Happenings

Even though it is post humous, Nigerians have continued to applaud President Muhammadu Buhari for deeming it fit, to confer the country’s highest honors of the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic(GCFR) on the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 Presidential elections, late Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.

In addition, Nigerians believe that if the bank accounts of the Late Bashorun Abiola frozen by the late Military despot, Gen. Sanni Abacha, are unfrozen and reparations paid to his family, justice would have been seen to have been done.

Also, all those who one way or the other lost their lives during the period ought to receive compensation through the families they left behind.

However, the body language of President Buhari is not in tandem with the peoples’ belief, even as a cross section of Nigerians argue that declaring June 12 Democracy Day emanates from gaining political mileage, if consideration is given to the fact that the incumbent President was part and parcel of the late Gen. Abacha military regime.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that conferment of the highest honors in the land in not enough, but ought to also include paying reparation and compensation to Bashorun Abiola’s family, else Nigerians may think otherwise. Excerpts :

In commemoration of June 12, the day the freest and fairest general elections in Nigeria’s history was annulled, what do you think is the best compensation for the late Bashorun M.K.O Abiola’s family ?

The issue surrounding Bashorun M.K.O Abiola is a milestone of an historical record and antecedent in which Nigeria in particular, and the whole world in general, need to learn a lot from. He happened to be a victim of unholy friendship and treachery by his kinsman.

Besides this, his life depicted to the whole world, that even the pinnacle of affluence has a lot of limitations to the expected influences that may accompany it.

Despite God’s favor on him to win the Presidential elections, with outstanding performance over the National Republican Convention(NRC) candidate, Alhaji Bashir Tofa, based on what nature could give any man, in terms of what would have been the barriers-barriers of Muslim/Muslim ticket, Southern candidacy and the possible environment that is fraught with Ethnic, Tribal and Religious differences, the atmosphere was not only favorable, but the people put aside their differences to ensure that Bashorun Abiola emerged as the winner.

However, some household enemies and the hidden ones among his friends, became a deadly clog in the wheel of his destiny.

The funny aspect, is that of the failure of successive governments after, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, to revisit his case,and the eventual Democracy that ushered in a total departure from the erstwhile military rule.

His kinsman, the then President Olusegun Obasanjo and his successors, who happened to be the direct beneficiaries of Bashorun Abiola’s struggle for Democracy, equally failed to revisit his state incarceration and dehumanization.

Fortunately, an opposition political party, in the name of the All Progressives Congress(APC) and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(rtd.)eventually revisited what the whole world helplessly claimed to be an act of injustice, hence the post-humous conferment of GCFR to the late Bashorun Abiola and by extension the largesse of the peak of recognition for his supposed deputy, in the name of Alhaji Babagana Kingibe, as well as the conferment of one of the highest honors in the land on the unforgettable activist, late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, who lived all his, life for the enthronement of Democracy and died without fulfillment of the struggle, to address the injustices meted out to Bashorun Abiola.

Mr. President deliberately refrained from giving his national address on May 29, during his inauguration, and I believe he must have reserved his speech for June 12, which he has been courageous enough to declare as Nigeria’s Democracy day, in fulfillment of the agitations of the progressives to recognize Bashorum Abiola as the symbol of Nigeria’s Democracy and the pathfinder of how the freest and fairest general elections ought to be conducted in Nigeria.

Most of Nigerians expect that the highest honor conferred on Bashorun Abiola as his right, shall be followed by his family having access to what Nigeria and our government owe the late business mogul, most especially in the aspect of unfreezing his numerous bank accounts, as the first step towards reviving his ‘’dead’’ chains of legacies. All these shall be to the benefit of the family he left behind and this shall serve to reunite them.

Recently, one of his oil companies of international repute was affected by the recent government policy through which some oil companies’ licenses were revoked.

Government owes Nigerians an explanation on why Bashorun Abiola’s business concern was affected and possibly work on how he would be exempted.

However, recognition through the conferment of the highest national honors in the land shall be meaningless, without supporting it with the attendant freedom for the family to have access to what he had spent all his life to acquire.

I have the belief that the Federal Government is waiting for June 12, for favorable declaration on this, otherwise, the stiff opposition against them may use any lapses on the side of the Federal Government to gain sympathy of the generality of Nigerians to turn the table against them as they did in many states lost by the APC to the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the people’s court and parliament during the recent general elections.

Both chambers of the 9th National Assembly shall be inaugurated next week and Nigerians are hopeful that the elected representatives of the people shall make laws that shall impact positively on impoverished Nigerians who have not seized to contend with insecurity.

Nigerians are also hopeful that the lawmakers shall not in any way or circumstance become rubber stamps for decisions from the Executive that are anti-people and dictatorial in content.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke says that the expectations of Nigerians revolve on a people driven Legislature that would not massage the back of the Executive, but enact enabling laws that will not only regulate and control the excesses of the Executive, but emancipate the masses from the vicious cycle of poverty and insecurity. Excerpts :

What do you think the lawmakers of the 9th National Assembly should embark upon, considering the performance of the lawmakers of the 8th National Assembly ?

The 8th National Assembly’s performance was hostile and antagonistic considering its relationship with the Executive, this later affected the people negatively and harshly.

When bills are passed into law, there must be corresponding enabling empowerment programmes and projects on it, for the law to have impact on the society.

To an average Nigerian, the last four years of the National Assembly, has been more of orchestrated ceremony of wealth, rather than that of enabling the people that gave them the mandate to serve.

It had been more of celebrating trivialities, that have ever failed to articulate development.

It is unfortunate that Nigeria is yet to address several issues. For example, we failed to learn from the experience of secession by placing emphasis on the problem of the fall in the international price of oil as it affected the budget, rather than looking inward on the country’s style of management and the structure of the payment of salaries and allowances which tilts favorably more to the side of the political class, while the civil and public servants continue to groan and grumble with the given token because of the corresponding low purchasing power of the Naira.

A suggestion to review the wages of the political class downward, to cushion the effect of the recession, was met the deaf ears of government.

Despite the heavy weight of the salaries and allowances of the political class, corruption and institutional indiscipline continued unabated, rendering the efforts of the Federal Government in this direction ineffective, specifically for Nigerians to turn a new leaf.

The aspect of plea bargaining for the big wigs and no deterrence record for the offenders had made the exercise to become a laughing stock, to the favor of the opposition that eventually rose from their ‘’dead’’ state to compete and win in a number of states and to pose a major threat to the’ almighty’ Federal Government during elections.

If all these issues are not addressed, Nigerians would not yet be happy, in celebrating the inauguration of the 9th National Assembly.

Characteristically, on record of history there had always been downward profile of performances on goodness and rising profile of moral decadence from one session to the other as the players exchange batons from one dispensation to the other.

From the look of things, although the mistake of the past whereby the All Progressives Congress(APC) government was not cohesive enough for the leadership of the National Assembly, to favor the Executive is still lingering.

Now that they are struggling to have their way, the fear must be on the effectiveness in serving the people, rather than rubbing the back of the Executive.

The expectations of the people generally, at home and abroad is that objectivity should be the axis of operation, based on global best practices that is incorruptible Judiciary, people driven legislature on the issue of their welfare through enacting enabling laws that will not only regulate and control the excesses of the Executive, but directed purposely to emancipate the cause of the masses on the issues of their welfare and well being.

The Executive, on their harnessing power for resources, is expected to serve the people sincerely through transparency and accountability to promote inclusive governance through the principle of equity.

If the APC government is to be sincere then, no member is expected to run foul of these goals because change of government is expected to address areas of heresies, weaknesses and failures of the outgoing dispensation, which visibly was responsible for the failure to effectively and completely achieve anything reasonable on the subject matter of zero tolerance to corruption and institutional discipline.

Irrespective of still controlling power, the arms and tiers of government which the ruling members of the ruling party are the occupants, now need to unite to achieve these fundamental aspects of heresies which happen to be the bane of our democratic disposition for worthwhile development.

Bauchi state Governor, Senator Ball Muhammed has disclosed that he shall involve tehnocrats in the running of his administration.

Senator Muhammed made this dislcosure while receiving the report from the Economic Advisory Committee he put in place.

“I will bring in technocrats to implement this economic blueprint, in collaboration with the private sector, because there is need for partnership to open new frontiers, guided by global best practices.

“We have consulted some of the best technocrats in the country to show us the way; we will continue to do so, even though, sometimes, we will consider political expediency,’’ the governor said.

Meanwhile the Economic Advisory Committee  has advised the state government to focus more on Agriculture.

The Committe headed by Prof. Usman Bugaje made this recommendation in its report it submitted to the state Governor.

Agriculture is an area where Bauchi has a comparative advantage to grow faster than others, so we implore you as governor to focus more in this area.

“In the next two years, we are looking at a Bauchi State that will export products to different parts of the world, and that will serve as reference point to other states,’’ Prof.  Bugaje stated.

The Three tiers of Government and the Organized Private Sector(OPS) in Nigeria have been called upon to not to make the  retrenchment of workers as  a condition for the implementation of the N30, 000 new national minimum wage.

This  call was made  by the All Workers Convergence(AWC) through its   National Coordinator,  Comrade Andrew Emelieze.

''Government at all levels are called upon to come out with a policy statement, more of a commitment that no employer of labour, whether in the public sector or private sector must retrench before they can pay the new minimum wage. Workers are not begging any employer of labour and if at all they go ahead with their evil machinations, labour must pose a counter reaction, which of course must be uncompromising and that is the only way we can stop them from exploiting Nigerian workers. Any attempt by government to downsize would be vehemently resisted by workers''.

''To check any sector, government or private, from not implementing the new national minimum wage, the labour movements are called upon  to also issue a policy statement that the country risks a national strike, if any employer of labour refuses to pay the new national minimum wage or goes ahead to downsize'', Comrade Emelieze stated.

As elected representatives of the people prepare for another dispensation, beginning from May 29, 2019, Nigerians at home and abroad are hopeful that the new dispensation will bring in its stride , good governance and development.

However, presently, despondency, hopelessness and disillusion characterize the state of well being of most Nigerians.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that the unenviable past records of the country ought to inspire the elected representatives who will steer the ship of governance from May 29, to make up for the losses and ensure that the country celebrates its 60th independence anniversary. Excerpts :

A new dispensation shall commence on May 29, 2019, what is your message to Nigerians ?

Nigeria will witness a civilian to civilian transition, come ,May 291, 2019, that will move us into self-realization for the purpose of effective necessary changes for governance to have a positive impact, most especially in the areas of revisiting the welfare of the people.

However, we must be mindful of the fact that the elected representatives are still Nigerians, who are products of the bad past.

Worse still, the same hostile environment is still going to be confronted as barriers to development, unless they are very much determined.

Lee Kuan Yew’s experience in the history of Singapore’s development could be of help to our political office holders.

His travelling to many other nations including countries in Africa, to seek for the way out of his country’s economic challenges and the competency needs of the managers of the state, and the harnessing power of resources, coupled with the management classification of the people to work with, like the prime movers, the lackadaisical and the rebellious groups, who the leader needs to identify, to work on them, to enable acceptable values and positive mindset, to be able to move Singapore into the class of development.

On getting home, Yew reached an agreement with the lords of his political party and the people of his country, through a perfected agenda for development, with a good counsel on zero tolerance for corruption, indiscipline and impunity.

Having gained the confidence of his people, he became a role model on transparency and accountability, for others to make sacrifices.

Today in Nigeria, Political Parties are directed by their godfathers and the destiny of elected leaders are usually remote controlled, making many of them to deviate from the normal path of the promises made during their campaigns.

Worse still, appointment of people into sensitive positions of power usually lack merit, credibility, transparency and accountability, for the state Governors, the President and the people to assess their performances while in office. This gives them every opportunity to engage in corrupt practices, with all impunity, to the detriment of the peoples’ welfare, community and national development.

There is the need for the timely supervision of Commissioners and Minsters activities, to assess their performances.

Besides this, Nigerians generally, have no excuses not to perform well in office because the Swearing-in ceremony shall take place during the Ramadan fast period, which is expected to have provided and instilled the fear of God for due process in transactions, as an enabling environment to allow campaign promises tally with service delivery.

One would expect that Nigeria at 59 should look backwards and regret the failure in governance by the Military and their Civilian counterparts.

Most of our political office holders today, were either born during independence or after.

Unfortunately, these crop of people by omission, commission or inaction had in one way or the other soiled their hands in corruption, which were trailed with poor records of performances, most especially those who had always been in government or born before 1960, Nigeria’s independence day.

If only they can reflect back that till date, Nigeria’s development profile is neither bequeath able nor sustainable, their focus should therefore be on how to work assiduously to deliver, to make up for the losses so far and to meaningfully celebrate Nigeria at 60, when the time comes.

Using SWOT analysis, Nigeria still stands at the advantage of been potentially sound, in terms of the endowed natural resources.

Even when you consider the capacity building needs in terms of human resources, with globalization in mind, our high number of Universities, other components of tertiary institutions, give us the hope of having the ability to rise in terms of development, without necessarily relying on foreign experts.

The professionals in all fields of human endeavor are equally many, waiting for challenges of government patronage and societal acceptance.

Obviously, our areas of strength and opportunities are versed, while the challenges, weaknesses and threats must be faced squarely by the new government, to correct the lapses.

These are the expectation of all Nigerians, whose mandate, entrust power onto the elected and indirectly onto the appointed representatives.

Politicians must embrace the culture of internal party Democracy and the opposition must equally refrain from hate speech and personality attack, but dwell more on critiquing issue based values and desist from criticizing that which is more judgmental than proferring solutions.

The structure of Democracy is such that the Executive is always put in check, with respect to its excesses, by the Legislative arm, which is expected to regulate and midwife people oriented legislation.

The Judiciary must see Nigeria as a project that must be free of corruption.

The Ministries, Departments and Agencies must equally be alive to their responsibilities of providing a safe and secure environment for development through ethical practice that is based on global best practices.

The Houses of God through its population target theory and proliferation of sects must be checked and controlled by making them to be scripture compliant, in order that this sector would be able to produce reliable and dependable adherents, who will be raw materials for governance at all levels.

Management of the House of God must be based on piety for the religious sectors to provide good aura of divinity for necessary divine intervention in the affairs of Nigerians, most especially through their governments.

Nigerians must be made to uphold the culture of innovation, skill acquisition and productivity, we must equally see ourselves as stakeholders in ensuring that government performs its duty as expected, whistle blowing, impunity and corruption, while ensuring that errant violators are brought to book as deterrent to others, while preventing re-occurrence.

What should be of primary concern now, is that all hands must be on deck to see Nigeria as a project and to manage Nigeria in such a way as to achieve in the areas of bequeathable legacy, for our children to enjoy the dividends of sustainable development.

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in Liberia, Authorities of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and  the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) have organized a two day Price monitoring training programme for technicians.

The training which was held at Gbarnga, Bong County for 30 technicians was aimed  at enhancing price monitoring mainly for basic food commodities in Liberia.

The training was also aimed at  capturing and facilitating experience-sharing and equipping MoA, and LISGIS field-level staff engaged in collection, analysis and reporting of market data to better communicate,  while also ensuring that there is an improvement in the contents of the monthly market monitoring bulletins, and strengthen partnerships and networks.

WFP Liberia's Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping Officer, Mr. Emmanuel Anderson commended  the Liberian government for its enduring partnership with the WFP on price monitoring activities.

''WFP has a global mandate to support some of the most vulnerable members of society, with different social protection interventions," Mr. Anderson stated. 

He also said that  Liberia was increasingly vulnerable to high food price shocks as has been witnessed since 2008, whilke stressing that  the government has been concerned about the rise in food prices, and as such, it has been undertaking regular joint government-WFP market monitoring exercises for which an MoU was signed between the Liberian government (MoA, LISGIS) and WFP.