“By doubting we come to question, and by questioning, we perceive the truth.” (Peter Abelard, 1079-1142)
Three Questions on ... Energy Shortage
Perceptor is once again writing under battery and lamplight. Frankly, Perceptor is FED UP. But there is nothing new about that. Perceptor might have not bothered with another rant about no power, no fuel, because, like other contributors to this website, Perceptor was so CAST DOWN and dejected by the interview that President Yar’Adua gave to The Guardian that it hardly seemed worth picking up a pen. But dejection can turn to anger, and so it was when Perceptor read the interview by one of Yar’Adua’s apologists over the weekend. In an interview with Sunday Punch, Umar Gana blamed all the non-performance on Yar’Adua’s ministers and aides (isn’t Yar’Adua the one who PICKED them?), invited us to rejoice in the Yar’Adua presidency for a host of silly reasons (e.g. he comes from a royal family and was born with a golden spoon, as though the presidency of Nigeria is a MONARCHY) and then, when asked on which point of the seven point ‘agenda’ Yar’Adua had made any impact, claimed that there was no “time lag” [sic] attached to it. Well that may have been an error of speech on his part, but actually, from what Perceptor can see, there is indeed a TIME LAG on the seven point ‘agenda’. That’s why NOTHING has been done to implement it! Then, asked about power generation, the fellow had the guts to abuse ex-President Obasanjo because (according to him):
Obasanjo was there for eight years and not a single megawatt was added to the national grid. Now, we are talking of adding about 3,000 to 4,000 megawatts in the next couple of months. It means that something is being done. If not for the bad intention of the National Assembly, the job would have been virtually completed.
It was that “talking of” that really made Perceptor see red. TALKING OF! Meanwhile, Perceptor like other Naijas, has been suffering the pains of yet another fuel crisis – long, traffic-jamming queues for petrol, increased fares, and all the pains that go with that. According to the President himself, this too wasn’t his fault. It was because of a CARTEL who were feeding fat on the import subsidies. In the circumstances, though Perceptor has been here before, there are, on the issue of power and fuel, still some questions...
1. So what are the names then, Mr. President?
Even if they are the President’s own brothers or parents, Mr. Yar’Adua is either interested in transparency or he is not. If this cartel really exists and is NOT doing exactly what people in government want (e.g. collecting money for them to share later ...) then whether or not what they are doing is legal, Nigerians deserve to be told who they are. In other words, their names! Otherwise, we might begin to believe either that they don’t exist and are just an excuse for NON-PERFORMANCE or that they are being concealed because they might SPILL THE BEANS about who in government they are paying off...
2. Assuming that he is either really in the know or Umar Gana’s apologist excuses are being fed to him by those who are in the know, what exactly is it that the National Assembly has done that prevents Yar’Adua from declaring a State of Emergency?
Perceptor thinks that this is a good time for the Yar’Adua administration to do what the lawyers say: condescend upon the particular. In other words, to give SOME DETAILS. After all, an emergency is an emergency. Is it that Yar’Adua mistakenly thought that he needed the fiat of the National Ass. to declare what is evident to even a BLIND MAN? Is there something that he has asked the National Ass. to do that they HAVEN’T DONE that stops him from declaring the State of Emergency? If not, Perceptor would like to hear a LOT LESS about things that other people haven’t done about electricity and a LOT MORE about what President Yar’Adua has actually DONE.
3. Is there some delusion in Aso Rock that it they talk about it enough, the 3,000 megawatts will materialise from THIN AIR?
In expressing a wish to hear more about what Mr. President has actually DONE with regard to power generation, Perceptor isn’t talking about talking about future events as Mr. President’s apologist seems to imagine. From confessing that they were only “talking of adding 3,000 megawatts”, the fellow then went on to talk as though “talking of” was as good as having ACTUALLY GENERATED 3,000 more megawatts. Perceptor begs to differ!
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Electoral Reform: Cart Before Horse
Perceptor mentioned last blog that the 7 bills on Electoral Reform had been RUSHED to the National Assembly, and – cynic that Perceptor is becoming – that the Bills looked a leetle like an attempt by Mr. President to deflect attention from the storm created by the Ekiti re-run selection debacle. Now it turns out that none of those Bills was a Bill to Amend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999. Yet some of the recommendations of the Uwais Panel on Electoral Reform such as setting up a Political Parties Registration Commission, changing the composition of INEC and abolition of the position of Residential Electoral Commission, may all need some amendment of the Constitution. Are we to understand that after all those COMMITTEES on the White Paper, on the Committee on the White Paper etc., the Yar’Adua/Aondoakaa administration didn’t realise that? Perceptor is disappointed. Deeply disappointed. A cheeky fellow wrote to the papers the other day criticising the Attorney-General’s liberal approach to the rules of grammar and (obviously erroneously) dared to suggest that the nation’s chief law officer was not well educated. Perceptor was baffled by this impudent letter, since by his very position, the Honourable Attorney-General (HAG) is the leader of the nation’s learned men! But given that he was at the head of the committee that was reviewing the committee, Perceptor is now baffled that the 7 bills were apparently not sent to the Senate in the RIGHT ORDER!
Could it be, as Perceptor suspected, that there was no thought behind those 7 bills than to silence those cynics who were suggesting that the Ekiti re-run showed conclusively that Mr. President was NOT SERIOUS about electoral reform?
As for the National Assembly, well, Perceptor pities anyone who thinks that any bill on electoral reform is going to survive this group of legislators. For a start, they don’t appear to KNOW ANYTHING, and what’s worse, they don’t appear to WANT TO LEARN! Imagine a whole Joy Emordi complaining about a Political Parties Commission. It might be understandable in a rookie Senator. It might even be understandable in a Senator who hasn’t had to battle a corrupt and partial party machinery to get to where she is. But a Distinguished Emordi?!? Perceptor is going to have to join Professor Mobolaji Aluko in a bit of HEAD SHAKING!
Committee Watch
*Committee on suing Halliburton, Siemens and Wilbros for spoiling Nigeria’s good name by offering bribes to Nigerians (and then having the temerity to get charged in the United States and Germany for offering such bribes). Attorney-General Michael Aondoakaa has set up a committee to work how to sue. And where to sue. Which has necessitated trips to Britain and America of course.
*Committee on Amnesty for Niger Delta Militants yet to complete its job. Perhaps it’s waiting to see whether there will be any militants left ALIVE when the JTF has finished its little exercise in Gbaramatu Kingdom ...
The Meaning of Words ... Democracy
Perceptor is also rather FED UP with suggestions that Nigeria is marking Ten Years of DEMOCRACY. If the Ekiti re-run debacle shows Perceptor anything, it shows that all we have had is 10 years of Civilian Rule. We certainly haven’t had Ten Years of Democracy. Ten Years of Democracy would mean that we had been governed by people that we actually ELECTED for Ten Years, rather than just being RULED by people IMPOSED on us. It would mean that we had been governed by people who wanted the best for US, not ruled by imposters who wanted only the best for THEMSELVES!
Rebranding ... Expanded or Rebranded?
Perceptor was delighted to see that the Federal Government will be taking its rebranding project abroad, specifically to the African Union headquarters at Addis Ababa. Perceptor’s delight stems from the fact that Information Minister Dora Akunyili had earlier told Nigerians that the main and primary objective of the rebranding project is Nigerians themselves. Uncharitable minds had suggested that this was a self-serving response to complaints that the whole exercise was just an excuse to spend millions of taxpayers’ money on meaningless overseas advertising campaigns which would see huge commissions being paid to Naija ‘facilitators’. By promising to limit the campaign to Nigeria, however many millions of taxpayers’ money was being spent, at least it wouldn’t be being spent overseas.
But now, it seems that the powers that be have decided that it’s time for some expansion. In any case, Nigeria’s new ambassador to Ethiopia, Mrs. Nkoyo Toyo, is being sent off with instructions to promote the rebranded Nigeria to the AU and Ethiopia. Perceptor wishes Mrs. Toyo well. But hopes that none of the answers to the questions asked in Perceptor’s last blog will turn up to make nonsense of the rebranding campaign ...
Nigeria’s Good Name (1)
Whether or not the rebranding project is being taken abroad because it has succeeded at home, or in complete indifference as to whether it has succeeded at home or not, there are other more subtle ways in which the Yar’Adua administration is defending the country’s image abroad. For example, as if to prove the truth of Perceptor’s remark last blog that whoever else was involved, once Naijas take up any nefarious trade, it is Nigeria that will be mentioned, when US authorities arrested about 40 suspects recently for credit crime fraud, it was Nigeria that was mentioned. Now, should we put the vigorous challenge to this ‘naming and shaming’ by our representatives in the US – they demanded to know why names and nationalities are named only when it is about Nigeria – to the rebranding project? After all, “Good People, Great Nation” doesn’t really sit well with “international credit card and identity fraud ring” does it?
Nigeria’s Good Name (2)
Another of the subtle ways in which the country’s image abroad is being defended is in relation to the Haliburton scandal. Perceptor notes that although the US authorities have produced a report in which it ‘named and shamed’ Nigerians to whom bribes were paid, the Yar’Adua/Aondoakaa administration has decided – not to commence criminal prosecutions against those named, but to commence civil proceedings for libel against the ?
Readers will remember that the Attorney General of the Federation, Michael Aondoakaa has boasted that he will not take any action against those named as recipients of $180 million bribes – hear him through his Press Secretary: “unless and until the US authorities officially inform the Nigerian government and forward all the necessary documents for proper legal action.” There is a deafening silence about whether the Nigerian government has actually made any request for the necessary documents and so on, which conveniently absolves the Yar’Adua/Aondoakaa administration of any responsibility for taking action against Naija bribe-takers. In their eyes anyway.
Meanwhile however, SuperMike is affronted by the dent to Nigeria’s good name and image caused by those companies – Halliburton, Siemens and Willbros – which offered the $180 million bribes to the ‘named and ... (actually, perhaps Perceptor should rephrase that: at least one of those named has declared publicly that he cannot be shamed)’. Anyway, SuperMike intends to sue those companies for $10 billion for the damage caused to Nigeria’s good image. In pursuit of this he has, in the best traditions of the Yar’Adua/Aondoakaa administration, established a COMMITTEE to work out how and where to sue. Trips have been made to the United States and the United Kingdom. Perceptor isn’t surprised that Mr. Aondoakaa might want to do a bit of forum shopping on this matter: while the US has rather robust traditions when it comes to matters of libel, the London courts are becoming notorious for the ease with which they pander to the inflated image of the various figures who feel hurt by what’s been written or said about them, but know they haven’t a hope in hell of getting judgment in the US.
Aondoakaa is apparently yet to make a decision about which country he wants to sue in – no doubt more trips abroad to the fleshpots – sorry, Perceptor meant to say the LAW COURTS – of Houston or Miami will be needed before the Attorney-General’s Committee reaches a final decision.
But whichever country he decides to sue in, Perceptor hopes that he won’t come up against a lawyer of the Gani Fawehinmi type! The problem with defamation actions is that what you are suing for is the damage to your good name. Hmmmm! Even though we Naijas apparently know that we are “Good People” in a “Great Nation” (see above) can we rely on the automatic assumption that we have a good name in the US or the UK? An American or British Gani might defend the action that the Attorney-General says he wants to bring by saying that Nigeria doesn’t have a good name or image, and that therefore, not much damage can have been done by the nasty things that the defendants might have said about Nigeria in the particular case. Like our own Gani, lawyers overseas might even prepare a long list of examples of things that don’t necessarily redound to Nigeria’s credit. They might even start with the refusal to prosecute alleged bribe takers inside Nigeria to show that we don’t have a reputation to protect even at home. Oh dear!
Shake... down (Post Script)
Last blog, Perceptor was worried about how Mr. Wale Babalakin’s Bi-Courtney Consortium who are to repair and upgrade the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on a ‘build, operate and transfer’ basis, which means that they would be able to charge people for using the expressway.
A story is often told of a lawyer who had been quite instrumental in U.S. President John Kennedy’s victory in the 1960 election that saw Kennedy narrowly triumph over Richard Nixon to become the 35th President of the United States. “What can I do for you?” Kennedy is reputed to have asked the lawyer, “Name the post in my administration that you want – it’s yours!” But the lawyer was too canny to ask for public office. The confirmation hearings, the low pay, the public scrutiny! Who needed that? “All I want”, he said, “is that when we walk out of this building, into the glare of the world’s media, you put your arm around me and whisper into my ear, and let me whisper back.” Or something along those lines. He knew that when those pictures were flashed around the country, around the world even, his stock would rise immeasurably. Clients would be scrambling, fees would be rising ... and he could make his money in peace, with no searching investigative press to bother him.
Coming back home to Naija, Perceptor sees that Mr. Babalakin is often described as President Yar’Adua’s Legal Adviser. Unpaid Legal Adviser. Hmmmmm. Perceptor isn’t fool enough to trust to the efficacy of public regulators, oversight bodies and so on when it comes to the privatisation of public services in Nigeria, whether it is the Central Bank of Nigeria, the National Communications Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission ... or the Ministry of Works. Even in richer, more organised countries than our dear Naija, regulatory commissions don’t seem to have been able to regulate what they ought to regulate, whether it’s water, telecommunications ... or banks. So it looks as though Nigerian road users are going to just have to trust to the good faith, patriotism and wish to do good deeds of the President’s Legal Adviser. Hmmmmm.
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