The Challenge before the Nigerian Academia

23^rd June, 2016

By: Amir Abdulazeez

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he year 2015 was quite eventful in the area of academic research, scientific progress and advancing knowledge globally. However, the year just like many others, silently passed without some tangibly significant innovative break-through from the Nigerian Academia. For example, it has been 30 years since a new antibiotic drug was discovered. Early last year, a team from North-eastern University in Massachusetts, U.S.A discovered Teixobactin. The team used the drug to successfully treat resistant disease-infected mice and hope to begin human trials within two years. This new drug according to them could be instrumental in treating the mutated, resistant diseases that have become immune to the old antibiotics that we have been using over the last 30 years. Its method of discovery they say, could lead to more antibiotic findings.

In that same year, it was discovered that a fourth state of matter apart from solid, liquid and gas existed. A bionic lens with the potential to revolutionize eye care, designed to give patients perfect vision and ease eye operations was also invented by one Dr. Gareth Webb. A superior stethoscope with a smart adapter was also invented; it makes it possible for physicians to download heartbeat data to a smart phone. Water was discovered in planet Mars, a potential HIV vaccine and many other scientific discoveries were made over the same period, 2015.

The cold war between the USSR and USA that followed after the end of World War II was fought through different means. The Scientists and Academia of both countries played significant roles in trying to make discoveries that will strengthen their countries and outwit its rival. It was some of these discoveries that engineered the space race and popularized the use of artificial space satellites for gathering enormous information about the earth for human utilization. When Russia launched Sputnik in October, 1957, the world’s first artificial satellite, it was almost certain that world history would never be the same afterwards.

In the absence of reliable data, we may assume that the number of Nigerian professors that are still alive to be in the region of possibly 2500 or more especially if we consider the fact that there are more than 130 universities in Nigeria. Some first generation universities like University of Ibadan and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria may be having as much as or more than a hundred professors each. Such number of professors can change the fate of the world through research, not to talk of a nation. Apart from Wole Soyinka who won the Nobel Prize in literature, no Nigerian has ever won the prize in any of the categories; Chemistry, Physics, Economics, etc. Many of the winners did so because they did things that made great impacts in their countries or in the world at large. The British-born Swede, Agnus Deaton won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on consumption, poverty and welfare which helped governments to improve policy through tools such as household surveys and tax changes.

Although many Nigerian Academicians and scientist have remarkably left their marks across various fields of knowledge, we are yet to effectively build on their foundation. Moreover, we are yet to transform many of our past and present academic achievements into tangible and impactful actions for development. The academia itself appears to be generally stagnant. Chinua Achebe (Literature), Akin Mabogunje (Geography), Iya Abubakar (Mathematics), Egrinya Eneji (Agronomy), John Ogbu (Anthropology), Seyi Oyesola (Medicine) and Bisi Ezerioha (Engineering) are some of the few Nigerians that left their marks.

Some few Nigerian researchers and academics that made some significant breakthrough in impactful researches and inventions mostly did so outside Nigeria and those researches are owned by those countries that sponsored them, many of them are no longer even Nigerians, they’ve changed nationalities. Bisi Ezerioha for instance built some of the most powerful engines for Honda and Porsche. Another typical example is the Onitsha born but American made Philip Emeagwali. He was voted the greatest African scientist and the 35^th greatest African of all time in a survey by New African Magazine in 2004. Former US president Bill Clinton described him as an example of what Nigerians could achieve when given the opportunity.

Individually, some very few Nigerian academics have achieved success and made appreciable progress, but collectively, the Nigerian academia generally lacks innovation, motivation and impact. Several internal and external factors are responsible for this. These factors include but are not limited to poor funding, corruption, lack of patriotism, poor self-belief and confidence, over dependence on foreign products, lack of vision, absence of self-challenge, invisibility and poor promotion, misplaced priorities and poor sense of responsibility. The issue is that many of the impactful researches conducted elsewhere are not beyond the intellectual capacity of our academics. The problem is that, we apparently don’t see the academia as a major sector for driving national development and innovation.

Seyi Oyesola, a University of Lagos trained doctor helped co-invented the ‘Hospital in the box’ in faraway United States. The Kaduna-born Jelani Aliyu helps design cars for General Motors. The Delta State born Oviemo Ovadje is credited with the invention of the Emergency Auto Blood Transfusion System (EAT-SET). Enugu born Sebastine Chinonye researched on wind-propelled turbines to generate electricity. Federal University of Technology Minna graduate Shehu Saleh Balami designed a solid fuel rocket in 2008. We have several examples of these Nigerians whose work were either done abroad or were done here but not adequately promoted, conceptualized, developed and put into effective use.

Some few months ago, I was walking through the corridors of the postgraduate school of one of Nigeria’s second generation universities when I noticed a very dusty and dirty room through one of its windows. When I asked, I was told that it is the room where postgraduate researches of Masters Degrees and PhDs are being kept. From the way the room looks, one has the impression that the only time when the room is opened is when the postgraduate school wants to ‘dump’ more research projects inside. Nobody knows when those researches would be ever consumed and by whom. One can’t even certify the quality and effectiveness of those researches. The best bet is that most of those researches are just the normal average researches conducted for the purpose of obtaining the degrees and not necessarily to add anything to knowledge.

Nigerian universities themselves are fast turning into commercial centers of aggressive and exploitative revenue generation instead of centers of research and innovation. This is due mostly to poor funding from government coupled with the universities’ inability to devise professional and non-exploitative means of self-funding. I heard of a university that charges N 11,000 for a simple academic transcript whereas a friend who studied in lowly-rated Uganda narrated how you are just a click away from freely obtaining your academic transcript on the university’s website.  

Right from independence to date, Nigerians have exclusively looked up to her leaders to solve the nation’s problems. While they can’t be blamed for such, it would have been better if we expect more from other stakeholders like the academia, especially that the leaders at all levels have largely proven to be unequal to the task of nation-building improving lives of the citizens. We must demand more from not only the academia but from all other major stakeholders. Government is not only the vehicle to progress; after all many academics failed to perform up to expectations when they were in government.

I was humbly opportune to be a member of an intellectual online forum with a multi-national membership. A topic of discussion about the central role played by academicians in moving the world forward in general and their individual countries in particular. A participant discussed at length how research findings from academicians effectively revolutionized the agricultural and energy sectors in Israel. Another narrated how the education sector partly contributed to the rapid growth and development of Singapore. Others discussed how their number of Nobel Prize winners across different fields helped boosted their countries’ reputation and increased global connection. I was left wondering whether there was one sector in Nigeria, be it Agriculture, power, industrial, technological, Medical or any other that has been effectively changed or improved through research from the Nigerian Academia? It is either the quality researches are not there or the attempts made are inadequate, unworthy, not promoted and not utilized.   

Despite the huge setbacks in the Nigerian education system which is primarily caused by poor funding and negligence, the Nigerian academicians still need to do more. They must defy all odds and take it upon themselves to use their various fields to collectively rescue the nation and set it on the path of prosperity. Whatever their excuses, they can’t absolve themselves from blame regarding the general Nigerian predicament. This is much more crucial and critical; particularly that it has become clear that we need more than good leadership to succeed.

Between ‘True Federalism’ and ‘True Leadership’

1^st June, 2016

By: AmirAbdulazeez

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hree things are apparently no longer in doubt as far as the Nigerian project is concerned. One, as much as 75% or more of the 36 oil-money dependent states, cannot independently sustain themselves economically to a significant level, now and perhaps forever. Two, Nigerians may never be able to sincerely and patriotically shelve their ethnic, religious, political and selfish differences to pursue collective national prosperity. With the more divisive orientation we are giving to the upcoming generation of Nigerians, we can even be certain about this. Three, leadership failure has done so much damage to Nigeria and her citizens that no one can precisely predict how long it will take for citizens’ hope, trust and confidence on leadership at ‘all’ levels to be fully restored.

The solutions to some or all of the above problems have been argued by some people to lie with what they call ‘true federalism’. Others bluntly call it ‘resource control’. Although, we are operating under a federal system already, proponents of true federalism wants the system to be reviewed so as to give less power to the center and more autonomy to the states. With this, they say, states can have more control (some say full control) over their natural resources and economy and thereafter remit ‘some’ of their earnings to the Federal Government. While advocates of this kind of restructuring think it is the best way to achieve national development, obvious reality points that many landlocked states or regions in Nigeria outside the oil-rich areas would simply collapse economically under such an arrangement.

Few days ago, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) warned via a communique after a one-day stakeholders’ conference that violent agitations won’t end in Nigeria unless we begin to practice true federalism. The group, according to media reports noted that while the 2009 Presidential Amnesty Programme brought temporary peace to the Niger Delta region, the crucial issues that forms the basis for the agitation i.e. resource control and true federalism are still left unaddressed. The IYC insisted that ‘the only solution to intermittent crisis in the Niger Delta region, which has led to recent resurgence in attacks on oil installations by militant groups, is for the Buhari-led government to address the resource control and ownership question’. 

While true federalism may have some benefits-the major of which are making every section of the country to sit up and become productive and self-dependent for effective national development as well as allowing everyone to develop or under develop at his own pace; in our own case, it may have little or nothing to do with solving Nigeria’s problems, especially the aforementioned. The simple truth is that, there is no reform or structural adjustment that will thrive without true leadership. The problems of the Niger-Delta region and all other regions in Nigeria are typical examples of leadership failure and poor resource management. If you are to have all the resources and autonomy in this world, you will still remain in problems if you lack good leadership that gives priority to prudent and optimal resource management. If we like, let us discover oil or gold in every state in Nigeria, we may never witness development until the day we collectively unite to bring to an end the menace of bad leadership and squandering of resources by few among us at all levels-from federal to local governments.

Out of the 17 years of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria, the South ruled for 13 years while the North had ruled for the remaining four. Many northerners decried marginalization and often cite this as the major reason why the region is much backwards as compared to the south. The somewhat shallow argument is that Obasanjo and Jonathan had agendas of destroying the North. However, the truth is that the North’s failure is largely due to lack of a clear and implementable development plan, poor resource management and corruption by many state governors, local government chairmen, political and traditional leaders as well as others in the position of authority.

This is the same problem that the Niger-Delta region is facing. The region has the highest federal allocation apart from the 13% derivation allocation. The monthly federal allocation of Akwa-Ibom State is more than half the allocations of all the six states in North-Eastern Nigeria. In addition, there is an annual allocation for the Niger Delta Federal Ministry, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as well as a Special Presidential Amnesty Programme. Apart from all these, a son of the core Niger-Delta ruled for more than 5 years. All of these did not significantly change the fate of the region. What guarantee do we have then that resource control would change its fortunes, especially with the same set of leaders still in place? Is it not then therefore a question of good leadership that pays attention to good resource management which has been badly lacking in the region as well as the other parts of Nigeria?

The majority of the calls for resource control are not apparently in any way done with a patriotic motive. It is more of a secessionist tactics which some are not bold enough to clamour openly and directly for. One problem with Nigeria is that every region is clamouring for the downfall of the other regions to its maximum advantage as if we have been divinely foretold that all the regions cannot develop all together unless at the expense of each other. Every region wants to have everything for itself. It is obviously certain that the call for resource control is not only a Niger-Delta affair, if other regions possessed some resource which is as valuable or more than oil, they will equally call for resource control so that they can have it all for themselves. If it was to be declared that cocoa is the most valuable resource in the world, the South West may call for resource control, if it is tomato or groundnut, the North West will call for resource control. That’s the kind of one Nigeria we are pretending to have.

The fact that God in His infinite wisdom decided to locate Nigeria’s oil resource in the Niger Delta or its most valuable coastal areas in the South West doesn’t mean other regions didn’t proportionally contribute to the artificial extraction and development of these resources. It equally doesn’t mean that God wants only people of such areas to benefit. What we have to do is to ensure we do adequate justice to the Niger-Delta environments that are producing the nation’s economic lifeline and the only way we can do this is through purposeful leadership at all levels. Nigeria’s wealth is more than enough for all of us, as long as it would be properly managed.

There are several reasons why the so-called resource control or true federalism is neither the solution to Nigeria’s problems nor to that of the Niger Delta and other regions.

First and foremost, it has been longed acknowledged globally that abundance of natural resources in general and oil in particular is not a guarantee to prosperity; only a consistently good and purposeful leadership is. Nigeria and most developing countries are experiencing what is called ‘resource curse’. The resource curse refers to a situation whereby a country has an export-driven natural resources sector that generates large revenues for government but leads paradoxically to economic stagnation and political instability. According to the African Development Report (2007), it has often been asserted that petroleum, in particular, brings trouble; waste, corruption, consumption, debt over- hang, deterioration, falling apart of public services, wars, and other forms of conflicts, among others. Thus, natural resource- abundant countries tend to grow slower than expected considering their resource wealth and, in many cases, actually grow slower than resource-scarce countries. The fundamental issue here is how governments administer resource wealth and how they use natural resource revenues. Today, only few resource-rich countries like the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar are using revenues from their oil to construct mega-cities out of desert land, thereby also generating considerable economic activities and additional incomes.

Secondly, if the true federalism agenda is to be implemented the way some of its advocates would want, it literally means that the rest of the non-oil regions whose states even as at now cannot pay salaries would collapse economically. The Federal Government as well as the other regions may have to beg the oil-producing areas for resources to survive. If this is the case, why don’t such advocates just call for secession so that they can have all their resources and forget any obligation of remitting anything to Nigeria? If this happens, then everyone else would out of utmost necessity look for how to survive.

Thirdly, the operators of a system significantly determine the success of the system more than the nature of the system itself. The people that are likely to occupy leadership positions in the Niger Delta post resource control era are the same people who led the region from 1999 to date. They are the same people who squandered the allocated resources of the region without corresponding development. It is needless to cite the Ibori, Alamieghsieha and many other undiscovered scandals as typical examples. Unless we device a means of holding Nigerian leaders at all levels truly accountable, no amount of resource control will improve the fortune of the masses, not even in the Niger Delta.

Fourthly, the future of the world is that which oil does not feature significantly. It is also becoming obvious that developed countries are busy with finding ways to reduce the consumption of many natural resources which they depend mostly on developing countries to get. If someone is planning a future in which he wants to keep exploring and producing oil, we can only say that he is out of touch with the global reality.

The dilemma we are facing is that maintaining the status quo of ‘loose federalism’ isn’t a solution, neither would the so-called true federalism. What we need is true leadership. Every region is claiming marginalization especially when one of its own is not in power. It is advisable that the Buhari government should revisit the report of the 2014 National Conference and see how it can implement some of the recommendations with regards to not only the resource control advocates’ interests but the interests of the whole country at large.

The Price of ‘Parochial’ States

30^th April, 2016

By: AmirAbdulazeez

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t has gradually but finally emerged that more than 20 states in Nigeria are still unable to pay workers’ salaries despite a Federal Government bail-out given to 27 of them through the Central Bank of Nigeria between July to September last year. Before the bail-out, the states owed workers from between 2 to 9 months salaries. Several months later, many of these states still owe workers. It is still not very clear whether this problem still persists because some of the states allegedly misapplied or even diverted the bail-out funds or the bail-out funds were not just enough to solve the problem. Whatever the case, one thing that is crystal clear is that majority of the states in Nigeria are not economically fit to exist as states and no short-term solution can change this.

With probably the exception of the first eleven states created by former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, all later states created were largely and systematically done based on parochial considerations. Agitations for states creation by different communities have been to a large extent based on political, ethnic and religious considerations. Many misinformed Nigerians may think of peace, unity and progress as a scenario where everyone is of the same religion or tribe or at least something similar or close to that situation. This explains the agitation for disintegration in many quarters and the idea of confining one ethnic group to a particular boundary. The belief is that once we have entities of Igbos only, Yorubas only, Ijaws only, Muslims only or Christians only, then there would be unity and progress. Hence, we see states creation as means of settling some dispute. For instance, many are of the opinion that creating an additional state from Southern Kaduna will help solve the long-time ethno-religious crisis bedevilling the state. Advocates of a solution like this have forgotten that even within states occupied by one ethnic group, we still hear of some heated political crisis and the quest for power rotation among different senatorial districts.

Favourable crude oil prices over the most significant part of the last 15 years has largely helped in concealing not only the non-viability of the states but also the monumental corruption and political miscalculations that have prevented them from establishing a stable financial future. The unprecedented fall in oil prices which began in 2014 and got severe in 2015 was what exposed most of the states for what they are, fragile states that have been parochially created, corruptibly and incompetently managed over a significant period of their existence and those without any development plan for the future.

As it stands today, only Lagos can meet its financial responsibilities without depending on federal allocations. While this is so partly due to proper management, it is largely due to colonial and geographical advantages. Other states that can have a reasonable complementary source of revenue to federal allocations if the amount of internally generated revenue in 2014 is anything to go by are Rivers, Enugu, Ogun and Cross-Rivers states. About 16 states generate less than 10% of their total revenue from internal sources, meaning 90% or more of their funds come from federal allocations. As at 2015, only 8 out of 36 states generate at least 20% or more of its total revenue from internal sources.

Something that is puzzling is that even states with an appreciable internal revenue base are now struggling to pay salaries. For instance, Kwara State which came 6^th among the states with the highest IGR in 2014 with more than 21% of its total revenue coming from within is reported to be badly struggling to pay salaries. Some Niger-delta States that in addition to statutory allocations, internally generated revenue also enjoy 13% from the derivation formula are not left out as only Rivers and Akwa-Ibom appears to be safe.

Apart from the inability to pay salaries, many states are unable to carry out the basic functions of government.  A report by the daily trust newspaper published on Monday, April 25, 2016 revealed that states with one salary issue or the other are Kaduna, Kwara, Plateau, Benue, Borno, Yobe, Imo, Taraba, Kogi, Bauchi, Delta, Oyo, Nassarawa, Osun, Kano and Ogun. The report stated that some states that are managing to pay salaries have slashed between 30 to 50% while others have stopped paying leave grants, pensions and other workers’ entitlements. On top of all this, there is virtually no state without debts and liabilities that run into billions of nairas and millions of dollars. 

Many reasons are responsible for states in Nigeria finding themselves in this situation of unprecedented financial mess when salary has become luxury. Here are some few of them.

Firstly, one of our major problems is that most of our national actions are short sighted. We seldom do things with foresight taking into cognizance our long-term future. In the 1990’s and 1980’s, the Federal Military Governments kept on creating more and more states until we had 36. Most of these states even then were heavily financially dependent and never looked to have any stable financial future. In fact most of them were never created based on merit. In some cases, states were weakened by creating other states out of them. Today half of these states cannot pay their own workers and almost all cannot do so without Federal Government allocations. Any state that cannot generate enough IGR to meet 75% of its salary obligations is not fit to be a state and the option of merging it with another state, even if highly controversial, should be considered.  Ironically, Nigerians still ‘want’ more states. One need to check out how many states-creation proposals mostly motivated by ethnic and regional agendas did the 7^th National Assembly received.

Secondly, most of the states have been incompetently and corruptibly managed, especially during this democratic dispensation. Siphoning and embezzlement of public funds have been widely reported in many states over the last few years. Many of the funds stolen would be enough to pay workers’ salaries for many years. For example, former Delta State Governor James Ibori was reportedly convicted of stealing 250 million US Dollars, an equivalent of more than 50 billion Naira at official exchange rate. How much impact would this money make on Delta State’s present and future? Many other state governors may have gotten away with billions of public funds that could turn around the financial future of their states. In many states, governors have introduced ridiculous and selfish pension packages for themselves and ironically, the poor current financial status of the states doesn’t seem to affect its implementation; it only affects salaries of workers.

Thirdly, our states have been consuming without investing over the last 16 years. The major objective of the states was to exhaust all what accrues to them and wait for the next month, we never hear of any reserve being kept for the future. Many of the states consume their resources and expend them on political projects that yield no financial dividend for the future. We hardly hear states investing in agriculture, industrialization and tourism. Between 1999 and 2007, cross rivers state heavily invested in tourism and it appeared to have paid off as the state was ranked 5^th among those with high IGR in 2014. With about 20 small and large dams and reservoirs in Kano State, the state could have invested in irrigation agriculture and curbed unemployment, produced more food as well as generated revenue if it had not focused on political and white elephant projects in the last 15 years.

Fourthly, the absence of a national development plan has given way to the politicization of government activities at the federal and state levels. Government projects are not initiated along any short or long-term development plan but rather based on political sentiments. At the states, hardly, can you find a state with any long term development plan which is continuous and consistent; even states that have been governed by one party since 1999 experience planning inconsistencies and policy summersaults. Many state governors lack any initiative; they just come and go without adding any value to what they met. Right from 1999, if the states have made it an objective to become economically self-sufficient, many would’ve achieved significant progress by now and the issue of salaries would not be our problem. In addition, the states have gradually succeeded in killing the local government system through the joint account structure. The Local Governments if strengthened can complement the development efforts of the federal and state governments. However, with the system now deliberately killed, the states which have failed to carry out their own functions properly, have also failed woefully to bridge the gap created by the ‘dead’ Local Governments.

We agitated for states without any reliable and sustainable long term plan to run them, the military governments granted our wishes and we are now heavily paying the price. While it would be very complicated if not impossible to scrap or merge some states, we must forget about any further creation of states for whatever reason if we want ourselves out of this mess. When this oil price crisis is over, we must learn and implement the lessons we might have learnt from it.

While we must acknowledge the fact that these states came with mainly short-term benefits, the current salary crises is their consequence and indication of their unsustainability in the long run.

Why Nigeria’s Future Looks Bleaker

14^th April, 2016

By: Amir Abdulazeez

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f we are banking on the majority of present day Nigerian youths as the custodians of a better and more prosperous country tomorrow, then we need to seriously reconsider. Many (not all) of the youths and potential leaders of tomorrow that we currently have are most likely to be worse than today’s leaders. Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32^nd President of the United States once said: “We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future”. The Nigerian leaders of today have so far failed woefully to build the future for our youths and more unfortunately, are grossly failing towards building our youths for the future.

Several factors have contributed towards our youths finding themselves in this sorry and unfortunate situation. First and foremost, many people aged between 15 and 35 in Nigeria have evolved through and under a time and circumstance when Nigeria is arguably at its most corrupt and adverse era ever. This era has helped in negatively shaping not only the thinking of our youths but their action as well. Unlike many of today’s leaders who relatively evolved through an era of decency and prosperity but later decided to be corrupt on their own volition, our youths have been romancing with all that is wrong with Nigeria right from their school days.

Secondly, we are at a time when the present crop of Nigerian leaders, most notably from 1999 to date is the most negligent when it comes to youth development and mentorship. If they had brought up our youths the way they were brought up by those before them, it would’ve been a different story. If they are willing to give the current youths the same opportunities they were given, we wouldn’t have had the same old brigades still jostling for political positions and relevance. A typical politician views a Nigerian youth not as someone who will take over from him, but as someone he can exploit for his endless political advantage. Those that ruled at all levels of government from 1999 to date are those who had the best opportunity to navigate away from the past and blaze the trail. Instead, most of them chose to set a bad precedent and made governance appear in the eyes of the youth as a lucrative venture thereby corrupting the minds of the young people. Thirdly, Nigerian youths themselves have generally and grossly indicated their inability to stand up to their responsibilities and their potentials due to many internal and external reasons which are both within and beyond their control. The few among them that got the rare opportunities to serve performed woefully giving the impression that they are no different. The Nigerian youths of yesteryears are obviously different from those of today.

The real tragedy of many Nigerians is not the poverty of their pockets but the poverty of their mindsets. It has been our poor mindsets, probably more than any other thing that has prevented us from utilizing our huge potential. Present day Nigerians, especially the youths whom the country are looking forward to for future leadership are the worst afflicted in this regard. They have being brought up and made to develop a very poor and myopic mindset right from the word ‘go’. The fact that national development is far more behavioral and attitudinal than it is infrastructural and technological is more perfectly captured by the popular proposition that; if you migrate all Nigerians to America and all Americans to Nigeria, Americans will waste no time in transforming Nigeria into America just like Nigerians will degrade America back to Nigeria.

Unfortunately, the mindsets of our youths either by default or by design is not made to proffer solutions to the numerous problems bedeviling Nigeria; rather, it is made to add to them. The ground is being consciously or subconsciously made adequate for most of them to become divided, corrupt, irresponsible and unproductive. Out of the frustration that those on top have taken up all their opportunities, they don’t give a damn about what happens to the country. Some of them have resulted to armed robbery, fraud, kidnapping, insurgency and all other vices because they feel they have no future or the future of their country has no plan for them. The leaders are mainly after themselves and their immediate families; they reserve virtually all the goodies of the nation for their children and cronies.

Whether rightly or wrongly, one of the major arguments of the January 1966 coupists was that, politicians and leaders of that generation were corrupt and politically irresponsible. Several generations later, we still respect and refer to the first republic leaders as the most saintly and patriotic. Our condition keeps deteriorating with every generation that took over up till today and with the type of generation we are currently grooming, it seems our worst days are ahead of us. Those that ruled from 1999 to date had the best opportunity to mentor our youths and serve as role models but instead have ended up using them for their political advantage and leading them astray. They have taught the youths that leadership is all about amassing wealth and perpetrating impunity in the land. They have largely failed to provide good orientation, education and opportunities for them.

If you want to know the type of tomorrow’s leaders that we have, all you need to do is to spend some time on social media and monitor their activities. A large chunk of them are engaged in nothing but the spread of hatred, political hero-worshipping, sycophancy, fraud, ethnic jingoism and religious bigotry. While those at the top are mostly united by corruption, power greediness and self-interest, they at the bottom are being chained by mental slavery and political blindness.

The global modern day practice is that of mentoring and giving responsibilities to youths so as to make them prepared for future state challenges. In the United Arab Emirates, Shama Almazrui was appointed minister at the age of 22 at a time when Nigerian politicians employ people within that age group and higher to praise them on social media. The average age in President Buhari’s cabinet is 50, with many of the ministers well above that average. The minister of youths himself is a typical example. Even the Nigerian constitution will not allow a person with age less than 30 to contest any significant election, but doesn’t stop an old man of 100 years to contest. Most of our past heroes actually began doing what they did at their youth ages because they were trained by the colonial masters for such, but today even a 40 year old is considered only as a mere personal assistant to an office holder, except if he has the financial war chest to contest for elections himself.

In the course of the Rivers State re-run elections held recently, a youth corper, Samuel Okonta by name was killed. Four days later, Governor Nyesom Wike paid a condolence visit to the NYSC secretariat in Porthacourt and used the occasion to score some cheap political goals. He announced a N5,000 increment of the corp members state monthly allowance in what looks like an attempt to use that to calm their nerves. Whatever that increment was meant to achieve, the timing was simply wrong and it demonstrates that our leaders always view the youths as those in constant demand for money. Such are the type of vulnerable youths that we have who were made not to value their self-worth and responsibilities.

The youth agendas of most Nigerian governors stops mainly at some politically motivated and executed empowerment programmes which hardly change their lives. Even with that, when they recruit 100 youths for the so-called empowerment, they recruit 200 others or more as political thugs or neglect the education of 1000 others. One step forward, two steps backwards. Jonathan’s YouWin programme is however a significant empowerment programme, a sort of which if sustained, has the capacity to change the lives of its beneficiaries. However, it has since stopped.

Our carelessness towards how we place people in the name of political reward is also disturbing. I remember discussing with a friend some six or seven years ago who was narrating to me why he thinks the Nigeria of our dream may never come true. He told the story of a drug addict who was about to be recruited into the Nigerian Police Force (a regular practice of how politicians reward political thugs) and whom whether we like it or not may rise to become the Inspector General someday. This is a typical example of how we continue to pollute our system and its institutions.

As bad as some of our current political leaders may be, those waiting to take over from them may be worse. Many of our youths are not willing to hold their leaders to account; they are mainly interested in what they will get from them. The youths are not thinking of what they will do for Nigeria, all they are after is what Nigeria will do for them. That was how they were trained. Besides, many people in the position of authority are doing everything possible to make sure the people below them, most of whom are the youths, remain impotent, vulnerable, ignorant and poor.

From the look of things, I don’t foresee those at the helm of affairs currently doing anything significant and sincere to prepare our youths for the future. What I would advise is our youths to realize this, quit wasting their time in advancing the selfish political interest of their predators, unite and prepare themselves for future responsibilities so as to save themselves and their country.

Twitter: @AmirAbdulazeez 

The Day Cross Rivers Diaspora Governor Visited the State by Inyali Peter

By Inyali Peter

Tuesday, March 30, 2016 is a day Cross Riverians especially residents of Calabar, the capital city of Cross River State will not forget in a hurry as the long awaited diaspora governor of the state, Sen Ben Ayade visited the state.

In fact, the city was agog for the triumphant entry of the governor who is reported to have toured 11 countries looking for investors. Whether this tour is in his capacity as the Commissioner for Tourism or as governor or he is taking advantage of his position to run his personal businesses as alleged is left to be known.

Ayade who within his ten months reign as governor has traveled over 71 times to different countries of the world, arrived his liaison office (governor’s office) in Calabar at the early hours of Tuesday with so many promises as usual.

As the most traveled governor in Nigeria, Ayade has meritoriously earned himself a “Diaspora” tittle which implies that he has become the first governor in the history of the state to have unofficially moved the seat of power from Calabar, Nigeria to a yet-to-be-known destination outside the country.

It will be recalled that Ayade has spent the last nine weeks outside the country without duly informing the state house of assembly or asking his deputy to act on his behalf. This is not strange as it is widely rumoured that the deputy governor, Prof. Ivara Esu has been boxed to the corner by his boss even as the assembly has constantly been accused of being a rubber stamp to the governor.

The recent foreign trip of the governor has caused uproar in the state not only because he didn’t empower anybody to act on his behalf but because he deliberately denied the state from participating in the just concluded National Economic Council Retreat in Abuja.

As other governors and top government officials were gathered brainstorming on the immediate solution to the national economic recession, the governor was set to be signing a memorandum of understanding with a Dubai based firm that will provide 24 hours light in Calabar. While it can be argued that the agreement will boost economic activities in Calabar that will affect the state’s economy positively, the relevance of the retreat cannot be quantified.

Similarly, the said agreement has come under serious scrutiny owing to the fact that the governor has never considered accepting that public power supply is the responsibility of the state government. During the 2015 annual carnival festival, a group of traders protested at the Christmas village over poor power supply and the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Christian Ita while reacting to the issue through a telephone call said that “public power supply is not the responsibility of the state government”. While the assertion can be said to be true, Cross Riverians are yet to understand the governor’s sudden change of mind by signing an MOU for public power supply when he knows it is not his responsibility. Could this contradiction be that the CPS’s reaction was not the opinion of the governor? As things continue to unfold, maybe much explanation would be given.

Just like Cross Riverians were trying to get over the frustration of missing out in the NEC retreat, their dear “ digital “ governor was seen in the All Progressive Congress (APC) national leader, Bola Amed  Tinubu’s birthday party. What has really caused discontent even in the camp of the governor was how he could value a birthday that according to a reliable source, he was not invited to a NEC retreat that he was statutory mandated to attend. Political watchers are still pondering over the rationale behind his preference. Again, it was reported that Ayade was the only PDP governor in the event as even PDP governors from the south west region were not invited or shunned the party.

This development has left most people in mixed grill. Questions have been asked without any immediate answer. For instance, Could it be that since a video appeared online showing how the governor practically murdered the image and reputation of the then APC presidential candidate and now President, Muhammadu Buhari, the governor is looking for an avenue to mend fences? Could it be true that he has been declared persona non grata in the villa so he can only have access to the President in an APC program? Is it because he denied the APC access to stadium for their mega rally that he is now romancing with Tinubu in a bid to appease the party leadership? Could it be that the President is angry that he was hoodwinked to believe that the EIA for the proposed supper highway which he (Buhari) did ground breaking ceremony was yet to be done? These and many more questions are still left unanswered.

However, it will be unfair to completely rule out the fact that the governor came back with some great news for the state. While he has been advised by erudite and quintessential leader, Mr. Odey Ochicha to consider reviewing all the MOUs he has signed so far to determine the progress of the agreement, the governor has announced again that he has signed more MOUS. Within ten months, Ayade has signed approximately 62 MOUs which Cross Riverians are yet to see or feel the impact.

Within his first two months, the governor said that investors have tabled €500m for the construction of the super highway project and the deep seaport. But his statement on Tuesday as reported by his social media aides, Emmanuel Ulayi that four companies were scrambling to invest in the deep seaport has brought the authenticity of his frequent MOUs to serious public scrutiny. The €500m from his initial estimate was enough to complete both giant projects but now that more companies have indicated interest, it is incumbent on the governor to tell Cross Riverians what happened to the already tabled money.

Also, when you consider that a state like Adamawa in three months has built and commissioned four roads without signing a single MOU, one will begin to wonder why the case is different with Cross River State. By all standards, Cross River is still ahead of Adamawa in terms of natural resources and Internally Generated Revenue. Although, statistics shows that since distinguish Dr. Peter Oti resigned his appointment as the chairman, Board of Internal Revenue Service, the state revenue generation has reduced drastically. Ayade has signed the highest MOU but have accomplished the least.

While the governor deserve to be applauded for the rapid work going on in the proposed garment factory as well as his vision to make the state an industrial hub in Africa, it is also pertinent to constantly remind him that Cross Riverian are becoming inpatient with his daily promises of doing everything.  His well-wishers have prayed that the popular cliché that “jack of all trades master of none” should not be the case with governor Ben Ayade.

As a matter of fact, the governor needs to reduce his frequent foreign trips and face governance. This is not the time for politics, it is time to work. We have gone beyond campaign promises to the real act of governance. The time is ticking. Wherever he has relocated the state seat of Power to Dubai, London, US, Afghanistan, China or Sheraton where he was rumoured to have lived while in Senate, Calabar is calling him to come home.

It is time for the digital governor as fondly called by his admirers to forget the charity abroad and come back home. The fantacies abroad should be relegated now. He must as a matter of necessity change from his status as a diaspora governor to a stable state governor base in Calabar that he was voted to be.

Patience Comes Only With Food in Stomach by Yusuf Idris Amoke

By: Yusuf Idris Amoke

I know of a family of six whose members have almost turned into beggars due to the present hardship. This family can be described as a perfect metaphor for the Nigerian situation at the moment. The poor in Nigeria make up a majority of the population. Schooling and clothing their children have become a luxury; frustration has forcefully become a friend while hunger is a perpetual resident. Ritual killings, vandalism, armed robbery and other organized crimes have become the order of the day. The present hardship is arguably responsible for the recent increase in such crimes.

Markets and businesses are folding up as jobs are lost every single day in Nigeria. We understand that the damages done by the PDP led administration over 16 years is quasi-impossible to fix in a single year. Therefore, diversifying a mono-economy based on oil which is responsible for more than 90% of our GDP at this time of crash in prices at the international market is a mirage. We also understand that more than 70% of those that make up this government at both Federal and State levels are part and parcel of the cabal that have milked the country dry as members or affiliates of PDP.

We understand that PMB is equally not finding it easy, but what the poor Nigerian would not understand is going to bed and waking up with empty stomach; worse still, without hope of getting something for the children before the sun sets again.

We do not in any way doubt PMB’s sleepless nights to better our tomorrow by strengthening the pegs upon which the Nigerian state stands, but what the poor Nigerian doubts is whether he will still be able to live to see if the tomorrow brings something with which to fill his empty stomach.

We know that PMB is doing his best. But his best must be seen to translate into a better life for the masses soon enough to stem the growing anger; a hungry man is said not only to be an angry man but also a dangerous man.

Most of us reading this article may not necessarily understand what many fellow Nigerians across board are passing through at this moment, including the IDPs and those in parts of Niger Delta, who’s sources of livelihood had being depleted by oil spillage. Some of us can strive hard to access some basic needs like food, security, health care and clothing, but most of them can only look up to heavens for miracle to get food to eat.

Therefore, we urge PMB to fast track the passage and signing of the 2016 budget appropriation bill. The poor hungry Nigerians don’t care to know whether it is the National Assembly’s fault or not, all they care about is for the budget to be passed, as hope for a mild relief lies in that budget; though it may take months for its impact to be felt. He can as well get the details from some reliable sources, identify the discrepancies, inform Nigerians about them, assent to it rather than waiting for God knows when the details will come from the foot dragging National Assembly.

Another pressing issue is the persistent fuel scarcity and its high price; it is really biting hard on Nigerians as businesses are no longer flourishing. Though some of us who understand the situation will continue to call on other Nigerians to be patient, we equally call on Mr. President to double his efforts towards bringing succour and relief to Nigerians.

While we urge Mr. President to double his effort, we equally urge fellow Nigerians to double their patience, even though patience is manageable only with food in the stomach.

I am Yusuf Idris Amoke

yusufamokee@gmail.com