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Tag: Chinua Achebe

  • Anambra govt reveals cost to light Achebe airport airfield

    Anambra govt reveals cost to light Achebe airport airfield

    The Anambra State Government has approved N489.716 million for Airfield Lighting at Chinua Achebe International Airport, Awka.

    The Anambra State Executive Council (ANSEC) awarded the contract to facilitate night landings at the airport.

    This is contained in a statement by Dr Law Mefor, the state’s Commissioner for Information, on Wednesday in Awka,

    He said other decisions reached by ANSEC included enhanced security for life and property, with approval for kinetic and non-kinetic approaches.

    The government also awarded the contract for the development of a masterplan for heritage sites at N125.8 million while the College of Nursing Sciences, Isuofia, would gulp N150.69 million for property clearing and fencing extension

    Mefor said the reconstruction of the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital entrance gate was awarded at N112.7 million.

    According to him, N42.8 million will also be spent installing a 200 KVA/11KV transformer for the Institution’s College of Medicine.

    He said the power supply to Anambra Mix-Use Industrial City (AMIC), Ogboji, will be enhanced with a 33 KV line from the Oji-River substation for N1.74 billion with a dedicated injection substation for N1.24 billion.

    The commissioner added that the state government also approved N76.2 million for the renovation of the Naval Base at Iyiowa Odekpe, to be completed in two months.

    N715.12 million will be spent installing ultraviolet-resistant chairs at the Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka. The Anambra State Solution Data Platform will get N97.1 million.

  • Nothing wrong with Hollywood actor, Idris Elba playing Okonkwo in ‘Things Fall Apart’ – Omoni Oboli

    Nothing wrong with Hollywood actor, Idris Elba playing Okonkwo in ‘Things Fall Apart’ – Omoni Oboli

    Nollywood actress, Omoni Oboli, has supported the casting of Hollywood actor, Idris Elba, as the lead actor in the upcoming film adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s classic novel, ‘Things Fall Apart’.

    Things Fall Apart’ a novel which was first published by Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe in 1958, depicts the pre-colonial life in Igboland and the subsequent appearance of European missionaries and colonial forces in the late 19th century.

    It was first brought to life as a movie in 1971 and a mini-series in 1987 with veteran Nigerian actor, Pete Edochie, playing Okonkwo, the novel’s protagonist.

    It was recently reported that the series which is currently in development, will have Idris Elba and Gina Carter serving as executive producers under their 22Summers banner.

    The development sparked several reactions as many Nigerians fear that the British actor may be unable to play the role well because he is not “Igbo”.

    However, in an interview with Channels TV on Saturday, Omoni Oboli said there is nothing wrong with Elba playing the lead role since he is African.

    The filmmaker added that Africans are better suited to tell their own stories.

    “I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with Idris Elba playing ‘Okonkwo’ in Things Fall Apart,” she said.

    “Idris is African. His dad is Sierra Leonean. Yes, he has lived abroad but he is African. So, that is an African telling an African story.

    “So, I do not see anything wrong with that. I am just being honest.”

  • Like Messi, Ronaldo: Achebe and Soyinka – By Udeme Nana

    Like Messi, Ronaldo: Achebe and Soyinka – By Udeme Nana

    By Udeme Nana

    In the world of football, the jury is out and the robust debate is centred around Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi about who is the Greatest football player of all time -GOAT. The matter has split supporters of the two football stars into very active halves in the world for or against. Some love the silky skillset of the diminutive midfielder, his balance on the ground while in motion, his speed and the sublime accuracy of his left foot. His mesmerizing moves more often leave many of his markers for dead and goalkeepers rooted to the spot.

    Messi, an Argentine football wizard, was groomed in Barcelona and plied his trade in the Catalan Club, moving later to Paris in France to play for PSG before leaving for the United States of America to showcase his talent in North America. Born in 1987, he is two years younger than the man with whom he shares the global stage, Cristiano Ronaldo, who has picked all available honours in world football between them in the past 20 years.

    His eternal rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, now 39, started out at Sporting Lisbon, his hometown Club, before Alex Ferguson, great at turning talents into stars, plucked him from there and groomed him into a global football legend at Manchester United where he won the first in the series of Balon D’ors and UEFA Champion League titles.

    His laurels include: greatest scorer in men’s football, greatest scorer in four competitive leagues – England, Spain, Italy and now Saudi Arabia. His capacity to adapt to teams is incomparable.

    He uses both feet to play. He scores with his head and though he started out as a young winger, he has since moved to play as a target man to devastating results. Cristiano is a terror to many goalkeepers and opposing teams.

    In Africa and particularly in Nigeria right now, outside political talk,  commentators are disputing about who is the Greatest of all time  (GOAT), in African literature. This round of outbursts started after Wole Soyinka condemned the activities and style of the “Obidient Movement” – a group of radical supporters of Peter Obi (an Igbo man) who vied to become President of Nigeria on the platform of Labour Party in Nigeria.

    The debate which pitches Achebe against Soyinka is not new at all. It however heightened after 1986 when Wole Soyinka, Essayist, Musician, Film Producer,  Novelist, Poet, Dramatist, Political Activist and Social Crusader won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He became the first-ever black African to win that honour.

    Soon after that, a salvo was fired at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka during a conference tagged ‘The Eagle on Iroko’ to honour Chinua Achebe at 60. That was when Wole Soyinka was told in clear terms not to see himself as the King of African literature on the basis of being a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature but, should rather see himself only, as the ‘Asiwaju of Nigerian literature’ while his compatriot, Achebe, was described as the Iroko of African Literature. The value of that framing was not lost on supporters of both great writers.

    However, that debate was punctuated soon after the literary conference, when Achebe was involved in a ghastly road accident which led to his evacuation to the United States of America for medical attention. That unfortunate road mishap quickened Achebe’s ultimate emigration to the United States of America for good where he lived, worked and died.

    Much earlier in 1980, the trio of Chiweizu, Jemie and Madubuike had riled at Wole Soyinka in their book ‘Toward the Decolonization of African Literature.’ Both Soyinka and Achebe have very rich returns even though Chinua Achebe’s first book, Things Fall Apart, written in 1958 has seen more translations into many languages in the world than any other book out of Africa.

    Achebe is a Novelist, Literary Critic, Essayist and has three Poetry Collections. He has written short stories and Children’s Books including autobiographies. He was the inspiration behind the moribund African Writers Series published by Heineman. That platform mobilized and gave a solid pedestal to many African Writers.

    Achebe was widely regarded and respected as a mentor because he served as Editor of the series. Achebe writes simply, clearly and anyone can read and understand his writings. One can rightly note that Achebe writes for the general public. His style depicts his personality – humble and down to earth – a validation of the statement that by their fruits, you shall know them. Only that this time, it is by their books!

    In this case, his personality showed through his literary outputs. His activist credentials found a voice in his literary ouvre where he mirrored the society, pointed the way and made predictions. Indeed, “A Man of The People” written in 1966 proved to be an accurate prophecy showcasing the writer as a Prophet.

    On the whole, according to Professor Patrick Ebewo in a presentation entitled “Having Fun with Soyinka,” during the 87th birthday celebration of Wole Soyinka by Uyo Book Club, ‘Chinua Achebe is often the preferred writer because he tells his story in a very simple and lucid format, especially when he shows how the Europeans exploited Africa during colonial times -the palm wine, the local festivals, the efficacy of the dibia, etc.’

    A comparison between Achebe and Soyinka was deceptively presented by another writer -Kole Omotoso- in 1996 with his critical work, ‘Achebe and Soyinka: a study in contrasts.’ That title only flattered to deceive because, if readers had rushed for it to read about who was the better writer between the two icons the book disappointed. Rather, the book reviewed the themes and cultural influences at the centre of the engagements of both writers.

    Almost everyone is in agreement that it is not easy to read Wole Soyinka. Several people have confessed how it has taken them a lifetime to attempt completing reading the first page of The Interpreters, one of Soyinka ‘s books. So, how do you compare two different personalities who possess different outlooks about life? How do you judge two writers with different styles and focus ? How can anyone struggle to create an impression that one culture is more superior to the other ? This matter is like chasing after the rainbow or the wind.

    Wole Soyinka is naturally sanguine – an all action-packed activist true to his family Pedigree. As a young man, he set up a group of young ‘Pyrates’ as a counter culture to serve as an affront to colonial values in his environment. His activism saw him seize a Radio station to protest against the announcement of election results he thought didn’t reflect the reality. He dared General Yakubu Gowon during the Nigeria-Biafra war and travelled to the East to try and intervene against secession. He challenged General Obasanjo as Head of State and was in the trenches against General Sani Abacha’s maximum rule.

    Wole Soyinka acts the part and themes which run through his books. In ‘Death and the King’s Horsemen,’ he focuses on the duty of individuals to the society. He is against all manner of corruption in “The Road” and religious charlatans in Jero’s Metamorphosis while in ‘Season of Anomy,’  he puts forward the individual as a veritable agent of social change.

    His Book, “You must set forth at Dawn,” chronicles his public life. Wole Soyinka has written poetry, drama, essays, novels, sound tracts and movie scripts. He is more versatile and quite robust in his engagements with society. He is an idealist. Yes, the charge that his writing is obscurantist is fitting but it can be rightly noted that he doesn’t pretend to write for the general public. His peculiar style aligns with his radical, iconoclastic personality and his thematic concerns.

    An intellectual discussion on the works of these two great global citizens of Nigerian extraction is a healthy one. Criticism is acceptable academic culture, particularly in the universe of the Arts – Literary, Theatre, Music, Fine Arts and Design, Film, etc.

    Chinua Achebe was born in 1930. He wrote his epic book “Things Fall Apart” in 1958 and succumbed to the grim reaper at 85. Before his exit from the physical realm, he had written about 30 books and won all available awards except the Nobel Prize in Literature. His being overlooked by the administrators of the Prize has not diminished his own success and stature in the field of literature.

    Wole Soyinka, though in the same age-grade came in 1934 and would be 90 in July 2024.He has written more than thirty books. Both are giants who have won plaudits worldwide. Their different personalities and ouvre complement each other’s in further expression of the duality so common in nature.

    On the football scene, commentators only see Messi as Argentine and Cristiano Ronaldo Portuguese. Nobody cares about which region of Argentina or Portugal they hail from. They are discussed as international football stars sans ethnic profiling.

    Unfortunately, it is not so with Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka. The ongoing drumming of Anuka, Egede and Ogene on one side and Agbe, Ashiko and Bata on the other is an insult to the legacy and global stature of these two great Nigerians. Those who weigh in on this conversation should stop looking at one as Igbo and the other Yoruba, because both are bigger than those ethnic petticoats. Both are global citizens !

    Dr NANA is FOUNDER, UYO BOOK CLUB

  • Wike names two Abuja roads after Chinua Achebe, J. P. Clark

    Wike names two Abuja roads after Chinua Achebe, J. P. Clark

    The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to name two roads in Guzape Districts after Chinua Achebe and J. P. Clark.

    Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and a central figure of modern African literature, while J. P. Clark. was a Nigerian poet and playwright.

    Wike made the request in Abuja on Saturday, during the inauguration of Guzape Lot II Engineering Infrastructure by Tinubu, to celebrate his one year in office.

    “I want to appeal to you, just like what you did last time when you approved the naming of Arterial N-20 Road after Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka.

    “There are a lot of Nigerians who also have in one way, or the other, made their own contributions, particularly in literary works.

    “So many of them have made Nigeria proud. People like Chinua Achebe; people like J. P. Clark.

    “Your excellency, I want to appeal to you to name this road after Chinua Achebe and another road within the same district after J. P. Clark,” he said.

    The minister described Guzape as one of the biggest districts in FCT and fast developing.

    He explained that the contract was awarded in 2003 at N14 billion, during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration and divided into two lots.

    He said that Lot I was awarded to Dantata and Sawoe while Lot II was awarded to Gilmor Engineering, adding that the contract was revised to over N18 billion in the third week of May 2023.

    Wike said that Dantata and Sawoe had left the site for a very long time, until the Tinubu administration came on board, mobilised them back to site and work currently ongoing.

    For the completed Lot II, the minister said he had inspected the execution of the project over 15 times to ensure timely delivery of the project.

    He disclosed that the project was delivered despite litigations by some residents to stop the contractor from blasting rocks to give way for road construction in the district.

    He also said that the ongoing work at Guzape Diplomatic Zone would soon be completed.

    Dr Mariya Mahoud, FCT Minister of State, commended President Tinubu for supporting the provision of infrastructure to Guzape and other districts of the FCT.

    The infrastructure, according to Mahmoud, will enhance the quality of life of Abuja residents and benefit generations to come.

    “The sustainable growth and development of any city relied heavily on the infrastructure,” she said.

    Earlier, Mr Shehu Ahmad, Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Development Authority, said that the entire Guzape District covered an area of about 1,070 hectares.

    Ahmad explained that Lot I, being executed by Dantata and Sawoe covered an area of 450 hectares, while Lot II being successfully executed by Gilmor Engineering covered 620 hectares.

    He explained that out of the 1,074 hectares total area, about 129 hectares has been encumbered by village settlement, of which about 66 falls within the area executed by Gilmor Engineering.

    He said that the scope of work involved the provision of electrical power supply, including a 33/11 mini-injection substation to power the district one each for Lot I and Lot II.

    He added that other engineering infrastructure included a mini sewage treatment plant, transformers, and street lighting poles that were erected and powered.

    “The district is meant to provide services to about 1,017 plots of various usage and sizes – residential, commercial, as well as parks and recreation.

    “The lot II we are inaugurating today covers 561 plots out of the 1,017 plots

    “The Lot II has 31.3 kilometers network of roads, out of the 73 kilometres of roads in the entire district, while the one being executed by Dantata and Sawoe is about 30 kilomtres.

    “The remaining ones were encumbered by village obstruction areas and attention is currently being given by Wike to hasten the compensation and resettlement of the village obstruction areas,” he said.

  • Achebe’s message from beyond – By Chidi Amuta

    Achebe’s message from beyond – By Chidi Amuta

    Between the 29th and 30th of September 2023, Princeton University hosted a memorial symposium to mark the10th anniversary of the passing of Chinua Achebe. Simultaneously, the occasion coincided with the 30th anniversary of the publication of Achebe’s seminal and perennially topical pamphlet on Nigeria’s enduring leadership crisis, The Trouble With Nigeria. 

    Ten years after Achebe went to join his ancestors is a most fitting occasion first to reflect on what this great Nigerian left us as a legacy. Most importantly, our current crisis of national leadership compels a reflection of what message Achebe left us on the matter of leadership  in the life of the nation as a community. In most of his life and career, Achebe resisted the tendency to be cast in the pigeon hole of just a writer. Not for him the luxury of art as an isolated occult preoccupation. Not for him the concept of art as the private communication of the artistic genius to a select audience of initiates. 

    Instead, he saw himself first and foremost as an active communicator and participant in the life of his community. He therefore defined for himself a clear communal and social function for the writer as a social being. Therefore, throughout Achebe’s literary works, essays and political statements, there remains a consistent preoccupation with the health of society. His focus was insistently on the role of the hero as a leader whose actions have benefits or repercussions for his society. For Achebe, the burden of heroism is the plight of the community.

    It is wrong to confine Achebe’s consciousness exclusively to the historical. True of course, Chinua Achebe was a writer with an unmistakably historical consciousness. His works span the entire gamut of African history, socio cultural and political evolution up to the dawn of the 21st century. His works and consciousness span from Africa’s first encounters with colonialism through the emergence of independent African nation states. He engages with the politics of modern Africa and the dire consequences of a new society and a new political dispensation. 

    A remarkable feature of the nationalistic essence of Achebe’s art and consciousness is the primacy that he accords the hero as a leader of his community. Throughout Achebe’s literary works, we are constantly coming to grips with the struggles of individual heroes challenged to defend and protect their communities from unwholesome influences and to make difficult choices for the sake of the common good. 

    It could be the towering figure of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart who personifies the identity of his assaulted people and would rather sacrifice himself than see his people and their values toppled by an alien dispensation and culture. It could be the high priest Ezeulu in Arrow of God who struggles to reconcile between the will of the community and his personal burden as the custodian of the spiritual sovereignty of his people. 

    Not to talk of the dilemma of Obi Okonkwo, the European educated civil servant in No Longer at Ease who has to struggle between the dictates of his personal morality and the expectations of a society in transition which expects him to abuse his office to please the expectations of the cargo mentality of a new materialistic society. Matters come to a head in the political world of A Man of the People where the politician Chief Nanga reminds us all of the present state of African politics where public office is a license to primitive accumulation, unchecked corruption, unbridled materialism and betrayal of the people by Africa’s “Big Men “ politicians. In all of these portrayals, Achebe’s preoccupation remains the health of the community and the need for the individual hero as a leadership figure to function as a measure of the fate of his community. 

    However, it is perhaps in his various polemical essays and speeches that the political Achebe comes across in digital clarity. Consistently, Achebe never tired of directly expressing his social commitment and desire for a better society in Nigeria in particular. He was relentless in calling out the worst examples of post -colonial African leadership. It did not matter whether the reference was to Nigeria’s pageant of military dictators or the interjecting civilian despots. He never tired of pointing out where leaders were going wrong and interrogating the serial betrayal of our hapless citizenry. 

    In terms of speaking truth to power at every opportunity, Achebe remained unsparing. For instance, during the Obasanjo civilian administration in Nigeria(1999-2007), he rejected a national honour because he was less than impressed with the conduct of state affairs under the administration. In rejecting national honours whether under President Obasanjo or President Jonathan after him, Achebe was unambiguous  and strident. 

    Towards the end of his life and career, Achebe came to terms with the reality that Nigeria’s initial national purpose and mission had fatally derailed from  the ideals at independence. He could no longer hide his sense of disappointment at Nigeria’s utter failure to realize the original ideals and hopes of nationhood raised at independence. 

    This note of crashed hope and amputated dreams is the entire purpose of his last autobiographical book as captured in its apt title: There Was a Country. The obvious note of that valedictory work is one of despair, regret and even outright lamentation of the squandering of Nigeria’s initial potentials and promise of illustrious nationhood. By the time of Achebe’s demise a decade ago, Nigeria was hovering at the brinks of tragic unraveling, a course that has remained irreversible up to the present time. 

    However, what is more poignant about this year’s celebration of Achebe’s legacy is that it marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of his  explosive and powerful political pamphlet, The Trouble With Nigeria. Instructively, the booklet was released in the midst of Shehu Shagari’s Second Republic political bazaar.

    The pamphlet was unabashed and unmistakable in identifying the crisis of leadership as Nigeria’s most enduring headache. That simple straightforward little handbook has remained a classic whether we were under a military or an ‘elected’ civil democratic dispensation. Nigeria’s leadership crisis has defied the costume of politicians. In The Trouble with Nigeria, Achebe brutally and bluntly narrowed the central problem of Nigeria to the crisis of leadership: 

          The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely leadership. 

          There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. 

          There is nothing wrong with the land or climate or water or

          air or anything else. The problem is the unwillingness of its

          leaders to rise to the responsibility, the challenges of 

          personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.

    That crisis has lingered and endured. We must all be prepared to accept the sad, humiliating and inconvenient truth that all our present challenges as a nation are simply the consequences and costs of the protracted failure of leadership in our nation.

    Thirty years after Achebe’s powerful definition of “the trouble with Nigeria”, the consequences of a succession of bad leaderships are now lodged with us. Whether they have been soldiers or civilians, the leadership culture of Nigeria has remained substantially the same. We have come to accept, as it were, a leadership culture whose tenure in power never alters the living circumstances of the people.  On nearly all the indices of national development, Nigeria has continued to lag behind its peers.

    As the world prepares to say goodbye to the age of hydrocarbons and fossil fuels, Nigerians can hardly point at any sustainable gains from trillions of petro dollars earned from 1959 to the present moment. Our corruption culture has become so endemic that we have graduated in the tallying of our stolen wealth from millions, hundreds of millions, then billions and now trillions of Naira. Not content with the Naira which our leaders have reduced to mere waste paper (N1,140 to USD $1), our political leaders now count their loot in billions of US dollars which has become the currency of Nigeria’s underground economy. 

    Our people have watched helplessly as the privatization of public wealth has graduated into an art. Agencies established to check graft have themselves become assembly lines of monumental graft and systematic fraud. Our judiciary has made a fanfare of convicting small criminals while letting loose those whose greed has impoverished millions of Nigerians and crippled the national economy to its present sorry state.  Government itself has become a gigantic criminal enterprise with multiple centers located at the 36 state capitals and the Federal Capital Territory with repeater stations in the 774 local government headquarters across the nation. 

    The consequences of our serial bad leadership culture are everywhere in evidence. Observers of Nigeria since after independence will have made a disturbing discovery. Nigeria is one of the few countries in the world that grows and develops only in reverse. The quality of life of our people today is worse than it was in 1965. Our schools and hospitals today are more miserable than they were soon after independence. Our currency now buys less than it did only eight years ago. Inflation is currently at 28-29% and still galloping. Food inflation is currently at 30%. Our highways are today more dangerous than they were eight years ago. We now rank among the top 5 most dangerous countries in the world in the company of Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Libya. Our police force is ranked among the worst in the world. The chronicle of infamy is almost limitless.

    Nigeria now has an estimated 130 million poor people, qualifying as the uncontested ‘poverty capital’ of the world ahead of India with over five times our population. Our unemployment figures are above 40% of the employable population mostly youth. The average time it takes for a university graduate to find employment in Nigeria is about 10 years. We have an estimated 20 -22 million out of school children, the highest in the world and still counting. 

    Our economic statistics are no less frightening and depressing. Our external reserves are at an all time low of less than $20 billion, barely enough to pay for three months of imports. We are currently spending nearly 100% of our revenue in debt servicing as Nigeria has an external debt burden of nearly $100 billion not to talk of trillions of Naira in domestic debts. 

    On nearly a daily basis, droves of young qualified and talented Nigerians are trooping out to Canada, United Kingdom, the Gulf states, Australia, South Africa and now even Rwanda for opportunities that they cannot find at home. Among the many unemployed but unskilled youth, the dangerous Mediterranean crossing  or the hazardous Sahara desert crossing to get to Europe are considered risks less dreadful than life in a country they call theirs. These perilous journeys have claimed several lives in capsized migrant boats, dehydration in the Sahara desert or torture in holding cells in Libya and other dangerous destinations in the hope of crossing into Europe for menial jobs or degrading prostitution. 

    Our ancestors who were sold into slavery during the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade went mostly as unwilling conscripts and traded wares. Today, our youth are submitting themselves willingly to death by drowning or dehydration as they try to escape the inhospitable conditions at home to go into virtual willful slavery in Europe.

    At home, new forms of criminality have emerged. Oil theft, bold illegal mining, banditry, transactional kidnapping, cattle rustling, ritual killing, trade in human body parts and cyber crimes have become rampant. Hitherto unknown crimes and deviations have taken hold of a society of many mentally distressed citizens.  Abuses like pedophilia, abuse of minors, rape, incest and racketeering in sex videos have become the new normal in a nation where prayer is the most widespread social ritual. 

    Terrorists and casual killers are on the prowl in many states of the federation forcing the nation to deploy combat troops into internal security duties in 34 of our 36 states. More dangerously, all manner of non- state armed groups ranging from Boko Haram in the North East and North West to ESN in the South East and many militant groups in the Niger Delta continue to engage the attention of our security forces. In some cases, they have outgunned the official security forces.

    In spite of this cocktail of bad news, the vast majority of our people remain attached to the promise of Nigeria. Wherever in the world Nigerians find themselves, they bond in solidarity and remain hungry and nostalgic for home because they realize that ours is a beautiful country, a place like no other for our boisterous Nigerian spirit. They remain optimistic that Nigeria has the resources to give them a good life if only we could find good leadership to harness the resources for the common good. Our ordinary citizens believe in the nation, not in particular leaders. Our leaders do not believe in or love Nigeria. They are however attached to what they are stealing from Nigeria.  

    Our ordinary citizens crave no alternative nationality than this. But our citizens have developed a strong skepticism about our leadership prospects. Because of repeated betrayals and disappointments, our people have gotten used to a permanent distrust of government and changing leaderships. Here lies the crisis of democracy in our land: how can citizens vote for leaders they do not trust? And how can leaders aspire to rule over people they do not feel for? 

    In spite of our current dismal national picture, I would be the first to admit that our leadership story has not been all an unbroken negative picture. There have indeed been brief episodes, rare flashes of courageous and patriotic leadership. But these episodes have been either too brief or unsustained to make any significant difference. Even Achebe in The Trouble with Nigeria conceded that Murtala Mohammed passed by here. In just 180 days, Murtala left a permanent imprint of patriotism, selflessness and personal discipline. Nor can anyone deny that both presidents Ibrahim Babangida and Olusegun Obasanjo showed examples of nation building, respect for merit and made commendable investment in national infrastructure. Nor can we deny Umaru Yardua the promise which he held out for selfless, courageous leadership and true patriotism before the cold hands of death snatched him away. 

    Like all writers, Chinua Achebe was a visionary and perhaps too much of an idealist. But the paradise we seek often lies hidden in the dreams and visions of our most talented citizens. Cursed is the nation that is not blessed with poets and prophets. On the matter of leadership as the core problem with Nigeria, therefore, Chinua Achebe was not only right. He was even prophetic. On the matter of the mission and necessity for good leadership, Achebe remains our greatest visionary writer to date. But perhaps he never imagined the full extent of how far down bad leadership could drag Nigeria.

  • Ohanaeze reacts over honour bestowed on Achebe by Soludo

    Ohanaeze reacts over honour bestowed on Achebe by Soludo

    The Vice President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, has eulogised Gov. Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra for renaming the Anambra International Cargo and Passenger Airport, Umueri, after the late literary icon, Prof. Chinua Achebe.

    Okeke-Ogene said in a press statement in Awka on Saturday, that the gesture was an honour to Ndigbo, Africa and the entire black race.

    He called on other South-East Governors to build monuments to immortalise the late literary icon who spent his entire life projecting Igbo social cultural identity across the globe.

    Okeke-Ogene noted that through his creative works, late Achebe sustained the fight and outcry against “marginalisation, injustice and suppression of Ndigbo”.

    He also stood for Africa and the black race in general as well as made huge sacrifices to give Igbos a strong voice and recognition across the globe.

    He also recalled that in his humility, Achebe died in active service as the President General of Ogidi Town Union, in Idemili North Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra.

    Okeke-Ogene said Achebe’s literary achievements celebrated Igbo rich cultural heritage and tradition that will continue to inspire present and future generations as well as help preserve Igbo cultural identity.

    He noted that the honour will equally remain a source of inspiration to young writers who will now be encouraged to explore opportunities in the creative world to attain their full potential.

    The Ohaneze VP said the recognition has positive implication on young writers knowing fully well that history and posterity will remember, recognise and honour them in future.

    Okeke-Ogene expressed satisfaction that Soludo has sustained efforts towards human capital development and projects that impact directly on the lives of the people.

    He noted that his free education scheme would provide every child easy access to quality education to build a strong and quality human capital development as was obtained during the early years of Achebe.

    “The free education of Anambra government is commendable because it will motivate upcoming generations to discover themselves and aspire to emulate successful scholar personalities in the state and beyond.

  • Soludo renames Anambra Cargo Airport after Chinua Achebe

    Soludo renames Anambra Cargo Airport after Chinua Achebe

    Gov. Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State, has renamed the state’s International Passenger and Cargo Airport after late Chinua Achebe, a novelist, to immortalise him for making an indelible mark on the history of human civilisation.

    Achebe a native of Ogidi in Idemili North Local Government Area of the state, died on March 21, 2013, at age 82, in Boston, Massachusetts.

    Soludo said this on Sunday in Awka at the Independence Day parade, to mark Nigeria’s 63rd anniversary, describing Achebe as an example of Africa’s unsung hero.

    “Achebe, a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic, gave the African literature an identity and a voice and he rightly reconstructed and refined the identify of the people,” he said.

    The governor said that Achebe was not just an Anambra hero nor a Nigerian hero, but an African and global hero and yet largely unsung at home.

    He said that henceforth, the state shall be deliberate in fishing out and celebrating its largely unsung heroes as motivation to children and youths.

    “Unfortunately, some people wrongly think of legacies in terms of brick and mortar. Legacy is about impact on human life and human civilisation.

    “Achebe was not a president or governor or military. He did not build bridges or roads or airports but he will outlive most presidents, governors and ministers in our minds.

    “Achebe rejected Nigeria’s national honours twice in protest against what he perceived as injustice to his home state Anambra. Today, Anambra will finally honour him.

    “After wide consultations, there is a broad consensus that no one is more deserving to be named after the first airport in Anambra than Anambra’s all-time greatest literary gift to the world, Chinua Achebe.

    “Consequently, we will rename the Anambra International Cargo and Passenger Airport, Umueri, to Chinua Achebe International Airport, Umueri.

    “Yes, it has to be an international airport, and we hope to work with the Federal Government to give full effect to its international status,” he said.
    Soludo urged Nigerians to be intentional about making the project Nigeria work and believe in the potential greatness of the country.

    “We have muddled through the past 63 years with squandered opportunities and yet with the promise of potential greatness

    “No country or nation is a perfect. Every nation continues to struggle in its match to a more perfect union. The path to stability, growth and sustainability will be challenging as there are no quick fixes.

    “But all of us must collectively think and work Nigeria out of the current challenges. We have no other country but Nigeria, and we must make it to work for everyone, “he said.

    The governor said his administration was founded on the true progressive agenda and would continue to create the enabling environment for residents to thrive and survive.

    The police, paramilitary organisations and students from different schools took part in the parade.

    NAN

  • Dark Money Phenomenon And The Threat To Democracy – By DENNIS ONAKINOR

    Dennis Onakinor discusses the phenomenon of “Dark Money” vis-à-vis electioneering campaign financing in democracies across the globe. He observes that the associated problem is not restricted to nascent democracies like Nigeria, and that even the advanced Western democracies, like the US, are equally susceptible. Citing Columbia and Nigeria as examples, he highlights the danger dark money poses to the growth and development of global democracy.

    In his 2012 book titled “There Was A Country: A Personal History Of Biafra,” Africa’s all-time foremost novelist, the late Chinua Achebe, decried the destructive influence of political godfathers and moneybags in Nigerian politics. According to him, “Nigerians will have to find a way to do away with the present system of godfatherism – an archaic, corrupt practice in which individuals with lots of money and time to spare (many of them half-baked, poorly educated thugs) sponsor their chosen candidates and push them right through to the desired position, bribing, threatening, and, on occasion, murdering any opposition in the process.” 

    Characteristically, Achebe then offered a plethora of solutions to the intractable problem. Chief among his solutions is the need to overhaul the country’s election campaign financing rules, in order to pave the way for both rich and poor desirous of joining the political process. Hear him: “We have to find a way to open up the political process to every Nigerian citizen. Today we have a system where only those individuals with the means of capital and who can both pay the exorbitant application fee and fund a political campaign can vie for the presidency. It would not surprise any close observer to discover that in this inane system, the same unsavory characters who have destroyed the country and looted the treasury and the nation blind are the ones able to run for the presidency!”

    Achebe, who joined his ancestors on March 21, 2013, might as well have proffered his solutions in the light of Nigeria’s just-concluded political parties’ primary elections. In course of those primaries, some aspirants on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main-opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) engaged in unprecedented profligacy, in a manner that would have shamed medieval Mali’s Emperor Mansa Musa, who was said to have dispensed gold-money like water during his 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca – to the extent that the precious metal lost its value, globally. 

    Outstanding amongst the APC and PDP profligate moneybags was the duo of Bola Tinubu and Abubakar Atiku. Humorously, a political analyst dubbed both men “the dollar-chewing money men,” for their propensity to deploy vast amounts of the US’ currency towards achieving their political aspirations. Unsurprisingly, both have emerged the presidential flagbearers of their respective parties. And, with each poised to match the other dollar for dollar, pound for pound, and euro for euro (forget the fast-depreciating Naira), the 2023 presidential race promises to be an all-out war between two infamous moneybags, with the electorate being the mass-casualty. 

    Had Achebe, a world-acclaimed master storyteller, conducted a global enquiry into the issue of election campaign financing, he would have discovered that the problem of moneybags in politics is not peculiar to Nigeria, and that it is a global phenomenon from which the advanced Western democracies are not even immune. He would also have realized that while nascent democracies like Nigeria have their notorious moneybags and godfathers, advanced polities like the US have their own powerful billionaires, Political Action Committees (PACs) and Super-PACs. Ultimately, he would have concluded that “big money” is a threat to the growth and development of democracy, globally, and that the threat is even more pronounced in the so-called bulwark of global democracy – the USA.

    In US’ politics, the floodgates of big money were thrown wide open in the aftermath of the January 21, 2010 Supreme Court ruling (Citizens United vs. FEC), which held that the “First Amendment” prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for political campaigns by wealthy billionaires, corporations, PACs and Super-PACs. The ruling effectively opened the way for labor unions, trust funds, corporations, and other non-profit organizations to spend unlimited amounts of money on electioneering campaigns, so along as they do not directly coordinate their spending activities with election candidates or political parties.  

    Expectedly, “Citizens United” (as the court ruling is simply referred to) let loose an avalanche of PACs and Super-PACs as wealthy billionaires, corporations, and special interest groups began to funnel huge sums of money to political campaigns, anonymously. It signaled the rise of “Dark Money” phenomenon in American politics. As the name denotes, dark money is money spent to influence the voting public or a political outcome without the source of the money being disclosed.

    In the wake of the controversial court ruling, President Barrack Obama denounced it as a “huge blow” to American democracy. On its fifth anniversary, he again condemned the court ruling for enthroning a system that doesn’t work for ordinary Americans: “Our democracy works best when everyone’s voice is heard, and no one’s voice is drowned out. But five years ago, a Supreme Court ruling allowed big companies – including foreign corporations – to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence our elections. The Citizens United decision was wrong, and it has caused real harm to our democracy. With each new campaign season, this dark money floods our airwaves with more and more political ads that pull our politics into the gutter. It’s time to reverse this trend …”

    Dark money has been a contentious issue in most democracies across the globe. Unlike the US, Canada and most European countries are unambiguous in their stance on the issue. For instance, in 1997, the Canadian Supreme Court (Libman vs. Quebec) ruled that the government can legitimately intervene to preserve the equality and fairness of the electoral process by placing restrictions on both individual and corporate financial involvement in electioneering campaigns. Elsewhere, some countries have opted for public financing of political campaigns in a bid to curtail undue influence of wealthy donors. Interestingly, most Western democracies, including the US, practice a mix of public and private financing, even as they tend to lay emphasis on the latter.   

    On the African continent, Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is reputed for making concerted efforts to address the problem of dark money in his country’s political process. In 1973, four years after overthrowing the Libyan monarchy, he came up with a self-styled system of direct democracy: “Jamahiriya” or “State of the Masses.” Weird and utopian in conception, the Jamahiriya entailed a pyramidal system of various representative groups, with Gaddafi sitting atop the pyramid. In practice though, the system only served as a labyrinthine power structure that enabled his brutal dictatorship for a record-setting 42 years, before he was violently toppled in course of the Arab Spring in October 2011. 

    Nigeria’s General Ibrahim Babangida also sought to address the problem of dark money in electioneering campaign financing. Upon seizing power in a palace coup in August 1985, he embarked on a half-hearted money-guzzling transition programme, creating two identical political parties – the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and National Republican Convention (NRC). In truth, the two-party concoction was a smokescreen for his self-succession agenda. Reluctantly, he conducted a presidential election on June 12, 1993, only to inexplicably annul the results of the election, which was generally adjudged free and fair, and presumably won by the SDP candidate, Moshood Abiola. Thus, the dictator’s political experiment ended on a self-destructive note.

    There is no doubting the fact that money plays a vital role in the electoral processes of most democracies, as it facilitates viable electioneering campaigns. Oftentimes, the difference between a victor and a vanquished in an election is the amount of money available to each contestant. For, candidates legitimately require money for the acquisition of media space (newspaper, television, radio, and internet advertising); hiring of strategists and consultants; and hiring of influencers in this era of social media ubiquity.

    Be that as it may, the destructive role of dark money in present-day democracies cannot be overemphasized. Senator Elizabeth Warren of the US lays it bare in a 2021 statement: “Money slithers through every part of our political system, corrupting democracy and taking power away from the people. Big companies and billionaires spend millions to push Congress to adopt or block legislation. If they fail, they turn to lobbying federal agencies that are issuing regulations. And if they fail yet again, they run to judges in the courts to block those regulations from taking effect … But before all of that – before the legislative process even starts – lobbyists and billionaires try to buy off politicians during elections.”

    If an advanced democracy like the US is susceptible to such high-level corruption, as claimed by Senator Warren, then the prevailing situation in Third World nascent democracies is better imagined. Columbia and its notorious drug-trafficking billionaire, Pablo Escobar, exemplify the Third World’s situation. With a colossal fortune estimated at 30 billion dollars, Escobar had no difficulty winning election into the Columbian Chamber of Representatives in 1982. Murderous and unscrupulous, his foray into Colombian politics showed the extent of the corruptive influence of dark money in global politics.

    In Nigeria, the nefarious political activities of money bags, like Chris Ubah and the late Lamidi Adedibu, are well known. Violent and extortionist, both epitomize the typical Nigerian political godfather portrayed by Achebe earlier in this piece. Respectively, Ubah and Adedibu sponsored Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra State and Governor Rasheed Ladoja of Oyo State, in the 2003 general elections. Each of them subsequently rendered his protégé’s state ungovernable due to money-related disagreements. And, in what would make for a Nollywood blockbuster film, Ubah kidnapped Governor Ngige is a failed bid to force him to resign. Such is the power and reach of dark money in Nigerian politics, and possibly in most Third World states.

    In his 2006 memoir titled “You Must Set Forth At Dawn,” Nigeria’s Literature Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, described an attempt by a “consortium” of “powerful figures” to draft him into the 1999 presidential race. Upon complaining that he had no money to finance a local council election, not to talk of a presidential contest, he was given an assurance: “That is the least of your worries. Your campaign budget is guaranteed. You will not spend a penny of your own money.” Suffice to say that Soyinka wisely declined the offer, noting that it could only end up in “a head of state with built-in obligations to undemocratic forces. A hostage.”

    Unlike Wole Soyinka, most political aspirants across the globe have no qualms accepting sponsorship from dark money sources, so long as they achieve their objectives. Achebe alluded to this scenario in his aforesaid book: “The key, as I see it, lies in the manner in which the leadership of the country is selected … What I am calling for is for Nigeria to develop a version of campaign election and campaign finance reform, so that the country can transform its political system from the grassroots level right through to the national party structures at the federal level.” 

    Achebe’s call is equally applicable to nearly every other democracy across the globe, because the problem of dark money vis-à-vis election campaign financing is the same everywhere, varying only in terms of degree of severity. Perhaps the world needs to pay greater attention to his call as contained in his aforesaid book. For, if allowed to go unchecked, dark money portends grave danger for global democracy, especially nascent democracies like Nigeria. 

    • Dennis Onakinor, a global affairs analyst, writes from Lagos – Nigeria.  He can be reached via e-mail at dennisonakinor@yahoo.com
  • Don’t let 9MOBILE die – By Okoh Aihe

    Don’t let 9MOBILE die – By Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

    There is story that is permanently frozen in my brain. In those terrible days of the Nigerian Civil War, when Prof Chinua Achebe had gathered himself together to break news of Christopher Okigbo’s death at the war front to the family, his three-year-old son, Ike, screamed: “Daddy, don’t let him die!”

    Okigbo knew how to dominate his environment. He was bold, brilliant and had lots of mischief. Those who ever met him yearned for his effervescent presence. In August 1967, he fell in a Civil War that has hardly cured the nation of its madness. And the innocent three-year old cried to the father to save his life, because Okigbo too, was his friend. A friend of the three-year old!

    This story is told in Achebe’s There Was A Country. Both Okigbo and Achebe are gone but they left their marks. Each time I see a life or situation that is threatened, the frozen line comes alive, Don’t let him die.

    The title of this piece, with all humility, owes its origin to the great work of one of the world’s greatest story tellers, Achebe. Slightly adapted and compressed, my appeal is: Don’t let 9MOBILE die.

    9MOBILE runs a tragic story at the moment, nothing edifying about it at all. The justification could be that every business has a downtime. But this is more than a downtime. The organisation is bleeding and there is the need for inclusive search for solutions to keep the business running.

    It is a private business some suggestions would come. But wait till a private business goes down, then you will begin to understand the meaning of a private business that has become a public trust because of its impact on the people.

    The story of 9MOBILE which started out in Nigeria as Etisalat once read like a Nollywood story. You can bet former President Olusegun Obasanjo, hailed as OBJ by both lovers and detractors, to have his imprimatur on every good story associated with the renaissance of the telecommunications industry in Nigeria. Years after MTN, Airtel, which also started business as Econet Wireless, and Glo launched mobile services in the country, OBJ, the businessman he was as a leader, was still able to convince some businessmen in the Middle East to invest a mouth-watering sum of $400m in Nigeria. The amount was for a Universal Access Service License (UASL), which also included frequency in the 1800MHz GSM band.

    Coming under the vehicle of Mubadala, a big investment company from the United Arab Emirates, the organisation readily found traction with a Nigerian company, Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services (EMTS), both choosing Emirates Telecommunications Company’s Etisalat to deliver their services. Commercial services commenced in Nigeria in October 2008. It was like marriage made in heaven. Etisalat is big in the Middle East and easily made impact in Nigeria, even having to proudly rub shoulders with Airtel and Glo which came into the market in 2001. MTN was already miles ahead.

    Something happened that was not easily spotted. Whatever Mubadala brought into Etisalat Nigeria as investment was through debt financing; meaning that the money would have to be paid back by the Nigerian operation as loan attracting the agreed interest.

    Before long Etisalat was exposed to a debt of $1.2bn, owed to local banks and lenders. The company was in crisis, leading to the exit of Mubadala. But Mubadala had collected its own money, leaving the Nigerian owners in limps.

    There was a glimmer of hope however. The management was upbeat even in the throes of crisis. When the name change from Etisalat Nigeria to 9MOBILE occurred in July 2017, the organisation had over 20m lines. Not many operators in Africa can boast of that figure. It is pertinent to observe though that there was a sale that created more ghosts for 9MOBILE.

    A question here is, have those ghosts emerged from the shadows to haunt 9MOBILE? As I write this material, not so many industry players see a bright future for the organisation. The company remains in debt, according to industry sources. Plus other encumbrances, it is owing about $140m to Huawei and another N40bn to IHS, its passive infrastructure supplier. IHS is in charge of towers and security for 9MOBILE’s operations across the country.

    The subscriber base has also plummeted, down to 12, 789, 344 lines by the end of last year which translates to a market share of just 6.55 per cent, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). This is hardly the story that should be expected in a competitive market, like Nigeria.

    From all indications, 9MOBILE needs understanding and support from all the various stakeholders, so that it can muster enough gusto and courage once more to begin to meet its obligations to its creditors, suppliers and services providers. The regulator should pay more attention to the corporate governance activities of the mobile operators in order to keep abreast with their financial health. Or know when some tricks are being played.

    In spite of the excitement I see around me, the future I see of the telecommunications industry doesn’t present a sustained hope. Except there is a turn, some analysis might be needed at some point to warn those who build imaginary bridges of hope in the skies.

    For Tunde Fatunde

    The death of Prof Tunde Fatunde last week crudely reminded me how much one can fight through life and at the end still ask the inevitable question, did I succeed? Fatunde was a fighter and didn’t know how to retreat from any battle irrespective of the danger. From the early eighties when we joined the University of Benin, Fatunde already picked a position to fight on the side of the people with the various tools at his disposal, including his plays that were populist. In one of those lines he put in my mouth as Hassan in No More Oil Boom, Fatunde wrote: “Our working people eat from dustbins because people like Alh. Bauchi, Prof Owokunle and others have introduced into the country the social practice of American businessmen and contractors. In the nearest future the workers and farmers of this country will no longer eat from dustbins. Our People say: When there is life there is hope. I want you to note this important fact. Nigeria is not fore sale.”

    With the Uniben auditorium filled every night, those words lit some kind of fire on the campus and sent ripples even beyond. Fatunde’s words troubled the wicked in the land, and even now that he is gone, they will remain haunted by the arrows in the words. Unfortunately wickedness remains an evergreen totem and poverty has become even more epidemic. The good news is that evil has never broken the strong will of a regenerated people. Which is why Fatunde would have left with a wry smile that he did his best to heal a troubled nation. Your efforts are appreciated and may your journey across the divide be good. Go well and furnish Prof Festus Iyayi with happenings in the land.

  • Lets kill Presidential System before it kills Nigeria – By Mideno Bayagbon

    Lets kill Presidential System before it kills Nigeria – By Mideno Bayagbon

    By Mideno Bayagbon

    Contact: 08055069059 (Whatsapp only)

    Professor Chinua Achebe of blessed memory in his seminal work on the many failures of Nigeria as a nation, put the blame squarely on leadership. The trouble with Nigeria, he noted, is simply “a failure of leadership… The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which is the hallmarks of true leadership”.

    Yet this is a nation which produced the likes of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello, Obafemi Awolowo, Pa Enahoro, Balarabe Musa, and the rest.

    Among our many failures as a nation that Professor Achebe identified in the ten chapter book, which he published in 1983, are tribalism, indiscipline, corruption, false image of ourselves, social injustice and the cult of mediocrity.

    And eight years after his death, Nigeria and its leadership cadre, failing to learn the invaluable lessons which the book tried to highlight, have sunk to a level, no one alive in 1983 could have dreamt was possible. Every one of the problems identified by Achebe, so long ago, is still with us; but at a more terrifying and calamitous level.

    A careful study of the perpetuator of the leadership failure identified by Achebe almost 40 years ago, today, is the so called federal system of government which we pretend to practice. And it has become clear that if we don’t tame this monster now, the nation’s current descent into the abyss could accelerate into an implosion of unimaginable proportions.

    What do I mean? Our current leadership recruitment process, under the presidential system is faulty and cannot encourage the breeding of good leaders.

    Most of the leaders who have seized the corridor and room of power in the last 22 years have done so, not to serve their fabled constituents, but to feather their own nest. They are in politics, from all available indices because they see it as the quickest route to unearned wealth. Politics has become an industry to access the commonwealth for self.

    Most of the people who have taken to politics are those without any verifiable pedigree. Ruffians, scammers, the jobless, the criminally intentioned have swarmed our corridors of power and the few true leaders have had to take a back seat. It is so bad today that no one who truly wants to serve, will venture into politics.

    First let us look at the type of leaders the presidential system has thrown up since 1999 when we began this democratic march.

    All agree that the best of us have left the worse of us to seize the reins of power. From the local councillor to the President of the nation, in 22 years, money, sheer devilry and impunity have ruled our politics. For the jobless, the deviously criminal-minded, politics has become the major route to unearned wealth.

    Secondly, the presidential system is wasteful, stupendously expensive and is an incubator of corruption; at least our variant of it.

    My contention is that the presidential system is bad for a poor country like Nigeria which also has the unfortunate distinction for profligacy and corruption.

    Two houses of parliament of about a combined figure of 500 who live as Lords, and their leaders as wanton emperors, expend more on themselves than on the entire citizenry.

    You seize power by any means, and the treasury becomes your fiefdom. The struggle for power becomes the struggle for access to state wealth and the privatisation of such into personal pockets. No questions asked.

    That is why for example, the amount budgeted to oil the less than 5500 members of the National and States Assemblies is more than the total money budgeted for all levels of education in the country; for healthcare, for infrastructure, and so on.

    In our current practice, we begin with Councillors, local government chairmen, house of Assembly members, leadership of the Houses of Assembly, Governors, commissioners, Special Advisers and Assistants; and then we move to the members of the House of Representatives, Senators, and the leadership of both houses and their retinue of aides. Of course the Presidency comes with a plethora of offices and positions.

    In all of these, about 10,000 Nigerians from all the geopolitical space of the country are those in the room of power. To them, over 50 percent of the national wealth are dedicated. It is a sustained bazaar which is rather surreal.

    The Presidency and all its appendages spend on itself thrice the humongous amounts the States and National Assemblies waste on themselves.

    Take the instance of entourages of the high and mighty politicians in the country. A local government chairman wastes scarce resources of its local government area in buying frivolous but expensive SUVs for himself, buys back up security cars at an average of at least N1.5bn (One Billion Five Hundred Million Naira only). Of course, the wife of the chairman must also have her share of official entourage which may sink another N500 million.

    You only need to see the entourage of the Senate President or the Speaker of the House of Representatives as an example of our uncensored profligacy. Their entourage and convoy almost rivals that of the US President and is far more than most of the Presidents and Prime Ministers in the world.

    In their show of opulence and power, they parade at least 20 exotic vehicles in each convoy. This does not include the Police outriders. In their convoys, you will find at least two state of the art, bullet proof 500 SEL Mercedes Benz emblazoned with the National Crest, four powerful top of the range SUVs, at least a further four medium range SUVs, and a coterie of other vehicles. The cost of the vehicles on their convoys is nothing less than N2 billion each.

    Lets not even talk about governors and their Alice in Wonderland convoys. Compare any of their convoys with that of say, the British Prime Minister whose official convoy consist of a Jaguar XJ Sentinel, a back up car and two security vehicles and two or four outriders and you cannot but wonder what truly is the problem with our leaders and their politics.

    Compare their ostentatious lifestyles to the hunger walking naked in the nation where the minimum monthly wage is a miserly $55 (N30,000).

    How do we defend such callousness, such insensitivity? Such wickedness? The answer, they say, is blowing in the wind.