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