Politician, hypocrites and our votes...

"...Politicians are not born, they are excreted" Marcus Tullius Cicero.

The above quote for all its worth could have been made by Cicero this morning considering how true it does ring in present day politics. 

It is well that we all seem disillusioned by the state of affairs in Nigeria, it is also well that we have watched and listened with increasing dismay the dire state of affairs our beloved country finds itself in. Watching with almost choking concern as the buffoonery of one politician is played against the outright hooliganism of another at the expense of a Nation being crippled by the strangling arms of corruption, manufactured sectarianism and poverty. 

The situation has become rather bleak and with each passing day the tiny wriggle room seems to get smaller. The sad truth is that these men in power do to an extent reflect the average state of mind of the populace. They are the excrement that has emanated as a result of the corruption, poverty and inferiority complex we have so eagerly ingested over the years. 

Like many democratic States around the globe ours is anchored on three arms of government one of which (the Judiciary) should be populated by bright minds, strong moral values, people with ideas and the power of thought. 

While the Legislative and Executive arms of government are populated by anyone with money and guts enough to convince, deceive or cheat his/her way into being voted into office. As it so happens, that is what we have now. 

With this structure of government the excesses of the Legislature and Executive ought to be regularly curbed and curtailed by the intellectuals in the Judiciary with of course at their disposal the power imposed on them by the sanctity of an established constitution and law.

We now find ourselves laying the blame of a dysfunctional government at the foot of the Judiciary whenever we hear about rouge politicians being released from prison, or corruption being supported by the judiciary who have time and again failed to convict and imprison government officials who have been accused of looting public funds.

Here is indeed where the problem does lie. If we are unable to prosecute thieves and corrupt officials then we have a huge problem because there is no deterrent, which ultimately implies that anyone in government is free to carry on as usual.

Our politicians have come to realise that with a fully functional Judiciary it would be considerably harder to be convicted or found guilty of stealing. Given the fact that our Police force and other allied law enforcement establishments are largely dysfunctional hence the significant lack of credible personnel capable of investigating any said infringement or suspected infringement. So, with the present state of affairs all that needs to be done for the status-quo to remain is for the Judiciary to do their job effectively. 

We take to social media to denounce these judges and say all manner of things about them but the truth is more often than not they seem to be the only part of the country that functions at above average their capacity. They are the only arm of government truly functioning.

Our cries and wails of derision about injustice and corruption directed at them usually is a cry for them to join the gung ho attitude of the rest of us and disregard their oath. We would have them disregard due process and jail any government official we send their way accused of theft and corruption.

Now should they go ahead and jail these (obviously guilty) men regardless of the lack of evidence or the sorry state with which the investigation was conducted coupled with the inadequate nature of the case against them or should they stick to the letter of the law and carry out their duty and hopefully wait for the rest of the country to right itself and catch up with them?

Though we do have a third of the government fully functional with the other two arms eaten up by decay it is a dire situation indeed.

Do we damage the third leg of a three legged chair to make it stand or do we fix the other two legs?

Fixing the two broken legs would seem the better option, and it so happens that every four years we are given the opportunity to do this. And every four years the two broken legs of this arrangement seem to get in the way. We take bribes to keep them there, we sacrifice the promises of the future for a few perks now.

We have one day every four years to make this right, we have four years to make up our minds, when we fail to do so we spend the next four years laying the blame at the foot of the Judiciary and corrupt government officials.

The Judiciary are sworn to give justice in the name of justice as prescribed by law not in the name of conscience or weak here-say. 

We vote thieves (literally THIEVES) into office. Somehow we hope that by some miracle which should take place in the government house and the corridors of power, these thieves and hoodlums ought to be transformed to vibrant philosophers and guardians of the people with halos about their head, fervently fighting the good cause. When they fail to transform into these fine beings we seem disappointed and turn our anger on the Judiciary accusing them of corruption. This circle goes on to the joy of the few and chagrin of the many.

So, I place the failings of the government firmly at my feet. I look in the mirror and firmly tell myself "I did this" by my actions or inaction. I let this happen. The good thing is every four years I should have an opportunity to right this wrong. You should look in the mirror, ask yourself some questions.

Do you know who your Senator (State or Federal) is? Do you know who your Rep in the house of representatives is? A lot of us do not know and we don't care, all we care about is to wail and whine while brigands, thieves and hoodlums scheme and plot to confiscate your inheritance and subject you to four years of hardship and irrelevance.

It is your time to make a difference, the ocean is only a collection of millions of drops of water, your vote and ideas count. The question is are they relevant to you? Are you too busy living that you are giving up the opportunity to live right? Well it is your right, do as you will and please. Make sure you cook what you are prepared to eat and build what you are prepared to live in.

The good Lord has given you life, the power of thought and speech, even blessed you with objects to think and speak about. Most of all He blessed you with the gift of free will. If He makes the decisions for you of what good is the gift He has so blessed you with?

Think, research your elected officials or aspiring officials, who are they? What do they do? What do they stand for? What are their plans and motives? Make an informed decision. Your happiness and the future of your children are what is at stake.

Indeed politicians are a bye product of the communities they live in. By our actions or inactions we have managed to excrete the worse kind and placed the future of our country in their hands. What do we expect them to do? Sober up and become refined minds? Well, obviously that miracle has not worked. It's time to do the right thing. 

Democracy's continuum, from savagery to civilization and all the way back to savagery.

Mankind has seen an awful lot of varying forms of governance all through the ages. the earliest being attributed to brute force and savagery. Where the biggest meanest was king, down to the middle ages with Monarchical systems and right down to present day Democracy. The key that was often the reason for each transition seems to have been the promise of a better life for society's most vulnerable. With each form it was inevitable that after a period of time the populace would come to realize that they settled for less. Hence, one revolution after another. Some bloody and swift some mundane and gradual. Nevertheless a transition always ensued.

I am not a historian, neither am I a political analyst or strategist. All the same I can not help but be amused by the different forms of governance at play all around the world. There seems to be two distinct categories. Monarchical Dictatorships and Democratic Dictatorships. The former being borne from hereditary factors, the latter? Well it happens to be a factor of a multitude of mitigating factors, the crux of which is the psychological state of mind of the populace which is often closely linked to cultural and traditional practices handed down through the generations.

The form of democracy in the United States can almost be described as a political joke. We have in quotes Red states and Blue states. What this largely implies is that no matter what the "Red" or the "Blue" political party are selling there are a certain number of people (an uncomfortably large part of the population) who would always vote for them. It's almost as if it were a religious rite carried out every four years. As if this wasn't ridiculous enough, there are also a smaller group of people who are usually referred to as undecided voters. This small but extremely annoying group of people could and are swayed by the most trivial of things. So, largely due to the entrenched beliefs and behaviors of these "Red" and "Blue" voters, elections are largely decided by this smaller group of people who are not in the least mindful or bothered about government policy or the economy as it were.  So, where does the definition "government for the people, by the people" come in? Well, It doesn't.  Not at the moment anyway. All the same, to an extent it does work.

In the United Kingdom it is a more closely contested form of governance, where politicians are swiftly punished for nonperformance. Regardless of  ones political party or religious affiliation. Irrespective of this, it is still a somewhat lopsided arrangement given the fact that due to deep seated behavioral tendencies the ordinary people are less likely to arrive at or come by the opportunity to stand for election or have any meaningful say in the government. So, we see a constant stream of people with similar backgrounds which more often than not stems around a slightly more privileged upbringing. In other words a large number of people in government happen to be old school chums and fraternity colleagues. All the same, it does work. To an extent it does.

Moving to Africa, here we have a more confused, maybe even epileptic form of something. It, could hardly be called a democracy, not any where on the continent. Though, there were varying forms of pre-colonial democratically elected forms of governance. Colonization seem to have obliterated that and replaced it with the modern form of democracy. Between this transition was a vacuum. A vacuum which seems to have caused some sort of mental upheaval in the average Africans psyche. Modern democracy in Africa has been like trying to force a square peg into a round hole. And so, while the world largely moves on, Africa and Africans are constantly being hampered by miss-governance, corruption, and the ruinously crippling fingers of corruption. So, in most African states chaos is the norm. In varying degrees but chaos it is.

The idea of governance, of any form or shade is supposed to be centered on catering and looking out for the old, the weak and the most vulnerable in our society. But then just like animals do, what we see these days is a consistent and systematic predatory behavior on the most vulnerable by governments. It seems to be now the only mode of survival. It is either the most vulnerable being tricked into stepping into some vicious wheel or rat race to make sure funds are available to oil the joints and hinges of a government or to take from the weaker by force in other to feed to the populace so as to extend by any means a stay in government. A ghoulish mantra it is but it does work. It surely works.

And so, just like a continuum, mankind is headed back to savagery. Where the meanest, baddest, biggest guy is King. look around you, what do you see? We may as well be back in the caves as early men the only difference seems to be that the bad guy has got a different club.                

Speech and Song..

Singing is indeed a wonderful thing… It exhilarates you. You almost feel immortal, not just listening to a songs rhythm and eloquently contrived words but also to feel the magic of concocting those words and experience the thrill as it leaves your lips emanating from deep within yourself even as you realise its sweet meaning

Not being able to sing due to one’s inability to find a distinct soothing voice or being unable to sync words and melody could be painful. It could almost be described as a personal tragedy of some sort.

It is a gift comprised of not just the ability to find a soothing voice or sync words and rhythm but also possess that ability to mix, rhyme and belt out with confidence. Songs of war, battles lost and won, love, people or Natures little displays and magnificent artefacts, thrills of her almost Parnassian glory, exhilarating and peaceful or brimming with wrath and destruction.

We sing not just to experience what it feels like but sometimes to escape ones present state of mind and feel the temporary solace the words of a song builds us.
But then, to realise that the absence of the ability to sing could be such a small tragedy compared to the absence of the ability to craft words, bringing ones feelings and thoughts to life. Being unable to articulate ones feelings and thoughts and resorting to stammering or sudden displays of effervescent anger thinly veiled beneath a smouldering personality.

It must be a tragedy indeed to be unable to vocalise ones world, or dreams, or anticipations... The raging storms of one’s heart are left unrecorded, unvoiced, the serenity of ones thoughts forever lost, the tenderness of their inner self unknown to an uncompromising world where the spoken word is king and silence is often misinterpreted...

The power of speech is a path through which steady streams of emotions and intentions flow and are used as nutrition to an ever demanding environment.
An environment where the world slowly closes in on you from every side and all you have to stay its slow but steady onslaught is the power to articulate your thoughts and intentions.

Thus, suddenly ones inabilities to master one’s vocals and sync the words of a song seem petty.

It’s a talent for one and two for another and so we must live and behold the endless undulations of nature.

A week of mindless Carnage in Maiduguri and Nairobi...

MAIDUGURI, has been a living hell for people of Borno State in Northern Nigeria. The indiscriminate slaughter of its own citizens by members of the Boko Haram sect this week took on an even more dire twist. 142 bodies were pulled out of bushes and off the road by security forces who have been reduced to just collecting bodies. The Nigerian government has been handicapped by its own inability to eradicate corruption, with more crude oil being stolen than is sold, and now with it's military and government infiltrated by members of the sect she has once again managed to pull herself to the bring of an abyss of a different kind.        

The Boko Haram insurgency is a kind of it's own. Being a mix of disgruntled corrupt Government officials, misguided youths and hardened Islamic extremist from the North. Giving rise to a potent mix of stupidity ad criminality on dangerously massive scale.  Lacking the full credentials of an extremist Islamic cult and also lacking the organization of a criminal cartel. It has become a monster that can not now be controlled by its founders. It now threatens to engulf not jut the whole of the Northern states of the Country but also the States of the Sahara.  

Uhurru Kenyatta's Kenya has suddenly featured on every news outlet in the world. Sadly for all the wrong reasons. Anxiously watching Liverpool vs Southampton sweat it out at Anfield began to seem almost irrelevant when sordid and worrying headlines from Kenya kept flashing across the screen. 

It is a sad story ones again. From people who believe that the old, the young, women and children are fair game when it comes to unconventional warfare. 

For decades on end Kenya has been a smouldering pot of frequent acts of terrorism. The failed state of Somali has supplied a constant stream of misguided extremist who have continued to pour into Kenya. 

It has indeed been a sad week for Africa and the world. With ongoing events in Nairobi no one is to tell where we would end up today.

Putting this occurrence in perspective.  A few days ago hundreds of innocent Nigerians lost their lives and that story barely made headlines within Nigeria itself. What sane society on this planet can loose 142 of its citizens to gruesome murder and yet everything goes on as usual? Its baffling. 

One is forced to ask Is the wholesale murder of Africans somehow secondary when it comes to the loss of one European life. Both are despicable and should not be tolerated, all the same I do believe that a human life should be held priceless irrespective of who it is or where that person originates from. 

Terrorism in all its forms is shameful and cowardly. 

My heart goes out to the families of the victims of both the Maiduguri and the Nairobi incidents. 

Telling a Story......Carrion beast or Journalist?

In the presence of war, famine, celebrations, disasters, and acts of God we now see a new breed of people. People who seek to tell what they see, people who seek to share the story of their experiences. It is with great pain that I have come to realize that these people are consequently products of these stories, they have become carrion, feeding off happy times and disasters alike.

On the one hand they represent the conscience of society, on the other they are just vultures who very much depend on the occurrence of the rotting depraved acts of man to further a career of story telling. 

To accuse them would be futile for all they do is tell as they see, but then there should be a limit to ones ability to resist the temptation to stretch forth a helping hand to a dying human rather than just run and tell as they see. 

Telling a story about a dying girl to prevent the future death of ten other girls is good but saving the first dying girl should be priority it should be the noble thing to do and her death should not just be used as material for a heart wrenching career boosting story.

As the years have gone by the heart of man indeed has become as stone. 

 

A peoples dilemma......

It is with much anguish and disdain that we perceive the current political turmoil that is currently wrecking the reputation of  Rivers state as a political entity. 

What seems to be the most perturbing aspect of it is that most of it is being generated by just a few people. All to buttress their selfish interest. 

It is become a worrying situation indeed, because it does not just threaten the peace of Rivers state it is also threatening to destabilize the entire region. 

With the two most important stake holders keen on fomenting the embers of what is already a precariously poised situation the only foreseeable result is a downward spiral that could ultimately end in a state of anarchy. 

The present administration tends to be nonchalant about what people think. It is frightful to see a government being run the way the present administration is being run. It is indeed scary. It does leave much to be desired on all fronts.      

With the Presidential spokesman who seems to be constantly in a bellicose state of mind bent on treating credible questions and complaints directed at the Presidency as minor irritations, the populace is becoming disengaged from the ruling class. It has gradually becoming a parallel system. With the government attending to issues it perceives to be expedient while the worries and real everyday problems of the common man are being dismissed as superficial and somewhat exaggerated.

One could hope and pray. Its all we have done in the last four decades. We hope and we pray while the world marches on. 

A sponsored research  on the Nigerian problem is very much overdue. As an entity the Nigerian state seems to be constantly in a state of flux, there seems to be an ingrained consciousness that reaches out and corrupts any good thing that threatens to rear its head out of this convulsing pile of corruption, miss-governance, crime and  filth. 

Politicians have lost faith in the system, the middle class have no stakes in its wealth, the lower class have decided that they are beyond hope and reprieve so all we have is a perfectly poised collection and brush wood waiting for the inevitable burn fire that we are approaching.   

The current administration has no scruples about trading its soul now just to get ahead in the pols for the 2015 seat, it all means that between now and 2015 all we can hope for is a government run by a group of people whose sole aim and ambition for its people, the continent of Africa and the world at large is just to win a reelection it is scarcely credible to stand for.  

Politics played around the world is rarely free of misdeeds and corruption but then what we are experiencing in the Nigerian political demography is totally on another plain. The nonchalant manner with which business is carried out is abhorrent. It is like a skyscraper built with foundation of rotten wood. With the elite political class moving ever closer to the roof where they have their getaway helicopters at the ready. 

Everyone knows the system needs to be purged, everyone expects a revamp, everyone is aching and crying but no one seems brave enough to stand and make a difference. We all just carry on and hope a savior in the form of a powerful politicians marches on to the political scene and revamps the whole system. 

With this state of mind we are going to be waiting for a while yet. 

Rivers State is one of the largest Oil producing states in the country. Off Nigeria's 2.28 million barrels produced daily in the country Rivers state is accountable for almost 40% of this. Yet all its oil produced has amounted to almost null development to indigenous communities in the state. In comparison to the Dubai emirate with just 4 billion barrels of oil reserves it has seen almost all of its oil money ploughed back into its community transforming it into a playground for architects and financiers.

With the 10th largest confirmed deposits of crude oil in the world and the 8th largest confirmed natural gas reserve in the world Nigerians still languish in abject poverty and confusion reigns supreme. It is sad to note that the Nigerian state loses $18.2 million a day in burning off its gas reserves rather than harness it. Lacking the expertise and being constantly wary of western nations who always seem keen in locking unsuspecting developing nations into one dubious deal or another with the sole view of furthering their own gains. 

The big oil companies seems content with waiting rather than engaging in serious endeavors to curb gas flaring. While corrupt Nigerian politicians flutter around knowing fully well they are sitting on a pile of raw cash but being oblivious without the slightest of how to convert this to real money. 

We still hope and pray and believe that things would take a turn for the better.

Trayvon and Zimmerman two worlds apart...

Oh sweet Florida my home my Friend

A host of choice, a port of hope

Oh sweet Florida, A home for heroes 

A mansion of dreams, a place to love

your blue seas, white sands and shores of gold

Your palm trees to the wind do bow

Oh sweet Florida, oh Sweet Florida

of thee I sing

I feel your comfort, I feel your love though my skin be tanned, my hair be curled

my eyes jet black, my voice suave

of comfort of fairness a promise from you

of my race, not a question for equality we bought

I feel your riches, I smell your wine

of hardwork and oppurtunity a slice I have

now to protect your shores and my hard earned riches

To thy streets I hurl myself my sword

I should take a walk, I should feel your sweetness

I get some candy and smell the rain

Oh sweet Florida, of thee I sing

Oh sweet Florida, oh sweet Florida

I see a threat, a hood and swagger an enemy I tell

should I draw my sword and challenge this foe, or dog his steps then cut him down

he is armed all right, with a deadly hood and a black skin

to no good he is aimed, oh Florida thy shores I protect

I have a Shadow, a sickening feeling

I have been perceived to be a threat

my race, my colour questioned again

oh sweet Florida this tainted freedom please abolish

He slows his steps, why should he

he is a foe now I see 

he must assume the position

or my steel would drive my challenge and question

I should walk faster and shake this shadow

of fear and anger I feel arising

Oh Florida oh Florida, of thee I sing

I would stand my ground and declare myself

Halt thy steps and declare thyself

to no good I perceive you to be

you would stand with me

till the sheriff does arrive 

Why should I be held to ransom 

on these lovely shores of mine and thou

No, my freedom I must protect and declare

of this, not an inch would I give

He does resist then my sword would speak

a blemish he is to these shores of ours

Now he is down his blood abroad, a closer look I take to see

a foe alright he is to us and has been for all of 17 years

Oh Florida, oh Florida I lie mortally wounded, for once again my skin belies me

now from me gushes my youth, my virtue my soul with the rain does mingle

oh Florida, oh Florida of thee I sing

I lie here spent, my future taken 

Could I have waited 
the sheriff would come
but then i did what I did to protect myself
after-all a hood and black skin he had on him

I go now quiet, for I must 

for my body lies broken and spent beneath your sky

of justice and freedom I beg again

though I know it shall never be mine

Go on now young foe
I have a story to tell for us both
in the grave you can but rest
your colour on earth brought you non of that

Oh I wish my mother to see for just a moment ere I go 

the silence is come, the night beckons 

my heart flutters my breadth is stilled

goodbye Florida of thee I sing

Thoughts..

It is better to be lost at sea, or in the desert or in the woods, for then you still stand a chance of being found and rescued or meet an end and perish. Within the confines of oneself however, being lost is indeed being truly lost. For not even the deepest recesses of the ocean or the vast nothingness of the sands of the desert can boast the endless intricacies, passages and space that is the human mind. It is even more unsettling to note that you are its only inhabitant.

Understanding the roots of an artificial insurgency

“Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man”.

-Henry Adams

“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?”

-Mahatma Gandhi

It is without doubt that the Nigerian demography is an extremely complex one in every sense and a few people have used this complexity to their advantage and intend to continue doing so at all cost.

Since its amalgamation in 1914 Nigeria has been a simmering cauldron of all sorts of strife and running conflicts. Crime, fraud and corruption crept into the mix unnoticed and unheeded. One after the other they have been added into this brew which was already so potent that their addition largely went unnoticed until they had changed the colour and texture of the brew.

Now, here we are, ensnared by guilt, trapped in a quagmire of corruption and fraud, enmeshed in a never ending circle of tribal and religious violence as we still reel from the chaos and destruction wrought by one Civil war.

 

Here we are guardians of an entity which was another man’s dream, a foreigner’s notion of a nation. Here we are bleeding and striving to sustain an entity that nature herself strives to tear apart. Here we are crying and gnashing our teeth at this chaos that streams and gushes upon us.

Here we are, in search of peace yet unwilling to offer her the sacrifices she solemnly demands, knowing full well that these supplications would involve disorientating ourselves and giving up the very ideals that define our separate entities and name us as individual people.

A compromise seems the best way forward, but at what cost?

Would a compromise issue us peace or simply a cessation of hostilities? Would a war without arms ensue and guarantee the birth of a generation of hate and an empire of intrigue and espionage or would it offer integration, coexistence and tolerance? A cross roads it does seem but at this speed it is impossible to veer either left or right. Full steam ahead and inevitable destruction seems most likely. All the same, it is said that Nature herself often plays tricks, and she could suddenly come to a halt in doing so throwing her inhabitants together forcing them to make peace.

 It has been a tumultuous 24 months for Nigeria. Each day that goes by sees mountains of uncertainty looming ever closer.

The trick with using the carrot and the stick goes with making sure that your adversary believes that accepting the carrot is worth the while in contrast to the very real threat posed by the presence of the stick. When you substitute the stick with a cucumber then you would have a problem.

In the path of an inferno every item is an accelerant. Snuffing out a flame would ultimately prevent you from dealing with an inferno that could potential annihilate everything in its path.  

Nigeria’s’ problems though complex are not insurmountable. There are quite a number of solutions that do not involve bloodletting, though with so many variables and equally as many (counterfeit) constants the calculus of this problem becomes ever more complex with time.

Worrying Development...

Residents of Ijora and Lagos as a whole have woken up this morning to the stark reality now facing them. Boko haram have made good their promise to move their operations down to the south of the country. This is an extremely worrying development. Lagos does not only serve as second city diplomatically, economically it is first city to the most populous African nation.

At 7am this morning State security personel and soldiers were able to apprehend a group of terrorist who one would have to assume were in an advanced stage of mounting a terrorist attack. They were fully prepared with bomb, guns and other war paraphernalia.

At this point in time being wary of a Mumbai style showdown on the streets of Lagos wouldn’t totally be out of the question. It is sad that it has eventually come to this.
This Cancer must be checked before it consumes the country and everything in it. .

Chinua Achebe moves on.

A literary giant was Albert Chínụ̀álụmọ̀gụ̀ Àchèbé, a blessing he was among story lovers and lovers of culture and tradition. He could put pen to paper and write down things that the rest of us could but vaguely dream about. He wrote it as he would have it read.

He was a true hero of modern Africa, an icon in academia. He would always be alive in the pages of his book.
All hail Chinua Achebe, may he rest well.  

SMH

People are always prone to see the funny side of events. People would always want to have a laugh about an issue that does not necessarily tickle them as it does present the stark reality that there isn’t anything they could possibly do to make the situation any less shameful. Over the past few weeks it’s been one blasphemy after another.

Facing down that reality needs a lot of energy, time and resources. No one has that time and energy to counter little niggling irritations so all we can do is poke fun, propagate it on Facebook and twitter, make T-shirts and we all have a good laugh. But then, the fact remains that we are inching towards the edge of a precipice.

Mediocrity is a dangerous web, it sets its own bounds and one would wallow inside its shadows, eternally insulated from any form of confrontation. Nothing would ever seem worth the while to raise one’s voice or to take action. So as long as factors are not potent enough to penetrate and jolt one out of this nice tidy rat race, everything would seem acceptable. Everything would seem bearable, the good, the bad and the downright shameful.  

#MyOgaAtTheTop has been the height of events lately. 

Before that there was the pardon granted to a world renowned thief who is still wanted in various countries for financial crimes. The shame about his crimes isn’t as much it is some complicated, sophisticated business acquisition/financial deal as it is a case of just stacking raw cash into suitcases and cheap plastic bags and yanking them across Countries.  The stealing is a crime on its own; the stupidity exhibited is in itself a crime. To compound issues, we have had a Presidential spokesman come on air to justify this pardon. His words and actions have made the initial crime committed seem pale in comparison.

We all make mistakes, we all fall short.  This is very natural we all humans. On the other hand standing up to defend a wrong, no matter what words or policy or law you use to justify your deeds is just downright shameful.

Like my friend Obi has said, Keep wearing the T-shirts, keep the word alive.

It's all well and good to poke fun at and laugh at the current situation unfolding in Aso rock, but the sad truth is that these are desperate times. We must treat them as such. 

Always some fairy tale excuse to siphon money. Now its N60 Billion for Mobile phones for farmers.

The Nigerian Minister of Agriculture Dr Akinwunmi Adeshina recently put in motion an initiative in which 10 million Nigerian farmers would be in line to receive a mobile phone each. It is difficult to begin assessing this situation. There are a lot of factors to it.

Concentrating on what impact this venture would have on the Nigerian agricultural sector. On the one hand it is a fact that Information is absolutely critical on the other hand one is forced to ask, what information the government is looking to disperse to Farmers. How frequently would this information be given and why can’t it be given via any other means. Now, giving the fact that most of these farmers are in rural areas with little or no access to electricity, already this initiative is riddled with holes. A lot of them are illiterate and all they care about is growing their crops and getting them to the market. This they have done for hundreds of years. A mobile phone wouldn't in any way make this easier for them. It would only complicate things.    

Now, Nigeria with over 110 million mobile phones in circulation has the largest number of active mobile phone users in Africa. Despite this staggering statistic, Nigeria does not have a viable program where the activities of mobile phone operators are monitored and the interest of the populace protected. The result of this is that mobile operators frequently defraud customers with dropped calls and lost credit, this they do with absolute impunity, MTN being the worst offender. This Practice does result in Trillions of Naira in windfall for the Mobile phone operators every year. In part this makes up for the shortfall in the number of new customers they now sign up every year.

This seeming Agricultural project of acquiring 10 million mobile phones for farmers on the surface does seem like an intelligent move. Well, the fact is it is an intelligent move; it is a very strategic business move. The question is, for whom? The answers to that question my friends are hardly the farmers or the Nigerian Populace or even the Ministry of Agriculture. I can only see 2 beneficiaries with regards to this scheme, and neither of them carries a hoe.  

10 million farmers swear fealty to MTN. Promising to pay them at least N10,000 every month in buying credit and a further N2,000 in dropped call and lost credit. That gives us a total of about N120 Billion every month in the MTN kitty, this amounts to N1.5Trillion a year. This is of course before the domino effect takes off and the Farmers  neighbours and friends also decide to get their own mobile phones in other not to feel left out. An estimate of this would be that at least one person would decide to buy a mobile phone for every five farmers who receive one. This does equate to an extra 2 million phones and an extra N24 Billion a month. In Total we are looking at about N1.8 Trillion a year ($12Billion) in Revenue for MTN and friends. I wonder what impact $12 Billion would have on the Nigerian Agricultural sector if invested wisely.

Minister of Agriculture. Dr Akinwunmi Adeshina

 Dr Adeshina was on television last night to deny the existence of any N60 Billion put aside to purchase mobile phones. Now, mobile phones cost at least N8,000 per phone. This takes us to N80 billion, N20 Billion more than what was anticipated. Now, this being a quote for the cheapest mobile phones, I am really struggling to see where Mr Adeshina is going to get the phones from without having to pay for them. Last I checked Nigerian farmers don’t grow mobile phones. Nigeria doesn't even manufacture mobile phones.

On Second thoughts, given the current security situation developing in the country, tracking decedents and terrorist would be a little bit easier, albeit quite expensive.

   

So, our dear Dr Akinwunmi Adeshina has found himself a very comfortable nice niche being a middle man for MTN and Nigerian farmers. He gives the Farmers N60 Billion worth of Mobile Phones and in return the Nigerian Farmers give MTN and friends N1.8 Trillion a year. Not a bad investment. Of course, none of these huge amounts flying around would find its way to Dr Adeshinas’ backyard. Absolutely none of it.