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Economic Confidential,
December, 2009
FEATURES
A TIME FOR NATIONAL APPRAISAL
By McDonald Koiki,
As the year is being rounded off, it would be proper for everyone to
do some sort of appraisal, so as to be able to identify the things
have been done wrongly so as to be able to correct and avoid such
pitfalls in future, but sadly enough, such appraisals are hardly
done by those entrusted with the administration of Nigeria. In fact,
the only kind of appraisal done by them is to see which areas of the
economy they have failed to loot, in order to perfect their looting
skills in those areas.
I would like us to cast our minds back to the General Sani Abacha’s
regime which was regarded as Nigeria’s “dark age”. Yet, during that
“dark age”, the late General constructed the Gwarinpa housing estate
(described as largest estate in Africa). Instead of building more
houses, former President Olusegun Obasanjo through his very loyal
mallam sold off the houses, thereby destroying the legacy of his
fellow and younger General, exhibiting lack of idea and extreme
misuse of public office. As if these were not enough, till date
neither Obasanjo nor Mallam El-Rufai has been able to account for
the proceeds of their infamous sales. Yet, this same mallam is out
there in the U.S feeling untouchable, claiming that he has nothing
to hide and therefore when he is ready to come back to Nigeria he
will do so and nothing will be done to him by the EFCC or anybody.
With all the allegations leveled against him at home, El-Rufai has
decided to spend some money to hire an international lawyer, Mr.
Robert Amsterdam who says; "I have authored the following White
Paper to accomplish several goals: 1) to present Nasir El-Rufai and
his accomplishments to the world, 2) to summarize the motives behind
the attack on his reputation, 3) provide ample evidence to prove his
innocence of all these libel and slander, and 4) make it clearly
understood that this case is much larger than just one person - that
this fits into a historical pattern of the Nigerian pendulum which
swings in one moment toward reform, before plummeting back to the
status quo," explained Mr. Amsterdam in his preface to the paper.
His forth point clearly accuses the entire country of inconsistency
of purpose and values.
The above example of administrative discontinuity, lack of ideas and
extreme misuse of public offices is common place in Nigeria
government. But somehow, I am positive that there is going to be a
paradigm shift in the way we do what we do in this country, this
hope can be seen firstly in Donald Duke the former governor of Cross
Rivers State, for his innovative, dynamic and committed service to
his State. The Obudu Cattle Ranch and the Tinapa Business Resort
valued at N56 billion (US$470 million), located within the Tinapa
Free Zone and Resort in Calabar are results of innovation, dynamism
and patriotism. Secondly, an example of continuity in good
governance is evident in Tinubu/Fashola’s administration of Lagos
State. These two instances are indications that there are brighter
days ahead, like a spark of fire; it only requires time to grow into
a wild bush fire. The question now is how long will it take?
These three governors above have set standards for others to
emulate; their achievements have raised a lot of questions on the
minds of Nigerians, why are such developments (the type in Calabar
and Lagos) not replicated in other states of the country? What
happens to the monthly allocation from the Federation Account to the
states? What elements are present in Donald Duke, Tinubu and Fashola
but missing in the other 34 State governors? Are the remaining 34
State governors not ashamed of being in the office without anything
to show? It is time for change! Let us change our ways of thinking
and our ways of doing things, I believe we need a complete overhaul
of the system.
Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross Rivers State has a great
responsibility on his shoulders to ensure consolidation and
continuity of the standard handed to him by Donald Duke, almost
about three years since he became the Cross Rivers State Governor,
can it be said that the former minister is doing well in his current
position? In my view, I believe that Imoke needs to sit tight so as
to be able to maintain and improve on the standard handed to him.
Almost three years after it was launched, that beautiful edifice
called Tinapa is still underutilized; most of the spaces or shops
have not been taken up, Tinapa is expected to be the “Dubai of
Africa”, but right now it is far from it. Lack of maintenance
culture is beginning to set in at Tinapa, for instance; the foot
bridge connecting the Tmart to the Nollywood section has been sealed
off because the bridge needs repairs. I believe things would have
been different if the initiator was there.
Recently, there has been this issue of pro and anti Yar’Adua
resignation campaign. According to the anti Yar’Adua’s resignation
campaign, Nigeria is not the first nation to have a sick president,
they cited the example of former Cuba president, Fidel Castro who
ruled his nation from a sick bed for about three years before
handing power to his younger brother - Brigadier-General Raúl
Modesto Castro Ruz (Rtd). Now let us truly appraise ourselves by
asking one pertinent question, should Nigeria be reduced to Cuba
with a population of 11,451,652, an area of
110,860 sq km and an ethnic composition of
mulattos , whites (primarily of Spanish descent), blacks and
Chinese. While Nigeria on the other hand has a population of over
150,000,000, an area of
577,355 sq miles (two and a half times the size of California) and
more than 250 ethnic groups, there are no bases for comparing these
two nations.
Nigeria population is highly educated and knowledgeable; they are
not people you can toy around with. Nigerians hold key positions in
various fields of endeavour around the world, talk about the Ngozi
Okonjo-Iwealas of Nigeria, the Professor Wole Soyinkas, the Emeka
Anyaokus, the Philip Emeagwalis to mention just a few of them, these
are enlightened people. Therefore, the supporters of both sides of
the Yar’Adua’s resignation campaign should reappraise themselves and
decide on the best for this country. Nigeria belongs to all of us;
hence we must not allow a small group of people with their selfish
interest impose their decision on the greater number of Nigerians,
neither should Nigeria be considered nor handled as a family
property by those who have been elected to rule.
This call for appraisal goes out to everyone, the development and
success of Nigeria is our collective responsibility, we must stand
up, appraise ourselves and decides on the best.
I wish President Umar Musa Yar’Adua a quick recovery.
McDonald Koiki,
mckosa2001@yahoo.com
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