Friday, November 26, 2010

Don't Worry....Nigeria is SAFE

There are all sorts of scenario-building games going on about Nigeria. From friends to foes of our country to those neutral observers reading events here. Then, of course, our very own citizens home and abroad - very concerned citizens - who are worried and weary! Truth be told, there is enough worry to go round.

But wait a minute, haven't we confounded ourselves before? We always dance around the precipice, and very promptly retreat - returning to sanity. Okay, but must we constantly flirt with disaster, with disunity, with snares & flares - even disintegration? That's what more and more people are asking. My answer is NO! Our collective response must be NO!

If you don't mind, I propose that no motion for separation can pass in this land. It just will not happen. We are so interwoven and intrinsically united at the peoples-level than our so-called leaders recognize or admit. Let me also suggest that the reason most regimes have failed is their failure to imbibe this reality, rather than their divide-and-rule agenda. It is the same reason West Africans stay together despite the abysmal performance (or is it non-performance?) of ECOWAS - a fact its Authority has now acknowledged by launching an "ECOWAS of People not ECOWAS of States" initiative.

Nigeria is SAFE! She is agitated but stable at core.

Nigerians are together! We are depressed but optimistic for our country.

All the worrying and wearying shall pass. We will not crumble or disappear. And we will soon show it -as early as the 2011 General Elections!

Stand by us if you really care.

Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill

We must ask the Nigerian parliament to pass the FOI Bill into law soonest - as it has done with the electoral act and constitution amendment. We must regret that civil society, Labour, the Bar Association and Nigerian students have not taken on the politicians to stop their blatant disrespect for, and total insensitivity to, our collective call for the law in the last 12 years! Now, they must.

We ask the Save Nigeria Group to place this case on the front burner. This National Assembly must not expire without passing the bill into law, and President Jonathan needs to announce his eagerness to assent today!

Though this is not a media-only law, we must call on the Nigerian Press to rise to its full height and bring this matter to either an early resolution or an early confrontation. We cannot fight for democracy and its biggest beneficiaries treat the nation with such contempt. Not allowed.

FOI is now an election issue: Vote for it and you may return; vote against and you are gone! This is the message every medium, all media, must make a banner clip each and every day - as we countdown to Election Day 2011.

Friday, November 12, 2010

The CONVERGENCE

The CONVERGENCE is here!

There is a new dawn on the horizon. It will renew the world. In its wake, dear friends, many things – both known and unknown - will change, or be changed. It is knocking on all doors! I call it "The Convergence".

The new generation of world leaders will become barriers and burdens to the old generation, thus engendering self-searching and enforcing self-immolation! I call it "The Convergence".
Women will rise in a quantum leap from Africa to Asia, with such speed and much surprise that will upset and unsettle so much in governance and economic strangleholds. Then, the sea change! I call it "The Convergence".

The media is no longer just about journalists, though the press is powerful and here to stay, New Media is about citizens and nationalists with increasing consciousness of the "Think Global, Act Local" reality. I call it "The Convergence".

World corruption is the real corruption. There are forces on the run. There are new forces on the hunt. And both forces have no hiding place! I call it "The Convergence".

The final convergence is the Children. You undermine them, dear leaders, and they know! I call it "The Convergence". It is knocking on all doors!

BANKERS and OUR ECONOMIES

Somehow, I could not believe the way things went haywire with the world economy though I kind of knew it was coming. If anyone thinks we are out of the woods yet, let them beware!

All my training and instincts tell me that our bankers, home and abroad, have learnt precious little from their heist, and are chest thumping prematurely. Turning in profits so soon enough may be good enough, but turning a new leaf be the real relief the world needs and deserves. The business of banking is, in its proper setting, the business of humanity: safekeeping, economic productivity, backbone infrastructure, reasonable risks, currency and credits, among others. We cannot have banking profits in a banging or bankrupt economy. That is paper-profit!

Jobless growth is its political flipside: Where politicians reel out GDP and other macroeconomic data to celebrate their economic prowess while their citizens can't see or feel the bounty! For graphic examples, come to Africa, especially my very own Nigeria.

These bailed-out bankers must don new suits of humility and penitence. After the trillions of dollars their cataclysmic and unprofessional practices induced/compelled as bail-outs and stimulus packages across the globe, it would be utterly unthinkable not to see some turnaround in some national economies. If we worked out the return-on-investment of the financial cum political outlay can anyone justify the euphoria? If we crank up the opportunity cost, will we be anywhere this complacent?

Okay, let's be fair: Many of the key players have gone, most of them into infamy. So, we can allow some "well done" notes for their successors. But it should be a granddad's "grunt" not a teenager's "glee" as we now see!