Together For Nigeria

Barka de Sallah

2009-11-28T10:49:00.000-08:00

Barka de Sallah to all my muslim friends as they celebrate Eid-el-Kabir.
The lesson inherent in the celebration is that without the enabling values of love, self-denial, faith and sacrifice the world will be lethargic and unprogressive. God showed Prophet Ibrahim (may the peace of Allah be upon him) the way forward, from which the rest of mankind has taken a cue. Sacrifice however goes beyond merely killing a ram and feasting on it, it entails the need to be our brother's keepers, to offer a helping hand to our fellow beings, and in particular to assist the poor and the needy.
Since the cause of poverty has been traced to corruption and inept leadership, the Eid-el-Kabir provides another opportunity for the country's leaders to have a rethink, and embrace a result-oriented, and people-focused approach that will be beneficial to the masses of Nigerians. The occasion demands that Muslims share love and food with their neighbours. And many would enthusiastically do so. But the spirit of philanthropy should become a permanent feature of their lives, not an occasional religious observance.
Certainly, the central theme of sacrifice is missing in the philosophy of the average Nigerian leader. This has been responsible largely for the greed and corruption that have beclouded their vision and affected the country's growth. Indeed, it will be most unconscionable for our political leaders to loot the treasury under the excuse of Eid-el-Kabir, as happened in the recent past when they bought rams for themselves using public funds. Every political leader should resist the temptation to turn this into an opportunity to steal in God's name.
Naturally the Eid-el-Kabir provides opportunity for friendship among citizens. Nigerians should explore this to the fullest with the aim of maximising the positive benefits. Friends are unlikely to wage religious war against themselves, or forcefully deprive their fellow countrymen of their lives and property.

Federalism: the Panacea for Nigeria’s Survival

2009-11-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

For over 40 years, the Nigerian state has refused to address the key question of nationhood, and transform itself properly into a nation-state with a shared consensus on its identity and future. An invidious kind of conspiracy has sustained Nigeria as a country of many nations, surrounded by the explosives of political, economic and social differences.
Successive civilian governments of Shehu Shagari, Olusegun Obasanjo and now Musa Yar’adua rather than address the defects in the 1979 and 1999 Constitutions, inherited from the military, have feathered the conspiracy and imbalance in the structure of the Nigerian federation which has been, and is still inimical to its development. The Obasanjo government had tried to re-invent the Petroleum Decree of 1969, abrogated by the Babangida administration, by re-introducing the onshore-offshore dichotomy in determining the allocation of oil and gas revenue. Before then, Governors of the South-South geo-political zone had fought bitterly to get the Federal Government to pay the 13 per cent derivation enshrined in Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution with effect from May 29, 1999. These Governors insisted on resource control, an issue that was further dramatised in a Supreme Court case that was determined in April 2001.
The creation of OMPADEC by the Babangida administration, NDDC by the Obasanjo administration and now Niger Delta Ministry by the Yar’adua administration did not stop the radicalisation and armed struggle we saw in the Niger delta these few years. Suffice it to say that the mysterious death of Isaac Boro and callous execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa did not quell the agitation of the oppressed Niger Delta people. The recent amnesty granted by the Yar’adua government and palliatives for the militants is for a ‘’cooling off period’’ Even if the amorphous 10% ownership clause in the Petroleum bill before the house and senate is passed, the issue of true federalism and resource control would come up another day, for it is about Power and Resources and ultimately the survival of the Nigerian state.
A detailed historical review of the beginnings of the crisis in the South-South may be unnecessary but there are certain key points that need to be established. The first is that oil is the curse of Nigeria rather than a blessing. It could have prolonged our colonization if it was discovered before independence. If the politics of oil continues to be mismanaged; it would be the end of Nigeria. The United States National Intelligence Council in a document entitled "Map-ping Sub-Saharan Africa's Future" has predicted "outright collapse of Nigeria" as a nation-state within the next 15 years. On page 17 of the report under the heading "Downside Risks," the US Intelligence claimed that "while currently Nigeria's leaders are locked in a bad marriage that all dislike but dare not leave, there are possibilities that could disrupt the precarious equilibrium in Abuja. In a swift response, the then President Olusegun Obasanjo described the prediction as "glib(ly) talk" arising from "dubious or diabolical benchmarks."
However, the recent armed struggle, bombings and internationalised campaigns for resource control in the Niger Delta region which almost crippled the nation’s economy is a testament of this prediction.

Before 1960, the minorities in the Nigerian Federation had complained loudly about their marginalisation in the colonial arrangement by the British which recognised and promoted only the interests of the majority groups. In 1957, the Willink Commission had established this concern to be true and genuine but these were left unaddressed with the hope that under a Federal Constitution, the fears of the minorities would be taken care of.
The tragedy of Nigerian history is that this has not happened, thus creating an endless rivalry with threats to national unity between majority and minority groups. The struggle for power and resources became worse with the discovery of oil, and the regression of the national economy into a mono-cultural trap. The present struggle is about the control of resources or derivation, with the oil-rich South-South states insisting on a minimum of 25 per cent derivation, to be increased eventually to 50 per cent derivation, or as the South-South Governors had declared in 2000-2001, 100 per cent control with only royalties and taxes to be paid to the Federal Government.
It is curious that there is so much furore over derivation; for before 1969, this was not the case. Section 34 (I) of the 1960 Constitution as well as Section 140 (I) of the 1963 Republican Constitution provided 50 per cent derivation. The civil war changed this, and by 1969 with the Petroleum Decree of that year introduced by the Gowon government, the Federal Government discarded the revenue formula that had been agreed by the regions and the federal government in 1954. The Gowon government introduced this decree to establish full federal control over the oil resources; it was the prize that the Nigerian government awarded itself for winning the civil war.
Successive governments found it convenient to hold on to this power over resources, and the unitary state that had emerged. As the sale of crude oil brought enormous resources, and easy money, with our excess crude earnings well over N1.15 trillion, the country became indolent. Government officials looted the oil money, and awarded oil blocks and other facilities to themselves, their agents and friends. States and regions which were established as centres of economic activity prior to 1969 became tax-collection units. The Federal Government collected oil revenue, and states went to Abuja to collect their share.
The bitter, second point, is that this easy money during the Gowon oil boom era did not translate into development, rather it encouraged greed, and a desperation for the control of the Federal Government, and its increasing powers. In practical terms, every other economic resource in the country was abandoned: the Western region which had been sustained by cocoa, and other resources and 50 per cent derivation suddenly stopped being creative; the North abandoned its groundnut pyramids, its hides and skin, the Middle Belt closed down its tin mines, ignored its reserves of uranium, and in the East, the coal mines, home of about the finest grade of coal in the world, were left to grow into bushes. Farmers across the country deserted the villages, everyone wanted to be in the city to share out of oil money. Oil had become gold, and it was proudly referred to as the national cake.
If the oil resources had been distributed on a just and equitable basis, perhaps there would have been no problem. But while the rest of the country lived in open affluence, spending the proceeds of oil exploration, the people of the Niger Delta whose soil and waters produce the oil wealth which accounts for 95 per cent of Nigeria's contemporary resource base, wallowed in abject poverty. The Niger Delta is not just an endangered region, since the days of the Royal Niger Company, its people have grown from poverty to poverty; and throughout this history, they have resisted this marginalisation, this injustice: it is the refusal to listen to them that has now radicalised and militarised the entire region fully and irretrievably.
The people took their destinies in their hands, turned their anger on oil companies and the Nigerian state, and they have produced heroes of their own struggle in the process. They have taken to arms and resorted to violence, bunkering, kidnappings and ultimately declared war on the Nigerian state. The centre can no longer hold and things fall apart (apologies to Chinua Achebe). Every Nigerian government tries to resolve the issue as earlier mentioned through legalism or the introduction of development projects that are in the real sense anti-development in orientation and execution, or at best no more than mere tokenisms. But the solution is political. It is so to the extent that it is about federalism; and the creation of a Nigerian state in which every Nigerian can be a shareholder, and a contributor, in a just and equitable society.
The only solution is for Nigeria to return to its pre-1969 position on revenue allocation, whereby every state shall be entitled to 50 per cent derivation.
The principle of resource control is not for the South-South alone; it is in fact meant to benefit the whole of Nigeria. Which is why it needs not become a South-South vs North affair, although the truth is that it is the present status quo that has sustained Northern feudalism. If states control their resources, then the Federal Government would become weaker, Abuja would become less attractive and there would be a greater emphasis on productivity and development as each state would have to start thinking more creatively about how to manage its own resources. The impasse is also not about oil alone: other related issues that would need to be re-examined and resolved include the nature and future of the Nigerian state, the collection and management of the Value Added Tax, the Land Use Act and Constitutional Review.
Whatever happens, we can only either address these problems once and for all, in keeping with the democratic spirit, or risk the infernal danger of eternal repetitiveness or postpone the evil day. Resource control is both the way to the past, and the way forward for Nigeria: we can only ignore it, over-politicise it, or force the wrong issues, at our own peril. The radical youths of the Niger Delta, the oil producing communities and other militant organisations across the country are the ones who hold the key to that evil day not the politicians and their dubious rhetoric.

Militants of the Niger Delta

2009-11-26T13:10:00.001-08:00

Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro of blessed memory was a celebrated Niger Delta nationalist and Nigerian civil war hero. He was one of the pioneers of minority rights activism in Nigeria. He led an armed protest against the exploitation of oil and gas resources in the Niger Delta areas which benefited mainly the federal government of Nigeria and a remote Eastern Nigeria regional government. He believed that the people of the area deserved a fairer share of proceeds of the oil wealth. He formed the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, an armed militia with members constituting mainly of his fellow Ijaw ethnic group. They declared the Niger Delta Republic in February 23, 1966 and gallantly battled the Federal forces for twelve days but were finally routed by the far superior Federal firepower.
Later Niger Delta activists like the late Ken Saro-Wiwa substituted Isaac Boro’s gun for a pen and peaceful international campaign and protests. These are the genuine activists of the people of the Niger Delta. They believed in their people and their people had faith in them and they worked and died for their people. The dream and aspiration lives on.
The later day activists and so-called militants of the Niger Delta are the creation of the rogue elements in the executive arm of government both in the state and federal levels, especially within the security organisations of the state. Oil bunkering was introduced by these elements, because of their privileged positions and greed, decided to establish two parallel methods of selling Nigerian crude oil legitimately for the
government which is often unaccounted for and illegitimately for themselves. These rogue elements provided a situation of insecurity in the region by arming militias. They instilled fear in the region to sustain this illicit business and impressed on oil companies that they had to cooperate in the process by opening their taps also for stolen crude. The security agencies went further to train some of these militias abroad under the pretence they required the militias as undercover agents necessary for the security of the Niger Delta. The business grew bigger and produced millionaire security officers and militias. Their civilian collaborators in politics enlisted these elements into the political process and some of these militias acted as thugs during elections and helped to massively rig these elections. These militias were intended, above all, to turn their guns against their own people of the Niger Delta. This they did for some time but when the game was up and realising they were up in arms against their people they adopted the ideologies of the people, which is to say, they now support true federalism and resource control.

Africa and the UN

2009-11-20T10:58:00.001-08:00

African nations especially Nigeria has through its adherence to the UN charter and participation in its activities expressed unflinching commitment to the purposes and objectives of the United Nations.
For us and indeed other Africans the UN was seen as an embodiment of the collective hopes and aspirations of men and women and everywhere for a world free of war, free of want and free of injustice.
I commend efforts by the helpless and powerless secretary generals like Kofi Annan to give the world body a new lease of life because there was critical issues, such as global poverty, international peace-keeping, regional economic integration, the environment and climate change challenges, migration and refugees as well as global health problems for which there could be no lasting solution without intensification of international co-operation.
In order to preserve and sustain the relevance of the UN to Africa and the developing world, the world economic powers and powers that be in the UN security council must eliminate the present reality in which a large section of humanity is economically exploited and politically under-represented.
The dearth of expected international support despite bold steps at economic reforms had amounted to increasing impoverishment, marginalization and alienation of the African continent.

Debts of Third World Countries

2009-11-20T10:57:00.001-08:00

The debt of third world countries is both unpayable and uncollectible. To continually insist on repayments with suffocating interests is to continually impoverish these nations. What is needed is debt forgiveness with a commitment to good governance, fiscal responsibility and transparency on the part of these countries.

The Nigerian University Student

2009-11-12T11:29:00.000-08:00

The average Nigerian student is ignorant of the nature and purpose of the university, ignorant of his own status and roles in the university community, confused and misguided as to his duties and obligations to the society.

Reconstruction of Africa

2009-11-12T10:23:00.000-08:00

The removal of some 20million people from any race is not a mere quantitative horror;it is an act which completely empties out a living space of history.
Africans and its leaders both home and in diaspora must begin to build a new society by transcending the apocalptic experiences of slavery and colonization.

United States of Nigeria – the way Forward

2009-11-10T16:48:00.000-08:00

I strongly disagree with the proponents of disintegration of Nigeria at any time. The problem is not Nigeria itself but the bane of leadership crisis. There are more that binds us together than divide us. In the emerging global power calculation and realignment within regional powers, it is not in our collective interest to disintegrate as this will be more catastrophic.
What is required is a country based on true federalism and a people’s constitution with inputs and consensus from all peoples of Nigeria without no-go-areas.
My prediction is the emergence of the United States of Nigeria in the 21st century. This is the way forward for the current geographical expression called Nigeria. Stronger devolution within a stronger union – 21st century devolution for a 21st century union delivering interdependence rather than independence.

Nigerian Constitution: Immunity Clause

2009-11-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

I agree with former president of Ghana, Mr. John Kufuor, that ‘’immunity clause in any constitution is militarist and protective of dictatorship and corruption’’.This clause is still being kept in Nigeria to continuously perpetrate dictatorship, disregard the rule of law, loot the treasury and protect the powers that be.

Call for Violent Change In Nigeria

2009-11-10T16:46:00.000-08:00

I have read and listened to the call by many Nigerians and most recently by Alhaji Buba Galadima, a chieftain of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and close associate of the party’s presidential candidate in the 2003 and 2007 elections, Major-Gen. Muahmmadu Buhari (rtd), that Nigeria needed the “Jerry Rawlings Formula” to move forward.
I will not condemn him but salute his bravery at saying the obvious having been part of the establishment for a long time. This is an accident waiting to happen and my understanding of this statement and other calls is a reflection of the thoughts of the voiceless and despondent Nigerians.
There is change in the air, the time for change is now and the moment has come for Nigeria. But no one can predict the form and shape it will take. I urge all those leaders and people in positions of authority in Nigeria to remember the immortal words of Edmund Burke that ‘’ those who make peaceful change impossible, makes violent change inevitable’’

At 49, Which Way Nigeria

2009-09-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

In less than 24 hours, Nigeria will be celebrating its 49th anniversary as an independent nation: as usual with the celebrations, there will be speeches, prayer sessions, various formalities, parade and pomp will inundate the nation’s landscape. 2010 is 3 months away when you may expect talks of Nigeria at 50, the golden anniversary that is bound to come up in October regardless of the state of the nation.
I can recall two years ago, Ghanaians trooped out in hundreds of thousands to celebrate the golden jubilee of their nationhood because they had every reason to rejoice. The leadership there is only building on a foundation laid by the founding fathers like Kwame Nkurumah. They have their problems, but they know they are on course. I read recently that the head of the Ghanaian electoral body will be coming over with a special envoy to Abuja to show our leaders how they midwifed two successive and internationally acclaimed civilian-to-civilian power transition programmes.
Barack Obama and other world leaders believe Ghana is an example that Nigeria should emulate. An attestation is his recent state visit to Ghana and Ghana’s prominence at the UN last week in New York while our President chooses to go to Saudi Arabia on a purported state visit. Ghana's democracy, education system, social infrastructure network are now pushed in our faces as representing the kind of standards we should have. Citizens and companies in Nigeria are relocating to Ghana. For us, the grass is greener on the other side, but while the neighbours watered theirs, we left ours to waste.
How is the mighty falling? I was a little school boy when I used to see young Ghanaians carrying big bags looking for work on Nigerian streets as cobblers etc. The then Nigerian government ordered them to leave which gave rise to Ghana-must-go. Unfortunately, it might soon be Nigeria-must-go on the other side.
It is not as if Nigeria was short of visionary leaders like Ghana, but those parading as our leaders have been short on ideas to build on the lofty ideals of the older generation. What has happened to the country of Ahmadu Bello, Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Anthony Enahoro etc. At 49, the country appears to be in intensive care like an AIDS patient whose clock is ticking.
Here is a country with so much potentials and natural endowments that are the envy of other less privileged nations and even the so called western nations. The resources are so enormous that even foreigners illegally come in to grab whatever they could with the connivance of unscrupulous Nigerians. It's always a buffet for them. Afterall, the Nigerian government has no records of its citizens and no responsibility towards the citizenry. Any foreigner can come in and with some few naira notes claim Nigeria and obtain her passport in 24 hours. There is a big disconnect between the people and the government. Every citizen is his own government.
Look at all the countries with which we share the symbolism of 1960 and October 1. Comparatively, most of them are better than Nigeria in terms of development indicators. In less than 24 hours in China, the Chinese will be singing their country's national anthem and reviewing national progress and achievements, and the place of China in the world, as the newest super power from all international indicators. There is universal consensus that the Chinese deserved to roll out the drums. But many Nigerians will be busy frowning and hissing and wondering from around the globe what independence means after all. Quite frankly, this year, ahead of Nigeria's 50th, what is there to celebrate?
A country where corruption and fraudulent practices have been institutionalised, tribalism and nepotism took their tolls; meritocracy lost its value, while mediocrity cushioned by institutionalised irresponsibility became the order of the day. On the moral terrain, Nigerians derailed abysmally. The Nigeria of today is a big disappointment and an accident waiting to happen. There is nothing that God has not given to us. We have oil and solid minerals. Nigeria has failed to transform these potentials into reality. A friend’s verdict last night was simpler “How can we rejoice when we are running our country on generators? There is no light, no water, no roads, etc. No clue what healthcare means. There is nothing to celebrate about Nigeria’s 49 years of independence.”
In a normal situation, every Nigerian should be a happy citizen, patriotically love the country, having a nationalistic spirit to serve diligently and even be ready to die for the country like what the Americans or British do etc. This is because they have a nation that put the welfare of its people first, a nation based on equality and justice and a nation whose leaders are servants of the people and accountable to the people. In Nigeria, the people are accountable to the gang of leaders and there is nothing like taxpayers’ money. Once rigged into office, state money is personal money.
The government and its leaders are so dishonest and insincere, as it does not have the least inclination and political will to address the injustices that had deliberately been firmly rooted over the years.
The late Alfred Rewane a foremost nationalist once summed up our independence celebrations for us that Nigeria is a failed state. He said ‘’ yesterday, we yearned for a better tomorrow. Today, we mourn the loss of a better yesterday’’.
All over the world and even inside Africa, other Africans now deride Nigeria and its people. But which way Nigeria? We are all Nigerians and have no other homeland to call our own. It is therefore very important that all Nigerians both home and abroad should engage in a serious re-think of our national processes ahead of the golden independence anniversary when we shall show the world our willingness to start the process of nation building.
All Nigerians must come together and matters should be declared openly, discussed openly and at the end of the day, there must also be a readiness to live together in a truly peoples’ federal republic as one nation. There are more that binds us together than divide us. But we must live together in equality and justice with total allegiance to the nation state not Arewa, Oodua, Ohaneze, Middle Belt Forum etc.
We must stop the recycling process of old politicians which is a common feature of our political process and give ventilation to a new generation of leaders with ideas to remake a new Nigeria for our children and the future generation.
The formation of a mega party in any form or colour to challenge the PDP is a mirage. All the political parties have no ideologies and they are launch pads to get to government coffers and bleed the anaemic nation to death. Enough of the deceit, lies and inhumanity in Nigeria. After 49 years of failed nationhood, its time for change. Adams Oshiomhole the Edo State Governor once told the federal government that asking him to call-off the nationwide strike is like asking him to stop a moving train with his bare hands. Nobody can stop an idea whose time has come. We may have been handed our independence by the British not knowing what to do with it - an independence that has left Nigerians more despondent and disillusioned. But for us to preserve our independence we must make sacrifices for the sake of our children and future generation.
The late Dr Martin Luther King once said ‘’ our lives begin to end the day we become silent on things that matter’’ History calls us to stand up and create a country we can truly call our own. A country based on equality and justice, a country whose leaders are elected with ideas and accountable to the people. A country based on the rule of law and a country that gives meaning to the lives of her citizens.

To bring about change and this peoples’ revolution, we all must accept the responsibility to do our part. If we do stand up and say enough is enough, then and only then we can make a new and better Nigeria worth celebrating. Until then, I can't see any golden independence anniversary ahead worth celebrating if there are no fundamental changes. The 49th year is already dead on arrival.

Constitution Review

2009-09-25T12:06:00.000-07:00

In order to build and create a Nigeria that the people can believe in, there is an urgent need for a new constitution by all the peoples of Nigeria. This is the way forward for us all to begin the process of nation building. The present Nigerian constitution is a centralist document packaged by the military and special interests and handed over to the people. This centralist document makes a mockery of democracy, federalism and the presidential system of governance.
This unitary system of government by special interests in Nigeria has contributed in no small measure to the discontent, unrest, and armed insurgence that continue to retard development and quality of life within the Nigerian nation space.

My people, if we want a better Nigeria we need to create it and make it happen rather than watch things happen. We should not be tied to our past but our potentials and capacity to bring about change.It is time to recapture that sense of a common purpose: we are all Nigerians and have no other country to call our own. We need each other and must care for each other. Be you Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Ijaw, Christian, Moslem, atheist, etc there are more that bring us together than divide us. I’m tired of hearing about how Nigeria is on the wrong track – I want us to come together to put it on the right track.

I want all of us to stand up and to start reaching for what is possible.
History calls us to stand up and create a country we can truly call our own. A country that gives meaning to the lives of her citizens and the best gift we can give our children and the future generation. Because loving your country shouldn’t just mean watching independence celebrations on October 1st - an independence that has left Nigerians more despondent and disillusioned; creating your country and making it happen must mean accepting your responsibility to do your part to change it. And if you do stand up, I promise you that we can make a new and better Nigeria happen in our generation.

As we approach 2011, its time for change and to reclaim the Nigerian nation from the special interests. Your brothers and sisters and indeed your children need your service, right now, in this moment - our moment - in history. I'm not going to tell you what your role should be; that's for you to discover. But I am going to ask you to play your part; ask you to stand up; ask you to put your foot firmly into the current of history.

On my part, I will reach the nooks and crannies of Nigeria through all available channels to let the people know that they are the architects of their destinies. I might in the process re-engage many in the political process that have surrendered their future to the special interests after many years of hopelessness.
Let us remember the immortal words of Frantz Fanon, the future will have no pity for those men who possessing the exceptional privilege of being able to speak words of truth have taken refuge in an attitude of passivity, of mute indifference and sometimes cold complicity.

I believe together we can change our hearts, together we can change our nation and together we can make Nigeria happen.

Salus Populi, Suprema les – the will of the people is supreme.

God bless you and God bless Nigeria.

ASUU Strike

2009-09-24T16:39:00.000-07:00

The federal government is creating a wasted generation of nigerians by allowing the shutdown of all institutions of higher learning for almost 4 months in this 21st century.What hope is left for Nigeria.