The Nation Newspaper

Category: Dele Agekameh

  • Today’s Nigeria and Awo’s counsel (1)

    On Thursday, July 27, Whispering Cannon, an online platform for intellectual discourse run by an accomplished Lagos businessman, Goke Omisore, featured an archival material. It was the excerpt of an address delivered by the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, on Monday, May 15, 1967, on the occasion of his installation as the first Chancellor of the University of Ife.

    In the treasured speech, the vintage Awo, as he was fondly and widely known, exhibited his prophetic intuition and intellectual prowess which stood him out among his peers in the political firmament of Nigeria, Africa and indeed, the world. The late Awo took time to reflect on the roiling political situation in the country at the time and specifically based his argument on six factors which must be clearly looked into if Nigeria was to make any meaningful progress at all.

    According to him: “For exactly 16 months now we have been making a strenuous and earnest search for peace , and a new Constitution.…there is an urgent and crying need to recognise certain factors which, in my view, have not hitherto been given the due recognition, emphasis, and weight that they deserve. I consider six of such factors to be very important…”

    “Because of the nature of its political evolution since 1900, Nigeria had only had, all told, a lease of two years, for discovering and forging new cohesive material, in place of the British ones, to keep it going as a united and harmonious entity.

    “Neither the discovering, nor the forging had been well underway before the prolonged crisis, which now threatens to engulf us, began in 1962. To be sure, since 1962, the fifty-one odd national groups in Nigeria have been moving farther and farther apart from one another, not closer and closer together. Indeed, mutual suspicion and hostility have been deepening and ossifying with alarming speed.

    “In this connection, it must be borne in mind that the basis for any union among any communities, especially amongst diverse national groups such as we have in Nigeria, is utmost mutual trust and understanding. The greater the trust and understanding, the stronger and more harmonious the union. The converse, of course, is also true.

    “Because of its youth as an independent sovereign state—Nigeria was only a little over five years of age when the coup of January 1966 took place; because of its youth, and because of the strains and stresses inherent in it as a multi-national state, Nigeria cannot afford an unduly protracted political and economic illness. The pressing danger involved in the present illness of our country is that it might kill more by its sheer protraction than by its severity.

    “Our military administration must be recognized for what it was originally intended and proclaimed to be: an essentially corrective regime, and not a reconstructing administration with ready and lasting answers to all our political and economic ills.

    “In my view, the main task of the military regime is to perform a quick and successful surgical operation for the purpose of removing, from our body politic, a malignant and debilitating morbid growth. It was never expected, and it would be too much of a risk for it to attempt to undertake the massive and never-ending task of rebuilding or reconstructing our body politic. It would be too much of a risk, because the army would then be embarking on a venture for which it is not by tradition and training equipped, and which, by its very nature, is an ever-recurring phenomenon in any healthy progressive state.

    “As there are good soldiers, so there are good politicians. Not all soldiers are saints, and not all politicians are devils or social lepers. I have no doubt in my mind that if the corrective measures, which our military leaders have in mind, are prosecuted with fearlessness, impartiality, and dispatch, a new breed of politicians would emerge which would make the welfare of the people the sole object of their public career and pursuit.

    “One of the stark and naked facts which stare us in the face is that we have inflicted deep and grievous wounds on one another so much so that emotions, bitterness and deep-seated suspicion, far more than reason, charity, and trustfulness, now rule our hearts.

    “It is my candid and honest opinion that what we need very badly, in the present circumstances, is a palliative that will tide us over the present critical stage. Thereafter, a curative must be sought and applied. I must warn, however, that an inflexible insistence on a curative, when there is so much sharp disagreement among all the doctors in attendance may prove fatal to the patient.

    “All the great religions and ideologies of the world teach one and only one supreme and imperishable lesson, namely: that LOVE is the touchstone of all human activities. Any human activity that does not stand the test of LOVE is evil. As a practical guide to the practice of LOVE Jesus Christ gave us the Golden Rule in the following words: “Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the Law and the prophets.”’

    The words enumerated above were spoken by the late sage on May 15, 1967, that was more than 50 years ago. Unfortunately, barely 15 days after, on May 30, 1967, Biafra declared independence and that declaration led to a gruesome 30-month civil war in the country. Since then, things have never been the same again.

    Suffice to say that in our almost recurring national tragedy of hope and disappointment, many conflicts and disagreements have come to life and to the fore-front of national consciousness. However, unlike the human journey and the journey of most of the world’s creatures where we live and we die, our conflicts have been largely resistant to that natural order. Instead, they are born and they grow and grow, changing form and description over many years, but they retain their essential natures and haunt us. Indeed, Nigeria has grown with many of the issues at its birth still intact.

    In trying to fathom the reasons for the immortality of our disputes in this country, the wisdom of old is a good starting point as it has proven to hold insight into many seemingly contemporary issues. That is why the afore-quoted 50-year-old words of Awo, an eminent Nigerian thought leader and statesman, at the grounds of a university now named after him, are particularly vital in these times.

    He remarkably pointed out how little time the country had to evolve and develop indigenous systems before discord broke out in 1962. The dispute led to an unpopular state of emergency imposed on the Western Region by the federal government which was seen as a lopsided decision, considering the unrest that equally existed in other places such as in Okrika and amongst the Tivs in the Eastern and Northern regions respectively, at the time. The Biafra war began not too long afterwards, and added to the collection of unresolved issues even after the war ended. It now appears that the infant Nigerian nation has been plagued by problems that have never had any final solutions ever since.

    In his speech, Chief Obafemi Awolowo posited that the basis for any union among any communities, especially amongst diverse national groups such as we have in Nigeria, is utmost mutual trust and understanding. That trust was lost at the infancy of the nation and no programme or initiative by the government or any group since then, has been able to mend that trust gap within our system. That is why, for example, Biafra has continually re-incarnated into MASSOB (Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra), IPOB (Indigenous People Of Biafra) and other little known factions based on the same original issues that came to a head in 1966.

  • Senators as jesters

    In defining who a jester is, Wikipedia, the leading online Encyclopaedia, dwelt on the etimology of the word. It describes a jester as “…..historically an entertainer during the Medieval and Renaissance eras who was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch employed to entertain him and his guests”. Furthermore, Wikipedia said: “A jester was also an itinerant performer who entertained common folk at fairs and markets. Jesters are also modern-day entertainers who resemble their historical counterparts.”

    It went on to say that “Jesters in Medieval times are often thought to have worn brightly coloured clothes and eccentric hats in a motley pattern and their modern counterparts usually mimic this costume.” For those who are very conversant with the mode of dressing of some of our lawmakers, particularly a person like the loquacious Dino Melaye, who often appears at the chambers looking like a masquerade or one of these funny characters, they cannot but agree with Wikipedia. More so, as those “brightly coloured clothes and eccentric hats” are a common sight in the National Assembly and other assemblies across the states today under the guise of upholding individual lawmaker’s cultural identity.

    Flowing from the above, therefore, it may be quite appropriate to describe what took place inside the red chambers of the National Assembly in Abuja, last Thursday, July 20, as the product of a national entertainment outfit or cast and crew. That was the day the Senate passed a resolution asking the federal government to direct the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to supply dollars at N200 to those going on pilgrimage.

    What this means is that if the government consents to this request, the allocation of foreign exchange to those planning to embark on any pilgrimage either to Mecca in Saudi Arabia or Jerusalem in Israel, would be subsidised by about 37 per cent by the government.

    The Senate’s action came on the heels of the presentation on the floor of the Senate by Adamu Aliero, a former governor of Kebbi State, now an All Progressives Congress, APC, senator representing Kebbi Central Senatorial District, who, as a matter of urgency, had requested for a concession of N200 to the dollar once every year, for those going on pilgrimages to Mecca or Jerusalem.

    This request followed the adoption of the report by the Senate Committee on foreign affairs on “Extortion of Pilgrims” by the National Hajj Commission. Aliero said, “the committee strongly recommends the concession of N200 to $1 for 2017 Hajj, to bring down cost to a bearable level”. He also claimed the CBN had been offering FOREX at that rate to some unnamed businesses.

    It was apparent that the request was for those embarking on pilgrimage to the Muslim holy land this year and the inclusion of the Christian holy land of Jerusalem was a mere smokescreen to avoid criticism and controversy over the move.

    The naira currently exchanges for about N315 to the dollar in the official window, while it exchanges for about N365 at the parallel market. This is even as the CBN had involved both orthodox and unorthodox methods to shore up the value of the naira against the dollar. Otherwise, few months back, the situation was so critical that the exchange rate had at some point, exceeded N500 to a dollar until the CBN decided to drastically reduce the spiralling momentum.

    Anyway, if the senators thought that by making a case for both Muslim and Christian pilgrims they would be spared public anger, they were dwelling in illusion. This is because no sooner had the news of the request filtered into town than people took them up on the social media through tweets and other platforms. In the first place, the Senate’s thoughtless request ignored the provisions in the approved Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, covering all expenditure plans for 2017, and the Appropriation Act, which was earlier approved by the lawmakers themselves, prior to the assent to the bill by Yemi Osinbajo, the acting President, on Monday, June 12.

    In a swift reaction last week, the CBN denied the allegation that it had been allocating FOREX to any business at an unofficial rate of N200 per dollar. Isaac Okorafor, its spokesperson said, “the lowest rate in the entire market is the inter-bank rate, which ranges between N305 to N315.” According to him, “since June 2016, when the CBN unveiled the flexible FOREX policy, the apex bank was partially stripped of the powers to intervene and fix the exchange rate of the Naira against any currency. With the policy, which effectively removed CBN controls of the exchange rate, abolished the previous N197-199 band to the dollar, with exchange rates in the international currency market becoming a subject determined purely by the prevailing forces of demand and supply”. “The new arrangement”, he said, “created a single inter-bank trading window, which determines the exchange rate of the dollar to the Naira”.

    Last year, a similar move by the CBN when it approved the allocation of foreign exchange to those on pilgrimages at a rate lower than the prevailing rate was embroiled in controversy. This time around, many Nigerians have criticised the Senate recommendation as thoughtless and insensitive. They argued that if the CBN conceded to such a request, it would spell disaster for the economy because it will definitely distort the market and create another crisis of confidence. Besides, they said, it will show that Nigeria is not a serious country.

    Yet, many also believe that this development shows that the National Assembly members have totally lost touch with the reality of the Nigerian situation as they do not seem to understand the precarious state of the country’s economy. To these Nigerians, it is certainly unthinkable that those who are supposed to make laws for the progress and development of the country are the same people engaged in making such pedestrian and ridiculous demands.

    Obviously, anybody who makes such crazy proposition and senseless request should not be taken seriously because a pilgrimage is a personal thing and anyone going to seek one’s salvation should look for his private money to fund his trip. In other words, asking the government to subsidise such trips violates the right of other Nigerians not interested in such a jamboree. Perhaps, the only reason one can discern in this request is that the lawmakers may be looking for cheap funding for their impending vacation. In any case, on what basis are they asking the CBN to allocate dollars for their private religious venture? And if indeed it is true businesses are given dollars at N200, it is simply because those businesses are adding value to the economy. Now, what value is pilgrimage adding to the economy?

    It is quite unfortunate that Nigeria is a country of many absurdities. It is a country that gives room for many absurd issues to happen. We all know that the issue of foreign exchange or buying and selling forex in Nigeria is firmly under the monopoly and control of a powerful cartel comprising top politicians and highly placed individuals in both the public and private sectors conniving with their counterparts in the banking industry.

    These are the godfathers of the itinerant money changers you find in market places and other street corners everyday running after passers-by soliciting for money for exchange. It is these powerful Nigerians that are responsible for round-tripping, a euphemism for mopping up foreign exchange at the official market rate and then going ahead to sell same at the parallel or black market to maximise profit at the expense of the country’s economy. This is the tragedy of our nation.

    Whereas, today’s economic indicators call for serious sober reflection and introspection, asking for subsidy for pilgrimage, a religious-cum-spiritual exercise, at a time the government is seriously scouting for lifeline to revive the comatose economy, smacks of shallow thinking by our so-called senators. This is the more reason they have earned the sobriquet jesters or alawada, in Yoruba.

  • This boiling cauldron

    We have travelled this road before. And it is as if tension and political upheaval have become part and parcel of the country’s evolution. In the early 1960s, there was so much confusion which gradually snowballed into a major conflagration in the form of a civil war that lasted for more than three years, with deaths and destruction on its trail.

    From then on, a rash of military regimes followed. These military regimes also had their downsides in the form of the many struggles of different bands of coup plotters to upstage and undo one another in the quest for political power. A halt was later placed on the activities of these soldiers of fortune when, in 1999, democracy or democratic governance was ushered into the country after many years of military interregnum.

    One would have thought that our politicians have learnt some bitter lessons in the past that would prepare them for a better understanding of governance. But if we ever held this belief, today’s politicians have made nonsense of our democratic adventure by slipping into the old dog-eat-dog approach to power. At the moment, the country is beset by a wide range of intractable issues which, if not carefully handled and quickly doused, could lead the country to another major political conflagration.

    In the first instance, the country has had an absentee president in the last 73 days or so. During this period, it is apparent that some evil-minded individuals have taken advantage of his absence to upset the country’s centripetal force. And like the common refrain, ‘when the force can no longer hold the periphery, things will certainly fall apart.’

    It is clear to every discerning mind that we are gradually approaching the precipice. And to avoid the looming calamity, we all need to pray and pray hard. Besides, the troublemakers among us should think twice and put the interest of the whole country into consideration rather than narrowing everything down to their parochial interests.

    It is clear that the uncertainty surrounding President Muhammadu Buhari’s health condition in the United Kingdom has given room to all manner of speculation and innuendo. Several rumours are flying all over the place and this is shaking the confidence of investors both within and outside the country. It is an open secret that the President has almost become a lone ranger in his fight against corruption. Even though he has been doing all he could to put a stop to the cankerworm, those around him, especially those his wife, Aisha and Senator Shehu Sani recently tagged “hyenas and jackals”, seem not to be particularly interested in the crusade.

    Now that the president is out of the country for treatment, political jobbers have turned the issue of his ill-health to unnecessary distraction and political soap opera instead of assisting in continuing with the fight against corruption so that we can salvage this country. This is why those who can read between the lines have kept on saying that corruption is, indeed, fighting back. When you look at it critically, corruption in Nigeria has become so entrenched in our body politics that it may take many Buharis to entangle the country from it fangs.

    The President left the shores of the country on Sunday, May 8, for medical treatment in the UK and the nation was told that the duration of his stay in London would be determined by his doctors. Quite alright. The same president had earlier embarked on medical vacation in the same country in January and spent 49 days. Upon his return then, the President declared that he had never been that ill. This statement was in sharp contrast with what his handlers and top government officials had consistently sold to the public that he was hale and hearty.

    So, when he left on this second wellness voyage, his detractors mostly from the opposition party as well as some fifth columnists in his own party went to town with a lot of conjectures. The result is that, today, the country is witnessing a lot of fractionalisation on all fronts: the executive and the legislature are at each other’s jugular; the hitherto peaceful herdsmen are suddenly on the rampage killing and maiming people all over the place; ethnic bigots and chauvinists have also not been left out as the Arewa youths and their counterpart in the south-east are also trading tackles; while the drumbeats of restructuring are louder than ever, etc.

    As it is, all attempts to broker peace between the executive and the legislature, have so far, not yielded any tangible result. Instead, what we witness on a daily basis are accusations, counter-accusations, boycotts, threats and the issuance of inflammatory statements from both sides. As for the herdsmen who are up in arms against their host communities, it is a tell-tale of bloodshed never before witnessed at any time in the country.

    As a result of this, many people have either been killed or displaced with their houses burnt to ashes and their economic well-being ruined. It is like a war on its own between the herdsmen and the pastoralists in many parts of the country which is fuelling speculations that a new form of Jihad might be in the offing.

    The same goes for the needless altercation between some radical youths in the northern part of the country and their fellow countrymen from the south-east. The bone of contention is the incessant threat by some indigenes of the south-east, under the aegis of Indigenous Peoples Of Biafra, IPOB and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, to secede from the country. Things came to a head towards the end of last May, when IPOB, under the leadership of the restless Nnamdi Kanu, who had just been released from months of incarceration, called his people to observe a sit-at-home to press their demand for secession. The exercise was largely successful in most parts of the south-east as the roads were deserted on the appointed day.

    The success recorded by the order might have infuriated the radical youths from the northern part of the country who simply resorted to the Mosaic law of a tooth-for-a-tooth by issuing an ultimatum for the south-easterners living in any part of the northern states to vacate the north effective October 1. Their argument is that since they are so desirous and desperate to leave Nigeria for their phantom Biafra, they should quicken their exit by severing all relationships with the north henceforth.

    Since then, this issue has aggravated the tension in the land as each group strives to hold on to their gun powder. Even though the initial ferocity may have reduced, there are still residual fears that come October 1, some die-hard northern youths may decide to carry out their threat. Those who hold this belief are good students of history. They have not forgotten the pogrom that preceded the civil war in 1966 when Ibos were mercilessly massacred in the northern part of the country.

    The above issues and many more including the wide and renewed clamour for restructuring the polity have provided a platform for agitators in the country. And if there is any one group of people that is so worried about all these developments, it is the National Peace Committee led by former Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar. The committee met in Abuja on Monday, July 17, to deliberate on the latest developments in the country and proffer ways out of the quagmire.

    Who knows, Nigeria might be lucky yet again this time around because the country has a history of survival each time it is dragged precariously to the precipice. But then, the question is: Should we always overstretch the elasticity of God’s benevolence over us due to our inherent human foibles?  A word is enough for the wise!

  • The Abiku called Magu

    The Abiku called Magu

    In vain your bangles cast
    Charmed circles at my feet; 
    I am Abiku, calling for the first
    And the repeated time….
    — Wole Soyinka

    The above quotation is the opening stanza in the eight-paragraph poem titled Abiku by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. Abiku in Yoruba folklore refers to a child that is predestined to die. The child comes and goes repeatedly at intervals in spite of all the sacrifice and rituals performed by the consequently repeatedly bereaved parents to prevent him or her from coming back to them.

    In this opening stanza, the Abiku is literally mocking the bereaved parents as he or she comes calling for the umpteenth time in spite of the sacrifices and incisions put on his/her body in order to prevent him/her from going back again. The Abiku simply comes and goes freely, in defiance of all the rituals.    

    The running episode of Ibrahim Magu, the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has become the modern day story of Abiku as told by Soyinka in his poem written more than 50 years ago. Just when people thought the Magu story was gradually thawing out, all of a sudden, the issue of confirmation or no confirmation has again reared its head. And this time, the real battle line seems to have been drawn between the presidency, that is, the executive and the Senate representing the legislative arm of government.

    The bone of contention is who has the final say on Magu’s appointment or confirmation as chairman of the EFCC. For what you care, the issue has been raging with different dimensions for several months since he first appeared for screening at the Senate chambers in December 2016. At that time, he was rejected by the senators on the ground that a damaging report about him was forwarded to it by a sister agency, the Department of State Security, DSS.

    It was obvious that the Senate merely used the DSS’s report as a smokescreen to tactically edge Magu out because during the screening, he was not allowed to defend himself against the allegations put forward by the DSS. A furious presidency then took up the case and set up a panel headed by the Attorney-General of the Federation to look into the allegations and report back to it. After a few weeks, the panel returned a not-guilty verdict but by this time, the President, Muhammadu Buhari, had gone on medical vacation abroad.

    On the President’s return, this clean bill of health emboldened the presidency to re-nominate him and forward his name back to the Senate for confirmation once more. But just before he was invited to come forward for a second screening, the DSS had laid an ambush for him in the form of another letter restating and reaffirming its earlier position that, indeed, Magu was not fit to be appointed or confirmed as chairman of the anti-graft body.

    But the presidency would not hear anything like that and so the issue has become an undying tussle between the executive and the legislative arm of government. The matter came to a head last week when Yemi Osinbajo, the acting President, made it known publicly that Magu will certainly remain the chairman of the EFCC no matter what. This was contained in his address read on his behalf by Nasir el-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna State, at the commissioning of the EFCC office complex in Kaduna.

    That pronouncement must have greatly rattled the Senate who had earlier vowed not to screen any nominee sent to it by the presidency for confirmation into any office as long as its directive on Magu is not carried out. As it is, it is crystal clear that both the presidency and the Senate are now at daggers-drawn over this issue.

    But why is this so? The issue has to do with the ambition of Bukola Saraki, the Senate President. Saraki has never hidden the fact that he is very ambitious. If possible, he can even impeach Osibanjo, and that issue has formed a major platform of subterranean gossip in the media in recent times. But the fact remains that Saraki can crush anybody standing on his way and one of those people is Magu. Saraki wouldn’t mind if he could have his way to keep Magu away so as not to constitute a perpetual stumbling block to his ambition.

    The reason is simple. Magu has severally dealt with Saraki in the past on some alleged corruption issues. And now that he is Senate President, Saraki is a man who knows how to use power and he knows how to command loyalty as well. Above all, he is very smart. He believes he can get to anywhere he wants in this country. In the first instance, he controls the levers of politics in Kwara State, his homestead. In that case, if he wants to come back to the Senate as many times as he wishes, he would surely get it because he is in total control.

    Since President Buhari decided to play the politics of non-interference right from the onset, that gave Saraki the latitude to zero-in on his colleagues. He knows patronage and how to dish it out. That is why he was able to convince his colleagues that Magu is bent on destroying the National Assembly by planning to probe their activities. As a result of this, all the members have queued behind him for the sake of survival. So, what is going on now may be viewed as a survival war between the senators and Magu.

    Besides, there are two other conflicting or confounding issues involved in this. The presidency is claiming that the constitution supersedes the EFCC Act, meaning that the EFCC Act is subordinate to section 171 of the constitution which says the President can appoint without necessarily sending the name to the Senate for confirmation. One would have expected either the Senate or the presidency to go to court for proper interpretation. At least, it will help our democracy.

    The Senate’s argument, and by extension, the argument of the National Assembly, is that the executive does not respect their resolution. The question is: If they believe strongly that the person rejected by them must vacate office immediately, why did they bend over backward to screen Magu a second time? By their action, it means the President can nominate Magu as many times as possible because the interpretation of the constitution gives the President the power to nominate as many times as possible.

    For those who believe that it could have been a different ball game if Buhari was physically present in the country, the issue is neither here nor there. This is because it was under Buhari’s nose that the DSS wrote the damaging report against Magu, not once, but twice. You can imagine a government appointee antagonising another appointee of the same government and the President looking the other way. The impression that gives is that the President is weak. This is where the problem with this government lies.

    At any rate, Osibanjo may be trying his best to reverse this trend, but with the wolves hovering around him in the Villa, it appears there is little he can do, otherwise, he could easily be labelled a spoiler, a saboteur or an over-ambitious fellow. For instance, can Osibanjo tame a Lawal Musa Daura, the Director General of the DSS, who is reported to have clandestinely done recruitment into his department, secretly bringing in 50 recruits from Katsina State alone, while Lagos had just a miserable seven?

    Though Magu may have his own excesses such as being too undiplomatic as well as lacking finesse in his dealings, but give it to him that he is ready to prosecute the anti-corruption war to its logical conclusion. While the debate was raging last week, all Magu could contribute was that a prison should be built in the notorious Sambisa Forest to permanently keep away corrupt Nigerians from civilisation. That is surely one of the undiplomatic utterances of a man in the eye of a storm.

  • Fashola Vs NASS

    Fashola Vs NASS

    The verbal war between Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing and members of the National Assembly, NASS, intensified last week when the minister took on the spokespersons of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both Sabi Abdullahi, the chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Abdulrazak Saad Namdas, had earlier taken the minister to the cleaners over his comments on the discrepancies noted in the 2017 appropriation bill. The bill was recently signed into law by the acting president, Yemi Osinbajo.

    The document was still dripping with the ink of Osinbajo’s pen when Fashola raised the alarm over the drastic slashing of the budget estimate for the completion of some key projects in the country. The projects had dragged on for too long, making it look as if they would be under construction for eternity while Fashola is determined to conclude the projects. The projects include the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Second Niger Bridge, the Mambilla power plant, the Bodo-Bonny road, the Kano-Maiduguri road and others.

    The major plank of Fashola’s grudge was that even though his ministry had gone through the tortuous process of budget defence in the NASS, members of the NASS still went behind to insert into the budget some funny projects like boreholes, health centres, grinding machines and others, which are not on the concurrent list. Besides, Fashola said, the items that were inserted into the budget through the backdoor were items which should ordinarily be the concern of either states or local governments.

    In an attempt to get funding for these mushroom projects, the NASS had tinkered with the financial allocations for the afore-mentioned key projects. For instance, whereas the sum of N31 billion was earmarked for the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, after the ministry had successfully defended the allocation, NASS went behind and slashed it to a paltry N10 billion.

    Similarly, the allocation of N15 billion for the Second Niger Bridge was mischievously slashed to N10 billion. The allocations for the other projects, including the Mambilla power project, were equally drastically slashed, thereby rendering the ministry powerless and unable to meet its target of accelerating the construction of these projects.

    While defending the actions of NASS, the two spokespersons had berated Fashola and accused him of being interested in awarding big contracts. They also pointed out that other items were introduced into the budget for the purpose of equity, amongst other reasons for their action. For instance, on the issue of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, they said NASS took the action because there was a subsisting concession agreement with a private developer on a Public-Private Partnership, PPP.

    But Fashola dismissed this as mere balderdash. He accused the lawmakers of revelling in ignorance. He also said that it amounts to a waste of taxpayers’ money and  unnecessary distortion of planning and development for all sections of the country, for lawmakers to unilaterally insert items not under the exclusive or concurrent lists of the constitution like boreholes and street lights after putting Ministries, Departments and Agencies  (MDAs) through the process of Budget Defence. The minister tried as much as possible to educate the lawmakers on their actual role in budget making.

    But the story behind the scene is totally different from the picture put forward by the NASS. For instance, on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project, NASS talked about PPP arrangement but Fashola said that there’s no existing PPP. What the NASS has failed to disclose to the public is that a lawyer and controversial private investor who could not deliver on his agreement to undertake the construction of the road in question in the past, has suddenly resurfaced. This investor proposed a fresh PPP arrangement to finance the road. The government did not reject his offer.

    However, the government is of the opinion that work should go on as scheduled. But with a proviso that if and when he comes up with the funds, the government will only deduct what has been spent on the road and concession the road to him. This idea seems not to have gone down well with the lawyer as he insisted that he would rather have his way. In a bid to achieve this, he then approached the leadership of NASS and struck a deal with them for the PPP. This explains why the NASS now went ahead to ruthlessly slash the budget of the road based on the anticipation of funds that may never materialise.

    The same private developer had, many years ago, struck the same deal with assurances of funding given to him by the defunct Oceanic Bank. But the whole arrangement fell flat on its face when the then governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, now Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, moved against some banks. In the process, the then chairman and managing director of Oceanic Bank lost her seat and the bank went under. Consequently, work on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was stalled for several years. It was only the coming of the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration that breathed life into the almost moribund road.

    Similarly, Fashola has addressed the issue of the 2nd Niger Bridge. What really happened was that there was no design for the link road to the bridge on both sides – Asaba and Onitsha ends. That was just recently approved by the Federal Executive Council, FEC. Also, there were issues of right of way and compensation to communities which is being handled by the governors of Delta and Anambra states. Therefore, the piling that has so far been done on the bridge was just to give a semblance of activities on the bridge. Even at that, no money had been released by the finance ministry, meaning that none was returned as insinuated by the NASS.

    It would also be interesting to note that the NASS also tinkered with government’s plans on housing. Government’s plan in this sector is to kick-start a National Housing Scheme in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. A budget of N70 billion was earmarked to kick-start the project. That amount was also cut to N28 billion by the NASS. In its place, the NASS members inserted such items as bore holes, primary schools, health centres, grinding machines, motorcycles, toothpicks etc. as constituency projects.

    It may interest the public to know that the health centreses don’t have support staff (nurses, doctors, etc) and some of the buildings are just there serving no useful purposes. Boreholes too, are without maintenance or servicing plans which means that they could become relics after a year or or so if their being commissioned.

    With all these revelations, it is shameful that in spite of the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians for ambitious infrastructural development with adequate and steady power supply in the country, members of NASS seem to be thinking otherwise. That is the only way to explain what happened to the allocation for the Mambilla power plant, the biggest power project ever in the country. Its allocation was slashed by N4 billion, thereby making the counterpart funding by government for the Chinese company that was billed to undertake the construction of the project, extremely impossible. If things go on at this rate, the project may remain on the drawing board and may never see the light of day, courtesy of our almighty but visionless lawmakers.

    A serious nation needs to prioritise it’s developmental projects and commit resources to those projects rather than doing boreholes and buying grinding machines which can be handled by state governments and local governments. It is quite obvious that our lawmakers have constituted themselves into stumbling block on the path of national development. Therefore, to get back on track, the lawmakers at all levels need to step up in every way through their thoughts and actions so as to help move this country forward rather than dwelling on mundane issues and other inanities. May God help us; help Nigeria!

  • Budget blues

    Budget blues

    We are at it again! Since the return of democratic rule in the country in 1999, one nagging issue has continued to rear its ugly head in our national history. It has to do with national budget making. Between 1999 and 2007, the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency seemed to have found a way to manage issues concerning the yearly ritual.

    Then came the late Umaru Yar’Adua administration. It is on record that throughout the few years he held sway as president before he was snatched away by the cold hands of death, there was no major controversy over the nation’s budget. How he managed to do that is left to conjecture. The same cannot be said about Goodluck Jonathan, his successor, under whose watch the nation witnessed the greatest perfidy and rape of the treasury.

    But for the sudden removal of Abdulrahman Jibrin, the erstwhile chairman of the Appropriation Committee of the House of Representatives some time ago, no one could have known the magnitude of corruption that has been trailing the yearly ritual of budget making in the National Assembly. Jibrin opened a can of worms and inundated the public with the various methods through which the lawmakers had been milking the nation dry via the yearly appropriation ritual. Since the matter is now a subject of intense investigation by one of the anti-graft agencies, we’ll leave it for another day.

    The 2017 appropriation bill is, therefore, coming after Jibrin’s expose. One would have thought that the lawmakers in the National Assembly would be more circumspect in their handling of this year’s budget. But obviously, it is a case of the leopard never changing its spots. Although, Yemi Osinbajo, the acting President, has finally signed the 2017 budget into law after a lot of needless controversy over whether he was the right person to sign the document as prescribed by the constitution or not, another Pandora box has again been opened.

    This time, it is not a member of the National Assembly squealing on the others; it is a minister of the Federal Republic that seems not to be at tune with the conduct of the legislators. Even the acting President said that much at a recent forum when he berated the legislators for acting beyond their mandate by tinkering with the budget through the introduction of sundry items that were not in the budget estimate submitted by the executive to them. Pronto, the legislators took him on and accused him of knowing too little about the act of legislating especially with regard to budgeting. Yakubu Dogara, the speaker of the House of Representatives, threw in the gauntlet and tried to educate the professor of law that the legislators have the right to either cut or increase the budget proposal.

    That controversy about who had what powers was still raging when the appropriation bill was eventually signed into law. No sooner had this happened than Babatunde Fashola, who has the singular honour of presiding over three important ministries – works, power and housing, now collapsed into one – came out openly to accuse the legislators of meddlesomeness. Fashola said even though he had appeared before the legislators to defend his ministry’s budget estimates, he was surprised that the lawmakers still went ahead to tamper with his proposals and even went further to introduce into the appropriation bill, items that were not in the initial estimates.

    Obviously, Fashola, a lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, as well as being an erstwhile two-term governor of Lagos State, is not  happy over the reduction in budgetary allocations to some flagship projects proposed by his office. He is particularly irked by the unilateral slashing of his ministry’s budgetary allocations to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project from N31bn to N10bn; and the Second Niger Bridge from N15bn to N10bn. But while reacting to Fashola’s claims, the House of Representatives said the minister’s statement were mischievous. Also, the Senate, in a statement by Sabi Abdullahi, its Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs, justified the lawmakers’ action which he said was to ensure equity.

    Abdulahi said: “The National Assembly already has an agreement with the acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, that if, for example, the private finance initiative does not materialise to provide the needed funds for the completion of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, just as in other areas where government has issues with the budget, the instruments of virement and supplementary budget can be used.

    “This is as a result of our belief that it is one government and we all share the gains of the successes and pains of the failure. However, with the blackmail and back-biting going on, they are already laying the foundation for the failure of the agreement with the executive.”

    One wonders why the issue of budget making will continue to throw up much dust in this country. It is very clear that something is wrong somewhere. Perhaps, we should not develop goose pimples because the executive submitted a N7.298 trillion appropriation bill to the National Assembly but in their “wisdom” the National Assembly returned a N7.441 trillion remake, thereby hiking the bill by a whooping N143 billion. By doing this, the National Assembly may have acted within its powers to either adjust downward or upward as the case may be. Like accountants like to say, budgeting is not garbage in, garbage out. It is a serious exercise that entails rational, critical analysis as well as sound judgement. This may have been lacking in the conduct of the lawmakers.

    Agreed. A national budget is a country’s projected income and expenditure profile for a particular period. But majority of Nigerians from all walks of life, ethnic, tribal or religious background, who commute on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway everyday must be gnashing their teeth that the pain and anguish they face on the road are not about to abate. Down the years, the expressway has steadily become a travellers’ nightmare. We may have all lost count of the various accidents and wanton destruction of lives, property and economic well-being that occur on the road almost on a daily basis because of the perpetual construction that is going on there, but those who have lost their loved ones will not forget in a hurry.

    This is the concern of this column. Initially, Nigerians had hoped that by 2019 which was the earlier projected completion date, they will heave a sigh of relief. But that is no more, no thanks to our lawmakers who do not care about the people who voted them into office. The whole thing is about pecuniary gains and nobody wants to know whether there is a virement or supplementary budget in place or not. What Nigerians want is for a speedy completion of this road which links every part to the country’s major economic artery.

    The lawmakers have come up with such puerile and pedestrian argument that Fashola may just be interested in presiding over the awards of big contracts. That does not make any sense. To so drastically cut down a budget that could possibly accelerate the completion of the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, at a time when contractors were threatening to pull out except a backlog of N15 billion owed them is paid, is the greatest disservice a group of people who call themselves lawmakers can do to their people and their fatherland.

    They still went further to tamper with the budget of the 2nd Niger Bridge at a time people from that part of the country are threatening fire and brimstone unless they are sufficiently accommodated in the scheme of things. This smacks of insensitivity and lack of responsiveness to the yearnings and aspirations of the people. Perhaps, what the lawmakers could have done was to have left all those projects they introduced into their dream supplementary appropriation, instead of demonstrating that they do not have the love of the people at heart. Equity my foot!

  • The Evans’ story

    The Evans’ story

    If there is anything Nigerians earnestly ask for and wish could be granted, it is the security of life and property. The reason is simple. In recent times, the number of Nigerians who have lost their lives and hard-earned property to criminal activities is quite high. Such criminal activities include armed-robbery, kidnapping, assassination, cultism, as well as brutality and mayhem unleashed by law enforcement officers on innocent citizens.

    The security agents appear either overwhelmed or powerless because of the sophistication of the weapons being used by criminals. Besides, the security agents, particularly the Police, talk about lack of adequate welfare or insurance cover for them. This is why even though they are trained to combat criminals, the best option they always consider is to vote with their feet rather than confronting menacing armed-robbers, kidnappers, assassins and other hoodlums for fear of being sent to their early graves.

    Perhaps, it is for this reason and many more that criminals seem to be having the upper hand in their ruthless dare-devilry all over the place. So, recently when the police announced that they had finally apprehended Chukwudumeje Onwuamadike, known to his foot-soldiers as Evans, after many years of manhunt for the kidnap kingpin, it was celebration galore at the  headquarters of the Lagos State police command. Many people have also been rattled by the news as they now make for any available news-stand every morning to read the latest information about the celebrated criminal.

    From his personal account of his escapades, Evans is terror personified. As an apprentice at a very early age in life, after he stopped going to school shortly after his JSS3, he started stealing from his boss. From there, he rose rapidly on the ladder of crime by becoming an armed-robber in his home state of Anambra, then moving to Edo State to continue his exploits and finally berthing in Lagos where he expanded his coast and added kidnapping to his portfolio of crime. In between, he had been to South Africa, where according to him, he tried his hands on drug peddling but had to retreat when he nearly lost his life after a disagreement with a client or customer who shot him in the shoulder and took him for dead.

    Evans later found kidnapping more lucrative and easy to perpetrate. The returns were so high to the extent that he dared to be different by collecting ransom in dollars. According to him, the first breakthrough was a victim in Festac Town, Lagos, who bought his freedom with a cool $1 million, the equivalent of today’s N365 million. Not only this, Evans actually said he once mounted pressure on a rich man who paid him a whooping N100 million to avoid being kidnapped. By the last count, his victim count was more than 15 people who had to pay a minimum of $1 million to buy their freedom.

    Nemesis however caught up with him when a pharmacist his gang had abducted from his pharmaceutical company in the Ilupeju area of Lagos, miraculous escaped from the dungeon in the Igando area of Lagos where he had been kept for more than a month. Even though the victim had parted with N100 million as ransom, Evans had insisted that he should complete the N500 million tag placed on his head or there is no deal. It was in the process that the man managed to escape and thereafter, one thing led to another and Evans was picked up effortlessly at his mansion in the Magodo area of Lagos. Since then, he has been singing like canary.

    Nigeria has a history of well-heeled criminals who come to the national scene from time to time. It is only when they are finally busted by the security agents that their satanic exploits are chronicled for people to see. I am sure, before Evans was arrested, many people didn’t know that such a character existed in our midst. His story reads like the exploits of past celebrated criminals including Ishola Oyenusi, Lawrence Anini,  Kelvin Krekpe and many others who have all passed to the great beyond through violent deaths and public execution.

    For those who are old enough to remember Ishola Oyenusi’s exploits in the early 70s, Oyenusi, an Okitipupa, Ondo State-born criminal, took the whole of the old Western Region by storm in the early 1970s until his escapades were cut short by security agents when he was finally arrested. Unlike Evans who seems to be afraid of death even though he had done incalculable harm to many of his victims and even killed some, Oyenusi bared it all. He was never remorseful nor did he plead for leniency. All through his trial, he was taunting his prosecutors and boasting of some invincible powers. On the day he was executed with his gang members, he absorbed so many bullets before he finally succumbed to death. The following day, a prominent newspaper went to town with the banner headline: “98 bullets to finish Oyenusi”.

    Lawrence Anini, came to the scene between 1985 and 1987 when his gang took over Edo State particularly Benin City, the state capital. He terrorised the people so much and dispatched quite a good number of people including security agents to their early graves. He was finally executed by firing squad. Similarly, Kelvin Krekpe, was the leader of the rampaging armed robbers who terrorised highbrow areas of Abuja like Maitama, Asokoro, Wuse and others between 1998 and 2001. His gang was a group of eight armed-robbers who were mostly from the same part of the country – Warri and Ughelli – in Delta State.

    Known as millionaire armed-robbers because of their method of operation, mode of dressing and exotic cars they rode about, they had operated together consistently for about 10 years before they were finally caught. When they seized Abuja by the jugular in 1998, their mode of dressing, usually expensive suits churned out by the best designers around, earned them the sobriquet ‘Executive Robbers.’ Not only this, their choice of victims and areas of operation also contributed to this popular name in Abuja. The gang had no iota of respect for personalities and for any office. They made so much money because most of their victims were highly placed people.

    Now, many years after, another celebrated criminal has surfaced and this time, with more chilling stories of his escapades. It appears that Evans’ strength in his criminal activities are the informants who give would-be victims away. These are either friends, business associates, family members or any other close acquaintances of the victims. Evans himself has said that he only collects money on behalf of “those who own the money” while he only collects his own share. Who are these people? We need to know.

    Moreover, a steel safe was said to have been recovered from his house in Magodo. Up till today, nobody has mentioned that any money was recovered from his house. That is quite surprising as a person like that who collects huge ransoms will certainly have some huge cash at home in whatever currency. Besides, Evans has mentioned that a certain monarch or Igwe, who also doubles as his native doctor, was part of his gang. We have not heard that the native doctor had been picked. Also, a medical doctor was said to always be on hand to treat the injured victims; that also should be treated as an accomplice.

    Finally, those who are pounding the social media with the #FreeEvans campaign are nothing more than the foot soldiers who may have been recruited by his accomplices yet to be unmasked. Remember, this is a multi-billion naira criminal enterprise and they would do anything to fight for their lives. And like erudite lawyer, Femi Falana and others have been saying, the life of Evans should be preserved at all costs so that we can get to the bottom of his criminal exploits and rein in all those involved. It is only then that we can breathe the air of freedom, at least, for now.

  • Developing the Niger Delta region

    Developing the Niger Delta region

    Nigerians have always had cause to condemn the activities of their elected representatives, particularly those at the National Assembly, NASS. The reason for this is that many Nigerians believe the representatives are usually selfish and have been doing everything possible to protect their minority interests rather than the interest of the larger society. That is why for quite some time, the battle has been on for the NASS members to disclose their total take-home pay which the public suspect is mouth-watering, an emolument that does not correspond with the actual performance of the legislators. As a matter of fact, there are many more areas of friction between the NASS and the people.

    But by and large, a recent development in the Lower House clearly indicates that the legislators may have, at last, decided to identify with the people in the people’s quest to have a better deal with the government. The day was May 9. That day, Leo Ogor, the Minority Leader of the House, presented an amendment bill to adjust the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, (Fiscal Incentives, Guarantees and Assurances) Act. A provision called section 7b, which is an addition to the Principal Law was added to the amended bill. It states that: “Notwithstanding section 7 or any other section of this Act, the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited shall pay 3% of its total annual budget to the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Fund as required by section 14, subsection 1 and 2b of the NDDC Establishment Act, 2000.”

    While making the presentation, the House Minority Leader said: “The amendment to this Act is aimed at redressing the great injustice that the NLNG has meted out to the people of the Niger Delta region for almost 27 years now”. Promptly, in what is generally seen as a departure from the ugly past in which very important bills like this are left to gather dust on the shelves, the House, without further equivocation, passed the bill.

    With that passage of the amendment bill, the battle has now been shifted to the hallowed chambers of the Senate for the mandatory concurrence in order to breathe life into the bill. With that, the rigmarole that had attended the passage of the bill all along would have been brought to a safe conclusion.

    But the management of the NLNG is not accepting this without a fight. In fact, the corporation has been crying blue murder. The NLNG is saying that it is one of the biggest promoters of corporate social responsibility, CSR, in the country, especially in the Niger Delta region where it operates. The management also laments that the amendment is a threat to the continued existence of the company because the NLNG had succeeded so far, due to the provisions of the NLNG Act.

    This, according to it, gave investors the confidence to invest in the country. But with the amendment, that confidence could be eroded and such a development could jeopardise ongoing investments for the continued survival of the company. Generally, the management is of the opinion that the amendment will discourage the inflow of investments into the country.

    From the lamentations of the NLNG, it appears the company does not want to operate within the existing laws of the country whether with any amendment or not. What the House of Representatives simply did was to pass an amendment to the existing bill requiring the NLNG to pay three percent of its humongous yearly profits to the NDDC as part of its social duties to a region ravaged by neglect in spite of its abundant wealth – oil and gas.

    Other companies in the region have acquiesced to this, although some do in name only but not always in deed, leaving the NDDC to be chasing defaulters all over the place. But one thing is that the defaulting companies, at least, recognise the supremacy of the law of the land. The same thing should apply to the NLNG which has already enjoyed some tax holidays in this regard.

    It is good news that the House of Representatives has now finally decided to put national interest above the cynicism that has characterised our political elite who collude with the oil and gas companies to oppress their own people. If the idea of the tax holiday granted to the NLNG was to enable the company to firmly get its act together and thus create a solid foundation for business take-off, it has surely had more than a generation to do so. This is the more reason the company should realise that it is time to gloriously bow to the impulse of the people and put aside just three percent to develop the area where it has had it marvellously good through the years.

    The argument or the claim that the NLNG does not pollute the region, but merely processes, does not hold water. The management of the NLNG should not pretend as if they are operating from the moon or that they are less concerned about the growing agitation for a better deal as being canvassed expeditiously by the people of the Niger Delta region who have been badly treated since oil and gas were discovered in their bowels in 1956. Since then the people have borne the brunt of the massive exploration and exploitation that has taken place in the region without commensurate compensation or anything substantial to show except poverty, misery and disease.

    The NLNG makes about N500 billion a year. And it is not even being asked to pay tithe or even half a tithe, but a measly fraction. Yet it yells in pain. The NLNG is owned by four shareholders, and Nigeria, represented by the NNPC, owns 49 per cent. The balance belongs to Shell Gas BV, Total LNG Nigeria Ltd, and ENI International Ltd. These firms control 25.6 percent, 15 percent and 10.4 percent respectively.

    Since the establishment of the NDDC in 1999, its activities have been seen from different perspectives by both critics and admirers of the agency. On account of its intervention in the infrastructural uplift of the member states, the commission has, to a large extent, lived up to its mandate. But some people have argued that its achievement profile hardly matches the funds at its disposal.

    The heightened expectations are not unconnected with the bloated impression by some people that the agency has an unlimited mandate. They easily forget that the peculiarities of the topography of the Niger Delta pose a lot of challenges to its development in terms of money and time. Perhaps, that is why it is easy for people who do not understand the terrain to hastily jump to wrong conclusions and/or assumptions.

    As it stands today, the NDDC is being owed a staggering amount of N1.8 trillion in unpaid statutory allocations in the past 15 years by federal government who set up the commission to develop the Niger Delta. In addition to this, the Ecological Fund, another federal government outfit, also owes the commission more than N45 billion. This is not inclusive of tax evasions by some multi-national companies who have been mandated by the law, to pay certain amounts of money to the coffers of the NDDC yearly. Going by all of this, therefore, with what magic wand is the NDDC expected to carry out its mandate and the quick transformation of the Niger Delta region?

    The federal government should urgently put in place a mechanism through which all the money accruable to the NDDC is paid promptly and as due to the coffers of the commission to enable the department  carry out its mandate without any hindrance. Those who relent in the remittance of their statutory dues to the commission should be heavily sanctioned to serve as deterrence to others.

    The task of developing the Niger Delta can no longer be undertaken with kid gloves. The government and other stakeholders must stop their hide and seek games and give the region the necessary attention it deserves.

  • The Chibok girls

    The Chibok girls

    Perhaps, if not for the event that occurred on the night of April 14, 2014, Chibok would have just remained at the backwaters of Borno State where majority of the inhabitants just tend to their pastoral duties to eke a living. But all that has changed. The story of Chibok community that neither produces oil which, by any standard, is an international article of trade that easily attracts world attention, nor even home to any of those sky-scrappers adorning the landscape of most sought-after European cities, has now become a topic of discussion all over the globe.

    History can be made through the good, the bad and sometimes, the ugly. For Chibok, the community has snitched into global attention through the bad and ugly spectre of its recent past. That casual night of April 14, 2014, no fewer than 270 students gathered at the premises of Chibok Girls Secondary School, in preparation for one of their final exams that will see them graduate from the school. Then, all of a sudden, there was bedlam.

    A group of misguided individuals possibly indoctrinated into a deadly religious cult called Boko Haram or ‘Western education is bad,’ swooped on the students and in one fell swoop, abducted 270 school girls, loaded them into waiting trucks and drove out of the school compound. As the column of vehicles tore into the night moving as fast as possible to avoid either any interception or detection, news of the abduction filtered into the village and threw the general community into turmoil. That started an ordeal both for the school girls, their helpless parents, the Nigerian government, the international community and many activists who rose to the occasion.

    Today, three years on, with almost 117 girls already released by their captors, it appears tremendous progress has been made to secure the release of the unfortunate girls. Now, the girls are being rehabilitated to enable them live a normal life once more as normal human beings after their ordeal in the hands of the terrorists during which time some of them became sex slaves and even bore children for the terrorists who they may never see again. In that case, they may have to live with certain stigmatization from their community and people around them. For some of them, going back to live a normal life might be an uphill task as they may have been exposed to certain reckless and unproductive lifestyles revolving around sex and drug addiction.

    This is the more reason their relatives and parents should be properly co-opted into their rehabilitation process rather than the present situation whereby they are isolated and taken away far from home. There is nothing like getting accustomed to your natural habitat. Even if their handlers believe they have more to gain by living outside their immediate community, they should do it in such a way that they are allowed unfettered access to their families and relations from time to time rather than keeping them like ‘prisoners of war’.          However, there appears to be some missing links in the story of these Chibok girls of which only the government can provide honest answers to Nigerians who don’t really know what it cost to secure the release of the girls who have been released so far. We learnt that an exchange of some Boko Haram top commanders was involved in securing the release of the 82 girls recently released.

    Again, a British tabloid has reported that in addition to the freedom of the top commanders, a whooping sum of two million euros in cash was also in the bargain. Although the Nigerian government has furiously denied this, but with the release coinciding with the second anniversary of the Buhari administration, the issue of desperation to showcase an achievement to Nigerians may not be totally ruled out. This is more so as the release of the previous 21 girls captured was almost at the same time last year.

    This is why some people believe the Boko Haram war is probably being orchestrated because as it is, it appears the entire thing is being muddled up. Right now, the army has no clear exit date as enormous human and material resources are being poured into the prosecution of the senseless war. For how long are we going to continue? Is the end in sight or it is going to be a campaign ad infinitum?

    Nothing baffles me or let me say, many Nigerians, more than the screaming headline in one of the national dailies last Monday which read: “We’re teaching Chibok girls to speak good English.” In the story, the federal government said it had begun teaching the rescued schoolgirls how to speak proper English. Aisha Alhassan, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development who disclosed this in Abuja while receiving the recently rescued 82 girls, said the government has also employed 20 teachers to help the girls with remedial classes.

    Recall that the schoolgirls were said to be writing one of their final papers in either NECO or WAEC when the abductors came calling. From the look of things, some people are saying that that school could have been put to use as one of the miracle centres where pupils pay money to be assisted to write exams. A person just appears and writes the thing on the board while the pupils merely copy it down and pass on the paper at the end of the day. Otherwise, how come the schoolgirls who had almost completed their secondary school education cannot speak good English to the extent that three years down the line, they are now being taught how to speak good English.

    This is possibly lending credence to the widely held belief that the Boko Haram brouhaha is merely a smokescreen to persecute Christians. That is why many people don’t believe that what is going on is terrorism but systematic Islamization. That is probably why a brother to one of the rescued girls came out recently to say that the government was hiding something.

    It was learnt that on the night they were abducted, the schoolgirls were driven to a place inside Maiduguri where they were camped for few weeks before they were moved out to God-knows-where. Besides, whereas, the 21 girls earlier released were looking starved and forlorn, the second batch of 82 girls were looking well fed. What are we doing to ourselves? What has changed between when the first batch of 21 girls were released and the second batch of 82 were released? How are their captors getting food and clothing for them?

    The good news is that it is quite unusual for a major catastrophe in Africa to enjoy such a global limelight as the Chibok schoolgirls’ affair. It is quite commendable for Oby Ezekwesili and other activists who have stood in the rain and sun these past three years to demand for justice. Ultimately, the Chibok girls have become a symbol of the conflict in Nigeria and most of the under-developed world. The final and total rescue of the girls would underscore the importance that civilized society places on individuals, the ability of the state to protect its citizens, and the commitment the entire world has toward ensuring everyone is allowed to live their lives in peace and pursue their dreams.

    The Chibok girls have passed through what no other Nigerian may have passed through in recent time and still remain sane. The only thing we can do for them is to stand by them, provide for them the enabling environment to live their dreams and even surpass their earlier expectations. We must not fail them.

  • Encounter with a fellow Nigerian

    Few days back, I was engaged in a discussion with a fellow Nigerian, someone a bit older, around Surulere area of Lagos. The discussion centred around the goings-on in the country. At some point, the issue of Democracy Day which has become an annual ritual, following the return to civil rule in 1999, with Nigeria having endured torrid era on the back of the infamous annulment of the June 12, 1993 election, came to the fore.

    I would never have thought that the issue of which day between June 12 and May 29 should be regarded as Nigeria’s Democracy day could still stir up such raw anger in Nigerians. As soon as I struck that cord by just mentioning that this last Monday, May 29, had been declared as public holiday to mark this year’s Democracy Day, tempers flew.

    You could vividly notice the anger in the arena particularly in one man’s face as he looked casually at me and exclaimed: “Hmmm, Nigeria is a funny country. We like deceiving ourselves.”

    I quickly cut in and asked him: “Sir, I cannot understand your concern over this issue?” The man cleared his throat, and with subdued anger, he said: “You see, to be frank with you, Nigeria’s Democracy day is June 12 and not any other date all these political adventurers want to enforce on us.”

    He went further: “Obasanjo is the architect of this whole grandiose confusion. He was a direct beneficiary of the pains, the labour and the anguish of a fellow Egba man, the late Moshood Kashimawo Olawale, (MKO) Abiola. As we all know, Abiola won the June 12, 1993 presidential election but the powers that be at that time, prevented him from reaping the fruit of his labour by annulling, in the most brazen and callous manner, that election. That threw the country into total political darkness for which we are still to extricate ourselves till date.”

    I listened attentively to the man without making any attempt to interrupt him whatsoever, until he got to a stage where he took a deep breath, fixed his eyes permanently on me for a while and then shook his head as if in regret. It was then I summoned courage to say one or two things. I told him point-blank that many Nigerians including yours sincerely, share in the agony of that unjustifiable annulment which plunged the country into a serious political crises and further divided the country.

    At this point, the man cleared his throat once more and exploded: “You see, I am sure you will agree with me that (Olusegun) Obasanjo was foisted on Nigerians as president in 1999 in order to placate the South-west. Not only that. He was considered a good replacement for a fellow Egba man who had been cheated. What then would you have expected from a person like that? The least anyone could have expected was for him to give honour to whom honour was due. That he never did. Instead, he went into a long roller-coaster and never, for once, acknowledged the great contributions of the prodigious MKO to national political development.”

    “To add insult upon injury, the ungrateful Obasanjo or OBJ as he is fondly called, turned his own swearing-in date of May 29, as Nigeria’s Democracy Day. From then on, attempts were made to erase June 12, 1993 from Nigeria’s political calendar, Mind you, the date, June 12 means much more to the average Nigerian than May 29 which was just the beginning of another political jamboree in the country. So, if I may ask you, who actually is fooling who?”

    Honestly, the man’s admonition over the issue of which date deserves to be declared as Democracy Day in Nigeria brought back a feeling of nostalgia over the way and manner the late MKO was shuffled into Nigeria’s ever lengthening political casualty list. At the time of that election, I was a staff of Tell Magazine, Nigeria’s foremost magazine at that time that was involved in the struggle for the emancipation of the country from the iron rule of the jackboots. So that annulment was another stab in the back of those of us who believe in democracy as a system of government that can guarantee equal opportunities for Nigerians to compete in the market place of ideas.

    In MKO, was a man loved by many across the spectrum of the country. He touched lives. He demonstrated humility and uncanny love for humanity. Though, as a human being, he may have had his own frailties because, as they say, no one is perfect, but it was obviously clear that his perfections and good deeds overwhelmed whatever imperfection anybody could attribute to him. That was why from the south, east, west and north, people trooped out in their large numbers to cast their votes for him only for his trusted friends to betray him at the end of the day.

    The story of MKO and the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election result will forever remain a sore thumb in the political evolution of the country. It is quite clear that there are some anti-democratic forces masquerading as pseudo-democrats who, rather than see democracy practiced and nurtured to an acceptable political culture in Nigeria, will continue to cut corners and attempt to propagate their own concept of democracy which is centred on “chop-I-chop”. It is these adherents of chop-I-chop democracy and their faceless collaborators all over the place that are the real enemies of the people. They will never allow any democratic structure to take proper roots in Nigeria as long as they continue to milk our common patrimony without any consideration of how to replenish and re-energize it.

    The nature of the political terrain in which we operate is infinitely more complex, requiring more transparency than it was when we embarked on a fresh path of nation building on May 29, 1999. The challenges facing us in the pursuit of that same task today are daunting. Obviously, there is a new global dynamics of increasingly interdependent nation-states. This means that specific questions of governance and society, the criteria of determining the source and focus of political power, its limitations and ends, require the highest level of intellectual acuity to analyse.

    Paul Kennedy, a famous analyst once described Nigeria as a member of the Third World’s ‘third world’. We should, therefore, bear it in mind that this would seem to render the task of the country’s political thinkers even more challenging at this point of our evolution as a nation.

    Regrettably, what we experience on a daily basis in the country today is the call for restructuring that is taking a defaming turn all over the place. There are dissidents everywhere with each one calling for a good bargain under the country’s sovereignty. Many have turned it into their major pre-occupation sowing seeds of discord everywhere at every available opportunity. Yet, our leaders are standing akimbo as if waiting for divine miracle to come and right the wrongs in the society. It is high-time that the political merchants or political entrepreneurs in our midst gave way to genuine discussions over how to build a virile and united nation where every nationality will find identity.

    My fellow countryman’s vituperation were clearly not off target. They were straight to the point. In fact, he said quite a lot of other unprintable things which I cannot feature here but one could see the concern and patriotism in him. He is one of the many Nigerians out there who are rightly very concerned about the way the country is being run or the way we are going. It is quite obvious that unless we carry out a quick, prompt and timely surgical operation on this entity called Nigeria, rather than deluding ourselves, we might be headed for Golgotha or a catastrophe of very high magnitude.

    By the way, why do we continue to have impositions in our democratic culture in Nigeria?