By Vincent Akanmode

Poor Adam Nuhu. The moment the news filtered in a few weeks ago that the erstwhile managing director of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) was accused of eating the forbidden fruit of one of his female underlings, my instincts told me that he was in for a long night.  For more than two decades, he had studiously avoided scandal or controversy as he preoccupied himself strictly with banking activities, pledging unwavering loyalty to the marriage with Hauwa, his beautiful wife.

But if there is one thing that cannot be disputed about life, it is its unpredictable nature. Like biscuit, no one knows when or where it would crack, especially when one is surrounded by detractors as seems to be the case with the erstwhile MD of FCMB.

As the story goes, the suspended MD was allegedly engrossed in an amorous relationship with a former female employee of the bank named Moyo, who reportedly bore him two children while she was married to another man. Moyo’s husband was said to have been so shocked at the discovery of the romance between his wife and her boss and the realization that their two children belonged to Nuhu and not he, the authentic husband, that he developed a stroke and later died of heart failure a few days to his proposed wedding with another lady.

In a society of hypocrites where infidelity is considered a sin smaller only than murder, emotions were bound to run wild with loss of life and paternity fraud involved. That became the basis for the outrage that greeted the news and the pressure mounted on the Central Bank of Nigeria and the authorities of FCMB to investigate the matter and sanction Nuhu. It did not take long before the board of FCMB yielded to pressure and ordered Nuhu’s suspension as the MD, appointing Mrs Yemisi Edun as the acting MD.

But just when everyone thought that the former MD had seen the worst, the news filtered out that his wife of many years had deserted him. The ugly prospect of Nuhu losing his exotic and dignifying job as the chief executive officer of the prestigious bank was thus compounded with the threat of a desolate life for the once hearty and bubbly family man. His fate of seeming abandonment by the home front contrasts sharply with the show of solidarity the members of Moyo’s family exhibited for their daughter.

For the alleged love birds, it has been a case of different strokes for different folks. While members of Moyo’s family are rallying round her, defending her desperately and declaring her clean as a hound’s tooth in the allegation of marital infidelity leveled against her, members of Nuhu’s family appear less enthusiastic about sticking their necks out for him even while the result of the investigation ordered by the authorities of FCMB was yet to be made public. It once again provokes the question as to why the male partner is almost always the one at the receiving end in such matters.

But Nuhu must not be left to bear this cross alone, if only for the sake of humanity. Even if he was guilty of the alleged act of misdemeanor, it still will be too much a punishment that a man who once boasted a beautiful wife and another beautiful side chick would suddenly be turned into an absolute recluse. Everyone with any measure of influence on Madam Hauwa must do everything they can to persuade her to return to her matrimonial home immediately. To err, they say, is human and to forgive divine.

As a first step, I recommend that a committee be constituted to look into ways of eliminating the threats to the marriage of the embattled chief executive. Their terms of reference will include establishing the veracity or otherwise of the claim that the erstwhile managing director was in the habit of philandering with female underlings while giving Hauwa the impression that he was working very hard in the office. They would also have to find out from Hauwa if Nuhu has a record of winking at other chicks whenever they were together on social outings.

The committee must of necessity summon Moyo from her base in the US for a physical assessment of her looks, figure and shape with a view to establishing or dismissing the likelihood of Nuhu being attracted by them. While the authorities of FCMB must be commended for insight and thoughtfulness with their decision to opt for a woman as a replacement for the suspended MD, it is important to know what features of a woman can constitute banana peels for future male MDs.

Not the least, the committee will have to find out what lessons other male bosses in the habit of seducing female subordinates can learn from Nuhu’s experience.

Thenationonlineng

All humans are selfish. Politicians everywhere appear more so than most. But when it comes to greed, Nigerian politicians are in a class of their own. And in that class, former governors occupy the front row.

Nothing demonstrates this better than the Pension Rights of Governor and Deputy Governor laws. This legislation, midwifed and signed into law by many governors towards the end of their terms, pays them and their deputies humongous sums and benefits for life. Such laws, so nakedly self-serving, were passed by 25 states of the federation from 2001 onwards. To save you the trouble of looking them up elsewhere, they are: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Anambra, Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Imo, Lagos, Niger, Ondo, Osun, Plateau, Ondo, Rivers, Yobe and Zamfara. In most cases, the very same persons that orchestrated and oversaw its promulgation just before leaving office became the first beneficiaries.

Such shamelessly self-serving legislation compounds the illicit rewards of politicians, who spent their terms luxuriating and enriching themselves and cronies.

Take the Kano State version for example. It gives former governors and deputies sums equal to the emolument of their incumbent counterparts. Further, a former governor is entitled to a furnished six-bedroom house and an office each in a location of their choice, all bills and utilities to be paid from public funds. It further awards ex-governors two administrative staff and two drivers to be chosen by him and paid by the state government. The law gifts past governors two cars that should be replaced every four years, 30-day annual ‘leave’ (not that the payment is conditional on doing any work) and medical treatment for themselves and their immediate family at home or abroad at the expense of the taxpayer. Former deputy governors get a four-bedroom house, an office, a car replaceable every quadrennially, two administrative staff and a driver, in addition to payment of bills, annual leave and medical treatment. All this will continue for life.

Some states’ version makes even more outrageous provisions. In Lagos State, the law provides ex-governors and deputies two houses, in Lagos and Abuja, six cars replaceable every three years, biannual furniture allowance at 300% of annual salary, a housing allowance at 10 per cent of the annual salary, a utility allowance at 20 per cent, a car allowance at 30 per cent (on top of the six cars already provided for) and an entertainment allowance worth 10 per cent of their annual salary. On top of this, they are given a personal assistant, paid 25 per cent of the governor’s basic salary. In Sokoto and Gombe, the enactment estimated the salary of incumbent governors and made the pension in monetary terms. In addition to all the other benefits like houses, cars and staff, former Sokoto and Gombe governors are doled out N200m every four years and their deputies N180 and N100m respectively.

With N50m as the estimated annual emolument of incumbent governors, all past governors go home with the same amount annually, beside other benefits, while their former deputies bank about half that amount or more. Today, every state has at least four former governors and deputies; some have up to 10. Thus, taxpayers are paying vast bills, which will only grow with each election. As State Houses of Assembly leaders in states like Kano scramble to add themselves to this list of free money receivers, those in states like Zamfara are already on it as the speaker and deputy speaker are also beneficiaries.

To ensure that they get paid before anyone else, the architects of the law, who are also its beneficiaries, made the payments chargeable to the Consolidated Revenue Fund meaning they would be deducted even before the money leaves Abuja. This legalised bare-faced thievery is committed at a time states are complaining of being unable to pay a minimum wage of N30,000 and when aged pensioners, who have served us for the best part of their productive lives are paid peanuts in months-long arrears. It is happening when schools lack basic materials, primary healthcare centres lack functional first aid kits and most communities lack potable drinking water.

The beneficiaries of this official rip-off argue that as the constitution provides for pension for ex-presidents and vice-presidents, they should be awarded pensions too, but that doesn’t even come close to justifying their behaviour. Even if the constitution did give the legal authority, it provides only for pension payments, not assorted expenses and benefits. And while the law envisages pensioners as senior citizens that don’t earn money elsewhere, many former governors receive these payments while at the same time receiving a salary from the same taxpayers! Fifteen former governors are currently being paid as serving senators and over 10 former governors and deputies are ministers. From 2015 – 2019, a former governor of my state was paid as a senator and as a former governor while his wife, who had been a member of the House of Representatives for eight years, was being paid as a minister having been appointed by President Buhari. This sounds like Nigeria works only for a tiny few.

Thankfully, some governors have recently started seeing this colossal legal swindle for what it is. The governor of Lagos State told the state legislature in his 2021 Budget presentation that he wants them to repeal the law from this year to “cut the cost of governance” while Imo State has already abolished it. Similarly, the Zamfara State Assembly scrapped it in November 2019 in the wake of a controversy generated by his predecessor who wrote to request his N10m ‘unpaid monthly upkeep.’ Some say this step was taken by the current governors to settle a political score against their predecessors. If this is the case, I pray that the relationship between every governor and his predecessor may deteriorate. Any association that diverts Nigerians’ scarce resources to the pockets of a few is a conspiracy that should be disrupted, if not by humans, by divine intervention.

Doling former governors and deputies humungous sums and other benefits in the name of pension in a poverty-stricken country like ours is beyond reprehensible. It is bare-faced thievery in legal disguise; it’s robbery without arms: a fraud on the taxpayer that must be stopped. Every single Nigerian has a moral duty to call for an end to this massive scam. I so do.

Twenty-Five Years after the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – a progressive roadmap for gender equality – and five years into his tenure, the pledge by President Muhammadu Buhari to exceed 35 per cent target for appointing women into key positions is too little, too late. This is a shame because government’s inaction not only disregards the Nigerian National Gender Policy (NGP), it exemplifies official waste of human and material resources, which undoubtedly slows down the pace of national development. The President should stop rhetoric on women inclusion in governance, and simply walk his talk.

While playing host to a women group led by the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Pauline Tallen, in Abuja, Buhari said his administration was committed to having more women in governance. He had spoken in a similar vein at the UN Assembly in 2018 when he drummed support for the inclusion of women in politics. In addition, he has acknowledged several times how women mobilised voters to ensure his victory during the 2015 presidential election, a pointer that he is a beneficiary of the strong support of Nigerian women.x

However, till date the story of women in governace in Nigeria under his administration has not changed, as the proportion of women elected and appointed into political office is well below the 30% approved by Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action target and the 35% endorsed by Nigerian NGP.

In 2019, women representation in Nigerian parliament was 3.05 per cent and 6.42 per cent in the Lower House and Upper House respectively; while it was 3.38 for the two houses combined. This, among others, reduces the support that can be garnered from the bicameral legislature, for issues that affect women. In contrast, women representation in the parliament of Rwanda accounts for 61.3% and 38.5% in the Lower House and Upper House respectively. This makes Rwanda the country with the highest representation of women in the parliament out of 192 countries presented on the global database.

Under-representation of women in parliament is a violation of the NGP, which recognises women as a constituency; and a marginalisation of a section of the country. If the President can not implement NGP developed by the excutive arm of government, who can?

Government’s attitude does not reflect its ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1985, which establishes international legal obligations to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women with regard to political participation. It is also noteworthy that Nigeria ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Article 9:1) on the Rights of Women, which requires states and political parties to take specific positive action to promote participative governance and equal participation of women in the political life of their countries through affirmative action, enabling national legislation and other measures.

Besides, Millennium Development Goal (MDG) N0.3 and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) N0.5 are on achieving gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, aimed at gender equitable development. Obviously, women’s roles in the process of development have been increasingly recognised and their contributions undisputable. Government’s non-compliance with these instruments probably prompted some civil society organisations to seek court intervention over the 35 per cent appointment of women in governance; insisting that the overwhelming predominant appointment of the men into decision making positions of the federation was wrong, unlawful and unconstitutional.

The continued under-representation of women in governance in Nigeria has been established as one of the major setbacks for her socio-economic development; because it denies the nation the opportunity of drawing on the full range of human resources available for its progress and make the needs of women and girls invisible’ in policies. Having more women in governance will not only help to promote gender equality, but bring about humane policies that will affect the lives of Nigerians positively.

This is in tandem with Nigerian National Gender Policy (NGP) ultimate goal, which is to build a just society devoid of discrimination, harness the full potentials of all social groups regardless of sex or circumstance, promote the enjoyment of fundamental human rights and protect the health, social, economic and political well-being of all citizens to achieve equitable rapid economic growth; evolve an evidence-based planning and governance system where human, social, financial and technological resources are efficiently and effectively deployed for sustainable development.x

It is important for the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), community and religious leaders, the organised private sector, media and NGOs in collaboration with international development agencies to rise to the occasion, work with government – to accelerate the implementation of Nigeria NGP aimed at improved representation of women in governance. 

It is equally imperative of women organising for improved representation in the public sphere to use their latent power and numbers as resources for addressing the factors worsening their marginalisation. They should constitute themselves into pressure groups, and draw on the Nigeria NGP, which recommends 35 per cent affirmative action and seeks an inclusive representation of women with at least 35 per cent of both elective political and appointive public service positions respectively. They can mobilise to promote women’s participation in politics – as voters, candidates, politicians, civil society activists and in other roles.

In addition, women groups and NGOs should latch on the ongoing constitutional review processes at all levels to institutionalise accountability mechanisms and frameworks in the implementation of the National Gender Policy and the use of gender-disaggregated data for planning.

Buhari can still redeem his promise of exceeding 35 per cent involvement of women in governance, by appointing women into positions of leadership and write his name in gold. This is long overdue but achievable.

guardian

By Nnedinso Ogaziechi

Fifty years after the Nigerian-Biafran war ended in 1970, the covid-19 pandemic has presented almost the same scenario of dire socio-economic needs as the war times. Economic activities are almost as restricted as they are almost fraught with extreme dangers. In the average African society, women are often the real economic engines of their communities. They are the ones that putting foods on the table falls into their core responsibilities as the act of nurture involves providing nutrition and other socio-cultural needs of families.

During the Nigeria-Biafran civil war as in all war situations, the normal socio-economic routines were disrupted as opposing camps tried to inflict as much human and material damages to the enemy camp as possible. However, human needs do not seize during wars. The demand for basic needs for survival is always as potent during wars as they are at peace times. Basic food items like flour, grains, toiletries, proteins etc., were all very scarce and children and adults were dying of diseases and malnutrition.

On the Biafran side, the needs were dire and so the women organized themselves to brave the odds and begin many  economic activities with the Nigerian side of the war at the time despite all the risks even of death, rape and abductions. They organized themselves for the arduous task that entailed travelling for hours and even days to the enemy side to get essential commodities like salt, fish and flour which they took back to their refugee camps to feed both their children and men.

The very famous ‘Afia Attack’ literally translates to ‘trading behind enemy lines’ and was expectedly fraught with grim dangers but as they say, the battle for survival eschews any form of fear. The hallmarks of the Afia Attack were the exposition of the leadership skills of the women, their courage, sense of duty and commitment to group good and survival on one hand and the tales of lost hopes, pains, deaths, rapes (by both sides) and abductions. But the diamond in the rubble was the brave women who in a way fought the worst battles. Going to war as a soldier means going to kill enemies and trying to survive. The Afia Attack women had battles on all fronts, they faced the multiple risks of being killed, raped, abducted, losing families, miscarriages and other physical loses.

The Round Table had a conversation with Ujuaku Akukwe Nwakalor, the award-winning Producer/Director whose ‘Afia Attack’ film won the best documentary at the Silicon Valley African Film Festival and was screened in many cities across the world. The Roundtable was curious to find out why she delved into such a controversial part of Nigerian history.

Why Afia Attack?  It’s my opinion that Nigerian Civil War should not be swept under the carpet rather we should learn from it and find ways to come together, accept our differences, find solutions, play on our strengths and build a nation. The reason for Afia Attack is to let everyone one know, especially the younger generation that war can and must be avoided. I believe that dialogue rules. The reason being that women and children bear the brunt of war more than any other party therefore they should be protected at all cost by shunning war or rumours of it.

Beyond the lessons of the war, there is a need to awaken women about the undeniable need to rein in on their men who are often the initiators of conflicts and wars. At the end, it’s the women who are left to cater for the dead, the wounded and the children. The need to sustain life drove the women to Affia Attack. On a good day, you run away from your enemies but these brave women ran towards the enemies with deft strategies to survive and sustain other lives.

What were their tools of trade? The women chose service over the vanity of material possessions. They sold their clothes, jewelries, cooking utensils and everything they had just do they could access the Nigerian legal tender with which to buy life’s necessities. They gave up all their valuable items to sustain lives. Their core intention was to nurture and sustain lives. They walked long distances from six to twenty four hours to and from the venues of transactions.

They encountered untold hardships along the line, some died of exhaustion because they walked a lot given that there were no organized transportation systems in place, some were raped by both sides by the warring soldiers, some were abducted totally and dislocated. But the living continued to fight for survival not only for themselves but for the larger communities. Their bravery is a lesson in service and the example of the leadership they had.

They had women leaders who strategized the best way to operate under the very dire circumstances presented by the devastation of war. They were as selfless as they were courageous in the face of war crimes against them. Afia Attack (trading behind enemy lines) was a catalyst for survival during the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War. A story of lost hopes, pains, betrayals, sufferings, resilience and bravery. The battle for survival that is usually borne silently by women in wartime.

The RoundTable has tabled the Affia Attack model of service side by side the attitude of modern Nigerian women in politics and found a sharp departure and a somewhat neutral sense of service and commitment for the womenfolk and the challenges of fellow girls and women by most of them in the Nigerian socio-political space. There is a benumbing aloofishness by most female politicians that pervades the landscape from East to West, North to South that has not really added value to women and their plight in Nigeria. Only a handful are truly committed to sacrificial  leadership.

The Affia Attack was an idea rooted in leadership and service by women leaders in the refugee camps in the South East at the time of war. Their bravery and marketing strategies are today subjects of academic studies globally. The choices they made – giving up their prized material possessions in exchange for more valuable everyday needs stands on a direct parallel with the attitude of most modern women in politics in the country.

Nigeria might seem at peace today but there are wars women are still fighting, child-bride is keeping women from fully developing their potentials especially in the North. Rape, incest and a cocktail of domestic abuses are still burdens on the women. Maternal and child mortality is one of the global highest. For the Northern women in politics, what are they doing for the IDPs and we  don’t mean the occasional tokens given  in-front- of camera handouts? What are they doing about child-brides? What are they saying about Almajiriai?

For all women in the political space, beyond tagging along male politicians whose wrong policies often endanger women and other groups, what has been their vision? What is the value of the ‘woman leader’ and other token posts from the male politicians?

How many of the female politicians can selflessly serve their communities amidst the dangers of existence? It is a choice.

The Affia Attack women has become a metaphor for the capacity of women to defy the socio-religious cliché of ‘weaker sex’ because their documented exploits during the war evidently shows that besides carrying guns, the women fought many wars and triumphed despite the hardships. The charge from The RoundTable is for the emergence of more women with the fiery and determined spirit of the Affia Attack Amazons. The war had ended but the story of their bravery and leadership reverberates across the globe. As we celebrate Fifty years of the end of the war that pushed women into prominence even against all odds, we urge women to rise up and prove that they are made of sterner stuff and take the political leadership roles that can add value to humanity

A salute to all the women across Nigeria that defied the odds, the dead, the raped, the maimed, the abducted, those who died with their babies in search of sustenance. May their courage be a pillar for any woman in a position to lead.