Thursday, March 31, 2011

This AFRICA!

Can you be perplexed by your beloved continent? Absolutely. Can you give up on your Mother-CONTINENT? Hell, no!

What to do, then? The struggle continues!

And that is what is going on right now in most of North Africa and the Arab World. It has only begun - more will follow.

That “more” will depend on two factors: the resolve and resilience of The People and the obstinacy and occult of The Potentates. The tie-breaker is The Global Village fronted by World Leaders. In other words, the UN has our standing mandate - abounding duty - to stand up for The People by standing up to The Potentates! Period.

The UN Security Council has finally corrected the “double standards” it was accused of vis-à-vis Libya and Cote d’Ivoire. We hear Nigeria and France tabled the resolution. Left to the AU, we would still be dancing in the dark, stumbling in broad daylight! Even as people are dying, and millions are fleeing! Okay, blaming the AU right now will be a little harsh. This AU, as is, is an AU of Heads of State & Governments FOR Heads of State & Governments!! There is little a brilliant bureaucrat or patriotic technocrat can do about it. For a kettle to call a pot “black”, it must be squeaky clean, right? And since they love working by consensus, if not unanimity, na serious dilemma, fa!

Do not despair, be not depressed: The Peoples’ AU is on its way - give or take 3-5 years, on the outside. Sad? Yes. Slow? Yes. But surely? No question.

The struggle continues!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

PRESIDENTIAL and GUBERNATORIAL DEBATES next time

The 2011 Elections in Nigeria is a special case of nation-building. We did everything in a hurry. And we are harrying everybody in the polity! This hurry-hurry character must stop o, na wetin sef?

Once we refused to shift the official handing-over date from May 29 to October 1 as canvassed by many well-meaning Nigerians and some Friends of Nigeria, we had set up ourselves for the “unpredictable”! That was why we all “understood” and “bore” with INEC during the voter registration hiccups. Rightly so. There will be more challenges to come. And we trust that Nigerians will stand by Jega’s INEC.

That brings us to the question of election debates. Our people are complex but not complicated. With simple layouts and analyses you can convince and command (lead) them. Which is why the ruling class has gotten away with all their shenanigans all these years! They turned the virtues upside-down. Debates are central to democracy. Opinion polls are central to elections. Both are central to governance & development in modern society - be it in cabinet, parliament or the soapbox.

For us in Nigeria, I suggest that a simple format be designed for election debates. The organizers must act upfront. Conduct credible research on the areas of critical need, prepare a strategic plan, propose a timeline and do the indicative resource /funding requirements. Circulate this package to all political parties at the start of the election year, so that all aspirants know the score. And be ready to respond to the score. Period.

If we do so for every tier of government (presidential, gubernatorial, chairmanship) we will help the political parties weed out and winnow the fields! At the final debates before elections, we will have candidates compare apples with apples, have experts take them on, and give the electorates usable inputs for their final decisions.

With such a simple and comprehensive format jokers, pretenders, CV-boosters, pimps and charlatans will go elsewhere! It’s about time.

So 2015, here we come!

Monday, March 28, 2011

WATER and SANITATION

You won’t see or fully appreciate the excruciating pain and paralysis Rural-Nigeria goes through in search of WATER unless, and until, you go live with them. I have been and I feel so sad, so sorry and so powerless in the face of their agony that I must sadly APOLOGIZE on behalf of us all to them all. Dear Nigerians (I mean those of us with our conscience in place, plus those of the ruling class still left with any conscience at all!), please join in in this perplexing apology. Even if you are waterless like most of us, or live in Rural-Nigeria like most of our folks, let’s just APOLOGIZE.

Commonsense dictates that without water, talk not SANITATION. Nigeria’s government says only 35% of Nigerians have access to safe water (read potable water) - after 50 years of independence, and being in the tropics, surrounded by numerous water bodies! Then there is the small matter of 37 MDAs with regular and irregular annual budgets in the WATER sector. Repeat that in the HEALTH sector, in the AGRIC & RURAL DEV sector, in the MDGs Portfolio, in the DEBT-RELIEF Portfolio, and in several DEV-ASSIST cum DONOR-SUPPORT Programmes. It is simply unconscionable! And, yes, we must APOLOGIZE.

In all conscience, we must now resolve this issue once and for all. Any governor or local government chairman that cannot or will not provide safe drinking water to their citizens MUST be recalled or impeached by the people! Note I did not include the president? Yes, because I see little business of the federal government in water supply - except of course in mega dam projects and selected regional schemes. Yes, because I say we must review the revenue allocation formula to give more resources to states and local governments for sustainable development. Yes, because right now the federal government is collecting obscene sums and simply squandering same!

We speak of Water & Sanitation today because the world just celebrated World Water Day. Nigeria observed its rituals but not its rigours!

To do it right, we must use Election 2011 to clear the deck. Vote right, folks, vote the right people this time!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

FOI Bill, AT LAST!

Passed. Since everyone is congratulating the Senate, we must join in to say bravo! We still have to await the harmonization of the nine areas of differences with the House. Any reluctance on our part on this matter is suspended because the presidency has refuted reports of any “adversarial ambush” at the Villa! Do we have a perfect/preferred law yet? Nah.  But let dem sign this one, first. We wait.

How then do we put the point that the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has yet to be treated in an economy that totally relies on this sector for survival? Not passing this all-important law before going for reelection was grossly insensitive on the part of parliament. After the polls, you can imagine the hard times ahead for things like “quorum“, “punctuality“, “kola“, “vested interests”, “blackmail”, etc. You know the story, and the insinuations, and all dem Wikileaks stuff! But again, we wait.

Kudos then to the National Assembly on the FoI Bill. Because they have a way of rising to the occasion (as with INEC case, Constitution Amendment, Third Term saga, Acting President issue, Minimum Wage matter, et al), we can safely say Kudos-in-Advance for the PIB Bill as well. Bravo!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

TIME For Ministry of FAMILY Affairs and SOCIAL Development

When we got the National and State Commissions for Women during the IBB Regime, no-one knew a real revolution was afoot. Then we had the Ministries of Women Affairs during the Abacha Regime, and we thought the revolution was afoot. Then we went to Beijing for the UN Conference on Women, returned with the Beijing Platform for Action and its attendant euphoria, and we thought it was settled. This is 2011 and, alas, how wrong we were!

There are various points of view as to how we got to this pass. Talk to the mothers of the crusade and you will be depressed. Talk to the flavours of the moment and you will be alarmed. Talk to those between and you be left aghast! The cumulative consequences were on display during the various party primaries - huge losses for Nigerian Women! Is there a truth to the popular charge/belief that most people just hustle to get on the women development bandwagon, milk the system, and move on? Or is there a more fundamental problem?

I have been thinking. My conclusion: We need a complete overhaul/restructuring of the system and its outlook. Urgently. We need to amend the constitution to consolidate my proposed solution. Courageously.

I have been tinkering. My solution: Let’s set up a Ministry of FAMILY Affairs & SOCIAL Development. This will help us focalize the Gender Agenda at the bedrock, building block, level of society - The Family.

I have been constructing. My structure: It will be a super ministry. A minister, a minister of state, a perm-sec, senior director(Family Affairs), senior director(Social Development) and other directors - as appropriate. These top five will be balanced by gender, meaning that the ministry can be led by either male or female appointee!

I suggest that this should be a policy organ with capacity for cross-cutting intervention, pilot & gap-filling projects, crusading & advocacy competences, as well as enforcement muscle with the tri-sectors - public, private, civil society.

May our next president have the courage to do this. And one more thing: Stop the ministers and commissioners from milling around wives of their appointers! They are cabinet members with official budgets & portfolios. They should let the first ladies run as it should be: Charities!

If the president fails to act, let forward-looking governors take the lead. We would partner with them. We must rescue the Beijing Platform for Action this 2011.

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

The RAILWAY Revolution

The new and vigorous effort to revive the Railway Culture in Nigeria is to be welcomed by us all. No nation, not least a modern nation or more one aspiring to the 20-20-20 status, can ignore rail transportation. We recall the subways or underground, light trains, the metro and the fast trains or express lines that have distinguished developed and forward-looking countries in the comity of nations.

While we work on the long distance tracks and haulage services, the real need and star product must be passenger service - the age-old commuter trains. I’m happy that the NRC and some state governments are already doing this. Kudos to Kaduna, Lagos, Rivers and the FCT specifically. Kano, Oyo, Plateau, Edo-Delta-Ondo: let’s cite you soon!

Imagine what a blast we would have if Lagos and Abuja have dedicated speed trains and each hub is linked to by special workers/commuter lines from their neighbouring states! People will simply live in their home states and go to work in Lagos and Abuja, with all the cross-cutting benefits! And we can achieve this in 12 months if we are serious - okay, give us 24 months.

Now, which governor or president has a problem with that? Which parliament? And which private sector?

As for jobs, you do the maths.

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

This MARCH, we're MARCHING to our ELECTORAL Freedom!

In 30 days, we start the real electoral rights of Nigeria's democracy. We go to the vote! This is not our first time, dammit, it is the one time we hinge our hopes so strongly, so expectantly, so assuredly, on the final rites of passage: One Man One Vote! 2011 General Elections.

My firm belief is that this be our MARCH to our very own ELECTORAL Freedom! This March. All this efforts and effusions of the voters' registration exercise will pay us huge dividends soon. Very soon.

Prepare people, prepare. Pray, the jinx is in trouble - no, in its final throes. With the modified open ballot system, all them blighters are in trouble - no hiding place anymore. You need to be ultra demonic, mega desperate and, shall we say, utterly degenerate to want to dare the voters' vigil.

As March 2011 proceeds, we MARCH towards our FREEDOM. The freedom of the VOTE.

Dear MARCH, what a F-R-E-E-D-O-M!