Slow govt: Nigerians are tired of his excuses

Slow govt.: "Nigerians are tired of his excuses" - Opposition parties tackle Jonathan

by Akan Ido

Reactions have continued to pour in over President Goodluck Jonathan’s statement which tried to justify his administration’s slow pace.

On Wednesday, during a Christmas church service, Jonathan had explained that his government is perceived to be slow because it tries to properly think through issues so as to avoid making costly mistakes.

He said, “By human thinking our administration is slow; I won’t say we are slow,  but we need to think through things properly if we are to make lasting impact.

“If we rush, we will make mistakes and sometimes it is more difficult to correct those mistakes,” he  told the congregation.

While reacting to the statement, the spokesperson for the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Rotimi Fashakin, said Jonathan government is slow because he “stumbled on power.”

According to the party, “If we spend seven years to prepare for madness, when will the madness materialise? That is what Nigerians should ask their President.

“He is slow because he stumbled on power; he never prepared for it. His coming to power was accidental. He has no idea about governance.”

The CPC reportedly concluded its reaction by saying the present administration s bereft of ideas.

“The government and the man heading it are bereft of ideas. The government only ponders to the  tunes  of the corrupt. The last 13 years has been hectic for Nigerians and the Jonathan Presidency is worse.

“Despite the hue and cry of the citizenry, he has refused to change his transformation agenda which is only transforming the pockets of a few,” he concluded.

On its own part, the National Publicity Secretary of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Emma Eneukwu said the president is incompetent.

Eneukwu said, “The President is not competent to be there. He is a  President by chance. He keeps on giving excuses for his incompetence and inadequacies.

“He was not prepared for the position he suddenly found himself. He came into office with the hope of learning and he has refused to learn. He has no specific programme unlike the late President (Umaru Yar’Adua), who came with a seven- point agenda.

“Jonathan came with a bogus Transformation Agenda without transforming anything. Nigerians are tired of his excuses.”

Through his media aide, Lani Baderinwa, the Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Bisi Akande, said the president is a joker, he stated that the president is expected to take good decisions.

He said, “The President must be a joker with his kind of submission. As the elected President, he is expected to take decisions, good decisions.”

The Arewa Consultative Forum did not shy away from throwing hard punches at the president, it warned Jonathan to note that he only has four years to spend in office.

According to the ACF’s National Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani, “Those who framed the 1999 Constitution and provided for a maximum of four years per tenure must have taken into account the need for thorough analyses of situations with a view to arriving at informed judgment for performance by those with the mandate of leadership.

“So, Mr. President must take into account the fact that he does not have limitless time, lest he  runs out of time and go down in history as a President who used all his tenure for plans that did not deliver on his promise to transform Nigeria into a better place.”

What are your reactions to the president’s statement about taking time before making decisions? Let us know what you think.

2012: Nigeria's Year of the Locust.

2012: Nigeria’s Year of the Locust – Abimbola Adelakun

According to Chinese Astrology, the year 2012 is the year of the Dragon; specifically, the Black Water Dragon. If we go by the myth, it’s supposed to be an auspicious year since the dragon is a creature symbolic of various good phenomena. Those under its influence are expected to manifest certain characteristics which range from unpredictability, excitement, luck, resourcefulness, fearlessness, cool-headedness to varying levels of energy.
I apologise to any Chinese who might be reading this but I honestly think the culture of labelling a year skirts superstition more than any kind of potential it predicts. You only needed to read through the range of attributes the Year of the Dragon promises to wonder what other virtue has not been included; and these are things that are mundane.
But it’s not a tradition limited to only Chinese. In Nigeria, those of the Pentecostal faith are fond of labelling year after year towards what they desire; if it is not “Year of Unlimited Blessing”, it is “Year of Unmerited Favour” or “Year of Conquered Territory” and so on. Some even paste multiple stickers geared towards divergent promises on their cars as an exhibition of their ‘mustard-seed’ faith.
While such expressions of faith are not in themselves a bad thing, they become a fetish, especially when people abandon goal-setting and hard work for promises such as “My Year of 7-Fold Blessings”. How does one even measure if one’s life blessings have multiplied according to promise? Unless, like the Chinese, one takes virtually every single sign into account.
However, no one is likely to debate that for Nigeria, this has been a year of the swarming locusts. Although it is purportedly the Year of Nigeria’s Transformation, the gnawing locusts probably gathered more strength and confidence in Nigeria this year than at any other time in her history.
Plunder was the (dis)order of the day.
Right from January 1, when the fuel subsidy debacle began, Nigeria’s best enemies plunged their deep knives into every side, carving her up into pieces; every political animal dipped his snout in the feeding trough and ate as much as his/her insatiable greed demanded.
The Year 2012 in Nigeria witnessed the grand scale fuel subsidy heist by a coterie of bandits who seem untouchable by the long arm of the law. Before the uncovering of the swoop, Nigeria haemorrhaged via a strike action. If starting the year that way was not wasteful enough, corruption — glorified by the present government — kept an abiding vigil. Contract awards, bazaars, one jamboree after the other, daily intelligence of jaw-dropping governmental ineptitude and so on ruled the better part of the year. While one is still contemplating how many billions were siphoned via fuel subsidy, one is confronted by the news of a Presidential fleet that is unrivalled by even richer nations; one is further assaulted with the impunity of leaders who have long ceased to care, whose idea of accountability has shrunk to only those within their own constricted world.
The sad thing is that the national prodigality did not merely fritter scarce money. If it were a problem of the billions spent, it would be easier to deal with because money is not the most important thing in the overall scheme of things. Rather, we lost opportunities. As a country, we lost chances to set ourselves right on track; we missed chances to build a better nation; we missed chances to show the rest of the world we are a serious people; we lost chances at self-refashioning and building a national character; we lost many chances and more than ever, confirmed the worst stereotypes of ourselves through our (mis)deeds. I have said before on this page that Nigeria is an embarrassment to Black people everywhere. As the largest congregation of Blacks all over the world – some 168 million of us enclosed within certain national and geographic borders — we should be a beacon of hope for struggling Black nations. We should not forever grapple with basic aspects of self-governance; we should not continually astound the world with stories of blatant and unintelligent corruption. Nigeria is one of those wretched of the earth nations where billions of money would disappear, for instance, at the Security Printing and Minting Company and heads would not have immediately rolled through the guillotine.
The horde of swarming locusts also took lives. Yes, Nigeria of 2012 wasted too many lives, and likely waste more before it expires on the night of next Monday, December 31; poor innocent souls lost to accidents on air, land and water; many of these lives were neither documented nor recompensed. This year alone, there have been bombings; tanker explosions; mass killings perpetrated by youths, inter-tribal killings and reprisals, and even many more avoidable deaths in various spaces – hospitals, marketplace, public and at home. How many of Adepele’s multiple-growth and interlocked teeth can be counted? Then, how many of those in charge took responsibility for the occurrences? How many were jailed and who says these things will not occur again sometime soon?
This year has witnessed too many deaths, people swept by floods in their homes and on Lagos beaches. Life in Nigeria is a naira a dozen. We live in a country that kills her children and, in 2012, we did not even count the bodies before dumping them in mass graves. They were victims of the locusts just like the rest of us who have survived.
If that is not enough, Nigeria also suffered multiple disgrace internationally. Who can forget our shameful appearance at the Olympics?
Without necessarily cataloguing Nigeria’s woes, one can conclude, other things considered, that 2012 has not been a good year for Nigeria. Not by any means; except for the locusts who relentlessly had a field day.
But it is not enough to look back, we should look forward as well. Is 2013 going to be a better year, as President Goodluck Jonathan promised us to look forward to, or will it be a case of the Biblical curse in the book of Joel 1:4 that says, “That which the palmerworm hath left, hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left, hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left, hath the caterpillar eaten.” In other words, will 2013 be Nigeria’s year of the cankerworm and/or the caterpillar? Before you say, “God forbid!”, as many Nigerians, religious as ever are wont to, what are the indices that show we are finally ready to stop the reign of the locusts in 2013? Can President Jonathan be counted on to prevent the imminent year of the cankerworm? And, can he muster the political will to do just that?
Meanwhile, Season’s Greetings, dear readers!
- Abimbola Adelakun (aa_adelakun@utexas.edu)
Read original article via Punch

From Children of Anger to.......

From Children of Anger to Children of Action – By Efe Wanogho

---

There is anger in the land. That much, should be trite knowledge to any observant mind to the goings on, in Nigeria. It is this bottled-up and long-suppressed anger, arising from decades of misrule by the nation’s political leadership, now being freely ventilated no longer solely in homes, beer-parlours, offices, and that newspaper stand by the street corner, with its daily assemblage of members of the “Free Readers association of Nigeria”, the unofficial unregistered umbrellabody of Nigerians who can hardly afford copies of the daily news, inprint; but increasingly in social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and innumerable blogs on the internet; that prompted David Mark, Senate President of Nigeria, to seek to gag the free usage of social media by Nigerians. This same anger is responsible for Reuben Abati’s description of the citizens of his country as “children of anger”, for no other fathomable reason, than for expressing discontent with his boss, in no uncertain terms.
Who wouldn’t be angry when you have a country where corruption is gospel? Who wouldn’t be angry when a certain Anthony Anenih who should be cooling his heels in one of Nigeria’s maximum prisons for his questionable, and I dare say, sleazy handling of the nation’s resources in the course of his time as Federal Minister of Works, is, appointed to head the board of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA? You think the anger expressed by the children of anger in the buildup to, and immediately following the shameless and baseless hike in the price of petrol by the Government, on January 1, 2012, was not justified? What do you then make of the recent appropriation of over 160billion Naira for a supposed subsidy payment to marketers of petroleum products only a few weeks to the end of the year, and yet, fuel is hardly available, and when it is, you can rarely get it at the so-called subsidized pump price of 97 Naira?
I recall a few years ago, at an informal gathering with some Nigerians, when I called for a revolution to reverse the pernicious slide down the abyss of underdevelopment in which our leaders were leading us; and the wise counsel by a man, whose face, I can hardly remember. He said, among others, that until the collective consciousness of Nigerians is sufficiently raised to a level where sleaze is roundly condemned, and leaders are collectively held to account, any attempt at a revolution, would have dire consequences. Over time, I have come to wholly appreciate the depth and relevance of this statement. One interpretation of the admonition by the sage is that, only enough anger from the mass of Nigerians can turn things around. Thus, when I contemplated creating a Facebook group that would contribute to catalyzing change, I was inspired to create the group, “Evolution of the Nigerian Revolution”; with the belief that a revolution of some kind is a basic requirement for societies such as ours, and that we must consciously evolve that revolution.
It has been said severally, that when in a dark room devoid of any light whatsoever; it makes more sense to light a candle, rather than curse the darkness. Cursing the darkness indefinitely, would not brighten the room; only a provision of light, through its varied forms, can achieve illumination. I wholly subscribe to the foregoing line of thought. That is not to say, however, that anger, or the cursing-of-the-darkness, if you like, does not serve its purpose. In fact, to my mind, anger is a necessary precondition for enduring change to be berthed. For, when one is fired up by purposeful, focused, and guided anger; the catalyzing agent for transformation becomes manifest. So, the anger of the children of anger can rightly be justified. The issue, then, is not whether we should be angry, but rather, whether we should be angry for the mere sake of it; or whether our anger should be that indispensable catalyst that would bring about an end to the arrogance of the impunity perpetrated by the mediocres and criminals in government. Herein, lays the crux of the matter.
As the year winds to an inglorious end, as it pertains to the fortunes of Nigeria, the entirety of the dispersed children of anger in the homeland, and in the Diaspora, would have to eliminate the gap between a justified anger and the reclaiming of the country from the pretenders in Aso Rock and in the various government houses across the nation. The purpose of our anger is to see a better society. Being angry at the state of affairs cannot be a lifestyle. One cannot be content at being labeled a perpetual critic. We must not be like that student who never graduates from the university, citing the reason as his being the embodiment of the struggle – you would wonder who he was struggling with. Granted, that we are angry. But what purpose does the anger serve, if it does not lead us to taking steps to undoing the very reasons for the anger? Mohandas Gandhi said, “A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history”.
Nothing says we must remain perpetually in cyberspace, restricting our actions to a few articles, in some blog; some posts on facebook, some tweets on twitter, or that occasional protest march on the streets. We must identify that critical mass that we are all a negligible part of, and then proceed to strengthen it. It is meaningless to be seen as a paragon of activism and a social media guru or an overlord (or is it Voltron they christen them these days?); when your new found elite status does not translate to reducing impunity in the land. Let’s face it, individually, we can achieve nothing; but if we align and pool resources, who can put a lid on the extent of our possible achievements?
What does it take, for instance, to form a political party; or identify an already existing one, move in en masse, and use it as a platform to get out the corrupt, criminally complicit, and the mediocres, from office; while identifying and positioning veritable replacements for them? Something of this sort must be done if we must be taken seriously. It is clear, from the uninspiring body language of this government, that, criticize all you will, they don’t give a damn; apologies to the patriarch of institutionalized clueslessness, Goodluck Jonathan. A government that hires persons with such debilitating baggage as Anthony Anenih, Doyin Okupe, Labaran Maku (the Minister of Information who ignorantly credited his principal for bringing Facebook to Nigerians), and whose leader refers to a certified ex-convict as his benefactor; has spoken in no uncertain terms, that it is immune to criticism.
Consequent upon the foregoing, every Nigerian who wants a better deal from those who wield the reins of political power must awaken from that fratricidal siddon-look stance that has characterized the citizenry over time. This is not a time for indifference, as you are either for change, or you are against change. There are no middle grounds. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it”.
If you have followed the actions and inactions of the successive governments that have been foisted on us, arguably with our tacit and unquestioning compliance, since 1999; there would hardly be anything on the face of the earth that would astound you. Insecurity is rife. Worshippers were killed in the Christmas service of 2011. Worshippers were again, killed in the Christmas service of 2012. Terrorist attacks have come to stay. The life of the Nigerian resident in the Northern fringes of the country is practically worthless to the government. In the South, kidnappers have a free reign. The government evokes a feeling of helplessness, as it continues to assure Nigerians that the security agencies are on top of the situation. The decay of public infrastructure is unparalleled in the nation’s history. Public water supply is nonexistent in most parts. The roads are impassable. Power is still epileptic in most parts. People become moneybags simply by being in government, without any verifiable legal source of income, and it obviously makes no difference to the government. Our educational institutions have been reduced to mere degree-awarding institutions. The Federal Executive Council awards all manner of contracts without seeing to the judicious use of the allocated funds. They form all manner of committees to look into recommendations of previous committees, and on and on it goes.
We can decide to continue to sit on the fence; demonize those who, at least, have managed to summon the courage to criticize, and thereby construe ourselves as unwitting Jonathanians; join the increasing army of the critics; or we can take it a notch higher and a step further by taking well thought out actions at putting a definite cessation to the mindless rape of our collective heritage. The choice, as always, is ours. Change beckons.
On The Sidelines:
I pay tribute to the following Nigerians who, in 2012, joined in kicking against mediocrity and corruption, to varying degrees. This list is by no means, exhaustive, and it is in no particular order.
Dino Melaye, for daring to put himself at risk in holding the feet of the government to the fire to expose financial irregularities; Okey Ndibe and Pius Adesanmi, for dishing out incisive pieces of articles that fires the quest for change in the land; Nasir El Rufai, for being a bone in the throat of this administration in articulating pieces that can hardly be faulted (except for the goof of attributing Boko Haram to poverty), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, for daring to draw attention to the humongous resources consumed by a bloated and excessively large government (I had issues with his attempt to justify Boko Haram on the basis of financial inequality of the regions and for his failed attempt to phase out lower naira notes and introduce the needless 5000 Naira note, that was clearly at variance with his cashless agenda); Chinedu Ekeke and Japhet Omojuwa, for using the instrumentality of www.ekekeee.com and www.omojuwa.com, respectively, to further the gospel of change; Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, for being a staunch advocate for change. Others include, Kayode Ogundamisi, John Miles Wanogho, Tolu Ogunlesi, Agba Jalingo, Jaye Gaskiya, Adebayo Ajagunna, and a lot more people.
I duff my hat for those mentioned, and a lot more who are working for change, as unattractive as it has become. We must keep in mind the words of Theodore Roosevelt to the effect that patriotism is loyalty to country, and not loyalty to the President. If the persons who should lead the transformation process in the country, become the very ones whose actions imperil the fortunes of the people; it becomes not only expedient, but also, mandatory, that they be regarded as the enemies of the people.
I am @efewanogho on twitter.

Generator Maintenance in Budget 2013

OPINION: Generator Maintenance in Budget 2013

27 Dec, 2012

OPINION: Generator Maintenance in Budget 2013 – by Chukwuma Smart Amaefula
The federal budget is usually suffused with requests by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government for the purchase, maintenance and fuelling of plants and generators. This has become the proverbial tortoise that cannot elude a folk tale. The fact is that Nigeria lacks steady power supply and the MDAs therefore try to take undue advantage of this to make spurious provisions for this line item. In the 2013 budget, certain requests for generators, fuelling and maintenance need a thorough review so as not to waste public resources.
The wastages found on this item are categorised in three stages: Purchase of plants/generators; fuelling; and maintenance. On many occasions, separate huge amounts of public funds are allocated to these segments.
Take for an example the Presidency, the 2013 budget provides that, to fuel generators in the State House alone, the Presidency will spend N72,510,832. Also, the Presidency in its entirety is to spend the sum of N654.02m on generators. The money it is proposed covers the cost of maintenance of plants and generators as well as fuelling them. The money also covers the amount set aside to replace some generators in the agencies under the Presidency. Also, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources plans to spend N22,525,507 for fuelling of generators and N25,036,676 to maintain the generators.
The Federal Capital Territory is divided into low, middle and high income zones and the State House and the NNPC Towers are in the high socio-economic zone of Abuja. This zone enjoys regular supply of electricity from the national grid. This raises the rationale for allocating such a huge amount of public funds to these MDAs in spite of the regular supply of power to them. There is also another huge sum allocated to defray the cost of power supply from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, such as the sum of N148,105,373 to be expended by the State House alone to pay for electricity charges in 2013.
In examining the 2013 budget of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one will discover that there is a provision of N27,335,017 for maintenance and fuelling of generators in foreign missions. For the foreign missions, it is understandable that most African countries have problematic power supply. It is justifiable when you make budgetary allocations to foreign missions in some countries such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast and other countries where war destroyed their economic infrastructure including power supply. But how can you justify budgetary allocations of purchasing, fuelling and maintenance of plants/generators in foreign missions in such countries as Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, etc, which enjoy constant power supply? For example, Nigeria’s foreign missions in two highly developed cities of Berlin and Berne got N1,092,428 for generator maintenance and another N2,834,505 for fuelling and N473,570 for maintenance and another N1,228,608 for fuelling respectively.
As if the above is not enough, some MDAs will include purchase of generators at very exorbitant prices and this appears year after year. Back home, it’s infuriating to learn that an agency such as the National Primary Health Care Development Agency has a budgetary allocation of N23,515,181 for this purpose. The lifespan of every generator, even the one called “I pass my neighbour” exceeds a period of at least two years. So why is there the necessity for this request for the purchase of generators in the budget of some MDAs every year? These are just a few examples; all the MDAs are all involved in this mad rush, read fraud, of “fuelling” themselves to unfettered riches.
The foregoing makes a strong case for the intensification of the reforms in the power sector so that there will be sustainable improvements in power generation, transmission and distribution. If the Federal Government is sincere to itself and to the general public, concerted efforts should be made in adopting and implementing integrated development plans where the good management of one sector will support the management of other sectors.
- Chukwuma Smart Amaefula, Centre for Social Justice, Abuja
Read original article via Punch

2012, A year doomed at Inception

2012, A Year Doomed at Inception – by Obiechina O

26 Dec, 2012

 OPINION: 2012, A Year Doomed at Inception – by Obiechina Obiajulu Felix
New years are like new beginning, like being born again. The slate of the past year wiped clean and hope flourish like garden in full bloom.
That was however not really the case with 2012. I had wanted to tittle this write up “2012, a year of natural disaster and an even greater human disaster” and that would have easily summarised 2012.
In election times, promises are made, in 2011 it was among others an improved minimum wage structure of N18000, workers were happy, Nigerians were happy. No sooner had the president secured election into office than he started speaking from both sides of his mouth. By the end of 2011 it was clear that in order to enjoy N18000 minimum wage, fuel subsidy has to go. That was the first cloud to gather on the sky of the baby year, casting a gloomy shadow across the land. April 1st was the day the rain would start.
After the Christmas day bomb blast in Madala, Niger state, hearts were heavy but Nigerians, we had long learned to smile with tears in our eyes. If we were left speechless by Boko Haram’s ambush, what was to come from the federal government left us dumb. Planed and executed with military precision and espionagic covertness, Nigerians Woke up to the damning news on sunday the 1st of January, fuel subsidy was gone, pump prices shot up to olympian heights with no particular agreement as to what exactly the fixed price was. 2012 had just begun. And for once Nigerians fought the government with a common voice, and fight we did.
After a week long strike and mass protest(which involved loss of Nigerian lives), the president reversed his decision to a partial subsidy withdraw making pump prices N97. However a fundamental glitch had been introduced into the system whose effect Nigerians may not recover from in the near future. Inflation, low consumer confidence, fuel scarcity to mention but three, all resulting in general hardship.
Whilst this drama ensued, our security structures continued to crumble like pack of cards, terrorists became government, dictating terms and leaving dead bodies in their wake. It is no longer a news of any consequence to hear that some gunmen raided a Police station, market place, government buildings or any other public place. It is common place to hear that another Nigerian has been shot dead, hardly a day passes without a news somewhere. The sight of a police officer been blown to eternity early this year clearly demonstrated the manner of a fail state we find ourselves in. Where our security personnels are given wooden batons and museumic riffles to fight an increasingly sophisticated terrorists. Where blowing up a military barrack is like lighting up a fire cracker(knockout) in once backyard. Kidnapping no longer make it to press except when a minister’s mum is involved.
Perhaps only the economic policy of the regime can compete for top place in cluelessness with the security situation in the land. The economy we were told would be based on frugal spending, revival of the agricultural and industrial sectors with a view to creating job (indeed we were promised 10,000 jobs from each state by the end of the year). Twelve months down the line what can we boast of. A government that is frugally trying to spend N2 billion to build a new residence for one man, one that wants to build a new banquet hall in the villa at a meagre N2.2 billion, one that awarded a contract of a paltry N5 billion to rehabilitate an already insured UN house, one that always travels with the biggest delegate to international conferences, ow! One that spend N1 billion on feeding in Aso rock. The agricultural sector is as good as it was and industries are still dying, that’s the truth. Our youths are without jobs. Inflation is at all time high and all they could do to help was to announce the introduction of higher denominations in note and coinage of smaller denomination (another frenetic and confused stance of the government). Thank God that never happened.
Credit though must be giving for power generation but why fire the man that made it all happen (I must admit that saga is not clear to me). But generating power is one thing distributing it is another.
And so the rain poured, maybe God could feel the rising heat in the country and wanted to cool things down. And years of neglect came staring at us. A country that has no good drainage system, no building code or city master plane, will have to sacrifice her streets as drainage. Yes the rain was too much, so also is our negligence or else the effect wouldn’t have been that severe. Nature may have been staring at us with contempt but we should acknowledge that our endemic culture of corruption had hit the wall and was heading back our way yet in no other year has corruption reigned supreme than 2012 it was no longer something to hide, no! it became legalised, all sphere and sector of our society. public office holder became unaccountable, utterances flying here and there, a lot of them not worthy to credit a child in primary school (you may want to ask the minister of power and His supreme Highness mallan Sanusi). Even the president pulled a fast one on us when he claimed that transparency International had commended him on fighting corruption. Oh! Did I forget Oteh and Hembegate, Farouk & Femigate or the fuel subsidy hullabaloo where EFCC fie and withdrew their case.
Public infrastructures are not decaying anymore but that is because there is none, anymore, to rot, I cannot forget my anger in june when I plied the Enugu-Port Harcourt express way particularly the Okigwe – Aba axis.
It has been quite a busy year but really not one to remember just like no Nigerian would want to remember the London Olympics. I rest my pen less I die of depression. The list is endless.
- Obiechina Obiajulu Felix (obiechinafelixobiajulu@gmail.com)

About the author

zebbook

Teacher, Writer, Social Evangelis

When the oil dries off

When The Oil Dries Off–By Debo Adejugbe

---

“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination isout of focus.” – Mark Twain
“What one has, one ought to use: and whatever he does he should do with all his might.”- Cicero
******
Few hours after reading Ogunyemi Bukola’s wonderful piece, “A Nigeria without Us; A Nigeria without Oil” here: http://debospeaks.blog.com/?p=120 something odd struck me. This article is an extension of that thought. I agree with the major part of Bukola’s analysis. However, I had a hunch that something was amiss in our prayers requesting that the country’s oil dry up. If you follow “Madam Due Process” ObyEzekwesili on twitter, or have studied some of her papers on the implications of oil in our economy, you will be tempted to agree that, with the present crop of leaders we have, oil is indeed a curse.
I suscribe to the dried-oil anticipation idea—just like countless others, But I’m also of the opinion that if certain urgent measures are not taken first,exhausted oil reserves will not be the solution we so desperately crave.
Let’s now reason together and consider the validity of the following imaginative scenarios in this discussion.
******
Herald Newspaper, Tuesday May 3rd, 2067:“Nigerians from all walks of life, last year took the advice given by a prominent man of God some fifty-five years ago, and prayed ceaselessly for the redemption of the Nation. During the course of the three days fasting and prayer embarked upon by all religions in the country, they pleaded with the almighty God to take the curse of oil away amid other demands. God, in his infinite wisdom, looked down on his children and granted their requests.” That was the conclusion of Apostle James of “Word of Mouth Evangelical Ministry” during his sermon last Sunday.
The Daily Punch, Friday May 6th, 2067Confirming the present situation in the country, the President,in his monthly broadcast, stated that “oil reserves are now mostly dry, with little or no success in sites formerly marked as “oil rich”. The country will focus on other natural resources to generate wealth and guarantee a future for her citizens. Further developments would be relayed to you via the Information Ministry as soon as we have them.”
The atmosphere looks tense at the presidential villa. Our correspondents reported seeing several presidential aides clustered in small numbers, discussing the present predicament in hushed tones.
The Nation on Sunday, May 8th, 2067There are several indications that President Janjo Jaga-Jaga will address the nation again in the next few days. Feelers from the Presidency says it would be an important announcement that will define his emergency policy thrust to counter the effect of dried oil reserves and the massive loss of revenue experienced in the last few days. A staff of the villa who spoke under condition of anonymity explained that: “The President has proposed a position in an announcement shocking to several of his aides and there are still a few people trying to make him shift his rigid stance.”
The Guardian, Monday May 9, 2067The last few days have been frantic ones at the Presidency. Our sources informed us that the President met with several opinion groups, religious leaders, labour unions and other stakeholders to hammer out a plan to save Nigeria from the chaos of dried oil reserves.
According to the Presidential spokesperson, Fatai Abelejayan,the “important announcement has now been postponed till the President’s return from his tour of Ghana, Libya, Cameroon and some other African countries who have been able to mitigate the effect of dried oil reserves or ‘no oil’ reserve.”
Herald Newspaper, Tuesday June 7th, 2067
The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria returned from his tour of Africa on Sunday and has promptly released a statement to the press through his media assistant on the direction the country would take in the next few months of his Presidency to counter the effect of the dried oil reserves. Notable among the plans highlighted are the following:
I. The Federal Government will take a critical look at the civil service and make a drastic cut of 50% to the nation’s workforce as a way of saving funds and guaranteeing that the nation will not burst with the present burden on her shoulders.
II. The president has inaugurated a think-tank to look at alternative sources of wealth generation to enable the government meet its obligation to the citizens. Several leading industrialists were named as members of the select group.
III. All Primary, Secondary and Tertiary institutions are now required to maintain only one staff per taught subject to further save funds and make schools standards to emulate around Africa.
IV. The President sent a list comprising forty two (42) additional names to the National Assembly for approval as “aides and advisers whose help will be of immense value during this difficult period”.
VI. Subsequently, due to the expected increase in the ‘Villa’ staff, the Presidency has proposed an additional N30Bn to the Budget as feeding allowance for the nation’s first family and their aides.
The announcement is generating heated debate among the populace. Several are angry that the sum of fifty five billion Naira (N55bn)already allocated for feeding at the Villa paints a picture of a callous and gluttonous president; even without the additional N30Bn proposed. Some opinion leader shave called for investigation into the nine hundred billion naira (N900bn) that was declared missing from the federation account the moment news of dried oil reserve filtered in. Minor protests are ongoing in Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Abeokuta, PortHarcourt, Enugu and some other cities around federation.
Follow us on twitter @heraldnewsng or use the hashtag #nigeriaoilprotest for the latest developments on the protests.
Tweets from @heraldnewsng:
“NLC/TUC declared there would be no strike or protest to antagonize President Jaga-Jaga. #oilprotest”
“Scores have been reported injured in Kano protest centre as police opened fire on them despite a peaceful gathering. Trying to confirm the number of casualties #oilprotest”
“Police are shooting at protesters indiscriminately at the Akure protest centre. Photos coming up. #oilprotest”
“FLASH! Breaking News: The minister of finance just announced that US has released $10Trillion to #Nigeria as cushion for oil effect. #oilprotest”
“The sum is expected to be paid back instalmentally over the next fifty years. People are already moaning and groaning #Oilprotest”
The Punch, Friday June 10, 2067
The bloody protests that engulfed several parts of the country in the last few days are gradually fizzling out. Normalcy has returned to major cities and citizens are going about lawful business without incident.
The President, through its spokesperson, announced that “the country will embark on the building of a new ecumenical centre at the heart of the nation’s capital at the cost of $3Trillion”. This, he says “will help us get close to God, praying for a restoration of our oil, which in turn will get us back on the right track of development”. A sum of $2Trillion has been approved for the overhaul of the Presidential jet fleet as they are in a state not befitting the president of the “Giant of Africa”.
Further in the President’s list of “pressing matters” is the upgrade of the houses in the Presidential Villa. An estimated $2trillion has been budgeted for this.
The funds will be sourced from the cushion loan obtained from the United States of America. There are grumblings and mumurs heard from several quarters but no protest has been called, as the NLC/TUC again declared their “total support for the president’s announcement”.
Vanguard Newspaper, Thursday July 14, 2067There are several reports going around in the news media regarding aleaked memo from the Minister of Petroleum to the President and the President’s reply to the Minister. Both “Hackers Anonymous” and Wikileaks have claimed that the online version is indeed the original memo that originated from the Petroleum Ministry, under heavily guarded cryptographic headers that they were able to decipher and reproduce. The reply by president Jaga-Jaga was obtained courtesy “Hackers Anonymous”.
The memo reads in part:
“…due to the recent strain on oil incomes and the N900bn Your Excellency withdrew from the Treasury in the confidence of the Finance Minister and myself, there is a dire need for urgent funds as the recent US loan has already been budgeted for other purposes…. In the light of this fact, there is need for the actions you’ve ordered taken in the civil service/public sector to be executed with immediate effect….”
The president’s reply was short, and we have this part extracted:
“…I would have appreciated it if you came to me with this, rather than this memo. There should be no mention of the N900Billion anywhere again as long as I remain President. Come by after the close of work for further deliberations….”
SaharaReporters, Wednesday August 10, 2067
Our citizen reporter gathered from a reliable Presidential insider this morning, that the government is putting finishing touches to documents required by the World Bank, towards obtaining a loan of $50Trillion….The premise on which the loan will be obtained is “for development and exploration of countless natural resources that abounds in the country. The loan repayment has been structured on a hundred years plan which would take effect on August 2077….”
Now, we’ve have our wish and the oil has dried up, what next?
******
Today, Nigeria is the 12th largest producer of petroleum in the world, its 8th largest exporter, and the country with the 10th largest proven reserves. Despite these facts, the country has to sustain itself by importing more than 90% of what it consumes.
Petroleum accounts for 40% of our GDP, and 80% of government earnings—meaning it is the mainstay of our economy and the helipad of corrupt practises.
With an array of several underexploited/abandoned natural resources such as natural gas, coal, zinc, gold, tantalite, tin, limestone, niobium, iron ore, lead and bauxite; added to our expansive underused arable lands, there would still be a lot to be looted if oil -according to our prayers—dries off. A new helipad will be promptly built to cater for the flights of corruption.
Nigeria’s natural gas reserves are said to be well over 187 trillion ft³ (2,800 km³), three times as substantial as the crude oil reserves. But most of these are flared, with the country losing $18.2Million, translating to $546M per month and $6.6Billion in a year. That is just the estimated loss due to flaring, now think about what we’ll be making when the government plugs all the holes and its associated health risks.
According to Wikipedia: “Agriculture used to be the principal foreign exchange earner of Nigeria. At one time, Nigeria was the world’s largest exporter of groundnuts, cocoa, and palm oil and a significant producer of coconuts, citrus fruits, maize, pearl millet, cassava, yams and sugar cane.”
In the nearest future, oil will be mentioned in the same vein, only that the agricultural sector is still redeemable as it stands even though it was abandoned for oil. And with Nigeria accounting for 18% of Africa’s population (that is, one in every four African) and prided as the seventh most populous country in the world, it is becoming a burden to keep up with the rest of the world in robust development. The culprits of these are clear: heavy-duty corruption, inadequate or non-existent planning, retrogressive development and a suicidal mentality of allocating 90% of wealth to just 1% of the population.
With the oil drying off, the 33% export sent into the US (which made Nigeria USA’s fourth largest supplier) will fall, even as Gulf coast refiners have reduced importation from Nigeria by focusing on domestically refined crude. Our share of imports to the US has fallen to 5% in the first half of 2012 as against 10% and 11% in the first half of 2011 and 2010 respectively. And with the reduction in US oil imports, our other major export partners India, Netherlands, Spain, Brazil and France won’t just stand foolishly. Everyone is developing alternatives.
Diversify! Diversify! Diversify! This is the word on the economic streets. We’ve been treated to series of white papers on its benefits; we forget that the ruling class only focuses on the source that brings in the cash until the cow is milked dead and then they run to the next golden goose.
Praying, waiting and counting the days till the oil dries off will further compound our problems. No natural resource can be a curse, it is only our deployment of the resource that hurts our lives. Oil is not our problem! The ruling class and the web of corruption they spin around the oil business is the problem. The earlier we take the fight to them, the better.
I have a feeling that if we wait till the oil dries off, perpetual slavery awaits us because any of the abundance of natural resources bequeathed us by nature can take the place of oil effectively. The journey starts with us, let’s kick out corruption or this http://www.ekekeee.com/?p=4445 will be our story.
Merry Christmas!
I’m @deboadejugbe

Pope's xmas message says Hope for peace in Syria and Nigeria must.

Pope’s Christmas message says, ‘Hope for peace in Syria and Nigeria must not die’

Pope Benedict XVI used his Christmas message to the world today to say people should never lose hope for peace, even in conflict-riven Syria and in Nigeria where he spoke of “terrorism” against Christians.
Marking the eighth Christmas season of his pontificate, the 85-year-old read his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message to tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square and to millions of others watching around the world.
Delivering Christmas greetings in 65 languages, the pontiff used the biblical analogy of the “good soil” to underscore his view that the hope represented by Christmas should never die, even in the most dire situations.
“This good earth exists, and today too, in 2012, from this earth truth has sprung up! Consequently, there is hope in the world, a hope in which we can trust, even at the most difficult times and in the most difficult situations,” he said.
In his virtual tour of the some of the world’s trouble spots, he reserved his toughest words for Syria, Nigeria and Mali.
“Yes, may peace spring up for the people of Syria, deeply wounded and divided by a conflict which does not spare even the defenceless and reaps innocent victims,” he said.
“Once again I appeal for an end to the bloodshed, easier access for the relief of refugees and the displaced, and dialogue in the pursuit of a political solution to the conflict.”
The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics also condemned conflicts in Mali and Nigeria, two countries where Islamist groups have waged violent campaigns.
“May the birth of Christ favour the return of peace in Mali and that of concord in Nigeria, where savage acts of terrorism continue to reap victims, particularly among Christians,” he said.
In Nigeria, the Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed hundreds in its campaign to impose sharia law in the north of the country, targeting a number of churches.
In Mali, a mix of Islamists with links to al-Qaeda have occupied the country’s north since April, destroying much of the region’s religious heritage. They have also carried out amputations to help impose strict Islamic law on a population that has practised a more moderate form of Islam for centuries.
The pope also held out a Christmas olive branch to the new government in China, asking is members to “esteem the contributions of religions”. China does not allow its Catholics to recognise papal authority, forcing them to be members of a parallel state-backed Church.
Late last night, Benedict presided over a Christmas Eve Mass in St Peter’s Basilica, where he urged people to find room for God in their fast-paced lives filled with the latest technological gadgets.
“Do we have time and space for him? Do we not actually turn away God himself? We begin to do so when we have no time for him,” he said.
“The faster we can move, the more efficient our time-saving appliances become, the less time we have. And God? The question of God never seems urgent. Our time is already completely full,” he said.
He said societies had reached the point where many people’s thinking processes did not leave any room even for the existence of God.
“There is no room for him. Not even in our feelings and desires is there any room for him. We want ourselves. We want what we can seize hold of, we want happiness that is within our reach, we want our plans and purposes to succeed. We are so ‘full’ of ourselves that there is no room left for God.”
- Irish Times