The Nation Newspaper

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  • The ministers we need

    Some of those who are coming in as ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will be stepping into the ring, armed with refurbished old gloves that take us back into a history we always like to forget.

    If we talk of the dominant personalities, they are the same old faces. Those I saw way back in 1999 when we began the democratic session that has brought us this far are still with us; Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, Tony Anenih, Olu Falae, Muhammadu Buhari, Abubakar Atiku, Olabode George, John Oyegun, Peter Odili, Orji Kalu, Bukola Saraki, Ogbonnaya Onu etc.

    It is misleading to say they represent a receding age, as one newspaper writer noted the other day about the military elite. If we discern an exiting era we must not be blind to the fact of a dying generation giving birth to kindred spirits. The old order only appears to be giving way: really it is raising a new crop of those who believe in, and practice the old philosophy. So at the end of the day nothing of substance has changed. For instance you may not see an Olusola Saraki again. But you come across a Bukola Saraki who will always stand for what Olusola Saraki stood for.

    It is the same with the political parties. The National Party of Nigeria (NPN) disappeared in law when it was proscribed in late 1983. But its spirit never died. The Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) didn’t die either. Indeed, one group is currently embodying it, not satisfied apparently with simply proclaiming the philosophy of late Chief ObafemiAwolowo in an earlier setting.

    However critics point out that the real tragedy of our politics is not that we didn’thave a change of characters as the years rolled by. There is nothing truly wrong in the long run if you have the same personalities who would move with the times. The point is that they must not drag the bad elements of the past into the present and the future. So the sad news is that those who stay in the saddle in Nigeria corrupt the system with stagnation either through senescent politics and policies brought from the dead past or through their entrenchment of Neanderthal institutions they symbolize.

    When the politicians went on the hustings as the electoral umpire permitted them a few months to the first of the staggered poll in early 2015, these politicians sought to secure our vote by presenting their manifestoes. But as we have said above, their bouquets of “action plan” are tweaked documents. They are a menu we are familiar with. We consumed them in the past. They never nourished us. Instead they turned us into kwashiorkor children not growing and developing according to our age. We are rather under-growing and under-developing, long after the colonial precursor performed the hatchet man’s job.

    What these compatriots want from us is power, authority streaming from the ballot box. They want the green light from us to rule. They want a mandate to make them to be known as holders of a sacred calling. Truly, that is what it is; the public office figure (elected or appointed) is set apart for exemplary sober conduct: a good leader is like a god on Mount Olympus, not given to the foibles of the common folk under him, yet bound to a life of service to meet their needs, even to the point of self-immolation.

    Several centuries ago in ancient Egypt, the king looked across the room where he and his kitchen cabinet were mulling a looming famine.He sought a man of honour to manage the state and the agro-economy in the time of the prosperity that would precede the drought. He found none!

    Today Nigerians are also searching for astute leaders to take charge of the vast riches, enormous human resources and unquantifiable potential of their country. There is a fatal disconnect between these enormous wealth God has given Nigeria and the crippling poverty therein. The missing link is a leader (or leaders) to mediate between our wealth and our challenges. Wealth and poverty are strange bedfellows. We need leaders to break the bond between them.

    The Egyptian monarch did not get the leader he needed from among his people. Not from the regular corps of politicians either. But he created one through quite unorthodox means. What a difference that made!

    Nigerians must create their own leader and expect him to kowtow to them and their needs. We don’t need a Frankenstein’s monster. What those who went about doing during the campaign season, meeting journalists and announcing high-sounding manifestoes want to give us now isn’t what we need. We should let them know that a genuine leader is not denominated in naira and kobo, or in any other financial benchmark for that matter. Genuine leaders do not transact their business with the electorate on a cash-and-carry basis. Our dream leader’s chief armour and ammunition are probity and selflessness, amounting to complete surrender of self.

    When that grundnorm is settled, we want to tell the leaders of Nigeria of 2015 and thereafter that what we need from them is to top their agenda with a powerful and non-negotiable policy to address the issues of redistribution of the national wealth and youth and women empowerment. If you handle these adroitly, you would be taking care of insecurity and the future. A society prospers and declines according to how it treats its youths and women.

    The citizens must be radicalized to let those who got our vote know it isn’t what they want that matters. What we need should drive them and their passion to the level where they would be happy poorer materially but fulfilled in service upon leaving office than when they got there!

    But I beg to ask somewhat like Pharaoh: “Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is…so discreet and wise (honest, blameless, transparent, selfless, unquestionable integrity)?

     

    • Ojewale, a journalist, sent this article from Ota, Ogun State.
  • Abubakar Audu, once beaten twice shy!

    Abubakar Audu, once beaten twice shy!

    In a matter of weeks from now, the people of Kogi State will make an important decision about who will be their governor for the next four years. Specifically, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed the Kogi governorship election for November 21st. Two weeks later on December 5th it will be the turn of Bayelsa people to go to the polls. In both cases, the people will be making their choices from a pack of old and familiar war horses. In Kogi, the election is promising to be an interesting shopping exercise.

    So far, about seven political parties have nominated standard bearers for the poll. They include Labour Party (LP), Accord Party (AP), All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and Social Democratic Party (SDP). The first three of the parties boast notable candidates who have at different times held top political offices in the state. They are former Deputy Governor, Philip Salawu of the LP, former Governor Abubakar Audu of the APC and incumbent Governor Capt. Idris Wada of PDP. But, those who are familiar with politics of the Confluence State and the credentials of each of the candidates believe the contest will be a two horse race between Audu and Wada.

    To say the least, Audu is a formidable opponent. His strength lies in his records of achievements as a former governor of the state. So are his weaknesses. Audu is the most rugged politician in the race. He has contested every gubernatorial election since the creation of the State in 1991 and won two, first in 1992-93 in the short lived Third Republic, and second in 1999- 2003. His current expedition will be his seventh. With such record, the Ogbonicha prince profiles himself with the self-effacing sobriquet ‘Father of Kogi State.’

    Perhaps, it is true. Audu’s reputation for development is praised to high heaven. Among legacies his supporters point to are the establishment of Kogi State University (KSU) Anyigba, Kogi State Polytechnic (KSP) Lokoja, Obajana Cement Company, Phase One Housing Estate, Old Poly Quarters, Commissioners’ Quarters, Assembly Quarters, State Library, Radio Kogi, NTA Lokoja and Graphics Newspaper. Others are construction of an eye clinic, a Reference Hospital, Cottage Hospitals and a secondary school in his village. In fact, for want of better things to mention, one ardent fan says Audu has a good sense of glamour, referring to his countless gorgeously embroidered agbadas! For these reasons Audu says ‘Kogi is my baby.’ He smiles when his fans massage his ego with the phrase ‘messiah of Kogi’.

    But, a closer look at the Audu years in government will at once put a lie to the super hero/ genius image with which fans like to adore him. Audu was the first and second elected governor of a state that was literally begging for development. What is today being glamourized as his ‘unequalled records’ are the minimum just about anybody would have recorded as governor, at the time Audu did. That he established a university was not a miracle. Higher education was a priority in all the states. Governors of virtually all other states created along with Kogi State established a university- Olorogun Felix Ibru of Delta State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State, Boni  Haruna of Adamawa State, Chinwoke Mbadinuju of Anambra State and Abba Ibrahim    of Yobe State all established a state university in their respective states. In the case of Kogi it was made easier by an existing UNDP agricultural facility in Anyigba. The facility was promptly converted to a university. The same explanation goes for the polytechnic. The satellite campus of Kwara State Polytechnic in Osara was also converted to a full-fledged institution with the main campus in Lokoja. Audu added a theatrical blend to the establishment of the university when he christened it Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba, with the ear tingling and jaw breaking acronym, PAAUA.

    When Lokoja became state capital in 1991, the then small local government headquarter was overwhelmed by the influx of civil servants coming from both old Benue and Kwara states. Constructing residential and office accommodation was therefore a priority for the government. So it was not a mark of ingenuity that the pioneer governor constructed Government House, some office accommodation and residential estates to take people away from dwelling under trees. “If he did not build his own office, would he expect to be operating from the village square?” asked Pa Eneojo while speaking on the issue.

    Audu likes to be remembered as a leader that laid the industrial foundation for the state’s development. He conceived of a cement factory in Obajana. It is to his credit that the idea was taken over by the industrialist, Aliko Dangote and today Obajana Cement is one of the biggest cement companies in a single location in the world. But, people conversant with the Audu persona recall how the former governor allegedly bagged cement from another company outside the state with Obajana Cement’ printed on it and brought same to the Lokoja Township Stadium for launching with fanfare. This was at a time when not a single tree had been uprooted from the site where Obajana Cement was supposed to be located.

    Some of Audu’s electoral burdens have psychological foundation. The former governor who prides himself as a prince is said to be son of a non political and untitled village head in Ofu Local Government. During his two previous adventures in power, he ruled like an emperor and saw the state as an extension of his fiefdom. He was notorious for his pomposity and outright disdain for others. As a governor, lesser human beings including his commissioners and other top functionaries of government cringed in his presence. They dare not sit whenever the emperor was on the throne. People were just expected to craw before him.

    The prince of the Niger and the Benue was most insensitive to the people he led. He talked down on people, tampered their freedom and pursued an agenda that divided the people than it united them. Salaries and allowances were highly irregular. Civil servants, especially from the Yoruba west and Ebira central were routinely laid off without regard to rules guiding such exercise. At the height of his power, Audu boasted that his party, the then Nigeria People’s Party, NPP would rule the Confluence State for a minimum 25 years. However, the people’s verdict was louder. In the 2003 governorship election, Kogites rejected him as king when they voted for a political neophyte Ibrahim Idris. Four years later, Idris repeated his humiliation. Again, in 2011, the humble pie was forced down the throat of Audu.

    The former banker also carries a deeper sorrow from his sojourn in Lugard House. He is thought to have also helped himself from the common till. His knack for development came with a big price for the communal purse. He was accused of stealing about N12 billion from the state revenue. Audu dribbled the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for years until it’s operatives waylaid and caught him on a street in Jos, the Plateau State capital. He was handcuffed and subsequently arraigned at a court in Lokoja. Proceeds from his looting spree were said to have been used to acquire eye propping property in Potomac USA, Dubai, Abuja and other places. He is still standing trial over the matter.

    Has the former governor learnt his lessons? Not likely. Two weeks ago, while returning from a trip abroad, a large number of supporters were mobilized to Jamaata bridge where they waited several hours for Audu. The long wait was said to have taken a toll on the health of an aged man who collapsed and was rushed to a nearby hospital for revival.

    Audu is a notable politician with insatiable thirst for power. He is a man of uncommon taste for development. He is the father of Kogi State. He likes to be seen as the symbol of Kogi’s development.

    • Idoko writes from Lokoja.
  • Femi Fani-Kayode’s fatwa

    Femi Fani-Kayode’s fatwa

    The recent masturbation by Femi Fani-kayode on the abduction of Chief Olu Falae by Fulani herdsmen would pass as an intervention to none other than narrow-minded individuals whose organ of sight is confined to the two openings above the cheek; for the least sophisticated observer would read what he called “the herdsmen from hell” with a deeper reflection into the man and the message he fought so hard to preach as an advertisement of a systemic and institutional failure that has reduced this nation to one whose penchant for impunity cuts across economic lines and social status – an impunity so gross, great and competitive that as members of the political elite loot our common patrimony in broad daylight without consequences, the hoi polloi in their small enclave replicate their own version in their peculiar ways.

    Fani-Kayode’s unfortunate call to “seriously consider the expulsion of all Fulani herdsmen from the southern part of our country” portray him as a rainbow nationalist whose patriotism lie not in the nation whose president he spoke effortlessly to secure another term for but for selfish interests so big and humongous, yet puny and disgusting; for he set out to portray President Muhammadu Buhari in ethnic garb while he failed to see that he was inadvertently sinking in the cesspit he dug for himself.

    When he relayed how President Buhari referred to the Fulani herdsmen as “my people,” he sought to distort facts and twist reality by feigning ignorance of the fact that irrespective of how far or close we are to making Nigeria a nation, ours is a nation of nationalities and no one—except the naïve—becomes a better Nigerian by being less Igbo or less Yoruba or, in Buhari’s case, less Fulani.

    He tried very hard to hoodwink the Yoruba nation into a mood of self-appraisal when he labeled every person of the Oduduwa descent who desire to have the Fulani’s removed from the south-west as “self-respecting.” He fools himself and shot his toes by the use of that coveted word for neither in word nor action—even in posture-Femi Fani-Kayode lacks the most basic self-respecting feature, the least of the fundamentals of a gentleman, and the comportment that qualifies an individual as a moulder of public opinion.

    A macroscopic characteristic of what Malcolm X at the Militant Labour Forum called “that kind,” the stripping of anyone and everyone who rears a cow, cattle or sheep of their Nigerian citizenship by Fani-Kayode is enough to make one begin an enquiry on the law he claimed to have studied for he struggles to understand the basic fact that any Nigerian, irrespective of tongue, accent or status has an inalienable right to feed, sleep, grow and roam without fear or favour in any part of the country.

    As a local chief and PDP elder statesman, the tilling of the polity to plant ethnic bile and sectional isolation all in the pretext of a liberation struggle betrays the wisdom which Nigerian youths look up to from men who proclaim sophistication like Fani-Kayode. The call to deracinate ALL Fulani herdsmen who rape and maim innocent citizens ought to be extended to the leaders of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress whose terror-in-trade was at full force in the build up to the 2015 general elections.

    Had Fani-Kayode not been a poor student of history, he would have picked a word or two from the encompassing sacrifice of Nelson Mandela and the patriotic strive of the founding fathers of America whose divergent roots became a source of strength to the envisioning of a free society by propelling them to build a nation of inclusiveness irrespective of colour or creed.

    Had Fani-Kayode not have been a run-of-the-mill political ranger whose acts of patriotism steer based on who sits on the rocky chair at Abuja, he would have gone back to the classroom to learn about how sectional interests are being championed without undermining of the right of others.

    Referring Nigerians to the plight of the people of Plateau, Benue, Niger, Kwara, Nasarawa, Taraba and Adamawa states in order to place his twisted essay on the door step of legitimacy without a similar call to sanction the various security agencies especially previous Inspector General of Police and state commissioners for negligence of duty shows superficiality and double standard on the part of a supposed elder.

    The Fulani herdsmen are also citizens. If they kill or let their animals loose to cause damage on farmlands and properties, it is a sworn duty of the law enforcement agents to intervene. Yes they kill, but how many? Could all of them be murderers to warrant their removal from the south? In fact, the tragic notoriety of some Fulani herdsmen ought to be a major yardstick for measuring the effectiveness of the police. Let the law take its due course when they err. If the call by Femi Fani-Kayode is made to move, the people of the south that reside up in the Sahara would pay with their lives. History is replete with such.

    The Fulani herdsmen, just like Femi Fani-Kayode have a right to remain in their fatherland as no citizen becomes less fit to walk, graze or enjoy freedom anywhere in Nigeria save a criminal. It is lawlessness and impunity that need to be expunged from Nigeria, not a rod-wielding taxpayer.

    Nigeria has remained the way it is not because it was built on a “satanic foundation” as Fani-Kayode said but because she has allowed herself to be raped by satanic persons. So it’s not the Satan that fed Eve with an apple that is causing our woes, it’s the ones who have built a consensus on our commonwealth – one which the man from Ile-Ife was an integral part of.

    Clearly, Femi Fani-Kayode’s lack of access to slush funds from his party has made him invoke Mr. Greene. He’s always done that but Nigerians—witnessing the demystification of governance by the Buhari’s Presidency—expects a modicum of remorse from the man who until a few months ago spoke for continuity.

    “Draw attention to yourself by creating an unforgettable, even controversial image,” wrote Robert Greene in the 48 Laws of Power. “Court scandal. Do anything to make yourself seem larger than life and shine more brightly than those around you. Make no distinction between kinds of attention-notoriety of any sort will bring you power. Better to be slandered and attacked than ignored.”

    Clearly, the man understood the laws of power better than Greene himself for even the disciple of Machiavelli understands how impracticable a number of his writings are. Had Fani-Kayode consulted Greene before fronting law six, he would have been admonished on the ordinariness of such adventure.

    If notoriety had brought power to the likes of FFK, it was because the country had been hitherto run by notorious men. At this hour of moral zenith when Nigerians now wax stronger on the clamour to have their country sanitized, only a buffoon would continue doing things in the manner of old.

    When government chicken boys like him venerate his words, correct minds need not look twice to see how feeble a man he is.

    The Yoruba leader of antiquity, Oduduwa switched ethnicity the minute Fani-Kayode was sold a chieftaincy title.

    With him, sensible Yoruba’s began chanting: “Ilesanmi, Ilesanmi, Ilesanmi…….Odun j’oye lo”

    Olaguro writes from Jebba, Kwara State.

  • Understanding Ambode’s government model

    Understanding Ambode’s government model

    The concept of democracy has received varying definitions and interpretations from scholars and political observers depending on the ideological leaning or interest of the contending scholars. However, there are certain basic features of democracy that serve as consensus among the contending perspectives. One of such is accountability. Every democratically elected government is accountable to the people, to whom it owes its existence. It is, therefore, imperative that the people be consistently informed about how their mandate is being utilized.

    This, indeed, is the major motivation behind Governor Akinwumi Ambode administration’s resolve to run an all inclusive government. Ambode’s idea of an all inclusive government is one in which “no one or segment of the society, irrespective of colour, race, faith, status, ability or disability is left behind.” The philosophy of the current administration in Lagos State 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. The Ambode administration has never claimed to have the monopoly of knowledge with regards to finding the right solutions to the myriad of challenges confronting the state. It has, therefore, consistently thrown its doors open to divergent opinions and views from various sources. As a people’s Government, the administration plans to establish an effective communication strategy, which would give no room for any break in communication between the government and the governed.

     Consequently, ever since its inauguration in May this year, the Ambode administration has made wide consultations with various stakeholders on diverse sectors of the state. The major goal in seeking the input of stakeholders is to create strategic ways to determine ways of evolving ideas that will alleviate the sufferings of the people and improve the quality of social life and economic development. This was what informed some of the several stakeholders’ forums which it has held especially with the aim of adopting and adapting some of the best practices in the advanced nation.

    Universally, effective service delivery has been identified as a significant force that propels socio- economic development. It is, however, regrettable that since independence, Nigeria is yet to have and implement effective and reliable service delivery system. Therefore, the Ambode administration in opting to run an all inclusive government in order to provide a steady forum for local and international experts and stakeholders in public administration, drawn from the private, public and non-governmental sectors, to brainstorm and provide solutions on key contemporary and emergent issues confronting the public sector. Consequently, the state government has been able to examine the different challenges and issues confronting public governance in the state, as well as prioritizing key areas where action is needed. This would enable the state to balance competitiveness with quality of life and institutionalized sustainability.

    Similarly, in order to sustain good governance through prudent management, the state government, in partnership with both public and private sectors’ stakeholders, has been examining and evaluating the existing weak revenue base and low cost recovery in the state’s public sector and proffer practical solutions towards ensuring financial sustainability. The result, of course, has been quite far reaching as it could be seen in the recent improved revenue base of the state government.

    Equally related is the fact that the state government , still in collaboration with various stakeholders through its numerous public engagement forums, has equally been analysing the financial complexities involved in building, operating and maintaining public infrastructure, capable of meeting the needs of a rapidly expanding urban population; and examining the pivotal role of the private sector in contributing to enhance efficiency of public service delivery; and to ultimately; finding ways and means of harmonizing responsibilities at the state and local government levels regarding the multiplicity of agencies with overlapping and-related functions, particularly as it relates to policies, regulations, revenue generation, planning, and maintenance of public infrastructure.

    One cannot but lay emphasis on the key role which all inclusive governance could play in encouraging more residents of the state to embrace the culture of tax payment. In our society, everyone blames the government for almost everything. Unfortunately, the resources available to the government in servicing the needs of the people are quite minimal when compared to the huge needs of the people. It is in order to resolve this imbalance that the state government has been stressing the need for taxable residents of the state to regularly pay their taxes.

     This much was emphasized at the maiden Town Hall meeting recently held by the Ambode administration at Abesan mini stadium, Ipaja, Lagos. The forum equally afforded the governor the avenue to rub minds and exchange ideas with the people on how best to move the state forward. Similarly, the governor used the occasion to inform the people about some of the steady strides that his administration has made within such a short spate of time. For instance, the people were duly informed at the event that the recent realignment of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government in the state, as well as other re-structuring that has taken place in the state public service, has saved the government over N3billion monthly.

    In order to institutionalise his administration’s plan to constantly engage the public on various issues of governance, the Ambode administration created the Office of Civic Engagement, in the Deputy Governor’s Office, to effectively synchronize engagements between the government and the public. Through this, the citizens have been provided with a platform that could make reaching out to the government a seamless task. The Office serves dual purposes. One, it enables the people to make their needs known to the government. Two, it aids the government to ensure the execution of people-driven programmes.

     Given the current thinking in the state, the place of the citizens in governance cannot be over emphasised. However, in as much the government is ever ready to carry the people along in the scheme of things, it is equally imperative that the people fully cooperate with the government in ensuring the full realization of the lofty policies and programmes of the government for the people. It is only in doing this that the state could attain lofty heights.

    Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

  • Changing the face of HIV/AIDS: Protecting our girls

    There are 1.8 billion young people (males and females between the ages of 10 and 24) in the world today, the largest generation of young people in human history. The majority of these young people live in developing countries and approximately half, or 900 million, are adolescent girls and young women.

    The U.N. International Day of the Girl Child (October 11) highlights the unique challenges adolescents and young girls (females between the ages of 10 and 19) continue to face in our world.

    At every stage of development, girls are more likely than boys to confront a progression of disadvantages associated with violence and discrimination. Even with decades of laws, treaties, conferences, and resolutions at the local, national, regional, and international levels, the difficulties accompanying being young and female condemn millions of girls to the sidelines of society. There, girls remain mostly invisible, their human rights habitually abused and violated, and their welfare trailing behind that of boys.

    Girls account for more than 80 percent of new HIV infections in adolescents in the worst hit countries with 380,000 adolescent girls infected with HIV every year; in other words, 7,300 every week, more than 1,000 every day. Moreover, HIV/AIDS remains the leading cause of death for girls and women ages 15 to 49.

    According to UNICEF, the face of HIV/AIDS is young and female. As we commemorate the International Day of the Girl Child 2015, we say, “This must change.”

    Tackling violence and discrimination faced by girls, and ensuring their access to the same basic opportunities as boys, is crucial to the realization of their basic human rights and achieving the UN’s “Sustainable Development Goals 2030.”

    As the global community rallied to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 last month at the 2015 United Nations General Assembly, the U.S. government has made several exciting announcements with positive impacts for the girl child.

    On September 26, National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice announced bold, new HIV prevention and treatment targets established by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). By the end of 2017, PEPFAR will support 12.9 million people on life-saving anti-retroviral treatment-nearly a doubling of people on treatment from 2013 to 2017-and provide 13 million male circumcisions for HIV prevention.

    Specifically for the girl child, PEPFAR announced that the program is now investing nearly half a billion dollars to support an AIDS-free future for adolescent girls and young women. This includes strategically aligning $300 million ?in additional prevention investments in the Determined, Resilient, Empowered AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe (DREAMS) partnership, launched in 2014 to support adolescent girls and young women living in the highest burdened areas of 10 sub-Saharan African countries. By 2017, PEPFAR hopes to reduce HIV incidence by 40 percent among this group.

    On September 27, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry at the UN General Assembly echoed these announcements and they affirmed the U.S. government’s commitment to an AIDS-free generation.

    On September 28, PEPFAR also made a $10 million contribution over three years to the Robert Carr Civil Society Networks Fund to build the capacity of civil society. Along with UNAIDS, PEPFAR will launch a new $4 million, two-year initiative to strengthen the capacity of faith communities to implement the most effective HIV prevention and treatment programs.

    PEPFAR stands as the U.S. government’s initiative to save the lives of those affected by HIV/AIDS around the world. This historic commitment is the largest by any nation to combat a single disease internationally. Since 2004, the year PEPFAR began in Nigeria, PEPFAR has disbursed more than $3.4 billion, or more than N675 billion, to support the Nigeria HIV/AIDS response. PEPFAR investments also help alleviate suffering from other diseases across the global health spectrum. Driven by a shared responsibility among donor and partner nations, PEPFAR will continue to make smart investments to save the lives of Nigerian girls and others around the world afflicted by HIV/AIDS.

    – Entwistle, is U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria

  • Mama H.I.D. Awolowo as I knew her

    That the world is agog for the past weeks with the transition to glory of Late Mama HID Awolowo, the most colourful and adored woman politician of her time, who none is like is a step in the right direction. It is just auspicious to do so in all dignified ways possible. In life as in death, and like the sage, her beloved husband, she remains the reference point and central issue in Nigeria political affairs.

    I was just twenty-six year old, when my path providentially crossed with that of Papa and Mama HID Awolowo. Late Chief Tele Olukoya of blessed memory, facilitated the happenstance. Through late Chief Tele Olukoya, Papa Obafemi Awolowo got to know, that I was constructing a 50-bed hospital in Lagos – THE AGUDA HOSPITAL, along Enitan Street in Aguda-Surulere. Papa was also at the time about to establish the now famous DIDEOLU HOSPITAL in Ikenne.

    I would not know what led to what, but Papa Obafemi Awolowo requested late Chief Tele Olukoya to bring me down to his Park Lane residence in Apapa, Lagos. On getting to Park Lane, I was jolted to the pant, literally shivering, that here I was, before the legendary Papa and Mama Awolowo. Papa and Mama Awolowo warmly received me after Chief Tele Olukoya made an introduction. I was on the floor prostrated for minutes, even after Papa and Mama Awolowo asked me to get up, it was and still is one of the most joyous day in my life.

    Mama HID Awolowo, since that singular occasion, was to me a woman, who was born into the service of her people. A virtuous woman who was determined to make service to her fatherland, through her husband, the only thing that mattered most to her. In the presence of Late Chief Tele Olukoya, Papa and Mama HID Awolowo prayed for the realization of the dream of AGUDA HOSPITAL and my other ventures. Mama HID Awolowo pointedly told me at that occasion, that I should not see financial gain as uppermost in my mind in running the hospital, as the less privileged members of the society will come in for treatment with or without enough money. Saving lives, Papa and Mama Awolowo said, should be my goal.

    I was therefore pleasantly surprised, when late Papa Obafemi Awolowo accompanied by our mother, Mama HID Awolowo came personally to commission the AGUDA HOSPITAL in 1982 a unique occasion in my life. Chief Ayo Adebanjo, a close associate of Papa and Mama HID Awolowo and who lived a stone throw from the Aguda Hospital, rushed down to the occasion when he heard that Papa and Mama were around to perform the commissioning. He is still alive to bear me out. Chief Ayo Adebanjo jovially scolded me for not putting him in the picture, as a close associate of Papa and Mama HID Awolowo. No wonder, Papa made free health care services as one of the cardinal points of the defunct UPN.

    In 1982, I was at Ikenne in company of a photographer – friend, there and then, after ‘father –son’ discussion, Papa asked, who the man outside was and I told him he is a photographer. Papa humorously asked, if I had planned to have a photograph with him, to which I answered in the affirmative. Thus, my photograph with Papa and Mama in his inner office at Ikenne. It is my most treasured possession.

    To me, Mama HID Awolowo was a disciplined woman, politician, with absolute humility and humanness. I was with Mama and Papa Awolowo at the LAGOS HOUSE, Marina in 1983, in company of Alhaji Lateef Jakande, when the presidential election result of that year was announced Papa took it all with philosophical calmness, though with some reservations.

    With my interaction with Mama H.I.D. Awolowo, through the instrumentality of Papa, the fire in me to join politics was burning. But late Chief S.M. Afolabi was then calling the shot in my area in Osun. I conceded the leadership to Chief Afolabi and recognized him as such as Papa and Mama thought me to have reverence for my elders.

    Mama in my assessment and in the course of my interaction with her, just like Papa did not see politics as a commercial venture as it is practised today. Hierarchy adherence was the order of the day with Papa and Mama. A legacy IBB ‘newbreedism’ threw away since 1985.

    As a political son of Late Mama HID Awolowo, I found her a total family woman. Very lively a family woman. She did not allow politics to tamper with her family life. Mama would always ask me, how my children and wife were fearing. Stressing always, that any parent, who fails to give his wards the best of education is a failure. Again, one sterling quality, that I embraced from Mama and which I hold close to my heart till today is the creed; to love and respect friends, until they prove otherwise. Even as at that, Mama said, we should give them another chance for redemption. Thereafter, we should keep them at arm’s length without bitterness, if they refuse to change their nebulous ways.

    Mama in the presence of Papa told me and I quote; “Kola always have absolute respect for women of virtues and womanhood generally. Woman she said, should always be treated tenderly and without any harm in the least. They are the mothers of the nation”.

    Mama taught me the act of generosity, which has become part and parcel of me, till today. Mama has her name inscribed in the hearts of the people. According to Mama, small minds seek office in politics to be somebody, while great minds seek office to do something positive for the people. That she did until she breathed her last.

    At Ikenne in1982, Mama pointedly told me, that if I have to be in politics, I should make service to the people, the thrust of my endeavours. That was exactly what I did, while I was in the Senate (2003-2007). Life more abundant for my constituents. Papa and Mama were the closest couple I ever came across.

    I am happy to have served Papa and Mama Awolowo as a Yorubaman, I ran errands for them. Their doors were opened to me at the shortest of appointment. I, like many others wanted Papa to be the President of Nigeria and Mama as the mother of the nation, but God said No.

    Mama HID Awolowo was for the unity of Nigeria. No wonder, many are fallen over themselves to pay glorious tribute. Mama operated beyond us ordinary people during her life time. He saw what we did not see and what we still fail to see even now. But the great woman of virtue is gone to join the legend and rest in the bossom of the Lord. Not another Mama Awolowo again in our own generation.

     

    • Senator Ogunwale is the Asiwaju of Iragbiji, Osun State

  • Fulani herdsmen and food security

    The recurring clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in some parts of Nigeria remain one of the major threats to food security in the country. The recent abduction of former Minister of Finance, Chief Olu Falae, purportedly by Fulani herdsmen with whom he was reported to have been having squabbles over farm issue, has once again brought to the fore, concerns over constant hostility between Fulani herdsmen and farmers across the country. Sadly, this perennial feud could have serious implication for food security n the country. Just recently, an alarm was raised on how the encroachment of farmlands by herds of cattle will, in no small measure, affect the output of crops coming from the north; the region relied mainly upon for the provision of foodstuffs and fruits in the country.

    In Jigawa State alone, more than 70 cases of conflicts have been recorded since the beginning of the 2015 farming season. These cases bordered on encroachment into farms by cattle and farmers misuse of cattle routes. The situation is not different in Nasarawa and Benue states, the food baskets of the nation as Fulani herdsmen persistently engage farmers in feuds that often result in serious causalities on both sides. While farmers accuse the herdsmen of farmland encroachment, the latter blame the farmers and members of their communities for rustling of their cattle.

    In time past, herdsmen and their farmers used to have a reasonably symbiotic relationship. While the cattle served as means of transportation for daily goods as well as manure to fertilize the fields for farmers, the herdsmen in turn obtained grains and other farm products from the farmers. But later, as the expansion of farming activities, which invariably led to a huge demand for farmlands drastically reduced supply of grazing land, flocks of cattle frequently encroach upon already cultivated fields to the chagrin of farmers. This, indeed, is a major source of unending friction between the two. Unfortunately, the friction, if not properly checked could have adverse effects on food security in the country.

    However, pastoralists and agriculturalists conflicts are not the only challenges affecting crop outputs and the provision of food security in the country, other factors include environmental degradation in form of soil erosion and overgrazing;  climate change (which has caused shifting weather patterns is increasingly viewed as a current and future cause of hunger and poverty because it leads to increasing drought), flooding, and changing climatic patterns requiring a shift in crops and farming practices that may not be easily accomplished.

    The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that about 805 million people of the 7.3 billion people in the world, representing ratio one in nine, suffered from chronic undernourishment in 2012-2014.  Among all the hungry people, 791 million live in developing countries, representing 13.5 percent, or one in eight, of the population of developing counties.

    Another key issue is the future of industrialization and higher standards of living. The springing up more industries to cater for the growing population of white-collar job seekers affects provision of food for the people. The lands hitherto used for agriculture are being sold to give way for these industries. And often, these lands contain trees- usually felled- needed to boost the oxygenation of the environment as well as produce both food and cash crops.

    Another critical issue is the attitude of young people to agriculture. Commonly tagged dirty and not a money spinning occupation, most young people abhor farming. This is because it does not bring immediate financial returns compare to other jobs such as banking and working in oil servicing firms. There is mass migration of young school leavers from the rural communities to the cities, thereby leaving behind old and tired hands to engage in farming.  Another major obstacle to sustaining food security in the country is the communication gap between the farmers and policy implementers. In most cases, the policy implementers do not really carry the farmers along in the process of policy implementation. This, perhaps, is responsible for the inability of subsidized fertilizers and loans from the government and its agencies to get to the real farmers who are in dire need of it.

    But as daunting as these challenges may appear, the country has options to address them. In the case of farmer-herdsmen violence, the Buhari administration should creatively strategise with stakeholders to find a lasting solution to the problem. One thing that can be done to reduce the tension is for the federal government to establish grazing zones across the country for the Fulani herdsmen. Once this is done, government should ensure that the herdsmen strictly comply with the grazing zone arrangement. This would, no doubt, greatly reduce friction over land resources. Equally, the Federal Government should take steps to dismantle the armed cattle rustling rings reportedly wreaking havoc in the northern part of the country.

    Additionally, governments at all levels should encourage young and unemployed school leavers to embrace farming through the provision of lands, seedlings, mechanized infrastructure and easy access to loan. The Lagos State government is already doing something in this positive direction as it has empowered young rice farmers with inputs ranging from land preparation, seeds and fertilizer provision as well as access to irrigation. Equally, in order to boost productivity, farmers in parts of the country where scarcity of rain is usually experienced should embrace micro- irrigation. This technology enables farmers to enjoy water supply all year round and essentially it efficiently irrigate, grow crops and boost their farming income and outcome.

    It is gratifying to note that grand efforts are already being put in place to boost food security in the country. Recently, the Nigeria Agribusiness Group committed a sum of N360billion to assist small – holder farmers to boost agriculture in 22 states. According to the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sonny Echono, this investment will create jobs for youths, women, and uplift millions of farmers out of poverty. If loans such as this are judiciously disbursed and used, it will in no small measure ensure food security in Nigeria. It is, however, important that all stakeholders rise up to the occasion by ensuring that more resources are committed into the agriculture sector. If we must boost food security in the country, this is the time to stop paying lip services to the issue of agriculture and walk the talk.

     

    • Bakare is of the Features Unit, Lagos State Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

     

  • Why corruption persists

    Several centuries ago, a Latin language author wrote: “the love of having grows by having”. His remark is as true today as it was centuries ago when it was made. The more wealth (be it property or cash) one has, the more wealth one desires. It is a natural tendency for humans to go on and on, without limit, amassing wealth. In a capitalist society, such as ours or the United States of America (US), it is lawful to do so, provided such limitless wealth is acquired legally, through personal sweat.

    However in Nigeria, like in some other developing countries, the principle of insatiable love of having has driven the acquisitive instincts of our public officers, elected or appointed rulers to roguish level and dizzying heights. Here lies the tap root of corruption in our country. The caution, the love of having grows by having, is the taproot and driving force. The buttress or prop root is our value system that encourages acquisition of wealth by all means without questioning the sources of wealth of individual citizens. Once the individuals acquire stunning wealth illegally, they go to church for thanksgiving and knighthood, to the traditional rulers for chieftaincy titles and to their communities for wining and dining. The likelihood of growth of corruption and some other crimes is much in the face of naked wealth, when people are brazenly displaying all the money they have made after their exploits. Other people feel they have nothing and the only way to get it is to take it.

    The Pius Okigbo-Committee discovered that the $14.2 billion oil windfall earned by Nigeria during the Ibrahim Babangida dictatorship got missing, and there is no trace of it till date. Equally, Nigerians were simultaneously shocked and thrilled by sheer weight of shiploads of the country’s money stolen and stored in foreign banks by another dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, his family and cronies. It was an unprecedented clean sweep of the public treasury. Really, we have long lost count of the sums Abacha stole. In its report of June 13, 2002, the Senate Public Accounts Committee declared that N11.7 billion of the total N40.7 billion recovered earlier from Abacha and his cohorts and co-plunderers was missing, even when the total sum had not been paid into the consolidated fund. Before the end of that year, the federal government had made additional haul of $1.2 billion of the Abacha loot.

    At the end of the stretched, almost 29-year military rule of the almost 40 years of political independence (by May, 1999), Nigerians had stopped wondering on what meat their past military rulers and top civil servants had fed that they had become so fat on leaving office; that they had retired into mansions, shipping, large-scale farming and other lucrative businesses and comforts. Long before the military quit the stage, we had become convinced that the coups and counter-coups were not for salvation of the country, but a frenzy of finger-pointing that had most of the time ensured self-enrichment and aggrandizement.

    Even then, there were exceptions. Major-Gen. Johnson Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, the first Nigerian army general, Commander of the UN forces in Congo, military ruler of Nigeria for six months, had only 100 pounds two pence in his bank account. His successor, Yakubu Gowon, who ruled this country for nine years, owned no house. The little bungalow he managed to build in Wusasa, Zaria, when he was an army captain, was burnt to ashes by suspected Muslim zealots during one of the so-called religious riots. The house Gowon lives in today, in Jos, was built a few years ago by his friends and admirers.

    In our restored democracy of 16 years, it had long become certain that a large number of Nigeria’s elected rulers and other public officers had set out, from the outset, to break the military rulers’ record in stealing the people’s money. They had also demonstrated that ours is a country where the rulers are more concerned with the quality of their own property than with the quality of the people’s goals and aspirations. In September 2005, Diepreye Alamieyesigha, then governor of Bayelsa State, was arrested in London and charged by the British police, with laundering E1.8 million. Similarly, Joshua Dariye, then Governor of Plateau State, was arrested in London and charged with laundering N2.6 billion. He skipped bail, fled to Nigeria, and was declared wanted on warrant by the British police.

    If not insatiable acquisitive instincts, how do we explain Tafa Balogun’s N17 billion worth in cash and properties, which he fraudulently acquired in his barely three-year tenure as the country’s Inspector General of Police? As discovered too by the Economic and Financing Crimes Commission (EFCC), a director of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who died in a plane crash in 2005, had N5 billion in his bank account and estates in Abuja worth more than N2 billion. Likewise, of the three INEC directors arrested in 2007, one had 13 houses in Nigeria and abroad.

    In the 2007 EFCC list of indicted officers, only five of the 36 governors were said to be free of corruption. A certain governor allegedly owned 172 houses. A former governor, who assumed office for about three years with stolen mandate, was said to have misappropriated (a euphemism for stolen) N43 billion. Another former governor was also said to have misappropriated N3.8 billion. Our rulers in the restored democracy are a portrait of “glided flies” which, basking in the sunshine of politics, fatten on its corruption. If the suspected politicians in the EFCC list are now questing hither and thither to wriggle out of the morass, let them be consoled by the fact that, though the attractions of government are infinite, the risks of public condemnation and ingratitude are incalculable.

    The other prop root of corruption in Nigeria is the non-existence of the anti-corruption law in this country. The law exists only in the books. For a law to really exist, it must be adequately enforced. A law that is not enforced does not exist. In Nigeria, laws are made and enforced in such a way that they have remained cobwebs where the small flies are caught, and the great break through. Sometimes in April 2008, President Umaru Yar’Adua complained to a former President of the US, Mr. Jimmy carter, in Abuja, that corruption thrives in Nigeria largely because eminent Nigerian citizens break the law with impunity. It is not laws do not exist, he insists, but because “many Nigerians believe they can disregard existing laws and regulations without ever being punished for their illegal actions.

    If Nigerians have really bothered to find out why our past rulers plundered and looted the nation and gone scot-free, they would discover that the rich offenders have not been punished or adequately punished, unlike the poor criminals. Put differently, the laws are being inadequately enforced, or discriminately enforced in favour of the rich. In this situation, the rich men rule the law and the law grinds only the poor. Purely criminal cases are being treated as “political cases’, and “refund” is meant to wear the mask of penalty in favour of the rich offenders. For penalty to serve as deterrent, the rule of law, which is the basis of virtually all the country’s existing laws, should be observed. To every Nigerian, rich or poor, the laws in respect of stealing, fraud, embezzlement or robbery by whatever euphemism, including the long-existing Criminal Code Ordinance No. 15 of 1916, Sections 98 to 116 and 404, should apply.

    For disappearance from his custody of dollars allocated as match bonus to his country’s senior football team, the Black Stars, a former minister of Ghana was sentenced to imprisonment in 2001, and, in addition, asked to refund the stolen money. Also in 2001, Lord Jeffrey Archer, a former deputy chairman of the British Conservative Party and a world renowned novelist, was convicted of perjury and jailed four years. Nigeria should emulate these enviable examples. The law, if properly and meticulously administered, should dramatise its punishment. Not only the severity but the certainty of punishment is a factor in this case.

    Allied with the inadequate enforcement of the law is the characteristic indifference of Nigerians to how public money is spent by their leaders. Still related to this is the failure of the legislature, both at state and federal levels, to perform their oversight functions of approving and monitoring expenditures of the president and governors.

    If Nigerians are meaning to fight corruption, we must begin to realize that regardless of the operation of the insatiable acquisitive instincts, the well-being of a society is rightly measured, not by the level of wealth acquired by the rich but by the level of poverty, or conditions of living of the populace, which in Nigeria is a prolific source of insecurity.

     

    • Ubabukoh writes from johnifeanyiu@yahoo.com

     

  • Triumph of reason

    Triumph of reason

    It is apposite in view of the eventual formation of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet to revisit some contentious issues in our body politic with specific reference to the interrogation of political tolerance and its utility in the development of our democracy.

    Arguably, political intolerance is a vice in the polity. It manifests itself when political leaders refuse to give space to opposition politics through a rejection of different views. However, political tolerance is a necessity by accepting and respecting the basic rights and civil liberties of persons and groups whose viewpoints differ from one’s own. All citizens, especially political leaders, therefore, have a responsibility to practice political tolerance in their words and actions as a key principle of democracy.

    This is so because as an ideal, democracy upholds the right to differ as well as the acceptance of such difference by all. Democracy lets people speak their minds and shape their own future. Indeed that so many in so many different parts of the world are prepared to risk so much for this idea is testimony to enduring appeal of democracy. Otherwise the crude desire to restrict the rights of a disliked person or group based on their differing views represents a threat to democracy.

    Like in many other parts of the country, this enlightened perspective is no less relevant than the situation in Rivers State where the divergent political positions before and after the last general election between the former Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and his political traducers left in its wake some regrettable impressions.

    Although the Peoples Democratic Party was declared winner and a government was formed, Amaechi somehow became the issue of governance rather than the implementation of the manifesto of the PDP government. All manner of accusations rented the public space. The media smear campaign was so much that a psyche of distrust already embedded in the people could possibly lend credence to the campaign since the character deficit in many political leaders, including the traducers was rife.

    It became so vigorous a campaign that many concerned leaders from Rivers State and the South-south region in general took notice and raised alarm to the effect that beyond the shenanigans being dished out, there was an ulterior motive to embarrass Amaechi so thoroughly to make his further rise in political leadership and perhaps public service impossible, at least in the new dispensation. This is the reason for the daily orchestration about corruption, about such incredibly humongous figures in “secret bank accounts” in capitals across the world. But it was all lies, a calculated recourse to evil doing to tarnish a hard-earned reputation.

    Initially, Amaechi never bothered because he knew his has a clear conscience and as such replying to such pedestrian accusations which can easily be detected as false would amount to frivolity. But it later dawned on him that when a lie is repeated over time could register as truth in the estimation of the ordinary people. And he took the most appropriate step through a legal redress to protect his name and reputation. The case is subsisting in court.

    It is worth reiterating that Amaechi’s travail in the hands of his traducers was purely political. It resonates in his political differences with former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, leading to his exit from the PDP basically on matters of ideological differences.

    And to compound “Amaechi sins”, the former governor was regarded to have contributed in some strategic ways to defeat the former president and hell was let loose. So the situation in Rivers State is a proxy war!

    What we cannot and must not overlook in the saga, however, was the fact that Amaechi’s actions were not personal but a realistic appreciation of his politics, founded on convictions, rather than any ethnic or tribal leaning, to the effect that patriotism and the need for a virtuous and vibrant way to democratic and leadership renewal was inevitable. Of course, such is hard to fault in the context of the common good. Amaechi’s political pragmatism has defined him over the years.

    Thus his inclusion in the Buhari cabinet, in spite of the dirty tricks by his traducers, underscores his relevance not necessarily as a political gift but essentially as a measure of his leadership character and ability to add value towards the realization of the president’s agenda. It is also an endorsement of his stewardship as former governor of Rivers State both in terms of integrity and performance.

    Whether his political enemies like it or not, Amaechi’s legacy as a reformer will outlive him in Rivers State. His numerous landmark projects and development initiatives in education, health, agriculture, power and empowerment, remain imperishable especially in the hearts of the people who were beneficiaries.

    President Buhari who appointed him should also be commended for his clear sense of mission and objectivity by not pandering to sentiment and antics of talebearers. Understandably, he must have done his due diligence to realize that the wholesale smear campaign was political without any iota of truth. It is clearly a triumph of reason rather than the emotion-laden chorus of ‘betrayal” as every discerning observer could read along the line of hate politics in Rivers State.

    Amaechi’s new challenge, however, is a call to service on a national scale which should dwarf his feat in Rivers State. He must make his presence felt in the new agenda of national regeneration.  Importantly, we must recognise as a people that a clash of views in politics is a good thing in creating a viable democracy. Many fledgling democracies have slid towards autocracy, maintaining the outward appearance of democracy through elections, but without the rights and institutions that are equally important aspects of a functioning democratic system. And when we look closely we found out that the vice is a function of leadership character molded in intolerance and the quest for absolute power which invariably corrupts. We must learn to tolerate one another even when we hold opposing views.

     

    • Njoku, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Port-Harcourt.

     

     

  • Omo-Ojo’s politics of stomach infrastructure

    Omo-Ojo’s politics of stomach infrastructure

    I have not stopped laughing since reading an interview published by a national daily featuring the immediate past Edo State Transport Commissioner, Orobosa Omo-Ojo. The reason is simple: it was an audacious attempt by a pathetic character to falsify the facts of recent history but ended up making a fool of himself. On the day his sack was announced, for instance, only Omo-Ojo’s army of rough-necks clothed in funny-looking white uniform who had been terrorizing and extorting hapless motorists in Benin City under the guise of regulating traffic did not jubilate.  Having been so dismissed ignominiously from his job to the applause of the Edo public, a sensible man would have saved himself further ridicule by simply making himself less visible.

    Not Omo-Ojo. Rather, blinded by malice, the self-acclaimed “technocrat-in-government” (another big lie) now tried hard to belittle what is generally acknowledged as the monumental achievements of the incumbent governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. In his desperation to project the Comrade Governor as a let-down, Omo-Ojo comically resorted to praising – wait for it – the much discredited Lucky Igbinedion as a great achiever!

    But this serial political failure (he lost in the ACN senatorial primaries of 2011 and APC House of Reps primaries of 2015) is only acting true to character: a flutist who blows his pipe in your praise so long as you look after his “stomach infrastructure”. By his tone in the said interview, it would seem Omo-Ojo does not consider the Comrade Governor to be worthy of his office. So, the question is: if Omo-Ojo is truly a man of high principle that he now pretends to be, why did he serve that administration in various capacities for seven whole years? Let us even rewind to last year. The same Omo-Ojo had granted another interview in the national daily where he praised Oshiomhole to high heavens as a great “inspiration from whom I have drawn invaluable leadership lessons and skills”. Now relieved of his juicy portfolio, the man is singing a different tune. Isn’t there shame at all again?

    In his tales-by-the-moonlight, Omo-Ojo listed the “achievements” of his new-found paymaster as the founding of many fantastic industries and a sprawling housing estate in Benin City. Seriously? Really?

    Well, if any viable industry was bequeathed by the Igbinedion administration, it must be existing in Omo-Ojo’s infertile imagination. The truth of the matter is that the so-called industries purportedly set up by Igbinedion were nothing but creative drain-pipes through which public funds were siphoned. For instance, whereas it is on record that a whopping N700m was expended in setting up one of such, the same company was eventually sold for less than N50m by the same Igbinedion administration years later in the name of privatization.  Talking about “sprawling estate”, Omo-Ojo also needs to clarify whether it is the same as one of the assets forfeited by the former governor to EFCC under a plea-bargain arrangement years ago.

    The harder cheap hirelings like Omo-Ojo try, Oshiomhole’s sterling records can never be tarnished. His handworks and indeed footprints across the 192 wards of Edo State are too visible even for the blind to see. Space constraint will not permit one to go into a catalogue here. But suffice it to say that Edo people, who had suffered the atrophy of PDP for 10 dark years and Oshiomhole’s redemptive exertions of the past seven years, are indeed appreciative. No wonder that in the 2012 polls, they gave the governor unprecedented 75 percent of the vote such that he won in all the 18 councils of the state. And despite the huge ill-gotten cash Omo-Ojo’s new paymasters deployed in the last state elections, Edo people again demonstrated their confidence in Oshiomhole by voting overwhelmingly for APC.

    The culture of prudence and value-for-money is very much in evidence today. It explains why clueless disciples like Omo-Ojo had to be offloaded along the way. Oshiomhole’s tenacious commitment explains why Edo has more to show in terms of social infrastructure like roads, schools, hospitals relative to its meager resources compared to its oil-rich neighbours. It explains why whereas those oil-rich neighbours began to owe salaries and later craved federal bail-out, not once did Oshiomhole default in paying workers’ salaries at the end of every month in the last seven years.

    Really, it is impossible for the Comrade Governor to fix all the rot accumulated by PDP for 10 years. Take education, for instance. Until Oshiomhole took over, the education sector was in total mess. Not only were our children left to take lessons in classrooms that made pigsty look like five-star luxury, content was also absent. Little wonder then that the secondary school calendar was defined by high failure rate and the state became synonymous with “miracle centres” where parents paid fortune to “mercenaries” to fix certificate exams for their wards.

    But all that is now history. By investing massively in rebuilding schools and motivating teachers to be more committed by way of incentives like prompt payment of salaries and allowances, public confidence had been restored in public schools. Today, more than 60 percent of public primary and secondary schools have been completely reconstructed across the state. Enrolment has doubled, tripled and quadrupled in the past seven years. Nothing perhaps underscores the improved quality than the WAEC/NECO results in the past three years. Last year, overall, Edo came third across the country. This year, it improved to the second position. So, who says Oshiomhole has not changed the Edo story for the better.

    How cheap for Omo-Ojo to say members of Edo Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES) were sacked unjustifiably. The truth is that it was not meant to be a permanent scheme. It was an interventionist initiative designed to groom beneficiaries for eventual engagement in the labour market. Over the years, it was discovered that the scheme was increasingly being abused such that many of those who originally enrolled and were drawing monthly salaries had since moved out of Edo. Many were no longer reporting in their places of primary assignment. As a mark of his commitment to ensure judicious use of public funds on the one hand and also harness those who may have proved their mettle on the job, Comrade Oshiomhole decided to phase out YES with a view to deploying those who took their jobs seriously to fill existing vacancies in the public service. The state civil service commission was directed to take steps to regularize their integration into the state civil service. The process is almost completed now. How does this amount to a crime as insinuated by Omo-Ojo?

    Well, one sincerely hopes that the Comrade Governor will put sentiments aside and summon the political will to make public the findings of the administrative panel set up to investigate mind-boggling allegations of unwholesome practices under Omo-Ojo’s watch at the transport ministry. Stories have been told how illegal VIOs were deployed around Benin metropolis to extort money from motorists. After a public outrage, same touts were “re-branded” and given white uniform to continue their siege to Benin streets. Is it true that “rents” were being collected on government premises illegally designated as motor parks? Comrade Governor, please Edo people deserve to know the truth.

     

    • Ighodalo, a social commentator, wrote from Benin.