broke into songs and dance on New Year’s Eve, celebrating the landmark judgement by the Appeal Court which declared Alex Otti the duly elected governor of Abia State in the April 2015 election. Many Abians voted for the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate in the election. The judgment was therefore an affirmation of the choice they made at the polls.

    The appellate court judgement was everything Abians had asked for: a breath of fresh air, a departure from a past dictated by two tainted dynasties, a future that holds the promise of prosperity for everybody. That explains why the streets erupted in jubilations.

    However, two days later, a few PDP big men in the state recruited willing hands and asked them to protest the judgement. The crowd, rented from an ever available stock of youth rendered unemployed by PDP’s 16 years of economic heist in the state, blocked the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway, asking vehicles to turn back. In the midst of the chaos they stirred, one struggled to get hold of the essence of their externally-induced rage.

    I have read the judgement of the learned justices of the Appeal Court and can confirm that it is flawless. But the rented protesters, including those who contracted them, hadn’t read a line of the judgement they were protesting. One then wonders why a people who have the option of appealing at the Supreme Court will take to intimidation and blackmail. Do they intend to instigate violence as a tool to sway the justices of the Supreme Court to their cause?

    Let me summarise the judgment. The Appeal Court’s argument is that INEC, which was defending its declaration of Ikpeazu as Abia governor in the suit, was the same body which presented to the Election Petition Tribunal evidence of accreditation in the election. The INEC official who was subpoenaed by the tribunal said the accreditation report she brought was conclusive, and that every accreditation that took place in that election was captured in that document. When this witness said these, Ikpeazu’s lawyers did not cross-examine her to fault her claim. And in law, once you don’t fault a witnesses’ claim with cross-examination, you have agreed with her testimony. It was based on that evidence which Ikpeazu’s lawyers acquiesced to with their silence that the Appeal Court judges established a case of over-voting in some areas in the election.

    Now, here are the figures. Accreditation in those areas, according to INEC accreditation report was 93,369. Number of votes from those areas was 160,252.

    The unanswered question then became how 93,369 people manufactured 160,252 votes. It was evident that people sat in their living rooms and manufactured election results and then allocated votes to candidates as they wished.

    Because voting can only be exercised by those who went through accreditation, the learned justices determined that the results from those areas were concocted, fictitious and fabricated. The votes are unlawful. And our laws have it settled, that when over-voting is established, the election is nullified and voided. A null and void action is without validity, it lacks force of law. As at the time the election held, it had already produced a clear winner in Alex Otti. The learned justices then held that there would only be a need to call for a rerun if there was no clear winner. Alex Otti met the constitutionally required 25% of votes cast in two-third local governments of the state, as well as garnered majority of votes cast.

    In all the noise I’ve heard from the custodians of a stolen mandate and their cheerleaders, none has boasted of having won the April election. Listen to the arguments, they all have implicitly owned up to having rigged. And rather than plead that we don’t jail them, they are pushing for a rerun, as if robbing Abians of their mandate wasn’t bad enough.

    Although their arguments have majorly come off as incoherent, yet I’ll try to interrogate someof the falsehood they’ve been selling to the world:

    That the cancellation of the lawful results will be a disenfranchisement of voters in those parts of the state. Well, every declaration on election matters by any court or even INEC disenfranchises people. There’s no way every registered voter will vote in an election. The declaration of the appellate court was to achieve punitive ends. It was meant to discourage election rigging in the future as declaring a rerun will empower a vote rigger who, having stolen another man’s mandate and having used same to appropriate the state’s resources, now seeks to benefit from his robbery. Aware that he was never the winner of the election and knowing there’s a chance the courts will sack him, a beneficiary of electoral heist would naturally go populist, while his lawyers at the same time labour to lure the courts into conceding him a rerun. That is the game of Abia PDP which all lovers of justice should condemn.

    That the disenfranchised people in those areas are over 350,000 in number. This is laughable. To puncture this claim, we will need to know how many people voted in Abia during the 2015 presidential election. First, all core Igbo states were hugely supportive of President Goodluck Jonathan. Secondly, his wife, Patience grew up in Umuahia since her own mother hailed from there. It therefore stands to reason that Abians came out en masse to give Jonathan their votes; yet he got only 368,303 votes while Muhammadu Buhari got 13, 394. The total was about 381,700 votes. This is the true voting strength of Abia State, not the over-bloated pre-Card Reader figures bandied around by Abia PDP.

    Now, Abia has 17 Local Governments. If Only three local governments have more than 350,000 votes as the PDP claims, where were the votes from the rest 14 local governments including Aba North and South, Ohafia and Bende all of which have the highest voting strength? How come President Jonathan, in spite of the love Abians have for him, could only poll 368, 303 votes? No matter how fast falsehood sprints, truth will overtake it at a point.

    That accreditation of voters was not with Card Reader alone. This argument was advanced by the lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, in a bid to flaw the appeal court judgement. I will assume the lawyer was out in space exploring novel areas in electoral jurisprudence when INEC issued a guideline for the governorship elections, insisting that ONLY card readers would be used for accreditation. INEC went further to insist that if any card reader failed at any polling unit, the device would be replaced, and if the replaced one failed again, the election would be postponed to the next day so another card reader would be brought for accreditation. That way, INEC made it impossible for anybody to write fake results under the guise of card readers not functioning well. It is worth repeating to Mike Ozekhome that INEC gave no room for manual accreditation.

    So it is evident that the learned justices of the appellate court were right to decide the matter on the strength of the evidence by INEC which gave the concluded accreditation figures in the areas where unlawful votes were exorcised.

    That the justices of the Appeal Court should have called for a rerun. Of course, Alex Otti will win Okezie Ikpeazu any day in Abia State, but does it serve the course of justice that someone who won election be made to go through another round of elections while the person who stole his mandate is allowed to benefit from his crime? At what point do we as a society put a stop to incentivizing crimes?

    In any case, the learned justices of the appeal court unanimously stated that “ordering a fresh election will only arise where a clear winner did not emerge after the deduction of the illegal votes.’’

    There was a clear winner, and he should be allowed to exercise his mandate. Those who disagree with the judgement should face the court, not the streets.

    • Ekeke worked with the Alex Otti Campaign Organisation.