Tuesday, 28 August 2012

Electricity will drop by 300MW after rainy season – NERC.

by ALLWELL OKPI.

Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has said power generation will drop by 300 megawatts after rainy season and this will partly cancel the improvement in electricity supply experienced recently in some parts of the country.

While answering questions during a recent e-conference on power sector reforms, organised by Spaces for Change, a human rights organisation, the Chairman of the NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, said the recent improvement had been due to repairs of some power plants and high water volume occasioned by the rainy season.

Amadi told the moderator of the e-conference, Zainab Usman, of the International Crisis Group, Brussels, that it was unrealistic to expect more than 5000MW by December.

He urged Nigerians not to be too hopeful about the recent improvement, stating that a massive haulage of power will come in the near future.

“The current improvement in generation is because of repairs on plants which resulted in the recovery of lost capacity, and of course, the rise in rainfall has helped us to recover about 200 to 300MW lost during the dry season.

“We have over 20000MW of licensed power. If we succeed in creating a market that allows for these licensees to get to bankability for their projects, then we are home and dry. So, we should not invest much hope on this small improvement.

“The key thing is to let Nigerians know that although in the next eight months or so, we may not see a major haul of new power, in the subsequent eight months, we will make significant and sustainable progress,” he said.

Amadi noted that the capacity building embarked upon by NERC was yet to yield results in terms of improvement in power generation and distribution.

Amadi also noted the bane of the power sector has been corruption, which had continued to undermine the investments made in the sector.

He said, but for corruption, the National Integrated Power Project initiated by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration would have provided at least an additional 5000MW of power.

Amadi also reiterated that the prepaid meters were to be distributed to customers free of charge.

“Meters are no longer to be paid for by customers. That is the law. But practice may be different in many different places. Please refuse to pay for meters and report anyone who asks or collects money for meter to NERC and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,” he said.

Abuja not designed for common man –Bala.

THE Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Bala Mohammed, at the weekend stunned his audience when he disclosed that the Abuja Master Plan was not envisaged to accommodate the needs of the common man.
Mohammed spoke at the formal signing of the agreement for an Addendum of Variation of Scope Contract with the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) to facilitate the completion of the multi-billion naira Abuja Light Rail Project, which commenced in 2006 but had been comatose since then due to lack of funds.
His words: “With all regrets, Abuja initially did not capture the needs and aspiration of the common people and the middle level manpower that we have in terms of affordable housing.”
According to the minister, Abuja, the nation’s capital was designed to accommodate only a million people, but that the territory now has a population of about four to five million people living in the area thereby putting pressure on available infrastructural facilities.
“Abuja has more than four to five million people living in a place where it is supposed to be inhabited with only about a million people at the moment,” he said.
The FCT minister, however, disclosed that the government was poised to provide infrastructural facilities at the satellite towns of the territory to give comfort to the middle class workforce that lives outside the city centre, and whose earnings may not afford them the luxury of private and chauffeur-driven vehicles.
“At the end of the day we are going to reduce the pressure on our corridors by using the mass transit scheme to be provided by the Abuja Rail Project and the employment opportunity it will provide for the population.
“We are going to provide employment opportunities for over one million people. And you can see that when people come to Abuja they try to stay anyhow. I am sorry with all apology and regrets that Abuja initially did not capture the needs and aspiration of the common people and the middle level manpower that we have in terms of affordable housing,” he said.
But Mohammed assured that President Goodluck Jonathan had given the FCT administration the marching order to look inward and facilitate the provision of housing for the people in that category in order to address the numerous social impediments normally presente them.

The parasites.

By Sam Omatseye.

Uduaghan

Why is it that a part of the northern elite has decided to swim in the Niger Delta oil, for all its beautiful blackness and viscous glory? Why is Kwankwaso, the Kano State Governor, not embroiled in the debate with policy wonks on how to bring back the pyramidal triumphs of Kano’s groundnut past? Or why is the ebullient Babangida Aliyu, his Niger State counterpart and head of the northern governors, not devoting his well-known imagination to furthering the frontiers of productivity and harmony as he has been doing?
What is going on is that the North is confronting a mammoth paradox today: a stunning epiphany and an overwhelming denial. A light has fallen into the northern room, but it is at once illuminating and blinding. The illumination comes from its realisation that the North today is not the North of 20 years ago, where it flexed muscles and dictated what happened from the tips of Sokoto to the ocean waves in Lekki Peninsula.
That was the north of the shadowy Kaduna mafia, the force of men powerful for being anonymous. They were the predators, growling and belching smoke. It was a rampart of power, deciding resource allocations, fuelling military coups, assigning contracts, guzzling and gurgling the oil of the Niger Delta. The mafia, for want of a better word, inspired fear and trembling, respect and loathing, and all the vile emotions in between.
But it was a quiet and sullen force, not enamoured of public debate nor given to dithering. It had the power of crime and punishment as well as reward. Cocky and quietly defiant, it sometimes carried notoriety as a badge.
Today, the northern power force has no such weight. That is where the denial is. It is because of the denial that we have northern elite bluster in public. It is because there is not much private power. In the heyday of the mafia, they would have shunned the theatre of public debate about offshore and onshore dichotomy. They would have done what they did when derivation was only one per cent. Now, they have to shout and remind one of Wole Soyinka’s chiding of the dowagers of Negritude: a tiger should not shout its “tigritude.” The point is that there are no genuine tigers in the vast lands of the North any more.
But it is not in the character of this column to gloat, since the issue of onshore/offshore dichotomy is not a debate that extends the frontiers of one nation. This is a sombre reality because it is a question of power more than harmony.
But more interesting is that the Niger Delta, which encases the oil, has ironically been a longtime ally of the north. The North has always played the avuncular or even paternal role, dictating the orientation of its politics and enjoying the obeisance of the South-south elite. Its first shock was the emergence of Goodluck Jonathan as President, even though he did it without any regard for the niceties of a statesman. However, Jonathan has shaken the North and it is looking for legitimate means of reasserting itself. But rather than do it by recalibrating its strategy, using its vast size and numerous constituencies and brilliant political players, it is trying to use the brawn of its glory days. That is futile today. That is why its pursuit of the revenues of the Niger Delta states mocks its imperial past.
The relation between the North and the Niger Delta is a clear case of oedipal complex. The father has woken up to see that the son is so powerful that he can slay his former superior. It is the potential equivalent of political parricide.
There are a number of reasons why the call for a review of the offshore/onshore dichotomy cannot stand. One, the 2004 decision by the National Assembly was a compromise that involved every stakeholder from the North. Two, the 13 per cent given to the people of the region is miniscule given what comes out of the bowels of their earths. Three, why does the North want to cut into the 13 per cent when a man like Kwankwaso knows that in the years of the groundnut pyramid, the region enjoyed as much as 50 per cent in derivation. Import duties were also paid to the regions. Is our history going to serve as a parasitic one or a productive one? Why are the states not focused on generating the huge potential that mock us daily in every state? We are seeing already how some governors are raking up more money in internally generated revenue in places like Edo, Oyo, Lagos, Osun and Ekiti. Even Sokoto State has had a good record in that regard.
In fact, a state like Kano that compares itself in population and investment to Lagos should follow what Lagos has been doing to generate funds as a non-oil state. States like Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Rivers have suffered great environmental degradation from oil pollution. The communities cost more to develop than any part of the country.
In his lecture in Asaba last week, Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, stressed the point that oil does not last forever. Hear him: “If the demand for resource control has remained trenchant, it is simply because our people have for long lived with the stark evidence of a mindless exploitation of the oil resources in their land. They have lived with the despoliation and degradation of their environments without concomitant benefits…”
He noted that the “peaceful nature of the people” is taken for granted, adding that oil will not last forever. “There are two cardinal points I envisage. One, get the most you can from oil now as you transform to a post-oil era,” Uduaghan said, echoing his signature: Delta Beyond Oil initiative. “Two, develop other resources of revenue and diversify your economy…”
A study noted that if the offshore money was redistributed to all the states, they would get about 150 million each. How can that make a Dubai of the northern states?
Why would a state suffer the consequences of its littoral status and not enjoy the benefits. The most potent in this regard is Akwa Ibom State. Its Governor, Godswill Akpabio, with massive infrastructure development and education, has deployed its resources to elevate a state that has suffered from the pollution of its waters.
Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers states suffer both from onshore and offshore violations. To deny this is to be insensitive. Not long ago, we witnessed the escalation of militancy in that region. We do not want eruptions of rage in that region again as it will compound the pains of a nation still trying to come to terms with the agonies of Boko haram.
Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda hit the bull’s eye when, in dissociating himself from some of his northern colleagues, asserted that the Niger Delta communities have suffered greatly suffering and should be compensated. Second, he echoed the point that the north took part in the debate and decision against onshore/offshore dichotomy.
This is not the time to curse the darkness of discord in the land. Let us light candles. I argued on this page that 13 per cent was little. Now, some want that also removed. The point they want to make is that foul is fair.

Is the fuel subsidy cabal too powerful?

Written by Jibrin Ibrahim.

There is increasing evidence that mega looters have taken over the economy and maybe the political system of Nigeria. The mega looters are using our stolen resources to give themselves impunity and to prevent the State and its judicial system from sanctioning them.

They are now taking over the Nigerian labour movement after defeating the police and the anti-corruption agencies. When the House of Representatives tried to deal with the mega thieves, the response was carefully planned and executed. Farouk Lawan who led the Committee ended up as the accused. Even civil society appears cowed as we try with great difficulty to understand what is going on and we are unable to take appropriate measures. Recent actions by NUPENG and the NLC have been confusing and have raised issues on which side they are on, the people or the mega thieves. The action of the Government is very scandalous.

People who are given licenses to import fuel have been provided very high patronage and privilege because the fuel importation system has been designed to provide mega profits for these friends of government. They should have imported the fuel and quietly enjoyed their mega profits. It turned out that most of them did not import any fuel and were simply pocketing a significant proportion of the national budget. When the discovery was done, I expected the Jonathan Administration to be very angry at the economic sabotage carried out by these unpatriotic and wicked elements. I saw no anger. I hear the Minister of Finance celebrating on television that the mega thieves have refunded some of the booty they have stolen. I read in the papers that the mega thieves want to negotiate a partial refund. In any country which takes its integrity and economy seriously, the demand would have been for immediate refund and prosecution to ensure they spend a long time in jail.

Rather than that, the mega thieves pay NUPENG to organise a strike and blockade of the federal capital and openly threaten the Government that they will bring the Jonathan Administration to its knees if it does not continue to pay for fuel that has not been supplied. The response of Government was to negotiate with them, beg them and cajole them. Is the Government mad? The stupendous wealth these people control is based 100 percent on Government patronage. How can they threaten the same Government that is making them super rich? And how can the Government succumb to the blackmail?

The Nigerian Labour Congress owes Nigerians an explanation for their shameful action in support of the mega thieves. How can they come out to openly support the mega thieves? In January, we had engaged in a struggle in which lives were lost to compel Government to look inward at their friends in the oil cabal who were responsible to the spectacular increase in the amount of money spent on the so called fuel subsidy. We called for investigation and prosecution of the cabal. When NLC chickened out of the struggle, their excuse was that they had been threatened. Who is threatening them now to support the same cabal that we fought against? They must apologies to Nigerians for selling out. Government must be very pleased with itself that the trade unions are now wheelers and dealers and are no longer in a position to organise a credible strike but are available to organise strikes on behalf of those looting our national treasury.

There is a real question today about whether we have a functional state. We now learn that Nigeria, the country with the largest armored forces in Africa is paying the former militant, Alhaji Dokubo-Asari $9 million a year, to get his militants protect our oil pipelines which they used to destroy. He is not the only one. NNPC is reported to be paying $3.8 million a year apiece to two former rebel leaders, Gen. Ebikabowei “Boyloaf” Victor Ben and Gen. Ateke Tom for the same pipeline protection. In addition, yet another one, General “Tompolo” Ekpumopolo, maintains a $22.9 million-a-year contract to do the same, the official said.

Nigeria is paying out hundreds of millions of dollars a year to maintain an uneasy calm in the Niger Delta, where attacks ranging from theft to bombings to kidnappings had led to a significant decline in oil production. Production, we are now told, has risen to its former level of 2.6 million barrels a day. Most of the extra money earned is however paid back to the former militants or distributed to the fuel subsidy cabal. The risk posed by the action of Government is that everybody now knows that the rewards of militancy and economic sabotage are millions of dollars. The prime placed on paying off saboteurs would definitely lead to an escalation of their activities. According to reports, oil theft appears to be on the rise again. Shell has announced that an estimated 150,000 barrels of oil are stolen from Nigerian pipelines daily. Some experts think this estimate is actually much lower than the reality.

Following a review of totally incomprehensible and contradictory presentations by Governmental ministries, departments and agencies, the House Of Representatives Committee on Fuel Subsidy was able to make a credible estimate that the probable daily consumption of Petrol from the record of marketers and NNPC comes to an average of 31.5 million litres daily. It, therefore, proposed the continuation of subsidy for Petrol and Kerosene and suggested a budget of N806.766 Billion for the 2012 fiscal year. The Committee asserted that the 445,000 bpd allocation to NNPC is sufficient to provide the Nation with its needs in petrol and kerosene, with proper management and efficiency. The Committee recommended the refund to the treasury of the sum of N1, 06 trillion for various violations. The Government now is talking of a refund of only 400 billion.

It is clear that fuel subsidy corruption has revealed a new trend of corruption in Nigeria. In the past, corrupt transactions took place mainly through contract inflation, over- invoicing and receiving of kickbacks. But the fuel subsidy corruption has witnessed situations whereby people collect subsidy payments without making any supplies, collect foreign exchange without supplying petrol and collect subsidy payments for not supplying petrol having collected foreign exchange for the purpose.

The spectacular failure of recent high profile criminal prosecutions relating to corruption dramatizes the collapse of the system of public prosecution in Nigeria. It appears clear that the fuel subsidy cabal are likely to defeat the judiciary and get away free. The body language of the Government is a good indicator. We do not see anger in the voices of Government as they talk about the issue. No wonder some of those being prosecuted would have the temerity to ask for their passports back so that they can travel abroad for their summer holidays.

We Nigerians must act more as citizens and not subjects. The country belongs to us all and we can no longer leave the political space and bureaucracy to shenanigans, and for common thieves and crooks. If the mega thieves are too strong for the Government, we need to devise new strategies to continue the struggle against corruption. Above all, we need to assess what is happening to the Nigerian state and seek pathways towards saving it.

I can’t rule a divided nation – Jonathan.

From DailyPost.

President Goodluck Jonathan has said that he still believe in one Nigeria, noting that the unity of the country is his main priority.
Jonathan who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati in Abuja affirmed that he can’t govern a divided country.
He said this against the backdrop of the declaration of independence by the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People and the Bakassi Self-Determination Front, all of them from the South-South zone.
He said, “The Federal Government is committed to the unity of Nigeria. It also believes strongly in the indivisibility of the country. This is also enshrined in the constitution.
“The president has made it clear that he would not preside over a divided Nigeria.
On the groups declaring “republics,” Abati said the news had so far remained in the realms of online reports with nobody coming out publicly to make the declarations.
“These things are only seen on the Internet. It is easy for people to sit in the comfort of their rooms and make pronouncements.
“But the country remains one and the government is committed to that unity,” he said.
Meanwhile, Abati kept mum on government’s decision on the declarations by some groups.

Presidency defends billions paid to Niger Delta ex-militants.

The Presidency on Sunday defended the yearly award of about N5.6bn contracts to former Niger Delta militants to protect oil pipelines. It said the contract was in the interest of the nation.
Speaking in a telephone interview with our correspondent, the Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said Nigeria had benefited immensely from the exercise.
He said that the volume of crude oil being produced in the country had increased tremendously since the exercise commenced.
A Wall Street Journal report last week focused on the yearly payment of about N5.6bn to former Niger-Delta war-lords for guarding the oil pipelines in the restive region.
The report gave a break-down of the militants involved in the contracts as ‘General’ Government Tompolo Ekpumopolo,N3.6bn; Asari Dokubo, 1.44bn; ‘General’ Ateke Toms,N560m and ‘General’ Ebikabowei Boyloaf Victor Ben, N560m.
While defending the government action, which Okupe said was done by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, he said, “Since this exercise began, the crude oil production has jumped from 1.8mbpd to 2.6mbpd.
“That is an increment of over $700m income per day to the government. So, when you compare what was paid to get this benefit, it pales into insignificance.”
He said the issue of pipeline and their safety were matters of national security and should not be politicised.
Okupe said it was on record that oil majors were already engaged in community protection of pipelines and there was no better way to secure the pipelines than to employ members of the community within the community were built.
Moreover, he said the transaction for the contracts were “with NNPC and corporate organisations who have the abilities to protect the pipelines and the nation is enjoying the benefits.”
But the Congress for Progressive Change in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, argued that the Jonathan regime had earlier in the year, awarded the contract for the nation’s maritime security to Global West Vessel Specialist Agency, a private firm owned by Ekpumopolo.
It said that the reason given by the Federal Government for its action “is the inability to ‘source’ the $103m needed to invest over a 10-year period on a Project expected to garner N124bn into the nation’s coffers, generate 1,375 direct jobs and 1,620 indirect jobs.”
It also added a contract of an undisclosed sum was awarded in July 2012 to the same company owned by Tompolo for the supply of 20 patrol boats to the Nigerian Navy.
The opposition party said it “considers these actions as grave financial imprudence by a regime that seems not to ‘give a damn’ if the nation totters.”
It asked the government to say if the regime was giving tacit approval to militancy as legitimate occupation in the country, wondering why the Niger-Delta insurgency was never known to Nigerians during the military regimes.
The CPC appealed to the National Assembly to urgently look at the contracts and take a decisive action on them.
Okupe, however, said the CPC was just being mischievous in its actions.
- The Punch

Opposition parties aren’t better than PDP – Alkali.

From: TAIWO AMODU, Abuja
Professor Rufai Ahmed Alkali, immediate past National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has dismissed the ongoing alliance talks among some parties as a mere flash in the pan, which any discerning gladiator of the PDP should not be bothered about. In an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, Alkali submits that Nigerians are used to alliance discourse among opposition parties, which he claims have no fresh initiative on governance. Excerpts:
You are the immediate past National Publicity Secretary of the PDP. Since you left office, Nigerians have not been hearing from you despite various issues that have arisen on the political turf. Why this long silence?
First and foremost, I want to thank you all for taking your time to come and see me. As you are aware, the national convention of PDP took place in March this year and following the convention, new set of National Working Committee members emerged under the leadership of Dr. Bamanga Tukur and subsequently we handed over to the new NWC. So, it is logical that having served out our time of four years, the best thing to do was to step back and step aside, if you like, to give the new leadership of our party time to settle down to do the serious business of managing our great party. With that, I thought, the best thing to do is to continue praying for them and assist them in whatever way possible through any advice, where necessary, to enable them to also succeed. As you are aware, managing party politics worldwide is a serious business, more so in an emerging democracy like Nigeria. The leadership of the party requires all the support, cooperation and prayers of every member of the party and also for them to build on what we left behind. I have been reluctant to talk. I needed time to settle down but now that you have taken the pains to come and insisted we talk, you want to ask one or two questions, as a party man and a man who has dedicated himself a long time to fighting for our people at every level, it will be impudent to discourage you.
Some opposition parties like the Action Congress of Nigeria and Congress for Progressive Change are already having alliance talks ahead of the 2015 general election and already saying they are going to displace PDP. How do you see this development?
As you are aware, one of the fundamentals of popular democracy is that there should be more than one political party in the political terrain, to provide options or alternatives to the ruling party. Nigeria, as I have said repeatedly, in normal condition, believes in multi-party even though there was a time people tried to put a tag on PDP that we are opposed to other political parties surviving. The truth has triumphed. PDP has always believed in multi-party system and that is what has been provided for in our constitution and that has always been the bases for our interaction and relations with other groups. But no political party would also like to consign itself to the back bench. Each political party wants to struggle and fight hard to make its mark. PDP has been in the centre in this country since 1999 and despite the imperfections of popular democracy, it has made its own contributions. Sometimes it is difficult to appreciate things, particularly when we have them. I know the leadership of this country under PDP has made giant strides at so many levels but that does not mean that the other political parties will not try to upstage PDP. They have been trying to do that. The blessing is that they think merely being anti-PDP or fighting PDP is enough for Nigerians to accept them. It is not enough. They have failed to come up with something that is different, something that is fresh, something to show to the country that they can do better if they are given the chance. So far what we have seen, because of court rulings and thanks to the dogged commitment of the government both under the late Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua and under our current President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, is the believe in the rule of law. The judiciary has been giving window of opportunities to political parties, especially the opposition, to take over power in so many states of our country. But in those states that the opposition was able to get judgment like Ondo, Ekiti, Ogun, Edo and the rest, you find that so far, apart from the populism that they bandy around, they have not done anything close to what PDP has done. So, in that case, they cannot pretend to be better than PDP. In fact, what they are doing in some of the states, like Ogun where they held local government election, it was terrible. In Lagos, the last local government election held about one and half years ago was a fiasco. It was one of the most scandalous elections that was ever held in this country. But because they can make a lot of noise from the Lagos side, the rest of the country kept quiet. So, in that case people are not fooled. They can continue making alliances and counter alliances but because they are not united to provide any alternative to this country, to PDP, they are not likely to make any substantial progress. But that should not make members of PDP to be complacent or to take things for granted because one of the greatest mistakes anybody can make is to overestimate his own ability or underestimate the capability of his enemy or his opponent. So far we have been having these incremental damages through these court decisions. For example, Edo has gone, now he (Governor Oshiomhole) has been dancing around that he won election but we know what happened in Edo. Now we are moving to Ondo and I am very happy to note that the people of Ondo have come out very solidly behind our own friend and brother, former National Legal Adviser of PDP, Chief Olusola Oke. If the kind of spirit that the people of Ondo State demonstrated in choosing the candidate is sustained, if they continue along that line, I cannot see how a third rate political party can come and overload themselves on PDP in Ondo State. But PDP must put its house in order. That is the reality. We must unite. In all the states in this country where there is no unity among PDP members, PDP has lost out.
President Goodluck Jonathan recently had parley with stakeholders from Plateau over the Jos crisis. What is your take on this initiative to resolve the Jos crisis?
First and foremost, we are known to be cosmopolitan people. Nigerians are historically mobile, they move from one place to another to establish businesses, to establish all kinds of relationships with other communities. Therefore, it is very difficult to take a knife and cut a community and say this community is completely distinct from the other community. In the case of Plateau, it is one of the darlings in northern Nigeria because by its own climate, by its own historical evolution, everything about it makes it a cosmopolitan place for everybody to be there. May be you call it a melting pot just like Kaduna, Lagos, or Abuja. These are cities with people from all walks of life. The moment people begin to see themselves or see others or treat others or be treated as different, then the basis for peace are undermined. We thought the foundation for these entire problems is this indigene/settler thing, which is unknown to the Nigerian constitution. The rest of the country does not know this issue and if this issue can be detached from the lexicon of the people in Plateau State, I believe that over 50 per cent of the problem has been sorted out. When I read some of the stories, some of them are completely out of contest. To talk about the Jihad that some people are trying to wage in Plateau. I don’t know where people get some of these ideas. I feel there is need for co-habitation and collaboration. Everybody need each other. What the Federal Government has done in recent past is very good, especially the parley that has been started, inviting stakeholders, talk to them dispassionately, listen to their views, listen to their opinions, understand their position, understand their views, understand their fears and then listen to the other side, understand their problems and plight and subsequently bring them together as they are trying to do. Beyond that, those who have been coming and talking to the President and the government must also be very frank and very honest because it is one thing to come and tell the President a position and when the government takes a final decision everything again is jettisoned and we are again back to square one. So, there must be signs of willingness on the part of everybody to come together because ultimately it is the peace that is most important. In the past, Plateau was like a home for everyone, it was the centre of trade and centre of industries. Today, Plateau is on its knees and then for how long? I feel that the step that the government has taken now, bringing people step by step first and subsequently bringing them together is one of the best things to do. It has now gone beyond the stage of blame game. Now the question is what must be done to stop the crisis. So long as we are still at the stage of blame game it is not going to stop the problem. If you know you are on wrong side you must be willing to accept, that is the quality of leadership. If you know you are wrong you must know there is nothing wrong for you to say yes,’ you have made some errors based on quality of information available to you at a particular time but with fresh information you can take new decisions. All the leaders of the groups must carry everybody along, see everybody as your own and I think that will make a lot difference.
What is your take on the purported impeachment move against President Jonathan by members of the House of Representatives over alleged poor implementation of the budget?
My take on this is that Nigerians always cherish democracy in that they believe it is the system that gives them opportunity to debate issues, to argue issues and then to take decisions but sometimes we tend to be carried away. Democracy also means that we must also go by the rules, we must also be bound by the constitution and we must also be bound by issue of law and order. Often, you find that our people have ambivalent attitude to the National Assembly. When the National Assembly is working amicably with the Executive, they begin to abuse te National Assembly as lame duck, rubber stamp and chamber of yes men. On the other hand, when the National Assembly begins to define issues concerning the country, some people will say the National Assembly wants to bring down the roof. So, I think the main thing is that the three arms of government, Executive, Legislature and Judiciary, historically have been created to serve purposes that are mutually cooperative, sometimes competitive but most of the time cooperative. Under a popular democracy, the Executive executes the laws, the Legislature makes the laws and of course you know the Judiciary interprets the laws. But in between, you also have a thin line where there is always cooperation, especially between the executive and the legislature, because the legislature will be happy to see that when they make laws they are implemented. But the executive will also insist that whatever laws they are going to make, it should be implementable. That is why sometimes in making legislation, laws can be initiated from the executive or from the legislature or even from private member outside. Ultimately, I think the goal is to serve the people of this country. This is part of the creative tension you find in an evolving democracy and I believe the National Assembly will act maturely and I believe ultimately they will work very closely with the President so that our people will have the benefits of popular democracy. I will not be surprised that there are people who want to see more problems between the presidency and the legislature and they will be happy to see that because that will now put the executive on the spot. But what purpose will it serve? Ultimately our objective is that an elected government is to serve the people and since Mr. President has committed himself to transforming this country in varieties of ways, the cooperation between the executive and the legislature is the surest way to achieve this objective. So, I do not see it as beneficial for people to continue to beat drums of war between the executive and the legislature. They are going to cooperate and I am sure they are going to find lasting solution to this issue before us. One good thing also is that we have the party and the party leadership. We have elders, we have leaders in the party and I am sure that even where there appears to be some tension between the executive and the legislature, the party is always there to provide the role of intermediary and will bring all those issues to quick resolution. So far, I see the National Assembly, whatever they are doing they have the interest of the country at heart and also I am sure they (National Assembly) also know Mr. President has very deep commitment to make a difference in this country, which will translate towards achieving reasons they were elected. All put together, I don’t think the issue we are talking about has reached a point where there will be too much trouble.