Over the past few years, corruption has become a topic of increased interest and debate within Nigerian society. Nigeria’s independent media and other commentators worldwide are constantly assessing the government's efforts to address corruption. This public discourse is a critical element in any anticorruption effort and is essential in raising public awareness of the issues associated with corruption in Nigeria.
In a democratic society, the public's tolerance, or more significantly, intolerance, of corrupt practices determines the success of any anticorruption campaign. In established democracies, elected officials react to the public's intolerance of corruption by initiating investigations and/or enacting legislation that results in reform. Consequently, we hope, the continued public debate and publicity occurring within Nigeria on corruption will result in the public becoming less tolerant of corrupt practices.
The history of corruption is as old as the world, because ancient civilizations have traces of widespread ‘illegality and corruption.’ (Dike, 2003). Thus, Lipset and Lenz, 2000 noted that "corruption has been ubiquitous in complex societies from ancient Egypt, Israel, Rome, and Greece down to the present." Corruption is also believed to be endemic in modern governments and it is not peculiar to any continent, region, or ethnic group. This does not, however, mean that the incidence and magnitude of corrupt activities are the same in every society. Some countries are obviously more corrupt; yet others have better plans in managing corrupt activities. Obviously, Nigeria is not one of those countries with a better handle on corruption, despite its unending corruption commissions and all the noise made by every administration on the efforts to transform the nation into a corruption-free society (Dike, 2003).
Therefore this article is written with a view to adopt a new approach - managing the challenges posed by corruption in the Nigerian society, rather than acting to punish incidents. This is a sort of proactive prevention in the first place, containing it to a manageable level. Corruption in Nigerian society has eaten deep into the fabric, and is perpetrated not only by those who govern, but also by the governed. Management should therefore be a combination of sincere prevention measures and tough remedial measures. These should be unconditional. (Zero-tolerance comes to mind here).
Corruption is a complex and adaptive phenomenon that affects many aspects of society and has plagued societies from the beginning of time. It is difficult to define, understand, and control. Because of the complexities associated with corruption and the differing perceptions individuals have of the phenomenon; it is not easy to define a realistic anticorruption goal.
• Is it realistic to strive for the total elimination of corruption in any society?
• Can a corruption-free society actually exist?
Although a number of societies may have reduced corruption to relatively low levels, none has created a utopian society where corruption does not exist.
Today, corruption in its various forms and manifestations is prevalent in all societies, even the most advanced Western democracies. Transparency International's Annual Corruption Perception Index does not reveal any country receiving a "perfect 10" or "zero corruption" in the annual country corruption environment rankings.
• Rather than creating unrealistic public expectations suggesting that corruption can be eliminated, would it not be preferable to educate the public to the reality that corruption cannot be eliminated but can be effectively managed?
• Can realistic goals and milestones be established within various components of society, specifically government bureaucracies, to effectively manage corruption?
• Perhaps either knowingly or unknowing, this is what is occurring in many modern societies in which corruption is a relatively minor social problem. If so, can an effective corruption management strategy be developed and implemented in Nigeria?
• What should be the focus of an effective corruption management strategy?
As a Food Hygiene and Safety trainer, I always enjoy teaching Pest Control to my students, and hence came up with what I call the “Vermin Allegory” or figure of speech. The vermin allegory can provide some guidance in developing an effective anti-corruption strategy. When mice, rodents or other vermin infest a building, there are two distinct strategy options available to combat the infestation.
One is a "detection strategy" that attempts to catch the vermin, most likely one at time. The other is a strategy that cleans up the environment to make it unattractive to vermin. In fact, the most effective vermin control strategy includes both prevention and detection components. Pests like vermin, need several favourable or conducive conditions before they can infest a building: they need warmth; they need food; they need a dirty environment; they also need some form of encouragement from the building’s owner. Take all these favourable conditions away from them, and they will not be able to infest the building, or if they do, they will not multiply.
The vermin allegory can be used to develop and educate the public about a national corruption management strategy. Its application could result in the government establishing realistic goals and milestones, and, most importantly, specific strategies to address corruption throughout all the arms of government, the public sector and the public in Nigeria. Although applicable to a national corruption strategy, the methods described by the vermin allegory might be better applied to address corruption within individual Nigeria government bureaucracies. It would mark a new direction if Nigerian government bureaucracies openly conveyed their own anticorruption, or integrity strategy, to their employees and the public. Perhaps this should be one of the initial milestones of the Nigerian government's overall anticorruption strategy.
As in the vermin allegory, any anticorruption strategy should encompass both detection and prevention components. Since they are more tangible, detection components of an anticorruption strategy are easier to develop and implement. Investigations, prosecutions, convictions, and sanctions for corruption-related offenses as well as a mechanism for the public to report incidence of alleged corruption are the most common anticorruption strategy detection components.
Although the uniform application and effectiveness of these components might be subject to debate, Nigeria has already implemented a number of anticorruption detection components. The high profile corruption investigations and public reporting mechanism initiated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) called the Anti Corruption Revolution (ANCOR) project, as well as the conviction and sentencing of a number of high-profile officials highlight anticorruption detection on a national level.
Due to an absence of communication and the lack of transparency at both political and bureaucratic levels, it is difficult to assess what, if anything, various Nigerian arms of government and organizations are doing to detect corruption. Similar to what should occur on a national level, bureaucracies should establish mechanisms for employees and the public to report alleged corruption. This reporting mechanism should be structured so that nothing can be hidden and be supported by an independent investigation that would determine if the allegations can be substantiated. The government organization's management should also lead in a way that encourages managers and supervisors to detect and report illicit activities.
In contrast, corruption prevention actions are far less tangible and far more difficult to implement and assess. However, as reflected by the vermin allegory, the proactive prevention components of corruption management strategy are significantly more important than those focused on detection. Realistically, it is certainly more cost effective to expend resources to prevent corruption than to incur the financial, social and political costs associated with corruption. Additionally, once corruption has permeated an environment or society such as ours, there can be no assurance that any type of detection efforts will be successful in eradicating it. Unfortunately, in most anticorruption campaigns or efforts, detection is usually overemphasized at the cost of prevention.
When addressing the issue of corruption, politicians and senior government bureaucrats tend to emphasize reactive detection methods. At the national level, detection activities are important in demonstrating political will and gaining public confidence in the government's anticorruption efforts. Detection activities are also critical at the bureaucratic level in demonstrating management's intolerance for corruption. However, detection methods alone will never be sufficient to effectively manage corruption.
On a national level, a corruption prevention strategy should focus on enhancing the public's awareness of the social, economic and political costs associated with corruption. Public, politicians and senior government officials should be taught that the purpose of government is to “serve civil society, not exploit it”. These educational efforts should diminish the public's tolerance of many corrupt practices that are currently viewed as acceptable. Additional, national public education efforts may cause the various agencies within government to be more concerned about their public image. Government educational efforts, possibly in partnership with social organizations, should also focus on educating the younger generation on the evils of corruption as well as acceptable and non-acceptable standards of public behaviour.
To prevent corruption, bureaucracies/civil service should do everything possible to recruit individuals of high moral character and do everything possible to ensure that the honest employees that are hired remain honest throughout their careers, and this could be achieved by commensurate reward. The same conditions should be applied to political candidates for all elective positions. Since prior conduct is the best predictor of future behaviour, a comprehensive background investigation process would help ensure that new employees or potential political candidates are of good moral character. Establishing and enforcing agency codes of conduct and instituting integrity-related training programs, including enhancing critical thinking and situational planning, are also necessary to prevent corruption.
In addition, government systems and processes should be modernized and streamlined to minimize rent seeking opportunities. Although the fear of punishment is seldom sufficient to deter habitual bad behaviour, the various governments should establish and consistently apply penalties that reflect the consequences of violating the agency's code of conduct.
Supervisors and managers within the bureaucracy should also be held responsible and accountable for any misconduct by their employees. There is no reason, for example, why all the states and local governments in the country should not have their own independent anti-corruption agencies which will work very closely with the national agencies like the EFCC, ICPC and the Code of Conduct Tribunals.
In all sincerity, Nigeria, since the new democratic dispensation began in 1999, has made noticeable progress in its ongoing anticorruption campaign, although many Nigerians believe the anti-corruption campaign under President Yar ‘Adua has floundered, what with the on-going political somersaulting, double-speaks, subterfuges and face-volte in the country, it does not look like the Yar ‘Adua administration would be anything different than that of Obasanjo or even previous military governments. In fact, it seems to be getting worse, and this seems to be buttressed by the fact that many indicted, accused former Governors, Ministers and party officials are still walking around free today, their loot intact, and several of them are alleged to be the real power behind this Administration of the so-called “servant-leader.” Some of them have even found their way back into the government openly and against public opinion. Several of them, including serving Governors are known to be controlling the Federal ministries by installing their appointees in choice ministerial or civil service positions.
At the same time, let us realise and accept that we are all complicit in this corruption issue. It is not only the leaders, but also the “led”. We, the “led”, are as complicit, because we allow the leaders to be corrupt in so many ways. We are as complicit because we tend to turn a blind eye such that the leaders now take it for granted to be corrupt, and we also expect them to be too. We even sing their praises, adore them, and confer dubious honours on them in the traditional society, the churches, the mosques, at parades, at parties, events, seminars, conferences, offices, etc. No, our leaders are not the only corrupt ones; after all they are a product of the society that spawns them. The larger Nigerian society cannot absolve itself of this blame.
The government should consider how best to maintain and refine the country's corruption detection activities while also developing and implementing corruption prevention strategies essential to effectively managing corruption throughout Nigeria. This is the only alternative. If the government keeps on saying it wants to eradicate corruption in Nigerian society, it is not being sincere with us. Corruption can never be eradicated in any society, it can only be managed, and managed effectively and efficiently to derive any success.
The key word here is “management”. It is how the government manages corruption that will determine its effectiveness. In this century, emphasis is being placed on management – change, financial, people, information, self, stress, time, absence, capacity, etc – and this is how we should view corruption: Corruption Management.
Unruh, 2008 concluded that taking a corruption management approach requires fusing the insights of corporate ethics with the tactics used to fight systemic corruption. When successful, it creates something simple and elegant: integrity. I will add that, in the case of governance of a country, it also creates development, justice, peace and progress. And these are all we need and ask for from our various governments.
References:
In writing this article, I had to borrow heavily on ideas, proposals and sources which coincidentally fitted with my own ideas on this issue:
Dike, Victor E. 2003. “Managing the Challenges of Corruption In Nigeria” Centre for Social Justice and Human Development, Sacramento, California.
Lipset, S M and G S Lenz,. 2000 “Corruption, Culture, and Markets”, in “Culture Matters”, Lawrence E. Harrison, and Samuel P. Huntington, eds., New York: Basic Books, 2000.
Unruh, G., 2008. “Should you be managing ethics or corruption?” Thunderbird International Business Review, Vol. 50, No. 5, Sept/Oct 2008.
Akintokunbo Adejumo is the Global Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA, (www.championsfornigeria.org ) an organisation devoted to tackling corruption, promoting good governance and celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and the people of Nigeria. He is also the Chief Writer and Consultant for African Entrepreneur LLC, a US-based, Nigerian-owned media and marketing firm.
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Saturday, 7 February 2009
Why Babangida Must Not Run For Presidency Again
Wonders, they say, shall never cease. I am not sure if Nigerians all over the world were surprised or not by this recent news item published in many newspapers and internet sources on Wednesday, 4th February 2009, that Nigeria’s former dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida, has publicly foreclosed a possibility of his return to rule the country. Babangida made the disclosure during an interview on a satellite television programme, Moments With Mo, mainly citing his age as the reason “I am not getting younger; I am an old man” and that “there are things I would do to correct certain things which a lot of you would not like.”
That about said it all! I have always thought that IBB, (also referred to as The Evil Genius and Maradona, for his ability to dribble out of tight situations with the media) as he is popularly called, is not a quitter. He is also a very clever, if not wise man, intelligent to boot, and though he has allowed himself to being misled and used by sycophants and flatterers in recent times, he must have thought about this very carefully, before he made such welcome declaration. The man is definitely not stupid. During his ill-thought, ill-advised planned comeback debacle in 2006/07, firmly scuttled by his former boss, Obasanjo, he must have realised a lot of things: One, Nigerians definitely did not want him back; two, Obasanjo certainly did not want him back; three, he lost a lot of money to those political jobbers, sycophants and hangers-on spurring him on to run for the Presidency (ironically, these included his own wife, Mariam) and four, that he was one of those who heated up the polity so much that Nigeria’s very existence was in jeopardy.
So when he declared that, what reaction is he expecting from Nigerians? Does he expect us to be relieved that he’s finally, perhaps, leaving the political scene for younger generation?
General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born August 17, 1941) was the military ruler of Nigeria from his coup against Muhammadu Buhari in August 1985 until his departure from office under heavy popular pressure in 1993 after his annulment of elections held that year.
Ibrahim Babangida hails from the Gwari ethnic group and was born in Minna, Niger State. Babangida studied at the India Military School in 1964, the Royal Armoured Centre from January 1966 until April 1966, at the Advanced Armoured Officers' course at Armored school from August 1972 to June 1973, at the Senior officers' course, Command and Staff College, Jaji from January 1977 until July 1977, and the Senior International Defence Management Course, Naval Post graduate school, U.S in 1980.
Army career
He joined the Nigerian Army's officer corps on December 10, 1962, and served in an administrative capacity under the military government of Olusegun Obasanjo. He was heavily involved in the Nigerian coup of 1976, when he was to ‘liberate’ a radio station from one of the coup plotters, Col B.S. Dimka (a close friend of his), to prevent him making further announcements over the air waves. Although he did prevent further broadcasts, Col Dimka managed to escape.
Ranks held
• Second Lieutenant: 1962
• Lieutenant: 1966
• Captain: 1968
• Major: 1970
• Lieutenant Colonel: 9 July 1970
• Colonel: 1973
• Member of the Supreme Military Council: August 1, 1975 - October 1979
• Brigadier: 1979
• Major General: 1983
• President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria from 1985 to 1993
I am not a fan of IBB at all, but I must concede that he is a charming, suave, polished and intelligent man. He is also a brilliant schemer. However, this does not defer from the fact that as of today, he is still widely regarded as the man who presided over the most corrupt government in the history of Nigeria. In some quarters, he is regarded as the man who institutionalised corruption in the psyche of Nigerians. For this alone, I find it very difficult to warm up to him, because of my personal abhorrence to any form of corruption.
I have written about Babangida before (see “Of Sychphants and Rulers” 17 October 2006 http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2006/apr/015x.html ), so I find this newfound grace of his to finally quit the visible aspect of politics as a personal victory. I am sure also that this will be a sort of victory for the courageous people at www.againstbabangida.com who devoted their time to ensuring that Babangida does not run for the 2007 Presidential election. I was overwhelmed, and I thanked the Lord. Maybe Nigeria has some hope after all. Having said this, Babangida not running for the Presidential office in 2011 does not preclude him from being a major political Godfather. As it is, we must admit he is still a force in Nigeria, not only by virtue of being a former military President, but also because of his wealth, charm, influence and his guilty conscience.
He will always be interested in who becomes the President of Nigeria, the Governor of his state of Niger, and so many other political offices such as senators, ministers, representatives and even local government chairmen and councillors. This is because he would not like to be subjected to a probe of his activities whilst he ruled Nigeria for eight disastrous years; introduced SAP, unilaterally upgraded Nigeria’s observer status to full-fledged membership of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, survived several bloody coup attempts, and botched the transition to civilian rule in June 1993.
After Major Orkar tried to oust him from power – an attempted coup that resulted in a bloody purge of the military class, IBB accelerated the building of the new capital, Abuja and scurried to the relative safety of the uncompleted new capital, away from the former capital, Lagos, where he and his military cohorts felt vulnerable. He embarked on a massive construction and development program of Abuja, and is still widely regarded as the man who built Abuja.
He does not also want to be held accountable for several violations of human rights which included the murder of Dele Giwa, the suspicious downing of a plane-load of top military officers, and the arrests and detentions of several journalists and human rights activists. The killing by a letter bomb of Dele Giwa, a magazine editor critical of Babangida's administration at his Lagos home in 1986, remains a controversial incident to this day. In 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo established the Human Rights Violation Investigation Commission headed by Justice Chukwudifu Oputa to investigate human rights abuses during Nigeria's decades of military rule. However, Babangida repeatedly defied summons to appear before the panel to answer allegations of human rights abuses and questioned both the legality of the commission and its power to summon him. His right not to testify was upheld in 2001 by Nigeria's court of appeal which ruled that the panel did not have the power to summon former rulers of the country.
The Oputa Panel Report would conclude that "On General Ibrahim Babangida, we are of the view that there is evidence to suggest that he and the two security chiefs, Brigadier General Halilu Akilu and Col. A. K. Togun are accountable for the death of Dele Giwa by letter bomb. We recommend that this case be re-opened for further investigation in the public interest."
On the corruption front, IBB would rather not answer questions about how wealthy he suddenly became after being forced out of power, or account for the money that Nigeria made during the Iraq-Kuwait conflict; and so many other corrupt practices. It is to his dubious credit, that Babangida made a lot of otherwise ragamuffins – military and civilian alike - in Nigeria very rich. A lot of people made their money, and hence their names, under IBB, and these “noveau rich” are still loyal to him today. His government practically destroyed the middle class in Nigeria, and it is now that the middle class is gradually trying to recover from IBB’s impoverishment plan. During Babangida’s regime, you are either very rich or very poor. There was no middle road. He virtually ruined Nigerians.
It is widely held that of all the rulers of Nigeria, Babangida had the best ideas on how to move the country forward, at least economically. He issued a referendum to garner support for austerity measures suggested by the IMF and the World Bank, and subsequently launched his "Structural Adjustment Program" (SAP) in 1986. The policies entailed under the SAP were the deregulation of the agricultural sector by abolishing marketing boards and the elimination of price controls, the privatization of public enterprises, the devaluation of the Naira to aid the competitiveness of the export sector, and the relaxation of restraints on foreign investment put in place by the Gowon and Obasanjo governments during the 1970s.
Between 1986 and 1988, when these policies were executed as intended by the IMF, the Nigerian economy actually did grow as had been hoped, with the export sector performing especially well, but the falling real wages in the public sector and amongst the urban classes, along with a drastic reduction in expenditure on public services, set off waves of rioting and other manifestations of discontent that made sustained commitment to the SAP difficult to maintain.
Babangida subsequently returned to an inflationary economic policy and partially reversed the deregulatory initiatives he had set in motion during the heyday of the SAP following mounting pressure, and economic growth slowed correspondingly, as capital flight resumed apace under the influence of negative real interest rates.
Babangida presided over one of the most corrupt government in Nigeria because he got derailed. To this day, many Nigerians believed that, surfing on the goodwill of the Nigerian people when he snatched power from the rigid, disciplined and strict regime (at least to some people, because I admired and welcomed their style of governance of Nigerians at that time) of Buhari/Idiagbon, Babangida could have done a lot more for Nigeria, however a combination of greed, inflated ego, power and sectionalism (protecting the Northern interest at the expense of protecting the whole country’s interest), was his undoing.
In a way, I sympathize with him, but I do not forgive him. He has tried several times to explain himself, but Nigerians are not listening, because they believe he was not being sincere. He had his opportunity at the Oputa Panel, but chose to ignore this chance. He had planned with Sani Abacha to return to power, after Abacha had seized power from the ignorant puppet, Ernest Shonekan’s interim government, but Abacha double-crossed him and hung on to power, and he could not claim it back. Many lives were lost during this period and money was wasted in building political houses in all local government of the country.
One last thing! During his interview on Moments With Mo, IBB commented on the reasons for the annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections. He said “June 12 was accepted by Nigerians as the best of elections in Nigeria. It was free and fair. But unfortunately, we cancelled that election. I used the word unfortunately, for the first time. We were in government at the time and we knew the possible consequences of handing over to a democratic government. We did well that we wanted ours to be the last military coup d’état. To be honest with you, the situation was not ripe to hand over at the time. Forget about the wrong things that happened in politics. The issue of security of the nation was a threat and we would have considered ourselves to have failed, if six months after handover, there was another coup. I went through coup d’état and I survived it. We knew that there would be another coup d’état. But not many people believed what we said. They could have allowed me to go away and then they (coup plotters) would regroup and stage another coup”.
Countrymen and women, if Babangida were to tell one truth, this is it. We might not like him, we might not agree with him, but what he said above is fact. I am a sympathizer of June 12, in that it was acclaimed as the fairest, freest and most peaceful elections ever held in Nigeria, and on the premise that it was annulled primarily to protect Northern interests, but I have since mulled over it, and believed that an MKO Abiola-led government would not have lasted a year before the military seized power again, probably planned and executed by Babangida himself, or by some other junior officers, who see Abiola as an aberration because he was in too thick with the military boys, after he made his money and name through the same people. That, I think, is the truth of what Babangida said above.
He of course has not apologized for this. This is more of an excuse.
So don’t cry for Babangida, if you really do love to see Nigeria progress. He was one of our problems, who unfortunately believed, and was deluded, up till two years or so ago, that he was the solution to our problems.
Good riddance, but don’t hold your breath and start celebrating, because he is still there; still lurking behind the corridors of power. His house, or rather, his mansion, is a place to which politicians, traditional rulers, current and ex-military officers and even civil servants still troop to as a kind of pilgrimage, looking for favours, advice, money, etc. And we will always continue to have these cowards for a long time.
To IBB, we say, thanks for all you have done, or have not done for Nigeria. It is time to sit back and enjoy yourself. Why not? You are rich, healthy, free, influential and without a worry in the world.
Adios IBB. The evil that men do lives after them, but probably not yet.
That about said it all! I have always thought that IBB, (also referred to as The Evil Genius and Maradona, for his ability to dribble out of tight situations with the media) as he is popularly called, is not a quitter. He is also a very clever, if not wise man, intelligent to boot, and though he has allowed himself to being misled and used by sycophants and flatterers in recent times, he must have thought about this very carefully, before he made such welcome declaration. The man is definitely not stupid. During his ill-thought, ill-advised planned comeback debacle in 2006/07, firmly scuttled by his former boss, Obasanjo, he must have realised a lot of things: One, Nigerians definitely did not want him back; two, Obasanjo certainly did not want him back; three, he lost a lot of money to those political jobbers, sycophants and hangers-on spurring him on to run for the Presidency (ironically, these included his own wife, Mariam) and four, that he was one of those who heated up the polity so much that Nigeria’s very existence was in jeopardy.
So when he declared that, what reaction is he expecting from Nigerians? Does he expect us to be relieved that he’s finally, perhaps, leaving the political scene for younger generation?
General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born August 17, 1941) was the military ruler of Nigeria from his coup against Muhammadu Buhari in August 1985 until his departure from office under heavy popular pressure in 1993 after his annulment of elections held that year.
Ibrahim Babangida hails from the Gwari ethnic group and was born in Minna, Niger State. Babangida studied at the India Military School in 1964, the Royal Armoured Centre from January 1966 until April 1966, at the Advanced Armoured Officers' course at Armored school from August 1972 to June 1973, at the Senior officers' course, Command and Staff College, Jaji from January 1977 until July 1977, and the Senior International Defence Management Course, Naval Post graduate school, U.S in 1980.
Army career
He joined the Nigerian Army's officer corps on December 10, 1962, and served in an administrative capacity under the military government of Olusegun Obasanjo. He was heavily involved in the Nigerian coup of 1976, when he was to ‘liberate’ a radio station from one of the coup plotters, Col B.S. Dimka (a close friend of his), to prevent him making further announcements over the air waves. Although he did prevent further broadcasts, Col Dimka managed to escape.
Ranks held
• Second Lieutenant: 1962
• Lieutenant: 1966
• Captain: 1968
• Major: 1970
• Lieutenant Colonel: 9 July 1970
• Colonel: 1973
• Member of the Supreme Military Council: August 1, 1975 - October 1979
• Brigadier: 1979
• Major General: 1983
• President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria from 1985 to 1993
I am not a fan of IBB at all, but I must concede that he is a charming, suave, polished and intelligent man. He is also a brilliant schemer. However, this does not defer from the fact that as of today, he is still widely regarded as the man who presided over the most corrupt government in the history of Nigeria. In some quarters, he is regarded as the man who institutionalised corruption in the psyche of Nigerians. For this alone, I find it very difficult to warm up to him, because of my personal abhorrence to any form of corruption.
I have written about Babangida before (see “Of Sychphants and Rulers” 17 October 2006 http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2006/apr/015x.html ), so I find this newfound grace of his to finally quit the visible aspect of politics as a personal victory. I am sure also that this will be a sort of victory for the courageous people at www.againstbabangida.com who devoted their time to ensuring that Babangida does not run for the 2007 Presidential election. I was overwhelmed, and I thanked the Lord. Maybe Nigeria has some hope after all. Having said this, Babangida not running for the Presidential office in 2011 does not preclude him from being a major political Godfather. As it is, we must admit he is still a force in Nigeria, not only by virtue of being a former military President, but also because of his wealth, charm, influence and his guilty conscience.
He will always be interested in who becomes the President of Nigeria, the Governor of his state of Niger, and so many other political offices such as senators, ministers, representatives and even local government chairmen and councillors. This is because he would not like to be subjected to a probe of his activities whilst he ruled Nigeria for eight disastrous years; introduced SAP, unilaterally upgraded Nigeria’s observer status to full-fledged membership of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, survived several bloody coup attempts, and botched the transition to civilian rule in June 1993.
After Major Orkar tried to oust him from power – an attempted coup that resulted in a bloody purge of the military class, IBB accelerated the building of the new capital, Abuja and scurried to the relative safety of the uncompleted new capital, away from the former capital, Lagos, where he and his military cohorts felt vulnerable. He embarked on a massive construction and development program of Abuja, and is still widely regarded as the man who built Abuja.
He does not also want to be held accountable for several violations of human rights which included the murder of Dele Giwa, the suspicious downing of a plane-load of top military officers, and the arrests and detentions of several journalists and human rights activists. The killing by a letter bomb of Dele Giwa, a magazine editor critical of Babangida's administration at his Lagos home in 1986, remains a controversial incident to this day. In 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo established the Human Rights Violation Investigation Commission headed by Justice Chukwudifu Oputa to investigate human rights abuses during Nigeria's decades of military rule. However, Babangida repeatedly defied summons to appear before the panel to answer allegations of human rights abuses and questioned both the legality of the commission and its power to summon him. His right not to testify was upheld in 2001 by Nigeria's court of appeal which ruled that the panel did not have the power to summon former rulers of the country.
The Oputa Panel Report would conclude that "On General Ibrahim Babangida, we are of the view that there is evidence to suggest that he and the two security chiefs, Brigadier General Halilu Akilu and Col. A. K. Togun are accountable for the death of Dele Giwa by letter bomb. We recommend that this case be re-opened for further investigation in the public interest."
On the corruption front, IBB would rather not answer questions about how wealthy he suddenly became after being forced out of power, or account for the money that Nigeria made during the Iraq-Kuwait conflict; and so many other corrupt practices. It is to his dubious credit, that Babangida made a lot of otherwise ragamuffins – military and civilian alike - in Nigeria very rich. A lot of people made their money, and hence their names, under IBB, and these “noveau rich” are still loyal to him today. His government practically destroyed the middle class in Nigeria, and it is now that the middle class is gradually trying to recover from IBB’s impoverishment plan. During Babangida’s regime, you are either very rich or very poor. There was no middle road. He virtually ruined Nigerians.
It is widely held that of all the rulers of Nigeria, Babangida had the best ideas on how to move the country forward, at least economically. He issued a referendum to garner support for austerity measures suggested by the IMF and the World Bank, and subsequently launched his "Structural Adjustment Program" (SAP) in 1986. The policies entailed under the SAP were the deregulation of the agricultural sector by abolishing marketing boards and the elimination of price controls, the privatization of public enterprises, the devaluation of the Naira to aid the competitiveness of the export sector, and the relaxation of restraints on foreign investment put in place by the Gowon and Obasanjo governments during the 1970s.
Between 1986 and 1988, when these policies were executed as intended by the IMF, the Nigerian economy actually did grow as had been hoped, with the export sector performing especially well, but the falling real wages in the public sector and amongst the urban classes, along with a drastic reduction in expenditure on public services, set off waves of rioting and other manifestations of discontent that made sustained commitment to the SAP difficult to maintain.
Babangida subsequently returned to an inflationary economic policy and partially reversed the deregulatory initiatives he had set in motion during the heyday of the SAP following mounting pressure, and economic growth slowed correspondingly, as capital flight resumed apace under the influence of negative real interest rates.
Babangida presided over one of the most corrupt government in Nigeria because he got derailed. To this day, many Nigerians believed that, surfing on the goodwill of the Nigerian people when he snatched power from the rigid, disciplined and strict regime (at least to some people, because I admired and welcomed their style of governance of Nigerians at that time) of Buhari/Idiagbon, Babangida could have done a lot more for Nigeria, however a combination of greed, inflated ego, power and sectionalism (protecting the Northern interest at the expense of protecting the whole country’s interest), was his undoing.
In a way, I sympathize with him, but I do not forgive him. He has tried several times to explain himself, but Nigerians are not listening, because they believe he was not being sincere. He had his opportunity at the Oputa Panel, but chose to ignore this chance. He had planned with Sani Abacha to return to power, after Abacha had seized power from the ignorant puppet, Ernest Shonekan’s interim government, but Abacha double-crossed him and hung on to power, and he could not claim it back. Many lives were lost during this period and money was wasted in building political houses in all local government of the country.
One last thing! During his interview on Moments With Mo, IBB commented on the reasons for the annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections. He said “June 12 was accepted by Nigerians as the best of elections in Nigeria. It was free and fair. But unfortunately, we cancelled that election. I used the word unfortunately, for the first time. We were in government at the time and we knew the possible consequences of handing over to a democratic government. We did well that we wanted ours to be the last military coup d’état. To be honest with you, the situation was not ripe to hand over at the time. Forget about the wrong things that happened in politics. The issue of security of the nation was a threat and we would have considered ourselves to have failed, if six months after handover, there was another coup. I went through coup d’état and I survived it. We knew that there would be another coup d’état. But not many people believed what we said. They could have allowed me to go away and then they (coup plotters) would regroup and stage another coup”.
Countrymen and women, if Babangida were to tell one truth, this is it. We might not like him, we might not agree with him, but what he said above is fact. I am a sympathizer of June 12, in that it was acclaimed as the fairest, freest and most peaceful elections ever held in Nigeria, and on the premise that it was annulled primarily to protect Northern interests, but I have since mulled over it, and believed that an MKO Abiola-led government would not have lasted a year before the military seized power again, probably planned and executed by Babangida himself, or by some other junior officers, who see Abiola as an aberration because he was in too thick with the military boys, after he made his money and name through the same people. That, I think, is the truth of what Babangida said above.
He of course has not apologized for this. This is more of an excuse.
So don’t cry for Babangida, if you really do love to see Nigeria progress. He was one of our problems, who unfortunately believed, and was deluded, up till two years or so ago, that he was the solution to our problems.
Good riddance, but don’t hold your breath and start celebrating, because he is still there; still lurking behind the corridors of power. His house, or rather, his mansion, is a place to which politicians, traditional rulers, current and ex-military officers and even civil servants still troop to as a kind of pilgrimage, looking for favours, advice, money, etc. And we will always continue to have these cowards for a long time.
To IBB, we say, thanks for all you have done, or have not done for Nigeria. It is time to sit back and enjoy yourself. Why not? You are rich, healthy, free, influential and without a worry in the world.
Adios IBB. The evil that men do lives after them, but probably not yet.
Thursday, 5 February 2009
Why I Write About Nigeria
Several times I have had cause to question myself on the reason why I write (and indeed, worry) about my country, Nigeria, or why I feel like contributing to several issues relating to the country on websites, blog-sites, and what not. I do not consider myself extraordinary or different to most of my fellowmen or women or fellow citizens, or an intelligentsia or a philosopher. In fact, I am very much unknown and rather anonymous amongst Nigeria’s estimated 140 million citizens. And honestly, I’d like to keep it that way. I don’t want to engage in popularity contests with anybody.
I share the belief that writing in itself is a sane activity with Solomon Sydelle of Nigerian Curiosity (www.nigeriancuriosity.com ), and I tend to believe that writing about Nigeria’s ills, e.g. corruption, mismanagement, bad governance, so-called Nigerians In Diaspora, patriotism, democracy, rule of law, etc, is perhaps much more insane, and probably even dangerous. However, I am not an investigative journalist who does exposes (expositions) on government corruptions and misdemeanours. My writings are mostly analytical or critical evaluation of issues and events. I sometimes even give advice to our leaders on how to be better leaders.
To ask why we write is also to ask why we read. The pragmatic answer is "to find proof" -- to find proof of like-minded thinkers, to find support or criticism for our own arguments, to discover that we are not alone in our thinking, our assumptions and problems. The transcendental answer is "to educate" -- to inspire our own thinking, to see new realities, to uplift ourselves through another writer's use of language. And the middle road: "Because there is a need."
Because of my life experiences I sense that "reality," "truth," and "knowledge" are socially constructed and reflect power structures. At the same time I retain a humanist belief in an individual's abilities to seek out particular truths.
According to literature, there are three words that can be invoked to illuminate the urge that compels me to write. The first word is respons(e)/ibility. One of the essential conditions to maintain such communication is to feel responsible to respond, hence the word respons(e)/ibility. I feel responsible to respond to utterances, speaking(s), writing(s) and action(s) by other participants. The need of a meaningful communication asks from me, not only to listen and read, but also to speak and write.
The second word is translation, understood both as "rendering" and "movement." Each time I write, I find myself translating (rendering, moving to and fro) some one else's ideas, concepts, thoughts, and images (the already written, read and seen) into my ideas and images. Writing is teaching, reading an education. The best writers are not those who have to prove a point (how good of a writer he or she is), but rather those who can enlighten a reader. The best writers are those who see beyond themselves, see beyond their success, and can perceive the success of their readers. No writing should be done for the pure satisfaction of the author (although this should not discredit writing); writing should always be done for the satisfaction of a nebulous audience - whoever the author decides it should be. And it should be written to bring out the best in -- to educate -- that audience, to inspire them to think, to change, and to write. If the world writes, and if the world reads, maybe we can make better use of the Information Age after all.
The third word is reflexive. Metaphorically it means to be able to carry a mirror that would make the bearer aware of the world behind him/her, the cultural and cognitive topography of one's location, which on the one hand helps one to say what she/he want to say but simultaneously limits what can be said. It also means that one is always interrogating his/her own project. This interrogation of what one has written and is in the process of writing doesn't have to be outside the writing. The writing, the text, has to make the reader conscious of this reflexive, the sideways, glance by foregrounding it. Preference, then, should be for writing that reflects the anxiety, the tension and the unsettledness of writing.
I expend my energy in the hope that Nigerian leaders, political and military elites and power-holders will read some of these writings and hopefully examine their conscience, change their ways and re-commit themselves to improving and governing Nigeria the right, humane and considerate way to improve the living standards of their people. I also tend to think that I am expending too much of my energy and taxing my brains even though there is little or no guarantee of success and despite the fact that greater minds have tried and failed.
I even wondered whether Nigeria should be considered a planet of its own due to its unique complexities and the fact that unlike most of Africa, Nigeria (and Nigerians) simply makes no sense most of the time.
I find it very difficult to answer all these questions I put to myself. Sometimes I feel like giving up, after all, what have I really done to improve Nigeria, or get other people to improve Nigeria, in real terms. Have I fought for Nigeria? Have I represented Nigeria at international events to promote the country? Have I contributed to policies which will enhance development or progress? Apart from writing articles pointing out our ills and defects, do I always propose useful and practical alternatives? But then again, what chance have I been given, or have I created, to change things? Am I in a position to change things in my country, where some cliques’ grip on power is absolute, and they don’t want anybody coming in and “rocking the boat”, so to speak? Am I bashing my head against a brick wall all the time or speaking to deaf, unconcerned and irresponsible ears? Am I the only one who is right and sanctimonious in their opinion of our leaders or of the country? And who says I am even right? These are the same questions I ask of other, hundreds of brilliant writers and analysts in our newspapers, internet websites, blogs, magazines, journals, etc.
If all we write are just for publication, and probably putting our names on the “authors map”, or getting noticed, and our leaders do not bother to read them, and if they do, do not bother to examine their conscience or implement changes as a result, then all these writings are exercises in futility, aren’t they? Take for example, our former President Obasanjo, who publicly said he never reads newspapers; so how will he know the feelings of his people, their anger, their concerns, their needs, their sorrows, etc. (However, I will assume that some people in his office did this for him, or show important sections to him, because I really don’t expect Presidents to read every newspaper stories every day; they have too many things to do)
Some writers and authors have been arrested, detained, tortured, charged to court and imprisoned because of what they wrote. Some have even been murdered. This confirms that indeed some of these our leaders are getting wind of what we write; however, they are not taking it in good faith. And right too; if you are doing something bad and evil, you will never take any correction or advice in good faith, unless you really believe in God.
Every now and then, I decided to tackle the question again and again. Consequently, at this moment I believe that I write about Nigeria because I am Nigeria and Nigerian. I am one of the country’s eyes. I am one of the country’s mouths. I am Nigeria’s ears and most definitely I am her soul. I am Nigeria’s conscience also. I am her ambassador and everything I do both within and abroad will reflect either negatively or positively on Nigeria. Without me, my sight, my voice, my thoughts, there is no Nigeria. And if I am silent, then so is Nigeria. This applies to many other really committed writers and publishers of Nigerian affairs too.
I and a lot of others write about Nigeria because we are probably insane in our passion for progress and the fulfilment of the most basic and the grandest Nigerian, nay, African dreams. For myself, I write for free, with no financial gains or political expectations and even if it might subject me to the abuses and persecution of those offended by my frank writings, or the way I see things. I do this because I am free and think progressively and know that freedom and progress are, ultimately, what Nigerians seek.
A cautionary tale: When I was in secondary school Form 4, I wrote a poem about Chief Awolowo. It was for a class assignment. Subject matter was civics and I’d just discovered Nigerian politics. Also, I was already pretentious and full of myself. This poem of mine so impressed the teacher that she asked me to read it aloud for the class. Maybe because everyone had applied themselves to the assignment with unexpected sincerity, I didn’t get slapped as hard as you might imagine with a know-it-all backlash. Most of the class even clapped. I thought, Hey, I should become a professional writer! People will think I’m Chinua Achebe and shower me with applause!
After class, this girl approached me. “So, your poem,” she said. “You’re good with words.”
“Thanks,” I said, with casual humility.
“Yeah, totally,” she continued. “But, you know, it didn’t move me.”
With that, she walked away (possibly in the general direction of a career as a lawyer or medical doctor). I stood there for a long time, with clammy hands, feeling the blood prickle my neck. I was crushed. She was, I knew, spot-on. Who gives a damn how well-constructed a piece of writing is, if it doesn’t make people feel anything?
But I never stopped writing, because obviously that would be a stupid move. The process of writing doesn’t cause me the agony it does many writers – you know the ones who wax rhapsodic about the torture of the blank page. I sit down to a blank page and see a page that needs to be filled or written on. Some days I write something decent. Some days I write crap. Whatever, it’s not like I won’t be back tomorrow.
One thing for sure is that through writing, I have made numerous friends all over the world. These friends, most of whom I have never seen, encourage me, criticize me, educate me, inspire me and invigorate me. Thus I know I am not bashing my head against a brick wall, nor writing nonsense all the time. And one day, I know I will get through to the thick heads of our leaders. There is a joy in writing, and I am getting it, even though it might be painful most times. Whenever I write about a particular issue that concerns me, I feel unburdened; a load off my shoulders and my mind free to write the next piece.
Nigeria belongs to me and writing is the vehicle I happily use to share her with other Nigerians and the world - joys, flaws, missed opportunities, corruption, sadness, poverty, insanity and all.
Acknowledgements:
My thanks to SOLOMON SYDELLE of NIGERIAN CURIOSITY for his blog article, “Why I Blog About Africa”, Wednesday 15 January 2009 ( http://www.nigeriancuriosity.com/2009/01/why-i-blog-about-africa.html ) which gave me the germ of the idea to write this article and for giving me permission and authority to use some of his own original ideas, thoughts and words. He is a great “blogger”.
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 and has been published in 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, Nigerian Horizon.com, Nigerian Muse.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; and the Chief Writer of African Entrepreneur LLC (http://africanceos.ning.com ) a US-based Nigerian-owned company that promotes Nigerian, African and black-owned businesses worldwide.
I share the belief that writing in itself is a sane activity with Solomon Sydelle of Nigerian Curiosity (www.nigeriancuriosity.com ), and I tend to believe that writing about Nigeria’s ills, e.g. corruption, mismanagement, bad governance, so-called Nigerians In Diaspora, patriotism, democracy, rule of law, etc, is perhaps much more insane, and probably even dangerous. However, I am not an investigative journalist who does exposes (expositions) on government corruptions and misdemeanours. My writings are mostly analytical or critical evaluation of issues and events. I sometimes even give advice to our leaders on how to be better leaders.
To ask why we write is also to ask why we read. The pragmatic answer is "to find proof" -- to find proof of like-minded thinkers, to find support or criticism for our own arguments, to discover that we are not alone in our thinking, our assumptions and problems. The transcendental answer is "to educate" -- to inspire our own thinking, to see new realities, to uplift ourselves through another writer's use of language. And the middle road: "Because there is a need."
Because of my life experiences I sense that "reality," "truth," and "knowledge" are socially constructed and reflect power structures. At the same time I retain a humanist belief in an individual's abilities to seek out particular truths.
According to literature, there are three words that can be invoked to illuminate the urge that compels me to write. The first word is respons(e)/ibility. One of the essential conditions to maintain such communication is to feel responsible to respond, hence the word respons(e)/ibility. I feel responsible to respond to utterances, speaking(s), writing(s) and action(s) by other participants. The need of a meaningful communication asks from me, not only to listen and read, but also to speak and write.
The second word is translation, understood both as "rendering" and "movement." Each time I write, I find myself translating (rendering, moving to and fro) some one else's ideas, concepts, thoughts, and images (the already written, read and seen) into my ideas and images. Writing is teaching, reading an education. The best writers are not those who have to prove a point (how good of a writer he or she is), but rather those who can enlighten a reader. The best writers are those who see beyond themselves, see beyond their success, and can perceive the success of their readers. No writing should be done for the pure satisfaction of the author (although this should not discredit writing); writing should always be done for the satisfaction of a nebulous audience - whoever the author decides it should be. And it should be written to bring out the best in -- to educate -- that audience, to inspire them to think, to change, and to write. If the world writes, and if the world reads, maybe we can make better use of the Information Age after all.
The third word is reflexive. Metaphorically it means to be able to carry a mirror that would make the bearer aware of the world behind him/her, the cultural and cognitive topography of one's location, which on the one hand helps one to say what she/he want to say but simultaneously limits what can be said. It also means that one is always interrogating his/her own project. This interrogation of what one has written and is in the process of writing doesn't have to be outside the writing. The writing, the text, has to make the reader conscious of this reflexive, the sideways, glance by foregrounding it. Preference, then, should be for writing that reflects the anxiety, the tension and the unsettledness of writing.
I expend my energy in the hope that Nigerian leaders, political and military elites and power-holders will read some of these writings and hopefully examine their conscience, change their ways and re-commit themselves to improving and governing Nigeria the right, humane and considerate way to improve the living standards of their people. I also tend to think that I am expending too much of my energy and taxing my brains even though there is little or no guarantee of success and despite the fact that greater minds have tried and failed.
I even wondered whether Nigeria should be considered a planet of its own due to its unique complexities and the fact that unlike most of Africa, Nigeria (and Nigerians) simply makes no sense most of the time.
I find it very difficult to answer all these questions I put to myself. Sometimes I feel like giving up, after all, what have I really done to improve Nigeria, or get other people to improve Nigeria, in real terms. Have I fought for Nigeria? Have I represented Nigeria at international events to promote the country? Have I contributed to policies which will enhance development or progress? Apart from writing articles pointing out our ills and defects, do I always propose useful and practical alternatives? But then again, what chance have I been given, or have I created, to change things? Am I in a position to change things in my country, where some cliques’ grip on power is absolute, and they don’t want anybody coming in and “rocking the boat”, so to speak? Am I bashing my head against a brick wall all the time or speaking to deaf, unconcerned and irresponsible ears? Am I the only one who is right and sanctimonious in their opinion of our leaders or of the country? And who says I am even right? These are the same questions I ask of other, hundreds of brilliant writers and analysts in our newspapers, internet websites, blogs, magazines, journals, etc.
If all we write are just for publication, and probably putting our names on the “authors map”, or getting noticed, and our leaders do not bother to read them, and if they do, do not bother to examine their conscience or implement changes as a result, then all these writings are exercises in futility, aren’t they? Take for example, our former President Obasanjo, who publicly said he never reads newspapers; so how will he know the feelings of his people, their anger, their concerns, their needs, their sorrows, etc. (However, I will assume that some people in his office did this for him, or show important sections to him, because I really don’t expect Presidents to read every newspaper stories every day; they have too many things to do)
Some writers and authors have been arrested, detained, tortured, charged to court and imprisoned because of what they wrote. Some have even been murdered. This confirms that indeed some of these our leaders are getting wind of what we write; however, they are not taking it in good faith. And right too; if you are doing something bad and evil, you will never take any correction or advice in good faith, unless you really believe in God.
Every now and then, I decided to tackle the question again and again. Consequently, at this moment I believe that I write about Nigeria because I am Nigeria and Nigerian. I am one of the country’s eyes. I am one of the country’s mouths. I am Nigeria’s ears and most definitely I am her soul. I am Nigeria’s conscience also. I am her ambassador and everything I do both within and abroad will reflect either negatively or positively on Nigeria. Without me, my sight, my voice, my thoughts, there is no Nigeria. And if I am silent, then so is Nigeria. This applies to many other really committed writers and publishers of Nigerian affairs too.
I and a lot of others write about Nigeria because we are probably insane in our passion for progress and the fulfilment of the most basic and the grandest Nigerian, nay, African dreams. For myself, I write for free, with no financial gains or political expectations and even if it might subject me to the abuses and persecution of those offended by my frank writings, or the way I see things. I do this because I am free and think progressively and know that freedom and progress are, ultimately, what Nigerians seek.
A cautionary tale: When I was in secondary school Form 4, I wrote a poem about Chief Awolowo. It was for a class assignment. Subject matter was civics and I’d just discovered Nigerian politics. Also, I was already pretentious and full of myself. This poem of mine so impressed the teacher that she asked me to read it aloud for the class. Maybe because everyone had applied themselves to the assignment with unexpected sincerity, I didn’t get slapped as hard as you might imagine with a know-it-all backlash. Most of the class even clapped. I thought, Hey, I should become a professional writer! People will think I’m Chinua Achebe and shower me with applause!
After class, this girl approached me. “So, your poem,” she said. “You’re good with words.”
“Thanks,” I said, with casual humility.
“Yeah, totally,” she continued. “But, you know, it didn’t move me.”
With that, she walked away (possibly in the general direction of a career as a lawyer or medical doctor). I stood there for a long time, with clammy hands, feeling the blood prickle my neck. I was crushed. She was, I knew, spot-on. Who gives a damn how well-constructed a piece of writing is, if it doesn’t make people feel anything?
But I never stopped writing, because obviously that would be a stupid move. The process of writing doesn’t cause me the agony it does many writers – you know the ones who wax rhapsodic about the torture of the blank page. I sit down to a blank page and see a page that needs to be filled or written on. Some days I write something decent. Some days I write crap. Whatever, it’s not like I won’t be back tomorrow.
One thing for sure is that through writing, I have made numerous friends all over the world. These friends, most of whom I have never seen, encourage me, criticize me, educate me, inspire me and invigorate me. Thus I know I am not bashing my head against a brick wall, nor writing nonsense all the time. And one day, I know I will get through to the thick heads of our leaders. There is a joy in writing, and I am getting it, even though it might be painful most times. Whenever I write about a particular issue that concerns me, I feel unburdened; a load off my shoulders and my mind free to write the next piece.
Nigeria belongs to me and writing is the vehicle I happily use to share her with other Nigerians and the world - joys, flaws, missed opportunities, corruption, sadness, poverty, insanity and all.
Acknowledgements:
My thanks to SOLOMON SYDELLE of NIGERIAN CURIOSITY for his blog article, “Why I Blog About Africa”, Wednesday 15 January 2009 ( http://www.nigeriancuriosity.com/2009/01/why-i-blog-about-africa.html ) which gave me the germ of the idea to write this article and for giving me permission and authority to use some of his own original ideas, thoughts and words. He is a great “blogger”.
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 and has been published in 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, Nigerian Horizon.com, Nigerian Muse.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; and the Chief Writer of African Entrepreneur LLC (http://africanceos.ning.com ) a US-based Nigerian-owned company that promotes Nigerian, African and black-owned businesses worldwide.
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