Indifferent Middle Class and our Failing Govt

El-Rufai on Friday - Young Voices (4) - Introducing Japheth Omojuwa

I met Japheth Omojuwa on Twitter before we met in person a few months after. He is one of those young Nigerians that are brilliant, courageous and detribalised and express these philosophies passionately using social media. With nearly 40,000 followers on Twitter, Japheth is both a thought leader among his peers, but gives sleepless nights to President Goodluck Jonathan’s media managers. His blogging website www.omojuwa.com is one of the most popular amongst young people.

He writes today on the lackadaisical attitude of our elite focusing on the indifference of our middle class as one of the root causes of our failing government. He believes that unless our middle class rises up, organises and demands decent governance and public accountability, it will be squeezed into joining the ranks of 112 million Nigerians currently in poverty.

It is my honour and privilege to introduce Omojuwa, an alumnus of Kings College, Lagos and graduate of Agricultural Economics of the Federal University of Technology, Abeokuta. He follows the tradition of Yemi Adaomlekun, Auwal Sani Anwar and Elnathan John in writing on a subject of concern to young people. Indifferent Middle Class and our Failing Government - By: Japheth Omojuwa

Every day, Nigeria’s presidency – excluding the vice-president - will have a bazaar-esque table of food and refreshment worth N2,010,000.00 excluding special events. The 2012 budget reserved N951 million for the president’s foreign travels and the president promised to cut on this after the Occupy Nigeria uproar. In keeping to that promise, the president has averaged two travels per month since then but that is nothing compared to the N2.6 billion dedicated to his 2013 foreign travels - N7.1 million for each day of 2013 including weekends. N2.6 billion is the salary of 12,037 Nigerians on the minimum wage working for the whole year.

For a government that says it has transformed our power challenge, one would wonder why they had to budget N72,510,832 to fuel the state house. Aso Rock expects to burn some 1,300 litres of diesel per day based on the pump price. The budget  contains more irresponsible allocation of state resources to political office holders, including National Assembly members who get to spend some N150 billion up from not more than N50 billion from the Olusegun Obasanjo years. It was established in a well-publicised paper how the worth of an average bill passed by the National Assembly is N10 billion! Each legislator costs Nigerians over $2 million per year.

How can this not be criminal in a supposed representative democracy? This sheer irresponsibility and obvious disregard for the people’s yearnings will continue as long as those who should demand at least the application of common sense in the governance of Nigeria decide to keep quiet.

The world over, you’d hardly find any country that ever survived the domination of a few over many without the rise of a people who are neither at the top of the pyramid nor essentially at its bottom, those who find themselves between both ends of the socio-economic divide. You cannot get to any Promised Land worth the travel without getting to cross bridges as we cannot bank on the miracles of going through water.  The bridge of progress and development in any modern nation is the middle class. If a nation stays stagnated or retards in development, check the bridge.

Read tales of the Industrial Revolution, the American Revolution and other mass movements including the several movements across Europe and even more recently with the likes of Rudi Dutschke in Germany and the Arab Spring and you’d find the middle class at the end of it if not at its beginning. This is because this class has the number and the resources to make change happen. Unlike the poor, they have resources to spare for advocacy. The poor live from hand to mouth and are the worst hit in case of any campaign that halts production one way or the other.

That Nigeria needs saving is a foregone conclusion and that there has to be a mass movement that seeks and demands genuine transformational change is a long delayed reality.  Easterly, William, 2001 defined a “middle-class consensus” as a situation of  relative equality and ethnic homogeneity, he went on to show empirically that such a middle-class consensus facilitates higher levels of income and growth, as well as higher levels of public goods. This may sound counter-intuitive especially considering the fact that the finger of blame for our national woes have always been pointed in the direction of those directly involved with governance but we are at fault for the woes of Nigeria because we are too docile and we have come to accept nonsense from our office holders as the norm.

We are the ones that live in homes with generators that have sworn an oath of war with silence. We don’t care if the roads to our houses are passable, we just ensure our second Tokunbo car is an SUV and we never bother about lasting solutions. We create a cocoon around ourselves against the many menaces of our society. We sit at beer parlours and gist about what is wrong with our country without ever really doing anything to be part of change. And now who do we blame for having a president whose policies look more like documents drafted from such beer parlour gatherings? Our government has policies with sounds without meaning, words without power and trillions of naira without value to the people.

Every Nigerian leader has been from the middle class or from an even more wretched background. They get to the top by hook, crook, coup or luck and don’t give a damn if the people die or live. They could care less about the people where two out of three are poor. We can dress all up and go to church giving praises in empty stomachs that may never be filled except we get a chance to attend a church related event after that. We invest in cheap London-America outfits - wash am, press am well, spray perfume and we look good to go. If you are lucky to add a few fats on your cheeks then your money has indeed come. We wallow in poverty and have become so numbed to this abnormality as though we were pigs destined for dirt so would find calm where others find discomfort.

We are progressing and transforming Nigeria. We are progressing on our known path of mediocrity and transforming from a people that though did not have everything, had values and the basic things of life. Where the laws did count, to a country where the lawmakers are the chief lawbreakers, transforming to a land where to steal in a better and more rewarding position you must loot and loot well in your current position.

A minister spends over N2 trillion on what the people agreed N260 billion should be spent on, she could still go ahead to make the laws that make her even more powerful. Every other presidential broadcast results in protests and every presidential broadcast either makes you angry or sad. You are angry about the fact that the Presidency has become the mascot for national intellectual poverty and sad that a nation, in all its glory and human resource endowment has been limited to being led by its dross.

Nigeria is what it is because we are who we are…mostly selfish, short-sighted, parochial and a grab-your-own mentality obsessed group of people who make noise when not positioned to steal, who steal when positioned to do greater good. We have hit rock bottom even though the realities of modern day Nigeria make us feel our current office holders will breach even this bottom and take us further down. God forbid! We can forbid it too.

We need to organise ourselves and start right from our local governments. One person takes up the challenge, gets others together and pays the local government chairman a call. You want to know all there is to know about what s/he has been doing with your money. We cannot just live in patience for the day someone from our family will get the chance to steal.

As bad as that sounds, it is even more statistically impossible compared to if we ensure our country works for us all at the same time. As for those of us who cannot see beyond a need to divide Nigeria, let me state that James Ibori stole Delta people’s money. The people of Oyo State are not looking for the Hausa governor that stole their money and the people of Edo State are not cursing an Igbo man for the development they seemed to have had a divorce with until the Adams Oshiomhole years. The homogeneity of language is essentially a need for us to see beyond our differences as a group and at least get involved.

We must fight to cut down the size of government. This is killing development. Recurrent expenditure has barely changed despite what the statistics intend to tell you. N2.425 trillion in 2011, N2.47 trillion in 2012 and N2.41 trillion for 2013 is not change. Cut this big government and for every cut, we cut down its failures. We need to reduce its obstructive size for a people-driven economy and system. What Nigeria needs is an army of active citizens because activists and CSOs are always going to be limited. What we need is an economy free from cronyism and incessant government control. Are we ready to get involved yet or do we just wait our turn to chop?

ThisDay

Police dismiss Sergeant who ordered students lynched

IG, Abubakar
| credits:

THE police on Thursday said the policeman involved in the killing of the four students of the University of Port Harcourt in Aluu, Rivers State, Sergeant Lucky Orji, had been dismissed from the force.

The spokesman for the police in Rivers, Mr. Ben Ugwuegbulam confirmed to our correspondent in Port Harcourt that Orji had been dismissed and that he was among the 13 suspects arraigned in court on Wednesday.

“He (Orji) was among those arraigned in court yesterday (Wednesday). He is no longer a policeman because he has been dismissed,” Ugwuegbulam said.

The four male students, Lloyd Toku, Ugonna Obuzor, Chiadika Biringa and Tekena Erikena, were beaten and set ablaze by a mob suspected to be residents of Omuokiri Aluu, a community located about three kilometers to UNIPORT.

Thirteen suspects, including the traditional ruler of the community, were arraigned in court on Wednesday.

Punch

US Army general nominated to counter terrorism in Nigeria, others

WASHINGTON  (AFP) – Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday nominated a former senior commander in Afghanistan as the new head of the military’s Africa Command, which oversees US security efforts on the continent.
The change in leadership comes amid growing concerns over Al-Qaeda’s affiliates in the region, particularly in Mali, and a deadly attack on a US consulate in Libya linked to Islamist extremists.
Panetta said General David Rodriguez, who served as the deputy American commander in Afghanistan and helped plan the “surge” of additional troops in the war, was well-suited to the post.
As chief of the NATO-led force’s joint command, Rodriguez “oversaw the coalition and Afghan forces during the surge, and was a key architect of the successful campaign plan that we are now implementing,” Panetta told a news conference.
Rodriguez, known by troops as “General Rod” and who currently serves as head of US Army Forces command, was touted as a possible chief commander for Afghanistan last year. The job however went to a Marine, General John Allen, who after a year in Kabul is due to hand over soon to another Marine, General Joseph Dunford.
If his nomination is confirmed by the Senate as expected, Rodriguez will succeed General Carter Ham, who played a key role in the NATO air war in Libya.
As head of Africa Command, Rodriguez would help oversee counter-terrorism missions in Somalia, Yemen, Mali, Nigeria and elsewhere, as well as training and other efforts designed to bolster US military ties across the region.
The command’s headquarters is based in Stuttgart, Germany.
Panetta also named General John Paxton as the new number two of the US Marine Corps, as the outgoing assistant to the commandant, Dunford, will soon be taking over as the top US and NATO military chief in Afghanistan.
Vanguard

Nigeria is at war, says Soyinka

by: Ozolua Uhakheme

Nigeria is at war and the war is between light and darkness, Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka said yesterday.
He warned that Nigerians would cease to be humans, if they succumb to the forces of darkness.
The literary icon spoke in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, at the presentation of “Nigerian Literature: A coat of many colours” and the presentation of Port Harcourt as UNESCO World Book Capital 2014.
He appraised the spate of violence across the country and expressed his belief that “Nigeria is at war.”
Soyinka said: “I believe Nigeria is at war, the war is between forces of light and darkness, intellect and retrogressive thinking,forces of hatred against humanism.
“I believe that if we surrender to these forces, we cease to be human.”
According to him, Boko Haram and all movements that wage war against literacy have declared war, not on the nation, but on humanity itself.
“Despite the horror that surrounds us, we continue to be creative.”
He described the choice of Port Harcourt as WBCC 2014 as bitter-sweet, saying it came at a time when Nigeria is reflecting.
Soyinka said the lynching of four students of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) is callous and demonstrates the bestiality of man.
“Worst of all, it took place in a community which watched as silent spectators and passive participants.
“Before that in Mubi, students were called out one after the other and shot to death, not accidental shooting, but out of hatred for potential sources of knowledge and enlightenment.”
He recalled a similar scenario in Mexico City and stressed that creativity must be made to triumph over evil of retrogression.
Soyinka said: “On that note, we have a responsibility to support and sustain efforts of Rainbow Book Clubs and others to promote literacy and humanity.
“It is one statement we can make to tell the world despite the horror.
“It is a message we must continue to preach to our children.
“This recognition by UNESCO is an indication that something good is happening in Nigeria despite the avalanche of negativity.”
The Nobel laureate enjoined his colleagues that the plays, poems, drama and short stories they create are the solutions to Boko Haram crises.
Renowned writer and community leader in Aluu, Elechi Amadi, also condemned the killings of the UNIPORT Four.
He, however, insisted that the incident had nothing to do with the indigenes of Aluu.
“We condemn the spilling of blood but the incident has nothing to do with indigenes of Aluu.
“All the suspects paraded by the police are non-indigenes. People of Aluu have been demonised. We call on security operative to police the environment.”
Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who was represented by Information Commissioner Mrs Ibim Seminitari, said the vision of the festival is to bring back the book for the restoration of values, culture and societal transformation.
Amaechi said: “Literature restores values and represents the world full of opportunities and numerous possibilities.
“I dream because I read. I was raised in a poor neighbourhood of Diobu, in Port Harcourt.
“I was the only child of my parents who went to school and today I am a governor because I read.”
TheNation

Ondo poll: Shoot troublemakers, GOC orders soldiers

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From TUNDE RAHEEM, Akure
The General Officer Commanding 2 Division, Nigerian Army, Major Gen. Mohammed Abubakar, yesterday ordered the soldiers to shoot any troublemaker who resists arrest in tomorrow’s governorship election in Ondo State.
The GOC warned anybody who might want to foment trouble during the election to think twice, adding that the soldiers would not condone any act of hooliganism during and after the election.
The army boss, who arrived the 32 Artillery Brigade, Akure yesterday to address the men and officers to be deployed for the poll, said nobody would be allowed to carry arms to the polling station, while directing them to arrest anybody who violated the order.
Abubakar said: “No movement on that day, except for those on essential duties and those on election duty.
“No hunting on the election day. I am happy that the IGP has said that there would be no fishing during the poll.
“I don’t want to hear that I am going to the bush to hunt.
“Anybody with arm must be arrested.
“If he resists arrest, shoot him, I give you the order.”
Abubakar said movement would be restricted from 6am to pm, but he explained that motorists traveling across the state to other parts of the country would be allowed passage, after they must have proved that they are not going into the state.
The GOC said he had received a petition from a political party he declined to mention that one of the contestants had bribed some soldiers to allow his party to rig during the election.
Abubakar said he was not a party to that, while warning any soldier who is a member of any political party to say it.
He stated that any soldier found colluding with any party would be severely dealt with.
He said: “No amount of money they promise you will turn you to Abiola or Dangote.
“These people worked for their money. So be satisfied with what the Nigerian Army is giving you.”
He said there would be dress code for the troops, adding it would be easy for real soldiers to identify fake ones.
The GOC declined to give the number of soldiers deployed to monitor the election, but said soldiers were moved to Ondo State from different formations to maintain law and order during the election.
TheSun

Kalu: I'm Not Afraid to Be Probed

Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu

Former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has said he is not afraid of being probed by the Abia State Government as being proposed.
Kalu, who ruled the state between 1999 and 2007, said he would not be distracted by the antics of blackmail by the state governor, Chief Theodore Orji.

In a statement by his special Adviser (Political), Oyekunle Oyewunmi, Kalu said since he ruled the state with the fear of God, he has nothing to be afraid of.

He said the major grouse of Orji was his fight for the emancipation of the Igbo race.

Oyewunmi said in the statement: “Dr. Kalu’s administration was responsive to the yearnings of the people, which is evident in the people-oriented projects he undertook while in office, with the provision of good road networks, free primary health care, free education, improvement of worker’s welfare, sports development, among others.”

Kalu said despite the financial challenges faced by his government, he repaid the loan he inherited from the past administration and managed the available resources judiciously while he borrowed only N2 billion to offset the balance payments for road projects.

He disclosed that the only debt he left were multi lateral debts as contained in his hand over note prepared by a committee chaired by Professor Joshua Ogbonnaya.
He lamented the undue hardship faced by Abians with the inept leadership of Orji, which he said is evident in the poor state of infrastructure, workers’ strike, termination of contract of service of non indigenous civil servants, non payment of teachers’ salaries, kidnapping and overbearing corruption.

The statement added: “Many associations have manned the streets of Aba, including the Nigeria Bar Association, to show displeasure at the terrible state of infrastructure and passed a vote of no confidence on the state governor.”

Oyewunmi described Abia State as a victim of Orji’s emergency wealth, challenging him to account for all the properties he bought in the United States, Europe, United Arab Emirate, Umahia, Abuja and Port Harcourt and the flamboyant lifestyle of his family members, whom he said were now emergency contractors and sudden money bags using their position to oppress the poor.

Oyewunmi further stated in the statement that Orji should account for the revenue from the 46 oil wells released to the state by late President Umaru Yar’Adua and the N30 billion loan he obtained from banks, coupled with the release N17 billion excess payments refunded to the state by the Federal Government, adding: “He has mortgaged the future of the state to these banks because he has no focus, plan and strategy to ensure the utilisation of the fund and repayment of the said loan.

“He is sharing the money among his sponsors, emergency friends, associates and family members at the detriment of tax payers.

“He has not executed any tangible project in the state.
“Aba is in shambles, Umahia, the state capital, is shattered and all other parts of the state are in disarray, making the state the worst in terms of good infrastructure and in essence good governance.”

Kalu challenged Orji, whom he described as a frustrated joker, to face the reality and give good governance to the people.
He cautioned him to be wary of sycophants singing his praises in government while advising him to remember his advice to him in private and public, which is “to rule Abia State with his conscience.”

ThisDay

It’s battle royale as IG deploys 3 more Police Commissioners to Ondo, 2 AIGs and 2 DIGs

By Johnchuks Onuanyim, Abuja & Babatope Okeowo

MOHAMMED D ABUBAKAR (POLICE IG)

TO ensure effective security during tomorrow’s governorship election in Ondo State, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed D. Abubakar, yesterday deployed two Deputy Inspectors-General (DIGs) and an Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) to the South-West state. He also posted a new Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Ndabawa, to the Sunshine State.
Ndabawa is the current Police Commissioner in Rivers State.
The DIGs are  DIG, Operations, Mr. Philemon Leha;  DIG, ‘G’ Department, Intelligence, Abdurrahman Akanmo and AIG Orubebe Ebikeme, AIG Zone 11, Osogbo.
Equally moved to the state on special assignment from the Force Headquarters were the Commissioners of Police (CP-Anti Terrorism; CP-Anti-Bomb Unit and CP-Special Protection Unit).
On ground in Ondo but moved out temporarily due to the operational plans put together by the IGP were the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP Admin) and Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in charge of Operations.
The temporary changes would last for the period of the  election and would subsist until the final result of the election have been declared.
Sources at the Force Headquarters informed  that the IGP, as part of his operational programmes, decided to effect the changes “so as to insulate the police from  blames and propaganda by political gladiators in the state, which is the hallmark of Nigerian politics”.
With the development, the affected officers serving in Ondo State would be on “temporary transfer to Rivers State” for the period.
They would, however, resume full operations in Ondo State immediately after the declaration of final results of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Last  Wednesday, the IGP announced restriction of movement and the stripping of all political office holders in the state of their police orderlies until after the election.
Both the police boss and the Police Service Commission (PSC) had warned against untoward behaviour by any police officer during the election. Deputy Force Public Relations Officer (DFPRO), CSP Frank Mba, in a statement last Wednesday, said the IGP took the decisions to ensure “free, fair and peaceful elections”
According to him, the restriction of movement was in two phases and commenced from 6 p.m. yesterday up till 6 a.m. today, adding that this particular restriction would only affect movement in and out of Akure, the state capital.
Apart from this, another round of restriction of movement would commence as from 6 p.m. today and end tomorrow at 8 p.m.
Mba explained that the IGP slammed “total restriction of movements in and out of the state, except for those on essential duties.
Meanwhile, an opinion poll released by Gallop Polls Limited yesterday gave the candidate of the Labour Party, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, a clear lead in the exercise conducted by the organisation.
He was closely followed by the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) while the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olusola Oke, came third.
The result released by the Chief Executive Officer of Gallop Polls, Chief Anthony Chigbo, to reporters gave the LP candidate 89 per cent while the ACN was given seven per cent. The PDP candidate got four per cent.
Giving the breakdown of how he arrived at the result, Chigbo said 400,000 respondents were targetted and they were made to show the candidates of their choice by sending AK to 31077 for Akerelodu, OM to 31077 for Mimiko and OK to 31077 for Oke.
At the end of the exercise, Chigbo said 338,200, representing 89 per cent, decided to vote for LP’s candidate, 26,000 or seven per cent for ACN’s candidate and 15,200 ,representing four per cent, for PDP’s candidate.
His words: “This is a random scientific empirical survey anchored on the views of eligible registered voters in Ondo State as willingly expressed and developed as content. I urge you to have it on record and echo same loud and clear without fear of contradiction that results from Saturday proper polls shall borrow facts and figures you are looking at today.”
Chigbo said the opinion poll released by him would be the outcome of the election on Sunday when the results are released, adding that he would come to confirm the results on Monday.
However, the PDP rejected the result, saying the PDP’s candidate was in clear lead in opinion poll and would win the  election.
Media Adviser to Oke Campaign Organisation, Mr Kunle Adebayo, said the Gallop opinion poll result did not represent the position of things in the state.
Adebayo said the research was conducted in secrecy.
His words: “The gallop result did not say in clear term the class of the respondents, how they were selected. It also fails to tell the whole world how they administer questionnaire on their chosen population.
It is a common knowledge that the economy of individuals, most especially common men, are in shambles. Asking them to send SMS will certainly limit a large number of the electorate whose votes are important than the men of the government who feed fat on the fund of the state.
“How do you think fishermen in Mahin, garri farmers in Ajowa and Eriti, cocoa farmers at Igbatoro, Ala and Igboolodumare participate in a skewed SMS opinion collation? It is all targetted at implementing the rigging agenda of the incumbent. It is a research conducted to pave the way for Dr Mimiko to rig the election. Unfortunately for him, the people of Ondo State are wiser than dishing out a jaundiced research result that was prepared by the commissioned agents of the government.
“The governor is only popular among his research agents and those who still profit from largesse that were stolen from OSOPADEC, the abandoned Dome project, Arigidi Tomato project and other money-draining projects that are still ongoing since the inception of his administration. The PDP exists today in the minds of the majority of the electorate and that is where our electoral strength lies not on packaged paper strength.”
LibertyReport