DEMANDS WE NEED TO START MAKING (Part 1)
Let "them" set an agenda...

In my last post, I tried to emphasize the fact that Tunisians knew they deserved more from their government and they rose to make their demands known. Nigerians on the other hand, even though being far more short-changed by their leaders and politicians (with a poorer quality of life compared to Tunisians) have failed to react to the gross under-performance of government. It is clear that this attitude needs to change and indeed, we need to start making demands of our leaders and would-be leaders. In this following series of articles, I would like to suggest practical demands we can start making from leadership in Nigeria at different levels.

The next few months are going to be full of activity as the political campaigns start since most parties have conducted primaries. Jingles will hit the airwaves, there will be political rallies in different towns and a lot of money will be spent on persuading would-be voters. However, this time, can we DEMAND that our would-be leaders tell us exactly what they want to do? Since my childhood, political manifestos have always seemed too good to be true...implausible and ridiculous even for my gullible mind. The politicians promise health for all, housing for all, free education, constant electricity (I wonder which countries in the world still promice their people electricity during elections? maybe somalia?), potable water for all, peace and prosperity, etc. (...they could as well promise heaven and streets paved with gold for all we care...). Of course when they get into power, they can't achieve any of these because they were not realistic targets; they were more like dreams or hallucinations.

We need the political campaigners to set out in a realistic manner what they intend to do with the given resources and the time span it will take to achieve these targets. Government income figures are available and they can show us how they intend to spend money in the first year of their government as well as subsequent years and the projects they intend to embark on. We don't need open blanket statements like, "I will work on the health sector"; No!!! What we need is specific, realistic, time-bound projects; like, "I will build a kidney transplant centre which will cost such and such within 18 months" or "I will generate 4000MW of electricity at a cost of such and such within 12 months". We want to see REALISTIC PLANS from the campaigners. We need them to tell us specifically what they intend to do for the Niger Delta. SPECIFICALLY. For example, "I will complete the abandoned East-West road to the tune of so and so amount within 12 months using so and so funds". We need them to tell us their strategies. Are they going to raise money from better taxation? The Federal Government revenue is about $30 billion every year depending on crude oil prices. How can they increase this with taxation? especially of the rich who do not pay taxes in Nigeria? What will import duties look like under their government? Defense spending (on the Army, Navy, etc) is a large part of the budget. Will they reduce it? What are they specifically going to do about the police? Are they going to increase funding and training? in which areas? We need specifics.

Unfortunately, elections in Nigeria have usually not been about substance, but about tribalism, sentiment, and emotional baggage. This time however, we have a right to make demands as the electorate. We can't be taken for a ride again. Mallam Nuhu Ribadu is the only candidate who has enunciated clearly his plans in a well written manifesto available online. However, his write up is not specific and he does not tell us how much he thinks the projects he has in mind will cost and how long they will take to be achieved. We need our candidates at all levels - Presidential aspirants, Governorship aspirants and Legislative aspirants to set out an agenda. They should tell us what they intend to do and how they intend to do it. This is necessary so that we can hold them accountable when they get into office. It also helps them to have a sense of direction when they get into government.

WHY WE NEED TO WAKE UP...TUNISIA SHOWS THE WAY...

This write up was inspired by my friend UO who said and I quote, “On every single measure of human development, every single one of them, Tunisia far outclasses Nigeria; yet Tunisians had INSIGHT-they knew they were getting less than they deserved from their government". Nigerians have been short-changed for years…and it seems like the kleptomaniac leaders got bolder and bolder as the years went by. In the 1970s, the issue was 10%...most contracts were inflated by 10% and the leaders got the action in collaboration with corrupt civil servants. Today, it’s more like 100% and annoyingly the work is not done. How many times have “they” awarded Railway contracts, and yet the railways are not working? Or contracts for roads like the Onitsha-Enugu expressway, the Lagos-Benin expressway, etc, and the roads are still not finished. The recent contract of billions for upgrading the Enugu airport, shut down air access to the East for almost a year and when the airport was opened, what a disappointment !!! Indeed, the only state in the country that seems to be getting value from its leadership seems to be Lagos state. The masses of most other states are being taken for a ride by the government.

The recent happenings in Tunisia should tell Nigerians that they should expect more from their government. It is not immoral to expect government to govern, or spend the people’s collective resources on the people and people based services and not on parties in London hotels and school fees for the governor’s children. Like the drafters of the US “Declaration of Independence” wrote, “… whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness”. Tunisians acted because their government had become destructive of the ends of its existence. Government exists for the people and not the reverse and realizing this (thanks in no small deal to Wikileaks) enabled the Tunisians to demand what was theirs. Here are some comparative indices between Tunisia and Nigeria (from the WHO statistics archive).

Development Index	Tunisia	Nigeria
Population (millions)	10.1	151.2
GDP Per Capita (US $)	$7460	$1980
Life Expectancy (years)	75	49
Poverty Levels (% living on less than US$1/day)	2.6%	64.4%
Complete Immunization Coverage	99%	41%
Under-5 Mortality Rate (per 1000 live births)	21	186
Maternal Mortality Rate (per 100,000 child births)	60	840
% of Population with access to Potable water	94%	58%
Net Primary School Enrollment (%)	97.4%	64.5%

Once again, the data is irrefutable. Tunisia is miles ahead of Nigeria in development, per capita income is 4 times that of Nigeria, poverty levels are 32 times higher in Nigeria, yet the people in Nigeria have refused to demand development from their government. My heart is so sad that things are getting worse and no one seems to be concerned. 2011 beckons a season of hope and change and I hope we decide to take our destiny in our hands and at most level of government demand some level of accountability.

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REFERENCE

World Health Organization, 2011. Global Health Observatory. Online Available at http://www.who.int/gho/en/

WHY NIGERIA IS NOT AS RICH AS YOU (MAY) THINK...

One thing I’ve heard over and over and over is that Nigeria is a rich country and our leaders are stealing all the “money”…the looting part is probably true as the World Bank has estimated that as a result of corruption 80 percent of energy revenues benefit only 1 percent of the population. However, crude oil revenues (which account for the main source of foreign exchange for the country and a large chunk of the GDP) is actually small for the humongous size of the population.

Here’s a table showing the oil exporting quotas of OPEC countries and their population.

OPEC Country	Population approx. (millions)	Crude Oil Export (millions of barrels/day)	GDP per capita (US $)
Nigeria	150	2.0	$1,370
Angola	18	1.8	$1,940
Saudi Arabia	25	8.0	$18,600
Venezuela	28	2.2	$11,200
Equatorial Guinea	0.7	0.4	$27,100
Qatar	1.3	1.2	$89,000
United Arab Emirates	4.5	2.3	$64,000

Facts don’t lie…Data is irrefutable…It is clear that Nigeria is not as “rich” as many people think. There is potential for wealth in the nation given the rich human resources but this is also the bane of our development as there are too many people eating from “the same cake”.

A few insights can also be gleaned from this data.

1. Firstly, Nigeria needs to deal with her population. The population virtually doubled within two decades based on National Census figures. This is clearly unsustainable. Many children are out of school and without access to basic education and many don’t have access to health care. The population’s burden for these facilities and if nothing is done about population control, it will overwhelm the country in the next decade.

2. Nigeria urgently needs to diversify the economy. Much has been said about solid minerals, tourism, manufacturing, etc. Now, we need action. Clearly, crude oil proceeds are not sufficient to fund the economy (unlike smaller countries like Equatorial Guinea who can do with oil alone).

3. We can now see how Qatar, a country of 1.3 million people can afford to host the World Cup ALONE in air-conditioned stadia…too much money…looking for how to spend…

Even though the "rich" mythology is disproved, I believe the best is yet to come for Nigeria...I'm looking forward to the greatness we're hoping for, but the work needs to be done NOW...

IT'S A NEW YEAR....

2011 is here...good time to start up the blog again...

Firstly I'll like to wish every reader a Peaceful and Prosperous New Year...Peace in our hearts, families and the nation...and Success in every endeavour we embark on...

In this first week of blogging, I'll be posting some essays I wrote a few years ago...they are still relevant in this time of CHANGE and I really hope we stay focused on the real issues at hand.

THE DESTRUCTION OF PUBLIC SCHOOL IN NAIJA

In the last decade, there has been massive damage to public education in Nigeria. From the Primary to the Secondary to the Tertiary, the impact of mismanagement, neglect and rot that occurred during those eight long years (and continuing now into ten years) can be felt. There were widespread changes almost every fortnight without a clear plan to take education out of the doldrums; from efforts to privatize the over 100 unity colleges to the obliteration of junior secondary classes in these unity colleges to obscene tertiary fee increases and other adverse changes too numerous to mention.

Sometime ago I came across a newspaper article that showed that Loyola Jesuit College was the school with the best WAEC result in the country with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd best students in the 2008 WAEC exams coming from the school. This certainly was not the case a decade ago when the Federal Government Colleges (including the Kings College, Queens College and the Suleja Academy) were tops in the nationally organized exams. It is sad that there are stories of woeful performances today in these FGCs and it is even far worse in other State Government Schools. Facilities are in disrepair in these schools, there is a gross lack of qualified and competent teachers in these Colleges and the libraries are empty of books.

Another aspect is the cost of quality education. The Nigerian Constitution affirms that education is a fundamental human right and urges government to work towards achieving that ideal. However affordable education is a mirage in our society today. For example, the Loyola Jesuit College (a supposedly mission/charity school) quoted above charges N630,000 per session per student and other private schools charge up to N2 million. This is clearly not affordable to the middle class worker in the country. We need QUALITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS. I am not talking about elite schools (where students are taught horse riding and fencing) but places where children can have the education they deserve, read books and understand the world they live in.

Education in other countries is not a reserved privilege of the rich and mighty because knowledge is power. Countries like Singapore, Japan, Korea and even Mauritius have made tremendous progress in standard of living and GDP growth simply because they muster a highly educated and skilled population where quality education is free up till 18 years of age. Countries like the US and the UK ensure that students have access to student loans which they can pay over a long period of time. For example, in the UK, there is a 3000 pound ceiling as the highest tuition a university can charge UK citizens and also the UK government provides student loans up to 4000 pounds per annum which can be paid over a stunning 25 years.

We need a revival of public education in Nigeria and let us not fool ourselves into thinking that the private sector should bail us out because education is a basic responsibility of government.