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The Boroffice doctrine
His driver dropped me at the door with his official SUV registration number “Sen 98” of his magnificent residence in the high-brow Asokoro area of Abuja at exactly 9:45 a.m. on New Year’s Eve. I would be meeting him for the second time. The first was at the APC Presidential Convention in Lagos where I had a brief chat with the senator representing Ondo North Senatorial district, Prof. Robert Ajayi Boroffice. The convention meeting was a chance encounter because he had stopped to greet his colleague, Ganiyu Solomon with whom I was having a discussion. I had called him a couple of days after the announcement of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as Buhari’s running mate for an exclusive interview for a special publication currently in the works.

It took the driver a few more minutes to get someone’s attention from the inside that he had arrived with yours truly. His daughter eventually came and slightly opened the door to verify. Prof. Boroffice subsequently came and ushered me inside. He quickly led me through a short labyrinth into an obscure small room. In the room, it dawned on me why it had taken a little longer for someone to come out and why the senator had asked me, briskly, in the foyer, that he hoped I was a Christian. The senator, with his army of three that included himself; his wife and his young daughter were in the midst of their morning devotion. His wife (also a professor) had apparently put her prayers on hold for her husband to let his visitor in. They all took turns to pray. Sitting beside him, the senator signaled that I pray. My prayers, in Yoruba, my preferred language for communing with the Creator effectively rounded up the family’s morning devotion.

You probably would be disappointed if your idea of having a good and quality time with Senator Boroffice was to gulp choice wines and exotic spirits with such a man of means. He doesn’t drink and could not take you to an exclusive club specially created for his kind because he doesn’t belong to any. Aside his family and his senate duties and reading, the only other frills in the life of the senator are the two Christian fellowship centres he had helped to establish, which takes the remainder of his time. But what you would have missed in the frivolities of drinking would no doubt be made up in deep and robust intellectual discourse with him, enough to get you dazed for days and more compelling to wake you up in the middle of the night to ponder over. His vision seems timeless. Since he had told me that he really didn’t plan to go anywhere that day, my strategy was to let the discourse take us wherever it wanted but would discreetly drop what I wanted him to speak more about in form of a statement rather than a question. This was to enable me to see through the man inside the white apparel. He did not disappoint. I always believe that you tend to know the real person not necessarily by the quality of the interview s/he gives you but from an atmosphere of general conversations that would give you a good view of his worldview and his values, if you’re discerning.

Just the two us in the comfort of his living room (his wife had left almost immediate after the morning devotion), the senator and I conversed, from the mundane things of human existence, the intrigues behind the intrigue of Nigerian politics to the serious issues of our time in the first six of my nine hours of being with him. With Boroffice, you are under no illusion as to where he stands on issues. He is atypical. I found out during our discussion that three things would make his eyes glow with passion and these are science, the Nigerian nation and his Ondo State. It never occurred to me how hopeless we are as a nation until he analyzed the state of science in our national development. With his lucid explanations, I came away that our leaders – and the people themselves – see science and technology as integral to the cultures of other countries and alien to us. Therefore, whatever happens (or didn’t happen) in the scientific ‘stratosphere’ is for them to worry about. One also gets the feeling that our leaders act as if they’re scared of this inevitable developmental tool. After all, you tend to be afraid of what you don’t understand. I couldn’t agree more with him when he declared that “No nation can advance technologically without addressing science and technology because science is the engine room for growth, economic development and technology advancement…And if we’re not prepared to invest in that sector, we’re only going to be consumers of technology and not its creator. And there’s a big difference.”

You cannot fail to recognize how versed this senator is with his ready answers to the myriad of problems confronting the Nigerian nation that you wonder whether researching the nation’s problems was all he ever did. However, his passionate advocacy for the introduction of Genetically Modified (GM) foods into the country’s food supply was discomfiting to me. Although his position on this issue is no doubt driven by his unflinching desire to have science, his first love, to be, and rightly so, in the epicentre of all aspects of our national development but I cannot see why we should be in haste for GM foods when there’re hundreds of thousands hectares of our land yet to be cultivated for organically grown foods. Do we have our own scientists to genetically modify our own seeds? Are the country’s healthcare system and the drug manufacturing concerns sophisticated enough to handle the unintended, health-related consequence of GM foods? How do we make sure that the GM seeds by either Monsanto or Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) were not intentionally injected (I remember the Tuskegee Airmen) with something far more detrimental, if not lethal, to our health and future? Why are we being asked to think GM when the people with the wherewithal in Europe and North America are suspicious of GM foods? These are some of the questions that made me feel uncomfortable with the senator’s position on GM foods.

As a research scientist of international repute, a consummate administrator, a lecturer that spanned many years, a senator, a devout Christian and philanthropist, I can now see why Boroffice’s name was shortlisted as a running mate from the South-west to General Mohammadu Buhari. While one is not oblivious of the intense, high power political intrigues that usually characterizes national political contests, which may have been responsible for his being dropped as Buhari’s running mate, it beats my imagination that Senator Robert Ajayi Boroffice was not the candidate of the then ACN in the 2012 governorship election in Ondo State. On whether he might consider running for governor in the post-Mimiko government, which is being anticipated by the people of the state to be sooner rather than later, Boroffice said he’s happy being in the senate. But he quickly added a rider: “It would be a social contract between me and the people. We would reach an agreement that they would cooperate with me in prescribing the right medicine, which might sometimes be bitter for their liking. I will declare my assets. My wife and children will declare their assets. My close associates will declare their assets…At the end of my tenure, my wife and I and my children and my close associates will again declare our assets so that the people can see what has been stolen and what has not been stolen. The proceedings of the state Executive Council meetings would be published on a weekly basis…” so that “anyone who has something contrary to what is published can come forward to challenge us.”

This is what I called “The Boroffice Doctrine.” How I wish this senator is the next governor of my state after the profligate Mimiko administration.
- Odere is a media practitioner. He can be reached at femiodere@gmail.com
February 5, 2015
Dire consequences of declining oil revenue
That the Nigerian nation has depended only on earnings from crude oil export for the past four or five decades to sustain the business of governance is not in doubt. The Nigerian nation has earned over 80% of its revenue from which the Federal Government, the states, the local governments, the ministries departments and agencies (MDAS) obtain their statutory monthly allocations. But since July 2014, these various organisations have all complained of being underpaid in the usual monthly revenue allocation. We have reached this unfortunate situation because of the dwindling revenues from the crude oil sales upon which the nation has depended over time.

One is baffled why Nigeria up to this time should be dependent on only one commodity which it has handled for over four decades. It is unfortunate that we have missed the opportunity to utilise the cheap earnings from petroleum resources to diversify the nation’s economy and bring up the development of other resources. These various levels of government to whom these earnings were allocated have failed to diversify the nation’s economy by embarking on large-scale agricultural development, industrialisation, establishment of refineries to refine crude oil for home consumption and also to embark on export of refined oil to other nations. We also missed the opportunity to utilise such cheap money to establish adequate generating power plants to assist in the development of the entire economy, as this would have boosted industrialisation, manufacturing and technological development.

We are experiencing the consequencesof overdependence on only one source of revenue, as we have failed to utilise the resources accruing from this to diversify the economy which would have resulted in earning revenues from numerous other sources. There are worries now over Nigeria’s diminishing earnings from crude oil export. The outlook for 2015 in respect of funding the future budgetary needs of governments is not only very gloomy but also poses a great deal of fear and pessimism for a number of reasons. As crude oil for export purposes is fast diminishing, the nation is facing prospects of a bleak future for its economic development. The crude oil exploitation has been riddled with large-scale pilfering right from source and most of the stolen items also easily find their way into the world market thereby posing as a competitor to the legitimate supply from Nigeria, just as many nations such as Ghana, South Sudan and Mozambique among others, producing crude oil may further reduce the demand from Nigeria. Facts have even emerged that the U.S.A, the major importer of over 80% of the Nigerian crude oil has reduced its demand from Nigeria to zero level. All countries that are dependent on crude oil export as sources of revenue for their development are already disturbed by the falling demand for this mineral resource in the world market. Therefore the amount of crude oil in demand from now and the following years would be drastically reduced particularly as alternative sources are being developed.

Just as other countries are discovering the existence of crude oil under their soils, the U.S.A has discovered an alternative source which is through the shale oil and gas revolution. The U.S.A. is working hard on this to reduce or totally eliminate its purchase of crude oil from foreign countries. Even when the shale oil development is still in its formative stages, the U.S.A. has shifted from the import of crude oil supplies from Nigeria in favour of crude oil supplies from other nations. The loss of this important market has resulted in the decline in the crude oil production from 2.48 million barrels per day to less than 1.3 million barrels a day. The price of crude oil which peaked at $114 per barrel has dropped to about $60 per barrel.

The consequences for Nigeria are serious as the funds accruable to the Federation Account have consequently fallen. Some members of the House of Representatives are already sensitising the nation on the inability of the Federal Government to release adequate statutory allocations to various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAS) since July 2014. In the same manner, the Federal Government, the states and the local governments would henceforth face dwindling monthly revenue allocation, with serious consequences for capital projects and recurrent expenditure.

We are in this mess because of our total and over-dependence on the revenue accruing from crude oil sales and failure to diversify to develop other resources which are capable of contributing immensely to the development of our people. The failure of our rulers to build functional refineries, in addition to the mal-functioning four, is most unfortunate. Since we harbour the raw materials in the form of crude petroleum in large quantity, there is no reason why we should not build numerous functional refineries to meet our domestic needs and export the surplus to neighbouring countries. But it is unexplainable that while we export crude oil, we import refined oil for domestic use. Now with the dwindling harvest of revenues from crude oil, one wonders where Nigeria will find the financial strength to import and pay the exorbitant fuel subsidies to fuel importers.

Inspite of the huge sums of money paid as fuel subsidies, citizens in other petroleum exporting countries enjoy cheaper petrol prices compared with Nigeria. These countries possess adequate refineries to satisfy domestic needs and produce extra for export markets.

The loss of external markets for our crude petroleum resources will compound the problems of poverty ravaging this country. The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has proffered the dependence on excess crude account to solve this problem, this can be a solution for one or two months, it cannot provide the lasting solutions for the serious problems of under-development ravaging this nation.

How do we solve the problem of inadequate resources to cater for the development of this country? We have failed to solve the problems of poverty, insecurity, unemployment, poor health and educational services, neglect of agriculture, poor rural and urban road networks, Boko Haram and other forms of insecurity ravaging this nation. Nigerian people should take note of the missed opportunities of the past by which the economy should have been diversified with the resources from crude oil. There is no doubt that the discovery of crude oil and its exploitation have ensured the relegation of agriculture.

Nigeria used to be the greatest producer of palm oil, but we are now trailing hopelessly behind Malaysia which took its seeds from Nigeria. During the First Republic, the three regional governments of Nigeria viz western, northern and eastern regions depended on adequate production of cocoa, groundnut and palm oil respectively, but today all these have been neglected. Nigeria is accused of profligacy in the use of the proceeds from crude oil, yet we import refined petroleum.

We have also failed to invest in petro-chemical products like fertilizers, grease and so on. Nigeria must buckle up to appraise its development strategy, through agricultural revolution, provision of sufficient electricity to support industrialisation, provide adequate employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed and provide adequate security for its people.
- Senator Farukanmi writews from Iju, Ondo State.
February 2, 2015
PDP’s desperate push for polls shift
Towards the end of last year, the All Progressives Congress (APC) raised the alarm and alleged that there were subterranean moves by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the presidency and its cohorts to postpone the general elections scheduled for next month. Not many Nigerians took the APC’s allegation seriously, considering the level of allegations and counter-allegations between it and the PDP since its successful merger. Some assumed that it was part of campaign and politicking that will precede the election. But consistently APC repeatedly alerted Nigerians about plans by the PDP to shift the February elections. When the allegation was made, neither the PDP nor the Presidency refuted or acknowledged it. The duo maintained studied silence, pretending not being in the knowhow of the plan to postpone the election.

True to the APC allegation, the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) recently canvassed for the postponement of the elections to give the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) time to distribute over 30 million outstanding Permanent Voter Cards to registered voters. Dasuki, according to report, said he had told the INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, that a postponement within the three months allowed by the law, would be a good idea. Before Dasuki spoke at the Chatham House, a London think-tank, supportive of the PDP had also advised that the elections should be shifted.

Dasuki told participants at a talk in London that INEC which had distributed over 30 million cards late last year, had assured him that the outstanding PVCs would be given out before February 14, the first day of the elections. He however stated that he believed it would make more sense to shift the elections since the law provided a 90-day window during which elections could legally take place. “It costs you nothing, it’s still within the law,” Dasuki said, adding however that it was for INEC and not for him, to decide.

There is no doubt that Dasuki’s call is a confirmation that the Presidency and the PDP were tinkering with idea of compelling or pushing INEC to postpone the elections as earlier alleged by APC. For the National Security Adviser in the PDP-led government to openly canvass for the shift of the polls calls for concern. It also raises question on the independence of the electoral commission ahead of the polls. It may not be out of place to suggest that the Presidency, PDP and their cohorts have infiltrated INEC to ensure that they have their way.

Before Dasuki’s call, Adamawa State governor, Bala Ngilari made a similar call for the shift in the polls. The unison with which they chorused the shift is not only suspicious, but conspiratorial. Their reasons are not tenable because INEC had assured that the remaining permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) would be continuously distributed till February 13. It would also be recalled that in most of his campaign speeches, President Jonathan had always said that May 29 handover is sacrosanct, but has never mentioned that February polls are sacrosanct.

Instead of calling and championing for the shift of the polls, the PDP and its allies should call for the use of the temporary voters’ cards for the elections as demanded by members of the House of Representatives during their last session. Hiding under the flimsy excuse that previous elections have been conducted in April to justify their position for the shift is hypocritical and questionable. If that is the case, why not call for the shift earlier than now to save the commission and Nigerians the waste of time and money?

The report that PDP and Presidency are desperately trying to procure jankara court injunction to stop the polls and the APC presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) from contesting it is not only worrisome, but illegal and undemocratic. If the report is true, it means that the country may be heading back to the days of June 12, 1993 political chaos. Nigerians should remind the PDP and its champions of poll shift about JP Clark’s poem titled “The Casualties.” As can be seen across the country, some sponsored groups have staged protests to INEC offices across the country including Abuja asking for the shift of the polls to allow Nigerians collect their PVCs. Actions and body languages of these groups are not quite different from what some PDP chieftains and their allies are asking for. So it is obviously the hand of Esau and voice of Jacob.

The questions that should be troubling the mind of Nigerians are: why should PDP chieftains be asking for the shift of polls now and mounting pressure on INEC to disqualify Buhari on the ground of non-qualification? Presently, PDP is in dire need of peace, unity and cohesion following the intra-party crisis that had trailed the outcome of the party primaries across the country.

From Ebonyi to Delta, Bauchi, Abia to Cross River and other states, there are obvious discontent and division within the party and the party chieftains know that such will hurt them in the elections if conducted as scheduled. It may not be out of place that the push for the poll shift by the PDP is to enable them put their houses in order and to further demonise the APC presidential candidate, Buhari through fabricated documentaries and spurious adverts. It seems they also need more time to spread false propaganda on President Jonathan’s unverifiable achievements in the last six years which Nigerians have called to question.

Whichever way one looks at it, PDP chieftains’ push for poll shift smacks of desperation and lack of confidence in the ability of the party to win the general elections convincingly. If not, many Nigerians had expected that such call for shift should have emanated from the opposition party APC.

Apart from the call for polls shift, PDP’s undue pressure on INEC to disqualify Buhari on the ground of non-possession of requisite qualification is pure pettiness and undue distraction from germane issues at stake. PDP should heed INEC’s advice to approach the court because by law, INEC has no power whatsoever to disqualify candidates submitted by political parties in an elections. Why is the PDP or Presidency afraid of going to court over the issue, but have continued to mount campaign of calumny against the leadership of the INEC? The leadership of PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation has even threatened to pass a vote of no confidence on INEC for not disqualifying Buhari! What a cheap blackmail for a party that is drowning and has continued to chase rat while its house is on fire?

Meanwhile, INEC has stated that it was yet to receive any formal request for the postponement of the elections, it insisted that it would stick to its timetable for the polls. Its quick response is a welcome development. It shows the readiness and firmness of the commission to conduct the polls as scheduled. The commission should work hard to ensure that all registered voters get their PVCs before the elections as promised.

Apart from this, the commission should know that it is its constitutional right to fix date for elections not PDP or anybody including the Presidency. The commission’s leadership should be aware that all eyes are on them, and should not allow themselves to be use as pawns in the political chessboard of anybody ahead of the polls. Nigerians are quite aware that the hiccups being experienced by the commission towards the preparation of the polls is as a result of the federal government’s failure to release all the commission’s 2014 budgetary allocation.

Nigerians at this critical time in the search for true and capable leadership cannot afford to witness a compromised, rigged and crisis-ridden elections.
- Ntama a retired civil servant wrote from Asaba, Delta State
February 2, 2015
GMB: Welcome to Kwara
They may shout and cry about anything that catches their fancy to denigrate you, but the people’s General, the incorrigible advocate of transparency, the one whose names sends cold shivers down the spine of those who have something to hide from the people of Nigeria, keep on moving with your message of change. For no political conspiracy can stop you from marching to victory again. And so tomorrow Saturday January 31, Ilorin, nay the entire people of Kwara, welcomes you to Garin Alimi and the state of Harmony.

The stage is set, the people are anxious. They are ready, in deed, eagerly waiting to see the General again. And for those familiar with the dynamics of politics in Kwara State, no one would forget how the Leader, Senator Bukola Saraki, believing he was relating with one whose words are his bond, mobilised support for President Goodluck Jonathan on a similar campaign visit in 2011. But now things have changed. The people of Kwara, still strongly backing the Leader, have shifted and moved; they have CHANGED, as the APC slogan commands, and hence today are out in their thousands to welcome the General who by the grace of God will lead the next government in Nigeria.

We embraced change because PDP was sinking. Sinking with corruption, ineptitude, cluelessness, injustice and insecurity. The leadership is sensitive to the deplorable plight of the mass of the people. They are dividing us along ethnic and religious lines while appropriating our commonwealth for the benefit of a few. For six years, no single life-touching, soul-saving project in our state. Jonathan decimated the Governors’ forum with his hypothesis of 16 being greater than 19 and egregiously aiding and abetting the then party chairman to desecrate our party’s constitution. We left because we could no longer tolerate their gross impunity.

Now that they admitted that their generation has failed Nigeria (I reject to be part of the failure), Buhari deserves to be President again, nothing less. All over the federation, from the far north down south, the generality of Nigerians have been demonstrating their love and acceptance for the man who can be described without equivocation as the man of the moment. People see in Buhari, the kind of leadership Nigeria needs at a time like this: a leader with courage of conviction, a leader with compassion, a leader with example in fighting corruption, and a leader with credible track record when providence gave him the opportunity. Nigeria needs someone who can stand up in the international community and command respect. We need someone whose word is his bond and not someone who only makes promises without fulfilling them. We need a man of the masses, not a man for a few whose pastime is plundering our collective resources.

Truth be told, Nigerians are tired of empty promises, we are no longer ready to follow a leader who gropes in the dark on grave issues of national security, we need a leader who can stand firm, who will take security intelligence with the seriousness it deserves and not someone who will be dancing on the grave of innocent citizens killed by terrorists because the nation refused to equip those who have signed their lives away to protect the people. And that is why all efforts to denigrate Buhari have failed; because the people know that they were orchestrated to cover the glaring failures of the incumbent. And that is why other efforts still on their agenda will fail, because the reality has dawned on Nigerians that we have been taken for granted these past years but now we have an opportunity to take our destiny in our hands. This is our time and this is Buhari’s time as history beckons to a man of destiny. With the support of the people, the genuine change that Nigeria needs will surely come.

General we take solace in your promise to “end the impunity of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), a party that has proved clueless in every manner. It has failed to deal squarely with the great security challenge that has faced this nation within the last five years. And it has remained touchy and impervious to all constructive criticism and without concern for human life and for the suffering going on in the land”. ýThey wish you dead because your hands of justice know no bound. But we shall not curse them. You shall commiserate with their family when they eventually pass on.

Buhari’s is the face of hope; he is the symbol of integrity and no matter how much they try to splash mud on his garments, he will continue to come out clean, and even better shined than before. What he has to offer is what Nigeria needs now and that explains the massive support the retired General has been receiving all over the nation. And that is why Kwarans from all walks of life will converge on the state capital tomorrow to welcome the man of the moment; the man on whose shoulder destiny will put the shape of things to come for our dear fatherland. We have been choked for long, we have endured much pain and disappointments, we have been deceived as a people and now we are holding our destiny in our hands. We are not going to give in to political rapists who will just enjoy the pleasure of our bodies and leave us bruised and traumatised. Yes, they may boast they have the resources, but we have our votes. They cannot buy our conscience. We will give our votes to those we know will use it to love us and bless our union. In Kwara we will give our votes to Buhari/Osinbajo. And that is why we will be trooping out in numbers on Saturday to welcome you, our General.

Our mothers, our fathers, our brothers and sisters today queue behind the Leader, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki to welcome your Mai Gaskiya to the State ýof Harmony.

Welcome to our midst, the man of the moment.
- Abdulwahaab, chief press Secretary to the Kwara State Governor, writes from Ilorin.
January 30, 2015
Uncommon choices in Akwa Ibom
Our national atmosphere is saturated with politics. Ordinarily as in other climes these should be exciting and interesting times. In our dear country though, politics is far from ordinary and in the true sense of the word the strain of politics played in Nigeria is an uncommon variety. It is a strain of politics that rather than produce wholesome excitement produces a mix of confusion, unpredictability, intrigue, fatigue and condensates into a palpable atmosphere of loathing, worry and fear. It is a strain of politics which leaves keen stakeholders in a state of breathlessness, not because of physical exhaustion but because of the sheer effort the brain needs to make to keep up with and make sense of the dynamics that are in constant evolution, the summersaults that are unending due to uncommon mechanical propulsion and the intrigues that are on an industrial scale.

Akwa Ibom is not only the richest state in Nigeria in terms of financial muscle, it is also the richest in terms of political drama and intrigue and the impending elections promises to also make it the most unpredictable state in Nigeria. Senator Ita Enang is an intriguing personality in his own right but also represents the contribution of Akwa Ibom politicians to Nigeria’s political drama. On the defection of the new PDP senators to APC and the refusal or inability of the Senate President to read a common letter, Senator Ita Enang a trained lawyer thundered that their senate seats were automatically and immediately vacated on account of their defection to another party. Last week, Senator Enang announced his defection from PDP to APC! In accordance with his own interpretation and application, he will vacate his senate seat but not before May 29!

As a proud citizen of Akwa Ibom State, I have made up my mind on which of the competing tendencies will have my support in the upcoming elections and my mind has been formed as follows;

On the gubernatorial platform are two gladiators – Udom Emmanuel (Udom) and Umana Okon Umana (Umana). Udom a banker of repute and choice of outgoing Governor Akpabio is the candidate of the PDP (as of time of writing). His public service record consists of 18 months stint as Secretary to the State Government as preparation for promotion to governor.

Umana a seasoned ‘politocrat’ has held both civil service and political appointments. These include Director of Budget, Commissioner for Finance and as Udom’s shunted predecessor as Secretary to the State Government.

Up until the end of last year and even remotely, the thought of supporting Umana never crossed my mind. I am convinced and have posited in different public and private fora that Governor Akpabio’s regime has engaged in squandermania and hence mismanagement of the state’s resources resulting in the absence of meaningful sustainable development commensurate with available resources. Umana has nursed the ambition to be governor of Akwa Ibom for sometime now and this irritated me to no end. In fact anytime I saw him together with Akpabio (who was then supporting him) my irritation increased at the audacity of the two of them thinking they could engage in a baton exchange. A baton that does not belong to them! To be honest even after he was sacked by the governor and evicted from office by Akwa Ibom’s amiable but dutiful first lady, I said good riddance!

Riddance? Not in Nigeria’s politics! The APC (where my sympathies lie) ends up producing Umana as its governorship candidate. To me Umana is like the mosquito that survived all the insecticide and my hand claps and remains in my net. What are my options?

Udom is the candidate foisted on the PDP by Governor Akpabio. Several friends who know Udom closely have sought to assure me that he is a sound professional, God fearing and that he will govern the state with prudence and decorum. I do not doubt them and in truth, Udom’s magnificence is not the issue for me. The issue for me is the democratic growth and well-being of Akwa Ibom in particular and Nigeria in general. It is trite that power resides with the people. It is when this residency is established, demonstrated and practiced that the people enjoy the dividends of democracy or good governance. This is so because if the people sleep on their right to choose who governs them and allow their sovereignty to be hijacked by any individual or cabal, the beneficiary of that process is answerable not to the people but to the individual or cabal. To put it in simpler terms, if Governor Akpabio succeeds in ‘making’ Udom the governor, it will set a precedent that access to the states resources can be utilized to rob the people of their sovereignty. This will set us as a people back a very long way and may indeed become accepted as ‘the way it is’. That is not the panacea for development or indeed societal well being. So for me it is more important to make the point that power resides with the people. Thwarting the governor’s machinations is the best way to set the state on the path of democratic governance and progress.

The question that arises from the above will be ‘so what if the people go out and vote overwhelmingly for Udom?’ My answer will be consistent with my position because if Udom wins in a free and fair election, he will be the peoples’ choice and this realization will make him answerable to the people. However the process that threw him up as the PDP candidate has already and fatally flawed his hopes or claim to any legitimacy. Democracy is a building block process and everybody knows what happens to anything with a flawed foundation! In any event that process is suggestive of the fact that his backers will use similar means to ‘make’ him governor. This strongman syndrome is another manifest problem with our democracy which must be defeated. Talking to Akwa Ibomites, there is that air of resignation that their votes have not counted in the past and may not count this time. If only for the sake of our peoples psyche, I will support the tendency that will deal a fatal blow on the strongman syndrome and consign it to the dustbin of history for our peoples good!

Many things have been said about Umana especially the fact of his complicity in the mismanagement of our resources, a complicity which cannot be wished away by his supporters. The defence of Akwa Ibom having been run as a ‘one man show’ is neither here nor there. After all the option of principled resignation exists. What is important for me is the knowledge and consistent with my postulations that the process is a determinant factor in the attitude to governance. There is a difference between the Umana that Governor Akpabio would have ‘made’ governor and the Umana that emerges as governor in spite of Governor Akpabio. Obviously Umana would have happily like Udom, benefited from that process, but that is not the point. The point is that if Umana is destined to be governor as earlier ordained by Akpabio on God’s instructions then in God’s miraculous ways, the circumstances may have been redesigned to give Akwa Ibom fresh air even from such an unlikely source!

My senatorial district is another interesting race. It is between the Almighty Governor Akpabio on the PDP platform and Inibehe Okori on the APC platform. Going by the understanding amongst the component sections and in the spirit of rotation, the senate seat, I understand is zoned to the Abak sector. Inibehe is from Abak, Governor Akpabio is not. Going by his own professed adherence to zoning philosophy and his stated reason for dumping Umana, Akpabio ought not to be in that race. But this is our uncommon politics and who cares about the gander if the goose is happy. However and happily Inibehe Okori is not running on the basis of ethnicity. A suave and highly successful businessman with impressive local and international connections, it will be a contest in the real sense of it. Again and in keeping with my earlier postulations, a defeat of the strongman syndrome in a democratic process will be beneficial to the deepening of our democracy. This attitude of the ‘big boys’ seeing the senate as their VIP relaxation home must change. Our dear Governor Akpabio will be on some serious pension come June, that should be enough without adding the senate seat to it! We need vibrancy and a new style and a new face for Akwa Ibom which Inibehe represents. Akpabio is better placed running the Akpabiosm Institute which given his deep faith and impressive knowledge of the Bible should be rechristened ‘AKPABIOSM INSTITUTE OF BIBLE AND GOVERNMENT STUDIES
- Ukpong, legal practitioner writes from Lagos
January 30, 2015
Juwah as model public servant
Telecommunications has become the chief enabler of any economy. It is a sector that does not only directly contribute to the economy but it impacts other sectors, providing for them the conveyor belt to take businesses from small scale enterprises to mega-corporations. This is why the advanced nations and strongly emerging economies of Asia have taken the matter of telecoms very seriously. Whether it is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States or the Office of Communications (OfCom) of the UK, governments from across the globe have always insisted on the observance of best practices from their respective telecom regulators.

In Nigeria, the statutory telecom regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has borne the burden of midwifing the nation’s telecom sector, right from the days of the military when the commission was created by the Ibrahim Babangida regime via Decree 75 of 1992. But the commission never really flourished until the advent of democracy. Specifically, its impact began to be felt among the people in 2001 when the first set of Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications operators rolled out services. It marked a defining moment in the sector that has since 1886 when the first cable communication was established with England from the colony of Lagos.

Before the GSM operators rolled out service in 2001, aggregate telephone throughput in Nigeria had hovered between 400,000 and 500,000 lines made up largely of analogue lines. The state-run telco, NITEL, was a monumental failure, made inept by public sector lethargy. Attempt to integrate the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) genre of telephony was at the very best, fitful. Investment in the sector barely grossed over $50 million. New jobs were not created because growth and profitability were stunted. Government interference in the running of the sector did not help matters, either. And so, a sector that was supposed to enable other sectors attain efficiency and profitability was itself needing help.

Today, however, the Nigeria telecom narrative has changed. The regulator, NCC, has proved beyond doubt that privatisation and deregulation are the best therapies for ailing public corporations and sectors once held bound by government inertia. Two iconic characters, both of them engineers, stand out in this journey from telecom backwaters to a nirvana where Nigeria is mentioned and qualified with beautiful superlatives in the global telecom canvas. Whereas Ernest Ndukwe (he succeeded the late Emmanuel Nnama) started what is commonly called the ‘telecom revolution’, his successor, Dr. Eugene Juwah, has not only sustained the revolution, he has indeed upped the ante, growing the telephone throughput from 88 million lines upon his assumption of office in July 2010 to over 130 million lines.

Under Juwah, Nigeria’s profile in the global telecom arena has shot up to the acclamation of both the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the telecom arm of the United Nations.

It is little surprise that he was honoured recently as The Sun newspaper Public Servant of the Year 2014. Juwah, the man commonly referred to as Nigeria’s Broadband Evangelist, was at his engineering and administrative best last year. It was the year that investments in the Nigeria telecoms sector grossed over a hefty $32 billion, it was the year that aggregate telephone lines in Nigeria crossed a record 130 million lines (in fact total subscriber base was at a time 132,186,840 lines) in a country of about 170 million people, thus pushing tele-density to as high as 94.84 percent.

In 2014, total number of internet subscribers for GSM mobile galloped to over 70 million. But beyond numbers and statistics, 2014 marked the highest elevation of Nigeria telecom in the global circuit as Juwah was appointed the Chairman of the Council and Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) during the CTO Annual Council Meeting held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Besides, it was the year the commission mopped multiple awards to justify its rating as Africa’s model telecom regulator.

It was therefore most fitting that Juwah was honoured for his outstanding performance at the NCC and much more for his stellar achievements last year. Juwah’s success at NCC has stood Nigeria out at the ITU community. Nigerians who travel the world would easily recall the harrowing experiences they go through at most airports on account of the country’s poor reputation. Those who attend international seminars and conferences need not be reminded of how the global audience had sneered and sniggered at the mention of Nigeria at such meets. But not so with telecom! Juwah and his troop at NCC have given Nigeria a sweetly flavoured name among global investors and telecom techies including regulators from across the globe.

Year after year, telecom regulators from other nations jet into Nigeria to understudy the NCC with the singular intent of deploying the Nigerian telecom regulatory template to foster regulatory excellence within their respective jurisdictions.

Since the rollout of GSM services in 2001, issues such as quality of service and cost of service have dogged every discourse. Juwah never shied away from them. Step by step, without grinding the businesses of investors, he has rallied the operators to invest more as a way of ramping up the technical integrity of their networks. Even much so, Juwah was not oppressive of the telecom consumer. He has consistently advocated regulation with a human face. The review of interconnect rate, slashing of the cost of short message service (SMS) among others were carefully thought through interventions meant to help the consumer while also ensuring that the operators stay in business.

At a time many thought that the nation’s telecom sector has hit saturation point in voice telephony, Juwah brought a fresh breath to the menu. The intensity of his Broadband evangelism has not only created more jobs in the sector, it has also positively impacted other sectors and by extension the larger economy. The Nigerian public sector would need to copy from the leadership book of Juwah so that the revolution that has galvanised telecom in Nigeria would be replicated in other areas of the national socio-economic ecosystem. Meantime, let’s toast to Nigeria’s Public Servant of the Year 2014, the Delta-born Eugene Juwah.
- Olanrewaju, an ICT consultant, writes from Lagos.
January 29, 2015
Oyo: Between peace and violence
It is good to appraise the state of peace in Oyo State, as opposed to what it was before now. The world knows that the state was a bedlam before Governor Abiola Ajimobi took over the reins of office on May 29, 2011. Violence of the most horrendous form was in place. The violence that the state witnessed under Rashidi Ladoja and Adebayo Alao-Akala was worse than that of Hiroshima and Nagazaki. The typecast of the state was that of a state of filth and brigandage.

True to his promise, the governor hit the ground running by proscribing the reactionary NURTW on June 6, 2011 as an aftermath of the violence that erupted at Iwo Road the previous day in which 20 people died. The governor did not allow any of the factions to operate until the national leadership of the union undertook to whip the warlords into line. To further instill sanity in the system, the governor inaugurated a joint security patrol squad on December 9, 2011, codenamed Operation Burst; whose personnel were deployed to the six geo-political zones of the state. Buoyed by the donation of three Armoured Personnel Carriers, 117 operational vehicles and seven power bikes by the state government, the alignment of forces restored peace and security in the state. To further boost the morale of the police, the governor refurbished grounded police patrol vans. The governor also established the Oyo State Security Trust Fund to engender public-private partnership on security in the state.

The concomitant effect of the governor’s efforts became manifest when more than eight industrial giants were attracted to the state. In a bid to further attract local and foreign investors, including in the agriculture sector, the government granted concession of between 70 and 90 per cent on land acquisition. Also, the government granted a substantial tax holiday for up to seven years to eligible industries.

It is gratifying to know that industries such as Shoprite, Agric Tech, Oriental Foods, Joy Foods, Rahvet International Limited, Sajrom Farm Limited, Palm Royale Farm, Fedkot Nigeria Limited, HaulTrac Nigeria Limited, UPDC, HPC Architecture and Engineering Limited and Kamal Milk have berthed in Ibadan following the congenial environment. None of these giant companies could have come to the state when Ladoja and Akala’s governments, renowned for unbridled violence, were in place. The bespatterd body of a renowned anvil of past governments and their faithful, Eleweomo, whose gory imagery reminds one of allegation of former Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin’s complicity is enough for any sane person never to wish for a return to those gory old days.

According to Ajimobi, the reversal of the old order of violence had generated close to one million direct and indirect employments for citizens of the state. In a similar vein, the National Bureau of Statistics put the capital inflow into the state at approximately $3.49 million in its third quarter report for 2014. This signaled an increase of 697 per cent when compared with the $500,000 recorded between the first and second quarter of the year.

That only four murder cases were recorded in 2014 as listed in the State Police Command Crime Rates Statistics for the year pales into insignificance when compared with the 121 cases before 2011. Oyo State was also said to have recorded only four armed robbery incidents in the whole of 2014, with none affecting the banks. The only attempt to rob a new generation bank in Bodija was repelled by men of Operation Burst. Three kidnap cases were recorded as against 45 before 2011. The statistics also indicated that no single case of murder, arson or grievous harm and wounding was reported at any police formation in 2014.

In acknowledgment of Governor Ajimobi’s peace-building efforts, the governor bagged an award as the Best Governor on Conflict Resolution in Nigeria from the Security Watch Africa, on October 19, 2012 in Ghana.

It is equally not by happenstance that the British Deputy High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr. Peter Carter, recognized that “Ibadan is rapidly developing. It is very pleasant for me to be in the city that is fast looking into the future.” He was reported to have made the comment during a visit to Governor Ajimobi, as reported in the October 10, 2013 edition of The Nation newspaper. During the parley, the governor was quoted to have told his guest that the New York Times listed Oyo State as one of the preferred destinations for investors in Africa due to the ‘peaceful environment, availability of infrastructure and landmass.’

Also in the June 19, 2013 edition of The Nation newspaper, one of the widows of the deceased enfant terrible, Bose Adedibu, a staunch PDP member said, “In all honesty, without being biased Governor Ajimobi is doing well. There is peace and security now compared with the violence and thuggery that used to be perpetrated by street urchins. I remember vividly that at that time, the people of Oyo State lived in perpetual fear of insecurity. But now, everywhere is peaceful and people are going about their businesses without fear of molestation.”

However, security agents should be commended for curtailing the crisis in the Born Foto and Popoyemoja areas of Ibadan in November/December 2014, which was instigated by street urchins to truncate the pervading peace in Oyo State.

For us in the state, the story of our horrendous past in the hands of past governments of the state is not a fluke, even though it reads like one from Hammer House of Horror. It was a period of our lives that we will not pray to relive. If Nigeria were a country where statistics were held seriously, by now, we would have been overwhelmed by the number of deaths recorded between the two regimes. Hundreds of families who lost their breadwinners in the fracas or the hundred others who were felled by stray bullets are living testimonies of the reign of terror of the past.

Like Fayose Ayodele did pre-election in Ekiti State, the contenders for Agodi Government House who were principals of the violence, have literally been campaigning that they are now ‘born again’. The tenuousness of such promise can be seen in the state of things in Ekiti now when Fayose beguiled the people to vote for him.

As the February 28, governorship election beckons, the choice before the electorate is between the peace and industrial development associated with the Ajimobi’s government and the violence and brigandage that reigned supreme when two of his two major contenders ruled the state as governors. Like in the holy writ, the people of Oyo State would on February 28, , choose whom they shall vote for: the spirit of dove or Belzeebub and his violence.
- Inakoju teaches in a secondary school in Ibadan.
January 29, 2015
Tambuwal’s agenda for Sokoto

The ongoing campaigns by various candidates seeking elective posts and their political parties have provided Nigerians with the opportunity to assess those seeking to rule over them for the next four years. When politicians come to the people directly for a face to face interaction, citizens can evaluate their programmes and suitability for the office they are seeking.

In Sokoto State, attention of voters is now fixed on the plan of action rolled out by the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the governorship contest, Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal. At the flag-off of his campaign penultimate week, Tambuwal, better known to Nigerians as the ever-smiling and no-nonsense Speaker of the House of Representatives, promised to take the state on a journey of prosperity already started by the incumbent governor, Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko.

The greatest treasure the state is currently enjoying, according to him, is the peace and tranquility found in abundance within its borders. Located in a region bedeviled by the Boko Haram insurgency, Sokoto’s ability to steer off crisis has been a source of admiration for sociologists. Considering its unique position as the centre-point of Islam in Nigeria, Sokoto has in the past taken the lead in finding lasting solutions to the menace of terrorism in the country. Political and religious leaders have, at various times, given a true interpretation of all the tenets of Islam, and have openly abhorred wanton killings and destruction of property.

The citizens of Sokoto have at various forums harped on the need to ensure continuity of government policies. Many who gave their inputs into the Tambuwal agenda emphasized that coming to start afresh will be detrimental to the prosperity of their state. Their claim followed a close observation of the achievements of Wamakko in critical areas like education, healthcare, social reorientation, youths and sports development and infrastructural development.

The economic potential of Sokoto is enormous. With the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria factory located in the state and various small and medium scale industries scattered all over, Sokoto has already charted a path to industrialization. As Tambuwal noted in Shagari and Tureta LGAs during his campaign stop, there are also abundant water resources for irrigation farming and other agro-allied activities. The Sokoto Rima River Basin Development Authority has its headquarters in the capital and so far, there are plans to enhance its capacity to meet the growing needs of the people of the area.

The people of Sokoto are known for their entrepreneurial disposition. Tambuwal said when elected, the state government will complement their efforts by creating an enabling environment to boost investment and other commercial activities. He said this can be done by ensuring that parameters for ease of doing business are enhanced for both local and foreign investors.

Given its huge economical potential, it is pertinent to ask: what will the incoming administration do to further harness them to advance the socio-economic development of the state and its people? The initiatives of the present government are numerous. Let us look at a few. The first is the vision of the administration in developing the human resource capacity to meet its development challenges.

Since its inception in 2007, the administration has invested handsomely in education, based on a vision premised on developing skills for the future industrialization of the state. The state has its gaze fixed on developing the mining industry in the state in the very near future.

Today, the human resource to drive that industry is being prepared. For example, quite a number of youths have been abroad to study various courses in Mining and Mineral Engineering. Others went to other parts of Nigeria and Africa to study agricultural extension. All these are done with the aim to ensure that those trained contribute their quota towards the development of various sectors of the state.

As a leader, the Speaker has promised to lead from the front, working in tandem with other progressive Nigerians from all walks of life to bring about needed change in the socio-economic landscape of his dear state in particular an Nigeria in general. This he said can be done by fully implementing the policies of the APC as espoused in its manifesto.

Tambuwal remains the quintessential politician who has defied the notion that politicians, especially of the Nigerian variety, cannot say the truth to the powers that be while still in power. By now, Nigerians have come to identify their Number Four citizen as a fearless man whose words are not at variance with his deeds. In a clime polluted by years of sheer indiscipline and unfulfilled promises, the optimism, and testimonies openly exhibited by those who followed his leadership style will no doubt gladden the hearts of the people of Sokoto who are now set to have him as their Leader in the coming years.

Not since independence have we seen a politician promote an ideology as fervently as the speaker does. Tambuwal has promoted the concept of a strong dichotomy between politics and governance. To him, there is a marked difference between a candidate in electoral contest on the platform of a political party and an elected official who has assumed a non-partisan responsibility and taken oath to protect and preserve the constitution, to serve the people and the nation. While the former is not merely at liberty but under a duty to be partisan, the latter must conduct himself in a manner worthy of the call to non-partisanship in governance. And whenever partisan interests conflict with national interest it is partisan interests that must be sacrificed in the preservation of the national interest.

In Sokoto today, many are confident that Tambuwal will leverage on his experience and contacts in national and international circle to the benefit of the state. In him, they see a person who will not only redesign the economy of the state, but will also redefining its politics.

•Imam (@imamdimam), wrote from National Assembly, Abuja

January 26, 2015
Petrol price reduction

Perhaps, the reduction in the price of petrol from N97 per litre to N87 is the first time in recent memory the selling price of that commodity would come down in this country. All we have been treated to in the last several years have been constant increases in the name of fuel subsidy removal that pay scant regard to the wellbeing of our toiling people.

So when the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke announced government’s reduction of the selling price of petrol penultimate Sunday, it must have struck as a sharp departure from the norm. And reactions to it are bound to follow this mood.

The measure which was dictated by the falling price of fuel in the international oil market has expectedly attracted reactions from segments of the Nigeria population. The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) commended the price slash but insisted that it is not deep enough. For drivers and commuters across the country, the reduction would make life a little better for them. There are also those who think the reduction is a design by the PDP government to catch votes in the coming elections.

For the opposition APC, the reduction by just 10.3 per cent is a “mere tokenism” at a time the price of crude oil has crashed by about 60 per cent in the international oil market. It said the selling price should not be more than N70 and that at N87 the government was forcing Nigerians to subsidize the massive corruption in the oil sector.

All these views have their merits and therefore cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand. Not when it is recalled that since the decline in the price of oil commenced some months back, there have been calls on the government to slash the selling price of petrol in keeping with trends outside our shores. These calls were further reinforced by the fact that all along, the government had hinged fuel price increase on the high cost of the commodity in the international market. It was the same logic that was the raison d’être for previous increases in the price of petroleum products in the name of fuel subsidy removal.

Moreover, the fear of further increase or removal of fuel subsidy as it is generally called was still palpable some months back such that the government had to come public denying such a move.

If by any circumstance, there is a sharp fall in the price of that commodity, it is only rational that it should be followed by a corresponding reduction in its domestic price.

The government did not help matters when it appeared to have shut its eyes to reactions to the development by other oil producing countries. This is especially so when other African countries as Zambia and Tanzania had slashed the price of petrol to 23 and 16 per cent respectively. If the contention is that the reduction did no go that far as it only represented 10.3 per cent of the current price that point cannot be wished away. More so when weighed against the background of the raging poverty in the country and the huge corruption that pervades all spheres of the national economy.

The scandalous corruption in the oil sector denoted by the exposed scandal in fuel subsidy payments is the more reason why the ordinary people should be made to take full advantage of any decline in the international price of crude oil.

We are all witnesses to revelations sometime ago of how unscrupulous marketers ripped the nation dry by receiving payments for fuel not supplied. Much of the companies and individuals that were involved in that scam have their cases before the courts even as the wheel of justice is grinding very slowly.

It is therefore not out of place to demand that the full benefits of the slide in oil price should be availed our toiling people who have over the years, borne the brunt of the misrule of various governments.

It is not a matter that has to do with one government. It has little to do with who is in power now or the efforts to effect regime change through the current electioneering campaigns. This point has to be made and most unambiguously too otherwise we mix issues and get no where with them.

Nigerians need the full benefits of the oil price slash. That could be the little token they get from the oil gift which nature bountifully placed at their backyard. That could form part of their share of the national cake.

Besides, a further reduction in the domestic price of petrol will impact positively in the prices of goods and services that are largely patronized by the poor. It will not only force down the price of transportation but that of goods and services largely patronized by the poor.

Being a populist policy, it is not surprising why it has been dubbed a vote catching strategy. But it is immaterial whatever capital the government of the day may wish to make out of the measure. Even if the target is to lure the larger public to the side of the government given the coming elections, what is important is that ordinary people will still be better with the reduction. That is a better way to look at the matter. We should align with those who want a further reduction rather than dissipate energy on whatever benefits the government may get from it.

Even then, the rational for the reduction is hinged on events in the international oil market and this should be clear to everybody. It has not even gone that deep to correspond with the fall in oil price in the international market. So the issue of scoring political points through the reduction should be out of it. It is an economic decision that is universal to oil producing countries. If the current regime gains any political edge from it, so be it. Such should neither detract from the current reality in the oil market nor blur our understanding of the dynamics of international oil pricing.

It is hoped that it is not being suggested that measures that will improve the lives of our people should be denied them just because someone somewhere may take political advantage of them. That will amount to carrying such matters too far.

Beyond these, the slide in oil price should prick our collective consciences on the misuse of the revenue that has overtime accrued to the nation from that commodity. It should send the message very clearly that there is time for every thing. It is possible that we will someday find to our dismay that a golden opportunity to lift our country from the shackles of poverty and underdevelopment has been frittered away. We may soon discover that a golden opportunity to elevate our country in the development matrix has been lost.

These are the foreboding issues that have been elevated to the fore by the sliding price of oil. In the ongoing electioneering campaigns, politicians have made issues out of the need to diversify the nation’s economic base. This is nothing new. It is only hoped it is not another vote catching gimmick that will give way to sectional and primordial considerations as a guide to economic decisions as soon as the elections are over.

January 26, 2015
Ambode’s human security agenda
The forthcoming governorship election in Lagos state is surely arousing the curiosity of most Nigerians – from the political analysts and scholars of Nigerian politics to the so-called common man, for a number of reasons. It presents an opportunity to further test the political credentials and clout of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, unarguably the most influential politician and strategist in the south-western part of Nigeria, having previously been governor of Lagos State from 1999 – 2007. Tinubu is regarded as the originator of modern Lagos State’s development template. Upon leaving office after the expiration of his mandate in 2007, he had successfully engineered the election of his successor, now the outgoing governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, in 2007, despite the expression of interest by a number of his own loyalists, as well as the perpetually marauding People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which is cognizant of the fact that the key to Tinubu’s continued relevance lies with his firm control of Lagos politics. Despite fielding such candidates as the late Funsho Williams, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, Ade Dosumu, in the past, the PDP has been continually trounced in the gubernatorial elections in Lagos State. With the imminent end of Governor Fashola’s tenure, a man widely respected for transforming Lagos state beyond expectations, to the extent that even opposition politicians grudgingly admit he has discharged his duties well as governor, the race for the governor’s office becomes even more interesting.

As with previous governorship elections, the contest is between the candidates of the APC and the PDP. The PDP candidate, Jimi Agbaje, who had previously contested against Babatunde Fashola in 2007 under the less-known Democratic Peoples’ Alliance (DPA), surprised many by coming third and garnering more votes than more experienced and better-known politicians like Tokunbo Afikuyomi and Femi Pedro. Agbaje is the flag bearer of the PDP and given the weight of the PDP, and going by Agbaje’s previous antecedents in the 2007 election, he surely represents a formidable challenge to Ambode’s APC.

Ambode has a couple of advantages going forward in the February governorship elections. First is the political goodwill enjoyed by the Tinubu-Fashola administrations in Lagos State, which gives the APC the political legitimacy to present a relatively unknown person as gubernatorial candidate. This goodwill has been earned, more so, as a result of Fashola’s excellent delivery of good governance in the State. Fashola, who was also relatively a political unknown in 2007, having served as Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, has further endeared Lagosians to the APC. The PDP has not been helped greatly by the internal squabbles within its fold, as well as the dearth of a credible leader of the party in Lagos State. Second, the prospect of a continuation of the public service delivery initiated by a candidate who understands the workings of government in Lagos State also works in Ambode’s favour. Having served in the Lagos State Civil Service for almost three decades as Permanent Secretary and Accountant-General respectively, and having the privilege of understudying Tinubu and Fashola, Ambode appears to represent the continuity in governance that the APC advocates for, which also resonates with most Lagosians.

What appears evident from an examination of candidate Ambode’s Governance Plan is a focus on human security, centred on promoting freedoms from poverty, need and fear. The Plan has service delivery as its core, which will be under girded by the principles of Leadership, Accountability, Governance, Opportunity, Service (L.A.G.O.S). The Plan has as its main areas of focus: tourism, economic growth, community cohesion, and equitable distribution of wealth, poverty reduction and the urbanization of slums, human rights protection, urbanization and the provision of physical and social infrastructure, all in tandem with the present administration’s development blueprint.

The Ambode Plan focuses on Security, Economy, Infrastructure, Healthcare, Education, Social Welfare and Good Governance. In the area of job creation, it proposes the establishment of an Employment Trust Fund to the tune of N25b within a period of four years by the government, with one billion naira earmarked for each of the five divisions in the state for the next four years; Ikorodu, Badagry, Ikeja, Lagos and Epe Divisions.

On ‘Corporate Lagos’, the manifesto proposes measures that will attract and retain both foreign and local investors to Lagos, with the aid of e-governance solutions for business. Quite importantly, it prioritizes the re-establishment of a middle class in the state, under strict adherence to the Rule of Law. Also, while recognizing that multiple taxes/fees exist in the state’s tax codes, a pledge is made to remove them as soon as Ambode assumes office.

On Education, a number of initiatives have been highlighted for implementation. The emphasis of the manifesto is on the upgrading and creation of new e-libraries, in line with best global education practices, the upgrading of the state-owned tertiary institutions – the Lagos State University (LASU) and the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), as well as the introduction of scholarship schemes in the vocational and technical colleges.

On Health, the manifesto seeks to further improve upon the Primary Healthcare Programme, the harmonization of private and public sector partnership in secondary healthcare, as well as the establishment of medic-parks and bio-parks in Lagos state..

On Tourism, there is a plan to launch a project known as T.H.E.S.E, which refers to an integrated solution involving the systematic integration of Tourism, Hospitality, Entertainment/Arts Sports for Excellence, aimed at enabling the state to explore, execute and enshrine a new vista of jobs for our youths, our women and vocational artisans.

On Social Welfare issues, the manifesto seeks the continuation of free education for primary and secondary school children, in line with the core principles of the APC. Underscoring the need to ensure the protection of the rights of children in Lagos State, there is an emphasis on the enforcement of the Child Abuse Law, and the criminalization of child labour. Also, ensuring the protection of the rights of women, the aged and the disabled, as well as the provision of social welfare and opportunities for these groups are emphasized in the manifesto.

On power generation, priority is placed on the exploration of opportunities for alternative energy sources. There are also plans to further expand the already-existing Independent Power Project (IPP), and the protection of the rights of Lagosians in their engagement with private power suppliers.

On what is referred to as ‘Integrated System’, the plan’s starting point is that the existing 29 bridges in Lagos are inadequate to cater for its huge number of motorists. It therefore seeks to expand seven of the bridges while also exploring the opportunities of pursuing an integrated transport management system.

On Finance, the manifesto underscores its commitment to a 20-year financial and statistical planning on the needs of the state, as well as the establishment of a Lagos Finance and Development Commission, which will afford all stakeholders in the State, including the private sector, civil society and government, to match the needs of the State with the financial resources required to achieve set goals.

While across Nigeria, there is the increasing agitation for change, especially at the federal level, in Lagos State the majority seem to aspire towards a more encompassing continuity and improvement in the delivery of public services to the people. Candidate Ambode’s credentials appear to fit the bill for the tasks ahead. In the efforts to further develop the manifesto into concrete policy documents, there will be the need for an inclusive and coordinated engagement with sectoral experts, the civil servants of Lagos State who will be tasked with implementing the plan, while obtaining the input of the citizenry, on whose behalf the manifesto has been developed. This will promote and guarantee a genuine partnership and ownership of the plan, while inculcating a crosscutting sense of responsibility and inclusivity.
- Tunde, a public policy analyst, is based in the United Kingdom.
January 26, 2015