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Tag: nation

  • My counsel to the nation, by Babangida

    Text of a statement signed by former military President Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in Minna, Niger State, refuting the authorship of the statement by Prince Kassim Afegbua.

    Distinguished members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm, it has been drawn to my attention a press statement on the State of the Nation, particularly 2019 general elections and beyond.

    Let me categorically state that as former President and statesman, I have unfettered channel of communication with the highest authorities without sensational public correspondence, therefore those views  expressed over there are personal views of the writer.

    However, with due respect to individual opinion and constitutional rights, it is worrisome that political events and civil unrest in many part of the country, has raised many questions on the governance and unity.

    Indeed, 2018 is inundated with seasons of literatures on the corporate existence of this country. Many of such literatures have shown concerns of the corporate existence of Nigeria beyond 2019 general elections.

    It will be recalled, that in my message to this year’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day, I specifically expressed the dire need for proactive measures to stop farmers/herders clashes in the middle belt, Cattle rustling, armed robbery, kidnapping, gangsterism and cultism. Our security agencies have to step up surveillance with more efforts on intelligence gathering for maximum success.

    Recent happenings and utterances by political gladiators is alarming and not in the interest of common man that is already overstretched and apparently living from hand to mouth due to precarious economic conditions.

    Despite all these challenges, I am optimistic that the political actors will play within the ambits of political norms and decorum to ameliorate the problems facing our society now.

    I am a realist that believes in all issues in a democratic atmosphere are sincerely discussed and resolved in the spirit of give and take.

    After my military years that metamorphosed to the only military president in the history of Nigeria and my civilian life, I always have one clear objective – that freedom can only be achieved through democracy.

    Some people find this freedom as an avenue for eroding democracy by antics of hate speeches under the guise of religion, tribal or self-imposed mentorship. This trend of pitching political class and the people is unhealthy and skewed.

    The clamour for re-alignment of governance in the country as we are approaching 2019 election year is a welcome development only if the agitations are genuinely channeled through legislation and total supremacy of the constitution.

    Any attempt outside this circle of democratic tenants is deceptive and divisive idea capable of plunging our political journey into disarray.

    Our present political parties and their structures need parameter pillars that will make them stronger with unique ideologies. However, our present political parties need surgical operation that will fusion them in to a reasonable numbers.

    I have been an advocate of two-party systems but, in our present reality in Nigeria, our political parties can fusion into strong political association/party that can form a formidable opposition to a ruling party.

    As students of history, we are aware that many advanced democracies have two distinct ideological political parties, with a handful of smaller political parties that serve as buffer whenever any of the known political parties derailed or became unpopular. I still believe in two party systems as the best option for Nigeria.

    It is high time that, we dialogue more on any issue in order to have a political solution on any problem affecting us. It is sad that, Nigeria had its fair share of conflicts, and we cannot continue to fall back to those dark years of bloodshed.

    As a people, now is the time to come together to address all communal conflicts and criminality under any guise to further unite the country in line with the vision of our founding fathers so that as a nation, we can forge ahead in the task of building a more prosperous nation.

  • What is in the nation’s future?

    What is in the nation’s future?

    The beginning of a new year is a good time to seek information about the future and, for believers, only the divine being makes this information available through his servants. Of course, not everyone seeks to know. But a prophet has a responsibility to deliver the message whether anyone is interested or not.

    This year’s prophecies range from the pedestrian to the exciting. Some bet on the old law of induction, assuming the regularity of nature. Others err on the side of caution, assuming nothing is to be taken for granted. Some prophecies stay within the realm of the spirit to highlight what they see as the lot of the believer in 2018. Others cross the spiritual border to the political, with unfettered predictions for politicians.

    From Daddy GO Adeboye, there are prophesies about assassination attempts, record breaking temperatures, and misunderstanding among nations but no war. That we have started the last lap of earthly sojourn with a countdown to the end could be scary for those who are not ready to meet their maker because they have not shown mercy to the needy, or they have been responsible for the needless suffering of the masses. The upright is not worried.

    From Bishop Oyedepo, it is well for the anointed. Here is more of prayerful affirmation of a positive outlook than a declaration of disaster. It’s a New Dawn for the believer— in family life, finances, and spiritual life. “No one shall be a victim of road accident”, and it will be the “most fruitful year”. No need for worry because “no evil occurrence” around the life of the believer. Even the “strange things that will be the order of the day in 2018” are to the benefit of the believer because they will enjoy a “double restoration of all” that they had lost. These prophecies are soothing to the soul.

    MFM GO Pastor D. K. Olukoya, released 45 prophesies for 2018. With emphasis on 18 as a signifier of bondage, it’s a year for repackaging and reloading bondage, with “terrible attacks on marriages” and “wild and merciless striking of infirmities.” It’s a year in which “terror will swallow terror and vomit poison” and where you either “fight or perish.” Thankfully, it is also a year “of great fall for corruption” and one in which “personalities against this nation will destroy themselves.”

    There are more daring political prophecies. Prophet Wale Olagunju of the Divine Seed of God Chapel Ministries in Ibadan who “accurately predicted President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory” in the 2015 Presidential election has now “revealed that the Nigerian president will be dethroned in 2019 election by former VP Atiku Abubakar.”

    Olagunju also has prophecies on the future of the country. According to the prophet, even if Abubakar defeats Buhari in 2019, Nigeria will not avoid disintegration: “No amount of peace talk can prevent Nigeria’s disintegration. It is a matter of time”, and “the Igbo’s desire for Biafra nation has received divine approval.”

    As for party fortunes, the man of God declares that PDP is not dead and it “will bounce back and its members in the APC will return to their original house” while the “present rumpus in APC will continue.”

    Furthermore, the prophet declares that “any party that fields Buhari for the 2019 presidential election will be fielding liability as his candidacy will make the party lose the election.”

    Olagunju’s political prophecies are not limited to the realm of democratic politics as he also prophesied that “a new generation of military officers will in future overthrow the government of Nigeria to clear the rot perpetrated by reckless politicians.” This should send jitters down the spine of every democrat and lovers of civil rule.

    There is some similarity between Fr. Mbaka’s 2018 prophecies and that of Prophet Olagunju, and both had prophesied the victory of Buhari over Jonathan in 2015. Of course, we cannot scientifically prove that the prophecies of the men of God caused the victory or defeat of any candidate. The best they can claim is that they have the gift of knowing the future through what God reveals to them. We are not able to empirically verify God’s revelation of his thought and future action to anyone. Only believers understand.

    On New Year Eve 2015, Fr. Mbaka prophesied that Jonathan’s presidency was over because God had rejected him and Buhari will win. Buhari won and later praised Mbaka’s bravery at an Aso Rock meeting. However, the relationship was short-lived as Mbaka was upset with Buhari’s handling of his job as president.

    Specifically, Fr. Mbaka complained that Buhari had not addressed hunger and suffering. He observed that 2017 was “one of the most horrible years in this country”; that the “hardship is not from God, they are man-made; and that “the cabal and satanic agents …have wickedly kidnapped the goodwill and good intention of Mr. President…” He then urged Buhari to “change or be changed.” “The wind will be too strong that Mr. President and the cabal will be blown out of office shamefully.” The President is “to be blamed, not your cabal. You have your brooms, but the cabal have their bags; either you sweep them away or they throw you into the bag.”

    On the fight against corruption, Mbaka is uncompromisingly harsh, accusing Buhari of “selective” war, “a witch-hunt” in which “your party becomes a hideout for criminals so that any person who does not want to be arrested will become an APC person. Is that not corruption in itself?” This is brutal, coming from a servant of God who once openly canvassed for the president.

    We might ask: In 2015, why did Fr. Mbaka not see this turn of events happening in 2016-2017? Was he denied the spiritual gift to see beyond one year? That is an unfair question. God reveals what he wants to reveal, and it is not unusual for those he favors to turn out to be overwhelmed by human nature. Consider Samuel and Saul. God did not blame Samuel. After all, it was God’s declaration of Saul that Samuel affirmed.

    We should note, however, that the voice of humans is indeed the voice of God. And as there are spiritual prophecies, so there are secular predictions based on experience. A meteorologist uses scientific data to predict the weather so that we are all prepared. A political scientist predicts the outcome of elections based on polling data and social-economic trends that impact the lives of citizens.

    In 2015, the Economist endorsed Buhari for president just as Mbaka the man of God did. But in a recent scathing write-up, ominously titled “The Rise and Fall of Buhari”, the magazine soured on the president, arguing that he “is being plagued with failures across every single sector in the economy, the like that has never been seen before.” It refers to the recession which gripped the nation shortly after the inauguration of the president, the fall in the value of the Naira, the rise in unemployment and the hike in price of petroleum products and the ongoing scarcity of the product.

    What the spiritual father observed, the secular magazine confirmed regarding the fight against corruption: “As for the corruption fight, the facts on the ground do not show any one at all. Apart from a few officials harassed or imprisoned without court order, the country is yet to witness the first victim of the said campaign at the court stands…Government waste is on the rise, officials caught in graft were swiftly excused….”

    These are matters of grave concern. The President still has time to rein in graft and summon the better angels of citizens. But leadership must change 360 degrees. He must resist taking citizens’ patience for granted. Characterising every genuine complaint as malicious attack will not serve the President well. Elections aside, President Buhari wants to leave behind a legacy of good stewardship that is remarkable for alleviating the suffering of the masses. Ideas about good governance that are offered to correct the lopsided federal structure must not be dismissed as unpatriotic. There is still time for POSITIVE CHANGE.

     

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  • Holding the nation by the jugular

    SIR: Since pump price of petrol was fixed at N145 per litre, the nation appears to have enjoyed stability and reprieve from incessant queues arising from fuel scarcity at filing stations. It became so easy to the extent that petrol attendants were going round or stationed at entrance of filing stations beckoning on motorists for patronage and even offering discounts on fixed prices. Nigerians were happy and expressed satisfaction at the turn of events.

    Suddenly and in an attempt to remind us of the ugly past of celebrating major festivals especially Christmas and New year in fuel scarcity, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria PENGASSAN gave a notice of indefinite strike action due to staff lay-off by their employers. This was a dispute which government had no hand and which could be resolved through  civilised and reasonable engagement either by payoff or reinstatement of affected staff.

    Pronto, truck drivers stopped lifting products. Panic, chaos and confusion began. No doubt, PENGASSAN and other other unions in the petroleum industry have formed the habit of taking advantage of their privilege position to inflict pain and stress on Nigerians. The unions behave like babies whose feeding bottles must be full at all times. They have often received uncommon and prompt attention on all issues from mundane to not too consequential from the government.

    The action by PENGASSAN is arrogant, unpatriotic, uncivilized and condemnable. Workers in other sectors of the economy face worse labour crisis, but go about them in nondestructive manner. The ripple effect of the action by PENGASSAN has since reverbrated across the country. For how long shall we continue on this route of national dislocation by workers in critical sectors of the economy?

    It is time for Nigerians to wake up, take destinies in their hands, by speaking against those that misuse tools of their privileged positions to inflict pains on them and make money out of desperate situations.

    The owners of tank firms, oil marketers and managers of filling stations are culpable. The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) whose responsibility it is to go after those that hoard petroleum products and sell above regulated prices should rise up and deal decisively with them. No doubt, people behind this evil acts are big, rich and influential; they must be exposed and shamed. The federal government should strengthen the laws, through the National Assembly, that punish offenders under the miscellaneous offences act.

    • Remi Oyebamiji,

    Lagos.

  • The shame of a nation

    The shame of a nation

    If there is anything one can predict unerringly in Nigeria, it is that Yuletide will bring with it crippling fuel shortages and disruption in the movement of persons, goods and services and in social intercourse on a  scale that only a civil war or major natural disaster can fully explain or justify.

    Contemplating this conflation, a concerned citizen has suggested in earnest that we sus pendyuletide for a few years to begin with, and abolish it subsequently.  With Yuletide out of the way, there would be no need for marketers to “hoard” and “divert” fuel and thus create an artificial scarcity; no need for millions of Nigerians to embark on the obligatory migration to their homelands only to rush back to base scarcely a week later

    With Yuletide out of the way, he said, all those horrible road accidents that proliferate during the so-called ember months and reach their climax around Yuletide, earning another discomfiting entry for Nigeria in the international misery index, would be distributed equally throughout the year. Sectarian and ethnic champions would have one less turf to ply their victimhood.

    The wear and tear on the highways would be reduced drastically and the savings would be applied to other projects.

    This is the kind of desperate solution to which the perennial fuel crisis has driven even some usually serious people.  The redeeming grace is that it has also bred a great deal of creative entertainment.  I missed out on much of the latest installment of fuel crisis art, but among the few that were brought to my attention, there is one that is simply unforgettable.

    A riff on the closing lines of “The First Noel,” one of the best-known Christmas carols, it goes thus:

    No fuel, No fuel

    No fuel, No fuel

    There is no fuel, Buhari.

    There you have it – a hilarious instance of the capacity of Nigerians to defy adversity, and of Nigeria’s fabled resilience.

    In the more than 30 years that Nigerians have lived with crippling fuel shortages, the authorities have never being short on excuses.  At first, it was turn-around maintenance (TAM) of the local refineries.  While the exercise lasted, petrol had to be imported to bridge the gap.  But by coincidence or design, TAM was for the most part carried out at the end of the year, the peak travel season.

    Despite its huge cost, TAM maintained nothing and turned nothing around, except the fortunes of complicit contractors and their local supervisors. The refineries were producing at far less than full capacity if they produced at all, the gap between supply and demand widened and more and more fuel had to be imported to fill the gap. Oil supplies grew more and more unstable, and so did pricing.

    Since then, virtually every measure trumpeted as a solution to the problem has been a swindle.  Like most swindles in Nigeria’s recent history, it began during the era of military president, General Ibrahim Babangida.    The country was set to take a loan from the IMF, and as a sop to that latter-day Cerberus, the currency was to be devalued, import restrictions were to be lifted, and anything remotely suggestive of a subsidy was to be abolished immediately.

    Gasoline came to be identified as the scapegoat for Nigeria’s under-performing economy. It was grossly underpriced, they said, because it was heavily subsidised, with the pernicious result that a gallon of gasoline cost less than a bottle of soda or milk.  One image that clings in my memory of that time is of the engaging news correspondent Chris Anyanwu, now a Senator, peddling that false equivalency night after night on national television in her smooth, silky delivery.

    The subsidy was the difference between the price of a gallon of gasoline in Lagos and the same gallon of petrol in Fargo, North Dakota, they said.

    Wasn’t that what economists call an opportunity cost? If the cost of getting a gallon of gasoline to the pump exceeded the retail price, you could perhaps talk about a subsidy. What were these relative costs?  And whatever happened to comparative advantage and all that if Nigerians were to pay for gasoline produced on their soil the same price as consumers half a world away were paying for it? Was the whole thing not at bottom a tax?

    Shifting gears, they said gasoline was so cheap that it was being mindlessly wasted.

    How?  Were Nigerians using it to wash their hands after a meal, or to prepare their vegetable stew in place of regular cooking oil, or as a beverage to entertain their guests, since it was so much cheaper than Coca Cola?

    Shifting gears still, they said because gasoline was so cheap in Nigeria, it was being smuggled to neighbouring countries to reap windfall profits.

    Now, you could not do that on any meaningful scale by lugging 50-litre petrol cans through bush paths.  Only motorized tankers driving on paved roads across international frontiers manned by immigration and customs and security officials had that capability.  Those vehicles had to be owned or controlled by political and military officials with guaranteed access to refined petroleum products.

    Why was it, then, that not one of those vehicles had been arrested and charged with this illegal traffick, only a few stragglers transporting smuggled gasoline cans in leaky dugout canoes or in rickety trucks across the border?

    Nor were the authorities done yet.

    Gasoline was so cheap, they said, that it was being adulterated.  When substituted for kerosene in hurricane lamps and stoves, the adulterated mixture caused horrific explosions that maimed and sometimes killed entire families.

    Why not make kerosene cheaper than gasoline, then?  In any case, why would anyone adulterate a product that was already obscenely cheap?  Whoever heard of adulterated zinc?

    Then they tried to sugar the pill.

    From the funds to be realised by abolishing the subsidy, the existence of which was never proven, new oil refineries would be built not merely to satisfy growing domestic consumption but also for export, to generate foreign exchange.  Those long, snaking lines at filling stations would be things of the past.

    They conjured up in galactic figures the revenues that would accrue to the exchequer from abolishing    the subsidy.  They set up committees to manage the expected cash inflow and to ensure it was put to the most judicious use.  They came up with palliatives to cushion the average person from comprehensive      price increases that would follow.

    In less than two years, the “mass transit” buses charging subsidised fares vanished from the roads.  A striking project here, a thriving scheme there, but much of the money went the way of other state satisfy the awoof proclivities political officials high and low, and their confederates.

    The one thing that never got built is a new refinery.

    When the refineries produce at all, their output is shipped several hundred miles from the loading platform and returned as imported fuel to reap windfall profits in “subsidy” reimbursement for an untouchable criminal syndicate.

    It must stop in this new year, this syndicated fraud that has covered the nation with shame and brought great pain and misery to the many while enriching the few.

    Your move, President Muhammadu Buhari.

     

  • Becoming a production nation

    Nigeria has descended into a nation that imports the most basic of agricultural and manufactured goods and services. This nation that imports goods that is within its ability to produce I am hereby describing as a consumption country. This is a country with a large population of poor people that has taken an affectation to luxury manufactured goods for which it has neither the financial capacity to pay for, nor the industrial capability to produce. Prior to 1986, Nigeria earned more than half of its revenue from agricultural commodity exports – mainly cocoa, groundnuts, palm oil, and palm kernels. In 1955, 98 percent of Nigerian exports were primary commodities, 92 percent in 1975, and 98 percent in 1985. During that period Nigeria imported secondary products such as chemicals, machinery, and transportation equipment to facilitate the production of the export commodities. However, since 1986, at the introduction and failure of Structural Adjustment Programme, Nigeria transformed to a consumption nation. Today, Nigeria imports virtually all goods under the earth including agricultural products, plant and machineries, clothing, fertilizer, aluminium, automobiles, pharmaceutical products, sanitary products, building and construction materials, iron and steel. By 2009, the country spent $42.1billion on the importation of machinery, heavy equipment, consumer goods and food products from UK, France, Germany, China, USA, and South Korea. These countries from which we import I describe as production nations.

    How did these countries become producers and Nigeria a consumer? The production country empowers a company to invest say X000 dollars to establish a factory to manufacture a certain product (say steel) within its own national borders. To make one ton of steel, the company needs iron ore, limestone, coal and a few other minerals mixed together at very high temperature similar to making a good soup whereby you need pepper, onions, tomato, salt and so on. The difference here is that the latter is “cooked” at a much lower temperature compared with the steel “cooking pot” which we call a blast furnace. This furnace works at about 1000 degrees centigrade. This factory therefore needs electricity constantly. To bring all these raw materials together for processing, several companies employing hundreds of workers are required to be in place mostly within the country. Each will invest its money to mine these materials from the ground, pay for labour (thereby create more employment and feed families). These companies require a network of transportation (road, railways and waterways) to move all these goods additionally employing more people prospering more families. On and on it goes. This X1000 dollars suddenly triggers thousands and millions of dollars in investment, create several jobs, and get more skills trained.

    Downstream, these employees must eat, live in a house, and wear clothes; so companies and farms to provide these goods and services are established. For example farms release cassava which is converted not just to garri but industrial starch. Palm oil refined, cocoa to chocolate, shea butter to beauty products and so on. That steel plant, a foundry, machine tools or Aluminium plant, all form the basis to build the machines to carry out these other activities. By now this X000 dollars has now triggered a huge multiplier effect and suddenly hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of primary production are added to the Gross National Product (GNP) of our country. Imagine this activity recreating itself in thousands of locations on different scales and sizes within the national borders of Nigeria. This is how production nations get rich.

    However, when a consumption country like Nigeria decides to its spend its meagre oil money in another country, the activities we just described and the flow of money as well as the employment created all go to the country from where we are importing designer clothes, private jets, cars, toothpick, fish, jam, starch and so on. That country gets rich and Nigeria becomes poor. When oil prices fall as happened recently, our shame was multiplied. People lose jobs and families cannot feed. This is why we call production nations advanced and rich; and why consumption countries like Nigeria, despite oil remains poor and backward.

    The industrialized nations export what they manufacture after buying commodity like the iron ore above from Nigeria, Liberia or Angola for example. No matter how much crude petroleum oil, bauxite (for making aluminium) or iron ore a country exports to the production country, the latter will gradually become wealthy and the commodity-exporter will forever be underdeveloped and manufacture product-importing. Commodities and minerals have a lifespan; they get exhausted!! The reason a producer multiplies wealth is as follows: one ton of bauxite is about US$50-60. When converted to aluminium, this product sells for US$138,000 (1 Kilogram is $138)!!! One ton of iron ore is about $50-65 but once converted to steel, a ton of wire steel is US$790.

    Production nations have become very rich by selling manufactured goods like cars, steel, computers, and smart phones to ignorant but boastful people like us, Nigerians. Nigerians know (I think some folks memorize these names) the latest brand of cars, watches, phones but we have no clue how these are made and the implication of our profligacy is that the army of poor people among us swells by the day. This is why we are at the mercy of oil price volatility. This is why imbalance in trade expands the inequality gap between these rich countries and our poor country. These wealthy countries understand the secrets of wealth creation; they sell us products to be consumed, because we do not care for tools to produce them by ourselves.

    This is why we destroyed Ajaokuta Steel, Delta Steel, Aluminium Company of Nigeria without as much as a thought. I recall as a young engineer when our board members visit for “board meeting” in Ajaokuta in the 1980s, once they leave, they take away the vehicles made available for their temporary stay never to be returned, the company was always broke each time they visited!!! In our ignorance we have helped perpetuate the monopolization of the tools of production in other countries while our appetite for consumption got out of control. We are reaping the whirlwind of corruption sowed decades back. Our children will reap the evil wind of the current mindless consumption economy unless we change course now.

    Today the countries with which we started the race for development have left us far behind; by my estimate we are now 30-40 years behind South Korea and China and falling behind the recently war-torn countries of Asia like Vietnam. Today some companies started about the same time as ASC like POSCO of South Korea produces over 35 million tons of steel per year; Tata of India, 23 million tons, ArcelorMittal SA has become the largest producing over 98 million tons per year. Nigeria produces ZERO because we have no primary steel producer. China is now second to the USA in global wealth (GDP) because it turned itself into the “factory of world”; China produces 50% of global steel.

    Myriad sectors in Nigeria have gone into decline due to company re-location to other countries like Ghana. Cases of industrial closures have become common in Nigeria; according to MAN, over 800 manufacturing companies shut down their operations in Nigeria between 2000 and 2008. Most of the firms relocated to Ghana largely because of constant power outages and excessive taxation. The likes of Cadbury, Unilever, Dunlop, Michelin, Booth Pharmaceuticals and many other pharmaceutical companies left the country over the last decade. The abnormal becomes normal and we just shrug.

    The history of our missed opportunities reads like a horror story and is depressingly sad. The investments that collapsed (steel, aluminium, paper plants, and so on) were of strategic importance to the Nigerian economy and were expected to provide the foundation of several spin-off enterprises providing widespread employment. The fertilizer companies were expected to contribute to increased agricultural productivity and supply of food. The machine tools company was expected to service the informal sector as well as the large and small-scale industries whose contributions to the economy were enormous while the paper mill was expected to facilitate literacy in the country. There are many more examples of large technological projects that failed in Nigeria. Clearly, the failure of these strategic projects contributed significantly to the poor state of the Nigeria’s jobless growth today.

    But we can make the choice to change our ways. I believe in the Nigerian spirit. Can we give ourselves just 10 years of redemption season, and total dedication to excellence in order to rebuild our ruined industrial landscape?

     

    • Professor Oyelaran-Oyeyinka is professorial fellow, United Nations University, and former Director, Regional Officer for Africa, UN-HABITAT.

  • When is a nation?

    (Over two decades ago, 1996 specifically, Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, published his book, ‘The Open Sore of A Continent: A Personal Narrative of the Nigerian Crisis’, which was a trenchant response to the protracted crisis into which the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election had plunged the country. Today, I reproduce my review of the book published in issue number 1, 1997, edition of the Glendora magazine Book Supplement since many of the issues raised by the celebrated writer are still relevant to ongoing conversations on the present and future of Nigeria).

     

    In his celebrated 1974 interview with the journalist, John Agetua after the publication of The Man Died, Wole Soyinka gave poignant expression to his perception of the social utility of literature. ‘For me’, he declared ‘a book is a hand grenade which you detonate under a stagnant way of looking at the world’. Two and a half decades after that encounter, Africa’s first Nobel literature prize winner has certainly not changed his view. His latest literary offering, characteristically provocative and captivating, is a veritable time bomb which is bound to explode indolent, self-serving assumptions as regards the parameters of the national question, the character of the State and the foundations of nationhood in contemporary Nigeria.

    Spurred primarily by the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, widely believed to have been won by detained Chief MKO Abiola, The Open sore of a Continent is perhaps the most penetrating and disturbing contribution to ongoing debate on the future of Nigeria. Along with the June 12 debacle, the Ogoni struggle and the subsequent execution of its foremost symbol, writer and environmentalist Ken Saro Wiwa, echoes throughout the book.

    It is obvious that the two occurrences are, for Soyinka, functions of those factors he identifies as negating the realization of the potentials of a nation endowed for greatness. These include the perpetuation and the endless circulation in office of ‘a visionless cabal’, the domination of other sections by a hegemonic ethno-regional entity determined to exercise political power in perpetuity and the lack of democracy as exemplified by pervasive militarism.

    The author perceives on the one hand, the outcome of the June 12 election as symbolizing the rebirth of a promising nation, and its annulment on the other, as signalizing the decapitation of that very nation-idea. In his graphic and succinct coinage on page 143: ‘the hands of the nation-clock were stopped on a day that, ironically, recorded its birth’. Soyinka then establishes the link between the annulment of the June 1993 election (the expression of the nation’s will) and the national question. ‘If the nation’s will has become so tainted that it cannot be implemented, then the nation itself has become so contaminated that it cannot begin to claim the recognition of a nation’. Extending the boundaries of the concept of annulment to press home the point, he declares: ‘a dictatorship does not, as we have seen merely annul the process of choice and participation, which might take the form of an election, it annuls effectively the nation itself.’

    In spite of the pessimism that underlies his analyses, Soyinka cannot be said to have lost faith in the idea of Nigeria. In many ways this book can be perceived as a labour of love, a last ditch effort to save the ship of state seemingly determined on a course of self-destruction. As far as he is concerned Nigeria, for now is an unfulfilled promise which must be accepted simply as a duty and responsibility. It is a space whose inhabitants are ‘bound to collaborate with fellow occupants in the pursuit of justice and ethical life, to establish a guaranteed access for all to the resources it produces, and to thwart every tendency in any group to act against that determined common denominator of a rational social existence’. It is significant that he reiterates that that geographical space is one best kept intact to, among others, enable its resources to be efficiently harnessed as well as ‘conserve and mutually cross-pollinate its cultural hoards.’

    It is to the author’s credit that the analyses do not degenerate into the crude sectionalism with which we are all too familiar. What we have is not a crude Devilish North versus Angelic South divide. In exposing villains from the South, he readily lauds the redeeming virtues of progressives from the North. Northerners put on the platform for bashing include Alhaji Maitama Sule, a former federal minister who recently declared that the Hausa-Fulani are divinely ordained to rule the country. Several leading figures from the South are also pilloried as collaborators either with the military or the Hausa-Fulani ruling class.

    From the viewpoint of political analysis the second chapter, The Spoils of Power: the Buhari-Shagari Casebook, is clearly the most adventurous. It offers interesting insights into the politics of the second republic, its eventual collapse and the emergence in December 1983 of the Buhari-Idiagbon regime. Particularly intriguing is the distinction made between the spoils of office and the spoils of power. In his words: “The spoils that accompany power are not often recognized because they are not as particularized as those of office. But they nonetheless constitute a brutal exaction from a populace, savaging their psyche and intimating to them a kind of essential worthlessness’.This distinction enables us to understand why some former leaders, particularly from a section of the country, continue to enjoy tremendous influence, patronage and prestige irrespective of their track record in office. Even when these are no longer in office they belong to a group that is perpetually in power.

    Equally compelling especially for the ‘Games theorist’ is Soyinka’s description of the military putsch that overthrew the Second Republic as a ‘coup against the opposition’. He argues persuasively that the real motive of the coup was to save the NPN controlled federal government, in the aftermath of a fatally flawed elections, from either a mass uprising or a coup mounted by radical junior officers. To buttress this point he notes the mysterious escape into exile after the coup of prominent NPN figures like Umaru Dikko and Uba Ahmed and the ceaseless harassment and detention of leading opposition figures including governors and party activists. Another concept devised by Soyinka for understanding the utilization of power in post-colonial Nigeria is the ‘politics of revenge’. This refers to vengeful policies pf sadism unleashed by a tiny ‘sit-tight cabal’ frustrated by the glaring inadequacies of its flagbearers, their numerous failures in governance and the exposure and rejection of its hitherto carefully concealed plan to hold perpetually onto power.

    In chapter 3 is an exhaustive x-ray on the idea of nationhood, dilemma of the national question and the conditions of harmonious national co-existence. He dismisses the nation in Africa as ‘a gambling space for the opportunism and adventurism of power which has little meaning for the ordinary African confronted daily by gross material deprivations. For him, the imposing Saint Peter’s Basilica in Yamoussoukro, the grand mosque in Casablanca or the desperate bid by an economically insecure, politically unstable country to host the junior world cup are graphic illustrations of the absurdity of the idea of national sovereign in contemporary Africa.

    This book will no doubt generate considerable controversy here in Nigeria. While it may be lavishly praised by some, it will be roundly condemned by others especially those who stand diametrically opposed to the values represented in it. There will also be genuine misunderstanding of some of the issues raised due partly to the complexity of the polity and the tendency of contending social forces to view political reality from different, often contradictory, perspectives. For instance, the author may be taken to task for his lack of detachment and objectivity. In discussing the Second Republic he dwells on the shortcomings of the NPN while largely silent on those of the other parties. Also the validity of his insistence on the reinstatement of the June 12 mandate will be challenged on the grounds that the normally vigorous media in Nigeria and intelligentsia were silent on an earlier cancellation of the 1993 intra-party primaries. A school of thought is of the view that that accounted for the lukewarmness in the north towards the annulment of the ultimate election.

    Finally, the views contained in this engaging work will be considered excessively idealistic and Utopian with the insistence on the actualization of June 12 despite the opportunism of the political class and the permissiveness and ruthlessness of state power. But so can we by no means lightly esteem the words of Paul Baran, the late American economist and revolutionary who said, ‘each idea not yet realized, curiously resembles a Utopia. One would never do anything if one thought that nothing is possible except that which exists already.’

  • A nation at a crossroad

    In 2015, Nigeria was like a sinking ship and citizens were disillusioned; corruption was so pervasive and nobody seemed to be in charge of running the state.  President Goodluck Jonathan was perceived as profoundly weak and incapable of reining in his ministers that were out of step and recklessly wasting state resources.  Things came to a head that even party members no longer believed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could hold the country together.  Under the circumstances, just any person could have won the Presidency against the PDP candidate notwithstanding the power of incumbency given the level of despondency.   At that juncture, Nigerians needed someone that was firm, courageous and capable of taking decision.

    It was no surprise therefore that the All Progressive Congress (APC), a party that was hurriedly put together seized the moment and fielded ex-military dictator, General Muhammadu Buhari who had almost a cult following, especially in the North and feared in other parts of the country.  He is patriotic, with Spartan-like bearing and very discipline.  He has however shown lack of ability to appreciate the dynamism of modern democratic norms in a multinational state like Nigeria – not being a philosopher king or an intellectual.

    It was not difficult for APC to win the presidential election with very good showing across the states of the country.  It has since become obvious that APC had taken a daring gamble at the elections probably not hoping to control the centre as it could not form a cabinet after six months of inaugurating the government. Nigerians saw Muhammadu Buhari as a monomania fixated at fighting corruption and indiscipline; perceiving him through the prism of his 1983/84 stint as a military Head of State as a no-nonsense.  Even though the President did very little after inauguration, but things picked up reasonably perhaps counting on his body language as someone who does not believe in hostage taking.

    Nigerians were prepared to give him time to choose his cabinet believing that change indeed was coming.  After six months, what the President came out with was far from the expectation of Nigerians.  It was not only lopsided, it was acutely lacking in temper of competent and smart people that could drive the nation out of the cesspool of corruption and build unifying government. The cabinet was made up of a bunch of nominees from politicians with different interests and agenda.

    Today, Nigeria is greeted with the harvest of industrial unrests across every sector of the economy.  The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is on strike, the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) is on strike and our public hospitals are not offering services; the list is growing.  It is clear that the President has been demystified and his cabinet is made up of bickering strange bedfellows who have their loyalty to other powerful forces bent on deliberate sabotage to serve their inordinate personal ambitions.  This is the reasons he is being tackled on all fronts; from the National Assembly who have beaten him to submission and trade unions who have suddenly found their voice.

    The APC-led government lack the rhythm and harmony to pursue any positive change to conclusion as can be seen in three of the key areas the party promised to deliver on: security, the economy and fight against corruption. We cannot doubt the passion of the President to deliver but we are wrong to think that he can do it alone as an individual.  He needs a good team of smart, competent and loyal people that would reflect the diversity of Nigeria.  The APC lacks charismatic leadership as a result of which they are not able to cobble the different shades and characters together to deliver on their manifesto and sustain a government.  Even though they have clear majority in the National Assembly, there have been perpetual conflicts between the executive and the legislature.  Members of the National Assembly have their eyes set on jumping ship and abandoning the President to his fate after sufficiently exposing his weaknesses. It is now clear that there is nothing to choose from between the APC and the PDP but not to worry, the legislators have since passed the Bill for independent candidature if the new party they have put together through their minions would not accommodate their interest.

    The dilemma of the President is that he is not in the mould of a typical politician and does not have the gift of tactical diplomatic manoeuvres which his military training may not have availed him.  Courting support from an unusual quarter from traditional rulers certainly would not offer strategic advantage in the face of urgent expectation from Nigerians to deliver on democratic dividends such as power, employment, security, and the decrepit infrastructure across the country. The President should not deceive himself that he still has his party behind him as the intrigue and schism from the inauguration of his government has been very sharpened when he failed to seized the moment and rein in the ultra-ambitious  dissidents within the party ranks.

    It is not beyond the ordinary now for the President to sack his entire cabinet; they are lethargic and becoming a burden on Nigeria.  Most of them are not smart, competent, loyal, and are lacking in personal integrity.  This is the time too for the ordinary Nigerian to fight for the soul of the nation.  It is not about tribe and religion.  Restructuring may not deliver all the expectations of Nigerians when power arrogance and impunity still pervades our polity.  If we believe in Nigeria, we must interrogate the activities of the National Assembly; we must challenge the delivery of justice by the judiciary; we must take the federal executive to task and ask the right questions.  We must occupy Nigeria before the sword of Damocles descends on us at this crossroad.

     

    • Kebonkwu Esq. writes from Abuja.
  • Our ailing nation and its ailing President

    Our ailing nation and its ailing President

    These are definitely not the best of times for our country and our president, Muhammadu Buhari. Both are ailing badly. First, the nation has, for two years now, been grappling with a painful recession that has left the economy devastated. The recession, arguably the worst  we have ever had, has been made worse by massive public corruption at all levels. Domestic prices are rising sharply. The current inflation rate has been put at just under 17 per cent. Bank lending rates are at very high levels and, instead of a single FX rate, we have multiple rates to ration out our falling FX earnings. This is the legacy President Buhari inherited from his predecessors in office, particularly President Jonathan.

    Although, as claimed by the CBN and other economic experts, the recession may have bottomed out, all well informed financial and economic analysis have indicated that growth in the next few years is not expected to rise by more than 1 per cent. Growth in the second quarter of this year has been put at only 0.55 per cent. In effect, there is not going to be a significant recovery in our economy in the next few years. The situation in the oil sector on which Nigeria depends heavily remains uncertain and fragile. Production and export cuts may be forced on our oil sector by uncertainties in the global  oil market. Diversification of the economy away from its heavy dependence on oil exports has not yet materialized. In fact, some will say that our feeble efforts in the diversification of the domestic economy from its excessive dependence on oil exports have failed woefully.

    Sadly, the fight against mass public corruption in our country is losing momentum. Some, including Mr. Magu, the acting chairman of the EFFC, believe the fight has already been lost. Due to tardy and inefficient prosecutions there has been virtually no jailing of any high profile pubic officials for corruption. Some of the public institutions that should support the anti-corruption struggle are far too weak and too compromised to rise to the challenges involved in fighting corruption in our country. Many of them have proved to be largely ineffective in the fight against public corruption. Some of them are even pushing back against the war on corruption, the primary focus of the Buhari APC federal government.

    At the political level, the state is having to cope desperately with terrorism in Bornu, increased separatist tendencies all over the country, kidnappings, assassinations, and ritual killings. There is a near total breakdown of law and order in our country. The government is left bewildered and increasingly helpless in its efforts at tackling its security challenges. But the law and order agencies are hobbled largely by inadequate financial and logistics resources. They are overstretched. The call for the creation of state police forces to provide some relief for the federal police has, for political reasons, been largely ignored by the federal government. Nigeria is beginning to look increasingly like a failed state. The process of failure of a state can go on, gradually, for years, with the state struggling desperately to survive. That is where we are now. Progress of any kind has been very slow in our country. Vital public institutions, including the public service, the Police, and other security agencies remain very fragile, too weak to support and sustain the country.

    And now, the nation’s woes are being further compounded by an ailing president. Since coming to power two years ago, President Buhari has been hobbled by his poor health. He has had to go to the UK twice, for extended periods, to receive medical attention for an undisclosed illness. He returned home from the UK only a few weeks ago after an extended stay of over 100 days abroad. We must continue to pray for his speedy recovery. It is in the interest of our country that he recovers fully from his illness. In these difficult times, with a myriad of very complex and disturbing challenges, the state needs a physically and mentally fit president to provide the much needed leadership and steadying hands in our country.  His poor health will limit his ability to govern effectively and take the right decisions in the interest of our nation.

    The decisions that we take daily in our lives are often affected by the state of our health. A prolonged and debilitating illness, such as that of President Buhari, can affect the quality of decisions we take. Good health is even more important in the case of heads of state as they have enormous responsibilities and wield a lot of power. Their decisions are easily adversely affected by poor health.  But for his poor health, President Yar’Adua who died in office showed early promise of being a good president. His judgments in office were consistently sound and in the national interest. But when he fell ill there was a power vacuum. He could no longer govern effectively. Some of his cronies virtually seized power and served only their individual and selfish interests

    After the defeat of Nazi Germany and the death of its leader, Adolf Hitler, historians of the Third Reich were able to establish easily that some of Hitler’s bizarre political and  military decisions, such as the sudden and reckless invasion of Russia, Germany’s ally, and the refusal to withdraw his beleaguered troops from Leningrad when they faced certain defeat, were due to his poor health. His quack German doctor, Theodor Morell, had to give him injections on a daily basis to keep him going. This dependence on drugs affected his political and military judgments. His illness, carefully concealed from the public, accounts for some of his outrageous decisions and ambitions as the leader of Nazi Germany. It has been offered as an explanation for the German concentration camps in which 6 million Jews perished. Such brutality can only have been the product of a demented mind, a kind of mental illness and amnesia.

    Another equally bad case of poor judgment as a result of  illness is that of Sir Anthony Eden (later Lord Avon) who succeeded Winston Churchill as British Conservative Prime Minister. Anthony Eden, a brilliant and capable man, had made a name for himself as a principled and courageous politician when he resigned in 1936, or thereabouts, as a junior minister in the Foreign Office, in protest against the appeasement of Hitler by Neville Chamberlain, the British Conservative Prime Minister. But in 1956, he destroyed his reputation when he suddenly invaded and seized the Suez Canal in collaboration with France and Israel. His action was totally unjustified and reckless. And it was widely condemned  in Britain and abroad. Under international pressure, particularly from his principal ally, the United States, Anthony Eden was forced to withdraw his forces from Egypt in disgrace. Britain’s reputation for fairness was badly damaged. His action presaged the fall of the British empire in Africa. . Soon after, he was forced to resign from office due to bad health. His political career and reputation were destroyed.

    In Africa too, we have the examples of Idi Amin of Uganda, and Mobutu Sese Seko of the Congo whose political judgments were badly affected by their poor health. Some of their outrageous decisions as heads of state have been attributed to the bad health from which they both suffered. In the case of Idi Amin, he was widely believed to have suffered from syphilis which accounted for his brutality. I was serving in our high commission in Kampala at the time and thought most of his decisions bizarre. Even here in our own country, there has been some speculation that the poor state of health of Gen. Sani Abacha, when he was military head of state, affected his political judgments, including his megalomania, very badly. He should have left office to look after his health. But he was no longer fit enough to take a rational  decision, even in his own interest.

    It is not being suggested here that President Buhari is in that situation right now, in which his poor health may have begun to affect his judgment. But it is also possible that is the case right now. There is little or no doubt that the pace of his government has slowed down considerably. A bit of lethargy has set in and the government is perceived as being increasingly slow in taking some vital decisions. A lot of decisions regarding important public appointments are being left in abeyance. This has led to speculations about the emergence in the presidency of a so-called cabal, the ‘jackals and hyenas,’ that is now taking vital decisions on behalf of the President. This would, for example, seem to explain the contradictions between the Foreign Office and the presidency over Morocco’s application to join ECOWAS. Instead of working together, they seem to be pulling in different directions to the detriment of our country. Many would, in fact, like him to go now and look after his personal health. But that is a decision that only he can make. It cannot be forced on him as he has a mandate to govern until 2019 when the next presidential elections are due.

    There is no doubt that, during President Buhari’s long absence from our country, Vice President  Yemi Osinbajo showed his mettle and capability in the able manner he ran the country, for which he has been publicly commended by President Buhari. But there were still critically important decisions that he could not take on his own. Some of these were pressing and urgent, but required the discretion of the president himself. Even if, in the absence of the president, he had full authority to act, the vice president would still have needed to be cautious and circumspect in taking some important decisions on behalf of the president. Professor Osinbajo is a competent and able man, and a great patriot. But he is no politician and most of the decisions the president has to take are political in nature, with political consequences.

    Now that the president has returned to his duties, he should  delegate more responsibilities to the Vice president and his more senior advisers. It is obvious, even from his photographs that he has not yet recovered fully from his illness. At 74, it is unlikely that he will recover fully. We can only hope that he will be able to serve out his remaining term in office. But he should focus his attention on more important state matters, such as the fight against public corruption in our country, the poor economy, the continuing reform of state institutions to make them more viable and stronger, and state security. On account of his age and poor health, it is unlikely that President Buhari will seek a second term in office. In effect, he has only two more years left to shape the legacy he is going to leave the country with. That should be his main concern now.

  • A nation’s economy and her ports

    SIR: Nigeria is generally known as a mono-economic nation .This is in spite of the varied sources of revenue but underutilized natural resources available in the country, including the nation’s ports.

    Besides underutilizing the nation’s waters and ports, the government has done very little to appreciate the importance of the economic development        of the country. For instance, virtually all the sea ports in the South-south have become moribund and disused: from Koko, Sapele, Burutu and indeed the Warri ports, nothing seems to be working due to government poor understanding of the roles the nations’ ports are expected to play in achieving maximum raking in of forex.

    Unfortunately, with its poor facilities, the ports in Tin-can Island and Apapa, have become the overburdened. While these ports can as well be developed into deep water ports, the government has no reason to improve on the facilities and the dredging of the channels to achieve a deepwater port status. The Niger Delta water channels have long been abandoned and the recent over–praised programme of dredging that portion of the Nigeria waters seems to have been swallowed by the media hoax.

    Now, the situation has led to preventing large vessels from berthing in these ports. They are however dogged with what is commonly referred to as ‘tug boats ’and small ships. This has also led to an ever increasing volume of losses to investors. The federal government has not helped matters with her unfriendly business policies in the ports. Possibly things will improve with the new Executive Orders aimed at government liberalization of activities in the Lagos axis. Most ports operating nations have an average of four days free of demurrage and several charges for the duration of berthing and off loading. Nigeria allows only two days for the same services unlike in Holland and other European seaport nations. This no doubt reduces the volume of traffic in the nation’s port thereby depleting the level of revenue accruing to the country.

    The longer time a visiting ship spends in our ports, the greater its losses through ubiquitous charges and the higher its emissions of local and global pollutants into our environment.

    The poor management of the nation’s water ways had greatly contributed to the underutilization of the Delta Steel Company Limited, Ovwian/Aladja before the place finally went under. The government has deliberately ignored calls for the dredging of the Escravos bar to expand maritime business opportunities. The story has not changed.

    The nation’s ports are the gate ways to international trade and as such could be regarded as the engine room and the fulcrum on which a nation’s economic life revolves. Indeed, the ports are the accelerator of a nation’s economic development. More of Nigeria’s area is covered by waters. It covers about 366,376 sq km of the nations’ compact area of 923,768sq km.

    A port becomes an active wheel of the growth of a nation’s economy only if it is managed inefficiently. Undoubtedly, the functions of a port is not only limited to the traditional activities but has expanded to a logistical platform.

    Basically, the desire of the federal government to diversify the economy in the absence of working port system is an exercise in futility.

    Recently, Nigeria is to export about one million tonnes of yam tubers from across the country. One begins to wonder how effective the movement of these goods will be done using only the ports in the Lagos axis. The government needs to go into partnership with state governments with maximum maritime environment on the rehabilitation of the nations’ ports in Calabar, Warri, Port-Harcourt and Burutu while engaging in the building of deep seaports in states such as Bayelsa State and Akwa-Ibom state.

    How long will the Nigerian government continue to waste the nations’ resources as a result of the negligence suffered by the maritime environment? Time to effect positive changes in the development of the nations’ waterways is now.

     

    • Akporhobo Tataunu,

    akporhobota26@gmail.com

  • Lottery grips the nation’s capital

    Lottery grips the nation’s capital

    A game of chance is gaining stature in Abuja, attracting celebrities, GBENGA OMOKHUNU reports

    Lottery is becoming very popular in Nigeria. It may seem revolutionary but it is not entirely a new thing. It started with pools betting which has been around for a very long time. This revolution is now fueled by several things which include access to media, technology and the internet, which have now brought lottery even to our mobile phones.

    Some companies worth hundreds of millions of Naira have in the process of building their brands embarked on vigorous publicity to attract massive followership. The passion lottery evokes has contributed immensely to the popularity of so many games.

    Not minding the recession, Abuja residents and other people across the country now have fun and play the recently lunched ‘Give and Take’ lottery game in Abuja.

    Since the launch, the lottery jackpot price which was N15 million has now been increased to over N18 million because the last draws have produced no winners.

    Managing Director, of Give ‘N’ Take lottery Limited, Jolly Enabulele, at the launch of the national jackpot game said it is the first of its kind in Nigeria aimed at creating millionaires like never before in the country.

    He said the company is passionate about giving back to the society adding that this would be done by engaging in good causes as part of the Corporate Social Responsibilities.

    He said, “In the National Jackpot game, Lottery players would genuinely win millions and even billions of Naira every week as Give ‘n’ take lottery limited, one of the leading lottery companies in Nigeria rolls out the first National Lottery Jackpot on June 25, 2017 here in Abuja the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT),

    “We plan to hold draws every Sunday, featuring Nigeria celebrities from across the entertainment industry. It is important to state here that our big jackpot prize which starts from N15 million shall be rolled over if no winner/winners emerge at any draw in addition to a percentage of the total money realized for that week, This simply means that there will be a bigger jackpot prize in our next draw and the rollover shall continue until eventually winner/winners emerge.

    “Segun Arinze and Linda Osifo are hosting the game show every week…We thank God we have been able to achieve a lot successfully and Nigerians will have the privilege of playing a game that is not foreign but our own.”

    He said the company had offices in over 24 states adding that: “We have the web play. People can go to the web to play. This means we are all over Nigeria. Every part of Nigeria will benefit from this noble cause.”

    The Acting Director-General, National Lottery Regulatory Commission, (NLRC), Mr. Adamu Sifawa confirmed the authenticity of the lottery and urged Nigerians not to panic.

    Acting Director, Administration and Finance of the commission, Mr. Robert Bolokor also called for the utilisation of lottery funds to revamp the sports sector in the country.