Alhaji! Alhaji!!

The High Chief himself! Abeg why you dey call me Alhaji? I no want wahala oh!

You know now... what's good? How is work?

Very fine bro! And yours?

It's cool! Hope you have realized the error in Sanusi's action? The worst now is that foreign investors are ignoring our country now. Those inside already are running out in droves.

Those guys already saw what was wrong and were pulling out before this restoration action of Sanusi. They saw through the lies of our magical bankers! These guys were manipulating the stock exchange and cooking their books in the name of banking. Without them corruption will be alien in this clime.

I am talking to you as a professional banker - I know I'm just learning the ropes... The investment banking unit of most banks can testify to this, this guy is only flexing his muscle. I am not in support of these banker guys, but things should be done constitutionally. These guys erred, no doubt, but my problem is the manner with which Sanusi and his cohorts are going about it.

Going about what? I don't doubt that you are an insider but I still know that things were not right especially with the investment bankers. Okay explain the AP/Union/Zenith affair please. Those guys are the investment Bankers you are talking about right? You should have called them forgery bankers.

Please hear me out! According to the ethos of this noble profession, these guys erred, no doubt, but my problem is the manner with which Sanusi and his cohorts are going about it. He is doing the right thing in a wrong way...

[interrupts] What is he doing wrongly if I may ask?

That's all I'm saying...

What is he doing wrongly please?

[silence]

My guy! Please what is he doing wrongly? Maybe I'm not seeing it but you can point it out to me!

Okay I will do just that! That's if you will allow me.

Okay go ahead! You have the floor now.

1. Publishing names of debtors. 2. Pushing N400billion into the troubled banks without the consent of the National Assembly 3. Asking the EFCC to arrest and prosecute these guys, what happens to the legal arm of government? I can go on and on you know!

lol... Guy abeg! You dey make me laugh

Ask any sincere professional they will tell you the same

Just hold it please let me respond to the issues you have raised?

Did you listen to that Harvard professor on ChannelsTV on sunday?

Please hold on! Abeg now! I don't care about what the Harvard Professor had to say! Americans can make do with his knowledge at this point to stop more banks from failing or at worst help them find a solution to the healthcare challenge that is threatening to tear down their union.

Okay I'm holding on... before you go over the cliff!

Good! I agree on the first issue. It was wrong for him to have published the list of debtors. It destroys the customer-banker confidentiality. A confidentiality that is as old as banking itself. It will be terrible for my Lawyer to tell the world everything I tell him in confidence or for my Doctor to publish my medical history on the pages of the newspaper and every blog site on the internet. On that I concede but remember that this is Nigeria. Without that list, it would have been difficult to convince us that we have been practicing voodoo banking for some time now.

On the second issue, he does not need the consent of our dull and stupid National Assembly to loan out money or make investments of any kind. The CBN is not only the Government's banker; it also has a responsibility to protect the entire banking system of the country. It has power to make investments at its own discretion and that's what it has done in this case. So your National Assembly can scream themselves hoax!

Do you know that the National Assembly has directed that the CBN shouldn't pump any more money into the banks? Why is that?

Are you listening to me at all? Silence is the best answer for a fool! I can't say more than that to them on that issue! They should read the CBN act, they made the law. Besides they are just playing to the gallery. Trust me Sanusi has alredy ignored them. They should do their worst. Thank God his job is now guaranteed. So they are stock with him for the next 5 years.

My guy... the constitution of Nigeria states that...

Please I'm still talking... besides if Sanusi needs anyone's permission to make this kind of investment, it is the Presidents; and he got it. Don't tell me anything about constitution. I don't want to hear it.

I can't go into details of that right now but if what you are saying is right, how come the NBA and National Assembly, a number of elder statesmen and professionals have revolted against that particular move. Why?

On the EFCC issue, though I don't like the frustrated woman but have the debtors not been paying? The most important thing is that the non-performing loans are now over-performing. Those people you call elder statesmen are our biggest problem in this country. Go and check it! These same people shouted themselves blue when Soludo announced his con-soludo-tion. They eventually benefitted the most from it, so much so that there is too much money for them to obtain all manner of loans. Those old men are only fighting for their own interest, not those of the ordinary people that stood the risk of losing their deposit to the unprofessional ways of our modern day bankers

Yes the debtors have been paying but the question is: is it the duty of the EFCC to collect debts? Are they debt collectors? What is the sole responsibility of the EFCC? That's what we should be asking here?

The EFCC has responsibility anywhere there is a financial crime and clearly financial crime has been committed here!

Certainly you wouldn't want to agree with me... I just pray for this country, I really pray

Prayer? Can't we take some responsibility? Everything prayer, even when it's within our power to do. We would rather prayer, even when we want to commit crime, it's still prayer. Na wa oh! Okay do you know a certain Peter Ololo?

Seriously it's only God that knows where we are heading! I have heard of him. He is a stockbroker.

Yes he is! He was an Ex-banker and now a stockbroker. Not just your run of the mill broker! I call him the 'bank stock manipulator'.

I agree with you on that one, and that is if what I hear about him is all true - because I don't have substantive facts.

Facts? Yeah right! He traded on only bank stocks for banks and their executives only. Of course with insider information provided by the banks. What's more criminal than insider trading? We have had weak regulatory institutions. SEC that should be a feared regulatory agency was rather in bed with those that raped every rule in the book.

I don't deny all of these, but my own problem is that if these issues are to be treated, they've got to be treated in the right and proper manner. Time will expose certain things u will see...trust me. You will realize that even the so-called holy people, who are doing all the castigating right now have got skeletons in their own cupboards too.

No doubt that we have all got stuffs in our cupboards but we can't throw our jails open just because we have not caught all the criminals. Let's start we these ones that we can identify.

Its okay since you think this is good and well, but we must all be wary of the repercussions.

Again no doubt, it's not the perfect solution even if you think they are not sincere about it, at least they seem to be doing something for a change and for the first time too!


I know you will go ballistic if I tell you that Sanusi is on a revenge mission! He has an agenda up his sleeves! Some have called it a northern agenda to get back at the south and Soludo for leaving them home and dry during the consolidation. This guy is not as genuine as he is trying to make us believe! That is why I am saying that time will tell. Watch it; the banks will be sold off to northerners in a year or two!

Ehm... ehm... am I supposed to respond to that? Bruv no way! Tell your co-bankers to become professional on their job so that whatever mission or agenda that you claim that Sanusi has in his trouser pocket will fail. Tell them that loans need security not face recognition; tell them that risk need to be assessed not just based on friendship but against the economy and its viability. Tell them that where such risk fails, they owe a duty to their shareholders to disclose it. Tell them that banking does not make them chefs. They should quit cooking their books! Tell them that the ethics of banking include honesty and sincerity. Tell them that not every project initiated by Otedola or Dangote or Okereke-Onyiuke or Ibori or Ololo or Rahamaniyya or Imasekha is viable! Tell them that people like me have got ideas that can fly too, that needs only 10 million and not 90 billion to execute. Bankers are supposed to have eagle eye! To be frugal and prudent. They are supposed to be conservative, not having wild orgies, wearing the best bespoke suites and latest designer perfumes, wristwatches, Italian shoes, flying private jets, attending every party in the world and splurging on all kinds of excessive luxury with poor depositors and little investors' money like mine. If they do these, Sanusi will be put to shame, but until then, they should dance to the music the waxed and quit raising sentiments. And that's the end of this discussion. When you are ready for some serious discussion, hola at me! But if it's Sanusi's northern agenda you want to talk about then I got to go to work now!

Open Letter To Inspector General of Police Onovo

Dear Sir

Congratulation on your appointment as the Inspector General of Police. I choose to write you this letter against taking a full page advert in the newspaper to congratulate you least I be tagged a sycophant. Your appointment is quite historic being the first from your part of the country. Failure on your part will not be so good for them. But thats not why I write!

There is no doubt that you are qualified even before your predecessor. The reason you were bypassed initially is still not clear. But now that you have the job, doing the best that you can will make them regret not giving it to you initially. So what can you do then? I have a few tips that might help, they are not magical but might aid you.

First keep large pictures of the last three IGPs at strategic places in your office where you wont miss seeing them daily. It will do one of two things – inspire you to be like them or inspire you not to be like them. Also keep newspaper cuttings of their last days in office beside each picture. I guess you can detect a trend now! As much as possible, keep your hands and ways clean clean. If in doubt about your job, read the Police Act again and maybe demand for duties and responsibilities either from the Presidency, the supervising Ministry or the notorious Police Service Commission. I'm sure none of them will tell state that you must be more notoriously corrupt then the last guy. Choose a different path that never has been threaded before. Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Be squeaky clean especially financially because the last guys followed the other path. Reject every carrot thats dangled before you. Be a leopard but loose your spots! Be a monkey but don't like banana! Don't even consider this a stupid advice. Thats the only way Sir that you will not end up like TAFA, CHRIS and MIKE. Think about it, its those that they accepted carrots from that eventually destroyed them. Infact I will advice that you study especially TAFA and his 2003 elections experience. Wasn't those he accepted banana from and helped rig into office that disgraced him? That called him a bribe taker without naming the bribe givers? You have a lot a lot to learn from that especially as we itch closer to the elections of 2011. find out all the things TAFA did wrong and avoid them.

Be wary of the politicians and their parties! They are chameleons and vampires. They will want to use you for their dirty deeds with all kinds of promises. Tell them that your job is a professional one and that you would like to be left out of politics. Call up the new CBN Governor, ask him for a safe deposit box at his banks strong room and deposit every political ambitions you have, at least till the end of your tenure. That way they wont want to test you , you wont have to fail their test and you will avoid getting involved in South East politics especially the type played in Enugu.

Dont behave like typical Nigerian Government official who never finds anything good that their predecessors did or was doing. Especially dont be like President Yar'Adua who went on a reversal spree of everything and anything Obasanjo. You know Okiro was a professional too! If you dont like a particular policy or program of his, you can sure fine tune or rework it. Dont outrightly reverse or cancel his programs, it can be salvaged no matter how bad it is. Remember that some some have been spent on it already. Besides you can bet that yours too will be cancelled as there is no guarantee that your successor will like it. Won't you rather be remember for successfully implementing a program that brought reform to the Nigerian Police Force thn starting a new one that would be cancelled by your successor? You can put a call through to Gov. Fashola to learn how he has successfully been implementing Tinubu's mega city vision for Lagos and still no one is remembering that it was Tinubu's plans. If you fear that PDP will think you are 'running things' with the opposition, then you can call up a rare example in their midst – Gov. Imoke of Cross River State. Don't be scared to seek advise. That experience is the best teacher does not mean it must be your own experience. Consult widely.

Be a different IG, dont begin what has come to be known as 'Familiarization Tour' of Police formations as if you were just seconded to Nigeria from Cameroun's Gendarmes. Except you don't want to miss out of the 'welfare' that goes with such tours. Forge alliance with State Govts. That are committed to crime prevention and are ready to put their money where their mouth is. Embrace Fashola's Security Trust Fund. Make concessions to him like sending him more officers to his state and in return ask that he commits some of the funds to training them in areas of Human Right, Civil Conduct, Intelligence, Investigation, construction of a standard investigation Lab. And most importantly rehabilitation of the Police College Ikeja – where even the colonial Police would not be trained less a modern Police in the 21st century.

Again Nigerians would rather you be a leader than a manager or administrator. I won't bore you with definitions of who a leader or manager is. But look at these two institutions and I will leave you with the observations you make. First look at EFCC under Ribadu and Farida, then look at NAFDAC under Dora and now under Orhii. Even check out the Abuja you live in. have you noticed any difference since El-Rufai left?

Please provide leadership at Louis Edet House. Develop a plan on how to prevent crime rather than fighting it. Would it be possible to have an effective Police that is not brandishing guns on the street and yet flee at the sight and sound of armed robbers? Would it be possible to have a very courteous Police? Would it be possible to have a Nigerian Police where suspects are not guilty until proven innocent? Would it be possible to have a Police that carry out thorough investigation prosecute offenders no matter who is involved? Would it be possible to have a Nigerian Police that won't aid politicians to snatch ballot boxes at polling units? Would it be possible to have a Police that is confident and independent of the Govt. and its Party?

I believe the answer is a loud 'YES' only if the Inspector General of Police is an ordinary leader and not a super-manager or administrator. You can do it sir! You don't need to have all the money in this world to begin the modernization of our Police. You can start from Abuja and Lagos. Begin a special training for officers to be posted to these places. Call them 'Elite force' or whatever you like. Give them modern equipments experiment with this for a year or two, and then continue in phases to other states. While at it, ensure that they don't stay in the barracks anymore. Begin to implement Community Policing by first phasing out the barracks system. Let the police live with those they are supposed to protect, it will not only help in intelligence gathering, it will also help them to relate well with the people. Its probably only in Nigeria that the police still practice this type of segregation. Don't you wonder about the level of mistrust between the people and the police? Meanwhile trust is suppose to help you guys on the job.

If you set your eyes on leaving an enduring legacy for the Police, posterity will remember you for good, except you want to be remembered like your predecessors. In all my rantings, I want you you do what you believe keeping in mind that your name is not for you alone but also for your children and grandchildren. It can open and shut doors for them after you are long gone. Have a fruitful tenure and see you at the end of it all!

Best Wishes!

MR. PRESIDENT, FIND SOMETHING TO DO WITH YOUR TIME

I can’t help but pity President Yar’Adua at this time. The man is in deep mess! Everything seems to be going wrong for him. It’s so difficult to hear any good news from his Govt. He used to be Baba Go Slow, then became Baba Standstill and has now become Baba Controversy. He seems to court trouble like it’s going out of fashion. And the troubles seem to be coming in their legions.

Some rascals in the House of Reps have been talking tough about impeachment over non-implementation of the budget. I just don’t understand Bankole and his boys. If they really care about the impact of this govt. on the people, they should work quickly on the constitutional amendment and electoral reforms to give Nigerians the power to truly choose their leaders and leave the decision of getting rid of Yar’Adua to them. I can assure him that they will not only be sending Yar’Adua away but along with all the members of the National assembly. However the truth is that this particular trouble, like the others, is self-inflicted by the President. Since he could not convince and lobby them to pass the budget the way he wanted it, having now signed their own version into law, I would remind him to ‘nudge’ his Govt. to the part of constitutionality and be guided by its rule of Law and implement the law as it is. It is not only when Ibori and girlfriends are involved the he should weep up rule of law.

As the wahala at the National assembly was playing out, another one was erupting in the Niger-Delta. Now this one again was totally avoidable. Or rather could have been curtailed before it got to the shouting match we are witnessing now. At the heart of the agitation of the people of that region is the lack of development and total neglect. It was this neglect that led to the demand for resource control. So this Govt. has been trying to assure the region that it means well for them. But they have only been trying because every time they have pretended to make an attempt, it has always had some sinister motive behind it. I would think that 'meaning well' will either be to give them resource control or turning the region into a construction site with developmental projects, but clearly none of this is happening. Instead they are being stripped of the little development that they have got. The mistakes in every major action that relates to the Presidents policy in the region are becoming too many for comfort. First his summit on Niger-Delta was botched, then the blunder with the NDDC board, the creation of a Niger-Delta Ministry, his defense pact with the British Govt., the oil wells between Akwa Ibom and Cross Rivers states, the amnesty offer and now the Petroleum Industry Reform Bill.

This latest trouble with the Petroleum Industry reform bill is the most annoying. Sitting the new Federal University of Petroleum in Kaduna? What for? And then reversing the upgrading of the Petroleum Training Institute in Effurun into a full university as approved by OBJ? What was Yar’Adua thinking? That the militants in the creeks will applaud him and maybe send a delegation of traditional rulers and politicians to pay him a ‘Thank You’ visit? Unfortunately No! The militants have screamed to high heavens and threatened to pull out of the amnesty agreement. The Niger-Delta students – who have been quiet about this struggle - have risen strongly from their slumber with a massive protest in Warri issuing the FG a seven day ultimatum to reverse itself. The Governors have been talking like militants too, threatening to pull their support for the amnesty. I don’t want to remember what JRC’s spokeswoman Cynthia Whyte thinks of Ministers from the region.

The most disheartening of all these is Rilwan Lukman who is at the center of all this. It is very unfortunate that Mr. Lukman, the Petroleum Minister has been talking like a child. If the people of the region can produce the low-level manpower required in the oil and gas industry, the can produce the management-level manpower too! I won’t blame Mr. Lukman for wanting the Petroleum University in his village, after all the Petroleum Ministry has become his father’s OBI where he consults his CHI year in, year out! Assuming Mr. Lukman did some research or survey to arrive at his choice of Kaduna, I would like to know the parameters used in this survey. Is it that the oil majors have their offices or operational bases in Kaduna or its environs? Or that oil has been found in Kaduna or that there is prospect of finding any soon? Or is that Kaduna is the economics base of the country? Or is it that managers in the industry told him that they have fallen in love with the serenity of Kaduna? Or because Kaduna is the safest place they can comfortably learn security wise? Or that Kaduna is easy to access from any part of the world? Or that Kaduna can support the kind of research that the university will be embarking upon? Mr. Lukman, please how did you arrive at this your choice of Kaduna? Must every decision be based on political balancing? Even this one does not balance anything. In countries that work, Mr. Lukman would have either resigned or be sacked for committing such a blunder on a major Govt. decision. That’s in countries that work anyway.

As the Niger-Delta boiled, no one heard President Yar’Adua speak; no one received any letter from him about the issue. He was busy with Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Michael ‘I don’t Care’ Aondokaa writing letter to Governor Fashola. By deciding to threaten Fashola and start another round of troubles for Lagosians. This confirms that President Yar’Adua has got his priority twisted. He has no business being our President. That Lagos is working is no longer news. Even the blind can see it and the deaf can hear it, except Yar’Adua and Minister ‘I Don’t Care’. Of all the troubles bedeviling Lagos, the only one worrying him is the issue of LGs and LCDAs. Not even the collapsed Apapa/Oshodi Expressway got his attention except an issue that’s been settled by the Supreme Court. By citing the decision of a lower court after the Supreme Court had spoken shows how shallow the advice he receives are. In fact, in line with his avowed rule of law stance, one would have expected him to go to the Supreme Court for clarification, but instead he chooses to threaten a hard working Governor with Federal might. I like the mature way Fashola responded to this childish talk.

I am only concerned that Fashola can do without this unnecessary distraction. If any Govt. needs to be ‘nudged’, it is the FG. Mr. President needs to find something to occupy his time. Nigerians are begging for electricity, the Lagos/Benin Expressway need to be attended to, ASUU is on strike among so many other problems facing this nation. I want to beg him to find something to do with his time. If you can’t belittle yourself to solve these problems, I am sure you still have some beautiful daughters, try and find them a Governor suitor and then spend some time planning their wedding. Just go and find something to busy yourself with but leave Fashola alone. I want to remind Yar’Adua of the opinion poll published by Guardian Newspaper on Sunday. It clearly showed that both you and the National Assembly are not very popular with Nigerians. You came down from an approval rating of 79% to just 25%. One day in the history of polling of Presidents, this will surely rank as the lowest a President ever received. It’s ironic that if that opinion poll had compared Fashola to Yar’Adua nationwide, Fashola would have ranked far higher than the President. If not for the type of regional and zoning politics that we play in this country, I would have asked Fashola to challenge Mr. President for that office come 2011. He would roundly thrash this confused President.

A GMAT QUESTION OF YAR’ADUA’S PAY CUT

It probably was the best news [?] after slice bread, no… out of the Presidency last week. The news which came on the heels of the just concluded meeting between the President, the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission, was to cheerfully announce the slashing of one of the numerous pecks that the ‘topmost of the top’ of officials of the FG have hitherto of the enjoyed.

The meeting broke to announce that the housing allowance currently being enjoyed by the President and his lucky Vice has been slashed by 50%. I don’t know how much this 50% cut amounts to, but we have every reason to be grateful [?] to the President for being graciously in touch with the current economic situation. It is very uncommon for public officials in Nigeria to willingly accept cuts in their salaries, allowances and other benefits – at least I have never heard of it until this current administration. They would usually advise us to tighten our belts while they loosen theirs, and feed fat off us. It would also be recalled that this same government had accepted a 10% reduction of their salary and emoluments earlier this year. They encouraged the various state and local governments to do the same. At least I remember Gbenga Daniel and his nude-oath-taking officials accepting to cut their pay in the early part of this year then I was living in his capital.

These measures viewed in light of the current economic recession – depression in Nigeria’s case because we have been in recession until now – ravaging the world calls for cheers to a government that is trying to be seen to be responsive and responsible to its people. You would also think they have taken these steps to reduce the burden that their fat pay places on our thin resources. Yes thin resources considering that the prices of crude oil has dropped from its high of $140 to the current $60 its trading in the international market and that local production has dropped from budgetary projections of about 2.2 million bpd to a little above 1 million bpd due to the rightful agitations of the Niger-Delta youths - I hate to call them militants. Why should they be so branded for asking for a taste of what is taken out of their backyard?

But this is as far as the cheers can go for those who accept what that meeting said without really thinking about it. Pray that I’m wrong on this because if I am, it’s for the good of our country. Here is why I’m saying this!

After this cut made the news, I watched the President advice the private sector to follow suit and emulate the government, but that was when I realized the stupidity – please pardon my use of that word – of the Presidents call. I doubt you realize what this allowance that the President was slashing is for! It’s a housing allowance for the President and his vice. Housing allowance for Mr. President and his Vice? I thought Mr. President and his Vice live in Aso Rock and Aguda or Defense house [whatever it is called these days] in the presidential villa respectively? Hey don’t be outraged! At least they spared us the detail of how much this allowance is.

Okay let’s look at this in the perspective of the private sector Mr. President talked about. Imagine – I said imagine oh! Hypothetically! – Mr. Femi Otedola hires a CEO for his new Otedola Cement & Gypsum Company Ltd – the one he wants to use to fight back Dangote. Femi’s company then provides the new CEO with a fully paid-for befitting mansion somewhere at Banana Island Ikoyi and still pays him housing allowance. That’s exactly what the President is doing living in our Aso Rock without paying rent, with 24/7 electricity supplied from generating sets running on diesel purchased with our money from his diesel-merchant-campaign-financier, eating our food and still collecting housing allowance. This is the scenario Mr. President wants the private sector to emulate.

I wonder if there is a specially researched and tested hand-over note every Nigerian leader receives that tells them that they can say whatever they like because the people won’t be listening, when they do listen, they don’t hear anything and when they hear, they won’t ask questions. They will simply swallow it hook, line and sinker, not because they have any atom of trust in their leaders, but because they are too docile to do anything. I had better quit wondering because it must be true.

Every news report you hear about pay or allowance cut by this government is a ruse. Let’s look again at the earlier 10% cut they allegedly accepted! They gleefully accepted a 10% cut after taking a huge pay rise last year. I think it was something in the range of three fold of the former pay. What has exactly changed from what this President is earning from what OBJ earned? I can’t tell exactly. What is he currently earning? How I wish I know. Oh! This will make a very good GMAT question. Let’s look at the question!
“If President Yar’Adua accepted - say - a 300% pay rise in 2008 and in 2009 took a 10% cut due to economic recession. In terms of percentage, what is he currently earning?”
The correct answer will earn you a VIP ticket to the Premier of the dance drama titled ‘Politics of nude-oath-taking’ performed by the respected Gbenga Daniel’s Theatre Company at the Valley View Auditorium, Isale Igbein, Abeokuta.

This is a classical case of projecting change while keeping things the same. If they really want us to believe that they mean to cut their pay, they should get rid of the 2008 pay rise and then slash it by 10% and totally stop taking housing allowance or move out of the Presidential villa. Instead of being true to us, this administration wants to use lip service and cosmetic changes to pull the wool back over our eyes. If what they are doing is not ‘the more you look, the less you see’, then I don’t know what it is. Sorry that does not add up because Nigerians are not actually looking. They are too busy trying to make progress instead of confronting that thing that is retarding their progress. Maybe they have not realized that as long as that thing remains, they will never make that progress. God help us in our struggles to make progress.

WHEN WILL THIS EMERGENCY BE?

I was not here when state of emergency was declared in the old Western Region during the famed ‘Operation Wetie’ that led to region being labeled ‘Wild Wild West’ but thanks to the story telling ability of my Geography teacher in SS1, who relished us with tales of those times, I guess I could beat my chest to say, I know about what happened then. Thanks to him. No doubt, my teacher’s tales left nothing to be imagined, but I have always had my own active imagination of what could possibly lead to a declaration of a state of emergency over a region or state. Perhaps, I’m not the only one with such an imagination. This imagination of state of emergency - which I got from watching American Movies – is something like this. Please don’t go thinking that I’m dumb!

Something goes wrong in a particular region or state – maybe an alien invasion or arrival of UFOs – that requires extraordinary solution that can’t be handled by the Police, so the President calls in the National Guards… sorry the Army, to maintain law and order, thereby restoring peace. Okay that was what I thought state of emergency entailed, until Emperor OBJ showed up. Certain development that occurred in Plateau and Ekiti states led to his first declaration of state of Emergency – Plateau I can understand – serious argument broke out about the ad-hoc procedure adopted. There was talks about him having the power or not to do so, other critics balked about requiring the consent of the National Assembly or if the Gov. and State Assembly should be suspended or not, the talks where as inexhaustible and complex as Nigeria itself. The ensuing debate rolled on for months, lawyers fell over themselves arguing from both sides of their mouth. There was even so much noise about it that we joked that if two people argued, Emperor OBJ could declare an emergency and suspend everyone from continuing their daily chores. Those who have experienced state of Emergency doesn’t see it as an option to crisis, but the very last resort after other options have been thoroughly explored. No right thinking person ever looks forward to a state of emergency especially if you were there during the Wild Wild West era, or you are Joshua Dariye, his cronies and State Assembly with their hangers on, or if bitterly you are Ayo Fayose and his Ekiti Company.

Yeah! No one – including me – looks forward to an emergency of any kind, at least until Yar’Adua started his campaign – that Emperor OBJ put him up to – for the Presidency. I remember watching most of the campaign rallies on TV especially those prime time Presidential Debate Comedy Shows. One quick confession here! The candidates I would have voted for Presidency in 2007 were not those you gave a thought during that campaign and I have my reasons, call my reasons whatever you like, I don’t exactly care. They are Olopade Agoro because he promised every citizen 1million Naira – I couldn’t let that money pass me by – and late Major Moji Obasanjo because she promised to give everybody land – I had hoped that I will be fortunate to get a water front land in Victoria Island, Ikoyi or even Lekki.

But Emperor OBJ’s candidate still held my attention for the free comedy they were providing. One day as I watched this campaign with a friend, Candidate Yar’Adua took the mic – as the main act of show OBJ took a brief break – to talk about his Seven Point Agenda. He ran through the list quickly to give chance to comedian OBJ to continue his jabs at his enemies. One thing caught our attention as Candidate Yar’Adua enjoyed his 5 minutes of fame. He said he would declare a state of emergency in the power sector. He emphasized that he will give priority to power by doing this within the first few months of his administration. At first we were quiet when he said this until my friend asked me how the emergency in the power sector would work. I told him didn’t know! He then asked if it will mean that soldiers will be deployed to power stations, distribution lines and NEPA… sorry PHCN offices nationwide to ensure regular power supply. How I wish that would just be the solution to this darkness we live with. Again I told him I didn’t know oh! You see now that I’m not the only one that thought that state of emergency involved only the deployment of soldiers.

As we talked more about the possible ways the deployment of soldiers will solve our power problem, the more curious we got about what this candidates exact plans were. It didn’t help that they normally don’t give details about their campaign promises so we can gauge if their plans sorry promises are practicable. Isn’t that why they will turn around to tell us that they didn’t anticipate that our problem is that enormous as if they just arrived here from the moon. We even thought - and this was on a serious note – that the soldiers will probably break up the syndicate that was sabotaging government’s effort as Emperor OBJ claimed then. [At least we thought they were faceless but now know that it was led by the Emperor himself]. When we got tired of laughing at the statement, we agreed that we will have to wait to see how it will work knowing that he will win despite my supporting Agoro –because of the 1 million Naira bounty which I had started spending using anticipatory approval. Thank goodness I didn’t run myself into debts.

It’s been 2 years since Emperor OBJ’s anointed Candidate - Yar’Adua - took over power and is yet to declare the emergency; maybe he has realized that it was meaningless. Oh I just got it! He has realized that deploying soldiers will run against his mantra of ruse of law… pardon me abeg! rule of law. The power situation has since gone from bad to worst and they have tactically skipped it from their 7-point Agenda soap opera running on the network service of NTA. Meanwhile it seems like this agenda was put together to provide program content for NTA considering how regularly they run the adverts as if it will implement itself through the TV.

I had set out to ask our President when he intends to declare this state of emergency in the power sector but have long shelved the question because it will turn out to be a rhetoric question. This emergency will never be declared or was never intended to be declared as it was a campaign gimmick. This President was never ready for this job or never wanted this job. He is simply a plan gone wrong. I can bet that a week before he picked a nomination form, he never gave becoming a President a thought. He never prepared for this job.

Okay take a look at their projections to solve this problem. It used to be that we will generate 6000 megawatts by the end of 2007 and 10000 megawatts by 2010, but it has been reviewed since they realized that it was no longer attainable. The reviewed projections are now 6000 megawatts by the end of 2009 and 10000 megawatts by the end of 2010 and I can guarantee you that this is still not feasible. At least if the signal to its feasibility is what we are currently getting in terms of supply right now, then we had better forget it. In fact I will proceed on exile to Iraq or if I can’t afford it, I will go to Darfur if we generate 3000 megawatts by the end of 2009. Talking about Iraq, even at war time, they are still generating over 4500 megawatts of electricity and Nigeria has been at peace for the past 10 years. Its really a shame on our leadership. I have deliberately refused to think about how much has been spent on generating darkness because I don’t want a heart attack. In trying not to dwell on the problem but on finding a solution, the scientist will start from asking questions. So the nagging question is who will save us from this darkness? Who will save us from the power of darkness? I know! Yes I know! I know it’s not this Yar’Adua! Or do you think otherwise?

We Had Him

“We Had Him” by Dr. Maya Angelou

Beloveds, now we know that we know nothing
Now that our bright and shining star can slip away from our fingertips
Like a puff of summer wind,
Without notice our dear love can escape our doting embrace,
Sing our songs among the stars,
And walk our dances across the face of the moon
In the interest that we learn that Michael is gone we know nothing
No clocks can tell our time
No oceans can rush our tides
With the abrupt absence of our treasure
Though we are many each of us is achingly alone, piercingly alone
Only when we confess our confusion
Can we remember that he was a gift to us
And we did have him
He came to us from the creator
Trailing creativity and abundance
Despite the anguish of life he was sheathed in mother love
And family love,
And survived
And did more than that he thrived
With passion and compassion
Humor and style,
We had him,
Whether we knew who he was or did not know
He was ours and we were his
We had him,
beautiful, delighting our eyes
he raked his hat, slant over his brow
And took a pose on his toes for all of us
And we laughed and stomped our feet, for him
We were enchanted by his passion
Because he held nothing
He gave us all he had been given
today in Tokyo, beneath the Eiffel Tower
in Gana’s Black star Square
In Johannesburg and Pittsburgh
in Birmingham, Alabama and Birmingham, England
We are missing Michael Jackson
But we do know we had him,
And we are the world…

RE: MEMO TO ASUU

Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, US, Ebenezer Obadare writing in his column “The Crisis” on ” the BusinessDay of Wednesday, 1st July, 2oo9, with the title “Memo To ASUU”. To say the least, it was an intelligently written piece, but it came short of blaming ASUU for the current state of University education in our Naija – apologies to Dr. Reuben Abati.
According to Prof. Obadare, the current strike embarked upon by ASUU to press home an age old demand was “greeted by something close to a collective shrug of the general public”. This comes to me as a shock, it is as though the docile populace has in the past risen in support of ASUU’s clamor for an improved learning and teaching condition, which would have helped the dying system, and perhaps stop people like Prof Obadare from running abroad. Though Prof. Obadare acknowledged this much, but faulted when, in the same sentence said “the sheer vehemence with which opponents of the union’s tactics reacted was in itself ample indication that at least they cared”. The big question is who are those Prof. Obadare claims “cared” and who do they care about?

The irony of this is that Prof. Obadare was himself, a former member of ASUU before he left – I guess for greener pastures in the US – didn’t tell us why he did. His new found comfort in a system where things work, and in a country were priority is given to education, suddenly brought about a discomfort with ASUU’s approach in demanding that working environment be improved to something that resembles what he is currently enjoying in the US.
Our American Prof. Obadare who made his observation or criticism of ASUU’s tactics “in a non-martial, even collegial, spirit” also accused them of being guilty of understating [?] “the depth of decay on the campuses”. It is this same understatement of the decay he referred to that ASUU is fighting to arrest. Or would he rather that they go on as if everything is alright?
The long and short of Prof Obadare’s Memo to ASUU was that their “tactics and strategy” of strike which should be the “last option” has failed and that new ways will have to be developed by ASUU’s “rank and file” on alternative ways. Great observation from Prof. I want to say that criticism is cheap, just as it is said that talk is cheap. It doesn’t take a runaway Professor to tell us this. Even a primary school student knows that successive strikes have not solved the problem in our universities which may account for the non-challant attitude of the people. It would have been expected that a memo from a Professor to ASUU pointing out a problem would have also proffered some solution since the current method is “insufficient”. I think the problem is not so much the approach, but the government’s response. Strike, demonstrations and protests are tools that are employed in very developed societies to bring about a change in several sectors. The yet to be seen result in ASUU’s case, does not in any way invalidate the approach, it just again goes to show how insensitive those in leadership are to the plight of the people.

I choose not to drag myself into Prof Obadare’s claim “that there are other salient internal issues that demands ASUU’s urgent attention” but I want to assure him that they are not the ”reason behind the popular indifference” by the people. I don’t know how long Prof has been away, but I can assure him that it’s not in our culture to line the streets in protest against any government action even if they brazenly kill people on the streets. We are too busy protecting our lives. Someone wrote recently that “There will be no revolution” in Nigeria. The reasons were clearly attributed in that write up.

I really don’t know who the opponents of ASUU Prof. Obadare had in mind are, when he said “they cared” but I am want to assume it is the government that he was referring to. The same government that is supposed to solve this problem? I doubt Prof. Obadare knows the current issues at stake. I don’t know how he will react if he reached an agreement with his current employers and two years on, they refuse to acknowledge the agreement, less hold up to their own end of the bargain. “They are too responsible to behave in such a manner” I imagine Prof. Obadare saying. I would rather that Professor spent some time to tell our government on how to be responsible to its citizens including ASUU. Prof. Obadare’s current station will show him that ‘better soup, na money buy am”. So the demand for a certain percentage of the budget to be set aside for education is quite in line with UNESCO’s recommendation. I trust ASUU knows the responsibility that will be expected of them should government meet their demand.

There is an adage that says, to whom much is given, much is expected. I believe if adequate funding is given to our universities, members of ASUU - whom Prof says “the door of the corporate world” was “shut in their faces” – will have no choice than to sit up. I do like to ask Prof. Obadare if as a former member of ASUU, he too was shut out of the corporate world before he took to lecturing. If I understand Prof. obadare, our university lecturers are the rejects of the corporate world. They couldn’t measure up. They are not even supposed to be in the university as academics rather they “ought to be serving in the universities in non-academic capacities” Prof once belonged to this union oh! How come these same people excel when they go to places like where Prof. Obadare is pontificating from?

For Prof Obadare’s information, on the same day his memo was published, a report by Kelechi Ewuzie on page 2 of the Business School section of the same BusinessDay titled “Future of Students in Danger with Incessant strike action” was published too. The parents, whom he spoke to, all acknowledged that the solution to this current problem lies squarely at doors of the government. They all - like Reagan asked the communists to tear down this wall – asked government to end this cycle of madness. I expected that Prof. will lend his voice to this call on government not to destroy our tomorrow today. An incisive article written by Ferdinand Adimefe on the same day, on page 6 of the same business school section of the same BusinessDay titled “Graduates and Reality of Unemployment” analyzed amongst other things, the effect of government’s irresponsibility on the products of our universities. He didn’t say ASUU was solely to blame. Prof. Obadare will probably learn from that article from a young mind that its due to governments non-challant attitude - to issues that concern education especially funding – that our graduates are almost unemployable. That’s why they are half-baked – whatever that means.
Leaving the shores of one’s country, certainly does not remove one from the realities in that country. At a difficult time such as this, we should all join ASUU in asking the government to be responsible and responsive to its citizen because our silence only gives them and Prof. Obadare the impression that we disapprove of ASUU’s demand. The issues precipitating the strike, is way beyond pay rise or the sack of Unilorin 49. In a very large part, it is about creating a conducive learning environment for the students, it is about the availability of teaching materials especially in the laboratories, it is about the autonomy and independence of the university, it is about improved funding to enable the lecturers bring out the best that our future has to offer.

What is not expected of Prof. Obadare at this time, is not to castigate ASUU or the university system, perhaps if he has learnt new lessons in his promise land, would it be more appropriate if he shares same with us? I believe –even if has ‘beef’ for ASUU - he can at least, do well to tell the government how University of Kansas is run and funded, since he can’t proffer to ASUU how they can alternatively drive home their demand other than through strike. For the critics of ASUU, I would say attacking what you see as your enemy is as senseless as punching yourself. If you ask ASUU to go back and continue in this state of decay, remember that their product will either lead you tomorrow or will be available for you to hire. Think about that!

http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3495:memo-to-asuu&catid=96:columnists&Itemid=350