Thursday, September 6, 2012
The Oily Angle of Boko Haram
The following unsolicited data found its way into my phone and it helped triggered off the subject I had been contemplating upon for quite some time now. It is about our petroleum. Nigeria’s “crude oil production is 2.5 million barrels per day, currently selling at $113 per barrel with a daily sales of $282.5 million and monthly sales of $8.475 billion and annual sales of $101.7 billion , which naira equivalent using an exchange rate of N160 for a dollar, translates to N 16.272 trillion naira per year. Compared to the country’s 2012 budget of N 4.5 trillion, there is a surplus of about N 11 trillion naira.” The message asked: “where is the surplus going?” It also reminded me that the Customs, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigeria Port Authority, the NAFDAC, Corporate Affairs Commission, PHCN and so on, are generating huge amount of revenue to the country annually.” Meaning, that our government is not telling us the truth about our true annual income from all sources of our revenue generation. Whoever sent the message wanted me to disseminate it to other Nigerians so we could fight for our freedom from economic and political bondage.
Well, I confess that I have always been suspicious of the unwholesome handling of the wealth of this country and I also know that this has been so since after the civil war of 1967 to 1970. In effect, since 1972 to date, successive government have been playing games with our oil income and all published statistics or figures, whether by the NNPC, the federal government or the Central Bank of Nigeria are numeral concoctions and are nothing related to the true amount of incomes or expenditures of the country.
As a result of the rising increase of oil production, there has also been a steady rise of oil theft both onshore and offshore as well as from sales money and the treasury. The truth is that no one can boast of knowing how much crude oil we produce per day, except the foreign explorers and managers of our oil. Even if there are Nigerian petroleum engineers who have the know-how to tell the exact amount of crude oil we produce, they lack the technological equipment to do it as the imported ones could be programmed to record whatever figures fed into it by their designers or manufactures. The result is that we are all at sea as to how much oil we produce and how much income we make out it.
The question is: how come that Nigerians have failed to ask the question: where is the surplus going – until now? Each time the government demurs on the demands of the Nigeria Labour Congress or any of its articulate affiliates such as NMA, ASUU, etc, one expect that agitators will roll out figures to show why government could afford to pay a more reasonable minimum wage or enhanced allowances for the workers or finance a good welfare package for the elderly, the sick or the unemployed Nigerians – from our oil revenue! What has been responsible for this mute and lame reaction of Nigerians until now? Was it lack of information, or non-dissemination of information? Someone believes that Nigerians are pathological cowards, perpetually afraid to confront situations, especially where security agencies could be let loose by the government to deal with protesters. The example of the Arab Springs may be responsible for this latter-day awareness, but are we united enough to challenge our government to come out clean and disclose the facts of our oil incomes?
If oil is not accursed then Nigeria must be because the oily mess in which the country finds itself is inexplicable. Someone who looks or sound like a sage told me some cranky story of oil finds in the North – East which he claimed is, the cause of Boko Haram uprising in Maiduguri. According to him, Northern leaders having known of the large Petroleum deposits in the North – East, have designed the Boko Haram to eject other Nigerians from the North and declare their own republic where they will have the whole oil to themselves and not share anything with other Nigerians. As if this story line is not incredible enough, he asserted that the oil find and the refinery newly built in Niger Republic are owned or financed by wealthy Northern Nigerians who made their money through the oil blocks granted them or by the theft of oil revenue while in government. He concluded that Northerners have helped themselves to the Niger – Delta oil but now want to monopolize their own through insurgency or even secession. On this score, I am again at sea as to why anyone would think like this if Nigerians regard themselves as one people with one destiny. But what if the story turned out to be true?
If it is rue that oil of commercial quantity had been discovered in the North, why has the NNPC not involved either in its discovery or even in its announcement? Was the discovery a project of the Federal government or that of the 19 Northern States? As with the Niger – Delta oil, this Northern oil if it is truly discovered is bound to bring its own curse if refined with sectarian motive. By the way, is it only oil that gives a country good revenue? Is there no country in the world that has no oil, yet is rich and prosperous? Why are we all so obsessed with oil as if there is no life without it? Is Nigeria and petroleum jinxed? Minus oil, Nigeria has other resources no one is interested in developing. Almost every minister of Steel went there to despoil the iron and steel industry yet; Nigerians are not asking why our steel industry has refused to grow.
If the oil find in the North is true, is Boko Haram the means by which they want to achieve resource control? Speculations, endless speculations are one of the symptoms of a belligerent polity and the only wise prescription is an open conference where all the issues could be discussed. However, those who may have a lot to hide do not want a conference and those who want to talk are not granted the right forum to do so. In the end, it seems to me that those who are serious in the struggle for self determination will have to do more than rhetoric to achieve their desires. I do not know what each ethnic nation, or region wants but whatever it is, could we not go about looking for it without a fight? This oil palaver is getting messier by the day and is capable of putting asunder what it did not joined together. What an oily mess!
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Nigeria’s Future: A Doom Foretold?
By Sam Onimisi
Harmony is often taken for granted in the affairs of human beings until there is disagreement arising from clash of interest or when one seeks an advantage over the other. When relationship is organized on the principle of mutuality, harmony is most likely to be achieved and retained. Mutuality is easier when a people shares common language, common territory, shared culture and one set of beliefs or religion culminating in a harmonious world view. One may not find all the factors in a polity, but three out of the four factors will make for a near perfect harmony. Based on the foregoing postulation or reasoning, it follows that our country Nigeria lacks the natural ingredients for harmony or mutuality. In language, Nigeria is a polyglot with hundreds of languages. In ethnicity, our country is heterogeneous with hundred of ethnic nationalities. Of religion, this country is polytheistic with many gods or different methods of worship. On territory, Nigeria is an amalgamation of the tropical rain forest, the savannah and the arid or desert regions with varying topography and divergent soils.
I stand accused of making a mountain out of a molehill but I beg to plead not guilty until you have heard me out. Now, communication between and among the people of Nigeria is at best defective and at worst dubious because it is done in a borrowed non-Nigerian language. Thus, mutual understanding and trust are impaired while mutual suspicion and mutual antagonism has rich soil and atmosphere to thrive. In effect, Nigeria remains in the abstract in terms of nationhood and worldview and so, the conditions for a Nigerian nation-state to evolve never really existed. It is not as if opportunity never offered itself, but they have been squandered at the altars of ineptitude, greed and sundry presumptions. Flag independence and empty slogan does not make nationhood or a nation-state we have since realized.
Let me not presuppose that your understanding of what a nation-state is, is the same with mine and so, we need to seek help. What actually constitutes a nation-state?
“A sovereign state of which most of the citizens or subjects are united also by factors which define a nation, such as language or common descent”. Let us try another source for more definition.
A nation-state is “a form of political organization under which a relatively homogenous people inhabits a sovereign state; especially, a state containing one as opposed to several nationalities”. Now then, is Nigeria actually a nation-state? I concede to you the liberty to answer the question based on the standard definition of what a nation-state is. Since I am not your teacher and probably not qualified to be, I should not attempt to teach you what to answer, especially now that all the facts are available to you.
However, we need to admit to ourselves that the absence of a common native language and because we are of different descents made up of non-homogeneous nationalities, we are only a pseudo nation and so, a pseudo nation-state. Hear a Nigerian nationalist: “Poverty knows no language or ethnic group. The poor is not concerned with religion or with tribe. All he needs is a man who can put food on his table on regular basis”. Whenever I hear this type of talks, I put it down as a campaign speech, a brief attention-getting phrase, and never a statement of truth. People everywhere are concerned with who rules them, what they get or gain or who gets what and how and why. Hear them again: “Nigeria is one united, indissoluble nation”. Watch those who expresses this sentiment; they are among the few who have benefitted most from the unjust access to, and skewed distribution of the commonwealth. Evidence has shown super abundantly that Nigeria is not a nation in the real sense of the word and so, the question of her indissolubility does not arise at all.
Are you saying that Nigeria is so united that it cannot dissolve or disintegrate? For me, I will believe you only when you produce a binding agreement between and among the various nationalities which contains the terms and conditions of that unity. Until you do that, I urge you to stop all the pompous presumptions and look into the face of the deadly challenges threatening to tear the country apart. May I refer you to the Holy Book in Amos, chapter three and verse three: “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” Where is the agreement of the ethnic nationalities, of the religious faiths and of the linguistic groups to co-habit together under a nation-state? “Excuse me, but we are bound together by the 1999 Constitution.” I s-e-e! Are you? Who put together those who purport to give you the 1999 Constitution?
A Constitution is derived from constituencies and so, a legitimate Constitution is one put together and agreed upon by a Constituent Assembly. The 1999 Constitution does not answer to this description and the body of law-makers purporting to amend the 1999 Constitution is products of its illegitimacy. Those who are challenging the Nigerian nation-state from within and with the force of arms are doing so, mostly from their frustration at changing things or getting peoples and things to change. They are aware or conscious of the illegitimacy of the Constitution by which we are governed, they feel un-represented by those presuming to represent them, and they believe that such leaders lack the authority to rule over them or administer the law upon them. If they have not said so in words, they have said it more eloquently in action which speaks louder than words. As if you do not know, and in case you have forgotten, a quick run-down of the challengers will do you some good.
The various groups of the Niger-Delta are challenging the economic basis of our nation-state and are calling for a negotiation of the revenue sharing formula to reflect more of derivation than population. Until the advent of amnesty, they resorted to blowing up petroleum pipe-lines and holding hostage foreign oil workers to press for their demands. Fairness demands that we remind ourselves that they had employed peaceful means through agitation and advocacy and when these failed, they then resort to using force. When the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MENDS) evolved, they have concluded that the Nigerian nation-state was impervious to their plight and demands. If in spite of amnesty, the MENDS are still active in sabotaging our oil economy, it shows their dissatisfaction with what they are getting compared to what they need or want. What is in the Nigerian nation-state for the Niger Deltans?
Without prior warning or notice the Boko Haram descended on the North, with bombs targeted at Churches, Police Stations and other symbols of governmental authority or institutions. Their grouse? One, they want Islam imposed on the whole of Nigeria; two, they want Christianity obliterated from Nigeria, thus the bombing of the Churches, and uprooting of Christians from their homes even as indigenes of their states. Three, they prefer a theocracy to replace democracy; four, they want political power to remain or return to the North and five, they are against the 13% derivation formula and want it reversed, (at least we have the words of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi on the fifth point). In effect, the Boko Haram threat is the most comprehensive and most violent challenge to the corporate existence of Nigeria thus far, apart from the Civil War. If southerners resident in the North have not all returned home, it is not because they have not been warned to do so; they are probably making arrangement to comply. “Nigeria’s strength lies in her unity in diversity.” They have said so for years, what with a huge harvest of riots, arson and bombings – the ultimate weapon in terrorism.
Do not be deceived, the ghost of Biafra is not laid to rest with the body of Odumegwu Ojukwu. The Movement for Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) is a living evidence of the grievances of the Ndigbo against the Nigerian nation-state. That they take to their heels at the approach of a few mobile policemen is not a measure of their strength or weakness. They may be busy turning the stones and weighing the options on how to tackle the Nigerian nation-state. The spasmodic Odua Peoples Congress is fast recovering from the demonic visitation of political mainstreamers that have ravaged the South West for upwards of twelve years. May be when they would have taken stock of their loss or gains occasioned by the activities of the marauding mainstreamers, they would decide to deploy against the Nigerian nation-state: a cudgel, some poisoned bow and arrows or some dozens of antiballistic missiles. As for the Middle-belt people, they seem to have given up on whatever sounds, looks or appears to be North, but yet undecided as to what direction to take beyond rhetoric’s.
If you care to ask my view on all this, I will advise the authorities to jettison the moribund unitary system of government, throw-out the super-ordinate relationship between the three tiers of government for a coordinate system in order to save the Nigerian nation-state. In other words, Nigeria needs restructuring and by all means, have Sharia region, oil region, Savannah region, Coastal region etc, and avoid a future doom already foretold.!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
…And the King Died
By Sam Onimisi
If it were possible to cry and curse through the nose or via any other organ of the body, perhaps it would have been better, but human beings are not given the grace to choose by which other means they could express their grief or pain. And so, when it has to be done, you are left with no choice than to employ the mouth – the same channel through which we laugh, eat and pray to the Almighty God! How great the joy of the enemy would have been if they find their victims crying by some other means, other than via the mouth. Thank God they are denied the sadistic pleasure and pristine joy in watching their fellow beings bellowing their deep-seated grief by a bawl via the arse! Life, as it certainly is, consists of a cycle of sadness and joy, mourning and celebration and, laughter and crying in the wheel of a continuum. Whenever one or the other comes your way – and surely come they must – you momentarily lose the power of choice.
Sad news never come but with a rude shock; rude in the sense that it jolts you out of whatever pleasure in which you are engaged and saddles you with the unpleasant task of picking up the pieces. However, if what is un-expected has happened, ruminating upon it over and over again cannot reverse the damage already done. So, the best option which recommends itself and makes for hope is, to look into the future and what you can make out of it. To allow your detractors to meet you on a fallen state is to grant them another opportunity to do what they know best: hitting you at your most vulnerable point so as to deny you a second chance or the possibility of recovery. So much for the preliminaries of the main topic of the day.
It was on the 10th January this year and I was on my dinner table when the phone rang. In the first place, it has been my practice to put off my phone while eating but on that fateful day, I forgot to do so. The caller on the other end was sobbing and talking at the same time and with a munching mouth and unalert ears, I couldn’t immediately comprehend what he was talking about. I thought it was a case of dialing a wrong number but a few minutes later, the phone rang again, and this time the voice was clear and unmistakable. He said the King was taken away some minutes ago by some policemen. Which of the Kings and why? But he started sobbing again and became incoherent while I became fully alert. Who took which of the Kings away?
A convoy of mobile policemen armed to the teeth with an armored vehicle to boot raided the Palace of the Obobanyi of Ihima, Chief Siaka Okaraga Lawal. A guide pointed to him to identify the king as he was on a casual wear in a relaxed mood. The hoodlumish policemen without regard to his age or status pounced on him and gave him a vicious beatings and hard kicks and took him away to Lokoja. On the way, they stopped in a bush, took him out and shot him severally with their A.K 47 riffles but the bullets failed to penetrate. They resorted to twisting his neck, but again to no avail, then the gun butts were used to hit him on the legs, dislocating his ankle in the process. When their prey proved too hot to handle, and without a warrant of arrest or reason to detain him, he was released.
The police was said to have acted on an apparently false report to the effect that the witch-doctor who fortifies armed robbers for their evil operations needed to be arrested. One would have thought that an investigation to verify the authenticity of the allegation ought to have preceded the raid; this was not done, otherwise he would not have been released immediately. When they also carted away his royal regalia, it ought to have dawn on them that they are dealing with a King and not with a robber. Besides, the raid was an act of armed robbery per excellence because of the stealing of the sum of N2.250million from the Palace, apart from some items of electronics. That the raid was to kill him, there is abundant evidence, for a few weeks back, and three other traditional chiefs were killed in similar circumstances. The Ohireba of Obangede, the Ohimozi of Ebogogo and Onomu of Eika were the earlier victims.
Unless the policemen were hoodlums in uniform, and except if they were drawn from police formation of another state, police officers who has the authority to order such a raid ought to have been familiar with a second class traditional ruler and shouldn’t have mistaken him for some other persons. The master-minds of the dastardly act could have been left alone to execute their evil agenda without the active collaboration of the police, who is ordinarily expected to act impartially. The way and manner they carried out the raid is suggestive of a hatchet men’s job. The redeeming feature of the attempted murder was that their guns could not kill the king, nor did he die in their hands. One of those authors of the evil plot was said to have lamented that the mobile police should have thrown the king into the River Niger since they couldn’t kill him by their guns. Enemies are desperately wicked, aren’t they?
When in the early hours of Thursday, 22nd of March, my phone rang again; my spirit told me something worse has happened. “Is the king well?” I asked. “No, the king is dead”. At this news, the rudeness of the news was surpassed only by the shocking news itself. What could have killed the king? There was the temptation to begin to fathom the remote and proximate cause of his death. At least he was not shot dead, not beaten to death and was not thrown into the river – all these has failed to kill him. More inquiries revealed that two weeks prior to his departure, he had summoned home his eldest son and told him his time on earth was coming to an end. Three days before his demise, the King reminded his son that his time was up; and the king died! Medical experts attributed his death to cardiac arrest and diabetic conditions or whatever that means.
To begin to debate the cause of his death is to grant the enemies the liberty to begin to chuckle in triumph. The most diabolic among them may even join the mourning fray, crying louder than the bereaved even though in derision. No one needs to worry about the enemy, for if they are humans, what goes around comes around as the cycle of sadness and joy goes on in the wheel of a continuum. Really, if God doesn’t permit a thing, it cannot happen and so, neither the raid of the 10th January nor his demise of 22nd March was the handwork of man but the will of God as conceived by perverted evil men.
His Royal Highness, Ohinoyi Siaka Okaraga Lawal was born in 1943 into the Ruling House of Edima Lineage (during the reign of Obobanyi Simpa Oduba) one of the seven ruling houses of the Obobanyi of Ihima Stool. At his birth, the oracle foretold that he was going to be a king one day but on attaining adult hood; he took to farming and hunting. Through his hunting proceeds, he was ardent in serving the elders, especially, his royal predecessors such as Ohinoyi Onimisi Agere, and Ohinoyi Bello Chogudo Apana and so, when the stool became vacant in 1983 and it was the turn of Edima Ruling House to produce a successor, several names even of educated individuals came up. However, when the Oracle was consulted, His Highness was the preferred candidate, thus his ascension to the throne on 8th September, 1984.
His reign of about 28 years was fortuitous and fruitful even if tempestuous. The Obobanyi of Ihima stool was elevated to a Second-class status in 1991 and he was inaugurated the chairman of Okehi Local Government Traditional Council in 1994. He was a member of Ebira Area Traditional Council as well as Kogi State Council of Chiefs. He was a benefactor to many through his herbal medical practice. Those who have encounters with him would attest to his generous spirit and humane disposition. When his will was unduly tested between 2005/2007, he gave a good account of his royal forbearers as great men of valor!
Rest in peace, Odimboro Onoru, Adan’Ihima-Ori!!
If it were possible to cry and curse through the nose or via any other organ of the body, perhaps it would have been better, but human beings are not given the grace to choose by which other means they could express their grief or pain. And so, when it has to be done, you are left with no choice than to employ the mouth – the same channel through which we laugh, eat and pray to the Almighty God! How great the joy of the enemy would have been if they find their victims crying by some other means, other than via the mouth. Thank God they are denied the sadistic pleasure and pristine joy in watching their fellow beings bellowing their deep-seated grief by a bawl via the arse! Life, as it certainly is, consists of a cycle of sadness and joy, mourning and celebration and, laughter and crying in the wheel of a continuum. Whenever one or the other comes your way – and surely come they must – you momentarily lose the power of choice.
Sad news never come but with a rude shock; rude in the sense that it jolts you out of whatever pleasure in which you are engaged and saddles you with the unpleasant task of picking up the pieces. However, if what is un-expected has happened, ruminating upon it over and over again cannot reverse the damage already done. So, the best option which recommends itself and makes for hope is, to look into the future and what you can make out of it. To allow your detractors to meet you on a fallen state is to grant them another opportunity to do what they know best: hitting you at your most vulnerable point so as to deny you a second chance or the possibility of recovery. So much for the preliminaries of the main topic of the day.
It was on the 10th January this year and I was on my dinner table when the phone rang. In the first place, it has been my practice to put off my phone while eating but on that fateful day, I forgot to do so. The caller on the other end was sobbing and talking at the same time and with a munching mouth and unalert ears, I couldn’t immediately comprehend what he was talking about. I thought it was a case of dialing a wrong number but a few minutes later, the phone rang again, and this time the voice was clear and unmistakable. He said the King was taken away some minutes ago by some policemen. Which of the Kings and why? But he started sobbing again and became incoherent while I became fully alert. Who took which of the Kings away?
A convoy of mobile policemen armed to the teeth with an armored vehicle to boot raided the Palace of the Obobanyi of Ihima, Chief Siaka Okaraga Lawal. A guide pointed to him to identify the king as he was on a casual wear in a relaxed mood. The hoodlumish policemen without regard to his age or status pounced on him and gave him a vicious beatings and hard kicks and took him away to Lokoja. On the way, they stopped in a bush, took him out and shot him severally with their A.K 47 riffles but the bullets failed to penetrate. They resorted to twisting his neck, but again to no avail, then the gun butts were used to hit him on the legs, dislocating his ankle in the process. When their prey proved too hot to handle, and without a warrant of arrest or reason to detain him, he was released.
The police was said to have acted on an apparently false report to the effect that the witch-doctor who fortifies armed robbers for their evil operations needed to be arrested. One would have thought that an investigation to verify the authenticity of the allegation ought to have preceded the raid; this was not done, otherwise he would not have been released immediately. When they also carted away his royal regalia, it ought to have dawn on them that they are dealing with a King and not with a robber. Besides, the raid was an act of armed robbery per excellence because of the stealing of the sum of N2.250million from the Palace, apart from some items of electronics. That the raid was to kill him, there is abundant evidence, for a few weeks back, and three other traditional chiefs were killed in similar circumstances. The Ohireba of Obangede, the Ohimozi of Ebogogo and Onomu of Eika were the earlier victims.
Unless the policemen were hoodlums in uniform, and except if they were drawn from police formation of another state, police officers who has the authority to order such a raid ought to have been familiar with a second class traditional ruler and shouldn’t have mistaken him for some other persons. The master-minds of the dastardly act could have been left alone to execute their evil agenda without the active collaboration of the police, who is ordinarily expected to act impartially. The way and manner they carried out the raid is suggestive of a hatchet men’s job. The redeeming feature of the attempted murder was that their guns could not kill the king, nor did he die in their hands. One of those authors of the evil plot was said to have lamented that the mobile police should have thrown the king into the River Niger since they couldn’t kill him by their guns. Enemies are desperately wicked, aren’t they?
When in the early hours of Thursday, 22nd of March, my phone rang again; my spirit told me something worse has happened. “Is the king well?” I asked. “No, the king is dead”. At this news, the rudeness of the news was surpassed only by the shocking news itself. What could have killed the king? There was the temptation to begin to fathom the remote and proximate cause of his death. At least he was not shot dead, not beaten to death and was not thrown into the river – all these has failed to kill him. More inquiries revealed that two weeks prior to his departure, he had summoned home his eldest son and told him his time on earth was coming to an end. Three days before his demise, the King reminded his son that his time was up; and the king died! Medical experts attributed his death to cardiac arrest and diabetic conditions or whatever that means.
To begin to debate the cause of his death is to grant the enemies the liberty to begin to chuckle in triumph. The most diabolic among them may even join the mourning fray, crying louder than the bereaved even though in derision. No one needs to worry about the enemy, for if they are humans, what goes around comes around as the cycle of sadness and joy goes on in the wheel of a continuum. Really, if God doesn’t permit a thing, it cannot happen and so, neither the raid of the 10th January nor his demise of 22nd March was the handwork of man but the will of God as conceived by perverted evil men.
His Royal Highness, Ohinoyi Siaka Okaraga Lawal was born in 1943 into the Ruling House of Edima Lineage (during the reign of Obobanyi Simpa Oduba) one of the seven ruling houses of the Obobanyi of Ihima Stool. At his birth, the oracle foretold that he was going to be a king one day but on attaining adult hood; he took to farming and hunting. Through his hunting proceeds, he was ardent in serving the elders, especially, his royal predecessors such as Ohinoyi Onimisi Agere, and Ohinoyi Bello Chogudo Apana and so, when the stool became vacant in 1983 and it was the turn of Edima Ruling House to produce a successor, several names even of educated individuals came up. However, when the Oracle was consulted, His Highness was the preferred candidate, thus his ascension to the throne on 8th September, 1984.
His reign of about 28 years was fortuitous and fruitful even if tempestuous. The Obobanyi of Ihima stool was elevated to a Second-class status in 1991 and he was inaugurated the chairman of Okehi Local Government Traditional Council in 1994. He was a member of Ebira Area Traditional Council as well as Kogi State Council of Chiefs. He was a benefactor to many through his herbal medical practice. Those who have encounters with him would attest to his generous spirit and humane disposition. When his will was unduly tested between 2005/2007, he gave a good account of his royal forbearers as great men of valor!
Rest in peace, Odimboro Onoru, Adan’Ihima-Ori!!
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Corruption as a Nigerian Factor
By Sam Onimisi
The social virus called the ‘Nigerian factor’ is a killer-disease that has arrested growth and development, and murdered talents and creativity for so long that there is little hope left as to whether the country has the slimmest chance of survival, not to talk of development or growth. The ‘Naija’ factor first killed individual initiative in public office, unless such a move creates enough room for ‘chop’; because, according to a popular parlance, ‘man must whack’. The whole of the country’s annual budget is reputed to be predicated on the ‘chop or whack’ concept, and here is how. If, for instance, N200 billion is needed for provision of portable water in some rural areas of the country, those with the duty to prepare or propose the budget would rather ask for N600 billion.
Now, everyone knows that the budget will go through some process by which several institutions of state will make inputs. Before the budget gets to the Presidency, all manners of exigent scenarios would have been built into the budget to make it iron cast, if not sacrosanct. The objective is to present the Presidency with a fait accompli such that there would be some irreconcilable lacunas if the budget is tampered with as proposed. I am not saying that the Presidency does not provide for exigencies of its own. Of course, it could order or advise the budget department to make room for certain fancies in the proposed budget. However, the public office holder who proposes and implement public budget is the ubiquitous civil servant in the Ministries and so, looking into the concept of ‘chop or whack’, there is no use looking elsewhere but to start with the directors and permanent secretaries or directors-general.
Once the President has presented the budget, the battle ground shifts to the National Assembly where the House and the Senate Committee on Annual Budgets are waiting for their pounds of flesh. Who is not familiar with their scarecrow tactics? First, they would discover a missing loop which must be explained and next, they would uncover a lump that must be disentangled and then go ahead to drill holes in the rationale for the figures allocated to the various sub-heads of the budget. If they are only exercising their oversight functions, it would be understandable. What we are talking about is beyond any oversight responsibility. The thing is like asking: “where is the provision for my chop, or shouldn’t I whack?” Negotiations beings in earnest some parts of which are not meant for public consumption. You see, in spite of the moral decadence of our society, the question of ‘chops’ and ‘whacks’ are often wrapped in utmost secrecy and what is publicly disclosed is for the purpose of our hoodwink, for man must whack!
The general public often blames the ‘politician’ for their woes, for corruption or incompetence. Unknown to them, the politician is more or less co-opted into the corrupt script by the civil servant; but because the loquacious elected representative is the one permitted to speak to the public, he is often held responsible for what is actually the fault of the civil servant. Remember, the civil servant is to be seen and not to be heard. At the end of all debates, everyone would have been ‘settled’ except the public. The water project would now be N500 billion and you would be made to believe that N100 billion has been saved. Whereas, what has been lost to the leaches in public service amounts to N300 billion! That may not be the total loss because; there are some rats along the long chain of officials who would need to be taken care of. The contractors will be left with that burden and so, the actual value of the water project which ordinarily would have cost tax payers N200 billion, will now cost them N500 billion while the practical value may just be about N150 billion!
If our reasoning is correct, it means that the menace of ghost workers is actually the idea of a broad spectrum of the civil service and everyone that should know are aware that there are more ghosts in the public service of the country than humans with flesh and blood. What matters to our civil servants is what accrues to them at the end of the month. (Don’t be daft; we are not talking about their salaries). The ghosts are unlike the living; once an agreement is reached, the ghosts are quick to deliver and they do so either to the coded accounts of their living collaborators, or hire people with flesh and blood to collect the cash on their behalf. Someone out there is talking about the ICPC and the EFCC watching the ghosts to swindle our treasury without reaction. Mumu!!
The EFCC and the ICPC were established some ten years back and we are talking about a phenomenon that is about 30 years old, if not older. What it means is that the practice of ‘chop’, ‘whack’, ‘settlement’ and budgeting for ghosts are part of the ingredients with which those bodies were established! Moreover, it is not in the mandate of the anti-graft agencies to scrutinize or approve budgets. Their scanners – if they have any – are incapable of detecting ghosts and even if they could, their own ghosts within will ensure that it fails – for ghosts don’t fight ghosts! “Ok then, why not go to court and ensure that all budgets are examined or at least are queried before their approval?” When I sought to know who asked the question, I found him to be a recent deportee from the United States for forged visa offence!
If I were to go to court, I would have to hire a lawyer at a fee at my own expense. The attorney and the Judge are lawyers playing different roles in the script of justice. The courts are not known to possess equipments for detecting inflated budgets, but they have the prerogative to ask me to prove my case beyond reasonable doubt. The judge is no doubt a human being but when ghosts are involved, the judge would require from me some specimen of ghosts as evidence to prove my allegations. Pray, where will I go to obtain one or two ghosts as my witness? If the judiciary prepares budgets, it means that there is the possibility of ghost judges in the service of the courts, and if one of them is the presiding judge, my case will not be decided in the open court but at the judge’s chambers, with my lawyer in attendance. Since you are neither at the Bar nor in the Bench, the judgment in the chambers cannot have your inputs as only your attorney or solicitor is qualified to be there. After all, the only learnered people or ghosts on earth are men/women of the Bar and the Bench! At the end, your lawyer will settle with the ghost judge and when he returns to you, he would advise you to let go the matter and warn or remind you that one day, you would be a mementomori. Case closed? Oh y-e-s! C-o-u-r-t!!
“Excuse me sir. I disagree with you that there are ghost workers feeding fat on ghost budgets. We have auditors-general whose duty is to authenticate budgets, costs, expenditures, taxes etc, and there is no reason to believe they are not doing their jobs?” Someone behind me volunteered to answer this question and I obliged him. He said that auditors-general and accountants-general are both civil servants holding one end of the budget rod or the other. He asked to be told or reminded of an incidence of disagreement between the two public officers in the last 30years. He sought to know the role played by the auditor-general in the trillion naira petroleum subsidy scandal or in the billions Naira Police Pension Fund and other jumbo thievery in the civil service. He concluded by calling the asker of that question a mumumu!! I beg to review that judgment and I reduce the sentence to mumu only. However, why can’t we insist on a return to the 1970’s when each government department has a staff list published for public use? With it, we are sure to cut the tail of corruption in public service.
The social virus called the ‘Nigerian factor’ is a killer-disease that has arrested growth and development, and murdered talents and creativity for so long that there is little hope left as to whether the country has the slimmest chance of survival, not to talk of development or growth. The ‘Naija’ factor first killed individual initiative in public office, unless such a move creates enough room for ‘chop’; because, according to a popular parlance, ‘man must whack’. The whole of the country’s annual budget is reputed to be predicated on the ‘chop or whack’ concept, and here is how. If, for instance, N200 billion is needed for provision of portable water in some rural areas of the country, those with the duty to prepare or propose the budget would rather ask for N600 billion.
Now, everyone knows that the budget will go through some process by which several institutions of state will make inputs. Before the budget gets to the Presidency, all manners of exigent scenarios would have been built into the budget to make it iron cast, if not sacrosanct. The objective is to present the Presidency with a fait accompli such that there would be some irreconcilable lacunas if the budget is tampered with as proposed. I am not saying that the Presidency does not provide for exigencies of its own. Of course, it could order or advise the budget department to make room for certain fancies in the proposed budget. However, the public office holder who proposes and implement public budget is the ubiquitous civil servant in the Ministries and so, looking into the concept of ‘chop or whack’, there is no use looking elsewhere but to start with the directors and permanent secretaries or directors-general.
Once the President has presented the budget, the battle ground shifts to the National Assembly where the House and the Senate Committee on Annual Budgets are waiting for their pounds of flesh. Who is not familiar with their scarecrow tactics? First, they would discover a missing loop which must be explained and next, they would uncover a lump that must be disentangled and then go ahead to drill holes in the rationale for the figures allocated to the various sub-heads of the budget. If they are only exercising their oversight functions, it would be understandable. What we are talking about is beyond any oversight responsibility. The thing is like asking: “where is the provision for my chop, or shouldn’t I whack?” Negotiations beings in earnest some parts of which are not meant for public consumption. You see, in spite of the moral decadence of our society, the question of ‘chops’ and ‘whacks’ are often wrapped in utmost secrecy and what is publicly disclosed is for the purpose of our hoodwink, for man must whack!
The general public often blames the ‘politician’ for their woes, for corruption or incompetence. Unknown to them, the politician is more or less co-opted into the corrupt script by the civil servant; but because the loquacious elected representative is the one permitted to speak to the public, he is often held responsible for what is actually the fault of the civil servant. Remember, the civil servant is to be seen and not to be heard. At the end of all debates, everyone would have been ‘settled’ except the public. The water project would now be N500 billion and you would be made to believe that N100 billion has been saved. Whereas, what has been lost to the leaches in public service amounts to N300 billion! That may not be the total loss because; there are some rats along the long chain of officials who would need to be taken care of. The contractors will be left with that burden and so, the actual value of the water project which ordinarily would have cost tax payers N200 billion, will now cost them N500 billion while the practical value may just be about N150 billion!
If our reasoning is correct, it means that the menace of ghost workers is actually the idea of a broad spectrum of the civil service and everyone that should know are aware that there are more ghosts in the public service of the country than humans with flesh and blood. What matters to our civil servants is what accrues to them at the end of the month. (Don’t be daft; we are not talking about their salaries). The ghosts are unlike the living; once an agreement is reached, the ghosts are quick to deliver and they do so either to the coded accounts of their living collaborators, or hire people with flesh and blood to collect the cash on their behalf. Someone out there is talking about the ICPC and the EFCC watching the ghosts to swindle our treasury without reaction. Mumu!!
The EFCC and the ICPC were established some ten years back and we are talking about a phenomenon that is about 30 years old, if not older. What it means is that the practice of ‘chop’, ‘whack’, ‘settlement’ and budgeting for ghosts are part of the ingredients with which those bodies were established! Moreover, it is not in the mandate of the anti-graft agencies to scrutinize or approve budgets. Their scanners – if they have any – are incapable of detecting ghosts and even if they could, their own ghosts within will ensure that it fails – for ghosts don’t fight ghosts! “Ok then, why not go to court and ensure that all budgets are examined or at least are queried before their approval?” When I sought to know who asked the question, I found him to be a recent deportee from the United States for forged visa offence!
If I were to go to court, I would have to hire a lawyer at a fee at my own expense. The attorney and the Judge are lawyers playing different roles in the script of justice. The courts are not known to possess equipments for detecting inflated budgets, but they have the prerogative to ask me to prove my case beyond reasonable doubt. The judge is no doubt a human being but when ghosts are involved, the judge would require from me some specimen of ghosts as evidence to prove my allegations. Pray, where will I go to obtain one or two ghosts as my witness? If the judiciary prepares budgets, it means that there is the possibility of ghost judges in the service of the courts, and if one of them is the presiding judge, my case will not be decided in the open court but at the judge’s chambers, with my lawyer in attendance. Since you are neither at the Bar nor in the Bench, the judgment in the chambers cannot have your inputs as only your attorney or solicitor is qualified to be there. After all, the only learnered people or ghosts on earth are men/women of the Bar and the Bench! At the end, your lawyer will settle with the ghost judge and when he returns to you, he would advise you to let go the matter and warn or remind you that one day, you would be a mementomori. Case closed? Oh y-e-s! C-o-u-r-t!!
“Excuse me sir. I disagree with you that there are ghost workers feeding fat on ghost budgets. We have auditors-general whose duty is to authenticate budgets, costs, expenditures, taxes etc, and there is no reason to believe they are not doing their jobs?” Someone behind me volunteered to answer this question and I obliged him. He said that auditors-general and accountants-general are both civil servants holding one end of the budget rod or the other. He asked to be told or reminded of an incidence of disagreement between the two public officers in the last 30years. He sought to know the role played by the auditor-general in the trillion naira petroleum subsidy scandal or in the billions Naira Police Pension Fund and other jumbo thievery in the civil service. He concluded by calling the asker of that question a mumumu!! I beg to review that judgment and I reduce the sentence to mumu only. However, why can’t we insist on a return to the 1970’s when each government department has a staff list published for public use? With it, we are sure to cut the tail of corruption in public service.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Of Poverty, Revenue & Surplus Allocation
By Sam Onimisi
One need not be a soothsayer to predict a looming battle which will be fought on geo-political basis as soon as the combatants are done with their preparation-and it is going to be a three-pronged battle. The issues, causes, and reasons for the ‘war’ are strewn in the streets and only the very lackadaisical among Nigerians would by now be oblivious of it. Let us quickly make an outline of the issues, the forces behind the clamor and the possible beneficiaries and victims of what promises to be an obstreperous mayhem. First, the National Assembly is currently engaged in a cantankerous debate over the huge allocation of funds for projects in the South-South geo-political zone as against other zones, especially the three Northern geo-political zones. Second, a group of concerned Northerners has opted for the controversial ‘Sovereign’ National Conference as a way or means of re-positioning the North to regain its pre-eminent or controlling position in the political economy of the country; and to resolve the security challenge posed by the Boko Haram terrorists. And third, the Northern Governors’ Forum is calling for a new revenue formula to replace the current one which is perceived as unfavorable to the North.
Given the zeal and glee with which the Northern Caucus of the National Assembly rolled out statistical data to back up their claims, one would be tempted to accuse or dub them as surrealists. The immediate problem I see in their approach is the very complex econometrics they employed in making out their case which, as it is, will require a large number of econometricians or econometrists to sort out and make simple for the common man to understand or support.
My pain is that national debates such as this were always conducted in such an obstreperous manner and at the end; the real issues and the desirable benefits would be lost without gains, and making no one wiser than hitherto. For this singular reason, one is forced to join this debate or battle without the facts available to the distinguished and honorable members of the National Assembly, the ubiquitous Northern Governors Forum, or even the fledging coalition of Concerned Northerners. While the three Northern groups are ready to quote copiously from the large quantum of statistical data at their disposal, one is free to contribute to the debate using a commonsensical approach. I beg of you, is there any offence in this?
The issues the three Northern Groups are championing are basically the same and could be reduced to one: a better or more appropriate political economy for Nigeria. The Northern Caucus of the National Assembly was accused by a colleague and friend of mine of insincerity and opined that they are fighting for selfish interests and not for the poor people of the North. He questioned their legitimacy in terms of their numerical strength in the legislature-a number which he said is derived from the dubious population censuses of the past and the equally questionable creation of more states and Local Government Councils in the North upon which representation in the National Assembly and the revenue allocation and sharing formula were based. Take special note of the issues he has questioned as they are not only germane but central to the legitimacy of the Nigerian nation-state. Before I could caution this Pontius Pilate against his seemingly incendiary opinion, he rushed ahead to assert that the very resources from which revenue are derived-petroleum and gas-constitutes about 90% of Nigeria’s foreign income earner and that it is derived from the soil of the Niger Delta. He sought to know the contribution of the North to the national purse or treasury from which they share what they see as inadequate. He questioned the North’s sense of fairness in comparing the flat desert terrain of the North compared to the swampy and tortuous topography of the South, especially of the Niger Delta, in the area of costs of construction of roads and houses. He said that civil engineering costs in the South-South are at least 8 times more than similar projects in the North.
In what turned out to be a monologue instead of a dialogue, our friend went on memory lane to recall those who rule Nigeria from independence and that majority of them were Northerners who formulated and implemented or supervised the implementation of economic, political and socio-cultural policies-all of which he claimed were slanted and skewed in favour of the North. Of a truth, my mind quickly remembered Tafawa Balewa, 1960 to 1966, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, July 1966 – July 1975, Alh. Shehu Shagari, 1979 – 1983, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, 1983 – 1985; Gen. Ibrahim Babamasi Babangida, 1985 – 1993; Gen. Sani Abacha, 1993 to 1998; Gen. Abubakar Abdulsalam, 1998 – 1999 and Alh. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, 2007 – 2010. This represents about 37 years of Nigeria’s 52 years of independence! The tenure of Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi is cancelled out by that of Gen. Murtala Muhammad both of who served for six months each. Earnest Shonekan’s two months was everything but a Shenanigan!
Now my friend asked: if there is poverty and illiteracy in the North, who created or nurtured them? He sought to know why the North is still complaining in spite of 35 years of Quota System of admission to tertiary institutions which gave the North a lower pass-mark as against that of the South. He also asked if it was anyone from outside the North who forbids them from going to school-a development which he said is, as old as the Lugardian era which has since metamorphosed into a terrorist organization called the Boko Haram.
This friend of mine appeared to be so possessed of the issues that he didn’t allow me a moment to respond. He said that he knew of no one in the South-South who prevented the North from industrialization out of the trillions of Naira they allocated to themselves during their years in power. He went as far as reeling out figures of the investment portfolio of former Heads of State of Northern extraction in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Dubai, and Doha, not to mention those in Britain, United States, France and Switzerland. To make matters worse, he accused them of looting the nation’s treasury only to use it to purchase public enterprises which they sold to themselves at very cheap prices. He went on and on until I got exasperated and reminded him of the criminality of the Niger Delta boys which forced late President Umaru Yar’Adua to take military action against them. I also reminded him of the magnanimity of the late President who instituted an amnesty programme for the rehabilitation of the South-South ex-militants.
He interjected again to mention the statement credited to Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who claimed that the Boko Haram rebellion is a protest against the lopsided revenue formula which deprived Northern States of their fair share of the national cake. He asserted that Sanusi was either being economical with the truth or he was being mischievous. He said Yar’Adua acted in self and group interest by unleashing soldiers against the Niger Delta militants and that the amnesty was to pacify the militants to stop disrupting the flow of oil from the oil blocks and fields allocated to Northerners by northern heads of government.
If all my friend said are true, then three issues came out in bold relief and they are: that there is no agreement in all fundamental areas of nationhood as the real population of the federating units, the basis of revenue generation and sharing formula, the administrative units or geo-political structures are in dispute and are being questioned. The fact that the Boko Haram has taken up arms against the state constitutes even a more serious challenge to Nigeria’s nationhood. Unless we all want to join the Boko Haram war to answer the question once and for all, the sensible alternative is to engage in national dialogue for the sole purpose of negotiating new terms of co-habitation as one nation-state, though with a caveat: since the existing institutions of governance are the products of impunity of the past which has failed woefully but which still tilts towards maintaining the status quo, a new body must be constituted to convoke an Ethnic Nationalities Conference, the outcome of which will produce a new Constitution for the country. And the earlier, the better!
One need not be a soothsayer to predict a looming battle which will be fought on geo-political basis as soon as the combatants are done with their preparation-and it is going to be a three-pronged battle. The issues, causes, and reasons for the ‘war’ are strewn in the streets and only the very lackadaisical among Nigerians would by now be oblivious of it. Let us quickly make an outline of the issues, the forces behind the clamor and the possible beneficiaries and victims of what promises to be an obstreperous mayhem. First, the National Assembly is currently engaged in a cantankerous debate over the huge allocation of funds for projects in the South-South geo-political zone as against other zones, especially the three Northern geo-political zones. Second, a group of concerned Northerners has opted for the controversial ‘Sovereign’ National Conference as a way or means of re-positioning the North to regain its pre-eminent or controlling position in the political economy of the country; and to resolve the security challenge posed by the Boko Haram terrorists. And third, the Northern Governors’ Forum is calling for a new revenue formula to replace the current one which is perceived as unfavorable to the North.
Given the zeal and glee with which the Northern Caucus of the National Assembly rolled out statistical data to back up their claims, one would be tempted to accuse or dub them as surrealists. The immediate problem I see in their approach is the very complex econometrics they employed in making out their case which, as it is, will require a large number of econometricians or econometrists to sort out and make simple for the common man to understand or support.
My pain is that national debates such as this were always conducted in such an obstreperous manner and at the end; the real issues and the desirable benefits would be lost without gains, and making no one wiser than hitherto. For this singular reason, one is forced to join this debate or battle without the facts available to the distinguished and honorable members of the National Assembly, the ubiquitous Northern Governors Forum, or even the fledging coalition of Concerned Northerners. While the three Northern groups are ready to quote copiously from the large quantum of statistical data at their disposal, one is free to contribute to the debate using a commonsensical approach. I beg of you, is there any offence in this?
The issues the three Northern Groups are championing are basically the same and could be reduced to one: a better or more appropriate political economy for Nigeria. The Northern Caucus of the National Assembly was accused by a colleague and friend of mine of insincerity and opined that they are fighting for selfish interests and not for the poor people of the North. He questioned their legitimacy in terms of their numerical strength in the legislature-a number which he said is derived from the dubious population censuses of the past and the equally questionable creation of more states and Local Government Councils in the North upon which representation in the National Assembly and the revenue allocation and sharing formula were based. Take special note of the issues he has questioned as they are not only germane but central to the legitimacy of the Nigerian nation-state. Before I could caution this Pontius Pilate against his seemingly incendiary opinion, he rushed ahead to assert that the very resources from which revenue are derived-petroleum and gas-constitutes about 90% of Nigeria’s foreign income earner and that it is derived from the soil of the Niger Delta. He sought to know the contribution of the North to the national purse or treasury from which they share what they see as inadequate. He questioned the North’s sense of fairness in comparing the flat desert terrain of the North compared to the swampy and tortuous topography of the South, especially of the Niger Delta, in the area of costs of construction of roads and houses. He said that civil engineering costs in the South-South are at least 8 times more than similar projects in the North.
In what turned out to be a monologue instead of a dialogue, our friend went on memory lane to recall those who rule Nigeria from independence and that majority of them were Northerners who formulated and implemented or supervised the implementation of economic, political and socio-cultural policies-all of which he claimed were slanted and skewed in favour of the North. Of a truth, my mind quickly remembered Tafawa Balewa, 1960 to 1966, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, July 1966 – July 1975, Alh. Shehu Shagari, 1979 – 1983, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, 1983 – 1985; Gen. Ibrahim Babamasi Babangida, 1985 – 1993; Gen. Sani Abacha, 1993 to 1998; Gen. Abubakar Abdulsalam, 1998 – 1999 and Alh. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, 2007 – 2010. This represents about 37 years of Nigeria’s 52 years of independence! The tenure of Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi is cancelled out by that of Gen. Murtala Muhammad both of who served for six months each. Earnest Shonekan’s two months was everything but a Shenanigan!
Now my friend asked: if there is poverty and illiteracy in the North, who created or nurtured them? He sought to know why the North is still complaining in spite of 35 years of Quota System of admission to tertiary institutions which gave the North a lower pass-mark as against that of the South. He also asked if it was anyone from outside the North who forbids them from going to school-a development which he said is, as old as the Lugardian era which has since metamorphosed into a terrorist organization called the Boko Haram.
This friend of mine appeared to be so possessed of the issues that he didn’t allow me a moment to respond. He said that he knew of no one in the South-South who prevented the North from industrialization out of the trillions of Naira they allocated to themselves during their years in power. He went as far as reeling out figures of the investment portfolio of former Heads of State of Northern extraction in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Dubai, and Doha, not to mention those in Britain, United States, France and Switzerland. To make matters worse, he accused them of looting the nation’s treasury only to use it to purchase public enterprises which they sold to themselves at very cheap prices. He went on and on until I got exasperated and reminded him of the criminality of the Niger Delta boys which forced late President Umaru Yar’Adua to take military action against them. I also reminded him of the magnanimity of the late President who instituted an amnesty programme for the rehabilitation of the South-South ex-militants.
He interjected again to mention the statement credited to Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who claimed that the Boko Haram rebellion is a protest against the lopsided revenue formula which deprived Northern States of their fair share of the national cake. He asserted that Sanusi was either being economical with the truth or he was being mischievous. He said Yar’Adua acted in self and group interest by unleashing soldiers against the Niger Delta militants and that the amnesty was to pacify the militants to stop disrupting the flow of oil from the oil blocks and fields allocated to Northerners by northern heads of government.
If all my friend said are true, then three issues came out in bold relief and they are: that there is no agreement in all fundamental areas of nationhood as the real population of the federating units, the basis of revenue generation and sharing formula, the administrative units or geo-political structures are in dispute and are being questioned. The fact that the Boko Haram has taken up arms against the state constitutes even a more serious challenge to Nigeria’s nationhood. Unless we all want to join the Boko Haram war to answer the question once and for all, the sensible alternative is to engage in national dialogue for the sole purpose of negotiating new terms of co-habitation as one nation-state, though with a caveat: since the existing institutions of governance are the products of impunity of the past which has failed woefully but which still tilts towards maintaining the status quo, a new body must be constituted to convoke an Ethnic Nationalities Conference, the outcome of which will produce a new Constitution for the country. And the earlier, the better!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Between Fiefdoms & States Creation
By Sam Onimisi
In a recent public lecture by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu organized by the Otu Oka’ Iwu in Lagos, it was made known that there are presently about 45 requests for the creation of new states before the National Assembly. Before going into the merit or demerits of creation of more states, we should have an idea of how the new requests are made. The South South Geo-political zone made 13 requests as against 10 from the South West. The South East has 8 requests compared to the North West’s 6 requests while the North Central and the North East has 5 and 3 requests respectively. If wishes were hoses, the 45 requests would be as good as created and that will bring the number of states to 81, apart from the Federal Capital Territory. There is no guarantee that people will not have reasons to request for even more states and before we know it, we could have as many as 100 states by the year 2015! But why are people demanding for more states?
There are as many reasons as could be adduced or invented by agitators for creation of more states. At the moment, the reasons are: fear of marginalization, the need for equity and fairness, the fear of ethnic and religious minorities and to bring government closer to the people for the purpose of development. In other words, there is injustice and inequity in the current Geo-political structure which needs to be redressed, and some people believe that the only way to achieve them is to create more states. If anything, I have sympathy for the agitators of creation of more states because I feel for them and do understand the trauma and deprivation they have had to endure so far. While the reasons they adduced in favour of more states appear plausible, their demand is not and can never be the required panacea for equity and fairness in the polity. Why do I say so?
First, Nigeria is not a nation to which all Nigerian ethnic nations subscribed by voluntary choice. Second, there is no basis, no terms and therefore no reason why Nigeria should have been merged or should still exist as one country. Third, there is no subsistence pact, agreement or terms to which the people subscribed as the basis of our Union as one compatible nation-state. Therefore, the creation and subsequent merger of the so-called Protectorate of Northern and Southern Provinces were by foreign do-gooders and mercantile colonizers, without the input and consent of the various people of the geographical space known today as Nigeria. The fad called unity-in-diversity which was often given as the beauty or basis of our togetherness is a lie of the highest order. Really? Yes! If our diversity is so good as to erect bonds of unity, why do we go to great length to conceal them and pretend they do not exist?
Our ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural diversities are natural creations over which no Nigerian had a choice. As a result, any merger between one or more ethnic group with another in an administrative unit must be on the basis of a mutual agreement entered into by all parties to it, if the merger or the union is to endure. Unfortunately, none of the existing 36 states has such an agreement prior to their creation. None was subjected to a referendum to ascertain the desires of the people herded into these states. Any wonder that after several years of their interactions, they discovered that they are not compatible as to get along and so, agitation for a new state out of the old one becomes an answer? If majority rule is a fundamental requirement for a democracy, self-determination is a more fundamental human rights of all people, both of majority and of minorities. Many states in Nigeria has become the property of certain ethnic groups or religious groups on the basis of majority rule.
If a group is so major as to monopolize political power to the exclusion of other groups, it must not be to the extent of making the minorities into slaves. What is the value of a majority rule if they are being sustained by the resources in the soil of the minorities? Who donated the minorities to the majorities? Why must they remain together if the so-called majority group monopolize the resources of the minorities by stealth? If you look at states such as Kogi, Benue, Delta, Adamawa, Nassarawa, Kaduna and Kwara States, the reason for demands for new states emanated from the monopoly of power by either an ethnic group or a religious group. If power cannot be devolved, it can be separated so each group-whether major or minor-could be on their own on the basis of self-determination. No union can endure if it is sustained by force and that is why unity remains a mirage between and among different ethnic, religious and geographical groups in Nigeria. In order for the demand for more states to abate, our ethnic, religious, linguistic and geographical diversities must be configured into our Geo-political structures. How?
The present structure evolved by both an expediency and or vindictive actions of the powers-that-be at certain critical points of our history. The first state creation exercise was to severe Eastern minorities from the Igbo-dominated region with a view of isolating the Biafran Igbo people, either to avert the civil war or to disable the secessionists for ultimate defeat. Subsequent state creation exercises never really departed from the iniquitous reasons of the past colonial and military regimes. What we have as Geo-political structures today is like a foundation for a bungalow but now with a 20 storey building. Neither the foundation nor the building is safe as the one cannot carry the other. If it appears that I am for and against creation of more states at the same time, here are my reason.
No polity established on falsehood and presumptions can endure and Nigeria is one of such polities. We started by running a federal system and the military came and changed it into a unitary system but continue to lie and pretend that we are a Federal republic. Yet, succeeding civil governments continued to tinker with military imposed unitary Constitution in a multi-ethnic country, thinking erroneously that the unitary system will bring about unity, but that hope is built on false premises, which is why it failed to work. For States to be viable in a multi-national country, it must be created on the basis of ethnic nationalities, geographical contiguity, cultural and linguistic affiliation etc. However, because many ethnic groups are two small and economically weak to form a state, a group of them could come together to form a federated state-provided they are or belong to a region with which they are contiguous.
A return to new regionalism is the answer. New, because it is no longer three or four but about twenty or a little more. The regions should have the right to create their own states since the federating unit so recognized will be the regions. The so-called six geopolitical zones are injurious to the minority ethnic groups and therefore are unacceptable. The 36 states structure are too artificial and inorganic-which is why 45 new demands for state creation is oozing out of them. A group of patriotic Nigerians showed the way forward in 2005 when they convoked a Peoples National Conference out of which the PRONACO proposed federal constitution emerged. That document deserve more than a cursory glance by all Nigerians who wants the country to remain united. Unity in diversity should be one in which ethnic groups enjoy internal autonomy, not one in which some are ordained rulers while others are sentenced to a life of servitude. There is no value of a unity at all costs; the cost of our forced unity has been very exorbitant and now, too prohibitive to bear. Let us restructure Nigeria in peace rather than in pieces!
In a recent public lecture by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu organized by the Otu Oka’ Iwu in Lagos, it was made known that there are presently about 45 requests for the creation of new states before the National Assembly. Before going into the merit or demerits of creation of more states, we should have an idea of how the new requests are made. The South South Geo-political zone made 13 requests as against 10 from the South West. The South East has 8 requests compared to the North West’s 6 requests while the North Central and the North East has 5 and 3 requests respectively. If wishes were hoses, the 45 requests would be as good as created and that will bring the number of states to 81, apart from the Federal Capital Territory. There is no guarantee that people will not have reasons to request for even more states and before we know it, we could have as many as 100 states by the year 2015! But why are people demanding for more states?
There are as many reasons as could be adduced or invented by agitators for creation of more states. At the moment, the reasons are: fear of marginalization, the need for equity and fairness, the fear of ethnic and religious minorities and to bring government closer to the people for the purpose of development. In other words, there is injustice and inequity in the current Geo-political structure which needs to be redressed, and some people believe that the only way to achieve them is to create more states. If anything, I have sympathy for the agitators of creation of more states because I feel for them and do understand the trauma and deprivation they have had to endure so far. While the reasons they adduced in favour of more states appear plausible, their demand is not and can never be the required panacea for equity and fairness in the polity. Why do I say so?
First, Nigeria is not a nation to which all Nigerian ethnic nations subscribed by voluntary choice. Second, there is no basis, no terms and therefore no reason why Nigeria should have been merged or should still exist as one country. Third, there is no subsistence pact, agreement or terms to which the people subscribed as the basis of our Union as one compatible nation-state. Therefore, the creation and subsequent merger of the so-called Protectorate of Northern and Southern Provinces were by foreign do-gooders and mercantile colonizers, without the input and consent of the various people of the geographical space known today as Nigeria. The fad called unity-in-diversity which was often given as the beauty or basis of our togetherness is a lie of the highest order. Really? Yes! If our diversity is so good as to erect bonds of unity, why do we go to great length to conceal them and pretend they do not exist?
Our ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural diversities are natural creations over which no Nigerian had a choice. As a result, any merger between one or more ethnic group with another in an administrative unit must be on the basis of a mutual agreement entered into by all parties to it, if the merger or the union is to endure. Unfortunately, none of the existing 36 states has such an agreement prior to their creation. None was subjected to a referendum to ascertain the desires of the people herded into these states. Any wonder that after several years of their interactions, they discovered that they are not compatible as to get along and so, agitation for a new state out of the old one becomes an answer? If majority rule is a fundamental requirement for a democracy, self-determination is a more fundamental human rights of all people, both of majority and of minorities. Many states in Nigeria has become the property of certain ethnic groups or religious groups on the basis of majority rule.
If a group is so major as to monopolize political power to the exclusion of other groups, it must not be to the extent of making the minorities into slaves. What is the value of a majority rule if they are being sustained by the resources in the soil of the minorities? Who donated the minorities to the majorities? Why must they remain together if the so-called majority group monopolize the resources of the minorities by stealth? If you look at states such as Kogi, Benue, Delta, Adamawa, Nassarawa, Kaduna and Kwara States, the reason for demands for new states emanated from the monopoly of power by either an ethnic group or a religious group. If power cannot be devolved, it can be separated so each group-whether major or minor-could be on their own on the basis of self-determination. No union can endure if it is sustained by force and that is why unity remains a mirage between and among different ethnic, religious and geographical groups in Nigeria. In order for the demand for more states to abate, our ethnic, religious, linguistic and geographical diversities must be configured into our Geo-political structures. How?
The present structure evolved by both an expediency and or vindictive actions of the powers-that-be at certain critical points of our history. The first state creation exercise was to severe Eastern minorities from the Igbo-dominated region with a view of isolating the Biafran Igbo people, either to avert the civil war or to disable the secessionists for ultimate defeat. Subsequent state creation exercises never really departed from the iniquitous reasons of the past colonial and military regimes. What we have as Geo-political structures today is like a foundation for a bungalow but now with a 20 storey building. Neither the foundation nor the building is safe as the one cannot carry the other. If it appears that I am for and against creation of more states at the same time, here are my reason.
No polity established on falsehood and presumptions can endure and Nigeria is one of such polities. We started by running a federal system and the military came and changed it into a unitary system but continue to lie and pretend that we are a Federal republic. Yet, succeeding civil governments continued to tinker with military imposed unitary Constitution in a multi-ethnic country, thinking erroneously that the unitary system will bring about unity, but that hope is built on false premises, which is why it failed to work. For States to be viable in a multi-national country, it must be created on the basis of ethnic nationalities, geographical contiguity, cultural and linguistic affiliation etc. However, because many ethnic groups are two small and economically weak to form a state, a group of them could come together to form a federated state-provided they are or belong to a region with which they are contiguous.
A return to new regionalism is the answer. New, because it is no longer three or four but about twenty or a little more. The regions should have the right to create their own states since the federating unit so recognized will be the regions. The so-called six geopolitical zones are injurious to the minority ethnic groups and therefore are unacceptable. The 36 states structure are too artificial and inorganic-which is why 45 new demands for state creation is oozing out of them. A group of patriotic Nigerians showed the way forward in 2005 when they convoked a Peoples National Conference out of which the PRONACO proposed federal constitution emerged. That document deserve more than a cursory glance by all Nigerians who wants the country to remain united. Unity in diversity should be one in which ethnic groups enjoy internal autonomy, not one in which some are ordained rulers while others are sentenced to a life of servitude. There is no value of a unity at all costs; the cost of our forced unity has been very exorbitant and now, too prohibitive to bear. Let us restructure Nigeria in peace rather than in pieces!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
The Day Tinubu Goofed
By Sam Onimisi
It is no doubt a painful exercise to have to oppose someone who is perceived as an icon and who in the past, has demonstrated some attributes of a great leader. If anything, it is a proof of the truism that no man is infallible and so, when they fall, it should be duly reported and the individual has to be put in his proper place. Former Lagos State Governor and national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu missed the mark last week when he accused President Goodluck Jonathan of dividing the country along ethnic and religious lines without producing a shred of evidence. As the foremost opposition leader in the country today, his views on all issues especially, on emotive subjects, such as religion carries a lot of weight. But this time and on this occasion, Asiwaju Tinubu goofed badly.
First, his insistence on a genuinely organized national conference, in the face of serious threat to Nigeria’s sovereignty is correct. If he attacks Mr. President on this issue for rejecting the call for a national conference, that is as it should be; for only the wilfully blind would kick against the need for a national dialogue at this point in time or at any other point for that matter. I join Asiwaju Tinubu and other well-meaning Nigerians in calling on Mr. President to see the need for and embrace the call for a national conference to decide on centrifugal forces militating against the oneness of Nigeria. This is because the existing institutions of state has proved incapable of doing so on the basis of moral illegitimacy. This is a matter for another day. Now back to Tinubu’s attack. “Mr. President should stop dividing the country on the basis of religion and ethnicity. Don’t divide Nigeria between Christians and Muslims. We need religious tolerance and inter-faith harmony in this country.… We want unity in diversity for economic prosperity and not divide-and-rule for political adversity,” he said.
Asiwaju Tinubu said these on an occasion when his friends and associates were gathered at Ilesha, Osun State to celebrate a new Chieftaincy title, the Agba-Akin Adinni of Ijesha. His dress for the occasion was that of an Islamic Mujahid, not different from what the Boko Haram sponsors puts on daily. He failed to adduce reason or evidence of the President’s divisive religious antics which could be interpreted to mean a divide-and-rule move. For a man whose words are wont to be taken seriously, it was a gaffe too loose to be responsible. Tinubu may have some mementos to show for his neutral stance on ethnic sentiment, given the fact that he appointed or allowed to be appointed some Igbo residents in Lagos as commissioners in charge of some innocuous portfolios. However, the same thing cannot be said of his religious tolerance-the very high ground on which he attacked Jonathan.
Truly as he admitted: “… born a Muslim as a politician I secure votes from Christians, Muslims and traditionalists”; it can be said that he woo non-Muslims only for electoral purposes, and here are the proofs. Since he became governor in 1999, Tinubu appointed Muslims in larger number into his cabinet and gave them juicy port-folios. When it was time to leave in 2007, he did all he could to ensure that another Muslim succeeded him. If Fashola turned out to be an excellent choice, it is not because he is a Muslim by faith but because he is a fine mind. Governor Rauf Aregbesola was the commissioner for works under governor Tinubu whose support made the former governor of Osun State. Tinubu has literally confined Lagos Christians to the deputy governors position – something of a second fiddle. He is on record to have caused his deputy to be removed twice during his tenure (remember Femi Pedro?) if he perceived they could pose a threat to his electoral maneuvers.
As the kingmaker in 2007, he ensured that a woman was picked by Fashola as running mate who, was also dropped in 2011 for another woman – to avoid a situation when a Christian woman would be strong enough to challenge or bid for the office of the governor. If Tinubu ought to be commended for reserving the deputy governor’s office for gender equity, it is not a proof that he didn’t do so for religious reasons. Yes, the Asiwaju of Lagos and Jagaba of Borgu is married to a Christian woman and often attend church ceremonies along with her. But those who knows him enough vowed that it is all a cosmetics and not a proof of religious tolerance. “He wanted a fine lady at all cost and found one in Oluremi who gave one strong condition. That she be left alone with her Christian faith, to which Bola concurred.” In other words, if and whenever he needs support, he is ready to drop his religious fundamentalism and pick it up again after he has had his way! Talk of a clever politician!!
As someone eying national political leadership, one would have thought that his party would be sensitive enough to ensure religious equity in his party staff structure. Does he not stand accused of religious sentiment if under his watch, the ACN has a Muslim National Chairman, national secretary, national publicity secretary etc? Yet, he is the National Leader of the party! Moreover, of the four states the ACN won in the last general election, three has Muslim governors as against one Christian (who, incidentally is running his 2007 stolen mandate). Perhaps if the Ekiti State governor had run under another party, Tinubu would not have been motivated to support his legal battles by which he reclaimed his mandate. If it has been proven that Tinubu’s religious bigotry is worse than his victim, his political or undemocratic records is not better either. What are the proofs?
The deluge of protests by ACN candidates or aspirants prior to the last general elections is an evidence of Asiwaju’s imposition of his choice boys as against the duly elected choice of the people. Given the performance of opposition parties in the gubernatorial election in Lagos State, the subsequent local government election won 100% by ACN is another proof that Tinubu and his party are not any more democratic than the PDP he was denigrating. The truth is, many probably loathe the PDP than Tinubu but as a participant and watcher of political practice in Nigeria, Tinubu neither represents an ideal opposition leader nor is his party any different from the ruling party at the centre.
Leadership demands more than guts and refined leadership ought to be transparent and exemplary. If as it has been alleged, that Asiwaju Tinubu is neither cleaner nor as liberal as he claims, it is time Asiwaju learn to be a true front line leader in political ethics and religious fidelity. The sum total is that Tinubu is not as excellent as he pretends to be. Being a product of political impurity and the whimsical process which gave birth to civil rule in 1999, Tinubu could not have beaten other candidates to emerge the governor of an urbane and cosmopolitan state like Lagos. The president may be guilty of sundry other accusations or even dereliction of responsibility, but to accuse him of trying to divide Nigerians on religious basis, especially by a person as vulnerable as Tinubu, is to stand truth on its head. An ostrich may bury its head on the sand, but its entire body is right outside and naked. The Agba-Akin Adinni is translated to mean Senior Commander of the faithful in Yoruba Islamic tradition. Step forward Asiwaju in front of the mirror, and let Bola Tinubu sees who is dividing Nigerians on religious lines!
It is no doubt a painful exercise to have to oppose someone who is perceived as an icon and who in the past, has demonstrated some attributes of a great leader. If anything, it is a proof of the truism that no man is infallible and so, when they fall, it should be duly reported and the individual has to be put in his proper place. Former Lagos State Governor and national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu missed the mark last week when he accused President Goodluck Jonathan of dividing the country along ethnic and religious lines without producing a shred of evidence. As the foremost opposition leader in the country today, his views on all issues especially, on emotive subjects, such as religion carries a lot of weight. But this time and on this occasion, Asiwaju Tinubu goofed badly.
First, his insistence on a genuinely organized national conference, in the face of serious threat to Nigeria’s sovereignty is correct. If he attacks Mr. President on this issue for rejecting the call for a national conference, that is as it should be; for only the wilfully blind would kick against the need for a national dialogue at this point in time or at any other point for that matter. I join Asiwaju Tinubu and other well-meaning Nigerians in calling on Mr. President to see the need for and embrace the call for a national conference to decide on centrifugal forces militating against the oneness of Nigeria. This is because the existing institutions of state has proved incapable of doing so on the basis of moral illegitimacy. This is a matter for another day. Now back to Tinubu’s attack. “Mr. President should stop dividing the country on the basis of religion and ethnicity. Don’t divide Nigeria between Christians and Muslims. We need religious tolerance and inter-faith harmony in this country.… We want unity in diversity for economic prosperity and not divide-and-rule for political adversity,” he said.
Asiwaju Tinubu said these on an occasion when his friends and associates were gathered at Ilesha, Osun State to celebrate a new Chieftaincy title, the Agba-Akin Adinni of Ijesha. His dress for the occasion was that of an Islamic Mujahid, not different from what the Boko Haram sponsors puts on daily. He failed to adduce reason or evidence of the President’s divisive religious antics which could be interpreted to mean a divide-and-rule move. For a man whose words are wont to be taken seriously, it was a gaffe too loose to be responsible. Tinubu may have some mementos to show for his neutral stance on ethnic sentiment, given the fact that he appointed or allowed to be appointed some Igbo residents in Lagos as commissioners in charge of some innocuous portfolios. However, the same thing cannot be said of his religious tolerance-the very high ground on which he attacked Jonathan.
Truly as he admitted: “… born a Muslim as a politician I secure votes from Christians, Muslims and traditionalists”; it can be said that he woo non-Muslims only for electoral purposes, and here are the proofs. Since he became governor in 1999, Tinubu appointed Muslims in larger number into his cabinet and gave them juicy port-folios. When it was time to leave in 2007, he did all he could to ensure that another Muslim succeeded him. If Fashola turned out to be an excellent choice, it is not because he is a Muslim by faith but because he is a fine mind. Governor Rauf Aregbesola was the commissioner for works under governor Tinubu whose support made the former governor of Osun State. Tinubu has literally confined Lagos Christians to the deputy governors position – something of a second fiddle. He is on record to have caused his deputy to be removed twice during his tenure (remember Femi Pedro?) if he perceived they could pose a threat to his electoral maneuvers.
As the kingmaker in 2007, he ensured that a woman was picked by Fashola as running mate who, was also dropped in 2011 for another woman – to avoid a situation when a Christian woman would be strong enough to challenge or bid for the office of the governor. If Tinubu ought to be commended for reserving the deputy governor’s office for gender equity, it is not a proof that he didn’t do so for religious reasons. Yes, the Asiwaju of Lagos and Jagaba of Borgu is married to a Christian woman and often attend church ceremonies along with her. But those who knows him enough vowed that it is all a cosmetics and not a proof of religious tolerance. “He wanted a fine lady at all cost and found one in Oluremi who gave one strong condition. That she be left alone with her Christian faith, to which Bola concurred.” In other words, if and whenever he needs support, he is ready to drop his religious fundamentalism and pick it up again after he has had his way! Talk of a clever politician!!
As someone eying national political leadership, one would have thought that his party would be sensitive enough to ensure religious equity in his party staff structure. Does he not stand accused of religious sentiment if under his watch, the ACN has a Muslim National Chairman, national secretary, national publicity secretary etc? Yet, he is the National Leader of the party! Moreover, of the four states the ACN won in the last general election, three has Muslim governors as against one Christian (who, incidentally is running his 2007 stolen mandate). Perhaps if the Ekiti State governor had run under another party, Tinubu would not have been motivated to support his legal battles by which he reclaimed his mandate. If it has been proven that Tinubu’s religious bigotry is worse than his victim, his political or undemocratic records is not better either. What are the proofs?
The deluge of protests by ACN candidates or aspirants prior to the last general elections is an evidence of Asiwaju’s imposition of his choice boys as against the duly elected choice of the people. Given the performance of opposition parties in the gubernatorial election in Lagos State, the subsequent local government election won 100% by ACN is another proof that Tinubu and his party are not any more democratic than the PDP he was denigrating. The truth is, many probably loathe the PDP than Tinubu but as a participant and watcher of political practice in Nigeria, Tinubu neither represents an ideal opposition leader nor is his party any different from the ruling party at the centre.
Leadership demands more than guts and refined leadership ought to be transparent and exemplary. If as it has been alleged, that Asiwaju Tinubu is neither cleaner nor as liberal as he claims, it is time Asiwaju learn to be a true front line leader in political ethics and religious fidelity. The sum total is that Tinubu is not as excellent as he pretends to be. Being a product of political impurity and the whimsical process which gave birth to civil rule in 1999, Tinubu could not have beaten other candidates to emerge the governor of an urbane and cosmopolitan state like Lagos. The president may be guilty of sundry other accusations or even dereliction of responsibility, but to accuse him of trying to divide Nigerians on religious basis, especially by a person as vulnerable as Tinubu, is to stand truth on its head. An ostrich may bury its head on the sand, but its entire body is right outside and naked. The Agba-Akin Adinni is translated to mean Senior Commander of the faithful in Yoruba Islamic tradition. Step forward Asiwaju in front of the mirror, and let Bola Tinubu sees who is dividing Nigerians on religious lines!
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