The Nation Newspaper

Tag: change

  • Buhari: coup no longer acceptable to change govt

    Buhari: coup no longer acceptable to change govt

    NLC, PDP condemn Turkish coup attempt

    290 dead, 6,000 held

    President Muhammadu Buhari has joined other world leaders to condemn the aborted coup in Turkey.

    He said the toppling of a government through a coup was no longer acceptable.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) also condemned the plot.

    Tension remained high in the country after more than 290 people died in the coup attempt.

    Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of several Turkish cities in support of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

    Officials accused some judges and the coup plotters of being loyal to moderate cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Mr. Erdogan has often accused of attempting to overthrow the government. But Gulen has denied the claim. He says Erdogan may have been the architect of the action.

    The United States says it is not ready to extradite Gulen. It insists that Turkey should provide evidence linking him with the plot.

    The Turkish President said yesterday there could be no delay in using capital punishment,  adding that the government would discuss it with opposition parties.

    Speaking to a crowd of supporters who called for the death penalty outside of his home in Istanbul, Erdogan said: “We cannot ignore this demand.” Turkey abolished capital punishment in 2004 to meet European Union accession criteria and has not executed anyone since 1984.

    Erdogan also called on his supporters to continue protesting the coup attempt in the streets and public squares until Friday, saying the threat against him was not completely eliminated.

    President Buhari said “The removal of a democratic government by force is no longer acceptable. Violence can never solve any problem but only complicates them and sets back the progress of democratic societies,” he said, noting that President Erdogan is one of Nigeria’s close international partners and sincere supporters in its current war against terrorism, adding that all should resist  the “destabilization of democratic countries through coups d’état  in the 21st century.”

    “The ballot box doesn’t require violence to remove any government perceived to have lost its popularity and public support.

    “Despite its limitations, democracy is still better and more durable than a violent change of government.” He added

    The President praises the courage and immediate response of ordinary citizens who in face of guns and tanks defied the rebel soldiers and forced them to abandon their mad quest for power.

    President Buhari called on the President of Turkey to pursue reconciliation and offer Nigeria’s support to the government and people of Turkey in their hour of trial.

    The NLC in a statement by its President Ayuba Wabba, said reasons adduced for the attempted coup notwithstanding, only the people have the legitimate right to constitutionally change a government they willingly elected.

    The NLC said further that while no one can deny him his place in history for reforms, gross incidents of constitutional violations and human rights abuse abound under his government and got carried away and became disdainful of his own people.

    The statement reads: “”We at the Nigeria Labour Congress condemn this coup attempt, the reasons adduced by the officers notwithstanding. Any change or attempt to change a legitimately elected government that falls short of the recognised democratic process shall be ultra vires, null and void.

    “In spite of the rich coup culture of Turkey, this fact should have been obvious to the officers and men involved in this bloody coup. At the risk of contradiction, in the recent past, Turkey, whether we like it or not, has acquired a certain level of sophistication that renders anachronistic and embarrassing, coup-making as a process for regime-change.

    “This notwithstanding, Mr Recep Tayyip Edorgan, the Turkish President at whom the coup was targeted should do a soul-search to see where he has betrayed the trust of the people who gave him the mandate to rule.

    The PDP in a statement by the spokesman of the caretaker committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said:”It is very sad and unacceptable. We condemn it and thanked the people of the country for rising in defence of democracy”, the statement said.

    The party declared that there is no alternative to democracy anywhere in the world and prayed God for the repose of the souls of those who lost their lives in the event, describing it as necessary sacrifice for long term freedom of the people of Turkey and other parts of the world.

  • Small things that seem to resist change

    It is only intellectual and moral midgets in public authority that can relish ignoring their mistakes, more so when such errors damage the career of innocent citizens

    Despite what some people have called Nigerians’ impatience about change, there are some big things that are being changed almost imperceptibly. For example, names that used to instill fear in the minds of many of the innocent among us are now being picked up by EFCC for investigation and in many cases for detention until such politically ‘oversize’ men and women are able to meet bail conditions. However, many acts of impunity and sloppy management of serious matters are still being condoned or ignored by those in charge of the political machine of change.

    One such avoidable act of impunity is the reported refusal of the Police Service Commission to reverse itself on errors in recent retirement of senior police officers. According to a news report, Femi Ogunbayode, AIG, who was retired for being a senior to the newly appointed Acting Inspector-General, Ibrahim Idris, was in fact a junior of the new IGP. A very disturbing aspect of the news is that a source who pleaded not to be identified had noted that the Police Service Commission refuses to address such egregious error that is capable of demoralising many in the police force and also of scaring citizens in other government employment.

    If this kind of behaviour on the part of any regulatory agency had happened during the era of military dictatorship or even during the regime of impunity that just got replaced through election of a government of change in 2015, most people would not have taken any notice. Such acts would have been regarded as normal in the fashion of ‘business as usual.” Impunity was not strange under military rule and even under civilian regimes that chose to act in the style of military dictators that they succeeded. But, any failure on the part of the Police Service Commission to review the retirement of AIG Ogunbayode can undermine the change agenda. It is true that whoever feels wronged can go to court, but such court process will be a waste of the nation’s resources, just as it will dampen the spirit of voters for change while also embarrassing minders of the machine of change.

    All government agencies are human creations and are thus not expected to be perfect or infallible. But it is a sign of moral irresponsibility for leaders of public agencies to act as if they are omniscient and omnipotent to the point of easily getting away with wanton destruction of innocent citizens. It is a gross misconduct in humane societies for those who have power of oversight over public institutions to disregard the consequence of their mistakes. It is only intellectual and moral midgets in public authority that can relish ignoring their mistakes, more so when such errors damage the career of innocent citizens.

    Generally, individuals and institutions who are used to a culture of impunity often find it difficult to own up to their mistakes. But such failure is an illustration of poor leadership. Good leadership requires that leaders own up to their mistakes and with such choice earn more respect as leaders. A good example is the decision of the British Prime Minister to resign after the BREXIT referendum. David Cameron showed exemplary leadership by accepting responsibility for calling a referendum that appeared to have embarrassed him and his supporters. It is not every mistake by a leader that should lead to resignation. More often than not, just mere acknowledgement of such mistakes and acceptance to undo them is what is expected from good leaders in civilised ethos.

    Another seemingly insignificant aspect of our political culture is the hiring and firing of ghost workers. Recently, spokespersons for federal and state governments have been beating their chests for unearthing and stopping payment of salaries to ghosts as examples of serious effort to cut costs. But Nigerians have been hearing about ghost workers for decades and of efforts by successive governments to kill such ghosts and add their salaries to the nation’s savings. What had never happened and should have happened immediately ghost workers were discovered under the watch of a government under President Buhari of global anti-corruption fame is identification and prosecution of the financial institutions, bank staff, and government officials responsible for paying ghosts. If the federal government is as active as it has been in respect of big corruption cases, there is no reason why the government or any of its agencies should treat stealing of public funds through hiring and paying of ghosts with kid gloves. “Firing’ ghosts from government payrolls is not the best a government can do. Identification and prosecution of creators of ghosts to facilitate stealing of public funds is what is most needed, if the practice of hiring and paying ghost workers is not to recur as it had for the past few decades.

    Still on business-as-usual or casual governance, the recent increase of public holidays for this year’sEid-el-Fitri from the normal two days to three cannot but surprise believers in the government of change. Many years ago, the public holiday for this important religious festival was one day. It grew to two days on account of the case made by military rulers for balance between the two major imported religions: Islam and Christianity. It was argued that the two days for Easter: Good Friday and Easter Monday are Christian holidays and even that Christmas day and Boxing day are also in honour of Christianity. The philosophy in most of the other Islamic countries is to give a full day of rest to Muslims who have fasted for 30 days and thus allow them to celebrate such rest day without job-related encumbrances. Granted that lunar calendar is not fixed, it should have been enough to limit the two-day holiday to Tuesday and Wednesday initially announced by the federal government. Since the real day of festivity is Wednesday worldwide, nothing would have been lost if Nigerian Muslims had been asked to make do with the eve and the day of Eid-el-Fitri. It is an avoidable paradox to ring the bell of economic productivity to the countries of the world and then suddenly relapse into the Manna economy of petroleum that makes commitment to the culture of productive economy un-necessary. Apart from absence of production for three days in the past week, such an extended holiday also has the tendency to overburden celebrators of Eid-el-Fitri. It is too soon to give the world the impression that we are incapable of outgrowing the awuff economy of oil.

    One other practice in the days of ‘business-as-usual’ governance style is the belief that anyone regardless of expertise can serve as public relations make-up artist for the president. At a recent celebration of President Buhari’s appointment of Cross River and Akwa Ibom men and women to federal positions, those who tried to help burnish the image of the president, though with good intentions, chose the wrong packaging for their message. For example, in response to charges of lopsided appointments by the president in the security sector, made prominently at a recent alliance talks between self-characterised leaders of Yoruba and Ijaw nationalities, the Head of Federal Civil Service, Minister of Niger Delta, and Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters dodged the issue in contention. They focused on appointments that are not related to the claim of Ijaw leaders from Bayelsa, Rivers, and Delta at the Eko Hotel meeting about appointment by the president of 14 out of 17 security heads from the North, leaving three to the South. The argument that Nigeria is configured not in terms of North and South but in terms of states only skirts the issue. Such interpretation of the constitution has not put to rest the allegation of lopsided appointments, given the fact that there are only 19 states in the North and 17 in the South. Such intricate matters are better left to professional public relations experts in the presidency.  To have attempted to appeal to those who feel aggrieved that Federal Character principles have not been violated because the appointments were made on merit does not help matters. Is this an admission that the other states not given such appointments lack people of merit? It can be counter-productive to give the impression that the talent to do any type of work in the country is region- or state-specific. It was the need to prevent born-to-rule or born-to-administer syndrome that stimulated the Federal Character principle, at a time that some regions had less trained manpower than others.

  • El Rufai: Bringing change to Kaduna

    SIR: When I read in the FORBES recently that ‘’democracy is delivering impossible results,’’ I didn’t understand until I met the indefatigable governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El Rufai.

    He shocked many on assumption of office when he reduced the number of commissioners from 24 to 13 as part of reducing the cost of governance. Again, after the historic launch of the free school feeding programme early this year, the governor revealed that the programme increased enrolment in schools by 60 percent. The school feeding programme should be celebrated for many reasons. First, good nourishing food has cognitive impact on the growing pupil. Second, the programme certainly would boost the economy of the state. Third, jobless youths who have been granted loans for the production of all kinds of food stuff for the feeding programme can no longer bestride the streets of Kaduna or conscripted for the purpose of extinguishing innocent souls in the name of religion.

    The school feeding programme has been targeted at feeding at least 1.5million pupils in the state! UNESCO statistics has shown that 10. 8million Nigerian children of school age are roaming, hawking, labouring and begging on the streets, particularly in the northern Nigeria, where more than 90 percent of that figure is domiciled!

    As a promoter of freedom of worship, Governor El Rufai swiftly condemned the attack on one Francis Emmanuel a Christian and a carpenter in the Kakuri Kaduna area of the state who was stabbed by unknown youths for eating during the Ramadan fast. The governor’s swift reaction barely 24hours after the incident and subsequent visit to the victim calmed frayed nerves.

    As a true reformer, who believes in the saying that ‘’if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us,’’  the governor removed 13,000 suspected ghost workers from the state’s payroll, promising to deal decisively with those who have swindled the state.

    On the controversy generated by the state’s religious bill that has attracted negative responses from both Christian and Muslim scholars, El Rufai has been listening and discussing with relevant stakeholders, noting that what is being done is with clear and honest intentions. He has stressed that no sensitive government will take decisions contrary to the religious beliefs of the people.

    The state has saved a whopping sum of N221million naira by stopping sponsorship of pilgrimage, blocked multiple taxation, commenced renovation of over 4,000 schools and other massive urban renewal and developmental strides. These speak volume of his avowed commitment to good governance, equity and social justice.

    • Erasmus_Ikhide,

    Lagos.

  • Fear of real change

    It is obvious all is not well with this country at the moment. Increasingly, it is getting clearer that fundamental modifications in the structure of the Nigerian state are inevitable to stave off systemic dysfunctions that are at the root of the cycle of crises that have been buffeting this federal contraption.

    Resurging tempo of centrifugalism; a plethora of challenges at the economic level leading in the main, to inability by governments to pay salaries, loss of jobs at the private sector with the banks taking the lead and deteriorating living conditions especially of the poor, are clear evidence that we need to get back to the drawing board to get our bearing right. Though this thinking is not entirely new, for some inexplicable reasons, it has failed to receive the support of some vested interests.

    And for that reason also, whatever gains this country would have harnessedthrough restructuring have continued to elude us. But hard as we try to shy away from it, its imperative continues daily to stare us on the face. That was the uncanny dialectics at play last week when President Buhari told State House workers that it was disgraceful that two thirds of the states of the federation cannot pay salaries to their workers.

    Hear him: “27 out of the 36 states cannot pay salaries. This is a disgrace to Nigeria”. The same contradiction was equally manifest in his comments on the resurging militancy in the Niger Delta region. Again, he had this to say: “Unfortunately, the Niger Delta with their myriads of organizations that are competing over which one can do more damage to the country and the oil wells and oil companies. For how long are we going to do this?”

    The two issues are very fundamental. So also is the question of how long shall we continue to be in this pass?Answer to why states cannot pay salaries can be located in the structure of the federation while the militancy in the Niger Delta will continue as long as people of the area see the organization of the Nigerian state as inequitable and incapable of guaranteeing even development in the area. These are the issues to contend with. And how can we go about addressing themwithout tinkering with the way this country is structured both on political and economic lines?

    Ironically, president Buhari who seeks answers to the posers is opposed to discussions on restructuring the polity. In his recent interview to mark his one year in office, he had in reaction to a question said he had neither read the 2014 National Conference report on how to move the nation forward nor called for a brief on it. He went further to say unequivocally that he would want the ‘report to go into the so-called archives’.

    So when just after a month he came up with the issue of how long we shall continue to live with the inability of states to pay salaries and the militancy in the Niger Delta, he was inadvertently cornered by the contradictions of the unresolved issues of our federal order. Incidentally, much of the solutions to these nagging national challenges were the major concerns of that conference report.

    So if Buhari is serious in finding durable answers to the two challenges, he has to reconcile himself with his averment to consign the conference report to the dustbin of history. In spite of differences in the management styles of state governors andsleaze in public places, the current situation where the states depend solely on hand-outs from the federal government for survival is at the root of their predicament.

    That has been the raison d’etre for calls for fiscal federalism and devolution of powers. The idea here is to whittle down the overwhelming powers of the centre and the concomitant bitter competition for its control that is at the centre of the simmering fission within the polity. States cannot pay salaries because most of them cannot survive on their own as presently constituted. They do not have the capacity to fund themselves because of a convoluted order that has rendered them mere appendages of the centre where life literally begins and ends. States cannot pay when they depend solely on oil revenue which the central government disburses at intervals. They cannot pay when a disproportionate chunk of what should go to their kitty is appropriated by a centre that espouses federal tenets but in reality unitary. And where they manage to pay salaries, other services suffer irretrievably.

    For states to do that and be in a position to discharge their statutory duties very effectively would require the restructuring of the fundamentals of our federal order.It is obviously a political action that seeks to unleash the creative energies and potentials of the component units for rapid development along their designed paths.

    With such action, the discontent that aggravates militancy due to the yawning disparity between the huge resources found at the backyard of the Niger Delta people and their abysmal poor level of development would have been adequately staved off. With it also, complaints bordering on the skewed allocation of oil wells to people almost exclusively outside the zone which the Ijaw Youths Congress has seriously complained about will be redressed.

    Similarly, the inequities that reinforce competition to control the centre and take advantage of its disproportionate resources would have been put at bay. So the answers to the question posed by the president can really be found in restructuring which has been seriously addressed in the document he has curiously relegated to rust in the archives even after the nation had spent stupendously to put it together.

    Had he read it or called for briefs on it, he may have found to his chagrin that in that document lie answers to the poser on why states cannot pay salaries. Ditto the reasons for resurging militancy in the Niger Delta and similar primordial tendencies that have reared up their ugly heads. Perhaps, he may also come to terms with the reality that as long as we trifle with the matter of instituting a true federal order, so long will these challenges be a recurring decimal.

    So when Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara state sought to make a distinction between economic restructuring and its political variant, he was merely referring to two sides of the same coin. He said in a recent interview that restructuring in the past had been based on political exigencies and that is why its economic impact has not been felt. Now, he would want it to be along economic lines. But even when based on political exigencies, its overall benefits are usually felt within the economic realm. For, the difference between politics and economy in this instance is just a very thin one.

    Ahmed however, struck the right chord when he viewed restructuring as the process of reviewing the way we have been doing things and if that has not taken us to the promised land, we seek new ways of getting there. That is the real issue and not this rabid obsession with insinuations that it is a way of dismembering the country. On the contrary, continued opposition to restructuring may facilitate disintegration more quickly as has been shown by resurgent agitations for self-determination and national sabotage.

    It is also evident in the increasing resort to holdingthe nation together through coercive apparatus of the state. But then, for how long shall we continue to hold this country together through the force of arms? Is it not a huge contradiction that 56 years after independence, we still rely overwhelmingly on gunboat diplomacy or the actual deployment of same to compel loyalty for the government?

    It also smacks of educated guess to contend as some have attempted that restructuring and the fight against corruption cannot go together. They can and do go together. For us to fight corruption decisively, we must get at the root of it. And the way to it is by understanding and addressing those negative attitudinal dispositions that starve civic structures of their attendant moral bearing thereby reinforcing corruption. In them, we will find why our society does not frown at people who steal from the coffers of the government, without qualms.  Only then, shall we be able to effect real, lasting change.

  • Editorial: 100 Stories of change

    Editorial: 100 Stories of change

    Today is Impact Journalism Day, and 55 newspapers unite to celebrate changemakers everywhere

    Our world is changing —in many ways for the better. Poverty and child mortality rates are declining, increasing numbers of primary age children attend school, and world leaders are taking collective action to counter climate change.

    The media is uniquely placed to tell the individual stories behind trends like these. The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN IFRA) has also identified solutions journalism as a growing pillar for the media.

    In our challenging times, the public is eager to read news about hope and positive impact. So are we, at Sparknews.

    why we invited the world’s leading media to do something different: report on initiatives that are improving lives. When they first answered our call four years ago, inspired by Christian de Boisredon’s track record in the field of solutions journalism, Impact Journalism Day was born.

    This year, 55 international print and digital media have come together to share stories of innovation and success.

    You and 120 million other readers around the world will find that today’s news covers the same places and issues as usual, but in a different light. Meet those who have successfully brought answers in the fields of health, water, energy, finance, education, employment and more. Allow these stories to change your perspective on what citizens can accomplish. Be inspired.

    Together, our 55 media partners believe that they can be part of the change they want to see in the world.

    If you feel the same way, join the conversation. We want your feedback. That’s why we’ve developed new widgets, including one that many newspapers will incorporate at the bottom of articles in their web sections. Tell us if similar problems affect you, and if you want to see these solutions implemented in your country. Follow the changemakers featured in the articles.

    Write to us and to your newspapers and share your experiences.

    To keep up with all the activity taking place during Impact Journalism Day, follow our hashtags and

    accounts on Facebook and Twitter (#ImpactJournalism, #StoryOfChange, @Sparknews, @thenationnews} or write to us at contact@sparknews.com. To discover more inspiring stories, follow the AXA People Protectors Facebook page, where AXA, as founding partner of Impact Journalism Day since 2012, spreads innovative solutions to better protect people and the planet.

    If you know entrepreneurs, companies or projects that deserve to be featured in IJD next year, suggest them at tell sparknews.com.

    Anyone can become part of the story.

    Christian de Boisredon, Founder of Sparknews and Ashoka Fellow

    Marie -Elie Aboul-Nasr, Media Alliance Development Manager at Sparknews,

    Amy Serafin, Editor-in-Chief of Impact Journalism Day

  • Buhari getting the change he didn’t bargain for

    Buhari getting the change he didn’t bargain for

    BEFORE last year’s presidential election, no one thought it necessary to ask president Muhammadu Buhari, who was then candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), how he hoped to work the magic of achieving his promised exchange rate parity between the naira and dollar. It was, however, apparently sufficient for him and many hopeful others that his unorthodox financial and econometrics models soared on the wings of nostalgia. He offered no real plan, nor explained the economic dynamics by which that parity would be procured, nor yet did he take into account the eventful intervening years since parity last reigned. All he said was that once the killer, corruption, was destroyed and discipline established, nothing was impossible, not even an exchange rate that incongruously widened shortly after he was overthrown as military head of state. Thus, after assuming the presidency last year, he still felt and spoke of the possibility of some sort of exchange rate parity.

    But once he encountered the country’s dire economic problems and saw and also felt its magnitude, his voice began to weaken and his steps falter. From bemoaning his advanced age and the inevitable weakness it brought with it, to accusing the immediate past president in particular of completely wrecking the economy, the president slowly moved away from talk of parity to sustaining the status quo. Finally, after loathing any talk of devaluation consequent upon the fall in national revenue, and describing the naira as the proud symbol of the country’s patriotic and nationalistic outlook, which everyone must embrace, the president has consented to market forces determining the naira’s realistic exchange rate or value. President Buhari had finally met change, and change has worked its wonders on him.

    If anyone was astonished by that clear volte face, it was because they were yet to hear him speak candidly and honestly about the economy and the modern principles that undergird it. In his numerous interviews with the Nigerian media to mark his one year in office, the president responded to a question on the kind of economic advice he was receiving by declaring that most of the time, the economists spoke above his head when they explained why the economy was experiencing turbulence. He would submit to their advice, he said plaintively, because both the problem and the economists had overwhelmed him and he was wary of being seen as the obstacle to the country’s economic revival and transformation.

    Before the presidential election, President Buhari also mocked those who suggested that the price of fuel could not be lower than it was. He claimed to know what to do to bring the price of fuel down and relieve the common man of his anguish. One of his former ministers when he was head of state, Tam David-West, a professor, worked the arithmetic and announced gleefully that anyone who said the price of fuel could not be brought down was insincere. After he assumed office and made some appointments, including unwisely retaining the petroleum portfolio in his office, the president bounced confidently around that once his abracadabra was concluded, fuel price would come down. Not only did it not come down eventually, it contradistinctively rose so steeply that few ever thought any president or government, let alone one that flaunts its pro-people credential so garishly, could raise the price of fuel per litre from a punishing N86 to an unbearable N145. The price hike was one of the things economists called for, and were sure would work. Now the president is touting the change as salutary and inevitable.

    As recently as his last media chat and thereafter, the president had promised to make the Niger Delta a living hell for pipeline vandals and regional activists and militants interrupting the flow of crude oil sales. He would treat them the same way he was treating Boko Haram insurgents and achieving results, he fumed. A few weeks after the last of such threats against the militants, especially against the Niger Delta Avengers who had brought crude oil export down by more than 700,000 barrels per day, his government opened negotiations with the militants, and even appeared desperate to get every miscreant in the region involved. Opinions were divided in the Niger Delta on the propriety of negotiation, but a significant part of the country and the rest of the world thought the government could not win the creek battles it appeared eager to court and wage. And so to peace talk, which he had forsworn, went the president, a changed and considerably chastened man.

    The enduring paradox of the Buhari presidency is that he came into office as the chief agent of change; but he is fast becoming the one change is changing. President Buhari is still holding out in many ideational redoubts, but if that paradox is real, and if the observations of many analysts are not far-fetched, he will be unrecognisable by 2019. Only last week, he still spoke intransigently of the Biafra agitation that has lathered the Southeast. Its campaigners, he sneered, were not born when the civil war raged and so did not experience the privations many victims had to endure. Agitation is cheap, the president seems to conclude, when you campaign from the comfort of your rooms. It remains to be seen whether he will enter into discussions with pro-Biafra agitators or not if the agitators up the ante somewhat disconcertingly.

    In addition, during his campaigns, the president ridiculed Nigerian leaders for allowing the refineries to run down. Once elected, he would look into the matter of the refineries and wave his magic wand yet again. He had done it before, he said exuberantly, and could do it again. To prove he was serious, the president in interviews within and outside the country suggested he knew so much about the refineries and was a leading participant in building one or two of them. He gave the impression it was a cakewalk to build refineries. But after one such interview, and without directly referring to the president, an incensed ex-president Olusgeun Obasanjo roared that anyone who said he could rehabilitate the refineries was merely engaging in wishful thinking. On his own, the rather burdened Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, has vacillated on the topic in a manner that sees him torn between the president’s fantasy and the economic reality and nuisance of decrepit, money gobbling machinery.

    Finally, during his first anniversary media interviews, the president responded to a question on ex-president Goodluck Jonathan’s national conference and the imperative of restructuring. He barely concealed his disgust, not to say his fury. He had not looked at it, he said dismissively, promising it would end in the archives where it truly belonged. Like his other viewpoints on key national economic and political matters, the president is fairly anachronistic. While it is true Dr Jonathan used the national conference issue as a red herring, the structural problems the country faces have defied solution outside the framework of political reengineering. Dr Jonathan reluctantly, and perhaps mischievously, yielded to the convocation of a national conference. There is nothing to show that President Buhari would not reluctantly also yield to a national conference or its variants. Once he does, his change, begun with floating the naira, would become complete, making him the putative master of change transformed by policy summersaults into the servant of change.

    But what is truly worrisome about the president’s Damascene experience is not his seemingly easy surrender to change, the subsumption of his old and unworkable ideas under the modern and practical imperatives of new economics and new politics, but the subliminal spin off. The problem is that he appears to be ruling the country by yielding very reluctantly and unmethodically to ideas that war against his instincts and constricted experience rather than ruling by a careful and structured architecture of modern ideas designed for today and the day after tomorrow. The country would profit from robust and well-grounded ideas of how to govern a modern state. Instead, the president has instituted ad hocism on such a horrifying scale that he has no impression he should be laying the foundation for Nigeria’s future and democracy, a responsibility his predecessors also woefully, if not criminally, shirked.

  • Change in community’s fortune

    Change in community’s fortune

    A picture of life in Unguwan Mai Kanti village, west of Rigasa in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State was painted in the May 3 North Report. The story highlighted the plight of the 3000-inhabitant community.
    Since then, the community has been witnessing life-changing attention. The Nation had reported that in Unguwan Kanti women deliver their babies at home unaided. There is no medical personnel in sight. Only a lorry that probably comes to get firewood from there plies the road into the community. There is no potable water, nor hospital, nor electricity. The only school there has never received any form of government attention since the residents built it in 1997.
    The community, which is surrounded by Ungwan Daudu, Kwati and Rigar Fulani, is always cut off from other communities and the state capital for about two months during the rainy season because the only road to Kaduna is always flooded.
    Investigations revealed that the residents were drinking water from a pond which is far from them. Women and children wake up early to get water which is not drinkable from the pond. Women trek a distance to fetch water from the pond.
    A resident, Talatu Iliya, said the water from the pond smells and is sometimes covered by dry leaves, “but that is what we use to cook because we have no choice”, adding that their children complain frequently stomach ache and also suffer from cholera.
    She said, “You can see the kind of water we drink. Even dogs wouldn’t drink from the pond. The water smells and that is what we use to cook our food”.
    There is only one water well in the village said to have been dug by a white woman who visited the community years ago. But the people hardly get water from it. Women in the community complain that they can only get water from the well very early in the morning, adding that in most cases, they can hardly fetch more than a bucket of water from it. They have decided to reserve the water in the well for the children who attend the community primary school. They appeal to government to construct a borehole for them.
    Following the report, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division Nigerian Army, Maj-General Adeniyi Oyebade, sunk and donated a borehole to the community. And interestingly, a group of Kaduna Polytechnic Students, under the auspices of Kadpoly Enactus is about to complete the first in West Africa, Sand Dam in the village.
    The Nation investigation revealed that, sand dams have successfully provided potable drinking water all year round for villages in East African countries like Kenya and Ethiopia. And it has equally provided water for irrigation farming throughout the year.
    The Kadpoly Enactus Dam Project which is equally a multi-facet project, to provide drinking water and irrigation for farming in the community is scheduled for completion by the end of June, with 98% of purity level.
    It was gathered from the students that, suitability of the project made them to choose the dam and not borehole, as their feasibility study revealed that water table of the community is very deep.
    As at the time of visit to the community last week, members of the the community rallied the team of Investigative Journalists who they said brought the challenges of their community to limelight.
    Speaking with the team of Investigative Journalists, Kadpoly Enactus Team Leader, Adikpe Odeh said, Enactus is a non-governmental organisation. A community of student academic and business world who come together to solve societal problems through the positive powers of business.
    “The dam project we are carrying out right now, we looked for the entrepreneur problem solving skills in the community to empower the people. Because we believe that in sustainability, the people have to see the value from the project in an economically inclusive way as that would make the project very sustainable.
    “Our three thematic areas are environmental factors, social factor and economic factor in solving any problems. Now we came across that community week after you visited the area. The spirit is one actually, so you were reporting and the spirit was telling us.
    “The water drive project started last year. We were in Ligari village last year where they had water access problem. They encounter the same problem with Kanti. We carried out the need assessment to understand their source of water and we discovered that it was nothing to write home about. Although they have wells but water was not forth coming. We now look at the environment for what will be suitable. Because if there is a well and the water is not forth coming, you may dig a borehole and have similar problem in the nearest future.
    “So, we now look at the terrain of the environment and we saw that it’s good for sand dam. So, what we are constructing in that community is a sand dam and the first of its kind in West Africa. The only places that have sand dam are Ethiopia and Kenya built by USAID.
    “The reason why we chose sand dam is this, that place you saw with the gully stuff whether you like it or not will keep expanding and during the raining season you will see water there while in the dry season, it is off.
    “Again, from the need assessment we discover that the water table of the community is low. And that is why you are unable to see water in the well. If the water table were to be high you would have seen water in the well. So the essence of sand dam is to raise the water table. And then you will get a very clean water which according to the United Nations, it is 98% clean.
    “And the fantastic thing is that even there is no rainfall in that community for one whole year, they will still have enough water to drink because it has large storage capacity. In fact, Kenya and Ethiopia sometimes have drought problem and that is the reason it was built there.

    “We are also carrying out a survey to see how they will be able to pump the water and also use for their irrigation farm land. That we are using a windmill to be able to pump the water because there is no electricity in the community. And that is the sustainability, because if you take generator set and petrol there, it means the community has to buy fuel which comes with more expenses and that they can’t afford because they are poor. But with the windmill which is natural, all they need is pump the water and get clean portable water to drink all year round.” He explained.
    On their source of finance, Odeh said, “The concept is a head for business and a heart for the world. We believe that it is just an empty head and an empty heart that can stop a man from solving a societal problems and not an empty pocket. But however, you need money in some cases through the power of business, so we engage in entrepreneur activities as an organization. We also go out to see individuals that are willing to partner in some certain areas and not necessarily begging for funds. For instance, you are an engineering firm, we approach you that can you help us bring out the architectural design of this place because we want to help this community. And ordinarily if you are to pay for that, it will be to the tune of N100,000. So these are the creative means we use in solving societal problems. We go about to identify individuals that want to invest in communities. So these are how we get our funds here and there and then we move to solve societal problems.
    “And our school also helps us with funds. We have been able to gain a level of reputation for the school. In fact, all ENACTUS students right now are on scholarship because of the level of sacrifices we are putting in to work, recognition. We were in South Africa, Spain, Germany and Paris to represent Nigeria. Now, all of the journey don’t come with money but because of what we are doing, its local content is wow come and showcase these. So the school are happy that some students are bringing some level of recognition to the institution.”
    He commended the team of Investigative Journalists, saying, “I wish we have more journalists that do investigative and developmental journalism, because to us, that is journalism.
    However, the GOC while commissioning the borehole at the village last week, the said, he was touched by the newspaper report and sent down his men to access the village with a view to assisting them.
    General Oyebade who addressed the Gbagyi dominated community with the help of an interpreter assured them that, President Muhammadu Buhari led administration and the respective state governments were working tirelessly to ensure welfare of all Nigerians, but the Army having recognised that government cannot do it alone with always reach out to the needy populace.
    According to him, “I read recently on The Nation Newspaper, while I going through the dailies to know what is happening within my AOR and the nation at large, about your community. According to the report, your major problem is lack of portable drinking water. So, I told myself that my heart will not be at peace until I give you water. So, I asked one of my officers to locate this place, so that I can give you borehole.
    “I want to assure you that President Muhammadu Buhari led administration and the respective state governments are working tirelessly to ensure welfare of all Nigerians, but government cannot do everything for everybody, so we can always support the government.
    “Also, the Army is not just about fighting war, we also assist the civil populace, because the Army under the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Tukur Buratai is very friendly with the civil populace.” He said.
    Responding on behalf of the community, The Village Head, Aliyu Bala expressed appreciation to the GOC for giving the community life. He also used the platform to call on government to come to their aid by providing them with a primary healthcare centre, standard primary school and good road.

  • CRS Super Highway and climate change debate

    While at the public presentation of the Environmental Impact Assessment EIA, for the Cross River Super Highway which held at the Channels View Hotel in Calabar on Wednesday last week, I saw a white guy, whose nationality I am not quite sure of arguing that the Cross River Super Highway should not be constructed because of carbon emissions and global warming and all that.

    But a quick search showed that, in 2013, world total carbon emission figures amounted to 35,669,000 metric tonnes.Out of this, China top the list after emitting 10,540,000 metric tonnes with average per capita of 7.6 while United States came second with 5,334,000 metric tonnes with 16.5 per capita.The European Union came third with 3,415,000 metric tonnes and 6.7, India is in the fourth position with, 2,341,000 metric tonnes and 1.8 per capita and Russia follows next with 1,766,000 metric tonnes and 12.4 per capita.In the sixth position is Japan which emitted 1,278,000 metric tonnes at 10.1 per capita and Germany in the seventh position with 767,000 metric tonnes at 9.3 per capita.

    Nigeria is not even on the top 30 list of global polluters talk less of Cross River State which still holds 50 percent of Nigeria’s remaining rain forest and Africa’s largest rain forest, but the world insists that we must preserve this forest to suck the pollution that we are not part of emitting.

    But at what cost really? Another question is….How did the West develop?

    The land area of Paris is 105.4sq/km, London is 1,570sq/km, and California is 423,970sq/km, while New York City area is 1,210sq/km.

    Atlanta is 342.9sq/km, Houston is 1,630sq/km, the industrial city of Guangzhou is 7,433sq/km, China’s capital, Beijing area is 16,410sq/km, Frankfurt is 248.3sq/km, and Istanbul area is 5,343sq/km, while Chicago is 606.1sq/km. The total area the superhighway will cover is 110sq/km.

    All these cities were developed after authorities cut down massive and large expanse of forests to develop the cities, industries, factories, roads, rails and other infrastructure that is now generating the pollution which the world wants the Cross River forest to suck up at the detriment of our own development.

    The Mexico banana farms and the USA wheat and corn farms came from felling forests. Terminal 5 Airport in UK was constructed on a Virgin National Park in spite of protests from civil society and environmental concern groups. In Switzerland and Germany, trees are fell to generate biomass energy and replanting follows.

    It’s important to note that capital spending, like the proposed super highway, creates an asset, and this gives a return over time in the form of growth.

    I agree like most economists have argued that infrastructural projects such as rail and roads create jobs, generate taxes and stimulate further spending. This is the economic multiplier effect that capital spending brings.

    Therefore, while an increase in public spending may create a deficit in the short term, the resultant increase in productivity will lead to a higher rate of economic growth and greater tax revenues.

    According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), for every one billion US dollars invested in infrastructure in developing economies, between 49,000 and 110,000 jobs are created.”

    I clearly understand that if forests are destroyed or degraded, large amounts of gases that cause global warming are released into the atmosphere but I don’t see how creating a very vital road, like the superhighway proposed by Governor Ayade, through our forest and re-afforesting same will so irreparably destroy or degrade the forest, if that did not happen elsewhere when they were developing their own cities.

    The government has said that 275,000 trees will be felled and 5,000,000 will be planted. The Cross River Green Police was created with that in mind and 1,500 cadets have been inaugurated.

    While the West through pittances called donor funding, is promoting this attempt to stall development in the name of conservation, in Third World nations like Nigeria, Bolivia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Zambia, there is no corresponding effort to curb the activities of the giant polluters. Even Trump is promising not to respect the Paris agreement on emission control if he eventually becomes US President.

    My advocacy, rather than join those who say they don’t want the road is to say that the Cross River State government should pay heed to genuine concerns that are being raised by communities bestriding the route, activists, and lingering issues of compensation for those who will be losing land, and other related matters should be diligently attended to so that work can restart on the super highway project.

    For me I have chosen to support the super highway project and I will do the little I can and God willing, that road will someday become a reality to the good of northern Cross River, the entire state and Nigeria as a whole.

    For those who say the project cannot be done, let me end this article with a quote from Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum – The King of Dubai in chapter 2 of his celebrated book: MY VISION: Challenges In The Race For Excellence:”Many years ago, some merchants came to me and asked me to approach my father, Sheikh Rashid, on their behalf, and discuss the large port he was planning at Jebel Ali. Since the economy was in recession and we already had a large harbour at Port Rashid that met their needs, they thought the emirate did not need a new larger harbour.

    “I felt, I should convey the message and shortly after went at dawn to the Jebel Ali area, where I knew I would find my father. He was standing on top of a small hill examining the site. I passed on the message and waited for his reply. He looked at me intently and said nothing, then he fumbled with the ‘midwakh’ he was holding between his fingers. After a few moments, he looked at me again and then to the ground saying nothing.

    “I dared not ask him the same question again and waited until he had finished his examination and asked me to drive him home. Once we took off and after relaxing his feet against the corner of the door as usual, he said, “Listen my son, I never answered your question because I did not want the engineers to hear. But I can tell you that the reason I am building this port now is because there will come a time when you will not be able to afford to do so.”

    “Before my father conceived and implemented this project, nobody had thought of executing one of such gigantic proportions. Even now, I have no simple explanation as to how the idea occurred to him, but if I had to explain it in one word, I would use the word, ‘vision’.

    “In his great wisdom, God gave each one of us a share of material possessions, capabilities and talents. Some people may aspire to little more than their daily earnings, while others have far greater vision.

    “Just like mature trees, capabilities and feelings have deep roots, if we do not know the roots of things or how to explain or define them, this does not mean they are rootless. An enlightened leader is capable of developing a vision and using his imagination to perfect it.”

    Jalingo, an activist and social rights campaigner wrote from Lagos

     

  • Change in dire need of speed

    Sir: The Buhari‘s administration has come under pressure from various quarters- with support here and hostility there; some saying he has done really well while others complained bitterly about how terrible his administration is. There is no doubt that this administration still enjoys the goodwill of the people but should it continue at this speed, it would be exhausted before its second year anniversary.

    You see, we can go on and on blaming everyone and everything for the slow take off of this administration, but if this slow pace is not addressed, we‘d be back here again on the second year of this administration apportioning blame and hanging our woes around the failure of past administrations and on the dwindling crude oil price.

    There is a place of good intentions and good plans, but as a leader you don‘t have to keep the people suffering for too long while results are yet achieved.

    There is a reason why “action plans” have short term, medium term and long term- so that people start getting results on time! This administration does not have to keep the people waiting unnecessarily for so long when it can do well by activating its short term plans to cushion the effect which its long term plans may have on the masses.

    Whose fault was it that the 2016 budget was padded severally?

    Whose fault was it that there was a delay in the signing of the 2016 budget? If these faults aren’t from the masses, who else should be blamed for the delay if not the presidency? You don‘t put the people at the edge of an excruciating pain because of the failure of those in power and expect not to be blamed for it!

    For instance, the Nigerian economy is currently being hit by the dwindling crude oil prices thus leading to a shortage of foreign exchange, a shrinking economy, and spiralling inflation. These have impacted on the standard of living and have impeded the ability of several state governments to pay the salaries of their workers.

    However, the Federal Government through the Minister of Finance- Kemi Adeosun, announced its readiness to inject a total of N350 billion to rebound the dwindling economy of the nation in anticipation of the approval of the budget. This was as a result of the decisions taken at the end of a two-day retreat for governors of the 36 states of the federation and members of the National Economic Council (NEC) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

    Speaking on Sunrise, a Channels TV programme, she reemphasized and I quote: “As soon as the budget is signed, we are going to pump N350 billion into the economy in this quarter and we are going to do so every quarter until we stimulate growth. And we would see growth if we spend money on those things that would create jobs.”

    Weeks after the budget was signed into the law, the fund is yet to be disbursed. There were reports suggesting that- while the Ministry of Finance is set to fulfil its own part of injecting the fund, some agencies of government, which are expected to act as channels of disbursement, are yet to put their acts together. As several of the disbursing agencies ought to have commenced certain work even before the budget was signed but they delayed in doing so.

    We can‘t continue to have a slow take off like this and expect a different result that is good enough for the country.

    Change can come with speed. Change is not magic- we all know that. But then, Change also does not necessarily mean “go slow”. We can both have change and speed. When we do, we would be talking of a different thing- rapid progress and development.

    Nigerians are suffering; telling them to keep bearing the pain while you are not being up to speed with easing them of the pain would be tantamount to carelessness.

     

    • Ogundana Michael Rotimi,

    Tweets @MickeySunny

  • The change train: One year later

    The change train: One year later

    One year ago, the Change train left Aversion station. That station was notorious for its numerous undesirables- governance impunity, fantastic corruption, depressed economy, high rate unemployment, gross indiscipline, and generalised moral degeneration. Captained by Engineer Progress, the train, with its over 140 million enthusiastic passengers, headed for Desire station.Draped in banners of hope and clamorous chants of change,they embarked on a four-year ride.

    The Change train targeted Desire station because of its promise of increased prosperity. Engineer Progress had vowed that the prosperity he had in mind for them would be deliveredthrough moral probity in governance, party discipline, compassionate policy choices, diversified economy, and a strong determination to battle wrong, and fight the war against corruption to its logical conclusion.

    In short, captain and passengers saw Desire station as the unparalleled destination for maximum desire- satisfaction. One year into the four-year journey, it makes sense to pause and ask, what has been the experience of the passengers on the Change train? And what is the prospect for the train’s safe arrival and success in realising its goal?

    We must,however, avoid the illusion that everyone on board the Change train had the same motivation or purpose. Indeed, there are good reasons to believe that, as strange as it may sound, not everyone was averse to Aversion station. In the first place, despite its dreaded condition of existence, quite a good number of folks found it appealing because they benefitted from chaos. The Yoruba refer to this group as arijenimadaru, literally “those who feed off of chaos.”For this lot, then, getting on the Change train was a source of apprehension and resentment, especially because of their egoistic reasoning “what can possibly be on this train for me?”

    Second, even for some of those who were not particularly favored at Aversion station, the fear of change could be overwhelming. As they say, the devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know. With that mentality, some who should favor change and get on the train were the most reluctant. Recall the story of the reluctant Hebrews getting out of the land of Egypt. An objective assessment of the performance of the Change train in its journey to Desire station must therefore take cognizance of its reluctant passengers, including some of its technicians, conductors, and makers of its rules.

    This has been a major setback and an ongoing concern for Engineer Progress. It is bearable and manageable if passengers are the issue. They can be reassured through good performance. But if technicians and conductors on the train, who are supposed to be facilitators of the smooth ride, are less than fully engaged, or worse, engaged in activities antithetical to the smoothness of the ride, there is a big deal of a problem.

    It was in the context of such an absence of synergy between the various groups of facilitators that a major derailment occurred just as the train was pulling out of Aversion station.

    The Change train has five cars. EngineerProgress and his navigation experts occupy one. The second car is occupied by those responsible for making rules for the smooth operation of the train and the welfare of passengers. In the third car are the folks responsible for ensuring that the rules are kept and for apportioning punishment in case of infraction.

    The fourth car has the group that facilitates the emergence of the captain and the Change train in the first place. As stakeholders in the success of the journey, they are to provide direction and roadmap for the captain and his team, as well as for the occupants of the second car. The fifth car is occupied by passengers who rely on the expertise and selfless collaboration of the first three and the direction of the fourth to get them to their destination safely.

    Where expertise is in place, but selflessness is missing, ego shows up in a jiffy and takes over, to the detriment of the collective task. That is the reality of our humanity.And this was what caused the derailment, as some of the occupants of the second car prioritized self-interest above collective interest. Sadly, though the cars survived the derailment with little reparable damage to their integrity, the damaged rail lines are still being repaired, almost one year after the onset of its journey, and the train has had to be diverted to a longer route.

    Naturally, passengers are unimpressed and upset. They have goods and services that they have to get to the market at Desire station. They need the supply of raw materials for their businesses. And most importantly, they need the peace of mind that this train is capable of reaching Desire station in one piece.

    On the whole, however, the passengers appear to have confidence in the captain.They chose him over other contestants for the positionbecause of his character, which they admire. But it is human nature to doubt and despair, and when the pocket is in jeopardy of losing its content, it is hard to blame them. They rightly worry about when and how they will get there.

    There is good reason for apprehension. In the train, the innocent passengers are experiencing a lot of hardship. Supplies are getting scarce and expensive. While the captain is methodical and stoical, the passengers feel the pinch of scarce resources and are very unhappy about what they perceive as slow efforts to find them alternative sources to replenish their supplies.They should have been warned that Hardship is a temporary stop on the road to Desire station.

    In his wisdom, the captain once tried to fire the greedy contractors that supply energy to the train so as to save valuable resources. He also promised alternative sources of energy. But despair appears to have set in so much that the passengers do not believe any promises will be fulfilled. There was a semblance of a protest which was quickly put down with the assistance of some of the captain’s co-investors in the Change train.

    In a situation of generalised uncertainty, with everyone struggling for survival, it is natural for there to be suspicion of everyone’s moves. Thomas Hobbes got that right. On board the Change train, passengers are becoming paranoid about each other’s moves. A war of all against all nearly ensued. Passengers are afraid to leave their car in case someone decides to appropriate what is not his. This was especially the case when some found their cubicles in the car less appealing and attempted to help themselves to thespace of other passengers. It nearly got out of hand, but reason prevailed as the rule-making occupants of the second car reassured all passengers.

    The one thing that almost all the passengers trust the captain to do well is fight their cause against those who cheat on board and those who take undue advantage of the chaos in Aversion station to enrich themselves at the expense of others. Even while they moan their hardship, almost all the passengers hail the captain for standing firm on this one issue. For they know that if those stolen resources are recovered and managed well to their advantage, there will be an improvement in their condition and the journey to Desire station will be less arduous, and they can expect to exhale at the end of the ride.

    Of course, this warm feeling and this enthusiastic support for the war the captain has sworn to fight and win is not universal. Again, it is to be expected that those at the other side of the war and their supporters, including those who benefitted from their action, will be against the war.

    But that war is ongoing and the captain is unrelenting. The reason it is important is not just because there must be restitution and recovery of looted funds;it will also serve as deterrence against future occurrence. This is the position of the captain and the stakeholders on the Change train. And with the captain’s determination,the passengers on the Change train can still enthusiastically keep hope alive.