The Nation Newspaper

Tag: matters

  • Still on corruption and other matters

    The former president certainly sinned against God, and humanity when, knowing how he had allowed a complete misapplication of funds meant for properly kitting the soldiers, he still permitted the trial, and sentencing to death, of 54 soldiers who, without  requisite  arms, were sent to recapture Delwa, Bulabulin and Damboa from Boko Haram. 

    Nigerians have been traumatised to no end, listening to the unbelievable revelations emanating from the $2.1billion Armsgate. No thanks to an outrageously weak President Goodluck Jonathan who, believing that his re-election superseded everything else, failed miserably to exhibit the expected level of responsibility over his six-year rule even though nobody has said he profited a penny. The former president certainly sinned against God, and humanity when, knowing how he had allowed a complete misapplication of funds meant for properly kitting the soldiers, he still permitted the trial, and sentencing to death, of 54 soldiers who, without  requisite  arms, were sent to recapture Delwa, Bulabulin and Damboa from Boko Haram. Without a doubt, their commander, Lt.-Col. Opurum, would most probably have led them to a certain death; a death they finally escaped because the redoubtable Femi Falana SAN, agreed to represent them at the General Court Martial to which they were hounded even when the military high command knew that PDP bigwigs had shared the money meant for arms and ammunition. It is equally unforgivable that, for exposing this evil, then President Goodluck Jonathan masterminded the impeachment of Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State and caused that unfortunate state untold political upheavals which, however, happily saw to the unmasking of the true progressive credentials of a once highly regarded Nuhu Ribadu.

    Many of those named in this murderous Armsgate have since been hauled before the courts but missing from the charges is their core crime: that of mass murder of Nigerian soldiers and others, young and old. The onus to prove otherwise must now be placed squarely in their hands. From the depth of their deprivations, Nigerians are beginning to talk on this and a cocktail of other issues, particularly  via the social media; the same medium which rankles our senators so much they would rather banish or criminalise it.

    Here are samples of what Nigerians are talking about.

     CORRUPTION

    “Like I did say, you don’t need rocket science to fight corruption. What we need is political will. There is a saying that a tree does not make a forest. But if you remove some trees from the forest, the forest will feel it. I have said it times without number that we don’t need to treat the issue of corruption with kid gloves. Nigerian elite are very funny. Nigerian elite love their freedom. When you accuse him of corruption, if he is actually corrupt, he will play one of two cards. He will play ethnic or religious card: ‘O! I’m being persecuted because I’m this. Oh! I’m being persecuted because of my religion. Oh! I’m being persecuted because I don’t belong to the ruling party.’ But there is one thing Nigerian elite fear, they don’t want to die. If you get two or three public officers punished by tying them to the stake before shooting, I can assure you that corruption will stop. We have had that experience in this country. When two or three people were shot for drug pushing, throughout the 18-month period of General Buhari, no single case of drug pushing was reported in Nigeria again. People who are stealing us blind are not up to one per cent of the population. We can afford to do away with them. We can afford to lose them. What you need is a state of honest people”-Niyi Akintola SAN.

    “It is only the very naive that holds the opinion of corruption hanging its hands by the sides when its existence is being threatened. To the corrupt, nothing matters, not human lives or anything whatever besides money and power. It is not important how many millions of Nigerians are lost to Boko Haram. Nor do the tens of hundreds that are lost due to bad roads. Agents of corruption do not care about the shameful high maternal mortality and childhood mortality rates in Nigeria. The decline in our Health Care Delivery System is of no concern to them. After all, at tax payers’ expense, they and their families have access to high quality health care anywhere in the world.

    “Our education is in shambles. It continues its downward slide year after year. Agents of corruption are not interested in the least. Their children and wards have high quality education, paid for with proceeds of corruption. The war on corruption is a war that must be won. No one should be above the law. Anyone who acquires wealth through dubious means or by abusing people’s trust must be made to pay back and be punished. It is irrelevant how powerful they think they are. Nigeria is greater than all of us. It is a shame that these rogue politicians and their collaborators are allowed to continue to exploit our docility” -Mama (Dr) Adebimpe Okunade -Retired university teacher.

    We have to thank God for little mercies. But for his love for Nigeria that made a regime change possible, despite all the road blocks, these revelations would not have seen the light of day and we would have been no wiser. While innocent civilians together with hundreds of our hapless soldiers in the North East were ‘sharing blood’ (apologies Madam P.) under imminent strangulation by Boko Haram, the PDP people were busy SHARING the bounty:  money meant to defend them.  Honestly, l struggle to take in some of these things -wondering how people appointed to serve could, together with their crooked allies, descend to this level of debauchery! Someone should by DEED POLL change PDP name to Peoples Sharing Party of Nigeria.

    Rawlings on my mind! – Dr Biodun Adu, Consultant, O& G.

     

    ON THE KOGI ELECTION CONUNDRUM

    “The conclusion which I have reached is not that I have, by any stretch of the construction of any of the provisions of the laws cited by counsel, affirm the correctness of the decision of the first defendant (INEC) to declare the election as inconclusive and, or affirm the validity of the supplementary election scheduled for 5 December, 2015” – Mr Justice Gabriel Kolawole.

    ON THE ANTI PEOPLE SOCIAL MEDIA BILL

    “Because ISIS is recruiting massively through the internet, Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump, two of the aspirants in the forthcoming U.S Presidential election, want some parts of the internet shut down for security reasons. Our senators here in Nigeria, for outlandishly selfish reasons, are clamouring for the same thing just so they can prevent the disclosure of their wayward ways, among them their incredibly huge quarterly allowances. Even with oil prices now below $40.  However, despite the security-related reasons driving the suggestion in the U.S, it is still a non starter. Conversely, our senators, with a once-upon a one-time activist, Dino Melaye, as its chief  motivator,  even if as a bag man, are insisting on passing a law to criminalise the Social Media in Nigeria. We pray they go ahead (for) it will turn out to be their very nemesis.

    The link below provides an insight into the US proposal.

    http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/12/10/technology/shut-down-internet-donald-trump-hillary-clinton.html?emc=edit_ct_20151210

    &nl=personaltech&nlid=55524476&referer=

    We are getting to year end, and, just so I don’t burden my readers with all these truly depressing post- Goodluck Jonathan revelations and thereby spoil their weekend, please come with me as I serve you this wisecrack from the distinguished Professor Michael Omolewa: scholar, diplomat and education historian who served, between September 2003 and October 2005, as the 32nd President of the General Conference of the  UNESCO, Paris.

    Mike -as friends call him – regaled me with it at a marriage engagement at which we were both guests at the weekend.

    A monkey, he said, observing people dancing and spraying money at a party offered to give one of the merry makers N50, 000. She refused everybody until it was the turn of a Nigerian university professor. There was a caveat though. The would-be beneficiary would have to answer two questions and ask the monkey one.

     

    Dialogue:

    Monkey: What is your name?

    Professor: XYZ (omitting to mention Professor)

    Monkey, all smiles, agrees to give him the N50, 000.

    Everybody claps, congratulating the Professor.

    Second Round of Questions

    Monkey: What do you do?

    Professor: I am a Nigerian university Professor

    Monkey starts to weep

    Third Round of Questions and the Professor’s turn

    Professor: Would you join us in the university?

    Monkey: Weeping bucketfuls now, monkey, holding tight to her money, fled back into the bush.

    I am still laughing.

  • Why Africa matters, by youths

    Why Africa matters, by youths

    For four days, youths from four African countries gathered in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s commercial nerve-centre, for the Liberty and Entrepreneurship Camp to discuss the continent’s challenges and how to address them. WALE AJETUNMOBI spoke at the event.

    WHY is Africa underdeveloped? This was the puzzle some youths from Africa attempted to unravel in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s commercial nerve centre last week. The youths from four African countries gathered to disscuss the contient’s challenges at the 2015 Liberty and Entrepreneurship Camp held at Tanzania Catholic Bishop Conference Centre from November 22 to 25.

    Organised by the Language of Liberty Institute (LLI) in the United States, in collaboration with African Liberty Organisation for Development (ALOD) in Nigeria, more than 40 young entrepreneurs and students from Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda were in attendance.

    The participants linked the continent’s woes to unproductive political beliefs and its leaders’ penchant to control trade. These, they said, have reduced the ability of the young to innovate and create values that could take Africa out of the woods.

    A “strong government”, they argued, has been  hindering the continent’s economic and physical development. They said if an enabling environment is not created for the young to hone their entrepreneurial skills, Africa would continue to be dependent on the developed world.

    How can Africa tackle poverty? How can its leaders solve the continent’s problem internally? What are the youths roles in making Africa the hub of innovation  to enable it go higher on the world’s development index?

    These are some of the questions  the participants sought answers to at the event with the theme: Fundamentals for prosperous African society.

    Profferring solutions to the economic and development crises, speaker called for promotion of free trade and creation of a platform for youth innovation and entrepreneurship.

    To ALOD Executive Director, Mr Adedayo Thomas, Africa remains the reference point for poverty and underdevelopment, because of its leaders’ inability to encourage a free market system to engender value creation and innovation. He said socialism and communism had proved to be retrogressive political ideologies for Africa, adding that they had left the continent poorer, despite abundance in human and material resources.

    He lamented the rigid trade cooperation among countries in Africa, saying that would not help the continent to achieve economic prosperity. The countries, he said, must encourage cross-border movement of goods and relax visa rules. Thomas said there was no need for strict border laws, stressing that the continent would achieve unreversed prosperity when people are allowed to exchange values and goods without barriers.

    He said: “The advent of globalisation through Information Communication Technology (ICT) is supposed to be a blessing for Africa. But, the continent is not tapping the innovation to its advantage. Globalisation has pulled down borders and barriers against free trade. This has boosted economic growth in unimaginable proportions and lifted many people out of poverty, especially in Asia, Europe and the United States. Then, why should African countries close their borders to prevent free movement of goods and services?

    “If people cannot trade without having to consider government’s restrictions, prosperity cannot be achieved. Trade is still heavily regulated and this stifles economic growth. If borders are opened for exchange of goods and ideas, people would be encouraged to innovate and create values. This would reduce the possibility of war and insurgency, because poverty is the basic cause of violence.”

    In his lecture titled: Jobs, wealth, order, social change: What can you do?, Glenn Cripe, LLI co-founder, said there was only one way to create wealth. Entrepreneurship, he said, is a “non-conformist innovation”, which disrupts regular method of achieving things by creating alternative means.

    Stressing that Africa’s challenges could not be solved by powerful governments, Cripe said unrestricted trade and powerful innovations could reduce poverty and ensure sustained economic growth on the continent.

    He said: “Africa’s course will be changed only by a change in ideas…We need intellectual leaders who are willing to work for a progressive ideal, however small. It may be a good prospect for the continent to realise its potential early. Africa needs men who are willing to stick to principles and to fight for the full realisation of a prosperous society.

    “Free trade and freedom of opportunity are ideals which still may arouse the imaginations of large numbers, but a mere ‘reasonable freedom of trade’ or a mere ‘relaxation of controls’ is neither intellectually respectable nor likely to inspire any enthusiasm.”

    Andy Eyschen, who spoke on So you want to be an entrepreneur? described innovation as “applied intelligence”, saying it requires maximum freedom” for a youth to do something that has not been done before.

    Entrepreneurs, he said, must not be restricted to choose their businesses; rather, they must have the freedom to innovate, change their goals and be free from government intervention.

    Without establishing new businesses, Eyschen said no wealth and jobs would be created, adding that the continent’s progress would be limited. Noting that wealthy countries were made by entrepreneurs, he said governments could not create wealth, but only entrepreneurs.

    Eyschen said: “Innovation, which is doing something new, is the key in today’s economic growth. It defines the success or failure of a society. Innovation is applied intelligence. It requires the maximum freedom to do something that has not been done before. To increase wealth, we have a choice of two systems, which are socialism and capitalism.

    “But, free enterprise capitalism has proven to be the better system to create wealth. It is the primary cause of improvement in standard of living over the past 200 years. It is also a moral system, because it is based on voluntary exchange and not force.

    “Attempt to mix the two can only lead to disaster and bankruptcy. The choice is between equal poverty and unequal wealth. Every human being is unique and we have our different ways to live our lives and achieve our wealth.”

    Other speakers at the event included Sarah Kawala, Belinda Odek and CAMPUSLIFE Editor Wale Ajetunmobi, who spoke on Communicating liberty through journalism.

    The four-day event featured leadership seminar, group discussions and excursion to tourist sites in Dar es Salaam.

    Kawira Mutegi, a participant from Kenya, described the event as timely, saying it would help youth to use their skills to address Africa’s challenges.

     

     

     

  • Akwa Ibom election re-run: Matters arising

    The ruling of the Akwa Ibom Election Petition Tribunal that ordered for a re-run of the April 11 governorship election in 18 out of the 31 local government areas in the state is still far away from becoming a reality.

    It is possible the ruling will not stand – in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party that demands an upholding of the result of the election as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    It is also possible it will not stand – in favour of the All Progressives Congress that wants a total cancellation of the election. The only thing that is certain is that the case will go up to the Supreme Court, as provided for in the Electoral Act.

    This is so because the ruling of the Appeal Court, where the two parties have indicated intention to go, will not satisfy both, for reasons that are well known.

    There are reasons to believe that another election, whether a re-run or a fresh election, may go in favour of the incumbent governor, Udom Emmanuel, whose election is being challenged by Umana Okon Umana, the APC candidate. In the event of an election, the governor would not be going into the competition making promises that would seem abstract.

    He would not be far removed from the people with promises that would seem far-fetched or unrealistic, as any other candidate would be. He would point to concrete achievements in the short period he has been in office as a pointer to what the people should expect in the next three-and-half years or so.

    Emmanuel’s performance after only five months in office has lent credence to the popular belief that the era of professional politicians whose horizon does not expand outside the public sector is long gone. The way to go now is involvement of a different kind of professionals in governance – those who have the pedigree in the private sector to understand the new direction the country must go, if we are to move with the times.

    The governor has proved beyond doubt that his effortless switch from the private sector where he proved his mettle into the public sector, and his eventual emergence as governor, was not happenstance. It takes one that is steeped in excellence and a leader with vision and clearly defined goals to show the kind of direction he has shown in so short a time.

    A meteoric rise up the corporate ladder saw Emmanuel in the hierarchy of Zenith Bank as executive director, as well as a director of the bank’s subsidiaries outside the country, after a stint with Price Waterhouse Coopers, the international accounting giant. It is no surprise that the state’s economy, specifically, industrialisation, is the focus of his administration.

    Interestingly, the governor has gone about the business of governance since assuming office as though he were unaware of a petition against his election, and the probability that he might not be there to see his early efforts come to fruition. He demonstrates the confidence of a man whose conviction on the mandate he received is unshakable.

    With little to worry about in the area of infrastructure, he has channeled his energy into building the structures that would launch the state on the path of industrial revolution. At the last count, more than 50 foreign investors have shown interest in investing in the state; thanks to the effort of a foreign direct investment committee he constituted to be the arrowhead of his administration’s investment drive. But he hasn’t had to wait for foreign investors.

    A hitherto moribund paints industry will soon roar back to life, with all the modern components to make it operate on international standards. With the attitude of one that is running a race against time, the governor has gone about performing ground breaking ceremonies here and laying foundation stones there, to ensure the state drinks from the well of his deep knowledge of the role of industrialisation as the driver of socio-economic development. A prominent project on the cards is an automobile manufacturing company in Itu Local Government Area, which he aptly dubbedOpening the Book of Industrialisation. Also coming on stream soon are a refinery and a fertilizer plant.

    The feeling in Akwa Ibom today is that the choice of a technocrat with rich private sector experience, from the pack of professional politicians and people who have little to show for many years in public service, may not have been a mistake, after all.

    Governor Emmanuel recognised on assumption of office that a strong moral foundation is sine qua non for building the state of his dream, for, no society can expect to achieve greatness with weak moral fabrics. The launch of the Dakkada philosophy was therefore partly meant to achieve the level of moral and ethical transformation that would make the state locally and internationally competitive to investors, as far as adherence to international best practices is concerned. The philosophy also drives home the point that the development of the state must begin with individual development, by spurring in them a new spirit of enterprise.

    But Emmanuel is not the only professional in government. We can point to Lagos and Anambra states where involvement of professionals in government has produced excellent results. For many Nigerians, especially Lagosians, the eight-year tenure of Babatunde Fashola, a lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, was outstanding.

    Governor Willie Obiano, a former executive director with Fidelity Bank, has yet to serve a full term. But in the period he has been in office, reports of his achievements tend to create the impression that before him, the state did not have a governor.

    The two states have been beneficiaries of the private sector experiences of their helmsmen. This is what is playing out in Akwa Ibom state today, and what will likely put the governor in good stead for another election.

    Now, can anybody fail to notice, at the federal level, the energy, zeal and commitment with which Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, another lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, is going about his duties, with no comparison with any of his predecessors in the recent past? Agreed, his immediate predecessors came from the private sector. But as the old commercial said, “if it is not Panadol, it is not the same thing as Panadol”.

     

    • Ajiri, a business executive, lives in Lagos
  • Change Matters

    Change Matters

    One good thing from the two groups that had used the internet to talk about Buhari’s government is that nobody had lost hope in his promise to change the country. 

    To many observers of public affairs, comments in non-traditional mainstream media have become the most fertile site for externalisation of the political subconscious of citizens. It may not be an exaggeration to say that the social media platform has become the mainstream media of the era, as it has become clear that more people in the third world have more access to the social media than they do to the mother of traditional mode of mass communication, the newspaper. The Buhari government and the party that he used to rise to the presidency need to pay closer attention to the social media than the government they have succeeded.

    Those citizens who believe more in the new media than in traditional mainstream media are already expressing frustration via the digital device. Young people have already written to Buhari’s daughter to share their frustrations with her father, with the threat to form a parallel government of ‘leaders of tomorrow.’ Older ones are also complaining about the slowness of the president and his decision to make fighting corruption his sole preoccupation among many problems calling for the attention of a government elected to change the content, style, and, if possible, form of the government that had been in vogue in the country to no avail for the past sixteen years.

    Adult expression of frustration includes the following: President Buhari is imitating or repeating some of the problems of the Jonathan government, instead of showing some creativity or innovativeness. Like the PDP, he had sent names of nominees to the Senate without indicating which portfolio for which they should be screened or considered, thus encouraging a RORO-type of screening by senators. He had chosen to be silent over investigation into the rules used to elect officers of the Senate while also choosing to pack sensitive security and electoral positions with people from his backyard, as if he had forgotten that there are six regions in the country. The president had been accused of travelling out of the country in a Jonathan-manner in an era of economic austerity. Rise in electricity supply which signalled change in June has been going down by the day. And Buhari’s presidency, according to his critics, has been lukewarm about indiscipline and lack of cohesion in his party, thus risking the stability of the party and his presidency in which citizens had invested heavy psychological and political capital, etc.

    Fortunately, there are other bloggers who are pleading for patience, stressing that the president had just started his four-year tenure and should be allowed to look through the mountains of papers he had inherited from a corrupt and non-performing government. His own sympathisers have reminded querulous Nigerians that it took sixteen years for the mess on ground to be created. Some fans of APC have also drawn the nation’s attention to the progress President Buhari has made in the fight against terrorism, drawing special attention to the government’s ability to put faces to Boko Haram by publishing photographs of 100 hitherto unknowable fanatics of the terrorist movement. On junketing abroad, Buhari’s friends on the internet have not failed to remind his critics of the president’s encouraging narrative of his administration in the foreign countries he had visited including India, where he warned Indian manufacturers to stop dumping substandard goods in Nigeria. His government has also advised the IMF to stop crying louder than the bereaved on the issue of denying foreign exchange to importers of items that any country worth its name should provide locally. They also reminded their readers of Buhari’s resolve to identify and punish looters of the country’s treasury. One good thing from the two groups that had used the internet to talk about Buhari’s government is that nobody had lost hope in his promise to change the country.

    However, it is worth reminding the president and his party that the tenure of this government of change has only 42 months left, to give citizens a changed political and economic reality. APC and President Buhari need to be reminded that most citizens who voted for him and his party, voted against sixteen years of deception of the ruling party he had replaced. Citizens are worried about the long-term impact of failure of the APC government at the centre. Citizens are afraid that such failure may leave the electorate with a Hobson’s choice in 2019.

    President Buhari, one-time military dictator and now one of Africa’s leading lights in democratic governance, needs to be reminded about common errors of the governments before his. Sweet-talking citizens by being long on promise and short on fulfilment has stopped working with the masses, hence their decision to vote for Buhari and APC despite intimidation of leaders and supporters of APC before the 2015 election. One promise from the president’s policy table is the decision to provide one free meal a day for school children. Now that his ministerial lists have been approved by the Senate, school children will find any excuse hard to accept if they still have to remain hungry while in school as from January.

    While many citizens seem indifferent to removal of petroleum subsidy, many others, especially Labor leaders who make a living by showing that they care for the working class, are clear about the need to subsidise price of petroleum in the country. Although there was some kind of fact-finding about subsidy during the administration of Jonathan, it is important for citizens to know the whole truth about this monster that is hardly affected by the forces of the market in a global market economy. Citizens need to know from an anti-corruption government why it has been difficult for the price of imported fuel to go down, months after the price of crude petroleum had collapsed in the world market. The good start his government has in respect of bringing back the country’s refineries should be consummated. If some of the refineries have to be sold, there is no reason why they cannot be sold to labour leaders and workers to manage for the benefit of citizens, instead of being sold to politically connected men and women. There also will be nothing wrong with organising a referendum to find out the preference of majority of citizens about subsidy, in relation to other forms of citizen assistance.

    Education has been for years one of the major sites of national failure for decades. Periodically, governments in the past had made token donations at the sector to convince citizens that the governments meant well. But no improvement had come to this sector for quite some time, if results of WAEC and NECO, are anything to go by. Not too long ago, federal ministers of education and finance were unequivocal in characterising most of the graduates from our universities unemployable. This sector requires immediate attention under Buhari’s presidency, not just with periodic infusion of funds but first with a thorough study by experts and actual stakeholders of what has gone wrong with education in a country that had produced the largest number of college students in Africa.

    A trademark of PDP governments in the last sixteen years has been secrecy. Citizens have been kept in the dark about how they were governed. Now that some APC leaders are boasting that some thieves of the State are returning stolen funds in order to avoid prosecution and punishment, President Buhari should tell citizens if this is true and how much has been recovered so far. Corruption amnesty, if it has been adopted as one of the ways to fight corruption, does not require that citizens are kept in the dark about the identity of those given amnesty and how the government plans to spend recovered stolen funds.

    Finally, the issue of oversize salaries and allowances paid to political office holders, particularly legislators, seems to have been off the radar, despite the public announcement of voluntary reduction of salary of the president and his deputy. The initial enthusiasm of the RMFAC on reviewing salaries and allowances in relation to the purse of the government has suddenly died down in the same manner that the talk between the police and the ministry of justice about report of investigation of forgery of rules in the Senate has gone mute. Impatient critics should be pleased that by next week the Buhari government will be fully formed as ministers will be on their seats to give details of where the country is heading. Change does not come easily and not without serious effort on the part of change agents and those who hope to benefit from change.

  • Content Act: Matters arising

    Content Act: Matters arising

    The passing into law of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Develop-ment Act (“the Act”) in 2010 was a welcome development greeted with high hopes from different quarters. Major stakeholders, including local companies and the teeming human resources, look forward to benefitting from the opportunities which the Act creates.

    In simple terms, Nigerian content envisages building the capacity of Nigerians to gainfully participate in the oil and gas industry. The Act provides for many benefits, such as giving  indigenous independent operators ‘first consideration’ in the award of oil blocks, licences ; ten percent price advantage in favour of indigenous companies in bid evaluations, amongst others.

    The Nigerian Content Develop-ment Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is charged with  implementing the provisions of the Act. The implementation effort of the Board has so far been commendable. However, more work is required.

    The erstwhile Minister of Petroleum Resources and former Chairman of the Governing Council of the NCDMB, set short term targets for 2015. The targets include retention of $10 billion out of the $20 billion average annual industry spend, creation of over 30,000 direct employment and training opportunities; development of one or two dockyards and utilisation of dockyards, among others. It, however, remains to be seen whether these targets have been achieved.

    With the recent change in the leadership of the NCDMB, the expectations of the stakeholders are high and reflect a readiness of Nigerians to take over the reins of the industry in earnest. One major expectation is that the “problematic” issue of 50 per cent ownership of equipment by “Nigerian subsidiary” be further clarified. The Board issued a clarification on the provision of the Act in August, 2011.

    However, this issue remains unsettled and local companies have been left disadvantaged. On the face of the Act, the provision applies to  the subsidiaries of International (IOCs) or Multinational companies (MNCs), however, companies that are not subsidiaries of IOCs are expected to comply with the provision.

    This has become a burden to local companies as it is difficult to get for instance, an owner of a drillship worth several millions of dollars, financed by and mortgaged to a consortium of international financiers, to transfer 50 per cent ownership to a Nigerian company for compliance purposes. Was it really the intention of the legislature to prevent Nigerian companies, which are not subsidiaries of IOCs, from winning or executing contracts in Nigeria except they own 50 per cent of the equipment to be utilised for the contract execution?

    The Act made provision for biennial review of the Schedule to the Act by the Minister of Petroleum Resources or the Board with the approval of the Minister, with a view to ensuring a measurable and continuous growth in content in all projects and activities in the industry. It is more than five years since the coming into being of the Act, a review of the Schedule is yet to be seen.

    It is noteworthy that some provisions of the Act require review. For instance, the Act mandates operators to submit succession plans for positions not held by Nigerians and the plan shall provide for Nigerians to understudy each incumbent expatriate for four years after which the position will become Nigerianised. However, such Nigerianised position shall attract the salaries, wages and benefits provided for in the operator’s conditions of service for Nigerian employees.

    This provision (Section 31(2)) seeks to perpetuate the unfair and inequitable dichotomy in the Nigerian oil and gas industry which exists between expatriates and  personnel on the conditions of service.

    Expatriate personnel of the same qualification and experience have better salaries and benefits than their Nigerian counterparts. This is unjustifiable and should not be perpetuated in our own laws. That provision hardly reflects the spirit of content and should therefore be reviewed.

    The Minister was empowered to consult with the relevant arms of government on appropriate fiscal framework and tax incentives for foreign and indigenous companies that establish facilities for carrying out production and manufacturing or for providing goods and services otherwise imported into Nigeria.

    Tax incentives, which would encourage the establishment of such facilities in Nigeria, are yet to be seen. It is without doubt that such tax incentives will attract investment, which will in turn have a positive impact in the economy.

    The Act established the Nigerian Content Development Fund into which one percent of all contracts awarded in the upstream sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry, is paid. The Board is charged with managing the Fund and the Fund is to be employed for projects, programmes and activities directed at increasing content in the oil and gas industry. It is expected that the Board will come up with transparent policy guidelines for local contractors and companies to access the Fund.

    The amorphous nature in which appraisals, compliance monitoring and implementation of the provisions of the Act are carried out may be counterproductive. A good example is the provision in Section 53 of the Act that mandates that all fabrication and welding activities must be carried out in Nigeria.

    In reality, this cannot be attained instantly. It is clear that operators and contractors will require waivers to carry out some of such activities outside the country. There needs to be clear laid down criteria, guidelines and precedents to deal with such situations.

    The Board is charged with the responsibility for organising public education fora to further the attainment of the goal of developing  content. In furtherance of this obligation, an effective help desk platform should be established to enable stakeholders get answers and clarification in real time, as information is a major key to compliance and effectiveness.

    Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry remains a pacesetter in the Nigerian economy and its success will galvanise its replication in other sectors. It is hoped that the new leadership will rise to the occasion and take Nigerian content to the future envisaged by stakeholders.

     

     

     

     

  • Why character matters

    Why character matters

    There are seven sins in the world: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice and politics without principle.”

    This great and timeless quote by late Indian statesman, Mahatma Gandhi is a clincher any day and I doubt if any sane person can disagree with it. My main concern today is not the totality of the quote, but the aspect on character. Gandhi was a man of great character. He kept himself away from materialistic desires, always favoured the truth and honesty. He condemned violence and was a ‘celebrity’ whose picture covered the front-page of all the important newspapers in the world at that time. But still he lived the life of character, simplicity and discipline.

    When asked about what message he would like to give to the world, Gandhi said, “My life is my message.” And what a life it turned out to be. He wasn’t a great orator, didn’t have a very attractive physique, lived a life of simplicity and avoided limelight as much as he could, but still he is regarded as one of the greatest persons to have ever walked on earth. The reason is he lived a simple and selfless life. He believed that he has a great responsibility to free his country and he had complete faith in himself. He knew he’d play a significant role in the freedom of India and so he did. His faith in himself triggered the faith of millions of Indians in him.

    It was very tough to lead the Independence movement of a huge country such as India and that too with non-violence and against the violent and cruel British army. Gandhi was beaten a lot of times, a lot of times he was left alone, bleeding and lying on the ground and sometimes it seemed that he won’t see the sun next day but each day and each time he faced the opposition, he resisted, he persisted and he got through all the opposition.

    Before the last election, most Nigerians agreed that we were at a crossroad and travelling the same old battered road of the past will definitely lead nowhere. They made a detour with their votes and today it is widely agreed that the country, under President Muhammadu Buhari, may still see better days ahead.

    For instance, the frontal war on corruption is gathering steam, power supply is improving and there seem to be this general mood that we have a leader who really leads. However, it would be naïve to believe that everything will fall perfectly in place since Buhari is now the “New Sheriff in Town” (apology to Femi Adesina). While I’m a firm “Buharist,” I know he may not succeed without the support of Nigerians.

    My point is this: He will face his greatest challenges, not in dealing with the economy, Boko Haram, corruption or infrastructure, but in dealing with the character of the Nigerian. Look around you, there may be gains on the national level to suggest we are heading in the right direction, but has that change impacted the character of the ordinary man on the street?  In essence, we must change our character if true Change must happen and a new Nigeria emerges.

    Nigerian is one country where the class stratification of middleclass and underclass matters little when it comes to character. Within the ranks you still see bad behaviour characterised by a ready disposition to cheat, lie, defraud their fellow citizens. They are at ‘peace’ to even swear on the Bible or Quran while committing acts of atrocities. It is little wonder that we are, by and large, not trusted by outsiders in business nor do we trust themselves for reasons that are quite obvious.

    The challenging question on my mind is this: is it possible to reform Nigeria without reforming Nigerians? While Buhari would, indeed should succeed in fixing the problems and challenges we face as a nation, fixing the Nigerian, in my opinion must be collective. The president may be everything right now but he is certainly not a heart or brain surgeon because what the Nigerian needs is heart and brain transplant to change the way we have been ‘wired’ in ‘doing business.’

    Three weeks ago, a cement laden container fell off a bridge in Lagos crushing no less than three people to death.  Immediately after the avoidable and unfortunate incident, pictures started appearing on social media showing that the same trailer had earlier fell somewhere in Apapa before being lifted to continue its death trip. The questions on the lips of those who waited hours – before heavy equipment to lift the container off the vehicle arrived the scene – were asking was on the cheapness of  life in Nigeria and inertia by the authorities concerned in dealing with issues of this nature.

    While we all blame ‘the authorities,’ the root cause is the flawed character in many Nigerians. Why would an individual risk his life and the lives of others because he wants to earn a ‘living’ driving a truck that is not road worthy? Why would an individual, or group of individuals, corner pension funds meant for retirees and all he, or they get is a slap on the wrist. It all boils down to character.

    A story I read in The Boston Globe of Sunday, June 28, 2015 is quite instructive.  Three 17-year-old students of a regional high school chose former Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger for their National History Day competition entry on leadership and legacy. Rather than provide them the resources they needed, he had some advice for them: character matters and crime doesn’t pay. The 85-year-old sent the handwritten letter, dated Feb. 24, from federal prison in Florida where he is serving two life sentences.

    “My life was wasted and spent foolishly, I brought shame and suffering on my parents and siblings and will end soon. Advice is a cheap commodity some seek it from me about crime – I know only one thing for sure – If you want to make crime pay –‘Go to Law School.’”

    Bulger was convicted in 2013 on racketeering charges that included playing a role in 11 murders. He spent 16 years as one of America’s most wanted fugitives before he was captured in California in 2011.

    One of the students, Brittany Tainsh, said she was stunned to get his letter because that wasn’t what they were expecting. “He did not really reply to any of our actual questions. He was very apologetic.” She said they chose Bulger for their project to try to stand out among the other entries and to learn about someone they hadn’t studied in school.

    The great American president, Abraham Lincoln said, “Reputation is the shadow. Character is the tree.” Our character is much more than just what we try to display for others to see, it is who we are even when no one is watching. Good character is doing the right thing because it is right to do what is right.

    Character is the solid foundation on which a person’s entire life is based; it is a potpourri of many qualities like honesty, integrity, dependability, diligence, loyalty, compassion, sincerity, attentiveness, determination, confidence, etc. All these traits and many more sum up one’s character.

    Everyone has character. It is our character that defines who we are and what we will become. Often we tend to disregard the direct influence character has on our successes or failures. When you consider the individual qualities that come together to make ones character then it becomes easier to understand how character affects our lives. If you are honest at work, it will directly relate to your dependability which in turn will translate into better work being sent your way. If you are discreet, then people will be keener on sharing their knowledge with you.

    That Nigeria as a nation is destined for greatness is never in doubt, but the big irony is why a nation so blessed with enormous resources cannot seem to make headway. However, for the first time in a long while, there is a renewed belief in Nigeria. But before that dawn breaks we no doubt need a character revolution.

     

     

  • Anti-corruption matters

    Anti-corruption matters

    The recent visit of the National Peace Committee to President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) has generated a lot of buzz from a public that has been re-energised by the president’s approach to national issues in general and the fight against corruption in particular.

    PMB’s campaign promise was anchored on confronting the evil that corruption has wrought on fatherland, reversing the tragic loss of lives and property to insecurity, and combating the undesirable effects of both on the economy, which has stagnated despite the attraction of rebasing.

    Nigerians liked the message of a new beginning with its prospect of a national rebirth and they gave their solid support to the messenger, candidate Buhari. He won the election and set to work to match his words with action. After all, this is what integrity is all about, and for a leader who has volunteered himself as the symbol of integrity, nothing less is expected.

    The reaction has, however, been mixed.  While the generality of the public support the president’s approach, PDP leaders and their surrogates have cried wolf where none is sighted. Among others, they have insisted that the investigation and prosecution of corrupt officials must be holistic and must go beyond the Jonathan administration even back to 1985. They have complained that only former PDP officials are being investigated. They preached the rule of law to a president who had pledged to make it the centrepiece of his administration.

    On his part, the President has reassured his critics that he has no intention of protecting anyone, including members of his party. There are no sacred cows, he insisted, and the finger that commits a crime will suffer the penalty. But his critics are not relenting.

    To be sure, the complainants and critics have not all been partisans trying to score cheap political points. There have been credible contributors to the debate on what the approach to the fight against corruption ought to be. It is on one of these credible contributions that I would like to make some observations.

    Professor Ben Nwabueze has proven his credentials as a true patriot even before he co-founded The Patriots and his many contributions to the constitutional and political development of the country are not inconsequential.  He has made the cause of the social and political transformation of the country his consummate passion.

    Back in 2013, Nwabueze advised former President Jonathan to abandon the idea of running for a second term in order to focus on true national transformation. But after Jonathan agreed to convene the national conference of 2014, Nwabueze and other members of The Patriots forgot about partisanship standing in the way of national transformation; they endorsed him for re-election.

    On the whole, however, Nwabueze’s message deserves to be taken seriously. But to be taken seriously only means that his views must be interrogated seriously and adequate response submitted on behalf of reason, which I believe to be the only basis of his own submissions.

    Nwabueze’s views on this matter were contained in a three-part article in the Vanguard Newspaper Special Reports section on August 13, August 17 and August 19, 2015. But I limit myself to the first instalment, which contains the core of the position canvassed, as others were just embellishments.

    The title: “Corrupt practices: Igbo leaders’ position on probe of past governments”, gives the impression that the position canvassed by Nwabueze is that of Igbo leaders. However, the only author identified in the three instalments is Professor Ben Nwabueze. There is also no indication that he signs on behalf of Ndigbo as the title would suggest. At any rate, group sponsorship shouldn’t detract from the import of the message, provided it has no ethnic colouration. For in addition to the destructive nature of religious divide and the debilitating effects of corruption highlighted by the professor, ethnic rivalry has proven to be a nation buster.

    The main thrust of Nwabueze’s argument is that the Buhari administration’s fight against corruption must be holistic to succeed. By this, he means that it should not be limited to the Jonathan administration; that it must be extended to past administrations, including the former PDP administrations as well as the military administrations of Babangida and Abubakar, which according to him, had not been probed by successive administrations.

    For this conclusion, the professor of constitutional law offers two arguments as follows:

    1. A probe of corruption must have the purpose of deterrence. Presumably, then, he wants to argue, without pushing it explicitly, that probing the Jonathan administration alone will have no deterrent effect on corruption.
    2. Probing the Jonathan administration alone when other administrations before his were as corrupt as or more corrupt than his is unfair because it is selective probe with the appearance of vendetta.

    Now, the first argument above concerning the possible deterrent effect of a limited probe is to be determined by experience, not by logic. Nwabueze himself made reference to the Murtala Muhammed probe which, based on the example of Muhammed himself, with its focus on the military administration before it, including civil servants, succeeded in instilling probity and discipline in public life before Muhammed was silenced by the assassin’s bullet. Therefore, by this example, it appears to me that the deterrent effect of a probe of the immediate past administration can go a long way in deterring future prospective looters.

    On the second argument above, Nwabueze answers his own query, but for some incomprehensible reason, he appears to ignore the salience of the point by rejecting the argument as strange, which insists that Jonathan had a “duty to have probed the (Obasanjo) government from which he took over.” What makes this a strange argument in Nwabueze’s view?

    First, Nwabueze makes the insignificant point that Jonathan took over from Yar’Adua, and not from Obasanjo.  Jonathan was the Vice President to Yar’Adua who took over from Obasanjo. And Jonathan himself told the nation that his was a continuation of the Yar’Adua administration. It had to be, since he completed the term of the deceased Yar’Adua before starting his own administration in 2011.

    Second, Nwabueze argues that Jonathan couldn’t have been expected to probe Yar’Adua or Obasanjo because they were all PDP administrations. “All three administrations were PDP governments and it seems inconceivable that one PDP government should probe another.” This is the most bizarre argument that the professor presents in defence of his position.

    Why is it inconceivable that a new president who canvassed for and received the people’s vote would fearlessly do the people’s will by moving to fight corruption through the investigation of wrongdoing by his predecessor? If governors can probe their predecessors belonging to the same party, why is it inconceivable for a president to do so?

    Third, since Professor Nwabueze and The Patriots turned round and endorsed Jonathan for a second term in the last election, if he had succeeded, we will not now be talking about fighting corruption, holistically or partially because it will be “inconceivable” to expect Jonathan to probe Obasanjo or Yar’Adua or himself.  So for as long as a political party is in power, corruption can and will flourish! This is the logic of Nwabueze’s position.

    The reason that corruption had the upper hand during the previous administrations is that the leadership of the ruling party including its office holders was neck-deep in it. Though anti-corruption agencies were put in place, they were not empowered and certainly were not accorded the independence they deserved. This is what Buhari has vowed to reverse.

    We are now witnessing the activities of anti-corruption agencies emboldened to perform their constitutional responsibilities. However, the goal must be to move to a situation where they can perform effectively without executive or legislative prodding and independent of their fear or favour.

    Finally, Buhari knows that he cannot afford to be distracted by an open-ended probe of the past. For the same groups that insist on a holistic probe back to 1985 will be in the forefront of those gearing up to accuse him of doing nothing beside probing past governments. The promise of change is certainly much more positive than the negativity that indefinite investigations and probes seemingly imply.

  • Why reading matters

    Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers – Charles W. Elio

    Three years ago, I went to the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Ojodu/Berger office in Lagos to renew my national drivers licence. After delivering a short lecture on safe driving rules and car maintenance, the official who took us through the lecture appealed to us to help pass the message that the commission has more than 10 centres spread across Lagos for Nigerians to renew their licences.

    He said he was compelled to seek our help in passing on the message because of the huge crowd the office had to contend with on a daily basis when other centres barely have patronages. “Why don’t you advertise in newspapers for Nigerians to know this?” Someone asked the official. “We have done that severally, but we discovered that Nigerians don’t read that is why we are appealing to you to help pass the message around,” the official said.

    When the “Bring Back the Book Campaign” was launched with fanfare in Lagos in December 2010 most Nigerians rallied round former President Goodluck Jonathan who appeared to be bent on halting the disdain that – many people believe – the typical Nigerian leader has for books and other intellectual materials.

    To convince Nigerians that the campaign was not a political fluke aimed at scoring cheap publicity and endorsement for his regime, Jonathan secured the confidence of the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, and other leading lights in the sector for the cause to revitalise the book industry and our reading culture.

    At the inauguration of the project, Jonathan and Soyinka read passages from some books to pupils and other lovers of books. It was a spectacle of cultural, musical and oratorical performances, all for the sake of the book.

    Spearheaded by the late Special Adviser to the former President on Policy and Strategy, Oronto Douglas, the campaign generated hope and won more converts for the book. But it all appeared a flash in the pan as interests dwindled after the euphoria generated by the launch died down.

    These two events – and many others – point to our very low reading culture in the country, a culture that others have successfully used to their benefits because of the values books and reading brings. Important as reading is, why are Nigerians not reading? I really don’t know. As a result, the ratio of students who can read and effectively communicate is dwindling every year.

    Reading has at all times and in all ages been a great source of knowledge. Just as out bodies need appropriate amounts of food and exercise to function properly, so do our minds, it too need a similar type thing. Reading provides the mind with the ‘food’ and exercise it needs to be sharp and efficient. It strengthens the muscles of the mind.

    Reading skills are essential to succeed in society. Those who are good readers tend to exhibit progressive social skills. A person who is widely read is able to mix with others. He is a better conversationalist then those who do not read. He can stand his ground. Reading broadens the vision. It is in a way a substitute for travel. It is not possible to travel as much one would like, but reading can fill in the gap created by the lack of travel.

    Having confidence in reading only comes from the daily practice of reading. A good reader can interact with others in a far better way because reading has widened his vision and point of view. Thus a widely-read man is a better conversationalist and is able to see the other side point of view.

    Researchers have found that there is a strong correlation between reading and academic success. A student who is a good reader is more likely to do well in school and pass exams than a student who is a weak reader. A good reader can understand the individual sentences and organisational structure of a piece of writing. They can comprehend ideas, follow arguments and detect implications. Good readers can extract from the writing what is important for the particular task they are employed in and they can do it quickly.

    There is also a strong correlation between reading and vocabulary knowledge. Individuals who have large vocabulary are usually good readers. This isn’t surprising since the best way to acquire large vocabulary is to read extensively and if you read extensively you’re likely to be or become a good reader. Most good readers have also been found to be good writers as well.

    Books are no doubt very faithful friend of a reader. They never betray but accompany the reader, either sitting alone or traveling. They soothe and relieve tension and loneliness. Some medical experts say reading plays a vital role in checking depression and anxiety. It has been said that even if you don’t go to school, reading can broaden your horizons and teach you things.

    We live in a rapidly advancing world where everything is moving so fast that keeping pace is sometimes daunting. However, with books we can substantially bridge the gap as reading can make a stagnant, barren mind rich and ‘cultivatable’ by pouring rich thoughts into our minds; this ends up bringing the best out of someone. Reading also helps one to see the present in relation to the past and the future thereby helping individuals develop historical perspectives to issues.

    This perspective is often brought into focus through education which, to me, is far more than the marks we receive in school. It’s about understanding right from wrong and having the knowledge we need to stay afloat in today’s society. It helps to further develop our perspective in the world around and pushes us to think both creatively and conceptually about different subjects.

    Some people stop reading the moment they leave school. But in the world we play, many employers are looking for employees who develop themselves and know beyond what they are taught in school. This is the reason why most job interviews today are done unconventionally. It is only those who know this that can prepare for it.

    Over the years, I have also discovered that reading helps people grow as individuals. It opens our minds to many things that we may not have been exposed to before. Through it we know different cultures, religions and thought processes that we may never be exposed to otherwise. How would one – for instance – have known about the ‘untouchables,’ (160 m people tainted by their birth into a caste system that deems them impure and less than human) of India without reading?

    I equally spend a decent amount of time reading about technological and scientific advancements, and most of it never fails to blow my mind. From Google Glass to burst of 3D printing machines that are popping up and creating everything from human organs, edible food to e-cigarettes one wouldn’t know all these if one is not such a voracious reader.

    Reading someone’s thoughts or composing your own is an entirely different experience than speaking to people. When you read there is time to go over passages and try and figure out what was really meant. You can talk back to the writers as they are ‘speaking’ without really ‘interrupting’ them. You can stop and highlight passages you find thought provoking or troublesome. Reading also allows for communication between people who have never or will never meet.

    Finally, reading is an art. It is more than just comprehending words on paper. It is an interactive and lively experience for the imagination and a respite for the soul. Characters and story plots come alive in the mind. An entire world can be created simply by letting the imagination digest the language. It lets one enjoy the world around, through personal experiences and point of view.

    All memories and senses are awake when reading and yet while the outside world is still, the mind and imagination run wild. Reading gives temporary reprieve from the pressures of life and creates a new identity and a new environment. It is about learning. New ideas and opinions are introduced. Theories are proven or disproved. It is discovery in its most basic element.

     

     

  • Legislators’ pay and other matters

    Renewed public interest in the salaries and allowances of lawmakers and political office holders should not be surprising. With the grim state of the nation’s economy; mounting arrears of salaries by governments and high cost of governance, it is difficult for the seemingly huge pay of legislators and other political office holders to continue to evade the prying eyes of the public.

    This interest is not entirely new. It was a subject of heated debate around 2013. Then, there arose public outcry against the wide gulf between what was seen as the jumbo pay of federal legislators, vis-à-vis extant wage regime in the country.  The actual pay of the lawmakers generated so much speculation that the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) had to come out with the schedule of salaries and allowances of members. Even with that, their actual salaries and allowances have since remained a highly misunderstood issue, often leading to opaque interpretations.

    According to that schedule, the annual salaries and allowances of a senator amounted to N12.9 million. This is in addition to N24 million paid once in their tenure of four years. In this category fall such items as car loan, housing loan, terminal benefits etc.

    For a member of the House of Representatives, his annual salaries and allowances amounted to N9.5 million in addition to N23.8 million paid once in four years for other loans and benefits.

    With the change of government and dwindling national revenue resulting in backlog of salaries; it did not take time before the matter resurfaced. It has resurged with such momentum and frenzy that the impression now gaining ground is that the cut is a major step towards plugging the drain in our national revenue chain.

    Not unexpectedly, governments, persons and institutions have bought into the idea as given fillip by emerging reactions to it. Central to all these, is the impression that by slashing these salaries and allowances, more money would be freed for national development. Kano State Governor Abdullahi Gunduje took the lead by slashing the salaries and allowances of political appointees by 50 per cent ostensibly to enable the state get enough funds for development. Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State placed himself on half salary and cut his travelling allowances by 50 per cent until salaries and allowance owed workers are paid.

    This is as the RMAFC has set up a committee to begin a downward review of salaries and allowances for political, public and judicial office holders. The bug seems to have caught up with everybody with the outlawed Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta MEND threatening to resume hostilities should members of the National Assembly refuse to reduce the huge salaries and allowances that accrue to them. As if responding to this threat, the Senate has also floated a committee to arrive at the same purpose.

    All these concerns can be understood given their convergence on the common ground that we need to make some sacrifice for the country to come out of the woods. If these stem from genuine concerns for attitudinal change in the way our citizens hitherto conceived affairs of the public realm, this would amount to significant progress.

    Before now, the tendency was to fleece and impoverish the government for the benefit of the individual and his primordial unit. That has been the basis for the unmitigated corruption that virtually brought this nation to its knees. Political offices are seen as avenues for self-enrichment rather than service to the humanity.

    If emerging concerns for behavioural shift represent real commitment to prudence, selfless services and patriotism, then we have every reason to hope there will be light at the end of the tunnel. There is a glimmer of hope that we are beginning to enthrone a common bound of selfless services.

    That should be something to cheer.

    No doubt, a reduction in salaries and allowances in the proportion that has been proposed, will free some fund for the development of the states and the nation as the case may be. But it remains to be imagined the positive difference it will make in our overall national development matrix given the figures above.

    It is not certain what constitutes the salaries and allowances of political office holders in the states. But if my little stint in that capacity some years back is any thing to go by, not much savings would be made out of such salary cuts. It will even result in the negative by impoverishing the appointees thereby laying them vulnerable to thievery in the most daring manner. The effect will turn out counterproductive. It would appear the entire idea is propelled more by political expediency rather than sound economic calculations. They promise very little in their overall contributions to the economic health of governments both state and federal.

    But like ever Nigerian thing, every body has bought into the frenzy and wants to make political capital of it. The key thing is that all manner of groups want these salaries and allowances reduced. Once that has been achieved, its teleological purpose has been served. And nothing more!

    More fundamentally, all the noise about pay cut is premised on the flawed thinking they constitute the real avenues for fleecing the nation. One is afraid this view is a highly misplaced one. It cannot stand the weight of evidence in the face of the stupendous wealth lawmakers and political office-holders are known be flaunting around town. They cannot account for the scandalous display of opulence by legislators and political office holders in and out of office.

    They count for little in terms of the funds to run elections in many parts of the country. Worries have been expressed on why people still seek legislative offices in the face of the prohibitive cost of running elections. In some states, it runs into billions to run for a senatorial seat. What is the fraction of the salaries and allowances of a senator to N1billion for instance, to expect it is the main source of recouping his electoral investments?

    It amounts to chasing shadows to nurse the feeling that these salaries and allowances are the real avenues for fleecing the government. They only constitute legitimate and known sources. Nothing has been said of the illegitimate and unknown sources. These are the areas the prying eyes of a government of change should focus. There is so much corruption in the exercise of legislators’ oversight functions. President Buhari captured it succinctly when he spoke of financial recklessness and lack of accountability due to the official abandonment of all financial and administrative instructions in parastatals and agencies. All these avenues must be plugged for real progress to be made.

    But then, the larger public must queue into this change mantra for it to be meaningful. Much of those making noise about jumbo pay, are the same people that at every level of the electoral process, ask for money before discharging their civic duties. You cannot take money in lieu of your votes or support and expect sanity from the system. The sacrifice expected of lawmakers can only endure if there is positive and permanent change of attitude on electoral matters from the larger society.

     

  • 2015 Presidential Elections: Matters Arising

    For the first time, an incumbent president of this great country has stood and lost an election. And for the first time in our beleaguered history, a losing presidential candidate has graciously picked up the phone to congratulate the winner and concede defeat. This is, indeed, a watershed moment in our political journey. To be sure, this is the culmination of the yearnings and aspirations of a people that has been long over due. There are many lessons to be learned from this nation’s rebirthing experience.

    For President Jonathan, he is both a winner and loser. First, a winner because he picked up the phone and did the honourable thing – concede defeat. In this sense, he has probably written his name in gold as the father of a New Democratic Nigeria. By rising above the temptations of power, adhering to his better innermost judgments, and unshackling himself from the goading and firm grips of the sycophants around him – I am pretty sure those grovelers would have urged him not to concede defeat by misinforming him on the deceitful need to challenge the elections in some six states of the North. The incumbent president has set an example for others after him to follow. He has demonstrated an uncommon grace and nobility never before seen in the country.

    Yet, he is equally a loser. Here was a man who had the presidency handed down to him on a platter of gold after the death of former President Umaru Yar’Adua. In 2011, he was overwhelmingly re-elected. Then, he chose to ride the tiger’s political back and certainly ended up in its belly of defeat. By choosing to perennially run for re-election and forgetting to govern, Jonathan brought today’s defeat on himself. Has he deployed the same degree of commitment like he did in the past six weeks to fighting Boko Haram, it would have long been conquered long before the general elections, and certainly the Chibok girls saga was a stake to which he was inescapably tied to. Nor did his inability to tame those around him – from his domestic family to his political one – helped his cause. Albeit, too little too late and his defeat today has wide reaching repercussions for so many especially his South South peoples.

    President-elect Mohammadu Buhari is a winner along with his APC team. By sheer perseverance and shrewd political engineering, he has actualized his tall ambition of ruling the country a second time. He deserves a lot of kudos and commendation, but I will leave other analysts to dissect the factors and indices that galvanized this victory for him. But, I hope his second coming is for all the right reasons. I hope he can rise above the cocoon of ethnocentrism and sticky allegations of bigotry about him to bring all federating units together and forge a new frontier for the entire nation.  As a sign of seriousness to the electorate, he must demonstrate his willingness to tackle corruption and insecurity – his chief election promises – by laying the groundwork for the big picture.

    First, he must show willingness to fight corruption by caging the Tigers in his inner circle, demonstrably making certain that things cannot be business as usual anymore by for instance taking the cost of governance and slashing same significantly. Elected officials must be made to realize that public service is not a quick path to overnight riches. Second, he must take on big things, by for instance, laying the blue print to infrastructural development across the nation. He must fix power and road/train amongst other important needs of Nigerians. He should not resort to political vendetta as this may signal a giant failure path and collective dashing of hopes of the many inspired by this moment. He could, for instance, indicate to the South East that the vestiges and incidences of the civil war no longer imperil them by embracing and extending to them a fresh hand of fellowship. This last point is seminal because the general’s worst performance was in the South South and the South East. Understandably, the South South was not expected to vote against their favourite son. The president-elect had been known to have once asserted that the South East refuses to forgive him because of the civil war. All these ill wills ought to be buried if he wants to rise to the level of, say, a Mandela, the Madiba, instead of choosing the path of pettiness of Chief Obasanjo.

    For the reigning and defeated PDP, the reign of impunity and arrogant aura of invisibility has come to a meteoric end. If this serves a heavy dose of deterrence to the incoming APC, the Nation would be the primary beneficiary. The General and his APC must take notice that they are elected to serve, not to make the Nation desolate. In the event that they engage in the same abominations that made PDP desolate including gross corruption, dearth of empathy, political deafness, abuse of office/power, among many other vices. These abominations desecrated the most holy of places – the hallowed chambers of the judiciary, legislature, and executive quarters. The ruling party and turned apostate induced even the most revered of ‘prophets’. The General and his APC must learn from the ruling party’s ordeal or wait for a ready electorate to whip them out when the next general election comes.

    Finally, the Nigerian electorate is the biggest winner. For too long, we have stayed disenfranchised.  The electoral process was simply a ruse with politicians abusing the process and the mightiest installing themselves without fear of political reprisal. But maybe, just maybe, the power of the vote is beginning to be restored. The process is still far from perfect, but maybe this shining moment is a glimmer of hope for good things to come. Maybe, just maybe we can now vote and have a say in who truly governs us. Maybe, just maybe, we can now arm ourselves with voter card PVC that is capable of sounding a firm note of caution to any elected official; the voting axe is laid at every elected tree, he that fails to bear good fruits shall certainly be hewn down. That is the first principle of democracy; that is how the blueprint of a national rebirth is established. May God help and sustain Nigeria and the incoming government at the centre.

    • Phillip Okey Igwe, Esq is Managing Partner, Lagem Firma & Partners Victoria Island Lagos.