James Carville, the presidential advisor to former President Bill Clinton coined the phrase: “It’s the economy, stupid” as a slogan for Clinton’s 1992 run at the White House. The phrase was intended to separate his candidate from incumbent George H.W. Bush who had watched the American economy drift into a recession.

The effective campaign eventually led to Bill Clinton’s inauguration as president underscoring the fact that people care far more about economic issues – and by extension, the ideology that drives it. If there’s one thing people of different political persuasions agree on is the importance of the economy in general and how it affects their standard of living.

I was in secondary school when the 1979 elections were held; even though I was not of voting age then I clearly understood what the issues were because I was already well informed. I started reading Time, Newsweek, The Economist, Drum, Spear and other magazines and newspapers when I was in primary four! I still have a copy of October 26, 1970 edition of Newsweek magazine which has the African-American political activist Angela Davis on its cover.

For the records, Davis is a political activist, academic, and author. She emerged as a prominent counterculture activist and radical in the 1960s as a leader of the Communist Party USA, and had close relations with the Black Panther Party and the Civil Rights Movement.

I also understood the issues in 1979 because I was a beneficiary. But before delving into the issues, a brief overview about ideology will suffice. Often the term “ideology” is seen as referring simply to a system of ideas and beliefs. However, it is also closely tied to the concept of power and the definition provided by the British sociologist Anthony Giddens captured it as “shared ideas or beliefs which serve to justify the interests of dominant groups.” Its relationship to power is that it legitimises the differential power that groups hold.

It should therefore not be surprising that most governments and people approach politics through the prism of ideology. A person’s idea or belief varies from the other’s but in politics; ideas are related to one another as well as modify and support each other. While individual ideology centres on self, political ideology provides a justification for the general needs of the people.

In the American political system, there are two main ideologies – liberalism and conservatism. These have real influence in American politics and have both positive and negative reactions, but put together, they provide suitable ideologies that make America to be ahead of other nations.

When Americans see that the country is becoming “too liberal” allowing almost everything, they switch gear as was the case with the 2016 elections that brought in Trump. Or when it becomes “too conservative” by trampling on minorities rights they’ll go liberal. This allows for a critical balance.

This is why political parties that seek power formulate a set of ideas believing that such ideas will be favourable and helpful to all and provide the needed succour and dividends of good governance. No responsible government would wish to come up with abysmal ideologies.

Basically, uncomfortable and selfish ideologies such as those that encourage people to disrespect law and order or do not protect human rights, for example, cannot be useful to the people.

From the general point of view therefore, an ideology should help us to make reasonable and quick decisions that will answer the varied political questions that bother us. Careful observations have shown that present day Nigerians politicians do not have ideologies.

From their performances at all levels, it has been clearly seen that they have little or nothing to offer the country except their personal aggrandisement. They are not bothered about fellow Nigerians’ welfare, the widening inequality gap between the poor and the rich; the erosion of the middle class and they look the other way as their “countrymen” are killed etc.

Nigerian politicians are not inclined to use their power and of the government they control to make conditions favourable for people. They “shy” away from new thinking and ideologies that can place the country on a par with advanced nations.

Responsible politicians and leaders must be more inclined generally to use the power of the government to achieve a diverse set of things they view as good for the people, use government regulation to protect the environment, and ensure safety and economic viability of all the sectors amongst other noble initiatives. Considering the worsening experiences we are going through now as a nation, guiding ideologies are more fundamental now than ever. Ideologies can help make sense of the myriad of political questions that faces people.

In politics, we must be concerned to convince others that a policy we make is the right one and we must have personal and general reasons for making such policies.

Back to 1979; prior to that year, Alhaji Shehu Shagari emerged as the presidential candidate of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). The stature of Chief Obafemi Awolowo was conspicuous in the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). The indefatigable and charismatic Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was unmistakable one of the most prominent faces of Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP). The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) was undoubtedly associated with the populist pedigree of Mallam Aminu Kano. The Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP) radiated the aura of Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim. Even Waziri Ibrahim’s slogan of “politics without bitterness” was widely received.

So, in secondary school I knew the ideologies of the five political parties then. In Ibadan where I schooled, I clearly remembered the UPN’s “four cardinal programmes” of “free education,” “free health services,” “full employment” and “integrated rural development.” Yes, this made Awolowo’s party win overwhelmingly in Yorubaland. But if you asked the rural folks in the south-west they would also tell you that beyond Awolowo being Yoruba they were also voting for the education of their children, jobs and the development of their area. They need not come to the “big city” to witness this development.

As part of the promise of “free education”, we were given free textbooks and lunch in secondary school. The UPN made good their election promises. Mind you, there was also no discrimination because I need not be an “indigene” of Oyo state to enjoy the free education. A similar thing could be said of the voters in Kano and Kaduna who might be poor but were evidently imbued with high level of consciousness as they were convinced that a party led by Aminu Kano could implement socially beneficial programmes. In retrospect, it is a huge irony of Nigeria’s political history that the politics of that era was considered backward by some analysts.

What about the NPN? The party campaigned on the policy platform of “national unity, “qualitative education,” “green revolution,” “mass housing,” amongst others. It is however its mass housing programme that was visible. Across all the local government areas of the country, the party built low cost housing estates that are still standing in most of the country even though Papa Awo considered them not fit for human habitation. Thousands of families still live in them to date.

So, we need ideologically-driven politics as 2019 fast approaches.

Obviously, in addition to the obvious lack of political will by successive federal and state governments to check the persistent deterioration in the quality of education in Nigeria, there are other challenges peculiar to various geopolitical zones and states. 

In the northwest and northeast geopolitical zones, for instance, the English language as the main language of academic instruction is regarded by many as one of the challenges hampering the development of education. It’s increasingly, albeit largely tacitly, portrayed as one of the impediments to education penetration in the regions. 

Though most of the arguments given in this regard are basically right, they aren’t necessarily instantly applicable on the regions. Some of these arguments include the fact that none of the developed countries in the world today adopts a foreign language as its main language of academic instruction. Countries like Japan, Germany, and South Korea etc. are commonly cited as examples.

Also, some of the most successful developing countries like China, Malaysia and Thailand etc. are equally cited as examples to prove that a country can get on the path to appropriate development only when it adopts its indigenous language as the main language of academic instruction. 

Besides, the need for every nation to preserve and promote its language is equally one of the reasons cited by the advocates of switching to indigenous languages for academic instruction. On this point in particular, they appeal to people’s emotions so much that many people believe that keeping the English language as the main language of academic instruction implies a collective inferiority complex and is also tantamount to willful acceptance of the British neo-cultural imperialism. 

Many people with this tendency go to the extreme by regarding anyone with a passion for learning and/or mastering the English language as a person with an inferiority complex who disdains his culture and language. In other words, many people effectively consider a passion for learning the English language and respect for native language, mutually exclusive. In fact, there is some sort of tacit assumption in the society that a passion for learning the English language implies unnecessary compromise in one’s commitment to moral values. Besides, there is also a widespread myth that English as a language is too hard to learn, which many people capitalize on in their demand for switching to an indigenous language.  

It’s a pity this trend, on the one hand, makes many otherwise ambitious students feel blackmailed, which affects their commitment to pursuing quality education and indeed undermines their potential to attain enviable academic and professional excellence in their various fields of interest. On the other hand, it gives those with ridiculously limited intellectual ambitions the pretext to cover up their lack of enthusiasm to pursue quality knowledge. 

This also explains the persistent trend whereby academic institutions particularly in those regions continue to graduate generations of supposedly educated individuals who turn out grossly deficient intellectually and yet they proceed to become teachers and lecturers thereby sustaining the cycle of intellectual mediocrity in the society, which of course perpetuates underdevelopment in the regions and the country at large. 

Now, I suppose by now some readers might have already suspected me of being a person with an inferiority complex, or might have, at least, concluded that I am being too critical of the idea of switching to an indigenous language as the main language of academic instruction in the northwest and northeast. 

I would ignore these and other similar unfounded assumptions, and instead focus on addressing the issue. After all, no matter what, some people would still criticize you just for the sake of it. 

Well, against the backdrop of the underlying peculiar challenges in the northwest, northeast geopolitical zones or any state thereof, any attempt to drop the English language as the main language of academic instruction in favour of any indigenous language immediately or even in the foreseeable future would certainly turn out counterproductive. The unnecessary dilemma that would definitely result from this attempt would further undermine the already poor state of education in the region.  

It’s simply unrealistic to compare any indigenous language in the two regions including the Hausa language, the lingua franca of the regions, with the language of academic instruction in, say, Germany or China. Unlike the case of the Hausa language and the intellectual circumstances in the northwest and the northeast geopolitical zones, the contents of the entire body of knowledge in all academic disciplines that their respective native speakers need are already available in their languages.

Therefore, for the advocates of switching to an indigenous language, e.g. Hausa, as the main language in academic instruction to succeed, they should first and foremost begin by advocating for the introduction of a huge, systematic and nonstop program to translate the body of knowledge into Hausa, then they can rightly demand for switching to it. Though there have some commendable individual and collective translation initiatives, adequate government and private sector investments remain necessary in order to achieve this. 

It’s also necessary to embark on a sustained cultural reorientation campaign with a view to improving public attitude towards knowledge.  Because with the current trend of public attitude towards knowledge, even if all contents of the body of knowledge are translated into, say, Hausa, I doubt if there will be any appreciable amount of change to celebrate.

Mr. President, I salute you for making time to visit the capital cities of states hit by the recent spike in killings by those who trade in the blood of the innocent. 

You visited Jalingo, the Taraba state capital where the Mambilla plateau is located; you also visited Jos, the capital of Plateau state; two days ago you were at Makurdi, the Benue state capital and today you have gone to Damaturu the Yobe state capital.  In all the state capitals you held meetings with “stakeholders” as part of your efforts to find a lasting solution to the madness that seem to have taken hold of our collective sanity. 

Who are these “stakeholders”?  How could you be sure that you are meeting the right people, who represent the aggrieved or the victims?  Mr. President have you verified whether what was presented before you was not, what a friend of mine used to call “photo trick”?  Anyway, this is beside the point.

Mr. President, it is now clear to me that you have succumbed to the emotional blackmail of the villains by visiting them and not the victims.  The narrative in all these places that you visited was from the side of those who shielded you from going to the “theatres of war” to ascertain who did what and when.  My prayer is that one day you may find time to visit those places that were attacked and meet the real stakeholders. 

I pray one day that these victims will have the voice to make as much noise as is generated by those who succeeded in hoodwinking you now into making public condemnation of the likes of the Inspector General of Police (IG) because he refused to allow them have their ways.  

Mr. President your current jaunts across the states have been interpreted by many as a political gimmick, seeing that presidential election is barely a year away.  I disagree with those who hold this view, because I know you.  You have a good heart and you will never play politics with the life of a single individual, no matter where he comes from. 

But your selective visits and meetings is making my position on you untenable to those who hold the view that you place more premium on your second term than on the human life.  I feel very bad whenever I hear this very pedestrian argument.  Mr. President, can you please shame these nay-sayers by insisting on visiting at least the places I mentioned and meeting their leadership to enable you get to the bottom of the mess we find ourselves in?  It will go along way in strengthening my position whenever I stand up for you.

Your government had bended backwards to repatriate people who willingly paid their way to Libya enroute Europe in order to escape a country they spent a lifetime condemning.  Your government paid their way back to Nigeria and even gave them some stipends to take them home and all you got in return are insults.  I also recently read that your government is planning on employing about 204,000 youths from the Niger Delta, which is laudable.  But Mr. President all that the average farmer is asking for is to be left alone to tender to his herd and provide the protein needs of an ungrateful nation.  Are they asking much Mr. President?  Niger Delta supplies crude oil, which in turn provides us with foreign exchange, which we steal and establish farms on gazetted grazing reserves and stock routes. 

What made the Niger Delta militant better than the pastoralist in terms of government patronage?  I believe a tenth of the total monies expended in the Niger Delta will develop so many grazing reserves and stock routes.  

Farmers and herders have coexisted harmoniously in northern Nigeria since time.  They led a symbiotic relationship where the fodder left after harvest by the farmer feeds the cattle and the herder’s cattle fertilise the farmer’s fields for the next farming season.  How and when did they turn against each other?

Going through the ‘Taraba state Open Grazing Prohibition And Ranches Establishment Law, 2017’, the first thing in all the nine page document that caught my eye was the first item on the Objectives of the law – “to promote the modern techniques of animal husbandry, particularly the rearing of livestock”, I said to myself how.  How can I rear livestock in a situation where I am hunted like wildlife.  Taraba state have about 72% of unutilised land at the moment, Mr. president, yet they couldn’t provide 5,000 hectares to the federal government to establish a cattle colony in order to “promote modern techniques of animal husbandry…”.  These are the same people you held meetings with to find a solution?  Haba!

Under your watch sir, the Fulani, whether sedentary or nomadic have been criminlaised.  Crime now has a new name – Fulani herdsman.  Whenever there is a crisis anywhere, innocent Fulani men or women are forcefully dragged out and killed either in their homes or while travelling.  While the media frenzy on the mass burial of 73 coffins was ruling the airwaves, seven innocent travellers were hacked to death in broad daylight in the Gboko motor park.  This heinous crime wasn’t worth a word of condemnation from any quarter associated with your government.  Because they are Fulanis.  Because they can be expended.  Because they don’t have access to megaphones.

Visiting state capitals is okay as long as it is political gladiators you want to satisfy Mr. president or just to go and dine with those whose hands are soaked in blood.  But visiting the theatres and seeing for yourself what human damage was suffered by those villaininsed by the media will open your eyes to the real issues.

Don’t allow yourself to be cowed by anyone Mr. President.  Act presidential and do the right thing and not what you are told to do.

South Africa's chief prosecutor has announced he will charge Jacob Zuma, the former president, with corruption related to an arms deal.

Zuma will face 16 charges, including racketeering, fraud and money laundering. 

The corruption allegedly occurred during a $2.5bn deal made in the 1990s. Zuma was first charged with corruption in 2005 when his financial adviser was jailed on fraud and corruption charges.

"After consideration of the matter, I am of the view that there are reasonable prospects of successful prosecution of Mr Zuma on the charges listed in the indictment," Shaun Abrahams, the chief prosecutor, said.

Abrahams said a trial is an appropriate place to settle the matter. The chief prosecutor thinks there are "reasonable prospects of a successful prosecution".

Zuma went to trial in, 2006 but the case stalled when the prosecution said it was unable to continue more than a year after he had been charged.

The case was controversially dropped by the National Prosecuting Authority in 2009, shortly before Zuma won the presidency.

Zuma was forced to resign in February by his ruling African National Congress (ANC) party.

He was accused of corruption numerous times during his nine-year presidency but has always maintained his innocence.

Aljazeera

The  World Bank’s World Development Report 2018 has shown that only about 20 per cent of young Nigerian adults who have completed primary education can read. The report said that when primary four pupils in Nigeria were asked to complete a simple two-digit subtraction problem, more than three-quarters of those asked could not solve it. It warned that a ‘learning crisis’ loomed in education, pointing out that “schooling without learning was not just a wasted development opportunity, but also a great injustice to children and young people.” The report, which was entitled: ‘Learning to Realize Education’s Promise’, was launched in Abuja on Tuesday March 6, 2018.

The report calls for greater measurement, action on evidence, and coordination of all education actors. Among the policy steps recommended were: stronger learning assessments, using evidence of what works to guide education decision-making and mobilising a strong social movement to push for education changes for “learning for all.” The educational policy in Nigeria has always considered education as an important tool of national development and human welfare. This policy position was taken so seriously in the 70s and 80s that many governments at the state level instituted free education at all levels. However, what has become obvious in the last two decades is that the policy has not been successfully implemented. It is now obvious that instituting free education does not guarantee that children of school age will be in school. This is largely because of the deepening poverty which forces children of school age to join the list of income-generating members of their families in order to sustain livelihood.

Today,  making basic education universal, free and compulsory as a matter of policy is no longer sufficient. The government must take positive action by providing incentives for poor parents to put their children in school. Such circumstances in several countries like Brazil, Kenya and India have led governments to introduce massive conditional cash transfers and school feeding programmes to keep children in school. These have to be done to break the vicious cycle of poverty created by millions of out-of-school children. In any case, successive governments in Nigeria have been slow in adopting these measures.  During the launching of the report, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, was quick to announce that the current government had developed a roadmap for the education sector entitled: ‘Education for Change: A Ministerial Strategic Plan.’ He also noted that the government had launched a number of programmes such as the N-Power programme and the home-grown School Feeding Programme to reduce the number of out-of-school children and to bring them into the classroom. The point he did not state is that these programmes are still at the pilot stage. They are not massive programmes that can lead to a significant change in the current situation.

Furthermore, the issue of capacity gaps, not just in the management of public schools by teachers and school administrators, but also among officials of the Ministry of Education who are expected to oversee and supervise the work of those in the schools, is not given adequate attention. Also important is the fact that many of those who are high up in the educational sector do not send their children to public schools.  Thus, the interest in addressing the problems in the public schools is not strong. Yet, public schools with their relatively poor performance in service delivery hold a significantly higher number of school children in the country. Thus, if the crisis in the educational sector is to be addressed, the focus must be on basic education as it is related to public schools.

Government officials and other stakeholders, including private sector operatives, must know that even the underprivileged deserve effective and meaningful education.  These underprivileged citizens constitute the majority of citizens and their interests can only be neglected to the detriment of development, peace and stability of the entire country.

Tribune

Islamic scholars have criticised the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) over its 2018 May/June Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE)

In its recently released timetable, candidates are expected to write Chemistry paper from 2pm to 5pm on Friday, April 20 which has now clashed with the Muslim Jummat Prayer.

The Muslim Friday prayers usually hold as from 1:30pm to 3pm.

Ishaq Akintola, president of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), speaking on the Timetable said it is an “injustice” against Muslims, whom he claimed had become “endangered species”.

According to him, WAEC has been fixing examinations during Jummat time for some years which is “illegal, unconstitutional and unlawful”.

He said, “When there is no justice, there can never be peace and everyone is clamouring for peace.

“Until something starts happening, until the Muslims start disrupting WAEC examination, until Muslims start tearing WAEC examination materials, that is when government will start paying attention.

“WAEC is playing games and they want the Muslims to make noise every year, the council is deliberately provoking Muslims and it has continued to show itself as a consistent anti-Muslim institution.

“Section 38 subsection 1 and 2 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s constitution stipulates that there must be freedom of worship and WAEC fixing an examination for 2pm simply means that WAEC does not want Muslims to worship, therefore WAEC is an oppressor and we are ready for them.

“The Muslims in every vicinity of the exam can mobilise on the day of the examination and go to the schools which the exams will be written, we are sending this warning to WAEC not to dare it.

“Fixing a major subject at Jummat time is illegal, unconstitutional and unlawful.”he said.

Similarly, AbdulRazaq Kilani, who is the chief Imam of the University of Port Harcourt, said it had become a normal narrative in Nigeria that Muslims have to protest before simple rights can be given to them.

“WAEC is an international organization, one would have expected that they take due diligence by identifying subjects that they could put on Friday which are not core subjects like carpentry, textiles among others that are not offered by large number of candidates. So putting Chemistry there is wrong,” he said.

DailyPost 

A UN expert committee has announced that four countries could soon “graduate” from the ranks of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable nations.

The four countries are: Bhutan, Kiribati, Sao Tome and Principe and the Solomon Islands, according to Jose Ocampo, chair of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP).

Mr. Ocampo said the countries had increased national earning power and improved access to health care and education, making them eligible to exit the group of least developed countries (LDCs).

“This is an historic occasion,” Ocampo, said, noting that only five countries had graduated since the UN established the LDC category in 1971.

LDCs are assessed using three criteria: health and education targets; economic vulnerability; and gross national income per capita.

Countries must meet two of the three criteria at two consecutive triennial reviews of the CDP to be considered for graduation.

The Committee would send its recommendations to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for endorsement, which would then refer its decision to the UN General Assembly.

A member of CDP, Diane Elson, a professor at the University of Essex in the United Kingdom, said the announcement was good news for millions of women in rural areas.

Elson pointed out that the latest session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), currently under way in New York, was discussing the challenges facing this population.

“The success of the countries that are graduating reflects things like the improvement of the health and the education of the population, which extends to rural women, and the increase in incomes in the country, which extends to rural women,” she said.

However, Elson stressed that the countries would need continued international support because they remained vulnerable to external shocks, including the impact of climate change, currently evident in Pacific Island states such as Kiribati.

Globally, there are 47 LDCs, according to the UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.

The majority, 33, are in Africa, while 13 can be found in the Asia-Pacific region, and one is in Latin America.

In the 47 years of the LDC category’s existence, only five countries – Botswana, Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Maldives and Samoa – had graduated.

The CDP said two more countries, Vanuatu and Angola, were scheduled for graduation over the next three years.

Nepal and Timor-Leste also met the criteria but were not recommended for graduation at this time, due to economic and political challenges.

That decision would be deferred to the next CDP triennial review in 2021, according to Ocampo.

NAN