The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PMB

  • Nwabueze: PMB must listen to this oracle

    Nigeria remains in a flux. So much happening, yet our lives remain painfully in regression or static at best. Worse still, we all seem to have exhausted ourselves. One cannot help forming the eerie imagery of duelers now prostrate in the dust after a long affray – pile of bodies half covered by dust, barely alive…

    And we have been through all the issues over and over again, yet it’s either that there is nobody out there or there is acute hearing challenge. Today, there is simply nothing fresh to comment upon; same old humdrum about catching suspected thieves. At a time like this, a pot-pourri of small issues proves handy. I was to pick on Jimoh Ibrahim and his antics in the upcoming Ondo State governorship race. Someone needed to tell him to eschew his perennial rascality and allow us to tend to our democracy. This column was going to tell him that in some detail.

    One was to poke at Ibe Kachikwu’s phantom refineries and the wildly escalating crises in the petroleum sector. There is also the adjunct matter of a renewed wild-goose chase in the Chad basin for oil and Nigeria’s burning of billions of naira in this 30-year old quest. One’s attention was also drawn to the APC governors’ tiff with the president over sidelining them in the federal appointments booty.

    But all of these issues had to be swept aside upon reading a note from Professor Benjamin Nwabueze to President Buhari. For those who may not know, Nwabueze is an octogenarian, an elder statesman and one of the most rigorous minds of his age alive today. Of course, his glittering academic and work lives have been subjects of tomes of books. An academic and legal titan, he is by miles, the most prolific and most cerebral of his time.

    His prodigious work ethic and intellectual eminence is like luminous morning sun and is evident in the constitutional history and law faculties of numerous African countries.

    Prof. Nwabueze has been a strident critic of this administration; sometimes uncomfortably so. But the old man is a die-hard patriot who is deeply passionate about his convictions in matters concerning Nigeria.

    Rising from a meeting of the Igbo Leaders of Thought (ILT), a body he chairs, he urged PMB to change his style of governance. He did not say anything new other than merely reinforcing the cogency and indeed, urgency of some irksome matters. Since we want the government to take an especial note of these things, here are bullet-points:

    Herdsmen palaver: this matter of licentious herdsmen being perceived as some kind of nascent islamisation of Nigeria is utterly dangerous. And it is gaining currency in the south of Nigeria. This column does not believe in the religious imputation and colouration of the cattle-rearers’ brigandage, but the presidency does not seem to appreciate the situation.

    From Kaduna to Benue, Kogi, Enugu, Ekiti and indeed even Abuja, cattle and their breeders are on the rampage, killing, maiming and destroying farms. Yet the president cannot seem to respond appropriately and adequately. It is as if he has given a tacit nod to these marauders. Nwabueze warns about a matter that might throw the nation into an unquenchable conflagration if nothing is done urgently.

    • Appointments in the nation’s security services: this singular action of PMB will not only haunt his tenure but has pork-marked his presidency, his persona and his history. He has also left a dangerous precedence that will plague the polity for a long time. It is difficult to explain how about 15 key security and strategic positions are parcelled solely to his kinsmen.

    He also mentioned the recent sack of over 40 officers in the Army and wondered if it is by accident that most of them are from the South?

    • Nwabueze advised PMB to release Nnamdi Kanu of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) unconditionally and engage the people in dialogue, noting that the demand for self-determination does not necessarily mean secession. His words: “Political agitations for self-determination are taking place in various parts of the world, in Europe, Asia, America, etc. The agitators are not massacred with state- owned arms and ammunition, but are brought round for dialogue. The situation here should not be different. Dialogue is the approach.”
    • Of corruption fight, noise and propaganda: he says while ILT is not against the fight against corruption, the manner it is being prosecuted is unacceptable. “The fight is highly skewed against perceived opponents of the party in government. People are arrested and bank accounts are frozen without due process…” He noted that a few current appointees have been fingered in monumental corruption, but the government pretends not to notice.
    • On the economy, the Avengers and recession: he averred that this is the worst economic situation ever and urged the government to address the immediate cause by engaging the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) in a dialogue.

    Prof. Nwabueze said so much more. But we will conclude that any thinking government would not only listen to him carefully, but would do well to keep a line of communication with him.

     

    Abia’s dirty politics

    Abia State in the Southeast of Nigeria is tagged ‘God’s Own State’, but its politics has been anything but godly. Indeed, some desperate politicians in the state who cannot live down their fall from power and serial humiliation at the polls have continued to wrestle in the muck and be-splatter mud to anyone in sight.

    One target of this dirty fight is the immediate past governor, Chief Theodore Ahamefule Orji, who has been the relentless butt of media attacks by his fallen godfather and former ‘owner’ of Abia State. All manner of hack writers and newspaper advertorials are deployed every week to shoot down one man.

    In utter show of desperation, the last set of advertorials has those jaded pictures of Chief Orji supposedly in a shrine taking oath. It is shocking how blackmailers shamelessly publish photos, which showcase their evil handiwork in the first place.

    But Chief Orji has nothing to be ashamed of. Any patriot must be willing to make even the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of his people. A great leader must be ready to go to any shrine – if that is what it takes – to retrieve his people from a dark, fetish abyss to a new day of light and progress. In fact, those TA Orji shrine pictures should be mounted on billboards across the country to show the courage of one man and the persecution he had to suffer to make Abia the safe, peaceful and unshackled state it is today.

    There must be a limit to bitter politics and campaign of calumny isn’t there?

  • PMB, appoint minister for Kogi

    Since the unfortunate demise of the James Ocholi, Minister of State for Labour in a ghastly accident along Abuja-Kaduna road in March 2016, the seat of Kogi State at federal executive council is yet to be filled hence our clarion call on President Muhammadu Buhari to look into the issue.

    Kogi State is blessed with competent, intelligent and hard-working personalities that can be counted upon to join hands with other great Nigerians in the council, who are diligently using their talents to advance the cause of this country. The non-inclusion of Kogi indigene in the council has deprived the state its representation in decision- making of this country. Such as person can from any part of the state; that is, from any of the three senatorial district of the state.

    After all, the people of Kogi State voted en masse for this government whose emergence has rekindled the hopes of the people of this country for the much expected change. They would be delighted to see the government waste no further time to appoint one of their own as a minister.

     

    • Bala Nayashi,

    Lokoja, Kogi State.

  • Why PMB must visit Abuja stadium

    On Tuesday September 6, 2016, New Telegraph carried a two-page feature on the $300 million Abuja National Stadium wasting away. On the 10th, The Nation also ran a two page report on Lagos National Stadium, as a monument of decay. The pictures accompanying the stories would make any patriot cry.

    The degeneracy at the Lagos monument has been on for about 15 years. If only the president would take an unscheduled visit to one of these stadia; he is sure to weep. And we ask: If the federal government cannot manage facilities as simple as stadia then we are truly in trouble.

    Why don’t we have any shame? Why can’t we get even the most elementary things done? This night, without waiting till tomorrow, the president can simply order that these facilities be sold off, concessioned or be managed by a task force that renders an annual account to the presidency. This presidential order will not cost money!!!

  • Niger Delta and PMB’s diplomacy

    The tension and uncertainty in the Niger Delta caused by recent violent attacks against oil installations and facilities in the area by resurgent militancy has created doubts about the diplomacy and peace-making ability of President Muhammadu Buhari. In the minds of some people mostly detractors of the President and even ordinary Nigerians whose views are coloured by the prevailing and excruciating hardship in the country, the President is seen as something of a war-monger. This however, is far from the truth.

    President Buhari’s attitude, posturing and utterances about the Niger Delta situation is affected by the fact that as a lover of Nigeria, who is pained by the sorry state of the nation, the anti- corruption crusader finds it difficult to make the link between any form of agitation for restitution for wrongs done any group, with the destruction and damage of national infrastructure especially those that benefit everyone let alone, infrastructure and national property sited in those parts of the country from where the agitations are coming.

    Yet another reason why PMB is perhaps piqued with the militants and for which reason, he loses his cool, is because as a young man, he was a participant in a brutal civil war that led to the death of several thousands of Nigerians and many years after, some people are taking steps that could lead to a repeat of that experience. Happily, there are several voices of caution coming from Nigerians of all walks of life prescribing and urging restraint on all sides to the Niger Delta problem and demanding for dialogue.

    This writer would like to appeal to our fellow country people in the creeks of the Niger Delta, to give peace a chance and not further compound the present economic downturn that has hit Nigeria hard with a recession. No doubt, the Niger Delta and indeed other parts of Nigeria has not been fairly treated over the years by successive governments but the way to go is not to make prosperity and governance impossible through violence and confrontation with the government. It should be noted that the problems of neglect affecting the Niger Delta today, strictly speaking, is not PMB’s doing, but the summation of poor and irresponsible governance over the years. PMB is now at the receiving end of demands for restitution because governance and government is a continuum; the onus is on the government of the moment to be held responsible. Nonetheless, restitution and justice in our society cannot come overnight and there is not so much a government, any government can do in the short space of a year and a few months of a four-year mandate! Thus the best approach is peace and dialogue and the willingness to allow a spirit of give and take.

    On the side of the government however, it is important that the latter eschews sending uncertain and ambiguous signals as well as make utterances that do not promote trust, confidence and the foundation for fruitful dialogue. One expects the body language of President Buhari on the Niger Delta issue and the agitation by separatists in the South-east to be one that shows that the President believes in the unity of Nigeria and is prepared as leader of the nation, to deploy his best endeavours to build consensus and defeat the pull of centrifugalism in the polity.

    This writer challenges the President who clearly is a passionate nationalist to employ and deploy the body language that is changing the ethics and values of Nigerians in the fight against corruption and in his diplomatic endeavours to apply to domestic issues so that the unity of the country will be embedded in the hearts and minds of Nigerians and not something that depends on threats and the ability of the Nigerian Army to enforce. Such unity cannot stand and would be tenuous at best. Being an elderly and wise man, the President can do this and score excellent results the way he has been able to charm the international community to buy into his anti-corruption campaign and desire to elevate and diversify the nation’s economy away from oil.

    The Niger Delta problem cannot be resolved by military action. Recently,   retired Colonel Abubakar Umar was on point on this. Of course it is right for the President to say that if the militants currently engaged in economic sabotage fail to embrace peace, the government would have no option but to use violence. The government however should be wary of sending signals that it prefers a showdown by goading the militants into confrontation. The point is that in a real military encounter, the nations’ army would surely overwhelm any group of armed persons no matter how well armed, they are. In the process of engaging them militarily, two things would happen; one, the option of dialogue would have been foreclosed giving the impression that the channels of conflict resolution in the polity is weak or non-existent and that the parties are now implacable enemies and second, in seeking to teach the militants a lesson, the nation’s army would inflict more damage and destruction on the economic infrastructure of the nation through aerial bombardment thus committing a similar crime like the militants. In this connection, the militants would have succeeded in provoking the government to cause more devastation with its own hands. Bearing in mind that the militants are not the government, the present administration would still be saddled with the unpleasant task of embarking on reconstruction of these facilities, or a successor government would be tasked with the unpleasant and expensive assignment. On a balance this would extend and deepen the woes of the nation which military force was intended to deal with. It should be noted that since after the civil war, more than 40 years ago, the South-east which suffered most from that war in terms of destruction of lives, properties and infrastructure is still yearning and waiting for reconstruction, rehabilitation and restitution. The country cannot successfully tread the same part again on the Niger Delta issue.

    Nigerians who watched proceedings and read reports of the outing of the country at the recent Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Nairobi, Kenya last week, were full of pride at the performance and conduct of President Buhari. As the leading salesperson of the country, PMB did very well and won Nigeria not only admiration but many friends. The Nairobi conference sponsored by the Japanese government showed the Nigerian leader as a confident diplomat and crowd puller and has reinforced the successes and expectations of his earlier foreign trips in quest of foreign help in the area of investments, capital inflow, repatriation of stolen assets and monies of the country, and the fight against terrorism.

    Following the above, it cannot be said that such a magnet in international circles, PMB cannot apply the same charm that has yielded pledges of cooperation and assistance from World leaders to the domestic arena in dealing with manifestations of discontent to give the nation the peace, unity and harmony it desperately needs to overcome its present challenges.

     

    • Okoroma, a Public Affairs Analyst writes from Abuja.

  • PMB: Respond to calls for restructuring

    The call for the restructuring of the Nigerian federation is being raised from most directions across Nigeria. Very many informed men and women with strong desires for the success and prosperity of Nigeria, former high public officials of Nigeria’s federal and state governments, other people with the most exalted experiences in the governance and management of Nigeria, some of Nigeria’s most respected intellectuals, professionals and businessmen, and countless civic organizations and youth organizations –all are raising their voices and calling for the restructuring of this federation, out of love for this country. All are warning that if the restructuring of this federation continues to be delayed, Nigeria could soon break up.

    Even the most radical among the youths of our country, the ones who have gone so far as to demand secession for their ethnic nations out of Nigeria, and even the ones who are engaging in blood-cuddling destruction of assets in their part of Nigeria in order to enforce their demands, all nevertheless indicate from time to time that they still have room for compromise and settlement if the Nigerian federation were restructured.

    The call for restructuring never ceases coming these days. And the warning that Nigeria could soon break up if restructuring continues to be delayed never ceases to come these days too. The chance to save Nigeria still exists. But the probability that Nigeria could implode and break up is mounting fearfully.

    And most developments and emerging realities are adding to the awful probability that Nigeria could soon disintegrate. The weakness of the economy is accelerating almost out of hand. Even the national chairman of the ruling party has now told Nigeria that his party is baffled by the depth to which Nigeria’s economy has fallen. Some months ago, there was sudden news that America and India had stepped up to resume buying Nigeria’s oil, thereby saving Nigeria from the crushing circumstance that the world was no longer buying our oil. But now, a reverse news has come that both America and India are again reducing purchases of Nigeria’s oil; that Nigeria is offering deep discounts in order to attract buyers and that buyers are not forthcoming. And, meanwhile, the source of the oil is sinking into deeper and deeper trouble as various Delta militant groups continue to destroy oil platforms and pipelines, and as the major oil-mining companies are forced to relocate their activities and investments to other oil producing countries – especially to Angola. Even if the Nigerian army does invade and overrun the Delta, the military victory is distinctly unlikely to produce a quick revival of the oil industry there, as a full scale war there would certainly result in greater damages to oil producing assets.

    Meanwhile, the attitudes of the international community are tilting against Nigeria. After Buhari was sworn in, and especially when he embarked on war against corruption, the international community felt warm towards him and Nigeria. I was in America when he paid his first visit as president to that country and addressed a gathering of Nigerians in Washington DC. We Nigerians felt good as our president was received with a surge of warmth and optimism by the American ruling class, business class, the media, and the general public. After all the gloom and doom of the last years of the Jonathan presidency, Buhari seemed to be inaugurating a new era of light, hope and growth. As a Nigerian elder resident abroad, I wrote a very optimistic article for this column in those days.

    But most of that optimism and hope has now dissipated, thanks largely to Buhari’s show of lack of understanding of the economy, thanks to his perceptible ineptitude in managing anything (including even his war against corruption), thanks to his tendency towards excessive loyalty and submissiveness to the ethnic and religious wishes and desires of his Hausa-Fulani nationality, thanks to his obvious disrespect for the party that got him into power and for political parties in general, thanks to his apparent spite for democracy – and his obvious spite for the voices of his countrymen. Informed voices in the international community are now more and more talking about fears of inevitable collapse of the Nigerian economy, of mounting poor human rights record, of lack of respect for the lives and rights of citizens, of likely mass reactions to economic distress, and of possible national collapse. Altogether, the Buhari presidency is putting Nigeria into a dark corner – a dark corner where Nigeria would steadily lose goodwill worldwide, where Nigeria would steadily lose the inflow of investment capital, and where Nigeria would find it extremely difficult to get help and support if the feared big trouble were to come.

    President Buhari needs to stop now, take a good look into and around him, seriously consider what Nigerians and foreigners are saying about his presidency and about his country, and begin seriously and resolutely to chart a different path for his presidency. As things stand today, people talking seriously and people joking on the worldwide social media are already wondering whether this man would be the last president of Nigeria, the president who would preside over the dissolution of Nigeria. That fate does not have to befall him or Nigeria. If he so chooses now, he can turn around and yet fulfil the best promises of the beginning of his presidency.

    One step that would very powerfully inaugurate the turn-around would be a new and serious attention for the demands for a restructuring of the Nigerian federation. That is where the true battle for the future of Nigeria now lies. The deciding battle no longer lies in the hands of a powerful military. Rulers tend to be blinded by their possession and control of military power. And President Buhari seems to reside most of his hope these days in the assurance that the Nigerian military can crush all dissidence, all revolts, and all attempts at secession. He is mounting troops in the South-south, South-east, and even South-west – in addition to those already in the North-east. What he does not seem to know is that crushing dissidence, revolts and attempts at secession today is no longer exactly equivalent to preserving Nigeria as one. This is not 1967-70. Nigerians have grown in knowledge and skills – especially in the awareness that they are not really weak in the world of today, and that even if they are vanquished by the army of the country to which they belong, they may still not lose their war for self-determination.

    People belonging to Buhari’s class in Nigerian society and politics, and people belonging to other levels of society, are urging him to lead our country into a restructuring of our federation without further delay. They are warning that our country could soon break up if he continues to ignore their calls. Even from his Fulani nationality where the orthodox belief has been since 1960 that only an all-powerful  and all-controlling Federal Government can serve their interests and take care of their fears in Nigeria, some leading citizens are now conceding that concentrating all power in the centre has hurt all sections of Nigeria very disastrously, and that the only way to save Nigeria now is to review the making of the states of our federation, and give to the new states the power to promote their own socio-economic development and defeat poverty among their own people – and make their own kinds of contribution to the success of Nigeria.

    Mr. President, the true need of any Nigerian people now is no longer about victory in establishing dominance over Nigeria. That has become grossly anachronistic. It has been blown away by the grinding power of poverty and the people’s determination to free themselves from poverty – poverty in the midst of plenty. You can only make yourself truly relevant by responding positively to the true need. Your destiny, Mr. President, your place in history, is in your own hands.

  • Open letter to PMB

    Often, people usually talk about the first 100 days of a president’s achievements in office. In many countries, it has now become a standard yardstick to gauge the effectiveness of the presidentin getting his or her new policies passed. The first 100 days is so important in a democratic system of government. It is a period that welcomes the new change as everybody is in the mood of accepting new ideas, programmes and policiesthat will move the country forward. There is hardly any serious opposition to the new President’spolicies during this period. The period is usually regarded as that of grace or honeymoon. Smart presidents usually capitalize on this period to get their policiespass into laws. A good example isUS President Obamawho got his affordable health care, Obamacare, passed into law during this period.

    The 100-day yardstick was established byFranklin D. Roosevelt of the United States in 1933.When he was sworn in as the president on March 3, 1933, the US was faced with the catastrophic state of depression. In addition, there was mass unemployment. The unemployment rate stood at about 25 percent. There was also the problem of inflation, bank failures and widespread loss of confidence. Banks were shutting down. Accountholders were losing their life’s savings. Businesses were running out of enough cash to keep going. FDR had no choice but toaddress the problem head on.He said in his inaugural speech March 4: “This nation asks for action, and action now. Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require.”

    His success in winning congressional approval became the model for future presidents in dealing with Congress during the first 100 days in office.

    PresidentMuhammadu Buhari may not be FDR: The problems he currently faces in Nigeria are similar to what President Roosevelt faced when he took office in 1934. Presently in Nigeria today, there is a high rate of unemployment, massive inflation, acute non-payment of salaries,and starklylack of both local and foreign cash flow.There is no regular power supply, potable water, security and standard road network in other words, basic amenities.

    Unlike FDR’s 100Days, President Buhari has a much longer grace period of one yearto address Nigeria’s teething problems. It is unimaginable for a worker or family to be without a monthly salary for six months. This is a serious egregious problem that needs to be addressed urgently.

    We all know that President Buhari did not create all these problems.It is a lot of sacrifice for him at this stage of his life and instead of staying with his beautiful family, chose to once more try to lead this country aright. However, one cannot but wonder how a career militaryofficer with military background that once ruled this country with draconian decrees–is now at the helms, navigating the intrigues of democracy with Senators and Congressmen some of who were still in theirdiaperswhen he first came to office,  December 31, 1983.

    President Buhari, you got this job again for over a year now, there is no time to waste. The problems are enormous and mounting. Among many of these daunting problems- two of them stand out that need urgent attention now, massive unemployment and non-payment of salaries. Confronted with similar situation in 1934, FDR said in his inaugural speech March 4, that “his task is to put people to work.”In order for the President Buhari to address these problems of mass unemployment and non-payment of salaries head on, he needs to embark onbuilding road network across the nation NOW.

    From history,nearly all advanced nations of the world first started by investing in road building.They embarked on road building for the primary purpose of addressing the issues of acute mass unemployment, economy and nation building. The end product of their actions paid off asthey were able to put many people to work and stabilized their economies. They developed superb road network infrastructure that are regularly maintained across their entire nations. Road building started in the ancient Rome, and the modern history shows the Germans builttheir Super-highways – autobahns in the 1930s. The Americans under General Dwight D. Eisenhowerwas captivated with the German highway system which influenced him to embark on massive construction of the interstates highways in the United States. We have seen how new developing nations and emerging economies have also started by investing on building roads.

    This is an opportunity for President Buhari now to start on nationbuilding by constructing modern highways. Start by constructing new and dualizing all trunks A and B roads across the nation. This is a shovel-ready project that will instantly put people to work. Employ credible indigenous and foreign road construction companies that will constructmodern road networks with rest areas. These will provide instant employment for millions of young and able-bodied across the nation.

    The benefit of road construction cannot be over emphasized as it will bring jobs to every corner and nook of Nigeria instantly. Consider that nearly all road contracting firms pay their worker weekly or bi- weekly. It will instantly jump-start the current stagnant economy by putting money into peoples’ pockets. Road construction provides both direct and indirect employments.

    Road construction provides direct employment for highway construction professionals such as road firm employees- road engineers, designers, tractor operators, managers, accountants,clerks, specialists, drivers, quality controllers, skilled, and unskilled laborers, etc.  The local area for the road construction usually provides thecatchment zone for the unskilled laborers thereby ensuring job opportunities for the locals.

    Road construction also provides indirect employment also. These include supply of materials for the roads such as cement, sand, asphalt, bitumen, quarry, iron rods and metals fabrication industries.There will be supply contractors for the road materials and equipment. Also importantly, are the local foods and water supply industries-from the local farmers to the food canteens and fast foods forworkers.

    Also most importantly is the maintenance. The maintenance culture is what Nigerians need to cultivate both individually and institutionally. As individual needs to maintain their houses so also is the government. The road maintenance department will provide jobs for hundreds of thousands on permanent basis for the new highway network.  This will replace the mundane Public Works Department- PWD.

    In general, workers in this road construction willsubsequently spend and invest their earnings in the immediate local communities thereby generating economic activities acrossthe geographicalareas, which will have ripple effects on state, and national economies. It will also provide thousands of road construction related incomes and jobs such as housing and transportation. It will also create a large number of new roadside related businesses.

    The implication of this is that it will relieve federal, state and local governments from the acute stress of youth unemployment by providing jobs.Gainful employment will curb spate of robberies and other nefarious activities that exist as a result of unemployment. Providing jobs will restore a sense of purpose and wellbeing to individuals. Road construction will generate the revenues that will stabilize the economy that will form the bedrock upon which other government programmeswill be built such as agriculture and mining all of which need good solid road for transportation.

    For President Buhari, there is a discernable pattern of governance and achievements between the way he governs now and the first time he came to office between 1983–85which was characterized with probes, War Against Indiscipline and loss of jobs due to downsizing in other words, Lean and Mean Workforce. While the intentsmay be altruistic and noble at both times, the middle class is being crushed economically due to lack of employment, loss of jobs, and in many cases non-payment of salaries. It presents a state of sacrifice with a hope of a better morrow which many may not even live up to reap the dividends.

    It is time to add another approach by doing something new and bold that will assuage the plight of workers and the middle class.The middle level will benefit immensely by investing on road building head on.Dear President, probes alone will not cut it; the ordinary man is neither directly affected by probes; all he needs is job and he needs it now.

    President Buhari, if this is what you can achieve in your first term of your second coming in office, people that voted for you will not be disappointed as it will be regarded as substantial investment in nation building and also an observable project that will go a long way to justify your second coming. It is the easiest and most achievable nationwide project whileother challenging projects such as regular power and water supply, may follow later.

    Failure to embark onaggressive nationwide road construction will be another missed opportunity that will be catastrophic and regrettable.

     

    • Dr. Fagbemi, writes from the United States.
  • PMB and the Niger Delta

    PMB and the Niger Delta

    Out of the blue, a group calling itself the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, spouts. They kill soldiers and policemen. They kidnap and kill oil company workers. Piracy on the high seas. They asked oil companies to stop operations and pack out of the Niger Delta region.

    They blow up oil pipelines, power and other infrastructure. They attack and kill prominent individuals, ransacking homes up and down the coastal areas, including lately, Lagos and Ogun states.

    All these for what?

    It is still unclear what they want. From the diverse, if vague and inchoate voices of the militants, some say they want to take control of the oil resources in the region. Sometimes when the rhetoric gets uglier, they call for the breakup of Nigeria as a country!

    The scariest part of what is happening is that the media, in their appetite for sensational stories are egging them on to make a great display of seditious, anti-national sentiment. In the last stages before her government’s defeat of the Irish Republican Army, IRA, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher likened publicity for the terrorist to oxygen needed for survival. “We must deny terrorists the oxygen of publicity”, and the independent English press gave the Prime Minister a free pass.

    In the midst of these unfolding events, President Muhammadu Buhari had maintained an uncharacteristic aloofness.

    Many had thought for instance that he would tackle the new onslaught on the economy with the same hawkishness that characterized his tenure as military Head of State in the 80’s. But he did not panic, either.

    In fact several of the political leaders of the Niger Delta, themselves severely under pressure for their inability to keep up with salary payments have been in the forefront of the calls for the “strongest possible military action” against the terrorists. The country’s third richest state, Delta State gave notice a week ago that workers’ salaries can no longer be guaranteed.

    So far, the President has resisted the urge to pull the trigger. Yes, the army has mobilized to the region but military action has been stayed as the country absorbs the incredible shock that has come with the fall of oil revenues.  Records of oil exports are at their lowest levels in 30 years.

    The Punch newspaper, in an editorial on Friday July 1 warned the government about inherent “landmines” in any negotiations: “It is like dealing with a blackmailer: he keeps making all sorts of demands, reasonable and otherwise. Worse, there is a high probability that other splinter militant groups will emerge based on the negotiations with the NDA. They will threaten the state expecting to be negotiated with. At the end of the day, the government would have numerous groups to contend with than it can handle.”

    In my conversation on this issue with General Babagana Munguno, the National Security Adviser precisely two weeks back, he informed this reporter that he met 14 groups claiming leadership to the renewed onslaught on the nation’s economic jugular vein.

    Each of the groups had been brought to him by a serving governor or a former one; a serving minister or one that had left office with assurances that “this group is the one to talk to.”

    The amazing discovery he made from his meetings is the lack of unity among them as each group that came attacked the one that came before it as inconsequential.

    Leaning on an editorial by the influential British newspaper Economist, The Punch recommended strong military action. Quoting Economist, the newspaper said “Buhari should not try to buy them off. Rather, he should arrest those who have committed acts of violence or extortion.”

    At a meeting with the Niger Delta Dialogue and Contact group led by His Royal Majesty King Alfred Diete-Spiff at the State House last Thursday, President Buhari spoke most extensively on his own approach to the crisis in the region.

    He told Diete-Spiff, himself a former military governor of the old Rivers State that peace and stability in the Delta region and the country is the priority of his government and there will be no compromise on this. To show respect for the visiting ruler, President Buhari recalled that he was “a bloody army Lieutenant” when the Amanyanabo of Twon Brass was a military governor.

    He disclosed that his decision on what to do dealing with the problem of the region will be based on the reports he is expecting from the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu who is interfacing with all stakeholders; the Special Adviser to the President on the Niger Delta overseeing the amnesty programme, and the new management of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

    Allaying fears that he would jettison the Niger Delta Peace Plan he inherited from the previous administration, President Buhari told his visitors that he had read the agreements and the gazette outlining the amnesty programme.

    He said he had asked his officials on assignment on the Niger Delta to look around and see how many of the signatories to the amnesty agreement are still around.

    “Let them find out what has been achieved and what is left and then write a report.

    “I have asked the Minister of State Petroleum to work with the oil companies. We need to get as much intelligence as is possible before we start talking.

    “I sympathize with the investors who borrow money, half way through, their investment is blown away.

    “I have encouraged law-enforcement agencies to contact leaders like you (Amanyanabo). When I move in, I will have plenty of information so as to deal with the issue once and for all. We will talk to as many groups as possible. We won’t give up.

    “Whatever remains of the Yar’Adua agreement will be met.”

    He then talked about the impact of the collapse of the oil prices, which averaged about US$100 from 1999 to 2015, saying that its fall to about $30 a barrel some weeks ago was shocking. “I would have been in coma if not for the fact that I was in Oil (sector as a past minister) for three years.”

    He then sent an important message at this meeting: “We intend to rebuild this country so that our children and grandchildren will have a good place. But a lot of damage has been done. Tell the people to be patient.

    “When you get together, pacify the people. Let them be patient. We will utilize (their) resources with integrity.”

    The President’s conciliatory note came a day after he hosted the National Council of Traditional Rulers to a Ramadan Iftar, at which event he asked the rulers to “beg the militants in the name of God to stop their sabotage of the economy.” He appreciated the efforts they and the oil companies were making and said he did not wish to undermine them. This equally signalled a highly conciliatory direction for the resolution of the crisis.

    It is clear from the foregoing that the President is taking a bit of time but it is also because he is determined to find a lasting solution to the recurring crisis in the Delta.

    It is important for the country that a lesson be learned from the many past meetings and agreements between government groups and the militants that have yielded only short term political dividends. What is wrong with those agreements that they don’t last?

    How many of those agreements, joint statements, ceasefires and peace declarations do we have on record so far? Why haven’t they given us peace?

    Second issue the President is obviously weighing is the integrity of the country’s internal capacity for the resolution of crises.

    Over the years, this country has evolved ways of dealing with problems, real or imagined that threatened its existence from time to time. The amazing thing about it is that solutions emerge from within, that is without the involvement of external influences. This why we have come this far.

    In his desire to build a country in which every part is carried along, he is mindful of the fact that if any part of the body is paralyzed, the whole body cannot be said to be alright. The President is mindful of the fact that the Delta region is an important part of the whole.

    But as he charts his course for a permanent peace in the Niger Delta, it is important however that militants don’t mistake his efforts as a sign of weakness.

     

    • Shehu is Senior Special Assistant to the President, (Media and Publicity).

  • PMB should put first things first

    SIR: Undeniably, most Nigerians greeted the victory of General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) in the 2015 presidential election with widespread fanfare as it marked a drift from Africa’s sit tight leadership syndrome in the face of such keenly contested poll with palpable pointers to near inevitable post-poll doom.

    His supporters tagged his frenzy ridden emergence as the long awaited panacea to Nigeria’s lingering maladministration, corruption and impunity. Resultantly, ‘Hurricane Buhari’ as it was impliedly termed, swept through the length and breadth of the nation and left both lovers and haters in mixed denouement. At this point, while many thought the new wind were the signs of the messiah, songs were composed and sang in an attempt to sack the persistent opposition aura and replace it with the missing ruling status and composure.

    With days and months gone with unsatisfactory clarity for our shared political and economic picture, President Buhari’s army of supporters are evidently struggling to sustain the fading music that ‘the incorruptible Baba’ is the messiah as well as the Lee Kwan Yew of Nigeria.  Nigerians anticipate a swift paradigm shift from the old order instead of aimless ‘go slow’ with no hope in view.

    Technically, most political pundits who presumed that Yemi Osinbajo, a professor of law and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria would have complemented Buhari by at least revamping  our justice system via reforms to correct  some or all the anomalies in the system are currently dazed. Their ruptured believe was hinged on the fact that the President himself was a victim of delayed justice during his quest for presidency from 2003 to 2011. Going by that experience, he should have expectedly taken up the campaign for speedy dispensation of justice as soon as he came on board. On the contrary, after it took nearly ‘the tithe’ of a term to settle down, the President did not send a bill to the National Assembly on judicial reform, to make his mono agenda ‘anti-corruption’ war easy. But just like pouring new wine in old skin, the fight against corruption commenced before putting the needed structure in place.

    In fact this can be likened to putting the cart before the horse.

    As we speak, in Nigeria cases take ages to get concluded in law courts. One cannot but wonder why people prefer to settle out of court. Today, contrary to expectations from a government led by the ‘chief victim of delayed justice’, delayed justice is not just thriving, it is the norm in Nigeria and this includes all mighty corruption cases.

    The question that should be answered is – how many high profile corruption cases have been successfully concluded in Nigeria since 1999? Going by the body language of the present administration, one would doubt if any of the high profile corruption cases will be settled before the expiration of far spent first tenure by May 29, 2019.

    If this happens, then the one point agenda may leave many hopes dashed.

    May the much talked about fight against corruption not just be a media show; a mere publicity stunt. Baba Buhari, we need our recovered yams back, before you store them up for a new set of goats.

     

    • Abraham Sunday

    Jos, Plateau State.

  • PMB’s aborted trip to Ogoni

    PMB’s aborted trip to Ogoni

    Three times in the last one month, President Muhammadu Buhari, PMB, failed to honour scheduled official visits to three states in the country. First was the visit to Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria. The President had scheduled a visit to the state between May 23 and 24. Everything had been put in place for the visit, which could have been his first to the state since becoming president on May 29, 2015. But barely 24 hours to the visit, Yemi Osinbajo, his deputy, was substituted for him. The tight schedule of the President was given by the Presidency as the reason for the last minute changes.

    Next was another scheduled visit to Cross River State. The visit would have afforded the President the opportunity to perform the ground-breaking of the Cross River State Super Highway initiated by Ben Ayade, the incumbent governor of the state. It would have also afforded the President the opportunity to commission the multi-billion naira garment manufacturing company put together by the governor to turn around the economic fortunes of the state. Like the Lagos visit, the visit was also put off at the dying minute.

    Again, last Thursday, the President was scheduled to flag off the cleaning of the oil spillage in Ogoniland, Rivers State. The visit had received a lot of attention from within and outside the country with attendant media hype. It was a well-deserved attention. After decades of widespread pollution, the exercise was going to be the beginning of the remediation of the Ogoni environment in line with the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, recommendations.

    UNEP had conducted an independent scientific investigation on Ogoni many years ago. In its final report presented on August 4, 2011, the body had noted that the environmental restoration of Ogoniland could prove to be the world’s most wide-ranging and long-term oil cleanup ever undertaken. The aim was to bring back the contaminated drinking water, land, creeks and important ecosystems such as mangrove, to full productive health.

    Unfortunately, for inexplicable reasons, Buhari’s predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, who incidentally hails from neighbouring Bayelsa State, failed to implement the report. Instead, he established the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project, HYPREP, which was contrary to UNEP recommendation to oversee the cleanup. But the project never took off at all.

    But hope was not lost. During his electioneering campaign in 2015, Buhari had, at a rally in Ogoniland told the people that: “A lot is taken from Ogoniland and relatively little is brought back in return.” He then assured the people that “an APC-led Federal Government will fulfil all its promises in Ogoniland.” Perhaps, it was in fulfilment of that promise that Buhari personally elected to visit Ogoniland last Thursday and officially flag-off the cleaning exercise. The proposed visit attracted world attention as the sufferings of the Ogoni people has been well documented in various media outlets across the globe.

    The Ogoni oil pollution struggle had claimed several lives including that of four prominent indigenes of the area – Edward Kobani, Albert Badey, Theophilus Orage and Samuel Orage – who were rounded-up, branded vultures by protesters and then roasted alive in Gio, on May 21, 1994. The incident led to the arrest of Ken Saro Wiwa, the renown environmentalist and symbol of Ogoni struggle, along with Ledun Mitee and others. They were subsequently put on trial in February 1995 in Port Harcourt after eight months in detention and eventually sentenced to death on October 31, 1995. Mitee escaped the hangman’s noose. On November 10, 1995, Saro Wiwa and the eight other Ogonis were executed by hanging at Port Harcourt prisons. Their cruel death in the hands of the dictator, the late General Sani Abacha, sparked off global outrage and indignation.

    The President’s visit would have reassured the Ogoni people that the government was genuinely committed to the restoration of Ogoni to a land once flowing with milk and honey. Unfortunately, again, the visit was truncated. It was called-off at a time the President’s advance team had already arrived in Rivers State on Tuesday evening, about 48 hours to the planned visit.

    Apparently, many people believe the cancellation of the President’s visit may not be unconnected with the current appalling security situation in the Niger Delta. The security situation in the region took a-nose-dive few weeks ago, when a previously unknown group, the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, took up arms and started blowing up oil installations in the region. They are demanding for a Sovereign State of Niger Delta, a call that has generated controversy among the ethnic nationalities in the region.

    Various groups and elders have spoken against the latest recourse to armed struggle in the region, but their pleas, seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Besides the fact that members of the NDA are faceless, their modus operandi of blowing up oil installations in the region is seen as a dangerous trend that might totally bring the nation’s economy currently in the throes of death, to its knees. Also, the economy of the Niger Delta region itself may be thoroughly ruined as mass exodus of oil workers trooping out of the region because of threats to their lives and well-being, has started.

    Perhaps, to convince everybody that they mean business, less than 24 hours to the President’s visit, in the early morning of Wednesday, June 1, agents of NDA successfully blew up two additional oil facilities belonging to Chevron Nigeria Limited. After blowing up the oil wells, the NDA issued a warning to the President to stay off the Niger Delta. The thinking is that security reports may have also advised the President to stay off Ogoniland on that day.

    But that is neither here nor there. No matter the security consideration or interpretation of the threat, the President’s handlers know quite well that it might look like an acceptance of defeat for the President to renege on his plans to visit Ogoniland to flag-off the cleanup exercise simply because of threats from the faceless NDA. They are also conscious of the fact that by their mode of operation, terrorists always drive fear into people. That is not all. As a former military commander and a tough-talking President at that, it is very clear that Buhari would be the last person to be cowed by the NDA’s threat. After all, Yemi Osinbajo, his deputy, represented him at the occasion and nothing happened. Anyway, because the President stayed away from Ogoniland, the NDA could have wrongly believed that they had scored a bull’s eye. The implication is that this could further embolden them to unleash more devastating attacks on the hapless people of the Niger Delta region.  That would make them destroyers and not avengers which they claim.

    At any rate, events that unfolded later culminated into the president travelling out of the country to London for medical treatment. From this, it was clear that he was slightly indisposed. That was why the trip was called off. The same thing happened during his proposed Lagos visit. His medical team had advised him to desist from flying in an aircraft because of the pains he was experiencing in his ears. Who says the President cannot fall sick? As a human being, yes, he can.

    The good news is that after more than 50 years of massive pollution and despoliation in Ogoniland, government and the oil companies have taken full responsibility for the remediation and restoration of the environment. This will positively rub off on the Niger Delta region as a whole. It is for this reason, that the NDA and their sponsors should be made aware that their latest acts of brigandage will only worsen the bad socio-economic situation prevailing in that region.

    The way it is going, a major catastrophe, with far more devastating consequences, seems to be lurking in the Niger Delta. The time to act and act fast, is now!

     

  • To PMB @ one

    To PMB @ one

    SIR: President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to make any significant impact on the lives and livelihoods of Nigerians in the last 12 months.  The policies of the government as well as pronouncements of senior cabinet members are simply incongruent with the change which they promised during their campaigns at the last general elections.

    Admittedly, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) laid the foundations for misery which Nigerians are now experiencing. It therefore suffice to say that the heaps of rubbish will take time to be cleared.  As such our patience, as a nation, is what President Muhammadu Buhari desperately needs. He also needs our understanding. Nevertheless, the burden of state lies on the president’s neck. Hence whatever blames there are now shifts to his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). The buck stops on their desks.

    Beginning with education, the federal government ought to reduce its direct participation in operating schools and allow schools to be adopted by communities and interested parties in society. That is in order to recover costs which can be invested in upgrading out-dated facilities while it remains a buffer in the system as against the role of operator and regulator that it has played in the last 40years to the detriment of education and education output. The universities are over regulated and centralised and thus making it uncompetitive to fit or, meet world-class status. We know that our institutions especially the public universities have been crippled by the lack of compact and highly organised administration. Academic institutions must have their Board of Governors, free of government interference.

    Healthcare is another key area that demands urgent action. This sector has always been faced with challenges because the government equates health with medicine. The destructive rivalry among health workers in the country has bedevilled the system over the last four decades. What the country needs is quality management and service delivery.

    Nigerians do not expect the government to perform miracles. Rather it is expected that the president and his cabinet have a resilient economic package that addresses the challenges facing the country. The question on the lips of the average Nigerian is: ‘How can we overcome the looming dangers of rising unemployment that can lead to social unrest?’ In one year, Buhari is yet to proffer workable answers. Instead, we hear of ranches and grazing reserves.

    Finally, the President has to learn very fast on the job and reduce his foreign travels to grapple with domestic affairs including the ailing economy and security challenges brought on by the insurgency. The integrity and honesty of purpose which President Buhari is known for must translate to concrete reality of benefits for the people. Thus, the president mustn’t allow his integrity to fizzle away by an unsuccessful economic programme.

     

    • Ogundoro, Olu A.

    Ibadan.