₦airaland Forum

skyfall: When Pastor Bakare said that Jonathan's destiny was to bankrupt Nigeria, it sounded like a joke. Now it's happening before our very eyes.

I guess it's a good idea to convert one's savings to $$$ or even £££ before they crash the damn Naira. Or what do you finance pros think?

Worries Over Greater Reliance on Oil, Neglect of Real Sector
Posted by Editor on September 3, 2012.
By: Moses Ebosele and Femi Adekoya.

ALTHOUGH Nigeria’s revenue from oil is still rising, some key players in the economy have expressed concern over the nation’s increased dependence on oil and called for an immediate diversification of the economy.

In their appraisal of President Goodluck Jonathan’s economic policies at the weekend, the experts claimed that nothing serious had been done to diversify the economy.


According to them, opportunities in the wider sectors of the economy, particularly agriculture, have been untapped contrary to the claims by the authorities that significant progress had been made.

Consistently, in the last one decade, Nigeria’s level of dependence on crude oil for government’s spendings has been hovering around 76 per cent.

Indeed, crude oil exports accounted for 90 per cent of the country’s foreign exchange earnings in 2010 and rose to 95 per cent last year.

This year, the country’s reliance on crude oil exports for government revenues and budget, based on the benchmark oil price and assumed production, which was set at 2.4 million barrels a day, is 80 per cent.

The economic report of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), for the second quarter of 2012, showed that oil revenue still accounts for 76.3 per cent of the country’s total earnings for the period.

The report also showed that Nigeria’s federally-collected revenue hit N2.59 trillion within the last three months, with non-oil revenue standing at 23.7 per cent.

Of the total revenue generated during the period, N1.98 trillion or 76.3 per cent accounted for gross oil receipts, while non-oil receipts stood at N614.6 billion or 23.7 per cent.

According to the CBN, the total revenue recorded within the period represents an increase of 7.1 per cent and 8.7 per cent above the proportionate budget and the level in the corresponding quarter of 2011.

Worried by the sustained mono-cultural profile of the economy, Managing Director of Financial Derivatives, Bismark Rewane, stressed the need for the Economic Team to be dedicated to the diversification agenda.

Also, an economist, Matthew Otoide, described Nigeria’s dependence on revenue from the petroleum sector as “funny and not sustainable.”

Similarly, a financial analyst and management consultant, Dr. Kennedy Izuagbe, said government must express its readiness to diversify the economy, not just through words, but also through effective implementation of policies.

At a recent event, the Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had advocated the need for diversification.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said: “We need to diversify the economy into sectors such as agriculture where we have a strong comparative advantage. I think Nigeria should not even be importing most of the food it currently imports. We spend about $10 billion a year on food imports of things that we can grow, such as rice, fish, sugar, and wheat for bread. Actually, we do not grow wheat very well, but we can substitute cassava flour for wheat flour. If we pursue the development of these sectors, then we will create jobs and we will diversify.”

According to Rewane, Nigeria’s continued dependence on oil is no news. Every vision and plan that have been in place over the years have always been targeted towards that end.

“Policy-makers have been talking about it but implementation has been a problem. It goes beyond saying or revealing plans, but implementing the goals. If Nigeria embarks on its diversification exercise, it will become accomplishable in the long-run if government is dedicated to the goal,” he said.

He said if states are already showing commitment to the diversification of their economies, the central government cannot remain indifferent.

Rewane cited Delta State, which he said had begun an economic transformation programme aimed at reducing dependence on oil.

Izuagbe warned that Nigeria’s dependence on oil for revenue would linger until the Federal Government realises the need to take strategic, proactive and well-measured steps towards stemming the tide.

He said: “The Federal Government needs to put together a deliberate plan that targets the development and transformation of the agricultural sector, which for me, is a major income earner that is non-exhaustive, that has super employment generation potential. Oil deposits are exhaustive unlike a well-harnessed and packaged agriculture sector, which can outlive generations and place Nigeria in the league of food sufficiency nations.

“The process of putting this policy together must be driven by sincerity and commitment from the part of the Federal Government for it to succeed. It must be a painstaking process devoid of political considerations. This is the only way forward. In his magnanimity, God has given our country probably the best arable land on earth. We probably have one of the best weather conditions on earth.

“Unfortunately, the past and present governments at best, have paid lip service to the development of this vital sector of our economy, arguably due to the sacrifices involved in developing this sector. Successive governments do not have the patience to go through the whole hog of putting a workable master-plan for this sector. They would rather maintain the status quo and continue to pray for increase in the prices of crude oil. This would not take us anywhere,” Izuagbe added.

Otoide said successive leaders in Nigeria have deliberately refused to demonstrate the “political will” to reverse the trend and keep the country on a path of growth and prosperity.

According to him, Nigeria’s economic potential lies in the agricultural sector. “If you travel round this country, you will weep. While we are fighting over how to share revenue from oil, the potential in the agric sector remains untapped.

“The only way forward is to develop our agric potential. That is the only way to create jobs on a sustainable basis. Nigeria is blessed with numerous resources. If properly harnessed, agriculture can create millions of direct and indirect jobs coupled with other multiplier effect too numerous to mention.”

Otoide further explained that the first thing the government should do is to restructure the revenue allocation formula by deploying more resources to all the councils to meet the needs of genuine farmers.

“The government should engage the farmers directly. Amenities such as good roads, water, electricity, health and security should be made available in all councils. That will go a long way to kick-start the process,” he said.

An analyst, Kayode Oluwa, said the country cannot achieve sustainable development as long as the economy depends on just one product, saying “the sole dependence of the economy on crude oil export as the main source of revenue and foreign exchange earner puts the country in a risky position that makes it vulnerable to oil price volatilities. Consequently, there is the urgent need to move away from the present monolithic economy, diversify the country’s economic base, within and away from crude oil, and explore other sources of revenue.

“Sustainable development is about ensuring that, while satisfying the needs of the present generation, a country’s natural resources are not depleted, or jeopardised, so as to meet the needs of future growth and secure the livelihood of coming generations. To achieve inclusive growth, macro-economic stability and sustainable development of the Nigerian economy, we must begin to de-emphasise the habit of consumption and ostentatious living as a nation (i.e. consuming what we do not produce) and imbibe the culture of savings and wealth creation, based on increased productivity/output, value addition, economic diversification and self-sustenance”.

He said, “the rapidly changing dynamics and volatility of the oil market has, therefore, underscored the need for rebuilding national fiscal savings. This has become imperative, more so, in view of the recent report that Nigeria may be exposed to potential oil price shock due to the combination of new supplies from non-members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as well as lower imports from the United States (U.S.) (Nigeria’s largest market).”

Corroborating statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the apex bank attributed the growth in the GDP from 6.2 per cent in the preceding quarter to 6.6 per cent to the increase in the contribution from the non-oil sector.

Also, foreign exchange inflow and outflow through the CBN amounted to $10.02 billion and $9.61 billion, in that order, resulting in a net inflow of $0.41 billion during the quarter.

Foreign exchange sales by the CBN to authorised dealers amounted to $8.66 billion in the second quarter of 2011, compared with $7.98 billion in the first quarter of 2012.

In the money market, the value of money market assets outstanding however, declined by 5.2 per cent below the level in the preceding quarter to N5.53 trillion. The development was attributed to the 16.5 and 98.9 per cent decline in Bankers Acceptances (BAs) and Commercial Paper (CPs).

According to the bank, the significant decline in CP was as a result of the reversal of some misclassified items. Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in the second quarter of 2012 were mixed.

Source: The Guardian.

naptu2: We also need massive public enlightenment campaign to get people to use these centres. One major problem we have is that people bypass these centres and go straight to the general hospitals for every little ailment they have, thereby over stretching facilities at the general hospitals.

thelonestranger: It is really amusing. The fact is that people don't know that an even BIGGER Shoprite is presently being constructed on Ring Road Ibadan where the old rubbish dump used to be. Laugh your life away on Nairaland . In Ibadan Shoprite is laughing to the bank(s)

otokx: There is no smoke without fire some say, well lets keep in view.

zetdee: Gbawe gbawe gbawe.. you always raise this Lucky Dube story as prove of the unfair hatred of Nigerian in South Africa, the context of the quote has been explained to you before but you still insist, which i understand. The people who shot lucky Dube was a Mozambique and Zimbabwean national.

Why Lucky Dube was killed

February 4 2009 at 05:35am

Star


In the dock: The three men accused of killing Lucky Dube, from left to right, Sifiso Mhlanga, Ludwe Gxowa and Mbuti Mabe appear at the Johannesburg High Court. Photo: Shayne Robinson, The Star
By Botho Molosankwe

About an hour after they pumped two bullets into Lucky Dube, the alleged killers returned to where the reggae superstar lay dead to see if any of the bystanders recognised them.

This was the chilling evidence of a state witness, who also revealed on Tuesday that the two men on trial for the murder didn't recognise him and thought he was a Nigerian.

State witness Mpho Maruping said her husband had confessed his involvement in Dube's botched hijacking and gave her details on what led to the multi-award-winning superstar's death.

As Dube's relatives sobbed, the woman told the Johannesburg High Court of the night Dube was shot as he dropped off his son and daughter in Rosettenville.

Maruping is the wife of Thabo Maruping. He was initially charged with Dube's murder but turned state witness.

She said her husband and three men on trial for murder, robbery, attempted robbery and illegal possession of firearms - S'fiso Mhlanga, Ludwe Gxowa and Mbuti Mabe - had been on the prowl, hunting for a Chrysler to hijack.

After their search proved fruitless, they parked their VW Polo and waited. Then a Chrysler drove up and stopped not far from them.

They pounced. Two shots were fired. Dube tried to drive off but he crashed his car into a tree and died on the spot.

Maruping said that on October 18, the day Dube was killed, she and Thabo were in Sandton at a timeshare meeting. Thabo kept receiving phone calls and later arranged to meet the three accused in the Joburg city centre.

The four men drove off in a Polo and she drove home in the couple's red bakkie.

Later, the four returned to the Maruping townhouse and Thabo asked for the keys to the bakkie.

When she asked him what he wanted them for, she realised that the Polo was damaged. Thabo's explanation was that a taxi had driven into them while they were at a filling station.

Maruping said her husband, Mhlanga, Gxowa and Mabe drove off in two cars - the couple's bakkie and an unidentified red vehicle - leaving the damaged VW at the townhouse complex.

Her husband called Mabe the night after the murder, asking him to return the bakkie. Mabe returned the vehicle, but Maruping had to take him home.

When she got back she expected to find her husband ready to go to the East Rand Mall. Instead he was glued to the TV.

The wife then asked him why he wasn't ready.

"He said Mabe had just called and told him to watch the previous night's (murder) incident on TV. I also sat and watched. They showed Lucky Dube singing, as well as a car that had collided with a tree," Maruping testified.

After the TV programme, Thabo told her how Dube was murdered.

Her husband told her that he and the three accused drove around Rosettenville, then stopped. A Chrysler C200 came into view and halted. Mhlanga and Gxowa got out of the Polo and approached it.

"Thabo said that while in the car (Polo) he heard a gunshot. Mabe told him to see what was going on. He went to the Chrysler and put his hands on the roof and looked inside.

"A second gunshot rang out as he went back to the VW. Mhlanga and Gxowa then returned and told him to drive off."

Maruping said she asked her husband why Dube was shot. "He said Mhlanga said he did not see that it was Dube and had thought he was a Nigerian.

"When I asked why he later returned (on the night of October 18) and wanted the bakkie, he said it was because they could not drive a car that had been involved in a collision.

"He also said they took the bakkie and returned to the scene to see whether anyone had seen them and also to see what was going on."

Earlier, David Mohlabai, a panelbeater from Springs, said that on October 20 he received a call from Mabe, who wanted him to repair his car's bodywork.

When they met, Mabe - who was driving a Polo - was with someone else, who was driving a bakkie.

The hearing was to continue on Wednesday

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/luckydube9.19613.html

https://www.newzimbabwe.com/pix/luckydubekillersmhlangagxow.jpg
ROT IN HELL: The three men who killed Lucky Dube. Sifiso Mhlanga, who pulled the trigger, is seated far left. Next to him is Julius Gxowa and the driver of the gateaway car, Mbuti Mabe, is far right

biafranqueen: is it better we start from some where then not do anything at all? We must crawl before they walk and walk before they run. They are learning. Lets give thanks. Have a blessed weekend my friend!

solomon111: you are a bigot and a shameless human being.

Because you are all petty individuals and dishonest losers who translate factual criticism to mean something else, you have all created the impression I malign GEJ for good things he does when this is simply not true. If you continue to claim so then Kindly prove it here and now !!!!

I have over 9,000.00 posts. Do it liars !!!! Also, show that my criticism of GEJ are not for factual things such as how he has ignored, to the detriment of Nigerian, the recommendations of the Ribadu petroleum task force.

biafranqueen: This is wonderful. It was women like this that by action shamed the American and European government into doing something to help the citizens. It was women like this that help to create welfare, free medical and food for poor. Leaders are a reflection of the people. How we think they think how we act they act.
When we appreciate goods things they continue to happen in your personal life for our nation and for the world.
When we are grateful for small things then what you are grateful for will continue to show up in bigger ways.
When we talk about what we love it will keep happening if you focus on what we hate it will keep showing up.

bloggernaija: As a member of the diaspora and as someone who socialises with traders and speculator in order to glean a poor man's investment info ,I can authoritatively confirm that Nigeria's outlook is as bad as depicted.
Casual observer of the Nigerian landscape cannot but fail to notice the similarities between today and the profligacy of the gowon - shagari years.
The import dependent economy was suddenly expanded (bubble)without any appreciable increase in productive and legacy activities.
A rapid expansion of the public sector via dubious recruitments,creation of additional layers of bureaucracy and the outright corruption of the politicians.
Add to this the inflationary pressures of such policies.add to this is the fact that the value of the naira is artificially high.right now,the federal government is spending to defend that value .while not a bad thing,but If these pressures were to continue,the money will simply run out .when that happens,the sharks will be circling to pick up the pieces.many will go poor as the baira loses value and standard of living plummets.expect crisis and instabilty everywhere and another brain drain as professional seek golden pastures abroad.expect a fire sale of all government assets for peanuts.
I hope Nigerians are ready for what is about to hit them

The sources also disclosed that the Federal Government has also borrowed massively from local and foreign banks to pay its recurrent expenditures. They added that President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration was now eyeing the N3.4 trillion pension funds to enable it to finance its deficits.

solomon111: what donations from the public?
When was such donations made?
Who were those that donated?
What are they getting in return?
What is the use of such projects,when these so-called wives are wealthy enough to take care of themselves.
Why haven't fashola ask his friends to donate for the rehabilitation of public school in lagos?
Why haven't they donated for the repair for the repairs of the abominable roads in the mainland?
Why are most projects in lagos tolled when fashola has friends that can donate for those projects.?
You people are just deceiving yourselves.

DJTee: Spot on...if this were GEJ, he would have been labelled clueless as usual. But we can now read between the lines and distill rhythm from all the noise... W will call a spade exactly what it is; no more no more

wellmax: Thats it! I know I'll find someone who's not sentimental.

solomon111: This is what will make lagos state dignified?
Will you be saying this if it were jonathan?
Were you not one of those blasting patience jonathan for trying to build a similiar project?
Your hypocrisy stinks to the high heavens.

Sibrah: Fresh Air at a price!
No big surprise to those who know where they are coming from.

Akson man: I'm only sad that indigenous Nigerian business men have not yet thought of cashing in on Nigeria's retail space and giving Shoprite a run for their money. Perhaps they are still learners!

REHOZIBAH: There is no gain-saying d fact that GEJ is a profligate president

Irrespective of whatever d nay-sayers might think, all available financial indicators lends credence to d story above

That what u get when u av a shoeless,clueless n thougthless individual @ d helm of affair of a potentially great country such as dis

Little wonder he wanted 2 remove fuel subsidy when indeed he should av propose to reduce monumental corruption of his ilk

The Presidency source also revealed that Nigeria’s net oil export has been cut by half as elements close to Mr. Jonathan have engaged in massive oil theft with the connivance of the Nigerian Navy as well as members of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta region.

Nigerian Government Broke; Targets Pension Savings
Posted: June 28, 2013 - 10:39


https://saharareporters.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/news-page-images-480-wide/page_images/news/2013/Ngozi-Okonjo-Iweala.jpg
Federal minister of finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
By SaharaReporters, New York

The Nigerian government is financially broke and barely able to pay its bills, an investigation by SaharaReporters has revealed. The portrait of the Nigerian government’s dismal financial situation is in sharp contrast to recent propaganda by Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. Both officials have sought to depict the Nigerian economy as vibrant and robust.

Several sources in Abuja, including a legislator, a senior bureaucrat and an insider in the Presidency, told SaharaReporters that the government in recent weeks had failed to release budgetary allocations to various ministries to meet their obligations.

The sources also disclosed that the Federal Government has also borrowed massively from local and foreign banks to pay its recurrent expenditures. They added that President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration was now eyeing the N3.4 trillion pension funds to enable it to finance its deficits.

The Presidency source also revealed that Nigeria’s net oil export has been cut by half as elements close to Mr. Jonathan have engaged in massive oil theft with the connivance of the Nigerian Navy as well as members of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta region.

Since her second tour as a prominent minister in Nigeria, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala has constantly told the public that the Nigerian economy was buoyant. But in private she has told close associates, officials of international finance bodies as European and North American nations that Nigeria’s economic outlook was getting worse especially with decreased oil sales. With her blessing, Nigeria has also resorted to massive borrowing from China and several other non-traditional loan sources to plug financial deficits.

An economic analyst in Abuja told SaharaReporters, “By the end of Mr. Jonathan's tenure, Ms. Iweala would have borrowed Nigeria back to the Stone Age,” referring to the period Nigeria racked up loans from the IMF as well as Paris and London Clubs essentially to finance the grasping needs of Nigeria’s corrupt elite.

Another source, a legislator, stated that he was disturbed by the dire economic portrait. He described Mr. Jonathan as “overseeing the biggest era of corruption in Nigeria's history.”

At the heart of the latest plot to loot Nigeria’s resources is the plan to plant one of President Jonathan's trusted allies at the helm of the country’s pension fund to facilitate the diversion of funds meant for retirees for political and other goals.

The Presidency source said Mr. Jonathan’s inner circle was anxious to keep news of Nigeria’s poor economic outlook and financial rating from public view. “As you know, Nigeria has been downgraded in recent weeks by international financial rating organizations, but the government wants to maintain that everything is rosy.”

The lawmaker, who belongs to the same Peoples Democratic Party that is the ruling party, said he was sad that President Jonathan and his closest associates are engaged in mindless looting of the treasury for the purpose of buying victory in the 2015 general elections.

Deep Sight: With every respect sir, you are entitled to your views, just as surely as I am entitled to see this for what it is: namely a lame cop-out. It is obvious that you are not willing avert your mind to hard questions regarding the ACN when they are asked or are pointedly obvious. I cannot see how the ad hominem in yours speaks to anything: if anything I would have expected you to speak to issues and not to persons.

As for "rigidity," I find that rather strange as I am very open minded towards the various parties in Nigeria. I have the most praise for the ACN (which I have always voted for) and the most condemnation for the PDP, (which I have never voted for) as I am most eager to see the back of the PDP especially at the Federal Level in this country. I am happy to praise that which I see as positive, and condemn that which I see as negative, wherever it may be found, and in whatever camp it rests. That's hardly rigidity. Now, that you cannot stand it when hard questions are asked of your camp, does not render the questioner rigid - it rather renders you manifestly rigid.

As for your ad hominems and referrals to other posters, I note that that thread concerned the ACN's response to the proscription of Boko Haram/ SoE. It would therefore seem that you are in fact the very rigid one in this matter, as you would take this most intolerant stance towards anyone criticizing the ACN.

As for "Hassling" - you have my sincere apologies on that, I never intended to hassle you. It was just a reminder, and I thought it apt to place it here, since the ACN vis-a-vis other parties is also an issue here. I certainly have no wish, time or inclination to "hassle" you.

Have a pleasant weekend, noble, kind and gracious sir.

doncaster: But you responded to deep sight's question that is not related to this your thread. You even go the extra mile to import what he said in another thread.

Gbawe why are you like this? Gbawe you can do better than this now.

doncaster: Ok sorry did you think I read the post? from osundefender? Gbawe pls don't insult me.

Deep Sight: @ Gbawe,

I left a few questions here for you, which it appears you never returned to -

https://www.nairaland.com/1238009/pdp-cpc-anpp-others-violate#16191951

This is simply intolerance.

As far as I am concerned, with a mindset such as yours, an intractable problem such as terrorism could never be solved.

Never ever. You lack the decisiveness required.

You could never be a Good King, the head that has to take tough decisions for a massive group. Never. Such a population would disintegrate under your dithering this way and that, arguing ethics, while they are murdered by criminals.

All these "my last post here".

This only shows EXACTLY WHY we have this Boko Haram problem: because fellas like you are too scared.

Freaking cowardly guys!

doncaster: Well you have osundefender as the source. meanwhile do you have anything to say about the rebuttal and the publication from thisday of today? Just a question pls.

doncaster: http://www.osundefender.org/?p=106322 Osun defender again? Thought they and Igbokwe rebuked Tunubu and Iyaloja news.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/tinubu-s-daughter-installed-traders-leader-amid-controversy/151783/

Still on Jonathan, opposition and 2015 by Chido Onumah


I would be deluding myself if I imagined that my article last week, “2015: Who will defeat Jonathan?” would not elicit the kind of “violent” outbursts that have trailed it. After all, this is Nigeria where you can’t take a position without being accused of “looking for something”. It is understandable. Some journalists and columnists have written their way to plum government jobs.

That piece was meant as a wake-up call for the opposition and an attempt to redirect the jaded public discuss on the future of Nigeria. In a way, the diatribes notwithstanding, I am happy we are gradually shifting gear and are inclining toward a proper debate about 2015.

This is helpful considering that the only debate on that subject so far has been name-calling and threats by ethnic warlords and religious bigots. If it is not Ohaneze N’Igbo shouting from every rooftop, “It is the turn of Ndigbo” or Dokubo-Asari threatening that the country will go up in flames with the aid of oil from the Niger Delta or Kingsley Kuku promising us that militants will return to the creeks if Jonathan is not reelected in 2015, then it is Prof. Ango Abdullahi or Farouk Adamu-Aliyu assuring us that the North (which North?) will break away and form its own republic.
In his rejoinder to my piece, Joe Igbokwe took umbrage at my assertion that, “If free and fair elections were held today (even though the PDP would never permit free and fair elections), chances are that President Jonathan will emerge victorious”. According to Igbokwe, “I do not know what led Chido Onumah to believe that PDP led by anybody in Nigeria today can win a presidential election in a free and fair process”.

“Now the question is this: On what basis is PDP going to win this election? Is it based on performance? What is the basis? How good have we fared in the past 14 years to warrant Chido to make this egregious forecast? Are we getting better? If you still give PDP 50 years can it do anything better than what we have seen?” Igbokwe asked.

Need we remind Joe Igbokwe that even with the knowledge and experience of the wreckage and wanton pillage since 1999, the PDP led by Goodluck Jonathan won in the South-west during the presidential election just two years ago? In the same South-west, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) won convincingly in the gubernatorial and National Assembly elections.
I did not infer that Nigerians do not have the capacity to bring about change by voting against PDP, but it will take more than saying President Jonathan is clueless to achieve that. For the avoidance of doubt and contrary to Joe Igbokwe’s assertion, I did not gloss over “the critical importance of performance in winning elections or the issue of party unity”. The point being made here which was the gist of my article is that Nigerian voters are not as “sophisticated” as Igbokwe assumes, notwithstanding the grinding poverty, President Jonathan’s lack of performance and the unmitigated disaster that has been the hallmark of the PDP since 1999.

I have watched Goodluck Jonathan closely since I first met him in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, in 2006 during a continental environmental conference that looked at the impacts and implications of renewed mining boom on communities in Africa, and it is difficult to put performance and Goodluck Jonathan in the same sentence, yet he won a presidential election “convincingly” in the South-west, even with the level of education and exposure of voters in that geo-political zone.

We need to know what made that victory possible in an opposition stronghold. Obviously, Nigerians notice the imperative of performance in winning election as Joe Igbokwe rightly noted, but whether this imperative is overriding every time is another matter.


I did not tie the future of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to one man – Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) as Igbokwe erroneously implied. I was clear in my assertion. As an aside, the former head of state will be 73 in 2015. I personally do not support gerontocracy in an era in which the world is electing young and visionary presidents in their 40s.
Talking about the presidency in 2015, the APC, undoubtedly, is a party of immense potentials. But it remains just that, a party of great potentials. We would need to translate that potential to reality and time is of the essence. I stand by my assertion that, “If elections were held today, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) is perhaps the only person with the pedigree, name recognition and national appeal who can give President Jonathan and the PDP a run for their money”.

“Is Chido saying that if anything happens to Buhari today, APC will not fill a presidential candidate in 2015?” Don’t we have more than 50 presidential candidates who can do better than Buhari if we search for them? Joe Igbokwe queried. The answer, my dear Joe Igbokwe, is that the issue goes beyond fielding a presidential candidate. You want to field one with the pedigree, integrity, national appeal and acceptability that stands a chance. Now is the time to make that decision no matter how difficult it is; not tomorrow, not next year. As a card-carrying member of ACN, and now by extension a member of APC, I would love to have the debate about the 50 potential presidential candidates in the party.

I appreciate what Joe Igbokwe refers to as “mines and bombs PDP mercenaries have been sowing on APC’s highway to reclaim Nigeria”. We must add to this the fact that APC is contesting against an incumbent president (whom some have described as the most powerful in the world) who has made corruption the directive principle of state policy.

I hope this resonates with Joe Igbokwe. Let’s assume elections are in April 2015. There are 36 states and 774 local governments in the country. If a candidate (but not just a candidate) emerged today, that means he or she has 22 months (or about 675 days) to make an impression. This is not an attempt to pull down the APC, but in all seriousness to show the urgency of the task at hand.

I agree with Joe Igbokwe that it is not “easy for ACN, ANPP, CPC and APGA to come together in today’s Nigeria to challenge PDP”. In my appraisal of the APC a few months ago, I noted, “If the APC succeeds, and I hope and pray it does, it will be “a marginal improvement over where we are coming from”. I ended the appraisal by quoting Edwin Madunagu who noted in his piece “Reflections on Party Combinations”, The Guardian, March 7 & 14, 2013, “Someone has referred to the newly-formed APC as the ‘new’ SDP. Yes, there are a couple of elements in common. But there is at least one more requirement for the APC: It has to show that not only is the status-quo totally bankrupt (which is the case), but also that the APC is a historically progressive way forward at this moment, and that it is the only one”.

“Now, if the question is, ‘Is the opposition ready to compete in 2015?’ please take notice that the answer is yes and this is final”, Igbowke concluded. Quite reassuring! I am currently teaching a summer course for young journalists from around the world on media and information literacy at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. There are many students and academics from Egypt – some of them active participants in the “Egyptian Uprising”.

Very often our debates veer toward the situation in Egypt which bears an uncanny resemblance to what we have in Nigeria. After one year in office, Egyptians are tired and angry with Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood/Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and they are eager to end their reign. Egypt is known as a nation where people, no matter their religion or culture, leave together in peace. But that is no longer the case under Morsi who, late last year, granted himself unlimited powers to “protect the nation and to legislate without judicial oversight”. My students say he is destroying Egypt, undermining its constitution and using religion to divide the country.

“If elections were held in Egypt today what would happen to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood?” I asked a group of students. They were unanimous in saying Morsi would “win”. I then asked why. The response was that the opposition had not been able to unite around a nationally acceptable candidate that could articulate the feelings of Egyptians. But beyond that, one perceptive student noted, “a lot of Egyptians are illiterate; they are easily swayed by religious arguments – which the Muslim Brotherhood is manipulating. The Muslim Brotherhood is well funded, getting support from some of the very rich countries in the Middle East. During election they will buy people with bags of rice, cloth and oil”.
Does this sound familiar?
conumah@hotmail.com

scipher: Zetee is trying so hard to convince us that they ain't xenophobic... Seems this dude know little about Nigerians