Portrait of the nation as a complicated Maths By Hannatu Musawa.

Hannatu Musawa

I am a Hausa/Fulani from Katsina who is absolutely proud of my identity, culture and heritage. But before that I am, first and foremost, a Nigerian to my very core with the spirit and soul of my beloved motherland. I am more than happy to come from the most populous, interesting and diverse country in Africa

Here’s a conundrum for you:

·         First, pick the number of times a week you would like to have a mineral drink. (It should be more than 1 but less than 10).

·         Multiply this number by 2.

·         Add 5.

·         Multiply it by 50.

·         If you’ve already had your birthday this year add 1762. If you haven't, add 1761.

·         Now subtract the four-digit year that you were born.
You should have a three-digit number
The first digit of this was your original number of the number of times a week you would like to have a mineral drink.
The next two numbers are.......
YOUR AGE!

When a friend told me that she could work out my age using a formula known as beer math, it initially sounded strange. When she started working it out using the above formula, the whole ‘add’ this, ‘subtract’ that and ‘multiply’ those seemed complicated. But at the end when I saw that the formula added up to my age and the number of drinks I had chosen in my mind, the whole complex process seemed to somehow make sense. The fact that the answer to the puzzle is accurate no matter the number of drinks chosen and the age of the person I tried it on reinforces, in my mind, the notion that sometimes one is confronted with a scenario that, on the face of it, seem unworkable, but in the end, the result makes sense. Much like the way I view Nigeria, a country of 250 different types of people lumbered together in one geographical location. A country with so much difficulties and dimensions but in the end, despite our troubles, it’s a country that makes sense to me.

Presently this nation exists within an atmosphere of divide and blame; so much so that people are calling for the separation of the country openly. The game where we blame each other for all the evils in our country never resonated more than a millisecond with me. I have always believed that the past and present government officials who have fluffed up the affairs of the country and the extremists that have chosen to exact a culture of violence are individually responsible for their own actions and it is unreasonable to extend guilt by association to everyone else with whom they share the same ethnic identity.

It is a fact that every decision, embezzlement and indiscretion made by our governments and leaders have been made by people from the various different parts of the country as they assemble a government of national character. It is no news to Nigerians that kidnapping, 419, armed robberies has been carried out by the different array of people across this country. Even the bombings and violence now predominantly carried out by Boko-Haram first reared its ugly head when the Niger-Delta militants unleashed terror on civilians in the FCT, Lagos and Port Harcourt. It is unlikely that at any point a region, as a collective, has endorsed the destruction of another as a matter of policy. It is a belief fuelled purely by dogma, self-delusion, ignorance and bigotry in varying levels.

When commentators and terrorists publicly refer to Nigerians in “us and them’ terms; when they suggest the separation of Nigeria in order to rid the country of ‘the bad-people’, it amounts to the pursuit of an agenda to revoke the full civil liberties of other Nigerians. Also, the people who think they are defending their freedom of speech and action by unreasonably reducing every mishap and tragedy in this country down to ethnic and religious indices, have not the ability to exercise these freedoms responsibly, or judge whether others do so because they are equally segregating others.

The truth is that anyone who continues to spread disharmony and promote dichotomy between the different regional and ethnic groups in the name of fighting for freedom, is not so different to those that set out to harm innocent Nigerians through violence or otherwise. They play a large part in perpetuating the bloody ethnic conflicts and tense inter-religious hatred we see today. We demonize the extremes of violence, but each form of violence exaggerates an endemic process of persuasion by those at the top of the social order. Most violence is not idiosyncratic: An irresponsible and careless expression by influential members of a society has the greatest potential of taking on a physical form. If those of us who are better informed continue to encourage inaccurate information of negative rhetoric and stereotype, then Nigerians, together or apart, will never overcome.

We need to start addressing the real issues and the particular individuals that have decayed this nation and apportioning blame where blame is due rather than allowing primitive sentiments to oppress our minds. If individuals in government loot our coffers, they, and not their village folk, should take individual responsibility for their misappropriation. If some crazy, demonic fanatic goes on a murderous rampage and blows up guiltless Nigerians, the blood of the innocents should be on that individual person’s hands and not on all the people who read the same scripture as him.

In the 52 years that we have existed as an independent country, terrible things have happened to Nigeria; gross amounts of abuse, loathing and corruption have underlined our existence. But with the bad, comes the good because in those 52 years, wonderful things have also happened. I have always believed Nigeria’s main asset is its people and diversity. Whenever I meet a Nigerian abroad, the tribe they come from or the stereotypes that their region is burdened with has never been a consideration for me. The fact that they come from Nigeria always gives me a sense of camaraderie and pride. Yes, we are different; different customs, different foods, different languages, different attire, different features and different beliefs but not so different that we cannot respect and embrace those differences.

I am a Hausa/Fulani from Katsina who is absolutely proud of my identity, culture and heritage. But before that I am, first and foremost, a Nigerian to my very core with the spirit and soul of my beloved motherland. I am more than happy to come from the most populous, interesting and diverse country in Africa.

This nation is very complicated and disturbed, but through God’s will we exist as a nation. And just like Beer Math, although we are a complicated formula, the different and various people fated together under this nation in theory does make sense to me. So if anybody tells you that Nigeria can add and multiply its worth by subtracting a certain region and dividing the country, despite the fact that their words sound like it’s emanating from a beer parlour, tell them about the unconventional logic I showed you today in Beer Maths!

Ms Musawa a Nigerian lawyer based in the UK is a columnist of Premium Times and can be reached on twiter @hanneymusawa

Travails of the Plateau Fulani

Fifteen Minutes  with Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

drbabaahmed@yahoo.com

Peace is when nobody is shooting. A ‘just peace’ is when your side gets what it wants — Bill Mauldin.

I am writing this column two days before you read it. The past few days have been full of stories, many of them contradicting each other, on developments in and around the camps to which Fulani villagers have been relocated so that the military can conduct operations against terrorists.

Some reports say the military authorities have allowed some of the villagers to relocate back to all but one of the villages. There is virtually no media coverage on the fate of Berom villagers, and the impression one gets is that only Fulani villagers have been involved in these traumatic movements in and out of the villages they inherited from ancestors. It is also unclear what measures are being put in place to police the relationships between the Fulani, the Berom and the STF. The latter has been accused by both sides on numerous occasions of aiding the other party in killings or aiding escape. The question begging for answer is what will happen to Fulani-Berom relations when the military withdraw after their operations. Will attacks on Berom villages cease? Will the Berom sheath their sword against Fulani villagers who they accuse of importing "mercenaries" to attack them at night? Will Governor Jang tone down his own rhetoric and posture which fuels the crisis in Plateau state? 

Before the reports that some Fulani are being allowed to return to some of their villages started coming in, indications emerged that many of them were insisting on abandoning the camps in which they had lived for about a week, for their villages. They had been complaining of being virtually abandoned in camps that lacked basic essentials such as good water, food and medical facilities. With the commencement of the Ramadan fast, the pressure to stock-up was mounting, and many had quietly voted with their feet and returned home. On the whole, the life of these villagers in the past few days has been, to say the least, unenviable. Tossed between uncertainly and insecurity, they had become a symbol of a deep crisis over the manner the Nigerian State treats its citizens. It is very unlikely that these Fulani villagers will find peace in the near future, whether they are in camps or in their villages. In that respect, they are not unlike almost every citizen in Plateau state, no thanks to a state government policy which has very rigid and hierarchical order of rights and privileges of communities and citizens based on tribes and religions. 

If these Fulani villagers had abandoned the camps they only moved into reluctantly and with profound suspicions, they would have confronted the security agencies with difficult choices. They had been moved out ostensibly on the grounds that the military operation planned to eliminate terrorists near or around their villages will require about 48 hours to complete, but they may have to stay away for at least two weeks to guarantee that they stayed completely out of harm's way. If the military insists that it is still involved in flushing out terrorists in their villages, any presence will endanger the Fulani villagers. It is very likely that the military will warn them to stay away, in camps or anywhere else that is not their villages. Any casualties registered among the villagers will be blamed on their stubbornness, and some people may even accuse them of sabotaging the efforts of the military to expose the terrorists hiding in or near the villagers. If the villagers relocate in large numbers and frustrate operations, the military may place their villages under prolonged siege and operations which will place them at great risk. 

Although periods have been mentioned by the military for the operation and possible return dates, the Fulani villagers who have been relocated have no say on when it will be concluded, or when they can return to their villages. It is now entirely up to the military authorities to say when it is safe. So if the villagers heed the warning of the military to stay put in their camps, they may be in for a long haul. A long stay in squalid and unsafe environment will be even more difficult to bear during the month of Ramadan. If any thing happens to their villages to make it difficult for all of them to return, they will become permanent refugees. The longer they stay away, the more difficult it will be for them to return. Other communities on the list of "settlers" will read their fate in the travails these villagers.

Still it made sense to advise the Fulani from the villages of Mahanga, Kakuruk, Kuzen, Maseh and Shong to stay in the camps while the military operation goes on. Common sense will dictate that the seeming certainty by the military that there is terrorist presence near their villages, and the steely determination that they must be flushed out should be taken seriously. If indeed, non-local terrorists exist which have been responsible for the mass murders in Berom villages these past few weeks and months, then it is eminently in the interest of these Fulani villagers to facilitate or cooperate in their removal. They are in as much danger of violent criminals who attack Berom villagers as the Beroms themselves. There is also the imperative of the Fulani showing transparent respect of security, law and order, and complying with instructions which enhance their security and those of their neighbours. Finally, non-resistance may persuade the authorities to adopt a more conciliatory stance towards the longer-term welfare of the Fulani villagers, who are, in any case, almost entirely powerless in these circumstances. 

But those who encouraged the Fulani to accept all the conditions laid down by the military and suffer the inconveniences will be well advised to recognize some of their important concerns. The Fulani villagers are already substantially guilty by association in the eyes of the security agents and Plateau State Government. The suspected terrorists who kill Berom are related to the Fulani in official and popular perception, because they do not kill Fulani. The heavy hand of the state will most likely be felt by these Fulani villagers, and the slightest expression of grievance will be interpreted as obstruction or complicity. 

Second, the Fulani villagers have no faith in the capacity of Plateau state government to be even-handed or compassionate where it becomes involved in their welfare or plans over their location or relocation. They are already condemned as settlers, even though many of the villages have had Fulani in them for over a century. The military in the locality were reminded of the very deep distrust of the villagers when they initially refused to accept the relief items which got to them on the second day of their relocation. The Plateau state government will be entirely happier if these Fulani villagers do not relocate back to their villages at all. The government will see this as a solution to a seemingly endemic conflict in which villagers are shot, hacked or burnt mostly while asleep, and their murderers melt into the night. Berom villagers do not trust the Fulani villagers. The reverse is also the case. At least the Berom have a governor who is unabashedly Berom and Christian. The Fulani have only a poor reputation as settlers who attack indigenes at will, or import "mercenaries" to do it for them. Now they join the Hausa indigenes of the state from Jos, many of whose fellow indigenes would also love to relocate permanently. In Plateau state, you have no citizens, only settlers and indigenes.

The Fulani villagers who are now caught between the hostility of the state and other communities; and the instinct to stay put because they have no safe alternative, must be protected by other Nigerians. They must be protected because they alone are powerless to resist the onslaught of a Nigerian state which sees this operation as an important exercise that will show its seriousness and capacity to tackle terrorism. They must be protected because they represent every citizen or community whose basic rights may be abridged by illegal and arbitrarily actions of those in power, who think our tongue or faith can be evaluated and ranked by them. They must be protected because they represent the tipping point in an emerging disaster being triggered by the Plateau state government, which will attack the very soul of a plural nation such as ours. The Fulani villagers should not be used to appease the incompetence and arrogance which have brought danger to every citizen of Plateau state. Those villagers are us. They must be protected where they are, and be allowed to relocate as early the imperatives of national security demand. 

 

The scramble for Nigeria.

Written by Abdulrazaq Magaji

A mad scramble for Nigeria has been underway since 1999. The name of the game is called privatisation. It was a programme put in place to dispose of some 1,000 state-owned enterprises and institutional buildings to a few highly placed Nigerians and their foreign collaborators. The exercise has never been transparent; it was not intended to be anyway. So far, it has been characterised, in typical Nigerian fashion, by greed and avarice. While privatisation may not be entirely dismissed, the manner in which it has so far been implemented in Nigeria leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

For decades, Nigerians have been contending with many non-performing state run enterprises and past efforts to stem the tide failed to turn things around. But while Nigerians knew this and more, and welcomed any moves at repositioning these money guzzlers, they hardly knew former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, had unpatriotic plans when he labelled all state run enterprises as corrupt and promised to breathe fresh life into them. Thereafter, the government proceeded on a frenzied and incoherent privatisation exercise that has continued to be the source of embarrassment and shame to Nigerians. Rather than handing over the enterprises to efficient private investors with the requisite technical knowhow and experience, the government proceeded on an exercise that was largely shrouded in secrecy and bereft of even the semblance of transparency. Most of the enterprises, including institutional buildings, were cornered by shady investors and their collaborators in high places in government. Even some of its most vociferous proponents believe so many things have gone wrong with the privatisation exercise. In an unusual admission of failure, the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) the body charged with overseeing the privatisation exercise recently revealed that a miserly 10 percent of the 400 hundred privatised firms in Nigeria are properly functioning. Even at that, many sneering Nigerians and experts hotly dispute this figure.

One of the early signs that Obasanjo presided over a monumental fraud in the name of privatisation broke two months after he eased himself out of office following a failed bid to elongate his tenure. While on hand to receive a delegation from the United States Department of Energy on 17 July 2007, then director-general of the BPE, Irene Chigbue, was still maintaining that the handing over of Port Harcourt Refinery Company and Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company to Blue Star Oil Services Limited was a transparent exercise which, in her words, resulted from ‘a complex five-year transaction process conducted subject to international best practice and following the adoption of a multiple-bidder competitive tender process’. Nigerians knew Mrs. Chigbue was being economical with the truth as the privatisation of the refineries, like other hastily conducted ones in the twilight of the Obasanjo administration, was not transparent and apparently carried out to reward friends and loyalists of then outgoing President Obasanjo.

The flawed transaction surrounding the refineries is just one of many examples of the haphazard implementation of the privatisation policy. As if to confirm the fear of Nigerians, the privatisation exercise, right from the beginning, has been bogged down by greed, avarice and absence of transparency. These are evident in the sale of institutional buildings such as the Apo Legislative Quarters under the guise of the monetisation programme, the ‘concessioning’ of the National Theatre, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos International Trade Fair Complex and the stalled sale of Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), as well as reforms in the ports, and power and oil sectors. For similar reasons, the sale of national steel companies located at Ajaokuta and Aladja, Daily Times of Nigeria, African Petroleum, ALSCON, NAFCON, Eleme Petrochemicals and their attendant labour disputes, the controversial auction sale of African Petroleum and Stallion House, the sale of Federal Government properties in Lagos and Abuja, among others, have stalled with millions going down the drain.

Taken on its own, the sloppy handling of the sale of Ajaokuta Steel Company, built at a cost of $1.5 billion, is a classic example of how fraud was perpetrated in the name of privatisation. SOLGAS, the company Ajaokuta Steel Company was handed to, clearly lacked the managerial skills and technical knowhow for the big job it was saddled with. After months of squabbles with the local branch of the iron and steel workers union, Nigerians woke up one day to discover that vital components of the company had been dismantled and shipped out of the country. All an embarassed federal government did was to query SOLGAS. The outcome of the inquiry was a termination of the agreement by the federal government after which an Indian conglomerate was drafted in by the Obasanjo administration after the Indians paid $30 million. Today, the original dream of Ajaokuta to power the nation’s industrial take-off remains a dream.

NITEL might not have been a shining example of state run enterprise but the organisation, despite its structural weakness, was paying dividends in billions of naira to the Nigerian government. Rather than reposition this goose that laid the golden eggs, Obasanjo, upon assuming office in 1999, dubbed NITEL as a corrupt organisation that needed to be privatised. NITEL was handed over to IILL Limited, a company that did not have the technical knowhow to handle the project. Worse still, IILL Limited lacked the financial muscle to finance the purchase. Eventually IILL Limited could not pay, a situation that paved the way for Pentascope, a backwater Dutch company brought in by Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. It did not take much effort to discover Pentascope was a mere front. NITEL reportedly suffered a N100 billion deficit after the Pentascope debacle. After stumbling from one crisis to the other, the company was forced off the stage but not before it turned NITEL’s account into red and cleared what was left of the company’s offshore foreign currency savings. Any dream of NITEL escaping insolvency perished when TRANSCORP, a so called home grown company, was brought in as NITEL’s undertaker. 13 years on, the mad scramble for NITEL’s jugular is still ongoing, as her assets, spread across the country, have been shared and cornered by a privileged few.

A similar fate befell Daily Times of Nigeria (DTN). Until the early 1980’s, DTN was the largest Nigerian newspaper corporation with landed properties worth billions of naira. It was sold to Folio Communications as scrap. The matter was finally resolved by a Federal High Court of Nigeria ruling in January 2010 voiding the sale of 140 million shares of DTN to Folio Communications by the BPE. According to the court, Folio Communications acquired the Daily Times without paying a dime but curiously used the company’s shares and assets network to secure a bank loan to the tune of N750 million from Afribank. Folio Communications did not even bother to repay the loan before it stripped and sold off several DTN properties and assets. Another major scam concerns the fate of Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja. In the frenzy to sell off the buildings, lawmakers who arrived in Abuja believing they would be allocated the flats were momentarily stranded because the housing units originally built for the MPs had been sold to their predecessors. Though more than N25 billion was realised from the sale of the Legislative Quarters, the nation has been groaning under the burden of an annual budget of N3 billion for accommodation allowances, thereby placing a big question mark on the long term benefit of disposing of the Legislative Quarters.

The sale of institutional buildings, including eye-popping presidential guest houses, which ended up in the hands of serving public officials heightened fears among Nigerians that there was more to the privatisation process than they were made to understand. It further confirmed the fear of Nigerians that the exercise was taken advantage of primarily by residents within the corridors of power and their loyalists. Some instances will suffice: Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, bought the presidential guest house at No. 16 (now No. 12) Mambilla Street, off Aso Drive, Maitama, Abuja; Dr. Andy Uba, former Special Assistant to the President on Domestic Matters, dethroned as governor of Anambra state by a Supreme Court judgement which reinstated Peter Obi, bought the property at No. 19 Ibrahim Taiwo Street, Aso Rock, Abuja; Mrs. Remi Oyo, Senior Special Assistant to the former President on Media bought the property on Yakubu Gowon Crescent, inside the Presidential Villa; while Dr. Mohammed Hassan Lawal, former Minister of Labour and Productivity bought the property on Suleiman Barau Street, Asokoro, Abuja. Mr. Akin Osuntokun, former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and, later Honorary Political Adviser to the former president, bought the presidential guest house at No. 2 Mousa Traore Crescent, Abuja; while the official residence of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) was cornered by then IGP, Mr. Sunday Ehindero.

The criminal desperation to sell off Nigeria soon became a source of embarrassment to some of the main beneficiaries of the exercise. For instance, in March, 2007, Obasanjo’s deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar said:

The well-conceived and well-intentioned privatization programme, which was designed to transparently transfer state-owned assets to private hands to ensure better service delivery, has gradually been personalized and our prized economic assets and choice enterprises have been cornered and auctioned off to a tiny cabal of private sector interests closely associated, or in full partnership with those in the corridors of power, with little or no pretence at due process or transparency… (They) used the privatization programme to auction our crowned jewels to themselves at rock-bottom prices.

He should know because as vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar chaired the National Council on Privatisation between 1999 till he fell out with Obasanjo in 2005. Four months later, specifically in July 2007, Senator Ahmadu Ali, former chairman of the ruling People’s Democratic Party added his voice to what had become a national uproar: ‘This is an age when they sell off everything including the family silver. I don’t encourage all these things. I don’t see why Federal Government Colleges should be sold. I don’t see why certain things that are of national security should be sold’.

The private sector was at its infancy when Nigeria inherited its colonial capitalist economy at independence. With the first coming of the military in 1966, Nigeria, in line with the policy of non-alignment, adopted a hybrid of state capitalism and socialism with significant private participation. In 1973, the military government introduced and rolled out an Indigenization Decree which nationalised operations run by multinational corporations and brought them under state control. The result was the proliferation of more 1,000 state run enterprises funded by Nigeria’s new found oil wealth. However, the crash of international oil prices in the early 1980’s, dwindling annual profits of state run enterprises and operational problems of nepotism, excessive bureaucracy, gross incompetence in management, lack of effective control and supervision by the Government among others made increased private participation in the national economy imperative. The response of the military administration of President Ibrahim Babangida to these challenges was the establishment of the Technical Committee on Privatization and Commercialization (TCPC) headed by the late Hamza Rafindadi Zayyad.

Under Rafindadi, the TCPC was widely hailed for laying down enduring structures to ensure effective privatisation of state run enterprises. Its assignments and targets were the disposal of Government equities in the Nigerian capital market, the privatisation of commercial and merchant banks, cement companies etc. To build on these economic landmarks, the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) was established in 1999 as a successor to the TCPC. The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) was also established as the supervising body to BPE. These two regulatory agencies on Nigeria’s privatisation were established through the promulgation of the Public Enterprises Privatisation and Commercialisation Act 1999. But as Nigerians have come to realise, the Obasanjo idea, typical of Nigerian standard practice, altered the original programme of privatisation.

As usual, nobody will be sanctioned for the fraud and, in typical Nigerian style, buck-passing and shadow-chasing have been the game. Do Nigerians have to wait for a ‘corrective regime’ to clear the mess? Should there be a problem in dealing with whoever derailed a programme that was widely hailed at inception? Our fingers are crossed!

Edo guber: Factors that helped Oshiomhole to win.

Written by Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

The declaration of re-elected Governor of Edo, Adams Oshiomhole did not come to many Nigerians and in particular his admirers by surprise. In fact, some of them expected it, though many of them were gripped by a level of trepidation. However, with the build-up of political events few days before the election, the trepidations began to wane especially as more and more political big wigs showed body languages in support of the governor in addition to the swelling army of foot soldiers including market women, students and workers queuing behind him.

True to some political permutation, Oshiomhole humiliated the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gen. Charles Ehigie Airhiavbere (rtd) as he raked in 477, 478 leaving Airhiavbere struggling behind with 144, 235 votes to place second. 

Since the announcement of the results, Oshiomhole supporters are opining that the victory has confirmed the governor’s control and the supremacy of his party in the state.

 Several factors have been adduced for Oshiomhole’s victory. These include power of incumbency, reward for hard work, overwhelming popularity, instrument of propaganda, mass revolt against the PDP resulting in sympathy vote for Oshiomhole’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) among others. 

This is in addition to Oshiomhole’s ability to handle the controversy surrounding the clamour for him to drop his deputy, Pius Odubu in the 2012 governorship election to settle political scores. 

Analysts believe that Oshiomhole was able to harness heavy voted due to the efforts of his administrations towards massive development projects in the state. It is believed that the on-going projects initiated by the administration led the people to support Oshiomhole believing that his continuous stay would guarantee their completions.

 After the first two years in office as governor, Oshiomhole realised that he does not need to go through the learning curve again after providing the needed strategy to support the deposition of the leadership of the PDP led State House of Assembly who were atavistic over ascendancy to power as a threat and dictatorial. 

However, the change they were never prepared for occurred in February 2010 when the former Speaker, Barr. Zakawanu Garuba of the PDP was impeached thereby paving the way for the ACN to consolidate on the victory it secured from the Appeal Court rulings which either nullified the elections of some PDP members wrongly declared by the Independent National electoral Commission (INEC) or ordering for a re-run election which came in favour of ACN.

 Also, the alleged inability for the state leadership of PDP to settle the internal crises in the party due to alleged selfish interest to satisfy certain individuals also pave a way for ACN to have upper hand as it weakened the PDP and its candidates ahead of the election.

 In what appears as to be a deliberate attempt to unsettle the “seen and unseen forces” working against his re-election, Oshiomhole’s handlers stood against moves by INEC to embark on continuous voter registration exercise, which many of them felt would not be in the best interest of the ACN.

 Consequently, a day before the process kicked off, Oshiomhole’s supporters joined him to hit the street in a protest march to INEC headquarters in Benin where he spoke against describing it as a PDP agenda and ploy to manipulate the election. Oshiomhole had in the protest march assured that he would not allow such.

He recalled that in Adamawa, Kebbi, Kogi and Cross River states where INEC had conducted gubernatorial elections, the commission had either suspended the exercise arising from the alleged acrimony or controversial grounds or register at designated local government headquarters. His assertion was melted with accusation and counter accusations by PDP.

 Oshiomhole’s pedigree has also earned him the support of workers and labour unions as well as those of the ordinary people, many of who came out in great numbers  for the election despite the rains to give the PDP a bloody nose.

 The PDP sunk further when many people in the state linked the candidate to the waning apron string of godfathers, who critics believe were no longer calling the shot in the state. The PDP candidate, they felt relied heavily on such big wigs and the people appeared to had decided to throw do away with them and the party.

 However, shortly after the announcement of his victory on Sunday, Oshiomhole admitted that the PDP candidate raised the stakes ahead of the polls. This is especially connected with use of ethnic politics which made him become closer to the traditional institution for spiritual help.

 Instead of subtracting from Oshiomhole, it added to his political fortunes. This is because the voting pattern in all the 192 wards which were in favour of ACN appears unidirectional and it defied all form of ethnic and political colouration. Probably, this will be the first time in the history of the state the people voted across primordial sentiment.

 Apart from being a reputable driver of the party, Oshiomhole excelled, unlike PDP, which was seen as lacking in an enigmatic character as leader in the state, who could be used as a rallying point for development and execution of political strategies.

 Also, it is believed that this is the factor that enabled the governor, who is set for another four years in office to penetrate the PDP ranks as the members sought endlessly for a figure to rally around as many of them were said not to accept the leadership imposed on them.

 Political observers see the emergence of Oshiomhole in his first and second coming as watersheds in the political history of the state as it demystified the legacy of key political godfathers in the state especially Chief Tony Anenih, who has been known as Mr. Fix-it based on his famed ability to help impose leaders on the state in favour of his party, the PDP since the return of democracy in 1999.

In the general elections held in April last year, Anenih led the PDP to prove that he was a force to reckon with when the Party won all the seats in the Senatorial District except in the House of Assembly seat in Esan South which was won by the ACN.

 His fame started falling like a paper castle when Oshiomhole won in the Appeal Court leading to the removal of the then PDP governor Oserheimen Osunbor. 

It has also been argued that the PDP candidate, Airhiavbere, who is seen as a green horn in Nigerian politics would not have scored up to 100, 000 votes, but for the sympathy he cultivated from the people of Edo South Senatorial District whose votes accounted for over 51 percent of those he got.

 The fallout of the grooming that followed the PDP primaries on February 25 held in favour of Charles Airhiavbere has been seen as many as one of the factors that dealt a fatal blow on the PDP. This is because virtually all the people who worked for the party never got the support of the delegates who gave their support for the highest bidder.  

The aggrieved aspirants, who lost including the former governor of the state, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere who had then just defected from PDP to ACN, Mathew Iduroriyeklemwen and Barr. Kenneth Imasuagbon insisted the lacking of fair play which many said further exposed the alleged lack of internal democracy in the PDP. 

In fact, some of the aspirants including Prof. Osubor openly canvassed support for Oshiomhole’s re-elected during the campaign visit of the later to the hometown of the former at Iruekpen, Esan West local Government area of the state.  

Since his declaration as winner, Oshiomhole has been receiving series of congratulatory messages from Nigerians and institutions including President Goodluck Jonathan and other highly placed persons within the PDP. 

It is hoped that the governor will reciprocate by giving the people purposeful leadership in the next four years.

2015: Is the ACN/CPC alliance potent portion to checkmate PDP political stranglehold?

Written by Lawrence Olaoye

Pointing out that the nation’s political firmament is getting more sophisticated and that people are beginning to demand good governance in return for their votes is stating the obvious. The outcome of the Edo state governorship election, where the incumbent Action Congress of Nigeria governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, roundly defeated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s candidate, Major General Charles Airhiavbere, speaks volumes on the general perception of the PDP.

Similarly, feelers from Ondo state where the PDP has fielded its former National Legal Adviser, Olusola Oke, as its candidate in the governorship polls scheduled to hold in the next three months are not really in favour of the party. This is because majority of the voters in the state would rather want the continuation of what they call ‘good governance’ than have the status quo return to the state, analysts have said.

The political sophistication and the uncommon awareness among the people across the country must obviously be a source of concern to the ruling party. President Goodluck Jonathan at the recent National Executive Council (NEC) of the party held in Abuja expressed frustration at the dwindling electoral fortunes of the party following the loss of Edo to the opposition when he blamed the failure of his party to win most elections in the country on unresolved internal crises in most states of the federation. 

Obviously speaking against the background of the party’s loss of Edo state governorship election to the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Jonathan said PDP members are the ones voting the opposition into offices in states where it lost elections. To stem the spate of losses to the opposition, the President said the party would have to formally adopt the amended constitution of the party in order to make all its recommended organs work in order to reduce friction and tension within the PDP. 

But he noted that the present republic would have collapsed but for the existence of the PDP which he said was being criticized for its robustness. According to him, the PDP provides the necessary political pedestal that stabilizes the nation’s polity. 

He said “We believe that if we do not have a party as robust as the PDP, probably, the republic would have collapsed. This is because we witnessed what happened in the first republic. Because we witnessed what happened in the first republic and we know the circumstances that led to the collapse of the first republic, second republic. 

“We know what is happening in other African countries. If the ruling party over intimidates and over imposes, using the weight of the Federal Government and the citizens’ revolts, it weakens the political system and creates confusion and instability. 

“But the PDP, even though we control the Federal Government, we operate a system that even the opposition, even fly higher than us. They abuse us more, but we allow it. And it is the PDP that is handling the affairs of the country; that is stabilizing the democracy in the country.” 

Equally expressing frustration with the PDP, a governorship aspirant under the platform of the party in Adamawa state, Dr. Umar Ardo has said that the PDP National Executive Council (NEC) held recently has failed to address the real challenges facing the party. Ardo said the party’s leadership left out the issue of justice and reconciliation of members only to dwell on frivolities.

According to him, the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur has failed in his first outing by losing Edo state to the opposition in the recently conducted governorship polls in the state.

The much brandished robustness of the party, political watchers observed, may soon be punctured if the PDP to adjust its ways by ensuring internal democracy, justice, discipline and good governance. The most potent threat to PDP stranglehold on the nation’s politics is the ongoing moves by the major opposition parties to form an alliance that may have a lethal effect on the party’s influence.

Already, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) have gone far in their alliance talks. The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) has also indicated interest in joining the alliance with a view to giving the ruling party a run for its money by 2015. Senator Ayoade Adeseun (ACN, Oyo) while commenting on the political situation in the country said the PDP will not find it easy retaining the Presidency by 2015.

According to him, “The alliance negotiations have gone far and people are tired of the PDP government; they desire change and this is the change that we intend to provide by 2015. This PDP government is directionless, clueless; our people are hungry and they are being daily impoverished. Surely we can’t continue like this, we need a change.”

Adeseun disclosed that barring unforeseen political circumstances, the plan by the ACN/CPC parley is to present Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd.) as the Presidential candidate of the union while Senator Ahmed Tinubu would become his running mate. The Senator said all arrangements for the merger scheduled to be consummated by the end of this year have been made.

Optimistic that the opposition would win the 2015 Presidential election, Adeseun said President Jonathan has rubbished the image of the PDP by destroying institutions in the country. He added that the President has refused to implement the budget passed by the National Assembly thereby plunging the nation into the abyss of under-development. He said the nation is facing the challenge of insecurity and unemployment today because the President has refused to release funds to the ministry, departments and agencies (MDAs) for capital budgets thereby causing misery among the populace.

Political scientists who took time to study political developments in the country have pointed out that there are indications that the ruling party would find 2015 tough should the ACN/CPC/ANPP merger work. Basing their observation on the outcome of the Edo governorship election, they posit that the PDP style may fail it by 2015. According to them, the politics of god-fatherism failed the party in Edo and it would continue to fail until the party realizes that good governance is the key to winning elections.

Segun Adewale, a political commentator in his analysis of Edo election said “There was no way the PDP would have won election in Edo and even in the South Westerns states. This is because the party failed to deliver the dividends of democracy when in control. For instance Lucky Igbinedion’s tenure was a disaster for the party in the state. His tenure was characterized by corruption and he was even convicted. How then do you think people would turn around and trade certainty for uncertainties?

“Don’t forget, the same leaders who foisted Igbinedion with his poor performances on the state for eight unbroken years were the same people still sponsoring this Airhiavbere. 

Commenting on the effect of the merger of the opposition on the ruling PDP at the 2015 general elections, Adewale said “The same scenario that you find in Edo may play out at the national level. This is because the PDP government is seriously under-performing. The basic role of the government at all levels is to provide security and an enabling environment for the people to go about their normal businesses. But what do you find? Insecurity everywhere!

“If the merger talks between the three major opposition parties succeed, I see a situation whereby the PDP would find it difficult to retain the presidency and some states of the federation. Every body seems to be tired of the government that has failed to deliver on its promises,” he said.

INEC’s dilemma over party deregistration.

Recently, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) threatened to deregister 46 more parties in addition to seven already deregistered and this move has attracted public reactions. In this piece, Ikechukwu Okaforadi writes on the dilemma facing the electoral umpire at the face of the provisions in the 2010 Electoral Act.   

After deregistering seven political parties in December for failing to win a seat at any level of government, INEC recently threatened to deregister 46 other nonperforming parties. This is based on the claims by the Commission they unviable because they failed to equally produce an elected member for any of the public offices.   

The seven political parties earlier deregistered are: Democratic Alternative, National Democratic Council, National Action Council, Masses Movement of Nigeria, Nigerian Peoples Congress, Nigerian Elements Progressive Party and National Unity Party. 

Those recently threatened with deregistration by INEC include Action Alliance (AA), Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), African Democratic Congress (ADC), African Liberation Party (ALP), African Political System (APS), African Renaissance Party (ARP), Alliance for Democracy (AD), Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Better Nigeria Progressive Party (BNPP), Change Advocacy Party (CAP), Citizens Popular Party (CPP), Community Party of Nigeria (CPN), Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), Democratic Alternative (DA), Democratic Front for Peoples Federation (DFPF) and Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA), to mention just few.

Aligning with this move by INEC, many political observers have opined that Nigeria’s democracy will only be meaningful if the opposition parties are tremendously trimmed to engender a more robust opposition politics. These opinions came on the background of existing 63 political parties that participated in the 2011 elections, most of which did not field candidates during elections. 

Analysts have equally decried the apparent lack of ideology in the Nigerian political system. This is precisely the fact since majority of the manifestoes presented by these 63 parties before they were registered as parties were almost the same, with only mere linguistic differences. 

 There had been suggestions coming from various quarters that INEC should stop funding parties so that those that lack feasibility will either fade out naturally or go into coalition/merger, so as to become strong enough to win elective positions. 

In addition, most of the stronger opposition parties, including the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), have condemned the proliferation of political parties, pointing out that most of them merely serve as tools in the hand of the ruling party for dividing and ruling opposition politics in Nigeria’s democratic context. 

According to the CPC Secretary, Buba Galadima and Chairman of ACN, FCT chapter, Mr Faruk Osuma, since the INEC decision to deregister non-performing parties  is in line with the 2010 Electoral Act, and was not done with bias, people should not see it as a witch hunt.   

Some other political parties and organisations like the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) and Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), hold a contrary view. They argue that the parties should be allowed to exist side by side with the bigger opposition parties since multi party system has always been the joy of democracy. 

They argue that deregistration will only shrink the opposition space and clog the development of Nigeria’s democracy. These sympathizers and promoters of smaller parties have argued that the move by INEC to deregister any party contravenes the 1999 constitution which provides freedom to form and belong to associations; political or otherwise. 

Topmost in their points is that political parties in other democratically advanced climes have never existed solely for winning elections. They insist that most parties in Germany and Britain; even the big ones, do not field candidates in elections but exist for various political, economic reasons and as pressure groups to the ruling party. 

As it is today, fund is a necessary ingredient which drives politics in Nigeria. On the basis of this, most observers have expressed worry over the financial status of most of these small parties. While a lot of them suffer from paucity of funds, a good number depend solely on the grants from the INEC for survival. 

Against this background, analysts have posited that Chairmen of these small parties use them as a means of livelihood, in addition to ‘a negotiation ground for positions or for other incentives’, other than to really win an elective position. 

It would be recalled that the above scenario played out in the build up to the 2011 general elections, where about 44 political parties, most of which did not field a candidates, unanimously adopted President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as their Presidential candidate. 

After the elections, some of them began to push for all inclusive government that will extend Ministerial and Special Advisers and Special Assistants positions to them. They claimed that because they adopted the candidature of President Jonathan and campaigned for him at the grassroots, they should therefore be compensated with appointments. 

These small political platforms, in reaction to the threat by INEC, had counter-threatened to sue INEC over its decision which they unanimously insisted that it negates the provisions of the 1999 constitution on basic human rights, freedom of association and freedom to form political groups for the purposes of election. 

To underscore their seriousness in pursuing what they refer to as their inalienable human rights, some of the parties in this category, in June this year, instituted a case in the Federal High Court, Abuja against INEC for a breach of their basic human rights. 

It would be recalled that after 1999 elections contested by PDP, All Peoples Party (APP) now ANPP, Alliance for Democracy (AD) now ACN, many politicians seeking political relevance began to form political parties to enable them participate in the future elections. But by the time INEC released the guidelines for the registration of parties, according to the 2002 Electoral Act, these politicians were disappointed as they alleged that the guidelines were stifling. 

Some of the parties who could not meet the INEC’s registration requirements then instituted a suit against the commission. The suit progressed from Federal High Court and eventually to the Supreme Court then headed by Justice Mohammadu Uwais. 

On November 8, 2002, Justice Uwais, in a lead judgment, held, among others, that the INEC’s powers to issue the guidelines contravened the 1999 Constitution and therefore pronounced the guidelines invalid. This judgment opened the democratic space, leading to 28 political parties contesting the 2003 elections. 

In the same vein, as to what transpired in 2002, these current 46 parties, including the 7 earlier deregistered, had already gone to court hoping to replicate what transpired in 2002. This move has put INEC in a critical condition, particularly as it cries over insufficient funds to implement its policies and project, not to talk of meeting up with the subventions which the 2006 Electoral Act mandated it to give to political parties.   

To aggravate the situation of INEC, the Chairman, Attahiru Jega, shortly after assuming office, pointedly said that his administration will only stick to the decision of the court. This statement  points to his readiness to uphold the rule of law, as being championed by President Goodluck Jonathan. 

On one hand, party deregistration by INEC is justified by the Act of the National Assembly as contained in the 2010 Electoral Act, which has given a new guideline. Though this new rule comes from a statutory body empowered for such purpose, the role of the Judiciary in reshaping such actions by INEC cannot be underestimated. 

While the decision of INEC is in consonance with the 2010 Electoral Act, the Judiciary may decide otherwise.  This has put the electoral umpire in dilemma as to whether to stick to the powers given to it by the legislature through the 2010 Electoral Act or adhere to the decision of the Judiciary as the Chairman has always promised. 

Though the case is still at the Federal High Court, there are several factors without prejudice, which indicate that the affected parties might win the case against INEC. This is particularly considering the fact that a competent court and the apex court in the country, headed by a reputable Justice had earlier taken a judgment that favoured the affected parties.   

In addition to this, Nigeria is signatory to various international treaties which seek to uphold freedom of association and speech, therefore, proscription of small political bodies would be viewed as a contravention to these treaties, and by extension, a threat to basic human rights in Nigeria.

Assessing One Year of Omobola Johnson.

Mrs. Omobola Johnson

It has been one year that Mrs. Omobola Johnson took the mantle of leadership at ministry of communications technology. Emma Okonji and Amaka Eze examine how far she has gone in achieving her mandate

Before the Federal Government’s  pronouncement on the creation of the ministry of communications technology in July 2011, industry experts were having mixed feelings on the new ministry that was to come. Firstly, they were happy because the   new ministry would become a reality,  after several years of agitation for the separation of Communications Technology from Information and National Orientation, which was the case before the creation.

However,  they were not too sure if government was going to appoint someone with core Information Technology (IT) background as minister of the new ministry, even after the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, assured them of government’s determination to appoint a core IT person to sit at the helms of affairs of the new ministry. In fact, there  was suspense in the air as to who becomes the minister of the new ministry, until  Omobola Johnson was named. Her appointment did not take people by surprise, probably because she came from a core IT background, having graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manchester and a Master’s Degree in Digital Electronics from King’s College, London. Before her appointment, she was the Country Director of Accenture Nigeria.

However, she was determined to achieve results and to surmount the herculean tasks before her as the first minster of Communications Technology to facilitate the transformation of Nigeria into a digital economy.
She saw her position as challenging, but quickly realised that as a minister, she must put things in their proper shapes and move Nigeria to be at par with technologically developed nations.      

Johnson’s Strategies

Shortly after the appointment, Johnson was determined to achieve results, a situation that propelled her into putting in motion, a number of initiatives in line with the ministry’s mandate in order to fast track the development of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector.

She set in motion, the harmonisation of  ICT policies by creating a committee headed by Prof. Raymond Akwule of the Digital Bridge Institute in Abuja, to collate and study all the various sector policies, with a mandate to build them into a single broad-based policy that will address all sections of the ICT sector. The policy document is expected to be the bedrock of ICT development in the country.

In a bid to ensure quality of service within the telecoms industry, Johnson, within one year, also took proactive steps to tackle the challenges militating against service quality delivery in the country. In collaboration with the Ministry of Works, her ministry was able to come up with new ‘Right of Way’ guidelines that will ensure good service quality delivery within the industry. The ministry is also collaborating with the Ministry of Environment to provide guidelines that will address the deployment of base stations required for wireless data and voice transmission.

The ministry is in the process of facilitating the build-out of a robust, ubiquitous and cost-effective broadband network aimed at increasing broadband penetration within the country. These guidelines will facilitate the accelerated roll-out of a broadband infrastructure that includes a connected national backbone, regional rings, metro rings and fibre to the cabinet that should increase broadband penetration from 6 per cent to about 20 per cent by 2015.
Within one year, the ministry has championed the drive to ensure the migration of all governments Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to the .ng domain. According to the ministry, “till date registered email accounts in government have hit 69,000.”

The ministry is in the process of developing a national internet-based portal that will facilitate easy access to government information through publish and inform websites and by December 2014, where every single federal government MDAs will have a functioning published  and inform websites domiciled on the portal.
The ministry is also focused on increasing domestic value added in the ICT industry. It is currently working on local content guidelines that will be issued in the fourth quarter of 2012, which will result in an increase in domestic value-added to the ICT industry.

The ministry said it was working to ensure that made/assembled in Nigerian brands were more favourably positioned to achieve the national objectives of job creation, domestic value-added and growth in the ICT industry.

Public Assessment

Although Johnson’s strategies and score card in achieving her mandate within one year seem good on the surface, some analysts and  critics have said there were more proactive steps she could have taken to achieve quicker and better results. Judging from her one year activities in office, they  have picked holes in some areas of her administration like the harmonised ICT policy, bandwidth penetration, service quality and the planned ICT incubation centres for country.

For instance, shortly after the release of the Draft National Information and Communications Technology Policy by the Ministry of Communications Technology on January, 9, 2012, which seeks to harmonise the policies of all sections of the ICT industry, Nigerians reacted to the lopsided composition of the committee, faulting the ministers judgment on the selection of members on the committee, which they said, did not represent the interests of all sectors of the ICT industry.

Apart from perceived faulty composition of committee’s  membership, ICT stakeholders equally faulted the committees’ work on content development, complaining that the contents generated in the daft ICT policy, had no set goals to achieve its mandates, and that there were no projections of achievable objectives for specific periods, from the generated contents.
  
Even when there was a public outcry for the re-composition of the committee, the minister said what was contained in the draft policy was not the final document, and promised to put into consideration, the complaints of Nigerians concerning the draft policy document. Five months after the first consultative forum on draft ICT policy, the final document is yet to be released by the ministry, despite promises that it would soon be released.

Broadband Penetration

Chief Executive Officer of MainOne Cable Company, Mrs. Funke Opeke, who lamented low broadband penetration in spite of the landing of several submarine cables in the country, blamed the situation on lack of a national backbone infrastructure that should take charge of distribution of broadband services from the shores of the country, to the hinterlands. Although part of the minister’s strategies was the build out of a robust, ubiquitous and cost -effective broadband network aimed at increasing broadband penetration within the country, Opeke  is of the view that the delay by government to build a national backbone, would continue to slow down fast broadband and internet penetration in the country.

Poor Service Quality

Despite the ministers strategy on ‘Right of Way’ in addressing poor service quality in the country, Mr. David Agbaje, a subscriber to MTN, Globacom and Etisalat, blamed  her  for delay in coming up with a solution that will address poor service quality in the country. He, however, hailed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the recent sanction it imposed on MTN, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat for failure of their networks to meet the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set up by NCC, as a better punitive measure to address poor service quality in the country. He called on the minister to be more proactive in ensuring that Nigerians get the best of telecoms services from operators.

Commendation for Johnson
President of the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS), Mr. Deolu Ogunbanjo, however, commended the Minister for her courage to organise a national stakeholders’ meeting in less than one year in office, providing opportunity for stakeholders to contribute to issues of national interest. According to him, since 1999, no minister before her had summoned such courage. He also commended her for considering a national and harmonised ICT policy for Nigeria, and for being proactive in mediating in the face-off between the National Environmental Standard Regulatory and Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and the NCC over mast regulation in the country.

“Her timely intervention must be commended. She  assumed office with lots of challenges, being a new ministry, and I think she is living up to our expectations,” Ogunbanjo said.   
He however encouraged the minister to do more for Nigerians.


Fact File

•        The Ministry of Communications was created in July 2011
•        Omobola Johnson became the first Minister of the ministry
•        Draft ICT Policy was released January 2012
•        Setting up of the policy committee was lopsided
•        Low bandwidth penetration blamed on lack of national backbone infrastructure
•        Minister encouraged to do more for Nigerians