Attitudinal dynamics of Nigeria’s underdevelopment

…also published in Daily Trust

A deeper look into Nigeria’s socio-economic underdevelopment doesn’t only show the obvious leadership failure behind it, but it also reveals the underlying anti-development public attitude that, if left unaddressed, will certainly continue to undermine and frustrate the already ridiculously poor leadership commitment over the decades to providing befitting standard of living for Nigerians.

Though, Nigerians rightly lament over their persistent underdevelopment, albeit without proportionate commitment to addressing its real causes, they hardly admit the existence of this attitude among them even though it’s actually particularly responsible for the persistence of their underdevelopment. This is apparently because the attitude is largely associated with some misconception of some cultural values and/or religious concepts.

Useless obsession with politics

..also published in Daily Trust

One thing I observe with different nationalities is that, the average people in underdeveloped countries are generally more interested in politics than their counterparts in developed and wealthy developing countries. This is perhaps understandable though, because while the obsession of the average people in developed and prosperous developing countries basically centers on affording the latest lifestyle trend with its associated flamboyance, their counterparts in underdeveloped countries still languish in absolutely avoidable deprivation of basic human needs, infrastructure and services necessarily needed for human survival today.

While the average person in many developed and rich developing countries thinks about where to spend his next summer holiday or what car brand he would buy when the latest brands hit the markets, his counterpart in an underdeveloped country is still worried about basic human needs, and indeed endures acute shortage of basic services e.g. electricity/potable water supply, education and healthcare services etc., which are also of extremely poor quality where they exist.

A president taken lightly

…also published in Daily Trust

The dramatically unfolding circumstances of the scandalous reinstatement of the former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms Abdulrasheed Maina represent yet other instances of how some top government officials simply take President Muhammadu Buhari lightly, and, in fact, how they practically run a clandestine government within his government, capitalizing on his apparent reluctance to tackle the growing trend of systematic covert sabotage from within his administration.

This is notwithstanding his subsequent order for immediate reversion to the status quo in Maina’s case, which only came following the public outcry the reinstatement had triggered. Also, this is regardless of whether Maina is guilty or not. After all, apparently, he had some powerful accomplices who therefore want terminate the case by hook or by crook, get him quietly reinstated, or, in the event of failure to achieve these, simply ensure that he pays the whole price alone while they get away with it.

Between Buhari and governors

…also published in Daily Trust

Since the beginning of President Buhari administration, the underlying dynamics of power politics between the president on the one hand, and the state governors on the other have been quietly and steadily changing. Until recently, successive Nigerian presidents and state governors have maintained a mutually serving relationship that has kept their respective political interests quite interdependent.

Usually, for instance, a president serving his first term in office while looking forward to getting reelected to serve his second term in due course, state governors in a similar situation and with a similar ambition, and also outgoing governors serving their second terms and pursuing senatorial ambitions or simply looking forward to remaining politically relevant enough to secure ministerial or ambassadorial appointments, would always maintain such a mutually serving relationship,  of course at the expense of the people.

President’s tacit indictment of Ganduje and others

....also published in Daily Trust

The conspicuous absence of Kano state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and his Katsina state counterpart, Aminu Masari among the thirteen governors commended by President Muhammadu Buhari in his National Day address last week, for their contributions towards the steadily growing success of his administration’s economic diversification policy in agriculture, captured the interest of many observers. The thirteen state governors who earned the Presidential commendation were the governors of Kebbi, Lagos, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Imo, Cross River, Benue, Ogun, Kaduna and Plateau States.

By implication, this commendation is also a tacit indictment of the other governors. Of course, as Bakano, I am particularly interested in the implications of Governor Ganduje’s absence in the list, being also governor of the ruling All Progressives Congress’s largest stronghold in the country. Governor Masari’s absence is also quite interesting, being governor of President Buhari’s home state i.e. Katsina, which is also arguably the second largest stronghold of the ruling APC.

Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state

Now, unsurprisingly, no sooner had the President finished his address than some Ganduje’s critics began to ridicule him and rejoice for what they consider their vindication for insisting that he has failed to live up to expectations. His political opponents from Kwankwasiyya faction of the APC in particular gloated over what they regarded as President Buhari’s show of disappointment in him despite his purported loyalty to him (Buhari). Interestingly, since falling out with his former boss, Rabi’u Kwankwaso, Governor Ganduje has been increasingly portraying and promoting himself as a staunch Buhari loyalist in his apparent attempt to neutralize the looming threat that Kwankwasiyya followers and other disillusioned Kanawa pose against his re-election bid in 2019.

Stealing the limelight at UNGA

…also published in Daily Trust 

The annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) held at the organization’s headquarters in the US city of New York sees the largest gathering of presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and other heads of governments to supposedly discuss various challenges hampering the achievement of a secure, politically stable, economically prosperous and environmentally sustainable global community.

Ironically, however, while frankness in discussing issues and real commitment to addressing them are supposed to define the UNGA proceedings inasmuch as the attendees are after all the leaders of the world, the occasion often turns out to be an event where almost all the attendees take their turns one after another to feign commitment to solving issues and doing the right things purportedly to address the challenges and crises bedevilling the world.

Looming scenario in Rohingya crisis

…also published in Daily Trust

The systematic persecution of Rohingya Muslim minority by successive Buddhist governments of Myanmar (formerly Burma) over the decades isn’t likely to stop anytime soon, in view of the apparent reluctance of the international community to end it.

Though acts of persecution against them have been widespread since the end of the British rule in that country in 1948, the perpetration began to assume a systematic manner culminating in the formulation of laws and issuance of decrees to that effect, e.g. the 1982 law that effectively denies them the right to the country’s citizenship. Their right to free movement in the country is also restricted as they are also excluded from state-funded schools and government jobs.

In the meantime also, from time to time, a government’s crackdown and a public lynching campaign targeted against them are launched simultaneously resulting in a massacre that spares nobody including children, women and the elderly. Their already poverty-ravaged settlements are also torched. 

By the way, though the current round of recurrent lynching campaign against them is indeed atrocious, yet it isn’t necessarily the worst ever, contrary to some assumptions. However, being the most widely covered round by the general public thanks to the availability of social media platforms, it attracts more public attention and, of course, instigates more outrage particularly among Muslims around the world. This is despite the apparent lack of appropriate interest in the crisis that the major global mainstream media networks, with the exception of Aljazeera, betray. 

Expectations of Nigeria-UAE pacts

…also published in Daily Trust

A few days following President Muhammadu Buhari’s return from his recent medical vacation in Britain, he ratified some treaties and pacts with a number of organizations and countries including the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Unsurprisingly, due to the particularly obvious anti-corruption dimension of the bundle of bilateral agreements between Nigeria and the UAE, it attracted more media attention hence more public interest in Nigeria. It includes Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters, Agreement on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and Extradition treaty.

Over the years, many corrupt Nigerian government officials aided by their accomplices among some businessmen have exploited the UAE’s liberal foreign investment system to launder huge amounts of stolen public funds and/or invest in the country’s various economic sectors especially the real estate sector. Either directly or through accomplices, they own expensive properties in different locations in the country including some of Dubai’s most expensive areas e.g. Emirates Hills, The Meadows, Palm Jumeirah, JLT, Marina etc.

Buhari’s need for Dafa’i

…also published in Daily Trust

One of the most interesting things about President Muhammadu Buhari is the sheer passion with which he is admired and hated by his admirers and antagonists respectively. The controversy associated with his recurrent health problems is defined by these irreconcilable emotions.

Though falling ill intermittently for an aged person like President Buhari is quite common, yet, in addition to being President, the fact that he had never fallen seriously ill prior to becoming President, as he stressed early this year when he returned from his previous medical vacation in Britain, has made his condition particularly interesting.

Therefore, at the risk of sounding superstitious, I can’t completely rule out a diabolical curse(s) transmitted to him through acts of sorcery by some particularly wicked and hate-filled elements among his antagonists, or the evil eye of some enviers or even admirers (because even an innocent compliment by an innocent admirer who has the evil eye can harm the person he compliments).

Before President returns...

….also published in Daily Trust

As the imminence of President Muhammadu Buhari’s return is being speculated, it highlights the need for him to conduct a comprehensive review of his administration’s performance now that more two years of its four-year tenure have already passed.

This is particularly imperative amid mild but potentially divisive controversy over the extent of the Acting President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo’s commitment to maintain the momentum built by President Buhari particularly in anti-corruption polices and measures. Admittedly, though, even before the President’s departure, there has already been a sense of disappointment among a growing number of Nigerians over the turn of events under his presidency, which fuels controversy over the extent of his personal portion of responsibility for the disappointing situation. 

President Buhari 

Anyway, though President Buhari has been away for quite a while on health grounds, he is nonetheless hopefully in a more relaxed mood now to monitor the performance of his administration back home from Abuja House in London where he has been staying and receiving medical treatment. Also, though he is currently under no legal obligation to monitor government operations back home, yet, as an ardent follower of the media, he now apparently has more time to spare for following events through the media, hence he is now presumably in a position to assess the performance of his administration not on the bases of officially prepared reports and figures, but in the light of the daily experiences of the ordinary Nigerians, which the media cover all the time.

Inheriting the name Nigeria

….also published in Daily Trust  

Amid the raging controversy over the future of Nigeria as a united country, and having written about the issue on several occasions, I now address the question surrounding the fate of the name Nigeria in the aftermath of the worst-case scenario in this regard, i.e. the country’s break-up, God forbid. By the way, though my repeated invocation against this eventuality reflects my belief that the country is, and would probably remain, better off united than divided, nevertheless, I believe that, unless the current persistently growing existential threat to the country’s survival is adequately addressed, its break-up can’t be completely ruled out.

Therefore, inasmuch as some proposed names like Oduduwa Republic in the south-west, Republic of Biafra in the south-east and recently Atlantic Republic in the Niger-Delta are already popular among the subregions’ respective separatist movements in anticipation of self-determination in their respective subregions, it’s obvious that they aren’t interested in inheriting the name Nigeria in the aftermath of the country’s break-up, whereas, in the north, the name Nigeria is repeatedly mentioned as part of the different names proposed for the region in the event it becomes a sovereign country. 

Secession between hypocrisy and illusion (ll)

…also published in Daily Trust

As the elite hypocrisy in the south-east continues to undermine the neo-Biafran secession agenda, the secessionists also continue to ignore other underlying dynamics that frustrate their mission. The ever-increasing interdependence amongst the various socio-economic strata of Nigerians is obviously one of the factors that make their project particularly tricky.

The political and technocratic elites at the federal level, for instance, most, if not all, of whom must have benefitted at one time or another from the pervasive culture of ethno-religiously motivated nepotism to attain or maintain a position in their respective careers, never think about their regional identity, ethnic and religious differences when it comes to pursuing or protecting their personal interests at the expense of ordinary Nigerians. Though they still subtly play ethno-religious and regional cards to maintain popularity in their respective regions and constituencies, however, once they gather around a portion of the “national cake”, they never remember such differences. In other words, when a Chibuzo from the south-east, a Garba from the north, a Femi from the south-west, a Bulus from the north-central and a Lokpoibiri from the Niger-Delta conspire to steal public funds, they never look at one another as an Igbo Christian, a Hausa Muslim, a Yoruba or whatever, let alone facilitate the country’s break-up on regional, ethnic or religious basis.

Secession between hypocrisy and illusion (1)

….also published in Daily Trust

The recent issuance of an ultimatum by the neo-Biafran secessionists to northern Nigerians based in south-eastern Nigeria to leave the region, and the counter-ultimatum issued subsequently by a group calling itself the Coalition of Northern Youths to the Igbos based in northern Nigeria to leave the region have retriggered the recurrent controversy over the survival of Nigeria as a united country.

Having survived the bloody Biafran secession attempt almost half a century ago, Nigeria has on various occasions also somehow survived many relatively lesser yet serious threats to its survival. However, the threats have over the decades seriously taken their toll on its socio-economic development and political stability.

Though the successive civilian administrations and military regimes in the country may deserve some credit for managing to keep the country united despite their failure in general, which has consequently frustrated the country and rendered it unable to achieve its massive economic potential, it (i.e. Nigeria) also owes its survival to other underlying factors. For instance, its survival is, one the one hand, partly and indeed quite ironically due to the hypocrisy of the elite stakeholders in the south-east where the neo-Biafran secessionists have been agitating for secession, and, on the other hand, to the inconsistency of an increasingly growing number of northerners who, after decades of vehement resistance against the secession of the south-east, are now increasingly showing willingness to accept its secession this time around, and even create a separate country in the north in the aftermath, yet, quite ironically however, they aren’t committed to preparing the necessary ground for that.

Chaos in the season of Tafseer

….also published in Daily Trust

As the Month of the Qur’an, Ramadan usually sees proliferation of public Qur’anic Tafseer sessions conducted by Muslim scholars particularly in northern Nigeria. Though during the month, Islamic religious public preaching sessions generally increase in Muslim communities the world over, the trend is particularly phenomenal in Nigeria.

At the beginning of each Ramadan, the atmosphere gets increasingly overwhelmed with live and recorded broadcasts of Tafseer sessions conducted by not only well-versed and reputable Islamic scholars, but also many attention-seeking quacks that explain the sheer amount of conflicting and indeed utterly irreconcilable interpretations of many Qur’anic verses, which consequently create confusion and fuel sectarian divide among Muslims in the country. Needless to say, the confusion spoils the unique Ramadanic atmosphere of spiritual composure, peace of mind and communal tranquility.

Politics of prisoner-hostage swap

….also published in Daily Trust

On many occasions since the outbreak of the ongoing Boko Haram crisis in Nigeria, the terrorists have done what has always proved their links with some much more sophisticated terrorist groups elsewhere from which they apparently not only learn combat strategies but also learn the politics of negotiations with constituted authorities.

Being a local terror group composed of grossly misinformed gang leaders and ridiculously ill-informed foot soldiers, the way it engages the federal government in the intermittent rounds of negotiations over the abducted Chibok girls, for instance, further confirms the existence of such links.

Besides, the terrorists realize that, contrary to what obtains elsewhere, the life of a Nigerian hostage, whether a police officer or soldier abducted at battlefront, or any other Nigerian for that matter, isn’t important enough to prompt the government to engage in serious efforts to rescue or get him released. Instead, the value of his life, as far as the successive Nigerian governments are concerned, is determined by the amount of local and international outcry his abduction provokes. That’s why whenever they manage to capture a soldier or police officer, for instance, they never bother to offer him for a swap deal to retrieve their fellow terrorists captured by government forces, instead, they would simply slaughter him or blow his brains out him in front of a video camera and release the video clip.

Coming to terms with President’s illness

…also published in Daily Trust

Admittedly, until doubts were raised over the story about the meetings that the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, and Attorney General Abubakar Malami claimed to have had with President Buhari respectively last Tuesday, I never doubted the story. In fact, like many other Nigerians, I gladly concluded that the President had got well enough to resume work expecting him also to preside over the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting the next day.

Besides, it was perhaps out of excitement that I never bothered to wonder why there were no pictures of him before, during or after the purported meetings. It was only when those doubts were raised against the backdrop of the reports indicating that the President couldn’t attend the meeting, that I tooked at them (i.e. doubts) seriously.

 President Muhammadu Buhari

In any case, it’s obvious that President Buhari’s intermittently fluctuating health condition is increasingly assuming an interesting political dimension and generating (so far) largely discreet inter- and intra-party political manoeuvrings among some powerful vested interests and top politicians, in anticipation of any dramatic turn of events.

Between Sarki and Kanawa

…..also published in Daily Trust

While the ongoing debate generated by Sarkin Kano Muhammadu Sunusi’s social reform proposals is gradually subsiding, one can’t fail to observe how what was supposed to be an intellectually rich debate degenerated into a free-for-all argument replete with disparaging innuendoes and even explicit insults.

Sarkin Kano Muhammadu Sunusi ll

Incidentally, though Sarki’s proposed solutions to some negative social practices in the society that triggered the controversy can be described as radical, yet, I, for one, consider the amount of the ensuing controversy too disproportionate. Besides, I believe that, should those proposals be exhaustively and objectively scrutinized under relevant Islamic jurisprudential standards, and in the context of our peculiar socio-cultural circumstances, most of them will certainly turn out to be compliant with the intendment of the relevant Islamic provisions.

Hypocrisy over Almajirci

….also published in Daily Trust

Though the ongoing process to come up with marriage-related reforms in Kano state isn't the first of its kind, the momentum it has gathered is obviously unprecedented, thanks to the particular interest in the issue demonstrated by Sarkin Kano Muhammadu Sunusi ll. Besides, in view of the sheer socio-cultural influence of Kano state among other affected states in northern Nigeria, this process is expected to inspire similar reforms across the region.

Also, the intense yet interesting jurisprudential, scientific and sociological debates the issue has generated are expected to culminate in the adoption of some reform measures that, without prejudice to the relevant religious teachings, would check the persistent negative marriage-related practices in the society.

Triumph of savagery

….also published in Daily Trust 

Now that in Nigeria the incidents of ethno-religiously motivated murderous rampage, lynching and other forms of mob actions against communities and individuals have become too common to trigger public shock relative to their severity, as they have also become too frequent to prompt appropriate government measures to prevent a recurrence, one wonders how on earth the country fits in with the civilized world. 

Besides, apparently due to the sheer frequency of the recurrence of such incidents in the country, they attract relatively little global media attention, which is admittedly rather understandable, because even the enthusiasm of the local media organizations to cover such incidents is determined by the ethnic identity and religious affiliations of the victims and the perpetrators as well as the region where a particular incident breaks out, which of course affects their professionalism and coverage impartiality.

Lest we relapse

….also published in Daily Trust

In an attempt to check the hitherto persistently dwindling value of the Naira and curb the unprecedented foreign exchange scarcity-induced inflation in Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has recently relaxed access to Forex. As expected, many Nigerians breathed a sigh of relief hoping that the inflation would soon begin to ease up.

 Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

The Buhari administration had tightened access to the CBN-sourced Forex as a strategy aimed at weaning the country off its practically total dependence on imported goods that obviously require much stronger Forex to import. The strategy was also intended to facilitate the creation of a viable environment for local economic enterprises to not only thrive, but to actually dominate the local market share and indeed flourish well enough to compete elsewhere as well, in terms of the quality, attractiveness and prices of their  products and services.

Positive dimension of pro vs anti-Buhari argument

….also published in Daily Trust

The ongoing free-for-all argument over the performance of Muhammadu Buhari as President and indeed the credibility of his anti-corruption drive doesn’t seem to subside anytime soon, because, in addition to the persistent economic difficulties being experienced across the country that also fuel the argument, some other relevant developments do equally fuel it as well. The most recent of such developments is, of course, his extended medical vacation in Britain, which has given rise to speculations about his physical fitness to resume and carry on his presidential duties.

President Buhari 

Basically, on the one hand of the equation, there are diehard Buhari loyalists who, even when they reluctantly admit his administration’s responsibility for further deterioration of things in the country, they vehemently dismiss any assertion or insinuation about his personal blameworthiness in this regard.  Whereas, on the other hand, there are equally diehard Buhari antagonists who hardly recognize any achievement by his administration, and even when they reluctantly do, they hardly attribute appropriate credit to him as President.

Taming inciters

…also published in Daily Trust

The recent widely circulated video clip in which Apostle Johnson Suleiman, Founder and President of Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide is seen inciting his church congregation against Fulani Muslims, and indeed confirming that he had ordered his followers to kill and behead any Fulani man they see around them, is yet another real threat to Nigeria’s already increasingly fragile stability and social harmony, notwithstanding his subsequent and futile attempt to deny making the inciting remarks. 

Apostle Johnson Suleiman

Besides, some other religious clerics e.g. David Oyedepo, Bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide International and Ayo Oritsejafor, President, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Bosun Emmanual among others made similar or even more inciting comments on different occasions.

Worries over Trump’s presidency

….also published in Daily Trust

Today the dramatic political developments that define the Donald Trump phenomenon in American politics culminate in his inauguration as the 45^th President of the United States of America. As arguably the most controversial President in the country’s more than 200-year old democracy, all eyes are on him to see how he will go about pursuing his many controversial campaign promises, or rather, threats, so to speak.

On the world stage, President Trump’s equally controversial foreign policy agenda, confrontational approach, principle-free pragmatism, inconsistency and unpredictability, represent new dynamics in the US foreign policy and indeed international politics and diplomacy. However, his inexperience, superficial perception of the intricacies of international politics, his simplistic and unrealistic solution proposals to many complex challenges in different parts of the world, his know-it-all attitude and tendency to disregard appropriate advice from the country’s various intelligence sources raise worries about the implications of some of his foreign policy actions on both the United States and the world at large.

Reflections on whistleblowing

….also published in Daily Trust 

Notwithstanding the controversy over the impartiality of the Buhari administration’s anti-corruption drive, the recent Federal Government’s adoption of whistleblowing as a tool to curb corrupt practices and promote transparency in Nigeria’s corruption-ridden system is a welcome development. Now, under this newly adopted anti-graft tool, a whistleblower is not only assured of protection against any form of victimisation, but is also entitled to 2.5 percent (minimum) or 5 percent (maximum) of the total amount of the stolen public funds recovered thanks to his whistleblowing.

Though, offering monetary incentive for whistleblowing is one of the most effective and indeed cost-effective anti-corruption tools, it was quite ironic that, its recent adoption in Nigeria did not elicit befitting public enthusiasm, which raised doubts over Nigerians’ supposed detestation of corruption, and indeed the extent of their collective commitment to fighting it.