In the Grandiose Parlor…

The construct of the Nigerian nation is complex, multifaceted, and demands a sound political and executive management that is contrary that what is being operated today.   Continue reading…

There are few good men on the Nigerian political terrain and two of those men appear to be heading against an uphill task to make good what seems a lost battle. It started with Nuhu Ribadu then Patrick Utomi joined in, unfortunately these men may never attain what they have in mind—be the next president of the Nigerian republic for one simple reason: they are politically naive. Continue reading…

In the event of a failed elections in 2011, would Nigeria capitulate? This is the question analyzed on Foreign Affairs Magazine by John Campbell, the former U.S Ambassador to Nigeria.

While America has every reason to be concerned about 2011 elections, Nigerians need to be too. The last decade has brought some stability—even though shaky at best; the general prognosis looks better for the country overall. Advances made in states like Lagos, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Rivers, and Cross River has created a pacifying buffer of hope for democracy in the land. All this may be wiped away if the election goes bad in 2011. Continue reading…

I can’t readily think of instances of collaborative actions between the Nigerian government and the citizens and organizations in the private and nonprofit sectors working together as partners to accelerate innovative, results-oriented, and sustainable solutions to our nation’s social problems. One thing that is not very common—and really needed—in Nigeria is this public-private collaboration. Continue reading…

Why is it that Nigerian elected officials develop inertia when it’s needed most? This is a question that has become even more relevant given the Yar’Adua’s impasse.

The man is clearly incapacitated and not able to perform his duties are required under the law. In fact, it now appears the man is not even in the right state — physically and mentally, to make his situation known to the people who gave him his mandate! This is what the recent events strongly suggest since his return from Saudi Arabia about a week ago.

So why has it remained a Herculean task to the representatives of the Nigerian people to do the right thing and relieve the man of his burden?

Why is the conscience of our elected officials so dead to the expectations of the people whom they represent?

I doff my hat to the Nigerian information minister, Dora Akunyili, for her new-found courage and consciousness to the moral contract she has with the people. Her unilateral stance against the deceit and rascality of the Yar’Adua cabal is a refreshing breeze instead of the foul staleness of the Abuja obstructionists and status quo keepers.
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Some factual statement about elections in Nigeria. Hardly anyone would disagree that most elections in Nigeria are set up to be rigged. And no one knows this better than the present Governor Segun Mimiko, who fought for his stolen mandate for nearly two years before he recovered it through the Appeals Court.
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I just came back from a 10-day visit to the home country. Nothing much is going on in the western axis except in Lagos and Mimiko’s Ondo state — which appears ready to emerge from a decade-old crust of lack luster governance.

The state-owned TV station, OSRC, is now wearing a new look, under the leadership of Channels TV import, Ladi Akeredolu-Ale. And from what I could discern, the first 100 days of Gov. Mimiko — which is just around the corner — will be marked by the commissioning of some projects, here is a sneak preview of what is happening:

1. A Mother and Child Hospital — the first of several planned statewide — is being constructed in Akure, the state capital, and may be ready within the next 16 weeks.
2. Construction has started on the first 700 of the 4000 low-mid income homes planned for the state. The hospital and the real estate development are the first wave of a series of public-private projects planned for the state.
3. More than 30 small scale, solar powered water schemes are being built statewide.
4. Urban planning, or re-planning of the state capital, particularly the major thorough fares.

On the national scene, the arrest and the corruption scandal involving Ndudi Elumelu’s gang at the National House of Representatives remains the big news. Elumelu was the Chairman of a National Assembly committee that investigated power project contracts during former president Obasanjo’s tenure.

Elumelu, whose committee indicted the past administration for gross negligence in the award and execution of the projects, is now in detention without elements, and under investigation for facilitating some $30 million (5 billion Naira) contract scam at the Rural Electrification Agency.

Even though I’m pressed to make a categorical statement on Elumelu’s arrest, but in the spirit of fairness, and guided by my knowledge of Nigeria’s style of power-play, l will be patient and defer from stating that Elumelu’s arrest now challenges the integrity of the entire national assembly.