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National Chieftaincy Titles By Sonala Olumhense

Of the 327 words issued by Nigeria’s ruler last week as he nursed his wounds over Professor Chinua Achebe’s snub, one was particularly disturbing.

Of the 327 words issued by Nigeria’s ruler last week as he nursed his wounds over Professor Chinua Achebe’s snub, one was particularly disturbing.

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That word: misinformation. 

The official statement attributed Achebe’s rejection to “misinformation as to the true state of affairs in Nigeria and hopes that he will find time to visit home soon and see the progress being made by the Jonathan Administration for himself.”

The claim comes partly from the middle of the 20th century, when Nigerians who travelled out of the country often found themselves in the information equivalent of a NEPA blackout.  They had no idea what was going on back home. 

That is the era of reference when a Nigerian condescendingly says to a compatriot abroad to “find time to visit home soon” to educate himself about the wonders in his country in 2011.

The statement also comes from prejudice against Nigerians abroad who dare to express strong views about Nigeria.  In view of the fact that it was penned for President Goodluck Jonathan by his spokesman, Reuben Abati, the origins are easy to trace.  The hand is Esau’s, but the voice, regrettably, is Jacob’s.  Here is the evidence:

In “Jonathan and the Scramble for Political Appointments” on May 16, when Abati was auditioning for his current job and—perhaps trying to limit competition for it—he wrote disparagingly of Nigerians in the Diaspora: “Once you live anywhere abroad, you are almost at liberty to pretend to be better than everyone at home…This is how they talk, the Diaspora set, so try the same style too. Nobody needs to know that you have many unpaid bills, and that you are barely struggling to survive in the matchbox where you and your family are holed up in some downtown quarter. Make big claims. You could get a job in Abuja, may be not as Minister, but you can take a Special Assistantship position and start rebuilding your life from there.”

It is not difficult to see that the idea that a Nigerian abroad does not know what he is talking now has established inner parentage within the government. 

But it is patently false: Unless the Jonathan administration is saying it has important achievements that it is hiding, it is clear that Nigerians abroad today are as aware of the situation in the country as anyone else. 
   
Why, then, is the presidency angry Achebe says he can identify no distinction between Obasanjo’s Nigeria and Jonathan’s?  Clearly, this anger stems from its awareness that the desire to substitute rhetoric for substance is not working. 

But let us go back to 2004, which was the year that one Olusegun Obasanjo, having just “won” a second term, set up some of the landmines that are responsible for our present grief. It will then be clear that in 2004, Achebe was not talking simply about bad elections, contrary to the impression Jonathan tried to convey last week.

I will begin in Anambra State.  In 2004 the Okija scandal broke.  When the police arrived at the shrines, they found such a horrendous scene of human skulls, decomposing bodies and body parts that all the Police Commissioner and his men could do was weep and vomit. The shrine priests were “arrested” and taken to Abuja for interrogation, and 10 registers containing the names of their high-profile patrons were seized as part of the investigation. Under Obasanjo’s watch, that investigation disappeared with the investigation.

2004 was also the year that the so-called godfather of Anambra politics, Chris Uba, confessed that the Anambra State governorship contest of 2003 was rigged by the PDP. Uba, who is Obasanjo’s friend, explained in one instance, “I called the result before 12 midnight. I gave [the electoral commission] the money and asked them to call the result."

What did Obasanjo do as turmoil broke in Anambra and the truth became plain?  He ignored the law and his oath of office. 

In 2004, money was plentiful on the streets, and justice scarce.  In the Ministry of Defence, it was found that senior officials of the Directorate of Military Pensions had stolen N20 billion of the N22 billion budgeted for the 2001 payment of salary arrears, pensions and gratuity of military retirees.

Campaigning in Ogun State in 2003 for his second term, Obasanjo stunned the country by saying his government had spent over N300 billion on roads. Abia State Governor, Orji Kalu, responded by telling Obasanjo that since there was no evidence of good roads, he should arrest and prosecute Anthony Anenih, who was the Minister of Works during the period, to explain what he had done with the money.  The scandal that erupted emptied into 2004, with the PDP settling it as a “family matter.” 

Despite all that, in 2004 the Federal Government gave extra-budgetary allocations of N5.8 billion to the Ministry of Works, allegedly to repair about 32,000 kilometres of roads. That year, the government provided only N4.55 billion in the budget but in March, Adeseye Ogunlewe, who succeeded Anenih at Works, said the government had approved N15 billion for road maintenance. Obasanjo then lavishly inaugurated "Operation 500 Roads,” which was presented as a “direct” road repair and maintenance scheme of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA).  In a document called "Blueprint for Operation 500 Roads," Ogunleye said the Ministry would require N31.95 billion for road maintenance that year. In the same year, Ogunlewe announced N9.6 billion for each of Nigeria’s six geo-political zones for roads. [Early in 2006, Ogunlewe was fired; the Civil Liberties Organization said that he was accused of having embezzled N300 million.] 

It was also in 2004 that Obasanjo launched the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), selling it as Nigeria’s grassroots economic and development blueprint.  Although he insisted it was a “home-grown” strategy, he said that foreign assistance of $20 billion was needed to implement it up till 2007.  Among others, the USAID initiated a N59.8 billion, five-year scheme of assistance. In December, the government obtained a $140 million World Bank loan.  The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development reported substantial increases in aid to Nigeria, beginning with £35million in 2003/04, to climb to £100million in 2007/08.

But before Obasanjo built his church, NEEDS was the biggest magic act of all.  Within months, neither NEEDS nor any of the associated funds was in Nigeria’s political conversation.

2004 saw a major land scam blown open by the EFCC. Participants included the Edo State governor, Lucky Igbinedion; former FCT Minister Mohammed Abba-Gana; the Deputy Senate Leader, Jonathan Zwingina; and the former President of the Senate, Anyim Pius Anyim, who is now the powerful Secretary to the Government of the Federation.  The PDP works miracles!

In 2004, killings were such a prominent feature that even Orji Kalu lamented: "My only regret is that history will put me as part of this blood-thirsty government because the Nigerian people have asked for bread and you have given them bullet. It's not fair and people are sitting, laughing in paradise called Abuja.”


That is a small picture of the Nigeria of 2004.  Thus, when Achebe told Obasanjo that the situation in the country was “too dangerous for silence,” he was talking about irresponsible governance, impunity, patronage, corruption and injustice.  And he is right when he tells Jonathan that the patient is still in the infirmary.

Thus, as in 2004 Nigeria, in 2011 Nigeria, governance is about speeches, not action. Corruption is protected, not combated.  Justice is delayed.  Political promises are neglected.  National Honors are given as largesse to government officials, contractors and their friends.  The same patronage system that has been perfected to siphon government funds into private hands is triumphant. Hypocrisy and double talk are Nigeria’s most common currency.  There is a gross deficiency of courage and commitment in high places.  If Achebe were to visit Nigeria soon, that is the country he will find.

Jonathan claims achievement on electoral reform, but as the original Abati would have told him, his manhood on this item rests on the Justice Uwais report, not on the cosmetics. 

It is shameful to consider that as insecure as Nigeria is today, Nigeria’s ruler rewarded his security chiefs with “National Honours” last week.  And to think that even though the government broadcast its intent, it left nominees find out they were being honoured.  And then—surprise, surprise—at the award ceremony, Nigeria’s government was surprised it had a shortage of medals and certificates.  Even Boy Scout and chieftaincy award ceremonies are more convincing.

A government of transformation?  Or misinformation?

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