The Nation Newspaper

Tag: March

  • Aje field’s FPSO to arrive Nigeria in March

    The Floating, Storage Production,  and Offloading (FPSO) vessel is on its journey to Nigeria.

    This follows the anticipation of first oil production from Aje field by Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum and Panoro Energy.

    The floating vessel is expected to arrive at Nigeria’s shore by the mid of next month, said Offshore Report.  Final works, according to Offshore, has been completed on the FPSO, which has departed Singapore. Following a brief stop in Cape Town, the vessel is expected to arrive in Nigeria in mid-March, it added.

    “All main equipment for the development is in Nigeria. Anchor handling operations started offshore in January and will continue until mid-February. Later this month the construction vessel will install subsea equipment, including the manifold and flowlines. Once the FPSO has arrived it will be hooked-up to the mooring system and risers, to be followed by a short test of the production systems.

    The Aje field was discovered in 1996 and is 24 kilometres offshore Nigeria located on oil mining lease (OML) 113 in water depths of about 1,476 ft. Pending ongoing exploration and appraisal work at oil prospecting lease (OPL) 310, the field is estimated to be one of the largest oil fields in Nigeria outside the Niger Delta basin.

    Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company Limited operates the field. Drilling appraisal wells Aje-1 and Aje-2 confirmed oil pay in the Turonian and Cenomanian reservoirs respectively.

    By 2004, Yinka was seeking partnerships to develop the field and drill Aje-3 to confirm the structural interpretation of the field and determine fluid distribution. Aje-4 was drilled in 2008. Oil and gas accumulations were reevaluated and the field was declared commercial. Field development entered its first phase in 2014 with a $220 million investment.

    Panoro Energy had announced last year the completion of the Aje-4 well in the Benin basin’s, adding that oil production was scheduled to begin by end of 2015 at 10,000 barrels per day (bpd). However, the production will begin next month.

    Yinka is operator with 25 per cent interest in the field. Partners include Vitol 24.05 per cent, First Hydrocarbons Nigeria Limited 16.875 per cent, Energy Equity Resources Limited 16.875 per cent, Panoro Energy 12.19 per cent, and Jacka Resources five per cent.

  • NBA’s headquarters ready in March

    NBA’s headquarters ready in March

    Barring any last-minute change, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) will open its 12-storey  headquarters in Abuja in March.

    Its President, Mr. Augustine Alegeh (SAN) who made this known,said the building, which was started by his predecessor, Mr. Okey  Wali (SAN), had a lot of challenges.

    He said: “The land, which was acquired by Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) was revoked by the officers of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) and  Wali had to retrieve the land.  Wali, a consummate Bar man, did the basement floor before the end of his tenure.”

    The building, which has just been roofed, was awarded at the cost of N2 billion and the NBA  is not indebted to the contractor. The NBA President praised Wali for the early completion of the building, and for accepting to chair the Building Committee and that committee had done a lot to see that the building was completed on schedule.

    The two underground floors of the building will serve as parking lots, the building  has three parking levels  and  is located at plot 1101 Cadestral  Zone in the Central Business District of the Federal  Capital  Territory . The last three floors will serve as offices for the NBA while the remaining floors will go for rent.

    The NBA chief said the NBA was looking for 100 lawyers who can  pay N10million each and have their names recorded in the roll of honour in the building.

    He said the meeting rooms and the conference rooms are still available for sponsorship and to be named after their sponsors.

    He said: ‘’We have offered  the family of a foremost lawyer the  Auditorium, for them to pay and have the auditorium named after their father, but if they don’t want  to do that,  we will give it to another person.

  • Buhari signs 2015 budget extension till March

    Buhari signs 2015 budget extension till March

    President Muhammadu Buhari has signed an amendment to the 2015 Budget Act which authorised the executive to extend the implementation of the capital vote component in the Act till March.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate ), Senator Ita Enang, stated this in a statement in Abuja yesterday.

    Enang explained that the clarification became necessary in view of the fact that legislators, institutions and other concerned agencies had been contacting him to know the true status of the Act, which was forwarded to Buhari last week.

    “President Muhammadu Buhari, has assented to the 2015 Appropriation Amendment Act passed by the National Assembly on December 22 , 2015, extending the 2015 financial year to March 31, 2016 in respect of capital projects.

    “The Act to amend the 2015 Supplementary Appropriation Act specifically authorised the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, N556.9billion meant for Capital Expenditure in the 2015 Budget to enable the appropriate government agencies carry out massive infrastructural projects during the dry season,” the statement said.

    The Senate on Dec 22, amended the 2015 Supplementary Appropriation Act to enable the executive arm of government implement the N557 billion capital expenditure component in the 2015 Budget up to March next year.

    The ammendment was perfected at plenary shortly after President Buhari presented the 2016 budget estimates to the joint session of the National Assembly.

  • Crude oil price ‘ll rebound March 2016, don predicts

    Crude oil price ‘ll rebound March 2016, don predicts

    Oil price will rebound in March 2016, after falling for more than two years with resultant effects on Nigeria and other oil producing nations, a professor of Petroleum Resources and Policy Research, Prof Wunmi Iledare has said.

    He said the downturn in the global market would ease in the first quarter of next year, once the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is able to control oil supply from the Middle East, among other initiatives that are being carried out to increase the international prices of crude oil.

    What is happening to Nigeria and other oil producing countries, he said,  is not about oil price alone, but about what he described as market edge.

    He said: ‘’It is one thing to produce oil and it is another thing to sell the oil and earn good revenue. There is no doubt that the country will further experience cash crunch till March 2016, when the turnaround in the market is expected.’’

    He said Nigeria should further expect cash crunch, as the oil price may not rally up until March 2016,  arguing that the country would benefit when the price of crude rebounds.

    He said the Federal Government’s decision  to benchmark its 2016 budget at $38 per barrel, is in tandem with the realties in the global oil market where the price of oil has fallen to $35 per barrel.

    Iledare, who is the President of International Association of International Energy Economics (IAEE), Nigerian chapter, said with the price of oil falling to $50 a barrel in mid 2014,  $47 a barrel in May 2009 and now $35 a barrel, the Federal Government has no option than to further expect cash crunch.

    According to him, the government should be thinking of how to diversify its revenue base if it wants its fiscal programme vis-a-vis budget to be sustainable.

    ‘’ In the milieu, the government should be thinking of another means of funding its budget in the years ahead.  Price volatilities and instability in crude oil production are some of the major features of the market, and these directly or indirectly are affecting Nigeria, being an oil dependent nation. What Nigeria has got to do is to look for ways of turning oil and gas to finish products to up its revenue, among considering other measures that would have positive impacts on the economy,” he added.

    It would be recalled that the slump in the global price of crude oil dated back to 2012, when Brent crude rose to as high as $111.26 a barrel, up from $61 a barrel in 2009. Since then,  the market has been witnessing a general slump in the prices of crude oil, a development that has affected exploration and production activities in Nigeria, whose oil is the main stay of its economy.

  • March to digital transition on course, says NBC chief

    March to digital transition on course, says NBC chief

    • Nigeria ‘to earn N320b’

    • ‘No spectrum sale to MTN’

    Nigeria’s march to achieving digital switch-over (DSO) is on course, the Director-General, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Emeka Mba, said yesterday, adding insecurity and expensive political activities made adequate funding to prosecute the programme impossible.

    Mba who spoke yesterday in Lagos also said when DSO is achieved it will fetch the Federal Government N320billion cash and create no fewer than 30,000 jobs.

    The DG who also denied selling spectrum to MTN, said the Commission’s regulatory function does not extend to the sale of spectrum. He said what the Commission did was merely to licence MTN to use part of the 700megahetz (MHz) frequency to do digital pay TV broadcasting services from which it sought and got the permission of former President Goodluck Jonathan and former Communications Technology Minister, Dr Omobola Johnson in her capacity as the chair of the National Frequency Management Council (NFMC).

    He said the Commission raised N34billion from the transaction, adding that the fund would be deployed to pursuing the achievement of the DSO.

    He said: “We have successfully licensed Nigeria Ltd to use a part of the 700 MHz to provide digital pay TV broadcasting services. We have thus raised N34 billion, slightly less than 50 per cent of our budget. Through this singular move, Nigeria has once again pointed the way for other African countries struggling with the effort of finding financing for their own digital switchover programmes.”

    He regretted that Nigeria missed the June 17 deadline set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for all its member-countries to switch off analogue transmission, lamenting that it was not until June 17, 2012 that the White Paper giving direction to the process came out.

    “Again, we continued doing those things we could which included engaging and sensitising the broadcast sector, setting out the technical specifications for the set top box and putting in place then Electronic Programme Guide system, in addition to a successful pilot project in Jos, Plateau State.  All this while, we were waiting for the financing of our budget of N70billion from government (which never came).

    “Meanwhile, we have now coordinated another agreement with our West African neighbours and have agreed on a new deadline of June 20, 2017 to complete the digital switchover and achieve analogue switch off.

    “When it became obvious that government could not spare the money, and in order to avoid missing another deadline, we began to consider other options. Our broadcast frequency, which is to eventually form part of the digital dividend after the DSO, had portions of it lying fallow while our broadcasters were still using parts of it.”

    Nigeria’s self-funding DSO programme will in the long term, create a N320 billion cash yearly, stressing that consumers also will receive over 30 new free to air channels per annum for the price of a N1500 set top box (STB). He said a host of other value added services such as news, information and video on demand.

    Mba said a leading digital economy is established from the development of a whole TV and content ecosystem, adding that N200 billion yearly boost from additional advertising, content and Nollywood income streams

    He added that the development of high tech STB manufacturing industry will create jobs while the Federal Government will earn N100 billion income from spectrum sales (digital dividend)

    “A thriving digital economy generating at least 55,000highly skilled jobs will be created too. I want to assure that with the current arrangement through which we have secured more than half of our budgetary needs to transit, and as we explore other avenues, we are confident that the new date is achievable,” Mba said.

  • MASSOB stages anniversary march in Ebonyi

    •Police stop group in Aba, Owerri

    The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) yesterday staged a march in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, to mark 16 years of the struggle.

    The group called on the international community to intervene in its suffering in the hands of the Nigerian government.

    Addressing reporters, MASSOB’s zonal leader in Ebonyi North, Gideon Iloke, said the celebration was to thank God for sustaining them in the struggle, which, according to him, had not been easy, especially in the face of Federal Government’s intimidation and harassment.

    On the progress made in the struggle, the MASSOB leader held that the 16 years had been a journey of pains and tears, but with the help of God, they were able to register their case with the international community on marginalisation in the hands of the Nigerian government.

    The Movement’s leader in Ebonyi South, John Nwifuru, hailed the resilience of members in withstanding the intimidation and harassment since the struggle started.

    Nwifuru, who lamented the neglect of Ndigbo, said that was the reason for the formation of MASSOB.

    According to him, successive governments failed to address the situation.

    Nwifuru, who led his members in a victory march across major roads in Afikpo enjoined members to remain focused and never relent as they had progressed in their quest to self determination. He hailed the undying spirit of the MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike in sustaining the struggle.

    “I want Ndigbo to rejoice because Biafra has come to stay, and it is high time we started to celebrate our freedom from the dictatorial leadership of the Nigerian government which was the main reason Biafra sought self determination under our late warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.”

    Leader, Ebonyi Central, Moses Eze said: “This is the 16th year of our vicissitudes of sweat and tears on our road to freedom. We salute our heroes past, who paid the supreme sacrifice for the liberation of the Igbo nation and we remind our members that the struggle continues; we will never go back even as we still maintain our non- violent approach to our struggle.”

    Members of the movement were arrested in Imo State when the police raided several churches where special services were held to mark the movement’s 16th year anniversary.

    National Director of Information, Chris Muocha, said the police disrupted the ceremony in Owerri, Onitsha and Abakaliki, alleging that some members were harassed by security men, while others were arrested and taken to unknown destinations.

    According to him, “the police and Army disrupted the thanksgiving service everywhere.  11 persons were arrested inside the Catholic Church in Okpoko, Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, and at Mgbidi in Oru West in Imo State, five persons were arrested.”

    Security was tightened in Aba as member marked Biafra day yesterday. Security operatives, including policemen, were stationed at strategic places as the celebration held.

    Police patrol vans, including an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), was stationed in front of Christ the King Catholic Church Cathedral (CKC) on Asa road.

    Sources within the security agencies said they got intelligence that the group planned to celebrate at the CKC with a rally.

    But the presence of security officers seemed to have foiled the celebration.

    Authorities of MASSOB could not be reached for comments on the aborted celebration.

    Roadside markets held and residents went about their businesses without harassment.

    Commissioner of Police Joshiak Habila said they took such measures to guarantee the safety of Aba and its residents.

    Unconfirmed reports, however, said the group, having got intelligence about the police presence, rescheduled the celebration to an interior part of the town.

  • Govt earns N735b in April, 35% higher than March

    Govt earns N735b in April, 35% higher than March

    Federally-collected revenue in April was estimated at N735.07 billion, showing an increase of 35.8 per cent above the receipts in the preceding month, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Economic Report for April, said.

    The report, released at the weekend, indicated that the figure was lower than the receipts in the corresponding period of 2014 by 8.4 per cent.

    However, at N286.24 billion, oil receipts (gross), which constituted 38.9 per cent of total revenue, was lower than the receipts in the preceding month and the corresponding period of 2014, by 21.5 and 54 per cent.

    The apex bank said the fall in oil receipts relative to the level in the preceding month, was attributed to the decline in revenue from crude oil and gas exports, occasioned by the drop in the prices of crude oil in the international market.

    Non-oil receipts which stood at N448.83 billion or 61.1 per cent of the total, was 154.1 and 150.4 per cent higher than the receipts in the preceding month and the corresponding month of 2014, respectively.

    The development reflected, largely, the rise in receipts the Federal Government independent revenue. “Federal Government estimated retained revenue in April 2015 was N452.38 billion, while total estimated expenditure was N155.52 billion. Thus, the fiscal operations of the Federal Government resulted in an estimated surplus of N296.86 billion,” it said.

    According to the CBN, crude oil export was estimated at 1.46 million barrels per day (mbd) or 43.80 million barrels during the month. The average price of Nigeria’s reference crude, the Bonny Light (370 API), was estimated at US$59.55 per barrel, indicating an increase of 3.7 per cent above the level in the preceding month.

    The end-period headline inflation rate (year-on-year), in April 2015, was 8.7 per cent, compared with 8.5 per cent in the preceding month. Inflation rate on a 12-month moving average basis remained at 8.2 per cent, same as in the preceding month.

    Foreign exchange inflow and outflow through the CBN in April 2015 was $2.88 billion and $2.55 billion, respectively, and resulted in a net inflow of $0.33 billion. Foreign exchange sales by the CBN to the authorised dealers amounted to $2.39 billion, showing a decline of 14.9 per cent below the level in the preceding month.

    Relative to the level in the preceding month, the average naira exchange rate against the dollar appreciated at both the bureau-de-change and interbank segments of the market. Non-oil export receipts declined by 51.3 per cent below the level in the preceding month. The development was attributed, largely, to the significant decline in export earnings from the minerals sector.

    Also, world crude oil output last April was estimated at an average of 94.10 million barrels per day (mbd), while demand was at 92.50 million barrels per day (mbd), compared with 93.99 and 91.91 mbd supplied and demanded, respectively, in the preceding month.

     

  • March and the shadow of religion

    “A“nd so we shall have to create leaders who embody virtues we can respect, who have moral and ethical principles we can applaud with an enthusiasm that enables us to rally support for them based on confidence and trust.” – Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

    It is hard for one to look at the on-going campaign across Nigeria without developing deep resentment towards the entire process. Some of us, who follow news closely, must have known by now that our politics is hardly driven by any noble ideals or virtues. And for the most part, the politicians are committed to themselves above every other thing.

    In the quest to win elections, no tool is too unholy and no institution is too sacred to be used. Therefore, the current mudslinging and verbal crossfire by opposing politicians should not take us by surprise. If politics were to be like vocation, such as acting or soccer, which does not have any direct bearing on the quality of life of the ordinary man, its shamelessness would be enough to make most of us ignore it. But as you know, we can ignore it only at our own peril.

    As if it is not bad enough to drop the names of opponents, wish them death, try to sabotage efforts of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), or plunge the nation into chaos, there is an ongoing manipulation of religion in the campaign. As a religious individual, I should be wary of commenting on this matter in order to avoid the temptation to end up speaking for my religion alone. But we cannot go on this way. In some parts of the country, the prevailing argument is that a certain candidate would Islamise Nigeria, while elsewhere, the argument is that somebody is out to Christianise the nation.

    One must agree even though with a measure of disappointment that, while many of those who populate the political space may have been growing old, they have not grown up. A grown-up person may still be motivated by the same instincts, but he pursues them with great decorum or at least, pretended decorum, because he recognises that society will destroy itself if its members scramble for private interests without deferring to a mutually agreed code of scrambling. This is not in Nigeria. For the most part, the Nigerian politician is a desperate creature. Lacking merit in his own self, he thoughtlessly jumps onto any bandwagon with the most crowds. Because he doesn’t represent any worthwhile thing, he must put on himself a disguise, using either faith or commitment to a system of values, neither of which he truly possesses.

    However, the politicians are not our problem. Instead, they are our own creation – a miniature of the larger society. Do we, the ordinary citizens, not use dirtier and more vulgar language every day on social media when we talk about the same elections? Do we not also draw insulting caricature of those we are not supporting? Do we not often ask our opponents to go “hug transformer”?

    Isn’t it unfortunate that even though we know very well that these people are not truly committed to anything – not even faith – except their interests, we still let them manipulate our sense of religion? Isn’t it even more unfortunate that they are just being like us on this religion issue? Like us, they are not committed to any faith and they know it.

    And like us, even though they are not committed to faith, they love to argue, campaign and wage influence based on it. Therefore, in truth, they like us – and we like them – are hypocrites who stick to a certain faith in public, not out of any deep conviction, but out of the mere satisfaction of appearing to represent something.

    The tragedy is, unlike them, most of us don’t know this truth. We have become so hypnotised by religious sentiment that we do not realise how far we are from religion we claim to practise. Many of us will fight to the point of death if anyone “insults” our religion, but a few of us even bother about the teachings of the same religion. Isn’t this why decency, honesty, kindness, endurance and love are so scarce in our national life? The truth is, whenever our sense of religion is not threatened, we also forget about the religion itself.

    We must not destroy Nigeria with religion. If we are truly religious people, it will not be shown in how fierce we fight over it, but how much of the noble values of faith we bring into the practice of politics and public life. We must wake up from this buzz and ensure we do not plunge the nation into chaos while we fight over the shadow of religion.

     

    •Msonter, 400-Level Medicine, BSU

  • March of 28

    March of 28

    • The world is watching; so Nigeria must get this exercise right

    Just as well this editorial is starting with the twin trigger that could make or mar it: the electoral umpire and state security apparatus.  Unfortunately, both agitate us ominously.

    First, the electoral umpire.  The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its agents and privies, has ruthlessly demonised Prof. Attahiru Jega, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as an integral part of their electioneering.  The latest of such irrational attacks is a front page advertisement, in the Leadership Newspaper of March 25.  It is headlined: “Exposed: How Jega plots to rig election for APC”.

    In the advert, a body that calls itself The Sentinel Group, alleged that Prof. Jega had set up a body called “Presidential Election Result Collation Committee,” which would allegedly help Jega to “collate” the results of the presidential election.  It also alleged that the committee boasted people allegedly sympathetic to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).  An independent body should investigate this allegation and bring culprits, if any, to book.  Indeed, anything that could cast a slur on the integrity of the elections should be discountenanced.

    But aside from the alleged partisan tilt of the committee, how does a “collation” committee automatically amount to a “rigging plot”? Would the Jega body (assuming such a body exists) manufacture its own figures, independent of figures returned from the various polling zones, local governments and the 36 states and Abuja, which will then form the final tally?  Therefore, if not, how could it possibly rig the “collated” figures, already in the public space, signed and counter-signed by party agents?

    This advertisement is, of course, the latest in a chain of reckless attacks on the INEC chairman.  Earlier unproven allegations included that Jega had met with APC elements in Dubai to perfect a rigging plot, that registration of voters and collection of permanent voter cards (PVCs) were higher in the North (even the war-torn areas) than in the South, that Jega must abandon the use of PVCs for temporary voter cards (even if money from the public till, time and efforts had been spent on this innovation), that Jega must not use smart card readers which, with the PVC chips, would authenticate genuine voters.

    But pray, if everyone wants free, fair and transparent election, why would anyone protest measures to ensure democratic integrity — and on that account goad the likes of MASSOB in the South East, and OPC, in the South West, to protest these anti-vote theft innovations, and call for Jega’s sack?

    Add all these to the now failed threat to sack Jega via the president ordering him to go on pre-retirement leave before a crucial election, the anti-Jega stance by the pro-Jonathan Southern Nigeria Consultative Assembly (SNCA), with otherwise respected elements like Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Dr. Femi Okunrounmu, Chief Olu Falae, all led by Chief Edwin Clark.  They have also called for Jega’s sack for no less frivolous reasons.

    On security, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), President Jonathan’s National Security Adviser (NSA), defiled his job with politics in London to fly the kite of poll postponement because of low PVC collection rate. In an absurd second act, security chiefs lined up behind him but on security and not PVCs. Dr. Frederick Fasehun, the OPC factional leader’s boast that he, with some unnamed others, forced the postponement from February 14, simply because they realised President Jonathan would lose, further speaks of a bubbling conspiracy, at which core may be the security forces.

    Then Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba added his own voice.  He gave an advisory that voters should, after voting, leave the polling zone to “cool down and relax” in their homes.  Prof. Jega countered that, by the Electoral Law, voters could stay around, so long as they don’t disrupt voting, or disturb the peace.  The Police later aligned themselves with the INEC position — only for IGP Abba to later go on Channels TV, indulging himself in the sophistry of loitering in the context of the Electoral Law.  He virtually threatened that the Police were at liberty to interpret loitering however it suited them!

    Since the IGP’s unfortunate raid on the House of Representatives, he has given the impression, of a rather disturbing penchant, to veer off partisan trajectories, just to impress the powers-that-be.  But he should put himself in check for the elections, and lead the Police according to law and their oath of office, but not his whims.

    Of course, there is the perpetual threat, at times subtle, at times brazen, of possible militarisation of the polls.  The courts have conclusively ruled twice (one of them, an Appeal Court judgment; and another, a definitive High Court injunction), saying the military have no role to play in elections. The military should stay neutral, resist being used for any lawless job and stick to their oath of service.  Even with the unresolved Ekiti rigging audio tapes issue, we believe the military are patriotic enough to resist being led to any anti-democratic crime.

    Now, a word for INEC itself.  Since berthing in 2010, the Jega INEC has not conducted any “perfect” election.  Yet, Prof. Jega’s personal credibility has somewhat engendered some confidence that, maybe, he could make a change.

    But all that risks tragic change if Jega blows his swan song — the 2015 elections.  The commission has always said it is ready.  Now is the time to walk its talk.  So, the smart card readers must be well protected and work on the day. The materials should get to the polling zones in time. INEC officials must not only be fair, they must be credulously seen to be so.  The innovations of PVC  and corresponding card readers are laudable.  But they would count for nothing if there were any major snarl.

    Indeed, INEC must acquit itself well.  Global eyes are on Nigeria.  Fear of possible civil rupture has compelled the United States, according to news reports, to station no less than 400 marines in neighbouring Ghana, with at least three helicopters, to ferret out its diplomatic staff and other US citizens, at the slightest sign of trouble.  News reports also speak of Nigerians in their hundreds relocating abroad till after the election.  Those at home have been stocking up on foodstuffs and other supplies in the event of a national lockdown arising from any crisis. The tension is that high and palpable. The Jonathan administration must not allow the nation to slide. We have the first republic and the June 12 sagas as sober examples. It will be tragic and foolish for us to travel those evil roads again.

    But the simple antidote to this doomsday scenario is a free, fair and transparent election.  The key has three handles: the INEC, the political parties and the people. With vigilance and insistence on the right results, democracy will triumph on March 28. President Jonathan must realise that any bloody recourse or major paralysis will be on his head as the nation’s leader.

    A credible poll is the surest way to a renascent and democratic Nigeria.

  • In March…

    • (Youth and the ballot box)

    We say because we belong to the divide that everybody calls “have-nots,” there is nothing we could do to have our say and actualise it. We do not belong to the “have-nots.” Do we?

    If we do, then let me make good to say that promising as we are touted to be, our promise has been tainted by perversion and shame. Our songs of hope are tainted by defeat and our most promising image is yet ravaged and austere.

    For we have become unfaithful to a land that gave us life and sustains it, still. The hope we know still prospers as eternal defeatism – for we remain unfaithful to a land devoid of catastrophe and hopelessness save that which we have learnt to visit upon it, from our fathers.

    Our best years hardly lie ahead. Perhaps they do. Who knows…the hopelessness we swore to diminish may finally disappear. Our best years may truly lie ahead, if we could squeeze the juice of youth to nourish atrophy.

    Today, a wonderful thing is happening to you and me. The chance we seek has landed within our reach. It had always been within reach, we have only been too cowardly to seize it.

    Juvenile as we are, in character and mind; we get to enjoy such wonderful chances to play adult, again. How responsible shall we be, as adults? Such rare opportunity which we get to rekindle starlight in our darksome skies hardly presents itself in several nations of the freeborn.

    This March, shall we dispense our mandate as the freeborn who do not know how to be free? Shall we resort to genocide and war as our neighbours for whom the bullet resounds more than a thousand votes? Shall we turn our neighbourhoods and public parks to theatres of devastation and the grotesque?

    Or shall we dispense our affairs as ones who have learnt, finally, the wisdom in diligence and unselfishness? Shall this be the moment we get to put a lie to every manner of delinquency and hideousness that have been ascribed to us? Is this the epoch of the Nigerian youth?

    It is. This is the moment in which we scorn the platitudes and benevolence of insufferable godfathers. This is the moment in which we court the bounteousness of hope astride the prick of faith. This is the moment in which we get to lead by our votes.

    By our votes, we could get to choose the leader with a will to truly serve. By our votes, we could begin to unlearn every perfidy that we have learnt…we could unschool our hearts of the hypocrisy that drives us to beatify shams and delusions as the soundest of truths while we canonise reality as the genesis of farce.

    By our votes, we could end our sojourn on the roads where our heartfelt hopes lay famished. It’s time we acknowledged that we had never known better. It’s time we cast our votes like ones who truly know better.

    By our votes, we could choose our preferred candidate in the light of our most pressing goals, the possibilities of projecting them in time and achieving them via conscious and concerted efforts. One man to a vote, we could subject every platitude and cheap-talk to the scrutiny of exhaustive retrospection and candour.

    We could show predators we ennobled with power that we shan’t be taken by their promises of free meals, free amenities and infrastructure anymore. We could help them to understand that we understand that in the normal conditions of existence, there is hardly any free meal.

    We could tell them that it is the duty of every elected representative to provide among other things; good roads and electricity, security and a stable economy; for we do pay for them – quite painfully too. That is why they deplete our income by tax.

    By our votes, we could substantiate the arguments we espouse. We could breathe life into the most brilliant chapters of Karl Marx and like the late philosopher and economist, illumine the agonies of the working class.

    Every man to his vote, we could command the workings of politics and materialism beyond feckless excitation and sham-talk. By our votes, we could propound that timeless political philosophy we never had.

    This is the moment in which we actualise the success of a mass revolution, the triumph of the bread lines and the re-emerging middle class. This is the moment in which we put lie to the claim that the bread lines are incapable of determining society by themselves.

    This is the moment in which we defy the enticement of deep-pockets and their bromated loaves, cudgels, clubs and hard currencies.

    It would simply not do to explode in rant and idle cynicism anymore. It would no longer do to detonate in gripe and over-celebrated soapboxes. We owe it to ourselves to survive self-destruct by ideals much better than those our modern statesmen extract from impotent arsenals of misinterpreted politics and dogma.

    This is the time to cast our votes in revolution predicated on the satisfaction of basic necessities: bread for the hungry, land for the peasants and peace to end the barbarism of the privileged few breaking our virgin foals roughshod.

    Revolutions are born because spirited patriots decide to react. Then it spreads like wildfire in harmattan to incite the guts of latent spirits. This time around, let it excite the conscience of even the most treacherous citizen.

    Today, our talk is of Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari. There is nothing to be said, at this point in time. The hour of decision has stolen on us. Let us now elect the one whose appreciation of our relative realities in the light of that which seems unknowable and irresolvable seems incontestable.

    Let us now give our mandate to the candidate whose philosophy of governance repudiates and sufficiently resolves the predicament of those whose plight the State is incapable of improving – beyond time-worn rhetoric that it is socio-politically incorrect for such unquenchable terror to exist.

    Shall we now appoint the one whose evaluation and projection of our given concretes unlike the other contestants’ exacts the most probable if not practicable outcomes in the throes of ruthlessly objective and rational processes of thought and actions.

    Let us now elect the one capable of standing unbending before the interminable storm of our brutishness and impatience even while we pick him apart. Let us elect the one capable of repair in wisdom and action even as he braves the savagery of impatient citizenry and self-styled activists.

    Let him be the one whose blueprint for the provision and sustenance of good roads, electricity, standard health care and security, stable economy and quality education among others revalidates our hope in the supremacy of democratic ethos we are yet to enshrine.

    This is the moment in which we cast our votes with faith…faith in the ballot process, democracy and State. Let him be the one whose soul we have endeavoured to explore that we may be capable of trust.

    Bet you will claim you have found the candidate of such principle, depth and character. Who? We shall get the type of government that we deserve.