SEC boss Arunma Oteh exposes Hon. Hembe

Speaking up and loud

This is the stuff great people are made of, fearlessness in the face of persecution and boldness to speak truth to power.

I have many a time been perturbed by the cost of our democracy and the stranglehold corruption seems to have on every facet of life in Nigeria.

Yesterday brought in a number of interesting revelations, whilst many sanctimoniously concentrated on the sensational, the bigger issue was the insight into the workings of our legislature, the committee system and the bottom-feeding frenzy of rent-seeking legislators steeped in despicable malfeasance playing to the gallery pretending to unimpeachable conduct.

Sensational allegations

The Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunma Oteh was appearing before the House Committee on Capital Markets chaired by “Honourable” Herman Hembe – the title must be in quotes until it is regained by a fair assessment of the allegations made and the man is proven completely innocent of the claims.

During the day we were regaled with tales of the profligate excesses of the Ms. Oteh, that she had stayed in  5-star hotel accommodation for 8 months instead of the regulatory one month, that she has spent NGN 850,000 ($5,391) on dinner and everyone ran to town with it. There some dispute as to whether it was NGN 850,000 or NGN 85,000 ($539.10), in either case, this was piffle, almost of no consequence in the scheme of things, the way the country is bilked and milked by all those in political office.

She stoops to conquer

Nigerian politicians are given to bluster and grandiloquence arrogating to themselves privileges, emoluments and untrammelled fiat to bludgeon people who appear before their committees without due courtesies and respect to the attendees.

Ms. Oteh ran the gauntlet of being questioned about her qualifications to fill her position and her ability to perform, it was an inquisition so disgraceful and unbecoming of anyone who deigns to be recognised in polite society but that was Day One.

When Ms. Oteh appeared on Day Two, she was battle-axe ready, fuming, agitated and shooting all guns with deathly accuracy in what might become the biggest political earthquake of our democratic experiment, I should expect aftershocks of similar magnitude to follow.

Explosive political bombshells

She alleged with dates that the Committee Chairman had received moneys to attend a conference that he eventually did not attend and did not refund the expense. She also alleged that he had asked the SEC to fund the activities of the committee to the tune of NGN 39,000,000 ($247,376) and then another demand was made for NGN 5,000,000 ($31,714.80).

She questioned the integrity of the chairman and his credibility to sit in judgement with unclean hands and his maturity in commenting on issues related to the SEC without first verifying the facts possibly with the view to undermine, discredit and contemn Ms. Oteh.

More importantly, she pointedly accused the chairman of corruption and in the court of public opinion challenged the chairman to defend himself against the claims whilst making the case for fairness and better adherence to democratic principles. The raw emotion was palpable as she trembled and her voice quavered with each forceful statement, the discomfiture of the committee was quite evident.

Noisy body talk

The body language of the chairman was like an open book screaming out the words as he swivelled in his chair in pendulumic consonance squirming with embarrassment as he tried to fend off the allegations, twisting Ms. Oteh’s words and playfully making light of the situation but before the whole world, this was a most uncomfortable moment.

In a display of braggadocio he mandated the anti-corruption agencies to investigate the claims, but we Nigerians have very little confidence in the ability of these institutions to follow through to conclusion any allegations, charges or indictments made on senior politicians in Nigeria – it was both a dare and a moot point, if anything comes of it, we will be in for an unusual surprise.

He was obviously rattled that he forgot his manners when he told and not asked Ms. Oteh to turn off her microphone. In a society where character, reputation and integrity matters, where a senior official is besmirched with allegations of corruption, one would expect him to recuse himself and not bring the activities of the committee and the House of Representatives into disrepute, but impunity without consequence is the name of the game in Nigeria, he reasserted his questionable authority and banged the gavel – the seal of authoritative corruption and obvious indifference.

Ms. Oteh – the big spender?

So many things stand out from the events of that day which I will attempt to address one at a time.

Could Ms. Oteh have spent $539 on dinner? Very likely, it would probably have covered a meal with friends and considering the cost of living in Nigeria especially in luxury settings, the prices are unbelievably steep for what we would get at a reasonable cost in Europe. It is quite doubtful that she spent $5,391 at one sitting, it reads like a very tall tale exposed to ridicule and embarrass her – The SEC has asserted the lower figure but why let the truth get in the way of a sensational exposé?

That Ms. Oteh stayed in 5-star accommodation for a whole 8 months is quite beyond the pale but then one can understand that enjoying luxury at the expense of others can be a difficult and herculean task to wean yourself of off, in some ways she was being both a chancer and human – people have done worse, she has been in her position for over two years now, which means alternative lodgings have been arranged for at least 16 months.

Report or proclaim?

Certain people have wondered why Ms. Oteh did not take her allegations of corruption to the anti-corruption agencies. For reasons I have stated before, they have not excelled in their briefs, literally everyone of political clout in Nigerian has gummed up the system and deftly used the judiciary to extricate themselves from the clutches of due process of investigation and administration of justice.

In my view, that public forum was the best place to make those allegations and with it in the open, force many more voices to demand action be taken. If the chairman feels he has been besmirched and libelled he can easily seek redress in the courts but I doubt he has the courage to be exposed to the scrutiny of his cupboard of rampaging skeletons. Compromised legislators grandstanding in public will from now on have to thread carefully.

Estacode abuse

One area of patronage and source of corruption that needs to be reviewed reformed and better regulated is the use and abuse of estacode – funds intended to cover traveling costs by public servants and politicians. Politicians, especially in Nigeria are quite handsomely remunerated; they should not be receiving hand-outs before they have completed whatever missions they embark on.

In the private sector, a modicum of control is exercised on spending because the money first comes out of the pocket and the person is later reimbursed on the presentation of receipts and audited review of the expenses.

Though that process can also be abused, with the presentation of false documents or through collusion, it will not result in profligacy and excessive pre-compensation and the person will be more accountable for their spend. That the chairman received moneys and did not use it for the intended purpose is at best dishonest, if not fraudulent.

Conflicts of interest

The operation of committees needs to be reviewed, the independence of a committee will always be compromised and the perception of its ability to function transparently and fairly will be suspect if the committee and its members receive favours from the institutions they have oversight of. It is befuddling that the concept of conflict of interest has not become part of the framework of the fabric of our democracy.

The legislature has its budget and it must operate within its means without seeking emoluments and sponsorship of external organisations that can exact influence on the probity, transparency and integrity of the committees in some quid pro quo arrangement – this must be deemed illegal, corrupt and outlawed. Perceptions matter, always.

A new breed of public servant

One other interesting point is that Ms. Oteh appeared to be quite combative and it is interesting that on Day One the proceedings were not given a public hearing and then the damaging allegations of living large seemed to set the stage for the committee to embarrass the lady for not playing ball with a live and televised hearing which now seems to have back-fired on the legislators.

If you are called to public service in Nigeria – Do not be assimilated and do not be intimidated. Arunma Oteh is a class act.

There is no doubt that our legislature would prefer Nigerians were not privy to the machinations of corruption, pay-for-play, bribery and other despicable practices that have been rumoured about but never verified. With Ms. Oteh’s very public assailing of these rent-seekers there is very little damage limitation that can be done to restore the public’s confidence in our democracy.

We need to put the feet of these people to the fire and apply more pressure on the system to change, to reform and to root out the atrocious wolves in sheep’s clothing who are selfish, self-conceited and greedily feeding on the system with ravenously gluttonous appetites.

If we are to learn anything from Ms. Oteh, our democracy is in need of an urgent reset.

References

Oteh’s bribery allegation: Reps battle to save face | Vanguard Nigeria

Nigeria: Capital Market Probe – Oteh Accuses Committee Chair of Demanding N39 Million for Members

Nigeria: Ministries banned from funding National Assembly – Written in 2008 about conflicts of interested between the legislature and executive.

FGM in Nigeria Courtesy of Universal Health Blog

Note: I have addressed my decision to stick with the original title of this opinion piece in this blog. Thank you.

This discreditable practice

This is 2012 and I find myself writing about acts in parts of the world that belong in a museum of antiquity long before mediaeval times as types of torture that defeminise women in a manifestly atrocious cultural or traditional rite.

Female Genital Mutilation [1] (FGM) despite the international activism against it is still rife and it does take lives without consequences for the perpetrators who do it still with impunity in their quest to hold on to their Neanderthal customs.

In this case, the news [2] in Nigeria is of a 17-year old girl who fled her family home and has been declared missing having witnessed the painful and agonising death over days of her younger sister who was grievously mutilated on January the 15^th 2012.

Embracing shabby traditions

This reprehensibly irresponsible act was coordinated by her grandmother who corralled the family into participating in this rite of torture and enduring grievous bodily harm and what is almost unbelievable about this is the parties involved cannot be so matured in age to be oblivious of modern thinking.

The girls lived in Lagos, a sprawling metropolis and had returned to their homestead for the Christmas holidays in Ijaw-land, which happens to be the place from which our current highly educated, PhD holding President hails. Though from research, this practice is not restricted to that area, it is quite pervasive and it cuts a swathe through the whole south of West-Africa and parts of Chad arcing up through Sudan and Egypt to the north and through Ethiopia and Somalia to the east and horn of Africa where the prevalence [3] is up to 95% like a plague.

Types of FGM

The WHO identifies four types of Female Genital Mutilation [1] which intensify in the incredibly macabre for each more intrusive act that could involve cauterisation; it is almost unreadable for the horror of the exercise.

Type I: removal of the clitoral hood, the skin around the clitoris, with or without partial or complete removal of the clitoris;

Type II: removal of the clitoris with partial or complete removal of the labia minora;

Type III: removal of all or part of the labia minora and labia majora, and the stitching of a seal across the vagina, leaving a small opening for the passage of urine and menstrual blood (infibulation);

Type IV: other miscellaneous acts, including cauterization of the clitoris, cutting of the vagina (gishiri cutting), and introducing corrosive substances into the vagina to tighten it.

Abattoirs of clitoral disgust

These are at best radical surgery, if tradition or custom and in some cases conflated with religion so dictates that this practice is essential, important and of the highest priority, they must be conducted under strict medical conditions probably under general anaesthetic and these village abattoirs of clitoral disgust must be razed.

The barbarity of this exercise is in the fact that seeming knowledgeable people aware of hygienic needs for surgical practice engage in the use of crude implements and unschooled hands hoping to be vindicated by long held traditions and the evidence of those who barely survived the ordeal.

It might be difficult to criminalise FGM in the many societies that practise it but all the charlatans who engage in the mutilation of genitalia outside of accredited modern medical facilities most be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and made a public example of.

Much as one will prefer that this practice be totally outlawed and completely stopped, if that is not possible, then this event must only occur in a hospital under professional supervision after extensive counselling of all parties involved.

This was murder

However, back to the case in Nigeria, the news story says the victim “suffered severe excruciating pains for days after the mutilation of her genital before her death.”

It is very likely that after the mutilation she suffered severe bleeding and the perpetrators waited too long before they took her to hospital, by which time little could be done to save her life and that medical reports indicated she died of a “Post Circumcision haemorrhage.”

She basically bled to death.

Now, one can understand the sadness that accompanies the loss of a child, a grandchild, a sister and being back at the homestead, a close relation. It would appear that death did not remove the blinkers of absurd traditions from the perpetrators that they were ready to butcher the elder sister.

One cannot put it beyond these evil people that they were afraid that their heinous acts will be exposed that they could have schemed to sacrifice two young girls on the altar of tradition in order to cover their criminal enterprise – that calls for an intervention, it is an emergency that calls for justice to be expedited so that Joy Youmgbo would not have died in vain.

Arrest, indict, prosecute

The medical evidence is there, she died of a Post-Circumcision haemorrhage, it is now for the police to go after the grandmother and all her accomplices and pursue at the minimum a charge of manslaughter against all these people.

We have to come to a point in our society where no human being stands the risk of being sacrificed with impunity and with no consequence on the altar of custom, tradition, practice, creed or any belief system and civil society is able to protect the absoluteness of the right to life and happiness without anyone being subjected to the unpalatable for the preservation of the censurably odious.

If anything, the untimely and avoidable death of Joy Youmgbo must lead to greater agitation to stop the practice of FGM in Nigeria, one death is already one too many. I can only hope that Patricia Youmgbo finds succour for her pain of loss and protection from what those demons did to her sister.

STOP FGM NOW!

Sources

[1] Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Wikipedia

[2] Girl, 17 flees home over forced circumcision | Premium Times Nigeria

[3] Prevalence of female genital mutilation by country, Wkipedia

Nigeria - Courtesy of Wikipedia

Touching the untouchable

This is probably one of the most difficult issues to raise in Nigeria but one that requires objective and intellectual engagement more than anything else.

The systems that we have adopted that are inimical to progress and development and a good deal of them need to be abrogated, probably proscribed, in some cases strictly regulated and brought under the purview of the civil authorities so as to eliminate the bias and the sentiment that tolerates abuse.

The Time magazine published an article last weekend about Nigeria [1] and what jumped out at me was the Tweet posted that was used to bring footfall to the story.

I wept

 “Sometimes they fight dogs for food.”

I guessed things were bad in Nigeria with the poverty, health and security situations but not this bad that children will be jostling with dogs for food with the risk of getting bitten and all the attendant issues that might follow like contracting rabies and much else.

There are serious humanitarian and child welfare issues that need to be addressed with urgency, if only those who matter can allow themselves to be moved with compassion above all else.

In the wrong place

The first paragraph alone presents a setting that is almost primitive and it is mediaeval; beyond the religious accoutrements on the walls is the sad story of a very ill boy of 15 with his younger brother nursing him, if there was anything he could do in the situation apart from providing comfort by his presence.

A child in the 21^st Century ill with malaria and typhoid fever should be in hospital being tended by modern medicine with the hope for recovery. The story is he had not eaten since the night before and the only hope for food was from leftovers in a neighbouring house.

The unwritten part of this travesty is if the sick were going hungry, there is no telling what will be the case of the nominally healthy and if the many were going hungry you can imagine after scrapping with dogs with the scratching and bites it will take the unusual milk of human kindness for that food to be given to the weak.

Where is our heart for the children?

The plight of children in Nigeria is a serious one and we need to put away many of the preconceived notions built on long held views to deal with what is both shameful and disgraceful – no creed or doctrine can be seen to condone or tolerate this, talk less of revel in this unconscionable evil masquerading as schooling for some higher purpose.

There should be no reason for children with living parents to live the existence of those deprived of love, of care, of consideration and the basic elements of food, health, good education and access to opportunity that many others take for granted.

It is incumbent on the elite and the intellectuals of communities where these activities thrive to excoriate the system in totality, condemning the perpetrators and offering progressive steps to child welfare must take priority along with adequate resources to redress the situation.

An unsure future

The more one reads into the article, it is evident that this is an emergency. Children hundreds of miles from their homes in squalid surroundings and unregulated institutions that portend to offer the kids a future though none of which is evident from the training or the activities they are forced to indulge in to keep body and soul together.

Begging in the streets, no matter how palatable the promoters try to make it is a low esteem complex that reaffirms a state of destitution, a lack of opportunity and a pliable mob that could be conscripted into nefarious activities of unscrupulous lords.

Besides, these people, children and by all standards citizens of Nigeria for the failings of their families, their communities and their governments are easy prey for all sorts of abuse from the basic withdrawal of support through physical abuse and the absence of essential care to sexual abuse and possibly murder which can happen with impunity; they all need to have their rights championed and asserted by all well-meaning people throughout Nigeria and beyond.

We need to talk

For a country so great and resourceful, it is a shame and disgrace that our children live in these conditions from day to day and there is no telling how many more in the name of evidently bad traditions have lost their minds and lives to untold destitution and the indifference that has made this evil an untouchable minefield.

It is time to talk about these matters, some practices need to be outlawed, others proscribed, some institutions need to be regulated by unbiased secular authorities, there is no doubt that some sacred cows will need to be butchered without mercy and the conditions in these environments must be raised to meet standards of boarding schools that provide proper meals, a strict curriculum, vocational training and proper inspection regimes.

Children should not be on the streets begging and proprietors should be held responsible for ensuring that when their wards are externally graded, they are within the aptitude and abilities of their peers in other public institutions.

We have deferred too long to systems that offer no functional development in our communities, regardless of our persuasions, service still matters and there is dignity in labour but that requires we train up children to be productive members of their communities at first and hopefully to the nation at large.

Source

[1] Nigeria’s Abandoned Youth: Are They Potential Recruits for Militants?

When a man is unable to allow his utterances be controlled by his cranial matter we assume the person is drunk because alcohol has a way of loosening the tongue. If there is no sign that the person is inebriated we begin to question the mental capacity of the person and words like stupid, dolt, idiot or cretin come to mind.

However, if such a person falls into neither category because we are aware of the person’s intellect and his bearing is such that alcohol and stupidity are excluded, you are left to wonder and ponder at what the issue might be.

Running Nigeria is neither for the inebriated nor the stupid, it is a job that calls on all faculties; the exhibited ones need to be alert, sharp and commanding of the authority and bearing expected of such who dare to lead.

Taking stock

The time has come and the time is now that we can no more acquiesce to low expectations and levels of achievement that are redolent of indolence rather than hardworking effective and efficient leadership.

In our 6^th decade of independence, we have no time for people learning on the job, lacking aims, plans, mission or a vision as to where they intend to take Nigeria in the short term and at the end of their term in office.

Our democratic experiment is now close to concluding its 13^th year and what we have seen more of is profligacy, prodigality, waste, corruption and a lack of accountability. Billions of dollars have been ploughed into infrastructure as power, roads, transport, rail, health and education but there has been very little to show for those investments.

Rather our legislators have growth fat on the largesse of the country earning humongous sums that will make the eyes of real creators of jobs and masters of industry water – to think from anecdotal evidence that our federal legislators earn more than presidents or leaders of more advanced economies and then to see a paltry work rate that is self-serving rather than in the service of the people is unconscionable, dishonest, corrupt and unsustainable.

Things are NOT changing

However, the biggest question remains what plans do they all have for the progress of Nigeria and when will they stop promising and start delivering?

After the 2 weeks of Occupy Nigeria and the strikes that ended yesterday, it appears the reluctant government in perpetual inertia was forced to be responsive albeit unilateral in all their decision-making dispensing of the rule of law for expediency and convenience that the legislature is found having to exert itself as the usually careless overseer of executive excess.

And careless they have been because they have still not addressed the criminally fraudulent matter of noticing the executive budgeted N250bn for fuel subsidies in 2011 and actually had spent N1.3trn by September and they are asking for more to cover the whole of 2011.

It still beggars belief that there are no checks and moderating influences over the executive to ensure they do not overspend without recourse to the legislature and if they do, there are no sanctions and repudiations to be made to all responsible with the possibility of criminal prosecution.

It is incredible that any organ of government can overspend by 500% and the other organs of government abdicate their responsibility with impunity; it indicates how corruption has eaten into the fabric of Nigerian governance that it is impossible for it to reform without some radical act of the people or God forbid some other intervention that forcibly resets this untenable and flagrant abuse of democratic processes.

We are caught as I once said before in the grip of an unconscionable kakistocracy – it is the government by the worse people ever selected to be in leadership.

Doing the worst of the least

Just before words could be taken out of our mouths, the president when addressing certain youths who in their excellence might abdicate their initiative and innate abilities for subservience to the government we have today, he said, “If we cannot build good roads for our children; if we cannot leave hospitals for them, then one thing we must not leave for them is debt, for them to come and pay.”[1]

I have been trying to get my head round what the president really meant by this statement because try as I might, I have found it impossible to make anything positive of it.

Then to think someone thought this statement was so positively profound that is was the quote on the FrontPage advertisement of BusinessDay just shows how low our expectations of this government have precipitously fallen that the government is not even exerting itself to anything at all.

Nigeria needs roads and she needs hospitals, those will contribute to the lifeblood of our economy and wellbeing. Even theoretical economists who always tend to leave out the serious human dimension in their modelling know that road infrastructure and healthcare are critical elements of development that if we end up in debt facilitating such the long term economic benefits will eventually pay off the debts.

A race to ruin

What I read here is a man that we have in elected office as president who has no vision for the country, he is as laidback as a rug with not particular goals apart from the default of not leaving the debts to our children whilst in the 5 years that he has been running mate either as vice-president or president he has presided over such an expansion of government to no end but for the aggrandisement of their debauched lifestyles of untold opulence leaving nothing for the people.

It is a race to ruin that does not address the real problems that affect the country be it corruption, profligacy or the security deficit that allows a high-level terrorist suspect to escape from custody at a time when the country is in a heightened state of security.

Occupy their lives

This, my friends can no more continue, we have another 40 months of this regime and something must give, it cannot be the people giving in to business as usual anymore, we need to make these people responsible, accountable and earning each kobo of their keep.

Our Occupy Nigeria movement needs to spearhead a series of tenacious occupations, we must occupy their minds, occupy their thoughts, occupy their time, occupy their space, occupy their lives, audit their time, audit their spend, audit their lives, micro-manage all their activities and call each and every one who takes money from the Nigerian coffers to account.

Politics in Nigeria must stop being a cushy job of high-living in ostentatious consumption to feed insatiable hedonistic appetites, these people should be too busy to find time for such excess and if they cannot stand the heat, they should resign.

Occupy and force change for the better

If a politician is not ready to put their best forward and make Nigeria the main priority of their lives with everything Nigeria being front and centre of their focus, it is time for them to retire with no benefits, they should take to life like all other Nigerians do. Enough of this nonsense, enough of the rottenness that is eating this country to the core and enough of the clueless leadership that needs to be given a good boot kick in the backside to start performing.

Occupy Nigeria for the change we deserve and we either force these people to do it or force them out but by God, we will not wait until 2015 for this indolence to become so ingrained that the future would have been eternally mortgaged to this looming debacle and apology of a state of affairs.

Occupy! The time is now.

Source

[1] Jonathan blames politicians for Nigeria’s woes | Premium Times Nigeria

President Goodluck Jonathan presenting an award

The Nigerian National Honour Awards 2010/2011 season over the last couple of weeks became a hot topic with international dimensions that now requires a review because it brought to the fore some serious issues about Nigeria.

The first controversy that arose came from the House of Representatives Minority Leader Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila when he rejected the offer [1] of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (OFR).

In discussions that ensued on social media forums, many were quick to question his motives being a member of the opposition ACN party, that is powerful in the South-West of Nigeria, it is however sad that the political landscape of Nigeria is so tainted that politicians with seemingly altruistic ideals get lumped together with the political benchwarmers and jobbers that constitute the rent-seeking class of leeches inimical to progress in Nigeria.

However, it is sometimes important to separate the message from the messenger and sieve the message for the gems whilst discarding the dirt; at least that seems to be the only way to gain insight into the workings of Nigeria.

Mr Gbajamiabila in his letter of rejection opined that the awards process had been abused, the bill he sponsored to review the process did not get sufficient parliamentary time and that the awards should reflect incontrovertible meritorious service rather than it being used as a vehicle of presidential patronage. “This has reduced what otherwise was a well-intended and noble idea to a national joke.” He said, and many would agree.

Things still falling apart

Soon afterwards, the highly esteemed Chinua Achebe rejected the offer [2] of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFR) which he had once rejected before in 2004. Uncharitably, one can say the government was lacking in imagination in offering the same title rejected 7 years before as if the awardee had not distinguished themselves the more since the first rejection.

Paying back the government in the hand he was dealt, Professor Achebe contended the issues he raised on his first rejection were still present, unaddressed and unresolved. His rejection lit up the international newswires as he is literally the foremost African literary luminary; known for especially for his 1958 novel, Things Fall Apart.

Again, on social media forums, the discussion was quite divided as some were livid with rage at the professor whilst others could recognise the views expressed by him but the most important reaction to his rejection [3] came from the Nigerian Presidency.

Having had their gift horse rejected, they proceeded to damn the man with praise making a clear inference that Professor Achebe was oblivious of the great changes that have taken place in Nigeria; citing the elections which in general appeared free and fair but in all fairness and honesty, those elections whilst appearing to be the best ever held did not mean they were the best that could be held. The government could not point to any other amazingly inspiring changes that could have persuaded the professor to reconsider his views. Meanwhile, one must note that the professor was already an OFR.

Records of degeneration

The Presidency might have been given the benefit of the doubt with regards to a Minority Leader or a Professor in exile but back in Nigeria was Professor Grace Alele-Williams who was the first female Vice Chancellor of a major university in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In her case, her rejection or rather consternation [4] was piqued by the fact that she was being awarded a national honour she had already received 10 years before; she was awarded an OFR.

It goes without saying that there will be a general consensus to honour Professor Alele-Williams again with a higher award and she did not mince her words excoriating the system that allowed for what one should term an unforgivable error.

In what should be Nigeria’s premier award scheme, one would have thought the best brains would apply all due diligence and meticulousness in selecting the awardees, researching their history and sounding them out before making public their decisions.

Professor Alele-Williams had the following to say, “This says a lot about record keeping in this country and it is disheartening to see the country we strove to build degenerate to such level.” And she then went on to, “enjoin Nigerians to collectively stand up to the cankerworm of corruption, which has eaten deep into the fabrics (sic) of the nation.”

Comparing what Professor Achebe abroad said about there being no change in the last 7 years and what Professor Alele-Williams in Nigeria said about degeneration measured over presumably 10 years or more, you might be persuaded more of the opinions of the professors about Nigeria than what appears to be the fallacy of the Presidency – but maybe that is just an opinion too.

A really dull speech

So, Monday the 14^th of November was the day of the investiture in which 355 “esteemed” Nigerians – taking cognisance of Mr Gbajamiabila’s objections were – honoured.

President Goodluck Jonathan gave a long and almost rambling speech [5], @jongambrellAP live-tweeted the speech which included trivia like, “I am informed that since the inception of the Award Scheme in 1963, a total of 3,924 persons have received National Honours.”

I got so exasperated that I tweeted, “Who writes these President Goodluck Jonathan speeches? They are so uninspiringly pedestrian as a catalyst for terminal depression.” That got retweeted another 19 times indicating there was probably some agreement with that view.

Deviating from his prepared speech, the President from paragraph 24 of the published text took time to educate us in the nomination process noting that very young people were confused about the awards system and even dared compare the National Awards Committee with the Norwegian Nobel Committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize whilst also differentiating the Nigerian National Honours Award from the Nigerian National Merit Award. The President should have kept to the script, in my humble opinion; a lacklustre prepared speech embellished with uncharismatic ad-libbing makes for an even duller presentation.

A kakistocracy of incompetence

As if that was not bad enough, the President ran out of medals [6] to present the awardees, some tweets suggested they were more than 50% short and like the professors and the legislator had said, there has been no improvement considering the same President was embarrassed last year for the lack of medals [7] to award some of the present awardees during the even more auspicious 50^th Independence anniversary of Nigeria.

Though the Secretary to the Federal Government spared the President some embarrassment it was just as embarrassing that knowing there were so many recipients, not enough planning and preparation went into ensuring that the occasion was as auspicious for the awardees, not to talk of the international community present to witness another unpalatable narrative of Nigeria in transformation.

We cannot continue to excuse and tolerate the rank incompetence that permeates every sector of our society that the organisation of such a premier event honouring the best and most lauded of Nigerians in the eyes of the government be served with breath-taking cack-handedness that will sap even the most optimistic Nigerian of hope for progressive change, whilst adding grist to the mill of the critics, but the government and its organs are justifiably deserving of scorn and excoriation for this debacle and show of shame.

In the end, history appears to have already sided with Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, Professor Chinua Achebe and Professor Grace Alele-Williams; we Nigerians are once again caught in the merciless iron grip of a heartless and unconscionable kakistocracy – a government indeed by the worst of men.

Sources

[1] House of Reps Gbajabiamila, Minority Leader rejects national award | Transparency for Nigeria

[2] Chinua Achebe rejects an honor from Nigeria – CSMonitor.com

[3] Achebe’s rejection of national honour regrettable | Nigerian Presidency

[4] National Mirror – National award: I’ve an OFR already –Alele-Williams

[5] President Jonathan’s address at the 2010/2011 National Honours Award investiture ceremony

[6] Insufficient Medals as President Jonathan Decorates Nigerians at National Awards – Nigeria Business News

[7] The Nation – Shortage of medals mars national award ceremony

Our pride

It is always heartening to read of Nigerians winning awards or receiving international recognition for their work most especially if they are resident in Nigeria.

At the best of times, it is not the easiest country to set up business in and going from the experience of some, it is even harder to be a newspaper and a quality newspaper at that.

A few weeks ago, we were informed that the NEXT newspaper will no more appear in print, many lamented the prospect whilst opining about the course that newspaper charted that made it a pariah to advertising agencies thereby starving it of essential revenue to thrive.

NEXT was the best

This blog is not being written as an exegesis to those failings; those issues are for others to ponder. However, accolades have been raining on the newspaper like Noah’s flood; last week, Dele Olojede the founder won [1] the 4^th John P. McNulty Prize and the citation read “in recognition of his ground breaking work to deliver unbiased information to the Nigerian public, demand government transparency and advance journalistic standards in the country.”

On Tuesday, at the FAIR [2] (Forum for African Investigative Reporters) African Investigative Journalism Awards in Johannesburg, South Africa, NEXT reporters Peter Nkanga and Idris Akinbajo emerged as African Investigative Reporters of the Year for their joint work, entitled “Last Minutes Oil Deal that Cost Nigeria Dear” whilst the editor Musikilu Mojeed carted away the Courage Award.

Courage in the abyss

It is important to recount the citations that accompany these awards; in the case of the reporters, “The report is one of the six-part ground-breaking series which catalogued a courageous journey into our heart of darkness, the oil industry, as we investigate brazen attempts by our senior officials, including petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, to corner the oil industry for themselves, openly demanding bribes, and using cronies and fronts to grab oil blocs in secretive deals.”

Having compiled their report, it was left to the editor to weigh the consequences of that age-old saying, “publish and be damned,” he courageously published the report and for that he “was honoured for demonstrating rare courage and providing the right kind of leadership to get the stories published in spite of high-level pressures, police harassment, attempted monetary inducement and threats to his life.”

They never cared for corruption

From the analysis that followed awarding these prizes to the now eminent personnel of NEXT, it was suggested that in any other country less corrupt and less tolerant of malfeasance, prebendalism or neopatrimonialism, the minister will not only have lost her job in disgrace, she would duly have lost her freedom too, having to go to jail.

Sadly, it is Nigeria where with all the incontrovertible facts and evidence presented to all that matter, the President with his transformational agenda re-nominated the minister for her old position after the elections and the Nigerian Senate being derelict, irresponsible and nonchalant about these rotten allegations barely questioned her but ratified her appointment thereby granting a seal of approval to a corrupt enterprise that reeked to the high heavens.

The award corroborates the reports

Now, there is no reason for FAIR to wade into the political quagmire of Nigeria and expose the sows with their snouts deep in the trough of corruption, they could easily have adopted other less politically inflammatory pieces to grant their award.

Each entry would have been judged on more than its merits for good reporting but would have been reviewed against the kinds of pressures militating against such activity being exposed to public knowledge.

It automatically lends a lie to the idea that everything that constitutes this government we now have in Nigeria with the majority PDP ruling party have a desire to tackle corruption at any level. They instigate, promote, espouse and embrace corruption as their modus operandi suborning as many as can be bought to that same cause.

They are a corrupt lot

Where the President might have had the backbone to stem the tide at the top, he acquiesced and celebrated the epitome of corruption as the lifeblood of his regime and in swearing-in the minister gave license to impunity, the minister probably continuing from where she left off knowing nothing will come of the investigations of the puny inconsequential reporters of the moribund NEXT newspaper stable.

With this award, one will hope the whole Corrupted Industrial Complex (CIC) that makes up the totality of the Federal Government of Nigeria is duly exposed to the world and our foreign partners that they have no consideration for good governance, probity or transparency and sadly, Nigerians thinking they have a democracy are in fact, caught in the merciless iron grip of a heartless and unconscionable kakistocracy – a government by the worst of men.

For the salvation of Nigeria – woe betide them all.

Sources

[1] 234Next.com | Olojede wins John P. McNulty Prize

[2] 234Next.com | NEXT editor, two reporters win African investigative journalism awards

[3] 234Next.com | Last minute oil deals that cost Nigeria dear

Fuel Pump, Courtesy of Business Day Online

This blog is cross-posted originally from AkinBlog.nl

The Fuel Subsidy Debate

The Nigerian Social Media space has been considering the possibility of Nigerians waking up from their docility and acceptance of everything thrown at them by their indifferent government to the inspiration of their own Arab Spring early next year.

This has been predicated by the decision of the government to remove subsidies from Premium Motor Spirit what we generally call fuel subsidy early next year.

The chatter has really been confounded by the situation where over decades there have been threats and salami-sliced implementations of the removal but no one is particularly sure of how much that subsidy really is, that it has become some imaginary slush fund of ready cash that the government suggests it will plough back into the economy taking cognisance of the effects such a removal might have on the working classes.

The Truth About Our Government

Sadly, the government has never really had a track record of ploughing oil profits back into the pockets of Nigerians except in the mid-70s after which plunder and squander has been the tack of those in leadership with little consideration of the bottom-line and particular welfare of the generality of the people – there are points for argument in the previous statement but little to dispute in terms of results.

Fundamentally, the fuel subsidy is literally the substrate of the totality of the Nigerian economy, it will touch on every aspect of life in relation to prices for food, goods, transport and every other service apart from the inflationary pressures it will present, but those issues are best left to central bankers and economists whilst one deals with a few other brass tacks.

Plans or Fables?

As a producer of petroleum products, it is bordering on the atrocious that Nigeria imports about 85% of its refined fuel needs because its existing four refineries are poorly managed and are lacking in serious productive capacity which means that the federal government subsidies imported fuel to the tune of $4 billion annually. [TransparencyNG]

Commonsense will suggest that the long-term goal of the government will be to facilitate, encourage or sponsor raising our refined fuel capacity to levels that will ensure that the subsidy expended in imports is radically reduced, at least that is what informed the signing of the memorandum of understanding with the China State Construction Engineering Corporation in May last year to build refineries in Lagos, Kebbi and Bayelsa States at the cost of $23 billion. [TransparencyNG][China in Africa][BBC News]

Whilst it is interesting to note the activity of the Chinese in building refineries in Ghana, Niger and Nigeria, what made interesting news a few months ago was the idea that Niger might get way ahead of Nigeria in commissioning its own refineries and end up exporting refined fuel to Nigeria. [All Africa]

How Much Is The Subsidy?

Besides, it appears no one is sure of what the cost of subsidising fuel is, the Central Bank in its MPC Meeting minutes suggested that the cost was about $6 billion, the on-going debate in the Nigerian Senate suggests the Federal Government budgeted NGN 240 billion ($1.54 billion) for subsidies in 2011 but have found that cost inflated to NGN 1.5 trillion ($9 6 billion) in what is a looking like a typical Nigerian scam. [CBN (PDF) Page 3][All Africa]

This amazing discrepancy should have heads rolling faster than when the Bastille movement chopped off heads in the French revolution, but none such will happen because the matter of responsibility leading on to accountability is just absent in Nigerian governance.

As an aside, the real big cost of governance sits within the profligate nature of our Federal Government, the abuse of security votes at state government level and the exorbitance of our legislature that consumes over 25% of our Federal Government overheads without essentially being a productive sector of our economy.

Indonesia Caught in Denials

Much as the idea of building more refining capacity in Nigeria does not seem to appeal to those resolute in finding another largesse to nudge their greedy snouts into, what adds insult to injury in spite of the now seemingly white elephant plans to build refineries in Nigeria is the news that Nigeria plans to invest Rp 24 trillion (US$2.68 billion) in Indonesia to build three refineries. [Jakarta Post]

The Nigerian Government has gone to great lengths to deny this report, but one has to ask why Indonesia will dream up such a scheme if there were no iota of truth in the same. The Nigerian Government unfortunately for all its protestations has a Matilda Complex about it, its propensity for denying fact and defending lies is legendary especially with the instrument of Social Media personnel it has employed for propaganda, obfuscation, distraction and alienation. [All Africa][AkinBlog]

Our Insurrection In Planning

It has become known that any opposition to the government is quickly construed as unpatriotic whilst the government has perfected a complacency of siege mentality proffering more excuse than reason for any action or inaction they have found themselves in.

At the end of the day, the reasonable thing about fuel subsidy is for Nigeria to build and sustain its refining capacity by whatever means encourages that trajectory and it is only after that is put in place that the desire to remove the fuel subsidy can be justified.

Nigerians have two and a half long months to put everything in place to start off their justifiable insurrection against a moribund, ineffective government in détente and inertia, for once, let us – Arise, O Compatriots and heed a call for a democracy that is fair, just, honest and true.

Some background

And so the Nigerian Senators having spent 46 of the first 100 days of this legislative term in recess resumed the active duty of promulgating serious legislation which last week included the Same Gender Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2011.

The bill after much lively debate passed its second reading, but it behoves one to examine the purpose and intent of such a bill in Nigeria today.

It is quite evident that in much of Africa a swathe of fundamentalist religious fervour has swept through many countries endangering the lives of homosexuals. In Uganda, for the past few years, not only has the clamour to criminalise homosexuality rang out, the punishments to be meted out included the possibility of the death penalty.

Tolerated impunity in Africa

In January, a gay activist was bludgeoned to death by someone ready to plead gay-panic defence and his death cannot have been unrelated to the harshly virulent, bigoted and intolerant rhetoric of politicians and religious leaders alike who have with Machiavellian determination mined the mob element of the people to support the atrocious.

In South Africa with both homosexuality and same sex marriage legal, lesbians have been subjected to “corrective” rape, some have died in such attacks and I was completely repulsed beyond measure when a video was circulated of the public humiliation of a lesbian in West Africa with onlookers literally cheering on.

In other words, the concept of the acceptance of homosexuality in Africa will only be under duress from free societies in negotiations for other things than it becoming an accepted thing in society.

No danger of progressive thinking

Now, that is not to say that homosexuality does not exist in Africa, it has existed amongst humanity from time immemorial and for many in Africa it has not required the so-called influence of Western societies for it to be present and possibly thrive, no matter how little the numbers are.

That said, it will take a leap of faith bordering on the impossible to countenance a time when same sex marriage will gain any form acceptance where the law already prescribes punishments not far off from what would have made the Mosaic stoning acts almost merciful.

In the reports about the debate, as we have observed in other countries where homosexuality laws have been repealed, the legislators employed interestingly colourful language, all possibly based on conjuring the most revolting images to blackmail the unpersuaded to take sides for this attack on civil liberties.

Blackmail by revulsion

Taking root from religious law, they have conflated homosexuality with paedophilia, incest and bestiality which probably happens more amongst professed heterosexuals but it never finds mention. It would be nigh on impossible for such legislators to promulgate laws against adultery or fornication, though one is not suggesting that they have the propensity for such.

In the case of rape, when mention was made of the gang-rape and criminal assault of a lady, a member of the House of Representatives had the temerity to question the need for such discussion in the midst of other pressing Nigerian problems – it would have been wonderful for such minds to prevail on the fact that same sex marriage is not on the horizon for Nigeria in the foreseeable future and hence the debate was just an abject waste of time.

The bill was sponsored by 26 senators of which 3 were women, one of whom was once a Federal Minister of Finance; it invalidates unions and does not recognise any same sex marriages contracted in foreign countries where such is legal.

Witnesses criminalised more

What is quite amusing about the penalties is where the subjects of the “solemnisation” of the marriage are liable to 3 years of imprisonment whilst witnesses to such an event face either a term of 5 years imprisonment or a fine of NGN 2,000 or both.

In terms of groups, the fine is limited to NGN 50,000. What is confusing about what is patently a bad law is that it appears the same-sex marriage participants are not as severely punished as the witnesses to such an event – there are no two ways of stating that a bad law punishes observers more than the actors – it is radically and patently flawed whilst at the same time unfortunate that supposed learned legislators are blinded by moral fury so as to be oblivious of the miscarriage of justice that looms in the wake of this outrageously condemnable stance.

You have to ask if the stenographers or publishers of such laws for debate take time to review their copy, proofread the documents and ensure that ambiguity and incorrect spelling, context or content is accounted for.

In the section about the interpretation of the law, it suggests that “Same Gender Marriage” means the coming together of persons of the same sex with the purpose of leaving (sic) [I suppose living was intended here.] together as husband and wife or for other purposes of [a] same sexual (sic) [sex] relationship.

Unintended consequence already evident

However, let us not be given to unnecessary pedantry and look at the issues here; in the prevailing circumstances our Senators have just legislated for a mirage with the hope that they have handled an issue that hardly if even remotely touches any sense of reality – this bill shows an idleness of purpose with people so highly paid but lacking in principle, priority and focus to tackle more thorny issues that affect Nigeria and Nigerians at large.

Human-beings will always be human-beings and they will satisfy whatever feeling and persuasion they have regardless of the laws that encroach into the morality of society to attack an almost invisible minority.

The greater danger will be in the many who because of societal pressures will attempt to present public heterosexual lives whilst they pursue secret homosexual liaisons in what is commonly known as being on the Down-Low.

Societies that promulgate moral laws will always suffer from the almost schizophrenic tendency for people to live double lives, men or women with their families eventually getting caught up in literally unspeakable circumstances.

The wheels of social justice in reverse

The Same Gender Marriage (Prohibition) Bill is not one Nigeria needs at any time, it is legislating for the unforeseeable in anticipation of the improbable where there are no extenuating circumstances of evidence available to show that the country is vulnerable or prone to any such development.

Even in countries where Same Sex Marriage is legal, the homosexuals are not flocking to the altar in droves, it takes a lot to develop relationships between people regardless of gender-pairing and somehow our learned legislators in attempting to appear knowledgeable have just exposed they utter ignorance of a side of human nature they are completely clueless of – if we have such lack of expertise addressing even more pertinent legislative issues in Nigeria, we are the much poorer for it and we are sadder for the brigandage that allows for so much to be paid for such inconsequential and irrelevant service to Nigerians.

In the end, where we have allowed moral laws to trample on the rights of other who have committed in the eyes of this unjust law victimless crimes, the wheel of negative social justice reforms is never stationary, it continues to roll until to encroaches on other rights abrogated by reason of some moral law or code – we already see that our leadership have to compelled to speak up for victims of sexually violence, they probably will not readily condemn violence against others as a result of this bill as we inure ourselves from the plight of others.

Acknowledgements

The basic document of the Same Gender Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2011 the news reports of the debating the bill appeared on ThisDayLive and The Nation newspapers.

Professing religious raconteurs

Nigeria as we know is a country replete with religious symbolism as leaders all tend to wear their faith on their sleeves with every opportunity to speak filled with divine incursion that almost presents them as the clergy.

With the 51^st Independence anniversary of Nigeria on Saturday the first of October 2011, one would expect that there would be religious services with leaders taking the pulpit, lectern, podium or rostrum depending on where such a service is held.

The President, Goodluck Jonathan is a Christian and he attended the Interdenominational service held in the weekend where he appeared to offer many biblical analogies using popular bible characters to set his place in what we should expect of the task that he has ahead of him.

The Nigerian social media had been agog with excerpts of his message to the congregation of the great and the good that attended the service but after seeing the newspaper reports of the quotes, one is left quite concerned, seriously perturbed and bemused by the irony of it all.

Foreheads of Goliath

One needs to assess each character introduced in his message to see if the analogies are apt or wanting in a fuller context and interpretation.

Chief amongst his statements was, “God will soon expose the foreheads of Nigeria’s Goliaths.” Now, Goliath of Gath was a terrifyingly huge man and warrior in the Philistine army who made all the Israelite armies cower in fear, none able to take on his challenge for a man-to-man combat.

As the story goes, David, a ruddy haired shepherd had been sent to the warfront with food supplies for his elder brothers when he heard the challenge that in his youth exuberance he offered to go up against the giant not with the customary armour or weapons of war but with a sling and five stones he picked up from the brook.

David and Goliath never met in hand-to-hand combat, rather he slung a stone and it hit Goliath in the forehead knocking him stone cold dead – much has been made of this story, the triumph of an underdog, the bravery of the inexperienced, the victory over an almost impossibly powerful enemy and so on.

Nigeria as the President suggested does have a number of Goliaths to deal with and she probably has not been blessed with people sufficiently David enough to be daring to take on the Goliath challenge, the probability of another David-Goliath moment occurring is better left to others to analyse.

No Davids to spare

Quoting liberally from the 234Next.com news report, “If you listen to some of the things people say or write in papers, some people would want the president to be a lion; some people would want the president to be a troop commander who would crush everybody on sight. Unfortunately, I am not a troop commander. I am not an army General. Some would want the president to be like David or other warriors in the Bible, unfortunately, I am not one of those.”

This deluge of supposed comparisons is a bit worrisome but not beyond comprehension, we can appreciate here that the President is not a lion – one would suppose there are characteristics of bravery, courage and presence a lion has that the President is suggesting he does not have – that is no sin.

The President is a civilian so the expectation that he be a marauding troop commander is a bit far-fetched, most leaders of nations of the world do not belong in the military and they are in considerable control of their briefs.

However, “Some would want the president to be like David or other warriors in the Bible, unfortunately, I am not one of those.” This does become worrisome not so much for the other warriors that cowered but for the fact that there was no point having the forehead of Goliath exposed if there is no David available to sling a stone – the President had put himself out of the running for David leaving Goliath a seriously looming threat.

Boasting like Nebuchadnezzar

Obviously, with the President giving this speech, he had rubbished the idea that he was sequestered in a bunker suffering from siege mentality as he lamented why “some Nigerians chose to vilify us.” Despite the achievements of his government in 100 or 500 days depending on your numeracy skills drawing on the evidence that his government had recently been praised by President Barack Obama and President Jacob Zuma.

The Daily Times of Nigeria published this excerpt, “You have been praying for us; some others do not want the government to move an inch, I mean those of us who are politicians. The only prayer I need from you is for God to use me to change this country. I don’t need to be like Nebuchadnezzar, David or other great men to change this country, but with your prayer, I can change this nation; we can make the difference.”

Again, we appreciate the many obstacles to progress, we also acknowledge the need for prayer but it does not preclude the need for action, it is difficult to read what is intended if the President having been in office over 500 days appears to be unsure if he is engaged in the usage necessary to change the country – for all our prayers, which are exhortations of Godspeed, it requires a man of ability and purpose to step into the fray and demonstrate the power of divine providence.

Nebuchadnezzar II was the great king of Babylon who conquered the Jews and sent them into exile, his fame got to him boasting of his achievements that he lost his sanity for a season until he acknowledged the lordship of God. The President having boasted of the achievements of administration will hate to then end up in that king’s narrative.

Fearful examples of bad luck

Other characters that appeared in his speech included the Kings of Syria (maybe Assyria), Babylon and Egypt and particular reference was made to the Pharaoh of Egypt; however, biblical records of history show that none of these rulers who had unparalleled heights of power in their time had a successful end to their careers of leadership and no Nigeria will wish this on the President.

We do have to return to the Goliath story because it set in motion a chain of events that makes President Jonathan’s analogies a bit suspect. When David killed and beheaded Goliath, he took the head to the Saul the King of Israel. The king honoured him, gave David his daughter in marriage who sadly bore him no offspring and also gave him control of a battalion of soldiers.

Jonathan’s own story

Saul’s first son was Jonathan, Jonathan struck a deep friendship with David and even though by rights Jonathan should have been heir to the throne of Israel, the acts of Saul his father and the growing popularity of David amongst the people along with other extenuating circumstances meant that Jonathan will not accede the throne.

Saul and all his heirs eventually fell in battle and thereby the lament that went up from David, “How have the mighty fallen, And the weapons of war perished!”

It goes without saying that Goliath of Gath was the making of David and the undoing of Jonathan, the analogies and metaphors used by President Goodluck Jonathan may have hoped to give prominence to his talismanic name of Goodluck but on closer scrutiny, it exposes the unfortunate side of Jonathan which did not end with his death because on learning that Jonathan had died the maid nursingMephibosheth his 5-year old son dropped him to the ground in her bid to escape crippling the child.

If the President does not cast himself in the role of David to tackle the Goliaths he has identified on the Nigerian battlefront, we might well abandon hope for a victory in the task set before him to change Nigeria.

Zoology is a better vocation

It goes without saying that the President is best advised to desist from making use of biblical analogies because none appear to bode well for him as they expose more of his weaknesses than the essential strength expected of a leader in his position. As an erudite of zoology, he might have fared better.

If a speechwriter was employed to write the speech he delivered at the service, it would not be too harsh to wish an Absalom moment on such a person – he was the 3^rd son of David and in leading a revolt against his father; his long hair got caught on the branch of a tree, left hanging but alive, he was in vulnerable enough a state to be killed.

From what I have read of my Twitter timeline, the President’s speech was at best dreadful and appalling awful, it lacked opportunity or resolve and it leaves one with that sinking feeling that he is paralysed by the weight of his achievement of great office to extend, exert and effect himself in any appreciable way for Nigeria or Nigerians.

In another biblical story, Lazarus of Bethany was raised from the dead, you have wonder if there is a Lazarus in Jonathan for Goodluck to become a David and defeat the Goliaths that mock Nigeria with impunity.

Courtesy of the ReBranding Nigeria Campaign

Rebranding Nigeria

An unfortunate article sullying the reputation of Nigeria and Nigerians as having a propensity for Internet Fraud, 419-related crimes [1] and email scams has set in motion an inspired campaign to convert the Internet search for “fraud” to results that will now paint Nigeria and Nigerians in better light.

Peter J. Reilly, writing for Forbes.com published an article three weeks ago titled Nigerians Switching From Greed to Fear [2] which he changed to Switching From Greed to Fear after a Nigerian took exception to his views in a comment; he then went on to write an apology Fraud Has No Nationality- Apology to Nigeria [3].

Writing for change

Meanwhile, Nigerian bloggers starting with Jidenma Nmachi suggested every Nigerian on the Internet should start a blog [4] to militate against the negative stereotypes of Nigeria with the hope that the deluge of blogs will take Nigeria out of fraud context related Internet searches.

Meanwhile, I felt before we all rushed to crowd out the Internet with blogs there was a fundamental issue with English education in Nigeria in a blog titled Nigeria: The need for improved English education [5] which was original posted on my blog.

It is interesting to note that a comment left at the NigeriansTalk blog suggests my writing as an example of the reason why this is needed, because in Peter Iredale’s opinion, I “lack the ability to write in clear, coherent, [and] grammatically correct sentences.”

I will be the first to say I do not have formal English qualifications at graduate level and even though English is my mother tongue, I have never pretended to write for the illiterate or those whose comprehension of English is below a particular level of professional education. Mr. Iredale is however welcome to redline my copy, and I am willing to learn to express myself more effectively in English.

Concerted Positive Branding

Then Chika Uwazie uploaded a video response at the following site The Truth About Nigerian 419: Response to Peter J Reilly Article on Forbes [6] where she advocated “Nigerians need to do more positive branding in order to remove ourselves from this negative label of fraud” and email scams.

This lead to an innovative and inspired idea from Peter J. Reilly in 419 Reasons to Like Nigeria and Nigerians – Part 1 [7] where he suggested Nigerians make lists of 419 Reasons to Like Nigeria and Nigerians, in what I think is becoming a crusade that is beyond redeeming himself for an infraction to helping initiate a concerted effort to rid Nigeria of atrocious stereotypes.

I will suggest that all Nigerian bloggers write a blog titled 419 Reasons to Like Nigeria and Nigerians and basically use every opportunity to turn a negative slur into a positive and wholesome reclaiming of Nigerian pride.

The association of 419 and Nigeria should begin to yield positive commentary about Nigeria.

Sources

[1] Advance-fee fraud – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[2] Forbes.com | Switching From Greed to Fear

[3] Forbes.com | Fraud Has No Nationality- Apology to Nigeria

[4] Why every Nigerian on the Internet should start a blog

[5] Nigeria: The need for improved English education

[6] The Truth About Nigerian 419: Response to Peter J Reilly Article on Forbes

[7] 419 Reasons to Like Nigeria and Nigerians – Part 1