Friday, December 17, 2010

Can We Mark David Mark's Word?

Senate President David Bonaventure Mark pledged that the national assembly will lead by firm (and may we hope, very honest) example in slashing federal government overhead costs with effect from the 2011 budget. He spoke during President Goodluck Jonathan's presentation of the budget proposals to the joint Senate/House sitting on Wednesday.

Good. Well said.

Is this a promise to be kept or is he venturing (no pun intended) into delicate vaults of contention, considering how touchy his colleagues can be in these matters?

Okay, give them the benefit of doubts, dear Nigerians, and await their very patriotic ACTION. Please.

Now ye distinguished and honourable legislators, lend me your ears: Make the cuts deep enough to mean what you pledged - may we suggest a meaningful figure of 50%? Please.

Once done, you can then pummel the executive branch - with our full, total and overawing support.

While you be at it, kindly settle the small unfinished business of passing the FoI Bill into law. Thank you.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Nigerian Parliament Vs Nigerian People

It still baffles how politicians "miss it". They don’t "get it", do they? And this is a worldwide mystery. Recall the British parliamentarians? And other parliaments? Recall the US Congress? And other bi-camerals? These folks are constantly being punished by voters yet the new set (plus their retained co-conspirators) proceed to pummel the populace with arrogant intolerance! They leave why they are elected and leap into cloud cuckooland, on a fishing expedition! Nigerian lawmakers are a rare species: having connived with the military to ruin their nation, they find it discomfiting to serve her nationals. They see themselves as lords and masters, feeding fat on the public purse and concocting fairytales like the discredited military vampires we finally dislodged. Nigerians are so miffed that visiting and reading online comments/chatters on these folks will deeply depress you. The list of their “sins” is long, very long.

Our look today is the small matter of these "representatives" wanting to impose themselves on their political parties - by attempting to pass a law to make them automatic members of their respective national executive committees! Okay, maybe it’s not too bad to aspire; but with the instant and constant rejection and opposition to the move by all Nigerians, you would expect the bill to freeze and disappear. Oh no, not this national assembly (as our parliament is uniquely named!) that serves self and scorns nation! The more the opposition, the emboldened and disdainful they became. And the utterances! The arrogance! Irking.

Not for the first - and, we predict, not for the  last - time, they have been roundly humbled to drop the controversial bill. Wisely, the senate acted first after the governors threatened court action openly, and electoral castration privately. It buckled. We are not impressed. The time and resources wasted on this misadventure should have been invested in better and more urgent bills - the freedom of information bill, voting rights for Nigerians in the Diaspora, a social security/welfare/safety net bill, electoral offences tribunal, special anti-corruption courts, removal of immunity from criminal prosecution of all political office holders as long-proposed by late President Yar’Adua, to mention a few.

The good news: Nigeria is showing African brethren how to respect the people - We, The PEOPLE! May our brethren continent-wide start to do same, and may their politicians (especially their parliaments) start to listen.

In sum, kudos to Nigerians and half-nod to the Nigerian Parliament!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Performing GOVERNORS

In this comedy of errors called governance here, how can a performing public official not shine, and not be noticed? Yes, they do. One low-hanging-fruit area is in road infrastructure, followed by healthcare, then schools, and finally housing. Serious governors show their mark within 12 MONTHS!

So, let's think aloud. And we stay with first-term governors, ranging from 2-3 years in office. Unlike in the not-too-distant past, we are witnessing some real performers, with concrete projects. We are also seeing some real cost-cutters! These are governors who are doing "more with less". The president has publicly praised the 7-year governor of Gombe State, Danjuma Goje, for both the quantity, quality and cost of developmental projects, especially critical infrastructure. We can't say same of some of the other out-going governors across the nation.

With constant and - this time! - credible media coverage, governors are showing off their performance to the world. If your governor has not bought media space to do same, worry. If he does so with doctored footage, double worry. If he proceeds to bore us with more words (of cronies and hirelings) than actual projects, triple worry!

Real performers will show you clips of the past and video coverage of the present. They will bring you the voices of the real people who will vouch for the concrete change that has happened. Take two states the president has visited, for example - Rivers and Akwa Ibom. They stunned us all, didn't they? Take Anambra State, for instance, where the February Election gave us the chance to evaluate: Governor Peter Obi of APGA wowed us all, didn't he? And Anambrarians stayed solidly with him. We've also seen some heart-warming videos from Adamawa, Benue, Enugu, Jigawa, Plateau and Zamfara States recently - though their political opponents are disputing and casting doubts. Let evidence emerge, and EFCC assert!

Now, in two very clear cases, morning is showing the day. While some prominent politicians are scrambling for rehabilitation cum accommodation by defecting or redefecting to the PDP, local leaders and elected officials are trooping to the opposition parties (AC in Edo; Labour in Ondo), because of their visibly performing governors! Of course, the same feat is happening in Anambra. What does this portend for 2011? Simple: Power is with the PEOPLE! Perform, and you have them! The "Adams they can't damn" Oshiomhole, and Olusegun "the Iroko they can't fell" Mimiko, are performing wonders; and the PEOPLE love that!!

As for Lagos, please, wait. Just wait.

Constitution Review: Save AYE's, Re-present NAY's

The whole nation was involved but voted through their official reps. The returns are not necessarily what the people said or want. This was why many analysts had canvassed for a sovereign national conference, at best, or a referendum, at worst. It is for example not likely that Nigerians will approve immoral carpet-crossing or deny their state parliaments the autonomy that is inherent in a democracy. Nigerians want independent candidacy; where did those state assemblies which voted against it get their mandate from? So, dear compatriots, this be unfinished business.

As we see from other climes, the unpassed amendments are not necessarily dead. Since it is a state by state process, let's save all the AYEs and counting. We proceed to challenge or lobby the nay-sayers and win them over. This is what has been done in the EU's constitutional processes. In our case, we are on solid grounds: once a majority of 60% passes any amendment, it qualifies for the "bank", while we work hard to bring others on board. Any amendment earning below 60% dies. There is no time limit - only vote-accretion. However, after THREE attempts a nay-saying state stays NAY for that cycle.

Our grounds for this position are solid: All constitutional review reports have some common denominators. The standard-bearer is the Uwais Committee Report. If the legislators for selfish or partisan reasons vote down an amendment, they must not be allowed to get away with it. The voters must have the last say. We should get them to change their NAY or we recall them instantly or vote them out of office eventually. This is a task for pro-democracy groups and civil society leaders in all states of the federation.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Roads and Refunds

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has brought some sanity to the vexed issue of Roads & Refunds, whereby states may work on federal projects and be reimbursed according to agreed templates. Before now, even by the president's admission, the matter was politicized. Some states got refunds, some rebuffs.

Though we shall not be detained here by the unwholesome politics of our queer federalism, it is salutary to see a president come to its rescue in this regard. If the question of roads is a national malady, devolution to states and the private sector is the most promising interim remedy, while the final solution is the practice of TRUE federalism.

If Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State had left it up to the federal bureaucrats, would we have the 10-lane wonder of the Lagos-Badagry Multi-modal Expressway being built right now? In fact, the vote-worry PDP tried every trick in their bag to frustrate, if not terminate, the world class project! My family lived on that road when Mobolaji Johnson was building it in the early 1970's. Though it has since become a crucial part of the Trans-African Highway, it has suffered the most despicable neglect from the federals - in league with its ilk across the land: Lagos-Ibadan, Lagos-Benin, Onitsha Bridge
and Lokoja-Abuja, to name a few. But for Yar'Adua's personable presidential propriety, the storm troopers were threatening hellfire, invoking federal powers and flaunting central controls - a throwback to the same debilitating desperation which killed the futuristic "metro train" project of the Jakande Administration.

Looking back now, we must wonder how the dramatis personae in both sagas feel today. See the avoidable costs and chaos they caused Lagos and Nigeria! In the recent past, the cabal saw Lagos and Kano States as prized targets for PDP's political "conquest & capture" come 2011. They forgot history: Lagos, Kano and The Old Bendel (now Edo/Delta) live and prosper as progressives. So is most of the Northeast, and all of the Southwest. Clearly, to eye any state for fair electoral victory is a
legitimate political aspiration. But to sabotage Nigeria's main commercial and population centres thus undermining national security, is political hara-kiri. It was why Governors Tinubu and Shekarau made mincemeat of OBJ and PDP despite his imperial presidency!

But be not carried away. If you thought the roads & bridges matter is mainly an inter-party saga, you are dead wrong! Few examples will do: Abuja-Lokoja, Abuja-Kaduna, and Abuja-Keffi-Lafia-Makurdi to the East, Abuja-Jos, and all PDP-controlled! The rot is simply "inter-tier" of governance (federal vs states), period. We must rework our pathetic practice of federalism by reducing BOTH the load and resources at the centre. Let's evolve a credible scheme that breeds patriotism, nationalism, real accountability and unblemished integrity. The federal "centre" is overloaded, over-resourced and over-rated! Politically, it is too attractive for all the wrong reasons, and it is failing us all - expectedly.

Set up a powerful, efficient and effective "Roads & Bridges" Commission, just like NCC, NBC, NAFDAC, and let states, communities and the private sector build for their people and the nation. Do same with education, health, agriculture, water and housing. If we need a mega or special project as national intervention, it should be handled by the National Economic Council cum National Council of State cum National Assembly with the usual concurrence of State Assemblies, and funded
from the Federation Account.

FERMA, the present roads' maintenance agency, should be split and inaugurated into SIX Zonal Construction Companies. We should get them six world class technical partners from different countries with up to 30% equity. We should equip them and staff them with redeployments from the works and housing MDAs so they can compete for business in their zones (in the first 5 years), nationwide (5-10 years) and Africa-wide (after 10 years). They will be owned by a Zonal Trust as joint ventures
FG/States/Workers/Tech Partners, and will be full service construction firms. In the fullness of time, just like the NNPC and NRC, they will be privatized.

This architecture will enable us leave urban works to first-rate contractors while deploying/dedicating the various State Direct Labour Agencies (DLAs) to rural infrastructure/housing.

Thank goodness, President Jonathan has shown the way. Now, he must show the will: The next stage of the constitution amendment must redress this aberration. Who is afraid of true federalism?

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Where Are The Women?

As the political tempo picks up, we are seeing less women shaking our elections forest! Never mind Patience Jonathan's change movement, and the tough-talking gender campaigners! Real work is yet to set.

Let's not discount what Nigerian Women can do, but let each aspirant beware: you must personally measure up, and rise up to the challenge. Nothing replaces quality and hardwork. We must worry about the declining political fortunes of our women these days - just when real variety is such an urgent imperative for national development.

Is this fair? No. Can we make amends? Absolutely, yes. How? Credible candidates!

May the recruitment and headhunt begin. But first, honest self-assessment. Then, the Beijing '95 spirit must come alive, again.

Monday, October 11, 2010

These Politicians!

2011. We are in for the naija drama. It won't be my country if we were not! Make no mistake about it: the green, the grab and the grey will strot and scream. Then, they will fizzle out - most of them. But before then, there will be one heck and hell of a time. Cage your kids.

Who comes please come. In your own interest, health and all, caveat emptor! Take not the crowd to heart - we may discount them without pain. In your further interest, mind your purse or damn your pulse - most of these acting-gladiators are playing the pseudo game. If you tarry, and pray tarry, you will laugh last, laugh loud!

It is why you must not take sides - for now.

Let the party primaries be your filter. Then INEC's final lists (for more will still drop-out) shall point you home. Anything else na show - just naija drama, fa!

Saturday, October 02, 2010

I'm All Apologies!

Anyone who knows Nigeria and Nigerians knows that we are very passionate about our dear nation, and go the extra mile to mull over her. We will not be put down or held down. Ask the colonialists, ask the military, ask the Third Termists! Read up on the Nigeria vs Niger Delta conundrum. Ask the so-called "cabal" that held our late President Yar'Adua and his regime by the jugular! Just to add a more current scent, ask our soccer (mis)representatives - the Super Eagles (?) – to the just-concluded FIFA World Cup in South Africa: For earning us such a poor grade, and not rising to the challenge of making Africa proud in the first-ever mundial on African soil, they are being roasted! This, despite our criminal and incriminating absence of focus, bad and improper coordination, the palpable fraud in sports administration - not unlike everywhere else - late and inadequate preparation, and an ageing squad!!

Followers of this site may recall my passion and commitment when all was well. So, for me to be off - sort of AWOL - all these months is the most painful and depressing blow my country has dealt me thus far. Recall, dear friends, that we've had hitches and glitches before: Internet Access wahala. And the usual apologies followed. However, this time, it became very clear that there was a plot to "under-DIGITALize" the nation! The official national carrier, NITEL, had been "cornered" along with SAT-3, the submarine cable. As my preferred ISP and Nigeria's Internet backbone, we have been virtually crippled in the last 20+ months! I got very angry and decided to await the Glo-1 and Main One submarine cables being deployed by some great patriots Mike Adenuga (I told you before) and Fola Adeola (founder of GTB Bank) + Ms Opeke (a Telecoms Amazon). I will revisit this subject sometime soon.

If it cost these firms less than US$1.5bn to land their cables in West Africa, we could have wired up the Whole of Africa with US$5bn a few years back. Yet, Nigeria paid over US$15bn to exit her so-called "external debt", to the London and Paris Clubs of Creditors!! Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria & South Africa should have paid US$5bn to put their continent on a 21st Century Internet pedestal, under the proud auspices of the African Union. It would have been easier, cheaper and faster. Thank God for our conscientious compatriots and their likes around Africa, and within the African Diaspora.

Returning to my blogs, and remaining online, was my only condition for re-subscribing to any ISP. I have used most of what was on offer, and, along with other nationals, the story has been sad. So sad. Since you are reading this, it means I'm fairly confident I now have a good deal. Well, I hope!

My apologies to you all. If you had any lashes for my back for going AWOL, spare them: I've groaned under the harshest possible punishment: not being able to "speak" with you, "share" with you, in this privileged and enthralling zone of our Online Commons!!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Jubilee Knocks!

Thank God for both big and small mercies! I am writing with great gratitude myself, as with my dear country Nigeria, for resuming my blogs on the eve of our Fiftieth Independence Anniversary. Details will follow on why and how I've been off. But I apologize sincerely.

As I write, there is optimism in the air and in my own heart. If we cannot speak for the past, we can certainly ply our worthy part in the plans for the future.

Your humble blogger shall do his bit. May God's lan for country and citizen be fulfilled in Jesus' Name. Amen.

God bless NIGERIA!