OTHERS' VIEWS
The conversation about an Inland Port facility in Onitsha, Anambra State is not New. And it came up last week at a private gathering. Many will recall that the ‘port’ was formally commissioned by late Dr Alex Ekwueme, Vice President to late Alhaji Shehu Shagari. It never really functioned in real terms. It is still the pet dream of many and all issues pertaining to it are presumably being discussed on the platforms feasibility, economic common sense and basic marine science and knowledge of regional ecology.of plain and verifiable aquascience.
We submit here that the project is a desirable one. It is also feasible from the angle of provision of port infrastructure. It has, in addition, been routinely declared desirable from the standpoint of those who are quick to point to the volume of container traffic from Lagos to Onitsha and other parts of the South East. But isn’t it possible that this is already beginning to look like a White Elephant Project that would be counted as a major investment in the South East, if successfully executed? Just asking.
What needs to be re-evaluated, perhaps, fully is its feasibility from the angle of security of goods and route; as well as its viability from the angle of the simple required maritime ecosystem. For some people, the mere fact that it was conceived to ease trade, reduce the cost of imported goods in South East markets, create jobs and generally enable the South East and environs realize their full economic potential makes it an eternally important economic infrastructure.
Papers have been written on it over the years, with Environmental impact assessments (EIAs), cross references with nations that had to devise means of raising water levels when needed; and a near-consensus among experts on the economic benefits.
One of the major overlooked, and largely unacknowledged, problem is the probability of not ever really getting enough water for the primary business of a port. You need water for a river port and the Onitsha end of the river Niger does not have enough. Dredging is a good idea, but it will give you a bigger ditch and wipe out the means of livelihood of water dependent local economies.
The confirmed practice elsewhere, of “gating” and later discharging the water to secure enough depth, is usually on the cards whenever this matter is on the table. All things considered, the challenges that come to mind regarding the proposed Onitsha River Port are: (1) How the river dams along the Niger, Benue and their many tributaries have reduced available water at onitsha by over 68%; (2) Possibly unrealistic projections about the prospects of the project; (3) The credibility of some of the existing Environmental Impact Assessment (AIE) reports, especially against the background of climate change and other environmental factors; (4) Direct politicization of the economic value of a river port in Onitsha, as against Port Harcourt and Calabar.
We must also consider the following; (1) the game plans of individuals who wish to upgrade their relevance by fighting to secure vital “federal project for Ndigbo”, while sometimes knowing that it will either not work or that it will not bring the alleged benefits, and, also; (2) The questionable security along the inland waterways, especially with active militants, Egbesu Boys, and freelance oil bunkerers, creek-dependent mischief makers and others. Will the vessels really make their way through the creeks, while vehicles on our roads in broad daylight and even trains are unsafe?
Some of the discussions about Onitsha Port actually remind one of discussions about electricity supply a few years ago. The Federal Government was then building massive gas turbines for electricity supply. Everyone was talking about the mega watts that would be added to the national grid after the power-generating turbines were completed. But no provisions were made for gas. The then minister confessed at a private forum that there was also no “gas plan” and that much of our gas was already mortgaged to foreign customers. When he was pointedly asked: “So if the turbines are ready now, as we speak, they won`t contribute a single megawatt to national power supply, because no arrangements have been made for gas”? The shocking answer was “Yes”!
So those who are looking forward to a vibrant port in Onitsha should think of a “water plan”. The dams built across the rivers Niger and Benue, and their tributaries, over the years have reduced the overall water volume. There are now tiny islands, and unprecedented siltation, at the Onitsha end of the river. While the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources is serious about irrigation and dry season agriculture, it must remember that the long stretch of the Niger across Kebbi State, itself a veritable food basket unknown to many, takes more that its fair share of the needed water.
We may digress a bit here, to urge the Ministry of Environment to work more closely with the Agriculture ministry and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), because of the current global response to the devastating impact of dams on people and the environment within the past 60 years. It is a fact of our collective experience, across all continents, that dams have altered ecosystems, ruined food chains and obliterated local economies for hundreds of thousands of kilometres of waterways all over the world.
The confluence of some cold rivers with warmer ones have been permanently altered worldwide, while some flowing waters have been made to stagnate and create saturated water that wiped out fresh water aquatic life. Some rivers are now fragments of their former selves and others have dried up completely, as can be seen when you drive from Enugu, through Anyigba, to Abuja.
It is on record, for instance, that massive fish populations were killed on the Snake River, Idaho, in the US by dam construction; leading to the decimation of salmon species, among others. An Idaho State Senator, Frank Church, who originally supported dam building later rose in defense of natural waterways and spoke against dams. It was the same Frank Church who, after he saw the damage to the environment, eventually wrote the Wild and Scientific Rivers Act, passed in 1968.
No one can deny historic significance of the Suez Canal and its economic value to this day, but the general global concern today about the fate of streams, rivers and other natural waterways comes from the realization that long-term damage is being done to ecosystems, following the unsustainable violation of natural habitats by damming. The negative impacts on the global food web and even the climate are staring us in the face everywhere.
Available global evidence shows that one of the main reasons freshwater fish numbers have declined all over the world, leading to a loss of 80% of fresh water wild life since 1970, is the damming of rivers. Let us recall the verdict of the World Commission on Dams, in 2000: that dams had displaced between 40 – 80 million people, making it the single human activity with the greatest capacity to create Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
Even in the US, the initial excitement that greeted the epidemic of dam building in the 1940s and 1950s was followed by fierce and bitter battles between environmentalists and dam builders. The issue at the time was that dams blocked and impounded the waters of some of the most important rivers of the American west.
It was already established, years back, that over 22,000 kilometers of free-flowing rivers in the US are protected by Frank Church`s Act.
But our waterways are available for all comers. The fate of communities displaced by dams all over Nigeria today is rarely a topical issue. What does NIWA really do today? How many people still take a ride on sections of the River Benue that were once used for water transportation? Who drank up the water and created empty water channels and dry rivers with massive bridges between Lokoja and Anyigba, and all over Nigeria? I am certainly not the one!
Let those who, threatening to build a river port in Onitsha remember that there is also a scaling up of plans to build more dams across waterways that discharge into the Niger trough. Let them also not forget that this is happening years after the US came upfront on a campaign to “decommission” many dams. Recorded successes in this regard, with measurable positive environmental impact, include removal of the dam on the Elwha river in Washington State. One year after the last dam was removed in 2014, the Chinook species of fish, which had not been seen there for more than 100 years reappeared.
More than 4,000 Chinook spawners were counted above the former dam site. It is also in the US that people are taking proactive steps to reclaim their lives, by removing dams that interfered with their ecosystems and way of life. The Mohawks, in New York State, recently removed the Hogansburg dam on the St. Regis River, thus becoming the first US sub social group to remove a federal dam. This action of the Mohawks opened up nearly 700 kilometres of stream, liberated the natural habitat of migratory fish and restored many local economies.
After the last dam was removed from the River Elwha, for instance, river fish populations flourished. In a world where Brazil’s environmental agency has suspended the licensing process for the Sao Luiz Tapajos dam, the second largest hydroelectric dam in the country, we have no official attitude on dams. In a world where the World Bank recently suspended financial support for the Inga 3 dam on the River Congo, and where Chile`s largest power generator, Endesa, stopped six hydropower projects, we have no position on dams. Even the Chinese have stopped their plans to construct a series of dams across the country`s last free-flowing rivers, the Nujiang. The Peruvian authorities also suspended the construction of several dams across the Marañón River at about the same time that Geute Conservation Sur, an organization dedicated to the defense of ecosystems with high conservation value, is providing legal analysis to develop a new law for river protection in Chile.
The concern about water and free waterways is such that the world is focusing on transboundary cooperation between nations for conscious and deliberate management of the ecosystem and water volume throughout the length of major rivers. Are we doing the same in our country? The conflict between China and Thailand over development on the Lancang/Mekong River says a lot about what is going on all over the world in connection with waterways today. To think that the government of New Zealand has gone so far as to “recognize” the Whanganui river by giving it the same constitutional rights as a person? This was done as a way of showing that free-flowing rivers have great impact on food security, water access, biodiversity conservation and propagation of the overall global ecology.
In sum, and bringing the matter back home, let us think of think feasibility, viability and advisability of the port; as we think of dams, the environment, the disappearance of river-dependent local economies and the collapse or conspicuous shrinking of fish markets in various parts of the country.
It would be good if we all realise the truth that nobody is going to build our country for us. As of now, the country needs to be built, brick and mortar, little by little. It is a good sign that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has set up an Economic Team that looks quite formidable. No longer would the crucial business of the economy, the most important aspect of building our country, be left only in the hands of politicians. Looking at the team makes one to have the confidence that the government is serious about its self-imposed assignment of making tomorrow better than yesterday. The new team includes such giant private-sector players like Aliko Dangote, Tony Elumelu, Amina Maina, Funke Okpeke, Segun Agbaje and Rasheed Sarumi.
The effect has started showing. In Nigeria, whatever goes up does not come down, except you-know-what. But the naira exchange rate to the dollar and other international currencies is going down. We also hope that the price of petroleum and allied products would also stabilise. That is the opportunity and promise that Dangote Refineries, Lagos, has offered our country. In the months ahead, we would be able to grasp the full implication of Nigeria having the largest and most modern petroleum complex in the world.
The Dangote Refinery is sitting on 180 acres of land at the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos State. It is going to be producing diesel, aviation fuel, petrol and other petroleum products. It has the capacity to process about 650,000 barrels of oil per day. When fully operational, it is expected to provide direct and indirect employment to 135,000 people in Lagos State. The refinery has cost almost 20 billion American dollars.
Already, even before the refineries start firing in all cylinders, its competitors in Europe and other theatres are jittery. Several refineries in Europe, which for some decades have been exporting petroleum products to Nigeria, are going to face a hard time. First, the Nigerian market would no longer be available for them. Second, Dangote petroleum products may also be ready to give them a good fight in the European market. This would be the first time an African company would directly threaten European companies in the theatre of Europe. There is no doubt that the months ahead would be very interesting.
However, it is not yet time for chest-beating for Nigeria. The old establishment is quite influential in the power loop of Nigeria and may pull one or two stings to make things happen here. The Dangote Group is already feeling the heat where it hurts most. For many weeks it could not buy crude oil to refine. Without crude oil, the refinery is not more than a tourist attraction. To start its operation, the Dangote refinery had been on queue with other competitors to get crude from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company plc. The NNPC has the monopoly to sell Nigeria’s crude. To get a share of the market, you have to be in the good book of the power-that-be. That is a delicate dance which the Dangote Group is learning in a hurry.
Of course, economic independence, which is more difficult and protracted than political independence, is not going to come on a platter of gold. In a recent newspaper interview, Professor Ehiedu Iweriebor of the Department of Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies, Hunter College of The City University of New York, defines Dangote Refinery and its related projects as the “Freedom Projects,” because of its expected impact on the Nigerian economy. “The plant would reduce Nigeria’s import dependency, its vulnerability to external pressure and also empower the country to begin to generate its own prosperity through the production and export of value-added goods rather than raw materials export,” says Iweriebor. “It means that Dangote refinery can supply refined oil to Nigeria and to parts of Africa. It will detach these regions from the dependency on Western suppliers for expensive and critical fuel supply.”
What should we expect from those whose refineries are going to shut down while the Dangote Refinery is revving into life? It would be naïve for us to expect them to do nothing. Oil is the life of the industrial societies of Europe and the Americas. In the aftermath of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the Arab oil producing countries started the oil embargo against the West which gave birth to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The United States and its allies threatened to take military action if the stalemate was not resolve. In the end, many Arab countries had to back down. Today, the United States has a very large military base in Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam, and many other countries in the Middle-East. In the wake of the Israeli-Hamas conflict, there are thousands of American troops and sailors sent to the Middle-East.
Economic consideration has been a proper pretence for war. Saddam Hussein, the dictator of Iraq believed that the tiny kingdom of Kuwait was sabotaging his country’s interest by refusing to cooperate with Iraq at OPEC meetings on the issue of oil production quota. He also accused Kuwait of slant drilling that allowed Kuwaiti oil drilling to have access to Iraqi oil. Then he decided to invade Kuwait and the job was accomplished within 72 hours. The Western world could not imagine Saddam to be in charge of the oil fields of Iraq and Kuwait at the same time. The result was the ultimatum issued to Saddam: withdraw or face war. In 1990, Saddam faced war instead and the consequences are still with us till today. By the time of the second Iraq War in 2003, Saddam was driven out of his luxurious presidential palace and was made to have a date with the hangman.
Nigeria had faced the same kind of crisis with international oil politics. On the eve of the Nigerian Civil War, the Western World was in a dilemma about which side to support. Most of the active oil fields were in the newly proclaimed Republic of Biafra under the leadership of Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. The Federal Government, under the leadership of General Yakubu Gowon, was in charge of a larger territory, mostly without oil. Gowon realised that crucial to the war efforts was the control of the oil fields. One night, Colonel Benjamin Adekunle led a flotilla of naval ships that took his troops to the rebel held island of Bonny. Thy arrived there around 5 a.m. and took the Biafran troops by surprise. After a firefight of more than one hour, Adekunle landed on Bonny, captured the oil fields and changed the tide of the war. The victorious troops formed the core of the new Third Marine Commando Division and its leader took the sobriquet, the Black Scorpion.
This time around in 2024, firefight would not solve the problem. The challenge of a Nigerian company sending European firms out of the market in Africa and Europe is not going to be taken with folded arms. The Tinubu Economic Team needs to draw up contingency plans for this eventuality. We have seen what is happening on the international air routes with the new muscles of Air Peace, the largest and most capable Nigerian Air Carrier. Suddenly, the foreign airlines who have resulted into a price-war, struggling to disrupt the emerging leadership of Air peace on the international routes. The dogfight in the sky promises to be interesting and messy.
The lesson is that we are capable of building our country. It is wrong for us to expect others to help us do the job even when we wrongly believe we can pay. The Soviet Union under Josef Stalin, helped Mao Zedong to power in the Chinese Civil War which ended with the victory of the communists on October 1, 1949. However, when the relationship between China and the USSR deteriorated, Soviet engineers removed the rail-tracks they had already laid across China in order to disrupt the Chinese economic programme. China responded with the campaign for self-reliance and built its own rail system, its cars, its air-craft and its aircraft carrier. Chinese built China. Let us build ours.
VICTIMS who narrate stories of genocide, do so because they survived. Millions perish, whose voices we may never hear again. There are even victims who did not have the chance of being born. Their lives were simply terminated as they grew in the womb.
Humanity witnessed this nightmare, 30 years ago in Rwanda. Genocide, as defined by the United Nations, UN, “is a crime committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part”.
In 100 days from April 6 to July 15, 1994, over 850,000 persons were massacred in Rwanda. On that occasion, humanity rose in unison: “Never again!” Only to sit back and watch the on-going genocide in Gaza.
As in Rwanda, there are debates whether the Palestinian genocide going on before our very eyes, is genocide or a mere conflict by two sides. Powerful countries, especially those who supply arms or occupy permanent seats in the UN Security Council, racists and deluded ‘Men of God’ rule that what we are witnessing is a mere conflict in which one nation is teaching the other unforgettable lessons.
It took South Africa the wisdom, courage, humanism and sense of history to call genocide by its true name by getting the International Court of Justice to rule there is genocide in Palestine.
One of the witnesses to the Rwanda massacres, and the man who actually led the forces that put a stop to that genocide, is Paul Kagame. This Sunday which was exactly 30 years that the genocide began, he declared before an international audience, the basic truth: “…It was the international community which failed all of us, whether from contempt or cowardice.”
Indeed, when the Rwanda genocide was being planned, the UN which had its peacekeeping force, the United Nations Assistance Mission For Rwanda, UNAMIR, on ground, was aware. Its Commander, General Romeo on January 11, 1994 sent his “Genocide Fax” to the UN Headquarters reporting the genocide plans. He followed up with five more warnings and sought permission to intervene, but was ignored.
So, when the genocide began, UNAMIR was an indifferent force. Interventions came down to individual soldiers like Captain Mbaye Diagne, the Senegalese soldier who gave his life rescuing victims. I titled my October 3, 2020 tribute to this internationalist: “Saluting Captain Mbaye Diagne, the Soldier Who Covered UN’s Shame.”
I was not surprised by the revelations of Kagame this Sunday, that as he and people under his command raced through Rwanda to stop the genocide, France threatened to annihilate them militarily unless they stopped, and allowed the genocide to go on.
The Kagame story: “One night, in the latter days of the genocide, I received a surprise visit past midnight from General Dallaire. He brought a written message, of which I still have a copy, from the French General Commanding the force that France had just deployed in the western part of our country, Operation Turquoise.
“The message said that we would pay a heavy price if our forces dared to try to capture the town of Butare, in the southern part of our country…; he warned me that the French had attack helicopters, and every kind of heavy weapon you can imagine, and therefore were prepared to use them against us if we did not comply.
“I asked Dallaire whether French soldiers bleed the same way ours do; whether we have blood in our bodies. Then I thanked him, and told him he should just go and get some rest and sleep, after informing the French that our response would follow. And it did…We took Butare at dawn. Within weeks, the entire country had been secured, and we began rebuilding.”
But not all countries were bystanders as the Rwanda genocide was carried out. Kagame acknowledged the positive roles of countries like Uganda, Eritrea, Kenya, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Ethiopia and of course, South Africa which emerged a democratic country as the genocide was going on.
The Rwandan President, this Sunday, added an historical gratitude: “At the United Nations Security Council in 1994, moral clarity came from Nigeria, the Czech Republic, and even as far away as New Zealand. Their ambassadors had the courage to call the genocide by its rightful name, and resist political pressure from more powerful countries to hide the truth. Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria and Czech Ambassador Karel Kovanda are here with us today, and we applaud you.”
There are countries like Canada, which regretted their inaction. The Clinton administration in the United States long before the genocide, knew of a “final solution to eliminate all Tutsis”, but did not act decisively even when the genocide was on.
President Bill Clinton admitted that had his administration taken some action, at least 300,000 lives could have been saved: “If we’d gone in sooner, I believe we could have saved at least a third of the lives that were lost…it had an enduring impact on me.”
Six days into the genocide, Belgium, which had one of the largest contingents in the UNAMIR, announced it was withdrawing its troops. Other nations also did.
Following widespread condemnation of the role of France, the French Parliament enquired into the role of the country in the genocide. After several months, the president of the parliamentary mission, former Defence Minister Paul Quiles, declared in 1998 that France was “not guilty”.
However, an independent Rwandan Commission Report of August 5, 2008, concluded that France was not only aware of the preparations for the genocide, but also helped train the ethnic militias that carried out the genocide. It accused 33 senior French military and political officials of complicity in the genocide. It also reported that: “French soldiers themselves directly were involved in assassinations of Tutsis and Hutus accused of hiding Tutsis.”
The genocide in the Palestine is taking a similar shape. First, the perpetrators in order to have a rationale to slaughter their victims, classify them as non-human beings. In Rwanda, the victims were labelled “cockroaches”, while in Gaza, Israel refers to the Palestinians as “human animals”. Secondly, the UN Security Council, as in Rwanda, held long debates whether the on-going genocide is really a genocide. It is also unable to agree on a permanent ceasefire.
So, as the world marks 30 years of the Rwanda genocide, we have 1,410 Israelis slain, 33,098 Palestinians killed with over 70 per cent of them being women and children and 90 per cent of the victims being civilians. So, rather than the world shout “Never again!” it is witnessing genocide: “Yet again!” Some years down the line, the powerful who have rationalised the on-going genocide may be seeking justification, or making excuses for the role they are playing in refusing to recognise genocide.
While most Nigerians are wildly excited about the commencement of the construction of the long awaited Coastal Road that will run all the way across the litoral states of Nigeria, linking up the two most productive regions of our country, opening up the long abandoned coastal areas, and, arterially joining them up to the rest of the nation, former Vice President and serially failed presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar, saw fit to seek to denigrate and undermine the project upon a truly sickening cocktail of misinformation, disinformation, outright deceit and the most poorly-packaged falsehoods imaginable.
Without a scintilla of evidence, not to talk of a shred of the same, the eternal contestant for the presidency of a country he is suspected, in certain quarters, of not even being an actual citizen of, claims President Bola Tinubu has interests in the Hitech Construction Company, the firm handling the project, and is only constructing the entire stretch of 700 kilometer superhighway, with a railway line in the median, just to benefit himself!
Of course, absolute nonsense can emanate from absolutely any nation of the world but I'm yet to encounter a narrative as dreadfully unhinged and stupendous in its incredulity as the notion that an entire stretch of 700 kilometres of world-class road cum rail infrastructure could possibly benefit just one individual.
Perhaps, you'd have to be a contraption of a Cameroonian indigene of Dubai to be able to come up with such befuddling logic, quite apart from being an addicted patron of marabouts and babalawos to expect rational persons to take you seriously.
Alhaji Atiku's ridiculous attempts at casting the project in the garb of his widely known proclivity for corrupt enrichment is neither here nor there; unlike the special purpose vehicles, SPVs, Atiku attained specialisation and occupies a competency in, the Coastal Road is a real public sector project of national significance and all relevant information pertaining thereto are in the public domain.
If he is not satisfied with what is out there, he can avail himself of the applicable freedom of information provisions like any other interested citizen.
Atiku equally tried to make a big deal out of the necessary demolishment of a small part of a resort built on the right of way of the Coastal Road and sought to sell the rather astonishing idea that a resort belonging to one man should be enough reason not to construct a road that will end up connecting tens of millions of Nigerians across one-third of our country, besides thereby also benefitting the entire nation given the transformational particulars of the project!
This is not at all surprising to me: while accusing President Tinubu of trying to benefit only himself by constructing a road to link the entire South-south to the South-west, with spurs to the entire North as well as the South-east of our country, Atiku was only confessing himself as the true apostle of what he sought to cast Tinubu as - a pathologically self-centered man, who in order to save his own private property would rather sacrifice public property that would benefit an entire nation!
Ever the divisive figure who woefully failed in hoodwinking our beloved Northern brethren and fellow compatriots into voting for him on the basis of ethnic, religious and regional ties, Atiku tried to shift base to the Niger Delta and play his putrid card at us.
Without, in any way, laying foundation, Atiku claimed the Coastal Road ought to have been commenced from Calabar and not Lagos!
I guess he hasn't gotten over so few Lagosians voting for him in the last election and winning only one state in the entire South-west geopolitical zone.
Unfortunately, Niger Deltans similarly rejected him despite his compliment of a running mate from the region and so his totally condemnable, puerile, lame and ultimately futile attempt to create animosity between Niger Deltans and Yorubas is but a most misguided attempt to ingratiate himself with a region that has moved past him and permanently left him behind.
As a general rule, construction of a road can begin at its beginning or end, both designations being just for the sake of convenience and both of which are perfectly interchangeable.
Alternatively, construction might commence at any point along its stretch, and, indeed, it is usually the case that different sections of a stretch of highway are under construction simultaneously - how a former Vice President would not know this is simply mindboggling!
I don't really know that much about Hitech and have absolutely no interest in holding brief for it but I assume they are headquartered in Lagos and might have found it more suitable to their overall ability to deliver the project by starting off from their base.
That said, there are actually many good reasons why construction of the the road should begin at its Lagos end.
The Lekki - Ibeju - Epe section of the Coastal Road is arguably the most intensively industrialized (and industrializing) part of our country, hosting the Lekki Free Trade Zone, the Lekki Deep Seaport, Dangote Refinery, an airport in the works, as well as what is perhaps the greatest concentration of factories, businesses and residential neighbourhoods, side by side.
It has long been the fastest developing corridor in the entire country and is currently serviced by just one major highway with no alternative routes.
The main Lekki-Epe Expressway currently servicing that corridor is already saturated with traffic and only God knows what will become of it when its heavy industries and gargantuan facilities fully come on stream.
If I had to construct a road from point A where there is little traffic to point B where traffic is excruciatingly chaotic, utilitarian logic and basic common sense dictate that I should start at point B.
It must be because Alhaji Atiku only appreciates power from the perspective of pathological ambition and self-aggrandizement that something so obvious should escape him.
In any case, there is nothing that says we shall not witness construction of another section of the road taking off soon in Delta, Edo, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Rivers or from Calabar, in Cross River, its terminus or beginning, depending on where you end up driving from when it is completed.
I have long wondered at something quite remarkable about the sorts of persons Alhaji Atiku seems to prefer to roll with; they rather come across as not very bright, imaginative or howsoever original.
This is naturally a very worrying sign in a would-be leader: if he is so lousy at talent recruitment, what could he possible have to offer if he were ever to find his way to power?
Atiku's boys keep coming up with the most banal, lifeless, anaemic and pedestrian contrivances upon which they hope to denigrate President Tinubu and impress their apparently easy to impress, but clearly not very impressive, paymaster.
I once asked one rather crude member of Atiku's team whether that fellow thought, given his own endowments as to competence, acumen and abilities, he was the best Atiku's money could buy?
So much for depending on money for everything because no one is impressed enough to follow you on the basis of their belief in your vision for their nation.
Persistence and perseverance reside light-years apart from desperation, for while they are framed by consistency and forbearance, desperation, on the other hand, is hallmarked by a shamelessness often given expression in the desperado constantly snatching at straws in dedication to an unachievable ambition.
What has become crystal clear from the trajectory of former Vice President Atiku Abubarkar's antics, hypocrisies, mishaps and excesses in the course of vainly trying to position himself as an alternative to President Bola Tinubu, is a metamorphosis of his attitude to his President from a starting point of mere political rivalry to one that has deposited him in a truly dark place of deep-seated hatred for his erstwhile benefactor.
Unfortunately for former Vice President Atiku, the more he descends into that abyss of bitterness and hate, the more he forecloses any hope of his ever ruling this nation.
Onokpasa, a lawyer, is Chairman, Tinubu Media Support Group, TMSG, and writes from Abuja.
The words of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye were honey to taste. Following the bitter ending of the 12-year rule of Macky Sall, highlighted by the widespread belief that France is at the heart of Senegal’s misery, a forlorn country enthusiastically lapped up Faye’s promise of a future untainted by French shenanigans.
At a stage, it was not clear who was the public enemy #1: Sall or France?
Sall started well. He came to office in 2012 with solid credentials, looking every inch like what Senegal needed to break away from the incompetence and cronyism of Abdoulaye Wade under whom the country had lost its way.
Sall was an elite with a strong connection to the grassroots. He rallied the opposition against Wade including committing the unthinkable sin of breaking off from the ruling Parti Democratique Senegalaise (PDS) under which he served as minister. He even dragged the president’s son to account before parliament.
Senegalese applauded. After only a few years as president Sall offered to reduce his own term to set an example, but the country said over its dead body. If Senegal could not afford to crown him for life, he must complete his two-term limit of seven years each.
It’s a decision it would later regret. The country had to drag Sall through an economy in a shambles, a country falling apart, and over one dozen dead in street protests to get him out of office. By this time, he had already exceeded his constitutional term limit. Sall, in short, became the very thing that he campaigned against.
France as dirty word
And France? That’s a different story. From Mali to Burkina Faso and from Guinea to Niger, France has become a dirty word, even though the elite in these countries are too ashamed to admit there’s nothing France has done without their helping hand. France is not just a metaphor for underdevelopment. You’ll be forgiven to think it’s probably also the reason some formerly virile folks in the former colonies have lost their libido. It’s not a laughing matter.
Faye’s inauguration address on April 2 was applauded because in a continent blighted by incompetent gerontocrats he is, at 44, the youngest president in Senegal’s 63-year history. But his speech was just as important. To say “enough” to France a fric – a perversion of FranceAfrique the harmless slogan of cooperation – that has made French West Africa France’s cash machine was a big deal. And Faye said it somewhat elegantly.
Sall is past tense. But promising Senegalese a future outside the grip of France, a grip forged decades before Faye was born, is where the tyre meets the road. It’s an ambitious promise made not based on where Senegal is today, but on where it wishes to be.
Dialing back to Senghor
Let’s dial back. Like a number of colonies, especially the French ones, Senegal was a part of France, in law and spirit. Senegal’s first President Leopold Sedar Senghor and an in-law of France, was one of the nine African deputies at the Constituent Assembly in Paris in 1945 that prepared the constitution of the Fourth Republic, which brought de Gaulle to power.
That constitution according to Martin Meredith’s The Fortunes of Africa, “Endorsed the emphasis it placed on the ‘indivisible’ nature of the Union Francaise,” a union which of course included Francophone West Africa.
Anyone in doubt about the value of Union Francaise, need to be reminded that when de Gaulle died in 1970, Emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa of the Central African Republic wept at the funeral of the man he fondly called “Papa.” Guinea’s Sekou Toure was the exception to Francophone West Africa’s mushy-mushy.
At independence, even though Senegal was better off than a number of other countries, it still relied heavily on French subsidies to pay its bills. Of course, things have changed somewhat in the last six decades, but only somewhat.
On the day that Faye took his oath of office, pledging to cut French wings to size, France remained the largest exporter to Senegal with goods such as medicines, wheat, and copper wire. In the last 27 years, France exports to Senegal have increased at an annual rate of 3.39 percent from $461 million in 1995 to $1.1 billion in 2022.
Of course, Nigeria, Morocco, and Ghana are also popping up on the radar, with Senegal’s intra-African trade growing by about eight percent but it would take more than a passionate inauguration speech to topple French interest, also deeply embedded in the oil and gas sectors by key businesses such as Total (formerly Elf), or BNP Paribas and Societe Generale in the financial services.
Scapegoating France?
Is it even necessary to scapegoat France? Of course, it’s the popular thing and perennial French greed, not to mention the arrogance and condescension of its last two presidents, have not helped matters. But beyond red-meat politics, why should the average Senegalese be given the impression that once France – and all things French – is out of the way, the country would be on its way to a life of happily ever after?
Faye and those in his corner would soon find that the truth is more nuanced. In today’s world, capital or investment is not monolingual. Whether it’s French, English, Arabic or Mandarin capital, it finds a home wherever it is made welcome, wherever it can find value.
It’s not a matter of patriotic convenience, for example, that Abu Dhabi has conquered European football clubs and real estate. Britain, France, Germany and other European countries where the Emirati kingdom is invested made them feel welcome, whatever the right-wing sentiments in these countries may be.
Twenty-five years ago, this same kingdom, not far from the region where the West likes to call the Axis of Evil, bought the Chrysler Building, one of the most iconic features of the New York skyline, for $800 million! And surely, Faye knows that for all its sabre-rattling against China nearly three percent of US foreign debt is owed to China.
Even though Senegal’s intra-African trade profile is looking up, CFA franc, which is still tied to the French treasury, remains the currency of Francophone countries. Plans by the 15-member regional block, Ecowas, to adopt a single currency since 1987, have gone nowhere. Similarly, Kenyan President William Ruto’s call for a pan-African payment system that would settle intra-African trade outside the dollar has gone nowhere.
Faye’s homework
For Faye to promise freedom from French grip on French money, French medicines and French food, is wishful thinking. The work must start from home, from within. The country must heal after the roller-coaster transition and also take steps to restore tourists’ confidence. Faye’s government needs to tackle corruption, strengthen the justice system, and help farmers deal with the impact of climate change.
There’s no need to demonise France. A strategic reset of Senegal’s relationship with Paris can begin with Dakar creating an environment that works for investment – wherever it is coming from – while the new government also leverages regional cooperation, especially with moderate Francophone countries in the region.
And the country is not doing too badly in casting its net wide. China, Russia and India are following closely behind France as Senegal’s deep-pocket trading partners. Investments from these destinations may not speak French but they may just be as unserviceable as those from Paris or elsewhere if Faye does not create the right environment for them to thrive.
The political campaign is over: governance is where the tyre meets the road.
Azu Ishiekwene is the Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP.
Nigerians are said to be very forgiving of their leaders no matter the level of betrayal. Many however believe this is the effect of illiteracy in some parts of the country where governors openly celebrate the betrayal of their people who they claim don’t read newspapers. Others attribute this to the fact that a great many Nigerians suffer from collective amnesia. But one betrayal Nigerians are not likely going to forget in a hurry was the avoidable agony they were subjected to by Godwin Emefiele and his principal, President Buhari in the run up to the 2023 election.
That the anger and anguish of many Nigerians are yet to be assuaged was experienced by yours truly in a supermarket a few days back. A woman following a seamless transaction with her ATM card triumphantly declared: “It is just as well Godwin Emefiele is in prison”. An intervention by the cashier to the effect that Emefiele was not in prison attracted a despondent “he should be taken back to prison where he should be left to rot away”. As she walked out of the supermarket, she spoke of the agony her family went through when Emefiele confiscated their life savings in 2023.
Except that power sometimes leads to self-delusion, it was hard to imagine how Emefiele thought he could ignore constitutional provisions to contest the presidency of Nigeria as a sitting CBN governor. But intoxicated by sycophants’ eulogies and deceived by a segment of the media, he went to court to defend the indefensible. When he became sober, opportunistic Emefiele, who initially secured his job because of his sympathy for PDP decided to go down with APC.
Emefiele on the eve of an all-important general election confiscated people’s life savings in the name of currency swapping. He then ordered the destruction of the old currencies even when he knew many locations in the country were yet to be saturated with the new notes. Unable to stand the sufferings of their people, some governors sought and secured relief from the Supreme Court. Emefiele ignored the Supreme Court ruling. All he wanted was anarchy and social dislocation that would hurt the ruling APC in the 2023 election
The problem with Emefiele was that he was a round peg in a square hole. He was ill-equipped but President Jonathan unable to stand Sanusi Lamido’s criticism of monumental corruption going on in PDP, replaced him with a more pliable Emefiele. In fact, Emefiele was described by Kingsley Moghalu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, as “the worst CBN Governor” in the nation’s history”. He is without debate the worst and most damaging central bank governor in Nigeria’s history – incompetent and ill-prepared for the role and from all available information from his actions, doubtlessly severely integrity-challenged.
Emefiele’s case is not helped by the report of Jim Obazee on the infractions that took place under his watch as CBN governor. One of the 17 allegations by the Obazee’s report was that Emefiele employed surrogates to obtain shares in a new-generation bank. Other grave allegations as contained in the report submitted to President Tinubu on December 20 last year include Emefiele’s alleged unauthorised funding of 593 offshore bank accounts, fraudulent cash withdrawals from the CBN vault, gross financial misconduct involving the former governor and his deputy governors, and substantial fixed deposit holdings amounting to £543.4 million. It was on account of the above grave allegations Emefiele was arraigned at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Maitama, Abuja, in January on a 20 count-charge bordering on corruption and forgery.
Last Friday, April 8, Emefiele was once again dragged to Lagos High Court by EFCC with the following charges: “That Mr. Emefiele directed to be done in abuse of the authority of your office, as the governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, an arbitrary act, to wit: allocating foreign exchange in the aggregate sum of $2,136,391,737.33 without bids, which act is prejudicial to the rights of Nigerians.”
Count two, also of abuse of office, alleged that “Godwin Emefiele between 2020 and 2021, in Lagos, “directed to be done in abuse of the authority of your office, as the governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, an arbitrary, act to wit: allocating foreign exchange in the aggregate sum of $291,945,785.59, without bids, which act is prejudicial to the rights of Nigerians”.
In the third count, Mr Emefiele was alleged to have, in 2021, in Lagos, “directed to be done in abuse of the authority of your office, as the governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, an arbitrary act, to wit: special allocation of foreign exchange in the aggregate sum of $1,769,254,793.16, which act is prejudicial to the rights of Nigerians.”
In count four, the sum involved was $370,872,893.01. Emefiele’s co-defendant, Mr Omoile was accused of “about the 17th of November, 2020, whilst acting as an agent, accepted from Raja Punjab through Monday Osazuwa, the total sum of $110,000, for Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele, gifts as reward for allocating foreign exchange by the Central Bank in favour of Raja Punjab’s employer.”
Although the buck stops at Emefiele’s desk, but the special investigation report indicated Emefiele, he did not work or act alone. He and the four deputy governors worked hand in glove. And this cannot be otherwise because deputy governors’ duties include “sustainability; foreign reserve adequacy; improving the transmission mechanism of monetary policy; achieving depth, safety and soundness in the financial sector; and managing capital flow and ensuring that key economic and financial policy reforms are focused on fiscal and debt”. This is why Nigerians expect the four CBN deputy governors to have their own dates in court.
It is also on record that in 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari constituted an Economic Advisory Council (EAC) to replace his administration’s Economic Management Team. It was headed by Professor Doyin Salami, a doctoral degree holder of Queen Mary College, University of London who had earlier served as a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria and had been a member of the Federal Government’s Economic Management Team.
There was Bismarck J. Rewane, a chartered member of the Institute of Bankers of England and Wales and a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Bankers with over 30 years of experience as an economist, banker & financial analyst. There was also Chukwuma Soludo, a former CBN governor. He earned a first-class degree in Economics, backed up with a with a PhD and post-doctoral training in some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, including The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC; University of Cambridge, UK, University of Oxford among others.
Professor Shehu Yahaya, another member was a macroeconomics lecturer at the Department of Economics at the University of Sussex, UK. He was a former Executive Director at the African Development Bank. There was also Professor Ode Ojowu, former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s adviser who had held positions at the International Monetary Bank and the World Bank. Mohammed Sagagi with a PhD (Economics) from University of Warwick was another member. Salisu Mohammed BSc (First Class Hons) in Economics from University of Maiduguri and went on to bag PhD in Economics from Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom
Iyabo Masha has worked with the International Monetary Fund since 2003 in Washington D.C. Metro Area Assignment has taken her to more than 10 emerging markets (Asian and African countries). She worked at Central Bank of Nigeria’s Research Department and was also the immediate past IMF Representative for Sierra Leone).
That these accomplished stars could not sound the alarm when things began to go critically wrong cannot but leave Nigerians in wonder.
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, must have smarted from the embarrassing fallout his comments about Nigerians and their habits of energy efficiency generated. While addressing the public last Thursday, he noted how Nigerians waste energy by keeping their freezers and air conditioners running even when not at home. He said the habit of energy preservation eludes us because energy is too cheap in our part of the world.
The media quotes him as saying, “A lot of people will come back from work, they want to have dinner, or they want to see their colleagues down the road, they switch on the AC for the room to be cooling before they come back. Some people will be going to work in the morning, a freezer that you left on for days, they will still leave it on when all the items in the freezer are frozen and 5, 6, 8 hours of their absence will not make it to defreeze, they will still leave it to be consuming power just because we are not paying enough. We have all been overseas before; we know how conscious the power consumers are about electricity consumption.”
If I had been at that gathering, I would have asked Adelabu how frequently he turns off the refrigerator in his houses in Ibadan, Abuja, and elsewhere, to preserve energy. Also, does he wait until he starts sweating into the folds of his agbada before he turns on the air-conditioning system? In trying to clarify the broader context in which the minister addressed the public, former media aide Tolu Ogunlesi noted that the manner in which people ran with the “freezer” gaffe was “sad” and “unfortunate” because it distracted from the main points of the public address. Actually, what is really sad and unfortunate here is that the minister chose to be pedestrian. He walked into it.
Unlike his thought clarifier, I do not take the quoted statement as a case of wrong choices of examples; I see it as the extent to which he understands energy issues as they play out in mundane situations. In case Adelabu has not noticed, appliances like refrigerator/freezer are not designed to be unplugged. As long as a home (or office) is occupied, the refrigerator works itself to its death.
Three crucial issues stood out from his criticism of Nigerians’ energy consumption habits. One, his selection of appliances—freezer and air-conditioning—are interesting for far more reasons than why he chose them. In 2013, an American guy called Todd Moss (a vice president and senior fellow at the Centre for Global Development), bought a refrigerator. As he closely looked at the efficiency tag (that yellow paper appended on new refrigerating sets), he noticed that the single appliance would consume 459 kWh annually. He ran the figures and realised that that single refrigerating unit would gulp more electricity than most people in African countries get to use in a whole year. Those six countries? Ethiopia, Tanzania, Liberia, Kenya, Ghana, and of course, Nigeria.
The chart he created comparing energy use figures and inequality of access has been reproduced and circulated multiple times to illustrate the reality of energy inequity. If there is one luxury that people in countries like Nigeria cannot be said to have, it is energy supply. As of 2020, electricity consumption for air conditioning accounted for about 19 per cent (roughly 254 billion kiloWh) of electricity consumption in US homes. It takes about 2,365 kWh of electricity per year to cool an average home in the USA.
So, when the Nigerian power minister suggests we overuse electricity, with whom exactly was he comparing us? Even Ghana where roughly 70 per cent of households have access to electricity does not consume anything close to what mere air-conditioning and refrigerating sets in countries like the US gulp. As of 2020, Americans reportedly consume an annual average energy of 10,700 kWh per hour, compared to the Nigerian average of 161 kWh. How can people so lacking be considered irresponsible users?
Second, our leaders should understand that contrary to the assumption that the scarcity of resources is due to overconsumption, we are—by almost every measure—a vastly under-resourced people. We lack certain infrastructure like energy, not because we are wasteful, but simply because we have never had enough. Nigeria is a place where people have to decide whether a visitor is worth their turning on their generator (so as to turn on the fan) or endure the sweltering heat together. Countries where they supply energy 24/7 never need to worry about such things. If Nigerians cannot similarly take energy supply for granted, it is not because their freezers never defrost but because their energy supplies are woefully inadequate.
How many households in Nigeria even have freezers and air-conditioning units? According to Ogunlesi, there are 12 million electricity customers (including both households and businesses) in Nigeria. Relative to our purported population, that number is shockingly meagre. Even if Nigeria’s population were a mere 150 million (as against the 200 million plus which official figures frequently tout) and there is an average of seven people per household, it is still not enough. Twelve million customers simply means far too many households and businesses are unconnected to official energy supply. It is either that millions of people stay in the dark or Nigeria is preponderantly powered by generators. Either way, we have a challenge that will not be resolved by asking people to deny themselves certain basic comforts in the name of energy conservation. For a developing society like Nigeria that needs all the energy it can get to grow, preaching conservation can easily become counterproductive.
Third, none of the above is to be construed as discounting the necessity of energy preservation. While I will readily agree that conservation is essential, I also urge caution when comparing our energy management practices with societies that, comparatively, have excess supplies. When those societies nudge themselves towards preservation, they are not coming from a place of perpetual lack like Nigeria. If there is another reason that Nigerians have not cultivated the ethic of energy preservation, it is also because we tend not to see the link between the energy supplied to us and what we are billed for it. There is no time in my Nigerian life that I do not recall people complaining that even though they do not get “light,” but they still receive bills from the energy company and which they have to pay.
There is a local radio show that I listen to some mornings. Officials from an energy company come on the show and take questions. Many times, when a customer phones in, it is to vent over being billed for services denied. What do you think people like that would do the very moment that light comes on? They will use it with carefree abandon. People like that come to believe that they would be inordinately billed whether they use up the energy (whenever it is supplied) or not, and so they use it so they can justify what they pay for it.
Finally, we also cannot presume that the entire responsibility of energy management lies with individual Nigerians monitoring their energy usage by turning off their freezers as soon as the contents are frosted or waiting until their skins start cooking in the afternoon heat before they turn on their air-conditioning systems. Those habits are ultimately limited in their effects without larger structural enablement. For instance, the kind of appliances we use (and their age) also go a long way in facilitating energy preservation. Advanced societies constantly tweak technology to ensure that newer models of those appliances consume less energy. You can only export some of these products to their countries if those devices meet their set bar for energy-saving specifications.
One often ignored fact is that everything in life rises and falls on leadership. Furthermore, leadership is incredibly underappreciated and not given the premium it deserves. Any group’s or nation’s success or failure can be attributed to its leadership.
For its importance, leadership is perhaps the most significant legacy of the late Okwadike Ndigbo, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, the first executive governor of Anambra State, Special Adviser to the President on political matters, and chairman of Ohanaeze Ime-Obi FCT. He was an exemplary leader whose impact was seen not only in Igbo land but also throughout Nigeria. He was adored and revered, and some even dreaded him because they believed, correctly or not, that he was a battle axe for the Ndigbo people.
Ezeife’s life was an open book, and it was obvious where he stood on issues however controversial. He was truthful and exhibited steadfast loyalty to his chosen path; he never once attempted to be politically correct and never shied away from speaking truth to power not to offend or hurt the establishment. His Igbo people leaned heavily on him to be their face and voice because of these reasons. Thus, Ezeife became the Igbo spirit and the Igbo can-do spirit in his time.
He was not only an exemplary Igbo leader but also a real nationalist and statesman. To people with closed minds, it may appear incongruous to be both. It’s not. In federalism, being a good member of one’s ethnic group (federating unit) is the first and primary requirement for being a respectable and patriotic citizen of the country, in our case, Nigeria.
Being typical, Ezeife was a great Nigerian and a great Igbo man all at once. He was loyal to both. Ezeife said something in his last TV interview that ought to be interpreted as his parting message to Nigeria. He said that if the correct actions are taken and social justice is given a chance to play a role in national life, Nigeria will rise to become a superpower, as God has destined it to be. He had earlier in his political career warned his Igbo people to defend their rights within the framework of one Nigeria.
Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife showed what leadership should be by example, not by words, before he passed away. He became a symbol of leadership and, in time, the marker of leadership as someone who filled in the void for his people.
Let’s take a quick look at leadership as a concept before looking at the touchstone leadership lessons that may be drawn from Ezeife’s leadership style. Leadership is still the most used and misused concept. Leadership is credited with several things. Because of this, there are as many knowledgeable leadership guidelines as there are experts.
However, influence—the capacity to positively or negatively affect others’ behaviour—is the only thing that distinguishes leadership at all levels and of all kinds. It is clear from this practical definition that positive leadership isn’t always necessary. The underworld needs leadership as well, and they, too, think that honour and integrity are critical criteria for judging good leadership.
According to John C. Maxwell, “Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.” John emphasises that every individual has a certain degree of influence, which is why they are all leaders in their own right. It means that all that is required to persuade a group of individuals to act in a way that the leader wants them to is encompassed in influence as leadership.
The ability to lead is something that is both innate and acquired through experience or education. A unique leader like Ezeife results from a fair combination of nature and nurture. It is evident from Ezeife’s life that leaders are both made and born, anyone who dares to endure the rigorous official and informal training process. However, due to the tough and rigorous nature of the leadership grooming and the role itself, the majority of people are unable to assume leadership roles and would much rather be followers.
Ezeife was propelled into leadership roles, both by authority and those he gained via other means, such as leadership roles conferred by social graces and culture. Ezeife held high positions of authority. He was governor of a state, the permanent secretary in the federal civil service, and a political adviser to the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Yet, it is not appropriate to rely on these positions of authority, which Ezeife occupied by election and appointment, to evaluate his leadership abilities because roles created by law offer fundamental compliance guidelines and sanctions that force people to unwillingly follow the leader. What Max Weber called rational-legal authority are positions of power. In a rational-legal authority model, the legitimacy and rationality of the law serve as major determinants of an organisation’s or a ruling regime’s authority and bureaucracy. It is the second of Max Weber’s tripartite classifications of authority.
The role of Ezeife as an Igboist and nationalist cum statesman will be a more reliable tool. One is still relying on the operational definition already adopted for this treatise: leadership as an influence and its process. This is because both were the areas where his leadership influence was best exercised due to their situational and contingency natures.
Chukwuemeka Ezeife exhibited six essential leadership qualities that are crucial for situational and contingency leadership: courage, integrity, forthrightness, vision, competence, and empathy.
The virtue of courage marked Ezeife’s life. Even when angels would not, he never shied away from taking risks for the people as their leader. He was willing to pay the ultimate price (as seen by his “Eji ndu eme gini” philosophy). He spoke truth to power.
To be sure, the cornerstone of any effective leadership is integrity. Since it is the basis, whatever is built on top of it will collapse in its absence. Integrity is the foundation of leadership; without it, everything else crumbles.
He was straightforward, unambiguous, and direct. The reverse of straightforward, as we observe with the majority of Nigeria’s so-called leaders, might be elusive, shifty, oblique, or convoluted. His word was his bond, and he never wavered. He spoke his thoughts and feelings loudly and plainly.
Ezeife was very visionary as well. The capacity to focus on the most crucial elements of one’s goals and ideal leadership style is what is called leadership vision. Ezeife was aware that both Nigeria and Ndigbo required leadership; therefore, he took deliberate steps to assume the role and performed admirably.
For Igbo leadership, Ezeife served as a metaphorical “touchstone”—he became a benchmark for worth or excellence—by which other Igbo leaders could be judged. As demonstrated by Ezeife, leadership competencies are the abilities and attitudes that support exceptional performance.
Because Ezeife lived and was at the head of the Igbo collegiate leadership system, the ethnic group, though greatly republican, remains resolute and thriving, and their essence in Nigeria is more strongly felt. Throughout his life, Ezeife famously made sure the marginalisation of Ndigbo in Nigeria was at the forefront in such a way that it remained topical.
Lastly, Ezeife possessed a great deal of empathy, which is a critical trait of a successful leader. Because of his compassionate leadership style, Ezeife concentrated on relating to and comprehending the perspectives of both Igbo and non-Igbo people. He truly empathised with the suffering of his people and other Nigerians as well. Ending the Igbo marginalisation in Nigeria, which dates back to the Nigeria-Biafra war was, in fact, Ezeife’s lifelong struggle.
Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife was indeed a living example of the six cardinal characteristics of a great leader, making him a true study in group leadership. For those who really want to be in leadership positions, Ezeife offered them a leadership pathway. Despite not being born great, he attained greatness and had greatness thrust upon him. Throughout his life, Ezeife proved: You too can do it!
Good night, authentic Igbo leader and archetypal patriot and statesman, Okwadike Ndigbo.
Dr Law Mefor, an Abuja-based forensic and social psychologist, is a fellow of The Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts. He can be reached via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Twitter: @Drlawsonmefor.
The proposal to create state police and if possible local government police is consistent with the principle of true federalism and decentralisation of powers. The arrangement would enable the states to effectively maintain law and order, especially during emergencies.
Besides the Nigeria Police is ill-equipped and deficient in that it cannot ensure the safety of citizens and their property despite the huge budgetary allocations in recent years. You will be alarmed at the amount of money so far allocated to the Nigeria Police Force in the last 25 years.
Two positions were canvassed by Nigerians on the desirability or otherwise of allowing states to establish and maintain their police. Proponents of separate police for the states rested their demand on the strong ground that it was consistent with federal practice. The arrangement, they argued, enabled the federating states to effectively maintain law and order, especially during other social upheavals such as inter-communal riots, youth restiveness, riots and ethnic militancy without the often costly delays in obtaining federal approval by the commissioner of police even when a state governor has so directed or requested.
The handlings of the various inter-communal upheavals in the various states of the federation since the beginning of the current democratic governance left much to be desired. This, many people believe was due to the provision of Section 215(4) of the constitution which hinders a governor from exercising his power as chief security officer of the State.
Another example mentioned of the failure or weakness in the present centralised police structure was the inability of the Nigeria Police to contend with the high rate of violent crimes which ravaged major towns all over the country. In response to the hostage-like situation in which the states were held by hoodlums, some state governments have resorted to establishing vigilante groups which they claim have successfully dealt with the crime situation in those states.
In some instances, however, people often accuse these groups as some kind of local “militia” who would not hesitate to take the laws into their hands at will and molest people. The recent experiences in some parts of this country constitute sufficient lessons not to allow local “militia” to be formed. The Nigeria Police is however so badly equipped and unmotivated and so could not effectively deal with the crime and security situation in the country. That is why Amotekun, a security outfit for the southwest was launched in Ibadan on January 9, 2020, and Ebubeagu, a security outfit for the southeast was launched in Owerri on April 12, 2021. Similarly, Shege Ku-Fasa, a security outfit for northern states was launched in Kaduna on February 6, 2022.
Representations against state police bordered on the fear of abuses to which state governors may subject their police. These fears included those of intimidation and harassment of political opponents and perpetuation of electoral fraud. References were made to the experiences in the country during the abuse of the former regional and Local Authority Police — a development which led to an occasional breakdown of law and order.
The fall of the first Republic was partly blamed on the ignoble use of the regional and local police. It was, therefore, feared that it was too soon in the life of Nigeria’s nascent democracy for the idea of State Police to be entertained. For this school of thought, it was argued that the need for state Commissioners of Police to occasionally clear operational instructions with the Inspector-General was intended to check abuses and ensure that the orders by governors were lawful. What the Nigeria Police needed to function properly and serve Nigerians more effectively, was a restraining programme, proper funding and adequate and up-to-date equipment while steps should be taken to sanitize the institution and rid it of corruption and other vices.
The establishment of state police or local government police has now become inevitable. The ball is now in the court of our legislators to amend the constitution and establish state police or local government police. The establishment of the Nigerian police was made possible through the 1963 constitution, and so also was the abrogation of the regional police.
- There shall be a police force for Nigeria, which shall be styled the Nigeria Police Force.
- Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Nigeria Police Force shall be organised and administered in accordance with such provision as may be made in that behalf by Parliament.
- Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the members of the Nigeria Police Force shall have such powers and duties as may be conferred upon them by any law in force in Nigeria.
- Subject to the provisions of this section, no police forces other than the Nigeria Police shall be established for Nigeria or any part thereof.
- Parliament may make provision for police forces forming part of the armed forces of the Federation or for the protection of harbours, waterways, railways and airfields.
- Parliament may make provision for the maintenance by any local authority within the Federal territory of a police for employment within the Federal territory.
- Nothing in this section shall prevent the legislature of a Region from making provision for the maintenance by any native authority or local government authority established for a province or any part of a provision of a police force for employment within that province.
In this subsection “province” means any area that was a province on the thirtieth day of September, 1954.
Section 109 states that;
- There shall be a Police Service Commission for the Federation, which shall consist of a chairman and not less than two nor more than four other members.
- The members of the Police Service Commission of the Federation shall be appointed by the President, acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister.
- A person shall not be qualified to hold office as a member of the Police Service Commission of the Federation, if he is a member of either House of Parliament, a member of a legislative house of a Region, a Minister of the Government of the Federation, a Minister of the Government of a Region or a member of the public service of the Federation or the public service of a Region: Provided that a judge of the High Court of a territory may be appointed as a member of the Commission.
- Subject to the provisions of this section, a member of the Police Service Commission of the Federation shall vacate his office— (a) at the expiration of five years from the date of his appointment; or (b) if any circumstances arise that, if he were not a member of the Commission, would cause him to be disqualified for appointment as such a member.
- A member of the Police Service Commission of the Federation may be removed from office by the President acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister, for inability to discharge the functions of his office (whether arising from infirmity of mind or body or any other cause) or for misbehaviour.
- A member of the Police Service Commission of the Federation shall not be removed from office except in accordance with the provisions of this section.
Section 110 states that
- Power to appoint persons to hold or act in offices in the Nigeria Police Force (including power to make appointments on promotion and transfer and to confirm appointments) and to dismiss and to exercise disciplinary control over person holding or acting in such offices shall vest in the Police Service Commission of the Federation: Provided that the Commission may, with the approval of the Prime Minister and subject to such conditions as it may think fit, delegate any of its powers under this section to any of its members or to the Inspector General of the Nigeria Police or any other member of the Nigeria Police Force.
- Before making any appointment to the office of Inspector-General of the Nigeria Police or removing the Inspector-General from office the Police Service Commission of the Federation shall consult the Prime Minister, and before making any appointment to the office of Commissioner of Police of a Region or removing the Commissioner from office the Commission shall consult the Premier of the Region.
On assuming power on January 15, 1966, General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi (March 3, 1924- July 29, 1966) from Umuahia, promulgated Decree 7 of 1966. It was the decree that absorbed all the regional and local government police into the Nigeria Police Force. The decree is called The Special Constables Decree.
The purpose of the decree is to modernise the law relating to the Nigeria Special Constabulary by repealing the Special Constables Act 1959 and replacing it with a Decree under which the Special Constabulary will form part of the Nigeria Police. The decree has eleven sections.
- Section one—deals with the creation of the Nigeria- Special Constabulary as part of the Nigeria Police Force and what constitutes the special constabulary.
- Section two—deals with appointments of special constables in normal circumstances.
- Section three—deals with resignation, suspension and dismissal of special constables.
- Section four— deals with the appointment of emergency special constables.
- Section five— deals with provisions supplementary to section four.
- Section six— deals with equipment.
- Section seven—deals with the instruction of special constable.
- Section eight—deals with allowance, pay, pension and gratuity.
- Section nine—deals with interpretation.
- Section Ten—deals with the repeal of the Special Constables Act 1959 and the revocation of Government Notice No. 1598 (Approval of Maximum Personnel Establishment, Special Constables Training and Allowance) Regulation 1960.
- Section Eleven—deals with citation, extent and commencement to the Decree which shall come into force on such date as the Executive Council may be order published in the Gazette appoint.
In addition, General Ironsi promulgated Decree No. 3 of 1966. The decree deals with the detention of certain specified persons in the interest of the security of Nigeria for a period not exceeding six months in such place or places as the head of the National Military Government may from time to time direct. Persons so detained are entitled to make representations in writing to the National Military Government which may if it thinks fit constitute a tribunal for that purpose under conditions laid down in the decree. The decree suspends chapter III of the Constitution.
On Friday, January 28, General Ironsi addressed the nation during which he declared that “I have abolished the offices of Agents-General in London”.
The Western and Lagos delegation was led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo GCFR who earlier in September was named the leader of the Yorubas in Ibadan by the leaders of thought including the traditional rulers and prominent Yoruba elders at an event presided over by Colonel Robert Adeyinka Adebayo, the then Governor of Western Region. It was the first and last time anyone was declared leader of the Yorubas.
Other Western delegates at the ad hoc constitutional conference were Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, Alhaji Femi Okunnu, Professors Hezekiah Oluwasanmi, Ayo Ogunseye, Sam Aluko and Akin Mabogunje. The Northern delegation was led by Sir Kashim Ibrahim. Other members from the north were Alhaji Inua Wada, Sir Aminu Kano, Chief Joseph Sarwuan Tarka, Alhaji Abdul Razak and Chief Josiah Sunday Olawoyin. The Eastern delegation was led by Professor Eni Njoku. Other members from the East include Chief C.C. Mojekwu, Chief E. Eyo and Chief Matthew Mbu. The Midwest delegation was led by Chief Eromosele Anthony Enahoro. Other members of the delegation were Chief Edwin Clark, Chief J.I.G. Onyia and Dr. Mudiaga Odje. The Midwest delegation was assisted by Chief T.E.A. Salubi, Dr. Christopher Okojie and Dr. D.P. Lawani. Chief Edwin Clark will be 97 on May 25.
On the issue of the police, the following was agreed at the conference.
- There shall be a Nigeria Police Force which shall be organised in Regional units composed entirely of each Region of personnel indigenous to that Region.
- The operational control of the units in each Region shall be the responsibility of the Regional Commissioner of Police. N.B. There were some disagreements on the right of the Regional Government to give directions to the Regional Commissioner as follows: “Directions with respect to the maintaining and securing of safety and public order within the Region or any part thereof may be given to the Regional Commissioner of Police by the Head of the Regional Government and the Regional Commissioner shall comply with those directions or cause them to be complied with; provided that before carrying out any such directions which may involve the use of arms the Commissioner may request that the matter should be referred to the Police Council for their direction”. The East proposed that the words ‘Police Council’ should be replaced by the words ‘Regional Security Committee’ in order to bring it into line with the corresponding arrangements in the case of the Army. The Mid-West reserved its position on the clause ‘which may involve the use of arms’.
- Training facilities, depots and stores shall be organized on a Regional basis. Recruitment shall be the responsibility of the Regional Commissioner of Police acting in accordance with policy laid down by the Regional Government.
- At the national level, there shall be a Police Council which shall be responsible for; (a)Laying down general policy which should include the strength of police personnel in each Region, types and quantities of equipment, weapons, minimum standards of recruitment, promotion, discipline, etc. (b) overall operation control of the Regional units in the event of the Regional Governments requesting the Council for Police assistance to cope with any actual or threatened security situation within the Region beyond or likely to be beyond the capability of the Regional unit; provided that a Regional Commissioner with the consent of the Head of the Regional Government may request the Commissioner of another Region for police assistance in an urgent situation and that such a request shall not be granted or refused except with the approval of the Head of Regional Government concerned.’ N.B. There was slight disagreement on the composition of the Police Council. There was general agreement that it should include: the Head of the Federal Government; Heads of the Regional Governments; the Inspector-General of Police; Regional Commissioners; and the Minister responsible for police matters. The North proposed in addition the Chairman of the Public Service Commission. There was also disagreement on the terms of the office of Inspector-General of Police. ‘The East and West propose that the Office of the Inspector-General of Police shall be held in rotation by the Regional Commissioners of Police for fixed periods not exceeding twelve months. The North and Lagos propose a period of three years and the Mid-West proposes that this should be held on a permanent basis.’
- The Police Council shall be served by a Secretariat under the Inspector-General of Police. The personnel in the Secretariat shall be drawn from the Regions in equal numbers.
- Five years after the new Constitution has come into effect, all local authority police forces shall cease to exist, and in the meantime, there shall be a progressive reduction in those local authority forces.’
EAST: (i) Original proposal. ‘The police shall be regionalised.’ (ii) Revised proposal. As in the progress report.
N.B. (a) the office of Inspector-General of Police to rotate among the regions at least once a year (b) the Regional Commissioner of Police to comply with all directions given by the regional government. (c) no mention was made of any minister responsible for police matters, i.e. at the centre (d) police to be financed by the Regions.
MID-WEST: (i) Original proposal. Federal responsibility. (ii) Revised proposal. As in Progress Report, but more precise formulation of the reservations concerning the power of a Regional Government to give binding directions to the Regional Commissioner of Police; this is acceptable only ‘if it is agreed in what circumstances the Premier may give such directions or what directions a Premier may lawfully give’. Additional stipulation that the Police Council have overall operational control for Section 70, 71 and 86 of the 1963 Constitution. N.B. Post of Inspector-General of Police to be a permanent appointment.
NORTH: (i) Original proposal. Each State has its Police. (ii) Revised proposal. As in Progress Report.
N.B. (a) Chairman of the Public Service Commission to be included on the Police Council. (b) Inspector-General of Police to be appointed for a period of three years.
WEST: (i) Original proposal. Each State to establish and control its own Police. (ii) Revised proposal. As in Progress Report excerpt: (a) a Regional Commissioner disagreeing with any direction given him by the Head of the Regional Government could request that the matter be referred to the Regional Security Committee for its direction. (b) Police Council to be able, when necessary, to call for expert advice from the Ministry of Establishments (c) Office of the Inspector-General of Police held by the Regional Commissioners of Police rotating annually.
The Nigeria Police Force maintained its statutory role until General Murtala Mohammed GCFR came to power on July 27 1975. He then set up a Constitutional drafting Committee. The subcommittee on Public Services including the Armed Forces and the Police headed by Dr Obi Wali made the following recommendations.
- “There shall be a police force for Nigeria, which shall be styled the Nigeria Police Force. (Recommendation 1).
- Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Nigeria Police Force shall be organised and administered in accordance with such provisions as may be made on that behalf by the National Assembly. (Decisions on Recommendation 2).
- Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the members of the Nigeria Police Force shall have such powers and duties as may be conferred upon them by any law in force in Nigeria. (Recommendation 3).
- No police force other than the Nigeria Police Force shall be established for Nigeria or any part thereof. Recommendation 4).
- The Legislature may make provision during emergencies for Police Forces forming part of the armed forces of the Federation, or for the protection of harbours, waterways, railways and airfields. In this paragraph, “emergencies” means periods of emergency under this Constitution (Decision of Recommendation 5).
- There shall be an Inspector-General of the Nigeria Police and a Commissioner of Police for each state of the Federation, whose offices shall be offices in the Public Service of the Federation.
- The Nigeria Police Force shall be under the command of the Inspector-General of the Nigeria Police. (Recommendation 7).
- The President or such other Minister of the Government of the Federation as may be authorised in that behalf by the President may give to the Inspector-General of the Nigeria Police such directions with respect to the maintaining and securing of public safety and public order as he may consider necessary and the Inspector-General shall comply with those directions or cause them to be complied with. (Recommendation 8).
- Subject to (8) above, the Commissioner of Police of a State shall comply with the directions of the Governor of the State or such other Commissioner of the Government of the State as may be authorised in that behalf by the Governor with respect to the maintaining and securing of public safety and public order within the State or cause them to be complied with Provided that before carrying out any such directions the Commissioner may request that the matter should be referred to the President or such other Commission of the Government of the Federation as may be authorized in that behalf by the President for his directions. (Decision on Recommendation 9).
- There shall be a Nigeria Police Council, which shall consist of (a) The President (b) State Governors (c) the Inspector-General of Police (d) The Attorney-General of the Federation.
- The Chairman of the Police Service Commission of the Federation shall attend the meetings of the Nigeria Police Council and, save for voting, may take part in the proceedings of the council. (Decision on Recommendation 11).
- The policy, organisation and administration of the Nigeria Police Force and all other matters relating thereto (not being matters relating to the use and operational control of the force of the appointment, disciplinary control and dismissal of members of the force) shall be under the general supervision of the Nigeria Police Council. (Recommendation 12).
- The President shall cause the Nigeria Police Council to be kept fully informed concerning the matters under its supervision and shall cause the Council to be furnished with such information as the Council may require with respect to any particular matter under its supervision. (Recommendation 13).
- The Nigeria Police Council may make recommendations to the Government of the Federation concerning any matter under its supervision, and if in any case, the Government acts otherwise than in accordance with any such recommendations it shall cause a statement containing that recommendation and its reasons for acting otherwise than in accordance with that recommendations to be laid before the National Assembly”.
The Constituent Assembly submitted its report on August 29, 1978, and the Assembly was dissolved on September 20, 1978. The Supreme Military Council headed by General Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR on September 21, 1978, promulgated Decree 25 as the 1979 Constitution for the country, to take effect on October 1, 1979.
Unfortunately by the time the Constitution was released to the public in 1979, the recommendations of Dr Obi Wali’s subcommittee as it relates to state governors being members of the Nigeria Police Council, was deleted. Issues like the National Youth Service Corps Decree 1973, the Public Complaints Decree 1975, the Nigerian Security Organisation Decree 1976 and the Land Use Decree 1978 which were never adopted at the Constituent Assembly were all included in the 1979 Constitution.
Till today we do not really know whom to blame, either the Supreme Military Council or the Constituent Assembly headed by Justice Udo Udoma or the three legal drafting teams of the Constituent Assembly—Justice Omoloulu Thomas, Justice Bashir Wali or Justice G.C. Okeke.
The 1999 Constitution is like the 1979 Constitution as it stands now in terms of the Nigeria Police Force. If they can, the Legislators should amend the Constitution and allow the creation of State Police and Local Government Police. It will be in the interest of everyone.
That is not to say that the creation of the State Police or the Local Government Police will end the security challenges in the country. No, it will simply reduce it.
Straight from Kuje Prison in Abuja, convicted gunrunner, Hamisu Bala (popularly known as ‘Wadume’) was received with a hero’s welcome to his hometown of Ibbi, Taraba State, on Sunday. He was reportedly driven round town in a long convoy of vehicles before visiting the palace of the traditional ruler, Alhaji Salihu Danbawuro. While many Nigerians were shocked about the development, with some expressing outrage, what I predicted in my August 2022 column, ‘Wadume and the Nigerian Tragedy’ has just come to pass. For those who may have missed the column, I recall it before concluding with a few lines.
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The slap on the wrist given a notorious kidnap kingpin has exposed the underbelly of the criminal justice administration in Nigeria. It also underscores the seeming hopelessness of the national security situation. Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, according to reports, last month sentenced Hamisu Bala, popularly known as Wadume, to seven years imprisonment for unlawfully dealing in prohibited firearms and escaping from prison custody. Among the six others convicted with Wadume is Inspector Aliyu Dadje, station officer at the Ibi Divisional Police Headquarters in Taraba State at the time the crime was committed. Dadje bagged three years in jail for tampering with police records to conceal a crime.
All the elements that have made our country unsafe today are present in this tragedy that has been treated so casually by the federal government. From kidnapping to criminal complicity by military/security agencies to inter-agency rivalry and the way life has become so cheap in Nigeria, this is one case that should have been used for the purpose of deterrence in our quest for peace and security. Sadly, not only has the case been cynically bungled, but we have also shown that lives of innocent people do not matter, and accountability counts for nothing. Since Wadume has already spent some years in detention, he can be freed as early as 2025. And perhaps then granted presidential pardon (the way we roll in Nigeria) to contest for senate in 2027 on the platform of whichever party is in power at the time!
I cannot but feel for the families of the slain policemen for whom the state cannot secure real justice. What is more confounding is the secrecy that has shrouded this trial whose outcome we only got to know more than three weeks later. The judgement was said to have been handed down on 22nd July 2019, with a statement released only last Sunday. The report also stated that ten military officers earlier charged with the convicts have had their trial “separated for departmental reasons,” whatever that means. These soldiers are Captain Tijjani Balarabe; Staff Sgt David Isaiah; Sgt Ibrahim Mohammed; Corporal Bartholomew Obanye; Private Mohammed Nura; Lance Corporal Okorozie Gideon; Corporal Marcus Michael; Lance Corporal Nvenaweimoeimi Akpagra; Staff Sgt Abdulahi Adamu and Private Ebele Emmanuel. While we can assume that these were the soldiers who killed the police team, we do not know what the exact charges are against them.
Meanwhile, this tragic story began on 6th August 2019 when a special operational team sent from Abuja arrested Wadume in Taraba State, handcuffed him and were driving toward Jalingo when they came under heavy bombardment from soldiers. In the process, four persons were killed on the spot while several others were injured. Those killed were Inspector Mark Ediale and two sergeants – Usman Danzumi and Dahiru Musa and a civilian by name of Jibrin. The soldiers then freed the handcuffed suspect, according to a statement by then police spokesperson, Frank Mba, who provided public updates on the matter.
From all that transpired at the time, there was no dispute about the fact that Wadume was freed by the soldiers who killed the policemen. In his version of event, then Army spokesperson, Sagir Musa said that soldiers from 93 Battalion received a distress call that kidnappers had come to operate in their community, leading to the hot pursuit that culminated in the unfortunate killings. Musa, who accused police operatives of refusing to stop at the military checkpoint, described them as “suspected kidnappers who turned out to be an Intelligence Response Team…on a covert assignment from Abuja.” But he gave a convoluted account of how Wadume escaped unhurt from the hands of the military men.
Miffed by the attempt to cover up the crime, the police immediately countered by raising pertinent posers: “How could a kidnap suspect properly restrained with handcuffs by the Police escape from the hands of his military rescuers? If Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume is a ‘victim of kidnap’ as claimed, and properly rescued by soldiers, why was he not taken to the Army Base for documentation purposes and debriefing in line with the Standard Operating Procedure in the Nigerian Army?” Insisting that their officers were murdered by the soldiers who they accused of colluding with the kidnap suspect, the police asked, “Why were the Police Operatives shot at close range even after they had identified themselves as Police Officers on legitimate duty as evident in the video now in circulation?”
Indeed, the clear give-away in the video released by police after the killings was the question, ‘Where is their service pistol?’, asked by one of the shooters. It was a clear indication that the soldiers knew their victims were officers of the law. That a most wanted criminal suspect was set free in the process further confirmed the motive of the callous act that points to a clear link between officialdom and organised crime in our country. And to the extent that the insecurity that plagues our country today is the product of a justice administration that places criminals above the rest of society, it is no surprise that we have treated this unfortunate tragedy in a cavalier manner.
Apparently embarrassed, President Muhammadu Buhari tasked then Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin to investigate the incident and report back to him. The police of course went in search of Wadume who was later captured in Kano on 20th August 2019. They subsequently released the video of his confessional statement that corroborated their allegation that the soldiers who killed their men were working in concert with kidnappers. “I am Hamisu Bala also known as Wadume. The police came to Ibi and arrested me. After arresting me, they were taking me to Abuja when soldiers went after them, opened fire and some policemen were killed. From there, the soldiers took me to their headquarters and cut off the handcuffs on my hands and I ran away. Since I ran away, I have been hiding until now that the police arrested me again,” Wadume said in the video.
Meanwhile, the joint presidential investigative panel headed by Rear Admiral T.I Olaiya with representatives from the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), State Security Service (SSS) as well as the army, navy and police went mute. Although the panel was said to have presented a report to Olonisakin for onward transmission to the president, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) broom has swept the matter under the proverbial carpet. Beyond what we are reading about “separated cases”, I am not aware that anybody in the military has been held accountable for executing three senior police officers and a civilian while on duty: No punishment for bad behaviour, no justice for slain police officers, no lessons learnt. Case closed!
I concede that I do not know the charges filed against Wadume and accomplices at the federal high court by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation. So, it is possible that Justice Nyako merely applied the law. But when you run a system where the punishment does not fit the crime and there is no accountability even for lives lost, it is the larger society that is in danger. We can see the evidence of that in all facets of our country today – which is why we should be concerned.
ENDNOTE:
The traditional ruler of Ibbi who received Wadume in his palace waxed philosophical about his returning subject. “We are hoping that he will not go back to criminality. He came to the palace and pledged his loyalty as a changed person. Even repented Boko Haram are allowed to reintegrate into the community, so we have to accept him and take proactive steps to secure our community,” Alhaji Garba said. “As someone who has a lot of followers, we believe that by re-integrating him, he will work with security agencies and stakeholders to ensure the peace of the community. Wadume was not a hardened criminal, but someone with dubious character. The issue of kidnapping was framed against him and even politics came in; that was why the court could not convict him on some of the charges that were preferred against him. There will be a lot of talks around his release and his reception in the town, but people do change.”
Like the monarch, I also believe in the power of redemption. I therefore wish Wadume well, especially since he has fulfilled the requirement of the law. But this tragic story is more about the character of the Nigerian state than about Wadume. Given how this sordid saga has played out, what the authorities are invariably telling the families of the slain policemen is that Nigeria is not worth dying for!
From Band ‘A’ to Banditry
From the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) cynically rechristened ‘Never Expect Power Always’ to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) which became ‘Problem Has Changed Name’, the power sector in Nigeria has almost defied solution. Today, Nigerians have lost count of the number of times the national grid has collapsed in recent years, leaving the authorities to supply their usual megawatts of excuses at every point. On 4th February, for the fourth time this year, the grid collapsed again, with the capacity dropping from 2,407 megawatts to zero megawatts! That pattern was repeated on 28 March across the country.
In a bizarre turn of event, the federal government responded last week not with a concrete plan to revamp the sector but with a tariff structure that is based on some discriminatory ‘Band A, B, C, D, E…’ statistics. For customers classified under ‘Band A’, said to be consuming a minimum of 20 hours per day, their tariff moved from ₦66 to ₦225 per kilowatt. At least that was what Nigerians were told. But what the Distributing Companies (DISCOs) did was simply to jerk up the tariff for most consumers in urban cities, including those who hardly receive up to 20 hours of electricity in a week!
Increasing tariff by as much as 230 percent at a time Nigerians are already feeling the pinch of other economic reform programmes of the current administration is bad judgment. Worse still, the electricity is not even readily available. That perhaps explains why the whole arrangement is anchored on rationing, based on how deep the pocket of a consumer is perceived to be, rather than on how to ensure an uninterrupted power supply to the entire country. Unfortunately, even for many of these ‘Band A’ consumers, the bills are based on guesswork since they still haven’t been availed something as basic as prepaid metres. “On metering, we still have about 15 to 20 per cent of the Band A customers that are not metered and that has to be a priority of the DisCos,” the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) NERC Vice Chairman, Musiliu Oseni, confessed on Monday.
I concede that there are serious systemic issues across the power value chain that need to be addressed. And a cost-reflective tariff is key. But asking for more money from consumers cannot be the starting point. While the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu is correct on “how conscious the power consumers are about electricity consumption” in other countries as against the evident waste of this scarce resource in Nigeria, he overstated his case by declaring that “Some people will be going to work in the morning, a freezer that you left on for days…they will still leave it to be consuming power just because we are not paying enough.”
For the information of Adelabu, turning a refrigerator off and on can have negative effects on the appliance and its contents, according to experts. “Refrigerators are designed to maintain a consistent and safe temperature for storing perishable foods,” according to an Indian engineer, Preeti Prabah, hence what Adelabu suggests can lead to temperature fluctuations and cause damage to both what is being stored and the refrigerator itself. Besides, turning a refrigerator on and off doesn’t conserve energy since it takes more electricity to bring it back up to its ambient temperature, experts have long concluded. Meanwhile, “the increase in temperature during the time the fridge is off can accelerate the growth of bacteria and spoilage of perishable foods.”
The power sector is capital intensive, so I understand all the arguments about the funding requirements on which Adelabu is obsessed. I am also not a fan of subsidy in Nigeria because I have seen its abuse in critical sectors just as I subscribe to the idea that people must pay market price for the electricity they consume. But there is a serious absence of transparency and accountability in the management of the power sector. Fortunately for the government, the timing is auspicious for serious reforms. With all our battery-powered inverters, solar panels and generators, many Nigerians have come to terms with the fact that we are better off (economically and environmentally) with a public power system that works for all. But hiking tariffs when what you supply mostly is darkness under the guise of some imaginary ‘Band A’, as one X (formerly Twitter) user wrote, is financial Banditry!
Oluwatosin @ 50
From trying to help 14 children roaming the streets of Asokoro in December 2018, my wife has since suspended her professional career and business for the cause of providing functional education to 137 children and young adults, 20 of whom are now on full scholarship at three Federal Government Colleges within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). And we are talking about children who had never been to school and could communicate only in Hausa six years ago. With the assistance of some hand-lifters, the remarkable story of the Not Forgotten Initiative (NFI) School which I once shared briefly (Amatala and Other ‘Unforgotten’ Children – THISDAYLIVE) is a testament to the sacrifice and resourcefulness of Mrs Oluwatosin Adeniyi, who turns 50 tomorrow. On a personal note, she has been for me and our three children (Toluwani, Ifeoluwa and Oluwakorede) a blessing beyond measure. I can only wish her happy birthday, long life and good health. With all my love!
• You can follow me on my X (formerly Twitter) handle, @Olusegunverdict and on www.olusegunadeniyi.com
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In the last few weeks, the labour movement has lost two of its cherished leaders – Comrades Ali Chiroma and Jonathan Ihonde.
Chiroma, a former president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), died in Maiduguri at 91 last Tuesday while Ihonde, a former vice president of the same congress, died about a month ago in Benin at 82.
The deaths of these labour veterans expectedly have awakened great memories of past struggles of the working people for social justice, freedom and genuine democracy.
In their respective ways, Chiroma and Ihonde made enormous sacrifices in the course of the struggles and showed commitment when it mattered.
A remarkably humble comrade, Chiroma emerged the NLC president in 1984 to succeed the first president of then six-old congress, Comrade Hassan Sunmonu. His union of medical and health workers is one of the affiliates of NLC. With his calm and cautious mien, Chiroma would rather be assumed by a stranger to be a diplomat instead of a rugged trade unionist. He often wore his trademark smile no matter how tense the situation. Rather than bang the table or raise his voice, Chiroma would draw from his repertoire of Kanuri proverbs to lighten an otherwise anxious mood.
Under Chiroma’s leadership the NLC struggled for socio-economic justice for workers. The congress fought for freedom and common good in the larger society. Snippets of these struggles have been evident in the well-deserved tributes paid to the memory of Chiroma since his demise.
Chiroma wasn’t your archetypal militant trade unionist; but he was highly receptive to progressive ideas about how the struggles of labour should be prosecuted.
The publications of the NLC at the period he was president embodied the ideas behind labour’s approach to the socio-economic and political issues of the moment. These included “Nigeria: Not for Sale;” “Towards National Recovery: Nigeria Labour Congress Alternative and Towards a Viable and Genuinely Democratic Political Future: Nigerian Working Class Position.” The first document was a polemic against the privatisation agenda and other components of the Washington Consensus presented by the military government as solutions to Nigeria’s economic problems. The second publication was put together by the congress with the inputs of radical economists as an alternative strategy of development. Labour didn’t only make an informed critique of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP); it also offered a more socially responsible alternative to solve the economic crisis. The third position was submitted by labour to the 17-man political bureau appointed by the military government of President Ibrahim Babangida to prepare a political transition programme for the country.
Beyond the regular collective bargaining for wages and working conditions taking placing in the public and private sectors of the economy, the NLC had a broader view of things in its engagement with government.
Notably, Chiroma’s NLC was the pillar of what the military government mistakenly regarded as “the triumvirate of revolution” – workers, students and progressive intellectuals – in the land at a time when political parties were banned and not many civil society organisations existed. The tripartite alliance was put to practical tests on a number of occasions beyond making statements. And the military government was determined not to “tolerate undue radicalism.”
For instance, in May 1986, some students were killed at the Ahamadu Bello University, Zaria, following a clash with security men. In reaction to the tragedy, a day of protest against extra-judicial killings was fixed for June 4.
The protest was to be led by NLC. Mobilisation was afoot by students, workers and the progressive intellectuals.
The national mood was clearly expectant of a show-down between the military government and popular-democratic forces.
Now, in the Africa of the 1980s, the date June 4 was a highly sensitive one. It was on that day in 1979 that Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings emerged the leader of a “revolution” in Ghana. So the spectre of the June 4 Revolution haunted West Africa. The military government swiftly moved on the eve of the June 4 date to pre-empt the protest by arresting and detaining labour leaders and students across the country. For instance, the late Comrade Chima Ubani led students at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, to join the protest to the chagrin of the authorities. The student leaders were to later to face an ordeal. The story of that ordeal would be suitable for another tribute to the memory of Comrade Ubani another day.
Chiroma and a host of other labour leaders were detained for some days by the military regime. On such occasions, Chiroma demonstrated courage and leadership.
Unfortunately, the polarisation within the congress in the build-up to the ill-fated 1988 delegates conference denied Chiroma of a second term. The leadership of the congress was dissolved and the military government appointed a sole administrator to manage the affairs of the congress pending the election of new officers.
Not a few labour activists were disappointed at Chiroma when six years later he accepted to serve as the sole administrator of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) when the military regime of General Sanni Abacha dissolved the union’s executive for its role in the struggle to revalidate the results June 12, 1993 presidential election won by Bashorun Moshood Abiola.
Ihonde was a deep leftist ideologue. As Comrade Owei Lakemfa aptly described him in a most fitting tribute, Comrade Ihonde was “influential” and “invisible” at once in the labour movement. He was modest and unobtrusive in his approach to issues. He was an exemplar of leaders working from the background to make things work.
Ihonde served the radio, television and theatre workers’ union with his full energy. Widely remembered as the creator of the television series, “Hotel De Jordan,” a satirical rendition of class contradictions in the Nigerian society, Ihonde was an accomplished broadcast journalist.
A resolute partisan of the cause of human progress, Ihonde also devoted his time and energy to the building of viable organisations of the left and nurturing cadres for the movement. Ihonde’s conviction remained unshakable to the end about the possibility a humane social order. And he was far being naïve as to imagine that this could be achieved without the appropriate strategy of struggle.
It is important to reflect on the lives and times of the Chiromas and Ihondes of the labour movement because of the huge lessons to be learnt from their great efforts and few errors.
May their tribe increase.
Today is Ramadan Kareem. Nigerian Muslims join millions of Muslims across the world to celebrate the birth of Prophet Mohammed. Last week was Easter. Nigerian Christians joined their fellows across the world to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Nigerian government typically declares public holidays to respect the religious sensibilities of its citizens who are adherents of the two historic religions. Many countries in the world will in diverse manners acknowledge the importance of these religious celebrations in, perhaps veiled, acknowledgement of the important of religion to national development.
This piece is inspired by these sacred and inspiring moments. The question is how much religion contributes to economic and social development. The point I want to argue is that the two aspects of religion that matter for development are belief and morality. Of the three major religions in the world, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, two are dominant in Nigeria. All these religions are called ‘Abrahamic Faith’ because they all trace their origins from Abraham. The Christians are followers of Jesus Christ, who is a son of Abraham. Muslims are followers of Prophet Mohammed who is traced to Ismeal, while Jews are descendants of Abraham through Isaac. One can argue that the 10 Commandant or a variant of its define the three religions. These are moral codes that stipulate the right social morality for the society.
A moral code, like the ones articulated by both the Old Testament and the Koran, shapes how people behave and underlines both the purpose and character of social institutions that define economic and social transactions. These moral codes are part of institutions. As Professor Douglas North puts it, institutions are humanly designed constrains to human activities. They could be both formal and informal. Informal institutions include religious beliefs and practices. Those practices can determine how the society manage the various opportunities and constraints it faces. The real effect of these moral codes is to establish a righteous society, a society that embodies what Aristotle called the virtues. He identified 12 such virtues that define a good society. They include courage, temperance, magnanimity and friendship.
The title of this essay is ‘Righteousness Exalts a Nation”. This is taken from a passage in Proverb, a book in the Old Testament. A subtitle could have been ‘Examining the theological insights in the political economy of development’. The question is whether we can construct an explanation about the success and failure of nations from their religious character. Many scholars have inquired into the cause of the success and failure of nations. Some trace it to geography. The argument is that somehow the people in particular geography of the world lack development because of the effect of geography. Jeffery Sachs is famous for offering this explanation for the lack of development in Africa and the rest of the left-behind continents. There has also been arguments about the negative effect of resources. Countries who have the misfortune of being abundant in natural resources at some point in their history are doomed to be poor as the effect of ‘Dutch Disease’ undermines the development of inclusive institutions.
But the examples of Norway and other resource-endowed countries in the west negates the resources argument. Being rich in natural resources does not predispose to poverty. It actually offers an opportunity to match towards wealth creation. The more persuasive insights arising from the work that institutional economists have done is to locate the divergent outcomes of resource endowment in Nigeria and Norway is the quality of institutions that moderate the use or misuse of resources. Those countries that have evolved differently from extractive institutions to inclusive productive institutions are unaffected by the resources curse. I argue that one of the major causes of this divergent evolution is the nature of religious sentiments and practices in the countries.
Nigeria is rated one of the most religious countries in the world. Many see this as a spur to development while others consider it a constraint. Those who consider religiosity as a constraint to development contrasts the fortunes of countries that are decidedly religious with those that are considered secular. But that analysis obscures one important point about religion and development. The heart of religion’s positive contribution to development does not lie in piety alone but mostly on institutionalized practices and norms. In that sense, it may be that some of the advanced economies have abandoned many of the religious rituals but have retained institutions fashioned after religious ideas and norms.
The argument of the pro-religion about the importance of religion to economic and social development is that whereas the developed American and European countries may today be described as ‘post-Christian’, the institutions that underwrite their economic and social transformations are defined in the image of the Judeo-Christian morality. This is not a new sentiment. The venerable Max Weber argued that the spirit of capitalism in the west was the protestant ethics. There have been critiques of this assertion. But no one seriously doubts how the Calvinist ideology impacted on the poverty and wealth of capitalist west.
It is noteworthy that Max Weber placed the cause of the prosperity of western society not on religious piety, but on ethics. It is the protestant ethics that made the difference. This is worthy further examination as we go through the rituals and performance of the Ramadan as we did for Easter. What religious ethics are influencing public conduct? How does religious sentiment operate in the public sphere to constrain or enable public action?
Many Nigerian lament the immorality that plague the Nigerian state in spite of highly and increasing levels of religious expression. Once Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe once lamented that Nigeria was the most religious as well as the most corrupt country in the world and the most corrupt. Maduekwe could not reconcile the two firsts. Should religious result in righteousness and not corruption? The problem is that we embraced the performative and not the morality of religion. The first and only black Nobel Laurate in economics, Arthur W. Lewis, argued in the 1960s that the religious outlook of a people measured in their beliefs and social norms contribute to the prosperity and wealth.
Nigeria’s problem is that its religiousness has not result in some necessary institutions that contribute to transformation. It is now time to translate piety to social practice through basic elements that made the difference in Europe and America. These elements are evident or embedded in the religious codes in the Bible and finds expression more or less in the best literatures of mankind, whether of the western, eastern or African origin.
The first is protection of the right to life. Good institutions focus on protecting life. The right to life is not just a right. It is the basis of any sustained economic development. It is the fundamental basis of continued existence of society. Where there is life is not guaranteed, there is no prospect of economic and social development as well as political stability. Let us consider the view of Thomas Hobbes. In a work that has become a classic of political philosophy, the Leviathan, Hobbes argues that it is the fear of losing their life in a war of all against all that forced humans to form political society and entrenched government. His rival in political philosophy, John Locke agrees that political community was only possible because people want to better protect their right to life. This is the heart of what we call the social contract theory that underlines any robust theory of democracy. Whereas Hobbes used the fact of fear of death to establish the legitimacy or validity of a dictatorial government, Locke used the same principle of protection of the right to life to justify a democratic government. The common point both make is that without the guarantee of life for citizens there would be not organized political society. In an illuminating statement Thomas Hobbes argues powerfully that where there is fear of our lives, where anyone can prey on another’s life, there would be no incentive to work, to create wealth and therefore no prospect of economic growth.
Protection of the right to life of citizens requires that institution will perform three key functions. First, they must affirm life. To recognize and protect the right to life of all citizens means that state institutions must affirm that every human being has the right to live. This means first that such society must accept unreservedly that life is worthwhile. It must affirm the value of life. In any society where the dominant culture has not regard for human life, that is that the life of everyone matters, there will be no protection of the right to life. As we shall see soon, many cultures do not affirm human life. And such cultures do not have capacity to grow wealth in significant and sustainable levels.
Secondly, institutions that protect the right to life must also be institutions that support life. This means that those institution will intentionally provide the facilities and utilities required to keep people alive. One basic aspect of the support is access to healthcare. Another is access to nutritious food and quality shelter. Every basic socioeconomic good that a society provides to its citizens constitutes efforts to provide support to the proposition of the fundamentality of life. In a larger context, supporting life requires sustained economic growth. Countries that have good institutions also prioritize economic growth to provide necessary social and economic amenities required to sustain life.
Thirdly, to recognize the fundamentality of the right to life requires that state institutions have clear commitment to protect life. Yes, it starts with affirming the fundamentality of right to life and gets to making every effort to support life and ends with a clear commitment to protect the right to life. This protection takes the form of constitutional and legal guarantee of the right and the administrative of justice to effectively prevent violation of the right and prosecution of the violation.
The second element is the rule of law. Institutions of growth and political stability requires the rule of law. When Douglas North argued about the primacy of institution in determining economic growth in human history, he emphasized how these institutions shape human actions and encouraged production. These institutions are able to do so through the instrument of the rule of law that guarantees to everyone the certainty and guarantee that first they would be alive and not destroyed by another, and second that they will be able to enjoy the fruit of their enterprise. The rule of law as part of the element of good institution is seen mostly from the lens of the sanctity of contracts, the protection of intellectual property and the subjection all persons to the objectivity and non-discrimination of the market principles.
The rule of law is primarily about the equality of all and the rejection of special privileges or prerogatives. The history of the rule of law starting from the Bill of Rights of 1689 and distilled into modern constitutions and declaration of human rights is the history of resistance to claim of divine right by kinds and the assertion of the equality of all persons before the law. Whether a country is a democracy or not, the primacy of the rule of law is now entrenched as the basic minimum for sustained development. The rule of law is not synonymous with electoral democracy. Many countries that hold periodic elections are not necessarily rule of law countries. In the same vein, some countries that do not hold periodic elections may be rule of law state as long as they subscribe to the principles and practice of equal opportunity for all under the law and guarantee to everyone right to the enjoyment of their endeavours.
These elements are embedded in religious sentiments that are widespread amongst the people. Without these elements you cannot construct a society that protect the property rights of the people and present opportunities to many for economic transactions. Without these important elements which are nourished by good religious beliefs and are part of the religious heritage of the people it will be difficult to move from predation to stability and growth.
As Nigerians celebrate the Ramadan it is important that we remember that righteousness exalts a nation and sin is a reproach. This requires that we begin to construct social relationships, including the institutions of social transactions in the morality of religious beliefs. By so doing we can create a culture of development that is based on righteous society, or to use Aristotle’s phrase, ‘a virtuous society’.
Edo State deputy governor, Comrade Philip Shaibu, has kicked the canvass; he was impeached by the Edo State House of Assembly days ago and a replacement was promptly provided by his erstwhile boss, Gov. Godwin Obaseki. Shaibu was in court while his impeachment was being perfected; we await the court’s verdict but time is not on his side. Governorship elections are due in the state on September 21st, a few months from now. It is said that one of the reasons why Shaibu had to be impeached was his insistence on contesting the governorship position in that election; apart from other “irreconcilable differences” between him and Obaseki.
Shaibu’s desire from Day One, and the pact he thought he had with his boss, was that Obaseki would hand over the baton of leadership to him; an “emilokan” kind of arrangement. And while the good times lasted between the two buddies, Shaibu enjoyed it to the hilt. He was loud! He was visible! He was influential! He was powerful! He was feared! He made Obaseki's enemies his enemies and Obaseki's friends his friends. He fought battles on behalf of Obaseki and waged wars in defence of a man he held dear. But nothing lasts for ever and spanners often get thrown into the works. Gentlemen's agreements are often honoured in their breach and what goes around, as they say, comes around! The reasons for this are not far to fetch.
The period between one election and another is damn too long for anyone to gain say what can happen along the line. Just one night - usually referred to as the night of long knives - can change many things. Politicians always lack fidelity; they make agreements, knowing full well that they will break them. That is why our people refer to any agreement with politicians derisively as “adehun alagbada”. Agreements made by politicians wearing flowing robes (agbada or babariga). You trust such agreements to your chagrin. Sometimes the politicians themselves are not to blame: shifting alliances dominate politics; today’s friends are tomorrow’s enemies; and political permutations are in a state of constant flux. Hence, the saying that there are only permanent interests and not permanent friends - or enemies. Especially here in Nigeria where our politics lacks principles and ideological underpinnings and political parties are nothing but Special Purpose Vehicles or mere platforms for the purpose of contesting elections.
Few deputy governors serve out their term gracefully; fewer, still, succeed their boss. The reasons for this are also many. To start with, not many governors are agreeable to the running mate chosen for them. All manner of interests play a role here and the principal oftentimes simply stomachs his misgivings so he could achieve his goal before he begins to think of what to do next. Where a deputy governor is stronger politically than his boss, that is a disaster waiting to happen. Once the governor finds his feet, his next project will be how to cut his deputy to size. Where a deputy loves to hug the limelight, it is a matter of time before he falls out of favour with the boss.
There were people who contested the running mate slot and were not happy they lost out. And from Day One of the administration, there are people scheming to replace the sitting deputy. A deputy that has a mind of his own will also not be a good friend of the boss. Leaders here love docile and pliant subordinates and followers. They want someone who will not outshine them if he succeeds them. They want someone who will not probe them after they leave office. They want someone who will cover their tracks for them. They hate anyone with a strong personality or character. They will not stomach anyone who has a mind of his own.
If you think a deputy governor is close to the governor, you will be deceiving yourself; the razzmatazz and public show of effusive affection notwithstanding. They may be Number One and Number Two but that is where the closeness ends; they may be poles apart in their thinking, political philosophy, orientation and way of life. They may belong to different political camps and may harbour divergent opinions on critical issues. Some governors and their deputies are like night and day, light and darkness. Their marriage of convenience is just for them to win an election, after which the competition and trouble begin.
I once was in a meeting where we were discussing with the governor until the Deputy Governor walked in. The conversation stopped abruptly but the JJC that I was, I resumed the conversation after the usual pleasantries but soon noticed that everyone else was quiet. So, I, too, went numb. After Her Excellency had left, His Excellency scolded me severely: “My man, why were you talking so freely before a stranger?” A stranger? The deputy governor in an administration was a stranger, I asked. “Yes! Is she one of us?”
So, you can be Number Two in an administration and yet be a stranger! I also witnessed a governor ditching people who were instrumental to his winning an election only to pitch his tent with a political neophyte with no political base. I took him up! He listened to me patiently and then replied mockingly: “Excuse me, Sir, the politics you learned is that of the classroom; the politics that we are practising here is that of the streets. What benefit will it be to me and you if we support a person to win an election and after that, you and I will no longer have access to this Dining Room (in the Government House)?” I simply gazed at his mouth! Realpolitik!
Very few bosses will support a strong personality to take over from them. Bosses are averse to a deputy who has a mind of his own. These are fundamental truths that anyone aiming to play second fiddle must understand before throwing their hat in the ring. Another useful hint is to take this advice of the elders very seriously: Prepare for the trouble that is certain to come when things are still rosy between you and your boss. Scriptures say in the Book of Habakkuk, it may tarry but it will surely come. And because it will surely come, it will not tarry! What do you make out of that? China's revolutionary leader, Chairman Tsetung Mao, put it this way: "To have peace, prepare for war!" Does this sound contradictory? Diplomats and theorists of war define this as the principle of detente or of mutual assured destruction (MAD). Mad indeed! Scriptures again say the horse is prepared for the day of battle, not on the day of battle. Shaibu appeared not to have taken the wisdom of the elders to heart.
To survive as a deputy, you must wear loyalty and servility like a badge. This must radiate in you inside-out. Either you have this gift endowed in you from heaven or you learn how to stoop to conquer. How many politicians can stomach what Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu put up with to become Mr. President? I once listened to the head of a Mission, a highly-respected man of God, give the criteria needed before any pastor could be promoted to the topmost echelon of the organization: “Someone who has not, not even once, raised his voice against the authorities”! And I marveled! Lick spittle? That criteria is even stricter than that of Stephen Decatur when he said: “Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but right or wrong, our Country!” Decatur at least wished that his Country would make an effort to be in the right! It will be much easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a deputy to satisfy some bosses.
This, however, is not to discourage the likes of Shaibu from challenging ungrateful, use-and-dump bosses; whether they succeed or fail does not really matter. One such politician succeeded some years back: his name is Olusegun Mimiko in Ondo State. Mimiko dared the sitting president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to resign as Obasanjo’s Minister of Housing and Urban Development and take on the incumbent governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Agagu. Mimiko built the Labour Party from scratch and, with it, ran a campaign that unhinged the then ruling PDP and unseated the sitting governor, Agagu. The election was blatantly rigged - I was on ground in the state as Media Consultant to Agagu and witnessed it live and direct - but the court eventually restored Mimiko’s stolen mandate.
History often repeats itself, especially with those who fail to learn from history, as George Santayana has posited. There is, therefore, nothing wrong if Shaibu tries his luck in Edo state. Maybe he will be the next giant-killer! Even if he is not, there is no harm in trying because every experience deepens our renascent democracy.
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Nigeria: between religion economy and knowledge economy
A beautiful piece that aptly captured my feelings and thoughts on how religious activities contributed to the economic woes/crisis and general backwardness of the country. - Oso Victor Gbolahan.
Am blessed and educated by this article. It really opened my eyes to see the foolishness of religion economy taking priority over the knowledge economy. I now have a better understanding why Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world! Indeed, it will continue to be until we move from religion economy to knowledge economy. Pilgrimage should be a personal responsibility. - Aderemi Ajadi Desalu.
We have to expose the rot in all subsidies associated with religion so as to promote an effective knowledge economy that can rebuild the Nation. Nigeria can, and will be, better than it is now if we do away with religion economy. - Palcorub Nig. Ltd.
It is possible that Nigerians flock to churches and mosques because they think that their hope lies there. And the churches themselves may be bearing the weight of Nigeria's failure because its members face the suffocating atmosphere of Nigeria's stagnation and its attendant influence and corruption. I think, therefore, that it is not the complete truth that Nigeria is the way it is because Nigerians are religious but, rather, because Nigerians pay lip-service to religious teachings. - Ayodele Iyiola.