Headline

Pendulum: How Dreams Die So Fast in Nigeria

Published

5 years ago

July 5, 2019

Eric

By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, except for the recklessly optimistic souls, it is so easy to give up on our dear beloved country Nigeria. I will explain why in a jiffy. I do not consider myself a young man at almost 60. Let me do a bit of flashback before I continue my epistle. I entered the University of Ife (later renamed Obafemi Awolowo University) relatively young in 1978, as a pioneer JAMBITE. We were the first students admitted under the supervision of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board. I was 18 at the time but I started living on campus two years earlier under the tutelage of my older Brother, Oladele Ajayi, who had just returned home from Stanford University where he bagged a PhD in Materials Science. Life was good in those days and some lecturers were allotted flats within students’ hostels as a way of forging interactions between them. This was how I got introduced very early to students’ activism. I had worked in the University of Ife Library from 1977-78, prior to gaining admission and this further exposed me to life on campus.

I witnessed the ALI-MUST-GO riots of 1978, when students were fighting over the increase in the price they were paying for their subsidised three square meals. We thought life was becoming unbearable then. How can Obasanjo’s government increased daily meals from 50k to N1.50k, we queried. Breakfast was only 10k with full English or traditional breakfast. Tea was in abundance. You were even allowed to bring your own flasks to take away tea, milk and sugar. Sumptuous lunch and dinner were 50k each. Weekends were very special. We truly had fun. But trouble came when the price was unilaterally tripled by the military government.

Since then, I have witnessed, or actively, participated in several demonstrations, especially if they were peaceful. I have written hundreds of essays and articles on the endless and intractable problems in Nigeria. I was detained under the Babangida government, and forced to run into exile under the Abacha government, all in our quest for good governance and positive developments in our country. But, like Abiku, the spirit-child who comes into the world and saunters back at will, Nigeria has not been able to break the jinx of incompetence, profligacy, underdevelopment, dictatorship and general maladministration. We continue to waltz from one crisis to another. And every time we assumed we were close to our destination, something suddenly goes wrong.

How could a country as bedevilled by a barrage of debilitating challenges as Nigeria refuse to change how businesses are conducted when it is so obvious that we cannot continue along this perfidious route to perdition and ruination? Yet no one seems to worry, or care, about making the necessary sacrifice for our liberation and salvation. The civil war we fought from 1967-70 should have taught us about the importance of unity and the necessity for civilised cooperation amongst us instead we continue to misbehave as if possessed by the worst demons on earth. A civil war that came to a climax with the open declaration of “no victor, no vanquished” has virtually produced a master/servant conundrum with everyone fighting for territories.

We had, and lost, our best chance on June 12, 1993, when President Ibrahim Babangida organised the best and fairest Presidential election, which was won by Chief Moshood Abiola. I harbour no fear that the ethnic strife eating us up today could have been avoided and permanently banished to the pit of hell. Those who profit from chaos and conflagration (the Yoruba word for them is more poignant, “ARIJENIDIMODARU”) totally won the day. Nigeria is yet to crawl out of that monumental disaster since then, some 26 years after. Like the ostrich, our leaders and their followers continue to bury their heads in dusty sands, and living in denial. Again, we all knew the solution was not as complex and complicated as it seems, we opted to try the cheaper and ineffective option. The military decided to install a crawling Interim Government that took little or no time in dismantling. And we soon navigated our way from frying pan into a towering inferno when General Sani Abacha took power, forcefully, about three months after Chief Degunle Shonekan, a corporate titan, was installed as supposed compensation for the annulment of June 12, while the clear winner was subjected to the worst forms of humiliation.

Rather than come together to fight the military and chase Abacha and his foot-soldiers back to the barracks, our political leaders chose to be opportunistic by insisting on joining the most ruthlessly draconian government in the history of Nigeria. Not just that, some of the leaders decided to even plead with Abacha to stay on in power perpetually. Let me not bore you with the rest of the story about the pestilence that ravaged and savaged the country. Chief Abiola was hurled into detention while life dragged on in his absence, till he eventually died, suddenly. Members of the political class, as lily-livered as always, never saw the need to come together, but merely spluttered a few incoherent condolences to the Abiola family while many were already jostling for a placement within the new military government, headed by General Abdulsalami Abubakar.

One year after, in 1999, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a former military Head of State, from 1976-79, was repackaged and catapulted back to power. You would have thought Nigerians would insist on a compensation and reparation for the injustice meted out to Abiola, his family and associates but such never materialised. At the very least, a government of National Unity should have been put in place to douse the tension in the land but those in power dug deeper and dumped June 12 in the trash can of history but the irrepressible watershed refused to go away. The more they tried to bury it, the stronger it fought back to haunt a country that finds it hard to honour her authentic heroes.

The main thrust of my thesis this week is that Nigeria is in a big mess because we have refused to do things differently. We have continued to repeat the same nonsense while expecting different results. Worse still, we all know the solutions to our intractable problems but we have stubbornly refused to do anything meaningful about it. I will catalogue a few of what we should have done. The first is war between the ethnic groups. This is fuelled and amplified by politicians. I have friends across Nigeria and we get on very well but the politicians prefer to play the ethnic cards to create an illusory impression that they represent the interest of their people. But this is a blatant lie. Examples abound that the areas that have produced Presidents have not fared better than those that produced none. Tafawa Balewa, from Bauchi. Azikiwe from Anambra. Gowon from Plateau. Murtala Muhammed from Kano. Obasanjo from Ogun (twice lucky). Shagari from Sokoto. Buhari from Katsina (twice lucky). Babangida, from Niger. Shonekan, from Ogun. Yar’Adua from Katsina. Jonathan, from Bayelsa. We have not noticed any stupendous development in those States. At the very best, most of them are in squalid conditions while a few of their sons and daughters have access to loot and pilfer the resources of our long-suffering nation. The biggest source of unrest in Nigeria today is the feeling of deliberate marginalisation by President Buhari of certain sections of the country. The nonchalance is so embarrassing and unjustifiable.

Two. We all know that the greatest weapon against poverty today is education. Yet, while the world is marching forward in educational achievements, Nigeria has been marching backward. Nigerians who are naturally brilliant hardly have any opportunities to acquire latest knowledge and after struggling so hard, they have no jobs at home. Many are forced to travel dangerous roads and waterways into exile. Many have perished in the process. One wonders what it takes to find the right people to upgrade our education to international standards. We play politics with everything and this has affected our education, so much so that we have lost some of our best brains to foreign lands.

Three. We grew up hearing that “health is wealth”, yet excellent medical facilities are neither available nor affordable for the average Nigeria. The rich, including top government functionaries have to fly abroad at the flimsiest excuse. No government has succeeded in building just one world class hospital in Nigeria. We waste our scarce resources on flying abroad.

Four. We all know that one of the reasons our manufacturing collapsed was due to lack of power yet we have not been able to generate, transmit and distribute sufficient and substantial power nationwide. And the amount of money which has been pumped into that sector has achieved no commensurate results. No leader can consider himself successful if unable to find a lasting solution to these disgraceful power outages in our country. The state of our infrastructure is too miserable for our size and status in the comity of nations. Apart from lack of enough resources we need to kill the nauseating bureaucracies that tend to slow down too many things but we still have not done enough to turn this around.

Five. It must worry us to high heavens that majority of our youths have no jobs. This is what has increased the spate of violence and general insecurity astronomically. But the jobs will not come if our youths are not well groomed and ready for the challenges ahead. A government that has no sense of urgency cannot achieve these things in eight years. What is obvious to me is that at the snail-speed we have started again in 2019, we may not get too far in correcting our anomalies between now and 2023

It would be a big shame.

Headline

Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway: Prioritize Existing Unfinished Projects, Peter Obi Tells FG

Published

2 days ago

April 22, 2024

Eric

Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, has advised the federal government to prioritize existing unfinished projects spread across the country instead of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project.

Obi, in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, stated that the project was a misplaced priority given the numerous unfinished roads throughout the country.

The former governor of Anambra State mentioned that the budget allocated to the Ministry of Works is insufficient for significant progress on the country’s various unfinished roads, much less their completion.

Obi therefore, advised that the government prioritize the existing infrastructural projects in the country before embarking on any new and colossal projects like the Lagos-Calabar super highway project.

“The Federal Ministry of Works 2024 capital budget of N892,461,262,656.00, additional funding from multilateral loan projects of N94,828,535,243.00, alongside other expected contributions from sources like the China-Exim Bank and the World Bank, will not be enough for serious work on all the critical roads, some of which I enumerated above, let alone their completion.

So, why embark on another huge project that will not be completed in the next 20 or 30 years?

“To do so will only exacerbate the problem of abandoned, uncompleted projects that are not contributing to economic growth and overall development.

“Therefore, while acknowledging the potential benefits of coastal superhighway infrastructure, I urge prioritization of our existing uncompleted projects. We must allocate resources towards repairing and completing existing infrastructure.

“In any development formula, the primary focus should be on completing and rehabilitating existing infrastructure rather than embarking on colossal new projects that may never reach completion within the next 30 years,” Obi said.

Back in March, the Federal Government began constructing the 700-kilometer Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, designed to extend through 9 states with two spurs leading to the Northern States.

Recall that former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, had earlier described the project as a fraud.

“Umahi had announced that Hitech would fully fund the project, and based on this, there was no competitive bidding. He (Umahi) then said that Hitech could only raise just 6% of the money for the pilot phase. This smacks of deceit,” Atiku said.

Headline

2027 Presidential Race: Opposition Parties Under Attack

Published

3 days ago

April 21, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

While it is still a whole three years before the next general election in 2027, The Boss has learnt that opposition parties in the countries are being muffled to pave the way for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to return to, and retain power.

From the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the Labour Party (LP), and down to the New Nigerian Peoples Paty (NNPP), crises have engulfed the rank and files, in what a source told this paper was the attempt and making of the ruling party, APC, to decimate, destabilize and make redundant the machineries of the opposition parties.

It is believed that by 2027, the apparatuses holding together the various opposition parties would have weakened irredeemably to the extent the country would seemingly nosedive into the inglorious one party state that every civil right advocate and democrats abhor.

It is alleged that all the crises in all the opposition parties are being engineered by the President Bola Tinubu-led ruling APC, with the hope of getting the fibres of their system weakened, thereby luring the members of the crisis-ridden parties into the APC.

Slightly one year after the last presidential election, the two major opposition platforms, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party, have separately been embroiled in a crisis of confidence which has diminished their capacity to provide viable opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The crises in both opposition parties got to a head. The Labour Party led by its national chairman Julius Abure held its much-opposed national convention which was boycotted by its 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi; its only governor, Alex Otti of Abia State; federal and state lawmakers elected on its platform, and the organised Labour.

In the Labour Labour, members have been embroiled in endless battle of supremacy with a faction led by Mr. Apapa steadily contesting the leadership of Julius Abure.

Consequently, the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 elections, Mr. Peter Obi, reverence as a leader in the fold, noting that whatever the party faces presently, that Nigeria’s problems are far bigger than the crises in his party.

The LP has been embroiled in crises — ranging from allegations of misappropriation of funds, and leadership tussle, to calls for the resignation of the party’s national chairman.

TheCable reported that “On March 27, the LP conducted a national convention in Anambra state where Julius Abure was re-elected as its national chairman.

Obi did not attend the convention, fuelling speculations that he may be mulling over ditching the LP for another platform.

Speaking during an appearance on HaveYourSay247, an interactive online session hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo over the weekend, Obi said he is confident that the crises rocking the LP will soon be resolved amicably.

“Whatever is happening in the Labour Party is so minute compared to what is happening in the country,” Obi said.

“So, for me, it is something we will resolve amicably, and it is not anything to worry about. Let us worry about the country.

“Let us worry about how the average Nigerian would be able to have a means of livelihood to be able to eat, that should be our worry.”

Obi said he has no interest in being the party’s leader but only to make sure things are done properly.

“I don’t see what I do in politics as being the leader of any place or not. My position is that just like I always say, I am not desperate to be president of Nigeria, I am desperate to see Nigeria work because I know it can work,” he added.

“We have a more desperate situation. Parties are just a means to be able to contest elections. What is important is that being a leader of a party does not reduce the price of food.

In the PDP, the shenanigans of former Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, has practically kept the party in constant crisis with many observers concluding that the now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is working for the APC, and is just a mole in the PDP. Wike has denied the allegation, however,

But news filtered in last week as that the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, and Minister may have concluded plans to attend the much advertised National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), billed to hold on Thursday, in Abuja.

Impeccable source, who is in the know, told The Boss that the minister, whose membership of the PDP is yet to be revoked even as he frolicks with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and serving in the President Bola Tinubu government as a minister.

The Source told The Boss that Wike’s impending presence at the NEC meeting on Thursday was not unconnected with plans, already hatched with some governors, to weaken the opposition PDP.

“Yes, we have on good authority that FCT minister, Wike is planning to attend the NEC meeting tomorrow all in a bid to weaken the fabrics of the PDP, and pave the way for the continuation of the Tinubu administration come 2027, and by extension, relapse Nigeria to a full blown one party state.

“From every indication, Wike and his co-travellers, are bent on unleashing the same crisis ravaging the third force, Labour Party, and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s Nigerian National People’s Party (NNPP) on the PDP for the APC to remain the only political party in the country, and ensure that Tinubu has no challenger, come 2027,” the Source said.

It would be recalled that Wike has boasted over and again that there’s no opposition against Tinubu’s re-emergence in 2027, and that they have made sure of that. He has been compensated with the Ministerial job after he withdrew support for his party, and supported the APC and Tinubu to emerge as national government.

The Source further revealed that in the attempt to actualize the intended one party state, a lot of funding is ongoing to ensure that concerned stakeholders are ‘settled’ handsomely.

Wike, prior, during and after the 2023 general elections, has been floating in between the two major political parties; the APC and the PDP. While he claim to still be a member of the PDP, he is functioning as a minister in an APC government, mocking the inability of his party to discipline him.

While political stakeholders concluded that the outcome of the Thursday’s PDP NEC meeting will determine the path Nigeria’s political trajectory will take, and that it may portend the end of multi-party system and political democracy if Wike succeeds in his plan; every page of what finally transpired at the meeting pointed to the fact.

The much touted removal of the party chairman, who is believed to be a crony of the Abuja minister, Damagum, retained his seat, with his executives.

“It is very clear to everyone that a lot of money politics is being played to cajole many loyal members of the party, forcing them into frustration, and eventually it of the party. The option afterwards, will be the APC. This, will for all intent and purpose actualize the intended one party state as an APC agenda.

The Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso-led NNPP is not faring better either. The only governor under their ticket, Abba Kabir Yusuf, just had the confidence of their party on him withdrawn. He was fighting for his political life until suddenly it was announced the the APC in Kano has collapsed its structure into the NNPP.

“This is just another APC strategy to actualize their hidden intentions. Time will reveal the very sinister agenda they harboring,” an analyst said.

Much as 2027 is still three years away, but intrigues are in play to render Nigeria a one party state, and perpetuate the APC in power. The three other opposition parties are basically under attack to bring to pass this unpopular agenda.

Headline

Akwa Ibom Government, Governor Umo Eno Receive Top Honors at the 10th Wonders of the World Expo in Lagos

Published

3 days ago

April 21, 2024

Admin

The Akwa Ibom State Government and Governor Pastor Umo Eno were recognized with Travellers Awards at the 10th Wonders of the World Expo in Lagos for their sustained enhancement of infrastructure, support for local talent, and dedication to investment in the tourism sector. The ceremony took place at the National Museum in Onikan, Lagos.

While Akwa Ibom won the Most Active Tourism State of the Year, Governor Eno was adjudged the most Tourism-Friendly Governor of the Year at the event that had Minister of Tourism, Mrs. Lola Ade John in attendance.

According to Amb. Ikechi Uko, Founder/Publisher of ATQ Magazine, the organizers of the event which is in its tenth edition, Akwa Ibom State won the top prize “in recognition of its valiant and resourceful efforts to drive and sustain domestic tourism by promoting the industry.

‘In 2023, Akwa Ibom was one of the states that hosted World Tourism Day (WTD ) events. The state also organized the famous Christmas Unplugged, which featured music, food, and cultures from all 31 LGAs as well as ensured friendly policies.”

While hoping that the Travellers Awards would spur Akwa Ibom to do more to dominate the domestic tourism industry, the organizers hoped that the state would gradually evolve into one of Nigeria’s top international tourism destinations.

That was not all, the state Commissioner of Culture and Tourism, Sir Charles Udoh was also recognized as one of the Top 100 Tourism Personalities in Nigeria for demonstrating exceptional leadership and innovation in the travel and tourism industry, while other Akwa Ibom indigenes and entity were also celebrated: Mrs. Ime Udo, Honorary Special Adviser to the Governor( Tourism) won Tourism Promoter of the Year, Favour Udo won Tourism Photographer of the Year, Loretta Effiong and Prince Uduak Sunday (Qua Tours) were listed among the Tourism Personalities of the Year and Ibom Air won Airline of the Year International.

In his remarks, Sir Charles Udoh, who represented the Governor at the event, thanked the organizers for the awards and noted that Akwa Ibom is certainly enjoying the golden era when it comes to tourism development. He stated that Governor Umo Eno is very keen on making Akwa Ibom a leading tourism destination with his programmes and policies.

He revealed that with the new Victor Attah International Airport nearing completion, the purchase of a ferry for the Oron-Calabar route, new developments along its coastline and the restoration work that will be done at all its major tourism sites, Akwa Ibom is well on the way to becoming the number one destination for all domestic and foreign tourists.

In her speech, Tourism Minister, Mrs. Ade John hailed the organizers for hosting the Expo, where practitioners were lectured by top experts while also rewarding those who have excelled in the past year.

She affirmed that her ministry is open to partnership with public and private sector operators, adding that tourism development can only be successful through collaborative efforts.

The event, which attracted leading and budding tourism professionals, also featured interactive and entertainment sessions.

Apart from Sir Charles Udoh and Mrs. Ime Udo, the Akwa Ibom State delegation, also included: Mr. Michael Effiong James, Senior Special Assistant (Lagos Liaison) to Governor, Mrs. Eme Bassey, Special Assistant to Governor (Lagos Liaison) and Akparawa John Offiong, Deputy Director ( Culture) Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

More photos below: