Clay Richie

The more social media we have, the more we think we’re connecting, yet we are really disconnecting from each other -Anonymous I have purposely waited for days to see what Reuben Abati will write concerning the mention of his name by the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) in their response to a supposed rival body, before I pen down my own ‘protest’. Maybe I waited for Abati as my senior in every category of life or maybe because he has more information than me at the embryo stage of the formation of the Online Publishers Association of Nigeria (OPAN). The aim was achieved, as he has written and thus I have been set free to use my five fingers.

Bola Tinubu, the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the governing party at the federal level, has cast himself as the chief defender of President Muhammadu Buhari. His exaggerated defence of Buhari’s economic and political policies should be expected. After all, he was the one who threw his weight behind Buhari as the presidential flag bearer of the APC during the general elections last year.

It start with south sound crude Oil prices. But it should have started much earlier. Public Authorities in Nigeria seem to have rediscovered the concept of taxation. But can the push discourage savings at some point and bring forward images of Arthur Laffer, the Laffer curve and supply side economics.

In 2008 — I mean 2008, not 1908 —oil prices fell from the height of $147/barrel to $36. That was $111 shaved off every barrel of the black gold. It was like the world was going to end. President Umaru Musa Yar’Adau battled tooth and nail to get a realistic benchmark for the 2009 budget. The more he adjusted downwards, the more oil prices went south. There and then, all kinds of promises were made. Political office holders were asked to take pay cuts. Governors promised to develop agriculture. We were told our dependence on oil would soon end as we were all set to diversify our economy. Until, of course, another boom came and normal service resumed.

This is part three of the #SaatahBudgetSeries. If this is the first piece you’re reading from this series, know that what I plan to do for its duration is simply to analyse the budget in the simplest way possible. In the first part of this series, I wrote on the budget for the Presidency and highlighted areas I felt you’d appreciate knowing about. I did the same with the second part, which was that of the Federal Ministry of Defence. In the third part of this series, I’ll look at the Ministry of Foreign and Intergovernmental Affairs, and draw your attention to some interesting details.

“The Online Warriors” penned by Reuben Abati and published by SaharaReporters yesterday compelled me to re-publish “Abati: The Grammarian’s Funeral” one of the many articles I wrote on him when he was the attack dog of former President Goodluck Jonathan. “The Grammarian's Funeral” published February 4, 2013 by SaharaReporters was in response to Abati's article “The Hypocrisy of Yesterday's Men.” The article was a miserable attempt by Abati to gag social media critics of Mr. Jonathan. By extension, “The Online Warriors” is another futile exercise by Abati to regulate social media which he does not have control over.

If you look across Africa today, the postcolonized African often sees himself as an improvement on his colonized ancestors. In 2016, the postcolonized African looks at archetypes of the colonized African which Chinua Achebe has secured for eternity in the persons of Ogbuefi Okonkwo and Ogbuefi Ezeulu and says to himself: “we have come a long way”. The postcolonized thinks he is better than the colonized.

Fellow Nigerians, let me confirm what you already know; I’m an absolute supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari despite being one of his most vociferous critics in the past.

The greatest news coming out of President Buhari’s recent trip to the United Arab Emirates is the fact that he signed some repatriation and rendition agreements that will certainly make life a tad more uncomfortable for hundreds of Nigerian goats who had shored up their yams – stolen from Nigeria – in Dubai.

My criticisms of the excesses of the online phenomenon in terms of its brazen abuse in an unregulated environment has often made me the target of attacks, with many insisting on quoting the opening paragraph of a piece I once wrote along these lines as if it is a memorial verse, but further developments have shown that indeed, liberal, accommodative, useful and open as the growth of the new media may seem in Nigeria, we may well, if care is not taken, be dealing with a dangerous tool in the hands of the unscrupulous which could drive society towards the lunatic fringe.

Nigerians might be having challenges to easily get the needed dividends of democracy, also easy access to NASS budget might been proofing too difficult but something will never elude my fellow Nigerians on daily or weekly basis and this is the soap opera generously made available regularly by different sector of the country.  Recently released was the “governor without deputy episode” that was staged played in the north central area of the country, co-directed by INEC and APC leadership, assuming the lead roles are JA Faleke and Yahaya Bello. As it is known, the conventional reaction by movie lovers after seeing a movie is to gather as much friends as possible to analyze  the roles played by all the characters involved in making the movie a successful one and vice versa. On this note, see me as a movie lover and “governor without deputy” as the movie under consideration.

Nigerian, you already know by now that Baba Olusegun Obasanjo recently wrote a letter to the National Assembly, calling them names and accusing them of corruption. That the National Assembly has been Nigeria’s most notorious assembly of integrity-challenged and irresponsible thieves since 1999 is no news to you. It is also the retirement home of expired looters from the Executive. If you are looking for the highest number of indicted Africans in one single room, go to Nigeria’s National Assembly.

This is the second piece in the #SaatahBudgetSeries. In the first piece, I analysed the budget for the Presidency and brought to your attention areas I felt would be of interest to you. Today, I’ll be analysing the budget for the Federal Ministry of Defence. Bearing in mind that Nigeria can be said to be in a state of war; with the Boko Haram sect, Fulani Herdsmen and what looks like a resurgent Niger Delta militancy on the horizon, this budget is expected to be solid on all fronts…but what if it isn’t? That’s what we’ll find out in this piece.

In my application to the Special Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) last week, I requested for an investigation into the allegations of crimes against humanity committed by serving and retired military officers and their civilian accomplices.

Instead of giving Nigerians the change you championed, give them excuses.  Blame Goodluck Jonathan for everything. In six years of Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency, the opposition told us again and again the man was “clueless.”  It made sure the tag stuck to him like glue.  But now we have a new sheriff in town, with the APC claiming to be better at everything than the PDP.  While that might still be subject to debate, there is overwhelming evidence that in the cluelessness department, the PDP is certainly no match for the APC.

In the ninth part of the #SaatahBudgetSeries, I will take a look at the budget for some government institutions such as the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Infrastructure Concessionary Regulatory Commission, and the Police Service Commission. But my main focus for today will be on the budget for the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) and the institutions under it.

Last Friday, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), was the keynote speaker at the Nigerian Pension Industry Strategy Implementation Roadmap organized by PENCOM. Titled “Overcoming the Challenges and Managing the Risks and Constraints that Inhibit the Investment of Private Capital and Funds in Nigeria’s Infrastructure Landscape in Order to Make a Visible Economic Impact”, Fashola’s intervention was on how we could deploy the Pension Funds as a catalyst for revamping the nation’s dilapidated infrastructure.

The quote, “I have proven to Nigerians that my political ambition is not worth anyone’s blood” by Good luck Jonathan on every appearance and even on the lips of his crass supporters has lost touch with the present realities.

I am writing this piece as Joe Igbokwe not as APC Publicity Secretary Lagos  State. I am writing as an independent writer and a public commentator on national affairs. Please permit me to air my views before we swear in Alhaji Yahaya Bello who never won the governorship election in Kogi State. The System may have decided in their own wisdom to swear in Mr Bello but l want history to record that l saw a travesty and an aberration coming and raised an alarm. The alarm may be ignored but history which neither personal wealth or power can circumvent will be my witness.

In the eighth part of the #SaatahBudgetSeries, we will take a look at the budget for the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). Seeing the quagmire the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, has found himself in, we will do good to pay attention to this particular agency and see if anything really  “Changed” from what we had in the past.

Nigerian economy is experiencing some downturns.. More than anything, it appears that high oil price, the major driver of the supposed  growth of the last 16 years, will remain a pipe dream for a longtime.

Arguably one of the most effective opposition party spokesmen in Nigeria is Lai Mohammed, now our minister of information and culture. While his party, the APC that was formerly in opposition won the presidency on March 28th, last year and thus changed into the ruling party, Mohammed seems not to have changed his communication strategy to reflect the new change in the status of the party that he represents, hence he is still going into the archives, as it were, to compile mind-blowing corruption allegations cases in Nigeria (some of which are wild and spurious) and publishing same.

From the time of King Pharaoh of Egypt to Queen Sheeba of Ethiopia; from Anwar Sadat to Edward Akufo-Addo of Ghana; from King Chaka (c 1788-1828) founder of the Zulu Empire to Uthman Shehu Danfodio, from El-Kanemi Sheikh Muhammad El-Amin (c 1779 – 1835) of Borno to the founder of the Swazis kingdom King Sobhuza (c 1795 – 1836), that Africa in particular and the black race in general has never lacked great minds who defined their generation.

Former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has denied the claims made by foremost human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, that she’s involved in the arms funds diversion scandal. It would be recalled that Femi Falana, last week, wrote to the International Criminal Court (ICC) asking the court to investigate the misappropriation of funds intended to fight Boko Haram insurgency by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

In the sixth part of the #SaatahBudgetSeries, I will take a break from my usual focus on a Ministry/Institution. I will bring to your attention, the budget for the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOS), Public Complaints Commission (PCC), Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Federal Character Commission (FCC) in one fell swoop.

A group known as Save The Nation Movement (STNM) wants Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, to be included in the ongoing probe of abuse of funds meant for the procurement of arms. Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to “carry out further investigation into the misconduct established against some retired and serving officers of the Nigeria air force and Nigerian army”.

Ten groups, under the aegis of the United Idoma Citizens, have urged former Senate President, Senator David Mark to withdraw from the February 13 Benue South senatorial rern election. Mark, who recently suffered a setback ahead of the rerun election, is squaring up with Daniel Onjeh of the All Progressives Congress.

Welcome to piece number seven in the #SaatahBudgetSeries. If this is the first piece you  are reading, I will advise that you find the previous six articles in this series and peruse them with all seriousness—you need to know what the Nigerian government will spend money on.

Ridding a corrupt country like Nigeria of corruption will take a little while, but it has to start from somewhere and by someone. Corruption is a complex social, political and economic phenomenon that affects all countries. It undermines democratic institutions, slows down economic development and contributes to governmental instability. Corruption attacks the foundations of democratic institutions by distorting electoral processes and conducts, perverting the rule of law and creating bureaucratic quagmires whose only reason for existing is for soliciting bribes.

I read with absolute interest Simon Kolawole’s article, The Parable of Dollars and Dullards, published on January 17, 2015. I read the article at least five times. If I had any hope that the exchange rate crisis was going to be over soon, I have since perished the thought. He painted a very clear picture of the trouble we have found ourselves as a nation.

A lot of my brothers down here in the North who read my article criticizing President Buhari’s pre-ministerial appointments, felt I was being too harsh on him and that it didn’t matter who was appointed, what mattered was their competence.Getting them to realize I wasn’t criticizing his performance but only his appointments was not easy.

Something sad has happened and is happening, and is getting worse in our society: the decline of public intellectualism. And so I ask, where are the public intellectuals? Once upon a time in this country, the public arena was dominated by a ferment of ideas, ideas that pushed boundaries, destroyed illusions, questioned orthodoxies and enabled societal progress.

I believe Senator Yerima has himself requested for his case to be tried at a competent Sharia court. Being a man of conscience, I am sure the Senator begs for the justice of the best judicial system that he believes in and that he helped give the people. Even if and after the ICPC delivers its justice on the very spiritual Senator, we as a nation must agree that he must be then transferred to the Sharia court for their capital punishment for his crimes if found guilty.

Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo, former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria and former governorship aspirant in Anambra State, got the nation anxious again when he declared in a no-holds-barred manner that former President Goodluck Jonathan ran the Central Bank of Nigeria in manners akin to that of Uganda’s late dictator, Idi Amin. Soludo did not fall short of accusing the former president of ordering the CBN to ‘print’ say, N3 trillion under the guise of creating an intervention fund for national stability but which is eventually doled out to prosecute an election campaign or just about anything the president fancies. He further described the CBN as the presidency’s ATM under Jonathan.

This is the fifth part of the #SaatahBudgetSeries. This part promises to be the most interesting of all Ministries whose budgets I’ve analysed so far. With a budget increase of over 200%, the Federal Ministry of Interior should have a lot to offer us.

When Governor Udom Emmanuel was declared winner of the April 11, 2015 governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Akwa Ibom State erupted in rapturous joy, the type that can only be compared with a football loving nation winning the FIFA Senior World Cup. No doubt, that was an incontrovertible proof that the people’s will had prevailed and that the uncommon transformation of the state as started by former governor Godswill Akpabio would not suffer any painful and premature termination as has most times been the case in most states in Nigeria.

Aisha Yesufu has been in the news for the right reasons. What got her in the line of partisan fire was her account of the meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and parents of the abducted girls of Chibok, which she witnessed and reported last week. She wasn’t impressed, and wasn’t also afraid to admit so. For this brave indiscretion, a tribe of partisans has risen and formed a counterforce against her activism. Their outrage was a betrayal of what she advocates as a strong pillar of the #BBOG campaign.

Fellow Nigerians, I’m surprised that no one has asked about the wellbeing, welfare and whereabouts of our dear former President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan. Are we so wicked and uncaring that we have forgotten the gentleman who brought us fresh air so soon? Do we truly suffer from “collective amnesia” (apologies Wole Soyinka) that no one is coming up in defence of the man who brought FaceBook to Africa’s biggest nation? Where are all those acolytes who were falling all over themselves this time last year during the Presidential campaigns? Where are the royal fathers from different parts of Nigeria who were decorating our President with all kinds of esoteric Chieftaincy titles?

“See what your friends are writing” “Who?” “Your fellow columnists. See how they are attacking the Minister of Interior, General Abdulrahman Dambazau, just because an orderly helped to shine his shoes in public.” “I really don’t see what the hoopla is all about”

This is the fourth piece in the #SaatahBudgetSeries. We’ve weighed in on and analysed the budget of the Presidency, the Federal Ministry of Defence and the Federal Ministry of Foreign and Intergovernmental Affairs. Today, we move to the next budget in the series; the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture—that’s the Ministry headed by Lai Mohammed, the former APC spokesman.

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari spent the first three days of this week visiting the United Arab Emirates, UAE, the first by a Nigerian leader since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two states in the early 80s. The high-level visit to the world’s second largest Arab economy marked an indication of the strengthening of relations between this country and Middle-East after many years this being in the back burner.

When they loot money, they keep it in Switzerland When they are sick, they go to Germany for medicals When they want to buy household utensils, they go to China When they want to invest for the future, they go to America When buying Mansions, they choose United Arab Emirate

El-Rufai is someone for whom I have a lot of time, a lot of fondness.  I find him to be a brilliant, stubborn, hard worker – some of the essential qualities needed to succeed in this life.  Sometimes, I wish it were him in Aso villa, and perhaps, some day, if that is his desire, he might get there.

Can anybody dispute that Nigeria as a country is governed by joke? This has nothing to do with the political party in charge whether APC or PDP as they are a bunch of the same people circulating from one platform to the other without recourse to the issue of integrity or ideological believes. How can the annual budget of a country presented by the president to its National Assembly become an object for moonlight play?

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP chieftain in Ebonyi State, Mr. Abia Onyikeon Monday, January 18, 2016, stressed that the constant blame being heaped on former President Goodluck Jonathan over the state of the economy by the Federal Government was a reflection of its unpreparedness to provide quality services to Nigerians.

This essay is part of a special edition being published in partnership with Foreign Affairs, titled “African Farmers in the Digital Age.” This anthology explores the future of African food systems and the role that digital solutions can play in overcoming the isolation of smallholder farmers and speeding up rural development. Look for it at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/anthologieson February 15. Financial Inclusion Matters for Africa’s Smallholder Farmers

Nigerian, you have by now seen a viral video of Nigeria’s interior Minister, Abdulrahman Dambazau, turning “a DSS officer” into a sobata during a public function. If you do not know who or what a sobata is, it means you are too young and you came to adulthood on Facebook and Twitter. Sobata was the ambulant Ghanaian shoemaker, shoe repairer, or shoe shiner who took care of my “back to school” bata shoes during my primary and secondary school days.  If you were an ajebutter whose hand writing was cursive, you called those shoes “cortiner”. A Ghanaian sobata is a significant element in the social history of Nigeria in the 1970s and the 1980s.

President Muhammadu Buhari said Monday in Abu Dhabi that Nigeria has made very significant progress towards ending the Boko Haram insurgency since his assumption of office on May 29 last year. Speaking at a meeting with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki Moon on the sidelines of the World Future Energy Summit, President Buhari said that in collaboration with the Multinational Joint Task Force, the Nigerian Armed Forces have driven the terrorist group from Nigerian territory into “fall-back positions”.

Slowly but steadily, the ultra conservative wing of Nigeria’s largely self-absorbed and callous elite is spoiling for a fight. And it’s all about the renewed war against corruption which has induced in this group an emotion that can only be described as culture shock. As a result, the unconstructive and clearly combative reaction to a development that ordinarily should be applauded and encouraged by anyone who means well for this country is no less unexpected.

President Buhari has appointed Professor Isaac Adewole as the Federal Minister of Health to help achieve his administration’s plan of health for all. But can the current Health Minister bring about the needed change in the health sector?