One of the continuing challenges posed by unprecedented urbanization in developing countries, including Nigeria, is the provision of adequate and affordable housing. Over the last three decades, Nigeria, like several developing countries, has emphasised public housing schemes, but with little success (Ogu and Ogbuozobe, 2001)
According to the 2006 Census, (please note that this particular population census efforts are very challenging due to several social cultural problems) Nigeria has a population of over 140 million people, and working with this figure, providing adequate and affordable housing in Nigeria is definitely an issue of dire national importance. The housing-for-all program initiated during previous military regimes fell far short of target, but at least ignited the current awareness and modern mortgage industry in Nigeria.
Going by the estimates of the Federal Housing Authority, new housing construction in Nigeria is about 10,000 units a year. To meet ever-growing demand, the country needs ten times more or at least 100,000 new housing units annually. Existing housing stock in Nigeria is so dismal, yet studies show a direct correlation between affordable housing and better living standard. Recent pronouncement by the Institute of Architects that Nigeria could achieve a housing target of 40,000 units annually is quite realistic, but actualisation of this goal is another matter, (Peterside, 2005) what with a seeming lack of willingness by the government agencies in charge of housing to tackle this problem as well as politicisation of housing.
Nigeria’s housing needs have been high as a result of population growth, which has averaged 3.0 per cent per annum, rapid urbanisation due to rural-urban migration, the high cost of building materials, ineffective and insincere housing policies, etc.
Nigeria’s drive toward “housing for all”, as contained in the National Housing Policy, which aims at providing affordable housing for all, has so far been what it is – all on paper and no serious effort, deliberately or otherwise, at implementation and continues to be an illusion and a frustration to the larger population. Successive efforts to meet every set target have failed as housing deficit now stands at over 16 million units in Nigeria. (Peterside, 2003) The target date for accomplishing the “housing for all” goal was 2000 – almost nine years ago, and while the objective has not changed, a new deadline for accomplishing this national objective has not been set, despite its inclusion in President Yar A’dua’s 7-point agenda.
As with almost every other developmental sector in Nigeria, the outlay on housing has been rather low, and does not seem to warrant the priority it demands. Most urban dwellers in Nigeria today live in dilapidated houses lacking basic amenities, unsanitary conditions or running water. In fact, most urban areas are the worse for wear as far as infrastructure and housing are concerned, and this mostly due to our notorious maintenance culture or lack of it. Estimates show that Nigeria needs an average of 1 million housing units per year not only to replenish decaying housing stock, but also to meet rising demand. (Peterside, 2005)
The problem of affordable housing in Nigeria is further exacerbated by the constraints imposed by the Land Use Act, a moribund and repressive Act that hinders mortgage financing and creates enormous obstacles to private sector involvement in the housing industry and which has constrained the transfer of titles and made mortgage finance extremely difficult. As a result of the Land Use Act, obtaining a Certificate of Occupancy (popularly known as C of O) has become a big time avenue for large scale corruption. Ask anybody in Nigeria today, and they will tell you that it is impossible to attempt to legally obtain a C of O for a land you have just bought, without bribing several officials in the states’ ministries of Lands and Housing, often with very large amounts of money.
Also the present “dinosauric" land registration system in Nigeria was instituted by the British well before the nation attained independence, and may well have been in place since the late 1800, thus literally restricting land title registration and other allied processes to the prehistoric era. This was actually recognized by a former Minister of housing, Olusegun Mimiko, during the Obasanjo Administration.
With a population estimated at over 140 million and rising, it is practically impossible to provide affordable housing for middle and low income Nigerians who constitute the bulk of the population, without a viable long-term mortgage lending scheme and a review of the Land Use Act. Long-term financing - mortgage financing and mortgage-backed securities - do not exist in Nigeria at the moment or exist in the rudimentary state at best. At present, a typical home buyer will have to make a down payment that range between 20% to 50% of the purchase price and then pay off the loan balance within 5 years.
Traditionally, both federal and state governments, and even parastatals have dabbled into providing low cost housing for citizens with limited success, and this is largely because of the half-hearted, politicised approach to doing things. In fact, most schemes to build low-cost houses for Nigerians were initiated during military regimes. During our several democratic experiments, politicians have often played politics with housing delivery, and hence all had been doomed to failure on a large scale.
Every Nigerian deserves a decent and affordable housing, what with the vast wealth of the country and unprecedented pace of urbanization in the last three decades. Urban population today stands at 60-70%. With such an alarming growth rate, major cities like Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Onitsha, Aba, Ibadan, etc, are groaning under the weight of unfettered agglomeration. (Peterside, 2003). The consequences of this are apparent, and without affordable housing, the provision of other amenities is greatly at risk.
However, while the phrase “affordable housing” has been bandied about in recent times, it is instructive to point out that we seem to have rather missed the point. Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed "affordable" to a group of people within a specified income range. Although the term is often applied to rental housing that is within the financial means of those in the lower income ranges of a geographical area, the concept is applicable to both renters and purchasers in all income ranges. In the United States and Canada, a commonly accepted guideline for housing affordability is a housing cost that does not exceed 30% of a household's gross income. Housing costs considered in this guideline generally include taxes and insurance for owners, and usually include utility costs. When the monthly carrying costs of a home exceed 30–35% of household income, then the housing is considered unaffordable for that household.
The United Kingdom has a long tradition of promoting affordable social rented housing. (Please note the inclusion of the phrase “social rented housing”, as this is a different term from “affordable, but are often used interchangeably in housing management) This may be owned by local councils or housing associations. There are also a range of affordable home ownership options, including shared ownership (where a tenant rents part share in the property from a social landlord, and owns the remainder). The UK government has also attempted to promote the supply of owner occupied affordable stock for purchase, principally by using the land-use planning system to require that housing developers provide a proportion of lower cost housing within new developments. This approach is commonly known as inclusionary zoning.
A high proportion of homes in the UK were previously council-owned, but the numbers have been reduced since the early 1980s due to initiatives of the Thatcher government that restricted council housing construction and provided financial and policy support to other forms social housing. In 1980, the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher introduced the “Right to Buy” scheme, offering council tenants the opportunity to purchase their housing at a discount of up to 60% (70% on leasehold homes such as flats). Alongside “Right to Buy”, council-owned stock was further diminished as properties were transferred to housing associations.
In the UK, housing associations are not-for-profit organisations with a history that goes back before the start of the 20th century. The number of homes under their ownership grew significantly from the 1980s as successive governments sought to make them the principal form of social housing, in preference to local authorities. Many of the homes previously under the ownership of local authorities have been transferred newly established housing associations, including some of the largest in the country. Despite being not-for-profit organisations, housing association rents are typically higher than for council housing. Renting a home through a housing association can in some circumstances prove costlier than purchasing a similar property through a mortgage.
All major housing associations are registered with the Housing Corporation, which regulates them and provides grants for development. Housing associations that are registered with the Corporation are also known as Registered Social Landlords. More recently the government refers to both as 'Social Housing'. The Department for Communities and Local Government has responsibility for housing in England. In January 2007 it announced a planned merger between the Housing Corporation and regeneration body English Partnerships to create the Homes and Communities Agency (initially announced as "Communities England"). This has now taken effect in November 2008. This new body is likely to have access to more than £4 billion in resources.
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by not-for-profit organizations, or by a combination of the two, usually with the aim of providing affordable housing. The common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing. In the United Kingdom public housing is often referred to by the British public as "council housing" and "council estate", based on the historical role of district and borough councils in running public housing. Additionally, local planning departments may require private-sector developers to offer "affordable housing" as a condition of planning permission. This accounts for another £700m of Government funding each year for tenants in part of the United Kingdom.
I have decided to give the above background and terminologies in order for us in Nigeria to define properly what we mean by affordable and/or social housing in Nigeria. I am of the contention that there is nothing like “affordable housing” in Nigeria, as the system stands today. If we want to say houses built with mud, or built in the rural areas are affordable, this is perhaps true, but then we are straying away from the Government’s National Housing Policy, as well as ignoring base decent homes standards and quality of living. As such, mud houses in rural areas, and even inside urban areas, must not count as “affordable housing”.
I have noted that, with the advent of our current democratic experiment in 1999, there now seem to be a spate of private developers (my suspicion is that because our corrupt leaders are increasingly finding it difficult to take their stolen wealth overseas, they are now investing this in property – lands and houses) buying lands all over the country and, with the financial support of several financial institutions, are building large serviced estates in all parts of the country, especially in the bigger cities. However, their houses are hardly what we can refer to as “affordable”. In all cases, the houses are not for rent, but for sale, because these developers have taken large loans from the banks to finance their building projects, their objective is necessarily to get a quick return on their money; hence they prefer to sell these houses, usually at high prices, to ensure that they have a minimum of 50% profit. After completion of the sale, they usually have 100% profit, if not more. If this is not exploitation, I wonder what it is. If this is “affordable” to many Nigerians, then I need not be writing this article. But there we are.
Therefore, affordable housing is still a long way and an illusion to lower and middle class Nigerians, if this trend continues and the federal, state and local governments are not prepared to really provide affordable housing to Nigerians either by increasing the number of units built, or facilitating/creation of an enabling environment for easy and low-cost mortgage facilities for the ordinary Nigerian; including support of housing initiatives and investments by householders, small-scale providers, and entrepreneurial private firms. We also need to consider the implications of enabling strategy for housing finance, political interference, access to land, residential infrastructure and maintenance, institutional regulations and quality and cost of building materials and related industry particularly in the light of the need for the private sector to play greater roles in housing, in conjunction with those already being played by the government though such agencies as the Federal Ministry of Housing, Federal Housing Authority, etc.
We must not confuse “affordable housing” with “public housing”. As defined above, public housing seems to be a remit of the governments (federal, state or local), and as such, since they have taken the moral and constitutional responsibility to provide housing for their citizens, such housing should be low-cost and affordable. On the other hand, affordable housing could be provided by both the governments and private house builders or developers, but with the latter, affordability is discarded. As these housing providers are in it for the profit, houses provided by them are inevitably not affordable to the majority of Nigerians, and this is the case at present. Also the governments do not regulate this sub-sector of the industry and therefore, they are quite free to set their own high prices and there is no regulation of the quality of their houses.
Again, social housing deals with rental houses, and not bought properties. Even when governments build houses ostensibly for their citizens, they do not make it easy for the majority of Nigerian citizens by selling them outright. Social housing is all about renting houses or flats out to people who could not otherwise afford to buy these properties. This makes life easier for them and on the long run, may in future be given a “right to buy” these properties, at discounted prices, when their income improves. This is empowerment of the citizenry, as well as creating wealth and improving standard of living. Again we have to consider the per capita income of most Nigerians, which is one of the lowest in the world, before we can start talking of affordable housing.
The good news is that it appears that the present administration is now conscious to the realization that the housing industry needs a turn-around, and many policy statements have been issued to this effect, reiterating the Government’s commitment to providing housing, whether affordable or not, for the people of Nigeria. In September 2008, the then Federal Capital Territory Minister announced that the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) is in a public private partnership (PPP) with Houses for Africa (HFA), and will build 10,000 housing units for low and medium income earners at a total cost of $300 million in Abuja.
As reported on 12 July 2008 in the New Nigerian newspaper, the Federal Government plans to formulate a policy on affordable housing for Nigerians. Alhaji Garba Matazu, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Housing and Urban Development, announced this in Abuja, saying that the policy would focus on a public/ private arrangement, to solve Nigeria’s housing need. He said part of the recommendations included an overhaul of the Federal Mortgage Bank, to make it responsive to the yearning of the people. Matazu assured Nigerians that the National Assembly would play its role in actualising government’s dream to provide affordable housing to Nigerians everywhere in the country. This is good news, but we wait with bated breath.
Felix Koyenikan, an engineer and the immediate past Acting Managing Director of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) announced in November 2008 of a planned additional 3000 housing units in parts of Abuja; infrastructure upgrade of FESTAC Town in Lagos, and the proposed development of FESTAC Phase 2. This is more or less the regeneration of the FESTAC Town built in 1977 by the FHA and which has since degenerated into a massive ghetto. However, while all the properties in FESTAC Town have been bought, this should not count as additional provision of affordable housing. It is not social housing either.
More recently, according to ThisDay Newspaper of 7 December 2008, Jube Jemide, FHA’s new Acting MD promised a recapitalisation that would list the Authority on Nigeria's Stock Exchange within 12 months. He had promised a week earlier to also tackle mass and affordable housing. Stock Exchange quotations and affordable housing provision in the same breath are new directions in the housing industry and profession.
We also have to commend moves made by the Nigerian Government, through the former Minister for Housing to elicit the help of the UK’s Chartered Institute of Housing, CIH, (a foremost, internationally respected professional housing body for people working in housing and communities) in establishing a similar professional housing body in Nigeria (Nigerian Institute of Housing), to serve the Nigerian housing sector. This will not only lead to recognised and accredited housing courses and training being established in Nigeria, but it points the way to a housing revolution in the country, since such a body will be at par with other professional bodies such as Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN); Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA); Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) and the likes (Adejumo, 2008). This is likely to pave way to social housing in Nigeria and may well lead to real life provision of affordable homes to the majority of Nigerians.
Governments’ plans for a major house-building programme must be based on the premise that increasing the volume of accommodation in the country is the most important way to tackle the crisis of unaffordable housing in Nigeria. Also, promoting home-ownership should be an underlying objective of any government’s programme. Home ownership offers unparalleled opportunities for people to accumulate wealth, but for many citizens, it is not an option, and the provision of social housing for rent should be given equal priority.
And with hundreds of Nigerians working in the housing industry, especially in housing management and related sub-sectors in the UK alone, the time is ripe for Nigeria to start providing affordable and social housing to her citizens, managed by these housing professionals, in association with their counterparts in related industries e.g. surveyors, civil engineers, estate agents, valuers, mortgage bankers, etc.
Finally, since Housing is a Concurrent Item in the Nigerian Constitution, thus ensuring that we have 36 Housing Ministries and 36 Housing Corporations; it would be worthwhile for the Association of Housing Corporations of Nigeria (AHCN) to put some of these points at the top of their agenda at their next meeting.
References:
Adejumo, A A., 2008 “Social Housing in Nigeria – An Imminent Mass Housing Revolution?” Available online at www.nigeriavillagesquare.com 31 October 2008
Ogu, V I and Ogbuozobe, J E, 2001 “Housing policy in Nigeria: towards enablement of private housing development” Habitat International, Vol. 25, Issue 4, Dec. 2001, pp 473-492
Peterside, C S, 2005. “Ameliorating Housing Deficit in Nigeria ...The Role of Primary and Secondary Mortgage Institutions and the Capital Market”. Available online at www.nigeriaworld.com 20 July 2005.
Peterside, C S, 2003. “Policy Foundation for Affordable Housing in Nigeria ...Role of the Secondary Mortgage Market” Available online at www.nigeriaworld.com 14 October 2003
Akintokunbo Adejumo, M Sc., ACIH, MCMI, a social and political commentator on Nigerian issues, lives and works in London, UK as a housing professional. He is a graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985); Associate Member, Chartered Institute of Housing and Member, Chartered Management Institute.
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA, an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and the people of Nigeria.
Sunday, 28 December 2008
The EFCC - Why We Should Support Our Local Sheriff
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in very recent times, is getting a lot of flack and negative press from Nigerians, most of them, as it has turned out, and from personal observation, unnecessary, unwarranted and unfair. Nigerians are very angry about the news they are hearing about the anti-graft organisation, and there have been one or two extreme calls for the head of the organisation to resign or be removed. This is very understandable, as Nigerians have invested a lot of hope in the organisation and look up to it as a way of getting redress and vengeance on the people who have made their lives that of poverty, hopelessness, underdevelopment and misery.
However, such unfounded rumours and misinformation are not only distracting, but is very discouraging and debilitating to the Commission, and may negatively affect their performance. Most importantly and instructively, all these biased and negative perception of the Commission as blared out by the Media is a victory for the very set of people that the Commission was formed to fight – the corrupt politicians and government officials. I could picture these people gloating and congratulating themselves for a job well done to discredit the EFCC and its officials, especially putting the credibility of its top officials in doubt, and fanning the embers of dissatisfaction with the Commission’s performance among the general Nigerian public, who are very keen to see their corrupt ex-Governors and other public officials brought to face justice.
On the issue of the ex-Governors, as far as I could learn, the EFCC under the current Chairmanship of Mrs. Farida Waziri inherited some dodgy ex-Governor investigations from Nuhu Ribadu. (Let me remind readers here that I was, and indeed, still remain, one of the staunch supporters of Nuhu Ribadu and his EFCC during Obasanjo’s Administration, and I am not going to take anything away from his success as the EFCC Czar and his pioneering feat)
When, towards the twilight of the Obasanjo Administration, Nuhu Ribadu was invited by the then Senate President, Ken Nnamani (despite my respect for Ken Nnamani, he was trying to use the EFCC to wage a war against his namesake and now, ex-Governor of Enugu State, Chimaroke Nnamani) to do a presentation in the Senate, Ribadu, either not sensing he was being used, not only by Obasanjo himself, but also by some other politicians for their own selfish ends or merely being naïve and power-drunk, declared that 31 Governors are being investigated. Before he was removed as EFCC Chairman, eight of these evil men were arraigned before the courts. What about the rest 23?
The fact is, Mallam Ribadu had already proclaimed these ex-Governors guilty, without any evidence or even proper investigation. Meanwhile, all these devious thieves, (execu-thieves, as I like to call them) have had ample time to destroy evidence, bribe judges, employ the best lawyers, even make witnesses to disappear, etc in order to evade justice, hence you see them all over Abuja, swaggering around, and boasting to their friends and whoever will listen, that they are untouchable. Why, some of them are even now having the guts to threaten to sue the EFCC. Some of them are also in the Senate, and the most powerful and corrupt of these ex-governors are also pulling a lot of strings in the ruling party and perhaps in the Government itself.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Waziri was misquoted or deliberately misrepresented by the Nigerian media recently and what was reported in the press was that she said files on the ex-governors have disappeared and that there was no petition against ex-President Obasanjo. She never said that. I do not think she’s that daft to say such a thing in public, even if that was true. What she said was that there were either no files in the first place or that existing files were grossly incomplete or distorted, lacking in substance and evidence and cannot be used to prosecute these high placed criminals.
The EFCC has a very difficult and unenviable job from most agencies involved in the governance of Nigeria. They have a thankless and definitely, very dangerous job. And believe me, anybody that wishes or is paid to take on the monster that is institutionalised corruption in Nigeria must be a brave person who, despite pressures from all sides, is determined to succeed and put his or life at risk at all times. The majority of Nigerians, understandably sick and frustrated by the excesses of their political and military leaders want fast prosecution and justice, while others, highly placed people in government, are doing their best to subvert the course of justice, including character assassination of EFCC officials, lobbying, murder attempts of both witnesses and investigators, bribery, even “juju”, you name it. These ex-Governors are very powerful people; they have corruptly enriched themselves, so they have vast amount of money to use to subvert the course of justice; they are devious; they are clever; and a lot of them are still within the government or party system or hierarchy; they also have a lot of thugs ready to kill for them.
And the EFCC? It is always going to be a Herculean task and struggle for them, I am afraid, as long as they are not totally independent and autonomous of the Nigerian Government; under-funding ( if external organizations such as UN, Transparency International, EU, etc solely funds the EFCC, they might perform better); gross under-staffing; government and political interference. However, I am very confident that the current officials are of the utmost good intentions, integrity, capabilities and abilities; highly focused, committed to fighting and reducing corruption by any means in Nigeria, despite all the efforts by their detractors to destabilize and ridicule them.
Since her appointment just over five months ago, there has been renewed vigour in investigating several corrupt former governors and Mrs. Waziri has arraigned at least three ex-Governors before the courts, charged with unlawful enrichment of themselves whilst in office, money laundering and corruption: Michael Botmang, who hardly spent 6 months as Governor of Plateau State (that means as soon as he was sworn in to temporarily replace Dariye, he just went straight to the state coffers and started dipping his dirty finger in; what a bastard?); Boni Haruna of Adamawa State; and Rasheed Ladoja of my state of Oyo, a very silly idiot, who could have been a hero, but decided not to tread on the path of righteousness at the very last minute, thereby ruining his name forever).
The Chairman is vigorously pursing the Asset Forfeiture law to be passed by the Senate (But since the Senators are themselves highly compromised and corrupt, they are using delayed tactics not to pass the bill) which will enable the EFCC to seize assets suspected to be the proceeds of corruption, even if they cannot prove such asset belong to the suspect. However, the plan here is to make the asset unavailable to the suspect, and also to draw them out. If an asset is seized, the EFCC simply asks the owner to come forward and prove ownership and source of funds used to acquire the asset. If anybody comes forward and is a front-person for the corrupt government official, such person has to prove his source of income or face jail. This, I think, is an excellent bill put forward by the current Chairman to deny access to the proceeds of corruption. She is also vigorously pursuing the enactment of a law which will allow setting up of special courts to take on cases of economic and financial crimes. This clearly shows that Mrs. Waziri is very much worried about the slowness of the Nigerian judicial system in dispensing justice and meting out punishment to the corrupt.
We should therefore be calling on the legislative arms of government to expedite the passing of these laws, in order to make the EFCC more powerful and effective.
Also don’t forget that Mrs. Waziri had also since she was appointed, been calling for the removal of the immunity clause from the constitution. This writer has always been advocating for the removal of this clause, via www.championsfornigeria.org and other means as I see that this singular issue of immunity from prosecution for executive office holders in Nigeria is a great impediment to the fight against corruption. It seems as if Mrs. Waziri supports our views and position on the issue of immunity clause, as well as the hundreds of Nigerians who have signed, and continue to sign, our petition to the National Assembly to remove it, in order to encourage and promote the war against corruption, on our website above.
And just recently, in fact while I was in Abuja, was the announcement by the EFCC of ANCOR (Anti-Corruption Revolution) campaign, dubbed “See Something, Say Something” aimed at making all Nigerians take ownership of the anti-graft campaign, hence the message here is that the EFCC cannot fight this battle alone, otherwise the fight against corruption will never be won. ANCOR, supported by many organisations such as Champions For Nigeria (CFN), Transition Monitoring Group (TMG, led by Moshood Erubami), the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Association of Local Government Officers of Nigeria (ALGON), National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS); Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL, led by that indefatigable man, Comrade Debo Adeniran), Movement Against Corruption (MAC), Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) and with resources contribution and input by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is going to be initially launched in Abuja on 9th December 2008, and then rolled out across the 36 states later in the new year. An Anti-Corruption Volunteer Corps will also be formed and will constitute the nucleus and drivers of the Anti-Corruption Revolution. The Anti-Corruption Volunteer Corps will be constituted of Nigerians of integrity from all walks of live who subscribe and adhere to the Revolutionary Principles. It is open to all, provided you are committed to fighting and eradicating corruption in the Nigerian n society
And perhaps the most audacious and revolutionary of her moves is her call for the EFCC Act to be amended, which will allow the Commission to investigate and prosecute persons suspected to be living above their means. This will be the greatest threat to the fortress of our evil and corrupt leaders and their ilk that thrive on corruption. This is supposed to put a fear in the corrupt elite, so that they know that it is not possible for them to flaunt their ill-gotten wealth and not be asked how they got it.
To my mind, I think this woman called Farida Waziri has started very well indeed and what she deserves is greater support and encouragement from the grassroots of Nigerians; greater support from the ordinary citizenry and well-meaning people, who must take the comments from some sponsored media with a grain of salt every time and seek to sift the lies from the truth, in order to best judge the EFCC’s performance, and not ill-founded accusations and propaganda that will cause her to be distracted from the difficult task she already has.
At the same time, let us constructively criticize Mrs. Waziri and her officials when they err, or if they should seem to be detracting from their work, or if we see them being partisan and colluding with the people they are supposed to bring to justice. I personally will be the first to do this.
The fight against corruption is not an easy fight, as I have observed and noted during my travel to Nigeria and interaction with the main players of the fight. The officials charged with this task are forever wary of threats to their lives and the threat of removal if the corrupt persons have their way through lobbying. I personally do not see a scenario where Mrs. Waziri will be having night sessions and cavorting with the very people she is supposed to be investigating and bring to justice, and I honestly hope she does not descend into this, as we will be watching her.
Of course, having written this article, I do not expect all Nigerians to agree with my thoughts, observations and support for the EFCC, but like I always say, I shall always remain standing when the dust settles.
I say, let the truth be said always.
Akintokunbo Adejumo, a social and political commentator on Nigerian issues, lives and works in London, UK. He is a graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985). He also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Chatafrikarticles.com, Codewit.info, NigerianMuse.com, Nigeriansinamerica.com, Nigerianvillagesquare.com, Gamji.com, NewNigerianPolitics.com, etc
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA, an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and the people of Nigeria.
However, such unfounded rumours and misinformation are not only distracting, but is very discouraging and debilitating to the Commission, and may negatively affect their performance. Most importantly and instructively, all these biased and negative perception of the Commission as blared out by the Media is a victory for the very set of people that the Commission was formed to fight – the corrupt politicians and government officials. I could picture these people gloating and congratulating themselves for a job well done to discredit the EFCC and its officials, especially putting the credibility of its top officials in doubt, and fanning the embers of dissatisfaction with the Commission’s performance among the general Nigerian public, who are very keen to see their corrupt ex-Governors and other public officials brought to face justice.
On the issue of the ex-Governors, as far as I could learn, the EFCC under the current Chairmanship of Mrs. Farida Waziri inherited some dodgy ex-Governor investigations from Nuhu Ribadu. (Let me remind readers here that I was, and indeed, still remain, one of the staunch supporters of Nuhu Ribadu and his EFCC during Obasanjo’s Administration, and I am not going to take anything away from his success as the EFCC Czar and his pioneering feat)
When, towards the twilight of the Obasanjo Administration, Nuhu Ribadu was invited by the then Senate President, Ken Nnamani (despite my respect for Ken Nnamani, he was trying to use the EFCC to wage a war against his namesake and now, ex-Governor of Enugu State, Chimaroke Nnamani) to do a presentation in the Senate, Ribadu, either not sensing he was being used, not only by Obasanjo himself, but also by some other politicians for their own selfish ends or merely being naïve and power-drunk, declared that 31 Governors are being investigated. Before he was removed as EFCC Chairman, eight of these evil men were arraigned before the courts. What about the rest 23?
The fact is, Mallam Ribadu had already proclaimed these ex-Governors guilty, without any evidence or even proper investigation. Meanwhile, all these devious thieves, (execu-thieves, as I like to call them) have had ample time to destroy evidence, bribe judges, employ the best lawyers, even make witnesses to disappear, etc in order to evade justice, hence you see them all over Abuja, swaggering around, and boasting to their friends and whoever will listen, that they are untouchable. Why, some of them are even now having the guts to threaten to sue the EFCC. Some of them are also in the Senate, and the most powerful and corrupt of these ex-governors are also pulling a lot of strings in the ruling party and perhaps in the Government itself.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Waziri was misquoted or deliberately misrepresented by the Nigerian media recently and what was reported in the press was that she said files on the ex-governors have disappeared and that there was no petition against ex-President Obasanjo. She never said that. I do not think she’s that daft to say such a thing in public, even if that was true. What she said was that there were either no files in the first place or that existing files were grossly incomplete or distorted, lacking in substance and evidence and cannot be used to prosecute these high placed criminals.
The EFCC has a very difficult and unenviable job from most agencies involved in the governance of Nigeria. They have a thankless and definitely, very dangerous job. And believe me, anybody that wishes or is paid to take on the monster that is institutionalised corruption in Nigeria must be a brave person who, despite pressures from all sides, is determined to succeed and put his or life at risk at all times. The majority of Nigerians, understandably sick and frustrated by the excesses of their political and military leaders want fast prosecution and justice, while others, highly placed people in government, are doing their best to subvert the course of justice, including character assassination of EFCC officials, lobbying, murder attempts of both witnesses and investigators, bribery, even “juju”, you name it. These ex-Governors are very powerful people; they have corruptly enriched themselves, so they have vast amount of money to use to subvert the course of justice; they are devious; they are clever; and a lot of them are still within the government or party system or hierarchy; they also have a lot of thugs ready to kill for them.
And the EFCC? It is always going to be a Herculean task and struggle for them, I am afraid, as long as they are not totally independent and autonomous of the Nigerian Government; under-funding ( if external organizations such as UN, Transparency International, EU, etc solely funds the EFCC, they might perform better); gross under-staffing; government and political interference. However, I am very confident that the current officials are of the utmost good intentions, integrity, capabilities and abilities; highly focused, committed to fighting and reducing corruption by any means in Nigeria, despite all the efforts by their detractors to destabilize and ridicule them.
Since her appointment just over five months ago, there has been renewed vigour in investigating several corrupt former governors and Mrs. Waziri has arraigned at least three ex-Governors before the courts, charged with unlawful enrichment of themselves whilst in office, money laundering and corruption: Michael Botmang, who hardly spent 6 months as Governor of Plateau State (that means as soon as he was sworn in to temporarily replace Dariye, he just went straight to the state coffers and started dipping his dirty finger in; what a bastard?); Boni Haruna of Adamawa State; and Rasheed Ladoja of my state of Oyo, a very silly idiot, who could have been a hero, but decided not to tread on the path of righteousness at the very last minute, thereby ruining his name forever).
The Chairman is vigorously pursing the Asset Forfeiture law to be passed by the Senate (But since the Senators are themselves highly compromised and corrupt, they are using delayed tactics not to pass the bill) which will enable the EFCC to seize assets suspected to be the proceeds of corruption, even if they cannot prove such asset belong to the suspect. However, the plan here is to make the asset unavailable to the suspect, and also to draw them out. If an asset is seized, the EFCC simply asks the owner to come forward and prove ownership and source of funds used to acquire the asset. If anybody comes forward and is a front-person for the corrupt government official, such person has to prove his source of income or face jail. This, I think, is an excellent bill put forward by the current Chairman to deny access to the proceeds of corruption. She is also vigorously pursuing the enactment of a law which will allow setting up of special courts to take on cases of economic and financial crimes. This clearly shows that Mrs. Waziri is very much worried about the slowness of the Nigerian judicial system in dispensing justice and meting out punishment to the corrupt.
We should therefore be calling on the legislative arms of government to expedite the passing of these laws, in order to make the EFCC more powerful and effective.
Also don’t forget that Mrs. Waziri had also since she was appointed, been calling for the removal of the immunity clause from the constitution. This writer has always been advocating for the removal of this clause, via www.championsfornigeria.org and other means as I see that this singular issue of immunity from prosecution for executive office holders in Nigeria is a great impediment to the fight against corruption. It seems as if Mrs. Waziri supports our views and position on the issue of immunity clause, as well as the hundreds of Nigerians who have signed, and continue to sign, our petition to the National Assembly to remove it, in order to encourage and promote the war against corruption, on our website above.
And just recently, in fact while I was in Abuja, was the announcement by the EFCC of ANCOR (Anti-Corruption Revolution) campaign, dubbed “See Something, Say Something” aimed at making all Nigerians take ownership of the anti-graft campaign, hence the message here is that the EFCC cannot fight this battle alone, otherwise the fight against corruption will never be won. ANCOR, supported by many organisations such as Champions For Nigeria (CFN), Transition Monitoring Group (TMG, led by Moshood Erubami), the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Association of Local Government Officers of Nigeria (ALGON), National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS); Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL, led by that indefatigable man, Comrade Debo Adeniran), Movement Against Corruption (MAC), Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) and with resources contribution and input by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is going to be initially launched in Abuja on 9th December 2008, and then rolled out across the 36 states later in the new year. An Anti-Corruption Volunteer Corps will also be formed and will constitute the nucleus and drivers of the Anti-Corruption Revolution. The Anti-Corruption Volunteer Corps will be constituted of Nigerians of integrity from all walks of live who subscribe and adhere to the Revolutionary Principles. It is open to all, provided you are committed to fighting and eradicating corruption in the Nigerian n society
And perhaps the most audacious and revolutionary of her moves is her call for the EFCC Act to be amended, which will allow the Commission to investigate and prosecute persons suspected to be living above their means. This will be the greatest threat to the fortress of our evil and corrupt leaders and their ilk that thrive on corruption. This is supposed to put a fear in the corrupt elite, so that they know that it is not possible for them to flaunt their ill-gotten wealth and not be asked how they got it.
To my mind, I think this woman called Farida Waziri has started very well indeed and what she deserves is greater support and encouragement from the grassroots of Nigerians; greater support from the ordinary citizenry and well-meaning people, who must take the comments from some sponsored media with a grain of salt every time and seek to sift the lies from the truth, in order to best judge the EFCC’s performance, and not ill-founded accusations and propaganda that will cause her to be distracted from the difficult task she already has.
At the same time, let us constructively criticize Mrs. Waziri and her officials when they err, or if they should seem to be detracting from their work, or if we see them being partisan and colluding with the people they are supposed to bring to justice. I personally will be the first to do this.
The fight against corruption is not an easy fight, as I have observed and noted during my travel to Nigeria and interaction with the main players of the fight. The officials charged with this task are forever wary of threats to their lives and the threat of removal if the corrupt persons have their way through lobbying. I personally do not see a scenario where Mrs. Waziri will be having night sessions and cavorting with the very people she is supposed to be investigating and bring to justice, and I honestly hope she does not descend into this, as we will be watching her.
Of course, having written this article, I do not expect all Nigerians to agree with my thoughts, observations and support for the EFCC, but like I always say, I shall always remain standing when the dust settles.
I say, let the truth be said always.
Akintokunbo Adejumo, a social and political commentator on Nigerian issues, lives and works in London, UK. He is a graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985). He also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Chatafrikarticles.com, Codewit.info, NigerianMuse.com, Nigeriansinamerica.com, Nigerianvillagesquare.com, Gamji.com, NewNigerianPolitics.com, etc
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA, an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and the people of Nigeria.
Social Housing In Nigeria - An Imminent Mass Housing Revolution
Shelter or housing is one of the most basic of human needs. In most developed countries of the world, the governments spend a very large proportion of their budget on provision of housing to their people, either directly or through public-private financing. In most Third World countries, the responsibility for housing is supposed to lie with the various governments, due to the very nature of the mode of governance, socio-economic considerations and in part, the tradition of the people themselves.
In most African societies, long before colonialism, the provision of housing or shelter was an individual responsibility, and this trend obtains to the present day. Post-colonial days, it has always been assumed that since we are now practicing a foreign system of government and administration, the governments should now be responsible for providing all basic needs for their people.
Unfortunately, this has not been so for various reasons. One reason is the fact that most African governments tend to abandon their responsibilities to their people in so many ways. Lack of capital investment is another problem, and we should not even talk of corruption, insincerity, lack of concern, etc.
In a report published by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission) in the early days of the Obasanjo Administration, the Government of Nigeria was accused of being consistently one of the worst violators of housing rights in the world, with over two million people forcibly evicted from their homes in different parts of the country since 2000. The then Minister for the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai was implicated, especially for the forced evictions in Abuja. But such violations have been going on for decades in Nigeria. Maroko, a slum near Lagos, is a special case under the military regime in the early 1980s. More recently, Lagos State Government rendered over 3000 people homeless in the slum community of Makoko in 2005, without prior notice given or compensation or offer of suitable alternative. The Rivers State Government demolished homes in the Agip Waterside Community in February 2005 leaving 5 to 10,000 people homeless and without compensation. The State Government also moved in the bulldozers on 1.2 million people living in the Rainbow Town area of Port Harcourt since the 1960s, in 2000.
In these cases, the Land Use Act of 1978 was used to evict them. Considering the 140 million population of the country, a vast housing market exist in Nigeria given the massive home deficit estimated at about 14 million by the Federal Mortgage Bank, according to report in 2005. However, many factors contribute to the abysmal under-performance of the housing sector in Nigeria, such as absence of long term financing, legal restrictions, a “dinosauric” land registration system, and a lack of a social housing system couple with haphazard housing policy on the part of the governments. Along with this, we can also mention the lack of continuity from various successive governments.
While virtually all governments in Nigeria since independence have highlighted housing as a major priority, Nigeria is yet to develop a vibrant housing and mortgage market, social and affordable housing policies, and housing continues to be provided through tortuous traditional methods of buying land and building over some years, which could be an individual’s entire lifetime (Akeju, 2007)
In 1979, the Shehu Shagari Administration initiated a Policy on Affordable Housing. The policy, though laudable and very bold in its effort, was unable to meet the nation’s housing needs because it was based on the unsustainable tenet that houses will be provided by government, and this remains an anomaly that we must resolve (Akeju, 2007).
In a news report on the Nigerian Housing Sector aired on African Independent Television (AIT) in 2007, it was stated that between 1973 and 2006, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) built only 30,000 housing units nationwide, and then, there was a deficit of 12 million homes. I will not bother with statistics now, but to those who are professionals in the housing industry in and out of Nigeria, one could see that there are tremendous opportunities in the Nigerian housing sector waiting to be tapped, and it should be noted that the Governments alone cannot fill this gap.
However, what the various government, Federal, State and Local should be seeing to be actively and sincerely doing is to provide such resources as encouraging foreign investment, (as Akeju 2007, posited, Government has no business building houses), and focus on providing a favourable investment climate, infrastructure and mortgage insurance to first-time buyers and low-to-middle income families.
Currently, and fortuitously, Housing seems to be a priority for the Federal Government of Nigeria, and this is captured in President Yar’Adua’s 2020 Agenda, where the president attaches the highest priority to affordable housing for the masses.
The purpose of this article, however, is to look at another factor which should be considered in facilitating a vibrant housing sector in Nigeria – Social Housing and to call attention to the human resources side of this sector. Social or Public housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by not-for-profit organizations, or by a combination of the two, usually with the aim of providing affordable housing. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, definitions of poverty and other criteria for allocation vary.
In the United Kingdom public housing is often referred to by the British public as "council housing" and "council estate", based on the historical role of district and borough councils in running public housing. Local semi-independent non-profit housing associations have begun to operate some of the older council housing estates in the United Kingdom. Despite being non-profit based, they charge generally higher rents than council properties. More recently the government refers to both as 'Social Housing', and Housing Associations are now referred to as 'Registered Social Landlords' (RSLs). Additionally local planning departments may require private-sector developers to offer "affordable housing" as a condition of planning permission. This accounts for another £700m of Government funding each year for tenants in parts of the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom has a long tradition of promoting affordable social rented housing. This may be owned by local councils or housing associations. There are also a range of affordable home ownership options, including shared ownership (where a tenant rents part share in the property from a social landlord, and owns the remainder). The government has also attempted to promote the supply of owner occupied affordable stock for purchase, principally by using the land-use planning system to require that housing developers provide a proportion of lower cost housing within new developments. This approach is commonly known as inclusionary zoning.
The social housing sector in the United Kingdom is regulated by The Housing Corporation and the Audit Commission who carry out regular inspections to ensure compliance with the government regulations, good practice and value for money, amongst other criteria. The Housing Corporation is the government agency that funds new affordable homes and regulates housing associations in England, while the Audit Commission is an independent watchdog, driving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local public services to deliver better outcomes for everyone, including local government, health, housing, community safety and fire and rescue to promote value for money for taxpayers.
Furthermore, the education and training of housing professionals in the UK is overseen by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH). The CIH is a professional body for people working in housing and communities, helped develop the Construction and the Built Environment Diploma and ensure that housing practitioners are appropriately trained in order to ensure effective performance in their roles. The point here is that there is a resource implication by utilising the CIH’s world famous professional housing management training, as the President seems to be keen for highly qualified Nigerians to return home to help the country and housing provision and management are crucial elements for success.
Recently, there have been moves made by the Nigerian Government, through the Minister for Housing to elicit the help of the CIH in establishing a professional housing body in Nigeria, to serve in the Nigerian housing sector. This will not only lead to recognised and accredited housing courses and training being established in Nigeria, but it points the way to a housing revolution in the country, since such a body will be at par with other professional institutes such as Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN); Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA); Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) and the likes.
The fact is for such Institute for housing practitioners to be successfully established in Nigeria, there must be a Housing management training programme which will be accredited and authorised by a well known and recognised foreign body such as the CIH. This should not be new or objectionable to us, as basically, all of our professional bodies had their roots from such foreign bodies and even after 48 years of independence, are still very much aligned or affiliated with such bodies.
However, the main concern is with the training of such personnel and housing practitioners to run the housing sector in Nigeria. To take this forward, it is proposed that:
A conference of Federal and State Governments, Universities and other stakeholders needs to be held at Abuja to introduce Professional Housing Management to Nigeria. It should be co-hosted by the Federal Housing Ministry and the CIH. The British Government’s Department for International Development and the British Council should be invited.
The Federal Housing Minister and the Federal Housing Authority should hold a press conference well before the event and fully brief the public about the need for a professional body such as the CIH to play a major part in Housing Management in Nigeria.
Plans are required to get the housing profession recognised through legislation so that it would be at par with ICAN, the NSE, the Nigerian Institute of Architects etc. The ICAN Act of 1965 would be a useful guide. Furthermore, the gap created by the absence of the CIH in Nigeria is being usurped by other professions who pretend to be “experts” in housing development and management. The UK as the best model where there are clear professional demarcations in the duties of architects, estate managers, chartered and quantity surveyors, builders etc. The CIH has a Royal Charter and its functions cannot be performed by other groups. This is what is needed in Nigeria whereby a Nigerian Chartered Institute of Housing Act should be enacted as soon as possible. UK's CIH has over 21,000 members with branches in many countries. South Africa and Botswana are currently the only African countries that have signed MOUs with the CIH, but given the enormity of Nigeria's housing problems, there is a need to move quickly.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) needs to be drawn up and signed as soon as possible and the possibility of encouraging the CIH to open an office in Nigeria as they have done in Hong Kong and elsewhere. Financial and logistical support should be given by the Federal and State Governments. The British Council could be asked to play a role in this arrangement. The British Dept for International Development (DFID) is keen to improve professional expertise in Africa and they could also make a contribution.
Hundreds of Nigerian graduates and senior housing managers are anxious to qualify through the CIH. There are definitely a large number of routes for qualifying for membership. For example, a fast track system has just been set up between CIH China and CIH UK for university-based and distance learning protocols. 2 or 3 Nigerian universities could be selected for post-graduate programmes leading to CIH qualifications in Housing Management and they could network with some of the dozens of universities and colleges in the UK that provide undergraduate and post-graduate course in Housing. The CIH UK remains a highly respected body, with world-wide affiliations and can only be of benefit to Nigeria.
The CIH has excellent distance learning facilities so, students can remain in their jobs in Nigeria during their training for membership. Supervisors can make short trips from the UK for higher level students who are aiming for Corporate Membership (MCIH). Alternatively, such students could come to the UK for short-term attachments to approved housing organisations (6-12 weeks).
At present, the Housing Sector in the UK has a very significant presence of Nigerians, currently working to provide housing and Housing management training to the United Kingdom population. This has been going on since the early 1970s. I do not see any reason, why this abilities, skills and experience could not be tapped for the benefit of Nigeria as a whole.
Reference:
Akeju, A.A., “Challenges to Providing Affordable Housing in Nigeria”, Paper presented at the 2nd Emerging Urban Africa International Conference on Housing Finance in Nigeria, Abuja, Oct. 17-19, 2007
Shehu, M., “Nigeria: FCTA to build 10,000 houses” in THIS DAT Newspapers, 26 September 2008.
Yusuf, M. H. “Funding, handicap to Nigeria’s housing policy” DAILY TRUST Newspapers, 01 September 2008
Akintokunbo Adejumo, M Sc., ACIH, MCMI, a social and political commentator on Nigerian issues, lives and works in London, UK. He is a graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985). He also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Nigeriansinamerica.com, Nigerianvillagesquare.com, Gamji.com, etc
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA, an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and the people of Nigeria.
In most African societies, long before colonialism, the provision of housing or shelter was an individual responsibility, and this trend obtains to the present day. Post-colonial days, it has always been assumed that since we are now practicing a foreign system of government and administration, the governments should now be responsible for providing all basic needs for their people.
Unfortunately, this has not been so for various reasons. One reason is the fact that most African governments tend to abandon their responsibilities to their people in so many ways. Lack of capital investment is another problem, and we should not even talk of corruption, insincerity, lack of concern, etc.
In a report published by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission) in the early days of the Obasanjo Administration, the Government of Nigeria was accused of being consistently one of the worst violators of housing rights in the world, with over two million people forcibly evicted from their homes in different parts of the country since 2000. The then Minister for the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai was implicated, especially for the forced evictions in Abuja. But such violations have been going on for decades in Nigeria. Maroko, a slum near Lagos, is a special case under the military regime in the early 1980s. More recently, Lagos State Government rendered over 3000 people homeless in the slum community of Makoko in 2005, without prior notice given or compensation or offer of suitable alternative. The Rivers State Government demolished homes in the Agip Waterside Community in February 2005 leaving 5 to 10,000 people homeless and without compensation. The State Government also moved in the bulldozers on 1.2 million people living in the Rainbow Town area of Port Harcourt since the 1960s, in 2000.
In these cases, the Land Use Act of 1978 was used to evict them. Considering the 140 million population of the country, a vast housing market exist in Nigeria given the massive home deficit estimated at about 14 million by the Federal Mortgage Bank, according to report in 2005. However, many factors contribute to the abysmal under-performance of the housing sector in Nigeria, such as absence of long term financing, legal restrictions, a “dinosauric” land registration system, and a lack of a social housing system couple with haphazard housing policy on the part of the governments. Along with this, we can also mention the lack of continuity from various successive governments.
While virtually all governments in Nigeria since independence have highlighted housing as a major priority, Nigeria is yet to develop a vibrant housing and mortgage market, social and affordable housing policies, and housing continues to be provided through tortuous traditional methods of buying land and building over some years, which could be an individual’s entire lifetime (Akeju, 2007)
In 1979, the Shehu Shagari Administration initiated a Policy on Affordable Housing. The policy, though laudable and very bold in its effort, was unable to meet the nation’s housing needs because it was based on the unsustainable tenet that houses will be provided by government, and this remains an anomaly that we must resolve (Akeju, 2007).
In a news report on the Nigerian Housing Sector aired on African Independent Television (AIT) in 2007, it was stated that between 1973 and 2006, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) built only 30,000 housing units nationwide, and then, there was a deficit of 12 million homes. I will not bother with statistics now, but to those who are professionals in the housing industry in and out of Nigeria, one could see that there are tremendous opportunities in the Nigerian housing sector waiting to be tapped, and it should be noted that the Governments alone cannot fill this gap.
However, what the various government, Federal, State and Local should be seeing to be actively and sincerely doing is to provide such resources as encouraging foreign investment, (as Akeju 2007, posited, Government has no business building houses), and focus on providing a favourable investment climate, infrastructure and mortgage insurance to first-time buyers and low-to-middle income families.
Currently, and fortuitously, Housing seems to be a priority for the Federal Government of Nigeria, and this is captured in President Yar’Adua’s 2020 Agenda, where the president attaches the highest priority to affordable housing for the masses.
The purpose of this article, however, is to look at another factor which should be considered in facilitating a vibrant housing sector in Nigeria – Social Housing and to call attention to the human resources side of this sector. Social or Public housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by not-for-profit organizations, or by a combination of the two, usually with the aim of providing affordable housing. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, definitions of poverty and other criteria for allocation vary.
In the United Kingdom public housing is often referred to by the British public as "council housing" and "council estate", based on the historical role of district and borough councils in running public housing. Local semi-independent non-profit housing associations have begun to operate some of the older council housing estates in the United Kingdom. Despite being non-profit based, they charge generally higher rents than council properties. More recently the government refers to both as 'Social Housing', and Housing Associations are now referred to as 'Registered Social Landlords' (RSLs). Additionally local planning departments may require private-sector developers to offer "affordable housing" as a condition of planning permission. This accounts for another £700m of Government funding each year for tenants in parts of the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom has a long tradition of promoting affordable social rented housing. This may be owned by local councils or housing associations. There are also a range of affordable home ownership options, including shared ownership (where a tenant rents part share in the property from a social landlord, and owns the remainder). The government has also attempted to promote the supply of owner occupied affordable stock for purchase, principally by using the land-use planning system to require that housing developers provide a proportion of lower cost housing within new developments. This approach is commonly known as inclusionary zoning.
The social housing sector in the United Kingdom is regulated by The Housing Corporation and the Audit Commission who carry out regular inspections to ensure compliance with the government regulations, good practice and value for money, amongst other criteria. The Housing Corporation is the government agency that funds new affordable homes and regulates housing associations in England, while the Audit Commission is an independent watchdog, driving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local public services to deliver better outcomes for everyone, including local government, health, housing, community safety and fire and rescue to promote value for money for taxpayers.
Furthermore, the education and training of housing professionals in the UK is overseen by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH). The CIH is a professional body for people working in housing and communities, helped develop the Construction and the Built Environment Diploma and ensure that housing practitioners are appropriately trained in order to ensure effective performance in their roles. The point here is that there is a resource implication by utilising the CIH’s world famous professional housing management training, as the President seems to be keen for highly qualified Nigerians to return home to help the country and housing provision and management are crucial elements for success.
Recently, there have been moves made by the Nigerian Government, through the Minister for Housing to elicit the help of the CIH in establishing a professional housing body in Nigeria, to serve in the Nigerian housing sector. This will not only lead to recognised and accredited housing courses and training being established in Nigeria, but it points the way to a housing revolution in the country, since such a body will be at par with other professional institutes such as Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN); Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA); Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) and the likes.
The fact is for such Institute for housing practitioners to be successfully established in Nigeria, there must be a Housing management training programme which will be accredited and authorised by a well known and recognised foreign body such as the CIH. This should not be new or objectionable to us, as basically, all of our professional bodies had their roots from such foreign bodies and even after 48 years of independence, are still very much aligned or affiliated with such bodies.
However, the main concern is with the training of such personnel and housing practitioners to run the housing sector in Nigeria. To take this forward, it is proposed that:
A conference of Federal and State Governments, Universities and other stakeholders needs to be held at Abuja to introduce Professional Housing Management to Nigeria. It should be co-hosted by the Federal Housing Ministry and the CIH. The British Government’s Department for International Development and the British Council should be invited.
The Federal Housing Minister and the Federal Housing Authority should hold a press conference well before the event and fully brief the public about the need for a professional body such as the CIH to play a major part in Housing Management in Nigeria.
Plans are required to get the housing profession recognised through legislation so that it would be at par with ICAN, the NSE, the Nigerian Institute of Architects etc. The ICAN Act of 1965 would be a useful guide. Furthermore, the gap created by the absence of the CIH in Nigeria is being usurped by other professions who pretend to be “experts” in housing development and management. The UK as the best model where there are clear professional demarcations in the duties of architects, estate managers, chartered and quantity surveyors, builders etc. The CIH has a Royal Charter and its functions cannot be performed by other groups. This is what is needed in Nigeria whereby a Nigerian Chartered Institute of Housing Act should be enacted as soon as possible. UK's CIH has over 21,000 members with branches in many countries. South Africa and Botswana are currently the only African countries that have signed MOUs with the CIH, but given the enormity of Nigeria's housing problems, there is a need to move quickly.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) needs to be drawn up and signed as soon as possible and the possibility of encouraging the CIH to open an office in Nigeria as they have done in Hong Kong and elsewhere. Financial and logistical support should be given by the Federal and State Governments. The British Council could be asked to play a role in this arrangement. The British Dept for International Development (DFID) is keen to improve professional expertise in Africa and they could also make a contribution.
Hundreds of Nigerian graduates and senior housing managers are anxious to qualify through the CIH. There are definitely a large number of routes for qualifying for membership. For example, a fast track system has just been set up between CIH China and CIH UK for university-based and distance learning protocols. 2 or 3 Nigerian universities could be selected for post-graduate programmes leading to CIH qualifications in Housing Management and they could network with some of the dozens of universities and colleges in the UK that provide undergraduate and post-graduate course in Housing. The CIH UK remains a highly respected body, with world-wide affiliations and can only be of benefit to Nigeria.
The CIH has excellent distance learning facilities so, students can remain in their jobs in Nigeria during their training for membership. Supervisors can make short trips from the UK for higher level students who are aiming for Corporate Membership (MCIH). Alternatively, such students could come to the UK for short-term attachments to approved housing organisations (6-12 weeks).
At present, the Housing Sector in the UK has a very significant presence of Nigerians, currently working to provide housing and Housing management training to the United Kingdom population. This has been going on since the early 1970s. I do not see any reason, why this abilities, skills and experience could not be tapped for the benefit of Nigeria as a whole.
Reference:
Akeju, A.A., “Challenges to Providing Affordable Housing in Nigeria”, Paper presented at the 2nd Emerging Urban Africa International Conference on Housing Finance in Nigeria, Abuja, Oct. 17-19, 2007
Shehu, M., “Nigeria: FCTA to build 10,000 houses” in THIS DAT Newspapers, 26 September 2008.
Yusuf, M. H. “Funding, handicap to Nigeria’s housing policy” DAILY TRUST Newspapers, 01 September 2008
Akintokunbo Adejumo, M Sc., ACIH, MCMI, a social and political commentator on Nigerian issues, lives and works in London, UK. He is a graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985). He also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Nigeriansinamerica.com, Nigerianvillagesquare.com, Gamji.com, etc
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA, an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and the people of Nigeria.
Sleepless And Speechless In Abuja And Other Cities
I have just returned from Nigeria, which in itself is not news to anybody, and I also visited our capital city, Abuja. Abuja is arguably one of the most beautiful cities in sub-Saharan Africa. If we don’t want to go that far, then it is the only beautiful city in Nigeria. It has got much about everything that a modern city should have – imposing beautiful public and government buildings; private abodes with exquisite out-of-this-world architecture (most of these are actually castles or villas, and not just houses, as only the Nigerian rich can build); the roads are neat, wide and motorable; well-planned lay-outs; relatively good security; centre of Nigeria’s government, etc. But alas, somebody forgot to include an effective, cheap public transportation system for the common man - rail, buses or any other. As a Nigerian, I am always awed and proud of it, but with mixed feelings and reservations. I am always at a loss why no Nigerian government has ever considered replicating Abuja in other state capitals around the country. They would not, would they?
Abuja is a “planned city”, as it was mainly built in the 1980s and officially became Nigeria's capital on 12 December 1991, replacing the role of the previous capital Lagos. As of the 2006 census, the Federal Capital Territory has a population of 778,567. Abuja is known for being the best purpose-built city in Africa as well as being one of the wealthiest and most expensive. The logic used for conceiving Abuja, by the Murtala Mohammed-Obasanjo military regime of the late 70s, was similar to Brazil building its capital Brasilia.
It is of course not my first or second time in this city built with the wealth Nigeria has gained from oil, and the sufferings of the people of the Niger Delta (Sorry to put a dampener on your sensitivities). Indeed the residents of the real Abuja are not ordinary Nigerians. Whenever I visit Abuja, I could not but help being overcome with mixed feelings. One, and the positive thing, is that Abuja is a testimony to Nigeria’s effort to be a modern state, and one that a Nigerian should be proud of. The second, and definitely negative of disheartening, is that Abuja represents man’s inhumanity to man, in all its ramifications. It is a testimony or evidence to the monstrous, contagious and murderous corruption of Nigeria. A testimony to the debilitating effect that corruption has had on us since the military took over governance of this country. It is the evidence of greed, insincerity, mismanagement and bad governance of our country. It embodies the desire and effort of the corrupt ruling class that have enslaved their people for decades. Look at it beyond the issue of beauty and modernity.
Every time I visit this city, and talk to people, it is always the same sense of futility and pessimism, and incidentally, these are expressed by both the ordinary Nigeria on the street as well as those in various levels of the society – civil servants, politicians, private and business people. All of them believe that the deliverance of this country is only by praying to God. They all believe, and these include those in Lagos, Ibadan, Ortukpo, Kano, Kaduna, Benin, Minna, Yola, Jalingo. Ogbomosho, Calabar, Sokoto, Ife, Ado-Ekiti, Warri, etc, that only God can save Nigeria.
Mind you, I am a fairly religious person. At least I believe in God, even if I don’t attend church regularly as my mother would have liked me to do, but I have a problem reconciling this “given-up” attitude of my countrymen that only God can deliver them from the evil cabal that is ruling them. They do not believe that they, as a people, can and have to do it themselves. And I am talking about even the people who should not be saying such things. I am talking about people, whose remit is to ensure the smooth running of Nigeria, either as civil servants, politician, military personnel, police, business people and the likes. One thing that comes to mind is that these same people are either being deliberately insincere with me and their countrymen and women, or they really do not know what to do. Either way, we all know it does not bode well for the country, and explains, almost graphically, why the country is in such a mess as we find ourselves in today, and in the future too.
On the other hand, such sentiments shows us to be pessimists and a people, at least those ordinary Nigerians, who have no other choice than to live and struggle it out in Nigeria, who have given up on the country itself and are convinced that Nigeria’s salvation can only come from God. Well, I agree that God can indeed save us, but I always ask them; have you heard of the saying that “heaven only helps those who help themselves”?
Abuja, being our capital city, is supposed to be an embodiment of Nigeria, and Nigeria, in all ramifications – culture, politics, socio-political development, a testimony to a country rousing itself out of the ashes of civil war, religious riots and ethnic rivalries, on its way to being a modern and developed country. But no, you cannot see all these and many features of political and democratic emancipation in Abuja. What we see is a vagrant display of stolen wealth, outright oppression, arrogance of power, unchecked political, governmental and moral corruption, neglect of fellow Nigerians and all the vices that have virtually destroyed our nation, and turned the majority of Nigerians into paupers and/or crooks.
Well. People tell me that the success of Abuja lays solely on ex-President Babangida, since it was him, more than any previous Head of State, who accelerated the building of Abuja and forced the civil service, the diplomatic corps, etc, to move into the partly-completed city in the 80s. I might begrudgingly accept that, but then it is no wonder that the city is decadent like its “accelerator”. What do we know? A lot of Nigerians made their money out of the building of Abuja, and are still making money, because the city is actually not complete and is still growing. All these to the grief of the Niger Delta people; no wonder they are aggrieved. Can you blame them?
However, it was for selfish reasons that IBB accelerated the building of Abuja. He made that decision shortly after the Orkah coup, in which he was nearly bushwhacked and killed. He surmised that Lagos, as the capital of Nigeria, was not safe for him, especially since he did not have plans to relinquish power for a long time, and made haste to retreat to the relative safety and proximity of Abuja to his Minna hometown as well as to the Nigerian Army facilities in the northern part of the country. Also he could exercise better control of the armed forces from Abuja, instead of the coup-hardened soldiers based in Lagos.
Abuja typifies some of the failings in our society which, according to Tunji Lardner, has enough for everybody’s need but not enough for everybody’s greed; a society where the greed (of the elite) most often surpasses the need (of the populace). You cannot be an ordinary citizen of Nigeria and live successfully in Abuja. The city is for rich, mostly corrupt Nigerians. All other people live on the outskirts of the city, called “satellite towns”, and come into the city to satisfy the whim and services of the rich. The ostentatiousness and pretentiousness of the city are overwhelming. The rotten smell and evil face of corruption are overpowering, nauseating and cannot be ignored, if you are not “one of them”. But Nigerians seem to love it that way.
Mind you, I am not against being rich. I would like, and work hard, to be rich too. Why not? I am just against corrupt enrichment. And that is what we have in Abuja. Babangida, and subsequent leaders of Nigeria to date, ensured that living in Abuja is beyond the reach of the majority of Nigerians; not that I want 140 million Nigerians to crowd into Abuja, but you know what I mean. If a plot of land costs between 30 and 40 million naira, what would you build on it, for example? You had better build a castle. The corrupt rich have cornered the real estate market. They have all the houses and the estates. Most of these are politicians and ex-military leaders and civil servants. Even the commercial properties are owned by them. In fact, anything that is not government property is probably owned by these individuals.
I cannot know or list them all, but here’s an example. There is a large expanse of building called Sigma Apartments (I forgot which street it lies) and I was told it is owned by an ex-Minister for Sports. See? That tells you why our football and other sports are spiraling downwards every day. Several high quality hotels, guest houses, shopping complexes and plazas are owned by ex-military officers and serving politicians. And these people do not own one, but several each. In most of the “big men’s” castles, you can count up to six exotic vehicles, while Abuja itself has no public transportation worth its name for the masses to travel in to and from work. Babangida forgot to include a mass transit or urban rail system in his master plan.
This rapacious land-grabbing and property-acquisition frenzy reminds me of Leo Tolstoy’s short story “How much land does a man need?” This was the story of a man, Pakhom who already had some land but went in search of more land, this time, freehold land, until he got to the land of the Bashkirs, where he was told he could take as much land as he could walk around in a day at the rate of a thousand roubles a day, but he must be back at his starting point everyday, by sunset. But Pakhom got greedy. He set out at dawn, grabbing long stretches of land, by the time he decided he had had enough land, and he embarked on the journey back, he had travelled so far and he was very exhausted, and ran back as fast as he could, but he couldn’t make it. He slumped and died. The Bashkirs were only sympathetic to his plight. Pakhom’s workman picked up a spade and dug a grave for his master - six feet from head to heel, which was exactly the right length - and buried him.
Tolstoy’s metaphor is a remarkable observation on the futility of human strivings, on the emptiness of avariciousness. In seeking to acquire more and more land, Pakhom ended up not having anything, including his life. (Obasanjo, you who are acquiring land left, right and centre, to expand Obasanjo Farms, take heed of this story, if you have not read it already)
Let the “owners and acquisitors” of Abuja grab as much of Abuja, and indeed, Nigeria, as they could. But what is the point? How many billions of naira do they need to steal? How many rooms can sleep all at once or how many cars can they ride at once. As the Holy Bible said, “what profits a man, who gains the entire world, but loses his life?”
It was while I was in Abuja that several Ministers were sacked from President Yar’Adua’s cabinet. One of them, the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Moddibo, who has done virtually nothing since he was appointed in 2007, was said to be crying upon hearing of his sack. He replaced El-Rufai, who was actually his mentor, but whom he (Moddibo) later turned around to stab in the back. In the meantime, several of the sacked Ministers are already rich beyond their own imagination, just for being in government for less than 2 years. Meanwhile, the lobby to become a Minister is already on, but you can bet that our very own “Mr. Go-Slow” will take another few months before replacing the ministers.
Ah! The best news I have heard in a long time happened on Friday 7th November, when a source called me and told me that the so-called invincible, most powerful man in Nigeria sport for the past 17 years has been unceremoniously removed as the Director General of the Nigerian Sports Commission. Yes, Dr Amos Adamu; that most corrupt of civil servants in Nigeria finally met his Waterloo. He over-climbed the tree when he and others in the Local Organizing Committee for the2009 FIFA U17 World Cup embarrassed the country by inflating the cost of the games from N9 billion to N37 Billion. Can you imagine that? Goddamn thieves! They should be shot. But anyway, Amos Adamu, that Ogbomosho man who pretends that he’s a Northerner to further his career, was told to report to the Head of Service, for re-deployment. This is effectively the end of his civil service career. He should be happy; he is a billionaire civil servant; he is still in FIFA, CAF and he’s currently the President of WAFU. A few months ago, he publicly stated that he was conducting an investigation into corruption in Nigerian sports, and gave the committee he inaugurated 28 days to carry out their investigation and submit it to him. After over 6 months, we are still waiting for that report. He said a few years ago, that when he retires, he will become a priest. I wonder what he will preach to his congregation about corruption. Good riddance.
And another Ogbomosho man (please I don’t have anything Ogbomosho people, my mother was born and bred in that noble town) is riding rough-shod over Oyo State, basking in the glory of being the state’s chief executive officer, but actually doing nothing. He’s hardly spent a year in office, after one of the most rigged elections in the history of the state, nay, Nigeria, and he’s already planning for a second term (God forbid bad thing). The man, who many people are wont to say, is charming and friendly and a good man personally, if you get to meet him, recently spent a hundred million Naira on his daughter’s wedding. Don’t ask me where the money came from; your guess is as good as mine. The rumour is that all the 33 local governments and all ministries and parastatals were asked or coerced into donating this money. And meanwhile, go to Ibadan, the state capital, and you will be sorry you ever entered the ancient city which should have been one of the foremost industrialized, progressive, beautiful and most developed cities in Nigeria today. I am from the city, and every time I go there, there is really nothing that shows that this was a city that was the capital of the old Western Region during the premiership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the old Western State of Fajuyi and Adeyinka Adebayo, the old Oyo State of Jemibewon, Bola Ige, etc, and now the capital of the new Oyo State. Every other state capital carved out of the old Western Region have moved on and are seeing some kind of development or the other; but not my city of Ibadan, that used to be the military backbone of the Oyo Empire.
Forget about that former school teacher of mine, Lamidi Adesina and the naïve Rasheed Ladoja. The two were major disappointments, and after those two, what do you expect? Adebayo Alao-Akala, sacked policeman, who never expected to be more than a local government chairman, but became first, the deputy governor, and backed by the late godfather, Lamidi Adedibu, became the “execu-thieve” Governor of Oyo State. Such is the state of Nigeria today. With ex-convicts like James Ibori as governor of Delta State for eight disastrous years, state governorship has become a free-for-all. But then what about governors who are well educated and well-read like Agagu of Ondo State and Odili of Rivers State? Any difference between these people? No!!
Nigeria was not all that of gloom. The news of Barack Obama’s victory in the US met me in Jos. I was glued to my hotel room’s television all night. I need not say anything further on this. All I wanted to say have been said, and more, by thousands of writers and commentators, but the frenzy in Nigeria was probably unsurpassed by even the Americans themselves. Even Nigerian politicians were ecstatic, and it makes one wonder whether there is hope for us in that part of the world. A comparison between Nigeria and America’s versions of politics and democracy is certainly food for thought for many years to come. The way Nigerians reacted to Obama’s victory is a vocal yearning for real democracy and progress in our country. We can only hope this will be replicated in 2011. Dare we hope?
In Lagos and Lagos State, only the blind will not see what Governor Babatunde Fashola is doing. The man has been a revelation, despite many people’s initial misgivings about the support he received from his predecessor, Ashiwaju Tinubu. People say Tinubu is still calling the shots, but the evidence is there that Fashola is showing the pace for all other states to follow. Again, I should not recount his achievements so far, but only to pray that God gives him the wisdom, the long life and good health to continue as he started.
All that said, I was in Benin City, Edo State to witness Governor Oshiomole’s inauguration and swearing-in. It was a victory for democracy and again a sign that our judiciary is not all that bad. Let’s leave it at that. In other states where elections results were put into question, such as Osun, Bayelsa, Cross River, Adamawa, Oyo, etc, there were indications that the Electoral Tribunals were greatly compromised and thereby delivered slanted judgments in face of overwhelming evidence of political rigging and corruption. Edo State and Oshiomole should give us another reason to hope that Nigeria is changing politically, and that while our political and democratic process might appear slow, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Well done to the Electoral and Appeals tribunal that oversaw this case. I wish the new Governor the best.
There are so many things I would have liked to bring out about my visit to Nigeria this time, but space precludes my doing so. Suffice it to say that my people are still suffering, corrupt ex-governors and other politicians are still roaming the streets and still dictating the tunes, current politicians are still embroiled in the mesh of corruption (the car scandal of the House of Representatives, etc). I even heard that a former Secretary-General of the Nigerian Football Association, NFA, has a hotel in South Africa; the Chief of Staff to the Rivers State Governor embezzled five billion naira (how he can do that without his boss’s knowledge beats my imagination) and the politicians and leaders are still pulling the wool over our eyes and trying to convince us that a dog is a monkey.
Finally, on the sacking of ministers, appointing new ones, and reshuffling President Yar’Adua’s cabinet, the sum total is Work Done Equals Zero. Nothing has changed or will change. If Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa does not go, Nigeria’s fight against corruption is doomed to failure. The man is holding us up, let’s get rid of him. Times are no longer desperate for the corrupt; they are indeed basking and glorying in it in the glare of everybody. Even new Governors have devised new ways of corrupt enrichment, as was confided to me by a staff of the EFCC.
I say, let the truth be said always.
Akintokunbo Adejumo lives and works in London, UK. A graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985), he also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Nigerians In America, Nigeria Village Square, Champions Newspaper, ChatAfrik.com, African News Switzerland, New Nigerian Politics, Gamji.com, Codewit.com, etc.
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA, (www.championsfornigeria.org) an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and Nigerians
Abuja is a “planned city”, as it was mainly built in the 1980s and officially became Nigeria's capital on 12 December 1991, replacing the role of the previous capital Lagos. As of the 2006 census, the Federal Capital Territory has a population of 778,567. Abuja is known for being the best purpose-built city in Africa as well as being one of the wealthiest and most expensive. The logic used for conceiving Abuja, by the Murtala Mohammed-Obasanjo military regime of the late 70s, was similar to Brazil building its capital Brasilia.
It is of course not my first or second time in this city built with the wealth Nigeria has gained from oil, and the sufferings of the people of the Niger Delta (Sorry to put a dampener on your sensitivities). Indeed the residents of the real Abuja are not ordinary Nigerians. Whenever I visit Abuja, I could not but help being overcome with mixed feelings. One, and the positive thing, is that Abuja is a testimony to Nigeria’s effort to be a modern state, and one that a Nigerian should be proud of. The second, and definitely negative of disheartening, is that Abuja represents man’s inhumanity to man, in all its ramifications. It is a testimony or evidence to the monstrous, contagious and murderous corruption of Nigeria. A testimony to the debilitating effect that corruption has had on us since the military took over governance of this country. It is the evidence of greed, insincerity, mismanagement and bad governance of our country. It embodies the desire and effort of the corrupt ruling class that have enslaved their people for decades. Look at it beyond the issue of beauty and modernity.
Every time I visit this city, and talk to people, it is always the same sense of futility and pessimism, and incidentally, these are expressed by both the ordinary Nigeria on the street as well as those in various levels of the society – civil servants, politicians, private and business people. All of them believe that the deliverance of this country is only by praying to God. They all believe, and these include those in Lagos, Ibadan, Ortukpo, Kano, Kaduna, Benin, Minna, Yola, Jalingo. Ogbomosho, Calabar, Sokoto, Ife, Ado-Ekiti, Warri, etc, that only God can save Nigeria.
Mind you, I am a fairly religious person. At least I believe in God, even if I don’t attend church regularly as my mother would have liked me to do, but I have a problem reconciling this “given-up” attitude of my countrymen that only God can deliver them from the evil cabal that is ruling them. They do not believe that they, as a people, can and have to do it themselves. And I am talking about even the people who should not be saying such things. I am talking about people, whose remit is to ensure the smooth running of Nigeria, either as civil servants, politician, military personnel, police, business people and the likes. One thing that comes to mind is that these same people are either being deliberately insincere with me and their countrymen and women, or they really do not know what to do. Either way, we all know it does not bode well for the country, and explains, almost graphically, why the country is in such a mess as we find ourselves in today, and in the future too.
On the other hand, such sentiments shows us to be pessimists and a people, at least those ordinary Nigerians, who have no other choice than to live and struggle it out in Nigeria, who have given up on the country itself and are convinced that Nigeria’s salvation can only come from God. Well, I agree that God can indeed save us, but I always ask them; have you heard of the saying that “heaven only helps those who help themselves”?
Abuja, being our capital city, is supposed to be an embodiment of Nigeria, and Nigeria, in all ramifications – culture, politics, socio-political development, a testimony to a country rousing itself out of the ashes of civil war, religious riots and ethnic rivalries, on its way to being a modern and developed country. But no, you cannot see all these and many features of political and democratic emancipation in Abuja. What we see is a vagrant display of stolen wealth, outright oppression, arrogance of power, unchecked political, governmental and moral corruption, neglect of fellow Nigerians and all the vices that have virtually destroyed our nation, and turned the majority of Nigerians into paupers and/or crooks.
Well. People tell me that the success of Abuja lays solely on ex-President Babangida, since it was him, more than any previous Head of State, who accelerated the building of Abuja and forced the civil service, the diplomatic corps, etc, to move into the partly-completed city in the 80s. I might begrudgingly accept that, but then it is no wonder that the city is decadent like its “accelerator”. What do we know? A lot of Nigerians made their money out of the building of Abuja, and are still making money, because the city is actually not complete and is still growing. All these to the grief of the Niger Delta people; no wonder they are aggrieved. Can you blame them?
However, it was for selfish reasons that IBB accelerated the building of Abuja. He made that decision shortly after the Orkah coup, in which he was nearly bushwhacked and killed. He surmised that Lagos, as the capital of Nigeria, was not safe for him, especially since he did not have plans to relinquish power for a long time, and made haste to retreat to the relative safety and proximity of Abuja to his Minna hometown as well as to the Nigerian Army facilities in the northern part of the country. Also he could exercise better control of the armed forces from Abuja, instead of the coup-hardened soldiers based in Lagos.
Abuja typifies some of the failings in our society which, according to Tunji Lardner, has enough for everybody’s need but not enough for everybody’s greed; a society where the greed (of the elite) most often surpasses the need (of the populace). You cannot be an ordinary citizen of Nigeria and live successfully in Abuja. The city is for rich, mostly corrupt Nigerians. All other people live on the outskirts of the city, called “satellite towns”, and come into the city to satisfy the whim and services of the rich. The ostentatiousness and pretentiousness of the city are overwhelming. The rotten smell and evil face of corruption are overpowering, nauseating and cannot be ignored, if you are not “one of them”. But Nigerians seem to love it that way.
Mind you, I am not against being rich. I would like, and work hard, to be rich too. Why not? I am just against corrupt enrichment. And that is what we have in Abuja. Babangida, and subsequent leaders of Nigeria to date, ensured that living in Abuja is beyond the reach of the majority of Nigerians; not that I want 140 million Nigerians to crowd into Abuja, but you know what I mean. If a plot of land costs between 30 and 40 million naira, what would you build on it, for example? You had better build a castle. The corrupt rich have cornered the real estate market. They have all the houses and the estates. Most of these are politicians and ex-military leaders and civil servants. Even the commercial properties are owned by them. In fact, anything that is not government property is probably owned by these individuals.
I cannot know or list them all, but here’s an example. There is a large expanse of building called Sigma Apartments (I forgot which street it lies) and I was told it is owned by an ex-Minister for Sports. See? That tells you why our football and other sports are spiraling downwards every day. Several high quality hotels, guest houses, shopping complexes and plazas are owned by ex-military officers and serving politicians. And these people do not own one, but several each. In most of the “big men’s” castles, you can count up to six exotic vehicles, while Abuja itself has no public transportation worth its name for the masses to travel in to and from work. Babangida forgot to include a mass transit or urban rail system in his master plan.
This rapacious land-grabbing and property-acquisition frenzy reminds me of Leo Tolstoy’s short story “How much land does a man need?” This was the story of a man, Pakhom who already had some land but went in search of more land, this time, freehold land, until he got to the land of the Bashkirs, where he was told he could take as much land as he could walk around in a day at the rate of a thousand roubles a day, but he must be back at his starting point everyday, by sunset. But Pakhom got greedy. He set out at dawn, grabbing long stretches of land, by the time he decided he had had enough land, and he embarked on the journey back, he had travelled so far and he was very exhausted, and ran back as fast as he could, but he couldn’t make it. He slumped and died. The Bashkirs were only sympathetic to his plight. Pakhom’s workman picked up a spade and dug a grave for his master - six feet from head to heel, which was exactly the right length - and buried him.
Tolstoy’s metaphor is a remarkable observation on the futility of human strivings, on the emptiness of avariciousness. In seeking to acquire more and more land, Pakhom ended up not having anything, including his life. (Obasanjo, you who are acquiring land left, right and centre, to expand Obasanjo Farms, take heed of this story, if you have not read it already)
Let the “owners and acquisitors” of Abuja grab as much of Abuja, and indeed, Nigeria, as they could. But what is the point? How many billions of naira do they need to steal? How many rooms can sleep all at once or how many cars can they ride at once. As the Holy Bible said, “what profits a man, who gains the entire world, but loses his life?”
It was while I was in Abuja that several Ministers were sacked from President Yar’Adua’s cabinet. One of them, the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Moddibo, who has done virtually nothing since he was appointed in 2007, was said to be crying upon hearing of his sack. He replaced El-Rufai, who was actually his mentor, but whom he (Moddibo) later turned around to stab in the back. In the meantime, several of the sacked Ministers are already rich beyond their own imagination, just for being in government for less than 2 years. Meanwhile, the lobby to become a Minister is already on, but you can bet that our very own “Mr. Go-Slow” will take another few months before replacing the ministers.
Ah! The best news I have heard in a long time happened on Friday 7th November, when a source called me and told me that the so-called invincible, most powerful man in Nigeria sport for the past 17 years has been unceremoniously removed as the Director General of the Nigerian Sports Commission. Yes, Dr Amos Adamu; that most corrupt of civil servants in Nigeria finally met his Waterloo. He over-climbed the tree when he and others in the Local Organizing Committee for the2009 FIFA U17 World Cup embarrassed the country by inflating the cost of the games from N9 billion to N37 Billion. Can you imagine that? Goddamn thieves! They should be shot. But anyway, Amos Adamu, that Ogbomosho man who pretends that he’s a Northerner to further his career, was told to report to the Head of Service, for re-deployment. This is effectively the end of his civil service career. He should be happy; he is a billionaire civil servant; he is still in FIFA, CAF and he’s currently the President of WAFU. A few months ago, he publicly stated that he was conducting an investigation into corruption in Nigerian sports, and gave the committee he inaugurated 28 days to carry out their investigation and submit it to him. After over 6 months, we are still waiting for that report. He said a few years ago, that when he retires, he will become a priest. I wonder what he will preach to his congregation about corruption. Good riddance.
And another Ogbomosho man (please I don’t have anything Ogbomosho people, my mother was born and bred in that noble town) is riding rough-shod over Oyo State, basking in the glory of being the state’s chief executive officer, but actually doing nothing. He’s hardly spent a year in office, after one of the most rigged elections in the history of the state, nay, Nigeria, and he’s already planning for a second term (God forbid bad thing). The man, who many people are wont to say, is charming and friendly and a good man personally, if you get to meet him, recently spent a hundred million Naira on his daughter’s wedding. Don’t ask me where the money came from; your guess is as good as mine. The rumour is that all the 33 local governments and all ministries and parastatals were asked or coerced into donating this money. And meanwhile, go to Ibadan, the state capital, and you will be sorry you ever entered the ancient city which should have been one of the foremost industrialized, progressive, beautiful and most developed cities in Nigeria today. I am from the city, and every time I go there, there is really nothing that shows that this was a city that was the capital of the old Western Region during the premiership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the old Western State of Fajuyi and Adeyinka Adebayo, the old Oyo State of Jemibewon, Bola Ige, etc, and now the capital of the new Oyo State. Every other state capital carved out of the old Western Region have moved on and are seeing some kind of development or the other; but not my city of Ibadan, that used to be the military backbone of the Oyo Empire.
Forget about that former school teacher of mine, Lamidi Adesina and the naïve Rasheed Ladoja. The two were major disappointments, and after those two, what do you expect? Adebayo Alao-Akala, sacked policeman, who never expected to be more than a local government chairman, but became first, the deputy governor, and backed by the late godfather, Lamidi Adedibu, became the “execu-thieve” Governor of Oyo State. Such is the state of Nigeria today. With ex-convicts like James Ibori as governor of Delta State for eight disastrous years, state governorship has become a free-for-all. But then what about governors who are well educated and well-read like Agagu of Ondo State and Odili of Rivers State? Any difference between these people? No!!
Nigeria was not all that of gloom. The news of Barack Obama’s victory in the US met me in Jos. I was glued to my hotel room’s television all night. I need not say anything further on this. All I wanted to say have been said, and more, by thousands of writers and commentators, but the frenzy in Nigeria was probably unsurpassed by even the Americans themselves. Even Nigerian politicians were ecstatic, and it makes one wonder whether there is hope for us in that part of the world. A comparison between Nigeria and America’s versions of politics and democracy is certainly food for thought for many years to come. The way Nigerians reacted to Obama’s victory is a vocal yearning for real democracy and progress in our country. We can only hope this will be replicated in 2011. Dare we hope?
In Lagos and Lagos State, only the blind will not see what Governor Babatunde Fashola is doing. The man has been a revelation, despite many people’s initial misgivings about the support he received from his predecessor, Ashiwaju Tinubu. People say Tinubu is still calling the shots, but the evidence is there that Fashola is showing the pace for all other states to follow. Again, I should not recount his achievements so far, but only to pray that God gives him the wisdom, the long life and good health to continue as he started.
All that said, I was in Benin City, Edo State to witness Governor Oshiomole’s inauguration and swearing-in. It was a victory for democracy and again a sign that our judiciary is not all that bad. Let’s leave it at that. In other states where elections results were put into question, such as Osun, Bayelsa, Cross River, Adamawa, Oyo, etc, there were indications that the Electoral Tribunals were greatly compromised and thereby delivered slanted judgments in face of overwhelming evidence of political rigging and corruption. Edo State and Oshiomole should give us another reason to hope that Nigeria is changing politically, and that while our political and democratic process might appear slow, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Well done to the Electoral and Appeals tribunal that oversaw this case. I wish the new Governor the best.
There are so many things I would have liked to bring out about my visit to Nigeria this time, but space precludes my doing so. Suffice it to say that my people are still suffering, corrupt ex-governors and other politicians are still roaming the streets and still dictating the tunes, current politicians are still embroiled in the mesh of corruption (the car scandal of the House of Representatives, etc). I even heard that a former Secretary-General of the Nigerian Football Association, NFA, has a hotel in South Africa; the Chief of Staff to the Rivers State Governor embezzled five billion naira (how he can do that without his boss’s knowledge beats my imagination) and the politicians and leaders are still pulling the wool over our eyes and trying to convince us that a dog is a monkey.
Finally, on the sacking of ministers, appointing new ones, and reshuffling President Yar’Adua’s cabinet, the sum total is Work Done Equals Zero. Nothing has changed or will change. If Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa does not go, Nigeria’s fight against corruption is doomed to failure. The man is holding us up, let’s get rid of him. Times are no longer desperate for the corrupt; they are indeed basking and glorying in it in the glare of everybody. Even new Governors have devised new ways of corrupt enrichment, as was confided to me by a staff of the EFCC.
I say, let the truth be said always.
Akintokunbo Adejumo lives and works in London, UK. A graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985), he also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Nigerians In America, Nigeria Village Square, Champions Newspaper, ChatAfrik.com, African News Switzerland, New Nigerian Politics, Gamji.com, Codewit.com, etc.
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA, (www.championsfornigeria.org) an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and Nigerians
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