PORTHARCOURT: A CITY WITHOUT A GARDEN

PORTHARCOURT: A CITY WITHOUT A GARDEN

On Friday, the 19th day of August in the year of our Lord 2011, I left my Edo North country home, Igarra, after the hugely successful Aba cultural festival which has been rated the 6th most indigenous cultural festival in the whole of West Africa to keep a date with ten thousand learned colleagues of mine at the Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association which is today factually the largest gathering of lawyers any where in the world at the historic city of Porthacourt affectionately called the garden city.

I had been warned of the bad state of the Warri – Portharcourt expressway, so I drove through much of Edo State, to Agbor, Onitsha, Owerri and then to Portharcourt and I entered the city through the Elele town – Omagwa end of the city. The route was not too bad. The roads still fairly ok and I expected much of Portharcourt especially considering what we hear in the media of the Rt. Honourable Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi doing great things in the governance of Rivers State. Man was I disappointed. Big time.

The judgement of some of our media houses and the integrity of the bogus and dubious awards they shell out everyday at the drop of a hat has never really impressed or fooled me. This Governor was somebody’s governor of the year not too long ago and yet there is nothing I saw in Portharcourt to suggest he comes close to being one of the top Governors in Nigeria how much more the best of the lot for any particular year. Whatever his spin doctors will have us believe, you do not go looking for evidence of development with a lantern in the dark. It stares you in the face. You see it every where you go and you feel it too. That is what you now see and feel in Lagos State. I saw and felt nothing in Portharcourt. Save for the model State Primary Schools which for me were excellent, I challenge any of the Governors sympathizers to show me anything of note he has done in Portharcourt and he is a second term Governor.

Perhaps to bamboozle the people, he has just embarked on rehabilitating several roads all at the same time without due consideration for the negative effect for traffic flow and the waste of man hours it will engender. Now the rains are here and furious. The result is that Portharcourt is one huge conundrum of traffic jams and chaos all day long. If you live in Lagos as I do and you think the Lagos traffic is bad, try the Portharcourt ‘hold up’ for size. It is very infuriating and frustrating because Portharcourt is not such a big city compared to Lagos. Pray why is the Governor rehabilitating so many roads at the same time when common sense dictates that you take things one at a time – Ada George around Ikwerre Road, Okporo Road at 1st Artillery on Aba Road, East West Road, Eliozu, the new overhead bridge at School bus stop on Ikwerre road, the mono rail which is perpetually under construction – and many others which have seriously hampered vehicular flow and nothing suggests that these roads will be completed anytime soon.

The Portharcourt city I saw is no where near beautiful. The city remains but the garden is definitely gone now. The Governor will do well to face the task of development for which he was elected and leave the issue of resource control alone. He wants more oil money but I have not seen what he has done with the Billions of Naira he collects from the Federation Account every month. He wants oil subsidy removed but he has not shown that with that he will bring back the lost glory of the one time storied garden city or that he will even put the city on a solid march towards reclaiming the lost garden.

The governor obviously does not reckon much with the judiciary too. See what he made of a wonderful speech by the NBA President, J.B Daudu, SAN after the learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria delivered his welcome address touching on issues that ails the polity and proffering solutions while at the same time urging Nigeria to make the responsible choice and save the nation and the judiciary from anomie. Rotimi Amaechi strutted to the stage, denigrated all the NBA President had said and trivialized issues of national importance simply because he could not see that the Arab spring is possible here, that what is happening in Libya can happen in Nigeria. He said the judiciary did nothing to save the polity and right wrongs at critical junctures in Nigeria’s political history whilst off course we know that the reverse is often the case. The judiciary sure has its own troubles. What institution in Nigeria does not? But to accuse the judiciary of wholesale indolence and doing nothing to make Nigeria as Rotimi Amaechi had done is downright irresponsible and ought to be condemned because were it not for the judiciary, this present republic of which he is a major beneficiary would long have torpedoed.

Take the Governors case as a classic example. Was is not the judiciary that won him the Governorship of Rivers State when the Peoples (Un) Democratic Party he now adores sought to deny him the primary election ticket he already won? Were it not for the dogged efforts and brilliance of his lawyers, the courage of the judiciary, he would not have been Governor of Rivers State. And he made the ironic and indicting point by quoting the anecdote that ‘when an Ikwerre man, says move on, I am behind you, you have to look back and be sure that the shuffling footsteps are not moving away from you’. May be the Governor is that kind of Ikwerre man, though he did not say.

If the Governor will not see that Nigeria is in dire straits and that the poor and deprived of Nigeria cannot wait need I remind him then that kidnap for ransom which is a staple in his Niger Delta today was alien stuff we only read in James Hardley Chase and other thriller writers and perhaps Hollywood movies. In 1995 when Ken Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni Nine were executed, no one could envisage that the Federal Government with all its might will be brought to its knees by militants in the same Niger Delta. When the Federal Government will not listen to voices of reason in the Niger Delta believing in the use and show of force, it eventually bit the bullet. How about the clear and present danger of Boko Haram? A few years ago, we thought we were immune to bomb attacks and suicide bombings; afterall we were not the state of Israel or the Palestine Liberation Organization and its twin variant, Hamas. See what has happened to us today. Bombs everywhere and anywhere.

I have severally read the President’s speech and there is nothing there to draw the Governors ire, however much I try, I cannot fathom a reason for denigrating lawyers he is hosting in that manner for members of this same august body made him afterall. I suppose the Governor will be more circumspect the next time he has the opportunity to address any gathering for I have now been told that he likes to speak in that way and manner- sarcastic. The erudite Professor and Noble laureate Wole Soyinka said as much at the beginning of his key note address at the occasion.

Well as they say áll is well that ends well’, the Conference has come and gone, it was hugely successful baring glitches here and there, we members of the bar and bench told ourselves the truth, salient issues have been raised for further extrapolation, old classmates, friends and foes from across the country met again, acquaintances renewed and new relationships spun – ample evidence of this was on show at the friendship centre - the ordinary people of Rivers State I met at both the Conference venue and on the streets were very friendly, kind and willing to help and finally, I grudgingly thank the Governor for his superb welcome cocktail and the grand party that signaled the end of the Conference.

STEPHEN O. OBAJAJA is a partner in the Lagos law firm of Fountain Court Partners.
Block 36B, LSPDC Estate
Ogudu Road
Ojota
Lagos .
Kingjaja_j@yahoo.com
08052066172

THIS BEAUTIFUL PLACE CALLED IGARRA

My home town, Igarra, is the Headquarters of Akoko-Edo L. G. A. which is today the oldest in the Nigerian Federation. Igarra is a chic little town which you cannot altogether describe as sleepy as the town could sometimes be bubbly and actually boisterous at weekends and during celebrations whether it be of a social or cultural nature.

Igarra which is otherwise known as ETUNO has a very congenial and serene atmosphere as it is nestled among large boulders and exotic greens which explain why the chief occupation of the people was and remains farming though it is fast becoming unfashionable as Igarra has had its own brush with urban drift. It is estimated that more than 75% of its sons and daughters live and work outside the town.

Igarra is a unique town in Edo State as it shares and has little in common with any other in the state, its history, language and cultural heritage has nothing to do with those of neighbours as close as the Enwan, Somorika or even the Uneme people.

It has been established that the Igarra people have a common ancestry with the Igalla’s and the Igbirra’s of Kogi State, even as there are other theories as to the origin of the Igarra people but the former remains more plausible and has become widely accepted. The others are largely myths and legends unsubstantiated with little or no shred of evidence.

Be that as it may, the Igarra man does not understand a single word of the Igalla language and the corollary is also true of the Igalla man. The Igbirra’s with whom we share some language and cultural affinity albeit to a very limited extent is totally different in outlook and make up from the Igarra man. Whither then did the Igarra man emanate and who is his brother and how did he get to his present place of abode? (i.e. Igarra).

Igarra town has maintained its rustic charm over the years, there is something about it that will and always brings back those born and bred there. Those of its sons and daughters born abroad are not left out, it takes only a single visit for them to join the bandwagon of end of year holiday makers and fun seekers in that rustic rocky town. Many reasons have been and continued to be adduced for this state of affairs but we make bold to say that the most important one is that Igarra community is structured in such a way that every son and daughter even if begotten in far away Australia has an affiliation with the red earth of Igarra and will always come back to commune and once the communion, the bond of affinity may never again be broken.

This structure that I write about has been likened to a ‘beanstalk’ (orupeza) by the erudite Prof. Adebayo Akerele of the University of Benin in a most elucidating lecture delivered in Igarra in April 1998 to mark the Igarra day celebrations of that year. The average Igarra family is connected to the other in more ways than one; the town remains a close knit community where people are related by blood and marriage. This is why it is possible for Mr. A of Ugbogbo to be related to Mr. B of Utua paternally as cousins and Mr. B is related to Mr. C of Ufa maternally as cousins and Mr. C marries Mr. A’s daughter. Mr. A is related to Mr. B by blood though not related to Mr. C, now Mr. C has become a relation of Mr. A by marriage whilst still a relation of Mr. B by blood thus completing the ‘beanstalk’ theory of Igarra families. The mind picture drawn in this analysis is a reflection of the entire Igarra community.

A most interesting aspect of the structure is the Anda/kindred/clan family system (that is a group of families descended from a common ancestor, the families could either be large or small, extended or nuclear). The ‘Anda’ system consists of 14 existing families. In this ‘Anda’ system, members of the same ‘Anda’ may not be strictly related by blood yet they are forbidden to marry. They see themselves as brothers and sisters. A marriage between any of the members is an abomination, sexual relations amongst them incest, viewed as, if not even more abominable than sexual relations among siblings. If sexual relations thus occur, all be it inadvertently, the parties involved must undergo a spiritual/public cleansing to appease the gods and to ward off the unpleasant consequences that are sure to follow.

Meanwhile, when a female member of an ‘Anda’ marries into another ‘Anda’, (i.e. from/into any of the other 13 ‘Andas’) she becomes an ‘Opashi’ in Igarra parlance but remains a bonafide member of her ‘Anda’ and She continues to enjoy some rights and privileges conferred by the ‘Anda’. Her children are equally seen as ‘extended’ children of the ‘Anda’ (‘Azi’ in Igarra parlance) even though by virtue of the patrilineal system in Igarra they are children and descendants of their fathers ‘Anda’ only, to which the mother’s ‘Anda’ can lay no claim. Be that as it may, the ‘Azi’s are always welcome to the mother’s ‘Anda’, they have full freedom and access to the ‘Anda’s heritage short of being or claiming membership of the ‘Anda’.

In the Igarra heritage, there is the ‘Chao’ (Hello) phenomenon. The word ‘Chao’ in Igarra is the principal phrase of greeting, this word is so adaptable and flexible that it often takes its meaning from context, which is why it is possible to use it both in times of grief and happiness. If a man is bereaved, you use the word in that context and you bring a lot of succour to him and the burden becomes lighter to bear. If a man has a new-baby, a new car, use the word ‘Chao’ in context and it is perfect for felicitation. From this has emerged the unifying, rallying, all encompassing ‘Chao whistle’. This comes to the Igarra man naturally at birth such that every Igarra son and daughter, young and old knows and uses this whistle, if you wish to draw on Igarra man’s attention, if you wish to know who the Igarra man is in a crowd whether in Igarra or in far away Australia, use this whistle and you see eyes turning, necks craning to behold the source of the whistle. You do not have to know a man’s name, just blow the whistle and he/she will answer back. The point I am driving at here is that the ‘Chao’ phenomenon is another veritable force that binds the Igarra people together and perpetually keeps step with them wherever they may be, constantly prodding ‘the red earth of Igarra, the red earth of Igarra, do not forget’.

Every Igarra man has a relation back home, why will he not go to Igarra? During the festive period of Easter and the Christmas and New Year festivities, you can be sure to meet others you have not seen in years as they too will surely come home to roost. At such times, the meetings and celebrations are usually boisterous and whoopy. So lasting are the impressions and memories that you wait in anxiety for the year to roll by, so you can be back. Such is the stuff dreams are made of.

To the average Igarra man, the historical and cultural festivals are even more important, revered and respected, that is why the Igarra man will speak of, prepare for and partake in ‘Ekuochi’ festival, second and final funeral ceremony and the ‘Aba’ festival (which is the mother of them all) with brio and gusto. The ‘Ekuochi’ festival is essentially a night of ritual and drama (masquerade/musical concert). The Aba festival is a seven yearly affair; it is a week long cocktail of ceremonies that is a study in exoticism and epicureanism. It is the single most important festival in the Igarra socio-cultural calendar. For those who know, it borders even more on the spiritual than the physical activities the general public enjoys. The festival marks the initiation of youths into adulthood and signals the passage of ‘Opoze’ into ‘Azebani’ (that is the movement of those at the peak of their prime, usually between the ages of 55 and 65 into elder statesmanship). Just as in National life, the Igarra culture and traditions recognizes that once a man has paid his dues, contributed his fair share to the development of Igarra community and the society in general it is only natural for him to step back and savour the last days while waiting in the lounge to board the flight to eternal rest with other souls triumphant in he Lord God Almighty. His role then will be one of advisory and custodianship of the rich cultural heritage of the Igarra people, he will no longer take part in that tedious aspect of the day to day administration of the affairs of the community. This task now devolves on the new ‘Opoze’ and after a cycle of seven years when another ‘Aba’ festival is celebrated, the process is again repeated. Now between the ‘Azebani’ and the youths that are initiated into adulthood every ‘Aba’ year, there are seven (7) age grades, it therefore means that it takes 49 years or thereabout for the Igarra youth to become an elder statesman during which time he may have completed his earthly mission. He could have retired from paid employment and for those self-employed, their children or trained subordinates and aides may have taken over/picked up the gauntlet from where they let off. They may still be active, they constitute the experienced elite of society and for them the energy remaining is to be employed in the service of community and humanity. It is time to annex/harness extended ties and link the old with the new.

The Igarra man, wherever he is comes home for the ‘Aba’ festival, the last three editions in 1993, 1999 and 2005 on which I am competent to comment as an adult who had the opportunity of viewing things maturely and dispassionately, with the benefit of hindsight drew crowds from all over Nigeria, the rest of Africa, Europe, America and Asia. From the four corners of the world came many Igarra families whose only link with the town hitherto were positive averments by their forebears that their roots and ancestry were in that rocky, rustic town tucked away somewhere in the bowels of the black continent of Africa and most probably at a time when the only impression they had about Africa was that of the ‘dark continent’ and for them therefore their roots were in the middle of nowhere. But then, they took the leap of faith, they came, they have since established their root and halted their cultural displacement and ancestral history which was dangerously spinning and sinking into atrophy, they avoided self immolation and the atavistic urge is at an all time high. The ‘Aba’ festival is fast becoming a tourist attraction and one can only hope that someday it could become something as big and revered as the Argungu fishing festival or the Osun/Oshogbo festival with international clout and flavour which has brought renown to the Sokoto and Osun people respectively.

From the foregoing, it is obvious that Igarra has all it takes to be a great town, the careful and delicate structures in place is to give the town and its people strong communal base and a sense of public duty. Igarra’s sons and daughters have made good at home and abroad, their clout permeates all aspects of our national life and human endeavour both in the public and private domain (science, medicine, law, engineering, finance, arts and the social sciences). It is not for want of human resources or persons who can make things work that Igarra remains poor as many of our people are erroneously led to believe. At every material time in history, the Igarra’s have always had and will always have such people but this will only translate to common good if the people apply and address their minds to it. Today is the right time; the Igarra people must jettison old praxis, find a new way of doing things and release the latent energy in us all to develop our town and our people. The problem has always being with people with bankrupt and less than puritanical sense of public duty, but this has to change so that when our earthly sojourn ends and we are no more, history will reserve a kind and positive place for us in its annals.

In whatever we say or do, we must know that we have only one place to call home, whatever heights we attain in life, we can never, ever divest ourselves from Igarra. Let these words of Martin Luther King Jnr. be a constant reminder of what you owe yourself, others and Igarra as an Igarra man, ‘every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment; life’s most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others?’ And for Igarra, permit me to add.

I end this treatise by asking you to call to mind the immortal words of Frantz Fanon thus, ‘every generation must discover its mission which it either fulfills or betrays’. We have and you have discovered yours, it is Igarra, we must fulfill it.

Stephen O. Obajaja Esq. is a Partner at the Lagos Law Firm of Fountain Court Partners.

STEPHEN O. OBAJAJA

Fountain Court Partners

Block 36B, LSPDC Estate

Ogudu Road

Ojota – Lagos.

08052066172.

AN OPEN LETTER TO DEACON (DR) DOMINGO OBENDE: SENATOR-ELECT

AN OPEN LETTER TO DEACON (DR) DOMINGO OBENDE: SENATOR-ELECT

“It’s an old maxim in the schools that flattery is the food of fools, yet now and then, men of wit will condescend to take a bite” – Jonathan Swift

For the umpteenth time, let me say congratulations again for your well deserved victory at the just concluded polls and your election to represent the Edo North people at the National Assembly. Congratulations to you and a big congratulation to the people of Edo North Senatorial District, for this victory is and should mark the beginning of real constituency engagement by our representative. However, I must confess that I do not envy your current position. My reason is as simple as it sounds and the following will form the core of them.

First you have been saddled with the problems of underdevelopment that have ravaged our people for the past decades. Those that have had the opportunity to hold the baton have scared away development from the place. Infrastructural and human capital development is non-existent: roads are dead traps, hospitals are mere buildings with the name hospital still hanging on them, our schools have been taken over by forest and let us not even think of job opportunity for the youths. Ironically it is not in your office to do all these but it is expected by the people that you use your God-given mandate to bring them to the attention of those in authority, especially to the state Governor who we all know is determined to bring an end to underdevelopment in the state.

Secondly, there is the problem of ethnic tension in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area (I believe this is also largely true of other Local Government Areas that make up the Senatorial District) the principal cause of this tension between our local communities is the fear of domination and boundary (land) claims which was evident during the run-up to the primaries that eventually gave you the ticket under the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). This is the time to send a clear cut message to all that you are a statesman and that you are not interested in vendetta. I know that by human nature you may hold grudges but listen to John Grisham when he says that “Life is too short to despise people who simply can’t help what they’ve done.” You must unite all by reaching out to them in bringing development to their own doorstep. And for those that said “over their dead body for you to become Senator” well today you are a living testimony and if there are still others living who still wish to continue with the same prayers, well do not worry for the God you serve is indeed a living God.Thirdly, you should be aware that some Etuno people will find it convenient to locate the road leading to your doorstep, because for the first time in our history you are the highest political office holder and for a people that have suffered marginalization for the better part of their history you should expect them to think of you as their long-awaited messiah, thus they must knock on your door. Your appreciation of the foregoing will help you to recognize those with genuine challenges for you to figure out ways to assist them.

However, having recognized the above, another reason why I am already feeling the heat for you is that your victory is that of the minority to echo Hon. Peter Ologun’s perspective. The minorities you must understand are not only the Etuno or Akoko-Edo people, the minorities are also the impoverished people of Edo North Senatorial District whose commonwealth was sacrificed on the altar of do-or-die politics. Where safe drinking water is a luxury, where roads are death traps and contracts are formulated to say thank you to political charlatans and all sorts of funny characters.

It is for the above reasons and many others which I am sure you are already aware of that I do not envy you, my Distinguished Senator. However as scary as these challenges may seem, they have also provided a clear and golden pen for you to write your name on the pages of history. How you do this is based on your adhering to Jonathan Swift’s remark above. I have in the past few weeks read and heard so much flattering statements that places you as the one and only that we never had and now have (they may be correct, please do not prove them wrong). They posit that you have done a lot in just this few weeks that you have been elected to diminish the achievements of the previous Senator (if there are any?)– I wonder where and when – even when you have not resumed office.

Many things already unfolding are the ploy of sycophants and their political acolytes to swerve you away from the real issues at hand. You are been touted as the much awaited messiah: Senator-elect you are not the messiah yet; a messiah’s success is not measured by his birth but by his/her achievements – that is your ability to tackle all the challenges highlighted above. You should be wary of career politicians for them any master is worthy of service as far as doing that would provide their daily needs.

This is the time for you to sit up and engage the electorate. Four years is far from here but you must also understand that it will come and go like yesterday. You should not go to the floor of the Senate to be a ‘siddon- look’ Senator. You must be seen contributing to the discourse on issues calling for national attention as well as those issues affecting the Senatorial district. You should research the issues as they come and have a good understanding of them before you venture into making your contributions.

Achieving greatness is not always an easy task as it sounds; however, history has always provided us with practical examples of great achievers and their achievements. The likes of Obafemi Awolowo, Adams Oshiomhole, Nelson Mandela, Raji Fashola, Alhaji Aliu Omokide to mention but a few whose songs we sing daily as practical examples of great achievers only gained prominence in our psych with popular and concrete achievements. Yes! Their achievements are popular because those achievements did not push aside the bottom-up approach in favour of the up-down approach. My Senator, research individual communities thoroughly to understand their different challenges for what is good for the goose, may not always also be good for the gander.

You should have an open line of communication with members of the Senatorial District – it is possible. They must know that you are also there for them. The team you put up to assist you do your work should not be as a result of paying back favour done during the election, because the gap between winning elections and delivering democratic dividends is a huge gulf. Your team must be up and doing especially in engaging people from the district. Because in the end, the greatest part of your achievements will not be measured by your being noticeable on the floor of the Senate but your positive attitude towards the development of the district by engaging the people.

Thank you for your time and may God give you the grace to read between the lines of Jonathan Swift’s words.

BALOGUN TREASURE OMEIZA
WARHOUSE COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED
SUITE 12B LANDMARK PLAZA
NO. 1, YESDERAM STREET, OFF IBB WAY
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08034522903.

NIGERIA’S SHINING EXAMPLES

NIGERIA’S SHINING EXAMPLES

I recently read two good books, Lee Kuan Yew’s memoirs “From Third World to First” and Peter Enahoro’s book “Then Spoke the Thunder”; the former for the umpteenth time and the latter for a second time and I was struck anew with the way Nigeria was wasted. Lee Kuan Yew wrote about his first Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Lagos in 1966 and his judgement of events and Nigeria at the time, especially the demeanour and carriage of the then Finance Minister, Chief Okotie Eboh fills one with a sense that our first republic leaders were steeped in an unexplainable state of insouciance.

He went on to Ghana and the story was not much different as the Government of that great pan Africanist, Osagyefo kwame Nkrumah was fast developing into a farce papered over by hero worship. Peter Enahoro in one of the best books on a Nigerian life, indeed his own life; though he denied the book is an autobiography or memoir gave an uncanny insight into Nigerian history before, since independence and much after up until the new Century. Reading his book, one gets a fresh and often times eyewitness perspective into momentous events that shaped a distorted Nigeria and not a few African countries.

The picture of Nigeria he painted was to say the least agonizing and it grieves the heart that many leaders at every critical juncture in Nigeria’s history took the wrong turn. Many knowingly and what US Lieutenant Colonel, Frank Slade wrote is especially true of many of Nigeria’s leaders “now I have come to the crossroads in my life. I always knew what the right path was. Without exception, I knew, but I never took it. You know why? It was too damned hard” and even today some of those leaders of yore still echo the sentiments of our inglorious and ignominious past.

Enahoro’s chapter dedicated to Liberia’s Samuel Kenyon Doe and another one poignantly titled “a parade of the lions” on selected African leaders and the destructive path they charted for themselves and their countries is one of the most illumining and close quarter view of African leaders from the Niger to the Nile you will get anywhere and without exception, to the last man, these leaders failed to build their nations. Those who tried were ultimately defeated by flaws in their own character even though their countries may have done well by them if they had but a measure of temperance.

A review of Nigeria’s history paints a picture of everything a nation should not be and twelve years of democratic rule has done little to lift the gloom and show a pathway to building a proper and great nation. The stench of corruption is yet putrefying, presidential election results sired resentments in ordinary folks up North and violence erupted claiming the lives of many. The most shameful aspect of the carnage was the senseless killing of defenseless University graduates on National Assignment. Nigeria is a country where it is hard to escape the grueling suffocation of faith and dashed hopes in the nation’s future. But it is not all gloom and doom. In the midst of all these seemingly intractable and insurmountable troubles I have read in the last few days from shores afar of two Nigerians, who are products of this environment and whose lives are shining examples that Nigeria can be remade.

The New York Times, one of the most influential publications around the World wrote in a feature on Nigeria on Thursday, April 21, 2011 “one Nigerian politician is charting a new direction. Before Babatunde Fashola became its governor in 2007, Lagos-Nigeria’s business capital and Africa’s premier megacity-was known as the world’s first failed city state. The place had seen almost no new infrastructure for four decades, despite its population soaring from 5 million in 1976 to 18 million. Traffic was gridlocked day and night. Slums expanded, on stilts, into the lagoons that gave the city its name. Crime was rife, pollution choking, brown-outs constant. It was, says Fashola, a city of “very evident despair.”

The Times continued, Fashola, 47, was perhaps the only person in Lagos who saw that as an opportunity. “You are going to need more water, more roads, more jetties, schools, hospitals, space for housing,” he says. “That all means jobs.” Fashola set about rehabilitating and expanding a maze of overpasses, part of a new transport network that will connect cars and buses with trains, trams, airports, and water taxis. He unveiled plans for a new 17,000-hectare industrial zone and a gleaming new 900-hectare city center on land reclaimed from the sea that will be home to 250,000 residents and contain offices for another 150,000 commuters. All that building has indeed created hundreds of thousands of jobs. Efforts to clean the streets had the multiple effect of tidying, employing and cutting crime.

To Fashola, the new Lagos is a “statement … that things could be changed no matter how bad they were”. It’s also an example of how a new Nigeria might emerge from the old. The development of Lagos’ nonoil economy means 70% of the city’s revenue is now raised locally. Citizens not only are willing to pay tax: more to the point, by doing so they and their government reconnect, reversing decades when state and citizens lived in separate worlds.

The Times fittingly concluded “there are lessons for the whole country here. No Nigerian politician has missed that Fashola is the country’s most admired leader. Though internal ACN rivalries block any presidential bid (and Fashola in any case insists he prefers state politics to national) the governor is proving that results are possible within Nigerian politics. But while change is inevitable, it is unlikely to come fast or smoothly, because the bad old generation of Nigerian leaders will not go quietly. A western diplomat described Nigeria as having it “all to lose, rather than poised for victory.”

In a rare burst of good fortune for Nigeria in the Western press, the same Times in its reputable Annual Time 100 of Monday, April 25, 2011 which wrote of the 2011 edition; “meet the most influential people in the world. They are artists and activists, reformers and researchers, heads of state and captains of industry. Their ideas spark dialogue and dissent and sometimes even revolution” found space for a distinguished Nigerian. Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor, scion of the Kano emirate, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was named in the exalted company of 100 shaping and shaking the World – his a force for good in society.

The influential magazine wrote “the story of Nigeria's first half-century of Independence is a tale of wasted potential: sub-Saharan Africa's most populous country, home to its biggest oil riches, impoverished by thieving autocrats. A key reason a new Nigeria no longer seems fanciful is Central Bank governor Lamido Sanusi.

A veteran of an often corrupt banking industry, Sanusi, 50, took up his position at the height of the financial crisis in June 2009 and immediately turned on his former peers. He took over nine banks, sacked the chief executives of eight of them, ordered a series of mergers and named their biggest debtors. He was, he said, cleaning up not just banking but all Nigeria. Sanusi's will be a long fight and a dangerous one: death threats have obliged him to employ armed guards. But it is also essential for Africa's sleeping giant to finally awaken”.
The two New York Times publications within four days of each other confirm what some of us already know. There is a glimmer of hope in the country’s future even though it is but a flicker. We need a Million Fashola’s and Sanusi’s but if we do not find them – not to despair, a few might still suffice – history has shown that only a few sold to a committed purpose change a nation.

All therefore hail Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) and Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (OFR), the men who will change Nigeria…

Stephen o. Obajaja Esq. is a Partner at the Lagos Law Firm of Fountain Court Partners.

THE MAN WHO WILL BE SENATOR

THE MAN WHO WILL BE SENATOR

When someone wrote “every child no matter the circumstances of birth is a beacon of hope for the future” there was no means of knowing that he was speaking to the life and times of a man whose gentleness and humility knows no bounds even in the face of great wealth and an abundance of all good things life has to offer.
Deacon (Dr.) Domingo Alaba Obende was born and raised in the humblest of circumstances. His is a classic case of the much abused rags to riches cliché but he will never speak about it in the solicitous way made men in Nigeria do. The man fondly called “DD” was born on the 5th day of December 1954 in Igarra, Akoko – Edo Local Government Area in the then Western region of Nigeria now Edo State. He had his elementary education at the Local Authority Primary School (LA) in Igarra before he proceeded to Lagos, where he attended Prestige Commercial Institute, Ebute Metta, Yaba Trade Centre and subsequently the Universities of Benin, East London and St. Andrews, California, United States of America.

“DD”, holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria and an MBA Degree in Public Services from the University of East London Business School, London, United Kingdom. In the year 2007, in recognition of his contribution to critical thought, business and the advancement of humanity, he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) in Business Management by the St. Andrews University College, Riverside, California, United States of America.

After a life time of success in business, “DD” ventured into active politics and public life at the return of democratic rule in 1999. He joined the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) where he contested the Edo North Senatorial District Primaries in December 2006 but lost the ticket to Senator Yisa Braimoh in controversial circumstances at a time he was the leading and preferred candidate of the PDP. This and all the intrigues and horse –trading in the PDP at the time did not deter the loyal party man that “DD” was and he still is as he remained in the PDP to shore up its electoral fortune until his continued membership of that troubled and strife ridden party with Godless godfathers became untenable. He could have resigned from politics as his numerous businesses were obviously crying for his attention but being the man that he is, he chose to pitch his tent with the Action Congress of Nigeria as his avowed intent was to serve and lift his people from poverty.
This iconic man will not suffer fools gladly either. In a show of rare insight and awareness in today’s politics, he left the PDP, in his words, to challenge the single leadership structure of the PDP as according to him, any political system that revolves around a single individual cannot ensure a democracy that is genuine and developmental. “DD” believes that only a collective democratic system will bring dividends of democracy to the down trodden and the less privileged who are often left behind in the governance process. See how passionate this man is about the poor and the good of his people!!!

You can therefore understand why something came alive in me on Wednesday, the 12th day of January in the year of our Lord 2011, when word reached me that the Action Congress of Nigeria, our great party in Edo State has elected through transparent, free, fair and largely trouble free party primaries the Man “DD” to fly the flag of the party in the forthcoming General Elections in Edo North Senatorial District. My joy knew no bounds as this means the great man will square up against the dour, uninspiring and now unelectable Senator Yisa Braimoh of the PDP who wasted space and every one’s time for four years that are better forgotten. The only snag for me was that Dr. Tunde Lakoju, a man who likes to think he is the only person in Akoko – Edo Local Government Area went all out against all entreaties and the edifying position taken by the party leaders in the State to contest against “DD”. Well it is his Constitutional right to so do and he has indeed exercised that right but how well he was trounced!!! It is good that he did and in the process unwittingly made his demystification easy. One can only hope he has finally been put in his place and that he will learn to be less obtrusive next time. Why he thinks he is more deserving of the opportunity to represent us in a pack comprising “DD”, Comrade Peter Akpatason, the sagacious labour leader, and the distinguished Retired but not tired Assistant Inspector General of Police, the much loved and respected Chief Mike Okuo beats me silly.

Now back to the man who will be Senator. I am not one to gloat so I will not say that I told you so but nonetheless I will gleefully quote from an earlier paper where I canvassed “fairness and equity demands that an Akoko – Edo person must be senator now. The Etsako and Owan people have had more than their fair share of the largesse of office”. In the same piece I further wrote “on the basis of equity, justice and fair play, an Akoko - Edo person must be senator now. If that is true then this senator with all sense of fairness and responsibility must be an Igarra person. Even in the LGA, the Igarra people have always held the short end of the stick. In recent memory, between 1999 and now, Dr. Tunde Lakoju, who incidentally is also a Commissioner in the present administration of the Comrade Governor and Colonel Tunde Akogun (Rtd) who currently represents the Akoko – Edo people in the House of Representatives have been elected to the House of Representatives. Chief Paul Kehinde Udofe was also Commissioner in the Administration of Chief Lucky Igbinedion. The Late Chief Samson Ekhabafe before his unfortunate demise was Commissioner in 1983, He was Attorney General in the administration of Chief Lucky Igbinedion, He was again Commissioner for Water Resources in the administration of Professor Oserhiemen Osunbor and was factional Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party in Edo State. My point is by now obvious. Telling you none of these men hails from Igarra and that in all that time no Igarra man has been elected or appointed to any of these posts will be merely begging the question. So our next senator must be an Igarra person”.

How psychic and prescient this has proven. I am particularly delighted that the good people of Edo North Senatorial District, barring a few who will never outgrow the pull him down syndrome listened to the voice of reason. I do not recall a time when the Trinity (Akoko – Edo, Etsako and Owan people) agreed wholeheartedly on something as they have done on the burning and divisive Senatorial issue. I particularly am impressed with Comrade Peter Akpatason for his pragmatism and farsightedness. His political future is spread before him and I pray it be a successful and edifying one. He accepted that politics is about elite consensus and once it breaks down, there is bound to be trouble. Anyone who thinks that assessing strengths, pruning candidates, aligning, realigning, and realistically stepping down in deserving cases whether to ensure continued cohesion of a political party, forestall breakdown in law and order, maintain peace and guarantee the continued appeal of the party to the electorate is not part of the internal workings of a political party in a democracy had better get another think coming. The Comrade gentleman by his actions in the days leading to and shortly after the political considerations that saw “DD” emerge as the preferred candidate agrees with “DD” on the point that “this is no time for recrimination and it is no time to plot intrigues. This is the time to be focused without wavering. Therefore, every hand must be on deck as we fight for a common purpose”.

We may not know what will happen in the coming days because as they say, in politics, a lot can happen in the course of one day but one thing I do know is that the man who will be Senator is a gracious man. He must therefore be gracious in victory now and in the coming General Elections. It is no time to recriminate. The Senatorial project is an all embracing one. Every one is important whether they bought or did not buy into the idea. We of the Senatorial District must heed the wisdom in the recent words of that fine democrat, President Barack Obama of the United State’s as he counsels his people, a counsel which also speaks to us - “at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized – at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who happen to think differently than we do – it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we’re talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds”. Our creed should be that in the struggle to liberate our people from poverty, there are no winners and losers. Let it be that we all won as the good of the Senatorial District is secured.

Interestingly though, “DD” has become the face of hope for the Akoko - Edo people in the same mould Comrade Adams Oshiomole was for the people of Edo North in 2007 when he was the leading and preferred Gubernatorial candidate in Edo State before the abracadabra of the PDP and the kill joy that was Iwu’s INEC denied the people of the State the right to choose who governs them before the heroics of the judiciary vindicated the Comrade Governor’s insistence on the path of rectitude and restored the mandate of the people. The General Elections in April 2011 is “DDs” to lose. The groundswell of support he now enjoys is unprecedented in the history of the Senatorial District; Senator Yisa Braimoh’s scorecard does not inspire confidence and it will be a herculean task for him and the PDP which now enjoys thin support in the State to win the Senatorial District; a critical factor in Nigerian politics is to have the support of Party Chieftains, the State Governor and men of Power and means across the State and “DD” has this in abundance; “DD” represents the change we crave as his relative freshness in politics means that he is untainted with the muck with which the old guard is associated, infact “DDs” candidature is seen in the Senatorial District as a breath of fresh air after the suffocating years of thin ‘gods’ in Edo North and Akoko –Edo politics; “DD” is a courageous, dogged and committed fighter and this he demonstrated in quantum leaps whilst the quest to receive the nod to represent the Edo North people lasted, he neither waivered nor exercised any shade of doubt that one day we will collectively birth the vision he had for Edo North; there is a perception and rightly so that “DD” can be trusted – a man of means, influence and considerable persuasive skills who will get things done for the Senatorial District at the National Assembly.

“DD” is a man of immense goodwill and the good people of the Senatorial District know this and they seem eager to reward a man who they all agree is a gentleman and they know they will do pretty well by him. They know he understands them because he has seen it all. He has been at the valley, he has being to the mountain top, he is humane, urbane and cosmopolitan, he knows that things can be done in a better way, he knows that there is too much mediocrity here and above all the people know that he can do it. For “DD”, a man’s word is his bond and he does not give his lightly. If he says he will do it, you can be sure he will follow through. This man has the light and he will show us the way. This man has shattered the glass ceiling. He will be the first elected Senator from Akoko – Edo Local Government Area. The intangible gains for all of us are better imagined. No longer will it be that any one cannot aspire to a particular office because of untenable reasons, perceptions and ill considered cultural baggage’s.

Personally, I have not met a Billionaire who is more humble and I have met many. “DD” has never failed to spend time with a man like me to ruminate over the state of the nation and on sundry issues that affect our local community any time I catch up with him in Igarra, Lagos and Abuja. For such a man, the three hours I spent with him alone on Christmas day 2010 will ever count for much as I saw a man who was committed and willing to make the sacrifice that will be necessary in the coming days, months and years in the cause of serving the people. “DDs” avowed belief in divine orchestration and in the Almighty God is rare in today’s politician. I will never forget his punching one liner, “Stephen, every one will fulfill destiny by God Almighty”. I cannot but thank God that God’s purpose for this man’s life will not be still born, that this man will fulfill destiny, that with this man, it will be well with the people, that this man truly believes in ‘one people, one community’, that finally the Edo North people will have a man who understands that he is only a custodian of wealth and power and that the good of the people is why noble men venture into politics, it is why men should seek wealth and power.

Finally, may God Almighty reward the man who seek him earnestly, may he bless his cause and cause light perpetual to shine on his path even as the people of the Senatorial District earnestly look forward to the election of the man who seeks to make them ‘one people, one community’, Deacon (Dr.) Domingo Alaba Obende, the Man who will be Senator to the Glory of God.

STEPHEN O. OBAJAJA is a Partner at the Lagos Law firm of Fountain Court Partners.

CONSENSUS: A SAD RETURN TO ETHNIC POLITICS

CONSENSUS: A SAD RETURN TO ETHNIC POLITICS

A sad day it was on the 22nd of November, 2010, when Mallam Adamu Ciroma and 8 others against wise counsel and all entreaties and appeal to the better angels of their nature endorsed a Northern consensus candidate to vie for the presidential ticket of the PDP against the incumbent President, Dr. Jonathan Ebele Goodluck of the minority Ijaw stock of the South - South region supposedly to maintain a nebulous power rotation or zoning within the ruling PDP which delusionally refers to itself as the largest political party in Africa.

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the man so endorsed has accepted the challenge and the three other major contestants, General Ibrahim Babangida, General Aliyu Gusau and Abubakar Bukola Saraki have since congratulated and pledged to work with him. On the other hand, Presidential spokesperson, Ima Niboro has welcomed the choice of the Nine ‘wisemen’ boasting that the choice of Atiku Abubakar has further cleared the coast for his principal to coast to victory at the PDP presidential primaries. Dr. Balarabe Musa believes that Atiku’s choice is an opportunity for the opposition parties to dislodge the PDP from power as he reckons General Ibrahim Babangida would have being a more formidable choice even more so than President Jonathan Ebele Goodluck.

For whatever it is worth, the 2011 elections will come and go and we will still be here but the implications and the resonance of what Mallam Adamu Ciroma and his cohorts have done will live with us for decades. I pray they will live many more years to be haunted by the inevitable ethnic backlash that will follow this endorsement every general election year. IBB is obviously already worried; he has cautioned that the aspirants from the North should not be seen as candidates of the North, but as national aspirants. He said the position of the North on zoning had been misconstrued. Pray how else are we to see candidates who insisted that a Northerner must emerge president and who willingly submitted themselves to the Ciroma group for possible selection as the Northern consensus candidate? Atiku Abubakar is a Northern candidate pure and simple.

The sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’aad Abubakar, Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, Alhaji Maitama Sule, Generals Yakubu Gowon, Theophilus Danjuma and Domkat Bali and many other influential Northerners endorsed Atiku’s candidature as reported in the Guardian of Tuesday, November 23, 2010. If it is about Nigeria, these experienced men sure could have counseled other subtle ways of achieving the same purpose without such an open endorsement that will surely divide Nigerians more than it will unite them.

Wise counsel suggests that the Jonathan Ebele Goodluck presidency is a tide of history that we should all do well to live with. The conventional wisdom should be that there is nothing any one can do about it considering the humble man’s trajectory to power but not so with these rapacious and perfidious political elites and their collaborators who must be relevant at all cost. These same men have held power for 38 years of Nigeria’s political independence and did nothing for their people yet they will in the name of these same people demand power rotation at all cost in 2011 when a Southern minority was having a shot at power for the first time in Nigeria’s political history, something that may not happen again in One hundred years and yet these people will not see it as an opportunity to heal the nation and foster a sense of belonging, enthrone equity and justice and engender a sense of joint ownership of the Nigerian project amongst the minority ethnic groups.

Now the damage is done. How shall we counsel the Ibo man in 2015 if he insists on a Consensus Eastern candidate? How about our brothers to the West of the Niger river who will sooner than later insist on a Yoruba president and a very clear and present danger, how do you explain these to the South - South, the region which believes that without its vast oil wealth, there will be no Nigeria. It is no longer whether Atiku wins the Presidency or not. It is that from now on, every one will be justified to insist on ethnocentricity and resort to ethnic jingoism whenever and wherever the question of political office rears its head in Nigeria.

But for one or two persons amongst the ‘Nine wisemen’, and the four candidates, they have between them held all the most important offices with enormous opportunity to make Nigeria but they did not. Their arrowhead, Mallam Adamu Ciroma was Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, three times Minister of Industries, Agriculture and Finance. He was a powerful chieftain of the NPN and infact a former Presidential aspirant of that era that brought Nigeria to its knees. He is also a founding member of the PDP, a party that is destroying Nigeria today. Another prominent member of that panel is three times Minister of Establishment, Minister of State for Education and Minister of Labour, Alhaji Bello Kirfi. Chief Audu Ogbeh was a former Minister of Communications and he was National Chairman of the PDP. Major General David Jemibewon was Military Governor of Western State, First Governor of Old Oyo State and Minister of Police Affairs. He was also a founding member of the PDP. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Turakin Adamawa, rose to be Customs boss, he was elected Governor of Adamawa State and He was Vice President of Nigeria for Eight years. No one will forget the unspeakable shame the then Vice President and President Olusegun Obasanjo brought Nigeria in a war of attrition where accusations of corruption and counter corruption were bandied around to the chagrin of utterly disconsolate Nigerians. He was also a founding member of the PDP. General Aliyu Gusau has been National Security Adviser now for as long as anyone can remember. How secure is our nation today? He was also a founding member of the PDP. Everything has been said and written about General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida who is fondly called IBB and he has been accused of everything and anything under the sun. He has been accused of elevating corruption to a statecraft. He has been accused of murder and above all he annulled an election that could have set Nigeria free and flying again in 1993. The agitations that followed the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential elections brought Nigeria to the edge of the precipice and the albatross of that misadventure remains wrapped around IBB’s neck like an albatross. A Gordian knot from which he will never be able to extricate himself even if he had two lifetimes.

These men without fail failed our country. These men should hide their heads in shame for the role they played in the destruction of Nigeria. They should worry that a country they midwifed turned out this awry and leave us to sort out the mess with new ideas. There is no magic wand they have now to exorcise the evil with Nigeria that was not available to them all along – since Nigeria’s political independence these men and their ilk have held sway. These men by their antecedents cannot be trusted to lead us right or choose leaders for us.

Turaki is meanwhile prancing about the place, talking to a people whose flirtations with dementia are well known. His predilection to sound the gong of zoning from the rooftop deceives no one. So there was no zoning when he held Olusegun Obasanjo to ransom in 2003 on the eve of the Presidentail primaries of the PDP. He could well have been President or swing the support Alex Ekwueme’s way and this much he agreed were two of the three options available to him until the last minute when Obasanjo went to him cap in hand begging at the time. If Obasanjo had died in 2001, Atiku wants us to believe he would have respected any nebulous zoning or power rotation concept eh… Let the former Vice President tell that story to the marines!!!

I am bitterly disappointed because by this consensus candidate thing, we have again introduced another dangerous dimension to our politicking and one that is not easily reversed at that all in the name of ‘self interest’ is the name of the game. Just when you think it can not possibly get worse than this, it actually does get worse in Nigeria.

Resignedly, we wait with berthed breath and see where this all leads us in 2011 and beyond.

STEPHEN O. OBAJAJA is a Partner at the Lagos Law Firm of Fountain Court Partners.

LUCKY DUBE: RETHINKING NIGERIA’S FOREIGN POLICY

LUCKY DUBE: RETHINKING NIGERIA’S FOREIGN POLICY

Nigeria has severally avowed that Africa is the centre piece of its foreign policy. Simply put, it means that Nigeria in the conduct of its foreign policy and pursuit of her international interests will seek the peace, security and well being of all African countries and its peoples. In time past, Nigeria’s foreign policy was robust and the country was respected around the world as it put the interest of Africa first in world affairs. If America has earned the sobriquet, “Uncle Sam” on account of her leadership role in world politics, Nigeria’s was “big brother Africa” on account of her penchant for putting Africa first. For Nigeria, charity seemed to begin abroad. Nigeria’s role at the United Nations, especially in peace keeping efforts in Africa and around the world is well acknowledged.

In Nigeria, all nationalities (black and white) are well at home and thriving in several ways. Take for example, the case of Nigerien immigrants in Lagos who freely go about their business soliciting alms from Nigerians who freely give as well. Nigeria committed men and resources well worth over 50 million dollars to fight apartheid in South Africa until that evil system crumbled in 1994 with that rainbow nation’s first multi racial elections ushering in democracy and Nelson Mandela as President of the country. Nigeria was the moving force that secured peace in Liberia and Sierra Leone, committing monumental resources to both struggles. Nigeria’s effort and achievement in peace winning and peace keeping across the globe is no mean feat. Compare these two instances with the complete mess Belgium, France and the UN made of Rwanda in 1994.

I have recounted these instances in light of the recent revelation that the killers of the reggae music maestro and icon, Lucky Dube mistook him for a Nigerian. If he were, why will they kill any one because he is Nigerian? South Africa did not dismantle apartheid only to replace it with Xenophobia which has come to the fore in recent times. Will the miscreants go after an American in that manner just like that? The South African Government has a lot of explanation and apology to make to Nigeria if this is indeed true. Black South Africa gained political independence and since 1994, their Government has done little to gain them economic advancement and lift the majority of the black population with poor education from poverty as all most of them ever knew was the struggle. Now crime has skyrocketed and instead of seeking answers to this and sundry social cultural issues plaguing the black majority, the ANC, in the manner of many popular parties that won independence for many of Africa’s countries is derailing on account of leadership tussle between former President Thabo Mbeki, who has left the party and his erstwhile Deputy, Jacob Zuma who has corruption charges wrapped around his neck like an albatross.

The understandable anger of the South African people should be directed towards their Government and not innocent Nigerians, many of who work and contribute to the advancement of the former apartheid enclave. I have no sympathy for the South African Government. I only feel for the family of Lucky Dube and the man himself, who was Africa’s biggest musical export. His death was particularly cruel. It is ironical that a man who preached peace, advocated non violence and the common humanity of mankind was claimed by violence in a senseless manner. Perhaps the South African government will now appreciate the enormity of the economic problem and crime in South Africa and set about combating it now it has claimed one of theirs and Africa’s best.

This Lucky Dube incident I do hope will in the coming months elicit debates among Nigeria’s many public commentators. But there is one question I want them to avert their minds to as the significance of the Lucky Dube incident which is not an isolated case must not be lost on us. They must ask themselves and Nigerians why we are hated and despised around the world despite our best efforts in the committee of nations. The other day I heard our otherwise respected information Minister talking of Re branding Nigeria. What is she re branding? Was there ever a brand? Are there no lessons for her to learn from history? What became of the last vain attempt to launder the image of Nigeria? What did they call it? “The heart of Africa campaign.”

Well if those who should know do not know what the problem is with our country, I will tell them. The problem with Nigeria is that we have mismanaged everything imaginable so badly that we do not even know how to start righting them. But it is obvious where to start if we will. Our “little brothers” do not respect us because of the kind of Leadership we have had overtime. If our leaders will run Nigeria right then there is no image to launder. The consultancy fee for these intangibles at times are mind boggling and simply unjustifiable by the results. Apart from the consequences of the misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, no one is attacking Americans. Hostility towards French men and Britons inside Europe is virtually unheard of. These people put their people first and their leaders are committed to their welfare. Whenever and wherever they suffer wrongs, their Governments will protect and get redress for them and the rest of the world takes note. Can we say the same of our country? Nigeria with its potentials should be king in Africa and well respected across the globe. But what do we get. Nothing.

No one respects a country whose leaders willfully undermine the will of the people, plunder their common patrimony/commonwealth, deliberately bungle elections and in the most hypocritical and wicked manner imaginable turn around to ask the people to learn from Ghana. It is fast turning out that the perfidy of many Nigerian leaders and politicians know no bounds.

There is so much wrong with Nigeria and her foreign policy. In the aftermath of the war in Iraq, American companies are involved in re building Iraq; America has continued to secure the gulf because of its strategic and vast oil interests, America’s huge industrial military complex supplied the armaments in America’s war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. What strategic advantage has Nigeria ever secured from playing big brother? After 1994, we could not reap anything from our support for the freedom of South Africa and the dismantling of apartheid there. Infact apart from the fact of liberating fellow blacks from the shackles of apartheid, all our efforts in South Africa went down the drain in one fall sweep – politically and economically. In 1995, Nelson Mandela, the man who benefited most from Nigeria and Nigerian’s large heartedness mobilized the rest of the world to suspend Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations and thus began the pariah status from which we are yet to fully recover. Without holding brief for the Late Head of State, General Sanni Abacha, probity demands Nelson Mandela should have been more circumspect in canvassing for sanctions against Nigeria at least in retrospection for the big brother Nigeria has been and besides, General Sanni Abacha did not at the time approximate to the Nigerian state.

With the dismantling of apartheid and the opening of a new market vista, it was expected that Nigerian businesses will invade South Africa. What did we see instead? The South African’s actually invaded us. The biggest telecommunications company in Nigeria today is a South African company, one of the biggest banks in Nigeria is now controlled by South African’s. I am unaware of any African country today where Nigerian businesses and businessmen hold sway in strategic sectors of the economy. Liberia and Sierra Leone is now being rebuilt. Who is doing the rebuilding? What percentage of the contracts has been awarded to Nigerian businesses? Again, as with the experience of South Africa, Nigeria and Nigerian’s gain nothing for their monumental sacrifice in winning peace for our two West African neighbours. These are the things we are talking about when we say that Nigeria should rethink and overhaul its foreign policy thrust. This naiveté charitable thinking must give way to a pragmatic and self edifying foreign policy. Whatever sentiment informed the choice of Africa as the centre piece of Nigeria’s foreign policy is no longer as valid as it was in the 1970’s.

In 1975, when the late Head of State, General Ramat Murtala Mohammed made the inspiring “Africa Has Come of Age” speech at the Meeting of the Heads of Governments of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) one could see the need for Africa to bond together in light of its then recent colonial history and the unsure footedness of the newly independent states in a continually fractious world between the East communist philosophy and the West’s capitalism. If anything, the countries of Africa are now rife to take advantage of their individual identity in a continent wide political union or each African country in the absence of that, especially Nigeria must make itself and its people the centre piece of its foreign policy. It is only after the internal contradictions and problems which in Nigeria’s case has threatened to consume us has been brought to a manageable proportion that we can again stick out our neck either for a continent wide Government or for pretensions of being any one’s big brother. Who needs a big brother who cannot take care of even himself? Another way, with a big brother like Nigeria, bullies will have a field day.

It is never too late to do the right thing though as Martin Luther King Jr. reminded Americans in 1963, One Hundred years after Abraham Lincoln signed the proclamation freeing slaves, that though the negro remained in bondage everywhere, the time was propitious to start the process of the final emancipation of America’s black people even if it is starting One Hundred years late. Nigeria and her leaders must start doing the right thing from this moment onwards and the right thing is to refocus and retool Nigeria’s foreign policy. The welfare of Nigeria’s people should become the centre piece of her foreign policy while at the same time accommodating the best interests of the African continent but when it comes to any areas of conflict between the interest of Nigeria and that of Africa that of Nigeria should take precedence.


STEPHEN O. OBAJAJA is a partner in the Lagos law firm of Fountain Court Partners.