₦airaland Forum

By Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai


Earlier this year, when this column stated that the Federal Government was spending over two billion naira every day (including weekends) on security without corresponding results, the State Security Service (SSS) made a fuss of arresting and detaining me for ‘incitement’ - a funny basis for infringement of a citizen's right indeed since the colonial era offence of sedition has been declared ultra vires our Constitution! But since that article was published, what has changed? Instead of an improvement, the security situation is evidently getting worse. Last week, the United Nations Headquarters in Abuja was attacked with a loss of over twenty lives. This week, an Eid ground was attacked in Jos, Plateau State, with the loss of about 50 lives and over 200 vehicles belonging to the worshipers burnt.

So for the second week in succession, this column is focusing not on policy analysis to further our debate on issues, but on yet another burning national issue: Insecurity. We also need to ask government why, despite the huge budgetary provisions for security – at the Federal, state and local government levels, most Nigerians are now forced to sleep with ‘both eyes open’ - assuming that unemployment, hunger and poverty will allow the majority to sleep at all.

Since October 1, 2010, when the Independence Day celebrations were disrupted by bomb blasts claimed by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), amid claims and counterclaims between Henry Okah and the Presidency, we have witnessed a spate of bomb blasts across the country with heavy loss of lives and property. The most audacious attack was on the Force Headquarters in Abuja from which the Inspector General of Police only narrowly escaped. If any doubts remained about how unsafe Nigeria had become, last week’s bombing of the UN Headquarters in Abuja was a bold statement: No one is safe.

But the deteriorating state of security didn’t happen overnight. After the ‘Christmas Day’ attempted terrorist attack aboard a US bound airliner by a Nigerian in December, 2009, the American government blacklisted Nigeria alongside Somalia, Sudan, and Afghanistan. That incident had very negative effects on our already battered image. Perhaps because of the power vacuum created by President Yar'Adua's 'disappearance', our leadership had no immediate, coherent response to the unfair label, then. We are not in that situation anymore.

But what has the Nigerian government done since then to address local and international security concerns? Is the attitude that human lives in Nigeria are no longer precious? Or is it that some human lives are valued higher than others depending on politics, geography, ethnicity or religion? Are we not on the road to state failure?

Dr. Pauline Baker, the President of The Fund for Peace (www.fundforpeace.org) defines a failed state as one where:

‘violence is erupting predominantly within societies in which the state - the central locus of authority and power - is disintegrating. These states may be losing political legitimacy in the eyes of their people because of repression, rigged elections, corruption, political exclusion, economic decline or a coup d’état.

They may be losing their monopoly on the use of force, confronting private militias, warlords, drug cartels, organized crime, secessionists or armed rebellions.

Failing states cannot sustain essential public services, promote equitable economic growth or provide for the public welfare. They do not maintain domestic tranquility or provide for the common defence. They are dysfunctional polities - in large part because they are institutionally incompetent’.

Clearly, many of these words resonate with the current state of our nation. As things stand, Nigeria is now confronted with the real and present danger of becoming a Failed State. Please do not take my words for this assertion; since 2005, The Fund for Peace, (a US based think tank) and the magazine Foreign Policy, have published an annual index called the Failed States Index. In the Failed State Index Data for 2011, Nigeria is ranked 14th most likely state to fail out of 177 countries.

We were ranked 15th in 2010, so slipped one rank under President Jonathan's watch. Placed in proper perspective, Nigeria now ranks just ahead of Pakistan and Yemen in 12th and 13th positions respectively, but considerably worse than Liberia and Sierra Leone that are ranked 26th and 30th! The latter being countries that are emerging from civil wars, where we had played the big brother role of peace keepers; yet we can hardly safeguard the lives and property of an average Nigerian back home.




It is noteworthy to emphasise that Nigeria was NOT in the danger zone of being a failed state when the Index was first published in 2005; only to witness a rapid deterioration ever since from the then 54th in 2005 to 17th in 2007, to the current 14th position. So, how did we get here; so fast? Why has government failed to tackle the group? And while attention is centred on Boko Haram, what about the spates of communal clashes, armed robbery and environmental disasters like the recent floods in Lagos and Ibadan, that result in loss of precious Nigerian lives every day?

A careful analysis of the components that make up the index score indicate that election rigging, internal displacement of peoples, poor delivery of social services, and the demographic explosion account for some of the deterioration. Most of it though points to ineffective governance at all levels, and the monetization and politicization of our domestic security.

The security of Nigeria is too important for government to play politics with: the Boko Haram phenomenon did not start under President Jonathan’s tenure, and any suggestion that the attacks are calculated to undermine his administration is simply not true. The transformation of the group from a fringe, largely peaceful sect into a full-fledged terrorist group remains one of President Yar’adua’s legacies. The late president gave the directive to ‘crush them’ in 2009 before jetting out to Brazil. The brutal assault on the group and subsequent extra-judicial murder of its leader and many others by the police transformed the group into a full-scale terror and revenge machine! And initially they attacked the police and state government targets within the North East of Nigeria, that they considered the enemy. Nothing was done to nip this in the bud in a proactive and thoughtful way. Now, everyone is a potential victim of this terror.

The proposal for an amnesty for the group similar to that offered to the Niger Delta militants has not been articulated, perhaps in recognition of the fact that the root causes of the two conflicts and motivation of the actors are not exactly the same. As it were, the Amnesty Programme which has N99 billion budgetary allocation in the 2011 Appropriation Act has not entirely solved the problem of militancy in the Niger Delta. Based on the budget and the number of militants, government proposes to spend over N3 million per militant per annum. Are some people not using the Amnesty Programme to as a gravy train on the one hand and short-change the ex-militants on the other?

But all of that aside, the attack on the UN building in Abuja has exposed how unprepared and unskilled Nigerian security agencies are in preventing terror attacks or dealing with the aftermath. Reports indicate that the US Federal Investigation Bureau (FBI) has taken over the investigations into the UN bombing while sidelining the Nigerian Police and SSS. In an organized environment, security should be hinged on intelligence gathering and be technology driven, instead, our police and soldiers rely on manual physical checking of passengers and motorists on roads and entrances to detect bombs and other explosives.

Available information indicate that there were about 8 armed anti-riot policemen at the inner gate of the UN building when the suicide bomber forced his way into the building and detonated his deadly cargo. But then, how can the intelligence gathering mechanisms succeed when the military are using such heavy-handed tactics, killing and raping innocent citizens? This government has also demonstrated a knack for turning around and blaming those who offer to help; in the aftermath of the violence after last April’s elections, government accused Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of not speaking out. The moment he condemned the violence and appealed for calm, the same government and its attack dogs turned around and attempted to blame the General for the violence.

There is hardly a family in Maiduguri that has not lost a member, killed not only by Boko Haram, but more likely by the Nigerian police and military who still remain in the city, killing and raping. How can intelligence gathering work in such an atmosphere of mistrust? President Jonathan missed a golden opportunity to moderate the crisis when some Borno elders asked him to withdraw soldiers from the state. A more pragmatic leadership would have listened to the elders and tasked them on finding a peaceful solution. Jonathan preferred the military option, but despite two full scale military assaults in 2009 and this year, the group has demonstrated that it is capable of hitting at will. Obviously, there cannot be a military solution to what is in reality a breakdown of social cohesion and trust in the government.

After the UN attack, the Police and the Presidency issued another stale, futile and ineffectual threat of fishing out the culprits, their sponsors and bringing them to justice. We have heard that over and over and the public is fed up with such rhetoric. So we must ask government: how long shall Nigerians continue to sleep with both eyes open? Are there no emergency measures within the purview of the law that could be adopted since the security challenge appears to have overwhelmed government? Is the Federal Government still ruminating over how to secure the lives and property of all citizens?

It would be wishful thinking to imagine that Nigeria would be among the 20 biggest economies in the world in the year 2020 without even the most basic form of security of lives and property. The earlier the government realizes that its indecision and inactivity is costing the lives of Nigerians, scaring off investment and weakening our national cohesion, the better. The situation we have found ourselves requires the best of statesmanship and thoughtfulness, not petty politics or trading blames of any kind.

If government cannot provide Nigerians with good roads, better health infrastructure, stable electricity, and functional schools, the very least it can do is to give us a sense of security. It is the number one duty of any responsible government.
No more and no less.



http://saharareporters.com/article/sleeping-both-eyes-open-nasir-ahmad-el-rufai

afam4eva:
This has nothing to Yoruba but it has a lot to do with the south-west.The SW has the highest number of political assasination since 1999.

Dude are you for real?

It takes idiots to be ruled by fools

[flash=360,200]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZDbGVFIjuI?version=3[/flash]

What were they arrested for?

Osun to pay ₦19,000 as minimum wage
BY BAMIGBOLA GBOLAGUNTE
August 30, 2011 12:01AM



Three weeks after its workers embarked on a strike to call for the implementation of the ₦18,000 minimum wage, the Osun State government Monday approved ₦19,001 as minimum wage for its civil servants.

According to Semiu Okanlawon, spokesperson to the state governor, Rauf Aregbesola, the state government has, by this development “implemented fully, the Minimum Wage Law for workers on Levels 01 to 07.”

He said that in addition to the ₦19,001 for the least paid workers under the employment of the state government, the government also approved substantial raise in the salaries of other grade levels.

“Thus, the government has approved additional ₦7,429,50 for workers from Levels 8 to 10; ₦6,611 for workers on Levels 12 to 14 while ₦5,096.40 has been added to salaries of workers on Levels 15 to 17,” he said.

“The ₦19,001 minimum wage exceeds the ₦18,000 minimum wage prescribed by the Minimum Wage Law recently enacted by the Federal Government. The government team reassured the workers’ representatives that the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola is poised to ensure that workers in the state emerge the best paid workers throughout the country.”

Mr Okanlawon stated that as soon as the Internally Generated Revenue of the State improves, the government promises to review the salaries of workers in the state upward.

Officials of the state government, who reached the agreement in a meeting with the workers’ representatives in Osogbo, also announced plans to set up a Salaries and Wages Commission which will fix salaries and wages of workers according to the increase in the financial fortunes of the state.

Osun to pay ₦19,000 as minimum wage

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5740308-146/story.csp

I thought the President has got immunity to any personal prosecution

I like balling

Umpteenth

Stop dragging Tinubu into all these BS. Tinubu is a bonafide Lagosian, he was adopted by the Mogaji Family.

Muiz Banire all day, the guy could even be better than Fashola

Katsumoto, why your hatred for the Alaafin, are you saying it is the Ooni that can confer title of Yorubaland instead? Alaafin is the number one king in Yorubaland. Fact.

Obviously Akala is turning history upside down. The Yorubas know the hierarchic of their Obas, Oba si yato si Oba. Emi ko ni bawon yaju si Alaafin. Kade pe lori Alaafin, ki irukere pe lowo Alaafin. Iku baba yeye, Ekeji Orisha.

Unless we want to deceive ourselves or we genuinely fail to see reality then we must accept that the voters that went to the polls last week to decide who should be governors did not only elect their governors. They also used their thumbprint and ballot papers to draw a map that clearly states that the time has come to form a Yoruba nation. Those voters expressed their wishes in a legal and sophisticated manner, so their leaders too, if worthy of leading such people, must execute the expressed wishes in a legal and sophisticated way and therein lies the challenge. They need to, within the respect of the laws and within the borders of a federal Nigeria, form a Yoruba nation that I recommend should be cosmopolitan and progressive.

For those who wonder what is a nation? Let us reply with Renan and explain that a nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. Two things, which in truth are but one constitutes this soul or spiritual principle. One lies in the past, one in the present. One is the possession in common of a rich legacy of memories; the other is present-day consent, the desire to live together, the will to perpetuate the value of the heritage that one has received in an undivided form. A nation's existence is a daily plebiscite.

It is not the first time that the people in the various states that make up the Yoruba region (the official term they use in Nigeria is insipidly South-West) will express their desire by voting in unison. They did it by voting the Action Group (AG), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Alliance for Democracy (AD) and now the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Let us make no mistake about it. The common thread in this voting pattern has being and continue to be progressive ideas and programmes according to the preaching and practice of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Like their parents did in the days of the late Awo, today's voters have chosen to find their path independent of the central government of Nigeria.

The political aspiration of the voters of the Yoruba region is to have a state that provides free education, free health care, massive infrastructural development, and an environment that allows trade and industry to flourish all in a vibrant intellectual milieu yet capable of partying. They are after all the masters of owanbe. These aspirations should form the paradigm upon which the elected governors and legislators of the Yoruba regions should build their policies and programmes. They should aspire to these ideals when thinking of the ideal government for their voters.

In theory, each of the states in the Yoruba region can legitimately set about achieving these aims individually and they might even do well. But imagine how much more they will achieve if they decide to act as a collective. Imagine the possibilities for all, if these governors and lawmakers can think like their voters and genuinely follow those ideals, if they can develop an organic ethos of a nation and consequently decide to work together to tackle the problems they cannot handle alone. Imagine what we will get if the states of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Edo, and even Ondo come together, without waiting for the Federal Government, to jointly plan, fund and supervise regional libraries, roads, hospitals, banks, research centres and agricultural projects. Even the power supply problem can have a regional solution.

The great benefits that such actions will bring to those that reside in these states are obvious but it will not be limited to them. As history has shown, like in the case of the Eastern Region of Michael Okpara and the Western Region of Obafemi Awolowo, there are good chances that a cooperative and dynamic Yoruba nation will trigger a healthy rivalry between her and other Nigerian regions. It will be a rivalry that will greatly benefit the residents of those other regions as their own leaders will have to provide similar services and ventures to match what their neighbours are doing. The federal republic of Nigeria itself will get the opportunity to become truly federal as emphasis will shift from the central and if broadminded the FGN will encourage these regional governments and ventures.

Politically, leaders and voters of the ACN will in the next four years have the duty of making sure that their elected officials turn their progressive aspirations into achievements. In that period, they will have to deal with problems of personal ego, self-serving groups and personalities, bureaucratic hurdles and outright sabotage. If they can overcome all that and maybe much more, their next task will be to decide how to move forward.

They will have to decide how they want to use the capital they now have. Two options come to mind: they can move forward by identifying and working with political groups that share their policies and ideals or they can try to be a Nigerian party by trying to make inroads into other parts of the federation.

http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/nvnews/50976/1/it-is-time-to-form-a-yoruba-nation-.html

I think the ideal allocation formula should be something like Federal Goverment 30% State government 55% Local governement 15% so that the governors could really be held to account.

Pls remove Akpabio from that list asap

1(A) Very difficult to ascertain the correct figure but I would say between 300,000 to 500,000

1(B) 50,000

2. 25% Private car, 70% Danfo, Taxi, Others 5%

3. Private Car( You will need 25 litres of fuel for a one way journey which is around 1500 naira), Danfo, Taxi( 250 - 500 naira)

4. It takes roughly 1.5 hours from Lagos to Ibadan but could take up to 2.5 hours during rush hours( mostly weekends)


P.S All my figures are based on when I was still in Naija 6 years ago

dayokanu:
You are from Igbeti or Okeho?

I am from Akala's town

Ogbomosho Ajilete, Ogbomosho Ogbomojugun Ibi ti won ti nje oka tan ti won fi eko nyangan le. Ilu SOun Ajagungbade

I am from Ogbomosho North Local Govt,

But talk of Oyo Town, Ibadan etc I am all rounder

If you know the amount of shame and insult I have endured because Akalamagbo is from my town and that I am  from the state with the worst governor, fanta face Coke leg. You would feel sorry for me

BTW I am Governor of Oyo State in 2023 

So you are from Ogbori Elemosho, Akala is a disgrace to that lovely town. I schooled there(FEGO) for 6 years

Abeg I dey available for deputy gov in 2023 ooo

It's official now. Ajimobi has been announced as the winner.

Ajimobi is from Ibadan South West so I can't see him losing there.

Rumours going on in Oyo State that Ajimobi has been elected but not official yet

Heavy police presence in Ajimobi's residence

Oyo State Contd

OYO WEST LGA: ACN 16,573 - PDP 6158 - ACCORD 4053

OGBOMOSO NORTH : ACN 2,445 - PDP 35,858 ACCORD 817

IDO LGA: ACN 13,771 - PDP 7760 - ACCORD 8480

Oyo State House of Assembly

ACN 18 Seats

PDP 11 Seats

Accord 4 Seats

Orire LG
AP- 6866 ACN-2833 PDP-21912

Atiba AP-3590 ACN-18518 PDP-7565

Ibarapa East AP-6375 ACN-6086 PDP-7950

Ibarapa north AP-3431 ACN-6602 PDP-8884

Afijio - AP- 4,865 ACN-8477 PDP-6,014

Atisbo AP- 1935 ACN-7407 PDP-6779

Akala won in Ogbomosho North, Ogbomosho South, Orire, Ogo Oluwa, Ibarapa East.

Ajimobi won in Oluyole, Akinyele, Ibadan South East, Ibadan South West and Ibadan North, Saki East, Afijio, Oyo West

Ladoja won in Ona-Ara, Egbeda and Lagelu

Results still being collated,

Got this on twitter

RESULT ANAMBRA CENTRAL SENATORIAL DISTRICT Dora Akunyili (APGA)-2998 Chris Ngige (ACN)-4199#NigeriaDecides Dr Chris Ngige is Senator-elect. (Nigeria Decides)

tunnytox:
Have they declare the winner in Oyo state?

Not yet

Akinyele LG, ward II, ACN-288, ACCORD-207, CPC-2, PDP-102

Zik Hall U.I polling unit ACN-303, Accord- 107, PDP- 109

darznets:
I dont think there is a need for panic in Oyo, the margin between Accord\ ACN to PDP sp far in other areas already announced especially in Oyo town is far higher that the margin in PDP- 2022. We should also not forget that the senator-elect from that ogbomoso axis is from ACN, he has strong followership.

Wrong. Senator Elect from Ogbomoso axis is Hosea Agboola who is PDP

Osun Landslide: ACN WINS ALL 26 Seats

Final results from Odo-Otin, Ife Central and Ife South Local Governments have arrived and ACN won landslide making it a complete rout.

dayokanu:
Yes o.

Imagine if all those Accord and ACN votes had gone to one person

Wait till votes come in from Ogbomosho North, Ogbomosho SOuth, Ogooluwa, Surulere, Oriire LG and other Akala stronghold before we rejoice.

That was the same Abracadabra they did in 2007

Unconfirmed reports indicate INEC has cancelled the entire results of the election in Ogo-Oluwa LGA because of massive thumb printing by Akala's thugs.

PU 032A/08/15/24/Ransome Kuti,Unilag Gubernatorial
ACN:309
PDP:6
NCP:1