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  • Ambode’s red card to criminals

    If there had been doubts about Governor Akinwumi Ambode’s policy to rid Lagos State of Criminals, such was laid to rest on Friday, November 27. For Ambode’s critics who have unfairly concluded he has no answer to the security challenges in the state, they have been proved wrong by the presentation of various security vehicles and equipment to the police to combat crime.

    Here is a checklist of the N4.8billion worth of vehicles and equipment handed over to the police by Governor Ambode; 100 4-Door Salon Cars, 55 Ford Ranger Pick-Ups, 10 Toyota Land Cruiser Pick-Ups, 15 BMW power bikes, 100 power bikes, Isuzu trucks, three helicopters, two gunboats, 15 Armoured Personnel Carriers, revolving lights, siren and public address system, vehicular radio communicators, security gadgets including bullet proof vests, helmets, handcuffs, etc, uniforms, kits and improved insurance and death benefit schemes for officers.

    The above is a comprehensive package geared towards fighting crime in Lagos. While we cannot deny the fact that there was an upsurge of crime in Lagos in recent times after Ambode had hardly settled down as Governor, it is unfair to conclude that he is not doing anything about it. We should take cognisance of the fact that policing a city-state like Lagos can’t be a tea party.

    It indeed, involves huge investment in security equipment in assisting the police to effectively police the city. While we all know that previous governments also committed huge resources in assisting the police in the area of equipment, logistic and training, we should not forget that this gesture must be continuous for the police to remain focused and active in combating crime.

    There is no doubt that most of the vehicles that were bought for the police in the past had become unserviceable; many of the equipment have either become outdated or faulty, gadgets have become faulty or obsolete. This means that these must be replenished and modern equipment must be provided for the police.

    What Ambode has done is to restore confidence in Lagosians that their safety as well as that of their property is assured. It is also a red card to criminals who have devised new ways of making life hellish for Lagos residents. These criminals suddenly found it easier to rob unchallenged inside traffic gridlock while they have also discovered that waterways have provided a shield for their nefarious activities. But the criminals who I am sure would watch the presentation ceremony which was televised live, would have had a rethink by now.

    The power bikes would come handy in apprehending traffic robbers while the helicopters would be used for surveillance and transmission of information to the security agents on ground. The gunboats will no doubt put the fear of God into the creek robbers who rely on speed boats to get away after robbing their victims. Helicopters and gunboats will put these creek robbers in check. Bank robbers will also have a rethink as the Armoured Personnel Carriers will be deployed at short notice.

    I cannot agree less with the Minister of the Interior, Lt Gen Abduraman Dambassau, who represented President Buhari at the occasion, when he called on men of the Lagos State Police Command to ensure that the equipment is preserved through diligent maintenance culture in order to justify the huge resources expended. The Inspector -General of Police, Solomon Arase who was also at the occasion was so impressed that he made a promise on behalf of his men that they will be more alive to their responsibilities with the new vehicles, equipment and gadgets presented by the state government because to whom much is given, much is expected. Ambode did not stop at providing vehicles and gadgets, he also provided for the welfare and insurance of men and officers of the police.

    The involvement of the police high command and the Minister of Interior in the effort to combat crime in Lagos State underscores Ambode’s determination to confront the security challenges of Lagos State head-on as a team player who believes that the issue of security involves all critical stakeholders. The minister, who represented President Mohammadu Buhari, was so fascinated with Ambode’s gesture that he enjoined other governors to emulate him.

    The first thing that comes to the mind of an average Lagosian with the display of the sophisticated equipment and weapons is psychological relief that alas, we can sleep with our eyes closed. There will be no more excuses on the part of the police that there is no patrol vehicle, no bullet proof vest, no gunboat to combat waterways robbers etc.

    The new items presented to the police have started yielding results as the state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni has increased the police presence at dark spots in the state from about 165 locations to over 200 by adding an additional 85 or thereabout. This is possible because of the new vehicles and gadgets.

    Apart from the vehicles and equipment presented to the police, Ambode still has a lot of job to do in terms of easing the traffic gridlock in the state which gave the robbers the chance to operate in the first place. While Lagosians have noticed a tremendous improvement in the traffic gridlock in the state in recent times due to the collaborative effort of the various drivers’ unions who are now Special Traffic Marshals and the enforcement of traffic rules, the situation could still be better if this tempo is maintained. Little wonder he told the police authorities that Lagosians would no longer accept any excuses after the huge investment his government has committed on the vehicles, equipment, gadgets, training and their  insurance.

    What Ambode has done is to take the security agents to the public court and tell them that he has played his own part leaving the rest to the police. This is the best way to go as the whole world now shift attention on how the security agents utilise the items presented to them to the benefit of the general public. As the chief security officer of the state on whose table the buck stops, Ambode has demonstrated that he is in charge and on top of the security situation in the state. Be that as it may, the Federal Government whose responsibility it is to kit and supply equipment and gadget to the police should not abandon this role to state governments. If Lagos State government is buoyant to invest such a colossal sum on the police, what of other states that are not so buoyant but with security challenges?

    As Lagosians basked in the euphoria of the new equipment and gadgets presented to the police to secure them and their property, we hope the police will reciprocate the gesture as promised by the Inspector-General of Police by chasing the criminals out thereby making the state and secured.

    • Afolabi writes from Surulere.
  • With Ambode, Lagos is in good hands

    With Ambode, Lagos is in good hands

    In recent time, there have been lots of hues and cries about the course Lagos is charting under the less than six months leadership of Akinwumi Ambode as governor.  While some analysts and commentators have been quite understanding and considerate, some others have passed damning verdicts on the administration and even in the extreme, demand his resignation.

    Indeed, many have gone short of arguing that the governor doesn’t possess what it requires to steer the ship of the Centre of Excellence to meet the yearnings and expectations of the people.

    Much of these criticisms have been premised on recent breaches in the security and traffic controls across the state. It is alleged that Ambode’s decision to embrace civility by relaxing enforcement, and relying more on persuasion in traffic management was responsible for the new chaotic traffic condition in the state. Another thread that became noticeable in the whole of the anti-Ambode tirade is to compare him with his predecessor, Babatunde Raji Fashola.

    My evaluation of these scenarios is that most commentators have been rather harsh and unfair instead of sharing an understanding of the perception of the new Lagos helmsman on governance. The fact that the former governor, Fashola, his predecessor, adopted stern postures and measures in his approach to governance does not mean that is what must obtain forever, and that subsequent administrations must toe the same path.

    Fashola surely had his reasons for adopting stern measures as a shock therapy to stem the rate of recklessness and lawless in the public space. Fine, his approach yielded impressive outcomes. However, tough measures are only used in the short term to drive a consciousness that would make the people embrace a culture of order and decency. It has to be phased out overtime.

    Ambode for one made it clear from the outset that he was going to run an all-inclusive government that departs from his predecessor in terms of style. His idea of an all-inclusive government is one in which “no one or segment of the society, irrespective of colours, race, faith, status; ability or disability is left behind.” His philosophy is that for democracy to truly remain the government of the people, by the people and for the people, the active involvement of the people in governance must always be constantly encouraged and, indeed, deliberately courted. This is because the citizens are the bedrock of democracy. This explains why Ambode has never derided himself of having the monopoly of knowledge with regards to finding the right solutions to the myriad of challenges confronting the state.

    Curiously, this development goes a long way to underscore the complexity of the human nature, and it simply explains what has always made the study of man and his society an interesting subject of study. It is the same people that accused Fashola of running a dictatorial, aloof and elitist government that are seeking the head of his successor for transiting onto a more open and considerate mode of public engagement.

    No two individuals are the same. Ambode is entitled to his own style of government. He should, therefore, not allow himself to be coerced by any person or group into replicating someone else’s style. The most important thing is to get the job done, and as the governor has demonstrated a clear understanding, the pact he has with Lagosians who are always eager to appraise and appreciate good performance.  He should be focused on the job and not allow himself to be distracted.

    A fact he must hold sacrosanct is that human beings are always very difficult to satisfy. As benevolent as the Almighty God is, He still cannot please everyone. Therefore, Ambode should be focused on fulfilling his electoral promises to Lagosians. He should follow his convictions and be his own man. At the end of the day, the buck stops on his table. Governance is about continually devising and adopting strategies to advance the course of humanity and meet the challenges of a dynamic and constantly evolving society.

    Ambode surely has all it takes to move Lagos to greater heights. I have no doubt in my mind that he does. His over 27 years experience in the Lagos State public service will definitely serve him in good stead with extra mileage to steer the ship of state to the right channel. Without any doubt, Ambode has had a vastly memorable career as a public sector accountant and administrator in Lagos State. He rose to become the Auditor General for Local Governments in the State, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Accountant General of Lagos State, a position he held until his voluntary resignation from the public service in 2012. In a competitive public service environment like ours, one does not accomplish such a feat by being a neophyte.

    Perhaps, more importantly, Ambode was involved at, possibly, the two most critical periods in the history of the state within the current democratic dispensation. The first was the era of spiteful financial offensive on Lagos, and the other was the period of the dramatic fiscal reengineering that gave rise to the ambitious accomplishments being witnessed in Lagos today. Recent revelation by the governor that the state is now able to save N3 billion monthly expenditure, as a result of the various fiscal re-engineering measures he has put in place in the past five months is indicative of his vast experience as a financial expert.

    Only last month, the governor flagged off the construction of 114 inner roads, two in each of 20 Local Government Areas and the 37 LCDA’s made possible with the intervention of the state government in funding, implementation and supervision. Aside from the direct benefit of the critical link roads to the people, the project will go a long way to enhance local capacity, which translates into a more rapid development at the grassroots.

    Now that he would have the privilege of working with a budget that fits into his own vision for Lagos by 2016, Lagosians would, no doubt, experience breathtaking infrastructure development. Just last week, the governor in an elaborate event, handed over three helicopters for crime and traffic surveillance, which would no doubt impact positively in the management of the two areas of concern. Already, he has professed ‘Operation Zero Tolerance for Pot Hole’, ‘Operation Light up Lagos’, construction of fly-over and pedestrian bridges along selected roads in the state among others.

    Eventually, those who are already crucifying Ambode based on early developments would be disappointed.  His experience is almost similar to that of Asiwaju Tinubu. Upon return to civil rule in May 1999, the Tinubu administration was equally roundly criticized as being ‘slow’ in attending to critical issues in the state. The security situation in Lagos at that time was complicated by the nefarious activities of men of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress, (OPC), armed robbers and contest of strength among the various transport unions. However, by the time the Tinubu administration left office in 2007, it has become a pathfinder in the evolution of contemporary Lagos. Agencies such as Lagos State Advertising Agency, LASAA, Lagos State Traffic Management Agency, LASTMA, Lagbus Asset Management, LAGBUS, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Agency, LAMATA, Kick Against Indiscipline, KAI, Office of Public Defender, among others, are some of the enduring legacies of the administration. It was the administration that began the systematic fixing of the state’s infrastructure. Roads were rehabilitated and expanded, drainages and carnal were cleared. Perhaps, more importantly, the Tinubu administration put the state on the trail of economic independence as it shored up the monthly revenue base of the state from a meagre N600 million to over N10 billion.

    In the same vein, the Ambode administration is fine tuning new plans to birth a new Lagos. As the governor embarks on the huge task of consolidating on the gains of his predecessors in Lagos, my advice is for him to chew deeply the words of a celebrated American author and writer, Patricia Lynn Reilly: “Hold on to your vision: don’t let others preach it out of you.”

    ‘Raji, a public affair’s commentator, lives in Lagos.

  • Shippers’ Council and change mantra

    Shippers’ Council and change mantra

    The change mantra is percolating to all government agencies and departments. Whilst many thought some agencies have been woken from the slumber by the body language of President Muhammadu Buhari, the wind of change blowing across the ports bespeak a new order at the maritime gateway.

    Before now not many know of the existence of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) as much as they know the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) or the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as a regulatory body.

    But what NCC does in the telecommunications industry and NNPC in the oil and gas sector is what NSC’s role is in the ports and shipping arena.

    Created in 1978 as a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Transport, the NSC last year became the regulator of the ports and shipping sectors of the economy.

    Expectedly, resistance came from some importers and exporters and other stakeholders. But speaking at the Onne and Port Harcourt ports in Rivers State, a few weeks ago, the Executive Secretary of the NSC, Barrister Hassan Bello was unequivocal when he made what is now know in the industry as the Onne and Port Harcourt Declaration.

    Said he, NSC will not tolerate any  monopolistic tendencies among service providers at the import and export entry points, using the Nigeria’s waterways.

    Bello met with  terminal operators in Onne and Port Harcourt ports, with key stakeholders, including West African Container Terminal Nigeria Limited, BUA Ports and Terminals Limited, Intels Integrated Logistic Services and PTOL Terminal Limited. He told the officials that the purpose of the visit was to sensitise them on its roles as economic regulator and  listen to them on the  challenges they face in their operations.

    For him, the primary focus of the new administration at the NSC is to redirect affairs in the shipping industry to reflect global best practices where the enhancement of economic growth, competitiveness and efficient service delivery by all stakeholders remain the operative words/phrases.

    Promising not to compromise these on the altar of any organisation or agency wanting to lord it over the others, Bello seems to have defined the mission and vision of the NSC he heads. Interestingly, it is clear from the steps that have been taken so far that the council as a referee was for all, and will protect the interest of all and not just the shippers.

    The NSC as ports economic regulator is now all out to encourage competition in the operating environment.  This is because of the council’s recognition that economic regulation is central to revamping the lost glory in that sector.

    The most notorious of the issues that NSC may confront commenced in 2006 when the ports were concessioned without a substantive economic regulator hence the excessive charges became the order of the day. Indeed, the ports reform of 2006 yielded little results as concessionaires capitalised on the absence of a regulator to introduce scathing charges that swelled the cost of doing business in Nigerian ports.

     

    Then came the Nigerian Shippers Council as the regulator, an action that was taken as  a conscious and conscientious attempt to monitor and correct any disorder in the working of a free market to address anti-competition behaviours. Since then, the council has focused on market rules; tariffs; quality of service; access and incentives regulation.

    Regulation has led to guaranteed return on investment; increased profitability; predictability in processes and procedures; assurance of level playing ground; availability of Common User Information Service provided by the regulator; strengthening of complaint and arbitra¬tion mechanisms and many others.

    With the reinvigorated NSC, the government stands to enjoy improved revenue generation; improved infrastructural development; creation of efficient market; reduction of cost of doing business; improvement in the nation’s Global Competitive Index and consequent attraction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

    The major stakeholders too will benefit as the shipping companies under a regulatory framework will have improved delivery of marine and terminal handling services leading to reduced turn-around time of vessel and reduced cost of vessel operations.

    The benefits will include but not limited to, improved image due to increased customer confidence; transparency, efficiency and effectiveness and consequent improvement in image. The presence of an economic regulator ensures the strengthening of complaint and arbitration mechanisms; prompt issuance of Ship Sailing Certificate and the consequent avoidance of demurrage accumulation against shipping companies and other effects.

    Freight forwarders will be compelled to be professional in practice too.

    This on its own leads to elimination of touting, sanitization the port environment; and harmonisation of clearing processes and procedures and the consequent reduction of clearing charges. There is also the strengthening of complaint and arbitration mechanisms.

    For the Nigerian Ports Authority, the presence of an economic regulator will lead to the enthronement of clearer Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) derived from International Laws (Conventions) and Practices.

    The new port order also ensures that the NPA enjoys transparency, efficiency and effectiveness and consequent improvement in image; improved revenue generation; improvement of competitive advantage in the sub-region; strengthening of complaint and arbitration mechanisms, etc. For the Customs, there is also improved revenue generation; enthronement of clearer Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) derived from International Conventions and Practices; improved level of compliance by importers, exporters and freight forwarders and others.

    Globally, the consumer is considered king and the regulator hopes to ensure the harmonization of clearing processes and procedures and the consequent reduction in cost and time of cargo clearing; reduction of Cargo Duel Time, in particular, and generally the trade cycle; strengthening of complaint and arbitration mechanisms etc.

    For the truckers, they enjoy decongestion of port access roads leading to improved truck transit time at ports; there is also the ability of re-fleeting of rickety trucks; instalment of electronic gating and call system guaranteed loading opportunity for truckers.

    One thing that should be clear to all is that competition and collaboration engender in service providers ability to offer efficient services, places consumers of shipping services with the option of choice in the market or industry.

     

    • Ndayebo, a public affairs analyst writes from Abuja.

     

     

     

     

  • Reforming the Nigerian Civil Service: My struggles, my pain, my triumphs (III)

    Confucius, the ancient Chinese philosopher, once gave a remarkable admonishment: ‘Study the past if you would define the future.’ And for Edmund Burke, once we take historical knowledge for granted, then we are doomed to repeat those terrible mistakes of the past. There is no better preface on the significance of historical insights into Nigeria’s administrative trajectory. History, any history for that matter, is not a list of boring stories of what had gone by. On the contrary, history is a rich tapestry of human actions and inaction, and the multiplicity of consequences that flows from them. Nigeria’s administrative history stems from the moment the Nigerian state came into its amalgamated existence in 1914.

    The history of Nigeria’s reform experiment becomes important once we see it as the ongoing attempt, in administrative terms, to come to term with the possibility of redeeming Nigeria from its postcolonial deficits. Amalgamation was motivated by colonial arithmetic; hence, it lacked any national consideration of progress. The need for administrative reform is therefore premised on the urgent necessity of transforming the civil service into an effective institution that would foreground the nation’s search for an infrastructural revolution that would alleviate the years of denigration Nigerians have suffered under colonial rule.

    Within the context of my doctoral investigation of the evolution of administrative reforms, the idea of a trajectory therefore becomes very critical. A trajectory, in this administrative context, becomes an intentional search for an omega-point that is represented by series of successful reform efforts, beginning from an alpha-point. While all the pre- and post-1954 reforms are significant in their own regard, especially in the calibration of what came to be known as the Nigerian Civil Service, the real nation-defining reform issues actually commenced in 1971 with the Adebo Commission. Like most of the others, the Adebo Commission was established to deal with some of the intended and unintended consequences of the Nigerianisation Policy, especially the wage issue.

    But the Adebo Commission soon became caught up in two bigger issues, internal and external. While still investigating its terms of reference, the first military coup had happened, and the decline of the civil service structure and organisation had commenced. The military government set in motion several critical factors that instigated the gradual evolution of a structural pattern that consistently whittled down the capacities the civil service has to promote good governance. Externally, the managerial revolution had already commenced, and the British Civil Service was already the focus of its demands through the Fulton Commission of 1968. Thus it was that the Adebo Commission began with a brief to investigate the wage and recruitment issues of the new civil service, but ended up with a more significant managerial challenge bordering on organisation and structure. The Adebo Commission recommended that another public service review commission; the Udoji Commission came into existence.

    The Udoji Commission, if I am asked, remains the singular most significant reform commission in Nigeria’s administrative history. It is the watershed of what could have gone right but went wrong with the civil service system in Nigeria. The significance of the Udoji Commission is simple but profound: it is the commission that had to mediate between the new managerialism that was defining the civil service system and the old Weberian tradition on which the Nigerian Civil Service was founded. In its Main Report, the Commission diagnosed the central problem of the Nigerian Civil Service as that of its inability to respond to serious change. When the Commission was in place, the NCS was already too bureaucratic to achieve the postcolonial objective of national development and democratic service delivery to Nigerians. Thus, fully inspired by the UK Fulton Report, the Udoji Commission went on to recommend, on the one hand, a new style public service infused with “new blood” working under a result-oriented management system operated by professionals and specialists in particular fields. And, on the one hand, it recommended standardization of conditions of service, increase in public sector wages, a unified and integrated administrative structure, the elimination of waste, and the removal of inefficient departments.

    Andrew Grove got it right: ‘When you’re caught in the turbulence of a strategic inflection point, the sad fact is that instinct and judgment are all you’ve got to guide you through.’ The Gowon administration missed the significance of the ‘strategic inflection point’ that the Udoji Report represented. Rather than Udoji becoming a template for the rejuvenation of the civil service system in Nigeria, it became a slogan for abundant wage. This was because the Federal Government decided to implement the wage component of the Udoji Report rather than the structural components. The turning point was therefore lost in the euphoria of wage increment. It seems to me that since Udoji, the civil service system in Nigeria has been attempting to reverse the mistake of 1975. Udoji casts a long shadow over the stagnation of the civil service.

    For instance, it is interesting to understand the dynamics of the next two significant reform attempts in Nigeria-the 1988 Civil Service Reform and the 1995 Ayida Public Service Review Panel. The Philips Commission Report, which generated the 1988 reform recommendation, was forced by inevitable global trajectory to revisit the managerial revolution in administration through its attempt to lay the foundation of a professionalised civil service. Professionalization was thus tied to specialization. Unfortunately, rather than professionalising, the reform entrenched a politicisation of the workforce, especially the status of the permanent secretary which became a political appointment. The conception of professionalism was also curious because it was taken as a function of the location and time span of an officer in a particular ministry. The Ayida Panel was supposed to act in a review capacity to interrogate the recommendations of the Philips commission as a means by which the system can be reinvented. But it took the logic of reinvention the wrong way-it reinvented the pre-1988 civil service system and its managerial deficit! The simple but sad implication of this is that the Ayida Panel did not have a concrete agenda of reinvention; so it recommended a regression back to the status quo ante.

    ‘Challenging the status quo,’ according to Gary Hamel,’has to be the starting point for anything that goes under the label of strategy.’ While the Ayida Panel failed at doing this, it becomes the administrative standard by which to assess the remaining four reform strategies that define the democratic dispensation in Nigeria-the Obasanjo Renewal Programme, the Yar’Adua Civil Service Reform Programme,the Transformation Agenda of the Jonathan administration, and President Muhammadu Buhari’s ongoing Change Agenda. The four reform agenda are founded on the fundamental principle that no transformation of the Nigerian state would be possible without a capable, efficient and corruption-free public service. The Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan administrations therefore accepted the reform blueprint contained in the National Strategy for Public Service Reform (NSPSR) which projected the vision of a world class public service that is professionalised enough to deliver government policies and programmes.

    Much as these reform agenda are beautiful programmes of renewal and revitalization that has the benefits of administrative hindsight, visions are often undermined by reality. And the present reality is that the civil service system in Nigeria, in spite of the multitude of beautiful reform visions and strategies, is still struggling to deliver democratic dividends to millions of Nigerians who are sighing under the terrible burden of poverty. The Nigerian Civil Service is still far from being a world class public service.

    If, as Norman Cousins insists, ‘history is a vast early warning system,’ have we learnt any good and practical lessons from 1971? From the historical nuggets of reform trajectory that we have outlined here, what are the fundamental administrative lessons to be learnt? What are the defining issues in civil service renewal effort? That will be the subject of the fourth part.

  • PDP and the burden of Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency

    DAAR communications chairman, Raymond Dokpesi who is one of the major conveners of the South-South political movement that bolstered and galvanized the emergence of the region that produces the most wealth in Nigeria into national reckoning, recently allegedly voiced the opinion that PDP made a mistake in fielding GoodLuck Ebele Jonathan, GEJ as her presidential candidate in the last election.

    When the acolytes of the out gone president, particularly former presidential spokesman, Doyin Okupe, and PDP spokesman, Olisah Metuh, literarily ‘jumped into his throat’, Dokpesi decided to be politically correct by ‘clarifying’ that his statement was twisted out of contest by the opposition as it was actually directed at the lower rung of the PDP political spectrum, whom he accused of fielding unpopular candidates, hence the current reversal of the fortune of PDP from the ruling to opposition party.

    Dokpesi’s comment about GEJ’s unpopularity and unsuitability as presidential candidate in 2015, sounded familiar to me because somebody else had held that position and voiced out it boldly about five(5) years ago and it led to a vicious political persecution and loss of personal liberty.

    That person is former governor of delta state, James Onanefe Ibori who is now serving a jail term in a UK prison .

    His opposition to GEJ’s presidential ambition in 2010,on the ground that it was against the grand strategy by the PDP to return power to the north after residing for eight (8) years in the south, with Olusegun Obasanjo, OBJ as the custodian, was rebuffed and even drew the ire and bile of the ‘principalities and powers’ in  Aso Rock villa at that time.

    Ibori has always insisted that his opposition to those aiming to go against the well established PDP power rotation principle that held the party together like a glue is not personal but an altruistic commitment by a party loyalist to the sustenance of the PDP as the ruling party, but his plea, as it were, fell on deaf ears.

    Now,I know that some antagonists would argue that Ibori confessed to the crime of money laundering in the UK ,hence he is in incarceration, but we are all aware of the circumstances under which he did. His entire family-only sister, wife, daughter’s mother and lawyer were encircled and jailed, compelling him to capitulate.

    Also keep in mind that with the way Nigeria is wired, when the authority decides to ‘nail’ a public officer, there is hardly any escape from being found guilty of malfeasance, but if a person is enjoying the goodwill of the govt in power, he or she is accommodated like a blue eye prince and could therefore get away with murder with the authorities looking the other way.

    Take for instance the issue of the celebrated Halliburton, Siemens and other sundry multi million dollars acts of corruption involving former top Nigerian political office holders, that have earned foreigners involved in the crimes with them, prison terms, while the Nigerians are yet to be made to face the consequences. This is simply because the indicted Nigerian leaders are in the politically correct camp and as such arraigning them would rock Nigeria’s political boat. Another case in point is the recent call by SERAP, a civil society organization, on the new Attorney General and minister of justice , Abubakar Malami to prosecute the thirty one (31) state governors whom the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC reported as corrupt and which was accepted and adopted by the National Assembly, NASS in 2006.That 31 of the 36 governor’s were found guilty by EFCC of corruption, suggests that virtually all the governor’s in OBJ’s era have been tarred with same black brush, so singling out Ibori for persecution after the unfortunate passing away of former president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was a deliberate punishment.

    Similarly, another parallel can be drawn in the recent dismissal of fraud charges against former Bayelsa state governor, Timipreye Sylva by justice Adeniyi  Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja on the ground that arraigning the ex-governor three times on same charges (2012,2013 and 2015) after the cases had been discharged. This underscores the fact that l had made earlier that, govt can raise charges against a perceived enemy at their whims and caprices.

    It may be recalled that Sylva served only one term in Bayelsa state and was stopped from getting a second term ostensibly for fraud and incompetence but in reality, his political career was truncated for allegedly falling out of favor with the then occupiers of Aso Rock villa which is similar to what happened to James Ibori.

    By opposing GEJ’s intention to run for the office of the president in 2011,Ibori certainly stepped on sensitive toes and the rest as they say is history, as he is now on the last lap of his long incarceration, but what’s intriguing is that it took about half a decade for another party stalwart, Dokpesi who felt same way as Ibori to speak out, and even then he was quickly gagged and in the interest of peace he has modified his comment.

    Amazingly, even after the unfortunate catastrophic consequence that Ibori predicted would befall the PDP, should his caution against fielding Jonathan not be heeded has materialized, (as the PDP has now fallen from grace to grass at the March 28th presidential polls) no other current PDP member of considerable weight has voiced the concern publicly, so the sentiment about the calamity that Jonathan attracted to the PDP has remained in the realm of closet gossip.

    Strangely ,former PDP leaders whose opinion on the unsuitability of Jonathan for the presidency in 2015 in convergence with ibori’s position in 2011,include OBJ who had to tear up his PDP membership card in the full glare of TV cameras in protest and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar who also led five PDP governors out of Eagle square last year in protest before subsequently defecting to APC. So Ibori basically was the first to ‘bell the cat’ and he was slammed by the system.

    It is indeed a pity that, like Egyptian pyramids, evidence of not being visionary enough to steer the former ruling party away from the precipice was looming ,yet PDP bigwigs then and even those still left in the party, are still living in denial by pretending like an ostrich that buries its head in the sand, falsely believing that all her body are also cancelled, but unbeknown to the bird, (and in this case the PDP) its whole body except the head is sticking out like a sore thump.

    Events that threw up Goodluck Jonathan as the vice presidential candidate of the PDP in 2007 and  literarily thrusted him into national limelight, are still fresh in my memory because l was there when it was unraveling, nearly a decade ago as late Umaru Yar’Adua was being elected the presidential candidate of the PDP.

    Under the chilling cold harmattan  weather, at the Eagle Square, Abuja, l had the rare privilege of being the returning officer for late president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (2007-2010) who was then, Katsina state governor and presidential candidate of the PDP. Uche Secondus, the present acting PDP chairman would remember that event clearly because he was desirous of being the returning officer to Yar’Adua before l was detailed to perform the duty.

    The responsibility for being the returning officer to the presidential candidate was thrust upon me by , Yar’Adua who conveyed his request through, one of his close confidantes at that time, Abba Rumma who was later to become a super minister of the Yar’Adua era.

    I recall elder statesman, Tony Anenih , then chairman of PDP Board of Trustees pacing up and down in the Eagle Square courtyard following then president, OBJ inspired changes in PDP constitution stipulating that going forward, only ex-presidents would become the party’s Board Of Trustees, BOT chairman.

  • Comment

    For Gbenga Omotoso

    Re:Dokpesi: Back From A Trance. Trance is a state in which you are thinking so much about something that you do not notice what is happening around you. Dokpesi first entered into trance with his dumping Buhari during 2011presidential election. His communication business has been managing to be on air, but his organisation is in financial distress, struggling to pay salaries .The Scripture teaches, “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in the word and doctrine.”(1 Tim.5:17).Here, politicking is always a fortress for distressed medical doctors, actors, lecturers and business-men; and PDP is their jetty. For Dokpesi, coordinating distressed PDP, he is not yet back from trance, but digging deeper. He helped to destroy Jonathan/PDP trying to salvage his distressed organisation. It is too late to cry when the head is off.  From Elder L .O David; Efon Alaaye, Ekiti State. 

    Dokpesi is an embodiment of evil, for him to say Goodluck Jonathan caused them 2015 election. He has no moral justification; he should cover his head in shame. From Dipo Ogundele.

    They say Dokpesi is brilliant, but by his remarks on Jonathan, he just sounded like dumb. Pity our great country. Anonymous

    Dokpesi must have finished spending the money given to him by PDP for the so-called hate documentary against our able president and he is looking for more…with people like him in PDP, it will remain stagnant because he is a sycophant to Jo-nothing. Anonymous

    Dokpesi should not be taken serious; he is a political prostitute like the Babatopes & co. They have nothing to offer but to mortgage the Nigerian youths’ future for naira sake. From Elder S. O. Eze, Ilorin.

    Re-Dokpesi:Back from a trance. If Nigeria only has ‘Elders’ like those ones in PDP, we are then doomed in this country. But thank God for people like President Muhammadu Buhari, Audu Ogbeh, Rotimi Amaechi e.t.c who would run away from lies and speak the truth about the state of the nation then. Dokpesi is supposed to be a grandfather; he is although talking like a child. Many politicians are like harlot, no atom of shame. If I were him, I will keep shut in the public. From Engr. Mamadu.

    Re:’How’s Lagos.’ There is no doubt and a sane person who has observed the growth of Lagos would conclude that, here is a city and a state horizontally and vertically growing every hour. Yet no record of the influx of the people from all over Nigeria and ECOWAS that uncontrollably troop in like the Syrians, Libyans and Iraqis barging Europe. Landowners, estate developers and land speculators/grabbers are NOT helping matters as they just open virgin and swampy areas for settlement without government knowledge. These are the areas where the huge problems of Lagos start from. You cannot plan development without proper statistics and fiscal discipline. Ambode /Lagos State and the Federal Government need special collaboration NOW as there are Federal Government abandoned problems, structural and human in Lagos. Ambode, do your best in your tenure and leave the rest. From Elder L,O David; Efon Alaaye, Ekiti State.

    Chief Dokpesi was the chairman of the committee that organised the rally or for the endorsement of the candidature of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan for the Presidential election in 2014 where he was ratified as sole candidate. E. K.Clark and Dokpesi can be described as men who have short memory. Many are still coming from them. Nigerians should be patient for Nigeria’s enemies. Evangelist Olaiya Ojo.

    Raymond Dokpesi should quit this latest job of reconciliation. Olisa Metuh has rubbished him by his recent attack that of all statements credited to Dokpesi, nobody sent him. Anonymous

    Re – Dokpesi: Back from a trance. He needs to wear a veil and keep quiet; even when asked to make comments, he should simply say – no comment! From Bello. S.A.A. 

    Human memory seems to be too short otherwise for Dokpesi to have demonised the person of former President Jonathan by uncouth language speaks volumes. The high chief to me needs deliverance. From Are Gani Adefemi, Igboora, Oyo State.

    Dokpesi acted Judas Iscariot and later decided to return the thirty pieces of silver. It is too late; we all know that as moneybag, he was a kingmaker of the PDP.  From Anusa P.O.  FGC, Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State.

    Raymond Dokpesi’s apology to me is crocodile tears. He should apologize to Nigerians on the negative campaigns his TV station AIT aired during the campaign and not for PDP. Anonymous

    You said it all; PDP and Dokpesi introduced to Nigerians a new face of campaigns. Dokpesi should be told that if President Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu forgave him, that Oshiomhole will not, for the evil meant for him because of politics. From Paul, Port Harcourt.

    Isn’t it the same Dokpesi alleged to have been bailed out by GEJ and the first lady by helping him offset billions he owed? Not to mention the billions his very partisan news media outfit AIT was paid to perfect the hatchet job for GEJ and the PDP? Dokpesi should be asked to shut his mouth and hide his head in shame! Anonymous

    PDP and Dokpesi are still sleeping; next election they should field anyone they like. They are a goner. The people of Nigeria are waiting for them by 2019 which I know they will not have anyone to field. APC is the party for a new Nigeria. Anonymous

    I really wish PDP will come back stronger, better and more disciplined. GEJ did his best; anyone castigating him is ungrateful. From Otuka Ezechukwu, Abia State.

     

    For Segun Gbadegesin

    Re: Ministers and challenge of change. Corruption is the albatross of Nigeria’s development .We should try and understand the word minister. It means a senior member of the government who is in charge of a government institution for the benefits of the people. You are NOT in charge to LOOT the COMMONWEALTH, but give quality service to the nation. Corruption is satanic, it moves in when you start the work with elaborate thanksgiving service. This is followed with goodwill messages and the reminder to use the chance to fill your financial pot holes. Thus, the institution under a bossy and corrupt minister becomes dysfunctional. It is the duty of the Minister of Budget and National Planning to coordinate the activities of all the MDAs for substantial benefits to the nation; and to prevent proliferation, wastages and leakages. The ministerial team is solid enough. Let them run right. From Elder L .O David; Efon Alaaye, Ekiti State.

    Buhari, from all indication, means well for the country. The only problem we have are some of the negative influences around him. Nigerians voted for him because of what he can do for the country. They didn’t vote for the political job-seekers in his government. He must be open to good counsel from any quarters alright but shouldn’t hesitate to reject any form of advice that doesn’t tally wit the change policy for which he was voted into power in the first place .He should be able to learn some lessons from how those who would pretend loving Jonathan and his government eventually turned to be the same that pulled him down. If at the end of the day, he fails to perform, it is only his name that will be entered on the wrong side of the nation’s history, not those who served wit him. This he must know, which is why he should indeed belong to all but with particular attachment to none – all in the interest of good governance, Nigerians and national growth. From Emmanuel Egwu.

    Re: Ministers and challenge of change. If we recall, the PDP government egregiously took the nation by the jugular vein for 16 years and almost strangled her to death before reprieve came through the massive votes of the people for a deserved change. I am unhappy that this euphoria of a well-deserved change waned completely because of the delay in appointing those who are going to be the projectors of this change. We have now gotten all the ministers in place, and they are faced with great tasks and challenges; one only hopes that they will perform as those that have been chosen are all men and women of high integrity and good antecedents. You see, we have God and Devil in religion, positive and negative in science, good and bad in philosophy, deception and vague promises in politics. These elements, especially deception and vague promises, don’t make people have confidence in politicians but as things are now, any politician who is deceptive and make vague promises will meet his waterloo at the next election when his tenure elapses. My candid advice, therefore, to all the ministers, is that they should all try to execute the programme of their party. The masses are waiting. From Prince Adewumi Oyeromade Agunloye.

    On NASS jumbo pay-the NLC, TUC and other related organizations should come together to wage war with the lower and upper houses of the National Assembly on the jumbo pay they are   receiving. They don’t deserve the pay and the outrageous allowances being given to them .They spend less than 200 days in a year for their so-called legislation period. They are after money but not services. Their salaries must be drastically reduced while some allowances must be cut off particularly wardrobe allowance. This is the time for these labour organizations to act with all seriousness to save the civil servants from cheating and extortion. Sitting allowance must be introduced for all legislators. Enough of unrealistic pay for jobs not done.  From Pastor Odunmbaku.

     

    For Olatunji Dare

    Those who knew and were equally privy to the killing of Dele Giwa, but instead of exposing the killers and free their conscience from torment would rather find fulfilment in coming up with all manners of defence-mechanism to protect the killer(s), will also be visited with equal unpleasant consequences of their action as would with the actual murderers. Time may have reduced the pains of the journalist’s death in the minds of his family members and concerned Nigerians, but the weight of the crime remains indelible before God and can’t be mitigated or erased by a thousand self-exculpatory interviews or mendacious remarks by the culprits and their accomplices until justice is done to that. Those who must kill fellow Nigerians to cover up their crimes must equally see killings more gruesome visited on them at a time they least expect of them, unless there is confession and atonement to that. Hence, the unrighteous must never go unpunished. From Emmanuel Egwu.

    Hhmnn!  Re: My Own Anniversary; a sublime attempt at ‘self putdown,’ which otherwise emerged as literary masterpiece. I have kept a faithful pace with this column’s evolution from then till now. Sir, the punch to the nose, or a kick to the groin might still come, if you waited long enough. Only pray the punch is not the crude Mike Tyson type, or of the straight to the target Jet Li variety.  From Wole  St.Jones, Lagos.

    Re: My own anniversary. Like the Apostle Paul, Prof. Dare is taking cue from, he said “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labour more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me”-1 Cor.15:10. The grace with you, you’ve not hoarded but diligently spread to fill space in the hearts of knowledge- seeking Nigerians for uplifting Nigeria. Someone said, “So you are the Olatunji Dare?” Definitely, for so many positive reasons, you are already being celebrated by million of Nigerians. May the grace of the LORD continue to uphold you and your family. Happy Anniversary. From Elder L.O David; Efon Alaaye, Ekiti State.

    Sir, your piece My anniversary is dignified and it is journalism at it’s best. Let me congratulate you on your fifth anniversary .You are indeed recognized by me and thousands of supporters who loves your column. You are a journalist per excellence. God will grant you more useful years and more ink to your pen.  From Ojo A. Ayodele, Emure-Ekiti.

    Olatunji Dare! Congratulations for celebrating yet another anniversary. I have always enjoyed your column every Tuesday especially during electioneering. It’s been inspiring. May God continue to bless and enrich your coast. Please consider the publisher’s request for a book. It will be meaningful. Congrats once again! Anonymous

    Felicitations for having so exquisitely survived five years on a hectic schedule! If I understood the postscript to your article, “My own anniversary” of November 10, why did you not craft us a fresh treat? Anyway, for my students’ sakes, I must point out two ‘slips of the keyboard’ therein which, coming from you, are inexcusable: first, the right idiomatic expression is not ‘all things…’ but ‘other things being equal’. Secondly, Peter, of course, was the apostle who denied his identity; how could you have missed this? From Andrew Aba, BSU, Makurdi.

    Re: “My own anniversary”. I wish to thank God for your sense of humility and declare like Prophet Elijah said to the widow of Sidon that, “your jar shall always be filled”. Irrespective of your “evaluation” I have however over the years found your column to be profound in logics, reliable in statistics, factual in presentation and impartial in analysis. From Tony Ogunbiyi.

    My prayer to God is that you will never know your value. The moment you know your value, you are ‘valueless’. Your back page column is a must for me on Tuesdays, so my prayer is that God will continue to guide and guard your movement. From F. T. Fabunmi. State of Osun.

    Re-My own anniversary. Whether or not advertorials were carried out or not, your column had been/remains a success even while you write from ABROAD! I earnestly congratulate you for meeting up every Tuesday and pray that God prolong your life, Amen. I am extremely proud of you. Please, keep the flag flying. From Lanre Oseni.

    Here is my own view of your article: My own anniversary. The only newspaper that I enjoy reading is The Nation. Due to cost of a week’s supply, I have settled for the Saturday/Sunday weekend editions and the Tuesday’s because I enjoy the prof’s column. Kudos to my man of the pen! You are not only endearing in your essays but also engaging. I hope my candid expression makes some sense? Cheers. From Igebu Chris, Agenebode.

  • Adamawa and Jibrilla’s commitment to change

    Adamawa and Jibrilla’s commitment to change

    BEFORE Senator Muhammed Umar Jibrilla took the oath of office as Adamawa State governor on May 29, expectations from the people were high. These cut across political parties, ethnicities and senatorial districts. But their desire was unified on the platform of a common goal: the development of Adamawa State in all ramifications. It is pertinent to also say the state has been adjudged as one of the poorest in the federation in spite of its abundant opportunities.

    In the midst of all of this, the only preoccupation on the mind of the governor was to bring about positive change and deliver the state out of the shackles of poverty and underdevelopment which has bedeviled it for decades. The positive way that the governor, known by his pet name, Bindow, has approached developmental challenges in the state is already yielding result.

    With over 35 road projects ongoing, among other accelerated reforms and development, one could only marvel at the governor’s massive and proactive leadership style.

    For him to have embarked on meaningful projects with such promptness despite meeting a nearly empty treasury can clearly be defined as the most daring move that has completely changed the state’s political landscape and equally impacted on the lives of almost all the citizens of Adamawa.

    Bindow’s effort to right the wrongs perpetrated by the previous regimes has earned him many friends as well as enemies. But his dexterity and focus in rebranding Adamawa and repositioning it for greatness deserves more than just commendation.

    The Jubrilla-led administration started on a sound footing. It evaluated the indices used in measuring development in terms of infrastructural growth and attacked headlong the lack of accessible roads in the heart of the state capital and environs.

    No sooner than these road projects began that questions started to emanate on where the resources were coming from. In addition, the condition of some major hospitals in the state were reviewed after an on-the-spot assessment carried out by the governor and his deputy. All major hospitals in the three senatorial districts were in a dilapidated state, forcing residents to travel as far as Gombe and Taraba states to access adequate health care. The Bindow-led administration took a bold step to correct this by awarding contracts for the rehabilitation of major hospitals in the three senatorial districts, including the specialist hospital in Yola. Other people-oriented projects embarked upon by the governor are aimed at easing the suffering of the people and providing a platform for the revamping of the state’s economy.

    Now, the governor and his team are faced with the onerous task of rebuilding confidence and boosting the morale of civil servants and the citizenry at large following several  years of mis-governance that stagnated the civil service and social services.

    As should be expected, the past few months will not be sufficient to right all the wrongs. But careful planning on fundamental issues facing the state is being addressed to create an enabling environment for its economic renaissance.

    To encourage civil servants who are the vital resources of the state, the government has ensured that the outstanding three years leave and transport grant allowances of civil servants were paid.

    However, a pressing issue facing the young administration is the bickering that has characterised Adamawa politics since it was created. Sympathisers of former regimes, who are largely beneficiaries of the stupendous looting that took place in the past, are crying foul over every activity of a government that has denied them the undeserved free government money they enjoyed earlier.

    Their inability to adjust to the present day realities has seen them blaming the less than six months regime of Bindow for the suffering caused by the past regimes that kept them well-fed while the vast majority of Adamawa people languished in poverty.

    The story of Adamawa was so bad that many politicians found themselves in office undeservedly at a time when roads had been dilapidated, no potable water for the people, boreholes in rural communities were not functioning and the living condition of the average citizen deteriorated.

    The general condition before the coming of Bindow was such that there was a ruling class and a new serf class being created. Government ministries, paratatals and agencies were placed under inept administrators that grounded simple administrative procedure to a standstill. Pipes that used to supply water to homes became rusty, education and a host of others came to their lowest ebb when corrupt politicians enjoyed unlimited wealth and power.

    Beneficiaries of previous governments, on realising that power had slipped from their hands, are now through the media, busy casting aspersions with intent to sway the governor and the good people.

    But the good news is that, Bindow  is determined not to be distracted, he is focusing on the great task of ensuring that the fortunes of Adamawa State is changed for the better and that the united front posed by Adamawa electorate is not jeopardised by ensuring that the dividends of democracy is delivered to the masses.

    It is, therefore, very important that the Adamawa people remain resolute in their resolve for a positive change that will last long enough to benefit generations yet unborn. The government is a people’s government in which the Adamawa people have a say and they should not allow themselves to be swayed away by mischief-makers and those who want the state to remain perpetually underdeveloped. Change is here, championed by the governor and his team. A united front will ensure that the dreams, goals and vision of the Bindow administration are realised.

     

    *Dickson, Senior Assistant to Adamawa governor on Press and Media Affairs writes from Yola.

     

  • Ministerial portfolio: Round vs. square hole

    Ministerial portfolio: Round vs. square hole

    At last, ministers have been allotted responsibilities popularly known as portfolio.  The wait has been long and unwarranted.  Mercifully however the earthquake predicted by some Nigerians did not erupt.  It must be admitted that President Buhari contributed in large measure to the cynicism and speculation.  Making a mountain of a molehill, cabinet formation is a normal thing in other in other climes.  At best the exercise raises whimsical expectation, not the foreboding that Nigerians elevate it.

    As expected two incongruous sections of our society have gone almost hysterical; they are the defenders of the South-east interest and some elements of the fragmented Afenifere – Renewal or old.  These negative elements above have seen Nigeria through their narrow lenses, virtually ignoring the interest of others. Examples litter the Nigerian political space.  In the old Western State, some ethnic groups were more equal than others, while some with no resources other than their brain, controlled all the apparatus of government, smiling to the banks with proceeds of fat contracts; others, specifically Ondo Province, now Ondo and Ekiti states, were glued to the groundswell of poverty.  Thanks to education, they struggled to lift themselves up.  Today a cosmetic gesture like persuading aging but compassionate Reuben Fasonranti to remain in a non- functioning post does not clear the rot and discrimination of the past.

    More importantly, were these Afenifere stalwarts not party to the political prostitution of our recent past?  Were they not beneficiaries of the cash and carry modus operandi of the last administration when even Yoruba Obas were not spared the bait?  What was their pleading?  The Jonathan administration would implement the Confab resolution on ‘True Federalism’?  This was   the height of naivety, because apart from constitutional roadblocks.  Jonathan’s body language was misread by these apostles.

    And now the South-eastern “defenders”. One would have been amused were the facts not so daunting.  Remember the policy of the last administration, when more than 70% of all ‘juicy’ political  and public service appointments went to the two South-eastern zones, while the rest of the country comprising the  ‘North’ and South-west shared the miserable leftover.  In fact the West did not have more than five percent of these national positions.

    In the circumstance which I have enumerated above and in the light of the spread and relative importance, of the ministerial slots, President Buhari has been very courageous and fair.  He has shown that his heart is bigger than his physical features and that Nigeria remain his constituency.

    Yes it true the West has fared better.  But should that zone be always relegated?  It is no secret to observe that for over half a century – since the Balewa years, the West has been the loser.  Even when our man from Owu was president, we knew what class of people, men and women, caught his eyes.  His penchant for selecting his friends and associates is legendary and the Yoruba people will never forget this easily.

    This distribution of ministerial portfolios has been seen to be just.  It is necessary to state here that except the Ministry Of Justice, a professional is not necessarily the best materials to head a ministry.   Any one with solid educational and ethical background can head any ministry.  The important requirements are competence and commitment, not pre-knowledge of the beat you are going to preside over.  The exception perhaps is the justice ministry where the minister or attorney-general will direct law officers of state to take certain legal actions or in exceptional cases, take on the job himself.  He has to be a lawyer.

    The situation is like the appointment of permanent secretaries where any competent director could be elevated to take charge of any ministry, except justice where in most cases he is also Solicitor- General.

    Some have argued that some ministers are overburdened or that some are light-weight.  None is light-weight among the ministers.  The Minister of Labour and Productivity for example, will perhaps be one  of the busiest among his peers.  Ask the last minister, Emeka Nwogu, he had sleepless days adjudicating industrial disputes.  It needs the quiet disposition of an Ngige to hold that position.  Yes, Fashola is probably over-burdened.  In 2011 I voted for a non-existent Buhari/Fashola ticket.  It was a fruitless effort, but I made my point.  Isn’t Fashola itching towards my dream now?  But what area of life has this young- aging man failed?

    Kayode Fayemi is manning the solid minerals department with crude oil dipping and the country’s   finances running down elsewhere.  Apart from well-known doggedness, Fayemi is a frontiers man, knocking at the door all the time.  He will not only regularize illegal mining, he will attract direct private local and foreign investments in the vital area.

    Lai Mohammed? Dissemination of information and combative resistance to demagoguery has been his turf for decades.  Mrs. Kemi Adeosun because of her reputation is a gift to the Buhari Administration.  Unpretentious and tenacious there will be no pretences of yesteryears in our financial management.   She is not likely to subject Nigerians to lecture and tutorials, unlike her predecessor, the mighty Queen to Breton Wood Conference.

    Audu Ogbe comes from the area known as the basket food of the nation. With a favourable climate and input to otherwise agrarian business all over Nigeria, we are likely to meet our food demands soon. And so the story goes on.

    Downsizing the numbers of ministries and merging some departments and agencies of the Federal Government, Nigeria seems set, for the first time, to face the realities of our problems which by today’s political lexicon we call challenges.  The Buhari government must be put on its toes; no white-washing and at the same no coal-tarrying.

     

    • Fasuan MON, JP writes from Ekiti State.

  • Reforming the Nigerian Civil Service: my struggles, my pain, my triumphs (II)

    I prefaced this long series, in the first part, with a narration of the pain of exit and how for me, retiring from the Nigerian Civil Service (NCS) is definitely not the end of my reform business to transform a system I have dedicated twenty seven years of my life to. I made the point that exit simply implies that I am transitioning from being a critical insider to becoming a critical outsider who can bring an external perspective to bear on what the civil service has done wrong, what it has done right and in what direction we can move it towards becoming a world class institution. For me, my institutional life may have come to an end, but my foot is still caught in the mat of the institutional dynamics of the NCS. I am too involved to just bid goodbye to a system I see as being critical to the coming national glory of Nigeria.

    But first, it is necessary that I tell the story of how I came to be in this system in the first place. I must say it has nothing to do with fascination or coincidence. Far from it. Rather, I would say Providence perhaps planned it all along! I am a scholar by heart. My original and lifelong desire is to be a philosopher. I have a sanitized spirit that is suitable for contemplation, and the cloistered life of the ivory tower.

    In my projection, if I would ever come in contact with administrative matters, then it would be on the pages of critical and scholarly books and conferences. Opting for Political Science, rather than Philosophy, but I was deluding myself all along-reality is much stronger than projections! And the reality in the late eighties for me, while I was in the postgraduate school, was that I needed survival on the Abraham Maslow hierarchy of my need so urgently, before I could think of climbing the ladder of self-esteem towards scholastic attainment. The Nigerian Civil Service, through the Presidency, came to my rescue. And at the centre of my entry dilemma was Professor Ojetunji Aboyade. He played several subtle roles that played out into larger future dynamics for me as a critical change agent in the reform of the civil service system in Nigeria. ‘To be a catalyst,’ Theodore Zeldin informs, ‘is the ambition most appropriate for those who see the world as being in constant change, and who, without thinking that they can control it, wish to influence its direction.’

    Ojetunji Aboyade was exactly that, an intellectual catalyst that turned my rabid fear of systemic dysfunction in the civil service into a serious fascination with the dynamics of institutional change. He influenced the direction that would become cogent for me to becoming a change agent. He supplied me with the intellectual prism from which to refract the dysfunction into a philosophy of reform. And that became the research dynamics which I have pursued since I determined to pursue a doctorate hinged around the consuming desire to understand the operational dynamics of the civil service system in Nigeria. I was however very lucky to have entered the civil service when Prof. Aboyade was struggling with Nigeria’s development struggle through policy designs and advisory professionalism. Aboyade came into public service with all the energies of a committed intellectual ready to inject sound ideas and practices into the system. Unfortunately, Nigeria was at that point under the terrible pathology of the Dutch and Double Dutch Disease arising from the oil windfall of the 70s. It was not long before all his tight implementation schedules and the tightening of the Development Planning praxis met the fundamental challenge of weak institutional and executive capacity in the civil service and national valueless-ness. Aboyade was therefore caught in between development visions, policies and plans, on the one hand, and implementation and development outcomes on the other. This was with the full conceptual awareness of the intellectual current of the time that was hinged on the seminar contributions of institutional economists and implementation researchers whose advocacy birth the dominant though controversial reform theory of our age, the new public management (NPM) paradigm.

    This was precisely the depressing administrative context within which I began my initiation into the civil service system and public administration research. The redeeming factor for me was that it was also an incredible period that gave birth to critical research dynamics spearheaded by Aboyade himself. I had no choice at the time but to accept Aboyade’s challenge to me-‘You need to transform from being just a researcher to be a change agent; with the transformation of the civil service system through expert knowledge and reform as your mission’.  And the initiation I needed came when I became Assistant Secretary to the White Paper Panel on the Ayida Public Service Review Panel of 1995 through invitation. The Ayida Review Panel was commissioned to revisit the 1988 Civil Service Reform which had failed to redress the administrative system into a desired projection. Its task was to reinvent those factors that would facilitate the restoration of the civil service into an effectively performing institution.

    Being the technically-minded member of the White Paper Panel’s Secretariat was a blessing! It afforded the internal perspective in articulating and interrogating all aspects of administrative system. But in a concrete sense, this was the point at which my research focus took hold and took off. The dynamics that connects the Prof. Dotun Phillips Study Report, the Koshoni White Paper, the Decree 43 of 1988 and the Ayida Review Panel gave me the intellectual impetus to commence a critical interrogation of the civil service system in its entirety and the condition for its institutional reform. For instance, as Assistant Secretary to the Ayida Review Panel, I had the opportunity to not only confront the weaknesses of Decree 43, but also the limitations of the Ayida Panel Report itself. It immediately became clear to me that theory and practice must be integrated if a committed reformer must achieve a coherent and robust rejuvenation of the civil service system in Nigeria that speak to the nuanced chemistry of the administrative system. Theory and practice are already implicated in the complex and complicated trajectory of linking vision of reform to its implementation, especially within a difficult administrative context like Nigeria.

    So, after a thorough Masters degree in political theory, public administration offers the most immediate theoretical entry point into the challenge of understanding the civil service system in Nigeria. By 2002, I had the second privilege of heading a technical team from the Management Service Office (MSO) that was to undertake a strategic planning study and exercise that could facilitate the proper restructuring of the system. This study turned out to be a conceptual revelation for me because, apart from the exposure it afforded through Donor Agencies technical assistance that enable study tour of over 25 public services around the globe, it threw up those critical questions that enabled me jumpstart my doctoral reflection on the civil service. These fundamental questions remain fundamental to the reform of the Nigerian civil service: (a) what kind of public service does Nigeria need to successfully manage the dynamics of a transition from military authoritarianism to civilian democracy? (b) How can the vision of building a public service that works for the people be realised within the shortest possible time? (c) How can the size of the chronically imbalanced bureaucracy, with a structure that harbours 70% of the workforce at the unskilled level, be streamlined? (d) How can the skills deficit at the senior management levels be corrected through re-skilling and the injection of skills from other sectors, without a far-reaching process of painful rightsizing and declaration of redundancies? (e) What are the appropriate personnel policies, pay structure and operational cost ratios that are most cost effective and consistent with the optimal productivity level of the national economy? (f) How can the civil service be made more sensitive to the political objectives of policy makers and be, at the same time, accountable to the people as clients without its independence and professionalism being undermined? (g) What should ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) be doing that is different from what they have been doing to become strategic partner in national transformation?

    When my research got under way, I was buoyed by the enthusiasm about what is possible. Ludwig Wittgenstein, the German philosopher, accurately captured my dissertation mood: ‘The riddle does not exist. If a question can be framed at all, it is also possible to answer it.’ The bubble of reform enthusiasm that began a long time ago, stayed with me till retirement. It nearly burst through the many terrible encounters of disillusionments, frustrations and dejection. Once, at reform training in Wellington, New Zealand, a renowned reform expert specifically told me: ‘With your passion and depth of knowledge for reform, be ready for war!’ My reform efforts bred friends and foes. But it also generated invaluable theoretical, historical and practical insights that are the sine qua non for transformation. One of the achievements of the doctoral dissertation is that it enabled a concise but critical assessment of the trajectory of reform in Nigeria, especially from 1974 to date. I will examine this in the next part.

  • Mr. President, remove the subsidies

    In its lead article, the influential London weekly, The Economist, quoting the late Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, wrote, “This is a wonderful day, and it is all the more wonderful because we have awaited it with increasing impatience, compelled to watch one country after another overtaking us on the road when we had so nearly reached our goal”. That was on October 1, 1960. The wonderful day came almost five and half decades later, on May 29, 2015, at Eagle Square, Abuja. I was, happily, there.

    Since 1960, Nigeria, the “most African country”, slid into near failed state as one military regime after another, a civil war and successive kleptomaniac civilian and military governments interlaced. The single common thread among all past governments, civilian and military alike was corruption. Our country, year after year, is ranked among the ten most corrupt in the world.

    Subsidies on petrol cost the government a whopping $6 billion (N1,200 billion) annually, some N9,000 per annum for every Nigerian. It provides the biggest opportunity for corruption to thrive. The subsidies are stolen as the subsidized fuel finds its way into the black market or smuggled to neighbouring countries where it fetches higher price. I bought only yesterday, at a station on Murtala Muhammed, Ilorin, with ease, petrol at N110/liter. Drive round the town at major marketers stations, idle attendants tell you nonchalantly “no fuel”.

    But perhaps the most compelling reason to remove the subsidy is its hindrance to investment in the downstream sector. Solidarity with anti-apartheid and anti-minority struggles in South Africa and the then Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) led to foolish nationalization of the downstream sector in the late 1970s. British Petroleum (BP) became African Petroleum (AP) and Shell became National Oil. Today these entities are back in private hands under bizarre and dubious privatizations that saw them sold to inexperienced and incompetent traders unwilling and unable to build any refinery but happy to import and claim subsidy.

    Remove the subsidy and dismantle attendant price control of petroleum products, private refineries would balloon and the country would rightly no longer perhaps export one barrel of crude. Competition for market share would inevitably bring down prices.

    If anyone is in doubt, take a look at what happened to the telephone business. NITEL, a state monopoly prior to deregulation, operated a mere 400,000 lines (for perhaps 100 million citizens) and for so long kept us not talking to each other. You have to pay its officials to have your application processed. You woke up at 3am to risk your way to its call kiosk to make an international call. Senator David Mark, then a communication minister, made the infamous remark that “telephones were not for the poor”. Alas, today, and thank God he is alive the event, even destitute have telephones.

    Today we import more than 80% of our premium motor spirit (PMS) thanks to public owned refineries in comatose most of the time. But reduce the role of the state in the economy as the system distorts and thwart production. The market is the best arbiter.

    Take the shiny example at home here of a tiny Exploration and Production (E &P) start up that I consult for and barely 10 years into oil and gas production. Its mini-refinery at Ogbele, Ahoada East LGA, Rivers State, is probably the only functioning refinery today in the country. The company (thanks to regulated pms) refines only Automotive Gas Oil (AGO). It sells (thanks to deregulated AGO) sells its product at market price. When its price is high no buyer shows up. When its price is low, buyers happily queue. The market is supreme. The company increases or reduces price at the whim of the market. That’s what works. It eliminates official permits- synonym for corruption. Where ever and whenever anyone is sitting in an office to exercise discretionary decision on economic matters you provide the perfect recipe for corruption. Remove it. Let the market sort it out.

    All that talk about inflationary consequences of petrol price hike is pure scaremongering. It is built on timid ignorance, irrational emotion and crude politics.   Commuter buses, supposedly used by the poor, consume less than 15% of the stuff. Most inter-state goods haulage are executed by diesel engine trucks whose fuel, diesel (AGO), is deregulated.  The subsidy, alas, is for the affluent few. Mr. President remove it today.

    Dokun, a Petroleum Geologist, wrote from Ilorin, Kwara State.