What is going on in Great Britain right now is ironic. A few weeks ago, we celebrated the same Britain on account of the glory and grandeur of the life, times, example, and the death of Queen Elizabeth II – the country’s longest reigning monarch in history and one of the most influential figures of the 20^th and 21^st Centuries. But today, the same Britain is the laughing stock of the world, all because of leadership, politics, and mismanagement of the economy. The Empire may have ended, but Britain remains one of the most powerful countries of the world, a country that others look up to, a member of the G7, with London as a major centre of capital and investment in the Eurozone. 

But something has happened to them in that same Great Britain - to try an African manner of speech. The other day, the IMF/World Bank, the Bretton Woods Institutions, before and at their annual meeting in Washington DC were forced to express concern about the UK economy and the trickle-down economic policies of the Liz Truss administration – 49p cut in tax rates for the rich, proposed increase in corporation tax, cutting of benefits and spending, and no clear thoughts about how the cuts would be funded – all of which could spur growth, theoretically, but would result in inflation and poverty. The IMF most unusually broke away from tradition and openly criticized a G7 economy. It got so bad that even the Greek Prime Minister is offering to help Britain if it needs advice on how to manage the economy. The German Ambassador in London is also, against diplomatic protocols, putting his mouth in the matter. We can add to this insult upon the injury situation, the fact that President Joe Biden of the United States while buying and licking ice cream at a shop in Oregon, US took time out to comment that the turmoil that Britain now faces was predictable because nobody funds growth. “with unfunded tax cuts.” From ice cream shops to the hallowed halls of Washington DC, Britain has become the butt of jokes with implications for diplomacy, business, investments, leadership and the markets. 

But it seems to me that rather than laugh at the current British leadership, there are lessons that can be learnt from their experience, precisely the chaos that the country is currently facing. On this same page, we acknowledged the British and praised the fact that Boris Johnson, former British PM and others had to lose their positions and offices because the system out there resolved that those in positions of leadership cannot set one set of rules for themselves and another set for the people that they lead. Bo-Jo and gang had to go because they used official privilege to break the law, and the people objected. This led to a new round of leadership selection within the Conservative Party. If this were in Nigeria, however, Boris Johnson would still be in office. His kith and kin would have played the ethnic and religious card, in fact, he himself would have hired thugs to break up any attempt to challenge him. But the British held firm and pushed him and all the law breakers out. On this same page and elsewhere, we praised the British when the Tories launched a leadership contest to find a replacement for Boris Johnson as new leader of the party and new Prime Minister. It was a keenly contested race, elimination round by round, which eventually produced four front-runners including Nigerian-born Kemi Badenoch- Chief Femi Adegoke’s daughter- but in the end Liz Truss won, with Rishi Sunak a close second. We felt we had seen democracy at work. The party had decided. The Tories had moved beyond Boris Johnson. 

It is in the nature of politics that nothing is ever certain and mistakes can be made. During the Tories campaign, the major issue was what to do with the British economy. The war in Ukraine with Russia had up-ended everything: Britain was faced with a cost-of-living crisis, high energy prices and rising inflation.  Liz Truss who became the frontrunner promised to fix the economy by cutting taxes for the rich, scrap planned increase in corporation tax and cut spending; reverse national insurance rise, cut energy bills, delay payment of COVID debt, curtail the powers of the Bank of England, take on the Northern Ireland Protocol, scrape regulations post-Brexit, reduce UK dependence on China and so on. Sunak, who had been Chancellor of the Exchequer, promised that he would also cut taxes, but only after getting runaway inflation under control.   He dismissed Truss’s plans as unworkable, supported lower taxes in the long term, promised VAT cuts on energy bills, 4 per cent cut in income tax by 2024, and increase corporation tax. He condemned Truss’s BoE proposals, the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, Rwanda deportation plan, and promised not to engage Putin, but he would oppose China, and close down Chinese Institutes. He ruled out second Scottish independence referendum. In the last lap of the race, both leading contestants told 175, 000 voting Tories that they could do the job. In the end, the party chose Mary Elizabeth Truss, 47, former Foreign Secretary and Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk since 2010 as leader of the party and Prime Minister. On September 5, 2022, she became the fourth Tory Prime Minister in six years since David Cameron, 2010 -2016, Theresa May, 2016 -2017, and Boris Johnson, 2019 – 2021. 

She has spent only six weeks in office and now, the popularity that brought her to power has vanished. Even Prince Andrew is more popular than her in the polls. If a general election were to be called today, the Conservatives would lose by a landslide, the Labour Party being ahead in many constituencies. How did Liz Truss go so quickly in less than 50 days from being the people’s favourite to becoming so unpopular, a Prime Minister whose political future hangs in the balance, and who may end up as the shortest-serving Prime Minister in British History? Her Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng is already the shortest ever serving Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was sacked on Friday as the scapegoat for the turmoil into which Britain has been thrown. Truss has presided over a chaotic Conservative Party conference. She has lost the support of business, investors, members of her own cabinet, and the people. Over the weekend, members of her party told the public that the game was up for her. Sir Graham Brady, Chairman of the 1922 Committee of Back Benchers was detailed to tell her the truth. It would be a miracle if she survives the crisis, having lost credibility – an important asset for a Prime Minister.   

The death of Trussonomics is a cautionary tale.  Politicians must learn not to over-promise. The British have proven that you cannot come to the people, promise Heaven and Earth and hope you can get away with whatever you throw at them. Truss promised the people growth. He appointed Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor. But the growth plan in form of an emergency plan, or mini-budget presented by the government simply complicated things: sell-offs in the bond market, uncertainties with the pound sterling, further rise in the cost of living and a gaping black hole in government finance, with a rise in the cost of debts, and mortgage. In a country where accountability is key, no politician can hoodwink the people and play games with the people’s fortunes and future. Liz Truss and Kwarteng could not tell anyone how the huge deficit would be funded. In Nigeria, the story would have been that the critics are jealous or that they are of a certain ethnic extraction. The simple lesson is that politicians must learn not to over-promise. Nigerian politicians promise heaven and earth. They promote manifesto and covenants that even the principal candidate has neither read nor seen. When they are taken up on the issues later, they are ever ready to say they never heard of such a policy. Every major stakeholder in the UK is attentive. Position and power come with responsibility and accountability. Andrew Bailey, BoE Governor whose independence Truss was threatening to curtail is now gloating and blaming Kwasi Kwarteng for “flying blind”.  He even had to step in with the Bank’s brief intervention and now he says interest rates would go up higher than expected from 2.3% to 3.5%. He is taking his pound of flesh, as it were. In Nigeria, even in the midst of a similar turmoil, he would have been fired. The system would have found something to hang on his neck and shut him up. Spokespersons loyal to the government of the day would have torn him to pieces with disparaging press releases. But Bailey and the Bank of England are not being targeted because it is clear to the British that Truss and Kwarteng flunked Economics 101 and brought the people greater misery. 

Kwasi Kwarteng, the Ph.D in Economic History wonder kid, and brainy master of University Quiz who served briefly as Chancellor has been fired. He had to leave the IMF/World Bank meeting in Washington DC earlier than scheduled, and his return flight was one of the most tracked flights in recent history. He had boasted that he was not going anywhere, and that his economic plan was secure. What we have seen is that the job does not belong to him. It belongs to the British people. You may say he has been fired because someone has to take the fall, but the truth is that the British run a system where nobody is rewarded for inefficiency or misconduct. While I understand the position that Truss herself should go, having placed the future of the Conservative party in peril, the point for us as Nigerians is that if this had been in Nigeria, Kwarteng’s position that he was not going anywhere would have prevailed. People in powerful positions in Nigeria behave as if is a hereditary privilege for them to enjoy proximity to power. They get appointed not because of their knowledge or proven competence but because of who they know. When they fail, they are sustained by the same factors. The British system self-corrects because its institutions are strong. The Nigerian system self-destructs because its institutions are either weak, compromised or non-existent.   

In the midst of the. political, economic and social turmoil, PM Liz Truss has now gone to appoint Jeremy Hunt as replacement for Kwarteng.  Hunt supported Rishi Sunak in the race for the PM’s office. Last weekend, he granted an interview in which he dismantled and buried Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget. Yesterday at the House of Commons, he did further damage. He ditched the government’s mini-budget that was announced three weeks ago. When the PM showed up at the Commons, she was quiet. Jeremy Hunt, who has little experience in economic matters was practically pushing different ideas. On October 31, it would be his duty to present the much-talked about fiscal plan. Hunt’s appointment is the equivalent of running to the friend of your opponent to help you. In Nigeria and other African countries, that would never happen. Our leaders here are so egoistic, they only see the world in a binary scope of friends and enemies. Sacking Kwarteng and bringing in Jeremy Hunt is a last-minute attempt by Truss to save her position. We are reminded of Abraham Lincoln’s Team of Rivals. When you think you are perplexed, look for the best people wherever they may be, including among the ranks of ideological opposites, if possible. In Nigeria, our leaders are only interested in sycophants and rent-seekers. Can you imagine a man who supported a rival being given a Minister of Finance position and then he goes to parliament, as Hunt has done, to throw the same government’s policy under the bus in less than one week of his appointment? I can bet such an appointee’s name will never appear on Nigeria’s national honours list! In fact, his house could be set ablaze. His wife may be abducted! 

But would Jeremy Hunt’s recruitment help? Our gut feeling is that so much damage has been done in six weeks, it would take businesses, the market and the sterling quite a while to recover. When a country like Great Britain goes through so much turbulence as we are seeing, then we need to be more careful in these parts. We need to pay better attention to our leadership recruitment process. Our leaders must not only be 21^st century compliant, they must be voted for and chosen only because they know what to do. If Nigeria had found itself in Britain’s situation, there would have been too much talk about the fact that Britain is in the hands of young people in their 40s, but the focus there today, is not age, but ideas and the workability of ideas. We need to pay attention to this. 

Finally, too many Nigerians have become adherents of “the Japa phenomenon” – the standard euphemism for emigration away from Nigeria in search of greener pastures. The grass they say is greener on the other side, but not always as we can now see. In Britain today, families are worried they won’t be able to pay for gas during winter to heat their homes and keep warm. Many families can no longer afford three square meals. The people are rebelling because they think the government has no clue. Things are so bad that on Sunday, there was power-outage on Elland Road during the match between Arsenal and Leeds. The match had to be delayed for 40 minutes. It could be worse during winter as National Grid and Ofgem have warned. If you want to “Japa” to the UK, you may need to go with your “I-better-pass-my-neighbour generator”. In Paris, France, the people are queuing for fuel, with oil company workers behaving like members of our own NUPENG and PENGASSAN here. So, if you are thinking of relocating to France, it may help to go with your fuel keg and hose. The world has gone mad but leadership still makes the difference. 

I was a witness to the menace of flooding, and the consequences, in Nigeria that occurred in 2012, when between the months of July and October that year, 30 out of Nigeria’s 36 states were submerged by flood. By mid-October, 2.1 million persons had been displaced from their homes, over 400 persons died; many homes were destroyed. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) calculated the cost of the losses at about N2.6 trillion, and described the floods as the worst in 40 years. It was not the first time Nigeria would experience floods. After all, before 2012, there had been the famous overflowing of the Ogunpa River in Ibadan, South West of Nigeria, in 1960, 1963, 1978 and notably 1980 - when the Ogunpa Floods left the city of Ibadan completely devastated, and Nigeria with a national disaster. What happened in 2012 was worse than the “Omiyale” phenomenon in Ibadan, as that was known locally.  

The standard narrative about the Ogunpa floods was heavy rainfall and the dumping of waste along the Ogunpa River channels. The 2012 narrative was different. This was not simply about the dumping of refuse or the seasonal flash floods, but a national calamity with additional dimensions. The Federal Government of Nigeria led by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan had to provide a relief fund of N17.6 billion to various states to mitigate the effect. NEMA offered relief support. Camps were set up across the country to accommodate the affected persons and families. State governments liaised with the Federal Government and the Red Cross to help displaced persons. Food was released from the country’s National Strategic Grains Reserve to prevent hunger and famine as the country’s agriculture supply chain had been disrupted. Farms in Nigeria’s food basket states were completely destroyed. The most affected states were Adamawa, Taraba, Plateau, Benue, Kogi and the low-lying plains of Rivers Niger and Benue and the tributaries of both rivers. 

We visited the camps: 10 years later, the experience remains dark, and haunting- nobody was spared, the old, the young and infants. The worst spectacle of all was the camp set up in Delta state where we saw people on make-shift hospital beds, with the then Governor of the state, Emmanuel Ewetan Uduaghan, vowing that as a Governor, he had a duty to save lives! One of the explanations we were given at the time was that climate change was a problem, release of water from Nigerian dams, and release of water from the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon was also a major cause.  It is astonishing, and a reflection of how we never take anything serious, and how Nigerian leaders do not pay attention to critical matters, that in 2022, we are back to the same situation as we had in 2012. Some commentators have even said that the flooding this year is actually the worst ever.

More than 29 states are reportedly affected, including communities along the banks of Rivers Niger and Benue and the Delta region. In Kogi state, parts of the state capital are submerged. Governor Yahaya Bello visiting the communities has been shown riding a canoe. In Anambra State – West and East and Awka North Local Government Areas - over 600, 000 persons have been displaced. In Jigawa, deaths have been recorded in more than six LGAs. In Nasarawa, a 4, 400 hectares of rice farmland cultivated by Olam Agric Farms, worth about US 20 million dollars has been submerged and laid to waste. After 2012, Olam Farms built 52 kilometres of dykes around its farms. Everything has been wiped away. Olam Agric supplies about 25% of rice in Nigeria. Ade Adefeko, the company’s Vice President, External Relations and Stakeholder Management says the damage is so devastating it could lead to food inflation, and that by December 2022, a 50kg bag of rice, a staple food among Nigerians could cost as much as N100, 000 per bag. In 2014, a bag of rice was less than N20,000. As of September 2022, a bag of rice was N54, 000! Five days ago, in Lagos State, the Commissioner for Environment, Tunji Bello, advised persons living in low-lying parts of the state and neighbouring Ogun State like Ketu, Alapere, Owode Onirin, Kara, Agiliti, Odo Ogun, Agboyi, Isheri, Akute and Warewa, to relocate to upland areas because of the threat of floods.  Concerned citizens have tried to explain why Nigeria now faces such a perennial problem of flooding. 

One reason is that we are in the era of climate change. The global environment has been up-ended by carbon emissions and global warming. The International Panel on Climate Change, a creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), advises its 195-member countries about the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, and how the impact can be mitigated. But despite the efforts of the IPCC, and civil society stakeholders like 19-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, and American actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, most leaders of the world pay lip service to climate change and its effects. Meeting the target of 1.5 degrees centigrade threshold or below, as recommended by scientists, and as agreed by world leaders under the Paris Climate Agreement requires concerted action on the parts of governments, financial institutions, corporations, the private sector and others, and it is something that we hear about on a regular basis at Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings on climate change. The effect of climate change is measured in terms of how our world is becoming unrecognizable: sea levels are rising, the arctic is getting warmer, temperatures are rising, rainfall levels have changed, nature is changing and becoming more acidic. When global leaders meet at COPs, they make promises and commitments: the last was in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021, the next one – COP 27 is scheduled for November 6-18 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. The leaders of the world would make the same promises, but action in terms of follow-up is poor and even worse- climate change as is the case with everything else has become an opportunity for politics and competition. 

Nigeria is not left out. For more than a decade, Nigerian leaders have always included a paragraph or two on climate change in their statements at the United Nations General Assembly. Most recently at the 75^th session of UNGA in New York, President Muhammadu Buhari spoke about the existential threat posed by climate change, Nigeria’s Climate Change Strategy, and climate justice, and the need for financing to mitigate the effects of the climate change. Like his boss, Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has also consistently proposed a debt-for-climate-swap deal to achieve an equitable and just energy transition for Nigeria and Africa.  In September 2022, the Nigerian Government inaugurated a National Council on Climate Change in pursuit of the implementation of the Climate Change Act of 2021. But the situation in Nigeria is similar to that of many other countries of the world. What we can hold on to is the reality of the dilemma. This year alone, the evidence of climate change has manifested in the form of floods in Aragua State in North Central Venezuela, in Indonesia, in Trinidad and Tobago, India, Australia, Pakistan and Florida, United States and closer home, in Chad. 

The second reason that has been offered with regard to flooding in Nigeria is to blame the release of water from the Lagdo Dam on the Benue River in Northern Cameroon. Built between 1977 and 1982, the Lagdo dam was meant for irrigation and the supply of electricity. Nigeria and Cameroon have a bilateral agreement over the dam and its management which is principally that Nigeria will construct a similar dam or embankment on its own side. That embankment located in Dasin Village in Adamawa state has been under construction for close to 20 years. Cameroon fulfilled their own part of the bargain. We failed on our part. International purists can argue that Cameroon cannot keep causing us havoc each time water is released from the Lagdo Dam, but we are not even in any position to reciprocate. The bilateral agreement requires Cameroon to inform Nigeria at least a month earlier before it releases water from the Lagdo Dam. Our neighbours have routinely complied in this regard. As recently as September 13, 2022, Nigeria’s Hydrological Services Agency announced that Cameroon was going to release water from Lagdo dam and that many states along the Rivers Niger and Benue basins would be affected. Information was duly provided but we were in a helpless situation because nobody has deemed it necessary to do anything positive to prevent our foreseeable and forewarned agony. Is it possible to enter into new arrangements with Cameroon?  I should think so. 

But who will make the effort when we cannot even manage the dams in Nigeria including the ones developed by domestic River Basin Authorities. Each time, for example, water is released from the Oyan Dam under the Ogun-Osun River Basin Authority, parts of Ogun and Lagos State are submerged. When water is released from the Jebba dam, the whole of that axis from Ilorin to Mokwa is flooded. Before blaming outsiders, we must focus on our own inability as a country to manage the environment or nature. The conflict between man and nature is a major existential challenge and it is indeed at the centre of man’s efforts to assert himself or herself as the most wondrous of all Creations and master of the Cosmos. The trajectory of epistemology has shown man’s limitations and a constant reminder that he is indeed, only a part of the Universe and not its master, but in other parts of the world, man’s perpetual search for meaning and dominance is the historification of the world. Here in Africa, and many underdeveloped parts, we do not try enough. We blame God for everything. We resign to fate.  

Every year, government agencies tell us that there will be bad weather, heavy rainfall, and floods, but nobody does anything. The rainy season comes, floods everywhere, people die and we just move on. In Jos, Plateau State at certain moments of the year, the weather could be so cold as if it is winter, but the people never prepare. Nigerian newspapers used to report deaths in Plateau State during the rainy season, just because some of the people will refuse to wear warm clothing! The other year, when there was heavy rainfall in Lagos, people were swimming and hunting for fish on the streets of Victoria Island. Many were more excited about catching fish than the fact that the Atlantic had overflown its banks, and the whole of Lagos Island could be submerged. We treat everything as a joke around here including the lives of citizens. There are cities around the world that are below the sea level – Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Singapore, Santo Domingo… They are better managed. When floods occur here, what you are likely to hear is that it is time to propitiate the river goddess. Other countries are talking about artificial intelligence, efficient robots and cutting-edge technology, we are still at the level of spirits and goddesses.  This primitivity and superstition is the biggest challenge we face. It is in fact worse than climate change.     

The third point to be made is that our major problem in Nigeria is negligence. We don’t care enough about the environment. We believe the best way to live is to beat, game and cheat the system, and ignore all possible rules for harmonious living. We thrive in the midst of chaos. We revel in disaster. This is why regulations don’t work here. Part of our environmental problem is that we build on drainage channels. We dump refuse indiscriminately. We threaten nature with our actions and choices. Government officials collect bribe and look the other way. Basic rules that work elsewhere about building plans and management of the environment do not work here. When nature fights back, we blame everything on witchcraft. The floods before now and this time are a reflection of the way we are. 

But should government continue this way or look the other way, and allow the people to suffer and die? No. It is particularly disturbing that official responses have been cavalier. In Anambra and Kogi states, we have seen the state Governors – Soludo and Bello identifying with the people. Most of the other state Governors can’t be bothered. In one state, a Governor and his Deputy who could not be found as floods ravaged communities in the state were booed this week when they tried to attend a festival, behaving as if nothing happened. I am referring to Mohammed Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa State and his Deputy, Umar Namadi. Other state Governors in affected states are too busy with pre-2023 political rallies to even talk about the floods. They obviously consider their political ambitions more important than the people’s agony. This is strange. Political leaders must learn to show empathy. They must demonstrate that the people matter. 

The starting point is to provide support for all the farmers who have lost their farmlands and crops, and the families and communities that have also lost so much, as was done in 2012. Where it is possible to provide grants, this must be done. Counselling too. And why are the emergency management agencies at both the Federal and State levels so silent?  To stave off the looming effect of food inflation, the Federal Government should release grains from the National Strategic Grains Reserves in the existing 33 silos, even if the entire reserve is at the depleted level of about 60,000 metric tonnes due to COVID-19 interventions and mismanagement. Above all, we have to engage the Cameroonians in terms of temporary measures that can be agreed upon on the Lagdo dam issue. At home, we need to revive the River Basin Authorities, and address whatever problems they now pose, contrary to their original design.   

“For First Time, Buhari Excludes Ex-Senate President, Saraki, from National Honours”. This was how the ThisDay newspaper of October 3, 2022, reported the story of the 2022 National Honours ceremony scheduled for October 11 at the State House in Abuja. Other newspapers also wrote the story from the Saraki angle. Before the ThisDay report, the media had reported that the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) had raised alarm that there was a deliberate attempt to deny Senator Saraki his place in history by excluding him from the National Honours list. The CNG also pointed out that whereas Saraki served as 13^th Senate President of the Federal Republic, and Chairman of the 8^th National Assembly from 2015 -2019, three years later his portrait is not on display in the main gallery of the National Assembly. In the various reports in ThisDay newspaper, The Punch, The Cable, The Sun, Leadership, Blueprint and others, quoting the CNG and also, another group, the Arewa Think Tank (ATT), the suggestion was that Saraki is legitimately entitled to the second highest national honour in the land, namely the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), since the convention had been to honour certain categories of persons for having served in certain capacities. 

It was even clearly stated that Saraki is being denied his entitlement because of his political rivalry with President Muhammadu Buhari. Saraki emerged as Nigeria’s Senate President in 2015, on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) under circumstances that suggested that he simply outsmarted the party hierarchy that did not want him. He turned out to be a Senate President from the ruling party with a mind of his own. Under his watch, the Senate passed about 201 bills, and claims the distinction of being far more productive than other National Assemblies since the return to civilian rule in 1999.  Saraki refused to act as the ruling government’s rubber stamp. It was therefore a question of time before he ended up leaving the party. He returned to where he came from: the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and to say that his political fortunes have changed since then, especially in his native Kwara State is to state the obvious. 

The way these things go, it was obvious that someone was deliberately pushing the Saraki side of the story to make a point. But what is the worth of a national honour in Nigeria? It is a nice chieftaincy title which comes with a medal, a certificate and a pin on your chest, to which anyone who has ever served Nigeria feels entitled. It doesn’t matter if you were a houseboy in the corridors of power, the thrill of the recognition is in itself the thing, and while the honour does not come with a salary or pension, you can get a seat, and a cup of coffee or tea at the state VIP lounge at the international airport whenever you are travelling and you can flaunt the suffix after your name to show that you are above the ordinary run. Those who want Saraki to be given a GCON have managed to establish that the National Honours List has been politicized.  It has always been so.  I also agree with them that there should be no pettiness in the award of national honours. Other former Senate Presidents got the GCON, there is no reason why Saraki should be denied his, going by convention. Should he, or any one decide to turn down the honour, it should be their prerogative to do so, and not that they have been chosen for deliberate humiliation for partisan reasons.  Every human being craves respect, recognition and relevance, and if they are so deserving, they should be so honoured.  

But the point needs to be made though that Senator Bukola Saraki is not undecorated, nor can a GCON make much difference to his pulse rate. In 2010, he got the CON award: Commander of the Order of the Niger, for his services as Governor of Kwara State. The CON is one of the top national honours usually reserved for Ministers, Governors and Justices of the Supreme Court. Within the established order, however, persons can be promoted from one level to the other. Saraki’s supporters want a GCON, the second highest honour in the land, for him. Perhaps because of the furore that the 2022 National Honours List that was in circulation in the last few days has generated and concerns raised by some stakeholders, the Federal Government has now disclaimed the list of 437 persons on display. A statement from the Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs stated yesterday, that whatever list that was in circulation was a fake list, and the government was yet to release any list to the public. In the light of this, it would be premature to condemn or endorse the list that has now been disowned. October 11, the scheduled date of the National Awards ceremony is barely a week away. It would be nice if the Federal Government can finalize the process and release the authentic list for public scrutiny and commentary. When the “authentic list” is then released, it would be our duty to compare and contrast, and seek to differentiate between what is fake and true, but before that is done, we can safely make the following observations. 

Nigeria’s National Honour is a creation of the National Honours Act of 1964 with the following established categories: GCFR, GCON, CFR, CON, OFR, OON, MFR, MON and service medals – FSS, GSS, DSS, MSS, CMH and CM for service to the nation and individual distinction, to honour, celebrate, inspire, express appreciation and to promote bilateral relations/international friendship. But the big problem that has been observed with the National Honours Warrant is that it has been reduced to the level of an award of chieftaincy titles whereby anyone with any form of proximity to power is decorated with the highest honours of the land. In other jurisdictions, the Honours List is used to make a statement about values and contributions. In Nigeria, it got reduced to such a ridiculous level, it became an award for any Dick and Harry including concubines and housemaids. Even traditional rulers who are of no value to their own people are routinely decorated with national honours and not a few persons of shady persona go about adding national honours to their names., not to talk of Governors who in other societies would never be allowed to show up in decent company after their tenure of office. In Nigeria, you find all sorts on the National Honours List. The pattern needs to change. 

The closest that the Buhari government has gone to getting things right was the refusal to turn the National Honours ritual into an annual jamboree. In 2018, the administration announced post-humous national honours for Chief MKO Abiola, and Chief Gani Fawehinmi and others. I shall come to that later. Also, when recently, the administration gave out National Honours in mid-September, I thought it struck the right notes by focusing strictly on athletes who did the country proud at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, United States and at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK.   Nobody would question why Ese Brume, Tobi Amusan, Blessing Okorodudu, Favour Ofili and others got national awards. Their example shows commitment, hardwork, excellence, and patriotism. What rankles, and here is my point, is the usual tendency to turn Nigeria’s National Honours into the equivalent of souvenirs at a jollof rice and pepper soup party. It is not right that a Governor of a state whose only notable achievement is the erection of a few electricity poles in the state capital and the digging of a couple of boreholes in his mother’s village, gets a National Honour or that incompetent Service Chiefs who cannot provide security receive recognition as heroes, or that faceless and idle traditional rulers are given the national recognition they do not deserve. The emphasis should be truly on service, honour and values. When the Federal Government releases its “authentic list”, this is what we should look out for. 

The Buhari administration has restrained itself before now from giving out national honours like a jamboree.  But it seems it now wants to do so on October 11.  Why now? Out of pressure? End-of-tenure blues? Whatever it is, a list of 437 honorees as has been suggested is unwieldy.  Elsewhere, the number of persons to be awarded a category of honour annually is capped. We should introduce such a cap to confer more seriousness and dignity on the awards.

Before now, it had been argued that the National Honours Warrant of Nigeria does not accommodate the conferment of the national honour on the dead. In the now disclaimed 2022 list, there were a few post-humous indications – late Abba Kyari, Chief Anthony Enahoro, Professor Bala Usman and late Gambo Sawaba. Section 2 of the law says that the national honour must be received “in person at an investiture held for the purpose.”  The Buhari administration broke the convention when it conferred the national honours of GCON and GCFR post-humously on the late Chief MKO Abiola and Chief Gani Fawehimni in 2018 respectively, citing Section 3 of the same law which grants the President “unqualified discretion” to grant National Honour as he may deem fit. Femi Falana, SAN defended the legality of post-humous national awards at the time in the public domain against the position of Justice Alfa Belgore, CJN, 2006 -2007, and Chairman of the National Honours Committee in 2016, who along with others, had raised the issue then. What is probably required is a simple review of the National Honours Act or an Executive Order to lay this matter to rest and thus remove whatever ambiguity may be attached to the interpretation of Sections 1-3 of the National Honours Act even when the action of the government appears to be in alignment with public expectations as in the 2018 cited cases.  The word “expedient” in Section 3 of the enabling Act may be open to differing interpretations, especially as no one has deemed it necessary to seek judicial intervention.  

The point, at the risk of repetition, is that the National Honours selection process, while a prerogative of the Executive arm of government, needs to be subjected to greater scrutiny in order to protect its integrity.  We must ensure that whoever goes about with Nigeria’s national honour indeed deserves it. It is not only in Nigeria that the selection process attracts controversy. There have been similar arguments such as we have here in Jamaica, India, and Bahamas, and other places.  There is nothing wrong in making the selection process more transparent and participatory. One obvious way to avoid unnecessary controversy is to make the list short and specific, and ensure the greater participation of the civil society. It also seems to me that the usual practice of relegating artistes and performers to the Member of the Order of the Niger (MON) and Member of the Federal Republic (MFR) categories is unacceptable. If indeed their names are on the list, the likes of Damini Ogulu (Burna Boy), Innocent Tuface Idibia, and Teniola Apata deserve a higher placement on the list than many others for having done more to place Nigeria positively on the global map, and for promoting happiness in the land. 

As to the controversy about the list that is in circulation and the Federal Government’s disclaimer, a week to the awards ceremony, just a few questions would be in order: is the published date of October 11 also fake? Did the Federal Government send out letters of award/invitation or not? Is it possible for likely honorees to talk to the media and inform friends and family, if they are not sure that their names are on the list?  Is it true as alleged that some people who are responsible for the continued closure of Nigerian universities, and the agony of Nigerian students are actually on the Honours List? Nigeria at 62: with all the problems that we have- is this the right time for celebration, or shame or reflection? It is not enough to blame “overzealous reporters whose aim is to break news even when such news is fake” as has been said. It won’t be too long before the truth is known.  

It is a sobering indication of the state of the nation, that as Nigeria prepares to mark the 62^nd anniversary of its flag independence on October 1, the dominant discourse in the land among young Nigerians, apart from politics, and the continued closure of universities centres around such annoying subjects as something called the Big Brother Naija reality show and its annual elevation of unseriousness into a creative endeavour, and the unarguably silly controversy over whether a major priority for the Nigerian government should be the need to ban the consumption of cow skin, better known locally among Nigerians as ponmo, kpomo or kanda. Arguments for and against the latter have consumed so much attention and energy in the last week in such an insufferable manner that recommends the whole exercise as a metaphor for the Nigerian condition. 

But let us begin with Nigeria’s 62^nd anniversary. It would be correct to say that we have never had it so bad. The independence anniversaries of 2020 and 2021 were observed against the background of the COVID pandemic and the international public health crisis which redefined our lives as citizens and as human beings. But there was hope that like all afflictions before it, since the pestilence of Biblical times, COVID-19 would one day be conquered and the world will regain its verve. It has not now disappeared completely, but indeed the world is alive again. As Nigeria celebrates its 62^ndIndependence anniversary, we can joyfully look back on how our people survived the scourge, and can now openly sit together on Independence Day to reflect on the nation’s journey over the decades. 

What we should be celebrating this year is the resilience of the Nigerian people in the face of afflictions – social, economic, governance and psychological. It is therefore appropriate that the Federal Government has chosen to hold a public lecture on the theme of “National Unity” on September 29. The hero of the story of Nigeria is truly none other than the common man and woman: the ordinary Nigerians who, since independence have been disappointed every step of the way by their own leaders. In 1960, as the British Union Jack was lowered, and the Nigerian green-white-green flag was hoisted to herald the birth of a new nation, Nigerians danced. School children marched to the sound of melodies of hope. The march was abbreviated, the dancing stopped; the walls cracked within barely six years later. A civil war occurred and for decades, the military controlled Nigeria, running a command-and-obey structure that further divided the country along the lines of ethnicity, geography and religion. Every measure that has been taken to reunite the country by the military and even their civilian successors has refused to work. Once upon a time, Nigeria was Africa’s richest and most beloved country, it soon became a shadow of its old self. In 2022, 62 years after independence, we seem sadly to have lost so much.

We once lived in a country where teachers, scholars, and students came from everywhere to study and work here. In my days as a young student, we had teachers from the UK, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, the United States, the West Indies and elsewhere who were happy to pursue their dreams in Nigeria. The country’s universities were among the best in Africa and the Commonwealth. The then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University – OAU) was rated as the most beautiful campus in Africa! The same university, along with the University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and the University of Lagos (UNILAG) boasted of some of the best brains in their respective fields. Ibadan had one of the best science and research laboratories in Africa. The university zoo was a tourist attraction. The country’s university teaching hospitals were so good, so well-equipped that patients came from as far away as Saudi Arabia to receive treatment at the University College, Hospital, (UCH), Ibadan. Today, all that is lost. Our hospitals, from primary health care centres to tertiary hospitals have become mere consulting clinics. All the animals in the Ibadan Zoo have either died or have been used to prepare pepper soup. University teachers have been on strike since February 14. In the last three years alone, Nigerian university students have spent more time at home than in school. 

In the 70s and 80s, even the country’s secondary schools were rated among the best in Africa. Today, they have become the target of kidnappers, bandits and rapists. When many old students visit their schools these days, they are shocked that a once beautiful citadel could become so terrible. A senior friend who visited my alma mater about a fortnight ago, called me frantically to tell me that he felt like weeping, because he knew what the school looked like in those days. An old classmate of mine who was with him, and who has lived in the US since we left school told me not to worry. He said there was nothing anybody could do. “This is not the school you and I attended, my brother”, he added. “Where is the government? If Nigerian leaders are not mad, sick and wicked, they would never allow this kind of thing to happen. Even if old students contribute money and re-build the school, who will sustain it? What do Nigerian leaders do with the education budget? In the States…” My old colleague has lived so long in the US, he obviously thinks the same standards can apply here. In those days, our teachers were proud of their chosen career. They were glad to help nurture the future generation. These days, teachers are so unhappy with their lot – no salaries, no promotion, no enabling work environment – they are not in any position to produce happy and capable students. 

The oil boom of the 70s turned the fortunes of Nigeria around. The country became so rich, a former military ruler once boasted that the country did not know what to do with money. The emergent nouveaux riche became so wealthy, they left for Europe every Friday, after close of work, enjoyed their weekend in the most exotic haunts of London and Paris, and took the plane back just in time to be at work in Nigeria on Monday. There was Nigeria Airways: having some of the best trained pilots in the world. Return ticket to Europe was affordable. Today, Nigeria has no national airline. Its aviation industry is almost dead. Only the rich can still afford to travel abroad, but not with that old frequency of weekly indulgence. Oil boom brought a culture of indolence and doom. The world is witnessing yet another oil boom today, as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war, but Nigeria is not benefitting from that. Its refineries are not working. Major oil companies cannot function because of crude oil theft and insecurity. The country cannot even meet its OPEC production quota. The country is heavily indebted. Its debt burden is more than the budgets of all the 36 states of the country in one year. Next year, the country may not even be able to fund any capital project! 

For those who like to quote data, the statistics on the state of the nation are frightening: inflation: 20.52%, food inflation: 23.12%, unemployment: 33%, measured in the reality of staggering poverty and exponential rise in crime. From being a country of giants, Nigeria has become a country of desperate men and women, in whose hearts the fires of hope die-aborning. This is why there is a more strident call for change now more than ever. There are those Nigerians who continue to blame the colonial masters for all of Nigeria’s woes, and such persons recently used the occasion of the death of Queen Elizabeth II to voice out their grievances. Their argument is that the British left bad leaders behind and structured the newly independent Nigeria to fail, after looting our treasures. The proponents of this argument ignore the fact that the British were colonial overlords in other countries too, where things work and progress has been made, and that the errors of our journey can be traced largely to the post-colonial leaders who simply replaced British colonialism with indigenous colonialism and fascism. It is therefore noteworthy that as Nigeria marks its 62^nd anniversary, many young Nigerians are insisting that the country’s general elections in 2023 must provide a great opportunity for Nigerians to elect a new set of leaders who can make a difference, and stop the cycle of failure that seems to have become our lot. They want the glory of Nigeria restored. They are on the streets marching. They are in places of religious worship calling on God to come and help Nigeria as the people of Macedonia once cried out. They ask: why are we so blest, and yet so cursed? From whence will the messiah come? Many persons have had to leave the country to seek hope in other lands. I was at the airport a few days ago – quite unusually crowded - given the high cost of tickets. When I pointed this out to someone at the counter, I was told that most of the people boarding the aircraft to foreign destinations have no plans to return. The true heroes are the Nigerians who have refused to give up on this country and who still believe that Nigeria will be great again. 

President Muhammadu Buhari will, of course, customarily use his Independence Day broadcast to reassure Nigerians at home and abroad that all is not lost. He will try to inspire the nation. He will tell us that his administration has laid a better foundation on all fronts and remains determined to deliver transparent and credible elections in 2023. He would most likely heap the blame for every problem on saboteurs and enemies of the people, who will be brought to justice before February 2023. He would also reassure us that the work ahead is a collective responsibility. It would not matter whether his listeners believe him or not. No President would use the occasion of the country’s National Day to accept blame for any omissions. For President Buhari, it would be his last Independence Day Broadcast as President. Expect some self-praise. As part of the farewell, the organizers of the 62^nd Independence Anniversary have also announced that there would be a National Honours ceremony. This should not become a jamboree or chieftaincy title ceremony whereby every senior government official who has served in the last eight years, as well as traditional rulers, party chieftains and wives and girlfriends of privileged persons are the ones on the Honours list. There would be Ministers, Governors and political appointees all waiting to be decorated with medals for work not done. This year’s Honours List must convey a message of seriousness. Nigeria’s 62^nd Independence Anniversary must not become another Big Brother Naija show! It must not come across like that distraction that I cited as the “ponmo controversy” - a classic case of blaming the victim and missing the point. 

For the benefit of those who may not have followed the story, the ponmo controversy was triggered about a week ago when Muhammadu Yakubu, the Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology (NILEST) reportedly said his agency was going to propose to the National Assembly, a bill to ban the consumption of cow skin, because its heavy consumption is precisely the cause of the downslide in Nigeria’s leather industry. Cow hides that should be used by tanneries to produce leather, footwear, bags have been diverted into the food chain, and turned into a special delicacy. Yakubu added that “ponmo” has no nutritional value. Nothing represents the lack of seriousness at the highest levels in Nigeria’s governance and democracy than this. Not many have heard of NILET or its DG, and then the first time, anything would be heard, the DG puts his foot in his mouth. His declaration is not based on any data. What is the amount of cow hide that has been smuggled into the food chain to threaten the leather industry? And who told him kpomo has no nutritional value? And why of all things, a government agency is talking about ponmo in this country today?  

Mr Yakubu should be reminded that ponmo, a regular sight at parties, usually marinated in well-curried pepper, is a gourmet’s delight particularly when the ponmo and the pepper touch the palate, the softer the ponmo the better, and best when supported with a cold glass of wine, or beer to wash it down the gut. It is a low fat, low-calorie food recommended for persons who want to lose weight. Dietitians tell us that “a 100 kg of boiled, thick cow skin contains essential amino acids, micronutrients and collagen - 224.65k calories of energy, 680g of carbohydrate, about 43.9g of water, 46.9 g of protein, 1.09 g of fat, 0.02 g of fibre, iron – 4.3 mg, magnesium -12 mg, zinc- 6.79 mg and calcium -6.1 mg.”  Food inflation has taken ordinary sources of meat beyond the reach of the ordinary Nigerian: fish, meat and other sources of protein have become so expensive. Ponmo is not so cheap either, but it is the only kind of meat that is still within the reach of the common man, their only hope of chewing something during a meal. Yakubu, DG NILET says there should be legislation to ban its consumption and further punish the poor and rob people of jobs. Yakubu is not recommending bills to initiate policies that will make foreign exchange available for the tanneries, access to necessary raw materials, development of the livestock sector to increase supply of cow hide, training and research in the industry… no, he is blaming the victims. 

He forgets that this country once had a thriving leather industry: Bata, Lennards, and flourishing tanneries in Kano, Kaduna…but even that failed because of this obsession with unserious matters by Nigerian leaders. The leather industry will not be revived by banning the consumption of kpomo. Wale Ojo-Lanre has dismissed Yakubu’s suggestion as a case of “shallow thinking, empty and gross laziness”. I agree. It is in addition, provocative. It could trigger a spontaneous million-man march in every state of the Federation, and evoke such anger similar to that of an old attempt to ban the sale and consumption of stockfish in Nigeria. 

Nigerians deserve better leadership in 2023, a new cadre of governors at all levels who will focus on what is right, and learn to think straight.