Corruption

108 Modern Public Hospitals Now

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

What about the infectious diseases unit? What about children’s wards across the country? What about the maternity wards? What about us?

108 Modern Public Hospitals Now

Adeola Aderounmu

Södersjukhus in Stockholm. Nigeria must upgrade to International standard pix: Acrona

Södersjukhus in Stockholm. Nigeria must upgrade to International standard
pix: Acrona

The governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Henry Seriake Dickson is one of those people disgracing Nigeria and giving the country a bad name. Recently he spoke out of sense as he tried to rationalise the demise of a criminal politician who died recently in Nigeria.

Mr. Dickson blamed the death of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha on the federal government of Nigeria. He has been part of the federal government and now a state governor, so by his own submission that makes him a murderer too.

News had it that Diepreye Alamieyeseigha may have remained abroad or even flown back abroad (depending on which account of his death is true). We are told that his final journey was influenced by the issuance of the threat of repatriation by the British. Diepreye escaped from the UK without facing justice for his crimes.

Why was Diepreye receiving treatment abroad? Why was his life expectancy dependent on the hospitals that are in foreign countries? While he was the governor of Bayelsa State, what effort did he make to build or upgrade the health institutions in Bayelsa so that if he and his family members living in Nigeria got sick, they could go to the hospital for treatment?

This is what politicians and policy makers in foreign countries do. They make sure that while managing their corruption at the barest minimum, that the institutions that will serve them and their people are in place. The hospitals are one of those institutions. Functional public schools, good roads and water are fewer examples of an endless list of the basic things of life that give humans the dignity they deserved.

Nigerian politicians have no respect for the citizens of the country. They don’t think the people deserve the things that make life worth living. They are so myopic and wicked that they do not know that they need to provide amenities that will serve them and the rest of the population when the need arises.

Recently l wrote an essay titled: Let’s Go Die, Abroad..!

It was a reaction to the growing number of shameless Nigerian politicians and the so called statesmen travelling abroad to end their lives in several hospitals across the world. Some of them are lucky, they return to Nigeria alive.

A former Nigerian president Umaru Yar Adua was bundled, packaged and repackaged in several countries around the world when he was sick. For 8 years he was the governor of Katsina State before he became the president of Nigeria and no hospital was built or upgraded to care for, or manage his specific chronic ailment. The rest is history.

If not stupidity, how else can one describe such a situation when people who loot public funds cannot even think of providing something that could prolong their lives in their nearest vicinities.

We are all humans and we will always be prone to diseases, ill-health and other forms of frailties especially as we age. It will not matter how much money we have legitimately or how much some people have looted. Is there a way to let Nigerian politicians know that looting is not an antidote to diseases?

I am sure many of us have written about the shame of Nigerian politicians dying in hospitals in foreign countries and returned as packages to Nigeria for burial.

Still, it is worth writing about again especially as it appears that the shameful act remains unabated. The death of the Ooni of Ife in the UK is regrettable.

We argue and we try to prove it that civilisation started on the African continent. We argue and we try to prove it that intelligence in the group Homo Sapiens is independent of race.

But the rulers of Nigeria are weakening our lines of arguments in many ways. For example when they steal and loot money meant for public uses and when they travel abroad instead of providing for their health needs in Nigeria. Why must Nigerian rulers travel abroad for treatment and admission at hospitals and clinics?

As a way of elaboration, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha  was one of the several corrupt Nigerian politicians who looted the treasuries in one of the states in the Niger Delta area. Since the Nigerian form of fighting corruption is dependent on who is in power in Abuja, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was granted state pardon after he escaped from the UK dressed as a woman.

If not for the fact that fighting corruption in Nigeria is selective and heavily biased, the likes of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and in principle 99% of those in present day PDP and APC should have been arrested and their cases dealt with in Nigeria. Why must it take the British or the American government to arrest Nigerian political crooks? How much money is Nigerian forfeiting in the process?

Nigerians have come to terms that their politicians can or must be corrupt. The new wave is that many Nigerians are seeking indictments in order to be convinced that a politician is corrupt. When a man serves as a state governor for 8 years and still travel abroad for treatment or medical check up, what kind of indictment are you looking for?

When a national assembly loaded with corrupt people give passages to corrupt ministers-to-be, where do you go for the indictment?

When a man cannot be probed because he sponsored the presidential campaign with security votes among other looted funds, then we say he is not corrupt. Today it is the PDP that is under the spotlight, well no problem. Every dog will always have its own day.

But Nigeria is in a constant mess. The way we live separates us and we see the demarcation between them and us. Death either abroad or at home appears to be only leveler between the corrupt and the saints, the rich and the poor. Life will remain a passage, and only fools don’t see the vanity of primitive accumulation.

Let me repeat, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha  could have built a modern hospital in Nigeria where people like him and the citizens of Bayelsa can be diagnos and treated with dignity.

Nigerian doctors are ranked amongst the best in the world but they work in several countries around the world helping to maintain the health care system globally.

How many times are we going to write about the need to ensure that our doctors, scientists and other professionals are provided with conducive environment and structures to work with in Nigeria?

Death is one of the few certain things in life. So what is the use of looting, stealing and stupidly accumulating wealth and then refusing to build hospitals in Nigeria or refusing to equip the ones that have been built?

Now this is my challenge to the Buhari-APC mandate before the end of May 2019.

Look around the various states in Nigeria. Give yourselves the marching order to equip and upgrade the existing hospitals to the standards of the hospitals you usually visit abroad. If anyone suggest that this is not possible, that person is probably an enemy of progress.

In additon to the first mandate, a second one is that every state in Nigeria must have at least 3 big modern public hospitals.

Some states like Lagos may have may even need more than 5 big public hospitals because of the extreme high population of the state and also as a result of the frequency of accidents and number of sick people.

The Buhari-APC mandate may want to forbid any serving politician from seeking medical abroad say from 2017 when some serious work and upliftment should have been possible.

At the existing hospitals, an evaulation of the situation needs to be done. All the units including the Accidents and Emergency should be upgraded. If this happens before the next senator is invloved in an accident, then he/ she can be treated anywhere in Nigeria.

The recent sojourn of Akapbio in a foreign hospital is absolute stupidity coming from a man who boasted that he built a world class hospital in Akwa Ibom. I am yet to get a report on why he was not treated at the world class hospital in Akwa Ibom.

What about the surgery units? For how long will hard earned income and donations be packaged to India for correctional surgeries? How many Nigerians have died because of manageable diseases that they could have lived with until old age?

What about the infectious diseases unit? What about children’s wards across the country? What about maternity wards? What about us? Where should we go when we face life-threatening diseases? Is there anyone reading this who has not lost a mother, a father, a brother or a sister due to preventable health situations?

What about making sure that the upliftments are taken as priorities? What about developing a health care system that will not put the cost above the importance of life in Nigeria? Does living long have to depend on how much money one has and which hospitals one can attend?

When the lives of the people can be prolonged by how much money they have, then the essence of living in such a country is lost. It is a disaster by all standard!

Nigeria needs to improve the health care insurance process and health care delivery system.

This demand for 108 modern public hospitals is not an exaggeration and it may even not be enough to meet the needs of 170m people. But the 108 hospitals in questions are the publicly available hospitals to stop the sojourn of Nigerian politicians abroad. They will also meet the needs of the citizens at large. And don’t forget to bring back our doctors from abroad. Bring them home..!

In the meantime, don’t also forget that our return to regional government is a must because it is the only way to purge the major unrests across Nigeria including the Boko Haram war for which the APC-Buhari mandate has shown it may not win.

The 108 hospitals challenge is on. Now I start to count…

aderounmu@gmail.com

Nigeria’s Independence, The Military Coups And the Origin of Corruption Nigeria

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Since becoming millionaires in Nigeria do not correlate to owning factories but nearness to the centre of federal, state or local government where national patrimonies are looted, it means that Nigerian millionaires are manufacturers of massive poverty and miseries for Nigerians.

Nigeria’s Independence, The Civil War And The Origin Of Corruption In Nigeria

By Salimonu Kadiri (Guest Writer On Thy Glory O’ Nigeria..!)

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

Fifty-five years ago, Nigeria obtained sovereignty from Britain. Consequently, Chinua Achebe recorded thus, literally all government ministries, public and privately held firms, corporations, organizations, and schools saw the majority of their expatriate staff (mostly British) leave.

While this quiet transition was happening a number of internal jobs, especially the senior management positions, began to open up for Nigerians, particularly for those with a university education.

It was into these positions vacated by the British that a number of people like myself were placed …. This ‘bequest’ was much greater than just stepping into jobs left behind by the British. Members of my generation also moved into homes in the former British quarters previously occupied by members of the European senior civil service.

These homes often came with servants – chauffeurs, maids, cooks, gardeners, stewards – whom the British had organized meticulously to ‘ease their colonial sojourn.’

Now following the departure of the Europeans, many domestic staff (Nigerians or black Africans) stayed in the same positions and were only too grateful to continue their designated salaried roles in post-independence Nigeria. Their masters were no longer Europeans but their own brothers and sisters.

This bequest continued in the form of new club memberships and access to previously all-white areas of town, restaurants, and theatres (see p. 48 – 49, There Was a Country by Chinua Achebe).”

It is very important to note that Nigerians who stepped in to fill the jobs left by Europeans and inherited their rates of pay and privileges also played the role of the colonialists. The offices occupied by Nigerians after Independence were designed and meant to serve the interest of Great Britain and they remain so till date.

However, within six years of independence Chinua Achebe asserted that, Nigeria was a cesspool of corruption and misrule” where public servants helped themselves freely to the nation’s wealth (p.51, There Was a Country).”

As Nigerian public servants and politicians preened themselves in the perfection of the white man’s life, they became extravagant and flamboyant while being conspicuous and spectacular in consumption of imported materials. At that stage, the inherited rates of pay and privileges were no longer enough for Nigerian public servants, employed or politically appointed. That was the origin of corruption in Nigeria.

Exactly five years, three months and fourteen days after Nigeria had obtained sovereignty from Britain and at 12:30 P.M., on January 15, 1966, Major Patrick Chukwuma Nzeogwu, announced in a broadcast from Radio Kaduna that the Supreme Council of the Revolution of the Nigerian Armed Forces had taken over power in the North.

Our enemies, Nzeogwu said, are the political profiteers, the swindlers, men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand ten per cent. Declaring a martial law, he listed embezzlement, bribery and corruption among offences that carried death sentences.

Unfortunately for Nigeria and Major Nzeogwu, his comrades in the South had been infiltrated by tribal chauvinists. One of the coup plotters explained that Major Don Okafor and Captain Ogbo Oji had taken a stand against any step that might embody the killing of Ironsi.

Therefore, while the would-be assassins were pointedly making for his (Ironsi) residence he was at the same time heading towards Ikeja (2nd Infantry Battalion) to enlist support to quell the rebellion of the Majors. Major John Obienu who was to come to Lagos from Abeokuta with armoured cars in support of the Majors’ rebellion renegged and linked up instead with Major General Ironsi at Ikeja (see p. 125 – 126, NIGERIA’S FIVE MAJORS; COUP D’ÉTAT OF 15TH JANUARY 1966, FIRST INSIDE ACCOUNT BY BEN GBULIE).

It is noteworthy that Captain Ben Gbulie fought on the side of Biafra during the Civil War. In Enugu Major Chude Sokei and Lieutenant Jerome Oguchi of the 1st Infantry Battallion were assigned the role of killing the Premier of the Eastern and Mid-western Regions, Dr. Michael Ihenokura Okpara and Denis Osadebey respectively, but the would-be assassins had turned pacificists that did not like to see bloodshed (see p.136 of Gbulie’s book).

Two hours after Nzeogwu broadcast in Kaduna, Major General Johnson Thompson Umunakwe Aguiyi Ironsi caused Radio Lagos to broadcast at 14:30 P.M., that in the early hours of this morning, 15th January 1966, a dissident section of the Nigerian Army kidnapped the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance and took them to an unknown destination.

The General Officer Commanding (Ironsi) and the vast majority of the army remained loyal to the Federal Government and are already taking appropriate measures to bring the ill-advised mutiny to an end. On Sunday, 16th January 1966, when General Ironsi announced his taking over of power in Nigeria at 23:50 P.M., fifteen casualities of the Majors’ coup included the Prime Minister of the Federation, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; Finance Minister, Chief Festus Okotie Eboh; the Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello; the Premier of Western Region, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola; Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari; Brigadier Samuel Adesujo Ademulegun; Colonel Kuru Mohammed; Colonel R. A. Shodeinde; Lieutenant Colonel Abogo Largema; Lietenant-Colonel Yakubu Pam and Lietenant-Colonel Arthur Chinyelu Unegbe. Just as Ironsi did not take over power to fight corruption in Nigeria, so were those who overthrew him towards the end of July 1966.

Since 1985, and especially in the last 16 years, corruption as observed by Major Nzeogwu in January 1966 had grown from 10% to 200%. Political elites in government and civil servants, including the judiciary are accustomed to using their offices to share power and the resources of Nigeria among themselves.

Money budgeted for road constructions, hospitals, education, power supply, potable water, housing, turn around maintenance of oil refineries and even pensions have been looted by political elites, civil servants in the ministries, departments, parastatals and judiciary.

The main core of the Nigerian economy, oil which in the constitution of Nigeria is the property of all Nigerians have been appropriated by the elites to themselves through the issuance of oil blocks to one another.

Since becoming millionaires in Nigeria do not correlate to owning factories but nearness to the centre of federal, state or local government where national patrimonies are looted, it means that Nigerian millionaires are manufacturers of massive poverty and miseries for Nigerians.

The treasury looters in Nigeria give birth to unemployment, armed robbers, kidnappers, drug traffickers (even to countries where the penalty is death sentence), ethnic insurgents and Boko Haram while they force others to look for means of livelihood in exile.

(to be continued)

Status Quo: The Way Things Were

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On the status quo of Nigeria, things have not changed at all.

Status Quo: The Way Things Were

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Last week l lamented the crawling nature of Nigeria as an independent country at 55. It was a mixed reaction on the social media. Many Nigerians celebrated the day as if Nigeria is the most developed country in the world. I can understand that where there is life, there is hope.

One man was bitter about the nature of Nigerian prisons. He nearly wept openly in his video post that went spiral among some users of the social media. His lamentations are genuine as Nigerian prisons remain a place where the guilty and the innocent are blended under life threatening circumstances.

However for those who painted the picture of a Nigerian paradise, they must know that refraining from telling the true nature of things is part of the hindrance to national or state development.

A general picture that all is well will continue to make the rulers celebrate in their enclaves while the real life situation shows (for example) that more than about 500 people may die due to road accidents only in the next 24 hours.

We are told that N70 million was spent to celebrate a failed country-Nigeria. No problem! Jonathan the prodigal son was alleged to have spent several billions annually. He has since denied the allegations, quite swiftly too. So in the era of the APC mandate N70 million is a chicken change. As far as no one is giving a breakdown of how the N70m went down, it is still part of the organised crime perpetrated by the government of Nigeria.

Meanwhile, as security remains a critical issue in Nigeria, several innocent lives continued to be wiped away due to terrorism. In the days of Jonathan, a man we knew as weak and incompetent, the condemnation was rife and totally in place. In the days of Buhari, a lot of people have been quiet and pretentious.

Don’t be silly Nigerians! Even if we supported a change of government, it should never stop us from demanding that Buhari must be held accountable for all that happens under his watch. Why the sudden state of timidity? Who cares if Buhari thinks that the press is too inquisitive? Does he want to suppress our freedom of expression again? The resilience of the internet warriors will shock him into convulsion.

How can it be right to criticize Jonathan for deaths in the hands of Boko Haram while we now lack the balls to criticize Buhari who could not spare a few minutes to visit the hospitals where victims and corpses have been deposited? Buhari will soon be sending his kitchen servants to watch and analyse the capital market and make reports on the economy.

It will not be an easy task to adjust all the errors that have brought Nigeria to her knees, crawling after 55 years of independence. Certainly one way not to proceed is to continue feeding Nigerians with lies and propaganda.

The APC mandate and the Buhari government whilst trying to fix Nigeria must be seen to be honest, sincere and trustworthy. No government will be perfect, just as no individual exists without faults.

Again, the Buhari government needs to come out clean, sincere and move Nigeria ahead while accepting when it has done wrong and making amends to avoid repetition of same errors and the errors of the previous government. Nigeria cannot afford another government driven by lies and propaganda.

In New York this past week, it was a show of shame for the Buhari government. It goes a long way to show that Buhari has a very weak team in charge of his itinerary and logistics. A couple of meetings were missed or screwed up. And the government lied!

In these days where ignorance is a disease and not an excuse, it would have been wiser for Buhari to stay in Abuja and call in sick rather than flying to the view of the world to show incompetences, lack of decorum, and lack of knowledge about global affairs.

As l see it now, the change of government was necessary but the parade of ineptitude that l have seen in recent days are very avoidable. This is where Nigerians should be concerned about what we have always written about.

It is time to build a functional political structure so that the competence of the institutions and the know-how of a competent workforce can always see Nigeria through, even when the ruler or leader has some shortcomings. Right now the shortcomings of Buhari are massive and the more he is exposed the more the shame and lies his government will have to cover.

For the future Nigeria has a lot to prove. In the past graduates like Yar Adua did not last while Jonathan was a huge joke. But by consistently asking for what is right and rejecting what is bad and evil, one day, say in 2019, the upcoming generation of Nigerians can enthrone an all-rounder citizen to lead her affairs at the center. The idea that the regions should be autonomous and running should not be relegated. It will raise Nigerian from her knees and make her a giant again.

My persistent call for the arrest and trial of all corrupt people in Nigeria will not dwindle in the face of the Diezani trial that may commence in London. Nigerian rulers and sadly Nigerian insitutions are still entrapped in slave mentality.

Why does it have to take the audacity of the British to arrest a thief like Diezani? How much money did Nigeria lose to the British after the Ibori trial? How much of Nigeria’s stolen oil money will be left in the British treasury when Diezani’s trial is over?

Is the Nigerian judiciary going to wait for the British to arrest all Nigerian criminal politicians? Is Buhari waiting for the British and the Americans to arrest all the Halliburton criminals? They will arrest them or their children in due time because they can confiscate the monies stolen and pay a token to the Nigerian government. Who’s the loser here?

This is a sad situation, l mean the slave mentality of the Nigerian government is very shameful.

On the status quo of Nigeria, things have not changed at all. The ministerial list flying across Nigeria contains familiar names. There are names of governors for example who have not given due accounts of their stewardships in offices. Is this the list that took 3 months to compile? Seriously?

Why all the lies? Why all the deceits from Buhari? This list could have emerged 24 hours after the APC mandate came into effect.

A lot of people were expecting new names and fresh hands of people who can never be suspected of corruption or looting. Buhari took the familiar path-ministerial positions are the rewards for campaigns, sponsorships, godfatherism and loyalty to political parties.

As we see clearly now, there were no saints working behind the scenes afterall. It’s largely the same old corrupt bunch being recycled by Mr. Buhari and the APC.

When he came back on, Buhari made it sound as if it will be different. His handlers need to tell him that lies are bad and too many lies and not facing reality was the beginning of the downfall of the Jonathan government. Oh! that government has no iota of morality, it was looting on a free fall.

We have a status quo, a hard to change country. What is different (but yet to be proven) is that it may be slightly more difficult to steal like the days of Obasanjo and Jonathan where the goats and the animated yams interlocked.

There is no better time to strengthen the institutions of government than now. Nigeria cannot continue to rely on Britain and the US to arrest or prosecute her political and public office criminals.

That would look like a Tom And Jerry game: they let Nigerian criminal politicians transfer money to their domains, arrest them and confiscate the money. If the arrest and trials are done in Nigeria the conditions will change to the benefits of Nigeria.

If that happens, there will be less corruption and the future can be hopeful. This hope will depend largely on an independent and fortified judiciary amongst other institutions (like the police with a vigour) that will be bold to take this struggle against corruption to the desired level.

When the problem of corruption is faced head-on and minimized, other things including the diversification of the economy will fall in line. Then Buhari will take his eyes off the petroleum sector because there may be a more lucrative groundnut pyramid to give attention to, in a world where the campaign is less dependency on crude oil. Renewable energies are coming, please tell Buhari so. The price of oil may dwindle more.

Nigerians need social justice and a sane environment. Without them, the dreams we have of a better country and a place where freedom, peace and justice reign will remain a mirage.

Buhari and APC should leave the status quo, stop telling lies and let go of propaganda. For a second let them think of the Nigeria where they want their children and grandchildren to live and be happy.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Why Are Our Politicians Criminals?

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The overbearing nature of the systemic corruption becomes the burden of the people, the states and the country. Invariably corruption is accepted as a way of life in Nigeria.

Why Are Our Politicians Criminals?

By Adeola Aderounmu

Which Way Nigeria?

One of my earliest articles in the Nigerian Guardian Newspaper (precisely in 2002) was titled: Why Politicians Steal. Since then I have made references to that article several times.

It is still very shocking that nearly all Nigerian politicians are criminals.

In my opinion, since they are all stunningly rich whilst in office and their lifestyles/wealth accumulation afterwards does not reflect their salaries or allowances, l am going to conclude that they are all guilty until proven innocent.

Why are they all criminals?

There are no easy ways to explain how Nigeria got to this point. It reminds me of the irreversible reactions from my chemistry lessons.

In Nigeria you almost cannot get anything done anywhere in the country unless someone’s palms are laced with bribes, kickbacks or advance fees in form of fraud. Hence the overbearing nature of the systemic corruption becomes the burden of the people, the states and the country.

Invariably corruption is accepted as a way of life in Nigeria. It is the system and the way things work.

In Nigeria government and governance collapsed a long time ago giving way to corruption as a highly organised syndrome in the society.

It must be the organised nature of corruption that makes it possible for a respected former governor like Fashola to be in the news for the wrong reasons in recent weeks, no matter if these are the handiwork of his enemies or detractors.

Someone submitted a quotation to drill 2 boreholes for N139 m and the state approved it. The state (represented by Fashola) and the contractor (representing the people) are both criminals.

This is just one example of the thousands of contracts awarded across Nigeria monthly.

Through contracts, inflated wages and allowances and in many other ways Nigerian politicians remain criminals in their dispositions.

Why are the local government chairperson criminals? Why are the state governors’ criminals? Why are the state and federal lawmakers’ criminals? Why are all the former presidents and former heads of states criminals? Must they be criminals?

I heard that when completed projects are commissioned in Nigeria, that contracts are given for the purchase of the pair of scissors used in cutting the tapes or bands. The average cost of the pair of scissors usually ends up at N150 000!

The person who got the contract, the person who approved it and the public official (chairman, governor or president) who used a one-time pair of scissors that cost N150 000 are all criminals.

Next time anyone needs a pair of scissors to cut tape in Nigeria, please send me an email or give me a call. I will send one for free. My only request will be that the N150 000 should be donated to the motherless babies home in lsolo because someone will add the N150 000 to the expenditures anyway.

Nigeria politicians remain criminal because that is what the system requires, sadly. It doesn’t have to be so. I heard that if a man or a woman tries to be honest and trustworthy, that he or she can be murdered by friends or colleagues.

People who try to be honest at places of work or in public services are soon disowned by friends and families.

When good people become endangered species, the result is what reflects in the daily lives of the ordinary masses-the downtrodden.

Nigeria is rotten in uncountable ways. People who are not willing to play ball are neglected, cast aside or even never given the opportunity to emerge as public servants or contributors to the success of the society.

In this sense the country Nigeria has been a tragic occurrence since the years that precede the civil war years.

But are there ways to get out of this ugly situation? How can the people be cured of their permanent fixation on corruption as a means of succeeding in the country? Nigeria does not have a specific dose of ingredients or actions that will cure her.

It is very difficult to know what should come first in an attempt to move this country away from these criminalities that fill the minds of all and sundry. The majority of the people have never known a system that works correctly.

The majority of the people have been wrongly orientated for most part or all of their lives.

Education is no longer universal in Nigeria and civics, history and citizen responsibilities are off the curriculum. People grew up seeing that their existences are like a rat race and the ultimate goal became to be materially better than your friends and neighbours no matter how you do it. This is so tragic!

The only thing that has mattered in Nigeria since the collapse of governance almost 5 decades ago is how one takes the shortest cut to wealth. Family values collapsed as many parents became incapable of raising normal children in an abnormal country. Even politicians mentor their wards and godsons to be criminals like them.

But there are still many people who are representing Nigeria positively in various ways at home and abroad. There are good families and there are good parents.

Yet, one is worried about the several questions that beg for answers and solutions.

How can the majority be educated or given the appropriate orientation that will help to reduce or eliminate the criminal tendencies in them either in private or public institutions? How can Nigeria one day revert to that point where a proposal for a borehole will reflect N1m or N2m if that is the correct cost rather than an exaggerated N70 m?

The alternative costs to Nigeria’s corruption-ridden contracts and looting of treasuries are inestimable. Does the Lagos State government for example know how many Lagosians that can be housed with N70m? Then multiply that by 2…Then let us imagine the scale of corruption nationally!!!  Tragic! Painful!

There must be a particular action that will set the ball rolling.

How can Nigeria stop choosing criminals to serve them? How can Nigerians stop seeing criminality as a normal way of life? How or when will this falling country be able to finally round up all the political criminals still parading themselves around town as saints?

I can reiterate two things that l think are important for Nigeria and Nigerians.

First is the political solution that all beneficiaries of the political nonsense in Nigeria do not want to discuss. Just now Nigeria remains a game and whoever captures the center controls everything.

At this moment it is Buhari and APC who decide who a criminal is or not. To some extent it seems the EFCC is wriggling its tail in recent months after many years of nonsense job done. The EFCC itself is rotten! The judiciary is lame.

A correct political system will remove the power at the center and allow the different regions to develop at own pace. Some 50 something years ago Nigeria was among the best countries in the world under the regional system of government. Why is it so hard or impossible to implement the system that works best? It baffles the intelligent minds.

A correct political system will settle the nonsensical discussions and arguments about the useless federal character to a large extent. Resource control can be discussed so that another idiotic war does not break out.

The second issue is independent of the first. It is about the institutions of governance, how they can be managed correctly and productively.

For a dysfunctional unitary system (as it is now in Nigeria) or a decentralized regional government, it is still important that criminals are not in positions. This is a dilemma for Nigeria or the states.

Under any kind of system, the persistence of criminals everywhere and in political offices anywhere in the land will continue to show in the low standard of living, the high cost of living, lack of electricity, lack of social justice, lack of social amenities, lack of public schools, low life expectancy, high mortality rate, increase in number of uneducated people and many other vices that are characteristics of a poverty-ridden country/a failed country.

One solution that has never failed in history is the genuine revolution masterminded by the downtrodden masses who have lost everything to the oppressors and losing their own lives became the ultimate price for the freedom of their children and children’s children.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Buhari, Still A Scalar Quantity

/ Adeola / 3 Comments

For 60 days, a time long enough to start and finish certain university courses, the government is all about Buhari. Buhari this, Buhari that. What about the ordinary citizens?

Buhari, Still A Scalar Quantity

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

By Adeola Aderounmu

With respect to the non-appointment of federal ministers and with the promise that the exercise will now take place in September 2015, Buhari without any doubt has shown his unpreparedness for the position that he now occupies.

Buhari is still a scalar quantity on the APC mandate-having magnitude but not yet direction.

Nigeria has been through this sad avenue too often, projecting accidental rulers to the apex of affairs. This one was preventable but when the politics of religion and ethnicity got amplified under the last administration, the recycling of old hands such as Buhari was what the APC came up with.

The beauty or significance of democracy is lost on Nigerians failing to bring fresh and dynamic minds into the front.

In any case at it is now, it seems that Mr. Buhari is enjoying the limelight. For all the days of the APC mandate (now 2 months) everything has been about him. No one else matters!

What l’d seen since early June 2015 is Buhari this and Buhari that. That is pure political egocentrism.

The headlines continue to flourish and center only on what Buhari as a person will do or not.

Buhari stop rice importation

Buhari must prosecute IBB

Buhari probes Jonathan

Buhari to prosecute Iweala

Buhari reverse privatisation of NEPA

Buhari won’t interfere with Senate Forgery

Buhari This, Buhari That..!

Invariably, Buhari as an individual has constituted himself into government so far. As at the end of July 2015, Buhari is government and government is Buhari. A tragic start/occurence if you ask me.

For 60 days, a time long enough to start and finish certain university courses, the government is all about Buhari. He is so enjoying the entire attention he probably thinks by now that he is running a military government.

The leadership of APC needs to pinch their man, wake him up to smell the coffee and probably remind him that the days of tropical gangsterism are over.

I don’t think Buhari gets it yet and please we are tired of that phrase of giving time to those who we thought have the experience of what leadership is all about.

It was bad enough to seek a mandate without a team in place. It gets worse when in 2 months, governance stood still at the federal level under a democratic government allowing only one man to call all the shots.

Buhari praise singers are part of the problems. It was the same way Jonathanians ruined their man. Here we go again..!

The acceptance of mediocrity drained Nigeria of her will and strength as a country and the damage done to the cognitive mentality of the average Nigerian as a result of more than 50 years of maladministration appears to be irreversible. Little wonder people seek miracle everyday.

Generally the people are lost for the meaning and purpose of life because government broke them down and handed them over to religious rites. It is an extremely sad situation.

More than 50 years have been wasted because every time some people complain, someone is asking for more time to destroy what is left of the ruins.

Buhari is running the APC mandate, not a personal mandate. He did not win this as a lone ranger having failed several times doing so. To set September for the appointment of ministers is extreme recklessness and an irresponsible act.

In Nigeria in the absence of ministers and head for public parastatals, almost everything is paralyzed. In several federal agencies and offices across the land, things have stood still and the days ahead look bleak.

In a country where the economy is in ruins and the naira keeps tumbling, it is an act of wickedness to leave the ministries in limbo. I had discussions with some people about this matter and I could not quantify their frustrations. To live in uncertainties at a crucial time like this is totally heartbreaking. It adds to the already devastating health statuses of folks down there.

Again, APC need to pinch their man, Mr. Buhari and tell him that Nigeria is suffering from partial paralysis since the day he was sworn in.

He cannot continue to run a one man show until September. That is absolute nonsense and ingredients! It’s pure rubbish. There are 31 days in August. The economic lose will be huge. Life will remain uncertain for several millions. He will keep gallivanting from pole to pole whilst the citizens are waiting for clues on the way forward.

Buhari need some schooling in economics. As the naira tumbles, the people suffer. Nigerians get poorer. The suffering spreads like a mad fire.

Indeed, many of those that would have been nominated to form the executive cabinet are coming from the expired generation and probably a bunch from the corruption conglomerate.

Buhari needs to sit down and set 1-2 days aside as soon as possible to look into this matter. He cannot continue to rule as a dictator for 3 months! He needs to cure his own headache rather than pass it on the citizens. He must send the names of men and women who will work with him to the appropriate quarters for verification and confirmation.

If he cannot do a common selection of credible people from a pool of more than 150m people, please let him step aside immediately. No one has the luxury of time in Nigeria.

Nigeria is running a sick democracy but until that ultimate political change is instituted or when Nigeria returns to regional government, let Buhari stick to the constitution and stop running a one-man show.

It is time to remove his name tag from all the headlines and set in the appropriate ministries and agencies. What is his business with probe if he or the APC mandate sets the anti-corruption agencies free? Buhari’s name is tagged in almost all headlines because he thinks this is a military government. He needs help!

I hope this change we asked for will not be a one chance change o!

This government is turning out to be a joke so far. The hope that it will improve will be sustained and accessed week in, week out. Real change or fake change, some of us promised to remain on the same side as the ordinary citizens, we will not be tired. Some senses need to emerge from this government.

So far, it is a government that has about 2-3 or even 4 press releases about a single incident. Now, one has to wait for the 3rd version to know exactly what they are trying to say. The fourth one nails it after that.

Buhari’s government and the APC mandate are also acting as if they are still in the opposition seat. They need to move away from speculations and plans to execution of plans and doing things instead of talking like parrots. Together, they were on the side for 16 years. Did they not plan?

Before I end this essay, I need someone in the APC mandate forum to tell Adams Oshiomole to stop acting as the minister of information.

If he has any information he can pass them to the EFCC with ease and he does not have to shout about it. He should also note that we the people expect him to also face the law when his immunity days are over.

We don’t need new sensations or sensational headlines.

Looting did not start and end under Jonathan. Babangida and Obasanjo are also there to give accounts of what they stole and what was stolen under them.

Rather than selective persecution EFCC and the other appropriate agencies-the police, the judiciary should be given the freehand to perform. We have waited for several years for justice. Why make it selective? We expect a justice system that will serve without fear or favour and without limitation of time and space.

What Nigerians want to know, see or hear is the money returned to the treasury, the criminals behind bar and perfect processes where justice actually reigns and yields results.

Buhari and his sensational crew, especially Oshiomole, should spare Nigerians the trauma of revelation of sums of monies or barrels of crude oil stolen. Let the law acts instead but take the money back and show the people what you are doing with it.

Mr. Buhari, in Africa the morning shows the day (The Yorubas actually says Owuro l’ojo-morning is the day). So far, the morning of this administration, now 2 months has not been impressive. The people are not in a hurry. They have waited so long for this change and things must happen quickly.

When they were quiet, they were called resilient. Some irrelevant surveys even called them the happiest people on earth because they suffer and smile.

This resiliency and misinformation about the Nigerian state of mind were all the politicians and military men like you needed to destroy the giant of Africa. You (Mr. Buhari) and this old wasted generation made Nigeria the dwarf and laughing stock of Africa. You ruined it together!

Just like Obasanjo, you also have a rare second and last chance but it’s so far, not good.

The Glory of Nigeria must return and for sure, a lasting political solution will be an integral part of the solution that the upcoming generation will be looking into, should in case you fail again as the representative of the fading wasteful generation.

aderounmu@gmail.com