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Opinion: It’s Not Uhuru Yet in Nigeria

Published

6 years ago

April 12, 2018

Eric

By Wale Adedayo

There is something wrong, and very wrong too, with strategists of the ruling All Progressives (APC) at the very top. Not all critics of President Muhammad Buhari are looters or friends of looters, contrary to their assertions. And I have a very strong feeling they know this too. It appears the strategy of Team Buhari is to keep the heat of name-calling on the opposition in order to starve off criticisms of their principal.

To me, those opposed to Buhari because their friends or political associates have been implicated in corruption cases are less than 10% of those currently involved in campaigns to vote him out. Majority of those in the current unorganized anti-Buhari campaign were deeply involved in bringing the president to office. And they have genuine reasons for going against him despite working for his success at the polls in 2015.

Quality strategists would have paused to ask questions. Buhari became president on the crest of a hope by many that things would change. Yes, former President Goodluck Jonathan looted the treasury silly. But the lootings by Generals Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, Sanni Abacha and Abdulsalami Abubakar were of Guinness Book of World Records proportions when compared with Jonathan’s.

Buhari and his associates have not mentioned these lootings once, despite the fact that Abacha’s loots are still being recovered several years after his death. If it is not abuses galore against the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) today, it is Jonathan and his wife, Patience, being taken to the cleaners. To Buhari’s handlers, the false narrative that corruption started and ended with either PDP or Jonathan remains the major item.

Yet, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who got into office shortly after the lootings by IBB, Abacha and Abdulsalami initiated policies that are still being followed by successive presidents till date.

The Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme was initiated by Obasanjo barely six months of becoming president. It made education free and compulsory for Nigerian pupils up to JSS3. Obasanjo built Primary Health Care Centres in Nigeria’s 774 Local Governments with generating sets, well-equipped laboratories, boreholes and secured each building with a fence.

It was Obasanjo that brought EFCC and ICPC. He freed the Telecoms sector from Government monopoly thus allowing MTN and the rest into our world instead of the old NITEL. He made Nigeria proud on the international scene, where he also worked to secure our economy through debt forgiveness among others. He appeared well-prepared for his job, despite having just left prison.

APC strategists at the very top should know that unlike Obasanjo, our current President DID NOT improve himself or expose himself to modern ways of doing things after leaving office as military Head of State. Until he began seeking to occupy Ask Rock as a born again democrat, Buhari did not mix with others at either local or international conferences and seminars to exchange ideas or learn new ones.

Nigeria is not getting better. Majority of those feeling it are the lowest of the low, who by reason of the propaganda deployed during his campaign in 2015 should be his natural constituency. At the international level, we are becoming the butt of jokes, again. Nigerians being sold as slaves in Libya, may not have started under his watch. But it got worse under Buhari. Many have died in the waters of the Mediterranean while trying to become economic refugees in Europe.

Of course, our internal security situation has worsened under Buhari’s watch. It got closer home recently with the killings in Offa, Kwara State, where armed robbers killed many. A number of Buhari’s supporters hardly see humans among the Shiites killed in Zaria, the villagers of Zamfara or those killed on a regular basis in Benue State. They are just statistics to such Buharists. To make the security matter worse, Mr. President claimed in London that the killer herdsmen were trained by Libya. How inconsiderate by someone who should have been a credible C-IN-C?

Change, in a Third World country like ours, comes when key political actors suspend individual ambitions to rally round a figure, who on the AVERAGE has the ability to lift the polity away from the precipice. The figure so supported cannot be a saint, no doubt. To me, all saints are in heaven. Son of man has his many shortcomings too. So, one is not a saint.

In more ways than one, it was a similar process that brought Buhari to office. He had, and still has his shortcomings. But individual ambitions were shelved by others, who remained within the major opposition party to ensure that divided votes did not allow Jonathan to be returned to office.

Today, the situation is different. Both the serious and jesters are seeking the office of president. They are more than those who showed serious interest in the same office towards the 2015 presidential election. The sad aspect is that they are scattered across the space, with majority of them not even seriously identifying with a political party less than one year to another election.

Yet, the 1999 constitution expressly stated that you cannot seek elective office in Nigeria without belonging to a political party. Yes, some have joined some new political parties. It is very doubtful they can win a Councillorship seat, no matter the grandiose promises being made about the change they are talking about. They simply lack the structure to make an effective presence in just one state, not to talk about across Nigeria.

Beyond that, do they even understand that Nigeria remains divided, and because of that there is need for multiple approaches in carrying voters along towards 2019? The equity-seeing Ogoni people of Rivers State hardly participated in the 1993 presidential elections. They wanted an immediate need – equity in the abnormal exploitation of their natural resource.

Obasanjo apparently wanted a Niger Delta indigene to become Nigeria’s president one day so that the individual thus ‘arranged’ could work towards bringing about the needed structural change in the polity to assist his people. It did not happen. Instead of a focus on communal interest, it was private interest Jonathan went for, looting Nigeria silly along with his associates in the process.

The president that’ll change Nigeria cannot serve for two terms, due to obvious reasons. He has to step on toes including those of those who brought him to office. We are in a democracy. Such a person might want to return to office for a second term once the bug of office bites him. Of course, he will need the good, the bad and ugly in the polity to return to office. That will naturally dictate a selective process of change, which would have been no change at all as we are witnessing today.

A change agent in charge of Nigeria would have come prepared. The president MUST be involved in the selection of the National Assembly leadership. He must have a firm control of the legislature at the national level, not just the security agencies. A purge of the Judiciary must begin within his first six months in office. Some Judges must be sent to prison, while others continue to watch their BPs, afraid they might be next on the list of those to go.

Obasanjo made a half-hearted attempt in his first term. His anti-corruption efforts, which became a tool to silence others for political reasons instead of a positive change in the polity remains the best in the history of Nigeria since independence. Obasanjo quietly instituted a probe into ALL Federal Government contracts since 1976 through 1999.

The report was audacious in painstaking work. If the old man had implemented 50% of the recommendations in the two-volume report, Nigeria should have been on its way to sanity by now. But the Ota Chicken farmer chickened out. He left the report to rot till he left office. And from all indications today, Buhari too is not interested in it beyond the propaganda about anti—corruption, which is mainly directed at the opposition.

To the young men and women making all efforts to outdo one another on the social media about the need for change in Nigeria, it goes beyond PVCs. Get involved with a major political party. Today in Nigeria, there are just two – APC and PDP. The others could win Governorship or State/National Assembly elections, but CERTAINLY not The Presidency.

Those genuinely concerned about the need for a change in Aso Rock should join hands with others to do what was done with the formation of APC towards the 2015 general elections. A coalition, transforming into a political party, can do it. But it is almost too late for that now, thus the counsel to move into one of the major political parties to support an AVERAGE individual.

The last item, for me, is the need to move into the National and State assemblies. Some of those currently campaigning for president will make good legislators. Go back home with your less than enough resources to mobilise. A Fela Durotoye, Omoyele Sowore or Alistair Soyode will be quality additions to the Nigerian Senate. It is the same advice from here to the others.

It is not Uhuru yet in Nigeria. Our Messiah is yet to be conceived!

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Rivers: Wike’s Men Reject Reployment, Resign from Fubara’s Govt

Published

21 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Eric

Two Rivers State commissioners have resigned their appointments shortly after they were redeployed in a cabinet reshuffle by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. They are the Attorney General and commissioners for Justice, and Finance; Zacchaeus Adangor and Isaac Kamalu respectively.

The duo were affected by a minor cabinet reshuffle made by the governor on April 23.

Kamalu and Adangor are loyalists of Nyesom Wike, the immediate former governor of Rivers and incumbent minister of the federal capital territory (FCT).

Last year, the commissioners resigned from their positions following the political feud between Wike and Fubara.

They were later reinstated after Wike and Fubara signed a peace accord facilitated by President Bola Tinubu.

While Adangor was moved to the ministry of special duties (governor’s office), Kamalu was moved to the ministry of employment generation and economic empowerment.

Kamalu’s resignation came hours after Zacchaeus Adangor, tendered his resignation.

In a letter addressed to Tammy Danagogo, secretary to the state government (SSG), Kamalu said the governor’s “inability to maintain peace” in the state was the reason he quit the cabinet.

The former commissioner said he could not give his best in an atmosphere of rancour.

“Your Excellency would recall that I served under the Administration of His Excellency, Chief Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, CON, GSSRS, POS (now Honorable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja) originally as Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning (2015-2019) and subsequently as Commissioner for Finance with oversight responsibility for the Rivers State Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning (2019 – 2023),” the letter reads.

“The mandates of the respective Ministries were to the best of our abilities (as Ministries) duly carried out and at all times material relevant reforms were embarked upon for improved performance and effective and sustainable service delivery.

“Among several others, we successfully carried out the following; “Initiating and (supporting existing) policy frameworks for enhanced internal revenue generation.

“This with (necessary adjustments made on some of the programs) led to the increase in the internal revenue receipts. This steady rise has presently generated though not the figures erroneously claimed in the media.

“Aggressive improvement in Federation receipts by securing recovery by the state of oilfields that were also the subject of the successful claim against International Oll Companies (IOCs) on production sharing contracts; the recoveries arising from 13% derivation and the demand by the state for adherence to the fiscal provisions in the constitution in support of states by successfully removing from Federation receipts institutions of Government whether state or federal not so recognized by the constitution such as the Police Trust Fund and others thus widening the available receipts for States and the last but not the least our success on the subject of Value Added Tax.

“The reason behind these painstaking efforts was to make available a basket of receipts sufficient to enable the state to deliver good governance through the provision of goods and services.

“It was this idea that informed the continuity and consolidation mantra that was the theme of your election campaign and government thereafter.

“You will respectfully recall that when the climate of discord became unbearable I and other like-minded members of the Executive Council that were appointed by you resigned.

“You thereafter engaged His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and as Father of the Nation to intervene in the matter.

“In deference to the directive of Mr. President, I and the others were recalled and we all accepted and joined the cabinet again. I expected Sir that with the opportunity provided by Mr.President, every effort will be made to sustain peace.

“Regrettably Your Excellency the peace in Government and governance that we all – citizens and residents of the state desire has remained out of reach despite our consistent efforts and demand for same.

“This has affected our ability to protect and defend the gains that we made these past years.

“In the course of official engagements, I have reiterated the need for this peace and the fact we all are willing and determined to work for this.

“It is very difficult to deliver good governance where there is acrimony and discord. It is not the point of service that is important but the climate. Our present circumstance makes service delivery extremely challenging. I still hold the belief that it is never too late for peace.

“In view of the above, I find it difficult to accept the redeployment. I do not accept it. I reject it and convey to you my immediate resignation as Commissioner and member of the Rivers State Executive Council with effect from the date of this letter.

“While praying that the Good Lord grants us Peace, I thank you for the opportunity and assure you the assurances of my esteemed regards.”

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Tinubu Approves Credit Scheme Takeoff to Facilitate Purchase of Cars, Houses

Published

23 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Eric

President Bola Tinubu has approved the takeoff of the first phase of the Consumer Credit Scheme to facilitate the purchase of houses and cars by working Nigerians.

In a statement on Wednesday, presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngelale said the Consumer Credit Scheme will enhance the quality of life citizens by allowing them to “access goods and services upfront, paying responsibly over time”.

“It facilitates crucial purchases, such as homes, vehicles, education, and healthcare, essential for ongoing stability to pursue their aspirations,” the statement added.

“Through responsible repayment, individuals build credit histories, unlocking more opportunities for a better life. Additionally, the increased demand for goods and services stimulates local industry and job creation.

“The President believes every hardworking Nigerian should have access to social mobility, with consumer credit playing a pivotal role in achieving this vision.”

In line with the President’s directive to expand consumer credit access to Nigerians, the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation (CREDICORP) has launched a portal for Nigerians to express interest in receiving consumer credit.

“This initiative, in collaboration with financial institutions and cooperatives nationwide, aims to broaden consumer credit availability,” the statement noted, adding that working Nigerians interested in receiving consumer credit can visit CREDICORP’s website to express interest before the deadline date of May 15, 2024.

“The scheme will be rolled out in phases, starting with members of the civil service and cascading to members of the public.”

The CREDICORP’s objectives include: “(1) Strengthening Nigeria’s credit reporting systems, ensuring every economically active citizen has a dependable credit score. This score becomes personal equity they build, facilitating access to consumer credit.

“(2) Offering credit guarantees and wholesale lending to financial institutions dedicated to broadening consumer credit access today.

“(3) Promoting responsible consumer credit as a pathway to an improved quality of life, fostering a cultural shift towards growth and financial responsibility.”

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Group Celebrates Gov Umo Eno at 60 with Visits to Hospitals, Prisons, Empowerment of 60 Persons

Published

1 day ago

April 25, 2024

Admin

In celebration of the 60th birthday of Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, the socio-political group, Connect Initiative, has embarked on a series of impactful initiatives.

They have empowered 60 vulnerable individuals and extended compassionate visits to hospitals and prisons across the state.

The group made up of professionals and entrepreneurs kicked off its activities with a low-key ceremony where 60 indigent people were given financial support.

The beneficiaries were carefully selected from across the 31 LGAs of the state.

In his opening remarks, the group’s Chief Conector, Dr Frank Ekpenyong, stated that the organisation decided to toe this line because it is the right thing to do putting into consideration the present realities in Nigeria.

He noted that the event which was to commemorate the birthday of Governor whom he described as a humble, compassionate and visionary leader that believes in development from the bottom up.

Dr Frank said that Comnect Initiatives will soon up the ante in terms of standing in the gap for government through impactful programmes and projects

In the course of the ceremony, seven respected Akwa Ibom indigenes were inducted into the Connect Forum: Sir Okon Okon, Captain Iniobong Ekong ( Retd), Aniekan Essienette, Ime Udo, Murphy Esin, Hon. Mbosowo David and Mrs Imobong Akamba.

The group then began the next day with a visit to the St. Luke’s Hospital, Anua, Uyo LGA where they cleared the bills of some indigent patients.

The patients who were in the maternity, female surgical and paedetric wards had concluded their treatments but could not be discharged due to inability to pay their bills.

All the patients: Patricia Victor Brown ( from Itu LGA), Nkoyo Edet Okon ( Oron LGA), Emem Gabriel David ( Nsit Ubium), Enobong Gabriel Emmanuel and Mavelous Bassey were thankful for this womderful intervention of Connect Initiative on behalf of the governor.

The most moving moment of the visit was the case of Mrs Magdalene Okon Edet. After listening to the pathetic story of her surgery and condition afterwards, the group decided on-the-spot to foot her over N400,000 bill.

She and her family broke into uncontrollable tears of joy.

In addition, during the ward rounds, the team was given the cheering news that a mother had earlier that day been delivered of a baby girl.

Not only was the Ebong family’s bill settled, when the good news was relayed to HE Governor Umo Eno that he now had a new birthday mate, he immediately requested to meet with the father of the baby.

The lucky father was acknowledged and presented with special gift by the Governor during the commissioning of Atiku Abubakar Way project in the presence of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

In his remarks, Rev. Father Gabriel Ekong the hospital Administrator thanked Connect Initiative for embarking on this noble cause that has brought relief and joy to many homes.

While praying that God would replenish the pockets of all those who contributed to the kind gesture, he applauded the vision of Governor Umo Eno for urging wellwishers to embrace charitable causes instead of spending the funds on parties or other unproductive endeavours.

He used the opportunity to pray for excellent health and wisdom for Governor Eno, while wishing him a very successful tenure in government.

The next port of call for the Connect Initiative members was the Methodist General Hospital, Ituk Mbang, Uruan LGA.

There, the team visited the wards where Baby Favour Edidiong, Joyce Isaac Mbaba, Imeh Phillip Etukudo, Prince Asuquo Okon and Nko Etim Umoh were all cleared to go home with a commitment that all their outstanding bills would be fully paid. Again the patients erupted in happiness and were full of prayers and praise for the celebrant and Connect Initiative.

The Hospital Superintendent, Dr Aniekan in his remarks thanked the group for this humanitarian gesture, adding that this act was worthy of emulation by other organisations
The day was rounded off at the Minimum Correctional Centre, Uyo where the team pledged to pay the fines of 13 inmates with minor offences

Speaking to journalists after the visits, the President-General of the group, Ms Idy Ekwo stated that its itinerary was carefully planned in accordance with the wishes of the celebrant, Governor Umo Eno.

She noted that based on what was discovered during the visits, Connect Initiative would make charitable interventions a more frequent affair.

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