the trumpet newspaper issue 413 (april 27 - may 10 2016)

TheTrumpetAfricans now have a voice... FFounded in 1995VO L 22 NO 413 AP R I L 27 - MAY 10 2016 TheTrump et

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Ayear after the World

Health Assembly

resolved to eliminate

malaria from at least 35

countries by 2030, WHO has

released a World Malaria Day

report that shows this goal,

although ambitious, is

achievable.

In 2015, all countries in the

WHO European Region

reported, for the first time,

zero indigenous cases of

malaria, down from 90 000

cases in 1995. Outside this

region, 8 countries reported

Continued on Page 3>

The death toll from last

weekend’s attack carried

out by South Sudanese

gunmen in Ethiopia has risen to

208 people. The toll of the

wounded has also risen to 75

people while 108 children have

been kidnapped, according to an

Ethiopian official.

The attack took place in the

Gambela region which,

alongside a neighbouring

province, hosts more than

284,000 South Sudanese

refugees who fled conflict in

their country.

A Reuters report notes that

Cross-border cattle raids have

occurred in the same area in the

past, often involving Murle

tribesmen from South Sudan’s

Jonglei and Upper Nile regions -

areas awash with weapons that

share borders with Ethiopia.

Previous attacks, however, were

smaller in scale.

The gunmen are not believed

to have links with South

Sudanese government troops or

rebel forces who fought the

government in Juba in a civil

war that ended with a peace deal

signed last year.

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Ending Malaria by 2030achievable

TheTrumpet APRIL 27 - MAY 10 2016

zero cases of the disease in 2014:

Argentina, Costa Rica, Iraq, Morocco,

Oman, Paraguay, Sri Lanka and United

Arab Emirates.

Another 8 countries each tallied fewer

than 100 indigenous malaria cases in 2014.

And a further 12 countries reported

between 100 and 1000 indigenous malaria

cases in 2014.

The “Global Technical Strategy forMalaria 2016-2030”, approved by the

World Health Assembly in 2015, calls for

the elimination of local transmission of

malaria in at least 10 countries by 2020.

WHO estimates that 21 countries are in a

position to achieve this goal, including 6

countries in the African Region, where the

burden of the disease is heaviest.

Shining a spotlight on countries

moving toward elimination of malaria

“Our report shines a spotlight on

countries that are well on their way to

eliminating malaria,” said Dr Pedro

Alonso, Director of the WHO Global

Malaria Programme. “WHO commends

these countries while also highlighting the

urgent need for greater investment in

settings with high rates of malaria

transmission, particularly in Africa. Saving

lives must be our first priority.”

Since the year 2000, malaria mortality

rates have declined by 60% globally. In the

WHO African Region, malaria mortality

rates fell by 66% among all age groups and

by 71% among children under 5 years.

The advances came through the use of

core malaria control tools that have been

widely deployed over the last decade:

insecticide-treated bed-nets, indoor

residual spraying, rapid diagnostic testing

and artemisinin-based combination

therapies.

But reaching the next level -

elimination - will not be easy. Nearly half

of the world’s population, 3.2 billion

people, remain at risk of malaria. Last year

alone, 214 million new cases of the disease

were reported in 95 countries and more

than 400,000 people died of malaria.

The efficacy of the tools that secured

the gains against malaria in the early years

of this century is now threatened.

Mosquito resistance to insecticides used in

nets and indoor residual spraying is

growing. So too is parasite resistance to a

component of one of the most powerful

anti-malarial medicines. Further progress

against malaria will likely require new

tools that do not exist today, and the

further refining of new technologies.

Last year, for the first time, the

European Medicines Agency issued a

positive scientific opinion on a malaria

vaccine. In January 2016, WHO

recommended large-scale pilot projects of

the vaccine in several African countries,

which could pave the way for wider

deployment in the years ahead.

Strong political commitment and

funding are vital

“New technologies must go hand in

hand with strong political and financial

commitment,” Dr Alonso added.

Vigorous leadership by the

governments of affected countries is key.

Governments must strengthen surveillance

of cases to identify gaps in coverage and

be prepared to take action based on the

information received. As countries

approach elimination, the ability to detect

every infection becomes increasingly

important.

Reaching the goals of the “GlobalTechnical Strategy” will require a steep

increase in global and domestic funding -

from $2.5 billion today to an estimated

$8.7 billion annually by 2030.

Through robust financing and political

will, affected countries can speed progress

towards malaria elimination and contribute

to the broader development agenda as laid

out in the “2030 Agenda for SustainableDevelopment”.

In a related development, the

International Organization for Migration

(IOM) also lent its voice to the campaign

to “End Malaria For Good.”

Director of IOM’s Migration Health

Division - Dr. Davide Mosca said: “In all

stages of migration - at origin, in transit, at

destination and upon return - migrants and

mobile populations may face

marginalization and poor access to health

care services, reducing the effectiveness of

malaria control and prevention strategies.

Malaria control strategies often fail to

account for migrant populations and their

specific needs, for example as hard-to-

reach or crises-affected populations.

Factors relating to migrants’ living,

working and transit conditions increase

their likelihood of being infected with

malaria.”

“Population movement makes

migrants and communities vulnerable to

acquiring or introducing malaria at their

places of origin, transit or destination. In

addition, exposure to new strains of the

disease in the areas they pass through can

result in higher morbidity and mortality for

migrants,” he added.

IOM has been implementing malaria

programmes in several countries around

the world, providing services to migrant

beneficiaries and technical support, as well

as capacity building for national and local

partners.

Examples include: provision of health

education, long-lasting insecticide-treated

net (LLINs) distribution, rapid diagnostics

and treatment in nine Myanmar townships

with high rates of migration and

artemisinin resistance; malaria services

along border provinces with LLINs

distribution, capacity building for

behaviour change agents and community

health workers in Thailand; mobility

tracking for migrants in Vietnam; technical

support to such initiatives as the

Elimination-8 in Southern Africa; a new

project in Paraguay with special focus on

mobile populations and epidemiological

services to avoid reintroduction of malaria.

“IOM stands ready to work closely

with WHO and other UN agencies,

governments and NGO partners, as well as

migrant communities and affected

populations, to ensure that the needs and

vulnerabilities of migrants and mobile

populations are addressed in achieving the

malaria targets,” said Dr Mosca.

Page3TheTrumpetAPRIL 27 - MAY 10 2016

News

Ending Malaria by 2030 achievableContinued from Page 1<

Distribution of impregnated mosquitos bed nets at Agna village in Dikhil, Djbouti in 2013 (Picture - IOM)

IOM nurse doing malaria testing on a young girl in Malakal Protection of Civilians POC) camp, South Sudan 2014

Work in progress to end Malaria by 2030 (Picture by WHO - S. Hollyman)

The 8th African Comedy Festival

holds at different local venues

across the UK from May 6 to June

24 and ends with a grand event on June

25 at the Copper Box Arena in the Queen

Elizabeth Olympic Park.

11 top international African

comedians from different parts of the

continent will feature during the festival

organised by E&C Global Entertainment.

The line-up features Tumi Morake

(South Africa), Gordons (Nigeria), Eric

Omondi (Kenya), DKB (Ghana),

Meskerem (Ethiopia), Alex (Uganda),

GH Wiilwall (Somalia), Long John

(Zimbabwe), Brother Franklyn (Kenya)

and guest comedians Prince Ezikah and

MOG.

The African Comedy Festival is part

of the African Comedy Show - a monthly

event that has been running for the past 8

years in London. The African Comedy

Show has become an enormously popular

destination for

hearing African comedy from around

the world.

The African Comedy Show has

hosted top comedians such as world

famous Comedy Central Daily Show host

Trevor Noah, Andi Osho (BBC Live at

the Apollo / Channel 4 comedy); Paul

Shuddery (BBC Live at the Apollo /

Channel 4 comedy); and many more.

Heavyweight champion - Anthony

Joshua is a regular attendee at the

monthly event.

The Copper Box Arena is operated by

charitable social enterprise GLL, on

behalf of London Legacy Development

Corporation. After hosting handball,

modern pentathlon, fencing and goalball

during the 2012 Games, the

Copper Box Arena is now one of

London’s most versatile and exciting

events venues - open to the public as a

fully-equipped, 80-station gym. As part

of its London 2012 Legacy

commitments, the Copper Box Arena

also delivers a diverse and plentiful

grassroots sports programme for the local

community. In 2015, the Copper Box

Arena won the accolade for New Event

Space at the National Event Awards.

Page4 TheTrumpet

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TheTrumpetTeam

PUBLISHER / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:

’Femi OkutuboAG. EDITOR:

Emeka Asinugo, KSC

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Kimberly Ward

CONTRIBUTORS:

Moji Idowu, Ayo Odumade, Steve Mulindwa

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CHAIRMAN:

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TheTrumpet (ISSN: 1477-3392)is published in London fortnightly

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TheTrumpetAPRIL 27 - MAY 10 2016GAB Awards

Fashion at the GAB Awards

TheTrumpet APRIL 27 - MAY 10 2016 Places

Asunset is one of those

intangible things that make

us upbeat in our

connections. It is often associated

with romance and in other instances

with the end of something. It is a ray

of hope, that today’s worries are

gone and a brighter tomorrow

awaits us. For Mattie Stepanek,

“Sunset is still my favorite color,

and rainbow is second”.

Jovago.com, Africa’s leading

online hotel booking website,

assorts 5 beautiful sunsets in Africa

(in no particular order) that will

leave you in awe.

Cape Town, South Africa

Credit: SMCTImagine stumbling into this view on

the shores of the beautiful Cape

Town in South Africa. Chances are

that the hypnotizing effect is likely

to make you forget you were en

route to some other place.

Kenya

Credit: all4desktop.comEven the birds of the air enjoy this

heavenly sunset that is a mixture of

orange and red, giving it a

sweltering look. What then would

stop you from enjoying such a rare

sight?

Bojo Beach, Ghana

Credit: Bell Africana DigestAfter a day‘s hard work, there is

nothing more comforting for a

fisherman in Bojo Beach, Ghana,

than to row their boat under the

reflection of a beautiful sunset.

Then, they would forget their

weariness and anticipate a relaxed

evening, enjoying their hard earned

meal.

Madagascar

Credit: pixabay.comYou probably have watched

Madagascar; I am talking about the

cartoon. The beautiful sunsets in this

country are probably one of the

many reasons this animation was

shot in the island nation off the

southeast coast of Africa. Combined

with leisurely beaches and reefs, the

feeling of infinity is what you will

no doubt get here.

Zambia

Credit: www.ianplant.comIndulge yourself in this breathtaking

view of a sunset flowing into the

blissful blue of Victoria Falls in

Zambia. There is nothing better than

watching this with your significant

other; it will get you lost in the

world of wild romance and

adventure, leaving an unforgettable

memory to cherish forever.

Beautiful sunsets in Africa that willblow your mind Cape Town, South Africa (Credit

- SMCT)

Kenya (Credit - all4desktop

Bojo Beach, Ghana (Credit - BellAfricana Digest)

Madagascar (Credit - pixabay

Zambia (Credit - ianplant

TheTrumpetAPRIL 27 - MAY 10 2016Opinion

The principle of autonomy and/or

self-determination is viewed as

foundational in any true democracy.

It is however worrying when democracy

becomes a millstone around the neck of

those who are supposed to benefit from it.

Such has been the case in Nigeria for close

to seventeen years of supposed democratic

rule. Democracy has been turned on its

head and self-determination or autonomy

do not exist, or at best, are infinitesimal.

Ajayi and Ojo (2014) wrote that “whileit remains true that Nigeria is governed bydemocratically elected leaders at thefederal and state levels, Nigeria is yet toinstitutionalise democracy after a centuryof existence as a political entity and that theimpediments to the institutionalisation ofdemocracy in Nigeria after more than halfa century of political independence includethe country’s colonial backgroundinterspersed by vagaries engendered bydeep-rooted ethnicity; complacent andspendthrift leadership; incessantintervention of the military in thedemocratic process; electoral fraud;widespread poverty and high illiteracylevel.” They argued that the pivot around

which most of the factors listed above

revolves is corruption which has virtually

become a way of life in Nigeria. However,

fortuitously, the prospect of a politically

stable and democratically viable nation is

marked by the Nigerian people’s eagerness

to participate in the electoral process; the

relative stability and sustenance of multi-

party system and the general realisation in

the country that the only acceptable and

popular route to the acquisition of political

power is through the ballot box.

Some free-market-oriented economists

have strongly criticized the efficiency of

democracy, based on the argument that

voters are illogical or otherwise highly

uneducated about many political issues,

especially those concerning economics and

relationships with other countries in the

world, while having a strong bias about the

few issues on which they are

knowledgeable.

This could result in a wealth disparity

in such a country, and in the case of

Nigeria, add ethnic and religious

discrimination, which unscrupulous and

corrupt politicians are very quick to exploit.

Fierlbeck (1998) points out that such a

result is not necessarily due to a failing in

the democratic process, but rather,

“because democracy is responsive to thedesires of a large middle class increasinglywilling to disregard the muted voices ofeconomically marginalized groups withinits own borders”. The criticism remains

that the will of the democratic majority may

not always be in the best interest of all

citizens within the country (Wikipedia)

Furthermore, some have argued that

voters may not be educated enough to

exercise their democratic right. A

population with low intellect or low

education (and let’s face it, Nigerians are

still largely uneducated) may not be capable

of making beneficial decisions. They argue

that the lack of rationality or even education

is being taken advantage of by normally

unscrupulous politicians, who compete

more in the way of public relations, money

and tactics, than in ideology. Lipset’s 1959

essay about the requirements for forming

democracy, found that “good educationwas present in almost all emergingdemocracies”. However, education alone

cannot sustain a democracy, though Caplan

did note in 2005 that “as a person’s

education increases, their thinking tends tobe more in line with most economists”.

For example, voters may not be

sufficiently educated to be able to foresee

the perpetuation of the community they

belong to, and therefore are unable to cast a

vote to that effect. But given the right to

vote, an uninformed man would certainly

cast a vote which will more likely be wrong

as affected by the personality charisma of

the candidate or some other superficial

reason, such as electoral bribery, flaunting

of wealth to induce or modify voting

patterns, that is, an ordinary voter may also

be lured into casting a vote on the basis of

financial help or some other petty promises,

e.g. Ekiti State’s Fayose’s notorious

“stomach infrastructure”.

In a democracy, the question is whether

to vote with one’s own interests in mind or

to ponder the greater good. As a simplistic

example, should a rich man vote for a

candidate or party that will benefit him

directly or one that he believes will provide

better public services for the poorer, even

if it means a loss in profits for him?

If one believes the greater good is more

important, those become one’s best

interests. One then is able to see how that

will benefit; there are apparent difficulties

here such as lack of sentience about issues,

half-baked knowledge about sensitive

topics that plague the country, etc.

On the other hand, if one believes one’s

needs are more important than what is

necessary for the country, then one

definitely should vote with that in mind. In

this case, one doesn’t necessarily need a

morally right or incorruptible leader; what

one needs is a leader who can make his

country and people happy and since you’re

one of them, your best interests are just as

important.

In the longer run, it’s important that

one’s best interests are brought into line

with the society’s. If not, the leader one

votes for will never win. To even consider

the greater good before casting one’s vote is

a success of democracy in my estimation

and will lead to the election of good leaders

over time.

So maybe it is better to vote in your

own best interests and hope others would

benefit too. Often voting for your interests

may be taking into account the greater

good, for example, as we often say in

Nigeria, securing and distributing equally,

the dividends of democracy. Wouldn’t a

freer, fairer, peaceful and secure society that

values, recognises, ensures and maintains

individual rights not benefit the greater

good, the greater society?

I like to think that many people in

Nigeria would vote for the best leader who

will govern based on what is needed for his

people to be happy at any time as opposed

to someone who is corrupt and harps on

nepotism, tribalism and religious bigotry.

Flexible, impartial, sincere, honest people

with conviction, vision and focus in their

opinions and ability to adapt make good

leaders in my view.

Doesn’t everyone vote their own

interests, consciously or subconsciously?

Even those that profess to vote in favour of

the greater good still have their own

interests at heart. No one is entirely

altruistic. And no politician is so particular

in nature that they can be entirely “greater

good” versus policies that could benefit

you. There will always be a mix. But this is

made worse in Nigeria because almost all

our politicians who go for political

positions go there for purely, 100% self-

seeking reasons, purpose and actions.

Therein lays the problem of the “own best

interest” or “common good” or “service to

the people”.

In a normal democratic environment,

people tend to vote for people they feel best

align with their values and views. There is

often some perceived benefit to voting for

Candidate A over B for that reason.

Unfortunately again, this theory does not

hold water in Nigeria, for two reasons. One,

the “perceived benefit” is usually the

immediate benefit to the voter, that is,

inducement by money or other material

inducement (stomach infrastructure in Ekiti

State again comes to mind). Second, due to

widespread electoral malpractices, even if

you cast your vote with your mind, your

vote might not really count, hence, work

done is zero, and your vote does not have

any influence on the outcome of the

election nor on the person who eventually

rules you. We are therefore totally left

frustrated and angry.

Generally, there has been a serious (and

almost irreversible) decline in social and

moral values in Nigeria. Our quest for

economic, social and political development

after Independence which was aided by the

oil discovery and wealth of the 70s led to a

situation where scant regard was paid to the

social engineering and betterment of the

citizenry, with the adverse consequences

we are now experiencing.

These leaders or politicians or elders are

Nigerians and so they do exhibit the

tendencies or the orientation of Nigerians.

We should recall and admit that many of

these politicians scarcely won any genuine

elections into the political positions they

now hold. They were involved in various

forms of electoral malpractices and fraud;

so where is their shame and moral standing

in the society, and whose interest are they

serving? It is impossible to expect men and

women of such kind to take the path of

honour when they come under the crucible

of even the least moral values. They have

never known the path of honour so can

never willingly take the path of honour.

What we should be asking of our

leaders, and ourselves, since Independence

56 years ago should be initially, “in whose

interest?” and then graduating to “in whose

best interest?” Unfortunately, we neither

asked both of them or ourselves, but are

suddenly realising that “it is to their (an

unscrupulous and opportunist ruling elite’s)

selfish interest”.

So, some of the questions that come to

mind are (and there are thousands more),

and we are not even asking for “best”

interest, just ordinary interest:

• In whose interest was the whole idea of

By Akintokunbo A [email protected]

In our or Nigeria’s interestor their best interest?

Fayose -Stomach infrastructure

Continued on Page 12 >

For those who care to know, I am a

passionate supporter of the

Muhammadu Buhari cause and that

position is not about to change! As a matter

of fact, my preference in the March 28,

2015 Presidential Election through which

Buhari eventually became Nigeria’s first

opposition candidate ever to defeat an

incumbent President, was a product of my

convictions and until I have sufficient

reasons to change course, my preference

remains on course. Be that as it may,

surprise will be the appropriate word

should I fail to make the list of the ‘Cult ofWailing Wailers’ as a result of this piece

which I believe is in the overall interest of

my country.

Whichever way the pendulum swings,

the good news is that, within a very short

time in office, Buhari has, to a great extent,

succeeded in rescuing Nigeria from the

jaws of a predatory elite and a band of

merit-devalued interlopers who have for

close to two decades deprived Nigeria of

her gold and silver. However, this is not to

say that I envy the president, not even with

the scourge of impunity that has turned

Nigeria into a morass of incensed screeches

where priorities are misplaced with

unimaginable perfidy and, responsibilities,

shifted with unrivaled pomposity.

Like the Biblical ten plagues, PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, passed through our

land and all we could feel were pinches of

hypocrisy and pains of stagnation. Its bunch

of yo-yos insulted our collective

intelligence with unimaginable artificiality

and its crop of educated-but-politically-

incompetent hands, “celestially” endowed

to take care of the downtrodden, only used

their “celestial weapons” to mortgage our

commonwealth. And, as if the gods were

angry, meanness replaced magnificence;

and, in place of conviction, we had

deception.

Buhari’s victory at the poll is no doubt

a great opportunity to reposition the ruling

All Progressives Party, APC, as a party of

principle. It is also an opportunity for the

progressive class to truly rediscover itself

before the next General Elections,

especially, if the ruling party must retain its

relevance in the consciousness of

Nigerians. As things stand, there are folks

out there in whose eyes, the only difference

between the badly-degraded PDP and the

victorious APC is Buhari. Well, maybe one

or two other genuine hearts here and there.

But they are as scarce as hen’s teeth! Added

to this is the opposition’s reported huge

investment in a mass of experts in the

spread of hate messages against the

President but, from the look of things, it is

as if the President’s strategists and

publicists have forgotten that lies, when

told too often, have the capacity to carouse

the exigencies of truth. In my candid

opinion, this is unhealthy for the party that

wants to move beyond where it currently

holds sway to the upper realm!

Needless to repeat that the President’s

efforts at recovering part of Nigeria’s stolen

loots is already yielding fruits. Nonetheless,

concerted efforts should be made towards

preventing the anti-corruption war from

being a temporary reprieve. This is why,

apart from building it around structures, not

men, Buhari must also endeavour to reform

a zigging-zagging judiciary that is at the

moment misconstruing the people’s tall

level of tolerance for short memory. He

must strive to put in place workable

structures that will prevent our monies from

being indescribably stolen and

indiscriminately stashed abroad. At least for

once in the affairs of this great country, our

destiny as a people created by God should

stop being in the hands of Pharisees who

value passion of power above logic of

reason and Princes of Sodom who cry even

when they don’t have tears.

Some governors’ sojourn in denial with

threatening jaunts of antiquated illogicality

notwithstanding, except Nigeria’s socio-

economic landscape which is currently

playing host to the fury of a global

meltdown receives anointing for

improvement, it stands to be seen how most

of the States can survive, post-Buhari’s first

term in office. For instance, no fewer than

four out of the six States in the Southwest

are as we speak, in arrears of several

months of workers’ salaries and

allowances. Other zones, including the

Federation, are not faring any better. No

thanks to an economic malaise that has

taken hold over the national economy.

Without mincing words, it is my hope

that Buhari would do well for progressive

politics by departing from the old, cruel

culture of taking the needs and expectations

of its followers as a four yearly-ritual in

which, immediately their votes are

captured, counted and credited, they

become aberrant artefacts whose ‘phones

will no longer ring’ until it is another

election year. Yes! In their attitude of

pettiness and little traditions, some among

them may wish to gloriously access the

Promised Land without painstakingly

encountering the Red Sea while, like the

children of Israel, others may prefer serving

the Egyptians to dying in the wilderness!

But, like it or not, since politics is a

numbers game, the President will be in a

better stead with the wisdom of Solomon,

not the tact of Jeroboam!

Again, that Buhari has done well for

himself and for the country is no longer

news! If he maximizes the momentum, the

President may become to Nigeria what

Abraham Lincoln is to the United States of

America. Like Buhari, Lincoln had

governed America at her most difficult

time. Apart from leading his country

through its bloodiest civil war, Abe Lincolnalso saw it through its greatest moral,

constitutional and political crisis. Not only

did he abolish slavery, he also strengthened

the government and completely rescued the

economy from the bottomless mess into

which it had previously been plunged.

Like the Lincoln-era America, Nigeria’s

current challenges are not only monstrous,

they’re also hydra-headed. The country is

currently contending with its bloodiest non-

conventional war ever even as Barabbas

and disaster capitalists who masquerade as

leaders have reduced dear fatherland to a

rustic cave of impiety, stymied

development and inverted values.

Coincidentally, the ‘bureaucracy’ which

quickened former President Goodluck

Jonathan‘s administration journey to the

Golgotha is still in Buhari’s government,

almost a year after, doing new things the

old way and it‘s as if the President is

comfortable with their services. On the

other hand, those ‘Change Agents’ who

committed so much in terms of human and

material resources into making the Buhari

dream a reality have for close to a year been

waiting in the wings to contribute their

quota to the development of the polity or,

as the case may be, replenish their barns.

Indeed, this is where the President has to

Page10 TheTrumpet APRIL 27 - MAY 10 2016 Opinion

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Muhammadu Buhari

A word for President Muhammadu BuhariBy Abiodun Komolafe

During the Jonathan administration,

an outspoken opposition

spokesperson had argued that

Nigeria was on auto-pilot, a phrase that was

gleefully even if ignorantly echoed by an

excitable opposition crowd. Deeper

reflection should have made it clear even to

the unthinking that there is no way any

country can ever be on auto-pilot, for there

are many levels of governance, all working

together and cross-influencing each other

to determine the structure of inputs and

outcomes in society. To say that a country is

on auto-pilot is to assume wrongly that the

only centre of governance that exists is the

official corridor, whereas governance is far

more complex. The question should be

asked, now as then: who is governing

Nigeria? Who is running the country? Why

do we blame government alone for our

woes, whereas we share a collective

responsibility, and some of the worst

violators of the public space are not even in

public office?

The President of the country is easily

the target of every criticism. This is perhaps

understandable to the extent that what we

have in Nigeria is the perfect equivalent of

an Imperial Presidency. Whoever is

President of Nigeria wields the powers of

life and death, depending on how he uses

those enormous powers attached to his

office by the Constitution, convention and

expectations. Nigeria’s President not only

governs, he rules. The kind of President that

emerges at any particular time can

determine the fortunes of the country. It

helps if the President is driven by a

commitment to make a difference, but the

challenge is that every President invariably

becomes a prisoner.

He has the loneliest job in the land,

because he is soon taken hostage by

officials and various interests, struggling to

exercise aspects of Presidential power

vicariously. And these officials do it right

to the minutest detail: they are the ones who

tell the President that he is best thing ever

since the invention of toothpaste. They are

the ones who will convince him as to every

little detail of governance: who to meet,

where to travel to, and who to suspect or

suspend. The President exercises power, the

officials and the partisans in the corridors

exercise influence. But when things go

wrong, it is the President that gets the

blame. He is reminded that the buck stops

at his desk.

We should begin to worry about these

dangerous officials in the system,

particularly within the public service, the

reckless mind readers who exploit the

system for their own ends, and who walk

free when the President gets all the blame.

To govern properly, every government not

only needs a good man at the top, but good

officials who will serve the country. We are

not there yet. The same civil servants who

superintended over the omissions of the

past 16 years are the ones still going up and

down today, and it is why something has

changed but nothing has changed. The

reality is terrifying.

The officials at the State levels are no

different, from the Governor down to the

local government chairman and their staff.

They hardly get as much criticism as the

folks in Abuja, but they are busy every day

governing Nigeria, and doing so very badly

too. Local Government Chairmen and their

officials do almost nothing. The Governors

also try to act as if they are Imperial

Majesties. The emphasis on ceremony

rather than actual performance is the bane

of governance in Nigeria. Everyone seems

to be obsessed with ceremony and

privileges.

A friend sent me a picture he took with

the Mayor of London inside a train, in the

midst of ordinary citizens and asked if that

would ever happen in Nigeria. The Mayor

had no bodyguards. He was on his own. In

the Netherlands, the Prime Minister is a

part-time lecturer in one of the local

colleges. Nigerian pubic officials are often

too busy to have time for normal life. Even

if they want to live normally, the system

also makes it impossible. We need people

in government living normal lives. Leaders

need not be afraid of the people they

govern. They must identify with them.

There is too much royalty in government

circles in Nigeria. No matter how well-

intentioned you may be, once you find

yourself in their midst, you will soon start

acting and sounding like one, because it is

the only language that is spoken in those

corridors.

Elsewhere, ideas govern countries.

People become leaders on the basis of ideas

and they govern with ideas. That is why the

average voter in Europe or North America

knows that what he votes for, is what he is

likely to get. Clearly in the on-going

Presidential nomination process in the

United States, every voter knows the

difference between Bernie Sanders and

Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side and

between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump on

the Republican side. Such differences are

often blurry in Nigeria: our politics is

driven by partisan interests; a primordial

desperation for power, not ideas. It is also

why Nigerian politicians can belong to five

different political parties and movements

within a decade.

Even when men of ideas show up in the

political arena, they are quickly reminded

that they are not politicians and do not

understand politics. Gross anti-

intellectualism is a major problem that

Nigeria would have to address at some

stage. Some of the administrations in the

past who had brainy men and women of

ideas in strategic positions ended up not

using them. They were either frustrated,

caged, co-opted or forced to adapt or shown

the door. The question is often asked: why

don’t such people walk away? The answer

that is well known in official corridors is

this: doing so may be a form of suicide.

Once inside, you are not allowed to walk

out on the Federal Government of Nigeria,

and if you must, not on your own terms. So,

governance fails even at that level of

values: that other important element that

governs progressive nations.

Partisan interests are major factors in

the governance process. These seem to be

the dominant factor in Nigeria, but again,

they are irresponsibly deployed. The crowd

of political parties, religious groups,

traditional rulers, ethnic and community

associations, professional associations,

pastors, priests, traditional rulers, imams

and alfas, shamanists, native doctors,

soothsayers and traditional healers: they all

govern. They wield enormous influence.

But they have never helped Nigeria and

they are not helping. All the people in

public offices have strong links to all these

other governors of Nigeria, but what kind


Opinion

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Who governs Nigeria?

BY REUBEN ABATI

TheTrumpet APRIL 27 - MAY 10 2016 Opinion

democracy in Nigeria?

• In whose interest was the sixteen years

of democracy under the People’s

Democratic Party (PDP), and in whose

interest would the Alliance for

Progressive Change (APC) rule for the

next 3 years remaining?

• In whose interest were our oil and other

resources being managed since

Independence 56 years ago?

• In whose interest do we even have

governments – federal, state and local?

• In whose interest do our politicians seek

election into all electable offices?

• In whose interest are our civil servants,

ministers and other political appointees

working?

• In whose interest are politicians called

upon to resign for one reason or the

other

• In whose interest are the employees,

contractors, owners and stakeholders in

Nigeria’s oil industry working?

• Whose interest have Nigeria’s military

been serving since they ventured into

governance?

• Whose interest is being served when

unions call strikes?

• And a thousand other questions.

What we have in Nigeria is a deadly

cocktail of conflict of interest, self-

interests, selfish and personal interests,

regional interests, religious interests and

unbridled, chocking corruption-driven

interests. What for? Aren’t we all going to

die? And when we die, what do we take

with us to wherever dead people go?

Femi Fabiyi, in his article, “Nigeria and

the Emerging Economies” wrote “Many ofNigeria’s mafias have invested their stolenmonies in personal homes abroad (USA,Britain, Dubai, South Africa and a host ofother countries). Why should a Nigerian-based politician maintain a residentialhome in the USA? I honestly cannot find areasonable answer to this question. For myreaders who do not understand the USAreal estate market, here is a hypotheticalcase – A Nigerian based politician whoowns a $1,000,000 house in America isexpected to pay at least 2% of $1,000,000in property taxes and between 1.5% and

2% of $1,000,000 for maintenance on ayearly bases. So, what sense does it makefor a Nigerian politician to pull an averageof $35,000 from the local economy everyyear and send it to America to help developAmerican cities and counties?”

Will it be easy? Of course not! Aside

from dealing with the problems inherited

after decades of debauchery, profligacy,

mismanagement, indolence, corruption,

neglect of the people and infrastructure, etc;

there is also the added issue of newly

created difficulties occasioned by

prevailing circumstances alongside the

added complications of purveyors of

hopelessness and dejection fouling the air

with their negative natter, sabotage and

wanton corruption, who want to retain and

maintain the status quo.

But just like President Obama of the

United States of America said - simply and

succinctly - “Nothing in life that’s worth

anything is easy.“

In whose best interest is Nigeria itself?

References:

* Ajayi,A T and Ojo E O, 2014.

“Democracy in Nigeria: Practice, Problems

and Prospects” International Knowledge

Sharing Platform, Vol 4, No 2 (2014)

* Bendix, Reinhard; Lipset, Seymour

M. (June 1957). “Political Sociology”.

Current Sociology 6 (2): 79–99.

doi:10.1177/001139215700600201.

Retrieved April 05, 2014.)

* Caplan, Bryan. “From Friedman to

Wittman: The Transformation of Chicago

Political Economy”, Econ Journal Watch,

April 2005.

* Fabiyi, Femi 2016. “Nigeria and the

Emerging Economies”

http://www.championsfornigeria.com/inde

x.php/14-articles/107-nigeria-and-the-

emerging-economies Retrieved 10 April,

2016.

* Fierlbeck, K. (1998) Globalizing

Democracy: Power, Legitimacy and the

Interpretation of democratic ideas. (p.13)

Manchester University Press, New York.

In our or Nigeria’s interest or their best interest?Continued from Page 9<

proactively rise to the occasion in order to

avoid any possible backlash which may be

unpleasant to the ruling party and

counterproductive to the country.

Ernest Benn describes politics as “theart of looking for trouble, finding it whetherit exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly,and applying the wrong remedy.” But what

is so special in progressive politics that

politicians always find a place of refuge in

it? Even in its “comfortable and ill-defined”

state, how does a progressive party manage

its successes as well as prevent abuse of

power in politics and government? And,

with our kind of politics and the attitude of

politicians in this clime, is any politician

worth dying for? As a matter of fact, is

politics worth dying for, let alone

politicians?

Like Teddy Roosevelt, Buhari will be

writing his name in gold if he is able to

champion noble aims that are in agreement

with Nigeria’s socio-economic and geo-

political realities. And who knows? With

zealous vigilance, our President may end up

as another “ultimate pragmatist“ and an

“epitome of a president who enduredpersonal loss, political attacks, and theprospect of presiding over the dissolution

of the country, yet persevered andtriumphed.”

May the Lamb of God, who takes

away the sins of the world, grant us peace

in Nigeria!

*Abiodun Komolafe([email protected]) wrote in fromIjebu-Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria.

Continued from Page 10<

A word for President Muhammadu Buhari

Iread an interesting article recently in

which the author, objecting to President

Muhammadu Buhari’s frequent travels

abroad pointed out that Presidential

spokespersons since 1999, including this

writer, have always justified such trips using

essentially the same arguments. The fellow

quoted copiously and derisively from my

State House press statements and an article

by me titled: “The Gains of Jonathan’s

Diplomacy”.

Those who object to Presidential travels

abroad do so for a number of reasons: (a) the

cost on the grounds of frequency and size of

estacode-collecting delegation, with multiple

officers performing the same function

tagging along on every trip, (b) the need to

make better use of diplomats in foreign

missions and Foreign Ministry officials who

can act in delegated capacity; (c) the failure

to see the immediate and long-term gains of

Presidential junket, thus creating the

impression of a jamboree or mindless

tourism, and (d) the conviction that the

President needs to stay at home to address

urgent domestic challenges, rather than live

out of a suitcase, in the air. While these

reasons may seem understandable, arising as

they are from anxieties about reducing

wastage and increasing governmental

efficiency for the people’s benefit, I still insist

that Presidential trips are important, and that

by travelling abroad, the President is

performing a perfectly normal function.

We may however, complain about abuses

and the reduction of an important function to

tourism for after all, in eight years, President

Bill Clinton of the United States travelled

only 54 times – only by Nigerian standards,

but we must also admit that the President is

the country’s chief diplomat. In our

constitutional democracy, he is the main

articulator and implementer of the country’s

foreign policy. He appoints ambassadors who

function in their various posts as his

representatives. He also receives other

country’s ambassadors. Emissaries from

other countries or multilateral organizations

consider their visits incomplete without an

audience with the President, and it is his

message that they take back home.

He visits other Presidents and he also gets

visited by other world leaders; an interaction

that provides him an opportunity to give

effect to Section 19 of the 1999 Constitution

which defines the objectives of Nigeria’s

Foreign Policy. In doing this, he is expected

to strengthen relationships with other

countries, at government to government and

people to people levels in the national

interest.

The President is also the country’s chief

spokesperson, and that is why what he says,

or what he does when he is negotiating within

the international arena on Nigeria’s behalf is

of great consequence, and this is particularly

why on at least two occasions recently,

Nigerians were inconsolably upset when

their President chose a foreign stage to put

down his own country, and people. This

clarification of the role of the President as the

country’s chief diplomat may sound didactic,

and I apologise if it comes across as pedantic,

but this is necessary for the benefit of those

who may be tempted to assume that the job

of a President is to sit in one place at home

and act as a mechanic and ambulance chaser.

The concerns that have been expressed

however point to something far more

complex, and I seek to now problematize

aspects of it.

One of the concerns often expressed is

that the trips that have been made by our

Presidents since 1999 look too much alike. It

is as if every President that shows up,

embarks on exactly the same junket to the

same locations, for the same reasons: foreign

direct investment, agriculture, security, co-

operation etc. etc. accompanied by a large

retinue that includes many of the same

officials who travelled with the former

President and had prepared the same MOUs

that will be signed again, with the new

spokespersons telling us the same story all

The President as Chief DiplomatBy Reuben Abati

Chinese President Xi Jinping with NigerianPresident Muhammadu Buhari in Beijing


TheTrumpetAPRIL 27 - MAY 10 2016Opinion

of morality do they discuss? Those with

partisan interests, including even promoters

of Non-Governmental groups (NGOs) all

have one interest at heart: power and

relevance.

The same priests who saw grand visions

for the PDP and its members over a 16-year

period are still in business seeing visions

and making predictions. Those who claim

to be so powerful they can make the lame

walk and the blind see, have not deemed it

necessary to step forward to help the NNPC

turn water into petrol. If any of these

miracle-delivering pastors can just turn the

Lagos Lagoon alone into a river of petrol,

all Nigerians will become believers, but

that won’t happen because they are

committed to a different version of the

gospel. As for the political parties: they are

all in disarray.

The private sector also governs Nigeria.

But what is the quality of governance in the

corporate sector? The Nigerian corporate

elite is arrogant. They claim that they create

jobs so the country may prosper, but they

are, in reality, a rent-seeking class. They

survive on government patronage, access to

the Villa and its satellites, and claims of

indispensability. But without government,

most private sector organizations will be in

distress. The withdrawal of public funds

into a Treasury Single Account is a case in

point. And with President Muhammadu

Buhari not readily available to the eye-

service wing of the Nigerian private sector,

former sycophants in the corridors are

clandestinely resorting to sabotage and

blackmail. A responsible private sector has

a duty in society: to build society, not to

donate money to politicians during

elections and seek patronage thereafter.

And if it must co-operate with government,

it must be for much nobler reasons in the

public interest.

The military are still governing Nigeria

too. They may be in the background, but

their exit 16 years ago, has not quite

translated into a loss of influence or

presence. In the early years of their de-

centering, many of them chose to join

politics and replace their uniforms with

traditional attires. Their original argument

is that if other professionals can join

politics, then a soldier should not be

excluded. They failed to add that the

military class in politics in Africa has

shown a tendency to exercise proprietorial

rights and powers, which delimit the

democratic project. In Nigeria, such powers

and rights have been exercised consistently

and mostly by, happily for us, a

gerontocratic class, whose impact, I

believe, will be determined by the effluxion

of time.

And it is like this: the President that

emerged in 1999 was a soldier: the received

opinion was that only such a strong man

could stabilize the country. His successor

was the brother of another old soldier; he

and his Deputy were personally chosen by

the departing President. He died in office,

but for his Deputy to succeed him, it helped

a lot that he was also a favourite of the

General who chose his own successors.

When this protégé fell out with the General,

in retrospect now, a miscalculation, the

General turned Godfather swore to remove

him from office. And it happened. In 2015,

another former soldier and strong man, had

to be brought back to office and power.

When anything goes wrong, a class of old

Generals are the ones who step forward to

protect and guide the country. The only

saving grace is that they do not yet have a

successor–class of similarly influential men

with military pedigree. But when their time

passes, would there be equally strong

civilians who can act as protectors of the

nation?

The media governs too. But the media

in Nigeria today is heavily politicized,

compromised and a victim of internal

censorship occasioned by hubris. Can the

media still save Nigeria? It is in the same

pit as the Nigerian voter, foreign interests,

the legislature and the judiciary. But when

there is positive change at all of these

centres of power and influence, only then

will there be change, movement and

motion, and a new Nigeria.

Continued from Page 11<

Who governs Nigeria?

over again.

Nigerians are therefore not impressed

with the seeming conversion of the country’s

foreign policy process into a money-guzzling

ritual. This, I think, is the crux of the matter.

Whereas our foreign policy objective talks

about national interest, what constitutes that

national interest has been blurry and

chameleonic in the last 55 years and more so

since the return to civilian rule in 1999.

National interest has been replaced majorly

by personal interest and it is the worst tragedy

that can befall a country’s foreign policy

process. We run a begin-again foreign

relations framework because every new

President wants to make his own mark. The

second point is that he is compelled to do so

because in any case, we do not have a strong

institution to follow up on existing

agreements. The international community

knows this quite well, and more serious

nations being more strategic and determined

in the pursuit of their own interests will

bombard a new Nigerian President with

invitations to visit. They also know that a

new President in Nigeria is likely to cancel

or suspend existing agreements or contracts

being executed by their nationals. The

uncertainty that prevails in Nigeria is so well

known, such that the gains recorded by one

administration are not necessarily

institutionalized.

We may have thus reduced foreign policy

to individual heroism, which is sad, but

institutions and human capital within this

arena are critical. The Ministry of Foreign

Affairs, once a glorious institution is a

shadow of its old self. The politicization of

that Ministry has done great damage. When

a President visits a country, and enters into

agreements that result in Memoranda of

Understanding, it is expected that there will

be follow up action to be taken by officials

either through Bilateral Commissions (where

they exist between Nigeria and the respective

country) or the issuance of instruments of

ratification, leading to due implementation.

Nigeria signs all kinds of documents but so

many details and agreements are left

unattended to. There is too much politics in

the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and too much

rivalry between career foreign affairs

personnel and the politicians who do not

allow them to function as professionals. This

has to stop, otherwise every new President

has to start again and embark on trips that

should have been taken care of at the level of

bilateral commissions or the ministry.

Career foreign affairs personnel are

critical to the shaping of foreign policy. They

are the agents through which states

communicate with each other, negotiate, and

sustain relationships. The only thing they

complain about in that Ministry is lack of

money. It is the same with the Missions

abroad. Give them money, but there is always

a greater need for professionalism, which

makes the diplomats of Nigeria’s golden era

so sad. The foreign policy process also works

better when there is Inter-Ministerial and

Intra-governmental collaboration. The

tendency in Nigeria is for every department

of government to operate as an independent

foreign policy unit. Government officials get

invited to functions by foreign embassies,

without clearance from the Ministry of

Foreign Affairs, and they just troop there to

eat free food, but they never keep their

mouths shut. Nigerian officials are probably

the most talkative in the world and with

foreigners, they will offer their mother’s life

history to make them appear important. That

is not how to run foreign relations. There

must be control, co-ordination, discipline,

clarity and sanctions.

Every world leader wants to meet the

Nigerian President. Nigeria is a strategic

market and a very cheap one too, a source of

raw materials and a dumping ground for

finished products, with a consumptive

population. Our balance sheet in all our

relationships is unbalanced even in Africa,

which we once described as the centerpiece

of our foreign policy. We have toyed with

many slogans: dynamic diplomacy,

economic diplomacy, concentric circles of

medium powers, citizen diplomacy,

transformational diplomacy, what else/- the

Buharideens are yet to come up with their

own, but you wait, they will soon come up

with something- really, the truth is that

Nigeria’s foreign policy process is not

strategic or competitive enough.

Within Africa, it is driven by too much

kindness rather than enlightened self-interest,

or deliberate search for sustainable

advantages. A Donatus mentality has seen

Nigeria over the years looking out for its

African neighbours, donating money,

supporting their causes, but Nigeria has

gained little from this charity-driven

diplomacy. Many of the countries we have

helped to build openly despise us at

international meetings, they struggle for

positions with Nigeria, they humiliate our

citizens in Diaspora, and when they return

later to beg for vehicles, or money to pay

their civil servants or run elections, we still

oblige them. The attempt in recent years to

review all of this, and be more strategic

should be sustained.

We must wield the carrot and the stick

more often. American Presidents don’t just

visit other countries, they make statements

and often alter the course of history with their

mere presence as Kennedy did with his visit

to Berlin in 1963, Nixon in China in 1972,

Jimmy Carter going to Iran in 1977, George

Bush visiting Mexico in 2001, and Obama in

Cuba in 2016. In the international arena, we

give the impression that we are ready to jump

at any and every invitation in order to be seen

to be friendly, but we tend to overdo this.

Foreign Affairs Ministry officials who want

to be seen to be doing something will always

try to convince the President to embark on all

trips. The dream of every Ambassador on

foreign posting is also to have his President

visit, even if once during his or her tenure.

The resident Ambassador is happy, the

Foreign Affairs folks get quality eye-time

with the President but the hosts look at us and

wonder what is wrong with our country

signing the same agreements with the

emergence of every President and not being

able to act.

It does not help either that with every new

President, we talk about reviewing Nigeria’s

Foreign Policy. We are probably the only

country in the world that is always reviewing

Foreign Policy and informing the whole

world. That should be the routine work of the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigeria

Institute of International Affairs, with inputs

from the Nigerian Institute of Policy and

Strategic Studies (NIPSS), the Nigeria

Intelligence Agency (NIA), and the

Presidential Advisory Committee on Foreign

Affairs.

We must never lose sight of a necessary

linkage between domestic policy and foreign

policy. What exactly is in it for the average

Nigerian, for the Nigerian economy and for

Nigeria? Do we have the capacity to

maximize gains from foreign interactions?

Always, the real challenge lies in getting our

acts together and tying up the loose ends in

terms of sustainable policy choices,

infrastructure, culture, leadership, and

strategic engagement.

Continued from Page 12<The President as Chief Diplomat

He means different things to different

people. To some, he is a workaholic. To

others, he is the governor of the masses,

a deeply passionate leader through whose

arteries, the overall best interest of the people,

flows just like blood. Yet to some others, he is a

purpose-driven, prudent manager of human and

material resources committed to permanently

changing the look and feel of Ogun State

through his Mission to Rebuild.

But from whichever perspective he is

viewed, one thing is however constant and that

is the fact that Senator Ibikunle Amosun as

Governor of Ogun State is one man who

constantly shies away from accolades, awards

and recognitions in spite of the fact that his

achievements in office in the last five years,

easily recommend him for many of such.

“For me, awards and recognitions are best

when they come after we must have left office

and people access our efforts and achievements

in office,” Amosun would say each time the

subject matter is broached.

However, in spite of his near aversion for

awards and recognitions, Governor Amosun,

like a golden fish that his sterling performance

in office has made him, has no hiding place. He

is constantly, literally chased around with

awards, accolades and recognitions for the

unparallel record of achievement that he has

garnered since he assumed office as the duly

elected governor of Ogun State on May 29,

2011.

In a society where many are known to pay

for and literally solicit awards, Governor

Amosun has turned down several. It therefore

came as a pleasant surprise when some of us,

his aides were able to convince him to be

physically present to receive the 2015 Vanguard

Personality of the Year Award which he won in

the Governor of the Year category and was

presented to him on Friday, April 8, 2016 at the

Eko Hotels and Towers, Lagos.

On a lighter note, I personally consider

Governor Amosun’s decision to receive the

Governor of the Year Award as a birthday gift

since it was presented to him at a colourful event

which the organisers had coincidentally

scheduled on my birthday.

Beyond that however, it was also a well-

deserved honour for a man who has done more

than anyone before him to permanently change

the fortunes of Ogun State and its people for

good. In achieving this feat, Senator Amosun

was deliberate and calculated. Indeed, Ogun

State is lucky to have had in him a leader whose

emergence was not in any way accidental. He

first served as a Senator having been elected into

the Nigerian Senate in 2003. By 2007, he tried

to be governor but was adjudged to have lost the

election by the powers that be then, although the

people felt otherwise.

By 2011, the popular will of Ogun people was

finally affirmed and Senator Amosun was sworn

into office as Governor of Ogun State. The first

indication that he was prepared for the job

showed in the five cardinal programmes he

immediately rolled out as the focus of his

administration. The programme was led by

education. One was therefore not surprised

when his administration quickly proceeded to

make education free and ensure that no child is

left behind on account of his/her economic

background.

Tuition fees and all forms of levies in the

State were abolished for all students in primary

and secondary schools. In addition, the

distribution of free textbooks to pupils of public

primary and secondary schools by the Amosun

administration also helped to ensure that

education remains accessible for all. Not only

did the Governor Amosun-led administration

offset the outstanding WAEC fees it inherited

from the previous administration, it also went

further to consistently pay the (WAEC) fees for

final-year students of public secondary schools

in the State since its inauguration in May 2011.

At the tertiary level, the Amosun

administration significantly reduced tuition fees

payable in all the State’s higher institutions of

learning and paid bursary to 16,277 indigenous

Ogun State students in all tertiary institutions in

the country between 2011 and 2015.

Governor Amosun administration also provided

critical infrastructure in the education sector. As

at the last count, it has so far constructed 15

state-of-the-art model schools out of a planned

total of 28 spread across the State. And these are

not your regular schools. They are called Model

Schools because they are designed to

accommodate 1,000 students and over 200

teaching and non-teaching staff. They all come

with boarding facilities as well as computers for

virtual learning, modern science laboratories

and other facilities.

All of these have been made possible partly

because the Governor Amosun-led

administration has consistently allocated over

20% of its yearly budget to education in

accordance with UNESCO guidelines. It

therefore did not come as a surprise that the

administration won the 2015 Fafunwa

Educational Foundation award, as the State with

the highest percentage of budgetary allocation

to education.

Knowing the place and importance of

having a healthy population, Governor Amosun

placed affordable and efficient healthcare

delivery second on the five-cardinal

development programme. In this respect, the

Amosun-led administration for instance,

upgraded the Totoro Primary Health Centre

(PHC) into a Comprehensive Health Centre.

Such midas touch is not limited to Totoro PHC

- it is to be replicated in the other Local

Government Areas of the State.

Prior to the Amosun touch, the Totoro PHC

was a three-room centre with an attached

outpost structure used as antenatal care and

reception area. This facility was demolished and

replaced with the construction of a state-of-the-

art one-storey building with a partial

underground section. Equally currently enjoying

the Governor Amosun touch is the Olabisi

Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital

(OOUTH) which can now boast of a state-of-

the-art Radio-Diagnostic Centre established

through a Public Private Partnership (PPP)

initiative. This Centre provides services such as

multi-dimensional digital X-ray, ultrasound

facility, telemedicine, mammography,

fluoroscopy and CT scan.

Little wonder that during the Ebola Virus

Disease outbreak of 2014, Ogun State came out

unscathed in spite of the risk presented by the

numerous, yet porous borders that Ogun State

shares with the West African sub-region and the

fact that it is the gateway to all other parts of the

country.

Today, the need to not only return to the

cultivation of the land but also engage in

agriculture value chain addition is one that is

crystal clear to government at all levels in

Nigeria. This is however one other area where

the visionary in Governor Amosun easily shines

through. As soon as he assumed office in 2011,

Governor Amosun made this a critical

component of his five cardinal programme in

Ogun State.

The governor was driven by the proximity

of Ogun State to a vibrant consumer market in

Lagos and the West African sub-region and the

abundance of land and labour within its territory.

Therefore, since May 2011, 15,221 hectares of

agricultural land has been allocated for the

development of various crops and the raising of

livestock, notably poultry.

Priority crops include Cassava, Rice, Oil

Palm, Cocoa and a range of vegetables.

The Governor Amosun-led administration

entered into an agreement with the Malaysian

Ministry of Agriculture to develop a 500-hectare

rice plantation, positioning Ogun State to help

drive an important dimension of the national

economic diversification efforts. It also

developed farm estates for both crops and

livestock, engaging young farmers within the

State in Agriculture. The Owowo Model Farm

Estate is a laudable example of this effort.

Today, thanks to the visionary leadership of

Senator Amosun, Ogun State is the most

industrialised sub-national in Nigeria. Statistics

from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria

(MAN) indicate that Ogun State Industrial Zone

ranked 1st in 2014, while new investment into

Ogun in 2014 was valued at N514.87 billion, an

increase from the 2013 investment of N376.57

billion and total Investment stood at N691.77

billion (74%) by the end of 2014.

A total number of 88 new factories have

been commissioned between 2011 to date, thus

bringing the total number of factories in the

State to 371. More than 100 companies made

requests for land, while many others are at

various stages of construction. In fact, in its

latest economic review (2015), MAN said the

production value recorded by the Ogun

Industrial Zone accounted for 69 percent of the

total production for all zones, thus re-confirming

Ogun as the industrial hub of Nigeria.

Page15TheTrumpetAPRIL 27 - MAY 10 2016Trumpet Ogun

A Governor and his moment of glory By Adejuwon Soyinka

Celebrating the achievements of Amosun and his team

Ogun State cabinet members celebrating with Amosun

Continued on Page 16>


TheTrumpet is published in London fortnightly by Trumpet

Tel: 020 8522 6600 Field: 07956 385 604 E-mail: [email protected] (ISSN: 1477-3392)

Trumpet Ogun

As the industries and foreign investors keep

pouring in, the Governor Amosun-led

administration was also clear ahead of time

about the need to provide quality housing for

them. This is why provision of affordable

housing is one of the five cardinal programmes

of the administration. In this respect, a number

of housing development projects have been

completed, catering for a range of income

levels. These include HID Awolowo Housing

Estate, Plainfields Estate and A.A.K Degun

Estate. There is also the President Muhammadu

Buhari Estate situated on a 170 hectares expanse

of land along the Abeokuta-Sagamu

Expressway. This estate is designed as a Site and

Services scheme and is strategically located at

less than two minutes’ drive from the main

Abeokuta township.

Equally critical to the Governor Amosun

administration’s Mission to Rebuild Ogun State

is the construction of major roads and bridges

in the State whose capital, Abeokuta, used to be

described as ancient. Today, Abeokuta has shed

the toga of an ancient city and now wears the

robe of modernity. For this to happen, Amosun

government constructed the Ibara-Totoro Road,

the first international standard six-lane road in

the State.

It built the flyover at Ibara, also the first

constructed by any administration since the

creation of the State in 1976. The first 10-lane

boulevard, which begins at Sokori and opens up

into the elaborate Itoku Bridge, is a stamp of

modernisation affixed to the State capital by the

current administration.

These developments are not limited to

Abeokuta. In Ijebu Ode for instance, the

Amosun-led administration constructed the

Mobalufon overhead bridge. Other overhead

bridges in Sabo, Sagamu, Lagos Garage in Ijebu

Ode, Sapon and Iyana Mortuary in Abeokuta

have been completed and commissioned while

work is ongoing on those at Ijebu Igbo, Ilaro as

well as five different bridges along the Sango-

Ojodu road.

Within the Ogun West Senatorial District,

the GovernorAmosun-led administration is also

constructing the longest road, cutting across four

local councils in the area. The 107km Ilara-Ijoun

Road is designed to put an end to the stress

commuters often go through criss-crossing that

area and linking up with the borders Nigeria

shares with neighbouring Benin Republic.

Within Ado-Odo Ota Local Council area, the

Governor Amosun-led administration is also

responsible for massive reconstruction of the

all-important Ilo-Awela Road and also

modernised Ota environs through the

construction of modern township roads.

Indeed, the present day Ogun State, under the

current government, is one huge construction

site.And GovernorAmosun is not done yet. “By

the time we are through, we would have about

24 to 25 flyovers in Ogun State. Indeed, by

December, we would have had 15 up and

running in Ogun State,” GovernorAmosun said

recently.

Again, he is not stopping there. In fact, a

little bird tells me that the Action Governor of

Ogun State is also planning to expand the IBB

Boulevard which directly leads into the State

capital from Sagamu Interchange into a 10-lane

super highway. Not only that, he also intends to

bring his dream of having a fast rail transport

system linking Ogun with Lagos into reality

before the end of his tenure of office.

Now tell me, with all of these achievements,

why wouldn’t Governor Amosun be literally

chased around with awards, accolades and

commendations?* Adejuwon Soyinka, Senior Special

Assistant (Media) and spokesman for GovernorIbikunle Amosun, is a multiple award-winningjournalist and former Editor with TELLMagazine.

A Governor and his moment of gloryContinued from Page 15<

Vanguard Governor of the Year - Ibikunle Amosun flanked by Dr Alex Ekwueme and Oba Otudeko

Ahearty congratulations to a

loving father, grandfather and

husband - Otunba Bushra

Alebiosu at 80.

Otunba Bush started his early

career as an Engineer after his return

from the UK in 1967, and in 1976, he

went into politics and became a

Councillor in the then Shomolu Local

Government of Lagos State. He

became a Legislator in the Lagos State

House of Assembly in 1979 and was

re-elected in 1983, a post he held till

the Buhari-Idiagbon coup in 1983.

Otunba Bush seized this

opportunity to focus on building his

political leadership career - many

politicians received great counsel and

enormous support in developing their

political careers through his mentoring

and leadership.

Otunba Bush is a fervent believer

and astounding devout Muslim - he

built a mosque in the grounds of his

home to appreciate the goodness and

mercy of Allah.

Otunba Bush is greatly respected by

his contemporaries and friends which

included the Late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

He is a God fearing man, a living

legend, a force to be reckoned with, a

supporter of family and friends and a

firm believer in fairness and justice.

Family values matter to this great man

and today, he is celebrated by his

beautiful, youthful wife, Otunba Mrs

Hilda Funmilayo Bush Alebiosu who is

and remains his heartthrob for life,

together with his children,

grandchildren and well wishers both in

Nigeria and abroad.

Sir, may your days be long and

purposeful and as you celebrate your

80th year on earth, may you live the

rest of your years in good health, joy

and happiness In Shaa Allah.

Otunba BushraAlebiosu at 80By Yemisi Akindele

Otunba Bushra Alebiosu

the trumpet newspaper issue 413 (april 27 - may 10 2016)

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