NATIONAL DIALOGUE: A CURSE OR BLESSING

The beauty of indirect Democracy paves way for Representations through elected politicians, emphatically the National Assemble serve as the mouth piece of Indirect Democracy were issues related to human and social development of the country are constructively discuss and bills are propose to which laws are made. The National Assemble encompasses the House of Representatives with 360 members and the Senate House with 102 members are elected base on senatorial district and constituencies. Members are elected irrespective of religious inclination or tribal differences but rather simple majority of vote in an election, the representative serve as the voice of people at national level.

In a country where we live 160 million population with different ethnic groups to which Direct Democracy is never suitable but yearning and aspirations of people are gear through representations at state and national level, indeed the will of people is bestowed on representative’s to which they derived their Power and Authority from the constitution and they are subjected to change when the need is arise by the people. Why National Dialogue? President Good luck Jonathan calls for National Dialogue which is expected to resolve Nigerian difference and promote unity among Nigerians, the national dialogue panel was inaugurated with 13 member’s conference advisory committee.

One can picture the National Dialogue to encompasses delegate across the six geo-political zone including special interest groups such as women labor, youth union, religious groups and the disabled people since the conference is about nationality. National Dialogue is an attribute of a good Democracy but in essence the representatives which were elected by people should be question by the people on their welfare and development of the country. Everyone in Nigeria knows the problem of this country even a 7 year’s old child knows that educational system has collapse, proximity in electricity, water, and road network, level of insecurity is pervasive, noting good to write home about more over our representative keeps on asking national questions which has no answer, yet the president call for national dialogue.

President Good Luck Jonathan National Dialogue will be a curse and a blessing  to Nigerian’s, as a curse dialogue can be lure through our representatives at State House and National  House of Assemble because if the representative are truly representing us definitely members will travel back to their respective constituency and discuss about national questions on which the will table it to the house and provide solutions, secondly it will be an avenue for greed politician to steal public fund and campaign as 2015 polls is nearby, thirdly some few Nigerians will benefit in the preparation of national dialogue through contracts which will amounted billions of naira instead to be used to boost other sector of the economic.  

As a blessing national dialogue will be meaningful and imperative to rescue the nation especially now that the nation is with intractable crisis, secondly Nigerian’s to embrace national dialogue beyond the expectation of President Jonathan and make him understand if he had announced the national conference to suit his personal interest, he has committed the greatest mistake as Nigeria will not allow him to temper with the outcome for partisan political reason , thirdly the unity will be uphold with strong faith.

Urge the presidential advisory committee on national dialogue to make prudent look on both the curse and blessing of national dialogue as well as to make it work as a panacea to all our social, economic and political problems. Political parties should not play any role in selection of the delegate; the conference should be free from sentiment, polarization and not a tool for manipulative political shenanigans.

Cmr.Sadiq Ibrahim Ayuba(sq)

Chairman ZTC-BUK

Ibrahimsadiq194@gmail.com

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ELECTRICITY PRIVATIZATION: OPTIMISM

Coal, oil, gas and hydro power are abundant in Nigeria to which Nigeria owns the world’s ninth largest gas reserves; much of it is flared off or left underground. Nigerian government is duty bound to provide basin social amenities inclusive of electricity. The importance of electricity to Nigerians cannot be overemphasized as 95% of economic activities are done with electricity and Electric power supply is the most important commodity for national development. With electrical energy the people are empowered to work from the domestic level and the cottage industries, through the small-scale and medium industries to employment in the large-scale manufacturing complexes.

 

Nigeria’s state power company produces only a few hours of electricity a day, forcing those who can afford it to rely on expensive diesel generators that drain billions of dollars from the economy. Average Nigerians whose source of income is below 1 dollar per day remain in total black out as they cannot afford diesel for generators which courses untold suffering and pains to them as majority  of their activities is done with power supply. Nigerian Government’s have promise to generate 6,000 MW, or even more power through the old Electricity Corporation of Nigeria, the former Niger Dams Authority and the defunct Nigerian Electric Power Authority, now Power Holding Company of Nigeria. (PHCN)

 

Mr. President vowed to reform the power sector through privatization which he has succeed in doing so, on which the complete payment is made last month which has been broken up into 11 generation companies and six distribution companies, all being sold separately to private consortia, for a total of around $2.5 billion.  Most bids were led by Nigerian oligarchs or local firms like Forte Oil but many have recognized technical partners like Siemens and Manila Electric Co. privatization in Nigeria can be traced back to 1992 when Structural Adjustment Policy (SAP) was introduced which research has depicted that SAP in Nigeria worsen the economic standard of Nigerian’s because there was increase in cost of living, increase in level of poverty resulted in serious industrial crises. It creates dependency upon commodities which have artificially low prices as they are heavily subsidized by economically dominant nations.

 

The ball is now in the court since Nigerian government has shun there role in power supply, optimistic that electricity supply will be improved from 40% to at least 90% daily, because Nigeria government has invested billions of naira to boost the power sector and the worst part is that Nigeria is borrowing a total of $1.6 billion from the World Bank, Chinese Exim Bank, the African Development Bank and through a Eurobond to upgrade the creaking transmission network that connects power plants to distributing substations but yet no power supply because of corruption and attitudinal in responsibility of some Nigerians with the popular saying that ‘government work is not my father work’. Therefore they will mismanaged and misbehave with public resources, in essence as the bid is been sold to most of our political, industrial and commercial bourgeois here in Nigeria, they will enforced strict measures to ensure that power is stable across the federation.

 

Sadiq Ibrahim Ayuba (SQ)

Political Engineer (BUK)

Ibrahimsadiq194@gmail.com

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Politics, Neglect, and the Heaviest Penalty

by Muh'd Dahiru Aminu
The Classical Greek philosopher, Plato, in his famous Republic, noted that the heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to you. It doesn’t matter if one is charmed by philosophy or not, but, in today’s Nigeria, Plato’s statement does not only inscribe the basis for Nigeria’s character defect, it equally awakens the subject of inept leadership that has served as a classic peculiarity of our country.

Starting from 1999, when Nigeria transitioned to democratic rule, the most troubling start for the country at that period seemed to be that the bunch of the politicians that launched the democratic system—or the republic—as a representative form of government, were, to put it sympathetically, inept. It won’t be too tasking to reckon that at the time, most people that signed up to politics and contested elections were hardly tied up to an auspicious career. In the Nigerian clime, such a people of discouraging futures—career wise—are most ably eligible to contest political offices. Nigeria’s 1999 transition to democratic rule was, therefore, a perfect point—in the history of the country—in which the crooked amongst us had the ideal opportunity to take control of power, which they did relentlessly.

It was regrettable that at the time, credible Nigerians with integrity and honour couldn’t have considered venturing forth to partisan politics, perhaps for the time-honoured presumption—that not only is partisan politics most suitable for people of discouraging futures; without active careers to build—that politics itself is a dirty game. Out of their own volition—and at the peril of our country’s future—credible Nigerians with unmatched track records in the public and private sectors of the economy; who had their careers on the upswing couldn’t think through abandoning their otherwise assuring professions only to take the deep plunge into the murky waters of politics that carried with itself the overt currents of uncertainty. Although Nigeria was successful in leaping out of successive military dictatorships, it unfortunately leapfrogged into a democracy guided by the mostly incompetent ones found from our within; an oubliette democracy, if one may call it that.

But, regrettably, like Plato has told us, in the end, everything boils down to politics, whether or not we like it. Decisions taken by politicians today have a way of influencing and shaping all aspects of our individual and collective lives. From education, arts, literature, agriculture, economics, labour, and manufacturing, and to all other sectors of the society, the influence of decisions taken by politicians can never be played down. Thus, the disregard and neglect for partisan politics by more competent people in the country—as opposed to the crooked—must be the single most elemental factor that is responsible for the sundry of issues Nigeria is battling with today. In a country of more than a hundred and fifty million people—that lays claim to professionals and experts in almost all facets of any and every preoccupation—it is quite biting and most strange that the political showground of Nigeria’s democracy has been subjugated—in the majority—by the mostly ineffectual elements of society.

There is an insistent need to overturn this trend by encouraging and reassuring the fine, adept people amongst us to answer a calling in partisan politics by joining the socio-political system at all levels; local and central. It is high time we saw participation in partisan politics from an untainted, unsoiled perspective. We must collectively raise the spirits of our people so they could get a handle on the fact that partaking in partisan politics is not dirty, all together. No one should be made to feel that to sign up to and engage in partisan politics is akin to risking one’s sanity. Rather, it should be seen as an avenue for enervating one’s rationality; the ability to go in there, takeover the polity from the hands of the mostly crooked, and to unfetter the sufferings of our people from a life of captivity, oppression, and suppression.

The civil society groups have a duty to encourage young Nigerians possessing the passion and the instinctive intuition of managing people and resources to join politics, en bloc. For quite a while, Nigeria has been losing the dexterity of the sharp-witted amongst us. Our people, out of disappointments have either left the country for the far-off; never committed to returning home until the days of innocence is recouped once again, or have chosen to live a somewhat quiet life in the academia and other sectors of our society. Nigerians with exceptional skills and capacity to spearhead the affairs of the country must be ready to contest elections at all levels of government, from the peripheral to the central.

No momentous improvement is certain for Nigeria until we all are ready to succumb to a logical, hard-nosed decision, to reverse the institutional challenges that confront us on a daily life, which obviously are all attributable to a miscarried, mercilessly corrupt leadership. Not only must we contest for political offices to change the course of action in governance, we should rally round and abet candidates for political office who have got a history that is free of venality and corruption.

More importantly, incentives and perks that has become the enticing inspiration for aspiring to win and to occupy political offices must be grossly reduced so as to make such offices not as much attractive to perverts. Doing this will ensure that the best natured amongst us present themselves for political offices more willingly than the dishonest. Electioneering processes should also be conducted in a more maven approach where potential candidates for political offices are called to debate and deliberate on matters of contemporaneity, and how to set about tackling societal problems.

Not to overlook, the society should also enact and uphold stringent laws of inflexible penances that would effectively deal with persons caught within the webs of graft as a way of demonstrating deterrence to would-be duplicitous offences often committed in public service. All these and more can be achieved, just so we could reverse the awful trend we are faced with; the heaviest penalty—to quote Plato—that we all have unduly been punished with, for not daring to participate in partisan politics, and for declining to rule.

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ASUU STRIKE: NANS HAS FAILED NIGERIAN STUDENTS

National Association of Nigerian students(NANS) is the mother of all Nigerian universities unionism which was ought to be a body that fight for rights and privileges of students and to ensure that we have good Education system and sound academics environment alongside with ASUU and other student bodies. In those years when NANS was NANS there was unity among all Nigerian students with the spirits of ones and comprise of young vibrant, energetic and student minded union, were ever the called for assembly students across the federation will match until the seen the light of the day.

History has inform us how students struggle for the independent of Nigeria and also how students stood against the SAP implementation in Nigeria in 1992 and so many movement for emancipation of our rights. The irony in NANS of today is quite alarming when the leadership in NANS was dictated by stalk holders who are Non- students or university drop out, who are in forefront in NANS affairs to manipulate and maneuver issues according to what suit them and their Godson, it will not be an exaggeration to write NANS of today is full of impersonation and factional teams who are more corrupt then some Nigerian politicians.

The ongoing nationwide 8 weeks strike by ASUU which has paralyzed academic activities in Nigeria on failure of the federal government to implement the 2009 agreement was quite a catastrophe for Nigerians and a shame for Nigerian government as the giant of Africa, who are bless with abundant natural and human resources, but the issue at stalk, health workers are on strike, bad road network, no water supply and environmental sanitation, electricity is privatize, similar story in all  sphere of life in Nigeria, there was nothing to write home about. Even due there was an effort by the government to ensure that striking lecturers resume back works, but the ASUU under the leadership of Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge remain adamant until the 2009 agreement is fully implemented.

The scenario has reach zenith as series of meetings and negotiationshas been holding between ASUU delegate and FG representatives but concluded deadlock, to the extent that ASUU has pull out negotiations and very soon FG will declare ‘no work no pay’ which will implicit stress to our lectures. When Nigeria politicians are paid millions of naira every mouth as take home apart from other allowances and yet some loot billions of dollars to swizz account. A country where 6 million is spent every day in Mr. President Kitchen and billions of naira for his welfare and yet cannot afford 92 billion for striking lectures. Just because their children are not studying in Nigerian universities.

Third party is emergency needed between the two fighting elephant,which will mediate and call for dialogue so that issues will be resolve, who are those third party? The traditional rulers, theNigerian Generals, the statesman, the elite and of course the Nigerian students.The best in position to mediate over are the Nigerian students.Since ASUU demand is purposely for student’s welfare as well to promote the Nigerian educational system. Students umbrella is NANS and yet NANS executives are stooges of FG whose interest is to safeguard the reputation of President Jonathan calling for sacking Minister of Education and Minister of Labour and Productivity, so that, they will be used in 2015 polls and be given millions of naira as what happen during the fuel subsidy protest.

The leadership of NANS led by YinkaGbedo has failed Nigerian students which was jettisoned the interest by using strike to make money for their pocket. They have failed to organize a peaceful demonstration against FG failure in fully implementation of 2009 agreements but rather calling of state of emergency in ministry of Education. We are tired of press release, we need action and we have constitution back up in peaceful assembly. If not history will repeat itself as in 1993 when ASUU wasled by prof. AttahiruJaga and now currently the INEC boos, when on strike and lasted for 8 mouths.Which no one will pray for such to happenagain.NANS leadership is immature; I wonder how they will mediate over ASUU strike.

The leadership should be able to consulate beliefs as well as mobilize its members and the citizenryfor positive action. The leaders should commune emotionally with their followers. They should not be selfish individuals who ride on the back of the people in order to achieve personal goals and ambitions. The goals of the leadership must not be at variance with those of thefollowers. Like national leadership, the leaders of the movement must be ready to suffer severe deprivation in the interest of the people. No matter how important or effective the leader may be, the qualities that endear him to his people may soon fade away, ifhe operates in an ideological vacuum. Even if he manages to cope, as most charismatic leaders do, things could be very difficult for his successors. This is why the issue of ideology is linked with leadership. Until then, we can say aluta continue victoria acerta!

Sadiq Ibrahim Ayuba(SQ)

Student of power and political analyses (BUK)

Ibrahimsadiq194@gmail.com

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Battle for Public Offices: Nigerians Yearning to Serve?

By

Al-Amin Abba Dabo

In just under two years, Nigerians would be called upon to exercise their constitutional rights of voting for leaders of their constituencies, state governments and most importantly, their nation. This wonderful process of democracy allows Nigerians to give their mandate to whomever they so desire, being accountable to no one but themselves. Although the elections are not yet in our faces, the campaign and propaganda are. Depending on where your sentiments lie, you may find the ‘we-have-performed’ claims from those in power either laughable or laudable. On the other hand, you may find the ‘we-are-saints-and-messiahs’ insinuations from the opposition either nauseating or stimulating. Regardless of the political bandwagon you hop on, you can’t deny sensing the palpable tension leading up to 2015. The trash talk between political rivals alone is enough to give one nightmares. All this hullabaloo leads one to mindlessly defy temporal dimensions and think 2015 is tomorrow. Indubitably, it is not. Then why are we being bombarded with such hoopla and noisy clamor at this early stage? Well, for the novice, it may seem early. For the political office hustler, it is just right. The power struggle for those fat-cheque-paying offices is well worth the fracas. Public offices shouldn’t be seen in that manner, however. They shouldn’t be seen as opportunities for personal wealth accumulation, bully pulpits for intimidation, platforms for settling political/personal vendettas or ways to lay dibs on a piece of the so-called ‘national cake’. Public offices should only be seen as avenues to be used to positively impact and better the lives of common Nigerians. Judging from the state of the nation, it is clear that these offices, along with their monetary allures, are regarded as routes to utopia and getting to them should be nothing short of a do-or-die affair. Aspirants of such offices entice us with their often overly optimistic and unrealistic promises, camouflaging under the name of patriotism and dismissing any allegations that pecuniary magnetisms are the primary reasons behind their contest. But how true is that? Well, let us look at a very popular example: The Nigerian lawmakers.

 

According to PM NEWS, each Nigerian senator heads home with an annual allowance of N180 million ($1.2 million) and a member of the House of Representatives laughs to the bank with an annual allowance of N144 million. This is excluding their basic salary and the estacodes for in-house and foreign committee work. There are 109 serving senators and 360 house of representative members. In 2011, the CBN governor, Lamido Sanusi, infamously stated that “Twenty five per cent of the overhead of the Federal Government budget goes to National Assembly’’. He added that as of 2010, ‘’total government overhead was N536, 268, 492, 080. Total overhead of the National Assembly was N136, 259,768,112 which was exactly 25.1 per cent of Federal Government overhead’’. To put this in context, a lawmaker in India earns N3.7 million ($23,988) per annum and so will need to work for at least 49 years to earn the annual allowance of a Nigerian senator and at least 39 years to earn the N144m annual allowance of a member of the House of Representatives. The Nigerian lawmakers are unsurprisingly, the highest paid in the world. Section 70 of the 1999 constitution states that the salaries and allowances of the federal legislators shall be determined and fixed by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). Therefore, these outrageous sums are apparently in perfect alliance with the laws of the land. It is worth noting that non-electable public offices are no different. According to the report by the Adamu Fika led-committee on the Reform Processes in the Public Service, salaries and allowances of permanent secretaries and top civil servants rose from N126.7 billion in 2007 to N1.126 trillion in 2012. It added that ’’Out of this, salaries took a mere N94.56 billion, while allowances gulped the whole of N1.03 trillion, which represented 91.56 per cent’’. This shocking sum is once again approved by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). It is worth noting that the entire civil service makes up less than 0.013 per cent of the total population of the country.

 

Let us delve into the discussion of this unsustainable, insensitive, immoral and indefensible package of allowances by looking at current state of the nation. According to the Bureau of National Statistics (BNS), the current unemployment rate is 23.9 percent. The Labor force total in Nigeria was last reported at 51,669,297 in 2011. This means at least 12 million people are unemployed. To put this in context, Chad has a population of 12 million people. In addition, over 70 percent of the Nigerian population ekes a living on less than N160 a day. So how is it morally acceptable or socially just for the House of Assembly (469 people) to pocket revenues worth 25 percent of the federal overheads? Are we waiting for the lawmakers to say ‘cut my allowances, we’ve had enough’ before we act? Nigeria ranks 187 out of 200 countries in the World’s health systems rating by the World Health Organisation (WHO), way below countries like Chad, Rwanda and Mali. General government expenditure on health as a percentage of total government expenditure is 7.5 percent. In terms of education, over 70 percent of students that take the WAEC every year fail and only 1 out of 5 university applicants gets offered a place. So how would we ever ripen sectors such as health and education (that are paramount to our development) when the civil service (<0.013 percent of the population) alone hijacks 70 kobo out of every N1 that Nigeria earns? This leaves just 30 percent of the yearly Nigerian budget to serve the remaining 168 million people.

 

Section 4 of the 1999 constitution tasks the legislature to make laws for “the peace, order and good government of the federation” but many believe the House of Assembly is the bane of our development. With over 70 percent of the Nigerian budget accounting for recurrent expenditure (payment of salaries, allowances and government running costs), when should we expect the much needed infrastructural development? 30 percent of the budget allocated for capital expenditure is grossly insufficient to impact a continuously growing population. Many have expressed their disagreement with this social injustice, the prominent ones being the CBN governor, Mr Femi Falana, Solomon Kehinde and the Adamu Fika-led committee. Personally, what worries me most is not the financial aspect of things, but the psychological impact this unfairness has on the youths. It’s an undisputed fact that our education, health and security sectors need major reforms. But how do you convince the youths to follow career paths in these sectors? How would you convince them that, in the interest of the nation, it is better to be referred to as ‘Mr. lecturer’ rather than ‘Honourable’ or ‘His Excellency’? Nigeria is not in need of more politicians; it is in dire need of good teachers, doctors, policemen and entrepreneurs. But would you convince your child to join the police force and earn N40, 000 – N50, 000 a month as a constable, while risking his life in service? Or would you rather see him at the air-conditioned national assembly gatherings in his flowing Agbada? The sooner we reduce the monetary appeals of public offices, the sooner we would know those who really want to serve the nation. The sooner we tackle this lopsided allowance and salary structure, the quicker we would reverse the unhealthy trend of spending 70 percent of the national budget on recurrent expenditure. In conclusion, the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) needs to revise their salary and allowances allocation formula to a more sustainable, fair and patriotic alignment.

 

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