Saraki, Dogara And Corruption

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

Lest we miss a vital opportunity to reflect on the anti-corruption campaign, we must put the positions of Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara on the inveterate plague in the proper perspective. It serves no good to the anti-corruption campaign and the nation’s development in the long run for their views to be dismissed in a huff simply because of a phalanx of allegations that have portrayed the duo and other members of the National Assembly as not immune from corruption.

 

*Saraki and Dogara 

Saraki is facing prosecution at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for corruption. The citizens are riled by other senators’ apparent complicity in the alleged sleaze of their leader because they have waited in vain for the lawmakers to evince a sense of moral repulsion against identifying with him whenever he goes to the tribunal or court over his case. Underpinning the outrage is that if they were not as corrupt as their leader why should they even allow him to preside over the affairs of the upper legislative chamber? Why not replace him and avoid him like a plague as long as the trial lasts? Also, Dogara has been accused of budget padding, a brand of corruption that reportedly entails the manipulation of a fiscal plan to the detriment of the wellbeing of the bulk of the citizens. But unlike the case of Saraki, the allegation of corruption against Dogara seems to be escaping from public consciousness.

Dogara and his colleagues have been able to squelch and banish the ex-chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, who made the allegation against him into political wilderness where he now flails, flounders and screams, striving to draw the citizens’ attention to the corruption in the lower legislative chamber. But nobody seems to hear him.

Is Nigeria Really Too Weak to Break Up?

By Arthur Agwuncha Nwankwo

One common trend which I have noticed in human beings is the inability for people to leave their comfort zones and confront the hard facts of their existence, even when such facts of life are so pressing and yearning for attention. It is like the rodent which was consumed by an inferno when it failed to leave its comfort zone despite being warned earlier by the fleeing lizard. At a point in the history of the Jewish nation, the people abandoned the statutes of their God in pursuit of other gods. Every warning issued by the prophets of old seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.

*Dr. Nwankwo 

God in his infinite mercy raised Amos, the shepherd of Tekoa to call the nation of Israel to order and warn them of the divine judgment that must fall upon the nation unless they turn from their evil ways. But even with all the warnings by Amos, the children of Israel refused to leave their comfort zones - they had fallen so deep into apostasy and deluded themselves that all was well. In the 6th Chapter of the Book of Amos, the prophet bemoaned the inability of the Israelites to leave their comfort zones and embrace righteousness, and in a state of exasperation he declared “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came”.

This has been the nature of man since the ages. Even in the family setting, when we are confronted with what I may describe as uncomfortable truths; it is convenient for us to deny it. We derive joy in deluding ourselves and pretending that all is well. We refuse to face the reality because we are afraid that the truth will destroy our comfort zones and deny us the grandeur which falsehood brings. We are always happy to indulge in such denials rather than confronting squarely those problems whose existence we deny. Because of this, we hardly make any move forward. 

If you situate the foregoing to Nigeria, you will begin to appreciate the relevance of this discourse. In Nigeria, we delude ourselves that all is well even when the facts on the ground suggest otherwise. We dismiss all suggestions to restructure the country as the ranting of a misguided few, yet the country draws closer to the precipice daily. We dismiss any alarm of cataclysmic uprising in the country because we are too consumed in enjoying the luxury of our loot; and have perfected the art of using the machinery of the state in pauperizing and oppressing the vast, helpless many. We trust in our wealth and chariots and in the security we have placed around ourselves and our mansions. If this were not so, Sule Lamido, former Governor of Jigawa State would not have had the courage to assert that Nigeria is too weak to break up because according to him “members of the elite are united in preserving their advantages over the masses irrespective of their differences of tribe and religion”. It was for this kind of mindset that Amos declared “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion…” 

Resurgence Of Biafra Agitation And The Indestructibility Of Ndigbo In Nigeria

By Arthur Agwuncha Nwankwo
There is no doubt that the Igbo race is the single largest group in Nigeria comparable only to the Nile valley in terms of population density. Yet it is the avowed goal of certain forces in Nigeria especially among the Hausa/Fulani establishment to wipe out the Igbo from the face of the earth. This evil desire did not begin today. It is a command rooted in history and otiose religious injunctions. But as the saying goes: There is no killing the beetle! 

*Dr. Nwankwo

As a group of people, created and ordained by God Almighty, no person or group in Nigeria is capable of wiping out the Igbo. It is not possible. In the legends of Buddhism, the Vajra is the most important ritual implement of Vajrayana Buddhism. In Sanskrit, the word vajra is defined as something hard or mighty, as in a diamond. It symbolizes an impenetrable, immovable and indestructible state of knowledge and enlightenment. Without the Vajra, the strength of the gods of Buddhism will cease to exist. 

This pristine Sanskrit philosophy of the indestructibility of the Vajra was alluded to by Jesus Christ himself when he compared the Hebrew children as the salt of the earth noting that the earth would be worthless without its salt. Just as the vajra is the meat of the gods of Buddhism and the children of light the salt of the earth, so are the Igbos the salt of Nigeria. Without the Igbo, Nigeria will lose its taste and Nigeria will be no more. In all ramifications, this assertion is true. 

In terms of adaptation, J.P Clark had once referred to the Igbo as soldier ants that came relatively late to the Nigerian political scene but as soon as they emerged they seized the floor and dictated the pace of nationalism. Ndigbo are the only group in Nigeria that has the capacity to make a comfortable and productive home anywhere outside their homeland. They are industrious and determined and they do not easily give up. They are very clever and hardworking. When it comes to business, the Igbos have the humility, patience and resilience to nurture a business from nothing to something huge. Ndigbo have paid the greatest price in Nigeria. 

Nnamdi Azikiwe had remarked that it would appear that God had specially created the Igbo people to suffer persecution and be victimized because of their resolute will to live and survive where others had failed. Since suffering appears to be the label of the Igbo race, we have come to the conclusion that we have sacrificed enough for the unity of Nigeria, and resolved that we can no longer bear to be sacrificed further for the ultimate redemption of the Nigerian State. I think it is historically significant to note that throughout the inglorious history of Nigeria, the Igbo have at every turn survived the harsh and evil conspiracies of the Nigerian state to eliminate it. 

If any person goes through the records of Nigerian history that person will not find an occasion when the Igbo have failed to rise from the ashes of brutality to mount on wings like the eagle.

In ancient history, there is no record where another tribe has either marched across Igbo territory or subjected the Igbo nation to a humiliating conquest. Instead, there is record to show that the martial prowess of the Igbo, at all stages of human history, has rivaled them not only to survive persecution, but also to adapt themselves to the role thrust upon them by history, of preserving all that is best and most noble in our culture and tradition. Placed in this high estate, the Igbo cannot shirk from the responsibility conferred on it by its manifest destiny. Having undergone a course of suffering in Nigeria, Ndigbo must, therefore, enter into its heritage by asserting its birthright, by asserting its right to self-determination within the confines of international law without apologies to any person or group. 

Buhari’s Health, 2019 And Release Of The Chibok Girls

By Steve Onyeiwu

Last Saturday, Boko Haram unexpectedly released 82 Chibok girls, after a gruesome three years in captivity. Indeed, the entire world seemed to have moved on and forgotten these innocent girls. While the world was outraged by the use of chemical weapons against children in Syria, no one seemed to care about the fate of the Chibok girls. Former president Olusegun Obasanjo even speculated that the girls may never be seen again.

What prompted their sudden and unexpected release? The official spiel is that the girls had been swapped with some Boko Haram prisoners, in a deal brokered by Switzerland and some international NGOs. I believe, however, there are more complex reasons for their sudden release, and that the timing is very intriguing.

First, why would Boko Haram release the girls to an ailing President Muhammadu Buhari, who many believe has been so incapacitated that he could no longer prosecute the war against Boko Haram? Why would Boko Haram now be afraid and willing to negotiate with a Commander-in-Chief who has not met with his frontline officers for a long time? In military parlance, Boko Haram would expect the Nigerian army to be disorganised and in retreat. Boko Haram might, therefore, assume that Nigerian Army Chief-of-Staff, General Buratai’s recent visit to Brazil, instead of focusing on intensifying the onslaught against Boko Haram, reflects the army’s disorganisation and lack of command and control by the Commander-in-Chief.

Could the release of the girls be attributed to the fact that Boko Haram and its sponsors would want Buhari to claim credit for the girls’ release, rather than “President” Yemi Osinbajo? Could it have anything to do with the permutations for 2019? Perhaps to ensure northern unity and stability, Boko Haram and its benefactors may have come to the conclusion that it’s better to release the girls under Buhari than under Osinbajo. Maybe they do not want to see a situation whereby southerners would say: “see, your northern president did not succeed in releasing the Chibok girls as he promised during the 2015 presidential election. Why, then, did you people castigate and voted against former president Jonathan for his failure to secure the release of the girls?”

Buhari, The Opposition And 2019

By Paul Onomuakpokpo  

Beyond the official hectoring about the need for the citizens to be sympathetic towards their sick president, pray for his recovery and not allow themselves to be co-opted on to a malignant campaign of gloating over his predicament is the contempt for the citizens’ expectations of good governance. This disdain is betrayed by President Muhammadu Buhari’s associates’ unvarnished interest in the next election at a time he is hobbled by ill health that has aggravated his inability to effectively deliver his current mandate.

*Buhari 

Those who importune the citizens for a pledge of fidelity to this charter of demands do not demonstrate the understanding that they expect of the citizens. Clearly, what they envisage is not the president walking into full recovery, but a single candidacy in 2019 so that they would not lose their privileges of their closeness to power. They talk gleefully about his re-contesting for the presidency in 2019 as though there would not be opposition from any quarter.

Your expectation is misplaced if you think that they would demur at the prospect of their principal losing the election because he has failed to perform in his first term. They do not bother about the ill health of Buhari and the need for him to take good care of his health. Amid this dizzying quest for re-election, we are drawn to the increasing similarity between Buhari’s associates and the wife of Robert Mugabe. Remember, it was Mugabe’s wife who recently declared that the corpse of her 92-year-old husband and president would contest Zimbabwe’s election and win even if he dies before the exercise takes place.

Nigeria Must Decide What They Want From The Igbo

By Azuka Onwuka

Before August 9, 1965, the Singaporeans were seen as an irritation in Malaysia. Then Singapore was one of the 14 states of Malaysia. Singaporeans were viewed as arrogant, stubborn, and domineering. While the United Malays National Organisation wanted affirmative action or “quota system” for the Malays, the People's Action Party of the Singaporeans insisted that the best thing for the country was a merit-based policy on all issues, so as to bring out the best in the nation and create a spirit of excellence.

*Odumegwu-Ojukwu

This constant disagreements and tensions resulted in racial riots. It got to a point, the Malays could take it no more. So on August 9, 1965 they convened the parliament, with no Singaporean parliamentarian present. At that sitting, the legislators voted unanimously (126 - 0) to expel Singapore from Malaysia.

When the Singaporeans heard that they had been expelled from the nation, at first they were devastated. But they took their fate in the hands and started building a new nation. And indeed, by applying merit and the pursuit of excellence, Singaporeans built a country that moved from Third World to First World in record time, overtaking Malaysia in all ramifications.

Interestingly, despite this sad way of parting, Malaysia and Singapore have remained good neighbours. In spite of the success Singapore has recorded, it has not made Malaysia not to record its own success.

There are many similarities between the story of Singapore and Malaysia and Igbo and Nigeria. The Igbo are not happy with the quota system policy used in the admission into federal schools and federal positions. They want competitiveness in every sector, which will lead to the best being selected, for the sake of excellence.

The Igbo are seen as arrogant, noisy, domineering, greedy, over-ambitious, to mention but a few. Many Nigerians see them as irritants. They get killed frequently, especially in the North, at the least misunderstanding. Sometimes the cause of the provocation is someone from Denmark, Cameroon or another part of Nigeria.

There are many Nigerians who will easily tell you: “We will never allow an Igbo person to rule Nigeria.” There are many who believe that the problem of Nigeria is from the Igbo, and that once the Igbo are done away with, Nigeria’s problems will disappear.

Chinua Achebe’s Unrelenting Feminist Critics

*Chinua Achebe

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye 

Recently, I was at a forum put together to celebrate the work of Chinua Achebe, one of Africa’s widely read authors who is universally regarded as the father and rallying point of African Literature. As the speeches flowed and the ovations sounded, I could feel the depth of admiration in the various speakers for Achebe and his work.  The whole thing was moving on well until one lady came up with elaborate praise for Achebe for the significant “improvement” his female characters achieved in Anthills Of the Savannah, unlike what obtained in Things Fall Apart, his first novel, which is globally acknowledged as a classic, and which now exists in more than fifty major languages.

 

 Now, I would easily have ignored and quickly forgotten this comment as “one of those things” one was bound to hear in a “mixed crowd” if I had not also heard similar thoughts brazenly expressed by some female scholars whom I thought should be better informed. 

For instance, I was at a lecture in Port Harcourt some years ago when a female professor of literature announced with the excitement of someone who had just discovered another earth: When Achebe created his earlier female characters, she said,  they complained; then he responded by giving them Clara (in No Longer At Ease), they still complained; then he gave them Eunice (in A Man Of The People) and they still asked for more; and then he gave them Beatrice (in Anthills Of The Savannah)! 

Unfortunately, I have encountered thoughts even more pedestrian than this flaunted by several scholars and readers alike.

Honestly, I had thought that this matter had long been resolved and forgotten. It should be clear (and I should think that this has been sufficiently stressed) that whatever perceived differences in the various female characters created by Achebe are a function of the prevailing realities in the different settings and periods that produced them, and Achebe’s ability to record those realties so accurately should not be construed to mean that he also “celebrates” them (as some critics have wrongly imputed) or advocates their sustenance.

In his lecture at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, specially slated to precede the very memorable Eagle On Iroko Symposium organized to mark Achebe’s sixtieth birthday in 1990, Prof Dan Izevbaye described Achebe as “history’s eyewitness,” and I easily agree with him.

Today Achebe is being widely hailed for using his first novel, Things Fall Apart, to change the distorted images of Africa celebrated in the heaps of mostly concocted historical and literary accounts about the continent and its people by mostly Western writers. But Achebe did not see any wisdom in countering these distortions with his own distortions. He merely presented reality with both its glowing and unedifying sides with exceptional insight, penetration and grasp of the real picture which the foreigner, whose impressions were mostly coloured by many years of deep-seated prejudices, was incapable of capturing.

It is a credit to Achebe’s mastery of his art that even though his readers might be shocked, for instance, at the bloodcurdling murder of Ikemefuna (which every sane person should find overly revolting), they would still find it nearly impossible to categorize the incident as  one more evidence of savage pleasure of the native in wanton bloodletting. The reader is able to see an Okonkwo with genuine human feelings that are even more appealing than those of the white man who was attempting to “civilize” him, but who would have no qualms wiping out an entire community, as happened in Abame!

Nigeria: President Buhari’s Last Duty

By Paul Onomuakpokpo 

Despite the official veil on the auguries, that the nation is on the cusp of a crisis that threatens its survival owing to the secrecy surrounding the ill health of President Muhammadu Buhari is a troubling fact that is clear to the discerning among us. Of course, we take cognisance of the fact that like a phoenix, the nation has often risen from the ashes of seemingly mortal calamities to grow stronger. From the civil war through the June 12 crisis to egregious cases of corruption, the nation has developed a certain immunity to the perils that would have made it suffer a self-inflicted dissolution. But we have taken this resilience for granted. This is why we are at it again, stretching this resilience by refusing to do what is necessary to preserve the unity of the nation.

*Buhari 

We must be alert to the tragic character of the current crisis if we must survive it and learn any lessons from it. It is because of the absence of a correct appreciation of the spectre of tragedy that hangs over the nation that there is official levity as a response to the sickness of the president. Such levity is often expressed in the remonstrance that the president is not as sick as portrayed in the public and the alleged purveyors of the canard of his incapacity to wade through the complexities of governance are threatened with dire consequences.

But it is now difficult to deceive the citizens about the health of the president once again. The citizens once fell for the deception when the president was in London for medical vacation. Then the official obscuration was prevalent – he was not sick; he was only on vacation having worked so hard to solve the nation’s problems. But when Buhari came from London, he himself declared he had never been so sick as he was. Thus the citizens can no longer be deceived by the officials of the Buhari government. It is clear now that Buhari is not well and this is why he has not been attending the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meetings and other public functions. There has not been a clear position from the presidency, thereby leaving room for myriad speculations. Officials are saying that the president is healthy and that he is even fit for the contest for the 2019 election and that he is working from home while most of the citizens are saying that Buhari is medically challenged.

Southern Kaduna Massacres On My Mind

By  Sufuyan Ojeifo

“Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and, therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” John Donne

Southern Kaduna is a microcosm of Nigeria.  It is, by any stretch of the imagination, emblematic of our collectivity.  The people, who are marooned in their troublous ancestral Kaduna locale share a common civilization with us who are, somewhat, liberated in the ambiance of the expansive Nigerian-nation. Therefore, the killings of southern Kaduna indigenes by Fulani herdsmen, for whatever reasons, are nothing but fatal assaults on the humanity in all of us. 

The south of Kaduna has, historically, become a minefield of mindless genocide that has left the people immersed in eternal fear.  Scores of indigenes have been killed by installments.  Unfortunately, many more will, painfully, be victims of Fulani herdsmen’s fatal rampages as there are yet no verifiable foolproof measures in place to avert the incessant cold-blooded massacres that have been the tragic narrative of the hapless people.

One is continuously diminished by the killing of a man or woman, youth or child in southern Kaduna, an enclave that is predominantly occupied by Christian population.  “One life taken in cold blood,” according to the late inimitable journalist, Dele Giwa, “is as gruesome as millions lost in a pogrom.” 

Nigeria: Buhari Must Go or Be Impeached

By Toyin Dawodu

Buhari Isn’t Getting Better, But He May Be Getting Worse!   

A recent report in the Nigerian publication, SaharaReporters, revealed that President Buhari is having difficulty eating and drinking but is not being allowed to travel for medical treatment. As at the time of writing this article, the president has not refuted this report.

*Buhari 

For more than six months, Buhari’s administration has kept quiet on the president’s deteriorating health. No one has even told the citizens of Nigeria what ails the president. We don’t know if he is capable of discharging his constitutional duties. We don’t know if he has the ability to make sound decisions anymore. We don’t even know if he retains power over his own day to day activities. All we know is something is most certainly wrong.

We have men and women whom we elected to office who have not demanded transparency of Buhari’s administration. The Nigerian people have a right to know if their president is unable to fulfill his duties.

In a statement issued by Chief Bisi Akande, the founding National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Akande called on Nigerians to “pray fervently” for Buhari’s health.

After prayers, then what? Buhari is sick! He cannot perform his duties. If Chief Akande wants to lead any movement for Nigerians, it should involve more than just sending prayers. There must also be progressive action. A movement that truly helps Nigeria would be encouraging Buhari to resign to allow his capable Vice President to lead the nation. Refusing to act is not an option, and failure to do so will result in electoral punishment for APC, come 2019.

Fake Certificates Saga And A Nation’s Future

By Matthew Ozah

Among a group of young men gathered in a barber’s shop, the other day, as I had a hair-cut, the topic of the conversation was how to gain admission into the institution of higher learning to acquire basic knowledge and be awarded a degree certificate.

One among them said: “Why would I waste my time in the four walls of a university for four, maybe five or six years, strike inclusive to obtain a sheet of paper called certificate”? The easiest way, as he reckoned, was to visit Oluwole and within minutes, you have a certificate at hand to brandish as a graduate and gain employment with.

Without mincing words, education is the key to unlock success in today’s society. Hence, it has become everyone’s desire to acquire a moderate qualification in any field of endeavour. It is, however, disheartening to say that many unscrupulous persons, like the young man in the barber’s shop, in their desperate quest to reap where they did not sow, are ready to go at any length to achieve their aim.

Such is the case in point, as recently reported in Cross River State, over certificate scam, where a head teacher was demoted to a gateman and a security man equally became a teacher.

Over the years, the decay in the education sector has been alarming and a lot has been cited as the cause. Of course, teachers with fake certificates are not without a share of the blame, as they cannot give what they do not have. More so, paucity of funds and the inconsistency of the education system among others have contributed to the decadence.

Osinbajo’s Fantasy Of Presidential Infallibility

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

Weighed down by a lack of direction and adherence to constitutionality that is a high point of fidelity to democratic norms, the President Muhammadu Buhari government keeps on spawning despair in the land, with massive economic collapse leading to rampant suicide.

*Osinabjo

Amid this, Buhari’s deputy Professor Yemi Osinbajo appears to represent an illustrious exemplar of sanity in this government. Although decades of serial disappointments by political leaders have made the citizens to cease trusting them, there has been the hope that Osinbajo could be a different kind of political leader who is only actuated by a desire to serve the people and improve their lot.

But at first, Osinbajo proved not to be different from other politicians. The citizens wondered why some illegalities like the government disobeying court rulings and sacking university vice chancellors before the end of their tenures could take place while he is the vice president. He has been silenced by the perks of public office, so the citizens thought.

Nigeria: This Present Darkness

By Feyi Fawehinmi

Before he died in 2015, the late Professor Stephen Ellis wrote his last book titled This Present Darkness: A History of Nigerian Organised Crime. Going through this book left me with several thoughts, most of them unpleasant. 

It is a fascinating read covering, not just organised crime, but the evolution of the Nigerian state (or maybe they are the same thing?). At any rate, I want to share 8 random things I found interesting in the book and I will leave you to draw your own conclusions.

1. In 1947, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo wrote that “Corruption is the greatest defect of the Native Court system.” He complained that not only did judges take bribes, people used their connections to enrich themselves and avoid punishment for their crimes. He also wrote that in the north, a new Emir always removed all the people appointed by the previous Emir and replaced them with his own people. He wrote all these as a complaint against the Indirect Rule system favoured by the British.

2. In 1922, the Colonial Secretary in London, one Winston Churchill, wrote to Nigeria’s Governor General at the time, Sir Hugh Clifford, asking him to ban certain types of letters called ‘Charlatanic correspondences’. This was because J.K Macgregor who was Headmaster of Hope Waddell Institute for 36 years, had discovered hundreds of letters written and received by his students ordering all sorts of books, charms and even potions from England, America and India in particular. Most of the charms were nonsense and the students were invariably asked to send more money if they wanted more powerful ones. A total of 2,855 such letters were intercepted by the Posts & Telegraph Department between 1935 and 1938.

3. In 1939, a Nigerian businessman based in Ghana named Prince Eikeneh, wrote to the colonial government in Nigeria complaining about the number of Nigerian girls who were coming to Ghana to work as sex workers. He said the girls were usually taken there by a Warri-based Madam named ‘Alice’ who told the girls they were going to learn a trade or get married. He concluded that the trade was very well-organised and profitable for the ring leaders.

How Private Are Your Private Parts?

By Tony Iwuoma

We live in a world of hyperbolic privacy. We learn to keep private things private as soon as we are born. From infancy, we were taught to cover our private parts. Even the little daughter you once bathed would soon start hiding from you because she does not want you to see her bum bum. We are taught to keep certain aspects of our life private and that is why our so-called celebrities cling so tenaciously to the dogma of not talking about their 'private lives' despite their atrocious public exhibitions.

(pix: Oxbridge)

Nudity has almost overtaken our culture and those parts that we once held sacred have since lost their innocence, no thanks to modernity. Those private parts of the womenfolk that the men strained hard to just have a peek at have come unstuck in the streets and on television; there seems to be no private parts anymore. Those who still insist on some modicum of decency are viciously tagged 'old fashioned'. Oh, how beautiful it is to belong to the vanishing tribe!

But seriously speaking, what are your private parts? Is it all about our genitals? Is it about briefs and boxers, or brassieres and lingerie? Is it about bum shorts, stony breast implants and false and padded buttocks? Is it about cavorting with your squeeze beyond the eyes of her parents? Is it about baby mamas and papas? Is it about Queen Esther and Stephanie Otobo’s determination to do in Apostle Johnson Suleman? Is it about philandering with spouses of other men or women beyond the trusting eyes of the cuckolded?

Nigeria: On FG’s Planned Demand For Transparency From Discos

By Idowu Oyebanjo

The Federal Government has announced plans to escrow and beam its searchlight into the revenue accounts of the operations of the DisCos due to poor monthly remittances. Although DisCos have condemned the move, this is a good step in the right direction. To address the problems of NESI, a holistic view of every aspect of the multi-faceted problems plaguing it is required with a view to solving them in a coordinated manner. 

One of the major problems in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) today is the potential for illiquidity. In simple terms, this arises when DisCos declare, whether truthfully or otherwise, that they have not collected enough money from consumers of electricity and so are unable to make full payments to the bulk electricity trader, NBET, for electricity received.

This has the potential to always create illiquidity in NESI because their remittances should have been used to pay all key stake holders in the industry including but not limited to GenCos, TCN, Gas providers, market operator, NERC, NBET etc. The solutions to address this anomaly include a massive investment in customer metering, reduction in network losses, preventing electricity theft and collusion of staff of electricity companies with consumers to defraud the industry, discontinuation of estimated billing, and ensuring that revenues collected by DisCos in behalf of NESI is transparent to all key stakeholders, and not least the Federal Government which still owns 40% of DisCos. The government has chosen to implement the last of the afore-mentioned solutions but the DisCos have frowned at the move. Thus a critical review of the position of DisCos is in order.

Olisa Agbakoba Files A Fundamental Rights Class Action Against The Federal Republic of Nigeria

*Olisa Agbakoba (pix: vanguard) Mr. Olisa Agbakoba has filed a Fundamental Rights Class Action against the Federal Republic of Nigeria for himself and on behalf of the South East Zone on grounds of discrimination pursuant to Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution. This action was by Originating Summons supported by an affidavit of 99 paragraphs and a statement. The grounds of Mr. Agbakoba’s application are summarized as follows;  (a) Total neglect of the Applicant’s Geopolitical Zone by the 1st Respondent in terms of infrastructure and general federal presence making the Applicant feel not part of the 1st Respondent.  (b) Abandonment of the Niger Bridge to collapse and failure to build the ‘Second Niger Bridge’ making the Applicant feel isolated from other parts of 1stRespondent and causing him apprehension about disaster on crossing the existing bridge.  (c) Abandonment of Federal Roads, which are death traps and robbery baits and occasioning and constraining on the Applicant grueling road journeys within the Geopolitical Zone. Failure to develop strategic new roads especially the Anam-Nzam Federal Road linking the South-East with the North-Central at Idah in Kogi State to give the Applicant easy access to the northern part of Nigeria. (d) Failure to exploit the Oil/Gas Reserves in the Anambra Basin and stalling the Applicant’s legitimate expectation from employment and derivation funds for development of the Applicant’s South-East Zone.  (e) Abandonment of the Enugu Colliery and depriving the Applicant of his legitimate expectation from employment and derivation funds for the development of the Applicant’s South-East Zone.  (f) Failure to develop trade-friendly ports and customs policies and establish ‘ease-of-business’ platforms to assist the Applicant’s trading brothers and sisters to do better and operate on a higher and modern scale in trading, which makes the Applicant to spend money to support relatives.  (g) Failure to have an operational international cargo airport at Owerri to aid trading, which causes the Applicant to spend huge sums of money to support trading relatives to haul airborne goods by road from Lagos, , with the attendant risks.  (h) Failure to dredge the Lower Niger and establish a Port at Onitsha to aid trading which causes the Applicant to spend huge sums of money to support trading relatives to haul seaborne goods by road from Port Harcourt or Lagos, with the attendant risks.  (i) Disparity in States structure which puts the Applicant’s South-East Zone behind every other Geopolitical Zone in political and judicial appointments and representation at the National Assembly, as well as in revenue allocation.

Nigeria: Perils Of Looters’ Anonymity

By Paul Onomuakpokpo 

It is a disturbing paradox that the Ibrahim Magu’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has left unresolved – the more breathtaking the speed with which it pursues its campaign of ridding the country of corruption, the more chinks are inflicted on its armour for sceptics to question its credibility. Just recently, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Senate attempted to nibble away at the confidence of Magu by directly impugning his competence and integrity. Worse, the commission has been woefully losing its cases in the courts.

(pix: NigerianEcho)

The above could be considered as externally induced bumps in the path of the commission to wage a successful war against corruption. But there are other obstacles that the agency has seemingly spawned deliberately to serve a purpose other than its avowed pursuit of national good. The newest obstacle that the EFCC is now erecting in its path is its declaration of its inability to identify the owners of loot it has recovered.

By taking this path, the agency has failed to realise that it has set up itself for mockery. For the EFCC’s declaration is a self-indictment as it means that it has failed to do the first things before rushing to the media to announce its haul to its excited audience that cheers it on. It has failed to do a thorough surveillance and investigation that could have made it to unveil the identities of the culprits and render its case irreproachable. It is this unbroken absence of fidelity to the first things that have made the courts to dismiss most of the cases of the EFCC.

 As the controversy rages over the N15 billion cash haul from the Osborne Towers’ raid, we must not really be shocked by the EFCC consigning the owners of the loot to the zone of anonymity. This is because this position of the agency is only a new dimension to the byzantine character of the campaign that has the rapturous blessing of the government beginning with President Muhammadu Buhari. Remember, it was Buhari who offered to the public the prospect of waging an anti-corruption war that knows neither friend nor foe.

The Hypnosis Of Little Brother Naija

By Tony Iwuoma

It is with great relief that the television (un)reality show, Big Brother Naija, #BBN, has come to an end after 70 agonising days. It was 70 days of depravity gone overboard. It was a period the devil was given reins over our country, Africa, and possibly the world, when budding youths were quarantined in a house of sin and manipulated to dance to surreal and macabre music orchestrated by merchants of immorality, smiling to the banks.

It was a time when Nigeria was hypnotised to sacrifice decency to the gods of mammon. Even at that, the spell cast upon the nation was so strong we ended up enriching South Africa and gaining nothing but the few coins given to the winner of the show, Efe, and his two compatriots.

How do I mean? I will tell you. Nigeria surrendered the hosting of the show to South Africa despite her citizens, and, in fact, the nation itself being the focus. They sold Nigeria the dummy that power challenges would not allow the hosting of the show in Nigeria and, so, shipped our youth to that South African madhouse. All the technicians were South Africans and Nigerians lost opportunity to make a few bucks for themselves from a project they should have been first beneficiaries. It was a big rip-off! South Africans made heavy financial gains. Over 24 million people voted on the last day alone and if that is translated to cash, and input all the votes of the previous days preceding the final, you can see how dumb the minders of our economy are to have given South Africa that much room to manipulate them out of much revenue.

It is annoying that South African firms would play big in this country, earn billions and corrupt our youths, with our leaders moping and yet that country for which Nigeria sacrificed everything has nothing but disrespect and hatred for our citizens in their own country that are daily hacked down in hideous xenophobic circumstances.

Not By Salary Alone

By Paul Onomuakpokpo 

What the citizens would be confronted with at the end of the squabble between Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai and the Speaker of the House Assembly Yakubu Dogara is not a resolution of the crisis that redounds to the transparency of their financial dealings. For the more either of the parties strives to portray himself as the poster boy for fiscal prudence, the darker the opacity that surrounds their remuneration becomes.

*House Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and
Gov Nasir e-Rufai of Kaduna 

Clearly, we cannot indict these officials for financial impropriety. That is a job for the anti-graft agencies and the courts. However, they represent the political class who has been identified with profligacy. In that case, it may be difficult for them to extricate themselves from the cesspool of corruption that has engulfed the entire political class from the heady days of the oil boom when our leaders did not know what to do with money, through the military era and the current democratic dispensation. For if there had been transparency in the financial dealings of our public officers, this spat would not have arisen. It is because of the lack of transparency that there have been speculations about the humongous salaries of our political office holders. Obviously, the National Assembly and other arms of the government have been so secretive about their remuneration because it is in stark contrast to the nation’s economic crisis that has impoverished the majority of the citizens. 

If the lawmakers were keen on bequeathing a legacy of transparency in their financial dealings, they would not have needed an El-Rufai to prod them onto this path. In the past two years since this democratic dispensation, there have been recurrent calls for the National Assembly to make public their remuneration. Their failure to heed these calls has led to a situation where the citizens have come out with a comparison of the remuneration of lawmakers here and that of their counterparts in other parts of the world. The citizens are shocked that lawmakers here are the highest paid in the world. This is despite that they are not as committed to their duties as their counterparts and the fact that in such other nations, their economies are more developed than ours and thus they have more money to pay their lawmakers higher salaries.

Lessons From Julius Nwalimu Nyerere

By Banji Ojewale 

Gbolabo Ogunsanwo, Nigeria’s most captivating  columnist of the 1970s who rewrote history as editor of Sunday Times of that era, once returned from Julius Nyerere’s Tanzania and thrilled his compatriots with an account of the stoic exploits of this illustrious African leader. Just like his staid gait, Ogunsanwo said, Nyerere had no airs about him to suggest he was the president of Tanzania.

*Nyerere

This picture of an abstemious statesman sharply contradicted the Nigerian paradigm. Here, our leaders, even at the local government scene, would loot the public till to build personal empires, to  satisfy their palatial palate. The predilection of our leaders for financial rape has always been there and Ogunsanwo was among a small circle of ethical journalists who railed against this evil.

So the Tanzania experience had to excite this colourful columnist. Through his celebrated style of writing that nettled bad leaders and won applause from the public, Ogunsanwo said that if he placed the lifestyle of Nyerere side-by-side with what we had in Nigeria, the weight of the East African leader wouldn’t surpass the wealth of a level 9 officer in the Nigerian Civil Service. A shocked Ogunsanwo said something to the effect that the home of Nyerere had uninspiring furniture compared to what a middle level civil servant in Nigeria might offer. Nyerere’s was a study in Spartan decor.

Years later in 1999 when the beloved Tanzania leader died at 77, the New York Times correspondent, Michael Kaufman, wrote what has gone into the books as a most charitable essay by a Western reporter on an African president who mercilessly chided capitalism as a curse on humanity, thus confirming Ogunsanwo’s point. He admitted Nyerere’s “habits of modesty and ethics.”