A SERAP report exposes the corruption underbellies in our higher institutions 

An unrelieved litany of woes: That, in sum, is what emerges from the report issued last week by the non-governmental organisation Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) on the condition of Nigerian universities.

In the main, it speaks of how corruption has stripped down the universities and “stolen the future” for which they are supposed to be preparing their wards, and how malpractices have been entrenched by a culture that neither investigates allegations thoroughly nor punishes substantiated malfeasance.

The 58-page comprehensive report, produced with funding support from the MacArthur Foundation, presented to the media by Bolajoko Dixon-Ogbechi, an associate professor of Business Administration at the University of Lagos, identified practices that call into question not just the integrity of the university system but the very purpose of the university.

Official Visitations to federal universities have highlighted many of these issues time and again. It is a measure of the stubborn persistence of those same issues that SERAP found it necessary to dwell on them so copiously in its report.

However, it is necessary to enter some caveats.

Only two of more than 40 federal universities figure in the report:  the University of Lagos – and not even the university proper, but its College of Medicine — and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, substituted for the University of Abuja in the original design because the latter was on vacation.

The findings may well be indicative of the problem with federal universities but they are by no means conclusive. A wider study may well come up with a more nuanced report, or one that may exculpate or censure more strongly some of the universities.

Just how much access to the various constituencies of the universities in the study, and to financial statements, official records of meetings of key academic and administrative bodies?  How representative of these constituencies are the parties it interrogated?

A response rate would have helped in evaluating how representative the data was. It should also be kept in mind that those  disaffected with the system for one reason or another are usually the most likely to respond in studies of this nature, even when controls are built into the design.  Convenience samples, such as were employed in part for the study, rarely conduce to reliable findings.

But even with these caveats, the SERAP report deserves close official scrutiny.

As was noted by the senior attorney Femi Falana at the presentation of the report, former vice chancellors of three federal universities are currently standing trial on fraud charges. Also, credible intimations of serious fraud have been uncovered at the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), an important affiliate of the university system.

Overall, then, there is sufficient concern to warrant a comprehensive Visitation to the federal university system and allied institutions.

The Nation

The authorities could do more to contain the menace

The recent decision by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), to engage the services of native witch doctors to curb trafficking in persons, tells the enormity of the challenges and the urgent need by all stakeholders to rally round the agency in combating the menace. Expressing the agency’s readiness to confront the criminal activities of human traffickers head-on, the NAPTIP Director General, Mrs Julie Okah-Donli, said the agency had gathered “witch doctors’’ in Benin, Edo State capital and made them ambassadors in fighting against the menace. “When we gathered these witch doctors recently to sensitise them on what human trafficking victims go through in Europe, they were shocked. And they have made their commitments to work with us to fight the menace of human trafficking,” said Okah-Donli.

Instructively, the danger posed by human traffickers has also attracted the attention of the respected Benin Monarch, Oba Ewuare II who recently expressed concern over rising cases and illegal migration. Expressing surprise about the development considering the increasing number of religious worship centres in the society, the Oba stated that reports indicated that many of the clerics may have been encouraging human trafficking and illegal migration, instead of discouraging it. The Oba promised that the Palace would collaborate with security agencies to reduce the crime in the state.

However, human trafficking is both international and local – we have the source, the transit and destination states. Records have shown that the proportion of the local trafficking almost equal international dimension of the criminal act. Some unscrupulous Nigerians recruit from their villages and towns young girls with the promise of securing for them good jobs in urban centres only to turn them to prostitutes. That explains why it is urgent and important for the NAPTIP to partner with other organisations in tackling this threat.

The latest and most heinous dimension to trafficking is that it has gone beyond sexual exploitation. The traffickers now trade in human organs. They sell human organs for financial benefits. The harvesting of organs has become attractive to these criminals because there are so many people in need of kidney, liver and heart transplants, and records reveal that these organs are in high demand, especially in developed countries. There is therefore need for collaborative efforts by the relevant local agencies, state governments and the international partners in dealing with the issue.

The global community has already seen this act as a threat and many have expressed disappointment over the slow approach by the Nigerian government. A recent report by an organ of the UN on human trafficking rated Nigeria poorly in tackling human trafficking. Before the latest report, Nigeria got to “first tier’’ and later dropped to “tier-two watch list.’’ And one of the reasons given for the downgrade was that child soldiers were being used in the North-east.

While we condemn human trafficking, we are of the strong belief that a demonstration of political will to diligently prosecute offenders would serve as deterrent to those engaged in the nefarious trade.

Thisday

The construction of a $6.7bn Ibadan to Kaduna rail line was among some of the projects reported to have been approved by President Muhammadu Buhari’s Federal Executive Council meeting that took place recently. The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, announced that the project is expected to last three years.

Now this piece of news may appear like some positive news until one realises that, going by the antecedent of this government, this may just end up being what it is: Another piece of news.

Can’t I be excused therefore if I say this government is just chasing shadows and pursuing propaganda, a thing which many say it is very good at?

I will explain why I believe this is the case shortly, but not before sharing my opinion on the kind of projects that I think are important to this President, this government, than Nigeria’s development.

I made the point recently that if this government and indeed the APC were really serious about developing this great giant with feet of clay, they knew exactly what to do from the outset. But alas, it appears their intentions are of a different kind.

Although I supported President Buhari in 2015 -a thing I deeply regret today- his actions since have proved beyond doubt that just as a “rightist” cannot learn the use of the left hand at an old age, a leopard does not change its spots.

It is on record that in 1984, as then Head of State, Buhari promoted his Daura tribe to the most powerful force in Dodan Barracks, Lagos, which was then the seat of power.

To the utter disappointment of those who argued that the man has indeed changed, all the evidence today suggests that, far from a genuine interest in development, the real intention is to promote and entrench the power of a certain group. Some have even argued that tribe and religion have once again taken over.

Far from Amaechi’s announcement, recently, our President made what many believe was a real announcement when he said that: “Negotiations are also advanced for the construction of a rail line…, firstly, from Kano to Maradi in Niger Republic passing through Kazaure, Daura, Katsina, Jibia to Maradi…”

A close friend from the North once told me of how, with just less than N1,000, one could literarily evaporate in Daura, Nigeria and recondense in Niger Republic.

In fact, Daura Emirate stretches deep into Maradi and Zinder, both of them populated with the Fulani, a people that many have argued are a tiny percentage in the Nigerian population demographics.

During the 2015 general elections, there were reports of thousands of people crossing from Niger Republic, many of whom were underage voters as was recently reported in the Kano LG election, through our extremely porous borders to vote in our elections in favour of a particular candidate, without questioning from election officials.

As if to buttress this fact, recall how President Buhari, upon achieving his lifelong ambition, was received like a triumphant son of the land who just returned from a war,  when he visited Niger Republic, as his very first foreign trip after he was sworn in.

How many of us know that in 2016, the President of Niger Republic emblazoned Buhari’s photograph beside his own on vehicles during his campaign?

Any wonder then why some have argued that the planned railway network is a selfish project that has nothing to do with the interest of Nigerians?

What is so urgent about a rail line from Nigeria to Niger when as we speak, our education system in a shambles? We need not look far than the dilapidated infrastructure in our universities and the fall in standard of our morals and educational values in our pupils to know see this.

I am in my mid-thirties, and as I write, I have hardly witnessed a day without power cut in this country since I was born. And there are many more who go for months without it at a time where South Africa which is four times less than our population is generating four times megawatts more than us.

There are no roads, no security, God forbid that one is caught in an emergency situation and then one will know the bitter truth of this fact. Many times, we have seen how, in road accidents, our road safety officials pile human bodies in rickety wagons like meat sellers coming from their abattoirs.

As we speak, Nigeria does not have a standard airport, when the country actually deserves two airports of international standard, one in the North and the other in the South, both serving the entire West African sub region. Only one trip to a decent country, even South Africa, is enough to show us how much of a junk all our airports are.

If President Buhari is so interested in connecting Nigeria to another country, what stops him from initiating the process of building world class roads, connecting Nigeria, all the way from southern Nigeria, through coastal cities like Calabar and so on, through Lagos to economically viable places like Port Novo, Lome to Abidjan?

We are not saying Buhari should wave a magic wand and change the rots that have plagued this nation overnight, No. The point is that he should have started the process of healing, of accountability, of a massive investment in infrastructure, and opening up of the economy of this country.

But what did we get instead from a President who swore an oath to uphold the constitution of Nigeria and look out for the best interest of her people at all times?

In the face of the satanic killings going on all over the country, biting hardship,  an economy in a downward spiral, the suffering of the people emanating from increase in virtually every commodity in the market, and recent negative ratings coming from reputable international bodies like Transparency International etc, President Buhari has displayed his belief in acute tribal and religious politics.

Where does the APC hope to get the funds to execute the rail project to Maradi if not from borrowing or from an impoverished southern region whose people continue to be marginalised as we speak?

For all those still defending the APC and those still committing the sin of silence in the face of all this anomaly in Nigeria, for whatever reason,  especially the misguided youths still singing their praise, I hope you all choke on the pricking of your conscience.

Nobody, no matter how highly placed, should be allowed to take what belongs to all of us for himself and his kinsmen alone?

I was moved when I saw this same President cry in front of the cameras and promised he would not contest elections again if he failed the 2011 election, and was even more touched when he told a pressman that at over 70, he had less years to spend in Nigeria compared to the young man, in case Nigeria was not fixed. That was when I said to myself, this had to be the man. So, what is the point of the tears? Clannishness, tribalism and religious bigotry?

I won’t be fooled a second time…

Akanbi is a researcher and novelist

It is gratifying to note that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, headquarters has accepted the challenge of probing the alleged underage voters scandal, videos of which went viral after the recent local government polls in Kano State.

Chairman of the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission, KSIEC, Professor Garba Sheka, had expressed his Commission’s readiness to cooperate in any investigation of the incident. Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the National Chairman of INEC quickly empanelled the eight-man committee led by Abubakar Nahuche, an engineer, to “ascertain if the voter register requested by the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission, KSIEC, was actually used in the election,” and make any other recommendations towards unravelling the affront to our democracy.

Confusion arose following the broadcast of the videos showing scores of children well under ten queuing to vote in the election. INEC’s spokesman, Oluwole Osaze- Uzzi, had distanced the Commission from it, blaming the KSIEC and adding that the Commission has no power to conduct local government elections.

At a public function however, the Kano State Commissioner for Information, Mr Mohammed Garba, reported that the pictures and videos of the underage voters were captured during the 2015 elections which incidentally brought President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and other currently serving elected officials to power.

All these disclosures make the investigation even more crucial because if it is credibly conducted, it will unravel a lot of truths hitherto hidden about the fidelity of our elections in the past and present, with a view to correcting them in the general elections which come up a year from now.

This issue might even necessitate an indepth probe on the circumstances leading to the death of the Kano State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Mukaila Abdullahi, who after conducting the 2015 polls perished along with his family in a mystery fire which the police blamed on electric surge.

We call on the National Assembly, the media, civil society groups and the general public to keenly track this probe and ensure that the whole truth about it is unravelled to maintain the integrity of our electoral process and bring justice to those who might have been injured or cheated.

Vanguard

Last  Monday, the nation was once again in the throes of anger and desperation following the abduction of students of Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, by Boko Haram. The incident came four years after the same terror group invaded a female school in Chibok, Borno State, taking into captivity, more than 200 girls. Up till now, more than 100 of those hapless girls remain in captivity, despite the repeated promises by the government that it would secure their release after a tripartite negotiated freedom for a number of their colleagues last year. Although the terrorists have sustained their sporadic attacks on mostly soft targets over time, the Monday onslaught on Dapchi College is most frightening, and virtually all the concerned authorities are enmeshed in panicky measures and cacophonies.  None has been able to provide concrete clues on the circumstances surrounding the abduction, particularly the actual number of the “unaccounted for girls.”

In particular, the government’s conduct has fuelled public anger and made the parents and guardians of the abducted girls to question its capacity to manage crisis. It is totally unreasonable and callous for the government to preoccupy itself with fairy tales, claiming that some of the girls yet to be accounted for might be hibernating in the villages to which they fled after the onslaught on their college, instead of making serious efforts to track their whereabouts.

We believe that the Dapchi abduction is not just another national calamity and embarrassment but an avoidable tragedy. If the various authorities had done the needful more diligently and faithfully, the back and forth between the state government and the military over security lapses before the incident and the rescue operation would have been entirely unnecessary. At this stage, it is important to caution that the Dapchi abduction should not be allowed to degenerate in the manner that the Chibok Girls saga did. Enough of buck-passing among the concerned authorities; the girls must be rescued without further delay. The somberness on the part of the Presidency must translate into quick re-uniting of the students with their families.

Lastly, the whole episode should be investigated   and  whoever is found culpable should be sanctioned appropriately to show the place of discipline, professionalism and decorum in public service. Those who shirked their responsibility to protect life and property must not be allowed to go scot-free.

Tribune

CBN’s order to banks on dividend payments could not have come at a better time

Worried by the tide of rising Non-Performing Loans (NPLs), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and discount houses (DHs) with huge bad loans and low capital base to stop payment of dividends to shareholders.

Part of the letter dated January 31, read: “Globally, retained earnings have been identified as an important source of growing an institution’s capital. Advantages of retained earnings include being a source of long-term finance; being easier and cheaper to raise than external finance; curtailment of financial risks; and improving liquidity and profitability.

“However, it has been observed that rather than take advantage of this beneficial means of capital generation, some institutions pay out a greater proportion of their profits, irrespective of their risk profile and the need to build resilience through adequate capital buffers.”

“Any Deposit Money Bank or discount house that does not meet the minimum capital adequacy ratio shall not be allowed to pay dividend.

“The DMBs and DHs that have a Composite Risk Rating of ‘High’ or a non-performing loan ratio of above 10 per cent shall not be allowed to pay dividend.

“The DMBs and DHs that meet the minimum capital adequacy ratio but have a CRR of ‘Above Average’ or an NPL ratio of more than five per cent but less than 10 per cent shall have dividend pay-out ratio of not more than 30 per cent.

“The DMBs and the DHs that have capital adequacy ratios of at least three per cent above the minimum requirement, the CRR of ‘Low’ and the NPL ratio of more than five per cent but less than 10 per cent, shall have dividend pay-out ratio of not more than 75 per cent of profit after tax.”

The directive, apart from being explicit, is certainly timely. Aside underscoring the seriousness that the apex bank attaches to the issue of rising cases of bad loans, it comes as an emphatic signal that the corporate derelictions which allowed the problem to fester would no longer be condoned. After all, to say that the situation is bad is to put things mildly. At a time the CBN’s prescribed minimum NPL threshold is five per cent for banks, the level of NPL had long hit 15.18 per cent as of September 2017 – a leap of 50 percent from N1.6tn in December 2016 to N2.4tn.

The directive therefore comes across as a necessary dual-edged sword – one meant to sift the wheat from the chaff, while offering a lifeline for marginal performers to shore up their capital bases.

Understandably, there are those who would baulk at the idea of ‘punishing’ the hordes of investors for the poor credit decisions of the banks’ management. In other words, why go after the hapless investors while sparing the executives behind most of the poor credit decisions of the regulatory axe? While the question is no doubt legitimate, no less legitimate is whether the shareholders are themselves not complicit in their acquiescence to a number of the questionable decisions by the management of the institutions.

This leads to the question of whether the CBN can afford to do nothing. The situation, as it appears, comes basically to the simple choice – between the festering cannibal rage on the ailing entities on the one hand, and denial of current earnings on investments to guarantee the entities a chance to thrive on the other. Between the former and the later, it should not be difficult to see which of the alternatives the lesser evil is.

The Nation

THE directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stopping the payment of dividends to shareholders by Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and Discount Houses (DHs) with huge bad loans and low capital bases is a welcome approach to the strengthening and protection of the financial services sector.

Concerns have been mounting over the declining assets and solvency of some banks and discount houses in recent years, and the CBN has a responsibility to address them. According to the directive dated January 31, 2018, and signed by the Director, Banking Supervision Department, Mr. Ahmad Abdullahi, the apex bank said it had observed that rather than grow their capital by retaining earnings, some banks pay out a greater proportion of their profits, irrespective of their risk profile and the need to build resilience through adequate capital buffers.

To avoid this risk, the regulator said banks and discount houses with Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) above 10 percent must, henceforth, stop paying dividends to their shareholders. While noting that “globally, retained earnings have been identified as an important source of growing an institution’s capital,” the CBN reminded the banks and discount houses of the advantages of retaining their earnings. These include the fact that the retained earnings will be a source of long-term finance that would be cheaper and easier to raise than external finance. They will also help with the curtailment of financial risks and improve liquidity as well as profitability. The banking regulator further said that rather than take advantage of this beneficial means of capital generation, some of the financial institutions follow the narrow, short-term path that is fraught with risk by ingratiating shareholders via dividend payments.

In addition, the directive said “the DMBs and DHs that meet the minimum capital adequacy ratio but have a CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio) of ‘Above Average’ or an NPL ratio of more than five percent but less than 10 percent, shall have dividend payment ratio of not more than 30 percent.” This CBN intervention is a helpful initiative that should steer our banking and other financial institutions away from the stormy waters many of them are sailing into.

It is instructive that the minimum NPL threshold for banks is five percent. This means that lenders’ bad loans should not exceed five percent of their loan books. But, as the CBN’s Financial System Stability (FSS) report showed in February, 2017, some of the banks far exceeded this threshold. While this may not necessarily call for panic, it clearly indicates that all hands should be on deck to strengthen the fundamentals of the banks in the critical areas of assets and capital planning, adequacy and generation.

Undoubtedly, it is every shareholder’s joy to get good dividends at the end of every financial year. Coming a few days to the release of the 2017 financial year annual reports by commercial banks and discount houses, the CBN directive seems a killjoy. However, the stability and solvency of our financial institutions are fundamental and should be protected by all necessary means.

Currently, the declining assets and bad loans of the banking industry are becoming worrisome. For instance, figures from the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) show that as at September 2017, the banking sector’s NPLs stood at a disturbing 15.18 percent. They had shot up from N1.6 trillion in December 2016 to N2.4trn in September 2017.

Shareholders will certainly not like what the CBN has done. The move, however, is also for their protection as it is in their best interest to keep the institutions stable and profitable on the long run. The directive mirrors the state of affairs in the concerned institutions. The FSS report already referred to measures the soundness of the banks using indicators such as assets quality, capital and income adequacy and the ratio of NPLs.
In almost all these key indices, many Nigerian banks have not performed well. Discount houses are, perhaps, worse. Over the years, the banks’ NPLs have been increasing steadily. For example, in 2016, bad loans amounted to N2.08trn. In the 2015 NDIC Annual Report, banks’ NPLs increased to N648.8bn, from N354.34bn in 2014, an increase of 82.8 percent. There is no doubt that bad loans are dangerous to the health of financial institutions.

The banks and discount houses must, therefore, strive to check their NPLs and keep their capital bases at the required levels so that they can pay dividends to their shareholders. The shareholders should not be the victims of the institutions’ failure to meet the criteria set out by the CBN to pay dividends.

All in all, the decision of the CBN should not be seen as harsh on shareholders. Rather, it is one of the measures rolled out by the regulator to put the financial institutions in good stead and keep them focused on their core mandates. The current economic environment in which commercial banks and discount houses are operating makes it expedient to continuously keep them in check through reasonable regulatory measures.

Sun

In a country where all the tiers of government are bereft of ideas on youth employment, job creation, human capital and natural resources management, how many former governors, serving state chief executives and public office holders have addressed the country’s unemployment superfluity as much as Asiwaju Tinubu? All that we get to read in the newspapers and hear on the electronic media are primitive acquisition of onshore and offshore property and money-laundering irrefutable facts in safe places like Switzerland, South Africa, USA and lately Dubai involving the above categories of thievish Nigerians!

On a declarative note, if all former governors had invested half of their loot here, instead of overseas, this country would not have been in a currency of stagnation. With the exception of just a few of the former governors, like Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, Dr. Shehu Shema and Alhaji Sule Lamido, who were already opulent before assuming the reins of government because of their robust professional and entrepreneurial antecedents, most of them were paupers as at 1999.

The eminent like of Tinubu, as you will read presently, had “touched” (excuse the parlance) money in all its thresholds. So, Asiwaju Tinubu’s famed financial comfort in all its critics’ inflation has a verifiable pedigree of nobility.

All the fables about Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu recanting on Asiwaju Tinubu are balderdash to this writer and signpost idiocy because Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo (retd.) abused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in dealing with his political opponents, former friends and erstwhile military colleagues, especially those who did not support his third term tomfoolery! It is unfortunate that Ribadu associated with clownish Baba and allowed himself to be used by his callous principal to execute vendetta and domestication of queer leadership.

Even Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr., a supranational investor and global financial prodigy, was among those recklessly harassed because of Dr. Adenuga’s long-standing friendship with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (the rest of the story is being documented about now by historians) and their stout rejection of the third term misadventure. A manifest demonstration of preposterous pettiness by the Owu title holder from Abeokuta! Never again! Punitive leadership is aberrational, retrogressive and hallmarks incivility.

Of all the well-deserved accolades and titular bestowals that have so far come the way of this messianic enigma who was recently appointed the peacemaker for the disintegrating All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Tinubu, a man dogged by moronic misconceptions and erroneous classifications that are drunkenly spun to discredit and diminish his person, the one I like most is “the Asiwaju (Leader) of South West Politics” and, by extrapolation, contemporary Nigeria—as the National Leader of the ruling party. When Prof. Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first African to achieve that global feat, the late Prof. Chinua Achebe, in his reaction, declared that the award did not make him the Asiwaju of Nigerian Literature!

The contextual application of that title made me to take morphological and historical note of that prefix ever since.

But, in the matter of Asiwaju Tinubu, I think there should be a lexical reversal of that leadership circumstance as perceived by the master story teller. There is no doubt that in the case of Asiwaju Tinubu, the title is quite befitting in the light of recent political developments in the South West geopolitical zone with the former governor of Lagos State playing a critical role in virtually all the transformative manifestations—even far more than he did as an executive governor for eight years and his inspired evolution of a revolutionary successor.

Of course, there are tepid controversies and chimerical allegations maliciously woven around this unusual troubleshooter. This writer holds the view that no politician of Tinubu’s status and clout (and, indeed, all politicians for that matter) will function in this warped arena without attracting all manner of opprobrious references in rascally contextualization. The issue is, what is the veracity of some of these moonlight tales and how do they impact on the APC re-engineering and the country’s overall human development index? Or, are they just for purposes of witch-hunt and travesty of democracy? And why is Asiwaju Tinubu the biggest symbol of character assassination in the country today?

As a member of the National Media Tour Team under the distinguished leadership of the then Information and National Orientation Minister Prof. Jerry Gana in the first term of the Obasanjo second presidency, I had the rare privilege of going round the entire country on an assessment of the delivery of political dividends in the Second Republic.

With all sense of responsibility, I honestly reaffirm here that some contemporaries of Asiwaju Tinubu in sane climes would have been shot dead for brazen incompetency, unquantifiable and indescribable graft and gross underdevelopment of their states. Comparatively, most of his peers at the time had state headquarters that resembled Lagos Ajegunle or Maroko of yore. Even the governor of one of the oil-rich states in the South South with all its mind-boggling revenue ran away on the arrival of our inspection team in his state capital because of his mismanagement of the huge resources that had accrued to the state running into billions of naira! Last month, the state got the highest allocation.

Asiwaju Tinubu may not be a saint, just as he may not be a sinner, too. I take solace in the scriptural realm that says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The essence of our existence is the impact we make on society and the level of atonement we make, ultimately. The matter is not about canonization or holier-than-thou attitudinal disposition. And the question of martyrdom does not arise in this clime. I know full well that the fading clan of hypercritics of Asiwaju Tinubu will call for my head for doing this unusual conflict-resolution piece. I am, however, satisfied by the fact that we do not know each other, have not met before and do not share anything in common remotely or visibly. The only time I saw him from a distance was at the presentation of a book by master-satirist and senior friend of mine, Dr. Olatunji Dare, at the Agip Recital Hall of Muson Centre sometime ago.

As long as you are in the public space, it is impossible to carry on without pugilistic criticisms, wild allegations, baseless rumours, sundry suspicions and outright malice. Innuendos, tantrums, vilification, diatribes and vituperation, et al, must inevitably come your way. Some people will just hate your guts for no plausible reason except for the mirage of corruption and oppressive potentialities!

So, Asiwaju should understand this public-life matrix and its concomitant jaundice and ignore them or respond sparingly when there is absolute need. In this breath, it does not make sense exchanging vitriolic statements with men of straw. Foul communication tarnishes a leader’s reputation. Public outbursts are for minions. We all have our foibles.

It gets to a stage in one’s life when his works speak volumes of his person and contributions to societal development. That, gladly, is the irreversible point that this Asiwaju of South West and Nigerian politics has astoundingly arrived at, against all odds. As I round off this profiling of the APC peacemaker, there are tales doing the rounds that this emerging South West leader dismembered both the Alliance for Democracy and Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural organization, for his own selfish political ascent. Time will tell.

I wish Asiwaju—the aristocratic and indisputable “owner” of Lagos—the best in his reconciliatory assignation.

Does President Muhammadu Buhari know that some Nigerians associate his name with hardship? Trending on the social media is a recommendation that the Oxford dictionary should consider adding the word ‘Buhari’ to its lexicon.

The suggested meanings are: hard, hardship, difficult, harsh, and tough. An adjectival example of the word goes thus: “How was your exam?” “It was Buharific!”

In the same token, I suspect that the 2019 general election is going to be Buharific! To die-hard Buharists, the President must go for a second term. This is because, as Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State put it, the 24 All Progressives Congress governors are ready to support his re-election.

Apparently to show the seriousness of this re-election project, Bello bellowed some inanities against the Catholic bishops for daring to tell the President that things were hard for many Nigerians. He reportedly told the bishops that those who opposed Buhari were corrupt Christian leaders who were unhappy because looters were no longer able to pay tithes to them. He has since recanted and apologised to the bishops.

Many other people and groups have also vowed to compel the President to seek re-election. In expressing its support, the Buhari Campaign Organisation (BCO) said the President had fulfilled most of his campaign promises, particularly in the areas of security, war against corruption and revamping of the economy.

Let’s examine these three broad areas the BCO has identified. The first is security. On this score, there are some improvements. For instance, the government claims that the nation’s major security threat, Boko Haram, has largely been decimated. To an extent, this is true.

However, the terrorist organisation still carries out pockets of raids in different parts of the North. Last Monday, for instance, they abducted scores of young schoolgirls from Government Girls Science Secondary School, Dapchi, Yobe State. The number of kidnapped girls is not certain but some reports indicate that they are over 100.

This is outside the almost daily menace of Fulani herdsmen. They have struck in Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Enugu and many other parts of the country, killing and maiming. Their activities are capable of engendering a civil war, but nothing much has been done to stop them.

The rising rate of other criminal activities, some of which arose as a result of the hardship in the country, is also worrisome. Ritual killings, kidnappings and armed robberies are typical examples. On some occasions last year, luxury bus drivers had to block the Benin-Ore expressway to protest incessant robberies on that road.

The second plank upon which many people support Buhari is his assumed war against corruption. Yes, he might be upright as a person, but a lot of water has passed under his anti-corruption bridge. Today, Nigerians use snakes as a metaphor to describe the level of corruption in the country. Remember that a sales clerk in the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board office in Makurdi, one Philomena Chieshe, revealed recently that a mysterious snake swallowed N36 million left in the vault of the board in Makurdi.

Many prominent government officials have also swallowed huge sums of our money and nothing serious has happened. Last year, whistleblowers discovered some N13 billion inside a flat at Ikoyi, Lagos. So far, nobody has been arrested or prosecuted for that.

More pathetic is the National Health Insurance Scheme case. Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, suspended Prof. Usman Yusuf, who happens to be the executive secretary of the NHIS, on account of alleged fraud, for which he is being investigated by the anti-graft agencies. Pronto,President Buhari reinstated him.

Even the Social Investment Programmes (SIP) of the present regime has been marred by fraud as revealed recently by the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment Programmes, Mrs. Maryam Uwais. Lopsided appointments are a story for another day.

To cap it all, Transparency International, in its latest annual Corruption Perception Index, noted that corruption in Nigeria worsened between 2016 and 2017. The country ranked 148 out of 180 countries assessed in 2017. The index showed that out of 100 points, Nigeria scored only 27. In 2016, Nigeria scored 28 points and ranked 136th in the ranking of countries.

On the third plank, which is economy, Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, believes there are improvements. He said the Buhari-led administration has given more support to state governments than any other government since 1999. This support runs into about N1.91 trillion as at September 2017.

Prof. Osinbajo added that, despite 60 per cent less revenue, the Buhari government had made the highest capital spend in the history of the country in the sum of about N1.3 trillion. The Federal Government, for instance, is building the Lagos-Kano standard gauge rail and has signed up for the Lagos-Calabar rail project. Work on the Second Niger Bridge is said to be ongoing.

The Federal Government has also claimed to be doing close to 15 million metric tons of paddy yearly. It cut rice importation by about 80 per cent, and boasted about its Social Investment Programmes.

Part of the sing-song is that, under the immediate past administration, Nigeria generated a lot of oil revenue, but, under Buhari, the revenue declined. They would tell you how previous governments frittered away external reserves and savings, how our direct foreign investment declined and so forth.

Today, sympathisers of the government would tell you that foreign direct investments have picked up, external reserves boosted, and savings increased. Besides, there is the agricultural revolution. The Treasury Single Account (TSA) has plugged financial loopholes. And trillions of looted funds have been recovered. The President is said to have liberated the country from an impending economic doom, and he has succeeded in repositioning the economy from dependency on oil to other sources of revenue such as agriculture.

But the question is, how have all these impacted on the lives of ordinary citizens? As the director-general of the International Labour Organisation, Guy Ryder, put it, access to decent work opportunities for all is the best way to lift people out of poverty, reduce inequality and drive economic growth.

So, how many Nigerians have this access to decent work opportunities? The statistics are not salutary. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose from 14.2 per cent to 18.8 per cent in 2017. The labour population, the NBS said, increased from 83.9 million in the second quarter to 85.1 million in the third quarter of 2017. In simple terms, many people have lost their jobs.

Recently, Osinbajo enthused about rising foreign investment flows. But what he failed to mention is that the bulk of the inflow is portfolio or short-term equity investments by hedge funds and other institutional global fund managers. As my friend and economist, Teslim Shitta-Bey, put it, most of this fresh investment flows represent ‘hot’ money and adds little, if any, long-term value to the economy by way of infrastructure and employment.

I may not be an economist, but I know that many Nigerians are going through excruciating times today. Personally, I receive a lot of calls from people whose children are at home because school fees have not been paid. For some, even to get food to eat is a big problem.

The NBS, in its poverty report published late 2016, said about 112 million Nigerians live below poverty level. This represents 67.1 per cent of the country’s total population of about 167 million. Poverty has actually robbed many Nigerians of their dignity. Physical and mental illnesses have become the order of the day.

Last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) came out with a damning report about depression in Nigeria. Depression is a mood disorder, which causes persistent feeling of sadness.

According to WHO figures, 7,079,815 Nigerians suffer depression. That is 3.9 per cent of the population. And these are people who were once rated the happiest on earth. About 4,894,557 others suffer anxiety disorders.

This is why suicide has climbed to an alarming rate in the country. Recently, a lecturer with the Kwara State University and a 300 level student of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, committed suicide. Last October, a 54-year-old director in the Kogi State Civil Service, Mr. Edward Soje, killed himself. He was owed 11 months’ salary arrears.

According to the WHO suicide ranking, with 15.1 suicides per 100,000 population in a year, Nigeria is the 30th most suicide-prone (out of 183 nations) in the world and the 10th in Africa.

Unfortunately, this government has been playing the blame game. Nigerians knew there were problems. They elected Buhari to solve those problems, not to give excuses, not to commit further errors.

As Prof. Wole Soyinka said recently, Buhari appears to be in a trance and has committed so many unforced errors. Some other prominent Nigerians like former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida have pointed out some of these errors.

I know the President means well for Nigeria. But his age, health and poor understanding of the economy have hindered him from offering his best. In the interest of the nation, he should shame those who say his name means hardship by bowing out honourably. He should not listen to those who, largely for selfish reasons, say he must re-contest. We are in a digital age and we need a digital President.

Senator Hope Uzodimma, in this interview said the South- East should be given the chance to produce the country’s president in 2023. He said if President Muhammadu Buhari was re- elected next year, he will do another four years, to complete the maximum eight years of the north, saying it would be in Igbo’s interest if he gets re-elected. The senator however denied planning to join the All progressives Congress (APC), saying he does not need to be a part of the ruling political party to work for his people.

For some time now you have been quiet, giving room for a lot of speculations. For instance, there is the notion that you will soon leave your party, the PDP. What is happening?

You addressed me right now as a PDP senator and you’re asking me if I’m still in the PDP. I believe that if I have left the PDP, it will not be a secret. It will be known to all and sundry, including the media. So, the question is not really necessary. However, I’m sure some of you are asking the question because, you are aware of the crisis in the PDP or maybe the side I stood in the legal battle for the leadership of the party. Whichever one is the case, what I can say is that the PDP has not managed the politics of the post Supreme Court judgement very well and the conduct of the national convention did not help matters either. So, you can see, you have a situation where, say in Imo State, my supporters are feeling unwanted in the party. They are treated like second eleven members of the party and in this kind of situation; our patience may not be so elastic it cannot last forever. There must come a time when we will decide what to do and I think that may be very soon.

Can you confirm that you will be running for the governorship of Imo State come 2019?

First of all, I think it is only God who can confirm anything because when you are in a position to confirm anything then you must be God. Confirmation means that whatever it is must happen. Secondly, I think there is nothing wrong if I aspire to be the governor of my state. But you and I know it is God that chooses kings and so we can all aspire but God enthrones. However, I can tell you that very well meaning Imo people have been making representations to me urging me to contest for governorship. I can also tell you that I am listening to them and putting everything in prayers too. At an auspicious moment, I shall, by the grace of God take a stand on the matter.

Talking of Imo State governorship, your state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha is reported to be backing his son-in-law to succeed him. How do you react to that?

If what you said is correct, then I must say that such is the product of human thinking. As human beings, we are always in the habit of arrogating so much myth to ourselves, particularly when we are in power. But as I said earlier, it is only God that enthrones. As human beings we can have fantasies, or what I would call wishful thinking, or day-dreaming. It does not add or subtract from divine will. So, the much I can say is that there is nothing wrong with fantasies. Everyone is entitled to it, but in the end I think that it is God, using Imo people, that will have the final say.

How do you rate the performance of your governor so far?

I think Imo people are in the best position to do the rating. But as an Imo son and representative of the people, I hear them complain of hunger and poverty. They tell me that local government elections have not been held in seven years and they do not know how their funds are used. They tell me that their buildings have been demolished without compensation and their lands taken forcefully. They tell me that pensions have not been paid contrary to government propaganda and that salaries of workers are paid whimsically without regard to civil service rules. So, when you look at the litany of woes, then I think that the rating has already been done. And all I can say is that I stand by the people.

You have always been a champion of the need for Ndigbo to produce the president of Nigeria in 2023. What informed this position?

Every political party has zoning as a cardinal principle. All politicians therefore agreed to the principle of rotating the presidency from the north to the south and vice versa. Now, if you check your records, you will find that since this political dispensation, the north has the presidency at least twice. The south has it twice. In the south, the south-west produced former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who ruled for eight years and the south-south produced former president, Goodluck Jonathan who ruled for six years. Now, the north is currently in power and is entitled to a second term which will end in 2023. After that the presidency will naturally return to the south and when it does it certainly will come to south-east, because South-West and South-South have already had their turn. So, I think this is a simple reality. And that is what informs my position.

But some people may accuse you of campaigning for the re-election of President Buhari-won’t that be correct? Why?

Because Buhari is the only northerner who will do another four years if re-elected.
Well, since that is the case, my answer is, why not? If they say I am campaigning for Buhari, so be it. I don’t owe anyone any apology for that. After all, it is only logical that as an Igbo man who is clamouring for the presidency to come to the south-east in 2023, I should support the candidate who I am sure will not be standing for re-election in 2023. Why should I support another northern candidate who will want to do another eight years and make Ndigbo wait till 2027 before producing the president of Nigeria? Yes, apart from the fact that President Buhari is good enough for re-election, he is the only northern candidate who, if elected, must relinquish power in 2023 thereby paving the way for the south-east. So, yes, I support his re-election and I think every right thinking South Easterner should do the same.

So, you will join APC to actualise the re-election of Buhari?

Well, I am not sure I must join APC to pursue the interest of my people. It is on record that political parties may adopt candidates outside their parties because it is in their best interest to do so. For instance, APGA did it for Jonathan and I see them doing same for President Buhari. So I don’t need to join APC to pursue the noble agenda which will favour Ndigbo. But you know, in politics you never say, never! So, let us see how it goes. Time can change everything, you know.

Why is it so important for Ndigbo to provide the President of Nigeria in 2023?

You see; it is supremely important because that will assure Ndigbo that the ugly events of the civil war have been truly put behind us. If by 2023, the presidency returns to the south and by acts of omission or commission, it eludes Ndigbo, then that will only be a confirmation that Igbo have not truly been accepted into the mainstream of Nigerian politics. As you know, in 1998, former Vice-President, late Alex Ekwueme was coasting home with the PDP presidential ticket. It took a high level conspiracy to stop him. Many people believed that it was because he was Igbo and because of the stigma of the civil war. So, if in 2023 Igbo are stopped again, the simple conclusion will be that the rest of Nigeria do not welcome them as equal stakeholders in Project Nigeria.

Personalities, like former governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa, have indicated their support for an Igbo president in 2023, what can Ndigbo do to galvanise the views of people like that achieve the dream?

First of all, I think that people like Balarabe Musa should be commended for speaking out and for their patriotism. Actually, I think he even suggested that in the same way the rest of Nigeria compensated the south-west with the presidency for the annulment of the June 12 election, by allowing only Yoruba candidates, in 2023, Igbo should be compensated for the civil war by allowing only Igbo candidates for the presidency. This is a noble suggestion which should be embraced by every patriotic Nigerian. As for supporting a weak or unpopular Igbo presidential candidate in 2023, I think that if the right synergy is struck between the south-east and other zones before the election, which will not happen.

What qualities would you want to see in such a person that will emerge the Igbo President of Nigeria in 2023?

Permit me to refer you to my recent book, ‘Ndigbo, Nation Building and Project Nigeria.’ In the book, you will find that I dealt extensively with the quality of such a person. In one of the chapters where I talked about ‘How to Actualize a Nigerian President of Igbo Extraction,’ I gave details of the qualities of such a person.

But the summary is that such a person must have a Pan Nigerian world view to qualify because it is the collective collaboration of the other zones that will make the president not that of the south-east alone. As Igbo, we need to start the politics now. That is why I think that the first step is to boldly support Buhari who we are sure will vacate office in 2023. So that when the time comes, we can look other zones straight in the face and say we were part of the pan Nigerian arrangement that re-elected Buhari, so you should reciprocate and support us. It will be highly counterproductive if we find ourselves outside of this pan Nigerian family in 2023.