The Nation Newspaper

Tag: crusaders

  • Charly Boy and his Our-mumu-don-do crusaders

    Last week, Charly Boy’s “our mumudondo’ group of entertainers and Buhari’s supporters clashed for the second time on the streets of Abuja. The former is insisting President Buhari, who is convalescing in a London hospital must “return or retire”.  The latter, taking a cue from the President’s Daura’s kinsmen, is insisting “it is not a crime to be sick” and that the president has not broken any law since he ceded power to his vice president as spelt out in the constitution. They went on to accuse Charly Boy and his group of being driven by other motives including politics rather than altruism. Charly Boy’s group then introduced a new dimension: Their crusade, they now claim, is not about legality but about morality. Buhari’s supporters on the streets of Abuja, shot back, insisting, Charly Boy is ill-equipped and the least qualified to speak on sickness or morality as a self-confessed President Jonathan’s  confidant who along with others egged him on as he ran the ship of state aground.  Charly Boy is yet to respond.

    What I have however found intriguing in the exchange between the two groups so far is the politicization of the President Buhari’s sickness. In case our fellow compatriots are unaware, it is not just that anyone can fall sick as argued by Buhari supporters, but the fact that social psychologists have in fact now said we are all sick with everyone at different levels of insanity. For artists who see what the ordinary people don’t see, it manifests in form of what society consider as their anti-social behaviours such as wearing tattoos over the body and overdependence on drug which recently led to the untimely death of Michael Jackson,  and Prince, two of the world most celebrated entertainers. For instance, like Charly Boy who cherishes being called a boy at over 60, Michael Jackson was locked inside the body of a boy, making it impossible for him to accept responsibilities of adulthood all through his life.

    Those of us who dance to their sometimes weird music without rhyme are not left out. Part of their findings is that it takes some form of insanity to start jumping around hysterically with our hands and legs up and down.  But more revealing is their findings about political leaders.  Students of political psychology in international relations have in fact confirmed leaders like Hitler, Idi Amin, Mussolini and Trump were outrightly insane. As for us and our leaders, no scientific work is needed to confirm our state of insanity. The irrational actions and pronouncements of our leaders and the absurd responses of the led are all that is required to gauge the level of our insanity.

    For instance, we couldn’t have suddenly forgotten the recklessness of PDP leaders who embarked on the assassination of their leading lights over spoils of office after assuming power in 1999. On his own part, Obasanjo’s declaration that he was not obliged to listen to advice of experts but to God who brought him out of Abacha’s gulag to solve Nigerian problems was sufficient proof his recklessness. And if it is remembered that one of his obsession was to have a peaceful transition from civilian to civilian, a feat he achieved through Maurice Iwu’s massively rigged 2007 election which forced the winner of the electoral contest to protest against his own victory, the strange voice that finally drove him to the third term fiasco couldn’t have come from God. Obasanjo was probably suffering from “selective perception”, or the image in our heads, an affliction which sometimes makes us deny reality. Goodluck Jonathan, his godson suffered the same affliction. In power he looked the other way as his appointees looted the nation’s resource claiming stealing government funds was not corruption. Now out of government and with billions being recovered from his associates and family members, he is still in self-denial that he ran the economy aground and that he fought corruption but for “some unplugged loopholes”. Our current leaders have been  humble  enough to have publicly owned up to their different afflictions: Saraki – treachery; Ekwerenmadu – opportunism, and Melaye –obsession with cars.  In the case of Dogara, his estranged friends says it is  “budget  padding”; Buhari – stiffness and religious fundamental beliefs and love of his Fulani race, afflictions he shares with Osinbajo, his deputy.

    Now let us return to corruption, the other serious challenge facing our nation. It is the greed of corrupt political elite that deprive Nigerian youths of education, drive less-privileged Nigerians with broken limbs and bones from collapsed federal roads to seek remedy not in  Igbobi Orthopaedic Hospital established after the Second World War but in the Republic of Togo while the privileged with collapsed kidney arising from usage of imported fake drugs find their way to India and not UCH, Ibadan, once regarded as one of the best three teaching hospitals in the Commonwealth of nations.

    Charly Boy says some of his people voted for Buhari because of their confidence in his ability to fight corruption. And that is exactly what Buhari in or out of town has been trying to do for two years. There is sufficient proof he is changing the narrative.  Those who collected amounts ranging between N1b and N4b from the federal government to rig the last gubernatorial elections in the South-west, those from Charly Boy’s South-east that collected N34b of N44b budgeted for the dredging of River Niger without any work done and those from the North who ferried billions in foreign currency with truck from the CBN vault allegedly on the order of President Jonathan, are having their dates in courts.

    Today the Treasury Single Account (TSA) is said to have fetched the nation about N4trillion. Those who collected N4.6b for spiritual consultation are repaying back or having their dates in the courts; $9.88m and 74,000 pounds had been seized from Andrew Yakubu former GMD of NNPC while his supervising minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke has forfeited billions in local and foreign currencies as well as choice properties in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt to government. Abdulahi Dikko former Comptroller General of Customs has forfeited $37.5m to government just as billions of naira and choice properties have been recovered from military officers. On his part, Magu, the EFCC boss has so far secured the conviction of about 200 swindlers of the nation’s resources.

    The nation has not only stopped the daily loss of about 500,000 barrels of oil but has more to show for the $52b oil revenue she earned in the last two years than the $445b accruing to the Jonathan administration between 2010 and January 2015.

    But Charly Boy remains unimpressed. He told Vanguard over the weekend that his “Return or Resign” crusade against recuperating Buhari will continue. With this type of mind-set, it is no more difficult to second guess whose battle Charly Boy and his group are out to wage. It couldn’t have been an accident that his crusade coincides with the regrouping of PDP and the chest- beating of ex-President Jonathan about his handling of the nation’s-economy and the war on corruption as president. But as Balarabe Musa, former Kaduna State governor said while reacting to Jonathan’s wild claims, last week: ‘Nigerians have short memories’.  Charly Boy who was said to be an unofficial adviser to ex-President Jonathan, like his principal, probably believe Nigerians suffer from collective amnesia.

  • Fani-Kayodes as crusaders

    Chief Remi Fani-Kayode loved his Yoruba race. He like other illustrious Yoruba politicians of his time such as Bode Thomas and S. L. Akintola would have no apologies to be regarded a Yoruba ethnic irredentist. His “introduction to Nigerian politics began in the early fifties with a series of articles which reminded one of Hitler Mien Kampt’” {Aiyekooto P 366). The exploits secured for him the leadership of the youth wing of Action Group (AG). He soon added a militant wing called ‘Mosquitoes Squad’ which relentlessly tormented Yoruba detractors notably NPC, NCNC and the colonial masters. As a politician, he was described by Victor Bisi Onabanjo as having “the courage of a mischief maker who knows how to exploit a situation”. But Awolowo loved him for his resourcefulness. In 1958, he moved the motion for Nigerian Independence on April 2, 1960.

    Femi Fani Kayode, his illustrious son also warmed his way into the heart of President Obasanjo with his well- researched newspaper articles. He like his father also never left anyone in doubt as to his commitment to the Yoruba race. Obasanjo appointed him a minister in charge of aviation. But he is remembered more as Obasanjo’s attack dog. He and his father demonstrated their love for Yoruba by celebrating the virtue in the aphorism “no permanent friends but permanent interest”.

    For instance, it is on record that after fighting Yoruba political enemies for about a decade, Chief Remi Fani Kayode in 1959, under the pretext that Awo considered him “brash”, decamped to NCNC where he took over Dennis Osadabey’s vacated position of leader of NCNC opposition in the Western House. He immediately unleashed his ‘mosquito squad’, on his former party. But following the prosecution and sentencing of some of its members by Premier Akintola, he alleged breakdown of law and order in the West. He joined hands with Dr Okpara, leader of NCNC, the coalition partner at the centre to press for declaration of state of emergency in the West. That was finally achieved in 1962 after he led the Western House NCNC members to join 10 Akintola supporters to create chaos in the Western House. For his pains, he was compensated with the Deputy Premier slot in January 1963. His relationship with Akintola who did not trust him because of his support for the carving out of Mid-west from the West resulting in the shrinking of Western Region influence was that of cat and mouse.

    But it did not take long before Chief Fani-Kayode, driven by permanent self- interest turned his back on NCNC as 1965 regional election approached. The two men that had invited outsiders to destroy the West in order to cling on to power now agreed that NCNC and Igbo were opportunistic. They aligned themselves with TOS Benson, Zik associate’s claim that “with Igbo and NCNC reputed bonds with NEPU in the north, UPP in the West, NPC in the centre and now AG in the Mid-west, they were behaving like a woman with four husbands who will never get respect”.

    It is on record that it was Fani Kayode who as the leader of Western Region NCNC, signed a petition alleging that “under Dr Ikejiani (Zik’s friend) two-thirds of vacancy of Railway Corporation senior posts were held by Igbo, three-quarters in Nigerian Ports Authority while they controlled Nigerian Airways, Ibadan University, Ibadan Teaching Hospital, Yaba Technical College and three quarters of foreign service postings”.

    Fast forward to the 4th republic, Femi Fani Kayode after Obasanjo’s tenure, first abandoned PDP and joined APC from where he deployed verbal arsenal at Jonathan predicting his inevitable loss of the 2015 election. His hostility against Jonathan did not last long. He ditched Obasanjo, swallowed his vomit with an alleged budget of about N14b to launder the image of Jonathan he had shredded in to tatters months earlier.

    Following the defeat of Jonathan, he constituted himself into a one man attack squad against the Igbo for daring to refer to Lagos as a “no man’s land’ – a heresy first championed by Jaja Nwachukwu in the 1940s. He was determined to put the Igbo in their place with publications of series of historical facts about the cultural achievements of both ethnic nationalities over time. But when he found himself in the same train with Igbo partakers in the Dasuki’s mismanaged $2.1b arms funds, Igbo ceased being a threat to Yoruba race. The real enemy of Yoruba, Igbo and the nation became Buhari and his Fulani ethnic group. He has now volunteered to lead a Christian crusade on behalf of the South-west, South-east and Middle Belt against the Fulani jihadists.

    While Fani Kayode is free to speak for others, he cannot speak for the Yoruba. Yoruba don’t fight religion war because they understand the role of religion in society and that without it society decays.  And long before the advent of Christianity and Islam, the two Abrahamic religion that had its root in sibling war of Isaac and Ishmael, the warring children of Abraham, we had our own concept of Supreme Being (Olorun Olodumare)  For us, (igbagbo baba ko gba omo la) the faith of the father does not guarantee the salvation of the son. Thus in a typical Yoruba homestead, you see a Roman Catholic priest, an Ifa worshipper, an Islamic  cleric and a professor of nuclear physics eating together.

    We also don’t see Fulani as enemies. Even if they insist they are our enemies, we will rather adopt Christ’s precept ‘love your enemies’ because it will be suicidal not to do otherwise. The Fulani supply 10,000 heads of cow to the Yoruba country every day in addition to Hausa tomatoes, pepper, beans and maize, supplemented with yam from Benue and Nassarawa while Fani Kayode’s close friends like Fayose are busy chasing cow and Fulani herdsmen around.

    As for Christian crusade against Muslim jihadists, Fani Kayode is also on his own. The first crusade initiated by Pope Unban1 in a sermon at the ‘Council of Clermont’ in 1098 has been declared a political endeavour and has long been treated as sacrilege by the church. Pope Francis in 2016 was in Bangui, Central Africa where he entered a mosque, removed his shoes and prayed facing east after which he admonished warring Christians and Muslims to see themselves as brothers seeking God’s salvation.

    Crusade died in about 1135 in Europe. Today churches in Europe are mainly preserved for African immigrants. Europe has left the Jews and Arab, their half-brothers to continue their sibling war of entitlement over the land God promised Abraham their great grandfather. Femi and his Christian fundamentalists cannot take Yoruba back to 1098.

    We do not disown our illustrious son and his illustrious father, “born in London, groomed in Lagos”. They are pride of the Yoruba race. In fact, with the above documented history of Fani Kayode family’s exploits and conquests, our Fulani compatriots should not foreclose the possibility of Fani Kayode becoming one of their dependable allies in no distant future.

    All we are trying to do is to reassure our Fulani compatriots that while Fani Kayode is free to lead the South-east and Middle Belt in a crusade, he does not speak for us. Yoruba will not line behind a man who after attending Fayose inauguration following a controversial victory says “God is really raising some very powerful men and women of faith with great testimonies, a prophetic calling and a powerful anointing in the murky sea of Nigerian politics”.

  • The new anti-corruption crusaders

    When the cat is abroad, the rats take charge of the homestead”.

    Dino Melaye, the Kogi West “Great Motivator of Students’, ‘Icon of Good Leadership’ and a man who freely celebrates his audacity, never does anything in half measures. We cannot easily forget the celebration of his victory over Sahara Reporters, his estranged friends that had accused him of parading himself in borrowed robes by laying claim to chain of degrees from ABU and other ivy universities across the globe. When the ethics committee of his Senate finally ruled he indeed obtain a third class degree in geography from ABU Zaria after other foreign universities had debunked his claim, he appeared in the Senate adorning a Ph.D academic gown as if ‘the cloak makes the monk’.

    Neither can one forget Melaye’s obsession with exotic cars.

    The launching of his book ‘Antidote for Corruption-the Nigeria story’, four days ago in Abuja was no exception. He had in attendance, Senate President Bukola Saraki, Yakubu Dogara, the House or Representative Speaker and the former First Lady, Patience Jonathan. There were also Anyim Pius Anyim, former Senate President and the erstwhile secretary to Jonathan and Dr. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Productivity all of whom share something with their chief host and can best be described as victims of what Saraki has dismissed as Buhari’s misplaced war on corruption.

    Let us start with Ngige. He was as incumbent governor of Anambra State during President Obasanjo’s first term (1999-2003} kidnapped and locked up like a common criminal. His godfather, Chris Uba, a chieftain of PDP in Anambra had alleged Ngige reneged on his promise to share Anambra State monthly allocation with those who helped him to rig the election. He further alleged Ngige took an oath before the Okija shrine to abide with the deal.

    Patience Jonathan is in court trying to lay claim to some $15m traced to some accounts EFCC has asked her to disclose to the courts the sources the funds since she was only a civil servant and President’s spouse. Besides, she has been asked to explain the sources of the funding of some multi-billion properties and hotels linked to her in Abuja and Bayelsa.

    Then there was the Speaker Dogara who according to suspended  former chairman, Appropriation Committee Abdulmumin Jibrin  not only allegedly diverted a federal government water project to his farm but also allegedly blackmailed an unnamed construction company to work on his Asokoro new mansion.”  Jibrin’s suspension by the House has deprived the Speaker the opportunity of defending his honour. As for Anyim Pius Anyim, he was recently accused of ‘tricking President Jonathan to sign fraudulent multibillion-dollar Abuja Centenary Housing deal’.

    Of course, there was Saraki himself, the biggest masquerade once described by Melaye as the  “irremovable president of the Nigerian Senate”, “fighting pervasive corruption and incompetence in the Customs” on “behalf of the poor masses, the talakawas and the mekunus.”  It was his honour to dismiss Buhari’s anti-corruption war and propose 11 new approaches to fighting corruption.

    Well, with the new sheriff out of  town, confined  by illness to his sick bed in far way Great Britain, I think the choice of who is best suited to lead the new crusade between acting President Osinbajo and Saraki, is very clear. The former who’s only known weapon as a pastor is fervent prayers and perhaps some logic as a university professor which are in adequate as tools for political warfare in the murky water of Nigerian politics cannot be considered a match to Saraki, a veteran of many wars in the Nigerian zero-sum struggle for power. Let us look at a few examples.

    Saraki effortlessly shamed all the detractors that in 1990 accused him of involvement in an N9b fraud against Societe General, a bank in which his father had controlling shares in Nigeria. Then he survived Erastus Akingbola who, alleged Saraki’s multi-billion naira deals contributed to the collapse of his bank. Saraki similarly survived the hysteria of the people of Kwara, over the collapse of their Trade Bank during his tenure as governor.

    Then on the strength of ‘several petitions from various groups including  ‘Kwara Freedom Network’, all bordering on abuse of office, misappropriation of public funds and money laundering,  Saraki was again  dragged before the Code Of Conduct Tribunal for prosecution over “13 counts of false and anticipatory asset declaration. “. Michael Wetkas, a detective with EFCC told the tribunal how Saraki as governor allegedly diverted Kwara State government funds to pay loans he took to buy properties from Presidential Implementation Committee on Government Properties and some that were bought from the Central Bank of Nigeria. Now EFCC‘s case seems to be in tatters as the records of those transactions have been reported lost in a fire outbreak in the affected banks.

    Wetkas also told the tribunal that ‘Saraki collected salary as the governor of Kwara State for about four years after completing his second term in 2011’. But EFCC and Saraki detractors were shamed with the testimony of the Secretary to the Kwara State Government, Alhaji Isiaka Gold, who insisted Saraki was only collecting a pension of N578, 188.00 which increased to N1, 239,493.94 monthly from October, 2014 as other past governors in the country.

    Then an offshore dimension was introduced.  A German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, identified  four assets: Sandon Development Limited, a vehicle used in acquiring a property on 8 Whittaker Street, Belgravia, London, in 2012;  Girol Properties Ltd, which was registered on August 25, 2004 (a year after Mrs. Saraki’s husband became governor of Kwara) in the British Virgin Island (BVI); Landfield International Developments Ltd., registered in the British Virgin Islands on April 8, 2014, with  Mrs. Saraki as sole shareholder; and Longmeadow Holdings Limited.   Saraki has told Nigerians that all the properties belong to his wife and her famous family. His detractors are yet to tell us if it is a crime to be married to a rich and famous family. Shame to all of you, Saraki’s detractors.

    Now let us turn to all those  who have been raising false alarm claiming the war on corruption cannot be fought without Buhari and Magu starting with Itse Sagay who says  “Since Nuhu Ribadu left, we have not had a man with such sterling qualities as Ibrahim Magu”, or Palladium, who says “those who rejected him for the second time  knew he was the right man for the job, they knew they were putting down a public figure who seemed to have prepared for this job all his life, they knew it would be difficult to find someone so imbued with his kind type of commitment”.

    I think with the dazzling performance of Saraki and his new anti-corruption crusaders four days ago, they must swallow their words. Saraki has on behalf of his group canvassed not only for the dumping of Buhari’s approach which he claims was in favour of punishment rather than deterrence, but  also proffers a replacement which is aimed at ‘’Strengthening  accountability, limiting discretion in public spending and promoting  greater  openness”.

    Dear compatriots, victims of sardonic humour, behold Bukola Saraki, Dino Melaye, Yakubu Dogara, Patience Jonathan, Anyim Pius Anyim, our new anti-corruption crusaders.

  • Restructuring crusaders

    You’ve heard it before: Sovereign National Conference, – and when it became controversial as a result of the word “sovereign” it was reframed as – National Conference, Constitutional Reform, and now Restructuring. These were, and are now buzzwords in Nigeria. The strident and recurring calls for restructuring tell us our house is not in order. The roof has been leaking and may cave in anytime since the rafters holding it has soaked in much water.

    Let’s be clear: our problems are multi-faceted, covering economic, political and social, and the solution must also be multi-dimensional in approach. But the challenge that has dogged us for decades is how? That notwithstanding, we delude ourselves if we think all is well and its business as usual; it’s not. It’s time we own and embrace the plethora of problems confronting us. It may end up providing the leeway for us to appropriately diagnose and proffer workable solutions that would give all citizens a sense of belonging.

    Close to ten years ago, I interviewed a group of Indian businessmen who own a steel and aluminum firm in Lagos and that interview has been etched in my memory ever since. Because of the apparent superiority of their products, a conglomeration of Nigerian businesses began running a campaign to checkmate them. One told me that the Nigerian market is big enough for anyone to play in and there’s no need for rancor if one have good products. “My friend, there’s money on the streets of Nigeria but your people cannot see it; you need a special kind of eyes to see it,” he told me.

    They gladly sponsored an independent field research I conducted in Lagos and Onitsha armed with samples of their products and those of their competitors – all made in Nigeria by the way – and the conclusion was glaring. Experts, distributors’ traders and artisans preferred their products to others. So it wasn’t surprising that they wanted to use the instrumentalities of power to run them out of town because they were not Nigerians.

    Why not strive to produce better products to beat them in the game since they did not import but produce in Nigeria? I asked their Nigerian competitors in order to balance my report. Evading my question they accused me of not being a “patriotic Nigerian.” This mentality is skin deep and runs through all facets of our society. It’s now time for deep, sober and honest reflections; a reality check we need to undertake before it’s late. Nigerians too need to be “restructured” alongside Nigeria.

    Way back then I’d asked where we got things wrong; why not gun for the best? Why does our system often throw up mediocre leadership? Away from “the good old days,” you can imagine my feelings today. How did we arrive here? How did we move from one of the fastest growing economy to an economy in recession? How can we navigate our way out of our present quagmire? And more importantly, how do we comprehensively restructure Nigeria in a way that will support our aspiration for a productive and egalitarian economy, a stable polity, and a fairer society? If we are able to conduct a reality check, we might just be able to retrace our steps by embarking on a far reaching and comprehensive restructuring beyond the cosmetic approach that the nation has been accustomed to over the decades.

    Isn’t it embarrassing that 27 states are literally bankrupt. They can’t pay civil servants for months on end. Some have even adopted “creative” means of addressing the situation; three or four working days while civil servants can spend the spare day(s) on their farms. Others hold Caribbean styled carnivals dressing like clowns in the midst of excruciating poverty.

    Did the resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta come as a surprise? A plethora of armed gangs are now testing the willpower of Nigeria by bombing oil installations in uncannily precise and devastating attacks. Their activity of economic sabotage is driving down crude production, oil revenue and causing increased power cuts. We’re all reeling under the impact of their cowardly action.

    Equally too, two groups that aspire to secession routinely protest on the streets of the South East. Fulani herdsmen terrorize rural communities in the north, middle belt and south unhindered. They herd their cattle into farmlands, rape women and murder fellow citizens. Boko Haram is only now being contained after causing unimaginable disruptions in the North East, leaving sorrow, tears and blood in their wake.

    Way back in the 1990s, the National Democratic Conference (NADECO) headed by late Chief Anthony Enahoro called for a Sovereign National Conference. The agitation is based on the premise that the 1999 constitution was foisted on the nation by past military regimes. The call gained more ground with the introduction of Sharia law in some parts of the north but was never heeded. Professor Tam David West later joined the fray to canvass for a National Conference to examine pertinent issues confronting the country, which decisions could be put to referendum.

    As a result of these calls, former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan convened National Conferences, which recommended the retention of a federal system of government, without foreclosing the issue of a future regional government. Both were however controversial; one was perceived as an extension of Obasanjo’s third term gambit and the other as an afterthought by Jonathan following his unpopularity.

    In recent times, Prof Wole Soyinka, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, Chief Arthur Mbanefo, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and others have renewed the call for a restructuring on the basis that the current structure is heavily defective, as it does not provide the enabling environment for growth and progress among the 36 component states of the federation.

    Apparently on the table are calls for the return of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the configuration of its pre-Ironsi history; an era when strong, autonomous and culturally homogeneous regions were Nigeria’s federating units. Some propose the merger of the 36 states along the lines of the six geopolitical zones and the empowerment of those zones to exploit their natural resources, thrive on their own terms, and pay tax to a weak central government.

    The rationale for the promotion of restructuring is the popular notion that the current federalist system is unsustainable because it is irredeemably flawed, crisis-prone and condemned to be a source of frustration to all of us hemmed in by its strictures.

    While I support restructuring, I also think we should look ourselves straight in the mirror and address some “Nigerian issues” as well. A popular argument – for instance – is that without “resource control” and “fiscal federalism,” we are doomed. It may be true that resource control can address the issue of equity and fairness, but does it resolve the issue of poor leadership? Does more allocation mean more development?

    The Niger Delta states have been getting 13% derivation since 1999, in addition to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Ministry of Niger Delta and Amnesty Programme. Can we say with all honesty that the vast majority of the Niger Delta people and its region are better off today?  The same is true of other areas where we do not question how our local government officials expend our funds

    No doubt, Nigeria is a man-made tragedy, but fortunately – with tact and statesmanship – the tragedy can be addressed. Nigerians have proved skilled in bastardizing the most promising structures that serves other countries well, all because of the so called “Nigerian factor.” If we try to follow what our flawed constitution says would life not be a lot better for our citizens than it is now?

    Indonesia has 11,000 islands and Tanzania have many tribal groups like Nigeria. But they were assimilated into a national identity forged by forward looking “authoritarian” governments. Why did they succeed where we failed? Is restructuring the magic wand that will resolve our problems?