Now that everything about the new political dispensation has settled down, with the various state executive inaugurations also replicated at the federal level and with the dissolution of the fifth house of assembly and the commencement of the majority freshmen and women in the legislative arm, there is an expectation of vibrancy in the manner of approach that the new administration of Shehu Umar Yar Adua is wont to take.

Exercising patience in the way he handles the assigning of responsibilities, he should ensure that he balances well the need for a kow towing to the systemic process of governance and a personal need for a fulfillment of those yearnings he holds close to his heart. The millions of Nigerians, not minding highfallutin talk by the political gladiators are united in the belief that this seemingly simple man can actually offer them a better deal than his immediate predecessor,

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Of power, the rule of law and the servant leader:


On May 29 2007, the people of Nigeria were not prepared for anything spectacular as they were more or less disinterested with the swearing in of Shehu Umar Yar Adua as the incumbent president and commander in chief of the nation. This was coming off the heels of an Olusegun Obasanjo administration who had exhausted his constitutional two term of eight years tenure, we were made to believe later that he had actually explored the possibility of a tenure elongation via an amendment to the constitution. Although this was met with admirable resistance from the national assembley. The moment was to be a defining paradigm in thon the role of the legislature in maintaining democratic norms under the rule of law as the speech as given by the then senate president Ken Nnamani ably encapsulates.


The various motives which influenced the decisions of most lawmakers opposed to the idea although were suspect as a lot of money was reported to have changed hands among the members of the respective camps, the other camp being sympathisers of the then vice president Atiku Abubakar who was embroiled in the intricacies of high level political power play bent on scheming him out from contesting the upcoming presidential elections. The legislators would in time have their own date with the question of credibility as both houses had hitherto been embroiled in controversies ranging from the amazing to the outright absurd in their eight year lifespan. The elections in itself was mired in the midst of irregularities and various degrees of intimidation and in some cases legitimate voters were disenfranchised, the violence that characterised the conduct of the polls in certain areas were spearheaded by friends and associates of the various contending parties and most of these guys are allies of the powers that be.


A lot of them still walk the street as free men and some "cannot be arrested" as stated by the security officials of state and the unfortunate ones that lost their lives during skirmishes are regarded as sacrifices for the entrenchment of a workable electoral process as it was accepted by the majority of the populace that things were to remain the way they were and that the law was selective in it's administration of justice. Moreso when viewed against the backdrop that the new president was an obvious anointed son of the outgoing president whose eight year reign was fraught with the flagrant disregard of the rule of law, classification of a few as sacred cows and therefore above the law and the high level corruption in the system that in most cases was shielded from the scrutiny of the public under the guise of party affairs or "family affairs".


So when on may 29 2007 Shehu Umar Yar Adua took a deep breadth before he made his inaugural speech, not a few were disinterested, a lot of those people present at the Eagle Square must have felt themselves at the threshold of history as being witnesses to the installation of this man from Katsina state whose brother might had been a president of the country had he not been a victim of the military junta under the Abacha regime in those heady days of the struggle for the present democracy which some individuals are earnestly attempting to undermine as many in the podium were already dreaming dreams on how to take the opportunity to have a chair on the table where the national cake is being masticated, while others might be thinking "We can actually make this thing work!".


To the onlooker in the street it was like "Make we just hear wetin the man go talk". The words spoken that day somehow made most to have a feeling that perhaps we might just be able to get things going. As spoken by the president, he expected Nigerians to believe him and trust him, that he was going to be to us as a servant and that it is to us that he owes his allegiance. Well, no president had spoken those words before. Used to the usual brashness of the military heads of state and the repetitions that plague the efforts of politician civilians which had so largely being proven by the uneventful eight year rule of his predecessor we were consoled and our feelings were assuaged by the mien of this man whom most heard with their hearts. After the speech, it was like a cloud had been lifted, his seven point campaign agenda was made a priority and we were assured of a new arrangement where the rule of law was to be effected to the letter.


The political situation in those early days of the present administration were as terse and tense as the various machinations behind the scenes were carried out by foot soldiers of the new order and die hard loyalists of the passing one, the ways and manner in which these underhand arrangements and negotiations were carried out showed that there existed still a tug from the ruling PDP elite which somewhat restrains the progressive ideals of governance that the Yar Adua government would want us to believe they posess. The spectre of deceit and blackmail that trailed the baton of exchange of the office of the BOT chairman was a publicity nightmare that the party somehow managed. Honchos of the previous cabinet were systematically schemed out of things but hordes of loyalists were rewarded with executive and legislative positions in the various states and local government levels.


However, amongst these were some that had a belief that the nation could indeed positively realise her potentials in her peoples but others had different ideas as was to be seen in the various events that were to unfold. The various heppenings in the political arena were of less concern to the average citizen as they were viewed as amusing talk and rigmarole, what they wanted to see was concrete moves to get things going and to some extent, things are moving albeit slowly, but steadily. Given some good run up it could even fly and this fact has been realised and this is believed to have geared up the entire political-economic policy of the Yar Adua government. The power sector is being geared up to maximise the eternal power problem plaguing the entire nation. This is in fact one of the many laudable programmes that was initiated by the PDP government of Olusegun Obasanjo who actually launched a few stations before the end of his administration. The incumbent however has gone much farther by ensuring that all the power projects are concluded as soon as practicable and working at full capaity, the totality of the power stations should be able to generate about 10,000 megawatts of electricity, just about enough to ensure a steady power pool for the nation and some of her neighbours.


If this is achieved, it should be something short of a miracle considering the power crisis that is faced by most African countries. This among others has given people a hope that further gives the mind reason to believe that things could actually get better. Country wide, it was a feeling that had taken too long to come. The goal that was set was that the country would be a hub of economic activities which when translated would mean more than enough things to do to earn a good living baring the fact that one makes a conscious decision to become a deliquent, it was a laudable goal the willingness to pull together to assist in it's attainment not in short supply. A zero tolerance for corruption was declared and altercations between the EFCC and the chief law officer of the nation is believed to be the birth pangs of the delivery of an entrenched system for checking corruption as a duplication of duties should be avoided and a more streamlined and corruption detecting and investigative mechanism be realised.


The story of the Freedom of Information bill is another move that should engender transparency within the circles of government and her parastatals when it finally gets underway as expected. The search for a more acceptable electoral process has commenced as initiated by this administration and this was applauded by all with the calibre of personalities named to the commitee. The Niger Delta agitations were albeit temporarily taken care of with one of their own as the number two citizen and with concrete actions taken to formulate a long term solution to the issue. At least it was tabled as a national issue something previous administrations only paid lipservice to. The air of change was gradually blowing and the police force charged with the responsibility of maintaining law and order was working towards the modern policing methods of crime detecting as against crime fighting.


The judiciary at this time was coming off a string of decisions which had both been applauded and acknowledged as landmark right from the period of the upheavels that charecterised the run up to the 2007 presidential elections. Seeking to bar political opposition from contesting elections using the paraphernalia of executive office, the PDP government made attempts to thwart the ambitions of those categorised as opposition and disloyal, but landmark decisions ensured that reason and good conscience prevailed. The hope of a new beginning began to take more root when viewed against the perspective that if the executive and the judiciary and the legislature do their own jobs, the wheels of this project Nigeria would move at an unhindered pace. But like in most tragi-comic scenarios, there is always a cog in the wheels of progress as is the case that it has turned out to be in Nigeria less than 200 days into his expected four years tenure. If there is one thing that the government of Yar Adua has done it is to identify some elements within the polity that seem to have a different perspective of reality from the yearnings and aspirations of the average Nigerian in the street .


Hitherto Niger Delta militants who have metamorphosed to ransom demanding kidnappers, political thugs masquerading as party leaders and political office holders who believe they are above the law. If the words that were spoken on May 29 2007 are serious to the one who spoke it he has no choice but to take us on a carriage as he guides the way through and when we experience any cog in our wheel, it is his responsibility to take care of it. The president should be aware that aside the words he spoke on that day, he is become the president of the people and not the president from a party. This is more significant in the wise that as a party man his chairman and BOT might want him to kow tow to their leanings, but he should be mindful of the fact that his predecessor was never known for kow towing, infact he put them there especially during his second term in office.


A conflict of interest might naturally be expected as the presidency seeks to assert it's independence from the party while acknowledging the influence but a clear line of demarcation should be created as all aspects of nationhood, including her peoples and institutions are defined along the policies as set about by the government of the federation as headed by Shehu Umar Yar Adua.


The past few weeks had seen to a lot of happenings which are an amusing and interesting read, the trusted Nigerian society is never short of rumour mills and grapevine sources interspersed with the intermittent exposure of various scandals including corruption and sex. There was the story of some party officials involved in the rape of some lady and as yet, not much is being heard from the authorities, that shocking revelation presents itself as a scar on the administration. It is a well known fact that some of these cases of sexual assault are not reported, but for one to be done so brazenly and consciously to beats the imagination and for the perpetrators to still be left as free men lends credence to the failure of the rule of law in a security apparatus that claims to uphold the ideals of the president.


Macabre as the drama gets, we see a hitherto demi god wanting to be god within his territory disregarding the governor because he is his political godson and disregarding the federal government because even the last president was more or less defferential to him, it will be trite to see how his story ends as he has begun to thread on some sacred and time worn waters of culture and tradition. Now the above would not bother most as they are those involving private citizens like themselves, but when feelers started being filtered that things were not right in the House of Representatives, no one ever dreamed it would snowball into the type of national and personal embarrassment of the magnitude it has assumed.


From commitee appointments to the birthday party in the United States which the embattled speaker Patricia Olubunmi Etteh pulled through successfully, nothing was to prepare herself and her followers for the oncoming torrents as there was no inkling that the next card to be played by her growing number of disgruntled members would lead her to the bind that she has found herself. At the height of the allegations of a contract that was awarded for the purchase of vehicles and renovations of quarters of principal officers, the aloofness of the speaker was aluded to the presumed spuriousness of the allegations. It was likened to a smear campaign of sorts, however the idoko panel report has raised issues that need be addressed. Thus the current posturing by the speaker is not only uncalled for but irelevant and totally out of place.


Looking at the proceedings in the lower house is entertaining and exciting as the unpredictability of honourable members can be counted upon. As usual, many are in the various camps for different reasons, but I do hope that the lesson that would be learnt at the culmination of this impasse would be that no matter who one is, they cannot claim superiority to the rule of law. The only option open to Mrs. Etteh now is just to cling on to power, maybe if she is lucky she might ride the storm and it will all end up a family affair with an amicable settlement. Otherwise, she should spare herself any more ignominy and shamefacedly resign and keep quiet in the house, Nigerians being who they are would forgive her in a few years and maybe she might be the first female vice president someday if the respect for the rule of law dies today.


But alas, the drama is enough, irrespective of who her sponsors, frontmen and backers are, they are not the ones being spat on, she is. Her sitting, staring and smirking poise at successive sittings of the house watching her colleagues who are inherently her peers singing war songs, battling and dying all on the supposedly hallowed floor of the house should be tiresome to her at least by now. Power corrupts only those who are drunk from it and it would show an immense power if one can let go of what one hitherto held, that is "will power". The stance of the speaker and her supporters show a very discernible power behind the scenes working in the favour of Mrs. Etteh, but clearly, it has been confirmed that she indeed has issues to clarify.


The proponents of the probe were not much interested in the mode of atonement but were particular about the process followed in the approval of such contracts as the initial cry was to the fact that due process was not followed in the award of the said contracts. From the truly credible members of the house to the new comers wanting to make a name for themselves and even those who got the short end in the appointment of commitee chairmanship positions, there was a new unifying bond of camarederie insisting that the panel report must be read on the floor after the speaker must have stepped aside which to all intents and purpose was the sane, rational and normal thing to do but we have been treated to an amazing show of the physical and aggressive abilities of our lawmakers who are fathers, mothers and supposedly respected members of society. If this show can become a reality in one of the prime institutions of our democracy under the Yar Adua government, then what right do they have to occupy the exalted positions in which they have found themselves in? What moral justification do they have to tell their kids that violence does not pay? What right do they have to preach about patriotism and nationhood when by their nvery actions they demean the very character of Nigeria? These are some of the questions that should be asked to each and every member of the house and each and every holder of political office in the nation who think that the fate of over 140 million people can be toyed with.


The president must put his foot down and ensure that his dreams are not scuttled by the very factors which seek to ensure his failure as these factors are within and around him. He should prove himself to be the president of the people and not the president of the party. Are we to believe that under this dispensation there still exists some who can lord it over the law? The last bastion that stands for the common man is the law, but what happens when the law hangs like a sword of Damocles on the heads of the common man, when one can be arrested for days without trial, where one can have rapists on the loose ready to pounce again, where known killers and murderers are adulated and feted in state banquets.


There must not only be the rule of law, "The law should rule!". This should be the point that must be made and the president of the federation, Shehu Umar Yar Adua must realise that somehow, the people are watching these unfolding events and will use it as another yardstick to measure the sincerity of those words spoken by him on that Tuesday of May 2007.

I am hoping the man does not end up like those before him. I mean I don't want to say I am all behind him being the one to start the process we have all been waiting for in Nigeria but I will say that I am optimistic and know that if he truly wants to change things, he can. Will he? That is for him to decide.

The threshold of anarchy:

Now we assuredly approach a crossroads in the confrontation between the tenets of order and the rule of law on the one side and disorder and a tendency to lawlessness on the other side. This discourse is not intended to discredit the justified struggles of the peoples of the Niger Delta who have suffered a total neglect by successive regimes and administrations rather, in solidarity with the struggle, we seek to condemn in no unneccessary terms the resort to violence and intimidation as employed by some versed in the unleashing of terror under the guises of militancy for the cause of the peoples of this most deprived region. Never in the history of the political man has it been proven that a resort to violence and terror was the best option or approach in resolving issues.

While it was hitherto regarded as a right of a people to revolt under bad governance, contemporary constitutions have expunged this in the face of modern reality of a negotiated coexistence. The issue of violence and militancy in the niger delta is a natural developement from the many years of neglect of developing but the peoples and infrastructures in this part of the country. The niger delta aside, other parts of the nation has continued to suffer from this malaise but the reason why the delta has raised concern is because the immense wealth that is generated for the nation is wholly derived from their territory. Thus it becomes unacceptable that the squalor and crass underdevelopement that bedevil the various communities that make up this area continues. Thankfully, there has been a realisation of the fact that these peoples need to be pacified, if not for anything, but for the severely damaged eco system that is vital to their continued survival and sustainability. However, this is not the only reason, but also for the fact that they need to become fully intergrated into the nations mainstream, some would argue that the fact of the number two guy lends credence to the fact that this has actually become a reality, but it should go beyond that and proceed to provide the basic neccessities of food, clothing, shelter and also infrastructure that would be of both an economic/ financial benefit to the peoples.

The establishment of the NDDC by the immediate past administration was regarded as a step in the right direction and it is still expected that much would be achieved by the commission if it can avoid playing politics with her terms of reference. The involvement of the nations oil regulatory body and her multinational partners in community developementm is laudable and should be extended to touch the lives of ever more communities and individuals who are most in need of this assistance which rather than being a favour should under normal circumstances have been a right. With the conscious efforts by the current administration at enthroning a polity which is underlined by the respect for the rule of law, the marauding pillagers masquerading as politicians and community leaders should become more alert as any slip up could mean them answering some embarrassing questions as to their actions in the missaplication of funds meant for public service. The populace is becoming more politically aware and most folk these days would actually want to be involved in having a say in the way they are governed, only most are still afraid for their safety.

This issue of security or the lack of it is gradually becoming the great obstacle to the wholistic transformation of the majority "followership" of the state. The challenge to the present administration is not merely making noise about the power sector or other sectors of the economy. We believe that the biggest monster that has to be tamed is the security issue. But sadly, the domestic security of the nation is not just something that some officials would parade some apprehended or expended suspects and show them on television, that would still not make me go to sleep with both eyes closed.

In this regard, the challenge to provide adequate security for the majority of the citizenry is not just to Mr. President who is the chief security officer of the nation, it also goes to the various security apparatus of the country, the army, navy, airforce, police, civil defence and all other apparatus of state security. It is a shame that federal government establishments and parastatals and also private firms (both local and foreign) are dialoguing with known criminals hiding under the guise of militancy on terms on the securing if their installations. It is a shame that where our military is touted as one of the best in Africa, they do not have the wherewithal to comprehensively combat these terrorists and bring out a return to normalcy in our delta water ways. The corruption inherent in the nations security apparatus is appaling as it has degenerated into a situation where individuals and not the institutions which they represent are accorded respect. It is a shame that in the face of those who are trained to protect lives and property, unresolved high profile politically motivated killings, daily armed robbery attacks on financial institutions and brazen kidnaps are the order of the day. In this regard, how does one justify the demands made by militants to be given over half a billion naira for the securing of some federal installed installations located within our waterways. The ridiculousness of the matter is that the GMD of the nations oil regulatory body publicly confirmed ongoing negotiations with folk who have been associated with kidnapping, ransom, hostage taking and many other punishable offences? It is not so hard to imagine though, not where we have been told that officials of state have variously employed these hoodlums to perpetrate their many anti people atrocities.

Methinks it is high time that the spirit of the law is proven to be in tandem with the letter, that it is the time where the institutions that exist to provide the security of a state live up to their responsibility and do their jobs. 700 Million naira demanded by these militants could well be enough to motivate a special intervention that could totally nip this militancy in the bud. The various war courses taken by our military officers should be put to use, because to all intent and purpose, if a war is not declared on the criminality that is being brazenly expressed by these militanst, it is very well likely that a war is what the nation is going to find themselves in with the rebels in the creeks as most studies of guerilla rebellions follow a similar chronology of events as that being presently witnessed in the niger delta (that is not a prayer for our dear Naija).

Action however should be taken now as we are at that point which is very close to a breaking point, because if some militant can make demands from a federal government parastatal and the state concedes to pay for services which she has personnel trained by taxpayers money (and of course this same oil money too), then of what use is the state in providing security as would well have been under the mercy of the same elements that can bend the arm of the state to submission, then the question would arise "What is the use of the state?", and such questions only act as a precursor to anarchy

Let us hope that the federal government under the present leadership would do something and fast too to assure the citizens of their security, then no one would have to bother about the vandalisation of the equipments of the expected massive action in the power sector and in any other sector for that matter. . .

Free Press Under Siege?

Now I hope we are not seeing the beginnings of the chickens coming home to roost. After barely two years in the saddle, is the government of Shehu Umar Yar Adua beginning to bare it's fangs? First, we were witnesses to the unlawful and illegal closure of Channels Media house after there was a report that ruffled the feathers in Aso Rock. The fact that incessant calls to the public relations team of the president refused to refute the perceived misinformation after persistent inquiries were made only goes to show the attitude of those folks charged with providing the nation with information about the presidency and state affairs that is perceived as relevant to the populace whom the presidential mandate represents under a presidential system of democratic governance.

We would not dwell here on the less than satisfactory conduct of these guys during the absence of the president from the country for God knows what, at least the president told us he was undergoing the lesser Hajj, although most might want to argue to the contrary. Anyways, the point being made is that the signals emanating from state house is that some information are best left unrevealed, even when these information are relevant for the people to understand the activities of a president representing the dreams, hopes and aspiration of the over 140 Million Nigerian citizens. The oath of secrecy that was undertaken at the Rock some time ago was justified as enshrined somewhat in some constitutional Act, but Nigerians want to know why they cannot aspire to a better life in the midst of plenty and if a secrecy oath would mean a fresh attempt at sincerely prompting those policies that would engender a stable environment for sustainable economic development, then let the oaths be taken.

Okay, we undertand that actually, there are some information that are classified due to security considerations, we know about the Central Intelligence Agency and the M16, even the Mossad and those guys from Moscow. These outfits have been known to take extreme measures at critical times of perceived threats to national security, but even in these matured societies, there are prescribed procedure for the obtaining of information as it is regarded as the right of citizens to have access to any and all sort of information that he or she so desires should a need arise, perhaps in judicial proceedings, legislative hearings etc. Another attack on the issue of the right to information is the issue of the Freedom of information bill, the stringent attempts at emasculating it's passing definitely makes it seems like someone is desperately trying to have something remain within the closet.

Did I digress, I guess I did, but there are so many things to talk about that I find it difficult to gather my thoughts. Where does one actually begin? Is it the speech delivered on May 29, 2007 by an individual who promised to be a servant leader? Is it the promises of the respect of the rule of law that was made? Is it the hopes of a disillusioned people that were raised only for it to find itself at great risk of being dashed taking into consideration the exigencies of contemporary realities in the nation?

Channels was mentioned in the first paragraph of this write up, personifying the free press. Regarded`as the fourth estate of the realm, the press becomes the eye in which society is viewed from. For those not so grounded in the concepts of political democracies, a simple explanation would suffice here. We all know the three arms of a democratic government to be the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. Under a constitutional democracy (which if we remember was bequeathed to the world by the French and popularized by the United States in the late 18th century), the free press becomes the unofficial fourth arm as it provides an avenue for the common people to gauge the performance of the government as located in the above three well known arms. That is why the freedom of the press is a very firm principle on which any genuine democracy is based.

In matured democracies, we see their press being less than modest in criticizing leaders and individuals in public offices, we see the most influential global figures being satirized and made fun of just to get messages across that some certain policies are not popular with a section of the populace. I have never heard the NBC being closed down as a result of satires on George Bush expressed by a talk show host, Conan O'Brien. These remarks are never viewed as security threats as no one government official would make much issues of such when more serious issues as the economy and the security threat posed by a plethora of domestic and external factors are of prime importance. But in Nigeria, the case`is different oh, as any such report is viewed as a security threat and the State Security Service would be dispatched with immediate effect to enforce an unlawful close down, with employees going about their legitimate duties harassed, assaulted, sometimes battered and thrown into detention without trial and it would take the effusive pleadings and beggings (and only God knows what else) of their oga, an indigenous entrepreneur to the god in Aso Rock to allow his outfit permission to carry out their legitimate and constitutionally recognized business of news reportage. And perhaps, the god just happened to chastise him a little and ordered him to go ye and sin no more.

Much as eyebrows were raised at this development, most were still wont to believe that there must have been some breach in communication and the over zealousness of the news staff of the media outfit was enough reason to overlook this obvious transgression of the SSS with obvious approval of the presidency. Aside that, sympathy on the plight of the president and a support for his policies and presumed principles meant that we still gave support to the man Yar`Adua. However, recent developments have made some rational mindede folk to begin to take a cursory look at the style of our president and his tolerance for free speech and information management in an age of ever increasing information accessibility in the transnational super highway of information communications technology.

Mind`you, this is not a military regime. This is a constitutional democracy, although some of our national father figures like Chief Anthony Enahoro and Prof. Wole Soyinka would call to question the legitimacy` of the subsisting constitutional framework, the belief that as one people, united in our diversity and thus stronger as a unit, we can achieve sustainable development and even surpass millennium development targets, as long as there is a genuine desire to harness the rich endowments in manpower and resources that the nation represents. Had this been an Abacha era, it would have been better understood. We might have even understood an Obasanjo clamping down on the free press with his well known penchant for disliking the press. But, a clampdown on the press under a Yar Adua administration beats all known sense of reason.

Some few weeks ago, I was privy to the information that the publisher of the web blog elendureports.com, Jonathan Elendu, was arrested and detained by the SSS without trial, an infringement on his human and constitutional rights and a perversion of all known forms of justice. Thankfully, there was some noise generated about this arrest and he has since been released. Just when we were smarting from this injury to our confidence in the Yar Adua claim to respect for the rule of law and all it's appendage freedoms, another information came to the effect that another web publisher of the site huhuonline.com, Emeka Asiwe, had also been arrested. Wetin dey happen self? Whatever happened to free press? Is it dead or is the Yar Adua administration doing it's best possible to murder the free press? What is the crime of these guys that it has to be the SSS that is trailing them a la the totalitarian rule? If the SSS don't got much to do, at least they should focus their attention on other salient issues that are within their jurisdiction instead`of being a tool in the hand of a government that is increasingly showing it's limited tolerance for counter opinion in an age of limitless and boundless information dissemination. Talk of killing a umumanya (small ant) with a large mortar.

I doubt if the SSS might have gone after these guys had they gone about singing the praises of the ruling party or the president himself. What is the Yar`Adua administration so afraid of that it has got to let loose its instruments of extreme force on the citizenry? We are not talking about the Police here, nor are we talking about the various armed forces, no. We're talking about the organ of state that is responsible for the covert collation of strategic information that is of interest or concern to the Nigerian government. Whatever ills might bedevil the apparatus that harbor the national instruments of force is a direct reflection of the weakness of the Nigerian polity. The intimidation, harassment, arbitrary arrests, assaults, battery and sadly killings, have made these security outfits to become dreaded rather than a friend to the very citizens whom they exist to "serve and protect", it is so tragicomic.

We believe that it is the gravest mistake that the Yar`Adua administration can make when it decides to deviate from it's laudable tenets and rather seek to hunt a sector of the polity, the press which is regarded internationally as a parameter for measuring democratic standard. Or, I doubt if the government realise that a vibrant press, free from the shackles of state domination and the manacles of official persecution is a prerequisite for the achieving not just the Millennium Developement Goals, but also the much talked about Vision 2020, since the only thing the people see on the seven point agenda are television advertorials and uppity talkshops publicized on the pages of newspapers.

Emasculating the press would only lead to a nightmare for the Yar`Adua administration, he should ask Abacha (God rest his soul)

Nigeria is not a police state, the law exist to protect the citizenry and not to terrorise. Under no circumstance whatsoever must we be made to undergo those dark years of tyranny that just before the advent of the fourth republic, never again. If it has to take a thousand people to be incarcerated, I believe that there are thousands more that would readily take their space. No body has a right to gag anybody under a democracy where the rule of law exists and if the president is an apostle of the rule of law as he claims, he should distance himself from these arbitrary intimidations and call the instruments of state perpetrating these harassments to order.

One truth that history has consolidated is that tyrannies are born, they grow and they reign, but a thing that has always survived governments and regimes and empires has been the people and free press.

Emeka Asiwe and all prisoners of conscience should be released and immediately too. All members of the free press who are incarcerated under different circumstances must regain their freedom. The right of the press to exist as a free enterprise under a democratic framework must be reiterated. The president must take the lead in this, if not for anything, at least to show to his people that we can still have confidence in the words of that humble man who stood on the podium and received the reins of state from the military establishment and belted out a speech that inspired a new belief in Nigeria and Nigerians.

In the name of the Father

In a time such as this, where developmental objectives has been identified and and possible road maps whereby such objectives can be met are being brainstormed over by all well meaning citizens, it beats my imagination hollow that those who should be at the fore front are behaving like the proverbial ostrich, hiding their heads in the sand while exposing the greater parts of their body, chiefly the hind quarters.

This piece, rather than harboring any untoward intentions towards individual faith based belief systems, is intended at making an appeal to those in authority to divorce officialdom from personal sentiments and pet ideologies. Personally, I really do not believe that all those who make believe that their holy than thou attitude would earn them a place at the banquet hall of the great feast of redeemed mankind fully grasp the tenets of the teachings handed down to humanity by individuals who were to have existed today would distance themselves far away from the activities of the new holy men and women who straddlle the corridors of power within the Nigerian socioeconomic and political terrain.

It has become some sort of unofficial competition the way that these folks have sought to outdo themselves in their superficial show of righteousness, amassing awards and recognition, making us ordinary folks feel that were salvation to be measured by human standards, any chance at us making the list would be near impossible.

What am I talking about? Well, that government officials, presumably elected to provide the very barest necessities for poor, impoverished citizens who are most in need of the states presence in their lives have turned to identifying most with constituencies that hold no significance with the true relevance of their positions. That official office hours have been transformed to prayer sessions and that even standard protocol have somewhat found a way to accommodate the personal idiosyncrasies of individual leaders claiming one sort of religious ideology or the other.

The hypocrisy here is obviously glaring as their actions both in office and out of it have falen far short of the minimum expected from true adherents of these faiths. From independence till date, we have had the opportunities of witnessing our leaders openly flaunt their religious affiliations, meanwhile, their lifestyle reek of corruption, perverse sexual appetites, bad governance, insensitivity and a total lack of rationality that belies the intellectual capabilities of humankind. Or how else does one explain the current state of the nation, underdeveloped, disoriented and disjointed in every ramification? This is a situation that has bedeviled the developmental aspirations of sane folks around and it is a rot that has eaten deep into every strata of leadership in every sector of this unfortunate nation.

The fact that these guys have shrouded their crimes with robes of religious hypocrisy is evident given the zeal at which we find them running to give thanks giving at every given opportunity, whether to give thanks at successfully manipulating electoral results or to give thanks after managing a feat of embezzlement that would make one cringe at the size or maybe for obtaining a piece of choice property in one of the Western Metropoles of the world, because we have been told recently that some of our own saintly officials have fashioned out their own unique and special response to the financial crisis by buying up choice properties in these cities in Europe and America. When would all these deceit end.

One never would have bothered with making any bones about these incidents as it is our belief that salvation is personal and that each and every one, some fateful day would ultimately answer some questions about our conduct while on terra firma's sphere of existence. But when one reads that some 300 Million Naira is expected to be generated for the construction of a church building for the National Assembly (Vanguard, Saturday November 29, 2008, Page 5), one is duty bound to raise some issues. With the names of personalities such as the Vice President, the Senate President and certain State Governors mentioned, it is not too far fetched to expect that this target amount would be realized and probably exceeded as the roll call of expected donors include the money moguls of society.

300 Million, for a church in Apo quarters, would the poor be allowed entry to worship in this church? Okay, maybe they would, but how would this venture contribute to the increased spirituality of individuals and if it does, would this translate to better legislating, I seriously doubt, not when some of these guys are doing their best possible to hide under the carpet a scandal that makes the Ettehgate incident look like mere childs play.

Not to deviate too far from these issues, I would expect that a 300 Million naira church fund is far from achieving the "love thy neighbor as thyself" doctrine that religions propagate. How many projects around the country are in dire need of such an injection of funds? Would it not be of more relevance if these funds are channeled towards the execution of projects that would make meaning to the lives of real people and not some artificially hallowed egos of those who claim a monopoly of ecclesiastic knowledge?

One is no expert at road construction, but I cannot help but to wonder how many kilimetres of road that this amount can construct. At least I know what it cost to build a bore hole, at the cost of 200,000 Naira per drill, 300 Million Naira would drill 1,500 bore holes, imagine 1,500 communities having access to portable water supply. A classroom block would not exceed 1 Million Naira, or scholarships for the training of manpower. A`30,000 Naira scholarship per student would sponsor 10, students for an entire academic session! Think of the ripple effects on the family who has gotten a weight lifted off their shoulders or the contribution that beneficiary would make to society. What other infrastructure can be put in place by such an amount of money in areas of health, amenities, security, does one glorified house of worship hold more significance than the truly lofty ideals of rendering help and assistance to those who are most in need?

I stumbled on the Vanguard`Newspapers of Friday, November 9, 2007 where the President of the Republic reportedly presented the 2008 budget, if my memory serves me right, this same budget was passed finally just a while ago, who were those responsible for this? Definitely not the streetside saloon lady who has been left with no electricity to conduct her business and I know that she constantly laments her fate to the hearing of this same God whom these holy government people claim to be want to impress. Now where will justice lie?

I apologize if by this write up some sensibilities have been offended, but methinks that if these folks want to carry on with their claim of spiritual accomplishments, they should at least endeavor to have the proverbial "brother" in mind and make the effort to cater for his needs.

Every one has a right to decide how to expend capital irrespective of the way that it was accumulated (at least our experience as Nigerians has corroborated the notion that anything goes in this society of ours), but the but still needs to be sounded as spirituality will not be measured by the grandiose of physical structures and architectural masterpieces which sinful man erects to prove to his creator that he is indeed a true reflection of the divine almighty. The ancient Israelites knew too well that the Lord had departed from his sanctuary of bricks even when they continued to offer their burnt offerings, in fact, the Lord caused the once grand temple to become desolate due to the abominable ways of his chosen people. When the heart is decadent, the entire being becomes lost.

Were this to be a sane society, the reported church bazaar would not be for the launching of a 300 Million fund for soothing and massaging egos that have identified the moral and ethical vacuum in their conduct, rather it would be a forum where our esteemed lawmakers would be lambasted for their failure at performing their constitutional duties expected of them by the people. But what can one say when we have self styled men of God compromising the standards of worship for filthy lucre like the servant of Elisha?

Only God can help Nigeria.

Good People, Great Nation, Bad Governance. . .

If there ever was an inspiring slogan, it has to be the one that was constructed by the team assembled by the irrepressible Dr. Dora Akunyili, the present Minister of Information who made a credible name for herself in her popular campaign against fake and sub-standard drugs while in the drivers seat of the National Agency For Food And Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC). This new initiative at branding the nation by the Yar-Adua administration was heralded with such pomp and peagentry, chopping up some few hours off of airtime on national television. Although the rhetoric is rebranding Nigeria, the exercise in it's very conception reeks of an attempt in futility.

This in itself does not signify an attempt to demean the significance of this new project, rather, in the consciousness of the average Nigerian, there really are things that need to be done that would fundamentally engender development and progress of the contemporary Nigerian society, are these things being done? In the speech read on his behalf by the Vice President, President Yar Adua was quoted thus, "If we as a nation must meet the MDGs, we must readily put in place a positive perception of Nigeria". It was surprising to witness yesterday that for an event which is being marketed to the over 140 Million peoples of Nigeria as the step that would lead us to our own developmental eldorado, the President and CEO of the Nigerian project was conspiciously absent. Not only was his esteemed presence missing, neither the Senate President nor the Speaker of the House deemed it neccessary to grace such a momentous occassion as the official "rebranding Nigeria" ceremony.

The read speech of Mr. President left so much to be desired, his absence from the ceremony was far from encouraging, and the good image which the Information Minister had garnered over the years is at the risk of being tarnished by the very forces which she so willingly intend to please by her image laundering attempts. The powers that be are very well comfortable with the status quo and until this decadent structure of the state is reformed, nothing much should be expected from the people as they have been giving their best all these years and cannot be expected to do more than the scope that the restraining Nigerian state had foisted on them.


Much as most of the nation had been forced to watch the wanton abuse of political office and power, much as security of lives and property had been threatened by an insecure state, much as injustices left unattended to for years had been left to fester into full blown internecine violence, much as education and infrastructure had been deliberately allowed to depreciate and dilapidate, the Nigerian people had remained unwavering, tenacious, resolute in their belief that "one day, e go better". The average Nigerian is confident, she will choose to be industrious in the face of challenges and he will work his socks off to fend for his family with a belief that it can be done. So, for the fact that the President feels the need to embark on a campaign for Nigerians to, "once more have confidence in themselves and in Nigeria" seem rather ambiguous and more like a cosmetic reason for a project that should hold so much hope.

It was interesting to hear the speech touch on the image that the nation is viewed by the international community, but what happens when the world sees Nigeria on CNN and BBC as one good and great nation, and elections are still witnessed to be replete with irregularities with questionable decisions from the Judicial processes? When a vast number of the people are without adequate electricity supply that perpetually cast the nation as a dark spot on the globe when viewed from outer space satellite images? This is a country where official transparency is shadowed in official oath taking ceremonies and accountability is being truncated by the sabotaging efforts of the anti "Freedom Of Information Bill" advocates. No element of window dressing ever keeps the cracks invisible from the naked eye, the practical thing to do is to replace a louver.

Listening to the Vice President speak, one must've wondered what was going on through his mind when he reeled out some beautifully constructed vocabs, consolidating the impression that Nigerians are indeed a great people. Even the original owners of the English language would be green with envy when they listen to the words as penned by the presidential speech writer. Hear, "The campaign signifies a renewed dawn to our collective interests to reorient, and embrace positive values of accountability, selfless service, diligence, transparency, abiding pride in our country which will not only drive the maximization of our creative and productive energy, but also diagnose a shared and progressive interest". I guess if the above were to be intepreted in the average Nigerian Pidgin English to the rural dweller in Biri'Nafada in Gombe state, or the peasant cassava farmer in Ugboha, Edo State, or to the average motor boy in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun state or the market woman in Mbaise, Imo state, they would express similar sentiments. Sentiments that they see the government as a good initiator of programmes, but a bad implementer of them.

Sorry for sounding harsh, but fifty years of a common history, fifty years of aborted programmes (laudable as some might have been), fifty years of failed promises, fifty years of misrule and corruption and inefficiency and ineptitude on the part of the state, fifty years of directionlessness and a wanton disregard for the yearnings and aspirations of the people are enough to cause one to at this point take any highfalutin rhetoric from a government that has been a part of the rot for the last two years of our history without meaningful significant change in the socio, political economic life of the nation, with a pinch of salt.

The Seven Point Agenda remains just that, an agenda, and the Vision 20 20 20 might just as well remain a vision in the light of the subsisting economic crisis which is defying the intellectual capacities of those saddled with the enormous task of managing the economy for the millions of hard working Nigerians who are at risk of experiencing the effects of delayed and brittle economic policies. The MDGs of which the President is so fond of mentioning (maybe due to it's technical sounding nature in speeches) is hardly being met by Nigeria, as we are neither on the road to achieving any nor are we making meaningful efforts towards achieving them except for the basic education goal which if not for a culture of education in the some parts of the country would have been mired in its non-accomplishment as there are as yet remains that big push required to engender a universal education policy that would benefit all parts of the nation.

While not apportioning blames, while identifying with the fact that even this writer is not trying to be "holier than thou", we must begin to address certain realities. Have we not discovered ourselves? The president said it is not about celebrating our failings, but about recognizing them and challenging ourselves and rising above it. Fine, agreed and accepted, lets do that now. The state is the problem in Nigeria, the state and all it's agents have been hijacked by thugs and charlatans in the garb of leadership. When a nation is being ruled by rogues whose political language is violent and well met with the violence evidenced in our electoral and political process, what does one expect governance to be?

Remember Mr. President that upon assumption of duties on that fateful May day in 2007, your speech was inspiring in its rhetoric of "rule of law" and a "zero tolerance for corruption". Two years down the line, how would your administration be assessed based on these two criteria alone?

Now the challenge is to the state and not to the Nigerian people. The way we speak, our utterances and our actions, as Dr. Akunyili mentioned, are just a reflection of the ripple effects of communication dissemination as emanating from the state being dispensed to the polity. The state takes the lead in any attempt at national development and the onus should not be on the people.

If the people see murderers and rapists go unpunished, if the people see that corruption is celebrated and flaunted by the state and her many networks of patron-client relationships, if the people see that justice is being transformed into a commodity that is subject to market forces, if the people see their taps without water and their roads riddled with death traps, if the people continue to power their subsistence existence on fuel powered generators, if the people cannot have the basic necessities of a life that is expected of such an endowed nation in the 21st century , then ten thousand branding or rebranding attempts would continue to meet with the failures earlier experienced by prior half hearted attempts at cosmetic surgery on the nations image. The "Heart of Nigeria Project" is a recent sad reminder of the cost of such failures with it's over 1 Billion Naira expenditure.

But must we continue to embark on such white elephant projects, rather than lining the pockets of a few individuals, such sum might have been invested in creating cottage industries, or awarding PHD grants or other educational/academic research, among the many other positive things that would have had a more positive impact on the nation, but we all know that even with it's been classified a monumental failure, no one would be held accountable why such a project was allowed to fail.

Like we mentioned earlier, we are good people, great nation? Potentially maybe, yes. We have the potentials to be great, but whether we attain greatness would depend on the goodness of our governance and the actions of the leadership of this nation at this critical point in our collective history and not on some official ceremony that does not hold much of a significance as to attract the presence of the heads of the three arms of government.

In these troubled times,

Anytime one domiciled within the Nigerian territories picks up any of the nations many dailies, he is immediately greeted with stories of other Nigerians from the other parts of the country, from the far flung reaches of the fringes of the Sahara to the coasts bounding the African continent with the two Atlantics. Once in a while, they might catch glimpses of stories from other continents, especially if it might have some connection with nationals. In a manner, the average citizen might seem helpless in the face of the many complexities and contradictions that the contemporary international system have foisted on a 21st century world. But more importantly, the things that will concern him the most are those things that have an immediate impact on his existence and livelihood. Within the context of today’s Nigeria, a great many issues have led to a feeling of solemn despondency by the at least 54.4% of the population living in relative poverty of $1.08 at the 2005 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

Almost on a daily basis, news stories and reports ranging from the criminal to the scandalous, and all the negative concepts and terms in between, continue to feed the dumbfounded throng of eager Nigerians, whose sole reward is to argue subjective opinions spiritedly after the daily dose of state ineptitude and inefficiency had been guzzled. The fact that most of these issues become ‘yesterdays news’ at the point of consumption plays little or no role in the gusto into which parties put into their individual analysis of issues, either in the hallowed halls of university faculties or in the many selling spaces of the various street side vendors strewn all over the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

By now, even when the citizenry await the much talked about electoral reforms, and the Nigerian populace have come to question the electoral process, the only one means by which a Nigerian citizen can have a say in this complex grill of uneven integration that the Nigerian polity had become, other issues such as unending industrial actions, spurious developmental claims, disarticulated policies, private and public corruption, the sophistication of organized violence, and an ever rising crime rate exacerbate the tensions within the polity leading to one living in a state of perpetual insecurity. However, the incidence of wanton and institutionalized violence becomes salient in the sense of its questioning the monopoly of force that underlie the preservation of security, a principle which defines an effective state. On a regular basis, reports of brazen criminal operations assail our sensibilities. When it is not mobilized and armed religious centered groups meting out mayhem to hapless and innocent citizens, it is often times violent agitations for resource control by disadvantaged and marginalized ethnic groups, venting their spleen, albeit justifiably. We should not forget the popular militants from the Niger Delta, couching their competition with the state for the regions resources with genuine demands that obviates the need for asking the question, “What has the state been doing for the last 50 years?”

The avid follower of events since political independence would recall the concept of the ‘developmental state’ that heralded the proliferation of new states since the culmination of the Second World War. But while it can be argued that these brood of former colonies were merely reinforcements of the prevailing international political economy, and that their development have either been stymied or supported to grow, benefiting from catalysts provided by the political and economic power poles of the international system, consideration is given of the fact that there exist an embarrassment of endowments spread across the vastness of the landmass of Nigeria that it can well provide in abundance for the nearly 200 Million peoples that have been destined to live as one within her geographical confines, leaving considerable surplus that can well be invested in the millions more unborn Nigerians that would inhabit these lands long after our generation must have departed.

A flip through the nations dailies would indeed raise serious questions on the sustainability of the Nigerian project on the eve of her golden jubilee of sovereign existence. Judging from the reports being provided by the heroes of the contemporary struggle, the courageous newshound, who permeate the armour of the petite bourgeoisie to provide us common proletarians with much needed enlightenment, a projection into the next fifty years seem littered with pain, with the peoples perennially subjected to a vicious cycle of poverty.

It must be mentioned that the heart which one shows in actually purchasing a newspaper publication reflects the unrelenting spirit of the average Nigerian citizen who is not put off by the economic tailspin which the global financial meltdown had inflicted on an already dysfunctional domestic economy. Many have remained unrelenting, sacrificing at least 100 of our distressed Naira currency, to be in the know of the scheming and shenanigans of the political gladiators that bestride the political space. This token amount could well be the difference between ones status and position in the international classification of poverty. These ones actually contribute to the contemporary Nigerian debate, with their hope that it would yield to a genuine social contract that would bind the essence of our togetherness and genuine nationhood.

This emerging national debate, which if it must be said have been consistently and consciously shirked by the party going on in the Federal Capital Territory is proving to be like the proverbial light that cannot be hid. Unfortunately however, the appropriate mechanisms for engaging in such debates under the contemporary constituted order are rather preoccupied with more mundane things, as both the green and red sides of the divide are as yet enmeshed in their attempts to define and redefine protocol over a year after their respective committees were convened. Meanwhile, quite ominously, the continuous search for where ‘Satan’ is domiciled makes headline news. How else could have the Nigerian populace been aware of the fact that ‘sciances’ and exorcisms still exist in the upper echelon of both the national state and its sub national appendages?

The average Nigerian is indeed rewarded when he debates the hypocrisy of the assumedly religious politicians. For the same pages one confronts state and public officials, indicted of one deviant act or the other, gleefully posing for nude photographic shots within the deep recesses of fetish primitivism, are the same pages that these officials give thanks with pomp and pageantry in various religious institutions and denominations, thanking God probably for aiding them in their successful actions of primitive accumulation. Makes one to wonder which God is actually being served?

It is no more news when gross incompetence is reported. What becomes news is the size and degree of appropriation. For that observer since independence, the brazenness of the late 20th century pale into insignificance when compared with the bizarre of the 21st century thus far. Some years ago, $12 Billion was lamented to high heavens and personal aggrandizement was redefined with platforms constructed for the storage of filthy lucre in some quarters. Those were the heady days of the ‘gap toothed general’ and the ‘dark goggled one’. However, little did we know that we were being primed for the incredulous when colossal sums were mentioned in a plethora of graft cases, from Halliburton to Siemens, to the unspecified monies of the power probes and the irony of the Rural Electrification scam where a hunter has paradoxically become the hunted, amongst countless of others.

Expectations that the emerging democratic order would bring with it the goods that the battered people badly needed continue to fizzle with the passage of time, and the Nigerian people who marched on into democracy and the new century with a hope borne of the fact that our collective experience as a nation would place the new political and ruling elite in good stead to recalibrate the trajectory of the nations political and socio-economic development have been disappointed to say the least. What has become of the sacrifices made in sweat and blood, the aftermath of the post June 12 pro democracy battles? Have they all been in vain? Where is transparency and accountability? What happened to the rule of law that we were all promised?

The story since the turn of the century have been founded on hollow growth and a haphazard and directionless policy regime, that does the common man no good. Governance has been abused and the system had been intentionally and consciously corrupted to maintain the access which some small fraction of the populace have to the paraphernalia of state. By incorporating segments of the economic, military, traditional and religious elites, this hybrid Polygarchy have let loose the fangs of the state on other sectors of the society, replicating itself at various sub state levels, for the sole purpose of self preservation. Protecting its networks of puns by promoting double standards, while meting selective justice for appeasement purposes, and for the benefit of the sycophantic cadre who see their role as official applause providers for state policies, good or bad. Under this reality therefore, it is hardly surprising that there is a morbid competition to accumulate bordering on the insane. With a false paradigm orientation entrenched by the discredited capitalistic notions copied from the colonial dispensation, capital accumulation had been turned on its head in its expression in Nigeria, and her economy is being sabotaged from within under a presumed logic of neo classical liberalism.

A computation of figures arrived at from some of the alleged misappropriations since 1999 would amount to all or most of the annual budget of many of the states in Sub Saharan Africa. With the political class consuming almost half of the nations budget each year, it is begging the question why the country has remained the way it is in an increasingly globalizing 21st century, disarticulated, disjointed, disillusioned and underdeveloped.

However, this piece is not meant for lamenting the subsisting state in Nigeria, as that job has become the favorite pastime of our political leaders, who when not lamenting our absence from the congregation of states that would form the core of the emerging international economic order (if not political as well), are either lamenting the snub given by the American head of states’ below par rating of the country’s efforts at governance, or lamenting their incapacity at providing a paltry 6000 Megawatts, power capacity that would not be able to scratch the surface of our drive towards being amongst one of the top 20 economies in about a decade from today. Even consistent failures at ensuring that the federal road networks are failure free are no longer news, not when the Lagos/Apapa federal roads he vein of the nations economy, are in a critical condition of disrepair.

Our leaders should know by now that tears and emotion laden tones do not make good roads, nor do they lead to development and economic prosperity. Even, their various throng of ‘abracadabra’ specialists would have told them so. One can recall a few years ago when a federal minister, fully fatigued in construction gear with a safety hat to match, along the Benin-Ore-Lagos Federal Highway, exhibited her enviable talents at ‘stagecraft’ in the glare of lights and cameras, but two years down the road, we are yet to see concrete action, and she was appropriately rewarded for that spectacle with another ministerial position and her continuous presence in the midst of the noveau aristocrats in their midweek backslappings and camera sessions.

Now when the nations educational sector lie prostrate, parties are being held by actors in the midst of the crisis, and more fundamental issues are trivialized with an emphasis on income. It is beyond the rationalizing of the authorities that education and a sound academic base provide the fulcrum on which growth in knowledge is firmed upon, and that for our educational institutions to rate at par with its contemporaries from other parts of the world, infrastructural development and better funding is required. While talks of accelerating the development efforts of the Niger Delta was ongoing, the subsisting regime chose to mark its two years in office with carnage in Gbaramatu, following this up with an offer of amnesty that few have subscribed to due to it’s disregard for the local oil bearing communities exploited these past fifty years and its lack of a sustainable post amnesty framework.

As if to rub the scale of its insensitivity to the Niger Delta in, the state had proposed, via the suspect Petroleum Industry Bill some unacceptable proposals that underlie the constant insinuations held by this most deprived of peoples that some individuals within the polity actually feel that the state exist at their behest. What can one say about a minister who has been in the corridors of the petroleum industry, and have not only amassed stupendous wealth as a result, but has also contributed to the rot over the last three decades making unguarded statements and utterances belying his comprehension of the immensity of a problem he cannot deny not being a major party to?

It is a sad testimony that when some elements should be called to account for their years of association with the development of underdevelopment in the country, statements that emanate from them are fraught with provocation and an air of imperial aloofness. Over $400 Billion have been frittered away by previous regimes and governments, according to the United Nations and the World Bank, many of the current officials of state were at various points active partakers of previous governments, but no one is asking for stewardships, much less prosecutions. Similar events are unfolding before our very eyes as the rate at which the nations surplus crude accounts and foreign reserves is being depleted, decreasing over 30% the last 12 months with no significant improvement in any of the ntions domestic developmental index, gives one cause for concern. At this rate, by the time of the 2011 elections, the nation might not have up to $10 Billion in her foreign reserves, while calls are already on for a second term for the present regime. At a point when reasonable rational heads of governments of more developed countries apologize for government failure and take responsibility for inefficiency, our African leaders continue to foist themselves on their hapless peoples, disregarding norms and harboring interests of self perpetuation in power irrespective of performance or otherwise.

Rather, this piece is for the Nigerian citizen who see through the crocodile tears and unguarded statements of state officials, and hold a firm belief in the bright and positive future of our nation without cosmetic attempts at (re)branding. This piece is for all those who daily flock the news stands, wanting to know, and still wanting to know more, for their belief that one day they will gather and comment on the positives that emanate from the system and reminisce on the dark days of the insane polity when the ‘lunatic minority’ held sway. This piece is for the brave news editor/reporter who despite threats, blackmail and a hostile working environment, where the freedom of information is stifled and harangued and mere reporting of the state of health of public officials could land one in the comfortable confines of State Security detention centres, continue to hold tenaciously to the principles of their profession. This piece is for all Nigerians who feel betrayed when the nation has to stand in line and beg the G8 and other High Income Countries for bread crumbs when the nation is fully capable of baking her own pies and teaching others the art of industry and productivity.

This piece is also for the African brethren domiciled in Africa. As our leaders have restated their determination to make those difficult choices that will enable them deal with the complex challenges facing Africa, and since they have recognized that the responsibility for peace and development rests squarely on their shoulders (paraphrasing President Umaru Yar Aduas recent G8 speech), it is only a hope that Africa can hope. That rhetoric begin to be backed up with action, and that genuine efforts be made by African leaders towards meeting the welfare and developmental needs of her peoples by genuinely working towards realizing the goals and targets of eradicating poverty and human suffering.

According to the United Nations Under Secretary General For Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang, writing in the 2008 Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) Report, all citizens of the world, especially the poor and the most vulnerable, have the right to expect that their leaders fulfill the commitments made towards achieving these set of developmental goals. The Nigerian citizen has a right to development, and it is not a privilege.

But a flip through the dailies imbues one with less cause for confidence. But to the good Nigerian citizen, and to the African who have gone through the trouble of flipping through the days dailies, this writer says courage. Trouble may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

In these troubled times:

Anytime one domiciled within the Nigerian territories picks up any of the nations many dailies, he is immediately greeted with stories of other Nigerians from the other parts of the country, from the far flung reaches of the fringes of the Sahara to the coasts bounding the African continent with the two Atlantics. Once in a while, they might catch glimpses of stories from other continents, especially if it might have some connection with nationals. In a manner, the average citizen might seem helpless in the face of the many complexities and contradictions that the contemporary international system have foisted on a 21st century world. But more importantly, the things that will concern him the most are those things that have an immediate impact on his existence and livelihood. Within the context of today’s Nigeria, a great many issues have led to a feeling of solemn despondency by the at least 54.4% of the population living in relative poverty of $1.08 at the 2005 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

Almost on a daily basis, news stories and reports ranging from the criminal to the scandalous, and all the negative concepts and terms in between, continue to feed the dumbfounded throng of eager Nigerians, whose sole reward is to argue subjective opinions spiritedly after the daily dose of state ineptitude and inefficiency had been guzzled. The fact that most of these issues become ‘yesterdays news’ at the point of consumption plays little or no role in the gusto into which parties put into their individual analysis of issues, either in the hallowed halls of university faculties or in the many selling spaces of the various street side vendors strewn all over the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

By now, even when the citizenry await the much talked about electoral reforms, and the Nigerian populace have come to question the electoral process, the only one means by which a Nigerian citizen can have a say in this complex grill of uneven integration that the Nigerian polity had become, other issues such as unending industrial actions, spurious developmental claims, disarticulated policies, private and public corruption, the sophistication of organized violence, and an ever rising crime rate exacerbate the tensions within the polity leading to one living in a state of perpetual insecurity. However, the incidence of wanton and institutionalized violence becomes salient in the sense of its questioning the monopoly of force that underlie the preservation of security, a principle which defines an effective state. On a regular basis, reports of brazen criminal operations assail our sensibilities. When it is not mobilized and armed religious centered groups meting out mayhem to hapless and innocent citizens, it is often times violent agitations for resource control by disadvantaged and marginalized ethnic groups, venting their spleen, albeit justifiably. We should not forget the popular militants from the Niger Delta, couching their competition with the state for the regions resources with genuine demands that obviates the need for asking the question, “What has the state been doing for the last 50 years?”

The avid follower of events since political independence would recall the concept of the ‘developmental state’ that heralded the proliferation of new states since the culmination of the Second World War. But while it can be argued that these brood of former colonies were merely reinforcements of the prevailing international political economy, and that their development have either been stymied or supported to grow, benefiting from catalysts provided by the political and economic power poles of the international system, consideration is given of the fact that there exist an embarrassment of endowments spread across the vastness of the landmass of Nigeria that it can well provide in abundance for the nearly 200 Million peoples that have been destined to live as one within her geographical confines, leaving considerable surplus that can well be invested in the millions more unborn Nigerians that would inhabit these lands long after our generation must have departed.

A flip through the nations dailies would indeed raise serious questions on the sustainability of the Nigerian project on the eve of her golden jubilee of sovereign existence. Judging from the reports being provided by the heroes of the contemporary struggle, the courageous newshound, who permeate the armour of the petite bourgeoisie to provide us common proletarians with much needed enlightenment, a projection into the next fifty years seem littered with pain, with the peoples perennially subjected to a vicious cycle of poverty.

It must be mentioned that the heart which one shows in actually purchasing a newspaper publication reflects the unrelenting spirit of the average Nigerian citizen who is not put off by the economic tailspin which the global financial meltdown had inflicted on an already dysfunctional domestic economy. Many have remained unrelenting, sacrificing at least 100 of our distressed Naira currency, to be in the know of the scheming and shenanigans of the political gladiators that bestride the political space. This token amount could well be the difference between ones status and position in the international classification of poverty. These ones actually contribute to the contemporary Nigerian debate, with their hope that it would yield to a genuine social contract that would bind the essence of our togetherness and genuine nationhood.

This emerging national debate, which if it must be said have been consistently and consciously shirked by the party going on in the Federal Capital Territory is proving to be like the proverbial light that cannot be hid. Unfortunately however, the appropriate mechanisms for engaging in such debates under the contemporary constituted order are rather preoccupied with more mundane things, as both the green and red sides of the divide are as yet enmeshed in their attempts to define and redefine protocol over a year after their respective committees were convened. Meanwhile, quite ominously, the continuous search for where ‘Satan’ is domiciled makes headline news. How else could have the Nigerian populace been aware of the fact that ‘sciances’ and exorcisms still exist in the upper echelon of both the national state and its sub national appendages?

The average Nigerian is indeed rewarded when he debates the hypocrisy of the assumedly religious politicians. For the same pages one confronts state and public officials, indicted of one deviant act or the other, gleefully posing for nude photographic shots within the deep recesses of fetish primitivism, are the same pages that these officials give thanks with pomp and pageantry in various religious institutions and denominations, thanking God probably for aiding them in their successful actions of primitive accumulation. Makes one to wonder which God is actually being served?

It is no more news when gross incompetence is reported. What becomes news is the size and degree of appropriation. For that observer since independence, the brazenness of the late 20th century pale into insignificance when compared with the bizarre of the 21st century thus far. Some years ago, $12 Billion was lamented to high heavens and personal aggrandizement was redefined with platforms constructed for the storage of filthy lucre in some quarters. Those were the heady days of the ‘gap toothed general’ and the ‘dark goggled one’. However, little did we know that we were being primed for the incredulous when colossal sums were mentioned in a plethora of graft cases, from Halliburton to Siemens, to the unspecified monies of the power probes and the irony of the Rural Electrification scam where a hunter has paradoxically become the hunted, amongst countless of others.

Expectations that the emerging democratic order would bring with it the goods that the battered people badly needed continue to fizzle with the passage of time, and the Nigerian people who marched on into democracy and the new century with a hope borne of the fact that our collective experience as a nation would place the new political and ruling elite in good stead to recalibrate the trajectory of the nations political and socio-economic development have been disappointed to say the least. What has become of the sacrifices made in sweat and blood, the aftermath of the post June 12 pro democracy battles? Have they all been in vain? Where is transparency and accountability? What happened to the rule of law that we were all promised?

The story since the turn of the century have been founded on hollow growth and a haphazard and directionless policy regime, that does the common man no good. Governance has been abused and the system had been intentionally and consciously corrupted to maintain the access which some small fraction of the populace have to the paraphernalia of state. By incorporating segments of the economic, military, traditional and religious elites, this hybrid Polygarchy have let loose the fangs of the state on other sectors of the society, replicating itself at various sub state levels, for the sole purpose of self preservation. Protecting its networks of puns by promoting double standards, while meting selective justice for appeasement purposes, and for the benefit of the sycophantic cadre who see their role as official applause providers for state policies, good or bad. Under this reality therefore, it is hardly surprising that there is a morbid competition to accumulate bordering on the insane. With a false paradigm orientation entrenched by the discredited capitalistic notions copied from the colonial dispensation, capital accumulation had been turned on its head in its expression in Nigeria, and her economy is being sabotaged from within under a presumed logic of neo classical liberalism.

A computation of figures arrived at from some of the alleged misappropriations since 1999 would amount to all or most of the annual budget of many of the states in Sub Saharan Africa. With the political class consuming almost half of the nations budget each year, it is begging the question why the country has remained the way it is in an increasingly globalizing 21st century, disarticulated, disjointed, disillusioned and underdeveloped.

However, this piece is not meant for lamenting the subsisting state in Nigeria, as that job has become the favorite pastime of our political leaders, who when not lamenting our absence from the congregation of states that would form the core of the emerging international economic order (if not political as well), are either lamenting the snub given by the American head of states’ below par rating of the country’s efforts at governance, or lamenting their incapacity at providing a paltry 6000 Megawatts, power capacity that would not be able to scratch the surface of our drive towards being amongst one of the top 20 economies in about a decade from today. Even consistent failures at ensuring that the federal road networks are failure free are no longer news, not when the Lagos/Apapa federal roads he vein of the nations economy, are in a critical condition of disrepair.

Our leaders should know by now that tears and emotion laden tones do not make good roads, nor do they lead to development and economic prosperity. Even, their various throng of ‘abracadabra’ specialists would have told them so. One can recall a few years ago when a federal minister, fully fatigued in construction gear with a safety hat to match, along the Benin-Ore-Lagos Federal Highway, exhibited her enviable talents at ‘stagecraft’ in the glare of lights and cameras, but two years down the road, we are yet to see concrete action, and she was appropriately rewarded for that spectacle with another ministerial position and her continuous presence in the midst of the noveau aristocrats in their midweek backslappings and camera sessions.

Now when the nations educational sector lie prostrate, parties are being held by actors in the midst of the crisis, and more fundamental issues are trivialized with an emphasis on income. It is beyond the rationalizing of the authorities that education and a sound academic base provide the fulcrum on which growth in knowledge is firmed upon, and that for our educational institutions to rate at par with its contemporaries from other parts of the world, infrastructural development and better funding is required. While talks of accelerating the development efforts of the Niger Delta was ongoing, the subsisting regime chose to mark its two years in office with carnage in Gbaramatu, following this up with an offer of amnesty that few have subscribed to due to it’s disregard for the local oil bearing communities exploited these past fifty years and its lack of a sustainable post amnesty framework.

As if to rub the scale of its insensitivity to the Niger Delta in, the state had proposed, via the suspect Petroleum Industry Bill some unacceptable proposals that underlie the constant insinuations held by this most deprived of peoples that some individuals within the polity actually feel that the state exist at their behest. What can one say about a minister who has been in the corridors of the petroleum industry, and have not only amassed stupendous wealth as a result, but has also contributed to the rot over the last three decades making unguarded statements and utterances belying his comprehension of the immensity of a problem he cannot deny not being a major party to?

It is a sad testimony that when some elements should be called to account for their years of association with the development of underdevelopment in the country, statements that emanate from them are fraught with provocation and an air of imperial aloofness. Over $400 Billion have been frittered away by previous regimes and governments, according to the United Nations and the World Bank, many of the current officials of state were at various points active partakers of previous governments, but no one is asking for stewardships, much less prosecutions. Similar events are unfolding before our very eyes as the rate at which the nations surplus crude accounts and foreign reserves is being depleted, decreasing over 30% the last 12 months with no significant improvement in any of the ntions domestic developmental index, gives one cause for concern. At this rate, by the time of the 2011 elections, the nation might not have up to $10 Billion in her foreign reserves, while calls are already on for a second term for the present regime. At a point when reasonable rational heads of governments of more developed countries apologize for government failure and take responsibility for inefficiency, our African leaders continue to foist themselves on their hapless peoples, disregarding norms and harboring interests of self perpetuation in power irrespective of performance or otherwise.

Rather, this piece is for the Nigerian citizen who see through the crocodile tears and unguarded statements of state officials, and hold a firm belief in the bright and positive future of our nation without cosmetic attempts at (re)branding. This piece is for all those who daily flock the news stands, wanting to know, and still wanting to know more, for their belief that one day they will gather and comment on the positives that emanate from the system and reminisce on the dark days of the insane polity when the ‘lunatic minority’ held sway. This piece is for the brave news editor/reporter who despite threats, blackmail and a hostile working environment, where the freedom of information is stifled and harangued and mere reporting of the state of health of public officials could land one in the comfortable confines of State Security detention centres, continue to hold tenaciously to the principles of their profession. This piece is for all Nigerians who feel betrayed when the nation has to stand in line and beg the G8 and other High Income Countries for bread crumbs when the nation is fully capable of baking her own pies and teaching others the art of industry and productivity.

This piece is also for the African brethren domiciled in Africa. As our leaders have restated their determination to make those difficult choices that will enable them deal with the complex challenges facing Africa, and since they have recognized that the responsibility for peace and development rests squarely on their shoulders (paraphrasing President Umaru Yar Aduas recent G8 speech), it is only a hope that Africa can hope. That rhetoric begin to be backed up with action, and that genuine efforts be made by African leaders towards meeting the welfare and developmental needs of her peoples by genuinely working towards realizing the goals and targets of eradicating poverty and human suffering.

According to the United Nations Under Secretary General For Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang, writing in the 2008 Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) Report, all citizens of the world, especially the poor and the most vulnerable, have the right to expect that their leaders fulfill the commitments made towards achieving these set of developmental goals. The Nigerian citizen has a right to development, and it is not a privilege.

But a flip through the dailies imbues one with less cause for confidence. But to the good Nigerian citizen, and to the African who have gone through the trouble of flipping through the days dailies, this writer says courage. Trouble may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.