Inside Stuff With MARTINS OLOJA

As I was saying on this sixth anniversary of the Buhari administration, our leaders at all levels have a responsibility to swallow their pride and vanity and focus intentionally on robust investment in education quality, lest we will continue to celebrate excuses and continue to read from Walter Rodney’s lamentation book, “How The West Underdeveloped Africa” every year. There should be no room for most of the excuses we heap on our colonial masters and indeed the ‘militricians’. We began this unbroken democracy on May 29, 1999, twenty-two years ago!

This is therefore a time to speak some inconvenient truth to all the powers in this our turbulent federation most citizens are not proud of at the moment. So, no matter how inconvenient, we need to repeat to our leaders who have curiously continued to enjoy their perks of office that it is not glorious to be planning for how to win elections all the time without any actionable blueprint on how to restructure this tottering federation, which Africa and indeed the black race have been waiting for. We need to repeat to them that their current mandate is in crisis and they are strangely planning for 2023 that may be a mirage, after all.

It is not funny anymore that even the ruling party’s big men are in a denial mode. They are still smiling even to the banks without organising while the people they are ruling are agonising. It is therefore not acceptable for any leaders in Nigeria to be celebrating excuses at this time when the agonising people talk about their (leaders’) mental laziness, ordinariness and small dreams.

As I was saying too, our leaders at all levels should seek knowledge about dynamic capabilities, efficiency and execution, the discipline of getting things done – instead of fighting and replying critics. And that should begin with the quality of presidential and gubernatorial bureaucracies. This is one area where our leaders have failed us in the last 22 years of barren democracy.

They don’t listen to those who want them to succeed. They dismiss suggestions on how to get the right people to do their jobs as balderdash. They haven’t realised that enthroning mediocrity in the public service is a prelude to failure that will keep failing.

And so, one critical challenge of the Buhari presidency that he has refused or failed to address is his (presidential) bureaucracy. As I have been repeating here since 2016, the president has never considered it expedient that he has never had an efficient Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) who would have helped him cope with the demands of that office. Having good men is not the same thing as having competent men.

The president should have addressed the institutional weaknesses in the presidential bureaucracy. It is unfortunate that the President has continued to stick to an SGF who has not had remarkable public service experience and that hasn’t been helpful to the presidency. There are too many critical elements in the SGF’s office that a neophyte cannot fix no matter how emotionally intelligent he is.
For instance, the office of the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) too was once vacant for more than one year after Deaconess Joan Ayo left the office when her tenure expired. That office, created by the constitution is too important to be left vacant for a year. The current chairman, a retired federal permanent secretary is although a good man, he can’t cope at this time beyond ordinariness that we see in the office now. There was a time there was an acting Head of the Civil Service of the Federation for more than six months. Sadly, no one has read about any dynamism and creativity or innovation from the current Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. This is not a denigration of these high offices: leadership and management positions have to be occupied by qualified people who can actually make some difference, not just what the appointing authorities like.

Let’s set aside sentimentality, comrades, what would president Buhari have expected from the colour of his presidential bureaucracy since 2015? How many literate citizens can remember off-hand the three critical names in the presidential bureaucracy comprising the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the office of the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, for instance? How many of the members of the present cabinet can be named off-hand without using Google (except those who have been prominent or notorious through the media for some wrong reasons)?

This article is essentially for those who would like to run the post-Buhari era. I doubt that there can be some redemption songs for the present administration.
We have seen for six years what cabinet members and chief executive officers of various agencies have been doing. Consequences of official responsibilities are what we have seen in the state of the nation today when non-state actors have become more efficient than state actors who control instruments of violence. Competence isn’t a concept that should be debated. It is transparent. People will feel it. We have felt the consequences of incompetence of state actors in Africa’s most populous nation at this time. Which is why our leaders should note at this time that they need knowledge workers around them to finish well and leave legacies. Even when they feel that they need their kinsmen and class and course mates they know too well around them as leaders, they should note that they need capable and efficient ones who can be part of discipline of getting things done for people to say, ‘well done’.

So, doubtless, our leaders at all levels have celebrated mediocrity for too long. They have ignored people who could have helped us and they have consistently opted for mediocrities (not mediocres) who have helped them and would continue to help them to win elections. They have thought they would not need officers, men and women who would help them to win the people. That is how the ruling parties (since 1999) have lost the country. The ruling party (1999-2015) could have settled certain issues ranging from critical infrastructure to comprehensive reforms of public service generally. But sadly they didn’t for 16 years that locusts ate in the country that they ruled.

Meanwhile,most democracies look up to the hills of their parliaments in times of crises. The United States’ Congress just delivered their country from an incipient and embarrassing tyranny. Nigeria’s parliament is not a strong and reliable institution. The leaders, the presiding officers of Nigeria’s National Assembly can’t organise debate beyond lamentation and constant summons of security and service chiefs they can’t even interrogate well. They have never devoted time to state-of-the-nation robust debates beyond some crocodile tears in the chambers. They have been serious with robust constituency allowances, appropriation bill details and remarkable oversight functions – for enlightened self-interest, sorry self-help – for the next election. What is worse, they don’t have the two most important weapons in good parliaments: a good library and a strong budget office.
Lest we forget, Nigeria’s federal legislature doesn’t have a good bureaucracy at this time to support service delivery. They had a good bureaucracy in the beginning. But they have lost it. That is why our legislators are mere noisy orators and can’t be oracles. Show me a good parliament without a good library and a functional budget office that can puncture possible concoctions from the executive arm.

More important too, the president and the governors should address the challenge of not allowing the law to rule in the country. You cannot claim excuses to breach the law of the land: the law is above even leaders all over the world. See what serious countries including South Africa, Mauritius, South Korea and Brazil have been doing to their serving and former leaders who have though done well but have breached their laws. That is why the president too should have dealt, for instance, with the legitimacy challenge of the anti-graft agencies. Ibrahim Magu, for instance, who was nominated in November 2015, actually acted for almost six years as EFCC Chairman. The Senate rejected him twice in 2017. He was in office without confirmation until early 2021. How should we classify all his acts in office for almost six years? There was a time the ICPC too did not have a substantive Chairman for almost a year. Since 2018, a Court of Appeal in Abuja ruled that the President should include a citizen of the FCT in the federal cabinet. That judgment has since been ignored by the presidency. There have been several other violations including a new law, which provides that the tenure of the Inspector General of Police shall not be extended. The president just flouted that. This is not ideal for a growing democracy.

But as the drums are being rolled out for the ruling party’s sixth anniversary, and 22nd anniversary of our surviving democracy, the speeches should not be drafted to address only re-election issues. This is a moment of introspection and concomitant apologies on failure and collapse of their governance. Our leaders have failed us a great deal. They should not offer excuses this time. They should show genuine remorse for dereliction of responsibility to the people they have been unable to offer welfare and security, the primary purpose of government. Reasons? The nation is in grief. It is still a year of sorrow and fear. Fathers are still burying their children, daily. There is fear in the land. Even fear of food insecurity as farmers can’t go to their farms. Alan Paton, author of ‘Cry, the Beloved Country’, says fear is worse than sorrow because it (fear) is a long, terrible journey. That is also why speeches this year should minister grace to the people who are hungry and angry not necessarily because they are lazy and unreasonably cynical. It was once noted here that, ‘leaders shall not live by winning elections alone’. I also once noted here that, ‘our leaders can win election and lose their country too’. Are they not losing it? The challenge of fixing Nigeria’s broken walls at this time requires some strategic planning beyond winning elections. It requires repentance than deliverance. Only repentance can deliver them from eternal damnation, political death and reproach.

Therefore, our leaders should tell us on Saturday May 29, how they would like to rebuild this divided nation where even senior citizens are openly calling on the ‘militricians’, sorry military chiefs to take over an elected government led by a retired General and former Head of State. Will president Buhari sincerely tell us on May 29 this year that Nigeria, Nigeria, never though me shall thou come to harm?

***We need to continue this reflection next week

Lieutenant General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, former Chief of Army Staff, former minister of defence, better known as TY Danjuma or TY for short, is not an unknown face to Nigerians. Though some see him as controversial, others see him as a blunt man, a man who does not mince words, a man who does not pull punches, a man who suffers no fools. He is one among a very rare crop of Nigerian leaders on whom everyone has an opinion. Never colourless for people to be neutral where they stand with him. It is either you are for him or you are not.

However, whatever one’s views of TY, what cannot be denied him is his patriotism and nationalism. TY fought to keep Nigeria one. He also leaves no one in doubt that he will do so again. And again. He believes in one Nigeria and all his adult life he has worked to protect the country’s sovereignty, working for its greatness all the time.

To be honest, there is nothing that has not been written or said about him just as there is no recognition that he has not gotten or honour not conferred on him. As of now, he is about the most decorated Nigerian alive. His accolades have not been chiefly down to his fabulous wealth. No, not at all. After all, there are scores of Nigerians who are richer than him, yet they have not been half as recognised.

For instance, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 2003 organised a special convocation to confer on him an Honourary Doctor of Science. The university’s visitor, then President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, described him as his “hero and mentor”, saying he was “one of the most illustrious sons of our nation”.

For the former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, who chaired the occasion, no single Nigerian has contributed to the development of education in the country more than TY. The chancellor of the university, the Sultan of Sokoto, HRH Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, in his remarks eulogised the award recipient as “a detribalised Nigerian who has transformed the lives of a significant number of people in the society.”

But Nigeria is now in perilous times that it needs the voice of people like TY Danjuma. Oh, his voice rankles those who do not want the truth, for sure. People blinded by sentiment never accept the truth from blunt, say-it-as-it-is patriots. In 2018, there was an outcry from mostly northern Muslims over his call on people to “rise and defend themselves against killers”. He made the call on March 24 that year, at the maiden convocation ceremony of Taraba State University in Jalingo, the state capital.

On April 2, in a write-up titled ‘2019 Election Timetable, TY Danjuma and Other Matters,’ I wrote: “This brings me to General T.Y. Danjuma and his call on people to defend themselves. Unfortunate as it is, especially coming from a personality no less than him, we should look deeply and dispassionately at the comments and situate them within the context of Nigeria’s current state.

“We also, side by side, have to keep in mind that it was Danjuma, once described by President Muhammadu Buhari as a soldier’s soldier, who, at the risk of his life or career, or both, led a northern revolt against General Aguyi Ironsi. Then the North believed, rightly or wrongly, that he was complicit in the killing of its leaders in the January 1966 coup. But then, the North had not been balkanised by its leaders into Muslim, Christian, Hausa-Fulani and the rest as it has now been by this crop of opportunistic, parasitic, self-serving, thieving and greedy so-called leaders.

“He fought to keep Nigeria one. He and the late General Shehu Musa Yar’adua were also there breathing down Obasanjo’s neck to keep faith with the 1979 return to democratic governance. And it was to a Northern Fulani Muslim the baton of governance was handed.

“In both major situations, Danjuma played pivotal roles for the North. He could have scuttled the 1979 hand over, but he didn’t. In all these cases he saw himself as a Nigerian and a Northerner. He is also believed to be one of Buhari’s staunchest financial and moral supporters throughout his various presidential candidacies when latter-day Buharists, who see nothing wrong in him now, were political foot soldiers elsewhere.

“Danjuma contributed at least $10m in 2014 for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Boko Haram-ravaged North East and is still contributing hugely to that cause through the Presidential Committee on the North-East Initiative (PCNI) while those now desperate to label him ‘barawo’ and their paymasters cannot be counted among those who have helped their suffering brothers in the North East in any material way, save, perhaps, in releasing insurgents in the name of “deradicalisation”.

“Yet, his comment is akin to giving up so late in his life of service to fatherland. So, what has happened to Nigeria now to warrant him losing faith in it – just like that? The Nigeria he fought for and served for almost all his life? This is what we must ask ourselves and answer dispassionately.

“Since the appearance of Boko Haram in the North East some ten years ago, I ask if there is anyone that, even if once, in the deepest recesses of his mind, has not thought of taking measures for self-defence? Why did we not fault Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi of Kano when he made the call on people to defend themselves? Was there no time that (some) Northern Muslim elders accused President Goodluck Jonathan of collaborating with the army to kill Northerners and reduce their voting population?

“Right now across our country, are people not feeling a heightened need to arm themselves for self-defence against armed robbers, kidnappers and bandits? That people had not done so is because they knew it was against the laws of the land but not because they believed they were secure enough. But people are frustrated and many would not dare to voice their frustrations publicly.

“The Emir of Anka, in Zamfara State, Alhaji Attahiru Muhammad Ahmad, in tears, just called on the United Nations and the African Union to come to the aid of his people who are being killed like chickens almost daily. Yet Nigeria is a sovereign state.

“Let there be the rule of law and respect for human life. Government and its officials must abide by the laws. No one should be allowed to be above the law. People should not see government as vengeful or regarding courts and their judgments with disdain. People become law abiding when they see their government and its agents abiding by the laws of the land.

 “A lot of wrongs have been done. A lot is being done, yet there is no justice for victims, neither are culprits seen to be punished as the law stipulates. We have not addressed a lot of extra-judicial killings and plain murders. We always move on as if we are a country of people with short memories.

“Let there be justice in the land. Let a criminal know he can’t kill, maim and abduct and go scot-free. Let those who should secure the citizens and those who should dispense justice know that they can’t be lax or collude with undesirable elements and go free or remain in their duty posts. Let a victim know that the state will always give him justice fast and in full measure.

“When the above is obtainable in society, definitely people like Citizen Danjuma won’t be making such comments. And if he does, no one will take him seriously.”

Someone who calls on people to defend themselves will know how to advise the government to protect the citizenry. Again, someone who has done more than anyone in the promotion of education will know how to resuscitate the education sector.

It is not while in service but in retirement that you know who is great and who shouldn’t be taken too seriously. He who lives a life of service to humanity in retirement should be the one to be trusted with the welfare of the people. And this is the life of TY Danjuma since retiring from active service in 1979.

Even though on a smaller scale and spread, being a non-governmental organisation, we can see that the TY Danjuma Foundation, established in 2009, has virtually taken over from where the Petroleum Trust Fund stopped.

Now that Boko Haram and its cousins – bandits, kidnappers and killer herdsmen – have shut down schools, making parents feel it is safer to keep their children at home than send them to school, Nigeria needs more of TY Danjuma as we will subsequently come to see.

Lest I Forget!

Why Are They Not Performing Umrah?

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) told us that if one performs Umrah during the month of Ramadan, it is as if he does Hajj with him. But he who feeds the needy during Ramadan will enter paradise together with him.

Hitherto our big men preferred to attend Hajj with the prophet than enter paradise with him.

This time around they were all forced to stay at home because in Saudi Arabia, they have scientific ways of knowing those injected with COVID-19 vaccines and they would turn those not injected back. To avoid being found out, they stayed back. Very embarrassing for the world to know it was just a ruse; their followers were just deceived.

The leader of the terrorists that abducted 23 students of Greenfield University in Kaduna on April 18 is Sani Jalingo. Everybody knows this. Our security agencies are aware. After killing five of the students, Jalingo repeatedly calls the parents of the remaining students still in captivity, threatening to kill the abductees if the demand for N100 million ransom is not met. This terrorist uses GSM phone to communicate with the distraught parents. Jalingo is using one of the GSM lines our rash Communications Minister, Isa Pantami, told us if registered and linked to NIN, would be easily traced when used for criminal activities. Pantami’s codswallop NIN has failed to yield any result. Jalingo even called and granted an interview to the Voice of America (VOA), Hausa service, to press for his demand for ransom and 10 new Honda motorcycles.

On the VOA conversation, Jalingo boldly declared that five of the abducted students were killed to prove that the state and the federal governments had failed. It is disheartening to note that Jalingo and his boys, in the last two weeks, came out – not once, not twice – to collect N55 million ransom from parents of the abducted students at an agreed location, yet, our lethargic security agents could not track them. Just on Monday, a family also took N20 million to Jalingo and his gang to secure the release of Aaron Attahiru, one of the abductees. 21 days after, 17 hapless Greenfield University students (15 girls and two boys) are still with the cruel Jalingo and his boys in the forest. How can this persist in a country with a legitimate government?

These unending security sloppiness often leave me shedding tears; tears for a beleaguered country with the most inept intelligence agencies in the world. Are men of the Directorate of Military Intelligence and the Department of State Security sleeping on duty? The intelligence departments in the various police commands are practically dead. It is obvious that intelligence gathering has also collapsed in all security agencies. I am still struggling to face the fact that gunmen successfully attacked the Imo State Police Command Headquarters. Gunmen entered a place that should have the highest level of security alertness with ease and burnt the place unhindered. Weeks after it happened, it is still sounding like one of those James Bond tales.

In Kaduna State, the terrorists move freely, from house to house, abducting people. This state has the highest concentration of military formations in Nigeria. It is also home to a large number of police formations. Yet, terrorists move around with so much courage. The so-called Special Forces in Kaduna State have gone AWOL. It is shocking that the Afaka students were kept in Kaduna forest for almost two months undetected. Governor Nasir El-rufai has not helped matters with his loquaciousness. All words, no action. This man enjoys showboating with human lives. His state is now a big killing field.

As for Boko Haram terrorists, they are moving with ease, deeper into other parts of the North-east and beyond, because of these same collapse of intelligence gathering and inept processes. The terrorists entered Geidam, Yobe State, three weeks ago and are still there, thumping the indigenes. Boko Haram overran the military base in Geidam with so much frightening ease. What happened to the military post in the town? In Mafa Local Government Area of Borno State, the terrorists are still inflicting pain, killing soldiers and civilians. The military post in this town has also been dislodged.
Boko Haram terrorists have advanced further into Niger State, hundreds of miles away from the North-east. What happened to the barriers against such advancement? Are there no barriers in the real sense? Intelligence and technology are critical for success in modern warfare. In this war against terrorists, this country is doing badly on these flanks.

The unending killings by Fulani militias in Benue State are likewise dizzying. Notwithstanding the special military task force in the state, the militias enter towns and villages in Benue State and kill people. This week, 17 villagers were killed by the militias in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State. The terrorists are controlling several wards in Gwer West. Five other Benue State local government areas – Gwer, Guma, Markurdi, Logo, Ukum and Katsina Ala – are brashly attacked by the militias. You wonder where men of the Benue Operation Whirl Stroke are operating from.

All we hear of are security meetings, meetings and endless meetings. President Buhari presided over two of such security meetings in the last four days. It has been all conferences without result. In practical terms, these gatherings have been unproductive. The killings across our country have continued unabated. So sad. Mr. President, Nigerians are no longer interested in these series of security meetings. They want result. They want to see kidnapping gangs busted and abductees freed. They want to see Boko Haram’s expansion march halted and the criminals routed. They want to see bandits and Fulani militias tamed. They want to see foreign military contractors coming in, to help our soldiers.

Taming terrorists is not rocket science. It is evident that our gallant soldiers lack the capacity to end this war against Boko Haram and other terrorists. Nigeria must seek assistance for technology-driven intelligence and modern fighting equipment. I doubt if the military has armoured attack helicopter in its arsenal. I can’t remember seeing any in action. By now, we should be fighting the terrorists with drones. But nothing is happening in this direction. Fighting with drones is just one of the edges foreign military contractors will give our soldiers. The Nigerian government knows what to do to swiftly end the madness of terrorists on our soil within weeks; we have the money to execute it and we know where to get it. So, why is the Buhari government not doing the needful? Why is this government hesitant about getting the best brains from across the world to help us tame terrorism?

Those opposed to the use of foreign military contractors against mutating forms of crime and terror across our 36 states are people benefiting from the war. They don’t want this battle against terrorists to end because the longer it continues, the more money they will be making. These cruel people care less that daily, human lives are lost in hundreds across our country to terrorism. They care less about our gallant soldiers and officers being slaughtered daily. Just look at the funds allocated to security in the last six years, and you would understand what I am saying. A massive N10.02 trillion was allotted to the security sector between 2015 and 2021 by the Buhari government. In the 2021 budget alone, the entire allocation to security sector was N1.97 trillion, representing a 14 per cent increase from the N1.78 trillion allocated in 2020.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, last Tuesday revealed further that her ministry released a total of N1.008.47 trillion to the Nigerian Army between January 2019 and April 2021 alone. Ahmed, who spoke when she appeared before the Senate Committee on Army said the Army got more than the budgetary provision in the period under review. She read out the Capital Funding of the Nigerian Army from 2019 till April 2021. Unfortunately, the so-called military equipment said to have been acquired in the last six years are nowhere to be seen. Our gallant soldiers remain poorly-equipped and poorly-motivated. Few weeks back, the National Security Adviser, NSA, Babagana Monguno raised the alarm about non-delivery of vital military equipment said to have been purchased, but recanted under pressure.

N10.02 trillion to security sector in six years! Huge resources, which ordinarily should go towards the development of our critical health, education and roads, are being allocated to the security sector. More money to security sector means less money to other critical sectors of the Nigerian economy.

As for our President’s failings, particularly on insecurity, I will like to leave with the words of the Senator representing Osun East, Francis Fadahunsi: “Every day, we (Senate) will continue to rise up for one minute. It is sad. I think if we continue to count what has happened, we will not leave this place today. Something drastic must be done when government cannot maintain security again. Economy problem is mounting; then something drastic must be done.
“The Senate must do its work. We have the power; we can install, we can remove. If it means we have to look at that clause, we have to sit down and talk in executive meeting and harmonise and do it the way we should do it. Something drastic must be done to make government sit down or government should quit so that at least, we will have a new lease of life. If the government has failed to protect us, then the Senate should be able to do the needful. What are we waiting for? Is it until when all of us die, then we will go and do it in heaven? I don’t want us to regret.”

A word is enough for all our senators.