By Comrade Gbenga Olowoyo fcia fipma JP
The Democracy we all clamoured for which started since 1999( 24 years ago unbroken) was modelled in Athens, Greece and replicated in Nigeria as well as around the world, is defined as Government of the people by the people and for the people by Abraham Lincoln, to show that people are sorrounded by Democracy itself.
Democracy is generally associated with the efforts of the ancient Greeks, whom 18th-century intellectuals, considered as progenitors and founders of Western civilization. These individuals attempted to leverage the early democratic experiments into a new template for post-monarchical political organization which we are all enjoying today including Nigerans.
The relevance of Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) can not be wished away because of his democratic stance in the history of United States of America, its reflection worldwide with spectacular definition of Democracy which he propounded; Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th President of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865.
Abraham Lincoln led the American Civil War to defend the nation as a constitutional union and succeeded in abolishing slavery, promoting the Federal Government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.
The term people in the context of Democracy is very potent because power is derived from the people. That is more reason why nobody should be blamed for; be it maladministration or incompetence of any leader, because voters are architect of their own good or bad fate
In the biblical context people ( men) were created by God in his own image to attest to the fact our images are modelled after God in order to affirm that humans are sacred beings that must be guarded jealousy and treated well .
The 29th day of May and 12th June of 2023 brought to bear the democratic watershed in the lifespan of Nigeria as a country and Nigerian citizens. The former was the swearing-in of New President of Nigeria, His Excellency,senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the latter is the celebration of Democracy day which symbolically marked June 12th 1993 election won by Bashorun MKO Abiola exactly 30 years ago but annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida regime and the symbol of the election Bashorun MKO Abiola equally died in the course of reclaiming the sacred mandate.
All is now in the good book of history, 30 years down the line , the day will continue to reverberate in the political history of Nigeria.
The background information above is not only very neccesary but also expedient as a precursor that will provide a good intellectual foundation of this piece
The trial of Nigerians and the optimistic metamorphosis is culled from the play written by Professor Wole Soyinka tltled “the trial of brother Jero and his metamorphosis”
The play is no doubt satirical and instructive, yes , the broad theme revolved around religion but our concern is in the last scene of the play which talked about politics, and very relevant to our overall reliving hope of good governance in Nigeria, in order to give room for the future of born and unborn generations of Nigerans.
Within the last couple of years Nigerians had undergone many trials; the trials are not only those who are in courts or sentenced to various jail terms or death sentence but Nigerians, who shared part of misgovernance and maladministration of the country by hawks and mediocres characterised in the successive administrations since Nigeria independence over the years, the above assertion reminds us of the poem tilted “The casualties” by John Pepper Clark;
“The casualties are not only those who are dead.
Though they await burial by installment…”
“…The casualties are not only those who started
A fire and now cannot put out. Thousands
(of Nigerans) are burning that have no say in the matter.
The casualties are not only those who are escaping.
The shattered shall become prisoners in
A fortress of falling walls…”
The terrible experiences Nigerians went through were tantamount to trials, even the various revelation of mismanagement of our scarce resources is a clear case of trials, is it Billions of Naira Maina pension fund saga? N109 billion Naira that former Accountant General masterminded, Dibu Ojerinde JAMB fund debacle, Fuel Subsidy removal imbroglio, Naira re-design phycological trauma ( using Naira to buy Naira) voodoo economic management technique imposed on us and the recent revelations of over N70 billion cash found in the house Godwin Emefiele in Lagos after his suspension as CBN Governor among other endless cases and instances of misgovernance which with time we shall hear more of starling and mind boggling revelations in our polity
To this end, with due cognisance of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Democracy day speech, Nigerians should be ready to monitor events and hold him responsible dearly for his super committed speech which he interlia said “I have asked you, my compatriots, to sacrifice a little more for the survival of our country. For your trust and belief in us, I assure you that your sacrifice shall not be in vain. The government I lead will repay you through massive investment in transportation infrastructure, education, regular power supply, healthcare and other public utilities that will improve the quality of lives.”
The above section culled from his speech is one of the many great speeches that shook the world and remain on the marble till today; just like Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther jnr, sir Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa, the First and only prime Minister in Nigeria, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe among other acclaimed world leaders.
According to President Tinubu, the democracy MKO Abiola died for is one that promotes the welfare of the people over personal interests of the ruling class and one where the governed can find personal fulfillment and happiness.
” I enjoin us all to rededicate ourselves to strengthening this form of government of free peoples that has been our guiding light these past 24 years. In particular, those of us who have been privileged to be elected into public offices at various levels in both the executive and legislative arms of government, we must recommit ourselves to offering selfless service to the people, and delivering concrete democracy dividends in accordance with our electoral promises.”
President Tinubu pledged thus “on my part and that of my administration, I pledge anew our commitment to diligently fulfilling every component of our electoral pact with the people – the ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda.
“We shall be faithful to truth. Faithful to equity. And faithful to justice. We shall exercise our authority and mandate to govern with fairness, respect for the rule of law, and commitment to always uphold the dignity of all our people.”
Honestly , to me, these are reassuring commitments to the the generality of Nigerians of Optimistic metamorphosis that will be ex-rayed by political and social evaluators at the appropriate time.
In the context of the above statement , the event that was unfolded at the inaguratoin of the National Economic Council (NEC) where recommendations from the National Salaries Income and Wages Commission to pay N702bn as cost of living allowance to civil servants as part of intervention plans to mitigate the effects of the discontinuance of petroleum subsidy as announced on May 29, 2023 were considered, is a pointer that put paid to his Democracy day speech, this will be a good development if properly channelled and implemented.
In the analysis provided by the Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, he explained that the intervention includes a recommended sum ranging from N23.5bn to N45bn per month as a petroleum allowance for Civil Servants.
No doubting the fact that, it was barely two weeks after President Bola Tinubu directed the Governors to concretise various palliative structures to ease the attendant hardship from the petrol subsidy removal.
According to Bala Mohammed, “The NEC had received recommendations on the various ways and means that the country can use whatever increases that we have in the revenue to mitigate the impact that this is going to make on the lives of our workers.
“And so they recommended that there should be a consequential adjustment, estimated at N702.92bn as part of the allowances that should be given as petroleum allowance to all workers and as well as a N23 or N25bn monthly offer to cushion the effect on workers and to review salaries and wages”.
“In addition to the palliatives, the government looked at all the issues, challenges and problems holistically and set up a small committee of the council to review and come up with a term of reference to specifically organise areas where these palliatives can come from and how it will be dispensed to alleviate the problem of workers and other vulnerable groups,” Mohammed explained.
Members of the committee, according available information, include the Governor of Kebbi State as Chairman; Anambra representing the South-East geopolitical zone; Governor of Benue, North-Central; Governor of Kaduna, North-West; Governor of Cross River, South-South; Oyo, South-West; and the Bauchi State Governor representing the North-East.
“Other relevant agencies in the committee are the Budget Office, representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria and the Nigeria Labour Congress and Rukayat El-Rufai.
“We will sit within two weeks to come up with a recommendation to NEC for a holistic decision that will be taken immediately to alleviate the problem that is being encountered by the removal of the subsidy,” the Bauchi Governor explained.
To attest to the clear case of continum in governance, the NEC affirmed that the input of the committee on palliatives earlier set up and headed by former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would not be discarded but integrated into the ongoing process.
Flowing from the above,l want to bring it to the attention of Federal Government that organized Private sectors, Artisans group, vulnerable Nigerians, people living with disabilities and other critical segments must be considered in the palliatives arrangements to guarantee broad based attention to all Nigerians.
The signing into Law Education loan Bill, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will equally impact positively the unhindered access to Education by the children of the less privileged if the implementation of the good policy will not be hijacked via political patronage, those who will be in charge of the Education loan disbursement should be men and women of integrity.
On Gas and Oil sector of the economy, It is a cheering news that Federal Government, on Tuesday June 13th ,2023, issued and signed licences for the establishment of two crude oil export terminals, capable of generating $11bn revenue annually for the country.
The licences were issued through the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to Belema Sweet Export Terminal Limited and NNPC Exploration and Production Limited in Abuja.
The event which took place in Abuja, the Chief Executive, NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, revealed that the signing of the terminal establishment licences for the two crude export terminals would lead to the addition of more than four million barrels of oil capacity to Nigeria’s export storage.
“Our activities today are pursuant to the provisions of the PIA (Petroleum Industry Act), which has stipulated new provisions for the establishment of new export terminals.
“According to PIA Section 174(1) (a) ‘Except in accordance with an appropriate licence issued by the Authority, a person shall not undertake the following activities with respect to midstream petroleum liquids operations — (a) establish, construct or operate a terminal or other facility for the export or importation of crude oil or petroleum products.’
“The authority has processed and hereby approves Terminals Establishment Licences for: (a) NNPC Exploration and Production Limited to establish 2,179,747 barrels Crude Oil Terminal at Offshore Akwa Ibom State within the waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone Nigeria” it was declared.
“(b) Belema Sweet Export Terminal Limited to establish a 2,000,000 barrels Crude Oil Terminal at 20 Nautical Miles of Kula Southern Part of Exclusive Economic Zone Nigeria,” Ahmed stated.
This development in my own personal opinion will have positive impact on the rightful economic pathway for Nigeria and Nigerians.
Nigerians are no more interested in paper work but walking the talk of all government policies as exhibited, through signing of many economic pathway Bills , since assumption of Office by the Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
In conclusion, l want to submit that Nigeria government must move from the path government policy pronouncement to sustainable policy formulations through appropriate legislation to pave way for well structured policy continum and implementation through rolling plan as pursued by General Yakubu Gowon.
At this juncture, l want re assert my recurrent axiomatic standpoint which says repetition means emphasis, emphasis itself means relevance .
I want to call on the Federal Government administration in Nigeria under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to make their Economic blueprint to emphasize the following:
To think outside the box by engaging private sector led financing and rehabilitation initiative in the management of Government existing refineries and build new ones.
The Government refineries should be managed on a fully commercial governance structure in which decision making should rest with the Board with full control of their funds.
The refineries should market their products directly to off-takers, so as to recover maximum value.
Government should create enabling environment with fiscal incentives to attract investments into refining in Nigeria and make this happen in earnest.
Federal Government should be sincere enough on Education loan Law to allow students of tertiary institutions have access to the loans without any encuberances
I am optimistic that there will be socio political and economic metamorphosis in the lifespan of Nigerans if the the current administration is sincere with his 2023 Democracy day speech to Nigerians.
Arise o compatriots.!!!
Forward ever backward never !!!
Comrade Gbenga Olowoyo, fcia fipma JP, a Trade Unionist and industrial relations practitioner gbengaolowoyo3@gmail.com
08033570338