₦airaland Forum

Incentivizing employees to discourage corruption is the way to go. Paying customs people well will really help government achieve there revenue target. Nice one

1. Leaders lead by example
2. Meritocracy and excellence become a way of life
3. We become more patriotic as Nigerians in all our endeavors
4. We celebrate our leaders in all region. The goal is really to highlight the core values that propelled them to the peak of their careers. So that the society can find them worthy of emulation, learn from their wealth of knowledge, character, discipline and other progressive tenets that made them a worthy ambassadors of Nigeria.
5. We celebrate, reinforce and incentivize history. We make local, state and national history as part of our institutional curriculum in primary, secondary and tertiary institution. "Those who are unaware of history are bound to repeat it".

I am a supporter of Buhari and APC change. However, this argument about conflict of interest, with contractor paying for government airfare miss the mark. I thought this is a planned event, usually more than a month in advance. Why is this issue surfacing now? Why accept this kind of Greek gift if government procedures and protocols does not support it? Why did it take this long for Amaechi to spot the problem? Why did it take him this long to make this decision...considering the government position on conflict of interest?

If conflict of interest is such a high priority and part of government policy towards accountability and transparency. What is the government going to do to ensure this kind of conflict of interest or similar does not happen again? Who's getting fired over this issue?

Happy belated birthday @ Chibuking81. Long life and prosperity.

Devaluation of naira leads to high inflation. High inflation leads to high interest rate (based on the rationale to curtail inflation). High interest rates leads to high cost of manufacturing operations. High cost of manufacturing operations leads to closure of shops, due to inability of manufacturers to compete with imported goods. Closure of manufacturing shops leads to shifting of business strategy from manufacturing to importing. Hence the cycles continues, because first devaluation leads to the next, and next till no end in sight.

Say no to devaluation. Say no to high inflation. Say yes to low interest rate. Say yes to manufacturing economy.

The day you start kidnapping people for money and killing people in the process, is the day you become enemy of state and obstacle to the progress of your community. People like that share similar traits and characteristics of armed robbers. The same penalties metted to armed robbers should go to these barbarians as well. They should be killed. Period.

Why celebrate people like these? I guess money has changed hands.

Let them commission Amakpe Refinery first. Building a refinery is not a joke, considering the financial, engineering, procurement and construction challenges you have to overcome. Reasons why Amakpe refinery is yet to be completed after over 10 years. How can you build and commission 50,000 barrel per day, when you're still struggling with 6,000 barrels per day.

I pray these projects get completed in the interest of Nigerians.

Nice...

locodemy:
chairman.Enough of all these nonsense you guys are insunuating.i am not a broker but paid money into my brokers account for 1,000,000 units of may and baker.i am not the one to do the work.i became worried yesterday as i never gotten any alert and i decided to seek help from our members here only for me to be mocked.

My broker bid only 200,000 units of maybaker at 0.98.They told me this because i told them i was going to deal with them if my stock is not completely purchased the next day which is today.
All these has made me to talk less as i am not here to deceive anyone but to share opinions.

If i have lied that such units is not booked by me for purchase,it is only God who sees in secret that will deal with me.Meanwhile i just received an alert of 61,000 units still hoping to get all before the day is over.

Ok the 61,000 units carries yesterday date.i dont think todays is bought.i warned them to buy at 0.98 and below so that #1,000,000 will be enough to settle everything including charges.

@ Locodemy,

I like your position on May & Baker. I've always considered this as a long term play. I've been accumulating the stock in the past 2 years. Can you please share some of your rational for buying the stock. Thanks

Happy New Year to you all brothers and sisters

Say no to devaluation. We don't need it right now, it can only make Nigerians and Nigeria poorer. While I agree that a weaker currency will be a great competitive advantage to leverage for every industrialized economy. In our Nigerian economy, devaluation will hurt us more than it will help us.

1. Reviewing our history from early 80's to 2015, naira has traded in the band of 50kobo -197 naira / dollar. History shows that devaluation, structural adjustment program has been one of the primary reason why our economy is in this doldrums. So, why toil the same line again?

2. When we devalue naira, we automatically reduce our GDP, Per Capital Income. We reduce our global purchasing power. What this means is that: we have to pay more abroad for healthcare, education, tourism, international flight and other products. We (FG) have to pay more for our international debt. Also, with a reduced per capital income, it makes it difficult to attract FDI.

3. Devaluation will not make our products cheaper, because significant portion of our raw materials are imported. Devaluation will spike the cost of imported raw materials, total cost of production, increase selling price, high inflation and other regressive negative economic effects.

Again, I say big no to devaluation.

Guys,

How do we access the SEC e-DMMS portal to upload e-dividend mandate form. Can someone please shed more light on this. Thanks

Nice.

She's not qualified because she's currently not under their influence. And also because their probabilistic model failed to forecast her outcome, hence reasons to fault her recruitment into the position. Let's see what they'll say after 2 years

I agree...these people should be killed asap after passing through necessary legal system. There should be no jail time for this kind offence. What gives them the moral right to kill and demoralize humans in these manners.

Same principles should apply to every other terrorists organisations out there; including our MEND brothers and OPC brothers.

TSA: CBN Fines FirstBank, UBA N4.82bn for Concealing NNPC Funds

In line with its threat to sanction commercial banks that failed to comply with the federal government’s directive on the remittance of government revenue to the treasury single account (TSA), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last Friday fined First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc the sum of N4.819 billion.


According to a circular obtained from banking industry sources, while the CBN imposed a penalty of N1,877,409,905.12 on FirstBank, UBA was fined N2,942,189,651.45 for its failure to comply with the federal government’s policy.


An industry source explained that FirstBank concealed N37,548,198,102.41 belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) instead of remitting it to the TSA as directed.
On the other hand, UBA concealed N58,843,793,029.05 of NNPC funds, which attracted the penalty.


The source explained that the penalty was the equivalent of five per cent of the funds they failed to remit respectively.
“The accounts of both banks with the CBN have been debited for the unremitted amounts and the penalties,” she added.


Providing further insight, the source said at the last Bankers’ Committee held in Lagos early this month, the central bank officials had impressed on the banks the need to comply with the directive, saying that it had it on good authority that some banks were colluding with some ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to conceal their funds.


In response, the bank chief executives said that they had a directive from the Accountant-General of the Federation to a Director in the CBN exempting some MDAs from transferring their funds to the TSA.


The chief executives of both banks were said to have been present at the meeting held at the central bank’s Lagos office on October 2.
“But the CBN rejected the claim, informing them that the letter was written to a Director with the CBN and not the governor of the CBN and that the governor had not received a counter-directive from the presidency on the transfers. After the clarification, they all promised to remit any outstanding amounts with them.


“However, a week after the meeting, CBN discovered that some banks had still not complied and proceeded to call all tier 1 banks reminding them that they must do so, otherwise they would be sanctioned.


“They responded again stating that the Office of the Accountant General had again sent them a schedule asking them to disclose how much of the funds belonging to MDAs had been transferred and how much was still with the banks,” she explained.


Thereafter, the source said the CBN Director, Banking Supervision, Mrs. Tokunbo Martins, then wrote to the banks asking that they furnish it with information on any unremitted funds, after which it was established that FirstBank and UBA had failed to remit N58.8 billion and N37.5 billion respectively, leading to the imposition of the penalty of N4.819 billion on both banks.


The source explained that FirstBank and UBA were being recalcitrant by refusing to comply with the directive despite repeated efforts by the CBN to get them to transfer the concealed funds.


She however clarified that the concealment was not a reflection on their liquidity, as both banks are very liquid.
“The system is awash with liquidity and this has been reflected in the NIBOR and deposit rates which have crashed. FirstBank and UBA as Tier 1 banks are both very liquid, so their decision to conceal the funds had more to do with their collusion with the chief executives of the MDAs than any confusing directive from the Accountant General,” she explained.


However, an executive of FirstBank informed THISDAY last week that there must have been some kind of “miscommunication” that led to the non-transfer of the NNPC funds.


He explained that when the confusion arose from the circular from the Accountant-General, CBN had itself directed that NNPC’s funds should be retained with the banks for 18 days, pending the resolution of the matter.


“The 18 days only expired last week, so we do not see how we failed to comply with the directive or attempted to conceal the funds. This is most unfortunate and occurred due to miscommunication from the Accountant-General and the regulator,” he said.
The FirstBank executive further assured THISDAY that his bank does not have a liquidity crisis, adding that FirstBank has a liquidity ratio of 50 per cent, 20 per cent above the CBN threshold of 30 per cent for commercial banks in the country.


“Trust me, we are very liquid. We have a liquidity ratio of 50 per cent, which is 20 per cent above the rate permitted by the CBN for banks.
“We have even informed our depositors that we are crashing deposit rates to between 3 and 4 per cent because we have excess liquidity, so we do not have a liquidity crisis in any shape or form,” he stated.


THISDAY had exclusively reported penultimate Sunday that the presidency and the central bank were considering penalising two prominent banks for failure to comply with the directive on the transfer of funds to the TSA.
The penalties that were considered included the suspension of the chief executives of the banks and its board of directors and/or imposition of penalties.


THISDAY also gathered that some banks were hiding under the authorisation letter from the Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris, who tried to exempt certain agencies, and was using that as a basis not to comply with the TSA.
But the CBN, in line with its September 9 circular, restated its resolve to punish any commercial bank that failed to comply with the policy on the TSA.


Meanwhile, the CBN has reiterated its resolve not to further devalue the naira.
Speaking in an interview with journalists on the sidelines of his investiture as a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria in Lagos at the weekend, the Deputy Governor (Corporate Services), CBN, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, said the official position of the central bank on naira devaluation had been made public.


“We all are aware of the official position of the central bank about this, that there would not be devaluation for now,” Adelabu said.
When asked if the central bank would consider the advice by the Emir of Kano and a former CBN Governor, Muhammad Sanusi II, calling on the central bank to devalue the nation’s currency, Adelabu said: “Like I mentioned earlier, we have made our official position known about naira devaluation to the public, there could be comments from different people, but we have stated our official position on that.”
Speaking earlier, the deputy CBN governor said the nation was feeling the effect of the slump in crude oil price, adding that Nigeria’s policy makers failed to diversify the economy during the time of oil price boom.


This, he said was responsible for the pains being felt in the country.
“We all know what is happening globally, and because we don’t operate in an island, what is happening in the global economy is affecting our economy, our communities and even the families.


“The dwindling price of oil and the reduction in oil production are all affecting us and have led to a drop in the country’s revenue.
“Because we rely so much on oil as the primary revenue earner for the country, we have seen where we have found ourselves. Failure to plan, they say is planning to fail. We lost the opportunity to diversify when oil price was high.


“It is periods of boom that we were supposed to have diversified our economy, instead we did not. We thought it was going to remain unchanged forever. Now that we are learning the hard way, I believe we don’t need any teacher to teach us,” he added.
Adelabu also stressed the need for growth of the agriculture sector and for Nigerians to start patronising local products so as to stimulate economic growth.


The Emir of Kano last week advised the CBN and the presidency to reconsider their stance against naira devaluation, saying the country could not continue to live “in denial.” He also called for a complete removal of the subsidy on fuel.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/tsa-cbn-fines-firstbank-uba-n4-82bn-for-concealing-nnpc-funds/223781/

1. Create patriotic Nigerians.

2. Unite all Nigerians. Implement systems, structures and policies that foster unity, cordination and development among all Nigerians and for Nigeria.

3. Remove government interference and funding of all religious programs and events. No cash and currency subsidies for trips to Mecca, Jerusalem and other religious traveling.

4. Celebrate all our heroes; whether in politics, sports, business, academics, entertainment, activism and others. Make movies about them, create their biographies, name institution after them, give them awards. When we celebrate their success; we are not only celebrating their hard work, dedication, values. We are also highlighting the characteristics of a true Nigerians worthy of emulation, so that other people can model their life after them.

5. Ensure Nigerian and state history are part of our primary, secondary and universities curriculums. I have always believed that if you don't know your history and culture, how can you protect it? People can only fight for a cause they understand. It is only when you know, believe and passionate about a cause (culture and foundation) that you'll do everything in your power to elevate it.

6. The issue of morality. There has to be a continuous and consistent policy towards good morals. "Right vs. Wrong"

I've always believed that when we look at questions from the perspective of "how", our objective mindset starts working. It makes it easy to narrow down our answers without worrying too much about risk factors or those people that will oppose changes. At this point we don't need to worry about the challenges, our mind should be fixated on possibilities.

We all live in the world of possibilities, if we can visualize and imagine it, I know we can achieve it.

Please, look at the question and add yours.

735i:
Pay more attention to rise in impairments when the Q3 results are released.
Atlantic Energy's boss was picked up a day after D.Allison was arrested in the U.K

FBNH and Skye presently have over $400 million loan exposure to Atlantic energy. The amount ($400M) is over 4% of total NPL in Nigeria.

So here you are.... you have the figures... Do tyhe math.

You painted a picture as if the $400 million will be a sunk cost. The asset in contention is still a generating asset, will continue to be a generating asset. Worst case, they can decide to sell the asset and still recoup their investment when the price of oil stabilizes. I agree, the valuation used for loan origination has changed, hence reasons for junk speculative analysis on fbnh.

angelo82:
If your bank is good like some of mine,you will contact their contact center and instruct them to stamp the form and send it back to you..........Some registrars will accept except the weird First registrars and United securities.................

Thanks

angelo82:
Why can't you just activate e-dividend..............They can accept scan copies if you are not in Nigeria...............

If you're not in Nigeria, how do you get bankers signature and stamp? Can this be a scanned document as well?

At least the man has rice mills that will produce Nigerian rice, employ Nigerians, grow Nigerian rice industry, reduce our dependence on importation of foreign rice.

What are the short term and long term implications of continuous importation?

Loss of Nigerian jobs
Loss of industry expertise
Dependent of rice importation on foreign exchange

Hakagure:
The nature of an import dependent country is that the price of imported goods go up due to inflation and also that the value of the currency depreciates due to the skewed balance of payments. The source of the issue is there in your post, we dont have the reserves. Thanks for the information on the monthly dollar inflow vs outflow.

I think you're deluding yourself if you actually think this logic holds in real life. In theory, may be. During high oil prices, when Nigeria was running positive balance of payments, why is it that Naira never appreciates?

mikolo80:
by re denomination
make New naira
change 200 Old naira for New 1 naira
5000 naira become 250 New naira

I will not subscribe to the idea of redenomination of Naira, if not backed by necessary policy structure and system. It's a short term solution which will eventually compound our economic woes over time. Redenomination will lead to increasing inflation if not backed by proper structure, similar to what we are witnessing in Ghana currently.

It is shameful to watch our economy criss cross in and out of different crisis (local and international) every year, subjecting our currency to the whims of demand and supply, speculative attacks from foreign and local institutions, political, infrastructure, educational and security risks that continues to constraint Naira from appreciating.

A cursory look at the historical performance of Naira from 1983 till date (~0.7 naira / 1$ - 220 naira/ 1$), devaluation decisions couple with economic performance over the years concludes the rationale for our decreasing global competitive advantage, hence reason for our compounded poor economic performance over the years.

My question is simple, how can Nigeria strengthen its currency? What policies, structures, system and other enabling parameters do we put in place to reverse the problem/crisis emanating from devalued naira.

They should not do that at all. The government need to put in place the right structure, system and policies. Once you strengthens economic fundamentals, Naira will adjust. We should not in any way toil the direction of Ghanaians by reducing the zeroes.

If we do that, we should be expecting similar challenges the Ghanaians are having right now; high inflation, high devaluation rate and others.

1983 is replaying all over again. Nigeria will not devalue its currency. Let IMF and other western institutions continue their support Naira devaluation.

They can go ahead and make good their threat, Nigeria will not be coerced or be manipulated to devalue its currency again. Devaluation is bad for our economy, it can only impoverish our economy and citizens.

myjoy08:
Sir, deep pocket investors and traders are on sideline waiting for the cabinets which would eventually show where we are heading economically. Believe me, everything shall end well . Remember speed kills, caution is the word . Well, Banking stocks is where to look out for presently...Tips Diamond, Access, UBA, and Zenith!

Why is first bank missing from your list?

I don't know if this is a good news or bad news. Does this mean that she'll have to be prosecuted in UK and be subjected to UK's law? If that's the case, would this mean that if found guilty and agrees to asset forfeiture... Would this mean UK will have to dictate how and when her assets get dispatched.

Omobola Johnson joins TLcom Capital
Venture capital firm TLcom Capital (TLcom) has announced the appointment of Omobola Johnson the ex-Minister of Communications in Nigeria, as a general Partner to open and head their new office in Lagos, Nigeria – their second in Africa.

With two profitable exits from African start ups in 2014the sale of virtual identity solutions provider for mobile operators Movirtu to global mobile communications leader Blackberry, and the acquisition of mobile marketing company Upstream on behalf of private equity group Actis, it was the obvious next step for TLcom to further strengthen their geographical footprint in Sub Saharan Africa by adding an office in Nigeria.

TLcom’s first office in Africa was opened in Nairobi to allow the launch of TLcom TIDE Africa – its new Sub Saharan Africa focused Tech fund.

“Based on my 25 year career at Accenture and my tenure as Nigeria ICT Minister, I am convinced that local entrepreneurship and private capital are vital to unleash the power of technology to create jobs and further economic and social development in the continent. My goal to assist African tech entrepreneurs’ access venture capital investment can be best achieved by joining a well-established investor such as TLcom. My main focus will be on deal flow generation, investment and value generation, and to bring industry level experience and network opportunities to support the scalable, sustainable and profitable growth of African tech companies in the TLcom portfolio” said Omobola Johnson, the new Partner of TLcom Capital LLP.

Africa has been noted as a growing hub for tech/mobile start-ups businesses, and angel investors and VC companies have been watching the developments and increasingly supporting start-ups across the African continent. TLcom has managed to choose its investments well and proving that VC exits from African start-ups are possible. Adding an office in Lagos allows TLcom to have a firmer footprint on the African continent, and work closer with its portfolio companies helping them to expand across Africa and internationally.

“We are excited about Omobola joining our team and leading our efforts in West Africa as we look forward to exploring businesses in fundamental markets such as Nigeria and finding entrepreneurs building scalable investable companies. Our main priority is to further explore Africa related opportunities associated with technology and innovation for value generation,” said Maurizio Caio, Managing Partner at TLcom Capital LLP.

“Our recent exits validate TLcom’s belief that relevant venture backed technology and innovation can accelerate inclusive access to basic services in Africa and other developing markets, while attracting the strategic interest of global technology leaders and achieving profitable investment returns,” concludes Caio.

TLcom Capital is a venture capital firm based in London, Nairobi and Lagos, managing approximately US$300 million in technology and innovation from early stage to expansion and growth.

TLcom delivers equity capital as part of a larger strategic and operational support to entrepreneurs, leveraging a senior team of business building investment professionals combining global industry expertise with local transaction and management experience.

Before joining TLcom, Omobola was Minister of Communication Technology, Nigeria from 2011 to 2015, focusing on the launch and execution of the National Broadband Plan, and the support of the Nigerian technology industry, including the pioneering involvement of the government in a local VC fund and a network of start-up incubators. Before serving in the Nigerian government, she gained over 25 years of consulting experience with Accenture including five years as Country Managing Director, working with companies in a variety of industries, transforming them into more competitive and dynamic organizations.

http://businessdayonline.com/2015/10/omobola-johnson-joins-tlcom-capital/

This is a very inspiring piece. Thank you Uncle Bruce.

I’ve always believe that the strength, pride and patriotism of our nation is depended on;
1. Our sense of history (how we capture and preserve history )
2. How we celebrate history
3. How we celebrate people that made these histories. Their characters, ideas, courage, talents, business savvy and other qualities that define their extra ordinary lives.

History they said is always the best teacher. We have Nigerians from all walk of life; Ibo, Hausa, Yoruba who have contributed immensely in their chosen career; whether in politics, sports, business, entertainments, academics, religion and other areas.

As a country, we need to place high emphasis on celebrating these people’s achievement via biographies, documentaries, case studies and other progressive means. Our country needs this more than ever, so that our upcoming generation can learn one thing or two from their sense of ideology, sacrifice, patriotism, courage, character, accomplishment and other successful qualities worthy of emulation. We need to learn from their pain, sufferings, triumphs,

I hope in not too distant future, Nollywood and other corporate entity will be partnering to give us documentaries, movies on these worthy personalities dead or alive. I want to see movies on Rashidi Yekini, Chinua Achebe, Muhammad Buhari, Fela Kuti, Herbert Macaulay, Dangiwa Umar, Odumegwu Ojukwu, Nnamdi Azikwe, Adeola Odutola, Obafemi Awolowo, Enoch Adeboye, Wole Shoyinka and other notable Nigerians.
I hope Uncle Bruce will spear head the initiative to make movies, biographies on some of our fallen heroes to ensure their legacies lives forever.

MAKING COMMON SENSE: Ben MurrayBruce, Email: ben.murraybruce@thisdaylive.com


Last week, I was at the Ikenne home of the Awolowo’s to condole with the family on the death of the matriarch, Chief (Mrs) Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo. Let me rephrase that. I thought I was going to condole with the family, but when I got to Ikenne, I found out that I was actually there to celebrate not just mama, but her husband, Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo, their dynasty and the Black Race. What I saw first hand at Ikenne proved to me that the Awolowo’s do not need our eulogies and kind words. The exemplary lives lived by mama HID and her husband, the sage, already eulogised them!

At Ikenne, I was taken to a huge library in the premises that was filled with books. To my pleasant surprise, Chief Awolowo’s granddaughter, who gave me the tour, told me that her grand father had read each and every book in that library! As she told me that, I began to be inspired. That one man had read all those books was a triumph! That that man never became president of Nigeria was a disaster! He would have been Nigeria’s Philosopher king!

I was showed Chief Awolowo’s Holy Bible, which was well worn. Then I was shown his Qur’an and it was equally evident that the owner of that sacred book had thumped through it with purpose.

Today, Nigeria is going through the most radical and extreme form of religious intolerance from both sides of the great Abrahamic faiths that dominate Nigeria, Christianity and Islam.

Can you imagine the level of religious tolerance that would have been our reality today if a man who had understanding of the origins, morals, ethos and philosophy that permeate the two great Abrahamic faiths had ruled Nigeria! That journey that I thought was a condolence visit soon turned into a odyssey into the world of two people who loved each other and whose lives were so intertwined and connected to the purpose of uplifting the Black Race.

Many people erroneously think that mama HID was just a consort to Chief Awolowo who played a spectator role while he made history. Nothing could be further than the truth!

This woman, who Chief Awolowo called his “jewel of inestimable value”, proved that that praise was not empty when she carried on the battle for him when he was imprisoned by the Balewa government during which time she spearheaded the merger between the Action Group (AG) and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), which led to the emergence of the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA), which was the precursor of today’s All Progressive Congress (APC).

I saw her pictures as a young lady and mama was a paragon of beauty, however, she was no trophy wife. She was a wife of destiny to her husband as she modelled the behaviour of the virtuous woman described in Proverbs 31 by raising an outstanding family and being very active in business to the point that she built an empire based on thrift and submitted the same to her husband. It was famously said by the late Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu that Chief Awolowo was the best president we never had. Let me add that mama HID Awolowo was the best First Lady we never had. While I was at Ikenne, I saw people come in and heard people calling to pour encomiums on mama and her husband.

The see encomiums are nice, however, what this dynamic duo need now is a preservation of their legacy. Not enough Nigerian youths know what this couple of destiny did for their parents and their nation. The duo of Chief Awolowo and mama HID are our own version of Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King. Because of what they achieved, millions of children in the Western Region of Nigeria went to school without paying a dime and have gone on to live meaningful lives that have added value to the world. This year, Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan Police announced that they were looking to hire Yoruba speaking officers to join the force in London.

Why are they doing this? Why are they not looking to employ Swahili speaking cops? Why are they not looking to employ Afrikaans speaking cops? Why are they not looking to employ even cops that speak a European language, like Russian? They are taking this unique step, because a huge proportion of the population of Greater London are Nigerians who speak Yoruba. And not only are they large in number, they are educated and landed and own some of the choicest properties in London. Included in their number was the recently departed Antonio Deinde Fernandez and Adebayo Ogunlesi, Chairman and Managing Partner of Global Infrastructure Partners, which owns Gatwick Airport and other choice property all over London, The UK and the world.

When you begin to trace the timelines of when Nigerians and particularly Yoruba speakers started their ascendancy in the UK and the rest of the world, you will find that it started in 1955 after the Western Region Government of Nigeria headed by Chief Awolowo initiated free education in Western Nigeria. Now that they papa and mama are both gone, it is time for Nigeria and the men and women who benefited from their visionary leadership to preserve their legacy. How you may ask? There are a variety of ways to preserve their legacy. As I sit here typing, the image of Chief Awolowo’s library continues to flash in my mind and a good place to start will be by getting the Federal Government of Nigeria to push for that library to be declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

If the federal government initiates the process, it will be successful and will cement Chief Awolowo and HID Awolowo’s image in the world’s memory. Concurrently, the federal government should declare the library as a National Heritage site. Also, the states that now comprise the former Western Region of Nigeria could consider instituting a fund for the preservation of the ideals the Awolowo’s stood for. Individuals of means, particularly from the Western Region, should be invited to contribute to such a fund. I am sure if the six states of the former Western Region along with the two states that came out of the Mid West Region (Edo and Delta) constitute a committee for such a purpose, then individuals like Mike Adenuga, Adebayo Ogunlesi, Femi Otedola and Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija will be willing, even eager to contribute to it. It is a worthy cause. The monies from such a fund could then be managed by the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation to be used to advance the legacy of the late sage and his wife through whatever vehicle they deem fit.

Nollywood should not also be left out. Industry veterans should produce documentaries or biographies of Chief Awolowo for our youths to watch so that they know what the man did to plant trees whose shades they are now enjoying. When such movies or documentaries are made, I make a solemn promise to air it repeatedly on Silverbird Television for free. I also covenant that all Silverbird Cinemas will show it for free to members of the public. Come on guys, we have to promote and preserve our own if not their memory will die! Nigeria’s founding fathers were Sir Ahmadu Bello, Owelle Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Awolowo.

Today all three are dead but what do our youth know about them? Virtually nothing!
Our youths know about John F Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Mungo Park, David Livingstone and even oppressors like Cecil Rhodes but they do not know about our founding fathers.

One of the first history lessons all American children learn about is the founding fathers. They learn about who they were, what they did and what route they took to getting to their enviable heights in society. There is even a larger than life national monument carved into the face of a mountain to commemorate the founding fathers at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.
Nations like America take the pains to commemorate their founding fathers and other important heroes in order not to forget their national purpose and their collective vision.

If they do not do this, in time their memories will fade away and they will not be accurately represented in contemporary life.

A good example of this is Chief Moshood Abiola. When Abiola died on July 7 1998, students of the University of Lagos shut down Akoka in Lagos and insisted that Nigeria must immortalise Abiola. They stopped motorists and made them chant anti federal government slogans and pro Abiola messages. Fast forward to May 29, 2012 when former President Goodluck Jonathan renamed the University of Lagos the Moshood Abiola University of Lagos. On that day, it was the students of the University of Lagos, whose predecessors once demanded that the federal government immortalise Abiola, that trooped out in large numbers to condemn the renaming of their institution after Abiola. So intense was this demonstration that the University of Lagos had to be shut down the next day on May 30th 2012. What had happened in the intervening years to douse the enthusiasm of the students over the immortalisation of Abiola?

You see, because the government and the larger society did not make enough conscious effort to remember Abiola’s legacy by teaching it to our youth, our youth forgot and with the passage of time the memory became dimmer and dimmer. Yet this very Abiola once donated a fortune to the University of Lagos and sponsored many events and activities in that institution. We cannot afford to fulfil the derisive slur of racists that if you want to hide anything from a Black man you do it by putting it in a book! We must capture the legacy of not just our founding fathers but also our national heroes in books, films, buildings, holidays and monuments.

Chief Awolowo’s contemporary, Owelle Azikiwe, died on the 11th of May 1996. Till today, the federal government has yet to fulfil its pledge to complete a mausoleum for him. Nigerians do not even know what Azikiwe’s wife’s name was and if not that we had a president whose middle name is Azikiwe, the memory of the great Zik of Africa was almost fading away from our political life.

By contrast, Baroness Margaret Thatcher died on the 8th of April 2013, yet even before her death, the British Government consulted her on how she would like to be buried and remembered in the event of her death and ultimately spent £3.6 million of tax payers funds for that purpose. Two years before she died, Hollywood made a $13 million biography about her entitled The Iron Lady to capture her legacy. So good was the movie that Meryl Streep, who played Mrs. Thatcher, received an Oscar for her portrayal of Baroness Thatcher. Since her death, Parliament, 10 Downing Street and various British institutions have preserved her legacy by building institutions and endowing centres to study her ideas and philosophy. Only on July 13 this year (2015), her successor, Prime Minister David Cameron, unveiled the Thatcher Business Education Centre.

More than 100 books have been written about the life, legacy and personality of Thatcher and it is safe to say that she would never be forgotten. Now let us compare the remembrance given to Azikiwe to that given to Thatcher and we will understand why Britain, a country with only a third of our population, wields more influence than us on the world stage. When we do not value our own heroes, we are communicating to the world that we do not value ourselves. I mean who would want to be the hero of a people that according to the late Bob Marley, “kill their prophets”?

We were all in Nigeria pretending that someone like Fela was not a prophet. It took two Americans, Billy T Jones and Jim Lewis, to write the book Fela! It also took three Americans, Jay Z with Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett, to bring the book to life on Broadway, and an American, Sahr Ngaujah, was cast as Fela. All because we do not value our prophets!
I guess all I am trying to say is that the value of each individual Nigerian is tied to the value we attach to our founding fathers and other heroes who sacrificed for us to get to where we are.

You cannot divorce yourself from Nigeria. Even if you immigrate, change your name and pick up a new accent, it will still come out that you are a Nigerian. That being the case should we not learn to like being Nigerians and teach the world to like Nigerians? In achieving this, we must borrow a verse from the George Benson song made popular by Whitney Houston, ‘The Greatest Love of All’. A verse in that song goes ‘Learning to love yourself. It is the greatest love of all’. What an awesome message to Nigeria and Nigerians.

In conclusion, I beg Nigerians. We should not just gather and spend billions to throw a big owambe party in honour of mama HID Awolowo as she is buried. All the champagne, meat, rice, pounded yam and soup we will eat, plus the aso ebi we will purchase, will not last. We will either pass them away or the cloth will fade after washing. But if we document her and papa’s life, the document will last and help us produce modern day Awolowos who can take us to our Promised Land. And God knows we need them!
My name is Ben Murray Bruce and I just want to make common sense!

• Senator Murray Bruce is the senator representing Bayelsa East in the National Assembly and is Chairman of the Silverbird Group

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/hid-awolowo-the-best-first-lady-we-never-had/221322/