The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ostrich

  • When leaders play the ostrich

    When leaders play the ostrich

    The social media platform is the place to visit when you want a good laughter or wish to engage in deep reflection about our nation’s diversity. Let me share with you dear readers, the following two postings by unknown authors which I stumbled upon during my visit last week.  From its focus, it was however apparent the first posting was by a hard core President Buhari supporter.  It says: “I campaigned for change, I voted for change. I believe in change”. It went on to ask how PDP that is gearing up to take over from Buhari in 2019 expects Buhari to deliver in one year what it failed to do in 16 years. Concluding, it reminded Wike and Fayose PDP in case they have forgotten, that PDP met a bag of rice at N2, 500 in 1999 but left it at N11, 000 in 2015, exchange rate at N20 to a dollar but left it at N220, pump price of petrol at N11 but left it at N87, a tin of milk at N15 but left it at N100 and life expectancy of 59 years reduced to 42 by 2015.

    And finally, as a parting shot, it reminded PDP it inherited only OPC in 1999 but foisted on the nation Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, Niger Delta militants, the Avengers, MASSOB and IPOB by 2015 when its planned 60 years of uninterrupted reign was abridged by ‘Sai Buhari.’

    The second posting was that of a frustrated Nigerian who compared our nation to a vehicle undergoing a repair in a mechanic workshop. The mechanic discovered, after fixing the brain box, that someone had removed the tyres, and when that was done discovered the battery was gone and then the kick starter. And finally when he thought he was ready to drive off at night fall as it started to rain, he discovered the headlamps and wipers were gone. Chief Obafemi Awolowo who claimed to have taken his time to study Nigerian problems and proffered  solutions, using different imagery seem to have painted the same scenario a long while ago using the imagery of a cow held by some people while it was repeatedly milked by a few powerful individuals.

    It suddenly occurred to me that except our hypocritical leaders and those benefiting from our current anarchy, it is not difficult for ordinary Nigerians and those leaders who genuinely care about our country to clearly articulate our crisis of nation building.

    What is apparent from the second posting is that those who are pillaging our nation have no faith in Nigeria as a corporate entity. For leaders who genuinely believe in nation-building therefore, their task is finding out why people don’t have faith in their country. Strategic studies have clearly shown that lack of faith in one country arises from social discontent, marginalisation, injustice and denial of quest for self-actualisation, all of which find expression in social strife, sabotage of economic activities, rebellion, militancy and sometimes civil war. While we have experienced all these manifestations since the end of the civil war, we have done everything but address the causes of these malcontents.

    Instead of learning how other multi-ethnic societies face their own demons, our successive leaders from Gowon through Obasanjo, Babangida, Jonathan and Buhari have continued to play the ostrich while self-serving members of the governing elite demonstrate their lack of faith in the country by stealing the country blind. The state without an hegemonic power, pummelled from all sides by disgruntled restive members of the federating groups, is thus reduced to an orphan repeatedly raped and pillaged by privileged member of the governing elite while our leaders issue empty declaration about indivisibility of what for all intent and purposes, is a carcass of a once vibrant Nigeria that today needs restructuring along the lines of sustainable development.

    Let us trace our way back to Gowon after the civil war. It is on record that 11 of Gowon’s 12 military administrators who prevented him from keeping faith with his transition programme were found by judicial commission of inquiry to be men with feet of clay. Some of his civilian commissioners  including Pa Edwin Clark who back then joined others to proclaim Gowon the messiah just as he did in 2015 40 years later as President Jonathan’s adopted father, were found to have benefitted from the 1972 indigenisation exercise.

    Fast forward to Babangida regime in 1985. While he was busy turning the nation to net importer of labour of other societies by ceding the commanding heights of the economy to mostly dubious and ill-equipped members of the governing elite that ran the economy aground through asset stripping, he was getting award after award from intellectuals who christened him “Prince of the lower Niger’’ and, from the National Economic Society of Nigeria (NES) who bestowed on him a fellowship, their highest honour for his handling of the economy.

    Precisely because Obasanjo who is violently opposed to restructuring also suffers from messianic complex, he was an easy prey to those who have lost faith in Nigeria. Those who conferred on him the titles of “maker of modern Nigeria and father of the nation” went on to confiscate our budding industries through ill-implemented privatization programme of our common patrimony through self-serving monetisation government policy. As if to further demonstrate their lack of faith in Nigeria, they derailed his power sector and railway modernization projects.

    President Jonathan who as a minority is a victim of injustice by the dominant groups had an opportunity to restructure the country but completely overwhelmed, he was to confess out of office that he was caged all through his presidency. The humongous amount stolen under his nose was a testimony that those who claimed he was the answer to the national question served none but themselves.

    Almost three years into the Buhari administration, his apparent lack of commitment to restructuring, the missteps of his kitchen cabinet members who seem to shield corrupt elements and have no inclination to pretend about their sectional agenda appears to have removed the myth of Buhari messianic assignment.

    The growing frustration of his supporters that fear he is squandering away the goodwill of Nigerians by his refusal to denounce some of the activities and pronouncement of some of his aides that tend to undermine his integrity was not helped by the visit of some APC governors to Aso rock seat of power to adopt him APC 2019 presidential candidate. This was on a day Benue was burying the remains of 73 of her indigenes allegedly killed by Fulani herdsmen.  It is equally no relief to Buhari supporters that a parallel  can easily be drawn between the action of these self-serving governors who have become liabilities to their states and the APC  and Daniel Kanu’s two million Youths Earnestly Ask For Abacha  Abuja march and the trading of untruth around the country by Ifeanyi Uba-led  Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) that claimed to have secured 18 million signatories of those who earnestly wanted Jonathan as PDP sole candidate for the 2015 election.

    The unfolding tragedy  is a clear evidence our ill- equipped past military leaders and their military baked ‘new-breed’ successors  cannot give what they don’t have.

  • Playing the ostrich – all over again

    Playing the ostrich – all over again

    Thursday last week, Minister of State for Petroleum Ibe Kachikwu – as if to remind Nigerians that fuel scarcity which sneaked into town in December is not about to dissipate any time soon – directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to ensure that petrol queues were cleared in Abuja before Sunday.

    The minister, as reported by Vanguard, also stated that the queues have been persistent because logistics and policy issues that could end the scarcity are largely unaddressed:

    “I can tell you behind the scenes, a lot of meetings are taking place because the fuel queue issue is both logistics and policy issues.

    “We will need to address fundamental policy issues to enable it go away especially in the area where the pricing is showing differentials between the landing and sales price.

    And then, as if to remind that our chief of state is not entirely indifferent to our tears and supplications, he would also add almost superfluously: “The president is obviously very committed to keeping the price of petrol at where it is because he realises and sympathises with the sufferings of Nigerians.

    Now, let’s take the issues one by one – starting with why the directive was specific to Abuja and not nationwide.

    The minister had a ready, interesting answer: The maiden edition of the international oil and gas conference and exhibition tagged the Nigerian International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) holding from Sunday February 18 to Friday February 23: “I will hate for my colleagues to come and see the fuel queues so my directive to NNPC would be to get these queues out of Abuja”.

    By colleagues, he meant the attendees at the summit most of whom, already too familiar with our literature of ineptitude, would hardly notice in any case. Never mind that this is what the ordinary citizen has had to put up with for nearly three months running; as far as the minister was concerned, the PR disaster of having the capital city of OPEC’s sixth largest exporter of crude suffer a weeklong lockdown while the summit lasted would seem by far more than the most of excruciating pains of an anguished citizens can assuage.

    So, over to you Abuja folks; enjoy the respite while it lasts! As for the rest of the country – with notable exception of Lagos where official price still bears the semblance of ruling the market, that is, if you don’t mind the inconveniencing queues at the filling stations –market forces have long been calling the shots with petrol in some parts of the country selling for between N200-N250 a litre.

    At issue is why the nation’s pumps have been coming in drips despite the so-called massive intervention of the national oil corporation, the heroic efforts of the duo of Kachikwu and Maikanti Baru, and the legendary empathy of the chief of state with the sufferings of the people. By now, we have seen enough of the maverick psych-ops of the men of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and their daily rounds of sealing fuel stations; the endless finger-printing between the leading actors in the fuel supply chain – NNPC, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPMAN) and Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) as to who to hold responsible for the crisis. We are also familiar with the statistics routinely rolled out showing that the country has enough white products to last her many lifetimes, not excluding the calm assurances of those in the position to do so that good times are already at the door. Yet, the problem has not gone away.

    In fact, that the minister is still talking about “logistics and policy issues” three months after the symptoms of the familiar disease resurfaced would seem to indicate how far the government and the major institutions in the fuel supply chain would prefer to live in denial rather than put the cards on the table.

    Call the problem a good one if you may, it is a well-known fact that the current fuel price of N145 per litre was set when oil sold for $35 per barrel. Today, oil prices have since neared $70 a barrel just as the foreign reserve has been on a steady upward climb. At the last count, it was said to have hit $42 billion plus. Unfortunately, while exulting in the build-up of the foreign reserves, Nigerians may have shut their minds to the corresponding upward pressure on domestic fuel prices and consequently the steady relapse to the pre cost-recovery regime of fuel pricing particularly at a time of continuing reliance on imports.

    And so when the minister says that the president is “very committed to keeping the price of petrol at where it is because he realises and sympathises with the sufferings of Nigerians”, it can only be that the president is only too aware that the current fuel price math –elegantly framed by the minister as ‘differentials between the landing and sales price’, no longer adds up! The question here is what his administration has done to address the issue beyond playing the ostrich, hoping perhaps the problem will disappear by itself!

    To be sure, no one has yet called for a review of fuel prices. The much that has been said is that the situation is delicate – and so requires thoughtful, deliberate policy actions. This is even more so since major importers have long stopped the trade precisely because doing so at current price is as good as a one-way fare to bankruptcy. And the consequence? A space yielded exclusively to the national oil corporation – a burden that it has been unable to discharge – owing to twin factors of logistics and cash.  It certainly says a lot about the priorities of the administration that it has been practically Missing In Action (MIA) since the cost-recovery template was set in May 2016.

    That being the situation hardly merits a denial. But what do we hear? Denials and more denials from the NNPC and the federal government. Not even when the situation calls for the opening the treasury vaults to bridge cost-price recovery gap. Ostensibly for fear of giving anything away, the government’s price fixing agency – even the Petroleum Products Prices Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has gone as far as yanking the price template element off its website as if doing so will restore things to normalcy!

    So much for the love of fatherland, it needs to be said at this time that the only crimes worse than denial is the secrecy and potential rip-off foisted by the current regime of under–recovery of fuel costs.  Perhaps, the government and the NNPC will yet inform Nigerians of the existence of a piggy bank permitted for such operations outside of the law. Until then, it stands to reason that someone, somewhere, may actually be breaking the law!

    And now I ask: Is the National Assembly MIA too?

  • Stop playing the ostrich

    We are today reaping what we sowed. And now that the cost of arrogance, compromise and opportunism which have come to define our interactions since 1950 stares everyone in the face, all stakeholders in the Nigeria project must understand it is time to stop playing the ostrich. The greater burden however is on the APC government that promised restructuring while asking for our votes but coming face to face with the Fulani hegemonic power that has always had its way, now talks from both sides of the mouth.

    The Fulani hegemonic power seem to have been playing a game of poker with the destiny of the nation since 1950 when it first threatened secession except 50% of membership of the central house was conceded to the  north. It also insisted on holding on to Ilorin, a Yoruba city acquired through deceit.  The demands were met. The north again threatened secession in 1953 but withdrew her threat only after the introduction of the 1954 regional arrangement. At the London 1957 constitutional conference, Ahmadu Bello resisted attempt to carve out new regions for the restive ethnic groups within his region. It found a ready ally in the Zik. When Awo staged a tactical walkout over the minority issue and the status of Lagos, Zik compromised on all outstanding issues and came out to congratulate himself for preserving the unity of the country. In 1959, the Sardauna again had his way when Zik rejected Awo and went into alliance with NPC alleging betrayal by Dr Olorunnibe who had earlier refused to step down for him to represent Lagos at the centre and by Awo for denying him an opportunity to be premier of the west in 1952. In 1962, the Sardauna had the last laugh when Western Region was crushed by the coalition partners.

    The 1963 census result foreclosed the chances of the Igbo ever producing the leadership of the country through constitutional means and to prevent them achieving same through unconstitutional means, Ahmadu Bello who had sworn he would “never accept a head of state possessing any real power if that person might be a southerner” (Clark P.594), directed Lt. Col. Gowon to source for civil servants that could be drafted to join the military “to dilute many Igbo subalterns and captains” in the army. Gowon’s efforts did not yield many dividends.

    In January 1966, military officers sympathetic to Zik and NCNC struck eliminating northern military and political leaders. In July 1966, the northern military officers sympathetic to Ahmadu Bello and NPC struck, killing Ironsi, the Head of State as well as over 300 Igbo military officers. Of course their precondition for remaining within the federation was for the north to produce a successor to slain Ironsi. They had their way with Gowon emerging as the new head of state over and above his other seniors in the military after holding the nation hostage for four days.

    Gowon was succeeded by Murtala Mohammed, another northerner after the civil war. Following his assassination, Obasanjo who became head of state by default was also succeeded by Shehu Shagari who in turn was followed by Buhari, Babangida and Abdul Salami in that order. The annulment of MKO Abiola’s victory by Babangida, citing resistance from the military and opposition of the north produced Obasanjo as the only southern head of state between 1966 and 1999. But then Obasanjo who was roundly rejected by his Yoruba people as it turned out was the candidate of the military and the northern establishment. He was succeeded by Yar’Adua while Jonathan was an accident. And now we have President Buhari.

    These successive northern leaders institutionalised injustice by carving out 20 states and many more LGAs from one region as against 17 from the other three regions. More states and more LGAs arbitrarily created for the north meant more allocation of resources to the north at the expense of areas that generate the revenue.

    We have no evidence Ahmadu Bello’s opposition to an emergence of southern leadership was motivated by a desire to short-change the rest of the country. Ahmadu Bello who was considering the possibility of dredging River Congo to serve the north if deprived of access to the sea by Lagos was probably too proud and arrogant to envision or design a north that would be totally dependent on the south. It is on record that with the judicious deployment of internally generated revenue, he built Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Ahmadu Bello Stadium, and the biggest business conglomerate in Africa. While Nuhu Ribadu, the former EFCC boss was challenging the northern governors to account for all the billions they had collected since 1999 not too long ago, he reminded them that the resources  with which the former premier  implemented those projects was not more than what a local government now collects as yearly allocation.

    It can therefore be argued that Ahmadu Bello’s apprehension about conceding power to southern leaders was driven more by fear of re-colonisation of the north by a more educationally advanced and more economic vibrant south than a deliberate plan to confiscate the resources of others for the benefit of the north. If this is the new narrative after Ahmadu Bello’s death, the military and the current parasitic northern leaders who have continued to oppose the restructuring of the country even in areas as important as policing should carry the can.

    The reality today however is that we are all losers with the north which has produced eight of the last Nigerian leaders, presently controlling more states and  LGAs that collect free allocations from the centre as the greatest loser of all.

    The north according to the acting President has “the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the country, the lowest rate of child enrolment in schools, the highest number of unemployed peoples and the highest level of poverty and faces the challenges of inter-ethnic and inter religious conflict including the Boko Haram terrorists” while UNDP reports shows that 72% of northerners live below the poverty line with 10m children out of school.

    The East lost its advantage of having 65% of their children in school as against 35% of Yoruba and 105 secondary schools to the West 25 which it secured between 1941and 1952 with the help of Zik. Besides losing about 1.5 million youths to the civil war, it also lost its dominance in federal institutions and establishments. The West lost its giant strides in education, industrialisation, and agriculture.in addition to its cultural values. Obasanjo’s mainstreaming has turned our youths to ‘area boys’ and political thugs. It is unsafe to for our elders to walk their streets while our children are not secure in their schools. The war has been brought from the North and the East to our door steps.

    Today the route back to the ‘path of Nigeria freedom’ we once rejected have unfortunately become even more treacherous.  Those who have held others hostage are afraid of a sovereign national conference. Some have suggested elite consensus. The problem here is that the current political elite are military creation with sharing of spoils of war as their guiding philosophy just like the military.

    There is also the Indian Model as suggested by Professor Banji Akintoye where appointed commission of experts submits their recommendation to political office holders for consideration and implementation.

    This is not the time to sit on the fence while National Assembly members that cannot be trusted over the salaries and allowances they pay themselves deceitfully claim tinkering with the present military authored unitary constitution is the same thing as restructuring. This, as Jiti Ogunye, a lawyer and social commentator argued during a channel television programme last Sunday, is like applying palliatives to a cancer patient while waiting for him to die.

  • Of Nigerians’ ostrich mentality

    SIR: The ostrich mentality depicts a mentality somewhat lacking intelligence and incapable of rationalization. Oftentimes, the culture and religion that creates such mentality reducing the capacity of the human mind to think intelligently and rationalize logically.

    Trapped in this cycle, people are exploited, seduced and controlled by the elites to achieve their selfish ends. The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi obviously saw through these follies when he appealed to northerners to change their attitude to marriage and child-bearing. He urged then to marry only the numbers of wives and produce the number of children they can adequately cater for in the interest of themselves, the nation and the entire nation.

    He reiterated that he had no quarrel with anyone who undertook a family he had capacity for.He noted that only children brought up with close parental love and care could have value to themselves and the larger society. He stressed, “We are obsessed by number as anything produced en masse is cheap. We have produced all these children like commodities; they are there on the street and that is why they die and people do not care.”

    He called on northern leaders to seriously look at the failure of social policy in the region, including altitude to marriage, early marriage, family planning, polygamy, and divorce, rights of a child over the parents and the responsibilities of fathers.

    He averred that, many northerners feel that a father is anyone who is able to produce a child and parenting is all about biological reproduction and not about proper upbringing. From the viewpoint of a seasoned Banker, policy maker, scholar and leader, the Emir has been able to speak to the barrier of culture and religion to expose the half buried ostrich head in the sand.

    His advocacy is a mere re-echoing of past and continuing concerted efforts by non-governmental organizations, private sector, scholars and foundations to refocus attention of northern state governments to social policy, schools, teachers, equipment and scholarship.

    The wind has been blowing to expose the fowl’s anus like the folly of the giant ostrich bird. It exerts energy on hiding it head that perches on a very long neck and always exposed to the full glare of the people.

    What a folly though, that a society would trap its people in the vicious cycle of poverty in the name of culture and religion. Who then is to blame for the abject poverty ravaging the northern part of Nigeria? We are living in a Judgment Day as we witness the dire consequence of a people forced to live in the past even when the world changes at the speed of sound. It is a clear case of Clash of Culture as they tried to recreate old identities that are fast fading into oblivion.

    Must the world stand still or maul culture and religion on its way as change remains the only constant phenomenon in life? It is a herculean struggle between conservatism and liberalism and the land and its inhabitants live to bear the brunt.

     

    • Comrade Ogbu A, Ameh,

     Owukpa Akatekwe Kingdom,

    Ogbadibo LGA, Benue State.