Thursday, September 8, 2011

419 Reasons to Love Nigeria



Dating far back to the 80’s, the term ‘419’ has associated Nigeria and Nigerians primarily with online financial scams - ‘Advance Fee Fraud’. Most unfortunately, the situation exacerbated to such an extent that the internet became overwhelmed with such negative news attributed to Nigeria.

In response to this, ‘The 419Positive Project’ was initiated, with an ambitious objective of generating four hundred and nineteen positive attributes about Nigeria and Nigerians. “If you could tell the world one remarkable thing about Nigeria and Nigerians, what would it be?” Furthermore, in Peter Reilly’s Forbes blog post (Aug 28, 2011), he suggested a similar intervention to his Nigerian audience – “Make lists of 419 reasons to like Nigeria and Nigerians...” His suggestion came as one remedial to his previous post (Nigerians Switching From Greed to Fear), after some Nigerians took exceptions to his views. Other online posts by Chika Uwazie, Nmachi Jidenma and Akin Akintayo, have further lent a voice in this regard.

Pulling these ideas and suggestions together, an online rebranding campaign is being furthered. The aim is clear – to consistently inundate the internet with positive Nigerian attributes, such that when anyone types in ‘419’ in a search engine, it yields positive commentary about Nigeria, irrespective of the pre-existing negativity. This drive is labelled 419 Reasons to Like Nigeria. Awareness is currently being ramped up online, with the topic having trended on Twitter in the early hours of 2nd of September. There will be the big bang launch on October 1, 2011 (Independence Day), of at least 100 Nigerian blogs and sites listing four hundred and nineteen remarkable reasons to like Nigeria, with subsequent monthly blog publishing till the end of 2011.

Every Nigerian with a blog, website, and online presence of any sort (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, account etc.) is encouraged to volunteer and be a part of this campaign. With sincerity and candour, it is true that some, in times past, have contributed unfortunately to the prevailing negative association of ‘419’ with Nigeria, however, the time is NOW for us to counter-strategise by providing alternative content via an online rebranding initiative.

To register your interest, simply send an email to volunteer@419Positive.org, with the subject –CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER, and be sure to provide contact details (email address) so you can be reached subsequently. Volunteers will be contacted latest by the 9th of September, 2011.

Be a part of this drive...the time is now! Let’s tell the world 419 Reasons to Like Nigeria.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Crickets, Wine, Fresh Air….(chuckles)


Crickets, Wine, Fresh Air….(chuckles)
By Tafa Osisiye

Err...I decided to just play around with a comical representation of the candidates, errr...I couldn't find a way to slot in a plea to vote for my preferred candidate-dele momodu so here i just said it, and feedback would be nice on which candidate you think the dancers correspond to. 'I really should just go now'. Enjoy!

Its selection time, the various actors step out and dance to new tunes. The one dancing apala switches to alanta, since the spectators seem to like that while the one that swayed languidly in the breeze like a maize stalk jumps and danced frenziedly.
 Its selection time, everyone is making adjustments in a bid to sway the spectators.
Its selection time, the spectators cluster and lean into the circle.

One of the dancers runs and hugs the village’s pariah, welcoming him back to the fold of civilized community. ‘aburo, se o wa pa? I hope the food was manageable, don’t worry, you are out now, I want you to just relax and enjoy the fresh air…fi free’. The convict smiles in return and makes a two finger salute, peace from the cells.

Another of the dancers , to gain support, cuddles one who he has previously maltreated for wrongdoing. ‘Ah! man mi, are you ready to take on this role? Oh! That six tubers of yam issue? he waves his hands dismissively, ‘that was in the past, a phase I don’t like to remember, you know not even being able to spend time at my friend’s burial…chai!’ He stops to shake his head sadly ad pulls his friend closer. ‘Well, I hope we can put that behind us and win this dance’.

Another seems to realize the dance is drawing to an end, and this is the time to show hidden skills. He is galvanized into action and dashes from one end of the crowd to another; leaping into the air and throwing cartwheels within a beat. His knickers billow in the afternoon sun; the sun’s rays catch and throw reflections from his bronze scrotal sacs, dazzling everyone. ‘Ahhh!  So he could do this, so he could do that? ’The spectators stare in awe at this new revelation’. Some keep him in mind while other dash to his side of the grounds. Whatever happens, this bronze balled dancer will be remembered.

Another fixes his glasses rims more firmly over the bridge of his nose and executes carefully  practiced steps, he does not make any moves to impress and the spectators are convenient to forget him. ‘I have danced in Rome and in the Grand Hall at Britain, let those who check out my profile know I am fit to win. I don’t need to leap into the air or fraternize with criminals to win’. But the people don’t want a staid dancer, they want to see energy and leaps so they cast glances of commendation at him, wish their pikin will achieve his laurels and the romance ends.

Another hypnotizes a group of people to his side of the ground, he achieves this by swinging a  glittering rosary and muttering unknown phrases, they approach like moths to a lamp and he dances to impress only these few, he makes choreographs to the rosary and they are infinitely  pleased with that. No one is leaving and no one is entering this household.

There is a stringy man at a far corner, all weathered skin and a royal posture. He comes from a large clan and they scream themselves hoarse at his slightest of moves. ‘He is our father incarnated, you should select him, see what he did for us’.
Now the drummers beat the drum more fiercely, and the head drummer is in rapture. ‘Pour more water on my sweat bathed torso’ he shouts, ‘Pour palm oil on the drum skin so it does not burst, throw roasted crickets into my mouth whenever they hang open and I want six maidens to fan me with the widest cocoyam leaves that can be found in the land.’

They all hasten to do the drummer’s bidding-there can be no dance competition without music and the dancers have come too far to be let down, so they dispatch twelve maidens to the stream with large gourds for the drummer’s cooling water, six young men are given sharp machetes and kegs to get palm oil for the drum skin and all the children are driven into the forest to get the fattest brown crickets for the drummer. Now the audience is largely depleted because the music has to go on and some grumble about the wisdom of a dance which oils the drummer .The drummer smiles and promises the best of music if his desires are met, ‘More oil, more breeze, freshhhh air…’ he screams hoarsely.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

GOVERNMENT MATTERS MOST, SO ENOUGH OF THE FAILING UPWARD SYNDROME!


The wealth and poverty of nations inexorably depend on their domestic productivity and relative competitiveness. Hence the economic welfare of every citizen can only be guaranteed by nation-states that are governed by people who understand this very basic economic thought. No nation that has developed did so by having leaders who remained complacent in the face of the stark reality of very poor and declining performance of national productivity and competitiveness indices. History is replete with nations that were once great but became complacent or distracted at some point only to be overtaken by nations they previously looked down on. How many people still remember that Argentina’s economy was once highly considered during its most vigorous period, from 1880 to 1905, when its expansion resulted in a 7.5-fold growth in GDP, averaging about 8% annually? One important measure of development, GDP per capita, rose from 35% of the United States average to about 80% during that period. Growth then slowed considerably, though throughout the period from 1890 to 1939, the country's per capita income was similar to that of France, Germany and Canada. Compare Argentina’s economic performance with those of these countries today and you learn a lesson in how nations, like individuals regress.

Even more instructive is the history of many nations which were several thousands of miles behind others economically but which today are the locomotives that are keeping the global economy from completely running out of steam. No economic discourse is today complete without some perplexed acknowledgement by even the most cynical that China, India and Brazil have indeed come of age and have become the economies most deserving of the respect of all other economies. At another level, many a Nigerian perennially recalls when Singapore, Taiwan (China), South Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam were economic contemporaries of our country. Nigerians rue the missed opportunities that made us the laggard nation among these former peers. For each of these countries, the stage was set for commencement of their economic transformation from Low Income Country (LIC) status to Upper Middle Income Country (MIC), MIC or close to MIC respectively by the advent of quality leadership at both their political and public institutions that in turn resulted in high public sector efficiency. At the epicenter of this efficiency was and remains the investment in leadership of the kind that drove a national vision which placed education, intellect, values, reward for only strenuous effort and hard work at the center of their development strategy. Once the public sector was set aright, it freed up the private sector and the rest of society to aspire to perform at their maximum possibilities. This explains why even for the US which is the bastion of capitalism, it was through the instrumentality of its public sector leadership that it used public policy, public investment, and public institutions to set the stage for the world leading economy we all admire.

Productivity and increasingly today, national competitiveness will continue to be the lynchpin to ignite and accelerate the capacity of nations to make economic advancements and play in the big leagues of the global economy. Those economies that consistently improve their efficiency, productivity and competitiveness are the ones that guarantee their citizens progressive improvement in their quality of life. Every government whether rich or poor after all has a universal responsibility which if performed confers it legitimacy not just constitutionally but from the hearts of citizens - and that is that through the leadership of the nation-state, citizens will on a sustainable path enjoy increases in standard of living. In recent years, the concept of competitiveness has emerged as a new paradigm in economic development inferring that increasing national productivity is not enough but the pace of that improvement must surpass that of other nations to avoid losing share of the international markets.

Government, business and citizens - through civic engagement- play different but profoundly complementary and collaborative roles to engender economic productivity and competitiveness. Of the three sectors that interact to crystallize the productivity and competitiveness of nations; namely, government (public sector), business (private sector) and civil society, it is the political class and the public sector leadership that is ultimately most responsible for how well the country performs. The Public sector is made up of these two key layers, the political leaders who are subject to more frequent turnover based on constitutionally-mandated electoral processes that promote democratic competition on the one hand, and the tenure-track civil service of technocrats which have a considerably longer term mandate to manage the bureaucracy that helps translate the vision of the former into concrete deliverables in the form of services to citizens. Hence, whereas the political actors are subject to the electoral test in deriving their legitimacy, the civil or public servants in the wider spectrum that includes not only the ministries and departments of the core civil service but also the agencies or parastatals, derive their legitimacy from a competitive professional process that recruits them on the ground that they are capable of implementing programs and providing efficient and effective services.

Usually of course, the political leadership can to a very significant extent determine the quality of the leadership of the technocratic leadership of the public service through the appointments they make regarding the heads of public institutions and the civil service. 

Seeing that Government is the sector among the three that holds the strongest levers and the authority to provide the compelling vision around which all other sectors can construct their effective role playing, should the Nigerian citizens not immediately begin to take more than a passing interest in how entry into both the political and public service leadership space is regulated for quality? Effective public sector emerges at all levels of government where there is strong leadership capacity for it at the highest level of political authority. The criticality of the public sector’s role in national vision and strategy formulation, oversight, and implementation compels every nation aspiring to be productive and competitive to endeavor to have strong dynamic leadership of its public space and all its institutions. From the outset, the public sector in its vision setting role must have persons at both political and technocratic levels that can provide clear diagnostic of the problems facing the economy and articulate the compelling vision and solutions that appeal to a broad set of actors who are willing to seek change and implement global standard strategies to keep the nation’s productivity and competitiveness on a never ending race to the top of the global economic ladder. It is the primary responsibility of politicians and bureaucrats to set rules and practices that enable the productivity and efficiency of their national economies and progressive improvement of their country’s social indicators. When public decision makers possess the intellectual competence, the value constructs and the resilient capacity to use public policy, human and financial resources and institutions appropriately they set the stage and enhance the probability that their nation will climb up the league of productive and competitive nations.

The moral of my preamble therefore is that each of those previously contemporaneous economies succeeded while ours failed fundamentally because of the wide variability in the quality of leadership that pursued their nations’ visions compared to ours. Every great performance in life first starts with great ideas. As it is with individuals, so it is with nations. It is in the realm of ideas of that leaders espouse the kind of nation they really want to lead their citizens to build and bequeath to future generations. The Elite of every successful society always forms the nucleus of citizens with the prerequisite education, ethics and capabilities operating in the political sphere and the public service, providing the great ideas to build the nation and possessing the moral rectitude to always act in the public interest. Access to quality Education ensures that the elite group evolves constantly in every society. For as long as nations have public education systems that function, the poorest of their citizens is guaranteed to move up the ladder and someday emerge as a member of the elite class through academic hard work, strenuous effort and ultimate success at the higher levels of education . For every society that has succeeded therefore, it has taken such progressively evolving elite class to identify the problems, forge the political systems and processes, soundly articulate a rallying vision and use sound Public Policies and Prioritization of investments and requisite actions to over time build those strong institutions that outlive the best of charismatic and transformative individuals.

But it always does start with quality leadership in the public space investing in a sustained manner for lasting institutions to eventually emerge over time. Institutions do not just happen or emerge in fast food style. Period.

Sadly, it is here that the quality of the leadership of our political and public sector levels failed us the most. Truth is that there was no other time resembling now that we have most been faced with the preponderance of such variable quality of leadership of men and women in our political and public service all over the country with hardly the stretch of cognitive or values anchored ideas of what is needed to turn our nation around. We today find in our political and public sector space a “less than elite bunch” that has established a world record in their omnivorous and parasitic attitude to the public treasury. I have always maintained that it smacks of the lowliest vision for anyone who has an opportunity at the Federal level to serve in a way that is beneficial to our over 140 million citizens to obscenely choose to reduce that opportunity to feathering personal interest and serving a paltry collection of at most 3000 direct or indirect relatives and friends that can statistically be traceable to anyone individual. Just imagine the stupendous difference in impact ratios of those two widely different choices! How else can one explain the specter of majority poor quality actors at all levels of our national life once again seeking to gain ascendancy into the public space of our nation for local government, state and federal offices? Pray, what quality of productivity through compelling vision and policy articulation could some of these fellows ever generate to stem the tide of our seemingly endless descent into absolute mediocrity? In the face of our empirically established and globally acknowledged potential to have emerged one of the economic locomotives even as far back as two decades ago, should the citizens north, south, east and west of Nigeria not be more collective in mobilizing toward a successful legitimate action to show the Red Card to all such uninspiring cast of actors?

The quality of public debates of issues in nations can tell a whole story on the strength of performance of the leaders, the institutions and citizens’ participation. Such strength ultimately determines the performance of their economies and the well being of their citizens. What is the quality of economic discourse and policy making in our society today? Beyond the rhetoric and anecdotal mouthing of pedestrian solutions to deeply complex and protracted problems of our economic, social and political underperformance, what else have we been offered by this “less than elite bunch” of operatives of our public space? Unfortunately the abysmal, asinine basis for policy choices and the absolute absence of empirically tested contest of ideas in our clime is frequently followed by the rest of the world because of the power of information globalization and democratization. The summation of both our foreign friends and our foes alike is that all is not well with our leadership class. This has often earned me the empathy of some of the leaders on the continent to whom I have the privilege of providing economic advice by virtue of my professional responsibility. I have come to expect with embarrassment the “what is wrong with your country, Oby” question. Many a time as soon as an outstanding and well meaning African leader to whom I provided advice that was adopted and found efficacious finishes expressing appreciation; they follow up with that uncomfortable question. While I listen in deep pain, they then go on to recall the brilliance of one or two Nigerian acquaintances in their college days or in a previous career- and end the empathy talk with well-meaning utter wonderment at how a nation so blessed with such high quality human capital somehow always manages to monumentally underperform.

They are right. It takes a nation that is the epitome of a paradox and which lacks the capacity to deploy its leadership endowments prudently to end up the way we have once again done by ending a decade that started so promisingly for us in 1999/2000 in a spectacularly horrible way. We have squandered an incredible stock of excess crude account savings of over $27B (equivalent to the combined annual budget of over twenty five Africa countries) in just a period of four years with nothing of a productive investment to show for it. Neither our human capital nor our physical capital was built up from yet another tranche of huge exchange earnings and receipts from depleting natural resource just like it happened in the 70’s and the 80s. As I write, our Human Development Indicators are at the level of Chad’s! We simply once again in a new Millennium repeated the cyclical pattern of bad behavior with the common wealth from petrodollars. Each time I think of the scandal of our entrapment by the “resource curse”, I find myself concluding that it all happens because our nation is a place where the worst among us increasingly govern the best among us. Each time you assume we have hit the bottom in terms of the lowest common denominator of quality of leaders in our politics and wider public sector, another set comes along that makes the previous appear seemingly “not that bad after all”. For how long shall we continue to tolerate this deadly Russian roulette of the one eyed man (it has to be a man) in the land of the blind becoming king?

All this came into sharper focus for me when I was recently home as a Guest Speaker for Pat Utomi’s Center for Values in Leadership on the role of public policy in education and the future of Nigeria. It afforded me the opportunity to interact during the question and comments session with an amazing array of youths from all over the country. The painful mix of hope and despair that came through from their questions and comments, their vein busting angst against a nation-state that they evaluated as having failed them, their restiveness to have silver bullets that can solve the myriad of problems and constraints that hold captive their individual potentials, their trenchant distrust of the public space and most that operated or operate within it, their quest for a new nation where effort, merit, hard work, ethos and values of consistent integrity pierced through my spirit as I listened to them that afternoon. The experience brought back the fiery anger that rose up in me in 2006 upon reading the terrible findings of the various Education sector and system diagnostics that I had invested in as a basic fundamental for understanding the problems of the sector when I was asked to lead the reform efforts at that Federal Ministry.

That anger had fuelled the impatience with which I led the team effort for a comprehensive analysis-anchored restructuring of what had become a perfectly dysfunctional system that was failing our children especially the majority of them from poor homes that could not purchase the best private education. The “reform resistance army” that was used to mortgaging the future of our children fought with all their might to misrepresent, to distort and truncate those reforms from the outset but they had not imagined the depth of my angst-fuelled resolve to effect change even for the few months I was leading the effort. That same “less then elite” bunch remains in the public space today both within and outside the Sector indifferent to the fact that all of the most important indicators of failure of the education system that we had pointed out to the nation five years ago continue to worsen daily.
For example, we had been aghast at the trend that revealed that following yearly decline over the previous ten years, in 2006 only 26% of the children passing out of our secondary schools nationwide were passing with 5 credits including in English and Mathematics! Of course we proceeded to layout a menu of actions to stem the tide in 2007. Well, fast forward to 2010, the percentage had declined to 2%! And now there is no consequence and no accountability on the part of those that occupy the public space that is producing such monumental underperformance. Consider also that some 1 million youths annually seek to acquire University education but only some 250,000 will ultimately get a placement. Just imagine what that means in terms of the army of poorly educated, unskilled, disenchanted, frustrated and dangerous young people that constitute a huge productivity loss for our country. Consider that for the ones that end up graduating from higher institutions in the country, a well administered survey to track a sample of them over the last decade at that time came back with the sad revelation that over 82% of them had over the decade been without jobs with just about 12 % of this lot being under employed- that is, having a job that is really not at par with their training. Yet, what articulate voice of concern have you heard from our political class on such ticking time bomb? So, which elite are we grooming for the future leadership of our nation?

The heartbreak I felt for the young ones at the Utomi event whose voices rang with haunting fear that if nothing changed urgently, they risked becoming the “lost generation” is combined with the profound peeve that I have about the vexing syndrome that is fast becoming systemic and moved me to write these reflections publicly about my own country for the first time since I relocated from home a few years ago. The syndrome of shameful stratospheric rate at which our society now rewards leaders for their previous failures, their mind-boggling underperformance and their ignoble behavior is destroying our future. I listened intently and heard in the sometimes rebellious tone of the many that spoke up at the event, their despondency and frustration at the fact that they feel trapped in a nation that fails to realize what the rest of the world knows about the average Nigerian. It is that we actually thrive better when an environment allows us to work hard, put our best foot forward, compete pure and simple. Whenever those conditions exist, the Nigerian always wins and stands out. It is therefore not asking for too much that these young ones seek from their leaders the quality governance and leadership infrastructure that recognizes that the young and not the oil or other minerals on which the leadership currently obsesses are the true and lasting capital for our future.

After all, which example of a nation does History teach us ever advanced economically, socially or politically by giving all the incentives for higher offices to those leaders at the different levels of governance whose records of past failures or aberrant behavior were already well documented? I know of none. How come in Nigeria, the political class and appointees in the public service leadership have appropriated to themselves the entitlement to lead no matter how grievous their past track record of failure? Why have we allowed ourselves the opprobrium of being a nation that gives completely unearned promotion to higher responsibilities as a reward for failing? We have a bizarre case of moral hazard leading to even more reckless, opportunistic behavior. We have unwittingly instituted a vicious cycle and certainty of humongous future failure usually always worse than the one before. Our indifference is what earns well known underperformers and contemptible characters the opportunity and freedom to pillage and destroy the commonwealth even more dastardly the next time around. The time has come that we must all now listen to the wise counsel of a former leader of France, Charles de Gaulle who said “Politics is too serious a business to be left for politicians alone”.

We have performed considerably below our potential as a nation because lethargy and political manipulation by same locust class has stopped the citizens from coalescing in an effective way to demand for public accountability and sanction of bad, reckless, opportunistic behavior and underperformance of leaders. We had contrary to that wise counsel from the French statesman, left the business of managing the affairs of our nation to politicians and not even the best of them.

But there is hope. As our census data reveal regarding over half of our nation, we are presently one of the incredible nations of the young in an aging world. The generation that I refer to in all of Africa as the Turning Point Generation (TPG) do not carry the liabilities and albatross of their forebears. Their types in Nigeria for example are hardly moved by the spoils of the oil revenue dominant public treasury. They are eclectic in range and diversity of talents and are driven by ideas, creativity and innovativeness that push them to excel beyond the limitations that their own nation seeks to place upon them. The stoic among the Nigerian youths breaks through all constraints and aspires as a citizen of the globe to match or surpass the achievements of their peers in other nations. One thing holds them to a universal standard- the common language and ubiquitous social networking tools.

The incontrovertible fact is that it is an inextricable mix of great character, competency and capacity that are the core ingredients which progressively set off the best of public sector and political leadership for transformation of all the nations which we today envy. Inversely, those three ingredients have been on the decline in our nation over the decades since independence such that I could wager a safe bet that a tracking exercise of the trend in cumulative intelligence, integrity and capacity quotient of the actors in the Nigerian public space over the fifty years of our self governance would appallingly reveal a fast decelerating trajectory. When did we ever assess our leaders at every level of the public space of our nation based on these core attributes which are proven to make or mar nations? Most galling is how over the years as our standards eroded further, we watched with numbing indifference the orchestrated animus that this buccaneering group spews toward anyone that dares to stand against the grain.

I recall during our first term in government, the scorn and derision with which an eminently competent and capable Nasir El Rufai was treated by some of such fellows in that Administration when on one occasion as the DG of the Bureau for Public Enterprises he showed his strong character. He had reported to the National Council on Privatization and had one of his closest Deputy Directors sacked from the Public Service. This was an official that acted on the odious presumption that everyone that goes into the Nigerian public sector has a price either before or after a policy decision they are responsible for is made. So, he went ahead to collect and brought several tens of millions of Naira to Nasir from a celebrated entrepreneur who strictly based on BPE’s adherence to the rules of competition had won the right to purchase a publicly owned enterprise. Sadly, in a show of shame that followed, the one who did right was called names for not only being arrogantly competent and irritatingly capable but now also trying “to prove something about his moral superiority”. I recall the event here because at that time, it left such a lasting impression on me and was the catalyst that helped draw our kindred spirits closer as reform allies that we were for all those years we served together in the public sector.

It is now more urgent than ever for us to reject being defined by the worst among us. How did we allow this “less than elite” class to cunningly convince our society that no one who goes into the public space can stand above the undignified mess of pottage that is public sector corruption? Why has our nation allowed them to set such dishonorable standard such that when anyone takes a contrarian stance it is merely an indication of “being holier than thou” and that if enough time is spent dropping untruths about the person somehow something would stick? While advocating public service careers to many promising young professionals who regard me as their mentor, several have vowed that such toxic and deplorable symbolism of our public space has kept and will forever keep them away from venturing to serve the nation. The fear of the machination of the morally repugnant group that has seized our public space is keeping our best from exactly where they should be if the lessons of other successful nations are a guide. It is surely bewildering that this bunch succeeded in capturing the public space deploying their tenacious wiles to prevent the massive entry of the right quality of people that would tip the balance between the forces of destruction and those of construction of our nation. Only a people united and acting as a collective can end this anomie. Otherwise, it shall be woe unto our land since according to wise King Solomon in the Book of Proverbs, it is indeed “woe unto the city (nay nation) in which the beggars ride on horses and princes walk on bare foot”. Take a look around you…… It is an aberration.

Therefore, it is on this crucial agenda of setting new and highest quality standards of leadership for our public space that I have the greatest hope in the Turning Point Generation. They have everything they need to be our nation’s Game Changers. The role of the young in societies and their individual as well as group redefinition of their relationship with the nation-state, its institutions and those that lead the public space is a phenomenon that as we see around the world is incredibly inspiring for its deterrence potency. Our youthful citizens' willingness to invest time and effort monitoring public affairs is what can become the most effective filter for the quality of political leaders and policy-makers that emerge from among us and to be held accountable for what they do, and deterred from underperforming, pillaging and wasting public resources. Such public interest consciousness requires a shared set of values which go beyond narrow self-interest and, in particular, a widespread concern for public affairs. Once that subset of the youthful population -that was at the Education event- can make the connection between the causes of their stagnation, their nation’s underperformance and the incredible power they possess collectively to mobilize transformative change, they will instantly become the change they want to see happen.

For this youthful population, I wish to leave them with the knowledge that poverty in any part of our country leaves its victims with exactly the same devalued and depreciated human value regardless of the ethnicity of the non performing leaders who through egregious abuse of the public space consign their citizens to subhuman existentialism. It will take a nation state that has quality political and public sector leadership for the stage to be set for much needed stellar improvements in Nigeria’s productivity and competitiveness performance. It is such improvements that will begin to secure improved quality of life and a guaranteed future for our people, majority of whom are in their prime of youth today.

Without doubt, it is the rot in the quality of leadership across the spectrum of our nation’s public space that has trapped our citizens in pernicious poverty. The common enemy of the poor should therefore be anyone who though possessing the power in the public space to change the course of the poor, blatantly chooses to do otherwise. Some that walked that space including yours sincerely tried but their best was not enough. The massiveness of our nation’s problems requires much more than the episodic flicker of light in the tunnel that we have occasionally experienced since when I was born three years after our independence.

The kind of transformation that Nigerians deserve urgently is inconsistent with incremental, marginal change in the cumulative leadership quotient of our public space from its current lowest base. To take the nation out of the deep rot it currently finds itself direly requires a tidal wave tipping point triggered by collective forcefulness of vision, intellectually grounded competency, uncompromising strength of character, and indomitability of the capacity of every of our public leadership at all levels of governance.

Let those youths hear me now, your generation has a historical opportunity at a season like this. As I recently posted on my Face Book page to my friends, “when stuck @ a low equilibrium level of performance, the same-same solution will not work. You need a shocker to rupture the stagnation. Find the shocker and go for it”!

Reflections by Oby Ezekwesili, former Minister of Education on events at a recent Speech she gave about Public Policy and the Future of Education in Nigeria at the 5th Annual Pat Utomi Center for Values in Leadership in Lagos, February 7, 20011.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Even If Buhari Picks the Pope as Running Mate...


Former military dictator, General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) has picked Save Nigeria Group (SNG) Convener Pastor Tunde Bakare as his running mate in the 2011 presidential election. I will not vote for Buhari and I have my reasons based on facts of our nation's past.

Buhari is a great man in his own right and I respect him as an elder statesman. But as far as a democracy is concerned in this digital age and time, Buhari is not the best that Nigeria has to offer.

Abuse of power is the worst form of corruption in leadership. Buhari abused power when he was military Head of State.

When Buhari seized power, he threw Alex Ekwueme into prison in KiriKiri and kept Shehu Shagari under house arrest. How do you explain such double standards?

During Buhari, journalists were brutalized, hushed and muzzled. Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor were jailed under the evil laws of the Buhari regime.

During the Buhari regime, 53 suitcases were smuggled into the country at a time the nation's borders were closed because of the change in the colour of the national currency in 1984. Have we forgotten?

Under Buhari's regime, there was a law against 18 year olds going to Hajj. Tunde Idiagbon took his 14 year old son to Hajj and nothing happened.

Lawal Ojuolape, Benard Ogedengbe and Bartholomew Owoh; these three men were ordered to be executed by Buhari under a retroactive decree for the crime of drug trafficking which didn't carry a death penalty wen they committed the crime.

The late Tai Solarin was imprisoned and refused treatment for his asthma by this same Buhari.

Secretary General of the ruling NPN Uba Ahmed who was Buhari's tribesman was arrested at the airport only to be released on Buhari's orders and allowed to fly out of the country.

Buhari, like IBB and Abdusalami Abubakar treated the Oputa Panel with disdain. He refused to show up at the panel.

I will not vote for Buhari in 2011; not even if he picks the Pope as his running mate.

BREAKING: Dele Momodu Picks Yunusa Tanko as Running Mate



The Presidential Candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Bashorun Dele Momodu has picked Kano State born Dr. Yunusa Tanko as his running mate in the 2011 presidential election.

Until his selection, Dr. Tanko was the National Secretary of the National Conscience Party (NCP). Born on February 12, 1966, Dr. Tanko had his primary school education at the Army Children School, Ikeja, Lagos between 1974 and 1981 and proceeded to Ikeja Grammar School, Lagos where he completed his secondary school education in 1985.

Dr. Tanko holds a HND in Marketing from Kaduna Polytechnic (now University of Technology, Kaduna) in 1992 and bagged a Post-Graduate Diploma in Co-operative Studies from the same institution in 1994. In 2006, he obtained a second HND degree in Accounting from Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic, Zaria which followed with a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria as well as an MBA from the same institution. In 2010, Tanko, a practising muslim, was bestowed with an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Leadership and Management from the Universal Christian Academy (UNICA) - a representative of Cambridge Advanced Technology Training in Affiliation with the University of London, United Kingdom.

A Chartered Accountant and member, the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), 2008 and the Institute of Cost and Management Accountant (ICMA) 2006, his working experience traverses civil service, politics and civil society. He has served in various capacities as Head of Accounts, National Population Commission, Kaduna, 1993-2000; Head of Revenue, Nigerian Immigration Service, Kano, 2000-2002 and Head of Finance, Team Nigeria Trust Fund Limited, FCT, Abuja, 2002 till date.

For 10 years, Dr. Tanko was NCP's Deputy National Chairman to Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN. In 2007, he was appointed Secretary to the Coalition for a New Nigeria (CNN) - the Charles Nwodo led conglomerate of Nigerian political parties that gave General Muhammadu Buhari his first ticket in 2007 before he secured a presidential ticket from the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP). Since 2009, Dr. Tanko has been Secretary of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) of all political parties in Nigeria led by Prof. G Nnaji of BNPP. Since 2003 till date, he has served as the Assistant Secretary of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) whose chairman is Alhaji Balarabe Musa. In 2007, he was running mate to NCP's presidential candidate Dr. Osagie Obayuwana. He is the Assistant Secretary to Dr. Usman Bugaje under the Tunji Braithwaithe led Nigerians United for Democracy from 2007 till date.

With a rich background in social activism, Dr. Yunusa Tanko is a Secretariat Member of the Pastor Tunde Bakare led Save Nigeria Group (SNG) and played a very prominent role as Field Marshal of the popular Save Nigeria Group (SNG) protest to the National Assembly in 2010. Dr. Yunusa Tanko is the recipient of the chieftaincy title - the Nwane iku de Neba 1 of all Ndigbos in diaspora.

This marks a fresh beginning for Nigeria. Bashorun Dele Momodu and Dr. Yunusa Tanko are two of Nigeria's brightest. As self-made and accomplished citizens, they represent that radical departure from the incompetence, the corruption and the general backwardness that is currently characteristic of our nation's leadership.


Signed
Ohimai Godwin Amaize
National Coordinator
Dele Momodu Presidential Campaign Organisation
Tuesday, 1st February, 2011

Saturday, January 29, 2011

NATIONAL MIRROR: Bob Dee and Asiwaju Tinubu Were Once Chummy!?


One picture will say in a thousand words what a whole book fails to do. This picture of ACN chieftain, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Ovation Publisher, Chief Dele Momodu (Bob Dee), was taken in exile during the glory days of NADECO. The two men were comrades and brothers in arms (as the picture roundly depicts) fighting for Nigeria’s liberation from the shackles of military dictatorship.

Fast forward to 2011 and it appears their interests and beliefs might have drastically changed. Chief Momodu is the presidential candidate of National Conscience Party and Asiwaju Tinubu has transmuted from ex-governor to ACN ‘kingmaker’.

Again, although Tinubu has presumably always maintained a politically progressive front, it is queer that Momodu who recently changed camps from Labour Party to pitch with Conscience Party, never so much as strayed the way of ACN. A Yoruba adage says ‘Twenty children cannot all remain playmates for twenty years’. Yet, it would be interesting to know how and where these two lost their chumminess or passion for similar ideals.

Culled from National Mirror, Friday January 28, 2011

Friday, December 31, 2010

Abuja Bomb Blast: A Condemnable Act of Terror - Dele Momodu

Just as Nigerians were bracing up to the shock of the multiple bomb blasts in Jos last week closely followed by reports of violence in Yenagoa and Ibadan, news of a bomb blast inside the Sani Abacha Barracks in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja on the eve of the new year has once again thrown our nation into grief and mourning. Unconfirmed media reports say casualty figures are on the high side.

The new year eve's bombing of the Abacha Barracks in Abuja, leading to the loss of innocent Nigerian lives is totally condemnable.

I sympathize with the families of Nigerians whose loved ones were affected by this deplorable act of violence and terror. I once again use this opportunity to call upon the government in Abuja to act speedily to restore calm and order to the capital city as fear and panic have begun to spread among law-abiding citizens.

I hope that all relevant security agencies will stop at nothing to bring the perpetrators of this recent horrible act to justice.

DELE MOMODU
Presidential Aspirant
National Conscience Party (NCP).

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Our Time Has Come to Rescue Nigeria - Dele Momodu





Our Time Has Come to Rescue Nigeria
By Dele Momodu

Our National Chairman,
Members of the National Executive Committee (NEC),
Other Party Officials,
Our friends and supporters,
Members of Team Dele Momodu,
Gentlemen of the Press,
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen.

Today marks a historic moment not just in my political career but in my life as a whole. God indeed works in mysterious ways. Tomorrow, December 19, 2010 will mark the 18th anniversary of my wedding which uncharacteristically was attended by Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN who was never known to socialize. Is it not strange and amazing, that today I am standing to declare for the political party founded by this great Nigerian? More still, is it not stranger that the National Chairman of this party fought one of his greatest battles as a lawyer for the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti who lived very close to this venue on Gbemisola Street some years ago?

The story of my life is not complete without its constant romance with the supernatural. I was born in a church and named Joseph. I dream big. And it was my dream of a better Nigeria that propelled me into taking a plunge into the murky waters of Nigerian politics. I had looked all around me, I had written thousands of essays, I had been involved in social activism from my undergraduate days, yet I noticed that things were going from bad to worse and our country was sliding perilously. There was no question in my mind that Nigeria has all it takes to be among the leading nations of the world. Our land is overflowing with milk and honey but there is little or none for the ordinary Nigerian to drink or lick. Our political landscape is littered with misfits. For a country that has produced some of the brightest brains on the face of the earth, it was both a physical and psychological torture to watch the nation fail in the hands of our "professional politicians."

I stand here today, grateful to God that a day like this has come. For me, this marks the beginning of a new order of things in our collective struggle to rescue Nigeria. My mission as a technocrat in politics is to rekindle our hope in the possibility of a new Nigeria that works. Today, I stand here knowing that my story is a part of the larger Nigerian story and that the need to build a new country out of the present rubbles must not be considered a personal ambition but a national assignment by every one seated here today in this room and the many more millions of Nigerians out there.

My decision to join the National Conscience Party (NCP) is based purely on principle. I am not looking for a job. If I wanted a job in government, then I would have rushed to the PDP where they share all the jobs. Today, I am happy to be welcomed home by my brothers and sisters at the National Conscience Party (NCP). This, for me, is a homecoming and together, I believe we can write the next great chapter in the Nigerian story. Nigerians have been crying and calling for change but in 2011, they have been confronted with the challenge of choice. One big question that has been on the lips of Nigerians is "We want to vote in 2011 but where are the credible alternatives to the current set of politicians"? Nigerians do not have to look too far. With a credible political party like the National Conscience Party (NCP) and Nigerians like me who have been welcomed to its fold, I am convinced we can make Nigerians believe again. Those who say Dele Momodu is not experienced enough to be the president of Nigeria are far removed from reality. It is only in Nigeria that we hear people say a customs officer can run for president, a police officer can run, everybody including illiterates can run but a man who was teaching A levels 28 years ago, a man who was private secretary to a Deputy Governor 27 years ago, a man who was a major contributor on the very influential opinion page of The Guardian newspaper 23 years ago, a man who was the founding editor of Leaders & Company 18 years ago, a man who was thrown into detention in 1993 by the Babangida government, a man who was forced into exile 15 years ago and was able to build a global brand from scratch under such tragic circumstances cannot run a nation where most of its past and present leaders have never done anything tangible for a living.

The news of my declaration for the National Conscience Party (NCP) attracted a loud ovation from Nigerians worldwide. For most Nigerians, it was a great move in the right direction. It was a masterstroke! But for a few cynics, the question was "What is he doing in Gani's party? Is he trying to take advantage of Gani's legacy to run for president in 2011?" For those who may not be aware, in a country where history is not compulsorily taught in schools and knowledge about individuals is scanty, it is only normal for such questions to be raised. For the records, those who knew me as a reporter would attest to the fact that I was one of the closets journalists ever to the great founder of our party - Chief Abdul-Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi. That mutual love between us endured to the very end. Gani taught me that you must always excel in whatever you do. You must settle for nothing less than the top position. You must be able to capture the imagination of your friends and foes alike. It is desirable to keep them guessing your next moves, while being consistent in your beliefs and ideology. Gani believed you must make a success of your own life through legitimate means before you can help the needy. He saw poverty as a cancer that must be fought with the agility of a pugilist. For him, education was a potent weapon against poverty. He detested any activism that could not uplift the dignity of man. Criticism, he opined, must generate positive results in man. He hated the traditional definition of an activist as a "miserable, squalid and perpetual grumbler." This was the basis for his elation when Chief Abiola became radicalized after June 12, 1993. He knew how difficult it was for such a man of means to leave his comfort zone and join the battle to free Nigeria.

Indeed, some Nigerians are experts in conspiracy theories. When the news of my declaration for the NCP hit the media, there were those who said: "Is Dele not aware that the National Chairman of his new party is close to an aspirant from another party?" But I told them, no one could be closer to Femi Falana than me; his friend and brother of over 30 years. Together, we fought many struggles right from school. There was never a time Nigeria was in crisis and I shied away from defending my country; be it under Obasanjo as a military ruler, be it under Babangida, be it under Shonekan, be it under Abacha, be it under Obasanjo again or be it under Yar A'dua's cabal. I was always steadfast on the side of the people. As a professional journalist, I have paid my dues. I have written essays about the Nigerian problem and its solutions. God had made it possible for me to create a global brand from nothing. I have used my magazine - OVATION International to cement a powerful bond between Nigerians and Africans at a global level. This product has provided employment for many of our youths with many spin-offs in the areas of media, fashion, lifestyle, hospitality, business and tourism among others. I have been a global player running our operations on all the continents in over 60 countries. I have promoted the unity of our people to the extent that if you go to a northern wedding today, courtesy of OVATION International, you find people dressing like southerners and you find southerners copying the fashion styles of northerners. There is no Nigerian today who is exposed enough who is not aware of the double brands called OVATION International and Dele Momodu.

I have studied the manifesto of our party; it's 10-care programme which is very similar to the one presented by my late mentor Chief MKO Abiola to Nigerians in1993 titled "Farewell to Poverty". I promise to enforce the cardinal objectives contained in the manifesto which we will soon make available to the world as our covenant with the people of Nigeria. They include; Employment Care, Food Care, Health Care, Housing Care, Education Care, Water Care, Electricity Care, Transportation Care, Telecommunications Care and Security Care.

Yet, even as I speak, there are those who are working hard to divide Nigeria and truncate this process of change; the shenanigans who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them today that there's no zoning or consensus Nigeria. There's no northern Nigeria or southern Nigeria. There's no Christian Nigeria or Islamic Nigeria. There is only one Nigeria! We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance and loyalty to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Not placing personal and party interests above our nation's interests. In the end, that's what the 2011 presidential election is about. Should we fold our arms again and watch our nation fail before our very eyes? No, our time has come to rescue Nigeria!

I look forward to a robust contest in our party primaries and I promise that if I emerge as the flag-bearer of our great party that together with our leaders and members, we will enforce the basic tenets of our party's manifesto for the Nigerian people.

I thank you for your attention.


THE TEXT OF A SPEECH DELIVERED BY BASHORUN DELE MOMODU AT THE OCCASION OF HIS DECLARATION FOR THE NATIONAL CONSCIENCE PARTY (NCP) ON DECEMBER 18, 2010, LAGOS, NIGERIA

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Write-The-Future! Win N5 MILLION!



The Dele Momodu Presidential Campaign Organisation has commissioned Write-The-Future - a national competition in search of the best national development manifesto for the people of Nigeria written by a Nigerian.

The well-researched manifesto must have a bias for welfare and people-centered policies touching on all key areas of national development. Submissions must be presented with evidences of research, relevant data, facts and figures, references with a very practical outlook of issues addressed. Entries must be written in very readable and straightforward language.

The adjudged winner(s) of the Write-The-Future competition will be awarded a cash prize of N5 million (Five Million Naira) at the end of the competition when all entries have been assessed by a select panel of seasoned Nigerian technocrats, politicians and professionals. Aside from individual authorship of manifesto, joint authorships by a group or team are welcome though the same cash prize of N5 million will be awarded to whichever individual, group or team emerges as winner.

All entries should be sent to writethefuture@delemomodu2011.com and must reach the Dele Momodu Presidential Campaign Organisation on or before Monday 13th December, 2010.

NOTE: Participation is FREE and requires no registration. All entries become properties of the Write-The-Future Competition on the point of submission.

For more information, please visit www.delemomodu2011.com/writethefuture OR CALL 08123308670, 08055069220

Thursday, October 21, 2010

SING4VOTE AND WIN N2.5 MILLION, N1.5 MILLION, N1 MILLION!



SING4VOTE AND WIN N2.5 MILLION, N1.5 MILLION, N1 MILLION!

HOW DO I PARTICIPATE? VERY SIMPLE. FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW:

1. Any one can participate. Create and produce a none-minute song (jingle) in Pidgin, English, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and any other Nigerian language of your choice for the Dele Momodu 2011 presidential campaign. The recorded song (jingle) should end with "OUR TIME HAS COME. VOTE FOR CHANGE. VOTE DELE MOMODU FOR PRESIDENT, 2011."

2. Write in not more than one hundred (100) words a music video concept for your recorded song (jingle).

3. Send the recorded song (jingle) in MP3 format along with the music video concept, your full names, phone number and address to sing4vote@delemomodu2011.com

4. Wait for the announcement of the thirty (30) shortlisted entries. They will be contacted and invited to a live event in Lagos where they will compete for the final three (3) winning positions.

NOTE; PARTICIPATION is FREE and open to all Nigerians both at home and in diaspora. ALL entries automatically become properties of the SING4VOTE Competition on the point of submission.

Deadline for submission is Tuesday 30th November, 2010.

For more information, visit www.delemomodu2011.com/sing4vote or call 08123308670, 08025367571.