VOTER-REGISTRATION Progress

I am not losing sleep over the ongoing voter-registration exercise. It will be ultra-successful.

We should be grateful that it didn’t take-off smoothly. The hitches and hiccups were a salutary baptism of fire for us all. And I love it!

Lessons: INEC now knows better. Take nothing on face value; take nothing for granted. Nigerians now know better. We have a role, crucial role to play, in this democracy. Register. Vote. Protect your franchise. Defend your vote.

Forecast: We will be proud, very proud, of the NYSC Members deployed for this momentous and monumental project. We will applaud and reward their service, and their patriotism.

Interim Laugh: I wonder how The “Great” Iwu feels right now!

Last Line: This INEC and Nigerians will succeed this 2011. No matter the odds.

SIREN ABUSE: Note to the INSPECTOR GENERAL of Police

Dear IG

We’ve had enough! Absolutely. Siren-Abusers have done their worst. Now, we want you to do your best. Stop ‘em, IG, stop them oppressors!

This note is triggered by your recent order on the issue. Thank you for finally threatening arrests. Long overdue.

Key Question: Do Nigerians believe you or trust full compliance? Will the habitual abusers not ignore you and your strident order? Hmm…

Aiders & Abetters? Your officers and men - yes, the police!

Suggested Solution: Place this assignment under DIG Ivy Okoronkwo (Nigerians fear Iron Ladies!). Sign a written appeal/advert to Nigerians for Citizen-Action, by which they are requested to send in evidence of abuse/culprits through video, phone-camera, photographs, SMS/MMS, email and calls. Give us secure always-on “emergency” lines (3 digits).

Please, ensure regular well-publicized prosecution, starting from 1st February, 2011.

Goodluck!

EFCC, THIS BE YOUR CHANCE!

Following upon both its pledge and threat to STOP corrupt and all them corrupted politicians, Farida Waziri and her tough cops have their chance at last: 2011 General Elections!

Okay, let’s clarify: No one is guilty until so pronounced by the courts. And no frivolous charges or arrangee trials will do. Most citizens and our foreign friends like the EFCC and can heartily say, Carry-Go!

Since the law does not bar you from investigating anyone, including the president, please proceed to announce what you’ve found so far against our rulers. For those who enjoy immunity, charge their accomplices right away! If their principals are clean, they’ll stay out of your way - and, please God, may rapidly cooperate! Some leaders are simply surrounded by wolves, and EFCC must help save them.

With the support of the president and the chief justice of Nigeria as well as speakers of state assemblies, let the national assembly amend the constitution this February. Create special courts for economic crimes and electoral offences. While at it, they should simply delete the immunity clause and pass the freedom of information bill, the petroleum industry bill and the antiterrorism bill.

Message: If you want our votes and you are NOT squeaky clean, step thee aside. Or go clear yourself!

Last Word: Why would anyone worry about EFCC when they all say they are clean and in the clear! Four years on, and they are panicky! BOTH sides must now prove their worth, their WORD - Farida vs Fake-rulers.

May God justify the just, amen.

Cote d'Ivoire and Tunisia of Africa

Francophone Africa has been generally more stable and euro-compliant over the decades. France has been very accommodating and supportive of its historical satellites around the globe, especially in Africa. Visit these countries to marvel at the success of its "Assimilation Policy". Everything from foods to clothes to medicines to vehicles to education and telecoms, not to mention currency has the imprint of France. In fact, until the advent of Africa's Telecoms (say GSM first, Submarine Cables next) Revolution, their international calls went through Paris! This was one factor in the failure of total unity in Africa - there is the strong influence of our erstwhile colonial masters till this day, especially the French.

The Francophone "Establishment Class" see themselves more as so above their people that poverty and political brigandage can only be tackled with the tacit help of France, period! Past French leaders (especially before the full-blown EU of today) were comfy with the status quo. Well, until Nicholas Sarkozy! President Sarkozy wants democracy and development, peace and prosperity everywhere. Some African leaders are finding out, to their mighty chagrin, that things have changed. Add the Obama Factor and it is a sea-change on the way. Benchmark the new stance of the UN, AU, NEPAD and ECOWAS, and we have the pillars of the long-awaited African Renaissance taking firm root.

This is why we must grieve at the turn of events in both Cote d'Ivoire and Tunisia: Two of Africa's economic success stories gone awry. By all accounts, an avoidable mess. We must then thank the French for fronting the international community in backing change in these countries through justice and equity, siding with The People. Real comfort.

Here is a message for African Leaders: See what President Bill Clinton did for the American economy in his maximum two-term and his global stature today! See how Prime Minister Gordon Brown bowed to British voters even though he could constitutionally lead a minority government to remain in office, at all costs! Watch out for Gordon, folks, watch out for Gordon - both home and abroad. In the end, sit-tight-ism hardly pays - indeed, it usually back-fires! The global village is not your local village. This global village is REAL. Very.

We thank all African leaders who stand with The People. We must beg those still unable or unwilling to - yes they live in the past, but we BEG them to change and give way to change.

BANKS and RUMOURS

Our people thrive on tales, tabloids, hearsay and rumours! Fabricated and lubricated the rumour mills spin luxuriant in the absence of full information or secrecy. For governance and public policy, it is double jeopardy if not tipple tragedy. Get the truth out and kill the rumour merchants, especially them mischief makers.

Yes, our banks are riding the rough patch right now as the rosy past - contrived and condoned - is, shall we say, past. They are trying hard to whether the self-induced storm plus stemming the tempests of the global economic crises/credit crunch. Investors’ confidence is low, customers’ enthusiasm is dampened, crime-busters are hovering, workers are being laid-off, corporate image is tumbling and the erstwhile swagger of bankers turning stagger! Tough.

Then, the regulators: CBN, NDIC and SEC are breathing down - no more voodoo banking and paper profits, no more life-chairmen or CEOs, no more bad credit and insider trading, no more capital market shenanigans! And the professions: CIBN,CIIN and NSE are cleaning up banking, insurance and stock broking practice as self-regulatory/certification bodies.

Oh, the media: what can we say? They are rightly beaming the biting and piercing searchlight on banks and banking. Constantly seeking scoops, and exultant from its recent salacious coverage of the monumental rot in the industry, they will follow any lead and sensationalize any break!

Being together in the Bankers Committee, the CIBN and the industry one would expect the banks to bond and brace for the turbulence at hand and the triumphs ahead. Instead, we are seeing untoward practices, impunity and criminal competitor-demarketing! It didn’t just start, it’s been a part of their weird survival tactics - pulling others down (PHD syndrome). Why?

The latest is some dirty rumours about three banks they claim are to be liquidated by the authorities! They advise depositors to withdraw their money before it is too late!! Why?

The CBN has rightly intervened by issuing a prompt rebuttal. But it must do more: fish out the culprits and prosecute them!

Give WINGS to our BEST, please!

Never before did we need the kind of citizen-action that today’s world demands, and that is absolutely crucial to The NIGERIAN Project - creating and keeping the country of our dream. Before we can have a nation we must have nationals and vice versa. To ask for patriotism the country must provide the pillars - a platform worth running on, a flag worth flying, a land worth dying for. This is what the great nations we so admire are!

For anyone to succeed in helping Nigeria through private enterprise or scholarship is Herculean. You will hit your head against so many rocks and surmount forbidding government-erected obstacles! Numerous quality reports and recommendations have been presented and accepted over the years but the situation keeps getting worse. It is difficult for anyone (except our civil servants and their masters) to understand this.

If you enjoy and celebrate the contributions of Aliko Dangote(Dangote Group), Mike Adenuga(Globacom), Wale Tinubu(Oando), Femi Otedola(Zenon), Ms Opeke(Main One) as well as our Artistes in Music, Comedy, Arts, Fashion and Nollywood (Entertainment & Culture) to Nigeria’s development go find out what they have and still go through! Go ask Jimoh Ibrahim, the mercurial owner of Global Fleet, NICON Group and Air Nigeria, Stan Ekeh (Zinox) and Florence Seriki (Omatek). Just a few examples.

If you lament the failed businesses, both public and private, that have ruined so many lives and livelihoods, do some quick investigations: you will be depressed and disgusted. Take Ajaokuta Steel, Railways, Media (led by Daily Times), Shipping, Defence Industries, Textile Mills, Paper Mills, Airlines (led by Nigeria Airways), Local Contractors, Consultants & Suppliers, and Nigerian Farmers to mention a few. This country simply kills its own - whether public or private! It is scary and scandalous. Hard to believe.

Now that we are singing Vision 20-20-20, I hope the government people know what they’re getting themselves into - considering the outrageous cost of running our largely unproductive federal MDAs and various under-performing governments nationwide. As we speak, the vision document remains a mystery to most Nigerians - hoarded and guarded by the system!
If we are serious, it should be common place by now, including in schools, churches, mosques, libraries, the media, palaces, NGO offices, political parties, entertainment facilities, and diplomatic missions. We should be unable to avoid its ambush anywhere we turn, with its numerous translations.

The OAU failed because of hoarding public information and distrusting Africans as stakeholders and owners of Africa. NEPAD is in the same quagmire. ECOWAS has been tottering for the same reason. Nigeria is so painfully underdeveloped because of this same “Them vs Us” mentality. Clearest evidence: The Budget. People sit in Abuja and write whatever catches their fancy, and facilitates looting, without true stakeholders input or ownership! Same at state and LGA levels. In the end, they chop the bloated overheads 100% while the capital(i.e. development projects) votes remain underutilized, leaving The PEOPLE wondering where all the trillions went! It’s been happening for decades.

Solution: We must reduce both the size of government and the cost of governance by 50%. Downsize and rightsize vertically (Three Tiers) and horizontally (Three Arms). Only the Judiciary needs expansion as we all have since been advocating - to include specialization and strategic expansion, reduce the high cost of litigation, embrace Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), deploy modern technology and guarantee speedy dispensation of justice. This should also cover the Police, Civil Defence and Prison Services for both federal and states - let’s amend the constitution and revenue allocation formula accordingly.

From this year, after the general elections, things MUST change. We all have a duty to put people in office who WILL serve Nigeria rather than starve Nigerians. Let’s give wings to our best and brightest TODAY! No more excuses.

First step? Dear Nigerians, go out and register. Your VOTE is Your POWER!