Little Practical Steps While We Wait

It seems highly unlikely that an epidemic of selflessness and patriotism will suddenly break out in the ranks of our political and social elite class. This is partly because we have a culture of passive indifference on the part of the citizenry and a rapacious appetite for filthy lucre on the part of our politicians. The primary purpose of government in Nigeria would appear to be the personal enrichment of politician-contractors and the personal aggrandizement of our infantile political class. And I am not convinced that either prayers or curses alone can provide the magic formula for solving our problems. Prayers obviously didn’t work in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sudan, North Korea and their utility, as a sole or prominent weapon in the Nigerian context, is highly dubious to put it rather mildly.

Given the foregoing doom-laden scenario and abject prognosis, it is unsurprising that true patriots and even ordinary compatriots have become resigned to their fate, accepted our unattractive ‘destiny’, retreated into mental and physical inertia and adopted a ‘to your tents o Israel’ mentality. If this situation is not reversed, we risk giving up the struggle for our nation’s betterment, emancipation of ourselves and our very survival becomes a chance occurrence subject to the capricious whims of our bandit politicians and crooked rulers.

Methinks we are not totally helpless and I direct my appeal to those Nigerians who have had the good fortune to have an education, are able to earn a living and have the luxury of not worrying about getting the next meal. There are simple things we can do while we wait for good governance in our motherland. Here are some of those things, and this list is by no means exhaustive.

Health education: Inadequate knowledge of health issues is a major factor in generating our dismal health statistics like infant mortality and life expectancy rates. The lack of awareness of elementary health facts and misconceptions even among highly educated Nigerians is truly alarming. For example very few people outside medicine realise that ‘heart failure’ is not a synonym for ‘cardiac arrest’ and ‘food poisoning’ does not mean deliberate contamination of food by chemical poisons or juju powder. Those who know can painlessly share knowledge and can repeatedly ram these nuggets of knowledge down the throats of our family and friends. It is literally a matter of life and death.

Health promotion: Those of us who are healthcare professionals can adopt a more proactive attitude to the health of our families and friends. We can, for example ask hard questions about health and wellbeing and not simply wait until things become desperate. Practically speaking, why not offer a free health check (physical examination, blood pressure, blood sugar, haematological and biochemical profiles etc) annually to most or all members of your extended family. It surely must be cheaper than burying them prematurely later.

We can encourage our people to ask more questions from healthcare professionals when they go to hospital. For example, if your doctor says you suffer from typhoid, ask questions about his diagnosis methods and treatment suggestions. The doctor ought not to mind and I can attest to this longing for even mild curiosity from personal experience as a practising physician in Lagos. We must take control of our health and robustly discourage sloppiness and quackery in medicare.

Education: It is possible to inexpensively augment the efforts of our educational system at all levels and help improve the overall literacy level of our citizenry. One example is to have small mentoring groups consisting of perhaps 3 to 5 individuals each. They can they undertake to ‘adopt’ a few pupils each and closely promote their education by measures such as helping them with sc materials, liaising with their teachers and generally taking an active interest in their academic development. This need not be a high cost option and a few phone calls here and a few purchases here would rapidly amount to a lot of effective attention. This is especially pertinent to those of us who live abroad as, by my reckoning, a paltry monthly outlay of 20 pounds can be put to very effective use. If your ward is able to access the Internet (and there are many cyber cafés around in Nigeria now) you might even be able to keep in touch more frequently and less expensively by email. Just think of how inspiring a pep talk from ‘Uncle Joe’ from Lagos or ‘Aunty Joyce’ from London can be to a young child in the village. We can disseminate information about scholarship schemes, support our alma mata, supply writing and reading materials to schools in our neighbourhoods and set up school competitions (spelling contests, essay competitions, endow end-of-term prizes etc).

Career promotion: We can all actively seek to promote the careers of our younger compatriots and offer useful help based on our life experiences. If you come across one studying Accountancy for example, help them to consider taking ICAN exams or if you meet a youngster studying medicine, try to help consider options for postgraduate training and career development should that be their ambition.

Reduce waste: It is very common for us to fritter our cash on frivolities like big parties and flashy clothes. Some might argue that these parties are deeply entrenched in our culture and arguably play a role in maintaining some social cohesion in a fractious society but this is a largely specious argument. We can have smaller parties less frequently (and have just as much fun), decline to celebrate 80th year remembrance of our late great-grandmother with anything more than token drinks and prayers and ‘spray’ just a little less money (or none at all) at the next Owambe party. Whatever we save this way can be deployed to making the lives of others just that little bit more bearable. It really is that simple.

Little acts of protest: When our absentee governors, legislators and senior special advisers and their retinue of lackeys and political jobbers arrive on their next trip to Europe and USA, those of us who live here can take advantage of the culture of democratic protest in these societies to make their stay most uncomfortable. We can pester them with hostile posters, flood their residences with protest mail, harass them with hostile phone calls on TV phone-ins and generally make their lives miserable. It is a fate richly deserved by our traducers and we are morally justified in doing this. I am open to suggestions in this regard.

It is regrettable that we are unable to mobilise our abundant resources to promote the wellbeing of our people and lift Nigeria into the ranks of advanced societies but that is our lot at present. We can either wring our hands in frustration or do something, no matter how little. The time for action is NOW. Please do something. TORI OLORUN. I BEG UNA.


Femi Adebajo
United Kingdom

On State Creation and Constitution Review

The strongest hint that new states will created before 2011 elections were today dropped by the Deputy Senate President, Usman Nafada.

According to the Deputy Senate President, the National Assembly intends to create 10 additional states as part of the ongoing constitution review. In his words, “The creation of new states is not as rigorous as the amendment of the constitution. The Governors Forum and many powerful interest groups have been inundating us with this demand”. Whilst he refused to confirm the actual proposed number of states, Mr Nafada confirmed that “there is no running from the fact that new states would be created next year”.

The debate on whether new states should be created has been ongoing for quite a while. Many interest groups have made representation to the National Assembly on the need for state creation. However, the civil society is yet to see a “business case” on the economic viability of these proposed states. The process of state creation might not be rigorous, just as the Deputy Senate President pointed out, however, common sense dictates that the rationale for state creation should transcend any procedural rigour. It’s the height of irresponsibility to create a state just because it’s easy to do so, without due consideration of its economic and social implications. I find it quite ridiculous that the National Assembly will just support state creation just because some kleptomaniacs called state governors sees it fit?

The need for additional states should be guided by key fundamental principles. The business case needs to compelling both economically and socially. Are the proposed states economically viable? Also, what has been the economic performance of existing states in terms of internal generated revenue?

To date , there’s no evidence in Nigeria to suggest any correlation between state creation and economic/infrastructure/human capital development. The only evidence available is that of increased looting of the nation’s treasury. With additional states, that means more Governors, Commissioners, Special Advisers, Permanent Secretaries, all feeding fat on the government.

Already, the nation is struggling with an over-bloated democratic structure and bureaucracy. The last time I checked, it was costing the nation N1.1trillion in salaries and allowances to maintain public office holders at all three tiers of government.

According to a 2008 report by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the state with the highest internal generated revenue is Lagos with N139.2 billion, followed in distant second by Sokoto with N34.8billion . In terms of revenue, the IGR by 36 states and FCTA was N441.1 billion representing 1.8 per cent of national gross domestic product (GDP) or total output of goods and services amounting N24 trillion at current basic prices. Fast forward to 2010, it’s unlikely that there would have been much difference.

Minority ethnic groups see state creation as a way of addressing the inequality and injustice in the system. To date I can’t see any evidence to back such claim. For example, will creation of additional states prevent the last ethnic/religious crisis in Jos? Or will it have prevented the Ijaws/Itsekiris from hacking themselves to the death in the 90’s? What about the tribal clashes between the communities of Ife and Modakeke? It really begs the question of how many states we can practically create to appease everyone in a multi-ethnic society as ours. I will assume, we may need to create at least 14o states!

We also have political opportunists who see state creation as an opportunity for easy and quick access to the national cake. Since allocation of political appointment is bereft of any merit-selection process, but instead based on the nonsensical federal character principle, it means the political elites are a step closer to the dining table of the national treasury.

I anxiously look forward to the day when our (s)elected leaders will begin to get their priorities right. The Deputy Senate President from his comments has further confirmed the widely held belief that our political elites are VERY detached from the modern day realities of the average Nigerian. If I may ask, how will creation of new states alleviate the growing unemployment, which at the last count was grossly underestimated as 40%? How will state creation put food on the table of 70% of Nigerians who barely survive on $1 per day? How will creation of additional states ensure probity and accountability? How will it discourage state governments continuous dependency on monthly revenue allocation from the federal government?

For me, the most important amendment that can be made to the Nigerian Constitution is the correction of our pseudo-federalism cum unitary system of government. I even consider this to be more important than any electoral reform. Even if we succeed in having an electoral reform that guarantees free and fair election, that wouldn’t take away anything from the fact that our governance system has failed. Can anything good come out of a failed system?

Honourable members of the national assembly should focus on issues that will help build democratic institutions that will outlast political generations. We run a system of government that grants absolute power to the Executive. We say we are a federation but all powers of the federating units have been usurped by the Federal Government. We claim to be a democracy, yet some states are governed by ‘theocracy’.

What we need is a constitution that will entrench ‘true federalism’ and not creation of “mickey mouse” states or glorified local government.We need legislation that will promote accountability and transparency at all levels of government and not just provide unfettered access to the national treasury

"Missing President" - A Case for Constitution Review

The Abuja Federal High Court, yesterday declared that Vice President Jonathan Goodluck is “empowered by the 1999 Constitution to exercise, in the absence of President Umaru Yar’Adua, all the powers vested in him, including signing of sensitive documents, so far such powers are delegated to him”.

Justice Dan Abutu made the pronouncement while interpreting sections 5(1) and 148 (1) of the 1999 constitution in a suit brought by a lawyer, Mr. Christopher Onwuekwe. Mr Onwuekwe had asked the high court to declare that “in absence of the President Umaru Yar’Adua, the Vice President, by virtue of the provisions of Section 5(1) and 148 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, could exercise all the powers vested in the President in the interest of peace, order and good governance pending when his boss, Yar’Adua, would resume office.

In his judgement, Justice Abutu noted that both sections 5(1) and 148 (1) are clear about how the president can transfer to the Vice President or any of the cabinet member. However it did not specify the manner or the procedure through which Mr. President could delegate any of the presidential powers.

So in simple terms, the Vice President could be instructed via a simple phone call from Saudi Arabia to sign the 2010 Budget Appropriation Bill. In fact the Judge went further that it’s no one’s prerogative to query the mode of transfer of power to the Vice President (!). In the current situation where it is rumoured that the president is comatose, how can anyone be sure that the president is actually passing instructions. Another implication of the judgement is that it indirectly legitimises the “unofficial” role of the First Lady as a conduit between president and cabinet members, since no one can challenge the ‘mode of power transfer’.

Whether good or bad, the current political impasse has helped underline the ambiguity in the nation’s constitution. And from the events of the last few weeks, I have come to a conclusion that when you are dealing with Nigerian issues, matters of legal importance need to be spelt out in ‘black and white’. You cannot afford to have grey areas, because if you do, it will be exploited to its maximum as we are currently experiencing.

The truth is, as things currently stand, President Umaru Yar’Adua has not breached any provisions in the 1999 constitution. I’m sure some would ask, what’s this guy talking about?. Whilst it might sound harsh, that is the blunt truth.

There is nothing in the constitution about how much time the president can spend overseas, just as the Deputy Senate President said recently. So as far as the constitution goes, President Yar’Adua can stay in Saudi Arabia as long as he likes. Also, just as the Attorney-General once said, the constitution does not state that the president has to be physically present in Nigeria to rule the country. This means, President. Yar’Adua can continue to rule Nigeria from Saudi Arabia until kingdom come. In fact there is nothing stopping us from voting for an offshore president, if we so decide, in 2011. If people can contest and win elections while in prison, how much more having a ‘President in Diaspora’.

Also, we have been told many times by the Yar’Adua apologists that there is nowhere in the constitution where it is mandated that the President has to handover to his deputy. Whilst some might not agree, it is the fact. The president is not obliged by the constitution to do so. This could easily be interpreted as been discretionary.

Even on the issue of incapacitation of the president, the constitution does not clearly articulate what it means to be incapacitated. And like I wrote in one of my previous articles, does lying on a hospital bed mean been incapacitated? Or is it being brain-damaged? Or is it when you are in coma? Some might say these are trivial questions of which you can apply common sense. But as we all know, ‘common sense is not always common’. When an individual is allowed too much discretion, you cannot expect him/her not to exercise the discretion in his/her favour.

So the question is, how do we prevent a repetition of the current political crisis? You need not to be a Professor of constitutional law or political science to know that the nation’s constitution needs wholesale review. And when I say constitution review, I’m not talking about opportunity for state creation or tenure elongation. The loopholes currently being exploited needs to be plugged, as a matter of urgency. Legislative provisions need to be set in black and white, since it has become apparent that our political leaders cannot be trusted with the use of discretion. If it takes having clauses that limit the duration of the president’s absence, so be it!

The power to investigate the health status of the President should not rest solely on the Executive. The national assembly should be given powers to initiate such investigation. For me, vesting such powers on the Executive represents a major conflict of interest. Most, if not all, members of the federal executive council are the loyalists to the president. So how can anyone expect them to launch an investigation that could ultimately result I them losing their jobs.

Don’t get me wrong, there is no perfect constitution. You must be living in utopia to want to have a perfect constitution. Like every legal document, it can never be fool-proof. But at the same time, there is no point having a constitution that is not ‘fit for purpose’. Irrespective of how the current crisis is resolved, there is a growing urgent need for a wholesale review of the constitution. We cannot afford a repetition of the current political impasse. A situation where a nation’s president will go missing for 50 days is totally unacceptable in any jurisdiction. Nigeria is not a banana republic.

Democracy, Anti-terrorism Bill and Freedom of Information

Barely few days after President Umar Yar’Adua presented the government “Anti-terrorism Bill” to the National Assembly, the US President, Barack Obama publicly released the list of visitors to the White House since his assumption of office.

Whist I will not dwell on the bolts and nuts of the proposed Anti-terrorism Bill, there is a clause within the Bill that I find very disturbing to say the least. Section 1(2) of the Bill defines an act of terrorism as “that which may seriously damage a country or an international organisation, ……and dissemination of information or information materials in any form or mode whether true or false calculated to cause panic, evoke violence or intimidate a government, person or group of persons”. In the absence of any legislation that guarantees a citizen’s free access or right to information, what can be defined as ‘true or false’ information?

Is it therefore not intriguing that when government of civilised nations are working towards ensuring greater transparency in the way they conduct their business, the Nigerian government is more interested in silencing dissenting views through a proxy Anti-terrorism Bill.

According the US media reports, the White House put some 480 visitor records online on Friday 30 October in response to specific requests for information. The newly-released data covers a period from 20 January to 31 July and includes about meetings with Mr Obama and his aides. As expected the list included celebrities, party donors and political lobbyists. For me, the name on the list is not even the issue. It is the fact that, for the first time in history, an American President publicly released the list of his visitors. I find it quite remarkable and a major step forward in ensuring probity, accountability and transparency.

On reading the news, the question I asked myself was, will any Nigerian President ever do such a thing? And if they did, what names can we expect to feature prominently on the visitors list? Who are the President’s visitors? Who’s been travelling in and out of the Aso Rock to meet the President’s aides? In a corrupt-ridden and lawless society such as ours, we can expect corrupt Ex-Governors and Niger Delta militants to feature prominently. But to put it rightly, the answer to these questions lies in the proposed Freedom of Information Bill.

Unfortunately the passage of this FOI Bill has remained protracted since the Obasanjo administration. The Bill has been travelling back and forth between the National Assembly and the Executive since 1999, and there seems to be no end in sight for the current impasse.

The Freedom of Information Act ensures the public's right to access government records and it is an important component of ensuring the government's accountability to the people it serves. If the government is knows that the public will find out about its ill-conceived ideas, it will prevents those ideas from being put forward.

There is no doubt that secrecy that shrouds government activities has done nothing but encourage corruption and maladministration. The lack of transparency in the way government conducts its business makes it very difficult for the masses to hold it accountable. More often than not, the masses have to rely on a handful of investigative journalists for revelations on dubious government activities. And when such news are reported, the government is always quick to classify them as ‘threat to nation’s security’.

A typical example was President Yar’Adua medical trip (oh! Umrah) to Saudi Arabia in 2008. With passage of FOI Bill, it will become harder for government officials to ‘sell a dummy’ to the masses. Whilst the President state of health can be considered to be personal, I wouldn’t see any reason why the masses cannot demand to know how many times he has travelled overseas for medical check-ups and how much of tax payers’ is spent on such trips.

We wake up to read about award of major contracts and sale of state-owned assets to government cronies on the front pages of newspaper. We read everyday about oil blocks been auctioned to anonymous persons. The Federal Executive Council feeds us monthly with news of multi-billion dollar contracts. However, we are never told anything about the contract procurement process. Neither are we told about the number of companies that have bided for such contract. We don’t know what criteria are been adopted in the award of oil blocks. The FEC also never bothers to advise the public on the progress of these multi-billion dollar contracts.

The hallmarks of good democratic governance are probity, accountability and transparency. And it is right to say that free access and right to information are an important ingredients for achieving and sustaining a viable democratic structure.

MKO Abiola and The National Assembly.

Can someone please explain to me, what is going on at the National Assembly? I’m not sure if those guys in Abuja really understand their role in the democratic structure. Perhaps, they were not given a copy of their “job description” when they were elected. I can bet that if those guys were working in the private sector, ninety percent of them would have been sacked by now. Not just for graft-related issues, but mainly for incompetence.

Last week, the House of Representatives rejected a motion proposing the immortalisation of Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, the winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election. The proponents of the motion argued that Abiola fought and died for democracy and won the only presidential election widely acknowledged as the freest and fairest in Nigeria.

Following the rejection of the motion, another motion seeking to name the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos after him sailed through yesterday with lawmakers affirming that the deceased politician deserved to be honoured.

Public opinion seems to be divided on whether Abiola should be honoured or not. It is also unfortunate that the June 12 struggle has somewhat become ethnicised. For me whether Abiola should be honoured is not the issue. Irrespective of the argument you put forward, there will always be an alternative opinion to counter such arguments, either from a tribalist or nationalist viewpoint. However, my issue is the timing of such a motion at a time when the nation is at crossroad. Yes, Abiola won the freest and fairest election. Yes, he fought assiduously for democratic governance. But with the ethnic and religious violence left, right and centre, perpetual darkness across the nation, university strike, economic meltdown, high unemployment and so on, is naming a national monument or immortalization of Abiola the most important issue facing the country?

I can’t seem to understand how any lawmaker would think that a motion name the National Stadium after MKO Abiola will provide a solution to our current problems. So now that they have wasted precious time passing such a motion, will that solve the problem in the Niger Delta? Will it provide uninterrupted power supply? Will it bring solution to the Islamic extremism in the North? Will it resolve the constitutional crisis between Lagos State and the Federal Govt? Will it resolve the current ASUU-FG crisis? Will it address the impact of the proposed deregulation of petroleum products on the masses?

It is on record that almost N1.3trillion is spent annually to maintain the National Assembly. This means taxpayers fork out N1.3trillion to maintain less than 1% of the entire population. And yet, the best these guys can deliver is a motion to re-name the National Stadium. What a joke!

The National Assembly has been mocking around with the proposed Constitution Review for almost a year. Instead of getting on with the job, all they engage in is constant bickering. The Electoral Reform Bill has been sitting on their desks for months. The Petroleum Industry Bill is yet to be debated. Haba! Are these bills not enough to keep any serious lawmaker busy? And to add insult to injury, they have started to talk about State creation.

Come on guys, someone needs to call these lawmakers to order. We cannot continue like this. It is bad enough that we have an Executive that is disillusioned, but it seems that both the Executive and Legislature are fingers of a leprous hand.

It is sad to say, but the reality is that our democracy has lost its focus. When the President can jet out of the country in the middle of a national crisis, then we can only expect the lawmakers to move such irrelevant motions at this critical time in the nation’s history.

May God have mercy!