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Tag: Governance

  • Aregbesola: Governance as festival of the mass – By Owei Lakemfa

    Aregbesola: Governance as festival of the mass – By Owei Lakemfa

    Witness to history. Animated discussions. Banters. Back slapping. Roaring laughter. Seeming riot, but orderly. Various groups, including the elderly and children. Then the crowds burst into songs and dances. They herald the arrival of the host. He is clad in white with a traditional white dog-eared cap.

    He flashes his white teeth, raising a two-finger victory sign. Yes, he is the Governor of Osun State, or as his government prefers to call it, The State Of Osun. But the crowds, and protocols do not refer to him as His Excellency, he is simply Ogbeni, the Yoruba word for Mister.

    As he walks in, it is announced that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola  has arrived. No, he is not a unique person, he says he is simply at that material time the elected leader of the state. Traditional drumming and songs take over. He breaks into a dance with the fine dance steps of an accomplished traditional dancer. The crowd breaks into a frenzy, dancing as if it were a traditional festival. People do not rush to shake his hands or press against him.

    They see him quite often, sometimes in the streets. So he is like a familiar neighbour. As he dances, the edges of the crowd seems to be bursting with wild dances, including by street toughies called the ‘State Boys’.

    Then he raises his hands to signal a stop. The drummers go silent, the songs taper off. The Master of Ceremony tries to take control. Then one of the market women breaks into a popular song. It is about the market women being the soul of society. The Governor’s mother, Madam  Saratu Aregbesola, known as ‘Iya Olobi” (Kolanut merchant) was a market woman. So the women have a pride of place in the state.

    Aregbesola shakes his head as if resisting the temptation to stand up. But he has no choice, the crowds are getting back to their feet, the drums come back to life. He is again on his feet with traditional dance steps. The frenzy is on again.

    Then after some songs, Aregbesola takes the microphone, faces the market women and sings: “She bi omo oloja niwa…”(Aren’t we the children of market people?) The rest of the crowd take over and the market women take centre stage as the most honoured group; they are the mothers who ensure natural and economic reproduction and production, take care of the family and make society run. While leading the vocals, Aregbesola seems transported to the past when his mother was his world.

    Soon, the songs and dances come to an end. It is like the opening glee of the traditional Yoruba Alaarijo (Itinerant) drama groups who perform a musical (opening glee) before beginning their stage plays. Although it is a state function, but the sweating crowds are at ease. There are no security details pushing anybody around. It was like a family meeting or a communal reunion. In a sense, part of the attraction to state functions are these collective dances and songs which the famous Palm Wine Drinkers Club in Nigerian tertiary institutions would call “gyration”.

    What the Aregbesola government did in the state was to incorporate the traditional system of Village Square meetings into governance, giving the people, a sense of collectivism, communality, consultation and mass participation in governance.

    When the university system began in Nigeria in 1948, there was a sense of alienation between the ivory tower and the populace. There were strenuous efforts made to bridge the divide between ‘Gown and Town’. Part of the efforts were  building  cultural centres like the Mbari Mbayo in Oshogbo and the Ori Olokun in Ife.

    However, the alienation between government and the people was far more pronounced. But what the Aregbesola government did was to put the people at the centre of governance and try to involve them by demystifying state events and turning them into festival-like ceremonies in which the governor and the governed, the high and the lowly  interact. With the dances and songs over, the National Anthem which promises that: “The labour of our heroes past, Shall never be in vain” is played.

    Then the ‘State of Osun  Anthem’ in Yoruba is rendered. It is a patriotic and Pan-Africanist anthem which emphasises  hard work. In part, it tells the populace: “There is work to be done for our land, for our fatherland…Our belief is that everyone is born equal. We need to work, to work and work to create wealth…Yee children of Oodua, rise and take your rightful place. You are the light of the entire Black Race.”

    The crowd recites this like a pledge. Then, Christian, Islamic and African Traditional Religion prayers are offered. The  Special Adviser to the Governor, Biyi Odunlade, then takes over, rendering enchanting panegyrics in Yoruba to which the crowds nod, snap fingers and concur as they soak in the poetic lyrics which sometimes take the form of chants.

    Finally, the programme begins. When it is the turn of the governor to speak, he begins by breaking into songs, the dances resume, the drummers heighten the tempo and more bodies are soaked in sweat.

    Finally, his speech, often laced with proverbs and wise sayings, is delivered. Quite often, the speech is interrupted by somebody from the audience breaking into a song and the crowds, as if on cue, join. On such occasions, the governor rocks from side to side, breaks into practised dance steps, then like a skilled conductor at the opera, weaves the songs to a stop and continues his address.

    Sometimes, as the crowds quieten, he raises his own song and the dances resume. Speeches and programme over, the governor takes his leave, sent off with dances and songs. Various persons move to talk with him; he seems to have time for everyone. He rapidly gives appointments with aides taking note. Sometimes, it is a mother trying to cope with feeding her children. Such cases are quickly attended to.

    On this particular day, November 26, 2018 as the programme reached a climax, the Ooni of Ife (The Cradle of  Yoruba Civilisation) Oba Adeyeye Enitan  Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, in fitting into the atmosphere, sprouts into instantaneous creativity. He teaches the crowd a song he crafted while sitting in the audience:

    Aregbe wa so Osun (thrice)

    Osi fara sinlu o.

    Se lama ranti O (thrice)

     Fun ise rere Ogbeni

      “Aregbe came to Osun.

    He served with commitment.

    We shall always remember

    The good works of Ogbeni”.

    In  Osun State, a cultured, warm and hardworking people, blended with a charismatic and committed leader. Under Aregbesola, it was indeed, ‘governance unusual’.

    This Wednesday, May 25, 2022, Aregbesola who has moved from Osun State to central politics as Interior Minister, turns 65.

  • Leadership is difficult because governance is very stubborn – By Owei Lakemfa

    Leadership is difficult because governance is very stubborn – By Owei Lakemfa

    TWO bills in the last two weeks, defined for me the President Muhammadu Buhari government including its state of mind, wellbeing, position on democracy and its so-called war on corruption.

    On Monday, December 20, 2021, it declined assent to the 2021 Electoral Act Amendment Bill on the basis – rather, excuse – that it contained a provision for direct primaries in political parties. Direct primaries empower registered members of a party to vote for their candidates in main elections, while indirect primaries empowers assumed delegates to decide on candidates.

    Citing this lone provision, President Buhari threw back the bill; more like throwing away the baby and the bathwater. This is because the bill contains other provisions that would strengthen the electoral and democratic processes such as electronic voting and transmission of results.

    This is the fourth time in three years, Buhari would decline assent to the bill. The first time in March 2018, his claim was that signing the bill at that time may affect the powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to fix the dates of some elections. He refused assent the second time saying there are drafting issues involved.

    In December 2018, he declined assent on the basis that it was too close to the 2019 general elections. Now that the 2023 elections are still far away, he says the direct primaries provision makes the entire bill incurable so there must be a surgical operation to remove the cancer.

    It may sound incredible, but it is true that while President Buhari refused assent to the electoral bill because of a single provision, eleven days later, he readily signed the 2022 Budget which he told the nation has over 6,600 controversial insertions including budget padding which is an euphemism for official corruption and theft.

    While signing the budget bill on Friday December 31, 2021, President Buhari accused the National Assembly, NASS, of directly padding the budget including making new insertions for itself totalling N36.59 billion.

    The President also claimed that the lawmakers cut the Non-Regular Allowances of the Police and the Navy by N15 billion and N5 billion respectively despite the fact that: “personnel cost provisions are based on agencies’ nominal roll and approved salaries/allowances.”

    What is unstated in this move is that overhead is usually a target because contracts can neither be awarded nor inflated on the salaries and allowances of people. So it pays law makers better to reduce personnel cost and add such monies to project costs. This is not to say that they do not sometimes increase personnel costs where they have interests like sending hordes of people to be employed.

    It is a notorious fact that NASS members also make money for their private pockets by inserting or embedding new projects into the budgets of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs. The strongman of Nigeria accused the NASS of inserting 6,576 such new projects into the 2022 budget including over 1,500 into the budget of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture alone.

    He lamented that these ‘projects’ have been added to the budgets of MDAs without costing, consideration for availability of funds or capacity to implement them. Is the President not aware that many of these so-called projects are not meant for execution?

    Despite all these and his experience in budgeting in the last six years, the President who prides himself as the anti-corruption czar in Nigeria, signed what he otherwise presents as a monumental fraud, into law. Who is deceiving who? Is it the National Assembly deceiving the public; the President deceiving Nigerians or both the Assembly and the Presidency deceiving Nigerians and oiling the corruption machinery?

    The Presidency for at least six years now has been making the same lamentations while condoning the brazen theft of public funds through budgetary provisions. It appears the Presidency has a template for the budget-signing speeches he makes annually.

    For example his speech last week and the one in 2018 in which he said: “The National Assembly made cuts amounting to 347 billion Naira in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to 578 billion Naira” are from the same template.

    Compare President Buhari’s 2022 Budget claim that: “The cuts in the provisions for several of these projects by the National Assembly may render the projects un-implementable …” and his 2018 one that: “Many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation.” Same script!

    In 2018, Buhari lamented: “Some of the new projects inserted by the National Assembly have not been properly conceptualised, designed and costed and will, therefore, be difficult to execute.”

    In the 2022 Budget he made the same assertion: “Many more projects have been added to the budgets of some MDAs with no consideration for the institutional capacity to execute the additional projects and/or for the incremental recurrent expenditure that may be required…and do not appear to have been properly conceptualised, designed and costed.”

    In 2019, he made similar assertions including a claim that the NASS inserted N90.3 billion in the budget to cover items like security bills and severance allowances of the outgoing National Assembly members. In the past, the Buhari Presidency used to claim it allowed budget padding because it was faced with an antagonistic NASS presided over by Dr. Bukola Saraki. So why has it continued to allow this with a pliant NASS under Dr. Ahmad Lawan?

    President Buhari’s mantra was change, but it appears change is unyielding; the more things change, the more they remain the same. Sometimes, I imagine what Buhari tells himself in his quiet, reflective moments. After having been a military Head of State and contesting the Presidency thrice, shouldn’t he have just gone into retirement tending his cows and farm rather than contesting the 2015 elections?

    That victory which made him the second military dictator to become a civilian President, also completely demystified him. It portrayed him as a clay-footed hero whose promissory note cannot be cashed.

    Wouldn’t it have been better for him not to have been President, rather than be a Commander-in-Chief whose territory is being effectively challenged by bandits, terrorists and miscreants some of who have not only seized territory, but are also running their mini governments including imposition of taxes?

    Is this a case of an exhausted lion taking a rest or one that has become old and feeble waiting for the end of his kingship? There are the legion of jobbers who tell him he is doing very well and even tease him that without him, Nigeria would have ceased to exist. My advice, is borrowed over the ages: Man, Be Truthful To Thyself.

  • APC boasts of hitting 20 million membership strength in less than a decade, says Buhari sincere with governance

    APC boasts of hitting 20 million membership strength in less than a decade, says Buhari sincere with governance

    The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has been sincere in its approach to governance from inception.

    The National Secretary of the Caretaker Committee of the party, Senator John Akpanudoedehe disclosed this on Monday.

    Akpanudoedehe, who said the party’s membership has hit 20 million, said Buhari’s empathy towards the people has birthed the largest Social Investment Programme (SIP).

    He made the disclosures during a session with the Ambassador of the Republic of China to Nigeria, Cui Jianchun in Abuja.

    According to him, the Communist Party of China shares a lot of similarities with the ruling party.

    He said: “Political parties are by far, the most important ingredient of participatory democracy and should therefore play critical roles in fostering a world of peace, interconnectivity, global trade, and development.

    “Today, technology has created avenues for people to fit into a digital community to which they are mentally connected. This has also brought greater interaction amongst communities, and governments and has enhanced international trade and the exchange of ideas, beliefs and culture across distant localities.

    “The Communist Party of China shares a lot of similarities with the APC. From a membership of less than a 100 persons in 1921 to more than 92 million today, the CPC has led the people of China from poverty to prosperity over the past 100 years.

    “The APC has just been around for less than a decade and we are talking of a membership of over 20 million persons.

    “The CPC-led government of China has fully implemented the 5-sphere integrated plan for promoting economic, political, cultural, social and ecological progress, and co-ordinated progress of the 4-pronged comprehensive strategy to build a moderately prosperous society.

    “The APC and the CPC have a lot in common in serving the people.

    “The APC-led government of President Muhammadu Buhari is very sincere in its approach to governance. His empathy towards the people has birthed the largest social investment programme ever witnessed in this part of the globe.

    “For instance, the COVID-19 loans targeted at SMES that were hit by the pandemic; the N-Power Scheme targeted at persons below 35 years (at N30,000 each and about 2 million young Nigerians have benefitted thus far and the conditional-cash-transfer to the poorest of the poor is also on board.”

    Akpanudoedehe said his mission to the embassy was to ”show comradeship with a view to deepening the relationship that exists between our two great political parties-the Communist Party of China and the APC.”

    On power, Akpanudoedehe said: “The Mambilla Power Project is receiving attention after decades of neglect and holds the potential of ramming up Nigeria‘s electric output by over 12 per cent.

    “Of course, some Chinese companies are involved, as well as the China Exim bank. This is a positive for both countries.”

    Ambassador Jianchun said: “We must uphold mutually beneficial cooperation.

    “The problems facing the world are intricate and complex. With a shared vision, we must mutually beneficial cooperation.

    “Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa and an important and strategic ally of China. We need experience sharing on common interests, regional economy and industrial development.”

  • Naturalness And Governance, By Abdu Rafiu

    Naturalness And Governance, By Abdu Rafiu

    By Abdu Rafiu

    For thousands of years mankind have separated naturalness from their lives. The word naturalness sounds Greek in many a circle, whether in social, political, even in educational circles many would strain their ears and ask you to say that again. The nearest it gets seeming resonance is in science, even then it makes meaning largely when it leads to technological wonders. Yet all living things, all that is animate, man included, are products of Nature. By Nature is meant the work of the Almighty Creator. From this it is easy to see why it is said Nature is always right. Since the Creator is perfect so must Nature. Inherent in Nature are Laws. So, we speak of the Laws of Nature and lawyers talk of Laws of Natural Justice. Whatever deviates from naturalness is in collision with the Laws of Nature and no matter how long it lasts it must collapse. The ill-success is triggered by absence of foundation which only naturalness provides.

    One of such Laws is the Law of Attraction of Homogeneous Species, also referred to as the Law of Similarities. It is not an idle talk when the people of old, in consequence of their closeness to Nature and following their observation of the consistency in the manner of association of birds, said “Birds of the same feather flock together.” The outworking of the Law can be seen in animal kingdom and in the colony of fishes. In the bed of the seas, salmons do not mix with tilapia. Monkeys do not keep company with giraffe nor can one find hyena in the gathering of tigers. In human associations, the Law is at work with people of the same characteristics coming together. People of the same tendencies find themselves clubbing. It requires no efforts for drinkers to find themselves. Does it not surprise us that the men who operate below the society drift towards one another to form gangs to menace the society? When people are united on the basis of common thought we say they are driven by an ideology. The foundational thought can sometimes lead to formation of political parties. True marriage is governed by currents of compatibility and bonds of complementarity, also products of the Law of Homogeneity and the Law of Balance.

    Our various governments have been unable to grapple with the basic principle that birds of dissimilar feather do not flock together. They are uncomfortable with our diversities and they appear to think that these diversities can be ignored; that they do not matter. Yet everyone feels at home among his own kind.

    Chief Obafemi Awolowo hinted at this Law when he said in his book, Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution: “If a country is unilingual or bilingual or multilingual, and also consists of communities which over periods of years have developed divergent nationalities, the constitution must be federal and the constituent states must be organized on the dual basis of language and nationality…any experiment with a unitary constitution in a bilingual or multilingual country must fail in the long run…since Nigeria is a multinational country per excellence, the only Constitution that is suitable for its peculiar circumstances is a Federal Constitution.”

    The renowned diplomat, Emeka Anyoku, contributing to the debate on restructuring, said in 2016: “I have maintained since 2005 on the basis of my over 10 years experience with over 50 countries of the Commonwealth that Nigeria cannot attain political stability and its desire of national and social-economic development unless it restructures its existing governance architecture.” Anyaoku, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth was speaking on the occasion of the United States International Youth Day for that year held at the University of Lagos. He made it plain: “The restructuring that I am advocating for poses no threat to Nigeria’s unity. On the contrary, it is the continuation of the ongoing agitation in different parts of the country which is encouraged by the present governing structure that will most probably lead to the undoing of Nigeria’s unity.”

    Indeed, Bishop Matthew Kukah said: “It is wrong for anybody or group of persons to see the call for restructuring as an attempt to dismember Nigeria.”

    Atiku Abubakar must count among Nigeria’s leading lights that have pushed really hard for the overhauling of our governmental system. The product he has taken round marketing is no other than restructuring. He went from Kaduna where he addressed the Northern Establishment otherwise known as Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF). From Kaduna to Ife, that is Obafemi Awolowo University where he spoke at Ademola Popoola Public Lecture, Faculty of Law; from Ife to Lagos; from Lagos to Enugu and to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His next port of sales was London where he spoke at the 2nd Annual Convention of the Abia State Medical Alumni Association, U.K. held at Doubletree, Dartford, London. Everywhere his argument for restructuring was compelling. At Ife, the former Vice-President did say: “We even had the awkward situation where the Federal Government created local governments and continues to allocate resources directly to them through the so-called joint accounts with the state governments that essentially confiscate the funds and expend them as they wish…the intrusion of the Federal Government in local government administration has virtually destroyed local administration.

    We have a unique opportunity now, with all the agitation and clamour for restructuring…Ours should be a federal system that delegates to the Federal Government only powers and responsibilities that are better handled by a central government such as defence, foreign affairs, inter-governmental affairs, setting overall national economic policy and standards. Other powers and responsibilities should reside with the states which will include the power to create and fund local governments as they may deem fit. Why do we have federal roads all over the country that don’t get maintained? Why do we have federal hospitals and schools all over the country that are no better than their state counterparts? We even have increased clamour for federal take-over of some existing state institutions. This is not how to run a federation. Rather we are centralizing more and making a mockery of federalism, and we must get away from it.

    “It is a myth to say we do not need restructuring, that all we need is good leadership. While leadership is critical, leaders also operate within structural and institutional constraints, which may impede or enhance their performance. Thus if you have a federal structure that encourages dependency while discouraging hard work, innovation, productivity and competition, your development as a nation will be less than optimal.” Atiku made the same sound argument in Enugu. “In 2012 I went before ALGON in Enugu and told them that their clamour for autonomy from state governments is misguided. What is the meaning of ‘local’ then, I asked? How does the transfer of local government dependence on state to central government translate to autonomy? Even our state governments are nearly totally dependent on the federal government, meaning they do not even have the autonomy that we are trying to give to the local governments that are below them. This is a complete absurdity.” When he went to Kaduna, according to him, “I told an audience mostly my compatriots from the North where most of the resistance against restructuring seems to come from, that restructuring is in the interest of the North and Nigeria.” On another occasion, Atiku said, using his words, “If a state is opposed to cattle tax or bicycle tax or alcohol tax, or pollution tax, for instance it should not expect to share in tax proceeds from those items. That is called fairness…Federal intrusion makes it more difficult for a state to collect tax that may be peculiar to it thereby narrowing the tax base. And it makes enforcement even more difficult. No section of the country can claim correctly that its people are better served by the current structure of our Federation…When the federating units had greater autonomy of action and were largely responsible for their affairs, they, that is, our regional governments did not owe workers their salaries for several months. They did not shut down schools and universities for several months because of teachers’ strike and inadequate funding. Take a look at the industries that the regional governments established and ran and the quality of schools that they established, and see if you can see a state government or group of state governments that have bested them since the emergence of our unitary federalism.”

    There are still many who can attest to the phenomenal strides which the Regional Governments made in the First Republic to which former Vice-President Atiku made copious references. According to a research by Buhari L.O. of the Department of History and International Studies, University of Ado- Ekiti as cited by Akobi O.Benjamin, Chief Obafemi Awolowo recorded mind-blowing achievements unbelievably thought possible within his comparatively short tenure as Premier of Western Region. In an effort to diversify the economy of the state from agricultural production which was the main line of revenue, he built Lafia and Premier Hotels with Western Hotels Limited as the Holden Company. He established industries and companies, some in partnership with private investors. These included National Bank; Wema Bank; Great Nigeria Insurance; Gravil Einthoven and Company; Lagos Airport Hotel; Vegetable Oil, Cocoa Industries; O’dua Textiles; Wrought Iron Limited; Union Beverages Ltd; Sunga Company; Wemabod Estates; Western Livestock; Fisheries services Ltd; Caxton Press; Epe Plywood; Askar Paints; Nigeria Crafts and Bags Ltd; Nipol Plastics; Phoenix Motors and many more. According to the research, they were consolidated under the umbrella of O’dua Group of Companies which is said to be largest conglomerate in the country. The 25-storey Cocoa House was the first high-rise building. The industrial and business district of Oba Akran, Ikeja was established by him. The vehicle used for the establishment of most of these was Western Nigeria Development Corporation, (WNDC) under the chairmanship of Chief Alfred Rewane.

    What is fuelling the intensification of the agitation for restructuring are the forces of natural laws which are sweeping through all lands, although at varied levels of acceleration. People feel being torn away from unfreedom and an inexplicable unease of a stranglehold. There is the consciousness of a union and its diversities, and the concomitant sensing of values and goals of people which differ. The result is a stronger sensing and clamour for restructuring.

    It is increasingly clear that for our society to move forward and for unity to be forged, diversities must be recognised and respected. The fact that all men have the same features does not make them one people. These are externals. What is decisive is the varying degrees of inner worth of each people. The inner worth is determined by the level of spiritual maturity of a people. The more clarified and freed from dross the spirit is the more mature it becomes. With inner maturity talents and abilities unfold. Different people are made to congregate in accordance with their level of maturity which also determines their values, their culture, their refinement or lack of it, their language and prosperity so that the less mature will not disturb the more mature. Thus, in the wisdom and perfection of Nature, families, tribes and what have you separate and form their own communities, clans and kingdoms according to their level of maturity. All men have the same origin but each person moves according to his own pace and in his own light in accordance with the choice he makes in the exercise of his inalienable free will. Once the free will has been exercised, he is tied to its consequences. Over time a character emerges. And people of similar character congregate to form their own community with their own language to cloak their inner stirring with words.

    In other words, no single human being is a victim of circumstances. Men generally are ignorant about this, and wonder why all men cannot be together, why there should be races and tribes. They believe that Nature is in error and man cleverer. Any suggestion to the contrary is dismissed as primitive, racist and tribalistic. All these are flaws in human relationships. However, both the accuser and the accused know very little about the higher correlations of life, and they are in error. There are some people who may have arrived at the level of open government. They hold their leaders accountable openly for their private and public conduct. They expect their leaders to lay bare their credentials. They are alert and litigious. Those who are not in this region of maturity will dismiss such demands and litigious tendencies as destabilizing, unpatriotic and treasonable. Acrimony and instability thus ensue in the polity and there is recourse to force to bring the dissimilar peoples together under one national umbrella.

    Dr. Stephen Lampe, formerly of the World Bank in the United States, wrote in The Guardian of 21 August, 1991, as follows: “No federation can last for long if some segments of it believe that they are not deriving any or sufficient advantage from it. Indeed, a successful and stable federation requires that all units be convinced that they are better off in it than they would be outside it.”And in his book, Building Future Societies, he says: “It must be easier for those who have a great deal in common to live together than it would be for people who differ in many respects. This natural tendency cannot be legislated against; it must always be taken into account…As national heterogeneity increases, so should the form of political association become looser and less centralized; and vice versa.”

    What engenders stability and progress in a nation is allowing each group which is similar to run its own affairs and look after itself within the Federation. That is the proverbial true federation which restructuring of the nation’s governmental architecture will bring. The national resource from the common pool will then be distributed in a way that no section feels cheated. The equitable distribution can be better achieved if it is based on the percentage of how much has been distributed by each component part, what has been generally described as the principle of derivation. That is the point Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Emeka Anyoku and Atiku Abubakar were eloquently making. There is the ardent longing to return to true federalism. The progress and development made under Awolowo were made possible by the soil provided by federalism governance architecture apart from his own personal qualities as well as his visionary and exemplary leadership. Little wonder accusation has been loud that the prolonged incursion of the military in governance and its peculiar unitary culture foisted on the country has arrested progress and development of the West and country in general. Buhari who rode on the crest waves of love, hope and tremendous goodwill was soon suspected trapped in the despised governance culture as not many people feel persuaded that he did much to free the country from the yoke and attendant frustration. Divisions deepened and insecurity worsened. In other words for Nigeria to be free from insecurity and for her to make progress, there is hardly any other alternative to restructuring to return the country to undistorted federalism. The diversity of her people and the size of the country leave Nigerians with no other choice. It is the closest to the immutable Law we must all interweave with our thinking and put into action. Such is the signpost for the greatness of individuals as it is for a nation. It is beckoning in the horizon.

  • Nigerian youths responsible for bad governance – Tunde Bakare

    Nigerian youths responsible for bad governance – Tunde Bakare

    Pastor Tunde Bakare, the General Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, CGCC, on Saturday said some youths in their 20s and 30s are responsible for Nigeria’s current woes.

    Bakare said these youths once trusted with power messed up the system in Nigeria.

    He said the older generation of leaders are not responsible for the country’s woes but youths who were once entrusted with power.

    Bakare spoke at the maiden edition of The Conversation Africa Series organized by the Legacy Youth Fellowship in Lagos.

    The clergyman charged the present crop of Nigerian youths to be determined and focus in ensuring that the dream of Nigeria’s founding fathers becomes a reality.

    He said: “Young Nigerians are asking why a country so rich wears the inglorious badge of the poverty capital of the world. Consequently, we have seen determined young Nigerians fired up and ready to take their country back from the so-called gerontocrats.

    “Our current youths need to be reminded that on May 24, 1966, a 31-year-old Head of State destroyed the foundation of federalism and made Nigeria a unitary system and also in mid-1970’s some young and zealous army generals in their 30’s overthrew the government in their bid to sanitize the system but ended up destroying it among other incident.

    “Young Nigerian patriots, you can see from this brief recourse to history that Nigeria was brought to its current state, not necessarily by gerontocrats, but by mostly young Nigerians, some of whom had been actively involved in governance from their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, and some of whom are relevant even now. It is why I say that youth, in a sense, brought us here.”

  • Wither Home? Matters Arising – Chris Anyokwu

    Wither Home? Matters Arising – Chris Anyokwu

    By Chris Anyokwu

    Have you ever heard the song: ‘East or West/Home is the best’? Although the short minuscule poem- song appears to scramble the iambic-dactylic metrical pattern the lyrical joyfulness, the mellifluousness of its rhyme scheme more than makes up for such niggling prosodic deviance: ‘west’ and ‘best’ intimate and bracingly approximate rest (read: HOME). But the question to ask is: Whither home? Where is home? The question, without a doubt, sounds nonsensical, given that we all have a place we call home: a hut, a thatched-roof hovel, a mud-house, a face-me-I-slap-you room-let or in a tenement, a house or a well-appointed castle for the upwardly-mobile and well-heeled among us. After all, every Banana Island has its Makoko. Just in case you are not familiar with Lagos metropolis, and, thus do not know where the two diametrically opposed and oceanically-divergent living-spaces are, please ask Google.

    The former is home to Nigeria’s filthy rich class while the latter is a roiling inferno in which Lagos’s disinherited subsist and try to chase after the vanishing illusions of existential meaning. Whither home? To the average villager, his or her village is home as he or she is secure within the reassuring ambiance of the living oral-aural poetry of common speech spoken by all and sundry including the odd settler. Moreover, the festivals, rites of passage (birth, puberty or initiation, nuptial, funeral, inter alia), traditional customs, norms, mores, taboos, etc. add tone and texture to the beauty and utility of home. To be sure, the vital factor of language, the mother tongue, in this connection, cannot be over-emphasized as it constitutes the linchpin of cultural pride for the native son or daughter. By the same token, however, this same linguistic identify can and does give rise to misunderstanding and misunderstanding can and does degenerate into conflict, ranging from mere tantrums and hollow shouting-matches to duels involving fire and fury. For instance, in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not To Blame, Odewale, the tragic play’s protagonist, commits parricide and regicide on account of the victim mocking his (i.e., Odewale’s) ‘bush’ dialect of the larger Yoruba communicative idiom.

    Thus, even speakers of the same language can and do go to war with one another over mere diacritical and, thus, dialectal variation on the parent tongue. Just think about it: tone or tonality as bone of contention and some members of the homo sapiens duel to the death! Whither home? To the city dweller, the so-called urban drift, the equal- opportunity, zero-sum, winner-takes-all, weitgeist tends to complicate the plot. In point of fact, the lure of lucre and the pursuit of progress drives the individual from place to place, moving and striking camp at will as s/he follows money, as the saying goes. Formerly of the hinterland of primitive innocence, s/he now drifts about in the belly of the beast bedazzled by the legendary gold-dust littering the cobbled byways and paved boulevards of the city.

    Like William Wordsworth’s persona in “Tintern Abbey”, his or her wanderlust is exacerbated by the anonymity of urban life, the alienation and fragmentation of experience, the loneliness and crass self-centeredness of urban dwellers. Thus, the resultant loss of touch with village values in the city, the absorption of foreign ideals and belief-systems, including language, culinary arts, dress code, music and religious practices practically drive him or her to the edge. Now s/he is truly homeless. A fragmented ego, s/he loses all sense of personal identity and self- authenticity. And a split-personality syndrome or crisis of consciousness sets in for this child of a multiple worlds. S/he is remorselessly assailed by the crosswinds of cultural mongrelism, hybridity, mimicry, leading inevitably to psychic vertigo; or, what W.E.B DuBois famously dubbed ‘double consciousness’ in The Soul of Black Folks. This parlous and precarious situation is much worse for the émigré whose soul is riven by contending and irreconcilable allegiances of home and exile.

    The many sweet sorrows of the exilic condition are memorably captured by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Americanah, a post-colonial novel which poignantly dramatizes the sad and heartrending ways and means our kith and kin in the diaspora rough it out in the face of institutionalized racism, both in the USA and Britain. Perhaps one of the most inspired and touching aspects of the narrative is Adichie’s deployment of Nollywood home video films as alternative simulacra of home away from away. Whither home? There is now an interesting dimension to the emigrant dilemma. Nigerians who have left our shores for greener pastures overseas and are having to raise their kids abroad have resorted ingeniously to importing “natives” from Africa to help teach their mother tongues to their children. This practice is catching on and becoming prevalent in the USA, Canada, the UK and continental Europe. The Yoruba and Igbo in particular deserve praise and commendation on this score, particularly as they have succeeded in mainstreaming their decamillionaire tongues through their official adoption in some school curricula abroad and as the language of broadcast by the BBC. Movingly, the foregoing circumstances bring to mind Sound Sultan’s hit- song “Ajo da b ile” (‘However comfortable exile might be, home is still home’); an ephebe-song that was a large part inspired by Lagbaja’s precursor/master-song, “Afro-calypso”, a lyrical parable that threnodises the unforgettable horrors of the Middle Passage, the roots of the Black Experience and contemporary crisis of Afropessimism.

    Now, let us come back home: where is home for the Nigerian child? Where are the ‘Tales by Moonlight’, the folklore which constitutes the basis of pedagogy and hortatory traditions through which the child’s limbs are earthed in autochthonous values, which in turn act as ballast against wayward winds? How much of the mother tongue [ more on this next week] does the child possess and can utilize with felicitous ease? Who, indeed, shapes his/her outlook on life? Is it the parents? I think not. We all know, in all good conscience, that it is now the peer group, social media, the internet, television, and all what not. The parents, even when conditions are ideal, are nearly always missing in action as both parents trade blame and parry responsibility over whose business it is to cater to the child’s needs, linguistic and all.

    According to Terry Eagleton in his book entitled After Theory, the hearth which traditionally irradiated bonhomie, camaraderie, solidarity, and allied familial values has now been corrupted, swamped as it is by postmodern pathologies and alien malodorous influences spawning caricatures, mongrels and human grotesquerie among cognate monstrosities. The home or hearth is now the zone of zombies! It bears reiterating that home is a place of comfort and security, the infinitely reassuring hearth, cozy and warm with family and friends; a place teeming with memories of the good times and sometimes of the bad. It is rooted in history and tradition and oral lore, protected by time- honored cultural traditions, rites, festivals, and ancestral memory. Home is, in this connection, more than a living-space, a geographical locus or accommodation. It intimates and evokes feelings and values of kinship or consanguinity, affinal fellowship and oneness, of charity and compassion, a one-for-all/all-for-all philosophy. It should, nonetheless, be readily admitted that home has evaporated like fog under the pitiless glare of the so-called post-modern condition.

    Home has changed address from a physical location to a psycho-spiritual one, namely: the human heart. Given the geographic dispersal, the rootlessness and the dislocation of the modern self as homo viator, an existential flaneur or hobo, s/he peregrinates and perambulates with his/her ‘home’ like the tortoise or the snail, seeking watering-holes in this wilderness we call earth. His or her condition is worsened by the most confounding malaise of our post-apocalyptic epoch in which reality is virtuality and vice-versa.

    Now, all is flux: exile can become home and home, when rendered unlivable, turns exile both literally and figuratively. Small wonder, then, today’s Nigeria is a Frankenstein’s laboratory, a Dantesque Inferno, and a Hobbesian Dystopia, no thanks to a snowballing slew of socio-economic and political problems including killer herdsmen terrorism, banditry, rape, kidnapping, armed robbery, and insurgency, thereby transmogrifying our geo-political ecosystem beyond recognition. You have to, from time to time, pinch yourself to reassure yourself that you are still living, nay, surviving in the postcolonial hell-hole called Nigeria. As always, we can only appeal to those whom fortune has made rulers over our collective affairs at all tiers of the social contract and all levels of governance to work conscientiously to make Nigeria great again, especially for the next generation: our children.

    Chris Anyokwu

    Associate Professor of English, University of Lagos.

  • Hard times: Calls for Salary cut, low cost of governance should be directed at Executive – Reps

    The House of Representatives on Thursday said that the calls for reduction of salaries of federal lawmakers and cost of governance were misdirected.

    It argued that since the Executive manages 99.902 percent of the national budget, the calls should be directed at that arm of government and not the National Assembly which receives a paltry 0.8 percent.

    The House stated that the National Assembly was struggling and therefore needed to be energised as the 0.8 percent was too small.

    Spokesman for the House Benjamin Kalu, stated the position of the lawmakers while briefing reporters on their activities for the week in Abuja on Thursday.

    He also disclosed that the various committees of House would from next Wednesday start the submission of budget defence reports.

    Kalu said: ,’The 0.8% of the national budget for the National Assembly is not enough to run the institution. If you want to cut salaries, expenses, cost of governance, start it from the Executive. That’s the truth because the 0.8 per cent you’re talking about takes care of the Senate and House.

    “People think that the money that comes to the National Assembly is divided by members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. That’s a wrong narrative being sold and that’s what Nigerians believe.

    ”That’s why my office is actually engaging in what’s called infographics that are going to be released very soon. That will break it down once members approve it so that you know where everything goes into.

    “Nigerians will be shocked that people they thought were rich are not able to meet their needs and that’s the truth. It’s high time we started at the 99.902 percent of the national budget and stop focusing on the 0.8 percent of the National Assembly.’

    ”Nigerians are not focusing on that rather they’ve been conditioned to focus on the 0.8 percent. Is that not deceitful?. Nigerians need to change their focus and find out what’s happening to that 99.902 percent. “Once we do that, you will see the truth will start coming out, and even the Executive will know there’s need to cut down their expenses.”

  • Governance without morality, By Owei Lakemfa

     

    By Owei Lakemfa

     

    LAGOS State Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, 55, a surveyor-turned-banker was wide awake and at his duty post when the COVID-19 pandemic broke. At that time, the Federal Government was dozing. Not a few praised him for helping to combat the pandemic and saving many lives. A few months down the line, he is being associated with the bloody attacks on peaceful anti-police brutality protesters. This may be more because he is not dining with the Buhari regime with a long spoon.

     

    When the protests began 19 days ago, he was seen running round to assure the protesters of their safety and that their demands would be addressed. He even personally conveyed those demands to President Muhammadu Buhari who was ensconced in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa. The peoples’ suspicion of Sanwo-Olu began on Thursday, October 15, 2020 when thugs armed with new machetes, clubs, knives and guns, attacked the protesters in Alausa, Lagos. Videos by witnesses who streamed the attack live, showed the armed thugs getting off BRT buses owned by the Lagos State Government. Several protesters at the scene also confirmed this. What was expected of the Sanwo-Olu government was to promise to investigate the issue. Rather, it made the ridiculous claim that those seen alighting from the buses were normal commuters! How could armed thugs be normal commuters?

     

    Then in what was seen as an attempt to stifle the protests, he suddenly declared a curfew round the clock, giving this state of 20 million people a few hours notice to comply. When people pointed out that this was impossible, he extended the commencement by five hours. In justifying the curfew, he cited some disturbances, including armed robberies, rape, looting and arson, claiming without offering any proof, that these acts of criminality were “… unfolding, with the help of respected civil society leaders and some concerned parents”.

     

    Using the Sanwo-Olu curfew declaration as excuse, armed soldiers under the cover of darkness, advanced on the unsuspecting protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate who were singing and dancing, and opened fire on them. The unprovoked shootings led to the death of a yet to be ascertained number of protesters with dozens injured.

     

    The Governor reacted to these criminal shootings by blaming the victims. In his state-wide broadcast after the murderous assault, Sanwo-Olu said: “Unfortunately, while many of the protesters in Alausa dispersed peacefully ahead of the start of the curfew, many of our youths at the Lekki Toll Gate insisted on continuing with the protests.” First, this narration negates the truth because the soldiers commenced their criminal attacks on the protesters at 7.10pm, that is about two hours before the commencement of the 9pm curfew. Secondly, his analysis tilts towards blaming the protesters for the tragedy that befell them, and by extension, the country.

     

    After visiting 25 protesters recuperating from gunshot wounds in three hospitals, Sanwo-Olu made a claim that he might regret saying in future. He said: “… While we pray for swift recovery for the injured, we are comforted that no fatalities were recorded as widely circulated on the social media.” This was false as there were deaths(he later admitted two deaths).

     

    It is difficult to say where he got this piece of misinformation; from the marauding soldiers who, witnesses said left with some of the bodies, his health officials or families that have declared their loved ones missing? The Amnesty International reported that at least 12 persons were killed in the operations by the Nigerian Army and the Police.

     

    While seeking to distance himself from the murderous soldiers, Sanwo-Olu said: “For clarity, it is imperative to explain that no sitting governor controls the rules of engagement of the army. I have nevertheless instructed an investigation into the ordered and the adopted rules of engagement employed by the officers and men of the Nigerian Army deployed to the Lekki Toll Gate…” It is clear that the governor is not only trying to exonerate himself, but also claiming ignorance of the military actions and covering up for the Buhari regime. But the latter threw the governor under the bus by keeping silent on the deployment of the army and then letting the Nigeria Army officially deny Sanwo-Olu’s claims that its men and officers were involved in the operations. In other words, calling the governor a liar and indirectly accusing him of carrying out the Lekki shootings.

     

    The Nigeria Army Spokesman, Colonel Sagir Musa, tried to rubbish Sanwo-Olu’s assertion that the army carried out the Lekki shootings. He claimed that protest was a civil matter in which the army did not involve itself. The Nigeria Army backed this assertion up with a declaration on its official Twitter handle @HQNigerianArmy that soldiers were not at the Lekki shooting. It screamed: “Fake News!! No soldiers were at the scene.”

     

    Major General John Enenche, Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, DMO, claimed the videos of the attack were either photoshopped or cropped. While admitting that the military is carrying out internal security operations codenamed: ‘Operation MESA’ in states like Lagos, he claimed that it is under the control of the respective state governments. He added that: “… These operations are still standing and running and I am aware that the state governments are using them in all these capacities, that is internal security.” The insinuation is that these are the troops that might have been used in Lekki without the knowledge of the military command.

     

    On Thursday October 12, 2020, the Governor said on Arise Television that the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin and the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, called him a day after the shootings “to say that if indeed I require for the military to come out, they will deploy them”. Given this claim, the question is, what troops were used in Lekki if the military had not been previously deployed? I am clear in my mind that the soldiers who murdered protesters in Lekki – with two of their commanding officers named – were not fake, ghosts or rogue elements. The truth about who deployed the soldiers with the command to shoot innocent youths, is tucked between the Sanwo-Olu and Buhari governments. Both are from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and neither can be trusted to set up an investigative panel that would reveal the truth. Both have moral deficits, and until they divulge the truth, bring the murderers to book, adequately compensate the injured and the families of the murdered, neither would have the moral authority to continue governing any part of this country.

  • Nuts and bolts of governance, By Owei Lakemfa

    By Owei Lakemfa

    I AM surprised that organisations that want to be taken serious said they are surprised that the President Muhammadu Buhari government, in the midst of crushing poverty exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, announced the immediate increase of fuel litre from N121.52 to N143.80. I am surprised that they are surprised. I will be further surprised if they do not know that this increase is merely the first of more increases to come. I write this so they will not claim to be surprised when the new fuel price increases, higher electricity tariff and taxes would be imposed on Nigerians.

     

    I understand this government quite well; while for five years, it has made flowery speeches and contaminated the atmosphere with promises it never intends to keep, it has been honest to let Nigerians know that its true intentions are not in its declarations, but its practices. After all, what is in a speech?

    Let us examine the immediate example. Last Tuesday, June 30, the United Nations held a virtual high-level meeting on Trends, Options and Strategies in Poverty Eradication in the face of grinding poverty. Baba Buhari spoke at the occasion vowing to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty. He said he was saddened that over 700 million people worldwide (with Nigerians accounting for one eighth) are in dire poverty. He lamented: “All the while they struggle with the most basic needs like nutrition, shelter, health, education and access to clean water and sanitation.” He told the world: “In this condition, the number of poor people is estimated to triple as livelihoods across almost all economic sectors have been adversely affected.” He announced that in Nigeria, his government was going to reverse this trend. Good talk, you will say. Those who do not know how the Buhari government operates might even have clapped. Gullible Nigerians might even start thinking that their dire situation might improve. The very next morning, government announced sharp increases in fuel with immediate effect.

     

    Anybody who understands Nigeria will know that the most-poverty inducing strategy is increase in fuel price because the 200 million people depend entirely on private road travels as there is no public mass transit. So, transport costs which have been hiked under the COVID-19 social distancing regime which requires fewer passenger capacity, would be further increased. The entire food chain from the farmer to the consumer is by road; so there will be increases in cost of food. Most of the country operates in the informal economy trying to run small businesses as petty traders, tailors and vulcanisers. Virtually all of them rely on tiny, environmentally unfriendly generators which guzzle fuel. So a fuel price increase means an increase in their cost of doing business.

     

    The manufacturing sector has mainly been in coma, a lot of it induced by high cost of energy; increasing fuel price merely adds to the burden more so with the country held hostage by government-backed electricity companies who in most cases, supply darkness. Generally, our homes and appliances, are run on generators.

     

    I have come to the painful conclusion that when most of our leaders talk about peace, they are preparing for war; when they speak about peaceful elections, the guns are already out; when they promise the votes will count, they have already written the results; and when they talk about poverty alleviation, the poor should be ready for worse times.

     

    How can any organisation feign surprise about the fuel and electricity increases when these were amongst the Buhari government’s pledges to the International Monetary Fund, IMF, on March 18, 2020? Anybody who wants to dispute this should please Google the government’s April 21, 2020 letter to IMF Managing Director, Ms. Kristalina Georgieva. In the letter signed by Finance, Budget and National Planning Minister, Mrs. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, the Buhari government pledged to engage in “further VAT reforms (and) rise in excises”. These mean further increases in VAT and other taxes and cost of imported goods in a country that is import-dependent. That means government agrees to higher inflation rates. In the same letter, it pledged to the IMF, the “introduction and implementation of an automatic fuel price formula”, which translates to fuel price increases, “moving to full cost-reflective tariffs in 2021”, which is periodic hike in electricity tariff.

     

    In my May 11, 2020 column titled: “General Buhari was more democratic than President Buhari” I drew the attention of Nigerians to this enslavement of Nigeria to the European-run IMF. I wrote that the “most worrying are the government’s acceptance of other stifling IMF Conditionalities like post-COVID-19 increases in the prices of petrol and electricity, the immediate stoppage of employment, scrapping or merger of agencies (using the Oronsanye Report) and massive devaluation of the Naira.” As I said earlier, the price increases in fuel and electricity tariff are merely the first steps and we should not divert attention about being surprised or blaming faceless agencies like the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, for the increases when we know the masquerade and for whom he is masquerading.

     

    The issue for Nigerians or any organisation that claims to love or speak for them, is what should we do? Lie back and continue to be raped, or resist? I have no doubt that professional scavengers would soon flood the media talking nonsense about landing cost, the price of the dollar and the unsustainability of an illusory fuel subsidy. The issue is: should a country soaked with so much oil and gas import petroleum products?

     

    If after a stretch of 45 years being state governor, petroleum minister, head of state, head of Petroleum Task Force and in the last five years, the Executive President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, his government cannot refine petroleum products, defend our highways against terrorists or our towns and villages against bandits, should Nigerians continue to hope President Buhari has anything substantial to offer?

     

    On June 18, 2020, the President called his security chiefs to say given the serious security situation in the country, their best is not good enough for the country. Nothing substantial has come out of that apart from the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai adding to his ‘Songs of Praise” books, proclaiming himself as the military genius that has come to save the country from insecurity.

     

    I wish President Buhari were more introspective and ask himself if having done his best, that best is good enough for the country. He would find the answer in his home state of Katsina where the young and old have been out in the streets, saying enough is enough! The nuts and bolts of governance in Nigeria have gone lose; we need to start picking them in the streets.


     

  • Governance is not based on personal relationships, By Owei Lakemfa