Sycophancy and governance in Nigeria

Sycophancy and governance in Nigeria

“The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or anyone else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about anyone else.” - President Theodore Roosevelt

This week, my ever curious eyes took a pip into the various arms of government in my dear country Nigeria.  And my eyes specifically picked up one of the most dangerous blight silently eating away our social, economic and political fabric. This is no other than sycophancy: defined as a process of using flattery to win favour from individuals wielding influence. The Greek definition of a sycophant went further to illustrate him as someone who brings all kinds of charges and proves none. “It is their practice to bring charges even against those who have done no wrong. For from these they would gain most profit. The word of a sycophant entails false accusation, malicious prosecution, and abuse of legal process for mischievous or fraudulent purposes.”

All across Nigeria, the number one gainful trade now is to become a sycophant and praise most of our rulers to high heaven. It is now profitable in most of our local government councils, state Houses, including our fortified Aso Rock to become a sycophant and know your way around. Sycophancy has since taken over the job of sincere policy thinkers and makers and most of our social, economic and political ideas are now initiated and proposed by the unregistered association of Nigerian sycophancy.

Just take a careful scrutiny of most of our government offices, ministries and agencies and you will notice their conspicuous presence; Always decked in flamboyant regalia and their sweet talk trademark. They wine and dine with our representatives in our states and National Assembly; they mingle freely among our local government chairmen and women, our governors and the presidency. They are so strong and powerful; what they only lack is the truth from their mouths.

It is no longer a big deal in Nigeria if wrong pegs are being put in the wrong holes and assigned to head sensitive and important positions across the country. This is actually part of sycophancy, the abuse of legal process for mischievous or fraudulent purposes. Sometime you don’t really blame these cliques of modern con men and women; they actually help expose the weakness and quality of those purported to be representing our interest at the local, states and national level.

It is a known fact that the Nigerian politicians and other government officials, including some of their private counterparts derive joy and satisfaction from flattering and praises; they love and worship titles, awards and other organized recognitions. They hate criticism and any opposition to their failure and ideas. The daily praises of some of our failed politicians in the pages of newspapers, radio and television is a good example of how sycophancy has taken over the reality in our development. You can hardly open three newspapers or magazines in the country today without beholding some commissioned pictures of purported achievements of a local government chairman, a commissioner, a minister or governor. Nigerians are bombarded everyday with commissioned articles, write-ups, commentary on radio and documentary on television of some of the achievements of these men and women, using public funds for cheap image propaganda.  The Nigerian media both the print and electronic have since been conned into the activities of the sycophantic movement, with some of them daily smiling happily to the banks, fully aware that they have been selling innocent Nigerians falsehood and undemocratic propaganda.

 Some of our traditional and religious leaders are not left out in this new venture, as some of them are well known supporters and sympathizers of various politicians and political parties. In fact, some of them are the grand patron of the sycophant interest group and humble beneficiaries of stolen wealth and government patronage. Their sycophantic voice and positions provide them with the opportunity to win contracts and fix their cronies in high government positions and private establishment across the country. Those who have already been bought by their various benefactors cannot and will not tell them the truth when the time warrants. They are always scared of losing their transitory positions and the good things of this vanity world.

What about our various public and private organizations?  The act of sycophancy is now part of the qualifications that qualify a potential worker to gain employment and rise quickly in his position. You must be able to daily, weekly or monthly sycophant for your superior or co-workers otherwise you might find yourself stagnant in your career for many years while those with false and malicious minds overtake you like jet engines. Who cares if what they are saying or doing are selfish and destructible to the reputation of the person or organization; just try to be a convincible sycophant and you shall see some temporary wonders.

Sycophancy has been one of the most challenging factors why our roads still remain a dead trap despite all the billions yearly spent on them. It is the reason why our public schools are still looking like junk yards in this 21st century, and also part of the reason why we are still struggling to generate all the thousands of electricity megawatts promised by different administrations. I tell you, the daily adulation of our rulers has been part of the origin why most of our local and state governments are still finding it difficult to see the truth and effectively develop their constituencies. The sycophants have long knocked some false notions into their psyche. They cunningly tell them and show them what they want to see and not what they should sincerely know and understand.

All across the country, the most profiting business seems to be the smooth talk trade and some of our inefficient politicians are enjoying the sham ride on the false wheels of these men and women around them, whose number one interest is to abuse the legal process for mischievous or fraudulent purposes. Who cares if you are a failed politician, manager, religious or traditional ruler in Nigeria? Just have a good number of sycophants around you or become one yourself; then you shall see and feel the wonders of the sycophantic business in the country, especially if you can make your way in government cycles and always remain foolish and greedy and importantly unpatriotically never criticize the wrong actions of those in power even when you see the shape of truth glaring triumphantly across your face.

100 days of bombings, kidnappings and fears…

Let me first of all congratulate all our elected and selected representatives in the various contending political parties and states across our dear country on their not so easy 100 eventful days in office.   Thank God, I am not in their positions and happy to watch silently from behind as the various events unfold across the country. Honestly, it is not easy to be a successful politician in Nigeria these days; neither is the glamour and fame enticing any longer, especially for those with prudent eyes to see the kata-kata and wahala that have taken over the joy of being an elected or selected member into any government position across the 774 local government councils.

To be frank, it has been 100 days of problems and challenges to our various  office holders across the country, from militancy in the Niger Delta,  Boko Haram bombings across the north, kidnappings and robbery across the south-east,and mayhem  and flooding in the south- west. One hundred days of political wrangling and inciting statmemt by some of our religious and traditional leaders.

What an eventful 100 days! I could still remember with wonder, those bomb blasts in Abuja after the presidential inauguration and the ones in Bauchi and Kaduna. My mind can still visualize the scattered bodies of innocent victims of the Suleja bomb blast. How could we easily forget that shocking kidnapping of 15 innocent school children in Abia State  and  their senior compatriots serving as NYSC members in Port Harcourt?

 Definitely, we have not stopped thinking of the other famous dare-devil kidnappings and robbery that have tried to overshadow the good intentions of some of our elected members in the past 100 days.  This brought to mind the now famous Oba of Benin traditional curse on kidnappers and thieves in the state. And yet, it has not been actually easy for the comrade governor to give the people what they need and deserve easily.

It is no longer easy on our politicians, as events as shown over the past 100 days. Politicians and elected members from Plateau State are in a good position to tell you this. No thanks, to the barbaric killings and cheap ethno-religious cleansing that has now totally overshadowed the hitherto home of tourism and beauty in Nigeria. Even their counterparts in Borno and Bauchi would easily attest to their submissions, given the high rate of bombings, robbery and killings that have taken over their states over the last 100 days.

It has actually been an eye opening 100 days as Nigerians and the entire globe were meant to hear first- hand some of the corrupt activities of some of their representatives and other shocking exposé. This, thanks to Julian Assange and his world number one whistle blowing website Wikileaks.  Back home, our own Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has not let us down.He exposed the dubious wuru-wuru and activities of some of our banks and the subsequent sack and prosecution of their corrupt management.  

It has been a hundred days of controversies and denials; from the judicial tango between the Chief Justice of the Federation and the President of the Court of Appeal, leading to his contentious sack; down to the sacking of the board of NDDC and the lingering judicial crisis between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and some opposition parties across the country. Not forgetting the raging controversial Islamic Banking hullaballoo, the Libya foreign policy wahala and the evacuating of reluctant Nigerians from Egypt, Libya  and Cote d’Ivoire during the crises that almost tore the countries asunder.

It has been an action-packed 100 days of flooding and massive loss of lives in some states like Lagos, Ibadan, Gombe and Sokoto. And 100 days of mourning to some victims of the post-election crises that engulfed some part of the northern states.

Perhaps the Nigerian federal capital city has been the worst hit so far in these first 100 days of bombings and killings. From the inauguration bombing, the daring police headquarters bombing and the recent callous UN House bombing. I tell you if the surroundings in Abuja could speak, it would have shouted out loudly in pains. The hitherto beautiful serene city has suddenly found itself under siege and fortified.

True, Nigerians have witnessed some hundred days of terror, fears and uncertainty, as their country came under some of the most gruesome murders and killings of its citizens in the hands of dare devil armed robbers across our high ways, banks, and homes. One hundred days of traumatic experience to the lucky survival of bombings, ritual killings, armed robbery and road accidents across some of our death trap roads.

The Nigerian workers are in a better position to tell us how eventful the first 100 days of the present administration has been as regards the controversial N18, 000 Minimum Wage and the many wrangling and wahala most of them passed through in the hands of the various state governors in approving and implementing this passed labour law across the country. It has actually been a 100 days of many promises and policies by the various states, including the presidency.

It has been a 100 days of challenges on the presidency and some state governors as regards insecurity and sabotage. 100 days of worries and fear among the inhabitants of these states and the federal capital city. To be sincere, these first hundred days have not been fair to the various sincere government policies, as the challenges of insecurity and attacks stole the shine of the positive development the nation might have enjoyed.

It has been an eventful 100 days, if we can clearly remember, especially as regards the high cost of foodstuff, house rent and kerosene in the country; 100 wonderful days of new faces in our states and National Assembly, not forgetting the promising faces of new and old ministers and the lucky shape of second term governors.

The days are fast running away and it is now more than 100 days and most of us are still waiting, praying and hoping for a relief from the past eventful challenging 100 days of bombing, kidnapping and fear.

Christian/Muslim partnership: Is it possible in Nigeria?

Oh God! I am back to religion again this week; an issue I have always tried to avoid by all means. But the reality is that this dynamic topic seems to be one area in our social relationship that appears want to tear us asunder if proper care is not taken.

Every right thinking and sensible society has realized and accepted the unquestionable fact that the worst wars are religious wars. And presently some of our ungodly religious leaders are steering us selfishly towards this avoidable calamity.

The realization that nobody or a group of individual or community can lay claim to have seen God  or have been directed by Him to fight on His behalf  in this present  generation is a consciousness that should imbibe in  every right thinking and  God fearing  human alive.  The fact that none of us can create even an atom from all the natural things around us, is another perception that should distinguished us from the animals around us. Then why is it that some of our religious leaders and their followers have failed to comprehend these simple logic? Why have we not been able to form a partnership among our two major religious sect Islam and Christianity in this part of the world has seen and witnessed in other nations around us?

The story goes in Egypt from an adaptation from a book Generation Freedom by Bruce Feiler and published in the TIME magazine edition of June 6, 2011 on how an episode of religious intolerance unfolded in a tiny village of Sol. According to report, a rumor that a Christian man had been in a romantic relationship with a Muslim woman  which resulted in a domestic dispute within the woman’s  family over her actions and two people were killed, including her father.

After the funerals, a crowd of Muslims went looking for the Christian man, who they heard had sought refuge in the church. When word spread that someone found evidence that black magic was being performed on Muslims inside the church, the crowd set the building ablaze.

Just as this situation sparkled, something unexpected happened. A group of young Muslim and Christian leaders in Cairo who had worked together during the revolution swept into Sol to address the situation. The group built on the spirit of  Christian - Muslim partnership that had developed in Tahrir Square.

Day after day during the revolution, Christians were reported to have locked arms to protect Muslims during prayers.  Muslims also did the same for Christians during Mass. On other occasions Muslims and Christians linked arms to protect Cairo’s historic synagogue. The protesters were reported to have adopted an interlocking crescent and cross as their symbol of a new Egypt.

Sol offered a taste of Christian/ Muslim harmony and the result were striking. Within 24 hours, a Muslim delegation visited the town and helped rebuild the Coptic Church.

Can  the above narrated scenario ever happen in Nigeria? Is it possible to see a Christian/Muslim harmony among our elders and youths? A big capital No! Given the senseless killings and burning of places of worship  across the country over the years. The reality is that we don’t really respect each other’s religion,nor do we value the life of  human being in this part of the world.

All across the world we have seen how other nations have been able to teach harmony and togetherness in religious activities, but not in my dear country Nigeria where some of our religious leaders have turned into mercenaries and angel of dead, instigating and openly encouraging their not too exposed and uneducated followers to go kill and burn in God’s name. we have seen and witnessed how  followers of the two major religious group in the country always take advantage of helpless worshipers in churches and mosques during crises, burning and killing innocent souls without the fear of God  or respect  for human soul.

 Is it possible for Christians and Muslims in this country to lock arms and protect each other during protest for good living condition and the various injustices around them? Or can the followers of both religions have the fear of God and protect each other’s property against the murderous invasion of some of their self- centered and narrow-minded followers?  Can the Nigerian Christians and Muslims ever unite to battle those corrupt politicians and public office others who have been stealing and siphoning our resources over the decades? Can they sincerely forget about their religious differences and lock hands to bring an end to the various kidnapping, ethno-religious killings and senseless political and business assassinations now rampant across the country?

When would our own religious leaders ever call their followers to order and tell them the absolute truth that none among them can ever fight for God. When would they put the fear of God in their mind and encourage themselves and their followers to respect other people’s religions?  Will they ever be truthful enough to educate their mercenaries that there is no compulsion in religion and that every soul shall be answerable to his or her deeds on earth? Can some of them,whose utterances and actions have shown glaringly that they are not truly averse to the teachings of their scriptures, repent and change their bigoted ways? True it should beat every reasonable mind on why despite our  growing up togherter, schooling at the same schools, buying from the same markets, dating and marrying across our various tribes and regions and working in the same offices, ministries and factories ; the Nigerian Christians and Muslims are still daily confronting, attacking and killing each other across the country, especially in the northern part of Nigeria where these practice has become part of the system.

What really happened to our hitherto love for one another irrespective of religion, tribe and background? I could still remember the good old Nigeria where we all attended  the same public schools with the Emekas,the Bellos, the Bolajis,  the Etims,  the Akpayis,  the Ndas,   Peter,  Mary, Aisha, Segun,  Audu, Ngozi, Nnamdi, Jato, Johnbull or whatever name you bear or the  religion you practice, we never really cared; as long as you are a Nigerian and a human being with one head and a soul. But,is that the practice today? All across the country some of our schools both public and private are now selfishly segregated and upcoming Nigerians shamelessly indoctrinated to hate each other based on tribe and religion sentiments.   Our communities and homes are now segregated environment, where religious differences have torn us asunder within even close families and friends.  It is no longer a free Nigeria anymore and we have been forced to now choose where we reside and who we make friends with based on their tribe and religion. Employment and some business transactions are now based on religious bigotry and nepotism. Some of  our religious preaching and upbringing these days is all about hatred, falsehood and hypocrisy.

Truly,can there ever be a partnership between Nigerian Christians and Muslims?   Well,everything they say is possible if you believe and set your mind in it. I believe we can create a friendly partnership among ourselves,if we can say no to all the magu-magu and wuru-wuru in our sytem, including the instigating self-centered lies of some of our religious leaders and politicians who over the years have been using God’s name to create division among us and try to tear us asunder for their selfish interest.

May God continue to protect us against them and give us the strength and courage to one day come together and lock our arms patriotically against their selfish plans irrespective of our religion affiliation.

An overview of the Nigerian political mafias

“Politicians have always sought us out because we can provide votes .Between friends and family, each man of honor can muster up forty to fifty other people. There are between 1,500 and 2,000 men of honor in Palermo province. Multiply that by fifty and you get a nice package of 75,000 to 100,000 votes to go to friendly parties and candidates.”

-Anthonini Calderone

I have just finished reading an interesting book The Mafia:the first 100 years written by two authors William Balzamo and George Carpozzi jnr. This courtesy of an intellectual friend who was kind enough to lend me this priceless novel.  To be honest the ways of the mafia ‘the men of honour’ has always intrigued me right from my school days, especially as they were made more popular by Mario Puzo and his blockbuster the Godfather.

One surprising thing after reading this book was the reality that hit me; I have come to compare our present situation in the country to that of the 18th century criminal era of the mafia in Sicily and America where they made a huge success in their criminal activities.  They were what one can call an alternative government in the days of prohibition in America. They made bootlegging more popular and ripped off the states and people  billions of dollars through other criminal activities like gambling, loan sharking, insurance payment, prostitutions, protection racketeering , vote buying, smuggling, bid rigging and other legal and illegal  legendry activities of the Mafia (also known as Cosa Nostra).

They were virtually everywhere during the 18th and 19th century America and made inroad into various America cities,  more organized and flamboyant in the 20th century, with strong mafia boss like Al Capone Scarface, Frankie Yale,  Lucky Luciano,Frank Capello,  Carlo Gambino,Vito Ganovese, Sam ‘Momo’ Giancana,Joseph Bonanno, John Gotti  and others sitting atop some of the most dangerous  criminal gangs the world had ever seen. They enforced their authorities everywhere and were in total control of the American social political economy.

 Back home here in Nigeria, I want to believe that what we presently have is nothing different from the Mafioso era in the 18th and 19th   century. Because our economic, social and political lives today seem to be under control of some mafia or cabal of sort who dictates and enforces some of the activities going on in this sectors. A good example is our epileptic power supply where some political mafias have since taken charge and direct when or where should have electricity at a particular given time. Stories of individuals dictating or enforcing electricity distribution to certain area are not new in Nigeria.  And the strong energy generating mafias are not left out in the mass importation of generators in the country; this to ensure that the Nigerian masses don’t enjoy light but buy their noise making generating sets at dictated prices.

What about our moribund transport system and obsolete railway lines? The Nigerian Mafias have long hijacked these important sectors to themselves and their gangs of unpatriotic Nigerians. The Nigerian  nation has been battling them for more than three decades to  revive this comatose sector and ease the suffering of  the ordinary man, especially those at the rural areas who are finding it extremely difficult to move their goods and services to the cities. They have hijacked and ensured that our roads are dead and are in total control of haulage and other road transport services. They bid and win most of the road contracts in the country and at the end construct seasonal roads that last only for a particular time and new contracts are awarded to them on the same roads. Perhaps nowhere else on planet earth has some of the most expensive dilapidated roads like Nigeria.

The Nigerian political mafias control our local government councils, states assemblies and National Assembly, up to our fortified Aso Rock. They have their men and women who are bonafide members of their unregistered cabal scattered everywhere as local government chairmen and women, councilors, house members, representatives, senators and governors. They are not left out in the list of ministers and special advisers, including heads of juicy government agencies. They have long made it their business to be involved in winning government tenders, bonds, and luscious contracts. They proposed and initiate what they think is good for the Nigerian people and the nation and ensured that they control the financial and logistic aspect. They are everywhere controlling the goods in our markets and fixing the prices of essential commodities, after all they own 99% of markets and stalls across the country. The Nigeria political Mafioso have gradually infiltrated the building industry , owning various verse estates and bought their way into other luscious sectors of our economy like oil and gas, export and import, shipping, the media, banking, telecommunication and even cabbage collecting and refuse dumps.  They are holding on greedily and selfishly to these ventures and daily exploiting us without pity or the fear of God.

I tell you, they are everywhere, look around and you will see them. They have commandeered our educational sector and ensured that our schools don’t work or function effectively. They are happy with our dilapidated public schools and proud that their children are schooling in the best schools abroad, and some of them are busy setting up private primary, secondary and higher institutions across the country with looted funds; and high tuition fees that only them and their cronies can afford .They have this illusive vision of importing their offspring to take over from them at the ripe time. They have guaranteed themselves and their followers that public schools in Nigeria will never return to its past glory or graduate ordinary Nigerians with flying colours. They are in control of our labour market and hold the aces to employment in most private and public establishment. You must belong to a cabal or have a political mafia godfather for you to get job or promotion in most of our establishments in the country.

The Nigeria political mafias just like their Sicilian and American counterparts are bunch of desperados and could go to any length to retail their claws in the fragmented social political economy of this nation.  They see nothing wrong in assassination, kidnapping, bombings or rough handling any opposition to their undertakings. They have almost the best of all material things in the world; ranging from gigantic mansions, posh cars and beautiful women, and never satisfied.

Ironically the only difference with the famous Sicilians mafia is that while the Sicilians and American mafias pride themselves as ‘Men of honour’ our own political mafias are not really known as such, given the fact that they hardly keep their words and promises, even their own backyards are seriously undeveloped and are well –known in the betrayal of each other and cross carpeting for cheap political and  material gains, and importantly undermining the revered oath of ‘Omerta’,   that pledge of secrecy  well distinguished among the Sicilian mafias.

Nigeria: A tribute to a resilient nation

This no doubt is one of the most challenging periods in the 50 years existence of Nigeria as an independent federal nation.  Perhaps not even the three years Nigerian civil war brought so much confusion and fear as the present siege that the Nigerian nation has suddenly found itself.

Again possibly it will be difficult to find a country that has experienced some of the greatest atrocities, looting, plundering, political, religious and ethnic confrontations and maladministration like Nigeria my dear country. And upon all these the country has continue to stand  firm and solid against all the internal and external  attacks on her over the decades since its diplomatic freedom from its colonial master.

 A careful study of the nation famously known as  the Federal Republic of Nigeria would revealed an homogeneous country that has been unfortunate to witnessed  an unnecessary civil war, various military coups, massive looting of its resources by government officials and politicians, including  some selected elite and inner cronies. The Nigerian nation has been forced to withstand some of the most barbaric ethno-religious crises under the sun and equally compelled to endure the current spate of bombings that is currently threatening its solid resilient foundation. 

Many analysts have argued that if Nigerian were another country some of the crises that had engulfed it over the decades would have tore it asunder. But Nigeria the land of good people with bad leaders have continued to stand solid like an Iroko tree and  rigid to development courtesy of various  administrations and their unrealistic policies that has refused to move the rich country ahead of its  past grandeur. 

I love Nigeria no be small, and  ever proud to be part of its resilient and bravery amidst the countless  attacks , dooms day predictions and systematic sabotage and betrayal by some of its unpatriotic citizens and foreign collaborators who have tried and are still trying every selfish tricks under the sun to split it asunder  for self-centered reasons.

This is a tribute to Nigeria the country with one of the highest concentration of tribes, natural resources and diverse people. The realm abounds with rich sumptuous food and still looking hungry and unhappy. The  land with some of the most intelligent engineers, lawyers, writers, journalist, doctors, bankers,professors, military and policemen and other world class professionals across globe , but yet still left to run on dilapidated roads, outdated public  schools, epileptic power supply, snail crawling rail lines and exhausted hospitals.    

Show me another country in Africa with a large population, verse arable land, diverse culture and assorted chop-chop like Nigeria the land that has refused to shake or disintegrate to the shame of its enemies. Or is there any other country under the sun with laughable political dramas and policies across the globe? I mean a nation where its elected men and women are never ashamed to fight for furniture, car and house allowance or see nothing wrong in the number of abandoned government establishments and industries and the teeming number of its unemployed youth?

A tribute to Nigeria the land that has seen some of the most astonishing theft of its oil, and its other rich resources and yet the oil and resources are still flowing yanfu-yanfu and the selected beneficiaries are still getting richer but living in illusion and an unhappy life because they have refused to let these free bounties of the lord spray evenly among the verse majority in the country. What else can one give this supple country than to pay it a  well deserved tribute for still shielding us against devastating storms,  suicidal bombings, looting, ritualists,  dare- devil armed robbers, ethno-religious  murderers, astonishing assassinations, high cost of living, corruption and  maladministration.

I believe the country Nigeria merit praises for refusing to fall cheaply in the selfish hands of those who tried to privatized and sell off its infrastructure and parts of its solid foundation to themselves and their associates. It warrants some accolades and kudos for still standing as a Federal Republic despite the internal feuds among its various ethnic group and diverse political ideology.  We should praise our dear neglected country for still watering the storm amidst environmental pollution, oil spillage, flood, illegal mining, smuggling and the massive importation of second hand goods and substandard products into its territory.

What other country can stand the constant breaking of its laws by its citizens and outsiders? Where else can you find a country and people with patience and hope notwithstanding the long negligence by its leaders and unpatriotic attitudes of some of its citizens? Or is there any other nation and people that has been called assorted names ranging from 419ers, human traffickers, drug pushers, terrorists, yahoo-yahoo people and  other numerous scandalous names? I think this country has given us much and deserves more than we have been giving back to it. Where else can we really run to if this great sustaining country disintegrate today? Show me other nation that can accommodate and tolerate all that has been melted out to this country? Which land can sustain and feed the millions of the diverse people of this territory if we succumb to the daily threats of bombings, stealing, looting, killings, and the other man made crises that have brought down other nations around us?

Tribute to Nigeria the hard-wearing land that has rebuff the bigoted minds of nepotism, segregation and the unpatriotic attitudes and utterances of some of its citizens.   A loud ovation to the land of oil and gas, palm oil, cotton, groundnuts, gari, hides and skin, cocoa, cassava, maize, coconuts, sugar cane and other numerous agricultural exports that made us who we are today, not forgetting   the high concentration of coal, bauxite, tantalite, gold, tin, iron ore, limestone, niobium, lead, bitumen and the other uncountable underexploited mineral resources scattered across all the geo-political zones of the country.

 This is a tribute to my dear country Nigeria a land with vast areas of underutilized arable land, rich human resources and some of the happiest and suffering people under the sun.

Is Boko Haram a catalyst for change in Nigeria?

? I had a hidden grin on my face as I wrote this column, grinning silently away at the sudden change that seems to have taken over our hitherto slumbering security formations across the country, including the rapid security consciousness of an average Nigerian these days. All across the country Nigerians are beginning to take the issue of security seriously, especially our various security agencies who had previously  been more engaged in  chasing armed robbers, kidnappers and other  petty thieves like pickpockets, goat ,chicken and bread thieves.

Today the story has changed, the coming of the deadly sect known as Boko Haram has instilled an inevitable fear among the populace, especially among our ostentatious elite and politicians who until now had been having it smooth and enjoying their stashed looted public funds. The fear of Boko Haram has suddenly become the beginning of wisdom among them and our elite are now scared stiff of publicly uttering their well known charade and selfish remarks. Most of them have even become dumber than a dumb and are contented to Sidon look as things unfold across the country. 

One would wonder what has happened to our noise making zoning and anti-zoning politicians who almost tore this country apart during the last presidential election with their prejudiced utterances and their religious counterparts who instigated hundreds of their innocent followers against each other and preached politics more in their sermons in churches and mosques. All over the country the topmost issue now is on security and the fear of the unexpected.

The sudden invasion of the Boko Haram sect has brought about a dramatic transformation of our security apparatus and the tightening of our porous borders, including the unleashing of different security measure across all states of the federation, principally in our lavish Federal Capital City where our elite and politicians hitherto had the erroneous impression could never be hit. Today Abuja is one of the most security perambulated and fortified cities in the world.

All these thanks to the invasion of Boko Haram; who knows if the Boko Haram had not bombarded most of our states what would have been the security situation in the country today. Would our egunje striving police force been more active? Or would our barracks sitting soldiers wake up to their duties? Would our globetrotting politicians learn how to cut down on their excessive travelling and show off? And would our cities have been more alert to terrorism and bombings?

Right now the soldiers and police are everywhere, searching and going after crime and criminals, instead of waiting for them as usual. Our hitherto slumbering Immigration personnel are becoming more alert and opening their sleepy eyes to illegal immigrants who had always found it easy to drift into Nigeria and blend easily among our unsuspecting citizens. Our imperceptible State Security Service personnel are not left out in the current security alertness brought about by the Boko Haram as they are now more visible and up and doing. What about our various organs of government from the executive, to the legislators and the judiciary? There seems to be a change in their outlook to the issue of security and the need to protect the lives and property of the citizenry these days, as nobody knows who or where the next target would be.

I could not help but grin widely as I heard about the banning of achaba and okada in Maiduguri, Kaduna, Lagos and other parts of the country.  The fear of Boko Haram cyclists with their dangerous bombs actually brought about a change and ban on this outdated and unreasonable mode of public transport in this 21st century, something long overdue across the country. At least many Nigerians are now safe from accidental death through achaba, and okada  ride.

 All over the states the suspicion of non-Nigerians,especially those from volatile neighbouring countries, is now part of our daily watch. Nigerians are beginning to ask questions and demanding a better policing and securing of their country from invaders.  The rising of the Boko Haram sect has taught most of us to now be wary of where we go and who we deal with. It has curtailed the daily activities of husbands who hitherto left their wives and kids at home and spent most of their time in bars and recreation centres.

But has the coming of the Boko Haram now fully instigated and motivated the various governments across the country to revive our moribund industries and create jobs for our teeming youths?  Has it put enough fear in our corrupt politicians and treasury looters to be cautious on how they loot our resources and impoverish the nation and people?  Would our political office holders be wary of what they now do and say, knowing that the unseen bombs of the Boko Haram could blow them to shred and destroy their political ambitions?

I am still grinning, reveling on the sudden change that the Boko Haram sect has made possible in my dear country Nigeria. And  true to what the famous British thriller writer James Hadley Chase rightly observed in one of his thrilling novels Want to Stay Alive?  “ fear is the key that unlock the handbags and wallets of the rich”  And how truly one can confidently  refer this bold statement to  the present situation in the country. The elite and politicians are now more scared due to the fear unleashed by the Boko Haram and as expected their handbags and wallets are now  unlocked. Most of them are now talking about the need for adequate security in the country. The fear has made the government unlock its wallets and focus its budgets on security issues, including the long overdue urgency to train and upgrade the reasoning and capacity of our security personnel across the country.

Fear, I tell you, has become the golden key that has unlocked the minds and seriousness of our government officials on the need to create jobs and vocational centres for the teeming youths of this country, as currently being witnessed in the Niger Delta; where hundreds of the hitherto restless youths have been ferried to various schools and trade learning centres abroad, while the other regions await their turn silently.  Who knows if the Niger Delta militants would have gotten their break if they had not put that fear in the minds of those who had long been stealing their wealth and siphoning their resources for selfish gain? Fear is everywhere and it is beginning to unlock the sleeping  selfish minds of our leaders across the country?

NEW  NIGERIAN  ON  SUNDAY, AUGUST 14 ,  2011

Our religious leaders and our plight

To be honest, I have always tried as much as possible to stay clear out of religious issues. But this time around, I just felt I must do some talking even just to satisfy my troubling soul; because I have always subscribed to the reality that no human among us has the strength or intellect to really fight for God.

 Over the years since the coming of various religious groups in this country, the average Nigerian has been subjected to various tirade from different pastors, imams, reverend, sheik and what have you.

We have been victims of incitement by our religious body against each other, maiming and killing one another due to the utterances of some of these purported men of God. We have seen and witnessed how some of these men hide under the cover of religion to commit some of the most heinous crime against humanity. Fresh in our memories are the inciting preaching by some of our religious leaders during the last presidential election where some shameless ungodly pastors and imams instigated their followers against each other, this by openly metamorphosing into politicians and brazenly encouraged their followers to vote based on religious and ethnic sentiments.

The Nigerian religious leaders have been seen or heard more when it comes to issue that has to do with a rival religious group. Then you will see them coming out boldly to utter selfish and myopic utterances. All these without the consent of  the majority of their followers who at the end of the day become the victims of their utterances, as most of the leaders are nowhere to be found when the kata-kata bursts.   Experience has shown that most of them are people who talk hypocritically and never practice what they preach.

The Nigerian religious leaders are never seen or heard when the politicians are looting the nation’s resources or politicking desperately on zoning and other undemocratic issues. They are only seen when issues like Sharia, Islamic banking, religious crusades, and other activities they see as unreligious against their interest. Presently what we have in the controversial polity is the issue of Islamic banking and some leaders of the two religions are already at daggers drawn with each other. In fact,some of them have introduced ethnic and tribal sentiment to the whole thing.

Why is it that nothing beneficial ever comes to Nigeria without our religious leaders trying to read meaning into it? Are those calling themselves religious heads really enlightened and educated in their callings? Why is it that all across Africa we are the only nation with narrow-minded religious leaders with divide and rule ideas? We are the nation purported to have the highest concentration of churches and mosques in the world, yet are still daily out- winked by some hypocrites disguised in religious gowns and beads.

 Why is it that our noise making religious leaders have not been able to tackle the government on the disgraceful poverty level and lack of security presently in the country? Why have they not come out to condemn the shameful state of our roads, schools, infrastructure and the closure of our hitherto functioning textile industries and other viable industries across the country that have long been shut down? Why haven’t they lent their strong voice on the need to,as a matter of urgency, complete the long neglected Ajaokuta Steel industry? Or are our religious leaders shy of telling the world the moral decadence in our homes, mosques and churches? What has been their contribution to the shameful inflating price of kerosene in the country and the sore rising prices of foodstuffs in our markets? Instead we hear them everyday fighting an unrealistic media war on issues that other thoughtful religious leaders of other nations have long learnt how to deal with amicably.

To be honest, some Nigerian religious leaders have over the decades used the advantage at their disposal to preach more on segregation, nepotism, tribalism, and total division among the average Nigerians who no doubt are spiritually inclined. Some of them have since turned into politicians or their mouthpiece and unleashed senseless preaching and sermons during campaign and election periods. We have flambouyant imams, reverend fathers, sheiks and pastors cruising around in big jeeps and other expensive automobile across the country. We have big gigantic mansions belonging to various religious groups and individuals across our land and we have seen many of them owning private jets and massive real estates. They dine and wine with those at the corridors of power and are beneficiaries of wasteful resources by the governments on pilgrimages every year.  Some of them have their children  in the best schools abroad, while their eyes and voices are closed to the neglected ones across the country.

When would our so-called religious leaders learn how to fight against hunger and unemployment ravaging many homes across the country? When would they learn how to preach truthfully against corruption among its members in our various churches and mosques? When would they learn how to come together to fight against the maladministration and injustices going on in virtually all the regions?  Or when would they come collectively to truthfully preach unity and tolerance among the various religious sects in the country? Would their religious teaching make them come out boldly to preach against the retrogression in our economic, social and political lives?  Can they ever be bold enough to tell the politicians to sit up and cut down the luxurious price of governance in the country? Would the fear of God ever come to their mind to advise the various organs of government on the need to cut down spending on free pilgrimages for them and their cronies? How many of them have stood up in support of the N18,000 minimum wage and other better entitlements for the Nigerian workers?

Again,what have our religious leaders done towards addressing the outrageous cost of pilgrimages to Mecca and Jerusalem and how have they tackled our selfish politicians on the current hijacking of the pilgrimage seats for their cronies and their sycophantic followers? Is it not a mortification that ordinary Nigerians are finding it difficult these days to travel to these holy land?  Are these sincerely not part of the hot issues they are expected to be wrangling about?

 These are questions for our bickering and cheap fighting religious leaders who have been at loggerheads over simple issues, which include the sighting of churches, mosques, banks, universities and other religious institutions anywhere that goes against their interest, as if they now own the land that every right thinking human knows belong to none but God the almighty, the creator and owner of every drop of particle in this vanity world.

The truth is, none among our hypocritical religious leaders might see the light of heaven at the end of the day, because some of them preach darkness and falsehood among the people and instigate them against each other, taking advantage of their spiritual inclination to dismantle the natural community of one people under one sky; created by God Who undoubtedly is watching all their hypocrisy and atrocities.

NEW  NIGERIAN  ON  SUNDAY, AUGUST 7 ,  2011

The 19 Northern Governors in the Eyes of the People

Naturally,the first impression one would assume on hearing the composition of nineteen states in a federation into an umbrella body,would be that of an enormous body of men with strength, vision, political power and will to make things happen across the member states. But sadly that has not been the case with the popular Nigerian Northern Governors’ Forum over the years since its composition.

One would have expected to see a vibrant and efficient forum with ideas and initiatives that surpassed the South–South Governors Forum and its other counterpart in the South-East and South-West, based on their number and personalities. Again the expected vibrancy and efficiency of the NGF has left many analysts in confusion and ponder; this especially as regards their visions and plans for the north and its people in general.

One topmost case is that of one of the northern governors from the middle belt who over the week seems to be enjoying his stuffy utterances in the media, this by coming out brazenly to tell the world that he cannot pay the stipulated N18, 000 minimum wage to his state workers even if they should go on strike for one full year. What a shame that people like that are still left to rule a state.  To me, this governor is nothing but a political leader who lacks diplomacy and the intrigues of governance. Therefore, he should be shown out and made to see how possible it has always been to make the impossible work.

 It is  a disgrace to the NGF that when other less endowed states,with human and natural resources in the country have agreed to pay this stipend, most governors from the region are still bickering and grumbling over an amount most of them squander on frivolities  within a short time.

Over the years since the inception of the new political dispensation the northern governors have all along been relegated to the background,unlike those days when the north had visionary governors and administrators who served their region with zeal and patriotism.What we have today is a divided north that has been colourized with religious, tribal and ethnic bigotry; part of the reasons why the north is now facing all the wahala and kata-kata bedeviling it; ranging from poor infrastructure, poverty, almajiri syndrome,illiteracy,economic retrogression, insecurity, religious crises, including child killer disease such as polio, and the current Boko Haram carnage.

Is it not a shame that the loudest voices against the implementation of the minimum wage has been echoing from nowhere but from our purported northern governors? Is it not a big   embarrassment to our northern leaders that the north over the years has been doing nothing to salvage its economic potential other than waiting helplessly like beggars for the disbursement of the federal allocations? Or is it not a disgrace that the north has the highest number of able bodied youths wasting their lives and pride as achaba and okada riders in the country? Has it occurred to them that it is actually a humiliation on them in the eyes of other regions and the entire world as they fold their hands and watch every day as young innocent children are left in rags to roam about with bowls in search of remnants? What respect do they actually expect from their counterparts from the other regions and the world when they have failed to revive most of the abandoned industries and establishments in their domain and create employment for the teeming number of unemployed youths in the region?  Are they not ashamed that while other regions are refurbishing and building new media outfits and other modern establishment for their zone, and using them effectively to carry out their messages, they the northern leaders have closed their ears and eyes to the decay going on within their own backyards,instead they are more contented to spend millions churning out adverts ,canvassing with other media out of their region, making nonsense of the great adage that ‘charity  should begin at home’.

 Is it not actually a national embarrassment that the NGF could watch as great establishment like the Northern Nigeria Development Company (NNDC),the Arewa Hotels, the Arewa Textile Industry, Kaduna Polytechnic, Ahmadu Bello University and the famous New Nigerian Newspapers disappear under their eyes? Are they really comfortable with the fact that history would definitely judge them as those who could not salvage the north when it needed their support and vision  most?

Maybe part of the questions they should start asking themselves are:  have they been really relevant in the eyes of  their people, apart from some sycophants who mingle among them every day, advising and deceiving them with outdated policies like the sharing of motorcycles to youths  for achaba business in this 21st century? Is it not possible to revive the economic potential of this great region and initiate ideas and methods of generating remarkable internally generated revenue? Have they been able to harmonize the agitations and needs of the region? Are they sincere in the discharge of their duties? Why can’t they use the advantage of their  enormous population, huge manpower,  numerous local government councils, abundant mineral resources and diversification to redeem the image and decay of their once prosperous region?

Perhaps one big question they should be able to ask themselves is:  Shouldn’t there be a change of baton in the leadership of the NGF? Is the composition of the present NGF supposed to remain stagnant just as it has been for the past four years? Shouldn’t there be an urgent need for new officials and a fresh thinking? Again,what is the focus of the NGF and how much has it been able to proffer to the decay in the northern educational system and the region’s relegation in the present day Nigeria?

 So many questions indeed for the 19 states northern governors and their team of advisers;but certainly the people are watching and listening to their utterances and actions, and undoubtedly they shall be judged right here in the north at the end of their tenure one day;this before the supreme judgment of their creator,which none of them can ever run away from.

NEW  NIGERIAN  ON  SUNDAY, JULY 31 ,  2011

What exactly do they discuss at the executive meetings?

My snooping this week piped into the most expensive and shrouded meetings of the federal, states and local governments in my dear country Nigeria. I just could not hide my inquisitiveness on what most of the states executives usually talk about behind closed doors, before they filter them out to the public.

The fact that these meetings are usually strictly for those in the corridors of power, from the President to his vice and his large team of ministers and special advisers, like wise in the 36 six states across the country, where the governor wears the crown as the chief convener, with his commissioners and special advisers taking up the expensive vacant seats inside their posh conference rooms, not forgetting our honourable chairmen and women across the 774 local  government councils in the country.

My prying actually is on what exactly they say, propose or visualize for the rest of us? These are men and women who are said to be the representatives of the people and are selected, appointed or nominated to represent our interest and the country at large.  So what have they been discussing in their weekly sittings over the decades? I am just wondering if what they have been discussing includes the shameful security lapses in the country and the daily lost of innocents Nigerians to man-made catastrophes and other government   negligence. Do those who weekly sit on the various round tables loaded with rich meal, imported water, rich wine and other mouth watering chop-chop in our local councils, States Houses and our fortified Aso-Rock, really discuss what is going on in this country?

I am just wondering if they are conscious of the suffering in most homes across the land due to the outlandish price of kerosene and almost all foodstuffs in the market.   Do the agenda on their tables contain issues of overhauling our decaying educational system and the need to instill patriotism and nationalism in our minds? Are they aware that some of their utterances, political resolutions like their undemocratic zoning and high cost of governance are actually creating division among us, taking us backward and shamefully tearing us apart?  Do they discuss the value and dignity of their ordinary fellow country men and women and their contribution to the development and togetherness of this diversify nation?

Soon it will be another term of expensive executive meetings across the country as the new henchmen are sworn in and are expected to sit down on round tables and exchanged ideas and strategies on how to rescue their constituencies from further decay. Does it occur to them during these long elaborate meetings that they are sitting on the lives of millions of people whose future lies on the kind of policies and laws they decide to make for them? Are they in the know that millions of Nigerians are now suspicious and not too interested in their yearly budgets, as a result of the poor implementation of the previous ones and all the corruption and Boju-Boju associated with budgets in the country over the last couple of years?

Don’t mind my curiosity, I am just stimulating my appetite, wondering what they eat, drink and discuss  in our various executive meetings across the  country, visualizing on  how relaxed and thoughtful these few selected people are during their secluded meetings.  At least they don’t have to think of paying transport fares to get to work, struggling wildly to get just a gallon of kerosene; paying bizarre house rents and queuing up on long lines to access cheap healthcare or worry any longer about eating three square meals  for the mean time.

My eyes right now are almost budging out from their sockets as I try to visualize those yummy meals at these weekly meetings and the mouth watering sitting allowances that goes with them. But honestly, I am still confused why these men and women are still finding it difficult and almost impossible to make things work across the thirty six states of the federation, including our pampered federal capital city, this despite their comfortable atmosphere, filled belly, and rich pockets. To whom much is given, much they say is expected. Why then are our executives finding it very difficult to give us that much we gave to them?

I am still snooping with my ears and eyes wide open, sniffing and trying to understand what goes on  behind closed doors in most of the states as the executives sit down to deliberate on what they think is good for us. Are they aware that we are hungry and most of us can no longer think straight or understand their much propagated agendas and imported policies?  From the north, south, east and west, the stories are almost the same, mass poverty, illiteracy, political thuggery, corruption,maladministration, nepotism, favouritism and self-centeredness. Do our executives usually deliberate on how to truly rebuild this country and make us a model for others to emulate, as our past patriotic and nationalist leaders did?

Do they actually see the naked decay in our social, economic and political lives? Are they mindful of the fact that we are far left behind in Information Technology Development, modern security strategies and policing?  Are their eyes wide open to the segregation, tribal and religious bigotry among our various youths and elders alike? Do they see and discuss the shame in our cities, as millions of hungry neglected children are left to roam our streets in search of food to keep body and soul?  Has  it occurred to those at our executive tables that none of them created themselves and that one day they must leave their seats, die and answerable to their creator? Are they conscious that our potions of God’s bounties are in their hands and they must all account for the way and manner they distributed them among the people?  Has it occurred to them that history shall always portray and judge them by what they did and how they did it while they were there?

Someone should please enlighten me on what exactly they discuss in our various executive meetings; I just want to know if they truly talk about the state of our roads and the hundreds of lives that are lost cheaply every day.  What about our moribund transport system and our epileptic power supply? Do they have the vision and strategies on how to erase this 21st century disgrace and move us positively forward, where we have long expected to be? Are those at these flamboyant meetings really qualified and deserved to be there?  Do they weekly access their policies and laws and follow up to see their results, instead of sitting down in their posh offices and relying on assumption and make believe? Are they truthful to themselves and their conscience?  Are they truly doing what they are doing for God and their country?

  It would delight my curious mind if someone could please tell me what our selected, elected or is it appointed executives discuss at their various luxurious meetings, because I am yet to see anything meaningful from their deliberations and subsequent resolutions over the years and I am extremely certain that my eyes are not deceiving me, I don’t know about you?

NEW  NIGERIAN  ON  SUNDAY, JULY 17 ,  2011

Nigeria lawmakers: they‘ve started again

Wonders, they say, shall never end. In Nigeria wonders always mesmerize and baffle any right thinking mind. It is just few months into the Nigerian 7th republic and the well known stories of bickering and fighting amongst our politicians are fast surfacing. From those fighting shamelessly for the provision of jeeps as official cars, to those shouting blue murder for the accommodation they are allocated.

When will our politicians ever learn to serve their motherland patriotically? Some analysts have concluded that the Nigerian politicians are cursed people; the reason most of them are always blind when they get to the corridors of power. They hardly practise what they preach. News of some legislators rejecting some particular cars purchased for them by the state government is making headlines across the country. Our selected and elected members coming out audaciously to say they prefer big jeeps or nothing. One wonders which one of them came to this world with anything in the first instance.

The current selfish agitations by our legislators in some states and at the national level clearly shows that we have learnt nothing from the previous assembly, where those failed legislators did nothing throughout their tenure, but to bicker and fight shamelessly over sitting allowance, furniture allowance, car allowance, house allowance and other selfish remuneration.  They were given so much by the Nigerian people, but all we got was various committees of inquiry and expensive sightseeing by these men and women. They visited various purported power plants and set up committee on power generation, yet they left us more in darkness than we were before. They made various expensive trips to ascertain the poor states of our roads, yet did nothing to salvage the daily death traps and insecurity in virtually all the roads in the country. They were at our various higher institutions on self assessments, but still left our schools in shambles and shame.

It is almost three months into the Nigerian 7th republic and our lawmakers are still toying with the lives of millions of Nigerians as we painfully wait for them to settle down and carry out the functions they were elected for. But so far, nothing meaningful seems to be coming from them as most of them are still fighting over positions and head of committees and House leadership. Surprisingly, one significant bill presented by a thoughtful legislator among them from Kaduna State on the urgent need to decongest our mollycoddle federal capital city by compelling the Federal government to move Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) out of the Central Business District of Abuja to other Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was blindly rejected by those, who it seems, are still carried away by the fake glitters of expensive Abuja.

One would have expected a House with visionary members to see the logic behind this sensible bill. But no way,our legislators are not interested in redeeming our battered and neglected rural settlement and satellite towns across  the glitzy Abuja, forgetting that  developed cities across the world were once  villages ,slums and ghettos, including  their gigantic National Assembly Complex and  the  now  expensive looking  Federal capital city. They have proved to us and the whole world that they cannot initiate development and move us forward. It shows that they don’t really have the people at heart, especially those suffering Nigerians that live in these suburbs who would have benefitted tremendously from this idea.

Over the decades, the Nigerian elite, especially the politicians, have always had this myopic idea that the right to enjoy all the good things of life belongs exclusively to them and their cliques.  They have always had this illusion that they were elevated to live above others and derive some cheap joy in seeing their fellow countrymen and women suffer and come running to them for salvation; part of the reasons most of our villages and towns are still looking like somewhere out of the 18th century.

Some of our present selected representatives are too happy to carry on with the ways things are and not ashamed to continue to live on the legacies of others. They see nothing wrong in our outdated schools, roads, infrastructure, and other historical glories left behind by our past dedicated, patriotic and God-fearing leaders, who zealously built most of the edifice and systems they are now enjoying.

Funnily, they abandoned their villages immediately they are lucky to have a position in the cities, with only a few of them remembering to return to the village schools that gave them a ray of life. Visible across most of our rural communities are abandoned dilapidated primary and secondary schools, where most of our elite freely passed through, but are today a sorry sight, and yet we see them flying their offsprings abroad with huge capital flight, investing hugely in foreign schools; pretending as if they never went to those schools in the villages. No wonder some of the new legislators are coming out to boast that they have help reduced poverty in their constituencies by distributing motorcycles to youth in their communities. I believe a logical nation should understand that political motorcycles  distributions  add nothing, but more accidents and cheap selling of the pride of the youth who are suppose to be the leaders of tomorrow, not Achaba and Okada riders as we now have all across the country. All across the country are visible decaying infrastructure and establishments that are begging for quick attention and intervention, but our elected representatives are not too keen about them, what seems to be more paramount in their minds are their wages and political ambitions.

The seconds are ticking and the days are fast running , and our politicians are still left stranded, carried away by the thoughts and vision of 18th and 19th century, contented with the ways things are. Please will someone kindly remind them that we are now in the 21st century and the world is fast moving ahead, leaving them blindly behind at the station of  globalization and development.

NEW  NIGERIAN  ON  SUNDAY, JULY 24 ,  2011

Can Our Ministers Ever Perform?

Perhaps no country has the highest numbers of yearly selected and appointed ministers in the world like my dear country Nigeria. I am sure we will beat any other nation in the Guinness Book of Record if they were to ask for entries.

Year in, year out, the Nigeria nation and its long frustrated people have had the unpleasant privilege of various individuals in expensive suits, babanriga,tall gele, flambouyant hats and dashing agbada mount the posh position of a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and at the end of their tenure nothing tangible or profitable is derived from their expensive and visionless term.

I am sure Nigerians can’t remember when last they saw an action minister or a minister who has delivered even one-third of their promises before his or her appointment. The last time I can remember seeing a ministry with positive result  was during the  Gowon, Murtala and Abacha era where mass housing were developed for the populace. We still have the famous FESTAC town in Lagos, developed during the nationalist Yakubu Gowon era. We equally still have the Barnawa, Malali and Unguwar Rimi Mass Housing in Kaduna, initiated by the patriotic Murtala Mohammed government and currently the elite dominated Gwarinpa Housing Estate gingered by the no-nonsense Sani Abacha regime. But since then nothing realistic has been initiated by subsequent administrations in their housing sector,  upon the billions of naira and resources at their disposal. No Housing Minister has ever thought it right to develop affordable mass housing units for the average Nigerian despite our vast land, human and capital resources. Instead we see expensive structures being developed for the elite to be distributed and sold among them at the end of the day across the country.  

Right now, it is time for the nomination, clarification and subsequent appointment of another large returnee of old and new ministers and as usual the politicking, blackmail and expectation fever is growing higher every day. The list of who is who in the next cabinet is generating a lot of tension among kinsmen, governors and politicians. It is no longer based on competence and merit to be a Nigerian minister; it is all about godfatharism, rotation and insular zoning.  Who cares if you are one of the dumbest guy or girl in your class during your school days, or a failed civil servant, businessman or woman; all the credentials they need is what zone and whom you know in the corridors of power. It is saddening that when nations are moving forward and developing rapidly with visionary and capable brains, Nigeria,the purported giant of Africa is still enmeshed in nepotism and a myopic Federal Character selection process in determining competent individuals to make things happen across virtually all the ministries, agencies and parastatals across the country. Part of the reasons why Nigerians are yet to feel the impact of most of these ministries and agencies.

A critical look at the Nigerian ministries and their periodical ministers would reveal a shameful failure, due to lack of vision, wrong placement, misplaced priorities and massive corruption among the staff and ministers of these ministries. Our courts are filled with criminal cases against various ministers and heads of various agencies across the country and nothing tangible ever comes out from them at the end of the day, with new flambouyant ones selected to replace them and business goes on as usual. We are witnesses to the emergence of unqualified men and women whose only credentials are their flowing babanriga, agbada, red-caps and big hats, including various designs of flashy gele, buba, and rich hollandis. These men and women come in, make a lot of noise and propaganda and at the end pack their new acquired wealth and stolen resources, then vamoose into thin air to await their future appointment to come and chop.

All over our ministries, none among them can hold their heads high and boldly pinpoint what they have done for the Nigerian people over the decades. Is it our failed Ministry of Education and the various visionless ministers who have come and failed woefully to conquer the decay in our educational system? Or is it the Ministry of Agriculture with its confused ministers who have made food more expensive and unaffordable to the Nigerian masses? Maybe we should commend our wobbling Ministry of Health and its short sighted ministers whose ministry has over the years sent uncountable numbers of Nigerians to their early graves and turned our various hospitals into morgues. Probably we should be fair and recommend our Labour Ministry and its ministers to neighbouring countries to teach them how they have been able to provide employment to various teeming unemployed Nigerians and succeeded in ensuring the payment of the N18, 000 Minimum Wage including all the other approved wages to the Nigerian worker. Or better we should recommend our Ministry of Housing to other countries who are finding it difficult to shelter their citizens and show them how the various ministers were able to make sure that 70% of Nigerians now have a home of their own and the remaining 30% are waiting in line for their houses. Again they should be bold to tell them how they made it possible for Nigerians living across the country to be paying some of the highest house rents in the world and always at the mercy of their landlords, including some of the various infrastructure they initiated and developed during their tenure. Why not our moribund Ministry of Power and Steel and its various noise making ministers and their unfulfilled promises of various thousands of megawatts?  No, maybe the Ministry of Petroleum would be better, at least the various ministers that had piloted the ministry would be proud to show how they have ensured that their citizens don’t enjoy the various petroleum products in their land and happy that the price of kerosene remains ridiculous, with Nigerians now better off with the soaring price of petrol and diesel.  Or come to think of it, we can as well  suggest our  Ministry of Sport and Youth Development and its babanriga, agbada and suits floating ministers whose tenure has done nothing but relegated our hitherto sport glory and youths development over the years. We can as well show them how nepotism, favoritism and corruption have become part of the game, with large fans and competitors.    What about our Ministry of Science and Technology? We can show the world what the ministry and its ministers have done over the years, like the dream to produce a Nigerian car, our own made in Nigeria computers and how we have been able to conquer the airspace, including our adventure into world-class inventions. I  am confident that our Ministry of Transport would be proud to display our famous Keke NAPEP and remind the world that we are still trying hard to revive our dilapidated rail lines and trains.

It would be an abomination if we failed to recommend our popular Ministry of Information and Communication and its famous Rebrand Nigeria projects initiated by the various smooth talking ministers. Who knows, we might become a model for others to copy in terms of Information Communication Technology (ICT), newspaper and radio production, including educative indigenous TV programmes. What about our Ministry of Environment and its various visor ministers who could unflinchingly take visitors around our various cities and show them how neat and tidy they look, including the various slums and ghettos across all our regions. Or if they can’t do it their counterparts in our bragging Ministry of Culture and Tourism could come to their aid. I am sure they would be proud and happy to show curious tourists around some spectacular scenes across the country.

We should not leave our dear Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its Internal Affair counterpart from this gesture. We should be proud to talk about how they have been able to protect Nigerians in their land and abroad and ensure that we now have countless local and foreign investors in virtually all the states of the federation. Their grammar blowing ministers I’m sure would be proud to tell the world how they have been able to cleanse Nigeria image and make it possible for Nigerians to now travel freely  across the globe without molestation and harassment by various security agencies at international airports and borders.

Ha! I almost forgot our famous Ministry of Defense and its various security agencies. We don’t really need to talk much here, they already have a reputation in international peacekeeping, but all the same it is important that they tell the world why the security of lives and property in their own backyard is still eluding them. And in order not to be accused of gender insensitivity, I think it is important if we also recommend our fashionable and ceremonious eminent Ministry of Women Affairs and its colourful ministers. I trust our women with their ability to tell the world how they have reduced poverty among rural women and staunchly eradicate the menace of prostitution among our young girls and women across the country and equally provide them with husbands and dignified jobs.  I am sure they won’t forget to add the various sharing of rice, atanpa, political branded wrappers and different bars of soap to various women groups across all the geo-political zones. 

And finally we should be courageous to recommend our respected Ministry of Justice so that others might learn from our various court cases and judgment over the years. Cases and judgment like the famous Tafa Balogun, six months jail term, the Olabode George, two years in prison verdict and the six months Cecilia Ibru ruling among others. I am sure it will be against justice if our justice ministry fail to update the world on the other various cases and judgment of chicken, goat and bread thieves, including pickpockets and other minor offenders serving various long terms in our prisons and how they have been able to ensure that our prisons are decongested and made it possible that all Nigerians irrespective of class and status are not above the law.

Well, let’s  hope we are in for a good time this time around with the swearing-in of the incoming men and women in flambouyant dresses, large entourage of siren blowing convoy and daily promises. Let’s hope they would perform wonder in the next coming wooly days they are going to spend in their various designated ministries.

NEW  NIGERIAN  ON  SUNDAY, JULY 3 ,  2011