The Nation Newspaper

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  • Power Sector Reform: What went wrong?

    As the nation continues to groan under chronic power supply shortage which has regressed from epileptic to comatose and defied all projections for improvement despite massive injection of public and private funds, it is appropriate to examine the power sector reform in order to identify the problems militating against attainment of the desired goals.

    The major drivers for reform and privatization of the power sector were inadequacy of funding and non-judicious management of the resources available which is better known as corruption. The sector suffered unprecedented neglect under successive military administrations. Attempts to revamp it under the fourth civilian administration were bungled by over-bearing political influence. Political administrators muzzled the technocrats and usurped their roles in the conception and award of contracts leading to shoddy execution of projects and protracted delays. We are witnesses to power projects being uncompleted more than 10 years after contract award! The doctrine of urgency with which they were conceived without detailed planning and awarded did not translate into expedition in execution. Project completion costs bear no comparison with prices on award!

    Although President Obasanjo initiated the reform process as far back as year 2000, he could not get the much needed support of the legislature to push through the power sector reform bill during his first term in office. The Electric Power Sector Reform Act was eventually passed in April 2005 when the much needed legal backing took effect. Rather than continue where his predecessor left off, President Yar’Adua back-pedalled on the reform process and re-appointed two sacked directors of PHCN who turned the hands of the clock backwards by re-integrating unbundled PHCN entities.

    Nudged on by the doggedness of his minister of power – Prof. Bart Nnaji, President Jonathan, in a rare display of courage, demonstrated the political will to get it running again. Thus a clear road map was launched in August 2010 in anticipation of completion of privatization by mid-2011. However, external and internal entrenched interests determined to frustrate the process manifested their opposition through the various workers unions and caused untold delays to the privatization exercise which was finally concluded two and half years later in November 2013.

    The privatization of the power sector has therefore come a long way having met the key internationally recognized success factors. Why, then, have we not enjoyed the benefits?

    The ownership of power assets changed hands on the premise that the private sector is able to mobilise funds and use them more efficiently that the public sector.

    Two different models were employed in the privation process. The overriding objective for the DISCOs was system upgrade and improvement. The prices were pre-determined, bidders were required to showcase their experience, understanding of the assets on sale and business plan for improved service delivery. For the GENCOs, pricing was an added competition criterion.

    The attempts by the bidders to go beyond the data room to verify the state of the assets was frustrated by the electricity workers unions. They depended largely on information packaged by evaluators appointed by the seller – BPE. Even if the evaluators’ assessments were of acceptable quality, degradation of the assets as a result of continued use during the protracted interlude between the time of assessment and asset transfer was obviously not captured in the transactions. It was therefore not surprising to hear complaints from the buyers of the appalling condition of most of the assets. The implication is that the business plans needed to be revised ab initio. More funds are needed than projected. Payback period is jeopardized. Additional loans are required etc. The capacities of local lenders, on the other hand, are known to be stretched. Power is not the only sector sourcing for financing, the oil & gas sector is witnessing massive divestments!

    To further compound the situation, the GENCOs are paralysed by shortage of gas. This is a national self-inflicted perennial problem which has its roots in lack of appropriate pricing of the commodity. For decades, policy makers failed to appreciate that gas gathering and processing is capital intensive. Seeing that gas was being flared in the oil fields, they expected it to be delivered to government owned GENCOs at give-away prices. The creation of a Gas &Power Division in NNPC and the formulation of a national gas policy have now tilted the balance towards more realistic pricing which of course has not motivated the IOCs sufficiently to invest in gas field development projects, the situation is further compounded by their systematic disengagement from onshore activities. Even when they are reluctantly willing to do so, JV funding is an ever present clog in the wheel.

    The solution of this age-old problem demands flexibility on the part of the government with respect to pricing policy and JV funding.

    Rather than holding on tenaciously to the present price regime of US$2.50 per 1,000 scft of gas, policy makers will do well to harmonise the price with the going supply price to the Bonny LNG which may just not be substantially higher than US$2.50. The variability of that price vis-à-vis crude oil price is believed to be favoured by the IOCs against a regulated fixed price.

    Public ownership of generation and distribution assets has failed us. The government reluctantly yielded to the option of reform and privatization when it became clear that it could no longer meet the financial requirements needed to maintain existing facilities not to talk of further investments towards meeting the ever growing demand. The per capita power consumption of Nigeria ranks among the world’s lowest.

    The capacity of the private sector to raise funds and out-perform the public sector has been demonstrated in the telecom sector and also in the acquisition of the power assets.

    The buyers have only recently mounted the saddle. Time was needed to appraise the acquired assets and revise whatever business plans they bidded with. Unlike what happened in the telecom sector, the power companies cannot start on a clean slate and the acquired assets have suffered from many years of neglect.

    The government should by no means yield to calls for reversal of the privatization exercise under any guise or pressure to do so. Firstly, such a major policy somersault will generate ripples beyond our borders and the loss of credibility will be difficult to recover from. There is nothing wrong in reviewing the performance of GENCOs  and DISCOs especially within the context of the covenants in the sale agreements and where there are defaults,  sanctions  should be applied.  Such an exercise falls within the purview of the regulator and should not be politically engineered.

    The government should concern itself with policies that will ensure success of the privatization and promotion of investments especially relating to hydro development and harnessing of coal for power generation.

    Consumer protection is non-existent; such needs to be institutionalized. Many consumers both small and large complain bitterly about crazy/arbitrary bills imposed on them by the distribution companies. This is a fall-out of the estimated billing approach practised by PHCN; this option was flagrantly abused when the distribution companies were given high revenue targets and the only way they could meet such was imposition of punitive charges on the consumers. The new DISCOs have an obligation to install pre-paid meters under the terms and conditions of the asset sales agreement; in the meantime, they continue to take advantage of the inherited estimated billing system to the disadvantage of the electricity-starved consumers. NERC has to wield the big axe and put a stop to this unwholesome practice. Such a measure will force the DISCOs to i) ensure installed meters are read and reflected in billings and ii) fast-track installation of pre-paid meters rather than bloat their recurrent budget on account of engagement of meter readers.

    ‘Rather than holding on tenaciously to the present price regime of US$2.50 per 1,000 scft of gas, policy makers will do well to harmonise the price with the going supply price to the Bonny LNG which may just not be substantially higher than US$2.50. The variability of that price vis-à-vis crude oil price is believed to be favoured by the IOCs against a regulated fixed price’

    • Eribake writes from Lagos.

  • The change we want to see

    There is a lot of talk about “inclusive capitalism” and “inclusive growth” these days. That’s all well and good but in addition to these, what we need is an “inclusive government”. A government that includes capable, honest citizens based on merit irrespective of gender.

    There is a positive correlation between gender equality and economic growth. Countries that do not treat women as second class citizens are more likely to prosper in a sustainable manner, and this is true regardless of the prevailing ideology or religion of that region. Rwanda and Dubai are two classic examples. Both places rank high in comparative regional gender equality surveys and both have experienced an upward trend in economic prowess and social development over the last 10 years and 40 years respectively. In the book, Flashes of Thought, the ruler of Dubai, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, says of his government: “Our job is to provide an environment that unlocks women’s potential–one that protects their dignity and femininity, helps them create the necessary balance in their lives, and values their talents and potential. Given this environment, I am confident that women will perform nothing short of miracles.” To that end, 70 per cent of university graduates in his country are women. Eighty five per cent of his personal team are women, 65 per cent of their government employees are women and 30 per cent of the leadership positions are held by women.

    Closer to home, let’s look at Rwanda. Since the genocide ended over 10 years ago, women have generally made up more than 50 per cent of their parliamentarians. Currently, approximately 63 per cent of their members of parliament are female. During that time, Rwanda has experienced year-on-year GDP growth. Their GDP per capita, their Gross National Income per capita, their Agricultural Production Rate and Food Production Rate have all increased steady over those years.

    Is this a coincidence? I think not. I once heard someone say that women are the greatest causalities of war and he might be right. This being the case, by putting capable women in leadership positions, we have a government that is less likely to make decisions that would lead to civil unrest or war. Prosperity fosters in times of peace. The absence of confusion and an orderly society foster progress. Thus one could probably argue that the more women we have in leadership positions, the more likely we are to have an orderly and prosperous country.

    In her essay, The Economics of Exclusion, University of Oxford Business Professor, Linda Scott, illustrates in monetary terms the national benefits of adequately including women in leadership and the hidden, indirect costs of excluding them: “Taking account of the benefits of including women should encompass not just the growth possibilities, but the bigger economic impact lies in avoiding the costs associated with exclusion, such as…hunger, violence and disease.”

    In some of her other works, Scott compares the Women’s Economic Opportunity data compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit and the National Competitiveness Index created by the World Economic Forum. Her findings show that “a country making concerted efforts to protect, support, educate, and place its women would be making similar decisions across the board to maximise its other resources.”

    There are examples of gifted leaders all over the world who happen to be female such as Valerie Amos, Michaelle Jean, Ursula Burns and Condoleezza Rice. We also have our fair share of such assets here in Nigeria and in deciding who should form part of the leadership team that moves this country forward, let those who are gifted with skill, scruples, stamina and a solid track record prevail.

    Overlooking women for positions in leadership would be akin to a self-inflicted, gender-based, brain drain. Speaking of a brain drain, Valerie Amos is originally from Guyana and Michaelle Jean was born in Haiti. Both women are doing wonders on behalf of their adoptive countries, the United Kingdom and Canada respectively. If the right environment had existed in their countries of birth, they probably would not have left and perhaps they’d be doing these wonders as emissaries of their birth countries rather than as representatives of their adoptive countries. Let us create the right environment here in Nigeria so that capable women (and men) don’t have to leave the shores of their country to find a place where their intellectual talents can be maximised and appreciated.

    Who or what is a leader?

    It is said that a leader is someone who improves the lives of those around him or her. People like Adepeju Jaiyeoba, the lawyer working to reduce infant and maternal mortality rates by providing kits to pregnant women in rural areas, or Mosunmola Umoru, the female farmer who empowers other farmers by helping them find a viable market for their produce.

    Similarly, it is said that a leader is anyone who can serve people and make them happy. For example, Enitan Kuku who discovers Nigerian fine artists and helps them sell their artwork in the international market, or Fisayo Olowu who runs a designated learning place for children under the age of 10 living in an impoverished shanty town, or Yewande Olofinro who goes to hospital wards to help those who can’t pay their medical bills.

    I also read somewhere that a leader is someone capable of creating positive change, whether at a micro level within his or her family or at a macro level serving the entire nation. People such as Ijeoma Idika-Chima, a young lady who galvanises other young people to vote, or Amina Ahmed who despite incredible odds is possibly one of Nigeria’s youngest female magistrates, or Temitayo Etomi, a manager in the Lagos State Civil Service, doing notable work in her state government.

    It should be a priority of new administration headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, to uphold the spirit and letter of our National Gender Policy. Let us “provide an enabling environment for women to achieve their highest potential.” That environment would be one that protects them from violence, one that does not force them to compromise their principles and one that includes them on the basis of competence.

    The positive change that we would like to see from the new administration is the significant inclusion of clever, capable, conscientious and compassionate women in the leadership.  Let us realise the benefits inherent in our greatest natural resource. We can create an environment that enables women to succeed or sets them up to fail. By choosing the former, the whole nation, male and female, young and old, will also move forward.

     

    • Ms Aboderin, a member of the Institute of Directors, writes from Ogun State.

  • Aregbesola beyond reproach

    There is nothing more difficult to carry out, not more doubtful of success, not more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order and only lukewarm defenders in all those, who would profit by the new order. This lukewarmness arises, partly from incredibility of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new, until they have actually experienced it.

    It is in this perception that the Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola found himself when he came on the scene in Osun State; when its progress was at the lowest ebb, in fact, inert. But the Ijesa-born politician, was determined to go the whole hog and make Osun State an Eldorado, no matter what. Only an administration with the heart of steel and grim resolve could accomplish such feat.

    Setting out to achieve his avowed goals expectedly met with resistance from those, who profited by the old order of doing things in Osun State. It was themselves first and the larger populace last. To the glory of God, Ogbeni Aregbesola has opened up Osun to certain level of socio-economic development. In the course of his first term in office, far-reaching infrastructural facilities were put in place to international standard with frugality. Roads, hitherto considered unpassable and difficult to rehabilitate, saw the magic wands of Aregbesola and residents of such areas heaved a sigh of relief.

    For the first four years of Aregbesola in the saddle, workers’ salaries and pensions were paid as and when due and his government was regarded as worker-friendly. Even certain percentages of the workers’ salaries were paid as 13th month bonus. But now, that the world is witnessing economic recession, Governor Aregbesola should device a means, and a solid one too, whereby payment of workers’ salaries and pension would not suffer unduly. It is said that a labourer’s wages should be paid before his or her sweat dries up.

    Here is an ‘unusual’ governor, who like the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, of blessed memory, do not lay claim to monopoly of wisdom. Like other South-West APC governors, he is steadily transforming the state to the applause of the citizenry.

    Aregbesola, should continue firing from all cylinders, to take Osun State to the Promised Land. There should be no looking back, even where detractors are busy putting one hurdle or the other on his way. Such is the price to pay for leadership, though it could be a bitter pill to swallow.

    I am quite convinced, that with the new administration of Muhammed Buhari, Osun, with pragmatism and political wizardry of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, will partake of the largesse that would accrue to states.  Osun State’s progress, some narrow-minded people alleged, was retarded in the last four years because of Ogbeni Aregbesola’s “unrepentant antagonistic postures” toward former President Goodluck Jonathan. Whatever that means! But now, that APC is in control, Governor Aregbesola should curry the favour of the Federal Government and attract federal projects to Osun in quantum. And if need be, the governor should re-appraise the on-going Gbongan-Akoda, Osogbo-Ilaodo roads under construction, and do the necessary things with the Federal Ministry of Works or hand over such projects to the Federal Government, using his excellent relationship with President Buhari for the good of the people of Osun State. If Governor Aregbesola, spends four terms in office, he cannot finish the development projects in Osun State. He should tread softly, try his best and leave the rest for others.

    What Governor Aregbesola needs to do in Osun State, right now is to re-order his priorities and make human capacity development, the centre-stage of his administration, while continuing to plug all loopholes that are areas of wastage to the government, even if those who profited by such old order are not happy. He should not care a hoot about their grouse, which are unjustifiable.

    Once again, let us engage in politics of love, affection and development in Osun State. We should continue to wish our leaders well and pray for them as a demonstration of our obedience to Biblical and Koranic injunctions. We should not behave like that man in Ekiti State, who pointedly wished our then Presidential candidate dead. May God forgive him and indeed, those who orchestrated evil machination against the Governor’s son – Kabiru, whose services are needed in his own little ways to the development of Osun as a bonafide citizen.

    To accelerate the state internally generated revenue, Governor Aregbesola should embark on aggressive property tax collection, to boost the state’s revenue. Despite the economic down-turn, gigantic and imposing structures, homes to the nouveau riche, are springing up at Osogbo GRA and other locations in the state capital and other choice areas of the state. If those involved could have so much to erect such structures, they should spare the state something substantial as property tax. After all, such locations in GRA enjoy the best of road network and electricity supply, as they are on dedicated lines from whatever you call it. Are the numerous ‘five star’ hotels that now litter Osun State paying up the correct taxes to the government, Ogbeni Aregbesola?

    Osun shall certainly excel and be a model for other states to emulate. It should be many steps ahead of others. We all have our patriotic roles to play. We are ready to do that, if the governor provides a level playing ground to do so. He should not give room to those who will tell him only those things that are sweet to his ears. They cry Hosanna today, crucify him tomorrow.

     

    • Lawal, a public affairs analyst, write from Ede, Osun State.

  • Amaechi vs Wike: Between facts and fiction

    A Little after the present Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike accused his predecessor,  the immediate past governor, Rotimi Amaechi of looting and vandalising properties in the Rivers State Government House by taking away  items like bullet proof doors, carpets, cars, furniture, curtains and windows, a container of controversial narrations and analysis has emerged with Amaechi’s response that ‘the current governor is trying to intimidate, threaten and blackmail officials of his then administration, including civil servants into making false, phony and bogus claims of alleged corruption and corrupt practices against him and his wife, Judith’.

    Indeed, Amaechi’s detailed response has now made it difficult to sieve the truth from a big basket of allegations by Nyesom Wike. An understanding of how politics is practiced in Nigerian would suggest that what Wike has done with accusations of looting of furniture and cars at the Rivers Government House is nothing far from the usual strategy of distraction that is observed every time an incumbent governor hands over to an opposing party. As such, Wike’s disclosures are not strange, however what is different from the customary allegations is that this time round, it is not money that is being talked about but basic domestic items which ordinarily should have their inventory well documented in the office of the Permanent Secretary that serves as the chief accounting officer of the Government House.

    To claim that Amaechi looted the Rivers State Government House is very premature as confirming such allegations is far beyond using doctored images to portray a scattered house as vandalized in the presence of some selected journalists.

    Ordinarily, if Governor Wike meant well, good logic would have informed him to seek an inventory of what items were there in Amaechi’s stay in office and what he left behind at his exit from office. The simple question that has been raised is, did Wike know what was in Amaechi’s former bedroom to have been able to reach a conclusion of looting? Otherwise, Wike’s claims are best thrown into the dustbin and regarded as weak ploy to score cheap points. Indeed, until a proper and transparent inventory analysis is professionally conducted, it will be difficult to regard Wike as serious. Certainly, from every reasonable analysis, what Wike has done in his first day on duty as governor, shows that he is acting out a script which suggest that his main purpose in politics is to fight dirty rather than focus on the right measures that will advance the condition of the governed.

    Ordinarily, one would have thought that Wike as a trained lawyer would have known the essence of well articulated evidence when presenting a case. The pictures of scattered chairs and tables cannot sufficiently serve as proof that an accused is responsible for looting except where there exist documentary evidence from security cameras and or uncompromised individuals to buttress such.  On the issue of vandalised kitchen cabinets, I think if a man of Amaechi’s status really meant to cause discomfort for his successor, the seeming destruction of property should not start and end in a kitchen of  a house he literally renovated to an edifice status. Perhaps, if Amaechi had capacity for evil acts, he would have started the so-called vandalisation from the foundation than go to an irrelevant portion of the mansion. That Wike never mentioned any colossal damage to the said Government House rightly suggests that he is just obsessed with trying to get unnecessary attention on an issue that he could even be accused of simulating or masterminding.

    Granted that anyone that has held or is holding a government office deserves public scrutiny; but when such inquiry translates to blatant absurdity and half-truths as demonstrated by Wike, then the reasons behind such must be investigated thoroughly to ensure that this is neither an intent to divert attention, weak attempt to discredit another person nor design to deplete the treasury of the state.

    Consequently, any objective analyst should appreciate that the media outing by Wike is obviously a tragic error because what he attempted to portray on alleged looting could have been left for the journalists to confirm from witnesses present at the time of the alleged vandalisation or could it have been possible that as at the time he resumed office, the entire security personnel at the Government House had fled and  the security camera gadgets destroyed?

    Wike’s claims are appalling especially coming from a lawyer and he really needs to be reminded  that as a legal professional, he should have taken the proper step to assemble credible evidence before considering a visit with pressmen. Indeed, the churning out of this unconfirmed story in major newspapers is also huge minus for the press as it has exposed the embarrassing fact that in Nigeria, investigative journalism is almost dead or highly compromised. For anyone to use Wike’s  lies and misinformation, it simply suggests a willingness to stray from the truth in preference for reporting  a stream of fabrications. The big story for any journalist wanting a real scoop might be: who opened the premises for Wike and what did they see there, a vandalized house or not?

    For ease of recall, anyone that has given some reasonable attention to politics of Rivers State would agree that there is a wide gulf in the relationship between Amaechi and Wike, hitherto described as  two close friends before they went separate ways in the wake of 2015 general elections. Be that as it may, Wike from all reasonable logic, has acted dishonestly and appears to be venturing into dangerous political path scarcely towed in Nigeria. Granted that on many occasions, we know politicians to be economical with the truth, at other times we know them to stretch lies against the opposing camp, nevertheless, the disclosures made by Wike against Amaechi share great semblance with willful and purposeful lying. Indeed, it will be good for Wike to be challenged by the public on these allegations not necessarily for the purpose of advancing any political party’s interest  but for advancing both morality and integrity of Nigeria’s democracy.

    Wike’s stream of mistruths cannot reap him any political awards or  help win his case at the tribunal. Rather, these ostracized falsehoods will only thrust him further into unhealthy controversy. As such, now that a large section of the press has debunked his false claims, the honourable thing for him to do is to  concede the truth for the restoration of personal honour and integrity. Otherwise, the blatant lies Wike has tried to spread  must be confronted and exposed because any political office holder ought to distance himself from such  especially in any modern society which abhors lies and largely associates leaders with such traits of lying with incompetence.

    Wike’s attempt to engage lying as a useful political strategy clearly portrays him as a man that may be clueless on how to manage the affairs of Rivers State. The simple question to ask here, is why should he claim that he would need about four months to fix the vandalized items whereas some people can even build a house in less than four months? In fact, it is only a person that is dumb that will accept what Wike says without questions. Wike lack of truthfulness is not only huge indictment of the character of person the PDP has selected to rule Rivers State  but that his party has weak vetting process which encourages men of questionable character and dishonesty to be in office.

    Wike’s Rivers State PDP has a long history of attempting to smear the APC at any opportunity. For anyone still unaware, the smear campaign was launched by Wike when it became obvious that Amaechi had settled for another candidate as his successor as Governor from the APC. For the average peace loving person, this dirty politics should have been over but Wike’s recent expressed dishonesty is a real tragedy in the making. That is the truth, and it is time the Rivers people knew this and the consequences ahead.

     

    • Shaibu,a Public Communication Consultant,writes from Abuja.
  • Lagos fire, articulated vehicles and road mishaps

    Lagos fire, articulated vehicles and road mishaps

    Being a cosmopolitan city and the commercial nerve center of Nigeria, incidence of fire disaster is not entirely a strange thing in Lagos. However, the spate of fire outbreaks recorded in the metropolis in recent time is becoming quite alarming. A few days ago, three fire outbreaks took place in the metropolis in one day. According to reports, no fewer than 21 vehicles and 44 stalls were razed following a spillage from a petrol tanker which fell off the Iyana-Ipaja Bridge in Lagos. The areas affected were Ipaja Road, where the tanker landed, Oremeji Street, Jafajo Street, Oki Street, Adebajo Street and some parts of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway. On same day, two other ugly fire incidents equally occurred overnight in Badagry and Ojo areas of the State respectively. Though incidence of fire outbreak has become rather rampant, both within and outside the country of recent, it is, however, very scary considering the number of fire incidents that have occurred in quick succession across Lagos State in the last few weeks.

    The cost of fire incidents is obviously enormous. It results in pains and deaths to victims, wastes time, money and other valuables while it also damages equipment and structures. It is, therefore, for these reasons that it is disheartening to know that most fire disasters are not acts of God, as some would ignorantly want to affirm, but rather the products of human errors and carelessness. Indeed, most of the fire incidents could have been avoided if those that were involved had been more safety conscious. It has been discovered, For instance, that a considerable number fuel truck accidents that had resulted into fire outbreaks causing monumental losses in Lagos State especially, were actually caused by the carelessness and recklessness of fuel truck drivers.

    Ideally, drivers of articulated vehicles ought to be careful and extremely conscious of the damage any slip on their part could cause in terms of human and material losses. But then, findings have shown that several carnages recorded on most roads across the country have been caused by their complicity. A recent research has indicated that out of about 358 transport accidents recorded in Nigeria between 1999 and 2002, 70 % involved articulated trucks and heavy duty vehicles. The survey further shows that about 32 per cent of truck drivers are below 30 years and probably immature and inexperience to handle such psychologically demanding task. Also, studies have equally confirmed that 62 per cent of fuel trucks involved in serious road mishaps that resulted into fire disasters were of poor quality which probably aided fire outbreaks whenever there was an accident. Study has also revealed that about 54 per cent of fuel spilling that had led to fire outbreaks was as a result of negligence on the part of truck drivers.

    For obvious reasons, Lagos will continue to attract articulated vehicles and trucks because of its prime socio-economic status. Lagos houses 22 industrial estates, 60% of nation‘s industrial and commercial ventures, 70% of national maritime cargos and consume about 50% of petroleum products in the country. Additionally, Lagos is home to about 2,000 industrial complexes, 10,000 commercial ventures and 22 industrial estates.. It accounts for over 60% of Nigeria’s industrial and commercial activities; 70% of national maritime cargo freight, over 80% of international aviation traffic and over 50% of Nigeria’s energy consumption. Also, the two seaports in Lagos account for 70 percent of the sea trade in the country while about 80percent of International air travels arrive in and depart from Lagos. Aside this, Lagos consumes about 45 percent of the petroleum products in the country.

    With all these indicators, it would be difficult, for now, to banish articulated vehicles and trucks on Lagos roads. However, with the cooperation of major stakeholders in related sectors, the havoc being wrecked on lives and properties by articulated vehicles on residents in the State could be grossly reduced. For- instance, the continuous importation of locally consumed fuel in the country, arising from the inability of the federal government to fix local refineries, places serious burden on the State. With more than 50 fuel depots in Lagos alone, at least over 3,000 trucks travel to the State on a daily basis with the intention of lifting petroleum products. This situation makes it rather difficult for relevant agencies of the State to properly monitor and control activities of trucks and articulated vehicles drivers in the State.

    To redress the current trend, the Federal Government would need to urgently revive the failed national refineries. Continuous importation of fuel, no doubt, will exacerbate the pressure on Lagos and its infrastructure. Various stakeholders in the oil sector need to ingeniously look into the petroleum distributive arrangement to evolve a more scientific and less cumbersome order of distribution.

    Equally, the federal government needs to invest massively in the infrastructure development of the transportation sector. Investment in transportation infrastructure enhances private sector activities as it lowers operational cost; enhances productivity, job and wealth creation through exchange of goods and services.  Infrastructure development in the sector is, therefore, critical to achieving human capital development in the country. One vital way through which this could be done is for the federal government to de-emphasise road transportation and revitalize rail transportation. If this is done, it could help, in no small way, to reduce carnage on our roads. It is a cheaper, effective and less cumbersome mode of transportation. Through rails, millions of liters of fuel and, indeed, people, goods and products, could be effectively and effortlessly transported across the country.

    It is also important for governments at all levels to enlighten the public of fire prevention and safety measures. A research conducted by a non-governmental organisation with a focus on fire prevention, control and management, Fire Disaster Prevention and Safety Awareness Association of Nigeria (FDPSAAN),  shows significant low level of awareness on fire safety in Nigeria. Less than 2% of the over 140 million Nigerians have the required basic fire safety knowledge. The issue of safety which once occupied a major place in the programmes and plans of every level of government is now treated with levity. Within the context of Nigerian laws on safety, the National Fire Safety Code, for instance, seems to have been dumped in the thrash-can. The code is a set of rules guiding fire prevention and control in all public buildings in Nigeria. It is, therefore, imperative that existing laws on safety are strengthened and strictly enforced in order to achieve a safer society.

    In addition, vehicles inspectors must regularly ensure that only roadworthy vehicles are on the road. Unlatched trucks must not be allowed to ply our roads. Sales of drugs and alcoholic drinks at motor parks should be discouraged. Drivers’ unions must educate their members on safety issues while erring members must be sanctioned by relevant authorities. This is the time to stop avoidable and worthless loss of lives and properties.

    • Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.
  • Lawan, Akume ticket: Best for senate, best for Nigeria

    Lawan, Akume ticket: Best for senate, best for Nigeria

    With the benefit of hindsight, one would applaud the decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to refrain from allocating the Senate presidency to a particular geo-political zone. Now, the big question of who leads the National Assembly would be settled by the Senators themselves.

    At first, the Senate-presidency spotlight was trained on Senators George Akume and Bukola Saraki. Akume had appeared to have a head-start as he had led the APC in the Senate as the Minority Leader. But that head-start vanished once Senator Ahmed Lawan came into the picture.

    Nigeria practices the United States of American version of Presidential democracy.  Seniority in the United States Senate is not only well-known but has remained valuable as it confers a number of perquisites and is based on length of continuous service, with ties broken by a series of factors. The beauty of that convention should now be appreciated because of the tie over when Akume and Lawan became Senators.

    The United States Constitution does not mandate differences in rights or power, but Senate rules give more power to senators with more seniority. Senators are given preferential treatment in choosing committee assignments based on seniority. While the Nigerian Senate elects its leader from among fellow Senators, the US Senate is actually headed by the Vice-President but whose duties are mainly carried out by the president pro tempore of the Senate. Even here, the person so chosen is traditionally the majority party’s most senior member.

    So before we discuss who convention actually favours between Akume and Lawan as Senate President, there is an uncommon and effective case for Senator Ahmed Lawan. Apart from his not being a rookie, having served as a member of the House of Representatives as well as the Senate, and so should easily command the respect of both chambers of the National Assembly, that Lawan is from the North-East geo-political zone is a point that should not be glossed over.

    The North-East and the South-South are the only zones in the country that have never produced either the Senate-President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, or even their deputies. But the South-South has more than compensated for this when it produced the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Secondly, Akume and Sariki’s North-Central zone, has held the Senate presidency for eight years, and the zone’s, late Haruna Abubakar and Ibrahim Mantu have been Deputy Senate Presidents. So, that Akume should have entered into talks with Lawan and has agreed to serve as his deputy provides an example of uncommon statesmanship, will give North-East a great sense of belonging and deepen Nigeria’s democratic conventions.

    Yet, Senator Ahmed Lawan will not be a quota Senate President. Both he and Akume are respectable and serious-minded Senators. So on this score, if the Lawan/Akume ticket flies, and we see no reason why it should not, the Senate and the nation should be having two highly experienced Senators for the two Senate top most seats. Even on this matter of experience, Lawan surely has the upper hand over Akume, and more so over Saraki who hit the Senate four years behind both of them.

    Unfortunately, many commentators stumble on this point. For instance, Mr. Sufuyan Ojeifo argued in a newspaper article that: “overall Akume would appear to have a head start over La­wan. Whereas, Lawan was a member of the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007 before his election into the Senate in 2007, the same year Akume got elected into the Senate, in determining ranking, the sen­ate rule does not take into account the fact of previous membership of the either the state legislature or House of Representatives. That makes both Akume and Lawan equal in terms of length of tenure.”

    To that, we say a lusty, stout and stringent NO. Lawan’s 1999-2007 experience is a cognitive legislative experience. Akume’s governorship experience is not. Both have an advantage over Saraki on this score as he came into the Senate in 2011. We have the support of the US Senate on this convention as Wikipedia attests: “A Senator’s seniority is primarily determined by length of continuous service; for example, a senator who has served for 12 years is more senior than one who has served for 10 years. Because several new senators usually join at the beginning of a new Congress, there are eight tiebreakers: 1, former Senator, 2, former Representative, 3,former President of the United States, 4, former Vice President of the United States . The former Governor comes 6th on this list behind even the former Cabinet member. This may sound preposterous but scholars of federal system of government know that while Ministers are officers of the entire Federation, and so must be confirmed by the Senate, Governors are executives of just parts of the Federation.

    And to those who ask why the American example should park a meaning for Nigeria, our reply is simply this: Nigeria is one of the five countries in the whole world that practice presidential bicameral federalism – with Brazil, Argentina Mexico and the US; the model’s originator in 1776.

    Here is another reason why Lawan should lead the next Senate:  The longest-serving Speaker in US House of Representatives history, Sam Rayburn of Texas, said “The old days (of legislative leadership) of pounding on the desk and giving people hell are gone. A man’s got to lead by persuasion and kindness and the best reason—that’s the only way he can lead people.” That is the sort of leadership that can only come from a man as genial, cool and calculated, yet firm and inspiring team player and consensus builder such as Senator Ahmed Lawan. Any person lacking his amazing sort of humility would have started the campaign by making it loud and clear that he holds a Ph.D. But many do not know that the man is so learned. Add to this the fact that he had been Chairman of Public Accounts Committee in the both chambers and a decade before Saraki became a national legislator and every doubt will evaporate because learning, character and experience favour his candidacy – if indeed Nigeria is now ready to practice democracy. Then we should play by the rules.

  • 50-year economic legacy – efficient ineffectiveness

    Ask anyone anything revolutionary about our economy over the past 25 years and the sectors that mostly pop up as having been truly transformed are banking, telecoms, aviation and entertainment.  But truly transformed for whose benefit? Have they really revolutionised our economy? Take out entertainment – can one really say the same about the other sectors?

    In the 70s and 80s our population was less than a hundred million. Economically, we were a mono-cultural economy dependent on oil for most of our foreign exchange, up to ninety percent sometimes.    Three decades plus after, we have doubled in size, with faster technologies and all what not, but what have we got? – Structurally, we are exactly still the same.

    And what would be the contribution of the banking sector to this? No need to go far for this as it is the sector meant to lubricate the economy.  Question is, lubricate what?  Take away the petrochemical sector, corporate and governmental institutions’ accounts, what is left? Even better, what about the wider Nigerian economy, the importers and exporters – which one is guaranteed easier access to funds and loans? A graduate banker gets a good banking job in a top notch bank, is able to access funds for the bank’s portfolio, sanctions loans to an importer to bring in products from abroad, pays back the loan with exorbitant interest as is the in-thing and ultimately fuels the bank’s profits.  While the graduate banker is well-paid living a good life on invariably imported products, the bank’s profits impressive to the shareholders also living on, what else but imported products – they have all contributed nothing to Nigeria Plc. The technology – online banking, ATM, and other similar modern infrastructure have only made them more efficient and faster but hardly achieved anything for Naija Inc.

    And you think the telecoms sector fits this pattern? But of course! How else would we be connected? We now have all kinds of communication connections, gadgets, instruments, devices, etc., to all and sundry for all intents and purposes.  Not likely anyone has ever asked the contents of our communications if of any productive contribution to our economy.  There was the saying a long time ago that once we sort out our communication challenges, our economy would be revolutionised. Now the sector has indeed been reformed – thank heavens since I doubt anyone misses NITEL– but the economy?  We are now better connected and more efficiently but with nothing productive to engage in rather than being better equipped to speak faster irrelevancies hardly offering anything of meaningful contribution to Nigeria Plc.

    Then no point querying role of the aviation sector here.  Better not. It isn’t any better.  Few decades ago, you would have to be part of the wealthy upper class to take a flight around the country.  One needn’t bother then, considering the inconvenience, archaic planning and logistics it entailed.  Nowadays, in our current state of perceived improvement, you can simply wake up any morning and swoosh to Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt or any other city you fancy and hey presto we have moved mountains. The problem is, mountain of progress or regression? If you are sitting in the business class, you can safely take a bet that only a tiny miniscule minority are actually paying from their pockets, the vast majority are being paid for by one corporate body, governmental institution or establishment. If you are among those who pay from their pockets, the real economy movers in the ‘cattle’ class, then it is highly likely you are chasing one contract or another to import some product, consultancy service from abroad for the Abuja crew, arranging some importation papers to clear goods from the Lagos ports or engaging in helping the foreigners to prop us up in Port Harcourt. All these activities innovatively and ingeniously contribute to the ‘expansion’ of our economy much faster.

    Inevitably and deceptively, these are what define our current GDP which is said to be the biggest in Africa. What has not been added is that they illustrate an increase in faster and more consumption dominated activities being held up by foreigners in the oil and gas sector, few in the agro-industrial firms, add those of the governmental agencies and top that with the banks where we of course dominate with our pen and paper shuffling retinue.  To those interested in the real productivity of Nigerians, try researching for more information on our GNP or Gross National Product or for ease of understanding what I call gross Nigerian productivity – what exactly do we, as Nigerians, contribute to our economy from our activities?

    A foreigner/foreign firm comes to Nigeria, gets a loan from our banks, imports needed resources from their home country, aids in the ‘expansion’ of our economic activities, we pay with our scarce foreign exchange, we consume and by the blessings of the stars we are on cloud nine! And who is in control of the economy – you or the foreigner?

    Lo and behold, this is the revolutionary contribution of the banking, telecom and aviation sector to the Nigerian economy – efficiently ineffective – or to look at ourselves in the mirror, we have simply developed the modern tools to run faster – to nowhere.

    Surely, there has to be a way out of this.  In Nigeria?!  Why would you want to change such a consumption oriented system when you are making a ‘good’ living out of it.  If creatively determined enough, then we would have to be really revolutionary in our orientation – both educationally and economically. Who do we decide to invest more in – Those who can think, talk and write or those who can produce, manufacture or grow things?

    For starters, let us take the already well-known tie and dye ‘Adire’ textile market in Abeokuta. Sellers are in abundance there, traditional centuries’ old technology available which agro-technical students can improve if we are bent on planting the roots of technical-vocational education, market which can be expanded and products exported  –  hopefully supported by the financial institutions – and then we earn foreign exchange for the nation.  Extend this to already existing traditional sectors of the economy and we can witness how fast this generates employment and income for the citizens while earning revenue for the local economy.  Any chance of this happening soon enough?

    The results – we would definitely contend with. Whether it would be determined by us or for us is another matter. That, right now, are the choices we have.

     

    • Dele Owolowo, Author ‘Nigeria’s Odyssey…’, is an Educationist, Trainer and Rural Entrepreneur with widely travelled background. HYPERLINK “mailto:owolowo.dele@gmail.com”owolowo.dele@gmail.com

  • comments

    For Olatunji Dare

    What are the sins of Nigerians that led to sufferings at the last minute of  the outgone President Goodluck Jonathan government; over the cause of fuel scarcity and power failure nationwide? Is it because Nigerians rejected his second term bid over non-performance? The truth of the matter is that Nigerians wanted change and they got it and we are in expectant mood  for beautiful things promised before Nigeria will collapse of corruption and other social vices. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia

    Sir, your piece in the  The Nation  entitled: ‘From GEJ to GMB is wonderful. But with the mess GEJ is leaving behind, is there any hope that the incoming government will be able to fix or do anything reasonable?   From CSP Ladi Sulyman,psc jos

    “Poisoned chalice” I love reading from great writers like you. You really hit the nail on the head. From Emeka,Bayelsa.

    My Brother, your article from GEJ to GMB: A poisoned chalice, today in The Nation is sport on! We need more of such truth to be told to our politicians. Best. From Segun Fagboyegun

    I am in total agreement with all you have said.My problem however is with the governed, how do we call the leadership to account? Should we continue to let the elected do as they wish? Give us which way to go.  Is there any government anywhere  where the people make the leadership give account? Can we copy? Please help I am worried. Dr Shitta-Bey

    A poisoned chalice: Sir, you spoke my mind on Jonathan. What you did not add is that he is a demented bush man from Otuoke who has brought my Bayelsa State to national shame. From Tarrie Dawudu, Warri.

    Your article at the back of The Nation  on  May 26, 2015. Regretably, it was  medicine after death. A better piece should have been  to study  GEJ’s antecedent and blow the whistle and clear the air and way before the much celebrated 100 days in office, as done by our political office holders. So that the public could have been on their toes from the start.Anonymous

    A Poisoned Chalice. We Nigerians created problems for former President GEJ, we expected much from him, at the end he achieved nothing in the presence of the so many retired army Generals.   Anonymous 

    From the beginning, GEJ did not have an idea of  what the task was all about. He progressively grew in the cluelessness to the very end. As he goes home, let him take as many pairs of shoes as he can. For so long as he lives in Nigeria to witness the effects of his destruction, for that long shall peace elude him (no curse intended) “No peace for the wicked” says the scriptures. So long Jonathan, so long. Anonymous

    Prof Dare, You are one of the best brains in our society. You write beyond reasonable doubt with genuine evidence and pulchritudinous facts and figures. Your earth-moving vocabularies, gigantic grammars and marvellous idiomatic expressions are widely valued. Bradley University hasn’t mistakenly honoured you with the newly given award Professor Emeritus. You worth more than that, due to your selflessness, tireless service, prodigious contribution, and your Cosmopolitan credentials. I beseech God Almighty in his interminable benevolence to add more to your creative power. On your article From GEJ to GMB. Jonathan as Nigeria president. Did he think he’s wiser than others? Experienced than the almost 150  million Nigerians? Or qualified intellectually than his followers? Has he forgotten he was just an opportunist? Moved from Deputy-Governor to the Governor to vice-president to acting-President and finally to President. We all voted massively for him in 2011 aiming he would use his experience as PhD holder to navigate our dearest country! “What a grave and great mistake” He has forgotten he was shoeless boy. He disobeyed and broke the rules, regulations, norms and ethos of the country, siphoned, embezzled and mismanaged the resources of the country. He grumbled, wobbled and fumbled. Turned down pieces of advice  and counsels of his God-father and PDP stalwarts. He didn’t have it at the depth of his mind that Nigerians can be obedient and respectful when their leader is up to task, but act otherwise as soon as leader took them for granted. Behaved in his lackadaisical attitude as if there was no tomorrow. Now  tomorrow has come. GMB all the way. From Surveyor Amidu Saheed, Ifo.

     

    For Segun Gbadegesin

    Re: A beautiful day ! .What a beautiful piece .It’s the dawn of a new Century .You do not serve your nation and humanity and expect to be compensated , not to even think of jumbo and incredible compensation . This has been how Nigeria is being milked; and instead of disintegration, it has collapsed .We all need patriotic thinking now. From L .O David . Gwagwalada,FCT.

    Mr.S.Gbadegesin,I love your write up in today’s ‘The Nation’. You hit the nail on the head. Your Opalaba needs our prayers now. Have a nice day. From. Rev. P. O. Osa

    Re- a beautiful day.  You gave enough summary of the required essentials to succeed by Buhari/Osinbajo/APC. ‘A word they say is enough for the wise’. One should be encouraged by Buhari’s word after being sworn in that, ‘ I am for everybody and for nobody’. let us give Buhari/Osinbajo two years before they could honestly be assessed. It was a beautiful day at Eagle’s Square on Friday,  May 29.It glowed beautifully. From Lanre Oseni.

    Unedited merits to you sir Mr Segun, for this deeply thoughtful and diplomatic write-up. With all sense of humility and belonging, I am forwarding to you my heart-rending reaction, being a die-hard reader of The Nation Newspaper.Beginning with prayers, long live Mr Segun, long live The Nation, and long live Nigeria. On this: A beautiful day. Yes it was. The day Nigerians patiently waited for, masses prayed hard to witnes it  . Patriotic ones beseeched God to grant them their heart desires on the day. Let’s all remain indebted and thankful to God for seeing the day in harmony and tranquillity. In furtherance, many thanks to the architects of the good fortune. They made it happen. They are the God-sent ambassadors of the slogan, “CHANGE” Came together from different parts of the country formed an unfavourable-alliance, of which sacrifices were made, dreams abandoned, ambitions buried, notions ignored. They all strove hard and  worked tirelessly. They had sleepless nights, tedious days, meeting over meeting, with different opinions and thoughts, arguing, disagreeing and later arriving at a decision. At the face of intimidation, oppression, vilification vituperation defamation, they remained undaunted . What an heroic action, from the truly worthy-leaders with messianic spirit and positive thinking. Importantly, Bola Tinubu, Rotimi Amaechi and their co-achievers. May we all live longer to benefit from the heydays of the anointed servant of God (GMB). In awesome and good mood I write. From Surveyor Amidu Saheed

     

    For Gbenga Omotoso

    Sir. Your write-ups tickle and excite me, as Nigerians we all shall partake of the great change movement, depending on which side of the divide we belong. So long for, let tomorrow come we pray. From HENNY, Awka.

    Re: Where will you be on May 29? Sure at the Eagle Square. Nice piece! Sir, what about the petroleum queen and the understated woman at the Water Resources?Anonymous

    If GEJ had taken another four years as president, Nigeria would have been extinct from Africa and World map. When one is not ready for a position, he becomes swollen headed and carried away by it. So he was. From Norbert Egor

    I will be in the Redeem Camp to thank and praise God for bringing Nigeria out of Egypt, and on our way to the Promised Land, that God should help the President and his vice to fulfil their promises. Thanks my brother. From Tina Oboh

    Mr  Gbenga,  your question surprised me, someone stole my 20 litres of petrol this morning, I went to the police statation to report, but the officer on duty asked me why I kept it carelessly, I will stay in house and pray for NEPA miracle so that I will watch my television. Anonymous

    Re “Where will you be on May 29?”  What a witty satire of those Nigerians who believed their political game was unstoppable. Indeed,  Fani-Kayode, Doyin Okupe et al are fake PR men,  lacking in knowledge and skill of  trained, experienced Journalists or Public Relations Practitioners who have internalised the ethics of their profession.  These values are reflected in their campaigns. Compare to Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s political propagandist, our brothers’ messages were also virulent but deficient in techniques of persuasion, acquired through learning and professional experience. They forgot Nigeria’s political history and complex social characteristics. To avoid the tragedy of our recent past, NUJ, NGE and NIPR must work together to ensure that only professionally qualified PR men and women (of Law, Medicine &Accountancy etc) can practise in Nigeria. From Sunny Agbontaen.

    Gbenga  Omotoso, God will  give you dinine knowledge,  Amen. The new name of Fani  Kayode is Fani Ko Ika de.     From Ayodele     Buhari will do well because he has Nigeria’s problems at heart, despite the fact that the out-going government has siphoned our money for their selfish use. We need patience from Buhari because he cannot run things over night with empty resource.Sixteen  years in the wilderness under PDP, it was tough. Buhari would take us to the Promised Land as he said during his campaigns but it is a gradual process. Buhari should not surround himself with never-do-well politicians in his government and try to probe out-going government for mismanagement of funds meant for development. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia,Abia state  

    Where will I be today? At home, celebrating the sanity of Nigerians in cleansing our nation via the ballot box. Anonymous

    I read your column on The Nation newspaper of May 29 entitled: “ Where will you be on May 29” and I enjoyed it immensely.I don’t normally read newspapers but I found your column very entertaining, you will be surprised to know that everything you predicted will happen exactly as you said it. Keep up the good work. Anonymous

    In response to your article Where will you be on May 29? Did you see how God glorified Goodluck Jonathan? You wrote out of pure sentiment. From Mathias.

    I will be in the church to pray for Messiah Buhari so that the law makers in the Senate and in the House of Representatives and the Nigerian Labour Congress will not make this nation ungovernable by passing obnoxious law to prevent him from  removing  that dirty and smelling thing called oil subsidy. While still staying in the church, I will pray to God for the quintessential Buhari to immediately cut or reduce the salaries of the law makers, ministers, commissioners and councillors by 75 percent. I will pray for Buhari to utilise the subsidy money to build modern rail lines to cover the 774 LGA of the nation. Anonymous 

     

     

    For Tunji Adegboyega

    Re: Jonathan’s parting shot.  To the discerning, Dr Jonathan has no shame to have suggested the extension of probe to previous regimes if his was to be probed. . A Yoruba axiom properly fits into this scenario: Ti oju ko ba ti ole, oju a ti ara ile re which literally means that if a thief is not ashamed of his nefarious acts, his relatives would do. One is no longer surprised at the abysmal performance of GEJ in office because he has openly confessed to his Otuoke clan that he never wished to be in politics, which means that he never planned for the exalted office of president. In other words, he was a gate-crasher at the expense of Nigerians. Imagine the open display of recklessness, lawlessness and impunity by GEJ and his so-called exco? Mama Peace, a traducer also made matters worse for their government. By now, from her innermost mind, she must be licking her wounds for her unguarded utterances. However, GMB should get across the powerful message that he got to Aso Rock based on his well-known antecedent of incorruptibility and the suffering masses are of the opinion that he will stick to this by beaming his searchlight on all those who had carted away our wealth brazenly. Anything short of this would be totally rejected. This singular act, if not taken, may drastically wane his government; 2019 is around the corner. Finally, Jonathan is strongly advised to stop arm-twisting the new government. Any advice from him now is like the case of a blind man leading another blind man. From Ch. Soji Oloketuyi., Ijabo Str, Igbemo Ekiti.

    Tunji, your ‘Jonathan’s parting shot’ is apt, succinct and advisory. Keep it flowing. From Gab, Abuja.

    It would not be radical and revolutionary if truly, only ex-President Jonathan’s past activities are probed. In fact, such probe must be cascaded to the states and LGs since 1985. Reason is that, Buhari/Idiagbon 1984/85 regime dealt a bit of a micro probe into the Shagari administration. It won’t be out of place to allocate six months for the 30-year past. You will be amazed that we will be able to retrieve up to N3trillion. About 90 percent of the ‘rats’ are very much alive. Jonathan did not seek for exclusivity. He guided the new administration in the interest of fairness, justice, transparency, radicalism, revolution and new path to Nigeria’s growth. From Lanre Oseni.

    I have just read your piece: “Jonathan’s parting shot”. It seems GEJ is afraid. Yes, the guilty are really afraid. Anonymous.

    Dear Adegboyega, Jonathan’s statement is likened to a motorist that was stopped by an FRSC official on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and was asked to produce his particulars, he now told the officer to go and do the same to other motorists who have passed before he could check his papers! Don’t mind him. From Pastor Ojo, Ijebu-Ode. Jonathan was right to have asked Buhari to focus his probe searchlight beyond his tenure. Let us admit for once that Jonathan has some exclusive/privileged information on this matter of corruption … It is probably too early to celebrate the anti-corruption campaign. From Dr Nwagwu, C.C.

    Corruption assumed an unusual dimension when your kinsman OBJ was in charge. Apart from the massive looting of fund, he conducted the worst elections in the country’s history. Let Mr President probe 16 years of PDP rule. Anonymous.

    Tunji, Please stop  putting Jonathan in your shade of bitterness and bad light now that he is no longer president, and because he is not a Yoruba. We are eager to patronise your constructive criticism of the new government as you did the former. From Aquital Andrew, Kaduna. 

     

  • Now, it’s the day after! 

    After the May 29 inauguration festivities., it’s expected that our new President, Muhammadu Buhari is up at work right now, sifting through the paperwork plucked out by the just past administration. We expect enhanced and prompt work ethics, a clear and urgent regime of administrative procedures; a stubborn devotion to tough actions; a relentless cleansing of our filthy institutions…and so on and so forth – because the helmsman is the last man in the office, and the first to arrive; because he wakes up early to listen to news (what the world is saying, apart from what is being fed him). Well, that is what we believe.

    As he has said repeatedly, so much is riding on Muhammadu Buhari’s second coming in the hearts of ordinary Nigerian people. The expectations that their lives and that of their children will change for better are quite high. What he has not said repeatedly is the cause: the psyche of the Nigerian people has been thoroughly bashed and marched by wrong-headed actions, lousy lifestyles and insensitive statements of past administrations that we now throw a song and dance when elected officials stress themselves to do the simplest things we voted them to do. We hail them when they build roads and bridges (as we were expanding a village); we dance when they commission a complex of shops and renovate a thriving market.

    Our people have been so severely traumatised that we rejoice when we see electricity for four hours in four days! “At all at all na him bad” has become our wailing defence of our leaders’ mediocrity and lack of vision.

    It is always convenient for the critic to lay into our perennial national woes and boundless energy in pauperizing our people in spite of our embarrassment of riches. We never get tired of telling sick stories of our repeated struggles with unending failures in leadership succession. The circle of self-oppression has been so vicious that ordinary folks turn on each other, snatching whatever they can from the weaker ones. We have all lost it so much that some don’t care whether they die while aggressively thrashing all that their religions warn them about afterlife and hellfire. The common joke is that what we are living with here in Nigeria cannot be much worse than hell anyway. Well, perpetuation of wickedness (either from the leadership cadre or amongst the teeming followership) cannot be an excuse for survival. They push us down (perhaps because we mistake them for leaders), but we choose to stay in the mud on our own accord. People who made great nations didn’t have it on a platter of gold, or with stars guiding their efforts. No. They rose from the same mud as we are now, and clawed their ways to greatness, first in their individual capacity, and thereafter corporately. While at it, they insisted their leaders live by the same dictates and toiling that confronted them. They chose to conduct themselves and their businesses with integrity, fair-mindedness, shrewdness and self-discipline. Without an exception, they held a healthy fear of a Supreme Being whose pleasure they craved while doing thing right and proper. Call it what you may, these nation builders were no saints; they didn’t always get it right; even in retrospect some of their actions might be defined as bigotry, inhuman, self-serving, churlish, etc. In their bumbling trek to greatness, they could not be charged with docility, cowardice, frivolity, profligacy, etc.

    As the new leader said in his gruelling English: “We have an opportunity, let us take it”. President Buhari has shown a resolve to turn his back on the woes of our past and the fabricators of our anguish – in a colourful turn of phrase, he calls all that folly “the past is prologue”. So, let’s begin to write new chapters and fresh pages in rebuilding our nation. Let us as family units decide, like Daniel did when he found himself at the King’s succulent table while in Babylonian captivity. Let us tighten our belt, ignore the enticing lure of quick fixes and fast money, and plug our mindset into doing things right and proper… Dragging ourselves away from past deals that contributed to ruining this nation, and reverse tendencies and indulgences that needlessly gulp our finances and energies. When we seek after the common good; when we open up our hands to help and inspire others; when we desire that nothing corrupt or improper would be seen or found in our lives and conduct; when we look beyond immediate or clannish gains and perks…when we do the right things which deep in our hearts are as clear as the November Sun; then we can justifiably expect no less from those who lead us.

    We, the led and the leading, will have seized this latest opportunity to make our country stand strong and proud; her citizens well fed and protected; her children bubbling with great ideas and enterprise; her women building great homes and wonderful institutions; her men building strong structures and doing great exploits at home and abroad. In no time, the world will see the works of our hands, and give the glory to the Almighty God that we all serve in different tongues and tablets. That will be a great nation indeed.

    May He bless our President, our Nation and our People.

    When we seek after the common good; when we open up our hands to help and inspire others; when we desire that nothing corrupt or improper would be seen or found in our lives and conduct; when we look beyond immediate or clannish gains and perks…when we do the right things which deep in our hearts are as clear as the November Sun; then we can justifiably expect no less from those who lead us. 

     

    • Akintunde-Johnson, a journalist writes from Lagos

  • Breaking the cycle of pain

    The state of decay and human misery we find our country in today can be attributed to cumulative years of conflict and violence. Every part of Nigeria has now had its own share of violence and brutal killings. It started in the early 1960’s in the South West, as brother turned against brother, in the fierce battle for political supremacy. This was followed in the mid 1960’s, when all hell was unleashed on the Igbo ethnic stock, in a collective effort by other ethnic groups in Nigeria, as a result of their perceived dominance in government and business. These perceptions culminated in the three-year civil war. This war decimated the collective psyche of Ndigbo and continues to hamper their psychological re-emergence in the political affairs of Nigeria.

    The violence moved to the North Central, compounding the already delicate ethnic dissensions. The Maitatsine upheaval in the 1980’s brought economic activities in the North Central to a standstill and caused the untimely deaths of thousands of people. Despite the judicial inquiry into it and the far reaching recommendations made, reparations were not made to heal the physical and psychological wounds. The very young of those violent years, traumatized by the visuals of murder and extreme religious thoughts are adults today, bearing the scars of those events, with their distorted perception of society buried deep within them.

    Further on, in the 1990’s, the Niger Delta violence emerged as a new type of guerilla war fare that threatened the livelihood and existence of the nation. Years of deprivation and oppression of the Delta region, despite their many years of peaceful agitation for a fair share of development, as the entitled region that mills the black gold for Nigeria’s prosperity, finally propelled them to a different strategy of violent agitation.  The instability and loss of income compelled the nation to succumb to a handsome reward to the guerillas and the number one political seat in the Nation. However, the ripples of those violent years, combined with the dearth of development in the region, created a hollowness that the cash largesse to a select few did little to assuage. Rather, it reinforced resentment, as the majority of the region were not imbued with life skills or better living conditions. The people are still left backward, physically and psychologically damaged from both the years of violence and the warped reparation made, through cash incentives, devoid of real development.

    While Nigeria was yet to recover from the consequences of various forms of violence on these regions, the violence moved to the North East, in a more brutal and insensitive version of religious extremism in the Boko Haram movement. This extremist teaching resonated with the long suffering, angry, illiterate and unemployed northern youth. These youth, who are literally invisible to the welfare statistics of the country, existing in a sort of societal oblivion, suddenly found distorted hope and relevance, within the group that cherishes, empowers and respects them and offers them a semblance of a family, however warped or distorted. The brutal killings, rape and mayhem continue as the rest of the de-sensitized country, appears to carry on normally, almost oblivious to the continuous bloodletting going on.

    Regrettably, the cumulative subconscious effect of these years of violence on our collective psyche is a Nigeria, where literally, the Law of the Jungle (survival of the fittest) prevails: a fractured country, burdened with the consequences of years of greed, negative ethnicity, maladministration, corruption, mediocrity, inequity and injustice. Those are the results of our collective reaction from struggling to survive in one way or the other, from violent deprivation. The years of violence have produced Nigerians that are abusive to their own brethren and the nation at large; Nigerians with a damaged collective psyche that have lost all sense of nationhood, which was our initial course at independence; The civil Nigerian, who cared for fellow citizens at independence is lost in the current version that seeks only for self. How did we let our collective mission to be defined in this cycle of pain: violence from one group being inflicted on the other, eliciting revenge and bringing back pain on one another and on our beloved country? How did we end up with Nigerians rife with wickedness, that even her very young are already exposed to violence, such that by their teenage years, they are insensitive and immune to empathy, ensuring a future generation that would reinforce this negative cycle?

    This cycle has given birth to our present state of the nation, where there are deep divisions and inequality on all fronts: While the majority literally scratch the earth to make a decent living, the privileged few and their cronies, many of whom are supposed to be political representatives of their people, have dubiously and unabashedly appropriated the commonwealth of the people. The usual pride of success and wealth, derived from the genuine dint of hard work, with the experience and decorum that it commands, are lost in this system, where the speed of overnight riches can only be compared to the spoils of robbery, lottery or gambling.  This is the negative message of the end justifies the means, sent to the youth, which further compounds their already fragile psychological disposition.

    It is important to note that despite the riches, opulence and subversive powers of the few, they too, are also in deep pain, inadvertently manifested in the fear and paranoia that they exhibit – terrified for their lives as they are cradled in the arms of gun totting security men – prisoners in their self-made cages of affluence! Interestingly, they are oblivious of their tragic circumstances, as they misread their situations as the necessary theatre for the exhibition of their ill-gotten wealth, power and influence.

    Between the dubiously rich and the scrounging poor, both are the products of a violent society that has lost its sensitivity and sensibilities. People walk past dead bodies and watch numerous killings on the news, over a sumptuous family dinner, drinks or vibrant conversation, without any empathy or sympathy. It is therefore, no surprise that the people that emerge for political leadership, have also been bruised and desensitized from this twisted and warped system, making them have little or no consideration for those who have entrusted them with the management of their common wealth.

    It is based on the above background that the chant for “Change” in the last elections resonated with most Nigerians. It had become clear to many that maintaining the existing status quo was going to eventually lead us to the path of a failed state. We are lucky to have this jolt of awakening, which must be managed well to bring us back on the path of real progress. The “Change” we seek must therefore not only be delivered in real, physical terms, but it must also include a complete psychological overhaul of the way we think and see one another. This “Change” must produce the rebirth of Nigeria where we understand the true meaning and privilege of citizenship and nationhood.

    I believe that Nigeria’s ‘rejuvenation’ has commenced with these last elections, which despite their imperfections, for the first time in my lifetime, were indicative of the will of the people. The numbers may not have truly reflected the actual voting statistics, but in most places, the results were a reflection of the true desires of the majority of the citizens. Furthermore, the awareness has been created in the minds of majority of the youth, who are learning that the power in a democracy rests in the hands of the majority.

    The pain and violence has gone full circle, stopping at the door of each ethnic group. It is time to stop this cycle and start to build a true nation nation where pain for one is pain for all; a nation where we have a level playing field to allow for effective competition to throw up our best and brightest to appointments and employment; where if one fails to win today, it is taken in good faith and proper preparations will be made for better contest for the next time.

    A nation where we educate each child, each citizen, ensuring international best practices and standards; where we recognize that the backwardness of any section is to the detriment of all others; a nation where we develop every part at the pace that enhances their contribution to the overall development; where each citizen can, live and work wherever he or she chooses, without any fear of discrimination; and where love transcends all, and our differences enrich us, rather than divide us…

    ‘The pain and violence has gone full circle, stopping at the door of each ethnic group. It is time to stop this cycle and start to build a true nation nation where pain for one is pain for all’