Oil Will Finish – Soon!

THE international oil and gas conference that Tell organised in Abuja was in celebration of 50 years of Nigeria’s export of crude oil. In keeping with the spirit of celebration, the lamentations about the devastations of oil, failed to pin point one crucial issue, how the Niger Delta would be the day oil runs out.
Speculations after the expiry date of Nigeria’s crude oil have been further distorted with more off-shore discoveries, the emerging importance of gas, the rising prices of crude in the international market and unsettling events in other parts of the world, which make Nigeria’s crude more attractive.

Few are ever emphatic that one day, oil will run out, totally .For Nigeria, it is unthinkable that there would be no oil. The more recent forays into gas also tie the country’s dependence more on oil and its ancillary products.

Without meaningful investments in any areas, with most of the oil producing areas despoiled to crushing poverty, with the atmosphere polluted beyond sustainable habitation, the end of oil would leave a trail of destruction that the country cannot bear. Unfortunately, the thinking in most quarters, is that this damage would be limited to the Niger Delta, the major reason for the scant attention paid to its development.

Experts are more embracing in their expectations from the environmental degrading that Nigeria’s antiquated oil production methods occasion. Despoliation of the rain forests, coastal erosions, destabilisation of the soil’s internal structures through the introduction of heavy equipment, gas flaring, the pollution from spillages, annihilation of aquatic lives, and denial of an economic life to the region’s teeming population, have combined consequences with global implications.

Oil’s importance as a prime source of energy can diminish in three ways – changes in technology that can result in cheaper, more environmental friendly sources of energy, discovery of more stable and safer sources of oil supply than the Niger Delta and the drying up of the wells, something that is often waved aside.

Even if oil does not run out in 10 years, its place in the scale of energy producing substances would not be forever. One factor that would keep oil relevant is the cost of changing all the technologies that are currently powered through oil-sourced energy, the other could be the huge investments in oil and gas, which the energy companies would want to recoup before they shift their focus to the new replacements for oil and gas.

When that day comes, would Nigeria have diversified her economy away from oil? Would Nigeria be in a position to pay for the new cost of energy? Would Nigeria’s present ancient technology find a place in the new world? What would the Niger Delta look like then?

The lesson is that we have to find other sources of revenue to run this country, before it is too late, while the environmental degradation of the Niger Delta, which has vastly lowered the quality of life, should be fixed quickly, not just by words.

$10 Billion and the Energy Question

Besides the controversial third term bid of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, one other issue that marked down his government is the failure to fix the electricity problem in Nigeria. He had come to office with a bubbling gusto determined to, for once, deal decisively with the energy problem in the nation. It had looked at the time that Obasanjo was coming to office mainly to address the energy problem. But eight years after, not only was he unable to handle the issue, we have now been told that a whopping sum of $10 Billion was blown up in attending to an energy sector that actually got worse than he met. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Oladimeji Bankole, says the amount so spent is $16billion.Whatever the amount was, what remains undoubted is the fact that it was a colossal waste. What with the fact that despite that huge expended sum, what Nigerians got is increased megawatts of darkness and frustration.
Expectedly, the government of President Umar Musa Yar’Adua has made the electricity issue a core concern to his government. It is indeed part of his oft-touted seven-point agenda. But about nine months into his administration, it is not certain how far he has gone on the matter.
It is pertinent to state that Obasanjo’s efforts ended up in ruins because of the wrong-headed strategies he applied to solving the problem. For a government that talked so much about the place and ability of private sector partnership, it is a striking irony that Obasanjo undertook the electricity project all alone without involving the private sector. Was this deliberate? Was it naivety? It is even more painful to note that the private sector had indeed proposed to undertake the building of plants that could raise the nation’s capacity to over 2,000 mwt, which would have been a far cry from the measly 2,500mwt we are presently battling to sustain. Oil companies like Mobil, Agip, Shell and other Energy-related companies like ABB and AES had indicated interest in financing the projects at a far lesser cost than the PHCN can ever offer. And all of these would have come to light in three or so years. But despite the assurance the proposal held with a strong potential in delivering us from the electricity enigma, the project was not only bungled but programmed to fail by those whose selfish interest would be served with a continuation of the ignoble status quo. If the oil companies were allowed to handle the project, not only would our electricity profile improve greatly, the $10billion flushed down the drain would have been freed for use in other ailing sectors like education, health, infrastructure etc.
The nation, under Obasanjo, was thus made to suffer double jeopardy over this electricity conundrum
But away from the lamentations of the past is the challenge now before President Yar’Adua. Yes, we believe he needs to have full understanding of the problem before proffering solution, but we believe also that this cannot take forever. Nine months into his administration have not raised our hope.
For an administration that intends to be among the world’s 20 greatest economies in 13 years time, the imperative of stable electricity can hardly be over emphasized. Or which industrialized nation of the world became so with epileptic power supply?
The initial activism about declaring the state of emergency on the energy sector has long gone whimperish. No action plan has been launched to demonstrate commitment to the issue. Much as Nigerians are completely perplexed over the energy issue, we believe that it is not an intractable problem. We also believe that Mr President can begin to do something. The option of involving a wider spectrum of the private sector community still holds a lot of attraction.
The nation stands to benefit from the efficiency and prudence associated with the private sector, if and when they are involved in this issue.
More crucial perhaps is for the President to summon enough willpower to confront the clique of powerful and influential bureaucrats who will often thwart every idea and strategy that will be of lesser benefit to them but of greater benefit to majority of Nigerians.
All said, Nigerians eagerly wait for Mr President’s action plan on how to make electricity stable in Nigeria. This is a core concern of majority of Nigerians, because with stable power supply, several other economic concerns would ben addressed inadvertently

The PEF Scandal

THE nation missed an opportunity to improve Police welfare and ensure its combat readiness to fight insecurity due to allegations of impropriety ravaging Police Equipment Foundation, PEF. The Foundation if not for this distraction could have been the stop gap needed to rescue the Police from government’s failure to fortify it so as to ensure better policing in the country.

The Foundation established during ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration is accused of alleged squandering of N50 billion. It was accused of allegedly donating money and vehicles meant for Police to bodies like Yar’Adua Campaign Organisation, State Security Service, SSS, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Assembly.

It might be difficult to argue that these were ultra vires its power if the Foundation’s object with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, says it could act in such manner since there is no law specifying the definite use to which its money should be put to.

This is a lacuna which underscores the high handed way important matters of state were treated during the last administration.

From the name of the Foundation which is Police Equipment Foundation, it should have morally given priority to meeting the equipment needs of the Police before embarking on a jamboree whose purport could be to curry favour of the beneficiary organisations.


Mike Okiro, Inspector- General of Police’s was only protecting the Force’s interest when he confiscated the remaining over 200 vehicles bought by the Foundation before they are used for charity purposes by PEF.

The sorry state of things in the Police shows that PEF has not been effective in its assigned role. Dearth of equipment remains one of the greatest bane to Police performance.

Dr. Yaro Gela, Executive Director of the PEF observed about 70 and 100 policemen were lost monthly in armed robbery combat operations.

A sizeable number of these figures occurred in attacks on bullion vans conveying cash from one destination to another. Police needs bullion vans, communication gadgets, armoured carriers, vehicles, arms and ammunition to be able to effectively carry out its constitutional duties of maintaining peace and security in the society. The Police Force cannot do this because these necessary tools are in serious short fall.

The PEF scandal should be given the desired consideration by the appropriate authority. The episode represents a sad tale with negative implication not only on the Foundation and its members but the nation.

If the state shirks its responsibility to cater for the Police, more of this kind of Foundation might spring up in future but we urge that there should be a legal frame work so that those involved could be asked questions when the need arises.

Nigeria and Ghana 2008

The just concluded Africa Cup of Nations is clearly Nigeria's worst outing since 1982. The dismal performance of the national team, the Super Eagles, calls for sober reflection and drastic restructuring of not only the soccer administration in the country but indeed the entire gamut of sports administration in Nigeria.
The Ghana 2008 fiasco is simply symptomatic of the decline that has set into Nigerian football after the Clemence Westerhof era as national team coach. Therefore precise steps must be taken immediately to restore the glory of the nation's number one sport which was heavily smeared at the tournament.
The Super Eagles' poor run and eventual ouster at the quarter-final stage belie the pre-tournament rating by the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) as 19th in the world and first in Africa. The Eagles opened the tournament with 0-1 loss to Cote d’ Ivoire, were held to a goalless draw by Mali and despite the Eagles' defeat of the Beninoise side in the third group stage, the once dreaded Super Eagles had to depend on the outcome of the Cote d'Ivoire/Mali encounter for its quarter-final ticket.
Sadly, it was the quarter-final clash in which the 10-man Ghanaian team beat their Nigerian counterparts that finally confirmed the country's despicable football status. In all the four matches they played in the 26th edition of Africa's foremost soccer tourney there was apparent lack of passion, vigour and the commitment needed to clinch the top prize. As a matter of fact, many of the Nigerian players prosecuted the games as if nothing was at stake. Nigerian-born former England international, John Fashanu, expressed the minds of many of his compatriots the other day in that regard. His words: "They lacked commitment, but can you blame them? A player earning $80,000 a week will not be willing to sacrifice himself for one competition taking place in Africa and thus lose his position in his club. Just wait and see the same set of players who played without any hunger on Sunday (February 3). They will be a changed set of players on display for their clubs this weekend."
The bane of Nigeria’s soccer in recent times has been the over-dependence on foreign – based professionals. No effort to discover and hone local professionals for the senior national team as was the case between 1988 and 1996, the glory years of Nigerian soccer. Unlike the Egyptian League that produced the bulk of the Pharaohs that clinched the trophy, the Nigerian league has been lagging behind. This is why the Nigeria Football Association should take the flak for the dismal performance.
Secondly, most of the players that featured for the opposing teams also ply their trade abroad. While not advocating the total exclusion of foreign based professionals, we believe only players who exhibit zeal and patriotism should be cleared to play for the country henceforth. Talent and exploits for foreign clubs are not enough.
Also disheartening is the quality of technical input anchored by Coach Berti Vogts. He was employed to guide Nigerian football back to the enviable pedestal it had attained especially in the 1990s. But instead of doing so and utilising Ghana 2008 to boost Nigeria's soccer image and even redeem his own dwindling credentials as a national team handler, he bungled the chance. The controversy that now surrounds his engagement is diversionary. All over the world, coaching is not given the benefit of sentiments. The overriding factor that decides its tenure is performance. For instance, Henry Kasperczak, the man who took Senegal to Ghana, did not even wait for his employers to sack him. He simply resigned when he failed to keep his own side of the bargain. And only last Thursday, Henri Michel, the Frenchman who led Cameroon to the 1994 World Cup and Cote d'Ivoire to the last Mundial, was relieved of his job by the Moroccan football authorities for his underachievement in Ghana. In the same vein, Vogts' contract should be terminated, following due process. Vogts must take responsibility for the woeful outing in Ghana as his job description demands. His tactics failed to bring out the best of Nigerian style of play and his match reading ability, suspect.
Beyond the team handlers, there is a more fundamental issue of the incompetence of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) which failed to rise to the occasion and show the way out of this mess. Many pundits continued to point to the football body's choice of Malaga, Spain for training as one of the reasons the Eagles could not fly when it mattered.
Any attempt to redeem the glory of Nigeria football must therefore include a shake up of the NFA. The football body as presently constituted is incapable of lifting the nation’s soccer from the abyss of mediocrity and shame. This is why President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua must take more than passing interest not only in football adminitration but also in sports generally. Sport is big business. Football, like other major sports, is too important to be left in the hands of career civil servants. When was the last time a new star was discovered in sports like boxing, athletics, wrestling and other sports in which the nation showed promise at international level?
The Federal Government must bring in private individuals with passion for the game, seasoned ex-internationals to run our football and the National Sports Commission if Nigeria is to attain the kind of global acclaim the Kenyans and Ethiopians have attained in long distance race, the South Africans in Rugby and cricket and the Egyptians in continental soccer.
With the qualifiers for another edition of the Cup of Nations and the 2010 World Cup by the corner, time is really of the essence. To prevaricate at this point would only jeopardize the country’s participation in the forthcoming historic South Africa 2010.
So, the question of the team's technical crew needs to be resolved with dispatch. This should then be followed with appropriate friendly matches and the tracking of Nigeria's abundant soccer talents at home and abroad. This nation boasts of abundant football talents. Nigeria must thus be spared further ridicule.

Return of Slavery to Nigeria?

When the British, Nigeria's former colonial master, outlawed the Atlantic slave trade in 1807 because it considered it evil, it certainly did not know that in the 21st century post-independent Nigeria, some form of slavery would still be going on. In those ancient slavery times, it was sheer force, extravagant lifestyle of certain African traditional rulers and ignorance that led Africa and Nigeria into slavery. And Nigeria lost the cream of her human beings in slavery.
Today, abject poverty, hopelessness and lack of basic necessities are forcing some parents to consciously sell off their children just to make ends meet. The woeful slavery stories are legion. Every year, thousands of African children are trafficked in Africa and sold off in Britain to rich merchants with the promise of a better life. Some of the teenage girls among them are later forced into prostitution, while others are subjected to all kinds of inhuman experiences in Europe. Every year, hundreds of Nigerian children are sold off by their desperate Nigerian parents seeking to eke out a living. Between Kano and Abuja a few weeks ago, some syndicated Nigerian slave dealers were caught with 250 children which they were taking to the slave market. Similar sad stories are re-told across the country.
But the most chilling and pathetic slavery story is the one involving a couple-Kola and Seyi Woniye, in Oyo State recently. Devastated by poverty and human misery, the couple offered to sell their two sons: five year-old Shola and three year-old Sonu, to a British journalist who posed as a business man. The couple offered to sell the two boys for the sum of N1 million (5,000 pounds) or one for N500,000 (2,500 pounds). Seyi, the mother of the two kids admitted regretfully that it is "hard for us to do this, but we are desperate and this is our last hope" Mr Woniye is a panel beater.
Without mincing words, the above is a modern-day slave trade. It is sad, very sad indeed that in this age and time Nigeria with all her resources can yet be forced into modern-day slavery. Age-old themes like corruption, greed, betrayal of popular will, election rigging and lust for power may be excused, but it is certainly regrettably shameful on all counts to be associated withthis bare-faced slavery of sell off our children just to make ends meet. A society which sells off its children jeopardises the hope of tomorrow, and thus tottering on the verge of extinction.
But we cannot just simply lament about the modern-day slavery in Nigeria without tracing its root cause to the grinding poverty ravaging Nigeria. Nigeria is the sixth largest producer of oil in the world. Presently, oil is selling very high in the market, but ironically Nigeria cannot feed her children. Nigeria tops the list of countries with malnourished children. A recent United Nations report confirmed Nigeria as having the second highest number of maternal deaths in the world after India. Primary and secondary health system cares are virtually non-existent in Nigeria at the moment. When the poor are sick their relations start preparing for funerals because of lack of money for medical treatment abroad. Despite the huge sum of money sunk in resuscitating the energy sector, Nigeria is still a country in darkness. Road side mechanics, welders, women grinding pepper, petty-traders, panel beaters (like Woniye) who would have been self-employed if there is constant power supply in Nigeria, are today roaming about the streets in idleness. Is any body still wondering why pressed parents are resorting to the sale of their children?
Therefore the struggle against poverty is crucial to the future of our country.
Sadly enough, instead of tackling poverty in Nigeria, our government is floundering in empty policy sloganeering, forgetting that human development is the ultimate goal of all developments. The governments of other countries are more interested in the welfare of their citizens. Regretfully here in Nigeria, our leaders seem more interested in their own welfare by demanding for increased salaries and allowances, instead of activating policies that can improve the welfare of the people. Therefore President Yar’Adua must understand that poverty reduction is a primary challenges his government.
Finally, the latest Oyo slavery incident should serve as a wake-up call to our anti-child trafficking bodies and security agents ,including fraudulent immigration ofiicials who assist in procuring fake travel documents for trafficked kids in the country, to be more serious in the discharge of their duties. Their duties call for more vigilance and more effective policing of the highways and the borders. President Yar'Adua and members of the National Assembly should take this matter to heart and find effective ways of ridding Nigeria of modern slavery.

Sunday Ehindero's epilogue

WHEN Sunday Ehindero, the immediate past Police Inspector-General, speaks, the nation ought to stop and listen not necessarily because of the man's oratorical power or the wisdom of his thoughts but because of the many questions he left unanswered during the twilight days of his tenure. Even after he left the police, questions have continued to trail Ehindero. Last week, the Daily Sun succeeded in publishing extracts of an interview granted by Ehindero. The interview, although lacking in detail, provided some insights into the metaphorical epilogue that Ehindero has written for his yet-to-be-published book.

In the interview, Ehindero came out firing from all cylinders. It was his own way of getting back at his critics. He showed no remorse for the failures of the police during his tenure. He took no responsibility for any acts of professional misconduct by the police. As far as he was concerned, he gave his best to Nigeria and we should be grateful to him rather than roast him for his sacrifices. According to the Daily Sun of Saturday, February 9, 2008, Ehindero said his days as police inspector-general were "most fulfilling". It would have been an act of self-immolation if Ehindero had criticised his own performance.

One of the controversial claims made by Ehindero during the interview popped up when he said: "I did much for the Nigeria Police, and most of all, I brought the police closer to God". In his words: "When I was there, first of all I brought God closer to the policemen. I established the chaplains in the Nigerian Police and they are there for everybody to see."

Ehindero should never talk about setting up chaplains in the police force as his major achievement. It is also not a measure of the level of integrity within the force. It is a noble idea for a public servant such as Ehindero to establish a college of chaplains in the police force. But, hey, Ehindero should be reminded that setting up chaplains was never his primary responsibility as police inspector-general and it was never the core objective of the police force too. The primary role of the Nigeria Police is to protect lives and property, and to maintain peace and security across the country.

To be sure, Ehindero, as police inspector-general, was not assigned the task of converting unbelievers in the police force into believers. In fact, when did evangelical matters become a part of the mission of the Nigeria Police? That has always been the chief responsibility of religious leaders and all those who officially and unofficially have appropriated the right to promote the doctrines of the church.

Ehindero was right on my money when he said: "A nation gets the police force it can pay for. So whatever happened in my days as the IG in the Nigeria Police is what the nation paid for." That is absolutely right. A nation gets the kind of police force that it deserves. The Nigeria Police is synonymous with poor remuneration and conditions of service. Poor remuneration is a huge disincentive that directly affects the morale of the police. When anyone's morale is down, achievement motivation is harder to kick-start. So it is with men and women of the police force.

Who will rescue the police? Ehindero couldn't do so in his days but he claims he sacrificed so much for the police. The police lacks basic equipment, including ordinary vehicles that ought to be on the road to facilitate effective crime detection and prevention. Decrepit is the key word that best describes the state of police equipment and infrastructure. I am not persuaded that Ehindero made substantial improvements in these areas during his tenure. If he did, the ragged nature of police equipment, communications facilities and vehicles has not provided a good testimony.

Indeed, the situation of the Nigeria police has remained so bad for so long that the police as an institution that ought to enjoy public trust and confidence has become the butt of bad jokes by comedians and a victim of provocative humour by newspaper editorial cartoonists.

In the early days of his role as acting inspector-general of police, Ehindero went to Kano and told police men and women: "I am here to put smiles on the faces of policemen. I will never convert the penny that belongs to you to my own pocket." That was on Friday, February 11, 2005. Public opinion is heavily divided on whether or not other people's money went missing during Ehindero's tenure. So far, there have been allegations but allegations without evidence cannot be sustained in the law courts. So, he remains innocent of those allegations.

But did Ehindero put smiles on the faces of policemen and women in terms of substantial increases in salaries and allowances during his tenure? The plain answer is no. Police salaries and allowances were not increased significantly. And the number and quality of police equipment and infrastructure did not improve considerably also. Ehindero did not introduce sufficient new technologies to facilitate swift and effective crime prevention. For clarity, Ehindero did not create these problems but, as police inspector-general, he would have made a big difference with the powers invested in him.

If Ehindero made great improvements in equipping the police, the police would be in a better position to match armed robbers and other criminal groups fire for fire. Furthermore, the rapid response unit of the police would be much quicker in responding to emergency calls by members of the public than that unit did. Ehindero may have recorded some successes but he must not exaggerate his achievements.

Like a small boy in a confessional before a Catholic priest, Ehindero made a startling acknowledgement of the poor public image of the police. That was in the early days of his tenure. He said: "Our image is at its lowest ebb and it is our responsibility to improve the image. We must change the way we police people. We must stop extortion of monies on the roads." Unfortunately, the image of the police continued its downward slide in the days of Ehindero. So much for improving the image of the police!

Ehindero was still police inspector-general when leading governorship candidates in Lagos and Ekiti states were brutally murdered by miscreants. In mid-August 2006, the leading PDP governorship contender in Ekiti State, Ayodeji Daramola, was stabbed and shot to death in his home. This occurred barely 18 days after the PDP leading governorship aspirant in Lagos State, Funsho Williams, was also murdered in his home.

When Ehindero visited the Ijan-Ekiti home of Daramola, he spoke in the language of the time: he told the audience that the killers of Daramola would be caught. He said: "I want to assure you that police would get to the root of this incident, it would not be a case of undetected murder." Ehindero must be embarrassed today by that empty promise. Two years later, the killers of Daramola have not yet been arrested, tried and convicted.

In an engaging editorial entitled "The menace of armed robbers", published on Friday, 23 March 2007, The Guardian reminded the nation that: "Sunday Ehindero, the Inspector-General of Police, who upon assuming office promised to protect and serve with integrity, is not fulfilling his promise. The police appear weak, ill motivated and incompetent. Their response to distress calls is often inadequate as they often plead one incapacity or another... There is need for a fresh initiative to turn up the heat on criminals and their collaborators. Tafa Balogun, the disgraced former Inspector-General of Police was somehow able to do this during his tenure."

It must be painful for Ehindero to observe a leading newspaper of record acknowledge the successes recorded by Tafa Balogun, a discredited former Inspector-General of police and Ehindero's predecessor, in regard to a marked reduction in armed robbery and other related crimes. But we must acknowledge also that Balogun served for a much longer term as inspector-general than Ehindero did.

Before Ehindero finalises his epilogue, he should remember that history will judge him by what he promised but failed to do and the problems he failed to fix when he was police inspector-general.

The Chadian crisis

Chad faces serious challenge of rebel onslaught that might put it in chaos for months. Rebels of the United Forces for Democracy and Development, UFDD, stormed N’Djamena, Chad’s capital with a mission - to overthrow the government of President Idriss Deby who has been in power for 17 years. President Idriss Deby refused to step down and has even turned down an offer of political asylum from France.
The stage is set for a showdown between UFDD forces and the chadian soldiers. Already hostilities generated by this development has led to Chadians fleeing their country to neighbouring countries while thousands have lost their lives. Before a full scale war breaks out in Chad, it is important for the African Union, AU, to take some proactive measures to forestall the impending pogrom.

So far, the situation looks dicey as the warring factions are not ready to shift positions. Sit-tight syndrome is one of the reasons behind the emerging crisis in Chad. President Deby manipulated the system so as to ensure his perpetual stay in power.

The people are disenchanted with his rule but he has successfully subdued oppositions until the latest emergence of rebel groups that are threatening the peace and stability of that country. To President Deby, leaving power when ovation is loudest does not catch his fancy. Neither was he fascinated by the prestige and attractive monetary reward of the Mo Ibrahim Africa leadership prize.

Most African leaders are like him which is why it is becoming difficult for them to openly criticise his decision to stay-put in power. Africa is witnessing too many crises that are leadership induced. Dafur has been in war for five years. Kenya has not recovered from the violent eruptions caused by perceived rigging that characterised President Kibaki’s re-election to power.

Almost two thousand lives were lost thus far in Kenya while the dust raised is far from settled. Bad leadership is nearly turning the African continent into a cursed one embroiled in one protracted crisis or another. Nigeria must be prepared for the back lash of the Chadian crisis. People fleeing to the country might soon turn our land into a refugee camp. About 3,500 Chadian refugees are said to be in the country already.

They come in through border towns of Baga, Gamborou-Ngala among others. The stationing of troops in our border towns is good but it has to be done in a manner that would prevent more Chadians from coming in and make our borders secure.We could be our neighbour’s keeper but not at the expense of our national security and well-being.

The Chadian crisis deserves global attention before it degenerates into another Liberia, Rwanda or Sierra Leone. The AU, European Union, EU and others should put pressure on President Idriss Deby to step aside for an interim government that would organise and conduct free and fair elections to usher in a new government and deserved peace in Chad.

Love in a season of cholera

Three major events took place in Nigeria in the last 48 hours - First, the 32nd anniversary of the cold-blooded assassination of General Ramat Murtala Muhammed, Nigeria's Head of State, 1975-1976. He was murdered on the streets of Lagos during the coup led by Bukar Dimka on February 13, 1976. Second, the passing out parade of the 2007/8 batch of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), for many Nigerians this means the release of more young men and women into a labour market that has since lost the required absorptive capacity, the evidence of which can be found in the country's ever-lengthening unemployment queue.

Third, yesterday evening, the Yar'Adua government gave National Honours to over 200 persons, for services rendered, not rendered, about to be rendered, or which may never be rendered to the Nigerian state. Each of these events is significant in its own way. Murtala Muhammed deserves to be remembered for his purpose-driven leadership and martyrdom. Each time the NYSC sends out fresh graduates into the labour market, questions ought to be raised about the continuing relevance of the Scheme itself, now so disorganised, and the prospects of its products in a country where opportunities are so few.

Many university graduates now have to spend an extra year at home, waiting for space in a congested NYSC programme. As for the National Honours, the perennial question is why such an important event which should be used to promote national icons, in terms of projected values, has been reduced to a general distribution of chieftaincy titles, merited and unmerited. But these are not the immediate subjects of the present commentary.

Rather, it is the paradox of how the celebration of Valentine's Day, on February 14, seems to have overshadowed everything else that may be considered important. Very few people remembered the late Murtala Muhammed on February 13. But on February 14, there was such a frenzy among the young population - in Lagos, especially- as they celebrated The Feast of St. Valentine, or what is better known as Lovers' Day. This event has now become such an annual cultural fare among young Nigerians, with some young-at-heart older persons participating in it; so popular is February 14 on the calendar, that indeed it will be no exaggeration to say that it competes with better known occasions such as Christmas and Eid-el-Kabir. Whereas few people remembered Murtala Muhammed, there was so much excitement about the celebration of love. Every year, the ritual is nothing short of amusing. Even the House of Representatives rose early because it was Valentine's Day.

Who is St. Valentine? He is definitely not a Nigerian. Not one of our local cultural heroes. A certain Valentine was said to have been persecuted by the Roman Emperor Claudius II (268- 270 AD). There was also another Christian martyr known as Bishop Valentine of Teni. The Feast of St. Valentine, celebrated by the Catholic Church on February 14 is said to be in honour of these two Valentines. Other accounts indicate that more than two Saints Valentine exist in the records of the Catholic Church. But the celebration of the Feast of St. Valentine was first established in 496 A.D by Pope Gelasius.

Among the Romans, February, the beginning of Spring was regarded as the month of purification, the fertility festival of Lupercalia was celebrated every February 15, the middle of the month was also considered the time of the year when birds mate and choose lovers. Thus, Valentine Day has its roots in both Catholic and ancient Roman traditions, with St. Valentine as the patron-Saint of this feast of love: the symbolism of which includes the expression of affection, the sharing of gifts, and the promotion of friendship and goodwill. Valentine's Day has become a global phenomenon and such a serious affair in Nigeria as part of the creeping homogenization of cultural taste induced by the media and the globalisation process.

But still there are differences in terms of how the occasion is celebrated in different parts of the world. In Kenya, violence resulting from the recent Presidential elections, has obviously pushed love into the background. In Saudi Arabia, the authorities were so irritated by the excitement over Lovers' Day that in the run-up to Valentine's Day, this year, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice banned the display and sale of red roses by florists and gift shops. Ordinarily on Valentine's day, lovers exchange gifts including chocolates, flowers (preferably red roses) cards, cakes, and other gifts. Nor is it everyone that celebrates Lover's Day who is happy. It is more a day for being loved, for feeling remembered, even lonely hearts take part in the celebrations. And the really lonely could feel left out.

Whatever may be the differences however, love remains one of the strongest emotions known to man. It is an enduring subject of written literature as seen in Geoffrey Chaucer's Parliament of Foules, Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Romeo and Juliet etc. The landscape of romance and love is vast and attractive; it is marked by profound joy and inexplicable tragedy. Love is energetic; it is a potent force that moves the human imagination. Its celebration underscores the ritual of courtship and the wellspring of human desires.

Increasingly however, Valentine's Day, perhaps because of its Roman Catholic connections, could inflame religious passions or perhaps because of its association with the idea of romance and mating, could draw the ire of those who consider it the celebration of immorality. This much became an issue in Srinagar, India yesterday, when a Kashmiri Islamic women's group raided restaurants to prevent young Muslim couples from participating in Lover's Day which they described as anti-culture and anti-Islam. The women, Daughters of Faith, all covered from hand-to-toe-in black insisted that "Valentine's Day is a Western conspiracy to involve Muslims in vulgar activities".

But yesterday, in Nigeria, there were no such threats. Company executives besieged gift shops as they purchased items for their loved ones. By 2 p.m, a friend had phoned to complain about Valentine Traffic. I listened to one shop attendant in the Ikeja area complain about how 24 hours earlier the shop where she works was overwhelmed by the throng of lovers looking for gifts. Bakers made quick sales. The restaurants, including pepper soup joints were fully booked. Throughout the day, I ran into young persons who added a touch of red to their dresses, or were fully or partially clothed in red. Shops and offices paid homage to the idea of love by using the red motif to decorate their hallways. Even in some private schools, children were encouraged to don a combination of white and red, and give Valentine gifts to their classmates.

In the evenings, clubs organised parties for lovers. Human beings like to be loved and appreciated. The Holy Books, as well as ancient Sages, advise us to love not to hate and to "do unto others" as we would wish them "do unto us". But whereas Nigerians often talk about love, it is a concept that they do not understand. Valentine's Day is useful in Nigeria, more for the opportunity that it provides for making quick sales. It is an occasion for the flowering of entrepreneurship. The second, most compelling aspect of the celebration in Nigeria, is the inordinate emphasis on the idea of mating. Valentine's Day in Nigeria is specially consecrated for reckless sexuality, with the build-up ending in a vortex of dalliance.

Thus, those who celebrate love in Nigeria do so mostly for reasons of opportunism. Once a year, there is so much talk about love and as soon as February 14 is gone, or present desires had been satisfied, love returns to its locket as an abstraction in the Nigerian public space and as a mystery in relationships and marriages.. Nigeria is a country in need of the essence of love. There is too much hate, too much self-centredness, lack of goodwill, and lack of consideration for others. The spread of the religion of "I, me and myself" is at the root of Nigeria's underdevelopment. The leaders do not love the people, and the people do not love their leaders either. We are so underdeveloped because those in authority are not willing to do anything for anybody. Love is about giving and sharing. Nigerians do not know to give, they would rather take from the people and forcefully if they can.

As I watched the grand gestures of love put up by ordinary people, I shuddered at the capacity of our people to worship gods that they do not believe in and to promote causes in which they have no faith. Those who lack the capacity to remember their own heroes and martyrs should not speak of love. Those who are incapable of simple gestures of civility, of caring for others, or to even appreciate the kindness of others, can only speak of love in effervescent terms.

The same night that average Nigerians trooped to restaurants and other places in observance of the ritual of love, the Nigerian state released more victims into the unemployment market, and gave National Honours to many who are undeserving. Celebrating love in a season of dispossession is ultimately an act of indulgence, if not deception. Very few Nigerians have access to potable water or the regular supply of electricity. On Valentine's Day many Nigerian lovers had to rely on power generating sets to be able to see each other's faces. Across the country the roads are in a poor shape, the money meant for the construction, repair and maintenance of roads has been stolen by brazen public officials. The hospitals are ill-equipped. The prisons, like the mortuaries, are congested. One lady visited Nigeria from Rwanda - she complained about how Nigerian streets are so dirty and how uncivil the people are!

The people continue to groan and search for love, but not finding it, they invent their own plots, plots without nobility. I do not condemn their search for love though. Omnia vincet amor et nos cedamus amori ("love overcomes all things, let us too yield to love"). And so yesterday, on Valentine's Day, I also joined in the celebrations with a red bow tie, to show that unlike the Daughters of Faith, in Srinagar, India, I consider love harmless and without a tribal colour - East or West.

Obama and the American Presidency

IN his piece titled "The Barack Obama Phenomenon", (The Guardian, Crossroads, February 10, 2008), Dr. Reuben Abati has done a very wonderful analysis of American politics and posits that at the end the "Obama phenomenon" would fizzle as Americans fully realise what they are about to do. That they are about to crown a black man the head chief of the world.

What Abati is writing represents the thinking of many other Blacks I have seen or read. It explains why the Blacks have been very slow in embracing his candidacy and why even in this late stage most of the former Black Leaders, Jesse Jackson, and Andrew Young among others have not endorsed him. It also supports the idea why the super delegates are drawn much more to Mrs. Clinton than to Mr. Obama. The Super Delegates are the party elders who in the past crowned the nominee in the infamous "smoke filled rooms."

Abati's analysis further recognises the gut feelings of Republicans, who have for the most part given Obama's campaign more leeway than they have given Mrs. Clinton. Even the "first Black President" Mr. Clinton has attempted to play into the thought that Americans when the rubber meets the road would not hand over the Commander in Chief position to a Black Man. The Hispanic voters are not that impressed by Obama in spite of the fact that he is a minority like they are and in fact looks more like them than he looks like a Black Man. Finally the true King Makers in U.S., the Jews have not embraced publicly the "Obama Phenomenon." Given all these elements, one would be (and many have) inclined to see this Obama thing from Abati's view point. But I must disappoint. I fail to see this thing this way. Why?

For starters Obama does not fit into a Black Man's features. True his father was a Kenyan visitor to America and Obama therefore

can be described as a Kenyan just as I insist that my children (sometimes against their wishes) are Nigerians, but other than by that anachronistic one-sixteenth blood rule Obama is not a Black

Man. He does not look like one, has not lived like one, and was not raised like one. The older Mr. Obama's contact with the younger does not total the equivalent of two full years. The politician was raised by his mother and his mother's family alone. His education at Columbia and Harvard University is not the same as Howard or St. Augustine. So by the breed or blood (nature or nurture) argument,

Obama is 100 per cent breed and only 50 per cent blood. If this were ordinary math Obama would be 75 per cent white and only 25 per cent black.

Secondly there is a "tide in the affairs of men which when seized" is working in Obama's favour. America is ready for a phenomenal change. It is a change that would have to come from non-traditional source. Mr. Clinton's Presidency was of such magnitude as was Mr. Carter's. These Southern presidents came at a time when a new generation of Americans got tired of the status quo with all the established norms of Western and North Eastern American leadership. They looked elsewhere for leadership. But the closest to this need for a new direction was last experienced in 1960 when the impossible happened: When White Protestant Anglo Saxon Americans turned to an Irish Catholic for guidance.

A re-reading of the newspapers of those days sounded as if they were writing about Obama. No pundit believed that John Fitzgerald Kennedy a young inexperienced Massachusetts Senator beholden to the Italian Mafia would win the presidency of the United States. But he did. Whenever United States needs a new direction U.S. unlike most other countries would experiment with something new. That is how the country has developed and grown. Obama is the 21st century example of this uniquely American phenomenon.

Obama is another in the long list of Blacks going into forbidden fields and electrifying it. Remember a fat (almost ugly black woman

who seized the airwaves in the 80s) and has kept it since. Her name is Oprah Winfrey. Nobody believed that white American women will sit down and listen to the wisdom peddled by a black woman. Well the Abatis of that era are now true believers. Remember that golf was one clearly white sport. Most people ignored this sport until Mr. Tiger Woods stepped in and changed it forever. Golf has now tripled its following among world fans. Thanks to Mr. Woods. Obama is doing the same thing for politics. The young people who left politics to their elders have now been engaged. We no longer hear of political apathy. Election organisers now worry about having enough ballot papers for voting not about sleepy voting places.

Will Obama go all the way? My answer is he could unless he self-destructs. If he forgets Michelle, his wife and starts thinking or looking for other beautiful women on his path or is carried away by his rock star status and takes his eyes off the prize, he will not get there. But so long as he understands the mission as he seems now, the prize is his to throw away.

Aduba lives in Boston, Massachusetts, United States

The rebel invasion of Chad

EARLY this month, serious fighting broke out in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad, when rebels sought to overthrow the government of President Idriss Deby. The current round of fighting is the second in as many years and since neither the government nor the rebel forces gained the upper hand, violence is most likely to resume at the earliest opportunity. The political and social problems that have stymied the country's development and rendered it highly unstable in the last 40 years cannot be resolved on the battlefield, but only through constitutionalism, equity and the rule of law.

A landlocked country that is bounded on the north by Libya, on the east by Sudan, on the south by the Central African Republic and on the west by Cameroun, Nigeria and Niger, Chad has not known much peace since it gained independence from France in 1960. The country is among the poorest in the world, with its 10 million citizens scraping a living on subsistent agriculture. Like in most post-colonial states in Africa, the Chadian ruling elite has struggled to gain access to the national patrimony by exploiting the country's ethnic, religious and geopolitical configuration.

The first president, Francois Tombalbaye, a southerner, was an authoritarian ruler who spent his early years in power seeking to isolate and eliminate his rivals, until he banned all opposition parties in 1962. His policies engendered serious dissatisfaction, especially among Moslems in the northern part of the country, leading to uprisings in the south and the east, a full-scale rebellion in the north in 1965, border conflicts with Libya, and coup attempts in 1971 and 1972. He was assassinated in a military coup in 1975.

Under Tombalbaye's successor, General F?lix Malloum, the war in the north was extended to the south. Malloum was also overthrown in 1979 and was replaced by a northerner, Goukouni Oueddei. But that did not end the civil strife. Instead, the former defence minister, Hiss?ne Habr?, launched an offensive against the government with the backing of Sudan and Egypt. Libya also intervened to support Oueddei, transforming Chad into the playground for the territorial and diplomatic ambitions of it neighbours. When Libya eventually withdrew at Oueddei's request in 1981, Habr? renewed his offensive and his rebel forces captured N'Djamena in June 1982.

Oueddei then formed a rival government in the north and in the ensuing strife was supported by Libya while the erstwhile colonial power, France, sent troops and supplies to keep Habr? in power. Libyan forces were driven out of the country in late 1988, but an insurgent group, the Patriotic Salvation Movement, backed by Libya and Sudan, ousted Habr?. The rebel leader was General Idriss Deby, the current president who is also at the receiving end of a more ferocious and persistent rebellion.

Deby has known little peace since he took over the presidency in December 1990. In January 1992, his government claimed to have crushed a rebellion by forces loyal to Habr?. In August 1993, his private army massacred 82 civilians during a civil unrest. The following year brought some respite when his government signed a cease-fire accord with the rebel group Comit? de Sursaut National pour la Paix et la D?mocratie (CSNPD) under which the rebels agreed to withdraw their forces from southern Chad while the government agreed to induct some of the rebels into the national army.

In the midst of this political turmoil, Deby introduced a new democratic constitution and was popularly elected president in June 1996. He was re-elected in May 2001. Like other African potentates, Deby caught the bug of third term and amended the constitution to make himself eligible for re-election. He also began positioning his son Brahim as his likely successor.

In the fractious turbulence of Chad's ethno-religious politics, these measures were unlikely to be ignored by the opposition, certainly, not when the prospect of huge oil revenues for the party in power has been added to the equation. Opposition emanated from various ethnic groups, including some from Deby's own minority Zagawa ethnic group, who feared marginalisation for their own kith and kin.

The biggest of the rebel groups is the United Force for Democracy and Development (UFDD) led by a former diplomat, Mahamat Nouri, who defected from the government 16 months ago. Deby's own uncle, Timan Erdimi, who was once in charge of the country's cotton industry, leads another group, the Rally of the Forces for Change, RFC. This gives the conflict the coloration of a 'family affair' although its political ramification is truly national in scope.

Deby's rebellion against the government of President Hiss?ne Habr? was launched from bases in the Darfur region of Sudan, on the eastern borders of Chad. Others could utilise this strategic advantage as well. The rebels also launched their invasion from Darfur, which is itself the arena of bitter, some will say, genocidal conflict. The interaction of the conflicts in Darfur and Chad has serious implications for regional stability and makes it even more difficult to find a peaceful solution either in Chad or Sudan.

Presidential elections are due in May 2008 and with the prevailing belief that these will not be free and fair, the rebel groups decided to pre-empt the outcome by removing Deby from power. With the failure of the rebel invasion, it is now imperative for third party intervention to resolve the underlying causes of the conflict in Chad. The regional hegemon, Nigeria, and the African Union should intensify effort to get the parties to seek power through constitutional means. Any solution will have to take account of the opposition to the self-serving constitutional amendments initiated by Deby. It is also imperative that Deby's son contests on his own terms. Chad is not a monarchy, and succession to the presidency should not be treated as such. The rebel groups should be encouraged to transit to political associations and should be allowed to participate in an election that will meet international standards. Therein lies the path to resolving the crisis in Chad.

keep a FAT man close

No your eyes are not dullibg you and no there is absolutely wrong with me. Really before you bite me, let me clarify. i do not mean an anatomic obese individual and neither am i saying those heavy dudes do not deserve some loving. Hum even i am getting dizzy with all these gramer all i am trying to say is keep a

Faithful

And

Teachable.

oh you get it now. yeah i know that it is hard to spot one since word are not written on foreheads. really that would be much easier o. Ladies we all know that there are always those tell tale signs that the brother is a 'good for nothing, sleazy heart breaker' but we date him any way, hoping and having vigils crying and begging God for him to change. Let me lay it on you plain and simply that's never going to happen. See even God could not change man that why he created woman. we are the mpdifications of them men. through skillful research i have come to rationalize some 10 characteristics of a FAT dude

1.he would be confident, not arrogant.

2. he would like your feminity or not, but would never tell you to be what your are not. Barbie into GI jane.

3. would not talk you to sleep, but give from for your emotional stuff about your girly stuff.

4. oh this is my fav, would come home to tell you about his sexy hot secretary, do not fret its just gist.

5. men are like elastic so sometimes they would want to be left alone, its phase get it and go to your own space.

6.would tell you when he is broke, which wont be allthe time. NO TO ALWAYS BROKE DUDES no future there.

7. would never get tired of listening to you.

8. your first date would not be at his parent's, that shows signs of dependence. he is propably second accessing you.

9.would not pretend to like all your friends and, would not expect thesame of you.

10.he is a brother who takes well to new ideas. say it with me STAGNANT BAD, DYNAMIC good.

he might not be a stunner, but remember gold too has to be refined.

Kogi’s sound of justice

The Court of Appeal through its judgement that nullified Ibrahim Idris’s election as governor of Kogi State confirmed that electoral victory got through the back door can only be temporarily enjoyed. The appellate court upheld the decision given last October by the state’s Election Tribunal.

Clarence Olafemi, Speaker of the state House of Assembly, whose election too was quashed and now a subject of appeal, has been sworn-in as acting governor.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is expected to organise another governorship election within 90 days.


The governorship election nullification is first of its kind under the President Umaru Yar’Adua administration but second since the advent of democracy over eight years ago. It deserves commendation for coming at a time that the polity was becoming impatient with the slow pace of petitions before the tribunals.


The judicial verdict would spur other election tribunals across the country into action and would serve as a veritable catalyst for more courageous and steadfast judgements. The judgement is a triumph for democracy and constitutionalism that were verbally assaulted through irregularities and malpractices that marred the April 2007 elections.


This judgement affirms that democracy in the country is maturing: And that whenever untoward act attempts to threaten its very existence, the judiciary would always be there as a saving grace.
This trend should continue so as to engender people’s confidence in governance and the process of bringing it forth.

The judiciary must sustain the tempo of rectifying electoral fraud imposed on the nation, where-ever it is proved to exist, by a cabal that have little regard for electorate wishes during elections.


The victory is not an end in itself until the process is completed when INEC conducts a fresh election that would be devoid of mockery that was the hallmark of earlier ones.


The outcome of fresh election in Kogi State must satisfy and meet up with electoral rules and must be conducted under an atmosphere of peace. INEC could show that it has learnt from its previous mistakes if it remains dispassionate in ensuring that fairness prevails in the coming election in Kogi State.

We call on political parties, politicians and people of Kogi State to cooperate with INEC in ensuring that the fresh election is free and fair so that the state can move-on on the democratic ladder of the country.


Kogi State governorship election verdict remains an epochal one that sends signal to other tribunals to do what is right as soon as possible. The various tribunals must dispense with cases before them in order not to waste precious time of litigants and that of the country.

Kogi’s sound of justice

The Court of Appeal through its judgement that nullified Ibrahim Idris’s election as governor of Kogi State confirmed that electoral victory got through the back door can only be temporarily enjoyed. The appellate court upheld the decision given last October by the state’s Election Tribunal.

Clarence Olafemi, Speaker of the state House of Assembly, whose election too was quashed and now a subject of appeal, has been sworn-in as acting governor.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is expected to organise another governorship election within 90 days.


The governorship election nullification is first of its kind under the President Umaru Yar’Adua administration but second since the advent of democracy over eight years ago. It deserves commendation for coming at a time that the polity was becoming impatient with the slow pace of petitions before the tribunals.


The judicial verdict would spur other election tribunals across the country into action and would serve as a veritable catalyst for more courageous and steadfast judgements. The judgement is a triumph for democracy and constitutionalism that were verbally assaulted through irregularities and malpractices that marred the April 2007 elections.


This judgement affirms that democracy in the country is maturing: And that whenever untoward act attempts to threaten its very existence, the judiciary would always be there as a saving grace.
This trend should continue so as to engender people’s confidence in governance and the process of bringing it forth.

The judiciary must sustain the tempo of rectifying electoral fraud imposed on the nation, where-ever it is proved to exist, by a cabal that have little regard for electorate wishes during elections.


The victory is not an end in itself until the process is completed when INEC conducts a fresh election that would be devoid of mockery that was the hallmark of earlier ones.


The outcome of fresh election in Kogi State must satisfy and meet up with electoral rules and must be conducted under an atmosphere of peace. INEC could show that it has learnt from its previous mistakes if it remains dispassionate in ensuring that fairness prevails in the coming election in Kogi State.

We call on political parties, politicians and people of Kogi State to cooperate with INEC in ensuring that the fresh election is free and fair so that the state can move-on on the democratic ladder of the country.


Kogi State governorship election verdict remains an epochal one that sends signal to other tribunals to do what is right as soon as possible. The various tribunals must dispense with cases before them in order not to waste precious time of litigants and that of the country.

Our Striking Nation

COURTS in Nigeria are prostrate courtesy of court workers’ strike. They want improved welfare packages. The Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, ordered the nationwide, indefinite strike on February 4 after government ignored its January 19 strike notice. Cases in courts and petitions in Electoral Tribunals across the country could not be heard as workers locked out judges.
This strike gained prominence because of the importance attached to the electoral cases that are before tribunals, many of which are in their critical stages.Doctors in public hospitals are on strike, protesting government’s failure to improve their welfare packages. Expectedly, they have not got any attention from government. Most top government officials and their relations meet their medical needs abroad, and if in Nigeria, definitely not in public hospitals.

Yet, top public office holders are increasing their remunerations, under an arrangement that favours those at the top.

JUSUN, like every other trade union, has a right to demand for improved welfare packages for its members. Government’s attitude of refusing to negotiate with them is negative, unproductive, undemocratic, and results in avoidable disruption.

The losses from the strike were avoidable. It is unimaginable that with President Umaru Yar’ Adua’s acclaimed appreciation of the importance of the judiciary, the government would watch judicial workers go on strike.

After the bogus figures that the President and others are to earn, more workers may be serving strike notices. The economic situation in the country is too bad, but those at the top are ensconced from it. With all the generous perks of office, it is a total admission of the necessity of a mass realignment of remunerations for ordinary Nigerians, if it is justifiable for the President to earn more. The legislators are already demanding pay raise.

Some of the workers’ demands may be out of tune with government policies, but the best way to state this is not to ignore them.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, had served a strike notice. Last year, it called off its strike as a goodwill gesture to the new government. ASUU claims the government has failed to fulfill its obligations to its members.

Many Nigerians are embarrassed by government’s unwillingness to negotiate and have proactive plans to tackle matters, some of which have been pending for years.

Some of the issues ASUU would raise are from unfulfilled agreements, some of which are 12 years old! How can a country make progress with these standards that negate planning?

When a country is not interested in educating the youth, is unconcerned about the sick, and refuses to keep the ordinarily slow moving wheels of justice rolling, what does it offer its citizens?

Nigerians are tired of the uncertainties that strikes ensure. Life is already too difficult without further irritations.

Nigeria Goes On Trial

MANY things we consider obstacles to Nigeria’s growth – and most likely more – would be confirmed when Nigeria undergoes the peer review, a programme of the New Partnership for African Development, NEPAD, aimed at helping African countries to assess themselves.

Peer review that was initiated in 2000 has many advantages, the major one being that African leaders would open various facets of their country for others to appraise. It is not important whether a country scores high marks or not.

What is important is how a country uses the result. Countries that are submitting themselves to review are undergoing an audit of their operations – a sweeping check that covers everything from governance to the media.


We commend the initiators of the peer review system and ask Nigerian institutions to submit fully to the audit. There have been many speculations about the Nigerian condition, something that has forlornly been dubbed the Nigerian factor. The peer review should be able to tell us how different Nigeria is from other countries, and why it is working inefficiently.


Nigeria is battling with power supply, bad roads, housing, unemployment, poor security, corruption, inflated contracts, civil strives, injustices, barely managed health systems, electoral malpractices, abuse of office, an educational system that produces illiterates and other common complaints.

The point remains that no serious study has done a wholesome appraisal of these situations at the same time and unveil the linkages that are discarded in attempts to tackle the challenges.


On their part, Nigerian governments must be ready to implement the outcome of this review. It should not be treated like the copious reports of many earlier efforts to improve the country, which always managed to find their way to the shelves, where they are forgotten.


The peer review is not meant to reveal the ineffectiveness of governance in Nigeria, that is common knowledge. The critical issue would be why this well known situation cannot be changed.


We implore the peer review team to be thorough in its assessment. It should not allow itself to be swayed by sentiments about the size of Nigeria and her importance to Africa and to the world. If anything, these sentiments should dictate a higher fervour of thoroughness in saving the giant of Africa from itself, and the consequences that her failure naturally imposes on the world.


Nigeria’s importance should be the chief reason for ensuring that it is back to the path of progress it treaded at independence. The pounding negligence and unforgiving profligacy that various administrations have visited on the affairs of the country have left her bereft of any meaningful progress, notwithstanding the billions of Dollars she earns from crude oil.


If the peer review is able to sensitise Nigerians to the failing state that is theirs, if it gets the leadership to initiate actions to stave off an impeding disaster for Nigerians – with damning global consequences – it would have become the redeeming factor Nigerians fervently seek.

Nobody Fired, Nobody Resigned

NIGERIA is unique. A debate has ensued about what to do with the Super Eagles, who have done such irreparable damage to what was left of the image of Nigerian football. We thought everyone knew what to do about them – and their officials.

Why the contemplation and circumspection? Nigerians knew long after the first two games that Nigeria was off key in the Nations Cup. It would have been less painful if the hopes had not been built over the wintry training in Malaga and the assumed proficiency of a foreign coach called Hans Hubert Berti Vogts, who at moments of bare wakefulness promised he would win the Nations Cup.


Officials of the Nigeria Football Association say it was not their fault that the Super Eagles turned in their worst Nations Cup result in 26 years with the best arsenal, a combination of world class players, world rated coach, the 12th highest paid in the whole wide world. For the first time in a long while, we had an NFA board at harmony with itself and the National Sports Commission.


Have you wondered what would have happened if the usually unpaid Nigerian coach returned this scandalous result? Would he not have been fired from Ghana? Would the disappointed fans not have sought out his family houses, up to the third generation, and burnt them?


Vogts is not an ordinary coach. This makes the affair even more depressing. He won the World Cup with Germany in 1974, was capped 96 times, captained Germany, and led Germany to victory in Euro 1996, before a remarkable decline in his coaching career. The remaining part of his story is an unmitigated disaster, the results in Ghana have added to those records that spanned Germany, Kuwait and Scotland, where he resigned, citing “unbearable media insults”.


Apparently, the Nigerian media would not rise up to the occasion of forcing him to leave our football before he does further damage. It is not too late to start since the man has decided that he would not go voluntarily.


Suppose we cannot sack Vogts, as we are not his employer? His engagement came through a private arrangement beyond the powers of the NFA. After the initial convoluted vexations over Vogts, many NFA members realised that they have not seen Vogts’ contract: they did not know if they had the powers to sack him.


Eight years ago, Bonfrere Johannes arrived to handle the Eagles for the 2000 Nations Cup, which Nigeria partially hosted. His contract included a provision that he had to get the Eagles to the semi-final or he would be fired. The press then protested, thinking Nigerians deserved something better, having been in eight earlier semi-finals of the Nations Cup. The unseen Vogts contract may not have any such provision.


Our shock is that no honourable NFA member is so incensed about the disappointment to resign. We would mark our worst result in 26 years without a sack or a resignation. It is a record.

Nobody Fired, Nobody Resigned

NIGERIA is unique. A debate has ensued about what to do with the Super Eagles, who have done such irreparable damage to what was left of the image of Nigerian football. We thought everyone knew what to do about them – and their officials.

Why the contemplation and circumspection? Nigerians knew long after the first two games that Nigeria was off key in the Nations Cup. It would have been less painful if the hopes had not been built over the wintry training in Malaga and the assumed proficiency of a foreign coach called Hans Hubert Berti Vogts, who at moments of bare wakefulness promised he would win the Nations Cup.


Officials of the Nigeria Football Association say it was not their fault that the Super Eagles turned in their worst Nations Cup result in 26 years with the best arsenal, a combination of world class players, world rated coach, the 12th highest paid in the whole wide world. For the first time in a long while, we had an NFA board at harmony with itself and the National Sports Commission.


Have you wondered what would have happened if the usually unpaid Nigerian coach returned this scandalous result? Would he not have been fired from Ghana? Would the disappointed fans not have sought out his family houses, up to the third generation, and burnt them?


Vogts is not an ordinary coach. This makes the affair even more depressing. He won the World Cup with Germany in 1974, was capped 96 times, captained Germany, and led Germany to victory in Euro 1996, before a remarkable decline in his coaching career. The remaining part of his story is an unmitigated disaster, the results in Ghana have added to those records that spanned Germany, Kuwait and Scotland, where he resigned, citing “unbearable media insults”.


Apparently, the Nigerian media would not rise up to the occasion of forcing him to leave our football before he does further damage. It is not too late to start since the man has decided that he would not go voluntarily.


Suppose we cannot sack Vogts, as we are not his employer? His engagement came through a private arrangement beyond the powers of the NFA. After the initial convoluted vexations over Vogts, many NFA members realised that they have not seen Vogts’ contract: they did not know if they had the powers to sack him.


Eight years ago, Bonfrere Johannes arrived to handle the Eagles for the 2000 Nations Cup, which Nigeria partially hosted. His contract included a provision that he had to get the Eagles to the semi-final or he would be fired. The press then protested, thinking Nigerians deserved something better, having been in eight earlier semi-finals of the Nations Cup. The unseen Vogts contract may not have any such provision.


Our shock is that no honourable NFA member is so incensed about the disappointment to resign. We would mark our worst result in 26 years without a sack or a resignation. It is a record.

Indecent dressing

THREE years ago, Nigeria suffered considerable embarrassment on the international stage when clothes, or the lack of them, became a major discussion point in her ivory towers. The towers themselves were crumbling, libraries contained moth-eaten and outdated volumes and professors were leaving but the increasing number of exposed students' stomachs was the priority of some campus administrations. The institution of dress codes on many of Nigeria's campuses coincided with a slip in their position on international University league tables as many of the few remaining dons left their books to measure hemlines. A year or two later, dress was only one of several personal intrusions in Nigeria's institutions of higher learning -one Nigerian university had formally listed a negative pregnancy test as a graduation requirement.

The sheer ridiculousness of the dress code fiasco in Nigerian institutions of higher learning has been relegated into comparable insignificance by a related debate occurring at the highest level of Nigeria's government. High rates of maternal mortality, illiteracy and malnutrition are no matter. Public insecurity and crime, exam malpractice and unemployment continue to rise but the issue that Nigeria's Senate Committee on Women and Youth Affairs is most pressed by is the clothing worn, or not worn, by women who are trying to go about their daily business.

Apparently, the wanton and deliberate exposure of a woman's body, by herself, constitutes "sexual intimidation". In enforcing future laws to prevent this 'societal vice', it is not clear how this type of exposure will be distinguished from the failure of poor parents to procure school uniforms that reach below the knee for rapidly growing school girls, or how legislation to 'preserve cultural norms and values' will exclude dancers that precede the appearance of an Ijele masquerade during traditional festivities. Perhaps this will be the focus of Nigerian lawmakers in the weeks or months to come, as they fiddle in close proximity to other flames.

Many of the clothes worn by the exposed are not designed in Nigeria, are not made in Nigeria, neither are they even initially worn in Nigeria. They are procured as second-hand cast-offs from countries where the citizenry has learned to largely accept, or to ignore, the way a woman chooses to adorn herself and instead to concern itself with her quality of life, service and productivity. In the USA, many women walk around more underdressed than the most brazen Nigerian woman would dare. However, even though the law only requires that a few square inches of their bodies be covered, Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Drew Faust are never scantily clad. And although they all have considerable public influence, are they concerned with the attire of their compatriots? The law does not dictate how any of these women dress but their social networks, careers, opportunities and personal preferences do. It is in Nigeria that 'indecent dressing' is now a national and legislative concern, possibly because the aforementioned informal regulators have broken down or perhaps reflective of an inexplicable intolerance that might be extended to other parts of her social sphere.

I do understand that some people will find a scantily clad woman attractive and others would view the same with disgust. I am even willing to accept that a woman who chooses to dress provocatively might in fact do so to provoke. I however have difficulty comprehending those individuals that feel intimidated by partial nudity. How might more women's clothing boost the confidence and productivity of such people?

Should the state subsidise clothing for women who cannot afford it in order to increase productivity? How is it that a bountiful harvest was reaped annually in the years that girls of my great-grandmothers generation went about their errands in nothing but jigida and, for the fact, remained virgins until they married? Some might argue that sexual assault, prostitution, teenage pregnancy, and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases might be connected to under-clothed women. If indeed this is true, why then are none of the inferred consequences of scanty dressing currently under discussion in the Senate instead of clothes. When our busy lawmakers have finished with dress codes, should they then create a law allowing for the arrest of people who do not lock their doors in order to cut down on thefts?

Diminutive clothing does not necessarily correlate with sexual proclivity, societal dysfunction or crime, nor will more clothing prevent these things. After all, politicians and businessmen wearing 'complete Agbadas' sewn with 12 or more yards of material are apt to be just as promiscuous, as shirtless labourers, if not more. Even though a heated discussion on what women wear is in progress, somehow the 'sexual intimidation' of women by men who are scantily clad by necessity or design does not appear to have made it onto the agenda.

Last week, I had the privilege of attending a business meeting in Italy. As I had previously been informed, Italy is a beautiful country, with friendly and welcoming people, splendid and aged architecture and remarkable cuisine. I however could not completely enjoy my visit because of a well-known scarcely spoken problem that does not feature on the pages of Italian guidebooks or the agenda of the National Assembly. It was winter in Southern Italy but not very cold by Europe's standards. Many Italian women were wearing short skirts and tights with high heels. When they took off their tiny fur-lined jackets, they revealed stylish off-the-shoulder, skin-tight sweaters. Clothing that might be described as suggestive in some circles but not enough to attract the leers that were directed at Nigerian women in long trousers or skirts, thick boots, bulky hooded coats and woolly scarves. Provocatively dressed Italian women were simply daughters, mothers, wives, girlfriends and sisters to be admired or ignored.

More conservatively dressed Nigerian women were leered at because they were suspected to be prostitutes. Sexual innuendo was linked to their citizenship, not clothing or manner of dress and has roots in the disturbingly large number of young, beautiful and hardworking women who work the streets in a foreign country, serving clients who speak a strange language away from their friends and families in a country that requires their productivity. Leaders of their far-away country, instead of creating jobs and opportunities for these victims of socio-economic neglect, or at least their successors, are devoting national resources to a meaningless exercise, while the rest of the struggling country must watch and applaud.

The whole thing is reminiscent of the European fairytale that describes a proud but unwise emperor, who is distracted and duped by a pair of weavers. He pays his unscrupulous clothes-makers handsomely to produce a fabric richer than any other for a suit of clothes. The emperor is told that only those fit for their jobs can see the fabric and ends up walking through his court and country in nothing but his birthday suit to the nation's applause. The debacle is only terminated when a child whispers 'but the emperor has no clothes!' If Nigeria's legislators continue to pursue this line of discourse, someone must point out their nakedness.

Niger Delta: Retreat, yes; surrender, no

THE Federal Government's reported decision to begin a phased withdrawal of troops from the restive Niger Delta region underpins the futility of adopting a policy of measure-for-measure in order to impose peace on the region. A news report in the Punch of last Sunday (January 27, 2008) said President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua endorsed the military pullout as a way to appease the Niger Delta political and traditional leaders and militants, and to assist them to find solutions to the conflict. If the report is true, it must be admitted that Yar'Adua has made a wise move.

History informs us that wherever governments have tried to use military force to quell violence by insurgent groups, the result has been more violence and brutality. See how Turkey has been fighting to end cross-border raids by the rebel group within the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). In Sudan, to cite just one African example, the deplorable situation in Darfur has dragged on for more than five years simply because neither the Sudanese government agents nor the rebel groups belonging to various factions have been able to finish off each other sooner than they imagined. And this extreme display of barbarism in Darfur has continued, watched by the comatose African Union (AU) leaders and the garrulous member states of the United Nations.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict offers another example of how popular resistance movements have been maintained in the face of overwhelming military force. Although each of these examples is driven or founded by different political ideologies and each is of a much higher scale than the Niger Delta conflict, these international examples illustrate the senselessness of trying to use force to quell bitter uprisings or political disputes that ought to have been resolved through negotiations.

Back to the homefront! Part of the reason why military force has not solved the conflict in the Niger Delta has to do with the prolonged period of suffering and neglect of the people by previous federal and state governments, coupled with the tyrannical position adopted by the Olusegun Obasanjo government from 1999 when the government pursued the criminal, scorched-earth policy of using soldiers to suppress internal dissent. Obasanjo's military background was mostly instrumental in directing him to adopt the Mosaic philosophy of an eye for an eye. That was why the federal government's first reaction to reports of disturbances in Odi was to dispatch soldiers to the community.

Rather than hunt the militants who murdered a group of policemen who had gone to Odi on a peace mission, soldiers went to Odi on a revenge mission: they used excessive force and killed innocent villagers. Ever since that experience, the Niger Delta crisis has ballooned out of control. From a few bands of disaffected youths calling for national attention and recognition, the nation is now confronted with a huge problem. The Niger Delta has become a war zone, literally. There are now numerous insurgent groups who have pledged loyalty to shadowy leaders who also proclaim objectives that are counter to the corporate existence of Nigeria. How did the nation get to this silly situation?

Nearly a decade since fighting and kidnapping became the daily fare in the region, the Niger Delta crisis remains far from being resolved. Internationally, the conflict has done irreparable damage to Nigeria's image. After years of trying to wrestle Niger Delta militants to submission through military firepower, the Federal Government has just realised, thankfully, that the use of force often exacerbates rather than improve volatile situations. In every explosive situation, peace cannot be imposed by force. Peace can be achieved through mutual negotiation by all groups. Anything else is sheer waste of energy and resources.

In the Niger Delta, the militants and the government have not achieved their principal objectives. The militants have not succeeded in carving out a state for themselves or, for that matter, they have not succeeded in overturning or improving the terrible environmental problems that overwhelm their communities. Poverty remains a major source of anger. Oil pollution continues to destroy agricultural land and fishing activities in the area. Although the government has shown some sensitivity to the people's situation through the creation of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the allocation of more resources, the situation remains decidedly grisly. And the people, as well as the militants, appear not to be appeased by these measures.

Although neither side will acknowledge this, confrontations between soldiers and militants have weakened both sides and taken their toll. A scenario where Nigerian troops continue to hunt and kill fellow Nigerians at a time when Nigeria is not officially at war is hideous and absurd. There must be alternative ways to installing peace in the Niger Delta. Neither federal government officials nor the militants and their secretive leaders seem ready to acknowledge the utility of this option.

The government's decision to withdraw troops from the Niger Delta should not be celebrated by militants and their leaders. It should also not be misinterpreted as capitulation on the part of the government. The decision has come a bit late but it is a wise decision. To assess the value of the government's decision, we should ask some hard questions. What objectives were achieved by the government during the period it kept troops on the ground in the region? Did the presence of soldiers mark the end of intermittent killings and kidnappings by militants? Did military force serve as a useful weapon against insurgency? What lessons were learnt from that experience?

While I would argue that the government was right to pull soldiers out of the conflict zone, it is important to emphasise that withdrawal of soldiers should not be regarded as a signboard for surrender. The government must not give up its efforts to find peace in the region. The key word is: negotiation, negotiation, negotiation. The government must not be frustrated by the militants' long drawn-out strategy of playing hide-and-seek at the negotiation table.

We got to this sad situation simply because various governments - state and federal - neglected the conditions and complaints of the people in the region for many years. Seasoned negotiators will tell you that once you allow a bad situation to degenerate into rebellion or insurgency of some kind, the search for peace is always going to be tough and even nasty. This is what the nation is experiencing in the Niger Delta region.

The Niger Delta people are not naturally a violent people. But bad times often force nice guys to be malevolent. No region in Nigeria would wish to trade places with the Niger Delta region. Although the Niger Delta people reside in the oil producing part of the country, their condition has (arguably) remained worse than the condition of people in other parts of the country who know nothing about oil exploration and production.

By rules of equity and merit, a region that produces a nation's main foreign exchange earner should be compensated in such a way that the people should have something to show off for their natural resources. Not so in the Niger Delta region. In Nigeria, our political and military leaders have institutionalised the imperious culture of "monkey dey work, baboon dey chop". For those who are not familiar with this Nigerian phrase, here is a brusque but practical translation. While the Niger Delta region produces the main source of our national wealth, the non-producing regions are euphemistically and metaphorically the "baboons" that feed off the riches harvested from the Niger Delta oil fields.

The only way to entrench peace in the Niger Delta is for the government and the militants to return to the negotiation table with a will to make a difference, for the benefit of the present and future generations. Even the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General Luka Nyeh Yusuf, acknowledged on Monday this week that the conflict in the Niger Delta requires political resolution rather than military intervention. He was right. His words: "... the issue of using soldiers to solve that problem militarily may not go without regret like we are regretting the civil war. We are brothers and sisters and we don't need to go to war with one another to solve our problems."