While insisting on running for reelection, President Biden of the United States of America on Friday denied that top Democrats in Congress want him to step aside — and rejected “hypotheticals” about what he would do if close allies urged him to withdraw.

The presidential election is on November 5, 2024, and pressure is mounting on the US president to drop out of the race and allow the Democratic party to pick another standard bearer during its convention in six weeks.

Biden starting bleeding support from party members, elected officials and a portion of the media after his poor performance at a presidential debate with his main rival, former president, Donald Trump of the Republican Party.

So far, though, only a handful of have lawmakers publicly called for Biden to quit the race. But momentum is growing, and Biden’s post-debate interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos is unlikely to stem the tide.

Some Democrats fear Biden’s weakness at the top of the ticket could cost the party control of the House and Senate.

Biden said that he speaks with Democratic leaders in Congress “regularly,” including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

According to CNN reports, the ongoing fallout from Joe Biden’s debate performance has already moved talk in many top Democratic circles to who Kamala Harris’ running mate would be.

That’s how specific a widening group of leading party officials, operatives and donors are that the president’s slow start to salvage his campaign won’t work, with several close allies skeptical that he is up to the reelection campaign he has pledged to stay in, based on CNN’s conversations with two dozen Democratic politicians and operatives.

Biden always says not to compare him to the almighty, but to the alternative. That’s exactly what a growing number of Democrats looking at Harris are doing.

For her part, the vice president and her staff have deliberately ignored most of the calls and texts coming their way, remaining insistently on message about both her support for Biden and her pride in sticking with him.

But Harris has already made some changes: Only after last week’s debate did her office update her schedule to put her with Biden for the Fourth of July picnic and fireworks. She has not attended the picnic before, instead keeping to her own Independence Day tradition of making a stop at a local fire station. And after Democratic governors rejected the White House’s initial offer to have her speak to them instead of Biden, she was also added to the meeting and closed it with a speech urging unity and sticking with the president.

That’s her keeping close to Biden — but it’s also Biden keeping her close.

Despite her efforts, Democratic politics has started to reshape around her — as has former President Donald Trump’s campaign, which has already begun attacking Harris. Several officials told CNN they have begun chiding donors who complain that they don’t think she can win, arguing that they need to stop and get on board with her. Other officials and advisers said plans are underway to convince Biden to immediately throw his support behind Harris, release his Democratic delegates and ask them to follow his choice. Former presidents and party leaders would then follow suit, they believe, in hopes of avoiding a contentious fight to lead the Democratic ticket.

A more open race, these top Democrats hope, would be for Harris’ running mate, with a focus on leading Democratic governors. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear are the most discussed; the list also includes Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Tim Walz of Minnesota. But even that is fraught, as it would deny Harris the deference given to every other modern presidential nominee to pick their own running mate.

A Democratic senator offered an extended and very colorful metaphor for describing the movement to Harris, likening Biden and his vice president to a star quarterback who needs to be taken off the field and their backup.

We start talking in the huddle: ‘Do we put in the backup QB?’ The backup knows our team, the backup knows the plays, the backup has played in the NFL,” the senator said. “The crowd in the stands full of passionate fans starts chanting: ‘Put in the kid from Alabama!’ ‘Put in the QB from Wisconsin!’ All just because the backup threw an interception earlier. But we know the backup and have confidence in them.”

The senator said that’s the difference between the donors who are handwringing about Harris’ chances and many of those who are trying to focus on what the realistic options are now.

“I just want to say to all the fans: ‘Do you not get that they’ve only played college, they’ve never played a single play in the NFL? They don’t know our team or the plays?’” the senator said. “The players are like, ‘That’s nuts. Let’s see if our star quarterback is coming back.’ But if he doesn’t, the idea of our suddenly drafting someone from a school with a different playbook who hasn’t played a single game in the NFL is a huge risk.”

There are also the logistics of making a new person the Democratic nominee. Harris would be able to take over the Biden campaign fundraising and infrastructure, since she is also part of the current ticket.

It’s a straight shot and she’s ready to roll. We’ve got to be decisive, too,” said Tim Ryan, the former Ohio congressman, who said he’s been getting flooded with private agreements from former colleagues and others after saying Biden needs to step aside to make room for Harris. “It plays right into the stereotype that Democrats are weak. With one fell swoop, you can change so many different narratives.”

Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz dismissed the speculation.

“President Biden is our nominee, Vice President Harris is our running mate, and we will win this November,” he said.

Running mate options

Much of the speculative running mate conversation for Harris has centered on Cooper, the two-term governor of North Carolina, and Beshear, the younger two-term governor of Kentucky. Both, like Harris, are former state attorneys general, and both have won with Republican support. Beshear attended the Biden meeting on Wednesday in person, while Cooper attended virtually.

Cooper has a relationship with Harris that goes back years, to when they were both attorneys general. In a late 2020 interview, after Cooper won his current term and Harris was elected vice president, the governor talked about how their “really good relationship” had continued into her Senate years, when she would occasionally consult with him on Trump judicial appointees from his home state.

“She knows what it’s like to hold a state office. I think that that’s very relatable to us as governors,” Cooper said then, calling Harris “whip smart.”

“I think she’s ready to do this job,” Cooper said.

He demurred in that interview when asked if he could envision a Harris-Cooper ticket one day, focusing on his 40-year unbeaten record as the only Democrat to consistently win in North Carolina.

Beshear also knows how to win tough races. He’s won the top office twice in a much more Republican-heavy state and did it while talking up Democratic values like reproductive rights and looking after trans kids. He’s extremely popular in his state, and has caught national attention for being young — he’s 46 — and a smooth communicator who has already this year racked up invites to come speak to Democratic events in Virginia, Montana and Iowa.

[Leadership]

Uruguay beat Brazil on penalties (4-2) to reach the semi-finals of Copa America after an ugly game ended goalless on Saturday.

Uruguay, who finished the game with 10 men after Nahitan Nandez was sent off in the 74th minute, will face Colombia in Charlotte, North Carolina, in their semi-final on Wednesday.

Colombia, now unbeaten in 27 games, beat Panama 5-0 in Saturday’s other quarter-final earlier in Arizona.

The other semi-final, in New Jersey on Tuesday, will see world champions Argentina face surprise package Canada.

For five-times world champions Brazil it was a disappointing early end to a tournament in which they never truly clicked, and a lot of work remains to be done if Dorival Junior’s team are to be in shape to compete for the title in the 2026 World Cup.

In a city better known for boxing than for the beautiful game, it was a bruising contest with little quality play and a tournament high 41 fouls.

A poor quality playing field hardly helped with both teams struggling to produce their best football on an uneven surface.

The first – and best – chance of a game of few opportunities came in the 35th minute when Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez had a clear header in front of goal but mis-timed his effort which flew wide off his shoulder.

Within moments, Brazil created an opening of their own with Raphinha breaking clear, but Uruguay keeper Sergio Rochet stayed tall and made a vital save.

Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay were as tenacious as always, harrying Brazil in midfield and never afraid to interrupt their flow with a foul.

Brazil resorted too often to long balls forward but with only their 17-year-old talent Endrick, in for the suspended Vinicius Junior, as a central striker they lacked the physical presence to make that approach effective.

The game deteriorated the longer it went on with foul after foul, not deterred by lenient refereeing.

But Uruguay’s hopes of wearing Brazil down were dealt a blow when Nandez hacked down Rodrygo with a dangerous slide into his ankle and after a VAR review the defender was sent off.

From then on it was clear that Uruguay were simply trying to make it to full-time and penalties and with no extra-time in Copa America, they were able to achieve their aim.

– Tight game –

After Federico Valverde scored with the first spot kick, Eder Militao saw his effort saved by the diving Rochet.

When Douglas Luiz hit the post for Brazil, they trailed 3-1 and Jose Gimenez had the chance to clinch the game for Uruguay. His effort was superbly saved by Alisson Becker.

Substitute Gabriel Martinelli scored to keep Brazil alive but midfielder Manuel Ugarte kept his cool to drive home the decisive kick and send the 15-times Copa champions into the last four.

Bielsa praised his team’s calmness in the shoot-out and their desire during the 90 minutes.

“I’m more seduced by attacking than defending, but I have to appreciate that in a tight game we created one more situation than our opponents, we defended well and we played 15 minutes with one less player, which at this level is a real factor,” he said.

“If you ask me if I’m happy with having created three goal situations in 90 minutes, no, I’m not. But our opponents had two,” he said.

“Today we outplayed Brazil in segments of the game and were outplayed in others,” added the Argentine.

For Brazil the thoughts turn to the need to ensure they make it to the next World Cup after a poor start to CONMEBOL qualifying.

“We leave the tournament undefeated but not satisfied,” said Dorival Junior whose team won once and drew twice in the group stage.

“We didn’t play at a high level from a technical point of view, but I don’t dismiss any of the games. I think there was commitment, fighting spirit. At no time did the team stop going for the result,” he added.

“This process needs patience. We have two years to work before the World Cup. The first thing is to qualify for the World Cup because we are sixth in the (South American qualifiers) and it is a position that makes us uncomfortable,” he said.

The tournament’s final will be held in Miami on July 14.

Eighteen states of the federation have failed to recruit teachers in five years, data exclusively obtained by our correspondent from the National Union of Teachers in Abuja has revealed.

This comes amidst the outcry over the shortage of teachers across the country.

Recently, the Universal Basic Education Commission lamented the shortage of teachers in public schools.

Sunday PUNCH reports that over 47 million pupils are currently enrolled in 171,027 private and public primary and junior secondary schools in the country. UBEC puts the total number of public schools at 79,775, while private schools currently stand at 91,252.

Regarding teachers, the commission stated that 354,651 teachers were currently teaching in early childhood facilities, while 915,593 were employed in primary schools, and 416,291 working in junior secondary schools.

Similarly, the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria recently raised concerns over what it described as the shortage of qualified teachers in the country. It said the shortage was more pronounced in rural areas, exacerbating educational inequality.

The Registrar of TRCN, Prof Josiah Ajiboye, disclosed this in an interview with Sunday PUNCH.

Ajiboye said, “The surge in the population of school children, and the increase in the number of schools in Nigeria, both government and private, present a complex challenge for the education system.

“The availability and quality of qualified teachers are crucial factors in ensuring students receive quality education. However, the shortage of qualified teachers is a concerning issue in Nigeria for several reasons.”

 He explained that with a growing population of school children and insufficient recruitment of new teachers, the teacher-pupil ratio in many schools had become unfavourable.

The data from the NUT revealed that states such as Abia, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Kogi, Ogun, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba, and Zamfara failed to conduct recruitment between 2018 and 2022.

The data also revealed that only the FCT, Lagos, and Katsina conducted recruitment during the period under review.

However, Niger State recruited 186 teachers in 2022 according to the data, while Akwa Ibom recruited 3,500 teachers in 2018, and 1,000 in 2022.

Teacher shortages concerning – TCN 

The National President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Mr Titus Amba, also expressed concern about the shortage of teachers, adding that many governors ignored the advice of the union, which pleaded that retired teachers should be replaced with new ones.

In an interview with Sunday PUNCH, Amba said, “Recruitment of teachers lies in the hands of the state governments. A significant number of teachers have left the service, and till now, there is no plan to replace them.”

Why Bayelsa did not employ teachers

Findings by our correspondent revealed that the Bayelsa State Government did not employ teachers from 2018 to 2022 due to an embargo placed on the employment of civil servants by former Governor Seriake Dickson. At that time, the state government reportedly said the public service was bloated, adding that the monthly wage bill was too high.

Sunday PUNCH also gathered that some unofficial employments were conducted into the public service in the final weeks of the Dickson administration. However, it was unclear if teachers were among those engaged.

Our correspondent’s findings, however, revealed that during the first tenure of the incumbent governor, Douye Diri, the embargo was lifted, and 2,000 teachers were employed to teach in primary and secondary schools across the state.

Efforts to speak with the Commissioner for Education, Gentle Emelah, and his counterpart in the Ministry of Information, Orientation and Strategy, Ebiowou Koku-Obiyal, proved abortive as they were said to be on official engagements.

However, an impeccable source at the state’s Ministry of Information, Orientation and Strategy told our correspondent on condition of anonymity that people who studied Education were among those employed in the last days of the Dickson administration.

Another source at the Ministry of Education, who did not want his name in print, said the employment of teachers suffered a setback due to the undue influence of politicians. He stated that if everything had gone according to plan, the employment of teachers would have been done since October 2023.

Kano recruits 5,632 teachers – Commissioner

Meanwhile, the Kano State Government says it has offered full-time employment to 5,632 voluntary teachers who were under the Better Education Service Delivery for All programme.

The state Commissioner of Education, Alhaji Umar Doguwa, disclosed this in a telephone interview with Sunday PUNCH.

Doguwa, who spoke through the Public Relations Officer of the state Ministry of Education, Balarabe Kiru, said the Governor, Abba Yusuf, recently approved the conversion of BESDA teachers to permanent and pensionable appointments.

“The state government has offered full-time employment to 5,632 teachers previously working under temporary arrangements.

“The BESDA teachers, who have been working as voluntary teachers, were being paid a monthly allowance by an international NGO since the tenure of the past administration. However, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf decided to give them full employment,” he said.

He also stated that the state government had paid the outstanding allowances of N450m owed by the state government for the services the BESDA teachers had rendered in the past.

“The governor has also approved the recruitment of an additional 10,000 teachers with intensified efforts for the continuous periodic training and retraining of teachers,” he added.

Ogun recruited 5,000 teachers – Commissioner

When contacted by our correspondent, the Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Prof Abayomi Arigbabu, said that Governor Dapo Abiodun’s administration had recruited 5,000 teachers into primary, secondary, and technical colleges in the state since he took office in 2019.

Arigbabu said, “From 2019 to date, the government has recruited 1,700 primary school teachers, 3,000 secondary school teachers, and 300 teachers into our technical colleges.”

‘Plateau plans teachers’ recruitment’

The Plateau State Government says it is planning to recruit new primary and secondary school teachers. The State Chairman of SUPEB, Sunday Manu, disclosed this in an interview with our correspondent in Jos.

He said that the board had already submitted a report to the 17 local government chairmen across the state, and was awaiting approval before commencing the recruitment exercise. When asked why there had been no recruitment of teachers in the state since 2018, Manu said, “I don’t know the reason. I was only appointed into office about a year ago, so I can only account for the period I have been in office. If you ask me why we have not done any recruitment in the past year, I will tell you that it is because the verification we started on the needs in those schools has not been concluded. However, the process is ongoing.

“This morning, we submitted our report to the LGA chairmen on what should be done. We are waiting for their approval, and I can tell you that as soon as that is done, the recruitment of new teachers will begin.”

Gombe refutes NUT’s claim

However, speaking with Sunday PUNCH, the Gombe State Commissioner for Education, Dr Aishatu Maigari, insisted that the state recruited teachers in 2018 and 2022. Maigari stated this while reacting to the NUT’s statement in Gombe.

She said, “Gombe recruited 1,000 teachers in 2022, and converted over 200 Local Education Authority teachers to state government workers. Also, in 2018, teachers were recruited.”

‘Zamfara did not recruit teachers for four years’

The Zamfara State Government, however, confirmed that it did not recruit teachers in the last four years. Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, the Commissioner of Information, Alhaji Manir Haidara, said the state government under the leadership of Governor Dauda Lawal inherited the problem from the former Governor, Bello Mattawalle. According to the commissioner, the former governor did not recruit teachers during his tenure, and he also did not promote any teacher to the next grade during his four-year tenure. He added that Governor Lawal’s administration had announced a state of emergency on education, noting that more teachers would soon be recruited.

He added that others who had not been promoted would receive their promotion soon.

Haidara said, “We inherited problems in all sectors, especially in education where teachers have not been promoted for many years. Based on this, Governor Lawal has directed the state Ministry of Education to conduct a thorough investigation to determine the number of teachers in both primary and secondary schools. After the exercise, more teachers will be recruited, and those teachers who have been on the same level for many years will be promoted.”

‘Nasarawa has employed over 10,000 teachers’

Also responding, the Nasarawa State government says it has employed no fewer than 10,000 teachers for primary and secondary schools to enhance manpower in the education sector of the state. The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Abdullahi Sule on Public Affairs, Peter Ahemba, while speaking with our correspondent in Lafia, said that apart from the over 10,000 teachers recruited for both primary and secondary schools, an unspecified number of lecturers had also been employed in tertiary institutions in the state.

He said, “Concerning the employment of teachers in primary and secondary schools in Nasarawa State, the story has been very positive. When Governor Sule came on board in 2019, he met a category of teachers called ‘engaged staff’ by the previous administration, about 1,500 of them. He immediately gave them permanent and pensionable jobs.

“He further announced the recruitment of 2,000 teachers who also received permanent jobs. After a while, an additional 2,500 secondary school teachers were employed by the state government to ensure that we have sufficient teachers in the state.

“As I speak with you now, we have just concluded the recruitment exercise of 4,700 teachers for our primary schools. Very soon, the names of the successful candidates will be released, and they will be issued their appointment letters, and posted to their various primary schools to enhance manpower at that level of education.”

Additional reports: Samuel Ese, Tukur Muntari, Bankole Taiwo, James Abraham, Chima Azubuike, Collins Agwam

Matthew Hassan Kukah, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto was a Guest Speaker at The Platform Special Edition held on June 12 and organized by Poju Oyemade under the auspices of The Covenant Nation in Lagos. Held under the theme, Democracy and the Free Market Economy, Kukah spoke on Nigeria’s 25 years of unbroken democracy and the way forward for the country. However, he said Nigeria’s democracy is in recession. Excerpts:

On using technology to fish out those stealing Nigeria’s money and stashing it in banks

I am in full support if such technology exists. If there are drones that can go around and find out those who have what… There must be a way of resolving this problem.

On the sorry state of Southern Kaduna

Talking about the demand side of economics, I come from the southern part of Kaduna State and we have been demanding for Southern Kaduna State since Kaduna State was created because, across the whole of Southern Kaduna, there is not a single sign of federal presence.

On Labour, FG & minimum wage

The Catholic Bishop of Nsukka Diocese, Rt. Rev Godfrey Onah, told me a story, it is a common story that animals gathered. I don’t know whether it was an elephant that died and they gathered to share the elephant and the tortoise came from somewhere and said “I must get the thigh of this elephant” and other animals looked at him and the lion said “who made that demand?” Other animals said it was tortoise and lion replied: “You are asking for the thigh? If you get the intestine, that is what we are going to give you”.

The tortoise said “actually that’s what I wanted but if I didn’t ask for the thigh I would not even get the intestine”. My friends in Labour are asking for the thigh by asking for 1 million naira minimum wage and the President has already committed himself to solving the problem as he said in his speech on Democracy Day. And coming from the background of Labour I think with himself (president) and people like Senator Adams Oshiomhole (former NLC President and erstwhile governor of Edo State) and a few other labour activists, our problems should be on the way to being solved. But let me read out a quotation which will surprise you: “There is indeed worldwide economic recession. “However, in the case of Nigeria, the impact was aggravated by mismanagement.

“The situation could have been avoided if our legislators were alive to their constitutional responsibilities.

“The legislators were preoccupied with determining their salary scales, fringe benefits and unnecessary foreign travels.

“As a result of our inability to cultivate financial discipline and prudent management of our economy, we have come to depend largely on internal and external borrowings to execute government projects.

“The corrupt, inept and insensitive leadership in the last years have been a source of immorality and impropriety in our society, but we should do our best to settle genuine payment of salaries to which government is committed including the backlog of workers’ salaries”. I will give $1 million which I don’t have… but I will give anybody who can tell me who said this? This is taken from a speech delivered by General Buhari on the 31st of December 1983 (when he seized power from civilian President Shagari). 41 years ago. I’m not disappointed that you don’t remember because Nigerians don’t remember anything and that is why we are where we are today, we don’t remember anything.

On 25 years of uninterrupted democracy

We are celebrating the fact that we’ve had 25 years of “uninterrupted democracy” and we are anxious about the things we’ve not done and we’re also anxious about why we’ve not succeeded. American elections are coming up in November and there’s a lot of anxiety perhaps even more than there is in Nigeria and yet it is exactly 245 years since America elected their first President in 1789. It is to make the point that democracy is not an event; democracy, the way we understand it, I mean there’s a lot of anxiety across the board. I prefer to take a fairly historical view because too many of us are too careless about our expectations and it’s legitimate to have expectations, but those expectations must be founded on reality. Professor Huntington, the famous American professor who was actually my teacher, he did say something that there were three waves of democracy.

There is the democracy of the 19th century which is the wave that took America and other countries to where they are and then the post-World War II wave which took most of the countries in Europe to where they are today. And then, of course, the third wave happened in 1970 that saw Africa, Asia and Latin America becoming democratic or at least embracing the principles of democracy. But as you can see, across Africa, democracy has manifested in different shapes and in different forms.

Nigeria’s democracy pays little attention to intellectual conversation

I think what is missing in our conversation is that, unlike Europe where the principles of democracy were founded on the thinking of several philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and John Locke, etc, the whole lot of our democracy has paid very little attention, it’s not been the subject of a very serious intellectual conversation. We have been involved in intellectual conversations about democracy but modern western liberal democracy, as we understand it today, benefited extensively from the work of people like St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas. It is also quite significant that (US President) Joe Biden, even in his presidential address, had to quote St Augustine and it means, therefore, that it is the teachings, the philosophies and the theology of some of these scholars that laid the foundation for what we call democracy today.

On why Nigeria’s democracy is in recession

Unfortunately, our democracy is in recession, is in decline, precisely, because it is evident to us that what we are working with is not something that has come from our own historical, cultural or even anthropological experiences.

But, having said that, even after embracing democracy, it must be clear to us that there are different ways of talking about democracy, there are different models of democracy. The British left us with the Westminster parliamentary system; we quarreled with it and then we decided we wanted the American presidential system. Of course, I was Secretary of the Political Reform Conference in 2005 when the discussion went on about term limits; there was so much anxiety almost like there are all kinds of anxieties that Nigerians have. Nigerians can’t think beyond a particular period. Right now our obsession with politics is 2027. If you tell Nigerians about what might happen in 2040 or 2050, Nigerians don’t want to hear that, so all our plotting, all our scheming is what is going to happen in 2027.

On China’s 100 years plan to rule the world

I read a book earlier in the year which, I think, if you can find it, please read it, the title is: ‘100-Year Marathon’, with the subtitle ‘China’s Secret Plan To Rule The World’. It’s a fascinating book because it talks about the fact that after the Communist Party won elections in 1949, the Chinese now decided to put a plan in motion in which the plan is 100 years old from 1949 to 2049. And China, within that period, is to be the greatest nation in the world. I don’t have to tell you where China is now.

Nigeria’s democracy needs clarity, long-term plan

It was very interesting I flew Air Peace (airline) yesterday and it was very nice to see a Chinese air hostess speaking very good Nigerian English; that tells you that if we are going to go on the path of democracy, there needs to be some kind of clarity about what are we looking at now while we are debating term limits.

For example, I remember that Tony Blair was British Prime Minister for 10 years, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister for 11 years, Lee Kuan Yew, people would speak eloquently about Singapore, but Lee Kuan Yew became Prime Minister, I think, 1958 or 59 or thereabouts and he remained so consistently. He conducted elections and won elections, the party he founded, People’s Action Party, is still the party in power today.

What people don’t remember about Lee Kuan Yew, which also speaks to other issues, is that Lee Kuan Yew studied in Cambridge and got a First Class; his son, who just stepped down as Prime Minister, went to Cambridge and he too got a First Class; Lee’s wife went with him to Cambridge and she also got a First Class. Imagine the quality of his imagination and, immediately he became Prime Minister, the first thing he did was to go to Harvard where young people like Henry Kissinger (former US Secretary of State) were just young lecturers, he established a relationship with them and from there they led him to Washington.

But one of the critical things that Lee did, which, I think, should speak to the reason why democracy is failing so badly in Africa is that Lee Kuan Yew identified the Public Service as the most important vehicle of governance, and so, if you got a First Class in Singapore, you went into the Public Service and he so incentivized the Civil Service that it became the place to go.

The salaries of civil servants in Singapore were 80% more than what people were getting in the private sector. Now, in Nigeria, if somebody wants to marry your daughter and your daughter tells you “the guy I want to marry is working in the ministry”, I’m sure you know that is a no-brainer, it’s most likely your prospective father-in-law will look the other way.

On corrupt Civil Service corrupting good intentions of the government

Every governor, President is full of good intentions. (But) the question is, what is the quality of the container, the quality of the conveyor belt for carrying the good wishes of the government? Because we have a thoroughly corrupt Civil Service, the result is that no matter the vision, no matter the dream because we tend to focus on what the President is not doing and what the governor is not doing, we forget the quality of those who are conveying the intentions of government.

It is to make the point that when somebody like Lee Kuan Yew stayed and conducted elections, he won elections over 30 years. Putin has over 20 years as President; we don’t know when he’s going to go. Museveni, we are celebrating 25 years of his being in power for about 38 years in Uganda; it started in 1986; we have no idea when he’s going to go.

Nigerian elite are shameless

Nigerians are quite shameless, especially the Nigerian elite. I don’t know what Nigerians were thinking when they started visiting South Africa for holidays and they probably have houses in South Africa, but which South Africa are you adoring? Is it the one that was built by apartheid or the South Africa of today? Criminals have so much money; they’ll go anywhere they hear there is a good place. Nigerians are now shamelessly going to Rwanda and they come back telling stories about Rwanda, but which Rwanda do you want to be in? Is it Rwanda in which you can contest the election? Here in Nigeria, you can fight, you can go to the Supreme Court, but tell me, who has stood in front of (Rwanda leader) Paul Kagame and is still standing to talk? We need to make a point about what exactly we want. Paul Biya has been President of Cameroon since 1982. Mbasogo has been President (of Equitorial Guinea) for 43 years now and he’s still president. Saso Ngusseo (leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo) is still there since 1979, he has been in power for 38 years.

Correlation between stability & development

I think somebody made the point that there’s a correlation between a certain kind of stability and development. It depends though, but the volatility in our system suggests that we need to be a little bit calmer. The situation in which we are all quarrelling with the quality of the tools that we are working with doesn’t address the issue. Martin Wolfs, who worked with the Financial Times, wrote a very beautiful book, ‘The Crisis Around Liberal Capitalism’, and he makes the point that the beauty of the economy is that it is a “Marketplace and a Marketplace is beautiful because it’s a place of choice”.

But the truth of the matter is that Adam Smith made the point about the ‘Invisible hand of the market’ where only spirits are invisible, but it also speaks to the fact that the invisible hand cannot regulate the market. Wall Street, which is really the temple of the world economy, after its collapse, hundreds of millions of Americans became homeless, it’s impact reverberated across the world, but the very interesting thing is that nobody, not one single person from Wall Street is in prison. Now, Michael Douglas talks about the glory of greed and this is the challenge for many countries in Africa beginning with Nigeria.

On the need to restrain the greed of political elites

How do you restrain the greed of the political elite, and not only the political elite but also the greed and the appetite of ordinary Nigerians because it is feeding this beast that has made it impossible for this country to grow? And, of course, you know that Labour is asking for N516, 000 minimum wage and government says it’s unable to pay.

Economist talk about what they call incentive compatibility, we cannot talk about people being corrupt when it is clear to us that the incentives for doing the right thing don’t exist. On the discussion of what economic choices to make, are we to be socialist or capitalist? Nigeria is neither and it’s not a choice of either. China has demonstrated very clearly to us that we don’t have to make those kinds of choices.

The monkey story

There is the story of a woman, she came back from the market and she had a set of twins. She came back with a small cake. When she brought out the cake, she had a monkey and the mother was about to give the cake to the twins and the monkey said, “Look, you are a mother; you cannot give this, you know you are going to create problems for your children. How will they share this cake? I am a neutral person; so, let me share the cake”.

The monkey collects the cake; he breaks the cake into two and discovers one is bigger than the other. Because they are twins, he bites it off in order to equalize it and, in biting it, this one became bigger and he continues this and then the children are waiting for the cake and they’re looking and by the time the monkey turns around the cake is finished. That is exactly what we have before. Socialism has not worked for us, but it doesn’t mean that capitalism will work for us.

It means that there has to be something internal in the heart. It’s very interesting we don’t like to talk about religion and the people say religion has become so abused. There’s no amount of abuse they have not heaped on religion. But the point is that it is religion that stops the poor from killing the rich.

Papa encyclicas relating to economics

What we are debating now about wages, Pope Pius the 13th (1891), let me read out what the Pope was saying at that time. He said: “Today, working men, all over the world, are allowed in their demands that they shall, in no circumstance, be subjected to arbitrary treatment as though devoid of intelligence.

And freedom working men insist on being treated as human beings with a share in every sector of human society in the social economic sphere in government and in the realm of learning and culture.” In (1963), Pope Paul the 6th came out with an encyclical called: ‘Pacem in Terris; Peace on Earth’.

And one of the things he said is: “It is only by labour of working men that states grow, rich, justice therefore demands that the interest of the working class should be carefully watched over by the administration so that they who contribute so largely to the advantage of the community may themselves share in the benefits which they create.”

On way out: Democracy Ideals & Intellectuals

Nigerians talk about “monkey dey work, baboon dey chop”. The challenge before us is not so much a question of how the market works. The challenge is that the human person in Nigeria must become the thermometer for gauging whether systems are working or not working.

We have provisions in the Nigerian Constitution and I think that the challenge before us is that the National Assembly and the government must go back to the Constitution. I hear the criticisms against the Constitution but there is enough in our Constitution to give us the things we are asking for. If you just go through Chapter Two of the Constitution, of course the frame has said that the issues we are asking for there are fundamental as to how Nigeria is going to grow. There are provisions there, for example, encouraging us to inter-marry, encouraging us to form association, encouraging us about religious freedom. But a lot of these issues are operated in their breaches. For example, when you look at the United States of America, when their Constitution was made, they didn’t anticipate the Constitution was essentially for white men who were rich and with property, but, within three years, by 1865, America realized mistakes had been made.

They couldn’t have foreseen everything, so, the 13th Amendment in 1865 said that there will be no more slavery and nobody should be engaged in forced labour and they tried to make it happen. The 14th Amendment, which followed almost immediately, allowed people, American common citizenship was established. Achievable? Maybe not, but a system of inclusion was beginning to develop. The 15th Amendment gave people, including black people, the right to vote.

And guess what? All the conversations we’re having now about gender and so on didn’t start with Nigeria; it’s not as if Africans don’t like women. Actually, with all these amendments, women still could not vote.

Black people could vote in America but women could not vote including white women; it was not until the 19th Amendment in 1920 that women were now free to vote, so women have travelled a very long journey. I know you still have a long way to go, but it’s important to know how you have come to where you are today. In fact, a writer has said that, in reality, American democracy did not come on stream until 1965.

A lot of our women, I hear women say “we want to be like Rwanda because Rwanda Parliament is full of women”, but I said “hey, talk slowly because you need to lose many of your husbands as men died in the Rwanda genocide”. What is very interesting in all of this is that we work for one generation to be better than the next.

But the problem with the Nigerian situation is that we today want to make sure if life is not good for us then life is not likely to be good at all. Moving forward, and by way of conclusion, is to go back to some of the things that have been articulated here. What does it really mean to be a Nigerian irrespective of your economic status? These are the things that Chinua Achebe spoke about eloquently; you know he spoke about his people because he always insisted that Igbo must not allow these people who have money miss road to take over their communities.

When you talk about the elite, Nigerians measure elitism by the size of your house or the size of your car. It doesn’t matter whether you are educated or not educated.

I was here in Lagos for a wedding and the groom was so well dressed; beautiful, so when we now went through the ritual, I said: “Say I Thomas”, the guy replied, “You said I Thomas”. And I kept going on and on. It was quite embarrassing.

I didn’t know the man was a stark illiterate, but he was marrying this gorgeous woman who must have married him for whatever reasons. Love, if it happens, but at least there were things that were obvious.

On democracy ideals

I think we must redefine what it is to be a Nigerian, we must also make sure that the elite claim this argument and claim this space because I have not seen anywhere illiterate people have built a civilization.

It is important that we understand that democracy has its ideals but those ideals must be enunciated by intellectuals. There needs to be a much firmer foundation and finding a place for the moral guardrails that can protect our people. Otherwise, those who dismiss religion forget that even if religion didn’t exist, it will be invented because there are so many things we cannot explain in life. But in the final analysis, people need to be reminded constantly that this world is going to end. The Catholic Church teaches a principle that it calls ‘the Universal Destination of Goods’, and Pope Francis wrote an eloquent encyclical called Laudato Si in (2015) to make the point that everything God created is for a purpose. It is not for the greedy, it is for all his children. Those of us in the religious business, let me put it this way, have to continue to refine the arguments, we have to continue to hold certain ideals because what we need is not necessarily empires or emperors. What we need is a clean society; where we measure our progress not by the presence of the rich but by the absence of the poor.

And finally, the only way democracy can work is that democracy has to be an instrument of development and, if we use democracy to develop, then we will be developing democracy.