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I am an open source
software advocate. I was therefore very interested to learn that
Professor Attahiru Jega’s Direct Data Capture (DDC) machine – a fancy
name for a basic tools collection – is an open source database
programme, which runs on an Ubuntu Linux system configured on quite
ordinary PC hardware.

The System
Architect of INEC’s OpenVR, Nyimbi Odero, is a Kenyan who has lived and
worked in Nigeria for many years; all the other members of his
volunteer project team appear to be Nigerians. I know all this because
it was easy to find out. I simply asked a member of the registration
team to click on the About menu item on the registration screen to
enable me read its contents. Open source software philosophy permits me
to do so.

The database
contains the following fields: Surname, First Name, Other Names, Date
of Birth, an indication of whether the birth date given is approximate,
Gender, Address, Occupation, Phone Number, and national ID.
Additionally, a fingerprint reader used to capture prints from all ten
fingers, the results embedded into the database for each individual
record, as is a small-sized snapshot taken from the camera attached to
the PC.

I did not see that
the DDC setup contained any active network components, that is to say
what was recorded was not being transmitted to a central machine in a
remote location, nor did I see that it was equipped with a GPS device
to track the machine’s changes in physical location, or to record the
location of registration of each voter.

The first thing to
determine, when conducting a registration is the eligibility of the
intended registrant. I hadn’t heard or read that the Electoral
Commission had asked anyone to come to the registration centres with
proof of age.

It’s usually clear
to see whether a person is an adult or under aged, but it is not as
easy to tell that a woman is Kenyan and not Nigerian. I saw that
Professor Jega had taken care of the adult test; he will ask and trust
he will be supplied with the truth, hence the question about date of
birth.

I was disappointed
to see that Jega had made no attempt at all to ascertain the more
difficult question about nationality, and place of birth. There is the
National ID field in the database record, yes, but it doesn’t count
because a great many Nigerians have not been issued with one, and many
who have do not walk around with knowledge of its number. This failure
to properly determine eligibility opens the door for ineligible persons
to register.

Despite that lapse,
the process was simple and straightforward: A queue position-number
given; fingerprints and photograph taken; questions answered; a
registration slip containing a unique identifier and photo printed;
slip laminated and transformed into a voter’s card. And then,
curiously, card details entered into a very large Manual Voters
Register (MVR) along with the registrant’s thumbprint.

Considering how
simple the DDC hardware and software setup it seems a huge waste of
money that INEC opted to purchase laptops whereas the same results can
be achieved using much cheaper netbooks. The laptop in use was a Zinox,
made in Nigeria version, definitely brand new.

Above all I was on
the lookout for any clues that would indicate that a secure and trusted
electoral system has been put in place; one in which it is possible, in
the event of a dispute about election results, to verify them again and
again.

In the context of
our recent history, a trusted system should make the bizarre so-called
re-run elections unnecessary. The About screen contained the
reassuring, if sexist, slogan “One Man One Vote and One Vote Only” but
there was not much else to suggest that such a system is now in place.
The very useful Linux machines, which can aid such a process, appear
thus far to be seriously under-utilised.

I have wondered
given that the machines are not networked, what the fingerprint capture
aims to achieve. Perhaps fingerprint verification will be a preliminary
part of the voting process; that would be a good thing. It could also
be that the captured data will be consolidated post-registration so as
to detect multiple registrants, but considering that scores of
thousands of DDCs are involved, that is a less than optimal approach
likely to prove tricky.

The MVR also
suggests a disturbing lack of confidence in the technology. And as with
the last census where teams were sent out to gather data, I have also
wondered whether safeguards were put in place to ensure that all of the
captured data made it back to the Commission’s offices, and that
unauthorised copies were not made.

I do realise that
Jega has worked very hard and is under some serious time constraints.
Nonetheless, there is one thing I can urge him not to overlook. It’s
been reported that the voters register is to be posted on the
Commission’s website for verification. That will be helpful provided
that the information is only accessible via a query to the consolidated
database. To verify, one should simply enter his voter ID and the
system shall return his name and place of registration.

But INEC should be wary of placing such large-scale sensitive
information in the hands of our domestic criminals notorious for online
fraud, and unknown foreign enemies.

When you drive
around in your tinted air-conditioned car, I admonish you, my gentle
reader, to cast a quick glance at the young man with vacant eyes
wandering aimlessly under the baking heat. Try to imagine how you would
feel if you were in his shoes; how you spent seven years rather than
the expected four to earn a degree in Mass Communication due to strikes
by university teachers and the callous indifference of the authorities;
how you survived dangerous cults on campus; how Jihadists slaughtered
some of your colleagues in Jos during your NYSC year and how you
managed to escape only by the skin of your teeth.

This is the third
year since you completed national service. Some of the feared cultists
you used to know on campus have swaggered into posh, well-paying jobs
because their parents are Who-is-Who. You once contemplated armed
robbery, but then quickly asked the Lord to forgive you for even the
thought. Your baby sister has left college because your aged parents
could no longer afford to pay her fees. She is contemplating crossing
the Sahara into Italy as have nearly half the beautiful women of our
ancient Bini Kingdom. You are at your wit’s end — humiliated, bitter
and angry.

Unemployment is,
admittedly, a world-wide problem. A few weeks ago thousands of young
Spanish people marched through the streets of Madrid protesting the
lack of jobs. The spectre of youth unemployment continues to haunt
Europe, North America and the OECD countries. Indeed, youth
unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries was a
major factor in the recent upheavals in Tunisia and Egypt that saw the
overthrow of corrupt tyrants. The root of the problem lies in the
global financial meltdown, dwindling growth, changing technologies and
competitive pressures from China and India. There is also the
inescapable fact of governmental incompetence.

We have to start
from the premise that access to decent and productive employment is a
fundamental human right. The duty of government is to create a sound
macroeconomic and institutional environment that ensures rapid
job-creation for the teeming millions of youths.

Economic science
makes it clear that growth is a necessary condition to ensuring
job-creation. But it is not a sufficient condition. Last year the World
Bank released its report on Growth and Employment in Nigeria that
showed that our economy was largely characterised by the phenomenon of
“jobless growth”. This is simply to say that some of the key sectors
accounting for quantitative growth in output – telecoms, energy and
banking – are capital-intensive rather than labour-intensive sectors.
Which is to say that their capacity to generate jobs is rather weak.

What we need is a
comprehensive employment policy with a clear roadmap and a rigorous
implementation strategy. The welfare of nations does not occur by
accident. It is the outcome of leadership and public policy. In 1945,
for example, when Clement Atlee and the Labour Party came to power,
they set out a clear strategy to achieve full employment and provide
universal access of all citizens to health, shelter and education.

Key to transforming
the economy and ensuring jobs is a development strategy based on
agriculture-led industrialisation. From Post-war Japan to South Korea,
Thailand and India, it is clear that an agrarian transformation is the
sine qua non to long-term sustainable development. Some 70% of our
people are engaged in rural agriculture, much of it of the smallholder
variety. The Green Revolution in Asia was anchored on boosting
productivity of the small farmer as the key to agrarian transformation.

Over the coming
years, the global demand for food will rise astronomically. We in
Nigeria still have abundant farmlands. We need to develop the farm
sector through deployment of appropriate technologies. Linked to this
is the creation of agro-allied industries that would enhance the value
chain of our products for domestic and foreign markets.

Linked to this is
the need to focus on SMEs and integration of the informal sector into
the mainstream of the modern economy. We need a set of incentives that
encourage entrepreneurship as an option to our youths. Critical support
by government will be needed in terms of access to credit, critical
about markets, training and skills development.

Ultimately, we have
to reform the education sector based on the principle of literacy and
education as a fundamental human right. Cuba was able to achieve 99%
literacy within the space of a decade. We can do the same. We have to
reform the school system while ensuring that our young people have
respect for the dignity of labour and the use of their own hands.

Science, technology
and engineering must be given pride of place in the curriculum. We can
also borrow a leaf from the German apprentice system that requires all
technical students to spend time in industry as part of the learning
process. This country needs at least 100 technical and vocational
training schools that will train builders, electricians and plumbers
who can become productively self-employed.

Next to power and infrastructure, job-creation is the most critical challenge we face.

Last week, two
buses belonging to the fleet owned by the Lagos Metropolitan Area
Authority (LAMATA) were set ablaze by irate motorcyclists in Ketu, Lagos
State. A commercial motorcyclist who was being chased by officers of
the Lagos State Transport Authority (LASTMA), the agency empowered by
the government to control the chaotic traffic in the city, was said to
have been killed by one of the buses.

According to an
account of the incident that led to the motorcyclist’s death, he was
flouting the traffic rule that banned motorcyclists from riding on the
highway and on sighting the LASTMA officials coming to arrest him he ran
and was pursued. While trying to outrace the LASTMA officials he
crossed into the dedicated track meant for the buses and was crushed to
death. Later reports suggested he had not died and was only injured,
treated and discharged from the hospital.

But the mob and a
colony of motorcyclists had drawn their own conclusions and descended on
the offending bus and another one that was oncoming, and set them on
fire.

In his reaction
Lagos State, governor Babatunde Fashola called for caution on the part
of motorcyclists and warned against mob action. He said,“ the burning of
two LAGBUSES…. means that those who participated in it have just also
contributed in burning the assets that we acquired with their money.
This is taxpayers’ money. It doesn’t belong to Mr Fashola. It is
collective asset for our own benefit. So if we buy those buses with your
money and my money, and somebody decides to set it ablaze, has it
really contributed to our development?’’

We share Mr.
Fashola’s concern and vehemently condemn the act of brigandage that the
torching of these buses amounted to. It is folly of the mob to have
thought destroying government property is atonement for anything, but of
course mob action has little to do with thinking. For the most part it
is a reflex action borne of anger, frustration, the thirst for revenge,
and the absence of any other recourse. It is unfortunate that this is
happening at all levels in our society.

The law
enforcement agencies were late to arrive on the scene to prevent the
torching of the buses. The fact that the fire could not be put out by
the fire brigade until it consumed both vehicles also testifies to the
fact that our response to emergencies is zero. The incident occurred on a
highway, it was absolutely dangerous for LASTMA officials to have
embarked on a chase of a motorcycle rider on a highway for a traffic
offence. Why mount a chase when a simple recording of the motorcyclists’
plate number could have saved everyone the agony of a loss of life and
the two buses torched?

An examination of
what transpired can lead to a number of conclusions, the most striking
being the parallels between the behaviour of the officials and the
behaviour of the mob.

It is a common
sight to see law officers wrestling with motorists, cyclists and others
on the highway. This is unacceptable. An offender should be booked and
asked to report at a police station and not be rough handled or
brutalised by security officials.

Last year, the
Lagos State Government issued a directive that banned all motorcyclists
from plying some routes and highways, a move that had at its heart
concern for maintaining the efficiency of our highways and protecting
the safety of all citizens on it. The question that must be asked is
how effectively this ban was enforced and chasing motorcyclists on a
busy highway does seem a rather counterproductive way of doing so.

We could just easily conclude that the Lagos State government and, by
extension, other levels of governments, caused this unfortunate
incident. If the state government had insisted on its ban on
motorcyclists from the highway or trained its traffic rules enforcers on
more practical ways of enforcement, this may not have happened.
Perhaps this is the time for the state government to really look at this
law and institute better ways of enforcing it. Allowing motorcycle
riders to ply all roads and highways is a recipe for chaos and disaster
but indulging in high speed chases on busy highways is not an
alternative. This must be stopped or we may continue to witness more
clashes between the riders and other road users.

Change must also be
subject to change. If one calls a spade a spade, one has merely seen and
described things as they are, but if one calls a spade a spoon, one has
an eye on how the technology of progress is discursively created. For
the Nigerian politician trying to escape from the allegation of being
bereft of ideas, the reinvention of a spade into a spoon is an ideology
for feeding a nation’s famished democracy. Democracy, as an occasion to
think freedom, should make it possible for us to talk nonsense, think
nonsense, do nonsense, and get a deafening applause.

In this republic,
campaigns should be about fanning emotions, not about crafting and
performing logical argumentation. Election candidates who hope to fail
at the polls spend all their time on the campaign teaching the
electorate how to think. Isn’t that an insult? Nigerian voters know the
difference between thinking and doing. And where else could this “doing”
be found than in the mobilisation of cash flow and other social
friendship practices? You do not bring your campaign boat to my
constituency empty! Where have all the Ghana Must Go bags gone?

The roads that lead
to re-election are littered with the bodies of those who think that we
should always call a spade a spade. Isn’t an election a business
investment? You put in your money and expect results, first that the
money gets the votes, and then that the votes fetch you government as a
business enterprise. The person in power also ought to be the person in
the money. Government, as your business investment, should bring in
dividends, not just to cover the cost of contesting an election but also
to ensure that you are the richest man in Babylon. Moreover, this
“business” of government ought to provide you, the investor, with an
insurance of the power to determine who comes into the business and who
goes. Isn’t that the meaning of what they call “the dividends of
democracy”?

I advise elected
politicians in Nigeria not to bother to initiate and execute new
projects at the federal, state, and local government levels. Not much
comes from new projects anyway. It is in the province of repair and
maintenance that true governance happens. Better still, such repairs are
more meaningful when elections are around the corner and the government
must be seen to be doing things without doing things. At a quarter to
election o’clock, wise guys in government wake up and remember that
things they have failed to do are more urgent than things they have
done.

Who but an
unpatriotic element would not support the re-election of someone who has
brought out all the tractors he can find and has recruited all
experienced and inexperienced road-makers to keep the roads alive? Those
who have eyes let them see that government has started happening and
should be allowed to continue to happen. Only an unwise electorate would
not allow a “working” government to stay in power to complete the good
work it has just started doing.

Why would all those
academically minded political candidates in Nigeria win elections when
they think that mere argumentation is all it takes to enlist support
from ordinary Nigerian voters? They can keep their logic and good
English in the classrooms; such are not for the masses of Nigerians who
are looking for politicians that have Mmuo Mweputa, the Spirit of
Bringing and Bringing. Things go better in African politics when those
with Mmuo Nnaputa, the Spirit of Rescuing and Rescuing from some hands,
are paired up with those who possess Mmuo Mweputa, the Spirit of
Bringing and Bringing.

Donate ten thousand
motorcycles and branded crash helmets to a particular group of people
with the Spirit of Rescuing and Rescuing, especially when okada the
Spirit of Commercial Motorcycling is gaining ground among the young and
the old as an easier means of surviving in a republic of hunger. Give
and it shall be given unto you, a good measure of deceit pressed down,
running over reality, inflating the votes in the ballot boxes. Deceit is
better when it is mutual and reciprocal. As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be, nascent democracy without end, amen!

Why shouldn’t the
spirit of rescuing gifts from the hands of some politician who has the
spirit of giving be seen as a patriotic duty and not just a personal
employment?

Stolen apples are not the only things that are sweetest. Stolen victories are, too.

Let the real Muyiwa
Adekeye, political consultant and protégé of Nuhu Ribadu, the
presidential candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria, shake off the
paraphernalia of his pretence and stand where he truly belongs.

Why would a loyalist
of the party’s presidential candidate turn fifth columnist in
desperation to rescue the political fortunes of his mentor? The source
of Adekeye’s grouse in his article, Dynasty topples Democracy (Olumuyiwa
Adekeye NEXT 4 February 2011) was the talks initiated with the Congress
of People for Change by the Action Congress of Nigeria.

It needs little
elucidation that the primary business of a party is to win power and
retain it. Action Congress of Nigeria has, since inception, fought to
operate beyond a particular regional enclave, learning from the problems
of precursors such as the Alliance for Democracy. One of the
responsibilities of a party is to strategise for power by utilising the
weaknesses of its competitors and leveraging on its own strength.

There is no doubt
that Bola Tinubu is a key strategist of the movement to remove the
Peoples Democratic Party from power. The decision of the PDP to abandon
its zoning system is an obvious weakness that a party such as the ACN
chose to maximize. And it is only within that strategic imperative that a
Ribadu became relevant.

It is necessary to
remind Adekeye that Ribadu did not play any role in building our party
from scratch since 2006. He did not help us to prosecute the costly
court cases or mobilise for the re-runs that enabled us to increase our
national strength. Yet when he expressed his ambition to run on the
ticket of our party, it was the same Tinubu that you Adekeye now
demonise who pleaded his case and canvassed support for him before the
leadership of the party. And Tinubu supported Ribadu despite the fact
that the party’s founding national secretary and one of those who
struggled to build the party, Usman Bugaje, also ran.

If, therefore, there
was an opportunity for the party to increase its chances of winning by
exploring an alliance with a party that was gathering forces at a rapid
rate in the Northern states, the party should consider it a tactical
necessity to engage in talks.

The party was not set up to massage the ego of an individual.

Adekeye’s portrayal
of the ACN/CPC talks as a forum designed to expend the presidential
ticket of his mentor demonstrates his love for his friend but a lack of
understanding of the challenges of acquiring power. To characterise
alliance talks as cardinal sin because your personal interest might be
affected is the higher grade of selfishness than what Adekeye
postulates.

Adekeye’s reference
to our leaders as potentates indicates the little regard he has for
experience and expertise on the field. And I hope Ribadu does not share
his infantile outbursts because I wonder who will mobilise votes for him
across the country?

A party, like any
sustainable organisation, develops its oligarchies over time. You don’t
need to be a political scientist to understand the simple fact. Studies
of party systems across the world confirm the roles played by the
local politicians. If in doubt, read David Ploutffe’s Audacity To Win, a
book on how Barrak Obama got to the White House.

Critics of the
primaries of the Action Congress misunderstand the foundations of party
politics. While internal democracy is a factor, a party’s most important
asset is the manifesto that expresses its ideology. Those who join
claim to profess that ideology and must accept the supremacy of the
party. The difference between Bafarawa and Ribadu is that Ribadu’s
antecedent ties in with the party’s ideology more.

It is also
misogynistic blackmail to state that Tinubu wants his relatives in
power. For one relative in power, there are hundreds in power, including
local government chairmen, state and federal lawmakers and governors
who have no iota of blood relationship with him. And that includes our
incoming president and your mentor, Ribadu and this writer.

One of the
consequences of Adekeye’s write-up is the damage it will inflict on the
needed trust between the echelons of the party and our presidential
candidate. The mere suggestion that this kind of opinion finds
currency in the corridors of Ribadu’s office, at a time leaders of the
party are mobilising resources to actualise his presidential dream, is
ominous and demoralising.

As one of those who
believe in the possibility of Ribadu’s emergence as the next president
of Nigeria, it is my advice that the expulsion of Adekeye from his
strategy team is a categorical imperative of our presidential
engagement.

Bamigbetan, chairman of Ejigbo local council in Lagos, is former spokesman for Tinubu

The Egyptian
people have spoken, and we have spoken emphatically. In two weeks of
peaceful demonstrations we have persistently demanded liberation and
democracy. It was groups of brave, sincere Egyptians who initiated this
moment of historical opportunity on January 25, and the Muslim
Brotherhood is committed to joining the national effort toward reform
and progress.

In more than eight
decades of activism, the Muslim Brotherhood has consistently promoted
an agenda of gradual reform. Our principles, clearly stated since the
inception of the movement in 1928, affirm an unequivocal position
against violence. For the past 30 years we have posed, peacefully, the
greatest challenge to the ruling National Democratic Party of Hosni
Mubarak, while advocating for the disenfranchised classes in resistance
to an oppressive regime.

We have repeatedly
tried to engage with the political system, yet these efforts have been
largely rejected based on the assertion that the Muslim Brotherhood is a
banned organisation, and has been since 1954. It is seldom mentioned,
however, that the Egyptian Administrative Court in June 1992 stated that
there was no legal basis for the group’s dissolution.

In the wake of the
people’s revolt, we have accepted invitations to participate in talks
on a peaceful transition. Along with other representatives of the
opposition, we recently took part in exploratory meetings with Vice
President Omar Suleiman. In these talks, we made clear that we will not
compromise or co-opt the public’s agenda. We come with no special agenda
of our own – our agenda is that of the Egyptian people, which has been
asserted since the beginning of this uprising.

We aim to achieve
reform and rights for all: not just for the Muslim Brotherhood, not just
for Muslims, but for all Egyptians. We do not intend to take a dominant
role in the forthcoming political transition. We are not putting
forward a candidate for the presidential elections scheduled for
September.

While we express
our openness to dialogue, we also re-assert the public’s demands, which
must be met before any serious negotiations leading to a new government.

As our nation
heads toward liberty, however, we disagree with the claims that the only
options in Egypt are a purely secular, liberal democracy or an
authoritarian theocracy. Secular liberal democracy of the American and
European variety, with its firm rejection of religion in public life, is
not the exclusive model for a legitimate democracy.

In Egypt, religion
continues to be an important part of our culture and heritage. Moving
forward, we envision the establishment of a democratic, civil state that
draws on universal measures of freedom and justice, which are central
Islamic values. We embrace democracy not as a foreign concept that must
be reconciled with tradition, but as a set of principles and objectives
that are inherently compatible with and reinforce Islamic tenets.

The tyranny of
autocratic rule must give way to immediate reform: the demonstration of a
serious commitment to change, the granting of freedoms to all and the
transition toward democracy. The Muslim Brotherhood stands firmly behind
the demands of the Egyptian people as a whole.

Steady, gradual
reform must begin now, and it must begin on the terms that have been
called for by millions of Egyptians over the past weeks. Change does not
happen overnight, but the call for change did – and it will lead us to a
new beginning rooted in justice and progress.

Essam El-Errian is a member of the guidance council of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

© 2011 The New York Times

The music filled the bus and the driver tapped his chubby fingers to the rhythm.

“Pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop something/Pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop something/We dey pop champagne, pop champagne…”

He cradled the
steering wheel to his huge belly, his fat cheeks eternally seeming on
the verge of breaking into a smile. You could see how hard he had tried
to groom himself; the long nails chipped in parts; the dark oily hair
cut in the style called Gallas, tribute to the former Arsenal player
who made it so famous.

He seemed a bit too
old for relaxers and shady hairstyles, but the twinkle in his eye said
that perhaps he knew that, but so what? His check-shirt hugged his gut
so tight the buttons appeared ready to pop at the next big meal of
amala and ewedu washed down with the inevitable Gulder. Oh, yes, he
looked like a man who enjoyed his food with some brew.

But he was not a
big talker, preferring to limit his vocal efforts to singing the chorus
of the Dr. Sid/D’Banj song. When an angry driver overtook our bus,
hurling insults at him for no apparent reason, he didn’t even shout
back. He gazed placidly at the fellow through his window, and placing
an index finger to the side of his head, he turned it sharply, like a
screw. At Ogudu, he stopped to pick up an odd couple; a smallish fellow
in the garish colours of the LASTMA uniform and a much taller man. It
was soon clear that he knew them both. On spying the shorter guy, he
began to protest after they entered: “Oh no, no!”, shaking his head
like one who had committed an irredeemable blunder.

“Egbon,” he said,
addressing the tall chap and pointedly ignoring the uniformed fellow,
“I seriously thought you were alone. Seriously. I don’t usually carry
these wicked people.”

Goliath chuckled.

“Because of me,” he said, settling down, “Carry am today, I beg.”

The LASTMA official
pursed his lips, predicting dire consequences for errant drivers who
didn’t know how to show respect for authority. The driver made a face
and laughed. Suddenly, a bike man cut into our lane from the blind side
and went speeding past without a care.

“The people who drive okada are crazy,” he said quietly, “Every single one of them.”

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you an oxymoron: a danfo driver with no stress.

Sitting beside him
up front, I again wondered what it was about fat men that makes you
feel comfortable in their company. They seemed more able to absorb
life’s pressures, to hide their neuroses under all those layers of
flesh. I remembered Caesar saying to Anthony: “Let me have men about me
that are fat; sleek-headed men and such as sleep o’ nights,” and I
thought, the Roman general would have loved this bus driver.

I got down at Ojota
feeling quite mellow, as if I had indeed popped some champagne, and I
began to see Lagosians differently. At the criminally built steps of
the overhead bridge at Ojota, an elderly lady with a tall load
stumbled, and a dashing young woman in an Afro and elegant shoes
stepped forward: “Mama, let me help you with the load,” she said. The
elderly woman refused, but the smile on her wrinkled face was priceless.

At the other end of the bridge, I ran into a schoolboy helping a blind man negotiate the bustle, and they were both laughing.

“Can they not see too?” asked the blind man every time someone
brushed past him. And their laughter would resume. I looked around me.
Everyone seemed to be in a good mood, all the Lagos madness gone. It
looked like my danfo driver’s attitude was catching. Yeah, pop the
champagne jare. Eko o ni baje.