The Nation Newspaper

Tag: audacity

  • Senate invasion and Omo-Agege’s audacity

    LAST Wednesday’s invasion of the Senate chambers by thugs suspected to be acting a script widely regarded as coterminous with the frustrations of the suspended Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (Delta Central) may indicate far more trouble for the 8th Senate than Nigerians and senators care to admit. But there was no question just how dangerous the invasion is for the country, the health of its democracy, and the stability of the Fourth Republic. Newspaper and television reports showed how the invasion by thugs coincided with the forceful return to the Senate chambers of the suspended senator. There are reports indicating that the invasion was orchestrated, and that security agencies connived at it. Senator Omo-Agege denies the allegations.

    There is, however, no doubt that the security agencies failed in their duty of protecting the senate chambers and the lawmakers. The attackers not only had easy access to the chambers, they also had easy exit. Indeed, both their entry and exit appeared facilitated. Worse, the attackers and Sen Omo-Agege have been unwholesomely linked to the Buhari presidency, implying that the senator was punished for supporting the president against the order of elections Electoral Act amendment, and that in response the servile security agencies looked the other way as the highest lawmaking body in the country came under attack. What if it had degenerated into killings, on top of the killings in other parts of the country?

    The government has promised investigations. They should do more than that. By arresting and briskly releasing the senator at the centre of the brouhaha, the security agencies did not demonstrate impartiality and professionalism. It is critical that the government must demonstrate that both its judgement and its relationship with the lawmaking body, even if legislators are hostile, will be guided by the highest democratic principles and values. The Buhari presidency has not always given the country the assurance that it can operate flawlessly and even-handedly in a hostile legislative and partisan environment. It will, therefore, be interesting watching how the invasion is finally resolved, whether the government will act with firmness and dispassion or whether it will pull its punches.

    There are also indications that all is not well with the leadership and management of the Senate itself, a crisis supposedly dating back to the election of principal officers in 2015 and the leadership style and orientation of the Senate leadership. Happily the next elections are around the corner, and hopefully the preoccupation with election battles will both assuage hard feelings and deflect the bitterness that has subsisted in the chambers. But importantly, Senate leaders, particularly the increasingly melancholic Senate President, Bukola Saraki, must find ways of mollifying the rage of opponents and caucuses whose ideas and principles he may find combative and hostile. It will be a poor Senate indeed whose members all agree with him.

    Sen Saraki must recognise differences, accommodate them, and as a leader channel them creatively with aplomb for the common democratic good of the society. On account of the invasion and the inchoate plot to unseat him, he may now be tempted to fight his ‘enemies’ to the finish. He should resist that temptation. Not only will that approach exacerbate the schisms in the Senate, it will induce paranoia in the leaders and combatants. He will gain nothing by a destabilised Senate, notwithstanding the suspicion that an increasingly intolerant and cabalistic presidency has of recent seemed more minded to throwing the cat among the pigeons in order to sow divisions in the National Assembly and rule them, especially in an election year.

    Sen Omo-Agege cannot hope to completely distance himself from the uproar that shook the Senate last Wednesday. He was nearly lachrymose before his suspension when he sought to assuage his colleagues’ unhappiness with him in the heat of the Electoral Act amendment controversy. Before his suspension and during the invasion of the Senate, the senator cut the pitiable figure of a legislator who is neither deep nor calm under pressure. He is a sorry specimen of a lawmaker. The presidency too has not been run fluidly with the best of patriotic intentions and savvy. It is important that in the next polls voters must scrutinise with far more sense and rigour those they want to elect to make laws for them or rule them from the State House. The quality of the present occupants of state legislative chambers and State Houses all over the country fall far short of the standard needed to nurture democracy, engender quality debates, and grow and modernise the economy.

    Nigeria’s security and law enforcement agencies, as the reprisal killings orchestrated in Benue State allegedly by aggrieved soldiers show, have become dangerously partial and unprofessional. If a change of attitude is not forced upon them, they will imperil the country. Wednesday’s invasion must not be swept under the carpet, regardless of how the combatants were and are still arrayed, for the world will be watching to see whether those who rule Nigeria have the sense to let justice be served in the strictest sense or not.

  • ‘Attack on EFCC’s office is audacity of corruption’

    ‘Attack on EFCC’s office is audacity of corruption’

    The Nigeria Labour Congres (NLC) has described the recent attack by gun men on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commision (EFCC) Abuja office as an “audacity of corruption. The NLC, threfore, urged the commission and other related agencies to beef up security on their premises and personnel.

    It also charged the commission not ot succumb to intimidation, rather to do all necessary to secure the organisation.

    In a statement  signed by the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, he noted that the organisation needed technical support to build its forensic capacity without which cases would be lost or drag on indefinitely in court, thus, exposing the personnel to danger.

    “We also find it necessary to call on the government to give the commission the requisite support, including the setting up of dedicated courts for speedy disposal of corruption cases,” he said.              Wabba said the recent attack the battleground from the court room to the streets, and should be condemned by all those who love the country.

    According to him, the attack was intended to deter operatives of the EFCC from carrying on to a logical conclusion their ongoing investigations/prosecutions.

    He said: “In light of an earlier attack during which an operative sustained injuries, this cannot be a lone incident. Indeed, we see it as the new phase of corruption fighting back.

    “While we are not insensitive to the manifest danger in this new phase of corruption fighting back, we urge the commission and its operatives not to succumb to these desperate tactics or intimidation.”

    Wabba stated that Labour had no doubt that the resort to violence showed that those behind the attack have come to their wits’ end.

    In a related development, the NLC has taken a swipe at the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof Itse Sagay, over his call to move workers minimum wage law from the exclusive to the concurrent legislative list.

    Wabba stated this in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, after the launch of the congress’ annual Rain School Programme.

    Wabba said the PACAC chairman has neglected the work of the committee he has been saddled with but ventured  into an area that he has scanty knowledge about.

    The NLC boss accused Sagay of not delivering on the Committee’s Mandate of taming corruption in the country, urging him to focus on that assignment rather than making suggestions outside the purview of the committee.

    Wabba said that a country that pays its workers poorly can never reduce corruption to the barest minimum, stressing that even a layman knows that poorly paid workers would not be in a position to resist corrupt tendencies.

    He said that Nigerian workers would resist any attempt to move the Minimum Wage Law to the concurrent list because other nations’ minimum wage is a national issue in their constitutions.

  • Audacity of change

    President Buhari in a recent interview on May 29 lamented the parlous state of the naira and he promised to achieve one-to-one exchange rate parity with the dollar while in office. His political opponents have since ridiculed him on his statement and accused him of having no workable plan and resolution for the recession and economic growth.

    Naira and dollar one-to one parity is possible and achievable by re-denomination of the naira. If ever and whenever the naira to dollar exchange rate stabilizes at N100 to one dollar (100:1) or depreciates further to N1000 to one dollar (1000:1), the government can re-denominate and knock off the two or three zeros and create a new naira at one-to-one parity with the dollar. Well said, but is it necessary?

    The Japanese yen traded approximately between 100 to 125 yen to the dollar in the last one year (2015-2016). Does that mean that the yen is inferior to the dollar? Of course not! It is well known that the Japanese economy remains one of the most productive and innovative economies of the world. One hundred and twenty-five yen to the dollar makes same Japanese goods cheaper than at 100 Yen to the dollar and cheaper Yen gives Japan a favorable trade advantage in a competitive global market place.

    Productivity, competitiveness and sound economic fundamentals like balanced budget or budget surplus, low inflation and interest rates differentials, favourable balance of trade, low public debt and political stability are the characteristics of a stable currency exchange rate. It is not difficult or problematic to attain one-to-one parity with the dollar, but it is difficult to maintain one-to-one parity with the dollar.

    The essence of the new floating exchange rate regime is to stabilize and instill market confidence and certainty in the naira. Purchasing power parity (PPP) or international dollar method is based on law of one price and dual concepts of currency and fungible consumer goods or basket of goods. If a basket of consumer goods cost 10 dollars in the United States, what will the same goods cost in Nigeria? If it costs N4000, then the dollar to Naira exchange rate is (1:400). In addition, the difference in inflation rates of two countries is equal to appreciation or depreciation of the currencies in the two countries. Low inflation rate (US 0.8%) appreciates the dollar by 15.9% and high inflation rate (Nigeria 16.7%) depreciates the Naira by 15.9%. The Buhari administration must focus on lowering inflation rate and stop incessant depreciation of the Naira. PPP is a better method for comparing GDP among countries. According to CIA World Fact Book, purchasing power parity GDP of Nigeria is $1.1 trillion (2015) and ranked the 23rd largest economy in the world. In comparison, South Africa’s GDP is ranked 31st in the world with 723.5 billion dollars (2015).

    The Buhari government’s plan to further diversify the Nigerian economy to earn better export revenue from petrochemical (oil refining), agribusiness (rice, sorghum, soya beans, cocoa, etc..) solid minerals and manufacturing (steel) and ICT (skills training) is laudable and a huge opportunity to boost local contents and productivity. Successful execution of the plan will help Nigeria to both save and earn additional foreign exchange from export markets from targeted industries and develop a highly trained workforce with portable skills.

    For decades, intra-African trade stagnated at an abysmal 12%. Comparatively the rate is 40% in North America and 60% in Europe. In order to grow the Nigerian economy and balance the budget, Nigeria must encourage intra-African trade especially in the West Africa sub-region as a first step. It is a potential catalyst for growth. Integration of the West African economies must encourage sound economic fundamentals. Monetary and fiscal policies in the region must ensure low differentials between interest and inflation rates of 2-4%, efficient tax collection rate of 21% of GDP, and 3% annual productivity growth rate. Also, creating a West African stock exchange for high capitalization companies with potential global reach will enhance capital formation and single common currency like the proposed Eco will facilitate investment and accelerate economic growth in the region.

    Nigeria is ranked #127 of 144 countries in the global competitive index. In order to reverse the trend, the Buhari government must ease business formation processes and encourage well established global companies interested in the West African market to make their products in the region with significant local contents and input from the region where possible. In addition, N-Power initiative by the Buhari government to train young Nigerians below 35 years old is commendable but its execution should be done in collaboration with the states, private and non-profit sectors and colleges of technology for continuity and sustainability. Widespread participation will ensure development of multi-dimensional and unique skills targeted to states, local governments and private sector needs.

    There must be zero tolerance for corruption; the Buhari administration must be proactive, aggressive and continue to pursue and prosecute ugly and corrupt Nigerians, political muggers, vandals, and economic saboteurs to the fullest extent of the law. Sooner or later they will get the message that crime doesn’t pay anymore in Nigeria. Furthermore, institutional corruption caused by mismanagement and maladroit oversight should be replaced with abundant choice and open government principles because sunshine is the best disinfectant.

    In Nigeria, our trade imbalance and budget deficit creates an anomaly. We consume more of what we don’t produce (food and manufactured goods) and we produce more of what we don’t consume (oil and gas). Our economic focus must change to produce more of what we consume locally while building a more export- oriented economy. We must be more innovative, focused and nimble. We are very fortunate to have the Buhari government and his talented team of audacious, assiduous and talented consummate professionals who are in my humble opinion the best federal government ever. In the long run, I am bullish on the Nigerian economy joining the G-20 in five to 10 years. The time for change is now and we must straighten up and fly right.

     

    • Adetayo writes from Takoma Park, Maryland, USA.

  • PDP, military and audacity of impunity

    The curious union between the ruling People Democratic Party, (PDP) and the Nigerian military is one that should bother every well meaning Nigerian. The unfolding drama of the absurd, which has led to a shift in the much anticipated general elections, certainly poses great threat to the advancement of the cause of democracy in the country. It is one that calls for extreme vigilance by all Nigerians as the current thickening plot and ploy to subvert  the hard-earned democracy in the country is, in every sense, akin to what was experienced in the run off to the abortive June 12,1993 presidential election and the eventual termination of the Third Republic. One is worried that the desperation and power-drunken tendencies which is our president is now exhibiting may set us back and make us suffer another round of socio-political disorder as was experienced during the June 12 debacle.

    This is because never in the history of the country’s democracy has the military become so overtly partisan as it is currently doing. It is a strange development in our democratic voyage that the military will be covertly involved in a ploy to blackmail an electoral body into putting off an election some days to it on the account that it cannot guarantee security. It sounds ridiculous and unbelievable, but it actually happened that a sitting president superintended the passing of “vote of no confidence” on his own government as its security institutions declared that they cannot guarantee the security of Nigerians. It is sufficiently nauseating that professionalism and morale in the Nigerian military have sunk to an all time low under the Jonathan government. One finds it quite ludicrous and treacherous that our President and his party are doing everything to drag the leadership of the military into their deadly game of evil political manipulation.

    Before now, the trend used to set Nigeria back was a heinous alliance between the PDP-led federal government and the police, with the intent of intimidating and harassing perceived political opponents. But now, with the way things are, it is glaring that the PDP is not satisfied with compromising the integrity of the Nigerian police. The military and all other security agencies have, stylishly, been dragged into their grand plan to perpetuate the party in power for 50 years as once predicted by one of its former chairmen. The signs are ominous and makes me wonder if Jonathan and his selfish collaborators are really considering the negative implication of this on our nationhood.

    The noxious union between the PDP-led federal government and the military top hierarchy is one that could actually jeopardise our democracy. This is why one finds it baffling that those who ought to read between line and promptly act as conscience of the nation seem not to really see any need for such. It is only hoped that it won’t be too late by the time all of us wake up from our slumber because things may then have gotten out of hand.

    It is scary that the PDP-led government has started to clamp down on perceived enemies and those seen as thorns in their flesh in its desperation to scuttle this democracy.  Latest report has it that soldiers are laying siege at the Ikoyi home of the national leader of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Also, it was widely reported that a military team stormed the Imo State Government House in Owerri, deploying an armoured tank. The two incidents readily strengthened the fear of an imminent militarization on some political figures perceived by the PDP as the engine room of the opposition. It is rather sad and ironic that the PDP and its military collaborators, who have found it difficult for six years to dislodge the Boko Haram insurgents in the North, are now shamelessly flexing muscles against unarmed opposition arrowheads.

    Come to think of it, why has the military and the PDP not extended their current onslaught against opposition leaders to prominent Niger Delta leaders as well as ex-militants who have been threatening to bring down the nation if President Jonathan is voted out of power? In the first place, why bring in soldiers to harass civilians whose only weapon is the rule of law? Why expose such a dignified and universally respected institution, as the military, to such open ridicule?

    Thank God it is now coming out quite clearly for all to see, that President Jonathan is nothing but a wolf in sheep’s clothing. What we presently have on our hand is the manifestation of a despot. Yes, President Jonathan has finally bared his fangs. He has put off the deceiving garb of a gentle, harmless, innocent and shoeless next door guy. He has now come out in his real colour and, in the words of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, he might, indeed, be going for the broke and ready to damn the consequence. But, one really hopes he doesn’t toe such self-destructive and ignoble path because history has never been kind to those who once toed such pathway. One expects the president to know that destroying the integrity of the military to achieve parochial political ends only portrays him and the PDP as desperate co-travelers who could go to any dastardly extent to cling on to power.

    There is, perhaps, nothing that best demonstrate the scope of the damage which the PDP-led federal government has done to the image of the Nigerian military more than the recent Ekiti poll audio recording of the meeting purportedly held in Ado Ekiti between PDP chieftains and one General Momoh to perfect the rigging plot for the June 21, 2014, governorship election in the state. In the said audio recording, which was posted by online medium, Sahara Reporters, it was revealed that General Momoh was deployed by the military top brass to abet the rigging plan, using soldiers already positioned into the state for the purpose.

    When one adds up the recent clampdown by men of the State Security Service on the data office of the APC and its staff in Ikeja, Lagos, to all the aforementioned, it would definitely become evident, to dispassionate watchers of the unfolding political scenario in the country, that the greatest threat to our democracy today is the shameful marriage between the PDP-led federal government and the leadership of the Nigerian military. No amount of denials and deceptions by the President and his men would fool Nigerians into believing that the military leadership wasn’t compromised in the poll shift agenda. It was a coup that was plotted and executed by the Presidency and the PDP with the active collaboration of the military leadership. It will be recalled that the president’s National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, had initially flown the kite of an impending shift in poll. And it eventually happened!

    The Nigerian military needs to quickly detach itself from this unwholly alliance so as not to, in the language of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, bring about “degradation in the proficiency of the military”.  Hopefully, it will not be too long before the Nigerian military is saved from the suffocating arms of the PDP. Very soon, change will come. Very soon, the Nigerian military would have a feel of the much needed breath of fresh air. Very soon, we shall all heave a great sigh of relief.

  • Audacity of Violence

    Since the commencement of the electioneering campaign process towards the general elections which kicks off next week, loyalists and supporters of some of the political parties and many other faceless Nigerians, have, through their actions, body language, speeches, advertisements and documentaries, been fanning the embers of war ahead of the elections. They have been threatening fire and brimstone. From the North to the South of the country, the situation remains the same. Palpable tension is in the air, so thick that it could be sliced with a butter knife.

    As this column wrote last week, as a result of this tension in the land, quite a good number of people are already voting with their feet. They are relocating their families out of the country or back to their respective villages over the fear of imminent violence. Not even assurances by top officials of government and other agencies are enough to dissuade the mass exodus from perceived hotspots in the country. From discussions everywhere you go to in the country these days, it is clear that since 1999, Nigerians have not witnessed any election as tension-soaked and keenly contested as next week’s presidential election.

    The election fever is not evident in the country alone as the international community has also been caught up in the trajectory. Quite recently, John Kerry, the United States Secretary of State, had to dash down to Nigeria to meet with the two frontline Presidential candidates – President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples’ Democratic Party and General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives’ Congress – as well as officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.  His message was that the international community is watching Nigeria and that peaceful and timely elections were vital to the continued existence of the country as well as peace in the West African sub-region.

    Obviously, there were other underlining factors that prompted Kerry’s visit. But if he was economical with words during his visit, the events that took place shortly after his departure showed that the country may well be sitting on a keg of gunpowder. Few hours after Kerry’s departure, President Jonathan’s campaign train moved to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, the epicentre of the Boko Haram terrorists’ onslaught in the North-east. Borno is one of the three north-eastern states under emergency rule. With elaborate security arrangement provided by ground troops and the Air force, complete with roving helicopter gunships, the president managed to complete his campaign and departed from the city. Unfortunately, hours after, Maiduguri became a battle zone as Boko Haram terrorists, attacking from three flanks, descended on the city like a swarm of bees. It took heavy military reinforcement and bombardments, coupled with a curfew, to clear the city of the daring and deadly invaders.

    With this ever-present threat of violence from Boko Haram and the hate preaching by politicians all over the place, the country’s path seems to be littered with landmines. In fact, the threat from Boko Haram is only the most dramatic aspect of a situation in which almost every line on the chart of national stability is heading in the wrong direction. Falling oil prices have eroded government revenue, leading to raids on the sovereign wealth fund and pointing to a not too distant moment when governments at all levels – federal, state and local government – may be unable to pay those who work for them or even to maintain essential services. And this is happening in an energy-rich country where, for example, there is no reliable electricity supply, something that is very disastrous for economic survival and other social services.

    The truth is that as resources shrink, the hydra-headed monster called corruption will certainly get worse, leaving even far less available for legitimate purposes. Right now, in spite of significant increases in defence spending, troops battling terrorists in the north of the country are still without adequate equipment and, in some cases, even proper kits and regular supplies of food and ammunition. The police are not faring any better as no money has been allocated to them for the elections, leading to the usual speculation that the money earmarked for defence and security, may have developed wings.

    Apart from this, there is a sharp division between the political parties, on virtually every issue and all the issues about the forthcoming elections. The division between the parties has largely followed primordial ethnic and religious fault lines – north and south, Christian and Muslim, to mention only the most obvious – which rather than easing, have been deepening in recent years. Perhaps, of greater worry is the ready recourse of politicians to unleash menacingly-looking thugs, all brandishing dangerous weapons and missiles, on innocent people. While some of the campaigns have been marred by violence and may get worse in the days ahead, some ethnic bigots are also threatening to spill blood if their candidate is unsuccessful in the coming election. My fear is that if the situation is not urgently checked, the nation may soon be embroiled in violence of unimaginable proportion.

    With this sordid scenario, like I said earlier, the country’s path in the weeks ahead is laden with landmines. Even if the country manages to scale through the elections without the worst happening, the result of the elections may come under serious litigation. If this happens and the government fails to move quickly to defuse tension as well as arrest the  looming fiscal crisis, such a weakened government would find it even harder to put in place  adequate military architecture to combat the growing menace of the terrorists ravaging the north-east part of the country. The terrorists could as well intensify their attacks during the election period to create maximum confusion and disorder.

    In his historic election campaign en route the 2008 American presidential elections, Barack Hussein Obama, the incumbent President of the United States of America, demonstrated that with boldness and unwavering commitment to a cause, victory can indeed be achieved. That unwavering commitment as chronicled in his now famous book, The Audacity of Hope, singled him out as a man who knows his onions and just where to fix them. It painted Obama as a person who had a vision for America, a vision rooted in the values that have always made America the last bastion of hope in the world. Unfortunately, now that the general election in Nigeria is right here at our doorstep, we are yet to recognise such vision dripping with patriotic fervor in our politicians even as they crisscross the entire length and breadth of the country wooing and cajoling voters to give them their votes.

    For several months before his eventual election as president in 2008, Obama held meetings across the country with all manners of people on front porches and family farms; in the basements of churches and at town hall meetings. The people he met knew that it wasn’t possible that government alone can solve all their problems and they never expected it to be so. Instead, the people believed in personal responsibility, hard work and self reliance. They also believed in fairness, opportunity and the responsibilities they have to one another.  They believed in an America where good jobs are there for the willing, where hard work is rewarded with a decent living and they also recognised the fundamental truth that a sound economy requires thriving businesses and flourishing families. However, what they will not take is to see their tax dollars going down the drain or private pockets as we witness too often in Nigeria.

    In a globalised world that changes every now and then, forging this kind of future like that of the Americans in a place like Nigeria can never be a tea party. In other words, it will never come easily. It requires new ways of thinking, of doing things and a new spirit of patriotism. That is exactly what is expected of Nigeria and Nigerians and not the growing audacity for violence. Although, the country has, several times proved the doomsayers wrong before now, it however, remains to be seen if the present worsening odds against it could also pass away without causing a major catastrophe in the polity.

  • Akpan…Audacity to dare

    Akpan…Audacity to dare

    The immediate past finance commissioner of Akwa Ibom State, Bassey Albert Akpan, is said to be gearing up towards realising his ambition of succeeding his erstwhile boss, Governor GodswillAkpabio in 2015. Although the controversial zoning of the governorship position to the Eket Senatorial District does not favourAkpan, who hails from the Uyo Senatorial District, the audacious young man appears set to give a shot at clinching the ticket of the ruling People Democratic Party (PDP) when it comes up for grabs at the primary scheduled for October this year.

    Although the 41-year old is yet to declare his ambition, there are tell-tale signs of his aspiration to join the governorship race on the platform of the PDP.  Speculations are rife that before his removal in April 2014, Akpan, who had been finance commissioner since the inception of the Akpabio administration in 2007, had only been at technical peace with his principal over alleged attempts by Akpabio to get members of his cabinet to endorse the governor’s plan of anoint  a consensus candidate. Many believe that Akpan was sacked for the audacity to have organised a golf tournament in honour of Senate President David Mark during his last birthday celebrations.Whatever the reason was, the young ex-banker must have been startled to have been woken up with the news of his ouster at about 2am on April 27.

    However, by 7am of the same day, Akpan’shome in Uyo was filled to the brim with people of various ages and social statuses who gathered to show solidarity and encourage him to declare his quest for the  governorship seat. The visitation would continue from dawn till dusk for the next three days, after which he was said to have traveled out of town to get some rest.

    Before his appointment into the AkwaIbom State cabinet in 2007, Akpan was Zonal Head of the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plcfor AkwaIbom and Cross River states since 2005, where he was in charge of daily supervision of 15 branches (and the attendant responsibilities)of the first private bank in Nigeria.

    Prior to his stint with FCMB, he was Branch Manager for the defunct First Inland Bank in Uyo as well as Manager, Corporate Banking Group at the head office of the defunct Continental Trust Bank in Lagos between 1999 and 2003.

    An accomplished manager of men and resources, Akpan’s tenure as finance commissioner in AkwaIbom State is said to have brought tremendous changes to the generation and management of the resources of the oil-rich state.

    As a pointer to his shrewdness, the internally generated revenue of the state was said to have shot up dramatically from 350 million naira in 2007 to an average of 2 billion naira currently. He is also credited with the full digitalisation and real time, on-line administration of the finances of the state. Other achievements of the Bassey Akpan-led finance ministry in the Akpabio administration include the opening of 16 sub treasuries for seamless management of the revenue of the state, prompt payment of workers’salaries, which contributed to increased work efficiency as well as the completion of the office of the Accountant-General of the State through direct labour.Akpan is also credited with the efficient implementation of the state finance policy and maintaining the 20-80 percent recurrent and capital budgeting ratio all through his tenure.

    As chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Direct Labour Coordinating Committee, his tenure as Finance Commissioner is said to have produced over 6,000 people-oriented projects which include classrooms, rural electrification, civic centre, and skill acquisition centre projects all over the state.

    Akpan also at various times served as chairman of the State/Local Government Joint Derivation Committee and the State Micro Credit Committee. He was also a member of the Finance and General Purpose Committee.

    Born on October 28, 1972, to the family of Chief Albert Robert Akpan ofIdidepUsukinIbionoIbom Local Government of the State,  Albert BasseyAkpan graduated from the University of Uyoin 1997 with a Bachelor of Science in Economic in the Second Class Upper Division. Thereafter, he proceeded to study for a Master’s  degreein Business Administration at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, graduating in 2000. A grassroots mobiliser and respected leader of youths, Akpan has the chieftaincy title of IberdemIdidep(Pillar of Ididep).He was also honoured with the award of “Omeroha(Philantropist)ofAkokwa by Obi of Akokwa, HRH Eze(Sir) IkennaOkoli(V) KSC, Agbakweruibe (111) He is married with children.

     

  • Understanding PDP’s amazing audacity

    Understanding PDP’s amazing audacity

    The battle has been fierce, intense and unrelenting. All kinds of weapons –assault rifles, tear gas canisters, bazookas, hand grenades, cluster bombs and even unmanned drones – have been freely used on both sides. I refer to the raging civil war currently rocking the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). On various occasions, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has launched vicious attacks against the Goodluck Jonathan administration accusing the President of utter incompetence in tackling the Boko Haram insurgency. In one instance, Obasanjo recommended his drastic and ruthless handling of the Odi situation to Jonathan suggesting that the latter was soft on Boko Haram. We will recall that President Obasanjo ordered the levelling of the entire Odi community of Bayelsa State following the murder by elements of the community of Nigerian soldiers on official duties. During his last presidential media chat, Dr. Jonathan retorted that when he visited Odi as Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, all he saw were the corpses of innocent children and old people rather than the militants that perpetrated the crime. Undaunted, Obasanjo has launched further salvos at Jonathan in interviews on both CNN and the New African magazine questioning the incumbent’s competence in effectively discharging his role as the country’s Chief Security Officer.

    A careful observer will note that in this exchange of brickbats, the two PDP leaders have been careful to distance the PDP as a party from their respective administrations. But in reality, what Obasanjo was saying is that the incompetence of the PDP government under Jonathan has been responsible for a precarious security situation that has led to the death of hundreds of people in many parts of Northern Nigeria. In the same vein Jonathan countered that a PDP government under Obasanjo in sanctioning the massacre of children, women and old people in Odi committed a crime that is difficult to dissociate from genocide. This is a severe self-indictment on the part of a party that yet boasts its capacity to cling to power at the centre for the next six decades. What really explains such amazing audacity?

    Launching her own devastating machine propelled rockets from another section of the battlefield, a former Education Minister in the Obasanjo administration and one-time Vice President (Africa) of the World Bank, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, accused both the late President Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan administrations of wanton financial recklessness. Speaking at the Convocation lecture she delivered at the University of Nigeria (UNN), Nsukka, she alleged that both administration’s had frittered away $67 billion in foreign reserves and Excess Crude Account (ECA) left behind by the Obasanjo administration. This is again another devastating indictment of the PDP.

    In the first place, if the PDP Obasanjo administration realized so much revenue that it could accumulate such huge reserves, why did it leave the country’s infrastructure in virtually all sectors in such a parlous state? Again, is this not an indictment of the PDP’s leadership succession processes? Did the party seriously assess the competence of Yar’Adua and Jonathan before imposing them on Nigerians through incurably flawed elections? Indeed, in his new book “The Accidental Public Servant”, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, revealed the very cavalier manner decisions are taken in high quarters as regards the leadership of this country. He claimed that Obasanjo, doubting the competence of Jonathan, wanted to back a Buhari/Ngozi Okonjo Iweala ticket for the 2011 election. If Obasanjo was unsure of Jonathan’s competence, how did the latter emerge as Vice-Presidential candidate under the old soldier’s watch? In any case, in his first coming as military Head of State, Buhari ran a highly nationalistic administration that stoutly resisted the policy dictates of the IMF and World Bank. How could he then be expected to work harmoniously with a Vice-President who is a dyed in the wool neo-liberal World Bank economist? Is this the kind of shoddy thinking that led Obasanjo to impose a most inept and mediocre leadership on the country following his exit in 2007?

    In responding to Ezekwesili, the trio of Labaran Maku, Doyin Okupe and Reuben Abati only succeeded in further severely indicting both the Jonathan administration and the PDP. In the first place, they were completely silent on the substance of her allegations. What exactly was the $67 billion in foreign reserves and Excess Crude Account left behind by the Obasanjo administration expended on? With such gargantuan expenditure profile, how can we explain the abysmal level of poverty in which Nigeria is still mired? Rather, Jonathan’s aides insinuated without the slightest scintilla of evidence that Ezekwesili embezzled funds allocated to the Ministry of Education during her tenure. Why, as many analysts have asked, did they wait for Ezekwesili to make her damning disclosures before trying to taint her character and integrity? Are there other allegedly corrupt public officers that the administration is keeping mum over because they are of ‘good behaviour’? Has massive looting of public funds become so routine and normal under the PDP? In the words of Dr. Abati “They managed to leave the country in darkness, with less than 2000 MW; abandoned Independent Power Projects, mismanaged power stations…”. Mind you, the presidential spokesman is here referring to a PDP government! It certainly cannot get more entertaining.

    Yet, despite its glaring non-performance and the washing of its dirty linen in public, the PDP remains supremely confident of its capacity to overwhelmingly win future elections and continue to steer the affairs of the nation. The PDP national Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, is completely disdainful of the announcement by four political parties – Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) – to merge into a new party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). Reacting to the news, Alhaji Tukur jokingly told news men “If you go for a football contest, you have the top striker. You know Lionel Messi? PDP is Messi in that contest. They (opposition parties) are no threat at all. It (merger) is better. It inspires the PDP to action. In that contest, tell them (opposition parties) that I said PDP is Lionel Messi”. Unfortunately, the PDP in running the affairs of Nigeria since 1999 has not exhibited the brilliant skills of the diminutive soccer star in tackling the multifarious challenges confronting the country. But the PDP’s audacity as well as Alhaji Tukur’s arrogance and utter contempt for Nigerians is quite logical and understandable.

    The lack of any reasonable linkage between governmental performance and electoral outcomes is clearly the reason for the PDP’s continued amazing self confidence. Even as their existential conditions have worsened steadily under the PDP’s watch since 1999 and Nigeria totters on the brink of state collapse, the PDP has won successive elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011 with the party maintaining a firm hold on the centre and the majority of states. It is thus all too easy for the PDP to conclude that Nigerians are incurably masochistic taking sheer delight in ever increasing misery.

    No matter your perception of the PDP, you must recognise that it is serious minded in its pursuit of its mission of maintaining a strangle hold on power and sharing the bounteous national cake among its members while allowing those at the grassroots to scramble for the crumbs. Unknown to many for instance, the PDP has a training school for its cadres! At a time it was run by my former teacher, the exceptional political scientist, Professor Fred Onyeoziri. Any party that seeks to dislodge the PDP at the centre must aim to be better structured, more efficiently and transparently managed as well as stand on a higher moral pedestal in terms of its vision and mission. And as one of this newspaper’s columnists recently noted, the PDP is unlikely to approach the 2015 election in a fractious state. The contending factions, knowing what is at stake, will most likely resolve their differences at the appropriate time. Despite their current differences, for instance, the picture of ex-President Obasanjo praying fervently for President Goodluck Jonathan at the Aso Villa chapel on Sunday, February 3rd, speaks volumes.

    Let no mistake be made about it. The PDP is a highly focussed party with a clear idea of its mission. It is essentially an elite cartel – a huge umbrella to protect diverse factions of Nigeria’s hegemonic elite from being beaten by the heavy rain of poverty that is the lot of their fellow country men and women. In merging to form the APC, the opposition parties must not seek to become just another mirror image of the PDP. Beyond individual jostling for positions, attention should be paid to the philosophical basis and ideological clarity of the nascent party. If the aim is simply to dislodge the PDP while Nigeria is left structurally and functionally disabled as she currently is, the country will have to seek redemption elsewhere.