TheNewsGuru

Tag: Dele Sobowale

  • National home-grown school feeding programme revisited – Dele Sobowale

    National home-grown school feeding programme revisited – Dele Sobowale

    “These numbers are verified by the NBS. It is part of the data that the states provide the number of pupils per school. Dr Dotun Adebayo, Special Adviser to the President on School Feeding Programme, PUNCH, June 18, 2020, p 11.

    When Buhari announced on May 29, 2015, that his government would launch a Social Investment Programme, SIP, it was clear that this was expected to be his legacy programme. Solemn promises were made to Fellow Nigerians on that day. But, as Honore de Balzac, 1799-1850, has remarked “I am beginning to wonder, how many fools it takes to make the term “My Fellow Citizens”. Some of us who had lived through decades of fiction rendered as promises were sceptical. After all if a man fools you once, the shame is on him. If twice, you should be ashamed of yourself. I did not believe a word of what the President announced that day. Nevertheless, they ended up in the 2016 Budget presented to the National Assembly, NASS – which actually took Buhari seriously and substantially passed the budget after the usual favours-trading between the Presidency and NASS. Nigerians invariably have been the losers at the end of the day.

    “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

    For quick reference, Nigerians need to be reminded that among the benefits Fellow Nigerians were supposed to enjoy from Buhari’s government during the first term were the following:

    · 500,000 graduates to be employed as teachers

    · N5000 per month to be paid to 25 million unemployed Nigerians

    · School feeding for Primary School children

    The President’s loudspeakers – Ministers and Special Advisers – had immediately gone to town to heap encomiums of their boss for the greatest achievement in Nigerian history. They forgot or deliberately ignored the time-honoured truth that words must be followed by deeds before one can talk of achievement. Otherwise, the trope of words becomes only a statement of good intentions. Wiser observers have long ago learnt that good intentions are never enough. So, President and cheer-leaders as well as sycophants were warned about the self-laid trap which awaited them. They ignored the warnings.

    Regarding the School Feeding Programme the following warnings were issued in 2015. “According to Akande, the Federal Government paid N6.2 billion to 14 states during the school year ending this month for feeding 2,827,691 students out of the three million targeted for this year. In case you don’t know what the game is all about, let me tell you. Mr Akande and the FG want to be able to claim 94 per cent compliance which nobody else can verify. A teacher from Anambra sent me a message claiming that no kids in any school in her Local Government received any free food from anybody. Furthermore, she called her friends in other schools outside the LG and none is aware of free food being provided. But, we are getting ahead of the story. Later, readers would see from analysis of the figures released, the massive deception involved in the figures released.’’

    Again, the warnings were ignored. Today, as formerly enthusiastic supporters of Buhari now regret wasting their votes getting him re-elected, they will need to add the three promises, listed above, made in 2015/16, but shamelessly broken, to their list of accusations against the man who fooled all Nigerians.

    However, the promise made but not fulfilled still trending in the media and NASS is the School Feeding Programme, SFP. Unfortunately for government, Buhari and his Minister for Humanitarian Services drew attention to the programme when it was announced that the FG planned to feed the children during the lockdown on account of the pandemic. Suddenly, everybody has woken up to the possibility that a scam was in the offing.

    Prior to the lockdown, I seldom listened to radio programmes. COVID-19 has kept me at home and now CNN and Radio Lagos had become my constant companions each time I took a break from reading, research and writing. No caller believed the FG that they meant well the day after it was announced. Most were certain that it was a plan to steal funds by government officials. Even now, apart from Mr Alawiye King, the Lagos State Co-ordinator of the programme, we have interviewed several hundred people in Lagos Island and none is aware of any child benefiting from the daily feeing programme as advertised.

    If Lagos, the smallest state in terms of size is experiencing this discrepancy between promise and service delivery, it is left to the reader to imagine how the FG can expect anyone to believe that food is being delivered to kids in Borno, Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Benue and Sokoto states.

    “The more you look the less you see.” Late Magician Professor Peller.

    That was his favourite expression as he bamboozled his audiences with magic. The SIP, and especially the SFP, had been characterised by dodgy figures thrown out by different characters. Dr Adebayo is the latest actor on the stage. Like others before him, the figures provided could not be verified. Instead, Adebayo announced that “These numbers are verified by the NBS [National Bureau of Statistics].” Obviously, Adebayo cannot work through simple logic. NBS can only verify what some other unit had prepared. Who then told NBS that 9,410,393 pupils were fed? That 54,619 schools were involved? That 102,097 cooks were engaged and they provided food for 20 days each month? Expectedly, Adebayo reportedly “said the programme do not have the full list of the pupils.”

    Right from the start, I have maintained that the SIP hastily packaged and allocated N500 billion in the first year would turn out to be the biggest fraud ever perpetrated by any government in Nigeria. Instead of a glorious legacy like Awolowo’s free education programme Buhari now runs the risk of leaving behind the biggest scandal in our history.

    The swindle started early when the programme was tucked under Vice President Osinbajo. The Senior Special Adviser in charge was Laolu Akande, who developed the template for making bogus and unverified claims on behalf of the programme on the pages of newspapers. On at least three occasions, on these pages, Akande and his principal were challenged to provide proof of their claims to no avail. By contrast, I had my own reasons to doubt those claims.

    In 2017 and 2018, I alternated my trips to different parts of Nigeria between air and road travel. Going by road, with my vehicle, allowed me to stop at some state primary schools to verify if indeed food was served 20 days a month to the pupils. On one trip which took me from Lagos through Ogun, Oyo, Kwara and Niger States to Abuja, going out; then FCT, Niger, Kogi, Edo, Ondo, Osun and Oyo, coming back I could only find nine schools receiving daily school feeding. Those were in Osun – which had already established the programme under Ogbeni Aregbesola – and Ondo States. Trips to the South East and South South provided no evidence of service. That is understandable given the figures presented by Akande in 2018.

    I feel sorry for Buhari – whose reputation is being rubbished by his appointees. I feel worse for Nigeria. Over a trillion naira has gone down the drain in pursuit of a mirage by a President who is more emotional than rational.

  • When father is a figurehead – Dele Sobowole

    When father is a figurehead – Dele Sobowole

    By Dele Sobowale

    “A leader is best/when people barely know he exists/not so good when they acclaim him/worst when they despise him…..”

    Lao-tsy, 6th Century. VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 124.

    Every “Father” –whether of home, family or of a nation — has four cardinal tasks to perform – security, economic development, plan for a sustainable future and provision of social/ethical compass. Universally, leaders have been judged by how well they performed on these criteria. Buhari is not different. Incidentally, Buhari might have performed better on the economy if he had been elected in 2011. The Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, was already working on a BLUEPRINT FOR ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE which would have made it easier for him to articulate his economic policies and programmes. It is difficult to determine whether APC undermined Buhari or not after winning at last. Now, there is little chance he will leave a good legacy on the economy.Today, he is almost a figurehead.

    As usual, I contemplated several titles – including BUHARI IN SLICES — before settling on this one. It was the Sultan of Sokoto, as Fulani, Northerner, leader and Muslim as you can get who decided for me in a message published.

    “Sultan’s group blames govt for killings, others”. PUNCH, June 18, 2020, p 9.

    The Sultan, President General of the Jamaatu Nasril Islam, had finally joined the growing list of Northern leaders singing our song and pointing to the impotence and incompetence of the Buhari administration in the face of a region which is increasingly ruled by bandits and other hoodlums. Here is what his Royal Highness has to say – hopefully to people in Aso Rock who have not only woken from their slumber, but, have put on their thinking caps as well. The Sultan joins Professor Ango Abdullahi, Dr Mohammed Junaid and the youths of Katsina now heckling the President – the Baba.

    “These repeated calamitous scenarios would have been avoided had the government risen to the occasion. We nonetheless, as always, condemn the repeated brutal acts in their entirety; especially the lackadaisical attitude of relevant security agencies that seem to be overwhelmed, despite repeated calls by concerned and well-meaning Nigerians for a decisive action…

    Government should not reduce itself to just issuing light press statements on security upheavals…Governments at all levels should do everything possible, as a matter of urgency, to stop these evil acts of terror being unleashed on innocent souls and restore peace..”

    The Sultan has my sympathies. Everybody, except those inside Aso Rock, know who is being carpeted with these observations. It is the “Father of the Nation” – who on May 29, 2015 promised to “restore peace” throughout the land. Instead of the tranquillity Nigerians were led to expect, the nation is now far more insecure than ever. No bandits invaded Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara or Sokoto under President Jonathan. Those states now are prostrate under the crude sandals of bandits, kidnappers, cattle rustlers, and, yes, armed Fulani herdsmen.

    The herdsmen in particular were nurtured to become the national menace they have now become by a complaisant government which had excused all their atrocities. Now, Northern governors and leaders, who were previously accessories to herdsmen’s atrocities are now experiencing the boomerang effect of allowing the armed cattlemen to operate with immunity. Everybody is now looking up to Sai Baba for succour. I have bad news for them.

    “A fool if offered eternity will not know what to do with it.”

    Epicurus, 341-270 B.C, VBQ, p 62.

    Don’t get me wrong; I am not calling the President a fool. I have too much respect for the office to do that. He is our father. But, he has demonstrated another characteristic which can be acknowledged. That attribute is precisely what renders the Sultan’s call for action “as a matter of urgency” a waste of time. Buhari never does anything as a matter of urgency except send condolence messages to the bereaved. Nobody will ever credit Buhari for being pro-active. Even in reaction, he takes all the time in the world to act. Procrastination is deeply ingrained in our Baba as we have observed from two examples

    It took Buhari five months to appoint his cabinet in 2015 – a task which other Presidents accomplish in a week. One of his loudspeakers told us he was trying to avoid making mistakes. Can anybody now point to a solid achievement by any of those appointed? Katsina, his own state, was already threatened by bandits even before the 2019 elections. Yet, nothing was done. Today, the Governor of Katsina shares power with bandits. Still no decisive action taken.

    LAMENTATIONS OF MASARI

    Certainly, Buhari qualifies to be called “Father of Katsina State”. Read the anguish of the Governor of that state and tell me if Buhari has developed the will to rescue his own state from hoodlums.

    “I don’t know what to tell them (referring to the people of the state). I cannot look at them in the face because we have failed to protect them, contrary to our pledge to ensure the security of lives and property throughout the state…I am a very unhappy person because we have never had any moment of respite in the last five years…”.

    Masari, who commands no army, was at least very honest with the journalists – perhaps because he is in direct line of fire. Buhari, on the other hand, hides behind a battalion of soldiers and can afford to feed his “children” those “light press statements” issued on his behalf by loudspeakers. Obviously, nothing fatherly in that; and it invariably invites the sort of response Baba is now receiving from home – Katsina.

    “Buhari and Masari resign if you cannot protect us. End banditry in Katsina”. This was followed by another one. “Enough is enough. Katsina is a home of hospitality. We need peace.” Those were the words on placards carried by youths of Katsina on Tuesday, June 16, 2020. Unless my memory has faded, this is the first time in Nigerian history when the kids of the Head of State would be asking their “Father” and ours to resign from office. Even Jonathan did not suffer this humiliation.

    In fact, there is another irony of our recent history here. Buhari and the former National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Lai Mohammed, never wasted time asking Jonathan to resign each time Boko Haram slaughtered 20 people in the Northeast. Today, hoodlums massacre 100 or more across Nigeria. One would have thought that honour demands that Buhari should practise what he preached when out of office. But, since Baba has parted ways with principles, his children at home – Katsina – are calling him to order. The call by the youths was of course contemptuous. But, that sort of insult is generally delivered to a father who has abdicated his role to the family and seems to live only for himself.

    Predictably, there were two responses to the youth protest. First, armed security men proceeded to arrest the unarmed leaders of the protest. These are the same cowardly security men who folded their arms while armed bandits romped all over Katsina. They terrorise innocent Nigerians exercising their rights to peaceful protest. They will run for dear lives if bandits appear. Second, a detachment of top security people ran to Katsina. It is not clear what their mission is; but, they are too few to fight the bandits and risk becoming cannon-fodder themselves. And, nobody knows how long they intend to stay. American cowboys will describe the feeble response as “locking the farm gate after the cattle have fled”. That is Buhari’s security in action. Any wonder why the people now treat Papa with disdain?

    APC WITHOUT A FATHER

    “APC CRISIS: Buhari’s silence frustrating – DG PGF.”

    VANGUARD, June 19, 2020, p 7.

    It has been one of my longest-held beliefs that “A group without a leader is a mob” (VBQ p 82). Today, Nigeria has no ruling party in the real sense of the word “party”. The President in every nation is regarded as the Father of the ruling group. One of his fundamental functions is to keep order within his party. The APC, is in disarray because Buhari has abdicated his role as the Father. The Director-General of the Progressive Governors Forum, PGF, Salihu Lukman, has merely voiced out loud what others less courageous already feel – leadership vacuum within the party. There is a shocking explanation for the party’s predicament. Buhari tried four times to be President before succeeding in 2015 just to prove those who removed him from office in 1985 wrong. But, once in Aso Rock, he discovered a more complex country and polity than one which could be governed by orders issued to be carried out with immediate effect. He also discovered that he has to share power with the legislature and the judiciary. Baba had no stomach for the workings of a democracy.

    At any rate, he was ill-prepared for office. Suddenly faced with all the hard work required to deliver on campaign promises, the man just gave up and handed governance to his Chief of Staff. The party was also left adrift. We are all witnesses to one of the consequences of dereliction of duty. At least until the next election in September, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, now has a Governor added to its list. That is a potent weapon to have in any election in Nigeria.

    ON THE HOME FRONT

    Two shots heard around the world would be the way to describe what happened when Mrs Aisha Buhari had an altercation with Baba’s nephews permanently resident in Aso Rock three weeks ago. But, for divine intervention, any of those shots could have become a stray bullet lodged in somebody’s head or heart. Then all the powers of the presidency would have been deployed to cover up the ugly truth. That the President’s wife was once again involved in a power struggle for the control of the household which has now escalated to exchange of fire is indicative of a home in which the head of the house has lost a great deal of the traditional control expected from someone in that position.

    “Power abhors a vacuum”. What then can Nigerians make of a national, state, party and head of family who has surrendered all those roles and created power gaps everywhere?

    BANKS, CBN AND OLD, SICK NIGERIANS

    “The banks and government only help those who don’t need it. The ones who need it get no loans, no advice, not even a simple guide on how to start.”

    Ibrahim Okhai, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, P 20.

    I found out how true that statement was when I approached one of my banks for a N2 million loan to cover my unexpected medical expenses. I had invested for my old age when in active service. But, suddenly, there is a mismatch between the maturity dates and my needs for funds to pay my bills. So, I approached my bank. Despite having more than sufficient collateral, I went through a lot of trouble getting the loan.

    Is there nothing the Central Bank can do for people in my kind of predicament?

  • I Pity President Buhari – Dele Sobowale

    I Pity President Buhari – Dele Sobowale

    “Men make history; but not just as they please.”

    Karl Marx, 1818-1883, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, p 93.

    This article could easily have been titled ANOTHER ADVENTURE IN PROPHECY. But, deep in my heart, I feel more pity for President Buhari than triumph in my own predictions regarding the murderous operations of the bandits in the North East and the North West. Last week, I had made the following statement, in an article titled SOUTHWARD FLIGHT OF ALMAJIRIS EXPOSES BANKRUPTCY OF NORTHERN LEADERSHIP – 2.

    “A week ago, the President ordered the bandits [in Katsina State] to surrender or face brutal attack by the security forces. That was as empty a threat as anybody ever issued. Take it from me; the bandits will ignore it [Buhari’s warning] and launch an attack. The failure of Northern leadership is now total. Anarchy is near.” The article was written a week earlier than that date. But, on the same day the article was published, Nigerians were informed of the following developments.

    “Bandits kill 40 in Katsina again.” DAILY INDEPENDENT, June 11 p 26, 2020.

    The story went on to inform Nigerians how impotent the Buhari government had become in the following words. “The source said after storming Katsina, they went from house to house, killing anyone in sight.

    “The attack started at 4pm yesterday and they took hours killing and setting buildings on fire….The gunmen left on their own, and hours later, security personnel arrived the village. The whole place is now empty as those who escaped alive trekked to Funtua town.”

    Nigerians must now be wondering if the President who cannot guarantee the security of his own state is the same person on who they can rely for their own safety. More to the point; the attack by the hoodlums was predicted by me; while Buhari’s security personnel were deceiving the President. Unfortunately, that was not the only bad news served to Nigerians on that day.

    “Insurgents pretending to be preachers kill 81.” PUNCH, June 11, 2020, p 10.

    Again the report went on to explain what happened in Borno State. “ The survivor of the Boko Haram’s Tuesday [June 9, 2020] attack on Fanduma Koloram, in the Gubio Local Government area of Borno State told the State Governor, Babagana Zulum, on Wednesday [June 10, 2020] that the insurgents pretended to be Islamic religious crusaders, collected arms from herders and killed 81 persons.” They killed even under-aged children and abducted seven.

    This particular story is packed with so many ironies — all of which expose the impotence of the Northern elite led by Buhari. As usual, one of FG’s loudspeakers “described the killings as one of the most brutal terrorist attacks on innocent people in the North East.” Nigerians, not wedded to the self-induced illusions of the Buhari administration, must ask when armed herders became “innocent Nigerians”. Garba Shehu must be operating with a dictionary different from our own. Armed herdsmen are criminals – full stop. That they were executed with their own weapons — which had probably been used to kill really innocent Nigerians with impunity – was the real irony in this story.

    Again in my article last week, the following point had been made about Boko Haram. “They have no Islamic tenets to disseminate; they have terror to spread because it is now profitable.” Herdsmen who had been allowed to prey on other Nigerians because they pretend to be Muslims have now become the targets of other pretenders. If not, they would not have fallen for the deception of total strangers preaching a doctrine with which they should have been very familiar. The individual and collective delusion of Northern leaders is simply amazing.

    BUHARI IS FLIRTING WITH DISASTER ONCE AGAIN

    “Buhari charged the Armed Forces to sustain their “recent string of successes against the terrorists to exact a heavy price from the attackers, and bring back all those they kidnapped, as well as the large number of cattle rustled.” That was the announcement from the FG which evokes three reactions – disbelief, scepticism and fear in equal measures.

    Disbelief forces one to ask a question. Is Buhari aware of what is going on in Nigeria or is he now so totally isolated from reality that he no longer realises when he makes orders in vain? As the security forces which frequently arrive after the terrorists have left, who will stop them from the next attack? At any rate, the Chief of Army Staff, CoAS, was reported to have relocated to Borno State in May and a promise was made to silence Boko Haram in a few weeks before the latest attack in Borno. The North West attack was the bandits’ answer to Buhari’s ultimatum – delivered at 4pm.

    Apart from the President’s appointees (and perhaps not all of them) few people living in those states can possibly believe that the government can protect them.

    “All animals are equal; some are more equal than others.”

    George Orwell, in ANIMAL FARM.

    Scepticism creeps in because Buhari who had turned deaf ears to cries of anguish of the victims of herders atrocities in the past, who did not raise his voice when hundreds of Agatu people were massacred by suspected Fulani herdsmen, is now asking the security forces to go after the killers of 80 of them and rescue those kidnapped as well as their rustled cattle. Wonders never cease!!

    Buhari, as the “Father of the nation” must be a strange Dad, who will exhibit indifference when some of his offspring are kidnapped; then turn around and demonstrate outrage when others are. Are the rest of us who lost relatives to kidnappers supposed to share in the President’s tough stance now that the lost ones are Fulani and herders like him? Will he issue the same order if Fulani herders kidnap Tiv women in Benue, Urhobo in Delta State or Ibo in Abia? Parents, to earn the respect of their kids must caution themselves against exposing their favourites. Otherwise, they become unworthy to be called Daddy.

    “Fear has many eyes and can see things underground.” Miguel de Cervantes, 1547-1616. VBQ p 58. However, fear is my most overwhelming emotion each time Buhari or General Burantai makes a promise to deal decisively with the hoodlums terrorising the NE and NW, because genocide follows. The terrorists feel challenged to prove that the FG is impotent to defend Nigerians. We might be in for another round of blood-letting in the zone. One General, during the Age of Alexander, made the point that “Generals are trained to take care of others.” In other words, top military officers should not expose those they defend to unnecessary danger. Challenging the terrorists to open confrontation, given the known weaknesses (which I will not explain here) of government, will merely hasten the next attack on unarmed and truly innocent Nigerians. Let me repeat for the sake of Garba Shehu that armed Fulani herders cannot by any stretch of imagination be called “innocent”. The mere possession of the weapons makes them criminals, at least, and murderers at worst. My fear is for the really innocent who will be the victims of the shoot-out between the two armed forces.

    My fear is heightened by Buhari’s use of the word “successes”. How on earth does the President define “success” under the present circumstances? I had a lot of time on my hands while on admission in the hospital in March and April for cancer (not CORO please), and in one week logged the body counts of people killed by terrorists/bandits versus their members killed by the Nigerian armed forces. In a two-week period the numbers were about five to one in favour of the criminals. So, what is success? And who is succeeding – FG or the terrorists?

    ACCEPT GRACIOUSLY WHAT YOU CANNOT NOW REFUSE

    “It is unthinkable that wisdom should ever be popular.” JW Goethe.

    Some time in the early 2000s, one of my friends who was being oppressed by his boss, asked me for advice. Before telling him my mind, after listening to his tale of woe, I asked him if he would not be offended by what my view is on the matter. He said “No”. Gracious acceptance of tough situations, while patiently planning your deliverance is a key attribute to survival under certain conditions.

    President Buhari already has established a reputation as the Consoler-In-Chief, C-I-C, of Nigeria. He has sent off more condolence messages to families of victims killed by gunmen than any President, except Syria’s Assad. It is not a dignifying position; but, it might be the only role he can play until his security forces can actually fight to win.

    My friend ignored the advice in 2000 and went on to confront his boss. He lost everything – job, wife and house. His colleagues, who endured until opportunity presented itself, during an audit of the firm, remained. One of them succeeded their former tormentor who was sacked. There is a lesson there.

    Buhari has no credible strategy for defending Nigeria – especially the North.

    STOP PRESS!!!

    “BLACK SATURDAY: Boko Haram, ISWAP attacks leave 60 dead in Borno.”

    “INSECURITYIN NORTH: PRESIDENCY, NORTHERN LEADERS AT WAR.” VANGUARD, Monday, June 15, 2020, pp 8 and 9.

    I was about to finish this article, but had to stop for three days on account of health challenges. Suddenly, THEY are singing my song. Who are they? Prominent Northern leaders. Here is what two of them said.

    Professor Ango Abdullahi: NEF

    “Recent escalation of attacks by bandits, rustlers, and insurgents leave the only conclusion that the people of the North are now completely at the mercy of armed groups who roam towns, and villages at will wreaking havoc.”

    Dr Junaid Mohammed:

    “Whoever is supposed to be in charge of security of this country clearly is not in charge of security. And nobody seems to know who is in charge of security. Whether it is the President or governors..”

    Presidency:

    “President Buhari steadily focuses on retooling Nigeria, and discerning Nigerians know the true state of the nation.”

    If you ever read a more stupid response to the issues presented by the two elders from any Presidency, kindly let me know. It shows the depth of idiocy to which the Buhari Aso Rock has crept.

    STOP! STOP!! STOP!!! PRESS.

    “ASO ROCK SHOOTING: Buhari orders investigation.”

    Shooting in Aso Rock must be regarded as a new low for any occupant of our seat of government. The story reflects a head of household who has lost control of his own home. Is this the leadership we need?

    FREE READING ON https://www.delesobowale.com/vanguard-book-of-quotations. Now you can access free six books including IBRAHIM B BABANGIDA 1985-1992: LETTING A THOUSAND FLOWERS BLOOM

  • Popular columnist, Dele Sobowale writes for TNG

    Popular columnist, Dele Sobowale writes for TNG

    Popular economist, newspaper columnist and public affairs commentator, Dr. Dele Sobowale is the latest among the league of A-list writers in Nigeria to write for TheNewsGuru.com (TNG)

    Dr. Sobowale, a management consultant and columnist with renowned media houses for over 30 years standing will deploy his rich and expository writing skills to bear on issues of national importance.

    His column will run weekly on Sundays and Mondays starting from next week Sunday (21/06/2020) and will be included in our daily news broadcasts for your reading pleasure.

    Do watch out!