As the sun rises in Edo.

 by DAN AMOR.

Within the entire gamut or canon of Ernest Hemingway’s works – some seven novels, 50-odd short stories, a play, and several volumes of non-fiction - The Sun Also Rises is something of a curious exception. Published in 1926 while Hemingway was still in his 20s and relatively unknown, it was his first serious attempt at a novel; yet, in spite of the fact that it was to be followed by such overwhelming commercial successes as A Farewell to Arms (1929), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), and The Old Man and the Sea (1952), most critics agree that The Sun Also Rises is his one most wholly satisfying book.

Here, Hemingway indelibly fixed the narrative tone for his famous understated ironic prose style. And here, he also made his first marked forays into an exploration of those themes that were to become his brand-mark as a writer and which were to occupy him throughout his career.

The pragmatic ideal of “grace under pressure,” the working out of the ‘Hemingway code’: the concept of “style” as a moral and ethical virtue, and the blunt belief or determination that some form of individual heroism was still possible in the increasingly mechanised and bureaucratic world of the 20th century: these characteristic Hemingway notions deeply informed the structure of The Sun Also Rises.

Yet, at the same time, while The Sun Also Rises is characteristically Hemingway, it is radically different from Hemingway’s typical fictions. Indeed, it may be precisely in the area of its differences that it attains its special quality and pertinence as a major American novel. For there are subtleties of tone and meaning in The Sun Also Rises which suggest a profounder confrontation with the ambiguities of the modern “experience” than Hemingway was ever to sustain again. The Sun Also Rises is a novel about loss.

But this, among Hemingway’s novels, begins with the loss as a “given,” as a fatal limitation on open possibilities and opportunities. As in the best of the Nick Adam stories, The Sun Also Rises is concerned with that moral space which remains for man’s occupancy after necessity has affected its inexorable curtailment on his freedom. And the concentrated passion which gives this novel its tautness of structure and its authority of statement is its exploration of that diminished measure of dignity and endurance which a man may still strive for even while he is a captive in the nets of bleak fatality.

It is against this backdrop that we must celebrate fittingly the rising of the sun in Edo State in Nigeria with the confirmation of Adams Oshiomhole as governor at a time when election riggers are ever ready to rig.

When one considers the gallery of the popular Hemingway heroes — and how difficult it is to refrain from imposing Hemingway’s own photogenic features on those of his heroic characters – the composite image can almost be stereotyped in Hollywood terms. The Hemingway “hero” is first and foremost a vigorously athletic figure.

He is a man who eats and drinks with natural gusto, a generally successful lover-boy who, paradoxically, is innocent of lust; a man professionally dedicated to a physically oriented métier, a hunter-fisherman-soldier who battles against fate with the native resources of his own skill, endurance, and courage in order to wrest a small victory in a long war which he knows he can possibly win. But the development in Edo State has become an effort in human actuality.

Like a typical Hemingway setting, the original background of the battle has affected the final tone. Oshiomhole’s feelings for the condition of his people after miserable years of misrule by his predecessors drew upon a number of sources: they were partly social, partly political, and perhaps, most of all, emotional. He saw that Edo State, hitherto the food-basket of Nigeria, was diminished to a settlement of numerous tenant families with barely any roads, no water and no food for the teeming masses. He saw that the state could not generate revenue of its own but relied entirely on stipends from Abuja, which was even put in the drain pipe by its presiding deity and master of the Hitleric moustache.

As a man with an implacable passion for his people, Oshiomhole shuddered and vowed to redeem his people from the jaws of human sharks intent on emasculating the people to total extinction in their inordinate drive for capitalist venturesomeness. He fought relentlessly, combed every nook and cranny of the state to drive home his philosophy and programmes. The people, who had been left almost breathless like a fish on a dry sandy beach panting, loved him and voted overwhelmingly for him. 

The landslide victory of the Action Congress of Nigeria in the July 12 election, against all odds, was therefore a turning point in the history of Edo State, as the people turned out in their millions to identify with their hero, vote for him and to celebrate their victory. Today, much of the importance of Adams Oshiomhole as governor of Edo State does not lie in who he is but in what he represents to the Nigerian imagination.

 Of course, we’ve had two or three governors of the radical left, ideologically speaking. But Oshiomhole is one with a difference. Like the Biblical David, he has already declared that there is no time for vengeance, for vengeance is the Lord’s.  As the saying goes, the morning shows the day!

Given his antecedent as President of the Nigerian Labour Congress during the last Obasanjo years, and his programme for the people of Edo State, the sun is rising in that ancient kingdom. Like a typical Hemingway hero, Adams Oshiomhole knows, however, that one has to live by one’s own convictions. One must finally march to the beat of one’s drum. It is reality in Nigeria as the sun rises in Edo State. Let this feat be replicated in all the states in 2015.

Impeachment threat against Jonathan: How 6 ministers angered Tambuwal, Reps .

Written by Taiwo Adisa, Abuja.

Details emerged at the weekend that the feud between the House of Representatives and the executive over the alleged nonimplementation of the 2012 budget  was caused by the leakage of comments made at a secret meeting held by some ministers where the plot to impeach speaker of the House, Aminu Tambuwa, was raised.
Sources in Abuja told Sunday Tribune that the speaker got wind of a meeting of some six ministers immediately after the breakout of the $620,000 bribery saga involving Honourable Farouk Lawan and businessman, Femi Otedola.
According to sources, the ministers, who met at a secret location in Abuja, were said to have reviewed the speaker’s perceived antagonism to the president, especially his outburst during a Democracy Day lecture, and concluded that Tambuwal should be made to go, if he is implicated in the $620,000 bribery saga.
Hints of the meeting were said to have leaked to the speaker, making the House to employ some defensive mechanism.
It was gathered that the resolve of the speaker was to first stay afloat and that the House decided to sensitise the opposition base which ensured the victory by the current leadership in June 2011.
Though the House leadership could not confirm President Goodluck Jonathan gave his nod to the ministers’ meeting and alleged plot, it was gathered that the House decided to go on the offensive, in order not to be caught unawares.
One of the quick ways out of the perceived attack was the emergency session held by the House on the Farouk Lawan/Otedola bribe saga, where the speaker was able to secure a vote of confidence, while the second strategy is to attack the executive on the perceived non-implementation of the 2012 budget, sources confirmed at the weekend.
It was also confirmed that the House has designed measures to keep the impeachment threat in the news, notwithstanding the fact that its members are on recess at this time.
The House has also declared that the ongoing reconstruction   efforts at nine of the nation’s airports failed to conform with due process.
The funds for the airport repairs are sourced from the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) funds totaling $76 million.  The House report is believed to be the source of the controversy on the usage of the BASA funds which is yet to abate.
Sources, however, said some concerned senators had intervened on both sides. While they had called the ministers involved to order and asked them to stop contemplating plotting impeachment of the speaker, they were also said to have made representation to their colleagues in the House to allow due process in the quest to ensure budget implementation.
Spokesman of the House, Honourable Zakari Mohammed, who claimed to have heard the story before Sunday Tribune called him for clarification, however, said in a telephone interview that he was not aware of any plot against the speaker.
He said members have implicit confidence in Tambuwal and that the members believed that they were ready to defend his position.
“We have implicit confidence in Tambuwal and nobody from outside can give us our leader. We will just insist that the right thing is done.
“The speaker is at home with everybody; all these things they are saying are not true,” he said.

Omoigui-Okauru, Ex -FIRS Boss, Joins Diamond Bank Board.

Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru

By Obinna Chima

Diamond Bank Plc Saturday announced the appointment of the immediate-past Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, as a member of its Board of Directors.

The bank said in a statement that the appointment of Omoigui-Okauru, who is expected to be an Independent Director in the board, was approved at a meeting held on July 26, 2012.

The appointment is, however, subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and shareholders of the commercial bank.

Omoigui-Okauru is at present the Managing Partner of Compliance Professionals Plc. She is also a part-time member of the United Nations (UN) Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters as well as a member of the Board of Trustees of DAGOMO Foundation Nigeria (Limited by Guarantee), a family based Non-Governmental Organisation, geared towards community development.

“Omoigui-Okauru who is best described as a hands-on strategy and change agent with proven leadership ability, is expected to bring on board her wealth of experience in contributing towards the advancement of Diamond Bank.
“During her tenure at the FIRS, she spearheaded comprehensive tax reforms that led to the development of a national tax policy (for the first time), modification of tax legislation and remarkable improvement in the effectiveness of tax administration.

Tax collection in the FIRS, under the leadership of Omoigui- Okauru grew significantly.

“As member of the UN Committee of experts, she is the coordinator of the sub-committee on capacity building responsible for identifying and executing capacity building initiatives for deserving revenue authorities and officials. Ifueko also acts as the 2012 Mentorship Chair of the African Women’s Leadership Think-Tank (AWLTT),” the bank said.

The statement further said that during her tenure as the FIRS boss, the agency won several awards such as the Government Agency of the Year 2009 conferred on it by THISDAY Newspapers.

Omoigui-Okauru’s appointment brings to three the number of female directors sitting on Diamond Bank’s board.

Budget War: Beyond the Percentages.

The Verdict according to Olusegun Adeniyi. Email,olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com.

Although hardly ever ready on schedule, it was no less alarming when, as of late March, the 2008 Appropriation Bill had yet to be signed into law. The reason for the delay this time arose from a disagreement between the president and the National Assembly over the powers of the legislature in relation to the budgeting process. There was therefore understandable anxiety within the polity, especially as it emerged that President Yar’Adua was somewhat reluctant to sign the budget over what he saw as the extreme meddlesomeness of the lawmakers.

The main contention was that a review of the 2008 Appropriation Act as passed by the National Assembly revealed that the legislators had virtually rewritten the budget not only by jacking up their own figures but also by introducing several clauses in contravention of the principle of separation of powers. In summary, the legislators unilaterally initiated projects for which they provided money without any input from the executive, which ordinarily should design, cost, execute and supervise such projects. To the president, the legislators’ actions made a mockery of the entire budgetary process and were clearly antithetical to the principle of transparency and accountability.

…the meeting over, the president asked the AGF to outline the issues for which he would seek judicial interpretation at the Supreme Court, which seemed to be the logical step since all the dialogue sessions held with the Assembly leadership had failed to yield any positive result. To that end, the Justice Ministry came up with the following issues for determination by the Supreme Court: Whether the National Assembly, in the exercise of its constitutional power to approve the yearly budget estimates submitted to it by the executive, can

• unilaterally increase the revenue benchmark beyond what was provided in the budget estimates presented to it by the president;

• unilaterally write into the budget heads of expenditure and appropriate money on those heads of expenditure that were not provided for by the budget estimates submitted by the president;

• unilaterally insert into the budget projects not included by the executive and proceed to appropriate money beyond the estimates submitted by the president;

• under the presidential system of government, whittle down the powers of the executive president by compelling officers of the executive branch to report directly to them on matters such as provided under the appropriation bill.

Before the suit could, however, be filed at the Supreme Court, there was a further appeal to dialogue, after the finance minister’s counsel that the president should seek another session with the Assembly leadership. Dr Samsudeen Usman, who had frequent interactions with the lawmakers, knew they would perceive the court option as a declaration of war and would fight back…

The foregoing long text, taken from my book, “Power, Politics & Death: A front row account of Nigeria Under the late President Yar’Adua”, underscores the current challenge with members of the House of Representatives and the Senate now at daggers-drawn with the executive over the implementation of the 2012 Appropriation law. In what has become a game of percentages, the House claims 34 percent has been implemented, the Senate gave its own figure as 21.6 percent while the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, insists that there has been 56 percent  implementation. Yet the real subtext in the drama is the fact that this fight is not about the welfare of Nigerians but rather about vested interests on which neither of the parties involved can claim the moral high-ground.

I want to raise some pertinent questions and provide quick answers. The first is: Do National Assembly members distort budgets? The answer is an unqualified YES. In fact, I will go further to say they bastardise budgets. Let’s take the case of 2012 and the Health Ministry. Eradication of Polio has become a challenge for Nigeria and on this we are now almost an international embarrassment. “The risk of an explosive return of polio in Nigeria and West Africa is ever present and raises the chilling spectre of many deaths and huge financial outlay to regain control,” said a WHO official recently. Yet while the executive proposed a vote of N2 billion in the 2012 appropriation bill to fight the scourge, the National Assembly considered polio eradication in Nigeria unimportant by removing the entire sum! Another example: With flooding and the rise of water borne diseases like cholera across the nation, the executive had voted what can be considered a meagre N578 million for such epidemic diseases. What did the National Assembly do? It cut the vote to N78 million! Yet this same lawmakers would vote the entire sum of money in one year’s budget for a project that has a cycle of three, four or even five years to complete. This leaves ample room not only for corruption and waste but it defeats the idea of budgeting which is for planning purposes.

Now, the second pertinent question: Does the executive implement budget selectively and do ministers also distort budget? The answer also is an unqualified Yes. To compound the problem, the requisite capacity for budget implementation is not there. Again, let’s go to the 2012 budget and I will cite the examples of two ministries: Agriculture and Health. For agriculture this year, N48 billion was approved by the National Assembly. To date, from my investigation, N13.8 billion has been released while only 9.4 billion out of the available sum has been spent. Now this is where the game of percentages gets interesting. The agric ministry claims 68 percent implementation based on money released thus far, but looking at the total amount of work done, against total amount appropriated for the year, the budget implementation is actually an unimpressive 29 percent! In the Health Ministry, the entire capital vote for the year is N14.54 billion, out of which N5.72 billion has so far been released. The ministry claims 35 percent implementation, given the money spent and what is still left in their kitty. When this is however compared with the appropriated sum what we have is a meager 14 percent budget implementation.

We will come back to this issue next week in order to x-ray how ministers and heads of agencies (mis)use the “Envelope system” to make nonsense of the budget process. I will however conclude the present intervention with two instructive accusations, or if you like, counter-accusations. On Monday, Health Minister, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said:  “If you go through the records, you will find that there are a lot of constituency projects that are yet to be completed because those people who were representatives of the people before are no longer there, they have left. However, the new members are insisting that new projects must be executed first.”

But on Tuesday, House Minority Leader, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, pointed fingers in the opposite direction: “N6 billion was allocated for water projects. N1.3 Billion of the N6 billion was for the Finance Minister’s village, another N1.5 billion for the president’s place and N3 billion for the rest of the country. Yet she is not elected but you say those elected should not bring development through the budget to their areas.”

I hope readers are getting some clues about what our national budget is all about and why the landscape is strewn with abandoned projects and ruins.

•To be concluded next week.

Fashola and the Broken Windows Theory

Shortly before I left the country in June 2010, I attended a group meeting where a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor generally acknowledged to be doing very well in his state, was in attendance. In the course of a general discussion about Nigeria, the governor said: “We have a lot of problems in this country because the most important issue is usually where the president comes from and not what he can deliver so my proposition would sound very crazy. But if I were to nominate anyone to be president of Nigeria today, I will go straight for (Babatunde) Fashola.” Apparently having noticed the surprise on the faces of many people in the room, he continued: “In terms of providing infrastructure, Fashola has not done as much as I have done in my state. For me, what stands Fashola out is the breath of his ideas. There is no time that I have engaged him in discussions about leadership, governance and how to transform this country that I didn’t take away something.”

I could easily situate what the Governor was talking about and in a way I sensed that my late boss (President Yar’Adua) also did because, despite party differences and the difficult (and most often acrimonious) relationship between Lagos state and the federal government, he nonetheless felt at home with the man he affectionately called “Governor Lagos”.

On Tuesday, I was in Lagos to join the THISDAY team led by Managing Director, Eniola Bello, for a long session with Fashola and his own team, including Environment Commissioner, Mr Tunji Bello. Because of the human dimension to the Makoko/Lagoon front demolition fiasco, we felt obliged to engage the governor on the issue. We met a man who was not only prepared but one who has mastered his turf: Fashola knows Lagos like the back of his hands and that must account for  his modest accomplishments.

While Fashola is an issue I intend to take on one day in a serious disquisition about leadership, it is interesting that he seems fascinated by the “Broken Windows Theory”, which he said underpins his attitude to governance. Based on a thesis by James Wilson and George Kelling which originally centred on crime prevention, the broken windows theory has over the years become a veritable tool for social scientists. According to the authors in the piece published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1982, “at the community level, disorder and crime are usually inextricably linked, in a kind of developmental sequence. Social psychologists and police officers tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken.”

The moral of the proposition is that it is much more productive and far cheaper to fix a “broken window” (metaphor for any problem) before it escalates. As one commentator puts it, “we’ve seen clean, functional systems deteriorate pretty quickly once windows start breaking…neglect accelerates the rot faster than any other factor.”

Several times in the course of our engagement with him, Fashola would allude to the conventional wisdom in fixing broken windows before they eventually lead to the collapse of the house. The sad thing really is that we have too many broken windows in our country today and only few people care about fixing them. It is therefore no surprise that the entire edifice (of our nation) is crumbling, littered as it is by broke windows and managed by a leadership elite that has little temperament for attending to any broken things.

Ken Saro-Wiwa and the New Oil Sheikhs.

By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, it seems like yesterday when Mr Ken Saro-Wiwa, the hero of the Ogoni Rights Movement, was hanged on November 10, 1995, by the Abacha government after a kangaroo trial. Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa and eight others were tried and found guilty of complicity to murder some conservative Ogoni leaders opposed to the radical members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). Ken had led the fight against environmental degradation of his community by the multinational companies involved in oil exploration.

That epic struggle culminated in the demand for better regulations of the activities of these international  conglomerates in order to check the environmental impact on the hapless people who have had nothing to cheer about the natural resources that abound around them. The idea behind the struggle was to correct the anomaly of a people living in squalid conditions in the midst of plenty. It was a well-coordinated campaign by Ken Saro-Wiwa and his group. Their activities created panic in high places and it was not surprising that they were promptly eliminated when the opportunity presented itself. 

Shortly after his death, a motley crowd of Nigerians  gathered at the St. James’s Piccadilly, an Anglican Church by Jermyn Street, in the West End of London, for a memorial service to celebrate the life and times of this great Nigerian author, television producer, environmental activist, orator and social critic. I remember with regret our high expectations as we huddled in small groups to discuss the future of Nigeria in hushed tones as  is normal wherever and whenever two or more Nigerians are gathered.

Like the incurable optimists that we were, we had hoped that a post-Abacha Nigeria would bring forth all the goodies we desired and deserved as a people blessed with vast and monumental resources. We were certain the biggest problem to be eliminated was that of the despoliation of the Niger Delta. We foolishly believed that pumping more money into the oil-producing states would help alleviate the sufferings of our people. We studiously ignored the gargantuan problems befuddling the minds of the peoples of other regions. Everyone ignored the drift of our education into oblivion and the mass unemployment that began to pile up like the groundnut pyramid but with dangerous consequences. It would have been unthinkable and unimaginable at the time that a day would come when Nigerians would transfigure into a terrorist state and a nation of Janjaweed-like militias.

Going by our theoretical analysis, the blood of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Nigerian martyrs would water our field of revolutionary change and propel our nation into prosperity. How wrong we were. We didn’t anticipate things were actually going to move from bad to worse when the so-called owners of the oil take over the control and destiny of Nigeria. It is doubtful if Ken Saro-Wiwa envisaged the possibility of an Ijaw man becoming President 15 years after his cold-blooded murder by the Nigerian State.

Today the impossible has happened and a full-blooded Ijaw man is in charge as Commander-in-Chief. The question to tackle is if the life of an average Ijaw man or that of any citizen of the South South has improved beyond what it was at the time of the struggle for self-determination and other such terminologies. My thesis is that the people of the Niger Delta who have become the new oil sheikhs of Nigeria are yet to justify the power-shift that catapulted them into relevance. This new-found significance has only translated into wealth and fame for a few privileged people of Ijaw extraction and their cronies. The majority of the people of South South continue to wallow in abject poverty. This is the paradox of most agitations. Those who slave for power often get the glory but hardly the medal.

Power often falls into the wrong hands after every major struggle in Nigeria. What Ken Saro-Wiwa couldn’t achieve by speaking eloquent English and blowing grammar all over the place became possible through an aggressive armed struggle by the Niger Delta militants who did not possess his elocution. The ferocious crusaders must have understood that a bully only respects a bully and took up arms to bully the King Kongs of the Nigerian State. It worked such wonders that other ethnic groups soon learnt how to achieve what the Wole Soyinkas and Gani Fawehinmis couldn’t do through non-violent campaigns spanning decades of imprisonment and torture. The militants thus created a new language and culture for would-be agitators; the power of brawn over brain.

The new oil sheikhs have taken over from the Umaru Dikkos, Uba Ahmeds, Suleiman Takumas, Bamanga Tukurs, Shettima Ali Mungono, Ishaya Audus, Adisa Akinloyes, Adamu Ciromas, Richard Akinjides, Mamman Ali Makele, Joseph Wayas, Chuba Okadigbos, and those powerful names of the NPN era in Nigeria. Action has now shifted from the apartments of Sussex Gardens to Hilton Metropole and Hilton Paddington of London. Dinner has shifted from the then Bali and Maroush restaurants on Edgware Road to Royal China Dim Sum on Baker Street and Tradervix restaurant in the basement of Hilton Park Lane. The Mauri and F. Pinet shoes of those days have yielded way to Louis Vuitton and Christian Louboutin. The fine cognacs and champagnes of those have become cheap commodities compared to the XOs, Dom Perignom and Cristals of today. We sure know how to invade the Dubai Malls and the expensive shops on Rodeo Drive Beverley Hills but are unable to recreate our own paradise at home. Our new kids on the block are living large and throwing their weight around exotic capitals of the world. I doubt if anyone of them remembers how Ken Saro-Wiwa and others fought and died for this day to materialise.

To be very honest, nothing has improved in the lives of our people, and it is necessary to tell ourselves the home truth. It is ungodly to replace one set of oppressors with another. While we enjoy our new status, we must remind ourselves about how we came this far and spare a thought for majority of our people who have gained nothing as citizens of a stupendously endowed Region. Our dream should be to transform our environment into a Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi. Our Governors and Leaders of thought should jettison distractive partisanship and concentrate on projects that can transform our abject ugliness into sparkling beauty. There is nothing difficult or impossible about this. We now have an opportunity to demonstrate that we are not a hopeless and unambitious people.

I have read and re-read the latest tirades of our Grand-Papa of the Niger-Delta, Chief Edwin Clark, against the perceived enemies of President Goodluck Jonathan. I will like to tell the ultimate godfather like I did the last time I responded to him, that President Jonathan has no enemy other than himself. God has placed the President in a position to transform the lives of not just the people of the Niger-Delta but Nigeria as a whole. But has our man done with it? The answer is No, but there is enjoyment galore for a select few. It is very obvious that the President is not interested in making the necessary sacrifice to change Nigeria for the better and set our country on the path to eternal bliss. He has all the necessary tools to work with but has allowed himself to be carried away by the glamour and trappings of power. He has demonstrated no capacity for an aggressive overhaul of Nigeria’s debilitating status quo. He wants to live and behave like an American President without having the resources of America.

A serious President must first admit to himself that Nigeria is in big trouble and adopt a sober disposition. But our President does not see any big deal in our lack of substantial progress two full years after becoming our substantive President. Money is still show being wasted on frivolous projects. The politicians still no sense in tightening their belts. The PDP Federal government has not been able to construct decent motorways. Nigerians are dying like chicken on our roads. Our waterways are not safe and the Nigerian Navy is struggling for serious attention. Our airports remain a source of shame with most facilities in decay and disarray despite the recent futile attempts at a whitewash. The Nigerian Railway is still not empowered to modernise. Our leaders have to fly abroad for the most basic of medical needs. The banks now groan under a cashless fiasco that makes life even more difficult for the poor. Education no longer enjoys pride of place and no Nigerian university is in the top 1000 in the world.  We can go on and on.

I disagree that we can’t fix those problems because some people have chosen to make the country ungovernable for President Jonathan. It is a fact of life that even your enemies would applaud your good work when it becomes incontrovertibly visible. No Nigeria has had the mega fortunes of Goodluck Jonathan. He’s the only Nigerian ever to have gone through the comprehensive gamut of executive power. He has had the rare privilege of being Deputy Governor, Acting Governor, Governor, Vice President, Acting President and President. His wife has climbed from state First Lady to national First Lady and now a first of its kind Permanent Secretary. Chief Edwin Clark should please educate us if Boko Haram stopped the Jonathans from building a good road from Yenogoa to Port Harcourt.

I’m not a lawyer and can’t defend Generals Mohammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida in the obvious case of libel they can establish against Chief Clark for openly saying they are Osama bin Laden re-incarnates. But I refuse to buy Chief Clark’s argument that Boko Haram is majorly fighting a political war. I’m surprised that Baba and his political godson can’t smell the revolution that is at hand. If Boko Haram is targeting churches and mosques, the homes of Emirs and Vice President in broad daylight it should be obvious that something has snapped in our country. We can no longer situate these calamitous occurrences as mere religious or political struggles. It is a revolution in the making, pure and simple. If the politicians don’t change their reckless modus operandi, we don’t even have to wait for Pastor Tunde Bakare to predict the outcome of this unprecedented war of attrition.

Chief Clark should urgently call his godson into the bedroom and advise him on the following. The President should be more sensitive to the suffering of Nigeria by cutting down drastically on his flights of fancy. The future will not praise him for being the most travelled leader in history; I think President Olusegun Obasanjo holds the world record in that regard. President Jonathan would be rated on how many schools he built or revamped, the hospitals he upgraded, the megawatts of power he generated and added to the national grid, the number of youths he rescued from poverty and hopelessness, the diversification of our economy, his genuine war against intractable corruption, and so on.

A leader who wants to fight corruption must start from his personal home. Why should anyone declare his assets and liabilities if the President openly says he will never declare his? Why should a civil servant work himself to death when they see ghost workers being promoted and decorated?

Why should the Police not take bribe when they help the big men carry the loots inside their rooms? Why would a judge not obey the politicians when his appointments and promotions depend totally on the whims and caprices of whosoever is in power? A leader does not require an eternity in power before we feel his overwhelming presence. General Murtala Mohammed shook Nigeria to its marrow in six months. Everyone imagined what he would have done in four years had he not been assassinated. Two years is enough time to see and feel the direction and mission of the Jonathan administration.

And it is clear to even his most fanatical supporters that his is not a government that wants to rock the boat. It is a government that wishes to mark its two terms with minimum discomfort to its prime promoters and sponsors.

This cannot be what Ken Saro-Wiwa and other great Nigerian visionaries wished for when they set out to fight for self-determination and the rights of their people.            

‘How Nigeria Can Create a Middle Class’.

By Ekerete Udoh

Life in the Diaspora

This week, in our series, Life in the Diaspora, we bring you another Diaspora Nigerian who has been a remarkable ambassador of our country in the key area of real estate, Andy Ogbue. He brings his unique insight into the subject and proffers ideas where Nigeria could replicate same to create a thriving middle class. Next week, we shall bring you the much -anticipated crises in matrimony within the Diasporan community and why husbands are killing their wives and infidelity seems to define marriages in our community. It should be a must-read. Keep a date

Mr. Andy Ogbue is a walking encyclopedia of real estate industry. He has spent almost 20 years in the industry and understands the nuts and bolts of the industry. He talks about it with ease and facility and believes passionately that the one verifiable avenue for creating a thriving middle class in Nigeria is through the mortgage industry. “Housing in America has been an engine of growth for the American economy. Each time there is a lull or bust in that industry; you can see the effect being felt all over the economic horizon. Real estate has so many components-the lenders, the borrowers, the construction industry, the appraisers, the lawyers, the underwriters- all these groups have brought varying levels of growth to the American economy. Nigeria can do the same.”

With a wealth of experience garnered over the years in the industry, Mr. Ogbue stated that owning a piece of property is a win–win proposition. “You can do a lot with the ownwrship of a home. Some homes are worth hundreds of millions of Naira and they are just there – some are unoccupied. All it requires is for banks to come up with creative ways of doing business with these home owners and stop the idea of forex and merchandise trading.

“You can refinance these homes, take out the equity from such homes and invest in other areas of the economy or put the money away towards your children education. Seating on a 10,000,000 Naira home without using it to make money I believe is an economic waste. People should know how to use what they have to get what they want. This will create a massive employment in the country, thereby taking away the burden of employment from both state and federal government that will lead to reduction of crime in the society.

“I recognize the fact that it is a bit difficult due lack of national or social security numbers to monitor lending and investment, but there are ways this can be checkmated and make the lending practice possible and successful. I believe that housing is a major way that a burgeoning Nigerian middle class could be created or reestablished as it was in the 70s and 80s. Both federal and state governments should give incentives to some commercial banks to create an enabling home financing environment for investors.

“Federal mortgage bank of Nigeria should expand its lending mechanics to individuals and not only to their workers that contribute to NHF alone. I think that FMBN should stay away from housing development that they are doing all over the country for their workers and focus more on how to carry every body along and create more employments. FMBN can create employment in the following areas as part of their day to day operation such as title companies, payment collection unit, mortgage brokers (as sub lenders) with FMBN as the investor partner with some commercial banks.”  

Asked why he is so particular with the creation of the middle class, Mr. Ogbue said “the middle class has always been the engine of growth of any economy, from history, has been the force that changed societies for the better. Look at the French Revolution; it was masterminded by the middle class made up of the Jacobins. It is sad that we have witnessed the disappearance of the Nigerian middle class which was a thriving entity in the 70s and the 80s. Government must act fast to create the enabling environment for that class to thrive again.”

Mr. Ogbue who is a senior loan consultant with the Long Island, New York-based Continental Home Loans was asked if he entertains political ambitions considering the populist manner he sounded. Smiling while betraying his deep political aspirations he said: “there is no doubt that those of us in the Diaspora who have been exposed to the best practices in many levels of socio-political platforms can bring a lot to bear towards the deepening of our political culture and help further our developmental goals.

I do have interest s in my state, Delta’s politics. I think Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has done extremely well. He has been able to carry all Deltans along as a leader. I have been privileged to see the level of development the governor has engendered in Delta and I am totally amazed by his capacity to deliver such democratic dividends. With what the governor has done, if the new set of leaders who will come in 2015 keep pace with his policies, Delta will certainly be the best state in Nigeria as far as the provision of infrastructural tools and general economic developments are concerned.

“Look at the International Airport in Asaba, which is one of the best constructed airports in Nigeria-it was a great business idea locating it in Asaba, given its close proximity to many industrial and commercial hubs in the Eastern part of Nigeria. The main contractor, Chief Uche Okpomor, a Delta patriot ensured that the airport was constructed with the most modern facilities-He didn’’t cut corners. That is the way Governor Uduaghan has inspired Deltans to see themselves as stakeholders in the development of the state.”

Asked about the centrifugal forces that define the politics of Delta and where the next governor may emerge, Mr. Ogbue said when the time comes, all that would be resolved. Even though he acknowledged that it should be the turn of Delta North to produce the next governor, he said “that is too early in the day. Lets us see the process play out, while we give our maximum support to our dear Governor Uduaghan. We have great sons and daughters of Anioma who could be governor of the state. I was in Dallas recently when the best and the brightest sons and daughters of Anioma came for a convention, and it was great to see such young and inspired leaders like the current Speaker of Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Victor Ochei, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, top-flight  entrepreneur Sir Chika Chiejina MD and CEO of Savannah Suites, Abuja and others Delta patriots celebrate their state and common ancestry.”
Asked to comment on those who see things differently from the sunny disposition he projects about the performance of Governor Uduaghan, Ogbue said, “You know Delta is a microcosm of Nigeria. You can’t satisfy every interest group, there are those who would never give the governor a pass mark no matter what he has done. These people often times, blinded by hate or narrow and parochial interests. They are entitled to their opinion, but the majority of Deltans know that Governor Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan has performed incredibly well and we are very proud of his accomplishments.”
Ogbue, a native of Ogwashi-Ukwu, holds degrees in estate management and finance.

Wiz Kid, Banky W Show Ends in Chaos
The much anticipated musical show of popular musician-Wizkid featuring Banky W which took place last weekend in New York City ended in chaos as NYPD had to be called in to restore order.to what was clearly a disorganized and haphazardly planned event. Trouble started when security could not control the surge of people who thought they had purchased VIP tickets and were entitled to be seated at the VIP, only to be given a wrist band that was meant for other ticket holders. To compound problems for the show organizers, Audacity Promoters headed by Rasaki Bello-Osagie and Shawn Ola Ojo, it appeared the main act, Wizkid was not throughly prepared for the show, as the rendition of his hit songs felt flat. Banky W was later heard screaming that the organizers should get him out of the hall, as police fired several cannisters to disperse the crowd.

It was not a very pretty sight as most concert goers lamented that previous Nigerian music stars had great and flawless shows and wondered why the organizers didn’t appear to have done their homework properly.

Jonathan and the Budget Fiasco.

Simon Kolawole Live!: Email: simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com

The day President Goodluck Jonathan—or should I say the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)—failed to install Mulikat Adeola-Akande as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, he lost significant voltage in the power game. The PDP members in the House revolted against the party leadership and, along with the opposition parties, overwhelmingly voted Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as the Speaker. The margin of 252-90 was the biggest landslide you would ever witness. Hidden, or not so hidden, in those figures is the fact that Jonathan was going to face formidable opposition in the House where his party has the majority. I am therefore not surprised that their relationship is always in turmoil.

The latest controversy is on the 2012 Appropriation Act—what we call the budget. The House has asked that the budget be implemented 100 per cent by September 2012, if not President Jonathan would be impeached. For those who may not know, the budget, once passed by the National Assembly, becomes a law. Failing to implement it automatically means the president can be impeached for breaking the law. There are two fundamentals here. One, the National Assembly has a responsibility to Nigerians to make sure the budget is not just an ordinary bunch of papers. Two, the president is obliged to obey the laws of the land; the Appropriation Act is one of them. Therefore, nobody can fault the lawmakers for insisting that the budget should be implemented.

I can identify at least talking points over the latest fiasco. One, why did the president not implement the budget? Two, is the September date set by the House feasible? Three, how can we avoid this sort of confrontation in the future? Of course, I am aware of the allegations of political undertones over the face-off. I know that people in the president’s camp believe the latest showdown was caused by Jonathan’s decision to dump the Farouk Lawan report on the subsidy saga. The House is fighting back, according to this camp. There are also insinuations over the constituency projects which, it is alleged, are a good source of slush funds to lawmakers. It is believed that they are angry that the liquid is not flowing the way they would love it. But, to be honest, these are not the real issues we should be discussing. We should focus on the substance of the matter.

Why is Jonathan not implementing the budget? Obviously, there is a breakdown in communication. As a layman, I know that the budget was passed only in April. Effectively, we’ve just entered the fourth month of the 2012 budget as passed into law. The first four months of the year were spent debating and approving the budget. By law, the Federal Government could spend up to 50 per cent of last year’s budget during this period. It is therefore impossible to judge the performance of 2012 budget on the basis of January to September, when in fact it only became operational in April. If it would take me five hours to get to Benin City and I take off at 10am, it would be unfair of you to expect me to be in Benin City by 1pm. Failure to pass the budget on time automatically leads to missed milestones.

Is it possible for the president to attain 100 per cent implementation by September? Now, I am a bit confused here. If the 2012 budget is for 12 months, how can I attain 100 per cent by the ninth month? What percentage would I score when we get to October, November and December? About 140 per cent execution? Something is wrong there. Perhaps, what the House is saying is that by September, the budget from January to September should have been executed 100 per cent. That makes more sense. However, if the budget for January to September was only approved in April, how can I achieve 100 per cent in three or four months? Some of these projects are technical in nature. You cannot, for instance, rush to build a road or bridge within three months, given the practical hindrances.

Finally, how can we avoid this kind of crisis in the future? Simple: the president and his team must present the budget as early as possible. There is nothing that says the budget cannot be submitted to the National Assembly by October. The target should be that by the last day of December, next year’s budget has been passed. If we do things properly, we would not have to experience this sort of crisis every year. It is ridiculous that ministers are expected to be implementing two budgets side-by-side in a fiscal, year. This is what happens when budgets are not passed on time. And if the budget is not submitted on time, how can the National Assembly work on it on time? How can the executive deliver the goods as expected? How can Nigeria make progress?

I don’t know who is advising the president, but the last thing he should want to do now is pick a fight with the National Assembly. Obviously, there is a serious communication breakdown. If the lawmakers pass the budget very late and it is becoming impossible for the president to implement it to the letter, why can’t he put the leadership of the National Assembly in the know? They meet all the time at different levels. I don’t know what it would cost him to say, “Ladies and gentlemen, we are having problems implementing the budget. I need your understanding.”  If the president does this and the lawmakers still make impeachment threats, then I can accept that this is all about politics. For now, I take it as an embarrassing lack of communication between these critical arms of government.

The last thing Nigerians need now is the excruciating heat in the polity. We are faced with unprecedented security challenges, which in my opinion, should be enough trouble. We are still groping in the dark as lack of basic infrastructure is dragging us back in our quest for development. Nigerians are generally frustrated with the quality of life and standard of living in their country. If you ask me, the task of making life better for them is as urgent as yesterday. A Jonathan/House face-off should not be the best item on the agenda now.

And Four Other Things...

SSS vs Police
There is something about this country that makes us a laughing stock all the time. Just as the police announced that they had arrested suspects in the murder of Olaitan Oyerinde, the SSS paraded some suspects who said they killed the former private secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole. While police are treating the case as assassination, the SSS angle is armed robbery. Whatever the case is, this government is clearly advertising its embarrassing internal divisions. That’s poor co-ordination. I am also surprised that with the heavy Boko Haram threat, the SSS still has enough resources to be chasing and parading armed robbers. I smell a rat.  

Investment Jamborees
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, it was, who popularised junkets in 1999 in the name of attracting foreign investments. Only God knows how much we have burnt on these jamborees in the last 13 years. It’s amazing how ministers, perm secs, governors, commissioners, council chairmen and special advisers fly first-class, lodge in five-star hotels and collect hefty estacodes in the name of searching for foreign investors. It’s a fad, a costly one at that. And the charade never ends. But most sensible investors put their money where they have confidence. It hardly depends on these jamborees. In fact, if we had invested the junket budgets locally, maybe we won’t need foreign investors again!

No Ramadan
The unrelenting attacks by Boko Haram, especially on Muslims, during this Ramadan season are confounding. Muslims, irrespective of their sects, treat Ramadan as a holy month during which certain things shouldn’t be contemplated, much less executed, at all. But these guys keep killing in and out of season. After several attacks during the week, they restated their mission: “We want to stress that in our struggle, we only kill government functionaries, security agents, Christians and anyone who pretends to be a Muslim but engage in assisting security agents to arrest us.” The truth is that hate never gives up. Hate. Never. Gives. Up.

D’Tigers Devoured
Mischievously creative Nigerians have been having a field day since the US taught Nigeria a few basketball lessons at the Olympics with the 156-73 humiliation of D’Tigers. Some have reproduced the Milo TV commercial of the 1980s and 90s, “the food drink of future champions”, which featured “future” basketball stars. Milo lied, they joked. Jokes apart, though, we were never going to beat the best basketball team in the world. That we even qualified for the Olympics at all is a landmark achievement. The next challenge is how we can build on this promising feat for the future. I’m proud of D’Tigers any day.