It is a common knowledge that any government without credible opposition is open to dictatorship and abuse of power. Recently, there was an array of hope for Nigeria.
For all intents and purposes, Nigerians had witnessed a formidable opposition activity by the time for the 2015 elections. But that is no longer the case. The current main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party of Nigeria (PDP), has turned out to be too corrupt and too sick to play a leading role.
So far, President Muhammadu Buhari is doing a commendable job grabbing the corrupt PDP henchmen one after the other. Yet, the attitude of the culprits once they are granted bail is not funny at all. Instead of standing firm to defend themselves and the cause of the opposition, these PDP leaders are usually befallen with one form of acute sickness or another.
To rub in the ploy, the sick looters typically opt for treatment abroad while the masses are saddled with poor medical facilities at home.
Interestingly, the ardent supporters of the former ruling party still see hope. They believe the party will soon usher in some credible leaders in the crucible of a party convention, whenever that might be.
But don’t hold your breath. Of course, PDP still boasts of fairly untainted figures like Ken Nnamani, Nuhu Ribadu, Donald Duke, Segun Mimiko, Ibrahim Dankwambo, Ibrahim Shekarau, and so on. Alas, the Peoples Democratic Party of Nigeria is not ready to entrust its future on any novice in the primitive accumulation of wealth.
The dilemma, therefore, is that virtually all its anointed leaders with deep pocket—from the north, east, and west—wear loud beads of corruption around their necks. Take a look at the lineup below.
Namadi Sambo: In a normal clime, the mild-mannered former Vice President would be the shoe-in to the leadership vacuum. However, he is yet to recover from an overseas medical treatment resulting possibly from the new wave of sickness common with PDP chieftains being fingered for abuse of office. Moreover, Sambo cannot feign ignorance to the monumental corruption that rocked the National Economic Council while he was at the helm.
Enter the man of the hour, son of a former Sultan, and the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki who has been in dire need of foreign medical treatment in midst of dizzying criminal charges. Dasuki had exhibited a measure of political shrewdness when he stormed the London Think-Tank Chatham House to make a case for the postponement of
Nigeria’s 2015 elections. But it is clear that his was a fall before the rise.
The Sokoto prince will forever be remembered for freebooting $2.1 billion defense funds budgeted to save human lives—now referred to as Dasukigate.
The case of the recent PDP Chairmen does not exude hope. Haliru Mohammed Bello, for one, has become a permanent fixture in the contemporary discussion of corruption in Nigeria. Currently confined to a hospital bed but indicted in connection to the Dasukigate, Bello is the same character thrust into the position of Defense Minister during the Goodluck era despite being embroiled in the infamous £8.6 billion Siemens bribery scandal. Similarly, though he is been out of the public scene since stepping down after failing to account for N12 billion party funds, Nigerians will never forget how Adamu Mua’zu ascended the top party post in the face of pending allegations for stealing N19.8 billion from Bauchi State coffers. Even more, not only is the former governor rumoured sick somewhere, Mua’zu remains an integral quotient in cracking the various Dasukigate equations.
Sule Lamido is a well-nurtured party stalwart then widely seen as the heir apparent to 2019 PDP presidential ticket. Sadly, the ex-governor and son are now awaiting trial for plundering Jigawa State treasury. The plight of the past Chairman of Northern Governors Forum, Muazu Babangida Aliyu, is equally sad. Not long ago all roads pointed to Aliyu’s Minna residence, but that was then. Today, the erstwhile “Chief Servant” of Niger State is mired in N2.9 billion fraud charges at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The timbers of the 7th Legislature, particularly former Senate President David Mark, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, and former Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha are pondering what could have been. They were well groomed as the picture perfect babyface of the opposition with every resource in tow. However, not surprisingly, the trio has suddenly grown too old and too impotent due to a raging fear of imminent probes into the billions budgeted for Constitutional Review and Constituency Projects from the year 2007 to 2015. Ordinarily, PDP could have explored Senator Godswill Akpabio, the official opposition leader in the Legislature, but the former governor has become dumbstruck out of the blue after an encounter with the EFCC for allegedly carting away N108 billion from Akwa  Ibom State
treasury.
That brings us to Olisa Metuh, a man of cerebral pedigree, then packaged as a fearless patriot in his role as the PDP National Publicity Secretary. Regrettably, the party has just found out the hard way: Promoting Metuh as its official mouthpiece is akin to bursting the Pandora’s Box in a public square. Lo and behold, the credibility of the Nnenwi High Chief is deep down the tubes at the spur of the moment after failing to make sense of how and why a portion of the Dasuki corrupt largesse landed in his individual business bank account.
The most brazen is the spectacle of Governor Peter Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State grandstanding as a self-appointed “Leader of Nigeria’s Opposition.”
A man of voluble tidings, Fayose is the shameless fugitive ex-governor previously impeached for corruption but drafted back by his party to recapture the seat by any means necessary. Ultimately, he is rattled by the anti-corruption war and has been roaming the political space inciting the public with all manners of innuendo against the ruling party, as if PDP had shared the stolen billions among the poor masses.
But Nigerians have become wiser. We are well aware that the commotion is nothing but the wailing of a highbinder awaiting serious time for his involvement in the N1.3 billion poultry scandal plus 2014 Ekiti election fraud.
It will be a gross disservice to the reading audience if this exposé is to conclude without a special attention on Femi Fani-Kayode. Quite frankly, at the chagrin of friends, I was overjoyed when the former minister was acquitted of money laundering charges. Though always traducing, Fani-Kayode’s kind of verbal opposition is not totally bad for the polity. At least, his bombastic style has entertainment value—a radio station away from a poor man’s Rush Limbaugh.
The issue with this one, though, is that new revelations from the Dasukigate have shown that the constant bravado is not only to blind the gullible masses but also to fan the embers of crises in anticipation of looming indictments over new graft allegations.
This whole picture portends a troubling future for Nigeria. Although President Buhari has recorded a measurable success thus far, he is far from sainthood. Like in any human undertaking, excesses abound. Very unfortunately, however one views it; and no matter the line of argument; it is clear that the PDP brand is hopelessly banal—too corrupt, too sick, and too witless to checkmate the party in power.
Even if the PDP is to succeed in its dream of a makeover, the ensuing leadership will always be dismissed, and justifiably so, as an appendage to an unrepentant corrupt cabal. The posterity beckons on patriotic minds within the different opposition camps, therefore, to unite towards the path to a true democratic culture. Instead of the maddening rush to the ruling party, it is time to explore a new opposition party that is steadily alert to expose the weakness of the APC central government and credible enough to offer alternative solutions. [myad]

President Muhammadu Buhari spent the first three days of this week visiting the United Arab Emirates, UAE, the first by a Nigerian leader since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two states in the early 80s.

The high-level visit to the world’s second largest Arab economy marked an indication of the strengthening of relations between this country and Middle-East after many years this being in the back burner.

As part of his visit, President Buhari held talks with the effective head of the government, His Highness Sheikh Muhammad Bin Zayad Al-Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the UAE armed forces. Apart from the bilateral talks at which critical issues such as trade, investment, security, war against corruption and energy were discussed, the President participated in the World Future Energy Summit, itself dominated by climate change and energy issues. The visit was also packed with a wide range of business meetings with business leaders in the UAE to attract investments leading to jobs creation and the larger goal of economic development in Nigeria.

On Tuesday before his departure home, the President addressed a group of African Ambassadors, had a session with Nigerian professionals before meeting a larger group made up of members of the Nigerian Community in the UAE.

At the meeting with the Nigerians in that country, President gave a resounding off-the -cuff speech in which he addressed the major issues of security, trade, war against corruption, challenges in foreign exchange transfers as part of the larger issues affecting the economy and as to be expected, employment and opportunities for diasporas back at home.

When he ended his speech, the highly impacted audience members rose to their feet to give him a standing ovation.

The high point of the President’s visit was the signing of a wide range of agreements. These agreements are the first by the Buhari administration since it came  into office and are on the threshold of the major policies of government, namely security, economy and corruption.

It is noteworthy that in the nearly-thirty years of the existing relations between Nigeria and the UAE, only three Memoranda of Understanding, MOUs were signed at various times in the past. This was the first time an agreement was signed and it is historically important that  there were six of such agreements put on the table from the start. Four of these are  agreements on Mutual Legal Assistance, MLA and the balance of two, relating to trade and investment.

The one that immediately caught public attention is the agreement on criminal matters to facilitate ” the widest measure of Mutual Legal Assistance” to improve the effectiveness of both countries in the investigation and prosecution of crime, and the confiscation of criminal proceeds.

Under this agreement, proceeds of crime were defined to include “any assets derived or realized, directly and indirectly, by any person as a result of criminal conduct or the value of any asset, “asset” itself defined as ” money and all kinds of moveable or immovable or  tangible or intangible property, and include any interest on such property.”

With this milestone agreement, it is expected that stolen assets such as the ones by a high-profile banker who was jailed by the EFCC a few years ago, estimated in billions of Naira in real estate and shares held in Dubai may be returned to Nigeria. Now, there is a legal basis to ask for the return of such assets.

The second MLA on criminal matters, which is equally expected to bolster President Muhammadu Buhari’s war against corruption  is the agreement on extradition between the two states.

By this, each of the states has agreed to “extradite to the other,” upon request and subject to the provisions of the agreement “any person who is found in the territory of the Requested Party(say UAE) and is wanted in the Requesting Party (say Nigeria) for any prosecution or trial or execution of a sentence in respect of an extraditable offense committed within the jurisdiction of the Requesting Party.”

The agreement defines extraditable offenses as those that are punishable under the laws of both countries by a term of imprisonment of not less than two years “or by a more severe penalty.”

The third MLA is to facilitate the rehabilitation and reintegration of sentenced persons into society through giving them the opportunity to serve their sentence in their own countries.

The last of the four Mutual Legal Agreements deals with civil and commercial matters.

By this, each of the two states shall grant each other support in the service of summons and other judicial documents or processes; taking of evidence and in the execution of decrees, settlements and arbitral awards.

It is important to note that this agreement will apply to any civil or commercial matter before or after the signing of this agreement.

The two other agreements are for the reciprocal promotion and protection of investments and for the avoidance of double taxation. These ones were drawn to intensify economic cooperation between Nigeria and the UAE and to create conditions conducive to investments by nationals and companies of both countries.

These last two agreements are critical to the success of the economic side of the visit.

The Crown Prince and some of the business leaders the President met had shown an effusive determination to place investments in Nigeria. However, by their investment tradition, the UAE does not invest in a country with which they don’t have a protection agreement. This is what was just signed.

With an eye on UAE’s outsized Sovereign Wealth Fund, officially put at USD 800 billion (but unofficially at over three trillion Dollars), Nigerian officials are eager to start  work on the expansion of economic cooperation between the two states.

On the security front, President Buhari and the Crown Prince  discussed a range of regional and global issues. The UAE has agreed to assist Nigeria in the war against Boko Haram terrorism and in the rehabilitation of the damaged, North-East subregion of the country. They are sending an assessment team of the Emirates Red Crescent to the affected areas to find out precisely what is most needed for that country’s intervention.

A two-man, high-level committee was set up by the two countries to coordinate the incoming support for the North-East. The contact person for Nigeria is General Babagana Munguno, the National Security Adviser. His UAE counterpart is the Group CEO of the conglomerate Mubadalah. The two would be meeting every three months to review progress in this effort.

While both countries left off to further scrutinize the signed agreements in case there are areas to be amended, there is also the indication that a number of other agreements are in the pipeline to strengthen security and economic cooperation between the two. The country which parades two of the world’s most successful airlines, the Emirates and Etihad is interested in assisting Nigeria restart a national airline.

Another of these upcoming agreements will lead to the opening of the UAE market for Nigerian exports. The one being worked on security cooperation is to bind  the ministries of interior to information sharing to fight corruption and terrorism.

The two leaders also emphasized their cooperation on climate change and energy issues. By this, it is expected that the UAE will key into the President’s plan to boost access to electricity by tapping into the abundant renewable energy resources available to this country. The UAE has built a whole city that relies on solar energy that is reportedly carbon-free. Climate change is a major topic of concern to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Another line of discussion between the two states will feature plans on the regeneration of the Lake Chad, to reduce poverty in the region and cut African emigration to Europe.

In the assessment of officials on both sides, the visit scored big on issues of security, environment, trade and investment and the war against corruption.

The President was accompanied on the delegation by the NSA and the ministers of Finance, Justice, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Investment, Environment, State Minister Petroleum and that of Works, Power and Housing.

Garba Shehu is Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity. [myad]

One of the major things that worries Africa’s political and economic leaders about the so-called fourth industrial and indeed, disruptive revolutions in industry, energy, trade and education is that they won’t be fast or big enough to keep up with growing demand for them.
This point was recently made clare by the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Abidjan, Akinwumi Adesina Ayodeji when he said: “more than a century after Edison invented the light bulb, half of Africa is still in the dark.” He went on to add: “we talk about the Fourth Industrial Revolution, but it all starts with the need for electricity, which is like blood in the system. If we don’t have it, we can’t live.”
With 645 million Africans deprived of electricity, schools, hospitals and homes suffer. Some 600,000 women are said to be dying each year from inhaling the smoke of cooking with wood or dung.
To secure universal access by 2025, African heads of state have launched a new deal on energy, focused on power, potential and partnership. Revolutionary partnership may take several forms.
One is with industrial firms and foreign direct investment. Revolutions are public-sector-enabled, but private-sector-led. One of the most disruptive revolutions of the past decade came through mobile phone technology, now said to be in the hands of 700 million Africans.
“ICT is coming naturally into the whole continent,” said Hans Vestberg, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ericsson, Sweden.
“Broadband and cloud is coming into Africa. Almost all Africans will have smartphone five years from now. Think about what that can do for governance,” he said.
A second partnership is relationships with overseas nations. With excess labour and industrial capacity, and slowing growth, China looks towards Africa for new opportunities, which African countries seek to exploit.
“The strategic platform between China and Africa is the best I’ve ever known,” said Hailemariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister of Ethiopia.
“But emerging economies like China and India are no longer more competitive in labour, and it is the turn of Africa now,” he added.
A third revolutionary partnership involves expanding regional commerce, currently only accounting for 11% of trade. Yet, falling global commodity prices elevate the risk of overseas exports, and open an opportunity to add value and reduce volatility through enhanced supply chain within the continent.
“We know that, if we traded more goods among ourselves, we would have a lot of gains,” said Paul Kgame, President of Rwanda.
“We don’t have to wait for these changes, but can easily compensate for what we’re losing overseas by concentrating on what is very close to us and what we can do among ourselves,” he said.
This tied into the fourth revolutionary partnership: with rural citizens and, in particular, women. Through every industrial revolution, people need to eat, and Africa holds 65 percent of the arable land left in the world. To process raw agricultural products like cocoa within the continent, Africa’s leaders can invest in farms as a business, half of which are run by women. By helping women link their products to markets, some $300 million in loans can leverage $3 billion in new potential.
Over 2,500 leaders from business, government, international organizations, civil society, academia, media and the arts are participating in the 46th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland which began on January and ending on Saturday, 23.
Taking a formative role in shaping the discussion at the Annual Meeting 2016 as the Co-Chairs are: Mary Barra, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, General Motors, USA; Sharan Burrow, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Brussels; Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Corporation, USA; Hiroaki Nakanishi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Hitachi, Japan; Tidjane Thiam, Chief Executive Officer, Credit Suisse, Switzerland; and Amira Yahyaoui, Founder and Chair, Al Bawsala, Tunisia. [myad]