₦airaland Forum

Like Nehru, Like Jonathan, By Reno Omokri

Let nobody ever say that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is not a listening leader. Never say that. From the early days when he assumed the presidency to the present, President Jonathan has been the epitome of democracy, feeling the pulse of the people and dancing the waltz to their tempo. He did this when he changed his mind about withdrawing Nigeria from international soccer tournaments after the 2010 fiasco in South Africa after Nigerians besieged his facebook page to plead with him to temper justice with mercy.

Again he did this when he acceded to the cries of those most affected by the Boko Haram insurgency when he agreed to consider dialoguing with Boko Haram and set up the Tanimu Turaki led Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Resolution of Security Challenges in the North.

And again, he is demonstrating that he has a listening ear by listening to the grievance of those Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governors who disagree with the elected leaders of the party even though they are in the minority. It is incontestable that President Jonathan is a listening leader.

This may perhaps explain why he changed his mind on the issue of a National Conference for which he had hitherto been set against. A leader is meant to embody the aspirations of the people he leads and given that the cries for such a conference have grown to be very deafening, President Jonathan has deferred to the people.

This would ordinary be something praise worthy, but of course to some, nothing the president does is ever good enough.
Take for instance, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the former governor of Lagos. On the 18th of February 2012 Asiwaju had said “We want Sovereign National Conference. Nigerians who voted for the President have the right to demand for the convocation of the conference”.

Well, President Jonathan also heard the voice of Nigerians which was that they wanted a conference to meet and determine how best they would live together as a people. So, on the 1st of October 2013 he agreed that Nigerians should have a conference and that it would be up to them to decide the nomenclature of the conference and the issues to be discussed. In other words, government is giving the people a free hand!

What could be more democratic than this? You would think that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu would be thrilled that the President has listened to the people (and Bola Tinubu himself) once again. But hear Asiwaju Bola Tinubu today-“The national conference is by whom, for whom, and at what stage? How many levels of deception? I see a contradiction. I see diversion. I see deception, lack of honesty and integrity”.

This kind of volte face brings to the fore complaint of awoists like Chief Ebenezer Babatope and others like him who personally worked with the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. They have at various times complained that many who say they are awoists are only using the philosophy of Awolowo as a cover to hoodwink the masses who still believe in the ideals of Chief Awolowo.

It was Chief Awolowo who in 1981 said “It is safer and wiser to cure unhealthy rivalry than to suppress it”. Awolowo lived and died believing that a National Conference was imperative if Nigeria was to emerge as a truly united nation whose people live in harmony. It therefore follows that anybody who lays claim to the philosophy of Awolowo must support something as cardinal to his beliefs as the convocation of a National Conference.

So the question that begs an answer is why the volte face?

I posit that the reason is that some who call themselves progressives after the Awolowo fold are in fact pro-aggressives, subject to change and moral flexibilities. Not able to stand on anything and therefore willing to fall for anything. To them, power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

This is why where Awolowo would have held transparent party primaries to elect party flag bearers, they prefer to impose relatives, cronies and in-laws.

Governments can never be safe in the hands of persons who are subject to change on the altar of political expediency. If people cannot count on you to be steadfast to your ideals then they cannot count on you period!

Now, the enemies of our collective progress are singing the song that we do not need a National Conference or that it is a dubious idea meant to distract Nigerians. Why such self denial? Because no one fights the status quo like those who feed fat on it. And Nigerians will recall the obviously divine hand that guided President Jonathan to power. Perhaps God made President Jonathan President for such a time as this!

Today, those who are screaming against the proposed National Conference are the same persons who screamed against the declaration of a State of Emergency in those states where Boko Haram has caused untold human misery.

A pattern seems to be unfolding here. If Nigerians will recall, these fellows were the ones who accused President Jonathan of not doing enough to rein in the Boko Haram insurgency. They then changed their tunes when the President took steps to contain the crisis.

If they are willing to play politics with the Boko Haram insurgency, an insurgency in which Nigerian lives were being lost, is it a big thing for them to play politics with the issue of a National Conference?

And I cringe when I read comments from some in the opposition to the effect that a National Conference will undo what our founding fathers did for us. With all due respects, this is a faulty premise as the Nigeria of the founding fathers was undone in 1966.

In truth, none of Nigeria’s founding fathers were against the ideas of a National Conference. Certainly, the great Ahmadu Bello was not against it.

In page 3 of John N. Paden’s 1986 biography of Ahmadu Bello, he reported a conversation between Sir, Ahmadu Bello and Nnamdi Azikiwe thus;

Nnamdi Azikiwe: “Let us forget our differences….”

Sir, Ahmadu Bello: “No, let us understand our differences. I am a Muslim and a Northerner. You are a Christian, an Easterner. By understanding our differences, we can build unity in our country.”

What better way to understand our differences than through a National Conference to be decided upon directly by the people of Nigeria without government’s interference?

And President Jonathan is not the first leader to have had a change of heart on the issue of a National Conference. Pandit Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, opposed a National Conference in his nation when it was first mooted in the late 1940s and early 1950s. However, when he saw how unresolved differences led his nation on the path of disintegration, with first Pakistan then Bangladesh breaking away, he knew that nothing could stop an idea whose time had come. As such, in 1956, Nehru set the machinery for India’s National Conference in motion and India emerged stronger for it. India is not only the most stable nation in the sub-region, she is today, the largest democracy in the world.

It is instructive to note that before India had her own National Conference she was being torn apart with Pakistan and Bangladesh breaking away, but after India’s leaders had a change of heart in 1956, the reverse became the case. Rather than lose territory, India gained territory with Goa becoming a part of India in 1961.
So what lessons can we draw from history?

Those who are afraid that a National Conference will lead to the breakup of Nigeria should study history. It is precisely those nations that refused to hold one, such as Sudan, that broke up, while those nations that held one, such as post 1956 India and post 1987 China, that stayed together and even added territories to their nation (India added Goa, China reclaimed Hong Kong and Macau) because while nobody likes to be a part of turmoil, everybody likes to be a part of tranquility.

Yes, we have had conferences in the past, but those have been conferences with limited freedom where the government of the day, whether colonial or indigenous, had set certain parameters for the discussion. This one is different. The government is not telling Nigerians what to do this time, rather it is Nigerians telling the government what to do. And this is the purest form of democracy.

Many have said they are a bit disappointed that those who championed that government should dialogue with Boko Haram are today resisting the idea of Nigerians conferencing together. But I don’t share in their disappointment. I quite understand why they took that stance. Boko Haram was at the time of their demands, and perhaps still is, a desperate problem for them.

You see, when the problem becomes desperate people who feared dialogue have no choice but to talk, however, people who talk never have to face desperation.

They have got it backwards. We should not just dialogue with Boko Haram because they are violent. We should conference with each other in order that we can prevent future occurrences of the Boko Haram insurgency because if we refuse to allow Nigerians dialogue with each other, we are invariably telling them that it is only those people who take to violence that deserve violence.

When asked to state his political motto, the late Zik of Africa said ‘you talk I listen, you listen I talk’. Politics should be an exchange of ideas. ‘You talk I listen, you listen I talk’ is much better than ‘you insult I listen, you listen I insult’ or ‘you fight I am beaten. I fight you are beaten’.

Only a person in deep denial will deny that there are deep seated tensions amongst nationalities that make up the Nigerian nation state. Repressing them has led to a civil war, ethnic and religious strife and militancy. It is time we face the reality and talk honestly about these issues and reach a resolution that would be better than the status quo so that all Nigerians can be mobilized behind the goal of a greater Nigeria without any ethnic nationality feeling shortchanged and disgruntled.

The Holy Bible in Amos 3:3 asks “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” This agreement necessary for walking together is what President Goodluck Jonathan is trying to foster for Nigeria by assembling a team of patriotic egg heads to come up with ideas and plans for a National Conference. Government is not telling them what to do rather they are advising government on what to do. I therefore make a solemn appeal to all Nigerians-Let us join hands with the leader that God has raised for such a time as this to build the New Nigeria of our collective dreams.

And it is certain that after conferencing together we will have a Nigeria that serves all Nigerians, not a Nigeria where an Igbo man who was born, bred and buttered in Lagos cannot aspire to elective position in Lagos. Not a Nigeria where a Yoruba man who was born and brought up in Kano cannot collect student bursary from the Kano state government because ‘he is not from Kano’. And certainly not a Nigeria where a Hausa man who is a third generation resident of Enugu is still referred to as a settler.

Reno Omokri is Special Assistant (New Media) to President Jonathan.

The Real Problem with Nigeria

By Reno Omokri

Nigerians always blame the government in power for the problems of the nation even though many of these preceded the government in power. Why do we always do this?
For instance, ask any Nigerian what the problem is with Nigeria and they will say like, Chinua Achebe, that it is leadership, forgetting that Nigeria’s leaders come from amongst us; and if we are saying that our problem is leadership, we are invariably supporting the racist Rhodesian doctrine that a black man would thrive best under white rule.

So if our problem is not leadership, what then is it?
I propose that our problem in Nigeria is that we lack a sense of history and we live only in the present moment which means that we are always reacting and hardly ever pro-acting.

If my five year old son comes to me and tells me that he has lost his toy, I will ask him to think back to the last time that he saw it and begin the search from there.

Nigeria has seen phenomenal growth in the last three years with our Gross Domestic Product, GDP, growing at a rate of over 6% per annum making us one of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies. Yet, we still have areas of Nigeria where population growth is higher than the growth rate of our GDP; and it is only common sense that where population outpaces production, there will be crisis. This is a theory that Reverend Malthus propounded and which has stood the test of time.
Between 1960 when Nigeria got independence and 1966 when we experienced the first military intervention in governance, Nigeria experienced phenomenal growth – a feat that has evaded us since, except for the growth we have had in the last three years. Almost all of the national institutions that were responsible for our growth pre-1999, were products of that first golden era before the first coup, such as the four great universities, (Lagos, Ife, Nsukka and Zaria), Kainji Dam, Nigeria Airways etc.

Also, in the same time period, we had some of the best civil servants in the world and our public service was very functional. There were reports from that era that some of our politicians were corrupt, but it is universally acknowledged that our civil servants of those times were above board. Our hospitals were renowned worldwide and it will surprise some to note that the Saudi Royal family received treatment at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, in the early 60s.
At that time we did not have oil in the quantum that we have today, yet, the nation was thriving, we had little or no foreign debt and we were first amongst equals in the council of emerging nations that included Indonesia, Brazil and Egypt.
But all these changed after 1966. So, as I would say to my five year old, if you are looking for a thing, go back to the last place where you saw it. That place is 1966!

Pre-1966, admission into primary and secondary schools was purely on merit. The same was the case for universities as well as the federal civil service. After 1966 when the military intervened and ended the First Republic all that changed and has remained the same till today.
A child could no longer bank on academic prowess as the yardstick for his gaining entry into primary and secondary schools. Children at their most tender years, when they were being emotionally scripted were told that even though they passed and passed well, they were not good enough for government funded schools because of where they came from.

With the Quota system of entrance into public schools introduced after 1966 and enshrined by the military into our body polity extant laws, children as young as nine got to understand that in Nigeria, where you come from is more important than how intelligent and hardworking you are.
Now, the sad thing about the policy of quota systems is that geneticists in the very best universities of the world have established that some races and tribes are not more intelligent than others and as such you can find intelligence in almost equal measure wherever you use it as a yard stick. In fact, many, including the Harvard Medical Journal, have reported that culture is more to blame than intelligence for the reason why some peoples are backward while others are progressive.
And our culture has been that children who are more endowed intellectually are held back and children who could grow their intellectual capacity are prevented from doing so because there was no need to challenge them intellectually. Come as you are, the system says.
This system would probably have brought minimal damage if it was limited to secondary schools, but it is not.

After completing secondary school, post 1966 Nigerian youths faced the same issues in gaining admission to Nigerian universities. Cut off marks and catchment areas were discriminately apportioned using region as a yard stick. So, after being told at age nine that were you came from was more important than your intelligence or your academic hard work, the message is reinforced at age 16-17 when you are still in your formative years.

At 16, you enter university and study for four or five years (ASUU permitting) and then graduate and go through your National Youth Service (one of the best policies the military bequeathed to Nigeria) and then you start to look for a job.

The largest employer of labour is the government, so naturally you start there. And what do you find? At age 24, just as when you were nine and sixteen, you are now faced with a policy that says where you are from is more important than what you can bring into the system. You are told that although you are qualified, the system must take people who are less qualified than you because of where you are from and where they are from.

So, between the ages of nine and 24, your psyche has been reinforced and scripted with the message that where you are from is more important than what you bring to the table.

Why wouldn’t a post 1966 civil servant face temptation to steal when merit is not the order of the day and you are forced to serve under someone who did not get his placement by merit - who enjoys perks and privileges far in excess of you? How can such a system promote morale and how can you have efficiency where morale is low?
Prior to 1966, an Nnamdi Azikiwe could win election in Ibadan and an Umoru Altine could win election as the first mayor of Enugu, but how can we replicate that ideal when, in every form you have filled since the age of 6, your ethnicity, state of origin and religion has mattered more than your Nigerianness. But whenever you watch television in the 1980s you see the MAMSER directorate showing you clips of your leaders telling you that where you come from does not matter and what matters is that “we are all MAMSER people who want the basic things of life”.

It is not until you get to your 30s and you watch as those same leaders that sold you and your parents that line form themselves into Northern and Southern Political Leaders Forum that you realized that you have been had!

And then young people who through no fault of their own have been conditioned to only live in the moment are then manipulated by these same set of leaders to begin to blame the government of the day for crumbling infrastructure that has been neglected for years and is only now being addressed after decades of neglect for the simple reason that we now have a leader who emerged not through the establishment but through events that could only be described as divine. And then you wonder, do they know their friends from their enemies? I mentioned Kainji Dam earlier but young people would be surprised to note that between 1979 and 1999 no new power plants were initiated and the one commissioned in 1982 was initiated in 1978! Yet, these same young people egged on by those who have milked the system in that time frame point accusing fingers at the man who is making a difference.

Take something as universal as power. In Nigeria, history has been made as the power sector has just been privatized by President Goodluck Jonathan in fulfillment of the promises he made to Nigerians when he launched the Roadmap to Power Sector Reforms on August 26th 2010. But before then, Nigeria has and is still suffering from chronic power shortages.

Now, power is one of those industries that rely strictly on efficient manpower in order to function properly. But power has been exclusively managed and operated by the government. Now who would the government hire to run our power plants, transmission grids and their commercial offices? Of course it would be Nigerian citizens.
Now, are those citizens the very best Nigeria has? No! These are citizens employed as part of the federal civil service that depends not on merit but on ethnicity for its hiring. So what then do Nigerians expect from such a venture?

You can repeat this for our refineries, airports, railways, sea ports, and other vital national institutions.
It is a notorious fact (yes, that phrase again) that you are only as strong as your weakest link. Therefore where you have not taken in the best right from secondary up to university and up to the civil service, your system is only as strong as the least endowed person.

To put this into perspective, if you have a school entry system that gives someone who scored 2 admission, and stops someone who scored 290 from getting admitted, your system is only as strong as a 2.

The saddest thing is that if that 2 knew that he would only get in if he had a 290 and nothing else would ensure he gets in, he would be forced to build his capacity to at least a 290. It is called competition and that is what existed between 1960 and 1966.

That, my people, is the problem with Nigeria. President Goodluck Jonathan and the leadership he offers to Nigeria is not our problem. As a matter of fact it is part of our solutions. Why do I say this? Because this is a man who has seen that even though we have made phenomenal progress in the last three years such as we have never witnessed between 1966 till date, yet we can do better.

And speaking as a private citizen, it is my hope that the coming national conference would look into these issues and go back in time to the place where we lost it.

Reno Omokri is Special Assistant (New Media) to the President.

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Experienced NetLogo programmers needed for a paid project of 1-2 weeks.

The project can be finished at an even lesser time depending on the experience of the programmer.

Please if you meet the criteria, kindly send an email stating your interest to: netproject13@gmail.com