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Tag: Intellectual

  • The journalist as public intellectual (1)

    The journalist as public intellectual (1)

    (Olatunji Dare as Splendid Exemplum)

    Soon after Chief Olusegun Obasanjo won the presidential election of 1999 and started compiling a list of possible cabinet members and principal chieftains of the most important government parastatals, the rumour began to spread that Olatunji Dare was already in for a fat one. Some curious speculators said he was already penned down for a cabinet post, possibly as Minister of Information; some swore he was one of those being considered for plum ambassadorial postings; others speculated that a special temple was being built for him in Aso Rock where he would be the supreme deity in charge of all presidential discourse and high priest of presidential speech writers. Those behind these rumours were only wrong in the detail of their speculations, not in the principle behind them; for, in the end, Olatunji Dare was nominated for the post of Managing Director and Chief Executive of Daily Times, then the largest newspaper conglomerate in Nigeria and one of the hugest in Africa.

         Now, let us wind back the tape a little bit and capture some of the spirit of that period. It was surely a time of giddy euphoria, of general good will, and generosity towards matters relating to government. After so many years of devastating military rule, including nine years of perfidious, nation-wrecking by General Ibrahim Babangida, and five by General Sani Abacha, the most hellishly murderous dictator in Nigeria’s history so far, a new chapter was opening in the annals of the country. Civil rule was back again. There was an air of freedom and cautious optimism; a certain feeling of relief that the brutes were back in the barracks. And Chief Obasanjo, the new President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, came in with an appreciable measure of public approval, even good will, from compatriots who remembered his scathing and relentless criticism of Babangida’s military dictatorship (especially its homicidal IMF-instigated economic policies), and his close-to-death experience in General Abacha’s gulag. The new President therefore enjoyed, at that initial stage, a degree of sympathy and public support that was bound to redound on whoever chose or accepted to work with him.

         So, accepting an appointment from this new man was considered patriotic, even enviable, by many observers already aware of Olatunji Dare’s sterling qualities as a journalist and his impeachable standing as a person. Besides, in the view of many observers, there was some logic to this offer: Dare was known for many years as Obasanjo’s speech writer and intellectual sparring partner and advisor. So this new position was something close to a payback or reward which the giver was eager to dispense and which the prospective recipient could not afford to refuse.

         I read about this new appointment in the newspapers. Three or four friends also called me from Nigeria, congratulating me on my friend’s good fortune. But my response to those friends was ‘let’s wait and see’. A strong, instinctive hunch curtailed my enthusiasm and played havoc with my eagerness to hail and holler. For the Dare I know is not the kind of hound who jumps at this kind of meat; not the fortune-seeker who milks personal contacts and professional relationships for appointment to public office and access to political largesse. No. Despite the Babangidan doctrine that every Nigerian has a price (you only have to name it!) and the general Nigerian subscription to the come-and-chop policy of public service, I was sure there were still a few constant stars in our beleaguered firmament whose invigorating glow has not been dulled or occluded by the fog of rank opportunism. Even a couple of days later when word reached me that the other new overseas-based appointees had already hit the plane and landed in Nigeria to joyous celebration by expectant friends and families, I was sure that the Dare I knew would not snap up what in the typical Nigerian situation amounted to a political bait.

         One long week passed and Dare’s name never showed up on the manifest of any of the planes bound for Nigeria; there was no news of a festive airport welcome or generous congratulation parties by family members and professional colleagues with ingratiating gifts and remember-me-later smiles. The newspapers ran dry on a former speech-writer suddenly come to great fortune through the ascension of his former beneficiary now turned benefactor with unlimited benefits. Who would not seek or strive to be close to the occupier of one of the most powerful (read imperial) presidencies in Africa, nay, the world? How many Nigerians could afford to miss this golden opportunity to reap where they had so tirelessly sown? One week later, I was on the phone to Olatunji Dare. “Onigegeewura (the One-with-the-Golden-Pen: for that is my oriki for him), what are you still doing here in the USA? Haven’t you heard about the red carpet waiting for you at Abuja airport and your new designation in our new dispensation? Don’t tell me you’re still dirtying your princely fingers with those flaky pieces of chalk, and working your eyes red over mountains of student scripts. Abi you no wan chop?”. A master satirist himself, Dare knew both the cause and complexion of my sarcasm, and he replied in kind. “I’m still here”, he said, “I have no intention to change jobs”. The thunder of our laughter could be heard from Peoria to Abuja.     

         And so Dare turned down (or just refused to take up) an appointment as Managing Director and Chief Executive of the Times empire. He did so not out of disrespect for President Obasanjo who nominated him to the post; for although he was gravely disappointed at many aspects of the Obasanjo presidency especially in its second term, he still talks nostalgically about the statesmanship and vision of the man in his pre-Presidential Otta Farm days, and the great leader he would have become had he not allowed the so-called ‘Nigerian Factor’ to diminish him into just another Nigerian ruler. Besides, Olatunji Dare is a man who lays much store by fidelity to friendship and loyalty in all dealings. When I hear him criticize the former President, he does so with the sensitivity and concern of one who regrets the failings of a friend and wishes he had been able to do better. 

    Read Also: Obi’s supporters behind planned protests, says Presidency

          But how could Dare have turned down an offer which thousands if not millions of his colleagues would have given an arm and a leg to grab? How could he have thrown so recklessly away a golden opportunity to tap to the tinniest drop the spring of personal and political contact he had nurtured over the years which would now guarantee him limitless and unfettered access to Aso Rock, Nigeria’s seat of profitable power? How could he have pulled off this act of supreme virtue in a country not generously blessed with a crop of conscientious intellectuals? For, it is common knowledge that virtually every Nigerian professor is a classroom teacher by day and political job-seeker by night (In some desperate cases, the search for political preferment is a 24-hour job and lifetime engagement). Nigeria has more than its usual quota of palace professors and learned lobby  jerks pounding government office pavements and genuflecting to powerful office holders young enough to be their own children or intellectually low enough to be their pupils. Like Professor in my play The State Visit, that weather-worn, pathetically obsequious penguin who bows at the drop of every command from the dictator’s mouth, no amount of insult is enough to assuage their desperation, no level of degradation, is enough to prick their suborned ego.

         We remember with sobering reality the derisive comments of one of the military governors during the dark days of the Babangida dictatorship, who chastised Nigerian academics and their insatiable appetite for political office. He said something to this effect “Many of these university teachers have double faces. They write long words in the newspapers; they shout big words on radio and television, abusing government and abusing us. But they chase us everywhere. They crowd the waiting room in our offices and the corridors of the Governor’s mansion. They try to bribe my ADC, my personal assistant, even my gardener – just anyone they think can facilitate access to the Governor. They send their traditional rulers. I say this, and I’m not exaggerating: in my first week in office as Governor I had a trunk full of unsolicited cv’s and application letters from university teachers. Yes, in just one week, and I just kept asking myself, are things this bad in the universities? Why are these professors so desperate to abandon the job for which they were trained? What is driving them away?”.

         Coming from a military governor in Babangida’s SAP-afflicted regime, the last two questions must sound at best rhetorical and at worst cynically disingenuous. For it was the military to whose political aberration the governor owed his gubernatorial power and privilege, that ruined the Nigerian economy and brought the university system to its knees through a relentless process of disempowerment and impoverishment. It was they who made sure that the university teacher’s take-home pay could no longer take them home (to plagiarize a witty ASUU slogan).

         Be that as it may, that governor’s observation needs to prod us into further reflection regarding the intellectual’s apprehension of and role in a dysfunctional polity such as we have in Nigeria. For, instead of joining hands to find a solution to the problems in the educational system and the political dysfunctionality that has spawned these at the national level, many Nigerian intellectuals have always opted for the easier solution (which, in actual fact, ends up compounding the problem) by jumping the tottering ship of the educational system and hopping into the no less turbulent but infinitely more materially rewarding mega-ship of the public/political service. The drama of this transition is deliberate, calculated, and insidiously orchestrated.

         First, brush up your rhetorical skills. Create cheesy populism on campus and make a loud noise. Make that noise even louder by insisting on being noticed beyond the campus walls. Ingratiate yourself with one or two television and radio stations where you can be seen and heard every week. Get hold of one or two newspapers and flatter the editors into either allotting you a column or granting you regular space in the op-ed pages. Now, with all these forums at your disposal, shout at the top of your voice, and at the top of your pen. Since this is your wonderful chance to play the omniscient guru, make the utmost of that opportunity: comment on everything under the sun and beyond the skies. Win a reputation as the ‘media guru’ and keep defending the title. Establish a profile as the defender of the people’s rights and advocate for their welfare. Borrow one or two catch phrases from Karl Marx though those who read between your lines would find no difficulty in locating your premise right in the median space between Adam Smith and Niccolo Machiavelli. In times of national crises, straddle the horse of public opinion and dance gingerly on the fence. Perfect the art of speaking from both ends of the mouth. When push comes to shove and the need arises, bless the government and bash the people, and make sure everyone in government gets a photocopy of your already published ‘byline’ or column. Blow hot, blow cold. But make sure you are never out of sync with the temperature in the government house. Pretend. Pretend. Pretend again. When your efforts are beginning to garner the calculated rewards, and invitations start pouring in to government cocktails and state banquets, make sure you circulate in the right circles. Grab the attention of the Governor, or the Secretary to his government, or his head of service, or his chief of staff. Spice your conversation with any or all of these potentates with frequent reference to “my column”, “my article”, “my tv/radio slot”, etc. Let the Governor know how terrifically good he is and how terribly bad his critics are, and how irredeemably ungrateful the citizens are. Don’t miss his birthday, or that of his wife. If you too are married, you may send off your wife occasionally to take care of the First Lady’s sartorial and tonsorial needs, help with house cleaning, and lend her muscle to the pounding of the yam for the Sunday supper.  When all that is over and you are back on the university campus, start packing your things and tweaking your nose at your suffer-head colleagues; for your government appointment is invariably on the way.. . . .

         I say again: Nigeria has more than its fair share of palace pundits and intellectual prostitutes; those professional jobbers who are always willing to sell intellectual integrity for something messier than a mess of pottage. These are the ones who impede our progress by corrupting public discourse, obfuscating the public mind, and devaluing intellectual currency. There is no gainsaying the fact that one of the reasons those in government look so pathetically down on the so-called university people is the prostration and self-abasement resulting from the acts of office-seekers whose groveling for political preferment has turned the Ivory Tower into a wilderness of crawling lizards. This is also why the university cannot absolve itself from blame for the perennial underdevelopment of the country.

         Come to look at it: no change for good or ill has ever taken place in Nigeria without the input of the Nigerian intellectual. Some of the government-house intellectuals were always in and out with the military rulers, even the most virulent of them, that have literally turned Nigeria into a failed state. Those draconian decrees with which the military bound us hand and foot were drafted and perfected by the lawyers among the intellectual class. The ones that enabled the subterfuge that nearly made military rule a permanent reality in Nigeria (by planning to make Abacha a life president, for instance) were crafted by learned men. In many instances, Nigeria has witnessed the stunning irony of a learned man who made his name as a Human Rights lawyer joining government later and championing the promulgation of decrees which turned the fight for basic human rights into a treasonable offence.

          We have seen a tumultuously heralded professor of constitutional law who not only supported and defended the annulment of a free and fair election (such as the one Nigeria had on June 12), but also went ahead to participate in the making a constitution designed to bury that election. These learned aiders and abettors of tyranny scour the archives of human knowledge for instances which justify their paymasters’ designs. They put a Machiavellian spin on the most unimaginable evil and strain no nerve when they labour to convince an incredulous world that there is indeed no hunger in a famine-infested land; only otherwise well fed citizens on a course of God-endorsed, nationally declared fasting. When their bubble of lies bursts and their current masters are swept out of office, they return to the university campus to wait for next gang of political masters.

         In many ways, the nature of that return and its spectacular aftermath provide useful insight into the thinking of many members of the Nigerian intelligentsia. For some members of the university community, the ‘returning dons’ (A Nib in the Pond, p. 44) are nothing short of objects of envy and admiration; people who have been there in the corridors of power, seen it all, and circulated in the circle of the high and mighty, and made good for themselves; people whose company will now have to be cultivated and desired by those dying for the right contacts and connections that would open the door to their own good fortune in government; people to whom to give your pumped-up cv for onward delivery in the higher quarters. 

         To be sure, the triumphal returnees are not prepared to leave anyone in doubt about their new status. The power-glow on their faces, the silky smoothness of their skin, the glittering polish in their accent, the sinuous surge in their stride, the spectacular swagger in their comportment all point to the lofty niche of people who have sat and supped with those who matter; those who have seen life beyond the height of a crumbling Ivory Tower. Add to these a new mansion in the choicest part of town, and the new gleaming SUV which adorns its driveway. (Good bye to poverty. Good bye to those rickety, rat-infested campus houses!).

    •Continued next Sunday

  • Experts seek intellectual property funding for innovators

    Intellectual property experts have urged the government to do more to help startups. According to them, there is not enough funding for new innovations.

    They spoke at a seminar in Kaduna organised by the Intellectual Property (IP) Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) to mark this year’s World Intellectual Property Day.

    The section also inaugurated the ‘SBL Club’ at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria

    The seminar had two sessions on Securing Nigeria’s Future Through Innovation and Creativity, and Powering Change: Women in Innovation and Creativity.

    NBA-SBL IP committee chairman Mr. Afam Nwokedi said there was need to formulate an IP policy in Nigeria, noting that as IP was crucial to development, it was necessary to get it right.

    Nwokedi advocated for Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in the intellectual space to encourage diversity of thoughts and cross-pollination of ideas.

    He said: “The expectations on Nigeria to meet up with what is considered as international best practices in the field of IP must not overshadow our national interest and the quest to join the comity of developed nations.”

    Wife of Kaduna State governor,  Aisa Ahmad El Rufai called for sustainable sensitisation of the public on the challenges, expectations and benefits of a proactive IP regime.

    She said there was  the need think out of the box in formulating policies, which according to her, should take into consideration the country’s strength and its peculiarities.

    She called for the teaching of sciences in local languages to solve the mother tongue language barrier issues.

    NBA-SBL Chairman Mr. Olumide Akpata said the section was committed to developing capacity.

    “To this end, the SBL is partnering relevant institutions to formulate curriculla. The process of knowledge acquisition being continuous, the Section will churn out more thought-provoking platforms to assist in the drive for knowledge acquisition, not only amongst qualified lawyers, but potential law graduates,” he said.

    He said it was with such objectives that the SBL introduced clubs in universities. “Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria is the second beneficiary of the initiative, other will follows shortly,” Akpata said.

    Kaduna State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mrs Umma Hikima, praised the NBA-SBL and its IP Committee for chosing Kaduna for the event.

    She said Kaduna was ready to benefit from the implementations of IP treaty obligations that Nigeria has entered into.

    An IP expert, Dr. U. B. Bindir,  advocated the restructuring of the country’s educational curriculum, the inculcation of research and development as instruments of development and the creation of IP investment funds to assist inventors, innovators and creatives.

    Using scientific analysis, Dr. Bindir was of the opinion that at Nigeria’s current developmental state, the full acutualisation of the Vision 2020 target was impracticable.

    He compared the trajectory of the lower quarter of the top 20 economies and said it was practically unrealistic for Nigeria to achieve the target of been on the list in two years.

    According to him, there was need for the country to readjust its expectations and be pragmatic.

    The panelists included Dr. Musa Waziri of University of Abuja; former Registrar of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, Mrs. Nima Salman; Special Advisor to the Minister of Trade and Investment Mrs. Chiaka Okoye and Dr. Zainab Haruna of ABU.

    Dr. Waziri and Mrs. Salman urged the government to fund IP initiatives.

    Mrs. Salman said the level of resources allocated to the IP sector reflected the lack of recognition of its inherent potentials for economic development.

  • A phony intellectual

    A phony intellectual

    When a man has lived a long life, and has attained the age of 80, you don’t expect to agree with all he has said or done. His human foibles should not be allowed to overshadow his moments of light. But some indiscretions can stand out, though, and may haunt his hoary journey to the end. Professor Ben Nwabueze has often affected to be an intellectual, and at times, he has shown himself one. He is a constitutional lawyer by some standards. He is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, although not many agree with the judgement of those who dole out the SANs these days.

    Recently though, Nwabueze associated with Nnamdi Kanu of IPOB, and called him a great Igbo man. Hear him: “Today is one of the greatest days of my life, meeting you.”

    But he lacked the courage to say the man is calling for Biafra. This is a fork-tongued intellectual licking two soups at the same time. He says, the Biafran advocate is not fighting for “secession but for regional autonomy.” May I ask the learned prof what Biafra means?

    Did we not fight a war over that? Has Kanu not in many ways and on many platforms called unequivocally for Biafra. Is the professor lost in some sort of octogenarian fancy, the delusion of age? Is associating with Kanu not a cowardly way of accepting Biafra without the liver to say it in plain language?

    In Jonathan’s time, he was cosy with the inept Azikiwe, visiting him at Aso Rock and offering him advice. How many times did he complain when Jonathan accommodated his kinsmen. He did not caution his kinsmen from a pig’s embrace of a man who conned the Igbos by giving them elite positions but did nothing concrete in terms of infrastructure and other deliverables of government. This is the way of hypocrisy, not of an intellectual. If his intellectualism is about embracing a secessionist, he has made himself a friend of an enemy of our sovereignty. He has led a group called Patriots. He is the least qualified for that position, except if he agrees he is not a Nigerian patriot. To embrace Kanu would make him an impostor.

  • AVRS celebrates World Intellectual Property Day

    AVRS celebrates World Intellectual Property Day

    •Mobilises against digital piracy

    As the world marks World Intellectual Property Day on April 26, Chairman of Audio Visual Rights Society of Nigeria (AVRS), Mr Bond Emeruwa, has said that despite the boom the Nigerian creative industry has witnessed, many creatives are yet to adequately benefit from it, mainly because of piracy.

    He said this in a statement to mark this year’s event which has as its theme, ‘Digital Creativity: Culture Reimagined.’

    “Given that we live in a digital age where digital revolution has been the game changer in all sectors, it may be assumed that stakeholders in the creative industries are only enjoying the blessings of digital creativity,” Emeruwa said.

    “But a closer look at the nexus between intellectual property rights and digital creativity would show that the challenges faced by creators in the digital landscape are quite intricate and enormous, with direct impact on the future of the creative content economy.

    “Central among such challenges is the menace of digital piracy – the unauthorized reproduction and commercial exploitation of copyrighted materials available in electronic form. Available digital piracy statistics within and outside Nigeria would show how deeply this debilitating cancer has eaten into our creative economy and denied us unimaginable revenue which, in most cases have truncated the creative efforts of practitioners leaving them jobless after investing heavily in their respective creative processes.”

    Emeruwa then said, “AVRS would like to use the commemoration of the 2016 World Intellectual Property Day to mobilise public support towards the eradication of digital piracy, not only as it affects the film industry, but the entire creative sector.”

    World Intellectual Property Day was established by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2000 to “raise awareness of how patents, copyright, trademarks and designs impact on daily life” and “to celebrate creativity, and the contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of societies across the globe.”

    AVRS is Nigeria’s sole collective management organisation for cinematograph films

    The AVRS boss also commended efforts of the Nigerian Copyright Commission towards actualising the implementation of the Copyright Levy (on Materials) order 2012 but beckoned on the Federal Government to hasten its implementation

    “The time has come, however, when we, the stakeholders must take it upon ourselves to embark on a sustained campaign to ensure the implementation of the Order, which would go a long way to reduce the cancer of digital piracy,” he said.

  • Okoroji charges Buhari on Intellectual Property revolution

    Okoroji charges Buhari on Intellectual Property revolution

    The chairman of the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) Chief Tony Okoroji, has said that talents are not being explored because there is an incredible amount of infringement of rights. This is despite the fact that many Nigerians are talented.

    Speaking with The Nation after a stakeholders forum at Eko Hotel on Victoria Island, Lagos, Okoroji said; “If President Buhari will declare an Intellectual Property revolution in this country, it will create employment, create more jobs, reduce poverty, reduce the Boko Haram menace and people will no longer reap from where they did not sow. And those who make the music would earn fair revenue.”

    Okoroji urged the president not to depend on income from the oil industry like the previous administrations have done, urging him to take proactive steps in boosting the Nigerian creative sector by enforcing the necessary laws on intellectual property rights.

    He added that a revolution of such nature will bring about a boom in the Nigerian music industry because the industry will be attractive to investors.

    “The era of people wanting to earn money from where they have not worked will be over because no nation can survive based on this. We want to deal with the share of income so that all those involved will earn appropriate revenue. We want to deal with the issue of accountability and fairness so that people will get what is meant for them. We need to ensure that the rules of engagement are so clear for investors,” he said.

  • Intellectual fraud is stealing your economic future

    Intellectual fraud is stealing your economic future

    •  The rich purchase the truth; the mighty take it; the poor must suffer it.

    War and ideas are the primary factors determining the cast and color of human history. A bad idea is often more dangerous than an army. A terrible idea, widely accepted, can inflict damage no weapon can achieve. To achieve military victory, an army must assert itself to subdue the foe. One who plants a wrong idea in the head of an adversary need not spend a drop of sweat. He can enjoy the luxury of watching his victim self-destruct.

    Because of the minatory quality of erroneous economic concepts, this column often focuses on this theme to warn against the indoctrination the world attempts against you. Money Power, the global elite, claims it wants you to prosper. They lie. Your prosperity would require they forget their economic mastery of you. Forfeiting their mastery means to forfeiting their profits and exalted station. Why would people whose economic creed is the utility of greed suddenly turn selfless to benefit weak and imperfect strangers? They preach you may reach prosperity only if you do as they say. They hire smart people to write books and craft elaborate theories to convince you about the veracity of their assertions. What they neglect to tell you is that the advice they provide you was not the advice they followed. The books and theorems they recommend you digest are such that you eating this select diet will nourish them more than it does you.

    In 2009, Ivy League economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff authored a book This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. They also wrote a paper Growth in a Time of Debt. Both works contend slow economic growth always plagues nations with debt-to-GDP ratios exceeding 90 percent. Put another way, economic growth depends on national governments running no or low deficits. Their work becoming an intellectual chevron for the conservative elite worldwide, the two authors were instant darlings of the corporate media, the establishment intelligentsia, and international financial institutions.

    The authors proudly hawked their wares on CNN and other stations. The book received the 2011 Gold Medal Award from the Council of Foreign Relations, America’s most prestigious foreign affairs organization that heavily influences government policy. The book garnered accolades from USA Today as “One of the Best Books to Make Sense of the Financial Crisis.” Moreover, their paper has become one of the most cited economic short pieces of the past quarter century.

    The fanfare would not have been so disastrous had it been limited to this intellectual exhibitionism. Purporting to expose and explain financial folly, their works would be used to justify financial policy folly worse than any since the 1930s Great Depression. The IMF and EU would seize upon their work to cram fiscal austerity down the throats of the member states along the northern tier of the Mediterranean. England would voluntarily minister the loopy tonic to itself courtesy of a Tory government with the flinty predilection for believing anything that imposes hardship on the poor must be good. Governments around the world slashed budgets, believing this exercise in “fiscal consolidation” would miraculously unleash growth. They were correct.

    Several economic indicators did grow. The length of unemployment lines grew. The number of people living in poverty’s harsh domain grew. Business failures grew. The number of people who went without food, school and medical care grew. The number of people made homeless grew. The number of people who tossed themselves from windows or put guns to their head from sheer financial hopelessness grew. The living conditions of most residents in the austerity nations grew worse. These were the growth aspects of the Reinhart-Rogoff principle. In other words, the fiscal austerity their conclusion supported also caused the list of nations suffering economic recession or depression to grow.

    While the two authors raked in handsome payoffs for their work, people suffered and died because of their twisted contribution to economic alchemy. In an earlier column, I offered a brief critique of this and related economic works that seem to celebrate the prospect of cutting off money to the poor.

    First, the authors likely inverted the causal relationship between growth and debt. High debt ratios are not the likely causes of low growth. Low growth causes high debt more so than the obverse. If the authors had embraced the more accurate cause and effect relationship they would have arrived at policy recommendations materially different from the austerity they came to espouse. A more accurate view of causality would have led to the conclusion that high growth is the predicate to debt reduction. Sustained growth becomes unattainable when government spending is slashed at a time when the private sector remains too frail and fragile to expand by its own accord.

    Second, their research was dubious because they failed to differentiate between eras when nations were constrained by the gold standard and the modern era based on national currencies with flexible exchange rates. Today, most sovereign money is fiat currency. This currency is not pegged to gold. Nations have an unlimited ability to issue currency. Insolvency and default are not their problems. Such nations can always pay provided their bills are denominated in local money. Sovereign debt ratios may have been important in earlier times but are less important today. Thus, the USA Today award crediting the duo with explaining the recent financial crisis is a demonstration of well-heeled ignorance. If this duo adequately explained any financial crisis, it was not the one of a few years ago. It was one of a few centuries ago. Their book has little relevance to modern economics. At best, it is a work of economic history. As you read further, you might conclude it belongs to that arcane, little known literary genre, economic fiction. As a manual for modern economics it constitutes the abysmal triumph of prejudice and bias over truth and objectivity. Its solutions are akin to caring for a hemophiliac by bleeding him with leeches.

    Third, designating a 90 percent debt ratio as the breaking point smacked of intellectual caprice. No empirical evidence warrants this designation. This designation was not an objective finding intended to illuminate how things work. It was an arbitrary decision meant to advance a subjective purpose.

    These flaws render their influential work suspect. However, a more detailed analysis of their mathematics expose the work as an emblem of gross incompetence or outright fraud. After writing their book, Reinhart and Rogoff were highly reluctant to release their data. Today, the two probably wish they had behaved more like seasoned confidence artists who always destroy the incriminating paper trail. Had they not begrudgingly released their data, they might have gotten away with their delinquency.

    A few weeks ago, the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) of the University of Massachusetts published a document titled Does High Public Debt Consistently Stifle Economic Growth? A Critique of Reinhart and Rogoff. After a thorough scrubbing of the data, PERI concluded the duo’s thesis contradicts the information used to support it. In their work, the tandem asserted nations with debt ratios exceeding the 90 percent threshold suffered -0.1 percent negative GDP growth. In recalculating the data, PERI found Reinhart/Rogoff were wrong to the point of indecency.

    Reinhart/Rogoff’s research stumbled upon data showing high growth but highly indebted nations. The authors merely ignored these nations and tossed aside the associated data. This allowed the writers to continue on their merry way to the conclusion they preordained. Include these inconvenient nations in the analytic mix as PERI did, the tale is a different one. Nations exceeding a 90 percent ratio attained 2.2 percent growth rates. This pace approximated the rate for nations below the contrived threshold. In short, the threshold is a meaningless contrivance. The Reinhart/Rogoff thesis is good for nothing except to fill a waste receptacle.

    Truth has been revealed but will quickly be ignored because those who control the truth don’t want you to learn of it. Reinhart/Rogoff’s work will still be widely cited by the establishment and its agents. They want you to accept an untruth as truth. They want you to live by it although there is no real life to it or in it. Their work is a dead letter masquerading as a parade. Conversely, the astute PERI refutation will not make the front page. Its authors will not be guests on internationally televised talk shows. At most, their findings will be a short-run ticker at the bottom of the television screen. In the main, it will never be considered by policy makers who remain committed to Reinhart/Rogoff notwithstanding that the duo represents financial scholarship’s equivalent of Typhoid Mary and Blackbeard.

    For the damage done, the couple should be run out of town. Had they been physicians, they would be in court on charges of negligence. Instead, they still participate in the elite cocktail circuit as respected academicians.

    Their misconduct is not a fluke. It is part of a systematic distortion of the truth in the service of a financialist elite and ideology that abetted the destitution of billions of human beings in order to elevate the profits of a few hundred thousand people. In its paper Growth Forecast Errors and Fiscal Multipliers, even the IMF finally admitted austerity was a draconian cloud with a jaundiced lining.

    Following the Reinhart/Rogoff postulate, the IMF forced nations into austerity, claiming reduced governmental expenditures would stimulate growth. Reality has forced the IMF into a semi-public mea culpa. In this recent paper, the Fund acknowledged its woeful underestimation of government expenditures multiplier effect on economic growth. Due to its ideological bias, the IMF arbitrarily assumed a dollar of government spending would contribute less than a dollar to economic growth. This fiction enabled the IMF to press governments to cut their budgets. Under this scenario, budget reductions would not impair economic growth. Sadly, this scenario existed only in the IMF’s mind. It had no place in reality. The multiplier effect of government spending was of a magnitude significantly higher than the IMF’s assumption. Now, the IMF admits to a government spending multiplier of 1.5, meaning every dollar of government spending produces $1.50 dollars in growth. By any standard, this reveals government spending as an effective catalyst for economic growth. It also means reduced government spending would cause overall GDP to drop more precipitously than the cut in government expenditure. Thus, when the IMF muscled nations to reduce government spending, GDP growth would not occur. The tactic would precipitate a downward spiral, immersing whole nations in recession or worse.

    The EU apparently did not want to be outdone by the IMF and the Reinhart/Rogoff tag team. When shoving the misnamed “bailout” down the Cypriot throat, the EU claimed the impact would be negative growth of -4.9 percent over two years for the island nation. With the bitter pill now swallowed, the EU readjusted it forecast. The new two- year projection is negative growth of -12.6 percent. The difference is jarring. The first is staunch hardship. The second is sheer doom. To call this a rescue package is to invest in the humor of the gallows. The Cypriot economy will be compressed like an overripe pea smashed by a falling anvil.

    Objectively, the victims of this grand theft should be in hot revolt. Instead, they accept it as fate inescapable. They believe what they have been taught without realizing what they have learned enchains their minds with the densest of fetters.

    Despite the ample economic wreckage visible all around, most people embrace the elite fiction. Africa’s leaders are most taken by the formulas and theories of this mean elite. Too many of our people want to be accepted into the international club. They will sell both soul and nation for a rear seat at the festivities. They want to appear to understand the events vaticinated by the financial world’s high priests and their missionaries stationed in our nations. The extent to which we believe the disciples of austerity is the extent to which we have been led to lead ourselves to the slaughterhouse. To do what we are told is to seal our fate to its worst version.

    A fundamental economic truth is that nations with weak, collapsing private sectors must resort to government deficit spending to pull them from deflation’s gravitational pull. Innovative, targeted government deficit spending is the best and almost only resort for nations where the bulk of the population suffers chronic recession and high employment. It is an inanity to believe less money and reduced aggregate demand will blossom into greater economic growth. This only happens in books written by the like of Reinhart/ Rogoff. However, we don’t live in books. We exist in the real world. Until we learn this key lesson, real world prosperity will evade us just as much as the truth evades Reinhart/Rogoff, the IMF and EU.

     

    08060340825 (sms only)

     

  • ‘Let’s wage intellectual war against corruption’

    Vice-Chancellor, Littoral University (Institut D’Enseignement Superiur De Littoral) Porto-Novo, Republic of Benin, Prof Olabode Reuben Ayeni, has roused his colleagues on the part of intellectual wayfaring as a veritable instrument of battling corruption.

    “It is high time corruption in Nigeria is confronted intellectually through groundbreaking research rather than mere strength or street protests which I think has done little to convince the leadership to do the rightful. I, therefore, urge all intellectuals on more concerted efforts in this direction.

    Ayeni noted that many Nigerians particularly in the intellectual circle are being eulogised and offered red carpet reception around the world. In view of this, he said those at the home front should step up the campaign to reduce corruption to its barest minimum.

    Prof Ayeni spoke at the induction/lecture of the Institute of Administrators and Researchers of Nigeria (IARN) held at the University of Lagos Conference Hall last Thursday.

    “We intellectuals have to put our heads together because a tree cannot make a forest. Intellectually, we must come up with groundbreaking research on how to move the country forward. The Research must touch on all aspects of our lives-education, religion, tribe, economy, social and psychological, and what have you? Sadly, the virus called corruption has spread to our churches, mosques and other institutions. It is unfortunate that as Nigerians, anywhere you go they see you as a corrupt person. We must make sure that corruption is battled headlong.”

    Ayeni, who was also among 13 personalities that were conferred fellows of the institute, expressed his desire for a symbiotic relationship between Littoral University and the institute particularly in the areas of administration and research.

    He said the unblemished records of many eminent Nigerians worldwide are still opening doors of success, wondering why there are seemingly insurmountable challenges at the home front.

    “I am a Nigerian but living in the Republic of Benin. The authority of that country wouldn’t have given me a licence to set up a university if I do not demonstrate some level of integrity in a French country. I didn’t have to go through any stress or pay a bribe. But they just look at integrity, and sincerity and the personality involved. That is to say Nigerians, irrespective of tribe or religion, are still doing great in the country and we can replicate same at home.

    Other fellows include Chairman Brilla FM, Dr Larry Izamuje; Registrar Redeemers’ University Ogun State Mrs Bolatito Oloketuyi; and a senior staff of the National Assembly, Mrs Abiola Helen.

    Earlier the Director-General of the institute Prof Jacob Etinagbedia congratulated the new fellows. He said as ambassadors of the institute, they must carry themselves with gait.

    He urged them to remain more committed to research and while also contributing to the nation’s development,-two key factors Etinagbedia said earned them the award.

    “We all need to find a lasting solution to the myriads of challenges confronting us as a nation. This is why we at the institute are working round the clock in making sure that ‘it cannot be business as usual’. We will continue to strive to contribute our quota to the development of our great nation.”

    A lecture with the title: Corruption: Major encumbrance to the attainment of Nigeria Vision 2020, was also delivered by the Director, Corporate Governance Business school Dr Nelson Ojo-Samuel.

     

     

  • Nigeria needs Intellectual leaders, say Amaechi, Tambuwal, others

    Nigeria needs Intellectual leaders, say Amaechi, Tambuwal, others

    •Compass Editor launches book

    The lapses in governance were yesterday blamed on the lack of “intellectual leaders”.

    The observation was made at the presentation of book entitled: Here Comes The Commander in Chief, written by the Editor of Compass newspapers, Mr. Gabriel Akinadewo.

    The event was chaired by former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel.

    Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi urged Nigerians to hold their leaders accountable.

    Amaechi, who was represented by House of Representatives member Mr. Dagogo Peterside, said: “Nigeria is our commonwealth. One of the challenges we have in Nigeria is that we do not have intellectuals in government. Most intellectuals shy away from politics and that is the reason our country is what it is today. Politics should be driven by knowledge. May our leaders read! Only readers should lead. Those who do not read have no business in governance.”

    House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, who was represented by the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, said the situation in the country deserves the attention of serious-minded leaders.

    He spoke against political selection, where unqualified candidates are “hand-picked” for public positions.

    Tambuwal said: “For us in the 7th Assembly, we believe leadership positions should be given to those who seek and rightly deserve it, rather than reluctant persons. Nigeria’s situation is like a patient in an Intensive Care Ward and it deserves the attention of serious-minded leaders. Nigeria is a common project. Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable and we have adopted the pan-Nigerian stand.”

    Elder statesman Chief Ayo Adebanjo urged leaders to take a cue from the philosophies of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

    He said: “If Awo’s ideals are not resuscitated, we would never progress in this nation. Somebody wrote in the papers that ‘Obasanjo is the problem of Nigeria’. That is true.”

    Adebanjo said the media has a major role to play in nation-building. He praised the media for its role in the fight for democracy, especially during the military era.

    Urging journalists to be professional at all times, Adebanjo said: “Please, gentlemen of the press, go and get yourselves reborn.”

    Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, who was represented by Commissioner for Information Mr. Oma Djebah, urged the media to set national agenda and raise discourse on issues.

    He said: “This is the only profession recognised by the constitution and you must live up to expectations.”

    Calling the author, a “journalist-writer and journalist researcher per excellence’,

    Former Chairman/Editor-in-Chief, Daily Times group, Mr. Araba Adeniyi urged the media to hold dear “the service and emancipation of mankind”.

    Former Abia State Governor Orji Kalu; the Chancellor of Babcock University, Prof. Dayo Alao; former Deputy Editor, Daily Times, Mr. Dipo Ajayi; Mr. Martins Kuye;, Chairman, Bi-Courtney Limited, Dr. Bolanle Olawale; President, Guild of Editors, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye and the President of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Deji Elumoye, were at the event.

    The Alaafin of Oyo was represented by the Balogun of Oyo Kingdom, Chief Yussuf Akinade Ayoola.

    The book is a four-year compendium of Akinadewo’s journalistic activism. It contains commentaries on national issues between 2008 and 2012.