The Nation Newspaper

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  • Take my water, take my life

    Now that the tensions of the Nigerian general elections are settling, it is time to wash off the dust and move on to take actions for the safeguarding of lives. In the months leading up to the electioneering campaigns, and indeed for decades, the World Bank and the then government officials have been meeting and taking decisions set clearly on the worn and largely discredited track that sees water as a commodity for speculators and not as a human right.

     As it turned out, the electorate in Lagos chose to vote for change at the federal level while remaining steadfast on the platform of more of the same, or continuity, at home. And so, we have a government in place that seem to believe that the best ways for public service delivery is by privatisation and enclosure of the commons. However, we note that before this year’s election, the people of Lagos voted with their feet and voices on the streets of the city to express their rejection of any move to privatise water under any guise.

     The shocking statistics from this aspiring mega-city inform us that up to 90 per cent of the residents of Lagos do not have daily access to clean and safe water. With that scenario, the prevalence of water-borne diseases in the city cannot come as a surprise. Nationally, more than half of Nigeria’s population have no access to clean water and more than two thirds have no access to sanitation, according to official statistics. Our compatriots depend on wells, ponds, boreholes, water carts and water trucks for water supply. This calls for public investment in the sector but government seems to have been hypnotised by the privatisation mantra repeatedly sung by the World Bank and its agencies such as the International Finance Corporation.

     The story of privatization in Nigeria is in the same mould as that of any forced appropriation of the collective patrimony for private profit. We recall that in the dying days of military dictatorship in the country the strategy was to allow essential public institutions of high value to stagger almost to the point of collapse and then privatization would step in without significant resistance since the institution would have been seen as ineffective. Sometimes it was the question of using public funds to bring a public institution or property to a very good state and then to auction them off to those who are well connected to the corridors of power.

     At a point it was not surprising that governments were literally privatised or sold to the highest bidder. Under military regimes, governments were privatised and controlled by those with the biggest guns. Today governments are often captured by corporate interests or by those with wads of cash or bags of rice or salt.

     It is not surprising that a major contributor to the failure of the Lagos government to solve the water crisis has been the Lagos Water Corporation’s wrongheaded commitment to privatization.  The government chooses the path of stubborn adherence to the false creed that holds that public utilities are best managed – as for profit entities as prescribed by the apostles of neoliberalism.

    The so-called Public-Private Partnership (PPP) strenuously marketed by the government is simply a means of subjugating the public good to private control. In other words, if truth is to be told, PPP is simply a way of facilitating the enslavement of the public by private interests.

     It is interesting how the ghost of the infamous and thoroughly discredited Structural Adjustment Programmes of the 1980s/1990s is being resurrected in the fancy catch phrase of PPP. Indeed the phrase has so captured the imagination of our policy makers that to think otherwise is almost anathema to them.

    Advocates of this scheme cite a supposed lack of government resources necessary for such public investment as the reason for soliciting the private sector’s ‘expertise’ and ‘capital.’ Are they listening to themselves? The claims must be taken with a hefty dose of salt. If it is true that the partnership does not entail any capital expenditure then we have reasons to be truly alarmed. Would there be no capital expenditure on the project? Of course there will be.

    The question is where would the private capital ultimately come from? And the answer is not far-fetched. The money to sweeten the PPP will ultimately be recouped from the pockets of the poorest of the poor. Apparently the thinking is that the already squeezed population can bear some more squeezing. That is what they are made for: to sacrifice, scrounge for water from dirty ponds and toxic lagoons, while the fat cats frolic in their overflowing Olympic-size swimming pools. Just think how effective the privatization of electricity has been in Nigeria and you would scream for everything to be privatized.

     Water extraction has been a great means of extracting enormous profits from Lagos’ poorest residents. In the past it was inconceivable that anyone could appropriate water bodies for private commercial use, but today that is common practice. Think about how ubiquitous water in plastic bottles have become. Some brands are even seen as status symbols and if tables at your event do not carry an array of those plastic bottles then it signifies that you don’t have class. Those who must count their coins before expending them are condemned to drink water sold in plastic sachets and snidely tagged pure water even when everyone suspects that the water is anything but pure. Some exploiters of our aquifer even claim they are selling nutritious water with stories of added vitamins and all that!

     These water miners in our cities are sucking up our aquifers often without any controlling water management plan or policy. It is a no-man’s land out there. With the collapse of public water supply across the nation anyone that can dig a hole till water spurts is welcome to do so. But one day our wells will run dry. And what shall we do then? When water stress becomes unbearable how and whom will the PPP help?

     We cannot ignore the fact that privatisation has failed repeatedly. Even those pushing for variants of privatisation, including their politician partners, know this fact.  Happily those whose cups of water are being snatched are pushing back. This is seen in the growing trend around the world of citizens taking back their water and forcing an end to corporate water grab and control by getting their leaders to bring back water management under public institutions.

     Examples of this growing trend in the fight for water as an uncompromising life support has been seen in Manila in Philippines, Nagpur in India and Jakarta in Indonesia.  For example, a court in Jakarta recently ruled that the 18-year-old World Bank sponsored corporate water contract there violated the Indonesian constitution. In Manila, regulators continue to push for the curbing of corporations’ insatiable to drive for outrageous profits. In Nagpur, while the water delivery system continues to consistently fail, water rates continue to skyrocket. Privatisation of water continues to fail as control by corporations lead to rate hikes, water shutoffs, worker layoffs and poor water quality.  In addition, the pursuit of profit blocks off needed infrastructure expansion investments making the situation grow worse as the years roll by.

     We cannot afford to see Lagos with its teeming population caught in the profit-driven PPP trap. The crucial need for accessible and safe water cannotbe overemphasised. If managed with the public good rather than profit, Lagos can escape being under water stress.  The people of Lagos, and indeed the entire Nigerian nation, deserve an environment in which water is clearly seen as a human right and where pollutions are curbed in order to allow Nature to maintain her cycles and thereby support the life of humans and other species. To deny any people the right to water is to deny them the right to life.

     During a recent field trip to Kpeme community in Togo, this writer witnessed a most ghastly disregard of water as a public good that must be protected. A phosphate factory located in the community pumps toxic effluent directly into the Atlantic Ocean turning the water greenish-yellow rather than the usual blue. Fisher folks complain that up to 1.5 kilometres into the sea is polluted by this toxic discharge. And the spread along the coast goes as far as to the neighbouring Benin Republic and perhaps to Lagos, Nigeria. When a factory manager was asked what they were doing to curb the disaster, the response was a flippant you must break an egg to make an omelette. We understand this omelette to mean financial profit. This omelette discounts the health impacts on the people and on aquatic lives. This omelette sees the ocean as a waste dump and disregards the fact that it is a commons for all of humanity and the planet. It ignores the fact that the Ocean is both a source of life and a veritable support of livelihoods.

     Lagos has an inescapable duty to show the nation and indeed the African continent that it is possible to build a public water supply system that prioritises the needs of the people and not the profits of corporations. Enthroning a multi-decade PPP may promise enhanced government revenue but it negates the tenets of a democracy that hears and heeds the demands of the people and operates in their best interests. Water is not a mere commodity to be grabbed, bottled or piped for profit. It is a prime gift of nature and true re-source democracy demands a spirit of stewardship that has no room for private enclosure of this public good.

     Bassey is an environmentalist.

  • The promise of PMB

    The promise of PMB

    President Muhammadu Buhari is working. Nothing best demonstrates the promise of PMB to rise up to Nigeria’s myriad challenges than his prompt response to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report on the environmental restoration of Ogoniland. It is a show of good faith, a promise kept and a hope restored.

    At the instance of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the UNEP began an investigation into the environmental pollution of Ogoni, part of the oil-producing Niger Delta of Nigeria, in 2008. The investigation followed over 50 years of environmental devastation engendered by oil exploration and exploitation, on the one hand, and 20 years of community protests over environmental human rights abuses by Shell Petroleum Development Company (Nigeria) Limited which led to a halt in oil-drilling in 1993, on the other.  The invitation to UNEP was part of reconciliatory moves with the Ogoni in order to ensure the resumption of oil production in the area. UNEP completed its assignment, and submitted a report to the Nigerian government on August 4, 2011.

     ”The Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland is the most comprehensive and complex assessment ever undertaken by UNEP,” UNEP’s Director, Division for Environmental Policy Implementation, Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw, noted during the formal presentation of the assessment results to President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Thiaw stated, “This assessment encompasses contaminated land, water, sediment, vegetation, air quality, public health, industry practices and institutional issues. And, it represents the best available understanding of what has happened to the environment of Ogoniland following 50 years of oil industry operations. It also provides operational recommendations on how that legacy can be addressed, including priorities for action such as clean-up and remediation.”

    The report confirmed and emphasised a wide range of health and livelihood damages inflicted upon the people by the oil activities, stating, “The Ogoni community is exposed to petroleum hydrocarbons in outdoor air and drinking water, sometimes at concentrations at highly elevated levels.”

    To ameliorate the situation, UNEP recommended the establishment of three new institutions to plan and manage the restoration effort. It proposed the setting up of an “Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority,” a government body to oversee the implementation of the report; “an Integrated Contaminated Soil Management Centre,” as a major industrial enterprise in Ogoniland that would employ hundreds of people, and a “Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration” to train the stakeholders in environmental monitoring and restoration; and “an Environmental Restoration Fund for Ogoniland with an initial capital injection of USD 1 billion contributed by the oil industry and the government.”

    UNEP concluded, “The clean-up efforts undertaken to date are inadequate and have not resulted in environmental restoration,” stressing, “Full environmental restoration of Ogoniland will take an estimated 25 to 30 years. This will be possible through a combination of modern technology to clean up contaminated land and waterways, backed up by practical action at the regulatory, operational and monitoring levels.

    “The happy news is that with a more focused approach it will be possible to attain major improvements in just five years.”

    It said the situation required, “The swift commencement of clean-up before the pollution footprint spreads any further.”

    Unfortunately, four full years after, no concrete action was undertaken by the federal government to implement the crucial report. This is despite the fact that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, a son of the Niger Delta, superintended over the affairs of the country at the time of the submission of the report of UNEP’s Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland and, in fact, received it on behalf of the Nigerian government.

    In a report published in October 2014 titled, “Still Polluted: Monitoring Government and Shell’s Response to UNEP’s Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland,” the Social Development Integrated Centre (Social Action), a non-governmental organisation, accused the Nigerian government under President Jonathan of nonchalance. The organisation condemned government’s failure to respect its responsibility for environmental protection as contained in Section 20 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) that stipulates as follows: “The State shall protect and improve the environment and safeguard the water, air and land, forest and wildlife of Nigeria.” Social Action observed that the response of the Jonathan administration to the UNEP report was the establishment of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources in July 2012.  With respect to Shell, Social Action quoted the company as saying that its counterpart funding to the USD 1 billion Ogoni Restoration Fund had been reserved in an offshore account. In the absence of a legal framework and technical work-plan to be worked out by the Nigerian government, the clean-up exercise could not commence.

    Praises are due to President Buhari for the bold and clear commitment of the new administration to implement the UNEP report. The wide-ranging measures meant to accelerate the implementation of the UNEP report approved last Wednesday, 5 August 2015, by PMB included the amendment of the Official Gazette establishing the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) to reflect a new governance framework comprising a Governing Council, a Board of Trustees, and Project Management.

    The measures were based on the recommendations of the Executive Director of UNEP, the UNEP Special Representative for Ogoniland, Permanent Secretaries of the Federal Ministries of Environment and Petroleum Resources, and other stakeholders.

    The president appointed a HYPREP Governing Council and a Board of Trustees for the HYPREP Trust Fund to collect and manage funds from contributors and donors towards the clean-up effort. He also approved an initial contribution of $10 million to the fund.

    Though, government is a continuum, it is instructive that a Nigerian president of non-Niger Delta origin is now the one who has taken the focused approach required to pull the region back from the brink of oil-instigated ecological disaster. Buhari’s decision to prioritise implementation of the UNEP report on Ogoniland speaks volumes for his determination to make the lives of people in the Niger Delta better. It is a strong statement that those who have tried to impute anti-Niger Delta sentiments to the coming of Buhari have gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick. It is appropriate to also thank Timipre Sylva, Rotimi Amaechi and others from the Niger Delta for standing solidly with Buhari, against all odds, in the 2015 Presidential Election.

    In responding to the UNEP report on the Ogoni, PMB has just taken a step in a long journey towards resolving the Niger Delta question. As a matter of fact, there are a few issues yet to be sorted out before the commencement of the clean-up exercise. These include issues of representation in the proposed structures; appropriate name of the agency to drive the process, and the scope of the project.

    My take is that with the acceptance of the demand to set up a public trust to manage project funds, every other grey matter can be sorted out through dialogue and engagement. Significantly, the ecological think-tank, Home of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), has drawn attention to the misnaming of the body to undertake the clean-up. “Certainly, government does not wish to ‘restore pollution’ as the name Hydrocarbons Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) suggests. The object is to remediate the environment, not to restore pollution,” HOMEF noted. My suggestion is that government should retain Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority as recommended by UNEP, to start with.

    Similarly, I fully endorse calls for the Nigerian government to commission an assessment of the whole Niger Delta environment.

    The Ogoni environmental problem mirrors the global ecological crisis faced by the peoples of the Niger Delta. It echoes the vast economic catastrophe wreaked in the Niger Delta by the destruction of livelihoods in the service of the oil and gas industry.

    Central to the Niger Delta question is the destruction of the people’s environment and means of livelihood by oil and gas activities, expropriation of the region’s mineral resources, unemployment, and shortage of infrastructure.

    Answers to the Niger Delta question have been captured in various reports on the region. But common to the reports are a clean-up of the Niger Delta environment by government and the oil companies that do business there; a firm resolve by the authorities to ensure that the extractive sector in the region conducts its activities in line with international best standards; employment creation through integration of the local economy with the oil economy and a conscious effort to change the culture of enclave development whereby lavish facilities that house and service the oil economy exist side-by-side run down communities; and establishment of institutions primarily dedicated to facilitating development in the region.

    Buhari has launched a strategic attempt at change in the Niger Delta. It behoves us to support the move to bring the region to the expected end of environmental and economic restoration that the people and, indeed, Nigeria badly needs.

    • Mr. Doifie Buokoribo is a media and political strategist, development consultant, social and political activist. He can be reached on:  Email: doifieo@yahoo.com; Twitter: @doifiebuokoribo

  • I never spent a kobo without approval of the House—Aregbesola

    The Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has disclosed that his government has never spent a dime without the approval of the State House of Assembly since he assumed office.

    Aregbesola made the disclosure while addressing a gathering during the Special Parliamentary Session organized by members of the House of Assembly in honour of the  Speaker, Hon. Najeem Salam, who turned 50.

    Aregbesola stated that his government has been conscious of the legislative roles in the running of the constitutionally designated duties of the government, stressing that the impact of the legislature can never be over emphasized towards the achievement of a sustainable democracy.

    Aregbesola who reacted to the recent petition allegedly written and forwarded to the House for investigation  by a sitting Judge of the State High Court, Justice Folahanmi Olamide Oloyede, where he was accused to have collected and mismanaged over N538billion  between 2010 to 2014, described it as unfortunate fabrication and baseless.

    While denying the allegation, he stated  that even if the state is earning five billion (N5billion) every month, it could not still accrue to such outrageous amount within the years in question.

    The governor noted that despite his high level of transparency and openness,  he could not believe that such hate statement could emanate from other arm of government who is part of the system and who by the virtue of her office is highly respected.

    He vowed that he would not be distracted or forced to deviate from the right path of fulfillment in spite of the current economic challenges ravaging the state and the country at large.

    According to him, the role of the legislative arm in a democratically elected government can never be over emphasized as most of the executive roles are hinged on the collective ratification and approval of the legislature, adding that in the eye of the law, nothing can be done without the approval of the members of the House of Assembly.

    He  explained that the roles of the legislature was not only limited to the approval of the appropriation bill from the executive but also has a prominent oversight functions and roles in ensuring that executive performs his statutory duties as expected in line with the constitution.

    Aregbesola said it is also the duty of the State House of Assembly having approved the implementation of a proposed appropriation bill or the proposed projects to be executed by the executive, to equally monitor it and ascertain that the approved fund is used for the said projects which his government has been successfully managed with the previous and current legislators.

    The governor said if anyone now feels that he or she at the comfort of his house can just petition the Governor without the requisite knowledge on the fact that it is not possible for the executive be it Governor, Commissioner, and other government parastatals and agencies, to implement any project whatsoever without the consent and approval of the House, he or she is just wasting his or her time and such petition will always amount to mere emotional disposition that can never be enforced by law.

    Governor Aregbesola lauded the resilience and doggedness of the state legislators for being forthright and unwavering in carrying out their constitutional duties since its inauguration, stressing that the House has been very cooperative, supportive and collaborative with his government.

    He  assured that the current economic crisis in the state would soon become a thing of the past as his government is working round the clock to make life more prosperous, meaningful, fulfilling, peaceful and abundant for the entire citizenry.

    Governor Aregbesola stated that the  parliamentary system of the government remained the best for Nigeria and other developing countries of the world, noting that it is the only system of government that concentrates all governmental powers in the hands of the legislature and as such, helping the financial management of the government because all the financial resources are concentrated on legislature for distribution and disbursement and whoever fails, either member of the parliament or the executive will definitely face the sanction of the parliament.

    He, however, described Speaker Najeem Salam as an epitome of humility, patience, tolerance, perseverance and God fearing.

    He therefore wished him more prosperous life on earth as he celebrates his golden jubilee, urging him not to deviate from good deeds, good work and as well be more committed and dedicated welfare of the people as part of his traits.

  • A’Ibom governorship tribunal: How Attah, Etiebet, INEC delivered the killer punch

    A’Ibom governorship tribunal: How Attah, Etiebet, INEC delivered the killer punch

    As the Akwa Ibom State governorship election petition tribunal adjourned till August 18 to allow the petitioner, Mr Umana Okon Umana, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), along with the other parties in the case the time to tender a mountain of INEC documents they all pleaded in their filings, it is an appropriate juncture to look at the milestones at the hearing of the petition so far.

    But before going further, let us put the adjournment into context in order to squelch the unfounded rumour that the break was asked for because the petitioner had run out of witnesses. That is far from the truth. The break was discussed and agreed on by all parties who need to sit together and sort the INEC documents, which they had all pleaded, into schedules for presentation to the tribunal at the resumed hearing.  The documents are of such volume that all parties, including the secretariat of the tribunal, have to work together to meet the deadline. Reacting to the motion for adjournment, which was made by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), counsel to the petitioner, counsel to all the other parties agreed that it should be allowed because the break was needed for a “joint venture.”

    For the milestones, rating easily as one of the critical junctures in the hearing of the governorship election petition were the decisions to relocate all the tribunals to Abuja, following security threats to members of the tribunal and witnesses to petitioners in matters before the tribunals. It is important to mention here that a witness from Onna, home local council to Udom Emmanuel, who was declared winner of the election, Hon. Etebom Christopher Itiat, a governorship candidate of the Democratic People Party in the election, was attacked and his house vandalised after going to Abuja to testify for Umana and the APC.

    Equally momentous also was the decision to move the electoral materials in INEC custody in Uyo to Abuja. In light of the discovery by the team of forensic experts working for the petitioners that INEC in Akwa Ibom was destroying electoral materials intended to be used as evidence in attempt to frustrate the petition, the movement was both significant and right in the interest of justice.

    Another milestone was the day hearing began into the substantive matter before the tribunal. What invested that day with so much significance was not just its rank as the first day in the epic legal battle whose outcome will serve as the reference point for dating history in Akwa Ibom State, but more so for the legal fireworks that fore grounded the lone testimony of the day. The lead counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), for the petitioner had opened the case by calling the first witness, Bishop Samuel Akpan, who was the governorship candidate for Accord Party in the would-be governorship election. Bishop Akpan in the witness box for Umana was an intrusive shock to the respondents, comprising Udom Emmanuel, the Peoples Democratic Party and INEC. They quickly showed it.

    Once they recovered from the shock, they went for the foundation of the case of the petitioner. Their game plan was to truncate the petition at that point with the argument—which could have easily fooled the unwary and the inexperienced—that Bishop Akpan and all the other witnesses that were to come could not testify before the tribunal because they were listed in their initials only by the petitioner in his filings before the tribunal. The trio of Paul Usoro (SAN) for Udom Emmanuel, first respondent; Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) for PDP, second respondent and Dr Onyiechi Ikpeazu (SAN) for INEC, third respondent, contended volubly and for about five hours that it was not allowed in law for witnesses to be identified by initials only, concluding therefore that all the witnesses listed by the petitioner stood disqualified. The petitioner, through his lead counsel, countered with the winning argument that such was allowed for security reasons, namely, possible attacks on witnesses—especially given the manifest truth that Akwa Ibom had been turned into a burning cauldron of violence in the last eight years, the calamity which climaxed in the build-up to and during the elections with some of the most gruesome murders and arsons imaginable. Thirty of the murders occurred on election day. Chief Olanipekun cited authority after authority on the use of initials by witnesses in court until he achieved enthymeme.

    The tribunal, headed by Justice Sadiq Umar, agreed with the petitioner and overruled the opposition. What would have been a fatal blow to the petitioner’s case was thus deftly defused.

    Of all the critical milestones in the hearing so far, Tuesday July 28 stands out as the most significant watershed yet at the tribunal sitting at the FCT High Court in Abuja. It was a day of great moment that lived up to its promise for the petitioner in the election dispute. The day also delivered on its full threat potential to the first, second and third respondents to the petition, namely, Udom Gabriel Emmanuel of the PDP, who was declared winner of the disputed election; the PDP and INEC. The promise and threat, depending on where you stand on the scale of justice, derived from the type of witnesses and kind of evidence that were to be led before the tribunal at the day’s session. They were easily the most ranking witnesses for the petitioner.

    The day’s session began with a back-breaking testimony by one of the high value witnesses, Atuekong Don Etiebet—former minister of petroleum resources, former presidential candidate and former life BOT member of the PDP—against Udom Emmanuel of the PDP, INEC and the PDP.

    Etiebet authoritatively told the tribunal that elections did not hold according to law on 11 April 2015 in Oruk Anam local council area where he comes from and where he was at home to vote on that Election Day. He testified to massive irregularities, including but not limited to ballot snatching, absence of ballot materials at polling units, and bloody violence instituted and directed by thugs and members of the PDP.

    He tendered four materials in evidence, namely, his voter’s card, his press statement condemning the sham elections, newspaper publication of the press statement and a video recording of his visit along with other leaders of the state and members of the APC to INEC head office in Uyo on the night of the election to see whether there was state collation of the ballot as should be the case at the INEC office which was the state collation centre. Etiebet said this was after they could not find INEC collating any results of the “elections” at any local government collation centre in most parts of the state. He said during the visit, they found the INEC head office in total darkness, with no work going on and the INEC REC Austin Okojie nowhere to be found on election night when the INEC head office ought to be a beehive of activities and Mr Okojie was duty bound to be at his post coordinating work. He also told the tribunal that the elders and others in the delegation to the INEC office delivered a written protest letter to the state REC, advising him not to dare call the elections which were irredeemably marred by wanton irregularities and violence. Yet the following Sunday morning, Etiebet told the tribunal, INEC announced the result of the “election” and declared Udom Emmanuel winner.

    Etiebet’s voter’s card, video recording of the visit to INEC head office on the night of the election, and press statement were accepted in evidence by the tribunal and marked as exhibits, but the newspaper reports of his press statement were rejected on the ground that the newspapers were not certified as true copies by the National Library of Nigeria as required by law. The legal team of Umana/APC at the tribunal said the rejection of the newspaper accounts of Etiebet’s press statement was of no legal significance since they were derivatives of the original press statement that had itself been accepted by the tribunal.

    The next witness for the day was HE Obong Victor Attah, former governor of Akwa Ibom State and leader of the Ibibio. Attah, who was magisterial in his deposition and statesman-like in deportment, tendered his PVC to prove that he was a registered voter but could not vote because elections did not hold in his town; he also tendered video recordings and testified orally to the effect that elections did not hold according to law in Ibesikpo Asutan local council area where he comes from. Both materials were accepted in evidence and marked as exhibits. Under cross examination intended to tar the former governor with the brush of partisanship, Attah left the following words on marble for the tribunal and those in and outside its precincts to ponder: “Excuse me my friend,” said Obong Attah to the opposition counsel cross examining him, with a hint of edge to his regal self disclosure, “I was a member of the National Conference and I personally coined the phrase ‘sanctity of the ballot.’ My concern does not lie with a party but with Nigeria. I want everything to be done right in my country. I am an elder statesman.” No one could fail to be struck by the poignancy of an eternal personal hurt in his voice.

    The super star witness for Umana/APC on the day in question was an NYSC INEC ad hoc staff member, an Ibo lady, who told the tribunal how PDP thugs invaded the unit where she served in Mbiabong, Uyo and carted away election materials allocated to the polling unit. She said the hoodlums arrived in vehicles with arms, shouting and hailing the PDP and grabbed the ballot materials under her watch. When she resisted them, she said, they beat her up, tore up her clothing and “threatened to send me to the wheel chair for life.” She said it was one of the good Nigerians who witnessed the attack that brought his jacket to cover her near nakedness. She added that she and her colleagues at the unit had to run for dear lives. She tendered the clothing as evidence, which was accepted and marked as exhibit.

    It was a bad day for the PDP and Udom Emmanuel at the tribunal. The INEC lady’s eye witness account of election violence and the violation of the sanctity of the ballot was so vivid and poignant that those who watched her could see the entire horror movie unfolding before their eyes. But it was also paradoxically so, so surreal.

    Before the adjournment to 18 August, the petitioner had presented his case before the tribunal for eight days out of the 14 days allotted to him to do so, and called 46 witnesses. He has six days left to complete the allotted time.

     

    • Otongaran is the director of media and publicity for the APC governorship campaign in Akwa Ibom State

  • GEJ’s wonder stoves

    Amongst many others, one of the trending news items at the moment is that the Jonathanian contractor handling the N9.2billion contract to supply supposed clean cooking stoves and wonder bags, awarded by the administration of former President, Goodluck Jonathan has dragged the Federal Government to court. Again, a country that should be amongst the leading lights of the world, feeding and exporting billions of dollars worth of goods to all her neighbours along the West African coast and beyond, is caught pants down dealing in crumbs and running  mediocre errands. In its long-list of many infamies, the Jonathan administration, perhaps in a last minute desperate move to retain power at all cost, had foreclosed all available options of right-thinking, and proceeded on November 26, 2014 to approve N9.2billion, inclusive of Value Added Tax, for the procurement of 750,000 units of these disgusting stoves and an accompanying 18,000 wonder bags. No one needs to ask whether these stoves would be made in Nigeria or imported; of course we all know the answer. The sad part is that if the stoves had surfaced, it would have been a case of a whopping N9.2Billion capital flight by way of procurement. Such is it that in an unending gloom of despair, a country that had gained independence more than 50years ago, continues to behave as if it is still in slavery.

    The last government must be ashamed of itself (if it at all has the capacity to do so) for reducing this country to a kindergarten society where anything goes. In today’s fast-moving world where even smaller countries of the world are making giant strides in the areas of mind-blowing technological advancements and scientific breakthroughs, we are busy awarding contracts for the purchase of stoves, spoons and pots; stoves that if they were to be imported from China, they would most likely have been produced by the high school students of that country. One must feel sorry for those who once queued up behind that Presidency. President Jonathan (as he then was) and his now defunct Presidency, made it abundantly clear that the matters of the leadership and survival of our nation is too serious and sensitive to be left to him and his troops, who behaved as if it was too much to ask to ask him to display the average intelligence of the ordinary President. They bit the hands which fed them, soiled their stew-pot with faeces from over-feeding, and ran the country into a state of immobility and decay.

    They carried on behaving as if their politics of the belly, exotic country homes, cronyism, clientelism and primitive political bazaar will never come to an end. In their dynasty of failure, they sanctified corruption and imposed the worst form of impunity on the country, so much so that today lawyers are making a huge fortune from unending and staggering corruption cases, the same way a coffin maker makes money from death. Today if it is not corruption in NNPC, then it would be NIMASA; tomorrow if it is not the DSS, then it would be the military; next tomorrow if it is not the Office of the NSA, then it would be NAFDAC. The stench of the Jonathan rot is so convulsive that every corner and junction you turn, you hear of huge amounts of being stolen in one government agency or the other. One wonders what would have become of Nigeria, if that man had found his way back to power. For those complaining of a slow President Muhammadu Buhari today, but cynically and deliberately closing their eyes to his thus far steady, impressive and integrity-studded frontal attack on the scourge of corruption in the country, maybe they would have ferried themselves and their families to seek prosperity in Cameroon by now.

    Under the masquerade of transformation, they pilfered the country to the bone. So nauseating was it then that it became a recurrent decimal for the people to be daily and consistently harassed on the TV stations of their media accomplices, with very mouth-watering, tantalizing and psychedelic graphics showing gargantuan projects lined up to be executed by the Jonathan government, for which billions of naira would have been appropriated, only for the money to suddenly develop wings and fly into private pockets. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it became a matter that never ended, for several trips to be made abroad, in an innumerable company of party faithfuls and other genuflecting jonathanians, with the pretension of going abroad to go and shop for foreign investors, only to return with some weather-beaten white-men posing as investors, but ending up to become mere briefcase consultants for the thieving government and later disappear to go and act as their fronts for their many businesses abroad. As a matter of fact, this disgraceful stove contract is about the least of the many underhand deal of the departed government.

    Now and upon realising the new state of zero tolerance for corruption in the air, their contractor has gone before the court, asking that the contract be not terminated. Wonders as usual shall never end. Perhaps, the contractor will have to tell Nigerians how much has been advanced to him from the total contract sum, how many stoves he has supplied so far, and who are the people to whom it has been shared. In addition, he will have to answer to Nigerians if the stoves in question were a part of the very many other souvenirs that were transported nationwide in hundreds of trailers, and shared during the build up to the April 14 Presidential elections, as stomach infrastructure to buy the votes of the people? If like I suspect, this contractor is unable to answer any of these questions, I should suppose that he must be made to pay a visit to the EFCC, give an account of all of the sordid details of the deal gone awry.

    It is important to remind those in power that God has not changed his place on the throne and no man shall escape the fatal consequence of his own handiwork. In God’s eternal order, there will always be enough to meet the needs of all, except that in man’s mortal disorder, there will never be enough to meet the greed of some. Recent ugly deeds of the last government has helped further proved, that it was a good thing that Nigerians decided to throw away the baby and the bath water. With a new man at the helm of affairs, Nigeria obviously has turned the corner, but this turn must be maintained and guarded by the eternal vigilance of the people. For the first time, it has been proved that Nigeria can even run efficiently without the much media-hyped appointment of corrupt ministers.  It took one man to show that that is possible. Other would quickly have started rewarding their friends and cronies with juicy ministerial appointments.

    Today, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has set out on a new journey, to re-chart the course of the near rickety Nigerian state. This journey he has brilliantly started without the usual motley crowd of greedy businessmen and a coterie of hungry political contractors who had in the time past fine-tuned their skills of manipulating the cluelessness in government and holding on feistly to the levers of power to meet their selfish ends. So Nigeria can function again? We are proud of this humble re-beginning and cannot but charge the President to carry on with the same vigour, energy and temperament. Nigeria must rise, irrespective of the unhappiness that this may bring to the apologists of the government of yesterday. After all, it has been said that “It is only a foolish cock that thinks that the sun will not rise, if it does not crow”.

    • Adegbite, Esq. is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

  • Customs vs. rice importers

    The Buhari government promised change and sweeping changes at that, especially in view of the wide-spread view that Nigeria witnessed some of the most corruption times in the recent past. Many institutions were known to be openly corrupt in the Nigerian landscape. Were a list to be drawn up, the Nigerian Customs Service would not escape the list. It stands to reason therefore that the leadership of Customs should be jittery, fearful of being swept aside to make way for a reformist who would make a more transparent and effective organization of the service.

    The recent physical crackdown by officers of Nigerian Customs on companies alleged owing excess duties levied after customs had cleared their goods for importation is believed to an effort to paint the present customs administration white and escape the cleansing brush of this administration. Or how else does one interpret the sudden crackdown by Customs, in the face court orders restraining them from taking action against the companies until the various court cases instituted in this respect are vacated.

    Early in the week of 27 June, heavily armed men of the Nigerian Customs invaded premises of seven companies alleged owing N23.6billion on account of unpaid levies in respect of rice importation. Customs alleged that the companies had imported rice in excess of quotas granted them by the Federal Government in its Rice Policy circular. They demanded payment of 40% levy on the deemed excess, imported between June and December 2014.

    Elsewhere, one would have asked if customs officers had access to this policy paper ahead of the importation and admittance of the goods through our ports. One would have wanted to know if customs was aware of the conditions of the incentives attached to these policy initiatives and the conditions under which the incentives could be availed.

    Knowing how thorough our customs men are, they would have scrutinized the policy document and referred it to their legal officers for advice before implementation. Based on their interpretation of the Rice policy circular, they accepted documents submitted by importers operating under this incentive programme at point of importation, and allowed their cargo to be cleared by paying the prescribed10% duty and 20% levy. They accepted this rate repeatedly for six months until December 2014, when the Federal Ministry of Agriculture woke from its slumber and remembered that it had failed to convene a meeting of the inter-ministerial committee as directed by the government or issued quotas to bona fide rice value chain operators as required by the directive. The inter-ministerial committee was saddled with the task of determining the supply shortfall in rice to be made up by importation and the allocation of quotas to bona fide investors.

    One would have thought that customs on receiving the circular would have sought clarification on how far it should go since the circular was clear as to the fact that the incentive was valid for the supply gap as determined by the inter-ministerial committee. They did no such thing. They proceeded to implement the policy paper handed them, and assessed incoming rice cargo by the bona fide importers at the incentive rate of 30%.

    It is still to be ascertained whether only these seven culprits brought in rice at the incentive rate. We understand that the quota unilaterally determined in arrears by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture also granted generous quotas to some would-be investors, who at that time had no verifiable investments in the rice value chain. They had shown the Minister of Agriculture their intent to start rice farming and milling by 2017. This carried a lot of weight with the minister and they were rewarded with bounty allocations at the expense of acknowledged importers who had been given key investor status by the federal government agencies responsible for certifying bona fide investors. No wonder then the bona fide investors allegedly imported in excess of their quota. Their quota had been sharply reduced by the allocation to un-preferred, would-be investors, and existing value chain operators were suddenly thrown off balance, with allocation of less than 10% of the established supply gap. Customs must come out in the open with the complete record of all importers that benefitted from the incentive rate to be a credible organization.

    At the outbreak of the on-going impasse, the aggrieved importers sought and secured a court injunction restraining customs from enforcing the retroactive levy pending the determination of the cases in court. Customs complied and resorted to dialogue with the aggrieved importers. One wonders what then has changed.

    Indeed the fear of the ”agents of change” is the beginning of wisdom. However, the change required of Customs must not be these sporadic interventions at the dawn of their performance review. Nigerian Customs cannot be adjudged effective if its modus operandi is to apply jungle justice or forcefully cracking down on its clients, after the event, in the face of restraining court orders. In a systems driven operation, it would have had the opportunity to analyze the policy circular and raise questions as to the gaps and loop-holes that pervaded it. It further had the opportunity, at point of entry, to seek clarification from its superiors what volume of cargo should be admitted at the incentive rate, as the policy circular clearly stated that the incentive import was to cover the supply gap.

    In this crack down, onlookers witnessed the deployment of sophisticated Customs gadgets and resources, including surveillance helicopters, sophisticated fire arms and trained intelligence officers. If these gadgets and resources were to be deployed in the war against smuggling at our land borders, one avers that customs revenue would almost double. We observe the Seme border night after night and watch unregistered vehicles and cargo laden trailers violate the mercantile laws of our land. We have been told many times that the borders are too large to police and that customs are simply helpless in this regard. The recent demonstration of muscle shows that it is lack of will that’s responsible for our porous borders, that the customs has the wherewithal to do an effective job if they diligently discharge their duties, that they do not lack funding or equipment required to carry out their job.

    One sincerely believes that it will take more than this belated show of muscle to convince the new administration that the customs is an effective, clean, and process-driven operation. We believe the body needs holistic change to reform the attitude and orientation of its rank and file to make the institution transparent and proactive. As a key revenue generating agency, its failings deeply affect the fortunes of national development, hence it must demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that it is appropriately structured, internally motivated, sufficiently disciplined and has enough depth to discharge its duties, while observing best practice and obeying the rule of law.

    Customs needs more than this sporadic show of force to save its hierarchy from the blowing wind of change.

    • Bankale sent this piece from Victoria Island, Lagos.

  • Ooni’s ‘death’ and Ife chiefs

    My interest in Ile-Ife stems from an understandable emotional attachment to the ancient town. Though not an indigene of the antique town, my formative years were spent in Ile-Ife. The memories of my early years in Ile-Ife remain part of the most cherished aspects of my life. I had both my primary and secondary education at Ile-Ife.  My first degree thesis, at the University of Ilorin, partly centered on the ancient town.

    Ile –Ife is unique in many ways. It is the tradition power house and the custodian of the ancient tradition of the Yoruba race. As a young and curious undergraduate studying history, I was enthralled by the mystical aura surrounding Ile-Ife. I wanted to know as much as I could about this deeply mystifying ancestral home of the Yoruba nation. I could recollect that my search took me to the late Chief M.A Fabunmi, who was then the Odole Atobase of Ile-Ife. Chief Fabunmi was a living encyclopedia of the rich oral history of Ile-Ife. He knew the history of Ile-Ife inside out. One could actually affirm that whatever the late Chief did not know about Ile-Ife’s history did not, perhaps, exist. For days, Chief Fabunmi took me on about many astonishing tales that further highlight the reverent place of Ile-Ife in Yoruba tradition and history. According to him, Ile-Ife is the centre of Yoruba cosmology being the first place of human habitation in the world. It is “the spring where the sun rises before any other place in the world”.

    Chief Fabunmi further revealed that the palace of the Ooni, the venerated traditional ruler of the ancient town, has several ‘sacred rooms’ where the king discuses with the deities (and Ile-Ife boasts of an assortment of deities as it is claimed that diverse traditional rites are performed on a daily basis to these deities all through the year with the exception of one particular day which the Ooni alone knows) from time to time. Not only that, the palace, according to Chief Fabunmi, has certain links where the deeply initiated could connect directly with ‘Olodumare’, who is considered by the Yorubas to be the Supreme Being. There are also revelations about certain doors that must not be opened within the ambience of the palace by the uninitiated.

    Ife’s traditional ruler, the Ooni of Ife is one of the most highly revered kings in Africa. Almost every king in Yoruba land got his beaded crown from the Oduduwa house which is personified by the Ooni. In the political history of our country, especially in the post colonial era, the Ooni has played vital role in the nation building process. Sir Adesoji Tadeniawo Aderemi, who ruled in Ile-Ife between 1930 and1980, played significant role in the politics of the defunct Western Region. His successor, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, simply followed in this rich tradition, intervening in several political fiascos that could have thrown the country into turmoil since his assumption of the throne in 1980.

    In Ile-Ife, ancient traditional values are held as sacrosanct and the Ooni, who is the custodian of this tradition, is at the centre of it all. We live in a modern and technological driven age where hitherto highly revered ancient traditional norms and customs are either being gradually eroded or have actually been completely gotten rid of. But, being the “Source of the human race”, tradition rarely dies in Ile-Ife. Being the very basis of the existence of the town, the death of tradition in Ife could only mean the demise of the ancient town itself. As blood is to the body, so is tradition to Ile-Ife.

    The current debate surrounding the transition of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade further underscores the rich traditional values and customs of the ancient town. Traditional and social media recently went to town about the news of the demise of the Ooni in faraway London. As the news was gaining ground, the Chief Priest of the ancient town, Oba Olajide Farotimi Faloba, who is traditionally empowered to make available such information, promptly came out to debunk the news, affirming that the respected monarch is alive. Equally, while on a recent visit to Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the Royal Traditional Council of Ife informed the governor that the Ooni of Ife was alive, contrary to the news being peddled in the media.

    The way things currently stand, there seems to be a stalemate. The Ooni was curiously absent at the recent wedding of one his sons in Lagos. His absence at the event has further heightened fears about the monarch’s real condition. Indeed, many, though without any concrete proof, are convinced that the revered monarch has gone to join his ancestors. Could it then be that the chiefs that constitute the Royal Traditional Council of Ife are lying about actual state of things?

    As it has been previously established, Ile-Ife is a deeply traditional town. The Ooni personifies the rich tradition of the ancient town. Supposing the Ooni has, indeed, passed on, traditionally, the Royal Traditional Council of Ife has the onerous task of first knowing and equally breaking the news to the entire public. The Ooni is not just an ordinary person. He is the custodian of the rich heritage of the House of Oduduwa. As such, if the delicate issue of an Ooni’s death is not properly handled, according to tradition, it could lead to dire consequences. The chiefs has the traditional task of averting such.

    So, the announcement of the death of an Ooni must follow due traditional process. Such announcement can only be made by the Obalufe of Ife, being the only person authorised by convention to do so and until he does that, the king implicitly lives on. Therefore, we need to respect this age-long tradition of Ile-Ife. Since it is the same tradition that produced the current Ooni, we must respect the words of the chiefs who are the preservers of the tradition. Tradition bequeathed Oba Okunade Sijuwade on us; we must keep faith with the same tradition to acquaint us about his supposed demise.

     

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

  • Comments

    ‘USA-Nigeria relations: Ambassador Fafowora makes a lot of valid points: Obama has messed up the goodwill established by assassinated President John F. Kennedy (Jan 1961-Nov 1963). Obama has no respect for us. He must not be invited here. Let us wait till a new president emerges in next year. If he or she behaves like J. F. Kennedy or Bill Clinton, then we have a friend in the White House. Obama wants to turn the Naira to a worthless currency. He is vicariously liable for Boko Haram madness in the northeast. To get stolen funds repatriated, Buhari should ask the looters to make refund to the Federal Government. No law suit. From Dapo Shogbola’

    For Olatunji Dare

    Senator Bukola Saraki’s coup against his party and voters is about unravel and its

    seems some former Senate Presidents are about to do terms in Kuje Prisons. All criminals always leave a trail, but these Sam Aleck’s left theirs all too obvious. The end is pretty much in sight. From Daud Akinade

    Please who called the meeting of the APC members the same day of the National Assembly inauguration? Let us get to the root of the matter before we start blaming individuals.  Regards. From Tokunbo.

    Good evening Prof. Olatunji Dare, I enjoy your comment and debate, in The Nation of July 28, 2015. Sure, l will keep this paper for my children in case God will give them talent. The language you applied is powerful. Thanks. From ALHAJI SANI OMAR. ABUJA.

    Prof, I enjoyed your article as usual concerning events at the National Assembly. There is no gainsaying that what is playing out in the Legislative House is fraud and daylight robbery at its best! Senator Saraki and his cohorts are sitting on a keg of gunpowder.”Ile ti a fi ito mo,iri ni yoo wo lule”, literal means, a house built with dew shall sooner than later fall down. A word is enough for only the wise. Prof, your ink shall never dry. From Sunday Adebiyi, Abuja.

    Sir, am always impressed with your weekly articles because they’re always thoughtful and blunt. The alleged forgery case against the National Assembly clerk should be investigated and all the culprits duly punished. As a Kwaran, I will expect the Economic Financial and crimes Commission (EFCC) to ask our Senate president what happened to the defunct state Trade Bank during his tenure as governor! I felt ashamed of his actions in the Senate as a Kwaran. Why did the EFCC refuse to invite Senator Saraki and his wife for questioning about the finances of Kwara State? Saraki should please resign honourably before he is removed. From Adedoyin Adeniyi Emmanuel, Oro, Kwara State.

    Despite that the elections that brought Senators Saraki, Ekweremadu and Honourable Dogara as leaders in the National Assembly have k-leg, let them hit the ground running by doing the work that brought them into the National Assembly for the interest of Nigerians. Nigerians expect people oriented laws. From Gordon Chika Nnorom.  

    As it is   revealed that the election of Senator Saraki as Senate president is a coup against Nigeria and the change we are expecting, President Muhammadu Buhari should as a matter of urgency start the prosecution of all that were involved, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) agents in the All Progressives Congress (APC). From E.A.  Unuane, Warri.

     

    For. Segun Gbdegesin

    Re: ‘Restructuring the presidency and the nation’ your piece makes an interesting reading. In our nation, patience could be a great virtue. The foundation of the presidential system of government which was necessitated by the need to reward party loyalties, relatives and friends with public offices was laid in the Second Republic. Even where such offices were in short supply, more were created at the expense of enduring and sustainable national growth and development. Since then, personal interest has displaced national interest. Any leader who wants to make a difference from the past leaders should lay a new foundation for a better Nigeria. I believe that President Muhammadu Buhari is aware of the cracks and cannot continue with the structure to prevent a collapsed nation on his head. God bless Nigeria. From Femi Omoniyi.

    The senate has lost its credibility, having started on a faulty foundation. Members of the National Assembly should pay their aides themselves. From Lucky, Benin.

    Utmost respect sir. You have raised very scintillating issues. Surely, President Muhammadu Buhari will perform. I beseech God to give him energy and power to reposition and restructure the nation from its morass of despair and sub-humanity. In the same vein, elites change of attitude and behaviour is also paramount. The governors and Federal lawmakers. From Surveyor Amidu Saheed, Ifo.

     

    For Dapo Fafowora

    Thank you for your article of July 30. The United States of America should look at the Leahy Act again, and amend it in such a way that it does not give advantage to terrorists. Their attitude towards our fight against terror by refusing to supply arms to us is distasteful. From A.I. Olisadebe.

    Your write-up on Buhari’s’ visit to Washington is excellent. Keep it up. Anonymous.

    USA-Nigeria relations: Ambassador Fafowora makes a lot of valid points: Obama has messed up the goodwill established by assassinated President John F. Kennedy (Jan 1961-Nov 1963). Obama has no respect for us. He must not be invited here. Let us wait till a new president emerges in next year. If he or she behaves like J. F. Kennedy or Bill Clinton, then we have a friend in the White House. Obama wants to turn the Naira to a worthless currency. He is vicariously liable for Boko Haram madness in the northeast. To get stolen funds repatriated, Buhari should ask the looters to make refund to the Federal Government. No law suit. From Dapo Shogbola.

     

    For Tunji Adegboyega

    Re: Confusion over Ooni. What has happened has happened, but what happened I do not know. It is high time we focused more on researches, technology, sciences and play a little less on religious extremism and centurion traditions. Since the one week of Yes and No, temper rose, unnecessary money spent and yet, nothing achieved. I continue to wish the Olubuse Okunade a longer life Ameen. From Lanre Oseni.

    Let the announcement of the death of Oba Sijuwade follow the due process as prescribed by the tradition to avoid complications in the land. In life or death we need to celebrate the Ooni of Ife for his exemplary leadership as a traditional ruler. May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace Amen. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, , Umukabia, Abia State.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • NAFDAC: The trouble within

    The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control’s (NAFDAC) internal cohesion and inner peace have once again come under serious test, no thanks to the insidious activities of some elements with an axe to grind with its Director General, Dr. Paul Orhii, for no reason other than the pursuit of enlightened self interests. The development naturally may be shocking to many given its novelty – no staff of the agency has had any cause to go public with perceived acts of injustice in the six years Dr. Orhii has been on its driver’s seat, not to talk of publicly rubbishing his integrity that he has spent all his life to build. The English playwright, William Shakespeare, effusively captured the inscrutability of the human nature in one of his popular quotes: “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face”.

    This is the context I situate the effrontery of a misguided group that recently mobilized some equally misguided youths to march to the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abuja to demand the resignation of its chairman, Ibrahim Larmode apparently for his refusal to do a hatchet job for the NAFDAC’s erstwhile Director of Accounts and Finance.

    The erstwhile Director of Accounts and Finance, Olusegun Mogbojuri had petitioned the anti-graft agency alleging acts of impropriety against his boss. On the surface such an action is within the ambit of any organisation’s operational framework, NAFDAC is, therefore, not an exception. However, the real motive is unveiled against the backdrop of the fact that the petitioner resorted to this action to protest his redeployment from the head office to the agency’s training school in Kaduna as its director.

    Nigeria needs anti-corruption crusaders to give fillip to the ethical agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari to rid the country of corruption in all its ramifications. However, the country does not need emergency anti-corruption crusaders deploying selective perception for self-serving agenda. The method deployed by Mogbojuri to prosecute his cause, exposes him to serious ethical and professional scrutiny. For instance, why did he wait until now and after his redeployment to blow the lid off the alleged unsavoury developments in NAFDAC when the man he is trying so hard to rubbish has been at the helms of affairs since 2009?  Why pull down an institution as great as NAFDAC and thus in the process strip it of its all important credibility necessary to command the respect and even the awe of Nigerians, international community and the social vermin that drug traffickers and adulterators have become?

    Anywhere in the world periodic redeployment of organisation’s staff is an organic part of its modus operandi. The NAFDAC is a well structured organization with layers of authority. Dr. Paul Orhii as the Director General is the Chief Executive Officer. In the agency’s scheme of things, he reserves the right to undertake strategic staff redeployment to enhance organizational efficiency. It, therefore, smacks of gross insubordination and insolence for any staff, no matter how highly placed, to resist such redeployment. When a staff resists redeployment at all cost including the use of blackmail to stop a mere administrative act, in order to remain permanently at a particular duty post, the message is clear: Something untoward is going on in that department. It, therefore, makes it more compelling for such a staff to be dislodged from his/her self created comfort zone by the authorities.

    I am aware a coalition of groups, African Arise for Change Network on the War Against Corruption in Nigeria, has alerted that saboteurs have planned to overwhelm anti-corruption agencies by sending them on wild goose chase through petitions that have no substance. Could Mogbojuri’s petition be the sentinel in a long list that would be thrown in the way of these agencies to distract the anti-corruption fight? Are proceeds from counterfeit drug barons now being deployed on rent-a-crowd stratagem to call for leadership change at federal government agencies, including those fighting graft? What implications will this have on the zero tolerance of the hard fighting Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government against corruption? Frivolous petitions would only serve to distract the focus of the anti-corruption bodies, waste valuable man hour, dissipate resources and kill interest in pursuing future cases. These agencies could also lose public sympathy as they will then be accused of being used for witch-hunting. This, apparently, is the expected outcome among those kicking up the dust at the moment. It is on this note that one must emphasize that without prejudice to the need to crush corruption, there must be concerted national effort to discourage the ongoing hit jobs being undertaken by elements with personal axes to grind.  

    And just as some people have noted, wrecking the integrity of NAFDAC for personal score could boomerang on the economy of Nigeria as foreign nations could use such as a basis for measuring the efficiency of the agency as a regulator. A direct consequence would be the loss of confidence in the wholesomeness of the consumable goods from our small and medium scale enterprises, which will in turn frustrate ongoing efforts to diversify the economy.

    The NAFDAC DG must refuse to be distracted this time around. Just as past efforts at rubbishing him drew positive attention to him locally and internationally, this current effort will pass away this same way.

    ‘Without prejudice to the need to crush corruption, there must be concerted national effort to discourage the ongoing hit jobs being undertaken by elements with personal axes to grind’

    • Ikhilae, is a Lagos-based Public Affairs Analyst

     

  • Buhari: Sure, steady march of a reformer

    arely seven weeks into a four-year term, criticism has arisen from some quarters about the pace of governance under President Muhammadu Buhari. Some of the criticisms are from people who have made it their stock and trade to deride the new government. That is fine. It is a part of democracy. However, I do not write this article to address them. Nothing can be said to them for they criticize the President not because of the quality of his actions but because they must. Their survival hinges on quantity of words they yelp his way. These are the same people who watched silently as the Jonathan administration let the economy fall into the bog. They suddenly gained voice when President Buhari took over, complaining that he was allowing the economy to collapse. When he moved to save the economy by freeing money to pay state civil servants and to restructuring the states’ debt burden, these same people complained that the President was letting profligate state executives too easily off the hook. These people cared little for the fact that this presidential action will stave a deeper economic calamity by putting money in the hands of hundreds of thousand government workers that they may feed their families, pay bills and inject needed life into the local commerce. These critics would rather the people starve. Fortunately, President Buhari’s compassion exceeds theirs. Let me put it another way. Had Jonathan remained in office and continued as he was, there would not have been a relief package. He would have smiled but remained idle as the states and then the national economy went into the swell. That President Buhari moved decisively to halt this slide before abject emergency was upon us more than vindicates his performance thus far.     Yet, there are well meaning people who are concerned about the pace of governance.  This submission is directed to them.  First they must remember that only seven weeks have elapsed of an administration that will cover more than 200 weeks. This is less than three percent of the term. It is much too early to conclude the negative.

    I think a reason for this concern is that the people do not have a full grasp of the dimensions that corruption and malignant indifference have done to the core of our governing institutions. While we all know that corruption and misgovernance have reigned supreme for years, it is only when you begin to clean the house does the full extent of the filth truly confront you. Given the pervasive anomalies of our institutions and the need to straighten the twisted compass of governance before we can move swiftly in the right direction, President Buhari’s pace is that of an experienced and determined leader preparing to perform the wholesale housecleaning needed if reform and progress are to be had. This pace is the one that makes the most sense. For him to move too fast to enact policies would be to miss too many of the twists and distortions in the system that would pollute and bend even the most well conceived policies.

    Buhari must make haste slowly and above all wisely, else he falls into the many snares laid before the prior administration went into retreat. Although the election is over, entrenched interests never cared much about the people’s sovereign will. These interests may have left the seat of elected power but they still seek to steer governance toward their liking. Reform bested the status quo on election day. Now, the status quo seeks to prolong the war by other political means. Buhari won the election but now he must win in the trench warfare of changing the governing bureaucracy and the institutional mindset of almost every government entity.

    The task is enormous yet it must be done with the care of surgery lest we excise the decent portions that should remain while allowing the canker to spread. Millions of Nigerians would be the worse for it. The APC government will make haste, but slowly and deliberately. Like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, APC national leader rightly puts it,  APC never promised to be fire fighters in combating the problems of Nigeria, but to be meticulous planners and executors in order to bring about enduring change.

    Tinubu had a parting shot for the PDP and their co-travellers. Under the PDP, government had become addicted to high-octane corruption. You cannot expect a latrine of 16 years to be cleaned up in a mere 30 days.

    President Buhari took several bulls by their horns when he stepped into office. He knew security demanded urgent attention. He knew regional cooperation was key to securing victory against Boko Haram. He hewed regional cooperation by visiting Chad and Niger. He held the ECOWAS meeting and took practical steps to improve Nigeria’s military – including changing its command – so that it might have the right fighting spirit coupled with decisive strategy that would bring the BoKo Haram insurgency to breakage.

    President Buhari spent countless hours before he was sworn in and since he took over to pour over tons of papers and briefings. He has sat at numerous meetings with key government elements in an attempt to grasp the needed information to act. Like a true statesman and strategist who surveys the long-term consequences of his present actions, he has moved patiently with an eye for detail before settling on his approach. Once he has decided a thing, he has moved with purpose and resolution toward it.

    As time moves on, we are beginning to see the stern stuff he is made of and the integrity of his actions. The man moves in pursuit of our highest national purpose.

    We have seen the process of fighting corruption unfold and Nigerians who have amassed ill-gotten wealth are now moving to surrender their loot because they know our new president is not up for sale or purchase. Buhari has put all on notice that he intends to run a zero tolerance government regarding corruption.

    Recovering ill-gotten wealth and ploughing such back into the economy is one sure way to revive the system. As mentioned previously, Buhari has acted to resolve salary woes of many states through his emergency funding/loan restructuring plan.

    In this complex situation, what use is it to dash about swiftly if the end result is that you swiftly stumble. President Buhari cannot afford to fail on the promises he made to us.

    An understanding of the multi-dimensional crisis into which this country has been plunged is key to designing apt solutions. Here, the devil is not only in detail; it lurks in way the avarice of the previous administration infected government processes and even personnel.

    Currently, it is the inherently methodical process of clarifying these details through which the Buhari government must go. He must correct and repair the tools of governance before they can be used properly to implement the sweeping reform the nation seeks.

    Buhari made a solemn promise to reform government and thereby improve this nation. That he seeks to be meticulous in doing so should be applauded not condemned. He is not a man given to theatrics or gimmicks. He seeks results and we all should pray that he continues to be diligent and studious because that is the only path to finding the exit from the complex of troubles into which thee PDP has cast us.

    When the history of this moment is written, those complaining of the pace of things will be seen to have given the wrong counsel. The sure and steady direction of President Buhari will be seen to have been the right and perhaps the only course out of the storm. We all must realize the task at hand is not an easy one. President Buhari deserves our understanding and support. Few men have entered office to face such myriad problems. He has set about to earnestly tackle them and bring Nigeria to is rightful future. We should be grateful that he is at the helm as the direction he courses is the right one. Ultimately, it is better to be steady yet right than fast yet utterly wrong. In all, he deserves our prayers.

     

    • Dare is Special Adviser Media/Chief of Staff to Asiwaju Tinubu.