STOPPING

NONSENSE!
A Collection of Writings and
Thoughts of

Olisaemeka Akukwe

Edited by
Vivian Akukwe
Nnamdi Okose
Copyright© 2021 Vivian Akukwe All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or

transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying,
recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the
prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief
quotations embodies in reviews and certain other non-commercial
uses permitted by copyright law.

ISBN: 978-978-992-410-3
Published by Vivian Akukwe
info@olisaemekaakukwe.org
www.olisaemekaakukwe.org

Cover Picture by i_am_zews/shuttershock.com

Cover Design by Friday Ogbali Davis
 Stopping Nonsense!

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents
List of Abbreviation
Foreword
Introduction 01

PART 1 05
Vision 2020 and the New Society 06
Don’t Blame Emefiele, Blame Buhari 19
Igbo Enwe Eze 23
National Character Vs Federal Character:
World Cup Lessons 28
Christmas Message to Ndi Igbo 32
My Fear 40
Nigeria’s Health System and National Well Being 57
Rethinking the National Health Insurance
Scheme 61
Ostrich Nation 72
Radical Islam and the Globalization of Terror 75
Syllabus of Deceit (The Truth about the First
Coup) 81
Who will tell the President? 86
Why Biafra will not go away (Part One) 91
Why Biafra will not go away (Part Two) 97
Facts Don’t Lie: Reign of Error 109

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Reign of Error: The Public Sector 121

Wounded Hope: Elections in Nigeria 132
Lead Us Not Into Temptation 137
Damascus Experience Continues 142
Atiku/Obi – An Excellent Choice 145
Hand Me Down Policy 149
It’s Morning Yet 152
Oge Adiro – Politics for Re-Structuring 160
Rigging for Dummies: The Playbook 164
Rigging is not ‘Uncommon’ in America 169
Turkey is the Template 176
Why Jerusalem? … The diplomatic
Golgotha Part 1 181
Why Jerusalem? … The diplomatic
Golgotha Part 2 185
On Biafra … Ka Akpaa ya Akpa 193
Theory of Black Swan Events 196
Public-Private Partnership and Vision 2020 198
Mass Housing Initiative: An Approach 205
Democracy: The Electoral Process We Deserve 227
The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the
Church in Nigeria 238
One Easter Day in Enugu 245
Can’t Cope, Mbok! 249

PART 2

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INTERJECTIONS 252
Pondei Syndrome and the Balm of Gilead 253
Single Narrative Syndrome 254
Look in the Mirror People. Single Narrative
is Dangerous 257
The Clock is Ticking 258
In Remembrance 260
… Still on Changing the Narrative 262
Pot calling Saucer Black 265
… Trending Tale 267
Waiting for the Cat to Bark 269
Are you done talking? 270
My answer to a post on ‘Political Islam’ 272
Move Forward! 274
Start Work in Earnest 275
It’s a Natural Extension! 276
The Vultures are Gathering 277
Boycott will Not Force Government to Negotiate 278
Why Celebrate? 280
Ka a Kpaa Ya Akpa! 281
Categories of Biafran Supporters 282
March of Folly 284
The Damascus Experience 286
#Dasukigate: May it not be inconclusive 287
Far from Uhuru 289
The Trending List 291

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Good morning Chuba! 292

1st October… 296
Bilie VS IPOB – O Gini Na Ese? 297
Census 299
Ndi Igbo, Ikuku kuo, afu ike okuku 301
Why the North made Obasanjo President in 1999 303
Response to a Yoruba Friend 306
Terrorism Dynamics 309
Kindergarten Society 311
Let Merit Ring! 313
CBN is the problem, NOT Importers. 314
There they go again 317
Nothing wrong in borrowing brilliance! 319
Nke a bu nke anyi 320

ABOUT OLISAEMEKA 321

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

GDP Gross Domestic Product

b.p.d barrels per day
SW South West
SE South East
NC North Central
NW North West
SS South South
NE North East
VP Vice President
SP Senate President
GEJ Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
PDP Peoples’ Democratic Party
APC All Progressive Congress
APGA All Progressive Grand alliance
CJ Chief Judge
CJN Chief Justice of Nigeria
rtd Retired
Gen General
AEPB Abuja Environmental Protection Board
ICJ International Court of Justice
UN United Nations
EFCC Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission

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HOA House of Assembly

HOR House of Representatives
ACN Action Congress of Nigeria
AC Action Congress
US United States
BH Boko Haram
EU European Union
PPP Public Private Partnership
CBN Central Bank of Nigeria
INEC Independent National Electoral
Commission
FEDECO Federal Electoral Commission
NEC National Electoral Commission
IPOB Indigenous People Of Biafra
MASSOB Movement for the Actualization of the
Sovereign State of Biafra
FG Federal Government
DSS Department of State Services
NPF Nigeria Police Force
OIC Organization of Islamic Cooperation
NCNC National Council of Nigeria and the
Cameroons
NPP Nigerian Peoples’ Party
NASS National Assembly
CIA Central Intelligence Agency

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UPN Unity Party of Nigeria

NPN National Party of Nigeria
GNPP Great Nigeria People’s Party
FCT Federal Capital Territory
PMB President Muhammadu Buhari
NHIS National Health Insurance Scheme
HMO Health Maintenance Organisation
NHS National Health Service
AG Action Group
NEPU Northern Elements Progressive Union
FIRS Federal Inland Revenue Service
VAT Value-added Tax
NBS National Bureau of Statistics
PMS Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol)
FDI Foreign Direct Investment
OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries
SME Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
LGA Local Government Area
EVS Electronic Voting Systems

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FOREWORD

A
bout five months before the passing on of
Olisaemeka Francis Akukwe, I had a difficult
discussion with him. The discussion was
difficult for one reason and I had mulled over it for a
long time before I finally had the courage to raise it. I
asked him if he had given thought to collecting his
writings and publishing them. I told him that it would
be a shame that these thoughts disappear and can no
longer be found. His wife was there and partook in the
long silence which followed my question. In the
simplicity of my question, I had somewhat broached the
issue of death. Being quite ill at that time, I believe that
the reality or possibility of death was quite palpable to
him and to me.

He broke the silence by saying simply that it would be a

good idea. We spoke of the scattered mediums, from
Facebook to newspapers where his thoughts on various
topics had been published. It dawned on me after this
discussion that this was a task I was willing to put off for
as long as it takes. Perhaps, by putting off this gathering
of some of his words in one bushel, feelings about his
mortality would become less tangible.

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The reality of his passing on re-ignited a quest that had

been chosen and a promise that had been made. But it
was Vivian Akukwe, who had for long been his faithful
typist that the onus of this compilation would lie on. The
labour of love of seeking out the scattered pieces of the
memories of her husband was hers to claim. This
compilation is therefore mostly her doing.

These writings however do not do justice to the

extensiveness of the writings of Olisaemeka Akukwe. It
is my hope that as years pass by, and as more of his
writings continue to surface, the public will be availed
of the thoughts of this brilliant mind. Though he wrote
for his country mostly, his outlook was beyond it. His
visions drew their inspiration from different fields of
knowledge where he was more than a mere spectator.
Though this work is not meant to be sold, it would be
great if the reader can seek out and donate to the
Olisaemeka Akukwe Center for Imaging and
Knowledge. This will ensure that Nigerian researchers
of all ages will have access to his massive collection of
rare books.

Nnamdi Okose

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Introduction

T
here are millions of books, probably, speaking
to the socio cultural problems of the most
populous African country- Nigeria. Every
thinker across the ages has tried to decipher the riddle of
why Nigeria, which should have been a great country
cannot seem to get things right. A giant still in the throes
of self-realization, Nigerians have been frustrated about
this mystery of poverty in the midst of many blessings.

The acclaimed author Chinua Achebe puts the blame

squarely on the doorstep of political leadership in
Nigeria. He affirms that:
“There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian character. There is
nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or air or
anything else. The Nigerian problem is the inability to rise to
the challenge.”

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The above declaration by Achebe gives an information

that many Nigerians already have. Everyone blames the
leadership for the problems and rightly so. However, in
the cacophony of the army of voices criticizing, we
sometimes lose focus of the need to provide solutions.
And this is where Olisaemeka Akukwe comes in. His
writings are not only prophetic but they provide a
possible path for redemption. This dual prophetic and
teaching quality can be seen from the very first essay
written in 2009 and which lays out the path the Nigerian
government must follow if it is to achieve the often
touted Vision 2020. This article was written when
Nigeria had not as it is now, fallen into the terrorizing
grip of Boko Haram and other terrorist. In the essay,
Olisaemeka wrote these dire words:
“These potentially uneducated and under-employed millions
in the north can easily be recruited into an ‘army of hate’ by
charlatans acting under the banner of religion. They can
easily be persuaded to unleash mayhem on the perceived
oppressors, who to them includes anybody who is ‘doing well’.
When you live in generational poverty, life seems like a Zero-
Sum game.”
This prophetic streak is replete in the whole book.

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Olisaemeka’s genius is not that he can decipher

Nigeria’s socio political and economic problems, it is in
the refreshing views he brings to the solutions. This
maverick possesses a rare gift of taking complex issues
and unknotting them with simple and uncomplicated
language.
Olisaemeka questions popular ethnic opinions by
drawing astonishing similarities with things the
ordinary person can relate to. These metaphors,
sometimes astonishing unravel the complexity of the
problem while pointing to the solution. Still Olisaemeka
is not unaware of the issues surrounding the Igbofolk in
Nigeria and revisits some of the long held misgivings
for this tribe.
There is a second part of the book which contains
shorter banters and arguments. Though these are not
long essays, they provide compacted information and
insight even as useful as the long essays.
This book, and the fresh and insightful ideas within it
will one day become a reference book for political
scientists, policy makers, economists and everyone who
is interested in making a change in governance. If you
are someone who has one time or the other lost sleep

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about the problems troubling Nigeria or Africa and

what the solutions could be, then you have opened the
right book.

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PART 1

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VISION 2020 AND

THE NEW SOCIETY.

October 2009

“For lack of vision, my people perish”, so enthused the

Christian holy book. ‘In spite of visions, my people
perish’ is the Nigeria reality. Or so it seems. We have had
litany of visions in Nigeria wearing different robes.
Everybody ‘knew’ there will be “housing for all in the
year 2000.”

Everyone ‘knew’ there will be “health for all in the year

2000.” It’s 2009 now, I think. And the visions have been
fast forwarded to 2020, with the typical panel beating.
Top 20 economy in 2020!

Arresting vision. Inspiring. Exhilarating. Intoxicating.

If you would come with me a while, I would like us to
examine the kind of society Nigeria should be in 2020;
assuming we achieve a Top 20 status among economies.

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Probably we may glimpse the changes we may need to

do today; and ask ourselves if we are collectively ready
for the challenge.

For Nigeria to be in the top 20 economic chart, her GDP

will need to expand from about $214 billion to about
$600 billion in 2020. Currently, Sweden , Belgium and
Poland are ranked 20th, 19th, and 18th respectively.
Poland is the new comer in the top 20, displacing
Indonesia that was 20th in 2007. Achieving a $600 billion
economy is not impossible, but improbable in Nigeria ,
except an annualized GDP growth of 12% is sustained
for the next 11 years. This is the crux of the issue! For
Nigeria to attain 12% average annual GDP for the next
11 years, she must become a vastly different society! Do
the leaders have the intellectual rigour, moral probity,
and honest courage to re-invent the society?

On physical infrastructures, we currently have about

200,000km of roads (tarred and untarred). Only about
30,000km of these roads are tarred, a mere 15%. By 2020
we will need about 386,000kms of roads, with about
270,000 kilometers of them (70% of total) tarred, if the

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vision is on course. We currently have about 70 airports

with about 36 of them having paved runways. We will
need about 180 airports, with over 100 of them having
paved runways by 2020, if the vision is on course.
Domestic oil consumption may likely be above 2.0
million b.p.d as against about 300,000 b.p.d today. At the
current production rate of about 1.7 million b.p.d, we
may become a net importer of oil. This implies the need
for production capacity expansion. From the current 2.5
million b.p.d to about 3.5 million b.p.d, if we are to still
be a net exporter of oil. By extension, Niger-Delta must
become investor and investment friendly; OPEC quotas
may have to be abandoned and government
dependence on oil revenue must be inevitably depleted.
Oil tyranny, which has been the basis for Nigeria
government and mis-governance will slow to a crawl.
Joint-venture cash call obligations, government –
owned NNPC, revenue sharing formulas, oil and
resource control laws, etc will all need radical
appraisals. Factor in also tripling of Filling stations,
Tank farms capacities, and you understand the
challenges in this sector alone. The 3000km of rail roads
we have now, may need to be expanded to about 10,000

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km of modern speed rails. The 4 Seaports cannot handle

the volume of exports and imports an over $600 billion
economy will require, even after doubling their
capacities.

It may be obvious to you that the government resources

can never handle these challenges, and therefore Public-
Private Partnerships, Private finance initiatives, and
concessioning must become the real center-piece of
planning.

These changes can only work when founded on a nearly

convulsive changes in our current legal and judicial
system. From land laws, to court efficiencies, to
resource laws, to community rights, to civil service
rules, to the archaic and embarrassing evidence acts, etc.
Intractable judicial procedures and sometimes putting
justice up for auction greatly deters investment capital.
Mercurial investment laws are plagues to investment. A
judiciary that is biased towards order rather than justice
cannot co-habit with a dynamic society that should
produce over $600 billion. Remember that a $600 billion
economy implies individual, corporate, and public

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transactions that may be about four times what we have

today. Yet, our judicial system cannot handle the present
challenges we face. Thus most Nigerians go for extra-
judicial conflict resolution. This includes surrender of
rights in one extreme, and assassinations at the other
extreme, and everything in between. Without Legal-
Judicial reforms today, either the judicial systems
truncates the 2020 Vision or it implodes with scandals,
sleaze and learned indifference.

In Real Estate, about 8.4 trillion ft2 of Residential space

will have to be created between today and December
2020. Also about 4.2 trillion ft2 of commercial and
industrial space may be needed. To put this in
perspective, we have a cumulative shortfall of about 2.8
2
trillion ft of residential space now. And we need to
create about 600 million ft2 of residential space annually.
If these real estates and infrastructure demands are to be
met, over 40 million square meter of arable land will be
lost by farming. Now this is not the issue. The issue is
the potential for rife land speculation, insider dealing by
land officials, militancy of unemployed, under
employed, barely educated youths of the communities

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occupying those lands today that may put a handcuff to

these developments. So changes in community rights
and compensation, land use act, land speculation and
taxation, etc are even more urgent today than ever.
Other reforms in this sector should include Mortgage
Finance and Funding; Import regime on some essential
but domestically sub-available building materials like
cement; dearth of inter-mediate skills in the housing
sector; low capabilities among domestic firms in
building technologies for high rise condominiums, etc.

In a modern economy that produces over $600 billion of

goods and services, knowledge will be a coveted asset.
Creativity, specialized skills will be likely champions in
the labour market. Education therefore becomes the
workshop of high income and high status. Today in
Nigeria , by default of cultural history and ethnic
cosmology, the southern part of the nation invests in her
human capital by a factor of about 5:1, compared to the
north. WAEC enrollment of Imo state alone is higher
than the entire northern states. This is despite the fact
that public education spending is grossly inadequate in
the southern states. However private (sometimes cut

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throat) spending in education compensates for this gap.

In the north, this culture is peripheral at best. Now this
is a crisis for the South and the North. The conventional
wisdom is that it is a northern problem. So wrong! If
Vision 2020 is achieved, it may produce lots of high
paying, high skill jobs which will be filled mainly by
southerners. This is a simple extrapolation of current
educational aspirations in the country. There will also
be plenty low paying, grunt work. These will be filled by
the uneducated or poorly educated. If education
explosion does not happen in the north, then majority of
people filling these ‘grub’ jobs will be northerners- and
impoverished immigrants. We do not need a
Nostradamus to tell us that the above scenario is a social
gun powder. It will only be natural that a poorly
educated, ill clad, ill fed, disenchanted gateman from
Katsina may see a well groomed, well educated,
software programmer from Ogun state, owner of a
bungalow in Kaduna, working for a local affiliate of an
international firm; as a totem of his oppression. These
potentially uneducated and under-employed millions
in the north can easily be recruited into an ‘army of hate’
by charlatans acting under the banner of religion. They

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can easily be persuaded to unleash mayhem on the

perceived oppressors, who to them includes anybody
who is ‘doing well’. When you live in generational
poverty, life seems like a Zero-Sum game. You think you
are losing, because the other person is gaining. This
implies that ‘religious’ crisis may begin to take much
more gory dimensions, because they are really social
crisis under religious flags. To nip these dangers in the
bud, it should be the responsibility of the North and
South in equal measure to ensure an education
revolution in the north. This will create a heritage of
opportunity that is national, further aiding the
achievement of Vision 2020 and fairly distributing the
gains. Any of the typical Nigeria solution of either
allowing the gains of over $600 billion economy to
accrue to one section because they are better prepared,
or of using government fiat to transfer the natural gains
of a section to another section a la ‘fair and equitable ‘
distribution will create ricocheting chaos. It is now, that
we can institute education, training, and skill
acquisition policies that can prevent that acrimony.

Public education spending, as a matter of policy and

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future stability should flow more to the north. Reforms

of the existing education channels must however be
achieved, before this policy of asymmetrical education
funding can work. Naturally, Southern leaders may
never see the point of this much higher public education
spending in the north. We should remember that every
society, like any chain, is as strong as its weakest point.
At current public spending growth pattern,
government spending in all tiers will balloon to about
$200 billion by 2020 (about N30 trillion). We are aware of
the colossal waste and corruption at the current $50
billion of government spending. At $200 billion, your
guess is as good as mine. This implies that without a
comprehensive and painful civil service reform and re-
invention of governance, we will simply have much,
much more of the same. A transparent tax regime with
coherent theme and Federal, State, Local harmonization
must be developed. Its greatest virtue should be
simplicity. Its ultimate aim – development.
Development of the private sector; development of
deprived areas; development of accountability.
Derivation must play a role in all aspects of tax revenue
distribution. Deprivation should also be an important

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balancing weight. So we must institutionalize

DERIVATION and DEPRIVATION FORMULA. I wish
to state categorically here, that before legislators, the
inland revenue and various executive levels should
start a comprehensive tax regime, the oil tyranny and
petroleum bureaucracy must end. The oil revenue that
government takes and shares is the biggest and most
opaque form of taxation any society can ever witness. It
explains our amputated dreams since 1970.

What about the family and private challenges? The

demands of life in a top 20 economy, cannot be what it is
today. Today many women still spend about 90 minutes
a day in the kitchen. The challenges we must overcome
to produce per capita income of about $3300 dollars
(official exchange rate) in 2020 will definitely encroach
on such ‘luxuries’. Time spent in the kitchen by women
may decline to about 15 minutes a day, with
ramifications beyond the kitchen. Ability to cook well,
which is in decline, will further fall alarmingly.
Consumption of junk foods by everybody will increase.
Obesity as a national dilemma will begin to rear its
head. This with its hand maidens of diabetes, arthritis,

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and heart diseases will further increase the pressure on

the creaky health systems. Parents ‘face time’ with
children will also decline drastically. Teachers, schools,
peers and media will become the major influencers of
children and teenagers. These are just to mention some
general trends.

We should also ask ourselves, are we ready for the

migration and immigration pressures in the urban
areas? A thriving economy will be a magnet for citizens
of impoverished and war torn African countries,
especially in West Africa . So a foreign policy that pro-
actively promotes stability in West Africa will be a plain
necessity. A comprehensive immigration policy and
border control may be necessary. Investment in urban
areas, especially in urban slums should be a deliberate
policy. We must aim to eliminate slums not by
demolition. That is after the fact. But by anticipatory
development of potential corridors for low income
earners around cities and mega cities. Where slums
already exists, innovative developments that will turn
the slums into suburbs can always be worked out with
the slum dwellers. That urban areas will attract the

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poor, the young, and the hungry is natural. Our

responsibility is not to be surprised by natural
developments, as the planners of Abuja and Lagos
woefully realized.

We should also be ready for road tolls in urban areas

and highways. Most of the investment on roads, if they
will come, will come from private funds. So road pricing
will become a common way of life in Nigeria from about
2020, if the Vision is on course. Multi-level parking and
parking fees will also become common. Car ownership
in Nigeria has been growing close to the economic
growth rate because of poor public transport system.
We may also expect to spend 20% of our working hours
in a car or bus. Commuting time can only get longer and
more harrowing, except if imagination and vigour is
applied to urban planning and regeneration. Can we
reverse this trend? I do not see how ineffectual
leadership can grapple with, much less reverse the
trend. The entire nation may have to beg Lagos State for
inspiration.

We can go on and on. The purpose is however not a

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monologue, but to raise posers for all of us. Do we

believe in this Vision 2020? With the ossified political
and leadership culture, can we or should we embark on
such grandeur? Should we not change the political and
electoral process as a starting point? Have the political
and technocratic leaders weighed the multi-faceted
changes that should undergird such vision, as this piece
have illuminated? Do you see the current leadership in
the center and at the states possessing the insights,
understanding, and empathy that can make this Vision
people friendly? Have there been robust engagements
between the political/technocratic leadership and
leaderships in the religious, traditional, professional,
business, academic, youth, women, and trade strata? Or
is this just another people perishing , ‘macro-economic’
vision? These are the questions that are bugging my
mind. I wonder if they bother you too?

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DON'T BLAME EMEFIELE.

BLAME BUHARI.

December 2016

My take!

CBN adopted a policy of no devaluation. Buhari, when

in France, said he fully supported CBN non-
devaluation policy! CBN banned forex sales for 42
items. Buhari, in same France, affirmed full support for
that policy.

My opinion is that Emefiele AND Buhari are guilty of

economics incompetence!! No shielding Buhari here,
except out of political or tribal prejudice.

Buhari took 5 months to assemble a team, in a country

that was facing fiscal meltdown. That was colossally
baffling. American economy was in fiscal and monetary
meltdown when Obama took over. No time was wasted

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blaming Bush. He quickly arranged the first bail out

within 90 days, with borrowed funds.

APC has been moaning about the decline in oil price.

But the fact is that oil contributes less than 12% of our
GDP! The APC government has been shouting hoarse
over stolen government money as reason why they can't
deliver. But the fact is that gross government spending
is less than 8% of our GDP! In other words, the
Buhari/APC fixation on oil and government spending is
a product of political incompetence that included PDP,
NPN and past military governments.
In July last year, I wrote about the shrinking disposable
income of Nigerians and its coming consequences. I
lampooned the dollar account demonization by this
government. The fact is that even CBN uses a "dorm"
account called foreign reserve! Why does CBN hold
assets in US treasuries etc? Because they also don't have
total confidence in the preservation of the value of naira!
So the forex reserve is an 'insurance' against sudden or
even gradual loss of value!! From the time PDP took
over to when APC took over at the Centre, the naira lost
about 70% of its value. From 50 naira to a dollar in 1999,
to 190 naira to a dollar in 2015! So smart individuals, like
CBN, also have a 'forex reserve' in form of dorm

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accounts! But CBN clamped down on them while

maintaining her own 'dorm' account, in simple terms!!

The policy was doomed from day one because the meta-
message to international community is that you will
defend the naira. But your arsenal for that defence is
paltry 36 billion dollars, less than the broad money
supply in the economy. Speculators know it is grossly
inadequate to mount a defence of naira, so they simply
go short and wait. Today the parallel market is
indicating the actual value. And the future market is
even pointing to 315_to the dollar.

China lost over 600 billion dollars since April last year,
defending the rhenminbi (Yuan). She can because she
had a reserve of near 4 trillion dollars, currently
depleted to about 3.3 trillion dollars. And the Chinese
are in crisis mode now and are using managed float for
their currency!! Now compare to Nigeria with 36 billion
dollars as at the start of this regime wanting to fix the
naira value! The truth is that the government is simply
bankrolling the forex needs of the biggest business
people, while leaving over 170 million Nigerians in the
lurch.

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Private consumption is about 65% of our GDP, but APC

government and Nigeria economists see consumption
as a crime. There are myriads supply shocks within the
economy that mitigates boosting the domestic
expenditure that constitutes the significant part of our
GDP. Power, Transportation, Security, Accommodation,
Administration are just a few of them.

If we had a competent government now, we won't be

wringing our hands! If we had competent governments
before, we won't be here.

But the buck, today, stops at Gen Muhammad Buhari

(Rtd)'s table!!! No bucking it.

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IGBO ENWE EZE!

A persisting Myth.

November 2015

Everybody "knows" that the Igbos don't have a leader.

Igbo enwe Eze. I think this is a myth.

Igbos have proven, time after time, that this is not a

reality. The problem is that other cultures in Nigeria
wish to impose their indices of leadership on ndi Igbo.
The Igbo people have a distinct flavour of leadership.
Unlike what obtains in many other tribes in Nigeria,
ours is NOT hierarchical. It is firmly rooted on merit!!!
It does not imply that all the leaders in Igbo land are
products of merit. Many men and women were
imposed on hapless Igbos, as leaders. Or rather boss.
But we never could accept them as leaders. Despite how
often they parade or parrot their Igbo leadership
"credentials". This is because Ndi Igbo have a cosmic
understanding of their type of leadership.

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Any person who will lead Ndi Igbo in any field of

endeavour, must first distinguish himself above all
peers in that field. No matter how high a person is
placed on a pedestal in Igbo land, it can never translate
to true, unstinting, vernacular, cosmological leadership
of the Igbo masses; except she or he be enormously
distinguished in that field of leadership. This is who we
are. And this is what is often mistaken as a Leaderless
polity. Some examples:

ZIK. Ndi Igbo followed the Owelle of Onitsha, in

Politics, for over 4 decades!!! From the late 1940s to mid
1980s, Nnamdi Azikiwe was the quintessential Igbo
leader in Politics. He regularly commanded undiluted
majority in Igbo land and Igbo enclaves across Nigeria.
Even when Ndi Igbo knew he had little chance of
clinching the presidency, they followed him. We knew
he was the most consummate politician of his time. And
for all his ambivalence, we also knew he was Igbo. His
parties NCNC and NPP in the 60s and 80s won Igbo
land, fair and square. In the 2nd republic, he was the last
entrant into the political race. Yet he swept the Igbo
heartland, the current 5 states.

Igbos followed Zik. Provided the field was politics!

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Ndi Igbo followed Ojukwu!! We stood with him all

through the Civil strife. He represented the Igbo
emancipation. He was congruent about Igbo freedom.
He never hesitated to speak or fight, for igbos. He was
also a soldier. Igbos understands that a freedom fighter
must speak and act the rhetorics of freedom fighting! In
this, Ojukwu was head, shoulders and waist above his
peers. There was no hesitation. No double take. No
doubt. No appeasement. No compromise. No hold
barred. This is the essence of emancipation struggle. He
embodied it. And Ndi Igbo knew. We followed him. For
good or ill. We followed. Because he was congruent in
that struggle, over the years.

Ralph Uwazuruike failed this test. He couldn't rise

above his peers. He was not congruent. A freedom
fighter does not follow the middle ground. He must hug
the peripheries otherwise he would just be seen as an
attention seeker. Uwazuruike's rhetorics was not fiery
enough. His method was too mainstream. So Igbos
couldn't take him serious enough. He failed to lead in
that area.

But Nnamdi Kanu learnt. He is hugging the periphery.

His rhetorics resonates with his struggle. He is making

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rasping progress in building momentum! Many Igbo

youths now look up to him. He is gradually gaining
credibility, in the area of Igbo emancipation. This is a
reality. I like to deal in realities, whether palatable or
not. Nigeria has an option of changing or IPOB will
continue to grow.

But for Ndi Igbo, Ojukwu was not a political leader. Zik
towered above him in Politics. But Ojukwu was the
greatest Igbo leader. In the sense that he embodied the
Igbo struggle.

So Ndi Igbo has an advanced concept of leadership.

And it is based on crystal clear merit!!!

KANU Nwankwo can lead us in matters relating to

soccer. But if he wants to transfer that to politics, we will
give him several seats. This is the Igbo way.

Chukwuma Soludo can lead us in economic rebuilding

of Igbo land. But if he wants to lead the IPOB, anyi enye
ya oche.
Fr Mbaka can tell us the way to heaven. Show us the
faith that heals. But if he wants to tell us who to vote for,
we smile and pass.

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This is the Igbo way of leadership.

In Nigerian politics, as of today, no Igbo politician has
risen heads and shoulder above his peers. Many of them
rose to visibility by wading through the innocent blood
of fellow igbos. We know. Many were foisted on us by
ndi ugwu. We know.

When that Igbo leader who has distinguished himself in

Politics, has risen above his peers by merit, has
resonance with Ndi igbo; appears, Ndi Igbo will know.
And we will follow. Ndi Igbo nwelu Eze. But it is not the
type you find in other cultures.

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NATIONAL CHARACTER. VS
FEDERAL CHARACTER: WORLD
CUP LESSONS

November 2015

Early hours of this morning, the under-17 national

soccer team of Nigeria won the world cup, for their age
category! The victory was almost déjà vu, as we were
along this same paths just 24 months or so, ago.

The young lads left no one in doubt of their superiority,

even after a little fumble against Croatia, in the group
stages. But the effortless manner by which they clinched
the coveted trophy, left no one in doubt not just of their
superiority, but even affirmed their supremacy.

It can easily be deduced by all discerning Nigerian, that

we probably went to this tournament with our best 18.
And for the 5th time, our best 18 was the world's best 18.
Looking back to all the time we have earned global,
glory, including few hours ago, we have never used the

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principles of federal character. From the time we won

first gold medal in commonwealth games in the 60's
through the first and second Olympic gold, through the
Nduka Ugbade led global triumph of '83 to the 4 others
that followed, including today. These are global contest
were we needed to build teams. Teams to represent the
entire country, and bring glory!

Glory! What the country is perennially denied in

governance and economics.

I imagine if coach Amuneke was required to use federal

character in team selection. Maybe Nwakali will not
make this team. Maybe Akpan will have to be sacrificed.
Possibly Bamgboye may have watched the tournament
on TV, Victor Osimhen may have to wait for 'his turn'.
We would have lost all these talents to the suffocating
mediocrity of federal character. Likewise players like
KANU Nwankwo, Wilson Oruma, Finidi George,
Iheanacho, Idah Peterside, etc who rose through the
youth merit selection, would all have languished.
Unfortunately, millions of Nigeria's talents are today
languishing because of institutional mediocrity and
constitutional nepotism. Nigeria codified improper
team selection for governance. In the quest to keep a

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section down, the country chained itself to moribund

confusion. Instead of selecting the best for governance,
in all tiers of government, it selected the rest. And we
wonder why glory eludes the land?

In the place of federal character, we should institute

NATIONAL CHARACTER! This should entail setting
a standard minimum merit level, that is the same across
the 36 states and FCT. In tertiary admission, military
admission, civil service admission etc. A common entry
standard, set in line with global benchmark. We just
competed globally and won! So we can domesticate
global standards, for our youths, irrespective of tribe
and religion, and they will win. 40 years of all manner
of affirmative actions have not helped the section of the
country it was designed for. It can't work. It will only
create two things. 1 Entitlement mind-set for the
beneficiaries. 2. Resentment by the groups that are
imperilled.

This is the tragedy of federal character. National

character picks the best from wherever they are.
National character engenders the confidence that flows
from ability. National character can build the youths of
this country, who this morning, conquered the world.

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National character is the starting point of restructuring

this fractured house called Nigeria.

Up Golden Eaglets! Down Federal Character!

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CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
TO NDI IGBO!

December 2015

Merry Xmas to all Igbo people in Nigeria and in the

diaspora. Merry Xmas to all our brothers and sisters
who are not Igbo. We wish you all joy and profound
peace. We all need it.

I write today to my Igbo folks in general, and the

activists for Biafra in particular. It is no news that the
entire nation has realised that the agitation for Biafra is
not a Facebook fad or a social media past time. It is a real
and pulsating desire for release from a dysfunctional
union that has watered the soil of the 'one nation'
mantra with the blood and sweat of umu Igbo.

This feat was greatly enabled by IPOB strategies,

including the smart media tactics of Director Nnamdi
Kanu. Love him or hate him, messr Kanu has left his

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mark in the incomplete lore of Ndi Igbo. Today, he is

hostage to an increasingly paranoid government. He
has chosen to rather languish in detention than subject
himself to an unjust and ineffective judiciary. Nigeria
govt has given the Igbo youths a hero. I believe that in
the matter of Nigeria vs Nnamdi Kanu; Nigeria will
ultimately lose. Just like Mandela vs apartheid South
Africa. Whether Nnamdi dies in detention; is released
unconditionally or deported; Nigeria government will
be the ultimate losers. The genie is out of the 'ite pot'.

But I think it’s time IPOB, MASSOB and other pro-Biafra

groups change strategy. What got us here, won’t take us
there!

The Biafra actualisation struggle got here by way of

hostile, antagonistic rhetorics of Radio Biafra; smart cell
organisation of IPOB; simmering anger among Ndi igbo
youths and hegemonic disposition of PMB. The ill-
advised arrest of Kanu triggered the massive and
sustained protests in SE & SS. It forced the entire nation
to take notice, in-spite of themselves. It gave the
struggle an entirely new hue. It forced the Igbo
politicians, past and present, to gasp for breath. It
baffled and stunned the Imo governor, who hitherto

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thought he has become THE Igbo leader. He was

completely ignored both by his citizens; other Igbo
governors; the leaders of IPOB & MASSOB and even
Ohanaeze leadership. He discovered that power and
influence are distinctly separate.

All the protests and resistance culminated in fatal

consequences. As has been going on since 1956, the
blood of Igbo youths had to be spilled to assuage the
cold injustice of a contemptuous government. Hostile
fingers of foreign tribes had to pull the triggers of cold
blooded murder, to pacify their promoters in high
thrones.

As it stands now, I wish that the Igbo activist will

evaluate all that has happened and take stock. Its time to
count the loss and assess the wins. But just using
antagonistic media messages and street protests will
not take us there. The mass protests have served a very
essential purpose. It has shown the Igbo politicians that
they are not really popular. No Igbo politician can
command the crowd pulled by the Biafra enigma! It has
also shown all other ethnic nations in Nigeria that
BIAFRA will not go away! It is now time to explore the
meta-messages and craft new strategies.

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The Biafra activists need to decipher

1. Who supports the struggle among Igbos?
2. Who are neutral among Igbos?
3. Who antagonizes the struggle among Igbos?
4. Who supports the struggle among non-Igbos?
5 Who are neutral among non-Igbos?
6 Who antagonizes the movement among non-Igbos?
It is from these 6 groups that you tailor strategies for the
next phase. But while doing that, we must all
acknowledge the fact that for now, we are all Nigerians!
Therefore no wanton breaking of the law. No burning of
Nigerian flag. No tearing of Nigerian passport. We are
not at war with Nigeria. We are not at war with Fulani,
Yoruba, Junkun or anybody for that matter.

For me, I simply want a fair and just nation. No

institutional discrimination. If Nigeria can undergo the
fundamental and radical changes required for this, then
we welcome it. As it stands now, Nigerian leaders are
mainly beneficiaries of these institutional nepotism. So
Biafra remains a very attractive alternative for most
Igbo youths.

For the group 1 above, IPOB needs to develop a

database. This group includes most Igbo youths in Igbo

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land and beyond. IPOB and MASSOB have to find ways

and means to continually engage them. And empower
them. With jobs, access to business capital, training and
sundry development. To effectively do this, IPOB and
MASSOB need to metamorphose. It’s not enough to
shout freedom. It’s time for the activists to get into the
real nursery of leading change. To lead for productivity.
To better the lives of their most ardent believers. To test
if they can even lead. To see if they are ready for what
they are calling for.

To achieve this, IPOB has to register a political party or

adopt an existing one. It is the only way IPOB and Co
can escape the toga of quasi-insurgent group. Let them
develop an Igbo-centric manifesto, provided it does not
antagonise other ethnic nations. Apply for registration.
And take it from there. All these grass root support will
be wasted if not channelled to a political emancipation
purpose. Let us send those who believe in the Igbo
independence to the state and federal assemblies, and
government houses. Let them be tested! While IPOB
remains the nucleus of a new Igbo political awakening.
Without political savvy, a negotiated Biafra can never be
achieved.

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For the 2nd group, the igbo neutrals, the activists need
to woo them, not ignore them! This includes many of the
current Igbo politicians, professionals, spiritual leaders,
traditional leaders etc. The attitude of ignoring or
insulting this group is naive, at best. This struggle must
be seen as a contest of opinion. The Biafra activists must
hone their arguments. Look at all angles to the issue.
Listen with humility to the neutrals to understand
them. Learn to gently persuade, with facts and figures.
Many of the politicians in this group are only repelled
by the volatile intransigence of the Biafran activists.
These politicians, especially the younger ones, like Tony
Nwoye, Nwala Chude-oracle, Ernest Nwoye,
ChukwuEmeka Okose, Ifeanyi Ibezim,etc are very
smart people; irrespective of what we think of
politicians. IPOB must actively woo people like this.
They may end up being the political arrow heads of a
renaissance Igbo politics.

For the 3rd group, the antagonistic Igbos, IPOB must

restrain from insults and name calling. There are
reasons they are antagonistic. Find it. Examine it.
Neutralise it. You will find top Igbo politicians
(Governors, Senators etc) here. Also big and growing
business men and women are in this group. Also many

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old Igbo men and women are here. We can never

discountenance their objections. It is rooted in
experience, rather than contempt. The work of IPOB is
cut out here.

For the 4th group, the non-Igbo supporters, IPOB has to

show humble appreciation and careful interaction.
Biafra, after all, is Igbo-centric. People like Asari
Dokuboh and co are among these group. Likewise
many people in SS, SW and some in NC. An annual
interactive summit will be a useful tool in deepening the
growing understanding with this group. Other similar
approaches can be developed.

The 5th group, the non-Igbo neutrals, is where the most

work may need to be done. This group includes almost
all the international community and many Nigerians. I
am surprised that IPOB simply ignores or even
antagonizes this group. National and global PR firms
need to be retained to effectively market the Biafra
struggle to this group. Our collective harrowing
experience in Nigeria should be showcased to this
group. Don’t assume they know! Our aims and
potentials should also be promoted. The marketing
must be modern, measured and effective. It is not about

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ranting. It is not about name calling. The message must

be positive and confident. Even when it is a sad tale.
Our leaders must also come to terms with some of the
ills perpetrated by Biafran soldiers against the
minorities, during the war. We know some of the
minorities also betrayed the struggle. But we must lead
in issuing unreserved apology to all minorities that may
have been unjustly treated by the Biafran soldiers. We
Igbos are no saints! Let us not pretend we are. It should
be part of the strategy of engaging the non-Igbo
neutrals.

For the 6th group, the non-Igbo antagonists, we must

first forgive them. Then whenever a civilised and non-
charged environment exists, we can engage them.
Otherwise, we stay out of their bandwidth. We must
learn to also treat them with respect, while making our
case. It is mainly the converted non-igbo neutrals that
can win them over. It will be by diffusion.
This struggle cannot be won on radio alone. Or by
forcing shops to close. It must be far more sophisticated.
I call on all Biafran activists worldwide to read and
ruminate on this. Likewise all Igbo people. We are at the
forked road. Which path do we tread?
What got us here, won’t take us there!

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MY FEAR

April 2016

I remember the campaigns of 1983. I was in primary

school, but my fascination with politics and leadership
was already well and alive. It was a rally during the
early weeks of long vacation, at Ngwo Park, Enugu. On
the dais was the mercurial Chief Vincent Ikeotunye;
industrious Chief C.C. Onoh, debonair Chief Austin
Ezenwa and gentleman Chief Alex Ekwueme. But the
major attractions were Chief Emeka Ojukwu, Ikemba
Nnewi and the man he was about to introduce: Alhaji
Shehu Aliyu Usman Shagari, the then executive
President of Nigeria. Shagari came to the microphone,
with the characteristic hail of his party, NPN. ‘NPN –
Super Power! One nation, one destiny!’ Thus, he delved
into a litany of promises.

My fear is that 32 years after General Buhari aborted

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that very useful experience in democracy; Nigeria has

failed to become one nation. The deeper fear is that it can
never become one nation, in fact by current and
historical examples; it runs a real and present risk of
disintegration. Except the politics, economics and
society is fundamentally restructured.

We are about to approach one year of a government, that

was elected by about 25% of the registered voters.The
general motivation for choosing the current
government was change. Unsurprisingly, there was no
common agreement on what this mantra connotes.
However, I am unshakably convinced that Nigeria
needs to change or face its demise. This conviction
comes from empirical and anecdotal evidence that
abound, for whoever wishes to be objective.

It was Obafemi Awolowo who once described Nigeria

as “… geographic description”. Permit me to remind us
that every country is ‘mere geographic description’! But
some countries have grown to become nations also.
Sadly, Nigeria is not one of them.

Nigeria’s boundary is an artificial creation, left behind

by the British colonialist. It does not correspond to a

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religious, historical, cultural or linguistic entity. This is

the reality. We have largely lived as a fake nation, and
we know it. No wonder Awo penned those words.
Every national policy from 1960 till date has the shadow
of this false ‘nationhood’ written all over it. But we are a
REAL country, with all the paraphernalia of statehood.
The greatest impetus the state has is force! And Nigeria
has been kept together by force, rather than by any
unifying or over-arching ideology. There is a
philosophy that underlies this forceful union, though. It
is called CORRUPTION. The Economist magazine said
that corruption is the only thing that works in Nigeria.

It is worth pondering the fact that multi-ethnic

democracy is the most difficult form of government to
sustain. Add to it a multi-religious twist and forceful
political conjugation, and you will get a rather
combustible mix. We have seen many nations with less
fault lines than Nigeria, collapse.
Take the Austro-Hungarian Empire, for a start. It was a
multi-ethnic nation-state or empire in the 19th century.
It had Austria, Hungary, Czech, Croats, Slovenia, and
Italy as ethnic nations making it up. It was Bohemia in
Czech heartland and Hungary with its rich land owners
that bore the economic burden of sustaining the empire.

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Just like the former Biafran homeland in Nigeria. The

empire inevitably collapsed with rather violent
repercussions. The leaders and regions benefitting from
the empire refused to accept the necessary changes,
when it was imperative.

The Soviet empire is another example. Many people

have forgotten that Soviet Union was an amalgam of
several ethnic nations including: Ukrainians, Estonians,
Letts, Latvians, Mongolians, some Tartar, Georgians
and the anchor ethnic group – Russians. Communism
was the ideological glue used by Russia to control and
exploit the other nations. Sometimes it can look eerily
similar to Hausa-Fulani dominance in Nigeria. That
empire, as we know, collapsed under its own weight.

Yugoslavia is a rather disquieting example. It was a

multi-ethnic country of Serb orthodox Catholics,
Slovenia Roman Catholics, Croatians, plus Kosovo and
Bosnia Muslim. They lived in uneasy accord, ensured
only by the authoritarian regime of Tito. By early 1990,
after the collapse of communism, they began to simmer.
Ultimately in December 1990, the DEMOS party of
Slovenia won a referendum for independence from
Yugoslavia and announced plan to secede in June 1991.

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The Croats followed them. The Serbs (the dominant

ethnic group in Yugoslavi) declared war. The rest is
common knowledge. Suffice it to say that there is no
Yugoslavia today.

Yugoslavia is very instructive because it was the ‘poster

boy’ for multi-ethnic democracy in Europe! And it
collapsed because its dominant ethnic group was
disinclined to restructuring.

In all multi-ethnic countries where such resistance to

loose federation failed, war or bloody strife was the
result (Bosnia, Croatia, Georgia, Rwanda, etc).
Evidence also abound that ethnic nations do rather well,
irrespective of resource base or geographic location and
size. Think about Israel, Iran, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech
Republic, Macedonia, Armenia, etc. These are all ethnic
nations. With the exception of Iran, the rest had to
liberate themselves from a suffocating union.

Nigeria will do well to learn from the abundant lessons

of history. I see a lot of "Titanic" syndrome in Nigeria.
The fundamental fault lines of a multi-ethnic, multi-
lingual, multi-religious, and multi-cultural democracy
are not being addressed.

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ELECTIONS: It is on record that the greatest flaw of

Nigeria’s attempt at democracy has been elections. The
aftermath of the massively rigged election of 1964 and
the even worse chicanery of the 1965 repeated election
in Western region inspired the first coup.

The blatant manipulation of the election of 1983 was the

main inspiration for Gen. Buhari’s coup of 1983. The
slumpy bungling of June 12 elections in 1993, led to the
greatest existentialist threat to Nigeria in modern times.
And ultimately Abiola lost his life, besides his mandate.
Under Gen Obasanjo, the country witnessed the most
brazen electoral malpractices. From 1999 to 2007,
rigging could no longer define what went on as
elections. The current president, Gen Muhammadu
Buhari was twice thrashed in supervised fraud called
elections, under Obasanjo. Buhari himself said this. He,
in fairness, took the matter to the apex court. They ruled
against him in rather controversial rulings. Buhari,
though he accepted the judgement, completely
disagreed with it.

Today, Buhari is president, because Dr Jonathan

allowed a relatively free and fair poll. Yet, the man
Jonathan is vehemently vilified by all and sundry in the

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ruling party.The wrong lessons are being learned by

many youths, the ostensible future leaders. The lesson is
‘Do not sacrifice your ambition for national unity in
Nigeria’. The worst possible lesson.From the pathos of a
multi-ethnic, winner-take-all, vindictive politics. Today
Obasanjo, who twice supervised our most fraudulent
electoral mileu, is Buhari’s envoy. Remember the
iceberg.

Election has been, and still is, a major fault line in

Nigeria. But we must salute the landmark achievement
and sacrifice of the former president, irrespective of his
other failings.

The other major fault lines in my opinion are corruption

and restructuring. My take is that corruption is more a
symptom of a badly structured and governed country.
Where a distant ‘Lord’ milks resources from a badly
neglected ‘vassal’ and redistributes it as he deems fit. In
any society, this will create a pervese incentive –
Corruption. In Niger Delta, the landlord (indigenes)
effectively pays rent to the tenant (federal government).
Such is the depth of the deceit.

Nigeria is littered with many underlying policies,

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which raise my fear of calamity, if they are not re-visited.

I will examine a few of them.

REVENUE FORMULA: I have previously (in a previous

article) analyzed how a north-led government accreted
almost all revenues previously reserved for the regions
and states, to the center. The Nigeria revenue generating
and sharing formula is one of its kind in the entire
world. You cannot find any country or nation where just
about 6 states out of 36, provide 80% federal and
distributable income.

You can equally not find where such money spinning

regions have to wait for allocation from the center. All
oil revenue is taken by the federal government, and 13%
of it is later ‘allocated’ to the oil producing region. On
VAT, 90% is reserved for distributable pool. There is no
country in the world where such formulas are obtained.
In multi-regional Spain, which has arguably the most
acrimonious multi-region democracy in Europe, the
relatively rich Basque region controls most of its
(Basque's) tax revenue. It pays the center for services
rendered (foreign affairs, defence,monarchy) by
negotiated transfer. It controls all other aspects of its
society. Yet, they feel aggrieved and Basque separatist

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movement has been an enduring reality in Spain. Their

grievance, amongst others, is having to subsidize
poorer regions like Andalusia in the south and Galicia,
in the north. It is also worth mentioning that the regions
re-negotiate their contract with the Central Spanish
government every five years. And some of them like
Basque and Catalonia have autonomy.

Germany has poorer, north eastern states (Landers) like

Saxony, Brandenburg, etc in East Germany. But they do
not ‘kidnap’ resources from West Germany. Neither is
there a 'mysterious' revenue formula used to drain the
richer West Germany, for purposes of one united
Germany. There are agreed and accepted transfer, from
Berlin. Not forced or foisted exploitation.

The Mezzogiorro in Italy is a region of relative poverty.

But it does not resort to official extortion to re-distribute
income from richer regions.

The Nigeria revenue formula is unsustainable. There is

deep resentment in the South-East and South-South of
Nigeria over this insolent revenue formula. My fear is
that it may have reached a tipping point.

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FEDERAL CHARACTER: In recent days, the

supporters of Buhari have been telling the whole world
that appointments made by Buhari are based on merit.
This was in response to accusations of lopsidedness. I
was rather surprised, since federal character, which was
championed by the Northern elites, has not been
annulled. I wish it was.

Federal character is a classic form of quota system. Some

people may regard it as affirmative action. It was
initiated by yet another North-led government in
Nigeria. It was intended to reserve positions in the
federal civil service to disadvantaged states. (Mainly in
the North).

It was a crass display of contempt for merit. It was

supposed to be affirmative action for minorities, but it
has been affirmative action for the majority ethnic
group. If the Federal Character Commission can be bold
to publish the employment in Federal Agencies and
Parastatals by ethnic nationalities, we will be chilled.
When Murtala Mohammed first advocated it to the
constitution drafting committee in October 1975, it was
to give every citizen a sense of belonging in Nigeria. But
many observers suspected that it was to balance the

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perceived hurdle that merit imposed on

‘disadvantaged’ states.
No other multi-ethnic or multi-lingual society (talk less
of multi-religious one) applies this type of affirmative
action.

India has quota system for her civil service, but it is

mainly for the lower cadre. The upper or administrative
cadre of the civil service is recruited through one of the
toughest exams in the world. It is purely on merit.
Belgium has it French-speaking and Fleming speaking
population. But recruitment to her civil service is by
successfully passing a competitive examination,
organized by the federal selection and recruitment
office (SECOR).

Canada likewise has English-speaking and French-

speaking regions. Till 2003, it used a ‘best-qualified’
critera for recruitment. From 2003, under its Public
Service Modernization Act, it now applies a value-
based approach. Emphasis is on experience, skill and
knowledge for the advertised position. No federal
character or ethnic character. In fact in 1984, its
commission on Equality in Employment recommended
that no quota should be applied in civil service. Rather

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specific targets can be set for relevant groups like the

disabled, etc.
Where did this federal character come from? It is
another grievous fault line, that I am afraid could tip the
balance against tolerance.

HIGHER EDUCATION: Nigeria is the only country in

the world where a federally subsidized tertiary
education is not merit-driven. How can we be
complaining about the quality of graduates, when only
40% of university and tertiary education is reserved for
merit? Imagine that! Higher education in the 21st
century is based on sundry considerations like
‘catchment areas’.

When countries are worried about the quality of their

higher education and focused on selecting the best.
Nigeria is trying to preserve ethnocentric admission
policy that rewards tribe and religion and punishes
merit and hard work. What kind of nation or country
are you expecting to build?

Youngsters from the south can score 200 in JAMB, and

fail to gain admission in federal-subsidized institutions.
Their counterparts in the north score 66 and get

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admitted into choice professional courses. I am yet to

see anywhere in the world where this formula is
applied. It is straight from the pit of hell. Meanwhile the
North is not in anyway disadvantaged in intelligence!
Several nations preserve affirmative action for tertiary
education, but it is always a low percentage, never
exceeding 15%-20%. Reserving 60% of a nation’s
university education for considerations, other than
merit, in the 21st century, is a recipe for mediocrity.
In Nigeria’s case, because these youngsters can easily
compare what happens in other climes, resentment
builds up. This is another subterranean fault line that
has generated tremendous animosity. I am afraid for
this country if this continues.

LAND USE ACT: This act effectively transferred

ownership of 900,000 square kilometers of Nigeria land
to the government. It is Marxist in principle.

In the pre-colonial days, land management was vastly

different in the North and South of Nigeria. The North
practiced a more feudal system of land maximization
within the ancient state. It was uncommon to see small
land owners in the North, before the British incursion.
This is unlike in the south, from south-east, south-south,

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to south-west, where land typically belongs to families

and individuals. There were many small land holders
(farmers). People typically farmed their land, rather
than work in large farms that belong to feudal lords, as
was the case in the pre-colonial north.

Today, we have a land policy directly borrowed from

the former northern practice. The feudal lord now is the
government. This is alien to the typical and customary
land management in the southern part of Nigeria. It is a
reform whose time has come.

MIDDLE BELT: The middle belt of Nigeria sits atop a

two-thousand-foot-high plateau of brown table land. It
is the region where the Savannah meets the Sahel.
Christianity meets Islam and North meets South. It is a
major fault line.

From the inception of civil rule in 1999, more Nigerians

have lost their lives in the middle belt violence, than in
any other part of Nigeria. This fact is usually lost. The
middle belt has borne the major brunt of the pastoral
nonchalance of Fulani herdsmen. It has also borne the
greater scar of the inter-religious crisis in Nigeria.
Resentments run deep among the different antagonist

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in this region. The fact that the two major religion in

Nigeria are inter-mingled here has hardened the edge of
each faith in this region.

The middle belt could have been an earthly paradise,

but it is not. There is a perpetual civil war going on there,
from Plateau to Nassarawa, from Benue to Kogi, with
spillovers. Ambush with fatal consequences is the
modus operandi.

My fear is that these fault lines have so much weakened

the Nigeria society, though the political super-structure
appears to be intact. It is a Potemkin polity. The last
election also showed a deeply divided nation.

The middle belt votes were largely split in the states

where the fault lines are most evident (Benue,
Nassarawa, Kogi, Plateau). The south-west was also
split 6:4, while the former Biafran nation and former
Sokoto and Borno empires went over 90% for their ‘son’.
I want Nigeria to survive. But I want it to survive as a
just, fair, equitable nation, that is built on merit and
opportunities.

We must tell ourselves the truth. This experiment of an

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almost equal Christian and Muslim polity, has never

worked anywhere before. It is a product of British
imagination. If we want it to work, we must pull down
all institutional injustices.

In India, the British attempted to create a single nation

of large Hindu and Muslim constituents. Mahatma
Gandhi, the idealist, supported the plan. Thankfully, a
political pragmatist, in the person of Ali Jinah, was able
to persuade the colonialists that the formula was a
ticking bomb.

This was why Pakistan was carved out for the Muslims,
as a Muslim nation. And India was left for mainly the
Hindus. Yet India and Pakistan have fought five wars
since 1947. Imagine if they had been one country.

The British made similar mistake in Iraq. It was an

artificial creation of incompatible groups: Kurds, Shitte
Muslims, and Sunni. They had only been held together
by oppressive forceful regimes since 1958. Ethnic and
sectarian animosities were forcefully suppressed for
decades. Today,Iraq is the global hotbed of vicious
violence.

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Nigeria has to look at all these nations, to confirm what

does not work. The current structure of Nigeria's
politics, economics, and society is not sustainable. We
have to look at nations like UK, Canada and India, to
learn how to manage a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and
multi-religious democracy.

But my fear is that current leaders are too busy fighting

yesterday's battles.

The iceberg is getting closer!

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NIGERIA’S HEALTH SYSTEM AND

NATIONAL WELL BEING

JUNE 2015

A healthcare system should meet certain criteria, if it is

to be considered modern. According to the Institute of
Medicine in USA, these criteria include:
Safety
Patient – Centered
Timely
Efficient
Effective
Equitable
The Nigerian health system largely fails in these. This
may be largely due to the lack of any real, coherent and
comprehensive health system and policy.

From independence in 1960, the Nigeria health policy

had been largely stagnant in terms of national,
comprehensive initiatives. With the exception of the

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National Primary Healthcare Policy and the National

Health Insurance Policy, which were introduced in the
80’s and 2005 respectively, no other coordinated jab at
national health coverage can be pointed out.

Both policies have also largely underperformed,

leaving Nigeria with unacceptably high child and
maternal mortality and rather low life expectancy. More
than 95% of Nigerians are still uncovered by any sort of
health insurance mechanism, forcing them to resort to
out-of-pocket payment for healthcare.

The Nigerian health system is largely administered

exclusively by medical doctors, without much recourse
to dictates of health economies; financial providence;
and post-modern management principles. This had led
to poor planning and execution of policies in the health
sectors. Among the immediate consequences of this, is
the over-burdening of the Nigeria government
hospitals; where doctor –patient ratio tends to run to
1:200 and very expensive private hospital care. This
arises because of the incentive mismatch and funding
gap that exists in the poorly administered national
health system.

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Many Nigerian medical and health professionals can be

found in various parts of the world, working as high –
skilled immigrants. This is a further indictment on the
abysmal state of the Nigerian health system. Indeed
many wealthy Nigerians have now opted for medical
tourism rather than patronise the touchy Nigerian
health services. The rising profile of medical tourism is
further aggravating the capital flight from Nigeria,
according to the Central bank of Nigeria.

Many Nigeria professional associations like the Medical

Imaging Society of Nigeria (MISON), Pharmaceutical
Society of Nigeria (PSN), etc have also lamented about
the poor and dwindling knowledge base of
professionals in Nigeria. This is in addition to the most
of the best talents leaving the country out of frustration.
It appears that in the aspect of health care professionals,
Nigeria “…trains the best, but keeps the rest…”

Industrial and labour disputes are another bane of

healthcare delivery in Nigeria. An estimate once put it
that Nigeria loses about 35 days to industrial dispute in
every calendar year. This is definitely unacceptable in
an already under-served society. Most of the industrial
disputes arise from issues that may be viewed as arcane,

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such as nomenclature and use of call rooms.

It could be argued that the Nigerian health system has
failed Nigerians. The system is not nationally
integrated. The policies are not comprehensively
assessed before inauguration; are not regularly
reviewed and are poorly implemented. The national
health indices are among the worst in the Sub-Saharan
Africa. Consequently, life expectancy is very low in
Nigeria, compared to countries of comparable gross
domestic product (GDP).

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RETHINKING THE NATIONAL

HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME.

June 2015

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was

formally launched in Nigeria in 2005, though the law
mandating it was approved in 1999.
Its aim was to facilitate universal healthcare in Nigeria,
but unfortunately its design and implementation were
fundamentally flawed. The Nigeria nation is woefully
behind her national goal of universal healthcare by
2015. Several challenges can be seen as mitigating
factors. These include:
Access
Equity
Financing
Infrastructure
Governance
ACCESS: Access to quality and equitable care is
regarded as the bedrock of a functional, national health

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system. The NHS in United Kingdom promises and

delivers universal healthcare. Though funding gap is a
continual challenge for the British government. The
United States of America recently passed a law
mandating some sort of universal care, through the
‘Obama care’ legislation.

In Nigeria, only five million citizens (an abysmal 3% of

total population) have access to the NHIS mandated
health service. Of this minuscule fraction of the
population, significant portions (4 million persons) are
employees of public or government institutions. About
one million are from what is termed the organised
private sector. Over 155 million Nigerians are not
covered by NHIS, and therefore do not have access to
the intended universal healthcare.

This is even more worrisome, considering that in 2005

when the scheme was fully launched, the government
set a target of year 2015 for achieving universal
healthcare. This failure in expanding and deepening
coverage is the major index, it can be argued in the high
mortality rate and low life expectancy (46 years) in
Nigeria.

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Wall posters that announce deaths and burials’

arrangements the Nigerian way, usually bear the
ominous phrase of death after ‘…. a brief illness’! A
constant but ignored testimony to the general poor state
of health of the average Nigerian. Most resort to self-
care and quack consultations, in lieu of proper medical
assessment, because they lack the cash to pay for
affordable healthcare.

The problem of access is amplified at the bottom of the

pyramid. Most, if not all Nigerians in informal or extra-
legal sectors are uncovered by health insurance,
likewise the unemployed and the aged. These are the
most vulnerable groups in the society and most women
are inexplicably found in these segments.

This brings us to the issue of equity in the National

Health Insurance Scheme.

EQUITY: Universal health Insurance, which the NHIS is

designed to achieve, is a social programme. Social
programmes are generally expected to create a
framework for equality of opportunity or equality of
outcome. In other words, a level of social equity is an in-
built expectation.

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In designing national health coverage schemes, many

developed nations attempted to ensure equity by
making health insurance mandatory, (UK made it free at
the point of care); deny health insurance companies or
health management organisations (HMOs) the right to
reject clients or drop clients; etc. some nations like Japan
even made the options offered by almost all the health
insurance companies to be almost undifferentiated. All
these are aimed to create an equal opportunity for all
citizens to have similar healthcare quality. This is a
measure of equity in the health system.

The NHIS lacks such well formulated equity index. The

very rich can have extremely luxurious healthcare
options (provided by HMOs working under NHIS),
complete with air ambulance and liposuction. While
those in the lower echelon of the coverage spectrum can
only be covered for the basic health services, including
very limited hospital stay, in the incident of debilitating
illness.

The worst off are those in the bottom who do not even
have access, and are thus condemned to dealing with
roadside drug peddlers and traditional voodoo healers.
This does not meet the expected equity index.

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FINANCING: The NHIS is currently financed from

payroll. Employers pay 10% of their worker’s basic
salary, while the employees contribute 5%, for a total of
15% of payroll surcharge. However, there are myriad
plans for ‘topping up’, to enable the beneficiary to enjoy
superior service.

Financing the NHIS from payroll appears to be a

fundamental flaw in a country where official
unemployment is about 25% (Over 50% in youths below
the age of 32 years). Too many people are jobless and
therefore cannot afford ANY health insurance cover.
Beyond the 25% unemployment, most employments
are in the informal and semi-formal sectors. These
sectors usually do not have verifiable payroll and hence
do not participate in the NHIS.

All these factors show that the scheme was flawed at its
policy design stage. It did not take full cognizance of the
social and economic situation of Nigeria.
Any social or economic benefit that is linked to formal
jobs in most developing economies will instantly
discriminate against most of the citizens. This is because
formal jobs are a rarity in developing economies, unlike
in developed societies.

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How do you access the payroll of a commercial

motorcycle rider, whose entire business is done on cash
and carry and basis? Meanwhile he has a wife who
needs ante-natal services and an aging mother who
needs geriatric care. But they are all uninsured.

The payroll financing of the NHIS as it currently is, must

be regarded as a limiting factor.

INFRASTRUCTURE: the healthcare infrastructure in

Nigeria has significantly improved in the past 12 years,
largely due to private investment. However, it is still
grossly inadequate for a population of over 160 million
people.

From hospital beds to Magnetic Resonance Imaging

equipments; from desktop and handheld computers to
surgical tables; from running portable water to steady
electricity; all these and everything in between are in
short supply.

It was expected that the pooling of funds from NHIS

from payrolls would spur massive investment in the
health care infrastructure. This has not happened. The
massive funds directly budgeted for healthcare by the

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government notwithstanding. Excruciating corruption

and crass irresponsibility are the usual suspects.
However poor planning and inadequate capacity
development are also factors.

GOVERNANCE: Governance is weak in the NHIS. It is

rare to hear a case of an aggrieved customer seeking and
getting a satisfactory sanction against a participating
health facility or HMO for unethical or illegal practice. It
is appalling that conflict of interest is not raised when
the same group of people that own HMOs equally
operate hospitals or health service providers.

There are clear cut outcomes that participating health

facilities are strictly expected to adhere to. Rather, there
are general outlines and guidelines that are usually
known only to a few people within the HMO and the
health providers.

The NHIS, which was launched in 2005 in Nigeria, is a

laudable initiative. It has helped millions of people to
have access to better healthcare. But it can be argued
that because of poor policy design, it has failed woefully
to achieve as stated goal of universal healthcare by 2015.

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OSTRICH NATION!

December 2015

I wrote the ensuing piece a few months ago, to alert

Nigerians to a latent and brewing danger. I remember
that a good friend of mine lampooned me on Facebook,
as talking rubbish. I don't think he still thinks I am
talking rubbish after the Kaduna incident, last week.
Ostrich Nation, Lazy intellectuals, Reactive leadership.
SHITTE VS SUNNI TERRORISM

I would like to put some things in perspective.

El-Zakzaky's group that thrives in Zaria is Shitte. Shitte
is far more sophisticated than Sunni when it comes to
issues of Political terrorism. They protest in solidarity
with Hamas because they feel (and have) more affinity
with HAMAS than other Nigerian Muslim and
Christian citizens. Look at some facts.

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1. HAMAS is a shitte terrorist group sponsored by Iran

and controlling Gaza.
2. HITZBOLLAH is a shitte terrorist group sponsored
by Iran and controlling Lebanon.
3. Alawites clan is a shitte clan controlling syria (Assad
dynasty) and supported by Iran.
Shittes are far more sophisticated in using political
structures that have terrorist nucleus to control regions
and countries. They organize control and win their
regions city by city! They always have one spiritual
head, even if there are several Ayotallahs. It is not
unlikely that this 'protest' was sponsored by Iran. You
can now understand why they will not protest killings
and abductions of fellow citizen or attacks on Buhari
and Sheik Bauchi few years back, but will protest Gaza
conflict. Talk of where your bread is buttered.

What we should learn from this is that the very soul of

Northern Nigeria, and indeed Nigeria, is up for grabs.
The Sunni terrorists like Boko Haram, AL Qaeda etc. are
basically 'hit and run' terrorists. They bomb and die. Or
bomb and scamper. Hoping simply to destroy,
devastate and lay desolate. Shittes,on the other hand,
systematically work to gain control of all apparatus of
power discreetly, city block by city block. Gain control

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of hearts (through religion) and resources (through

arms & brigandry). Then unleash a local fiefdom of fear.
From which you can never regain those territories
again, ever! Iran, Gaza and Lebanon are ever present
examples. One irony though, they detest Sunni and
Wahabist Muslims. Maybe they can be a bulwark
against BH in Zaria and other places they are beginning
to "control".

We don’t know what we are facing yet. Our problems

are getting far deeper than PDP/APC or
Ohanaeze/Arewa.

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RADICAL ISLAM AND THE

GLOBALISATION OF TERROR!

November 2015

Today again, the world has joined France to mourn! The

massacre was as horrendous as it was ferocious. It left all
the people living in the most advanced cities of the
world numb with trepidation. The scenes usually
beheld on Karachi TV channels are now played out in
'rue De paris'. Terror is now firmly global. It's no longer
an Arab thing, an African nightmare or an East Asia
debacle. It has become recurrent in the world's most
sophisticated capital. No hiding place.

A few hours before this horror was unleashed, I was

discussing what I considered a political and security
mistake by the western Europeans. I am not one to
sacrifice at the altar of political correctness. I wondered
how Europeans could allow "what the world would
say" to becloud practical judgement. Swathes of Muslim

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population, under the guise of escape from Syria, were

crossing the Mediterranean in hundreds of thousands,
to flood Europe. My logic was IF they were merely war
refugees, why were they not going to very very close
Jordan and Saudi Arabia? Rather than aiming for
Germany, France and UK with Turkey as a mere transit
point? Jordan and Saudi Arabia are both ARAB &
MUSLIM nations. Saudi is swimming in oil riches,
supposedly. What of UAE? It's closer than Germany.
Why were the same Muslims that bemoan the injustice
and conspiracy of the west against Muslims, leaving
nearby Muslim and Arab countries, but risk all to enter
Europe? Is there a matter of social hypocrisy?!

I was worried and predicted a rise in coordinated

attacks in Europe. I am not a prophet. But I like to study
trends. In 2009, in an article, I predicted the rise of "an
army of hate" in Northern Nigeria. Today we are still
battling Boko haram, with shifting deadlines. France
has never faced this breadth of attack, with such
audacity. It is no coincidence it is coming after the influx
of Syria "refugees". The truth is that global terrorism
and Islam are closely linked. Before the biles rise, let me
elucidate.

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Majority of Muslims are moderate and peaceable. But

the moderate Muslims have watched as the dangerous
radical Islam rose. Radical Islam rose with the rise of
petrodollar! As Saudi Arabia began to gain stupendous
wealth, it started funding clerics and building mosques
all across the globe. It was her way of spreading her
branch of ISLAM, Wahabist Islam. Nigeria received a
huge dose of these funding, in many form. Ultimately
our government finally accepted to join OIC, with the
attendant furore. It wasn't by accident.

Also the theocratic mileu ushered in by the sack of the

Shah of Iran further emboldened the radical wing in
Islam. Then came the mujahedeens of the Afghanistan-
Soviet union battle of the 80s and 90s.
With Saudi money, mosques, schools and freewheeling
clerics were unleashed with little regulation. Iran
provided a template of Theocracy and Afghanistan
gave military training and bragging/ recruiting
impetus.

Another important aspect is that Muslims world over

feel they deserve better. They generally feel alienated,
right or wrong. Several surveys have revealed this. But
on a closer examination, it can be deduced that Islam is

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actually exclusive! It is incredibly difficult to assimilate

Muslims in any society. They are distinct.

Lee Kuan Yew said that "...Hinduism, Chinese

Confucianism, Japanese Shintoism, are really secular.
They know that to progress, you must master science
and technology...... But the Muslims believe that if they
master Koran and they are prepared to do all it
prescribed, they will succeed". This is the opinion of the
founding leader and late patriarch of Singapore. He
may have generalised, but the core of the statement is
incontrovertible.

I am one of those who believe that Islam needs her

reformation. Christianity had descended into carnal
evil in the middle ages, before the reformation epoch
ushered in by Luther in Wittenberg. How long would
we all watch this debasing of a sublime and peaceful
religion, by radicalised renegades?
Europe, in the quest to be politically correct, have
sacrificed her law abiding citizens. Now we are asked to
join in a wholly preventable mourning!!!
Can the world win the war against terror militarily? The
answer is unequivocal No!!
To end this global nightmare, the world need to invoke

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the strength and resolve of moderate Muslims.

Moderate Muslims and their leaders are the ones best
poised to stall the momentum of mass murder by
Islamic terrorists. We saw the initial nonchalance of
northern leaders in Nigeria, when Boko Haram was
rising. Despite its violent tendencies, ab initio. But when
the radical group began to threaten their effective
leadership, and sacking some from their homes, they
rallied. And now Boko Haram is receiving the fight of
their life. Likewise in Mali, Chad and Cameroun. From
these I am convinced that radical Islam will start dying
when they start challenging the moderate Islamic
political leaderships. But why wait till then?

The world needs to start engaging moderate Muslims

and moderate Muslim leaders. They have to start
identifying and isolating radical preachers in mosques
and schools. They have to let moderate Muslims know
that they may find it very difficult to enter any western
and developed country, including Russia and China.
Moderate Muslims need to know that radicalism is
tarring all Muslims! In Nigeria, the rise of radical Islam
is among the reasons why Biafra clamour is getting
louder. Majority of the Muslims who are peace loving
and restrained are the last best hope of a besieged world.

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But the Europeans need to ditch political correctness.

Extraordinary times require extraordinary strategies!
Peace symbols don't bring peace. Preparedness can.
Ozoemena!

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SYLLABUS OF DECEIT!
(THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FIRST
COUP)

July 2017

The broadcast on Biafra by Al-Jazeera must have hit

home. I know this for sure with the rush by apologists of
the Military-North Complex to indulge in their
favourite revisionism. The first Nigeria coup is always
their take-off point.

However, we Ndi Igbo will never stop telling our story.

The first coup that they keep labelling the Igbo coup
because some of its leaders were Igbo, was never an Igbo
coup. If the Military-North Complex that ruled and
ruined Nigeria is willing to defend their assertions, let
the Federal government of Nigeria muster the will to set
up a Commission that will interrogate the first and
second coups, since they always claim ALL our
problems started then. This may help to bring a final
closure to the claims and counter claims!

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Indeed Major Kaduna Nzeogwu was reputed to have

led the coup. The revisionists never fail to recollect how
he invaded the home of Sir Ahmadu Bello and
murdered him. They however always fail to mention
that Nzeogwu didn't act alone. Nzeogwu shot his way
into Sir Bello's home, with Lt Atom Kpela, a Tiv man,
amongst others shooting with him.

Nzeogwu was murdered by northern troops at Nsukka

sector, and his eyes plucked out before burial, during
the war. What of Atom Kpela? He ended up as Military
Governor of East Central state I.e Igbo land! And you
will never hear members of the Military-North
Complex mention Atom Kpela when they describe the
horrors of that fateful night in Sir Ahmadu Bello's home.
The Military-North Complex will always breeze
through the fact that Lt Col Unegbe contributed most
immensely in the failure of the coup in Lagos. Not only
because he paid with his life, the ultimate sacrifice by an
Igbo man against an "Igbo coup". His refusal to grant
any access to the ammunition store, for which he was in
charge, as the Quarter-Master General, singularly
ruined the coup in Nigeria's capital then.

We acknowledge the horrors of that first coup. It is also

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on record that the fatalities of that coup were 15 persons.

A very sad outcome! However you will never hear the
revisionists mention that the counter-coup had fatalities
of 214 persons, mainly Igbo officers. About 17 times the
fatalities of the first coup. A clear case of Crime against
Humanity, under current UN charter! No other coup in
Nigeria has ever had up to 20% of that level of fatality.
Even the violent attempted Orkar coup.

The revisionists will never mention that the coup failed

in the north because the coup failed woefully in Kano.
The failure of the coup in Kano was because Lt.Col
Ojukwu refused to mobilise the 5th battalion to join the
coup.

Gen Olusegun Obasanjo in his book "NZEOGWU"

wrote that a Lt Ude was sent by the coup plotters to kill
Ojukwu. Luckily he was arrested.
The Kano Airport which the coup plotters had hoped to
secure was secured for Nigeria by Lt Ike Nwachukwu,
whom Ojukwu detailed to do that duty.
All these players that played pivotal and patriotic roles
in debilitating the coup were Igbos.
You will also hear them saying that M.I. Okpala, the
Premier of Eastern Region was not murdered because

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the Igbo coup executors in Enugu refused to touch him.

However in the biography of Shehu Musa Yaradua,
Yaradua narrated the events of that night.

Yaradua was a Lieutenant and he stated that he was

practically in charge of the Enugu battalion that night.
He narrated that his commanding officer, Lt.Col Fajuyi
was in Lagos. The 2nd in command, who was Major
Akonobi, was according to Yaradua 'floundering'. He,
Yaradua, was the one that received the signal from the
Brigade command in Lagos. And he REFUSED to obey
it. He said he refused to obey because he wanted to hear
from the Brigade Commander directly, but they could
not put him on.

He also narrated that it was him that secured the

Archbishop of Cyprus and his entourage, as well as the
Premier of Eastern Region. Otherwise the Premier
would have been murdered. So much for the conspiracy
theories that Igbo officers & men refused to murder M.I.
Okpala because they are same tribe. Or is distinguished
Major Gen. Shehu Musa Yaradua, of blessed memory a
liar?

Meanwhile the coup failed not only in Enugu, but also

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Kano and Benin. Of course Kano and Benin are Igbo

land.

You will never hear members of the Military-North

Complex that ruined Nigeria mention the IFEAJUNA
MANUSCRIPT, which detailed their true plans and
intentions. The document detailed clearly their
intention to hand over power to Chief Obafaemi
Awolowo. No less a person than Odia Ofeimun, Chief
Awolowo's private secretary for a long time, and
renowned poet revealed this. Obasanjo had also
referred to this document, most likely in a Freudian slip.
All other coups in Nigeria, led by different tribal
elements, none bears a tribal moniker. Only the first
coup. An institutional attempt to justify all the
genocides and official discriminations against Ndi Igbo.
All these continue to fuel the burning quest for Ndi Igbo
to leave this vindictive union.

It's time Nigeria officially stops the revisionism. If the

Military-North Complex think their version is the right
one, let them have the courage to open an official truth
inquest, into the events of that cold January night.
Let us see if it can help us get an acceptable closure to
that painful and fatal epoch.

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WHO WILL TELL THE PRESIDENT?

April 2016

President Buhari, as has become characteristic, issued

another policy statement from abroad. To deal with
Pipeline vandals as he is dealing with Boko Haram. An
instructive warning. The vandals better heed this
warning from a retired General, or. Or what?

This threat was issued as a policy statement in the

inaugural speech of May 29 2015. Yet, we have
descended into hell's neighbourhood.

Obasanjo, a former General, used all the wicked force he

could muster against the Niger Delta militants. It failed
woefully. A polite civilian and his humane deputy
solved the problem of militancy and crass vandalism,
with a civil solution. We had respite for almost 8 years.
It will be necessary to remind everyone that Nigeria is

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about 910000 square kilometers. This is the expanse of

space that 300000 strong police force and 85000 strong
Armed forces will secure. Secure from armed robbers,
kidnappers, ritual killers, rapists, etc. Then add killer
Herdsmen, Boko Haram and now resurgent militancy
and vandalism!

It is also noteworthy that Nigeria has about 30

metropolitan cities and about 10000 towns and villages
that need security. How does Buhari plan to fight war on
two fronts, while securing all Nigerians? It is either he is
misinformed or he is misleading us.

Those pipelines run through a lot of those villages. How

do you police them, without active collaboration of the
indigenes?!

The Nigeria security network, by size, can't even secure

our cities. Talk less of hinterland pipe networks. A look
at the crime pages of our dailies will confirm how crime
still thrives in Nigeria. The police numbers and
resources are inadequate to secure the cities. Talk less of
pipelines.

Herdsmen every week massacre in scores. The army

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and police can't stop them. And yet our president in far
away China is declaring war on militant vandals.
The truth is that force is not the panacea for Niger Delta
crisis. The "clueless" one was able to use a stop-gap
solution to contain this problem. Yet he was repeatedly
maligned.

Rather than declare war that our government cannot

win, it would have been better to send a new revenue
bill to national Assembly. The bill should propose a new
derivation formula that includes COMMUNITY
RIGHTS.

A slice of the national revenue should be allocated

directly to the oil and Pipeline communities. This is not
for infrastructure, but should be directly credited to the
individual community members, through their bank
accounts. The accounts should be based on full
identification. And payments for each community will
be predicated on no interruption of production or
pipeline flows. This gives most of the youths of host
communities a stake in uninterrupted production and
un-vandalised pipelines.

And if the payments are channelled straight through

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individual accounts, it will bypass being hijacked by

local politicians and goons.

This, or something similar, would have been a more

permanent and creative solution. It is already costs us
heavily in no fuel, no power, military lives, civilian lives
and enormous equipment spending to fight militants.
Force will not solve it because Nigeria's security
network is still inadequate for a country of 187 million
people, spread across 910000 square kilometers.

But pray, Who will tell the president?

My name is Olisa Akukwe. And I still want to
#StopNonsense.

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WHY BIAFRA WILL NOT

GO AWAY (PART 1)

October 2015

On the evening of Saturday 22nd August 2015, the

Punch Newspaper Online carried the news that Radio
Biafra was back on air. It was announced that the station
is transmitting on 104.7FM band, in south-east Nigeria.
Punch described the station as a ‘pirate channel’ and
they wondered how it could be transmitting after the
Federal government claimed to have jammed its signal.
What may be more worrying to the federal mandarins,
the media, and the general public, outside the Igboland,
is how the rogue station can have such traction and
attraction in a supposedly modern Nigeria.

There is a reason or rather reasons why Radio Biafra,

and more fundamentally, Biafra will not go away. To
understand why, we have to go back.

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PRE-INDEPENDENCE: In the pre-independent

Nigeria, the colonialist created 3 regions that were
anchored by the majority ethnic groups of these regions
(Yoruba-western region, Hausa-Fulani – northern
region, and Igbo – eastern region)
1951: In the first election for ‘limited self – government’
in 1951, it was only in the eastern region, the Igbo
heartland, that a minority became head of government.
It was Mr Eyo Ita, an Ibibio who became the first head of
government in Eastern region. This was in a region
where Igbos are the overwhelming majority.

For perspective, in the west, the NCNC and its allied

parties (eg, the Ibadan peoples party, Ondo
improvement league, Otu Edo, etc) won a total of 51
seats, while the Action group won 29 seats. But on the
floor of the parliament where the government would be
formed, several members of the allied parties cross-
carpeted to AG, raising the AG majority to 45 and
NCNC led by Azikiwe was forced into opposition. This
may have happened out of fear that the majority Yoruba
would not lead the government in western region, if
NCNC formed the government.

In the north, it was the Fulani prince – Ahmadu Bello,

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who took the reins with implicit backing of Sir

Sharwood Smith. So from the onset, unlike the twisted
opinions of being paraded, Ndi Igbo were their
brother’s keeper and had a liberalised attitude to
governance based on merit rather than ethnicity.

To further buttress this fact, in 1952, a Fulani man,

Mallam Umaru Altine was elected mayor in Enugu, the
capital of Eastern region, the Igbo heartland. He was the
first mayor of Enugu, and he held this position till 1958.
Imagine an Igbo man being mayor of Kaduna in 2015,
talk less of 1952. Ndi igbo believed in the Nigerian
project more than any other group, before the advent of
industrial-scale killing of Igbos.

1954: A hardly discussed part of Nigerian history is the

1954 election outcome. The NCNC won the majority in
Western and Eastern regions, which implies they won
the south. By the constitutional provisions of the
election, the NCNC was to nominate 6 out of the 9
federal ministers. (Each region was to provide 3 federal
ministers, from the winning party).This led the NPC,
AG, and the British Colonial government to plot and
collude, with a view to prevent the NCNC and NEPU
alliance from forming the government at the Center.

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According to Yusuf Bala Usman, the acclaimed

northern Nigeria historian, a secret correspondence to
the Colonial Office No. 26, dated 28th November 1954,
outlined the plans and measures used to force NCNC to
‘surrender’ its rightful claim to leading the government,
and facilitated the emergence of Abubakar Tafawa
Belewa as the Prime Minister.

Equally swept under the proverbial carpet, is the fact

that in the 1959 election, which ushered in the
independent government, the NCNC won the majority
of the votes cast! NCNC got 2,592,629 votes while the
NPC got 2,027,194 and AG received 1,980,839 votes. The
system had already been rigged by the British
Colonialists, with fervent spurring by Sir Sharwood
Smith, the Governor of Northern region. The system
was designed to give NPC the most seats, to prevent the
progressive and ‘radical’ eastern region from gaining
power at the Center.

These are some of the well concealed facts of pre-

independence politics.
1ST COUP: Nigeria had her first military coup on
January 15, 1966. It was led by five Majors, of whom the
most popular is Major Nzeogwu. The coup has been

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maliciously labelled the “Igbo coup”. This was because

most of the leaders of that coup came from Eastern
region. However, of the 5 Majors, one was Yoruba, and
one from Mid-west. In other words, almost half of the
coup leaders did not come from Igbo heartland.

The fact that the coup was foiled mainly by Igbo officers
is also largely and intentionally obscured. In Lagos, Lt
Col. Unegbu, who was then the quarter master general
of the Nigerian army and in charge of the ammunition
store at Ikeja barracks, was shot dead. His crime was
refusing to hand over or provide access to the
ammunition. This singular heroic act fundamentally
wrecked the coup plan in Lagos, as the plotters could
not muster the hardware to complete the take-over in
Lagos. Yet it was an ‘Igbo coup’.
Obasanjo, in his book ‘Nzeogwu’, wrote that one
Lieutenant Ude was sent to kill Ojukwu in Kano, for not
supporting the coup. But his plan was thwarted. Indeed,
it was Ojukwu’s refusal to join the coup and his securing
of Kano using the 5th battalion that scuttled the coup in
Northern region. Yet it is an ‘Igbo coup’.

Another little discussed perspective on the first and

second (revenge) coups is the casualty figures. The total

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casualty of the first coup or ‘Igbo coup’, was 15 people.

But in the revenge coup organised by the Northern
officers, a total of 214 persons were killed! In other
words, it was a cold-blooded retributive massacre.
It is also often mentioned that the January 1966 coup
succeeded in Kaduna completely, partially in Lagos and
failed completely in Enugu, because it was an ‘igbo
coup’. But nobody remembers that it also failed
completely in Kano and Benin despite plans to strike in
these cosmopolitan cities.

The other important fact that the northern and military

establishment concealed was the intention of the Jan ’66
coup plotters. It was their intention to release Chief
Obafemi Awolowo from prison and install him as prime
minister. So much for the igbo coup theorem. This
intention has been revealed by several high profile stake
holders in the Nigeria project, intentionally or
unintentionally.

Odia Ofeimun, Awolowo’s private secretary of several

years and acclaimed poet, wrote on the 21 oct 2012 in a
Sahara Reporters article that the Jan ’66 coup plotters
planned to hand over political power to Awolowo. This
was according to the IFEAJUNA MANUSCRIPT which

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the federal government have contrived to keep secret.

Likewise a former Federal Commisioner for Youths and
Sports under Gowon, Maj. Gen Olufemi Olutoye stated
same in his biography of Awolowo.

It is obvious that ndi igbo were intentionally maligned,

using the first coup as a faux reason. Mr F. Fani-Kayode
pushed this calumnious misinformation to a hysterical
decibel in recent memory. Unfortunately, Ndi igbo
remembers. And these serial and horrific injustices
make Biafra a romantic nirvana to the typical igbo
person, wherever she may be.

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WHY BIAFRA WILL NOT GO AWAY

(PART 2)

October 2015

Major General Aguiyi Ironsi was gruesomely murdered

as the head of state in July 1966. His murder was
singularly significant for its unprecedented cruelty. It
was like the first incarnation of ISIS. The ‘official’ reason
attributed to the bloody coup that took his life (the
revenge coup) was that he wanted to institute Igbo
dominance by making Nigeria a ‘unitary system’.
I have tried to find out the exact actions he took that
signified his ‘unitary system’ intentions. Indeed I found
them.

On 24th May 1966, he promulgated two fateful Decrees:

Decrees 33 and 34 of 1966. Decree 33 was known as the
public order Decree and it proscribed political parties,
as well as tribal and cultural leaning organisations.
But it was the Decree 34 which abolished the regions,

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regional governments and civil services and re-

introduced the provinces and military administrators
for the groups of provinces, that was interpreted rightly
as the creation of ‘unitary state’. After this, by 29th and
30th May, all hell was let loose with industrial scale
murder of Ndi-igbo in Northern Nigeria.

The rest, as they say, is history. Let us examine the

northern government that took over from Aguiyi Ironsi
for a moment. Did they reverse the ‘unitary state’? Were
we returned to the regional government? Were the
federal civil service and judiciary abolished? Were we
returned to regional civil service? The answer to all
these is a sadly perplexing ‘NO!’

If Aguiyi Ironsi and over 200 mainly Igbo officers were

killed for the ‘unitary state’ crime, how come Yakubu
Gowon, Murtala Mohammed, and T.Y Danjuma – the
coup leaders, did not revert to the regional system?
Rather what happened was that the new northern
leaders now took the ‘offensive’ policy and made
Nigeria a truly unitary state, after Ironsi was murdered
for this 'crime’.

The federal civil service, federal judiciary, federal police

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force, etc are very much the reality of Nigeria today.

The provinces that Ironsi wanted to re-introduce are
now known as states. The long and short of this drama is
that Aguiyi Ironsi, Fajuyi, and hundreds of other people
killed in the revenge coup were just sacrificed to
introduce a northern-led government. It was not based
on any ‘fear’ either of a unitary state or of Igbo
dominance. It was intended to restore the north to
power!

Subsequent policies reinforced this perception. The

most essential tool of this new hegemony was the
revenue matrix.

Before the government of Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria has

had five revenue and fiscal commissions. Starting from
Sir Sydney Phillipson commission of 1946; to K.J Binns
commission of 1964. All the 5 commissions made
derivation principle the prime determinant of revenue
to each region. Everyone knows that the legendary
Main Market Onitsha was built from funds generated
by palm oil. Chief M.I Okpara commissioned the
construction firm Messr Brioni and Co, with full
funding, to design and build the market in its modern
form. It was already the largest market in west Africa,

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before Murtala Mohammed shelled it during the civil

war.

In July 1968, just two years into his government and

with a civil war raging, Yakubu Gowon constituted
committee of 8 known as Dina Committee (Dina was the
Chairman) to look at issues of revenue sharing among
the newly created 12 states. It is on record that the Dina
Committee was the first revenue and fiscal commission
that relegated ‘derivation principle’ to the bottom of the
revenue sharing mix. Unsurprisingly, Obafemi
Awolowo (who was then the Federal Finance
commissioner) and the entire 12 states finance
commissioner rejected the Dina committee
recommendation. Mysteriously, Gowon implemented
the Dina committee report. This was a determined step
to fully implement the unitary state agenda, for which
they had killed Aguiyi Ironsi.

The first step to accrete revenue to the northern-led

federal government was Decree 13 of 1970. The decree
introduced the following changes:
100% export duties to states of origin was reduced to
60%. 40% went to the Federal government.
100% duty on fuel consumption that went to the state of

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consumption was reduced to 50%. 50% went to the

Federal government.
50% mining rents and royalties to state of activity was
reduced to 45%. 55% went to distributable pool and
federal government.
All excise duties now went to federal government and
distributable pool.
The distributable pool sharing formula was made 50%
equality of states and 50% population.

Remember that the last census before the civil war was
massively rigged to favour the North and it was
subsequently rejected by Zik and Awo. But under
military rule, Decree was total.

This Decree 13 of 1970 was the provenance of all

economic injustice the Biafra ‘region’ (south-east and
south-south) has suffered and still suffers.
In 1971, though Decree No. 9, all the rents and royalties
of offshore oil were transferred from the states to the
federal government. The unitary government initiative
was almost total.
It was finally culminated through Decree Nos. 6 and 7 of
1975. Through these Decrees, the North-led federal
government took:

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The remaining 45% of mining rents and royalties

previously left for the states.
All import duties, while transferring half to the
distributable pool Likewise personal income tax

The takeover was now total. The minority ethnic groups

(south-south) have paid the most price for these
appropriation of resources by North-led federal
government. Ndi-igbo lost the most because merit was
forever shackled in the dungeon of state mendacity.
Effort, endowment and enterprise were no longer
directly proportional to reward.

Today, Lagos state pays as heavy a price as the ‘Biafran

nation’ that they helped to subdue. I read in the news
few days back, that the former head of the Lagos State
Board of Internal revenue, William Fowler, has been
appointed chairman of FIRS. He was said to have
expanded Lagos IGR from N3.6 billion to N20.5 billion
in a month. Great. The implication is that he is
appointed to do same or similar feat for the federal
government. I am worried because, it is a plan to
continue the milking and exploitation of Southern
Nigeria, in this union. It is no secret that over 80% of
current federal government revenue came from the

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former Biafran region. Almost all federal government

revenue comes from the south. Now Fowler is tapped,
to further milk resources from the long suffering
southerners, in other to keep Nigeria ‘one’.

I implore all citizens of former Biafra to speak up with a

common voice and demand monthly publication of the
state by state contribution to the federation account. For
purposes of clarification, the federation account
consists of:
Company income tax
Import duties
Export duties
Excise duties
Petroleum profit tax
NNPC earning from direct sales
Pipeline license and other fees
Surplus arising from sale of gas
VAT

As Fowler is coming to further increase revenue, he

must be ready to be totally transparent. State
contributions to the federation account must be
published monthly.
The greatest calamity to have befallen the former Biafra

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and the most compelling reason for the persisting

Biafran dream is economics. The former Biafran nation
is now made up of 9 states. It is however postulated that
the current Delta state would have joined a free Biafran
nation, if the dream had succeeded. Taking these 10
states together, you can account for almost all the oil and
gas resources in Nigeria.

From 1970- 2014, Nigeria has reaped about 30 billion

barrels of oil, from the region that ‘Was A Country’.
From available data, Nigeria oil production has varied
between 1.241 million barrels per day to 2.627 million
barrels per day, from 1980 till date. The 70s show similar
trend. Oil price has also varied between 10USD to
140USD, in changing dollar value. Taking a
conservative 40 dollars value as a benchmark, the
Biafran region has ‘lost’ about 1.2 trillion dollars from oil
revenue alone, on the minimum.

Add that potential investable funds, to a population

that has an incredibly high talent-to-GDP ratio, with an
enterprising culture and republican leadership, and
you will get the first and only African tiger economy.
The infrastrutural investment in Biafra would have
surpassed that of Holland and Belgium.

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The entrepreneurial and innovative capacity of Ndi-

Igbo is not in doubt. The confidence of the Niger-Delta
nationalities is also indomitable. The technological
exploits of Sam Orji and C.D.C Akpudo, amongst many
others were legendary during the civil war. If it was not
for the policy of benign neglect practiced by past
military and civilian governments in Nigeria, the Igbo
heartland would have been the driving force of African
renaissance.

To put it in current perspective, removing the oil

revenue from former Biafra, the Naira today would
have been trading at about N550 –N600 to the dollar,
except there is a Currency Board in Nigeria. On the
contrary, if Biafra had survived and been an
independent country, her foreign reserve will be above
that of Singapore and her currency can only be kept low
by running huge current account surplus; for the
purposes of having inevitably export-led economy.

It would not be difficult to visualize that Biafra would

have had world-class infrastructure that would spur
investment and incredibly high productivity for a
historically hardworking and meritorious society.
The reason Ndi-Igbo flock to Lagos, Abuja, is because of

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relatively better infrastructure built by the federal

government in those cities. Similar infrastructural
investment was never made in the Igbo heartland.
In the era before the first coup and subsequent revenge
coup, Ndi-Igbo controlled heights of Nigerian
economy. An Igbo man, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu,
was reputed the richest man in West Africa. He was the
chairman or director of Nigeria’s most profitable firms
then (including Shell, Guinness, etc}.

He was the founding and first president of the Nigeria

Stock Exchange. Indeed he was knighted by the Queen
of England for his legendary business acumen.

It was a testament to the economic resilience of Ndi-

Igbo, from defunct Biafra, that after the civil war
physical and financial devastation, they toiled back to
the economic heights of Nigeria. Despite the known
policy benign neglect of Igbo land. Igbo land got an
international airport, 43 years after the civil war. This
was decades after Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt had
international airports. Despite the fact that Ndi-Igbo are
arguably the nucleus of international trade in Nigeria.

An appraisal of the list of Nigeria’s richest, published by

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the reputable Forbes Africa, is revealing. Of the 10

richest, 4 are from the north, 3 from the south-west, two
from the Niger-Delta and one is from the Igbo
heartland. It is instructive that all the 4 from the north
made their wealth from natural resources. We know
that natural resources in Nigeria have been
appropriated by Federal government. It is only through
crony capitalism that you can become rich from ‘natural
resources’ in Nigeria.
The list showed that:
Aliko Dangote made his wealth from cement, sugar,
flour
T.Y Danjuma – from Oil
Abdulsamad Rabiu – from cement, sugar, flour
Mohammed Indimi – from Oil
These four are from the north.
The three named from south-west made their wealth
through natural resources also:
Mike Adenuga – Oil, Telecom
Folorunsho Alakija – Oil
Femi Otedola - Oil
It is only the three from Niger-Delta and Igbo land that
are not listed as making their money from natural
resources. They are:
Tony Elumelu – Investments

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Orji Uzo Kalu – Investments

Jim Ovia – Banking
Note that these classifications were made by Forbes, not
me.

However, it is interesting to note that all the people

listed as having Oil as the main source of their
monumental wealth, none comes from the region that
produces oil. This top ten richest Nigerians’ list is food
for deep thought.

The idea of Biafra remains attractive, because the

‘Biafran’ people know too well the heavy price they pay
for the Nigerian union, with little or no reciprocation.
They know that indeed “There was a country”. They
dream of what it could have been. They yearn for true,
objective merit. They pine for opportunity. They yearn
for justice. And they wait and wait and wait and wait for
Nigeria to embrace merit, opportunity and justice.
While waiting, they remember Biafra with
understandable nostalgia.

Until Nigeria realizes her prodigal nature and comes

‘home’ to the truth of restructuring, Biafra will not go
away!

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FACTS DON'T LIE

(REIGN OF ERROR)

January 2016

In 2006, a song that was part salsa, part hip-hop hit the
airwaves with resounding resonance, globally. "Hips
don't lie" by Shakira, the Colombian singer went on to
sell 16 million copies over the last 10 years.
I borrowed the title of this week's epistle from Shakira's
song. Facts, like Hips, are evidence based. They don't
lie.

Nigeria has been for far too long a society where opinion
trumps facts; quota trumps merit; nepotism trumps
justice and many times tribes trump truth. This has to
change. It is important for Nigerians to deepen their
understanding of economics because it affects us all.
Nigerian youths need to ask more penetrating
questions in the run-up to the next elections. Indeed
they need to start asking those questions today. That is

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the only change we can achieve.

ON THE ECONOMY: Babatunde Fashola, a super-

minister in the APC government and a former, rather
competent, governor of Lagos state told pension experts
on 22nd Jan 2016, that this government is working to
diversify the economy. They clapped. He blamed lack of
diversification as the main cause of current malaise. The
facts do not support Fashola's assertion.

The data collected by National Bureau of Statistics show

that Nigeria's economy is already diversified. The
almighty oil contributes barely 10% of our GDP. In fact
the often maligned Trade contributes more than oil to
our GDP.

Let's examine them. At the end of 2014, the year of the

so-called peak oil price, crude oil and natural gas
contributed about 9.616 trillion Naira to the GDP,
10.67% of the total. Meanwhile at the same period,
Agriculture contributed 15.812_trillion Naira (17.5% of
GDP) and Trade contributed 15.704 trillion Naira
(17.42% of the GDP). The Telecom sector's contribution
at 7.424 trillion Naira (8.23%) was very close to the oil
contribution. So the constant assertion that the economy

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is undiversified is hogwash. We may simply be talking

of deepening the private sector or expanding the
diversification.

One of the greatest mistakes repeated by successive

governments in Nigeria is not understanding the
greatest asset within any government agency. They
think its money. It’s not. The greatest government asset
is data. From births to deaths, and every other thing in
between. Data is the core asset of government agencies
and parastatals. If only they knew.
It is a general belief that the last PDP government ruined
Nigeria via corruption. In fact, the last PDP government
may have wrecked our public finance because of
corruption, but they left the economy vastly better than
they met it.

The PDP governments from 1999-2014, have been the

only government(s) in Nigeria to consistently increase
per-capita income. Data that goes back to 1960 show
that our per-capita income in 1960 was 1000 dollars. In
1999 (after 39 years), it was 1200 dollars. In other words
it increased by 10 dollars per annum!
From 1999 to 2014, PDP governments tripled per capita
income to about 3500_dollars. That is about 143 dollars

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per annum. Even if we exclude changes from GDP

rebasing, it comes to about 2500_dollars by 2013 (before
GDP rebasing). Data!

This brings me to an important differentiation. There is

a huge difference between public sector and the
economy as a whole. Even though public sector is part
of the overall economy and affects it; in Nigeria public
sector is less than 8% of GDP. What the NBS data is
telling us is that even though past PDP governments
enshrined public sector corruption, and the GEJ
government may have wrecked public finance, they
grew the economy more than ANY government in the
history of Nigeria. Facts don't lie!

The fixation of Buhari and APC on chasing Dasuki et al,

while shutting down the economy, is fundamentally
flawed. The public sector contribution to GDP was
7.36% at the beginning of 2015. It makes no sense to stifle
the rest 92% of the economy just to put public finance in
order. If the emerging trends are anything to go by, the
public finance may even be in worse tatters by end of
2017. If the government had deployed technology to
prevent corruption, and astute diplomacy to recoup
some stolen wealth; while keeping the economy open

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without capital and import controls, Nigerians would

have already been reaping the democracy dividends
promised them.

The much ridiculed GEJ had incredibly successful

Agriculture policies. The billionaire middle men in
fertilizer distribution, were put out of business by
simple but smart deployment of technology by the
smooth-talking past Agriculture minister. Our national
food import bill dropped from 6.3 billion dollars to
4.3_billion dollars, between 2009 and 2013.

It is also good to remember that the high oil price under

the last government also necessitated high subsidy
payment. About 10 billion dollars was spent on subsidy.
Some people believe about a fifth of that was lost to
corruption.

Now that oil price have come down by 2/3, the current
government does not spend any money on subsidy. Or
rather should not. The landing cost of a litre of PMS
today 30 Jan 2016 is N67.69k. The pump price is
N86.50k. In fact the cost of landing is increased by N5
due to storage, NPA and Jetty depot levies etc.
Otherwise it would have been N62.71k. The extra N5

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between freight+cost and landing price is essentially

monopoly cost.

From Landing to dispensing at the filling stations, in

this current no-subsidy regime, N19 is added to the cost
per litre. This is a 22% added to the cost of gasoline
between landing and retail sale. About 40 million
barrels of PMS is consumed daily. About 10,000 trucks,
owned by about 30 individuals control the
transportation of PMS, less those moving through
pipelines. A N3.05 margin is assured on each litre of
PMS moved by this transporters. Plus N4 per litre
bridging fund. That can easily come to about N280
million Naira margin daily, for truck owners.

The downstream petroleum sector needs

comprehensive liberalization. From storage, to
transportations, jetties, filling station operating
requirements etc. Currently it is oligopolic.
Bridging funds need to be abolished. We can't both
eliminate subsidy and have subsidy at the same time.
PMS should not sell the same price in Warri and in
Tangaza. Beef does not sell same price in Dutse and
Enugu. The petroleum ministers should take note.
Adding 22% between landing cost in Apapa and

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dispensing at Ajah or Gwagada is pure baloney! Lagos

citizens and residents bear the cost of tankers blocking
road, damaging the road, causing accidents and razing
houses/shops etc. Yet they are made to buy the gasoline
same price as folks in Damaturu.
Some of these were reforms the past PDP governments
failed to tackle. Either due to vested interest or
hysterical opposition.

IMPORTS: Contrary to accepted wisdom, Nigeria is not

over-dependent on imports. Services constitute more
than half of our GDP. We need imports, like any other
country. Our imports consume about 12.45% of our
GDP, one of the lowest in the world!

World Bank Data shows that import as GDP % in

Australia is 21.4%; in Canada 32.5%; in Benin republic
45.1%; in Botswana 43.3%; in China 18.9%; in Ghana
48.9% and UK 30.3%. Just to mention a few countries.
Nigeria has one of the least import to GDP ratio of all
countries. Data!

Everybody repeats the mantra of import dependence,

including CBN and Presidency, without checking and
comparing. No country survives for long without

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imports. Our imports-to- GDP ratio is less than China's

import-to-GDP ratio.

As a matter of fact, imports have helped us moderate

inflation over the past 16 years. Without the benefits of
disinflationary trends in China, US, India etc our
headline inflation would have been much higher. How
could Nollywood have boomed without the ever falling
prices of VCD & DVD players, as well as CD burning
machines? How could the music industry generate
hundreds of billions of Naira without the massive
penetration of cheap music stereo and personal
listening devices? Without cheap Chinese feature and
smartphones, how would the surging mobile Internet
thrive and make fabulous money for the likes of Linda
Ikeji, Bella Naija etc? But CBN felt that a policy of import
control targeted at small, hapless, traders is proper.

Let's look at the import issue from another perspective.

How come the falling commodity prices is not bringing
down prices in our local markets? Price of gasoline has
fallen 24.18% globally and only 1% in Nigeria. Rice fell
about 13% globally, but is up 30% in Nigeria. Beef fell by
27.98% globally, but it is going up in local markets here.
The government is always screaming about the fall in oil

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price. Why is fall in commodity price not affecting

domestic markets, but fall in oil price is?

The real reason our domestic commodity prices are very

high is government policies. Primarily tariff regime. If
some of these imports were not clamped down or tariff
set very high, we will be able to 'import' the fallen global
prices, despite the drop in oil prices, helping to
moderate inflation. I am sure that domestic rice
producers can produce rice at global competitive prices,
if they have access to single digit financing, scale
production, motorable access roads, no custom or
police extortion on the road, predictable transport price
etc. These are all within government responsibility. But
the elites rather prefer using tariff to transfer burden to
the common man, rather than cut into their potential
embezzlement funds.

Mrs Iweala increased domestic rice price by over 50% in

her first tenure under Obasanjo, after she embarked on
tariff-mandated import-substitution of rice. Likewise
Aliko Dangote had a 60% profit margin in his cement
venture, under Obasanjo, due to government high
cement import tariff. We bore the cost of his becoming a
multi-billionaire, with high cement price in those years.

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Instead of using high tariff to keep out foreign products,

government needs to apply transparent, targeted
subsidies, especially in the Agric sector. We are tired of
bearing the cost of creating state-sanctioned
billionaires.

CAPITAL CONTROL: The current government

adopted a policy of capital control, as soon as it came
into office. It had the effect of effectively drying up
foreign and domestic investment. It drove portfolio
investors to flee from the stock market, with consequent
loss of near 2 trillion value. It distorted market signal.

After the damage has been done, and the Naira had
collapsed in the real market, CBN retreated partially.
Revenue from Oil may have fallen to about 35 billion
dollars, from about 88 billon dollars peak. But if the
domestic asset prices have adjusted in real time, foreign
and domestic investors would have eagerly bought
assets in Nigeria through FDI or portfolio investment.
The naira slide would have steadied at a much higher
value than now. The markets were factoring in a price of
220-230 to the dollar, as the maximum slide before
capital control was imposed. The capital control sent the
worst kind of message.

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The dollar in dorm accounts were reported to be about

30% of bank assets in 2014. Under Sanusi, dollar
accounts were treated as quasi-saving. Nigerian banks
exposure to the oil industry in foreign currency is
estimated at about 11 billion dollars. Some of those
loans are non-performing or in NPL territory. Capital
control alarmed the foreign lenders, with further
downgrading of our credit rating.

Even as our export prices lost over half its value, foreign
transfers from Nigerians in diaspora was on track to
surpass the 21 billion dollars reported in 2013. But
capital control effectively skewed this trend. UN
estimates that 1.2 million Nigerians live in developed
economies. With proper economic policies and legal
frame work, transfers from Nigeria emigrants can
surpass 50 billion dollars; more than what was lost in
declining oil price.

Unlike oil money though, those folks won't allow

monies earned in the hardest of circumstances to be
siphoned by greedy politicians. This may explain part
of the reason the government keeps bemoaning the
shrinking oil revenue, instead of opening the economy,
removing government from the commanding heights of

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the economy and being transparent.

I simply took time to puncture some reign of error

subsisting as conventional wisdom. In the coming days,
I will pen a much shorter piece on government revenue.

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REIGN OF ERROR:
THE PUBLIC SECTOR

March 2016

In the last article, (Facts Dont Lie: Reign of Error) I made

a data driven case that Nigeria’s economy is already
diversified; among other issues.

This following part shows that government revenue is

sadly undiversified and the public sector is in shambles.
The constant moaning by the federal government about
the decline in revenue is a harsh and common reality. It
is a product of a long term (structural) and short term
(cyclical) impact on our public sector.

The federal government derived, at least till the end of

2014, 70% of her revenue from oil and its related
products. From 1970, the Nigeria government had been
an exploitative (pun intended) government, directly
involved in exploring and exploiting natural resources

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in the country. The military government of those years

passed multiple laws (Decree 13 of 1970, Decree 9 of
1971, Decree 6 and 7 of 1975) that accreted all the oil
resources to the center, to serve certain hegemonic
interest.
Unfortunately the foundations of our perennial public
sector debacle were laid then, by men who are still very
much around.

OIL GOVERNMENT: Every Nigerian government

treats oil as inexhaustible and an ever dispensing ATM.
The current president, for all his talk about diversifying
federal government revenue sources, still firmly
implanted himself as the ultimate oil czar.
This fixation on oil is a symptom of unimaginative
leadership. Almost every Nigerian administration has
wasted our oil resources.

If Nigerians were more economically savvy, they would

have wondered why in the past 10 years of relatively
stable oil price, the federal government ran budget
deficits in all but 3 years (2008, 2013 and 2014).
Countries like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Angola, etc
ran high budget surplus (between 5.4% of GDP to 28%
of GDP) around same period. The budget surpluses of

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2013 and 2014 in Nigeria were meager 1.1% of GDP and

0.1% of GDP respectively.
Nigeria governments ran budget deficits, despite high
oil prices and scant spending on the Nigerian people.
The federal government expenditure in Nigeria was just
5% of GDP, yet they could not muster reasonable budget
surplus in a regime of high oil price. Only profligacy
and corruption can explain this.

To give perspective, the countries I previously

mentioned, with huge budget surplus in same period
(Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Angola etc) spent between
19.7% of GDP to 45.5% of GDP on their people. And still
ran huge budget surpluses. They spent significantly
higher share of their GDP on their people and still had
significant budget surplus. Nigeria government spent
significantly little on her people and still ran deficit
budgets, in an era of high oil price. Think about that.

But that is not the biggest problem with our oil

government. The biggest issue is the way we all treat the
oil revenue. Oil and Gas in the ground is wealth. When
you sell the oil and gas, you gain income. What now
matters is what you spend the income on. If it is
invested, it creates wealth that can replace the already

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lost wealth from the ground. If you share it, as the

Nigerian constitution stipulates, you end up consuming
the income on recurrent (i.e. recurring) expenses.

We have been treating oil wealth like a replenishing

resource. We should have been treating it like a
depleting resource. Extracting oil and selling it for
current consumption, as Nigeria does, is like a man
selling one of his father’s houses every year to finance
his consumption. One day, he will run out of houses and
will have to rent, or worse, squat.

We should have been putting 70% of oil revenue into a

statutory fund. The fund can only finance free
education, free health care, unemployment insurance
and pension for the poor. In other words, oil funds
should have been dedicated to investing in the
development of the human capital that could really
grow our economy beyond oil.
Rather what Nigeria has done is to deplete her wealth
and spend it on salaries and inflated contracts.

Also as a country that derived almost all its forex and

most of its government revenue from oil, we never
critically studied the global oil market. Nigeria was

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among the 12 member OPEC cartel that believed that if

oil price is dropping, you cut production marginally,
make lots of noise about it and wait for price to shoot up.
In economics, this approach is considered supply side.
Nigeria and most OPEC oil ministers only consider the
supply (production) in their oil equation. This is
understandable because it has worked in the past.
But every critical economist looks at supply and
demand. In the oil market, the only OPEC minister that
seriously considered demand was Ali al-Naim, the 80
year old Saudi oil minister. He alone critically pointed
out to the other OPEC members that the global oil
intensity, which is a measure of oil demand was in sharp
decline.

The global oil intensity measures the quantity of oil per

day needed to produce a trillion dollar economy.
In 1990, it took about 2.7 million barrels per day to
produce a trillion dollars of GDP. By 2015, it took only
0.93 million barrels of oil per day to produce a trillion
dollar GDP.

This is because as oil price kept going higher, the

western world had the incentive to keep investing in
more efficient processes and alternative energy sources.

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The higher the oil price, the bigger the investment (and
returns) in alternative and efficient energies.
When you combine this drop off in oil intensity and the
new shale production in the US, you can see why the
world is in oil glut now. Add Iran that is opening up its
entire taps to make up for lost time.

The Saudi minister has consistently refused to cut

production because he reasons that the three digit oil
price of the recent years allowed shale production to be
profitable (he is correct) and encouraged the western
world to invest in alternative energies (he is correct here
also).

At the current 40 USD price, shale production is

unprofitable. This is already impacting Oklahoma, the
shale capital of United States.

Likewise companies that were already gaining market

share from internal combustion industry are seeing
their shares collapsing. A case in point is Tesla.
In practical terms, the Saudi oil minister has helped
Nigeria and other OPEC countries to prolong the oil age
by allowing oil price to come down and put some of
these high cost alternatives in peril.

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Nigerian government lacked the vision and

understanding to appraise the 2 trillion dollars global
oil industry.
We should thank the Saudi for the low oil price, as it
would allow us another 2 decades of generating
revenue from oil. This is the time to bring fundamental
reforms to the oil sector. We have to stop using oil to
fund salaries and sundry spending. We also have to
directly compensate the oil communities with resource
control (at least 30%).

CIVIL SERVICE: Nigeria civil service is bloated, aging

and inefficient.
The federal, state and local government staff strength is
about 3.2 million. About 1.2 million people were in the
federal civil service, while about 1.0 million people are
employed in the state civil service. Local government
employs about 800,000 workers. To this, you can add
about 18000 political office holders and 20000 staff in
FCT.
A study by the public service reform team headed by
Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna State,
discovered that the average age of civil servants was 42
years and that only 12% hold university degrees. This is
not surprising, considering that federal character and

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quota are the primary criteria of recruitment into the

civil service. It is a measure of the pedestrian views of
the former military leaders in Nigeria, that they saw the
civil service as a tool for affirmative action, rather than
as the agency for delivering governance.

By using the civil service to do affirmative action, they

ingrained the culture of nepotism and killed
professionalism, and it is not about to change anytime
soon.
Is it not instructive that all civil service reforms
attempted since the 70s have failed? It is only when we
jettison federal character and dedicate to building a
truly professional civil service that we can expect
reforms to yield result. The civil service needs to be
leaner, more professional and more efficient. They also
need to be paid much better after abolishing federal
character and doing critical right sizing.

TAX REVENUE: Nigeria’s tax base as a percentage of

GDP is the smallest of all countries published by World
Bank.
Our net tax is about 1.093 trillion naira, according to
NBS. This stands at 1.21% of GDP. This is corroborated
by the World Bank figures. There is no doubt that

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Nigerians pay little or no tax.

The Nigerian government already takes huge funds
directly from oil, which is an indirect tax on Nigerians.
However, in the matter of declared taxes, Nigeria is the
lowest in the entire world. The APC government
obviously wants to seize on this to tax us with glee.
I accept that we have to pay taxes. But it’s not with the
current fiscal regime. IF Nigeria government wants to
add huge direct tax revenues to their already huge
indirect tax revenues (oil), the government will have to
hands off oil.
The oil revenue accruing to government must be
earmarked statutorily for education, healthcare, poor
people’s pension and unemployment insurance. It
should be off limit to politicians. They can only legislate
the criteria for access.
It’s only after these changes that it may be fair to deepen
and broaden the tax bracket. The government will also
need to right size, as taxpaying Nigerians won’t accept a
bloated civil service feeding fat on tax revenue.

Equally a new revenue sharing formula, with clear and

greater emphasis on derivation must accompany the
expansion of the tax bracket. Nigerians will generally
not accept unbridled revenue transfers. For example,

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Ogun tax payers will resent having to pay for Borno hajj
expense, via government funding of pilgrimage. If
changes in revenue sharing formula do not accompany
diversification of government revenue structure, expect
social and political crisis in the future.

The government must also learn to support small and

medium enterprises, if they hope to grow the tax base.
These companies pay more tax, on aggregate, than the
big companies. They also create more potentially
taxable jobs. The current epoch of bureaucratic high
handedness and banking contempt is not conducive for
business. The government has to remove red tapes and
lay out red carpets for SMEs. That is the only way
businesses can thrive and pay taxes.

Small businesses will need small business insurance,

underwritten by a quasi-government fund. This will
stimulate banks to lend to them, since the risk is
reasonably mitigated.

The Finance Ministry and CBN will do well to midwife

an active factoring market in Nigeria, to ease the
liquidity burden of SMEs. The culture of disdain for
business operators, while hoping to force taxes out of

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them, is at best self-defeating. SMEs are the major job

creators in all societies. Government should improve
the ease of doing business in Nigeria.

In all, token essentialism as we have always done in

Nigeria will not solve our current challenges. We have
to start the structural redesign that can save our
children’s future, today. The public sector is the
principal theater of that work.

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WOUNDED HOPE:
ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA

October 2016

Edo election has just been concluded, with the usual

recriminations and counter recriminations. The opposition
party that lost the election, characteristically refused to
accept the result. And for good reasons!

Many of the election observers also reported unfair and

opaque practices. Edo citizens are still very much divided.
But none of these are surprising. Critical national observers
know that no national and sub-national election in Nigeria
has been free of rigging, manipulation and compromise. It
has only been of differences in degrees.

Whether it was the Shagari and Awolowo of the second

republic, or Zik and Balewa of first. Abiola and Tofa of third
republic or even Tinubu and Funsho Williams of fourth
republic. All were not free and fair, in the true sense of the
phrase.

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I still remember that Funsho Williams was leading in Lagos

Guber polls after 18 LGAs were announced in 2003. Until
Ikorodu and Epe results, conveniently delayed, came in.
Kuforoji, the main political leader in Ikorodu eventually
became Lagos Speaker.

The fact that political players who can compromise the

system, do compromise it is not incredible. The benefits are
enormous. What is rather amazing is that the people who
bear the brunt of all these shenanigans accept the results of
these polls. And don’t even audit the process or demand for
credible improvement.

There are myriads of ways our polls are rigged. The most
popular, but actually least effective, is paying voters for
votes. This was very common in this last election.
There is also the unauthorized access to ballot materials,
prior to election. This is also common in Nigeria. And the
general public don’t realize how easily it can be done.
Then, there is the ubiquitous ballot snatching and stuffing.
There is the result hijacking enroute to collation.
Now that we use electronic voting machine for accreditation,
there are many ways it can still be rigged. Simply removing
the battery and spare for the machine in areas you intend to
rig renders the machine useless.
And incident form is no panacea, as you can bring as many
people as possible to bear the names on the register and vote

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for you. This was done massively in last general election, in

many parts of the country.
The EVS can also be perviously technically tinkered with, so
that it will fail to capture some people. This is done in your
opponent’s stronghold, with stern instructions to your
agents to insist on EVS being used. This only leads to
acrimony, and delays. The outcome is mainly the dispersal of
many potential voters.

A competent programmer surreptitiously employed, and

given access to the EVS can tweak the software for selected
machines to be sent to your opponent’s stronghold. There it
will mis-record the registered voters, so that total actual
ballots will exceed the registered voters. Thereby leading to
cancellation.
And many more ways!

The purpose of outlining some of the rigging antics is to

show Nigerians we are supposed to demand post-election
audits! It’s not enough for losing candidates to go to tribunal,
with inadequate evidence.

However it will be more effective if we demand more

dependable electoral process. Many countries have faced
this our current electoral challenges and found a credible
way forward. We also need to. Nigeria deserves a better
electoral process.

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We need a system that gives us credible outcomes. Such

system should have three qualities:
1. It should keep digital tallies of votes cast, stored in the hard
drive and memory card. This makes the result almost real
time, and more difficult to falsify at collation.

2. It should print paper ballot of the vote cast, and have a

ballot box for casting. The ballot is actually cast in a ballot
box. It helps the voter confirm that what machine recorded is
what he/she voted. It is also used for correlation of the digital
result.

3. It should be able to have a memory you can’t alter. Similar

to what you find in Aircraft’s black box. This acts as a third
safeguard. If the three do not correspond exactly, you know
there is compromise.

Such a system is already available, and being used in many

countries including Venezuela, Belgium, Philippines and
Brazil. The Venezuelan voting process is rated as one of the
most efficient in the world. It’s a simple system that embraces
all three criteria mentioned above, and has been adopted by
Philippines. Results are almost real time.

And now voter turnout in these two countries are about the
highest in the world. Because credibility has been restored to
their electoral process.

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Nigeria needs same. The people need to start making

credible demand for the change we need. Our electoral
process is still highly compromised. If we don’t rescue it, we
can’t start the journey to restoration.

It’s not just an opposition party problem. It’s a national

problem.

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LEAD US NOT INTO

TEMPTATION...

July 2017

I have been watching with increasing dismay, as our

Igbo astuteness is being disparaged. By ndi Igbo.
The Mbaise/Ahiara dioceses against their Anambra co-
priest, over his Bishop appointment.
The Assemblies of God tussle over Church leadership,
just recently settled by the apex Nigerian court.
Now, the call for boycott of Anambra elections. And call
for Referendum!

Let me start with the Referendum call. Anybody who is

saying that Nnamdi Kanu is not an Igbo leader is
misleading him or herself!
Nnamdi Kanu has emerged as a bona fide Igbo leader
because he seized a yawning vacuum, which all other
Igbo politicians were too timid to seize or occupy.
He may not be THE Igbo leader. We don't have one yet.
But he is currently the most magnetic Igbo leader.

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Majority of Igbo youths are spontaneously drawn to

him. For obvious reasons.

However I think the call made by him for UN or Federal

Government to come and organise Referendum in Igbo
land is abject propaganda!! I’m sure Mazi Kanu knows
this. I am also sure millions among his followers don't
know this!!! They believe and hope it will happen. This
is where I am so saddened.

How can Nigeria government organise a Referendum

that her laws do not recognise? How feasible?

Supposing the Nigeria government accepts to organise

a Referendum, the moment they announce a timeline
and institute the process, many people will head to
court. Naturally, the courts will stop the process because
it is currently illegal.

UN can't come to organise Referendum here either. The

grand norm in Nigeria does not recognise Referendum,
yet. UN respects the sovereignty of her member states.
Moreover, who will secure the UN officials in Nigeria, if
the federal government is averse to Referendum? The
most UN can ever do, in the current situation, is call on

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Nigeria government to allow the people's will manifest.

A rather bogus call.

The first step is to work and amend the Constitution, to

allow Referendum for self-determination. Now to do
this nearly impossible task, requires participating in
body politics of the oppressive Nigerian country.

Considering our experience in Nigeria's politics,

working for such constitutional change is almost
hopeless. This explains the IPOB's clamour for election
boycott, the second misadventure.

This call is even worse than attempting to amend the

Constitution and failing. Boycott or no boycott, the
election must hold! The fallout may be that Anambra
gets its worst government ever. Another fallout will be
massive deployment of the police & military forces in
Anambra, further making my state an occupied
territory.

No one can convince Ndi Anambra that the government

of Peter Obi was foisted on us by Hausa-Fulani. No one
can convince Ndi Anambra that Willie Obiano was
foisted on us by Hausa-Fulani. These two governments

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were the choices of Anambra people. The more reason

why they have worked for Ndi Anambra.

We will want to still make our own choice for who will
be our next governor! We won't accept Hausa-Fulani or
Yoruba or Igala or even Onye Abia to make that choice
for us. Why? Because in the 3 elections that we chose our
governors by popular will, it has turned out well for us.
As an interim measure. Until we leave Nigeria or
embrace true and unhindered federalism, let us choose
our governors!

Maybe Mazi Kanu was acting from his hitherto poor

outcomes from Umuahia government House. Anambra
has been luckier than Abia in governance, no doubt. So I
don't begrudge Nnamdi Kanu on this call for boycott.
But it is better he drops the matter henceforth.

I am still waiting for a Pan-Igbo conference, to actually

deliberate on What Ndi Igbo really wants. Is it Biafra? Is
it Restructuring? Is it Federalism? Is it Confederacy?
As far as I am concerned, despite my bias, I still think
what the majority of Igbos at home & in Diaspora want,
has not been distilled!!!

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Let us start from there. The struggle should not go

illegal, please.

Please, lead our youths not into temptation!

My name is Olisa Akukwe. And I still want to
#StopNonsense.

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.... DAMASCUS EXPERIENCE

CONTINUES

December 2016

There was a time, just few years back, when the

Goodluck Jonathan's government was "stealing" money
in Trillions of Naira. And the "evidence" was "all over
the place!”
You can read it in national dailies, see it on national
television, and hear it in beer parlours. El Rufai itemised
it. Buhari documented it. Lai Mohammed broadcasted
it. Fashola bemoaned it. The people wept about it.
The loots were so enormous, ostentatious and obvious
that we just needed a new government of "saints" to
recover Trillions and Trillions of Naira and dollars. The
arrests and prosecutions will be en masse!
The recovered loots will fund multiple cycles of
infrastructure and social investments. In fact, it would
be so enormous, that Nigerians will call for capital
punishment for the officials of Goodluck
administration.

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The national economy of almost 100 trillion Naira was

shut down via capital controls to "catch" the looters. The
economy inevitably started shrinking, but we were
recovering these massive loots.
Until propaganda ran into reality!

After 4 million jobs have been lost and countless

companies shut down, we are informed that a
phenomenal sum of ...258 billion Naira has been
recovered from Goodluck's administration. And this
includes 70 billion Naira from Abacha loot o. According
to Federal Government. In other words, 188 billion
Naira has been recovered from Goodluck's
government. The government that looted "Trillions"
and the evidence was "everywhere"?
To put it in perspective, the recovered amount after
almost 2 years of recovering loots that was soo massive
and obvious, is about 1.8% of Nigeria's GDP, when
Buhari took office!
The economy was growing about 6% when Buhari took
office, but now is shrinking by about 2%. A whooping
8% loss in GDP growth, to recover loots of 1.8% of GDP.
This is what happens when you run and rule via
malignant propaganda, rather than dynamic policy
proposal and implementation!

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Now, the loots are no longer so "evident"! It is no longer

"everywhere"! We now need commissions to ferret out
loots. A new occupation has been created overnight:
Loot Agents! You receive 5% of any loot you are able to
inform government about.
Propaganda has jammed reality!!! Nigerians have paid
a heavy price for banking with propaganda. We are now
coming home.
Our Damascus experience continues...
My name is Olisa Akukwe. And I still want to
#STOPNONSENSE.

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ATIKU/OBI TICKET:
AN EXCELLENT CHOICE!

October 2018

A couple of persons have asked me privately, publicly &

personally what I think about this ticket. Some have
suggested a SW VP candidate would have been a better
choice. Here is my opinion:
This is a most excellent choice!!!
Considering my understanding of Politics, if Atiku had
picked from SW; I would have known he is an
Overrated Political strategist. Picking Obi confirmed he
is grounded in Politics.
I personally don't mind a SW VP. Just like many Igbos
don't mind.
But in Politics, it's pragmatism that works!!

1. GEJ had no SW VP. Nor SW SP. Nor SW speaker. Nor

SW CJ. But he still go 45% of votes in SW.
2. PDP has consistently got about 45% of votes in the SW

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gubernatorial elections, since 2015. Despite the APC

machinery.
3. No politician of stature in PDP SW. They have all
decamped. Adewunmi has no Political value that he
will add. No Political base. He can't move the needle. He
can't make any change in the PDP 40-45% vote base in
SW.
4. Peter Obi is very popular among progressive Yorubas
of all ages. If you crawl social media spaces, you will
find he was very well received by many people that
were sceptical of Atiku.
5. PDP knows that the challenge in Igboland is
POLITICAL APATHY! Even in the last election billed as
"2nd civil war"; Igboland had the least turnout in
percentage. Now add the IPOB "No lefelendum, no
election" and you can get serious apathy in Igboland.
Despite all our usual noise before election. But with a
competent & admired son-of-the-soil on the ticket, he
will use his Political network & other networks to
energise the SE. Now, door to door mobilization can
work in SE.
6. With APC controlling the entire SW Govt houses by
2019 election. And Tinubu being the single most
influential politician in that region, a SW VP candidate
will not get PDP more than their usual 45% in that

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region. Atiku knows APC will ultimately win SW.

Except Tinubu recants. The game is to maintain the 40-
45% margin, which this ticket will!
7. The major aim in SW will be to try & win Lagos. With
the massive Igbo votes there (galvanized by an Igbo on
the PDP ticket); the PDP support base and those
disenchanted by the Ambode treatment; Atiku will go
all out for Lagos!

So from the standpoint of Political sagacity, this was a

most inspired choice. The only thing that could have
been marginally better would be an Atiku/Soludo
ticket. But I think Soludo is still in APGA (party with no
compass).

However Nigerians should demand more. Remember

PDP was a party of impunity last time it held power for
16years. The difference was that it handled the economy
far better than rudderless APC. APC has also surpassed
it in impunity now.

So Nigerians should demand that those formerly

involved in the past PDP impunities should only have
marginal involvement in any new PDP government, if
they win. That guarantee should be given now.

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That, with the guarantee on comprehensive, though

graduated restructuring, should be basis for massive
mobilization for the ticket.

My opinion.
Olisa Akukwe.

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HAND-ME DOWN POLICY!

August 2015

I remember those periods while growing up, that you

always wish to forget. Among them is when you have
outgrown your church dress but your parents have not
bought you a new one. I would put on my old trouser
and it won't reach the ankle. My leg would not enter my
outgrown shoe. My mum would take one look at me
and resort to her classic solution. She grabs my brother,
Obinna's trouser and shoe (more likely, his Cortina).
The problem will be that the trouser is too long. The
shoe is too big. What next, she puts me in the trouser.
Uses the belt to force fit the waist. Folds the trouser two
times, so it stops at my ankle. And the shoes, the left is
stuffed with Daily star newspaper and Satellite
newspaper is stuffed in the right. Then my leg can fit.
The result, I look like a character from Nickoledeon.
And painfully, I KNOW it. This is how I had to look
sometimes, while going for 7am mass at Sacred Heart

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Enugu when Fr Aluma was the parish priest.

Nigeria maybe suffering similar fate now. We are at that

time of parenthesis, between third world and second
world status. We have shopping malls but people still
hawk by the road side. We have 6 star private hospitals,
yet people deliver at home. We have satellite dish yet
battery radio is the major means of news dissemination.

This brings me to the issue.

WHY is Abuja Environmental Protection Board seizing
and destroying goods of street sellers? Don't they know
we are still in a period of social transition? The
developed countries they claim to emulate PAY jobless
and poor people a minimum token. USA even gives
them food stamp and pay their health bill using
Medicaid. Here nobody caters for them. When they
choose to hustle and eke a token, you destroy it, harrass
them and eventually radicalise them. AEPB even
employs touts, thugs and goons to do this job!!!!!
Imagine that. Is that what is done in developed
countries?

A society in transition must learn how to manage the

maternity of change, to avoid social, financial, moral

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and ethical dislocation. AEPB and others like it in

Nigeria fails on all measures.
WARNING.

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IT'S MORNING YET!

July 2017

Yesterday, I wrote and published in the social media, my

opinion on the call for boycott of Anambra election and
call for Referendum.
In the ensuing debate, I read all sorts of arguments on
why Referendum will come from boycott, amidst
dollops of unhinged insults!

Initially I took some of the arguments as mere attempts

to win a diatribe with cheap shots. But as I began to read
similar lines of dissection from even those I expected to
know, I concluded that the discourse needed more
depth. Of course the retailers in insults are still
welcome. They will surely learn a few things, though
without acknowledgement.
One of the arguments was that Bakassi peninsula was
excised from Nigeria, without Referendum. Likewise, it

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has become a precedence for Biafra leaving Nigeria. I

attempted to set that record straight in the follow up
comments. However for clarity, I will repeat it here.

Bakassi case has nothing in common with the Biafran

struggle, sui generis. Bakassi matter was a case between
two sovereign nations, Nigeria and Cameroun. Biafra
case is not. In Bakassi matter, Cameroun took Nigeria to
the international court of justice in Hague on March 28
1994, over her claims on Bakassi peninsula. The case
lasted till October 2, 2002 when the ICJ ruled in favour of
Cameroun. Both countries had already agreed to abide
by the judgement before the case ensued.

It is important to note that the ICJ entertains only cases

between Sovereign nations!! ICJ cannot, under any
international law, entertain a case brought by Biafra
advocates against Nigeria. This is law, not sentiments.
Biafra is not a Sovereign nation, yet!

Another argument projected, under thunderous

insults, was how any Constitution that stands in
variance with international Human Rights laws of UN
cannot stand!! This argument was repeated with such
certainty. I found it crazily esoteric!

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I wondered how come North Korea still exists. I

wondered how come Myanmar still operates. I
wondered how come all the military governments in
Nigeria existed? I wondered how all the dictatorial
governments in the world existed? When it's obvious
they do not conform to international Human Rights
laws? I discovered that even well learned Igbo persons
are now substituting propaganda & conjecture, for
knowledge and facts.

The much touted International Bill of Rights, was

inaugurated via the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, adopted by UN on 10, December 1948. It was
followed in 1968 by the International Covenant on Civil
& Political Rights, AND the International Covenant on
Economic, Social & Cultural Rights. These three
Covenant form the International Bill of Rights or the
International Human Rights.

Self determination is the Article 1 of the International

Covenant on Civil & Political Rights AND on the
International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural
Rights. Self determination in these Covenants did not
mandate specific policies, just like other rights in those
Covenants and Declaration! In fact from the practice,

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judgements and deliberations of UN human rights

committee and Court, countries retain wide latitude on
how they put all human rights into practice.
All pragmatic leaders in this struggle must
acknowledge that UN charter proclaims that it is based
on "sovereign equality of all members"! The ICJ has no
police force to enforce its judgement. It relies on the
willing submission of member states. In extreme cases,
on the force of powerful states against weak states.

So people who are thinking or feeling that UN will force

Nigeria or compel Nigeria to conduct Referendum, are
in dreamland! Nigeria and every country in the world
break the laws contained in the International Bill of
Rights. Each country break different ones, at different
times depending on prevailing circumstances.
Let us take Nigeria vs Nnamdi Kanu's case. Nigeria
broke several of the International Bill of Rights, of which
she is signatory, several times in the course of about 82
weeks Mazi Kanu was in detention! What did UN do?
Nothing!
Nnamdi Kanu was arbitrarily arrested and detained.
This was against Article 9 of Universal Declaration and
Article 9 of Covenant on Cultural & Political Rights.
What did UN do? Nothing.

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Hearing before Independent & Impartial Judiciary is

Article 10 of both Universal Declaration AND Covenant
on Political Rights. Was it applied for Mazi Kanu? No.
Did UN sanction Nigeria, No!

Presumption of innocence is Article 11 of the Universal

Declaration and Article 15 of Covenant on Political
Rights. Buhari, while Kanu was in detention, declared
him guilty in a nationally televised interview. And
vowed to keep Kanu jailed, irrespective of court ruling.
A promise he kept. Did UN sanction him? No!
I can go on and on!

The point is that these international Human Rights are

often breached by Sovereign member nations of UN.
Without consequences. Sovereignty often trump
human rights in international politics! That is real
politics. UN never sanctioned China over Tiannamen
square incident. Only powerful nations like US
imposed salutary sanctions, that were lifted not long
after.
Nigeria has breached and continues to breach a lot of the
International Bill of Rights, which she is signatory to.
Nigeria yet remains an influential UN member state. We
need to know that it is only astute politics that can grant

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ndi Igbo Biafra, if that is really what we want. Not

boycotting politics. That call for boycott is simply an
exercise in ego. Even after boycott, we must go back to
politics to pursue actualisation.

It took the separatist movements of Spain 20 years to get

devolution of power, and inclusion of Referendum in
their statute. Everybody that follows International
history will remember that the ETA aka Basque
separatist movement used to be one of the most dreaded
terrorist group in the world. They arose in the struggle
for self determination for Basque country in Spain.
However it took the formation of political parties that
won control of Basque region in several elections, to
engage Madrid & accomplish acceptance of
Referendum.

Today I hear about Catalan Referendum. This was also

achieved through political parties and political process,
and like I pointed out earlier, took about 2 decades to be
achieved.
It was not done or accomplished by UN. It was by
politics!!

We are not the only indigenous people seeking for self

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determination, globally. We know the Scots are. The

Quebecs are. Of course the Basques and Catalonians.
For these regions, their Constitution or laws recognise
Referendum.

However there is even an ethnic nation with a more

compelling case for self determination. They have been
fighting for it for decades, yet UN has not been the
knight in shining armour some people try to make them
in Biafra's case. I am talking of the Kurds of South East
Turkey.

The Kurds are not even allowed to use Kurdish

language in the schools in their region. They are not
allowed to practice their cultural identity. The Turkish
courts prevent Kurds from even giving their kids
Kurdish names. If you broadcast in Kurdish you can go
to jail. It is fair to say the Kurds probably are more
discriminated against than the Igbos of Nigeria.
Yet, UN has not rallied to force Turkey to grant them self
determination or conduct Referendum for them. Turkey
simply doesn't want to. And the Kurds after trying
militancy via the PKK, has not fully unified in politics of
emancipation. Hence they continue to suffer in the full
glare of the world and UN!!

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The point of this message is to engage all energies of Ndi

Igbo towards channelling our recent gains to the proper
conduit. May we not waste the political capital of the
Biafran movement. UN is not about to come and
organise any Referendum. Neither are they going to
force Nigeria to organise one. It is only by pulling our
full political weight, as a people, through political
negotiations with other ethnic nationalities that we can
get Referendum into our Statutes. It can only come via
political process. Except some people are secretly
pining for war!!

Even after all boycottables are boycotted, we must make

recourse to political process. Under the laws of Nigeria.
Why not approach the struggle in a multi-faceted way?
With pragmatic idealism.
As Prof Chinua Achebe of hallowed memory wrote, "It's
morning yet on creation day"!
My name is Olisa Akukwe. And I still want to
#StopNonsense.

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OGE ADIRO
... Politics for Restructuring.

December 2017

From now, till October 2018 is when the South East

should play the Real Politics of Restructuring!!
The PDP convention, at the heels of Atiku detection, has
clearly unsettled APC! They can't even hide their jitters.
The emergence of Uche Secondus, which many
observers believe is an ill omen, is actually a very safe
move by PDP.
He doesn't have a perpetual EFCC noose around his
political neck.

He has been a very loyal party worker.

He has been in the national party administration for
over a decade, so he has the background network.
Though he may lack the personal clout, but he can build
that.
So the Vice President option is open not only to South

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East, but also South West.

However PDP should NOT be the only plank for Igbo
political aspirations now.
This is the BEST time for APGA bu nke anyi.

The best time, if ever there was one, for APGA to expand
beyond Anambra permanently. This is the time to
commence the search for dynamic, honest, passionate
and competent Igbo leaders to field as candidates,
across Igbo land.
My advice is to gun directly for Governorship of Imo
and Abia States. Why? Clearly the lowest hanging
political fruits, in terms of governance.
Enugu and Ebonyi states are still political hegemonies,
rigged with ruthless nonchalance. APGA has no hope in
those two states in this electoral cycle, as far as
governors are concerned.
However HOA and HOR are positions APGA should
field formidable candidates for, in all Ana Igbo. Time to
start is now.

It is also very important that as APGA organise in Abia,

Imo, Enugu and Ebonyi as they did in Anambra, they
should work to produce a Presidential Candidate of
Igbo origin!!

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An accomplished Igbo person, in private, public and

cultural administration.
Let ndi Igbo throw their hat, with clear plan and
sagacity, into the presidential ring!! Irrespective of what
happens in other parties.
It is abundantly possible, with clear planning, defined
strategies and definite goals to make resounding
progress on Restructuring. Using the already opened
election season.
The Goals should be:
1. Win Imo, and deliver them from Statue to State.
2. Win Abia, and break the sordid holds of clannish
godfathers.
3. Make inroads into Ebonyi and Enugu.
4. APGA bu nke anyi should win Igbo land in the
Presidential election, to FORCE A RUN-OFF.
Run off likely between APC and PDP.
If this occurs, APGA can become the effective king
makers.
And Igbo leaders, if we are true and trusty, can use it to
negotiate the first phase of Restructuring. Our support
should then go to the leader willing to initiate the
Restructuring process, with clear timelines, within the
first 100 days.

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It is better to negotiate under an Igbo Party. The way

Anambra has taught ACN, AC and APC to respect the
Igbo resilience, has shown that an Igbo centric party is
an essential tool in the quest for justice maka ndi Igbo.
Taa bu Gbooo.

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RIGGING FOR DUMMIES:

THE PLAYBOOK.

January 2019

I am sorry to say o, but the election has been rigged

already!

1. Have strategists really asked why is Dasuki in jail?

Why is Metuh in jail?
Why was Akpabio harangued into defection?
Why is FFK under incessant litigation?
Why was Obanikoro harrased into 'born again' APC
chieftain?
Why is Orji Uzor Kalu on an EFCC leash?
Why is Magu unconfirmed yet in power?
Many people don't know the link. It's all about FUNDS.
All of the above events are purposed to deny PDP access
to election funds. Any source(s) of potential PDP funds
is placed under intense hostility. Either you join APC or
you shall never have peace nor unbridled access to the

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funds.
While APC have been using vote buying to advance
their victories (Edo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti). TraderMoni. N-
power. Outright vote buying. All these have been tested
& confirmed.
Obi & Atiku are under intense scrutiny and obstruction,
finance wise. Atiku, Obi and PDP needs to spend
(move) tons of money in the last 2 weeks to election.
Everything is being done to stall it. Even if it may
include unofficial freezing of ANY account that is
suspected to be linked to PDP.

2. The APC primaries: This was used to create a ruse in

the international community of MASSIVE support for
Buhari. 5 million votes in Kano. 3.5million in Lagos, etc.
By now, PDP should have gotten satellite imageries of
many of those states that claimed those massive
turnouts, for that day. That could have been used to
show the international community it was all scam. But
nothing. Post election, this will be used to 'prove' to
international community that the massive 'votes' that
may accrue to APC is historical.

3. Collation: Our elections are rigged at collation! The

senate passed a bill for electronic transmission of

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results, instantly.

Buhari killed it.

Collation is still the dead zone. It's where they monitor
the incoming results & know where/how to adjust
returns in other to overturn defeats. That was what
Buhari was likely referring to as "winning by remote" in
his visit to Osun last week.
It happened in Edo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo.

4. Outright violence: The entire command of legitimate

force, often used illegitimately, is in their control. And
they have not shied away from using it. Often times, in
close races, APC combine the use of state and non state
force to unleash violence. It helped them win Ondo and
Osun. Another perfected method.

5. Accreditation & Voting: You accredit, vote and go

home. This keeps polling units scanty, and calm.
Reduces significantly the people that will stay back for
counting and "defending of votes". Making
manipulation even possible at the polling level.

6. Fooling International community:With the method of

vote and go home, the international community will

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inevitably report free & peaceful election.

By allowing them come into the collation center, they
will be fooled into thinking there is openness.
Meanwhile, the main collation is happening at the
COLLATION SECRETARIAT, which is not only out of
bounds to observers; but also under publicised.

7. The moves against the supreme court judges

previously, and now the CJN has put all Judges in
Nigeria on Notice!
Play ball or lose your 3 to 4 million naira monthly
income & allowances. Apart from having your name
dragged in mud.
So, my people, under this dictatorship, consider the
election rigged already!

***What can be done:

PDP has to really create an international community
committee. Sit down with all the major & important
International players, and show them the APC
playbook. In details.
All the party agents of PDP and allied parties, should be
equipped with data gathering gadgets. The more
stealth, the better. They should also be trained now in
that relevant information gathering.

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The state of the nation address by Atiku is a good start.

But it must be followed up by retail diplomacy in the
global capitals.
Mass information to voters imploring them to go back
by 3pm when poll closes, for counting and
announcement. Encourage people to load the polling
units results online.
Be ready for a protracted, post election, face-off.
Anything less will not work!

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RIGGING IS NOT "UNCOMMON" IN

AMERICA
(Don't believe the mainstream propaganda).

November 2020

On national Election Day in year 2000, by 2.09am, the

required vote margin to call the presidential election for
George W Bush Jr appeared from Volusia County,
Florida. The result, with the precise margin, appeared
on the Volusia County election machine, supplied by
Global Election System, now owned by Diebold.
Bush had 51000 plus vote margin, with less than that
outstanding. It was 26000 before then. Then the machine
erroneously gave Gore -16,022. Yes, minus 16,022.
Added another 4000 to Bush, plus another over 4000
Gore votes that went 'missing' in Brevard county.
This made Fox News to call the election for Bush. In less
than five minutes, NBC, CBS and ABC did same.
By 3.15am same day, Al Gore called Bush privately, and
conceded.

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By 3.45am, Mr Gore joined his motorcade to War

Memorial Plaza, Nashville, Tennessee to give a public
concessional speech.
3.55am, just two blocks from the plaza, Michael
Whouley pages Gore's travelling chief of staff Michael
Feldman and tells him the tabulation was wrong, as
they have 'discovered' the machine in Volusia County
and Brevard county, Florida were tampered with.
Diebold later claimed it's "memory cards" were
switched.
3.57am Gore was already at the Plaza, for his public
concession speech. He was informed the actual count
has him less than 1000 behind Bush, with Dade and
Broward county still having many uncounted votes.
4.05am, the networks retract their calling of the election
for Bush.
4.15am, Al Gore calls Bush again to retract his private
concession. He didn't give the public concession speech
planned that morning, at War Memorial Plaza
Nashville Tennessee.
Finally, the election was given to Bush, with final,
official margin of 527 votes only. This was disputed, as
we all know. A recount was instituted, with an audit.
The Supreme Court effectively and ultimately stopped
the recount, though it ACTUALLY SHOWED AL GORE

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WON FLORIDA, AND THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE.

In other words, George Bush stole the US Presidential
Election, and nothing happened.
So if any "ndi inteleshual" is telling you that Mr Trump
has desecrated the altar of sacrosanct democracy by
raising suspicion of presidential election stealing, tell
them to slime off. There is a very recent, undisputed
evidence of Presidential Election rigging in US. The
beneficiary got away with it, and is still very much alive
and happy.
Rigging election in America is not uncommon. Forget
what 'lie stream' media maybe spinning. This is nothing
new. Al Gore was forever dumped in the shadow of
history, by a rigged presidential election in US.
Kennedy's victory against Nixon is still shrouded in the
shady blanket of malpractice. The notorious magic
margins that gave him narrow victories in Texas and
Illinois, with their total 51 electoral votes made him
president. He won the presidency by about 0.1% of the
votes. The exact margin he needed was 'found' by
Mayor Daley, of Chicago, Illinois.
Nixon, then a sitting vice President, was asked to
challenge the outcome in court, by his party. He refused,
because he didn't want to ridicule US in the eyes of the
world.

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Electoral irregularities are nothing new in US. It's just

that the major networks don't want to emphasize them,
especially if it doesn't serve their bias.

Just a few evidence.

In Alabama 2002 general election, 6300 votes from
Baldwin County disappeared overnight and flipped the
Governor's race. The rightful winner asked for recount
and was denied. Audit few months later showed the
Governor sworn in, actually lost. Nothing happened.
Same 2002 general election, a computer miscount
overturned the House District 11 result in Wayne
County, North Carolina. Luckily, a recount discovered
5500 more votes and the rightful winner was restored.
In Dallas County, Texas, 41,015 votes were missed
during the November 1998 election. The vote counting
machine was 'programmed' not to count votes from 98
precincts.
In Pima County, Arizona, vote counting machine
recorded no votes in 24 precincts, in the 1998 general
elections.
In Nov 5 2002 election, in Broward county, Florida, over
103,222 votes were discovered not to have been counted
by the voting machines. This was just 2 years after the
same Florida was involved in Bush-Gore, missing votes

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imbroglio.
The recorded incidents go on and on. It is
understandable that Mr Trump's haters hangs all their
dark peeves like garlands on his neck. However, his
suspicion of electoral malpractice is not out of tradition.
There are so many inexplicable developments during
this election. I don't know if there were malpractice or
not, but as an ordinary student of US political tradition,
I am also suspicious.
I have never witnessed a US general Election that took
half a week to produce a winner.
I have never read of a US Election, from the election of
John Adams till date, that took half a week to produce a
winner or a tie. Even the tied Election of 1820 did not
take so long to be announced.
I saw a streaming of how the absentee ballots were
being sorted. With the wizened eyes of a Nigeria
election participant, I saw so many potential loopholes.
I didn't see any diligent scrutinising of signature or even
mail-in time. Just cursory perusal and then placed
where it would be taken for counting. I wasn't
impressed.
I wonder how a much larger California and Florida
could sort their absentee ballots so quickly and much
smaller Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada and

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Michigan took almost half a week. If Florida and

California started counting absentee ballots early, what
stopped the smaller States not to? Deliberate? For what
purpose?
Somehow, the votes harvested from absentee ballots in
those smaller States are just enough to cover Mr
Trump's leading margins. Whereas in the larger states
that counted larger absentee ballots early, the exact
margins couldn't be mustered. Am I missing
something?
I could not believe it when vote counters in Wisconsin,
Nevada, Michigan, I think Georgia closed for hours.
There was no arrangement for shifts and continuous
counting? Absolutely disingenuous.

For me, these and many other irregular happenstances,

necessitate a serious second look. Nothing unheard of in
doing that. Hillary Clinton got recounts after she lost.
The only challenge is that the time for investigation and
litigation is not there. The FBI resources for thorough
investigation is also scarce. Meanwhile, the
inauguration is just about 10 weeks away.
Nevertheless, there is need not just for a recount, but for
a thorough investigation. I know that America electoral
system is riddled with exploitable loopholes. I just

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pointed out a few in this article. Many of them are from

extensive research done by Bev Harris and David Allen.
Others you can find in histories of particular elections.

Even though the outcome maybe too late to change the

fate of US, it will help to show how robust the US
electoral system is now. Whether the lessons of its past,
rigged elections were well and worthily learnt.
Legitimacy of this election, whether you like it or not,
has been damaged. Only a thorough investigation can
restore it.

OLISA AKUKWE
Obata Uno Adinma.

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TURKEY IS THE TEMPLATE!!

May 2016

We live in interesting times. Many Nigerians wake up

every day, scared! What's next, they wonder. Who is
next, they drool. Where next, they ponder. Such is the
uncertainty of life now. Will the herdsmen of terror
strike? Or BH explode? Or Avengers detonate? Or
tanker implode? Or pump price gyrate? But one thing is
certain, and that is that APC is in power.
To understand what is happening to us, we need to
understand the inspiration and instincts of those
pulling the lever. The new template of Nigeria
governance is inspired by the Anatolia rising hegemon,
Turkey. The fastest rising Islamic power in the world
today. More influential in global geopolitics than Iran
and Saudi Arabia, the hitherto Islamic powers. And its
influence is more dramatic, because as recent as year
2000, Turkey was stuttering, blundering, sprawling
nation.

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I don't care much about any religion. I think religion

tends to divide, than unite. My holy book instructed us
to worship God in truth and in spirit. So many people in
all religion observe this injunction. But men and women
hungry for power and influence also seize on religion to
Rise and rule.

The recent rise of Turkey can be linked to the will, skill

and cunning of one man, Reyep Erdorgan. Turkey's
president. The ruling party in Nigeria, the APC, follows
the Justice and Democratic (AK) Party of Turkey in
eerily more ways than accidental.
The ruling party in Turkey (AK) was founded in 2001. In
2002, they won Turkey's national election. Like APC.
They ran on an anti-corruption ticket. Any similarity?
The Turkey ruling party at inception was an
aggregation of hard-core Islamists (Kwankwaso dem),
traditional religious fraternities (Zakzaky dem),
Islamist modernisers (El Rufai dem), socially
conservative businessmen (Abdulsalamad Rabiu of
BUA dem) and secular reformists (Pat Utomi dem)
The similarity continues. The Justice and Democratic
(AK) party has its core of support in the north and west
of Turkey, a zone regarded as a 'Koran belt' of Turkey.
APC has its support base in the North and west of

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Nigeria. Interestingly, our own 'Koran belt'. Close to

half of our Yoruba brothers practice the Muslim faith.

Erdorgan, when he came to power, started massive

trials of corrupt individuals and institutions. Much to
the delight of Turkish citizens. He also adroitly shifted
the party power base to the Islamist core of the party. He
also rolled out massive social programmes in housing,
health etc. While allowing most of all the Islamic social
practices that Kamel Attaturk banned to come back and
flourish. Attaturk diligently tried to keep Turkey
secular, but the Islamist core of the Justice and
Democratic party,where Erdorgan belongs, have
reversed many of those policies. Just this year, a vote to
formally change Turkey's designation to Islamic
Republic of Turkey was only narrowly defeated. It will
come back.

Erdogans popularity came from his being jailed in 1998

for "inciting hatred based on religious differences"!
Muslims quickly embraced him. And he rode that to
become mayor of Istanbul. Buhari's popularity rose
with his support of Sharia when other northern
politicians were being too modest.
The south east of Turkey is populated by the separatist

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Kurds. Similar to south east of Nigeria. The Kurds have

been agitating for independence from a suffocating
union in Turkey. The political party controlling most
part of the south east of Turkey is called Peoples
Democratic party (HDP).

The Islamist party ruling Turkey has been in power now

close to two decades, having used a combination of anti-
corruption fight and intimidation to decimate the
former ruling party. Same fate awaits Nigeria and PDP.
Except the people open their eyes and mind. The Turkey
ruling party has also done well economically, while
advancing other Islamic agenda. If APC gets the
economy right, Nigeria will go same way!

The PDP and other core corruption Nexus in Nigeria are

in full retreat. They know what is going on, but they
can't do anything. Their hands are soiled, like in Turkey.
Turkey has an agenda. The core of that agenda is the
resurgence of Islam.

Through Turkey, 2 million Islamic refugees are in or

about to enter Europe. It is noteworthy that Syria is
closer to Turkey's Eastern border that abuts Iran,
Armenia, Georgia. But the only land border Turkey has

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with the west (Europe) is Bulgaria. Over 1000 km from

Syria. Yet that is where they direct all the Syrian
refugees to.

The marauding herdsmen is not less similar. There is a

grand design. The vital centre of this design is global.
The core of the APC as well as of the ruling Justice and
Democratic party in Turkey is Sunni Muslim. There is
nothing wrong with sunni Muslim or any Muslim. But
there is everything wrong when leaders use religion to
gain and control the levers of power.
Study Turkey. And you will understand where we are
headed.
The iceberg is getting closer.

My name is Olisa Akukwe. And I still want to

#StopNonsense.

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WHY JERUSALEM?
...The diplomatic Golgotha. (Part 1)

December 2017

Since the single minded American President announced

that America recognises Jerusalem, as the capital of
Israel, the response has been riotous.
The usual Arab and Muslim condemnation had ensued.
The EU and UN have also lent their increasingly
confusing voice. Christian fundamentalists have
declared it as victory of biblical proportions. Muslim
fanatics are seeing it as a call to arms.
In all these, I keep sifting to see a dissection of the issue,
prior and retro, from a perspective of realism.
I simply aim to do a factual interrogation of the
Jerusalem, Israeli/Palestinians conundrum. In the final
count, it's proper to say that it's complicated!!

But first, before I delve into the facts of history on this

issue, let me proffer my personal opinion on the action

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of Mr Trump. This is my opinion, from a geopolitical

perspective, if I was in his shoes.
Will I recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital? Yes, I
would.
Would I relocate US embassy to Jerusalem? No I would
not.
On the first question, how realistic is the solution of
declaring one small city as the capital of two countries?
Two feuding nations. Two countries with diametrically
opposite religion and culture. To share one small city as
a common capital. That solution is the real disaster
recipe.
Imagine asking Lagos and Ogun states to share Ikeja as
capital. These are same ethnic stock. Or asking
Anambra and Enugu states to share Enugu city as
capital. Imagine the depth of animosity and strife these
can perpetuate on a daily basis.
Then transpose such a solution on two villous feuding
nations.
That sharing capital as a solution, should have been
jettisoned long ago. There are multiple other areas of
disagreements that the International community
should force Israel to do some concessions, for
Jerusalem to be a united capital. Rather than the horrific
trap of one capital for two countries.

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On the second question, geographically Jerusalem is of

little advantage. Even Israel pushing for it to be their
indivisible capital is simply for its mythic significance.
Jerusalem has no airport, no seaport, no river, no
industrial base, no natural resources. It measures about
125 square KM only. That's about 8% the size of Abuja or
20% size of Enugu city. Strategically it offers nothing. It's
the long, deep and mythic religious symbolisms that
remains its allure to mankind.
So I do not see the value of US shifting her embassy to
Jerusalem. The recognition is enough. Israel can live
with that.

It is also important to reiterate that Mr Trump did not

declare Jerusalem, Israel's capital. He simply
recognised it. Israel can lay a longer historical claim to
Jerusalem. Note that I am not talking biblical claim. But
the ethnic stocks from which modern day Jews descend,
historically, have a firmer claim on Jerusalem. The Arabs
who have also inhabited the area for close to 1000 years
have a historical claim to the land. They have a right to
be citizens of Jerusalem, irrespective of its capital status.
So the Arabs of Jerusalem must be equal citizens of
Jerusalem, and by extension Israel. This should be
among the conditionalities of Jerusalem as Israel's
capital.

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However, Israel's claim to Jerusalem, predates by

millennia any Arab claim to it.
Let us now delve into the relevant historical facts.
(...to be continued)
Olisa Akukwe

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WHY JERUSALEM?
...The diplomatic Golgotha (Part 2)

December 2017

Having ventured my personal opinion on why I think

Mr Trump was right to recognise Jerusalem, as Israeli
capital; I now wish to put a proper context to Jerusalem
as a metaphor for fallibility of Diplomacy.
The fundamental crux of the Israeli/Palestine crisis is
that Arabs (NB: Arabs not Palestinians) claim all the
land, including Jerusalem, belong to them. Whereas
Jews wanted a 'national home' and believed the present
Israel had been their home. That is the fundamental
crux, but from it stemmed myriad other collaterals.
As is totally agreed by historians of all shades, a
collection of Hebraic kingdoms that are the distant
progenitors of today's Jews, lived in the region of
present day Israel. The current West Bank was where
the Kingdoms of Samaria and Judea were located.
Kingdom of Galilee was south east of Sea of Galilee, in

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today's northern Israel.

In Jerusalem itself, Mount Moria was where Judaism
stated that Solomon's Temple was built. The rock upon
which Abraham was supposed to sacrifice Isaac stands
directly above the Holy of Holies of King Solomon's
Temple, according to Judaic lore.

It's interesting to note that it's this same rock that Islam
believes Prophet Muhammad ascended into heaven
from. And on it is built the (Furthest Mosque) or Al
Aqsa.
That Judaism, Islam and Christianity share the exact
same geographic symbolisms in Jerusalem, is a product
of the very complicated political history of the Levant.
The Jews had lived side by side with Arabs for
millennia. The region of Israel and the Levant, because
of its strategic location as a kind of bridge between the
Western world and the East, had always been under
contention by world powers.
It had been conquered by the Persians (current Iran),
Mesopotamia (Iraq) during the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar, the Romans (who sacked and
dispersed the Jews in AD70, after a rebellion), Mongols,
Arabs of the great Mamluk Sultanate of Cairo, the Turks
of Ottoman empire and the British. Not to include the

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Christian Crusades for conquest of Jerusalem.

Some of these empires ruled the Jews and Arabs for as
long as 400 years. Some allowed them to thrive,
provided they paid their taxes and tributes, like the
Ottomans and Mamluks. Some took them as Golden
Refugees to help grow their economy, like the
Mesopotamians. Some simply ravished (Mongols) or
dispersed them in retribution.

It's important to note that many times, the ancient Jews

suffered together with the Arabs. The periods when
Arabs or Muslim Turks ruled the Jews where when they
had the most freedom! In other words, the Jews for
millennia, historically saw Arabs as protectors. Despite
the social strata that treated Jews as second class
citizens. At least the Arabs were not anti-Semitic in
ancient and medieval times.
Unlike the Christians of those ages. The Christians
treated the Jews as despicables. Anti-Semitism was
practised primarily in Christian kingdoms. Christianity
did not recognise the claim of Jews to Jerusalem, but
rather saw Jerusalem as Christian property seized by
Muslims.
It was a Pope, Pope Urban 2, who in 1095, commissioned
the first Crusading Knights, to conquer Jerusalem for

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Christianity. So the proprietary sense that Christians

show over Jerusalem is surreal, since it actually flowed
from violent appropriation.
The return of world Jews to Palestine was at the initial
stages in late 19th century an amicable process. The first
waves of returnee Jews BOUGHT their lands from the
Arabs! Over 100000 acres of land were bought before
1900. The funds were largely provided by Baron De
Rothschild, probably the world's greatest banker, after
De Medici.

The Arab resistance and resentment concerning the

Jewish settlements actually started flaring with the
rapidly increasing number of Jewish settlers, and the
controversial Balfour Declaration of 1917.
The Declaration that gave Jews a 'National Home' in
Palestine triggered the suspicion of Arabs.
It's important to note that of all the opposition to Balfour
Declaration, none talked of or mentioned Palestinian
people! It was simply about Arabs and their land.
Unlike the Jews, the Palestinians did not see themselves
then as a distinct, ethnic or linguistic nation.
The historical actions of the Zionist showed that they
believed they could find an accommodation with the
Arabs of Palestine.

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First, the Balfour Declaration did not give Israel a state.

But simply a small 'National Home' within the larger
Arab Palestine. The state would have eventually been
an Arab Palestine State. The Jews accepted, but Arabs
refused.

Few years later, the British proposed a mixed Palestine

Legislative council that would pave the way for an
independent, Arab Palestine State. The Council was to
give Arabs perpetual Legislative majority, just like the
British eventually did for Northern Nigeria. The Jewish
leaders accepted, but the Arabs still rejected it.
Again in 1937, the Peel Commission proposed
partitioning Palestine by giving Jews a very tiny state,
and the Arabs the rest. Jews accepted, Arabs rejected it.
The size of Israel would have been less than 10% of its
current size now, with this partition.

Again WoodHead Commission of 1938 proposed

limiting the Autonomy of the Jewish state, to know if it
will be more palatable for Arabs. Yet the Arabs rejected
it. While the Jews were willing to accept it.
In 1939, with the hope of winning Arab support against
Nazi Germany, a White Paper was issued by Britain
which proposed limiting the Jewish settlements, before

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they can be given statehood. Yet the Arabs rejected this.

After the 2nd world war in 1946, when Jews were now
swarming into the 'homeland' in train loads, just to
escape Europe's anti-Semitism; the allies came up with a
plan to admit a final 100000 Jews only, into Palestine.
Simply to curtail Jewish influx, and encourage Arabs to
accept a small Jewish state. Yet, the Arabs refused!
In 1947, the UN proposed the formal Two-state
Solution, after the exhausted British had dumped the
problem for them. This Two-state Solution was
promptly rejected by the Arabs.

In May 14 of 1948, the day British mandate ended, Israel

declared its independence, and was promptly
recognised by Harry Truman, the US President.
The very next day, 5 Arab states immediately attacked
Israel, in the first of many Arab-Israeli wars.

With proper historical context, it's difficult to see Israel

as the aggressor in this perennial Arab/Israel acrimony.
Before the 3rd Arab/Israeli war, the 6 day war, West
Bank was ruled by Jordan and Gaza was ruled by Egypt.
None of these Arab Muslim countries gave the
Palestinians those regions!! Today, the Arab Muslim
world recognise that Gaza and West Bank belong to

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Palestine. But when they controlled it, it did not belong

to Palestine!
Israel seized Gaza, West Bank, Sinai Peninsula and
Golan Heights, during the 6 day war. Quadrupling the
size of Israel in 6 days, after the unexpected attack by the
Arab Muslim countries yet again, in 1967. They also
captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in that war.
It is evident Arab Muslim hypocrisy that when Egypt
and Jordan controlled Gaza and West Bank respectively,
as well as East Jerusalem; they did not cede it to their
now beloved Palestinians.

The hypocrisy also shows in the fact that Palestinian

refugees in the Arab Muslim countries, with their
children, grand, great grand children are not granted
citizenship status in those Arab Muslim countries. With
the exception of Jordan. They remain perpetual
refugees!!

Israel have ceded Gaza to Palestine. But for security

purposes, blocked its borders with Israel.
Egypt, an Arab Muslim country also blocked its borders
with same Gaza! Yet, Arab Muslim nations are pushing
Israel to open its borders with Gaza, as part of peace
process negotiation. Hypocrisy.

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The fundamental crux remains that Arab Muslims feel

that Israel is existing on Arab land, hence must be
annihilated in the long run.

To this is added the anti-Jewish Islamic sentiments that

began after the Balfour Declaration. It is now even more
putrid than the Arab anti-Semitism. Iran, which is not
an Arab nation is the most fervent anti-Israeli state in the
world today.

Ultimately, whether Jerusalem was to be divided

between Israel and Palestine or even given to Palestine,
Israel knows that it's a nation born unintentionally in
strife. And that as it searches for the elusive peace with
her neighbours, it must first be SECURE!
Jerusalem as united or divided capital is not what will
bring peace to Middle East!
For a long time, the Levant will remain a "Place of
Skulls!”

Olisa Akukwe

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ON BIAFRA
....KA AKPAA YA AKPA.

July 2017

In Biafra,
1. Will the Constitution incorporate Self-determination?

2. Will Referendum be included in the Biafran

Constitution? Will the Omambala people have the right
to leave Biafra, if they want? What about the Nsukka
people? Ndi Afikpo? Ndi Oguta? Ndi Ahiara etc.

3. Will there be 100% resource control by the constituent

parts? As we are demanding from Nigeria now.
Will Udi people control their coal resources?
Will Nkalagu control their limestone?
Will Omambala control their oil?
Will Imo south control their oil?
Or will the resources now belong to the 'center'? Just like
in Nigeria now.

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4. Will Biafra Constitution end discrimination against

women? Can females then inherit properties directly
like males?
Can women become traditional rulers?
Can they become P.Gs of their town?

5. Will Biafran Constitution include affirmative actions

to help disadvantaged areas? Will all university
admission be by merit? Or do we reserve places for
historically disadvantaged areas?

6. Will there be zoning for political appointments? Or

will it be just by pure merit? Will the leadership rotate?
Or outright competition?

7. Will we have local government police? Or will it be a

Federal Biafran Police?

8. What will be the federating units? Is it the states

created by North-Military complex? Or the local
governments created by same ndi Ugwu? Or will it be
the historical distinct dialectical groups in Igbo land? Or
will it be the autonomous communities?
The vital questions are many and varied. It's not just
about ultimatums and rallies.

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Time to start asking ourselves the tough questions.

Bottom line...Ka akpaa ya akpa!

*“Ka akpaa ya akpa” is Igbo for “Let us discuss and

agree”.

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Theory of black
swan events

“The Black Swan Theory or theory of black swan events

is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a
surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately
rationalised after the fact with the benefit of hindsight.
The term is based on an ancient saying that presumed
black swans did not exist – a saying that became
reinterpreted to teach a different lesson after black
swans were discovered in the wild.
The phrase “black swan” derives from a Latin
expression; its oldest known occurrence is from the 2nd-
century Roman poet Juvenal’s characterization of
something being “rara avis in terris nigroque simillima
cygno” (“a rare bird in the lands and very much like a
black swan”). When the phrase was coined, the black
swan was presumed not to exist.
The importance of the metaphor lies in its analogy to the
fragility of any system of thought. A set of conclusions is

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potentially undone once any of its fundamental

postulates is disproved.
In this case, the observation of a single black swan
would be the undoing of the logic of any system of
thought, as well as any reasoning that followed from
that underlying logic.
The term Black Swan originates from the (Western)
belief that all swans are white because these were the
only ones accounted for.
However, in 1697 the Dutch explorer Willem de
Vlamingh discovered black swans in Australia.
This was an unexpected event in (scientific) history and
profoundly changed zoology”
Inspired by that monster of erudition.

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PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
AND VISION 2020

NOVEMBER 2008

Concession, or its popular moniker- Public-Private

Partnerships, has a long but uncelebrated provenance.
In the renaissance period, the German Emperor Charles
V, in 1951, gave a monopoly concession to the family of
Taxis to carry mails in his imperial domain. As late as
1810, the blue and silver uniform of the House of Taxiz
was still very much evident on the pony express they
operated throughout Europe. This may well be the
longest concession in history! It is a vestige of the
pervasiveness of the House of taxis franchise, that today
‘taxi-cabs’ are still very much with us.

Public-Private Partnership may simply be described as

outsourcing of services and functions previously
handled by the public sector, to the private sector. In
reality, it is much more than this. As most things that

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capture the imagination of the elites, Public-Private

Partnership (PPP) is now a buzz-word in Nigeria. A new
catch-all phrase that has become a badge of reform, but
with little appreciation for its multi-facets, potentials
and challenges. Every mini-epoch in our nationhood
has produced its own economic anthem. We have had
nationalization; indigenization; commercialization;
privatization; now Public-Private Partnership. The
weak link in many of these past programmes had been
low buy-in by majority of the elites and intellectual class
in Nigeria, both in private and public sector. This poor
buy-in was hinged mainly on poor understanding of the
pros and cons of each of the economic initiative.

Public-Private partnerships are not new in Nigeria. It

has never been the crux of any government initiative
before as it is in President Yar’Adua’s government.
Many (if not all) states and local governments have been
operating PPPs for over three decades with Touts! We
all know that motor parks all over Nigeria are operated
by touts. They are formally or informally awarded
CONCESSION on the parks by the state or local
governments. This arrangement in all its opacity, lack of
due process, absence of effective governance, dwarfed
management principles, and kinship with violence

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represents many of the pitfalls in concessioning in

Nigeria. On the other hand, the fact that about 90% of
Nigeria’s transportation is by land and over 70% of long
trips in Nigeria originate or end in motor parks (with
their touts) is a testimony on the resilience, potential
and impact of the private sector.

However, the biggest area of PPP in Nigeria today is the

oil sector. The poorly designed, loop-hole filled and
corrupt joint ventures between NNPC and the oil
majors is a standing monument to what we don’t want
in the new concession regime. A new book titled
CONCESSIONS IN NIGERIA – THE REALITY by Dr
Joyce Wigwe, a consultant to public and private
organizations for many years, as well as to major
projects in the oil and gas sector, puts many of the
potential pitfalls and operating mechanism in PPP, into
perspective.
It is pertinent to note that the government’s new love
affair with the private sector is not born of altruism. The
huge unfunded liabilities of the Nigerian nation is the
major driving force. The infrastructure deficit that has
imposed handcuffs on growth is impelling government
towards PPP as a panacea to infrastructure dilapidation
and under-development.

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Thankfully, there are many developing nations that

have been and are on this path. So we do not lack for
models, instead we need guidelines that will help us
domesticate adopted models, with an eye on our
peculiar socio-political environment. There is no doubt
that if we do not tackle the infrastructure deficit, the
Vision 2020 will simply become Vision 2040 – and
beyond. Currently the 18th, 19th, and 20th economies in
the world GDP ranking are: Belgium, Sweden, and
Indonesia respectively. Belgium has a GDP (Exchange
rate based) of about $448 billion and is growing by
about 2.4%. Sweden has a GDP of about $444 billion and
a 3.6% growth rate. Indonesia has about $432 billion and
a 6.3% growth rate. Nigeria has about $167 billion and a
6.4% growth rate. All figures are as of December 2007.
To be in the Top 20 economies by 2020, our economy
may need to expand over 450% from its level as at
December 2007. Quite a stretch, but attainable at a 13%
annual compound growth rate! This may enable us
overtake Belgium, the slowest growing economy in the
lower rank of the Top 20.

In reality, Nigeria has to become a vastly different

country by 2020 if that goal is to be achieved. For
example, domestic oil consumption may leap from

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about 200,000 b.p.d today to about 1.2million b.p.d by

2020. This implies at least tripling of our refining
capacities, extensive Tank Farms construction, fuel
depots, pipelines, tankers, filling stations, new roads,
etc, Massive investments.

We currently have about 70 airports with about 36 of

them having paved runways. We will need about 180
airports, with over 100 of them having paved runways
by 2020, if Vision 2020 is on course. We have about
193000km of roads (paved and unpaved). Only about
30000km of these roads are paved, a mere 15% of total.
We will need about 386000 km of roads by 2020, with
about 270,000 km of them (70% of total) paved, if the
Vision 2020 is on course. Then increase the railways
from about 3000 km today to about 9000 km by 2020.
Then add seaports, schools, hospital, prisons, etc and it
becomes obvious why government needs private
finance initiatives.

It is also important to remind Nigerians that Public-

Private Partnerships are not limited to infrastructures.
In every segment of public good, a private service
provider under comprehensive but not suffocating
guideline will likely do a better job than a bureaucracy.

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This is so important in Nigeria, where public spending

in all tiers of government may exceed $150 billion, i.e
about N17 trillion naira in public spending by 2020, if
Vision 2020 is met, and current public spending trend
continued. We are aware of the colossal waste and
corruption at the current $30 million of public spending.
If we do not get PPPs right in public services like
education, health, immigration, customs, vehicle
registrations, public procurements, land registrations,
etc, we will be buried in intractable corruption by 2020.

It is also important to remind Nigerians that it is not

only For-Profit organizations that do PPPs.
TECNOLOGICO, a Not-For-Profit University, based in
Monterrey, is working with the Mexican government on
a scheme to deliver upper-secondary education
through the internet to about 1000 communities in
Mexico. Nevertheless, the norm is private, For-Profit
companies partnering with governments. The best
model in PPP as regards to Rule of Law, predictability,
transparent government, innovativeness and fidelity
between government and private sector is Chile. Nearly
all Chile’s water is supplied by private companies.
Almost all Chile’s new highways were privately built.
Long term “Infrastructure bonds” denominated in

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inflation-adjusted pesos have financed much of the $8

billion investment in Chile’s roads, airports, and the
likes. Many infrastructure investors in Chile have
refused to make similar investments in Brazil and
Argentina, despite their giant opportunities compared
to Chile. This is because the rule of law, and governance
issues in both countries are rickety at best. Both
countries are now attempting to remedy this, but they
still have a long way to go. Brazil for instance, has re-
negotiated 36% of concession contracts, at the
instigation of politicians and bureaucrats. This type of
rules changing during game, has been the bane of
concessioning in many developing economies,
especially Latin America. Recently, World Bank opened
a “Partial risk guarantee” facility that protects investors
in Peru’s roads, airports and ports from breaches of
contract.

These and many other challenges can be adequately

addressed in Nigeria if the legislative arm of
government can set in motion the necessary machinery
to bring about this much desired change in a beautiful
fusion of the principle of rule of law and Private Finance
Initiative, the two pillars of a potentially resurgent
Nigeria.

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MASS HOUSING INITIATIVE:

AN APPROACH

MARCH 2009

Mass Housing has become a revivalist initiative for all

administrations in Nigeria. Every new administration
embarks on a Mass Housing initiative. By the time the
administration becomes old, it becomes obvious the
housing initiative has failed. That is the Government
housing initiative.

However, the private sector, to the limits of its

constraints, has been the largest and most effective
provider of shelter for Nigerians. The private sector,
however, is severely constrained by bureaucratic and
political sclerosis that stems from the public sector
entirely! Even where the private sector appears to be
benefiting perversely from an opaque market
mechanism like land speculation and cement re-
bagging, it does so because the public sector had created
the lopsided opportunity. In other words, to turn the

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chronic dream of mass housing into daily reality of

decent and affordable living, fundamental changes in
approach must be made. We will presently appraise the
real and vital factors that are militating against mass
housing but let us do some clarification first.

Home ownership and mass housing are not the same

thing. Home ownership may be a core imperative in the
mass housing scheme, but it is important to differentiate
them so as not to build up unmanageable expectation.
Citizens (Corporate or individual) that lack adequate
income (adequate here having a wide latitude) cannot
and usually do not own homes/offices, even in the most
developed economies. However, this does not mean
that they are ill housed. A recent entrant into the labour
force usually cannot own a home in US because he lacks
the savings to pay for a down payment. He has no
history of paid employment or credit record.

H o w e v e r, t h e r e a r e a d e q u a t e r e s i d e n t i a l
accommodations that can be rented, likely on a weekly,
bi- weekly or monthly arrangement rather than the
typical 12 months to 24 months arrangement in Nigeria.
The Nigeria approach has a fallout the typical
overcrowding that you have in many urban homes,

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especially among the young. Their income, where they

have any, is usually too stretched. To have an effective
mass-housing delivery the following must be
instituted.
i. Effective Land Tax against speculation.
ii. Accessible and Reliable land registry.
iii. Mortgage — backed securities market.
iv. Targeted Loan guarantee Scheme.
v. Training of intermediate construction skills.
vi. Liberalizing the building material sector.
vii. Inauguration of commercial courts.

I. EFFECTIVE LANDS TAX:

I want to first remind us that it is antithetical to the free
market mantra our technocrats have been chanting to
have the state i.e. the public sector, own all the land in
the nation. That is simply a Marxist practice. The land
use act of 1978 definitely needs to be revisited. We
however have to work around the obnoxious decree for
now.
Land allocation process in the country, amongst several
shortcomings, promotes speculation as against
development. The ratio of people who make a killing in
land speculation as against profit from property
development is, in my estimate about 30:1. Pause and

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think about this. Think about yourself and people you

know and mentally compare where they (and possibly
you) have made much more money; is it in
building/developing property or just holding land?
Holding land in Nigeria has created perverse wealth
that is second only to the perverse wealth that
corruption created. This form of rent seeking behaviour
has as its negative counterpart the unavailability of land
for development, as the speculators hoard the land
waiting for the developers, to bid up the price. This
delays developments, makes the developments more
expensive eventually, and this cost is transferred to the
consumer. It also has the effect of turning potential
developers to actual land speculators. Remember that
when I talk about potential developers I am not
referring to only big property firms, but also
individuals who might be willing and able to develop
properties. We are all aware that vacant lots, empty
plots of land do not provide shelter.

Is there anybody who has not noticed the specter of

empty, vast plots of land all over the urban centers,
while developers only get to build meager
developments in usually inaccessible areas where they
were able to get land free of speculators most times?

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People will not be willing to go and live in those places

because it is far removed from where jobs and city
infrastructures are.

What do land speculators add to national development?

Almost nothing! Almost because land can be a form of
savings for individuals and organizations. So I am not
against land as a saving instrument. But land as savings
and land as speculation are largely different activities.
How does land speculation work?
(a) Lease land from the state paying official stipends
and fat bribes.
(b) Keep land title in a safe place.
(c) The state uses common wealth to put
infrastructure in the districts where land
has been leased to speculators.
(d) Land value increases fifteen folds.
(e) Some lots are then developed.
(f) Remaining vacant lots appreciates another five
folds.
(g) The area becomes hot spot because of increased
demand.
(h) Vacant lots increase another 10 folds.
(i) Speculator sells to developer.
(j) Developer can no longer build low cost housing,

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hence development of high-priced (high-class)

houses.
(k) Speculator makes 30 times (3000%) profit while
adding zero value!
There is something you may have missed from what I
have just illustrated: the entire gains of the speculator
come from values others have created.
(I) The state puts infrastructure; speculator profits.
(II) Developers build the lots they bought; speculator
profits.
(III) Infrastructure built with tax-payers funds,
including budget appropriation from oil;
speculator profits
(IV) Individuals develop their lots; speculators profit.
To promote actual development of office complexes,
shopping malls, factories, and homes while
discouraging speculation the following will be
necessary:
(1) Proper zoning of land use should be designated
transparently.
(2) Empty plots should be taxed at the same rate at
which comparable developed plots are taxed. This
implies that if a place is designated as a business district
with minimum 7-storey complexes, an empty plot of
land in this region should be taxed the same rate it will

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attract if it were developed with a 7-storey complex.

This means that if 7-storey complex in this zone pays 1
million naira on aggregate taxation because it is
developed and occupied, then the occupier of the empty
plots of equal size zoning will also pay 1 million naira on
their undeveloped plot.

(3) Also a capital gain tax of 50% should apply to the

sale of empty plots of land. This is because the
externalities that make the empty lots to appreciate
were not brought about by the landholder but are either
due to public spending (infrastructure development,
etc) or by private individuals/organization developing
adjacent or neighborhood lots. So the gain from this
speculation should be divided between the state (as
custodian of the public good) and the speculator.
(4) Another change should be a standing order that
government should not allocate land except after
providing infrastructure otherwise the allocations
should be made on the written agreement that the
buyers will provide adequate infrastructure in the said
zones within specified period. Of course, this provision
of infrastructure will attract waiver on the capital gain
tax.

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II. ACCESSIBLE AND RELIABLE LAND REGISTRY.

The importance of land registration that is accessible
and reliable cannot be over-emphasized.
Thankfully developments in GPRS and digital data
mapping are adequate to develop a national land
registry in Nigeria. The digitized land registry should
include:
(i) All land with leasehold and no leasehold in
Nigeria.
(ii) Holders of the land title at any particular time.
(iii) Date of initial title award and all subsequent
change of ownership since then
(iv) The prices of all the transactions on each title.
(v) Outstanding litigations on each title.
(vi) Zoning/use designation of each title.
(vii) Procedure for legal acquisition of leasehold.
It is obvious from the experience of FCT that developing
a digital land registry is expensive. It has also become
obvious that the FCT process has not made land
acquisition for development or verification of a
potential purchase any easier or transparent. Therefore
the inherent lessons from the FCT’s good effort should
be incorporated in the national roll out. The land
registration may start with metropolitan areas in all the
states as a first phase. Appraising the land market

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should be as simple as appraising the stock market to

improve efficiency in this very important market. It now
becomes obvious that the situation where there are
queues of land application (mainly by speculators)
waiting for the signature of the governors and FCT
ministers or their designates, sometimes up to 3 years is
totally not feasible. There should be land officers, not
higher than grade level 12, whose responsibilities
should be appraising and approving or disapproving
land applications within 30 days. These officers must
however be forced to work within a very tight, laid -
down procedure so as to minimize their taking decision
based on their whims, predilections, or other sundry
value considerations.

The rules of assessing each land application should be

the only guiding principle. All interested parties should
know these rules and all reasons for approval or
disapproval should be stated clearly. It is on the basis of
these rules that all issues of land allocation should be
based. You either meet it or you do not. If several parties
meet the requirements of a particular allocation and are
all interested in the same allocation, then bidding
should be done with the reserve price being the
officially stipulated price per square meter. The highest

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bidder then takes the allocation because it will be

presumed that the development they are planning will
have a higher economic future, otherwise they would
not bid up the price. Remember that the cardinal point,
as has been said earlier, is that government should not
allocate zones with no infrastructure development,
except where the buyers have agreed to put standard
infrastructures within specified time limit.

III. TARGETED LOAN-GUARANTEE SCHEME:

Most adults in Nigeria remember the Structural
Adjustment Programme of Ibrahim Babangida. Most
adults remember the Poverty Alleviation Programme
(PAP) of Obasanjo's first term. We all remember the
green revolution of Shagari, Operation Feed the Nation
of General Obasanjo, and the Nationalization
Programme of Gowon. What they have in common was
socio-economic experiment that was not thought
through. They were programmes that largely
impoverished the people by socializing risk, among the
masses and privatizing gains amongst top politicians
and bureaucrats.

All these programmes simply put, were experiments

with the people bearing the risk of failure, and indeed,

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when they failed the people were drowned in the

consequences. All socio-economic programmes in
Nigeria have had as primary ingredient the people
bearing the risk and the leaders pocketing the ill-gotten
gains. I wish to ask, why can't the state start to take risk
or even mitigate risks of her citizens?

Do you ever wonder why the much-lauded SME funds

of banks are not having the expected impact? Ever
wondered why the Federal government mortgage
schemes have always failed? Ever wondered why
Nigeria is a nation of potentials? Do you know the
richest sector of the Nigeria economy? To answer the
last question: the state, that is government, is the richest
sector in Nigeria. The state controls about 75% of the
entire income in Nigeria. From oil to gas to the 986,000
sq km of terrestrial territory, to the airwaves and the
social capital used for law enforcements - the police, the
armed forces, and the paramilitary.

Compare these massive assets to the states liabilities:

education cost is paid by household/corporations to the
tune of about 70% of total expenditure.
Job creation is provided by the private sector to over
95% of the total. About 50% of national security cost is

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borne by households/organizations in the form of

vigilante payments, CCTV, security guard, and
burglary resisting installations. Even the cost of justice
is borne by the private sector to a large extent by way of
legal fees, and lost time.

What you see here is huge state assets and meager state
liabilities (despite all the pretending), which translates
to mind blowing net worth at the government level:
huge state sector income with much less state sector
expense. This is the reason why there can be widespread
misery in the nation while the state sector is flush with
wealth and impervious to the suffering of the people.
Now, why have I gone into all this elucidation? It is to
show that the state can afford to mitigate some risk in
the economy without in any way coming close to
impoverishment. As a matter of fact, it is because of this
public sector- private sector mismatch that we have had
several symptoms like endemic corruption, crass public
irresponsibility, gross financial misconducts, poverty,
misery, and rickety infrastructures.

To kick-start the mortgage market, I propose what is the

usual, recent conventional wisdom. That is, developing
the securitization market by developing and packaging

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mortgage--backed securities. I however insert a relevant

twist: there should be a Federal/state loan guarantee
scheme for low priced homes. By low priced homes I
mean one bedroom flats priced below 1.5m naira and
two bedroom flats priced below 2.6m naira. The
government guarantee should cover 75% of the loan
while the lending institution bears 25% of the risk. The
guarantee should cover only this lower priced housing,
which are the bulk of mass housing demand. The
lending institutions however have the responsibility of
doing due diligence on their borrowers. The essence of
the guarantee is to cover borrower's default due to
death, incapacitation, cyclical unemployment, and
catastrophic accident. It is therefore very important that
the private lenders do required due diligence in
assessing income, regularity of income, family size, and
outstanding borrower's liability in approving the loans.
Some armchair critics may quickly say that ghost
borrowers will take undue advantage of this scheme
and therefore should not be implemented. I then ask:
has ghost workers syndrome made us to suspend the
civil service? Has bad roads made us to outlaw road
travel? Has exam malpractice made us abandon exams
nationwide? Moreover the ghost borrowers’ syndrome
is likely over imagined. Remember the entire process

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leaves financial footprints. Nobody pays cash to the

borrower. The account of the verified home builders is
simply credited by the lenders, while debiting the
borrower's account.

This government loan guarantee scheme will help in

kick-starting the securitization market. Most people
who are players in the securitization market know that
there usually is a form of credit-enhancement built into
the pools of credit- backed securities that are sold to
investors through the special purpose entities created to
market these securities. For mortgage -backed bonds, it
usually comes in form of mortgage insurance which is
essentially what the government will provide for the
mass housing segment of the real-estate sector.
What we want to achieve is:
(i) Government seeding the mortgage and by
extension, the mortgage-backed securities
market.
(ii) Private sector creating the credit i.e. the money
for borrowing.
(iii) Private sector building the homes.
(iv) Borrowers paying a small premium collected for
government by the PMI as insurance premium.
(v) The initial outlay of about one billion US dollars

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from the external savings of the state sector used t o

under write the scheme in the first 5years. This is the
part of the funds of foreign reserve that has n o t
been monetized probably about 1l billion US
dollars total today.
(vi) Increasing the confidence of the bank to lend long
term to home owners since their risk has been
systemically diminished to 25% of outlays. This w i l l
also encourage, naturally, lower interest rates o n
the lending.
I am confident that if there is such a scheme, non-
performing loans will never exceed 5% of the total in all
the cycles. It is just important for the government to
show the same level of confidence in her citizens for
once. We will see the glorious manifestation of the
banking sector lending about ten times of the insurance
base over the coming years as they get to know their
customers better and better. The targeted loan
guarantee scheme is simply aimed at kick- starting this
process.

IV. SECURITIZATION AND MORTGAGE:

This simply implies re-packaging multiple individual
mortgages into a pool of securities and sold to
institutional and individual investors. This has the

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effect of releasing fresh funds for further lending and

further securitization. With the government home
insurance scheme initiative, it will become much easier
for the mortgage-backed securities to be marketed to
international and domestic investors.

BENEFITS INCLUDE
(1) Deeper pool of funds for lending to home owners.
(2) New pea businesses for the financial institutions
involved.
(3) Wilder investable assets for investors.
(4) Deepening and broadening of the stock market.
(5) Development of new talents in the financial
sector with better human capital
development impact.
(6) Downward pressure on rent inflation as more
people own their homes and leave the rental
market.

V. TRAINING FOR INTERMEDIATE SKILLS:

We have seen several and increasing cases of collapsed
buildings in Nigeria. Yet we do not have a construction
boom yet! What do you think will happen if
construction activity significantly picks up? Likely
more collapses, government investigations, and white

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papers. One of the primary reasons for the shoddy jobs

we see in many sites is due to poor intermediate skills.
We may have adequate architects and building
engineers for the foreseeable rise in construction. After
all, many of them arc idle, under employed or
misemployed now. But what about the semi-skilled
labour force in construction that make up the vital force
of building development'? They are the plumbers,
carpenters, painters, bricklayers, electricians, the
draughtsman, etc.

Naturally if the investment in residential construction

picks up because of the recommended changes in
policy, the wages of the experienced semi-skilled
workers in the industry will be bid up faster than their
output. Other unskilled unemployed, seeing the
increasing income of plumbers, carpenters, etc, will
jump into the opportunity, untrained. They may bring
down nominal increases in wage inflation, but their
output will even lag their income more than the semi-
skilled workers, which again leads to accelerating real
increases in prices of homes. How do you stop this?
After all, the cardinal aim of public policy should be to
provide solutions before the society realizes that it has a
problem.

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We have to start now to systematically train unskilled,

unemployed Nigerians in the intermediate skills
needed in the construction industry. The training must
have a nationally recognized and approved curricular.
It should also culminate in exams organized for the level
of training, with awards of vocational diploma or
certificate.

This will have the effect of training pools of idle mind

and body, certifying them so they can seek work in any
part of the country and standardizing the training. This
will bring these likely discontented youths into the
norms of working life, further reducing social
exclusion. Moreover when the construction boom takes
off, output and wage increases may likely keep pace,
helping to moderate inflation.

Who will finance the training? It is obvious to anybody

that understands the economics of externalities, that,
individual organizations will not have the incentive to
do mass training. After all, what is to prevent your
competitor from poaching the talent you have invested
so much in training? The impacts are likely wage
warfare and wage inflation. The English called this the
"tragedy of the common". An externality, to economists,

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means an effect of market transactions that the market

necessarily missed. The players in the construction
industry will miss the coming wage inflation in that
sub-sector, naturally. Just like secondary education, the
public sector will do well in financing this training, even
though the private sector may provide the training. This
vocational training should not cost more than N30, 000
per person, and can be an important pillar of the NAPEP
programme.

VI. LIBERALISING THE BUILDING MATERIALS

SECTOR:
We were all witness to the increase in price of cement
per 20kg bag from N600.00 at the beginning of Obasanjo
regime to N1950.00 by the end of his regime. It is true
that global demand for cement by developing countries,
mainly China & India increased prices, but nowhere in
the neighborhood of over 250% in seven years. It is
arguably the monopoly franchises handed over to
major ruling party financiers through quota and tariff
regimes that caused the hyper-inflation in cement
prices.
The government should, as a matter of policy, liberalize
the building materials market from cement to
aluminum, from paints to ceramics. All obnoxious tariff

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and quota systems should be dismantled. The building

materials that cannot be produced competitively
should be imported If the manufacturers and value
adding factories in building materials have access to
cheaper credit their competitiveness will be enhanced.
Of course better domestic infrastructures will also be a
boost. But I do not see why consumers should be made
to bear the double brunt of poor competitiveness of
private companies and irresponsibility of past
governments, in the form of exorbitant prices. Where
imports of building materials will help to moderate
domestic prices, it should be encouraged. Let us debunk
some myths here. The bulk of spending in the
construction industry even with full liberalisation will
go to the domestic economy. Look at some:
(1) Spending on land - domestic, haven't heard of
land migrating
(2) Spending on labour - domestic
(3) Spending on sand - domestic
(4) Spending on stones -domestic
(5) Spending on cement -domestic/imports
(6) Spending on paints- domestic
(7) Spending on electrical- domestic mainly
(8) Spending on plumbing- domestic mainly
(9) Spending on roofing-domestic (on value added
basis)

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But if you hand over the cement franchise to a few

monopolists, cement being the blood of construction,
you have simply handed over the power of life and
death in that industry to a very, very, few What you will
get is what we have had in the past 5 years, price
gouging!

(VII) INAUGURATING COMMERCIAL COURTS

The CBN governor, in his speech to the last NBA
conference, called for commercial courts, where
business cases can be dispatched quickly and
effectively. This cannot be over- emphasized. A
responsive and responsible legal system is a most
important social capital for any society that wishes to
develop her productive potential and attract
investments. Commercial courts should be a
constitutional provision like any other institution of its
importance. We have a justice system that is obsessed
with order as against justice. Procedures and
technicalities override, in almost all the cases, real
justice. No wonder the people usually do not trust any
electoral tribunal to give justice since order and
procedures are usually the grounds for striking off
obvious injustice.

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As a first step to judicial system reform, the commercial

courts with fewer obeisance to rules, order and
technicalities and more focus on justice should be
instituted. Its procedure can then act as template to
reforming the entire judicial system. Without the ability
to quickly resolve issues of default legally, the banks
may not be willing to lend money to borrowers on a
large scale. Judicial postponements are a real cost to
business. Incidentally, many judges do not understand
this.

There is no cool aid to economic development, but a

holistic approach that unearths and explores linkages in
the domestic and global economy, is usually more
reliable than a doctrinaire, narrow perspective.
Eclecticisms always win over dogmatism.

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DEMOCRACY: THE ELECTORAL

PROCESS WE DESERVE

January 2010

Four hundred years before Christ was born, Cleon, a

famous Athenian Statesman called for a rule “of the
people, by the people, and for the people”. Wyclif in a
14th century translation of the Bible repeated that
truism. So did James Monroe in the 18th century and
Daniel Webstar in his famous reply to Hayne in the US
Senate in the 19th century. However, Abraham Lincoln
tattooed the statement in the marbles of history in his
Gettysburg address, with his sheer felicity of expression
and flower of sincerity: “That this nation, under God,
shall have a new birth of Freedom; and that government
of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not
perish from the earth”. “...shall have a new birth of
Freedom...”
Today, more than ever, Nigeria is yearning for ‘a new
birth of freedom’ founded on ‘government of the

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people’! In less than a month, the Anambra gladiatorial

gubernatorial election will once again re-open the
festering sore of Nigeria’s elections. Unfortunately, we
need not be witnesses to these Dracula dramas called
elections in Nigeria.

I want to add some humble insights that could help us to

midwife ‘a new birth of freedom’ that most Nigerians
are yearning for. I would like us to examine electoral
accidents from these perspectives: Credibility of
Electoral bodies; Ballot boxes/papers misappropriation;
Penalties for beneficiaries of rigged elections; logistics;
Party-Police collusion; Opaque party primaries and
penalty for all that are actively involved in rigging.

ON PENALTY: We may never witness true freedom in

Nigeria, until punishment for those who benefit from
rigged elections is enshrined in our constitution. It
illustrates the truth in Jonathan Swift’s observation that
the “law is like cobweb, it catches insects, but elephants
barely notice it”. Otherwise, how do we explain the fact
that those who receive stolen goods are punishable
under our law, but those who receive stolen votes are
allowed to rule, or at worst, allowed to re-contest an
annulled election. What Shame! Recidivists of stolen

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votes are in power at different levels and arms of

government. It should be in our statutes, that any
person that wins an election that is confirmed rigged by
the law courts should be banned from holding any
public position for two decades, of course the person
will not qualify for re- contesting. Public position
extends not just to government agencies but even to
typical community groups.

We have to align the interest of political contestants to

that of the electorate. I believe that if the political class
understands that anyone that wins a rigged election
stands the chance of political death, they will employ
their vast leverage to thwart anybody that may want to
rig on their behalf. We should make Electoral
Recidivism highly ignoble! We should also make
participating in electoral abortion that does not involve
the law court, punishable with jail term. To achieve this,
the, Evidence Act must be amended to admit electronic
evidence! Making electronic evidence inadmissible in
our courts is Judi-Legal sabotage. Also members of the
electoral bodies that are involved in rigged election
should also be jailed and banned from holding any
public office for the rest of their life.

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BALLOT PAPERS: We must as a matter of survival

embrace the use of ELECTRONIC VOTING
MACHINE. It may need to be said here that it is the
entrenched political manipulators and their agents,
with their deep pockets, who have been most
intransigent in their opposition to this innovation •

The electronic voting machines actually start combating

rigging long before election day. Its talisman is
biometrics, its secret lies with the voters’ registration. It
captures the thumbprint of every registered voter, with
their personal data. I may remind you that no two
fingerprints are the same, so multiple registration is
amputated. Multiple voting is annulled because the
fingerprint is recognized only once. It uses battery. It is
portable and leaves digital footprint of every single
transaction. It is self-contained, and so no case of
reprogramming has been reported in its over one
decade of use in some countries. Even defeated
candidates never blamed the machine, very unlike
politicians. It is also cost-effective at about N30,000 per
machine. Each machine can actually handle voters that
make up four (4) polling stations in the current INEC
arrangement. Over half a billion people recently voted
in India, for over a month without much post-election

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recrimination in the fractious Indian politics. Much to

the merit of electronic voting machines. This is not to
say that the electronic voting machine solves all voting
problems. But it is a quantum leap better than what we
are using now to deceive ourselves.

ON LOGISTICS: It is my opinion that all the logistics

involved in moving materials and persons involved
directly with elections be outsourced. This activity
should be outsourced to private, world class firms.
These firms (of which there are several) would have
shown a track record of global logistics competence,
especially in the rickety terrains of developing
countries. It is nauseating when the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), National
Electoral Commission (NEC), or Federal Electoral
Commission (FEDECO), etc tell us that difficult terrains
are ‘delaying’ results from some places. Especially, but
not limited to, the North-East and South-South during
national elections. As if the terrain became ‘difficult’
overnight. These logistics companies with their bankers
and insurers, should provide Federal and State
authorities with indemnity bonds equal to the value of
the contractual obligations. Where their performance is
adjudged by pre-agreed objective criteria to be below

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80%, they will indemnify the state or the federal

government the cost of the election or a pre-agreed
indemnity sum. Nigeria will be pioneering in this field
of electoral logistics outsourcing in developing
countries. Firms that build competence in this area
could find an annual $50 billion global market that is
totally untapped. FEDECO, NEC and INEC failed in
logistics management. Let’s challenge the ingenuity of
the private sector.

INSECURITY & PARTY-POLICE COLLUSION: This is

an almost hopeless situation. Why do police and some
parties collude in manipulating votes as has been
alleged? Is it obedience to Central Police Command? Is
it for immediate financial gratification? Is it because
they hate good governance? Is it because they are socio-
paths? Most Nigerians may agree that immediate
financial benefit may be the primary incentive. This
leads to the next questions: Who pays the Police
officially for electoral duties? How much are they paid?
Is it on per day basis? Are they paid for that special
duty? The answer to these questions maybe at the
bottom of the problem.
Tackling these challenges may necessitate some novel
approach. What if police personnel on duty are paid

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daily election allowance of ₦10,000 per person? What if

this payment is based on objective performance like nil
violence per duty post; enforcement of electoral rules on
voting day; reports of party returning officers and
observers per polling station? What if this payment is
made directly to the police persons accounts by an NGO
providing the support funds?

This might actually be an opportunity for the

developed countries to assist developing democracies
concretely by providing the funding for this payment
scheme. I believe that independent pay-for-
performance scheme on election day will change the
behavior of a major and critical section of police persons
and soldiers involved in electoral duties. We can even
denominate the payment in dollars! After all, the
officers and men of the Nigerian Police are always
decorated for distinguished service when they go on
United Nations (UN) postings. Maybe it’s the dollar
effect.

ON PARTY PRIMARIES: We need fundamental re-

appraisals of party primaries. We should forever
abandon the practice of party conventions being used to
elect candidates. The conventions, on election year,

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should be used as platforms for presenting candidates

that have won the primaries. During conventions, the
financial, emotional, and psychological pressure on the
delegates are exponential. They are harangued and
hassled with money, job offers and blackmails. Many of
them also come to haggle for vote selling.

The Electoral Act should clearly define party primary

procedures, from who qualifies to vote in primaries to
when primaries can be held. All primaries should be
concluded at least five months before the particular
election. All card-carrying members of a party at ward,
local and state levels should be qualified to vote
depending on if the election affects them. Hence in local
government election, all wards in the local government
are affected. In gubernatorial election, all wards in the
state are affected, etc.

The only provision should be that they would have been

card-carrying members of the party for at least three
months prior to the primaries. Also, they can no longer
vote in the primaries of another party, if they have voted
in one already. Contravening this should be a criminal
offence. So also, should be multiple party membership
that is rampant at the grassroots!

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More so, the law should require all parties to submit a

register of their members two months to the date of the
primaries, to relevant INEC offices. This register should
be open to anyone who wants to scrutinize or reproduce
it, with INEC’s permission- Party executives or
hierarchies choosing candidates should be outrightly
banned, except where there is electoral tie in the
particular primaries after ten successive rounds of
voting. We must bring back decency to our party
primaries.

CREDIBILITY: The prime practical approach to the

issue of credibility of electoral is that appointment of
Electoral body Chairman and Commissioners should
be the responsibility of the judiciary at federal and state
levels. Our democratic experience makes this an
imperative. It does not in any way bestow the judiciary
with the snow robes of innocence. It simply takes the
reality of party politics in Nigeria as the locus of action.
The judiciary is the only arm of government not
involved in electioneering. However, the positions
should be thrown open for transparent applications by
eminent, qualified and interested Nigerians.

ON AD-HOC STAFF: How do you identify and verify

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ad-hoc staff of INEC or State electoral commission?

Which national identification system will you use?
Until we have a comprehensive National Identity Card
that is authentic, the idea of ad-hoc staff will continue to
be a problem. My major concern is identification, not
morality. This makes me think that using officers and
men of customs, immigration, civil defense, and armed
forces as ad-hoc staff may be ingenious. I believe these
military and para-military agencies have superior staff
identification systems than the typical Nigerian
institutions.

INEC working with them may be a better proposition as

opposed to using generally un-vetted ad-hoc staff from
all over the place. Most times, you cannot track down an
INEC ad-hoc staff after election, due to systemic failure
of our, nation’s social security meshwork. This is no
fault of the electoral bodies, but a little imagination
while working with the military and para-military will
minimize this challenge.

There you have it. My little contribution from my tiny

corner of Nigeria’s socio-scape. Nigeria is not a hopeless
nation. Her citizens are not helpless. The intellectual
class is not bankrupt. The working class don’t have

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change phobia. But we all need to join hands and hearts

to checkmate an apparently fossilized political class. So
“that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of
Freedom; and that government of the people, by the
people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”.
God bless Nigeria!

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THE WORD OF GOD IN THE LIFE

AND MISSION OF THE CHURCH IN
NIGERIA

2008

My sisters and brothers, it is with palpable humility that

I stand to speak to you on this topic. My humility stems
from the profoundness of the word of God and its
inevitable fulfillment.

‘The word of God in the life and mission of the Church

in Nigeria.’

This statement to me is riddled with questions. What is

the word of God? How do we interpret it? Can the
Church embody these words? What is the life of the
Church? Is it mono dimension, dual dimension or
multi-dimension? Does the life of the Church have
consequences, for good or evil? What really is the
mission of the Church in Nigeria? The questions
continue to flood my thoughts but in any interaction of

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civilized humans, opinions are stated as opinions and

not as cast - iron facts. And so I venture forth some of my
perceptions on some of the issues that the topic throws
up.

“In the beginning, was the word; and the word was God;
and the word was with God”. The word was the only
tool of creation that we know from the Genesis. “Let
there be ……“ was the primordial seed of Our Father’s
creation on earth. Every deed, achievement, revolution
starts its manifest existence with the word! No matter
how pristine the thought is, how clear the mind is, for
any large scale or important action to ensure, there must
be the word. Spoken, written, the word must be the
spark in the material existence.

This stems from the primus example of God in his

creations and injunctions to us. In the book of God’s
words he proclaimed “...unto this Rock I will build my
house...” This proclamation brethrens, was the
provenance of the Church. There are some other words
that may be relevant to our discussion today. For
instance ‘... Possess your possessions…’ ‘Whatsoever
you do to the least of my brothers..’ ‘...Never you neglect
the days of little beginning...” What about some words

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of the Church? The Encyclicals of different popes like

Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo XVI; Pacem in Terris of
Pope John XXIII; and Gaudium et Spes from the 2nd
Vatican Council amongst numerous others have also
issued statements and declarations that should guide us
in the body of Christ, but we will come to them later.

The life of the Church in Nigeria.

What life do you suppose we are talking about? Is it the
chronological life of the Church? I think the Church is
about 80 years in Nigeria. Older than the Nigeria - state.
Or is it the multidimensional facets of life vis-à-vis
spiritual, political, social, economic and humanitarian?
There is no doubt that the Church has been as multi-
dimensional as its members. Never-the-less, it may
seem to some observers that the life of the Church has
centered on the spiritual in Nigeria with cursory
attention to the other facets. But on closer look, we may
discern that the impact of the Church, though rooted in
the spiritual is most critical in the political, socio-
economic and humanitarian spheres. This brings us to
the mission of the Church.

The mission of the Church in Nigeria.

What, indeed, is the mission of the Church in Nigeria?

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What should it be? What will it be in a world that is

changing at break neck speed? As the word says
“...never you neglect the days of little beginning...” the
Church’s start in Nigeria was not only inconspicuous
but very humble. That we are where we are now is a
testimony to the resilience, vision and hard work of the
man and woman that God used to achieve his glory in
our nation and to the inevitability of God’s
proclamations. But in those days, the mission of the
Church was simply evangelism, spreading the word.
The Church was organized around this mission. Over
time, as the impulse all over the globe continued to
change, the Church responded with equal vigour.
Indeed the Church led in many of the permanent
changes in the world, without flaunting her immortal
contributions. Many of you may have forgotten that it
was the Church’s formation of the committee for, the
formation of Catholic workers’ club that effectively
started the labour unions as we know them. The works
of Cardinal Mermillod and Count Franz Kuefstein of
Austria in the Fribourg Union set the foundation for
practices of Labour unions and workers groups all over
the world.

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MANKIND
In the chapter ‘COMMUNITY OF WORKERS’ in the
publications of the conclusion of the 2nd Vatican
Council, the Church wrote: ‘Human Institutions, both
private and public must labor to minister to the dignity
and purpose of man.’ This to me seems to justify the fact
that the Church has taken its challenge beyond the
simple spiritual needs of man. It is firmly pushing to
expand the horizons of mankind, while living. The
Church no longer accepts a merely esoteric
responsibility. Being the oldest human institution, it has
readily taken the responsibility to make the world a
better place everyday, in everywhere. This is the
challenge of the Church mission in Nigeria. To wet the
hands of the people in the dews of new beginning; to
wash the stains of Hell from the faces of the oppressed;
to ensure that the lamp of freedom finds oil enough.

It was the Catholic Church that led and organised the

resistance that threw out the autocratic government of
Augusto Pinochet in Chile. The Church actively
supported the Polish ‘Gdansk’ that broke the chains of
oppression in Poland. The Arch-bishop of Buenos Aires
has consistently been the bulwark against dictatorship
or quasi-dictatorship in Argentina. The Church in
Manilla was the template on which the mass action that

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toppled Estrada’s buffoonery leadership was built on.

The Church can no longer afford the luxury of being a
bystander in Nigeria. The Church and this includes you
and me - can no longer be cocooned in a quiet and serene
meadow, while the tempestuous struggle for liberation
is going on all around her. The Church has to come out
with a stated and published rule on looting of public
funds; on leaders with stolen mandate; on exorbitant
education and health care; on provisions for the
incapacitated. Why do we have ex-communication for a
man that marries a second wife, but not for a man that
steals power through rigging? Or one that has stolen
from the public purse? Why can’t we have a standing
rule that critically demands that any public leader from
the body of Christ, publish his assets in a Church
gazette, as well as declare it in a government gazette?
Why can’t the Church organize, in her typical
meticulous method, to PREVENT electoral riggings in
places where the Church is established? Why are the
schools and hospitals established by the Church very
expensive even though they provide very good
services? I do not know the answers, but definitely these
are some of the questions we must confront as we
ponder on the word of God in the life and mission of the
Church in Nigeria.

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Remember “You do not light a lantern and hide it under

a bushel”. We are supposed to be the salt of the earth.
May we not allow this salt to lose its taste - so that it is
not cast and thrown away.
Remain wonderfully blessed!
Thank you very much.

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ONE EASTER DAY IN ENUGU

March 2016

A post by Ekene Okoye today took me, and many

others, down some nostalgic lanes. It reminded me of an
incident on one of those Easter Mondays. We were very
young, innocent and hapless.

Easter in Enugu then was known for its masquerades,

ogene, oji and drama at Obiagu Rd. It was fun and
colourful. In fact, the masquerades usually start
parading like 5 days to D-day, mainly at night.
We the youngsters sometimes got our fair share of 'iti
mmonwu'! On this particular Easter Monday, we
borrowed an 'aji busu' from Chigbo Okeke (of O.C
Gravel) through late Chekwube Okeke, his younger
brother.

Chekwube decided I should wear the masquerade, a

first for me. Chekwube, Okey, Nonso and Emmy Dokpu

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joined the train. And we hit the road. The aim, like that
of all the masquerades then, was to extort some money
from the obliging public. And scare a lot more others.
Chai!

We started the masked 'begging' and chasing of people,

mainly young girls. Naturally, some adults obliged us
with money. And I had incredible fun chasing girls and
young women, who ran for dear life! I became a local
terror inside that masquerade within a few minutes. I
never knew life was so much fun behind a raffia
masque.

We traversed Peter Okoye Street, hit Isuochi Street

junction, turned left heading through Isuochi to
Adelabu Street. Causing minor havocs. Nothing
serious. While looking out for serious guys with serious
masquerades, who could beat the hell out of us. And
collect our 'aji busu', a fairly common event then.

It was here that I met my first test as an Enugu

masquerade. As we were turning into Adelabu Street,
there was a sudden pandemonium! People were
running from all directions. Initially we thought our
temporary notoriety had preceded us. But in a moment

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we saw the real cause: NNUKWU MMANWU!! The big

masquerade of a dreaded group called Rocky Barber
was coming up! Oh, Jesus! Who put me in this aji busu
o?!

As I turned to look for my group, I discovered they were

already in full flight. J-E-S-U-S! Who sent me o? I turned
and ran for dear, sweet life. But as I ran, the people and
crowd in front of me ran even faster, with their screams
getting more and more hysterical. As they screamed
more, I ran even faster. And they screamed even louder!
I thought their screams were a reminder of how
imminent the danger behind me was.

As they ran inside a big super store by Isuochi/Adelabu

junction, I also ran inside the super store. They ran
behind the counter. And I followed. But they ran
screaming through a backdoor to probably a room or
passage. And I was running to barge through same
door, for safety. It was then the owner barred the door
and sternly queried me, "bia, does a masquerade run
from a masquerade?"

Then I realised that the initial flight was from Rocky

Barber. But all the subsequent screams and flights were

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people running from me, a masquerade. And in my

trepidation, I had totally forgotten I was still a
Masquerade!

Cutting the story, I hid in the super store until Ndi

Rocky Barber finished their majestic stroll through
Isuochi Street. And I quickly fled home. Removed the aji
busu, and bid iti mmonwu good-bye, till further notice.

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CAN'T COPE, MBOK.

July 2018

I don't know who watches world cup at home. I have

tried and it never works out.
A typical experience goes something below...
ME: Nne, please give me the remote. Match has started.
WIFE: Ooohh. It's time for Fresh Prince.
ME: Fresh Prince?
WIFE: Yes na. Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
ME: Fresh Prince? That programme is 25 years old.
Match is live!!
WIFE: Baby m o. Don't worry it will soon end.
(Meanwhile, the remote is nowhere to be found, as this
goes on. After 25 minutes, Fresh Prince ends.)
ME: Nne, Fresh Prince has ended, please put ball now.
WIFE: Nooo. That one was repeat. Today's episode will
start soon.
ME: What? (getting exasperated) You mean you
watched this one before? And just wasted almost entire

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first half watching it again?

WIFE: Ehe, this is today's episode (brings out coke and
groundnut, and settles comfortably)
ME: (Being frustrated, reaches for my tablet. Goes
online to goal.com to follow text commentary).
(Later Fresh Prince ends.)
ME: Nne ngwanu, put ball.
WIFE: Baby there's Blackish coming up. (Makes face
like someone stabbed)
ME: Don't worry, when DSTV expires, don't come and
ask me for renewal. (Focuses on Text commentary fully)
(When Blackish ends...)
WIFE: Baby I have put ball (meanwhile it's 75 minutes
now)
ME: (No answer. Thoroughly annoyed. Drops tablet to
watch remaining 15 minutes)
WIFE: Why does Iniesta play every match? Every match
I hear his name.
ME: (in annoyance).. Because his family owns the
stadium. Please leave me to watch the remaining match.
WIFE: It's a lie. Govt owns the stadium. But every
match, Iniesta will play. Ndi red are playing better than
Ndi white.
ME: oh chim. Please can you watch without talking?
WIFE: (Quiet for a moment). Is it ESPN versus Russia? I

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thought ESPN is a network?

ME: (In frustration). Yes, ESPN is playing Russia.
Sometimes Network play Nation.
WIFE: It's a lie. World cup is country to country. What of
Arsene Venger, which country is he playing for?
ME: Jamaica.
WIFE: Jamaica don't play ball. Dey play Reggae. You
don't want to answer me.
(Small Pause)
WIFE: Why didn't Kanu Nwankwo and Okocha play for
Nigeria? And now dey removed Nigeria.
ME: Dey now play for Brazil.
(Meanwhile match ends)
WIFE: Baby, it has ended o. Nobody won. Will dey play
penalty?
ME: (Quiet).
WIFE: Ok, dey are playing extra time. But don't dey
know D players are tired? Is this Semi finals?
ME: ( Picks my keys and escape from the house)
Can't wait for world cup to end. Imagine!

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PART 2:

INTERJECTIONS

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PONDEI SYNDROME AND

THE BALM OF GILEAD

July 2020

Corruption is the oil that lubricates Nigeria! Even

though we are seeing the apogee of daredevil looting,
in this regime; it's nothing new again!
I have learnt to inoculate myself against such mental
& shameless rapacity.
Goodluck Jonathan was blamed for every single case
of looting in his tenure. Whether it was at Federal,
State or Local Government. Even in opposition states.
Buhari is now absolved of blame in the Loot Eruptions
rocking both his kitchen cabinet and official cabinet.
The 'Pondei Syndrome' we witnessed yesterday was
not the first, and will definitely not be the last.
Looting is the collective gospel of Nigeria's political
elites, but sharing is their 'Balm of Gilead'! As soon as
a sharing formula is 'agreed', the national sea of
Galilee will become calm again.
The storm you see now on the sea of Galilee is because
the Balm that calms was not applied adequately.
Don't hold your breath.
Olisa Akukwe

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SINGLE NARRATIVE SYNDROME!

July 2020

A white policeman murdered a black, middle aged man

on the streets of US. Unanimously all Blacks, including
those living outside US, rose in one voice to call US
Racist. To call Whites, Racist.
That was it! They are Racist, simple and short. No need
to understand anything else. Only Whites are Racists.
Ok.
Back to Nigeria. Fulani, Hausa and some other
Northern youths are found in buses, trucks, cars
moving into Igbo states, we not only stop them
whenever we can, we scream invasion! We scream war.
We scream plot. We may be right, we may be wrong.
Bottom line, we scream against our non-Igbo fellow
countrymen coming into our abode. Despite allowing
Igbos to freely enter. Even though there was a
lockdown.
Does this not qualify as Racism? Racist Igbos, if we go by
our conclusion to the US incident?
A Fulani Herdsman comes to your house at Aba to rent
it. You refuse. Your secret reason being that he is a Fulani
Herdsman. Is that not Racism, if we follow our response

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to the US incident?

As a successful Igbo man, a Northern Herdsman that

you don't even know his ethnicity, seeks your
daughter's hand in marriage, you angrily abolish the
relationship. Is that not Racism, by our response to the
US incident?
Few Igbo officers lead a bloody coup that changed our
first independent government. Other ethnicities call it
an Igbo (Racist) coup, you get upset. But is it not Racist,
going by our labelling of the US incident?
The Catholic Church appoints a Bishop for Mbaise
Diocese, who is not from Mbaise. The Mbaise priests
reject him and fight to finish. Until he is withdrawn! Is
that not Racism, going by our labelling of Black
experience in America?

You see, Single Narratives are a very dangerous thing. It

blindfolds even the most educated.
In all the instances I cited above, you will now read
explanations, attempting to explain how "different" it
was. There would suddenly be a reason, a good, even
moral, reason why it was not Racism. The story behind
the act or action will emerge.

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However when it involves US Whites, especially in

Trump's America, it's a single narrative. No one thinks
of or bothers if there is maybe a reason. A story. A
malaise. No one tries to understand what may be the
underlying impetus. It's simply Racism, inaugurated by
hapless Mr Trump.

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LOOK IN THE MIRROR, PEOPLE.

SINGLE NARRATIVE SYNDROME IS
DANGEROUS.
July 2020

It's gratifying sometimes to be vindicated.

I was vilified by some IPOB members, who live in
Insults Avenue, when I first asked IPOB and
OHANAEZE to talk to each other in 2017.
Finally they have initiated that talk, after much bad
blood and young lives were lost.
#GoodStart.
I had also asked in my Christmas message of 2015 that
insults of other tribes can never bring Igbos any good.
My advice was humbly engage Niger-Delta and
Yorubas first, while maintaining mutual respect with
northern ethnic nations.
As usual, some of 'them' felt I was an obstacle to their
IPOB quest.
Now I learnt their Supreme Leader has ordered 'no
more insults etc against Yorubas'. I am glad wisdom &
decorum have joined the struggle.
#GoodDevelopment
The next is to divest the struggle of uncouth language,
which is the bane of many IPOB members.

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THE CLOCK IS TICKING...

January 2018

Ndi Middle Belt of Nigeria, have you not yet realised

it's a Civil War to take your land?!!! Are you still
mourning, flying flags at half mast, moaning?
Do you think it will ever stop, except those fertile
lands are taken?
Ndi Tiv, Idoma, Igbira, Birom, Junkun, Ngas, etc;
when will you have your epiphany? Likewise Ndi
Itsekiri, Yoruba, Urhobo, Bini and others.
The Fulani Herdsmen keep killing, maiming, raping
your people; and you don't know it's a declaration of
war?

Nigeria Army remains the best and largest in the West

Africa sub-region. How come they have found it
utterly incapable of routing the killer Herdsmen?
It's because the Order has NEVER been given!! Ask
yourself Why?
Is it not time to join Ndi Igbo and Ndi Ijaw to start the
journey of self-determination?!
Is it not time to start the peaceful, legal process of

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autonomy De Facto, leading ultimately to

Independence De Jure?
Is it not time to overcome the Igbo phobia and
completely redraw the power matrix of Nigeria?
Is it not time to start thinking of Freedom and your
Manifest Destiny?
The clock is ticking....

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IN REMEMBRANCE!

May 2018

Today, I join all well-meaning humanists to remember

the men, women & children whose candles of life were
suddenly and gruesomely snuffed out in the dark,
hostile storm of '67 to '70 in the former Biafran enclave.

Their innocent blood was the ink used to pen the 'no
Victor, no vanquished' document, despite they were
physically vanquished. We dare not allow their
memories be vanquished too.

In the gentle valleys of Udi; the sleeping hills of Nsukka;

the white sands of Port Harcourt; the jutting landscape
of Afikpo; the bucolic bush paths of Ikot Ekpene; the
narrow lanes of Onitsha ado n' idu; the rivers and
streams of blood inadvertently fertilised a new Nigeria.

A Nigeria that has been harvesting tears and blood, ever

since.

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May all the souls sent to untimely appointment with the

hosts of heaven in that horror epoch find Peace-and help
Nigeria find the murdered Peace.

#OZOEMENA.
Olisa Akukwe
Abuja, Nigeria.

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... STILL ON CHANGING THE

NARRATIVE

October 2018

Nigerians discuss too much Politics, and too little

economics!
High oil prices is always a challenge for our local
economy, though a boon to the govt. Like you rightly
identified, it's not just in this regime.
The reason is structural and constitutional.
When the oil receipts increase due to positive price
shock, the dollar receipts of CBN increase. Now these
dollar receipts increase comes from the crude sales that
accrued to FG.
Now by Law, this receipts are to be SHARED to all tiers
of government (federal, state, Local Government). So
CBN is compelled to Monetize the Dollar receipts in
Naira!
This monetising in Naira inevitably increases the
money supply in the economy, beyond CBN target. The
monetised Forex, now in Naira is shared by the tiers of
govt. Deposited in deposit banks. Naturally it begins to
stoke inflation, which you know debases (read:
devalues) the currency.

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So the CBN, already having an inflation target, and

fighting to maintain some level of price stability, starts
to tackle the "excess liquidity in the system"!
It does this through a process called "sterilisation"! That
is, it sells Treasury bills to deposit banks. These Banks
pay with the new influx of 'excess liquidity' deposited
by the public sector. In this way, the CBN can reduce the
rate of inflationary pressures.

You can now notice that the CBN is fighting devaluation

in a regime of INCREASED Forex receipt due to oil price
positive shock! So appreciating currency is far from the
scenario. This is a total anomaly caused by
constitutional and structural folly!

Meanwhile, the tiers of govt will still get to spend their

windfall! So their money must still enter the economy.
But because of the treasuries sold by CBN, the banks
have less cash reserves on which to create
credits/deposits. So they reduce their credits to the real
sector.
This, altogether, is the main aim of CBN. Because if
bank's credit to the economy increases, because of the
increased monetised oil receipts, inflation may
suddenly spike.

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This explains why CBN is always "mopping up excess

liquidity"; while real economic players (households,
SMEs, Industries etc) can't get liquidity from banks!

You can just go back & read old newspapers, even up to

1990, to see that this liquidity mopping up has been a
constant. Without structural reforms, this cannot
change.
#Folly

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POT CALLING SAUCER BLACK!

October 2018

Before PDP primaries, the gist was that it will RAIN

Naira and Dollars!
After PDP primaries, the gist now is that it RAINED
Dollars & Pounds!

The question is, since APC knew that vote buying, in

Forex, will be gargantuan in Port Harcourt; WHY didn't
undercover DSS, EFCC & NPF infiltrate the delegates,
to arrest perpetrators?
After all, vote buying is Corruption!
Nonsense.

APC, party of insolence, corruption & propaganda!

In Lagos, state exco organised gubernatorial primaries
& announced result. Is that in APC constitution?

In Delta, leading Gubernatorial candidate was still

searching for primaries venue, result came out.

In Imo, a sitting governor chose the election umpires &

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they dutifully returned his son--in-law. Despite a

restraining court order.

Please, APC, propaganda won't sell this time!

Your only hope is RIGGING!
But beware of Unintended Consequences!

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...TRENDING TALE

August 2018

I came home to meet the social media awash with

pictures of Senator Akpabio and Gen Buhari,rtd.
The news is that Akpabio is in London to see Buhari, for
his already accomplished defection.
I don't know Senator Akpabio closely, but many things
make me doubt this trending tale.
1. Why are all these meetings being splashed in the
media, if not for propaganda purposes? Akpabio's
sudden decamping would have been more devastating,
if it were true. Than all these macabre dance of
subterfuge.
2. There are some impending, vital appropriations, like
the Election Funding, in the senate. With the Saraki
Recess, there is a clear danger of spanner in the works.
Meanwhile, the APC Govt has currently alienated and
burnt their bridge with Saraki.. Senator Akpabio
remains the next most influential person to turn to, in
the prevailing circumstances. I think a much broader
negotiation is going on.
3. Senator Akpabio, I believe, knows the damage
decamping under the canopy of 'safe-from-prosecution'

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will do to his brand, nationally. The rumours that he

wants to decamp, in order to hide his loots, have become
contagious! Any decamping will be seen as
confirmation. Unlike what many people think, I know
in Ñigeria some corruption allegations are so odious,
that they ruin Political careers. Ask Hon Erumelu, Gov
Chimaroke, Hon Lawan Farouk etc.
Senator Akpabio appears too wiry not to know these
things.
However, time will tell, if the Senate Minority
(Majority) leader is running for cover!

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WAITING FOR THE CAT TO BARK!

August 2018

Nigeria, and Africa, lack the political pragmatism to

move forward.
In Nigeria, without Political Sovereignty for all Ethnic
Nations AND a Custom/Economic Union; for the entire
Nationalities, we will continue to strive IN VAIN!
Same goes for entire Africa.
2019 will change... NOTHING! The Cat, any Cat, cannot
bark.

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ARE YOU DONE TALKING?!

January 2018

Enough of running mouth!!!

Seeing the gory pictures of those barbarically murdered
Benue people sears the soul!!!
Benue state chose to enthrone the historically
aggressive Fulani in power. Now see what they get.
The government that fell over itself in the hurry to
declare IPOB a terrorist group, cannot even bring itself
to mention "Fulani herdsmen attack" officially. Talkless
of labelling them anything.

The best the Fulani led government can bring itself to

say is Farmer-Herdsmen clashes!! Buhari cannot ever
say sorry to Tiv or Benue people.
You see the result of political naivety.
It's time to stop running mouth or weeping!
The entire SW, SS, SE and NC states; excluding Niger
but including Taraba have the NUMERICAL
STRENGTH to radically change the Constitution!
Their Senators, HOR members and state House
members should rise up to the challenge, once in a
generation!

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OR FOREVER SHUT THEIR LEAKING MOUTH!

This is the greatest opportunity for this nation to
become a Federal Republic of Nigeria, not Fulani
Republic of Nigeria.
The Benue state APC Chairman should stop the useless
tears!

These attacks are not just starting. He and other Tiv and
Idoma leaders decided to hand the lives of their hapless
citizens into their historical conquistadors. And now
they weep? For who?!

Let the Southern Nigeria and Middle Belt, gird their

loins and use that same compromised constitution to
liberate themselves!

NO TIME FOR SELF PITY!

My name is Olisa Akukwe...and am Fed Up!

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MY ANSWER TO A POST ON
"POLITICAL ISLAM”

December 2017

!....and because of this I have decided to write on the

Jerusalem Imbroglio!
As one sided as most Religious Propaganda!
Why distill only personal quotes of Isreali leaders
without providing the context? Why didn't you provide
quotes of Arab leaders in SIMILAR context?
You accepted, from your history, that Israel lived and
owned Samaria, Judea including Jerusalem, For
MILLENNIA!

But because they were murdered, and scattered

ultimately in 79AD, the land no longer belongs to them.
So if they lost their land by force, it is lost forever! But If
they gain same land by force, it's not theirs!! Abi?
According to Islamic logic abi?
You see the REAL mindset problem!

Did that your history also tell you that the current West
Bank, called Occupied Territory, was the geographic
location of the Tribes of Judea and Samaria?

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When and where in history has Palestine been a state?

After the Jews were scattered, several conquerors
matched on and ruled the middle East & Levant.
NEVER did any of them give Palestine a state.

Rather the current Israel, Gaza, Westbank, Lebanon

were treated as Greater Syria with Provincial statutes .
The fundamental flaw of Religious Indoctrination is
Fallacy under God's name.
Don't get it twisted, Political Islam.

Wish you well.

Olisa Akukwe

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MOVE FORWARD!

December 2017

As Nzuko Umunna embarks on "handshake across the

Niger", let them remember that we need a Pan-Igbo
Conference!
Let Ndi Igbo of all shades of opinions sit down, and talk.
Let the voices from the street corners, markets, schools,
churches, offices, village squares, diaspora, Professions,
Socio-cultural groups, separatist movements, all be
heard.
If Nigeria does not want a Sovereign Confab, we can
start with intra-ethnic Confab; and move forward!

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START WORK IN EARNEST

December 2017

APGA should, as a matter of urgency, embark on a

humble, reconciliation exercise across Igbo land.
Especially in Abia, Imo, Enugu and Ebonyi states.
The top most leaders of the party should drive that
process. They should listen to what disaffected leaders
of those states have to say. The party needs an internal
healing and reformation. Leaders of all stratum in the
party must be actively consulted.
Ndi Igbo deserves a powerful regional party!!! We had
NCNC in the 60s and NPP in the 80s.
Nigeria is and remains an ethnic/religious rainforest.
Parties with ethnic root are a must. The party may wish
to have a National outlook/aspiration or a regional
outlook. But it's root must be regional. That is the
Nigerian reality.
Let APGA leaders not waste this narrow opportunity
again, like in 2015. Otherwise it's the death knell of the
party-and insolent subjugation of Ndi Igbo politically.
Let the work start in earnest.

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IT’S A NATURAL EXTENSION!

December 2017

Why wouldn't a religious fundamentalist wish to wear

Hijab for call to Bar?
Is Nigeria a Secular country?
Member of OIC?
State sponsor of Muslim and Christian spiritual
pilgrimages?
State builder of places of Religious worship?
A nation that pays more in tithe than tax.
Wearing Hijab for call to Bar is a natural extension!

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THE VULTURES ARE GATHERING

December 2017

The Sultan of Sokoto has spoken!

According to him, stopping the Hijab activist from
being called to bar was a "molestation!”
The Hijab being a decent dressing, can be worn for call
to Bar, despite the existing dress code. This is the view of
his Eminence the Sultan!
I am happy the Sultan is an officer in the Nigeria army.

Let the female Muslim soldiers wear Hijab for their

Passing out Parades or Ceremonial Parades, first, before
Sultan advises the Bar on their call to Bar dress code!!
Nigerians be warned! What is happening is not isolated
or outliers.
Look around the world, and show me a nation that is
half-christian, half-muslim or half-Hindu, half-muslim
that survived!
Hijab is only a symbolic bait. Nothing wrong in Hijab,
decent dress that it is.
Everything wrong in using it for Political Entrapment.

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BOYCOTT WILL NOT FORCE

GOVERNMENT TO NEGOTIATE

November 2017

My brother Nnejichioke Ukachukwu Christopher, I

once again beg to disagree.
Remember when I wrote that depending on
international laws and international community will
NEVER actualise Biafra. Many Nnamdi Kanu
worshippers openly maligned me. Yet events, locally &
internationally, have proved me right.

Boycott of election will bring nothing to our agitation.

Remember our boycott of 1964, it simply ended up
giving the North the majority in federal parliament.
Which they didn't have before then. And which they
have never relinquished since then.
Winning the levers of political power is a better and sure
footed way to self rule, autonomy and eventual
independence. The main reason it's being avoided is
because it's hard work. Calling for inertia (boycott) is a
very low hanging fruit and very easy to pluck. Getting a
Homeland that is independent is HARD WORK.

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If the SS, SE, SW and Middle belt, probably excluding

Niger, form a political alliance, power will be taken
from the North.

And it's only then that meaningful progress can be

made in amending the Constitution to accommodate
Referendum. 24 states and 67% of NASS are needed for
Amendment.

This is the work staring the agitators in face. But they

don't want the hard & sure root.
Boycott will not force government to negotiate.
Time will again prove who is right.

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WHY CELEBRATE?

October 2017

When Ndi Igbo were celebrating Bukola Saraki for

saying the Army labelling IPOB terrorists was
unconstitutional. I called it a useless statement. I asked
Why didn't Saraki influence his colleagues to include
Referendum, among the ongoing constitutional
amendment? I concluded that Ndi Igbo celebrating him
for that useless statement is totally misguided.
I have waited for some days now, to hear same Igbos
criticise him for saying that the Senate supports the
proscribing of IPOB by the federal government
Nothing.
Never believe that leaders of other ethnic nations love
you, more than your own leaders...No matter how bad
you think your leaders are.

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KA A KPAA YA AKPA!

July 2017

Vanguard reports that Nnamdi Kanu has denied calling

for Boycott of Anambra elections!
He has also denied setting deadline for the actualisation
of Biafra.
Where are those Chief Know-it-All-Insult-others?
People were insulting many of us who have been
writing for Igbo emancipation, because we repeatedly
wrote that call for boycott was a complete mishap!!
The next step, I think, should be a PAN-IGBO
CONFAB!!
If Ohanaeze claims IPOB can't speak for Igbos, then
Ohanaeze can't speak for Igbos either!
I personally think both IPOB and Ohanaeze can speak
for ndi Igbo. But they should first speak to each other!
After Ohanaeze -IPOB summit, we then engage in a
PAN-IGBO Confab.
Ka a kpaa ya akpa!

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CATEGORIES OF BIAFRAN
SUPPORTERS

July 2017

I have discovered that there are two broad categories of

Biafran supporters!
Category 1: Are those who support Biafra first and
foremost. Then support Nnamdi Kanu as a corollary of
the Biafra struggle. This group of supporters see
Nnamdi Kanu as an Igbo leader and a strident voice, in
the struggle for self determination.
They are comfortable in debating the Biafran question,
without insults! They are objective and try to convince
others of their view points. People like Ifeanyi
Ifeanyichukwu Ihueze Ogbonna Ndulaka
and
Nnejichioke Ukachukwu Christopher
belong to this noble group.
Category 2: This group support Nnamdi Kanu first, and
Biafra as a corollary! They worship Nnamdi Kanu and
deify him. To them Mazi Kanu is god! He is omniscient.
He is Biafra.
This group cannot or do not marshal any coherent
argument to buttress the case. They simply resort to

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insults, badgering, browbeating, intimidation to force

their bigoted view. They, despite their age, are very very
very insulting and insolent!
They are rapidly alienating many Igbo leaders of
thought and action. They are sowing intellectual, social
and political landmines for the Biafran struggle,
unwittingly.
Just keep your eyes open, you will soon distill them!
They can't hold back. What a pity!

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MARCH OF FOLLY

September 2016

I had warned my close followers and the Nigerian

government about everything happening now. My
articles from August last year (2015) kept pointing out
the ornate march of folly that was APC central
government! This crisis is completely self inflicted. We
are vindicated that Emir Sanusi, their own political
avatar, has come out to corroborate the obvious truth.

The sad thing is that the self delusion of the ruling party
will still continue. And beside that, the political class in
Nigeria have learnt nothing! Primaries of major parties
are still for sale. Politicians are generally still fractious,
greedy and insular. The best minds and hearts still
abandon politics for those with calloused conscience.
The masses still prefer handouts than justice.

The Nigerian Dream remains "Wait your turn"! Laws

remain minor hassles to be subverted at every turn. We
still "know" that might is right in everything.
Nigerians bought into change from snake charmers
who have not changed. And cannot change. Peering

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into the future, the train of gladiators that are grasping

the rails of political leadership promises only one thing:
more of the same!! Buhari has abandoned Change and
rather asked us to change. He is half right. And it is the
2nd half. The first half of change we need is structural
change. Economic and political structural change, to
create a hard sewn context for the change in "us". But
alas, it's not about to happen.

Things will only get worse; before it gets really worse!

It's time for a new generation (in age and ideology) to
begin the second Independence Struggle!

My name is Olisa Akukwe. And I still want to

#StopNonsense

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THE DAMASCUS EXPERIENCE!

December 2015

Naira is 280 to 1 dollar. It's still going down!

Where are all those "clueful" chain-ge agents?
South west media has gone into coma!
Chibok girls are now Chibok mothers.
Inec now conducts election piece meal.
Elrufai suddenly realises religious worshippers should
not block federal roads.
Fashola discovers GEJ constructed the highest
kilometres of road of all past government put together.
Amaechi now sees the train that GEJ inaugurated.
Finance minister announces that our debt to GDP is one
of the lowest in the world.
Buhari spends 55 days traveling abroad and its no
longer clueless junketing.
We are still on the road to Damascus.....

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#DASUKIGATE:
MAY IT NOT BE INCONCLUSIVE

December 2015

We live in inconclusive times.

Dasuki and his men (no woman yet) are on the spot.
Revelation after revelation has been tumbling down the
hills of EFCC. Many decent Nigerians are, rightly,
appalled. The embezzlement is not only humongous,
but it appears callous. The depth and breadth of "yam
sharing" is mind boggling. There is even the matter of
'statutory yam eating'. However I still keep it firmly in
mind that nothing has been proven-yet!

What is forgotten in this entire macabre dance of shame

is that all these money shared, allegedly, came from the
national security ‘vote’! In other words, it was spent
from the hitherto most opaque spending pipeline in
Nigeria. Security Vote; the crown prince of
embezzlement.

This brings me to why I am writing this piece. IF Gen

Buhari rtd is sincere and honest in his fight against
corruption, I challenge him to have the courage to also

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probe the security votes of all the 36 state governments.

Considering the size of security funds in Nigeria, after
the Federal Government, the next in size is Lagos State.
Followed by Akwa Ibom and River state. Can our dear
president have the courage to initiate the probe of the
security votes of Lagos, Akwa Ibom and Rivers and
indeed all other states? What is good for fowl is also
good for the tolotolo.

We have always known that security vote or funds has

been the numero uno slush funds in Nigeria. Many
people have tried to convince me that Dasuki and his
people are being witch hunted. I don't buy it. But
anything less than comprehensive investigation of
security votes of the state governments, even if it is only
from 2011, will be a confirmation of deceit.
This thing should not be inconclusive!

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FAR FROM UHURU

December 2015

I wrote this 4 months ago. The handwriting was all over

the place. Now, some economists are just realising.
Naira continues its free fall. It's only Nigerians living
abroad that can be philosophising our daily hardship.
Telling us about "tightening", while swinging with
stable or appreciating dollar, euro and pound! Mschew.

August 2015
I have read some celebratory news about naira
appreciating against the dollar. And how it represents
miraculous economic policy of the new government. I
hate to burst some people's bubble. But let me present
some recent data.

1. The naira lost 50 naira in the first 50 days of Buhari. It

lost 25 Naira in 5 years of much vilified GEJ.
2. Our economy shrunk for the first time in 17 years, this
quarter. Shrinking by over 500 million dollars.
3 The stock market shedded 1 trillion naira of value in
Buhari's first 50 days.

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4 Disposable personal income shrank by 2 trillion Naira.

From 16.9 trillion to 14.9 trillion Naira.

These indices may explain why some investors were

shorting the naira and invariably the economy, and
going long on dollar. As it stands now, those speculators
still come out ahead. As the Naira is still devalued by
about 30%, despite the recent appreciation. They can
just roll over their short positions and wait for when
CBN will lift the current Capital controls.

So Gen Buhari has his work cut out. Fundamental

restructuring that will attract long term foreign capital
is an urgent need. The Naira has to get to 160 in the
parallel market to inflict massive losses on the
suspected speculators.
So its faaar from Uhuru!

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THE TRENDING LIST

October 2015

Nigerians like list eh! Chai.

If the popular "list" circulating is anything to go by, then
three things can be deduced. (I mean the list containing
Ngige, Amaechi etc)
1. The Anti corruption fight will not be probes oriented.
The government is rather going to try to manage the
media. The "list" trending can not muster the moral
courage and idealistic inspiration for probe based anti
corruption fight.
2. Tinubu won! The list is more like what the Asiwaju
can sanction than what Buhari would prefer. Too many
party work horse.
3. APC is here to stay! This list is reward for party men.
What better way to inspire more party work?

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GOOD MORNING CHUBA!

September 2015

My tribute to Wilberforce Chuba OkadIgbo, some 12

years ago. I still remember the emptiness that
descended in my stomach when I heard the devastating
news. I kept lamenting to Theo Anoliefo and Obinna
Amaechina. I recall that he was heavily tear gassed in
Kano by the Nigeria Police, a day prior to his demise. In
a rally to support Buhari's quest for aso rock. The
president, whom the police were working for then, was
Gen Obasanjo rtd.
Today, Obasanjo is with Buhari in New York. While
OkadIgbo lies unremembered. Uncelebrated.
But we shall always invoke history as the lamp post for
the present.
Oyi of Oyi Ekene M GI!

GOOD MORNING! CHUBA

OKADIGBO is beyond it all. He is beyond the official
deceits. He is beyond the frustrations. He is beyond the
fears. He is beyond the propagandas. He is beyond the
dumb judiciary. He is beyond the compromised
arbiters. He is beyond the sabotage. He is beyond

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kidnapped mandate. He is even beyond the power

failures.
Mankind’s most celebrated wordsmith called life a
stage. OkadIgbo was true to that eternal dictum. He was
the most accomplished politician. THESPIAN of the
Fourth republic. Indeed he mounted the political stage
decades before his contemporaries. We rose and fell
with the waves of his political observation. He
dramatized and melo-dramatized the peaks and vales
of our harrowing political odyssey. He drew the stage
lights of public opinion to the pot holes of political
chicanery, like no other.
He made us cry for a nation that has marginalised truth;
weep for a society that has murdered justice; made us
smile at the paediatric antics of adult officialdom; made
us laugh at the absurdity of the march of folly in the
robes of wisdom; made us exhale with the hope of
change; made us sing the melody of a DAWN expected.
He was our most durable POLITICAL THESPIAN. A
POLITICAL DAYLIGHT.

OkadIgbo was our most potent political thought-smith.

A socio-political alchemist. He was a master of turning
pedestrian social conscience to Olympian political
pragmatism, by moulding the thoughts of men. His

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hand-shake across the Niger nearly pushed Abiola into

Aso Rock and eventually dragged Obasanjo into
presidential villa. His thoughts on marginalisation is
still mid-wifing the necessary political changes in
Nigeria. OkadIgbo gave us a HERO, an anti-HERO and
an anti-Christ from the macabre drama in Anambra
governor’s kidnap. His recently brokered handshake
across the Benue may ultimately heal the wounds of the
civil war, heal the scars of that carnage and bring a
POPULAR leadership in Nigeria, the first time in 36
years. His thoughts On LEADERSHIP and POWER will
ever remain the maternity of true leaders.

Chuba (Yes, he is that familiar to Nigerians, even

barrow pushers and day labourers) has left the stage of
life. He left the stage of life, the stage of politics, the stage
of social conscientism, the stage of political pragmatism
like the THESPIAN that he was. He left the stage with
the cameras still rolling, the drums still thumping softly,
the lights dimmed but shinning, the crowds exhausted
with the sheer intensity of the performance and yet
longing, gasping for more. Chuba left the stage with the
applause still rising!

But it is a MORNING yet on Chuba’s legacies. Whereas

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the legacies of many present power-holders are at mid-

night. In our heart, dawn is just breaking on Chuba’s
legacies. The soft and gentle breeze of dawn is just
caressing our memories of Chuba’s monuments of
posterity.
GOOD MORNING CHUBA.
The Ogbu na-eche Ndo will never wilt!
Olisa Akukwe
27 sept 2003.

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1ST OCTOBER...

September 2015

As 1st October 2015 approaches, my thoughts are

sorrowfully on this date, 39 years ago.
1st October 1966 was the day of the grimmest massacre
in Nigeria, prior to the civil war.
Tens of thousands of Igbos were brutally murdered in
Kano Airport and Central railway station as they were
attempting to leave the city. It was the saddest day of
Igbo existence before the war. And indeed Nigeria's
bloodiest day in peace time.
It is most unfortunate and appalling that 39 years after,
none of the known perpetrators have ever been tried!
Talk less of convicted.
Nigeria must come to terms with her sordid past if she is
to walk into the sunshine of greatness.
The prodigal nation must come home to Truth for
Reconciliation.
Ndi Igbo still mourns. The Kano Massacre of Oct 1 1966!
Remember them and their families in your prayers.

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BILIE VS IPOB. O GINI NA ESE?

September 2015

I have been disconcerted by the bad blood that is

developing between BILIE human rights and the
INDIGENOUS people of Biafra.
This stems from their difference in approach in tackling
the BIAFRAN QUESTION.
BILIE believes and applies the legalistic method. They
are in court in Owerri, seeking to use the right of self-
determination, to compel the Nigerian state to accept a
referendum.
IPOB is using revolutionary methods, with a rather
effective insurgent media tactics, to organize and push
same matter.
This difference in approach is creating needless friction.
With occasional vituperative outbursts. My take is, both
should follow whatever method they feel is right.
Provided the law is not wantonly broken.
BILIE thinks IPOB is inciting Igbo youths to war. I don’t
think so. But IPOB needs to look into this allegation, and
know if it may need to reinvent its style, if not the
substance. We don’t want another war.

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What Ndi Igbo wants is JUSTICE & EQUAL

OPPORTUNITY. Nothing else. It is the continual denial
of this that makes Biafra attractive. Millions of Igbos
believe, rightly or wrongly, that they can never get
justice and level playing ground in Nigeria.
BILIE & IPOB should know that Ndi Igbo appreciates
them. They should know that "uzo esi eje onitsha e rika"!
They should allow each to thrive. "Onye ji eze a ri enu
ma osisi na enu inu!”

I can only add that we need a working, active, Igbo

party. A political party plays many roles, amongst
which is organizing and mobilizing. We need the party
that is pro Igbo.
Pro-Igbo is not anti-Nigeria. Can APGA rise up to this
challenge?
Pro-Igbo in all ramifications. Including telling ndi Igbo
painful truths. I will elaborate on this in a later epistle.

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CENSUS!

September 2015

It was no hidden fact that Chief Festus Odimegwu was

removed from National Population Commission by,
amongst others, the vehement opposition by northern
leaders led by Kwankwaso.
It is even more revealing that Nigeria's census does not
capture ethnicity and tribes. In a multi-ethnic, multi-
nation country, this is rather suspicious. Yet affirmative
actions based on geographic regions are codified in our
laws.
WHO is afraid of knowing the actual population of
different ethnic nationalities in Nigeria?
I went to CIA fact book to check if the size of Nigeria's
ethnic nationalities maybe captured. Since Nigeria does
not want to capture it.
CIA broke down the major ethnic nations thus
YORUBA- 21%
HAUSA-21%
IGBO-18%
FULANI-11%
IJAW-10%.
But I challenge the head of Service, the chief of army

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staff, the IG of police, the administrator of custom, the

CJN, the presidency etc; to publish all past and present
top echelons of their institutions. Let Nigerians check if
their percentage reflects the size of the different ethnic
nationalities in Nigeria.
We must include the ethnic nationalities in the next
census. Legislators from the south must insist on this.
And the next census should employ advanced
biometrics. We must know how much we really are, and
how the population is distributed.

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NDI IGBO, IKUKU KUO, AFU IKE

OKUKU!

September 2015

We have had eminent men champion our cause in yore

years. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Zach Obi, M.I Okpara, Mbonu
Ojike, Kenneth Onwuka Dike, Akanu Ibiam, Daddy
Onyeama, Nwafor Orizu, Mbazuluike Amaechi, C.C.
Onoh, Prof Ikejiani, etc. These were the leaders that
were from pre-world war generation. They provided
solid leadership, while not always agreeing. But they
were believers.
They were succeeded by leaders of the mid-colonial
generation. Names like Alex Ekwueme, Chuba
OkadIgbo, Igwe Abangwu, Austin Ezenwa,
Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, Sir Joe Nwankwu, Chief A.C.
Okose, Dee Sam Mbakwe, Jim Nwobodo, Anaezi
Okoro, Chinua Achebe, T.C. ChIgbo, F.C Ogbalu, Roy
Umenyi, T.I Ume-ezeoke, C.Moore Obioha, Eze Des
Ogugua, Chief Ilodibe, Madam Rangers etc. These
leaders recreated Igbo land after the Civil war.

The independence generation have been contributing

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their fair share of leadership since the 4th republic.

Names like Peter Obi, Charlie Ugwu, Ugochukwu
Agbala, Ken Nnamani, Willie Obiano, Hon Ugwuanyi,
Rocha's Okorocha, Fr Mbaka, Annie Okonkwo, Linda
Ikpeazu, Chris Anyanwu, Stella Oduah, etc. This
generation are more subsumed in the Nigerian project,
than Igbo project. But they have never the less provided
leadership.
My call goes out to the post-civil war generation. Ebe ka
unu no? Great spirits also animate this generation. Bold
and Brilliant. But we need them to come together
irrespective of party or other inclinations.
I think of Comrade Tony Nwoye, Afam Osigwe, Obinna
Amaechina, Ifeanyi Ibezim, Osita Chidoka, Ernest
Nwoye, Ifeanyi Ndulaka, Nnamdi Okose, Nigga Raw,
Maduka MPK, Ikenna Ubadigha, Chinedu Nwodo,
Love day Anyim snr, Linda Ikeji, Laila Ijeoma, etc.
When will you guys harken to the call of your people?
All these greatness must leave a political trade mark on
Igbo land. Our heart yearns for the coming together of
the leaders in this generation. Those mentioned, and
many more not mentioned.
Ebe kuo Dike! The parliament of heroes beckon. Izu
Dike!!
May the call not come back as hollow, bellowing, echoes
in Jesus name.

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WHY THE NORTH MADE

OBASANJO PRESIDENT IN 1999.

September 2015

How can an editorial of one of the longest surviving

newspaper in Nigeria mix up historical facts?
First, NPN did not win 12 states. NPN won 7 states.
UPN won 6, NPP won 3, GNPP won 2 and PRP won 1.
NPN did not win 12 states in 1979.
The issue of 12 states came up because of the
constitutional requirement of winning 25% in 2/3 of the
19 states. This requirement was NOT met by Shagari's
NPN.
Hence the Supreme Court 'rigged' judgement of ruling
that 2/3 of 19 state was 12 and 2/3 states. NEVER in the
history of jurisprudence has a state been treated as a
fraction. To further confirm the court’s wilful
amputation of justice, the lords of the wig ruled that the
judgement CANNOT serve as precedence, ever!!
Awolowo should have been our president in '79 and
Nigeria would have been vastly better today.

To refresh some memories, on August 11, 1979 when

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that election was held, the military dictatorship of

Obasanjo ordered a blanket arrest of UPN party agents
in all the northern states, on the election day.
Also on the eve of the election, Aug 10, 1979, Obasanjo
did a nationwide broadcast telling Nigerians that "...the
best candidate will likely not win"! Confirming the
rigging intentions.

Also the Presidential election tribunal set up by

Obasanjo for the election was headed by Justice B.O.
Kazeem, the man who was the leading counsel for
government during their trumped up trial of Awolowo
in 1962, before sending Awo to jail.
Of course, as president of the election tribunal in 1979,
Justice Kazeem ruled against Awo's petition.
Obasanjo also surreptitiously changed the CJ of the
nation on the 21 of August 1979, A DAY after Awo filed
his appeal. Fatai Williams was appointed CJ of the
Nigeria. A man who was a publicly acknowledged
antagonist of Awo and a sympathiser of Akintola
during the 1st republic; like the father of Femi Fani
Kayode.
These are some of the facts of how Obasanjo went full
throttle to stop Awo's presidency.
I wish Nigerians can really become students of their

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nation’s history.
We still await our political John the Baptist.
A messiah is not even in the agenda, yet!

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RESPONSE TO A YORUBA FRIEND

September 2015

Yemmy,
There was provision for run-off in the '79 constitution.
You are very correct about the forces arrayed against
Awolowo. You were also right to wonder how Igbos felt
about Awo in 1979 elections.
WE (I’m Igbo) generally detested him. Despite that,
many Igbos were enlightened enough to know that he
was our nation's brightest hope for development.
I have always and still think that Awo represents the
most sublime in the pantheon of leaders that Nigeria
has produced. If there had been a run-off in 1979,
considering the sentiments on ground, my OPINION is
that Awo would have won.
NPP of Zik would have delivered Anambra, Imo and
Plateau that they won, to Shagari.
Awo would have won Gongola and Borno won by
GNPP; as well as Kano won by PRP. Waziri of GNPP will
never have joined an alliance that included the Great
Zik because Zik literally snatched NPP from Waziri.
Fact.
Aminu Kano's PRP was also more aligned with Awo in

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personal principles and ideology. More importantly

Gongola, Borno and Kano had almost double the votes
of Anambra, Imo and Plateau in that election.
On the other issue of how majority of Igbos felt about
Awo, no ethnic nationality will easily forget or even
forgive a man that orchestrated a policy that killed their
children, SLOWLY. Awo openly proclaimed this policy.
He never denied it. Imagine how Yorubas would have
felt generally if Zik had orchestrated such policies
against Yoruba children, in their most vulnerable
period.
Awo probably had some deep seated remorse for that
ugly war policy, knowing his profound spirituality. He
also tried to make amends later, no matter how
tentative. He chose an Igbo man as his running mate.

I also do not think that Awo hated the ordinary Igbo

man or any common man for that matter. He only had
very strong personal contempt for some Igbo leaders of
his time. Especially for Azikiwe and his political
acolytes. Which was reciprocated.
However I think it’s time Ndi Igbo collectively forgive
the memories of Awo. Awo remains the archetype of
that great leader we are looking for.
Tragically, the greatest traitors of Awolowo have been

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his own people. Akintola, Obasanjo, Fatai Williams,

Fani-Kayode, Abiola, Akinjide these are all the greatest
enemies Awo had. And they always worked with the
Hausa-Fulani establishment.
History will never forgive Obasanjo!
Ndi Igbo must forgive, but we cannot forget.

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TERRORISM DYNAMICS

September 2015

I would like to put some things in perspective.

El-Zakzaky's group that thrives in Zaria is Shitte. Shitte
is far more sophisticated than Sunni when it comes to
issues of Political terrorism. They are protesting in
solidarity with Hamas because they feel (and have)
more affinity with HAMAS than other Nigerian
Muslim and Christian citizens.
Look at some facts:
1. HAMAS is a shitte terrorist group sponsored by Iran
and controlling Gaza.
2. HITZBOLLAH is a shitte terrorist group sponsored
by Iran and controlling Lebanon.
3. Alawites clan is a shitte clan controlling Syria (Assad
dynasty) and supported by Iran.
Shitte are far more sophisticated in using political
structures that have terrorist nucleus to control regions
and countries. They organize control and win their
regions city by city! They always have one spiritual
head, even if there are several Ayotallahs. It is not
unlikely that this 'protest' was sponsored by Iran. You
can now understand why they will not protest killings

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and abductions of fellow citizen or attacks on Buhari

and Sheik Bauchi few years back, but will protest Gaza
conflict. Talk of where your bread is buttered.
What we should learn from this is that the very soul of
Northern Nigeria, and indeed Nigeria is up for grabs.
The sunni terrorists like Boko Haram, Al Queda etc are
basically 'hit and run' terrorists. They bomb and die. Or
bomb and scamper. Hoping simply to destroy,
devastate and lay desolate. Shitte, on the other hand,
systematically work to gain control of all apparatus of
power discreetly, city block by city block. Gain control
of hearts (through religion) and resources (thrugh arms
& brigandry). Then unleash a local fiefdom of fear. From
which you can never regain those territories again. Ever!
Iran, Gaza and Lebanon are ever present examples. One
irony though, they detest Sunni and Wahabist Muslims.
Maybe they can be a bulwark against BH in Zaria and
other places they are beginning to "control".

We don’t know what we are facing yet. Our problems

are getting far deeper than PDP/APC or
Ohanaeze/Arewa.

Happy Sunday.

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KINDERGARTEN SOCIETY

September 2015

I have read, with some rather amused perplexity, the

Buhari and Osibanjo's asset declaration.
First, I don’t think it’s a "declaration". It is at best an
official version of a cabinet gossip. We await the
declaration, published in national and social media.
Next, what is the purpose of saying "two mud houses"?
The other listed 5 houses, why didn’t they mention their
construction materials? Say mud, marble, gold, cedar
etc. Since they are mentioning the building materials.
Further, WHAT is the value of the houses and shares
mentioned?
I also remember we were told Buhari had no house in
Abuja or outside Daura. What happened?
HOW many cars??? What is this about saying the
number of cars? How many?
He has 30M cash in the bank!! The above average
Nigerian has only 18K cash in bank!!! So let us be spared
this bromide of a poor general. His bank balance is 1600
times higher than on average Nigerian.
Now let all remember that this is a man that Nigerian
government has taken care of all his needs and care, for

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the past 47 years. He has not faced the common

challenges of hunger, house rent, school fees, hospital
bills, etc. Like the common man.
So Garuba Shehu, spare me this sleight of hand. We are
no kindergarten society!

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LET MERIT RING!

August 2015

Following the recurrent predilection of Gen M. Buhari

to find "competent" people from the north of the Niger
only, is it not time for a consummate, eloquent,
charismatic and brilliant lawmaker to initiate the repeal
of that obnoxious and retrogressive noose in the
constitution? I mean the Federal Character!
Since Buhari has downgraded it, De facto.
It's time to make it De jure.
Let us finally Kick out Federal Character! In the Civil
service. In the Armed forces. In university admission. In
the police. In our life.
Let merit ringgggg!
Next week, I will publish on this wall "MY FEAR...".
Keep a date.

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CBN IS THE PROBLEM, NOT

IMPORTERS.

August 2015

It is not the tooth picks and wheel barrow purchase that

has made our naira to lose 50 naira in 50 days. Far from
it. It is the decline in our terms of trade necessitated by
the decline in the price of our major forex earner, oil!
Economics 101.
That decline was rapid but not unpredictable. We have
been living beyond our means for too long on the rather
favourable terms of trade that was not under our
control.
When oil boomed under Obasanjo, Soludo attempted to
prevent the naira from appreciating by doing
"sterilisation"! That was why the foreign reserve
ballooned. But consequently domestic money supply
exploded, and with the continual supply shock in the
real economy, the money flowed into financial assets
leading to financial assets inflation which we saw as
share price acceleration (before the bust) and land price
skyrocketing.
When the oil shock started last year, it hit us hard. Even
Sanusi as CBN governor did not adequately prepare for

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this outcome. Like was mentioned, we spend over 10

billion dollars to fund fuel import. That is 3 times the
amount spent on the sundry things targeted by CBN
Governor. So why didn't he ban funding fuel import
and ask them to source privately? After all government
even built the means of refining in Nigeria, using our
collective wealth. It's just a case of targeting low
hanging fruits or defenceless or influence-less small
importers (mainly Igbo traders).

I do not buy into depreciation now, since they did not

allow Naira to appreciate in the good days. Currency
can't have only assymetric float. Naira should be
supported. But fundamental structural reforms should
be fast tracked.

Fast track stolen funds repatriation. That will have a

positive effect on the Naira position because the funds
are huge. Totally reform the custom practice and ports
operation. Still very opaque. Creates too many black
market millionaires.

Create a timeline for domestic refining! Get power

working by licencing micro-turbines operators. This
can create over 300 small power entrepreneurs. This is

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the Nigerian way. Look at what entrepreneurs have

done in rental accommodation, schooling, retailing etc.

This is the Nigerian way.

Unleash the latent entrepreneurial powers of Nigerians
in all sectors. Not just this crony capitalism of the
Dangotes.

Meanwhile lending rates are high because of CBN

policies. CRR was 60% as at last week. Interbank rates
was 40% last week. Came down to 15% this business
week. Still very high. And rather volatile. All these are
among the highest financial cost in the world!! If capital
was cheap, and power stable, I guarantee you that
Nigerians won't import tooth picks. It will be made
here.

CBN is the problem, not importers!

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THERE THEY GO AGAIN!

August 2015

About 750 billion naira was realised in VAT, in 2013.

Over 75% of this funds were raised from southern
Nigeria! And only 10% is directly accruable to the state
that generate the VAT. 90% is transferred to federation
account for "sharing!”

And good chunk of this VAT comes from taxing alcohol

consumption, which is banned in sharia states. Yet they
share in this revenue. If it’s doubled, as they plan, then it
may generate 1.4 trillion naira on the least. Siphoned
from the long suffering southern states.

We urgently need to revisit the revenue formula.

Derivation has to be nothing less than 50%.

It was under Yakubu Gowon and eventually Murtala

Mohammed that Derivation was removed from the
revenue formula. It was Dina committee that set off this
evil rampant that is killing merit and hard work.

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It is important to remind hard thinking folks that the

recommendations of Dina committee was rejected by
Awolowo and all the state finance commissioners in
Nigeria, then. Yet it was implemented by Gowon. Why?
From there they gradually deleted derivation from the
sharing formula. Till recent salutary inclusion of mere
13% for oil. And none for VAT.

If we want Change, it must be fundamental and radical!

This our formula works nowhere in the world!
No WHERE!

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NOTHING WRONG IN BORROWING

BRILLIANCE!

August 2015

Importing "know how" through foreign R&D is how

ALL countries build domestic capability. Likewise
importing capital. The problem is more in importing
goods and services, not know how. This was what US
did in the industrial revolution, importing the steam
power know how from England and capital from
Germany. China did it in current mileu by attracting
foreign companies to do R&D and outsource
production to China. From there they learnt by
backward integration. Tecno, Infinix etc piggy backed
on Iphones R&D.
So I thought deeply about this, before suggesting. It is
what has worked for the past 300 years. And it is still
working. Nothing wrong in borrowing brilliance.
Awolowo once told Mike Omeloye, a journalist, that as
Nigeria's president, he would STEAL foreign
technologies, if he can, to leap frog Nigeria. Awolowo
was not a trivial talker or thinker.
Wish you well.

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 NKE A BU NKE ANYI
November 2013

During the next gubernatorial election in Kaduna,

Victor Umeh should go as APGA party leader to
supervise or is it monitor the elections. Let's see how it
will go down.
Ndi Anambra have shown that they have identity. We
do not take orders from another state. We congratulate
Chris Ngige for his courage, but we remember 'There
was a Country'. We remember painfully.
After the National conference, after we have all bared
our pains, accepted our mistakes, agreed on a new road
map, then we may start over again. For now, we have
spoken without equanimity.
Anambra is APGA! Just as Lagos is ACN ( APC?). When
Lagos goes APGA, Anambra will go APC (ACN?).
APGA disappointed ndi Anambra by their under-
handling of Soludo, but since Soludo accepted in good
faith, so did Ndi Anambra.
Tony Nwoye's phenomenal rise has also shown that if
the new leaders under-perform, the post-civil war
generation will sweep them off in a political tsunami.
But Anambra will never take orders from ndi mba ozo.
Anyi adiro acho okwu!

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Olisaemeka Akukwe
Olisaemeka Francis Akukwe was a man of many parts
who bestrode these parts with excellence. A Medical
Imaging Scientist, Olisaemeka was also a consummate
historian and a strong voice in the political and
economic development of his country.

Born on the 21st of February 1973 to the family of Ichie

John Obide Akukwe and Mrs. Regina Onyebuchi
Akukwe. Olisaemeka was the fifth of seven children.
His father, the traditional Prime Minister of Eziowelle
(Onowu Eziowelle) a renowned South Eastern
Politician, is a disciplinarian. Some of this discipline
could be seen in the way Olisemeka viewed the world
and understood life. At birth, he was named
Olisaemeka, as a sort of declaration by his father that the
Almighty God deserved all the thanks for the gift of life.

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Olisaemeka was baptized and christened Francis after

St. Francis of Assisi, the Saint known for his affinity with
nature and his humility. Perhaps, his baptismal name
was also a tribute to his Uncle and Catholic priest, the
Late Monsignor Dr. Francis Akukwe. The Catholic
priest and acclaimed academic in the field of sociology
was to influence Olisa’s passion for social engineering
and history. Olisaemeka would often speak of how he
was always lost beneath the mountains of books in
Monsignor’s library. Incidentally, when Monsignor
Akukwe passed on, Olisaemeka inherited most of his
books.

Olisaemeka attended St. Vincent de Paul Nursery

School Enugu; Zik Avenue Primary School, Enugu;
Uwani Secondary School, Enugu and Christ the King
College Onitsha.
Moving from serene Enugu to the bustling city of
Onitsha for his senior secondary school must have been
challenging for Olisaemeka. But he took this in his
stride. His school mates at the Christ the King College
speak of his academic brilliance, his rare ability to
understand issues with a depth beyond his years and
his ability to bring happiness and laughter even when
he was suffering.

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He took the Senior Secondary School Certificate

Examinations in 1991 marking the end of his Secondary
schooling. In 1992, he was admitted to study Medical
Radiography at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

In the University, his gift of leadership shone as he

became one of the rallying figures in students’ union
politics. His understanding of the dynamics of politics
was so astute that some candidates who wanted to lead
the students’ union would first ask him whether it was
okay to run. With a deep sense of how leadership
should be used to bring about social change, he served
in students’ union committees, often spurring union
governments to excellence. He was also a member of the
Rotaract Club.

In 1999, Olisaemeka graduated with honors, with a

degree in Medical Radiography and Radiological
Science. He also obtained a Master of Science degree in
MRI at the Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
United Kingdom in 2014. He attended numerous
professional development courses including at
Harvard Medical School and numerous courses
approved by the College of Radiographers in the United
Kingdom, London Graduate School; American Society

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of Radiologic Technologists; Fetal Medicine Foundation

UK; Cardio Village US; American Registry of Magnetic
Resonance Imaging Technologists (ARMRIT),
MedScape Education; International Center for
Postgraduate Medical Education (ICPME) amongst
others. His scientific research include, Extra-Hepatic
Manifestation of Liver Diseases (1997), Evaluation of
the Pituitary Gland size Amongst Nigerians (1997) and
Standard of Breast MRI Practice among MRI
Radiographers in Nigeria (2014).

Olisaemeka was a member of the Radiographers

Registration Board of Nigeria (RRBN), the Medical
Imaging Society of Nigeria (MISON), the British Society
o f E c h o c a r d i o g r a p h y, C a n a d i a n S o c i e t y o f
Echocardiography, the College and Society of
Radiographers, UK, and the American Society of
Radiologic Technologists.
Olisaemeka’s career in medical imaging spanned
various organizations like Tayodek Medical
Diagnostics Center, Sauki Diagnostic Center, Ultimate
Diagnostic Center and Kings Care Hospital all in Abuja.
Wherever Olisaemeka worked, he brought his deep
sense of responsibility, his brilliance in the craft and care
for the patients.

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Olisaemeka also influenced deeply the field of

Radiography in Nigeria. He was co-founder of the
Medical Imaging Society of Nigeria (MISON) and
served as Secretary and Member of the Board of
Trustees of this professional body till his passing. It is
interesting to note that the formation of this body has
been one of the most positive hallmarks in the career of
medical imaging scientists in Nigeria. The Society
finally gave them a voice and a professional pedestal in
Nigeria.

Olisaemeka was a voracious reader and student of

history, politics and economics. He not only read these
things for knowledge sake but put them in practice. He
co-founded Freedom Alliance, a think tank which not
only discussed socio-economic problems but proffered
workable solutions. Some of these solutions were sent to
the National Assembly. He espoused an ideology which
mixed capitalism and socialism within the Nigerian
context. This was sometimes fondly called Olisanomics.
His ideas on public housing led to the formation of
Bonanza Shelters Limited.

Olisaemeka was a public commentator to be reckoned

with and had many followers. He was an intellectual

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conscience in a country slowly disintegrating. While

Olisaemeka believed that Nigeria could work together,
he also believed in the independence of regions and a
restructured Nigeria. His visionary essays have been
published in Newspapers and on various social media
platforms, and have been cited in reputable journals
and works including the Central Bank of Nigeria
Journal. His essays and articles continue to shine a light
to the future that Africa could have if it only dared.

Olisaemeka had many opportunities to work and live

abroad where life was easier and his job better
remunerated. Still, he believed that it was necessary that
Africa’s intelligentsia had a duty to develop her from the
inside. This is a sacrifice he made, and one he lived
proudly. He was an Ozo Chieftain in his home town
Eziowelle with the title of OZO ONONIKPOAKU.

Olisaemeka was a pragmatic idealist, an articulate

genius, a man of integrity, a caring son, a loving brother,
an amazing husband, a true friend. He was kind,
generous, jovial, peace loving and an overall excellent
human being. He made an impressive positive impact
on all who encountered him.

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Olisaemeka married the love of his life Mrs. Vivian

Nnenna Akukwe, on July 03, 2012. About a year later, he
was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Disease. Despite the
burden and complications of the diagnosis, Olisaemeka
lived a normal life devoid of self-pity and
inconvenience to others till his death on March 15, 2021.
Though Olisaemeka lived all his life with the burden of
sickle cell anemia, he did not let this fact deter him from
living a heroic life of service to others.

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