The Nigerian King Who Served Toads For Supper

BY NDUKA OJINMO

Nigerian author Chukwuemeka Ike, who died last month at the age of 88, helped define Nigerian culture, but never received the international acclaim he deserved, writes the BBC's Nduka Orjinmo in Lagos.

Ike will be remembered for his novels but his legacy will also live on in an important word in Nigeria's lexicon.

Say "expo" to anyone here and they immediately know what you are talking about - exam malpractice.

Ike helped popularise the term when he penned Expo 77, a novel based on the true story of how top secret school-leaving exam papers were leaked twice in 1977.

Ironically, he was in charge of the exam board when the leaks happened, and chose to vent his frustration about the way society encouraged malpractice - from parents to students to school administrators - through his literary work.

His writing gave voice both to contemporary concerns and also to a defence of African - and more specifically his Igbo - culture.

While the literary themes of the time were focused on the conflict that existed between the West and Africa, he was one of the earliest writers to capture the tide of the emerging cosmopolitan Nigeria.

He did not just excavate the ethos of Africa from bygone times, he also reflected the present: bringing to life everyone from the politicians to the prostitutes, and prophesied the palavers that were to come.
Morphing into a leopard

He was satirical, lampooning institutions with humour that was acerbic and he enjoyed it. He poked fun at the foibles of modern Nigeria.

In Toads for Supper, his first book, he dealt with the theme of love in a beautifully humorous way that exposed the tensions in multi-ethnic Nigeria.

Set in a Nigerian university in the west of Africa's most-populous state, it tells the story of a new student, Amadi, who is the first to go to university from his village in eastern Nigeria.

The book captured what it meant to be an Igbo student in western Nigeria before the civil war, sparked by the creation of a breakaway Igbo state, Biafra, in 1967.

Ike responded to the civil war - a defining period of Nigeria's history - with Sunset at Dawn.

He would later try to distinguish between Biafra and Biafranism. He described the latter as representative of "those things that made us great in Biafra".

But in the book, he described the tragedy that unfolded through Fatima who is fleeing enemy planes with her young son.

In the magical-realist Bottled Leopard, he managed to hold a generation spellbound. It was no doubt helped by the fact that the book was compulsory reading for secondary school students studying literature.

It is the story of a schoolboy who has been chosen by his ancestors to bear the mystical power of his lineage: the power to morph into a leopard.

Most people see Bottled Leopard as Ike's defining work, but this could be down to the fact that it was forced on a generation of readers.
Achebe's influence

Born into a royal family in the eastern part of Nigeria, Ike was a student at the famous Government College Umuahia, a breeding ground for the country's finest post-colonial writers.

Literary icon Chinua Achebe was his senior at the school and Ike once told an interviewer that Achebe had inspired his writing.

"In fact, I never thought of writing novels until Chinua Achebe published his Things Fall Apart in 1958," he said.

Maybe it was not such a good thing to be an Igbo writer in the same generation as Achebe.

Some believe this short-changed Ike and that his writing deserved a larger audience.

The same could be said of the other gifted Nigerian writers of that generation: Cyprian Ekwensi, Mabel Segun and Elechi Amadi. Their brilliance seems to have been overshadowed by literary giants such as Achebe and Wole Soyinka.

It was a generation of writers that had the difficult task of transferring oral aspects of indigenous languages into loose English translations with sometimes inchoate outcomes.

It is in this regard that Ike's legacy cannot be denied, his place in literature stands as tall as the others.

For he more than most, succinctly captured the conversation style of a people in a multi-ethnic, multilingual nation.

He reflected their ability to switch from simple English, to bombast, to peer-group slang, to pidgin English and native language.

In Expo 77, a policeman's reaction to a girl using a sanitary pad to help cheat in an exam, captured Ike's writing style fittingly:

"'Jesu Christi Oluwa wa!' the assistant superintendent exclaimed. He was Yoruba. 'Jehova Witness dem people say Armageddon go come in five year time. 'E don' come patapata! Olorun!' He snapped his fingers."

In 2008, he would go from defending his culture in the pages of a book to defending it on the throne as the king of Ndikelionwu in eastern Nigeria. He took the throne following the death of his father.
Tackling animal sacrifice

The Ike family has ruled Ndikelionwu for decades but his people were yet to encounter one who wanted to preserve the monarchy by changing things.

In 2018, he asked his people to stop offering animal sacrifices to the land goddess Ala during the new yam festival.

Instead, he wanted a Christian thanksgiving service at the Anglican church where a front row seat was usually reserved for his family.

The writer, who spoke up for African culture in his work, and wrote about men transmuting into leopards, felt animal sacrifices should no longer be associated with his people and many of them agreed with him.

As a king, he respected the egalitarian nature of his people and was largely democratic, working with a small council to reach decisions.

They describe him as humble and the peace-maker who ruled with a firm hand.

His people say he is not dead as a king does not die, but rather goes to be with his ancestors. They refuse to speak of his death, neither do they refer to him in the past.

It is the sort of attitude that Ike may have been proud of.

This king may be dead but he lives on in his writing.

SOURCE: BBC

My Swedish Career: 'You Need To Win The Hearts Of The Swedish People To Be Able To Succeed'

Arinze Prosper Emegoakor. Image via The Local Sweden

BY TIM MARRINGER

After moving from Nigeria to Sweden, Arinze Prosper Emegoakor struggled with adapting to life in Sweden while staying true to his cultural roots. Now he's starting a business with the aim of telling stories about his African culture and identity - through socks.

Arinze had tried living in Sweden before returning in 2011, but it was only on his second stint in the country that he felt able to settle down.

"When I was 20 years old, I travelled to the Netherlands and met my ex-wife there who is Swedish", he recalls. "I lived in Sweden for a short period, but I couldn't stay. It was too difficult for me to adapt to the environment. But I came back, and since 2011 I have been living here in Malmö."

After joining a kickboxing-gym in the southern city and going out every night to build a social life, Arinze joined the Pan African Movement for Justice. The organization aims for equality for people of African descent in Sweden, and it was here that he found a purpose in his adopted country.

"I got involved in the Pan African Movement for Justice and became a board member of that organization. That provided me with a strong network of people that motivated and educated me. These people are doing something positive in society. That started my journey in Sweden," he says.

After moving, Arinze remembers struggling with his identity and finding a balance between staying connected to his roots and adapting to his new environment.

"Being raised in Africa and having lived most of my life in the western world, there was a constant struggle about what I believed in and who I was", he notes.

"The environment in which I was raised and the Swedish norms are very different in terms of how people express [themselves] and how they see things. I want to be a contributor to this society. I don't want to sit and observe. How do I do that and still keep to my core values? How do I adapt and not attract any unnecessary attention? Being an African man while also being a member of Swedish society was hard at first."

It was all about finding a comfortable balance, something he now thinks he's achieved: "What I did was accept who I am and who I have become. Through my journeys and my stay in Sweden, I've become a hybrid of culture and identity."

"I cannot completely behave or act like I was in Africa because of the culture and norms in Sweden. But I still have my original values. I mixed my values with the norms of Swedish society. That is the balance."

During his childhood in Nigeria, Arinze spent a lot of time with his grandmother, who he credits with introducing him to the power of storytelling.

"I found that the people don't usually say 'do not steal' or 'do not lie', but people tell you stories", he says. "In this story, the thief will get what he deserves. There's a powerful message there. Through storytelling, you take up these values automatically."

His roots in the Nigerian Igbo culture inspired Arinze to start his own sustainable bamboo sock company called Akụko. And he has put the power of storytelling at the core of the company.

Through the colourful collection of socks, he hopes to start conversations and tell the story of his culture.

"Through storytelling, movement and style esthetics, we make people curious to find out more", he says. "The design of my first collection is inspired by a musical instrument called ogene, which is a kind of gong. In my village, it is used to call for meetings. When people want to call for a meeting they tell the town crier, and he will go around to play the ogene to gather people."

Akụko isn't the first business Arinze has started. He learned valuable lessons after starting up an entertainment company for Afrobeat music in 2014.

"We had shows in Malmö and Stockholm. It was fun, but we failed financially", he says. "I started to wonder: why did we fail? I found that the Swedish people aren't easily impressed, especially when you're an outsider. You have to be humble and connect to them. Win the heart of the people, connect with the society and community around your brand. Go for value and the money will come."

Arinze hopes that his work on his second business, and its roots in his native culture, will inspire more people of African descent to follow their goals and dreams. "

If they want to start their own business they should go for it", he says.

"They need to see more people who are like them doing positive things. We can inspire the next generation to do so, be role models. I have documented the blueprint of my journey, and I'm ready to share it with anyone that needs tips about how to crowdfund or how to start up a business. People can always contact me for support on how to realize your their goals in Sweden."

SOURCE: THE LOCAL SWEDEN

Writer Chigozie Obioma: 'The Only Vision I Can See Of Nigeria Is A Tragic One'

Chigozie Obioma. Image: Getty


BY DIANA WICHTEL

Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma, appearing at the NZ Festival this month, draws both tragedy and divine inspiration from his strife-torn country. 

“Tragedy does not occur because something has been broken,” says Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma, on the phone from Nebraska. “A thing is tragic if it cannot be mended again.” Readers of his stunning novels will know that he is a master of that which cannot be mended. The Fishermen, shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize when Obioma was just 28, and An Orchestra of Minorities, which pulled off the same trick in 2019, have been described as mythic, dark and tragic. They will break your heart.

“I don’t read reviews, but someone wrote one that he sent to me, which was weird. I have a lot of respect for the guy. I had to read it,” says Obioma. “He said that the best way to look at my work is that they’re tragedies, but what makes it odd is that people no longer write tragedies. If you look at American literature today, you don’t see modern tragedies. It’s a rare thing.” It made him think about why his work is so … tragic. “I think it’s just because of the source of these stories. I’m looking at Nigerian society in these two books and the only vision I can see is a tragic one.”

There is a political subtext to the stories, referencing slavery, colonisation, corruption, paradise lost. There is also the irrepressible vitality and mordant humour of a born storyteller. A conversation with Obioma has its share of both. To illustrate his point about tragedy, he cites his car. “I rammed it stupidly into some brick the other day, and I took it to the mechanic. And the guy gave it back to me so new that it was better than it used to be. No, seriously. My wife was looking at it, like, my goodness. So can you say that accident was tragic? No, it wasn’t.” As an example from the other end of the spectrum: his country. “I feel like the system, the Nigerian society, has been broken for a long time and there is no hope of any kind that it will be mended. This is a tragic thing.”

The Fishermen, set in Obioma’s birthplace, Akure, is the story of four brothers. Freed from their father’s stern gaze when he is transferred to another city for work, they bunk off studying to fish at a place considered cursed. They encounter the local mad seer, who issues a prophecy: one of the brothers will be killed by one of the others. The story has been called “Cain and Abel-esque”. It’s also about how human beings, and the systems they live under, can take a disastrous turn.

is new book, An Orchestra of Minorities, is the intricately constructed story of a chicken farmer, Chinonso, who, after the early death of his mother, finds comfort first in a gosling he rears and then in tending his flock of chickens. The title comes from the helpless racket they make when one is taken by a hawk. “Chinonso tries to shield the birds from the larger forces of society – the hawks and the kites,” says Obioma, “and he sees himself as identifying most with those creatures.”

The Fishermen is narrated by nine-year-old Benjamin. In an audacious move, An Orchestra of Minorities is narrated by Chinonso’s chi, his 700-year-old guardian spirit, which frets over how much to intervene in its host’s life.

Chinonso rescues a woman, Ndali, from suicide with a unique sacrifice. They fall in love. He calls her “mommy”. “You are a shepherd of birds, and you love your flock,” Ndali tells Chinonso. “You care for them the way Jesus cares for his sheep, with so much love.” But she’s a trainee pharmacist from a wealthy family unimpressed with her chicken farmer. What could go wrong?

The story is mythic, drawing on the cosmology of the Igbo people Obioma is descended from. Chinonso’s story is intercut with visits to the domain of the divine, where his chi tries desperately to intercede on his host’s behalf with the gods, to temper their judgment of him in the face of Chinonso’s obsessive love and the extremes it will drive him to. The chi is also arguing for its own continued existence, after a not-so-stellar job done during its sojourn with Chinonso. And, perhaps, the chi is appealing to the judgment of us, the readers, too. “Yes. One of the things that inspired me to tell the story that way was that this is the way people used to tell stories in the past. I witnessed one of those sessions myself when I was a little child.” Those who still followed the traditions of the ancestors didn’t believe in Western courts. Disputes went to local courts. “There is a chief priest and the person accused stands in the centre of the council, swears before the gods and says, ‘I’m going to say the truth.’ The stories they told under that kind of duress have a fidelity to the truth. You believe that you are standing before an entity that can see when you lie.”

But there’s also the human need to make your case, to explain yourself, to soften the truth. “So, they just try to dance around it. There’s a circumlocutory way which they arrive at the point. It’s a roundabout storytelling that was very fascinating to me because of the things they include along the way, the history they bring up. So the chi, having lived for these many centuries, would be able to be a chronicler of history and make of this story something completely different.”

The chi is the ultimate omniscient narrator, largely reliable but with its own axe to grind. Some of the book’s humour comes from its efforts to help in the face of its host’s pratfalls. When Chinonso goes to Ndali’s home for a grand party, her brother puts him to work directing cars. There’s a visceral sense of Chinonso’s humiliation, his suffering set to the music of the party entertainment, a famous singer “making unintelligible sounds akin to those made by termites crawling on dead wood and the crowd was braying like senseless lambs”.

We know very early on that Chinonso will do something terrible, something unlikely to be mended. A pivotal disaster – a reader will groan aloud – befalls Chinonso as he tries to better himself in the eyes of Ndali’s family. He sells up everything, including his beloved chickens, to go to university in Cyprus, where he finds all is not what it seemed and his life spirals out of control.

Obioma also attended university in Cyprus. Chinonso’s disaster is based on the experience of a person he knew there who was scammed. “Like every other person who was deceived, he came to Cyprus and then he discovered he’d been cheated. Almost everyone else I knew survived,” says Obioma. His friend did not. “Just him. So why? It’s something that has always tugged at me: to what extent are we actually in control of our lives? In modern times, science and technology have been able to create this sense that we are in control of almost everything, but it’s not always true.”

In the fatalistic words of the chi: “The ill luck that has befallen a man has long been waiting for him – in the middle of some road, on a highway, or on some field of battle, biding its time.”

So, is the Igbo cosmology that animates the book a fascinating world view for its writer or a spiritual base? Both, he says. “My mother is someone who grew up in the religion and her dad used to be a priest when he was younger, and he was persecuted a lot by the Christians.” Obioma doesn’t practise the religion, but the philosophy behind it has huge force. There’s the Igbo idea of the chi being a reincarnating spirit in every individual. “And, therefore, the idea that every individual has divinity in them … It was the main reason why the Igbo were the only society in all of Africa that did not have a kind of monarchical system. It never existed in pre-colonial times.” Elders represented their people at village councils. “When the British came to Igboland, they had a hard time colonising that part of Africa. Where is the palace? So they kind of had to impose arbitrary kings on them.”

Not everything in the Igbo philosophy is good, he says. “That’s one thing I like about the chi. It doesn’t idealise. It is biased to the world-view of the Igbo people but it also kind of rebukes the so-called great father.” There is a wonderful Igbo proverb Obioma cites: “Let the kite hawk perch, and let the eagle also have a perch. Whichever begrudges the other the right to perch, may he break a wing.” The meaning: “You are punished when you try to deny the other their humanity.”

Obioma’s own Cyprus education had a happier trajectory. He teaches literature and creative writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “Plot should be a function of character, rather than the other way around – that dictum is what I tell my students all the time,” he says. “But I want to be challenged. I would joyfully thank you if you can convince me otherwise.” He finds he is not often joyfully challenged. “I can come into anywhere, a school in New York or in Nebraska, and pick 20 professors at random and, without knowing any of them, I can say, ‘This is what you think about this, this is what you think about that. You are very predictable’.

“I think the worst thing that a human being can be is an ideologue. I think because I was a voracious reader, I was always in the debating team. I was very interested in dialectics. So, it is very difficult for me to be close-minded about anything – I don’t know how to. Once you come to a point where you have made up your mind about anything, how can somebody talk with you? You already know everything.”

Not everyone has been happy about Obioma’s portrayal of his country in his fiction. “During the Booker Prize ceremony in 2015, the Nigerian consulate member was invited. He was saying, ‘We love your work but your depiction of Nigeria is bad.’” Obioma’s reply? “I am somebody who is writing about society as I see it. I’m not making anything up. Is there any exaggeration here? Is there any untruth here? If you find one I will correct it. Am I saying what is true? If that is the case then there’s nothing I can do about it.

“If you make Nigeria as good as New Zealand, of course I will start writing – what do they call these novels – sun, beach …? Beach reads,” he says, laughing.

Don’t expect any beach reads any time soon. He admits, near the end of our conversation, that he was a little put out when I called. “In fact, I should have been annoyed with you because you interrupted,” he says genially. He’s working on a new novel. Be warned. “These guys who are saying, ‘He’s writing a dark novel’, well wait till you see this one. It’s about the Biafra war.”

More than a million people died in the two-and-a-half-year war from July 1967 to January 1970 between the government of Nigeria and the secessionist state of Biafra. “So, it’s the war novel where I’m down in the trenches with these guys who are fighting.”

It’s also a joyful book, he insists. He’s having the time of his life. “It’s like when you fall in love as a teenager – you know that sensation? You almost agonise because you want to meet that girl who lives in the neighbourhood as soon as possible. So, that’s what I’m feeling right now. Only [Chimamanda Ngozi] Adichie, I think, has written a reasonable novel about the war, so let me do one.”

It sounds far from stories of fishermen and a chicken farmer but, for Obioma, it’s all of a piece. “In my two books, my biggest project has been to try to document, in a way, what I think has gone wrong with my people. So, if you look at Nigeria, if today we want to have 24-hour uninterrupted electricity all across the country – right now we don’t have, it might surprise you – we can do it. It is very possible. The resources are there.”

In An Orchestra of Minorities, the chi is able to reflect on history, culture, the chaos of a post-colonial world. There is much that is good, Obioma says. “Western education and all of those things. But something has been lost.” So he is offering not just social critique, not just tragedy, but also some tools for the work ahead. “That is my hope, honestly.” Perhaps, like the chi, he is also making his own case to the gods, those of the literary world.

“That’s what makes these books appealing to all these different [Booker Prize] judges,” he says. “There is something that I’m trying to do that is beyond just telling stories. It’s at the very heart of the project.

“I’m hoping that, [with] true documenting of some of the history, some of the culture, some of the beliefs that the chi sometimes reflects upon, people might discover a better version of themselves.”

Chigozie Obioma is in conversation with Brannavan Gnanalingam at the New Zealand Festival of the Arts in Wellington on February 23.

AN ORCHESTRA OF MINORITIES, by Chigozie Obioma (Hachette NZ, $34.99)

This article was first published in the January 11, 2020 issue of the New Zealand Listener.

Why Your Judgment Is Fraud, Ihedioha Tells Supreme Court

Emeka Ihedioha

BY GODWIN TSA

The sacked governor of Imo State, Emeka Ihedioha, has predicated his motion urging the Supreme Court to set aside its January 14, 2020 judgment that ousted him from office on the ground that it was fraudulently obtained by the incumbent governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma.

The apex court had in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun removed Iheadioha from office and ordered that Uzodinma of the All Progressive Congress (APC) be sworn in as the validly elected governor of Imo State.

But in a motion on notice filed pursuant to section 6(6) of the 1999 constitution, section 22 of the Supreme Court Act, 2004, and the inherent jurisdiction of the court, the former governor has asked the court to review it’s judgment on the ground that it was obtained by fraud.

The motion which was filed by the legal team of the former governor headed by Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN) was in respect of appeals Nos: SC. 1462/2019; SC/1470/2019; CA/OW/GOV/05/2019and petition No: EPT/GOV/IM/08/2019, between Senator Hope Uzodinma, All Progressive Congress (APC) and Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

It is the contention of Ihedioha that the judgment is a nulity as it was obtained by fraud.

On this ground, Ihedioha submitted that “the Appellants/Respondents (Uzodinma), fraudulently misled this court into holding that a total of 213,495 votes were unlawfully excluded from the votes scored by the 1st Appellant/Respondent in the election.

He further submitted that “the 1st Appellant/Respondent admitted under cross-examination that he was the person (and not the 3rd Respondent [INEC] or any of its officials) who computed the result that gave him the 213,495 votes alleged to have been excluded from his total votes in the election.

“The fraudulent nature of the additional votes was demonstrated by the fact that the total votes cast as shown in the 1st Appellant/ Respondent’s computation was more than the total number of voters accredited for the election and in some polling units more than the total number of registered voters.

“The fraud was also demonstrated by the fact that the result computed by the 1st Appellant/Respondent showed only the votes of the 1st Applicant and the 1st Appellant/Respondent without specifying the votes scored by the other 68 candidates who participated in the election.”

He told the apex court that the fraud was further demonstrated by Exhibits 63RD1 to 63RD19 (INEC Forms EC40G) which show that there were no valid elections in the 388 polling units where the additional 213,495 votes claimed by the 1st Appellant/Respondent were allegedly generated.

Another reason to set aside of the judgment is that it was given per incuriam.

He stated that by Exhibit A1 (Form EC8D) the total number of voters accredited for the election was 823,743 while the total valid votes cast was 731,485.

The applicant contended that “with the inclusion of 213,695 votes for the 1st Appellant/Respondent and 1,903 to the votes of the 1st Applicant, as ordered by this court, the total number of votes cast at the election now stands at 953,083 (i.e. 731,485 + 213,695 + 1,903) making the total number of votes far in excess of the total number of voters accredited for the election, 129,340.

He submitted that it is unlawful for the total number of votes cast in an election to exceed the number of accredited voters and that illegality rendered the judgment sought to be set aside null and void.

The applicant argued that the Appellants/Respondents pleaded in paragraph 39 of their petition that a supplementary election should be conducted in the 388 polling units where the additional votes that created the illegality were alleged to have been cast and that pleading was binding on the Appellants/Respondents and the court.

SOURCE: SUN NEWS

INTERVIEW: ‘It’s Morally Wrong For Me To Aspire To Be Governor For Now’

Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji. Image: Facebook

CHARLES AJUNWA and AHAMEFULA OGBU hold a conversation with Speaker of the 7th Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji, the taciturn son of the immediate past governor of Abia State, Senator Theodore Orji, who speaks with disarming sincerity

You have been Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly for over seven months now, what difference you have made in that office?

My greatest achievement is the unity of purpose in the House of Assembly. I have a very good working relationship with my colleagues and they have been very supportive in whatever achievement that we have recorded so far especially with the passage of the budget before the end of the last fiscal year. Also, we have all been so much in synergy with the policy thrust of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu that you will not even notice that the House has membership from three political parties. Basically, the achievement could be traced to that, unity of purpose, among my colleagues, respect for each other’s opinion and doing things in consultation with them.

Apart from the synergy within the House, has the relationship between the executive and the House been cordial?

The relationship between the executive and the legislature is perfect, in the sense that whatever bill, both economic and social bills that are brought before us by the executive is given accelerated hearing and importantly, the Governor pays very serious attention to the welfare of the members to the effect that I am bold to state that we rank very high among our colleagues in the South-east, if not the best.

What is the relationship between the executive and the legislature in your state?
The relationship between the House and the Governor is a very cordial one. People have tried as much as they can to incite trouble into that relationship but as far as I am concerned, the Governor remains the Governor of the state and a very good friend that lays emphasis on mutual respect. In effect, the relationship between the legislature and the executive is harmonious.

So there is no mutual suspicion between you and the Governor?
Mutual suspicion is in the mind of those who suspect it and I will not dignify that question with any further answer.

There have been rumours that you wanted to be Speaker so that you would impeach the Governor and his Deputy and it was even used against you during the campaign for the seat, how true is that?

What you should ask them is what would be the impeachable offence? If you want to impeach somebody, the person must have committed an impeachable offence. Can those people tell me what the impeachable offence is? Is the Governor of the state not doing his job and besides, how can you betray a man that gave you the job? That is why I am happy with the Governor, a lot of insinuations have been made and many things said to cause problems between him and I, but he has resisted them because he knows my mind. He knows I mean well for him. I don’t blame those that started this propaganda. They started it because they do not know the depth of the relationship that exists between me and His Excellency, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu. If they know, then they would not waste their time giving themselves high blood pressure and talking about impeachment all the time. Let me ask you, so I have now become so powerful that the governor does not have his people in the Assembly representing him? He doesn’t have any other person in the House so that I will just come to the House and railroad an impeachment process in the House; not minding other colleagues, the principal officers and Leader of the House who is a brother of the governor? How can I achieve that? I don’t know how our people think. I suggest that they try to find other areas of propaganda to feast on and not on this area because I don’t have any history of betrayal since I started my political career. I do not have any history of betraying anybody who trusts me. As far as I am concerned, going by what the Governor has passed through, it is by divine intervention and providence that he is Governor of the state because attempts have been made to ensure he didn’t become the Governor of the state and at the end of the day, he emerged victorious, so it means that his project is divine. As for me, anybody that is instigating or inciting or trying to instigate any trouble should look for another area to excite themselves.

The Governor has been doing his job very well. He performs his functions as the governor of the state and I do not know the excuse that anybody will wake up tomorrow to say he wants to impeach him. Of course, you know that Abians will not be clapping for you. His brothers and sisters from Ngwa that have never been governor before will also be clapping for me? The security agencies and most importantly, my colleagues of Ngwa extraction and even of other extractions that believe in him and his cause will also be clapping for me in the House? It is ridiculous, wicked and it is only God that knows the heart of man but that issue does not arise. Those that go to Abuja to paint me black that my intention is to impeach the Governor and after impeaching the Governor I will also stay here and impeach the Deputy Governor in a state like Abia are lazy people. I don’t know the type of power and influence that is ascribed to me but I thank them for granting me such privilege of having such imaginary powers to be able to do some of these things which they say I plan to do. Those people instigating and spreading these rumours will be the first to betray this governor when the chips are down. My father experienced it, his own will not be different.

What of the insinuation that there are plans that the Governor may hand over to you when his tenure ends?

That propaganda was started by those that view me as their enemy. It was started by those that feel that I am a stumbling block to their peace and happiness of becoming governor without actually working for it. As far as I am concerned, I didn’t want to answer this question but since you have asked it, let me summarise by telling you that it is morally wrong for me to aspire to become governor of this state for now. Why do I say that? My dear father left office in 2015 as governor. In 2023, it would have been eight years since he left office. The question I want to ask these propagandists is this, is there no other qualified Abian that I should become governor? If they know how my father plays politics, they will not waste their time propagating falsehood. To me, it can be summed up very simply that Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji whether Speaker or not, that it is morally wrong for me to aspire to be governor of Abia in 2023 or even 2027 or whatever- for the simple reason that my father, the immediate past governor just left office. We have not reached the level of the American mentality in politics. If I want to contest election, the signs would be on ground and not mere insinuations.

My simple advice to those that are afraid of Chinedum Orji with respect to the issue of Speakership, is that they should hit the ground running, that they should go to the field, channel the resources they are wasting on this propaganda on the youths, women and critical stakeholders on the need to elect them. They should stop this their fear of the unknown. I am not their problem. They are their own problem because they have started badly by using propaganda instead of empowerment.

Why did you become Speaker in the first place?

The reason I wanted to be speaker was basically to contribute my quota to the development of the state; correct some negative impressions about my person and at the same time, use the instrumentality of the legislature to help my friend, the Governor. Before now, a certain impression was heaped around me because I am a very private person. I hardly say much to the media.

In 2015, I contested election just to be a member of the assembly but the insinuation then was that I wanted to become Speaker. At the end of the day, I did not become that Speaker from 2015 to 2019. As the Majority Leader then, I never moved any motion to remove this same Governor they are accusing me of trying to betray. I served as Majority Leader of the House of Assembly between 2015 and 2019 and nobody said anything, so if I didn’t betray the governor as Majority Leader in the House, what moral justification do I have now to betray him? I worked very well with the Speakers. In fact, I supported the previous speakers from the other part of our senatorial zone. As far as I am concerned, there is nothing wrong with them becoming Speaker for two reasons- those people gave my father 100 per cent support in 2015 to go to the Senate. Secondly, they produced ranking members.

The motion for the removal of anybody in the House is moved by the Majority Leader and like I explained before, I was Leader for four years and I never moved any motion for the removal of anybody or against this Governor. Now, the person that is the Majority Leader in the House is the brother of the Governor, will I force him to move a motion to remove his own brother? Will he have the guts to go back to Obingwa that day? Malicious people always manufacture malicious propaganda.

I only wanted people to know me for who I am as a person because even on the day of inauguration of the sixth Assembly, the gallery was filled up with people who came to witness my composure in the House. They came to find out if I can even speak proper English, talk less of expressing myself. The impression of me out there was that of an illiterate.

Even when my good friend then, Martins Azubuike was removed as Speaker, there were pressures on me to succeed him, I resisted it because I had announced it to the world that I did not want to be Speaker at that time. After that, we elected my other friend, Barrister Chikwendu Kanu as Speaker who served out his term meritoriously without any disturbance or distractions from anybody.

So in 2019, I decided to vie for the position of Speaker because I felt that people must have understood me by then. The good Lord has been gracious to my family. My father became Chief of Staff for eight years. He was governor for eight years. For the first time in the history of Igboland, a father and a son contested election twice and won. I became a Majority Leader then and now a Speaker. What else do I want? What other favours do I want from God that He has not granted this family? Any aspiration for the position of governor would be what my father would call vaulting ambition. It is now the turn of others to go and make that same name that we’ve made. Let them go out there to do the needful but whether they like it or not, from any political party, they will need the help of the youths, the help of the critical stakeholders in Abia, including my family. My advice, once again, to them is instead of using those resources to fund propaganda, they should use it to empower the youths, the women and the critical stakeholders in Abia and leave the rest for the people and God to decide.

Don’t you think the rumours and propaganda are because you are silent and not responding?

I cannot respond to every propaganda. I am only responding to it now because I don’t want this Governor to be distracted from his job which is enormous.

To calm their mind, let me tell you that at any time I wear my suit to go to work, I always have my resignation letter in my pocket; at any time the Governor feels I am no longer protecting his interest or the interest of my colleagues, I will simply submit my resignation letter and go my way.

How would you react to the insinuation that you are leveraging and pulling your weight under the umbrella of your father without who you would have no political life and weight?
Is it my fault that my father has been a governor of a state? Will I disappear from the face of the earth because I am the son of a former governor? I am proud of the accomplishments of my father. I am proud of who he is and what he represents. I have no apologies to give to anybody who feels otherwise. Why won’t I give credit to my father for my accomplishments in life? If that is the insinuation out there, kindly let them know that my father made me what I am today and the present Governor added to my CV by allowing me to become the Speaker of the House with the help of my colleagues. If I follow him everywhere he goes, these same people will accuse me of dictating to him. I am a student of power and I know what it means to be close to a governor. There is no superior governor, every governor is equal. If anybody says I have achieved because of my father, tell them yes, that it is correct. I have no apologies for that.

Is the Abia State House of Assembly well-funded?

If you go to the House, this question you have asked me will be answered. Pending the assent to the law that we have passed concerning financial autonomy of the House, the House is being well funded as you can see from our environment here. The governor has been able to give a massive facelift to the infrastructure of the House of Assembly.

State Assemblies are seen as an appendage of the executive, is it different in Abia State?

It depends on what you people understand by the word appendage. State Assemblies are not meant to be confrontational to the executives, even the National Assembly is not meant to be confrontational to Mr. President. In the previous Assembly, not every senator was against the President. State Assemblies are not supposed to be at loggerheads with their governors, it is supposed to be a partnership. If they are at loggerheads, it will slow down development. That word appendage is not good because if the Assembly does not pass the budget, will the governor perform? There are three independent arms of government that should work in synergy, so I don’t understand the word appendage. Is it that for you to prove that you are tough that you need to be confrontational to a governor? What for? There is no basis for that. If you are a student of power, you will know that. If you need anything, you get the governor, give him the reasons why you need those things, if there are 10 requests he grants you five or six and you go home, you cannot get everything. It is called dialogue- checks and balances.

On harmonisation of taxes, why is it that people have their number plates yanked off and harassed over tax collection by ‘agberos’. Why can’t the taxes be harmonised?

There is an existing tax law that we have passed, what is left is for its proper implementation. You know that sometimes the executive takes these steps because our people find it difficult to pay taxes so they resort to all manner of means to make them pay. That doesn’t mean I support some of the things like plate numbers being yanked off.

How come the President got 25 per cent votes from Abia State?

I don’t understand this question. I don’t understand why people ask this kind of question. Does it mean that the President and his party did not campaign? Does it mean that the President and his party do not have people that are members of his party in Abia State? If they got 25 per cent, with the calibre of stakeholders that they have in Abia, I think that it is even poor. He came to the state, campaigned like every other presidential candidate and the people he convinced voted for him. I know quite a lot of his party men that are in my constituency that worked for him. People like Chief G. O. Onyemaobi, former Speaker, Stanley Ohajuruka, Chief Chris Adighije, Hon. Acho Obioma and many others. So by this your question, are you insinuating that these stakeholders do not have followership? If they continue the work they are doing at Enugu Expressway and the one from Owerri to Abia Tower, they might get more than that number of votes.

Will your Assembly pass any law on state police given the security challenges?

That is the question I would like you to direct to the Governor who is the Chief Security Officer of the state. If the Governor sends an executive bill that will help in the protection of life and property different from the ones we have passed, the House will do justice to it.

In the build-up to 2023 where would your support swing on governorship as you said you are not contesting?

My support is immaterial to any of them since they are accusing me of contesting. When we get to the bridge, we will cross it. The personality of the candidate from any of the political parties, not necessarily my own party will play a role when the time comes.

Zoning or no zoning?

Let the people of Abia decide.

APC is making inroads into the region, if they woo you will you cross over?

Well, if you have noticed, my father has said he is retiring from elective politics by 2023. If you have also noticed, we don’t play politics of betrayal and criticism which means that we do not need to engage in destructive criticism of the President just to show that we are in opposition, after all what is politics? Is it not reward of loyal people? The President rewards loyal people around him. To answer your question, when we get to the bridge we will know how to cross it because politics is dynamic.

How do you respond to the rumour that the Governor wants to hand over power to you on finishing his tenure in 2023?

Did the Governor tell you this? I want to know. As far as I am concerned, it is fake news. Like I have said before and let me repeat it for the last time, it is morally wrong for me to aspire to be governor of this state for now. Like I said in 2015 about the position of Speakership, this propaganda will come and pass and it will happen just the way I have said it. The future belongs to God, whatever destiny God has planned for someone, no human being can take it away.

What lies ahead for you in politics?

It is in the hands of God and the people of my constituency.

How I Oppressed Chukwuma Charles Soludo!

Charles Chukwuma Soludo

BY UZOR MAXIM UZOATU

Now that the erudite former Central Bank Governor, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, is the odds-on favourite to become the next governor of Anambra State, I am in deep fear over a sin I committed against him in the past.

I oppressed him when he was still in secondary school and I was what was then called an auxiliary teacher. Back in my secondary school days, I was seen as something of a rebel, earning bad nicknames such as “Anarchy”, or “Young Dimka” – after that drunken “dawn-to-dusk” coup-plotter named Buka Musa Suka Dimka.

While other students were excited about getting into the university, I was more interested in starting my revolutionary activities in the manner of Che Guevera.

God sort of answered my prayers when the school certificate results for the year, 1977, otherwise known as “Expo 77”, were delayed for a long time such that entering the university became impossible because I could not have gone to Nsukka, where I had won an admission, without a school certificate to show.

Of course I had no occult powers to foresee that one can even become a president without any certificate. There was talk by my parents for me to do higher school studies at Christ the King College (CKC), Onitsha where I had lived in the staff quarters all through my primary school years with my uncle, Job Okwuoma Aginam, who was a teacher in the elite school.

I had other ideas. I felt I could actualize my revolutionary drive by taking up a post as an auxiliary teacher on N96-per-month salary.

Incidentally the education ministry in the state then was under the charge of my future father-in-law, Chief Innocent E. Ofor, whose daughter I would marry many years later. I camped in his Savage Crescent, GRA Enugu home to get the auxiliary teacher job and was posted to the newly-minted school in my hometown, Umuchu High School, just a stone’s throw from the Uzoatu family compound.

The school was actually established that year and had only Class One students.
I had my mother’s mobylette to cruise around town with, and I caused such a stir that after a paltry six months the school principal threatened to revoke my appointment if I did not carry my antics to the university.




All the students instantly took to the new Che Guevera in town. Even as the brand new school could only boast of its pioneer class it competed in every sphere with all the major schools in the state that had the full complement of classes and teachers.

In football matches, you may see the teacher playing as a student. Soccer mercenaries were hired from far-flung places such as Enugu and Aba; this way, soccer stars like Ndubuisi Ajomiwe and the late Benjy Okorogu played for the school when they were not registered students!

Don’t ask me about the morality of this enterprise! As Bertolt Brecht, the great German playwright and socialist would say, don’t speak to me of morality but of its victims.

I served as a self-appointed games-master, as opposed to the actual games-master Jide Ezeani who earned the monetary allowances. I took the school’s champion table tennis player, Victor Ibe, alias “Action”, to the Aguata divisional championships.

His opponent happened to be a certain Charles Soludo from Uga Boys High School. There was something familiar in the lad because he was a native of Isuofia, my mother’s hometown, and my maternal cousins, Dr Arthur-Martins and Dr Obijiofor Aginam, had told me of his brilliant activities in the town’s student union.

Even as I had some sympathy for Soludo in the tennis contest, I had the extra motivation to make my student win because I was the last person to hold the title as the table tennis champion of the selfsame zone!

But for the fact that I had left school, I was the defending champion, and all the top divisional sports officials knew and hailed me. I desperately wanted my boy to win the title back for me.
I
t was decided that the table tennis match-up will be decided over the best of five sets. My boy easily won the first set. He equally took the second set, but I could use my trained eyes to see that Soludo was coming on strongly.

I decided to act fast. I said that the game was over since Soludo had nothing more to offer.

It was quite remarkable that Soludo protested, insisting that the next game must be won by my boy before the contest could be over.

There was a kind of stalemate, and the officials who of course bonded with me as the former champion had to appeal to me in the end.

That was how I decided to end my oppression as a teacher over the protesting student Soludo!

As fate would have it, Soludo won the next three games on the trot to take the match and the title!

Having experienced this come-from-behind victory of Soludo, I am keenly waiting with bated breath to see him win the Anambra State governorship polls, especially now that the Supreme Court can appoint a governor with the finality of bad arithmetic!

Now if Soludo wants to oppress me back in retaliation on winning the Anambra governorship, I will as a “Nwadiani” report him to the Isuofia Town Union!

-Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, poet, writer, journalist, writes from Lagos

ENUGU: New Minimum Wage And Ugwuanyi’s Care For Workers

Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi

BY THERESA CHINWEUBA
I was not among those who were surprised when news hit the airwaves, online and print media that Enugu state government has approved the payment of the N30,000 new minimum wage to workers in the state with effect from February 2020. The approval according to the news came after the State Executive Council approved the report of the Joint Committee of the state government representatives and that of the leadership of the Organised Labour in the state that was set up by the Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to work on the consequential adjustment of the new minimum wage.

Many may ask why I wasn’t surprised. I was not surprised for several reasons and verifiable facts. Since 2015 Ugwuanyi assumed office, I have kept close tab on his administration’s policies and programmes, especially as it concerns workers’ welfare. It is a matter of fact that Enugu is not an oil producing state. In the country’s Monthly Federation allocation cadre, Enugu state is almost at the bottom level. The state is more of civil servants’ state than any other thing.

On assumption of office, Ugwuanyi took note of the abovementioned facts about the state and set his administration’s priorities right from the onset. Ugwuanyi firstly introduced fiscal discipline, accountability and prudence in the management of the state meagre resources. His government plugged the leakages and loopholes in the handling of the state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), an action that shored up the state’s IGR tremendously and significantly.

Knowing the indispensable roles of workers in formulating, implementing and strengthening government policies and programmes, Ugwuanyi without delay made worker’s welfare one of his administration’s top priorities.

To show his administration’s preparedness, sincerity and commitment to this, Ugwuanyi’s quickly cleared the backlog of salaries owed workers in 14 out of the 17 council areas in the state, he inherited from his predecessor.

As if that was not enough for the workers, Ugwuanyi’s administration commenced the prompt payment of workers’ salary and allowances every 23rd of the month and 13 month in December as Christmas bonus.

Ugwuanyi’s government absorbed 54% of the total cost of the 100 housing units at Elim Estate, Ibagwa Nike allocated to workers and prudently utilised the state/ local government share of Paris Club Refund. His government also promoted and recruited over 4000 workers and at the same time approved the elongation of the terminal grade of qualified primary school teachers to level 16. Not left out in Ugwuanyi’ s ceaseless largesse to workers in the state are 731 former staff of some state parastatals who were paid arrears of salaries owed them and 42 casual staff of Enugu State Teaching Hospital, Parklane Enugu that were made permanent staff of the hospital. N100 million was also approved by the Enugu State Executive Council to be spent monthly in clearing the backlog of pension arrears owed pensioners in the state over the years. Because of the huge accumulations and backlogs, Ugwuanyi’s government is still struggling till date with scarce resources to clear pensions and meets up with its other financial obligations.

It is on record that since 2015 Ugwuanyi came into office, workers in the state have never embarked on any strike action.That is unprecedented in the history of government-workers relationship in the state. The workers have always had the best of relationship with Ugwuanyi’s administration, because of the way Ugwuanyi’s government has continued to care for thier welfare.

So it was not out of place, when in 2018 in Enugu, the leadership of the Organised Labour in the state alongside its national leadership conferred on Ugwuanyi, the award of the most Labour-friendly governor in the country, an award many Nigerians described as well deserved.

Having done all the above mentioned good things for Enugu workers since 2015, I was not doubtful of Ugwuanyi administration’s readiness to pay the 30,0000 minimum wage when the issue began to rage in April last year between Federal Government and its workers. My only little worry and surprise then was that even at the peak of the negotiations between the Federal Government and Labour union over the payment of the minimum wage, Ugwuanyi’s government recruited 1500 primary school teachers and recently the State Executive Council approved another recruitment of middle level and senior cadre personnel into the state’s civil service.

According to the State Commissioner for Information, Nnanyelugo Chidi Aroh, “the recruitment is aimed at strengthening the state workforce by bringing in sharp and fresh hands into the system. The government also approved the total overhaul of the State Ministry of Health that would entailed the recruitment of consultants, nurses and others.”

One interesting and good thing about Ugwuanyi government’s approval of the new 30,000 minimum wage is that it is an outcome of the collective bargaining and dialogue between the leadership of the Organised Labour in the state and Ugwuanyi’s government. This is unlike in 2011 when the then Enugu state government unilaterally fixed what should be paid to workers in the state as minimum wage. It would be recalled that Ugwuanyi set up a joint committee on consequential adjustment of the new minimum wage which has the leadership of the Organised Labour and representatives of the state government as members.

The committee looked into the financial books of the state government thoroughly before arriving at a consensus on the new minimum wage adjustment before its approval by the state executive council. This was confirmed by the Chairman of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council, Comrade Chukwuma Igbokwe, when he said: “What happened was that in 2011, we were not given this opportunity as labour union to go into negotiation with government. We were shut out by the state government then. What was paid in 2011 as minimum wage was not a product of collective bargaining. That means that consequential adjustment was done in 2011. “What Enugu Government did then was to add money to salaries of those below N18,000 and so on. That kind of arrangement created confusion in the service. We are happy to be fully involved in the consequential adjustment negotiation with Ugwuanyi’s government before arriving at a consensus.

“We are happy with the outcome, which is the approval of the new 30,000 minimum wage for workers in the state to take effect from February 2020.” With all these, one can say unequivocally that since the creation of Enugu State in 1991, workers in the state have never had it so rosy and good as they have experienced and witnessed it under Ugwuanyi’s administration. The governor has indeed shown the workers undying love and care since 2015.

With the prompt and constant payment of salaries and allowances 23rd of every month since 2015, which has helped the workers in the state to be financially stable and plan for their future, the workers cannot stop supporting and celebrating Ugwuanyi. No wonder they massively voted for his reelection in 2019 and have continued to show his government undiluted solidarity and support in the state.

Chinweuba, a retired civil servant, writes from Independence Layout, Enugu

INTERVIEW:Supreme Court Verdict, Big Blow To Imo Economy

Uche Uwaleke

BY NDUBUISI FRANCIS

Renowned professor of finance and capital market, Uche Uwaleke, was until recently, the Imo State Commissioner for Finance in the administration of former Governor Emeka Ihedioha. In this interview with Ndubuisi Francis, Uwaleke submits that the January 14 Supreme Court judgment which ousted the governor has grave consequences on the state’s economy

What’s your reaction to the recent judgment of the Supreme Court, which abruptly truncated the administration of Hon. Emeka Ihedioha in which you were serving as the commissioner for finance?


It was quite shocking to put it mildly. No right-thinking, well-meaning Imolite, and I dare say, Nigerian saw it coming especially after the Election Petition Tribunal and the lower courts had done justice in the matter.

I am a bit surprised when you say that no one expected the judgment to go against the former governor. But Fr. Mbaka, a few days before, made a prophecy to this effect that enjoyed wide publicity.

I am not too sure any of us in government took that prediction seriously chiefly because we couldn’t fathom how that was possible given the facts of the case which are now in the public domain. With due respect to the hallowed institution, I think that that ruling by the apex court, as attested to by many a learned gentleman, defied logic, is incomprehensible and at variance with good conscience and natural justice. I am aware a number of pastors made predictions concerning Imo State but you would be distracted as a government the moment you begin to pay attention to every prediction concerning your state.

We understand that an application has been made to the Supreme Court to review the case, are you optimistic about the outcome of such a review considering that the apex court’s decision is supposed to be final?

I am positive the outcome of the review will set the records straight and establish the right judicial precedent. Quite frankly, on what constitutes justice, I think there is a minimum standard: it should not only be dispensed but be seen to be served. This cannot be said of the Supreme Court judgment that removed the Governor of Imo State. The basis for this assertion is already in the public space which is why the ordinary Nigerian, whether in Sokoto or Calabar, Maiduguri or Lagos would readily tell you it was a clear case of miscarriage of Justice.

And I can tell you that a majority of Nigerians, including the international community, anxiously await the outcome of the review which they hope will redress the injustice done to the good people of Imo State, capable of reversing the gains already made by the Ihedioha administration especially in the area of the economy which has suffered incalculable damage since the Supreme Court judgment.

Incalculable damage in what sense?

In many respects of course. I doubt if there is any genuine investor that will be thinking of Imo State given what has just happened. So in a sense, investors’ confidence in the state economy is now dampened with adverse consequences on jobs creation and IGR effort. Only a few days before January 14, 2020, the day the Supreme Court made that pronouncement, the state hosted an economic summit followed by a very successful summit of Imo citizens in the Diaspora the day after. Not a few Imo professionals and entrepreneurs residing abroad made firm commitments to invest in the state especially in the area of human capital development that is talking about education and health.



With the present level of uncertainty in Imo State and the general unconducive business environment occasioned by this unfortunate ouster of a governor who, through sheer hard work, has gained the confidence of development partners, I doubt if Afrexim Bank will still be interested in committing about N70 billion in a mega project in the state, a deal which Hon Emeka Ihedioha had signed and sealed with the potential to open up investment opportunities in industrial parks, cargo terminal, entertainment city among others. As a matter of fact, I was putting finishing touches to a concept paper for an investor interested in establishing a commodities exchange in Imo State when I was hit by the sad news.

So, whichever way you look at it, it bears repeating that the judgment is a big blow on the economy of the state.

But don’t you think the adverse effect will only be temporary as the state economy is expected to pick up as soon as the new government settles in and begins to implement its own policies and programmes?

You can take this to the bank: So long as this injustice goes unredressed; so long will real economic development elude the state and the reason is not far-fetched. Dividends of democracy can only be dispensed by a government put in place by the popular will of the people.

So on the contrary, the negative effect will be long-lasting. Hon Emeka Ihedioha has done so much in a few months in office that a sudden reversal portends grave danger for the people of the state. From my vintage position as the Finance Commissioner, I can tell you that the state was on the path of becoming one of the top three developed economies in Nigeria riding on very transparent structures. Now this trajectory is about to be altered.

It may interest you to know that one of the first things the governor did on assumption of office was to issue an Executive Order 005 which brought into place the Treasury Single Account with its attendant benefits, including blocking revenue leakages. This rubbed off positively on internally generated revenue which exceeded N1 billion as of December last year. The successes recorded in our IGR effort, with a focus on widening the tax net including through the deployment of ICT to capture the informal sector, is significant against the backdrop of over-reliance on Federation Account. As a matter of fact, total recurrent spending swallows nearly the entire N4.5 billion average monthly net Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) revenue to the state, leaving little or nothing for capital projects.

Faced with this situation, every kobo had to count. Value for money was the administration’s watchword while enthroning due process. We carried out pensioners’ verification prior to the introduction of the Contributory Pension Scheme and commenced the biometric capture of all civil servants in order to clean up our payroll. These measures helped our finances and so enabled genuine pensioners and workers to receive their pay as and when due.

At the same time, infrastructure received attention with many road projects, including critical federal roads, going on simultaneously and we also met our counterpart funding obligations with respect to World Bank projects in the state. The Economic team was also working out alternative and innovative funding sources for capital projects including leveraging opportunities in the area of public private partnerships in respect of which we were already considering a number of proposals.

Expectedly, these modest efforts at transparency, accountability and economic development didn’t go unnoticed. Recall that a few weeks ago, the National Bureau of Statistics rated Imo State as the least corrupt state in Nigeria while the reputable BusinessDay Newspaper ranked Imo as the fastest growing economy.

We hear the former governor did not hand over days after Hope Uzodinma was sworn in as the new governor. How true is this?

It is not true. If you read the statement released by Rt. Hon Emeka Ihedioha immediately after the Supreme Court ruling, you would have seen where he directed all his appointees to turn in their handover notes without any delay. In it, he even directed the Secretary to the Imo State Government to coordinate the process. It is remarkable to note that this was coming from a gentleman who received no hand over notes from his predecessor but who, out of respect for the institutions of democracy and despite circumstances many consider abnormal, directed his appointees to cooperate with the new administration in the state in order to ensure a smooth transition in the overall interest of the state. I have since complied with this directive.

Can you provide an insight into the contents of your own handover notes with respect to your accomplishments and what you expect your successor to do in the spirit of continuity?

First of all, talking about my successor, I have strong faith in our judiciary and I am confident our revered Justices of the Supreme Court will sooner than later carry out a review of the case with a view to correcting anomalies and reinstating the people’s choice, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, as the Governor of Imo State. When this happens by the grace of God and His Excellency’s kind consideration, I hope to return to Owerri to help bring to fruition the many initiatives we started, especially in the area of instituting public financial reforms. So, I am most likely going to succeed myself, if you permit that statement.

Having said that, at the State Ministry of Finance, we were neck-deep into the implementation of a World Bank initiative known as the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme for results in which every state in Nigeria stands to get as much as USD18 million by way of grant from the World Bank. It is instructive to note that since the inception of the programme, Imo State has not qualified for the grant owing to non -compliance with the SFTAS requirements many of which are actually what I consider low-hanging fruits. So we took it up as a challenge and have been working faithfully on each of the nine Disbursement-Linked Indicators. For instance, we had developed and uploaded on the State’s website a Cash Management Strategy and Domestic Arrears Clearance Framework in line with SFTAS requirements. By the same token, we had completed work on the Treasury Single Account Operations Manual and were awaiting its launch by the governor before the end of January 2020. Also, the biometric capture of all civil servants in the state was in progress. We were in the process of repositioning the office of the Accountant General which before our assumption of office lacked the capacity to function effectively including preparing final accounts of the state in line with best practice. To this end, we had concluded arrangements to train relevant staff of my ministry on International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). Part of SFTAS requires that we publish IPSAS-compliant audited financial statements before the end of February 2020 and that we were set to do.

We set up an Efficiency Unit in the Ministry of Finance akin to what you have at the federal level with the primary aim of reducing recurrent expenditure, ensure value for money and plug leakages working closely with the State Bureau for Procurement and Price Intelligence which ensures due process in the award of contracts. This Unit is expected to swing into action with the implementation of the 2020 Imo State budget, which is the first by the Ihedioha administration and a product of a participatory process.

Furthermore, in recognition of the need to get a firm handle on the huge debt problem of the State inherited from previous governments, we began developing a medium-term debt management strategy and with help from the Debt Management Office Abuja upgraded the Loans desk in the Ministry of Finance to a Debt Management Department with full complement of qualified staff.

All these are consistent with the World Bank programme on transparency and accountability. As the Chairman of the SFTAS Steering Committee in the State, I can tell you that Imo State was poised to meet all the conditions. Given what has happened, I cannot guarantee that these initiatives will be carried through especially as new people who are not conversant with the programme are now on the driving seat.

Notice that I have taken some time to talk about this World Bank SFTAS programme because if you look at it critically, you will agree with me that the major functions of the Finance Ministry revolve around it. Unfortunately, these activities are time-sensitive and as things stand now in the State, most of the deadlines for eligibility cannot be met. My worry is that even after the mandate of Hon Emeka Ihedioha is restored, getting to recover lost grounds will be a herculean task. Therefore, it goes without saying that time is of the essence in the effort to heal the deep economic wound already inflicted on the State as a fall-out of the Supreme Court judgment.

May God grant wisdom to the Justices of the Supreme Court as they revisit the matter. God bless Imo State. God bless Nigeria.

INTERVIEW: OKONJO-IWEALA: How Nigeria Can Eradicate Poverty

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

BY KUNLE ADERINOKUN

At the recently concluded 50th World Economic Forum, which held in Davos, Switzerland, two-time finance minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, gave the federal government the requisite recipe that will enable Nigeria, which has been named the poverty capital of the world, lift its teeming population out of the scourge. Okonjo-Iweala, who granted Arise News an interview on the sidelines of the WEF, also spoke on her recent THISDAY Award of ‘Minister of the Decade’, stewardship as minister, Nigeria’s increasing debt profile and public-private sector partnership. Kunle Aderinokun brings the excerpts:

Congratulations on your recent award from THISDAY to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the newspaper. Minister of the Decade. Do you ever look back at your stints twice as minister and wonder if there is something you could have done differently?

I am very grateful and honoured for the award and I thank Nigerian people for choosing me and THISDAY for the award. There are always things that one could have done differently. Not everything went perfectly. I think I would have spent even more time to explain policies to people- because when Nigerian people know that policies are serving them, they would come and support. I think a lot of people are seeing the good work that was done under the two administrations I served now, but it’s as if in retrospect, they are seeing this was a good work. Perhaps if we had spent more time explaining to them… I thought I spent bit of time explaining to them, but more could have been done.

I think the second thing would have been to lock down a few more things down in legislation than we did, to make sure that they stay and work for the good of the country. But beyond that I’m just grateful to Nigerians they have been so loving and supportive of me. So thank you.

A cursory look at the Davos summit, one you are not new to. Would you say it’s been a bit more action-oriented compared to that the ones you have participated in the past?

Generally, globally there is a bit of pessimism, uncertainty and worry in the air. So you sense some of that here in Davos. But you also sense the need to act. The theme and focus of what is going on has to do with the sustainable development goals that the world has agreed on, and some vital elements like climate change. There, I see a lot of coming together and a lot of working together on the part of top CEOs who are here. Many of them are making pledges on sustainability on what they’ll do to get to zero carbon emissions by 2050 and how they’ll align their businesses, so it’s not only about profit by about people and delivering for people. So I see that as a positive sign. I think what we need to do absolutely in developing countries and in Nigeria and Africa , is to harness that to make sure that this wave means that they invest in our countries and help us create jobs because we are really concerned about is how to create jobs for our youths and our people. So, if people are concerned, let them invest in us.

Many say the GAVI model provides a template of standard in public-private sector partnership that accelerates progress in basic healthcare service for the vulnerable especially in developing economies. Can you tell us more about this model?

I think GAVI is a success story and that is why I’m so proud to be chair of the board. Everybody here is talking about it because this is the 20th anniversary and it’s one of those stories everyone, our country, the developing countries can all claim a success as well as the private sector and civil society because GAVI works in partnership. It believes you cannot deliver either in access to vaccines to children in developing countries unless you partner with the private sector so that vaccines can be made more affordable and innovate in the supply chain. You cannot succeed unless the developing countries themselves take charge of their destiny eventually. GAVI wants to work itself out of a job and we graduated 15 countries and 10 on the way, so there are also part of it. The other part is raising the resources. So right now, GAVI has immunised 760 million children since inception 20 years ago and it has saved 13 million lives. 64 per cent of GAVI’s resources are spent in Africa. It’s really working for our country. We are trying to raise $7.4 billion for the next five years and I’m happy to say we are getting a lot of support and success.

Nigeria needs faster per capital economic growth for over seven per cent to dent poverty and suffering of millions. Is this a problem of population control or more of gaps in monetary and fiscal policies?

As a former finance minister I’m no longer there, so I try to enjoy the work I’m doing elsewhere globally so I don’t comment too much. But I think we can say that we need to step up on the continent of Africa as a whole and as a country in Nigeria, because Nigeria, South Africa and Angola are more than 50 per cent of Saharan Africa’s GDP and therefore they bear the very big burden of responsibility that they have to grow and perform not just for themselves, but to carry the rest of the continent. But luckily we have very good examples on the continent. We’ve got eight countries that are among the 15 fastest growing countries in the world. We’ve got Ethiopia, Senegal, Rwanda, Ghana, Cote D’Ivore and Tanzania to name a few. And it shows that if we do the right policies and push on some reforms we can indeed grow. Nigeria has the potential to do that. It’s not only about population control; it’s about exploiting the potential we have in the many sectors in the economy and trying to grow faster. No matter what we do, we have to grow. If we do not grow at a faster pace, we will continue to accumulate larger numbers of poor people. Right now, we are experiencing negative per capita growth and we need to turn that around and have a positive growth. So we should just work harder and make sure we do it because it’s good for our young people and the whole continent.

Drawing from you experience as a former minister, does Nigeria have a debt problem or a revenue problem? And what is your take on the increasing debt profile which some have described as alarming?
On the issue of growth, I’ve always said as finance Minister that growth is not sufficient so I’m not trying to imply that if you are just growing that solves all the problem. To grow is to have quality growth, which is what we were trying to push when I was in government. That is growing in sectors that create jobs. We have to do more in Agriculture, services, creative industries and technology which employ a lot of young people. Our young people are really clever at trying to create jobs for themselves and support entrepreneurship like many of our philanthropists are doing. So it is growing in quality sectors.

With respect to revenue, I think we need to absolutely do more. When we were in government, we had to push harder to improve our revenue and we tried to do that. Nigeria has to increase revenue like other countries. We started it, and so I think we have to continue to do that.

China and India are said to have made significant progress in the eradication of poverty in recent years, whilst in Nigeria, poverty has increased and gaining traction. Many Nigerians are worried. What did China and India do to succeed in this regard and why can’t Nigeria emulate that which we have seen work?

China is phenomenal in eradicating poverty. India has now done so well, so most of the poverty problem has shifted to our continent. I think it goes back to the things that I’ve said. You have to invest in those things that help to create jobs. You also need to invest in human development, physical infrastructure, human infrastructure, education and health. Education has to be the type of skills that are need to make people think about creating jobs for themselves and others, not just the skills that make people look for jobs. Those days of looking for people to create jobs are gone. If you go to China, the level of entrepreneurship is very high and they’ve invested a lot in education of the right type and quality so that those two things combined make a huge difference. One aspect of what China did was investing in infrastructure of all kinds, because once you lay that foundation of infrastructure for your industries, small and medium scale enterprises, then that makes things much easier. Those are some of the things we need to do to concentrate on creating jobs.

On our debt issue, we just need to make sure that we have the capacity to service. It’s not only debt to GDP ratio we have to watch, but revenue to GDP. And most of these things I’m saying apply to most of our countries on the African continent. I’m always an optimist about my continent and my country. Being an optimist means we have to work hard, because if we don’t do those things that are necessary we will not move. I believe so much in our young people and their abilities to move things, so I’m looking to them.

In your book, you wrote of your many battles against corruption. What is your advice to many Nigerians in public office facing resistance as a result of a corrupt ecosystem?

Far be it from me to say I’m the fountain of wisdom. I captured my experience or what I went through; it was a pretty traumatic time. It didn’t just end while I was in office, it continued even after. But we thank God. My message is not really for people in office, it’s for young people, who are trying to make their way and who we depend on to lift the country to the next level. It’s for them to know that you should have principles, stick to doing the right thing, have principles, values (because values matter) and lift your head up high. If you have brains you don’t have to be corrupt.

SOURCE: THIS DAY

Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Murder

 Fegalo Nsuke

BY FEGALO NSUKE, MOSOP PRESIDENT


Ken Saro-Wiwa’s murder is most certainly the worst Nigeria did to the Ogoni people outside the genocide which has been the outcome of Shell’s reckless oil mining operations since 1958.


The pain of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s murder along with eight others including John Kpuinen, Barinem Nubari Kiobel, Nordu Eawo, Saturday Doobee, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate and Baribor Bera remain the most unpleasant side of our country’s history. It is so because the “Ogoni 9” as they became known and referred to were definitely innocent and did not deserve death.

In the words of former British Prime Minister, John Major, their trial was fraudulent and their execution was a judicial murder. I think their execution was “state murder” and has remained a permanent stain on our country’s human rights records.

The executions were perceived by the Nigerian authorities at the time as necessary to pave way for the Shell Petroleum Development Company, Nigeria’s subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, to re-enter Ogoni for oil mining operations. Shell had acted so irresponsibly in Ogoni, destroying the Ogoni environment and causing massive deaths.

In the early 90s, Ken Saro-Wiwa led the Ogoni people in protest against Shell and the Nigerian government marginalization of the Ogoni people. The protests forced Shell out of Ogoni but invoked official state repression leading to the death of over 4,000 persons. This excludes the thousands who have died from living in the poisonous Ogoni environment. An estimated 50 persons currently die weekly within the coastal communities where the effects of pollution had been strongest and at least one(1) out of every three children born in the Ogoni region are likely to die within three months after birth.

Over 24years after the 1995 executions, it is unfortunate that our country is yet to come to terms with the reality that our society needs to move forward in the spirit of reconciliation. We need to face, speak and live the truth about the persecution of the Ogoni people over the quest for basic rights and by so doing rebuild our country on a foundation of justice.

The truth is that Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight others were murdered in their innocence and that must be addressed in the interest of justice. Attempting to force oil mining activities in Ogoni without the resolution of the Ogoni demands for Ken Saro-Wiwa’s exoneration along with his eight other associates, opening up a process for genuine and adequate discussions on the future of Ogoni and cleaning up previous oil spills in the area will be an invitation to crises and a deliberate plot to kill the Ogoni people.

The Ogonis will always resist forceful oil resumption, the result is that the government will draft in the soldiers who only kill the Ogoni people. That will be irresponsible on the part of government and should be avoided especially at this time that MOSOP has shown willingness to engage in discussions on the future of the Ogoni people.

We do not want any more Ogoni blood spilt by the Nigerian government. Already, over 4,000 deaths had been recorded due to direct state repression between 1993 and 1999, our environment had been completely destroyed and unable to support the population any longer, there is no future for our oil rich Ogoni whose resources have built Abuja, Lagos, Enugu and made Nigeria a regional power.

After Saro-Wiwa’s murder, the first and earliest moves Shell and Nigeria made in Ogoni was to attempt to forcefully resume oil production. Shell the polluter and her ally, the Nigerian government have only been interested in the Ogoni oil and not in development. That attitude must change. While Nigeria has shown strong will to resume oil mining activities in Ogoni, the authorities must also address the pains and deep cuts created by the repression. That will help to bring healing to families and facilitate reconciliation.

For the Ogoni people, addressing the 1995 murders is fundamentally required to win the support of every Ogoni as we progress. It is doubtful that the Ogoni people will ever be happy to see fresh exploitation of their natural resources without any action to exonerate the innocent agitators who were murdered in 1995, a proper cleaning of previous oil spills and discussions on the future of the Ogoni people.

Attempting to ignore the unfair and unjust murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the others will leave the majority of the Ogoni people in deep pains and frustrate every progress we could possibly make to move forward.

The exoneration of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others should not be too difficult to do. The sentences should undergo a judicial review and their names cleared. This is fundamentally requited to show a new government commitment to social justice for the Ogoni people who still grapple with deep injuries in their hearts about a state sponsored persecution that killed thousands of people. The pains of the repression remains very strong and frightening in our hearts and the Ogoni people must be helped and reintegrated into national life.

Attempting to disregard these suggestions will endanger the lives of the Ogoni people. It will make the people loose confidence in peaceful struggles and put the Ogoni community in greater danger.

In addressing the problem therefore and moving Ogoni on a new path towards progress, we need to understand that there may not be true reconciliation until we all move towards justice for the people, both for the living and for those who were unjustly killed in the cause of the struggles for a better life for all of us.

Justice demands that we do not move forward and forget those whose sacrifices opened the opportunities for us to move on. It is a basic principle for every society desirous of progress.

We must act in ways that build confidence and encourage the peaceful methods which the Ogoni people have adopted. We should not be negligent to allow people loose confidence in our nationhood, we must make our country work by the actions we take and the concerns we show to each other.

Ken Saro-Wiwa and all those with whom he was killed were innocent. That fact cannot change and will not be forgotten. We must encourage the rebuilding of a new Ogoni beginning with their exoneration and then we move on to discuss the future of Ogoni.

That is the way to go.

NSUKE WRITES FROM ABUJA

POLICE BRUTALITY: Chima Ikwunado’s Death Must Not Go Unpunished

Chima Ikwunado

BY BOLAJI TUNJI

Late last year, a mechanic, Chima Ikwunado and four of his apprentice mechanics were arrested by Policemen in Port Harcourt. Their offence was that they drove against traffic. They were all taken to Mile 1 Police Station by one Superintendent Benson Adetuyi believed to be the commander of E-Crack team. Of course they committed an offence by driving against traffic while test driving two vehicles. While not condoning this particular traffic offence due to the danger it constitutes to other road users, one expects the police to overlook such an offence which is usually the case especially once money changes hands, that was not the case in this instance.

Suddenly, a charge of armed robbery and cultism was preferred against them and they were charged to court accordingly. The case gets curiouser when Chima died in police custody after 10 days. The police claimed that he died of high blood sugar after conducting an autopsy. The police story seems far fetched. As Nigerians, the police have not given enough confidence for us to believe any claims they make. They twist cases against you most of the time especially if they know you are from the lower social strata. Mind you, I have some fine upright police officers whose integrity could be banked. They are just few in the whole basket of rotten apples. Thus, I will simply say the police lied in this matter as they usually do when a case turns awry. Accidents have happened in this country caused by policemen on road blocks where they simply disappear from the scene. Instances of people being shot by the police are rife especially when they have a large cache of money in their possession. Thankfully such instances are becoming fewer with the self-regulatory policies embarked upon by the hierarchy in recent years.

Back to Chima. What happened to him is still a reflection of the rot that has pervaded our society not only among our security operatives but in all other social strata. Looking at the case dispassionately. This man was arrested for an offence, I am not a lawyer but in most cases once you are arrested like that, you may be cautioned and if not, you are booked for the offence. Traffic offence is a bailable offence. But in this instance, the traffic offence has suddenly graduated into a robbery and cultism charge.

How come? Was he arrested for robbery or caught stealing somewhere? That is not the case. One Chinedu Ezenwanli, has come out to lay claim to the ownership of the vehicle Chima was accused of stealing. He said his vehicle was not snatched at gunpoint as contained in the police charge. “ I gave my Toyota Camry with registration number… to one Chima Ikwunado to fix…Chima was my mechanic and I have known him for more than two years” He said he got worried after calling Chima several times and he was not picking. “I got worried as to what must have happened because he was my trusted mechanic”. Ezenwanli’s ownership of the vehicle has not been in dispute and I gathered that he has even retrieved the said vehicle from the police custody.

So where did the case of robbery emanate? The police obviously came up with a trumped up charge to cover their track. This man died after 10 days in police custody, how come he was not granted bail? We all know Chima did not “settle” probably because he felt a righteous indignation over the action of the police. Why then pay your way out of that situation. As it is always the case, I am sure he must have offered something which was rejected. In any case this is a minor crime that should be the forte of traffic policemen or road safety officials. Only if he had known.


Let us even look at the defense offered as the cause of death; high blood sugar. What the police is saying here is that he was diabetic. You do not suddenly die of diabetic. Medical investigation reveals that death only occurs when the blood sugar gets very high and this happens over time and it comes with increased thirst and frequent need to urinate, headache and tiredness. The person so afflicted would know. In the case of Chima, did he not complain to his custodians that he was feeling unwell? He probably did, but he was ignored until he died, that is if he was not also being battered to force a confession out of him.

A sad development, Chima was said to have just been married about six months earlier and was an expectant father at the time of his death. His wife has become a widow overnight while his unborn child has been deprived of a father. Chima needs justice. The case should be investigated thoroughly. The perpetrators should be punished to serve as a deterrent to others. It is the inability to ensure justice for victims that leads to these extra judicial crimes still continuing. The family should equally go to court to seek for damages. Investigating this “crime” should not be left to the police alone in order to avoid cover up. It should include human rights activist and upstanding members of the society. The Rivers State government should also take interest in the matter, if there would not be official complicity. Chima was a tax-paying citizen and he has a right to life and the protection of the government of his State. It is only when we take steps like this that we can then start to sanitise our society.

As noted earlier, it is not only among security operatives that we have issues like this. The health sector is also in bad shape. Many avoidable deaths occur in most of our hospitals be it public or private due to negligence by health workers. People have been left unattended to in hospitals till they died. Accident victims that could be saved are allowed to die because a nurse or a doctor could not be bothered. Most practice their Hippocratic oath in the breach.

I recall a particular incident a few years back. A colleague had been involved in an accident along the Airport road, Lagos. He was rushed to the Accident and Emergency section of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH). The Doctors were on duty to take care of him in their halfhearted attempt of not being accused of not doing their work. He eventually died after more than 24 hours. He had internal bleeding. Because I was there, I had earlier asked them to check whether he was not bleeding internally, they could not be bothered. Imagine the sorrow, that someone died due to something that could have been prevented if someone had been a bit more diligent.

In better climes, you cannot be involved in an accident, be alive for over 24 hours and succumb to your injuries. These are areas of our society that we should look into. We should wield the big stick when these infractions are discovered. That is the only way we can prevent recurrence. This is the only way we can have that society we all desire.

SOURCE: SUN NEWS