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  • House report asks govt to contest Bakassi judgment

    House report asks govt to contest Bakassi judgment

    The House of Representatives report has said Nigeria must contest the ruling of the International Court of Justice October 10, 2002 which led to the ceding of Bakassi and the commencement of the delineation of the boundaries between Nigeria and Cameroun from Lake Chad to the Seas.

    The report of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Justice and Special Duties interactive meeting with experts on the maritime boundaries of Nigeria and the future of Bakassi, was laid before the House yesterday.

    The 10-page report, which has 10 findings and four recommendations said Cameroon obtained the judgment fraudulently.

    The report in its findings, states: “The foundation on which the International Court of Justice ruling was predicated was “ab initio” faulty and that the Bakassi Pennisula on the basis of indigenous ownership, historical consolidation and effective occupation had always belonged to Nigeria.

    “There is no concrete evidence of ratifications of the 1913 agreement on which the International Court of Justice ruling was predicated. The 1913 Anglo-German treaty which Cameroon rested its claim was not signed by both countries before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

    “The memoirs of Prince Karl Max Lichnowsky, a former German Ambassador and a Principal negotiator of the 1913 proposed agreement was found. He was quoted to have regretted the non-entry into force of the Agreement. He said ‘The Treaty which offered us Extraordinary Advantages, a result of more than one year’s work was thus dropped. It would have been a public success for me.’

    All the subsequent agreements made between Britain and Germany, as well as France explicitly recognised that the Bakassi Pennisula had been effectively occupied by the Efik ethnic group of Nigeria.

    “After the World War I, Germany renounced all it’s territorial claims in 1919 and all the former territories controlled by Germany came under the mandate of the League of Nations.

    “A plebiscite was conducted on March 18, 1961, in Southern Cameroon to determine communities that either wanted to stay in Cameroun or join Nigeria. Communities such as Manfe, Bamenda, Kumba, and Victoria participated. Bakassi never participated in the exercise because it was never in contention that Bakassi was Nigerian. (see appendix 1 Southern Cameroun Gazette published by EUEA Authority 18th March 1961, Vol.7,no.14 showing the result of voting by plebiscite districts of the whole Southern Cameroun. “it is worthy of note that the people of Bakassi had always participated in Nigerian elections.”

    The committee said it “noted that the people of Bakassi have asserted unequivocally their unwillingness to and/or live under Cameroonian authority.”

    The report’s recommendations read: “The committee hereby recommends that the Nigerian Government should as a matter of urgency and necessity approach the International Court of Justice for a review of the 2002 judgment on the basis of the following assertions.

    (1) Article 61 of the International Court of Justice ICJ’s statute clearly defines the procedure to seek for review of its judgment. (see Appendix2.)

    Based on the fresh evidence that was not known to the ICJ and more importantly the 10year timeframe stipulated by this statute, the Nigerian Government should proceed immediately to file for a review. (October 10-2012 is the deadline)

    (2) The Green-Tree-Agreement entered into by the government of Nigeria and Cameroun as a result of the ICJ judgment which eventually led to the Nigerian government ceding Bakassi to Cameroun is a clear violation of Section 12(1) of the 199 constitution which states that “No Treaty between the federation and any other country shall have the force of law to the extent to which any such Treaty have been enacted into law by the National Assembly”. The implication is that the Gren-Tree-Agreement does not have the force of law.

    (3) Increasing security challenges and the threat to our territorial integrity was put on full glare as it was noted that there is decreased piracy activity in the Somalia-Eritrea region due to heavy UN presence on those waters and a transfer of the nefarious activities to the waters surrounding Nigeria as a result of skeletal (if any) presence of the Nigerian Navy on the waters of Bakassi owing to constant conflict between the Nigerian Navy and the Cameroonian Navy as to who owns the waters. Vulnerability of the Bakassi water ways poses a huge security risk as we battle insecurity on land and we are faced with insecurity on water.

    (4) The Nigerian government must realize that SELF DETERMINATION is a fundamental right to which Bakassi people can avail themselves of especially where a sovereign state abdicates her responsibility towards a constituent part of her territory. We must therefore do everything within our power to ensure that the people of Bakassi continue to feel,that they are part and parcel of their homeland.

    Given the short window period on the issue, the report which was jointly signed by the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Nnena Elendu-Ukeje, Chairman House Committtee on Justice, Ali Ahmad and Chairman of the House Committee on Special Duties, Bello Kaoje, is mostly likely to be given accelerated consideration and its recommendation adopted this week.

     

  • The hell called prisons in Nigeria, by ex-inmates

    The hell called prisons in Nigeria, by ex-inmates

    Prisons are meant to be reform centres. But, over the years, they have been unable to play this role. Ex-inmates of the Kirikiri Maximum and Medium Security Prisons set free on September 18 by the Chief Judge of Lagos State Justice Ayotunde Phillips paint a pathetic picture of the prisons, write ADEBISI ONANUGA and NNEKA NWANERI

    Betran Anwagu was in his shop around CMS Bus Stop, Lagos Island in 2005 when he had a misunderstanding with another man and had the story of his life rewritten . Dennis Etim was arrested for robbery, instead of fighting in 2010. Sanni Musa, a trader at the Mile 12 Market, Ketu, on the outskirts of Lagos, was arrested in place of a suspected armed robber in June 2005. And Ifeanyi Nwaeze, an ex-commercial bus driver from Delta State, was accused of robbing someone in Egbeda, on the outskirts of Lagos. They were all kept in a prison cell alongside hardened criminals.

    In the bleak, windswept landscape of the rapidly swelling Kirikiri Medium and Maximum Prisons, they withered.

    Their looks tell tales of agony. The eyes’ sockets are seemingly loosened. They are the metaphor of lack, the simile of dejection and the apt representation of want. Yet, they just came out of what should be a reformatory centre.

    No thanks to overcrowding, caused by high population of Awaiting Trial Inmates, the Kirikiri Maximum and Medium Prisons and others across the country have become the chambers of horror.

    Every day, an average of 1000 Nigerians are dumped in prisons, remaining there without trial. There are those who have been there for about three years or more without being taken to court for once. Of the 42,000 inmates in the country’s prisons, 34,000 are awaiting trial, according to Minister of Interior Abba Moro. Some believe that the figures may be inaccurate given the country’s poor record-keeping.

    Inmates lack enough bed spaces. So, not all enjoy the luxury of sleeping on the bed. Cells are unclean and without proper ventilation. Diseases are widespread. The government does not perform its role of meeting the daily needs of prisoners, leaving missionary bodies, charity groups and Nong-Governmental Organisations (NGO) to fill the gaps.

    The prisons provide for inmates to engage in vocations such as carpentry, tailoring and so on. But not all can benefit from these. Inmates awaiting trial are excluded. They are made to pass time in prisons with nothing to show for it. Some of them have been in detention for much longer than the sentence they would have got on conviction.

    Anwagu can confirm it. The 54-year-old, on September 18, regained freedom from the Kirikiri Prisons courtesy of a pardon granted him and 232 others by the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, in exercise of the powers conferred on her under Section1(1) of the Criminal justice Release from Custody Act, Law of the Federation of Nigeria.

    It was part of the activities marking the 2012/2013 Legal Year. The beneficiaries include those who have been in prison custody for upwards of three years and above, awaiting trial. They were committed to prison custody on holding charges by magistrate courts.

    Anambra State-born Anwagu was arrested on March 9, 2005.

    He said: “Life there was difficult. The food we were given here was not good. Though we were being fed thrice a day, the food was nothing, especially the soup. Those that had money used it to cook. Someone like me, I didn’t like the food I was served a night before I was released. So, I went to bed hungry. Before I came to prison, I was not married. The woman I was planning to marry, I haven’t seen her since this thing happened to me. “

    Anwagu found himself in prison for street-fighting. According to him, a man had come to him at CMS Bus Stop, Lagos Island, where he was selling provisions. He claimed to have fought him.

    Anwagu, who lost the opportunity of getting married to his heartthrob as a result of his arrest, said he was first taken to the Police Headquatres annex (Lion Building) in Lagos.

    “Two hours later, the police came back with two more people and the following morning, the four of us were taken before the DPO as those found on the crime scene. That very morning, we were charged with armed robbery and remanded at Panti and later we were brought to Kirikiri.”

    The unfairness of the justice system was corroborated by an ex-inmate, Etim, 39. The father of four said he had a fight with somebody with whom he had a business transaction. He claimed that in the course of the fight, the other man’s N15,000 got missing and he was arrested for robbery, instead of fighting. That was in 2010.

    Etim, who spent two years and nine months in prison, alleged that the police officer, who investigated the matter, asked his mother to bring N250,000 to set him free.

    He said: “ The I PO asked me to bring N250,000 so that he can set me free. He negotiated the price with my mum, then later on that day when he wanted to take me to court, he said my mother should bring N20,000 that he will change the robbery case to stealing. Then my mother said ‘no, my son did not steal anything’. So, immediately my mother left that day, he said my mother should come the next morning; it was that very morning, he took me to court, because my mother came late.”

    Like other prisons, Kirikiri is congested. Awaiting Trial Prisoners (ATPs) are more than convicts. For instance, the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison has 1,056 inmates. 763 are awaiting trials. The Medium Security Prison has 2,502 inmates; 2,378 are awaiting trial inmates. 124 are convicts.

    Most of the ATPs are in custody for petty offences. Musa, one of those freed by the Lagos chief judge, was a trader at the Mile 12 Market, Ketu, on the outskirts of Lagos. He told The Nation that policemen arrested him in place of a suspected armed robber. That was in June 2005. He said of his seven years in prison: “No enjoyment for life here o. Nothing dey here. If I commot here now, I go go back to my brother where he dey sell market.”

    Another beneficiary of Justice Phillips’ gesture, Victor Kapan, was dumped in prison when he was 20. He is now 32.

    He said: “I was a motorcycle mechanic until I was brought in here in year 2000. Before then, some boys brought a document that I should help them change it to their own. That was all I know. I keep thanking God that I am still alive till this date because he has given me a second chance and I will never do anything that will bring me to prison again.”

    The story of his life has been rewritten. “While I was here, my aunt who used to visit me, died. I also lost my junior brother and senior sister while I was there and I wasn’t allowed to attend their burials. As soon as I leave, I’ll go back to my former job but I will first go and see my aged mother in the village. Then, when God blesses me, I’ll come to worship at the chapel here and visit my brothers.”

    Nwaeze wasted five years in Kirikiri. The ex-commercial bus driver from Delta State was accused of robbery.

    He said: “I was born September 19 1982. They said that I went and robbed someone in Egbeda. So, they came and arrested me in my house but I didn’t do anything. They took me to the station and I spent like six months at the station. While I was there, no one came to make a statement that I actually robbed him. I was taken to a court in Ikeja once and then taken to the Kirikiri Medium Prisons for more than two years before I was brought to the Maximum Prisons.”

    His ordeal has made him appreciate God.

    “When I was in the free world, I never used to go to church, but I knew I was serving God. But since I came here, I am now serving the living God. Today, I feel a big relief. If my mother hears my voice, she will cry. My sister and I are the only children she has. When I leave, I will go to the East and meet my parents. I can manage some of my father’s property. I don’t want to go back to the life I used to live, living life like tomorrow did not exist. But since I had this problem, none of those ladies I used to waste money on or my so called friends has come to visit me.”

    Henry Odus also benefitted from Justice Phillips’s benevolence. Odus was convicted for murder. He admitted committing the offence, which saw him spending years in prison before the chief judge came to his rescue.

    Odus said: “ I was married before I came here, with two children. My wife left me and my two children came to visit me once in a while. All I can do now is to have a repentant mind.”

    But if the words of Williams Owodo, an inmate serving life at the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons, are anything to go by, many of those still at the prisons may not deserve to be there.

    He said: “Most of us who were sentenced to death are innocent. And Governor Babatunde Fashola should please look into our case. Our statements were written under duress.”

    Morro agrees the criminal justice system needs overhauling to decongest the prisons and prevent innocent people from languishing in jail without trial.

    He said: “To solve this problem would mean a total overhaul and re-planning of the criminal justice administration system. I must state that the job of decongesting the prisons vested in the Justice Ministry has not been really effective. There should be a redesigning to involve the prisons and the supervising ministry and the police and civil society organisations.”

    Until then, the population of those awaiting trial will keep rising. It was 30,000 in 2010. Moro said it is now 34,000. What will it be next year?

     

  • Nigeria braces for escalation in terrorist attacks

    Nigeria braces for escalation in terrorist attacks

    Senior political and military figures say government has lost control of security amid wave of Boko Haram bombings, writes The Guardian of UK

    The Nigerian government has lost control of security, according to its own advisers, and lacks a coherent strategy to counter the threat of terrorism.
    Senior political and military figures have told The Guardian of their growing pessimism over the government’s ability to contain Boko Haram, the Islamist sect responsible for a deadly wave of bombings and kidnappings in northern Nigeria, and are bracing themselves for an escalation in attacks.
    “We have a serious problem in Nigeria and there is no sense that the government has a real grip,” a senior official close to the government said on condition of anonymity. “The situation is not remotely under control. It is just a matter of time before we see more large-scale attacks that pose a significant threat to national security, and now Nigeria’s economic growth is also at risk.”
    Boko Haram – whose name is often translated as “western education is sinful” – has become increasingly sophisticated in its operations since first launching mass attacks in northern Nigeria in 2010.
    The sect first began using violence against the Nigerian government and police in 2003, and is believed to have advanced its operations in recent months by attracting funding and support from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and al-Shabaab.
    In 2009 Boko Haram launched a new phase of operations following the killing of its leader, Muhammad Yusuf, by police and security forces.
    Since then, a spate of deadly church bombings has left hundreds dead, while attacks on mobile phone base stations have paralysed telecommunications in northern Nigeria, causing an estimated £3m worth of damage.
    The government has attempted to fight back against the sect, and claims to have killed at least 35 suspected militants earlier this week, and detained 60 others during raids in Adamawa and Yobe states in northern Nigeria – two of the areas most affected by the violence.
    But its failure to stop Boko Haram attacks has led many to question the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan, who promised in March that security services would have ended the insurgency by June.
    A senior defence official, who asked not to be named, expressed concern that the government had failed to demonstrate the necessary political leadership to combat the threat posed by Boko Haram.
    “Leadership is the problem,” said the source. “When we had military dictatorships in Nigeria, we did not experience this kind of weak decision-making. There is no way we can combat this threat without more decisive action. You cannot divorce what is happening from weak leadership and the failure to repair the divisions in our society.”
    “The level of poverty in the north, and the way southerners are behaving with impunity – it is not surprising that there is this level of discontent in northern Nigeria.”
    Experts have frequently attributed the rise of Boko Haram to the growing divide between rich and poor in Nigeria, compounded by regionalism that has often pitched the largely Christian south against the predominantly Muslim north.
    Of the two-thirds of Nigerians – 100 million people – living below the poverty line, Nigeria’s national bureau of statistics said that the number living on less than one dollar a day was higher in the north, with rates of around 70%, compared with rates closer to 50% in the south. Much of the north has illiteracy rates of above 75%.
    “These acts are a reaction against decades of neglect,” the source close to the government said. “They are similar factors to what we saw driving revolution in the Arab spring.
    “The Boko Haram phenomenon underlines the failure of the Nigerian state,” said Manir Dan Ali, editor of the Daily Trust newspaper. “The government has ignored the advice of its own security officials, who warned of the danger signals long ago, and worse, lacks a coherent strategy for dealing with the problem and its underlining causes of poverty, neglect and a lack of opportunities for the young.”
    Resentment towards the Nigerian authorities has been compounded by human rights abuses, including extra-judicial killings, experts say.
    “Male members of security forces have been going in and raiding women’s quarters – terrifying the women and humiliating the men,” said Chidi Odinkalu, chair of Nigeria’s national human rights commission. “These are minimal things that the state should be able to achieve – to train the soldiers on these sensitivities and use female soldiers. You can’t fight an insurgency by alienating part of the community.”
    The source close to the government said: “There are middle-ranking senior officers who understand the counter-productive nature of raids and extrajudicial executions. But that understanding is not filtering down quickly enough to junior officers – they are making bad decisions and they are not adequately trained. The police are ethically broken, and the armed forces don’t trust the police.
    “If you talk to Nigerians in the north, the misbehaviour of the security forces has become a significant factor in strengthening support for Boko Haram.”
    The military said it had addressed the problem of abuses by security services and changed its approach to operations in northern Nigeria. “We are beginning to win the hearts and minds of the people,” said Colonel Muhammad Yerima, director of defence information. “We are closing in on the terrorists – the more we catch them and interrogate them and get information, and stop the people that are supporting them, the more we will be able to combat this threat.”
    But the relationship between Boko Haram and officials is complex, experts say, with some members of the security services assisting the sect. “Some members of the security forces have been working as double agents,” said Adunola Abiola, founder of Think Security Africa, a thinktank specialising in security issues in Africa.
    “Improved and regular vetting of security personnel is very important for improving security management in the country generally.”
    The Nigerian government has been under renewed pressure to combat Boko Haram since the US decided to designate three members of the sect as foreign terrorists, giving US authorities powers under US law to take action.
    “This designation would in theory give various departments and agencies in the US government the power to actively pursue these men which could in theory result in a violation of Nigeria’s sovereignty and possibly even territorial integrity,” said Abiola. “It was severely embarrassing for the federal government and reinforced domestic criticism that it was incapable of performing the most basic of sovereign functions.”

     

  • Newswatch dispute: Ibrahim sues Ekpu, others

    Newswatch dispute: Ibrahim sues Ekpu, others

    •As court restrains them from acting as company’s directors

    A major investor in the troubled news magazine, Newswatch, Jimoh Ibrahim has sued four other directors of the organisation over the comapany’s management dispute.

    The directors named as defendants in the suit before a Federal High Court in Lagos include: Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed and Soji Akinrinade.

    Ibrahim is seeking to strip the other aggrieved directors of that status and prevent them from declaring a trade dispute between him,(with 51 per cent stake) and the remaining shareholders (with 49 per cent stake).

    He particularly prayed the court to restrain the defendants from acting on behalf of the other shareholders who own the remaining 49 per cent stake.

    He argued that the defendants, with just 6.3 per cent cumulative share holding, and having resigned from the company, could no act for the company or its other shareholders. The suit also has as plaintiffs, Ibrahim’s Global Media Mirror Limited and Newswatch Communications Ltd.

    In the substantive suit, the plaintiffs set six questions for the court’s determination and sought six declarative reliefs and an order.

    He prayed the court to among others decide whether the respondents, having resigned from the company on May 5 this year, could continue to act for the company and parade themselves as its directors.

    They also want the court to decide whether or not the respondents, with just 6.3 per cent equity, could act for the owners of the company’s 49 per cent stake; whether in view of their minority share holding, the respondents could also declare, in law, give notice of trade dispute with the company and its Chairman.

    Ibrahim urged the court to declare that the respondents, having resigned from the company, and their said resignation endorsed by the company’s board, they have ceased to by the company’s directors.

    He also want the court to declare that Ekpo and others having resigned from the company, can no longer be referred to as its employees.

    Ibrahim argued, in a supporting affidavit deposed to by Gloria Ukeje, that Newswatch owed about N362,132,764.19 when he bought into it and acquired 51 per cent majority shareholding.

    He said that by the current shareholding structure the defendants do not have enough shares for them to be qualified to be on the board.

    Meanwhile, the court presided over by Justice Okon Abang has temporarily restrained Ekpu and others from acting on behalf of the company, from decalring trade dispute; from making any form of publications in respect of the company and the Share Puchase Agreement by which Ibrahim bought into the company.

    The orders contained in a September 5 ruling on the plaintiffs’ application for interim injunctions, are to subsist pending the determination of the substantive suit.

    Hearing of the substantive suit has been fixed for October 15 before which the defendants are expected to have filed their response to issues raised.

     

  • Activist calls for financial update on Ondo resources

    Akure lawyer, Mr. Morakinyo Ogele, yesterday called for detailed information Ondo State’s finances since the inception of the Olusegun Mimiko administration.

    The activist said he was acting on under Section 1 (1) [2] of the Freedom of Information Act 2011, which gives every Nigerian the right to have access vital information and documents that concern the people.

    In a letter to the Ministry of Finance, Ogele said since the ministry had a copy of the letter, it should explain the financial standing of the state within seven days.

    The letter said the government should give details of how it spent the N600million budgeted for the local government creation in the state.

    Others are: Kaadi Igbe Ayo, for which N2.7billion was spent; the N38billion left by the ousted Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration under Dr Olusegun Agagu; a N50billion loan from a local bank and bound market.

    Ogele is also demanding explanations on the following: “The N61.3billion budgeted for the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC); N200million Arigidi-Akoko Tomato Industry, allegedly converted to a pure water factory; N7billion palm tree seeding, allegedly dumped at Ore and Bagbe; and N2.7billion, allegedly spent on the construction of a Dome in Akure, the state capital.

    The lawyer noted that the residents were suffering from the financial recklessness of the LP administration, led by Dr Olusegun Mimiko.

    He threatened to mobilise the people to demonstrate peacefully against the alleged misappropriation of the state fund, if the government refused to give details on how it utilised the state’s resources.

     

  • Oyo distributes treated mosquito nets

    Oyo distributes treated mosquito nets

    The Oyo State government has commenced the distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets to 1.3 million families in the state.

    The Commissioner for Health, Dr Muyiwa Gbadegesin, disclosed this while addressing reporters in Ibadan, the state capital. Gbadegesin explained that a total of 893,000 nets were distributed during the first phase of the programme in Oke-Ogun area of the state. He added that a total of 1.3 million families translating to six million population are expected to benefit from the free nets across the 33 local governments of the state.

    According to him, the free nets were being provided in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with support from the World Health Organisation (WHO). He explained that the nets were being distributed under a partnership of the state and federal govenments tagged Malaria Action Programme for States (MAPS).

    Gbadegesin said that the 893,000 free nets were distributed in the 13 local govenment areas of Oke-Ogun in July and August, pointing out that the second phase would commence towards the end of the year.

    The commissioner further explained that MAPS staff and their counterparts from the state Ministry of Health as well as staff of the local governments conducted house-to-house mapping during which residents were identified, interviewed and issued cards with which to collect the nets before they were distributed. He pointed out that the mapping helped them to determine the number of people that make up each family thereby helping them to know how many nets to be earmarked for them.

    He said that each medium-sized nuclear family got two nets while more nets were given to polygamous families, depending on the number of people that make up the family. The nets were also torn open to prevent beneficiaries from selling them.

    Expressing satisfaction with the project, Gbadegesin said that malaria was the most prevalent disease in the state, in Nigeria and even in Africa. “It is the greatest killer disease. It is more so because children and pregnant women are most vulnerable,” the commissioner said.

    Gbadegesin further explained that the distribution of the free nets would complement the free malaria drugs that the state provides for children, pregnant women and the aged in all state and local government hospitals in the state.  ”But it is even better to prevent. Prevention is the reason for the nets. The weekly sanitation exercise is also helping because it is having a great positive impact on health in the state. It has helped reduce diseases and potential outbreak of lassa fever. We believe that the continuation of the sanitation and improvement in personal hygiene will reduce incidents of malaria and other diseases.

    “The two are the begining of good health,” Gbadegesin said.

     

  • 3,000 FCT pilgrims head for Saudi Arabia

    Three thousand pilgrims in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) yesterday travelled to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj. They boarded Kabo and Max airlines.

    Of the pilgrims, over 530 went through screening at the permanent camp and were taken to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, by the mass transit buses provided by the FCT Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board.

    The Director of the FCT Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Surajo Ado Faskari, who addressed reporters at the permanent camp, said the exercise would be concluded on October 4.

  • Tunji Olaopa, Ojetunji Aboyade and Nigeria’s crisis of underdevelopment (2)

    Mr Tunji Olaopa was no doubt motivated by his own patriotic love for scholarship and country to publish his September 9th tribute to commemorate the birthday anniversary of Professor Ojetunji Aboyade, one of Nigeria’s most eminent men of letters. It was this same labour of love that must have compelled Dr. Olaopa to write his 1997 biography of his intellectual mentor and role model simply titled: A Prophet is with Honour: The Life and Times of Aboyade. Surely, Olaopa could have chosen to exploit his close contact with Aboyade to seek to do a hagiographic book on some of the military top brass holding public office at the time. That would have been surely a more lucrative enterprise. But Olaopa places more value on the life of the mind than on material accumulation of temporal utility. To be fair to Olaopa, he is too intellectually honest to be oblivious of the human frailties of Aboyade. In his words “…when we attempt to come to terms with the biographical profile of Aboyade, the man, and Aboyade the scholar, it is difficult not to perceive the image of a human being, with all the expected human imperfections, who struggled against all odds to make a difference that is not less historic”.

    Reading Dr. Olaopa’s biography of Aboyade many years ago, one of the things that struck me was the depth of reading that Aboyade had to do in history and social anthropology before being awarded his doctorate degree in Economics. This, for me, illustrated vividly that the economy is deeply rooted in a given polity and society and a clear knowledge and understanding of the latter is a necessary condition for mastery of the former. Yet, many economists, not excluding Professor Aboyade, tend to see the discipline as an esoteric one in which only the initiated have the right to comment or make an input into economic issues and policy. Thus, Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu, Minister of Finance during the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, wondered how even Awka market women could have the temerity to contribute to a debate on whether or not Nigeria should obtain an IMF loan and adopt the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP)!

    It would appear to me that because of his genius in the realm of economic theory, Professor Aboyade was often rather impractical in his approach to matters of public policy. For instance, when the Murtala/Obasanjo regime enlisted his expertise in devising an acceptable revenue allocation formula for the country, the report of his committee was found to be too technical to be of much practical utility! The late Professor Bade Onimode also explained how excessive technical elitism had negative implications on some of those Development Plans in which Aboyade was a leading architect. In Onimode’s words, “The process starts with the conception of planning as a technical exercise requiring the expert skills of petty bourgeois economists, capitalist-oriented bureaucrats and similar elitist elements. This excludes other professional groups like sociologists, geographers, agronomists, political scientists and engineers in what should be a multidisciplinary process at the technical level…Consequently, the fundamental character of planning as a social process involving all social and political groups in the country, is ignored”. Thus, Onimode argues, the democratic character of planning is negated and it has been difficult to mobilize mass support for Development Plans in post-colonial Nigeria.

    Another public policy issue on which Professor Aboyade’s expert advice was sought was on the wisdom of going ahead with the proposed Metro-line project for Lagos. The project had been conceived by the administration of Alhaji Lateef Jakande in the second republic. Mobilisation fees had even been paid for the contractors to move to sight. Before the project could proceed, the military had struck with the Buhari/Administration regime assuming power. The regime heeded Aboyade’s advice that the Metro-line project was not feasible and promptly cancelled the contract. Of course, the statutory penalties for breach of contract had to be paid but, more importantly, the development of Lagos was set back several decades as inflationary spirals made it impossible for successive governments to actualise the project.

    Another area in which Aboyade’s expertise was called upon during the Babangida regime was on the question of banning the importation of Wheat. This ban was purportedly to stimulate local Wheat production, increase economic self-reliance and bring about a fall in the price of bread. Many military governors trooped to Abuja to collect money for local wheat production saying that their soil had been found fertile for wheat production. It all turned out to be a huge hoax and an avenue to siphon public resources into private pockets. Yet, on December 13, 1991, Chief Alfred Rewane had written a letter to Professor Aboyade in the latter’s capacity as Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee. In the Chief’s words, “I am also informed that you have been a relentless supporter of the ban, although you as an economist must be aware of the great havoc it has caused and continues to cause in the industrial sector of the economy and in the commercial life of the nation, not to mention the immense distress it is causing to poor families in Nigeria.” Unfortunately in the school of economists like Professor Aboyade and the late Milton Friedman, it may sometimes be necessary for the vast majority to suffer in the best interest of economic growth. Yes, once the nation grows and is wealthy, there is no harm in the poor continuing to wallow in their misery.

    Another issue on which Chief Rewane publicly and vehemently disagreed with Professor Aboyade was on the devaluation of the Naira and the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). Aboyade was an enthusiastic supporter, even a key architect, of the devaluation of the Naira and other components of SAP. When on Friday, 26th September, 1986, announced the introduction of both SAP and the Second-Tier Foreign Exchange Market (SFEM) for the floating of the Naira, Chief Rewane’s response was characteristically pungent, “As my friends and I discussed the implications of the government’s announcement, I expressed the view that the devaluation of the Naira was a recipe for disaster and that within five years, the Naira would be worth less than 20 per cent of its existing value, leading to the possible collapse of the Nigerian economy. I reminded them of a standard economic argument that that devaluation of the national currency is best contemplated where the nation’s economy depends largely on the export of manufactured products for its foreign exchange earnings, and where devaluation is considered appropriate to ensure the competitiveness of its manufacturers.”

    Well, in the final analysis, Chief Rewane was proved resoundingly right. Nigeria till today is yet to recover from the havoc that SAP wrecked on the economy and this, unfortunately, is a key aspect of Aboyade’s legacy to Nigeria as Chairman of the intellectual think-tank that oversaw the implementation of SAP. And this is why I cannot agree with Dr. Olaopa that Aboyade’s mission “was to bring Nigeria to the acknowledgement of her historic destiny, and to point her in that direction without the benefit of wielding power.”Aboyade wielded considerable informal/intellectual influence under IBB. Unfortunately, he helped point his country in the wrong direction. All the same he remains a great Nigerian hero and we can only pray that his soul continue to rest in peace.

     

  • Flood displaced over one million in Kogi, says Wada

    Flood displaced over one million in Kogi, says Wada

    Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State yesterday said over one million people in the state have been displaced by floods.

    He spoke when he received members of the Senate Committee on Ecology at the Government House, Lokoja.

    The governor said his administration, despite its meagre resources, has resettled the victims in camps.

    He appealed to the Federal Government to assist the state financially to ameliorate the suffering of the people.

    Governor Wada said Ibaji Local Government was submerged by the flood, adding that more communities were on the verge of being taken over by water.

    The Chairman of the committee, Senator Bukola Saraki, said they were in the state to assess the level of damage.

    He said they were concerned about the disaster that had befallen Kogi and other states, adding that the committee would assist the affected states.

    Other members of the committee are Senators Barnabas Gemade and Attai Aidoko.

    Fourteen of the 21 local governments are affected by the flood. Prominent among them are Lokoja, Ibaji, Idah, Bassa and Omala.

     

  • Nigeria’s democracy is for a clique, says Okorocha

    Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha yesterday described Nigeria’s democracy as a “democracy of the clique”.

    He said Nigeria’s democracy must be redefined to meet the yearnings of the masses.

    Okorocha spoke in Abuja at the public presentation of a book, entitled: “An Assessment of the Nigerian University Environment”.

    He said: “Democracy is supposed to be the government of the people, by the people and for the people, but it is a democracy of the few, by the few and for the people. Or we can say our democracy is the government of the clique, by the clique and for the clique. There is need for us to redefine democracy in Nigeria.”

    The governor called for an overhaul of the education system. He said education should be made free and given top priority.

    Okorocha said: “We must give priority to education and make it free. If not, the problems of Nigeria will not stop.

    “We are repackaging education in Imo State. Our security votes have been diverted to education. Education should be made free and there should be punishment for any parent, who does not allow a child to go to school.

    “We must change our educational system and make universities have areas of specialisation. There is no more professionalism because there is no specialisation. I propose that we establish a University of Energy to end our problem in the power sector.”

    Minister of Information Labaran Maku attributed the declining state of education in the country to the replacement of the Teachers Grade 2 Certificate with the National Certificate in Education (NCE).

    He said the root cause of the education sector’s problems is at the primary and secondary level.

    Maku said: “Until primary and secondary schools are properly managed, the country can never get it right. You can never be a good student in the university, if you had no good foundation from the primary and secondary school.”

    He urged corporate organisations to support the sector

    The author of the book, Mr. Temple Onyeukwu, spoke on the need to streamline certain examinations, especially the Post Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), so that it would not clash with other examinations.