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Tag: reality

  • Reality star Tochi’s house got razed by fire

    Reality star Tochi’s house got razed by fire

    Former Big Brother Naija housemate, Tochukwu Okechukwu, simply known as Tochi, has revealed that his house got burnt some days ago while he was stuck in traffic.

    Tochi shared the heartbreaking news on social media while opening up on how the past few days have been traumatic for him.

    On his X platform (formerly known as Twitter), the reality TV Star shared that his house caught fire while he was stuck in traffic about three days ago.

    He made another post recalling how he has faced a hard time for a while which almost drove him insane.

    In an adjoining post hours ago, Tochi shared a short video of the house that got burnt.

    Read Also: Get a job , Tochi aims dig at Ilebaye

    Smoke could still be seen in the video he shared.

    He wrote: “We shall overcome. Imagine being in traffic while your house is on fire! 

    “These past few days have been traumatic! I have seen hell! I have always been a strong go-getter because everything I have I work hard for it! But the hurt, devastation and trauma I faced during this period almost drove me insane “Thanks y’all that reached out.”

  • Victory, nemesis and reality

    The  Nigerian  presidential  and National Assembly elections  of February  23 have come and gone and President Muhammadu Buhari  has been reelected by a margin of about  4m votes.

    His  defeated opponent Abubakar  Atiku  has  not conceded  defeat and  has not congratulated the winner and  his excuse  is that  ‘the election was not free  and fair  but was marred by many  irregularities’.

    In the senate, the Senate President was defeated  and lost  his seat while the Speaker  was reelected.  It  is in the context of the victory  of the reelected president, the defeat of the Senate President and the inability  of the defeated presidential  candidate in these  elections  to  accept  defeat  that,  I  have  couched today’s headline.  I enjoin you  therefore  to come along with me as I    dilate  on a victory  that the winner  must  savour  for several  reasons. It  comes  alongside  a defeat  for a Senate President that    I call  Nemesis.  Which  is inevitable retributive justice  for  a member  of the ruling APC  who  threw spanner in the works  for  the party  whilst  it  was  savouring  its    2015 victory    and  was preparing to go  over to the Legislature  to take power four years  ago.

    It  is necessary    first  and foremost  to congratulate  the winner on his reelection. Quite  typical  of his levelheadedness  and magnanimity in victory  however  he has asked his followers  not  to gloat or  humiliate  the losers  of  the opposing  party  in their celebration of  victory. That  is  how  it  should  be although there is  no denying  that  in politics,  as in  life, failure  is an  orphan  whilst  success  has many  fathers. The  defeated candidate  has  promised to  go to court  to contest  the election results  and the Secretary  to the Government  of the Federation –SGF –  has  said    at  a victory  party  of the,  that the  victorious and re-elected  government  is  not  afraid  of  any litigation  on its  victory  because Nigeria  is a democracy.  Which  again  is  a positive development  for  our  democracy, as  in any  meaningful democracy  the majority  must  have its  way  whilst  the minority must  have  its  say.

    It  follows  therefore  that Abubakar  Atiku who  lost  the  election by  4 million  votes must  be allowed  to have his day in court  and air  his grievances in open court for the courts  to pronounce  judgement  one way or the other. Even  all  the way  to the Supreme  Court for  a final  and incontestable  decision of the highest  court  of the land.  That  is the way  and manner  our presidential system  of  government works,  according to our constitution  and  under  the rule  of  law. It  follows  that although  victory  has  been  lost  and won, it is not over until  it is over for  the Nigerian  presidential  elections  as the battle  has shifted  from  the  polling  booths  to  our temples  of  justice. There  they    will  proclaim on the legality, acceptance, or otherwise  on the way  and manner  the elections were  conducted  on February  23,  2019,  nation  wide.

    It  is therefore necessary  and pertinent  to  consider  the nature of victory, the manner of    retribution  or indignation    on  it and  the  reasons  for  rejection of  the presidential  election by the loser. In  pursuit  of this  we draw on the actions and utterances of the  political  actors  who  participated  in the postponed  election  which  had  Nigerians  very  apprehensive and anxious on  a peaceful  outcome  which  has however  materialized even  though  some  30  Nigerians  lost their lives  to  election

    violence.

    Let  me state clearly  that  I am  happy  that  I predicted  that the deterrence order on election  riggers by  the president    would  work positively  for his  re election. It  surely  has worked  for  him and his party  as it  showed they  had a stake  in the integrity of the Nigerian  electoral  process  as well  as  a peaceful  and fair election  which    the  president  has successfully supervised.  It is necessary  to remind  the reelected  president that he promised  to take  up  INEC  on  the unexpected  postponement after  the elections.  It  is necessary  to do  this  and not allow  it  to be forgotten  in the euphoria  of  victory,  no matter  how  sweet.

    Undoubtedly, the president’s  victory  was due  to massive turn out in Kano, Kaduna  and Katsina  his  home  state. These  three  K states-  3K –  have shown  that they  are  the crown jewels of  the Nigeria’s  participatory  democracy  as they  showed  that  even  as voter  turn out  was minimal  nation  wide  the turn out in the 3K states  was  stupendous  and  was the reason  for  the victory  and reelection of  the winner.  In  effect  then  the energetic, nation  wide  campaign  of  the winner was  not  in vain.

    Similarly his campaign  strategists  seem  to know  their  onions well  and can enjoy  their  victory  which  they have earned. There  is  no denying that they know Nigeria like the palm of their hands  and know  where voter  registration and  turn  out  matter  and they  zeroed in on that  and the result  has  been  productive  in the scale of  victory of their  presidential  candidate and their  party.  Surely  they can  afford to beat their chest  and  pat themselves on the back  for a job well  done.

    Nevertheless  it is necessary  to look at  the other  side of the coin, which  is the losing side in this election. In  a published speech, the loser  Atiku  Abubakar  lamented that  in his three decades long involvement  in Nigeria’s  politics he has ‘  never  seen our democracy  so  debased ‘ as it was  in the February  23  presidential  election. According to him  – democracy  will  not be emasculated in Nigeria ‘as  he insisted that  there  were predetermined  malpractices in several  states.  He  reportedly wondered  why  states  that were  ravaged  by  terrorism  had  more voter turn  out  than  those  that  were  not. He  said that  would seem  to endorse  the view  that insecurity  guaranteed  larger  voter turn  than  security.

    On  that score  the loser  seems  to  have  missed  the point especially  as a  Nigerian leader  from  the  North.  Repeated census  figures in Nigeria, on which  parliamentary  seats, local governments  and states  have been  created, have  always  favored the  North  and  census  is  a sore  point  for the  Nigerian  state and  its  politics. For  someone who  was a Vice  President  and has benefitted  from this  arrangement politically, it  is like crying  wolf  when  there  is  none  on  the 3K  states  large voter  turn out, or  terrorism  and  immense  voter  turn  out this  time  around.  The  census  figures  are  there  for  all to  see. Whether  they    correspond    with  North  –  South migration,    climate  change,  ecological  or  demographic  reality in our  large  and diverse nation, is another  matter. For  now the election results  reflect  our  legal  demographic  realities and the loser  should  go  to court  as he has promised. Nevertheless  in  my  view,  he has shown  more guts  and    sincerity  in airing  his dissent,  far  better  than  the peace  of the grave yard  that  was secured after  the  2015  elections.  Once  again, long live the Federal Republic  of  Nigeria.

  • Minimum wage, challenges and reality

    The nation is about to witness labour unrest over the new demand for wages. There have been divided opinions on the desirability of the labour demands. One thing that no one cannot deny is the fact that the current workers pay is actually far from meeting the economic reality in Nigeria. The Federal government for political reasons could not openly refuse or reject the labour demands. More so as the election is just about few months away. To bluff off the labour groups will amount to political harakiri. It is obvious that government is weary and lacking in financial capacity to meet the N35 000 per month minimum wage.

    Before  Hassan Summonu President of the Nigerian Labour Congressc(NLC) in 1978 there was no Structured minimum wage for workers.

    The most popular Udoji pay package of 1975 was not regarded as a structured  minimum wage because it was not negotiated by workers representatives. Good as the Udoji award was it was the beginning of the exodus of farmers from the rural areas to the urban cities; when those that were stark illitrates went for messenger jobs and security guards.

    This same salary award also marked the death of the artisans as majority of them migrated to the urban cities to become motorcycle riders for banks and other corporations.  By the time economic downturn came they became the city-frustrated-okada  riders. Even some of them turn to robberies when they could not make ends meet.

    When in 1981 the Political leaders raised their pay the NLC  called for N300  per month minimum wage. When the Shagari administration refused the NLC went on strike which was led by Comrade Hassan Summonu  before it was agreed for N125 per month.

    . Another negotiation came in 1989/90   when Comrade Pascal Bafyau was the labour leader. It is  interesting to note that  Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole was delegated to conclude the negotiations at the end of the day N250  was later agreed upon.

    When Comrade Oshiomhole became the NLC president another round of agitation came in 2000 -2001 and eventually minimum wage was increased to N5,000 and N7,500  civil servants and for oil workers respectively. By the turn of NLC president Abdulwaheed Oma in 2008 the minimum wage was increased to N 18,000.

    The Governor of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola in his submission held that there is a difference between wage and salary. According to him wage is what is earned per hour and salary is what is eared per annum which is usually paid in arrears monthly  or weekly. Governor Aregbesola then stated that minmum wage should not apply across board. Minimum wage essentially should be applicable to the most vulnerable section of workers whose income is so low as to sustain them.

    He further averred that ” a good way to determine minimum wage should be to index it to the average income derivable from the predominant economic activity in an area, and that  ” in an agrarian environment where the staple crop for instance is maize, we can compute minimum wage with the annual yeild of a single farmer if he works alone.”

     

    Can Nigeria afford new wages?

    In 1999, the workers ought to have enjoyed  free and compulsory education,  free health services for all citizens, better transport services and infrastructure development. But nothing of such came to them. Instead

    Politicians were busy increasing their salaries and allowances at the expense of the people that fought for democracy. The workers Union themselves fell into the hands of political leaders through divide and rule tactics. The NLC became factionalised. This eventually gave birth to Trade Union Congress  (TUC). The days of Summonu and Oshiomhole where governments were fought to stand still , even the stubbornness of Kokori that made General Sanni Abacha to suffer sleepless night could not be replicated.

    It was alleged that labour leaders now enjoy  the comfort of corridorsof power where they were settled with “Ghana -must-go bags ” at the detriment of the workers they represent.

    These days that the reality have dawn on all  the labour leaders,  and hunger is even affecting some of them ; they now resort to their original call- service to humanity, demanding for N65,000 minmum wage.

    Do we need a prophet to tell us that the government of the day cannot afford such amount. The almost comatose economy   is not healthy enough to meet the workers demand.

    Rising poverty

    Last Wednesday marked International Day for Eradicating of Poverty.

    China lifted over 500 million  people out of poverty in 30 years.

    The feat is not limited to  China alone with its 1.3 billion population  but India has liberated 271 millions of her nationals from poverty  in 10 years.

    Rwanda after its post civil war experience has done similar feat taking a high percentage of the citizens out of poverty.  Botswana  achieved same  feat  despite the fact that they cannot be considered  with Nigeria in terms of economic power and mineral resources.

    But in Nigeria  poverty is on the rise on daily basis.

    The number of the poor in Nigeria  has increased by 1000 percent  from 9 (nine )million  in 1960 to 87 million in 2018. According to the  Brooklyn Institutions,  six Nigerians slide to poverty every minute.

    We must  focus on wealth creation if we are to change the narratives. If on the other hand, we play to the gallery by the distribution of social allowances and stipends to farmers and traders as loans, we are likely to sink deeper into poverty and penury in a very short distance time.

     

    Dangers ahead

    With general election few months away there are ominous signs of  dangers.

    First, there is report of withdrawal of N435.41 billion  from the Stock Exchange  between January and July. This no doubt revealed that our economy is yet to recover fully from recession.

    The report reaching us was that there is foreign Capital flight. Yemi Kale of National Bureau of Statistics   said the economy is still struggling to survive.

    Hunger is looming and possibly ravaging some communities in Nigeria  according to Food and Agriculture Organisation  (FAO) The organisation has since issued warning to Nigeria ahead of the food shortage

    The United Nations,  The African Development Bank  and the British Prime Minister, Theresa May,  have described Nigeria as the global poverty capital.

    AFDB, average that 80 percent of our population are living in extreme poverty.

    2.3 million people in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe are facing acute food shortages due to insurgency. Nigeria is one of the 37 countries in the world that is in need of external foods assistance. But despite these information at the disposal of the power that be, can one ask what concrete measures are in the pipeline before the disaster strikes?

    Aliko Dangote has been careful in words and in deed not to dabble into politics, yet he warned that investors  ” were being scared  from Nigeria  because of its insecurity , particularly kidnapping, Most of the people that own large farms  on the Kaduna-Abuja Road have abandoned their farms due to the menace of kidnapping ” he said.

    So was US Report in 2017 Crime & Safety – Abuja as serious risk crime centre that their nationals should be careful of.

    If the government feel workers should take to farming to augument their wages, but the challenge facing farmers are numerous  such as the absence  of water for irrigation and sanitation in Nigeria generally. These have negative impact on their productivity.

    Poor rural roads  and high cost of transportation, harvest  rot on the farms before getting to the cities . Minister of Agriculture,  Chief Audu Ogbeh  raised alarm that Nigeria will not be able to produce enough rice next year to feed its people.

    Uncontrollable flooding has been destroying crops in Edo, Delta, Kogi, Kwara, Kaduna,Niger, and Bayelsa.

    In 2017, and 10, 000 farmers crops were washed away by flood. So the low income earners if the status quo is maintained they may not be able to purchase necessities of life with their current minimum wage due to the fact that little goods available may be too costly beyond their reach.

    Our oil are no more patronized by India who now turned to US for oil. For long even US has not been consuming our oil. We are now roaming the global sea looking for customers that will purchase our oil a total departure from the past experiences.

    Consequently,  we keep borrowing from external bodies and nations to the extent that there is alarm from  experts cautioning us against future loans. But it appears our economic advisers are not borrowing leaf from other nations that have survived economic recession and today are doing well. A little examination of how country like Portugal rebounded from recession could be of encouragement to us.

    Portugal rebounded from recession with 3.2GDP  and youth unemployment rose to 40 percent using bailouts and policies to reduce tax and stimulate consumer demand.

    Spain also rebound with one million jobs created and industrial production jump by 5%. Nigeria need adaptive policies to stimulate production job creation, and exports.

    While liberalising the rail sector we can take away the four refineries from government management.

  • In the realm of reality

    IT’S over and done but the heartache lives on inside. This lyric from Mariah Carey’s song, Destiny child captures Desola’s mood at the moment. The events of the last two weeks woke her up from emotional slumber and she is now in the realm of reality.

    Tears, tears and more tears. Would the tears stop running, would she find love again or what can she do to get out of this emotional mess ?The first two months was a disaster but gradually, she began to pick up the pieces again. On the surface, it looked like all was well but deep down; our dear friend knew that she needed a break to get over the emotional ordeal. She decided that it was better to take a break for six weeks.

    Her half sister lived in South Africa and she thought this was the best time to pay her a visit. It was something that she had always wanted to do but somehow, she found it difficult to make out the time.

    It was fun and in a short while Desola met new friends and it helped the healing process. She attended a number of parties and social events . Unfortunately, a week before the end of this memorable holiday, Desola had a car accident.

    What a pity! The pain was simply unbearable and the trauma made her forget the sweet memories she had just experienced.

    The first few days and weeks were very traumatic for her. The head and arm ached so badly and she wondered why it chose to happen at this point. As a matter of fact, the strain reminded her about the bitter memories from her last relationship.

    Falling passionately in love with someone is one of the most exhilarating feelings that you can experience. First, it catapults you to the sky, making you soar as if you had wings and you are flying high in the sky. Conversely, when love ends, it feels as if you have been dropped like a rock in mid-air. You scramble to grab a hold of something, just anything, as you witness your body falling at great speeds, and then shattering in ways you never imagined.

    Whether we’re talking about breakups, or facing the reality of a one-sided romance, it is painful. So much so that it disrupts our normal flow of experiences, causing us to not function normally.

    Sometimes, the pain of lost love is so intense that it can shake our beliefs about romance and relationships. When these emotional bruises are not understood and have not healed properly, they become invisible baggage that drag with us into the next relationship.

    When we fall in love with another person, we are essentially experiencing the love that was within us all along. The person is merely acting like a mirror reflecting our soul back at us. Technically, we can’t “fall” in love, because we are already made of love. The other person, much like a musical instrument, is the catalyst allowing us to recognize the beauty that’s already within us.

    Because of our lack of understanding that love resides within us, and that we actually have the power to invoke it on our own, we credit it to the other person for giving love to us. This feeling is so strong and extraordinary, that we become addictive and possessive. We want to capture it and keep it fixed, so that we can – at last – keep this heightened feeling forever.

    One other thing that we need to understand is that, everyone and everything is in a constant flow of change. The changes in us and in our external circumstances are inevitable and undeniable. When we change, the dynamics of our relationships change – not just romantic ones, but also friendships, family ties, and our relationships with co-workers.

    Over time, some relationships strengthen and some grow apart. When people grow apart, it doesn’t mean that either one of them was a bad person, but rather that they’ve learned all that they needed to from the other person, and that it’s time to move on. To make a relationship work, no matter the odds, it is better to always trust and try to forgive. You must also remember to focus on the things your partner does right, not only what he or she does wrong.Positive reinforcement is an age-old concept used with children and even the training of animals. But it’s still important for fully grown adults too.

    Assigning blame will cause the other person to either get defensive or feel worthless. Neither of those feelings promotes peace in a relationship. When blame enters into the conversation then one person becomes the victim and the other becomes the reason why bad things are happening. Does that sound like a platform for a loving and peaceful relationship? You are in this relationship together and assigning blame just creates a separation in your partnership.  Resist the temptation to assign blame, band together, and work through the situation like partners.

  • Nigeria must turn vision to reality, say Anyaoku, Sanusi, Moghalu

    Nigeria must turn vision to reality, say Anyaoku, Sanusi, Moghalu

    Former Commonwealth Secretary-General Emeka Anyaoku; Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II and a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, have urged Nigerians to find ways to actualise the country’s potential.

    They identified several factors, including good leadership, effective social policies and proper use of innovation, as ways to create sustainable economic growth.

    They spoke in Lagos yesterday at the launch of Moghalu’s book titled: ”Build Innovate Grow (BIG): A vision for my country”.

    Guests at the event included former Director-General of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke; a former Chief of General Staff, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe and former Cross River Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Eyo Ekpo among others.

    Anyaoku, who chaired the occasion, hailed Moghalu for identifying and suggesting solutions to the country’s problems in BIG.

    These problems, he noted, had ensured that Nigeria “is still a country and not yet a nation.”

    He said: “We have far too many fissiparous tendencies in our country, and we spend a lot of time in castigations and vituperations about who among us is the greater wrecker of our country than the other, whether in terms of individuals or groups such as ethnic or religious groups.”

    According to Anyaoku, the solution lies in restructuring.

    Anyaoku said: “No country can be reckoned with abroad in a situation in which its domestic situation is as fragile and fundamentally unsettled as Nigeria’s is today. And as I have said on many occasions, the key to stabilising Nigeria and guaranteeing its deserved economic progress lies in restructuring the country’s current governance architecture back to a truly federal structure composed of more viable federating units as was the case in the 1960 and 1963 constitutions.”

    But Sanusi suggested a different approach to tackling the country’s ills, stressing the need for re-examination of the country’s ineffective social policy framework.

    The former Central Bank Governor, who was represented by the Sarkin Kano, Alhaji Shehu Mohammed, hailed Moghalu for the economic and social roadmap presented in BIG.

    Sanusi lamented that Northern Nigeria has been held back by “extremely conservative cultural attitudes to the education of the girl-child and the immunisation of children against deadly diseases such as polio.

    “Many of the problems faced by the North today – extreme poverty, the so-called “Almajiri Syndrome” with millions of children begging on the streets, drug addiction, thuggery, extremism, herdsmen-farmer conflict, etc, take their roots from a failure of social policy.”

    Moghalu, who said he is running for the presidency, identified three things the country needs.

    He said: “We need to heal Nigeria, we need to wage a decisive war against poverty and unemployment and we need to restore Nigeria’s place in the world. And that is what I tried to capture in BIG.”

    According to him,  ”Governments must govern. A government must deliver on its promises.”

    He criticised politicians who give excuses for bad governance.

    Moghalu said: “An ineffective government is a reflection of an effective man or woman, who is placed in an office for which he has no competence.”

    Reading from the book, Moghalu made a case for better funding, training and equipping for the police, noting that police’s failure was “why everywhere is so militarized”.

    According to him, Nigeria needs 1.5 million more law enforcement agents, because many of the existing about 350,000 police personnel “are guarding Very Important Persons (VIP).

  • Minimum wage: Folktales of wealth, reality of poverty

    SIR: The Muhammad Buhari administration has inaugurated a 30 man committee to negotiate a new national minimum wage that would be beneficial to the Nigerian worker. The president premised the review on the increase in the pump price of petroleum products since the existing wage structure had expired as pump price increased.

    Without a doubt, the economic reality of an individual’s purchasing power clearly necessitates income adjustment. As a matter of fact workers have been experiencing personal economic turmoil as a result of the economic depression, low purchasing power of the Nigerian currency as well as the inflationary trend.

    However, certain factors should be put into consideration by advocates of the N56,000 national minimum wage.

    Over the years, funding of wage bills especially by state governments have always been a national headache. Many states are unable to implement the last wage review of N18,000, while others who were able to pay ab initio, soon found it increasingly difficult to pay with the subsequent collapse of crude oil prices internationally.

    With the downturn in the financial fortune of Nigeria, how many states can afford N56,000 minimum wage?

    Inflation today is an average worker’s biggest problem. Inflation tends to render the income of workers impotent. Available statistics provided by the National Bureau of statistics and the Central Bank of Nigeria indicates that inflation in Nigeria is on an insignificant decline. The apex bank is promising an inflation rate of 10% in the nearest future. This is attainable, however, without a doubt, the economic reality does not suggest that inflation is on a decline as prices of goods and food items are still on the high.

    Prices in Nigeria react negatively to minimum wage adjustments and petroleum product pump price. Suffice it to say, as minimum wage increases or petrol pump price is increased, market women adjust prices upwards to enable them share in the national   cake thereby fueling inflation.

    Increasing our minimum wage will not solve the problem; it would rather aggravate the financial crisis within the economy. An increase in money wage will result in automatic decrease in real wage of the individual. Rather than increase the minimum wage rate, government should proactively think of ways to increase the consumer purchasing power by reducing inflation rate through more Investment in agriculture and its value chain line. Agriculture has the potential to enhance Nigeria’s income generating capacity, it has the capacity to reduce unemployment and drive down prices of food items and raw materials.

    With additional investment in agriculture, Nigeria will be able to meet its food and raw materials demand which will in turn frustrate “demand pull inflation “where too much money pursue few goods.

    Government should seriously consider encouraging the development of the real sector of the economy. The near death of the real sector has greatly affected our productive capacity which in turn creates unemployment and fuels importation and inflation.

    Infrastructure capable of aiding the development of the real sector should be invested in. Such infrastructures include power and good road network, these will enhance production value-chain and boost our productive capacity.

    The Nigerian worker’s need is beyond N56,000 minimum wage. What Nigerians need is an increase in his real wage rate via increased purchasing power of his earnings and decreased inflation rate. Increased minimum wage without increased household purchasing power will amount to a waste of scares resources.

     

    • Olalekan Odewale,

    Lonelake2001@yahoo.com

  • Budget: Myth, reality and the in-between

    Exactly a week after the formal laying of the 2018 Budget before the National Assembly, there has been just enough dissection of the elements to make for treatise on Political Economy 101. It’s like a typical Nigeria football match setting: everyone is a participant, observer and coach – rolled together. From the budget size to sectoral allocations; crude oil benchmark oil price to the revenue profile; capital estimates and recurrent expenditures, debts and cost of service; trust every citizen Joe to have an ‘expert’ opinion. I recall my local vulcanizer telling me the other day that the government policy – particularly the non-faithful implementation of the budget is killing his business!

    Never mind that the economy had been long in trauma before the new-fangled buzzword called‘recession’ crawled into the national lexicon; you’ll be tempted to imagine that the cancer which has reduced the economy to a mere shadow of uitself actually begin and end with the annual ritual called budget and budgeting! Again, never mind the manufacturers long used to drawing fixed, imaginary lines year –in, year –out in the sand as if such a world exist,; it seems an inextricable part of their corporate culture to blame the budget of the government for failures in corporate decisions even when abundant evidence would seem to point to gross derelictions in inventory management. The public sector employee waves it as an alibi when the creditors show up at the door; the same for politicians when the constituents come calling for their share of the commonwealth. It is all part of the myth, being spun around an exercise, a good part of the fixation under which the budget has become a be-it -all.

    Now, don’t get me wrong. The budget is important – very. Aside letting citizens into the mind on what constitutes government priorities, it sets out the limits of what is achievable within certain parameters in any given year. It lays out the revenue profile; ditto the expenditure.  Through the budget for instance, we are able to know how many kilometres of roads are doable in a given year, the number of dams, if any, to be constructed as well as other physical projects and the costs of delivering them. Through it, we get to evaluate the efficacy of government’s previous spend with careful attention to what economists call the multiplier to enable government chart a realistic future.

    Put it to the vast understanding of the place of that instrument of public finance in their development matrix that serious governments and corporations are able to effectively deploy it to catalyse their economies, deliver on key targets and sometimes, and steer their economies in certain direction.

    Unfortunately, things are different in Nigeria. Take the 2017 budget for instance. That was the budget on which the Buhari administration’s Economic Growth and Recovery Strategy – was supposedly anchored.  Presumably, the fancy label could not have been an accident: Five successive negative growths in the preceding year had plunged the economy into recession. Inflation, exchange rate and other macro-economic variables were running riot. Manufacturers, the few that were still in business that is, could not get forex to buy; most states, no thanks to the gloom in the oil sector, could not meet up with their wage obligations. With pretty little economic activities going on, the economy was effectively on ‘hung’ mode. All of these, at a time of unprecedented infrastructure gap. The situation was one of dire emergency, hence the conventional wisdom which suggested a spend-your-way-out-of-recession strategy.

    At least, that was the expectation when the Budget was presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 14, 2016. By Nigeria’s modest standards, the outlay was supposedly large even if, for Africa’s largest economy, it came to a tiny fraction of comparatively ‘smaller’ economies like South Africa and Egypt. It contained all the essential good stuff; roads, railways modernization, power, education, health – with allocations which although barely enough to make a dent, offered at least some hope.

    We know what happened. If we expected that the very instrument which the administration advertised as offering the best chance to take the economy out of the doldrums would receive swift passage, nothing of the sort happened. For the expectant citizenry, it would take six months from presentation to get the budget signed into law.

    Meanwhile, the economy somehow, crawled on. Thanks to the rebound in oil prices, we somehow managed to exit the recession the second quarter. More importantly, we managed in spite of the budget! Proof? How about the release of a paltry N450 billion out of the N2.2 trillion capital spend for the year – six weeks to the end of what is supposedly the terminus of the current budget cycle!

    Let’s look at the other myth that has endured – the myth that a twenty-something billion dollars spend would carry a $1.09 trillion Gross Domestic Product (GDP) load? While the myth endures, the reality of course is that the economy is simply too big for the government to wrap its hands around. And if I may add – it is far too robust for government’s tokenistic policies to make any real difference difference!  A more reasonable imperative is to find a strategy that ensures that the government creatively gets out of the pretensions that it has the answers when in fact it is the major source of the problem.

    In other words, for those looking to the budget for the miracle, the matter seems as simple as saying that the thought of a miracle is nothing but an illusion – It won’t happen. For while it is increasingly obvious that a poorly conceived and abysmally implemented budget will never make a dent on the $3 trillion outlay required to make a difference on the infrastructure situation over the course of the next 30 years, it seems to me the best time ever, to remove the illusions about the current state of our national budget as being anything other than a hollow event.

    Let me emphasise this as I close. The budget remains important. The fact of the matter however is that we are not there yet. Not in substance. Not in process. Not in implementation. And certainly not in terms of the fulfilment of the most basic expectation to the ordinary citizen for the delivery of the public good. While that is the case, the myth endures somewhat that we will get there somehow. That is why the number of white elephants continues to grow, the rite of roll-over of ill-conceived projects and the misplaced expectations that attend the process at every budget cycle.

    Didn’t they say – as it was in the very beginning…

  • Global democracy, expectations and reality

    The  popular  conception of democracy as the government  of the people by the people and for the people has become a contentious issue in recent times.  Indeed  a school of thought  has it that the concept  has been turned on its head in many nations and democracy as a government  of the people has failed. It  is a widely     held view   that  you do not need to look  far globally  to see  the discrepancies  and anomalies in the practice of democracy  in various  nations that  have conducted  elections in the competition for power that democracy is all  about.   It    appears    really that   there is   a  grand global conspiracy  to make a mockery  of the concept of democracy  as an ideology  tailored to  meet the needs and expectations of voters  and electorates  in many democracies in our present world.  That  is  what we  therefore   confront today  in the light of events  and happenings in various  parts of the world this week.

    We  shall  start with China which is holding it five year   Party   conference at  which  the Chinese Communist  Party  routinely   justifies  its economic and political  policies  and vaunts its achievements  as a successful  democracy  and now  a new  world  power. We  look  at  Russia where  a socialite and  a political  light weight  and   a  woman  has emerged  to challenge  the powerful  President Vladmir Putin  for presidential  election next year  and examine the nature of that  interesting   democratic  competition. We  view  that alongside a published reward   in the US of 10m  dollars promised  to anyone able to bring out any dirty information on US President  Donald  Trump  so  that he can  be impeached immediately  rather than allowing him to  complete  the remaining three years  of his tenure. We  round  up with  Nigeria’s   former  President   Olusegun Obasanjos’  remark   that he will  not return  to his vomit  by rejoining  the PDP  and  the  announcement by an  APC  governor  that the Party  will  follow its constitution in deciding  whether   or  not   President  Muhammadu  Buhari   will  get an automatic ticket  to contest the coming 2019  elections.

    Let  me state that I start this discussion on a benchmark  of ideological  neutrality and do not care about any  claims of the  democracy of the right or left  as  the lines have become blurred over  the years as politicians of  all sides  and  the political divide  have taken the electorate for a ride one way or the other in literally  every political system  on earth. I ally  myself therefore  with the description given to German Chancellor Angela Merkel  who was described  as ideologically  anchorless. This  was said to be based on her  disillusionment with Communism  which collapsed in  East  Germany where she grew  up  and her  frustrations  with  Western  democracy  in   which  she  claimed  power in  a United  Germany    and   in which  she almost  lost  the same power because of her kindness  to Muslim  immigrants in the recent    general   elections in Germany. My  intention  here is to   analyse    democratic political  systems on a platform of performance  and responsiveness  to their  electorate’s  expectations  and on that score to determine which  is    more of a democracy  in  reality  –  failing which any  democracy can  be regarded  as a sham if  it  falls  short of the  criteria of performance  and   responsiveness.

    Starting with  China there  is no doubt  that China under President Xi  Ping has  made great  strides politically, economically  and  diplomatically  and the   Chinese  people  are basking in that euphoria  and are proud of their government. That  is a plus  for the Chinese leadership and it  does not matter  to me that the US Secretary  of State   Tillerson   said  on the  eve of his visit  to India  that the US will  move closer to India in Asia  because India is a better democracy  than China which  he accused  of giving out Infrastructural  loans to developing nations and saddling them  with loans without creating jobs.  But       China    has  ample if  not excess  capacities  in Construction, Cement   and Engineering   such that it is recreating the Old Silk  Road  that  in ancient  times linked  China by trade  with  Asia.  China     has   also   expanded  that trade  route   in recent times   to  link  China  by rail   to the EU  and   the  first   rail  lines in that regard   have  become functional.  It   is  important  though,   to mention that  the Communist  Party of China is  the  power  monopoly  in  China where  its  one million  membership  calls  the shots  and  controls the lives of about   1.5 bn Chinese  people but  it is  giving the dividends  of democracy to  the Chinese  people in terms  of national pride and excitement   in their  nation’s    sovereignty, progress  and composure  on the  world   scene.  The  only  disturbing thing  about  China is its confrontational    role in the  South  China Seas  with  its aggressive  diplomacy  of sending war  ships to seize  disputed  Islands. That  surely  threatens the  international  Rule  of Law  as  well as  the Law  of the Sea  and that is not good  for  China’s image as a member  of the  UN  Security  Council.

    In  Russia  the emergence  of a lady  whose father  employed  Vladmir  Putin  as a spy in the KGB  in the former  Soviet  Union  has been  branded  a charade  of democracy  by the main opposition leader to Putin’s  regime. That  opposition  leader  has been jailed  twice  on spurious  corruption  charges  and  has been disqualified  from  contesting and even  the lady  has  said  she is contesting because  of  his disqualification.  But there is no love lost between  the lady  and the opposition  leader  who  accused  Putin  of using the lady as a ploy or fake news to simulate an election as the lady  has no  political  constituency or  locus  for any  credible  election  in  Russia. Which  is however  not surprising as  Putin  has a great  reputation for manipulating elections both in Russia  and now famously in the  US.

    In  addition,  Putin  has a reputation  for  simulating elections  and  making a mockery  of democracy. He  also  has a proven  knack  for manipulating constitutions  and elongating tenure of office under  the carpet albeit  in plain public view .In  this regard  he has outlived two  US  presidents namely  George  Bush (2001  to  2008)  and  Barak  Obama (2009 to  2016)   and he  has cast a long shadow over the election of a third US  president in the person of  Donald  Trump  who  is fighting  for  his legitimacy  on charges that Putin’s Russia intervened in the 2016  presidential `elections to  favor  Trump’s election.

    So  in a way  Russia’s  brand  of  manipulative democracy  has outfoxed  that of the US  such that  the US legislature  and media see Russian hands in every issue connected  with the election of  Donald  Trump  who has in that vein  furiously   resumed his  2020  reelection  campaign  without  any pause  on his 2016  election.  Which  puts  US democracy  on tenterhooks in terms of its posture  or  stability and that creates a credibility  and legitimacy  issue  for  a  democracy  that prides itself on being the best example in the  world,  yet  cannot  protect or guarantee its  presidential  election    from  domestic turmoil or foreign interference.  If    you  add  to  this the  $10m     reward    for nailing   Trump  on impeachment    so  he does  not complete   his tenure  then  you  can  really   see why  something is rotten   in the state   of American    democracy.  Surely    this is not    the type of democracy  to be recommended  or sold,  for    now,  to  people hungry  for a real  government  of the people that fulfills voters expectations  and delivers on campaign promises.  American  democracy  under  Trump  which is gripped    by the balls  and neck  by Putin’s  iron grip  surely  has its best  days  well  behind  it in terms of recommendable  democracy credentials. And   that    really,  is a great  pity.

    Lastly,   we  take   a  look  at the comments of  former  President Olusegun  Obasanjo  that  he will  not return  to PDP the former  party in power  before  the 2015  presidential  election they  lost and that of an  APC  governor  that the APC  constitution will be used  to determine the incumbent  president’s eligibility  to contest. Both  to  me are two  sides  of the same coin. The  two statements are about  democracy  and succession and both are based on expectations  in a democracy. The  first  fact is that the PDP  for  now appears  to be sinking ship no matter  the bold face of its members in public.  The   second  fact is that the 2.8bn arms diversion  funds meant  to fight  Boko  Haram  has  done incalculable damage to    the    image   and reputation   of   that party  which was in power  then. Add  to that the   filthy   revelations  on  looting   and embezzlement   in the on going war on corruption  and  you  will  see  why  a former  president will  not want  to  be  seen  dead  in such  company  or  party.

    In  the same way,  the  assertion  that  the constitution  of the APC  will  determine   fate  of the incumbent  president to contest  in 2019   is performance  based. In  effect  the  party  is not sticking its neck  out for the president probably  because  it is not confident about the  performance of the government so far and  it does not want to put  all its eggs in one basket. Especially  as 2019  is still two  years  away  and the president  has recovered  from his illness  in time enough to swing the pendulum  of performance positively in his favor  for automatic reelection by the party  and  even or  the nation. The  situation  for  the APC  in terms  of positive  voter expectation in 2019  is  like  that  between  the   seller  and the  prospective buyer of   a live  tiger.  Both  must  look  at the merchandise  from  a safe  distance  to  consummate  the transaction.  Anything else  can  be fatal,   or  suicidal, this time politically  for 2019. Once  again, long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

  • Impression of reality from 30-year art journey

    Impression of reality from 30-year art journey

    After three decades of practice as a studio artist, Mavua Lessor, a 1986 graduate of Auchi Polytechnic, still sees every work of art as an opportunity to learn. His love for art made him to re-enrol into class four at Urhobo College, Effurun in Delta State, after writing his West Africa School Certificate (WASC) examination in another school. Lessor, whose latest solo exhibition, Impression of reality, will open from October 19 and run till 25 at the Wings Tower, Ozumba/Mbadiwe Avenue, Victoria Island, Lagos, speaks with Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME on his 30-year journey in the art, the challenges, what makes Art School great and why he chose Auchi Polytechnic instead of the University of Nigeria Nsukka to study Fine Art, among other issues. 

    Thirty years down the road, how fulfilled are you?

    In terms of fulfilment, I will say it is a fulfilled 30-year journey. In material life, what we call fulfilment is when you are happy. And what makes one happy are the basic things of life like shelter, good family and income that sustains one. After 30 years of practice, I still feel there is so much to learn. Each work comes with a new experience; it teaches something new and motivates you into experimenting on something else. This journey, after all, has no definition within a single effort. Nevertheless, maturity of the rudiments has been attained and the mastery of the discipline is imbibed.

    When it comes to technique of art and painting, these are academic, which are on your fingertips. That to me is not the art but aides or enablers to achieve expression… Art is like religion. But what is the source of inspiration and final goal of expression? With each work we tend to see new things and learn more about life itself. As far as that is concerned, there is still some mileage to cover.

    It means you are still in class learning art?

    Art makes you learn without end. It is also a school. We are here to experience a higher life beyond. Life in itself is a continuous learning process towards a maturity of entire life. I believe in life after death or life after life. If truly there is a higher life, then what we are going through here is a phase. But then, who defines death as the end?

    Were you prepared for this journey in art?

    From day one, I was prepared to be an artist. At Auchi then, painting was not a popular medium and there was no computer, too. The trending medium was graphic art. And as a painter, the only option was to teach. Those that succeeded as painters then were combining painting with teaching job. We were driven by passion then. Painting was not very popular, but some of us felt then that we will make it popular.

    So, you were among that set of generation that could be described as  quiet ‘path-finder’?

    Sure, kind of. We were only six in class in 1986. The late Ben Osaghae was my classmate. But in graphic art, there were about 20 students in class. Painting was the least popular in my time.

    What an irony for Auchi Art School that is noted for colourful painting?

    Those who pioneered painting in the school were strong and creative. They include Sam Ovraiti, Olu Ajayi and others. Some of us took the plunge, not minding whether we were going to survive or not. We had passion for painting. Again, there were a few art-related shops such as Geobi Frames at Palm Grove on Lagos Mainland, servicing the art.

    But, something remarkable happened to painting in 1993, that changed the landscape of art business: the emergence of finance houses, who built fantastic offices that needed to be decorated with art works. That brought Rahma Akar’s Signature Gallery then.

    Any regret going through this “unpopular” route?

    No regret, at all. If not painting I don’t know exactly what I would have studied. My interest may be in space exploration and I am passionate about exploring mysteries and nature. But that would have been a tall order to study in Nigeria. Maybe I would have thought of something else.

    Did you get your parents’ consent to study art?

    The signs were there growing up as a child. You would readily see that even in the arrangement of my books on the shelves. I was that organised in creative things. When there were no wall papers then, I paralled my father’s room, using plywood. I was doing all that, but they could not put a finger on my direction. I went to a secondary where art was never taught. The only subject that reminded me of creativity was my biological drawings. I did my WASCE in 1978. But while waiting for result, I started painting at home. It dawned on me that this was my direction. I wasn’t a science student anyway. However, I could not study art because I did not enroll for art in my WASCE.

    But, because of art, I went to enroll in another school where art was taught as a fourth year student in order to write the subject in WASCE O level.

    My mother approved of it because I had lost my dad then. My uncle told me I should go and read history, which I refused. I told him I wanted to read automobile design. That was how I went to Urhobo College, Effunrun, and graduated in 1981. Interestingly, the following year, I got two admissions to study fine art: University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and Auchi Polytechnic.  I opted for Auchi for many reasons.

    I went to Nsukka to register and I took time to see the school sculptural garden. From what I saw, I felt Auchi’s garden was richer and better. That immediately changed my mind to leave Nsukka for Auchi. Again, the university was far from my base. Many years after, I thanked God I went to Auchi. During my service year at Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta, my colleagues were Olu Oguibe from UNN and another guy from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

    Oguibe made first class in art from UNN then.  Oguibe and I were close and we worked hard during the year. Oguibe acknowledged then that “Lessor, you are a prolific painter”. I told myself this is a first class student saying this of me. I was happy Oguibe made that remark when I wasn’t even the best in my class at Auchi.  I realsied that the practical knowledge impacted on us at school created a working habit culture that keeps us improving. Many things I was exposed to in Auchi, my friends were deficient in them. One of such was mural painting.

    What really makes an art school great or unique?

    The foundation matters. If the students are exposed to a foundation of teaching yourself while teachers are watching and students allowed to work they will discover themselves.  Unfortunately, in many art schools, they tend to follow traditions. These traditions are initiated by pioneer instructors. Oguibe then was painting like Udechukwu Obiora. But the difference in Auchi is that the setting was not purely cultural as you have in Nsukka or Ife. For instance, inspiration, motivation, mentorship and sources of materials are tied to same cultural setting in those schools unlike Auchi.

    How did you break into the open market when painting was not popular?

    I think it was destiny that brought us to practice art at a time when the art market was about to bloom. It has nothing to do with hard work or struggle. There was a growing thirst to acquire art individually as well as corporately to decorate public buildings like the banks. I call it a coincidence.

     When was your first shot at exhibition?

    Three years after school I was still freelancing. I did not go into full time practice immediately. I went into metal gate design and murals for property owners on Victoria Island, Lekki and Allen Avenue in Ikeja when it was just developing. In fact, I designed Nike Gallery gate. However, gate design was the last thing most property owners wanted to do then. And by the time they were ready the money is finished.

    Later many of my designs were replicated by artists and I decided to go into furniture design that will be in-door and out of the reach of copycats. That led me to designing lamp holders or stands. It took me about six to seven years of doing several things before I shifted to painting. I had one experience that will interest you. There was one Fabak Gallery at Toyin Street Ikeja. The owner commissioned me to do a painting. After I finished the work, he said I should not sign it because I had no name that can sell the piece. He said the signature that will be on it is Fabak. I told him no problem, but pay me right now and that was the last day I worked there.

    I was selling average size (36 x 48) painting for one hundred naira then. That was the starting point. The first gate job I got was three thousand naira each for two. I was shivering when I was collecting the advance payment.  The man came back the following day saying he wanted to collect his money back because he saw me shivering while collecting the money yesterday. I told him I had cold, and that I have already bought materials for the work. In fact, he doubted my competence to handle it.

     How did the boom affect your practice?

    Yes. Signature Gallery was opened in 1993 and it attracted almost all artists in Lagos. Signature owner, Akar, is a hard working man, though he may have his shortcomings. The gallery provided a fresh platform for artists to show their works. Another factor was the opportunity the expatriate collectors found in Signature to collect our works. Exhibitions started coming up. My first solo was in 1998. I took my time and it was deliberate too. The discipline and rudiments to art practice are not available immediately after graduation, so you must tarry a little before coming out for solo.

    What is the thrusts of your paintings?

    I am not religious, which is one path that leads to discovering God. And there are many paths. We are homogenous to our environment.

    My works are expressions of my day and sub-consciousness of my world, my world is remotely African, wich continually expands beyond by way of contemporary advancement in technology. Generally, still dark and heavy and at best twilight-like, I have a compelling encounter and romance with this environment every day, trying to relate, transmit and convey my perspective about it. Lifting up the heaviness here and lightning-up the darkness there, I attempt to reform, embellish and nourish realities. My works are not exactly a copy from life but my opinion about life as defined by my nature. In truth, as we have it today, most of what surrounds us is anything but beautiful, ugly forms dominate our world and we are shrouded and enmeshed in it. This is the challenge, with my works, I attempt to subscribe to the ideal and stimulate reflections. My primary motive is aesthetics. As all human endeavours is summarised in beauty.

    The works are in different phases and time. It will feature about 40 to 50 paintings and mixed media. My primary motive is aesthetic as all human endeavour is summarised in beauty.

     What are the serious issues being addressed with those aesthetics?

    The works are in two fronts. While I am relating with the environment, I also make comments about the society by ways of recording or documenting, stimulating reflection on a subject. But there is a higher goal, which every human being inspires to and that is the goal of paradise and perfection. Paradise is beauty. Unfortunately, mankind especially Africa, is still far way from it. Our environment and thoughts are still dirty. We need purification in terms of reminder. If am sad I don’t paint because I will transfer it.

  • Economic recovery: Fiction or reality?

    SIR: Nigerians have reacted to the news that the recession is over. The latest National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report says Nigeria has moved out of recession: “Economy grew in second quarter 2017 by 0.55% from -0.91% in first quarter 2017 and -1.49% in second quarter 2016. This in effect means Nigeria has exited recession”.

    To ordinary Nigerians, economic development or upward trajectory of the economy should have a significant effect of improving lives, boosting individual purchasing power through up-to-date payment of workers salary, and availability of food on our tables etc. The reality is that most Nigerians workers are not paid for several months; at the moment of writing, university lecturers and doctors are on strike over non-payment of allowances. Parents who withdrew their wards from schools for inability to cope with school fees are still struggling. Prices of food, beverages remain out of reach.

    Recession does not end on the pages of newspapers; certainly not the statistical data or graphs that reveal the actual health status of a nation. The market people – common man on the street and individual homes should be in the best position to give a clean health bill through their personal experiences.

    At the moment, Nigerian economy is still tied up to oil and gas sector. With crude oil prices stabilising and the crude production increasing to 2.2m per barrel, my fear is that in the event that OPEC asks us to cut production or militants strike again and cut production to what it was before the country slid into recession, what would happen?  NBS report did not reveal much in other sectors like agriculture in which this administration promised as alternative to the mono-cultural economy the country has operated for decades.

    Several factors are working against the administration’s bid for diversification. Currently, farmers are not able to do much for fear of Fulani herdsmen while those who could even attempt it are confronted by high cost of fertilizer and farm tools. The other challenge is the Boko Haram that have sent virtually 95% of farmers in the North-east into IDPs camps. Until this menace is tamed, we can’t say we are moving towards food sufficiency.

    The economy is still fragile and vulnerable, just like an egg; it can break at any time considering the weak and polices. Unless we focus on the reality and not trying to score a political point especially as we approach 2019 elections, will still be cerebrating emptiness.

    Recession is still on and Nigerians are still in pains. The president himself has affirmed this by saying “exit from recession nice if felt by ordinary Nigerians”. Frankly speaking, the president got it right again by not playing to the gallery as he did when he first returned from London that he has not been this sick. But the hyenas and the jackals around him always say the opposite for political gain.

    The truth is that the report does not yet reflect the reality on ground.?

     

    • Alifia Sunday,

    Ilorin, Kwara State.