The Niger Delta Crusaders, The Muslim Pilgrims And The United States Of Nigeria (Part 2)

By Femi Fani-Kayode

Sadly many in the conservative core north remain unconvinced. For example the Arewa Consultative Forum issued a statement on the August 7, in which they stated their total opposition to restructuring and instead of offering an olive branch of peace and understanding to its advocates who are predominantly in the south they issued the usual warnings of dire consequences if the matter is pushed too far.

Worst still a few days ago the Emir of Katsina publicly admonished all northerners to support the government of President Buhari insisting that they had a duty to do so. His words.
“President Muhammadu Buhari is trying his best to rectify the situation and we must support and encourage him. During this trying period, we as northerners are expected to support President Buhari and his team instead of joining others to criticize them.” (The Sun Newspaper, August 7, 2016).

There are no prizes for guessing who the “others” that he is referring to are because it is self-evident.

What the Emir appears to have forgotten is that had it not been for a sizeable number of votes from the south west the President would not have had a hope in hell of being elected.

Simply put what he is saying is that Buhari is effecting a clear and simple northern agenda which must be supported by all true sons and daughters of the north.

He is also suggesting that the feelings and sensibilities of those that oppose him from the south do not matter.

Meanwhile the tension that is being generated by the sectional nature of President Buhari’s policies and government continues to escalate and a face-off is imminent.

Nothing reflects this fact better than the words and obvious concerns of the Ohanaeze Youth Wing who condemned the fact that whilst the Buhari administration continues to keep Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB in prison, they are releasing hundreds of murderous Boko Haram terrorists from detention. Their words:
“Buhari’s Federal Government continues to jail Nnamdi Kanu and other Biafrans while Boko Haram terrorists are being released from prisons. It beats the imagination that terrorists who have been responsible for the death of innocent Nigerians are being released while unarmed freedom fighters are kept behind bars against court orders” (Vanguard Newspaper, August 8, 2016).

They also went as far as to suggest that Mr. Kanu’s continued detention may “trigger a crisis in the south-east” .

Not to be left out, the Northern youths, under the auspices of the Northern Youths Leaders Assembly issued a statement on the 8th of August threatening to deal with anyone or any group of people who continue to criticise or try to “tarnish the image” of President Buhari.

Their words: “We will no longer tolerate any insults to the family and members of the President’s cabinet and we will mobilize all our resources to take on anyone who thinks they can use their image as a chess pawn in the game playing out in the media. We hereby warn that the north will no longer tolerate any further attack on the image, family and character of President Muhammadu Buhari in his quest to make Nigeria a better place for all” (Vanguard Newspaper, August 8, 2016).

Yet the most chilling warning of all came from yet another militant group in the Niger Delta Area known as the Adaka Boro Avengers. They went a step further than their brothers in arms, the Niger Delta Crusaders, by saying
“On the threat by Boko Haram to kill Christians we are also sending this message to those Northerners who want to burn and kill Christians in North in the name of the Islamic religion to commence immediately but they must know that one Niger Delta soul will be exchanged for 100 Northern souls” (Vanguard Newspaper, August 8, 2016)..

These are dangerous words from dangerous people. We ignore them at our own peril. It is clear to the discerning that now, possibly more than at any other time in the beleaguered history of our country, we need prayers to ensure a peaceful resolution to what is essentially an extremely complicated problem that presents us with an existential threat.

Only a fool would disregard the fact that the ethnic and religious polarisation that we are faced with today is real and that the drums of war are beating in our country.

When one considers all of the above is it any wonder that yours truly wrote the following words in my column a couple of weeks ago. I said:
“The prayer is no longer ‘God bless Nigeria’ but rather ‘God break Nigeria’.

It is no longer ‘God defend Nigeria’ but rather ‘God restructure Nigeria’.

It is no longer ‘God deliver Nigeria’ but rather ‘God deliver US FROM Nigeria’.

It is no longer ‘God preserve Nigeria’ but rather ‘God redefine Nigeria’.

It is no longer ‘God remember Nigeria’ but rather ‘God dismember Nigeria’ “- (‘NIGERIA’S THIRD MAHDI AND THE LAST OF THE AMALEKITE KINGS’, THE SUN NEWSPAPER, NEW TELEGRAPH NEWSPAPER, July 25, 2016).

Clearly things are falling apart. Yet if the Buhari administration continues to ignore our concerns and admonitions and if they continue to insist on arresting and locking us up and attempting to intimidate us simply for our timely counsel and interventions perhaps they will listen to one of their own.

If they do not wish to hear the truth about the way forward from us perhaps they would be ready to hear it from someone who openly supported them and helped them to come to power last year.

That person is none other than the distinguished and highly respected General Alani Akinrinade, a war-hero, an elder-statesman, a revered and respected Yoruba elder and a leading supporter of President Buhari and the APC during the 2015 presidential elections. In July he said the following to the Sun Newspaper:

“First, the APC must be told, in no uncertain terms that it is fraudulent. They led us down the garden path, lying to us about what is in the end of the tunnel.

What was in the end of the tunnel was restructuring and each one of them, the party chairman, the president, his vice, and in that order, are all talking from the other side of their mouths now. In other words, they lied to us in 2015 before the election.

My message to them is, they should embark on a very major exercise now to restructure the country, otherwise, how do they propose to settle the crisis in the South-South because it is becoming embarrassing.

A man whose land you went to tap resources and then he couldn’t farm or fish, because you bastardised his farmland and you then send back to him stipends from what you took away from his land, such a man can never be happy”.

“Is the APC thinking that the matter of religion, ethnicity and other crises across the country are just going to go away? Even the late Sardauna of Sokoto said so, that we are a disparate people and we must recognise that fact and use it to our advantage.

Nobody is going to build Nigeria the way APC is going about it. I’m not too sure how many people sing our National Anthem again because they don’t even believe in it.

There is nothing like unity in this country. Unity can only exist when we all understand one another and there are some mutual relationships.

If I know you are always cheating me by giving 44 local councils to Kano and giving Lagos 20, which is not in the same parameter with Kano in terms of population, production and name it, how can I be happy”?

“However rickety Nigeria has become, if there is a wholesome reconstruction and re-engineering of the system, it can work.

That was the major reason the Southwest went along with the APC and Buhari, as the presidential candidate in 2015….to tell us that he didn’t read the recommendations (of the 2014 National Conference) and that it is best for the archives and that, in fact, restructuring is unnecessary and according to his Vice, what we needed is diversification and whatsoever, I remain baffled.

They were just saying we would diversify into agriculture and solid minerals, as if the items will come from heaven.. If the APC fails to do something in that direction, I’m not talking about the 2014 conference report alone, but all others preceding it that have similar recommendations to restructure this country, then President Buhari may forget it and I’m saying he is likely to be the last president of this country. It is as bad as that” – ( ‘A REALITY CHECK FROM GENERAL ALANI AKINRINADE’ THISDAY NEWSPAPER, 5 AUGUST, 2016).

It took courage for Akinrinade to speak up in this way and I commend him for it. His words and counsel are timely and I hope that those that are in power today are humble enough to accept them and retrace their steps.

Of all the heroes in both history and mythology the greatest were King David of Israel, William Wallace of Scotland, King Leonides of Sparta, Hector of Troy, Alexander the Great of Macedonia, King Jehu the son of Nimshi and Achilles of the Mermidans.

They all stood for the truth. They all loved their God. They all had faith and the courage of their convictions. They all refused to bow before the enemy. They all fought till the end.

O that we had just a handful of such gallant men in Nigeria: we would have restructured long ago and made waves in the comity of nations.

O that we had more men who have the courage of their convictions and who are prepared to risk all and speak truth to power.

Permit me to end this contribution with the words of Minister Louis Farrakhan the leader of the Nation of Islam in the United States of America. On August 7, he said:

“Anarchy may await America due to the daily injustices suffered by the people. There really can be no peace without justice. There can be no justice without truth. And there can be no truth unless someone rises up to tell you the truth”.

I concur. And this applies in the Nigerian context and to the Nigerian situation more than any other. There can and will be no peace in this country without justice.

That justice begins with “restructuring” and it ends with
“separation” and the birth of two or more new nations out of one.
Why? Because the Bible says “there is no fellowship between light and darkness” . It says “there can be no love or friendship between the children of God and the servants of Belial” . It says “we must not be unequally yoked” .

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Femi Fani-Kayode: Niger Delta Crusaders, Muslim Pilgrims And United States of Nigeria [Part 1]

By Femi Fani-Kayode

“If Boko Haram kills Christians and burns down churches, we will slay Muslims and raze down mosques. We want to warn them that we, the Niger Delta youths, in this 21st century will not accept the killing of innocent Christians or the burning of churches. That if they try it in the north or any part of Nigeria, we the Niger Delta youths will not see any Muslim or mosque in the Niger Delta”- NIGER DELTA REVOLUTIONARY CRUSADERS, VANGUARD NEWSPAPER, 5th AUGUST, 2016.

It is no longer news that the new leader of Boko Haram, Mr. Abu Musa Al Barnawi, who apparently has the backing of ISIS, has said that he will target only Christians and burn down all the Churches in the country. He has also said that Muslims and mosques will no longer be targeted and that Mr. Abubakar Shekau, the erstwhile leader and principal voice of the terror group, is no longer the leader.

Mr. Shekau has responded by saying that he will continue to slaughter whoever he pleases and that he remains the authentic leader. There appears to be a very serious rift in the ranks of Boko Haram which is good news. As far as I am concerned the two factions can do us all a favour by destroying one another and burning in hell.

Anyone that targets Christians and Churches, or indeed any innocent civilians for slaughter, is not worthy of life. They are nothing but vermin and, like the cockroaches that they are, they must be crushed.

Mr. Shekau is evil but Mr. Al Barnawi is even worse: he is the devil incarnate. He represents ISIS and we all know what that means. Whichever way we look at it and whatever is going on within the ranks of Boko Haram we must not loose sight of the bigger picture. And that bigger picture points to one thing: Nigeria is in a mess.

Quite apart from the poverty and hardship that has afflicted the land coupled with the total destruction of the economy and quite apart from the shattering of peoples dreams and the drastic reduction in their standard of living by the ineffectual and barren fiscal and economic policies of an inept and incompetent government, our President did not stop there.

He also went as far as to appoint as his Minister of Sports a man who is clearly (to use Donald Trump’s words about Hilary Clinton) “unbalanced and unhinged”.​ This is a man that can barely speak English and who, during the week of the Olympics, publicly referred to our country as “the United States Of Nigeria” whilst reprimanding our Olympic football team for getting stuck in America and arriving late in Brazil.

Someone should tell Honorable Minister Solomon Dalung that it was HIS job to get our boys to Rio De Janeiro on time and that it was something of a scandal and a national embarrassment that it took the last minute intervention and assistance of Delta Air, a private American airline, to get them there in time for their match with Japan.

Whilst our boys did us proud by going on to defeat Japan and later Sweden, the video of the Minister disparaging them and spouting nonsense about some fictitious and imaginary country called ‘the United States of Nigeria’ whilst wearing his ridiculous red beret went viral on the internet. A fool goes by no other name.

In normal climes the Minister would have been forced to resign the following day and he would have been compelled to apologise to the nation that he is purportedly serving for forgetting its name. Sadly though there is nothing that is “normal” about Nigeria or the Buhari administration.

Equally abysmal was the recent outing of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, President Buhari’s “super Minister” of Power, Works and Housing, on BBC TV’s Hardtalk. Before millions of viewers from all over the world, the Minister told his host Mr. Stephen Sackhur a shameless and pernicious lie by claiming that he never promised Nigerians an increase in power generation and supply.

It is his inability to be forthright, to appreciate the virtues of telling the truth and to keep his election promises that has earned my aburo Tunde Fashola the nickname of Minister of Darkness.

Since he was appointed ‘super Minister’ the power generation in our country has dropped from 5000 megawatts at the time when President Jonathan left office just over a year ago to under 2000 megawatts today. Worst still he has not managed to construct or complete the refurbishment of a single road.

Yet it is not the crippled economy, the erring and dim-witted Minister of Sports, the intellectually dishonest and lying Minister of Power, Works and Housing or any of the other numerous foibles of the Buhari administration that gives us the most concern today.

It is rather the gradual and systematic generation and invocation of a frightful and cataclysmic atmosphere of war and the looming threat and increasing likelihood of a great and violent ethnic and religious conflict, the likes of which Africa has never seen before.

If it is not Boko Haram that is slaughtering our people it is the Fulani herdsmen. Worse still they are doing these despicable things with the active connivance and support of a few people that are in the corridors of power today whose objective is to islamise our nation, plunge us into a fiery abyss and create chaos.
The bible says ‘there is no fellowship between light and darkness’. We have said it before and we will say it again: we must restructure Nigeria before it is too late. If we fail to do so we will have no choice but to reconsider our so-called unity.

If things don’t change quickly we must consider the possibility of dividing our country and renegotiating our union. We cannnot afford to wait any longer because we are playing with fire and we are sitting on a keg of gunpowder. We must attempt to do whatever needs to be done peacefully and we must not allow the butchers and those that kill in the name of their god to provoke us into another civil war.

Nothing represents the danger of the war that is looming more than the response of the Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders (an affiliate of the Niger Delta Avengers) to Al Barnawi’s threat. They responded by saying that if Christians and Churches are targeted by Boko Haram they will kill all the Muslims in the Niger Delta area and they will burn down all the mosques. It is a simple case of “action” and “reaction” and I sincerely hope that those that are used to killing others and not being killed themselves take them seriously.

Clearly we are living in dangerous times and I sincerely hope that those that brought religion into our politics in 2015 and that used Islam and the Boko Haram offensive as a political tool against a southern Christian President are seeing the fruits of their labour.

When you invoke the proverbial genie and let it out of the kettle you must be prepared to live with the consequences and whatever follows. Yet the folly does not stop there. As if our sensibilities were not already sufficiently provoked President Buhari took the religious dance to yet another level last week by directing the Central Bank of Nigeria to sell foreign exchange to Muslim pilgrims that were on their way to Saudi Arabia for hajj at 197 naira to 1 USD.

This whilst everyone else, including students, manufacturers, businessmen, Christian pilgrims, the ailing and holiday-makers, must continue to buy at 400 naira to 1 USD. When the math is done this amounts to a whooping N7.9 billion naira concession for Muslim pilgrims.

And all this in a country that is not only impoverished and whose people are suffering from the worst economic hardship and poverty crunch since independence but also one that is meant to be a secular state. Such is the national outrage that President Buhari’s forex concession to his Muslim brothers and sisters has provoked that a well-known political commentator and activist Mr. Paul Achalla wrote the following on his Facebook wall on August 5th:

“N410 to $1 for business, education, entrepreneurship, food processing, manufacturing, etc. and N197 to $1 for pilgrims going to Saudi Arabia? Bluntly put, Boko Haram ideology won Nigeria’s 2015 general election!!!”

Paul Achalla is right. How can this sort of nonsense be justified in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious secular state? Is Buhari’s Nigeria crafted only for the Muslim north? Is Saudi Arabia now the spiritual headquarters of our nation? If it is not the Sultan of Sokoto declaring public holidays, it is the President giving subsidised rates of foreign exchange and preferential treatment to members of his own religious faith.

If it is not that he is leading our country into a sinister and dangerous military coalition of Sunni Muslim nations it is that he is holding conferences in Abuja with foreign Muslim clerics whose stated objective is to “spread sharia throughout Nigeria” and islamise our country.

Worst still virtually all his Service Chiefs and principal commanders in his Armed Forces together with his National Security Advisor, his Minister of Defence, his Minister of Internal Affairs, his Inspector General of Police, his Chief of Defence Intelligence, his Director General of State Security, his Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, his Commander of the National Civil Defence Corps, his Comptroller General of Customs, his Comptroller General of Immigration, his Comptroller General of Prisons and ALL his other security, para-security and intelligence agencies, bar one, are northern Muslims.

Can there be any greater form of corruption, abuse of power, injustice and betrayal of trust than this? Does this not prove the fact that our country is in dire need of restructuring? (TO BE CONTINUED).

Nigeria, Institutions And Economic Performance: The Imperative Of Leadership

By Oselumese Eromosele | 

In its recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) records an increase in Headline and Core inflation from 15.6 per cent and 15.1 per cent to 16.5 per cent and 16.2 per cent respectively in the month of June. Even though we may not know the difference between the terms ‘Headline’ and ‘Core’, we would most likely agree with the NBS that there has been a real jump in inflation especially when we consider our recent trips to the market to purchase food items such as yams, tomatoes etc. This has a lot of implications for the average citizen and the Nigerian businessman. Nobody needs to tell anyone to ‘tighten his or her belt’; if you do not heed the call to embrace austerity as a way of life in these times, you would most likely receive a severe economic punishment in the short run. Today, the maximum price for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in Nigeria, to which the generic name ‘fuel’ is mostly associated with, is N145 per litre. The last price ceiling was N87 per litre. What happened? Why the sudden hike by over 50 per cent. Not too surprisingly though, we also observed that, immediately after this new price was set, this, hitherto scare commodity, became available; and the long queues which characterised fuel stations nationwide disappeared.

The exchange rate is now well above N300 Naira to a dollar. This is very far from the glorious, if not forgotten days, of when N1 exchanged for a dollar (Actually, in 1985, N1 exchanged for $1.55!). This is reality of the Nigerian economy; however, it is interesting when our leaders think they can single-handedly control the outcome of reality. As a nation, we have been unfortunate to have leaders who have consistently tried to solve problems without thinking of how best to address them. The emphasis is on the word best; there are good ways to solve problems and we have already seen some of them deployed. However, to borrow the phrase “Better is the enemy of good,” popularised by French Philosopher, Voltaire, in order to achieve lasting solution we might need to try better ways. Both the earlier pronouncement of N87 per litre and the decision not to devalue the naira have something in common: they are a product of a poor reflection on the root cause of the problems we face as a nation which, in my view, are largely structural in nature and also a bad attempt at solving the problem.

So what is the leadership doing at present? Do we see our current leaders trying to address these core structural issues or is leadership still trying to manage the current situation with ad-hoc policies and solutions? Leadership ought to address these structural problems, which have roots in our politics and our economics. For our politics, I am convinced that we need to forge a real national consensus as Botswana and South Africa did without which we cannot expect to have any meaningful development. On our economics, the economic decisions of what to produce (comparative and competitive advantage), how to produce (the deployment of technology in production), who should receive what is produced (adequate price level at all times) and the rate of growth of income (economic growth, income distribution and development) still remain relevant decisions that leadership has to make. It is the imperative of leadership to make sound decisions on these key points in order to bring about widespread prosperity and reduced poverty and income disparity.

We need to be clear about what to produce: what we produce usually determines what skills are sought by labour, income levels and by extension, standard of living. Sound leadership, as seen in countries like Japan, Germany and South Korea, focused on the production of ‘advanced’ capital goods such as production machinery, automobiles, computer chips etc. rather than commodities which command less value in the international market. It is true that we have arable land; but that does not necessarily mean that we should focus all our energy on ensuring that we are simply able to feed ourselves and, probably, export the balance.

The challenge with that is we might not be able to even achieve this feat given our open markets and the fact that other countries such as the U.S. which ought to be the destination of our output tend to subsidise their farmers who can now compete favourably. They have better bargaining power over prices for our outputs given their considerable influence in international trade and thus they usually gain considerable advantage in trade negotiations. For development, leadership needs to think a little more about some of these issues. Maybe we do not need to develop traditional industries (agriculture, textile etc.) the usual way. Maybe we need to focus on the high end of the value chain in revamping these industries. We do not want an economy that depends solely on commodities for its foreign earnings: our earnings would then be subjected to the fluctuations in the prices of these commodities in the international market, a good example is the recent fluctuations in the prices of oil in the international market. In the case of agriculture, we would earn much more if we could encourage more agro-processing and the production of finished products in the country. That way, still keeping exportation in mind as one of our goals, we would export both input (raw) materials and finished products; overall making us better off.

This article is born out of the frustration of listening to our leaders engage in the usual blame game every time, as a nation, we face economic challenges. Leadership should have foresight and benefit from hindsight. Why blame others when you are reluctant to make the changes that can positively affect the country in the long run. Every policy has to be ordered toward a clear goal. Development is our priority and we cannot have one good idea, such as ‘a meal a day’ to increase enrolment numbers in primary schools overshadowed by the elimination of the Post-UTME which has brought some sanity into the public universities although not without its challenges. On the other hand, to simply abandon the recommendations in the report of the recent national conference is a poor leadership choice and every effort to manage a nation such as this without due considerations to its recommendations might prove futile.

Whether we like it or not, we would continue to be ill-prepared to deal with daunting economic challenges if leadership does not set the stage for a more development oriented vision. One of the foremost arguments on why some nations prosper and others fail to do so is on the quality of institutions that characterize these countries. Institutions are the ‘rules of the game’ in every society; they are the key determinants for economic performance. This idea is closely associated with Douglass North, the Nobel Prize winner for economics, with more emphasis on the subject by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson in Why Nations fail. Another reason believed to be necessary for sustained development is Democracy. Amartya Sen, foremost modern day thinker on the issues of development, considers democracy a universal value: something fit for all nations by virtue of its own merits. Democracy is seen as a very good platform for nations to choose the set of values to develop; how governments should be organized, the enforcement of the political rights of the individual such as voting rights etc. We have democracy, albeit not perfect, and we ought to use it to our advantage. Except within a broader goal toward economic prosperity, the pursuit of short term solutions to pressing problems with deep root causes is futile. Hence, for a country like Nigeria, with development as its priority, sustainable solutions should really be at the heart of policy formulations and government action. Anything short of that should really be taken with a pinch of salt because sooner or later an event bigger than the solution would knock it off the cliff.

In order of priority, the need for leadership to thoroughly address the broader issues of unity, our national consensus, is still very important in the pursuit of a prosperous society. And since we are in a democracy, this may ultimately leads to an honest discussion on the kind of institutions (both formal and informal) and values that we may desire as a nation. Education, legal and regulatory institutions should be strengthened. Presently, the nature and structure of key institutions in Nigeria do not aid development. They do not encourage entrepreneurs to take the kind of risk that would create jobs and reduce the incidence of unemployment and poverty. They do not allow for a huge influx of foreign investors into the country which happens to be the largest economy in Africa.

Institutions can be seen as a continuum: on one end we have formal institutions and at the other end we have the informal ones. The formal institutions include our constitution, economic rules etc. which are usually written down. At the extreme end of this continuum, we have the informal rules which, most times, have more direct impact on society. These informal institutions usually form the culture of a society. A good example would be that in some countries, a contract is sealed with a written agreement; in others, without a handshake, a contract may not be deemed to have been sealed. In Nigeria, there are some problematic institutions that have emerged over time. These include the desire for ‘instant gratification’ as compared to ‘delayed gratification’; the erosion of the value of hard work and good work ethic with far reaching consequences such as the enthronement of mediocrity; the attitude of ‘managing’ things rather than seeking perfection in private life and public administration; and complacency in public life. Lastly, and more interestingly, is the development and perpetuation of the institution of corruption. Corruption has become a force of its own with agents of enforcement (Nigerians). Leadership should be focused on addressing these issues that affect public life. The best channel to address these issues is to improve our educational system and increase support for efforts geared at engendering the development and sustenance of family and societal values.

The imperative of Leadership is to do the right things at the right time for the good of all. This places certain preconditions for leadership in any society such as a good understanding of the nature, structure and geography of the society; the plausible solutions to present challenges and the political will to address these challenges. Leadership should know when it has to control and when it has to influence: leadership should impact institutions through right policies which in turn directly influence market forces.

Leadership should seek the development of a just society. Let not the myopic judge this as a utopian goal; the pursuit is in itself noble and essential to the development of a nation. Societies may not achieve it fully in practice; it is better however, that it is spelt out clearly in the law of the land, the constitution. Individuals should be convinced that even if they experience the day to day oppressions of their fellow men, they can have hope that if they seek justice by appealing to the law of the land, they would get it.

God Bless Nigeria!

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Matters Arising

By Yakubu Mohammed |

Last week was a week of reminiscences. It was the week when egg heads in the academia, political enthusiasts, patriots and other sundry leaders of thought across the country gathered to remember some fallen heroes, who, without the efforts of the conveners of such glittering gatherings, would have continued to remain unsung and forgotten.

Some of these memorial events took place in Ibadan, Kaduna and in some towns, South East of the country. It was not a celebration as such but the events were intended to remember the sad events of July 29, this day which has the dubious distinction of being a counterpoise to January 15, in the country’s chequered political calendar.

The first military coup took place on January 15, 1966. Regarded as the coup of the five majors, it led to the killing of Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s first and only prime minister to date, as well as Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, premier of Northern Nigeria who was also the Sardauna of Sokoto and his Western Region counterpart, Samuel Ladoke Akintola. Federal Minister of Finance, Festus Okotie-Eboh was also killed in the coup. Many leading officers from the North were also killed. They included Brigadier Zakari Maimalari, Col Kur Mohammed, Lt Col Yakubu Pam, and Lt Col Abogo Largema. Death toll included three southerners, Col R. Shodeinde and Brigadier Ademulegun from the West and Col Unegbe from Mid-West. Because of the selective killings and the lopsided composition of the coup plotters, majority of them, Igbo officers, led by Major Chukwma Nzeogwu, the coup was seen as an Igbo plot to eliminate the Northern political as well as military leaders.

No Igbo political leader was killed in the coup and no attempt was made, thereafter to punish the coup plotters who were regarded as mutineers. Indeed Major General Thomas Aguiyi Ironsi who took over as head of state and supreme commander of the Armed Forces, to all intents and purposes, seemed to have found himself on the horns of a dilemma. He promised to try the coup plotters not only to assuage the feelings of the North but to restore order and discipline in the force. But he prevaricated. In the south, Nzeogwu and his colleagues, who were arrested and detained, were regarded as heroes. The North saw them differently. Apparently Ironsi did not want to sacrifice the support of those from the south who did not want anything to happen to their heroes. And he took no steps to restore disciple as Supreme Commander. Sadly he paid with his life.

On July 29, officers from the North, led by then Major Yakubu Danjuma, went on revenge mission. They got General Ironsi who was in Ibadan to hold a meeting with traditional rulers and shot him along with his host, governor of Western Nigeria, Col Francis Adekunle Fajuyi. Thirty-two-year-old Colonel Yakubu Gowon succeeded Ironsi as head of state.

Fifty years down the line, the events that shook the country to its foundation and which eventually culminated in an unfortunate civil war from 1967 to 1970 have not been erased from our collective memories. In fact, that was the main reason for the Ibadan gathering; to remember and celebrate the gallantry of Colonel Fajuyi, the host who courageously offered himself to be killed with his guest, if he could not do anything to save him.

Fifty years on, Nigerians seem not to have come to full terms with this ugly chapter in the country’s history. There have been no unanimity of views of what happened and why it happened. Each side has a story to tell. And each narrative is so impressive and so convincing until you get into another narrative. From the Ibadan gathering last week where Major General Olufemi Olutoye, the Owa of Ido-Ani who presided over the function came a totally shocking revelation. General Olutoye was not a stranger to Major Nzeogwu, the coup leader. They were course mates in India in 1964.

General Olutoye said he knew about the coup plan way back in 1964. Nzeogwu told him of the coup. He said he lost interest in it because Nzeogwu said it was going to be bloody. Olutoye said he did not join the army to turn the gun against his own people. The real bombshell, I think, is the Owa’s claim that the coup plotters would have transferred power to Chief Obafemi Awolowo who was then serving a prison term in Calabar convicted of treasonable felony. He said Nzeogwu did not lay claim to any political leadership qualities and did not intend to govern Nigeria after the coup. This brilliant academic-turn soldier now a traditional ruler must know what he meant. Very revealing. But how would this have suited Awo, the democrat and nationalist who was then serving term for a similar offence? Proof of Awo’s culpability or the wishful thinking of Nzeogwu, a clear-eyed radical idealist, who wanted to remake the country in his own image? We can never know.

But the bottom line is that till this day, 50 years later, the wounds inflicted on the nation by the January 15, 1966 misadventure have not fully healed despite Gowon’s famous three Rs – rehabilitation, reconciliation and reconstruction that signalled the end of the civil war in January 1970.

One significant fall out of this crisis is the continued tales of conflict, contradictions and agitations even threats of secession as if they are our local equivalent of the weapon of mass destruction. Today, those who want Nigeria restructured seem not so sure, in my view, how they want it done. Before the advent of the military in 1966, Nigeria started off as a federation of three regions: the North with NPC in power, the East of NCNC and the West of Action Group, a federal structure which Ruth First likened to a tripod of three regions with the legs of uneven length and fashioning. The North was too big and it was domineering, so said its critics. The West under Action Group put up a ferocious fight to see to the breakup of the North into more manageable pieces. The agitation which this engendered led to the Tiv riots of 1964 and the demand for Middle Belt Region. It did not come to be but the brinkmanship deployed by political rivals led, instead, to the breakup of the Western region and this resulted in the creation of Mid Western region. There was a similar agitation by the minority ethnic groups in the Eastern Region that wanted a space for themselves.

This was the situation up to the time of military intervention in 1966. When Ironsi crushed Nzeogwu’s rebellion and took power from the rump of the federal civilian cabinet, the first wrong step he took was the abolition of the regional governments and putting an end to federalism. Instead of the regions, Nigeria was to be broken into groups of provinces and in place of federal structure, the Supreme Commander imposed a unitary system of government with the military’s central command structure.

This misstep was one of the reasons for the overthrow of his government. Gowon who took over from him listened to the yearnings of majority of the people and after due consultation broke the country into 12 states, bringing, as the popular parlance went then, government closer to the people. There was louder agitation for creation of more states. In response, the Murtala Mohammed regime that came into office in 1975 created more states and brought the number to 19. Today, the number of states has morphed to 36. Those who want the country restructured want a return to the regional structure and government further away from people? The Ijaw, the Ibibio, the Kalabari, Ogoja and sundry others who wanted states of their own distinct from the one that they felt choked them in the Eastern regional arrangement want a return to status quo ante? Or this agitation is merely a political ploy, in the manner of impudent child, full of tantrums, mischievously drawing attention to himself?

I thought someone was being uncharitable when he said the other day that the tribe of the proponents of restructuring grows rapidly large each time it falls out of the loop of power and political reckoning. With recent events – Edwin Clark and co shouting loudest- I don’t know what to believe. His man Friday, President Goodluck Jonathan set up the last national conference and generously funded it to come up with a formula for dealing with the Nigerian project. The conference did its job and submitted its report in volumes. What happened? Was it merely a political ploy? Was the conference merely to generate sound and fury?

Honestly, I am for structuring but it has to start with the structuring of the elite, their inordinate appetite for wealth at the expense of the ordinary people and their appetite for corruption in all its ramifications. And when they are in power, their appetite for kleptocracy needs restructuring. Let us for once be honest with ourselves.

Awo As Solution To Nigeria’s Problems

By Yahaya Balogun |

Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was a political enigma who has shaped the political structure of Nigeria. His robust contributions to national conversation had been ignored for a long time. It is imperative, therefore, to re-emphasise his contributions to national discourse and development.

Our people need to be educated or conscientised to understand the futility of their mindsets about the Nigerian state. Awolowo had long time predicted the current nuance of globalisation, as it is related to the Nigerian current situation.

His insightful mind had long time discerned the world as a global village and saw Nigeria as one of the major players. He saw Nigeria as a mere geographical expression that needed restructuring. He believed that no ethnic group in the geopolitical structure of Nigeria can act alone or in isolation. Our unique diversity and talents are too integrated to be discountenanced or disintegrated.

People will not read historical books because of their intellectual laziness. When you read Awolowo’s books, you’re completely engrossed in sublimity of a man who was a demi-god to some of us who are worshippers of the Muse. His books are references on every single thing that is wrong with Nigeria. If Awolowo’s books are consumed religiously, our minds will not remain the same again. Chief Awolowo is a demi-god and a political genius. He lives forever in some of us.

What should be the national discourse now is a true restructuring of Nigeria to disabuse the minds of the aggrieved and disgruntled citizen. My submission is that the imagined separate entities detached from the present structure will be unmanageable, considering how leadership of each state has engaged in the mismanagement of the Federal allocations in the past. One understands the importance of the agitation of the aggrieved members of the union. The perceived or obvious marginalization of the ethnic minorities is an opportunity missed by the Jonathan administration to restructure the country. Goodluck Jonathan’s administration should be our last collective punishment. The country should be on its road to prosperity and peaceful coexistence after curing the national terminal disease called corruption from the system.

Right now, Nigeria needs a leader who will re-orientate, re-order a corruption-free-society. It is pertinent to start observing/studying and create this Buhari administration with keen interest in its war against corruption. My evolving position is that it is becoming an un-inclusive fight. The President needs to bring other corrupt party members in APC to book just like he’s doing to other opposing party members in PDP. There shouldn’t be any sacred cow if this onerous war on the looters and economic saboteurs must succeed.

Recent revelations indicated that a prominent member of the Buhari government was economical with the truth on how he got his multi-billion dollar mansion in Dubai. The revelations seem to have been swept under the corrupt carpet of Nigeria.

It will be unethical to rob “Peter to pay Paul” and expect everyone to keep quiet. President Buhari’s efforts and determination to rid Nigeria of corruption must be addressed without nepotism. It must be all-inclusive. Ordinary people of Nigeria have suffered enough. If Peter or Okorocha or Bode of PDP can be questioned on how they sauntered into affluence with their meagre salaries, it will be an injustice and inequitable treatment if Ajayi or Muhammed or Sulaiman in APC should be absolved of the same offence.

It is imperative for the President to note that justice without equity, fairness and consistency will jeopardise the administration’s anti-corruption stance. Justice must be seen to have been dispensed without fear or favour. Otherwise, our famished collective journey to the unknown will be difficult to reverse or veer.

The President should note that wailers have the right to wail if they perceive any injustice and unfairness in the inequitable distribution of their national wealth. The advocates of national disintegration should go to Awo’s museum of knowledge to enrich themselves.

Apart from Chief Obafemi Awolowo of blessed memory, which of the Yoruba leaders has advanced the unity and prosperity of the Yoruba? As an avid and fanatical reader of anything by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, I can testify for that Awolowo was a visionary. He was maligned, cursed, imprisoned and humiliated; yet he remained focused and determined to see a nation succeed as a true federation. Unfortunately, as we all now say, Awo was a president Nigeria never had.

The fifth columnists and their collaborators in the Western Region, with the assistance of the cabal in the other parts of Nigeria conspired to prevent Chief Awolowo from modernising the whole country, the nauseating results of which we are witnessing today.

It is undeniably true that Awolowo has told us that federalism remains the solution to our problems in Nigeria.

The war on Corruption by Buhari is an opportunity that must not be missed. Nigerians should jettison resentment and bigotry, come together in unity to advance the course of nation building.

We should criticise this administration constructively to move the country forward

Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s sacred political spirit should however, be invoked. We must learn more about his political ingenuity, explore his museum of knowledge and apply the lessons in order to bring sanity into Nigeria.

Balogun writes from Arizona, United States.

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WHY ARE WE WHERE WE ARE?

The problem is not the quantity of what is available or not available but what can be done with what is available. There's usually a problem with a people who are plunged into abundance who can't manage what they have. With such, what is meant to be a blessing becomes a curse just like the case with Nigeria and Africa.

Africa is blessed with so many natural and human resources but can't manage what she has, yet Belgium which has no mineral resources but only humans far less the population of Africa has a gross domestic product which competes with that of the entire continent of Africa.

Great Britain which has the most awful weather condition in the world and can fit into Nigeria several times has no oil, no gold, no diamonds etc yet was able to conquer almost the whole world simply because they learnt how well to manage just one thing. Today, I can write this piece and you can read it because of a people known as great Britain. How big is great Britain? It's a small Island with nothing but only people who learn time management.

The resource we need to become a developed people is not beneath the earth but on the earth and right in our heads: the mind; for as a people think, so they are.

However, there is hope nation. After juxtaposing the problems of Africa with that of other developed worlds, I asked my self several questions such as "why are we where we are?" And the answer I got is that we are not where we are because of who we are or what we do not have or have but simply because of the choices we make as a people, thus I decided to be among the generation of Africans that will turn the tides around and change the statistics. Together we can have a PARADIGM SHIFT in Africa starting from our immediate constituencies.

Maidoh Collins writes from Abuja.

Opinion: Cost Of Governance: Is Public Sector Downsizing Escapable?

By Tunji Olaopa |

It is no longer news that the Nigerian economy has officially entered into recession. This announcement by the Minister for Finance is just a formal acceptance of a reality which most Nigerians, especially those working in the public service, have felt for the past few years. Out of all the 36 states in Nigeria, only a very few states have been able to conveniently pay the salaries of its workers. Even the Federal Government is borrowing to pay its workers’ salaries! The result is that many workers have been left existentially stranded, and more significantly, the economy has been paralysed because of the unceasing industrial action by several unions in the states.

It would then seem that the change slogan of the Buhari administration is being resisted at all corners by several economic forces and intervening variables it did not bargain for, anticipate and which perhaps, requires that much more strategic policy intelligence than is currently in place, be deployed. This is now a fact for all to see. But the other fact is that change within the Nigeria socioeconomic context is urgently required if there is to be any significant national development.

One of Nigeria’s failings is that we fail to experiment at certain critical policy levels. And if there is an issue which demands “bold, persistent experimentation,” it is the cost of governance distress Nigeria has been facing for a while now. True, the Buhari government has paid attention to this, but we need more than cosmetic reduction in personnel and structures to achieve a significant restructuring of the economy. The Nigerian presidential system of government is one of the most expensive in the world. It is as if the system was manufactured to gulp scares resources. When Lamido Sanusi Lamido, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, raised the alarm sometime ago that close to 30% of the national budget goes to servicing overheads in the national assembly, we were just about scratching the surface of the cost of governance trouble Nigeria faces. The national assembly is just one tiny side of the equation; the entire public sector institutional architecture really needs unbundling and downsizing.

The cost of governance problematic is a huge one. In recent times, the media have been shocked by the humongous figures, in billions of naira, that were recovered from a perfected system of siphoning involving “ghost workers.” Efficiency and productivity are sacrificed on the altar of numbers, while the trade unions remain vigilant in guiding the affairs of those who ordinarily ought to benefit from severance from the public sector.

Rightsizing has always been the obvious and easy antidote to high cost of governance dilemma. In fact, it constitutes the first condition in a restructuring exercise that ought to automatically lead to a productivity revolution to be supervised by a debureaucratised managerial public service primed for national growth and development. The sign is clear: with the stark phenomenon of bankrupt and non-viable states, Nigeria faces the danger of a significant economic collapse worse than the present recession. But then the solution is also clear: a radical, scientifically derived but humane restructuring not only reduces the cost of governance but also enables the diversion of cost saved to infrastructural development. If it must be done however, then the payroll and institutional restructuring, using productivity audit tools, must be extensive enough to involve the review of all appointments in government that are funded from national revenues and the entire expenditure of government. It is only in this sense of unbundling and restructuring of the entire expenditure structure of government that the government could go with clean hands to equity to negotiate with the trade unions the rightsizing inescapable option. But then, as Banchao, the Chinese diplomat asked, “How can one catch tiger cubs without entering the tiger’s lair?” How can great governance deeds be accomplished without uncommon courage and perspicacity?

Restructuring arises from a conceptual understanding of the role of government in governance. Redefining the role of the state implies doing away in Nigeria, at the first instance, the claim that the Nigerian government is the largest employer of labour. That reputation exposes the government’s ignorance about its capability to generate wastage and undermine productivity. The essence of the managerial revolution in the public service is to interrogate government’s limited capacity to organise efficiency through the infusion of private sector and Diaspora skills and competences. In terms of efficiency saving, this is done through the application of an econometric calculus that suggests an optimal and affordable size of the workforce required in the MDAs and the public service at large.

One of the advantages of government instituting a constant conversation with the trade unions and other employers is that, at the level of the state government, a decentralisation framework can be established that ensures that wages are conditioned to the productivity profile and financial strength of each state rather than a blanket wage framework that ignores the economic reality which is presently being played out in terms of the incapacity to pay salaries.

One appropriate rightsizing method which the trade unions would applaud once they see its intrinsic benefits to the progress of Nigeria is a humane and properly crafted employability package that is attached to any severance plan for those who are due for retirement. Of course, the first source of fear is the perplexing cost that would be generated by the severance package.

Beyond this, severance from the public sector comes with a moral imperative concerning government’s care for those who have spent their productive years serving the government without any adequate attention to the acquisition of any post-retirement competences. Employability training ensures that public servants, while preparing for retirement or upon notification of redundancy, are prepared with skills and competences that could tide them over while out of service.

Restructuring is a critical business involving enormous risks but immense advantages for a country like Nigeria seeking national growth through a transformed productivity paradigm. But every effort so far have been met with severe reactions and public outcries. Most governors would prefer to evade the issue until the end of their terms to pass the buck to the coming administration. But then, there will be a critical point when the buck could not be passed again, and political courage would have to be cranked up to deal with it. I suspect we have all arrived at that critical juncture. It is either Nigeria will survive the cost of governance menace and properly restructure or her national coherence will fizzle out within a framework of avoiding responsibility.

Olaopa is Chairman, Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP), Ibadan, can be reached via tolaopa2003@gmail.com, tolaopa2003@yahoo.com tolaopa@isgpp.com.ng

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VIEWPOINT: Back To The Ekwueme Constitution

By C. Don Adinuba

One of the most perplexing paradoxes in today’s Nigeria is the strident campaign for the adoption of the report of the 2014 national dialogue on the Nigerian condition organised by the Goodluck Jonathan administration as the basis of a new constitution. Even people who should know better have joined the bandwagon, showing that many Nigerians just go with the flow. Mental rigour remains a commodity in awfully short supply in the Nigerian public space. The most critical objective for the campaign for Nigeria’s structural redesign since the mid-1990s is to reduce the number of states from 36 to about 6, so as to, among other factors, free the economy from perennial paralysis arising out of the humongous annual recurrent expenditure at all levels. But the 2014 Conference agreed that the number of states should, in fact, balloon from 36 to 54.

The delegates believed that Nigeria, whose 28 out of the 36 states cannot pay workers’ salary, should have the highest number of states throughout the globe, four more than the United States, the world’s wealthiest nation which has 50 states and a population of 300 million. This recommendation highlights the emptiness of the Nigerian political class. Still, some people who delight in being called social critics and statesmen have of late been trumpeting the 2014 Conference Report as Nigeria’s only hope for survival whereas it actually sounds the country’s death knell. Pray, how can Nigeria survive for up to six months with some 54 states?

High-minded people recognise the enormity of power conferred on Nigeria’s centre, observing it is a principal cause of the country’s socioeconomic underdevelopment. And a major reason for the concentration of power at the centre is the large numbers of states. In other words, the more states are balkanised to create other states, the more they become dependent on the Federal Government. And yet the people who complain that the centre is too powerful are the same individuals and groups pushing for the 2014 Conference Report which advocates as many as 18 more states to be created in one fell swoop!

The truth is that the death of the report was foretold ab initio. Besides the fact that there is no law creating the 2014 Conference, it never had legitimacy or moral authority. All the almost 500 delegates were appointed by one single individual. This is not tenable in a democracy in the 21st century. And those asking President Muhammadu Buhari to adopt and implement the report should know that the Constitution does not vest such power in the president. Interestingly, those who advocate Buhari’s implementation of the report frequently accuse the president of dictatorial tendencies.

Nigeria needs to be redesigned. Much of the work has mercifully already been caught out, as can be gleaned from the 1995 Constitution which is sometimes called the Ekwueme Constitution because its key differentiating features were canvassed by former Vice President Alex Ekwueme at the 1994/5 Constitutional Conference in Abuja. The major differentiating contents of the 1995 Constitution are the division of the country into geopolitical zones, the adoption of the zones as the federating units, rotational presidency, one term of five or six years for the president and each state governor which is not renewable, increase in the use of the derivation principle from 3 to 13%, etc.

Sani Abacha had begun to implement the 1995 Constitution, as shown by his creation of six states in 1996, with each zone getting one new state. One good thing about the zones is that it makes for equity and stability. It divides the South into three zones and the North into another three zones. Nigeria began as an amalgamation between the North and the South.

It is regrettable that Afenifere leaders coerced Abdulsalami Abubakar into jettisoning the 1995 Constitution and replacing it with the 1979 Constitution. Afenifere leaders felt that since the 1995 Constitution was drawn up under Abacha who was justifiably considered an enemy, it must be rejected, even though Abacha had practically no input in it. It was a case of throwing away both the baby and the bath water. Abubakar was desperate to have the Yoruba participate in his transition to civil rule programme, and so capitulated to the Afeniferi demand. He acquiesced to the demand that the 1979 Constitution be brought back. This is why there are almost no differences between the 1979 and 1999 constitutions.

The few differences lie in such matters as the establishment of the National Judicial Commission and the increase in the use of the derivation principle from 3 to 13% in the revenue allocation formula because the chairman of the committee set up by Abdulsalami to look into the adoption of the 1979 Constitution, Justice Niki Tobi, an indigene of oil-rich Delta State, insisted on its retention from the Ekwueme Constitution.

Ironically, the Afenifere leaders who made jettisoning the 1995 Constitution and its replacement with the 1979 Constitution their condition for participation in the transition programme are the same people now accusing the Abubakar military junta of imposing the 1999 Constitution on Nigerians – and many otherwise perceptive Nigerians believe the propaganda stunt!

Nigeria needs a new constitution to meet its new challenges. Only people directly elected by the citizens can have the mandate to undertake such a sacred enterprise as designing or reforming a constitution in a fundamental sense. Though some critical national issues have been addressed by the 1995 Constitution, one matter which should not be overlooked is the imperative for multiple vice presidency. It was about the only issue which Ekwueme spiritedly but unsuccessfully fought to include in the 1995 Constitution. Ekwueme argued that there should be six vice presidents, with each zone, including the home zone of the president, supplying one. In the event of the president dying in office or resigning or removal from office, the vice president from his zone will complete the term of the president.

Nigeria needs a new constitution or a comprehensively reformed one. The states as currently constituted and local government areas cannot have a place in the new constitution. The idea of a so-called third or fourth tier of government is a misnomer. The 1995 Constitution, otherwise known as the Ekwueme Constitution, provides the starting point for a new Nigeria.

Adinuba is head of Discovery Public Affairs Consulting.

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Mr. President Is About The Economy Not Corruption

I felt a bit miffed at the president’s Eid-el-fitr message not because it lacked compassion or empathy but because it lacked a departure from his strongly held minimalist view of our daily reality. In all sincerity, I have made a solemn promise not to throw empty criticism at Mr. President and only lend my voice to matters in which common sense is clearly shrugged away to accommodate political vacuity.

The message read thus: “I am not unaware of what Nigerians are going through and I want to use this medium to commend the amazing sacrifices of Nigerians in the face of temporary economic and social challenges and also reassure Nigerians that my government is working assiduously towards providing basic needs and other amenities. Let me also use this opportunity to reaffirm that we will not relent in the fight against corruption and we will ensure that all appropriate and legal measures are deployed to root out this malaise”.

Perhaps the words of O Henry, Love and business and family and religion and art and patriotism are nothing but shadows of words when a man is starving, underpins the very premise of my argument. Again, Nigerians are being congratulated for their sacrifices in difficult times, what needs to be asked though, is if such burdens will climax with better days. In any case, as for me and my house, we will remain skeptics until proven otherwise by the government of the day. Of more concern, however, is the fixation of Mr. President on the fight against corruption. Without a doubt, corruption is a must kill but I also share the concern of Hon. Yakubu Dogara, that convictions have hardly been made even in the sight of overwhelming evidence of the culprits admittance and willingness to return stolen funds.

Neither the president nor his towering integrity can prosecute any war against corruption; he has no choice than to rely on the institutions saddled with such statutory obligation. The best the president can do is to empower such institutions and let the chain off the neck of the proverbial dog. It is not enough to make public declarations that merely romanticises the populace and whips sentiments but rather a case of putting your money where your mouth is. The president will be guilty of living in the clouds if he thinks that he can champion a successful fight against corruption without a reform of the Police Force, the judiciary and a healthy working relationship with the legislature to pass into law the propositions of the executive.

Hence, a continuous focus on a fight technically outside the arena of the president will be simply straining at a gnat and ignoring a whole camel, a typical case of Nero fiddling while Rome burns. Someone needs to remind Mr. President that it’s about the economy, about job creation and an improved livelihood, nothing else at this junction matters. I quite agree with Olatunji Ololade in his Friday’s column in The Nation newspaper, when he said “Buhari seeks to eradicate diseased plants from the nation’s fields of enterprise even as he sows sickly seeds under the roof of the Nigerian barn house”.

One of the greatest economists of the 18th and 19th century, John Maynard Keynes argues that in a recession of significant magnitude, it is necessary for the government to intervene and actively stimulate the economy. He was famous for recommending that the government should pay people to dig holes in the ground and fill them up because it doesn’t matter what they do as long as the government is creating jobs.

Quite frankly I understand the president’s fascination, if not obsession with corruption and never will I doubt his sincere passion for a nation he fought and bled for but he must come to terms with the fact that strong nations are not built on the integrity of an individual, even if that individual is the president, but on a continuous investment in the people in whom the government derives its authority from.

I therefore urge the president to maintain his stance on corruption but give a closer attention to the economy. Mr. President also needs to remember that economic deprivation, stagnation or exclusion will ultimately lead to social and political catastrophe, the very demon he is fighting very hard to expel.
Mr. Ayodele Adio, a social critic, wrote from Lagos. 

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Olympic Jamboree And Failed NFF Foreign Coach Recruitment!

By Segun Odegbami

This page was missing last week.Last Thursday, to my utter consternation, my laptop would not boot after I turned it on. That was when I realized how vulnerable I have become to modern technology. I am now enslaved to my laptop and my telephone. Between them, they hold my life in a strangulating vice. They have become my inseparable companions, accompanying me everywhere like triplets. When one breaks down, as did my laptop, I become lost, realising rather shockingly how totally dependent I have become on these two ‘innocent’ toys that now rule over my life.
As the night wore on and I became desperate, with time ticking slowly but steadily towards the deadline for submission of my page, my helplessness became so agonizing I fell ill. I was sleepless through the night and had to surrender as dawn broke to the elements. I could not help the situation.
Meanwhile, so much drama in sports was exploding around the world, everyone screaming for my comment and even intervention in a few cases – the search for a new coach for the Super Eagles was approaching a dramatic climax, even as some of us wondered how NFF officials were going to get away with what was obviously looking more and more like a play on the intelligence of Nigerians by selling them ‘reconditioned’ ordinary foreign coaches in the washed cloaks of great coaches; the ugly stories of Nigerian athletes training abroad who, starved of funds, have turned into beggars on the streets of Atlanta and elsewhere; the resignation of Nigeria’s influential basketball captain on the eve of the team’s greatest challenge after qualifying for the Olympics; the EFCC’s renewed interest in investigating funds previously allocated to sports, from COJA 2003 till the present, that need prying into as is on-going in other sectors, to fish out the thieves in the ongoing fight against corruption; the global doping scandals that threaten to destroy the Olympic movement if not handled carefully and justly, and that also reminds Nigerians of their own experiences with doping and how one such case inspired a Nigerian to prove the world wrong by winning Nigeria’s first ever Olympic Gold medal, four years after an unjust ban; and so on and so on.
Those were the things playing on my mind last Thursday. Since then there have been several developments.
The President of Nigeria, Muhammed Buhari, hosted part of the Nigerian delegation going to the Olympics and announced the release of the funds that should have been released eons ago to make training of the athletes and Nigeria’s quest for medals both meaningful and realisable.
His remarks during the event clearly showed he was not taken in by the empty promises of officials that Nigerians should expect a haul of medals now that funds have been released. There is nothing like that on the cards. Medals are not won by fire brigade, last minute funding of preparations to the Olympics. Winning a medal at such games requires proper scripting, planning and disciplined execution of programmes for between six to eight years of dedicated hard work and plenty of good luck.
Nigeria has not done anything since London 2010 to even justify winning a wooden medal not to talk of Bronze, Silver or Gold.
Some officials must know some things the rest of us do not to be making such promises. They did so in the past and got away with not delivering anything.
This time, it is a different government and a different mentality. Questions will be asked and people required to account for their deeds and promises. So, I wonder what would happen when the team returns in August and Nigerians see clearly that this is another ride, another jamboree, another wasteful adventure of a country expecting to reap fruits of metal when it had only planted seeds of wood!
President Buhari got it right when in his remarks to the delegates he did not raise expectations beyond the level of the Olympic Games’ mantra that participation is more important and more rewarding than winning. He urged the athletes to be good ambassadors by competing fairly and cleanly, and warned officials that those that do not have any official business with the team should not attempt to go to Rio. It is the clearest warning yet it will not be business as usual and that accounts will be rendered after Rio 2016!
The matter of the NFF and its ordained foreign coach was another matter. After abysmal past failures of foreign coaches, financial wastage by officials, and rejection of the notion that only a foreign coach can succeed in Nigeria, the idea of a foreign coach was revived and, with the active support of a select media, successfully sold again to Nigerians in a well-packaged arrangement to cover the eyes of Nigerians with wool and install a foreign coach.
This plot with a hidden agenda blew up in the faces of the NFF officials who designed it when French man, Le Guen, for one reason or the other, decided to abandon the scripted plot by inserting a condition into the NFF’s offer that would never be accepted by any Nigerian – to manage the Nigerian Super Eagles from his home in France. It was such an insult that the NFF rushed to distance themselves from the man, and were left holding onto the straw of a plot that went awry.
I am just now thinking through the whole shenanigans of a process that was deliberately skewed to achieve a pre-determined result. Why did the NFF make Nigerians go through a wasteful and distractive process of ‘faking’ a short-listing process, organizing an interview session of the selected coaches by Skype, and announcing their final choice only for the man to turn around and reject the offer less than 24 hours after?
It is preposterous, mischievous and very suspicious. The NFF are now forced to quickly revert back to their initial vomit. They have offered the only Nigerian they also ‘screened’ and offered the politically toothless and cosmetic position of Chief Coach before Le Guen threw his bombshell. He is now to handle the team in an interim position until a new foreign coach is found!
Oh, how I wish the deal came through. How I wanted to see how the NFF would have managed to raise funds to pay the foreign coach when they could not pay local coaches well and on time, and how they would have handled the failure of the Eagles to qualify for the 2018 with another foreign journey-man coach in charge.
With all due respect to him, and at the cost of courting his enmity for speaking my mind (but the truth has to be told nevertheless), the man now saddled with the responsibility to handle the national team, does not deserve it. Compared to other coaches available in the country, he has not earned it, and obviously does not have the stature, the records, the knowledge, the exposure and the credentials to manage a big team like the Super Eagles.
When Nigeria fails to qualify for the 2018 World Cup as a result of this mediocre handling of a serious matter of manager of the Super Eagles, probably the government would see the need to take a closer look at the whole issue of football and rescue it from the grip of well-intentioned but undeserving persons that have held the jugular of sports for several years since one Amos Adamu changed its face by mortgaging its future to the lure of lucre!
That’s why I was missing last weekend. Forgive me.

OPINION: I REJECT BUHARI’S ‘ONE NIGERIA’

By Ochereome Nnanna:

  We are now concentrating on the militants to know how many they are, especially in terms of groupings, leadership and to plead with them to try and give Nigeria a chance.
“I assure them that the saying by Gen. Yakubu Gowon that ‘to keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done’ still stands. In those days we never thought of oil all we were concerned about was one Nigeria.
“So please pass this message to the militants, that one Nigeria is not negotiable and they had better accept it. The Nigerian Constitution is clear as to what they should get and I assure them, there will be justice.” – President Muhammadu Buhari, to some residents of Abuja who paid him Sallah homage recently.
President Buhari’s off-the-cuff statement above provides an opportunity for us to pick the mindsets of Nigerians on what they really mean by the concept of “One Nigeria”. It is obvious that “One Nigeria” does not have a single meaning for all of us; going by the way we carry on, especially when we find ourselves in positions of power as Buhari currently does.
Let me describe my own idea of One Nigeria. It is a crossbreed between the Zikist and Awoist visions of the unity of Nigeria. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the father of African Nationalism and foremost exponent of Nigeria’s independence, believed in a Nigeria where all citizens would share one vision and national aspiration, irrespective of their tribes, tongues, regions, religions, majority or minority status. That is the kind of nationalism practised in Ghana, a country whose foremost independence proponent and Pan-Africanist, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, was inspired by the Great Zik.
In Ghana, tribe, region and religion are no impediments to national unity. That is why the longest-ruling head of state, John Jerry Rawlings (a minority), was able to seize power and sanitise Ghana. He laid a solid foundation for today’s success story. Contrast this with Nigeria, where an earlier attempt by Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu and his colleagues ended up being given an ethno-religious and regional toga. It resulted in a civil war at the end of which Nigeria became a colonial booty of Arewa (the Muslim North).
The Awoist version of One Nigeria recognised the differences between the various groups and sought to establish a structure in which all these groups could live within their geopolitical enclaves and aspire competitively for the greatness of a united nation. Nobody’s ethnic, religious or cultural hang-ups would slow down the progress of others who do not share these hang-ups, and yet all would belong equally and equitably to one nation in spite of their complex diversity. This arrangement is often described as “true federalism”.
So, in this Nigeria of my dreams, those who want to practice Islamic Sharia in their home zone can go ahead. Those who want to cut off the hands of their thieves and overpopulate their home zones with illiterate citizens will not be an impediment to my section which wants to exercise population control, give good education to the young people and offer them a modern, civilised lifestyle comparable to the best in the world. You use what you produce to cater for your people but pay rents to the Federal Government to maintain the common services that bind us together as people of One Nigeria. But you do not use your landmass and population to parasite upon and terrorise others and suck their resources dry in the name of “One Nigeria” which, you insist, is “non-negotiable”.
Buhari made reference to what General Gowon told them as young soldiers during the civil war, which was that, “to keep Nigeria one is a task must be done”. Gowon’s charge to his soldiers was meant to bring back the former Eastern Region which was forced by injustice and insecurity within Nigeria to seek safety in a breakaway Republic of Biafra. Majority of Nigerians (not just Northern Nigerians of Arewa extraction) eagerly participated in enforcing the unity of Nigeria through that war.
The question we must ask ourselves is: why is it that 46 years after, those who fought in the war and are now in their seventies and eighties are still in charge running the country with their archaic and retrogressive mentalities? Why are they still putting a gun on the heads of Nigerians, threatening that to keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done? Is there any country in the world apart from Nigeria that maintains “national unity” at gunpoint? Why is it that more and more groups are copycatting Biafra with either secession or self-determination bids if, indeed, the civil war kept Nigeria one?
In any case, is it indeed true that Nigeria’s unity is “non-negotiable” as Buhari says? For me, it an old lie told a million times by people who do not even take time to check what they are saying. The truth is that the negotiation of the unity of Nigeria is constantly ongoing and (unfortunately) never-ending. The Aburi Accord was a product of negotiation of Nigeria’s unity. All the constitutional talks after the civil war in 1977/78, 1989, 1994, 2006 and 2014 were acts of negotiation of Nigeria’s unity.
After the annulment of Moshood Abiola’s victory in 1993, the North negotiated among themselves and gave up the presidency to the Yoruba people to entice them to remain with the Nigerian project. They banned Northerners from contesting the presidency, and overwhelmingly gave their votes to Olusegun Obasanjo.
The Yar’ Adua regime negotiated with the Niger Delta militants to drop their arms and accept “amnesty” and some lollipops in return. Nigeria has been begging to negotiate with Boko Haram since the days of President Goodluck Jonathan till date, and even Buhari himself is still on his knees begging the Niger Delta Avengers for negotiation and offering to do “justice” (the same justice he has refused to do since he was elected a year ago!).
All these negotiations were efforts to wrest some justice, fairness and equity for people who are not happy with Nigeria. They were thwarted because Nigerians are very easily fooled by cosmetic red herrings, such as concession of the presidency, creation of more states, granting of “amnesty” to aggrieved agitators, appointment of a few of your people to glamorous government offices and flashing of cash to shut up noisy mouths. It also comes in the form of intimidation, persecution by prosecution, freezing of accounts, detention and (in extreme cases) outright elimination of recalcitrant opposition.
Even when you thought that seventeen years of renascent democracy had gradually moved Nigeria towards some semblance of geopolitical equalisation, a forgotten fossil of the Nigerian civil war, General Muhammadu Buhari, is brought back to power. He relaunches the worst form of extreme nepotism which even a Northern reactionary commentator, such as Junaidu Mohammed, recently openly condemned. Who would have, in their wildest dream, believed that 46 years after the civil war, it would be possible to have a Federal Government in which the kinsmen and religious acolytes of a sitting President would so predominate in total defiance of the Federal Character principle enshrined in our Constitution?
And this is Buhari’s idea of One Nigeria which he vows to maintain? He can count me out of that! This is not the One Nigeria that the people of the North Central, South-South and South West fought for, and certainly not the One Nigeria which the ex-Biafrans looked forward to when they returned in 1970. This is not the One Nigeria which the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) prescribes because it does not give me a feeling of belonging. I reject Muhammadu Buhari’s lopsided One Nigeria!

(The opinion expressed here is not the opinion of KARIFEST but that of the guest writer, thanks.)