Opinion
Adams Oshiomhole, Peter Obi and Nigeria of tomorrow
Did you hear of a certain governor that was given a proper beating by his best friend right inside his office due to the activities of his third leg? The story was that this particular man was the bestie of “His Excellency,” with whom they did a lot of escapades with other young girls in the state and elsewhere. But somehow the man was said to have missed that what the two of them were doing to other young girls, was going on right under his nose. His supposed friend was actually bedding his own daughter, whom the amniotic fluid had yet to dry on her head.
When he finally discovered, the man was said to have bid his time and chanced on the governor at a time he was supposed to be alone in his office. Walking past the governor’s unsuspecting aides, who did not bother him because they knew about his relationship with their oga, he quietly closed and locked the door and descended on the randy governor. Of course, because of the governor’s pint size, he was no match to his assailant’s heavy frame. It was when the din from the commotion inside became loud enough that the security eventually pulled down the door to rescue their master from his friend. By that time, the big oga was half-dead. But, somehow, because of the scandal, the incident was killed in a hush-hush, lest the world heard. Unfortunately not much harm came to the assailant because he was also a big gun.
Another story. This one I witnessed with my eyes. I was part of a group of reporters invited by a governor to his campaign flagoff. In the evening, we’re to have dinner with that governor. While we’re seated in his sitting room at night having a chat, we suddenly noticed a stream of hot-legged ladies in their various levels of undress or underdress, filing into the same living room. Our man nearly jumped out of his skin from embarrassment. The trepidation in his voice as he directed the courier or is it vendor of the unholy visitors to the proper room bviously betrayed how scandalised he felt. For this was a man, who at that point was pontificating about morality. How the gods chose that moment to expose and disgrace him, remains a mystery.
Again, and I think I’ve once told this story many times. It’s about a governor that was a personal friend. He was my friend before he became a governor, so, there were no airs between us. In public, I would address him in first or second person singular – Your Excellency or – His Excellency, depending which fitted the occasion. But outside there, it was his name, even his guy name. We were that close.
But how did we become sworn enemies even before his first tenure ended. I told him the truth. I respected his office, but I didn’t kowtow or genuflect before him nor fear him unlike many others including people far older who told him that he was next to god, even as they meant the opposite and said so immediately out of earshot.
Earlier in his years, he would always send for me to review some of his activities, especially those ones that were fundamental to real governance in his state. In fact, he made it clear to his aides to my hearing of course that I should have free access to him anytime I desired and needed no prior appointment to do so.
It was at such an occasion that he made a very strange declaration to me. No doubt, this my friend was so popular in the state at the beginning that virtually everyone sang his praises, because his policies and programmes were topnotch from the beginning, as he hit the ground running.
He told me, you see all these things I’m doing, it’s just for this period. In the next two years, I’ll use everything I have to prepare for my re-election and if it means importing soldiers from North Korea, I’ll do it. Shock was a minor word. I was practically stunned. I never expected such from such an educated man, who was doing so great at that moment.
But I didn’t waste time neither did I mince words. But you don’t need any soldier from anywhere. You’re doing well already, I told him. Hold election today, it will be a walk in the park for you, I emphasised. His reply, was, my friend, you don’t know politics. Of course, just as he told me in that early encounter, my friend did exactly as he said.
It started gradually – from one uncanny act to the other, from one anti-people policy to the other, the degeneration began. By the time it came to his re-election period, he truly needed those North Korean soldiers to push himself back to office. From open thuggery to bare-faced impunity – breaking bones and backs of anyone that as much as made of whimper of challenge including those of the state legislature and even elders of the state amongst them, governors before him, to the extent that the state witnessed a harvest of strange murders that were all suspected to be political with many fingers pointing at him.
Not surprising that my friend started fencing me, because, outside noticing my aversion for his activities, I actually reported them in the cause of my duty as a journalist enjoined me. The only luck I had in the end was that I was not harmed, even though I was caught one way or the other in the crossfire of live bullets from the verbal and political weapons flying around.
It was later that I got to know that my good friend was himself a victim of circumstances. When he told me that I didn’t understand politics, he was only speaking in parables. What I didn’t know, because he did not tell me, was that there were higher forces. He was already under some form of threat from Abuja, because the money he was using to create all the feats in his state initially, in the calculation of his traducers, neither belonged to him nor the state. It belonged to those powers. It was money to be shared. Who needed his good work, when there were huge valleys of greed to fill? So, while he was getting popular in his state making headlines as performing governor, he was practically annoying some big guns elsewhere.
This reality was not only brought home to him, but the consequences as well. He must have been told that the only way he would return to power was to hand over the purse of the state to Abuja, – party bigwigs and of course, Villa Men. Else! It was a matter of making his choice – a matter of either or.
What this particular experiences teach me is never take anything on the facelift in politics, be it in Nigeria or elsewhere. But since we live in Nigeria, it is pertinent to note that whenever someone, especially a politician, Nigerian politician is making a statement, or strenuously fighting for something, be sure there is a bigger reason pushing the person.
Yes! Each time a typical Nigerian politician speaks, look closely. He’s speaking from the standpoint of greed or from the complete loss of his humanity and decency. Ask yourself the type of human being that would be sleeping with the daughter of his closest friends with whom he shares everything, even of deepest secrets. It must be somebody that has lost his soul completely. It is the same when greed is the motivation. Ask yourself why a man, would continue stealing after having stolen so much.
Indeed, in the home of some of these people, everything they own from the pin to the exotic furniture to their luxury cars, are the proceeds of mindless pillaging of the peoples commonwealth. Yet, they remain relentless. Else, tell me how a man who has stolen N1billion, which is N100million into 10 places from the public till will continue stealing. But that’s what you find. The same man steals 10, 100 and more and continues. He has estates in Abuja, he has estates in Port Harcourt, he has estates in Lagos, he has estates in Warri, yet he’s still stealing! That’s how greed drives people to madness.
So, don’t be surprised at the fixation of some political hounds in the country on Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State and now presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP). I’m not, because I know where they are coming from. After all, which other clime outside Africa, particularly Nigeria, would permit the level of official, monumental and free for all thievery going on in the country at the moment? You may have heard how oil thieves from the moon, arrive Nigeria, load barges with crude, put them in their breastpockets and disappear.
In one recent case, one of such vessels was reportedly apprehended in Equatorial Guinea. Now, did you hear the official explanation? Wait! The vessel was chased out of Nigerian waters by security operatives and was about to be caught when it landed into the said country. You’ll know how fast a ship laden with 300,000 would be moving that even a speedboat would not catch up with it. But then, this is Nigeria.
So, when you hear Adams Oshiomhole, descend on Obi in the manner he just did, last week, you ought to know from whence he’s travelling from. This was a mere tailor at a garment factory. Today, without any inventing a machine that would package Ewa Agoin and bread into an international snack or any other unique invention to his name outside transmuttng from union leader to the government house as a governor, he has become one of the reference points when life and living in opulence is in issue.
You may have heard how he now lives in a mansion that could only be compared to that of the late Michael Jackson’s palatial Neverland Ranch in California in his Iyamho, Auchi, Edo State village, complete with top-roof swimming pool, private lakes and forest for hunting. That is a fraction in what is now associated to him. So, when last Sunday, you heard the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), telling participants the party’s Youth Summit in Abuja that Obi was bad news, you’ll not be surprised. Who wouldn’t do everything to protect the road to such stupendous luxury. Never mind gory story behind it.
Hear him: “For those of you who are social media warriors, go to google and look at the first six months of Governor Willie Obiano’s administration in Anambra state. What you are going to find on YouTube is Governor Obiano using bulldozers to demolish the homes of kidnappers and those involved in Bakassi boys and Bakassi girls. Who was the governor when Bakassi developed in Anambra State? Who solved the problem? If a man could not fix the security challenges in Anambra State, which requires courage, how can he convince you that he will fix security all over Nigeria? Don’t take it from me, go to YouTube. I don’t want to look for trouble, I am a small man, anybody can deal with me.
“If he had solved the security problem, would Obiano be demolishing people’s houses, the houses of kidnappers? When he says, ‘I will fix Nigeria ask him, have you fixed your state? He calls himself a trader, what trade does he do? Importing or exporting? What does he import? Find out. You’ll know those brutalising the economy.”
Now, did Obi bring Bakassi Boys to Anambra? No! The dreaded group was the solution Obi’s last but one predecessor, Chinwoke Mbadinuju, tried to employ to eradicate the crippling menace of criminality in the state. Even Chris Ngige, who took over from him did not meet the head hunters, who left Anambra reeling from the dizzying effects of their escapades of open execution of their victims.
Until he left office, Obi battled the owners of Upper Class Hotel in Onitsha, where three human heads were allegedly discovered, which was one amongst the series of such drastic measures meant to chase away kidnappers in the state, in fulfillment of the law he got the House of Assembly to pass, one of which was to demolish the buildings belonging to perpetrators of such high crimes.
All these facts were there for Oshiomhole at the tap of a button. But no! This is a threat that must be put down by all means. Why not, what manner of public official would reject the type of official perks in the manner of the former Governor of Anambra State had done. This was a man as chairman of a bank refused to move into Victoria Island or Ikoyi where his contemporaries resided, but chose to remain in his modest Festac apartment.
How could you, as the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reject a whopping N500million, official cars and house, attached to your office and decide to operate on your own. Surely, this is unheard of. This is bad news for Nigeria, because others might learn from him and it would become a trend.
Don’t forget that at the time both of them were governors, Obi was recorded as the lone voice that encouraged the Federal Government to save money made from the high cost of crude during the time of former President, Goodluck Jonathan, while the group led by Oshiomhole insisted that it was already raining and that nothing should be saved.
Yet, the same Obi was to exemplify what he preached by saving over N75billion surplus for Anambra, while Oshiomhole, left debts of over N800billion debt for Edo State out of which N70billion was owed contractors. While Oshiomhole owed over six years arrears of pension and gratuities, Obi cleared N35billion in pension arrears, left zero debt. While Oshiomhole paid himself N200 million severance package with a house worth over N300 million, Obi, neither took anything nor got anything in and out of office.
So, when next time you hear from Oshiomhole, never be surprised what his fears are. Well over 70, he probably thinks he could live forever, forgetting that there was once a Mr. Fix it, who ones acted as if he had the power of life and death. By the way, have you forgotten that it was the selfsame Oshiomhole that once told the world that a Minister in Jonathan’s cabinet, took away $6billion in one day. Imagine a mind that could conjure such monumental fabrication. Think of what such a mind could do and how low it could go!
By John Okiyi Kalu
There are three issues most national opinion molders hold against former Governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu: N500 for pregnant women; hunters and palm wine tappers as Ebubeagu operatives, and Chicken Republic as metaphor for economic growth.
While the then Governor might not have used the language of the media to explain those issues, it has always been clear to me his actions were common sense solutions that should be studied and applauded.
According to Section 14(2) (b) of the 1999 (amended) Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. It is left for every leader in government to evolve policies and programs that will deliver on the purpose of its existence. It follows therefore that a successful government in Nigeria is one that fulfills the purpose of its existence and not the one that made the most noise in the media. While some leaders prefer to silently do their job, others deploy media noise as their cardinal focus of governance.
Common sense is simply the ability to think and behave in a reasonable way and to make good decisions. Common sense leadership dictates that in prescribing solutions to a challenge, leaders must think things through, have good knowledge of the environment and use what they have (including human and financial resources) in the right mix to deliver and sustain good governance.
N500 to pregnant women in Abia State
While reviewing data on maternal and infant mortality in Abia State, it was discovered that most women in rural Abia preferred to use the services of traditional birth attendants whose methods have long been judged to be crude and unsafe by health authorities. Yet, those birth attendants were the closest to rural women.
Ikpeazu’s solution was to equip and proliferate primary healthcare centers (PHCs) across the state (over 700 located in 184 wards of the state) and link them to a 24/7 Telehealth center (dial-a-doc) located inside government house, Umuahia, with medical doctors on call to attend to issues from all the PHCs. With that firmly established, the challenge was how to get pregnant rural women to visit the healthcare centers instead of patronising traditional birth attendants.
Governor Ikpeazu decided to incentivise change by simply approving N500 for transport to a healthcare facility to be paid on every visit. The implication was that if a pregnant woman visited 20 times for checks, she would collect N500 multiplied by 20. In addition to that, every pregnant woman was offered free birth-pack, valued at more than N40,000 at the time, as well as delivery at zero cost. In most public hospitals in Nigeria it costs at least N200,000 to deliver a baby.
Available data clearly shows that as a result of the common sense measures put in place by Governor Ikpeazu, attendance to healthcare facilities in Abia increased by 71% under his watch with maternal/infant mortality rate dropping by more than 30%. In fact, the World Health Organisation and the Federal Ministry of Health issued its first and only gold award for Primary Healthcare Under One Roof to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu for doing an excellent work.
Hunters, Palmwine Tappers and Ebubeagu
In the days when the formation of a regional security force was popular within the South East, there were two major related security issues: farmers-herdsmen clashes and kidnapping for ransom. At the heart of the two security challenges were reports of armed gangs living in forests in Igbo land from where they attacked security agents and innocent folks then take their victims back to the forests until ransom was paid.
Our people wanted the criminals removed from our forests and believed that the formation of an armed Ebubeagu force would achieve that. But Governor Ikpeazu was not convinced about arming Ebubeagu because he recalled the extra-judicial activities of the defunct Bakassi Boys that led to loss of several innocent lives in our state and said something profound during one of the meetings of the state executive council: “No doubt, we have a problem and must solve it but we should ask ourselves this: if we arm our people to fight the criminals how do we retrieve the arms afterwards and what will a hungry man with skills in use of arms do when people are not looking?”
We decided that since there were conventional armed security forces like the police, army, navy, DSS, civil defence and others operating within our state the solution should be to empower and deliver prompt and precise information to them to ensure they do the job for which they receive salary. We approved massive support (financial incentives, vehicles, communication gadgets, monitoring and control centers, modem operational structures etc), from the government of Abia State to those agencies.
In addition to increased funding for regular security forces, improvements in crime fighting infrastructure, we also approved take off resources for Ebubeagu strictly as community-based information and intelligence gathering outfit that did not bear arms while concurrently developing a second-to-none information sharing structure between the government and security agencies. I make bold to state that under Ikpeazu it was near impossible for new faces to enter any of our communities without the information coming to the center in Umuahia. Suspicious visitors were monitored until they left or were interrogated by regular security agents.
The result of Ikpeazu’s common sense approach was that Abia became the oasis of peace in a troubled South East region and among the top three safest states in Nigeria. In contrast, those states that celebrated armed Ebubeagu with popular applause recorded higher crime waves and widespread insecurity that still haunt the states to date. Ikpeazu received national awards on security without toeing the popular path but rather applying common sense approach to leadership.
Chicken Republic as a metaphor for economic growth
While answering questions on investment and economic growth under his watch, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu cited proliferation of Chicken Republic Restaurant branches in the state as evidence of improvement. The usual crowd decided to make a joke out of it without reviewing to understand where he was going with that. But few correctly understood his example to mean that increased consumption and patronage for luxury food brands signpost growth in economic activities within a location.
Permit me to briefly digress with VAT collection before returning to the Chicken Republic metaphor. Definitionally, VAT refers to a consumption tax on goods and services levied at each stage of the supply chain where value is added. It goes without saying that its volume in a locality can be used as an indication of the volume of buying and selling in the area. So states with low economic activities usually have low VAT collection and vice versa.
Recently, NBS reported that Abia State has dropped to 35th position on VAT remittances. With an economist as the current Governor of the state he should ordinarily be worried because the ranking shows very low and declining economic activities within the state. More crucially, it is a valid indicator that whatever the government is spending in terms of construction, payment to workers etc, are not being felt in the state but rather being siphoned out of the state. A government that claims to have spent more than N300 billion in infrastructure and salaries should be worried that VAT collection is declining on its watch.
It is also very easy to guess that low VAT collection means outfits like Chicken Republic are making much less than they were doing before now and if that trend continues, they will close shops in Abia and go elsewhere. Meanwhile, the propaganda mill says Abia has improved a million times under the incumbent Governor but simple check with independent data suggests otherwise to the educated mind. The situation raises very profound issues for further research on what is happening to Abia money.
So, when Governor Ikpeazu pointed to proliferation of Chicken Republic and such other outfits on his watch he was rightly advancing the case that economic activities were improving including investment in the state from outside. He was simply saying money was flowing into his state and the economic wellbeing of his people was improving on his watch. VAT receipts and other data supported his position.
When the NBS, World Bank and relevant Federal Government agencies studied multi-dimensional poverty index across the country, they rated Ikpeazu’s Abia as the third best in Nigeria with indicators that included employment, healthcare, security and economic growth. What does that say to you about commonsense approach to leadership compared to high sounding propaganda?
Chief Kalu was Commissioner for Information, Trade & Investment in Abia State
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
By
President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR
At the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum, Yale University New Haven, Connecticut, USA, November 15, 2024
Professor Christie Achebe and the Achebe family; Maurie McInnis, President, Yale University; Steven Wilkinson, Nilekani Professor of India and South Asian Studies, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Henry Luce Director, the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International & Area Studies; Vice Provost for Global Strategy, Professor Cajetan Iheka, Convener, Director, Whitney Humanities Center, Chair, Council on African Studies and Head, Yale Africa Initiative; distinguished professors and scholars, esteemed guests, students, ladies and gentlemen.
Without being immodest, I will begin by saying that it is appropriate that I was invited to deliver the keynote address at a gathering in honour of the late Professor Chinua Achebe. Not just because I have been Head of State and President of Nigerian on two different periods of our beloved nation’s history – most will agree fairly successfully – but because I have known the man, his work, and his values for as long as our Nation has been in existence. He was a great and distinguished Nigerian.
Yale university would be correct in their belief that Achebe belongs to the world – and therefore to them as well – but I am here to tell them that he is an African Icon that belongs to Nigeria first. The Igbo amongst us – his own ethnic people – will remind us that within Igboland he is known as “the Eagle on Iroko” – the “king of the birds” perched on the tallest tree in the African rainforest – a title that encompasses the reverence and awe in which he was held.
As Head of State of Nigeria, I oversaw the establishment of the Nigerian National Merit Award (now known as The Nigerian National Order of Merit Award (NNOM)- Nigeria’s highest award for outstanding academic and intellectual contributions to the growth and development of Nigeria.
The young people in the room will be pleased to know that the first recipients of this prestigious award were Professor Chinua Achebe, Professor Teslim Olawale Elias, Professor Thomas Adeoye Lambo, and Alhaji Abubakar Imam. They were all conferred with the merit award in 1979 by a debonair, young Head of State named Olusegun Obasanjo. I was 42 years old at that time. That same year, Achebe accepted a national award from me as well. That he later, developed an aversion to National Awards is a topic for Yale University’s epistemological researchers to uncover.
I invoke jest to parlay into a much darker topic for which we are gathered here to address: The failure of governance in Nigeria and the near collapse of our Nation State. What better way to tackle this uncomfortable topic than to revisit a short, classic treatise published in 1983, called The Trouble with Nigeria, by non-other than Chinua Achebe.
Leadership: The Nigerian Conundrum
Achebe opens that slim book like this: “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.”
In hindsight, this forty-one-year-old prescriptive analysis on the root causes of Nigeria’s leadership crisis is quite moderate and appropriate. It is at least not as desolate as the diagnosis provided by Robert Rotberg and John Campbell, two prominent US intellectuals – the latter a former United States ambassador to Nigeria to boot: “Nigeria has long teetered on the precipice of failure,” they argue. “Unable to keep its citizens safe and secure, Nigeria has become a fully failed state of critical geopolitical concern. Its failure matters because the peace and prosperity of Africa and preventing the spread of disorder and militancy around the globe depend on a stronger Nigeria.”
At least, they acknowledge that Nigeria – the most populous and economically viable country on the African continent – is, as the Americans will popularly put it, “too big to fail…” Let us not fool ourselves, there is a lot to be concerned about, where Nigeria is concerned. For one, Nigeria’s GDP has declined from $510 billion – after it was rebased in July, 2014, by then Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and colleagues – to the recent revision downwards by the IMF to $199 billion today. By the end of my tenure in 2007, the country’s average GDP growth over my 8 years in office was 6.59 per cent (reaching 15.3% in 2002) – one of the highest in the world. This increase was attributable to the quality of the leaders we had in our government – the eminent, late, Bola Ige, General TY Danjuma, Adamu Ciroma, Sule Lamido, Mohammed Arzika, Liyel Imoke, Jerry Gana, Kanu Agabi, the aforementioned Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and several others who came on board in my second term.
One of the stars of that cabinet, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, Former Minister of Solid Minerals and later Education of Nigeria is also here today. Other reasons for the country’s robust growth at the time can be attributable to reforms we instituted, especially in the private sector and service delivery. They include the liberalization of the telecommunications sector, the recapitalization exercise witnessed in the banking sector in 2004, pension scheme and administration and many areas of production and productivity and investment. I must not forget debt relief.
The genesis of the Leadership Crisis
Home grown, American based, political science experts Professor Obasesam Okoi and MaryAnne Iwara, in a recent article published by the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs explored the complex, cacophony of factors at the root of Nigeria’s leadership conundrum: “The failure of governance in Nigeria manifests in the declining capacity of political leaders to recognize systemic risks such as election fraud, terrorist attacks, herder-farmer conflict, armed banditry, and police brutality and put in place the necessary measures to navigate these challenges.
In contrast with the current system in which leadership is attained through bribery, intimidation, and violence, Nigeria needs a system of governance that is founded on the pedigree of its political leaders and the education of its voters.”
So, what is to be done? I am sure you ask. To tackle and symbolically cut-off the head of this hydra-headed monster, Nigeria must address a number of these challenges head-on.
Strengthening Democracy:
“The government is us; we are the government, you and I.” – Theodore Roosevelt
I dare say that, that is when democracy works and delivers. The 2023 elections in Nigeria were “a travesty” by all rational measures. Following that problem prone exercise, electoral system reform is now among the top targets for change in Nigeria. Global think tanks such as the Pew Research Center, The Carnegie Foundation as well as the Electoral Knowledge network suggest that there should be three principal areas of focus – Legal, Administrative and Political. Electoral Management Bodies ( EMBs) – INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) in Nigeria – as well as its stakeholders will need to play distinct roles within the rubric of each area.
- Legal: Many scholars and some well- meaning Nigerians believe that Nigeria needs to take a closer look at our Constitution. We may have to “amend our constitution, electoral and/ or related rules, and regulations to enhance the integrity, relevance, and adequacy of the legal framework within which the INEC delivers its This may include institutional reform of the INEC itself.”ii
- Administrative: This will require several levels of intervention:
- Integrity of INEC officials. As a matter of urgency, we must make sure the INEC Chairperson and his or her staff are thoroughly vetted. The vetting exercise should yield dispassionate, non-partisan, actors with impeccable reputations. Nigeria must ensure the appointment of new credible INEC leadership at the Federal, State, Local government and municipal – city, town, and village levels – with short tenures – to prevent undesirable political influence and corruption, and reestablish trust in the electoral systems by its citizens. The INEC Chairperson must not only be absolutely above board, he must also be transparently independent and incorruptible.
- Political: Nigeria must find a way to prevent electoral interference at every Protecting elections from foreign as well as local malevolent actors is critical. Doing away with their malign influence is crucial for safeguarding democratic integrity and ensuring that election outcomes truly reflect the will of the people.iii On the local level, we should implement and enforce clearly defined financial regulations for political campaigns, establish effective control and enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance with financial regulations; and intensify activities to prepare and secure the voting infrastructure – such as safeguarding the technology used to collate, transmit, verify, and disperse election results.
- Cybersecurity level: Prior to elections, we should have a transparent exercise (witnessed by international observers) where so called “penetration testing of the election system and infrastructure” is conducted for all to witness and
- Prevention of Electoral violence: Nigeria must ensure the physical security of the commissions and Our security apparatus must be professionally trained to protect our citizens during elections not to be participants in electoral malfeasance.
- Foreign interference can undermine public trust in the electoral process and distort the democratic decision-making that underpins the nation’s governance. Additionally, preventing such influence and interference helps maintain national security and protects the sovereignty of the electoral system from external manipulation.
- Voter Registration and Identification: We must ensure that our voter rolls are accurate and up to date and free from interference from the political class or any other corrupting
- Ballot Security: INEC must ensure that it institutes ballot security to prevent tinkering or unauthorized access – manually or by Ballot security also means the secure storage and transport of ballots to collation centers to prevent any form of interference.
- Vote Counting and Reporting: Let’s be clear: The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV) are two technological innovations that prior to 2023 were celebrated for their promise. They were to “potentially” enhance the accuracy and transparency of our election results, eliminate the threat of election rigging, and boost public trust in electoral outcomes. These technologies were touted by the INEC chairman himself. In the end, these technologies did not fail. INEC willfully failed to use or implement them which resulted in widespread voting irregularities.v It was a case of inviting the Fox into the hen house.
- Improving our Educational System: The French statesman and lawyer Maximilien Robespierre famously stated that: “The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.”
The great Nelson Mandela reminds us that: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Our own Achebe implores that “A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership.”
Professor Obasesam Okoi and MaryAnne Iwara call for epistocratic governance and electoral practices, greater civic engagement and provide a salient explanation of Nigeria’s election woes and a path forward: “In Nigeria, the majority of citizens are uneducated on political issues. Simultaneously, those who are highly educated are increasingly becoming indifferent to political participation; they have lost faith in the power of their votes and the integrity of the political system…in Nigeria, there must be significant improvements in literacy levels so that citizens are educated about the issues and can use their knowledge to make informed decisions about Nigeria’s political future.
It is important to mention that Nigeria’s political elites have exploited illiteracy to reinforce ethnic, religious, and political divisions between groups that impede democratic ideals…The Constitution must ensure that only citizens who can formulate policies and make informed decisions in the public’s best interest can run for public office. When the Constitution dictates the standard of [ governance], informed citizens will be better equipped to champion political leadership or determine the qualifications of their leaders.”
Unfortunately, like many other sectors, the educational system in Nigeria has collapsed. Nigerians are excelling in every academic discipline globally, why have we allowed our educational system to rot back home? In order for Democracy to thrive, we must collectively rebuild our once envied educational sector.
The starting point for me is paying adequate attention to popular education to ensure education for all. A situation where 24 million children that should in school and are out of school does not augur well for our present and our future.
The second task here would be to pull together the ‘best and brightest experienced minds’ in education to help us achieve some of the following goals:
- Revamping our entire educational Mediocrity runs rampant in many spheres of Nigerian society. There has to be an increased emphasis on excellence, accountability and performance at all levels including within the Educational sector to salvage it.
- This will require great leadership and financial commitment from the private and public I know that we can get support from our development partners.
- Transparency: We must put in place post- election audits and transparent processes – clear documentation and paths for meticulous and free and fair voting, and credible electoral system – that builds trust and comfort for all stakeholders and vii
- Again, more on Cybersecurity: “In an age where cyber threats are increasingly sophisticated, protecting election systems from hacking, data breaches, and other cyberattacks is vital. This includes everything from the security of voter databases to the protection of websites used to report results.” We saw this cybersecurity failure play out during the last election and we must make sure it never happens again.
- Impunity: Politicians corruptly getting themselves declared as winner in an election where votes do not matter and asking winner declared loser to go to court where justice cannot be assured is the easiest and best way to kill electoral democracy.
Corruption in Nigeria: “Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.” – Edmund Burke. Let me return to Achebe and the Trouble with Nigeria for clarity of perspective on the Nigerian dilemma. According to Chinua Achebe: “… Corruption goes with power; …therefore to hold any useful discussion of corruption, we must first locate it where it properly belongs – in the ranks of the powerful…Corruption in Nigeria has passed the alarming and entered the fatal stage; and Nigeria will die if we keep pretending that she is only slightly indisposed.”
Ranked 150 out of 180 countries in the Transparency International 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index,1 Nigeria’s ranking places it in the bottom 20 per cent of the comity of Nations; and illustrates how systemic and embedded corruption is in the country. It is, in my opinion, and those of many, the most serious developmental challenge to the nation. When I joined Peter Eigen to establish Transparency International on May 4, 1993, we saw corruption as possible death knell of development and democracy.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is a Nigerian law enforcement agency promulgated to tackle corruption in Nigeria. It is but one of numerous bodies – buttressed by Acts and laws – established in Nigeria to tackle and address the exponential growth of corruption in the country.
Nigeria’s Report Card on Corruption:
To get a snapshot on how Nigeria is faring in its fight against corruption (some cynics will say cuddling or even, promotion of corruption), we need not look further than the UNODC ( the United Nations office of Drugs and Crimes) in its publication: Corruption in Nigeria: patterns and trends, 2024,x which provides novel conclusions while identifying several areas of deepening pathology:
- In 2024, Corruption continues to rank among the most important problems affecting
- More than NGN 700 billion in cash bribes were paid by citizens to public officials in
- Most bribes are paid in the street or in a public official’s
- Private sector bribery is increasing, but continues to be less prevalent than in the public
- Issues specific to the criminal justice system are a sore point – I will tackle that in the next
- Nepotism and bribery in public sector recruitment and promotion – In recent years we have witnessed outrageous, open recruitment of children of Judges onto our Judiciary benches by their parents! Why has the Nigerian Bar Association allowed this to persist? The manipulation of ethnic sentiments to further corrupt agendas – the last political exercise is replete with ample evidence of
The Survey findings indicate that corruption in Nigeria has penetrated every layer of society:
In 2023, 5.1 bribes were paid on average by each bribe payer in Nigeria in the 12 months prior to the election. Out of all Nigerian citizens who had at least one contact with a public official in the 12 months prior to the 2023 survey, 27 per cent paid a bribe to a public official.
Happily, there was some good news to report: 70 per cent of Nigerians who were asked to pay a bribe in 2023, refused to do so on at least one occasion. The bribery refusal rate was found to be highest in the North-West (at 76 per cent), although all zones recorded refusal rates above 60 per cent. Public officials continue to be blatant about bribe requests, but less so than in the Nigerians are increasingly reporting bribe payments to official.
I will conclude this section by quoting Achebe once more: “… Nigerians are corrupt because the system under which they live today makes corruption easy and profitable; they will cease to be corrupt when corruption is made difficult and inconvenient.” The greatest antidote of corruption is leadership integrity with consequences for offenders no matter who they are.
Rebuilding the Judiciary:
“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.” – Martin Luther King
According to Willian H. Neukom, CEO of the World Justice Project: “The rule of law is a durable system of laws, institutions, norms, and community commitment that delivers four universal principles: accountability, just law, open government, and accessible and impartial justice.”
The Judiciary in Nigeria is a very pale version of its once internationally esteemed self. Politicians after rigging elections openly ask their rivals to “go to court” in Nigeria because they are aware that they have completely compromised the Judiciary system. A number of Judges are in the pockets of wealthy politicians and individuals and make judgements – not based on the law of the land but to the highest bidder. This, my learned audience, is one of the most effective strategies of State Capture – discussed next – that must be excised from Nigeria like a surgeon cutting out a malignant cancer.
Transparency International suggests that “Corruption in the judicial system breaks the basic principle of equality before the law and deprives people of their right to a fair trial. In a corrupt judicial system, money and influence may decide which cases are prioritized or dismissed. Perpetrators may get away unpunished while victims are left with no answer and no justice.”
“Simple reforms can prevent this. An independent body and public oversight can guarantee that appointments in the judiciary are based on merit rather than favoritism. Judicial personnel should be adequately trained and receive fair salaries and pensions, to make them less vulnerable to bribery. Judges’ personal liability for decisions should be limited and, to protect them from pressure by powerful interests, only credible and transparent investigations should be conducted against them. Civil society, the private sector, and the media – we all have a vital role to play.”
What is State Capture?
The World Bank and Transparency International define State capture as one of the most pervasive forms of corruption, “a situation where powerful individuals, institutions, companies, or groups within or outside a country use corruption to shape a nation’s policies, legal environment, and economy, to benefit their own private interests.
State capture is not always overt and obvious. It can also arise from the more subtle close alignment of interests between specific business and political elites through family ties, friendships, and the intertwined ownership of economic assets.
What is happening in Nigeria -right before our eyes – is state capture: The purchase of National assets by political elites – and their family members – at bargain prices, the allocation of national resources – minerals, land, and even human resources – to local, regional, and international actors. It must be prohibited and prevented through local and international laws.
“Public institutions such as the legislature, the executive, the judiciary, and regulatory agencies both at the federal and local levels are subject to capture. As such, state capture can broadly be understood as the disproportionate and unregulated influence of interest groups or decision-making processes, where special interest groups manage to bend state laws, policies, and regulations. They do so through practices such as illicit contributions paid by private interests to political parties, and for election campaigns, vote-buying, buying of presidential decrees or court decisions, as well as through illegitimate lobbying and revolving door appointments.
The main risk of state capture is that decisions no longer take into consideration the public interest, but instead favor a specific special interest group or individual. Laws, policies, and regulations are designed to benefit a specific interest group, often times to the detriment of smaller firms and groups and society in general. State capture can seriously affect economic development, regulatory quality, the provision of public services, quality of education and health services, infrastructure decisions, and even the environment and public health.”
My military training and experience taught me that what you capture, you tend to hold under your sole control for as long as you can hold it. That is the case of one governor of a state who still holds the state captive in his pocket 25 years after being the governor of the state.
Insecurity:
“A series of overlapping security, political and economic crises has left Nigeria facing its worst instability since the end of the Biafran war in 1970.”xviii Writing in Security and Defense Quarterly, Tope Shola Akinyetun, Victor Chukwugekwu Ebonine, Iyase Ambrose profess: “Nigeria is presently bedeviled by an abundance of security challenges that gnaw at the very soul of the nation’s existence. The prevalence of insecurity in the country is multipronged and caught in a cyclic web. Insecurity in Nigeria comprises insurgency, killer herdsmen, extrajudicial killings, ethnoreligious conflict, armed robbery, militancy, banditry, cybercrime, and attacks by unknown gunmen, among other things”.
How did Nigeria the giant of Africa get to this situation?
The genesis of insecurity in Nigeria is a perfect storm of political incompetence and corruption, state capture, institutional collapse, porous borders, religious extremism, and severe multi- dimensional poverty. There is a compelling need to address the protracted and recurring multidimensional insecurity in Nigeria. “These security threats not only undermine national stability and the rule of law, but also have adverse effects on the economy, affecting price, output, employment, trade balance, poverty, inequality, defense expenditure, government budget patterns, socio-political environment, and several others.”
Nigeria’s own government’s Ministry of Budget and Economic planning has a thought or two about our current predicament: “Security challenges in any nation constitute a threat to the lives and properties of its citizens, hinder business activities, and discourage local and foreign investors which invariably slow down economic growth and development.
Nigeria in recent times has recorded unprecedented security challenges such as Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) attacks, militancy, armed robbery, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, Fulani-Herders farmers clashes, cultism among other social vices. These security challenges have propelled then to the top of the list of the most critical tests to Nigeria’s sovereign existence. Its presence looms unabated even as it has attracted huge allocation of national budget to the security sector (Achumba and Akpor). But it has become an industry in some quarters. Throw more money to what money cannot buy.
Nigeria’s Porous Borders:
“Nigeria has porous borders and herders from other parts of West Africa nations armed with AK 47 have found easy access into.
“A nation that opens her borders, allows other nationalities to come in at will and has so many ungoverned spaces would certainly face security challenges. As a consequence of our porous borders, the forests are not secured due to lack of Forest Guards, and 75 per cent of the illicit arms in West Africa sub region are domiciled in. This is a recipe for disaster – as we are currently witnessing.
So, What is the Genesis of Insecurity in Nigeria?
Professor Obasesam Okoi and MaryAnne Iwara and Suleiman Arzika provide some salient insights:
- Mismanagement of public funds and Corruption: We have already tackled this topic earlier in this address. Suffice is to say that “the democratic space [for too long] has been dominated by political elites who consistently violate fundamental principles associated with a liberal democratic system, such as competitive elections, the rule of law, political freedom, and respect for human. The outcome of the recent 2023 elections further eroded public trust in the ability of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to organize competitive elections unfettered by the authoritarian influences of the ruling class. This challenge is an indicator of the systemic failure in Nigeria’s governance system. A continuation of the current system will only accelerate the erosion of public trust and democratic institutions. In contrast with the current system in which votes are attained through empty promises, bribery, voter intimidation, and violence, Nigeria needs a governance system that will enhance the education of its voters and the capability of its leaders.”
- Poor planning: Lack of sustainable national development plans and Poor implementation of projects and
- Poor Security Architecture: The security challenges we have in Nigeria today are also a result of the inability of the government to reform the security architecture of the country to suit the current demands. The Police, Military and intelligence agencies are still structured and operated along colonial constructs and systems.
- Lack of adequate personnel: The combined number of the military, police and civil defense forces is less than 1m and over half of them are mostly engaged in administrative, VIP and other mundane work. For a country of over 200 million population, the ratio is quite The land area is vast and the population is mostly poor, illiterate, and prone to exploitation.
- Lack of Equipment: The police and military have poor equipment for the most basic security work. They lack basic communication devices, hardware like guns, bullets, protective kits, They lack transportation and logistics. They lack database and IT systems for tracking and record keeping.
- Corruption, Poor training, and Remuneration: Our police are some of the worst paid and trained on the African continent– leaving them prone to, and occasional active participants in corrupt practices. A police officer who cannot feed himself or his/her family cannot be expected to establish order and security hampered by the lack of equipment, coordination, and poor training. Corruption: Massive corruption at the top of the security forces has permeated the entire system from the top officials to the patrol officers on the streets. This is caused by poor conditions of service and employee treatment: where salaries are poor and not paid on time, devoid of benefits – inadequate or lack of life insurance, poor housing, planning, etc. Deployment of security forces has become more synonymous with extortion in the areas they are deployed than improvement in security.
- Neglect of industrial, agricultural, and other sectors of the economy and over dependence on oil sector.
- Lack of electricity generative capacity which has forced several local and international companies to close or flee our
- Food Insecurity Food insecurity requires special attention as this is one of the most serious developments in Nigeria in recent years. At this juncture in the address, it is important to cast our minds back in history. There are several corollaries between what is happening in Nigeria today and the events leading up to the French Revolution:
Food insecurity was a major factor in the French Revolution (1789–1799):
- Crop failures: A series of poor harvests in the 1770s and late 1780s led to food shortages and famine. The lower class, who produced most of the country’s food, relied on grain as a primary food
- High food prices: The lower grain yields caused prices to
- Substandard food quality: The bread that was available was often poor quality, blackish, earthy, and
- Food distribution: There was a discrepancy in food distribution within and around
- Marie Antoinette’s comment: The queen’s comment, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” (“Let them eat cake”), when told that her subjects had no bread, made her a hated symbol of the
Other factors that contributed to the French Revolution include: The Estate System, Absolutism, Enlightenment ideas, and The American Revolution.
In the seminal book Food Security and Political Stability: A Humanitarian Perspective, Daniel Maxwell postulates that “In terms of causation, when it comes to Food insecurity in particular, these links run in both directions—food insecurity can be a cause of political instability, but political instability and conflict have also been causes of food insecurity or famine.” According to UNICEF: “ Nearly 25 million Nigerians are at risk of facing starvation and severe hunger if urgent action is not taken. This is a projected increase from the estimated 17 million people currently at risk of food insecurity. Continued conflict, climate change, inflation and rising food prices are key drivers of this alarming trend. Food access has been affected by persistent violence in the north-east states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) and armed banditry and kidnapping in states such as Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna, Benue, and Niger. According to the National Emergency Management Agency, widespread flooding in the 2024 rainy season damaged more than 676,000 hectares of farmlands, which diminished harvests and increased the risk of food insecurity for families across the country. The flooding is one of the effects of climate change and variability impacting Nigeria. More extreme weather patterns affecting food security are anticipated in the future.
Aggravating this desperate situation are the unscrupulous members of Nigeria’s Political elites who, rather than fix the aforementioned problems highlighted here, have exploited the hunger, poverty, and illiteracy of the masses to mobilize voters with food items such as rice, beans, garri, yams, salt and seasonings, and money. The food items are usually packaged strategically with the image of political candidates and the parties they represent.
The political calculation here is that destitute people are more likely to vote for a politician who brings along gifts – ironically, bought by looted treasury funds belonging to the very same people that are condescended upon – than one who only provides concrete solutions to their everyday problems that might take time. The practice of using food to mobilize voters is commonly described in Nigeria as “Stomach infrastructure” politics. Nigerians must put an end to this practice.
Is Nigeria a failed State?
Let us return to Professor Robert I. Rotberg, the founding director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Program on Intrastate Conflict and president emeritus of the World Peace Foundation, and John Campbell, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria.
According to these intellectuals and Africanists: “There are four kinds of nations: the strong, the weak, the failed, and the collapsed. Of the 193 members of the United Nations, 60 or 70 are strong. There are three places that should be considered collapsed: Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen.
Eighty or 90 U.N. members are weak. Weakness consists of providing many, but not all, of essential public goods, the most important of which are security and safety. If citizens are not secure from harm within national borders, governments cannot deliver good governance (the essential services that citizens expect) to their constituents.
A dozen or so states are failed, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, and Myanmar. Each lacks security, is unsafe, has weak rules of law, is corrupt, limits political participation and voice, discriminates within its borders against various classes and kinds of citizens, and provides educational and medical services sparingly.
Most of all, failed states are violent. All failed states harbor some form of violent internal strife, such as civil war or insurgency. Nigeria now confronts six or more internal insurrections and the inability of the Nigerian state to provide peace and stability to its people has tipped a hitherto very weak state into failure.”
What is to be done to pull Nigeria back from the precipice?
Following in the footsteps of Japan, Singapore along with South Korea in Asia have made the remarkable transition from poor, underdeveloped countries into the coveted ranks of the advanced nations of the first world – in our lifetime. How was this possible?
The Heritage board reminds us that “the 1960s and 1970s was a period when Singapore was beset with many uncertainties as it sought an identity of its own. The country was facing massive unemployment and a declining entrepot trade at the time of independence, while grappling with a rapidly growing population.”
Into this murky milieu stepped Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew. Often referred to by his initials LKY, Yew was a Singaporean statesman and lawyer who served as the first prime minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. It was during his tenure that the phenomenal transformation of Singapore took place. Now, I must state categorically that I am not calling for 30 year tenures for our politicians (before someone accuses me of doing so), but merely a focus on the quality of political leadership.
Engineer Zeeshan Jawaid, a marketing expert from Pakistan – a country with its own panoply of challenges – suggests that The Yew doctrine (remembered by the acronym MPH) has 3 simples components:
Meritocracy: “The first element of the MPH formula is meritocracy. This means that individuals are promoted based on their abilities and achievements, rather than their social background or connections. In Singapore, this is reflected in the country’s education system, which is based on meritocracy and places a strong emphasis on academic performance.
Students are encouraged to excel and are given opportunities to highlight their abilities through various competitions and programs. This focus on meritocracy has helped Singapore to develop a highly skilled and talented workforce, which has been critical in the country’s economic success.”
Pragmatism: “The second element of the MPH formula is pragmatism. This means that policies and decisions are made based on practical considerations, rather than religious, class, ethnic, tribal, creed, ideology, or political beliefs. In Singapore, this is reflected in the government’s approach to economic development. The government has been pragmatic in its policies, focusing on attracting foreign investment, building a skilled workforce, and developing key industries such as finance, logistics, and manufacturing. This pragmatic approach has enabled Singapore to develop a strong and diversified economy that is able to weather economic challenges.”
Honesty: “The third and final element of the MPH formula is honesty, which means zero tolerance for corruption. In Singapore, the government has taken a strong stance against corruption, with strict laws and severe punishments for corrupt practices. This has helped to create a culture of honesty and integrity in the country, which has been critical in building trust and confidence among investors and businesses.
The MPH formula has been a key driver of Singapore’s success, but it is not the only factor. The country’s leadership has also played a crucial role in its development journey. Under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew and his successors, the government has been proactive in identifying challenges and opportunities and has implemented policies that have helped to propel Singapore forward. The government has also been responsive to the changing needs of its people and has invested heavily in areas such as healthcare, education, and social welfare.”
Nigeria Situation
As we can see and understand, Nigeria’s situation is bad. The more the immorality and corruption of a nation, the more the nation sinks into chaos, insecurity, conflict, discord, division, disunity, depression, youth restiveness, confusion, violence, and underdevelopment. That’s the situation mostly in Nigeria in the reign of Baba-go-slow and Emilokan. The failing state status of Nigeria is confirmed and glaringly indicated and manifested for every honest person to see through the consequences of the level of our pervasive corruption, mediocrity, immorality, misconduct, mismanagement, perversion, injustice, incompetence and all other forms of iniquity. But yes, there is hope.
Conclusion:
I conclude this address by once again quoting our Professor Chinua Achebe, this time from his New York Times Opinion piece on Nigeria, January 15, 2011. For the young people gathered here today, please note that this late, African bard, Icon, and crusader for social justice, kept engaging with the “troubles with Nigeria, nay Africa” till the very end of his life. He never gave in until he gave up. He fought to the end. We expect you to embrace him as your role model, and emerge as the next generation to tackle Africa’s myriad problems in the same manner and with the same zeal, dedication and commitment:
“In the end [Achebe states], I foresee that the Nigerian solution will come in stages. First we have to nurture and strengthen our democratic institutions – and strive for the freest and fairest elections possible. That will place the true candidates of the people in office. Within the fabric of a democracy, a free press can thrive and a strong justice system can flourish. The checks and balances we have spoken about and the laws needed to curb corruption will then naturally find a footing. And there has to be the development of a new patriotic consciousness, not one simply based on the well-worn notions of the “Unity of Nigeria” or “Faith in Nigeria” often touted by our corrupt leaders; but one based on an awareness of the responsibility of leaders to the led, and disseminated by civil society, schools, and intellectuals. It is from this kind of environment that a leader, humbled by the trust placed upon him by the people, will emerge, willing to use the power given to him or her for the good of the people.”
There lies my hope and there is my optimism for Nigeria and for Africa.
Thank you!
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