The Nation Newspaper

Category: Comments

Customs and import racketeers
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has two core functions. One is the collection of revenue, that is, import and excise duties and accounting for same. The other is the prevention and suppression of smuggling. These two functions taken together mean that the customs is critical in the socio-economic re-engineering of the nation. A corollary to this is that the NCS is key to President Muhammadu Buhari’s policy of economic diversification in the face of dwindling fortunes from crude oil.

But the NCS has had a long-running history of corruption. It is one of the notoriously corrupt agencies that make up the Nigeria public sector. The mere mention of the word customs conjures images of sleaze, bribery and under-hand dealings. Perhaps, this may be why the President appointed a no-nonsense retired Colonel Hameed Ali as the Comptroller –General of the all-important service.

President Buhari is widely regarded by Nigerians as upright, frugal and a man of unimpeachable character. The same strain of attributes also goes for Col. Ali, known among his peers as brutally frank, ramrod straight and one not given to sleight of hand in his dealings with humanity. Upon assumption of office, the CG left no one in doubt as to his mission and brief. While addressing the management of the service, he said: “The mandate he (Buhari) has given me are three basic things: go to customs, reform customs, restructure customs and increase revenue generation, simple. I don’t think that is ambiguous, I don’t think that is cumbersome”.

Ever since, the CG has meticulously commenced the restructuring of the service, retiring some, promoting some and re-working the operational processes to engender efficiency. This is already paying dividends, given the new thrust of morale among the service personnel. But there is yet another assignment the CG must carry out. There is an ‘import and export’ racket thriving among some unscrupulous customs officers and some Asians, especially Indians. It is a drain on the nation’s foreign exchange reserve and a sure booster of capital flight.

Here is how it works. These Asians import into Nigeria computers and allied products including phones. Their stock is a rich mix of Samsung, Lenovo and Huawei, all of them internationally certified computer brands. As soon as the goods arrive in Nigeria, they are exported to Dubai. On the surface, it looks innocuous but a critical analysis of this will reveal an inherent evil motive by the importers. First, the foreign exchange they use to import the products are largely sourced from Nigeria at the official rate but the goods never make it to Nigerian market. They are repackaged and shipped to Dubai leaving Nigeria to bleed at both ends.

Recent media reports said the perpetrators of this act collude with some customs officials at the airport who give them cover to do the unlawful. For specifics, it is unlawful to export any finished product imported into the country. You can export made-in Nigeria products or raw materials sourced in Nigeria but certainly not products imported into the country. To do so is to cause double drain on the economy. Three companies, according to media investigations, are in the forefront of this unholy alliance with some customs officials to short-change the nation of scarce foreign exchange.

In most economies, it is illegal to export what is imported into a country. The reason is simple. Placing all imported goods in the export prohibition list is a way of arresting capital flight and straining the local currency. Nigeria is not an exception. It therefore smacks of blatant disregard for extant laws and regulations in the land when corporate bodies for reasons bordering on economic sabotage consciously import goods with the sole objective of exporting same just to make big money. This racket must stop.

The CG may need to audit the operations of his men at the airports and seaports. This syndicate, it has been said, is very powerful and has strong ties with senior persons in the customs and across the country; but Col. Ali must not allow their profile to intimidate him. He arrived at the customs with a clear mandate to make it more efficient and its operations more transparent. The instant case presents the CG an opportunity to cleanse the Augean stable and make the customs more responsive and responsible.

Allowing companies operating in Nigeria to turn the country into one huge dumpsite of imported ICT goods is a sure way of killing the efforts of indigenous companies playing in the ICT sector. Nigeria is a big market, the biggest single market in Africa. She has bragging rights on account of this. There is therefore the need to encourage local manufacture or assembly of these products. The very least these global brands should do to help the Nigerian economy is to set up assembly plants in the country. This way, they will help in creating jobs, transfer of technology and in capacity building. They do no service to Nigeria economy by allowing companies to import their products into the country and export same in the most dubious and despicable manner.

The CG being a man of integrity is hereby alerted to this on-going economic sabotage that robs the nation of foreign exchange. Why should customs officers permit the export of imported goods, an action that clearly violates the provisions of the Customs & Excise Management Act? At a time the Federal Government is working night and day to refloat the nation’s economy, encourage local manufacture and seek alternative sources of income, it is immoral for agents of the state in cahoots with dubious importers to frustrate such effort.

It is imperative here to remind the CG of his mandate: ‘reform customs, restructure customs and increase revenue generation’. He cannot achieve this when his men give leeway to importers to manipulate the system. The naira is already in bad shape, battered and broken in the foreign exchange market. This is not the time to add more pressure on the local currency which is what the action of the import racketeers does. This is the time to help the naira and by extension the nation’s economy. The CG has started brilliantly by restructuring the service; this time he should beam his searchlight on this import and export scam perpetrated by these Indians.
- Umukoro, an ICT blogger, writes from Abuja.
January 12, 2016
Warri: Eyesore of an oil city
To those not familiar with the city named Warri, Delta State, it once served as the colonial capital of the then Warri Province. Today, Warri is described as an oil hub in the Southern Senatorial District of Delta State. Warri used to be a small powerful commercial centre with surrounding towns like Effurun, Ekpan, Ubeji, Edjeba, Ogunu, Aladja, Enerhen, Ugbuwangwe to mention but a few. Though all these towns mentioned above and others are now referred to as Warri for ease of reference, but they still maintain their political autonomy.

The oil cities of the World I know, some of which I have been privileged to visit, are Texas in the United States, Cairo, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Perth, Jakarta, Singapore, Dubai, Calgary etc. etc. The level of development, the network of roads, and the states of the arts infrastructure in these cities are better imagined.

The Warri some of us used to know was a bubbling commercial city where all the Riverine communities from, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Ilaje and others from Isoko, Ibo, Hausa and Urhobo used to converge. There was a waterway linking Effurun, running through Agaga layout behind Enerhen Junction down to Deco road, Lower Erejuwa road, through Macro road and Warri prisons into Warri River.

If the above mentioned waterway had been well channeled and maintained, it would have been one great source of transportation that traders and others would have used to ferry their goods and wares from the hinter-land down to Warri metropolis. In some other cities of the world, such routes are usually a beauty to behold. The Thames River in London and the artificial river channels in Dubai are typical examples of such routes that were developed to an attractive level and tourists hot spots.

There was a road behind the Main Market then known as Hausa road, from the Market road end down to Hausa road where there were structures that provided accommodation for people, besides warehouses like the UAC, Hotels, stores like the Odibo trading stores, Kay Challarams, etcetera. All these were bubbling with different commercial activities to the delight of all. The boats and canoes owned by persons from the Riverine Communities berthed along the river bank. The Stores on this stretch displayed goods like provisions, and hard ware’s like roofing sheets, nails, bucket, umbrellas, shoes, doors, and iron – rods for construction etc. A stranger may want to know what then happened to all of these.

The Itsekiri / Ijaw politics over the ownership of Warri led to the dismantling of all the structures along the Hausa road end. The place eventually became a Sand Beach and a home for lunatics and hoodlums.

This piece is not intended to look into the bitter and unnecessary rivalry between the different ethnic nationalities in Warri. Instead the intention is to focus on the rot and decay in the infrastructure and the total collapse of what was in place then and the absence of a good developmental plan for a place that should be regarded as one of the best cities in today’s Nigeria. If Warri could not measure height with Lagos in terms of infrastructure, one expects that at least Warri should be better than Calabar and Uyo as an oil city.

In a revealing article titled ‘’A Postcard From Warri’’ published in The Guardian of October 27, 2000, ace Journalist and former Presidential spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati, depicted the sorry state of Warri as follows: ‘’Warri is a haggard old lady, with tired feet and a mouth that has been robbed of its teeth. She looks as used as an over-experienced prostitute. The neighborhoods were crowded. The whole scene seems indescribable: humanity trapped in small spaces with threats of poverty and discontent written on their faces and over the environment’’.

That was the testimony of a visitor to Warri, who captured his experience as decay took over Warri in 2000.

Even our Warri Carnival, which the Alders League used to organize in Abraka, was affected. The state government informed whoever cared to listen, that they have plans to develop Warri. They commenced with the dualization of some of the roads, and eventually abandoned them for reasons best known to them. Shell, Chevron, and other Oil and Gas companies came up with a few developmental projects in and around Warri. For example, the Osubi Airport Project, School Buildings, and Halls, Health facilities, Town Halls and many more sprang up in some strategic places due to the efforts of these multi-nationals.

But our greed showed up. Government couldn’t reach a compromise with Shell. We continuously disagreed on principles and modalities on how to handle various issues. Consequently, there was a breakdown of law and order. As a business concern, Shell couldn’t continue to operate in a hostile environment. Government couldn’t help. The Dutch oil major had to move officially from Warri – Delta State to Port Harcourt – Rivers State. That singular act signaled the comatose situation in Warri and environs. All other allied companies moved along with Shell.

The huge amount of money the state used to generate from Shell in form of IGR (Internally Generated Revenue) shrunk drastically. Those in government cared less. Majority of the citizens suffered. The absence of a good plan if at all there was any, led to taking of unproductive decisions. Warri of course suffered for it.

DESOPADEC – the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission that is charged with the sole responsibility of developing the oil producing areas unfortunately became politicised. If you were not a PDP card-carrying member, no matter your ideas or professionalism, you cannot be patronized. So those with very good developmental proposals would rather sit at home and watch helplessly as the state took a nose dive for the worse.

The goose that lays the golden eggs was consequently abandoned. The government claimed to have spent billions of naira on Warri and its environs. Previous regimes, no doubt made some appreciable efforts in the development of Warri. Examples are the Federal Government College, Warri established in 1966; the Warri Refinery and Petrochemicals, 1978 and the Nigeria Gas Company established in 1980. Evidence of their impact abound.

One also recalls how Brigadier General Samuel Ogbemudia built a very solid road, the Warri / Sapele road, that served Warri for a very long time until we recently used our own hands to create very comfortable homes for lunatics right at the centre of the roads in the name of some incorrigible ideas driven by the greed to steal from the public till. For over a year now, we have been compelled to accept and ply this deplorable state of the popular Warri/Sapele road. The loss of man hour caused by the regular traffic jams on this bad state of the road runs into billions of naira if we have to quantify it in terms of naira and kobo.

Government should as a matter of urgency set up a body to draw up a comprehensive development plan for Warri and its environs. The focus should be on Warri urban; the utilisation of the Warri waterways/channels; railway line to link up everywhere; Beautification and creation of a peaceful environment that will attract investors; redirecting the attention of the youths towards self-help projects.

Wafarians are gifted. Warri no dey carry last was the slogan we use to revel in. But today, the reality is that we no dey anywhere. Warri is one big shame, an eye sore of an oil city. The task of rebuilding Warri is however a task for everyone.
- Sir Odibo, an entrepreneur and public affairs analyst wrote from Warri, Delta State.
January 12, 2016
Assessing Nigeria’s afro-centric foreign policy
No country is an island on its own. Although some countries have vast resources, they still require a form of relationship with other to aid the fulfilment of their own national interests. The notion of independence and sovereignty truly exists, but no state can exist in complete seclusion from all other states. Every politically independent nation is an actor in the global arena and arrays certain measures of power and influence in order to achieve interests favourable to its citizens, promote the cachet of the country and also aid growth and development in the country. National interests continue to remain a major determinant of a nation’s foreign engagement. I always like to make reference to the definition of K.J Holsti who defined foreign policy as the conscious behaviour of a nation state towards the external environment. Foreign policy refers to those goals, objectives and aspirations a country seeks to achieve in another country while expecting the promotion of its own national interest would be the resultant effect of the achievement of those goals and also the strategies put in place to achieve those goals.

Upon independence in 1960, Nigeria began her external relations as a sovereign state with her emergence as the 99th member of the United Nations. The Nigerian foreign policy has gone through different processes of transformation right from independence. Nigeria since 1960 has shown a sign of being a pillar that can support other African countries. Nigerian foreign policy from Tafawa Balewa’s administration (1960-1966) has expressed some basic directions and focus: principle of non-alignment, principle of non-intervention, Africa as the centrepiece, policy of good relationship with other states, inter alia. Nigeria was very keen about ending colonialism and racism on the African continent. Even with the limited resources and unlimited wants in Nigeria, Nigeria was very influential in anti-apartheid and decolonization struggles in Africa. Right from independence, Nigerian foreign policy has been experiencing changes, and not a total replacement of the foreign policy. Nigeria has always shown a great commitment to dealing with African states in her foreign policy. Nigeria has always been treating issues concerning Africa with keen interest. Nigeria has been showing her concern for issues of African interest and development. Nigeria is being referred to as the giant and the big brother of Africa. The Murtala/Obasanjo government is often regarded as the golden era of Nigerian foreign policy. During these administrations, daring decisions were taken to fast track the independence of Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia. The obnoxious apartheid regime in South Africa was seriously frowned against. On February 8, 2007, Nigeria initiated Co-prosperity Alliance Zone (COPAZ) with Togo and Republic of Benin which was aimed at promoting economic cooperation and friendship and reducing marginalization in Africa. Ghana was later co-opted. Nigeria also hosted the second black Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) which was an Afro-centric project that expressed Nigeria’s Afro-centric Foreign policy stand. Nigeria was a key actor in the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963 that later became the African Union (AU) in 2002 and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in 1975. Nigeria is one of the major contributors to the Africa Union and ECOWAS. The role of Nigeria in peace-keeping operations in Africa cannot be over-emphasized. Good examples are the peace-keeping missions in Liberia and Sierra Leone. More often than not, when countries talk about foreign policy, the first thing that they focus on is their domestic interest. In Nigeria however, when speaking of our foreign policy, we speak about our national interests and African interests.

Nigeria has been an influential actor in Africa; all the good things Nigeria has done in favour of Africa stand as investments. However, when one invests, one would expect a return on investment. This is hardly the case with Nigeria when speaking of her Afro-centric foreign policy. I would like to begin with the xenophobic attacks in South Africa in 2015. Various Nigerians were displaced as a result of this attack. Some Nigerian businesses and shops in Johannesburg and Durban were burnt and looted. Hundreds of Nigerians were displaced in Jeppes town near Johannesburg. Nigeria had to recall her High Commissioner from Johannesburg. This was a painful occurrence as Nigeria is a country with African interest at heart and that was what the country got back. South Africans cannot pretend to forget the key roles Nigeria played in anti- apartheid movements in South Africa. Nigeria was the chairman of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid for over 20 years. The committee was responsible for the international campaign against apartheid. The first world conference for action against apartheid was hosted in 1977 in Lagos, Nigeria. Some Nigerians have also been maltreated in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. When the Organization of African Unity was created, it took a whole decade before a Nigerian leader was accorded the honour of serving as the chairman of the OAU. The first three leaders were from Ethiopia, Egypt and Ghana respectively. Nigeria, the largest African shareholder was out-manoeuvred over the presidency of the African Development Bank in 1995 and 2005. Another basic example is the recent cash crunch that hit ECOWAS. Nigeria has been one of the major financiers of the organization, and Nigeria has remained committed to the strategy of economic integration at the regional level. Nigeria has various current and impending issues to deal with, most countries of ECOWAS failed in their payment obligations and the organization began to dwindle and they left the financing of the organization to majorly Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana with Nigeria being the largest contributor. In the past, Ghana adopted some stringent over-taxation economic policies that were meant to limit the economic presence of Nigerian businessmen in the country in an indirect manner. It is pertinent to mention in 2009 during the election of Nigeria as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, which would be for two years, from the beginning of 2010 to the end of 2011, Sierra Leone, Togo and Liberia voted for themselves even though they were not candidates, neither were they listed for the election. They stood against the candidature of Nigeria indirectly. It would have cost them nothing to vote for Nigeria. Sierra Leone and Liberia are countries Nigeria has helped most especially in peace support operations, so where is the return on investment here?

Rather from this illustration, we can point out a great loss on investment.

In conclusion, one can like to regard the Afro-centric foreign policy of Nigeria as being mundane as some or most of these countries hardly express their gratitude towards the effort Nigeria is making. The returns from the sacrifices made cannot be compared. Despite Nigeria’s commitment to ensure good relations with African states, some of these states have continued to behave in such a manner that is offensive to Nigeria’s interests. As a result, there has been a continuous polarization in views about the continued relevance of Nigeria’s Afro-centric foreign policy. Nigeria is not really being appreciated although the gains these African states enjoy make them acknowledge Nigeria’s leadership role. It is as if Nigeria is being used by these countries just to get what they want.
- Iyiola, is a student of International Relations, Landmark University Omu-Aran Kwara State.
January 11, 2016
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 . 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 chicanery to post surrogates as successors. The words of Macky Sall should be instructive: Power is not an end in itself.

January 11, 2016
Is something fundamentally wrong with Nigeria(ns)? (II)

In the first part, I began on an emotional basis with a racially-motivated article that states that if anyone wants to hide anything from Africans or black, the best place is in a book. Why? The conclusion is that Africans do not read. The said article, however, pinpointed three element of self-containment-selfishness, ignorance and greed-which are said to be necessary for keeping Africans in perpetual slavery. I agree. And the basis of my agreement is essentially that these three sociological elements are significant to our understanding of how far we have gone in terms of development. The first part was meant to shock us into awareness. It was meant to remove the local log in our collective eyes before we can legitimately and clearly see the speck in the eyes of our traducers. In essence, I am saying, in the first part, that we are not taking ourselves and our predicament serious enough. We have a whole lot of ‘others’ to blame for our woes: God, colonialism, the West. It is now time to take the blame for our own failures. But, I doubt whether we have been shocked enough. It is as if the curse Noah placed on Ham actually afflicts us!

I am taking the underlying principle for this second part from a cultural wisdom of the Yoruba: Arun tin se ogoji ni nse oodunrun; ohun tin se Aboyade, gbogbo oloya ninse (the sickness that afflicts forty also affects three hundred; what affects the head of the Oya cult affects all the Oya worshippers). It may be assumed that this cultural wisdom suffers from the fallacy of composition which infers that something is true of the whole because it is true of its parts. In the relationship between Africa and its states, there is actually no fallacy either of division or of composition: what is true of the whole is equally true of its parts, and vice versa. The essence of the first part of this reflection is to signpost Nigeria as the African state par excellence. Nigeria participate fully in what we can call the absence of fundamentals and the pandemic of negatives.

In this part, I am going to focus on Nigeria. And I have good reasons for this. Apart from being the country I am familiar with, Nigeria is actually a microcosm of Africa itself. When we asked whether there is anything fundamentally wrong with Africa, this question seems also more appropriate to Nigeria being the singularly most populous black nation in the world. Consciously or unconsciously, the world looks toward Nigeria for leadership in Africa. Unfortunately, however, Nigeria has been leading by negative examples-corruption, bad governance, ambivalent democracy, etc. It is also more intellectually interesting to outline the specifics of a problem rather than staying at the level of general analysis. And Nigeria provides a good point of analysis.

People have been genuinely perturbed about the lack of progress that has bedevilled Africa for ages. The same anxiety applies to the Nigerian nation. In terms of unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, greed, and elite myopia, Nigeria participates actively in the African predicament. And this is definitely not for lack of governmental efforts to transform the living condition of Nigerians. Beginning from the immediate post-independence period, succeeding Nigerian governments, including the military administrations, have been concerned with translating the euphoria of independence into solid developmental architecture that answers to the aspirations of the citizens. The grandiosity of the first five development plans (between 1960 and 1985) internalised the desires of the government to entrench a democratic governance culture that would make Nigeria a reference on the continent. It is an unfortunate but obvious fact that these development planning have not impacted significantly on Nigeria’s governance trajectory.

Our failure to make progress may actually be the result of not appreciating the depth of our collective predicament. In other words, we seem to spend inordinate time confronting the superficialities rather than the substantives. The trouble with Nigeria goes beyond electricity, corruption, ethnicity and all those other issues we have signposted all the time in our attempt at making sense of what ails us as a people. For instance, I consider as one of our fundamental problems our inability to channel our social and national capital into a veritable framework for confronting our collective predicament. By ‘national capital,’ I reference two dynamics: first, I am concerned about the national ethno-cultural diversity-Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, Kanuri, Igala, Tiv, etc.-and what their harnessed potentials means for Nigeria. And second, as a correlate of the first, I am equally bothered about Nigeria’s failure to engage with its heroes and heroines who constitute the social capital all nations require to move forward. On the contrary, Nigeria hounds, harries and persecutes them relentlessly, until they either die or are sent on exile. And we then wonder about brain drain? Our brain loss has become the brain gain of USA, UK, and Europe where Nigerians are making waves in business, government and the academics.

One of the best and fundamental books I have read recently is Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson’s Why Nations Fail (2012).This book is significant because it mounts a consistent attack on the bogeyman of culture, geography, ignorance of the right policies or even weather in order to make the singular claim that it is institutions, political and economic, that really make the difference between progress and poverty, between development and underdevelopment. And this is essentially the source of our predicament as Nigerians: We lack democratic institutions which are established to cater for the well-being of the citizens. But we have in abundance structures of expropriation that corruptly enrich minority politicians, business people and other powerful elites at the expense of the majority which wallows in deep impoverishment.

Note the fundamental difference between institutions and structures.

I take institutions as the frameworks, physical or otherwise, that represents our ideas as a nation. And these ideas derived from our collective experience and vision of where we are going and how we intend to get there. Unfortunately, however, this is the one thing we have consistently failed to do since independence. Our political and intellectual laziness to deconstruct what Professor Peter Ekeh calls ‘migrated structures’ has remained a tragic national shame. Take three significant examples. The first is the inability of our scientific and health systems to deal with the scourge of malaria. The malaria parasite has kept mutating beyond the reach of our anti-malaria drugs, and we are barely keeping up. And yet we still keep our arrogant trust in orthodox medicine while disregarding the possibilities presented by the herbal or the traditional. What happens if and when the malaria parasites break through our last medical firewall? Now consider the larger cases of misdiagnoses and the number of needless deaths that have resulted therefrom; our hospitals as death centres; the many cases of inefficient and ignorant doctors; the total absence of what we can properly call ‘healthcare system,’ etc. The message here is: nstitutions matter.

The second example is political, and it concerns our bloated, exorbitant and unsustainable presidentialism. A presidential system of government that generates more redundancies and less efficiency is a fundamental symptom of Nigeria’s lack of the critical sense of institutional reengineering. When HRH Lamido Sanusi blew the lid on the overheads at the National Assembly alone, that was only the tip of the iceberg. If you add the bloatedness of the civil service, you begin to understand where our infrastructural deficit is coming from. Again, institutions matter.

The third example arises from the economy, and it concerns our leadership failure manifested in the fixation with foreign economic paradigm represented by the Washington Consensus. Nigeria, as well as many other African states, is tied to the apron string of the World Bank and IMF. We all dance to their macroeconomic tunes. And the consequences: Our continuing morbid fascination with oil and economic monoculture, our vulnerability to the fluctuations in the global economy, and the lack of insights into how to turn around the socioeconomic fortunes of Nigerians.and, as if we can ever get tired of saying it: institutions matter!

So, to reiterate Vladimir Lenin, what is to be done? ‘The season of failure,’ says Paramabansa Yogananda, the Indian yogi, ‘is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.’ But unlike the sower in the Bible, how best do we sow without wasting the precious seeds on the rock or among the thorns?

January 10, 2016
Demolition: Between traders and Oshodi transformation

Over since the Lagos State Government took a bold step towards the realization of the Oshodi transformation agenda on January 5, 2016 with the demolition of the Owonifari Market within the notorious loop of Oshodi, there have been hues and cries in some quarters over the development.

While many see the development as long-overdue owing to the need to go in the way of sanity as it was unreasonable to allow a few people to continue to hold the generality of the people into ransom, some others especially the traders in the market and those agitating for them, are of a contrary opinion.

As a matter of facts, some of the traders, who were not prepared to move to the alternative market provided for them by the government, which is an ultra-modern market in nearby Bolade in Oshodi, had alluded to some reasons to justify their action, which included ‘spiritual activities’ associated with the newly built Isopakodowo Market.

The traders had equally claimed that the available space in the new market could not accommodate them, while some of the traders actually said they prefer to be relocated to Arena Mall belonging to the Nigerian Army.

But while that was on-going, the State Government on Thursday came out to defend the relocation of the traders and demolition of the Owonifari Market, saying the actions were taken in the overall interest of public good, safety and security.

The government recalled that in preparing the minds of the public towards the relocation and demolition, it issued a statement where the actions were brought to the public space before they were embarked upon.

The government had, in the said statement, said it had commenced the fencing-off of the set-back on Agege Motor Road that stretches from Ilupeju end of Oshodi all the way to the PWD/Ikeja GRA end of the area. The government had further explained that the Owonifari loop would be transformed into an ultra-modern bus terminus with new bus shelters that are befitting of a structured park in a mega city.

However, not satisfied with the misrepresentation of facts and background of the relocation and demolition, the government again organized a press briefing which was jointly addressed by the State’s Ministries of Information and Strategy, The Environment, Physical Planning and Urban Development, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and the Office of Civic Engagement, where it set the record straight.

According to Lagos State Government, the alternative market stall could conveniently accommodate over 600 shops and hundreds of kee clamps, and that government agreed to subsidize payment by giving shops at the new market at a monthly give away price of N5, 000 to the traders.

Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde said the traders were adequately notified before the exercise took place as required by law, and that government engaged with the leadership of the market severally before carrying out the demolition exercise on Owonifari Market.

Ayorinde said it was important for people to note that the issue of the market had been on for nothing less than ten years, adding that government had been engaging the leadership of the market to make them realize that it could no longer continue in the manner in which the market was being used.

He said unfortunately, the leadership of the market, in the last three years, refused to move despite the fact that the new market has over 600 shops apart from the kee clamps which takes the number of people that the market could conveniently accommodate to over a thousand all together.

Ayorinde said having been satisfied that government had provided a befitting alternative, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, through the Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, invited the leadership of the market to the Executive Chambers and met with them on December 16, 2015, where he reiterated his plans for Oshodi and the need to move the traders to Isopakodowo which as at that time had been ready for a couple of years.

Giving a further background, the Commissioner said: “A few of them expressed certain misgivings but largely they felt that if their interest would be accommodated within the Isopakodowo Market, that they were willing and ready to move and on our part, we said that the discussion should be ongoing particularly regarding how much they would pay for each store within that market.

“After that, on Monday December 21, 2015, Governor Ambode went on a tour of that market area particularly at Isopakodowo in company with a few members of the State Exco. Again, we met with the leadership of the market where it was eventually agreed based on the proposition by the leadership that what they were willing to pay for each shop at Isopakodowo was N5, 000.

“There is nowhere in Lagos where you will agree to be paying N5, 000 per shop not to talk of the central Oshodi, but the Governor agreed with them and we said we were ready to concede after which we now formally served them with a quit notice through the office of the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development,” he said.

Speaking further, Ayorinde denied allegation that many goods of the traders were destroyed in the demolition exercise, adding that such was far from the truth.

He said: “The intention of government certainly was not to destroy any goods and we did not destroy any goods because we believe that a good number of the traders, if not all, had moved because they were aware that they needed to move.

“Government, I should say, will not be blackmailed because we had done everything humanly possible and you know that the hallmark of this government has been compassion. It is a compassionate government.

“The intention was not to destroy the market or destroy properties or to make life inconvenient for them. We believe very strongly that Isopakodowo market is quite ideal; its a lot bigger store-per-store than where they had been removed now and the aim of government, as we stated earlier, is to ensure that that area of the market conforms with the type of image that we want Lagos to be, which is to return sanity to the place, to beautify the market, to construct a world class bus terminus around that place and to ensure that people who use that place on a daily basis – the commuters, traders, everybody enjoy what it means to go to a market in a mega city.

“We also believe that the exercise will largely reduce the gridlock that is associated with that area and then the criminalities that were rampant in that Oshodi. What we have done is in the interest of the generality of Lagosians,” Ayorinde said.

He added: “You will see from the reports that quite a good chunk of the traders acknowledged that they had been properly served and that they were ready to move which was why a good number of them, if not all, parked their things just before the end of last year.

“Along the line, we got intelligence report that during the holidays there were a number of criminal activities going on in the market and that the place was harbouring criminals and a number of untoward activities which of course necessitated the need to move in immediately to safeguard lives, to safeguard properties and to ensure that there was no breach of peace which was what led to the demolition.”

Ayorinde added that the demolition actually confirmed the intelligence report as a concrete bunker with arms was discovered underneath the shops.

Also speaking at the press briefing, Commissioner for the Environment, Dr. Babatunde Adejare said contrary to claims in some quarters, none of the occupants’ properties was destroyed in the demolition exercise.

He said: “On Tuesday night, we found that all the occupants have complied and moved to the new market. The only one that remained actually called us to say that he was in the East burying his late mother. For that one, we had to evacuate his properties and they are safe with us. So, nothing was destroyed in the exercise. The other shops destroyed were full of garbage so there is no iota of truth in the allegation that goods were destroyed.”

Adejare further disclosed that the relocation and demolition exercises were the first phase of the Oshodi transformation drive, adding that more adjustments would still be done to other parts of the area to make it conform to modern city-state just like anywhere in the world.

On his part, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Wasiu Anifowoshe said the demolished site was not originally designed for market, adding that things went wrong along the line.

He said the fact that the previous administration could not fully actualize the transformation plan for Oshodi does not preclude the present administration from moving to do the right thing.

He assured Lagosians that the intention of the government was in the overall interest of the people, and that doing otherwise by succumbing to blackmail would not be in the interest of the generality of the people.

With the above facts and cogent reasons enumerated by the government why the demolition had to take place to secure Oshodi, which many Lagosians see as a central point to various locations, the traders would have to find other reasons why they should be allowed to remain in a place designated for other meaningful development.

For now, the government has demonstrated with this demolition its willingness to put the larger interests of the generalty of the people above pecuniary interests .

January 10, 2016
Bailout: Amosun as study in prudence
It was originally derived from the 14th century Old French word, “prudence.” That French word, in itself also derives from the Latin word, “prudential” meaning “foresight, sagacity.”

Indeed, the word prudence is usually associated with wisdom, insight, and knowledge. Little wonder, therefore, that it was considered by the ancient Greeks and later on by Christian philosophers, most notably Thomas Aquinas, as “the cause, measure and form of all virtues.”

In other words, prudence is the mother of all virtues. It also refers to the exercise of good judgment, informed by intelligence and good character. Prudence requires the consideration of long term choices and implications of decisions, and the avoidance of biases that make us focus on instant gratification.

This, perhaps explain why, economists would describe a consumer as prudent if he or she saves more when faced with riskier future income. This additional saving is called precautionary saving.

Judging from this premise therefore, one can then logically come to the conclusion that no other word can better describe the decision of the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, to opt for a 10-year repayment schedule for the bailout fund provided to states of the federation by the federal government.

Whereas the federal government had offered to the states a 20-year repayment schedule, Amosun, a chartered accountant and prudent manager of resources, chose to repay the bailout fund in 10 years.

Of course, that decision placed Ogun State in a class of its own. Ogun State is the only state in the federation to choose that path. If Ogun State had played along with the 20-year repayment plan, the current monthly deductions from its allocations would have been reduced by an amount in excess of N400m.

But that would have been a short-sighted decision. Governor Amosun, being prudent, knew that what was required of him is a consideration of long term choices in a manner that avoid biases that often make the average person to focus on short-term rewards while ignoring the long-term implications.

So by choosing a 10-year repayment plan, the governor is in the long run saving the good people of Ogun State over N80bn in debt service costs that would have been incurred over the period of the loan.

He is in fact not stopping there. The governor is also working very hard to ensure that he saves more for Ogun State by exercising the option of making lump sum repayments of the principal whenever the state has the capacity to do so. By so doing, Governor Amosun intends to fully repay the bailout loan before the end of his tenure of office.

“We don’t intend to leave any debt to the administration that will succeed us. Despite the apparent squeeze that this incremental repayment places on our finances in the short-term, we think it is the best decision for the people of Ogun State to have a much lower cost of debt overall, allowing financial resources to instead be directed towards the further development of our state,” the Governor said.

So, where is this confidence coming from in an era where resources are dwindling and some have started calling for a reduction of the national minimum wage?

Well, the answer again, lies in the meaning of the word prudence. “We took this decision because we are confident that the efforts we have made to date to diversify our revenue sources and strengthen our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) base will continue to bear fruit as we proceed through our second term.

“Indeed it is the fruit of these efforts that has enabled Ogun State to continue to pay salaries and pensions as and when due, despite the notable reduction of funds from the federation account,” Governor Amosun said. This also explains why the Ogun State governor was able to pay the December 2015 salaries of all civil servants in Ogun State before Christmas Day and also paid 10 per cent bonus.

The Senator Amosun-led administration has repeatedly made it clear that it is not considering a reduction of the minimum wage or staff retrenchment as a result of the dwindling federal allocation.

And he sure has good reasons for this confidence. Even before the current economic downturn, Governor Amosun had been forward looking by embarking on efforts that led to a quantum leap in the IGR profile of the state.

Moving forward, the governor is not relenting in his administration’s drive towards further raising IGR through the provision of services to the people. Ogun State has a multi-pronged strategy to drive its revenues and cover recurrent expenditure. For instance, the Governor Amosun administration has been hugely successful in attracting major industries to Ogun State and this has had the effect of creating jobs for the people and increasing government revenues from taxes.

The governor has also repeatedly stated his administration’s resolve to make agricultural production and industrialisation, which is one of the five cardinal programmes of his administration, a major source of job creation and invariably a source of revenue for the government.

With the advantage of proximity to Lagos, the biggest market in Nigeria; being the gateway to the rest of Nigeria as well as proximity to the markets of the West African sub-region, Ogun State in fact holds the potential of seeing its revenue base grow steadily over the years.

This growth is even further guaranteed by prudent and effective management of resources which is one of the major hallmarks of the Governor Amosun-led administration.
- Soyinka, is Senior Special Assistant, Media, to Governor Amosun.
January 8, 2016
Akwa Ibom: Beyond propaganda
One of the areas in which the All Progressives Congress (APC) had an edge over the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general elections was effective use of propaganda. The tool proved useful, helped especially by the state of despondency and hopelessness in the country, which brought about the loss of faith in the then ruling party.

Now, having won the election, and even with the government firmly in its control, the party has not seen the need to change or abandon the culture of propaganda. We see it in the Ministry of Information and Culture as it sings different tunes at different times, depending on what the issues are.

When the power situation improved generally all over the country in June and July last year, at a time President Muhammadu Buhari had yet to form his cabinet, the then All Progressives Congress attributed it to the body language of the president. But Nigerians knew it was the result of the efforts of the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration.

The APC is tactfully silent on the cause of the current worsening power situation. Instead, it prefers to blame the former President Jonathan for the apparently intractable fuel crisis, seven months after the later left office.

That was after the government and its relevant agencies had run out of ideas to tell Nigerians on the true cause of the crisis that took the shine off the Yuletide celebrations. The frustration brought on lives and livelihoods of the masses by the fuel scarcity were never seen in the history of the country. Businesses where shut down, bringing untold hardship to the people.

The Ministry of Information and Culture also failed to draw a distinction between insurgency and terrorism in the north-eastern part of the country, to explain away the failure of the military to meet the December 31 deadline the president gave them.

It appears the APC in Akwa Ibom State has taken a cue from its national body in the use of propaganda. The party has applied the tool at every step of the way, from the electioneering period through the elections up to now.

Before the election, it tried unsuccessfully to sell the dummy of Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel tenure being a third term for Godswill Akpabio, the former governor.

But the people of the state saw the former secretary to the government as the most capable to continue from where Akpabio stopped, and they expressed it through the ballot on April 11, 2015 elections.

The party got otherwise respectable former political leaders in the state who fell out of favour with Akpabio to stay away from the elections, with video recordings of supposed empty polling stations and scenes of the pockets of violence that took place in a few areas, as alibi in its appeal for cancellation of the state governorship election.

Now, with the Supreme Court yet to rule on the appeal that Governor Emmanuel has lodged in respect of the appellate court ruling that granted its prayers for total cancellation of the April 11 election, the APC has resorted again to the use of propaganda, insisting that the cancellation of the election is a fait accompli. But this is one propaganda stunt that will not achieve its purpose.

More than before, the people of Akwa Ibom have become aware of the antics of the APC in the state to destroy what it cannot get. The party knows it cannot win an election in the state, no matter how many times it is conducted. Its recourse to the courts is simply an effort to frustrate the smooth running of a PDP government, in the vain hope that another election would afford it opportunity to perfect employment of the so-called federal might to win.

The groundswell of support for the governor, which is building in the wake of the ruling of the appeal court, is evidence of a people that is united to ensure there is a limit to the use of propaganda in the affairs of man.

Pledges of supports that are coming from all segments of the population for Udom’s continuation in office is hinged on what has become apparent, namely, the likelihood of a fresh election. The reason for this is not farfetched. In the short period that he has been in office, the governor has given a lie to the earlier branding of his government as a continuation of the administration of his predecessor.

His retention of some key members of the Akpabio administration was for the purpose of guaranteeing a smooth and seamless transition, especially against the background of the need to build on the legacies of the previous administration.

It is the reason he is building on the foundation laid by Akpabio in key projects that would herald the new era of industrialisation that he envisions for the state. Two important examples are the Ibom Deep Seaport, for which he has set up an implementation committee with a December 31, 2016 deadline for takeoff, and Ibom Power Plant, for which he has obtained a licence from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission for increase in generation capacity from its current 190 megawatts to 685 megawatts.

Also, the youth empowerment programme of the Udom administration targets training of 1,000 Akwa Ibom youths for Oracle certification in information communication technology.

This figure will add to the pool of about 350,000 Oracle certificated professionals around the world who are in high demand in oil and gas, banking, manufacturing, security, agro-allied companies, construction, among others.

Besides, 100 youths have been sent to Israel for agricultural training, to prepare them for roles in the implementation of the state’s agricultural programme that targets micro, medium and small scale enterprises in such areas as sea food, soap and detergent production, edible oil production, fruit juice bottling.

The people of the state have also seen from the programmes and polices he has so far put in place, with three private refineries and a fertilizer plant in the pipeline, that he means business in his pledge to leapfrog the state into an industrial hub in the Gulf of Guinea.

This is in addition to the various youth development programmes of the administration. Another governorship election would provide the people an opportunity to choose between propaganda and reality that is already visible to the eye.
- Ojukwu is a public sector analyst, based in Abuja.
January 8, 2016
Nigeria 2016: Matters arising
Obviously, 2016 is a year in which Nigeria will be facing a number of very grave dangers. There is absolutely no need for anyone to lay claim to gifts of prophecy in order to comprehend a self-evident fact of this nature. In fact, every Nigerian above the age of 12 should easily be able to understand what is going on. Whether we like it or not, the harsh reality confronting us today is that Nigeria is a nation at war! War is currently being waged against our people and our land on a number of separate fronts.

In the main theatre of war, the forces ranged against us are hunger, poverty, corruption and under-development. Only a fool would underestimate the potency of the formidable armies that have been marshalled against us by these entities, which, far from being abstract ideas, are actually very formidable adversaries that have destroyed far better prepared nations than Nigeria in the past.

However, there is no doubt that the terrifying forces ranged against us in the main theatre of war can be successfully confronted and defeated. The most inspiring recent example of a people and a nation that rose from the verge of defeat to largely overcome hunger, poverty, widespread corruption and under-development is China, which has now gone on to start vying for the position of the world’s leading nation with a fast declining United States of America, leaving erstwhile giants like Britain, France and Italy far, far, behind.

Unfortunately for us, far from offering worthwhile leadership, the western educated Nigerian elite has demonstrated an astonishing capacity for self-delusion, unrelenting greed and blind attachment to a self-destructive quest for accumulating material wealth since the era of direct colonial rule came to an end.

Indeed, examining Nigeria’s history since we attained nominal independence from Britain in 1960, one is forced to wonder what sins the peoples of Nigeria might have committed to deserve such a thoroughly rotten and incapable leadership class!

How else can one describe a situation in which individuals occupying high positions as governors, ministers, heads of the civil service and even presidents have been involved in looting the national coffers on such a monumental scale that Nigeria would have collapsed completely within the next few years if providence had not miraculously brought Buhari to power last year?

The danger is however far from over: Corruption is fast regrouping for a major counter offensive that is already gaining ground through deliberate acts of economic sabotage (such as the recent petrol shortage) and a desperate propaganda onslaught spearheaded by odd jobbers like Ayo Fayose and Femi Fani-Kayode, whose deafening hypocritical clamour about the violation of the “human rights” of those who are currently being investigated for their role in the recent massive looting of our national resources is obviously being coordinated from somewhere.

It is also certainly not by pure coincidence that a well funded agitation for a new “Biafra” homeland has been unleashed of recent on the Nigerian nation, with a dangerous intent to plunge the country into a massive civil war in which hundreds of thousands of lives would have been lost.

Who are the brains and the deep pockets behind this bogus “biafran emancipation movement”?

There is no doubt that there will be many interesting revelations whenever Nnamdi Kanu (a hitherto largely unknown youth who mysteriously emerged overnight as the leader of the so-called Biafra Independent Movement) is brought to public trial for his nefarious role as a puppet in the pay of some powerful individuals who were plotting to provoke a new civil war in Nigeria, possibly as a means of evading arrest and prosecution for their horrendous financial misdeeds during the Jonathan administration.

Most amazingly, a hitherto highly respected Nigerian cleric recently came forward to recommend that President Buhari should hold “peace talks” in person with the shadowy Nnamdi Kanu, whom the cleric described as the most popular leader in Nigeria today!

This flight of fancy might easily have been dismissed as having been provoked by a moment of indulgence in what my late friend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (Abami Eda) used to fondly describe as “Nigerian natural grass”, but for the fact that this same cleric drew unwanted national attention to himself some time ago by leading what he described as s “peace and reconciliation delegation” to Aso rock to plead with President Buhari to discontinue investigation into the looting of Nigeria’s national treasury during the Jonathan era… Curiouser and curiouser, as the saying goes in “Alice in Wonderland”!

After all is said and done, however, the easiest way of bringing the whole silly “Biafran emancipation” agitation to a quick halt is for the Federal Government to agree to hold a nation-wide referendum to allow Ndigbo residing and running businesses in different parts of Nigeria to opt to return to the land-locked and resource-deficient enclave that will be formed to accommodate the new Biafran nation. It is highly doubtful that the so-called emancipation movement would survive such a referendum by even a single hour! No need to deploy troops or attempt to prevent the rented crowds of unemployed youths from marching up and down to their hearts’ content!

Finally, on a more serious note, the Buhari administration needs to devise a more efficient way of deploying the nation’s armed might against the rag-tag Boko Haram forces, which continue to have some residual capacity to perpetrate cowardly suicide bomb attacks on innocent civilians. The problem is that the federal government is wrong to rely on the current Nigerian Army (which is essentially an outgrowth of the original repressive force established by the British colonialists as a tool for “pacifying” Nigeria) for a task that requires unorthodox tactics and a high degree of motivation, as well as a willingness to confront death. In their place, the federal government should deploy a civilian volunteer force of one million Nigerian patriots, armed only with sticks if necessary, to comb every inch of the Sambisa forest and root out the cowardly Boko Haram louts, who will never stand and fight against a determined citizenry that is not afraid to die. How many of the civilian patriots can the Boko Haram rag-tag army of cowardly renegades actually kill before they are all flushed out and dispatched to kingdom come?
- Dr. Balogun is an author, film maker and musician based in Cotonou, Benin Republic.
January 8, 2016
Edo: What if it’s Obaseki?
Governor Adams Oshiomhole, in what is akin to setting bail conditions, has listed two qualities an APC gubernatorial aspirant must have to qualify to be the next governor of Edo State. According to the Comrade Governor, the preferred aspirant must be someone who believes in the state as well as have the capacity to manage it. Comrade Oshiomhole says “from my inner insight of what this job entails, I belive we should look for people who believe in the state and have the capacity to run it”.

This is coming from someone who should know what governance of development entails. Having served the state for almost eight years now, Comrade Oshiomhole knows the state and its people so well as to seek to bequeath to them a government that can reasonably be expected to sustain the tempo of development in the state. There is no doubt that Edo State has, under Oshiomhole, witnessed a high tempo of infrastructural and human capital development thereby setting a standard which must not only be maintained but be improved upon by the succeeding administration.

It is common knowledge that every governor, being leader of his party in his state, has a high interest in who succeeds him in office. This interest is not just for the reason of self-preservation but for the preservation and sustainability of his legacies. Oshiomhole has legacies which must be protected, sustained and imbibed by all for the peace and development of Edo State. For example, he has always been very passionate about transparency and accountability in governance, insisting that state funds belong to the people and must, therefore, be used to provide for their good. His commendable and exemplary application of state resources in the prompt payment of workers monthly salaries, including state pension obligations; the massive infrastructural development in education, health, road, water, urban renewal and beautification, electricity as well as the ingenious tax administration and collection regime require sustainability.

The vision which has driven and propelled the Oshiomhole administration to this laudable achievement may be that of the Comrade Governor himself but working with a team of knowledgeable aides who not only share in the vision but have the capacity to translate and implement programmes and policies envisioned. The success achieved by this administration should, therefore, be rightly attributed to the visionary prowess, managerial wizardry and selfless disposition of the Comrade Governor as well as the commitment, dogged and energetic implementation of policies and programmes to meet set goals.

It may not be public knowledge but much of this shared accolade should go to the State Economic Team put together by the Comrade Governor at the start of his administration to act as think-tank to formulate, articulate and implement (where appropriate) people-oriented programmes which would impact positively on Edo people. This team, headed by the charismatic catalyst and progressive technocrat called Godwin Obaseki, has in the last seven years, worked tirelessly behind the scene for the rapid infrastructural resurgence in the state. In the face of dwindling oil revenues, Obaseki and his team have had a herculean task in assisting the Comrade Governor focus emphasis on alternative sources of revenue which has in no small way stabilised the state economy.

It may not be enough for Edo people to pray, as Comrade Oshiomhole admonished recently, “for God to give us a governor that will put Edo people first, respect the traditional institution and that will work for the unity of our people across the 192 wards”. Edo people must look at the contenders, sift the serious from the pretenders, shun sentimental and primodal interests and focus on the serious issues of passion for development of our state and the ability and capacity to harness and utilise most creatively the resources available to the state. This is where Obaseki who has shared in the Comrade Governor’s vision and mission these past years stands the best chance in keeping hope alive that the legacies of the Oshiomhole administration of which he has been a significant part will be sustained.

Hindsight informs us that the most development in our state has been achieved when it was administered by technocrats with little or no discernible political background. Brigadier-General Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia (rtd) was a military officer when he ruled Midwest Region (now Edo and Delta states) and wrought so much infrastructural and industrial development on the region. He was not a politician. Late Prof. Ambrose Folorunsho Alli was holding a professorial chair in morbid anatomy at the University of Benin when he became governor of Bendel State in 1979. He was not a politician. His administration recorded monumental achievement in both infrastructure and human capital development. Till date, Edo and Delta people cannot forget him and the administration he headed. Comrade Oshiomhole was not an active politician when he became governor in 2008. In fact, he may still not be rightly described as one in the strict sense of it. He joins the league of Dr. Ogbemudia and Prof. Alli as those whose administrations have done the greatest good to the greatest number of Edo people. Others who can be labelled hardcore politicians failed to deliver appreciable dividends to the people. In our search therefore, Edo people must look beyond those who have remained on the political dance-stage for some time without visible meaningul contribution to our march to progress and development. We must search out the new breed leaders in the mould of Comrade Oshiomhole who have the qualities enunciated by him. All those jostling for the APC ticket are good people in their own right but we must pick the one who, after winning the election, will deliver the greatest good to the majority of Edo people. The Comrade Governor must lead while we the people follow in this ultimate search for a brand new and stainless governor for Edo State in 2016.
- Comrade Jacobson, a public affairs commentator, lives in Benin City.
January 5, 2016