Scheduled Debates

Lagos and Oyo States have led the way in public debates by gubernatorial candidates. Bravo! All other states should follow suit. Time is short.

While the electronic media hold the ace, it is worthy that the print media get creative by using their online presence to stream their own debates. This way, the products can be on-demand and remain archived on the web. While rebroadcasts are needed, the electronic media should upload their tapes for the same reasons/purposes: permanent access and record.

It is time also to take on the big one: presidential debates. The field is crowded no doubt, which is why we need to get them talking in structured settings soonest.

In this constitutional duty of the media, we need well-researched and highly pragmatic debates. We need accountability - those seeking reelection or higher office must defend their past. This is the time and place to hold them to full disclosure. What have they done with previous mandates. How can they defend the present state of affairs: e.g. how can we not treat catarrh or a torn tendon in Nigeria?!

Local media should take on the parliamentary candidates' debates as well as the numerous local government contestants, when the time comes. This must include village square and town hall debates nationwide. We are AFRICANS!

Bottom line: Let no one get to office without public scrutiny.

"Defending" da Constitution!

Nigeria's Supreme Court ruled that the federal government has no power, authority or right to withold, hoard or impound statutory revenues/allocations due and belonging to states and local governments (re - Lagos v FG case). The president proudly ignored the order, claiming he was defending the constitution!

An Abuja High Court ruled that INEC has no power or authority or right to disqualify or bar any political aspirant from the April general elections - such powers lie only with the courts. The commission proudly ignored the order, claiming it is defending the constitution!

Pray, which constitution? Hahaha.

Professor Maurice Iwu, the INEC chairman, is certainly matching his appointer and boss order for order, hubris for hubris, law-trampling for law-trampling! Except that a President Olusegun Obasanjo has an armada of sorts (forces, praise-singers, pretenders and resources) to shield him awhile. As for the professor, oh bells! Hope all members of the commission are part and parcel of that decision o! Hope? Well, the press has been speculating...

Building our democracy and the so-called learning process, constantly mouthed by our leaders, surely has its limits. Aren't we taking this proverbial handshake beyond the elbows? Haba.

The beauty is that our courts are primed and proper these days, and the nation has absolute confidence in the unflagging integrity of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Wait and see!

I'm Upbeat....on this Transition!

Perish the thought! Who says the forth-coming elections will not hold? Who thinks they can derail this long-awaited TRANSITION? Who? How? Where? What is it that surpasses the will and manifest destiny of THE PEOPLE? None. Period.

I'm upbeat. I'm positive. I'm possessed of the incurable optimism that holds true for all nations whose time has come. And come to stay. EIGHT YEARS of all that can possibly go wrong be now over. Over! Truly over.

Hey, beyond them spirit and conviction of positive goodness, just look around: What we see is magic! Institutional renewal. Independence of the "Branches of Government". Sharpening of the Media thru' Freedom of Information Bill. Pressure from the International Community. Fatigue of Blind-Followership. Vehement Renaissance at "Tiers of Government". Bold Questions. And the Hand of Retribution. Times!

So, dear doubter, relax! With the Parliament and the Supreme Court clearly on the side of due process and the rule of law, both our constitution and this fledging democracy it under-girds will come to no grief. Not anymore.

Then, the clincher: I see a sweep. I see some hand-in-glove journeys. Mutual. Joint and Glued. I see envy, mirrors and minds. I see hunger for legacy and the fear of posterity. Oh, dear seeker, I see laughter, alas! Yes.

Count the "Weeks to Freedom"! Yes, yes.

Hail Nigeria! Yes, yes....and yes.

Campaigns: Content & Style

At last, things are picking up. Yes. And, oh yes, I know the complaints: we need substance, not substandard electioneering! Manifestoes, not maligning of opponents. Canvassing, not cheap or creep condemning.

It's early days yet; so, patience. Things will soon start heating up - when they exhaust all dem crudity and expletives!

Soon, the media will goad them, guide them, grill and grind them. The wise better beware!

As for us, the people, our turn is nigh. Let's use this "power to choose" firmly and fairly. We must not fail again!! No.

Internet Power for Political Parties

Nigerian politics is of global concern. That is why donors generously support our elections, as they do our census and many other projects.

As the campaigns pick up this week, political parties must embrace the INTERNET as part of their multimedia outlets and interactive channels. This is useful both for internal communication and for external interactions.

For a start, they can promptly, cheaply, creatively and honourably engage both the Nigerian and African Diaspora, solicit interest and publicity in the global community, and cutely position our country for positive consideration by discerning investors. By being honest and courageous, they earn high marks for party and nation - the giant of Africa!

The feedback is equally prompt and invaluable, if well managed. This is one reason the present administrations nationwide should have truly embraced e-government and taken this oil-rich Nigeria out of the digital-dungeon, beyond the digital-defeat, all these EIGHT years of democratic governance!!!

Let the leap into cyber-campaign rev up with verve! Now.

Mr President, Sign the FOI Bill right away!

Finally, the National Assembly has passed the Freedom of Information, FOI, bill - after 4 years! Knowing this administration and its track record, we must still acknowledge the feat!!

Indeed, because of such huge skepticism, I advise that President Obasanjo signs the bill into law as soon as it lands his desk. There is no doubt that many are nervous about this new instrument in the hands of both the media and critical segments of civil society.

Well, as you lay ya bed may you sleep on it, ba? Let the crooked panic for aye! It is their due, it be their portion. Stay firm.

This law was long overdue. No openness, no anti-corruption! Period.

Caution To ALL

I am not pretending that things are normal in the land. I do not dismiss the basis of mistrust, distrust and disgust pervading the political terrain. Oh, I fully understand the basis for worry and apprehension in our homes and in our hearts. I do.

But I also know that no one, no matter how damned, daring or devious has ever succeeded in winning the last fight of the final battle for the soul of our country NIGERIA. Think back, dear Compatriots, and check. Nigeria go survive o...Nigeria go better!

We must plead and appeal to all gladiators, godfathers, gold-diggers, gadflies and gluttons for reason-above-treason. Love your country, lead with justice. Let it be said of us that we came, we served, we prospered - in soul, our spirit, and for nation. Materials be not all.

Despite all provocations - brazen and subtle - may we keep our nerves, our steel and Nigeria's soul. Indeed, because of such provocations, must we now resolve and so triumph!

My caution to us ALL this day is peace, perseverance and painstaking patience. It's our duty and our pronounced dignity as a nation. The future is bright and assured. Yes. Believe.

May 29 be round the corner! Be glad.

INEC on the WEB

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has an inadequate presence on the world wide web. The Internet is too powerful, to important and too helpful to be underused or ignored. Not in the 21st century. This needs to be corrected right away!

Here are some thoughts:

1) Full official info about Nigeria should be given, including geography, demography, religion, economy, foreign policy, etc
2) Present political state of the nation, including data on old and new parties
3) Full details of all the registered political parties, their candidates for various offices, pictures, manifestoes, full contacts, etc
4) Summarised details of the registration exercise and the critical voter education info for 2007 Elections
5) Gender-support Action
6) Youth mobilisation Agenda
7) Multimedia Networking, including the Nigerian Blogging Community, as is now the trend worldwide (INEC needs to accredit credible Bloggers for the elections promptly).
8) All legislations governing and guidelines shaping the elections and the electoral process
9) Full info on INEC and its offices nationwide
10) Qualitative INEC Publications and user-friendly eDocuments

It is time for time for the Chairman's Office to properly engage the Nigerian Public and get the VOTERS on the commission's side! Is there an INEC Press Office up to the task?

Get to work, folks, time is short!
Technorati Profile

Niger Delta: To Whom It May Concern!

CNN has just aired a Pulitzer-grade exclusive on the oil-rich Niger Delta region which must be as chilling as it is instructive. It is a timely and clear call to conscience.

We must ask all presidential candidates to get a tape of this report for dispassionate analysis and contemplation for compact-building. We ask same of all our South-South Governments, as well as the home offices of all the multinationals operating in that region. It is time for a global response to the crises in the oil fields and the looming dangers they unquestionably promise the world. We must all study this tape!

Let the Nigerian Media rise up to this challenge...in this election year.

And for ultimate corroboration, we ask the BBC, ITV, ABC, CCTV and CBS to get on board this very global issue as well. It will help cage the politicians on all sides, and, more importantly, help galvanise public opinion and catalyze civil society & shareholders' actions worldwide.

We must pray that DW TV will help the German Chancellor to better appreciate her urgent and decisive intervention, through both the G8 and EU instrumentality, by conducting independent exclusives like CNN's. With Germany's commendable role in bringing the peaceful UN-assist 2006 elections to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the DRC's subsisting crises over its rich natural resources, the media house has its job well cut out for it! Time is short.

Thank you, Jeff: That was some daring, I tell ya!

The EFCC "Name & Shame" List

The 137-strong list of "investigated" and "indicted" political gladiators put out by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was a bombshell of sorts. The BBC reported it as name and shame while highlighting Vice President Atiku Abubakar's presence on the infamous list.

Not surprisingly there is an uproar. There will be more. And it will be messy.

My worry is that the commission is asking the world to take its word for it! No way! Let them do the right and proper thing: put facts & figures behind the charges. That way, we can exercise our full discretion and wait for further action.

My advice is that the presidency should stay completely out of this. The EFCC doesn't need any megaphone. Let Nuhu Ribadu take his case to the COURTS. So should those who fell aggrieved.

Meanwhile, the political parties need to honour this list with due process and integrity. We in the public domain, especially through the independent media, must insist on hearing all sides of the story. Yes.

We are the voters!

Campaigns: What Content, What Substance?

Enough of people-bashing, mob-frenzy politics and politicking! Let the content be out, and real substance subsist. This be the season of ideas, the reason for change. Period.

Considering that we've had elections? in 1999 and 2003!?, it is expected that our electioneering efforts this time will be robust and will resonate with Nigerian voters. My informal survey shows that our people are fed up with this whole politics of bitterness, acrimony and scare-mongering. And this is the colour so far! Do these guys think they will be voted in without us knowing what they stand for, or merely on the sentiments of disappointment and disillusion with extant state of affairs? Do they think abusing the ruling parties is enough to get them elected???

Where are the options, where are the alternatives? Not too late, but now pretty urgent.

My take: Political parties should publish their manifestoes in local languages and in multimedia. Candidates should publish their Compacts plus Action Plans in same manner. Take the SEVEN most critical areas of concern and articulate a budget-based response, then challenge all your opponents to do same - for a proper debate.

The media should summon the courage and patriotism to call all wayward contestants to order, or promptly and comprehensively BLACKLIST them!

Enough of these tendentious jokes and roller coaster jokers.

Our Foreign Missions

As we prepare for change, and I mean sea change, come May 29, it is time to talk about our foreign representation in the new millennium. We have seen a barrage of articles, and press reports about the state of our foreign service, starting with its very unedifying headquarters in Abuja (Not very impressive, is it?). And the news is bad! Pity.

Anyone who studied or had serious business abroad will know the huge disservice that most of our missions have done to both nation and nationals over the decades. But we must move on. Many of the dramatis personae have either moved or were moved on, already. The past be now gone, let's move on.

Our foreign service needs to be totally overhauled, revamped and restructured. We need the very best in all respects, and must pay for it. Nigeria cannot and must not be second rate DIPLOMATICALLY, nor can we load the place with mere bureaucrats. It should be dynamic, multidisciplinary, multisectoral, and fully ICT-compliant. We need balance in demography and geography as well. Plus a solid LINK between the Home and Foreign services.

But most of all, we need PATRIOTS not opportunists and selfish public hands or political fronts for the ruling/thieving elite! We must make our postings to serve and honour our country. Yes.

Finally, I think it is good to have career and specialist officers as well as non-careerists. It must be possible to move readily between home and foreign services for the right calibres and cadres of personnel. The previous dichotomy was unduly restrictive. We need well rounded people in all our services, including the armed services. To further strengthen them, secondments and work placements to the private and NGO/CSO sectors will be absolutely crucial. That way, ALL our missions will better serve the legion of travellers, officials, students, workers and crusaders who need their attention around the globe. No more no less, please.

Our new parliament must see to this. It is a new and ruthlessly competitive world out there!

Pain of our Sports

Let's congratulate Congo Brazzaville for winning their very first African Youth Championship in Football against a lacklustre Nigerian team, who are the defending champions! Bravo to the Congolese Red Devils!! The Nigerian delegation should join their host-brethren in celebrations: Congo deserved the win.

If it is any consolation, the Nigerian Flying Eagles have however earned their ticket for the FIFA World Youth Championship, Canada 2007.

For my country, what we saw in Congo is a disgrace and betrayal of our 140million hope in junior soccer! We have far better young legs than the FA sent to the tournament. We certainly have better and smarter materials than the joke which the managers represent. Pity.

Nigerians don't mind losing; but doing so with our Best Eleven is a task that must be done.

This team, warts and all, must be disbanded. Berti Vogts should help put one together right away, and hand it over to a new foreign coach. After May, we must look at Nigerian SPORTS again. This country deserve more and better than the extant convulsion and debasement of our national heritage, our national pride.

MTN or Celtel or Dangote or UBA or Zenith or Zenon or NBL should proudly pick the tabs.

Or NNPC or NICON or Transcorp or...

Time for Niger Delta Manifesto

We congratulate the Action Congress and its presidential campaign for advertising outlines of their goodies for the Niger Delta Region. It looks and sounds good. The devil, as they say, is in the details!

Other parties should please do same, and these should cover both their national, state and local initiatives. Let's have a clear private sector opportunities window tied to them. Parties should be more specific, timelined and budget-based. This way, quality analysis can take place.

As in all things political, it is easy to build castles in the air by ignoring previous initiatives. This time, they should show what was and why it failed. Then tell us what will work and how.

We wait.

Let The Campaigns Begin!

Now that the ruling PDP has set the ball rolling, the floodgates should swing open for full-blown presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. As INEC chairman, Professor Maurice Iwu, recently said, we are yet to hear about issues, about ideologies, about contending and concrete proposals, about costs and funding options, about slates and winner-teams, etc., etc.

Let the debates and the ideas flow! Let Nigerians have both the fun and the final say!! Pray, let the campaigns begin!!!

OIL MONEY SAGA: A New Maths

It is time to redo the mathematics of oil & gas (O & G) revenue in Nigeria. By the way, this new deal will rub off on all mineral-bearing and producing areas in the years ahead. Health Warning: This may be a harrowing experience for die-hard cynics and faint-hearted politicians!

In the extant regimen, oil operations for the most part be a 60/40 Joint Venture in favour of the Federal Government of Nigeria. With the present practice of revenue consumption, the Federal Government(FG) has over the years failed the Niger Delta people. Things are now so bad that our country has been branded a "terrorist zone" within OPEC and the international community! Pity.

EIGHT years into full-blown democracy, the political elite has compounded the situation, and is obviously in need of new ideas. As we proceed to general elections in April, not much is on offer by the political gladiators! They are massively distracted and disparate!! Worrisome.

It is now time to proffer a "People's Solution thru' New Maths". We need to rework the sums, both at investment and consumption levels. And we should do so with courage and total conviction. I will be a prime mover and humble crusader in this seminal approach to quality and sustainable intervention in my homeland. It will be a "Win-Win Maths" package for all: states, federal, zone, activists, operators and host communities. Preparatory consultation be afoot.

The good thing about this ground-swelling change is that new sets of leaders are expected to emerge by May this year, and these folks are unlikely to bear the avoidable baggage of failed history. They would be more progressive, credible, competitive and forward-looking. Hope.

Staying the course with present policies be no option!

A Word for Obasanjo and Abubakar

Now that one of the several matters between them is before the Supreme Court of Nigeria, to wit the question of whether the president and his party can sack the vice president for defecting to another party, both sides must hold fire. Having been treated to some of the ugliest revelations in our political cum democratic history in their roforofo fight, the time for a permanent cease-fire is now. Enough is enough!

Meanwhile let the president mind the transition programme and let Atiku Abubakar pursue his electoral ambition. We must also await the outcome of other matters before the National Assembly without prejudice. Nigeria needs all the peace it can garner in this critical election year. Let the president and his vice give us the space for peace.

If I were President Olusegun Obasanjo I will honour this advice/plea. If I were Vice President Atiku Abubakar I will embrace this appeal/counsel. It is eerily in their both interest so to do.

Pray God, may they.

How Many Are We?

The preliminary results from the 2006 head-count are out, and generating heated responses nationwide. Expected.

The Population Commission says we are about 140 million (Male: 72m, Female: 68m). It also puts North at 75m, South at 64m. Though it promises to give further details at a later date (in which case why the rush?), it reports that Lagos State has 9m while Kano State has 9.3m.

Although the commission rightly calls for reasoned observations and structured objections, the federal administration has speedily approved(?) the figures, with a promise to get parliament to follow suit. This National Assembly? Just wait!

In Nigeria, let's not forget, almost everything is controversial. May the census be very different? You kid! But the haste in releasing these figures is not going to help anyone. And the objections? Oh, both Lagos and Kano are crying foul already! Alarm.

Prediction: Considering that the two important states are of the "opposition" parties, there is no question that this disputation will be titanic! Watch.

Prediction: The Niger Delta State of Bayelsa (core of the Ijaw Nation) has cried foul. Considering its place in Nigeria's oil image, we must worry! Alert.

Prediction: The Obasanjo Administration is not necessarily a darling of the Nigerian Media, and can eerily count on the proudly independent press to do it no favours. Considering how long the PDP-controlled parliament stalled on the Freedom of Information bill, and being in an election quarter right now, it seems easy to foresee "payback" time!

Prediction: Tie this to the "Identity Card" scheme and the "Voters Registration" project and the botched Third Term Agenda, and you can be sure that the debates will rage for aye. Oh yes!

Outcome? I rest my case.

Where Are The Women?

As things are playing out so far, Nigerian women are not making gains in the political terrain. They have not made the cuts despite some party and institutional incentives. And, alarmingly, it seems they are losing some of the previous gains in both elective and appointive positions! Sad.

The recent party primaries have been disastrous for the gender crusade, and I wonder where this leads after the elections. Very painfully, the leading lights of the Golden Era of the Gender Agenda are aging, retiring, tired or retreating! Their otherwise vibrant successors seem to be berthing in political parties (especially the ruling PDP) for personal political careers or material rehabilitation!! Some simply used the crusade as launch-pads for self and family!!! Sad.

Most of the so-called women NGOs have withered and fizzled out, or have strayed into faddish realms like HIV/AIDS and The Environment in pursuit of cheap donor funding! Others have no clue on how to work in a democracy, or are too lazy to pursue our arrogant local bureaucracies. Many many atrophied from donor-fatigue or bad press. Pity.

Of course there is the charge (not without justification) that most of the women who have been the beneficiaries of Affirmative Action rarely truly represent their constituencies! A lot of noise is made in the urban areas, in the elitist media, and within the same circles, to the detriment of the masses - especially the rural women. Most so-called women leaders have no viable or visible followership - they command no gender force, and can deliver no electoral assets or votes! Pity.

Because I am involved (as a gender crusader and consultant), it hurts to see all our past efforts (especially Post-Beijing) go down this way. I was speaking recently with some of the Elders of the Crusade who shared their pains on the subject: it hurts all round. Oh, it hurts.

Way Out? Yes. After the 2007 General Elections!

Any Hints? Yes. Projectisation of the Gender Agenda. Enough of Charlatanism & Tokenism!

2007: Our Date with CHANGE

Change. All change! It is the year both for the United Nations and Nigeria, our dear Nigeria. Oh, how nice to be here...in 2007! So sweetly nice. Thank God.

As the UN must do, Nigeria must consolidate on the past and move with courage and candour into the future. Old values of honour, dignity, truth, integrity, work-ethics and spirituality must endure. New ways and means, including ICT, high skills, diaspora input, local content and cyber safety must be embraced. Due process, the rule of law, true patriotism, healthy competition and true leadership-in-accountability must take hold and flourish. Nigeria must change bad ways, embrace new and beneficial ways.

Then, the big change: 2007 Elections. Ah! Huge surprises. Far-reaching. Deep. It will be a sea change - sweeping, just and sweet. Never mind the temporary setbacks and tentative lull in the land so far, it is all the meek-street before the roaring-highway. Things will soon erupt, explode and excite. It will be pun and fun.

So, let the real deals be made. Soon soon...

Let the real DEBATES begin!