The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Effect

  • The Lalong effect

    The Lalong effect

    A sense of peace crippled me as I boarded the aircraft and left behind the crisp air of Jos. I reflected on the irony first: Jos of firebombs and fleeing feet, of internecine feud, of blood-stained fault lines and arbitrary borders and breach of borders, of prostrate streets and pious hate, of Muslims at the throat of Christians and vice versa, of official impotence, of the loss of innocence.

    Then I recalled what I had learned in three days last week in the city of fabled weather and its cosmic earth, a democratic soil that abides all fruits and vegetation from apple to roses. I had come to deliver the keynote address at the Nigerian Bar Association Week on the topic: Restructuring: A Panacea for National Development and Cohesion.

    On entering the city I had a flush of foreboding. But the genial exchanges of three governors who attended the event mitigated some of my misgivings. They were the host Governor, Simon Bako Lalong, who, in a yet understated electoral triumph, toppled the cocky mainstay in Plateau power, David Jang; Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State and Sokoto State counterpart and the Matawallen Sokoto, Aminu Tambuwal.

    The striking moment came when Governor Lalong mounted the podium and joked that Tambuwal loved the Jos weather so much that he came a day earlier and he would not mind to stay another day. Tambuwal responded with a ironic smile and interrupted Lalong by thrusting his right hand out of his voluminous babaringa in a hand gesture, indicating he was leaving town that afternoon. The governor was making the point that the three governors were, in varying degrees, products of Jos the beautiful, the literal city on the hill.

    All three were baked in Jos. Yet they belonged to three geopolitical zones. Tambuwal from the northwest, Abubakar from the northeast and Lalong from the north central. All three blossomed as lawyers in Jos. They inhaled the weather, blended with its shrubberies and hugged the people. Their successes in that city predated and even foretold their political ascent.

    Lalong noted that Abubakar was one of a string of Bauchi State governors, including Yuguda, bred in Jos. The chairman of the law week planning committee Barrister Steve Abah said he served in Tambuwal’s chambers. I was to learn later that Tambuwal brought his team to Jos for their retreat recently.

    The point? So beautiful was Jos not just as a place where seed budded but any tribe bloomed. Before I presented my address, all three governors stamped their support for restructuring with Tambuwal reiterating that the north wanted restructuring but it must be preceded by understanding. Abubakar,  who gave a short speech aligned himself with Tambuwal. This was Jos as conduit, as the umbrella of all people, from the Fulani to the Birom to the Afemai to the Yoruba to the Urhobo. It was mini Nigeria in hope and harmony.

    I also recalled, in the midst of that morning air of happy levity, the yarns that television producer Peter Igho had spun to me about how he grew up in Jos and everyone lived together without ethnic interspaces. In his lament, he was puzzled about how that great city stumbled into the arms of bandits.

    Jos has become a metaphor not only of how we fell as a nation of economic promise, but also how we crumbled into malice. Without soliciting comments, residents spoke of how the soul of their beloved city had left them, how hate, bigotry and political egos had truncated the example of the north. They spoke with glum eyes and wistful resignation. But they ended their complaint with natal cheer.

    That quiet cheer I noted when I engaged Governor Lalong. Articulate with a sober grasp of the task ahead, he expressed how he had brought together the 53 ethnic groups in the state to agree to live in peace. He set up the state’s version of truth and reconciliation commission that encompassed representatives from each of the 53 tribes, so that it did not become a case of over-inclusion and exclusion, which would generate another round of suspicion and spilling of blood. The issue of herdsmen and cattle rustling was also resolved with representatives from both sides coming to the table to eke out an agreement.

    Though still fragile like a healing wound, Jos has moved far ahead today beyond the days when it was hard to predict a day. Many people left town, and may not return. But what Governor Lalong has pulled off with the 53-tribe entente is a model for our fractious nation. He said he was working with the Federal Government on establishing a ranch. While ranching is a marvel of an idea, there is already understanding before it comes into being.

    This shows that building institutions is a good idea, but institutions are vacant without trust. As the African proverb says, who would accept a shirt from a naked man? When the ranch comes to Plateau, it will become a technicality. If, that is, the peace holds up among the tribes. It also reifies the power of leadership. That we have ethnic tension on the national scale is the failure of leadership and trust deficit from the people. We don’t have the Lalong effect in the centre.

    Lalong has to sustain this. Jos is not just about a town. It is about its vast array of people. As Ghanaian playwright Ama Ata Aidoo wrote, “humans, not places, make memories.” We are not asking Jos to become the city it lost. We only want it to become the city it can be. “I don’t want to repeat my innocence,” noted a character in Scott F. Fitzgerald’s novel, This Side of Paradise. We can remember the past but as a resource to own the future. We will not lament in the words of the poet, Birago Diop, “If we tell gently, gently all that we shall one day have to tell.”

    Cities have fallen and were reborn. We know of London, Berlin, Paris, Warsaw. The Second World War broke their backs. They came back, reinvigorated.  Those cities lost brick and mortar, Jos’ soul became mortal. Biafra lost structures but its soul survives. The task before Lalong is not just physical rebirth but to give it new life by dismantling forever the infrastructure of prejudice. It is a state I will monitor, especially when other states like Kaduna, Taraba and Benue have sought Lalong’s formula on how he is doing it on the Plateau. The Federal Government can learn a thing or two about how a state with 53 ethnic groups in a small geographic space can wake up from a slumber of bloodshed. It, therefore, can work for the 250 ethnic groups in the country.

  • The Fashola effect

    Going back to one’s words is not a pleasant thing. It is akin to returning to scoop up one’s spittle or worse stuff. This dirty job is what one is about to do here today. This column didn’t think it was a good idea to have collapsed three major ministries into one and saddled one minister with such behemoth. It didn’t matter that one had followed Babatunde Raji Fashola’s trajectory from inception; one still didn’t think him a superman.

    When therefore, President Muhammadu Buhari introduced such novelty, one thought it was unwise to say the least and we said so vehemently. Of all ministries, how could we deign to combine Works, Power and Housing? Why, these are the majors!

    But reports emanating from the Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing (FMWPH) have shown that the assignment may well be a piece of cake for the one we call BRF. In fact it is widely believed that what is known as the Fashola effect is beginning to manifest in this composite ministry.

    First, work has begun in most abandoned federal roads across the country. Work is currently going on in at least two roads in each of the 36 states of the federation. This means that a minimum of 72 roads spread across the six zones of the country are right now enjoying a resurgence of activities by way of site preparation, massive earth works, and a teeming of men and machinery. If these reports are anything to go by, one can wager that there was probably never a time so many roads were attended to at the same time.

    Two highways will serve as example here: the Lagos –Ibadan Expressway (LIE) and the Lagos – Ore – Benin Expressway (LOBE). These are probably the busiest roads in Nigeria. As one noted here previously, for the first time in a long while, the seasonal exodus to the Southeast last December was largely smooth. It witnessed few accidents and hardly any  gridlock often occasioned by bad portions of this road.

    Trips from Lagos to the East for instance, used to be marred by the need to run one-way in many sections of the road; the need to do detours sometimes through bush tracks and it was often plagued by extended traffic jams caused by many failed portions along the old road.

    All that is becoming a thing of the past on the LOBE. The ministry under Fashola, having anticipated the seasonal surge of traffic,  quickly embarked on numerous ameliorative work on the road which made last Christmas’ throng a bit pleasurable. Today, work has gone far apace on the Ore – Sagamu stretch and it is likely that by year end, we shall have a near brand new expanded and ‘nylon’-tarred road. It is the same with the LIE; work has been going on earnestly from both ends – Lagos to Sagamu and Ibadan to Sagamu. We all remember the encumbered state of this road for about five years of the Goodluck Jonathan era. By the time he left office, the highway was enmeshed in a complicated knot of litigation with a private investor.

    While this charade went on, the road deteriorated and claimed daily, the lives and limbs of hapless commuters. It was a season of endless road carnage.

    How that knot was untied should never be the concern of the citizenry in the first place; what is important is that work has not stopped on that road since Fashola and his team moved in little over one year ago. That is quite salutary.

    We noted in the beginning that an estimated number of 72 roads are being rehabilitated at the moment. Many would not readily understand the import and impact of this. These are roads that have been abandoned in the last one decade due to government’s insouciance, non-fidelity to contractual agreements and lack of financial planning for projects.

    If so many contractors are back at work, this means they have been mobilised and are being paid for work done. Of course we know that the Works budget was amply increased for 2016 and the impending 2017 budget. This is the result of planning and in turn, acute leadership. But we also know that budget proposal is one; actual (cash) is another and judicial and accountable deployment of funds is yet another matter.

    But what really earned this space today is the knowledge that the minister has visited his projects in nearly all the six zones across the country and all the states save for about three or so. Imagine a shuttle across about 33 states of the federation in less than six months. Imagine inspecting about 70 work sites in all the four corners of the country. Imagine the multiplier effect of construction going on from the creeks of the Niger Delta to the Boko Haram savaged Northeast.

    These revived projects betoken the creation of more jobs for young people on work sites; supply of cement, sand, gravel, chippings, iron rods, food, drinks and a dozen other items. This indeed must translate to a massive boost to the economy.

    And he is not only visiting roads but also power generating plants in each state. Fashola also visits ongoing work in the 1,000 units per-state National Housing Programme. Work is also going on apace on this in as many states as have provided land. The ministry has said that if the Federal Housing project is not going on in your state right now, please hold your governor responsible; he is denying your people their share of the housing ‘national cake’.

    Think for a moment what would happen if all this is sustained in the next two years or more. Who says a tree cannot make a forest; who says only an engineer could head the Works, Power and Housing ministry; who says leadership is not everything?

     

    Lagos @ 50: Whither Igbo of Lagos

    As our mega city sets on an elaborate celebration of her golden jubilee, the big drums are out. Personalities who apparently gave the city voice, flesh and character are being lined up for recognition: Aliko Dangote, Folorunso Alakija, Mobolaji Johnson, Papa Jakande, BAT, BRF and AAA to name a few.

    Great, but what is the method to all this? It looks like names are merely pulled off the cuff. As my colleague Femi Macaulay pointed out in his column (Eagle Eye) on Monday, who would celebrate Lagos without a Sir Herbert Macaulay? And where are the Igbo of Lagos?

    There are Lagos Igbo families three generations old who have left indelible landmarks and impacted beautifully on the highways and landscapes of Eko.

    Zik was an Isale Eko boy who schooled at Methodist Boys High School, Lagos. Upon his return from US and Ghana, set up businesses in Lagos and started his politics here. He was MP for Lagos in the Western House. The imprints of Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, the wealthiest man of his day are still visible all over Lagos.

    If these are ‘old’ history, Rear Admiral Godwin Ndubuisi Kanu (retd) is not only a former Military Administrator, he lives in Lagos till today, and has been in the frontline of the progressives bent of Lagos politics. Recall NADECO. Prof. Pat Utomi, a public intellectual, has lit up the city with his fiery mind these past three decades; Jim Ovia, Cosmas Maduka, Onyeka Onwenu; the Mbanefos, the Ibrus, to name a few? Let’s make it inclusive; let’s win together.

  • Abuja ruling has no effect on Jegede’s nomination, says PDP

    The Ahmed Makarfi faction of Ondo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said supporters of the business mogul, Jimoh Ibrahim, misinterpreted the Abuja Federal High Court’s ruling delivered by Justice O. E. Abang.

    The faction claimed that the ruling had nothing to do with the ambition of its governorship candidate, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede SAN, ahead of the November 26 governorship poll.

    It added that it has already filed a petition against Justice Abang at the Nigeria Judicial Commission (NJC).

    Addressing reporters at the campaign office of Jegede, the party’s factional chairman, Clement Faboyede, noted that the ruling was mainly on whose faction should produce candidates for PDP in 2019 general elections from Southwest states.

    Faboyede backed his claim by saying neither Jegede nor Jimoh was a party to the suit that has so far yielded two rulings from the same court.

    He insisted that Jegede was the authentic PDP candidate recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Faboyede said nine claimants in the suit filed on June 7, were seeking some reliefs, which sought to determine the tenure and membership of the state executive committee of the PDP in the Southwest Zone and in addition, directions in respect of the party’s primaries for the 2019 general elections.

    Besides, he said the claimants sought a declaration that they were the people entitled to deal with nomination of candidates for the 2019 general elections.

    He said: “It should be noted that the Ondo State governorship election scheduled for November 26, was not part of the plaintiffs’ claim and no reference was made to it in the claim.”

    Faboyede noted that the suit had some drama of the absurd in that, a counsel, Mr. Olagoke Fakunle (SAN), who took the summon for the plaintiffs, also later appeared for the defendants, meaning that he had sued himself.

    He said this absurdity also played out in the second process of the suit, when two lawyers from the same law firm, TRP Law, came out – one appearing for the plaintiffs and the other for the defendants.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the leadership of the PDP are defendants in the suit.

  • Fitch rates Nigerian banks well on devaluation effect

    Fitch rates Nigerian banks well on devaluation effect

    Nigerian banks are sufficiently well capitalised to absorb the impact of the 40 per cent effective devaluation of the Naira against the US dollar, Fitch Ratings stated in a release on Thursday.

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday started the implementation of its new flexible foreign exchange (forex), leaving the Naira to float freely with market forces.

    Fitch explained that currency devaluation affects banks’ capital ratios largely because total risk-weighted assets are inflated when foreign currency (FC) assets are translated back into naira, while capital is denominated in local currency.

    The global rating agency assigned ratings to 10 Nigerian banks and its assessment was that, with a 40 per cent effective devaluation, the majority will not face an immediate breach of regulatory capital adequacy ratios (CARs).

    However, if the naira continues to weaken, buffers between minimum and reported CARs may decline to a level which heightens ratings sensitivity.

    Fitch-rated banks report CARs ranging from 14 per cent to 21 per cent. The devaluation will impact ratios in different ways across rated banks, depending on the level of their FC risk-weighted assets and the size of their net open FC positions. On average, 45 per cent of net lending in the Nigerian banking sector is extended in FC, almost entirely US dollars. Balance sheets tend to be reasonably well-hedged, although CARs are primarily affected by the revaluation of their FC risk-weighted assets into Naira.

    “In our view, the immediate impact of effective devaluation on CARs reported by Fitch-rated banks will be a two per cent average reduction. Any erosion of capital ratios may be short-lived because banks are profitable despite the unfavourable operating environment. Rated banks reported a 14 per cent average return on equity in first quarter of the year. Expectation is that dividend pay-outs will probably be conservative in 2016, while internal capital generation is expected to remain healthy,” Fitch stated.

    The report however noted that banks’ ability to continue to generate solid performance indicators will largely depend on developments in asset quality and loan impairment trends, pointing out that impaired loans represented an average of 5.5 per cent of gross loans across our portfolio of rated banks at the end of first quarter 2016, which is reasonable considering the tough operating environment.

    “Loan loss cover is adequate for most banks, but it expect impaired loan ratios to rise in the wake of the naira devaluation. This is because some Nigerian corporates are not adequately hedged by FC income streams and may find it more difficult to service their FC loans. Most major Nigerian corporates are well hedged,” Fitch stated.

    According to Fitch, the success of the forex move in attracting portfolio inflows and foreign direct investment has yet to be tested but if successful, and FC supply rises, FC liquidity for banks will ease which would allow them to meet FC demand, and meet their internal and external FC obligations.

  • Use of earphone and its effect

    Use of earphone and its effect

    Earpiece or earphone is not just a fashionable accessory; it is a device used by Disco Jockey to balance musical sound and notes. In communication, it is used by many people to isolate noise from the process of exchanging messages. In the media, journalists transcribe audio message with the aid of earphone, especially from midget or recording device.

    In noisy environment, earphone or earmuff is used to reduce the effect of the noise. And it is moderately used to listen to music without disturbing anyone.

    But, looking round public places and higher institutions, it is a common sight to see young people, especially students with earphones, firmly plugged to their ears and listening to loud music blaring therefrom. They nod to the rhythm vibrating from the accessory as they walk down busy roads or streets.

    Many of these people do not know the danger posed by their action. Apart from exposing them to the risk of being knocked down by vehicle, it is also dangerous to the ear and poses great risk to health.

    Listening to music with earphones is not a problem but when both ears are exposed to audible sound, the eardrum is damaged gradually and such person may eventually go deaf. Often time, many youths are carried away by the music and they won’t hear vehicle honking at them to stay away from the road. In the process, they get hit.

    Medical researches show that an earphone is liable to cause impairment in hearing as a result of constant exposure to loud music. Hearing loss has a devastating consequence for physical and mental health. It can also slow down one’s education.

    Most students are fond of using earphones while going to classes. Some listen to music during lecture hours and some usually have earpieces on while they are asleep. Little did they know that using the earphone while walking, jogging and driving could lead to distraction, which can in turn result in preventable accident.

    The crux of the matter is that, the World Health Organisation (WHO) found out that millions of teenagers and young adults are at the risk of impairment in hearing due to the unsafe use of personal audio devices, including smart phones and exposure to damaging level of sound at noisy environment.

    More so, sharing earpieces with others is unhygienic because the accessory has capacity to collect a user’s earwax and deposit in another user’s ears. This earwax could also affect the quality of sound hitting the eardrum and produces unclear sound.

    Although the WHO recommends that the teenagers and young people can better protect their ears by keeping the sound volume down when wearing earphones or headphones, students and young people who have obsession for earphones can use the accessory in a safe and comfortable environment; not when they are walking on the road or crossing the highway. Road safety is not limited to motorists alone, pedestrians must also ensure their safety because distraction can come from anywhere.

    Parents, teachers, school authorities and the government should embark on awareness on the danger of blocking both organ of hearing while walking on the road and the negative effects of listening to loud music which could cause damage to the eardrum. If possible, the use of earphone on the road should be banned.

    • Fredrick is a student of AUCHI POLY, Edo State

     

  • Yoruba marginalisation: To what effect? 2

    Yoruba marginalisation: To what effect? 2

    Another aspect of actual marginalisation is the type that affects all Yoruba citizens. This pertains to direct and indirect neglect of infrastructure in the Yoruba region. Such neglect appears to be designed to disempower and discomfort the generality of Yoruba people. All the federal roads in the Yoruba region are in a state that destroys Yoruba business and frustrates citizens that travel on such roads. Even federal roads in Yoruba states that contribute significantly to non-oil revenue for the country are generally neglected. For example, the roads to Apapa, the country’s largest port for goods into Nigeria, Niger, and even Mali, are all neglected by the federal government. Most businesses that bring VAT revenue to the federal government from Lagos, Ibadan, and other Yoruba cities where consumers abound are slowed down by badly maintained federal roads that connect various Yoruba states: Lagos-Ibadan; Lagos-Benin; Ibadan-Ilesa-Akure; Ibadan-Osogbo-Offa; Ife-Ore; Ibadan-Ogbomoso; Agege-Abeokuta; etc. Most Yoruba states that produce cocoa, coffee, and other exportable produce are hobbled by the neglect of the roads from such states to the port city of Lagos.

    In addition, the Jonathan administration gave the impression during his campaign for office in 2011 that his government would deregulate or privatise establishment of rail transport system. It has not happened since he got elected. It is even being rumoured that some Nigerians selected to meet legislators during the one-day consultation over constitutional amendments last November have said (who,where and how?) that they do not want the federal government to allow states to have any role in establishment and running of rail transport. To be fair to Dr. Jonathan, he did not create most of the problems, but what can be honestly held against him is that the core of his election promise was (and still is) Transformation. Certainly, the Yoruba region has seen in the last few years more of regression than transformation in terms of infrastructure.

    We said last week that Jonathan’s main problem with regards to exclusionary government policies and practices is that he sings the promise of transformation to the nation while his government excludes the Yoruba region (more than any other region) from access to federal government jobs and federally-funded infrastructure. And this is despite the fact that the Yoruba region constitutes about 22% of the nation’s population.

    A lot has been said in the media about Jonathan’s direct exclusion of Yoruba from the federal public service. There have been reports that many of the federal ministries and agencies under the president’s watch have encouraged retirement of more Yoruba (than people from other regions) from the country’s public service and hiring of fewer Yoruba (than people of the other five regions) into the service. But very little is reported about indirect disempowerment of the Yoruba region under President Jonathan. There have been several subtle but striking efforts by the Jonathan administration to slow down development in the Southwest.

    It is obvious that Lagos State is the country’s most cosmopolitan state. It is generally referred to by politicians and regular citizens as Mini Nigeria, a state that has more people from all the nationalities in the country than any other state. It is also common knowledge that Lagos State has more Yoruba people than any other state in the federation. It is no exaggeration to say that all extended families in Yoruba section of the country have their most-endowed sons and daughters in Lagos State. In terms of intellectual and material resources, Lagos State stands out as the most developed state not only in the Southwest but also in the entire country. In effect, any effort to unhinge the economy of Lagos State is a sure way to unsettle the average Yoruba family.

    In a way similar to Obasanjo’s hostile attitude to growth and development in the Yoruba region in general and Lagos State in particular, the Jonathan administration appears to relish unsettling of Lagos State’s economy and by extension the economy of the entire Yoruba region. In the time of Obasanjo, the federal government did everything possible to stop federal allocations to Lagos State on the excuse that the state created additional local governments. In the case of Jonathan, he demonstrates insensitivity to efforts by his government to disrupt development efforts by Lagos State government.

    There is a report that the Jonathan administration is set to introduce a special petrol consumption tax that is to be collected and spent by the federal government or its agency. If more than 30% of all vehicles in the country are used in Lagos and over 50% of all vehicles in the country are used in the Southwest, it is clear that any effort to introduce petrol consumption tax that is to be controlled by the federal government is tantamount to denying the Southwest of additional revenue that should come to the region from such consumption tax. As if the loss of revenue by Lagos State and other Yoruba states via federalisation of VAT and issuance of driver’s licence and vehicle registration is not bad enough, President Jonathan’s government is eager to impose another consumption tax that may not be used to service the communities from which such tax is collected. The parlous state of so-called federal roads in the Southwest does not indicate that revenues collected from petrol consumers in the Southwest and put under control of the central government in Abuja would be used readily to fix the roads in the region. Such policy to further de-federalise the country is more damaging to the economy of the region than direct reduction of Yoruba presence in the federal service. Using petrol consumption tax to rob the Southwest of funds that should be used for infrastructure development and improvement of the welfare of citizens in the Yoruba region is an indirect way of additional disempowerment of the region.

    Shortly after complaints by several groups about marginalisation of the Yoruba, the Jonathan administration announced its intention to build another sea port in Badagry. Lagos State may be the largest state in the country in terms of population but it is the smallest in terms of land area. The federal government under Jonathan has ignored requests from Lagos State for special status to enable the state improve the welfare of the teeming population of migrants from other states. Even efforts of the Lagos State Government to get the Jonathan administration to guarantee a foreign loan to enable the state provide modern mass transportation to move over 18 million Nigerians that live in the state in a safer and more orderly manner have been rebuffed by the current federal government.

    It is, therefore, amazing that the same federal government is suddenly interested in building another port in Lagos State. Is this a part of the strategy to respond to charges of marginalisation, just as the superficial repair of Lagos-Ibadan and Lagos-Ore roads were put on the federal list of must-do items before 2012 Christmas to ward off complaints of neglect of the Southwest? How much space does Lagos State have for it to host another port in a country that is in a position to establish elsewhere several sea ports that can carry some of the burden that Lagos has carried for over a century?

    Lagos State needs special intervention to make existing wet and dry ports in the small state run well, without having to damage business and residential opportunities in the state. The state needs to be given derivation benefits for existing wet and dry ports that have taken so much of the state’s limited land area. It is in the interest of Lagos State for the federal government to make ports in other parts of the country work and create jobs that can reduce the exodus of migrants to Lagos every minute. Lagos is already suffocated. What the federal government needs to do is to reduce the suffocation through special grants and policies that assist the state to improve its mass transit system, not another port that shrinks the place for indigenes and residents or damages roads that the state has built for the benefit of its residents.

    Without listening to calls from Lagos State for Jonathan’s government to repair the road to Apapa and Tin Can ports, the Jonathan administration is planning surreptitiously to make nonsense of the investment Lagos State has put into modernisation of the road between Badagry and Oshodi. This is after heavy trailers going to other parts of Nigeria and even to Niger and Mali have made the road between Apapa and Ibadan dangerous for vehicular movement. If President Jonathan wants to reduce the burden on Lagos State, it should revive the rail line to Apapa and thus reduce the wear and tear on Lagos roads, not to use excuse of another federal sea port in Badagry to damage the soon to be commissioned Oshodi-Badagry road.

    Apart from praying for federal governments under leadership of men and women that can respond to the demands and challenges of administering Nigeria’s multiethnic state in a way that gives each nationality a sense of belonging, it is also possible to provide structural changes that can reduce fears of marginalisation of any of the groups in the federation. Such structural changes will immunize the federation against leaders or federal governments that may lack the sensitivity needed to run a truly united multiethnic federation.

    To be continued

     

  • Yoruba marginalisation: to what effect? 1

    Yoruba marginalisation: to what effect? 1

    Yoruba marginalisation as a theme of public debate is gaining more attention by the day. Afenifere Renewal Group first raised the issue formally a few months back. Just a few days ago, a group of older Yoruba professionals and politicians (than those in Afenifere Renewal) held a press conference on the topic, at which the group’s spokesmen reeled out details of efforts by the Jonathan regime to neglect and relegate Yoruba interests to the back burner of Nigeria’s socio-economic process. Members of the Ikenne front for Yoruba unity had also visited President Jonathan to complain about non-inclusion of Yoruba politicians in top-notch positions in his government. Media pundits have also come on board to analyse and find reasons for this condition of the Yoruba under Jonathan’s presidency.

    It is hard to identify why any president would choose to diminish the significance of the Yoruba in a federation in which they form close to 22% of the population. But if there is no surprise in third-world politics, then where should anyone expect to be startled and confused? But this phenomenon, as volatile and dangerous for the country’s unity as it might be, needs to be understood in all its ramifications, to prevent the Yoruba from being associated with cry-baby syndrome by other regions.

    What has been observed as marginalisation can be broken into two types: apparent and real neglect. Apparent marginalisation is evident in absence of Yoruba in the political pantheon that directs the life of the country. All appointive positions are essentially political. In a winner-takes-all ethos, political appointments are restricted to trusted members of the ruling party. It is true that there are many Yoruba in the PDP that controls all political appointments, but it is also clear that those in the power house in Abuja know that such Yoruba represent mostly themselves. If they represent anybody else, it must be a tiny minority of the Yoruba nation. And this feeling is despite the fact that Jonathan won more votes than Buhari in most Yoruba states in 2011 presidential election. It is, therefore, easy for those holding the lever of power in Abuja to ignore Yoruba individuals in the PDP, just as it was when Obasanjo had more Yoruba votes than Buhari in 2003 presidential election.

    Jonathan’s men and women must know that the heart of the average Yoruba is not in the ideology that subtends policies and actions of the PDP, even though their votes came into his ballot boxes in 2011. They know that Jonathan’s party is not ready to give to the Yoruba region what it needs. They probably know that the value of the Yoruba had disappeared after the election, more so that they are sure that Transformation, which the Yoruba must have voted for had also lost its edge after the election. The current travails of Olagunsoye Oyinlola is a graphic illustration that leading Yoruba in President Jonathan’s party have more nominal than substantive value, because they are deemed to have only a handful of Yoruba voters behind them. Should it have been so? Not necessarily. But anyone that can be ignored in politics without any threat to the party’s consolidation of power is generally the first to be neglected in the competition for appointive posts. If there is any group that should complain about marginalisation of Yoruba by Jonthan, it should be Yoruba men and women in his ruling party. Is anyone surprised that Yoruba members of the PDP are not complaining about neglect?

    Therefore, marginalisation of Yoruba in political appointment cannot be held against Jonathan, more so that his party members from the Southwest are not complaining. Jonathan is only upholding the values of winner-takes-all political culture. Even if Yoruba PDP members have been appointed as some of those that actually rule the country, this may not filter down to Yoruba people. A few Yoruba were so appointed during the administration of General Olusegun Obasanjo without any noticeable impact on Yoruba life. Organisations that are sending delegations to Jonathan for redress should not worry about appointive positions. The Yoruba have gone that route before. Yoruba thrived in the days of NPC and NPN, when those that held most political appointments were largely Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and representatives of the so-called minority groups across the country, just the way it is today. It must be added though that in the days of NPC and NPN, the leaders of the two parties did not ever think that they could take the Yoruba for granted, as it appears to be the case today.

    Actual marginalisation concerns unfair hiring or firing policy. If Yoruba people are retired unduly from the public service or are jumped over in hiring to the public service for career and professional positions in a federation to which they belong and pay taxes, there are other ways to address this issue, in addition to sending delegations to President Jonathan or creating media events about it. There is a need for individual Yoruba individuals, retired without just cause or disregarded in the hiring process, to engage the Federal Character Commission by going to court to challenge any manner of injustice against the Yoruba.

    To be continued

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • The Lam Effect

    The Lam Effect

    The passing of Alhaji Lam Adesina, former governor of Oyo State, has created another gaping hole in the landscape of progressive leadership, not just in Oyo State, but in the country as a whole. That statement sounds humdrum, given the human penchant for hyperboles especially in the wake of events such as this. Appearance notwithstanding, I am persuaded of the veracity of the claim in this regard.

    At least three qualities are central to progressive political leadership. First is an empathetic understanding of the challenges that face the folks that they lead. This is a quality of mind and heart. Second is the ability to intelligently identify and execute policies that are designed to overcome those challenges. This is a quality of the intellect. Third is the manifestation of courage and boldness and determination to confront all obstacles in the chosen path to deal with those challenges. This is a quality of the spirit, what the Yoruba refer to as igboya. All these go together. Empathetic understanding without adequate policies is impotent. Policy sans empathetic understanding is blind.

    It is true, of course, that different individuals can lay claim to the possession of the qualities identified above. However, in a democratic system, in which ideas and policies compete for the support and acceptance of the public, birds of the same political feather must flock together. And a lone ranger in a crowd of antagonistic ideas and policy options may discover the inevitable choking of his ideas. This is why good men and women sometimes find themselves in politically incongruent circles and ultimately regret their inconsequentiality to effect change.

    Lam was a compassionate human being. We may attribute this to his background as a self-made man. Yet this would only be partially right. There are many with his background who later found themselves in position of authority where they could right wrongs and sooth human pains but chose otherwise. Lam was an intelligent man who brought the passion of an intellectual to governance. And if nothing else did, Lam’s unceasing political jabs at civilian and military dictators must earn him credit for courage and boldness.

    With those qualities as his driving force, he made a choice early in his life to align himself with like-minded patriots to promote an agenda of abundant life for all. He had an intellectual endowment that facilitated the move. His career in teaching, a profession that makes the development of the human person its mandate, revealed to him the imperative of political action for the right policies to empower the masses. Early on, he joined the foremost progressive political organisation of the day and never wavered even in the face of an atrocious recourse to the brutal use of power by opponents. From Action Group to UPN, to NADECO, then AD, and ACN, Lam fought valiantly in the trenches of progressive battles for better lives for the masses. As a “prisoner of war” in the military-declared political battle of 1994-1998, Lam had the scars of war to prove it.

    In 1999, after the cessation of hostilities and the defeat of militocracy, civil governance was ushered in, and who else could have merited the gubernatorial crown of the pace-setter state than the Great Lam, a title which his empathy, intellect, and courage earned him?

    He approached governance with a determination to enlarge the freedom of the people and make life more abundant for them. Following the populism of the old UPN, AD would provide education, health, employment and improve the conditions of rural life. The welfarist manifesto appealed to the people who never forgot the good times of the foremost welfarist. But times had changed. The federal system that made possible the magical achievements of the 50s and 60s was no more. The unitarists had ensured that states would be better served as appendages to the centre and would survive only on hand-outs from the Federal Government. This was bound to jeopardise the effective execution of any progressive agenda. Added to this was the heritage of a bloated bureaucracy.

    The dilemma of any progressive government is how to reconcile the existence of a run-away bureaucracy and its huge overhead with the provision of essential services for the rest of the citizens who are in the majority. On the one hand, labour is not only an essential part of the progressive coalition it is also a segment of the citizenry with needs that government has a responsibility to meet. On the other hand, in a state with meager internal and external resources, the more the resources that go to servicing a disproportional workforce, the less is available for every other need, including welfare programs. There was no doubt that Lam struggled with this dilemma, which confronted him immediately he assumed office, with a bitter labour dispute. It is not a dilemma that can be ignored and, though Lam is gone, as he would say, the search must continue for a workable resolution of this dilemma.

    The electoral hurricane of 2003 swept off Lam and his colleagues from government houses in the Southwest with the exception of Lagos. There are truckloads of blames to go round. What is important, however, is that to their credit, Lam and his colleagues never lost hope; neither did they waver in their commitment to progressivism. Outside of the power structure that they once controlled, and in the political desert that was Southwest for eight years, they fought on with the power of ideas. Without any skeleton in his cupboard, Lam was able to hold his head high, sneering at the godfathers of rigging and political chicanery. He assailed the deliberate impoverisation of the masses and served as a headhunter for candidates. To his credit, and the credit of the national leadership of his party, Oyo State and the Southwest are back in the column of progressives.

    This is the Lam effect and legacy. A peaceful rest is assured for him because he left the scene as an achiever and overcomer. He fought the right battles and secured victories for the people. But while it is over for him, it is just beginning for the rest of us, and especially for his former colleagues, every progressive, and particularly in the pace-setter state, his foremost political son, Governor Abiola Ajimobi. To paraphrase the late Senator Ted Kennedy, the work must go on, the cause must endure, the hope must live on, and the dream of empowering the people to excel must never die.

    To the matriarch of the Lam Adesina family, Alhaja Saratu Lam Adesina, and Dapo and his siblings, there is every reason to celebrate a life that was fulfilled in every respect. You cannot ask for a better inheritance. For all of us, in the memorable title of his brilliant column, the search continues.