President Muhammadu Buhari, surrounded by senior military officers, cut the Independence Anniversary cake in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State when he visited the troop of the Nigerian Armed Forces at the headquarters of Operation Lafiya Dole in celebration of this year’s 57th Independence anniversary of Nigeria, today, 1st October 2017. Photo by Bayo Omoboriowo.
The ugly ghost of disintegration which plagued our country after the collapse of the first republic has reared its head again. In recent times, the call for a break away Biafra was started by Ralph Uwuazuruike who formed the Movement for the Sovereign State of Biafra MOSSOB during the Obasanjo presidency.
His organization which generated initial frenzy appears to have lost its impetus which has now been seized by Nnamdi Kanuand his Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB. Kanu has added more drama to this campaign by establishing a radio station which consistently yells for Biafra with his virulent hate speeches spewing out loud and clear.
I read some news items and commentaries on the reinvented Radio Biafra of Kanu in the newspapers and the social media before I listened to its toxic messages. It was 2015 at the Port Harcourt Airport where I took a stroll in the car park as I awaited the arrival of my delayed aircraft and saw a group of taxi drivers crowded around a taxi cab whose radio was blaring out the hate messages of Radio Biafra. The assembled listeners, mostly Ibo paid the kind of attention to the radio that I have never seen in my life, not even among a Church congregation.
I joined them in listening. That was the day I discovered what hate speech really means. The station was churning out messages of hate directed at people from northern Nigeria. As I listened, I discovered that the writers of those scripts were nothing but prolific authors of falsehood and fabricated venom. Beginning from a distorted account of what led to the crisis of 1966 and the civil war that followed, they located the origin of the massacre of Ibos in the north and all other problems bedeviling Nigeria today on northerners. Their views were skewed and distorted. As I listened to the station painting all northerners as Ibo hatersand senseless mass murderers of the Ibo’s, I remembered the Ibos my northern family saved in our home at the heat of the 1966 massacres. How could any man with some sanity in him condemn all of us in one fell swoop as mindless murderers? But that was what Radio Biafra was doing.
Kanu wants Nigeria to be split and that informed his decision to form the Indigenous People of Biafra. This is nothing new. A man of more credible background and credentials, Odumegwu Ojukwu, created Biafra out of Nigeria and this country of his invention was able to stand its ground in battle for three good years against mother Nigeria.
Given the checkered history ofNigeria’s emergence as a country, the demands for its dismemberment do not come as a surprise.
The most quoted speech calling for Nigeria’s disintegration came in 1953 from Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto during a parliamentary debate in the House of Representatives in Lagos. As leader of the Northern People’s Congress Party, he had reached a gentle man’s agreement with leaders of the major Southern based political parties viz; Chief Obafemi Awolowo of Action Group and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe of the NCNC. By the terms of this agreement, if an issue of national significance was to be tabled in that transitional parliament, the leaders of the dominant political partieswould hold a behind the scene consultation before bringing the issue to the open.
The Sardauna was thus terribly shocked on that day in 1953 when he walked into the chambers of the parliament to find that a motion to be raised by Anthony Enahoro, an Action Group member was on the order paper. The motion called on the United Kingdom to grant Nigeria independence IMMEDIATELY. To complete his shock was the actions of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe who stood up one after the other to deliver long, winding and seemingly endless speeches in support of the motion.
When called upon to speak, the Sardauna, a man of limited academic credentials when compared to those of Awo and Zik, delivered what he described in his autobiography My Life as the shortest but most important speech of his political life. “The mistake of 1914 has come to light and I should like to say no further,” he told his fellow parliamentarians.
Today, the Sardauna’s short speech remains the most famous quotable quote of the parliamentary debate that took place that day and not the fine Queens English contained in the motion of Enahoro and or the pompous English grammar of Awo and Zik.
But what did the Sardauna refer to as “the mistake of 1914?”
History tells us that in that year, the colony of Lagos and the Southern and Northern Protectorates were amalgamated to form one country by Lord Lugard. His girlfriend, Flora Shaw, a journalist called it Nigeria. The new country thus created operated under the authority of the British Monarch through his prefect – the Governor General.
Eight years later, the 1914 Constitution was replaced by the 1922 Sir Clifford Constitution. Then came the 1946 Arthur Richard Constitution which defined Nigeria, for the first time, in terms of regions – thus dividing the still colonized country into three main regions: the Northern, Western and Eastern regions.
The 1951 Macpherson Constitution came into being after an unprecedented process of consultation with the peoples of Nigeria. Meetings and consultations leading down to its making were held at 5 levels – Village, District, Divisional and Provincial and then Regional levels – before the national conference. The regional conferences were held at Ibadan, Enugu and Kaduna, respectively and produced a general consensus in favour of a federal system of government with a few differences as to its format.
Nonetheless, within three years of its operation, it soon became clear that the expansion of the political space and regional identities fostered by the 1951 Constitution were inadequate to handle the tensions and conflicts of the country. The then British Secretary of State for the Colonies, Oliver Lyttleton stepped in by inviting the leaders of various political parties in Nigeria to attend a conference in London, in 1953. The outcome of that conference was the 1954 Lyttleton Constitution.
It was during the debates after a return from London that Enahoro surreptitiously introduced his independence NOW motion provoking the Sardauna to give his famous short speech about the “mistake of 1914”. Those who want the Sardauna crucified by history for saying 1914 was a “mistake” often forget what provoked and pushed him to making that declaration.
Today, history appears to be repeating itself. NnamdiKanus Radio Biafra for years mounted a campaign of calumny against northerners calling them unprintable names. Southern political leaders were not bothered. When a group of northern youths issued just one, repeat, just one press statement calling on the Ibos to vacate the north on October 1, there was suddenly an outbreak of KATAKATA. [myad]
Yusuf Ozi-UsmanThe story of John Nnia Nwodo appropriately fits the saying that you can fool some people for sometimes, but can’t fool all the people all the time.
The content of my piece in reaction to Nwodo, the current President General of the Igbo umbrella socio cultural organisation, The Ohanaeze Nd’Igbo, when he first defended Nnandi Kanu, the coward leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a fortnight ago, is still as relevant as it was then.
As a matter of fact, I had had a faint thought then though that the first outing of Nwodo, defending Nnamdi Kanu and his ragtag organisation and condemning the Nigerian military authorities that rose to save Nigeria from his madness, was a mistake for which he (Nwodo) might eventually apologise and retract. But his subsequent consistency in defending the madness of Kanu confirmed to me and the right thinking people that there was more to it than ordinary eyes could see or ordinary ears could hear.
The case of Nwodo, actually symbolises an African adage that says if a witch cries at night and a child dies in the morning, certainly, the witch cannot wash her hands off the death. Meaning that for Nwodo to continue to defend Nnamdi Kanu and his group of misadventurers, it showed that his (Nwodo’s) hand is that of Esau while Nnamdi Kanu was Jacob’s voice.
Indeed, now that President Muhammadu Buhari has come out to openly accuse Igbo leaders, with Nwodo taking the lead, of aiding and abetting Nnamdi Kanu and his group of motor park touts, there is no escaping the fact that he, Nwodo should publicly apologise to Nigerians for allowing his ambition of become the President of Biafra to becloud his sense of history and judgment.
In fact, how would he have thought that Biafra could manifest under President Buhari, who fully participated in the 30-month Nigeria-Biafran war (1967 – 1970), to keep the same Nigeria one? Why did it not occur to Nwodo and his boys, who he used to test the depth of the ‘sea’ that acquiring a new Republic, even if such matter had never been settled in 1970 after the bitter and annihilating war, is not done the way Nnamdi Kanu tried to do it: by insulting Nigerians except Igbos; by calling all Nigerians zoo animals; by referring to President Buhari as an impostor?
Which country would sit by and allow foreigner like Nnamdi Kanu from Britain, to be so freely vulgar, all in the name of enjoying the so-called human rights as if such rights have no limit?
The wall of Soviet Union did not crash from the point of view of unprintable insults on leaders and other parts of the country. When recently, Britain held a prebicite on whether Scotland should go its own way as country, cheap threats and abuses were not thrown around. Even, the Southern and Northern Korea, the Southern and Northern Sudan, as well as other countries of note, did not go through the kind of pathological hateful bitterness which Nwodo’s Nnamdi Kanu displayed in those few months he trode on this blessed country.
I always wonder why Igbo leaders are wont to cry to high heavens about being marginalised, and my question has always been; at what point did they realise that they are being marginalised?
Was it the Buhari government that started it? When did he start it: in 2015 or 2016 or 2017. If it is not his government that started it, why would Nwodo and his boys want the country to be divided in his time? Does he look so cheap or soft for them to penetrate? Did the government of Goodluck Jonathan, Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and others treated them better than that of Buhari?
And, what is marginalisation? The often sing-song is the bad roads, dilapidated infrastructures, inadequate representation in government and so on.
Igbos have forgotten that even Kano state, which gave Buhari about 98 percent votes in 2015 election has the worst road networks. The road from Kaduna to Kano, from Kano to Katsina and from Kano to Jigawa are too terrible to recall.
Kano too, as a case study, has the same number of ministers and other appointees in the Buhari government as Anambra, as Enugu, as Imo, as Ebonyi and as Abia which gave him less than 20 percent of the votes cast in 2015 Presidential poll.
In a nutshell, there is certainly no state in Nigeria that has everything going smoothly for it. And marginalisation is not the preserve of any single region, ethnic group and even tribe.
Why would the Igbos not concentrate in making genuine friendship with people of other regions, especially, the North, and specifically, the Hausa Fulanis? Why would Nwodo think that Biafra can become a reality and he becoming its President, even in dream and in this generation.
And finally, when has marginalisation become a yardstick for demanding, not just a state, but a country!!!
If Igbos refuse to integrate in the Nigerian project and instead, continue to pursue Biafra, from whatever angle and with whatever method, they would only succeed in implanting in the mind of other Nigerians, a a sense of cynicism and suspicion.
We are waiting for Nwodo’s apology for his miscalculated thinking of the Presidency of the Republic of a Biafra, whose proponent (his foot soldier), Nnamdi Kanu had jettisoned, just at the sound of simple gunshot outside his father’s house in Abia state, and zoomed off to whence he came – Britain – leaving his trained soldiers back in Nigeria in the cold. [myad]
Kogi State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has admitted that he has not been speaking in polite tone against his political opponents, swearing that he has no apology for his position.
The governor, in his Independence message to the people of the state, said: “we may not always speak in polite tones, and our passion may sometimes be irrational, but we have maintained communication, and therefore avoided conflict. This is a wonderful blessing, and we must be grateful to God for it.
“I am glad that none of my traducers have accused me of ethnicism or tribalism yet (although now that I have reminded them, they may start tomorrow). If anything, some persons are angry at me for not stuffing Cabinet and other organs of governments with my own kits and kin. I do not owe anyone an apology on this score.”
Governor Yahaya Bello said that from the inception of his administration, he had ensured that proportional representation of constituencies across the three Senatorial Districts as well as the personal merits of individual appointees have determined who serves where in Government.
He said that such posture was founded on his belief that there is no way he could effect change by doing the same old things the same old ways.
According to the governor, in order to force a paradigm and generational shift in politics, he had to keep justice, equity and merit as the moral compass of his government, stressing that the only way politics in Nigeria can change to accommodate more young people in high positions of leadership is for youths already in leadership to demonstrate competence and capacity to lead. Full text of the governor’s speech is reproduced here under: My dear people of Kogi State,
I give all the praise to the Almighty God for another Independence Anniversary – the 57th for our dear Nation Nigeria. Everyone who has access to international news media knows of nations which have been confronted with the selfsame challenges that we face here and have descended into war and crises. Today is thus another perfect opportunity for gratitude, if not for the good we have achieved, at least, for the evils which God has kept from befalling us.
Poor leadership, corruption, terrorism, militancy, separatist agitations, even a Civil War which ended 47 years ago constitute some of the self-inflicted troubles which we contend with in the Nigerian Federation. Unlike other nations which have proved incapable of working through their differences and have gone up in flames, we Nigerians have had the good fortune, if not the good sense, to keep talking.
We may not always speak in polite tones, and our passion may sometimes be irrational, but we have maintained communication, and therefore avoided conflict. This is a wonderful blessing, and we must be grateful to God for it.
In Kogi State, I continue striving to exemplify inclusive leadership. I am glad that none of my traducers have accused me of ethnicism or tribalism yet (although now that I have reminded them, they may start tomorrow). If anything, some persons are angry at me for not stuffing Cabinet and other organs of governments with my own kith and kin. I do not owe anyone an apology on this score.
From the inception of my Administration, I have ensured that proportional representation of constituencies across the 3 Senatorial Districts as well as the personal merits of individual appointees have determined who serves where in Government. This posture is founded on my belief that one does not effect change by doing the same old things the same old ways.
In order to force a paradigm and generational shift in politics, I realize that I must keep justice, equity and merit as the moral compass for Government. The only way politics in Nigeria can change to accommodate more young people in high positions of leadership is for youths already in leadership to demonstrate competence and capacity to lead. I shall not speak for others but I repeat a solemn guarantee to succeed well as Governor of Kogi State.
I know that today is not a day to start reeling out a roll call of Projects executed by my Administration in the last 20 months, but I assure Kogites that tremendous progress is being made. In another 4 months, we will mark our 2 years in Office and I promise that the second volume of a Compendium which will contain all ongoing and completed projects will be released to commemorate it. The first volume has been out since January this year and continues to showcase our verifiable achievements. Till then, suffice it to say that we are racing to achieve as much as time and funds will permit.
We are careful to ensure even distribution of projects across all of our constituencies based on needs assessment. All of the 5 thematic areas in our New Direction Blueprint are receiving simultaneous attention. Education, Health, Infrastructure & Utilities, Job Creation & Youth Empowerment and Public Service & Pension Reforms remain vehicles from which to unload our Change Agenda.
While Education and Healthcare remain atop our list of priorities, communities across Kogi State are also being provided with electricity, water supply, roads, etc.
In Education, we have focused on providing quality learning environment and materials in order to unleash the genius of our students. So much has been done in the sector. For instance, I personally flagged off construction of 240 blocks of 2 classrooms each in 80 Primary Schools across the 21 Local Government Areas of Kogi State recently. Upon completion, each of them will be equipped with modern learning facilities and round-the-clock solar electricity to power the ICT components.
I was happy to hear from our Commissioner for Health a couple of months ago that we have met our 4-year target of 100% immunization against childhood killer diseases already. Our statistics on Maternal and NewBorn Health initiatives also show-marked improvement from what we met on ground. Most pregnant women in Kogi State today have access to free maternity kits and care today.
Primary and Secondary Health Care Centres across the 21 Local Government Areas have either been renovated or built from scratch and equipped with drugs and equipment. We also recruited scores of medical personnel to help improve access to medicare for our people. 12 state-of-the-art ambulances were bought and distributed across Kogi State to facilitate speedy evacuation of critically ill patients to larger medical facilities in urban and semi-urban areas.
Empowerment and welfare programs for our youth and other population groups have been held to one level or the other in all of the 21 Local Government Areas. We have also been lauded as one of the most responsive state to the Social Investment Programs of the Government. Like I said in my New Year message earlier this year, 2017 is going to be a hallmark year for projects.
The Administration will continue to apply dialogue where it can make a difference in any industrial dispute. However, at this stage in our Public Service and Pension Reforms, we have a duty to pay more attention to the law, including the Public Service Rules as well as the sustainability of the reforms we are putting in place. The whims and caprices of vested interests cannot therefore be admitted to determine our responses in any way.
We do not understand what could possibly be wrong with putting into the hands of individual workers the tools to determine their own rating (and therefore progress) on the job, even after we have left office. Our aim with the clock-in, clock-out devices which Labour Leaders are rejecting is to empower each worker to leave a digital footprint which authenticates his or her participation during the typical work day. If this aim is defeated, all of the aspirations of genuine and conscientious workers to be assessed based on actual performance will remain a mirage, like in the past.
Prompt payment of salaries is still a vexed issue, but we will do our best to keep our workers happy given the competing demands on the income of the state per time. However, it is inevitable that from time to time we must ask workers to stand with us in sacrifice. We hope they will oblige in the overall interest of the state.
In similar vein, prompt payment of Gratuities and Pensions is only possible within the ambits of a Contributory Pension Scheme. Like the automation of the workforce, a Contributory Pension Scheme for the Kogi State workforce is inevitable reform. We commend workers who come around to work to the overall interest of the State. We cannot allow ourselves to become deterred from implementing much-needed reforms. We also urge all workers not to be misled as Government is doing everything possible to address the various challenges confronting the workforce. We are a responsible Government and we shall live up to our responsibilities.
The Administrations was gratified to be invited by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to send a Team to the 72nd United Nations General Assembly in New York City as one of only four states in Nigeria considered success stories for their implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our Team enjoyed a successful outing at the United Nations Headquarters, made a presentation at the Nigeria side event and signed a Memorandum of Understanding for deeper collaboration with the UN and her agencies. This is good for Kogi State and her people.
Let me remind us that the rains are still here and there is still need to remain vigilant against flooding and other associated natural disasters. The most potent tool against flooding is to keep existing drainage systems free of garbage and other rubbish. The next is to be wise and evacuate to higher ground if flooding appears imminent and you live in a low-lying area.
On our part as Government, we have designated camps for Internally Displaced People in each Local Government Area deemed at risk, and should it become necessary to deploy a Camp in any locality, Kogites can expect their Government to act with despatch in sending fast responders and launching emergency protocols.
As I conclude this address this 1st October morning, in the year 2017, I find myself in bitter-sweet mood. The sweet feelings flow from the GREAT POTENTIALS which Nigeria possessed long before Independence, and which remain unabated despite 57 years of checkered history. The pain comes from bitter emotions evoked when I consider the COUNTLESS MISSED OPPORTUNITIES we have had from October 1, 1960 to October 1, 2017 to transform our great potentials into great progress.
The British may have had their own ulterior motives when they amalgamated the old Northern and Southern Protectorates into one Nigeria in 1914, but I believe they also provided us an opportunity which hitherto did not exist, i.e. the opportunity to be much more greater than we would have become as individual tribes or territories.
In my opinion, and I think most Nigerians will agree with me, that even though we have not harnessed our gains after amalgamation, the present Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR is making efforts to optimize our potentials as a Nation. This is evident in a more secured Nigeria after years of terrorism threat, we are consciously diversifying our economy to Agriculture and Mining, the very vulnerable are now being focused on using various current programmes and policies – e.g Condition Cash Transfer at National level, N-power and Market Money, Home Grown School Feeding Programme etc. as a State, the GYB Food Security Project, Youth and Artisan Empowerment Project and the upcoming GYB water for life Grassroot Project and finally, GYB Model Primary and Unity School to foster cohesion amongst the upcoming young ones and quality education.
I reiterate our commitment in Kogi State and Nigeria where there is room for all citizens and constituencies to achieve their maximum potentials.
In the spirit of our 57th Anniversary as a Country, I wish all Kogites, Nigerians and our motherland, Nigeria, Happy Independence! May the Almighty God bless us all.
YAHAYA BELLO
EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR, KOGI STATE.
[myad]
The Presidency has given a list of 57 achievements of the Muhammadu Buhari-led government from May 2015 to date, as Nigerian, today, October 1, celebrate the nation’s 57 years of Independence.
SECURITY & RELATED MATTERS
ECONOMY
ANTI – GRAFT WAR.
OTHERS
President Muhammadu BuhariPresident Muhammadu Buhari has expressed disappointment with leaders in the Southeast for not calling to order, their young ones that have been agitating for another round of secession, demanding for the Republic of Biafra.
The President, in his Independent broadcast today, October 1st to the nation, however commended the leaders of the South South for their maturity in arresting the Niger Delta crisis through dialogue.
On Biafra, President Buhari said: “I am very disappointed that responsible leaders of these communities do not warn their hot-headed youths what the country went through. Those who were there should tell those who were not there, the consequences of such folly.
“Recent calls on re-structuring, quite proper in a legitimate debate, has let in highly irresponsible groups to call for dismemberment of the country. We cannot and we will not allow such advocacy.
“As a young Army Officer, I took part from the beginning to the end in our tragic civil war costing about 2m lives, resulting in fearful destruction and untold suffering. Those who are agitating for a re-run were not born by 1967 and have no idea of the horrendous consequences of the civil conflict which we went through.”
Buhari, who said that at all events, proper dialogue and any desired constitutional changes should take place in a rational manner, at the National and State Assemblies, said: “these are the proper and legal fora for National debate, not some lop-sided, un-democratic body with pre-determined set of objectives.”
On Niger Delta, President Buhari promised that the government would keep up the momentum of dialogue with stakeholders to keep the peace, adding that his government is determined to address genuine grievances of the communities.
“Government is grateful to the responsible leadership of those communities and will pursue lasting peace in the Niger Delta.”
Below is the content of the full Presidential broadcast:
My dear Nigerians,
October 1st remains a special date for all Nigerians as this marks the day when we attained one of the most precious of human desires — freedom.
Over the years the country has gone through trials and tribulations, but October 1st is always a day for celebrations.
It is a day for thanks giving, reflection and re-dedication.
It is also a day for remembrance. We should remind ourselves of the recent journey from 1999 – 2015, when our country happily returned to democratic rule.
However, in spite of oil prices being an average of $100 per barrel and about 2.1m barrels a day, that great piece of luck was squandered and the country’s social and physical infrastructure neglected.
We were left with no savings and huge infrastructure deficit.
The APC Government’s Campaign rallying cry to restore security, re-balance the economy and fight corruption was not all rhetoric.
The country must first be secured. The economy must be re-balanced so that we do not depend on oil alone. We must fight corruption which is Nigeria’s Number One Enemy. Our Administration is tackling these tasks in earnest.
In the past two years, Nigeria has recorded appreciable gains in political freedom. A political Party at the Centre losing elections of State Governor, National Assembly seat and even State Assemblies to the opposition parties is new to Nigeria. Added to these are complete freedom to associate, to hold and disseminate opinions. Such developments clearly attest to the country’s growing political development. But like all freedoms, this is open to abuse.
Recent calls on re-structuring, quite proper in a legitimate debate, has let in highly irresponsible groups to call for dismemberment of the country. We can not and we will not allow such advocacy.
As a young Army Officer, I took part from the beginning to the end in our tragic civil war costing about 2m lives, resulting in fearful destruction and untold suffering. Those who are agitating for a re-run were not born by 1967 and have no idea of the horrendous consequences of the civil conflict which we went through.
I am very disappointed that responsible leaders of these communities do not warn their hot-headed youths what the country went through. Those who were there should tell those who were not there, the consequences of such folly.
At all events, proper dialogue and any desired constitutional changes should take place in a rational manner, at the National and State Assemblies. These are the proper and legal fora for National debate, not some lop-sided, un-democratic body with pre-determined set of objectives.
Government is keeping up the momentum of dialogue with stakeholders in the Niger Delta to keep the peace. We intend to address genuine grievances of the communities.
Government is grateful to the responsible leadership of those communities and will pursue lasting peace in the Niger Delta.
SECURITY
On security, Nigerians must be grateful to our gallant Armed Forces for rolling back the frontiers of Boko Haram’s terrorism, defeating them and reducing them to cowardly attacks on soft and vulnerable targets.
Nigeria is grateful to its neighbours and the international community for the collective efforts to defeat this world-wide menace of terrorism.
Not even the most organized and most equipped police and security forces in the world can escape the menace of modern day terrorism, as we have seen in recent years in Europe and other parts of the world.
But we are not letting up. Our Armed Forces in an effort to enhance the operational capability of troops of OPERATION LAFIYA DOLE have established Mobile Strike Teams in the North East. These will ensure the final push to wipe out the remnants of Boko Haram.
In addition, through targeted air strikes most of the leadership and identified logistics bases and routes of the insurgents have been neutralized. The Armed Forces have established a Naval presence in the Lake Chad Basin as part of the coordinated military efforts to curtail the movements or re-emergence of the sect in the area.
Government is working round the clock to ensure release of the remaining Chibok girls, as well as other persons in Boko Haram captivity. Government will continue to support the Armed Forces and other security agencies to fight not only terrorism, but kidnapping, armed robberies, herdsmen/farmers violence and to ensure peace, stability and security in our country.
ECONOMY
With respect to the economy, the Government has remained pro-active in its diversification policy. The Federal Government’s agricultural Anchor Borrowers Programme, which I launched in November 2015, has been an outstanding success with:
These initiatives have been undertaken in close collaboration with the states. I wish to commend the efforts of the Governors of Kebbi, Lagos, Ebonyi and Jigawa States for their support to the rice and fertilizer revolutions.
Equally commendable are contributions of the Governors of Ondo, Edo, Delta, Imo, Cross River, Benue, Ogun, Kaduna and Plateau States for their support for the Presidential initiative for palm oil, rubber, cashew, cassava, potatoes and other crops.
With the abundance of rainfall last year and this year, agriculture has enjoyed Divine intervention.
Since December last year, this Administration has produced over 7 million 50Kg bags of fertilizer. Eleven blending plants with a capacity of 2.1 million metric tons have been reactivated. We have saved $150 million in foreign exchange and N60 billion in subsidy. Fertilizer prices have dropped from N13,000 per 50Kg bag to N5,500.
Furthermore, a new presidential initiative is starting with each state of the Federation creating a minimum of 10,000 jobs for unemployed youths, again with the aid of CBN’s development finance initiatives.
Power remains a huge problem. As of September 12th, production of power reached an all — time high of 7,001 Megawatts. Government is increasing its investment, clearing up the operational and financial log jam bedeviling the industry. We hope to reach 10,000 Megawatts by 2020.
Key priorities include better energy mix through solar and Hydro technologies. I am glad to say that after many years of limbo, Mambilla Power Project has taken off.
Elsewhere in the economy the special window created for manufacturers, investors and exporters, foreign exchange requirements has proved very effective. Since April, about $7 billion has come through this window alone. The main effect of these policies is improved confidence in the economy and better investment sentiments.
The country has recorded 7 consecutive months of lower inflation, Naira rate is beginning to stabilize, appreciating from N525 per $1 in February this year to N360 today. Broad-based economic growth is leading us out of recession.
Furthermore, in order to stabilize the polity, the Federal Government gave additional support to states in the form of:
Altogether totaling N1.642 trillion.
This was done to enable states to pay outstanding salaries, pensions and small business suppliers who had been all but crippled over the years.
In addition, the Government’s current N500 billion Special Intervention Programme is targeting groups through;
CORRUPTION
Fellow Nigerians,
We are fully aware that fighting corruption was never going to be a straightforward task. We expected corrupt elements to use any weapon to fight back, mainly judicial obstruction and political diversion. But we are determined to eradicate corruption from our body politic.
In this fight, the Government has:
The Administration’s new institutional reforms include:
We have signed multi-lateral cooperation agreements on criminal matters with friendly countries. There are signs of increasing cooperation from the Judiciary. Recently the Chief Justice of Nigeria directed Heads of all our Courts of first instance and Appeal to accelerate hearings of corruption cases and dismiss any judicial officers found to have been compromised.
Justice Salami has just been appointed to chair the Judiciary’s anti-graft committee. Government expects a lot from this Committee.
I commend the National Assembly for refocusing on its oversight committees. They should, in addition, ensure swift passage of enabling corruption laws. But fighting corruption is a bottom to top operation. I call on all Nigerians to combat corruption at every turn. By not asking for and refusing to accept a bribe, by reporting unethical practices or by blowing a whistle, together we can beat corruption. The government for its part will work for accountability at all levels – Federal, State and Local Governments. CHANGE will then be real.
As we enter the second half of our term of office, we intend to accelerate progress and intensify our resolve to fix the country’s challenges and problems.
Thank you and a happy holiday to all of you.
God bless our country. [myad]
Less than 48 hours to Nigeria’s 57thindependence celebration, the Power, Works and Housing Minister, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, announced the collapse of the national grid, thus plunging most parts of the nation into darkness. Though this bad news by Fashola was greeted with the usual wave-of-the-hand disposition, the battle cry of insurrection as championed by Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and increasing calls for the restructuring of the Nigerian Federation are signs that all is not well with a nation heading for the precipice.
Less than three hours to October 1, as I write this piece, the blaring sounds of generating sets that have become source of electricity render the neighbourhood into noise. Governance seems to have taken flight to only God-knows-where. We are now forced to provide for ourselves security, water, light and pay through our noses the education of our children/wards, following the collapse of public schools. Nigerians’ predicament is best captured by the Hausa who, while reminiscing on the glorious past in sharp contrast with the hopelessness of the present, often recall with nostalgia, “Kowa ya tuna bara, bana bata da dadi”(He who remembers the previous year is certainly not happy with the present).
Nigeria’s independence on October 1, 1960 brought obvious prospects in transforming lives and, by implication, flying the flag of excellence for the Black race. Sadly, 57 years after political freedom from the British colonial powers, our nation has become a huge embarrassment; with increasing gloom and despondency now the lots of many a citizen. In Nigeria, the world is at a loss why a nation that is so blessed by nature is incapable of rising against its misfortune of greedy political leadership.
As Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai of Kaduna State rightly pointed out, Nigeria’s march for national unity was frustrated by the nation’s founders who anchored their vision for greatness on regional platforms. Succeeding leaders could not unlearn the ways of these founding leaders as they continued to deploy ethnic and later introduced religious factors, among others, to permanently divide citizens.
According to Sydney Smith, “Men are seldom to eulogize the wisdom and virtues of their fathers, but to excuse some folly and wickedness of their own.” Our nation’s founding leaders might have done what they deemed fit according to the exigencies of their times, but the questions remain: Why did succeeding political leaders fail to rise up to the needs of modern times and advance a system to guarantee justice and equity to Nigeria’s federating units? Why did subsequent leaders become irrepressible Mammon-worshipping figures committed to personal aggrandisement? Three years to three scores of our nation’s freedom, why is the labour of our heroes past becoming vain?
Less than seven years after political freedom from British colonial powers, our nation was engaged in a bitter civil war that turned out a horrendous cynosure of incomprehensible barbarity to global audience. Despite the murder of millions of Nigerians, we came out battered, but not beaten to our knees. From 1970 to 1979, Nigeria’s military leaders plundered and wasted our opportunities for greatness. With too much oil money and too little intelligence, our military leaders told a bemused world then that Nigeria’s problem was not money, but how to spend it. In demonstration of that fact, we underwrote salary bill of another nation and even loaned funds to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
When the military finally caved in to intense pressure and transferred power to the civilians in 1979, the seed of corruption had already been consolidated in the polity. With the nation’s top bureaucrats in bed with politicians, transparency and accountability were ignored and condemned to the backwaters of our national life, just as personal interest overcame national interests everywhere. Little wonder, Nigerians were overwhelmed with joy when the military staged a comeback to power in the dying hours of 1983.
This conscious attempt to sanitise Nigeria only lasted between 1984 and August 27, 1985. A palace coup removed then Major General Muhammadu Buhari and his then Chief of Army Staff, Major General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, took over the reins of power. By the time the military was again forced to relinquish power on May 29, 1999, the cankerworm of corruption had become institutionalized, with many prominent Nigerians becoming richer than the state.
The year 1999 offered yet another opportunity for Nigeria, under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a former military coupist, with notoriety in criticizing previous military regimes, to take up the gauntlet and cleanse the Augean stable. With the master stroke of sacking military officers that hitherto occupied political offices; and rising global oil price, Obasanjo repaid Nigeria’s bourgeoning $22 billion Paris/London Club debt against advice from some economists. Besides setting up anti-graft agencies to haunt and hunt down corrupt public officials, his successor, late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was later to accuse him of wasting $16 billion dollars on the power sector without commensurate impact on the polity. Obasanjo’s alleged crave for third term, as championed by his many Men Friday in the National Assembly, led to allegations of compromising national lawmakers to amend the nation’s constitution.
If Nigerians, by their votes, ended the bazaar of hair-rising corruption foisted on the nation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Congress (APC) has sadly not offered any hope since assuming governance on May 29, 2015. Contrary to its electoral promise of tackling security challenges that plagued Nigeria during the PDP’s years, we still have militancy upsurge in the Niger Delta region and insurgency in the North-east zone. The APC’s anti-graft war is more of stormy cloud without rain. Nigerians are still exposed to the unprecedented level of corruption in the system, just as the economy is down on all fours despite mouth-gaping funds’ recoveries and seizures. Cries of marginalization from various groups as well as discordant tunes by forces that gave birth to the APC government are enough reasons for worries. Over two years after wrestling power from PDP, dark clouds of fear-provoking uncertainties have cremated the hope for a new dawn.
Nigeria @57 has become what a nation should not be. Inordinate political ambition; quest for personal aggrandizement and unceasing hypocrisy across political, ethnic and religious divide have become major drivers in our national discourse. At every stage of our national life, the elite have always aligned themselves to prevailing strategic issues to gain access to power. Corruption has become the god of survival for men swimming in the muddy waters of Nigeria’s politics. Public institutions that produced those in the corridors of power have been destroyed to give way to private ownership. Our elite now send their children abroad after stifling our schools of funds. The door of opportunities is now being reserved for only children of the elite, while recruitment for leadership positions is strictly based on recommendation from those who benefit from the nation’s rot. The tragedy of Nigeria is not in its present woes, but in the absence of actionable efforts to steer it away from its present gloominess.
Nigeria @ 57 has become a fertile ground for power seeker to deploy ethnic and religious sentiments to access power. Having transformed the nation into a farmhouse of wealth acquisition and funneling their ill-gotten wealth into foreign accounts, the country has been rendered incapable of working for the common good of all. Our nation’s founders did great jobs in advancing interest of their regions, but their successors replaced such regional interests with personal economic and political empowerment. That is why our present leaders now prefer granting Shoprite, a South African retail store, right to spring up in all parts of the country, while local entrepreneurs are allowed to die. DSTV, another South African firm, can fleece us without any opposition from the Nigerian system that should protect its citizens. MTN, another South African giant, was making a giant kill of helpless Nigerians until GLO came to our rescue. Chinese companies are all over the nooks and crannies of some Northern state engaged in mining activities running into billions of Naira without paying royalties to the Nigerian government.
In total negation to the welfare of the majority, Nigeria @57 has promoted the enrichment of individuals and private ownership of oil blocs, thereby widening the gap between the rich and poor. No nation develops this way. The deafening cries for restructuring reflect the yearning for change in the ways our local oppressors have governed us. Nigeria stands on the threshold of a new dawn. The proscription of IPOB and strident condemnation of restructuring advocates by those in the corridors of power are grossly insufficient to drown the cries of agitation against oppression. Injustice may last for a while, but repression has in itself seeds of internal destruction.
As Nigerians recall the memory of their political freedom from the British colonial powers on October 1, 1960, we must resolve to diligently work and walk towards achieving our freedom from the gang of economic vampires that have turned our nation into their personal fiefdoms. Nigeria @57 must either unlearn its past or stands the risk of balkanization. The injustices of the Nigerian system are overflowing and threatening to sweep away our country into an endless ocean of national catastrophe. Having fought a civil war to defend the unity of our country, now is the time to rise up and wrest Nigeria from those who seek to make merchandise of her for themselves and their unborn generations.
Reef is a media practitioner and writes from Abuja. He can be reached on: simonreef927@gmail.com. [myad]
Former Nigerian Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has commended the Nigerian Army for rising up to curtail what he called ‘senseless’ secessionist agitation that would have thrown the country into another orgy of killings.
“The resilience of armed forces of Nigeria to curtailed secessionist and agitations throughout our nation’s post-independence has reduced tensions and unnecessary destruction of lives and property.”
In his message on the nation’s 57th Independent, the former President acknowledged that the nation is bedeviled with senseless agitations and conflicts but that there is the need for careful appraisal of the country’s journey to nationhood.
“Peace remains the best option in resolving conflicts and agitations in the country. Recent conflicts and agitations, chanting slogan of war and hate speeches are derailing the nation’s development and unity.
“As an active participant in the Civil War and a retired military officer, with the hard lesson learnt, I will never be tired on calling for the oneness and unity of our great nation. We will forever be ready to sacrifice for a united and prosperous Nigeria whenever the need arises
“During our tenure in government, we deliberately formulated policies, programmes, projects and even the creation of states to further weaken unwholesome agitations for secession and promote mutual and peaceful coexistence devoid of ethnic, religious and regional discrimination.”
Babangida said that government at all levels should continue to encourage mutual tolerance and protect the life of every Nigerian who should feel at home anywhere they find themselves in the country.
He called on Nigerians to pray and work towards peace and progress of the nation even as he advised those beating the war drum through and hate speeches to sheathe their swords and support the government in addressing security and economic challenges.
“We should support the government in addressing the security and economic challenges as I urge Nigerians to extend their gestures with a hand of fellowship to one another and assists those affected by natural disasters, conflicts and communal clashes that are presently confined at various Internally Displaced Persons Camps (IDPs).” [myad]
The former Nigerian President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has expressed confidence that Nigeria will surmount the present challenges and emerge stronger.
“It may seem as though we are passing through insurmountable challenges, but I am very intimately aware of the can do Nigerian spirit which will help us surmount our present challenges.
“You may say tough times are here, but I say to you that tough times do not last, but tough people do. “I call on all Nigerians to renew faith with Nigeria as we add another year to our age. We will get better, we will be greater, of that there can be no doubt.”
Ex President Jonathan, in his message to mark Nigeria’s 57 Independent tomorrow, October 1st, stressed the need for oneness, accommodation and unity of the country
In the message which was issued today, Saturday, Jonathan said: “I wish all Nigerians a happy 57th Independence anniversary.
“As a nation, we are moving on. On October 1, 2010 we celebrated our Golden Jubilee as an independent nation. Again, in January 2014, we celebrated our Centenary as a nation. And today, October 1, 2017 we are celebrating our 57th Independence Anniversary.”
The former President insisted on the need for all Nigerians to accept the fact that none of them is as great as all of them.
“We thank God for the journey so far. We had challenges, we still have challenges but the Nigerian spirit of resilience will carry us on. I congratulate all Nigerians on our 57th Independence Anniversary.” [myad]
Seventy nine year old Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi who designed the Nigeria’s Green-White-Green national flag in 1959 as the country prepared for Independent in 1960 is now on monthly salary of N800,000, courtesy of the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
Ex President Jonathan invited him to Abuja in 2014 and gave him a national award, as well as placing him on a lifetime salary of a presidential special assistant of around N800,000.
He won the sum of 100 pounds ($281 in 1959) as well as a place in Nigeria’s history books when his designed national flag was chosen as official flag for an Independent Nigeria.
Akinkunmi is now a retired civil servant who resides in one of the poorer areas of Ibadan, in a green and white house that can only be reached on foot. Separated from his wife for about two decades, his only live-in companion is his 28-year-old son.
He does not have a phone and last owned a car in the early 1990s. But he enjoys walking through the neighbourhood and further afield to visit two friends from his school days. These excursions add colour to his days. The furthest he recently travelled was a visit to Abuja in
Akinkunmi gives the wrong name for the college he attended in London, doesn’t remember why he underwent surgery within days of winning the competition and cannot give a single detail about what he was doing on October 1, 1960, when Nigeria raised its national flag for the first time.
“Well, I was just pleased,” he says about his feelings on that day. Sunday Olawale Olaniran was an undergraduate at the University of Ibadan when he got to know Akinkunmi , or, as he later dubbed him, the “hero without honour.
“When I met him in 2006, he would never say anything negative,” Olaniran remembers. “He would say ‘God bless Nigeria,’ or ‘Nigeria is moving forward and will keep moving forward.’ Even when you could see around him that he was not well taken care of.”
At the time, Olaniran was compiling a pamphlet on Nigeria’s history. It was during his research for that history that he learned who the designer of the Nigerian flag was and decided to track him down.
“People said he was dead, that I should forget about looking for him and just write about the flag,” he says. But Olaniran kept searching until he found him in Ibadan.
Akinkunmi was living alone, left to the care of his neighbours. On the first day they met, Olaniran says the older man was incoherent and kept talking to himself. His state drove Olaniran to tears.
“So I got in touch with a journalist and we went back two days before Independence Day,” he says.
“Even the journalist couldn’t believe the man was still alive.” The resulting story was published in a newspaper on October 1, 2006, and Olaniran says it was only after it appeared that most Nigerians became aware of Akinkunmi ‘s condition.
Akinkunmi was a pensioner when Olaniran found him, but his pension payments were so irregular that he could not even depend on them to feed himself. “Some Nigerians went to him and donated foodstuff, clothes,” Olaniran says.
Then, in 2008, Olaniran was contacted through his blog by a representative of the Nigerian edition of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, asking to be put in touch with Akinkunmi .
For his appearance on a special edition of the TV show, Akinkunmi was given a cheque for two million naira (around $10,000). This was the money his son says was used to complete the green and white building they now live in.
Following that second bout of nationwide publicity, Olaniran and other supporters began writing to the Nigerian government about Akinkunmi.
The then minister of information, Dora Akunyili, came to hear of it, and went to Ibadan to meet him.
“I think it was because of her that he was selected for the 50 distinguished Nigerians honour,” Olaniran says. During Nigeria’s golden jubilee celebrations in October 2010, Akinkunmi received a presidential award for being a distinguished Nigerian, the first time the federal government had publicly honoured him.
Four years after he first discovered Akinkunmi ‘s role in Nigerian history, Olaniran’s cause celebre had finally caught the attention of the country’s leaders. Akinkunmi doesn’t remember much about the official ceremonies in his honour, but he does recall how he returned from the UK with his degree in 1964, and 29 years later, left government service.
In 1993, he was advised by his superiors to go into early retirement because of illness. His son does not know what the illness was, and Akinkunmi cannot remember what the doctors diagnosed.
The only symptoms he can describe are a relapsing fever and “thinking too much.” He has been on medication for many years, but three months ago the doctors took him off the pills whose names he cannot remember.
One memory that has not forsaken him, however, is the admiration and support he received from ordinary Nigerians upon coming back to the country after the Union Jack had been replaced by his green-white-green flag.
“I was well-known all over the place. Everybody was calling me Mr Flag Man.”
Source: Aljazeera. [myad]
