New Year prophecies and promises

Casmir Igbokwe

First published in Sunday Punch, Jan. 3, 2010 

It’s the time of the year again when we make predictions, promises and projections. As has become my tradition every New Year, I will take a cursory look at some of these prophesies and leave you to draw your conclusions.

 First, let’s examine the predictions of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye. In his cross-over night service at the Redeemed Camp on the New Year, Adeboye reportedly urged Nigerians to pray fervently against suspension of the Constitution this year. He also solicited intensive prayers against backward sliding for the country in 2010.

 The RCCG GO urged Christians to pray against outbreak of diseases and natural disasters in the world. Last year, he similarly predicted that floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes would come globally. But only concentrated prayers, he said, would reduce their frequency and intensity.

 On the positive side, however, he enthused that some people would experience miraculous deliverances, unexpected promotions and open doors this year. I’m sure some are claiming these goodies already.

 Last year, the President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, also prophesied that the year 2009 would be very fruitful. He had said, “Number nine signifies fruitfulness. A good Bible student would discover that God does a lot with numbers. The number nine is the number of fruitfulness. For example, we have nine gifts and fruits of the spirit. A woman carries pregnancy for nine months; so, that number in the calendar and programme of God speaks of fruitfulness.”

 Fellow Nigerians, we all are witnesses to the lot of the majority of our people last year. Some fell into the traps of kidnappers and armed robbers. Economic meltdown melted the spirit of many who invested in the capital market. Some banks’ phoney buoyancy crumbled. Thousands of workers became jobless as their companies laid them off. Millions of others died of preventable diseases. Hunger and other deprivations took hold of many citizens. About 70 per cent of Nigerians are classified as being poor. Are these the look and feel of fruitfulness?

 Keep your answer to yourself first. To the General Overseer of Inri Evangelical Spiritual Church, Lagos, not all the senators and House of Representatives members would finish their term in 2009. According to Primate Babatunde Ayodele, there would be a coup against the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2009. Five Speakers of state Houses of Assembly, some state governors and three Secretaries to state governments would be removed last year. How many of these things happened?

 Early last year, President Umaru Yar’Adua promised that with the systematic planning process his administration had put in place, “we will forge ahead with our agenda for rapid improvements in critical areas with greater vigour and total dedication…”

 Which critical areas received these rapid improvements in 2009? Health? Education? Roads? Power sector? Even the 6000 megawatts the Federal Government promised to deliver to Nigerians by December 2009 failed woefully.

 This year, the Vice-President, on behalf of the ailing President, has come with more promises. “As we enter the New Year,” he said, “spirited efforts and resources will be mobilised to address the challenge of power supply and ensure higher generation as well as more effective transmission and distribution.”

 He also promised far reaching measures to curb rising youth unemployment, improve infrastructure, reform electoral process, protect lives and property and stem the pain and stress Nigerians suffer at fuel queues.

 Just as the VP was promising to reduce unemployment, more employees of some banks are being relieved of their jobs. Media reports indicated that Finbank sacked about 700 workers on New Year’s Eve. A total of 4,000 workers have reportedly lost their jobs since the Central Bank started reforms in the banking sector. Another report noted that the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria planned to lay off over 1,000 workers in the first weeks of 2010.

 As if to put a lie to the promised protection of lives and property, a police corporal, Ismaila Mohammed, allegedly killed a 25-year-old accountancy student of Osun State Polytechnic, Adewunmi Adelowo, on New Year’s Eve. The student was reportedly riding his motorbike to Osogbo to collect a gift from somebody when the policeman allegedly shot him at a checkpoint.

 To be fair to the police, they tried this festive season to maintain law and order. I drove down to the East last Sunday and was impressed by the large number of policemen on the road. This apparently scared away robbers who usually waylay travellers on the road. The only snag was that at each checkpoint, the police asked me to “do New Year for us.”

 Since we are a prayerful nation, one of our prayer points this year should be to have a police force that is well taken care of such that it will protect citizens without asking for anything.

 Other prayer points are as follows:

• To have an end to all manner of fuel crisis in the country.
• To end Boko Haram, Bauchi Haram and all other religious harams harassing our lives in Nigeria.
• To have a free and fair elections in Anambra State in February and in Nigeria generally in 2011.
• To have a strike-free academic sessions and a crisis-free health system this year.
• To have improved infrastructure.
• Above all, to have the wisdom to be able to decipher truth from falsehood, and to take most of the prophecies and promises of the New Year with a pinch of salt.

Farewell to the year of the mad pig

Casmir Igbokwe

Published in SUNDAY PUNCH, Dec. 27, 2009 

On Christmas Eve this year, a Swiss-Italian woman reportedly jumped a barricade and lunged at Pope Benedict XVI. The Pontiff was processing down the aisle towards the altar to celebrate Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. But Susanna Maiolo, 25, with psychiatric problems, grabbed his vestments and pulled him down.

 The other day, it was the Italian Premier, Silvio Berlusconi, who suffered attacks at a political rally. His attacker, a man with a history of psychological problems, hurled a souvenir statuette at him, leaving him with a fractured nose and two broken teeth.  

 Nobody has knocked our own President, Umaru Yar’Adua, down. His nose and teeth are also intact. But for now, he is wrestling with acute pericarditis which has kept him in a Saudi hospital for the past 34 days. As the year ends in a few days time, Yar’Adua looks like he will not celebrate the New Year with us. 

 On the hospital bed with him is a nation that has witnessed 10 years of disjointed democracy; a nation going into a new year and a new decade with uncertainties and misfortunes.  

 Chinese people have a unique way of describing such misfortunes or fortunes of their New Year, which begins on Sunday, February 14, 2010. To them, next year is Year of the White Tiger. The outgoing year is Year of the Brown Cow. Last year was Year of the Brown Rat. Though this is not about Chinese Horoscope or New Year, I have chosen to adapt the country’s use of animals to depict the fortunes or misfortunes of any particular year for our own use here.

 For Nigeria, 2009 is a year of the mad pig. It is a year many Nigerians would wish to forget forever; a year that brought many misfortunes for them; a year that has shown the characteristics of a pig that is inherently dirty and mentally sick.

 Or is acute poverty not a manifestation of some form of sickness? Some even say it is a sin. To me, it smells. It nauseates. And it is embarrassing. This is a year 70 per cent of Nigerians are classified to be poor. In a recent report, the African Peer Review Mechanism notes that six per cent of all poor people in the world reside in Nigeria. I believe the percentage is higher because many hitherto middle-income earners have become very poor on account of the loss of their investment in the capital market.

  The problem is worsening with the sacking of many breadwinners by some companies. The banking sector appears to be the worst hit. This month alone, some banks like Intercontinental and Oceanic sacked thousands of their workers. Many more will likely go in the next few months.

 The main cause of this poverty in the midst of plenty, according to the APRM report, is corruption. In political circles, corruption thrives. Many of the people parading the corridors of power at the three levels of government are not supposed to be there. They rigged themselves into office. They continue the rigging while in office with our common resources as the main launch pad.

 It is quite disheartening, for instance, that the Federal Government could not complete any road project in 2009. The Ministry of Works had a budget of N240bn for 2009. For 2010, the ministry has requested N249bn to continue the same projects it couldn’t complete.

 The Minister of Works, Lawan Hassan, tried to rationalise this cardinal sin by telling us that most Nigerian roads deteriorated before this administration came on board. And even when they awarded the contracts for their repairs in April this year, rainy season could not allow contractors to mobilise to sites. So, he wants another N249bn “to sustain the momentum.”

 Which momentum, you may ask? The momentum of corruption, excuses, lies and failed promises. At the advent of this democracy in 1999, the Olusegun Obasanjo’s government promised Nigerians heaven on earth. It awarded billions of naira contracts for the repair of roads. Ten years after, contracts are still being awarded for the same roads. And the ministers who were responsible for the past failures still walk the streets and direct political affairs overtly and covertly in the country.

 Besides, other infrastructural facilities are not better. Public water supply is non-existent in many parts of the country. Electric power supply has remained abysmal. And the promise of 6000 megawatts by the end of this year has become what a public commentator called 6000 mega lies.

 The victims of our mega failures reside in Libya, Angola, Mozambique and many other better-run countries. This year, Libya deported the highest number of Nigerians. Note that I have not mentioned any European country.

 Our image has not only plummeted, it stinks. The civilised world sees us as a nation of scammers, kidnappers and killers. Three former American Ambassadors to Nigeria, Princeton Lyman, Walter Carrington and John Campbell did not mince words in telling us recently about our worthlessness in the comity of nations today. Carrington reportedly said Nigeria had become the butt of jokes and comedians at drama shows.

 There is every need to cleanse the system; to bathe the dirty pig. First of all, all the evil deeds that give us bad name and bad image, we should resolve to do away with in the coming year.

 My suggestion to the President whenever he comes back to his seat is to start the cleansing process with his ministers and aides. Whoever is not doing their work well should be shown the way out. The number one on this list should be the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa. He has brought so much confusion in the discharge of his duties just to protect some interests and his job.  

 The number two should be Rilwan Lukman. Here is a petroleum minister who has chosen to relax in Austria while his house is on fire. This is a clear violation of the directive of the Vice-President, Goodluck Jonathan, that he should stay back to solve the current fuel crisis in the country. Is there another name for insubordination?

 Those who call themselves our leaders should just be very careful in the New Year. That is if they don’t want to end up with bruised and bloodied noses.

Nigerian police and 53 marabouts

Casmir Igbokwe

First published in Sunday Punch, Dec. 20, 2009

Lawrence Anini presumably had extraordinary powers. During his reign as a robbery kingpin in Benin City, the citizens of Edo State trembled at the mention of his name. While Ibrahim Babangida ruled Nigeria from Lagos then, Anini controlled events from Benin.

But one fateful day, the police in Benin arrested him and some other members of his gang. Leading the team that put a stop to Anini’s reign of terror was Parry Osayande. The police boss became the toast of Nigerians for his gallantry. I suspect that a good number of women might have dreamt of having one form of relationship or the other with him – the type that has currently put Golf star, Tiger Woods, in the spotlight.

 What Osayande, who retired as a deputy inspector-general of police, has not told us is the number of marabouts, native doctors or evangelists he used to neutralise the powers of Anini and his men. Nigerians also need to know whether his spiritual experience then informed his current strategies as the Chairman of the Police Service Commission.

 Last Thursday, Osayande reportedly spoke about his innovative solution to the problems of the police. According to him, “We have also approved the recruitment of 53 imams and chaplains for the Nigeria Police Force. You know the problems facing the police also require spiritual cleansing and remedy. That is what we have done. These people will help in preaching to their colleagues and help in moulding their character.”

 On the surface, this theory looks good. Being a religious people, many Nigerians will likely hail the PSC boss as the messiah we have been waiting for. But looking critically at the problems of the Nigerian police, can we truly say that hiring imams and chaplains will effectively do the cleansing job?

 Osayande himself is not sure. Worried by the resurgence of extra-judicial killings by the police, the same man, who has hired spiritualists, attributed the problem to lack of training of policemen. Does this now mean that the prayers of these imams/chaplains will engender the required training?

 Will these prayers restore the lives of Chukwuemeka Onovo, Chidi Odinauwa, Tony Oruma and many other people allegedly murdered by the police? Will they heal the emotional wounds suffered by the parents and other relatives of these victims? Will the prayers make the police more civil?

 As these clergymen get set to consult the gods on behalf of the police, the black uniformed men are not relenting in their violation of the fundamental human rights of the citizenry. Media reports last Friday indicated that a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Olu Akinola, sued the police for allegedly molesting him because he was a lawyer to somebody who jumped bail. The man claimed the police threw him inside cell at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba, Lagos. There, he was allegedly stripped to his underpants and forced to wash toilets and carry faeces.

 Will the police prayer warriors put a stop to this kind of incidents? Will their intervention usher in people-friendly police that respect the rule of law?

 I hope they can do that. I also hope that the men of God will help heal what Osayande called “officers with bloated stomachs”. The man boasted that he retired as a DIG and still did not have that kind of bloated stomach. “I think the problem is that many of them don’t do enough recreational activities,” he explained.

 I’m surprised that rather than push this problem to the imams and pastors, Osayande decided to alert the Inspector-General of Police, Ogbonna Onovo, who he is sure is doing something about it.

 Part of the reason why we have remained backward is that we apply wrong medication to our ailments. Some of us take malaria drugs when what is actually worrying us may be ulcer. When any of our relatives runs into a big pothole on an expressway and dies, we say it’s the will of God. Whereas what we need is an action against the authorities that have failed to repair the road. When we come back to our houses after a hard day’s job and there is no electricity, we grumble and say it’s only prayers that can save this country. And when the police mount roadblocks to extort money from motorists, we recruit prayer warriors to deliver them from their bondage.

 I don’t envy Osayande’s evangelists who may have just secured another extra income without much effort. But as the Police Service Commission is paying them, it should also ensure that it provides the necessary tools and equipment for the police to function effectively.

 Our police also need constant training and retraining. They need good welfare packages. They need to evolve a sound recruitment process such that criminals will not infiltrate their rank and file. They need to have human face and learn how to handle civil cases with civility.

 The passing out of the seventh batch of Police Human Rights desk officers penultimate week is a step in the right direction. So far, a total of 1462 desk officers are said to have been trained. And the idea is to effect a change in the negative attitude of the police while handling cases. In Lagos, for instance, each police division is expected to have a human right desk that will handle issues relating to human rights violations.

 This is a practical example of efforts to stop the maltreatment of people by the police. An aggrieved citizen can go to these human rights desk or visit the police headquarters to seek redress against the violation of their rights by the police. Hundred marabouts cannot get that justice for them.

 Or is Osayande telling us that imams and chaplains helped him to arrest Anini and co?

Palatial residences in the midst of squalor

Casmir Igbokwe

First published in SUNDAY PUNCH, Dec. 13, 2009

 These are not the best of times for Nigeria. For almost three weeks now, our President, Umaru Yar’Adua, has been in a Saudi hospital. Surrounded by unofficial secret act about the true state of his health, Nigerians have resorted to permutations, rumours, lies and half truths to explain the circumstances of his ill-health. The refrain has been, “Yar’Adua will return next week; Yar’Adua will not return this year; Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan is not the acting president; no the VP is in charge; northern leaders back Yar’Adua; North shops for Yar’Adua’s successor…”

Amid these confusing signals, the nation remains like a plane without a pilot. There is no clear direction where we are going as a nation. Are we deregulating or still regulating the downstream sector of the oil industry? Should we or should we not expect 6000MW of electricity by end of December? Will the contractors handling our various road projects deliver soon or will they collect money and disappear without any sanctions? How do we create jobs for the teeming unemployed even when companies are relocating to other countries and new ones are afraid to invest? These and many more questions demand truthful answers and decisive actions from a purposeful leadership. But what confronts Nigerians daily is a potpourri of ludicrous actions and utterances that propel them into half-hearted prayers and other mumbo-jumbo.

 Let me make my points clear. Media reports last week indicated that the Federal Capital Territory administration was planning to build new residences for the Vice-President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and their deputies. At the completion of the buildings, the four presiding officers of the National Assembly are expected to relocate to Maitama District Extension of Abuja from Apo Legislators’ Quarters. According to reports, the sum of N1.5bn has already been budgeted for the design and construction of the residences. That of the Vice-President is expected to gulp N2bn.

Apparently to convince Nigerians that he has the general interest of the country at heart, the FCT Minister, Adamu Aliero, further told the Senate Committee on FCT that invited him to defend his 2010 budget, that he would build a five-star hospital in Abuja. This is to take care of public officials who go to foreign hospitals whenever they are sick.

Ordinarily, there is no problem if, for any reason, the powers that be decide to build new palaces or state of the art hospitals to take care of their high taste. But the pertinent question is, is this the right time to do that? Just as Aliero was reportedly making his plans known, a Human Development Report released by the United Nations Development Programme in Abuja noted that the number of poor Nigerians doubled in the last 30 years. Oxfam International estimates that out of about 140 million Nigerians, over 53 million wake up every morning not knowing where the next meal will come from.

 The UNDP’s Resident Representative in Nigeria, Turhan Saleh, brought the points home when he said the country’s macroeconomic performance had improved significantly since the early 2000s but that the proportion of Nigerians categorised as poor today was twice the proportion of those who were poor in 1980. Even as the privileged leaders think of moving from one mansion to another, millions of Nigerians are without a home. Some sleep under the bridges. Some sleep by the roadside, while some others have taken over abandoned public buildings in some cities.

 Two Sundays ago, I was at the NITEL premises at Cappa, Oshodi, Lagos, for a small function. I was shocked at the rot the massive buildings on the premises have become. Lying desolate, the houses have turned out to be a blessing to some hoodlums who have converted them to their own palaces. There are many other public buildings wasting away when millions of people are looking for where to put their heads in the night. Those who cannot stand the systemic rot at home have rushed abroad to encounter more problems. Last week, Libya deported hundreds of Nigerians for various immigration offences. In some other countries, many Nigerians go through hell to survive.

This is a country planning to buy four new executive jets for the Presidential fleet. The jets, estimated to cost about N31.5bn, are to replace another four in the fleet that already has eight aircraft. I don’t begrudge servant-leaders who decide to serve themselves first. My main concern is that when leadership seems insensitive to the plight of the led, there is bound to be some eruptions.

 All over Nigeria, people are visiting their pent-up frustrations on fellow citizens in different ways. We just recovered from the Boko Haram crisis in the North. In the East, kidnappers and armed robbers are having a field day. In the West, the killing of an Assistant Commissioner of Police and the attendant killing of a number of people in Ijebu-Ife is still fresh. In the South-South, some militants who claimed to have surrendered their weapons felt like testing their libido the other day by raping innocent students of the University of Port Harcourt.

Many of us seem to have sold the kindness and the emotional bond that bind humanity together. We rape without thinking of any repercussion. We kill without looking backwards. We covet our neighbours wives and property without blinking. And we bless our atrocities and heartlessness with insincere prayers. These are signs of a nation on the edge of a precipice.

 Sincere and committed leadership will go a long way in rescuing us from a total fall. That is to say that before our public officers start any new building project for themselves, they must complete abandoned low-cost housing projects in different parts of the country; before they acquire new presidential jets, they must ensure that a good number of people can afford bikes; before they build five-star hospitals, there is need to equip the primary health care centres in rural areas; and before they embark on their capacity-building trips abroad, they need to empower the masses with good jobs and other good things of life.

 Until these things are done, we cannot sing “Abraham’s blessings are mine” with confidence.

Praying for a nation on hospital bed

Casmir Igbokwe

First published in SUNDAY PUNCH, Dec. 6, 2009 

Former Abia State Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, has become the symbol of the nation’s mood and character. Recently, he had a warm handshake with Pope Benedict XVI. He must have left Rome with a bountiful of blessings and a resolve to be a prayer warrior.

 In his column in SATURDAY SUN of December 5, 2009, Kalu said he sought God’s face and God assured him that President Umaru Yar’Adua would get well soon. He then composed a prayer for the President. “I bring him and his family and the entire nation to you for special blessing,” he urged God. “Forgive him his trespasses and heal him of this illness…We stand on the authority of your word to decree liberty for him from all satanic forces that torment him…”

 I never knew that acute pericarditis has something to do with satanic forces. Like Kalu, the National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party organised a prayer session for Yar’Adua last week. There were Islamic and Christian prayers from some PDP leaders. But none came from traditional religious worshippers. Perhaps, their prayers are not efficacious.  

 While we continue with these supplications for Yar’Adua, it is important to note that the nation he leads is also sick. A cursory look at the state of health of the nation reveals something familiar and disturbing.

 For instance, Nigeria has reportedly earned $520bn between 1970 and now. The question remains, what have we achieved with this huge sum of money? Past administrations were able to construct network of roads. But we lack the maintenance culture to keep these roads in top shape. It is as if we have not had any government in the past 10 years.

 Realising that no nation can claim to be developed when its power sector is comatose, Yar’Adua made power a cardinal part of his seven-point agenda. Even former President Olusegun Obasanjo took the issue of power seriously. His administration initiated different power projects that gulped billions of naira without much success.

 The Yar’Adua administration promised 6000MW by December this year. We are already in December, but the new song now is 4000MW.

 We may not even realise the 4000MW, what with the planned importation of generating sets by the Energy Commission of Nigeria. The Director-General of the ECN, Prof. Abubakar Sambo, was quoted to have said that the generators would provide about 2,320MW to augment the supply from the national grid. This will cost N182bn.

 Similarly, there is an increase in the 2010 budgetary allocation for the purchase and maintenance of generating sets in the Presidency. In 2009, the sum of N42m was budgeted for the generators, but the figure jumped to N82m in the 2010 budget. And it runs contrary to the recent assurance of the Vice-President, Goodluck Jonathan, that Nigeria would not be using generators next year.

 The tragedy of our situation is that even the diesel that will power the generators will be imported. We import generators, estimated now to be over 60 million for private use. We import diesel. We import the technicians that will repair the gen. sets. 

 In terms of health, Nigerians are dying everyday from preventable diseases. Cholera is wreaking havoc in some states. Infant mortality is on the average of 217 deaths per 1000 births. Roadside chemists and mobile medicine hawkers have taken over the roles of doctors as the majority of the people do not even have the money to seek proper medical attention from the hospitals. For these, we cry and curse our leaders. And what solution have we got – prayers.

 We have taken this prayer thing to a ridiculous level. Even when we knew we were cheating our way to the finals of the last U-17 World Cup, we were praying to God to see us through. Our senior national team, the Super Eagles, qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa by dint of luck. We have also attributed that to prayers.

 The Eagles coach, Shaibu Amodu, reportedly said the intervention of Prophet T.B. Joshua of the Synagogue of All Nations church ensured their qualification. Before he went to Joshua, he had marvelled at the way the prophet engineered the early qualification of the Black Stars of Ghana for the same World Cup. Since Nigeria’s God is superior to all other gods, I’m hoping and praying that Joshua’s intervention will see us winning the World Cup in South Africa.   

 The consequences of our actions and inactions are the increase in the rate of kidnapping, armed robbery, prostitution, advance fee fraud, corruption, cultism and other crimes. Even these, as Kalu would want us to believe, “are all products of evil possession.”

 So how do we exorcise these evils? Some believe an understanding of astrology will go a long way in solving our problems. One Dr. Olabisi Okunaiya came to my office last Friday. He couldn’t see me but he dropped a book he wrote on Nigeria and cosmic symbols for me. I have not had the time to go through the entire book. But the author in the book asks why Nigeria experiences identical political problems or events every 29 years. “Why do we have military coup det’at in every nine years? Why do the Northern and Southern sections of the country see the same thing in different ways? Why is the relationship between the North and the East a cat and mouse affair…?” he asked. He believes astrology has the answers.

 Were Okunaiya to be a Thai citizen, he would have been a hero. Royal astrologers in Thailand, two years ago, reportedly decreed that what was auspicious for their king’s well-being was the colour pink. The king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, has been ill for sometime now. In mid-September, he was admitted in the hospital for respiratory problems and loss of appetite. To mark his 82^nd birthday, he left the hospital to have audience with his people, many of whom are said to have heeded the directive of astrologers by wearing bright pink shirts.

 How I wish delusion can transform into reality. But since it cannot, let us discharge our nation from the hospital by emulating the advanced Western democracies that solved and continue to solve their problems via honest scientific methods.

 May our President recover fast to attend to the myriads of the national problems facing him. And afterwards, may he summon the courage to retire in 2011 to attend properly to his health.

Extracting our fat at gunpoint

Casmir Igbokwe

First published in Sunday Punch, Nov.29, 2009

 Penultimate week in Peru, the Police arrested four people for allegedly killing dozens of people in order to sell their fat and tissue. The commodity is said to be essential for cosmetic uses in Europe. The finished product, which comes in liquid form, costs $15,000 a litre. The strategy is to target people on remote roads, kill them and then extract their fat.

 As bad as our situation is in Nigeria, we have not heard cases of this nature. But that does not mean that we are totally free. There are other forms of fat extraction going on. They come in different guises.

One of them is called deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry. They say it is good for us; that it will not hurt the common man who does not have a car not to talk of buying petrol; and that it is now or never. They cite the telecoms industry as a good example of deregulation working wonders.

I’m tempted to join in singing this deregulation song. In a free market economy, there should really be little or no governmental control of the market forces. Prices of things should take their natural course. And since a student in Covenant University does not pay the same fee as a student in the University of Lagos, why should we expect that the price of petrol should be the same everywhere?

 The deregulation debate is still ongoing; but the Venezuelan ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Enrique Arrundell, appeared to have put sand in the Federal Government’s food. According to him, since 1999, Venezuela has never raised the price of fuel. He said filling his tank in Nigeria would take N12, 000 whereas that would cost him N400 in his country.

The trick, he said, was that Venezuela took its destiny into its own hand. “All we are doing is in the hands of Venezuelans,” he asserted. “How come Nigeria that has more technical manpower than Venezuela, with 150 million people, and very intellectual all around has not been able to get it right?”

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind – the wind of corruption. A former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir Mohammad, did not waste time in telling us this to our faces last week. At a lecture he delivered in Lagos on statecraft, corruption and national development, Mohammad said corruption was a function of the culture of the people. A people with no sense of shame; a people whose greed overcomes their better judgement, he added, would never put a stop to corruption.

Mohammad did not tell us anything new. Or do we have any sense of shame? Hold your answer first and let’s look at some current trends together. For instance, we are now talking about the 2010 budget. But that of 2009 has not been implemented to the letter. Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Usman Nafada, said he discovered that N30bn was allocated to projects that had been completed in the previous budgets.

 What this means is that whoever is making such allocations does not know his job, or there is an intention to defraud. Ultimately, some of the money will enter some private pockets as allocations from unspent funds from the budget.

Greed and corruption are not the exclusive preserve of people in leadership positions. The man who sits down to craft 419 letters is greedy and corrupt. The woman who sells expired frozen fish as though they are fresh is greedy. The nurse who expects some tips before passing a patient’s file to the doctor is corrupt. A mechanic who buys oil filter for N500 but presents a bill of N1, 500 is a cheat.

 Everywhere you go and in every profession you turn to, there are people making it look as if corruption is truly a major part of our culture. This is why people will embezzle money meant for rehabilitation of roads and nothing will happen. This is why rather than improve on the corruption perception index, we are retrogressing.

And that is why Nigerians will continue to be sceptical about deregulation. It is so bad that some people have even insinuated that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party intends to use the accruals from the exercise to fund the 2011 electioneering campaigns.

The Venezuelan Ambassador has told us that his country has no illiterate people; that there is no payment of school fees in his country’s universities; and not just that he graduated without paying a cent, he took three meals everyday while in school. Elsewhere in the advanced world, there are social security systems put in place to take care of the less privileged.

 What has our own government done for us to ginger us into supporting deregulation? Not much I’m afraid. Nigerians depend on boreholes and underground wells for their source of water. Generator fumes have killed many while the Power Holding Company of Nigeria is on standby. Even the roads that were built by previous administrations have become death traps as contracts for their rehabilitation end up in breach.

 To further confirm government’s insensitivity to the plight of the ordinary Nigerian, the proposed 2010 budget has little benefit for the masses. Allocation of N162bn to health, for instance, is lower than the allocation to the military which is N232bn.

 I’m almost certain that many Nigerians will support deregulation if the government shows sincerity of purpose. Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has the support of many of his subjects and garners praises here and there because people have seen what he is doing with taxpayers’ money.

 There is every need for the Nigerian government to show more commitment to the welfare of the citizens before implementing any belt-tightening measure. To start with, all those who have been mobilised to repair our roads must be compelled to do their work. Secondly, the National Assembly and some others have levelled sundry allegations against the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The corporation is yet to respond to these allegations. It must cleanse its house first.

I don’t see why we cannot put our four refineries in order and stop wholesale importation of petroleum products. Let nobody tell us again that the Catalytic Cracking Unit of Warri Refinery or any refinery for that matter is not working when people won contracts to repair these units.

Unless and until we put our house in order, talking about deregulation will amount to skinning the poor alive.

Or put in another way, extracting our fat mercilessly.

The fear of visiting home

Casmir Igbokwe

First published in Sunday Punch, Nov. 22, 2009

It was my boss, Azu, who amplified the congratulatory messages I got for returning safely to Lagos from the East. “Thank God you escaped the kidnappers,” he enthused.

The journey had elicited sympathies and prayers at the same time. “Please don’t go home. You are a prime target for kidnappers,” became the refrain of some of my friends. To some close relatives, I must not travel without spiritual fortification.

 And that was how I became familiar with some spiritual oils like olive oil, St. Michael oil, Back to Sender oil and Mustard seed. The belief of those who use these items is that they protect one from many dangers. For instance, whether one puts St. Michael oil in one’s bathwater or rubs it after bath, it is believed that it could ward off any spiritual attack. Back to sender oil, as the name implies, returns any evil attack to the sender.

What bothered me was that nobody assured me of the protection of the joint patrol team of the police and the military. People kept telling me, “Anambra! That your state sef. Please be careful o!”

 Careful or not, I took the first flight to Enugu en route to Abakaliki, the capital of Ebonyi State on October 26, 2009. I didn’t really have time to tour Enugu as such, but for the few areas I visited, the roads were okay. I’m talking about roads because that’s one visible thing Nigerians appraise their leaders on. Every other thing may not be working well, but once people see bulldozers and the resultant tarred roads, they say the governor is trying even when the roads may not withstand the test of two rainy seasons.

 My trip to Abakaliki was to see my father who resides there and to commiserate with the family of my maternal uncle, Chief Andrew Onyeguili, who died early last month. Regrettably, the Enugu-Abakaliki Road is not only narrow, it is bad. The only sign of work in progress on this expressway was a few wheelbarrow pushers filling some potholes.

 Being a capital city now, Abakaliki boasts of a few infrastructural changes. For instance, the roads in the city are far better than what they used to be. But to my surprise, the major road in the town hitherto known as Ogoja Road is now called Sam Egwu Road.

Sam Egwu is the Minister of Education. He was the immediate past governor of Ebonyi state. I don’t really know the wisdom behind renaming the road after him. But it goes further to show that for every little thing some Nigerian leaders achieve, they would want to imprint their names on it. We used to have Orji Uzor Kalu mass transit bus in Abia. In Kogi State, the former governor of the state, Abubakar Audu, named the state university he established in 1999Prince Abubakar Audu University. In some other states of the federation, governors relished naming one monument or the other after themselves.

In Anambra, I didn’t see any monument bearing Peter Obi’s name. I observed that the man has some achievements to showcase in terms of road construction and rehabilitation. I also noticed a big billboard at Ekwulobia roundabout announcing the rehabilitation of Obizi/Aguata regional water supply scheme. According to the billboard, such towns as Akpo, Achina, Ekwulobia, Uga, Oko, Isuofia, Igboukwu, and Umuchu, now have potable water. “His Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi, thank you,” the advertisers concluded.

My town is one of those listed as benefiting from this regional water scheme. In the whole of my village, I did not see any pipe or any indication at all that the town is benefiting from this water scheme. I asked around, but nobody seems to know who the beneficiaries are. It is either that people are not aware where to go and fetch the water or there is some deceit going on.

The governor, who I have a lot of respect for, should tell us where to fetch this potable water from. Or tell those who mounted the billboard to remove it without further delay. I had actually wanted to go to my town’s special convention held on October 31, 2009 to complain about this, but I was reminded to play it cool to avoid the wrath of kidnappers.

 Though I didn’t consider myself a prime candidate for kidnapping, it is worthy to note that the day Pa Simeon Soludo was kidnapped was the day I arrived in my town. One of my reporters who felt concerned sent me an SMS saying, “Prof. Soludo’s father has been kidnapped. Please be careful.”

Being from the same town with Soludo, I became more careful, restricting my movement only to the compound where my larger family had a week-long burial ceremony. I also noticed that many wealthy people in my place are averse to visiting home these days. Some of those who brave it keep their visit secret while some go about town in chartered cars.

 In all this, what nauseates me more is the level of poverty in the land. The greatest ceremonies people attend now are burial ceremonies where, at least, they are assured of a meal and a drink.

 It’s this poverty, I suppose, that triggered the rumour that there were people going round to buy old television sets, wall clocks and ancient beds from those who still have them. The amount ranges from N3m to N15m. I was around when the agents of the purported buyers came around for inspection of the old National TV, which is one of the remaining relics of my father’s property. With a mobile phone handset, they searched for the so-called mercury that would fetch millions of naira if found. They wasted their time and left without locating the mercury.

 On my return to Lagos, I deliberately decided to go by road to see if there was any improvement on the Lagos-Benin Expressway. The reason is to see if I could bring my family home this Christmas. Of course nothing much has changed on the road. For 10 years of democracy, we have been talking about rehabilitating a particular road without success. Billions of naira had been budgeted for the road. Yet no improvement!

I remembered that I had warned on this page before when this kidnapping thing started in the Niger Delta that it would come to a point nobody would feel safe anymore.

It has come to that point and now that our ranking has slipped from 121 to 130 in the corruption perception index, many Nigerians may continue to sing, “Lord of mercy and compassion, look with pity upon me,” for a long time to come.

Wobbling and fumbling to football glory

Casmir Igbokwe

First published in Sunday Punch, Nov. 15, 2009 

I had planned to resume after a four-week break with my experiences in Anambra and some other states I visited during my vacation. But football is in the air. Golden Eaglets will play their U-17 World Cup finals with Switzerland today in Abuja. Yesterday, the Super Eagles beat the Harambee Stars of Kenya by 3-2 to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

 The victory of the Super Eagles, no doubt, is a sweet one. Every patriotic Nigerian will continue to rejoice until the conclusion of the game in South Africa. On my part, I have toasted to this victory. It ennobled my soul and renewed the patriotic spirit in me as a Nigerian. My Kenyan friends, Sam and Roberts, will not know peace for sometime. I will make sure I constantly rub in this victory in their consciousness. If they had any doubt that Nigeria is the giant of Africa, this is the time to shut them up permanently. Victory or success has many brothers and sisters. But failure is an orphan. Nobody wants to associate with it.

As our U-17 team file out against Switzerland today, many Nigerians will be praying for a resounding victory. If that victory comes, we will have double celebration. We will have confirmed to the world and to our enemies that the Nigerian spirit conquers all obstacles.

For instance, we fought a 30-month civil war. Many predicted our disintegration. Against all odds, we triumphed. We are still together as a country. Some foreign analysts who are yet to recognise and appreciate the Nigerian spirit have also predicted our demise as a country in the near future. Those armchair analysts will eat humble pie. Nigeria will continue to grow from strength to strength. We are very good at turning any unpleasant situation into something pleasant and lucrative.

 But let’s ask ourselves some pertinent questions. Did we qualify for South Africa 2010 because we prepared well enough for it? Did our U-17 team succeed in the age group competition because they played with their mates? Will the handlers of the national team consolidate the Super Eagles’ victory? Will they start now to prepare for the World Cup proper? Can the Nigeria Football Federation boast of contributing significantly to this national celebration?

If we must tell ourselves the home truth, we are just lucky. We never learn from our mistakes. We always depend on permutations, “prayers”, and sometimes, fraud, to achieve our ambitions.

Just look at our U-17 team. We are all happy at their success. But does that success stand on a solid ground? A lot has been said and written on the fielding of over age players in that team. I won’t bore you with the details again. But rather than commend and honour the man who blew the whistle, Adokiye Amiesimaka, some of us resorted to blackmailing and insulting him.

Those who say Amiesimaka is not patriotic miss the point. To those who say he shouldn’t have released the information now, the question is, if not now, when? I laughed when I read some comments credited to some of our football administrators. To some of them, it would have been a thing of joy if Amiesimaka’s column is stopped.

In my interactions with the man since he started writing for SUNDAY PUNCH, I have realised that he is somebody who holds tenaciously to what he believes in. And he is not somebody who can easily cower. If he wants anything done, he pursues it until it gets done.

That is the type of person our country needs. Unfortunately, Nigeria is a country in search of truth. We are where we are today because people have refused to locate and embrace truth. Hence, it will be foolhardy for anybody to tell us to postpone the search for that truth.

 We hosted the COJA 2003 All Africa Games. A lot of money went down the drain. Some people became instant millionaires. Our hosting of the U-17 World Cup has also been trailed by financial scandals. Sports Minister, Sani Ndanusa, and chairmen of committees and sub-seats are talking from two sides of their mouths. We do not know who to trust or what to believe.

It’s even a miracle that FIFA gave us the nod to host the World Cup. Typical of us, we were not fully ready even when the competition had started. There were hiccups here and there. Flood took over some of the pitches. Publicity was too poor. In Kano, there was electric power failure in the night when a match was on. Ironically, the FIFA Vice-President, Jack Warner, who okayed the facilities in the first place, condemned this show of shame. Conversely, facilities in Egypt that hosted the U-20 World Cup in September/October were ready one year before the competition.

One other thing about the Super Eagles victory is that it will re-energise the delusion in many of us. We will be happy and temporarily forget our misery and misfortunes. The ruling party may make some noise about it. Some prophets will claim to have interceded on our behalf as more souls will troop to their sanctuary for miracles. More prayer requests will be made.

 But as we celebrate, let us remember that qualifying for the World Cup is one thing; doing well in the competition is another. Let us remember that our comatose infrastructure is another opponent we need to defeat on the field of governance. And let us remember that our collective destiny lies in our hands.

If we don’t continuously remind ourselves of these facts, we will be like a beauty queen who uses garri bag to sew skirt and blouse.

 Congratulations Nigeria!

Immunity for distinguished, honourable lawmakers

Casmir Igbokwe

First published in Sunday Punch, Oct. 11, 2009 

In November 2008, our distinguished Senators had their second retreat in Kano. In his address at that retreat, President Umaru Yar’Adua appealed to the lawmakers to urgently review relevant laws to reform our electoral system. The President further urged the Senators to find constitutional solutions to the nation’s most intractable problems such as infrastructural decay, institutional corruption and the culture of impunity.

 Almost one year after this presidential exhortation, can we say that our legislators have lived up to expectation? I don’t think so. What we have seen over the years are supremacy battle between the Senate and the House of Representatives; arrest of some honourable members for corruption; bickering; intrigues and unnecessary shouting match in the hallowed legislative chambers.

 As if unperturbed by the prevalent sombre mood in the nation, the lawmakers have continued to exhibit symptoms of acute legislative catarrh. And since this phlegm is infectious, the majority of Nigerians have been coughing and hoping that it shall be well.

 The present perfidy came in the form of a bill. The bill aims at preventing the arrest and prosecution of members of the federal/state legislature. And it scaled through second reading at the House of Representatives last Wednesday. It is called “A Bill for an Act to Amend the Legislative Houses and Privileges Act, Cap L12 2004, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria and other Related Purposes, 2009.” Honourable Henry Dickson from Bayelsa State sponsored the bill.

 The major interest of Dickson is to protect the lawmakers and hence deepen democracy. According to him, since members of the legislative Houses are honourable men and women, there is need for extra measures to be taken in arresting them. In other words, no security agent should ever attempt to arrest any legislator unless they catch the lawmaker committing the crime or they have a warrant of arrest.

 This is laughable. Apparently, the lawmakers are jealous of the President, the Vice-President, the governors and their deputies who currently enjoy immunity as enshrined in Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution. They want to protect their members who occasionally engage in a free-for-all and even seize the mace, the symbol of authority of the House. They want to protect legislators who slap security guards for the flimsiest of reasons.

 As the 2011 approaches, they probably want to lay the foundation for the constitutional protection of their inordinate desire to rig themselves into office. But they will not succeed because the moment one evil is allowed to sail through in a decent society, different other evils will manifest.

 To be fair to the lawmakers, they had done some things that could engender the sustainability of this democracy. They had instituted probes into the mismanagement of funds in the power sector. They had investigated Abuja land allocations and revocations. There was also an enquiry into the mismanagement of the N19.5bn aviation intervention fund.

 Now, the House of Representatives Committee on Works is reportedly ready to probe the non-remittance of the five per cent accrual from the pump price of petrol to the Federal Road Maintenance Agency. Besides, the committee members will soon move round the country to check the state of our roads.

 Without prejudice to whatever will be the outcome of their state-of-the-road tour, it is worthy to note that the good intentions of our legislators do not necessarily produce good fruits. We saw it in the power probe jamboree. We witnessed it in the Abuja land scam investigations and we observed it in every other probe that the lawmakers had instituted.

 How are we sure that the current probe will not end up like others? How do we guarantee that the merry-go-round to see the state of the roads will not gulp millions of taxpayers’ money for nothing? In this country, there are more questions than answers. But we will keep asking, believing that one day, we will find genuine answers to some of the questions.

 My scepticism about the genuine intentions of our legislators stems from the fact that they always give the impression that all they are after is to serve their selfish interests while in office. Early last year, for instance, these same members of the House of Representatives reportedly demanded that the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission should increase their pay to befit their status.

 It is this status, perhaps, that is pushing them to make laws that will place them above the laws of the land. If we don’t shout now to stop this nonsense, the next move may be to pass laws that will give immunity to their wives and concubines.

 Our lawmakers should rather occupy their minds with noble aspirations. They should be thinking of how to restore the sanctity of lives and property of Nigerians. They should be debating how to tackle unemployment problems in the country. They should legislate on what will be of benefit to the generality of the populace.

 The way things are going, I’m beginning to think that the psychiatric test the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri, recommended for public office-holders should start from the legislators. Remember that some of them, especially in the state assemblies, have exhibited traits bordering on psychotic disorder.

 Or how else do we explain that members of the Rivers State House of Assembly went to Australia for a capacity-building retreat last year to create a scene? Some females among them reportedly fought a principal officer of the House for abandoning them for a younger and more beautiful lady.

 These are the type of people they want immunity for. With such people, we don’t need any soothsayer to tell us why passing the Freedom of Information Bill has remained jinxed.

 Note: This column is going on break for about four weeks.

Yar’Adua’s independence gift and Onovo’s movies

Casmir Igbokwe

First published in Sunday Punch, Oct. 4, 2009 

President Umaru Yar’Adua is a man of few words. He is also a man whose outward appearance denotes humility. As a private person, these are virtues some people will likely admire and cherish. But as a public figure, these same qualities may present some problems for him.

 Last Thursday, for instance, the leader of the Niger Delta Vigilante Movement, Mr. Ateke Tom, was at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. His mission was to accept the amnesty offered Niger Delta militants by the Federal Government.

 As Tom put it in Pidgin English, “Immediately you announced the amnesty, I be the first person wey embrace the amnesty because I like the amnesty. But things wey we talk wey dey worry us make una try do am for us because we dey suffer for Niger Delta…”

 It was an elated President who said, “I would like to praise and thank God almighty for this afternoon visit. Chief Ateke Tom has just given me my 49^th independence gift. This independence anniversary gift you have given me, I cherish it very much because, of all those things I cherish, one of them is peace and security in the Niger Delta.”

 The president had expressed similar sentiments some two months ago when another militant, Mr. Victor Ben Ebikabowei, a.k.a. General Boyloaf, visited the Villa to announce his own acceptance of the amnesty. Boyloaf was even reported then to have warned the Federal Government not to ever renege on its promises.

 No doubt, Mr. President’s pursuit of peace in the Niger Delta is quite commendable. Pardoning repentant militants and inviting them to Aso Rock to cement the new found relationship is also noble. Even the courage by the militants to surrender their weapons and embrace peace is praiseworthy. But with all due respect, the President should speak and carry himself with more dignity.

 True, Yar’Adua emulated the father of the Biblical prodigal son who threw a party to welcome his hitherto lost and forgotten son, but did he need to pour such eulogies on the militants, knowing the circumstances that led to the amnesty? How will the innocent victims of the activities of some of these militants perceive the statement of our President? Of all the things that happened on our independence day, the visit of Tom was the greatest gift Yar’Adua cherished most. And, perhaps, will cherish forever.

 This ‘humility’ also came to play against him when he visited the United States in December 2007. To the then President George Bush, he said, “I feel highly honoured and privileged to be here and have the opportunity to share these few moments with you. This is a moment I will never forget in my life…I thank you very much Mr. President, this is a rare opportunity.”

 Granted that everybody can’t be an orator, but every public officer is expected to think over what he says in public. From the way some of our government functionaries speak, the impression is created that they don’t really think about what they say.

 This brings us to the statement credited to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, last Tuesday in Abuja. It was at a meeting with senior police officers. Speaking on the efforts of the police to apprehend the killers of the Assistant News Editor of The Guardian, Mr. Bayo Ohu, Onovo said Nigerians wrongly believed that assassination cases could be solved in a few days.

 Hear him: “Nigerians want everything quick, maybe because we watch so many movies. You know in the movies, everything will start and end in one hour…I think we are watching too many movies, forgetting that movies are acted and are not true stories.”

 Mr. IG sir, this is too simplistic. And it’s rather unfortunate that this came too soon after your recent statement that you didn’t believe Nuhu Ribadu visited Nigeria because you didn’t see photographs of the visit in the newspapers. Was it movies that stalled investigations into the murder of the former Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige? Could this love for movies have made it impossible to unravel the mystery surrounding the assassinations of Chief Aminasoari Dikibo, Chief Marshal Harry, Mr. Dele Giwa, Bagauda Kaltho and many others?

 Certainly, nobody is expecting the police to perform magic. But if the history of unresolved murders in this country is anything to go by, nobody should blame Nigerians if they want speedy solution to their nagging security problems.

 It is worthy to note that leadership goes beyond sitting down in the office to sign documents. What leaders say or do goes a long way to motivate or demotivate their subjects. Great speeches had engendered some popular revolutions in the world.

 Sometimes, what we say in public remains indelible. During the military era, incumbent Senate President, David Mark, said telephone was not meant for the poor. Up until today, people have not forgotten that statement. Also, people still remember some words of wisdom by such leaders as Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, and Winston Churchill.

 What quotable quotes can we attribute to our current leaders? Independence Day is usually a day for great and memorable speeches. What did we hear on our last anniversary? Dour and uninspiring speeches! Somebody like the Governor of Ekiti State, Segun Oni, said, “We have not been stealing your money. It is not as a result of shortage of ideas and tricks to employ. It is because of the covenant we have with God, who gave us the grace to be where we are.”

 What nonsense! Was he elected to steal or to make the life of his people better? So, if not for the so-called covenant with God, he would have stolen his state dry.

 I think our public officers need to learn the art of public speaking. They should think about what they say; or better still, they should keep silent if they don’t know what to say.