By Adeola Aderounmu. 

“Until the gruesome murder of Osamuyia, I had never for once thought about Spain as a bad country to live in”.

  

My thoughts of Spain are not for evil but of good. The first time I met a Spanish person was in 2003 in my student corridor. Raul is a young fine man, very friendly and always social. If you are attending University in Sweden and you happen to have a Spanish friend, you have just boosted your social life.

With Raul and his other Spanish friends around, my weekend was always spiced up. They make good parties and they enjoy getting tipsy from drinks.  The merry making of the Spanish is a clear departure from the boring attitudes of Swedish students in my corridor.  Raul returned to Spain and I left the student corridor apartments sometime around April 2004.

 In August 2005, I met another Spanish guy called Pedro. He is the funniest guy among my colleagues. He teaches spanish and I was teaching computer science at that time. In 2006, we found ourselves at a new school together again as colleagues. This time I am teaching science. Pedro and I have been at great parties, we have shared a room on a cruise and Pedro at some time wore my Nigerian clothes (Buba and Sokoto). He is a delightful person. I can speak well of him always.

My other knowledge of Spain comes from what I’d read mostly on BBC and what my friend Paulo told me about Spain. Paulo is my friend, a Nigerian who had lived in Spain, Luxembourg and now in England. Paulo lived for some time in Sweden before moving to England. As a matter of fact, Paulo met Raul and then Pedro because he spent most of his time around me while living in Stockholm.

  

I read that there are probably more immigrants living in Spain than anywhere else in Europe. This is mainly because of the closeness of Spain to Africa and the relative ease to explore the islands associated with Spain. I have read about the difficulties that the Spanish authorities have in controlling the influx of migrants into her territories. I have also read about hundreds of migrants that have died trying to reach Spain and also about those who get to Spain and are sent back one way or the other. Most of what I read are from BBC. This news service seems to dedicate extraordinary attention to migrants trying to reach Europe. It is a soap opera on BBC.

  Paulo told me great things about Spain and Spanish girls. He told me the ease with which he spoke Spanish in comparison to the Swedish that I am still struggling with 6 years on. So, with my personal contacts with 2 friendly Spanish guys and with the stories from BBC and discussions with Paulo, my thoughts of Spain were formed.   

For the most, I love Spain. I like the Spanish men (and women that I later met and interacted with). I received an email from Pedro last week; he is spending his summer holiday in Spain. He left his Spanish phone number and would like to be reached if anyone was planning to come over to Spain over the ongoing summer break. I had thought of visiting Spain many times but I didn’t. Instead, I have been to Germany and England where I have Nigerian friends on ground.

The lure to visit Spain is still there but this time, with the additional responsibility to make it a family trip. But instead of thinking of a flight to Spain now, I am now thinking about how I can lead a protest march to the Spanish embassy in Stockholm.

  

Suddenly, my thoughts of Spain have changed. Osamuyia was to be deported to Nigeria for some reasons. He was killed in a manner that lacks far less dignity than killing any animal! My new thought of Spain is that it is a country that has wild animals as Police officers. All at once, my respect for the Spanish people disappeared with this singular unspeakable attitude of some idiots in Uniform.

  

In the days ahead, we will like to see the public trial of these animals called police officers and we are much interested in their time behind bars. Spain as a country should apologise to Nigerians and the family of Osamuyia.

Above all compensations, the Spanish police as an organisation should teach its officers the principles and fundamentals of human rights. The course should also entail the applications of these principles so that NEVER again should this happen.

May the Glory of Nigeria come, soon!  

By Kunle Sanyaolu. (The Guardian 17th June 2007).

THIS country could be 10 times better in terms of concrete development within a couple of years, if the governments of the day devote just a little bit of their time and energy to the Nigerian people.

What they do now is simply to focus almost entirely on themselves. If only they could spend a tiny fraction of that time to the common man and common good, eldorado will not be far from here. Their selfishness and greed is evidenced by regular news over the past two weeks, about their plans for their housing, transportation, entertainment, inconvenience and severance among others. One of the latest is the federal government’s plan to procure N3.7 billion car loan for federal legislators. Under the scheme, a Senator will get N8.1m, while a member of the House of Representatives goes away with N7.9m loan. Another recent example is the upward review of basic salaries of top public office holders, including the President, governors, ministers, lawmakers, judges, special advisers, commissioners and a host of others. A cursory look at the allowances of federal lawmakers reveals however that the so-called proposed loans by the Federal government are nothing short of free gift, with interest, to the lawmakers. Each of the lawmakers is entitled to monthly car maintenance (N126,650 for senators and N124,075 for representatives); yearly wardrobe allowance (N500,000 a piece), constituency allowance (senators N5m, Reps about N2m). Annual utility allowance (N400,000 a piece), annual entertainment allowance (N600,000) and severance allowance (N6m). It means that in a year, a senator earns at least N8 million from these allowances to pay for the loan. But he still has huge allowances for housing, transportation, furniture etc. And of course, his severance allowance is intact. The picture is almost the same for members of the House of Representatives.

Members of the National Assembly are only 469, compared with a national population of 150 million. It is not even logical to begin to work out the percentage of federal lawmakers to the national population. Yet, the salaries, allowances and other emoluments going to the lawmakers must be a sizeable portion of financial resources available to the rest of the nation. This is neither equitable nor just. And it is far from being fair. The country is never going to make anything near progress because a lot of the money meant to create jobs, build and maintain infrastructure and eradicate poverty is being tailored only at meeting the exclusive taste of a select few. It is not new of course, but it is certainly getting worse. Every beneficiary of this largesse is aware of it. If not for the media, the rest of the nation probably would not know. The people do not need any further proof that their lawmakers are living easy, opulent and ostentatious life. Enough evidence of that abound in the cars they ride, the houses they build, their dressing and so on, all within minutes of their assumption of offices.

With the reported new salary structure for top political public office holders, the first thought that came to one’s mind is that these people have again awarded jumbo salaries to themselves. During the expired tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the government fixed and reviewed salaries for public officials. Another review has just taken place and although it was initiated by the immediate past-government, members of the new government will enjoy it. By the new package, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, now in the person of Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, will earn N3,514,705 as his annual basic salary, up from N1,405,882.00 recommended in 2000 by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). The Vice President gets N3, 031,572.50 up from N1, 212,629. The Chief Justice gets N3,363,972.50; Ministers N2,026,400; Senate President N2,484,242.50; Speaker of the House of Representatives N2,477,100; State Governors N2,223,705 and the deputies N2,112,215. The largesse extends to other top public office holders. The last time salaries of public office holders were reviewed was in 2002. The RMAFC believes that package is no longer realistic in view of developments such as rising price of essential commodities. The commission’s chairman, Mr. Nwadala Wogu explained that at the time the 2002 package was being put together, pump price of petrol was N16 per litre. It was N65 per litre when the current package was being prepared, meaning that the new package could have contained higher figures had the current level of inflation, including the N75 per litre of petrol, been taken into consideration. At least, the RMAFC admitted that there is inflation in the country and that frequent increases of fuel prices contribute largely to it. That is much more than the Central Bank will concede when it stated that increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) from five to 10 per cent would not aggravate inflation.

Ordinarily, upward salary review should be seen as normal, not just to correspond with rising inflation and cost of living, but also to reflect an improvement in standard of living. A person living in a one-room apartment but with a family of three or four can move into a three-bedroom apartment, if his salary is increased. This is providing however that inflation is not moving up at a rate to render the salary increase nugatory. The problem with Nigeria is that while public office holders are wont to quickly adjust their emoluments to reflect the prevailing economic circumstances, they are less eager to take similar measures for the larger citizenry. We can always recall the tug of war between government and civil servants whenever the latter demand salary increase. If and when government buckles to the demand, it whittles down the increase considerably under one guise or another, leaving only a paltry for the poor servants. Government officials thereby show insensitivity to the plight of the average Nigerian, while displaying greed and selfish tendencies. In addition, the salaries public office holders award to themselves mark an unfair and uneven distribution of wealth, to the detriment of the gross majority of Nigerians. This is so not just because the amounts are very high compared with the salary of the average Nigerian whether in the public or private sector. It is high also because the public office holders enjoy regular and high allowances that are not ordinarily available to public servants in general. Nigerians are not deceived by the fact that it is the RMAFC that is preparing and packaging the salaries and allowances. The fact is that the commission’s officers are appointed by the public office holders and therefore have to do their masters’ bidding.

If the truth must be told, public office holders are not living in true reflection of the poverty in the land. Recently the legislators of the National Assembly worked out their allowances (furniture, housing and transportation) for four years and awarded several millions to themselves. Each senator is said to be entitled to N57m while member of the House of Representatives is said to be worth about N47m in allowances. This is to cover a term of four years in which the Constitution earmarked 181 days of sitting in a year, with a minimum requirement that each legislator sits for 60 days in a year. For such lawmakers to gross so much in four years (this is probably outside a jumbo severance package they awarded themselves) is grossly out of proportion with the reality of our economy. It is incongruous with the fact that the average civil servants who work for 35 years can hardly boast of a couple millions as his terminal benefits. Legislative work is supposed to be part time, but it is proving to be a lot more lucrative than full time work. The only effect this situation can bring to the country is to encourage corruption at the civil service level and to stamp political contest as a do-or-die affair. Unless the trend of helping oneself officially and plunging the country’s treasury is quickly checked, Nigerians can forget development of infrastructure, roads, schools hospitals etc.

This is yet another opportunity for President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to assure Nigerians that this country will not drift under him. There is no point in his keeping quiet and pretending that things are happening through due process. Nigerians will remember him for his action or inaction in the face of obvious adversity they face in watching a few people corner the country’s resources.

By Adeola Aderounmu. 

I love Nigeria and I think Nigeria it the greatest country in the world. But I am still at a lose how Nigeria has refused to find her bearing more than 46 years after independence. I want Nigeria to excel and this is why I have always picked on the Politicians because they are very selfish and unpatriotic. Happy reading!  

Nigeria is a country of 36 states and a federal capital territory called Abuja. It is no longer news that Nigeria is a country lacking in quality leadership and progressive vision. In addition, the low standard of living and the desperate means of survival in Nigeria reveals much about the inefficiency of the federal, state and local government tiers of governance.

I am not an erudite scholar on the history and geography of Nigeria but I should be able to discuss a few points on the burden of governance in my dearest country, Nigeria. 

With a population of over 140million people spread over a substantial land mass, more than 500 000 square miles, one can quickly come to terms with the burden that will be associated with the effectiveness of governance in Nigeria. This country is not only large, it is also distinctively diverse in languages and culture that a curious mind may begin to question the existence of the geographical entity called Nigeria.  The size of a country is not a determinant for progress anyway.

One thing is sure, Nigeria should remain one country. In so doing, the diversity can be used as a “plus” strength in many ways. What has been lacking over the decades since independence is proper planning and selfless service. Greed and corruption has eaten deep into the system that it became difficult to see the beauty and glory of this country and the heights that it could have attained if the proper brains had been in power.  

Over the years, what we have seen at the federal level has been complete idiots running shameless shows and recyling themselves in a cyle of idiocy. What we have also failed to point out over the years is that we have governance that is actually closer to the people than the federal government. In Nigeria, we have state governments and local governments. What has been the overall impact of the local government especially as it is the closest to the people?

 

I remember when Obasanjo’s militarised uncivilian government started in 1999. Very early in the day, we could see with our eyes how local government councilors or other officials became rich overnight. They quickly bought or built houses in the choicest part of the town. In no time, some of them have stolen enough money that they began to target higher political posts in their homelands especially. Suddenly, some remembered for example, that they are not actually Lagosians! The integration in Nigeria is unfortunately incomplete.

This is true also for state level of governance; politicians became rich and important in the twinkle of an eye as soon as they got into government. But the people who voted for them (the votes were rigged in many instances) became poorer.

Over the years, attention has been focused on the government at the center because of the excess power concentrated at that point. Many of our parents and grandparents are still convinced that Nigeria did better when there were no states but regions. Many people from western Nigerian thought they fared better under the old western region. The civil war has been used as an excuse for the formation of states after states and then local government after local government. What do we have now? We have proliferations that cannot be supported by statistics and logic. They call it Nigerian Politics or Home Grown Democracy. 

Some other people can discuss about the influence of politics on the uneven proliferation of local councils. What bothers me is how to draw the lines between what to expect from the local governments, the state governments and the federal government when it comes to reaching the expectations of the citizens. 

For example, we have seen where roads become deteriorated and absolutely impassable while these tiers of government continue to wait for another to fix the road. In Nigeria today, the common people don’t know who is responsible for what road, all they know is that many road have become death traps. Trunk A, Trunk B and Trunk C road are all jargons in the ears of the helpless masses. Tell those slangs to the winds and let someone stop using cement to fix the roads in Festac Town! What kind of nonsense is that?

I am still wondering who should have taken care of the National stadium in Lagos. I am confused if the federal government left it in care of the Lagos State Government or if the Lagos state government left it in care of Surulere local government. What we know of this formerly glorious site is that it is now like a den of robbers. It is desolate and it lies in ruins. This type of thing shows the recklessness of our administrators. They are simply bad managers. Maintenance culture was deleted from the Nigerian dictionary 47 years ago.  

Another obvious thing with the local government especially is that it seems that many of them have been created, just like Nigeria herself, without the thought of how they can run themselves. Their economic viabilities were not a consideration when they were created. In how many ways can the thoughtlessness of our leaders be expressed? You can get sick before you finish counting that.   

Everything in Nigeria is politicized including the number of people that we are. No one knows exactly how many people live in Nigeria. Lagos state government has a different census figure for how many people that live in Lagos compared to the figures released by the federal government. Isn’t it logical that Kano cannot have more people than Lagos after a state was carved out of it? I thought the era of counting goats and cows as humans were over.

On a lighter note, I think there are more people at Oshodi at 6pm than all the people and cattle in Kano put together. Has anyone tried to stand on Oshodi Bridge and count the oceans of human heads from all corners? Omg! There is also a joke that humans and ghosts trade together at Oshodi market. Maybe that is why Lagos has less people than Kano. There are probably more ghosts and less people in Lagos!

  

But seriously, local governments are created in Nigeria, for example, because of reasons such as first lady living in that area, powerful godfather wanted it so, funny millionaires want to show off, influential politicians will have their ways, important thugs threatened actions, ex-military administrator desired it and other crazy reasons. There are no administrative plans or functional models to look up to. Just like all the states government, the local governments are also like beggars picking up the crump and pieces that stray from the almighty Aso Rock Table.

In very bad revenue generation approaches, the poor masses are unnecessarily levied for almost everything except the air they breathe. The state and local government see this as a survival strategy. It is good that the people should pay for the services that are rendered by the state and local governments but the manner and approaches should take into consideration the economic realities that stare the people in their faces. Indeed with the money that are been squeezed out of traders annually, they deserve better stalls or shopping malls rather than the ugly environments in which many businesses are transacted.  

I was shocked to my marrow on the recent generator charges in Lagos. I hope that was a joke to feel the pulse of the people. I think the state government should take its power generation mechanisms more seriously and end the blackout in Lagos first before tackling people who are using generators to generate power for their businesses? Why are the politicians so senseless and heartless because they want to loot money to build their own mansions? I will not be surprised that they have already decided how to share this “expected income”: thieves!  

Generators do pollute the environment for sure but why not take away the need to use it in the first place? Does the Lagos state government think that anyone likes to use generators? If they cannot provide electricity to the people, they should ask Obasanjo to refund all the money that he spent on NEPA for 8 years without any slight improvement. Obasanjo left NEPA  as PHCN and made it worse than he met it notwithstanding that he allocated more money to it perhaps more than anyone else in the history of Nigeria and Africa. If we get that money back, we can give it to people who have the brains to fix our electricity problem and then there will be no more generators. 

In Nigeria, the burden of governance is huge. We have spent too much time to blame the federal government but I think all the tiers of government are to be blame. Worse still, in the absence of a neutral regulatory body to monitor corruption and prevent it…nobody seems to care! I don’t like the EFCC because it selects those to nail. EFCC has not told anyone why past Head of states are still enjoying our loots! The legislative arm of government is also corrupt. They always cry for one allowance or the other and they think the governor, president or council chairman as the case may be is stingy when they don’t get a car each as presents. The Judiciary is one of our hopes but with such lukewarm attitude and indecisiveness sometimes, the stake for our hopes revealed by the burden of governance in Nigeria is not only hanging, it is swinging as well.

May the Glory of Nigeria come, soon!