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  • Workers’ salary: The Ambode example

    It is no longer news that about 24 states of the federation are currently feeling the heavy burden of the economic crisis occasioned by the fall in international oil price, which consequently led to the decrease in revenue allocations to states.

    As it would be expected, in some of the states, workers have embarked on industrial action in order to press home demands for the prompt payment of their wages. The recent parley held between President Muhammadu Buhari and the governors, over the issue of unpaid salaries and allied matters, perhaps, underscores the gravity of the wage crisis currently bedeviling most states in the country. At one time, the Nigeria Governors Forum was agitating for a financial bailout from the federal government as a way out of the imbroglio.It is, however, heartwarming to state that it is not all the states in the federation that are enmeshed in salary crisis. Lagos State, for instance, does not have any issue with regards to the prompt payment of salary. This has always been the trend since 1999 when Asiwaju Bola Tinubu began the process that led to the financial emancipation of Lagos State. The trend continued under the immediate past governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola. However, that trend is now being taken to a new level under the leadership of the current governor, Akin Ambode, who incidentally was one of the brains behind the financial re-engineering that has solidified the economic base of the state as spearheaded by Asiwaju Tinubu.

    First impression, as the saying goes, lasts longer. This undoubtedly summarizes the attitude of Governor Ambode towards the payment of civil servants salaries. It was quite a new and refreshing experience for the civil servants who all got salary alerts from their various banks for the month of June by the 23rd of same month. To the civil servants, it was a joyous thing and a welcome development. But to the governor, it was a way of fulfilling one of his campaign promises that was hinged on the prompt payment of workers’ salaries and creating of a conducive atmosphere for workers in the employment of the state government to thrive in the discharge of their statutory responsibilities.

    In our climes, there is, indeed, no better way to motivate workers than ensuring their wages are paid as at when due. This makes them to avoid distractions that emanate from financial worries. Perhaps, Ambode’s gesture, which is the basic practice in most multinational firms, originates from his firm belief that the workers are the ones that determine the pace of development in the state and as such must not be denied their wages which is, indeed, one of their core entailments. Those that are closer to the governor would readily tell whoever cares to listen that the man values hardwork and would go to any extent to reward those who are committed to the value and principle of hardwork. Hence, prompt payment of salary is just one of his ways of encouraging the Lagos State civil servants to buy into his vision of provision of diligence service to the state and her people.

    Without a doubt, especially with the current trend in the country where workers are being owed months of salaries, Ambode has started on a rather good note. It is expected that other states’ governors would take a cue from him by making prompt payment of staff salaries a priority. This is the only way forward for our dear nation in the face of current economic difficulties. When workers are owed salaries, it portends great danger for our already troubled nation. With the crisis of Boko Haram insurgency in the north, kidnapping, armed robbery, unemployment and other difficult challenges that the country is presently contending with, to add unhappy civil servants to the lots would, no doubt, suffocate the nation. This is why one is canvassing that the federal government intervenes, as much as it could, by assisting some of the troubled states in lessening the burden of unpaid salaries. Any aid in this direction would be a worthwhile one as it would save the nation from chaos, workers’ rebellion and labour unrest. As it has been previously emphasised, with the myriads of problems we are contending with as a nation, labour unrest should be the last item that we should include in the list.

    This is why the Ambode’s model is the best for the country.

    It is, however, not in the area of prompt payment of civil servants’ salaries that Ambode is displaying a strong resolve to make Lagosians happy. He is equally making great efforts to ensure that Lagosians experience free flow of traffic in a mega city that is infamously renowned for its chaotic traffic situation.

    The governor recently set the ball rolling when, in company of the Secretary to the State Government and other top government functionaries, he embarked on an on the spot assessment of traffic gridlock situation across the state. The objective is to have an on-the-spot feel of the traffic situation. This becomes quite imperative in view of the huge economic implications of what the state loses to traffic gridlocks.

    It is the conviction of the governor that the several manpower hours that are daily lost to traffic chaos, if properly reversed, could translate into economic boost for the state. Consequently, during the governor’s visit to Berger Bus Stop, along the ever busy Lagos- Ibadan Expressway, he reiterated his administration’s commitment to providing solutions to the traffic snarls as he approved the construction of a pedestrian Bridge at Berger Bus Stop.

    Also during his visit to traffic points in Apapa and Ajah axis, the governor who despite a heavy gridlock at the area on that day, together with all that accompanied him, walked through Apapa to Tin Can, expressed his displeasure about the torment that commuters and motorists are condemned to on a daily basis, which he said was largely due to the indiscriminate parking of articulated trucks attempting to access the port and tank farms located within the axis. He said: “We’ve all seen that the gridlock in Apapa is multifaceted. We have examined things that relate to activities of trailer drivers and tanker drivers. Apapa belong to the Federal Government and this Tin Can Bridge that has been under construction for about six years has been abandoned. This, however, has given rise to tankers parking indiscriminately on the road. It is totally unacceptable that we would be having tankers parked on our bridges”.

    On the whole, one could safely conclude that Ambode has started his sojourn as the state governor on a good stead. Judged by the direction of his government so far, Lagosians are, no doubt, in for a pleasant experience. The progress and development of Lagos is what the people voted for. This is what he governor promised. This is what he is set out to deliver!

     

    • Olopade writes from Governor’s Office, Alausa, Ikeja.

  • Coments

    For Segun Gbadegesin

     

    The summary of the last three paragraphs   of (Change and the unchangeable) should be glazed and made available to all key officers of APC or else apc will be voted out in 2019 GOD willing. From Dare Lokoja

    Change is usually a vision conceived by an individual (leader) and a few converts, the process of change requires effective management. The change leader must make conscious efforts to manage the resistant as well as take care of the unchangeable. PMB needs some lessons on change management. Some quick-win projects will help to keep both the resistant and unchangeable quiet, ineffective and harmless. From Kunle Oluyomi, Akure

    I just finished reading your article. What a message for the nation. These late comers to APC are the problem of the party, look at Hon Dogara, Senator Saraki and etal. These people have the blood of PDP in their veins. For God sake, these people are for their personal interest rather than national interest. God save Nigeria. Anonymous

    Re-Change and the unchangeable. It remains suicidal if some members or Joiners or both are unchangeable as this could disgrace the party in power, before the citizens who look up to the party in power. However, if such a party wants to show that it truly means seeking ‘a change’, then, it is not out of place, to expel those erring unchangeable and unchanged members/ joiners.  From Lanre Oseni.

    Somebody should please tell Hon Dogara and Senator Saraki to stop talking about Federal Character to support their rebellious behaviour. Why didn’t they apply it for their position? If APC doesn’t send them packing, they’ll send APC and Buhari packing. Nigerians are watching. From Lucky, Lagos.

    I salute you sir, on this your choice of topic “Change and the unchangeable.” To me sir, the real problem of APC is that it has promised to change our dear state, where riff-raffs here joined the party for their self aggrandisement, not considering the party manifesto and the masses. Senator Saraki, Hon Dogara and the likes who have rubbished the party supremacy. Those who founded the party really meant business. Buhari, Tinubu, Akande and rest pioneer members should rekindle their interest, double efforts and gird their loins to high- jack the party from those with corrupt mind. Then the change expected from them would come to . But, as at now, nothing has changed. From Amidu Saheed, Ifo.

    Talking about the National Assembly  and the election of its ‘PRINCIPAL OFFICERS’ based on the six geo – political zones, please let national necessity override  party’s threat to wield the big stick  by allowing zoning in The Nation’s newspaper of July 18 to stand. Handle with care, otherwise principal officers may become unprincipled and APC as a party will be the loser. From Solomon Akpabio, Uyo

     

    For Olatunji Dare

    Tinubu was not endorsed for second term by the leaders of AD, yet he won the election in 2003, what went wrong and how did he emerge? ACN was born from the imbroglio. Anonymous 

    I was so flabbergasted and felt disappointed, when I got last Tuesday The Nation and discovered that your column didn’t appear. On today’s piece  ”As they emerge, dis-emerge and re-emerge,” Thanks for this kind of topic, full of superlative grammar and idiomatic expressions. As a matter of fact, you are, indeed, a good-thinker, because your philosophical and diplomatic way of writing proved that. I don’t know the problem with Nigerian leaders, they all want to remain “AGIP” (Any Goverment In Power) Let them give room and chance for the new set of educated-aristocratic-ones who can galvanise and move the country forward. Continually, the leadership of the APC should strive hard, work assiduously to avert any downfall of the party, planning by PDP-APC. The likes of Senator Saraki, Hon Dogara, Atiku and others. Lastly, why “The fixer” Anenih and Ayo Fayose the vociferous one as vice-chairman and associate chair respectively? Wonders shall never end. Amidu Saheed, Ifo.

    I love not just your erudition but your supreme intelligence having followed your writings for over a decade. But how you put yourself at the sole service of Tinubu baffles me. How dare you then denigrate others who are at the service of other masters? Just like you? From Victor Obichere.

    Democratic Republic of Congo was initialy known as Congo Kinshasha before becoming Zaire then Dr of Congo. Thanks

    Re: As they emerge, dis-merge and re-emerge. Of your article, the last paragraph baffled me!  Wonders shall never end and in Nigeria, there is nothing impossible. From Lanre Oseni.

     

    For Dapo Fafowora

    Re: Bailout and state insolvency. I lend my voice to the scrapping of NNPC which has been bankrupted already by corrupt officials. I have always been an advocate of scrapping agencies that spend more than they earn. Government’s money is for all citizens and not to sustain the criminal opulent lifestyle of the elite. From I. Ogedengbe, Abuja.

    Re:  bailout of insolvent states. One agreement the states that may collect the Federal Government’s bailout must sign is the schedule of collection, utilisation, repayment and outstanding balance like it was always done by the former Minister of Finance during every month’s revenue sharing/allocation. That will show us the required transparency and make ‘diversion’ impossible. From Lanre Oseni.

    The bailout by President Buhari to states that are owing salaries and allowances is welcome but the governors should not see it as ‘national cake’. They should look for ways to better their lot financially to pay their workers. The governors must sit up. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State.

     

    For Tunji Adegboyega

    Re: The real pay cut. Tunji, you are warmly welcome from your sudden ‘French’ leave by disappearing from the radar without notice. Your apology to your teeming readers is hereby grudgingly accepted. My only take to your above-captioned, well-researched treatise is to invite former President Jonathan for serious questioning. He may be saintly in look but any discerning mind will easily know this is not exactly so. Some ministers, the immediate past service chiefs as well as former governors too should be investigated. Nigeria will realise a lot of sleaze cash and property if those who stole are made to return what they stole. By the way, has Sambo Dasuki not made the job easier by opening the Pandora box via his recent effusions that what the DSS is nailing him for is not up to one-tenth of what is in possession of some people who are walking the streets freely today?

    Money will also flow in if the records of civil servants are traced to their first year in their various tertiary institutions because, in those days, everybody completed his or her biodata innocently, with the date of birth distinctly written. This assignment, if carried out, will surely expose those who have been mutilating and fraudulently/sadistically changing their dates of birth in order to elongate their stay in office. If caught in this act, such officers should give way and the excess years they‘ve spent be deducted from their gratuities. This will automatically give room for several unemployed youths. Finally, what is our president doing with nearly a dozen aircraft? If even his predecessor had indulged and unduly engaged themselves in this kind of profligacy, he should, in the humble spirit that Nigerians know him jail all our ex-‘authority stealers’. From Ch Soji Oloketuyi, 18, Ijabo Street, Igbemo Ekiti.

    Your comment on real pay cut is fantastic. Please write on how stolen money and properties can be recovered from those who stole from the public till, so as to better the lot of the common man. From Sylvanus Akpama, Lokoja.

    “The real pay cut”: your piece as titled refers. The president has to seriously visit the civil service, from directors and above; the country will be shocked at the findings as many of them abused their departmental budgets that they converted to personal budgets. You journalists have a lot to do. From Owen-Browne.

     

  • Still on Melaye’s rant against judiciary

    After reading Phrank Shaibu’s article titled ‘Melaye’s slander against Judiciary’ recently published this newspaper, I realized that even though the article drew attention to some remarkable and thought provoking issues that underscores the need for the judiciary to critically examine the remarks made against it by  Senator  Dino Melaye, there was need to expand the discourse on whether or not the accusations of bribery levelled against the Appeal Court judges are of fair criticism and its likely consequences to our democracy.

    For any country that claims to observe the process of open justice, there is bound to be commentaries about court judgements. Indeed, this is why constructive, fair and unbiased criticisms are viewed as good for the purpose of advancing worthy debate on judicial matters like the matter under reference. Therefore, it is wise to  recommend that the judiciary accepts to conduct any scrutiny that may emerge from public opinions on this important issue, otherwise it will be regarded as discouraging objective discussions on its affairs.

    However, on an issue that is probably incompatible with the right to free speech as guaranteed by Human Rights, I wish not to assume the false impression of neutrality especially on a matter that purports without semblance of facts that some persons have been assigned to bribe judges. Indeed, such a wild allegation is not only outrageous but scandalous to the judiciary if it does not rest on factual basis.

    Specifically, the insinuation by Melaye that some persons are in the process of bribing the judges sitting on his case at the Court of Appeal  is scandalous. More so, the intemperate language employed by Senator Melaye against esteemed Justices  is unacceptable from a high ranking and knowledgeable personality like him in such an important matter.  One would have thought that any focused Senator and member of the highest law making organ of the legislative arm, ought to have understood the reasonability of exercising proper diligence if he desires to be critical of judges in a case that affects him. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the situation herein with Senator Melaye’s reckless remarks on an issue he is yet to present any fact to validate his accusations.

    What Melaye has imputed is that the chance of a fair trial on his case is minimal if the appeal court judges on the case are available to be bribed. Indeed, Senator Melaye has not only scandalized the court but implied that the judiciary can easily yield to political and economic pressures.  Regrettably, such cruel and unsubstantiated claims, if not properly addressed have the capacity to erase public confidence in the judiciary. His intimations that he is being hunted by Asiwaju Tinubu, his party’s National Leader because of the role he supposedly played in the emergence of a new Senate President in a controversial election is very irrelevant and does not in any way warrant the dragging of esteemed judges into the murky waters of politics. In fact, there is no defence for Senator Melaye to have put the reputation of judges into doubt and there is no objective basis for the allegations by him to be termed fair criticism without an iota of proof.

    Ordinarily, one would have expected that a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would have grown in knowledge to appreciate that it is very unhealthy to make such accusations while his case is sub judice.  As such, the comments by the senator on purported corruption cannot be dismissed as trivial as it does appear as a well calculated attempt to dent the image of the judiciary.

    In county like this, where ‘Justice is not a cloistered virtue’ and judges deserve protection, the remarks by Melaye against the judges hearing his case cannot be left unchecked. Simply put, the protection of the rule of law is of public interest and protecting judges from irrational abuse is for the protection of their reputation.  As such, Melaye’s attempt to misrepresent and redefine the standards for the judiciary by advancing conjectures as truth to scandalize is repulsive and at best a blatant disrespect for the institution.

    The real essence of addressing these is to avoid erosion of public confidence in the administration of justice. In the absence of any verifiable claim, it is possible that Melaye intended to use his status as a license to denigrate the judiciary, intimidate judges and mislead the public. The real purpose of such is usually found in clumsy attempts by persons with shaky faith on the outcome of their cases. The truth is that politicians, use all the subterfuges in the statute books to frustrate the judicial process. Indeed, anything which creates a substantial risk that the course of justice in proceedings will be seriously prejudiced or impeded is best treated as a contempt of court.  This is where Senator Dino Melaye must be asked to show why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him before the commencement of the hearing of his case at the Appeal Court.

    From the above stated, it is doubtless, that Senator Melaye has done great disservice to our democracy because his remarks are definitely not made in good faith. His attempt to hide behind the appearance of the Senate leadership saga to accuse the judiciary of corruption is sad. Fortunately, this vital issue as raised by Phrank Shaibu’s Op-Ed under reference has provoked the debate as to whether a criminal offence is applicable or not to the senator. The powerful public interest in this issue demands that the judiciary speak out because if this issue is not handled properly, other politicians or persons will act in the same manner.

    The role of the judiciary to protect itself from those falsely accusing it cannot be over emphasized especially when it comes from a member of the legislature. The disparaging remarks against the judiciary should be questioned and not allowed to stand as facts because his remarks hardly reflect any truth. Indeed, the naked  truth is that Melaye in as much as he may have wished to embarrass Asiwaju Tinubu and Senator Smart Adeyemi, the man in contest against his electoral victory in court, he should not be allowed to find comfort in using an opportunsitic platform to advance his falsehood which he thought would have attracted the sympathy of the public and by so doing, intimidate the judges sitting on his case.

    The silence of the judiciary in the circumstance, is stifling public debate. I had hoped that the judiciary would have taken the issue up and responded swiftly but to my great shock, no comment has been officially issued. Conversely, Melaye’s silence since his remarks were made public is like a man that would say ‘ I have stated precisely what I wished to convey, no regrets’ . Sadly, his lack of remorse and no form of apology certainly increases the risk of diminishing public confidence in the judiciary.

    There is no better time for the judiciary to ascertain the facts or the falsehood behind  Melaye’s allegations than now that hearing has not commenced in the case involving the senator at  the Appeal Court. Otherwise, if these are not addressed, objectivity in the case before the Appeal Court judges in the Smart Adeyemi vs Senator Melaye case would be  impossible.

    It is high time the judiciary addressed this embarrassment by Melaye; the ends of justice would not be met if Melaye is not cautioned or penalised.

    Abdullahi Esq writes from Kogi State

     

  • Aregbesola as whipping boy

    After a period of prevarication occasioned by a motley air of confusion, the Muhammadu Buhari administration ordered an immediate release of N713.7 billion intervention funds to states to enable them settle backlog of unpaid salaries of workers. Part of the total package is a proposed N250 billion soft loan to states by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    As the curtain drew on June, over 18 states were owing more than N115 billion. The list of heavily indebted states include oil producing states of Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Ondo which used to wallow in excess slush fund.

    The crisis actually took its roots in the arbitrary increase in wages entered into in 2011 by the federal government with labour without consulting with the states. Although the development jolted many states, they still could manage with the unwanted excess pecuniary burden. Many of them even had reasonable excess fund, after discharging sundry financial responsibilities including salaries, for deployment to developmental projects. Trouble, however, erupted in June 2013 when state governments experienced a sharp drop of 40 percent in federal allocation even as salary burden remained progressively high at 45 percent in some states.

    So overwhelming is the financial discomfort that no state is totally immune to the fiscal virus. From Oyo State came lamentation by the state governor, Abiola Ajimobi who regretted that the state’s wage bill of N2 billion he inherited had jumped to N4.6 billion. By mid-2015, the same bill had gone up to N5.2 billion. As wage bill went up in the state, monthly federal allocation that stood averagely at N4 billion last year plummeted considerably.  As his administration in Rivers State was winding up last April, Governor Amaechi drew attention to the unpalatable situation in which wage bill which was N2.5 billion went through the roof to N9.2 billion naira in eight years. This is despite a 50 percent drop in monthly allocation to the state, Amaechi fumed.

    But it would, however, appear that the national financial gloom is most biting in Rauf Aregbesola’s Osun State than anywhere else. Why this is so will, in the meantime, be left to analysts to ponder. One thing is clear though, the governor has remained somewhat permanent in public eye in over four years of his being in the saddle most probably because of his penchant to dabble into hitherto uncharted but easily controversial terrain of governance even with his bold sartorial uniqueness. Added to this is the widespread opinion that the governor remains a potent albatross of the opposition in Osun and beyond. National financial malaise, therefore, appears to offer his traducers a platform to attempt removing the ground under his feet. Otherwise what could have accounted for the isolation of Aregbesola’s Osun as a theatre of protests over what is essentially a national challenge? Civil Servants in the state have taken on the Aregbesola administration joined by a cacophony of street fighters accused of links with opposition in the state.

    Aregbesola put the salary brouhaha succinctly to members of the state House of Assembly during its inauguration recently when he said he met a wage bill of N1.4 billion when he took over in 2010. The wage bill shot up to N3.6 billion in 2012 following wage increase of 2011. The development did not pose much problem at that period in 2011 because the state still managed to have a N2 billion margin available to execute many of its projects.

    However, a sharp decline of 40 percent in federal allocation in 2013 rocked the state government violently. The gory picture is such that , when taken together, an increase in salary of 45 percent and a 40 percent drop in allocation would leave a shortfall of five percent. To tackle the situation, the Aregbesola administration resorted to taking loans to pay salaries and by October 2014, total burden on salaries came up to a whopping N25 billion. Between October 2014 and June, the state has amassed a further N34.6 billion in unpaid salaries. Altogether therefore, indebtedness in salary stood at N59.6 billion as at June this year. As monthly salary burden in Osun stands at N3.6 billion, allocation per month from federal till crashed further dangerously from an insufficient N2.6 billion as at June 2013 to N466 million by April.

    Viewed holistically, the federal government intervention would definitely not address the trouble. It only represents a drop in the ocean. It would be necessary at this point to have a new look at fiscal federalism. That way, states would enjoy enhanced economic freedom including fixing their wages as peculiar local situation demands. It would also allow them a measure of control over revenue generation in their domain.

    Slashing dividends of democracy accruable to the people in terms of provision of social services in the name of austerity measure as suggested by some is not the way to go. These tiny drops of social services for the benefit of the people remain the only available connection between poor Nigerian voters and the various governments. For instance, if we take Osun State as an example since it appears to be the readiest whipping boy of the opposition on this matter, it would be pointless faulting a number of the state’s eye- popping welfarist projects such as free school meals, school uniforms and merger of schools. Neither would it make any sense to disregard potent force of goodwill inherent in provision of basic needs of senior citizens and the invalid. The planned rebuilding of the abandoned aerodrome in Osogbo is also not a bad idea on account of its economic value to agriculture, employment generation and revenue yielding among others.

    Granted that the Aregbesola administration might have bitten too much in a gulp owing largely to the governor’s impatience with underdevelopment , the parlous state of affairs in the state when he assumed office might have fired a rage for modernization.

    Every unusual situation demands concomitant unusual approach. When in the first 10 months of his administration, he refused to appoint his cabinet , many could not fathom the raison d’être. In fact he was fiendishly vilified. This was because it was something unheard of by then. Today many state governments along with Buhari’s federal government have been operating for months without cabinet. Every administration in Nigeria, whether federal or state, groans under financial burden of cabinet sustenance.

    Blinding corruption at the federal level, particularly open pilfering of common patrimony, has been the bane of governance at both the state and local government levels. All monies made through sources such as taxes, deductions and others are held in the federation account. Fund in the account belongs to all the three tiers of government as laid out by the constitution. Aside this, a separate account was also created to take the difference between budget price of crude oil and actual price. This account is called Excess Crude Account. Like federation account, fund in this also belongs to all the three tiers of government.

    In the last six years, the money in these accounts has been subjected to aggravated battery by the Jonathan administration. The departed administration continuously claimed that 400, 000 barrels of crude was lost daily to pilfering. This represents 19 percent volume loss. However, this volume loss has resulted in a curious 40 percent revenue loss to states. The conflict in these figures presents mathematicians with a scenario of unaccounted 21 percent allocation. Simply put, to have 40 percent revenue loss, no fewer than a million barrels of crude must have been lost. The last time money was shared from the Excess Crude Account was in May 2013.

    Perhaps no one has captured the stark realities of the situation as succinctly as Malam Nasir el Rufai, Kaduna State governor.  At the 7th Wole Soyinka Centre Media Lecture Series, the governor drew the attention of a bemused nation to the fact that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) only remits 42 percent of what it should to the federal government. He pointed out that a questionable US$8.99 billion was spent on subsidy between January 2012 and June 2013.

    Gory tale of ineptitude would also appear more exemplified in 2014 when the country produced 2.2 million barrels of crude oil per day while the nation imported her daily consumption of 43.5 million litres of refined petroleum. In 2014 about N971 billion was budgeted for subsidy while more than twice the amount was eventually paid. Trillions of naira was paid out as oil subsidy in 2011 when only N254 billion was appropriated.

    If only the nation can tame the financial drain pipe that NNPC represents, many of the crises of fund in the states would be addressed. More money would be available in the federation account through this.

  • Kill NNPC or corruption?

    On Monday, July 13, at two separate events, two elected prominent, influential and powerful public officers, one a governor, the other a national legislator, made similar policy advocacy on fundamental aspects of the economy, which could determine the direction of civil society-government relationship in the coming period. They are the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara.

    Riding on the wave of anti-corruption concerns, El-Rufai, in his lecture at a Wole Soyinka Centre event, advocated the scrapping of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), arguing that “if you don’t kill NNPC, it will kill Nigeria”. He justified his call by making reference to the undeniably monumental corruption in the NNPC. He revealed that “the NNPC only remitted about 58 per cent of the monies earned between 2012 and the first half of 2015. A company with the audacity to retain 42 per cent of a country’s money has become a veritable parallel republic!” This means that, as he rightly pointed out, the NNPC alone retaind more money than what the Federal Government, the Federal Capital Territory and the state governments put together shared from the revenue accruing to the NNPC.

    However, it is important to understand the ultimate goal of Governor El-Rufai, from the standpoint of implications for national development. His concerns appear not to be limited to tackling corruption. It appears he has, in fact, given up hope that corruption can ever be fought successfully in Nigeria. Rather than insisting that the Federal Government under President Buhari should set in motion the process of bringing to justice all former top administrators, ministers and directors who had played a role in looting NNPC, El Rufai merely lamented that “No one has been successfully prosecuted for this scam”. Rather than distinguishing the role of all past top looting-managers of the NNPC (such as ministers) from the role of ordinary workers, the governor put the burden of corruption in the NNPC on the entire workforce of “less than 1,000 employees of the corporation” who as he put it, are “feasting” on the collective wealth.

    The ultimate goal of El Rufai tends to be the privatization of NNPC and removal of fuel subsidy. According to El Rufai, “the country should demonstrate a new purpose by slaying three huge dragons” which he identified as “fixation with public ownership”, “oil subsidy” and the NNPC. He was reported to have argued, that “oil subsidy regime had neither grown the Nigerian people nor guaranteed stability of refined products’ supplies”.

    If the call by El Rufai that the NNPC should be “killed” because of its intractable corruption should be followed to a logical conclusion, it amounts to saying that because corruption permeates all levels of government, from the federal to the local governments, including the legislature, then, all the tiers of government should be “killed”. That would ultimately mean that there would be no office called the office of the Governor of Kaduna State, which El Rufai occupies today. This analogy reflects the depth, or lack of any depth, in the call by El Rufai for the abolition of NNPC on the account of pervasive corruption.

    El Rufai is however not alone in the recent advocacy for removal of fuel subsidy. Apart from the promptings by spokespersons of world imperialism, the US Government, the APC Transition Committee, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has added his voice in support of the pro-subsidy removal advocates. Speaker Dogara, has been busy researching and advising on “the most legal way to do it so that subsidy can go permanently”. Hon. Dogara’s concerns are not about how to bring relief to the masses of our country but about how the “stomach infrastructure” of dealers in the oil industry can be strengthened through fuel subsidy removal. On the same Monday, July 13, when Governor El-Rufai made his call for the abolition of the NNPC, slaying fixation with public ownership and removal of subsidy, Hon. Dogara was equally advising a delegation of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) to mount pressure on the executive arm to inaugurate the price control board under the Price Control Act, which could, in exercise of its powers, remove petroleum products from the list of items whose pricing is subject to regulation. Alternatively, the IPMAN, according to Dogara’s advice, could pressurize the National Assembly to either repeal or amend the Price Control Act by removing petroleum products from the list of items whose pricing is subject to regulatory control. The IPMAN delegation had sought the support of the Speaker for the “approval of government to engage in the swapping of crude oil for refined products” under a pricing regime in which petroleum products are not subject to regulated pricing.

    President Buhari appears, for now, to be consistently alone, even within his own political party, the APC, in resisting removal of fuel subsidy. According to the Reuters, as posted by Uhuru Times, the Presidency has declared that Nigeria will stick with fuel subsidies for now as “President Buhari says investigating corruption is a bigger priority than scrapping price caps on domestic fuel”. The President is reported to have explained that:

    “I have received …literature on the need to remove subsidies, but much of it has no depth. … Poor security, sabotage, vandalism, corruption and mismanagement – not necessarily subsidies – are the most serious problems of Nigeria’s oil sector.”

    The critical concern is for how long would President Buhari be able to resist the powerful pro-subsidy removal forces in the APC?

    President Buhari has good reasons to continue to resist fuel subsidy removal. Apart from the understanding already displayed in President Buhari’s statement quoted above, “killing” NNPC will have implications for job losses which will compound the unemployment situation and associated criminalities in social relations. The fundamental raison d’etre for the existence of social institution called government is not only for providing physical security but also economic security. Removing fuel subsidy, privatizing NNPC, and so on, will exacerbate the already harsh socio-economic conditions of the most vulnerable classes rather than attenuate their material well-being.

    The unfolding trends of policy advocacy on the management of the petroleum industry, including pricing policy on petroleum products, have shown clearly that two dominant forces are in contention within the ruling APC. One trend is for discarding public ownership, price control and fuel subsidy removal. The other is for retention of some level of public ownership and exercise of governmental control on pricing and retention of fuel subsidy regime. The trend that finally prevails within the APC-controlled executive arm and the National Assembly will determine whether the Buhari administration (and by extension, the entire APC) will go down in history as a pro-people ‘change’ government or a continuation of governance by declaration of war against the interests of the downtrodden.

    Let President Buhari be consistently clear about it: no government, even the most brutal military dictatorship, has ever succeeded in muscling and silencing the Nigerian working people in the face of crippling economic policies, particularly, increases in the prices of petroleum products. Just as there is a direct relationship between removal of fuel subsidy and increases in the prices of all other goods and services, there is a relationship between the degree and momentum of popular resistance struggles and increases in the prices of petroleum products. In what appears to be inevitable impending social conflicts around the issue of fuel subsidy removal, President Buhari should lean on the outcries of the masses against the pressures of business and contractor dealers in and out of government circles.

     

    • Aborisade Esq; writes from Lagos

     

  • Africa’s leaders and term limits

    On April 30, on a street of Musaga, an outskirt of Bujumbura, two men held up a pair of placards reading: “Peace we need” and “We say no to the 3rd term”. The duo were among the tens of thousands Burundians, who poured to the street in a perennial protest asking President Pierre Nkurunziza to jettison his controversial third term bid for good.

    In neighbouring Rwanda, President Paul Kagame, has made no secret of similar bid. The body language of president of Benin and that of his counterpart in Democratic Republic of Congo reveals the same intention to remain in power despite attaining their constitutional term limit. In Zimbabwe, the continent’s oldest head of state, Robert Mugabe, is enjoying limitless tenure since the nation achieved independence in 1980. In the same vein, the Gambia’s long-serving President Yahya Jammeh, is not looking forward to extend his tenure for a handful of years or so. He told the BBC in 2011, that he would rule for “one billion years… if Allah says so”.

    These and many more African leaders, who are unwilling to relinquish power, have been on a collision course with ordinary Africans’ strong support of presidential term limits.

    David Shinn, the former United States Ambassador to Burkina Faso and Ethiopia was said to have referred term limits for a country’s most important political leader as an essential component of building democracy.  He advocated for a gold standard of maximum of two terms, each of which does not exceed five years (seven years at most). Term limits, he explained, “are usually thought to apply to the office of president. But for countries like Ethiopia, where the prime minister holds most of the power, it is more important that the constitution designates term limits for that position, not the office of the president which is ceremonial.”

    Perhaps term limits can be a major hindrance to policy sustainability and sometime frustrate institution, especially for incumbent leaders but even occasionally for the led. As a result of these, some have expressed preference for leadership continuity rather than rotation because of the stability that comes with the former. Besides, many heads of government, Africans or otherwise, can serve their people effectively in a third or even fourth term. For instance, the first Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, who governed for more than three decades – from 1959 to 1990. Yet he oversaw the transformation of Singapore from a third world country into one of the world’s richest and most civilized nations, and into a new type of political entity.

    However, we have a host of other cases where prolonged stay in power leads to “syndrome of power in perpetuity” especially in Africa and the Middle East. A potent viewpoint on persistent leaders holds that they can be a biggest roadblock to transformation and fresh ideas. Multiple terms in office provides breeding ground for corruption, nepotism, tyranny, impunity and so on.

    But across Africa, the number of sit-tight leaders has been soaring over the years following the full-on metamorphosis of heads of government from transient leaders to presidents for life. In this context the old cliché, that children of today are the leaders of tomorrow has lost its currency, as far as democratic power transition from one generation to the next is concerned.

    Despite the paucity of smooth power transition across the continent, some African leaders have willingly turned over power in compliance with constitutional provisions. They include: former leaders of Botswana, Benin, Cape Verde, Mali, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Tanzania. A truly extraordinary late Nelson Mandela had earned a peerless reputation for stepping down after his one term in office. But Jerry Rawlings of Ghana and Daniel arap Moi of Kenya complied with constitutional term limits under duress.

    Several African leaders tried in vain to change the term limit provision of their constitution so that they could run again. Zambia’s Frederick Chiluba, Malawi’s Bakili Muluzi and our own Olusegun Obasanjo ultimately bowed to the will of the political system and accepted term limits.

    Unfortunately, an attempt by West African leaders in May this year to adopt a common ground in favour of a maximum of two terms for all presidents in the region failed following disputations from the presidents of Togo (which abolished term limits in 2002) and Gambia.

    Based on an extensive and highly revered report published by AFRO Barometer recently, the following key findings were revealed. In 34 African countries, about three-quarters of citizens favour limiting presidential mandates to two terms. Support of term limits has been consistently high over time and is the majority view even in countries that have never had term limits or that have removed term limits from their constitutions. More-educated citizens tend to express greater support for term limits, as do citizens with greater exposure to the news media.

    It is obvious that Africans generally see the merit in term limits. Thus, it is time for more African governments to add term limits in the constitution and for incumbent leaders like President Nkurunziza it’s time to abide by the existing ones.

     

    • Rayyan wrote from Abuja

  • Wada and marginalisation in Kogi

    A recent interview allegedly granted by Kogi State Governor, Captain Idris Wada quoted him as saying that there is no marginalization of any group in his state. We would not want to believe that he said so. But if for any reason he did, we wish to serve this as a freshener.

    Perhaps it may be necessary to define marginalization and cite a few, among the innumerable and outrageous instances of abuse of power and office in the name of marginalization by Governor Wada and his predecessors in a series of nepotic Igala governance.

    By way of definition and education of all who cannot see happenings in Kogi State as marginalization, the Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary describes it as “the relegation to an unimportant position within a society or group”

    In stating the entrenchment of a series of unforgivable marginalization in the state, we may have to make a comparative analysis of Wada’s government viz a vis that of the founding Governor Abubakar Audu (1991 – 1993 and 1999 – 2003) who we thought was himself not only despotic but a tribal warlord.

    In Kogi State, there are three senatorial districts – the East comprising Igala and minorities like Bassa-Komu; Bassange Egbira Mozum; the West with the Okuns, Nupes, Oworos, Egbira-Kotos, Bassa-Komu,Gukeri, Ganagana and Hausa; and the .Central – comprising Ebira-Okene, Ogori Magongo and Ajaokuta.

    The State’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) stands at 7% East,12% West; and 72% Central, yet the East has produced the governor of the state for 18-years, the life-span of democratic governance since the creation of Kogi State in1991.

    Audu’s six-year governance of two terms (1991 – 93 and 1999 – 2003) produced the following: 17 Commissioners out of which nine were from the East, while four each come from the West and Central respectively; 33 Permanent Secretaries with 18-from Kogi East, 10 from the West and 5 from Central.

    In the State’s Civil Service of 33,000 workforce, the East had a lion share of 23,100, while 5,940 were from the West and 3,960 were from the Central. Here one wonders whether it is the brilliance or competence of the Igalas in Benue State that had given them this advantage on arrival in Kogi. For those of us who were there at the inception of the state and knew the calibre of products that were moved from Benue State Civil Service to the new state of Kogi, we have our huge doubts, we denounced the fictitious figures and have been proved right by the recent audit that revealed the huge deposit of ghost workers.

    If Audu’s government was iniquitous, Ibrahim Idris’ and Wada’s are a glaring display of impunity. The figures below attest: Wada’s government has 18 Commissioners out of which nine are from the East, five West and four Central; 60 Special Advisers with a whopping 30 from his home area, the East while the West and Central have 20 and 10 respectively.

    Wada’s government has 83 Senior Special Assistants out of which 41 (50%) are from the East, 26 (31.1%) from the West and 16 (19.1%)from the Central.

    Of Gov. Wada’s 242 Special Assistants, 139 are from the East, 66 from the West and 37 from Central.

    Could this be somebody’s idea of justice, fairness and equitable distribution? Could this be the opposite of marginalization?

    Of the 32 Permanent Secretaries, 24 (75%) are from the East while the West and Central share 4 or 12.5% each. Again one wonders if the civil service knowledge, skills and even experience are the exclusive preserve of the East. Here again, we reiterate in the negative.

    Indeed the reverse should be the case because the reservoir of highly talented, experienced and skilled staff from the West and Central have been edged out by the nepotic system and replaced by the Igalas.

    The state has 25 Board Chairmen comprising 14 (56%) from the East, 8 (32%) from the West and 3 (12%) from Central.

    The present government of Kogi State headed by Capt Idris Wada has a Civil Service of 18,650 which breaks down as follows:10,393 (approx 56%) from the East; 4,977  (27%) from the West; and 3,280 (17%) from Central.

    On the distribution of road projects, the East has N39.3billion for about 476.6kilomretres, the West N21.9billion for 209-kilometres, while Central has a paltry N3.3billion for 62kilometres. It is however an irony that despite these figures, one cannot see a translation of them in action.

    The litany of primitive imbalances is legion.

    If all these are not heartless instances of marginalization, we are not sure what else to call it. Perhaps, it may make better sense labeling it iniquitous voodoo governance.

    This must change. Kogi has all the potentials for a first class state in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, considering its history, strategic location and boundless endowment. The time has come to flush out ineptitude and jungle inequity. It is time to redeem Kogi State by installing a civilized, just, fair and equitable government.

     

    • Dr Adaba, OON, former DG NBC, writes from Abuja

  •  Corruption, Efcc and conspiracy theory

    The issue of corruption has over the years been a constant subject of discourse among Nigerians. To properly underscore how germane the subject has become in the affairs of the country, the current leader of our nation, President Muhammadu Buhari, made the fight against corruption one of the most focal points of his electoral campaign. At every given opportunity and platform, he was always telling Nigerians that: “If we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us”. This, no doubt, highlights the endemic nature of corruption in Nigeria.

    It is, therefore, not surprising that the corruption image of Nigeria has become global.  The country was ranked high in corruption by Transparency International Index as well as other prominent bodies that monitor the intensity of corrupt practices in the world. In 2001, Nigeria was ranked the 2nd most corrupt nation in the world after Bangladesh.  In 2003, Nigeria, again, was the 2nd most corrupt country in the world. In 2004, a minor improvement was made as the country ranked the 3rd most corrupt country in the world.

    Without a doubt, corruption is one of the biggest among the numerous challenges Nigeria is contending with. It is clear to every Nigerian that the level of corruption in the country is high as this evil cankerworm is found in almost every sector of the country.  When critically examined, there is every possibility of observing corrupt practices in every facet of our national life, no matter the scope.  Presently, corruption is so entrenched in the country that people factor its consideration into anything they want to do. The situation is now so bad that even some government officials are alleged to bribe one another to get government business done.

    It is, however, in the political arena that one finds corruption really prevalent in our society. It is rather sad that despite the hues and cries in the media by social critics and other stakeholders, the rate of corruption in Nigerian political and government circles is ever-increasing with a surge in the number of cases where the machinery of governance has become a tool for the enrichment of political elites and their cronies. The several policies and programmes of subsequent administrations in the country have not achieved desired results due to the deep rooted nature of corruption among the various classes and groups in the country.

    It was in an attempt to frontally tackle corruption and rid the nation of all corrupt tendencies that the Obasanjo administration established the Economic and Financial Crime Commission in 2003. By then, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) had ranked Nigeria among one of 23 countries that are non-cooperative in the international community’s efforts to fight money laundering. At the initial stage, EFCC demonstrated a strong resolve to deal with the issue of corruption in the country. Its pioneering Chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, swiftly cut the image of a no nonsense and uncompromising anti-corruption crusader who was ready to stake everything in order to rid the nation of corrupt tendencies. Under Ribadu’s leadership, the agency prosecuted and convicted a number of high-profile and well connected corrupt individuals. Many influential Nigerians were under the scrutinizing radar of the agency. In no time, the fear of the EFCC became the beginning of wisdom among the nation’s socio-political and economic elites.

    However, as it is often the case with most Nigerian institutions (remember NAFDAC?), since the exit of Ribadu from the Commission nothing tangible has actually been achieved in the crusade against corruption in the country. On June 6, 2008, Mrs. Farida Waziri became the new helmsman of the EFCC and was later replaced by Ibrahim Lamorde who currently holds sway at the commission. But then, under the duo’s leadership, the once dreaded EFFC has become a mere paper tiger and a toothless bulldog that could only bark and not bite. Many of the high profile cases that were in court under their respective leadership were mostly inconclusive.  Majority of the former governors and prominent political figures whose cases were once widely celebrated in the media are now not only walking free in the society but are equally playing vital roles in the nation’s social-political and economic spheres. This has made many Nigerians to lose interest in the EFFC and all it represents.

    The declining image of the agency has been further battered by a recent trend in which it loses high profile corruption cases in a most ridiculous and curious fashion. In recent time, concerned citizens have watched helplessly as the EFCC slammed 120 count charges on perceived corrupt persons only for the agency to fail in its bid to establish any of the charges. This has called to question the sincerity of the leadership of the EFCC in attempting to prosecute those cases in the first place. It would be recalled that the commissionlately lost three high profile cases involving ex-Governor Timipre Sylva, ex-Minister Femi Olukayode and ex-Bank PHB Managing Director, Francis Atuche. It is rather curious that in-spite of being prosecuted by experienced lawyers; the cases were lost on flimsy technical grounds.

    It is indeed the nauseating feelings evoked by this rather hideous trend that have made keen watchers of EFCC affairs to suggest that there is, perhaps, a conspiracy by key players in the anti graft agency and their collaborators to ensure that individuals accused of corrupt practices eventually go scot-free. An integral part of this conspiracy theory is what many have described as the EFCC’s inclination towards constantly filing amendment of charges after the arraignment of the accused. Non-appearance in Court and unending demands for adjournments are other notable ploys purportedly used by EFFC lawyers to frustrate some of the agency’s high profile cases. It has become so bad that a few judicial and EFCC sources have alleged that EFCC lawyers collude with the accused in frustrating their trial.

    Although top EFFC officials have attempted to blame the country’s judicial system for their inability to obtain favourable judgments in most of the cases prosecuted so far, it is, however, crucial to emphasize  that the anti-graft agency cannot but take the lion share of the culpability as many have accused it of shoddy and unprofessional investigation mechanism. If we are to ‘kill’ corruption as it is often being canvassed by President Muhammadu Buhari, the EFFC has to step up its game. It has to do more than it is currently doing. It is nothing but the height of hypocrisy and deception for the agency to dissipate public funds in prosecuting corruption cases whose outcomes leave much to be desired. If, indeed, we are in an era of change, the EFFC must be properly alive to its responsibilities. God bless Nigeria.

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

  • Politics, public service, morality and integrity in Nigeria (2)

    President Obama, President of the richest country in the world earns $400,000 per annum.  The British Prime Minister earns 190,000 Pounds.  A Senator, in Nigeria, one of the poorest countries in the world, earns, $1,700,000 per annum.  It is absurd.  It is, as someone has called it, “a feeding frenzy”

    The Senate President is reported to be earning N250, Million quarterly or N83.33 Million per month, whilst his deputy earns N50 million per month.  The Senate has allocated N1,024,000,000 as quarterly allowance to its 10 principal officers, known collectively as Senate leadership.  Each of the other principal officers earns N78 million every three months or N26 million per month.33

      All data on legislators salaries and allowances were obtained from (1) Business Hallmark Newspaper, June

    3.6         Someone sent text messages to many Nigerians putting the above situation in context as follows:

    “It is being speculated that it cost N290 million annually to maintain each member of the National Assembly.  This is happening in a country where virtually every amenity does not work and where average earning of 80 per cent of the populace is below N300 per day.  Whereas [the earnings] of a Nigerian Senator is more than the salary of 42 army generals or 48 professors or 70 Commissioners of Police or more than twice the pay of the US President Obama or nine times the salary of US congressional representative.”

    This tragic state of affairs is clearly unsustainable.  Those engaged in this feeding frenzy are endangering our democracy.

    3.7         Legislators have been arrested and are being prosecuted for unlawfully procuring federal contracts for their private companies.   Legislators have also been prosecuted for demanding bribes before approving budgets for ministries.

    Some Federal Ministries’ officials have been known to share unspent parts of the budget allocated to their ministries.  The Ministry of Health was in the middle of such a scandal two years ago.  Can we guarantee that this is not also happening in the States’ Ministries?

    2009, saw the revelation of major frauds in our banks, perpetrated by the Chief Executives and Directors of the Banks concerned.  So grave were the acts of fraud that the seven banks would have failed, if the Central Bank had not injected billions of naira into them.  How innocent the ‘offence’ of Dr. Azikiwe of merely banking Government funds in his bank at a rate of interest, now seems in retrospect.

    3.8         This corruption pandemic has even spread to the judiciary.  The Business Day Newspaper of Monday 28 June 2010 reports that it costs between 1-3 billion naira to bribe judges who are members of Governorship Election Tribunals.  Many Judges have already been dismissed for collecting bribes while sitting on election tribunals. This involvement of the Judiciary in corruption is the most painful of the injuries being inflicted on Nigeria.  The Judiciary ought to be the Nigerian safe haven to which we can all look for relief and respite from Nigeria’s political earthquakes storms and fire.  We must however acknowledge that the Court of Appeal has largely redeemed the image of the Judiciary in recent times.

    3.9         In addition to all these, we still have the foreign companies’ bribery scams involving numerous public officers.  These include, the Halliburton scam, involving 80 former public officers, the Wilbros scam and the Siemen’s scam.

    Of course many state Governments are currently or have in the past experienced raids by the EFCC and ICPC in which officials were arrested for multibillion frauds both at State Government and Local Government Levels.  These excesses have no limitation in terms of quantity and diversity.

    3.10      The outcome of all this, is the prevalence and persistence of fraudulent, violent and horribly rigged elections, lack of accountability in governance, uncontrolled corruption, a rundown economy, underdevelopment, broken down infrastructure, particularly power and roads, poverty of the masses and decayed social services.  This is followed by capital flight, diversion of investments to other countries, and the achievement of pariah status by Nigeria in the international community.  The last time I arrived in Muritala Mohammed Airport at the end of a trip abroad, both conveyor belts for conveying luggages at the arrival hall had packed up and to Nigeria’s eternal shame, luggages were being manually transferred to the floor of the arrival hall of that dilapidated and government abandoned Airport.  Meanwhile, British passengers through whose computerized airport we had commenced the journey were looking on with contemptuous amusement.

      Only recently The News Magazine observed correctly as follows:

    “In the 11 years that Nigeria has returned to democracy, infrastructure decay (roads, railways, power supply), has worsened, while all sectors (education, health, housing, manufacturing) have further collapsed, despite the several trillions of naira budgeted each year to improve the nation.  One Nigerian columnist called the parasitic nature of the politicians “a feeding frenzy”, a term that described how predatory animals descend hungrily on preys, like when piranhas or sharks attack a school of fish.4″

    3.11      Some current State Governors are giving themselves stupendous pensions even before the end of their terms of office.  In one case, a Governor gave himself 200 million naira, a monthly pension equivalent to his present salary, a personal assistant of level 8 or above, two vehicles with drivers, replaceable every four years, free medical treatment abroad for the Governor and his immediate family, a 30-day annual vacation abroad, with estacode, free mobile phone with internet services, and in one case, a retirement house.

    1. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

    4.1         I wonder whether Nigeria has not gone too far down the depths of the abyss to be saved.  Recently, Professor Ben Nwabueze suggested that only a bloody revolution could save Nigeria.  I hope not.  What we absolutely and urgently need is a leader who can impose discipline and eliminate corruption.  There will be need to amend our laws to strengthen the state at the expense of individual liberty at least for a short while, if we are to get to redemption point.  All legal provisions permitting preliminary objections to prosecutions for corruption must be repealed from our laws.  The power of any court to issue an order of injunction against a trial for any crime, particularly corruption should be repealed.  Interlocutory applications in cases concerning corruption should be banned.

    4.2         Apart from the above, legislators should no longer be allowed to fix their own allowances and such salaries and allowances should not exceed that earned by a Permanent Secretary.

    Inspite of the gross rigging of elections in 2003 and 2007, no one has so far been prosecuted for electoral crime.  This must no longer be the case.  The Electoral Crimes Tribunals should be established at once and all persons suspected of flouting provisions of the Electoral Act should be charged before it.

    4.3         However, the most important factor that can effect a fundamental difference to our situation is a change of orientation on the part of our politicians. They must take a leaf from the conduct of our 1st Republic Politicians if our polity is to survive.  They must shed their cloak of self interest and ‘feeding frenzy’ for a garment of public service and sacrifice.  They must see politics as a call to serve the Nation and its people rather than an opportunity to make a fast fortune.  In other words, they must imbibe a culture of civilized and enlightened servants of the people, rather than that of primitive and barbarous hordes of foreign invaders determined to feed ferociously on and exhaust all of our resources.  Leaders or even rulers are not termites or foreign hordes of invaders.   They must not subject the populace to a scorched earth policy.

    4.4         Inspite of what I have stated above, I do not want to give the impression that’s the country is enveloped in total darkness.  NO. There are glimmers of light and hope here and there.  Though few and far between, they raise our hopes of the possibility of a brighter and civilized future for Nigeria and Nigerians.  Developments in Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Ondo States in the last 2 to 4 years, give us a glimmer of hope for the future.

    4.5         I conclude this address with the following inspiring statement by a man I regard as the greatest Nigerian who has ever lived – Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

    In his autobiography, Awo stated as follows:

    “As I said before, we believe in the equality of all men, and in the liberty of the individual.  I believe that every citizen, however humble and lowly his station in life, has a right to demand from his government the creation of those conditions which will enable him progressively to enjoy, according to civilized standards, the basic necessities of life as well as reasonable comfort and a measure of luxury.  In other words, every citizen, regardless of his birth or religion, should be free and reasonably contented.

    It is often overlooked that there are two vital and inescapable stages in life wherein all men and women, however great or small, and however, rich or poor, are equal: at birth and at death.  Through these two events, Nature herself is incessantly imparting to us a lesson which is also vital and inescapable and which mankind ignores at its peril, namely that all men and women should be treated as equal, both as political and economic beings.  For this reason all laws, measures and programmes introduced by government must be framed so as to give equal treatment and opportunity to all.”5

      Whenever I think of the chaotic, disorderly and confused condition of things in our dear country, the following verses of a Church hymn which seem to be directed at us, come to my mind.

    “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind

    Drop thy still dews of quietness,

    Till all our strivings cease;

    Take from our souls the strain and stress,

    And let our ordered lives confess the beauty of thy peace.

    Breathe through the heats of our desire

    Thy coolness and thy balm;

    Let sense be dumb.

    Let flesh retire;

    Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire, [of Nigeria]

    O still small voice of calm.”

    (Footnotes)

    1See New Webster

    ’s Dictionary of the English Language. P. 649

    2 Obafemi Awolowo,

    Awo: An Autobiography of Chief Obafemi Awolowo

    ( Cambridge University Press,

    1960), p.  225.

    28 – July 4 2010and (2) Elombah Perspective, by Elombah Daniel, posted in the internet, June 29, 2010.

    4                       Issue of 29 November 2010.

  • 50-year uneconomic legacy – The way forward

    Are we seriously ready to sail through our present scenario of more than half a century old uneconomic legacy?  Or are we going to excel in the myriad of flowing excuses we roll out for our disappointing state of economic affairs?

    ‘Corruption is the bane of our underdevelopment.’ ‘Lack of power is an obstacle to our economic growth.’ ‘Underfunding of our health and education sectors is a serious drag on our development.’ ‘Without infrastructural investment we cannot make progress.’ Yet, in these dire straits of a society as depressingly laid out, foreigners can set up various agricultural and agro-allied firms able to make something meaningful out of our country.  It is the level of disorganisation, ineptitude and visionless outlook in the midst of aplenty that leaves one speechless without any national sense of achievement.

    A foreigner once stated that his company grows and processes agricultural products in Nigeria before sending to Asia for further processing before onward shipment to Europe.  Guess which country gets the more juicy part of the return on investment?

    Another foreign company recently acquired a five hundred million naira machine in a suburb of Lagos as part of their expansion plan.  This was bought during the height of our political tension with the accompanying downward spiral of the Naira.  But it did not stop their growth.

    In this unending list are another foreigner and Nigerian who were each given loans of, coincidentally, five hundred million naira.  Within three years, the foreigner’s company expanded into a two billion naira company.  The Nigerian, a well-known social philanthropist, never paid back the loan. With both of them living within the same environment, would this be financial corruption or bankruptcy of ideas? You decide.

    Not to bore readers with all these examples, all these organisations are making it big and expanding here, but what are our excuses? – lack of enabling environment, power challenges, corruption, inadequate road and railway infrastructure, low educational standards, insecurity issues, blah…blah…blah.

    The country needs a holistic approach to economic development especially at the socio-political level to involve three critical groups of people – governors, religious spokespersons and traditional rulers. They are the reasons for our lack of focus and without them being reoriented to rural growth values we are hardly going anywhere.  Governors need entrepreneurial approaches to state governance and not merely resource administrators.  It is almost impossible to point to any entrepreneurial governor since the regional premiers of the First Republic.  We have had excellent administrators but finding governors able to wean themselves off Abuja goodies is like a pipe dream.

    Same extends to the religious leaders who need to accord priority to the nation’s growth and image and not on JMR – Jerusalem, Mecca or Rome. Your national achievements in agriculture, industrialisation, national research and development, educational standards, etc., determine the respect we get abroad than our religio-spiritual endeavours. No amount of vigils or fasting would ever reduce the embarrassment and insults our green passports confer on us abroad.  Keying in the religious leaders to this, to which we might have to call on the divine, is an obstacle that really needs to be surmounted.

    Ditto our traditional rulers who are the best representatives to spur rural growth and development as it affects the up-and-coming towns and villages nationwide.

    These three groups of people can effect changes through the relevant government establishments and their absence hamper local governance in being able to address rural developmental issues.

    If we complement this at the federal level, we can consolidate what is available by developing easy large scale start-ups, reduce blockages to the financial system in all sectors, divert available power to identified priority sectors of the economy and apply same to the refineries.

    A classic example of easy large scale start up or expansion would be the furniture cane weaving artisans in Mende, Maryland, Lagos, the Panteke fabricating market in Kaduna, the tie-and-dye ‘Adire’ textile market in Abeokuta or the Aba/Onitsha fledging industrial enclaves .

    Imagine the cane weaving village being given a ten-hectare land with subsidised rates or leased by the relevant land authorities with government administrators spearheading the planning and layout. The economic village can display a museum or show rooms for commercial tourism, fashion design centres and technical-vocational institutes attached or partnering with it, car parking services and eateries sprouting from it, distribution network and transportation, business centres for branding, advertising and sales,  visits from all academic institutions to key in the education sector, security provision, estate maintenance, banking, insurance and other financial services, revenue generation offices, and you would practically have a cane weaving economic hub – corruption or no corruption.  The bonus of these kinds of places is the need for minimal power compared to the power consuming industrial outlays, large employment of labour, real reduction in rural-urban migration and one of the sources of real economic diversification on ground.  Replicating this in every local government would not only ensure a leap in economic growth but would contribute significantly to both our Gross Domestic Product, GDP, and Gross National Product, GNP, handled for Nigeria by Nigerians not by foreigners which is what presently dominates our GDP biggest-in-Africa economic activities.

    Without making civil servants proactive in orientation as opposed to sitting in offices and aligning remuneration allowances to the fate of their establishments’ results, then this is a non-starter.  This extends especially to local government personnel mostly with no clue about their roles in rural or local development.

    Revenue yielding ventures precedes infrastructural development and welfare spending.  This is majorly why our administrator governors are busy constructing roads and other infrastructure, building fantastic stadiums on borrowed money or inadequate IGR, sponsoring pilgrimages earning no money while straining our foreign exchange, building schools and hospitals on a grand scale with a minimally productive population, all classic examples of misplaced priorities no matter the best of intentions.  The result is an able-bodied population as demonstrated by the miasma of street hawkers nationwide and a fairly educated population seen annually at Immigration recruitment. They are however cheap enough to be in abundance and well-exploited by the smart foreign companies forever expanding within our midst.

    There is financial corruption and also corruption of ideas.   It is best to leave us to decide which one is drawing us back or is worthy of tackling.

    The time is NOW to shift focus away from problems or passing blame and move towards solutions and opportunities. Looking inwards, there is enough intellectual capacity – local and foreign-based – to tackle the national and international development challenges affecting Nigeria.  Are you one of such professionals? Are you willing to contribute Talent/Competences; Time/Effort and Treasure/Money (1, 2 or all 3) towards transforming the Nigerian society? Are you willing to work as a TEAM (Together Each Achieve More) with like minds to arrange a better benefit together? If yes, please send email to addresses below in not more than 250 words describing the contribution you are willing and able to make towards rebuilding Nigeria.

     

    • Dele Owolowo, Author ‘Nigeria’s Odyssey…’, is an Educationist, Trainer and Rural Entrepreneur with widely travelled background. owolowo.dele@gmail.com and Lanre Rotimi – Director NEHAP, nehap.initiative@yahoo.co.uk