It has been reported in some of Nigeria’s newspapers and Internet portals that Harvard University recently entered into an agreement with the Governors' Forum to train Nigeria’s governors’ on capacity building. The Guardian newspaper’s editorial of June 11, 2009 also addressed the issue in very harsh language. I forwarded a copy of Guardian’s editorial to Harvard University.
At the end of their jamboree and return to Nigeria, governor Akpabio, the spokesman for the group, held a press conference in Calabar and briefed members of the press about the reasons for the alleged agreement between the Governors Forum and Harvard University. He cited lack of understanding of the Constitution and preparedness for the job they willingly sought as the reasons behind the agreement. This is the same job that some of these governors considered “a do or die” affair and were willing to do anything to get. Pathetic will be a friendly way to describe governor Akpabio’s utterances.
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Personally angered that the trip was nothing more than another avenue for the governors to engage in the squandering of scarce public resources; that history has taught Nigerians that most Nigerian politicians would not engage in any endeavor that does not provide an opportunity for looting of the treasury, even if such an endeavor is the acquisition of skills needed to improve their own on-the-job performance; that the trip to Harvard University may have cost the Nigerian taxpayers millions of dollars in airline tickets for the governors and their retinue of assistants/girlfriends, payment of bloated official allowances and hotel accommodation; that notwithstanding the egregious nature of the above-described components of the trip one’s indignation is further exacerbated by the realization that the trip may actually have been a ruse or decoy for squirreling looted funds out of Nigeria and into American bank accounts, I decided to get to the bottom of the story by contacting Harvard University.
I started my investigations by contacting Jake Ackman of Harvard University’s Communications Office (1-617-495-1115). Although he acknowledged reading news reports about the purported agreement, he denied knowledge of its existence. My Ackman then referred me to the office of Prof. Robert Rotberg, head of the Office of the University’s Intrastate Conflict Program (1-617-496-2258). Prof. Rotberg’s Intrastate Conflict Program coordinates the “capacity training” the governors claim to be interested in. An assistant in Prof. Rotberg’s office who did not want the name published also denied the existence of an agreement between the school and the Governor’s Forum. I was further informed by the assistant that Mr. Rotberg was in a meeting but would be happy to respond to my email. I was given Prof. Rotberg’s email address and I promptly fired off an email to him.
In my email to Mr. Rotberg, I expressed my disappointment that an esteemed institution like Harvard University would be involved in an enterprise as sleazy as the one involving the governors. I told him that Nigerian governors do not need Harvard University workshops or degrees to know that provision of water, electricity and shelter are basic rights of citizens. That they do not need Harvard University workshops or degrees to know that treasury looting is a crime against the people and the state. That they do not need Harvard University workshops or degrees to understand that the money they spent on the needless trip to Cambridge-Massachusetts could have been better spent providing basic amenities for the people; that at a cost of $2,500.00 a borehole, a community of 50-100 people/Nigerians can be given year-round access to clean water that would reduce the risks associated with water borne diseases. I further told him that the real victims of the Harvard University jamboree are the ordinary Nigerian people who could have had several boreholes installed for them with the resources spent on the jamboree. That the real victims are the new born babies and mothers dying due to lack of basic medical supplies, including incubators. I also explained that ordinary Nigerians “are the real victims of the type of financial brigandage that brought these governors to Harvard University. The victims may not be in front of you, you may never meet them, your knowledge of them may be limited to figures/statistics, but they are real human beings. They are people’s children, parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, husbands and wives. Think about them when you deal with these politicians” .
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I sent my email to Prof. Rotberg at about 7:00 p.m. and within an hour I received a reply from him. In his reply, not only did Prof. Rotberg deny the existence of any contract with the Nigerian governors, he said “there will never be an agreement with them” without stating why. Prof. Rotberg accused the Nigerian press of jumping the gun. If you believe Prof. Rotberg and I am tempted to, one is then forced to ask why the governors travelled to the United States and how much the trip cost them. Unlike Prof. Rotberg who saw his reputation and that of his 373 year old university at stake and decided to explain their side of the story, our politicians do not give a hoot about the governed. I do not expect the governors to provide any answers to these intrigues because they do not comprehend their responsibilities to the Nigerian people. After all, what can the voters do? The governors do not need to explain anything to anyone because they do not need the people to “vote” them back into office. All they need is Maurice Iwu.
Majekodunmi Adega
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