By Emmanuel Onwubiko

By So, why and how come the current administration seems to be handling the ongoing bloody violence by armed Fulani herdsmen with kid gloves even when the President swore to an oath to protect the constitution? Shehu Sani, a former activist and current senator representing Kaduna central seems to have attempted the resolution of the aforementioned conundrum. In his book appropriately entitled “The killing fields: Religious Violence in Northern Nigeria”, he wrote as follows: “Nigeria is a country with appropriate credentials for dysfunctional conflicts.” He argued also that Nigeria has since the end of the civil war continued to have a recurrence of violent ethnic and religious conflicts that have scarred the nation’s socio-political landscape. He also affirmed that many of the conflicts in Nigeria are long-standing feuds that have been surfacing from time to time and were never fully resolved.

Again, Senator Sani located many of these conflicts as wholly brought about by the structural problems of the country. Importantly, he blamed militarisation of the political space for the bloodcurdling violence.

The Nigerian society, he said, has been deeply traumatised by successive military dictatorships and it will take many years of consistent work to rebuild trust, faith and integrity. Lastly, he submitted that the culture of violence, reprisals and revenge is deeply embedded in the psyche of the society and that there is so much “unfinished” business at the level of social equity and broad human rights issues that must be addressed.

If the book was written recently since the advent of the incessant armed Fulani attacks, I’m sure the author would have included the fact that armed Fulani herdsmen are today rated globally as one of the most dangerous terror networks after Boko Haram terrorists. He also missed out the aspect of the loud conspiracy of silence from the highest political class over the killings.

Although in a recent Facebook post, Senator Sani accused President Muhammadu Buhari of pampering and protecting the Fulani terrorists unleashing violence all across Nigeria.

Then again, why does Nigeria persistently witness herdsmen’s killings and the Federal Government seems cool with the development?

Has this anything to do with the country’s weak legal framework, weakened security institutions or is it just the deliberate undermining of extant laws on murder by the Federal Government officials manning internal security most of whom are also Fulani by ethnic origin?

I believe that although our institutions, especially the security institutions, are so weak basically because the law concedes the command and control structure to the authority of one person, there are many statutory provisions which, if activated and the mass killers are appropriately punished in accordance with law, the situation will radically improve.

It is, therefore, a case of deliberate undermining of extant laws. I say this because there is no other way to describe the attitude of all the heads of the security forces who have consistently gone to sleep whilst well-armed Fulani herdsmen terrorize different communities and continue inflicting pains, deaths and bloodshed on a scale unimaginable even in the wildest horror movies in the Hollywood.

The conspiracy of silence and the apparent lack of political will to sanction legally the mass murderers has definitely presented Nigeria to look like the Hobbesian society whereby life is short, brutish, miserable and might by all means has become right. Thomas Hobbes may have written about present day Nigeria in his political treatise titled the State of Nature. Also notable is theologian in the person of Reverend Father Luke Nnamdi Mbeto in his book “The Reshaping of African Traditions” who reminded us that Western scholars have often viewed Nigeria and Africa as a dark continent inhabited by savages who have no respect for the sanctity of life.The criminal acts of mass murders by armed Fulani herdsmen and the permissiveness of these orgies of bloody violence by the politicians show us as persons inhabiting a very dark zoo where survival is by the strongest and politically well connected.

Mbefo wrote thus: “Besides the fact that the Africans were seen as savages is the added prejudice that informed European appreciation of this race of people”. Linnaeus, in his system of nature (1735) had distinguished five varieties of the human species and allocated each definite racial characteristics. According to this classification, the black race belongs at the base. Here is the table content: Wildman: Four-footed, mute, hairy; American: Copper-coloured, choleric, erect; Hair: black, straight, thick; nostrils: wide; face: harsh; beard: scanty; obstinate, content free; paints himself with fine red lines. Regulated by customs.

Europeans: Fair, sanguine, brawny. Hair: yellow, brown, flowing; eyes: blue, gentle, acute, inventive. Covered with close vestments. Governed by laws.

Asiatic: sooty, melancholy, rigid. Hair: black; eyes: dark; severe, haughty, covetous. Covered with loose garments. Governed by opinions; African: Black, phlegmatic, relaxed. Hair: black, frizzled; skin: silky; nose: flat; lips: tumid; crafty, indolent, negligent. Anoints himself with grease. Governed by caprice. That this characterisation of the African influenced European activity in Africa was evident on the eve of decolonization, Fr. Mbefo observed.

Equally, he noted that the argument is not whether Linnaeus was correct or incorrect in his classification and characterisation. His ideas, therefore, helped to formulate European strategy in white relations with the black savages.

But, the entire picture and impressions being created by the ongoing savage massacre of farmers by armed Fulani herdsmen has truly validated the pathetic characterisation of an African as a savage and someone who is governed by caprice. The only way to show the World that we are not all irrationally animalistic is for Nigerians in their millions to speak out and demand that the killers and their collaborators are brought to djustice now.

Concluded

Onwubiko, of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), writes via emmanuelonwubiko.com.

By TayoOgunbiyi

These, indeed, are strange times for our beloved nation. Harsh economic realities coupled with incessant fuel scarcity, unemployment, inflation, hunger and poverty have continued to make life tough for the people. To complicate things, insecurity has become a major source of anxiety. Terrorism is alien to our culture. But, recent occurrences have since altered the equation. This is no thanks to the dastardly acts of the Boko Haram sect. In the first half of 2014, Boko Haram killed more than 2000 innocent and hapless civilians, in about 95 attacks.

   Sadly, as the war against Boko Haram makes appreciable progress, out of the blues came yet another menace of a different kind, but with an equally potent capability to coldheartedly waste human lives. Take the back seat, Boko Haram! Enter the vicious herdsmen.

From Agatu in Benue State, Akure in Ondo State, Bukuru area in Plateau State, Oke Ogun area in Oyo State, Gassaka and Bali local government areas in Taraba State to Nimbo in Enugu State, rampaging herdsmen seem to be on a mission to draw blood. And, blood they are getting. Everywhere they go, sorrow, tears and blood trail them. Curiously, they operate in such audacious fashion that makes a mockery of our national security arrangement.

Sadly, as was the case at the outset of the Boko Haram insurgency, the dastardly acts of these reprehensible herdsmen have not really been accorded the requisite handling by appropriate authorities. This brings us to the thorny issue of modus operandi of Fulani herdsmen. The odd thing is the kind of riffles being reportedly used by rampaging herdsmen across the country. What could be the source of such dangerous arms ammunition? If there is, indeed, a source, then, like BokoHaram, there would definitely be sponsors. If there are sponsors, the next puzzle is: what could be their motives? Could it be that purported skirmishes by herdsmen across the country are just clever ploys by some ‘evil genius’ to further throw the country into prolonged chaos? Could it be that recent upsurge in herdsmen atrocities is being orchestrated by some ‘powerful’ people with sinister intent to derail the country? 

The implication of the foregoing is that appropriate authorities need to methodically investigate the recent increase in the reprehensible activities of herdsmen. It is vital to emphasise that military or police action alone might not suffice to thoroughly getting rid of the herdsmen’s challenge as it is with other such thorny security issues in the country. Sufficient intelligence must be gathered to really understand their motives, sponsors (if any) and grouses. It has been argued that the herdsmen’s ‘insurgence’ is being spearheaded by rascals from neighbouring countries. This claim must be properly verified and appropriate action taken if it is found to be real.

If not quickly tackled, the implication of herdsmen ‘insurgence’ on food security in the country could be calamitous.  Constant encroachment of farmlands by herds of cattle will no doubt affect the output of crops coming from the north; the region is relied mainly upon for the provision of foodstuff and fruits in the country.

In Jigawa State alone, more than 70 cases of conflicts have been recorded since the beginning of the 2015 farming season. These cases bordered on encroachment into farms by cattle and farmers’ misuse of cattle routes. The situation is not different in Nassarawa and Benue States, the food baskets of the nation as herdsmen persistently engage farmers in feuds which often result in serious causalities on both sides. While farmers accuse the herdsmen of farm land encroachment, the latter blame the farmers and members of their communities for rustling their cattle. Unfortunately, the friction, if not properly checked, could have adverse effects on food security in the country.

But as frightening as the issue appears, with the required political will, it could be logically addressed. There are options to address it. To avert future bloody clashes between herdsmen and farmers, the Federal Government should creatively strategise with relevant stakeholders to find a lasting solution to the problem. One thing that can be done to reduce the tension is to establish grazing zones across the country for the herdsmen. Once this is done, government should ensure that the herdsmen strictly comply with the grazing zone arrangement. This would, no doubt, greatly reduce friction over land resources. Equally, concerted efforts should be made to address the armed cattle rustling rings reportedly wreaking havoc in the northern part of the country.

Considering the fact that this year will understandably witness an increase in political activities, we cannot afford to treat the herdsmen crisis and, indeed, other such complex security issues in the country with   kid gloves. Costly goofs such as the unfortunate comment of the Inspector General of Police in the wake of the recent bloody herdsmen’s attack in Benue State must be avoided. We already have enough troubles as a nation; compounding them will not do anyone any good. Every logical step must be taken to ensure that this crisis does not degenerate into a full blown ethnic confrontation. This must not be allowed to be the case.  In view of our multi-ethnic and cultural composition, we must clinically tackle every tendency that could further threaten our fragile unity.

Appropriate government channels must be used to stop the crisis from developing ethnic or religious interpretations. This is where effective public enlightenment strategies come in. Strategic dissemination of information is key because we live in a country where people thrive on taking rumours and half-truths as the truth.  But then, universally, wherever the people could not access official information, they make do with whatever information is at their disposal. This, of course, is dangerous to the well being of any nation. 

On a final note, before the herdsmen crisis transforms into another Boko Haram menace, thereby complicating our peculiar socio-economic and political situation, now is the time to decisively deal with them. If Boko Haram had been effectively addressed from the outset, perhaps, it would not have metamorphosed into the monster that it is right now.

According to Aristotle and Plato, what it takes for evil to triumph in a given society is for evil to continually go unpunished. Therefore, appropriate government agencies must rise up to the occasion by reprimanding the naughty herdsmen and their promoters. We have had enough of impunity in the country. This is the time to act determinedly against every group and sect that could further aggravate our country’s security situation.

Ogunbiyi  writes from Ministry of Information & Strategy, Lagos

By F. E. Ogbimi

Nigeria of today is certainly not the Nigeria of 1960. Nigeria, in 1960, had 15,703 Primary Schools with 2,912618 pupils enrolled; 883 Secondary Schools with 135,364 enrolled; 29 Vocational/Technical educational institutions with 5037 enrolled; 315 Teachers’ Training II with 27,908 enrolled; and three Colleges of Technology, one university college. In the 1997/98 academic year, Nigeria had 39,377 Primary Schools; 6000 Secondary Schools, 58 Colleges of Education, 45 Polytechnics, 122 Technical Schools and 40 Universities with 983, 000 enrolled. Nigeria now has over 150 Universities (NUC, 2017) and produces over 300,000 graduates in a year. So, the Nigerian educational system has grown tremendously in quantitative terms and has produced many educated/learned people. Nigerians have also been travelling abroad to virtually all nations to acquire education in various areas of knowledge. Nigerians have learnt a lot in about fifty-seven years. Nigeria is a more knowledgeable nation than she was in the 1960s. Sadly, Nigerian politicians have not changed, indeed they are worse than they were in 1960s. This article explains why the political group called the PDP which ruled Nigeria in the period 1999-2015 and the political group called APC which has been ruling the nation since 2015 cannot fix the economy and promote democratization.

In a newspaper article entitled “Nigeria needs political parties: Present groups are political machines and conspiracies published in the Daily Independent newspaper of December 23 and December 30, 2014, I did not consider PDP and APC as political parties because they do not have the characteristics of political parties.

Yes, Nigeria needs political parties because the political groups in Nigeria remain political machines which seize power. President Dwight Eisenhower (1956) of the United States, reflecting on the issue of a political party, said a political party deserves the approbation of Americans, only as it represents the ideals, aspirations and hopes of Americans. If it is anything less, it is merely a conspiracy to seize power. About 20 years later, Daniel Boorstin (1973), American historian, again reflecting on the issue of a political party, said a political party is organised for a purpose larger than its own survival; a political machine exists for its own sake, its primary purpose is survival. I agree with President Eisenhower and Boorstin.

Political groups in Nigeria do not represent the ideals,  aspirations and hopes of Nigerians; they exist for their members. Politicians at the local government, state and federal levels get into government and become very rich people in three months. In view of the millions of barrels of crude petroleum sold daily for over five decades, over 70 per cent of Nigerians are very poor. The Nigerian politicians would claim that the nation is doing well. They would not accept the well-known bases for assessing the performance of a government – the state of the economy measured by the levels of employment/unemployment, productivity and inflation, and peace and harmony. Also, Nigerian political machines would not accept globally accepted reports like the UNDP Human Development Report, because they would clearly reveal that they are political machines and conspiracies with no plans to develop Nigeria. They would rather cling to the reports of less known bodies like Fitch and deceive the ignorant people that Nigeria is rated BB-, BC+; Nigeria has the highest GDP growth in Africa that will trickle down one day; Nigeria built roads and bridges, dams; etc., to God be the glory!

Political machines connive with foreigners to deceive the ignorant people to adopt programmes which though have beautiful names, lack growth elements and do not promote growth and development. Nigeria adopted the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1986 when the military government of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida was ruling the nation. All governments, including PDP and APC governments since 1986 have continued to implement SAP. That is, PDP implemented SAP in the period 1999-2015. The APC has been implementing SAP since May 2015. SAP has three principal elements. They are:1) the mandatory foreign exchange market (FEM), 2) the sale of public enterprises and liquid assets to the rich nationals and foreigners and 3) adoption of deregulation (laissez-faire economics or market economic philosophy or profit consideration, individualism) as the basis for assessing the performance of public projects and activities.

African SAPs were introduced to Nigeria and other African nations in the 1980s by the World Bank and IMF. The original document (Bellow, 1986) claimed that the Nigerian SAP has four main objectives. They are to: 1) restructure and diversify the productive base of the economy, 2) achieve fiscal stability and positive balance of payment, 3) set the basis for a sustained balanced non-inflationary or minimal inflationary growth, and 4) reduce the dominance of unproductive investments in the public sector.

However, the analysis of the Nigerian SAP in the book entitled, “Understanding Why Privatisation is Promoting Unemployment and Poverty and Delaying Industrialization in Africa (Ogbimi, 2007), showed that the Nigerian SAP lacks growth elements and could not achieve any of its claimed objectives. SAP is merely promoting unemployment and poverty and delaying industrialization. Consequently, SAP has completely sapped and destroyed the Nigerian economy and impoverished the people. All that is left of Nigeria is a sapped majority of people and a destroyed Naira. There are also a few economists, accountants, bankers, lawyers, others in government and business who do not understand the science needed for increasing productivity and transforming an agricultural economy into an industrialized one, who daily repeat the financial clichés associated with SAP and the stock market.

An important warning to all Nigerians is pertinent here. Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, a former Prime Minister of Britain, once said that to destroy a nation, you first destroy her national currency. She was speaking in relation to the experience of Germany when the nation implemented the German SAP 1919-1923. Germany lost WW I in 1918 as the leader of the Axis powers. The Allied powers demanded $33bn from Germany as war reparations. Germany could not pay. The Germans were forced to implement the German SAP principally characterized by the mandatory forex market (FEM). The German Mark exchanged 4.2 units to the US$1 in 1919. In 1920, 63 Mark exchanged for one dollar. The Mark further depreciated in 1921, it exchanged 200 units to the dollar. The Mark depreciated catastrophically in 1922, it exchanged 2000 units to the dollar. In 1923, the Mark collapsed, it exchanged 4.2 trillion units to the dollar and stopped being a national currency (Stolper, et al., 1967; and Glahe,1977). The Germans and Germany were seriously humiliated. But, the strong will of the Germans saved them.

Ogbimi writes from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, via fogbimi@yahoo.com

By Offor Evaristus    

Nigeria is burning once again. Terrorism is on the increase. It seems we have forgotten the painful experiences of those years and the grief-stricken occurrences that are overwhelming our youths all over the world; the cups of suffering, bitterness and humiliation are still unsullied in our memory. The rampaging and inhuman kidnappers and cultists are killing, maiming and destroying both human life and hard-earned wealth of citizens of the country. Rapists, ritual killers, conmen and women are not left out in this rat race to doom and hell.

Even our political leaders have left civil servants searching for life’s meaning as unpaid salaries and retirements are entangled in the marsh of profligacy, official corruption and unconscionable attitudes of greed and selfishness. Uncountable but avoidable road accidents on our long-forgotten federal roads are taking their tolls of rivers of blood overflowing and wasting, and nobody seems to care. Nigerians are really in moments of anarchy, darkness, grief and trepidation caused by Nigerians of ill-willed senses and unconscionable hearts of demon.

Now coming down to the issue of the moment concerning the Fulani herders scattered in some parts of the middle belt, north and southern Nigeria, the story is the same. Terrorism! Terrorism!! Terrorism! Who will save us from these momentous terrifying, murderous, brutal and demonic assaults by those herders from hell. The pictures are dreadfully and horrifyingly threatening. It is blood and sorrow everywhere. These herders as terrorists and above-the-law criminals have continued to butcher innocent Nigerians all over the country, especially in the South east, Middle Belt, Adamawa, Delta, Taraba etc. Terrorists are inhumanly unmerciful, unkind and uncharitable sadists. Last year, some of them went into Nimbo and Akagbe Ugwu all in Enugu State, destroyed people’s farmlands, maimed and killed over twenty indigenes in the most callous manner, yet nothing has happened and no military Python Dance was declared.

Terrorists don’t show mercy, and they have continued to massacre Benue and Taraba indigenes and mainly Christians with absolute sadism and callous abandon. They don’t care about the pains of farmers losing both their lives and farm products. Terrorists on rampage, they are dealing with Southern Kaduna indigenes, chomping their crops, terrorising both the living and the dead as well as burning down hard-earned family houses, yet, both the

hurch and State have looked the other way. Our human rights and dignity mean nothing to them and to our political, traditional and ethnic leaders especially those of the North. Can’t they see that Rivers Niger and Nile are overflowing with our brothers and sisters’ blood and sweat because we are Christians and non-Fulani? Terrorists in the form of the dreaded Boko Haram, except that these herders don’t die instead they kill. They don’t throw bombs, instead their machetes and AK 47 rifles are as sharp and deadly as explosives. Have we lost our collective consciences?

Where are our human rights activists? Has the United Nations gone to the blues? What is President Trump doing or is he not aware of these continued cries of relatives over their slain dear ones? Will our town unions’ vigilance groups wait until all of us in the South and Middle Belt go down the bottomless pit before they put on their armour of integrity and militarism to defend their own? Where are our glamorously dressed traditional rulers and their prime ministers? Can’t they cry out to the world and the World Court and International Criminal Court? Can’t our Christian leaders cry to the Vatican and England? Where are our Liberation theologians, Christian Associations, the lawyers, journalists and opinion leaders? Shall we be condemned to death by these murderers by keeping mum and being less concerned? Are they killing goats and no more human beings? Can’t we ask questions on the inability of the all powerful military to initiate ‘’Cobra Dance” wherever these monsters are killing innocent people in their own land?

Can’t our legislators outlaw the activities of those rapacious and rancorous invaders from hell? Have we also lost our sense of the sacred and the import of human life and dignity? Is human life not from God again? Is Nigeria no more a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the different Conventions on political, social, economic and cultural rights? What is Amnesty International waiting for? Where are the Ohaneze Ndigbo and Oduduwa leaderships, and what are they waiting for? Are they waiting for the Fulani herders to kill all non-Fulani especially in the southern parts and the Middle Belt before they cry out to God and the world powers? Is it not suicidal to stand with hands akimbo, watching those angels of darkness diminish our rights and dignity without applying any concrete antidote to those invaders and neo-colonisers of our land?

Now the federal government is thinking of the best way to finalise the neo-colonisation of the whole South and the Middle Belt which the Fulani herders have already started, through the purported cattle colonies. The President and his cohorts can do it in the core north where most of the owners and herders of the cattle come from and not on our land. Our farmers are still searching for more farmlands, and the federal government is babble and gabble with colonies in the whole of the South. We don’t want this kind of claptrap that will cause much pain and grief to our people via colonisation of our lands. This is the time for our governors to live above board by coming together with the Ohaneze Ndigbo, South West, South-south and the Middle Belt to fashion out the best way of telling the northern oligarchy the truth about this country.

We can’t continue to live in this manner where racial killings go unabated. We must not forget the sole defence by the Ekiti governor who has gone to the extent of bringimg all traditional hunters in the state together for a total defence against such terrorists. This is patriotic, germane and incredibly satisfying.  Can the other governors and regional elite wake up and think along this line.

It would surely be a sad thing, in spite of our much desired and worked for change and our belief in the authorities for real change, that what we get is herders’ terror and attendant woes, tears and anguish of innocent voters. Instead of good change, we are faced with a barrage of Fulani oligarchic detestable words and devices of doom and death, sectionalism, incarceration and hunting of guiltless agitators for freedom and equity.

Let us end this article with an Igbo adage that says that the sheep said that if she doesn’t dance well in the open, when it comes to her father’s house, she will begin to hop up at the thumping of the drums. Let the solidarity of people of good conscience begin now, no matter our religion and race, political or cultural divergences, to rise against the oligarchic cabal and religio-tribalists who have held us down for too long. God help us.

Rev. Fr. Offor writes from Enugu

By Chiagozie Udeh

Climate change is not ranked among the five top causes of conflict in Nigeria, namely, Tribalism, Resource Control, Religion, Land and Trade.  But that reality has been altered.  The past thirty-six months has been fiercely violent for several Nigerian States that experienced rampaging Fulani herdsmen killing many subsistent farmers, who defend their farms from grazing herds.

Various causative factors have been proffered for the visceral violence, but not the nexus between herdsmen migration southwards and the effects of climate change.  Herdsmen, for whom cattle is a source of livelihood and wealth, have killed approximately 1000 Nigerians. Myetti Allah (the umbrella body of the herdsmen), in characterising the violence as self-defense, seems to justify the killings. Analysts can’t help but ask: is the government really tackling the problem?

Having lived in Southeastern Nigeria for the past two decades, I have never witnessed a more turbulent time than the past three years. This is not to suggest that life has always been smooth, but we have hitherto enjoyed relative peace. Now, our farms are under attack, our children and women are the most vulnerable to attacks by Fulani herdsmen, who would rather kill humans than risk losing their cattle to hunger.

The Fulani herdsmen are nomadic and habitually migratory. They move from North to South annually, with their cattle in search of grazing fields. The movement is seasonal. Now with climate change, the movement pattern has been markedly altered.   Due to expansive desertification, drought and unchecked deforestation in Northern Nigeria, the herdsmen naturally seek greener pasture southward. As the resultant migration has intensified, so too has violent clashes over grazing lands between local farmers in the South and pastoral herdsmen, whom the former accuse of wanton destruction of  their crops and forceful appropriation of their lands.  The emerging conflict is compounded further by the shrinking of Lake Chad from 45,000km2 to 3000km2 in less than three decades. The consequence according to the United Nations, is the displacement of about 10.5 million people. It’s a combination of these factors that has pushed herders from North-eastern Nigeria, the region closest to Lake Chad, to the southern parts of the country.

Paradoxically, the spiraling rise in killings by the Fulani herdsmen coincides with the assumption of office by President Muhammadu Buhari- also a Fulani- who may be standing for reelection in 2019.  In the two and a half years that the Buhari administration has been in power, over 50 percent of the casualties recorded have been in the South-east and North-central geographical regions.  Farming communities in Benue, Kogi, Taraba and Nassarawa in North-central and Enugu, Abia and Anambra in the South-east have incurred the highest casualties.

It’s confounding that government’s response has ignored climate change, as the source of conflict exacerbating the herdsmen grazing crisis.  Historically, indeed, since the existence of Nigeria, the Fulani herdsmen have grazed their herds customarily in the North and intermittently in other areas; but incremental drought with resultant desert encroachment forced them to regularly look southwards for greener grazing areas.  As Mary Ikande observed in an article published on naij.com, “with regard to precipitation at the coastline, the eastern part records 430cm, the western region records 180cm, the center of Nigeria records 130cm, the upper north is the driest zone and records only about 50cm”.  These statistics, which merely confirm pre-existing academic research on rainfall patterns in Nigeria, point to the underlying problem. According to an International Center for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) publication released in November 2017, “over 80% of Nigeria’s population depends on rain-fed agriculture leading to a high risk of food production system being adversely affected by the variability in timing and amount of rainfall.”

With the rising attacks, some Nigerian States have enacted anti-grazing laws that makes grazing in open fields or farms a punishable offense. Whereas such measures have doused the tension in some affected States, in places like Benue State, it has failed.  The 2018 New Year day herdsmen attack resulted in the gruesome murder of 73 people in rural Benue communities. The attacks occurred despite the extant anti-grazing law Benue State government had enacted which prohibited indiscriminate and open field grazing.  The herdsmen had vowed not to obey the law. The Federal Government’s response has been lethargic and its reactions, if any, has always been the deployment of security operatives to affected areas. There has been no serious effort by the government to tackle the effects of climate change as ancillary to the crisis. 

In developed and some developing countries, cattle herds are ranched with provisions made for growing their choice species of grasses. Nigeria can ill-afford not to do the same. Ranching has been widely recognized as a solution, but entrepreneurs are reluctant to take advantage. The onus is on the government to take the first step and introduce policies that will make ranching attractive such as an effective ban on open grazing, easy access to land, improved species of grasses and compulsory inter-state transportation of cows by trucks.  This will also create thousands of green jobs for unemployed youths.

Intensifying the pace of the Great Green Wall project (a reforestation plan for sub-saharan Africa to fight desertification by planting trees at desert prone areas) in the 11 northern pilot States where it is meant to take place is now imperative. Implementation of that project will help return green vegetation to the North.

Nigeria also needs to quicken her adaptation measures on climate change (plans to tackle the effects of climate change) from vision to actions. It is distressing that Nigeria is not yet a member of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF)- a 43-nation group of most vulnerable countries that negotiate as a bloc at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It speaks to the lethargy that characterize such issues of great importance. Joining the CVF will give Nigeria the opportunity for knowledge-sharing with countries facing similar challenges. Benefits from what the group is able to negotiate, will be bonus.

Nigeria can’t escape or ignore the impact of the climate change cause-and-effect relations on the herdsmen crisis without risking a worsening situation. The best way to tackle climate change problems is to approach them with the aim to explore the opportunities they present to empower people. In a country with terrifying unemployment numbers, this moment should be seized to stop a naturally-induced crisis from becoming politically explosive.

Udeh is a climate change policy research associate at Selonnes Consult Ltd.

By Odurombi Onabanjo

It was past midnight on March 31, 2015, but only a few people had gone to sleep. Many had kept awake, clutching their radio sets for the live broadcast of the 2015 Presidential Election result. Those who could afford to put on their generators did so and many people packed into their homes to see the live telecast of the election result, as they waited in the agony of suspense for the declaration of the winner. Thankfully, at exactly 2.55 a.m., Prof Attairu Jega, the immediate past Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, put an end to the agony when he declared Muhammadu Buhari the winner of the election. No sooner had Jega declared Buhari the winner of the election than the shouts of “Sai Baba!” rent the air. Those who had gone to bed were jolted from their sleep by the cry of “Sai Baba!” and joined in the din. The streets came alive, even at that time of the night, with singing and dancing. Everyone was basking in the euphoria of the “CHANGE” the Buhari administration would make in their lives. This was the situation in my neighbourhood on the night President Buhari was declared the winner of the 2015 presidential election. And, by media accounts, the situation was the same across the length and breadth of the country.
Buhari was formally sworn-in as President two months after his victory at the poll but his performance has blunted the high hopes that heralded his ascension to power. He has been inexplicably slow, chronically lukewarm and has kept aloof from issues affecting the common man. He has betrayed the social contract he entered into with the people when he sought and got their votes to become the President of the country. Yet, despite his poor scorecard, some people are prodding the President to declare for another term in office. These sycophantic politicians say the President has done well and deserves another term to consolidate his achievements.
Though the President has remained coy about his intentions, his ‘body language’ suggests he will throw his hat into the ring once again. Already, a makeover documentary was recently released in which government officials effusively praised the human side of the President. The President met with seven Northern governors some days ago and it was reported that his re-election was the object of the meeting. This was later confirmed by the unanimous endorsement of the President for a second term by the seven governors.
While it is within the President’s constitutional right to seek a second term in office, it is obvious that his popularity has steeply fallen, and those goading him to seek re-election are only after their own political survival. Save Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, the other six Northern governors that endorsed the President won their seats because they belonged to the President’s party, not on their own merit. President Buhari’s fourth attempt at the Presidency in 2015 was more than a political aspiration in the North; it was a movement which swept across the North like a hurricane, leaving in its wake accidental governors who got into office on a silver platter. These governors know they have performed abysmally and can only hope on the miracle wrought by Buhari’s popularity in the 2015 general elections to get another term in office. That is why they have begun to tell the President that there is no alternative to him in 2019.
President Buhari is not the nation’s first leader to be surrounded by hordes of sycophants. Political sycophants have always hung around the Presidential seat, working their magic on every incumbent. General Yakubu Gowon emerged a civil war hero after the separatist Biafran forces surrendered to his government in 1970. In one of his addresses to the nation after the war, he promised to transfer power to civilians and lead the soldiers back to the barracks in 1976. But the sycophants feeding at his table began to work on him. They told him how the nation was not ready for civilian rule. How the country would descend into another civil war if he ever left power. Gowon took their words to heart and told a bewildered nation in 1974 that 1976 was no longer feasible for the transfer of power to civilians. He was overthrown in a bloodless coup a year after he reneged on his promise and the nation has not witnessed another civil war to date.
General Sani Abacha was another big victim of sycophancy. Abacha came into office during one of the nation’s most turbulent periods, following the annulment of the June 12 presidential election. Abacha refused to acknowledge the result of the election and began another transition programme which was hijacked by sycophants who wanted Abacha to succeed himself in office. ‘Patriotic’ groups, such as Daniel Kanu-led Youth Earnestly Ask for Abacha (YEAA), were formed to ‘persuade’ the General to transmute to civilian President because he was the only one who could save the country from chaos. Abacha began to dance to the sweet melody of his praise singers and would have metamorphosed into a civilian president had death not struck. Rather than descend into chaos as predicted by Abacha’s praise singers, the country fell into rapturous joy the day his death was announced.
Abacha’s successor, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, quickly began a new transition programme and handed power to a reluctant Olusegun Obasanjo as a civilian president. After almost eight years in office and his imminent exit from power, the sycophants were at work again, whispering into Obasanjo’s ears the need to circumvent the constitution and seek a third term in office. “Where is the successor?” they asked Obasanjo. “There is no one besides you who can sustain these reforms,” they told the retired general. Obasanjo began to listen more to these mellifluous voices and made attempts to get a third term in office but was stopped by vigilant Nigerians. There have been three successors since Obasanjo left power, and some of his reforms have been sustained.
President Buhari’s immediate predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, was also a victim of the unabated sycophancy that plagues the nation’s seat of power. Jonathan had of his own accord promised to spend a term in office, given the circumstances of his emergence. But the sycophants would have none of that. “Why will you deny yourself your constitutional right to a second term?” they asked. “You have done more for the nation than all your predecessors put together. Why quit when you can get another four years to continue these transformations?”, they queried. Their melodious words softened Jonathan’s resolve against seeking another term in office and he threw his hat into the ring. He was rejected at the poll by the people who did a better assessment of his performance.
The President once admitted freely that his age would affect his performance. He gave his youth to the country as a soldier and has been fortunate to be called again to lead her at his advanced age after leaving power over three decades ago. It is time he began to think of handing power to a worthy successor and thereafter return home to a blissful retirement. But will the sycophants let him? That is why I fervently pray for him that he stands where his predecessors faltered.

Onabanjo is of the Department of Political Science,
University of Ibadan.

By Oludayo Tade

The catastrophic opening of the year 2018 with wanton killings of about 80 persons in well coordinated attacks in Benue State by the perennial killer squad (Fulani herdsmen) has called to question the sloppiness of Nigeria’s security architecture and the look-away attitude of the executive. It shows, on the one hand, the powerlessness of farming communities and impending food insecurity, and on the other hand, the growing audacity of the marauders and the impending implosion it foregrounds. But do those being killed have a right to life guaranteed under the Nigerian constitution? Did President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) ever promise Nigerians that they will be proud of their country when he assumes power? I hasten to conclude from this opening that the lives of ordinary Nigerians mean nothing to the ruling class. And, it is sad that the lives of those who laid the golden egg of PMB’s presidential ascendancy have become worthless and sacrificed for political exigency and inaction.
Interestingly, if we dare to ask questions, we are labelled impatient cohorts who want an Eldorado just within few years of his presidency. This resonates in his New Year speech, about the same time people were being massacred in Benue State, when he stated: “We Nigerians can be very impatient and want to improve our conditions faster than may be possible considering our resources and capabilities…When all the aggregates of nationwide opinions are considered, my firm view is that our problems are more to do with process than structure”. Staying with process is vital as it reveals what the President is doing to make the structure enduring. The big question is, how impatient can we be said to have been when we look at health, economy, education and security?
We live in two worlds in Nigeria. There are things designed for the rich and the poor. One of those is the health care system. PMB has continued to benefit from the sound health infrastructure in the United Kingdom yet replicating such is yet to be considered for the benefit of ‘ordinary’ Nigerians. We have lost count of those who died of wrong diagnoses in our so called hospitals that the ruling elite during commissioning will call ‘ultra-modern health facilities’ but wait till their families experience fever, they set out for London. Or, is it the brain drain occasioned by the lacklustre body language of the handlers in Health Ministry? Recently, Yusuf Buhari while enjoying the luxury of his father’s opulent office rode a bike on a smooth-stretch of road but crashed along the line. He was hospitalised in a private medical facility when there are public facilities of ‘world class standards’ provided by his father in Abuja and all over the country. Hypocritical governors and their cronies in the law making chambers thronged the hospital to wish him well. This is not bad though. However, they have yet to find the same candour to visit the decimated lands and farming communities in Benue to wish them well or even ask for prayers for them. While on his sick bed, Yusuf Buhari got fortified with DSS, Army, and Police while the farming communities in Benue in need of protection don’t have.. Such is life. But, is it too much to demand the same health care services being enjoyed by the President and his family? Mr. President, poor people bear all the pains in Nigeria….when will it be our turn?
Nigeria is securely insecure with killings here and there and yet the PMB government continues with the propaganda of ‘technical decimation’ of Boko Haram while technically empowering killer herdsmen. Where life matters, a single death is a great loss. Such is the concern of UK and USA. They alert their citizens in Nigeria to impending terror attacks. In our own republic, security of lives and property has become more selective. It is extended to where the hearts of the handlers are and against those not within the favour radar. We cannot separate two people who are fighting by restraining the hand of one of the feuding parties for the other as is being done in the case of herders’-farmers war. How can we be championing unity where those who kill humans are allowed to determine the terms and conditions for peace? Does that not amount to rewarding bad behaviour? Would the situation have been the same if the son or daughter of our elites had been killed by herdsmen? Where is justice and rule of law when colonies or ranches are being championed for killers and burial sites for farming communities? The poor have reasons to be impatient because they know that the rich are securitized while the masses remain ‘soft targets’ for death.
Education has been more decimated under PMB with the downward trend in allocation to funding education in the national budget. Across the board, public primary and secondary schools, and tertiary institutions, are being dealt a big blow by the ruling elite and starved. Teachers and lecturers are allowed to go on strike so people are conscripted to patronise schools established by powerful elites and their cronies. But, what stakes do they have to make our education great and world class when their wards school abroad? They want the masses to remain subservient knowing that a mind that knows is one that is truly free. Unfortunately, their foreign-trained kids will not enjoy their lives as the kids left uncared for will become a menace to the society. Relatedly, JAMB jubilates by remitting billions extracted from over 1 million applicants who jostle for less than 500 thousand available spaces! Yet, PMB felt the masses are “impatient” in asking when will it be their turn to enjoy increasing access to qualitative education in Nigeria?
The economy is quantitatively improving, not qualitatively impacting on the masses. I laugh each time the President and the Vice President say they ‘feel our pains’. How can they? Do they queue for fuel? Do they go to the market to buy tomatoes, except as showbiz? Do they know that people’s livelihood have been threatened since last year due to their inability to fix the Oil and Gas sector? Do they know that power is central to the economy? How much of efficient power has the President produced when the State House still budgets for diesel? Democratic questioning is essential to call to question our leadership’s dereliction of constitutional duties. Those who do not want to entertain and/or accommodate complaints must learn to be fair to all, perform their constitutionally assigned roles or never offer themselves to contest 2019 elections. As Beautiful Nubia observes in his song “The Small People’s Anthem”, some people can’t find their way. Some people live by the day. Some people have all the funds. Few people take all the funds. Poor people get all the pains. Small people look to the sky….when will it be our turn?

Dr Tade, a sociologist writes via dotad2003@yahoo.com

From Clement Adeyi, Osogbo

Lani Baderinwa is the Osun State Commissioner for Information. In this interview, he bares his mind on Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration and the socio-political and economic affairs in the state.
Governor Aregbesola has embarked on massive projects in the state, especially road infrastructure. He has completed some, but a lot more are still under construction. Do you think he will be able to complete them before his tenure ends in November this year?
Since he came on board on November 27, 2010, his priority is to run a people-oriented government anchored on infrastructural development and sustainability. He has been doing this to the best of his ability through road, electricity, health and education infrastructures, despite the paucity of funds occasioned by economic recession and poor federal allocations.
If you move round the state, especially Osogbo, the state capital, you would agree with me that he has performed creditably well, especially in road network through construction of new roads and rehabilitation of the old ones. Also, there are massive school building projects that he has completed, which cover new high schools, new middle schools and new elementary schools which are found in every part of the state. The school feeding programme and model school buildings have become models that are now being emulated by other states. If for one reason or the other he cannot complete the ongoing projects before his tenure expires, whoever that would come as his successor should be able to complete them because they are projects meant for the people.  Any people-oriented governor should be able to ensure continuity of a good agenda or precedence set by his predecessor.
Recently, students of tertiary institutions in the state trooped out to the streets in Osogbo to protest increment of tuition fees. How would you justify the increment in the light of your claim that Aregbesola’ s administration is passionate about socio- economic wellbeing of the people?
Government has not authorised any increment in tuition fees in all the state-owned tertiary institutions. Only ancillary fees were increased by the institutions’ authorities based on some considerations.
Currently, the tuition fees of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, and the College of Technology, Esa-Oke, remain N25, 000, while that of Osun State College of Education, Ilesa, and Ila-Orangun is still N20, 000.
Aregbesola’s administration, at inception and without any persuasion in 2011, reduced the tuition fees of all the tertiary institutions from N45, 000 to N25, 000. Since the reduction in 2011, government has not put a penny on the tuition fees.
The managements of the institutions are at liberty to fix extraneous fees and are responsible for the regulations.  The bottom line is that government on its own has not increased tuition fees.
Despite poor federal allocation, road and school projects are still going on in different parts of the state. What is the magic behind this?
He is a strategist. He knows how to go about these things. He could decide to source for money to execute capital projects.  Nothing is wrong with that. What is wrong is borrowing money for recurrent expenditure. But when you take loan to embark on a capital projects, the result will be there as profitable legacies.
But some people are saying that the governor has succeeded in plunging the state into a colossal debt through excessive bank loans. How true?
The  truth about loan is that no bank or financial institution is going to lend you money more than your worth or collateral.  There is no financial institution that would give you a loan that they know that you cannot pay. What the state has taken as loan for now is not more than what it can pay. So, there is no question of plunging the state into a colossal debt.
There are insinuations within and outside the state that Aregbesola has neglected workers’ welfare and is only paying them half salary but embarking on massive infrastructural projects. Could you clear the air on this?
It is a figment of imagination of anybody making such an insinuation. Aregbesola is not paying half salary to the generality of its workers as some mischief makers and naysayers are trying to make people believe. The truth is that workers are paid based on modulated salary structure agreed upon by the government and the labour unions in the state.
It is only workers on grade level 13 and above that receive 50 per cent (half) salary based on the agreement. This category of workers constitutes about 20 per cent of the state’s workforce.Workers on levels 8-12 receive 75 percent,  while those on levels 7 and below receive full pay.
All workers have received their salaries up to December. As we pay active workers, so we pay pensioners too. The affected people are those who choose not to participate in the Contributory Pension Scheme until they left service in 2011/2012.
The modulated salary was arrived at as the best option the government could take in the interest of the workers due to the economic recession that crippled the state’s finances.
We should thank God that the governor was able to come up with modalities by which no worker would lose his or her job in the wake of the current economic recession which is not peculiar to Osun State. That was how the modulated salary system came up to retain the staff instead of asking some workers to go home or allow others to remain. This would have made some people happy and others sad. So, I think there is sense in the modulated salary structure in Osun State.
Osun 2018 poll is around the corner. What should the people expect from the ruling party?
The reality of politics is that everybody is entitled to contest for position. From what l know, you have to be the candidate of your political party before you can start contesting.  The game is beginning to gather momentum. There are competent politicians whom the cap fit. They have started emerging and I am sure when the time comes, we shall know the right person. But the bottom line is that it is the people that have the final say. They know whom they want and would be the one to decide their fate during the election.

But there are insinuations that the governor has his favourite candidate to succeed him. How true?
He is a human being. Anybody would always want somebody to replace him. Somebody he thinks is reliable and likely to continue from wherever he stops.  No leader would want an enemy to succeed him.  But what l do not seem to appreciate is the fact that people are already pointing fingers at some individuals as the possible persons he is having in mind to replace him.  To the best of my knowledge and I think l am close to him to say this that he does not have anybody in mind for now.

Last week’s comment by unpredictable and irreverent American President, Donald Trump describing African countries and Haiti as shithole countries has generated and is still generating heated debates on social media and across the country.

Ripples generated by Trump’s remarks cut across other African countries and extend to the American societies. Many have picked quarrel with the American President on his uncomplimentary remarks which occurred when he was meeting some lawmakers in the Oval Office, as the office of the American President is called.

Quoting the Washington post, Trump reportedly said, “why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”  He was said to have suggested that the United States should instead bring more people from countries like Norway, whose prime minister he met a day before. Giving more background information that led to the comment, the Washington Post reported that Trump’s remarks came after two Senators suggested ‘a potential bipartisan deal that would involve making cuts to the visa lottery programme and funding Trump’s long-sought border wall while restoring protections for people from countries that have been removed from the temporary protected status programme.’

What those who are agitated by Trump’s remarks did not know was that the American president was not making such disparaging remark that shows his disrespect for Africans, for the first time. He was said to have made more disrespectful and impertinent remarks in June 2017 when he read off a list of countries whose immigrants had received U.S. visas in 2017. He said of Haitians, “all have AIDS.”  In that meeting, he reportedly singled out Nigeria and remarked that once Nigerians had seen America, they would never, ‘go back to their huts’, in Africa.

Expectedly, African countries have upbraided the US president for his remarks. During the week, the Presidency invited the American ambassador to express its displeasure over the remarks. It was the same with other African countries who took umbrage at the statement. In America too, there were opposition to Trump’s statement especially from Democrats.

In Nigeria, some have said Trump was not too far wrong in his assessment of African countries while others have also expressed opposition to the statement. I will cite the remarks from two of my friends who expressed two different views on Trump’s statement on their face book pages. Emeka Oparah, Vice President, Corporate Communications with Telecommunications giant, Airtel who had an encounter with an American who had been impressed by Emeka’s  intellect after he delivered a lecture on Communications and Nation building and had also learnt of Emeka’s other side, as a tailor. In Response to Trump’s outburst, Emeka, in his remarks which he entitled, ‘My Nigeria is a haven in the making, trust me’, wrote, ‘I ‘m highly optimistic our best is ahead of us. Things cannot remain the way they are. They will not stay the same. I can see a bright future with the kind of patriotic, energetic, talented and visionary folks I see around. As for naysayers and those who buy the Trump analogy, I can only feel sorry for them, because only a bastard calls his fatherland a shithole”. My other friend, Linus Obogo has this to say on the same issue, “African leaders gave Donald Trump the impetus to rightly situate Africa as shithole. Mention one African leader without looted funds, ill-gotten assets outside the continent. Mention one African leader who has never and will never go on medical Tourism outside Africa, just mention one African who has not gone on holidays outside Africa. Mention one African leader (that) has travelled outside Africa and has not seen well paved roads good enough to replicate in his own country. It is endless. Our leaders made shitholes, slums and shanties of Africa and it is all clear for all, including Donald Trump to see. Are we pained because Trump was man enough to remind our leaders to use our wealth to develop our continent so that it can be livable? Truth is, Africa is a… shithole, no thanks to our kleptomaniac, roguish leaders.”

I have placed the comments by the two gentlemen together to buttress the argument from the two sides on President Trump’s comment. One disagrees with Trump while the other quite acknowledges what the American president said. But in the dissimilarities of the two statements lie the similarity. The response from Oparah could be seen from the patriotic prism. He fully acknowledged that Nigeria is not where it should be but it would get there, meaning that it is still an ongoing work. One can infer that he was opposed to such statement coming from Trump. On the other hand, Obogo is telling us that Trump is not off the mark and we deserve to be referred to as a shithole country because we have all the opportunities to make the country a better place, but our leaders have consistently failed us.  They travel outside the country, they see the way  those countries work, but they have not replicated such facilities in their country, rather they would prefer to corner the commonwealth for their kith and kin. They steal the money and take it to keep and develop the economies in those countries. The monies that could have been put to good use here.

Is Nigeria and some African countries not shithole countries? I agree with Trump in his description, though it hurts to be so described in that disparaging manner. But do we have anyone to blame?   Thousands of our youths endanger their lives travelling outside the country to Europe for greener pasture, going through very dangerous routes to achieve their objective. Many of them die along the   way. Some are sold into modern day slavery. If the conducive atmosphere to thrive had been provided, would these futures of our country embark on a journey in which the chances of survival are halved? If there had been jobs for this army of youths, would they travel through such dangerous routes?

The other day, herdsmen killed over 70 people in Benue, the killing is still ongoing in remote and far flung communities; does it bother our leaders? Not really, their sense of outrage has become blunt. They are inured to violence. Life is meaningless. If not a shithole country, where in the developed world would something like that happen? Even if it happened, the impressive response of the government would have assuaged the bereaved. In Nigeria life is cheap. On Tuesday, two foreigners were kidnapped- an American and a Canadian, their two police escorts were killed in the process. Is it not in a shithole country that security operatives are armed with nearly obsolete weapons? Most of our security operatives-police, army, etc, are still going about with AK47, a weapon manufactured in 1949, when those they are expected to confront have more sophisticated weapons. Is that not the characteristic of a shithole country? Even in Russia or more precisely the Soviet Union, AK47 was phased out in 1978, and that’s the country where the weapon was manufactured and first used.

The truth may be bitter, but Trump nails it so well. If we do not want to be so tagged, then we should start getting our acts together. 2019 is around the corner, we should resolve that leaders with blurred vision on account of old age or those without vision should not continue to rule.

While Nigerians are yet to come to terms with the Fulani herdsmen’s massacre in Benue State in which over 70 people lost their lives, fresh reports showed that five more people had been killed in the state by killer herdsmen despite the order given to the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to bring normalcy to the troubled state. 

Embattled Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom told a delegation of leaders from the South-West, South-East and South-South that came to condole with him over the tragedy that despite the presence of the Inspector-General of Police and 663 armed mobile policemen deployed in the state, killings are still being perpetrated while the attackers are yet to be arrested. This should worry those in authority, especially security agents.

And from Ekiti came the report that herdsmen had destroyed about 45 hectares of 500-hectar farm said to belong to former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Samuel Afolayan. The ex-naval boss was quoted as saying that the cattle rearers burnt about 20 hectares of cassava farm and five hectares of palm farm. Afolayan said he lost more than N200 million in the attack when he spoke to journalists at Ibbo-Ile in Ekiti Local Government Area of Ekiti State. He also said that such attacks have been on in the last 10 years. Afolayan averred that the destruction of his farm had been a setback to his quest to contribute to food security in the country.

In the same Ekiti State, the herdsmen had carried incessant attacks on the farm of former Finance Minister, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olu Falae. He had once suffered kidnap by herdsmen but later regained his freedom. It was based on these attacks that Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State enacted the anti-grazing laws. And it is also likely that the herdsmen menace may spread to other parts of the country and leave in its wake, much sorrow, tears and blood.

The story of killer herdsmen in Nigeria is a relatively long one since the nascent democracy that commenced on May 29, 1999. Before this epoch, Fulani herdsmen were peaceful. They only carried sticks and at times knives to ward off attacks but not to kill people in their host communities as is presently the case. The emergence of killer Fulani herdsmen, whether local or foreign, has intensified since the coming of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as the president of Nigeria in 2015.

Buhari’s studied silence and body language might have emboldened the Fulani herdsmen on their killer rampage of some states in the country, especially Benue State. In their murderous campaigns, they destroy crops, kill people and rape women. At times, they engage in kidnapping for ransom. The marauding herdsmen’s menace attracted global attention that in 2014, they were ranked the 4th deadliest terrorist group in the world after Boko Haram, ISIS and Al-Shabab by the Global Terrorist Index.

Available data shows that the death toll arising from herdsmen attacks is about 5,000. But in Nigeria, they are everywhere armed with AK47 and killing innocent people. Even though a pro-democracy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to categorize marauding armed Fulani herdsmen as terrorists, the president has looked the other way.

It will be recalled that attacks by herdsmen in Southern Kaduna between October 2016 and January 2017 had, according to reports, claimed about 204 lives. The herdsmen in 2016 killed about 46 persons in Nimbo Community of Uzo-Uwani council of Enugu State. Between 300 and 500 Nigerians were reportedly killed in Agatu, Benue State by killer herdsmen in 2016. There had been such killings in Jos, Plateau State, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Delta, and other states. We can go on and on. The list of these dastardly killings is by no means exhaustive.

With the rampaging armed Fulani herdsmen on the prowl, Nigeria’s future is scary. The Federal Government under the watch of Buhari must not fail to act now to arrest the situation that may push Nigeria to slip into anarchy. The patience of other Nigerians to bear the brunt of renewed herdsmen killings cannot endure forever. Moreover, the herdsmen have no monopoly of violence.

The government should stop handling the herdsmen with kid gloves. This is the right time to apprehend the masterminds of Benue massacre and their foot soldiers. It is bad to turn Nigeria into a killing range because of cattle. Unfortunately, Nigeria is not reckoned among major producers of cattle yet cattle remain the source of Nigeria’s present headache and danger. 

Nigeria must not take pride as a country where human beings are daily killed because of cattle. Animal husbandry, which cattle rearing is just a part, must not be carried out to constitute a danger to farm crops and human lives as is presently the case in Nigeria. All over the world, cattle are reared in ranches where their quality can be maximized and never allowed to roam and destroy peoples’ farms and crops.

The idea of cattle colony, which the Federal Government is contemplating, is very dangerous. The government should not even think of it. Farming, whether in the form of cattle or maize, is a private business. Just as rice farmers procure their farmlands, cattle rearers must also procure their own. The Federal Government must not have a hand in it.

Interestingly, many states have kicked against cattle colony. These states know that it is going to provoke more troubles than it can solve. The increasing killings in Nigeria because of cattle farming do not portray us as a serious people. Let individual cattle farmers establish ranches and stop the ongoing bloodletting that cattle pastoralists portend.

It is not good to turn Nigeria into a bid grave yard because of cattle farming that other countries carry out with much gusto. The nation’s police boss should rise to the challenge of the herdsmen menace and bring the culprits to book. The duty of the police is to protect the citizens and enforce law and order. What happened in Benue does not show that the police are on top of the situation.

Hiding under the cover that the herdsmen are foreigners does not help matters. If indeed the herdsmen are not Nigerians; that in itself is enough reason why they must be arrested and prosecuted. Government cannot continue to endanger the life of Nigerians simply because the herdsmen are said to be foreigners.

Let the leaders of the country meet and come up with measures to stop the present carnage and chart a way forward for the embattled country. What is happening now does not portray how to be a successful country. Ours is already manifesting signs of a failed state.

  Peter OvieAkus

News reports emerged last week that the American President, Donald Trump, allegedly called Haiti, El-Salvador and African countries “shithole countries” in a meeting with Congressional leaders on immigration policy in the White House. He allegedly added that he preferred immigrants from Norway and Asia as they help America economically. Mr. Trump has, however, denied referring to African nations as shithole countries, but said that he used tough words to describe them.

This is not the first time that Donald Trump is attacking Nigeria. In 2016, during the race to win the Republican nomination, he had accused Nigerian leaders of looting Nigeria’s money and stashing it overseas. Similarly, in June 2017 during a cabinet meeting, he allegedly said that “once Nigerians step foot in America, they would not want to return back to their huts in Africa”.

To begin with, let us look at the literal dictionary definition of the word “shithole”. Simply put, a shithole is a place of physical dirt and shabbiness. With the exception of probably Abuja and Calabar, a drive on most Nigerian roads in the major cities would reveal heaps of refuse, stinking to high heavens, lying on the roadsides unattended to alongside nylons of sachet water and other used consumables. It is no secret that Nigerians do not have a culture of properly disposing of dirt and anywhere that seems convenient for them is where they dump their refuse, including gutters. This, most times, leads to flooding during the rainy season. Have we forgotten so soon that just a few years ago, most Nigerians derisively referred to Aba, a commercial city in South-east Nigeria, as the “Refuse Capital of Africa?”

Before we begin to break our heads over what Donald Trump thinks or says about us, we should endeavour to ask ourselves a pertinent question. How do Nigerians perceive Nigeria? It will shock you to know that most Nigerians, despite their protestations to the contrary believe that Nigeria is a shithole. Majority of Nigerians who are ranting about Trump’s statement on social media are either living overseas, have their children living overseas, have dual citizenship, have investments overseas or are seriously praying to travel overseas one day with the hope of never returning to Nigeria again. Nigerians played the American Diversity Visa Lottery for several years until they exhausted the quota numbers allotted to the country and were subsequently placed on the list of countries ineligible to apply by the US Immigration authorities. While it lasted, some Smart Alec quickly turned it into a profitable venture by setting up business centres to help prospective applicants file their application papers. These are the same set of people who flock churches, mosques, prayer houses, shrines e.t.c and engage in all sorts of spiritual gymnastics in order to secure an American visa. We view anything foreign as superior to anything local therefore those who have been privileged to travel outside the shores of Nigeria are seen as superior homo sapiens which makes many of them possess a superiority complex and an entitlement mentality.

A source who is a member of the political class once told me that the reason politicians stash their looted funds overseas is not because they want to keep it far away from the anti-graft agencies but because they secretly fear that Nigeria will implode someday and when it eventually happens, they can have something to fall back upon. I believe this to be true because most Asian leaders who have been accused of corruption at one time or the other have most of their stolen money and investments in their home countries. This means that most Nigerian leaders secretly believe that Nigeria is a shithole which also explains why their wives and children practically live overseas while they govern us here in Nigeria.

The tales recounted by several Libya returnees on their return to Nigeria has revealed that Nigerians will do any and everything to get out of the country even if it means riding on camels across the desert and using financial resources which could have been used to set up a profitable business back home. What are they running from in Nigeria? And you say Nigeria is not a shithole?

Critics of President Trump’s statement have listed the names of several Nigerians who are successful in America including Adebayo Ogunlesi, a billionaire businessman who was a member of President Trump’s Economic Advisory Council and Dr. Bennet Omalu, a medical genius renowned for his discovery and treatment of hitherto unknown injuries which players in the NFL suffer from. What they easily forget is that these men were nobodies when they were in Nigeria and their success can be attributed to the fact that they were exposed to superior facilities, superior technology and a conducive environment to practice their craft in America. They have also cited a New York Times report which listed Nigerians as the most educated immigrant group in America. Yet, despite our great love for education in this country, we are still having puerile arguments over which is more important: the life of cattle or the life of a human being. I know from personal experience that most Nigerians who live overseas are contributors to the negative image that Nigeria has internationally as they not only look down on their home country but also give a false and often exaggerated narrative of some of the challenges that bedevil our nation to their foreign friends which, sometimes, acts as a disincentive to foreigners either visiting or investing in our country. Very few Nigerians who live overseas have houses or investments back home, fewer still have a retirement plan to settle in Nigeria apart from the monthly stipends that they send to their loved ones back home. Why can’t they behave like the Indians and the Chinese who invest in their home countries while living overseas and usually have no hopes of living forever in a foreign land?

Most Americans are ignorant about Africa and still believe that people in Africa live in huts and on trees. Some ridiculously believe that South Africa is the capital of Africa. I expect Donald Trump as President of America to know better than that.

Our problem is political correctness which is largely ingrained in the African culture. We know that Nigeria is, indeed, a shithole but we have a problem with the messenger (Trump) and not the message. After all, prominent Nigerians have used far more derogatory words to describe the country and they were not crucified. Come to think of it, what kind of words do ordinary Nigerians use to describe their country in their everyday conversations?

OvieAkus writes from Ifo, Ogun State, via www.nowayobloggers.com/news-analysis

 Okechukwu Anarado

No one on Anambra’s political turf has fought more tortuous political battles in defence of their political convictions than Chief Victor Umeh; none either has enjoyed as much legal victories in their dogged adherence to legitimately seeking redress in the face of daunting manoeuvres antithetical to recognised political and legal best practices.

Indeed, Chief Umeh’s political life for over a decade   presents a vignette of crusades for seemly precepts in democratic practices, particularly as they affect elections and political party administration. The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) provides him the platform for bold expressions of this cause.

Though Chief Umeh’s electoral value handsomely played out in APGA’s impressive performance in the 2003 gubernatorial election in Anambra State, his prefigured ingenuity seemed to be tied more to the rigorous legal battles that saw APGA’s Mr. Peter Obi reclaim a gubernatorial mandate in 2006, three long years after it  was highhandedly appropriated by Dr. Chris Ngige’s People’s Democratic Party.  But for Chief Umeh’s downright rejection of underhand arbitrary counsels and ploys to compromise the party’s pursuit, Obi’s scheme for governorship probably would just have fizzled out. In and out of the courts, Umeh’s robust support counted substantially in Obi’s variegated journeys to the Government House.  This cannot be controverted by any of Chief Umeh’s ferocious traducers today or their pampered surrogates. 

Umeh’s trajectory in Anambra politics captures the intricacies, travails and   successes in the making of modern Anambra State. This is not farfetched, considering the critical role he played in APGA’s formation and its entrenchment as a formidable ruling party in Anambra State. Chief Victor Umeh readily provided the youthful zeal and mental energy which the all-time leader of APGA, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, needed to impress the mission of the party in the consciousness of the deprived peoples of Nigeria, particularly those resident east of the Niger. His steadfastness in driving the fortunes of the party through formidable trials unarguably justify Ikemba’s preference for him as a leader whom he trusted to grow the party’s ideals to prime legacy in good governance. As its National Chairman, Umeh superintended over APGA’s containment of the Peoples Democratic Party’s electoral improprieties, particularly in Anambra State, a pilot state for APGA’s good governance model.   Chief Umeh it was who literarily trod the fields to ensure the delivery of Rochas Okorocha as the governor of Imo State under the APGA banner. Unfortunately, the APGA good governance culture was yet to stick in Imo before Okorocha went his way – thereby leading Imo to the prevailing political woods.

Still fresh in our memory is Umeh’s successes in ensuring Obiano’s first coming (2014) when he (Umeh) was the National Chairman of APGA, and his stellar role in the Governor’s unprecedented reelection result (18th November, 2017), as the Chairman of the Governor’s Re-election Committee.  Given his persistent frontline role in APGA’s subsistence and growth over time, in the years of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s unassailable presence and beyond; given the fine blend of his composite knowledge of Nigeria’s political dynamics and  his inimitable boldness (a bit of which was showcased in his very brief but most brilliant participation in the 2014 National Conference), one would hardly fault the appropriateness of Chief Victor Umeh as a mouthpiece for Anambra Central Senatorial Zone in the 8th Senate.

But for a few who, for mundane reasons, would not bear Umeh’s rising profile in Anambra’s political space; the clique which, in the past, surreptitiously laboured to undermine Umeh’s leadership of the party by lavishly sponsoring internal leadership distractions; and those whose underbellies have eventually been laid bare by their characteristic prowls on him, Chief Umeh’s representation in the 8th Senate would have long taken effect. Recall that the 8th Senate was inaugurated on the 9th of June, 2015. Yet, these people deprived Anambra Central of Umeh’s representation.          

However, if the November 20, 2017 judgment of the Court of Appeal restraining the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from participating in the rerun election which the Court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct within 90 days provided an elixir for the people of Anambra Central Senatorial District, the renaissance spirit displayed by Mahmood Yakubu’s INEC in promptly fixing January, 13, 2017 for the rerun restored the people’s hope in the electoral umpire to avail them fair representation in the Red Chamber of the National Assembly. These crucial turns by essential arbiters in electoral decisions largely diminished the sworn conclusions of Chief Victor Umeh’s denigrators to stretch their judicial taunts endlessly, and anger the people till doomsday.

The enthusiasm of the people about the rerun was aptly captured in the submission by the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) in Anambra, which urged INEC to “ensure that enemies of our democracy do not prevail in their nefarious plot to abort the conduct of the election of January 13, 2018, and thereby permanently denying Anambra Central Senatorial district due representation in the 8th Senate.”

This enthusiasm took flesh in the quiet but determined participation of the electorate who, defying the high cost of petrol, came out to ensure overwhelming victory for Umeh, the candidate after their heart.

With the successful conduct of the Anambra Central Senatorial District rerun, INEC furthered its mettle as a disinterested umpire posting improvement on the appreciable record it established during the Anambra Gubernatorial Election of  November 18, 2017.  The January feat, therefore, announced INEC’s deepening integrity and should further embolden the electoral body in future elections. By these celebrated Anambra experiences, the courts of the land and INEC may have found their voices in ensuring adherence to democratic practices. The salient missing link is the willingness of many politicians to separate crass selfishness, rash hate and limitless mischief from the practice of democracy and service to people and society.   

Nigeria’s electors seek no more than fair play from INEC, security operatives and the government in all elections.

Adejuwon Ogunsusi

My default response to any government pronouncement, policy or programme is to shuttle between indifference and skepticism. Only in very few instances (and I can count them on the fingers of one hand) have I felt a government programme has a chance of success. I guess it is part of being Nigerian.

Last July, when the Federal Ministry of Finance unveiled the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS), I was not indifferent-because there had been conversations  around taxation-but I was skeptical about its chances of success. My doubts, of course, became stronger when I discussed with friends who are also relentlessly skeptical and dismissive about government policies. Countless examples of policies that bombed were given to support their position. While they agreed that there is a need to do something about poor tax culture in the country, the blame  for it was laid squarely at the feet of government at all levels, especially poor service delivery and near-total dependence on oil revenue, which has been shrinking since 2014 because of dip in oil prices on the international market. Of course, that was before the recent mini-bounce in oil prices.

One friend, who had lived abroad, argued that service delivery is poor in Nigeria because people do not pay taxes at all or when they do, they grossly underpay. If you do not pay or grossly underpay, he argued, you are less inclined and, of course, ineligible to demand adequate service delivery from the government. This friend had also taken time to study the provisions of VAIDS, which he did his best to break down to digestible bits. The scheme, he explained, has, as its major goal, the rectification of our tax anomalies by offering tax defaulters a time-limited opportunity to regularize their tax status. If it works, he added, it will bring many more taxpayers into the tax loop, reduce dependence on oil revenue, provide a reliable and more sustainable revenue source for government and nudge Nigerians to demand that service delivery be better.

I did not disagree with him, but wondered how the government was going to discover hidden assets and income. Patiently, he explained that the government was inviting people to voluntarily and truthfully declare such and pay tax liabilities over three years, as agreed with the relevant tax authority.

This, he said, is the fairest possible in the current circumstances, given that the government is also offering incentives such as immunity from prosecution for default, freedom from tax audit and a waiver of the interest and penalties that have accrued. I told myself that I was going to suspend belief in the scheme for some time. I remained wedded to my belief that a pig would fly before the government would discover hidden assets.

I have since been relieved of that belief (delusion, it now seems). What cured me of it was the realization I reached through reading a new item that showed I had been ignorant of many things. Specifically, the news item announced that the VAIDS office had collected data of over five corporate organizations and individuals in the country. The collected data, said the news report, have been undergoing analysis to ensure that all unpaid taxes are tracked and collected. Efforts in that direction have also yielded data government revenue-generating agencies such as the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Federal Housing Authority, Petroleum Technology Development Fund and Nigerian Communications Commission. State governments, I later understood, have volunteered transaction data required to identify tax defaulters at the expiration of the first phase of the VAIDS on 31 March. In addition, the VAIDS office has obtained data on all contracts and transactions above N50 million from the Nigerian Customs Service, Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria and Nigeria Export-Import Bank among other sources.

Data collected are being matched with those that will be provided by the FIRS, Corporate Affairs Commission and Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System to identify tax-defaulting companies.

Alongside data collected locally are those to be collected on Nigerians with offshore assets. In case you are in doubt, a variety of trans-border   information-sharing agreements to which Nigeria is a signatory are there to blow the lid off. These rely on cooperation among tax authorities to exchange data even without request.

One of such is the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEoI), which kicked off in Nigeria on 1 January. Home or abroad, it is obvious, the tax defaulter has no hiding place. Defaulters, obviously, want to stay away from the teeth of the law. In the first four months of implementation, VAIDS delivered N17billion into government coffers. Two months later, an additional N6billion was realised through the scheme. I am left with no doubt that VAIDS is viable and the country needs it to remain viable.

 Ogunsusi, a town planner, writes from Ado-Ekiti

Ikeogu Oke

There are two sides to Trump’s shit hole:

The buccal and the anal.

And, folks, you do not get it whole,

If your sense of smell is banal.

  – IkeoguOke, “Trump’s Shit Hole”

“Whether we like to face up to it or not, Africa has been the most insulted continent in the world. Africans’ very claim to humanity has been questioned at various times, their persons abused, their intelligence insulted. These things have happened in the past and have gone on happening today. We have a duty to bring them to an end for our own sakes, for the sake of our children and, indeed, for the safety and happiness of the world.”

– Chinua Achebe,

“The Duty and Involvement of the              

    African Writer”

President Trump’s recent description of African countries as “shit holes” should elicit an ambivalent response. First, outrage, for its insensitivity, and not seeming to take into account some historical, even contemporary, events that make it unfair. Then, sober reflections, as a thought-provoking epithet.

One such event is the recent destabilisation of Libya by forces led by the United States under President Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, turning an otherwise stable and prosperous African nation into a “shit hole” of dysfunction and anarchy while the exploitation of its resources by those who created the chaos and their collaborators allegedly takes place unrestrained. The others include slavery, colonialism and imperialism, whose exploitative and repressive components have contributed to keeping African countries underdeveloped.

Now, to be the leader of a country or a member of a race that contributed and still contributes to the continent’s plight through exploitation and yet describe the continent as a “shit hole” is comparable to a vampire bat mocking its victim as anaemic. Or the husband of a Vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) patient despising her for being smelly because she passes urine uncontrollably, unmindful of his role in bringing about her condition.

One would think that the vampire bat would know what to do if it really cares for an improvement in the health of its victim. And, whether Trump’s description can pass the litmus test of good intent depends on whether he can lead in showing that he wishes to revert Africa’s “shit hole” status by ending such practices that benefit countries like his to the detriment of Africa, like fuelling crisis in the continent to keep it unstable and make its resources easily exploitable as is apparent in the Congo – perhaps Africa’s smelliest “shit hole” since the murder of Patrice Lumumba in 1961 by forces backed the CIA and the Belgian government and his replacement with the imperial depredator and America’s ally Mobutu SeseSeko.

Such impositions of regime change in Africa as we later witnessed in Libya, with their replacement of patriotic and performing African leaders with unpatriotic ones, is partly to blame for the degeneration of the continent into what President Trump righty but insensitively and rather unconscionably described as a “shit hole”. And it may not cease to be a “shit hole” until there is an end to such negative interventions in its destiny.

So, when a certain DedeKonkwo, my Facebook friend, writes in response to my verse epigraph above, “The only ones holding Africans down are Africans. Look at the type of people they allow to emerge as leaders”, it is apparent that, though a university professor, he, like Trump, may not have fully understood the complex nature of the reasons why Africa is a “shit hole”. His nose seems to lack the sensitivity to perceive fully the complex nature of Africa’s leadership and other challenges and why those who can fully perceive that must regard Trump’s description of the continent as a “shit hole” as unfair.           

One would also think that the husband of the VVF patient would rather be interested in supporting his wife and victim in finding a solution to her disease, given that he is partly to blame for it, if he has a conscience and truly cares about her health and general wellbeing which is also health-dependent. 

That the description is racist, though somewhat true, should be seen by Africans as a superficial indictment, since its racism is essentially verbal. Those white people focussing on its racism, apparently for political reasons, may not be less beneficiaries of structural and institutional racism than Trump. They may also be afraid of the spark of awareness the description may ignite in Africans, prompting them to seek ways of improving their lot that may disserve the interests of Western countries like Trump’s.

In having his “shit hole” comment criticized as racist, Trump is somewhat in a similar situation with James Watson, the 1962 Nobel Laureate in Medicine, who said of black people in relation to the West: “All our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really” – thereby making a “scientific” ascription of a lower intelligence to black people compared to whites on the basis of race. As explained by the Independent, a British paper, in a story entitled “Fury at DNA pioneer’s theory: Africans are less intelligent than Westerners”, published on October 16, 2007, “…he claimed that black people were less intelligent than white people and the idea that ‘equal powers of reason’ were shared across racial groups was a delusion.” 

But the ultimate validation of Watson’s claim that would justify racism, assuming racism can be justified, would be proof that if you set any test for all the white and black people on earth that requires the use of the “powers of reason,” every white person will perform better than every black person or African, regardless of the discipline.  I am sure that even common sense tells us that this is not possible.  In effect, Watson tried to create a facile “scientific” justification for one of the prejudices behind some white people questioning Africans’ claim to humanity as Chinua Achebe mentioned in the second epigraph above, prejudices that partly form the foundation of racism.

But I believe some of the white people who criticised Watson for “racism”, like those criticising Trump for his “shit hole” comment, did so because of the fear that his remark might trigger a mental revolution among black people and Africans, which they need to improve their lot in the world in ways that might unsettle the existing world order from which white people are the greatest beneficiaries. 

And for this reason, the outrage due to its racism and insensitivity should be muted to make room for sober reflections about its possible unintended involvement of a clarion call for Africa to rise and fight for its own redemption, regardless of whose ox is wounded, which makes the comment beneficial. Winning this fight will entail Africans taking charge of their destiny, developing their continent, making it prosperous, and running it efficiently in ways that compel respect from the rest of the world. This is the best way to win the fight. Not by railing against Trump.

Oke writes from Abuja

Josef Umunnakwe Onoh

The world space is presently awash with stories, reactions and altercations trailing the January 1, 2018 orgy in Benue State, where no less than 70 persons were gruesomely murdered by Fulani herdsmen. The Federal Government has been unable to do anything about it, even though the state governor, Samuel Ortom, said the terrorists are quartered in Nassarawa State.

The New Year genocide in Benue was not the first or second time that herdsmen would shamelessly execute such dastardly act and go scot free in Nigeria. But, there are areas that the Fulani herdsmen could only go once and would have no second chance. One of such areas is Enugu state.

In 2016, when the herdsmen struck at Nimbo in Uzo-Uwani local government of Enugu State, massacring over 50 people, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of the state was branded a weeping governor because of the emotion he displayed at the scene of the incident. Little did the world know that behind his grief laid a grand design of taming a recurrence of such menace.

Whereas some people saw Ugwuanyi as a weak governor who, instead of crying was supposed to be volatile and confrontational, the meek governor went to work to articulate a non-combative approach which eliminated further herdsmen attacks on the coal city state. Ugwuanyi discovered that the vulnerability of the state to insecurity was, among other factors, a result of its location as a gateway between the North and the Eastern part of Nigeria. He realised that as trade takes place, so also does crime and so he diligently straightened the state’s security apparatus through the composition of a Peace and Security Committee.

The peace and security committee method employed by the Governor has been paying off to guard against herdsmen attacks and other criminalities. The state-wide committee is replicated in all the 17 local government areas of the state, with the central committee headed by the Governor’s Special Adviser on Security, Gen. Fred Eze (rtd), an experienced soldier who commanded Nigeria troops in Darfur.

The style of the state government is not to make noise about security, especially since it is said that security issues are not meant for public discussions. But, Eze is of the opinion that the populace should be sensitised to understand that security is about everybody.

The committee is made up of all the local governments council chairmen, herdsmen leaders under the umbrella of Miyetti-Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), state commissioner for Human Capital Development and Poverty Reduction and his counterpart in the Ministry of Agriculture. The composition is replicated in all the local governments and wards of the state. One of the jobs of the committee is to enlighten the state residents on security issues. 

Before the inauguration of the committee, there were rumors of eminent herdsmen attacks in the state but after the inauguration, such rumours and tension reduced in the state. There is a code of conduct. Both the host communities and herdsmen groups are made to pay damages in the event that any of the sides is found guilty of first provocation, destruction or attack. While herdsmen pay for damaged crops, the communities pay for any cow killed and since then, the situation has been under control because of the adequate sensitisation of both parties and their subsequent understanding of the issues.

Governor Ugwuanyi, who is not used to grandstanding, faulted the upbeat expectation in some quarters that the state would have been more brazenly forceful, noting that no two states are the same. Undoubtedly, there are different leadership styles; other states could adopt their own styles and approaches but the people of Enugu State are peace-loving persons who associate with every segment of the country.

A former Inspector General of Police once described the state as the most peaceful state in Nigeria and it is the wish of Governor Ugwuanyi to continue in that direction. The state is in a strategic location that has cow routes passing through it to different parts of the country. If the state behaves in a manner that denies other states in the South-east and South-south access to the thoroughfare, it could result in chaos, considering that some of the herdsmen were even born in the state and have no other place but Enugu State as their homes.

Another strategy of the Ugwuanyi administration in containing villagers/herdsmen clashes was the setting up of vibrant vigilance groups in every community. The state commissioner for Human Development and Poverty Reduction, Mr. Obinna Mbaeke, who is in charge of the operation of vigilance security said that ever since the Uzo-Uwani and Atakwu attacks, the state made it mandatory for every community to have a neighborhood watch.

The state works with the traditional rulers and President Generals of communities, not just because of herdsmen attacks, but also of crimes such as ritual killings, robbery and kidnapping. The local government council chairmen cater for the welfare of the neighborhood groups. Some local governments bought motorcycles and other vehicles to strengthen the security outfit.

The result is that ever since then, Enugu State has been relatively calm. The vigilance groups work with Gen. Eze’s Peace and Security Committee which involves the Miyetti-Allah, traditional rulers, the Sarikis, other security agencies, down to the local governments. They are proactive in the wards and the villagers are told not to kill any cow. In Udi local government area for instance, the herdsmen once reported that their three cows were killed and after investigation confirmed it, the herdsmen were paid N1.5 million by the suspects and since then, there has not been any other problem from both sides in the area.

The neighbourhood vigilance group is one of the means through which the state government wards off crime in the state.  The job of the Neighbourhood Watch is to ensure proper sensitisation, even though as human beings, they sometimes make mistakes and they are cautioned through the provisions of the law. They are not to manhandle suspects or adjudicate matrimonial cases but to concentrate purely on security and sanitation.

As the state commissioner for Human Capital Development, Obinna Mbaeke noted, “Enugu State is part of the Nigerian federation and its law cannot supersede that of the federation but we try to accommodate everybody, be you Shuwa Arab or Efik, so long as you are in Enugu State, you are protected. Security is one of the four-point agenda of the state government. The Governor bought vehicles for security and paramilitary agencies in the state. Enugu is safe, we met it safe and we will make it further safer.

What we are doing is yielding results and the way the Governor is going about it is the most sensible; that so long as you are in the state you must conform to the laws of the land.”

Onoh writes from Enugu

Rasak Musbau

Lee Kuan Yew, architect of modern Singapore, visited Nigeria a few days before the military struck on Saturday, January 15, 1966. His visit was in connection with the Commonwealth Conference held in Lagos on Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. His conclusion about Nigeria in 1966 is contained in a book he wrote in 2000 entitled: ‘From Third World to First’. In the book, he concluded thus: “I think their tribal loyalties were stronger than their sense of common nationhood”.

Today, Kuan Yew’s observation about the country has not changed. The similar factors that led to the January 15, 1966 bloody coup that ended the First Republic and triggered a counter-coup that subsequently plunged Nigeria into its historic civil war are still very much the reasons for the unending chapter of violence in the country.  Appraisal of Nigerian society forty-eight years after General Gowon’s Civil War Victory Message to the Nation tagged: “The Dawn of National Reconciliation” does not suggest that the country is on the track of national conciliation. We still discuss primordial issues.

Just like before January 15, 1966 crisis, Nigerians of different age group are everywhere listing all the problems with the soul and spirit of the country. The dearth of such values as justice, fairness and tolerance among Nigerians is obvious, yet the leadership is not doing enough to address them. Sadly, the inclination of political profiteers, tribalists and gullible followership to shun the lessons of January 15, 1966 partly accounts for why the country still dances to python and crocodile rhythm as well as resort to “Operation Lafiya Dole” to silent agitation tunes.

If January 15, 1966 was the day that the destiny of Nigeria was totally and painfully redefined, the opportunity to build a new nation provided itself on January 15, 1970. Yet, the country has not explored the opportunity beyond the cosmetic wreath laying, speeches, lamentations and special Jumat and Sunday services, which have been an annual ritual every January 15.

On Monday, January 15, 2018, the ritual of Armed Forces Remembrance Day was repeated at the National Arcade, Abuja as well as all State capitals across the nation. We were told, as usual, that the day was set aside to honour the Nigerian fallen troops in the various military conflicts for the preservation of the territorial integrity of Nigeria and peace keeping across the world. The question, however is, why do we celebrate January 15 and yet fail to carefully harness its message? Undoubtedly, January 15 is not an ordinary date in Nigeria’s history from whichever perspective we choose to view it. But then, have we really done enough to suggest that the blood that was shed on that day and others that followed was not in vain?

Can it really be said that enough effort has been made to ensure reconciliation with the South-East, for instance, in recognition of the perceived grievances and fears since the tragic incidents of 1966? In his famous Civil War Victory Message to the Nation in 1970, former military ruler, General Gowon said: “The so-called “Rising Sun of Biafra” is set for ever. It will be a great disservice for anyone to continue to use the word Biafra to refer to any part of the East Central State of Nigeria.  The tragic chapter of violence is just ended”. How do we assess this statement if we go through all national dailies with so many reports of killings, disunity and insecurity in different parts of the nation?

Having been amalgamated for 104 years and lived together as an independent nation for over 57 years, we must commit ourselves, both as individuals and groups, to making Nigeria work, but on the principle of justice and fairness. It is in the interest of all Nigerians that this nation works because the country contains the fabric of uncommon greatness waiting to be fostered.  It may be necessary to set up centres for the study of ethnic relations. This can be an antidote to the opportunism of the political class which makes it difficult to separate genuine interests of ethnic groups from the selfish interests of the class. The setting up of a Centre for Ethnic Relations will be one way of making it possible to ascertain genuine interests. It can as well reduce the rate at which our youth rant all day through social media fighting a ‘civil war’ and making more money for Mark Zuckerberg. The Nigerian people can also learnt that poverty, ignorance and disease which oppress the working masses today do not recognise ethnic, language, religious and regional differences.

The federal system should be strengthened through faithful adherence to the constitution to allow for the optimum development of all tiers of government. Indeed, all tiers of government must be viable and productive. We have to beat the habit of preying on others and consuming without producing. Sadly, most people venture into politics as a main route to power and wealth. How to make governance work for the people is of less concern to them.

Professional and other trans-ethnic associations should be encouraged as a counterforce to ethnic associations which exhibit divisive tendencies. Joining popular associations such as occupational and trade unions and clubs which cut across ethnic, language, religious and regional boundaries will make it possible for people to make friends across ethnic and religious barriers. For instance, the interventions of professional bodies like NUJ, NBA, NMA, ICAN etc on national issues will attract more approval than when it is that of religious or ethnic champions, even when expressing similar views. Also, extant integrating processes and policies (like the NYSC programme and other such uniting tendencies) should be encouraged and strengthened, while official and institutional hindrances, as well as unfavourable attitudes (like discrimination against non-indigenes), should be discouraged and outlawed, if possible. This should also be extended to national appointments.

The consumerist, rather than productive orientation of politics, which fuels inter-ethnic elite competition for sinecure posts and state largesse may be discouraged through the strengthening of a non-state controlled private sector.

Musbau writes from Lagos

Idris Mahmud

The year 2017 was a bad one for the Nigerian pension industry. It was a year PenCom, the industry regulator, was visited with executive lawlessness orchestrated by persons who do not care a hoot about the President’s hard-earned reputation or public good. Surprisingly, it happened at a time PenCom was adjudged one of the best performing government institutions in Nigeria. Besides bagging The Sun Public Service of the Year Award, the institution and its leadership was the toast of the organised labour, industry stakeholders, and the international community, receiving awards from the Trade Union Congress and Africa Pension Awards, etc.

It was, therefore, not surprising that the ill-advised disbandment of the entire PenCom management team led by Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu on  April 13, 2017 generated intense controversies that overheated the polity, as it was roundly condemned by pension stakeholders, the Labour Union, lawyers, and the National Assembly, among others.

Clearly, it was in clear violation of Sections 20 and 21 (j) of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014. Equally, section 21 of the PRA 2014 never provides for or contemplate the total removal of the PenCom management before the end of their tenure since it is a statutory management team.

To worsen matters, nominations to replace the removed PenCom leadership ran contrary to Section 21 (2) of the PRA, which provides:  “In the event of a vacancy, the President shall appoint a replacement from the geo-political zone of the immediate past member that vacated office to complete the remaining tenure.” Regrettably, rather than comply with the clear provisions of the law, in the replacement of the PenCom leadership, the law was flagrantly abused again.

The most worrisome is the allegation associating Vice President Yemi Osinbajo with the Pencom matter. While President Buhari was away for treatment in London, Osinbajo removed Alhaji A. Dikko, from the North, as DG nominee, a few days after the President’s departure to London, on the grounds that he was not qualified to be so nominated under the law. He appointed his ally from the South West, Funso Doherty, who has the same qualification issues as Alhaji Dikko. Interestingly, apart from the fact that Doherty was a director with ARM Pensions when Osinbajo was also a director, he is the VP’s church member.

Efforts by Osinbajo’s office to justify Doherty’s appointment met brick wall as several stakeholders, such as the Labour came hard on him. For the needless mess, names of the so-called PenCom new Management nominees has not been sent to the Senate since April last year because they won’t fly. Steps by Osinbajo to circumvent the Senate, such as directing the PenCom nominees to resume without Senate’s confirmation, hours before Buhari return from London medical trip, met strong warning from the Senate and pitted the Legislature against the Executive. This adds to the many Osibanjo-contrived Executive-Legislature loggerheads over appointments or keeping people in office in a manner that flies in the face of legal provisions and due process.

Now, it should interest the President, himself a pensioner, that the pension industry/PenCom, one of the very few sane and performing institutions/industries he inherited is collapsing under his watch. PenCom is currently saddled with a grossly incompetent, one-woman show kind of leadership. It has neither an Executive Management Team nor Board Members.

For about a year now, the Acting DG, Mrs. Dahir-Umar and the Commission Secretary/Legal Adviser (CSLA), Mohammad Sani Muham-mad, are the only ‘board members.’ Positions of Commissioner (Technical), Commissioner (Administration), Commissioner (Operations), and Commissioner (Finance and Investment), and Commissioner (Inspectorate) are vacant. The same with representatives of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Head of Service of the Federation, Central Bank of Nigeria, Securities and Exchange Commission, National Insurance Commission, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Trade Union Congress, Nigeria Labour Congress, Nigeria Stock Exchange, and Nigeria Employers Consultative Association. And of all the Executive Management Members comprising the DG and five Commissioners, only Mrs. Dahir-Umar is available. This is a clear danger for an institution that oversees a multi-trillion naira fund.

The result is that PenCom and pension industry have been on reverse gear. All the gains of many years of hard work and purposeful leadership with adequate checks and balances are fast-petering away like an ice cube in warm water. Why? Because, as if the bizarre removal of a performing statutory PenCom leadership was not enough calamity, the masterminds failed to thoroughly look through the profiles of the senior staff of the Commission to pick an experienced director, with deep understanding of the industry and the regulatory mandates of PenCom, as an Acting DG.

Although the Acting DG, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, was the most senior staff at the time Mrs. Anohu-Amazu was disengaged, pension stakeholders and staffers grumble that she lacks the professional antecedents to pilot the affairs of the industry. Coming from the power sector where she was relived of her appointment as a staff of the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), Mrs. Dahir-Umar has always been into facility management throughout her sojourn at PenCom, never anywhere near the mainstream of pension industry management. She, therefore, lacks regulatory capacity and it is not surprising that PenCom is sinking under her wobbling leadership.

Beloved President, God forbid that it should be written that the pension industry prospered under Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, and even Jonathan, but sunk in your time. But, until you sort out the pressing issue of proper leadership for PenCom (hopefully soon), please, urgently pick one of the PenCom’s experienced Directors or the CSLA knowledgeable in the pension industry and PenCom’s regulatory mandates to arrest the nosedive. PenCom and pension industry should never sink under your watch!

•  Mahmud wrote in from Dutse.

Oyoze Baje

Nigeria’s self deceit, with the policymakers erroneously believing that the current dysfunctional structure of a bloated centre can get us out of the economic woods, is robbing our youth of a glorious future.

Indeed, the recurring ugly decimal of youth unemployment in Nigeria that keeps worsening by the decades calls for serious concern and urgent action. And, such intervention should come from a sustained pragmatic synergy involving  the federal and state governments, the private sector and richly endowed individuals.

If not done, we may soon be agonising over spilt milk as the wave of sundry crimes such as armed robbery, hostage taking for ransom, terrorism, prostitution as well as drug peddling and its addiction take over our directionless youth.  According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), unemployment and underemployment  in the country combined escalated from 37.2% to 40% in the Second Quarter of 2017. It got worse for the youth, especially those in the age bracket of 15 to 35, which stands at an alarming rate of 52.65%! Apparently, the warning given by the International Labour Organization (ILO) to Nigeria of an impending unemployment cises back in 2010 has not been heeded.

In comparative terms to some African countries, youth unemployment in Liberia stands at 4.7%, Kenya 18.7%, Egypt 26.3%,South Africa 27.7%(its highest in recent years), Lesotho 31.8 %, Libya, 43.8% and Ghana 48%. As expected in more economically advanced countries, youth unemployment  figures are more acceptable. For instance Germany has as low as 3.6%,Great Britain 4.2%,European Union 7.4% and France 9.4%.The reasons are obvious as  the political leaders are less self-serving but more visionary, responsive and responsible to the citizenry, combined with social protective buffer policies firmly in place.

Unfortunately, here the youth-our future hope for a better Nigeria- have been left naked to the elements of preventable poverty and penury characterized by harrowing hunger, rise in diseases and the growing ogre of ignorance. Virtually on a daily basis, they are regaled with frightening figures by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC of humungous public sums stolen from the national till. But, they can hardly  point to adequate  life-changing or job-creating  projects to lift them from what one often refers to as the ignoble pit of poverty.

In their bold bid to find alternative solutions, some get even more trapped in the mire of misery as they are enslaved in Libya en route Southern Europe. The unfortunate ones are shot at point blank range, or hung upside down from fiery stakes and roasted, even worse than is done to goats! The lucky ones return only to be caught in the short-cut circuits of pools staking and drug trafficking or enmeshed in addiction to tramadol all-day long! But, we cannot go on in this weird way.  The solutions are well-known to our set of political helmsmen but they simply find it difficult, in my words, “to sacrifice the self from the state”. The first is to toe the restructuring lane, whether it is now a cliché or not. The aim is to devolve the obscene political and economic powers from the centre to the states or the six geo-political zones to bring governance closer to the people and make it more inclusive. But, sad to say that even our dear president is yet to see the wisdom in that. One keeps asking if there is any other democracy in the world, where state governors go cap-in-hand like beggars to the federal centre to ask for crumbs from the master’s table but no one has given an example of one. Again, I ask:  Is this how the presidential system of government is run in the United States which we copied it  from? The answer is no.

For instance, “within the first three months of 2017, over N1 trillion was shared among beneficiaries of Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). Interestingly, the large chunk of the funds was realised from crude oil sales, proceeds from Petroleum Profit TAX (PPT), Value Added Tax (VAT) and Company Income Tax (CIT).”

With the states in firm control of their resources and paying a tax of a maximum of 30% to the centre, they would generate their power and transmit it to the local councils without feeding it into the National Grid. With 40 solid minerals identified in commercial quantities spread across the 36 states, analysts indicate by projection that Nigeria has the capacity to generate at least N5 trillion yearly from mining as well as export the vast solid mineral deposits. For instance, national reserves of coal are estimated at 2.7 billion metric tonnes (mt), iron ore, limestone and lead are 10 billion mt, 3 trillion mt and 5 million mt respectively. But first, the issues of illegal mining and provision of safe environment, bolstered with stable electric power and good access roads are imperative to drive the process.

Even the Federal Government recently unveiled the fact that the country is capable of growing solid minerals GDP from N103 billion (2015) to N141 billion in 2020 at an average annual growth rate of 8.54 per cent. Specifically, it can  facilitate the production of coal to fire power plants, produce  geological maps of the entire country by 2020 on a scale of 1:100,000.

There is however, the need to integrate the artisanal miners into the formal sector, encourage and promote mineral processing and value addition industries that strengthen backward and forward linkages. This is evident in the blueprint document, Economic Recovery & Growth Plan (2017-2020). With true fiscal federalism in operation, Kogi State for instance, would be able to resolve the decades of long-winding issues concerning the Ajaokuta Steel Company to generate youth  employment.

On tourism, Nigeria is literally sitting on the gold mine of tourism and hospitality combined. According to Nigeria Hospitality Report 2016, the industry generated an estimated $5.5 million, about N1.7 billion, representing about 4.8 per cent contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2016. The report by Jumia Travel Nigeria, Africa’s hotel booking online portal, also said the industry employed about 1.6 per cent of Nigerians in 2016. And if Nigeria adopts the recently-launched African Union (AU) passport, the prospects would be much brighter.

Concerning agriculture, according to the former Minister of Agriculture and current President, African Development Bank(ADB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, the growth of the Nigerian population means that the agricultural sector has compelling long-term growth potential.Why not, as there are increasingly more mouths to feed.

Experts agree that agriculture should not be seen as a way of life, or a social sector or development activity, but as a business venture for it to thrive. And the more we treat it as a business, to create wealth, the more it will promote development and improve people’s livelihood.

The government’s neglect of our farmers led to stagnated yields. Worse still, investments in infrastructure were reduced, the abandoned rural communities slid to poverty, and Nigeria became a food importing country, spending an average of $11billion a year on wheat, rice, sugar and fish imports alone. Yet, with vast arable land area of  923,768 km² , water resources 13,000 sq km.and crops such as yam, cassava, maize, rice, cocoa, coffee, cashew, cotton,  rubber, sorghum and millet in addition to a variety of animals, Nigeria is capable of feeding her citizens and export if modern technology is applied to processing, preservation and marketing of the finished products.

What has been grossly lacking is good leadership-one that knows and identifies the yearnings of the citizenry. With such in place, our youth would be gainfully employed beginning with small and medium scale enterprises that are driven by stable power and access to credit facilities at single digit interest rates.

Baje writes from Lagos

Carl Ndukwe

The timeless aphorism says that health is wealth yet one of the biggest challenges facing Nigeria since independence has been the country’s inability to guarantee affordable and universal health care for its citizens. Little wonder that we are consistently ranked in the comity of poor nations? Access to healthcare is not only important, it is fundamental to all areas of social development, from combating poverty to achieving a high standard of living. 

In May 2017, the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy in partnership with the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria organized a symposium in Lagos, tagged Health of the Nation -The Imperative of Inter-professional Collaboration. The keynote address delivered by Prof. Eyitayo Lambo, a former Minister of Health and foremost health economist, was revealing and damning. Nigeria, said Lambo, was ranked 187 among 191 countries by World Health Organisation in 2000. X-raying the sundry challenges which the nation’s health system has had to face over the years, Lambo noted that the constitution makes very scant provision for health while there is hardly any legislation that defines the roles and responsibilities of the three tiers of government, while adding that the National Health Act 2014 has not resolved the problem.

In Nigeria today, demands on the health care systems have increased alarmingly and health care organizations are feeling overwhelmed and pressured to provide more timely services while at the same time working with limited human and financial resources. There is an urgent need to strengthen national health systems and improve health outcomes for the citizenry.

According to data from the National Demographic Health Surveys (NDHS), in a research conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics, about 900,000 children and mothers die each year in Nigeria from health reasons that could often have been successfully resolved with an effective healthcare system. Nigeria contributes just under 15 percent of all maternal deaths globally and about 13 percent of all under-five deaths worldwide. If we are to challenge these grim statistics, then we must get good healthcare into every home.

Along these lines, the weakness and gaping holes in our health system, especially from an insurance point of view is evidently manifest in the rise of crowd-funded medical cases. Remember Mayowa of blessed memory, Baby Ade and most recently, Sadiq Daba as well as the many other Nigerians who have resorted to platforms like Gofundme to raise funds for medical reasons. While Nigeria has several private healthcare providers, their services, which are expensive and limited, are largely exclusive to the well-to-do citizens residing in the cities and urban areas. The National Health Insurance Scheme, which largely caters to public service employees, is also, as currently constituted, very limited in scope. Neither existing solutions can cater to the healthcare needs of the majority of Nigerians, who are either rural dwellers, unemployed or involved in the informal sector. In view of the aforementioned, the importance of reforming our healthcare system cannot be overemphasized.

Fortunately, it would seem that the need to get our Healthcare system right is fast rising on our list of national priorities and gaining attention in the right quarters. With our population growing astronomically, urbanisation more rapid than ever, there is now a greater call for social development to catch up with societal expansion. It, therefore, gladdens the heart to see some level of advocacy in the National Assembly where senators are tabling bills and debating ideas on how to get an efficient and effective healthcare system for every Nigerian.

Recently, Senate President, Bukola Saraki stated that one of the best ways to achieve Universal Health Coverage was to provide health insurance scheme for the informal sector. Perhaps, he is drawing from his experience as the Governor of Kwara State, when he introduced the Informal Health Insurance Scheme to cater to people in the rural areas. To see Saraki leading the charge and leading his colleagues in the upper chambers with the same drive and determination to see healthcare extended to every man, woman and child who is Nigerian is a clean break from the selfish toga with which the Red Chamber had been adorned.

The ongoing amendment of the National Health Insurance Scheme is evidence of moving from passion to action. Central to this bill, which seeks to repeal the National Health Insurance Scheme Act and enact the National Health Insurance Commission Bill 2017, is the need to ensure a more effective implementation of a health insurance policy that enhances greater access to health care services for all Nigerians. This means that the bill would lay down the framework for a universal healthcare care system where everyone pays into the Insurance Scheme and everyone gets quality healthcare delivery, regardless of their employment status or personal wealth. The bill is also geared towards effectively regulating private health insurance providers in Nigeria to ensure that they deliver, not just for the well to do, but also the poor and people in rural areas.

In December, the Senate Committee on Health held a public hearing on the amendment, which was well attended by the representatives of public and private health institutions, regulatory and professional bodies as well as labour and trade unions. At the public hearing, the Senate Committee Chairman on Health, Senator Olanrewaju Tejuoso disclosed that in order to ensure that Nigeria attains the Universal Health Coverage (UHC), the Senate had passed a resolution mandating the Appropriation Committee of the Senate to make provision for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) in the 2018 budget. This is a crucial step toward achieving the objective of the National Health Act, signed into law in 2014, which stipulated one percent consolidated fund for the improvement of Primary Health Care (PHC) services through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF). This consolidated fund means that in addition to what it gets from the annual budget, healthcare would also gain more financing going forward.

Achieving Universal Healthcare will never be an easy road, but staying on our current path is much worse. This is why we all, as Nigerians, must follow and actively support the Senate’s resolution, passed last year, to implement the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.

At the heart of this resolution is the fundamental principle that to achieve a healthy and thereby prosperous society, we need cross-subsidisation and solidarity in healthcare, whereby the rich support the poor, the well support the sick and the haves support the haves not. Senate bills, acts and resolutions cannot on their own bring these principles to life, they need the active support and buy-in of the general public.

Carl Ndukwe writes from Abuja

Valentine Tobechukwu Achum

“In a democracy people get the kind of leaders they deserve”

  – Joseph de Maistre (Correspondance diplomatique, 1860)

There is no gainsaying the fact that Nigeria has suffered bungled leadership. Since Independence in 1960, the country has had to contend with generations of leadership miscarriage and misadventure.

This has been the sole reason  the country has not been able to find its way out of the unsalutary status of a peripheral state which most of its hitherto equals such as Brazil, Malaysia and even India  exited long ago.  Indeed, to reiterate Professor Chinua Achebe’s position, “there is basically nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air, or anything else’’. He poignantly insists that the trouble with Nigeria is “simply and squarely failure of leadership’’.

However, at the root of this problem is what I call a recurring leadership denial syndrome, which makes us always suppress our best men during periods of transition. At every transition period, there are always unique individuals who are capable of changing the fortunes of our country for the better, but we choose to blindfold our conscience by choosing leaders we do not deserve. The deserving ones are being circumvented and sacrificed on the altar of prebendalism, zoning, party interest and ethnic irredentism, which for me are nothing but hare-brained concerns.

These talented individuals are only being remembered for their abilities which would have made them good presidents long after they join   their ancestors, or at best when they have lost the pathfinding spring in their footsteps to age.

Described as the “best president Nigeria never had”, Obafemi Awolowo was a victim of this leadership denial syndrome, as he was no doubt one of the best minds that could have helped change Nigeria’s history if given the opportunity of becoming president. Though, he was Federal Commissioner for Finance under Gen. Yakubu Gowon, and was said to have performed his duty excellently, many agree that he would have been better fit to be President. This is because he was known to have a lot of quality ideas that were generational in scope, and may have best found expression only if he was President.

On another note, M.K.O Abiola was another leader of colour and candour that many people believed would have been an excellent President. Though, he actually went as far as winning the presidential election of 1993, he was denied the opportunity of exercising his mandate due to the annulment of the election by the then military government led by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. The number of reforms that could have taken place under an M.K.O administration could at best, be only imagined.

Another ‘victim’ of this denial syndrome is our current president, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. Though he became President in 1986 through a military coup, his approach to governance was a kick-against-indiscipline-and-double-standard approach, so much so that even after he was removed from office by a counter coup, he had already won the hearts of so many Nigerians who believed in his no-nonsense approach to governance. However, he was ‘denied’, back-to-back, his quest to become President in 2003, 2007 and 2011. By the time he finally got the chance of becoming president in 2015, he was already in his 70s and had lost the gait he was known for in the 80s. His ideas are now being overtaken by time, hence antediluvian. With this in mind, we can say that we lost another best man- this time to age.

Pleasingly (and without quid pro quo), I can say for sure that another best man Nigeria needs, who is thankfully alive, and still has age on his side is no other person than Donald Duke. I am sure there are still others, but based on the general perception of Nigerians about the kind of person he is, his demeanour and platinum performance as former governor of Cross River State from 1999-2007, his name is certainly in the hearts of many Nigerians as the kind of person they would like to be their President. But for the sake of these narrow minded factors such as zoning, party politics and ethnic chauvinism, it seems we are about to witness another slanderous repetition of history.

Although, Duke is ‘Efik’- a minority tribe in Nigeria, there is no doubt that he is one of the superior minds which our country needs to bring back her beauty and greatness. It would be unfortunate if we wait for him to be called “best President Nigeria never had” just like Pa Awolowo, when we still have the opportunity of giving him a chance to prove his worth in this current era. Coincidentally, his countrymen in Calabar refer to him as Dawn-of-the-new-era due to his track records of always unleashing positive new changes, as well as his promising posture of doing even better than his past record.

Just the way Raul Gonzalez was being celebrated as the crown Prince of Barnabeau during his glory days at Real Madrid, due to his personal relationship with the opponent’s goal post, it is the same way Donald Duke is being celebrated in his state due to the many goals he scored for Cross River State during his time as governor. However, unlike Raul, whose name has been overtaken by newer names like Christiano Ronaldo (CR7), Duke’s name still sounds like a new hit song in his state, and is still being celebrated and appreciated there for all the good works he has done, many of which are still there for people to see. 

Funny enough, he now spends a lot of his time playing saxophone in musical concerts, even though I’m not quite certain if his mastery of the musical instrument is an added advantage for presidential office.

But, what is more important is that if given the opportunity, he would score a melody that will not just be pleasing to our ears, but will be satisfactory to our national soul. It will be phenomenal if he is given the opportunity to re-write Nigeria’s history in colourful letters, same way he made Calabar and Cross River State a colourful shelter where people of all colours always come to live and be at rest.

It will be great if several years from now, you can read this headline in the newspaper, “Duke: Best President Nigeria ever had”, instead of the one I consider rather pale, “Duke: best president Nigeria never had”. Let us not allow our voice to be suppressed while choosing the kind of leaders we think we deserve, because at the end of the day, we get the kind of leader we deserve.

Valentine writes via valachum@gmail.com