Opinion

Opinion

Churches, Religiosity and Godliness ~ By: Isaac Aluko Ademoroti

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Opinion

The threat of a new political party| By: Reuben Abati

 
When aggrieved politicians within the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) decided to join forces with members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the All Progressives Peoples Alliance (APGA) to form the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013, they had well-defined, if not so clearly stated, even if poorly conceived objectives: to send President Goodluck Jonathan out of power, displace the PDP which had clearly become a dominating hegemonic party, exert vengeance and offer the people an alternative.
The triumph of the APC in the 2015 elections resulting in victory at the Presidential level, in 23 states out of 36, and also in the legislature, state and federal, was propelled on the wings of the people’s embrace of this slogan of change. Change became the aphrodisiac of Nigeria’s search for democratic progress. The new party’s promises were delivered with so much certainty and cock-suredness. Those who were promised free meals were already salivating before casting the first vote.

 The permanently opportunistic players in Nigeria’s private sector could be seen trading across the lines as they have always done. Everyone knew the PDP had too much internal baggage to deal with. The opposition exploited this to the fullest and they were helped in no small measure, not just by the party’s implosion, but also the offensiveness of the claims by certain elements within the PDP that their party will rule Nigeria forever. This arrogance had gone down the rank and file resulting in bitter conflicts among the various big men who dominated the party. The party failed from within, and even after losing the 2015 elections, it has further failed to recover from the effects of the factionalism that demystified it and drove it out of its hegemonic comfort zone. It took the PDP 16 years to get that hubristic moment. It is taking the APC a much shorter time to get to that same moment.

The displacement of the PDP gave the impression that Nigeria’s political space, hitherto dominated by one party, and a half, out of over 30 political parties with fears of a possible authoritarian one-party system, had become competitive. But the victory of a new party over a dominant political party in power such as occurred in 2015, has not delivered the much-expected positives: instead, questions have been raised about the depth of democratic change and the quality of Nigeria’s political development. The disappointment on both scores has been telling.
The ruling APC has not been able to live up to expectations. In less than two years in power, it has been behaving not like the PDP, but worse. Not a day passes without a pundit or a party member or a civil society activist suggesting that the only way forward is the formation of a new political party. There are over 30 registered political parties in Nigeria; no one is saying that these political parties should be reorganized and made more functional; the received opinion is that a new political party would have to replace the APC.
The implied message is the subject of political science. Many political parties in Africa, not just in Nigeria, lack substance. They reflect the problematic nature of party politics in the continent, even after the third wave of the continent’s democratic experience. Party organizations are weak, their organs are inchoate, their fortunes are mercurial. In Nigeria, this seems to be more of a post-military rule reality, for in the First and Second Republics, some of Nigeria’s political parties appeared to be more relatively people-based and socially-rooted. The military left behind an authoritarian streak at the heart of Nigeria’s party politics, producing political parties since 1999 that do not fully reflect or assimilate the people’s yearnings.
There isn’t therefore yet in place a mass-based, people-driven political party to replace the elite-based hegemonic parties we have, despite early efforts in the past in this direction by the likes of Aminu Kano and his People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s Movement of the People (MOP), Tunji Braithwaite’s Nigeria Advance Party (NAP), Gani Fawehinmi’s National Conscience Party (NCP) and Wole Soyinka’s Democratic Front for the People’s Federation. There was also the Labour Party, mentioned separately here, advisedly, because it ended up abandoning its social democratic base, and became like the regular parties, an elite cabal, with the initial progressives who championed it on the platform of the Nigeria Labour Congress, moving ideologically to the right in an attempt to align with the Nigerian mainstream and its ready benefits. A profile of this political party and its initial principal promoters would reveal just how alimentary Nigerian politics is.
Our immediate concern, however, is to argue that those who are raising the flag of a new political party as the answer to the emerging failure of the APC and the growth of factions among its members, and by extension, the spreading despair in the land, are missing the point. They are not promising any revolutionary change nor are they interested in deepening Nigeria’s democratic change. Permit me to quote Danjuma Gambo, of the Enugu Chapter of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) who reportedly said: “A new political party is what we need. A new party with new plan, (and an) ideology that will bring succor to the sufferings of Nigerians is the answer.”
Gambo deserves some credit: he phrases the matter delicately as a commentary on the incumbent dominating political party and government. His “what we need”, “new plan” “ideology” means change, another form of change to end, he tells us, “the sufferings (sic) of Nigerians”. We ask him, although he seems to have answered the question already: what happened to the change that happened in 2015? So we ask another question: if the formation of a new political party did not solve Nigeria’s problems since 2015, what is the guarantee that a new party would gain power and perform better than the ruling APC? Professional politicians don’t comment on the matter as carefully as Gambo attempted. They are brazen about it and they have been loud too. They make it sound like a threat and a given solution. When you hear them boasting that a new political party is on the way, you are left in no doubt that they are issuing a threat. But is a new political party the solution to Nigeria’s foreign exchange crisis or the people’s angst?
The conundrum is easy to resolve. It is easy for the political elite in Nigeria to change their garments, sans remorse, ideology or sentiment and that is how some of the most prominent political figures in Nigeria today have changed party membership cards more than five times in the last 17 years. The politics of elitism in Nigeria is simply about access to power, position and privileges. It has nothing to do with the people’s interests. The APC is in crisis for this reason, very much like the PDP, and even the smaller parties, because these are political parties of big men of influence. Conflict results when they are not allowed to exercise that influence by other competing big men, who are similarly if not equally driven by ego, religion and superior ethnic considerations.
The exercise of influence as a party big man follows a known pattern: after electoral victory, the big man wants the spoils of victory; he wants positions for his followers, contracts for wives and children and the freedom to have a say in the new government. Any attempt to shut him down, oppose him, or sideline him or her, immediately creates a crisis within the party. The greater the number of such big persons who feel short-changed and marginalized, the greater the chances of such factionalism that would trigger threats of a new political party. New groups can create new tendencies in society, but in Nigerian politics, new groups don’t really emerge, it is the same recycled set moving from one political party to a new or another one, looking for benefits.
Poverty, low literacy and the weakness of public institutions make the people vulnerable. The people embrace slogans and the dividends of what is now known in Nigeria as “stomach infrastructure.” They are deceived by the politicians’ display of affection and empathy. Because they are hungry, they accept money to attend rallies to help create an illusion of populism and acceptability. On election day, they sell their votes and sign off their freedom. After the election, they are too ashamed to speak up or they compensate for their psychological distress by subscribing to the politics of vengeance. A patrimonial and neo-patrimonial political system such as we run in Nigeria promotes nothing but difference, disappointment and distrust. Those who are plotting to create a new political party should be told that the harvest is predictable: more intense leadership competition, high level conflict among big men, greater deception, increased difference and tension within the polity. Political parties are governed by rules: the Nigerian political system operates above rules. It is possibly one of the most Machiavellian in Africa.
What do we need? Not recycled politicians posing as new party men and women. But this: effective party organizations, like the NCNC, the NEPU, the NPC, the AG, APGA, UPN, UMBC of old which belonged to the people and reflected their aspirations. The only difference should be a necessary disconnect with the politics of ethnicity at the heart of the party formation process in Africa which, as seen, defeats the objectives of true democracy and modernization. Institutionalization of the political party system will also ensure stability within the democratic order: after a bitter political contest in the United States in 2016, the two dominant political parties – The Republican and the Democratic have remained stable, and the country is being projected as supreme.
We should end this then where we started: leadership is the principal challenge. Until we sort that out, Nigeria’s politics will remain trapped in the throes of ethnicity, patrimonialism, authoritarian dominance, the threat of system volatility and fragmentation and the politics of revenge.

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Opinion

It’s Time To Outlaw ‘Jungle Justice’ In Nigeria | By: Tony Ogunlowo

For as long as one can remember there has always been ‘jungle justice’ in Nigeria. All it takes is for somebody to shout ‘ole’ (thief) and anybody seen running away – the suspect or not – is apprehended, subject to a kangaroo court before being beaten mercilessly to a pulp – or even killed in the most gruesome fashion imaginable.

It is wrong.

Yes ,the suspect might have committed a serious crime – murder, kidnapping etc – but it’s not up to the members of the public to take justice into their own hands. The police and courts, however inept they are, are there to deal with these kinds of things.

In the eyes of the law everybody is innocent until proven guilty. A man about to be lynched will not have a fair trial at the hands of a baying mob. And most important of all tragic mistakes can be made. How many times have some unfortunate ones happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Take the case of the ALUU 4; four Uniport students who were murdered by a lynch mob in Aluu , a town in Port Harcourt, in 2012 for a crime they were totally innocent of. How many more innocent people have been killed by lynch mobs who think they have the moral right to play judge, jury and executioner? Countless and unless something is done there will be more. And to the lynch mob how does it feel to have blood on your hands? Anybody participating in a lynch mob is guilty of MURDER and they are no different to the person they’ve just killed. It becomes a simple story of the kettle calling the pot black; one murderer killing another because they have no legal right to kill anybody.

In the past few days a video, that has gone viral online, has emerged of what appears to be a young boy being lynched and set ablaze by a mob for stealing. What could he possibly have stolen that could warrant him being beaten to death and then set ablaze? And the adults meting out ‘jungle justice’, don’t they have brothers, sisters or offspring the boys’ age that they can’t show mercy? If you want to punish him ,beat him(reasonably) and hand him over to the police. The sad thing is that most Nigerians are hypocrites; when you see a real thief, like a politician who has stolen billions of naira from the public coffers, you bow down and prostrate in front of them. You show reverence to a big thief and lynch a small insignificant thief – double standards especially when a thief is a thief!

It’s high time our lawmakers who like to busy themselves passing tolotolo laws pass a law that outlaws ‘jungle justice’! Nobody has the right to play judge, jury and executioner taking the life of a criminal suspect however heinous their crimes might be . The courts are there to pass judgement and not the people – the rule of law is what prevents anarchy and what makes us different from animals that kill each other at random. And in the words of the Bible, ‘let he who has no sin cast the first stone!’

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Opinion

The Second Coming Of Goodluck Jonathan |By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, before I get into my main gist of today, let me quickly apologise for my inability to write this column last week. Truth is I had a mental block, pure and simple. Contrary to speculations that I couldn’t write because my great heroine, Hillary Clinton, lost her election, I was just so physically and mentally fatigued because this is one year that I’ve worked so hard on every project at hand. There was no doubt that I was solely disappointed that Donald Trump won the American presidential election but I was able to adjust quickly. My darling mum had taught me about the wisdom of the ancient. You can put your all into any project but the results ultimately remain the exclusive preserve of God. Only God determines the winner or the outcome.

GEJ Turns 59 Today There is so much to learn from the political trajectory of Nigeria. What happened in America had happened repeatedly in our dear beloved country. I will explain in a jiffy. Who would have expected Alhaji Shehu Usman Shagari to defeat a political colossus like Chief Obafemi Awolowo? Who would have expected a Shagari to beat a political philosopher like Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe so black and blue? Who would have expected a stupendously wealthy man like Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, without any political experience to take on the likes of Baba Gana Kingibe and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and come out victorious?  What Abiola did in Jos at the National Convention of the Social Democratic Party in 1993, when he mesmerised and hypnotised the party chieftains was what Donald Trump did recently in the United States of America when he razzle-dazzled the Republicans and virtually hijacked their party. Trump was lucky that he and Abiola belonged in different realms and climes. Abiola was not able to realise his dreams of running government like a business but Trump is set to take power and display the wizardry he flaunted endlessly before the elections. The world is waiting to see if Trump would plunge America into the abyss or perform the miracle of turning water into wine.

The main reason many of us non-Americans opposed Trump so vehemently was because of his supposed bigotry and divisive rhetoric on all fronts. But on a personal note, I’m not too bothered. I have learnt my lessons. Politicians can tell any ignominious lie just to grab power. Voters can believe obvious scams and vote for artful pretenders out of foolish emotions and live to regret it. There is nothing we have not seen before. It is very obvious even this early that the millions of Americans who voted for Trump may never get a quarter of what he promised. Every man has the right to change his mind or beliefs and no one can hang him for it. Trump obviously knew what the Americans wanted to hear and knew how to sell a dead horse at a premium. That is politics. His message resonated with his core base no matter how retrogressive it sounded.

As a matter of fact, it became even more attractive the crazier it sounded. Politics and religion are quite similar in that they thrive on pure faith. The same Trump that appeared a rabid hater of President Barack Obama has since visited his “sworn enemy” in the White House. You would have expected both former warriors to exchange some terrible blows but far from it; they came out behaving like two newly joined love birds. Trump now says Obama is actually a nice guy. Obama also reassures a jittery nation and a confused global community that Trump would actually behave decently and that their allies have nothing to fear. The two opponents must have known that it was all a game all along while their followers actually believed and embraced the charade. One of the things I love about America is the ability of its leaders to rise above pettiness. Every leader comes in after a bitterest electioneering campaign to embrace the one who lost. I do not hear sing-songs of wasting too much energy on the past. Who would have thought Obama and Bush would become as close as they are now? American leaders are wise enough to know that we are all actors and must quit the stage after playing our assigned roles. \

We may have sharp differences but we must be able to calculate the cost of war-war against the price of jaw-jaw. When tomorrow comes, I’m sure Donald Trump would have calmed down and welcome everyone in the true tradition and character of America. No American leader can ever be allowed to transfigure into an Adolf Hitler or a Benito Mussolini. Americans collectively are stronger than their leaders. This is one of the major reasons I’m not worried about Donald Trump and his tantrums. If he returns to the giddiness of his pre-election period, Americans across party lines would know what to do. That is the power of their democracy. This now brings me back home. I have been reading about the rising profile of our former President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and wish to state without equivocation that no one should rule him out of the 2019 presidential race. I first hinted this possibility about two months ago and wish to reiterate that Nigerians should prepare for the shock that awaits us.

The story of Donald Trump should bring us back to our senses. Nothing is impossible. The second coming of Goodluck Jonathan may be so far-fetched or even belong in those categories of impossibilities but I wish to plead with our government and my fellow citizens not to rule it out. As one of those who made our modest and humble contributions to the coming of this Buhari government, I’m pleading with trepidation. Jonathan’s popularity is rising not because of anything he has done to atone the sins that must have led to his waterloo but as a result of what our change government has failed or refused to do.

The obsession of our government with going all out after Jonathan is the main reason the Otuoke man is beginning to smell like roses after the odoriferous position he landed himself last week. Only if our government had succeeded in maintaining the economy it met, Nigerians would have been ready to enter fire with Buhari. But there are just too many unresolved problems and challenges. The excuses that Jonathan and company left this peculiar mess behind has refused to fly. The groans might not be loud enough to reverberate all the way to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, as of now, but trust me it may become deafening, sooner than later. I do not care if men and women of power dismiss my submission with a wave of the hand but they should mark my word, there is a thickening conspiracy in the clouds.

It would be a shame if we inadvertently play into the hands of those hovering and ready to pounce on Buhari. I read about “persecution complex” long ago and I understand how it works. If you beat your own child so ruthlessly as if you want to kill him, the tilt of public opinion would always go against you. Many would wonder why you want to kill your own child. In our anger, let us pick our fights. There is too much tension in the land. I would be delighted if anyone could educate and convince me that Nigeria has gained much more than we’ve lost to this war of attrition. If we haven’t, we may need to retrace our steps urgently. The BBC reported on Friday how Jonathan caused a stir in Sokoto State during his visit to the state to pay his respects to Ibrahim Dasuki, the late former Sultan of Sokoto. According to the report, Jonathan was received by a large crowd of admirers, some holding banners bearing the words “Come Back Baba Jonathan”.

The same voices that chanted “Sai Baba” and “Jonathan Must Go” are now fiddling with the tunes of the possibility of a Jonathan to stage a comeback. Here lies the irony of political triumph and the paradox of high expectations. The euphoria and momentum that saw the exit of Jonathan and the emergence of the Buhari change administration has since begun to wane following the inability of the new government to hit the ground running with the tenacity of a government in a hurry! There are many who believe that the poor management of the ensuing economic recession didn’t help matters. Suddenly, Nigerians who had high hopes and voted massively for change are now caught in a limbo between confusion and uncertainty.

As it stands today, the average Nigerian is confronted with the reality of an economic recession they never planned for; a situation they did not experience under the Jonathan administration and under previous governments. Many of President Buhari’s supporters are worried that the humongous goodwill that engineered the Buhari change mantra is now being frittered away at the speed of light. The unfolding plot has now thrown up former President Jonathan as a new protagonist in Nigeria’s theatre of the absurd. For many of us who are ardent students of history, we have since learnt that nothing is impossible in the game called politics. Will history repeat itself again? Time is pregnant with answers!

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Nigeria-US relations and Donald Trump | By: Reuben Abati

 
I do not share the view of those who assume that by some kind of miracle, in the shape of electoral-college defections, Hillary Clinton would still, on the strength of winning the popular vote, supplant Donald Trump as US 2016 President-elect.
We might as well begin to live with the reality of a Trump Presidency, sad and traumatic as that outcome may be. And coming to terms with that, despite our disappointment, calls for a forward-looking approach on the part of the Nigerian government.
The United States remains Nigeria’s most strategic partner. More than one million Nigerians live in the United States and a significant percentage of that immigrant population has distinguished itself in academia, the health sector, public service, and other aspects of American life. Nigerians are perhaps the most visible and the most influential set of immigrant Africans living in the United States today. It is indeed possible to argue that there is no neighbourhood or community in Nigeria today that does not have at least one representative in America.
I know many families who have never been to Abuja but who talk about America with such frightening familiarity without ever seeing the inside of an aircraft. Their claim to such glory is the presence of a cousin, a son, a daughter, an in-law or other relatives, in the United States – it doesn’t matter if the fellow is a failed husband or wife, or he or she is washing plates, or doing security guard work, a jail term, or struggling to survive as a human being, or he or she is permanently trapped in America because coming home could be a vote for shame.
Nigerians love America, thus. The British colonized our country and Britain still remains a second home of choice for many middle class Nigerians, but America holds more than a special attraction for many wannabe Nigerians. America is Nigeria’s land of golden dreams, the country that our youths want to flock to.  Many of our politicians have Americans passports. The only Nobel Laureate that we have also holds an American Green card. Churches and mosques across Nigeria hold special prayer sessions for that Green card and when you have a child living in America, you are free to assume that the Living God has answered your prayers.
In terms of trade, Nigeria is America’s foremost partner in Africa. The United States through the auspices of the Nigeria-US Bilateral National Commission and similar diplomatic commitments in the African Union and ECOWAS and through other international protocols is actively involved in Nigeria’s health, security, agriculture, financial and human rights sectors. We are in addition, a big market for America’s exports in Africa and a stabilizing force for global security within the region and the continent.  Where the problem lies and where a foreign policy challenge needs to be addressed, is the emergence right now, of an incoming President who has expressly declared that African Presidents are thieves and that Nigeria is particularly a problem, because its leadership is both “corrupt and insensible”.
Person-to-person diplomacy is perhaps more relevant than government-to-government relations because the former impacts greatly on the latter, and any student of international relations can only ignore this at great cost. We have, despite our cultural, diplomatic and trade relations with the United States, an in-coming American President who hates immigrants, Muslims, and who considers Nigerians a threat to the US working population.
Whatever the situation might be, Nigeria has a duty and a responsibility to defend the interest of Nigerians doing business with the United States in one form or the other. Our residual interest in American politics and its outcomes should go beyond individual interests, and political emotions and rest on Nigeria’s corporate interest. Strategically, what does Donald Trump’s victory mean to us? What are the implications for Nigeria’s relationship with the United States?  What are the plans in place or in process, to protect Nigerians and Nigerian Americans who may suddenly find themselves in a threat situation under a racist and isolationist American Presidency? What can or should the Nigerian government do to protect Nigerians in the US diaspora from the uncertainties of America’s transition?
I have seen a couple of congratulatory messages here and there and a lot of casual commentaries on the subject, but what we need is far more strategic thinking at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The officials should wake up and realize that it may no longer be business as usual with Washington. Our last ambassador to Washington DC, Professor Ade Adefuye was a well-educated diplomat and scholar with vast international exposure and a robust, aggressive personality. He brought that to bear on his job, and he achieved results. Right now, we don’t even have someone of his rank and stature in Washington. The Senate is busy still staring at the list of ambassadorial appointees, and no one knows when many of the critical vacancies will be filled. We need a man or woman in Washington post-haste: an ambassador who can represent Nigeria’s interest, and who can settle down, even without presenting letters of credence,  long before Donald Trump’s inauguration, and who must be the right man or woman for the job.  The Trump Presidency is interested in America only; every other diplomatic post in that country must look out for its own interest. America is too important to the world, too tied to the global network of interests to be allowed to disconnect.
At other levels, Nigeria must seek more active cooperation and collaboration with the United States. We need not be told that Nigerians living in the United States today are just as anxious as the Mexicans.  There is no gainsaying the fact that the incoming American President considers Nigerians a terrible set of immigrants. He has in the course of the campaigns shown a capacity to seek out groups and peoples and demonize them. In the interest of those vulnerable Nigerians (because no matter what, some Nigerians are linked to the US forever), and all the other strategic interests between our two countries, the Nigerian government must engage the emerging Trump establishment in Washington DC, proactively. It is not enough to just send a rhetorical congratulatory message. That is mere routine. But it is worse that President-elect Donald Trump has not deemed it necessary to call any African leader on phone. African leaders must learn to stand up for themselves but what measure of respect should we expect with the kind of leaders we have across Africa? And what quality of respect should any of our leaders give to a man who said this, referring to Nigeria:

“No sensible President continuously travels round the globe while his country Nigeria is in terrible hardship and economic mess. It can only happen in Nigeria where all that matters to the President is the full introduction of Islam, the annihilation of his political opponents and absolute extermination of the old Eastern Nigeria. Buhari, prior to his questionable victory at the polls as the President of Nigeria made lots of promises which he obviously failed to keep and in most cases denied.”

There are usually consequences for this kind of effrontery in diplomatic relations. If Donald Trump ever offers to visit Nigeria, President Buhari must snub him. Donald Trump also said:

“Look at African countries like Nigeria or Kenya for instance, those people are stealing from their own government and go to invest the money in foreign countries. From the government to the opposition they qualify only to be used as a case study whenever bad examples are required.
“How do you trust even those who have run away to hide in the United States, hiding behind education? I hear they abuse me in their blogs but I don’t care because even the internet they are using is ours and we can decide to switch it off from this side. These are people who import everything including matchsticks.
“In my opinion, most of these African countries (like Nigeria) ought to be recolonized again for another 100 years because they know nothing about leadership and self-governance.”
The man who would be sworn in, January 20, 2017, as President of the most powerful country in the world also said: “To make our country big and powerful again, we have to get rid of Muslims, Mexicans and Africans, and in particular of Nigerians. They take us away from our work, job places intended for honest diligent Americans. When we don’t give them jobs, these Muslims arrange terrorist attacks.”
“We have to move Africans. Nigerians are everywhere now. I was at the meeting in Alaska and only Africans were everywhere. How do you think where they are from? From Nigeria! I saw them in each state where they got a job. Why can’t they find a job in the hometown in their native country?’ I know, because corruption reigns in their country. Their government plunders people. Therefore, they come here and take us away from our work.
“When I become a President, we will send all of them home. We will construct a wall along the Atlantic coast. We will colonize them, because probably, they haven’t felt what is it from (the) British.”

Nigeria and Donald Trump! It is left to the Nigerian government not to behave as if these statements do not matter. The typical response could be that these declarations are true and  they may well be, but in diplomatic relations, such aggressive conduct, carried through in formal situations, would be considered consequential. In view of what and who Trump is however, Nigeria needs to fashion out a new policy towards the United States in line with our foreign policy objectives. One point is that President Trump may not necessarily be the Trump of the campaigns. But knowing his mindset, we should build our defences. Our foreign policy team working on Nigeria-US Bilateral National Commission should see the urgent need to define and protect Nigeria’s strategic interest as the United States goes through an uncommon transition between now and January 2017.

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Opinion: Ooops….Trump is President-elect of  America! | Tony Ogunlowo

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Opinion: Don’t Dehumanise Nigerian Graduates |By : Tope Fasua

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The debate raged last week about Governor Ambode’s attempt to recruit 1,000 Nigerian university graduates as bus conductors in Lagos State. Ordinarily, Ambode is one of Nigeria’s ‘performing’ governors, and he has effectively and shockingly shaken off the legendary shadow of Raji Fashola, who is himself getting demystified by the problems of the three ministries which were dumped on him in Abuja. Going to Lagos these days could actually be an enjoyable experience. Lagos continues to get neater, traffic is often light, and there is generally a new, refreshing ethos that Ambode imported from his sojourns around the world. But for me, this bus conductor business is a no-no. And my reasons have nothing to do with some foolish pride which university graduates possess.

First, the policy was announced by the Chairman of the Bus Conductors’ Association of Nigeria (BCAN), Comrade Israel Adeshola. I am usually suspicious of these people who form associations so easily. Nigerians form associations for everything these days and usually in order to grab power and money. I heard this Chairman, like his colleague in the ‘okada’ business, drives an expensive SUV with a personalised plate number. These guys remind us of what happens to motorists who have any collision with the ‘okada’ bike guys. No matter who is at fault, the okada riders begin to gather and will usually lynch the motorist. In Nigeria, it is every man for himself. Unfortunately, in what is supposed to be our season of renaissance, human lives have become even cheaper, and our attitudes more combative. In Abuja, the more different associations sprung up in the Jonathan era that claimed they were in charge of cleaning the environment, the dirtier Abuja became.

So these associations are just Mafia groups. And the so-called Chairman was allowed to gloat at the famed ‘uselessness’ of Nigerian graduates. It is not enough that we daily denigrate our graduates – especially the ones from the public universities that our leaders and elites deliberately killed while using corrupt money to build private ones and forcing parents to be corrupt so that they can afford the crazy fees being charged in those places, now we throw those hapless graduates into the fangs of some fly-by-night Chairman of Bus Conductors’ Association to further denigrate them. What the Comrade did was basically to say “shebi they said we bus conductors are useless, but see us now, we are employing graduates”. For effect, the Chairman dropped the amount that his association, in conjunction with the Lagos State Ministry of Transport, were going to pay any of these lucky graduates – N50,000 per month.

And so many ‘intellectuals’ weighed behind that policy, some of them abusing and insulting any graduate who hesitates to send in an application. One guy was even very ingenious, asking that between a graduate who works for two years as a bus conductor, and one who sits at home, which one would one as an entrepreneur hire? It seems obvious that one should go for the bus conductor, who was pragmatic enough to try and earn something, but what about attributes of perseverance? Rather than jump at any work just because it pays some money, is there any value to having a vision and defining some barriers about what one will not do? Is life all about the money these days? Mind you, the commercial buses of Lagos are legendary in their craziness. Certainly, there aren’t enough BRT buses in Lagos to post 1,000 university graduate conductors to. And if the government wanted only university graduates in those BRT buses, they can be sure of a protest from the conductors’ association, whom they have given so much prominence.

Some prominent Nigerians – many of them living abroad – chipped in and regaled us with how they did menial work when they arrived in their foreign locations and were trying to find their feet. Some spoke of working as labourers, as sweepers and so on. See, it is different. Very few were able to talk of how low they sunk with their university degrees in hand here in Nigeria. And that is exactly the point. Sometimes, when you give up on yourself and decide to sink, it may be impossible to recover yourself and regain your dignity. If this project is carried through, there is every likelihood that 80 percent of the graduates will be subsumed in the rough ways of Lagos bus drivers and conductors in no time, and perhaps become permanently traumatised such that they would forever feel inferior in the corporate world. We even have evidence. All the state transport schemes in Nigeria started off with well-dressed drivers, complete with suits and ties. But today, some of them are the roughest drivers, and are usually high on whatever it is they drink.

Lack of Vision

It is this lack of vision that is our problem in Nigeria. The simple thing to do is for government to focus on creating employment for school dropouts, and secondary school leavers. By so doing, they create employment opportunities for graduates who will supervise these younger people and retain their dignity. The graduates can do some menial work, but we needn’t strip them of their self-respect. As a matter of fact, if graduates choose on their own to do these jobs, it is better than being forced, coerced, insulted, and made to look lazy, before they take up such jobs out of necessity. Running a society demands the vision of an artist. The work of governance is like painting on a blank canvass. It is that vision that those who purport to lead Nigeria painfully lack. They should try inverting the process of sticking Nigerian graduates under bus conductors and okada riders and see what happens. Mind you, Nigeria has invested on these graduates, by sending them to university and training them with intellectual capital. Why throw good money after bad? Why throw that investment into the fire?

The Children of the Rich Get the Plummest Jobs

Another argument against this brainless idea, is that in the last 15 months, Nigerians have seen scandals involving the employment of the children of the rich and connected into the best jobs in the country, with much impunity. We have seen the culture of nepotism and partiality writ large. There was no statement whatsoever from those on whom we hoped for a Nigerian reorientation. It was a case of ‘woe betide the poor’. Nigeria has changed for the worse in the past two decades. If it was impossible to employ the children of the poor in all these posh public agencies, why bring them even lower to join the vermin of the earth, while your own lucky children float to the top and become leaders over these unfortunate ones. It used to be that through the public school system, Nigerian children mixed together and benefited from one another. Now, with the deliberate destruction of that system by our elites, Nigeria is evolving into a proper class society which will culminate in serious disaster.

Trauma Effect

While all this was going on, there appeared a clip where Nigeria’s most famous senator, Dino Melaye boasted that he once hawked “Kunu” in Kano. Now, let us juxtapose that background against his present penchant for Byzantine luxury. That is what happens when people go through trauma. The very few of them that ‘make it’ never cease to want to prove a point. Many people in Nigeria’s ruling class were traumatised, hence they have become monsters devouring everything in sight. Look at Jimoh Ibrahim who is playing the spoiler in my Ondo State. He too cannot shake off the poverty of his past and the trauma he went through. We cannot keep producing dangerously traumatised people.

Let us just drop the idea and quit messing with our young people.

‘Tope Fasua is President, Institute for Service Excellence and Good Governance. He can be reached via  email: [email protected].

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Opinion

Let’s Talk About Super Excellence! | By: Tony Ogunlowo

So let’s talk about Super Excellence.

The English dictionary describes excellence as the quality of being outstanding or extremely good. Super excellence, however, is the art  of pushing yourself to go even further, further than going the proverbial extra mile, being better than the  best.

Already you’re excellent at what you do (I presume) but what if you could become even better?

In his highly acclaimed book ‘the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ Steven R Covey lists seven things you can do to be better. These are:

1, Be more proactive.

2, Begin with the end in mind.

3, Put first things first – taking full control and staying disciplined.

4, Think Win-Win – failure is not an option!

5, Learn first learn how to understand and then be understood.

6, Synergize – the habit of creative co-operation – teamwork.

7, Sharpen your saw.

We all know what we are good at so there’s no point in going into that. To be super excellent I’ll narrow these seven habits down to three things anyone can follow.

These are:

1, Time is money – don’t waste it!

2, Work Harder and smarter.

3, Seek Feedback.

Now let’s examine them one by one.

‘Time is money’ is a phrase we are all accustomed to. Once you’ve lost time you’ll never get it back! The secret is to make every minute count – time management. There are 24 hour hours in a day. How much of this do we actually waste on frivolous activities – watching TV, messing about online, social events etc. Say if you were to stay off the internet for an hour less every day that’s one hour gained a day, seven hours over a week and over thirty hours over a month. And this is time that can be put to achieving your goals or whatever you’re working on. Try to come up with a plan to manage your time effectively.

Don’t be like a hamster running on a wheel! The poor little creature is putting in a lot of hard work running on its wheel but it’s not going anywhere! It’s one thing to work hard and  another to work smarter – have a destination! There’s no point in working hard till you’re about to drop if it’s not geared towards achieving a specific goal. Some people spend all their lives working hard and at retirement they have nothing to show for it whereas some people work hard for a few years and they are set for life – work hard but smarter.

Two heads are better than one is a saying we are all familiar with. Nobody knows everything and its best to seek feedback on whatever you’re doing from someone else. Better still make sure it’s a third party person who knows very little about you. That way you can be assured that whatever feedback you receive will be an honest appraisal of your abilities not influenced by familiarity.

So let’s move on to the super excellence part; you’ve invented the wheel – Hurray! But it’s not time to pop a bottle of champagne and rest on your laurels. This is just the beginning! What can the wheel be applied to? Time to get your thinking cap on and think of the next step. And when you work it out that the wheel you have invented can be attached to a cart .What’s next? You either get a donkey to pull it or invent an engine to drive it. Be open to all possibilities.

You keep on evolving. You keep on going forward thinking of new things, broadening your horizons, improving your skills – till you become a Master at what you are doing. Look at it from this point of view; you go to primary school. Then on to secondary school. Then on to university to get your FIRST degree before proceeding to get a second degree, a Masters – why stop? You proceed to get your third degree, a  PhD – is there anything else after a PhD? Probably academically not but you can proceed to become an overall expert in your field. Anything else? You can of course proceed to become an internationally known expert in your field and keep on going till, perhaps, you become…..

There is no limit to how far you can go – don’t set yourself a target as this will only limit you, just keep on going! It’s rumoured we just use less than five per cent of our minds capabilities, now’s the time to start using the remaining unused ninety-five per cent! It can be done as its not impossible.

Being excellent to a high degree elevates you above everybody else; your thinking is different. Your perspective on the world becomes different and you’re able to do more things than most can do in their lifetimes.

You will obviously need to be disciplined, focused, ready to put in a lot of hard work, ready for criticism(-and constructive feedback) and at the end of the day your reward will be the accumulation of knowledge and wisdom beyond anybody’s wildest dreams which can be applied to any aspect of your life.

Follow Tony on Twitter: @Archangel641 or visit http:// archangel641.blogspot.com

 

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Opinion

How To Be The World’s Greatest Comeback Kid ~By :Tony Ogunlowo  

“…When you’re going through Hell, keep on going! Never, never never give up…”

~ Winston Churchill

 

By some cruel twist of fate you’ve lost it all – everything! The house, the job, the wife, the kids, the cash – everything’s gone!

Or you haven’t lost all the aforementioned (-yet) and you’re spiralling downwards rapidly and things aren’t working out in your life; debts are piling up, business is going under and you’re pulling you’re hair out in frustration at your inability to control your predicament.

Normally when you’ve fallen from a great height and suddenly find yourself face down in the gutter you can only do one of the following three things:

1, Take the easy way out – find a tree and hang yourself, take an overdose or jump off the nearest high rise. Suicide is not always the best way out; you create untold hardship and misery for those you leave behind and it’s not good for the soul either.

2, You can lose the plot altogether, go insane and wait to be carted off to the nearest psychiatric ward of the nearest mental hospital or …..

3,…or you can decide to be a comeback kid!

A comeback kid is a person who repeatedly demonstrates the ability to overcome downturns or bad periods and bounce back – imagine a boxer knocked out on the canvas, seconds away from being counted out, when he suddenly leaps up and wins the bout.

History is full of people who have infamously fallen flat on their back sides, lost everything, and miraculously picked themselves up.  Some famous ‘comeback kids’ include:

·         Robert Downey, Jr, battled substance abuse and legal problems that saw him jailed in the 90s. Today, he’s cleaned himself up and is one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood now.

·         Donald Trump – The Republican Presidential candidate has survived four cases of bankruptcy and managed to bounce back.

·         The late Steve Jobs was fired from Apple, the company he started, in 1985 before coming back to rescue it in 1997 and turning it into a mega-success.

·         Actor/Comedian Steve Harley went from being homeless to being worth over $100 million dollars.

·         Martha Stewart – Americas first self-made billionaire who nearly lost it all when she was sent to prison for conspiracy, bounced back regained control of her company and has since taken it to new heights.

·         George Foreman – the boxer- reportedly squandered his $5 million fortune earned from fighting and was close to bankruptcy when he climbed back into the ring at the age of 45 in 1994. He has since lent his name to the Foreman grill and is currently worth over $250 million.

Just because you’re down doesn’t mean you’re out of the race; get up, dust yourself down and continue. Others have fallen much further than you have and still managed to get up.

In my book ‘Bootcamp for the Troubled Mind’ (to be published on the 13 June 2017) I list six ways to get yourself out of the gutter and back on top again:

1.      Self-Analysis – you need to be brutally honest with yourself here. Look yourself in the mirror and try and see where you went wrong. Don’t blame anybody else for your shortcomings (- even if others are responsible for your downfall!) – Spreading the blame will never solve your problems.

2.      Get ready to live an austere life – while you’re picking yourself up you have to limit yourself to just the basics in life – food and shelter. Anything else becomes a luxury you can’t afford! Don’t waste resources!

3.      Hard work, hard work, hard work – hard work doesn’t kill anybody! Get ready to work like you’ve never done before – to breaking point and beyond if need be. You’ll be surprised at how much your frail human body can take.

4.      Set your sights even higher – if before you fell you intended to make a million dollars, set your new target to make 5 million dollars. If you intended to climb to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro now set your sights on conquering Mount Everest. Always aim to achieve more then you originally intended.

5.      Don’t repeat the mistakes of the past – by now you’ve picked yourself up and things are beginning to get back to normal. Remember the mistakes of the past that dragged you down in the first place – DON’T REPEAT THEM!

6.      Reward yourself – each time you reach a certain milestone in your comeback-fight treat yourself to something – call it a pat on the back for good behaviour. It could be a mini-holiday, a new car or a watch – but don’t go over the top ‘cause there’s still lots of work to do

To borrow a story from the Bible Jesus once said ‘destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again’. The Jews he was talking to replied by saying’ this temple took forty-six years to build…and you’re going to raise it up(brick by brick) in three days?’. But of course Jesus was talking about the temple of his body and his resurrection (- which is a story for another day!)

But you can apply this same principle to your lives! If your life has been torn down build it up again – brick by brick!

From a ‘Comeback Kids’ point of view if his temple, that took forty-six years to build, is torn down he’ll persevere and build it all up again in record time – maybe not in three days – but he’ll build it up.

In our material world whatever you have lost can be rebuilt or re-acquired in record time. All you need is the will to do it, the strength to work hard and the belief that it can be done. And like a phoenix you’ll rise from the ashes and be great again.

Where there is a will there’s a way.

Follow Tony on Twitter: @Archangel641 or visit http:// archangel641.blogspot.com

Photo Credit: www.psychologies.co.uk

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Opinion

The Death Wish Of The Ninety Percenters|By : Isaac Aluko Ademoroti

Going by all available records, Nigerian politicians generally, shortly before and immediately after independence from Britain, were often referred to as ten percenters.  This was a reference to a situation where ten per cent of the worth of any contract awarded by the then political leaders ended up in their pockets or personal coffers.  It is another way of saying that a tenth of the nation’s resources was misappropriated or stolen by those politicians.  Not unexpectedly, this was a phenomenon that was to be the harbinger of all other forms of corruption.  Those were the heady days of Regional politics.

However, according to records, in one or two of those Regions, the leaders, at least, managed to use the remaining ninety per cent of our resources to introduce free and qualitative education and to ensure that the people had access to good medical care.  There was full employment.  There was also a well- thought- out programme of integrated rural development which meant that development was extended to people who lived in the remotest parts.  This was the era of farm settlements.  Even though there was no oil boom at this time, the first modern sports stadium was built. The first television station in Africa was also built.  Those leaders were able to notch up several other firsts.  All these things were accomplished using ninety per cent of our resources.

Now, looking back longingly, one could say that the politicians of that era were mere choir boys compared to the present ones who are dangerously rapacious by any standard.  It is a shock that what happens these days is that our politicians steal ninety per cent of our resources.  Perhaps, this was why the immediate past president of the country, Goodluck Jonathan, defiantly refused to accept that stealing is corruption.  To him, political banditry is normal.  This is hardly surprising considering that this was a man who presided over the looting of the nation’s treasury.  The former president’s stance was simply a confirmation that we are dealing with depraved, hardened opportunists. 

Is it any wonder that with only ten per cent of our earnings remaining, we do not have enough left to develop the country?  How can ten percent of our resources be sufficient to run a country of almost 200 million people?  Why should people then be surprised when many of our poorly equipped soldiers who go to the war front are brought back in body bags?  Should we not all spare a thought for the family of an Air Force pilot who is ordered to go on a sortie in a rickety, malfunctioning, Stone Age military aircraft?  In all these, the death wish of the ninety percenters is simply coming to pass.

What about our youths?  Millions of these youths are idle as they roam the streets.  It is because only a meager 10 per cent is left in the national coffers.  There is simply not enough to keep them usefully engaged.  Many university graduates cannot get jobs.  There is no doubt that an idle mind becomes the workshop of the devil.  This explains why many of these youths are attracted to cults which promise them heaven on earth.  They do not realize that they are just being set up for destruction.  Rather than build hundreds of 21st century colleges of Arts, Science and Technology all over the country where the youths can be trained and retrained in all kinds of trades, they are left to roam the streets.  We would rather pander to the wishes of the ninety percenters than care for the future of our youths.  

Our motorways, the railways and the waterways are all in a state of disrepair because 90 per cent of our resources are in private accounts.  Money is needed to repair, rebuild and revamp these transport infrastructures.  It is a shame that a nation that generates billions of dollars can also not pay government employees simply because the ninety percenters must have their fill first.  What about our senior citizens, people who have spent their whole lives serving the nation.  Some God-forsaken ninety percenters do not care if these retirees perish as they criss-cross the country chasing their stolen pensions.

The ninety percenters make sure that Nigerians do not have access to good medical care as there is no money left to build modern, excellently equipped hospitals.  Many people, as a result, die from easily preventable, treatable ailments and diseases.  We must not forget the poor, the weak, the disabled and the disadvantaged who are mostly all on their own.  The 90 percenters have always chosen to turn a blind eye to the plight of these people.

Ultimately, the wish of the ninety percenters is for the hopes of the people to be dashed.  It is their fondest desire for our collective aspirations to be destroyed and for the union to die a slow death.  Frighteningly, the grim reality is that should this trend continue, the dispensation of the ninety nine percenters may just be around the corner.  This connotes a period when only one percent of our resources will be left to run the country.  When the era of the ninety nine percenters arrives, the chances are that places like Banana Island, Lekki, the exclusive residential areas in Abuja, all government reservation areas in all the state capitals and other places regarded as safe havens by our deluded elite may no longer be safe.  It is then that our leaders will come to the realization that it might not be wise after all for them to think that they can always shut themselves away from the plight of the generality of the people.

 

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