The Nation Newspaper

Category: Open Forum

  • Purveyors of hate speeches

    Purveyors of hate speeches

    It was Gina Greenlee who said ‘’experience is a master teacher, even if it is not our own.’’  I am sure many  have heard or read about how hate speeches and incitement to violence played a significant role in the 1994 genocide that left at least 800,000 people dead in Rwanda. Well, it is worth rehashing here for the purpose of this discourse.

    Anti-Tutsi articles and cartoons in the Kangura newspaper, as well as hate speech and incitement to violence on the radio station called RTLMC – Radio-Television Libres des Mille Collines (Thousand

    Hills Free Radio and Television) helped to set the stage for that genocide. The station was set up by hard-line Hutu extremists, and received the backing of many rich and prominent people in that country. Those who saw the danger posed by the station called for it to be shut down, but against the backdrop of freedom of speech, such calls fell on deaf ears, until it was too late. Some 23 years later, Rwanda is yet to fully recover from the impact of the genocide, triggered by hate speech and senseless incitement to violence.

    In Nigeria today, the hate being spewed on radio stations across the country is so alarming. If you tune into many radio stations, you will be shocked by the things being said, the careless incitement to violence and the level of insensitivity to the multi-religious, multi-ethnic nature of our country. Unfortunately, even the hosts of such radio programmes do little or nothing to stop. Oftentimes, they are willing collaborators of hate speech campaigners. This must not be allowed to continue because it is detrimental to the unity and well-being of our country.

    Let me use my own personal experiences to make these more vivid. On Wednesday, 26 April 2017, after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, I briefed State House Correspondents on what transpired at the meeting. I said, among others, that President Muhammadu Buhari did not preside over the day’s meeting because he decided to work from home that day. In reporting my briefing, one of the correspondents quoted me as saying the President would work from home henceforth, rather than on that day only. The reporting generated a lot of uproar, until I issued a rebuttal. This is a clear case of disinformation – which is defined as false information deliberately spread to deceive the people.

    The following month, after I had briefed State House Correspondents on the proceedings of another Council meeting, one newspaper’s headline went thus: ‘’We do not know who will sign the 2017 budget – Lai Mohammed.’’ This is at variance with what I said.

    When I was asked a question relating to the signing of the 2017 budget, my exact words were: ‘’When it is transmitted to the Presidency, a decision will be taken.’’ The reporting is another clear case of disinformation.

    Also in May 2017, I travelled to China on official assignment. I had just arrived in that country, after a long flight, when I started receiving calls from Nigeria, seeking my reaction to a story making the rounds in the Social Media, quoting me as saying that though President Muhammadu Buhari is in a London hospital, he is using Made-in-Nigeria drugs. I purportedly made the comment in an interview with Channels Television, after the Federal Government’s launch of the Made-in-Nigeria campaign in Abuja a few days earlier. At first, I chose to ignore the story, saying Nigerians would easily see the folly of it. But the phone calls from Nigeria became more frequent and more intense, to such an extent that they could no longer be ignored. I had to put a call through to Mr. John Momoh, and Channels Television promptly issued a rebuttal, saying it neither interviewed me nor carried any such story. This is a clear case of fake news.

    Many will also recall the quantum of hate speech directed at candidate Buhari during the last electioneering campaign. Never in the history of electioneering campaign in Nigeria has such a quantum of hate speech been directed at any candidate. This did not stop even when he won the election and became President. For instance, the President had hardly left Nigeria for his vacation in London on 19 January 2017, during which he said he would have routine medical check-up, when these hate and fake news campaigners circulated the news that he has died. Between then and now, they have repeated similar fakes news times without number.

    Let me be clear: all the instances I have cited did not happen by accident. No! They were all orchestrated. And who better to target than the President himself, or the official spokesperson of his government! The campaign is a multi-million naira project and the people behind this string of hate speech, disinformation and fake news are not about to stop. In fact, they will become more vicious in the days, weeks and months ahead. And what is the purpose of their campaign? Simply to discredit the government, destabilize the polity and make the country ungovernable. There is no doubt that the resurgent push for separatism as well as rising cases of ethnic and religious disharmony are all traceable to the growing phenomenon of hate speech, as well as the disinformation and fake news campaign.

    During my visit to the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) House in Lagos, I had said that any programme tagged Nigerian or local content programme, which is meant for the consumption of Nigerians, must be produced in Nigeria, rather than in foreign countries. The hate speech, disinformation and fake news campaigners quickly distorted what I said and went ahead to report that the Federal Government has decided to ban the production of music videos and films outside the countries. Gullible and malleable commentators, many of them recruited by the campaigners, went to town abusing me and the federal government, without even trying to know the truth. Such is the tragedy of our time.

    Now, what do these phenomena of hate speech, disinformation and fake news have in common? They are all capable of destabilising the system, inciting people to violence and weakening the people’s confidence in their government, just like I said earlier. Let me quote how a German newspaper described this phenomenon: ‘’For a society in which people are informed mainly through the media – and form their political opinions through it – this process is threatened when lies spread through the media. When it is no longer clear what is false and what is correct, people lose their confidence in the state’’.

    Nigeria is a country of ethnic and religious diversity. That should be a source of strength, if the fault lines are not deliberately being exposed and exploited by those who are bent on setting the people against themselves, using their new-found tools of hate speech, disinformation and fake news.

    This dangerous trend is threatening the very foundation of our national unity. It is daily pushing the nation close to the precipice, perhaps more than at any other time since the end of the civil war.

    What is the way out? We all must say NO to hate speech, either on our radio and television stations, newspapers, the Social Media, on our phones or in the public space. We must be resolute in tackling the canker-worm of hate speech, disinformation and fake news. We as government information managers must embark on a relentless campaign against these evil tendencies at our various levels, whether federal or state. We must boycott any medium that engages in hate speech, incitement to violence, disinformation and fake news. The regulators must also be alive to their responsibilities by promptly sanctioning the purveyors of hate speech, disinformation and fake news. Yes, our constitution allows freedom of speech and this government believes in it, but freedom of speech must not be allowed to become freedom of irresponsibility.

    We are also appealing to the media, the traditional media in particular, to show responsibility by repudiating the freewheeling and out-of-control purveyors of hate speech, disinformation and fake news. Unlike the Social Media, the traditional media is subject to the rigours of accuracy, fact-checking and fairness, among others. Sadly, even a section of the traditional media now apes the hate campaigners by lifting their unverified or distorted news and dumping such on their readers. This is not right.

    A section of the tradition media is also now thriving on anti-government tendency. If you pick up copies of some newspapers, you will think the government of the day is doing nothing at all to alleviate the sufferings of the people, occasioned by the economic downturn. They ignore any positive actions of government, including the massive investment in infrastructure like roads and railways, and instead focus on anything that will make the government look bad.

    Instead of reporting the news freely and fairly, they have constituted themselves to an opposition bloc.

    It is only because we have a peaceful country that we have journalists, doctors, teachers, lawyers, etc all

    practising their trade. If we allow our country to be plunged into crisis just because of the antics of an irresponsible few, neither the journalists nor any other professionals will be able to practise their professions. This is the blunt truth. We all have a stake in this country, hence we must not allow hate campaigners and purveyors of fake news and disinformation to drag the country down with them.

     

    • Excerpts of a speech by Mohammed, who is the Minister of Information, at the extra-ordinary meeting of the National Council on Information in Jos on July 21.
  • Rolling back man-made crises in Nigeria, others

    Rolling back man-made crises in Nigeria, others

    On Saturday, the U.S. Government announced a nearly 639 million dollars in additional humanitarian assistance to the millions of people affected by food insecurity and violence in South Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, and Yemen. Tens of millions of people are in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of the man-made crises in South Sudan, Nigeria, and Yemen, all of which are driven by violent conflicts, and in Somalia, where ongoing conflict is exasperating the effects of severe and prolonged drought. Despite the influx of aid that has helped to alleviate famine in some areas of South Sudan, and has so far prevented famine in Yemen and Somalia, the overall food security situation is worsening, and life-threatening hunger continues to spread in both scope and in scale.

    Through this additional funding that we’re announcing, the United States can provide additional emergency food and nutrition assistance, life-saving medical care, improved sanitation, safe drinking water, emergency shelter, protection for civilians who’ve been affected by conflict, and support hygiene and health programs to treat and prevent disease outbreaks for all four crises. This additional funding brings the total U.S. contribution to over 1.8 billion dollars in humanitarian assistance for the four famine crises since the beginning of fiscal year 2017.

    The United States is one of the largest donors of humanitarian assistance in all four crises and is the largest single donor of humanitarian assistance in the world. The aid we provide represents the best of America’s generosity and goodwill. We will continue to work with our international and local partners to provide this life-saving aid needed to avert famine and to support communities impacted by these crises.

    The situation in southern Ethiopia is deteriorating, and it might be catastrophic without additional interventions. The UN is warning that emergency food supplies and nutrition commodities in Ethiopia are running dry, with both the World Food Programme and the Ethiopia government anticipating partial pipeline breaks beginning by the end of June, with perhaps complete breaks by September. Now, during last year’s El Niño drought, the government of Ethiopia demonstrated its growing capacity to lead a robust and timely response, which supported over 10 million people with food, nutrition, water, and agricultural assistance. The government of Ethiopia must build on their progress and continue to provide the resources and leadership necessary to combat this year’s ongoing humanitarian crisis. And while this announcement is limited just to the four crises outlined earlier, that does not mean we are [correction] forgetting about Ethiopia and aren’t deeply concerned in Ethiopia and what’s happening there.

    The United States remains the largest humanitarian donor in Ethiopia, and we plan to continue ramping up our assistance, and strongly encourage additional contributions from the government of Ethiopia and other donors to meet the forecasted gap in funding required to address the needs of people there. So far this year, we have already provided 225 million dollars for humanitarian assistance in Ethiopia, and, just to restate, we continue and plan to intend to ramp up our assistance.

    So far this year we have provided over 22 million dollars in humanitarian assistance to Kenya, and, as you mentioned, the United States has been a partner of the Kenyan people for many years and we have a very robust program there, for not just humanitarian assistance but also our development work, particularly, right now, as Kenya prepares for elections and deals especially in its north with the same drought that is affecting Somalia. One of the things about Kenya in recent years has been the ability of us to partner with the Kenyan government and partners there on resiliency programs, which have really gone to help aid the resilience of communities and get agricultural production up in areas where it’s needed most. We have studies that have shown that for every dollar that we spend in those resilience programs, we save almost three dollars in humanitarian assistance needs. So Kenya is very much on our mind, we continue to work there, we will continue to ramp up efforts as needed.

    The United States government’s budgeting process can often seem very complicated. So the funding that we are announcing today, much of it was part of the appropriation we received several months ago, with the final FY17 budget agreement in Congress. So we’re very happy and thankful for Congress’s generous support for these humanitarian assistance programs, and the additional funding they’ve provided this year, which is the largest amount of humanitarian assistance funding in our nation’s history. The way our funding works is “no year money,” so we are continually assessing, analyzing, and then funding needs throughout the year, regardless of where we are in the budget cycle. And we pride ourselves on having perhaps the world’s fastest ability to fund emergencies and redirect funding if need be, and put assistance directly where it needs to be, as fast as possible.

    No amount of humanitarian assistance will ever solve these problems. These problems are a manifestation and symptom of the conflicts that are going on in all four countries. Somalia is also grappling with drought, but the conflict there, like the conflict in South Sudan, like the conflict in Yemen, like the conflicts in Northern Nigeria, it’s really the conflict that is causing these problems. So the United States is involved in all four countries with our diplomatic efforts and the efforts that we do engaging with the rest of the international community.

    While these four countries are grappling with a food insecurity crisis, that is just one of the many important issues that Africa is dealing with right now and will continue to deal with, unfortunately, for some time to come. And that’s why the U.S. remains a friend and a partner to Africa, and we remain the single largest donor of humanitarian assistance in Africa, including South Sudan, the horn of Africa, and the Lake Chad Basin.

    We hold it as a sacred trust when we are spending United States taxpayer dollars, and we put a huge priority on making sure, in many multiple ways, that we track all of this assistance. No diversion at all is acceptable, and we require all of our partners to have their own monitoring and evaluation plans, and they all have strict audit guidelines that they must fulfill on an annual basis so that they are constantly tracking where the assistance goes. Separate to that, we also have third party monitoring mechanisms that track and make sure that deliveries take place, and we require our partners to report directly and immediately to us and our Inspector General anytime there’s any diversion or any loss of assistance.

    Now, all of these countries provide very difficult work environments, very dangerous work environments; in fact, there are humanitarian workers in all four countries risking their life every day, and what they’re risking their life to do is to see that the assistance gets to who it needs to get to, and they do an extremely good job of that.

    We, along with the rest of the international community, use collective organizations who can independently track, monitor, and verify the situation on the ground. One of those groups is the Famine Early Warning System, or the FEWS Network, which we fund and created, but is also funded by other donors, and that helps us give a non-political, non-governmental, true assessment based on science and real data on what the conditions are in certain countries. Then it’s up to us and our diplomats and others in the international community, other donors, to work with that government to help them come to grips with the situation that they’re dealing with, and to be as transparent and open as possible.

     

    • Excerpts from a briefing by Jenkins, Acting Assistant Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development’s  Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance
  • Rethinking the Nigerian federation

    Rethinking the Nigerian federation

    There is a sense in which the unsettling state of the world today describes the state of our country Nigeria. It is so pathetic, so embarrassing and so fearful that disaffection, doubts, gloom and anxiety have come to dominate discourses among global leaders at every opportunity and meet.

    It is even more frightening that a sizeable proportion of internal activities of most nations of the world are on the defensive against torrential threats to existence rather than breaking new grounds of human advancement and world peace.

    In Europe the arguments about British exit from EU is resonating with the current, increasingly pronounced security challenges in the UK. Whereas America, Middle East and even the smaller but economically gifted nations are dealing with economic recessions, insecurity, terrorism, racial prejudices all of which are drawing attention of statesmen to ask the questions : What happened to us? What have we got wrong? When did we take the wrong step? Will this world continue as one piece ?

    In Africa, particularly in Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, South Africa, Mali and a few more nation – states, leading questions about redefining nationhood are presenting themselves for answers through the wars and social disaffection pervading the entire lands. In nation states like Syria, Libya, France, Iraq and others, the call is equally too close for comfort.

    With the foregoing, I am suggesting that there is nothing happening to our country, Nigeria at present that is new or strange or out of place with happenings elsewhere in the world. The Yoruba have a proverb that captures the matter succinctly: “A kò rí irú èyí rí, a fi ndérù b’olórò ni”.

    In other words, our vexatious experience today as a country is all a dialectical process of answers asking questions about themselves in order to confirm their state of existence. I believe Nigeria already has answers to its questions; it is just the will to ask the right questions the right way, with the right words, at the right time, with the right temperament and for the right purpose that is our task in building our own nation.

    I am also suggesting that we must get beyond these problems because it is in our best interest to do so. The answers which are asking questions in Nigeria today are: We need a new nation where equity, justice, peace and progress shall be the guiding principles of coexistence. We must redefine our nationhood. We need to create a new nation and create new citizens who have a different infrastructure of mind from those of present Nigerians.  We need a new Nigeria, now!

    The questions which the answer is asking therefore are: when then is the nowness of our now for our rebirth? Will our nationhood come by force of arms or with mutual understanding? What manner of nation do we want to have? Will it be on agreed points and issues negotiated and debated? Will it be with open arms and warmth? Will the risks be worth it? Do we have the capacity to evolve it and so forth.

    Let me buttress the worrisomeness of my above assertion with quotes of the words of a few  Nigerian leaders. On Tuesday the 3rd, June 2017, Jerry Gana, Professor and former Minister of Information, former secretary, Board of Trustee of the then ruling PDP made a declarative statement when asked about the fate of Nigeria in the future.” I don’t know what tomorrow holds, only God knows it but if they think when it comes to break up, we will go along with the North, then it must be a huge joke. We have already told them that if they allow this country break up, we are not going with the North. We are staying where we are. So, just take notice. If it comes to that, we will tell you that we are not Arewa, we are middle belters, 10 states for that matter.”

    Even Professor Ango Abdullahi, tempestuous academic, controversial administrator and foremost Northern leader, in his comments on the 4th of June 2017, had this to say: “If people are still asking for Biafra after 50 years of Civil war, then it is necessary for us to sit down and ask ourselves how we want the nation to be.”

    Another elder statesman, respected academic, constitutional lawyer and former President Ohanaeze Ndigbo Prof. Ben Nwabueze while ruminating on the current state of Nigeria, argued that Nigeria will not know peace until it restructures itself to reflect ease, consensus and justice. Hear him: “The power at the centre of the federating units is too much. It is prone to abuse and misuse. Every Nigerian has a right of equality and respect in this joint stock company called Nigeria. The Nigerian nation has the responsibility, indeed the obligation to treat every tribe or race equally.”

    Similarly, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, elder statesman and former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, was forthright and resolute in his own precious summation on the current existential challenge of Nigeria . He says: “If we had six federating units, you would have more viable basis for planning economic development. Our country continues to under perform because of the 36 states we now have. We must wake up from our state of denial  and face the facts about our underdevelopment “.

    I am not going to encumber us with the violent words of Nnamdi Kanu of Independent  People of Biafra, (IPoB), nor those of Alhaji Asari Dokubo of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer force, (NDPVF), nor that of Mazi Nwazurike of MASSOB and their ilks.

    We know their radical positions already. We also know that their words reflects the extreme position of anger, frustration and violence against the Nigerian nation as it is today.

    The situation is so challenging, yet frustrating, so embarrassing and yet so marveling. Nigeria today appears to have defeated researchers, commentators, observers and analysts as its issues have been over flogged almost to a saturation point. Today realities have overstated themselves, Truth has moved almost beyond constancy to stagnancy while appearance and realities are now at conflict with themselves. In the circumstance where leaders and men of power inexplicably appear clueless and lethargic about how to respond to these challenges, fear comes in and seems to rule our world without bounds.  The facts of our existence as a nation called Nigeria today fill one with horror.  This indeed is the worst of times.

    Nigerian elites, and by this reference I mean those who lay claims to some appreciable level of education in the country, not partakers of the current unprofitable parody of the essence, the certification process which ensures the ubiquity of graduates who lack confidence and understanding, continue to romanticise with the idea of a suitable political system. While some have issues with the current presidential system and advocate for a return to the parliamentary system practised in the First Republic, others agitate for devolution of powers from the centre to the so called federating units. Some still feel uncomfortable with that arrangement. They settle for confederacy.

    Restructuring is the new slogan in the political lexicon of the country. Political pundits, jobbers, erstwhile policy makers, former political office holders, civil society organisations, human rights entrepreneurs, upgraded street urchins, among others, are relentless in their agitation for a new political order. Very few have been able to articulate their positions as justification for this call beyond the facile, sometimes annoying, references to some unfortunate incidents involving ethnic groups. Some want more states not minding the fact that the existing ones are on the brink of insolvency.

    Others want more local governments for increased revenue allocation from the centre. For some still, it is “resource control”.  There seems to be this pervasive belief that once these divergent political aspirations are actualised, the country slips into a blissful moment without much exaction. Nothing can be more illusory than these hopes hinged on slippery and shifting ground.

    Those who want this country to disintegrate ignore many facts, the most prominent of which is the artificiality of the state structure in determining origin. The most outspoken of the proponents of restructuring have been unable to articulate their position beyond the incoherent statements made on devolution of powers. Some funny persons are even insisting on the implementation of the recommendations of an appointive committee known as the National Conference, 2014.

    They do not consider it as arrogance to have a handful of selected persons, not elected by the people, recommend on matters which require constitutional amendments, and insist on the implementation of same as the “irreducible minimum” for peace in the country.

    Until Nigerians begin to see themselves first as brothers and sisters with shared destiny beyond the artificial amalgamation of the colonialists, there will be no end to the agitation for self-determination. The Federal Government must, as a matter of urgency, take steps to discourage the activities of certain elements who harbour extraneous reasons other than the expressed. On no account must anyone be allowed to use our air space to disseminate hate speech.

     

     

    • Excerpts from a paper delivered yesterday by Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu at the Obafemi Awolowo University, lle-Ife.
  • Hon Justice Tayo Onalaja (1933 – 2017): The human side

    Hon Justice Tayo Onalaja (1933 – 2017): The human side

    He was continuously soothingly impactful. We were hardly remembering that he was mortal; that he would one day cross the Divide. He chose appropriate day of the week… SUNDAY. Affirming his GOD worshipful life. That was May 28. HIS LORDSHIP Moronkeji Omotayo ONALAJA bowed out. Yes, he did. Shock waves pierced through his close friends and relations inspite some signals he had been sending prior to that date.

     Early Score

    I am more at home with his enduring human side. Would situate that shortly. Humbled enough to admit at this juncture that I am incompetent to sing the song of his bestriding two major Halls, leaving indelible foot prints: the Hall of the Bar; the Hall of the Bench. Reason? I am NOT LEARNED. But I am literate. Literate enough to understand the sustained thought in public domain, replete with his laurels. The British Christian Missionaries had established CMS Grammar School. 1859. The prestigious institution predated the take-off of their home administration Colonial Government in Lagos. 1861. At the School, young Onalaja counted his first score. Still a reference point; exempted from London Matriculation. 1957. His set in the Senior Cambridge Certificate Examination was the last to enjoy that distinction in our country. The distinction enabled his direct admission for LLB degree at the London University. But let me confess at this point that I pulled his leg till his departure; that his early enablement would have been more publicly recognized if his innings had taken-off at King’s College where he would have clearly been my Senior. That remains too late for him!

     Laurels @ the Bar and @ the Bench

    Got done with his LLB degree as early as 1956. University of London. Got Called a year later into the Inner Temple. In the following year, 1959, became Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Eventually, he spent 20 years at the Bar and 20 years on the Bench… doing the ONLY thing he knew – LAW. And within the forty-year span, he collated bench- mark scores for his unborn mentees. To wit: Competency affirmation because many of his judgments were upheld at Supreme Court level. One gets the degree of esteem an erstwhile Bar and Bench man is held by the quality and number of professional colleagues who grace his Valedictory Session. In 2003, when he retired as Judge of the Appeal Court, the appearance of 46 SANs was humbling. His LORDSHIP breathes Law; his passion for the vocation is insuppressible. The Who is Who in the profession practice and academia published three volumes of Law Books in his honour: The Pursuit Of Justice And Development; Legal Issues For Contemporary Justice In Nigeria; Oracle Of The Bench, A Legal Wikipedia. He was Chairman of the Council Of Legal Education Of Nigeria, 2003+. He sat a loft the Board, moulding the ‘Gentlemen’ of today. Earlier in this comment, we indicated that our main business is to acknowledge the ‘human side’ of my Uncle, a unique being. I must not forget the job.

     Onalaja: the man with agreeable               human instincts

    I have shared about five decades of fellowship with Uncle. I am believing that my recalls which follow would be appreciated within this context. Indeed, I met him on Rotary floor in 1973. There were only three Clubs in the country: Lagos, Kano and Ibadan, the third one. The Rotary development of acquaintance is essentially an opportunity for Service. Unethical to exploit it at any time for personal gain. We shared the value. We clicked. He requested me to be the Chairman of the Committee for his Installation as President in 1981. He knew me thoroughly in the process. We bonded further. Rotary achieves Service through programme/project execution. He chose an unprecedented huge project: Additional Hostel at the Ijokodo Home for The Underprivileged. The Home is an Ibadan NGO for the motherless children. His human instinct-driven project choice further endeared him to me. Again I was the project implementation Committee Chairman. His personal donation was humbling. Ditto that of Chief Raymond Zard and other key Rotarians. The building stands tall till today.

    Uncle family relationship was borderless. He married Auntie Fola, first child of Rev & Mrs. Ogunsanya of the Methodist Communion. He saw himself not as an In-law to the family. . . . their first son. For him, the care of Mrs. Ogunsanya, his mother-in-law, was a life call to duty on the departure of his father-in-law. He was wisely appointed as the Ibadan Diocesan Chancellor. Much later in life, he affirmed the same commitment to Anglican Communion. Was appointed Deputy Lay President of Ibadan Diocese. He understood Anglican Church Governance. Effectively sustained the harmony between the clergy and the laity during his era. He  preserved the Judges traditional image: Ascetic. That was in one breath. In the same breadth he demonstrates that a Judge is just another creation of God . . .  full of flesh and blood. Thus, he made himself accessible to all fellow human beings in the church. Empathy. Social problem-solving for the high and the low. Humble disarmingly. Only few close to him knew what he often went through during the Easter 40-day fasting period. His season for special prayer and supplication for relevant members of his nuclear family. He was a Real ‘Mother’. We take for granted the special support of few bosses for their personal staff. Uncle went beyond bound within the society at large. With the news outbreak, two of his current social support beneficiaries, previously unknown to any, emerged in his family home, breaking down spontaneously. . . . questioning GOD: “Why have you taken him now?”

    My missing link

    HIS Lordship Commentaries From The Bench grew into four Volumes by 2003. Publication of the lectures of he delivered at various high level professional fora. The Volumes would continue to impact from the Archive. Though ‘unlearned’, he would dutifully let me have an autographed copy of each of them. ‘Paid’ dearly for each volume later. On subsequent visit, he would forget that I had ‘missed out’ on Law when his technical review of the latest volume takes off.  But when I am tired of his presumption that every close friend of his is a lawyer, I would subtly change the subject of our conversation to Jeffrey Archer, our ‘common field’. Uncle is versatile. He loved quality novel. Introduced me to Jeffrey Archer – a great British novelist of our age. He would have earlier released my own copy of Archer’s latest novel which he bought during his previous holiday in UK.

    Still on Law as his profession and past time. While Aunty Fola would be busy at various shops in London when they were on holiday, Uncle would be watching proceedings at the House of Lords Gallery. Indeed, it was an exciting moment when Lord Denning and himself met on one of such occasions. Common denominator: both are Activist on the Bench. Lord Denning was originally a Mathematician. Ended up as Master of the Rolls: He reshaped some aspects of the British Law in his days. Further on his human side, Dola (my wife) and I would take down his Frejaun dish before 4pm every Good Friday, for his early dinner. He relished it since his early days in Lagos Island. Frejaun is a bean-based delicacy introduced to Lagos Dinning Table by Returnees from Brazil. This last Good Friday I alone took down his dish. I clearly saw the end coming. Uncle, a rare humanist, nurtured daily an undying love for Auntie Fola who crossed the Divide 15years before him. As a mark of gratitude for her unparalleled devotion, commitment and support, he published annually a Calendar in her memory. I had the joyful duty of contributing to its distribution yearly.

    We bid His Lordship Moronkeji Omotayo Onalaja farewell: Retired Hon Justice of the Appeal Court. We salute our Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Advance Legal Studies, Life member of the Body of Benchers, Doctor of Law (Honoris Causa), Immediate Past Leader of the House of Lords, Nigeria, and Officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

     

    • Chief Tunde Oshobi  MON FNIM FCIPM

  • Re: Ambode at mid-term: Things not done

    The beauty of democracy is the latitude it provides the governed to ventilate their views on sundry matters relating to governance, especially those that affect their well-being. This is guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) under Section 39(1) that provides for freedom of expression. The truth, however, is that criticisms should be objective, fair and just to all concerned. They should also be based on the full knowledge of the workings of the government.

    When they are jaundiced, self-serving, meant for character assassination or are promoted out of sheer primordial sentiment, they lose their value. It is on this premise that I take a critical look at the recent article with the title: ’Ambode at mid-term: Things not done’ published in The Nation of Friday, May 26, 2017. One must admit that he, like most public affairs analysts and indeed a vast majority of the good people of Lagos State have humbly admitted that the incumbent Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has excelled so far in the science and art of governance. From security to infrastructural development, education to health care delivery, transportation and tourism, he has a fantastic score card to show for his two years in office. That is as far as fairness goes on Osuji’s piece.

    For instance, his question on how many inner roads” have been repaired or refurbished” demands an illuminating answer. It is surprising for one who was part of the recent entourage of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) to his successor during which the former spoke on the efforts of the latter to be ignorant of some salient facts on the matter. Lest he has forgotten, 141 inner roads were repaired in the first year of this administration and contracts have been awarded with contractors on site for 181 others.

    The initial plan was for the repair of 25 roads in each local government per year, which would have translated to over 4,000 roads over four years, but for the current recession. With the current pace of road construction and refurbishment, about 60 per cent would have been put in good use. Out of the 8,650 roads in Lagos, 6,200 are owned by the state. Yet, the Ambode-led administration has impacted positively on both major and inner roads, reinforced by the ultra-modern bridges at Abule-Egba, Ajah, Agboyi-Ketu and that linking Badagry to the Whispering Palms resort. Add these to the new lay-byes at strategic places and the picture of an all-embracing road development master plan is clear, at least to discerning observers.

    Such observers would also cringe at the claim by the writer that drains are not being cleared in Lagos State. This is pure fallacy! Ambode is the first to have bought modern equipment that clear drainage and get rid of water hyacinth. This has assisted in no small measure to allow for the smooth movement of speed boats and ferries with the effect felt at the coastal parts of the aquatic state.

    The governor’s Midas touch is felt at the local government level. This runs against the grain of Osuji’s claim that they “have not been up to speed with the governor”. Perhaps, he needs to be reminded that Ambode cut his teeth as an astute administrator at that level of governance. Having worked in 13 of the 20 councils in the state, rising to auditor-general of local governments, he knows his onions when it comes to grassroots administration. He knows that they will perform to their optimum only when they are democratically-elected. That has informed his timely decision to facilitate the conduct of local government elections, with officers running their affairs for the next four years, as against the previous three, as recently approved by the House of Assembly.

    That respect for the constitution has also been extended to the critical area of security. The governor knows that the primary purpose of government is to ensure the security of the citizens and guarantee their welfare in line with Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution as amended. That informed his donation of modern security gadgets, including helicopters, speed boats, armoured and saloon cars to the tune of N4.6 billion within his first three years in office. Not long after, another N2.6 billion for more equipment and increase in the insurance of police officers.

    Recently, he paid N25 million to the families of police and military victims of the ambush in Ikorodu. While this is not to deny the pockets of kidnap in the state, it should be realised that insecurity and specifically terrorism is a global challenge. The recent attack in Manchester, United Kingdom, attests to that in spite of their technological know-how.

    Furthermore, it is most uncharitable the comment he made on the issue of tourism. It is on record that with the knowledge that tourism is a veritable tool to increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and for youth employment, he encouraged AFRIMA and International Jazz Festivals. Even during the campaign, Ambode was the first to have the BELIEVE Concert that engaged 200 local artistes, including Davido and Olamide. This has since metamorphosed into the One Lagos Festival.

    So, with the industry creating over  300, 000 jobs, establishment of five theatres in the five divisions and the rehabilitation of the National Theatre, it is sad for one to state that nothing has been done to boost tourism in the state.

    Much unfair too is the comment that not much is being done in sports development. What about Lagos hosting two international marathons that drew 300 athletes from across the globe? What about the building of five stadia across the five divisions of the state? What about grassroots football development with clinics in primary and secondary schools to identify talents? What about the partnership with Barcelona Club of Spain and the emerging football league in the state?

    Nevertheless, while we agree that there is still more to be done and the government is open to criticism, such should be objective, unbiased and done in the overall interest of the state and not for personal interest.

    Ajanaku is the Senior Special Assistant to Lagos State Governor on Media & Strategy

     

  • Leadership and Nigerian youths

    Leadership and Nigerian youths

    Let me start with a straightforward incontestable development maxim: The Nigerian youth constitute the singular most important democratic and development capital that the leadership has ignored for far too long. We pay strenuous lip service to the importance of the youth in nation building—we even call them the “leaders of tomorrow”—but in spite of our best effort, the statistics of youth unemployment and the widening gulf between their expectation and their frustration keep growing at an alarming geometric rate that belies our supposed commitment to them. Yet everything has been falling apart for Nigeria in terms of deploying her youthful energies and entrepreneurial creativity productively. The Nigerian youth are not only unemployed, those who manage to escape are leaving the shores of the nation in droves and turning their energies into achievements on behalf of other nations.

    This dire situation tells us a simple fact—that we have not sufficiently taken Nigeria seriously. And this is all the more so because Nigeria is, like Africa, right in the midst of her once-in-a-while demographic youth bulge that could be turned into a considerable productivity opportunity. Taking Nigeria Seriously, to deepen Odia Ofeimun’s book title, simply means taking the youth and youth development seriously. And this translates, in the final analysis, into the first condition for transforming Nigeria into a developmental state. A developmental state is known by its critical engagement with social policy. Social policy refers to policy initiatives, social relations and institutional arrangements which energise human well-being. It constitutes a deliberate attempt, on the part of government, to intervene in the redistribution of resources among its citizens as a means of achieving welfare objectives that empowers the citizens. Articulating a vision of social policy however goes beyond just guaranteeing a minimum level of policy requirements for social well-being. On the contrary, social policy represents a deeper development agenda that translates into good governance.

    This is where the Youth Governance Dialogue initiative, by the Youth Development Centre of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), becomes a significant intervention in the ongoing attempt at reintegrating the youth back into the governance dynamics of the nation. And this, tragically, is against the historical trajectory of our colonial agitation which saw radical youth in the vanguard of nationalist struggle for a fatherland they truly believe in. I can sincerely associate with this gesture. As a former permanent secretary at the Ministry for Youth Development, I was significantly instrumental to the strategic planning process that conceived and delivered a Youth Development National Strategy and Action Plan in 2013. But since then, I have become fully aware of a significant point: Whereas there are in place sufficient strategies and action plans for taking youth development to the next level, one can exercise legitimate doubt as to how far these strategies and frameworks have succeeded in undermining the youth challenge. What is clear is that Nigeria has many agencies and organisations involved in youth-oriented activities, but we still cannot outline in concrete terms the impact of these agencies. For one, these agencies have failed, for instance, to achieve significant buy-in among the youth who see them as essentially self-serving or even highly politicised. This realisation has then inspired the advocacy we embarked upon, especially with the birth of the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP).

    The first issue, which makes this initiative of the Youth governance dialogue unique, is understanding what the youth challenge is. Let’s take some statistics first. The African youth demographics are worse in terms of the relationship between youth empowerment and national development. And this is all the more so because more than 65% of Africa’s total population today that are under the age of 35; there is a further 35% that stands in the demographic gap between 15 and 35 years (this makes for about 200 million people between age 15 and 35). These figures are expected to double by 2045. However, close to 75million of the youths are unemployed. Those who are employed are trapped in unproductive jobs that promised no future advancement. The vast army of the unemployed is otherwise engaged in the thriving informal criminal economy which deprived the continent of their productive energies. And regularly, close to 10 million—a figure which continues to rise—youths are offloaded to the labour market every month. And in Nigeria as at 2011, unemployment rate in Nigeria stood at 23.9% while youth unemployment stood at over 50%. Added to this is the grim statistics that there is an alarming 16% growth rate of unemployment. Thus, when we think of the youth, what the sociological observation forces into our minds are the miscreants and garage touts (“area boys”), the loafers, drop outs, the almajiris, the unemployed, and all those who have been socially abused, humiliated and deprived of an sense of meaning in life.

    Thus, in spite of the cacophony of youthful voices screaming their frustration across the social media, it is obvious that the Nigerian policy makers have still not woken up to institutional predicament which has continually failed to give the youth access to democratic processes that will help them make informed choices about their roles in Nigeria’s democratic experiment, and as viable component in the search for a viable development paradigm. Consider the following essential questions that bear out this reflection about the state of the youth in national thinking:

    • How many political parties in Nigeria have a youth wing that contributes to internal party policy?
    • How many civil society groups are committed to youth development beyond the mere lip service to their significance?
    • How many religious organisation, for that matter, look to the spiritual rejuvenation of the youth beyond the mere number that attends the church or the mosque?
    • How many organisations are dedicated to youth empowerment in Nigeria?
    • In what sense have the youth been integrated into national decision making process?
    • Is there any longer active student movements that would challenge national injustices and political brigandage?
    • The OOPL Youth Governance Dialogue is therefore confronted with the fundamental challenge of how Nigeria can move from the pessimism of the gloomy youth unemployment statistics to a future of proactive demographics that will generate policy and governance dynamics which can enable Nigeria to harness the boundless creative energies of the ambitious and adventuresome youth. The fundamental issue is therefore to forcefully interrogate the policy intent of the Nigerian government towards the youth.

    The noble intent of the Youth Governance Dialogue is meant to explore ways by which the Nigerian youth can be successfully factored into the governance framework of the Nigerian state. I suspect that this objective can be further enlarged and deepened if tied to a more inter-generational dialogue which locates the youth and their malaise in a wider historical and socioeconomic and political trajectory. This dynamic trajectory derives from leadership and generational deficiencies over the decades since Nigeria’s independence. In dialoguing with the past, the Nigerian youth can therefore engage and query the tokenism that has characterised their enlistment into the political system in Nigeria as personal or special assistants or even as thugs; interrogate the leadership of the country and their anti-progress and anti-development policies; engage with their own complicity in a system which exploit and subjugate their aspirations; attempt to undermine the orthodox national narratives, and in-the-box thinking, which call them “leaders of tomorrow” but prevent their democratic participation; and generally we all can also help create an additive culture, rather than an extractive one, that exalt the value of what we can add to Nigeria and not what can be taken away through corrupt enrichment.

    If we would not allow a Nigerian Spring to burst on us as a result of our lackadaisical attitude and policy listlessness, it is now time to really move away from all the lip service and rhetoric flourish that characterise our relationship with the Nigerian youth to a more institutionalised structure of democratic participation and political succession which allow the Nigerian youth bring their expertise, creativity and knowledge to the development table. If the youth constitute a significant portion of our development, then we have kept them out of that equation for far too long. It is now time to start redressing that lopsidedness.

     

    • Olaopa, the Executive Vice-Chairman, Ibadan School of Government & Public Policy (ISGPP), delivered this paper at a dialogue with youths, organised by the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL).
  • Boko Haram, Chibok girls and other matters

    Boko Haram, Chibok girls and other matters

    Nigeria is indeed a critical U.S. partner. Nigeria matters to us because it’s Africa’s most populous country, and depending on the price of oil, it’s either the biggest or the second biggest economy on the continent. With a current population of 182 million, Nigeria is projected to grow to over 400 million over the next few decades, which will leave it by the middle of this century as the fourth-largest country in the world. About half the population is Muslim. Nigeria has influence, as many of you know, not only as an economic power, as a military power. It’s got a vibrant emerging, entrepreneurial class which is the future of that country’s economy. It has also got a vibrant film and music industry which has influence well beyond its borders. And I’d like to point out it has traditions of democracy and free press and religious tolerance, all of which contribute to its resilience and its strength.

    In 2015, Nigeria had a very important election. It elected Muhammadu Buhari as president. This represented the first time in Nigerian history that there was a peaceful, democratic transfer of power from one party to an opposition party. It was a milestone not only for Nigeria, but really for Africa as a whole. President Buhari’s electoral platform was that he wanted to fight insecurity, particularly the depredations of Boko Haram and other forces in the Northeast. He wanted to grow the Nigerian economy, create jobs for its growing population, and he wanted to fight corruption.

    Well, the nice thing about that agenda is that it meshes very well with our own. That is – those are areas of focus that very much are consistent with U.S. interests in Nigeria. We too want to partner Nigeria and its neighbours to fight terrorism. We too support private-sector-led economic growth. And we are very much in favour of President Buhari’s campaign against corruption. With that as kind of an overview, I’d like to open it up to questions.

    Nigeria is a very important place for us and it faces enormous obstacles, enormous challenges moving forward. I don’t want to give the impression that any of this is going to be easy. In fact, one of our ways of approaching this country is to point at that perhaps nowhere else on the continent, and maybe few places on the planet, is the gap between the upside potential and the downside risk greater. The future of Nigeria matters not just for Nigeria, but very much for its neighbours and I would argue for this planet. The good news is that on issue after issue, we’ve gone from a place where we were often not on the same page with Nigeria to a place where we see things very much in the same terms.

    Some folks may be aware of the humanitarian situation in Northeastern Nigeria and its neighbouring countries in the Lake Chad Basin. We are a leading donor of humanitarian assistance there, as the countries involved struggle to deal with a food crisis, which is itself a consequence of the Boko Haram and ISIS West Africa insurgency. Many of you will have also followed the news of the release of the Chibok girls over the weekend. Obviously, that was a heartwarming and positive development for the young women involved and for their families. We’d like to point out that they’re among thousands of victims of Boko Haram and its offshoot, ISIS West Africa.

    We are engaged with Nigeria and its neighbours not only to provide humanitarian relief to the victims of this insurgency, but to help them as security partners and as intelligence partners to address the security dimensions of this problem and to get at some of the drivers of insecurity. Because at the end of the day, I think we and our partners all recognise there’s no purely military solution. At the end of the day, the hopes and aspirations of the people need to meet; education and water and basic governance need to be provided in areas where they have not been provided before. And it’s a joint effort. There are no easy solutions, but we’re in this for the long haul.

    That’s a little bit of additional context. I’d like to point out that United States has worked closely with Nigeria. We provide a range of assistance to Nigerian authorities in their efforts to combat Boko Haram and ISIS West Africa. That includes intelligence sharing, training, advice on strategic communications, and various services to support victims of Boko Haram. And as I said, we’ve provided close to $500 million in humanitarian assistance over the last two years to those affected by the conflict in Northeastern Nigeria and its neighbours – neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

    Again, that’s an overview of where we are in a very important bilateral relationship for us. I’d like to point out as well that we’ve worked together closely in the United Nations. We’ve worked together on issues of arms proliferation, nuclear questions. So Nigeria has a voice in Africa that is quite influential. And I’ve worked on Africa for most of my professional career, and it’s very good to be in a good place with this group.

    One of the critical consequences of the Boko Haram and ISIS West Africa insurgency, which has been going on since 2009, is that it has produced terrible consequences for the population. As the militaries have begun to coordinate their activities more effectively, they and other not just military authorities but civilian authorities have gained access to areas previously under the control of Boko Haram. And as that happens, we have all come to understand more clearly the true dimensions of the humanitarian crisis.

    So the United Nations has pointed out that there are more people facing famine-like conditions in Northeastern Nigeria and in neighbouring regions. We’re working as hard as we can and as fast as we can to deliver food assistance and other support to those people. I’ve quoted the numbers on our own humanitarian assistance a couple of time. I think I would add that just on April 28th the United States announced an additional $30 million to support the people of Northeast Nigeria through contributions to the World Food Programme. The World Food Programme, I would add, has expanded the numbers of people it is feeding by tenfold over the last two to three months. So the numbers have gone from roughly 200,000 to close to 2 million. The World Food Programme needs additional assistance; we’re working with other donors and partners to get that assistance to them. It’s a collective effort, and none of it is going to get fixed until the insurgency is defeated and the specter of terrorist violence is eliminated from that area.

    We are very pleased that we are the lead humanitarian donor in the Lake Chad Basin region. We’ve got a vigorous bilateral development assistance programme that’s dominated by health assistance, including the PEPFAR programme, which has really helped turn back the tide of HIV/AIDS not just in Nigeria but across the African continent.

     

    • Holt is United States Deputy Director, Office of West African Affairs, Bureau of African Affairs. The above are excerpts from a teleconference he had with reporters from Washington yesterday.

     

     

  • Letter to the political class

    Letter to the political class

    The heading or title of this letter is chosen for the purpose of reminding ourselves that our lives, our health and well-being and our fortunes and future are all in the mighty hands of Allah our creator and sustainer. We can neither know nor control what happens tomorrow and the rest of the days, months and years ahead. So, our own future is in the domain of Allah the creator and sustainer of the universe.

    If we always take note of this reality of our limitations, inadequacies and imperfections, we will act with caution and moderation. This is particularly true of those in leadership positions. It is in their best interest to constantly remember that they will certainly be called upon to account to Allah for everything they have done in their various positions – and there is no appeal, for Allah has all the evidence of our actions in this world.

    Now to the unending crises and difficulties in our country. These are due largely to our attitude and character in matters relating to government, politics, religion, ethnicity and business. It’s like having many good cars and handing them over to bad drivers, the result is many accidents on the roads, because of the bad attitude of the drivers.

    Both India and Nigeria got their independence from the British and started self-governing with parliamentary system of government. India made success of the parliamentary system. In our own case, we were unable to continue with parliamentary system because of the pain, the disruption and turmoil caused to the political system and process by the really unfortunate military coup of January 15, 1966. The killings, the civil war and the long period of military rule pushed the country out of the political learning curve.

    Again the military in Nigeria decided to create the next political dispensation in their own image and decided on the Presidential system along with the constitution and handed over in October 1979. The American Presidential system is very expensive because all the processes – from primaries, to campaigns, to lobbying, to colonies of staff of all categories that run the system. Also, the Presidential system depends on the strict adherence to the division of authority among the three arms of government the executive, legislature and judiciary. Once these checks and balances are not properly observed, the result is particularly, dictatorship, either of the executive arm, or the legislative arm.

    The problems, difficulties and crises we are now having in the operation of the Presidential system of government arise because of our attitude to politics and government. It’s a fact that the Nigerian economy depends to the extent of 70% – 80% on government activities and expenditure at all levels of the government. This means that unless those who are running the government reduce extreme partisanship, millions of people can be denied their livelihood on account of their political affiliation.

    So, our attitude to politics and government of winner takes all, revenge, all sorts of vendetta, vengeance, exclusion and even sadism always leave millions of people behind with nothing to do and nowhere to go. Businesses are run down because of the political affiliation of their owners. Right now millions of people are hungry, angry, bitter, desperate and hopeless because of our attitude to politics and government, business, religion and ethnicity. So attitude is very important.

    Again the fundamental objectives and directive principles stated in our constitution are to be actualised by the three arms of government. This means that the three arms must necessarily work together. Democracy must produce progress and prosperity to the people, must ensure safety and security of lives and property, must ensure accountability, transparency and rule of law, must guarantee individual and press freedom, human and people rights.

    Therefore, the three arms of government must realise that time is of essence. As the saying goes, time and tide wait for nobody. Therefore, technicalities, hairsplitting, vendetta and other distractions should not be allowed to take precedence over the substance of the matters at hand. Otherwise, about 80 per cent of the legislative, executive and judicial time will be taken away from substantive issues and matters.

    The present trend we are witnessing between the three arms of government gives room for a lot of improvement. So there is urgent need to halt this trend and a well moderated and collaborative system with sanity and synergy created and used by all concerned.

    I want to now draw the attention of all our people to the fact that no human society can survive and progress and prosper without some form of moral or ethical code of conduct. Within this moral code what is good is obvious and what is bad is also obvious – like killing somebody, stealing, cheating, telling a lie, breaking established laws, rules and regulations, oppressing people and all acts of transgression and intrusion. Most of these moral codes are observed in our daily lives as part of our common sense. Chaos and moral corruption result when things happen contrary to common sense and established ways of doing things regularly. Therefore, it’s advisable to use our common sense whenever we are confused in our daily lives.

    Now the way forward. Since 1960 we have had or tried world-class systems of government, constitutions, policies, laws and rules & regulations without achieving our lofty aspirations and objectives as a country with so many natural resources with large talented and industrious human resource.

    Certainly we have world-class technocrats, experts and professional class, human and natural resources. What we seem to be missing is getting nation builders in really sufficient numbers. Since our founding leaders like Sir Ahmadu Bello Sarduana of Sokoto, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Belawa, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the great Zik of Africa, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, left the scene, nation building has not progressed with required momentum, focus, vision and even sincerity of purpose. The process has since been retarded by individual and ethnic materialism, religious bigotry, mal-administration/bad governance, severe poverty, massive unemployment, absence of real middle class and increasing income inequality and shortage of sufficient numbers of political elite to depend and promote national interest and public good in all their ramifications.

    Therefore, we should all pray to Allah, our creator and sustainer, the Almighty and All-Knowing, to give us nation builders through reliable and comprehensive leadership recruitment process in sufficient numbers, people with right attitude and character to nurture this our unfortunate country through the political, economic and social stages/processes we are now and have been passing through.

    We urgently need in the political and management class sufficient number of people who sincerely believe in this country and are prepared to work for the progress and prosperity of the people. We have wasted so much time, energy and resources and opportunities arguing about who is right and who is wrong. From now on let us ask and know what is right and go ahead and do it, and let us ask and know what is wrong and avoid it or prevent it.

    Now I will like to offer the following advice to fellow politicians and others concerned: –

    Right now, for reasons unknown to the vast majority of our people, more than two years after the general election, unending political rhetoric and partisanship, extreme bitterness, hatred and acrimony among the political class throughout our dear country are at the highest level.

    God commanded us to be our brother’s keepers, but we abandon this important commandment of God and adopted Satan’s commandment of everybody for himself/herself and God for all of us.

    The result is that we have now ended up with the vast majority of the people left behind and are desperate and frustrated and impatient and may act in anger with rage of burning fire.

    It’s very important to remind those in authority that the Nigerian economy is dependent on government activities and expenditure to the extent of about 70% – 80% as our private sector is still growing.

    Therefore, too much partisanship as we are now witnessing will exclude millions of Nigerians from earning their daily bread because they do not belong to the party in power at the federal or state levels.

    Accordingly, for the sake of God, justice and fair play and good governance, governments at all levels should be fair to all under their jurisdictions and should deliberately and urgently take adequate measures to drastically reduce extreme partisanship in governance matters and processes.

    Again, it will improve matters a lot if our politicians at all levels embrace politics without bitterness, hatred and acrimony without further delay. This is the only way to prevent Satan the devil from entering our affairs.

    After the political class have purged themselves of this extreme bitterness, hatred, acrimony, selfishness and injustice, all our anger, along with Satan, will disappear, our prayers will be accepted by God and God’s blessings and guidance will spread to all over our country and then we will start to prosper in peace, unity and security and with subsequent development in all sectors.

    Finally, as the borderline between constitutional democratic order and dictatorship can sometimes be blurred, the three arms of government need to be very careful so that our great country does not unwittingly find itself in the hands of some executive or legislative or even judiciary dictators. This can be avoided by always taking their actions and decisions based on public good and public interest and national security and unity. Once there is justice and fairness there is enough for everybody.

     

    • Abba-Gana is former FCT minister   
  • Sustainable use of oceans and seas

    Sustainable use of oceans and seas

    The exploration and exploitation of Africa’s vast ocean resources hold the key to economic revival of not only Nigeria but the continent as a whole.
    Indeed as universally acknowledged, oceans and seas are a common heritage of mankind. Even its contents of fishes including but not limited to: sharks, whales; minerals and other resources of the deep sea, seabed and subsoil are not necessarily the result of hard work by man. God even charged us from the story of creation to dominate and exploit the resources of the earth, which include oceans and seas.
    In 1608, in Mare Liberum, Hugo Grotius described the oceans as being:
    “…that expanse of water which antiquity describes as the immense, the infinite, bounded only by the heavens, parent of all things; the ocean which the ancients believed was perpetually supplied with water not only by fountains, rivers, and seas, but by the clouds, and by the very stars of heaven themselves; the ocean which, although surrounding this earth, the home of the human race, with the ebb and flow of its tides, can be neither seized nor in closed; nay, which rather possesses the earth than is by it possessed”.
    The developed countries have done a better job of exploiting these resources. We in Africa need to do much more to use these God given resources to feed our people, fight poverty and develop efficient ports and effectively administer the waters of the seas. We can create high paying jobs for our teeming youths, develop an efficient transportation system, exploit efficiently the oil and gas resources and other minerals contained in the deep seas and oceans of Africa. Nigeria is potentially a major maritime power considering the depth and breadth of our exclusive economic zone and territorial waters, and can do even more to efficiently and effectively make sustainable use of the oceans and seas.
    Fishing is one of the major economic activities of most maritime communities all over Africa. Sustainable development of the local fisheries sector has the capacity to improve food security and lift people out of poverty and hunger. Fisheries and aquaculture provide jobs for millions of people, including our women and youths. However, statistics have it that Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing leads to a loss of over 1.3 billion dollars in West Africa alone, yearly. We must tighten the legal and regulatory framework to stop these losses. We must intensify efforts to promote intra-African trade in fisheries, as statistics also show that Pan-African fish trade is worth about 20 billion euros. This will help to sustain African economies in the long term.
    As a maritime nation, Nigeria has a responsibility together with other nations and international organisations, like the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), to make our waters safe and secure. It is as a result that the legislature in Nigeria has been very active in maritime related legislations over the years. In 2007, the National Assembly created the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) from the old National Maritime Authority (NMA) and amended the 1962 Merchant Shipping Act and empowered NIMASA to administer the Act.
    Furthermore, the National Assembly has domesticated 12 very important Maritime Safety and Security Conventions of the IMO, which are necessary for safeguarding security and safety in our region. It has also domesticated the International Ships and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, which is a very important IMO Convention instrument for safety and security at Nigerian ports as part of its Ports State duties. The Nigerian parliament has also domesticated eight important conventions and protocols on marine environment geared towards a clean, safe and secure marine environment.
    We as a parliament have been at the forefront of legislation on maritime issues in the past and are currently, actively involved in processing legislations in the maritime sector. The House of Representatives only recently passed the National Transport Commission Bill, which it is hoped would have a huge impact on the maritime sector especially with respect to economic regulation of activities of operators and agencies in our maritime sector.
    It is in this regard that we pledge our commitment to speedy processing of the proposed Bill for an Act to provide for the Suppression of Piracy and other unlawful Acts at Sea (and other related offences). The Bill, when passed, is expected to “give expression to relevant Conventions, Treaties and Charters on safety and security and further strengthen Nigeria’s desire to make its waters safe”, according to the promoters of the Bill. The bill is in the court of the Executive at the moment and await its transmission as an Executive Bill for legislative processing into law. The Executive should also take the opportunity to transmit other IMO Conventions and Protocols that have been acceded to by Nigeria, for domestication by the National Assembly.
    Finally, any discussion of maritime security, safety, administration and development cannot be complete without discussion of the impact of Climate Change and the possibility of developing a blue economy following the Paris Convention on Climate Change. Nigeria and indeed Africa cannot be left behind. We shall play our own part as parliament when it is brought before us in due course.
    Permit me to awaken our conscience, even if it amounts to a rebuke, to the fact that the days of paying lip service to the emergence of skilled indigenous seamen and sea women and indigenous fleet owners, not vessel owners, are well over. A strong man lifts the cargo he generates, therefore Africa must possess the capacity to lift the cargo it generates, be they dry or wet, if it must qualify as a strong maritime continent. The goal of this conference must not be the sustainable use of African oceans and seas by non Africans, but by Africans first and then others. I know of very few curses greater than for one to make his bed and for another to lie on it. Therefore, my charge to you administrators is to ensure that as you make this bed, you will also be making Africans who must lie on it.

    •Dogara is House of Representatives Speaker. This is an abridged version of a remark he gave at the African Maritime Administrations Association conference in Abuja.

  • Buhari’s health : Gloating is of no value

    Buhari’s health : Gloating is of no value

    I learnt an enduring lesson on the day General Sani Abacha died. It was June 8, 1998, and death had laid its icy hands on the maximum ruler, and the scepter had fallen from the grip of the king. I was deputy editor of National Concord, the newspaper owned by Basorun M.K. O Abiola, the man Abacha not only inveigled out of his mandate as democratically elected President, but whom he had also locked up in military gulag for five years.

    Mr Dele Alake, who was to become Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State for eight years, was editor, but he had travelled on the fateful day. So, the lot fell on me to produce the newspaper, as the deputy editor. Dr (Mrs) Doyin Abiola was Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief.
    Naturally, on a great news day like that, an editor would leave his office, and be on the shop floor, ensuring that the newspaper was swiftly produced.

    Time was of the essence, if you would partake in the harvest of sales the next day. So, I was in the computer room downstairs, editing the news stories as they were typed at the speed of light. It was there that Dr Abiola met me, as she prepared to go home about 7 p.m. She said something that both baffled and amazed me: “Editor, no gloating. We have every reason to rejoice that Abacha is dead, but no gloating. Just present the news as professionally as possible. Don’t gloat!”

    I thanked her, and she left. Her instruction continued to ring in my ears, and was followed to the letter. Those who read National Concord the next day would recall that there was no sense of triumphalism, no newsman’s orgasm of any kind, in the treatment of the story. Just professionally done. “Don’t gloat!”

    Did Doyin Abiola have reasons to instruct her newspaper to preen and gloat about Abacha’s death? Every. He had given the impression that he would take over power, and hand over to Abiola, who had won the June 12, 1993, presidential election, which the military annulled. Instead, he locked the man up in solitary confinement. Doyin did not see her husband for five years.

    Also, Abacha had shut down Concord Press for about two years, causing the company grave economic afflictions. Under him, Kudirat Abiola, one of Doyin’s mates, had been murdered, shot down in the streets, allegedly on the orders of the state. And many more evil deeds. Dr Doyin Abiola had every cause to waltz, and do a jig, at the death of Sani Abacha. But she did not. She even told her editor: “Don’t gloat!” I never forgot, and will never forget that lesson. It is human, and it is also divine.

    Between January 19 and March 10, of this year, President Muhammadu Buhari was away in London, first on routine holiday where he would do normal medical check-ups, and then, it became a medical vacation, in which he had to ask for an indeterminate number of days. Yes, who is he or she that never falls sick, let that person cast the first stone. As the President frankly confessed on his return, he had never been that sick in his life. Human, just human. Presidents, kings, queens, potentates, wealthy people, are also human, aren’t they? They itch as well, and scratch as hard. Sickness, not only death, is often a leveler among all mortals, young, old, poor, rich, dull, brilliant, ugly, beautiful, everybody.

    And we know what attended the President’s medical sojourn from certain quarters in the country. Wild news. Hate news. Rumour. Evil thinking. Even, gloating. They did all kinds of photoshops, and spewed all kinds of evil stories. They passed round outright wickedness on WhatsApp, and those of us who debunked their evil tales became enemies. They tried to tag us with all kind of labels, saying we were liars and deceivers. But wise was the man who said: “The truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it, but there it is.” Or our own Professor Tam David-West, in his book, Philosophical Essays, also said: “Truth like the cork cannot sink. It cannot be sunk. It always floats.”

    When President Buhari spoke with me on phone from London on February 25, I was elated, and issued a press statement, detailing our conversation. Many Nigerians, good people from a great nation, who could get hold of my phone number, called. They would ask if truly we had spoken. Once I confirmed, they broke into tears of joy, crying like babies. They brought tears to my eyes many times. Till this son of hate, a purveyor of evil and tragedy, called. He identified himself as Jude (I decide to withhold his other name for now). He said: “Mr Adesina, you claim to have spoken with President Buhari. When are you going to stop this political deceit? How can you speak with a man who is long dead, and you are deceiving the public that he’s still alive?”

    I didn’t argue with the man (though I was tempted to call him sonofagun, the son of a gun). I held my peace, let him finish his orgy of evil, and calmly cut off the phone. Doomsday prophets. Evil thinkers. Peddlers of mischief.

    Then, on March 10, the President returned. Ecstasy and pure rapture from good Nigerians, who had been praying and supplicating unto God. Mai Gaskiya was back. The honest man had returned. Ramrod straight, man of integrity. He had been spared by God, and restored to us. Oh, glory!
    Did you listen to that short speech that President Buhari read on his return? Did you listen to his off the cuff remarks? Was there any gloating? None. Did he rub it in on those who had peddled evil news, fake news, hate news? No. That is maturity. That is how to be the father of a country. And I remembered Dr Doyin Abiola: “Don’t gloat!”

    Do you know what some other people would have done in the same circumstance? They would have taken evil minded people to the cleaners. But not President Buhari. They would have made snide remarks about peddlers of hate news, calling fire and brimstone to fall upon them. But not our President. He would have been justified if he did so. The Good Book says, “He that digs a pit shall fall into it. He that rolls a stone, a stone will roll back at him. He that breaks the hedge, a serpent shall bite him.” So, President Buhari would have been justified, if he gave evil people some jabs. But he did not. What a heart!

    Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.

    How did that Jude Somebody feel when the President returned? He even bears Jude, a Christian name. How embarrassing! But he was full of bile, in the gall and throes of bitterness. May God forgive him. Amen.

    With President Buhari’s health saga, some truths have been brought to bold relief once again. Anybody can be sick. Big or small man. A man of power, or a man of no consequence. Let us therefore be conscious of our mortality at all times. I can testify, from my many private discussions with him, that President Buhari is a man keenly aware of his own mortality at all times. A worthy example to follow.

    Another lesson. Life and death are the sole preserves of God Almighty. Despite all those concoctions and contraptions, fake pictures, false stories on WhatsApp, mendacious newspaper reports, President Buhari came back alive. Who says anything that God has not said? There are many devices in the heart of man, but it is the counsel of God that shall stand. The counsel of God has prevailed concerning Nigeria, and concerning our President. Let us learn the eternal truth. No matter the devices in the heart of man, the counsel of God stands. It is not me that says so. It is straight from the Good Book.

    From March 10, when President Buhari returned, purveyors of evil have disappeared. Vanished! Utterly transmuted, like Brother Jero, in that work by Wole Soyinka. Even on social media, where they had held sway for many weeks, they evaporated. Like a beaten dog, they had their tails between their feet, and ran for cover. But should we rejoice? “Don’t gloat!”

    There is nothing we have, that we did not receive from above. So, why boast? Why gloat? Rather, we should be thankful to God. The President has thanked millions of people who prayed. And they continue to pray. Olorun da Baba si fun wa. God, please, spare Baba for us. Let him take us to the Promised Land. A land that is secure, free completely of Boko Haram, flowing with milk and honey. A land where corrupt people get their just desserts, ending behind bars. A land where human life has value, where wanton killings stop, where justice and equity covers the space, like the waters cover the sea. A land where mischief makers repent, and turn to God.

    Where is that Jude Somebody? I kept his number. I feel like calling him, saying “Son of a gun, how now?” But I shouldn’t do it. And I won’t do it. Because I remember Dr Abiola’s instruction: “Don’t gloat!”

    Adesina is Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President