Boom For The Bleeding Giant by Cameron Duodo
THE SUNDAY TIMES Magazine, September 15, 1974, page 23-36
Reproduced by
Akintokunbo A Adejumo
Nigeria turned 49 on 1st October 2009. Incidentally, I turned 53 the following week on 12th October, 2009, which means for all intent and purposes, I am older than my country by 4 years. I spent the Independence Day in Nigeria. A very good thing? I’d say yes. So what else is new? Every year our leaders say the same thing on this occasion. They tell us, even admit they have failed us, blaming other past leaders and exhorting us to have faith in the country and that things will change or improve before the next Independence celebrations.
This has been going on for 49 years, while inconsiderate, opportunistic leaders like James Ibori, Peter Odili, Orji Kalu, Michael Aondoakaa, Tony Anenih, Joshua Dariye, Ibrahim Babangida, Olusegun Obasanjo, and thousands others, past and present, are still taking us for a ride, pulling the wool over our collective eyes, have not repented and are still running loose to perpetrate more of their crimes against the Nigerian people.
I did not buy a single newspaper whilst in Nigeria because what I read or hear are very depressing, and I do not want to die young. Amnesty for militants; ASUU strike, Ibori and his antics; Oyo State Government offering 180 employment as taxi-drivers to graduates; more tales of corrupt officials and politicians; our lawmakers wanting immunity for themselves; etc. What a depressing state of the nation, not to talk of the still epileptic power situation; bad roads, insecurity; unemployment; no water; lawlessness, etc. Aarrgh!!!
So, I did not celebrate Independence Day. In fact the last time I really celebrated Nigeria’s Independence Day was the one in 1970, where, after 10 years of Independence, two coup d’états and a bloody civil war, Yakubu Gowon was in power, and believe it or not, Nigeria seem to be heading towards great heights. Ten years later, the Giant of Africa, as we like to call ourselves, was spiraling down into the abyss of degradation, corruption, neglect, ineptitude, mismanagement, insincerity, hopelessness; and we did not know it, even though the signs were there for all to see. Even the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo predicted the pain ahead, but nobody listened, though they knew the sage was right.
I have therefore decided not to give myself a heart attack by repeating what we know, but to reproduce an article (the original was complete with pictures) written in UK’s Sunday Times Magazine of 15th September 1974, which should shed some lights on how we came about our present unfortunate and seemingly irreversible situation as we turned 49. Can we hope for at least a dim light at the end of the tunnel before we turn 50?
I wish I could say yes, but I dare not hope. Please enjoy this long but interesting, illuminating and instructive article written by Cameron Duodo in 1974.
Boom For The Bleeding Giant
Nigeria is booming all right. In 1973, the year which saw the rich, industrialized nations staggering under the weight of their own energy/effluence ratios, while the bottom fell out of the foreign exchange holdings of the Third World countries dependent on them for aid, the country that was once derided as Africa’s ‘Bleeding Giant’ bowed out to show symptoms of the rich nation’s disease – financial indigestion.
Exports went up 55 per cent, and 83 per cent of that came from one commodity alone – crude oil. It gushed out of the oil fields at an average of 2.2 million barrels a day, and by the end of the year more than 93 million metric tons valued at bout £1,300,000,000, had been produced. This year production may be well in excess of 2.4 million barrels a day, realizing an income of between £3500 million and £4000 million. And on top of this Nigeria has just acquired another 20 per cent of the largest producing company, Shell-BP (1.3 million barrels a day) bringing the country’s total shares in Shell to a majority 55 per cent. The Nigerian Government has also taken controlling shares (55 per cent.) Agip (130,000 barrels per day), Safrap (90,000 barrels), Gulf (382,000) and Mobil (246,000). “Our balance of payments surplus will be at least 10 times greater than the £110 million we had last year,” said an official of the Central Bank.
Illegal Strikers – Asking For A 50 Per Cent Pay Rise
Such figures are an ingredient of inflation, and in this respect Nigeria has begun to watch her figure seriously. Recently she slashed the prices of commodities which could be classified as luxuries – motor-cars, radio and television sets, beer, soft drinks and cameras – as well as essential consumer goods like rice, flour, maize, milk, cement and clinker and building materials. A wage freeze was in operation until August; it is now doubtful whether even such price reduction can stem the tide of rising expectations set in motion by the huge income from oil. Even as General Yakubu Gowon was flying into Moscow on May 20 this year to negotiate agreements that would provide training for Nigerians to take a greater part in manning the oil industry, 9000 dock workers at the port of Lagos were downing tools in an illegal strike for a 50 per cent increase in pay. There have already been strikes by railway workers and university teachers.
The greatest challenge facing the government of General Yakubu Gowon is how to prevent the oil boom from becoming a boomerang that will create social discontent and sweep the country off its feet into chaos and renewed bloodshed. The huge population (provisionally estimated to be 79,760,000 by a recent census, in comparison to the 56 million of the controversial 1963 census) cannot be blamed for expecting the oil boom to bring about a miraculous change in the standard of living. Yet, even if the money is wisely spent to that end, the mechanics of transforming the lives of people scattered over such a large country (356,669 square miles, or 3.7 times the size of the British Isles) could well defeat even regimes with a better back-up in terms of technological and manpower resources.
The sheer impossibility of speedy change is brought home if one travels through the country as I have just done. There is intense impatience with the complacency and lack of imagination of the men in Dodan Barracks (headquarters of the Federal Military Government) and acute resentment, bordering on hysteria, against the opulence of the businessmen who hang around the ‘army boys’ and use their contacts to make fat profits, conspicuously advertising the fact.
It is quit possible that the army’s own vast expenditure would be better tolerated if it could curb the businessmen and their contact men. As it is, claims like the one made by General Gowon, in his budget speech on March 31 this year that “Nigeria is not yet a rich country,” only provide ammunition for the acerbic tongues of the Nigerian intelligentsia. One journalist commented: “How can Nigeria be rich when it employs 250,000 to do nothing but carry out parades and the occasional military exercise? The £220 million being spent to finance the army this year represents 22.4 per cent of the entire capital budget of the Federal Government and 12.8 per cent of total capital and recurrent federal spending. Of course you do not grow rich by showering money on a group that constitutes 0-31 per cent of your population.”
Little consideration is given to the fact that the army has become a dues ex machina which was created by the national irresponsibility that brought about the disastrous civil war, and that whoever attempts to demobilize it faces a great risk, not least of all, the men in Dodan Barracks. “Disabled Soldiers on the Rampage”, ran a Daily Times headline in late April; a columnist in its sister paper, The Sunday Times, described the scene:
“’Run for your dear life,’ was all I could wait to hear as panic-stricken, defenseless citizens bathed in hot confusion at Oshodi on the outskirts of our capital last weekend. I saw some frenzied uniformed men chasing wildly like chained hyenas just let loose. I was to learn later that they were soldiers. And barely a month before, on Sunday, March 31, traffic along the Agege motor road, also in Lagos, was paralyzed following an attack on vehicles along the road by some members of the army. On that occasion, like last week, about 12 vehicles were either seriously damaged or completely burnt and several innocent civilians were injured. The cause of that stampede, again like last week’s was that a solder had been involved in a fatal accident…”
Comments like these, over pitched though thy might seem, are evidence of the courage of some Nigerian journalists in a country dominated by the military. The army’s excesses are sometimes punished, as are some of the corrupt deals that come to light. On May, 4, for instance, it was reported that the General Officer Commanding the Third Infantry Brigade, Brigadier Yakubu Danjuma, had announced that 21 army officers had been tried and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment up to two years, for fraud and financial mismanagement. And he confirmed that 10 officers had been detained in the north-eastern state in connection with financial mismanagement.
But it is the green-coloured Mercedes-Benz cars with ‘NA’ (for Nigerian Army) number plates that attract most notice, as they bear the military top brass to and fro. And cynicism about the army’s role in the country’s moral state is enhanced by the treatment meted to the journalists, who alone can help to impart a social conscience to the more thick-headed members of the armed forces. The police are constantly pulling in editors and reporters for questioning a performance which usually manages to spread over several days, whenever they carry a ‘false’ report, or, in particular, a report which indicates that the journalists are privy to inside information and therefore have sources within the citadels of power.
The most notorious piece of brutality was inflicted on Minere Amakiri, chief correspondent of the Nigerian Observer, a government owned paper in the Rivers State capital of Port Harcourt. Mr. Amakiri had the unfortunate duty to reporting, on the birthday of the Governor of the State, Commander Alfred Diete-Spiff, that a teachers’ strike had occurred in his State. He was given 24 strokes of the cane on his back and his head was shaved. He later sued his assailants and was awarded £7500 damages.
In spite of the harassment, however, Nigerian journalists continue to produce some of the most lively newspapers on the continent. The extent of the freedom of thought they exhibit in their writing, and their singular refusal to kowtow to authority, puts many civilian-run countries’ newspaper to shame.
All the major controversies of the day are freely aired and discussed – a fact which discourages the type of opinion-moulding associated with other military regimes, and which renders them so unstable. The main potential flash-points in the nation’s life are known to everyone who cares to read. They are: should the armed forces hand over power, as promised by General Gowon, in 1976, and if so, should the civilian administration that replaces military rule be completely civilian or should a sprinkling of officers take part to ‘police’ the civilians and prevent them from committing excesses that could tempt the army back to power in a new coup d’etat? How should oil revenue be shared among the states – through ‘derivation’, no matter how small their population, or through the size of population of a state determining division of revenue? Should the existing 12 states be allowed to remain or should new ones be created, and if so, where? Should the present capitalistic society be left untouched or is it creating too many nouveaux-riches among Nigerian businessmen, a situation which might lead to bloody class conflicts in future. Finally, what role should be played by Nigeria in Africa – and the world – given her great size and immense wealth?
A return to civilian rule in 1976, by which time military rule would have lasted 10 years, seems to be widely accepted. When General Gowon made his promise to hand over in 1976, he announced a nine-point programme which he said would have to be completed by the army before it would hand over power. It include: reorganization of the armed forces; implementation of a four-year development plan; eradication of corruption; a decision on the creation of more states; preparation of a new constitution; introduction of a new system of revenue allocation; a national population census; organization of national political parties, and elections for government in the states as well as the centre.
This is a vast programme, and those who do not want the military to hand over power to politicians are using the impossibility of completing the nine points in the near future to urge the military to stay. Others, like the former President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, suggest a ‘dyarchy’ of military and civilian personnel, in which the military would exercise a veto over the civilians’ decision on important questions.
Some of the military governors have joined in the argument and indeed, the Supreme Military Council seems to be split down the middle over the matter. This is suggested by the way some members refer to the issue in public.
“We are determined to hand over power to civilians in 1976 as earlier promised in order to create a good history of military rule,” says Major-General Usman Hassan Katsina, Commissioner for Establishments and Service Matters.
“The Federal Military Government is committed to handing over power to a civilian regime in 1976. There is no question of military rule exceeding 1976 as the State and federal governments are executing the nine-point programme,” says Major-General Usman Hassan Katsina.
“The present military regime will not hurry to the barracks just because it has fixed 1976 as a date for return to civilian rule. If the people say we should continue, we shall have no choice, unless the right atmosphere prevails,” says Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson, Military Governor of Lagos State.
What of General Gowon? He said on October 1, 1970, that “the target year for completing the nine-point programme, and restoring the country to normal constitutional rule, is 1976. we shall hasten and try to complete the programme if possible.” But since then there have been changes, and it is believed that the statements by other members of the Supreme Military Council may reflect a certain amount of the feet-dragging they may have sensed. Certainly, General Gowon has made no pronouncement on the suggestions that he should stay on as Head of State after 1976.
Who are the civilians in the wings, waiting for the army to go? No-one will admit to organizing a political party, since ‘political activity’ is banned. Instead, there is talk about men ‘with influence’, who are ‘potential’ leaders of parties. Among these, the clear front-runner appears to be the present Federal Commissioner of Health, Alhaji Aminu Kano. He has substantial influence in northern Nigeria, which comprises six of the 10 states and two-thirds of the population. And he has contacts in the south of the country; his ‘Northern Elements Progressive Union’ was allied to the National Council for Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) of Dr Azikiwe in the Sixties, and he also has a certain radical aura which places him apart from the normal traditionalist or feudalist northern politician. He wants a “wholly civilian” government after 1976.
Complex Processes – king-making and Sharing the oil
Another name heard is Alhaji Inuwa Wada, former Defence Minister in the Balewa Government. Some northerners blame him for not warning the late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and the Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello, about the January, 1966 coup, which cost both men their lives. But he is thought to have influence with the army, and he speaks his mind fearlessly; he has said that the nine-point programme of General Gowon need constitute no barrier to civilian rule, inasmuch as “anybody can implement the nine-point programme.”
In the South, it is thought that the Yoruba leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, will not lead a party, initially, but will have his lieutenants out. Then, depending on developments, he may emerge, like De Gaulle, to take on the task considered by the young men of the day as beyond them. As former Federal Commissioner for Finance, he enjoys the reputation for resigning as soon as the civil war was over; his reasons have never been publicly stated, but the general understanding is that he spoke out against excessive post-war military spending.
Ranged behind these men of influence are a host of younger or more recently-arrived figures, many of whom have come into prominence in the past eight years as either federal or state commissioners. Among them are Alhaji Umaru Dikko (North-Central State); Chief Anthony Enahoro (Mid-West State) and Mr. J. S. Tarka (East-Central State). Professor J. B. Dudley of Ibadan University is also mentioned, as is Alhaji Babatunde Jose, Chairman of the Daily Times group, whose recent announcement that he will not go into politics after 1976 has been greeted with due skepticism.
The king-making process will be a very complex one, for today’s Nigeria is not at all a homogeneous society. The armed forces will play a part, traditional rulers, such as the highly-respected Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, will also have a say, albeit from behind the scenes, and the powerful business groups – feared everywhere as a sinister force – will no doubt use their influence. Take stakes are high, involving as they do control over thousands of millions of pounds. Most Nigerians dread the aggressiveness which in the past has characterized bids for power. They feel this could reassert itself with even greater venom during the new dispensation, and destroy the country’s hopes of new prosperity.
If a constituent assembly is finally set up, it is likely that the question of allocation of revenues from oil to the states will occupy a central place in its deliberations, even if, in the meantime, the Supreme Military Council has been able to revise the present system, in line with its nine-point programme. The controversy over allocation of revenues has its roots deep in Nigerian history. Between 1946 and 1965 alone five commissions examined the question.
The system that operates at the moment gives the federal government all the proceeds from a 55 per cent profits tax on oil operations. Off-shore operations attract a royalty payment calculated at 10 per cent of the posted price; this also goes to the federal government. But the federal government takes only five per cent of the royalties from on-shore operations, calculated at 12½ per cent of the posted price. Of the remaining 95 per cent on-shore royalties, 45 per cent goes to the state of origin and 50 per cent is paid into a ‘distributable pool account’ operated by the federal government. Fifty per cent of this account is distributed equally to all states and a further 50 per cent is distributed to the states in proportions to their population.
Flashpoints: New States, Old Tribal Passions
This complex formula seeks to do justice to the states that produce oil and to those that produce none, but have large populations to support; but the figures that emerge show the vast discrepancies that exist.
Revenue Allocations to States
1974/75
State Allocation Population
(’73 census)
Mid-West £90m 3.24m.
Rivers £65.5m 2.23m.
East-Central £37.5m 8.06m.
West £30.5m 8.9m.
North-East £27m. 15.38m.
Kano £22.5 10.9m.
North-West £22.3m 8.50m.
Benue-Plateau £19.5m 5.17m.
North-Central £19m 6.79m.
South-East £18.5m 3.46m.
Kwara £15.5m 4.6m.
Lagos £13.5m 2.47m.
The federal government, in addition to these statutory allocations, is making available about £230 million in grants to the states in 1974/75, and also proposes to raise a development loan of just under £100 million, the proceeds of which will be passed to the states. However, the fact that the Mid-West State and the Rivers State, whose joint populations constitute only about 7.5 per cent of the federation total, take more than 43 per cent of the available revenue, rankles with the more unfortunately place states.
One suggestion being bandied about is that if more states are created, the disproportion in allocation between the oil-producing and non-oil proportion states will be minimized. But the creation of states is itself a flash-point in Nigerian affairs. What are the criteria that should determine the size of a new state? Population or area? Ethnic cohesion or administrative convenience? These questions are causing deep divisions within existing states, notably, in the East-Central State where there is a strong lobby for a new state to be called “Wawa”. There is also a lobby for three new states in the West – Oyo, Ondo and Abeokuta. And the North-East and North-West states, it is argued, could each be broken up into two states. The current argument is that “the Americans started with only 13 states, but now have more than 50”. So, the debate continues, and it is a tricky one in view of the tribal passions if arouses, and the attendant suspicion that it is all being done with an eye on “other people’s oil money”.
The question of the rise of the Nigerian bourgeoisie and the almost hysterical reaction they evoke against themselves from the rest of the population can best be illustrated by an account in the Sunday Punch of the doings of one of them over the Easter holiday period:
“Perhaps it may not be the wedding of the year, both in Lagos and Monrovia. (Let’s see how the people of Lagos will out-do it.) It certainly holds the record in both cities as the talk of the town. It was a grand, elaborate champagne affair, as smooth as the bridegroom successfully pans and executes his businesses, for which he is certainly on the Division One League Table in Nigeria today. The groom is …. Sharp-shooting, fast-traveling businessmen, Alhaji Isyaku Ibrahim, well known in Lagos, Jos, Kano, London, Paris, Washington (you name it) and lately, Monrovia. The bride, the lovely Miss Charlotte Baker, native of Monrovia, Liberia…“the affair started on Thursday, April 11, with the bachelor’s eve party at the flat of the best man, Major Abdul Bello (Nigerian Air Force) at Maryland Estate (Lagos). Guests who turned out at the all-night show numbered 500, including a good number of the Lagos party hounds who can smell a beer within 10 miles radius. Most of them had champagne. Next came Good Friday and the all-expense-paid trip to Monrovia from Lagos by about 150 selected guests in two chartered jet planes, by courtesy of the groom. Guests at the Monrovia trip attended a maiden’s (spinster’s eve) party given by the bride’s family. After the church wedding ceremony on Saturday, the Monrovia team hurried back to Lagos same evening with about 50 Monrovia guests, courtesy of the groom. And to Lagos party No. 2 at Commander Wole Bucknor’s residence at Child Avenue, Apapa. Easter Sunday brought the following events. The grand champagne reception at Federal Palace Hotel. Chairman, Chief Fani-Kayode (well, you know him). Bride and bridegroom were toasted by the dapper, eloquent Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule (well, you know him). The guests were about 500. It was a fashion parade and some of the lovely girls wore expensive aso ebi lace – in the style of the affair…
“The round-up party came on Easter Monday, at the Alexander Road residence of the flamboyant people’s man, Mr. J. S. Tarka, Federal Minister for Communications… Next morning, the groom accompanied the Monrovia guests back home …”
Suddenly, the reporter’s enthusiasm seems to flag and he begins to worry. Is anything wrong? He writes: “Of course, it doubtless cost a bit of money, but it’s his own bread, man. And he’s one hell of a fine fella. So don’t holler about the bread. Rejoice, man, rejoice!”
‘If we bumped off 200 or so, the rest might learn’
This report appeared in the same week that the papers told the story of a pregnant woman who had been hit in the stomach with a stick and killed in a fight with another woman over a monkey’s tail that both wanted to use in cooking soup. One journalist juxtaposing the two reports, commented: “That is the story of Nigeria today: immense wealth for the few and abysmal poverty for the many.” He produced another report, revealed that a businessman imported a Rolls-Royce from Britain by airfreight and that he paid spot cash when Customs officers charged him about £30,000 duty. I myself was told by a friend from a neighbouring country of a visit to Lagos: finding it difficult to leave a party being given by wealthy friends, he explained that if he did not go, he might miss his flight home. The casual answer was: “Oh, I’ll drop you with the yacht if you miss the flight!”
Needless to say, the envy of the many against the few is excruciating: “I’d like to see a movement come into being that would pick off some of the bastards one by one,” said the journalist just quoted. “if we bumped off 200 of them or so, or took out their eyes, the rest might learn some sense.” It is easy to dismiss this as fantasy – yet it should be remembered that just before the January 1966 coup and the harvest of slaughter it set off, similar callous talk about the “Nigerian malaise” was in the air. Everyone wants the army to uproot corruption, but no one is able to say how; fewer still have seriously examined the implications of punishing businessmen for profiting from their contacts, and the resultant collapse of free enterprise – a system that is almost taken for granted in Nigeria. So corruption grows – spreading new young roots: 118 students at the University of Lagos have been sent down for using forged certificates to gain entry.
Meanwhile, believers in the profit motive defend it aggressively. When the Federal Commissioner for Works and Housing, Mr. Femi Okunnu, warned that Nigeria’s Indigenization of Business Decree (which reserves certain categories of businesses to Nigerians and limits the percentage of shares foreigners might hold in other categories) should not be allowed to entrench economic power in the hands of “a few chieftains” of business, Chief Henry Fajemirokun, President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, rounded on him with all guns blazing. Mr. Okunnu’s statement he said, was a “perverted interpretation” of the Decree, stemming “either from a peculiar idea of patriotism or from a nostalgia for the concepts of impracticable Fabian socialism of which I know the Honourable Commissioner to be so fond.”
In an atmosphere like this, it is difficult for other African countries to expect that Nigeria might use her wealth to take up the leadership of Africa and steer the continent towards total independence. There was a chance during the oil crisis last year for Nigeria to demonstrate whether her thoughts were inclined outwards; a number of impoverished African states asked Lagos for concessionary prices for crude oil. They were all offered plenty of oil – but only at the going commercial price.
There are good Pan-Africanists in the Gowon Government, notably Alhaji Aminu Kano, but at the moment their power seems to be minimal. A West African Economic Community, backed up with a strong currency in the form of the Nigerian naira, is mooted, but France is endeavouring to keep it on the drawing board and Nigeria will have to show more diplomatic perspicacity if the community is to take off.
Cameron Duodo reports on the modern Nigeria.
THE SUNDAY TIMES Magazine, September 15, 1974, page 23-36
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Green Techniques.
Climate change is real. There is no doubt that the earth is becoming warmer than it was. This is not a conspiracy theory. Most people you meet will tell you that, there have been noticeable changes in the climatic conditions. Experts are warning that the consequences of global warming will be catastrophic. Coastal cities and towns are at greater risk because of rising sea levels. The entire globe including Nigeria is under serious threat of the dangers, which accompanies global warming. The time for action is now. There are little things we can start doing that can help to save the planet.
As a starting point, the Nigerian government, the Niger Delta states and various stake holders in the oil industry should dialogue with the oil companies in Nigeria to stop gas flaring and adopt green technology. As the world is preparing for the December 2009, Copenhagen conference on climate change and global warming. The Nigerian delegates to the conference, should take the issue of gas flaring to the conference and table it before the international community. The idea will be for the entire world to see how the western owned oil companies are both damaging the environment in Nigeria where they drill the oil, and also how their gas flaring is contributing to global warming.
At present, experts are of the opinion that about 60% of all carbon emissions emanate from the developed countries, while 40% comes from the developing countries. My argument has always been that, most multi national companies have production plants in the developing countries. These multi national companies are owned by the western countries, therefore who takes the blame for their gas emissions? The host country or the country of ownership where the profit goes to. Coca cola for example has plants in almost all the countries of the world. The greenhouse gases which coca cola plants emit from their plants in the developing countries should be the share of America’s greenhouse gas emission. This is because coca cola is owned by America. Going by my calculation, I believe that the percentage share of the greenhouse gases from developing nations will be lower than 40% as estimated by experts.
At present, the campaign to save the planet is gathering momentum in the western world. Just recently (October 11th 2009), about 40 Greenpeace environmental campaigners climbed on the roof of British Houses of Parliament in protest to call for action on climate change. Most companies in the west are seriously considering green technology. There have been serious campaigns, and sensitization of the people through various adverts on the need to go green. ExxonMobil (a major oil company) has an advert, part of which read thus, “ExxonMobil is working to help meet the world’s energy challenges, investing more the US$100 billion in additional supplies over the next four years, developing efficiency technology options like lithium-ion battery film to speed the adoption of hybrid vehicles, and testing new carbon capture technologies that could reduce emissions significantly”.
Germany’s Volkswagen is converting part of a car engine plant to produce green electrical generators. The government of Maldives held it’s first under water cabinet meeting, underneath the Indian Ocean to highlight the dangers of global warming. In Nottinghamshire United Kingdom, over a thousand activists protested against a coal energy plant, because coal is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emission.
I want to believe that this ExxonMobil pledge above will be applicable to their operations in the developing countries. At present, I think different rules apply to their operations in the developing countries and the developed nations. Foreign companies tend to be more accountable and responsible in their home countries. I am sure that gas flaring which the oil companies are still doing in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria will be highly resisted or not allowed in the European Union for example.
Prominent global personalities have given their support to saving the earth. Al gore (former American Vice President) has won a Noble Peace Prize for his efforts towards saving the planet. I did advise Atiku Abubakar (former Nigerian Vice President) in one of my articles titled;(Atiku Abubakar and His Nigerian Leadership Project) to follow the footsteps of Al gore. I was glad when I saw former President Shehu Shagari on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) news of Monday October 5th 2009 preaching about tree planting to caution desert encroachment. Ojo Maduekwe (current external affairs minister) had in the past asked Nigerians to ride bicycles. Both advices from ex president Shagari and Ojo Maduekwe are in line with saving the planet. However I will need to point out here, that Nigerian urban roads are not bicycle friendly and also not bicycle compliant.
Nigeria suffers from deforestation. People cut trees for different reasons. According to Marcio Santilli, (a Brazilian environmental rights activist) “tropical deforestation accounts for about a fifth of annual greenhouse gas emissions and it’s the largest source of emission in the developing countries”. Greenhouse gases are emitted when forests are burnt or logged. Mostly we cut trees and burn the forest for traditional farming purposes. We also use the trees for furniture making and for cooking. This method might be too difficult to stop. What I will add is that, we should start planting trees. For every one tree we cut down, let’s plant at lease three trees for replacement.
Most trees we are cutting today were planted by our great grand fathers, grand fathers and our fathers. It will be cruelty on our part if we fail to plant trees for our children, having used the ones planted by our grand fathers and great grand fathers. If for any reasons (for example people too busy at their offices or Nigerians in Diaspora) we cannot plant a tree, let’s sponsor someone to plant on our behalf. We owe ourselves this responsibility. We do not need the government or the international community to do this for us. Tree planting should be so easy for us to do. Tree planting/saving the planet contradicts what the late musician (Oliver de Coque) sang in one of his songs that, tenants should not plant flower when they are renting a house. I suggest a daily tree planting routine. Besides we owe our lives to nature and our environment. Ironically, the colour of our national flag is green white and green, which should encourage us to be a greener nation.
As a recommendation for going green, please let companies, banks, the government and other establishments in Nigeria send less paper work and do more emailing or telephoning/sms. This has a small way of saving the planet. Nigerians should start using energy saving bulbs. Also we should form the habit of switching off all electrical appliances and bulbs when not in use, for example leaving the electric bulbs/lights on during day time should be stopped. It’s a very common practice for you to see electric bulbs switched on during the day time. During my last visit to Nigeria (January 2009), my folks were laughing at me when I was busy switching off all lights during the day. The Federal Road Safety Commission owe Nigerians a duty to come up with vehicle carbon emission level permissible on Nigerian roads. May God bless Nigeria.
Chinedu Vincent Akuta
An activist and leader of “Support Option A4 Group” Leicester-UK
akutachinedu@yahoo.com
http://briefsfromakuta.blogspot.com/
As a starting point, the Nigerian government, the Niger Delta states and various stake holders in the oil industry should dialogue with the oil companies in Nigeria to stop gas flaring and adopt green technology. As the world is preparing for the December 2009, Copenhagen conference on climate change and global warming. The Nigerian delegates to the conference, should take the issue of gas flaring to the conference and table it before the international community. The idea will be for the entire world to see how the western owned oil companies are both damaging the environment in Nigeria where they drill the oil, and also how their gas flaring is contributing to global warming.
At present, experts are of the opinion that about 60% of all carbon emissions emanate from the developed countries, while 40% comes from the developing countries. My argument has always been that, most multi national companies have production plants in the developing countries. These multi national companies are owned by the western countries, therefore who takes the blame for their gas emissions? The host country or the country of ownership where the profit goes to. Coca cola for example has plants in almost all the countries of the world. The greenhouse gases which coca cola plants emit from their plants in the developing countries should be the share of America’s greenhouse gas emission. This is because coca cola is owned by America. Going by my calculation, I believe that the percentage share of the greenhouse gases from developing nations will be lower than 40% as estimated by experts.
At present, the campaign to save the planet is gathering momentum in the western world. Just recently (October 11th 2009), about 40 Greenpeace environmental campaigners climbed on the roof of British Houses of Parliament in protest to call for action on climate change. Most companies in the west are seriously considering green technology. There have been serious campaigns, and sensitization of the people through various adverts on the need to go green. ExxonMobil (a major oil company) has an advert, part of which read thus, “ExxonMobil is working to help meet the world’s energy challenges, investing more the US$100 billion in additional supplies over the next four years, developing efficiency technology options like lithium-ion battery film to speed the adoption of hybrid vehicles, and testing new carbon capture technologies that could reduce emissions significantly”.
Germany’s Volkswagen is converting part of a car engine plant to produce green electrical generators. The government of Maldives held it’s first under water cabinet meeting, underneath the Indian Ocean to highlight the dangers of global warming. In Nottinghamshire United Kingdom, over a thousand activists protested against a coal energy plant, because coal is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emission.
I want to believe that this ExxonMobil pledge above will be applicable to their operations in the developing countries. At present, I think different rules apply to their operations in the developing countries and the developed nations. Foreign companies tend to be more accountable and responsible in their home countries. I am sure that gas flaring which the oil companies are still doing in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria will be highly resisted or not allowed in the European Union for example.
Prominent global personalities have given their support to saving the earth. Al gore (former American Vice President) has won a Noble Peace Prize for his efforts towards saving the planet. I did advise Atiku Abubakar (former Nigerian Vice President) in one of my articles titled;(Atiku Abubakar and His Nigerian Leadership Project) to follow the footsteps of Al gore. I was glad when I saw former President Shehu Shagari on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) news of Monday October 5th 2009 preaching about tree planting to caution desert encroachment. Ojo Maduekwe (current external affairs minister) had in the past asked Nigerians to ride bicycles. Both advices from ex president Shagari and Ojo Maduekwe are in line with saving the planet. However I will need to point out here, that Nigerian urban roads are not bicycle friendly and also not bicycle compliant.
Nigeria suffers from deforestation. People cut trees for different reasons. According to Marcio Santilli, (a Brazilian environmental rights activist) “tropical deforestation accounts for about a fifth of annual greenhouse gas emissions and it’s the largest source of emission in the developing countries”. Greenhouse gases are emitted when forests are burnt or logged. Mostly we cut trees and burn the forest for traditional farming purposes. We also use the trees for furniture making and for cooking. This method might be too difficult to stop. What I will add is that, we should start planting trees. For every one tree we cut down, let’s plant at lease three trees for replacement.
Most trees we are cutting today were planted by our great grand fathers, grand fathers and our fathers. It will be cruelty on our part if we fail to plant trees for our children, having used the ones planted by our grand fathers and great grand fathers. If for any reasons (for example people too busy at their offices or Nigerians in Diaspora) we cannot plant a tree, let’s sponsor someone to plant on our behalf. We owe ourselves this responsibility. We do not need the government or the international community to do this for us. Tree planting should be so easy for us to do. Tree planting/saving the planet contradicts what the late musician (Oliver de Coque) sang in one of his songs that, tenants should not plant flower when they are renting a house. I suggest a daily tree planting routine. Besides we owe our lives to nature and our environment. Ironically, the colour of our national flag is green white and green, which should encourage us to be a greener nation.
As a recommendation for going green, please let companies, banks, the government and other establishments in Nigeria send less paper work and do more emailing or telephoning/sms. This has a small way of saving the planet. Nigerians should start using energy saving bulbs. Also we should form the habit of switching off all electrical appliances and bulbs when not in use, for example leaving the electric bulbs/lights on during day time should be stopped. It’s a very common practice for you to see electric bulbs switched on during the day time. During my last visit to Nigeria (January 2009), my folks were laughing at me when I was busy switching off all lights during the day. The Federal Road Safety Commission owe Nigerians a duty to come up with vehicle carbon emission level permissible on Nigerian roads. May God bless Nigeria.
Chinedu Vincent Akuta
An activist and leader of “Support Option A4 Group” Leicester-UK
akutachinedu@yahoo.com
http://briefsfromakuta.blogspot.com/
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Our Resources.
The questions of our abundant human and natural resources are no longer in doubt. What is in doubt is how to harness these potentials for the greatness of our people, and the development of the country and the continent at large. I have mentioned the larger African continent because, the development or under development of our country will have a spill over effect on the rest of the continent. Nigeria is huge with massive potentials. There are more the Nigerian people can do to harness these resources without necessarily depending on the government. The civil society groups have got more work to do in this aspect. Also there is need to disseminate proper information, so that people can become aware of what they can start doing both individually and as group.
Nigeria has massive solar energy, courtesy of the abundant sun. Just recently, Time international magazine of September 28th 2009, reported that Europe aims to cover a considerable proportion of their electricity needs over the next decades using solar power from Africa. This is not another colonization or neo-colonization, it’s simply that we do not value what we have or that we do not know how to explore our God given resources for own good. Nigeria is also blessed with abundant strong winds. Strong winds can be used to generate energy. India, Germany, United Kingdom etc are already using wind turbines to generate electricity. Niger Delta States including other coastal regions in Nigeria will be well suited for wind turbine plants. This is because of presence of strong winds emanating from the ocean. Having observed this, let the Nigerian private sector go into researches and partnership to explore these untapped resources. Am sure a lot of energy can be generated from these sources.
Power is very crucial to the development of any country. That was why many Nigerians became disappointed, when the National Assembly revealed the amount of money wasted on power without any mega watt added to the national grid. Solar and wind energy can be a better alternative source of energy. More so, it’s equally environmentally friendly since the world is going green. There is need for wider private sector lead researches into this area. There are more to gain from these sources of energy. There is no point folding our hands while the Europeans come over to use the African solar to supplement their energy needs. Solar and wind energy can produce power cheaper. The question of distribution like laying electric cables, electric poles etc will not be an issue. Thus homes, individual, groups and communities too remote to be reached by power cables, can generate on their own without depending on the national grid. In the United Kingdom, there over 100,000 installed solar micro generation. This figure is set to rise, especially with the increased campaign to save the planet. With this method in place, we might begin to have steady power for both home and industrial needs.
Lets not forget our pleasant whether conditions (tropical climate), which I consider to be one of the best in the world. Our whether supports the cultivation of most cash crops and farm products. Nigeria can become the food basket of Africa if we want. You will begin to appreciate our whether more, when you live in countries with adverse whether conditions. Most western and other foreign countries (United Kingdom, Canada, America, Germany, China, etc) can record between -1 to -20 degrees. Our whether is also quite suitable for tourism, as most western tourist(s) prefer warm climates.
There is also need for us to start recycling our waste products. This is an area that requires more researches and more investments. The private sector/business leaders should look more into this process of converting waste to wealth. Nigeria has more waste to be converted to wealth. In 2008, the city of Leicester in United Kingdom recycled 33% of its waste. This city is the size of Enugu city/town. I have heard about the project by the Ekiti State government to generate electricity from waste. This is good idea. May be other states, local governments and private sectors should copy from Ekiti state waste to energy project.
The level of recycling waste in Nigeria is low. There is more wealth to be created by our waste. A lot of employment opportunities can be created through this venture. The following waste can be recycled, paper, cardboard, newspapers, catalogues, magazines, glass bottles, plastic bottles, jars, aluminum, car batteries, cans, CDs, metal, electrical equipment, fluorescent tubes, ink jet cartridges, used engine oil, video tapes, unused paints, asbestos materials, used cooking oil etc. We can export our waste products like scrape metals etc.
At present, some researchers from Hokkaido University Japan in partnership with a business firm have produced the world’s first biodiesel from used cooking oil. The product is called, Vegetable Diesel Fuel. This product (Vegetable Diesel Fuel) has been used to generate electricity in some events in Japan. We can borrow this technology and domesticate it in Nigeria. The major raw material (used cooking oil) can never be in short supply in Nigeria. Since it can generate electricity, it will be highly needed to substitute for the normal diesel and fuel, which is currently being used to generate power.
From the above paragraphs, Nigerians can begin to discover or add to what they know already that we have far more resources to exploit. There is no point to wait for all these resources to continue wasting. What we need are domestic investors to explore these areas. We also need further feasibility studies, researches and dissemination of information to empower people towards recycling abundant waste products in Nigeria. There are many individuals, families, friends, groups, churches, NGO’s etc that could carry out researches on the above or fund people to do same. Interestingly the cost(s) of doing feasibility studies and researches on recycling our waste might be cheaper than we think.
Added to the above are our abundant human resources. Our population is one of our biggest assets as a nation. Our big population has created large market, which is indirectly the investors’ paradise. MTN Nigeria (mobile phone Communication Company) is a good example of a company that has benefited from the large Nigerian market. Our market/our large size accounts for why there are so many Chinese, Lebanese, and Indians in our country. They are doing business as well benefiting from our large population. Our economic planners, business leaders, entrepreneurs etc should explore our size to its fullest. If not for economic problems, energy instabilities (regular power failures), insecurity etc, am sure many more foreign investors would have come to Nigeria.
We also need to add skills acquisition to our academic pursuits in order to boost our human resources. When President Clinton came to Abuja for a symposium/seminar after handing over to Bush, he asked Nigerians to copy the Japanese who do not have any natural resources beneath the earth but up in their brain. We can earn more money with our skills overseas if we choose to work abroad. An example is a plumber, electrician, and a motor mechanic earns more than 30 pounds per hour in most cities in United Kingdom. May God bless Nigeria.
Chinedu Vincent Akuta
An activist and leader of “Support Option A4 Group” Leicester-UK
akutachinedu@yahoo.com
http://briefsfromakuta.blogspot.com/
Nigeria has massive solar energy, courtesy of the abundant sun. Just recently, Time international magazine of September 28th 2009, reported that Europe aims to cover a considerable proportion of their electricity needs over the next decades using solar power from Africa. This is not another colonization or neo-colonization, it’s simply that we do not value what we have or that we do not know how to explore our God given resources for own good. Nigeria is also blessed with abundant strong winds. Strong winds can be used to generate energy. India, Germany, United Kingdom etc are already using wind turbines to generate electricity. Niger Delta States including other coastal regions in Nigeria will be well suited for wind turbine plants. This is because of presence of strong winds emanating from the ocean. Having observed this, let the Nigerian private sector go into researches and partnership to explore these untapped resources. Am sure a lot of energy can be generated from these sources.
Power is very crucial to the development of any country. That was why many Nigerians became disappointed, when the National Assembly revealed the amount of money wasted on power without any mega watt added to the national grid. Solar and wind energy can be a better alternative source of energy. More so, it’s equally environmentally friendly since the world is going green. There is need for wider private sector lead researches into this area. There are more to gain from these sources of energy. There is no point folding our hands while the Europeans come over to use the African solar to supplement their energy needs. Solar and wind energy can produce power cheaper. The question of distribution like laying electric cables, electric poles etc will not be an issue. Thus homes, individual, groups and communities too remote to be reached by power cables, can generate on their own without depending on the national grid. In the United Kingdom, there over 100,000 installed solar micro generation. This figure is set to rise, especially with the increased campaign to save the planet. With this method in place, we might begin to have steady power for both home and industrial needs.
Lets not forget our pleasant whether conditions (tropical climate), which I consider to be one of the best in the world. Our whether supports the cultivation of most cash crops and farm products. Nigeria can become the food basket of Africa if we want. You will begin to appreciate our whether more, when you live in countries with adverse whether conditions. Most western and other foreign countries (United Kingdom, Canada, America, Germany, China, etc) can record between -1 to -20 degrees. Our whether is also quite suitable for tourism, as most western tourist(s) prefer warm climates.
There is also need for us to start recycling our waste products. This is an area that requires more researches and more investments. The private sector/business leaders should look more into this process of converting waste to wealth. Nigeria has more waste to be converted to wealth. In 2008, the city of Leicester in United Kingdom recycled 33% of its waste. This city is the size of Enugu city/town. I have heard about the project by the Ekiti State government to generate electricity from waste. This is good idea. May be other states, local governments and private sectors should copy from Ekiti state waste to energy project.
The level of recycling waste in Nigeria is low. There is more wealth to be created by our waste. A lot of employment opportunities can be created through this venture. The following waste can be recycled, paper, cardboard, newspapers, catalogues, magazines, glass bottles, plastic bottles, jars, aluminum, car batteries, cans, CDs, metal, electrical equipment, fluorescent tubes, ink jet cartridges, used engine oil, video tapes, unused paints, asbestos materials, used cooking oil etc. We can export our waste products like scrape metals etc.
At present, some researchers from Hokkaido University Japan in partnership with a business firm have produced the world’s first biodiesel from used cooking oil. The product is called, Vegetable Diesel Fuel. This product (Vegetable Diesel Fuel) has been used to generate electricity in some events in Japan. We can borrow this technology and domesticate it in Nigeria. The major raw material (used cooking oil) can never be in short supply in Nigeria. Since it can generate electricity, it will be highly needed to substitute for the normal diesel and fuel, which is currently being used to generate power.
From the above paragraphs, Nigerians can begin to discover or add to what they know already that we have far more resources to exploit. There is no point to wait for all these resources to continue wasting. What we need are domestic investors to explore these areas. We also need further feasibility studies, researches and dissemination of information to empower people towards recycling abundant waste products in Nigeria. There are many individuals, families, friends, groups, churches, NGO’s etc that could carry out researches on the above or fund people to do same. Interestingly the cost(s) of doing feasibility studies and researches on recycling our waste might be cheaper than we think.
Added to the above are our abundant human resources. Our population is one of our biggest assets as a nation. Our big population has created large market, which is indirectly the investors’ paradise. MTN Nigeria (mobile phone Communication Company) is a good example of a company that has benefited from the large Nigerian market. Our market/our large size accounts for why there are so many Chinese, Lebanese, and Indians in our country. They are doing business as well benefiting from our large population. Our economic planners, business leaders, entrepreneurs etc should explore our size to its fullest. If not for economic problems, energy instabilities (regular power failures), insecurity etc, am sure many more foreign investors would have come to Nigeria.
We also need to add skills acquisition to our academic pursuits in order to boost our human resources. When President Clinton came to Abuja for a symposium/seminar after handing over to Bush, he asked Nigerians to copy the Japanese who do not have any natural resources beneath the earth but up in their brain. We can earn more money with our skills overseas if we choose to work abroad. An example is a plumber, electrician, and a motor mechanic earns more than 30 pounds per hour in most cities in United Kingdom. May God bless Nigeria.
Chinedu Vincent Akuta
An activist and leader of “Support Option A4 Group” Leicester-UK
akutachinedu@yahoo.com
http://briefsfromakuta.blogspot.com/
Sunday, 4 October 2009
I.B.B. Should Lead This Struggle.
Thisday newspaper of Wednesday 23rd September 2009, reported that former Nigerian military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida has called for the re-introduction of Option A4 electoral system in Nigeria. This is a welcome development. It is also an indication that he wants to be part of the solution to the problems he caused. He annulled the June 12 1993 presidential election, which was judged by national and international observers as the freest and fairest election in Nigeria history. By annulling this election, he also annulled the system (Option A4) that produced it.
Babangida’s comment did not come as a surprise to me because I was actually expecting it. The only surprise to me was that, this comment came a little bit late. In February of this year (2009), I wrote an article which was specifically directed to Ibrahim Babangida himself. The title of the article was; IBB, This is My Response to You. The article was published on my web blog (http://briefsfromakuta.blogspot.com), including some other media outlets. In the said article, I made some comments, part of which I have quoted below.
“However, no person is above mistake. Many world leaders have at one point or the other made mistakes. In your own case, a window of opportunity exists now for you to redeem the mistake you made in 1993. That window of opportunity is for you to use your influences to campaign for electoral reforms. Nigerians will forgive you and be more glad if you could help to reintroduce Option A4 Electoral system in Nigeria. Option A4 system was your brain child, therefore you need no explanation that it should be the best system for Nigeria. Nigeria has derailed largely because of our corrupt electoral system. I am appealing for your support in this campaign for the reintroduction of Option A4 system”
There are many benefits that Option A4 can give to Nigeria, at least it guarantees openness, transparency, fairness etc. But one of the greatest advantages of Option A4 electoral system is the fact that, post electoral litigations are avoided or reduced to the lowest minimum. It’s too frustrating when people have to undergo lengthy litigations before claiming their mandates. In Edo State, it took Adams Oshiomhole 18 months to reclaim his victory. I did a write up on this issue as well. It was titled; Post Electoral Litigations In Nigeria, Which Way Forward? It was published on my blog (http://briefsfromakuta.blogspot.com) plus other national and international media outlets. I wish to share some interesting points from that article. I have quoted those paragraphs below;
“Only God knows the legal costs of all these litigations. The time wasted on all these cases cannot be captured on monetary terms. The setbacks to the nation as a result of these cases cannot be quantified. This is also a serious threat to our democracy and nation at large. It is an unwanted distraction on the part of government. The effects of all these are that the masses are denied the dividends of democracy. Government abandons its primary responsibility and only face litigations”…, “Without doubts, an average Nigerian is simply too tired for this kind of setbacks. The solution is simple, adopt the Option A4 electoral system and we will have a smooth, transparent and fair elections. Nigerians are yet to see a system better than Option A4”.
Following the manner that some Senators spoke against the attempt, to introduce a bill for the establishment of electoral offenses commission at the national assembly on Wednesday 30th September 2009, it becomes imperative to seriously consider the option A4 methods. From the debates on the floor of Nigerian Senate on 30th September 2009, it became obvious that some senators were not comfortable with the proposed bill. This can be avoided using Option A4.
Now that Ibrahim Babangida has called for the re-introduction of Option A4 electoral system, the next step should be how to actualize this noble idea. This would have been easier for him to achieve under his military regime by using a decree. But since we are in a democratic dispensation, it will involve a lot of political lobbying, media campaign, sensitization of the Nigerian masses, debates etc. Campaigning to re-introduce Option A4 will require total commitment. Therefore Ibrahim Babangida should come out and lead this campaign with all his might. Am aware that he still has some influences over some political elites and some law makers, therefore the National Assembly will be a good place to start mobilizing law makers towards actualizing Option A4 electoral system.
Next will be to organize debates, symposiums, lectures and sensitization of Nigerians on the need to go the way of Option A4. As a follow up to the above, I will advocate for a formation of Option A4 political party or the merging of some existing parties to form Option A4 political party. The singular purpose of this party (Option A4 party) should be to seek power only to re-introduce this system back to our statute books. Some parties exists overseas mainly for a particular purpose. In the United Kingdom, the Green Party exists mainly to promote social and environmental justice. The seek power through campaigns and electoral processes in order to actualize their main purpose of existence. Many Nigerians have argued several times for the re-introduction of this system back to our electoral methods.
Babangida could also use his influences to convince his state government (Niger State) to introduce the Option A4 electoral method into their state electoral commission. This might be easier to achieve. Besides, charity begins at home. If Niger State can adopt this method, chances are higher that other progressive states in Nigeria might copy them. By canceling the freest and fairest election in Nigeria and by extension the Option A4 system, Babangida became heavily indebted to Nigerians. His pay back time starts when he sincerely commits his time and resources towards working for the re-introduction of Option A4 system to Nigeria.
He (IBB) and Humphrey Nwosu (former National Electoral Commission Chairman during the 1992/93 elections when this method was used) are among the top qualified people in Nigeria to lead this campaign. I have said so because; introduction of Option A4 method was their brain child. Since Babangida has spoken in favour of re-introducing this method, Humphrey Nwosu should please make a comment on this as well. The truth should always be spoken. Thank goodness that Babangida has at least spoken the truth.
Our group (Support Option A4, Leicester-UK) will be willing to partner with Ibrahim Babangida only if he is ready, to lead the campaign in Nigeria, for the re-introduction of option A4 electoral system. Am sure other groups might be ready to join forces to actualize this electoral method. Transparency and fairness is what we need in our electoral process. May God bless Nigeria.
Chinedu Vincent Akuta
An activist and leader of “Support Option A4 Group” Leicester-UK
akutachinedu@yahoo.com
http://briefsfromakuta.blogspot.com/
Babangida’s comment did not come as a surprise to me because I was actually expecting it. The only surprise to me was that, this comment came a little bit late. In February of this year (2009), I wrote an article which was specifically directed to Ibrahim Babangida himself. The title of the article was; IBB, This is My Response to You. The article was published on my web blog (http://briefsfromakuta.blogspot.com), including some other media outlets. In the said article, I made some comments, part of which I have quoted below.
“However, no person is above mistake. Many world leaders have at one point or the other made mistakes. In your own case, a window of opportunity exists now for you to redeem the mistake you made in 1993. That window of opportunity is for you to use your influences to campaign for electoral reforms. Nigerians will forgive you and be more glad if you could help to reintroduce Option A4 Electoral system in Nigeria. Option A4 system was your brain child, therefore you need no explanation that it should be the best system for Nigeria. Nigeria has derailed largely because of our corrupt electoral system. I am appealing for your support in this campaign for the reintroduction of Option A4 system”
There are many benefits that Option A4 can give to Nigeria, at least it guarantees openness, transparency, fairness etc. But one of the greatest advantages of Option A4 electoral system is the fact that, post electoral litigations are avoided or reduced to the lowest minimum. It’s too frustrating when people have to undergo lengthy litigations before claiming their mandates. In Edo State, it took Adams Oshiomhole 18 months to reclaim his victory. I did a write up on this issue as well. It was titled; Post Electoral Litigations In Nigeria, Which Way Forward? It was published on my blog (http://briefsfromakuta.blogspot.com) plus other national and international media outlets. I wish to share some interesting points from that article. I have quoted those paragraphs below;
“Only God knows the legal costs of all these litigations. The time wasted on all these cases cannot be captured on monetary terms. The setbacks to the nation as a result of these cases cannot be quantified. This is also a serious threat to our democracy and nation at large. It is an unwanted distraction on the part of government. The effects of all these are that the masses are denied the dividends of democracy. Government abandons its primary responsibility and only face litigations”…, “Without doubts, an average Nigerian is simply too tired for this kind of setbacks. The solution is simple, adopt the Option A4 electoral system and we will have a smooth, transparent and fair elections. Nigerians are yet to see a system better than Option A4”.
Following the manner that some Senators spoke against the attempt, to introduce a bill for the establishment of electoral offenses commission at the national assembly on Wednesday 30th September 2009, it becomes imperative to seriously consider the option A4 methods. From the debates on the floor of Nigerian Senate on 30th September 2009, it became obvious that some senators were not comfortable with the proposed bill. This can be avoided using Option A4.
Now that Ibrahim Babangida has called for the re-introduction of Option A4 electoral system, the next step should be how to actualize this noble idea. This would have been easier for him to achieve under his military regime by using a decree. But since we are in a democratic dispensation, it will involve a lot of political lobbying, media campaign, sensitization of the Nigerian masses, debates etc. Campaigning to re-introduce Option A4 will require total commitment. Therefore Ibrahim Babangida should come out and lead this campaign with all his might. Am aware that he still has some influences over some political elites and some law makers, therefore the National Assembly will be a good place to start mobilizing law makers towards actualizing Option A4 electoral system.
Next will be to organize debates, symposiums, lectures and sensitization of Nigerians on the need to go the way of Option A4. As a follow up to the above, I will advocate for a formation of Option A4 political party or the merging of some existing parties to form Option A4 political party. The singular purpose of this party (Option A4 party) should be to seek power only to re-introduce this system back to our statute books. Some parties exists overseas mainly for a particular purpose. In the United Kingdom, the Green Party exists mainly to promote social and environmental justice. The seek power through campaigns and electoral processes in order to actualize their main purpose of existence. Many Nigerians have argued several times for the re-introduction of this system back to our electoral methods.
Babangida could also use his influences to convince his state government (Niger State) to introduce the Option A4 electoral method into their state electoral commission. This might be easier to achieve. Besides, charity begins at home. If Niger State can adopt this method, chances are higher that other progressive states in Nigeria might copy them. By canceling the freest and fairest election in Nigeria and by extension the Option A4 system, Babangida became heavily indebted to Nigerians. His pay back time starts when he sincerely commits his time and resources towards working for the re-introduction of Option A4 system to Nigeria.
He (IBB) and Humphrey Nwosu (former National Electoral Commission Chairman during the 1992/93 elections when this method was used) are among the top qualified people in Nigeria to lead this campaign. I have said so because; introduction of Option A4 method was their brain child. Since Babangida has spoken in favour of re-introducing this method, Humphrey Nwosu should please make a comment on this as well. The truth should always be spoken. Thank goodness that Babangida has at least spoken the truth.
Our group (Support Option A4, Leicester-UK) will be willing to partner with Ibrahim Babangida only if he is ready, to lead the campaign in Nigeria, for the re-introduction of option A4 electoral system. Am sure other groups might be ready to join forces to actualize this electoral method. Transparency and fairness is what we need in our electoral process. May God bless Nigeria.
Chinedu Vincent Akuta
An activist and leader of “Support Option A4 Group” Leicester-UK
akutachinedu@yahoo.com
http://briefsfromakuta.blogspot.com/
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