Dealing with ethnic agitators

The perennial clampdown by agents of the Federal Government on ethnic associations clamouring for a better deal for their people went beyond the expected recently when government decided to charge 78 members of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) with treason.

They were arraigned before the Federal High Court in Enugu on charges that border on treasonable felony. The MASSOB members were said to have been arrested from various locations in Anambra State during the commemoration of the 41st anniversary of the defunct Republic of Biafra. MASSOB had planned to stage a peaceful walk across some states of the South East to mark the event. However, the arrests and subsequent arraignment scuttled the plan.

The recent action directed at MASSOB represents one of those wrong steps which government has been taking in its bid to deal with ethnic agitators. In this case, government appears to be operating with a mindset which sees everything Biafra as an act of rebellion. We can appreciate this misgiving in the light of what Biafra represented when it came into being in 1967.

But 38 years after the death of Biafra, what is left of it are the symbolisms which organizations like MASSOB call up once in a while. In the case under review, what MASSOB set out to do was to organize a peaceful assembly.

There was nothing that suggested that there would be a breakdown of law and order since the organization professes and practises non-violence. What security agencies of government ought to have done would have been to keep a close watch on the agitators to ensure that the situation did not degenerate into violence. But rather than do that, security agents arrested and charged them to court.

We consider the charge of treason levelled against the 78 people misplaced. A people do not commit treason on the basis of lawful assembly or for merely showcasing the symbolism of an idea that once was. We appreciate the restlessness which government faces on account of the activities of ethnic agitators. But in dealing with them, a distinction must be made between violent and non-violent ones. In fact, it is the modus operandi of an organization that is normally taken into consideration when classifying it.

Be that as it may, there is the need for government to adopt a sober approach in dealing with ethnic agitators. This is because those who are protesting against one thing or the other have their reasons for doing so. Some of the reasons may be legitimate. Some may not be so legitimate. But government can only sift the chaff from the grain if it does not antagonize the agitators unduly.

In taking whatever measure it deems fit, government must also take into consideration the right of peoples to self determination as recognized by the United Nations.
In a highly fractured multi-ethnic country such as ours, government can achieve maximum peace if it does not discriminate against any person or group of persons. Experience across the globe shows that nations get balkanized when equal opportunities do not exist.

Agitations and protests usually take over where there is no justice and equity. We believe that the key to peace and progress in Nigeria lies in government treating all constituents as important in their own right. Easy resort to arm-twisting and intimidation cannot solve the problem of ethnic agitation in Nigeria.

The storm over Lagos waterways

AGAIN, the battle line seems to have been drawn between the Lagos State government and the Federal Government over the former resolve to establish its own Inland Waterways.

Spirited efforts to resolve the disagreement on the dialogue table has failed even as the two parties seemed determined to prove their case in the law courts.

Though the Federal government's Inland Waterways regulatory body, the National Inland Waterways Authority, (NIWA) has challenged the move by the state government saying it is illegal, the Lagos State insists on going ahead with the plan.

Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mallam Abdul Salam Mohammed has emphatically stated that the federal government has 100 per cent absolute control over ports facilities in the country, except for the terminal and handling of operations that have been conceded to the private sector.

This statement however appears contrary to the belief in some quarters that concessionaries took over terminal operations in the seaports in the wake of the economic reform programme of the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo two years ago.

To show its determination, the Lagos state House of Assembly has held a public hearing on the proposed Waterways Authority and may soon pass the bill for its establishment.

This has led to series of disagreement and campaign of calumny by the duo on the pages of the newspapers.

The Presidency has since cleared the NIWA to take a legal action through the Federal Attorney General against the Lagos State government. This was after the attempt to resolve the matter failed.

The NIWA said it wrote the Attorney General of the Federation and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), over plans by the Lagos State government to establish its own Inland Waterways Authority to regulate the activities of ferry operations in the state.

NIWA however accused Lagos state of violating the enabling laws, which gave NIWA powers to regulate activities within the nation's inland waterways.

The authority's Managing Director, Mr. Yakubu Zubairu, told The Guardian that he had already written to the Federal Attorney General on the impending 'illegal' step by the Lagos State government.

Zubairu, an engineer, described the action by the state government as illegal, adding that his organisation was prepared to collaborate with the state government to ensure effective water transportation services in the nation's commercial city without it having to establish its own waterways.

The NIWA has already given up the "regulation on sand winning to the Ministry of Solid Mineral, which is being backed up by an Act of the National Assembly to have sole control of activities relating to sand winning on the Nigerian waters."

He explained further: "We wrote to the Federal government after writing to the Lagos State government, especially, when they failed to reply us on the matter. What we need to do on issues like this is to report to our ministry and they will take it up. But if they don't do anything about it, then we have to report the incident to the President. We will talk to whosoever is in charge in other to protect the interest of the Federal Government."

The NIWA boss said then that his authority was not against any state willing to collaborate with the federal government through NIWA in the development of the inland waterways but that federal government's permission would be necessary before anything could be done on the inland waterways.

He maintains that the way out was for the Lagos State government to recognise and respect the law.

"The NIWA law was passed by the Federal Government in respect of all waterways in Nigeria and all land, which are 100 metres perpendicular to any river in Nigeria. They are all under NIWA, but Lagos State has been encroaching on the land and we don't talk."

Zubairu called on the state government to forward its proposal on the inland water transportation for approval based on the infrastructure they want to put in place.

NIWA was established by Decree 13 of 1997 to provide regulations for inland navigation, ensure the development of infrastructural facilities for a national inland water, easy network connecting creeks and the rivers with the economic centres using river ports as modal points for intermodal exchange and to ensure the development of indigenous technical and managerial skill to meet the challenges of modern inland waterways transportation.

The decree also gave the authority to undertake maintenance dredging, hydrological and hydrographic survey of the waterways, issue and control licenses for inland navigation grant permit and licenses for sand dredging, pipeline construction, grant licenses to private waterways operators and a handful of other functions.

Section 10 of the decree declared the Nigerian rivers, their tributaries, distributions, creeks lakes, lagoons and intra-coastal waters as federal navigable waters under the control of NIWA.

Section 13 of the decree states thus:

"Notwithstanding the provision of the Land Use Act 1978 or any other enactment, but subject to the provision of the Lands Decree 1993, the Authority shall have the right to all land within the right of way of declared waterways and shall use such land in the interest of navigation and no person including a state shall obstruct a declared waterway, take sand, gravel or stone from any declared waterway or erect permanent structures within the right of way or divert water from a declared water way"

But Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor Special Duties and the Supervisor of the state's government Inland Waterways Project, Mr. Kofo Abayomi, has said that nothing would stop this initiative by state government.

Abayomi observed that it was time that the state regained control of its waterways. "Lagos State is a unit of all the units that came together to form a Federation of Nigeria, it does not put us under the Federal Government of Nigeria, we all came together as federating unit to hand over power to a Federal Government".

A politician and former governorship candidate of the Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA), Chief Jimi Agbaje has thrown his weight behind the proposed Lagos Inland Waterways project, saying that the state deserves to have control over its inland waterways.

Agbaje urged the federal government to limit itself only to roles that are focused towards the wellbeing of the generality of Nigerians.

"I am a firm believer of true federalism, to that extent, it is the federal government that should limit itself to roles that pertain to the generality of the populace. I don't see anything wrong with that personally. In the spirit of true federalism, I don't see anything wrong with the state handling affairs that concern its waterways, vehicle nameplate and even licences.

"I think the saving grace is that in the new dispensation, we have at the helm of affairs at both Lagos and federal, leaders who are willing to solve the differences by negotiating, by discussing, and where that is not possible, by amicably agreeing to go and get true interpretation in the law court and that is what democracy is all about. So, for me it is to allow them to address these issues in a way they can agree and when they do not agree then they allow the court to decide."

Transportation Minister, Mrs. Diezani Allison Madueke has also called for the review of the nation's ports reform policy to determine whether government's objectives are being realized.

Madueke noted that the federal government's objectives in concession of the country's ports in 2006, was to ensure cost effective and efficient port services. She however expressed regrets that the implementation of the policy has not been completely successful.

According to her, 'The overriding objective of the programme (port reforms) was to ensure cost effective and efficient port services, comparable to what obtains in advanced maritime countries.

She however, regretted that after two years of successful transfer of ports operations to private terminal operators, government has been bathed with complaints by various stakeholders especially ports users. The complaints as she puts it range from poor services offered by the terminal operators, unnecessary delay in the clearing and delivery process, as well as deliberate delay in the handling of export goods.

"Other people have complained of exorbitant charges by terminal operators, high demurrage charges, use of obsolete NPA plants, multiplicity of government agencies at the ports and so on," she added.

In compliance with the provision of the Act, Madueke issued a guideline on the implementation of the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act in 2004. These guidelines have proved a useful tool for the operation and enforcement of the Cabotage Act.

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA, has experienced challenges in enforcing the act. These challenges thus prompted a review of enforcement procedures. This revised guidelines is the product of intense interaction with stakeholders and it is aimed at clarity, enforcement and monitoring procedures.

Meanwhile, the citizenship requirement under the Cabotage law with respect to ownership of cabotage companies and vessels are defined by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and excludes corporate citizenship.

According to the law, ownership is determined by the identity of the individual owners who truly own and control the interests in the vessel and the ship owning company. The Act gives the Ministry of Transportation the over all responsibility of making regulations and policies for the implementation of the cabotage regime. The formulation of the guidelines stated that the criteria for determination of certain eligibility requirements are reserved for the minister of transport.

Besides, the Minister of Transportation according to the Act would approve the issuance of license for foreign owned vessels intended for use in coastal shipping and granting of waivers generally.

Indigenous ship owners have called on the federal government to initiate programmes and policies that will curb capital flight in the maritime industry so as to safeguard the nation's economy. The group, which made the call under the aegis of Indigenous Ship owners Association of Nigeria (ISAN), also solicited government's support to ensure that they take their rightful place in the scheme of things.

According to the association, the amount of money the nation loses daily as a result of capital flight is enough to sustain the economy and open more opportunities for the absorption of the numerous youths roaming the streets in search of non existing white collar jobs.

They explained that one of the ways of reducing capital flight is by giving due recognition to the shipping sector as a pillar of the nation's economy.

Britain and Money Laundering

By its new law making it mandatory for British banks to report to the police any lodgement by public officers in excess of 10,000 pounds, the British government may be demonstrating a new willingness to help in the effort to stamp out looting of public funds so common in developing countries.
The new law points to departure from the past attitude of rich industrialised countries towards the growing incidence of money looting and its devastating effect on developing countries. Until the tragic events of September 11, 2001 when terrorists massively attacked the United States, the problem of money laundering didn't quite figure in the policy agenda of most developed countries. Apparently because this was particularly injurious to the economies of developing countries, most industrialised nations did not pay enough attention to the problem. As a result, money looting and laundering which are manifestations of political corruption in many African counties, thrived on a large scale. In a few instances, serving African heads of state were known to have lasted their nations' treasury and stashed the proceeds in foreign bank accounts domiciled in Europe and America. That way, some of them turned out to be richer than their countrys in terms of cash reserves. It was such an absurd situation. Yet few western countries were prepared to listen to cries by African people for the repatriation of such wealth and the disclosure of their owners. But that was until quite recently.
We agree with those who say that September 11, has proved decisively the inter-connectedness of nations and the need for greater levels of co-operation in solving common problems affecting them. One of such problems is that of money laundering which has become an effective conduit for illicit wealth makers. In Africa alone, billions of dollars are annually siphoned from national coffers into dormant foreign-based bank account. Nigeria's recent experience is a case in point. Several of our state governors are being fingered for running foreign bank accounts through which they launder tax payers' money. The Alamieyeseigha saga is a classic example. Also during the Abacha regime, billions of dollars were stashed in European banks by senior government officials. Efforts to have all that loot returned to the nation have not been a complete success because of the reluctant attitude of some of the countries in which the loot are domiciled.
Against this background, the new British law ought to gladden the hearts of all those genuinely interested in curbing the incidence of money looting and laundering. The law is expected to make life more difficult for those involved in the refarious trade if it is well enforced by the British authorities.
By the new law, the British government may have acknowledged that the activities of money launderers can do collateral damage to both the developing and developed nations.
The truth is that there would be no looters if there is no haven to store such loot. Treasury looters have thrived largely because they had a safe destination for their loot. It is an argument that African civil society groups had long put up to no avail. Unless the developed nations co-operated with their developing counterparts on this matter, the illicit business will continue to boom, to the further impoverishment of the latter.
The British government has, by its new law, shown what is possible. It deserves commendation. Yet the greater challenge lies in the eager enforcement of this law and the willingness on its part to repatriate what is looted.
The Tony Blair administration has shown an admirable sensitivity to the economic problems of the developing world. This new law is a further demonstration of that. We urge him to however, go beyond that by equally making a definite commitment toward the repatriation of all funds looted from developing countries.
We believe that most European and American countries have all the information they need on who and who are running what account. They should take a cue from Britain by no only enacting new laws against money laundering and looting, but also demonstrated a willingness to repatriate such funds. This, will go a long way in making poverty history or at least curbing it extensively.
The world certainly does not need another September 11, to rise to the challenge of putting money looters and launderers out of business. But doing so will need the co-operation of the rich nations where most of the looted funds are deposited.

The Baby Sale Boom!

The tragedies befalling the nation today are the calamitous consequences of the disintegration of the very fabric which holds the entire society together. In the last few years we have been witnessing many bizarre incidents that testify to the collapse of those existential values which we hold dear and which give us identity as a people.
On June 9 a man identified as a medical doctor was arrested by the officials of the of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for allegedly converting his maternity hospital along Zik Avenue, Enugu, Enugu State into a home for breeding of babies for sale. Also arrested at the hospital were 22 pregnant girls aged between 15 and 18 ostensibly waiting to be delivered of babies who would be displayed for sale. A woman who allegedly bought a baby from the hospital for the sum of N340, 000 was also arrested.
This is quite shameful and degrading. Have we reached such a low level in our moral turpitude that we can no longer distinguish between right and wrong? Have we lost the sense of shame that we can no longer abhor despicable and shameful acts ?. The Enugu incident is unfortunately not the first of its kind . Baby selling has been a thriving business in different parts of the country for long. Recently in Okota, Lagos , a pregnant girl was caught with a woman after the former had struck a deal to sell her baby to the latter. In the first week of this month the police in Abuja paraded an 80 year old woman accused of running an illegal hostel in Abia State for pregnant girls whose babies are sold shortly after they are delivered. There are several reported cases of missing babies in our public hospitals. Some of the missing babies are alleged to have been sold to the highest bidders.
A baby is a human being with such intrinsic worth and inestimable value and dignity that a price tag cannot be attached to it. Besides, a society that encourages the sale of its babies is a disgrace to the entire human civilization.
We therefore call for a proper investigation into the Enugu incident. The arrested medical doctor says that he runs the home to discourage young girls from procuring abortion and dumping their so-called unwanted babies into the gutters. That is why the law enforcement agents should properly investigate the matter to ascertain the truth. If the allegation against the medical doctor is confirmed to be true after the investigation, he together with his conspirators should promptly be brought to justice. In addition, the security operatives should also identify other hideouts where such degrading practice has been going on and shut them down. Adoption of babies in Nigeria should be made hitch-free to encourage couples genuinely interested in adopting babies to go ahead and do so. The various Child Welfare and development institutions should be re-invigorated and re-equipped to perform their functions very well.
More importantly, the family institution needs to be strengthened. Teenage sexual orgy, pre-marital sex and teenage pregnancy stem largely from the dististingetation of the family, which is the fundamental unit of the society. Most Nigerian families are now dysfunctional. Family values are crumbling. The meaning of marriage is being distorted. The rate of divorce is skyrocketing especially among young couples.
A destruction of the family invariably leads to the destruction of the society. Therefore the protection of the family is the best way of protecting our young girls from sexual promiscuity and pregnancy outside wedlock which in the end leads to the selling of babies.

Obama: A Race to Win

When three months ago we wrote an editorial on the Barack Obama streak, we hardly attempted a prediction of how the Democratic Party's presidential primaries in the United States would end. What captivated our attention and which that editorial focused on, was the resilience of Barack Obama, the African-American first-term senator who last week clinched the presidential ticket of his party. For his numerous supporters it was a moment to savour and a development that paints a positive image of the US as a place where it is possible for any one regardless of his background to rise to the pinnacle of his ambition.
By his victory over Hillary Clinton, his formidable opponent in the quest for the party ticket, Obama has become not only the first Black but also the first ethnic minority candidate to achieve such a feat. That is what making history is all about. All through the campaign for his party's presidential ticket, Obama remained single-minded and would not be distracted by anything. He handled every provocation with unruffled dignity, which earned him the admiration of many party members.
Even his most implacable critics must concede that Mr. Obama has got to where he is today not by a twist of chance, but through hard work, an excellent, well focused electioneering and through his incredible gift of the garb. He has been saying and doing all the right things. Each snare on his way had been masterfully handled. In speech after speech, Obama has shown himself to be no political debutante. Nor has he come off as a dilettante even when it would have been quite convenient to toe that line as some of his opponents clearly did on critical issues. He took clear, unmistakable stands on policy issues and when he came under pressure to renounce his pastor for making seemingly unpatriotic comments about his country, he steered a more rational course, even while not agreeing with the comments of the clergyman. His mature handling of that explosive issue showed the kind of leader that Obama is and the kind of president he would be. He is certainly not the type who would compromise his moral convictions for political expediency.
Against all odds, Obama has emerged the Democratic Party's flag bearer in the presidential election of November 4. Does he deserve his victory? Yes, in every respect. It couldn't be for nothing that the party big guns have queued up behind him. Quite apart from his charming personality and charisma, Obama brings to his campaign a rare sense of candour and connection with literally every segment of the American society. It is no wonder that his campaign received more widespread financial support than Mrs. Clinton's. Altogether, it is a measure of the finer evolution of US politics that an Obama is set to become the country's next president.
What observers of the US politics have seen in the past 16 months is a display of the beauty of democracy, its dynamics and nuances in a country that has earned its reputation as the bastion of liberal democracy, notwithstanding the sometimes-racial tones of its politics. The emergence of Obama is good advertisement for America's democracy. The son of a Kenyan father and a white American mother, Obama has had his fair share of deprivations as the product of a broken home. In his semi-autobiographical book, "The Audacity of Hope" published in 2006, he admitted that his bi-racial background has come with its drawbacks and benefits. He gave much credit for whatever he is today to his white mother and grand mother whom he described as " a rock of stability throughout my life." Nonetheless, he was able to reflect the adversities that Blacks have suffered in a society where many still judge a man by the colour of his skin rather than by the content of his character.
By giving Obama their party's presidential ticket, the Democrats have shown what is possible in November. The next four months are sure to witness what promises to be a grueling fight for the White House. All the same, we believe that the US is on the verge of making history.

15 Years Of June 12

JUNE 12 was for years associated with some anticipated trouble. It was the time for labour union and civil society groups to strike, it was time to agitate for the revalidation of June 12.
Years after, it became a time to seek the relevance of the day in our national life. June 12 is one milestone that judges us and confirms our endless hypocrisy. In our bid to move forward, a nebulous expression that entails duplicity, we do not know what to do with June 12.

Given a chance, some, under political expediency, would have expunged the date from the calendar. It is sad memory, it is a telling reminder of their own evil contributions to the affairs of this country. June 12 is a reminder of great opportunities vastly missed.

June 12 finally is about the election that was adjudged free and fair, yet was annulled, so that Chief Moshood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola, who was on his way to victory, could not be president. His struggle to regain that mandate cost him his life, again in June.

June has become a very important month in Nigeria’s national life. Among the highlights of that month are three major deaths – Kudirat, Abiola’s wife in 1996, General Sani Abacha two years later and Abiola following a few days on. With these three deaths in June and June 12 itself, the month has become one that reminds Nigerians of the ways we have toyed with this country.

Abiola’s death remains controversial. Abacha’s demise is more so. Kudirat was assassinated and the case is still in court.

Each June 12 bears new meaning because of these incidents. In the 10th anniversary of Abacha death, for example, we have been told that Abacha did not steal any money. This proclamation from two former Heads of State Major-General Muhammadu Buhari and General Ibrahim Babangida makes one wonder where they have been in the past 10 years of Abacha bashing.

If Abacha stole no money, which money did the Swiss government say it has returned? We must accept that June would continue generating its own controversies, this is one.
From nowhere, Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the man who conducted the elections that made June 12 a national milestone, has resurfaced. He has written a book which he said would explain everything, including his long absence and silence. It would be great to hear his broken silence. Now that it is safe to talk again, it is important that Professor Nwosu provides some insights into what went wrong and threw the country into darkness.

June 12 deserves more national attention than the self-serving purposes it is for many. In the light of the problems with elections, is it not in our national interest to find out how the June 12 election was held? Is it acceptable for personal interest to supersede national interest, such that the June 12 election could be cancelled because the result displeased someone?

June 12 would haunt us until we address it.

Teachers’ Warning

THE three-day teachers’ warning strike was long overdue. The teachers could have struck earlier, for the problems are not new.

Our long-suffering teachers are used to neglect. Their welfare is unimportant, the school buildings, in the cases they exist, are collapsing on them, and if there is no consideration for their present, their future is pure darkness.

Teachers have been told their reward is in heaven. We therefore treat them as if others who are consigning the country’s resources to themselves are not aspirants for heaven. Teachers want their rewards here, and in heaven.

Whatever their plight it is rooted in the national education policy, which lays more emphases on the principles than the practitioners of those principles. Teachers are owed salaries and it has become common practice for grateful delegations to head to government houses to thank the authorities for paying. When they retire, they join the long queue of pensioners, who die off waiting for pittance that rarely comes.

Teachers get some of the most disdainful treatments. They do not earn enough to attain respectable sociable status in a society where money is all. Their children cannot get good education because their parents ironically, cannot afford it.

Many ills have crept into the profession. Most of today’s teachers are not qualified and the society does not care about this. In some schools, teachers spend official hours fending for themselves, knowing that governments that engage them are least interested in their welfare. Others have kept themselves busy with examination malpractices, where they make a tidy sum aiding pupils to cheat.

These ills are on the increase as years of uncaring governments and lip service to education have left most schools worst than pigsties. Government officials ensure their children are in private schools where they can get good education. Other Nigerians are condemned to schools and teachers that belong to antiquity, with facilities that cannot prepare the pupils for the modern age, unless they too can pay for private education for their children.

Governments that know the importance of education are investing more of their resources in it. They are preparing their people for a future where illiteracy would be intolerable, a future cast on science and technology. Our governments are busy inflating budgets for education and creaming off the surplus to their purses. It does not matter to them whether the public education system works or not.

This strike is an opportunity to address the deeper issues in our education, including curriculum that is so outdated that it testifies to the fact that government does not consider educating Nigerians important. Others are the dilapidation of the learning environment and unavailability of instructional materials.

Nothing can be done about these without attending to the welfare of teachers, who currently projects so much poverty that they can no longer be the role models thy were to our children. Little wonder younger people do not want to be teachers –– that is the next danger for our education, schools without teachers.

Return Of Tenure Debates

THERE may be debates about who Senator Saminu Turaki, former Governor of Jigawa State, speaks for, but the fact is that he has spoken. His most distinguished contribution is the suggestion that President Umaru Yar’Adua’s tenure be extended to seven years.

He was not through –– Yar’Adua should have two terms. Turaki wants 14 years of Yar’Adua. Whether as an individual or as a senator, Turaki cannot be denied his right to air his view on the proposed constitutional amendments. However, the bases for his proposals could be important if we are to avoid the mistakesof the previous attempt to amend the Constitution.

The past effort ended ignominiously for proponents of tenure extension. Theirs was not anything as ambitious as 14 years for the President. The cost of that exercise remains unknown. The larger cost was the other 116 proposed amendments to the Constitution that died with it.

Why were the other amendments not discussed? The basic truth is that those constitutional amendments were the necessary platforms to get in the only important item, an extra tenure for the President. Once that item was thrown out, the emergency patriots considered the other provisions irrelevant.

Since the 2006 tenure extension debacle, hints of constitutional amendments have been laced with suspicion of the Executive’s unwholesome interest in the matter.

The interest would be denied to the point of throwing the country into confuted tension to the joy of leeches, who raise delegations to convince the President.

The tactics vary. The delegations could be from different professional groups, then geo-political zones before each of the 774 local government areas have a go at impressing the President to acquiesce.

Whatever the tactic, the message is usually to convince the President, who pretends he is a victim, that without him the country is doomed.

For a President like Yar’Adua, a believer in the rule of law –– which includes freedom of expression, freedom of speech, rights to hold ideas and convert others to them –– he is unlikely to deny these groups access to him. He could in fact be accused of discrimination if he refuses to receive groups that want him to do all in his powers to be President until 2021.

A tenure that zeroes into 2021 would ensure the President superintends Nigeria’s ambition of being among the world’s top 20 economies by 2020.

This sort of noxious reasoning will soon make the rounds to convince us of the patriotic content of tenure extension.

Turaki, an enthusiastic recent convert to the PDP, may be fishing for relevance, yet his proposal could provide another round of distractions for a nation that its operators consistently invent ways of taking off course. If tenure extension returns to the fore, the proposed constitutional amendments would suffer worse fate than the 2006 attempt.

For the quality of service we received in the past eight years, most Nigerians would be waryof having anyone around for 14 years, even if he is the meek and mild Yar’Adua.

Ibadan Without Adedibu

THE demise of Chief Lamidi Adedibu would leave Ibadan without its commander, who for decades dictated the fate of the ancient city. Ibadan cannot be the same without Adedibu who made no excuses for his tendencies and his remarkable manner of enforcing his politics.

He was the factor in Ibadan politics for all the arguable reasons. He relished his association with the masses, from whom he recruited an army that was blindly loyal to him. His orders often put the city on the boil, yet the authorities did not deter Adedibu to the consternation of all who thought law and order were vital to the survival of society.

Adedibu got all the official approval he required to operate. Col. Ahmadu Ali, as PDP Chairman, in January 2007 called Adedibu the garrison commander of Ibadan , advising all to take his orders.

In the instances they threatened to arrest him, retractions of the threats and apologies followed. He lived above the law. He saw to it that his followers also did.

The mayhem that went on in Ibadan preparatory to the impeachment of Rashidi Ladoja and the 2007 elections had the signature of Adedibu all over it. He neither denied his involvement in them nor promised to stop the upheavals.

This commanding control of Ibadan made him a favourite of politicians, especially of the crooked tribe that wanted to win elections by every means. Adedibu doused his thuggery with magnificent candour.

Once accused of demanding a monthly allowance of N60 million from a man he made Governor, he bantered back, “What is N60 million a month compared to what it cost me to put him there, or what the man himself takes? The new man gives me N60 million and has promised to do more”.

He ensured things went his way, and bent the rules to effect this. He got emboldened enough that the law was bent for him at the least hint that he was interested in an issue. Law enforcement officers posted to Ibadan knew the law was about Adedibu who boasted garrulously about his status.

Ibadan was about Adedibu. Only the laws he wanted mattered. The live television coverage of the carnage in Ibadan, with youth wielding guns and machetes against each other, in broad daylight, without bothering to cover their faces, testifies to their confidence in Adedibu to protect them. None of those identifiable thugs was arrested just as Adedibu had promised.

Politicians who patronised him may not miss him. They can find several other father figures for the thugs that roam the city in search of opportunities. The spread extends to the motor parks where Adedibu’s proxies are lords.

His real mourners would be the hundreds of poor people who thronged his expansive Ibadan home several times daily for free meals of amala. He never failed to oblige them. This practice has lasted decades and it is doubtful where the devotees will find their next meals.

Old tales of June 12

MUCH must have been expected of Professor Humphrey Nwosu’s book for people to bemoan it being bereft of explosive information on the annulled June 12 presidential election of 15 years ago.
Prof. Nwosu is a political dramatist. His choice of June 12 for the launching of the book and his pre-launch press briefing theatrics were enough pointers that the man still loves to hear his own voice. Now he has the headlines he seemed to have missed badly. He would not really bother if the media condemn or commend him.

Why did he write a book that will cost him the sympathy Nigerians had for him? What illumination has he provided? What is the purpose of this book? Could it be just to add his voice to the puerile debate over the right date for Nigeria’s Democracy Day?

How could he ever suggest that Nigeria’s only military President, who sacked his ministers at will, and randomly pushed out decrees to steer the course of the transition was a weakling obeying the dictates of junior officers and a civilian attorney-general?

Many took Prof. Nwosu too serious to have paid any attention to parts of the prayer Dr. Felix Chukwuma, Anglican Bishop of Enugu Diocese, offered at the book launch: “Father, forgive us for our dishonesty on June 12. Forgive us for deceiving you; remove greed and dishonesty from our midst. Many things are still in darkness; show us the way to come out of darkness into your light. Remove fear and dishonesty from us. Help us to establish truthfulness and honesty.”

Perhaps, this prayer was not talking about June 12 alone, but it was apt for the type of games people have been playing with June 12. The first set of players used it to gain political offices, painting grim pictures of their roles in the struggle, as if the hundreds who died on the streets were less human.

Next were those who have paraded tales of their midnight risks to get the authorities to restore the dictates of the election. They too have had their day and have moved on to other things.

Bishop Chukwuma is right about our dishonesty on June 12. However, forgiveness flows from confession and admission of guilt. Without these, darkness grows, fear thrives and dishonesty multiplies.

June 12 has provided a surfeit of darkness, fear, and dishonesty. When we thought we had seen it all, Prof. Nwosu chose to exercise his right to be heard. Had he written on fears for his safety as the reason for the emptiness of his 392-page book, Nigerians would have admired his courage.

Since politics, political science and the strides to survival in these parts are cast with minimal parts, if any for God; it is tasking to establish honesty. June 12 show this.

Bishop Chukwuma wrongly posited that we deceived God. We cannot deceive God, not even in a matter of high-tension deceit like June 12 –– God knows about June 12. 2008

Abacha and the revisionists

RECENT attempts to launder the image of the late General Sani Abacha, Nigeria's maximum ruler between 1993 and 1998 smack of invidious revisionism, apart from being insensitive. First was the press conference by Mrs. Maryam Abacha, wife of the late General Abacha on Wednesday, June 4, a few days to the 10th anniversary of his death.

She spoke to the effect that her husband has been wrongly accused and that there is no conclusive proof that he looted the public treasury as has been alleged. Her reason: the man is not 'around to (either) say "yes I did this (or) to deny it." Mrs. Abacha, perhaps oblivious of where the buck of responsibility stops in governance, even thinks that it is the ministers in her husband's administration that should be held accountable. Next were the comments, credited to three former military Heads of State, which echoed, one way or the other, Mrs. Abacha's defense of her husband. This was on June 8 at a lecture in memory of the late dictator.

Said Gen. Muhammadu Buhari who together with his colleagues, overthrew, in 1983, a popularly elected government, in violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, "All the allegations levelled against the personality of the late Gen. Sani Abacha will remain allegations...'. General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida who led a revolt against his commander-in-chief in a 1985 coup d'etat insisted that 'It is not true that (Abacha) looted public treasury, I knew who Abacha was because I was close to him.' General Abdulsalami Abubakar who inherited the mantle of leadership following the death of Abacha in 1998, was also full of praises for his former boss.

Not a few people see self-interest as the driving motive for the views expressed by these former rulers of Nigeria. In the typical nature of the disciplined forces, esprit-de-corps requires that one stands by his colleague through thick and thin. It runs unfathomably deep within the services. But esprit de corps should not become an excuse for insensitivity. There are military officers who have been known to stand firm on the grounds of principle and defend the truth. Obviously, Generals Buhari, Babangida and Abubakar do not belong in this category. There must be something so morally wrong with citizens, regardless of ranking, to try to turn history on its head so bare-facedly. We think that the interest of Nigeria should override any other interest, private or sectional. If self-interest is the justification to insult our intelligence and so brazenly challenge our sense of history, we feel constrained to qualify this act as despicable and most unworthy of people in leadership positions.

Revisionism is a common strategy of those who seek to tamper with the facts of history. In the specific case of Abacha's handling of public funds, the evidence, as established during the Obasanjo administration is indeed damning. At the time, it was established that General Abacha had stashed away public funds illegally in banks across the world running into about $3 billion.

Part of the money, kept in Swiss banks was returned to Nigeria by the Swiss authorities. Abacha's son, Mohammed, was also put on trial by the Federal Government although charges were later dropped and the Abacha family agreed to return money to government. Besides, General Abacha's name features prominently in Transparency International's list of most corrupt leaders in the world. General Buhari spoke about unproven allegations. What is unproven if we may ask, about Abacha's reign of terror, his violation of human rights and the sheer sadism of his government, which brought grief to many families? Where is the justification for the image laundering by Generals Buhari, Babangida and Abubakar?

Perhaps the sub-text to the Generals' opinion on Abacha was provided by Gen. Abubakar when he said: "It is quite unfortunate and unfair to accuse the family of the late Sani Abacha of looting public funds. But now, we have been seeing what is happening...". General Abubakar seems to be saying invariably that there is greater corruption in the country now than was the case under the military. But how does that translate into the confirmation of Abacha as a man of integrity? It does not lie in the mouth of the three Generals to comment so expertly on the delicate subject of integrity.

What is beyond dispute is that the present malaise that pervades the polity would not at all have been so widespread if the military, and particularly the three Generals, did not run Nigeria so badly. General Muhammadu Buhari ran a totalitarian government, which trampled upon basic human rights and paid scant regard to the people's welfare. The Babangida regime introduced anti-people policies, which ruined the economy and resulted in the dispossession of Nigerians.

In June 1993, that same government annulled a democratic election and threw the country into a long season of trauma. General Abubakar's tenure was short but it was essentially a military government. Surely, it is not a credit to the capabilities of these Generals that a quarter of a century of their leadership provided the foundation for the comprehensive mess that confronts the nation today. This fact alone is enough to keep the Generals from insulting our collective psyche.

We have no reason to think that the opinions of the trio are shared by other Generals of the Armed Forces of our country, serving or retired. Furthermore it need not be assumed that their comments reflect the feelings of any group in any part of the country. Generals Buhari, Babangida, and Abubakar have spoken only for themselves. But they are wrong. And it is strange that they have failed to realise that they may be unwittingly endorsing corruption as acceptable, a gesture that is most unbecoming of statesmen.

Failed children, failed parents

EVEN if it had existed before then, the expression 'failed banks' came into our consciousness in the era of certain financial institutions crashing with deposits of customers which their executives mismanaged because they wanted to live bogus and flashy lifestyles. They simply became failed banks, failed this failed that. We all have the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) to thank that some customers had at least part of their funds recovered for them. Many did not recover one kobo to date.

Sometime this week, at one of our editorial meetings, our editor-in-chief and managing director made reference to a family he happened to know which was forced to have a 'national conference' in the home at the instance of the children. The objective was clear to the children as they mooted the idea: they needed to get the parents to reconsider their wellbeing and improve their entitlements. In other words, they wanted improved standard of living by right as children. They approached the mother with a request: "We want to have a talk with you and your husband...," the story goes. The understanding parents acceded to the request. At the 'national conference', the father carefully and logically punctured all their allegations of divided loyalty to their welfare as presented by the spokesperson. Just as they dismissed with words of reassurance from the parents, a little argument followed in the children's room as the spokesperson accused his siblings of lack of support for him with more convincing details as the debate went on. We all had a fill with laughter, but on a deeper reflection, one thing I think was established is the fact that the two parties got talking and they were able to understand themselves better - for the good of the family.

Two parallels are being drawn today - one from far away villages in and around the old coal-mining town of Bridgend in Wales, the United Kingdom (and a few other places) where cult-like suicide deaths among teenagers are the order of the day, the other from Abia and Enugu states in Nigeria where baby factories are run for commercial purpose. Indeed, these are really trying times for parents and children alike.

According to the March 10 edition of Newsweek international magazine, in barely 13 months beginning with the death of one Dale Crole, 18, who hanged himself at an abandoned warehouse on January 5, last year, 17 such horrific incidents were recorded in a corner of a county with a population of just 130,000 people. The report said Dale's friend who took the police to the scene died the same way the next month. Month after month, one young person after another travelled the suicide route, each new suicide inspiring another. At first the deaths attracted little notice but when, in four days alone, three kids hanged themselves to bring the toll to 17, it became a global phenomenon. Social networking among the kids on the Internet was fingered for the inexplicable behaviour of the children who obviously didn't lack parental care or material things at home. It just became a fad among the young to link up on the Internet and bid themselves good bye although the police insisted there was no evidence of a suicide pact or even of Internet connections. Parents could only wonder why their love failed to save the precious lives and why other young ones seem to open the same tragic pages as their friends.

The Bridgend kids are not alone. Other incidents have been reported, the last in May of a 13-year old girl and only child of her parents in the 60-year bracket who would just not understand why their lovely child would hang herself. All they could recollect after the horror was that the girl had been asking some funny questions about life in the weeks preceding her death.

Some Brazilian kids might provide a little insight into the psychology of the desperate teenagers who for the fun of it make the sun set for parents at noon. They belong to some cult-like groups who are identified by the term 'emos' derived from emotional. They are always in black T-shirts of whatever make or design. And the group is attracting more followers. Please tell me how do we classify the children and the parents. Who is failing between the two groups? What could have driven teenagers who are yet to take up any employment opportunity or to raise families to take to suicide?

Let us come nearer home where some failed parents are running baby factories in the eastern part of Nigeria. We can recall that a similar scenario had played out in Lagos in recent memory somewhere in Okota area where the lady running the home obviously with some spiritual powers had to be dislodged by men of the Oodua Peoples Congress who came in to assist the Lagos State Government officials. Typical of the Nigerian situation, that was the last we heard of the arrested woman. (By the way, where is Clifford Orji the notorious cannibal who was believed to enjoy the patronage of faceless buyers of human parts under his hideout along Airport road?). Is this a failed state?

This 80-year-old failed parent - she has her own children- in Abia State, was even paraded in Abuja by the Police Inspector General Mike Okiro for running a baby factory. She was nabbed with 11 pregnant girls, young girls. Her excuse is that girls run to her for cover when they are put in the family way by boyfriends who abandon them. She then feeds them for between six and nine months when they deliver and she takes the babies from them as compensation! Rubbish. So an eighty-year-old can also lie? Do her own children know what their shameless mother does for a living? It is simply trafficking in human beings. I hope the Inspector General will not turn this to another file gathering dust on the table over time.

Just about a week after the parade, men of the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps, on a tip-off, stormed a maternity/social home in Uwani, Enugu to rescue 22 under-aged pregnant girls from one Dr. Kenneth Akume on a day a lucky day-old baby who had allegedly been sold to a woman from Lagos for N340,000 by the clinic was also rescued. Akume's excuse was not any different from the old woman in Abia. Twenty-two pregnant girls under a man's roof and he claims he was only assisting them? Assistance my foot, without the knowledge of their parents! He has so much milk of human kindness in him to be feeding all of them and handling pre and post-natal care, free of charge for that number? Add 11 and 22, we already have 33 of such failed children in the society. These are the ones we even know. What we hear is that some jobless guys are recruited to impregnate the girls for a fee. After delivery, the girls get paid between N25,000 and N30,000 for a job well done. Thereafter, they prepare for another pregnancy. The idiots see it as a lucrative business for them.

Imagine for a minute babies who are separated from their biological mothers from between one day and two months at the most without breastfeeding. There is no emotional attachment between a mother and child if the baby lives to be told her true parentage. If a baby must be adopted there are proper ways to do that from the government department or home legally empowered to give out in adoption, not the Akume style. A more worrisome dimension is the possible use of the babies for rituals. The government must stamp out this practice. It is a battle that must be fought to a logical conclusion. Akume and his counterpart in crime in Abia must be prosecuted immediately. The evidences are there for the police already. The police investigations should also unravel the failed parents of these girls and ask on behalf of the public what they did when they noticed their wards got missing from school or the home. I wont be surprised if some parents aren't the ones who encouraged the girls to do it for money. They do it for prostitution we know. This cannot be divorced from the general poverty level in the land.

Ironically, worship places have grown in leaps and bounds in this country in the last decade or so. So, who are we worshipping? The other day, a newspaper survey listed 12 big-time churches on the former Oregun Road alone in Lagos. On almost every street now, you don't find less than five or six of such worship places, including shops, in a distance of about 300 metres. Everybody wants to manage a church or whatever now to perform signs and wonders before a gullible people who cannot discern between right and wrong or rather between truth and deceit.

There is a pressing need for moral regeneration and re-ordering of core family values. But who will help the failing parents who ought to help the failing children?

Abacha in our memory

IRRESPECTIVE of race or creed, the human memory is 'very short'. There is an inverse correlation between the number of times the pendulum oscillates and the intensity of man's feeling about his predicament, hence the adage 'Time Heals' but there is a caveat that says 'not all wounds'. It is from this perspective that one can appreciate the current clamour, particularly by northern leaders to deify the name of General Sani Abacha, the man whose demise in 1998 sent all Nigerians onto the street, jubilating as if their darling Super Eagles had just lifted the elusive World Cup. The problem is not with the attempt to enshrine a rustic name in gold but doing it at a time when the mess generated by the transgressions and atrocities of those times are still been mopped by a court of law in Lagos.

Sergeant Roger is still very much alive willing to sing like canary about his escapades as the 'agent of death' in that government, with compulsive intention to mention the names of accomplices. There are 'lucky' victims and other living witnesses to the very callous and animalistic activities of those years of 'insanity' called the Abacha years and one is sure that their eyes would be swollen with tears not for their agony in the hands of the predator Abacha and his boys but for the unforgivable massive leakage of the bag in the brain of those Nigerians, who knowing the truth deliberately chose the path of falsehood.

These Nigerians are of two categories; the mischievous former Nigerian leaders, who out of mental idleness decided that 2008 is the year to turn Sani Abacha into a martyr. On the other side of the divide are the outright ignorant public, who are always willing megaphone of political slandering. For the latter, there is forgiveness, because, it is obvious that human wisdom could be limited by lack of intellectualism but for those privileged few who have had the great opportunity to 'tell it as it is' and chose to do otherwise, the heart bleeds for mother Nigeria. One still wonders what the families of Alex Ibru, Abraham Adesanya, Olusegun Osoba, Olu Onagoruwa and their likes or other families like those of Kudirat Abiola, Alfred Rewane, Omatsola and so on would say to the current craze to hang the picture of Abacha in the hall of fame. It is doubtful if the families of the Ogoni nine will forget in a hurry the callous execution of their sons, including Ken Saro Wiwa on November 10, 1995.

Of particular reference is the disgusting public utterances of three former Heads of State, all of Northern stock who tried fruitlessly to convince our nation that Abacha served his fatherland leaving impeachable and flawless legacies, yet according to The Guardian newspaper of July 15, 2002, the Swiss Banks in an out of court settlement offered to return $535 million with the condition that the Federal Government would drop all criminal charges against the former Head of State and members of his family. According to the report, he was accused of stealing about $3 billion prior to his five-year rule in 1995.

A couple of principal actors in that infamous government are currently writing books and memoirs to render account of their roles in the June 12 saga and one expects that more expose of the internal working of that government would be revealed as time goes on. The sacking of the Interim Government of Ernest Shonekan by Abacha and his cronies and the subsequent incarceration of top echelon of his own cabinet, such as General Oladipo Diya, General Abdulkarim Adisa, General Tajudeen Olanrewaju and others outside the government such as Olusegun Obasanjo, Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, Kokori and others are all indications that while it lasted, all was not well with either Abacha or his government.

The alleged use of lethal injection that led to the demise of Shehu Yar'Adua is also part of the 'clean bill of health' that the trio of Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar and Muhammadu Buhari are trying to give to Sani Abacha.

The action of these three elder statesmen is tantamount to covering the eyes of the nation with a yoke with the intent to read history in the reverse. It is nothing but an 'unspeakable act' on the part of men who have had the opportunity of ruling this nation and should therefore relish in the honour of remaining quiet when there is no sensible thing to talk about.

While the Abacha family reserves the inalienable right to remember and celebrate a decade of the demise of their patriarch, it is sheer fraud for anybody to use such solemn occasion to paint Abacha in an undeservedly cleaner colour, thereby deceiving the nation and trying to distort facts and history.

EFCC: The endgame?

IN Texaco, a novel by the Martinican writer Patrick Chamoiseau, a city-planner named Christ visits the ghetto which gives the novel its title with the hope to "renovate" it. The narrator wryly comments that the city-planner's administrative intention is to "raze" Texaco. I was constantly reminded of this passage as I read reports of the nomination and confirmation of Mrs. Farida Waziri as the new chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The way that the government of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in cohorts with the National Assembly has been playing politics with the anti-graft agency since late last year would cause for laughter were it not absurdly, frustratingly tragic.

Six months ago, Nuhu Ribadu, the founding chairman of this organisation was ostensibly sent on an administrative course, an action that was roundly condemned by local and international commentators. One of his staff, Ibrahim Lamorde, was subsequently appointed in an acting capacity, and now we are being presented with a substantive chairman. Notice that since the beginning of this year, much of the attention usually trained on EFCC's corruption-combating activities has gone to this manufactured leadership crisis. And one gets the sinking feeling that, in that peculiarly Nigerian way, EFCC is being effectively "renovated". For a country with a sad and long history of coup-making, of refusing to get things right, this development seems very much in character. It is tragic. You have to laugh to keep from crying.

One argument in defense of the transfer of Ribadu back in December 2007 was that no man was (or should be) greater than an institution, that in order to ensure stability and continuity in public institutions, individuals running them should be dispensable or changeable. Moreso, the argument continued, Ribadu was a police officer before he was EFCC's boss, and his primary responsibility ought to be to the Nigeria Police, the institution that seconded him to the agency.

There were some who felt that Ribadu was beginning to personalise the EFCC, that a personality cult was likely to develop out of his iconoclastic approach to crime fighting. A lot was wrong with this argument, as many people have pointed out. Apparently, the argument proceeded on the assumption that the EFCC was a stabilised institution in a self-correcting social structure. But we all know that Nigeria is far from a self-correcting society, that, in fact, the kind of work that EFCC (with all its imperfections) had begun to do was likely to institute such sorely needed self-correcting mechanisms. Here is a disarming paradox: to prevent a face with lineage-marks being perceived as ugly, you actually take a knife to wipe out the marks.

There is no doubt that Nigerians, like the media that shape and are shaped by their opinions, are a politically articulate lot. Hardly has a matter of some political importance broken as news than it becomes a matter of much public debate. And you can be sure that every contributor to that debate will bring to it as much passion as s/he can muster. People will speak from the gut; they may even refer to similar incidents in the past. What is lacking, and what undoes us as a people and continually puts a humane society out of our reach, is a true civic sense. We have a sense of what is right and what is wrong, but we are so passionate in arguing about it that we mistake that for making it real. This may sound harsh, but most public commentators, especially those who write for newspapers, trust official narratives too much. Ok, let me refine that by saying that a good number of those public commentators are "official writers" masquerading as objective commentators.

The great tragedy is that a lack of true civic awareness makes it difficult, impossible even, for readers to see through these masks. Writer and reader become complicit in official narratives; the one more willingly than the other, who will become perhaps even more complicit. Partly because Nigeria is by law a liberal society, with public media espousing liberal ethos, every public commentator feels free to state an opinion, never mind that such opinionating could be so cavalier as to reinforce negative official attitudes toward public institutions, the citizenry, and so on. What I'm getting at here is this: media criticisms of EFCC, like the old media criticisms of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, easily reinforce official storylines.

Another argument in defense of Ribadu's transfer from the commission was the presumed bias of its procedures. It was argued that the EFCC selectively and nepotistically went after perceived 'enemies' of then President Olusegun Obasanjo, who had been bruised and humiliated out of his bid to rewrite the constitution and award himself a third-term as president. It is difficult to quarrel with this argument. The commission either looked the other way or resorted to excuses when individuals who were close to the former president were pointed out as equally worth investigating. But the point is also that, in a society as thoroughly compromised on ethical grounds as ours is, it is difficult to check corruption without a mix of radical and reformist tactics. People wanted only legalism, and legalism of the most conservative kind. To EFCC's critics, the point was not that those being arrested were innocent, but that others who might be equally guilty were not being apprehended. That's like exchanging one half-measure for another. Those determined to change a society should not be content to patch it up. It is not surprising that the EFCC is a loose deuce in a game now reduced to the plain fun of being played.

This brings me to a necessary point. The current National Assembly is dominated by manipulative, anti-democratic individuals, products and beneficiaries of the military autocracy that has shaped our consciousness as a people. Of course it is not every lawmaker who fits into this description-there must be men and women of personal integrity in the parliament. The point is that the institution is held in thrall to the amorality of the cohort of purveyors of special interest. Notice the way that the potentially revealing statement by Senator Nuhu Aliyu that the Senate was full of frauds was definitively silenced on the grounds that it was a claim without a legal basis. The senator committed no more than a tactical blunder, but the fetish of "due-process" proved to be great insurance for the jittery. Notice the charade of Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello's dalliance with the EFCC. Pay attention to the casual but calculated manner in which the very important Freedom of Information bill is being destroyed.

The National Assembly is obsessed with the appearance, not the substance, of rule of law. After a fashion of social observation, this kind of conduct would be described as politics, or 'business as usual'. And so it is, from a cynic's point of view. It is just that Nigeria cannot afford this kind of cynicism. Many Nigerians have undergone untold suffering to enthrone true civic awareness in this society, and millions undergo untold suffering daily because we have failed repeatedly and decidedly at the project of enthroning civic awareness. There is enormous potential to humanise Nigeria, to build a lawful country. But this won't happen as long as the country is saddled with leaders and lawmakers who worship the appearance of legalism over and above its substance. The story of the EFCC presents a rare opportunity to move in this direction. As the great African, Chinua Achebe, once said, Nigerians have a talent for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

And what became of Texaco, the ghetto in Fort-de-France? It may have been "razed", as its civic-minded inhabitants feared, but its story remains because they were never fooled. They didn't buy the official line. Public-spirited Nigerians require no less vigilance. If the government and the lawmakers succeed in "razing" the EFCC, then we would deserve our leaders, once again, and that would be official.

Nwosu on June 12

Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, the then Chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), has now given his own account of the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election, 15 years after it was annulled. During the pre-launch media sensitisation, the author had said that the book, “Laying the Foundation for Nigeria’s Democracy: My Account of June 12, 1993 Presidential Election and its Annulment” contained information on how some cabal within the military blocked the announcement of the result of the presidential poll and had promised to name names. But disappointingly, Nwosu’s book has failed to put the June 12 story in its proper historical place.


Performing the job he claimed he was prevented from executing 15 years ago, Nwosu said the Social Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, won the controversial election. He declared that the result of the election showed that a total of 14,396,917 votes were cast. From this figure, Alhaji Bashir Tofa of the NRC scored 7,076,612 and one-third in 15 states and Chief MKO Abiola got 8,323,305 and one-third in 28 states.

Nwosu further said that the late Chief Abiola could not be declared winner because an Abuja High Court order, which was served on the defunct National Electoral Commission on June 15, 1993, stopped further announcement of the election results.

But beyond declaring the already known results 15 years after, every other obsession in Nwosu’s account of the electoral felony is to absolve the then military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, of any blame in the annulment saga.

Strangely, the Professor praised the former military president for allowing the election to be conducted against the wishes of most of his military colleagues, while helping to pass the buck of the annulment to other officers, giving the false impression that IBB was a weak dictator who was not fully in charge.

Before the launch, the Professor had stated his readiness to unmask the principal characters in the annulment of the election. But regrettably, Nwosu’s missions in writing the book are now evident: to re-construct the June 12 history and take advantage of the financial gains of the literary work at the expense of the electorate and scores of pro-democracy people, including M.K.O. Abiola and his wife, Kudirat, who paid the supreme sacrifice during the crisis.

If Nwosu’s NEC could conduct the election despite the Justice Bassey Ikpeme’s late night illegal ruling stopping it, why was the announcement of the election result stopped mid-stream on an untenable court injunction?

Nwosu should not be allowed to stand the nation’s recent history on its head. Contrary to Nwosu’s jaundiced account, Babangida annulled the freest election ever held in the country in his desperate bid to sit tight in office. He plunged the nation into a needless upheaval. The dictator hurriedly enacted and signed many decrees to give effect to the cruel and unpatriotic annulment.

However, the adoption of Option A4 for the poll and the voting pattern that defied rigging, ethnic and religious sentiments set the June 12 election apart in the nation’s political process. The system should be refined and adopted for future elections.

With Nwosu’s belated affirmation of Chief Abiola as the winner of the election, the Federal Government owes the late businessman and the electorate an unreserved apology for voiding the election. It is now clear that the winner of the election was wrongly persecuted, jailed and killed. The nation must atone for the state-sponsored terror against Abiola’s supporters and interests. President Umaru Yar’Adua should immediately announce how Abiola’s memory will be honoured.

On the whole, Nwosu appears to have traded his personal integrity in his attempt to re-construct the evil role played by Babangida in the crisis. No amount of revisionism can atone for the wicked annulment of the nation’s most credible election.

Importation and local production of cement

Following the concern raised by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and a non-governmental organisation, Buy Nigeria Campaign, about the reported plan by the Federal Government to approve the importation of bagged cement, it has become imperative to caution against measures that will further drive up the price of cement in the country.

The Ministry of Commerce is reportedly seeking presidential approval for some companies to import cement in 50-kilogram bags with the aim of bringing the price down to about N800 per 50kg bag. But MAN and some other stakeholders say any approval of such importation poses a grave danger to companies that have invested in facilities to locally manufacture the product.

Yet the price of a 50kg bag of cement has risen beyond the N2000 mark in many parts the country. This is due mainly to a significant shortfall between domestic demand and local production. Last year, the total local production stood at about 4.7m metric tonnes or 42 per cent of domestic demand. About 6.4m metric tonnes were imported to meet part of the shortfall, which was about 11.2m metric tonnes. It is projected that the nation needs about 18m metric tonnes per annum while local producers can only supply about 6.5m metric tonnes, leaving a deficit of about 11.5m tonnes.

Given this, the FG lifted the ban on the importation of bulk cement early in the year. Apart from excluding importation of bagged cement, only companies with investments in local production were allowed to import the product. Subsequently, 13 companies were awarded import licences with a view to making cement more available and affordable without hurting local production.

Unfortunately, this measure has not improved the situation as the current price of cement hovers between N1,800 and N2,000. This is far higher than the price before the importation regime started. Last January, the price of cement was about N1,200 per 50kg bag.

Some of the importers had reportedly blamed the high price on increase in freight charges, occasioned by the rising oil prices. Besides, there is a global rise in the prices of cement. Such rising economic giants as China are increasingly making demands for more cement to build more factories, roads, and other physical infrastructure.

The infrastructural decay in the country does not help matters. Power supply is epileptic. Railway transportation is not well developed. This leaves haulage of products, which is mainly by road, very expensive. For instance, it takes up to N180,000 to transport a truckload of cement to the eastern part of the country. Transporting the same to the North costs higher.

For now, it is necessary to allow some level of importation to fill the shortfall between local production and demand pending the time local producers are able to meet local demand. But the government should consult with cement manufacturers and employ transparent criteria in the selection of companies that will get import licences.

In the past, many potential producers were prevented and frustrated in favour of a single producer. All relevant stakeholders, especially those with local investments in cement production, should be given equal opportunity to slug it out in the market. While planning long-term measures that will guarantee self-sufficiency, the FG can manipulate tariffs to discourage imported brands and encourage local producers.

Improving local business environment, including fixing the epileptic power supply and building efficient haulage system, especially the railway, is the only enduring strategy in driving down the price of cement.

Between the Federal Government and oil multinationals

THE other week, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, acting on the advice of an ad hoc committee set up by his administration to investigate the implementation of contracts for huge offshore oil fields signed in 1993, ordered Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil to refund the sum of $1.9 billion (or about N223 billion).

According to the Federal Government, this sum of money represents outstanding payments due to the government from the Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) from the Bonga and Erha Oilfields. Included in the said sum of N223 billion is an outstanding $850 million (or N98.4 billion) from Bonga oilfield contracts and $646.3 million (or N76.5 billion) from Erha oilfields, in addition to a sum of $414 million (or N48.4 billion) accruable from Bonga gas sale and tax revenue from gas sales on the contracts.

At least one of the two oil giants affected by the presidential order has reacted, drawing the Federal Government's attention to the dangers inherent in a retrospective abrogation of bilateral agreements. According to Shell, "we would like to reinforce that following recent statements relating to retroactive changes to fiscal terms, we are very concerned about the future potential implications for investor confidence in Nigeria...." That warning may very well be a factor to ponder over, considering the near-sacrosanct nature of bilateral agreements. However, even though the full contents of the 1993 contractual agreements, known as "Production Sharing Agreements", are undisclosed, a number of possibilities are worth considering: President Yar'Adua's directive for the recovery of the whopping sum of $1.9 billion from the oil moguls may have been actuated by strange discoveries in the 1993 contracts which afforded the oil

multinationals a tax holiday that was at variance with the facts and with the doctrine of public policy.

Under normal circumstances, a contract is binding on the parties to it, but it may be voided or voidable in so far as it contravenes public policy. To have resiled from the bilateral contracts made some 15 years ago, the Federal Government must have discovered that they (the contracts) were patently reprehensible - so obviously contrary to public policy - that they must be peremptorily styled illegal. The general principle, founded in public policy, is that any transaction that is tainted by illegality in which both parties are equally involved is beyond the pale of the law.

It is not impossible that the Nigerian negotiators in 1993 corruptly or ignorantly acquiesced in vital aspects of the contracts involving huge offshore oil fields, thereby intentionally or unwittingly and unduly benefiting the more knowledgeable authorities of the multinationals. It is not also unlikely that the Presidential ad hoc committee came upon some constructive fraud, a situation in which the representor had no honest belief in the truth of his statement. The oil industry is a highly technical terrain involving slippery gradients and scientific elements that cannot be said to be mutually intelligible to both the oil multinationals and the Nigerian officials.

In any contract involving this situation, that is, where one party alone possesses full knowledge of almost all the material facts, the law requires that party to show uberrima fides (utmost good faith). He must make full disclosure of all material facts known to him; otherwise the contract may be rescinded. Besides, there is a clear breach of the doctrine of public policy if it is clear, either directly from other circumstances, that the design of one or both of the parties is to defraud the revenue, whether national or local. It has also long been established that any contract is illegal which tends to corruption in the administration of the affairs of the nation (Blachford vs. Preston (1799) 8 Term. Rep. 89.

For a long time, the oil multinationals in Nigeria have practised creative accounting, fortuitously fleecing the country of its vast oil fortunes. Under the abrogated 1993 contracts, the oil companies - Shell and Exxon Mobil, were to recoup their elastic investment before splitting revenue from oil production with the State. That arrangement literally gave the companies a carte blanche to plough over the oil fields gratuitously, appropriating staggering sums of money to themselves in terms of investment recovery.

We are persuaded that all existing Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) between Nigeria and all oil multinationals should be renegotiated forthwith. The Federal Government must make sure that the negotiators on the Nigerian side are not only persons with unimpeachable integrity but also men and women who are conversant with the arcane language of petroleum technology. Additionally, since bilateral agreements - between Nigeria and multinationals - are in the nature of treaties, all the renegotiated PSCs and kindred agreements should be made subject to ratification by the National Assembly.

Tobacco: The party is over

MOODS were just beginning to ascend on an expectant day when the wicked drizzles set in on the finely-laid streets of Abuja. At the Millennium Park, a group of tobacco control activists that love to lampoon the tobacco industry quickly asserted, tongue in cheek, that the desperate industry's spin doctors must have consulted a rainmaker to mar the event, the official flag off of the ban on smoking in public places in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), May 31.

But if the awesomely fabled rainmaker with his trademark all-white beards and faded animal skin pouch, heavy with mischievous cowries, were honest, he would admit his was a failed rain-conjuring mission, for the drizzle soon gave way to a sunny, historic day. Soon, the city stood with bated breath to watch what was to become the most significant event in tobacco control history in Nigeria: Abuja taking the lead in joining the prestigious league of major capitals and cities across the world to declare its public places smoke-free.

The starting-off rally would awe even the venerable rainmaker. Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar, the six-footer minister of the FCT, and the brain behind the ban, towered above tobacco control activists, government officials, students, banner-bearing youths, and several others numbering over 5,000 as they matched solemnly, a la funeral procession, from the Millennium Park to the Eagle Square. While the dispatch riders led the procession, blaring sirens, a truck followed from the rear, carrying the gigantic effigy of a cigarette stick, fast burning out, and a group of youthful mascots perched at the truck's rear, swung rhythmically to an inaudible dirge. At the Eagle Square, a coterie of speeches and performances before a high profile audience and the invocating of the Tobacco Control Act of 2004 put the final nail on the coffin of the public nuisance.

So, with the Abuja declaration, it has become illegal to smoke in such public places around the FCT as offices, schools, public transports, elevators, parks, stadiums, and most significantly, restaurants and bars. (The Act, drafted by the Federal Ministry of Health and signed into law since 2004, has never been enforced until now). Now, fresh air can come the way of bartenders, innocent bystanders who are victims of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) or passive smoking, persons inhaling the smelly liabilities from hardened puffers and who get sick or even die from smoking-related diseases.

The May 31 event is much more significant, not only because it coincided with the World No Tobacco Day celebration observed globally, but because it shows a vital government entity throwing its heavy weight behind activists, doctors and health workers' who have wailed over time that tobacco is a modern evil flame that must be systematically put out. It adds to the feathers of the Federal Government and four state governments which last year dragged tobacco companies in the country to court to account for the sickening and systematic killing of Nigerians over the years through deceptive marketing tactics.

It contrasted sharply with the 'generosity' of the last administration which not only invited some tobacco multinationals here, but spoon-fed them with generous tax waivers among other incentives. The event, no doubt, will constitute the beginning of the end of the dominance, lies and the habitual and vicious manipulation of truth by the tobacco industry in our country.

Since the 1970s, the heat has been turned on tobacco in the Western world considering its now medically proven devastation on individuals' health as well as economic costs. Through huge taxation, libel suits and strict business legislation, tobacco companies in places like the USA and United Kingdom are bleeding to death. For instance, through a libel suit in the 1990s, brought by 49 states in the USA against Philip Morris and other tobacco manufacturers, the companies have been forced to pay damages amounting to $256 billion over a 25-year period.

That Master Settlement Agreement as it is now called, remains a fatal blow to their illegal business. Elsewhere are myriad of litigation from individuals. Smoking has also gone down drastically in the West. These multinationals have therefore turned their business focal lenses on third world countries as a recouping ground, and Nigeria, with its huge economic prospects and weak tobacco control legislation, have since become a big pie. In the last 10 years, a plethora of American and British tobacco multinationals has invaded the country accompanied with a flurry of high profile events and publicity stunts. Musical shows, fashion events, cinema shows among several others have also been as recruitment grounds for young persons who will in turn become long-term customers, helplessly stuck to the stick through the addictive power of nicotine.

But now, the truth has come home to roost. Nigerians know better than they ever thought. Nigerians can no longer tolerate an industry that esteems profits over humanity, that parades a product that turns its customers into walking chimneys, and educated, refined men into living dead; a product that saps family finances, deprives family members of good food and ultimately kills their bread winners, a flaming stick that extinguishes the dreams of youths through avoidable, terminal illnesses including cancers of the lungs, of the cervix, respiratory diseases, heart disease, emphysema, kidney ailments and several others.

Yes, it is an established fact; Tobacco does no single good to the body. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), every year, it kills 5.5 million people globally, most of them in their prime, and 70 per cent in developing countries. By 2030, the figure is expected to jump to 10 million annually. It is the leading preventable cause of death in the world today and the only 'legal' consumer product that kills about a half of those who use it as intended by its manufacturers, with its victims dying on average of 15 years prematurely.

The China case is very instructive. The Asian Tiger's government decided to take the bull by the horn in recent years after it was discovered that tobacco-related diseases kill one million Chinese every year. About 68 per cent or 350 million of its 1.3 billion total population are active smokers. Today, China has one of the toughest anti-tobacco legislation in the world. Even here in Africa, the high rate of casualties has driven countries like Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique and South Africa to declare their cities smoke-free.

Yet, in the face of the toll tobacco takes on humanity, this industry has never relented in their efforts to perpetuate the evil trade. And that is exactly why, in the wake of tobacco litigation and renewed anti-tobacco fight last year which threw Nigeria into a protracted international limelight, the tobacco firms here rose up to their trademark manipulation of truth. We have been inundated with media articles, some parading fictitious names and equally fictitious organisations, pointing out to us why tobacco is the best thing that ever happened to mankind, and why Nigerians deserve to roast themselves to death. It is nothing other than the work of their team of spin doctors, paid scribes and hatchet men.

But no matter how they manipulate the truth, the fact remains that for them, the party is over. If the Western public and governments would wake to the reality that tobacco does not belong in modern life, and give it an aggressive push, Nigerians will bury it on this vibrant Sub-Saharan soil. What transpired in Abuja is only a shadow of even greater affront against this evil in this land of greatness. Raised taxes on tobacco packs and the industry, ban of sale-by-stick, comprehensive advertisement ban, all in line with the provisions of the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Convention (to which Nigeria is a signatory) will all soon follow, naturally. Their arsenal of lies and deception, like that of the failed rainmaker's pouch, will soon be exhausted.

Keeping my virginity

I READ Mr. Dele Olojede's article, "Losing my virginity" (The Guardian, June 12, 2008) with deep consternation. He "cut Virgin Nigeria no slack" as they would say in his country of residence - the United States. I was going to let this pass, when it occurred to me, that having been away from the country, it is important to bring him up to speed on the happenings within one of the key sectors in Nigeria - Aviation.

Prior to the arrival of Virgin Nigeria, if he may recollect, the sector was full of more than a few dysfunctional operators and with even more concerning regulatory bodies. The bane as we were told then by various media reports was shortchanging in aircraft maintenance and standards. Naturally, this brought Nigeria, the usual negative publicity internationally. In fairness, four air incidents in two years would bring any country negative publicity.

In came Virgin Nigeria, in time for when the riot act was being read to the sector. To many of us resident in Nigeria, it was a sigh of relief as we no longer had to travel by road, or go to the UK to board a British Airways flight to go to Abuja! Virgin Nigeria brought with them 22 years pedigree from an airline with not one single air incident. They also brought with them technical expertise in terms of engineers and pilots. These you will agree had hitherto been missing in the aviation sector.

The regulatory bodies having been rejuvenated themselves and led by the NCAA began work as it should be doing - regulating airlines to the highest standards possible. If you have followed the sector, you may have noticed that Virgin Nigeria emerged the first airline in Nigeria (and West Africa) to become IOSA certified. IOSA is the IATA organisational safety audit, which is the highest safety audit in the world. I am sure Mr. Olojede had a harrowing experience, which having read through, does not border on safety.

Air safety according to dictionary.com is a term encompassing the theory, investigation and categorisation of flight failures, and the prevention of such failures through regulation, as well as through education and training. As a frequent flyer, I have had great experiences with the Airline, from being given advance notice through a phone call or text messages when there is a delay, I have enjoyed great national and continental cuisine. This has naturally made them my first choice for travel. The airline is only three years old, and constantly being compared to airlines that have been up and running for many years. Even at just three years old, I believe Virgin Nigeria has done considerably well. How does a mosquito bite 'on his left leg' as well as (sadly) being given a seat less than he paid for amount to 'safety issues'?

Being a savvy traveller, I personally have little patience for poor customer service in whatever form, but I have flown enough to know that Virgin Nigeria is easily comparable to the airlines I have flown outside Nigeria, be it American airlines, where I have to pay my huge air fare and pay also for a cup of water, or British Airways who lost a million bags including mine with no apologies at Terminal five a few months back.....I have had issues with Virgin Nigeria myself and have seen great service recovery in action. I wonder if Mr. Olojede bothered to report the incident to the airline or given his status, addressing it in the media seemed faster?

Interestingly a writer from the blog site where his write up was posted had responded to Mr. Olojede saying "Virgin has demonstrated time and time again their commitment to Safety first and World Class standards. They would rather lose face with a customer and make sure the aircraft is fit for flying than put a technically suspect aircraft in the air"

Mr. Olojede is angry which is understandable, but that is no excuse to belittle the efforts of all the people at Virgin Nigeria.

Apart from running my own business in Nigeria, I have travelled enough also to imagine the challenges of running an airline, albeit in Nigeria dispatching flights to regional, domestic and international destinations in one breath. Being an award-winning writer, a bit of theatre is occasionally permitted in writing, but safety is much too sensitive a word to play around with...Mr. Olojede's made his article available on a blog site, making it accessible to the world, and adding just another negative publicity on the nation's lap.

One would have thought, given his person and status, practising a bit more of responsible journalism would have been required? This may have required calling the airline, hearing their bit and reaching for his pen should their response be unsatisfactory? Perhaps he could have put his pen behind a more positive image laundering for the country? Like celebrating the fact that Virgin Nigeria's investment in people, has not only produced lots of Nigerian pilots including another eight recently sent to on a cadetship programme in the USA. All this is in the face of a global dearth of pilots. These pilots are being given one of the best pilot trainings in order to serve not just the airline, but the nation as a whole.

As I say to my friends and colleagues during discussions, Nigeria will only turn around and be great when you and I make the effort at being responsible in our different areas, I believe only then can we take the next step?....which for me, is having the innate and unrepentant pride like citizens of the USA... the kind that makes the USA believe they are the super nation of the world... after all, we too, are the giant of Africa

The queue for Shoprite bread

THE title of this piece which has nothing to do with the global food crises may as well have been Begging for Bread at Shoprite. Yes, that's what they make us do at Shoprite; the sales boys and girls and their South African employers make us stand in lines and beg for their hot oven-fresh bread.

Not that there is anything wrong in begging for bread, particularly here in Nigeria where it appears that hunger and poverty have found a permanent resting place but at least you wouldn't expect to be begging a retail shop assistant to have mercy on you and extend a generous dose of kindness by handing out just a hot loaf of bread or two to you. At least not with your money in hand and the exhaustion of having waited, or rather queued for almost an hour.

If you know Shoprite or ever visited it, the upmarket supermarket located inside The Palms, Nigeria's first and only shopping mall, you may agree that the sell-all supermarket which occupies a large expanse of space inside The Palms is probably one place where customer service does not count for much. But should this be so? I love this country, not just because of the fact that Nigerians love life or show, but because of the spirit of the Nigerian. This never stops to amaze me since I relocated from the United Kingdom. I am bowled over by the hope and joy that still fill people's hearts despite the everyday challenges they face and the sometimes hostile and hopeless social and economic environment they live in.

It is not therefore surprising the way Nigerians, particularly Lagosians have embraced the various shopping plazas springing up in Lagos with strong patronage. Some who have lived in the western countries are surely re-living their shopping experiences with the introduction of Mega Plaza, Park 'N' Shop, and lately Shoprite. On any given day, you will find Nigerians of all ages and walks of life trawling the shelves of these retail shops in search of wares for personal and home use. The introduction of convenient shopping has helped somewhat to improve the living standards of some Nigerians. Because they now have a choice, they no longer have to endure being trodden on, punched and spat at, abused, kicked and robbed anytime they went out to do some family shopping in the open markets such as Balogun, Tejuosho or Oshodi markets where inching from one shop to another could be equated to the proverbial camel passing through the eye of a needle as a result of the sea of human traffic.

While acknowledging the operators of these shopping plazas and malls, for at least making it possible for this generation of Nigerians to enjoy what their counterparts enjoy in the western countries, and their parents did in Nigeria in the seventies and eighties when Leventis Stores and UTC Stores provided similar services on a national scale, it is also important that the operators be reminded of the golden rule in retail business - the customer is king; never take him or her for granted. It is the observation of this golden rule that has made big retail brands such as Wal-Mart/ASDA, Tesco, Sainsbury's and the rest of them to continue to return billions of pounds and dollars in profits annually to their shareholders.

Though competition in the retail sector in the developed countries is more intense, thus making customer service a key competitive strategy unlike in Nigeria where retail outlets like Mega Plaza and Shoprite could be regarded as lone players or monopolists. However, there is no justification to the shortchanging of the Nigerian customer who bothers to visit the shops to spend their hard-earned money. One of my problems with Shoprite is with the attitude of their sales assistants and check-out personnel. I have since come to interpret their standard of service which I consider to be very poor to be as a result of lack of, or poor training in customer services. Tracing this further, one may discover a weak supervisory chain, this links further up to middle management that may be overwhelmed by the amount of workload, and further higher up to a Board of Directors who may have in so short a time recouped their original investments that they care less what happens from now on.

Everybody by now knows that Nigeria is a cash cow country. Any business idea that fulfills a need sells in Nigeria like the Shoprite hot bread. Ask the South African owners of MTN and they will tell you what a difference seven years make. Although Nigeria has remained a major contributor to their Group profits, the Nigerian customer however has remained the most poorly treated in terms of customer service amongst other customers on the MTN network in other countries. It is difficult to say why this is so. Could it be that Nigerians don't complain enough? Is it that the regulatory framework is weak and competition almost non-existent? Are their no vibrant consumer associations to champion the various consumer causes? Or should we just wonder what the owners of these businesses are thinking?

Back to Shoprite and their bread. I have at various times fallen victim to what I chose to describe as the Shoprite bread madness. Each time that happens, I swear to myself that I will never come back but I end up breaking my vow. I end up coming back. It is not that I am so much a fan of bread, okay, I own up, I enjoy eating their hot bread with a bottle of chilled coca-cola, but I also have some colleagues at work (Mathew, Chika, Bethel, Okey, Toni-Anne and co) who are also under the spell of Shoprite bread. Because I drive past Shoprite everyday on my way home from work, and most of them go the other way after work, I have unwillingly accepted to provide their daily doses, or should I call it fixes of Shoprite bread when I can.

Resolving to get the bread is one thing, and getting the bread is actually another. At Shoprite, there is bread and there is bread. If you are after those other types of bread, then you don't have a problem, you have lots of those idling away in the shelves. The one that you may probably have to cross the proverbial 7 deserts and 7 seas to get is the oven fresh one that gets sold out while still being baked. Believe me, queuing for a piece of this bread is not for the faint-hearted, you must be prepared to spend an average of 1 hour of your 24-hour day. This is an aside though, why do I think that it is only at Shoprite that Nigerians seem united in the age-long war against indiscipline? Everybody queues up here patiently for bread; father, mother, brother, sister, young and old. You therefore wonder why we cannot extend this queue orderliness to other places in our national life. One could therefore say that the next generation of disciplined Nigerians are being bred (I almost wrote bread) at Shoprite.

Now, don't think that luck has smiled on you by the time it gets to your turn because the confused sales attendants who hand out the bread as if they are standing in the throne of Heaven handing out life may just announce in their usual unfriendly tone that 'bread don finish'. It will then be up to you to decide to wait and waste another one hour or worse still to inch further to the chicken and rice section to queue up again for a dose of fried rice or jollof rice and chicken.

I have on few occasions requested to speak with the supervisors at the bread section who seem to enjoy seeing their fellow countrymen queuing up. Maybe it is their own little domain and an opportunity for them to feel important and play god like the politicians in Abuja. Don't think that my main worry is with their two-loaves- of- bread-per-customer policy. No, though I would have wished to be able to buy more to meet up with my colleagues' request at work, but rather it is the fact that they almost always neglect those who have queued up for hours and sell instead to their associates through the 'back door'.

Also, rather than help decongest the queue by handing out the Shoprite manna as they come off the oven, they rather choose to wait until they have stacked them all up in a big metal shelf before distributing.

Will I still go back tomorrow to queue? Yes, I will but I am hoping that the operators will read this and ensure that they recruit adequate numbers to attend to the queuing bread hunters. Those recruited should also be trained in the very basics in customer services; ability to offer customers information and serve them with a smile, something I have never received at Shoprite.