By Alabi Williams 25 November 2024 | 4:25 am
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ) does not suffer fools gladly and never shies from a good public fight. Since he left office as military head of state in 1979, his many interventions often provoke a pall of ominous dust. He is passionate and deliberate about the subjects he picks, which he delivers in contentious speeches, letters and memoirs. His well-rounded knowledge of the governance challenges of Nigeria is not in doubt, having been witness to and participant at the most crucial intervals of the nation’s history.
0:45
/
5:57
But there are those who query his proprietorial audacity and swashbuckling manner, when they compare notes of his era and now.They tend to dismiss the man as a spoiler. Yet, the messages Obasanjo drops are largely prophetic. They tend to constitute a risk for those who ignored them.
Subscribe To The Best Team In Conservative, Business, Technology, Lifestyle And Digital News Realtime! support@ddnewsonline.com
But this prophet has a little honour at home, just as the Word of God said.The man is disrespected a lot more in his Southwest base, yet he is celebrated across geo-political jurisdictions here and globally.
According to reports, his latest offering delivered at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum, in Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States, wherein he advised the Tinubu government to mend its ways, was just a 25 minutes video recording, delivered from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he had another engagement.
That means the man could engage across continents and deliver like an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (IBM), without missing his target. Reactions to the Yale outing here at home have been massive. The government got the message, at least, going by usually feverish and off-target attacks on the messenger. When the Presidency gets sober to take another look at that paper, even they will agree that the man didn’t lie. He spoke truth to power.
The crux of the matter: Obasanjo’s paper delivered at the Yale forum was titled: “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria.” This subject has been spoken about severally by many commentators. Prof. Pat Utomi had done a groundwork on this, drawing from global experiences. So, this is not a new subject per se; but when Obasanjo speaks, he does it with panache. Even the deaf will hear.
Subscribe To The Best Team In Conservative, Business, Technology, Lifestyle And Digital News Realtime! support@ddnewsonline.com
In a season when hunger, fear and tribe have caused many to be economical with the truth, Obasanjo lamented thus: “Nigeria’s situation, as we can see and understand, is bad. The more the immorality and corruption of a nation, the more the nation sinks into chaos, insecurity, conflict, discord, division, disunity, depression, youth restiveness, confusion, violence and underdevelopment.
“That’s the situation mostly in Nigeria in the reign of Baba-go-slow and Emilokan. The failing state status of Nigeria is confirmed and glaringly indicated and manifested for every honest person to see through the consequences of the level of our pervasive corruption, mediocrity, immorality, misconduct, mismanagement, perversion, injustice, incompetence and all other forms of iniquity. But yes, there is hope.”
Those are not the types of statements this Presidency absorbs without a fight. OBJ’s warnings and assessments are harsh but different data out there confirm the nation is on a downward spiral. The difference perhaps, could be for the messenger to speak at home in hushed tone. Or, maybe write a letter to a limited audience. But there’s really nothing new under the sun, especially in today’s global village.
In terms of the economy, matters are going from bad to worse. All the policies and measures thrown in to rescue the freefall have not worked since the Tinubu administration came on board. Inflation has refused to abate despite efforts touted by the Central Bank of Nigeria, much unlike the deliberate cost-cutting efforts in countries that inherited similar inflationary template, for instance Argentina. It is generally observed, even as Obasanjo noted, that policies are not working because of pervasive corruption.
Subscribe To The Best Team In Conservative, Business, Technology, Lifestyle And Digital News Realtime! support@ddnewsonline.com
The International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) reported in July 2024 that “thousands of dollars” are laundered out of Nigeria hourly. Vice president of Interpol (Africa) said that “evidence has shown that every hour, hundreds of thousands of dollars are flowing out of Nigeria to the region (Africa) and across the world, laundered before it reaches the pocket of criminals to enjoy the profits of their crimes while hardworking and honest Nigerians pay the price of crime.”
Only pervasive corruption could operate this way. It is pervasive because it is politically entrenched. The sums the Interpol is talking about are mostly from vaults operated by politically-exposed persons and their cronies and cartels in oil and gas. The value of the naira keeps falling because organised criminals in the public space mop up forex with the excess cash they extort in taxes and levies.
The CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso, had confirmed this. Former President Obasanjo surely has the knowledge to describe it as pervasive corruption. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission (ICPC) were established during his administration. He is connected to a lot of intelligence on corruption, locally and internationally.
On state capture, the former President said this “is not always overt and obvious. It can also arise from the more subtle close alignment of interests between specific business and political elites through family ties, friendships and intertwined ownership of economic assets.”
Subscribe To The Best Team In Conservative, Business, Technology, Lifestyle And Digital News Realtime! support@ddnewsonline.com
It begins with the fraudulent procedure of assets declaration administered by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) for public officers. Public officers are required to declare their assets before they assume responsibilities in the government. When they’re done after maybe four years, they are required to also update the Bureau with their assets to enable citizens know whether they stole state resources in the course of their service. Most times, both CCB and citizens lose track of this crucial assignment because of the deliberate opaqueness in the system. The CBB has become one lousy bureaucracy that is not alive to its duties.
The Constitution (1999), at the Fifth Schedules says, “a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities.” The implication of this is that a president or governor shall not take advantage of his office to meddle in profit-sharing arrangements with family and proxies. For instance, a president who is in charge of the Petroleum Ministry exposes himself to temptation. Today’s oil and gas business is far from being transparent and Obasanjo should know because he also managed oil and gas when he served as president.
On insecurity, when OBJ was president, between 1999 and 2007, the country was safer than it is today. At that time, there was no Boko Haram and the isolated skirmish in the Plateau that showed signs of tribal and religious intolerance was roundly contained. Niger Delta was restive but his militaristic solution didn’t help matters; yet, he contained it. There’s little to compare between then and now. Nigeria is largely unsafe now despite promises by Baba-go-slow Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to decimate insurgency.
Insurgency under President Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan was limited to the Northeast. Today, terrorism and banditry have blossomed, spread across ungoverned spaces in the Northwest and Northcentral. For a leader of Gen. Obasanjo’s status and experience, the deterioration of insecurity is a threat to Nigeria’s survival. He is qualified to talk about it.
Subscribe To The Best Team In Conservative, Business, Technology, Lifestyle And Digital News Realtime! support@ddnewsonline.com
Last week, Nigeria was rated ‘vulnerable’ in a 2024 Africa Country Instability Risk Index analysis by SBM Intelligence. It says the country has become less stable politically, socially and economically in the last one year. Of the 48 Sub-Saharan countries spotlighted in a grouping delineated by the African Development Bank (AfDB), Nigeria ranked 45th. That’s frightening, a situation OBJ alluded to in the failing state status of the country. The implication is that government should get deliberate to climb out of the level of vulnerability.
OBJ managed the economy when Nigeria’s debt burden of $36 billion became an embarrassment, until the government negotiated a debt relief deal with the Paris Club, which wrote off $18 billion while Nigeria paid $12.4 billion, with a commitment to implement economic and anti-corruption reforms. Today’s borrowing binge is troubling, certainly for the former president. As at the end of June 2024, Nigeria’s external debt was put around $42.9 billion, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO).
Governance gets deplorable when public institutions such as the legislature and judiciary abdicate their constitutional responsibilities to become appendages of the executive arm. A legislature that hurries to approve borrowing $2.2 billion without critical debate is truly captured. This money is to fund the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation, at the time the 2025 budget of N47.9 trillion is on the table. Citizens are worried over the confused state of the economy. The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has warned of imminent debt sustainability issue as this government takes more loans.
The LCCI noted that, “with an estimated debt-to-GDP ratio of above 50 per cent, our debt servicing expenses set to swallow our capital expenditure, and Nigeria owing about $17 billion and the 3rd highest debtor to the International Development Agency (IDA), the LCCI is taking the responsibility to once again warn about imminent debt sustainability issues and how that may further weaken the state of critical infrastructure in the country.”
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed last week that almost two out of three Nigerian households are going hungry, with families skipping meals as they cannot afford enough food to eat. The number of households that reported not having enough food to eat because of lack of money doubled to 62.4 per cent in 2023. Food inflation for October 2024 is39.16 per cent.
Subscribe To The Best Team In Conservative, Business, Technology, Lifestyle And Digital News Realtime! support@ddnewsonline.com
In a survey report last week, the NBS said Nigerian households experience 6.4 times a week. That includes manufacturers. The chaos, insecurity, conflict, discord, division, disunity, depression, youth restiveness, confusion, violence and underdevelopment that OBJ lamented in his Yale paper have been around 10 years ago. Maybe he has just put the world on notice. The sensible thing for this government to do is not to waste energies picking quarrels with him. Get down to work!
Note: This article was first published by The Guardian Newspaper.
Opinions expressed by Columnists/Contributors is theirs and do NOT necessarily reflect the views of DDNewsonline.com