Let Nigeria Dissolve into 6 Countries

Nigeria is Africa's most population nation and by extension the most population black nation on the planet.  About 50 years ago, it was projected that we were going to be one of the most advanced nations along with Brazil and India.  These two have gone ahead and we are worse than the smallest nations around us.  Today, the leader of Africa's economy is South Africa.  What advantage do we have for our population?  Our huge population is suffering while a few are getting richer.  Our leaders do not have the capacity to lead a huge population.  They don't think well enough to plan and lead a great nation.  So our first problem is a leadership challenge.

The next is our polarized ethnic diversity that is so loose to form a nation-state.  We regionalize everything.  Indigene or this state or indigene of the other state.  These are divisive tendencies.  Next to tribal regimentation is our sharply divided regions on religious basis.

During the Constituent Assembly of 1995, the people came up with six (6) geo-political zones of North West, North East, North Central, South West, South South and South East.  These regional groupings have served the nation well in the case of proper delineation and identification.  

Over the years, there has been tension in the land over where a leader should come from.  The issue of rotational presidency came up but only parties talked about it.  It wasn't embedded in the constitution.  But because of the lopsided educational divide where the South is more educationally aware than the North, it is difficult to interact without creating conflict because there seem to be no proper communication.  The North appears to have a fixed position and the majority of its people are not educated.  So, they are at the whims and caprices of their leaders who use them to their advantage.  They are used to the political advantage of the leaders' since they do not have the capacity to reason out stuff by themselves.  The average southern citizen queries everything and does not follow leaders hook, line and sinker.  The same cannot be said of the northerner.  

The leaders of the states up north have not done much to fast track the education of its people.  They have used religion to cause the people to remain ignorant.  Islam is good as a religion, but its adherent must live in a multi-religious society where they must engage in commerce and do general business.  Life is not about staying up all day reciting the Quran.  If you must eat and be able to mix well with people, then you must learn how to relate by getting knowledge in schools where the world's most acceptable language for transactions are taught.  It is that education that Boko Haram says is sin...

Before Boko Haram, there is this intolerant attitude of the average northern moslem.  Then they feel they cannot be ruled by a Christian President.  I saw how they reacted when President Goodluck Jonathan won the election.  They were deluded to believe that General Buhari, a Moslem Northerner won.  It ignited protests in violent formats and the targets were Churches and Christians... 

Now as I write, Boko Haram has gone totally wild and I believe it would have been different if we had a Moslem Northerner in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa.  So besides the bombing across the country, Boko Haram says they want to install an Islamic Style Government.  They don't seem to have visible support from Moslem leaders but it is not a hidden that they have the sympathy of the big guys in the North.  Recently, a Senator was implicated by one of their spokesperson.  He is in court.  The evidence against him is daunting.  So we cannot rule out fifth columnist in the corridors of power who share the sentiment of the north that a Moslem President should have been our leader.

The bombings have been incessant and sustained.  Targets have been more of Churches.  They seem faceless but they really are not.  They have succeeded in making the country ungovernable.  If indeed they operate a guerilla style warfare, then the security agencies will find it difficult nipping them in the bud especially if they have insiders in the security agencies and I guess that is what it seems.  

This is my honest proposal before the entire country goes up in flames.  I had suggested this in a subtle way during the post election violence earlier in the year and I did intimate that Goodluck Jonathan may be the last President of a United Nigeria.  This is what all these may come down to.  It is better to have peace and have people's lives safe in a restructured-nation-states than to have a bogus country without security of lives and properties.  I deliberately didn't talk about the economic problems insecurity can cause because I assume we all know that.

Let us not kill ourselves in a bid to live together by force.  We have different ways of life, different destinies, different belief systems.  We can't simply live as a nation... we may fight until we finish ourselves.  Politicians who profit from this arrangement may not like it but we can't carry on for too long.  I therefore call on the National Assembly to summon a summit of the different nationalities... let every region take their destinies in their hands and my proposal for the nations to come of Nigeria is as follows:

North West Region (Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara & 

Northern Kaduna)  COUNTRY NAME:  Bahauria  CAPITAL: Katsina

North East Region (Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Adamawa & Bauchi States)

COUNTRY NAME:  Gombiana CAPITAL: Gombe

North Central Region (Southern Kaduna, Niger, Kogi, Abuja, Nassarawa,

Plateau Benue & Taraba) COUNTRY NAME:  Nigeria CAPITAL: Abuja

South West Region (Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti & Ondo States)

COUNTRY NAME:  Oduduwa CAPITAL: Lagos

South South Region (Rivers, Cross River, Delta, Edo & Akwa Ibom)

COUNTRY NAME:  Niger Delta CAPITAL:  Oghara

South East Region (Enugu, Abia, Imo, Ebonyi & Anambra)

COUNTRY NAME:  Biafra  CAPITAL:  Awka

This is my humble submission.  The time to start is now.  The lives and the economy of the people is dependent on this.

More on this in my next blog.

GOD SAVE NIGERIA and its PROPOSED NATION-STATES.

The Vexed Issue of Oil Subsidy Removal in Nigeria...

 The Nigerian political landscape has been awash with the huge debate on whether or not the government should remove the Oil Subsidy for the past couple of months.  The debate was sparked principally by the desire expressed by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) in the wake of its outcry that the N18,000 National Minimum Wage was unsustainable by most of its members in their respective states because they do not have the funds to pay their workers.  The Governors had argued that, for them to pay the minimum wage and still have money left in their coffers to run their governments as well as provide basic infrastructures, the Federal Government should increase the allocation to States from the Federation Account either by dissolving the National Sovereign Fund (NSF) or an outright removal of Oil Subsidy.  This writer believes that the Presidency was caught in the middle of the road and had to choose between two undesirable options.  The Oil Subsidy removal was chosen as its best bet out of the situation.  This seemingly politically convenient position has its very far reaching consequences.

            The subsidy on petroleum has been there for as long as the nation has been an oil producing nation.  It has been there even when all our refineries were producing at 100% capacity and there was no need for importation of refined products.  Therefore, the oil subsidy in a nutshell was a benefit of the masses of Nigeria from its government for the blessing of crude oil.  That appears to be the only means by which the ordinary Nigerians were supposed to feel the impact of being an oil exploring nation.

            What really is the subsidy?  What is the government subsidizing?  A little check-up of this reveals that government is paying for the extra cost of producing a litter of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol and Kerosene less the real pump price amount being paid as a retail price to the ordinary consumer.  That is, if it costs the country N10 to produce a litter of fuel, it is selling it at say, N4 to the consumers and bearing the burden of N6.  In this case, N6 is the subsidy. 

            During the military regime of President Ibrahim Babangida, a phased removal of the subsidy began as part of the government’s economic blueprint in order to release needed funds to the system as the international price of oil dropped in the mid-1980s coupled with the desire to fulfill conditionality for the implementation of the IMF-backed Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP).  However, in spite of the removal of subsidies in those days, as at 1999 when the current political dispensation took root, the pump price of PMS (petrol) was still at N11.00 per litter. 

            The President Olusegun Obasanjo administration constantly adjusted the pump price until it came to N65.00 per liter which the Yar’Adua/Jonathan administration inherited.

            What really has been the reason for this constant removal of subsidy over time?  The truth really is this: government has neglected the oil and gas sector of the economy systematically to the point that all our four major refineries today are either half dead or producing at an embarrassingly low capacity.  This ushered in the massive importation regime of petroleum products.  What has therefore sustained the retention of the N65 pump price over the years is the subsidy that the government has had to pay.  According to a recent statistics as presented by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the landing cost of PMS per liter is about N145.00.  The government pays a subsidy of almost N90/liter to ensure that the pump price remains at N65/liter. 

            The basic idea is to ensure that the subsidy will ensure that life is bearable for most Nigerians.  However, the paradox which the government has hinged the removal of oil subsidy on is the fact that it is paying a fortune for subsidy while a certain cartel enjoys the benefit and the effect is not telling on the consuming public.  The Senate during the first week of December, 2011 reeled out the names of organizations that have continued to feed fat on the subsidy which government says for 2011 stands at about N1.4 trillion.  This it claims is almost above the budget for capital projects in the 2011 budget.  The purpose of the subsidy it claims, is not achieved while a few rich organizations in the oil and gas sector are enjoying the proceeds.  The subsidy removal therefore is to meant to pull the carpet off the feet of the cartel or cabal while the proceeds are channeled to providing basic necessities for the Nigerian public.

            While the argument sounds logical and populist, a closer scrutiny reveals that with the subsidy gone, the pump price of petrol will naturally increase to about N120/per litter.  This will immediately have a spiral effect on every aspect of the economy as transportation cost will skyrocket and costs of goods and service will increase geometrically.  It will effectively put paid to the relief the so-called N18,000 minimum wage was supposed to provide and further impoverished the already over-stretched Nigerian masses.

            This disadvantage of the removal of oil subsidy therefore is huge and the effect on the personal economy of the common man will be disastrous.  The opinion of this writer is that the subsidy SHOULD STAY but government should look for other creative means to source for funds to do its business while ensuring that the subsidy benefits are properly enjoyed by the Nigerian masses.  The remaining part of this write-up is devoted to suggesting how this can be done.

Covering the Subsidy Hole

            The major concern of government is the fact that it spends a colossal amount of money funding the subsidy.  Let us look at this critically.  This money is this much because there are so many holes that monies are emptied into in the process of importing petroleum products.  One major job the government should do immediately is to fix all our refineries and build new ones to totally stop the importation of fuel.  This is the best way to checkmate the cartel or cabal and destroy their back-bone.  How long really does it take to build a refinery?  In the last three years, our northern neighbours, Niger built a world-class refinery.   They are in the process of joining the large number of petroleum exporters to Nigeria!  Is it not funny that we transport crude to Niamey from the creeks in the Niger Delta by trucks through inland roads across the country to Niger and then they in turn return these trucks in reverse to us with refined fuel?  What is really difficult in building a refinery if the old ones cannot be fixed?  The government must be proactive and think creatively in solving a problem that looks like it has defied all solutions.

            Secondly, while it is working on getting the refineries fixed, while supporting the subsidy, the government must look inwards to source for funds to cover up the hole that the subsidy creates. 

            There are so many other sectors of our economy that continue to consume funds without a commensurate contribution to its growth.  These sectors and institutions have merely become drain-pipes.  The idea is to re-channel funds from there for redistribution to critical areas needing urgent resources.  The list here is not exhaustive as there could be more:

a)     Cost of Governance at all levels:  We have reached a point where the cost of maintaining government officials and their respective agencies is becoming unsustainable.  Starting from the executive arm of government, we can free a whole lot of money by rationalizing some offices and cutting down on the expenditure of many.  There is absolutely no reason why we should continue to engage the services of so many Special Advisers & Special Assistants whose duties are merely a repetition of what most ministries and agencies are already doing.  The President should start by cutting down on some of its expenditure profile.  For all intents and purposes, the Presidential Aircraft Fleet should be reduced to at least 5 from the present number of 11.  If a holistic audit is carried out with a view to maintaining only very NECESSARY offices in each sector of government, then billions of naira will be saved and the hole created by the subsidy will be adequately covered. 

The National Assembly recently came under fire by the Nigerian public because of CBN Governor’s outcry that it consumes about 25% of the national budget.  Whether the figure being bandied was 25% of recurrent expenditure or it’s a percentage of the total budget is not really relevant.  What has become important to the public is the fact that the cost of maintaining members of the National Assembly is too expensive.  There should be a bold step taken between the Executive and the Legislature to drastically cut their pay and allowances.  If indeed they are serious about making necessary sacrifices for the survival of the nation’s economy, then they should show examples by taking a pay-cut of at least 50% and cutting down on the pecks of their offices.  They should not expect Nigerians who are already over-stretched to continue to pay high for fuel while they continue to drive around in gleaming cars and feed fat by attending plenary sessions for just screaming “nay” and “yea”. 

b)     Checkmating Corruption

The government is paying a steep price by funding corruption at the highest places.  Contracts are inflated; awarded contracts are poorly executed while state officials just line their pockets with money for no just cause.  It must take urgent steps to institutionalize the nabbing of corrupt officials to avoid the leakages that presently pervade the system.  If this singular step is taken and corruption is brought to a minimal level, a huge sum will be freed to enable government have what it takes to fund infrastructural development across the length and breadth of Nigeria.  If the government does not develop the will to exemplify sacrifice by cutting down the cost of governance and take further steps to stamp out corruption, it should not expect cooperation from the masses to further impoverish them by taking away the subsidy which promises to bring them to further poverty.

There is palpable anger in the air amongst Nigerians.  The youths are in their most dangerous restive mood across the land.  Unemployment is higher than admitted figures in the media.  There are millions of families who cannot afford a square meal a day.  There are many whose hopes of surviving is so deem that the only rational thing they think about is how to hurt others to get to survive.  This is not the kind of population the government should be thinking of dropping another burden upon with a subsidy removal.  They should look somewhere else to cover up the gap.  If they look very well enough, they will find enough leakages to cover up and we can be on track to economic emancipation.  Leadership is not about dumping responsibilities on others but by taking the bull by the horns and finding creative solutions to intractable difficulties.  I agree with someone who said a while ago that the office of the Nigerian President is the most powerful in the black world.  Why should the most powerful black President shirk from the responsibility of confronting a cabal that seeks to sink the ship of state?  Except that high office is collaborating with the cabal, it is time to show how powerful it is.  God bless Nigeria.

Competition and Customer Loyalty

     

Introduction

It takes about 20 times more energy to get a new customer as you will need to keep one you already have.  To keep a customer is to treat him with a measure of quality and excellence.  Whether the customer is an individual or organizational buyer, they all have expectations of the firm they deal with.  The basic determinant of whether they will become loyal to that firm or to a competitor is premised on whether those expectations are met or not.  This discourse is targeted at helping the participating firms to meet and exceed their customers/clients’ expectations.

The Effect of Competition

Who is a competitor?  Someone who produces and/or sells similar products to yours is your competitor.  All such companies involved in similar trade are in competition.  You are all in competition for the customers’ money; striving, trying to outperform one another, etc; but the choice of who to stay with, is the call of the customers to make, but you can help them.  Never let your competition shows your customer a better product than yours!  Do you want to avoid losing your clients to your competitors?  Then help them avoid seeing a better product in your competitor’s.  How?  Make your product the best in the market.  The same principle applies to both new and existing products/sellers in the market.  There are key areas you must focus on to keep your customers.  These will be examined shortly.

Why Customers Quit

1% die

3% move away

5% other friendships

9% competitive reasons (price)

14% product dissatisfaction, but

68% quit because of an attitude of indifference towards them by some employee.

A research conducted by Stanford University revealed that, money made in any endeavour is only 12.5% by knowledge, and 87.5% by your ability to deal with people.  John D. Rockefeller said, “I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun”.  Besides several other factors that could take your customers away and give them cheaply to your competitors, the attitude of your employee, or people who relate with customers matter the most.  Customers consider themselves your most priced assets, and they want to be treated as such.  Anything short of this, meets with a beckoning from competitors.

The single most important ingredient to the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.  Always realize that, any activity you engage in is capable of being a benchmark with which customers evaluate you, particularly in the earliest stages of their contact with you.  That is the customer’s privilege, not yours.

Do you want to have an edge over your competitors with regards to the battle for customers, then have an edge first, with your company attitude.  The customer has no business differentiating one person from another in your firm, every singular misbehavior by any one is seen as company misbehavior.  Customers don’t even see their own wrong, the company must just have a perfect attitude.

How to gain customers’ confidence and keep them

1.      Establishing contact with customers is a vital part of any company’s success.  The ability to maintain a welcoming environment involves a combination of the physical environment and the way the staff members communicate with the customers.

2.      Make sure you acknowledge and greet your customers within 3-4 seconds, as this is how long it takes for them to make a first impression on you and your business.

3.      Greet your customers with a smile and a ‘hello’; this will make a huge impact on the rest of your service.  If a customer is not acknowledged and does not feel welcome, they will leave the business and go elsewhere.

4.      Keep in mind the quality of customer service can never outweigh the quality of the people who provide it.  By making sure you keep those who work for you happy will ultimately improve the quality of service and experience your customers have.

5.      Treat your customers how you would like to be treated; its an easy principle.

6.      Management should lead by example, and set the standard.  If the management leads in excellent customer service, the customers will notice it every time.

7.      Try to remember your regular customers; welcome them back; make small talk of how they are; what have they been up to?  This builds rapport and makes them special; use their name.  Their regular attendance pays your wages.  Treat them with the respect they deserve.  You will keep them happy and returning to your business.

8.      Go out of your way for your customer, if they are after something specific, do everything you can to get their needs met.  For example, if a customer wants a specific product and you don’t have any left, make the effort to track one down from the warehouse or another store.  They will be really impressed and happy with the excellent service they have received and will return to your business again.

9.      Train your staff in proper customer handling procedures so everyone in the business is consistently providing the same high standard of service.  All staff needs to be trained how to handle difficult situations as this will add an overall good impression of the customer service your business provides.

10.  When you are hiring staff for your business, you want to make sure you are employing people who can fit in with your customer service standards.  Someone who can is not afraid to talk openly, smile, and be approachable.  The mistake some companies make is hiring people because they are desperate.  In turn, employ people who are not suited for the customer service industry, which in turn will hurt your business and reputation.

How to Sell Yourself to the Top

Mastering Your Products:   The Salesman Talisman

Introduction

Good sales actually begin with a good knowledge of the product to sell, and with good presentation, everything sells.  A terrific salesman is adept at both knowledge and presentation of his products and services.

By the way, let us establish first that a product is anything that is offered to the market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want.  That implies that, even you are a product.  Second, a product is the consumer’s solution.  The market is anywhere the product is presented for sales.  This includes the office where you go to submit your CV for a job opening. 

Third, everyone is a salesperson.  The world we live in is altogether a marketplace.  Your demeanour, vocal-ability, etc. are all part of the presentation process.

Mastering Your Products: To have a magic wand by which you can achieve exceptional sales level, the following keys are essential.

a)      Know Your Product

The first statement in this discourse already gives impetus to this point.  A man cannot give what he does not have; you cannot sell what you don’t know about.  Every salesperson must first take time out to understand the products that he is expected to sell.  Your knowledge must be convincingly deep.  If you are supposed to sell a variety of products, you have to pick the ones that appeal best to you, and study them deeply, knowing all that their functional dimensions.

b)      Be convinced about your product and constantly increase your confidence level:

Your customers can no more be confident about what you sell than you are yourself.  Do not try to talk anyone into buying anything that you are not sure of yourself, except you are ready to make a tool of yourself.  The confidence you have in the product will give you some measure of pride about it, and then influence the way you talk about it.

c)       Be versatile, understand your competition

A major highlight in any salesman’s presentation is when he (she) has to compare what he/she has to sell with the competitors’ products.  You must know about your competitors have to offer and be sincere enough to examine whether they are better than yours.  Whatever information or knowledge you get from this is a major point for you. 

d)      Be enthusiastic about your product

No matter what your competitors think about your product, it still has the potential to succeed in the market.  The onus is on you to love, cherish and be proud to present that product.  Your own enthusiasm will go a long way to help sell that product to the most important customer.  Note:  Your most important customer is the one sitting or standing before you at the moment.

e)      Understand what is unique about your product

To make good sales, to start with, your product must have a unique identifiable feature.  There must be something that distinguishes your product from your competitors’.  One of your sales pitches should be competitive advantage of that product compared to the competitors’ product.  Whenever you sell, emphasize the competitive advantage your product has, however, DO NOT bad-mouth your competition.  De-marketing your competition does not improve your own product or services.  Another sales pitch should be the benefit of that product to the customers, in other words, the solution that product offers for their problems.

In using uniqueness of your product as a tool, examine these two things:

-                    How that uniqueness will appeal to your target consumers.

-          

            What particular problems that uniqueness will help solve for your customers.

We will continue this discussion next time.  Keep a date with me.

Nigeria: Are we on the brink?

These are not ordinary times in Nigeria.  We are on the brink, to put it mildly.  Yet some people who claim to be our leaders are carrying on like we have no emergency in our hands.  I never really stuck my head out for anyone during the last elections but I had a soft spot for President Goodluck Jonathan and I don't know why.  I didn't like him that much but I felt for the sake of continuity, we didn't need a fresh person in Aso Rock.  Besides, he cut a picture of a person who somehow knew what he wanted to do and was ready to run Nigeria with a paradigm shift mentality.  But I was wrong obviously.  Nothing seems to suggest to me right now that Mr. President is different from our previous leaders.

I had expected by now that he would have sent an Executive Bill to the National Assembly to do a death blow on extravagant expenditure in government.  He didn't... The cost of running government is much higher today than it was 5 years ago. 

I had expected that the President would be very proactive with security matters by picking highly skilled security people and not follow the traditional pattern of appointing service chiefs on the basis of "next in line".  We have chiefs in our security services who are all confessing that the Boko Haram phenomenon caught them "unawares".  Security people using the word "unawares"?  It can only happen in Nigeria.  In saner societies, that statement alone can earn them an immediate sack.  That is why I like President Babangida for his security proactivity.  I was a mere teenager when a one-time Governor of Benue State (for 3 days) made a careless statement to the press.  The man was fired the next day and retired from the Nigerian Army.  You don't make statements like that in security circles in public!  Not even when you entertain the thoughts and entertaining such defeatist thoughts are even uncalled for!

The other day, the President told the nation that he was not a "general" nor was he "Pharoah of Egypt" and that we should not expect him to confront the challenges we have with a military mentality.  My question is?  Who then is the Commander in Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces?  If the president cannot think and act as a Commander in Chief, who does he expect to think? If we have a President who speaks in this manner, why would Boko Haram not become more audacious with their attacks?  Why should we have Damaturu turn into a killing field last week?  If the security services were on top of their jobs, wouldn't it be good security sense for them to become proactive in neighbouring states to Borno where the sect is operating from as its headquarters?

When the nation is reeling under heavy economic challenges, we have a government that should be protecting the defenseless citizens even thinking of taking away from them what they have as a cushioning effect.  Petrol at N65 is even expensive for a nation living on generators which is powered by fuel!  If we take the price above N100 per litre through subsidy removal, now that there no electricity, are we saying the ordinary Nigerian should not even fuel their generators again?  Are our leaders thinking?  If you are removing subsidy, can you correctly account for the funds that have been entrusted to you in the past? 

In my facebook page today, I have been advocating that the President and his team should take a pay cut by 50% and the National Assembly members should forgo 50% of their allowances and lead by example by engaging in deliberate sacrifices.  The truth is this:  these leaders do not really care about what happens to the ordinary Nigerian.

Ordinary citizens who try to galvanize others to protest the injustice and misgovernance are now being hounded by the State Security Service (SSS) wasting valuable man-hours that should have been spent working on the real criminals who are ravaging our streets with bombs.  Poor managers always major on the minor.  That is what is happening. 

Without sounding so pessemistic, I want to state clearly that we are heading for the status of a failed state without even taking a closer look to confirm this.  We must not forget that the average Nigerian is becoming restive daily through consistent frustration.  When a government fails to live up to its name and responsibility, it may end up bearing the brunt of the consequences from a population pushed too far to the wall.  A word is enough for the wise.

Things Won't Get Better; You Must Get Better

We are constantly living with the hope that the economy will improve - the reality is that the economy the world over has grown worse than it was 10 years ago.  The recent economic melt-down in the Western world is not ebbing.  There appears to be a respite but check out what is happening in the entire European bloc - Greek is about to pull the rest of Europe to its kneel.  The American nation is experiencing arguably its worse economic problems in all of its national history.  Unemployment is at its worst.  Their credit rating has nose-dived.  If these things are happening in so-called Developed World, what hope then is there for Third World or Developing nations like those in Africa?  

Things are not getting better.  Nigeria is sliding fast towards a failed state.  Insecurity is as its worst.  We have just joined the league of nations experiencing suicide bombing by its citizens.  This was never contemplated even five years ago.  Our roads are death-traps.  Recent alarm raised by the Corp Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission reveals that of the 192 nations with bad roads, Nigeria ranks second to the last on number 191!  This is inspite of the government's huge funds deployment to the building and rehabilitation of our roads.  Corruption is at its worst.  A minister in the cabinet was recently caught red-handed exchanging text messages with a private citizen and insulting him yet boasting that the citizen was poor because he refused to cooperate to get the minister to line his pockets with some government funds.  Our public officials are public thieves.  Their prosecution is like a show.   They now take pride to be docked and released as they continue to enjoy their loot.  Things are certainly not getting better.

It is no longer correct and right in our clime to count on the government.  Nigeria and most Africans are citizens on their own.  Its a survival of the fittest.  Our schools are poor and overwhelmed with malpractices as they are now certificate awarding centers.  Any wonder then that we should not expect better leaders tomorrow?

Is everything about doom?

Much as there is no hope in the horizon from civil authorities, the individual can rise above the dispair and make a mark.  In nations like America where the economy is on its kneel, private citizens who have discovered their God-given gifts and talents, developed them through sheer determination and created platforms for their deployment are making money daily and living large, oblivious of the storm around them.

I am a Christian, and I know there are many Christians reading this right now.  We were told that darkness, even gross darkness will cover the earth but we must arise and shine in the midst of the darkness.  If you wait for anyone to lift you, you will wait in vain.  It is time to dust ourselves from the shackles of discouragement and dispair - seek out what God put inside you and connect with Him for necessary wisdom to be the best you can be.

I have made up my mind not to cave in to any storm because I am an eagle!  The eagle is immuned to the storms. 

Can we meet and sharpen our minds?

If you in the Kano area of North West Nigeria, I will be huddling together with a group of friends under the auspices of the LoveHouse International Gospel Center to host a series of teaching/discussions on CHILLING OUT IN THE STORMS every Sunday evening throughout the month of November.  The event will feature practical discussion sessions on how to remain afloat in the storms and flood of economic depression and challenges.  The Royal Tropicana Motel on Zungeru Road, Sabon Gari, Kano is the venue and time is 4.30 pm every Sunday.

I am looking forward to meeting you this Sunday, 6th November, 2011.  If you miss out this Sunday, there remains 3 more weekends and the dates are 13th, 20th and 27th November, 2011.  Mark your calendar, adjust your schedules and come with your friends.

Its time to chill out in the storms!

In Search of Nigeria's Purpose-Driven Leadership

Nigeria is at a very critical crossroads as a nation.  And the nation is in dire need of a pragmatic leadership to stir it out of troubled waters.  For over 50 years, we have tettered along as a nation which drifts along without a clearly defined path.  Every successive government has tried to carry out "sweeping reforms" that practically erases whatever little gain its predecessors in office had garnered while it was in office.  This is partly due to the incessant military incursions in the polity of the country and coupled with the lack of leadership foresight and pragmatism by their civilian counterparts while in charge. 

This is the 21st century and the whole world is grappling with unprecedented economic challenges.  While a purpose-driven economic agenda is the immediate desire of a sane nation, Nigeria is contending with more other fundamental challenges that deserves critical attention if any economic theory is to have a lasting effect on its soil.

Multi-cultural/religious crisis

Our nation is sharply divided between the North and South, Christianity and Islam, Tribes and Ethnic groupings and all these interests are seeking very selfish portion of the soul of the country.  The question really is this:  Are we ready to dwell together as one people, one nation with one destiny?  This is not about some politicians forcing us through laws made by a few people in the National Assembly or some 1914 forced coallition made by Lord Lugard's British Colonial masters.  Can we sincerely ask ourselves from Sokoto to Calabar, Maiduguri to Lagos and from Kano to Port Harcourt if we are ready to dwell together as one nation and place other considerations like religion, tribe and regional groups aside as secondary?  Can we sincerely first and foremost be Nigerians before we break into our tribes and religions?  If we cannot get a leadership to resolve this seeming and intractable jig-saw puzzle for us as a nation, no medicine can possibly cure the many other social vices that confront us as a nation.

President Goodluck Jonathan does not look like that kind of leader who can confront these questions and ask Nigerians to debate on it.  He seems to have towed the line of other leaders who just pay lip service to the cliche "unity in diversity" without addressing the fundamental questions.  Are we really ready to be Nigerians indeed?  We need a leader who can confront this question and get answers and go for the jogular!  There is no point being afraid of breaking our nation down into nation-states for the sake of sustainable development.  There is no point being a giant with no direction in focus.

This may be the most audacious blog post I have written on the Nigerian state.

The Current Debate on Oil Subsidy Removal

The oil subsidy appears to be the only thing the impoverished Nigerian enjoys from its clueless governments over the years.  I have had issues in the last couple of years lambasting the late Colonel Gaddafi who ruled over Libya with iron fists for 42 years before going down to a popular revolution that started early this year.  Gaddafi was a maximum ruler but he provided infrastructure for his people.  He gave the Libyans water, gave them good roads and the average Libyans never really complained of extreme poverty the kind we have in Nigeria.  They just wanted a better society than what they had.  They wanted freedom in the political space, a democracy where they can be free to choose their own leaders.  That is what really caused the frustration which resulted in the revolution which has been carried out now.

Nigerian leaders talk about freedom of speech and a democracy which is actually meaningless to the ordinary Nigerian.  The other day, I took a trip to nearby Jigawa State in North West Nigeria from my base in Kano.  What I saw on my way (pictures of which I posted on my facebook page) really shocked me.  A little less than 20 kilometers outside the sprawling commercial city of Kano, mud houses littered everywhere on the route to Dutse, the Jigawa State capital.  These people who live in these mud houses were completely cut off from civilization without electricity and water.  They live in houses that were good only in the first decade of the last century!  Yet they live in a Nigeria where leaders steal billions of dollars which were allocated to their states for the development of the country!  Are they not worst than Colonel Gaddafi?  Shouldn't they be executed publicly for corruption?  Didn't Gaddafi deserve a better treatment compared to his Nigerian counterparts?

What really is the Nigerian enjoying from its government?  How does the billions of naira realized from the sale of crude oil trickle down to the Nigerian?  Only about 20 million Nigerians actually work for the government agencies, Organized Private Sector and quasi-governmental agencies.  Of a population of 160 million people, does the government create any conducive environment for the entrepreneurship of the remaining 140 million people?  The rest of us who survive by any means are simply lost and have no consciousness of government.  We are not secured - the police is just a relic of whatever it was meant to be - even milking the citizens who are trying to eke out a life by collecting N20 naira bribes from them on the street.  The entire country is wallowing in a huge darkness that is a huge embarassment to our size and resources as a nation.  The entire country in urban centers now run on generators.  We are emitting more gasious substance than the entire industries in the world - causing unprecedented global warming.  Why are we complaining of the spate of flooding in our cities this last raining season?  Check out the gas emission from our generators.  Someone should take the measurement and the shock we will find from the revelations will be awesome.

Has the government of Goodluck Jonathan considered these issues before contemplating the removal of the subsidy?  Whatever is draining the purse of the government is not the subsidy they give to the Nigerian people.  They should do a massive pay cut for all legislators for starters!  Lately I heard of the House of Representative members asking for money to buy N2.5m cars for each of them!  Imagine how much that will amount to.  Does anyone consider how much impact that can do on the lives of the people who are unemployed if they were given soft loans to start their own small businesses with just N500,000 each?  Now the legislators are going to spend that money on cars!  Don't they have cars before becoming representatives of their people?  They should use their old cars and SERVE the people!  That is the subsidy that should be removed!

The furniture allowances that Senators are paid every session is needless.  Remove that subsidy.  They already have houses.  Most of them are not poor people.  If they really want to serve and they know the condition of the nation's finance, they should give up their furniture allowance which runs into hundreds of millions of naira per Senator.  That sum can be channelled to build infrastructures through which employment can be generated for the suffering Nigerians.  That is where the subsidy should be removed.

No governor should enjoy any more security votes!  Their states are not secured.  They can't secure it.  Remove those votes and rechannel it!  Please the people's subsidy and cut your allowances and the excesses in the maintenance of government officials. 

I will come back and write further on the need to avoid the meaningless desire by the government to remove oil subsidy.  That will finally muzzle the common man out of existence.  Any palliative measures they want to use to cushion the effect will make no difference.  It will end up within the circle of officialdom. 

President Jonathan, please seat up and protect the Nigerians you swore to serve on May 29, 2011.  Stop running 250 kilometers in the wrong direction. Make a U-turn for the sake of the common man in Kotangora, the farmer in Ojigo, Benue State and the fisherman in Takum, Taraba State.  If you fail in this duty, the goodwill you garnered during your campaign will be washed away and you will join the rest of Nigeria's leaders who bore the name but had no impact on the lives of the people.  Is that the legacy you want to leave behind for your own children, and kins men in Otuoke?  I think not.

Now that Gaddafi is Dead...

Its funny how tables can turn overnight.  The once strongman of Libya was captured like a chicken early today when he was trying to flee from the overwhelmed city of Sirte, his birthplace which has been his hiding place since he was deposed in August this year.  This once reverred messianic persona who throd over the landscape of Libya like a collosus is now killed and has left the realms of the living.

There are lessons that we should learn from the mistakes and mishaps of others but most often than not, we do not get down to learn these lessons.  Gaddafi was alive when Liberia's Samuel Doe was captured and butchered like a goat in the 1990s when Prince Yommie Johnson and longtime Liberian war-lord turned President, Charles Ghankey Taylor led a splinter of rebellion against his regime.  Even the Ecowas Monitoring Group co-sponsored by the Nigerian government under the leadership of President Ibrahim Babangida could not save the then famous Sergeant Samuel Doe.

In the wake of the Arab Spring which spread across the Arab Magreb in Africa, Gaddafi saw how Ben Ali of Tunisia and his old friend, Hosni Mubarack were swept  by the whirlwind.  He never took notice to quietly stand down and take a deserved rest.  When the youths in his country began the uprising which led to his eventual removal and now death, he called them mad dogs and insisted that Al Qaeda was leading the "rebellion" and went as far as saying that the youths had taken some drugs which has led them into some kind of delusion.  Now we know who was being deluded. 

There are other sit-tight leaders still hanging around the African continent and in the Arab bloc.  In Africa, Cameroon's Paul Biya is approaching the 30 year mark, Eduardo dos Santos in Angola is been there about the same time.  Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe is in his 31st year as the only President to have led the republic since independence.  A dynasty of succession of leadership of sort is taking root in Togo with Eyadema Jr now in the saddle after his father passed away after over 30 years.  I believe that Gaddafi was also not unaware of the pranks that Ivorien former President Laurent Gbagbo tried to play after losing the election to Allasan Quattara late last year.  He was eventually captured after some months of dilly-dallying.  Despots and autocratic leadership will always end up in shambles.  If you always want to be a leader by hook or by crook, you will be hooked by a crook as well.

Gaddafi's demise should sound a clear signal once again to all undemocratic and authoritarian leadership across the African continent and the world at large that in today's world, there is no hiding place for the wicked.

A word is indeed enough for the wise.

NIGERIA: What manner of governance?

It is with pain in my heart that I write this post on Nigeria's leadership crisis.  It is a crisis because Nigeria has had issues with leadership since its advent as a nation that sought to lead itself since 1960 when it was handed an independence on a platter of gold by the British colonial masters.  We have had the misfortune of having leaders who were mostly rudderless and having no clue where to lead the nation.  As a matter of fact, some of our leaders needed to be properly led first before stepping into such positions of authority.  A whole lot of them had no personal leadership in their own lives - little wonder then that they could not lead at the political or national levels.

Leadership from the concept I seek to address here which is a scarce commodity in Nigeria is strange to many people in positions of authority in the country today.  While real leadership is about adding value to the lives of the people one is expected to lead, in Nigerian parlance based on the way politics is played, leadership is about a personal ambition to get a position of authority and command respect from people and at the same time use the position to amass wealth and display such wealth stupendously amongst the poor and disadvantaged Nigerians.  The former concept of leadership changes the society and adds value to the citizenry while the latter leaves the people more impoverished and the nation more sapped.

To my thinking, very few Nigerian leaders from 1960 were actually prepared to lead this vast nation.  My readers may chose to agree or disagree with me but we have had only two people who were actually ready to tackle Nigeria's leadership issues from the day they took over the reigns of leadership.  These two individuals knew from day one what their mission was and they set about doing it.  One of them started out and was cut down by the bullets of fellow soldiers in a bloody military coup.  The other came on board with grand plans but was sabotaged by the kind of people he surrounded himself with.  They are General Murtala Ramat Mohammed and General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida respectively.  All other leaders apart from the first set of leaders from 1960 to 1966 were all circumstantial leaders who got into leadership by chance and therefore had to try finding their feet while already in the saddle.  By the time they get an idea of what to really do having spent and wasted time trying to understand the complexity of the Nigerian situation, their tenure would have expired or they would be busy trying to enlongate their stay that they end up losing focus on the main business of governance and leadership.

The same is the case for the Goodluck Jonathan administration which is presently enmessed in a lot of problems it is finding difficult to grapple with.  Goodluck Jonathan was a circumstantial governor of Bayelsa State with no ambition or eye for Aso Rock until President Olusegun Obasanjo drafted him to run on a ticket with late Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua in the 2007 Presidential Elections.  He was still trying to get used to being thrust in the center when Yar'Adua took ill and he had to be saddled with the responsibility of becoming an Acting President.  While at that, his boss died and he became a substantive President.  Amidst all kinds of confusion, he announced his intention to run for the President and riding on the crest of popular acclaim for having a minority candidate and being so "innocent", he won the Presidential Election.  Now is time to lead the nation and he is being found wanting.

Communication as a leadership tool

The Nigerian people are becoming enlightened by the day.  They can tell when a leader is confused.  The best way to douse such insinuations (if they really are) is to speak directly to them.  There is a place for press statements through the Special Adviser on Media and Communcations, there is also the role of the Minister of Information and all the Cabinet Ministers responsible for specific job functions but the real leader of the nation is the President.  The buck eventually stops at his desk.  If he has a major policy thrust that he wants to carry out in the nation like the current issue of the State Governor's opposition to the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) and their insistence on the removal of the petroleum subsidy, as a President, is expected that he takes to the airwaves and address the Nigerian people directly on the issue.  He could also call a Presidential Press Conference and address the nation through that avenue and take questions off the hook from the members of the Aso Rock Press Corp.  That way, Nigerians can be properly informed.  But the reverse is the case.  The President of Nigeria is silent and many of the other leaders are busy engaged in a cacaphony of noise thereby confusing the Nigerian people and leaving a picture of a confused leadership.

When the British nation was under attack by Nazi Germany during the World War II, the Prime Minister of the British, Sir Winston Churchill spoke to the heart of the nation and charged them to be strong.  His voice represented the English nation's resolve not to be cowered to submission by the madness of Germany's Hitler.  On the strength of his powerful communication, he galvanized the English troop even though weak compared to the Germany machines to victory.

Every remarkable American President had changed the tide of the mood of the nation at adverse times through direct and powerful use of words to communicate to the American public.  Besides the prepared speech and the paraphenalia of state protocols, powerful leaders have been known to speak off the hook from their heart to convince their citizens that as leaders, they were on top of the situation.

Why would President Jonathan play the ostrich at this time of our national emergency and by not communicating directly with the Nigerian people?  It is time to speak your mind about the critical issues and if you think we oppose government's position, try your best to convince us and if we are not, do a rethink.  You are there to serve us and not the other way round.  Be courageous and be bold.  Take the reins of leadership and give the Presidential job your best job.  A whole generation of people is counting on you and the destinies of millions is hinged on your decision today.  We are waiting.