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OTHERS' VIEWS
Whenever the issue of the putsch of 15 January 1966, is raised, there is no way it will not awaken emotions and ugly memories for its horrors. Equally merciless and even more bloody and horrendous is what has been referred to as the revenge coup, given the number of deaths, and the rage that swept through parts of the Northern Region. This is why deliberate efforts must be made at reconciliation from deep our hearts, springing from our souls. Careless and impassioned pronouncements cannot be tools of reconciliation and the balm to heal wounds.
The question that has been asked for nearly six decades is what was the objective of the coup? The question could not have been answered better than by those who planned it. Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, the leader of the coup makers, said in his broadcast that the aim of the putschists he called the Revolutionary Council was to clean up the country and “establish a strong, united and prosperous nation free from corruption and internal strife.” On the indignity to which Nigerians were subjected internationally, he said: “We promise that you will no more be ashamed to say that you are Nigerians.” They were poised to fight those who made the country “look big for nothing… “Our enemies are the political profiteers…those that seek to keep the country divided permanently so that they can remain in office as ministers or VIPs at least…”
Was it an Igbo coup? Major Adewale Ademoyega, one of the three masterminds of the coup answers the question in his book, “Why We Struck”: “Contrary to the load of wicked propaganda that had since been heaped upon us, there was no decision at our meeting to single out any particular ethnic group for elimination or destruction. Our intentions were honourable, our views were national and our goals were idealistic. We intended that the coup should be national in execution so that it would receive nationwide acclamation. We planned that the use of force should be minimal so that our methods could at once be seen as superior to those of the politicians, who simply went on killing the very people that they were called upon to govern.”
The Daily Times which was the leading newspaper at the time reflecting the relief and joy of the nation in its issue of 18 January 1966, said in its Front Page Comment: “For some time now—almost right from the day we came onto our own, the country has been, as it were, at the sick bay. We have been groping along—rudderless, hesitant, unsure which foot to put forward first. For some time now—almost right from that day in October 1960 when we put out flags and bunting in celebration of the dawn of a new era—our experiment in parliamentary democracy, Westminster fashion, which we watched our old masters practice may have flourished, but it certainly did not appear to flourish. Opposition was virtually reduced to a position of nullity.
“For a long time, instead of settling down to minister unto the people’s needs, the politicians were busy performing a series of seven days’ wonders as if the art of government was some circus show. John Citizen was not amazed, but he was powerless, he was helpless.
“Indeed, at one period, it seemed as if the country had reached the famous last days about which Paul wrote to Timothy—the days when men become lovers of selves, covetous, proud, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, fierce, despisers of those that are good, heady, high-minded.
“Still we groped along as John Citizen watched politicians scorn the base by which they ascended. We groped from one trouble to another; from one calamity to another. It was too much, it was enough, but none there was to bell the cat, until the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Today, there is a new regime in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a new military regime. About time, too.
“Something just had to be done to save the Federation. Something has been done. It is a surgical operation which must be performed or the patient dies. The operation has been performed. It has proved successful. And it is welcome.”
Ethnic consideration did not cross the minds of the initiators of the coup. Ademoyega made strenuous efforts to convince the world that it was not an ethnic agenda. It began with him sleeping and waking up thinking about revolution and he found himself, in accordance with the Law of nature, drifting towards kindred spirits. When he appeared before the Selection Board of the Nigerian Army to be enlisted, he met Uche Chukwumerije. It was only both of them that came from outside and were to be tested and interviewed to join the Army. The others were already cadets who had gone through the Military Training College in preparation for further training overseas.
Both were eventually selected and were to be trained at Mons Officer Cadet in Britain. They were meeting for the first time and instantly took to each other as if they had grown up together. Chukwumerije hinted him that he wanted to join the Army to stage a revolution. Both met Ifeajuna who had joined the Army in 1960. In their interactions, Ademoyega found that the three of them were birds of the same feather who were to flock together. Indeed, Ifeajuna and Chukwumerije had been together at the University of Ibadan. The latter meeting Ifeajuna was a pleasant reunion. To Ademoyega, too, Ifeajuna’s name rang a bell. He recalled his feat at the Commonwealth Games of 1954 in Canada where he won the gold medal in the high jump. When he got to Zaria to be enlisted in October 1961 he was met by Kaduna Chukwuma Nzeogwu who was the training officer. Lt. Nzeogwu as he then was, gave him a rousing welcome. Ademoyega was touched by what he described as his humbleness and humanity. And immediately they struck a lifelong friendship. Through their interactions, it did not take time for him to discover that he had found another kindred spirit. The four of them in separate discussions found that they shared the same vision of the political, social, and economic life of Nigeria and that revolution was the answer.
That was how the seed of revolution was sown which was to bear fruit albeit unsuccessfully on 15 January 1966. Chukwumerije was later to abandon his ambition to join the Army. He was successful in the selection test and interview in Kaduna quite alright. However, when he was making preparations to resume, he hinted a British professor at the University of Ibadan that he was going into the Army so he could launch a revolution using the Army platform. The Professor shocked him saying that the Army was a most conservative institution. If he wanted to realise his dream of a revolution he would advise him to look elsewhere. The conversation poured cold water on his spirit. Consequently, he backed out; he did not report for the flight with his colleagues to London, and his seat at the cadet college remained vacant. In other words, what was on the minds of the three principal coup plotters was how they could set off a revolution in Nigeria and from where any prospective participant in their operation came did not matter to them, especially at the last minute.
Mass education was top in their ideology and programme. They believed that mass education, formal and informal, was the answer to mass illiteracy in the land. “This was deemed essential to lift the vast majority of our people out of the bog of ignorance and disease, to make every individual a productive… liberate the minds of our people from darkness… Students and teachers must be made aware that they had a common cause “to destroy a common enemy—ignorance.”
One can begin to sense why they were rooting for Chief Awolowo, the chief driver of mass and free education in Nigeria. Nzeogwu said: “Neither I nor any of the other lads was in the least interested in governing the country… Chief Obafemi Awolowo was, for example, to be released from jail immediately and to be made the executive President of Nigeria.” Nwobosi was to say: “We planned after the coup, none of us was going to be Head of State. Awolowo was in Calabar prison and in our own minds this was the man we wanted to put at the helm of affairs of the Federal Government…We wanted to put somebody who was sincere. I don’t think he was even the best friend of Igbo. He wasn’t but we wanted the job done and we knew that the man who would do it well was Awolowo. You know Zik? Zik is from the next door to my place, from my town Obosi, but I wouldn’t trust Zik to do the type of things we had in mind. I’m telling you the honest truth.” The plan was kept to their chest, Awolowo did not know about it.
If a group had a programme meant to be of immeasurable benefit to the whole country and her peoples, such cannot be said to be an Igbo agenda, and therefore an Igbo coup. What was more, they preferred Awolowo, a Yoruba to Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Igbo, to be President to superintend over their programmes. They had arranged for an Air Force aircraft to be on standby to go to Calabar and fetch Chief Awolowo in the hope that their coup plan would succeed.
Law and order had broken down in the country, particularly in the Western Region following the Federal elections of 1964 and the Western Region elections of the following year, 1965. Both elections were regarded as a farce. Following frustrations with Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa’s administration there were party alliances to have him defeated in the elections. NCNC, Awolowo’s Action Group, Aminu Kano’s NEPU, and Joseph Tarka’s Middle Belt party, UMBC came together to form the United Progressive Grand Alliance to face Sir Ahmadu Bello’s Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) and Chief Ladoke Akintola’s NNDP together with MDF to form Nigerian National Alliance (NNA). Most of the candidates of UPGA were unable to file their candidacy papers because electoral officials made themselves unavailable. UPGA therefore boycotted the elections and insisted that they be cancelled and rerun elections be held. In some cases where elections were held, losers were declared winners. Government party candidates were announced to have won unopposed. NNA fought back, saying there would be no re-run elections. The President, Dr. Azikiwe, was asked to invite Balewa to form the government. The nation was kept in ominous expectation for days before reluctant Zik invited Balewa to form his government. These resulted in widespread rioting in most parts of the country; in addition to rioting were killings and arson in the Western Region reaching a crescendo in 1965. Nigerians yearned for deliverance. It was clear something must give as the upheavals were getting out of control and the capacity of the ant-riot police to restore law and order. While the Federal Government was planning a clampdown on the West in the third week of January, the putschists hastened their plan to intervene in the second week to pre-empt the clampdown.
The observations about the pattern and the unrepresentative spread of the killings were more of the problem and were not without merit; in many parts of the country, they remained unanswered questions. But then coup making is not what you advertise on billboards, in newspapers, or on television. So they used officers they could trust. The misgivings arose more from unfortunate coincidences and sabotage which led to the unrepresentativeness and presented the events as a continuation of ethnic rivalries among the diverse nationalities that make up the country that is Nigeria. The coup makers themselves were crest-fallen and they panicked. The complexities of our country and the unpredictability of human character stared them in the face. Some of their key officers were not at their duty posts on the night of action. Ademoyega says in his publication: “I recalled that about 14 hours before, five majors were gathered to start this action. Now only two of us were together. The remainder had vanished from our sight since half-past three in the night, that is to say, only four hours after we started and only one and a half hours since when action actually began. We had lost Ifeajuna and Okafor both of whom were our only source of troops, weapons, communication and confidence. If we did not have those two in the first place (in view of the strategic posts that they were holding), we would not have started at all. Now we were left in the lurch. Chuckwuka, too, had not joined us and Obienu did not report with his troops.”
The man in Enugu, Oguchi, was a substitute. Major Chude-Soke originally assigned to there had proceeded on a course in India. It was from Enugu units that soldiers were to be sent to Benin. Seeing that the coup had failed in Lagos, foiled by Ironsi the G. O.C., Ademoyega and Anuforo group made the last desperate efforts to salvage what remained of the operation. They headed for Benin and Enugu. It was all unavailing. There were roadblocks manned by soldiers loyal to Ironsi in several places. By this time General Aguiyi-Ironsi having foiled the coup in Lagos, had also made his broadcast that the coup had failed. This meant they had lost Benin and the Premier of the Mid-West Region, Dennis Osadebay as well. Nzeogwu had taken over in the North and had broadcast to counter Ironsi’s announcement in Lagos. He prepared to invade the East and Benin from Kaduna. The Premier of Eastern Region, Dr. Michael Okpara could not be arrested because he was hosting the President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios who came to visit him after the conference of Commonwealth Heads of Government which had just ended in Lagos. Because of international implications in the event anything happened to Makarios, action on unsuspecting Dr. Okpara was put on hold until the visitor left. Troops led by Oguchi surrounded the Government Lodge and put him under house arrest. Orders came immediately from Ironsi and troops loyal to him dislodged those he called “unfriendly forces.”
Were the coincidences contrived? That remains the unanswered question to this day. But certainly not by Nzeogwu and Ademoyega. The North was unimpressed by the narratives and was boiling with anger. In the book titled “Fellow Countrymen—The Story of Coup D’états in Nigeria” by Richard Akinnola, journalist and author of several books, reports Richard Akinjide, then Balewa’s Minister of Education, as giving an account of development in the Ministers’ camp on the day. On realizing that the Prime Minister was missing, they decided to meet where they nominated from among themselves an Acting Prime Minister in the person of Zana Diphcharima. It was only Dr. Azikiwe, the President that could confirm him and swear him in as Prime Minister, and in his absence, by whoever was acting for him. Dr. Azikiwe was out of the country in the West Indies on medical grounds. But there was an acting President, Dr. Nwafor Orizu. When approached he declined to swear in Diphcharima as acting Prime Minister, saying he needed to contact Zik. “Orizu who did not cooperate with us later cooperated with Ironsi and he and Ironsi drafted the speech handing over the government to the Army.” The reasoning was that if their nominee had been sworn in, nerves would have been calmed and tension doused in the North with the assurance that Balewa’s government was still in place. Diphcharima was deliberately nominated being a Northerner. If Ironsi kicked them out it would amount to a second coup. But Orizu said they did not know where the Prime Minister, Balewa was, nor his fate at that point in time. His stance, however, added to the unwholesome speculations about ethnic consideration in the whole saga.
With Ironsi now fully in charge, there was clamour for the trial of the putschists, but they were not brought to trial. The position of the North was six months later to be displayed in an altercation between Major Theophilus Danjuma and the General Officer Commanding, GOC: “You organized the killing of our brother officers in January and you have done nothing to bring the so-called dissident elements to justice because you were part and parcel of the whole thing. G.O.C.: ”Who told you that? You know it is not true.” Major Danjuma replied: “You have been fooling us. I ran around risking my neck to calm ranks and in February you told us that they would be tried. This is July and nothing has been done.” (Excerpts from Danjuma: The making of a General by Lindsay Barrett). The rest as it is said is history. Before the encounter, there had been fighting in Abeokuta, and killings. The North said there were five Battalions in the country. Three were at first headed by Easterners and it rose to four. The fifth was by a Westerner, Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi. There were grumblings that Easterners dominated the higher hierarchy of the officer corps. This broke open after the July revenge coup and Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon came to the saddle. Col. Adeyinka Adebayo as he then was, argued at a meeting of the Supreme Military Council that the way out to bring about balance and reduce the fear of domination was to have equal representation of five candidates per state being admitted at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA). The recommendation was accepted.
Before the July coup, Major Nzeogwu held on to his own territory, determined not to surrender but to “liberate” the other parts of the country. He surrendered only after negotiations with Lagos. The Ironsi regime flew in a known friend of his who was a Military Attaché in London, Col. Nwawo, to do the negotiating and persuade him to let go. Nzeogwu spelt out his terms which included a guarantee for compensation to be paid to the families of officers and all men who lost their lives during the coup, a guarantee of safety for all his men–himself and his colleagues and the lower rank men who participated in the event of 15 January; a guarantee of freedom from prosecution; those overthrown would not be returned to power. There was the assurance that he and some of his men would be members of the government to drive their vision and programmes. The conditions were accepted by Ironsi on phone and personally accepted by his emissary. His friends Ademoyega and Anuforo soon arrived in Kaduna and they went through the agreement together with Nzeogwu. They were filled with optimism that all would not be lost after all. As it turned out it was all a ploy to get him arrested and locked up. There was a parade in his honour and after handing over to Lt.-Col. Hassan Katsina both of them embraced. Nzeogwu drove to the airport and flew to Lagos believing he was a free man. He landed in the midst of hostile faces and menacing guns and was driven straight to Kirikiri Maximum Prison where he found his colleagues earlier arrested. With Nzeogwu in the net, the search began for Adewale Ademoyega, Anuforo, and the others.
It was the end of their “revolution”. Memories began to run through Ademoyega. He recalled Uche Chukwumerije had warned him to be weary of Emmanuel Ifeajuna that he was not dependable and that he would let him down when he would need him most. He told Ademoyega of their days at the University of Ibadan and how Ifeajuna “deserted their group in the moment of action.” Ademoyega himself recalled that when he felt uneasy about the attitude of Donatus Okafor, he sought to take over the beat from him, but Ifeajuna prevailed on him with the assurance that Okafor would deliver. It was the two of them that failed the “revolutionaries” thus lending weight to widespread suspicion of ethnic colouration in the endeavours. Early in the life of his regime, Ironsi showed his hands as an ethnic jingoist. In the prison in Uyo, Ifeajuna and Ademoyega resorted to exchanging blows.
I am unable to see Ironsi’s short-lived regime as a continuation of the attempted coup of the Nzeogwu group which was driven by high-mindedness but curtailed by limited appreciation of the complexities of a heterogeneous country such as Nigeria. The accidental Ironsi regime was without a mission. Consequently, it got the earlier adventure compromised and labeled as an Igbo coup. Lt.-Col. Pam was cruelly murdered contrary to the assurance that where there was no resistance, an officer and a high-ranking politician would only be arrested. Pam surrendered and his wife pleaded in vain. His own plea that his family was young, the youngest of his children being only four and a half months old, fell on deaf ears. Why should Col. Shodeinde be killed with his expectant wife? Why should the first wife of Sardauna who came between the invaders and her husband be shot dead with her husband?
In his book, Cannon Fodder, Recollections of Life in Biafra, Emezuom Nworgu succinctly put it: “A coup spearheaded by Eastern officers turned out to have left Easterners marked out for elimination untouched and alive. This was the first of the many chills of 1966.
“The people of the North, not letting matters lie as it were, went on the warpath, letting the blood of their compatriots from the East.”
Mankind is obtuse and obstinate to reflect: Is this how our world is supposed to be and how it will continue? We have fallen short and the truth is not in us. Mankind has deviated from the Will of God; hence the world is upside down. Nature is not mute, it is man that is deaf, so says Terence McKenna. We should begin to listen to the voice of Nature. Putting the harrowing and ugly events behind us is one of its admonitions to us. Grasping it is so the Dark days do not continue to linger and anger does not continue to rage. We must cultivate love for ourselves, for our Neighbour. It is the way to close the ugly chapter of our history and end all recriminations.
The overbearing influence of Seyi Tinubu over state affairs was first noticed prior to the Lekki Toll gate massacre of Nigerian youths who were out on a peaceful protest against police brutality. Seyi's company is alleged to hold the monopoly of right to the lighting and the camera system at the facility. Though, his role, or of the company was hidden from the prying eyes of the public but its effect set the stage for what will become the worse state onslaught against peaceful and unarmed civilians in human history. They set the stage for what was to follow by switching off the lights before the military opened fire on the citizens, sending countless to early grave. Till date, lack of public transparency still trails the tragedy.
The President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces at that time was Muhammadu Buhari, who by implication is responsible for ordering the shoot at sight of the peaceful protesters.
The worst human puppet in the history of national leadership, once you can find a narrative to appeal to his ego you have pulled the string to get the puppet to dance to your sound. Buhari will later confess what the narrative that got the order out was; "the young people want to overthrow my Government"!
Who pulled the string on the President?
Though unseen, Seyi and Father's hands can't be exonerated from the deaths at the toll gate, while the yoke remains Buhari's burden to bear. Truth has never been buried successfully, if time doesn't reveal it, characters will!
Our King had hardly been crowned when the first son of Pastor Remi Tinubu for the President, Oluwaseyifunmi Tinubu , the Crown Prince of Lagos State and the Olu-Omo of Nigeria showed us their families mission to power. He showed up in the chamber of the state house pacing up and down needlessly during the Federal Executive Council meeting. The rudeness of his conduct not even his father could keep his pretence of. He was forced as it looks now, against his will to openly rebuke his son. Seyi according to Mr. President has no business being in the chamber during the FEC meeting.
Please, what business then does he have to be on the entourage to Qatar?
Tinubu said he will cut the cost of governance by limiting his entourage on foreign trips to 20 persons after the national outcry that greeted the trip to the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates where over 1400 delegates were alleged to have made the trip, and about 590 of them were sponsored by the government at an alleged cost of #885 million to taxpayers.
"Emi lokan"; seems to be clearly defined, "Emi lokan and Sons" Nigeria Limited!
The entourage to Qatar included 3 members of the Tinubu immediate and extended family, 35 members of the main body who arrived in 2 separate jets and an advance team estimated at 40 persons who also flew in a separate jet.
In all, 3 jets from the presidential fleet landed in Qatar, with about 70 persons, excluding flight crew of 15 persons for 3 aircraft.
The Presidency' s ear is lost. It is one which is not ready to be corrected . He has successfully surrounded himself with YES men; sycophants and hypocrites?
No man of conscience should spare Tinubu and sons on this!
I read a friend of mine who is an APC chieftain on the WhatsApp Platform of my Media friends and I was sorry for the President and his family. He wrote;
"This eyesore and hideous incident is another low for Tinubu as a leader. I was appalled and disgusted because this is coming when Nigerians are in pain, despair, hungry and angry about how they are being governed.
One can just imagine how the Qatari officials will be thinking when the President's sons who are not government officials or known investors could be there to talk less of being introduced before the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
I wish one could hear how Tinubu introduced his two sons.
Would he say:
"Meet Oluwaseyifunmi Tinubu my son, the first son of the Federal Republic of Nigeria".
And again:
"This is Oluwayinka Tinubu, the Second Son of The Federal Republic of Nigeria".
I'm just wondering what will be going through the mind of the Qataris.
This is impunity taken to the highest level. It is highly provocative and nauseating. It is disrespectful to all Nigerians. Tinubu is democratically elected as President and not as a King in a Monarchical country. It is high time people who are close to this president talked some senses into his head. He should cease from insulting and disrespecting us.
There is a thick cloud over this country. No one knows the straw that will break the carmel's back".
If my friend was angry with the President and his sons, I would not! My anger is with men who failed to lift up their heads when it matters, led by the Honourable? Can we in all honesty still retain any honour for men who couldn't stand up for their own honours?
Qatar's order of protocol is the most dishonouring one I have seen in my 57 years of life. Next to Tinubu and sons in order of protocol were, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, the Foreign Affairs Minister . The Minister was joined on the line of shame by the elected Governors of Borno and Kaduna, their Excellencies Babagana Zulum and Uba Sani. The Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, made the line with Dele Alake, Minister for Solid Minerals, same for Nuhu Ribadu Defence Adviser, Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, and the parrot at the Villa Ajuri Ngalele completed the line of "Iwofas"(serfs) who filed behind Oluwaseyifunmi and Oluwayimika Tinubu.
Church Ministries like public Ministries are held in trust for the people. Many don't understand it when we demand succession transparency and accountability for leaders of Churches. This conduct is not different from what the attitude of our church leaders are.
I assumed they managed the situation by not walking away from that line of protocol. I have waited to see a resignation by any of the appointees and a media chiding of what the elected Governors were subjected to by the sons of Tinubu but I seem to be waiting in vain to see if any iota of honour is still left with these men that should compell them to resign for breach of protocol and gross disrespect to their offices upon their return to Nigeria.
Dr Reuben Abati, who studied protocol for four years, who wrote and passed exams according to him, asked; “Are the sons of the President not gainfully employed?”.
And I also want to remind Sade, Seyi and Yinka that they are adults and not dependants of the President.
They should focus on their own careers".
What seems to be a rumour before 2023 that the President Bola Tinubu wanted Seyi Tinubu as the Governorship candidate for Lagos State seems to be adding up. I think we should be prepared for Seyi in Lagos as Governor in 2027. Mummy back to the Senate for senate Presidency and Oluwayimika can make do with the Chief of staff to his father. Please, don't dare say it is not possible! What have you done to the embarrassing impossibility that has become our reality in Qatar?
The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamid, after his warm embrace of PBAT was led in hand by the President to the most senior official of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on his entourage without official Portfolio! Mr Oluwaseyifunmi Tinubu followed in order of seniority of protocol by Oluwayimika Tinubu!
Many Nigerians had risen in defence of this indefensible!
What have you seen in the media against this Institutional nepotism by Tinubu? Buhari was no where near this, when crumbs seeking South West Media descended on him. Where are they now? They are shut up by Awa lokan! If not for the Arise Team that raised this, it probably would have gone unnoticed!
Tinubu has exceeded Buhari in nepotism with the appointment of his son-in-law as DG FHA, his brother as a Minister, now his sons were presented to the world as the most senior officials from Nigeria after their father; even though they were banned from attending FEC meeting!
A pity, if Nigerians can't see this "Emi lokan and Sons" Nigeria Limited coming and rise against it!
Dr Bolaji O. Akinyemi is an Apostle and Nation Builder. He's also President Voice of His Word Ministries and Convener Apostolic Round Table.
6
HIS Excellency Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, is a pendulum. He dangles across political and ideological lines. Sometimes, he seems to forget what he said in the morning. It is therefore not surprising that in the Russo-Ukrainian War, he has swung from being a peacemaker in 2022, to an advocate of damaging Russia without destroying it, on to demanding in 2024, an outright invasion and destruction of Russia.
I am sure he is not so daft not to realise that his advocacy to militarily overrun Moscow, is an invitation to a Third World War. I don’t know if he cares; his objectives are to grab the headlines and, position himself as the leader of the so-called free world.
The contemporary Ukrainian political crises began in November 2004 following disputed presidential election re-run between the pro- Russian candidate from the Eastern Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Yushchenko which was won by the former. What followed were street protests in some parts of the country, and the election results were annulled. In the second re-run, Yushchenko was declared winner and was sworn-in as President. This was called the ‘Orange Revolution’.
In the 2010 elections, Yanukovych, the pro-Russian candidate, again, won. This time, his election was not annulled. However, when, three years later, his government decided to sign a trade pact with Russia, rather than the European Union, pro-West forces staged street protests and on February 21, 2014, President Yanukovych fled the capital, Kyiv. Next day, the parliament, claiming that the President had withdrawn from his constitutional duties by fleeing the capital, removed him from office.
Eastern Ukraine protested that it was the second time it was being deprived of the presidency it had won through the ballot box. It therefore refused to recognise the new government, insisting that only a democratically elected President can preside over the country. This led to a civil war in which the Ukrainian armed forces, backed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO, took on the Russian–backed rebels.
Two peace accords were signed in Minsk, capital of Belarus, to end the conflict. The Minsk Peace agreements provided for a ceasefire, constitutional reforms, including decentralisation, a federal system and special status for the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
This was where Macron came in. He, like the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, pressed that the peace accords signed by all sides, should be implemented. But the then Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko, refused to implement them. He insisted on conquering the rebels.
However, Volodymyr Zelensky, as a candidate, campaigned that he would implement the peace accords. He told the Eastern Ukrainians that he would “continue in the direction of the Minsk Talks and head towards concluding a ceasefire”. But after his 2019 election, he reneged and, rather, sent troops to overrun that part of the country.
Justifying his sabotage of the peace agreements, Zelensky in an interview with the German newspaper, Der Spiegel, published on February 9, 2023, said: “Procrastination is perfectly fine in diplomacy”. He added that he merely “jumped on the (peace) train” to deceive Russia and prepare for war.
Former French President, Francois Hollande, confirmed that Ukraine was not interested in a peaceful resolution of the civil war. He said: “Since 2014, Ukraine has strengthened its military posture. Indeed, the Ukrainian army was completely different from that of 2014. It was better trained and equipped. It is the merit of the Minsk Agreements to have given the Ukrainian army this opportunity.”
Merkel also confirmed that rather than seek a peaceful resolution of the differences in the country, Ukraine decided to stockpile Western weapons, strengthen its armed forces and prepare for war with Russia.
Former Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennet, said he thought the Russo-Ukrainian War was avoidable. So, he decided to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, but that the United States and Europe blocked the process, insisting that there is the need “by the West to keep striking Putin” and ensure that the civil war in Ukraine escalated. He reiterated: “They blocked it, and I thought they’re wrong”.
Macron also did not agree Europe should encourage war in Ukraine rather than peace. On February 7, 2022, he met President Vladmir Putin in the Kremlin. On February 22, 2022, Russia decided to support the Ukrainian rebels military by attacking Ukraine. Despite this, Macron kept an open communication line with Russia.
Following the war, he changed his attitude towards Russia. Putin said of this: “At some point, the French President stopped the relationship with us. We didn’t do it, I didn’t. He did. If there’s interest, we’re ready. If not, we’ll cope.”
Then on Saturday, February 18, 2023, Macron moved to advocate the defeat of Russia, but not its humiliation. He told the Le Journal du Dimanche paper: “I do not think, as some people do, that we must aim for a total defeat of Russia, attacking Russia on its own soil. Those observers want to, above all else, crush Russia. That has never been the position of France and it will never be our position.”
At the end of February, 2024, Macron had completely changed his position. He said: “We are convinced that the defeat of Russia is indispensable for stability and security in Europe…We are determined to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes” to help Ukraine defeat Russia. Then he dropped the bombshell: “There is no consensus today to send (NATO) ground forces in an official, acknowledged and approved manner. But in a dynamic situation, nothing should be ruled out. We’ll do everything necessary so that Russia cannot win this war.”
So, does Macron think that Russia, a nuclear power, would watch NATO forces stroll into Moscow? It is like expecting the United States to watch foreign troops march across New York and seize Washington.
Even if Macron is suicidal, I am sure NATO is not. It is aware that even in a conventional warfare, the prize of its troops taking on Russia, will be quite high. Other Europeans are not as daft as Ukraine that is using its youths as cannon fodder. Also, NATO as an alliance, is smart enough to realise that it is not the only game in the world. In other words, in the event of war, Russia will have allies.
Thirdly, NATO is smart enough to know that while the first and second all-European wars of the 20th Century, christened the First and Second World Wars, were fought with conventional weapons, the third one will not be fought only with such weapons.
Since humanity is not ready for the Third World War, it is logical to ask when Macron will leave the French Presidency; 2027 may be too far.
I was already galvanised by the suffering of Nigerians, refusing to become apathetic from the ‘insulation’ conferred by being in the diaspora and was determined to amplify their plight on every available platform. Then a conversation with one contemporary whom I would consider to be materially, professionally and socially comfortable lit a spark inside and infused me with added passion to write this piece with extra fire in my bones and belly!
Aware of the suffering of Nigerians, I have always felt that my writing must be meaningful, worthy of the audience and transformative (at least aim for those objectives). I began to wonder that, if even the so-called ‘comfortable’ are despairing, what must the ordinary Nigerian be experiencing?
When reports of a teacher in Kano, making a three-hour commute to school on foot, no longer able to pay for a ride and stories of people being forced to eat to afafata rice meant for poultry not human consumption surface on the BBC news, this creates hope that the world will take notice. Unfortunately, Nigerian suffering gets eclipsed by the din of the Israeli- Gaza war and the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Not unless there is a substantive (‘they might be coming here!’), familiar (‘they look like us’) perhaps even existential (‘they will take our jobs and outnumber us!’) threat to the daily lives of western populations do media outlets pay much attention. Credit, therefore, to the BBC for reporting the crisis in Nigeria on several of its platforms.
So how did we come to this? The logistical shortcomings and technology failures of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, have been well documented, as have the violence, intimidation and attempts at voter suppression that marred those elections of February 2023. Fuel and cash shortages completed the unholy triumvirate of the 3 horsemen of the election apocalypse.
Nigerians went to the polls to elect President Buhari’s successor, but what they got was electoral malfeasance of the most blatant kind, rubber-stamped by the judiciary. Talk about a ‘double whammy’! And from two of the institutions that are supposed to uphold the decision of the people and the rule of law!! A historically low voter turnout of just 27 per cent, combined with unprecedented division of votes between four leading candidates means that President Bola Tinubu’s mandate emanates from less than 10 per cent of Nigeria’s electorate.
We must not allow ourselves to be victims of gaslighting. INEC’s failures to deliver free, fair and credible elections and the judiciary’s negligence in upholding the electorate’s choice must not be allowed to falter in the narrative. Comments on social media highlight the pervasive tribalism that runs through the undercurrent of the nation like a malevolent subterranean entity.
In some quarters there seems to be a view that the Yoruba are to blame for inflicting Tinubu on the nation, and thus are undeserving of sympathy. The plague of religious, ethnic or tribal differences must not be allowed to overshadow a unifying social, economic and political cause. ‘Ebi n’pa wa’ (we are hungry) is the desperate refrain from people in Lagos, Osun, Kano, Anambra and beyond; everyone is suffering and the political status quo does not reflect the people’s choice. ‘Emi l’okan’ has been replaced by the despairing cries of millions in hardship. War-torn Ukraine has donated 25,000 tons of wheat to Nigeria, eliciting labels of a national disgrace and failed state among others.
Tinubu undoubtedly inherited a record amount of government debt, endemic corruption, high unemployment, rampant insecurity, power shortages and declining oil production that have contributed to years of economic slowdown. A lack of investment in new wells, corruption, and oil theft are major contributors to the decline in Nigeria’s oil production. Globally, increased efforts to transition to renewable energy sources, improvements in energy efficiency, changes in consumer behaviour, and the lingering economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to reduced travel and industrial activity have hit Nigeria’s oil production and exports hard.
Additionally, policies aimed at combating climate change have stimulated investments in alternative energy technologies, further dampening the long-term outlook for oil demand. International Oil Companies (IOCs) are abandoning funding oil and gas exploration, divesting their Nigerian assets and redirecting investment into renewables. In addition to a noticeable shift and reduction in global oil demand in recent years, insecurity is another factor accelerating the exit of international investors.
Where kidnapping has become an industry, no investor in their right minds will commit. The irony is that government reforms to remove fuel subsidy, loosen financial controls and float the naira were initially greeted with enthusiasm by these same investors and international backers, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Short-term pain for long-term gain was one description proffered by an economist.
Now the initial fervour has cooled, replaced with scepticism, lack of confidence in the naira, policy uncertainty and lingering security issues which have converged to drive up inflation and the cost of imports.
Life for many Nigerians has become unbearable. This is a nation already saddled with over 63 per cent of people identified as multidimensionally poor. Meaning that they suffer deprivations across multiple areas: food, employment, security, education, energy, the list goes on. Bearing the unenviable epithet of the second largest poor population in the world after India, Nigeria needed to be prepared for the introduction of these reforms with military precision and in phases.
Addressing the inadequate and poor refinery capabilities was of vital importance before tampering with the subsidy.
Importing over 90 per cent of its fuel exposes the Nigerian economy to fluctuating exchange rates and international oil prices. Adjusting salaries to shield vulnerable members of society, the aforementioned multidimensionally poor, from the worst impact of the subsidy withdrawal required careful planning. This could have provided some mitigation, cushioning the impact of the reform. Amassing foreign reserves to a level whereby the naira could be stabilised, able to withstand shocks from these financial reforms would have been a judicious three-pronged approach in preparation for the changes.
Dependence on foreign investors and international backers was another error in planning. Government mistrust due to lack of transparency and opaque dealings have eroded confidence. The IMF and World Bank have tabled a proposal to remove electricity subsidy. At this particular point in time this is analogous to withdrawing an epidural anaesthetic from a woman in labour during childbirth. The nation is already traumatised and reeling from the fuel subsidy removal, to introduce another painful reform would be madness and would only deepen the wound of the current cost-of-living crisis.
Thankfully, lawmakers in the senate have rejected this proposal, urging the government to focus on distribution and circulation of electricity supply and not tariff increase. In addition to the prevailing crises, Nigerians have also been sweltering under severe heatwaves triggered by extreme temperatures and worsened by power cuts that have persisted for weeks. If the failure to provide reliable and affordable is not an argument against electricity subsidy removal, I don’t know what is.
Anyone can remove anything, but the most important thing is the implementation of even the most necessary actions. The ‘how’ matters; citizen-centred leadership does not subjugate the important to the urgent. External forces and the pressure of the ballot box often entices politicians to focus on short-term gains that may be detrimental to their citizens in the long run. To paraphrase James Freeman Clarke ‘A politician thinks of the next election; a leader thinks of the next generation.’
Nigerians are prepared to sacrifice to improve the lives of future generations and feel that if subsidy removal leads to improved education, health system, transport etc. then it would all be worth it in the end. The necessity of these reforms is not in question; it is the manner of their execution that has left millions of Nigerians reeling. The fast pace of these changes without adequate protection for the most vulnerable has created an unjust, unfair and overwhelming burden amid multiple existing crises.
The state is not an abstract construct but is in fact a representation of the people. Serving the people who constitute the state should be the chief preoccupation of all leaders and ensuring the security and welfare of those they serve must be the principal objective of every politician. Nigeria is a deeply religious nation, where practically everyone professes one belief or another. All the major faiths advocate loving one’s neighbour, placing people at the core of demonstrating and practicing what they believe.
State building and statecraft must transcend selfish ambition, thirst for power, a base desire to tick a box in one’s CV or any other reason other than service to the people. It can be a thankless task and a difficult job, but nothing surpasses transforming lives and making the world a better place for even one person. For change to happen we need a critical mass of like-minded people who will say enough is enough! People are at the core of nation-building; their protection and prosperity are the mandate, duty and obligation of every government.
Strong, consistent and competent leadership that is dedicated to serving its populace is the anchor. Partnership and collaboration within today’s global village will enable wise and capable leaders to identify and leverage the strategic, economic, perhaps even ideological interests of potential partners in achieving their goal to improve the lot of their citizens. A just and inclusive society can be created and corruption significantly eliminated allowing the nation and indeed the entire continent to flourish. This is my vision for Nigeria and Africa and I believe it can become a reality within a single generation.
I remain convinced that today’s challenges can be resolved with the political will, action and focus on what (or who) matters most i.e. the people and support from the international community. We can and must create a better future for humanity. All leaders, serving and aspiring, must understand their unassailable duty to serve and put the welfare of their people first. Reforms and changes must be introduced tactfully and humanely.
Dr Kofo Obasanjo-Blackshire is the
Author of Pillars of Statecraft: Nation Building In A Changing World (2023).
The man in whose memory we gather here today serves as a compass for each of us and a guiding light for several generations of leaders. His principles have withstood the tests of time and geography. He stands as a testament to the resilience of his convictions. Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s life also provides a compelling narrative for every student of leadership—an inspiration that continues to resonate across our community, our nation, and the global stage. Therefore, I am honoured to be invited to yet another avenue to reassure ourselves of his essence.
To comprehend Chief Awolowo’s teachings, we must confront the obscured reality of leadership. The initial trial for every leader lies in overcoming the conspiracies of mischief-makers, sceptics, and saboteurs. For the great sage from Ikenne, his enduring impact persists despite revisionist efforts. Time sifts through biases and lies, and through hidden agendas and propaganda. Time delivers to us the naked truth that defines the tough decisions and sacrifices every sincere leader must make to create a difference
But, in all we do, we must always find strength in the belief of those who trust the process, those who give us the benefit of the doubt. There is no greater honour than the privilege to lead one’s people, and assuming a position of leadership during times of turbulence is the ultimate test of our mettle as leaders. It is in these moments of uncertainty that true character and capability come to the forefront. While the immediate judgment may be rendered by the people we either impress or displease, the long-term verdict is carved by time, the passage of time.
In his time, Chief Awolowo was fought both within and outside his political party. He faced a hostile opposition and was pushed hard to the extent of finding himself behind bars, a victim of his ambition to make a difference. With time, even his harshest critics came to realize the futility of undermining him. He stood out even in death because of his refusal to compromise his convictions. He fought until his very last days in defence of democracy in Nigeria, and these are the examples that make him a hero of the nation.
There is no doubt that time has been Chief Awolowo’s ally. Time has revealed the enduring impact of his ideas and actions. As we pay homage to his memory today, let us recognize that the same power of time to judge fairly connects with the lives and accomplishments of the honourees of this prize instituted in his immortal memory.
Today, we are here to celebrate a maverick change-maker who has not only flown our flag all over the world but has dazzled the world with the novelty of his thoughts, indispensability of his ideas, and dynamism of his actions. Today, we gather to honour a man who has carved his path in one of the most challenging offices to lead—Dr. Akinwumi Adesina.
Like Chief Awolowo, our honouree today has exemplified the values that have shaped the course of history at all the institutions he has headed, all the offices he occupied. I am, therefore, thrilled that the Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize is set out to honour a prophet in his home today. This is the power of standing for one’s convictions and serving humanity fairly. But it is not just time that would pierce through the fleeting shadows of scepticism and propaganda endured in the service of the people; rather, it is the resolve of the people to stand for honesty and justice, even when they do so alone and even when they are outnumbered.
In celebrating Dr. Adesina’s achievements, we are not merely acknowledging a leader; we are recognizing a role model and mentor who paves the way for current and future generations. His journey, from the esteemed institution now named after Chief Awolowo, attests to the transformative power of looking ahead in preparing to hit the runway of history. His ability to navigate the complexities of his role at the African Development Bank showcases not only his competence but also his resilience in the face of challenges.
Once again, and on behalf of the good people of Nigeria, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to our dear brother. This prize is a reminder that we can’t afford not to celebrate our prophets at home. We must always give them their flowers while they can still smell them. Dr. Adesina, a prophet of progress and development with too few of his kind, deserves our collective recognition and admiration.
Above are excerpts from a speech by President Bola Tinubu at the 2023 Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership in Lagos on March 6, 2024
I don’t know how it is in your part of town. But it’s been a nightmare in mine, a supposedly middle-class residential area in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital. Rolling blackouts do not begin to explain the depth of the misery. It’s been a dreadful time of rolling and erratic blackouts. Like surfing an angry wave, if you understand what I mean.
Generators and other alternative sources of power, mostly inverters, solar panels and repurposed domestic gas, have replaced public power supply. Private power supply has become the main source; while public supply, if you ever get it, has become the back up.
At 144 kwh per hour annually, Nigeria is grossly underpowered. It is 80 percent below expectations, with Ghana consuming twice as much, Tunisia over 10 times and South Africa, over 30 times as much power.
The epileptic power supply has flooded my mind with memories of what I used to think of folks at the public power company (we used to call it NEPA) in my younger days.
I still think the demons there do what they used to do – just messing around with light switches as if it was a game of tumbo, tumbo, bas kalaba... Out of shame, however, or perhaps incredulity, I’m not inclined to express my layman’s view of these malicious spoilsports at public power substations as openly as I used to in my younger days.
What I have witnessed in the last two or three weeks with public power supply has however exhumed the scarecrow from my past. I’ve been around a bit and visited such African countries as Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Mozambique, among others.
I cannot remember anywhere with the sort of maddening erratic supply that I have seen in my neighbourhood and workplace recently. I’m tempted to think that, like a number of things Nigerian, there is a peculiarity about the rolling blackouts that make them nearly impossible to replicate elsewhere.
Dead bulbs tell tales
One day in the last week of February, for example, the light went off and came back, surging each time at different frequencies, four times in less than 10 minutes. It was as if someone somewhere was testing the supply or that in my confused state, I never quite saw the light come on before it went off again. That was late evening, after work. I’m not counting how many other times this erratic supply may have occurred after I went to bed that night. But the evidence was waiting the next day.
By morning, I was left with the remains of five dead bulbs and a damaged changeover switch which was barely one year old. It will cost me more than twice the minimum wage of N30,000 to replace the switch alone. These are the only more recent casualties of erratic power supply in my house. I’m not counting the electric kettle or the power stabilisers. On top of that, I have bought more UPSs than I can count. I even use a few of the remnants damaged by erratic power supply as domestic props!
Neighbour from hell
I’m not going to discuss the trauma that comes from generator pollution and noise. I was so distraught by the noise from the generator on one side of my flat that I tinkered with the idea of buying a replacement for the owner, not out of love or abundance, but to preserve my sanity.
Poor fellow! He can’t seem to wait for the light-switch flippers at the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) to turn off the lights before he powers on his contraption. And even when the alarm sounds that light is back, he still leaves the damn thing chugging!
If you live around my neighbourhood or even elsewhere around many parts of the country from where I have also received similar complaints of insurgent blackouts, you may consider noise, the loss of five bulbs in one day or a few UPSs small potatoes.
I imagine that folks may have lost more valuable appliances or suffered more severe emotional and material setbacks. There was a report last week that Nigeria’s Senate stood down proceedings and adjourned indefinitely amidst the power crisis.
But Discos, being Discos, no one can file any legal claims.
Heatwave troubles
The current heatwave has further highlighted our collective misery. With diesel and petrol at over 106 percent higher than their prices one year ago, only those who have solar panels can hope to enjoy a measure of relief for now.
Fossil-fuel powered generators are costlier to run as are inverters, which also depend on primary sources of power to charge. So, those who wish to use some form of cooling at home – especially at night – to keep their heads for the next day, have a difficult choice: spend more on alternative energy or just suffer and smile.
I had a particularly interesting night the day before I wrote this article. I had gone to bed at about 11pm with the generator humming and left an instruction that it should be left on for another two hours. Apparently, less than one hour after I slept, the public power supply was restored and the generator turned off. But as usual, that didn’t last. This was on a day when daytime temperature was about 40 degrees.
Somewhere, in the depths of slumber, I began to feel as if my mattress had been replaced with a cauldron and that the sheets were thermal fabrics. I was in that place between sleeping and waking up, where your spirit is dying to sleep but your body is wracked by discomfort.
The body prevailed and I soon noticed I was sweating like a labourer! I crawled out of my bed and on this hot, airless night, I had to decide between opening only a few windows or opening all the windows with the mosquito nets drawn back. Who, for heaven’s sake, is toying with the lights at AEDC that I cannot even have two straight hours of electricity?
Misery source
Is it all inevitable? Is it all down to poor gas supply at the power stations; compromised grids and transmission lines. Is it, as some have suggested, a lack of competence among the Discos that have also been accused of feeding off the assets they inherited during the privatisation without investing one naira since?
I called my cousin who works at an electricity company for possible answers. I’m still trying to digest his response. Erratic supply – the kind that imitates trafficators – he said, can be caused by several factors. He called the problem, “feeder tripping.” According to him, anything from a bird perching on the wire to a colony of ants at the feeder base or even an adventurous tree branch, can cause a feeder trip.
He said even though staff at the substation are supposed to pick up such signals and act on them, it’s hardly the case and therefore distressed customers like me are advised to call and complain.
Customer service by phone in Nigeria when it’s not a bank teller calling you to ask why your account is inactive is hell. I hardly bother, and I’m unlikely going to start with electricity companies. I’m still trying to figure out how or why we cannot enjoy a minimum X-hour of electricity supply a day, at least under a load-shedding plan that allows consumers to keep their sanity. This story of stray birds, angry ants and stray tree branches don’t make sense to me.
All I can think of, right now, especially in the furnace of our current existence, is to assume that there are some switch-trigger-happy fellows at that substation delighted to ruin as much of my domestic appliances as they can and keep me miserably uncomfortable night and day, just because they can!
I’m counting days until this heatwave is over and hopefully, I’ll once again get some deserved respite, especially at night, with or without “NEPA”!
I read a pathetic report last weekend of how the family of the late Second Republic Senate President, Joseph Wayas, was made to pay the sum of £6,710 (more than N13 million) before being allowed to sight his body in a London morgue. Wayas died on 30th November 2021, so I assumed he had been buried. Apparently, there are outstanding bills to pay for his body to be released and family issues to resolve before the burial could take place. Wayas’ daughter, Ms Donna Wayas who is based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, and Mrs Echiko Julie Odey, were reportedly granted access to sight, and ascertain the state of the body by the morgue authorities last week.
Joseph Wayas
A statement by Justice Maurice Odey Eneji, who chairs the ‘Joe Wayas’ Burial Fact Finding Committee’ explains the issue. The morgue managers, according to the report, insist on collecting the cost of maintenance and general charges for over two years that the body has been kept there. “In line with burial committee’s agreement with Ms Donna Wayas, we need to raise and remit/transfer the sum of £60,478 (more than N120 million) to offset all outstanding indebtedness, inclusive of cost of repatriation of the corpse to Nigeria for burial,” Justice Eneji stated. “We also need to raise and refund the sum of £7,210 (about N14 million) paid on our behalf to the morgue managers in London.”
From the report, Cross River State government managed Wayas’ health until he died in the London hospital. Then Governor Ben Ayade had ordered the release of N200 million to repatriate the body home for burial. But a family crisis was said to have ensued, though there are no details as to what the contending issues are and whether the N200 million was released. “Both the state and federal governments may have committed funds for this purpose (Wayas’ burial) in the past, but he (late Wayas) has not yet been buried,” Justice Eneji said. “He (Wayas) is not in any way responsible for the circumstances leading to the delay of his burial, neither does the delay detract from what he was in, and for, Nigeria.
Instructively, on 4th April last year, Wayas’ burial was the main issue for discussion at the senate plenary. “The Senate needs to, as a matter of urgency, intervene by taking over the burial plans of the deceased,” said Senator Gershom Bassey who moved the motion that was unanimously adopted by colleagues even though nothing happened afterwards. Then Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, even used the motion to introduce a self-serving idea. “Unfortunately, to stop this type of embarrassment, an attempt made last year for Presiding Officers of the National Assembly to be given medical support for life by Nigeria was rejected by us during voting on constitution amendments,” Lawan said. “The embarrassment at hand with the Joseph Wayas remains, calls for reflection and I hope the 10th Assembly will do the needful.
While the 10th National Assembly led by Godswill Akpabio should perish such an idea, they have a responsibility to help resolve whatever may be the issues concerning delay in the burial of Wayas. There is no dignity in having the remains of a former senate president perpetually in a London morgue. And this is not about just throwing money at the problem. What is required is to engage the family and burial committee already in place to understand the contending issues and help resolve them.
However, that Wayas would require crowdfunding for his burial says a lot about our prominent people who pursue no rewarding vocation outside politics. That’s how they end up in penury and at the mercy of government at the twilight of their lives. While politics should never be a source of livelihood, it is for many in Nigeria. This is just one of several issues relating to separation of the public from the private in the conduct of government business that we must deal with in our country. Because it’s about accountability and due process which is too often whimsically abused in different ways. For instance, in Qatar last weekend, President Bola Tinubu’s adult sons were put at the head of the official protocol receiving line that they ordinarily shouldn’t even be on. Besides, as Reuben Abati asked on Monday, don’t these young men have more productive things to do beyond following their father all over the place? Well, these are issues for another day.
Meanwhile, the delay in Wayas’ burial is a result of his religion. Within 24 hours, Muslims bury their dead. But not so with Christians who have turned these ceremonies into something else. I have heard stories of neglected parents whose corpses were carried to burials in Rolls Royce ambulances even when they may have died of negligence. This is a social problem we must deal with. That explains why I was delighted last week to read an X (formerly Twitter) post by Governor Chukwuma Soludo, calling for full compliance with the 2019 Anambra State Burial/Funeral Communal Control Law.
Sponsored by Hon Charles Ezeani and assented by Governor Willie Obiano, the law provides that “in the event of death, no person shall deposit any corpse in the mortuary or any place beyond two months from the date of death, while burial ceremonies shall be for one day only.” The law also bans the firing of gunshots, praise singing and blocking of roads and streets during burial ceremonies in the state. “There will be no wake-keeping for deceased individuals in the state, and all vigil-mass/service of songs/religious activities preceding the burial must conclude by 9:00 p.m. No food, drink, life band, or cultural entertainers are allowed during or after these ceremonies.” In addition, “from the commencement of the law, no person shall subject any relation of the deceased person to a mourning period of more than one week from the date of the burial ceremony.” Any person who contravenes provisions of the law will be fined N100,000 or six months imprisonment or both.
The entire essence of the law, which also prohibits certain cultural practices targeted at widows of deceased persons, is to restore a measure of sanity in the name of Christian funerals. Indeed, the law was championed by then Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor. “I always seize any available opportunity to speak on the dangers of wasteful burials and funerals among our people,” said the Bishop who was appointed a resource person for the bill by the lawmakers during the public hearings. “I have insisted that what we should be talking about is how to give our people decent and befitting living and not befitting funerals by which we mean mindless display of extravagance. The money used for extravagant burials could be better applied to helping the living.”
Like the Bishop, I have often wondered why Christians, whose faith preaches moderation, have turned funerals to an expensive (and vainglorious) jamboree, sometimes involving huge public resources. In 2013, when a leading Christian cleric in the Southwest died, his first son disclosed publicly that the funeral of his father would gulp a whooping N96 million. Against the background that the Naira exchange rates to the Dollar was 157 as of December that year, I enjoin readers to do the arithmetic of the cost of that burial which involved donations from state governments because of the respect accorded the deceased cleric. “The coffin to be used for the burial of our father is the type used for the burial of the late Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston”, his eldest son boasted at the time.
I am aware that an (Owambe) industry has been created around burials, especially in Yorubaland. And, let me also admit, I enjoy the entertainment by undertakers when they play with the coffin. But those ceremonies have little to do with the dead so there is no reason why bodies should be kept in the morgue for months (sometimes years) while loans are processed by some families simply to bury a dead person. Of course, people with means can ‘turn’ the corpse as many times as they want. I have no problem with that. But these ceremonies also require a measure of public sensitivity and moderation.
The critical issue comes when such burials involve elements of public funding. I have in recent days done rudimentary research on state involvement in other democracies regarding burials of serving and former high public officials, including presidents. They do not compare to how we do it in Nigeria where all costs (including buying gifts, procuring rain doctors etc.) are borne by government. Though it is fair to say these ceremonies are only done by Christians. Afterall, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba died recently and was buried without fanfare.
Whatever may be the issue, there is a need for closure on Wayas. The urgent task is for the National Assembly to help pay all outstanding bills in London and speedily bring back his body for instant and decent burial devoid of frills. But we must also do away with some of the needless expenses associated with Christian burials in Nigeria, especially when public money is involved.
The Gifted Wheat from Ukraine
I have always wondered why a Yoruba adage would say that there are things far more shameful than being accused of stealing. With Ukraine gifting Nigeria 25 metric tons of wheat last week, I now understand better the meaning of shame. Announcing the donation, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said the 25,000 tons of wheat from the Government of Ukraine will help provide emergency food assistance to 1.3 million crisis-affected Nigerians in the Northeast. “We extend our heartfelt thanks to the Government of Ukraine, partners, and donors for their unwavering support,” said David Stevenson, WFP Representative and Country Director in Nigeria. “This collaborative effort plays a crucial role in alleviating suffering and maintaining human dignity in areas facing conflict and food price increase”.
I join in extending gratitude to the government of Ukraine for remembering our country even in their most difficult period. But the gift should also compel a reflection on the part of Nigerian authorities. With 42 million people, Ukraine has just about 20 percent of the population of Nigeria. Ukraine’s landmass is 603,628 square kilometres to Nigeria’s 923,768 square kilometres. While Ukraine has 32 million hectares of arable land, Nigeria has 35 million hectares of arable land. Yet, estimated wheat production in Ukraine for the marketing year (MY 2023/24) is 22.5 million metric tons (mmt), according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). And we are talking about a country that has been under bombardments from Russia for more than two years!
By all metrics, Nigeria should not be accepting food freebies from any country least of all from one at war. But that is our sad reality today. Beyond lamentation, what can we do to change the narrative? I have been speaking with critical stakeholders in the agricultural sector and I intend to share my perspective on this page. But the federal government and authorities in the 36 states must find immediate solution to the problem of hunger in Nigeria.
Congrats, Dan Akpovwa
From his high-flying job as THISDAY Diplomatic Editor, Dan Akpovwa ventured out by starting ABUJA INQUIRER newspaper on 4th March 2004. That the publication could mark its 20th anniversary on Monday, despite industry challenges, is a testament to the resilience of Dan and his commitment to journalism. Congratulations, my brother.
Insecurity, lack of forex and low domestic production are said to have pushed prices of food up across the country leading to protests by youths and workers. Some state governors have been reported to have stormed Abuja headquarters of Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to push for increased crop production to ensure food security in Nigeria. Those governors especially those from the southwest have failed their people. They have a template set for them since the First Republic. But rather than do the hard work, they seem to be more interested in building bridges over land in their state capitals or airports even when there are no roads to the airports. This piece below first published on September 6, 2017 captures the embarrassing position of governors of the Yoruba nation.
Insecurity, lack of forex and low domestic production are said to have pushed prices of food up across the country leading to protests by youths and workers. Some state governors have been reported to have stormed Abuja headquarters of Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to push for increased crop production to ensure food security in Nigeria. Those governors especially those from the southwest have failed their people. They have a template set for them since the First Republic. But rather than do the hard work, they seem to be more interested in building bridges over land in their state capitals or airports even when there are no roads to the airports. This piece below first published on September 6, 2017 captures the embarrassing position of governors of the Yoruba nation.
Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be servant of all” – Jesus Christ (Mark 10:43)
Last week, tomatoes and vegetables disappeared from Lagos markets. This was attributed to disruption in the regular flow of some food items from the north to the south by the Sallah holiday. Our inability to feed ourselves 17 years into the fourth republic is perhaps a clear manifestation of deficit of Christ’s defined attributes of servant-leadership among some of our clowning Southwest ‘activists’, the ‘constituted authority and ‘Oshokomole – Ebora tin je jollof’ governors who behave and act as if they are beyond reproach or that leadership is about being hailed by sycophants, thugs and Okada commercial motorcyclists.
But it has not always been like this. We were once blessed with selfless leaders and role models with templates for developmental strategies that did not only guarantee self-sufficiency in food production but promises of a more just, egalitarian society. We remember with nostalgia the selfless services of leaders like Obafemi Awolowo, S. L. Akintola, Anthony Enahoro, Oduola Osuntokun Abraham Adesanya, and their other colleagues who left a lasting legacy in education, health, housing and agriculture with judicious management of the little resources available to them. Their second republic successors such as Olabisi Victor Onabanjo, Lateef Jakande, Bola Ige, Ambrose Alli and Adekunle Ajasin who as governor, refused to spend N50, 000 to fix a leaking government house claiming Ondo State could not afford the luxury at the time, followed the footsteps of their illustrious predecessors by providing quality service to their people. The fourth republic threw up Ahmed Bola Tinubu, Niyi Adebayo, Segun Osoba and Pa Bisi Akande who, like Jakande used his personal car as official car until the state forced him to abandon it. Like their predecessors, they selflessly served the people and we today remember them with melancholy.
The crisis of leadership in the West started in 2003 when Obasanjo under his dubious mainstreaming policy decided to impose leaders on the West. He was to become a godfather to the likes of Lucky Igbinedion, Segun Agagu, Ayo Fayose, Segun Oni, Gbenga Daniel and Olagunsoye Oyinlola as well as other ambitious individuals such as journalists, academics and other professionals who, following their losses in the primary elections of their parties, were seduced by Obasanjo federal government’s offer of funds, security and vehicles to destabilize southwest.
Obasanjo’s hand-picked leaders as it turned out, unlike their predecessors, served none but themselves. Igbinedion left Benin City after eight years in office like a war-torn city. Fayose traded a College of Medicine for a fraudulent poultry farm during his first coming; Oni took Ekiti through three years of nightmare while fighting to keep a mandate the courts finally ruled he never won. His major legacy includes foisting three universities, including the one sited in his village on Ekiti that had no resources to effectively run one. Olagunsoye Oyinlola who admitted to a judicial commission of inquiry of awarding and paying in advance contractors to build stadia around some towns in Osun State and Gbenga Daniel who went around Ogun State with ex-President Jonathan commissioning uncompleted and yet to take off projects.
With Obasanjo’s humiliating defeat by Tinubu, some of the immediate and current leadership which represents the mainstream southwest political orientation were expected to have taken after their first and second and republic forbearers. Unfortunately they seem to have found their shoes too big.
Let us start with Ekiti, the land of honour. Fayemi no doubt made some impact in education and social welfare. But with Ekiti State as the 35th out of 36th on the nation’s revenue ladder, diverting N2.7b of the N25 billion bond his administration secured from the capital market to build a grandiose government house because the then ‘Osuntokun Lodge lacked many facilities befitting of the residence of a governor and therefore very inferior’ to other government houses in the country was indefensible when his government could have rehabilitated the run-down Ikun Dairy farm established by Ajasin in the second republic as part of solution to a geographical region that depends on other geographical zones for the 10,000 heads of cow it consumes daily.
Rauf Aregbesola, after retrieving his stolen mandate through the courts had enjoyed tremendous support and goodwill of the people, all of which he seems to have frittered away because of his leadership style. Although he swears by Awo’s name, he appears to be his own role model. His rather insensitive comment about the state of mind of Ademola Adeleke who recently defeated his APC candidate in the Osun South Senatorial District by-election after rightly reminding Ede people that the senatorial seat was not hereditary seem to confirm the fears of those who argue Aregbesola has been wearing a shoe bigger than his leg.
Abiola Ajimobi during his first term, keyed into Buhari’s green alternative initiative which focuses on commercial agriculture development programme, by allocating tractors, planters and harvesters to each of the 33 local government areas. Most of those equipment are however said to have either been sold off or mismanaged by past caretaker chairmen while he as ‘the constituted authority’ battles those who put him in power especially students of Oyo State tertiary institutions who have been out of schools for the greater part of the year and their civil servants and pensioners parents who have not been paid for several months.
Ajimobi who started well is also today enmeshed in Ibadan traditional chieftaincy controversy as he apes ill-informed military men who unilaterally made kings out of ‘Baales’ as he creates, by fiat, kings with crowns and sceptres without kingdoms.
While Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State on his part is striving to turn his state to number one industrial hub in Nigeria with plans to build airport before 2019, two years to the end of his second four years term, his plan towards agriculture that will lead to industrialisation remains a plan. In any case, since people have to eat before the transformation of agriculture from commercialization to industrialization, keying into the Buhari agriculture initiatives designed to achieve food security, alleviate rural poverty and end hunger ought to be the starting point.
If leadership, as Sun Tzu, (Chinese General, and 544–496BC) has said “is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, and discipline”, a well-focused Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos who operates as a servant rather than a ‘constituted authority’ better appropriates the virtues of his forbearers. After insisting “there is no alternative to achieving food security other than tilling the land and embrace best practices that will improve efficiency in the agricultural value chain”, he has in practical terms sealed a landmark partnership with Kebbi State government for the development of agricultural commodities such as rice, wheat, groundnut, onion, maize and beef value chain. His government has also acquired 500 hectares of farm land for rice cultivation in Eggua, Ogun State, 84.7 hectares at Okinni in Osogbo for oil palm processing
Here is what happens every single time a Nigerian “big man” and the common man enter a contest of wills: the ethically bereft Nigerian police is more than likely to fight the battles of the rich and powerful than to side with justice or even common sense. We saw that happen in the case of Mrs Aisha Buhari, who was enraged when a random guy on Twitter body-shamed her. We have also seen instances when Christian and Muslim clerics (this column has addressed several cases) use their almighty influence with the police to arrest and detain people over what should have been treated as mere civil cases.
Recently, the police arrested 25 women who were protesting hardship and hunger in Niger State. You wonder, do the issues against which these women are publicly demonstrating not affect even those officers? The police officers are suffering along with millions of Nigerians, yet their response to the protesters of a joint cause was aggression.
Yes, their stated reason for arresting those women was that they attacked the police. Now, it is not only unbelievable that women ranging between 30 and late 50s would “turn violent” against the police, I also find it quite laughable that the police’s report of the “dangerous weapons” on these women—and this is quoting directly from the police statement—are “a bench and a stick used as barricade, three knives, one scissors, one cutlass, one saw blade, one iron pipe, four other sticks, two wraps of Indian hemp, charms, etc.”
Reading that, you question whether those women were truly arrested because they threatened the officers with “dangerous weapons,” or that their public demonstration exploded the political establishment’s insistence that all is well within the country.
The singer Davido frequently shares a disturbing story about his billionaire father using the police to arrest his people to dissuade him from taking up a singing career. It is telling that we live in a jungle when a father uses supposed instruments of justice to oppress people going about their way just to discipline his own son. When a society gets to the point where accounts of outright power abuse like that are narrated without moral compunction, and the media too reports it as entertainment, then you know how much the people lack a sense of justice.
The same impunity is playing out in the ongoing case of Chioma Egodi who wrote a review of a tomato, and the CEO of the company producing the item Eric Umeofia who was slighted by her temerity enough to use the police to hound her. The high-handedness of the police makes you wonder what exactly is in it for them that they turned themselves into the villains in this story. Had the case not involved a big man, would they have deployed so many resources over it?
If the Nigerian police had a sense of justice or even proportion, they would simply have encouraged Umeofia to pursue a civil case. By running the big man’s errands against a fellow Nigerian, they leave you no doubt which God they truly serve. The way they arrested Egodi, transferred her to the FCT, detained her, and later maintained a standoff at her apartment for over 10 hours, you would think they were dealing with a case of terrorism. Our police (including other security agencies like the DSS) can be unethical. Their professional instincts are too raw; their uncultured self constantly grates the refined surface of democracy.
As for those who suggest Egodi should apologise to Umeofia so the case can die, I hope you have thought through what you are encouraging.
First, given our kind of society, we must always be mindful that certain resolutions create precedents. Ours is a country where inept politicians, forever seeking to distract attention from their serial failures, blame social media for all the vices in the land. If you make the mistake of justifying someone’s oppression because of their social media posts, you may be loading the very weapon that the likes of Femi Gbajabiamila—one of those seeking means to launch a malicious social media agenda regulation—will one day put to your head. A case like this will be their reference point on how far they can go to beat down anyone who ruffles their small feathers. And please, do not think anyone is immune from such oppressiveness. Who would have imagined that the police would one day go crazy over a tomato review?
Second, Umeofia does not seem like the kind of person with whom anyone can reason. In his interview with Arise TV, he swore he would rather die than be persuaded to give up his pursuit of Egodi. One cannot but wonder how bored a CEO must be when he has time and ego to commit to such a trivial matter. A more discreet response to Egodi and the matter would have been long dissolved in one of the endless chatters that flow through social media every moment. In any case, my earnest plea to Umeofia is for him not to die. We need him to live so his intransigence can become a metaphor. His fly that listens to no adviser will end up as a social media meme.
As for the ‘both-sideists’ waiting for me to chide Egodi, please know I do not think she did anything wrong. Yeah, this is merely a needless literalisation of an everyday expression. Even if she had used the word “killing” as the man inferred from her Facebook post, taking it as murdering people is merely an overinterpretation. We frequently use the word “kill” in contexts that have little or nothing to do with literal deaths. When we say, “Lagos traffic is killing people,” does that mean they are dropping dead on the highway? Some of us grew up with parents who, in moments of exasperation, shout, “You this child will kuku not kill me!” Were they talking about actual deaths? The famous Fugees song, “Killing me softly,” was it about murder?
Listening to the people overstretching the meaning of Egodi’s Facebook post just to defend police abuse, you wonder if this is a matter of half-education or just another instance of the Nigerian habit of siding with power. The average Nigerian fetishises power so much that our people will argue against their own best interests. Our police, I admit, is a reflection of our social orientation.
For the rest of us, the proper course of action is to donate money toward Ms Egodi’s legal funds. If you believe in justice and democracy, then please support her case through the courts. No one contests that Umeofia has the right to pursue his case even all the way through to the Supreme Court. Let the courts be the ones to determine that we no longer have rights, not the police playing a villainous role in the whole matter. They should stand down all the muscular displays and treat this as if the two people involved in the case are social equals.
We do not need to like Ms Egodi or her opinions but supporting her right to free speech is a moral duty. When Nigeria gets to the point that we can no longer express ourselves because some high-on-power police officers are going to come barging through our doors, then we might as well have returned to living under military rule. No, this is democracy; we should be free to explore the bounds of our freedom. Nigeria’s democracy might not have done much for us in terms of citizenship, but we still have free speech. The messengers of darkness cannot degenerate our economy, politics, and values and still deny us rights. On this, we must maintain our stand on the resolute ground of principle.
[Punch]
It was a week of raw emotions, tears and tributes as Nigerians and foreign dignitaries from all walks of life turned out in large numbers to celebrate the lives of Dr. Herbert Wigwe, his wife Doreen and Son, Chizi, in a series of weeklong funeral activities. While world leaders like former Presidents Bill Clinton, Olusegun Obasanjo and Emmanuel Macron sent in their video messages, Nigerians assembled at Eko Hotel and Isiokpo community to bid farewell to this icon. The week started on Sunday, March 3 with employees of the Access Bank Group (they call it ‘Access Nation’) assembling on the large grounds of their Lekki Head office to celebrate their late Group Chief Executive Officer and his family. Although the directors and leadership of the company were all present, they remained muted throughout the three hour-event as only employees were fully in charge. It was strictly an employee event.
Prayers over, Bisola Oyelowo, Senior HR Business Partner, Employee Engagement & Culture, gave a resounding opening statement that set the tone for the night. ‘’Tonight, we gather under this canopy of stars to pay homage to a titan among us, a visionary whose daring and fearless spirit has shaped the very fabric of our institution and touched countless lives across continents’’, she said. Her remarks swept through every facet of Herbert’s life, evoking fond memories of him without offending the solemnity of the moment. She described the departed boss as ‘’the man who exemplified integrity, humility and generosity in every facet of his being’’. After her speech, Access Choir stepped up to the podium, resplendent in white, to render ‘’Blessed Assurance’’ and ‘’How Great Thou Art’’. Access Choir is the brainchild of Herbert. He was passionate about choral music, jazz and classical music. More tributes from employees and former staff members followed. Access has a large community of former employees, including this writer. They have come together to celebrate their former boss and are already raising money to honour his memory in an enduring manner.
Monday, March 4 was tagged ‘Celebrating Professional Excellence’ and it was the turn of Corporate Nigeria to celebrate one of its own. Bankers, industry captains, public officials, other professionals and foreign dignitaries filled the big ballroom of Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. In the audience were Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-olu; Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun; CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso; Finance Minister Wale Edun; AfDB President Akinwunmi Adesina; Aliko Dangote; GTB founder Fola Adeola; Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo (former governor of Gombe State), directors of Access Corporation and its subsidiaries, among hundreds of others. I can’t remember any other funeral event that has brought together such a plethora of dignitaries under one roof. The four-hour event was divided into six segments and speakers were accordingly grouped: The Young Herbert; Herbert the Banker; Herbert The Entrepreneur; Herbert The CEO; Herbert The Builder and Herbert the Ambassador.
At exactly 5.30pm, we were all up for the National Anthem, after which Roosevelt Ogbonna, the bank’s managing director, gave Herbert’s citation. One of Herbert’s mentees from their GT days, Roosevelt was my first direct supervisor when I joined the bank 16 years ago. He’s now spotting a heavy white beard, which makes him look older than his age. He read the well-written citation calmly but soon was overwhelmed with emotions. He sobbed intermittently.
Then came the tributes and the first to speak was Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, former governor of Gombe. He was a staff of Coopers & Lybrand in 1988 when Herbert arrived the firm, accompanied by his father, Pastor Shyngle Wigwe, to begin his NYSC primary assignment. Dankwambo recalled Herbert’s sense of duty even as an NYSC member. Cathy Echeazor; Segun Agbaje (CEO of GT Holdco) and Dolapo Ogundimu reminisced on Herbert’s early career at Kapital Merchant Bank and GT Bank. They spoke of Herbert’s energy, drive and passion for his job. Agbaje drew laughter when he described Herbert as a friend, colleague and competitor. ‘’Only Herbert would be all three to me’’, he said. He recalled that Herbert visited him two weeks before his death to talk about his university.
The chief executive of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola; Jamie Simmonds, chief executive of Access Bank, UK; Ken Okpara, President & Council Chairman of CIBN and Gbenga Oyebode, former Chairman of Access Bank also gave their tributes. Teriola eulogized Herbert for his generosity and spoke of the ‘’intensity and curiosity’’ with which he managed the bank. Simmonds recalled the first time he met Herbert at Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program when the two of them were in the same class in 2000 and how in 2008, he joined Access Bank as the MD of its UK subsidiary and reconnected with Herbert. ‘’Joining Access is the best decision I have ever made and working with Herbert is one of the best moments of my life’’, Simmonds said. Herbert was, until his death, the Chairman of Access UK, and presiding over its board meeting in London two days before his death was his last official duty.
Two of Herbert’s personal assistants, Efoli Ekot and Tunji also gave their tributes, recounting his generosity and compassion as a leader and boss. Tunji started working with Herbert as a chauffeur in 2004. Over time and with Herbert’s support, he’s acquired Bachelor and Masters degree and has since moved into administrative function in the bank, combining it with his PA duties. Efoli has worked with Herbert for 23 years and has benefitted enormously from his mentorship and kindness. In between, there were songs and performances. Darey Art Alade’s rendition of Frank Sinatra’s ‘’I did it my way’’, one of Herbert’s favourite songs, was splendid. Music is really a healing balm in times of grief. Bola Koko, CEO of FMDQ and Ruurd Brouwer, CEO of TC Investment, brought the segment to a close. Koko met Herbert at Coopers 38 years ago, while Brouwer met him 25 years ago when he was a representative of Deutsche Bank in Nigeria. Herbert values and nurtures relationships.
The next segment – Herbert the Builder – was taken up by Aliko Dangote; Gov. Dapo Abiodun; Gov. Sanwon-Olu; Wale Edun; Yemi Cardoso; Akinwunmi Adesina; Ronke Kuye and Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede. Dangote’s emotional statement was gripping and sent everybody sobbing with him. He described Herbert as his friend, brother and mentee, and spoke of Herbert’s unflinching support to the Dangote Group, especially his support for the completion of the gigantic Dangote Petrochemical complex. ‘’It will be difficult to find another Herbert’’, he said, describing him as unforgettable, a soldier of courage and distinction. Dangote announced that he would immortalize Herbert by naming the main road leading into the complex as Herbert Wigwe Way. Gov. Abiodun recalled that he knew Herbert some 30 years ago and described Herbert as daring, bold, diligent, compassionate, dependable and reliable. Under Herbert, the governor said, Access Bank has supported all his infrastructure projects in Ogun State.
Gov. Sanwo-Olu said he knew Herbert 34 years ago when he was working in the oil industry and Herbert was a young banker. They have remained friends since then. He said Herbert had supported his campaigns generously and was also very supportive of his administration. He mentioned the AFREXIM funding Access Bank had arranged for the Fourth Mainland bridge and other big projects in Lagos. The governor was excited to learn that Herbert was born at the Island Maternity Hospital in Lagos and exclaimed, ‘’So, he is an Isale Eko boy’’. The audience liked the humour and Sanwo-Olu promised to immortalize the late banker on Lagos Island. Wale Edun said Herbert was always briming with ideas and recalled his meeting with him in Abuja on February 1, while the AfDB President extolled Herbert for his ingenuity, leadership and creativity.
Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede’s highly anticipated remarks closed the segment. I had earlier in the week told him that Nigerians are eager to hear from him on the death of his friend and business partner. He did not disappoint. He described Herbert as a man with a mission who did so much and wanted to do so much more, but kept worrying ‘’about whether he would have sufficient time to realize his dream for a transformed Africa’’. ‘’February 9th 2024, the day Herbert, Chizoba, Chizi and Bimbo died along with the two pilots was a terrible and tragic day for all of us. But on that day, Herbert was honored in a way that happens to very, very few human beings in the annals of history. As the breaking news of this tragic accident reverberated across the world, time stood still in honor of Herbert Wigwe’’.
Aigboje recalled similar moments in the past when time stood still, like the Martin Luther King and his ‘’I have a dream moment’’ and Bob Geldof and the ‘’We are the world Moment’’. When Herbert died, Aigboje said, time stood still, enabling millions who already knew of him and then hundreds of millions more who had never heard of him pause in unison to learn and reflect about this iconic African leader and understand the full potential of what he was about to do for humanity.
‘’And time stood still because God wanted the world to know and understand who his son Herbert Wigwe is and what he truly represents. And so, they learnt about his early life and formative years, they learnt about his family life and love of God, they learnt about his professional exploits and philanthropy, they even learnt that Aigboje the person referred to as his brother and partner was neither his spouse nor biologically related to him. Most importantly they learnt that this man, Herbert Wigwe, is a proof that Africa is still capable of producing outstanding men and women with a capacity to change the world in a good and positive way.
‘’Herbert was committed to building an African continent where men and women can aspire and live to their full potential. He isn’t the only person committed to this objective, but there are very few people in the world whose life and legacy illuminate this commitment the way Herbert Wigwe has. Some have told me that in the last few months, Herbert was very concerned about the state of our nation and continent. This is indeed true and Herbert knew that time was not on our side. Herbert’s purposeful legacy lies in what he was preparing to embark on, a collaborative commitment to building an African continent we will all be proud of. In memory of Herbert, let the work begin’’.
The night ended with a vote of thanks given by a tearful Bolaji Agbede, the Acting Group Chief Executive of Access Corporation.
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Last week, I asked the question which life we would love to live – biblical Abraham’s or Lazarus’s – and it drew a lot of comments. I must admit that it isn’t everyone who can connect with last week’s piece, hence today’s title of the deep calling out to the deep, which is taken from Psalm 42, written by the Sons of Korah. As the deer pants after the streams of water, so does the average Nigerian today pants after essential commodities, foodstuffs especially, for sustenance. As the Sons of Korah looked up to God for help and deliverance, so do poverty-stricken Nigerians cry unto their government and religious leaders for reprieve and succour.
I have seen on Animal world that when animals pant after water, they do not care for the danger involved in trooping into crocodile-infested waters to have a drink; or mind the pride of lions lurking around. In like manner did hungry Nigerians put their life on the line in a mad rush for Customs rice the other day. Seven persons were said to have died in the stampede that ensued before the poorly-executed exercise was hurriedly called off.
The Sons of Korah were downcast because they were in exile – and understandably so – but millions of Nigerians are downcast today right inside their own country. Call it internal exile, which is worse than external exile or “japa”. “Crestfallen and hurt” was how a bible commentator described the state of affairs of the Sons of Korah but note that they were warned but would not take heed – like us here in Nigeria, year-after-year, decade-after-decade. Like Rome’s king Nero, we fiddled while Muhammadu Buhari and his band of wanton troopers set fire on our roof, only to now wake up late in the day to disparage efforts aimed at putting out the fire!
My intention here today is to print some of the comments sent to me on last week’s piece; when I return, I will make some closing remarks and call it a day!
“Waaaooo. I can imagine how deep your imaginations and reflections were in this article. Your mind clearly traversed the cosmos and the heavenly places and you just got hooked in the midst of the flight as you tried to reconnect with our planet - this Earth, this our world of sorrow and joy, and of joy and sadness. But what you were saying in all these ruminations is that we can make our world a heavenly place; as in, we can make our society a better place. So, we don't really need japa if we think deeply and we stop worrying about a thing because there is a better day or a better time just around the corner if only we could see, especially because three little birds will knock at our door singing sweet songs and bringing melodies of joy and happiness. Thanks again for provoking our thoughts! I think at this point, many other writers will now agree that you are truly a man of deep insight, a genuine award winner in the real sense. As I recognize the quality of your mindset, permit me to say that we all have a duty to keep hope alive in the midst of the topsy-turvy our country is in today. - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
“BB, well done on this piece, which amplifies your erudition and giftings as a writer! More grace! - Apostle Bisi Olaoye.
“One understands your message on the dichotomy of the richness of the life of Abraham and Lazarus: one could be described as ‘double face’ richness, and the other, ‘single face’ richness, going by your explanation. One way of looking at the issue is, how feasible is it in the world to attain the kind of ‘double face’ richness of Father Abraham, i.e. to be rich in this world as well as in heaven? This line of thought is in consideration of the declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke 18: 24 & 25, thus: “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God’? Although one appreciates Jesus' response in verse 27 that ‘What is impossible with man is possible with God’. And in the light of your assertion that "whereas our own place looks more and more like hell", one could conjecture that most of our people would get "double face" tragedy, with the current look-like-hell situation in our country and still being indisposed to the ways of the Lord. This reminds me of a happening when we went out for evangelism in a locality during my secondary school days: As we came across people in squalid conditions of poverty, a white missionary could not help voicing out that his greatest concern and pity for the people was the possibility of their missing the kingdom of God (paradise) after death, after their pitiable suffering on earth, just because of their unbelief!” – Elder Olaitan Makanjuola.
“It seems to me that the church needs to go back and re-read the Scriptures. STEP ONE: Let it understand that Covid-19 was God's own way of reviving the church to understand the messages in John 4:23 and John 17:21, both speaking about the wall-less church, globalization and end-time worshippers who would do it in SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH. STEP TWO: The church for now should suspend dancing to hymns. Rather, it would do well to read them out. Let the church find out why Muslims recite or chant the Quran (written in verses like the Psalms ) rather than dance to its recitation. Singing has lost the purpose for which God ordained it (Deuteronomy 31: 19-30). STEP THREE: Let the church go back and re-read Acts of the Apostles 6:1,2,3 and 9. Daily ministration and the need to "SERVE TABLE" portend Governance: Providing the basic necessities of life for the people. Why has the church neglected its old habit of giving seeds to its congregations any time the rainy season was approaching while members equally provided farm yields during church harvests? … What is the church preparing for its congregations in the presence of starvation now ravaging the land? Psalm 23: 5 is not speaking to the wind when it states: "THOU PREPAREST A TABLE BEFORE ME IN THE PRESENCE OF MINE ENEMY ? Can you imagine a worse enemy than starvation and hunger? It is the same thing being emphasized in The Lord's Prayer: "GIVE US OUR DAILY BREAD while in the administration of tithes, the Bible in Malachi 3:10 stressed: "BRING YE ALL THE TITHES INTO THE STOREHOUSE THAT THERE MAY BE MEAT IN MINE HOUSE..." Unfortunately today, the church is using tithes to build structures and to purchase other luxuries, and not food for the hungry. Yet, the same church and its congregations wait for palliatives from governments! A case of the tail wagging the dog! – Olalere Fagbola.
“Hmmm. This is real food for thought! Though Abraham had his challenges when he was alive, generally, he was portrayed as a very successful man. Again, he was counted worthy in heaven according to the scriptures. This is like enjoying the best of two lives. Lazarus on the other hand suffered on earth before exiting to heaven to enjoy. I believe it is by choice but it is better to enjoy both on earth and in heaven. Your enjoyment on earth will largely depend on your decisions and ability to achieve your aims and aspirations. Your enjoyment hereafter depends on how you lived your life when you were on earth. The story of the rich man and Lazarus in the Bible teaches us to be kind and considerate to others when we have the opportunity. Lazarus’s circumstances presented an opportunity for the rich man to be kind”. - Pa E. K. Odeleye.
Those are the few comments that I can accommodate here today. Two institutions that should be of utmost help to the people in their hour of need are government and religious leaders; unfortunately, both have seemingly turned deaf ears to the cries of the people that their burden be lessened. Have they not both acted like Jeroboam, son and successor of king Solomon, who chose to whip his long-suffering people with scorpions whereas his father had whipped them with horsewhips? And are there better representatives than these two categories of the hypocrites and brood of vipers that Jesus Christ chastised in Matthew 23: 1- 39? They pile misery on the poor but neglect to touch the heavy burden even with one finger! The people get leaner but the government official/pastor/imam grows more robust!
But tell them: Revolution is loading! O Lord, send another Martin Luther to kindle a second Reformation in Your Church!
The body of Comrade Frank Ovie Kokori, who died on December 7 last year, will be buried this Friday. The funeral activities will actually kick off tomorrow at his home, Ovu-Inland, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State.
Kokori’s death on his 80th birthday, marked the exit of a labour leader and politician who was courage personified.
The labour leader emerged a national hero when he led oil workers in a paralysing strike to fight for the revalidation of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which was won fair and square by Bashorun Moshood Abiola. The Abacha junta put Kokori in detention in 1994 and he was only released in 1998 when Abacha suddenly died.
Kokori came out of incarceration emaciated and in poor health. His wife, Esther, who was in the thick of the national and international mobilisation for the freedom of her husband, suffered a stroke and never recovered till she died years after the husband had regained freedom.
A rugged negotiator and a well-educated trade unionist, Kokori efficiently organised the National Union of Petroleum and Gas Workers (NUPENG), a formidable affiliate of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). Often distinguished among labour leaders by his aristocratic carriage, Kokori earned the respect of government and private employers alike. He was proud to be a trade unionist. Kokori’s mien was such that he could not be accused of humility. As NUPENG’s general secretary, he won a lot of benefits for workers using the instrumentality of collective bargaining.
Interestingly, Kokori’s origin in the labour movement was the right-wing United Labour Congress, one of the rival labour centres before the restructuring of trade unions in 1978. He once said with gusto that the flamboyant trade unionist and later businessman, Alhaji Babs Animashaun, was his role model in trade unionism. He once said that imitated Animashaun impeccable dressing. As a young trade unionist, his models were not the left-wing trade unionists such as the legendary Michael Imoudu (Labour Leader Number One!) or Marxists such as Nduka Eze and Wahab Goodluck. So, in a way, he was an unlikely candidate for the role history beckoned on him to play in the June 12 crisis.
Kokori was also immensely trusted by the oil workers whom he served honestly and diligently. For instance, when the union got factionalised in 1987, the Kokori majority faction tested its popularity by calling an industrially crippling strike to resolve the intra-union dispute. The military government of Babangida had to promulgate a decree to resolve the problem.
In retrospect, it was quite wise of Kokori as a protagonist to have told his own story in his important memoirs, Frank Kokori: The Struggle for June 12, with a forward from the Senior Advocate of Nigeria Femi Falana. The presentation of the book, published by Safari Books Ltd, took place in Lagos on July 25, 2014. The event was chaired by a former Ogun state governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba. Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, a prominent figure in the June 12 struggle was among the personalities who graced the occasion.
This reporter was exceedingly honoured when Kokori personally brought a copy of the book to his place one rainy afternoon with an “order” to do the review at the launch. It was a similar feeling of a huge honour when Kokori’s eldest son, Kive, invited this reporter to be a member of the national committee to organise the funeral of his father.
The story of Kokori should be popularised for generations because of the immense inspiration embodied in it.
As a tribute to the memory of this remarkable Nigerian nationalist, excerpts from the book review rendered 10 years ago are reproduced below:
“One of the most inspiring quotes of the great African-American writer, Maya Angelou, goes like this: ‘Courage is the most important of all the virtues because, without courage, you can’t practise any other virtue consistently.’ The wisdom condensed in Angelou’s statement is demonstrated in the book under review.
“The author himself describes the book as a “testament” and a good reader will inevitably encounter sober lessons about courage as a virtue in the book. It is also significant that the book, which the author says is 14 years late in coming, is being published to celebrate the 70th birthday of this unquestionably urbane labour leader, who has made indelibly progressive interventions in the politics of his country.
“In his career, Kokori has proved that he is first and foremost a man of organisation. A general without an army could not have fought the epic battles he fought so gallantly and selflessly.
“There was an important background to be found in Kokori’s pre-June 12 political activities. As an accomplished General Secretary of NUPENG, Kokori was nominated to be a member of some of the bodies that prepared the groundwork for the political transition programme of President Ibrahim Babangida.
“Kokori was a member of the 1987/1988 Constitution Review Committee and the subsequent 1988/1989 Constituent Assembly headed by Justice Anthony Aniagolu, which debated the stillborn 1989 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He later emerged as the national financial secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) under the leadership of Ambassador Babagana Kingibe as party chairman.
“Besides, Kokori does not belong to the school of economism in the labour movement. The proponents of economism insist that labour has no business in politics; workers’ struggle should stop in the realm of industrial relations. The debate on this will surely continue in the labour movement. But advocates of “labour in politics and politics in labour ” will readily cite Kokori and his NUPENG and PENGASSAN comrades on a positive note to justify their argument. This would be similar to the way the legendary Michael Imoudu and his comrades are remembered fondly for their combative role in the nationalist struggle. Future historians will examine the political significance of the 1945 anti-colonial strike just as they will seek to know the import of the 1994 anti-Abacha strikes.
“The book is essentially a full disclosure of the audacious role played by oil workers in the struggle to uphold the sanctity of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by Bashorun Moshood Abiola. During the historic moment, Kokori was the powerful general-secretary of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers Union (NUPENG). Together with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), NUPENG provided the dynamite for the struggle with effective strikes. The June 12 story could be encapsulated as follows: A presidential election that was to be the climax of a long-winding political transition programme was held on June 12, 1993. Abiola as a candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) contested against Alhaji Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC). As the results of the elections were being put together, the Babangida regime, which organised the transition programme, annulled the election. But an idea that could not be killed had been born. The resistance against the grand assault on the people’s will began in earnest.
“In the process, Babangida was forced out of power leaving behind the interim governmental structure headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan with General Sani Abacha in charge of Defence. As predicted, Abacha sacked Shonekan’s government three months later and inaugurated a reign of terror on the country for five years. In a bid to kill the June 12 idea the junta arrested Abiola, and he died in detention in 1998. Kokori was also incarcerated for four years for the bold and committed leadership he gave for the potent oil workers’ strikes. Many people were killed and several others were detained, jailed or forced to exile. Abacha died suddenly on June 8, 1998 and Abiola also died on July 7 the same year. That is the story in perhaps the simplest form to put it.
“However, when you read books already published on the crisis that the annulment of the election generated, you would discover that the story is indeed a complex one. Just like the civil war, the literature of June 12 is expanding. Indeed our author here has thrown a challenge that his book should “provoke more books” on the June 12 phenomenon.
“In telling his story, Kokori has approached the period of Nigeria’s history covered in the book from a perspective different from those of earlier publications. “At least, the perspective of the book is quite distinguishable from that of the Humphrey Nwosu’s ”Laying the Foundation for Nigeria’s Democracy: My Account of June 12, 1993 Presidential Election and Its Annulment” and Omo Omoruyi’s “The Tale of June 12: The Betrayal of the Democratic Rights of Nigerians in 1993.” Professor Nwosu was the chairman of the electoral commission that conducted the election while Omoruyi, as chairman of the Centre for Democratic Studies, was one of the theoreticians of the Babangida’s transition programme. In their respective tales, the two eminent scholars offered theoretical explanations of the tragedy of June 12.
“However, on a refreshing note and without any pretext to a methodological rigour whatsoever, “Frank Kokori: The Struggle for June 12″ is a hard-boiled narrative by a man who made an enormous sacrifice for June 12. The story is told lucidly with some pages reading like a thriller. Events that happened over two decades ago came alive on the pages of the book with Kokori’s animated style. He reported June 12 warts and all thereby providing a veritable primary source for those who may be interested in further research. “It is indeed a frank story brutally told by Frank Kokori. Kokori’s prison notes, letters exchanged between him and his family as well as his random reflections on the Nigerian condition are embodied in the book. He acknowledges the support of his wife and children in the struggle. You will even find the author’s attempt at some poetry.
“All told, readers will probably be surprised that the book is not all brimming with anger and bitterness. Some pages are also laced with humour. While he is unsparing of the political enemies, he is sometimes critical of friends. “What he writes about himself would even sometimes make you chuckle at the author.
“Significantly, Kokori also takes the opportunity of the book to pay passionate tributes to heroes of the struggle for democracy. In acknowledging the martyrdom of Abiola and his wife, Kudirat, who was murdered on June 4, 1996, Kokori provided detailed information on the dynamic of the struggle. For instance, on leaving Abacha’s house in Ikoyi after a meeting facilitated by Kingibe, Kokori was surprised that his phone rang, and it was Abiola telling him to “cooperate” with Abacha who was tragically believed at that time to be working for June 12 in the Shonekan’s interim government.
“Kokori deliberately refers to Abiola in the book as president-elect. His admiration is especially evident for the courage and commitment of Gani Fawehinmi, Beko Ransome-Kuti, Wole Soyinka, Anthony Enhoro, Bola Tinubu, Femi Falana and other great fighters for freedom and human progress. With the rich and sharp insights in the book, it is far from being hyperbolic to say that Kokori has at last offered posterity the untold story of June 12.
“In the process, he has solved not a few riddles and filled in some gaps in the June 12 story.
“Take, for instance, the story of his arrest on the night of August 19, 1994 during the strike, which Abacha found tough to break for some time. For long, the erroneous story that went round even within the pro- democracy movement was that the great reporter who later became Ogun State governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba, was the one who lured Kokori from his hideout to be nabbed by security men. Kokori states explicitly that Osoba was never culpable. Rather, it is clearly reported in the book that it was Fred Eno, a man often described in the media during the struggle as “personal assistant” to Abiola, who gave Kokori a call, inviting him to the point where he was arrested. Kokori says: “As far as I know, Osoba did not betray me. I don’t know the brains that planned the betrayal, but I know the person who lured me out of the hideout – and it was not Chief Segun Osoba.” Eno later told Kokori he was not the person who lured the NUPENG leader to the hands of his captors and that his voice was mimicked. Kokori is not convinced by Eno’s denial.
“Indeed, some readers may even find out that Kokori is honest to a fault in his narrative with his matter-of-fact approach. It is intriguing that as a fighter, Kokori is an adroit negotiator. But his language and methods are hardly diplomatic. Kokori tells it as it is; not minding even if his own ox is gored.
Here are some samples:
First, in a meeting with Abiola shortly after the annulment to plan for the struggle that was to follow, Kokori told the president-elect: “You rich people always have people cringing before you, and so people sit down for hours before seeing you. I do not have that kind of time. I am a union man… If I want to see the MD of Mobil, Shell or NNPC, I get to his office and see him within two minutes. If we must work together, you must be able to give the quick attention.”
“Secondly, Abacha’s Minister of Petroleum, Don Etiebet, came to Kokori’s house to convince him on why a strike should be called off. Etiebet issued a subtle threat about what “government can do”, and Kokori asked him to get out of his house. Etiebet promptly withdrew his threat, and the dialogue continued afterwards.
“Thirdly, at a dinner with Shonekan, Kokori gave the Head of Interim Government a piece of his mind: “Sir, I have nothing against you. What we have in place now as a government is best called usurpation of the position of someone else. You did not contest any election. The man who won the election is there, and he has not been given his mandate. You have taken over, and it is not fair.”
“And Shonekan replied: “Mr. Kokori, if you are not going to support me, please, don’t fight me, so I can carry out my economic policies.”
“Such sharp and spicy anecdotes abound in the book.
The reader will also find enthralling Kokori’s views on other actors – the Nigerian bourgeois politicians and his fellow labour leaders especially former Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) ‘s president, Comrade Paschal Bafyau. According to Kokori, Bafyau led the labour centre to develop cold feet about June12 because the NLC president was not made the running mate to Abiola.
“Kingibe receives a lot of Kokori’s attention in the book. Kokori has had a long and engaging political relationship with Kingibe. This has exemplified his admixture of excitement and frustration with politicians. He alternates between kudos and knocks for his good friend, Kingibe, who has disappointed him not a few times.
“For instance, while Kingibe as Abacha’s interior minister could not meet Kokori in Bama prison, much less secure his release, he at least ensured that a relatively more convenient cell was constructed for him. This sense of disappointment with the establishment was further reinforced after his release from detention 1998 in his encounters with some leaders. These include General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who succeeded Abacha and finally organised a transition programme on which the Fourth Republic is erected; President Olusegun Obasanjo, who calls Kokori his “prison senior”; President Umaru Yar’Adua, in whose government Kingibe was the link; and President Goodluck Jonathan.
“In all these interactions with establishment figures, Kokori’s political naivety was patently on display as Comrade Femi Falana rightly observes in a perceptive forward to the book.
“As a matter of fact, long before the politics of June 12, Kokori had nursed the ambition of writing his memoirs as a labour leader to be entitled “NUPENG is My Life.” That proposed book is now subsumed in this June 12 book. In effect, there are books abridged within this important book.
“This book, written by a major actor in the June 12 struggle, should be read by all those seeking insights into what really happened at that period of Nigeria’s turbulent political history”
As an accomplished labour leader and principled politician, Kokori demonstrated the courage of conviction. His place in history is doubtless secure as a dynamo in the struggle for democracy and justice.
May his tribe increase.
[OPINION] Obasanjo @87: Celebrating a foreign policy actor and statesman - Muhammed Abdulkabir
AdminEvery March 5 reflects the birth of an iconic Nigerian leader and stateman whose impacts on Nigeria’s politics, economy, education, and foreign policy and diplomacy are enormous and too numerous to mention. There is so much to be said of the controversial Egba man who is a hero, mentor and teacher of many through his words and writings. Therefore, I will try as much as possible to restrict my piece to eulogize a little of Obasanjo’s political trajectory and focus largely on his interventions with regard Nigeria’s foreign policy and diplomacy.
Born on March 5, 1937, Former President Olusegun Obasanjo received his elementary education at Baptist Boys’ High School, Abeokuta, before proceeding with his military training at the Mons Officer Cadet School, England. The personality of Olusegun Obasanjo rose to prominence when he became deputy to the former Nigerian Head of State, Brigadier General Murtala Mohammed. He had earlier served as the commander of the third Marine Commando division during the Nigerian Civil War. He became a head of state after the assassination of Murtala Mohammed in an abortive coup by Lt. col Buka Suka Dimka on the 13th of February, 1976. The three years military regime of General Obasanjo (1976-1979) was very credible in terms of its foreign policy realization. For every foreign policy framework, the role of a leader's personality—Individual level of foreign policy analysis—cannot be overemphasized. In as much as international politics and systems influence the foreign policy of a state, the excellence of a state's foreign policy is largely determined by the leader of such state. The foreign policy and other foreign policy institutions of a state flourish only, if the individuals at the helm of affairs appreciate the concept of visions and missions of such state in its interface with other states. Indeed, Obasanjo’s enduring role in achieving a respectable international outlook for Nigeria cannot be underestimated.
Obasanjo’s military government realized no less than three out of the Nigeria's core foreign policy objectives. These include: African unity and independence, peaceful settlement of disputes and regional economic cooperation and development. As part of his foreign policy achievements, Obasanjo's military regime hosted the exceptional second Africa's Festival of Arts and Culture in 1977. Known as FESTAC 77, it was the second world black festival, after FESMAN 66 by Senegal, dedicated to showcase Africa's rich arts and cultures. His administration also hosted the United Nations-organized World Conference Against Apartheid in 1977, in Lagos. This marked a strong reflection of Nigeria's detestation of colonialism and racism. The event has also been prestigious for Nigeria, not only for showcasing her as Africa's Big Brother, but also, as a manifestation of Nigeria's foreign policy objective of shouldering the cause of other African countries. Obasanjo also co-chaired the Commonwealth’s Eminent Persons’ Group, again, to negotiate a solution on the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa. We should also recognize General Obasanjo for the pragmatic disposition that the combined government of General Muritala/Obasanjo depicted in the indefinite postponement of the visit to Nigeria by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh as part of the its effort, Bolaji Akinyemi believed, to extricate "Nigeria's foreign policy from colonial legacy"
Moreover, if there was something exceptional about Obasanjo political trajectory which affects his national and international outlook, it was his transition of the military government into civilian rule in 1979, thus marking Nigeria’s second republic. Having being appointed by the Supreme Military Council to succeed General Muritala Mohammed (after his assassination in 1976), Obasanjo did not hesitate to fulfill a course that had been embarked upon by his boss. Contrary to what we see in other African countries during democratic transition, Obasanjo did not contest in the second republic elections. Hence, General Olusegun Obasanjo became the first African military ruler to hand over power to a civilian government. Among other reasons, Generals Babangida and Abacha have forced us to realize and appreciate Obasanjo’s act in relinquishing power to civilian at the time he did—regardless of whatever motif he could have had. A popular stateman who never retired from politics, Olusegun Obasanjo became a prominent member of the People’s Democratic Party in 1998 and won as the party's presidential candidate in the 1999 presidential election, thus becoming the first Nigerian president in the Fourth Republic and first former military head of state to have done so. This time, his impacts on Nigeria’s foreign policy was more significant. He rejigged Nigerian diaspora communities significantly and enhanced a substantial inflow of capitals and investments from the Nigerians in the Diaspora. At a time when Nigeria was falling short on economic and developmental contributions from diasporic communities, President Olusegun Obasanjo initiated the Historic Presidential Dialogue with the Nigerian Diaspora, in Atlanta, and later in London, with the aim of “incorporating the Ni-gerian diaspora in national development.” His government, in 2003, established the Nigerian National Volunteer Service "to facilitate the involvement of Nigerian Diaspora in the development process at home." Consequently, President Obasanjo declared July 25 the Nigerian Diaspora Day to celebrate and “recognize the Nigerian diaspora as an important stakeholder in the Nigerian project.”
Beyond that, President Olusegun Obasanjo's civilian government was reputed for its huge and strategic engagement in peace resolutions through his active roles in international organizations, especially the Organization of African Unity (OAU) which later became African Union, through sagacious efforts of people like Obasanjo. He was not only prominent as member (later chair) of AU Heads of State, his initiatives were commendably adopted. He successfully proposed a Ministerial Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation in Africa (CSSDCA). The fact that the conference was held in Abuja in May, 2000 conferred honor on the place of Nigeria within the African continent.
Undoubtedly, Former President Obasanjo has been the foremost track 2 diplomacy player for Nigeria. His participation in several peace keeping missions is second to none. President Goodluck Jonathan would be considered second to Obasanjo in this regard. The stateman has served as the United Nations Secretary-General Special Envoy on the Great Lakes region in 2008. Mark you, before becoming a head of state, Obasanjo had served as a senior officer in the UN first peacekeeping mission to Congo in 1960. He has been involved in numerous mediations to Southern African countries like Mozambique, Angola and South Africa. President Obasanjo's signing out of the Bakassi Peninsula in 2006 connotes his respect for international law and diplomacy. Also, his administration played a vital role in resolving the Second Liberian Civil war between April 1999-August 2003.
Although Obasanjo’s military and civilian regimes have notable shortcomings, he has, however, demonstrated his sagacity in foreign policy realization. No doubt, the end of Obasanjo's civilian regime in 2007 has been tagged the end of the "Golden Years" of Nigeria's Foreign Policy. I may not support Baba Iyabo's third-term presidential ambition, or applaud his derogatory speech on the Yoruba traditional rulers, the "E didé e jókó" syndrome, I submit that the stateman significantly impacted Nigeria’s Foreign Policy and earned the country an international repute. I pray that the Almighty God grant him more good life to be able to contribute more to nation building in the years ahead. May the Almighty also grant him sound health in order to continue to amuse Nigerians with more tricycle exercise. Cheers to a Nigerian diplomatic face, Elder Olusegun Obasanjo, @87!
Abdulkabir Olorunjeda-Muhammed is a final year undergrad at the Department of History and International Studies of the Lagos State University. He can be reached via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
[OPINION] Rethinking The Neo-Liberal Economic Doctrine: Time for A New Deal for Nigerians - Rufa’i Ahmed Alkali
Admin
Let me start by joining the Planning and Organizing Committee of this great and historic event, the BACAS OLD STUDENTS’ REUNION CONVENTION, the first ever since 1978, forty-six years ago when the first set of students of the Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria graduated from this famous citadel of learning, the Bauchi State College of Arts and Science (BACAS) Bauchi.
We may all recall that BACAS was established, along with six other similar Institutions in Northern Nigeria in the summer of 1976 by the former Head of State General Olusegun Obasanjo ostensibly to bridge the education gap between the Northern and Southern parts of the country. The objective then was to offer fresh opportunities to young and bright secondary school leavers in the Northern States who were unable to immediately proceed to Tertiary Institutions either because of lack of access or because of some minor deficiencies. It was believed that given the ambience of a College environment, away from the very stiff and regimental secondary school settings, students could perform optimally with resounding results.
This was exactly what happened in BACAS. Incidentally, BACAS was established less than six months after the creation of Bauchi State by General Murtala Muhammed of blessed memory, out of the old North Eastern State with Headquarters in Maiduguri. Most of us seated here today are products and indeed beneficiaries of these visionary leaders. Today, is a day we have all come together to meet again after nearly half a century to rejoice and relieve our past experiences with nostalgia and excitement.
We have every reason to thank God and celebrate for even more reasons. In a country where life expectancy for both men and women is very low, it is a wonder, even a miracle that despite of all the odds, despite all the obstacles and daily hazards of life, God in His infinite Mercies and blessings has spared our lives to witness today. We pray, may we all live long in good health to continue our great service to our dear nation and humanity. Of course, we have lost many of our dear friends including our classmates, roommates and even our very close family and social friends. We pray, may God grant their beautiful souls eternal rest in peace.
In a significant turn of events, we are also holding our Reunion here at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, the very place where BACAS was established and located forty eight years ago. We therefore wish to convey our special appreciation to the Vice Chancellor, Prof Muhammad Abdulazeez, Management, Staff and students of this University for welcoming us back home and offering us cosy hospitality to meet again where our educational umbilical cord was buried.
Let me also appreciate the organizers for nominating me to serve as a Guest Speaker in today's event and share my thoughts on one of the most topical issues in Nigeria today, that is to say on the issue of the direction of the political, economic and social conditions of our great nation. In particular, I will focus my attention on the need to: Rethink The Neo-Liberal Economic Doctrine especially as it affects Nigerians today. I am deeply aware, today is not a day for long talk and certainly, it is not a day for hard talk. Since today is a special day of Reunion and a day of celebrations, I will not go the pedantic way, nor engage in deep theorizing as the time for that is not auspicious.
In this intervention, I will rather approach the subject as a polemic, to try to raise questions on the contending issues, to provoke and generate more debate and discussions to deepen our understanding to the challenges confronting our dear nation as we work towards consolidating democratic governance in the country.
Abstract
In the early hours of the morning of Monday 5th February 2024, reports started filtering through the Internet and the conventional media that there was a massive demonstration in Minna, the Capital city of Niger State over increasing cost of foodstuffs and general conditions of life in the country. Two days later on Wednesday, 7th February 2024, a similar protest was reported in Suleja, another ancient town in Niger State but very close to Abuja, the Federal Capital city. Subsequently, other similar protests were reported in Kano on Thursday 8th February; Osun, State on Friday, 9th February; and in Ibadan, Oyo State on Monday 12th February 2024. And just as was the case with the Minna demonstrations, these were also associated with the rising cost of living in the country. The clarions call in all these protests were that the prices of foodstuff have skyrocketed so much making it difficult, if not impossible, for ordinary Nigerians to feed themselves and their families.
While demonstrations in Nigeria are not new, nor are they peculiar under democratic governance, what was new was for the first time in a long time, people are going to the streets because of the rising prices of food and the biting costs of living. Suddenly, there was fear and anxiety, if these demonstrations were allowed to continue, they could escalate beyond control and become a major security threat in the country. The Federal Government reacted swiftly.
Both the National Assembly and the Office of the President held series of meetings with Ministers and Heads of Security Agencies to address this urgent matter of national importance. The Federal Government immediately started taking some remedial steps including unlocking the national grain reserves to release more food to the people and Government went further to issue a strong warning against hoarding of food in the country.
Despite the initial Federal Government spirited efforts, still more demonstrations took place in Lagos on Monday 27th February followed by the NLC’s nationwide protests held on Tuesday 28th. The second day of protests scheduled for Wednesday 29th February 2024 were suspended with threats by the NLC to continue if their demands were not met. What all these means is that unless something is done urgently, the nation will continue to move on tension, anxiety and uncertainty.
While the Federal Government was working hard to find other lasting solutions to this problem, Nigerians, as usual, have gone to the town with what they perceived as the causes of these problems asking the question, what may have happened and how did we arrive at where we are today? As we shall see later, while there are many ‘explanations’ about the causes of Nigerian economic crises, in this paper, I will argue that, embracing the neo-liberal economic paradigm over the last four decades under the regime of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, with their adverse conditionalities is the root causes of these problems.
I posit that the cumulative effects of over four decades of the involvement and intervention of the Bretton Wood Institutions in the Nigerian economy and society based on the neo-liberal ideology which is insensitive to the feelings and yearnings of Nigerians is the fundamental reason why Nigeria is caught in the web. I argue that unless and until Nigeria takes decisive action, we shall be moving in circles. In other words, it is time to Rethink The Neo-Liberal Economic Doctrine. This is precisely, why I call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take far reaching decisions to give Nigeria and Nigerians a new deal.
Background
The first question we need to ask is, what the origins of the classical economic theory? As an ideological framework, neo-liberalism can be traced to early works of 20th Century classical economists who placed greater emphasis on free market or laissez faire as the determinant of economic policy. This theory is rooted in the classical work of Adam Smith in his book, The Wealth of Nations published way back in 1776, which was more less the Manifesto of capitalism. Adam Smith (1776) argued that in the management of public resources, the State should play only an invisible role, or what he called, the ‘invisible hand’ in supporting the market forces.
The classical economic theorists posit that the market must be allowed to operate through the forces of demand and supply, with little or no government interference, which in their view, is more efficient in the allocation of resources. They were opposed to excessive power of Governments and Governments spending. The classical Doctrine rests squarely on supply side economics insisting that Government’s primary duty and obligation was only to provide the enabling environment for industry and businesses to flourish in order to improve the efficiency of production and productivity which were expected to reduce the costs of goods and services. They were opposed to demand side economics. This, in essence is the ideology of capitalism. However, since Adam Smith postulated his theory, the world has faced various challenges that led to serious re-examination by scholars of the classical theory. The post Second World War consensus led to the decline of the attraction of the so called free market capitalism at the policy level in Europe.
First, after the Second World war, 1939-1945, the European economies were devastated by the war and there was serious crisis and despair. Industries in Europe had collapsed, unemployment and inflation were on the rise and there was general discontent. There was even greater concern and fear that if nothing was done by Governments then, Europe could slip further into anarchy and civil wars. The issues of inequality, poverty, racial discrimination and even starvation had to addressed. Banal capitalism was thus a threat to itself. The British Economist, John Maynard Keynes, the arrowhead of Keynesian economics, who along with Barry Whites the US Treasury Secretary, played decisive role in the creation of the New International Monetary Order came forcefully on the need for Government to take steps to reboot the economy.
John Maynard Keynes (1983-1946), along with other economists in Britain argued for interventionism. Keynes general argument is that Government must create jobs to boost consumer buying power during recession. He held the view that Governments “should increase spending even it means going into debts”. They urged the British Government to create jobs, any jobs to raise the effective demand which would enable citizens to go to markets to look for goods and services. The principle here, which is taught at the University, under Economics 101, states that the increased demand for goods and services by citizens would encourage producers to expand production, look for more raw materials, recruit more workers and the so called ‘multiplier effect’ would propel the engines of the economy to restart full blast.
Thus, after the Second World War, the Labour Party Government in the United Kingdom introduced the welfare State, where it became necessary for the Government to intervene in providing various forms of social support for children, women on maternity, the unemployed, the homeless, the Elderly and the terminally sick. Here, an economist, William Beveridge (1879-1963) often described as the father of the Welfare State played a critical role in the introduction of the Welfare State in the UK. Governments were also involved in investments and businesses especially in critical sectors of the national economy, including the telecommunications, the railways, the power and the banking sectors. This system was sustained by virtually by all the succeeding UK Governments, in various forms, until late 1970s.
The Rise of Neo-liberalism
The neo-liberalism as an economic philosophy emerged among European scholars during the inter-war period in the 1930s, which greatly influenced economists and policy makers both in Europe and United States. This led to the restructuring the Global financial and monetary system leading to the establishment of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) otherwise called the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The primary objective of the United States which had emerged as a major beneficiary of the Second World War, was to open the world economy for multilateral trade and investment and for the movements of goods and capital to its advantage.
However, in late 1970s and early 1980s, something dramatic took place in both Europe and United States. Very powerful conservative leaders emerged. We may all recall that Margaret Thatcher emerged as the British Prime Minister in 1979; in the United States, President Ronald Reagan was elected in 1981; and in Western Germany, (then as it was), Helmut Kohl was elected in 1982 as the German Chancellor. Under these conservative leaders, the neo-liberal thinking reemerged that once again went back and excavated the orthodox Adam Smith classical economic theory, that the State has no business being in business and the clarion call was to role back the frontiers of the State from business.
The primary considerations of these conservative neo-liberal regimes in United States and Western Europe in the 1980s and 1990s were economic liberalization which included privatization of public enterprises, deregulation of the economy, monetarism, free trade, Globalisation, reversal of welfare policies and the introduction of austerity policies. Under the leadership of the these revisionists, most social services in the US and Europe were either discontinued or greatly scaled down. What followed next was the gradual but systematic divestment of Government businesses in what later came to be called the rolling back of the frontiers of State from direct engagements in businesses. All major public enterprises were either privatized or sold out. The result was massive unemployment, inflation, economic turbulence, Labour Unions unrest and general disillusion among the people. Other critical aspects of the welfare State were also dismantled especially in Britain, in complete reversal of all the gains of the welfare State.
Neo-Liberalism And The Bretton Wood Institutions
It was within this context of revisionism in Europe and United States that Africa, Asia and Latin American countries were caught. The Bretton Woods Institutions, that is to say the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) otherwise known and called as the World Bank which were established after the Second World War, initiated the Structural Adjustment Lending (SAL) Programs. In 1980, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) came up with what they called, Structural Adjustment Lending (SAL) in reaction to what the Bretton Wood Institutions determined as, "markedly deteriorated prospects that were foreseen for developing countries during the 1980s" (Alkali, 1997).
According to the World Bank, "the Structural Adjustment Lending (SAL) was designed to provide maximum support to those governments that had requested such support and that have recognized the need to formulate and introduce as a matter of urgency a set of comprehensive measures designed to adjust the structure and situation” of their economies (Alkali, 1997). The main objectives of SAL were therefore two, namely: (a) to support a program of specific policy changes and institutional reforms; and (b) to act as a catalyst for the inflow of external capital specifically in developing countries.
It is this apparently innocuous focus and objective of “providing support of specific policy changes and institutional reforms” that brought the Bretton Wood Institutions directly into the economic and social affairs of African nations. In a short period of only six years 1980 and 1986, the World Bank extended many Structural Adjustment Loans which rose from only $640.00 million for the SAL sector in 1980, to $2,284.00 million in 1986.
In effect, SAL loans increased from 0.6 per cent of total World Bank and IDA commitments in 1980, to 14 per cent in 1986. As was noted elsewhere, “since then, the Structural Adjustment Programs became central to World Bank and IMF operations globally, but particularly in Africa. By 1994, a total of 29 African countries were at various levels of the implementation of SAP” (Alkali, 1997). Indeed, since 1994, the World Bank and the IMF have entrenched themselves deeply into the African economies.
By now, it should be clear, the World Bank and IMF were the Institutions that served as the arrow heads in imposing neo-liberal policies on the African continent, indeed on Nigeria. Not surprisingly, the two Institutions through all kinds of methods imposed very hash economic policies on Nigeria with adverse consequences. Some of these policies included the abolishing of Commodity Boards; Commercialisation of public services such as hospitals and school feeding; deregulation of the public sector; privatisation of public enterprises; and the introduction of various tax policies, some of them very harsh.
But the long term objective of the IMF was always the removal of all subsidies especially agricultural and fuel subsidies and allowing floating exchange rate for the national currencies – in the case of Nigeria, the total devaluation of the Naira. Today, virtually all these have been achieved by the Bretton Wood institutions. More recently in a final push, in February 2024 the IMF began to call for the removal of subsidy from electricity and already some senior Government officials have started echoing this IMF demand.
Cumulative Effect of the Neo-liberal Economic Doctrine
So, while most of these neo-liberal policies were in principle intended to reduce or remove Government intervention or involvement in businesses ostensibly on the pretext that market forces are more efficient in the allocation of resources, there is no where in the world where Governments abdicate their responsibilities to their citizens without adverse consequences. What we are facing today therefore are existential issues concerning the social, economic and political consequences of swallowing the World Bank and IMF pills. Undoubtedly, these policies have brought about serious economic, security and social consequences.
In the first place, the Nigerian Economy has been going into deep and deeper crisis. This fact is known to everyone both within and outside Nigeria and does not require long explanation. Nonetheless, it is important to mention even in brief the background to some of these problems. It is well known fact that until Nigeria discovered petroleum oil, agriculture was the mainstay of the Nigerian economy characterized by huge production of food and export crops. Nigeria was a leading producer and exporter of groundnuts, cocoa, Palm kennels, hides and skins. The discovery of petroleum oil changed all these. Nigeria’s oil export earnings grew steadily and over the years agriculture began to decline. Even though the contribution of agriculture to GDP in Nigeria remains high, exports of traditional agricultural products began to decline, giving way to petroleum exports.
But instead of Nigeria to use oil to get out of oil, the country went deeper and deeper into the dependence on oil exports earnings whose price was and still is determined by external forces of demand and supply. With huge export earnings accompanied with the decline of agriculture and in the absence of a coherent industrialisation policy, Nigeria became a massive importer of goods and services including food. Indeed Nigeria became a dumping ground of all kinds of foreign manufactured products.
With Nigeria’s growing population and the instability of the oil market, Nigeria began to borrow heavily from the international financial institutions. This is precisely how the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gradually but systematically penetrated into the Nigerian economy and society. Today, Nigeria is debtor nation and there is no aspect of Nigeria where these two Bretton Woods institutions are not involved. And as in all Africa, Asia and Latin America where the World Bank and the IMF are involved, there are deep and pervasive implications for the governments and the peoples.
Without consistent, coherent and coordinated education system, the number of out of school children, especially in Northern Nigeria kept on rising yearly while the Almajiri system became a breeding ground for criminal activities. Privatisation of public enterprises and the embargo on recruitments by the Federal and State Ministries, Directorates and Agencies also contributed to rising unemployment in the country. The unintended consequence of all these is rising crimes and criminality.
Today, it is a well known fact that many groups have taken up arms against the Nigerian state. Boko Haram, once seen and treated as a fringe religious sect grew and expanded rapidly in the North Eastern sub region declaring total war on the people. In the last ten to fifteen years, the insurgents unleashed mayhem within and outside the cities, villages and communities in the region causing unprecedented deaths and destructions. Unfortunately, despite spirited government efforts over the years and in spite of the huge collateral damage to the Nigerian economy and society, still remnants of the group have been waging sporadic attacks on innocent civilians in the region.
Similarly, the menace of banditry and kidnapping especially in the North Western sub region which also started in the form of cattle rustling grew up very fast constituting a huge security challenge to Nigeria. Today, the issue of banditry and kidnapping has become a franchise with some warlords openly threatening to intensify the killings of innocent citizens and destructions of public property. Similarly, frequent tension, conflicts and even confrontation leading to deaths and destruction over access to land and water between farmers and cattle rearers in the midlands have also been of great concern to every Nigerian and to the Nigerian Government. This too has led to many deaths and destructions and the disruptions of public life.
Furthermore, in the South East, the emergence and growth of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the threat of secession has destabilized a region known for vast trade and commerce. It is now common for IPOB to declare certain days of the week as closed for public and private commercial activities and anyone who violated the ‘Order’ is dealt with mercilessly by the group. All these and many similar groups are challenging the very existence of Nigeria as an entity, a further evidence on the loss of confidence in the system. Unfortunately, these irredentist groups have also invariably undermined Nigeria's economic base with dire consequences on agricultural and industrial production and commercial activities and the very essence of peaceful coexistence within and among communities.
Nigerians Are Loosing Hope and Getting Angry
Today, everywhere you go around the country, the cry of food, food and food rants the air with many more people going to bed (if they have any bed at all) and waking up in the morning with empty stomachs, with no hope of getting food anytime soon. In communities devastated by insecurity and in families with many small children whose parents have been killed, the situation is even more dire and distressing. It is obvious, a hungry man is an angry man. One consequence of all these is loss of hope in the land. It is an incontrovertible fact that many Nigerians have lost hope in the country, many others have lost hope on democracy and even many more Nigerians have lost hope in themselves.
Although it might require further in depth research to corroborate, it is a fact that the frequency of suicides in Nigeria in the last few years appear to be on the increase. Unfortunately, a lot of drama has been added to the gory incidences of suicide in Nigeria, with many of those planning to commit suicide do so openly in public spaces in order to attract the media to achieve maximum effect. As in all instances, while it is very difficult to pin down specific cause or causes of these suicides, nonetheless, it is not too difficult to deduce that the harsh economic conditions in the country, accompanied with social pressures are major contributors.
Late last year, in November 2023, a video clip trended on-line showing a young Nigerian man from Edo State called Alvin Ilenre, a graduate of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Oyo State, publicly setting fire on his primary school, diploma, Bachelors Degree and NYSC certificates saying that since his graduation for nearly thirteen years, the certificates did not serve him any purpose. While many social media followers were shocked and surprised that anyone could go this far, the lesson from this was that there was no easier and harsher way of dismissing the education system in the country. It is a fact of life today that the biting economic conditions have deepened hunger, poverty, unemployment and general bitterness and resentments in the country. This has also raised anger and bitterness in the land. After pursuing the neo-liberal doctrine for over forty years, Nigeria has been caught up in a web.
Nigerians are also getting angry because Nigerians image and respectability is being systematically eroded. When a bullish American President calls African countries shit holes, we take it calmly and do not respond; when a British Prime Minister calls Nigeria, fantastically corrupt, we shrug it off, as if he didn't say anything; when Nigerians are chased away from African countries, we bark but we not bite; and when descent and innocent Nigerian citizens are maltreated at foreign airports, we just look the other way, we do not carry out reprisals to forestall future similar diplomatic embarrassments to our citizens. In short, Nigeria and Nigerians image and respectability are being eroded and undermined on daily basis and certainly, Nigeria does not deserve this.
Popular Consensus Among Nigerians
Despite all the deafening noise, grandstanding and brinkmanship which is common in Nigerian politics, especially during elections season that we have just passed through, there is popular consensus among Nigerians in a number of areas relating to our great nation:
In the first place, virtually every Nigerian, including friends of Nigeria are agreed that our country is not moving fast enough and nor is it moving in the right direction of fulfilling its manifest destiny as the leading and leader on the African continent. Some Nigerians even believe, rightly or wrongly, that we as a nation are either stuck in one place or even moving backwards compared to some of the leading nations in the world;
Secondly, most Nigerians believe, here rightly too, that the country has vast human and natural resources, that if these resources were properly harnessed, these would propel us to accelerated economic development, social advancement and political stability and so far this has not happened.
Thirdly, most Nigerians believe, unless something is done urgently, Nigeria’s economic and socio-political drift will be exacerbated with far reaching consequences not only for Nigeria as a country but for the African Continent as a whole. Already the deepening economic crisis in the country has impacted virtually in every sector of the national economy especially in the areas of agriculture, the manufacturing sector and commerce. As we noted earlier, these have been exacerbated by general insecurity in the country.
Popular Explanations About The Causes Of Crisis In Nigeria
Unfortunately, while there is a general agreement about the existence of these problems, there is no agreement on the causes of these problems and their solution. There are a number of critical issues that are often raised and advanced forward as explanation for causes of Nigerian economic crises. Instead of situating the ongoing crisis at the doorstep of the neo-liberal ideologues, most Nigerians often prefer to look elsewhere for the causes of Nigerian economic crisis.
The most popular among these explanations include among others: issues of lack of elite consensus; unbridled corruption both in low and high places; the dysfunctional State; manipulations from foreign powers; the indiscipline of Nigerians; and the problem of fiscal Federalism. Each of these has attracted interest among Scholars, Political analysts and Civil Society organisations. Even though we do not have sufficient time here to address each and every one them, nonetheless we need to interrogate some of them.
On the issue of corruption, there has been spirited debate in Nigeria on its causes, dimensions and implications for the national economy and society. Some of the manifestations of this corruption include lack of priorities in governance, misuse and abuse of public trust and open theft. Many Nigerians believe that this corruption has been facilitated because of the gradual but systematic concentration of power and resources into fewer and fewer hands while abject poverty is on the increase. A new word, ‘state capture’ is beginning to find its way into the lexicon of political discourse.
Undoubtedly, the issue of corruption has been as old as the history of Nigeria. In fact, way back in 1984, a spirited debate took place among leading scholars, Yusuf Bala Usman of the Department of History and Yusuf Bangura of the Department of Political Science both at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria on the causes of Nigerian economic crisis. During the debate, while the issue of corruption was raised as one of the causes of the economic crisis in Nigeria, it was also argued that corruption itself was a feature and manifestation of a deeper problem, inevitable in all capitalist systems (ABU, 1984). While in the earlier years of the World Bank and IMF operations in Nigeria, the issue of corruption was not highlighted as major factor of underdevelopment, but since the early 1990s the story has changed. It was now being argued that corruption was one of the major impediments to development in Africa and governments in Africa must fight corruption.
As part of this, Governments in Nigeria have over the years established numerous institutions and agencies to curb these excesses, but still in the perceptions of most ordinary Nigerians, there is even more escalations of these excesses and misdemeanors. Regrettably, even those highly respected, talented, fearless and dedicated officers who were given the difficult task of cleaning the system end up being undermined and or compromised by the system.
Beside the issue of corruption, there are many Nigerians who also contend that the structure of the Nigerian federation is the major factor and an impediment to economic growth, political inclusivity and inclusiveness and social harmony. Here, it is felt that the distributive process of national resources between the federal government, the states and local governments has greatly impaired national development. This has led to frequent calls for restructuring of the country in order to address the issues of fiscal imbalances and other sundry matters.
Here, there are many Nigerians, including highly respected citizens who believe that the whole problem in Nigeria is either what they term as faulty fiscal federalism, or that the Federal structure in Nigeria itself, is the foundation of the problem. According to this view, there is an urgent need to restructure the Nigerian Federation. Under this assumption, there have been strident calls for creation of more states, devolution of powers of the Federal Government, review of the Revenue Allocation Formula, resource control, establishment of State Police and even calls for return to regionalism.
There are still others who are also calling for jettisoning of the Presidential system of Government, which they say is too expensive and a return to the Parliamentary system of Government, as was practiced under the First Republic 1960 to 1966. Initially, there was serious resistance against restructuring of the country, but with time, the issue of restructuring is becoming clear, and today there is consensus about among Nigerians on the need for the restructuring of the country, what remains unclear is when, how the modus operandi. Recently in late February 2024, the, National Assembly in Nigeria commenced processes for the amendments of the Nigerian Constitution to revert the country to Parliamentary System of Government and the introduction of State police. Both of these are very contentious and are likely to raise more tensions in the days ahead.
Beside the structuralists debate, there is also the ‘Institutional’ Argument. The Institutional argument also falls within the structural functional paradigm which is rooted way back in the 1960s. Advanced forward and promoted by some conservative American scholars, they argue that one of the causes of backwardness in Africa was lack of effective institutions and structures. They argue that for Africa to grow, Africa must modernize and abandon its primitive ways of doing things.
Modernization theories which were off-shoots of the structural functionalist school, are traceable to the popular writings of sociologists such as Emil Durkheim, Ferdinand Tonnies, and TaIcolt Parsons. These were later reviewed and applied by American political scientists, such as David Easton and Gabriel Almond. According to this view, the essential goal of modernization, is to alter the patterns of what they considered primitive social organization in Africa and to create a society, in which, "man is efficient, adaptable, independent oriented towards long term planning and in which he is amenable to change”(Alkali, 1997). A more recent version of this was advanced forward by the former American President Barack Obama in his address at the Ghanian Parliament on 11 July 2009. Obviously sending a message to all African nations, he said, “Africa does not need strong men. It needs strong Institutions” (Obama, 2009).
Unfortunately, many African writers and commentators, without critically analyzing the statement, were carried away, believing that what Africa needed to achieve development is to build strong Institutions and structures. This fits in very well with the Bretton Woods new direction of ‘institutional reforms’ in Africa. It was stated that, “the neo-liberal project is also focused on designing Institutions and is political in character rather than only economic”(Wikipedia, p30). But it must be stated that while Barack Obama might have a point about building Institutions, it can be argued that while institutions and structures have their role in the development process, certainly, they can not be substitutes for good governance guided by leaderships that are rooted in well conceived social values.
Here again, one of issues that has been attracting attention is the challenges of leadership in Nigeria. I have argued elsewhere in my Convocation Lecture at Taraba State University, Jalingo in 2022 that there is no subject that has continued to elicit so much passion and acrimonious debate than the problem of leadership in Nigeria. Here is what I stated: “In the past three decades, conscious efforts have been made in search of solutions. As part of this, the Arewa House, Center for Historical Research and Documentation in Kaduna, an arm of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria has hosted a number of Seminars, Workshops and Lecture series addressing this issue” (Alkali, 2022).
“Some of the prominent Nigerian Leaders who spoke on this matter included: Mallam Liman Ciroma's paper on The Imperative of National Unity and the Responsibility of Leadership" (1994); Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari, on Politics, Governance and Development in Nigeria (1996); General Muhammadu Buhari on Leadership and Accountability in Period of Moral Crisis (1998); Chief Sunday B. Awoniyi on Sir Ahmadu Bello’s Style of Leadership (year 2000); and General Yakubu Gowon on Sir Ahmadu Bello’s Vision and Contemporary Politics in Nigeria (2003), (Alkali, 2022).
In 1994, General Olusegun Obasanjo, (before he was elected as President of Nigeria) presented a Lecture at the Arewa House Conference on the State of the Nation, where he drew attention of the participants on the problem of leadership in Nigeria. According to him, "for as long as our leaders are sponsored for personal, geographical, sectional, religious and purely ethnic interest, for so long will the problem remain with us, no matter the sophistication of our Constitution or the frequency of change", (Mahdi Abdullahi: 1994). Some people may argue that both General Olusegun Obasanjo and General Muhammadu Buhari who on different occasions presented Key Note Addresses in Arewa House, Kaduna on the same theme of Leadership were subsequently elected to serve as Presidents of Nigeria and the question is what difference did they make in addressing the problem of Leadership in the country?
I am convinced, history has shown that actually it is good and great leaders - men and women of courage, men and women of character and men and women of foresight and revolutionary ideas, who in the first place, brought about fundamental changes to their countries leading up to the building of strong Institutions. If anyone is doubt, let him study the evolution of the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), China, Cuba, Iran and even Singapore where visionary leaders with clear ideological direction served as the moving forces for transforming their nations.
Rethinking Democracy in Nigeria
Another issue gaining traction in recent times is on the issue of democracy. Many Nigerians placed a lot of hope on democracy praying that the institutions and structures of democracy will give them protection and dividends. Many more Nigerians thought that democracy and democratic governance would offer the appropriate window and platform through which all contentious issues facing Nigeria, especially issues of good governance, accountability, equity, social justice and inclusivity could be addressed and resolved. Unfortunately, so far, this appears not to be case.
As a result of this, nearly twenty four years since the return to liberal democracy, Nigerians are raising questions and even beginning to loose hope in virtually every facet of national life. Instead of democracy to offer hope to the people, this has not been so. Democracy as a system of government which hitherto was embraced with enthusiasm and with huge public support appears to lose its allure. Poor political representations, lack of empathy, blatant misuse of public resources and vulgar and ostentatious living in the midx of poverty and hunger has created a rejectionist tendency of the very essence of democracy among the populace.
Frequent attacks on political office holders physically and in media platforms have been on the increase and every institution and individuals associated with political matters including political parties, election officials, law enforcement agencies and the judicial officers are treated with suspicion and disdain. This perhaps might explain why one of the leading Presidential Candidates during the 2023 General Elections, Asiwaju BOLA Ahmed Tinubu, who incidentally subsequently won the Presidential election used the mantra of Renewed Hope during his campaigns.
It must however be said, while the resentment is general, often, the political elites who lose elections are the vanguards of the delegitimization and criminalization of the democratic process and the institutions of the Nigerian State. While most of these behaviors and attitudes are not unique to Nigerian democracy nor is it completely a new phenomenon in the history of Nigerian party politics, the intensity has been increasing, leading to either voter apathy or withdrawal from the political process and or avoidable political violence before, during or after elections. The 16th American President Abraham Lincoln has often been quoted defining Democracy as, “the Government of the people of the people by the people and for the people”. But recently, some Nigerians have now redefined democracy as, “Government of a few people for a few people and by a few people” (Mafiana, 2023).
Reading the new mood of the nation, in late November 2023, former President Olusegun Obasanjo organised a conference in Ogun State, Nigeria on the theme: “Rethinking Western Liberal Democracy” stating that Western democracy is not working because it is imposed on Africa. According to Obasanjo, democracy as it is practiced in Africa today, is a “government of a few people over all the people or population and these people are representatives of only some of the people and not fully representatives of all the people. Invariably, the majority of the people are wittingly or unwittingly kept out”(Obasanjo, O; 2023). He argued that democracy has not delivered on good governance and progressive development. He therefore proposed what he called “Afro-democracy” as an alternative model of democracy for African countries (Obasanjo, O; 2023).
Rethinking The Neo-Liberal Economic Doctrine
While all said, we need to return to where we started from. In my view, the more fundamental issue that poses greater challenge to Nigeria and Nigerians goes beyond these ‘popular’ explanations, important as they are in understanding the overall social conditions and political direction in Nigeria. While the issue of leadership is very significant, it has to be stated that the ideological platform under which the leadership emerges and operates constitutes the material base upon which everything rests. In this case, neo-liberalism, the model of development that Nigeria has adopted since political independence, but especially in the last forty two years can easily be treated as the critical foundation. Let it be understood that liberal democracy and the neo-liberal economic doctrine are two sides of the same coin. So, while the pitfalls of liberal democracy has greatly undermined its effectiveness and acceptability, the reality is that liberal democracy cannot be separated, treated nor understood outside the doctrine of neo-liberal economics.
Contradictions in the Application of Neo-liberalism
One of the tragedies facing the African continent is that we often fail or refuse to learn from the experiences of the same countries that have been forcing the continent to adopt harsh economic policies that are injurious to our socio-economic and political conditions. Let us take the case of what happened in the United States in 2008 when the world was hit by one of the greatest economic depressions since the Great Depression that took place during the inter-war period in the 1930s which wiped away huge investments and jobs. President Barack Obama who had just taken over as President of the United States had to quickly and directly intervene in the Stock Exchange; the Banking and Automobile Industries; and generally the social sector such as the Obama Care policies. At that time, the American Government had to come up with a stimulus package to rejig and restart the engine of economic growth in the US.
In February 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It was a $831 Billion economic stimulus package under his American Recovery and Reinvestment programme to help the country move out of the Depression (Obama, O; 2009). The primary objective was to save jobs and create even more jobs. Some of the policy measures President Obama adopted included provision of medicaid, unemployment benefits, food stamps, loans and grants to support the education and transport sector. Tax relief for individuals and some companies were also introduced to save Businesses from collapse.
Of course, President Obama faced a lot of resistance and opposition especially from the Republicans against the Economic Stimulus Plan, nonetheless, he pushed on with the support from his Democratic Party Congressmen and women. President Barrack Obama went further to rally other European countries to also step in because it was a global crisis that affected country. The American Stimulus Plan provided for “a minimum tax rebate of $300 ($600 for married taxpayers filing joint returns) for taxpayers with earned income of at least $3,000” (Obama, 2009). The Plan also included social security retirement benefits, compensation and pension benefits for disabled veterans.
In the case of Britain, the 2008 United Kingdom Bank Rescue package revealed that, “the Intervention Plan provided for several sources of funding to be made available to an aggregate total of £137 billion in cash injections and loans at peak and a further £1,029 billions in guarantees at peak” (UK, 2008). The British Government went further to nationalize a number of Banks including major Banks such as the Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to enable Government provide more funds directly to save the financial sector. Government spent over £137 Billions in support of (at least) four major UK Banks. The British Government also lowered its interest rates and introduced tariffs to protect its industry and Businesses and also regulated the Pound Sterling.
For Nigeria and most African countries, this lesson was lost. At the very time United States and Britain were doing everything possible to protect their domestic industries, save jobs and provide essential social services to their peoples, African countries were digging deeper and deeper into the vortex of neo-liberalism with little or no concern about the long term social and political consequences of these policies. As Nigeria's experience about Privatisation has revealed, apart from the Telecoms Industry, virtually all the other sectors such as the Banking sector, the Electricity and manufacturing sector have not shown marked improvement and efficiency. Today, any Business that is found to be fairing well in Nigeria must have deep connection with Government, so what is the essence of Privatisation? Recent reports indicate that even after the Privatisation, the Federal Government is still providing subsidies to the Energy sector which is raising fresh controversies.
Cumulative Effects of Neo-Liberalism in Nigeria
It is clear that the Cumulative Effect of the Neo-liberal monetarists supply side economics has not brought about the much expected results of stimulating domestic production of goods and services nor have these policies improved the competitiveness of our goods in the International market. In any case, apart from raw crude petroleum that we still export, whose price we do not control, what else does Nigeria produce and export that justifies all these tough and harsh policies that the Country has been implementing over the last forty years under the command of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)?
Instead of attracting and promoting more investments in the country, the harsh IMF Conditionalities have led to more capital flight and divestments by a number of leading companies in the country. In an Editorial of 11th December 2023, Punch Newspapers noted that there have been mass exit of multinationals from Nigeria. The mass exodus include giant companies such as Unilever, producer of Omo, Sunlight soap etc; GlaxoSmithKlime (GSK), a pharmaceutical company; Sanofi, another French pharmaceutical corporation; and Procter and Gamble, producer of household goods. Another company, BOLT described as “a user friendly” in the transport business has also been affected.
The Punch also noted that much earlier since 2006, giant tyre manufacturers in Nigeria including the popular Michelin and Dunlop have also left Nigeria. Beside these, the Punch stated that within this period “no fewer than 25 oil companies and investments pulled out and sold their stakes to domestic investors” ( Punch Editorial of 11th December 2023). Surprisingly, those companies included giant oil companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil and ENI. As the paper puts it, “the high cost of foreign exchange, energy, multiple taxation, rotten criminal justice system are killing both domestic and multinational manufacturers alike (Punch Editorial of 11th December 2023).
Before We Crucify President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
It is easy to heap the blame on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who took over power last year, in May 2023. But the issue is much more complex than that. As can be noted, the deterioration and the worsening of conditions for investments and businesses in Nigeria has been going on for a very long time in the country, during the same period the IMF and the World Bank were digging their feet deeper and deeper into the Nigerian economy. In my view, what is before us is the cumulative effects of over four decades of the involvement and intervention of the Bretton Wood Institutions in the Nigerian economy and society based on the neo-liberal ideology which is insensitive to the feelings and yearnings of Nigerians.
The good news is that even President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is keenly aware of the dangers of the neo-liberal ideology. According to Professor Farooq Kperogi, way back in 2012, Asiwaju Tinubu raised concerns about “European conservatives” whose economic prescriptions are at variance “with the needs of the Nigerian populace” (Farooq Kperogi, 2024). He quoted Asiwaju Tinubu as saying then that, “There has been no nation on the face of the planet that has developed or achieved long term prosperity by devotion to conservative, ultra-free market economic ideas….if no nation has grown using these ideas, why are we stuck with them?”(Farooq Kperogi, 2024).
Of course times have change and circumstances have changed but the reality has not changed. As usual, the IMF and the World Bank bided their time and took advantage of the very tense, uncertain and volatile period in the 2023/2024 political transition and struck again! Nigerians can continue bickering, as always, over the outcome of the 2023 Presidential elections but the eyes of the IMF and World Bank were fixed on the ball - to achieve their long term and ultimate objectives of ‘liberalizing’ or one can say, capturing the Nigerian economy. The economic, social and political consequences of these harsh policies are not their interest or concern. Here I wish to state with all sense of responsibility that as long as Nigerians do not put their house in order and we do not care to know who our true friends and enemies are, the country will remain open to the machinations of powerful foreign forces who are bent on undermining our potentials and our historic destiny on the African Continent.
I wish to also state that, there is nothing that is being said about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu today that has not been said, even more, about past Nigerian Leaders including Muhammadu Buhari, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, General Sani Abacha, General Ibrahim Babangida and even Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari. The point is that, irrespective of who is in charge in the Government of Nigeria, as long as the country is pursuing neo-liberal economic policies under the influence and direction of the IMF and World Bank, the problem will still persist.
Let us recall the words of General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1977, then as Military of Head of State, in his address at the World Conference for Action Against Apartheid in Lagos, “I am on record as suggesting that most of the nation's that attained political independence since 1945 are sponsored states. The implication of this is that, their sponsors will continue to dictate directly or indirectly, teleguide openly and subliminally the pace, tone, direction and quality of life of the citizens of the sponsored states”, ( Alkali, 2003).
Early Attempts At Social Engineering
Over the years, Governments in Nigeria have come up with what might appear an attempt to intervene and provide some sort of social support for the people but most of these Programs fell short of what was needed to address fundamental issues in their design, scope, focus and implementation. In the last three decades, various Programmes have been introduced including the Family Economic Advancement Programme, (FEAP); National Directory of Employment, (NDE); Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P); N-Power; TraderMoni; etc. Most of these Programmes were not effective nor sustainable. More recently, the concept of Palliatives has entered the lexicon but this too unfortunately has attracted even more negative response and reaction from Nigerians. The sad events of the year 2020 over the Covid 19 Palliatives which were not properly managed led to numerous embarrassing situations around the country. In any case, the essence of Palliatives in itself is just like offering a cancer patient Panadol, a small and brief pain reliever, while the main sickness grows and worsens.
Apart from the monthly regular allocations from the Federation Account, in the last three decades, huge sums of money have been released to the State Governments including Paris Club refunds; Covid 19 Support Funds; Ecological Funds; Federal Highway Constructions Refunds and other special interventions by the Federal Government, still the problems persist. Local Governments have become mere administrative units and all purpose vehicles in the service of vested interests. While on the one hand, this may appear to justify the need for re-visiting the issues of fiscal federalism, on the other hand, the reality is that in so far as the ruling elite does not change its ways, no matter what restructuring is done, only beneficiaries might change, but the crisis of resource management, indeed the whole crisis of development in the country would persist.
In August 2019, the Federal Government created a new Ministry named the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. It's mission was ostensibly to develop policies and provide platform for harmonizing all activities related to humanitarian and social policy intervention. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on its mandates, the Ministry has been enmeshed into scandals and controversies which has greatly undermined its goals, objectives and effectiveness.
Time For A New Deal For Nigerians
The truth is that it takes a lot of courage and great risks for any African Government, especially in Nigeria to do wholesale devaluation of its currency and remove subsidy on a commodity such as petroleum which is more or less the umbilical code of the Nigerian economy without anticipating reaction from diverse forces. But now, with the complete removal of Petroleum Fuel subsidy and the total devaluation of the National currency, Government needs to come up with other bold, courageous and creative steps to preempt pushback from social forces.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is bound to face resistance - going either way forward. This is because just as in all other countries wherever the Bretton Woods Institutions operate, there are beneficiaries and dogged advocates and defenders of their ideological praxis. Broken down in simple terms, there are intellectuals, bureaucrats, corporate executives, Think-Tank Groups and even politicians who benefit from and ardently believe in the neo-liberal monetarist supply side economics. So today, as Nigerians groan and scream over difficult and challenging conditions of lives, if we look behind us, regrettably, we see the two Trojan Horses that is to say, the two Bretton Wood institutions, in collaboration with domestic elements standing as sentinels dictating the content, direction and substance of public policy in Nigeria.
The IMF and the World Bank do not trust Governments even if they are part of it, nor do they care to remember that Governments around the world have social responsibilities to their people especially the poor, to women, to children and to the weak and the underprivileged. Even in Europe and United States which we often cite as models of development, when necessary, as we have demonstrated during the 2008 Economic Depression, Governments do intervene in the management of public affairs including the economy. Just as was the case after the Second World War, governments intervention became inevitable to save capitalism from collapse.
Stimulus Programme For Economic Revival (SPER)
What President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should do urgently is to come up with a medium term strategy of economic revival. President Tinubu should quickly adopt the Barrack Obama rule book that led to bringing America out of the woods within a short period of time. This is essential in order to urgently restore hope in the country and in the Nigerian democracy. I trust this is the time the Federal Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will take fresh and far reaching decisions to bring Nigeria out of the woods.
Just as Barrack Obama was able to bring America out of the 2008 Depression, President Tinubu can do the same in Nigeria. I therefore recommend the immediate launching of a well thought-out, comprehensive and well coordinated Stimulus Programme For Economic Revival (SPER). This policy may not be popular with the World Bank and the IMF but this is our country and this is our democracy. If the President could remove subsidies and devalue the national currency even when many Nigerians were thinking differently, the President can as well take strategic policy initiatives to save the nation from further drift. And this is the time. To achieve these, it is time for the Federal Government to take a number of steps:
(i). First, as Muhammad Sagagi (2024) noted, rolling back the reforms could be difficult, but he argued that there was need for ‘adjustments’ based on what he called new realities. He said, “policy makers must pause between ‘episodes’ of reforms, reflect and update the situation based on new ideas and information generated from the assessment”. He similarly stated that in the case of the Naira, the national currency, many countries around the World today do operate ‘managed floating’ regime and Nigeria can do the same.
Arguing along the same line, Akpan H. Akpan (2024) noted that part of the problem that pushed Nigeria into the present situation was the monetary policy which suddenly collapsed the I & E multiple exchange rates into a single window. He argues that the current economic crisis requires the Visible Hand of Government to restore recovery because since the economy is sinking, reliance on private sector and market forces would further deepen the crisis. In his view, market forces would not reduce poverty even in the long run. According to him, in fact market forces need poverty to intensify primitive capitalist accumulation. Just as in the case of Sagagi, he argues that there was need for the Government to revert to a managed floating Exchange rate to rescue the Naira from further depreciation. In my view, recent attempts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to tinker with interest and exchange rates has so far not brought the much anticipated and desired results.
Nigeria should go further and borrow a leaf from United Kingdom. Throughout the period Britain was a member of the European Union (EU), it never abandoned its national currency, the Pound Sterling. It operated side by side with the EU currency, the Euro. And in 2009, when the Great Depression started biting harder, the UK Government intervened to protect the Pound Sterling from free-fall depreciation. There is danger and limit to allowing the Naira to continue sinking deeper and deeper into oblivion. With the constitution of the National Monetary Committee (NMC), the committee should move fast and rescue the Naira;
(ii). Second, It is essential to have an appropriately targeted tax relief for certain category of individuals and some companies, especially small and medium enterprises such as educational institutions, pharmaceuticals and transport services. Additionally, Government should review the tax policies especially as it affects workers, self employed and artisans. Fortunately, the President has already constituted a Committee on tax reforms. This should not be held down or delayed by technicalities and bureaucracies. The current system of multiple taxations through VAT and other obnoxious charges by the banking and telecommunications companies is too excessive. These huge and multiple charges are putting great pressure on Nigerians;
(iii). Third, the Government should come up with a policy framework whose primary goal is to protect jobs, to create new jobs, to enhance the purchasing power of the ordinary citizen in the country and genuinely encourage the establishment of small and medium scale businesses. The Federal Government should also introduce tariffs to protect the domestic industry and businesses especially those producing essential goods and services. The primary objective here should be to save jobs and create even more job opportunities. Since some of the major companies have divested from Nigeria, this gives Government the opportunity to protect and support emerging domestic businesses;
(iv), Fourth, Government needs to also, in the short term, reduce excise duties on basic pharmaceutical products and medicaments, while it should urgently initiate Programs of encouraging domestic production of pharmaceutical products and basic medical care facilities. This is because today one of the most essential yet most expensive products are pharmaceuticals and hospital equipments. It is time President Tinubu comes up with his Save Life Initiative (SLI). This is urgently needed to assist our women, children and victims of insecurity challenges;
(v). Fifth, with the current state of the economy, long term investment by companies and even small businesses is unattractive and hazardous. The current interest rates are also not attractive for saving. That's perhaps precisely why most Nigerians with excess liquidity prefer to go for speculation in the Dollar exchange markets or even the purchase and hoarding of grains. Government needs to urgently revisit the interest regime to forestall further flight of capital;
(vi). Six, the current proposed policy of raising school fees especially in the Universities and other Tertiary Institutions in the country which is adding great pressure on the families should be placed on moratorium or scaled down significantly. Already many public servants and middle income earners cannot even drive their cars to their Offices because of high cost of fuel. It is very possible, under this situation even University teachers who know the value of education can not afford to send their children to schools. In my view, whatever the short term gains, this will have longer term implications for social and political stability;
(vii). Seven, Nigeria should resist the pressure from the IMF in tempering with the current energy prices regime, because this again will further escalate the cost for industrial, commercial and domestic users. Governments also needs to come up with a robust policy on domestic energy sources. While government is discouraging tree felling which could lead to deforestation, the prices of both cooking gas and kerosene are on the rise. Certainly only a small fraction of Nigerians can use electricity for domestic or even commercial culinary purposes.
(viii). Eight, it appears politically expedient for both the Government and the Labour Unions to settle for increase of salaries and wages for the workers. For the labour Unions, this will show that they have extracted some ‘reasonable concessions’ from the Federal Government, which in the short term may douce tension among agitated workers. For the Federal Government, this might also show to Nigerians that it is a listening Government and it has compassion for the workers.
However, this strategy is dicey. In the first place, the number of workers in Nigeria constitute a small percentage of Nigerian total population. What about the unemployed youth – men and women who filled the streets? What about pensioners, whose earnings are virtually frozen after retirements? What about students at all levels especially in Tertiary Institutions? What about farmers, artisans and those who are in IDP camps around the country? What about the Almajiris, the beggars and destitutes roaming the streets? All these are also Nigerians and any social policy intended to have nation-wide and long term impact needs to carry them along. And certainly, negotiated wage increase has no place for them.
In any case, the history of salary reviews in Nigeria is that, immediately new salaries and wages are announced, the market responds instantly wiping out any gains. This further escalates the inflation in the country. Already, in anticipation of this salary reviews which has been in the news for a long time, some unscrupulous Nigerians have started massively purchasing food and other essential products and hoarding them, just waiting for the opportune time to strike.
Rather, Governments both at the Federal and State levels need to come up with more creative policy options that would target those in the middle and lower income bracket and provide basic essential social services to the people. What is needed now is a Social Safety Net for the poor. In particular, emphasis should be placed on urban and interstate transportation system; freezing of further increase in school fees in public institutions; provision of essential pre-natal and ante-natal medical services; offer of basic emergency medical support for accident victims; and other life threatening medical conditions such as tuberculosis, hepatitis, cancer and AIDS treatments. To finance these commitments, the Federal Government should offer various forms of grants to support the education and health care sectors at all levels.
(ix). Since one of the major issues that let to the current conundrum was the removal of fuel subsidy, it is very important for the Federal Government to tackle this problem frontally. The confusing and contradictory stories coming out from the oil industry are both unpleasant and worrisome. While there is consensus in the country today that the Federal Government should not and can not even afford to continue to pay subsidies to small group of oil cartel, the story of the subsidy has not been fully understood by Nigerians. As long as Nigeria remains a major petroleum producing and exporting country and ironically a country that is a major importer of refined petroleum products, the story will never go away.
I strongly suggest that the Federal Government should take full charge and control of the oil industry. The oil cartel, with their local and foreign collaborators who are the major beneficiaries of the subsidies through dubious imports billing to the nation will do everything to undermine the Federal Government, but Nigeria should not be deterred. Everything should be done to revive and commission the national oil Refineries which are parts of the commanding heights of the Nigerian economy. The Dangote Refinery is a right step in the right direction but given the quantum of demand of refined petroleum products in Nigeria, one private Refinery will not address Nigeria's long term demand. Indeed, this country should aim at being a major exporter of refined petroleum products in the West Africa sub region. We have lost too much time procrastinating, this is the time to leap forward.
(x). Ultimately, Nigeria must return to agriculture, the very foundation of the Nigerian economy. There is an urgent need to bring a sustainable solution to the ongoing protracted crisis between arable farmers and Nomadic livestock producers in many parts of the country. Surely, the tension and conflicts between arable farmers and livestock owners revolve around access to and control over land and water resources. Other countries of the world have addressed and resolved similar issues, Nigeria can do the same. Very soon, the rainy season will set in. It is therefore vital for the Federal Government to collaborate with the State Governments to provide essential agricultural inputs to farmers in good time and at affordable prices.
(xi). Beyond all these the Federal Government in collaboration with the State Governments should urgently tackle the security challenges in the country. It has been repeatedly stated that, using force alone, no matter how convenient or justified, will hardly bring lasting peace and stability in the country. What is sure is that every problem has a solution unless we do not deal with the problems holistically. Many people and communities in the country who feel neglected and or alienated should be reintegrated into the system and a negotiated framework for deescalating tensions and violence should be adopted. The way forward should be a win-win situation for every Nigerian.
Conclusion
In conclusion, let me restate the fact that however fanciful and even appealing the various ‘explanations’ on the causes of Nigerian crises, the bottomline and the bigger challenge facing Nigeria is the cumulative effect of the neo-liberal monetarists supply side economics which over the last forty years look only at one side of the equation. They refuse to recognise the impact of the global economic forces such as the Great Depression of 2008 and the Covid 19 of 2020 on the Nigerian economy and society. Even the ill fated currency redesign imbroglio initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2022 that had devastating effects on Nigeria was treated as non-events. Nigeria has also been dealing with serious security issues which have undermined agricultural and commercial activities in many parts of the country. We are yet to recover from the effect of all these challenges.
This is the time for the Federal Government to step back, reassess the impact of the removal of the fuel subsidy and the wholesale devaluation of the Naira and come up with a Stimulus Programme For Economic Revival (SPER) to achieve the Renew Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This will serve as a Social Safety Net which implies fiscal inclusion of all Nigerians which would prevent further collapse of businesses and descent into more unemployment, hunger and poverty. It can be done, it should be done.
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