Zik Gbemre

The truth, they say is bitter and as such, it is often difficult to say the truth, especially when all odds are against one or the situation is not favourable or you will be hated and despised by many for saying the truth. But notwithstanding, the ‘Truth’ has to be said, even in the midst of all the ridicules or castigations. For it is ‘only’ the truth that can make/set us free; that is the Bible principle that transcends all time and can never change. Unfortunately, we are in a generation that abhors, despises, rejects and refuses to accept the truth even when it is steering us in the face. And as such, we have become a morally bankrupt Nigerian society and a people that are steadily losing their fundamental ‘values’ and speedily degenerating to oblivion.

We are where we are today in Nigeria not because of any other thing other than the fact that we have become a people that have lost their ‘value system’. And as such, every level of ‘leadership’, be it in politics, family, or even religion, have all been ‘corrupted’ one way or the other. We have become a people that value ‘ephemeral gains’ of life more than life itself. We have exchanged the value of life for material wealth, even if our actions will adversely affect millions of our fellow human. We have exchanged the virtues and values of hard work, integrity, sincerity, honesty, punctuality, accountability, patience, brotherliness and so on for the most ‘self-centered’ corrupt tendencies and mediocrity of highest proportions. That is why the present generation of Politicians and society Elites has failed and are still failing the people and the society at large. They have become leaders that are more interested in their well-being than that of those they are meant to ‘serve’.

Someone once said that ‘political violence’ do not just happen, they occur because of “series and strings of unjust political decisions”. Without a doubt, the increasing levels of insecurity, underdevelopment and suffering in Nigeria today did not start in one day. It started as a result of accumulated years of ‘bad decisions’ made by past and present political leaders in various government circles. And as such, every other thing has been ‘corrupted’ with the ‘virus’ from top to bottom, because once the ‘head(s)’ is/are faulty and corrupted, every other thing down the line will follow suit. In other words, we are where we are today because of every of the decisions/indecisions and actions/inactions of our past and present leaders in different strata of government and the entire society. So do not be surprised or alarmed by the Boko Haram insurgency that is daily claiming countless innocent lives and property worth billions of dollars.

Nigeria indeed has had more share of bad leaders than it has good leaders since independence. And as such, the country is today still in the woods of underdevelopment and backwardness, despite its vast human and natural resourcefulness. To make matters worse, we have become a people that do not hold their political leaders accountable since they are the custodians or the nation’s resources. Even when questions are asked and eye brows raised over government actions, the political class simply do what they know how to do best and that is, wave a magic wand to suggest they are on top of the situation and after a while, some few key persons’ interest are taken care of while some will have their integrity compromised. And with time, the rest of the Nigerian populace will ‘forget’ and life goes on; moving on to other issues that are often used to distract the main issues.  Hence, we are known as a people that are “suffering and smiling”. With very few exceptions, it seems about all we do is ‘smile’ at our problems and shrug them off with ‘e go better’. But rather than things ‘get better’, they are getting worse by the day.

An uninformed and impoverished citizenry that shares everything in common with destitute can scarcely participate in matters of state. Ours is a country where well over 85 percent of the population is excluded from the ownership of the means of production and distribution of material wealth and services. Those who control the economy strive desperately to control what happens in the polity too; that is if they are not the major determinants of the nature of democracy currently in vogue in Nigeria.

In truth, Nigeria is a preening democracy. Presently, politicians and their endorsers mobilize the gullible and heartlessly deprived populace to serve sectarian and individual interests, even at the risk of losing their lives in the process. When the political, social, economic and educational objectives in the 1999 Constitution take root in governance, we can justifiably be talking of a democratic Nigeria. For now, the various political parties, led by the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), have seized the nation’s sovereignty and democracy by the jugular. The stinking brand of Nigeria’s kind of democracy favours no other than them. The strife between the Presidency, select governors and economic magnates who collectively define the Nigerian state, is an internal ‘family affair’ among the ruling elites. The majority of Nigerians are not meant to benefit from this strife in any way whatsoever.

The unfortunate thing is that the ruling class has failed to realize that it is also in their own-best interest and that of those supporting them, to ensure that the interest of the majority is considered into the country’s political and economic calculations. “Power should speak the truth to itself to endure”. Failure to learn that mass disaffection could lead to a violent eruption (that even military repression may not always contain), which could squander the remnants of what many now term Nigeria’s ‘fragile democracy.’

All of this goes to justify one fundamental truth and principle that practically explains where we are, what we are, and where we will be as a nation. And that truth is the fact that “the dominium usually assumes the (real) character of its ruler.” That is, every nation, state, society and entity usually assumes the character of its ruler/leader. For instance, Nigeria under Abacha is different from Nigeria under Obasanjo. Nigeria under Yar’Adua is different from Nigeria under Jonathan, and so on. And that is because the ‘character’ of these rulers/leaders is different from one another. There are things you can do now in the Nigerian polity and practically get away with it, which you cannot do and easily get away with it in the time of some past leaders like Obasanjo.

And as far as we are concerned, it is as if the situation in Nigeria is getting worst with a very successive ruler/leader since the inception of Democratic rule in 1999. With the present administration as a classical example, never have we witnessed such number of incidents and insecurity that has led to the loss of thousands of innocent lives in the country’s democratic history. Or is it the level of corruption and impunity that has practically rendered and made the Judiciary and anti-graft agencies as toothless bulldogs and laughing stock. Not to mention the witnessed broad day light robbery of electoral mandate and electoral fraud; perversion of justice; abuse and disregard for the rule of law; indiscipline and mediocrity of high proportions in public service delivery.

The one that bugs us most is the level of corruptions and impunity that has been evident at all levels of governance since the inception of the present administration. When public office holders are allowed to go scot free or merely given a slap on the wrist for stealing public funds meant for the general good of all, then the system is practically adding kerosene to the already burning fire. At least in time past, we have seen the prosecution and sentencing of an Inspector General of Police, a former State Governor and some other high profile cases. Even though some may argue that back then, such fight against corrupt public officials was ‘selective’, the fact still remains that “there was evident fight against corruption” to a considerable degree. This cannot be said of the present administration. That is why the EFCC of today cannot be compared to the EFCC of the past when Nuhu Ribadu was its Chairman. Why can’t our present political leaders fight corruption like the late Nelson Mandela of South-Africa and Jerry Rawlings of Ghana did when they were in government? At least the present government should locate the more than $49Billion (about N79Trillion), that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reported ‘missing’. Or at least prosecute those behind the fuel-subsidy scam. It is only then that the international community will start taking this administration seriously, as not paying lip-service to the fight against corruption.

Speaking of the fight against corruption, the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Alhaji Waziri Tambuwal had some months back, deployed President Jonathan’s failure to act promptly to prosecute fraudulent cases diligently exposed by the National Assembly, as the bane of the blossoming corruption in the country is shameful, ‘kleptocratic governance’. Worst still, Tambuwal said the anti-corruption agencies read the body language of the president and prosecute cases selectively. Otherwise, cases like the $6.8Billion fuel subsidy probe result, the Security and Exchange Commission probe, the clandestine and shady oil bloc deals in the Petroleum Sector and the bullet-proof car purchase scandal and others should have been prosecuted by the executive arm of government with their agencies.

It is really sad to note that in all of this, all that the present administration has been known to do is to set up committees to either probe or look into them, but at the end of the day, nothing concrete comes out of such exercises. In fact, all that the Presidency could respond to the statements made by the Speaker, through President Jonathan’s Special Adviser, Dr, Rueben Abati, was that “the Jonathan administration is not going to fight corruption on the basis of mere speculations.” In other words, what the present administration is telling Nigerians is that everything we have heard and observe about the fuel subsidy scam, the pension scam etc, are ‘mere speculations’ as far as this administration is concerned. Abati also said that “the Presidency will not condone any act of proven corruption”. We are then forced to ask, what happened to all the high profile corrupt cases where compelling evidences were provided, like the video and tape recorded proofs provided on the $620,000 bribery allegation against Hon. Farouk Lawal and Otedola? Has all that been swept under the carpet? God help us in this nation. Like we said, Nigerians are often made to ‘forget things’ and get distracted with other things while we live life as if all is well or going to get better.

 In as much as the points raised by the Federal House of Representatives Speaker is very much valid, however, we would like to remind him that Nigerians find it appalling that the Nigerian National Assembly members are still the highest paid lawmakers in the world. When the Minimum Wage in the country is merely N18,000.

The argument about the jumbo pay of Nigerian lawmakers at both the state and national levels has a way of degenerating into a farce, with the beneficiaries, the legislators, often adding insult to injury: Not only do they often fail to disclose the exact figure, they even justify their sumptuous pay with the so-called ‘enormous national duty’; the non-performance of which is their signature. That conversation was recently elevated to an absurd level by the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal at the Fifth Christopher Kolade Symposium Series organized by the Nigeria Leadership Initiative (NLI). The Speaker, who was represented by the Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, said he and his colleagues were being wrongly accused of earning outrageous salaries. Tambuwal went further to differentiate between their basic salaries and allowances and stressed that both were justified on the ground of their enormous responsibility.

This barefaced defence of legislators’ jumbo pay by a high-ranking member of the National Assembly is, to say the least, the height of insensitivity. It does not only run against the grain of public opinion, it demonstrates in absolute terms “the disconnect between leaders and the led”. The Speaker and his colleagues must reside in another planet not to appreciate the well-known fact that Nigerian legislators are the highest paid in the world. Unjustifiably so. One wonders what duty or responsibility the honourable members are discharging to warrant an annual appropriation of about N150 billion! The reality of their performance is even a greater embarrassment: empty seats during sessions, merry-go-round on non-conclusive inquiries which are often turned into rent-seeking exercises. It is even more scandalous that they are paid sumptuously for the sinecure they call responsibility. They are the recipient of unimaginable allowances outside basic salaries, including foreign and local travel, recess, utilities, furniture, constituency allowances, and vehicle loan as well as vehicle maintenance, and even a ‘hardship allowance’ among others. Also, it is the practice that under the pretext of statutory transfer the National Assembly are allocated huge sums which details are not made public.

They enjoy these privileges for doing nothing and against the backdrop of a minimum wage of N18000 for an average worker, unpaid public servants, millions of jobless graduates who roam the streets and increasing social crises. The unimpressive recurrent expenditure pegged at 81.6 per cent in the 2012 budget is overweighed by the salacious outlay on the legislators. The end result is that nothing is left for capital expenditure. It should be said with all emphasis that such thoughtlessness as Tambuwal’s unguarded submission is the very basis for the call for reform of the national legislature. There is indeed a compelling need to rethink the form and content of the legislature. And it is to be noted that Nigeria national income cannot sustain the gluttony of its lawmakers. A step towards its reform must be backed by the need to reduce legislative reward to merely sitting allowance without a basic salary component and it should be structured to be part-time. As it has been advocated times without number, the country does not need a bicameral legislature. It is a waste of public funds and it should be reorganized or streamlined into just one chamber. The Senegalese example is there for all to emulate. That country went back to a unicameral legislature to save resources for other compelling development goals. Nigeria can do the same here and the people will be the better for it.

Around early December 2013, the British Members of Parliament (MPs) and Cabinet rejected an 11% Pay rise authorized by the British Independent Parliament Commission, saying the pay rise was “unnecessary” since there is ‘cost of living crises’ in the UK. The British MPs also disagreed with the BBC Authority for “huge Pay-offs” of senior staff. According to the MPs, BBC top Executive staff could be held for “contempt of Parliament”. And the penalty for contempt of parliament includes prison sentence, but such cases are rare since the 19^th century. They said some of the justifications for the huge pay offs had been extraordinary and this was blamed on the culture of cronyism that allowed for the liberal use of public’s money. The MPs described the huge pay offs (severance package) of senior staff of the BBC as “sweeteners”. The question now is, when will Nigerian Legislatures play a ‘genuine role’ of checks and balance within the various arms of government? When will Nigerian law makers see the need to cut down on their outrageous pay and allowances that are draining the nation’s purse?   

We find it out of place to observe our public leaders in government circles earning millions and hundreds of millions of naira annually, when millions of Nigerians are living below one dollar (about N160) per day; when 60 percent of Nigerians do not have access to regular power supply. Even Nigerians that are privileged to earn a six digits salary figure are still ‘struggling’ to keep their heads afloat from sinking with the ‘high cost of living’. But if our economy is buoyant, and there is availability and affordability of food and basic social amenities, the issue of minimum wage will not arise in the first place. For everybody will be ‘comfortable enough’ with the much or little they earn.

On the other side of the coin, the “followers”, as citizenry are seriously not helping matters because they have been encouraging those at government circles as political leaders to brazenly misappropriate/steal public funds with reckless abandon and impunity. It is only in Nigeria that ‘thieves’ in political circles are celebrated and exulted. People tend to ‘worship’ and respect those that are in government circles who obviously, from their lavish lifestyle and affluence in wealth, indicate that they have been stealing public funds under their care. Imagine a situation where someone, who some few months back, was struggling to fend for himself and family. All of a sudden finds himself in government circles and within months, the person has fleet of state of the art luxury cars and different mansions all over the country. Nobody cares to ask questions and find out the sudden change of financial status. Rather, people tend to worship, praise and adore such a ‘criminals’ in government. We tend to praise them for doing nothing because they are our kingsmen. As one that steals in government circles, you tend to have more followers in Nigeria. Until we stop deceiving ourselves and start holding our political accountable no matter how long it will take for them to respond and change, the majority of the Nigerian citizenry will continue to suffer greatly.

No one best captures the problems with Nigeria than our late literary icon, Chinua Achebe, in his book: An Image of Africa And The Trouble With Nigeria. Tribalism, false image of ourselves, Nigeria style of leadership, disunity, unpatriotic, social injustice and the cult of mediocrity, indiscipline, corruption, amongst others were listed in the stated book by Chinua Achebe, as troubles with Nigeria. In the words of Achebe while explaining where the problem lies: “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.

“I believe that Nigeria is a nation favoured by Providence. I believe there are individuals as well as nations who, on account of peculiar gifts and circumstances, are commandeered by history to facilitate mankind’s advancement. Nigeria is such a nation. The vast human and material wealth with which she is endowed bestows on her a role in Africa and the world which no one else can assume or fulfill. The fear that should nightly haunt our leaders (but does not) is that they may already have betrayed irretrievably Nigeria’s high destiny. The countless billions that a generous Providence poured into our national coffers in the last ten years (1972-1982) would have been enough to launch this nation into the middlerank of developed nations and transformed the lives of our poor and needy. But what have we done with it? Stolen and salted away by people in tower and their accomplices. Squandered in uncontrolled importation of all kinds of useless consumer merchandise from every corner of the globe. Embezzled through inflated contracts to an increasing army party loyalists who have neither the desire nor the competence to execute their contracts. Consumer in the escalating salaries of a grossly overstaffed and unproductive public service. And so on and infinitum. Does it ever worry us that history which neither personal wealth nor power can pre-empt will pass terrible judgment on us, pronounce anathema on our names when we have accomplished our betrayal and passed on? We have lost the twentieth century; are we bent on seeing that our children also lose the twenty-first? God forbid!”

The crusade for Nigeria’s Independence, spearheaded mostly by educated Nigerians was not an easy one. This agitation came to a hilt with Chief Anthony Enahoro’s motion for Independence on the floor of the Federal House of Parliament in 1957. According to Sir Abubakar Tafawa Belawa at independence; “Today is independence Day. The first of October, 1960, is a date to which, for two years, Nigeria has been eagerly looking forward. At last, our great day has arrived and Nigeria is now indeed an independent Sovereign Nation”. The British Union Jack was lowered for Nigeria’s symbol of self rule as the green-white-green flag was hoisted by Gen. David Ejoor. These people had a dream that by now, Nigeria ought to be amongst the most developed nations of the world. But today we celebrate and praise corrupt individuals in government circles for doing practically nothing for the masses. Those who have visions and something tangible to offer for the good of all are never given the opportunity to serve. While those not qualified and do not have any vision are placed in such sensitive positions. This is exactly what you and your group are projecting.

A serious food for thought for all well-meaning Nigerians and our political leaders you would agree. Inept leadership has always been the bane of Nigeria’s development. The unfortunate, but yet well-embraced exit of South African icon leader, Nelson Mandela, and his memorial that practically held the whole world on stand still, reminds us of what political leaders are supposed to be like.

For us, Mandela’s life, time and legacy left behind should be a worthy example and stand as role model for Nigerian Politicians and Leaders to reflect on and emulate. If Mandela rested peacefully and the entire world came to a standstill, can Nigerians and the rest of the world standstill for even one day to mourn the death of any of our present and past leaders and politicians? This should be  food for thought for all of us. Let our leaders and politicians learn a great lesson from Nelson Mandela’s death: “what you do in the past and present will judge how your future will be and what you will remembered for”. We pray that year 2014 and years ahead, will be better than what Nigerians have been made to go through in recent years.

 

 

Zik Gbemre, JP

National Coordinator Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)

  

We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes as if Those Were Our Causes