Nigeria Content Online

Have you heard the one about the cheating husband whose wife catches him in flagrante delicto. The impu-dent adulterer denies everything and tries the ‘it-wasn’t-me’ defence: “Now who’re you gonna believe baby? Me? Or your lyin’ eyes?” A senior colleague had his strategy for dealing with armed robbers all prepared. Like poten-tial crime victims all over the world, he would calmly offer the robbers his watch, his wallet, car keys etc. and generally cooperate with the criminals. When it actually happened however, his instinctive reaction to the sudden attack was not part of his plan. It earned him a beat-ing and weeks on crutches.

Although he was defending himself against an unlawful attack, going along with the thugs would have been the ‘sensible’ response.But it doesn’t mean that it would have been ‘right’. It was, after all, the robbers who were doing the robbing. And when the highway rob-ber crept out of the bush and grabbed him, he … resisted.It was with these thoughts that one listened to Israeli officials trying to justify killing – on their own ship and on the high seas – nine civil-ians who were trying to relieve the trauma of Gaza, victim of an illegal blockade by the Israeli occupying power.The blockade has little to do with Israel’s all-important security, and everything to do with punishing ordinary people in Gaza: hence banned or blockaded items include musical instruments, A4 paper, chocolate, biscuits, toys and goats as well as cement and building materials that might allow essential recon-struction 18 months after the strip was pulverised by Israeli bombs.The Israeli govern-ment is trying to stand the disproportionate use of force complaint – of which it has itself been repeatedly accused – on its head.

So it is Israel that now complains that it was the activists who used dis-proportionate force. That is, instead of simply going along with the demands of the armed soldiers who forcefully occupied their boat, they … resisted.Here we have – writ small – the essence of the Israeli-Palestinian problem: people who found the homes in which they live attacked and occupied. And who … resisted.Israel has justified its own refusal to acknowledge Hamas or recognise its 2006 election victory because it maintains, “anyone who persists with the question of Israel’s right to exist is one whose agenda is to eliminate Israel and its Jewish inhabitants”. In the wake of the flotilla attack, its officials have been desperately repeating the words ‘Hamas’, ‘terrorists’, ‘existential threat’, ‘wipe out the State of Israel’, ‘attacked’, ‘right to exist’, ‘martyrs’ and ‘jihadis’ etc., in the hope that the old subliminal message (Hamas=Nazis+Final Solution/genocide) can still be transmitted.But the “Hamas doesn’t recognise Israel/wants to wipe it off the map and therefore plans to murder every Israeli” is an Israeli interpre-tation, not the world’s. There is no rational basis for equating the disappearance of a state with genocide.For sure, there is a history of violence between Israel and various Palestinian groups, but the death count between them – with so many more Palestinian deaths than Israeli – makes it inadvisable for Israel to insist that killings are indicative of genocidal intent. Indeed, that Israel’s army shoots at Hamas security forces when they try to arrest mili-tant groups in Gaza who do not accept even the idea of a ceasefire on firing rockets into Israel, speaks volumes about how useful the occasional rocket is to intra-Israeli politics and the presentation of Israel as the eternally threatened victim, surrounded by ‘hostile Arab states’.

Thus Hamas’ refusal to recognise Israel or to renounce violence as a legitimate weapon in the struggle against occupation provided a pretext for the European Union, the Pales-tinian Authority’s biggest donor, to withdraw financial support. Even after Hamas declared its willingness to observe a ceasefire, Israel was able to prevent any relief for Gaza by con-tinuing to insist that failure to recognise its right to exist equals plans for genocide. And as long as its main backers in the West accept that spin, and obfuscate Israel’s own use of violence behind the ‘right to defend itself’ argument, lit-tle need be said about the misery and humili-ation of daily life for Palestinians, not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank.Now however the mask has slipped. It is obvious that attempts are being made to mas-sage the facts: the Israeli army quickly released its own version of selected moments from the raid, but tellingly, confiscated and still holds on to video shot by news organisations and others that might show the moment of actual engage-ment.But the stubborn fact is that civilian ships were subjected to a commando raid in inter-national waters.

At the end of the assault, nine civilians lay dead, with many more injured. The similarity between that attack and the activi-ties of pirates on the high seas is undeniable.And despite Israel’s increasingly shrill rep-etition of ‘jihadis’, ‘violent supporters of ter-rorism’, ‘anti-Semitic’, ‘iron bars’, ‘knives’ and above all ‘Israel has the right to defend itself’, it seems that this time, we are going to have to believe our own lyin’ eyes.

Friends and comrades of Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem were at the Yar’Adua Centre on 25th May to celebrate the life and work of this great African. He had made it easy by dying on AFRICA LIBERATION DAY, May 25th 2009 in a motor accident in Nairobi, Kenya. He was enroute to Kigali, Rwanda where he was to drum up support for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He lived and died for Africa.

I was on election observation duties in Malawi when he died last year. The testimo-ny of his Africanness emerged the moment I announced his death at our review meeting in Blantyre. The Kenyan observer thought he was Kenyan and the Ugandan observer thought he was Ugandan, which he was because when he was in exile and Abacha had refused to renew his Nigerian passport, Musoveni had given him Ugandan nationality so that he could move around and organise the 7th Pan African Con-gress.Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem was born on Janu-ary 6, 1961 in Funtua, Katsina State and saw no contradiction in being an indigene of both Funtua in Katsina State and Ogbomosho.

Taju studied at Bayero University Kano where he graduated with a first class honours degree in Political Science. He then bagged the pres-tigious Rhodes Fellowship and proceeded to Oxford University where he graduated with a D.Phil.At the Yar’Adua Centre celebration, Labaran Maku, Minister of State for Information and Communication and co-chair of the event captured the mood of the moment by recalling the greatness of the African past bequeathed to the world in the magnificent pyramids and the tragedy of continuous bondage from the times of the Romans to the contemporary infiltration and takeover of the continent by the Chinese. The greatest Africans he declared are those who engage in the struggle to unite and liber-ate Africans.The other co-chair, Amina az Zubair, Senior Special Adviser to the President on the Millennium Develop-ment Goals who worked with Taju when he was Afri-ca Director of the Millen-nium campaign stressed his commitment to defending the com-mon person and promoting people centered development.

For Muthono Wanyeki, Executive Director of the Ken-yan Human Rights Commission who rep-resented the Kenyan comrades at the event, her emphasis was on why we should all strive to emulate Taju’s dogged, non-judgmental and self-tasking approach to popular struggles.Other speakers at the symposium were Abu-bakar Momoh of Lagos State University who spoke on the philosophy of Pan Africanism, the Director of Political Affairs of ECOW-AS, Musah Abdel-Fatau who focused on the imperative of integration in contemporary Africa, Adele Jinadu who stressed the signifi-cance of Pan Africanism and Tar Ukoh of the Mambisa band fame who both entertained with his orchestra and gave a moving speech on the importance of culture in the struggle for political and economic libera-tion.It was a moving trib-ute to Taju who was appointed General-Sec-retary for the Secretariat organising the 7th Pan African Congress in Kampala, Uganda.

He organised a very successful Congress in 1994 with delegates from 47 countries It turned out to be one of the largest and most vibrant gatherings of Pan Africanists in many years. Though the theme of the Congress was ‘Africa: Facing the Future in Unity, Social Progress and Democracy’; the Congress was overshadowed by the unfolding genocide in Rwanda.In response, Tajudeen accompanied a del-egation from the Pan African Movement to Rwanda, for a first hand assessment of what was going on in the country, but the delegation fell into an ambush near Kigali from which Tajudeen was lucky to escape unhurt. Paul Kagame, the Rwandan President sent a per-sonal message to the symposium regretting his inability to be personally present at the celebration of someone he knew as a personal friend and a comrade in the struggle for the lib-eration of Africa,Beyond the Pan Africa Congress, Tajudeen remained perhaps the most vocal cru-sader for his dream of a ‘United States of Africa’.What will never cease to amaze those of us who knew this great African was how he found time to write? He ran a regular column, Thursday Postcard, syndicated to many newspapers including Daily Trust and Pambazuka.

We remember Taju for his intel-lect, his loud laughter and his infectious ‘irrev-erent’ sense of humour. He was many things to many people, he was a journalist and column-ist, a political scientist, a campaigner and an activist; but perhaps the role for which he will be missed the most, is his support for African institutions especially the civil society.He was the founding chair of the Centre for Democracy and Development where I work, the Director of Justice Africa and the Pan-Afri-can Development Education and Advocacy Programme to name but a few. In recognition of his contributions, the Trust Conglomerate awarded him the post humus award of African of the Year. It is edifying that even in death; Taju still speaks and is recognised for his tre-mendous contributions to the development of the continent. The celebration of his life took place simultaneously in Abuja, London, Nai-robi and Kampala. Taju left behind his widow Mounira and two daughters Aisha and Aida. May his ideas continue to inspire us.

Finally, it seems that the plan to
amend the 1999 Constitution has gone past the point of no return. It is
heartwarming to note that the National Assembly has actually done some
real work – the journey up to this stage has involved both chambers
sweating out the finer details of the review, and carrying out series
of harmonisation sessions to iron out several differences between the
versions they arrived at. Now there is a harmonized draft version,
which the Senate adopted last week. What is left now is for all the 36
State Houses of Assembly to formally ratify the revised constitution.

Nigerians have some reason to rejoice.
Senate President David Mark described the day the Senate approved the
revised draft as “historic”, noting that it was “the first time the
Senate would cross this point in the attempt to alter the 1999
Constitution.

Indeed this is not the first time there
has been an attempt to review the 1999 Constitution. In 2005, during
the Obasanjo administration, there was a short-lived constitution
review move. The failure of this is traceable to Obasanjo’s last-minute
move to introduce a clause that would have allowed him to rule longer
than two terms. So the fact that the process has now got to a point
where there is a single draft version, which has been adopted by the
two chambers of the National Assembly, is nothing but good news.

Some of the revisions in the proposed
constitution are truly groundbreaking. A good example is the move to
free the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Judiciary
and National Assembly from subservience to the executive arm of
government, in terms of funding. Under the current Constitution these
bodies depended on the executive for their running costs, making a huge
joke of their supposed autonomy. Under the proposed draft review
constitution however, their funding is to come directly from the
country’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), making them no longer
directly dependent on the executive.

The ambiguous, loophole-ridden Section
145, which was at the centre of the six-month constitutional crisis
that rocked the country,

recently, has also undergone revision.
The revised constitution compels the President to transmit a written
declaration when “proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to
discharge the functions of his office” and gives him 21 days to do so.
When that 21-day period expires, the revised draft constitution expects
the National Assembly to “by a resolution made by a simple majority of
the vote of each House of the National Assembly mandate the Vice
President to perform the functions of the office of the President, as
Acting President,

until the President transmits a letter
to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of
Representatives, that he is now available to resume his functions as
president.” Sadly, however, the revised constitution leaves the powers
of appointment of the INEC Chairman in the hands of the President. We
consider this a huge shame.

We are now left to hope that the State
houses of Assembly will expedite action on the approval of the draft of
the revised constitution.

Taking into consideration the
unpredictable nature of politicking in Nigeria,and the fact that 36
different legislative bodies are required to assent to the draft
constitution, it is certainly not out of place for anyone to be feel a
sense of concern, or alarm. Only last week, the crucial House of
Representatives vote on the harmonised draft version was aborted by the
shameful near-brawl between the Speaker and a member of the House of
Representatives.

A number of State Houses of Assembly
are in turmoil at the moment, caught up in internal strife. Two weeks
ago the premises of the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly was taken over by
policemen, to avert crisis following the impeachment of the Speaker and
his deputy. The Ogun State House of Assembly has been a theatre of
crisis for months now, with the membership split into at least two
factions. The Ekiti Assembly has in the recent past witnessed a series
of tussles between members belonging to the Action Congress (AC) and
those belonging to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

We call on the various State Houses of
Assembly to see this constitution review process as a matter of urgent
national importance, and to set aside all differences and conflicts so
as to enable speedy ratification.

Once the revised draft scales this
final hurdle, it will automatically start to take effect, and history
would have been made. The dedication that the National Assembly has
shown towards the constitution review process is commendable, and
should be extended to all their other duties and functions.

Nigeria has suffered for too long at the hands of a lethargic,
self-serving legislature. Recently the Deputy Speaker of the House of
Representatives and Chairman of the House Adhoc Committee on the Review
of the Constitution and Usman Bayero Nafada, was quoted as saying,
regarding the constitution review: “We set aside individual, group and
other primordial sentiments to work for our fatherland.” Mr. Nafada
shouldn’t have to tell us that; in the affairs of the Assembly that
kind of attitude should be the rule,not an exception.

The coverage in the
Western media of the recent conviction of two gay Malawians
(subsequently pardoned) for homosexuality was dominated by western
human rights activists’ self-serving — but ultimately self-defeating
— dismissal of African homophobia as “the desperate defence of western
mores in indigenous clothing”.

Writing in the
Independent, the British activist Peter Tatchell, who is heavily
involved in the Malawian test case, made these claims:

“Before the British
came … there were no laws against homosexuality… While many African
leaders decry homosexuality as a “western disease” or a “white man’s
import”, the truth is very different. Prior to colonisation, many
tribal societies and kingdoms had a more relaxed attitude to same-sex
relations than their subsequent colonial occupiers.”

He thus concluded
that “Today, the minds of many . . . Africans remain colonised by the
homophobic beliefs that were drummed into their forebears by the
western missionaries who invaded their lands”.

The works of Marc
Epprecht and Neville Hoad show that homosexuality and homophobia
existed in pre-colonial Africa. Yet, ironically, western activists
persist in challenging the prejudiced claims by some Africans that
homosexuality is “un-African” with the equally prejudiced counterclaim
that homophobia is “un-African”.

The leading
authority for this fallacy, which has been pontificated to the point of
infallibility, is a 66-page report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). It
provides an accurate account of the colonial origins of most of the
statutes that criminalise homosexuality in Africa today.

For example,
Nigeria’s federal sodomy statute – section 214 of the Criminal
Procedure Act – remains identical to the original provision – section
208 – of the 1899 Penal Code of the Australian colony of Queensland.

However, it is a
fallacy for HRW to conclude that “sodomy laws throughout . . .
sub-Saharan Africa have consistently been colonial impositions”, simply
because “no ‘native’ ever participated in their making”.

Rich and varied
systems of indigenous law, which are now collectively called customary
law, existed in pre-colonial Africa. Customary criminal law applied
wherever there was a political entity requiring the enforcement of
certain standards of behaviour and imposing sanctions for their breach.

Although there was
no single body of law that applied throughout the continent, a degree
of basic uniformity of content existed over a wide range of matters,
including the suppression of homosexuality, as was indeed the case
among the rest of mankind.

Customary law was
affected in many parts of Africa by Islam long before European
colonisation. Thus, the British colonialists met different systems,
ranging from relatively simple indigenous systems of social norms based
on the family, the village, or group of villages, to the highly
systematised and sophisticated sharia law of crime.

The fundamental
feature of customary law was that it was unwritten. Although sharia law
was written, it was and still is embodied in disparate rulings of
jurists of the various schools. Therefore, the criminalisation of
homosexuality in pre-colonial Africa was not embodied in comprehensive
codes.

However, a vast
majority of Africans of all faiths and cultures are united today in
their hostility towards homosexuality and this is a reflection of the
similarity of the various systems of customary law to each other and to
the foreign codes on the subject.

Customary law
continues to regulate many areas of people’s lives in Africa today.
Though largely superseded by legislation, it still governs issues such
as family relations. More significantly, customary law on issues such
as homosexuality negates the enforcement of contradictory statutory
law. This happens, for instance, in South Africa, where the legal
recognition of homosexuality has resulted in a backlash against gays
and their perceived assertiveness.

So the fact that
the legislation, which criminalises homosexuality is in apparent breach
of the respective countries’ constitutions, and international treaties,
such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which
guarantee the right to privacy and prohibit discrimination (as held by
the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the courts in South
Africa and India), does not necessarily mean that a change in
legislation will end the persecution of gay people in Africa.

It should also be
noted that some African constitutions guarantee the right to culture
and oblige the courts to apply customary law in certain circumstances.
Similarly, the African Charter provides that “the rights and freedoms
of each individual shall be exercised with due regard to morality and
common interest”, and prescribes that “the promotion and protection of
morals and traditional values recognised by the community shall be the
duty of the state”.

As such, while
current efforts to strike down the sodomy laws through the institution
of test cases are an important step in the right direction, there is a
need for a more informed and culturally aware strategy that goes beyond
litigation and legislation.

Critical in this regard is an understanding of the various brands of Christianity practiced today in Africa.

Perhaps a more
pragmatic way to serve the interests of gay Africans in the short term
is to appeal to the humanity of a sufficient number of their brothers
and sisters. This could reduce homophobia in the continent to a level
similar to the one deemed tolerable in the west, where, as the Sun’s
poll after the David Laws story shows, homophobia remains rife.

Africa cannot
afford to face this problem with yet another imported and, in its own
way, blinkered attitude, which refuses to acknowledge the existence and
influence of homegrown prejudice.

This article was first published in the NewStatesman magazine, London.

IN
1993, Equity Building Society in Kenya was declared technically
insolvent; in 2010 it is a fully fledged bank, listed on the Nairobi
Stock Exchange and claims more than half of Kenya’s banked population
as its customers.

In 2006 alone, its
customer base grew 82,5% and its deposits grow 80% a year. What is the
secret of its success? The innovative and efficient provision of
financial services to low- and middle- income groups at a good price.

While the large
local and international banks were doing what banks generally prefer to
do — courting wealthy elites and multinationals — Equity ditched its
unsuccessful mortgage financing business and focused its efforts on the
“missing middle” of the market.

Another big success
story in Kenya also focuses on that missing middle — the mobile banking
system M-Pesa, which is soon to be launched in South Africa. M- Pesa,
in partnership with mobile operator Safaricom, allows people to move
money without a bank account, using only mobile phones. The product
struck a chord in the market — less than three years after its launch,
it has almost 10-million customers.

Banking low- to
middle-income earners, particularly those outside the cities, has
traditionally been shunned by large African and foreign banks because
it was complex terrain that didn’t seem to have much profit upside.

But, almost under
the radar, there has been a steady shift into this market, with mobile
telephony playing a crucial role in enabling new ways of doing
financial transactions. Even poor people don’t keep their money under
the mattress anymore, which presents a big business opportunity for
banks.

As financial analyst Mark Napier points out, the fact that people are unbanked in Africa doesn’t mean they don’t want to be.

Napier is the
editor of an interesting book launched in SA last week, Real Money, New
Frontiers — a collection of case studies and essays on financial
innovation in Africa, which also looks at why some succeed and some
don’t.

The case studies
focus on the success stories across the continent, of which there are a
surprising number. It also includes some of the more unusual
innovations such as the relationship Barclays Bank in Ghana developed
with susu collectors — informal money traders who collect daily the
profits from small informal businesses and keep them safe for a fee.

Barclays lured the
susu collectors to deposit the money with the bank and it cultivated
them as middlemen to lend money back into the community. Now, more than
700 susu collectors have grown their businesses, traders have more
access to finance, and Barclays grew its new deposits in one year from
2m (2007) to 10,2m.

It has taken time
for South African institutions to get into lower-income finance, mostly
because of concerns about profitability and the complexity of
addressing this segment. Unsuccessful government microfinance
initiatives also dented confidence.

But this market is
now growing rapidly, largely because of mobile phone tie-ups, and South
Africa has a significant place in the book. Case studies include
initiatives by the big banks in conjunction with cellphone operators
and off- the-shelf insurance products.

The commonly held
view that poor people are bad debtors is quickly being debunked. Bad
debt ratios of microfinance banks can be extremely low and, in some
cases in Africa, loan repayments have been 100%.

But many
microfinance schemes fail. This is partly because of the difficulty of
doing business on the continent. According to the World Bank, 27 of the
35 least business-friendly countries in the world are in Africa.

Not only are
African governments not moving quickly enough to improve the business
environment, they are diverted in their quest to address poverty by the
tendency to focus on redistributing wealth, rather than creating it.

There is also an
inordinate focus on the resources and agriculture sectors as being
wealth creators for Africa’s future. This does not recognise that
consumer spending on goods and services has been a consistent and
dependable driver of growth in Africa over the past decade. The
cellphone revolution is one manifestation of that.

If there is one
message that emerges from all of this, it is that the best way of
creating sustainable growth is to do so from the ground up rather than
from the top down.

– Games is CE of Africa @ Work, a business information consultancy

It’s a safe bet that in 1946 in Orlando, Florida, USA, when Earl Silas Tupper developed the product that has now become a synonym for kitchen containers he had no idea it would ever be sporting the slogan, ‘Proudly African’. In Nigeria we generally just stick to the generic short form, as in ‘just pack the fried rice in the plastic’, or in the related, ‘wrap the eba in the lylon’… but I digress.

Despite its Floridian origins, Tupperware, the product with the singular distinction of serving as an empowering tool for post world war housewives smarting at being relegated back to the kitchen after tasting the liberating fervour of the workplace, is in the full swing of the new awakening now sweeping South Africa.

Although it was Avon, founded in 1886 by David H, McConnell (California) that pioneered a direct marketing system developed by Mrs. P.F.E. Albee through the idea of the Avon lady, Tupperware is known for the Tupperware party, a strategy that made the company famous, spurred sales, and provided home bound women with a convenient way to make some money for themselves.
Right now there is a huge party on the roll in SA and its theme is finally, African. The flyer for this month’s Proudly African Tupperware campaign, displays a colour suffused, on the go food storage container in saturated red, purple, yellow, violet and green.
Woolworths, SA’s generally toffee nosed quality food and clothes brand store is bursting with touches of local colour. I did a double take two weeks ago when I bumped into rails of brightly coloured t -shirts and tops, boasting not just the logos of European and American soccer teams but the names of South Africa’s provincial capitals. There were rows of big flamboyant afrocentric jewelry, giant hoop earrings, big in- your-face necklaces, and unmistakably “tribal” bangles: In Woolies? The home of the winter greys and autumn browns? Hey, we are finally African! Who knew?

For the government owned broadcaster, SAFM, the World Cup inspired the brilliant idea of playing 100 percent African music in the month leading up to and for the duration of the soccer festival. This was so visitors could get a taste of South African music whenever they tuned into the station, otherwise they might just have been confused as to whether the planes that brought them actually had landed on a different continent.

The flag story comes in two parts. Right now every other car is festooned with the South African flag and the drivers span the rainbow. Some cars have two South African flags and a third from a different country, as well as nifty gloves on both car mirrors patterned like the country flag. Traders armed with flags hit the Joburg streets two months ago. Yours truly was on the look out for African flags because there are SIX African countries taking part in this historic African FIFA World Cup that we have been told, ad nauseum, is unlikely ever to happen on this continent again! Trust me, at least in the part of town where I looked there were no African flags to be seen, and each trader I asked would give a puzzled look and point to the SA flags he had.

Ditto for the shops and offices that were proudly displaying their commitment: all the flags in sight were of the elites of the soccer world, Brazil. Germany, Spain, Italy. Just as patience exhausted, I was about to put irate pen to angry paper, I drove out one morning and glimpsed my first Nigerian flag fluttering from the hands of a street trader, along with Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Algeria. Phew! These are not small victories. South Africa is very often many countries in one, but there is a papable sense of national pride and achievement in making this World Cup possible, evinced outwardly in the displays of patriotism and in private conversations among South Africans of all races.

Last week witnessed another destination reached in this ‘long walk’ in the hosting of the Super 14 Rugby final in Soweto, one of the world’s symbolic black capitals. Apartheid divided everything along racial lines. This coming together, an equivalent of Mohammed and the mountain meeting, was a huge deal in ushering the hopes for transfiguration that is part of the message of this achievement.

Yes, it may be transient, and the message may at times get tossed aside in the hurly burly of all the other battles still to be won here, as seen in the muttered threats to African foreigners, just wait till after the games.

But a memory of what can be, will have been made; a political question will have been answered with the words, yes we can; Africans will have the luxury of 6 teams root and cheer for and FIFA’s cultural lens will have had its angle adjusted somewhat. We will all then go home and deal with the hangover.

What more can you ask of a party?

Nigerians
visiting South Africa for the opening game of the 2010 World Cup on
June 11 may not appreciate that they are experiencing not one African
first – a World Cup on African soil; but two! May 31, 2010 marked the
end of the first century of South Africa’s existence as a state in its
current boundaries with internal autonomy, akin to the other British
dominions of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

The Act of Union of
May 31, 1910 combining two former colonies- (the Cape Province and
Natal)—and two former Afrikaner republics—(the Orange Free State and
the Transvaal Republic) -into one state liberated white South Africans
from colonial rule while entrenching the oppression of non-white South
Africans by white South Africans. In fact, all South Africans were to
cast their first vote in one election only in 1994; hence the view of
many Africans that South Africa became “independent” only in 1994. As a
matter of law, that popular view is false. South Africa was the first
European colony in Africa to acquire autonomy over its internal affairs.

Should the
formation of South Africa in 1910 be counted as an event worthy of
celebration by Africans? The answer turns on two other questions.
First: were white South Africans “Africans” and have they behaved like
other “Africans” since 1910? Second: did May 31, 1910 signify the end
of some anti-colonial struggle in Africa? There is no doubt in my mind
that the Afrikaners were “African” by 1910. They had lived in Africa
for a couple of centuries, elevated their own dialect of Dutch into an
independent language, forged their own history, and formed themselves
into a distinct community. The non-Afrikaner speaking white immigrants
(then known as “Uitlanders”) have become Africans.

Like many other
African tribes, which succeeded British colonialists, the Afrikaners
and the English speakers used freedom from colonial rule to oppress
their fellow citizens. Through apartheid, white South Africans
confirmed their place as a quintessential first generation African
ruling tribe in independent Africa. Like the Asantes who fought against
the British in the Yaa Asantewa war of 1900-1902, the Afrikaners fought
the British Empire from 1899 to 1902 to control their own destiny and
the gold resources within the Transvaal Republic.

The British spent
the equivalent of 16.2 billion Pounds (in today’s money) to win the
South Africa war (also known as the “Anglo-Boer war”), the deadliest
war fought by the English between the defeat of Napoleon and the First
World War. At least 20,000 white men, women, and children and 10,000
black and colored people died in the 20th century’s first concentration
camps opened by the British on the South African veld. South Africans
lost that war, but they won the peace and freedom on May 31, 2010 for
themselves, and, eventually, other Africans! South Africa presents an
urban face of “First World” development to the world. Johannesburg and
Cape Town can hold their own, with ease, against many a European or
American city. Indeed, many white South Africans use that face to
suggest that they were effective rulers of South Africa until 1994.
That face is used also to characterise any number of South African
attributes as the “best” in Africa. But, they forget to mention that,
as a dominion, white South Africa received the majority of foreign
investment poured into Africa during the 20th century, and is,
therefore, likely to be the “best” in Africa. Consequently, I prefer to
measure the performance of South Africa’s rulers against the
performance of other former British dominions, which received similar
levels of investment.

How do South
African living standards stack up against those of Australia, for
example? Using the real wage rate of white workers in the building
trade in 1910 in South Africa as a base, Australian building workers in
1910 earned 97.6% of South African wages. A South African plumber today
earns about 80,000 Rands (about $11,000) while his Australian
counterpart earns at least A$75,000 (or $63,750). South Africa has been
the poorest of the dominions for at least one generation! Why? Its
rulers spent its first century concentrating on extracting unjustified
compensation from those devoid of political power instead of baking a
bigger pie for all their citizens. They should devote their second
century to deepening the productive capacity and living standards of
all South Africans.

In a few days the
World Cup will open South Africa to the world. Let the 2010 World Cup
fiesta usher in a productive African century.

For many years, I’ve had this
unshakable belief that my vote will count one day. In spite of the
humiliation of June 12th, I’ve faithfully – or blindly voted since
then! I believe President Jonathan has the golden opportunity to
facilitate credible elections come 2011.

I think I speak for many Nigerians when
I say we are glad that Mr. Maurice Iwu was sacked. Whether Mr.
President was motivated by public opinion, international pressure or
sound advisers – we don’t know. We are only glad to be rid of Iwu. We
are however not deluded in thinking that Iwu was the only impediment
towards credible elections.

I am not an expert in electoral
matters, but I’m passionate about competitiveness, fairness and good
leadership. I’ve studied, observed, read articles and listened to
commentaries. I recently asked a group of “Concerned Nigerians” a
simple question: which three stakeholders could affect the outcome of
elections the most? I asked them to choose from the following: the
ruling party, INEC chairman, the Police, the voting public,
registration process and authentication, media, electoral officials and
party officials.

The ‘unrigged’ results came in – and
80% of those surveyed chose INEC chairman, the voting public and the
voters’ authentication process. While a survey of 20 people cannot be
compared to the detailed, yet-to-be-implemented Uwais report, I’d like
to focus on two of these results.

I believe an inspired voting public, a
courageous INEC chairman and a sound registration/authentication
process can counter the evil machinations of the ruling party, corrupt
electoral officials, misled policemen and desperate politicians. Of all
the stakeholders above, only the media seems to have scored above
average – and they should continue to sustain the coverage and in-depth
analysis of the players, factors and issues Choosing an INEC chairman
who has a proven track record of ‘delivering’, whose integrity cannot
be questioned and who can withstand pressure from the Presidency and
rogue politicians is the first step to restore confidence to the voting
public and the international community. We need someone who will spur
apathetic voters – those who complain more but have no faith in the
‘system’ – to rise up, register, participate and defend their votes.
This is the first step on this journey to credible elections.

May I recommend (to Mr. President and
his advisers), names like Nuhu Ribadu, El Rufai, Dora Akunyili, or
Christopher Kolade. While I believe there are many more Nigerians who
can fit the bill, we need ‘popular, renowned’ names that will re-jig
the ‘usual’ voters, motivate the ‘siddon-lookers’ – and strike some
fear in the hearts of rogue politicians.

Retired justices and university
chancellors’ may have integrity, but may also fail to bring the added
dimension of vibrancy and public inspiration – through regular
communication, assurance – and threats! Iwu was right about one thing –
voter apathy is a major issue. While experiences like June 12 and 2007
may seem to justify our ‘siddon look and complain’ stance, Nigerians
need to persevere. Most Nigerians want competence over zoning. If the
next president is a ‘youth’ at 45 and can provide us 8 hours of power
daily (let’s start with that!), we don’t care. If the next president
hails from Rivers, Bauchi or Edo – but rehabilitates our failing
educational and health systems – Nigerians in the Diaspora will vote!
If the new president is a ‘Madam’ President, and she can facilitate a
functional rail system, efficient ferries (and fixing the Lagos-Benin
expressway), …no shaking! All we are saying, President Jonathan is
‘consider the Uwais report, give us a vibrant and tough chairman and
let’s get on with the registration process. To Nigerians, I say this.
When we don’t register, vote and protect our votes – we facilitate
rigging. Prayer is good – but we must act too. We can’t blame INEC (and
government) for everything.

Will I prefer the status quo – and
elections in January/April 2011 or a reformed electoral process – and
deferred elections in November 2011; a two-party system, 10-party
system or unlimited? Should Jonathan run or not? These are debates for
another day!

Akanimo Ekong is Executive Director – Resourcery Plc

This week’s deadly Israeli attack on an activist flotilla in the Mediterranean seems to have left the White House adrift.

World leaders were
quick to condemn the Israeli sea assault Monday that took the lives of
nine people on an aid flotilla to Gaza. President Barack Obama wasn’t
one of them. He spoke with the prime ministers of Israel and Turkey,
but said nothing beyond those private conversations. Officially his
administration urged Israel to release the hundreds of activists it
captured and investigate the incident, but Washington didn’t criticize
anyone.

“Turkey and Israel
are both good friends to us,” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
“and we are working with both to deal with the aftermath with this
tragic incident.”

Some Republicans
were quicker to choose sides. “The Israelis have been very clear about
sustaining a blockade of Gaza, and they have every right to sustain a
blockade of Gaza,” Newt Gingrich, a senior figure in the Republican
Party, told Politico.Com. “Hamas is actively every day trying to kill
Israelis, and as a matter of international law, Turkey should not have
allowed that flotilla to go down there.”

Last month’s BP
oil-well disaster hasn’t been fixed and oil continues to soil the
southern U.S. coast. Both it and the Israeli attack have one thing in
common: they’ve forced the Obama administration to navigate its way
through someone else’s mishap.

Many Americans have
complained that the president seemed too passive in the days after the
oil disaster, leaving BP to address the emergency. Some people outside
the U.S. complained that the administration has been nearly absent from
the debate over Israel’s attack, leaving others to manage that crisis
too.

“I have to be frank: I am not very happy,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. “We expect a clear condemnation.”

The United States
wants to encourage oil companies to supply it with ample, inexpensive
energy and, at the same time, it wants to safeguard the environment.
The United States wants to be Israel’s protector and, at the same time,
it wants to calm tensions and improve its standing in the Muslim world.

It can be difficult to head in such different directions. After the
two mishaps at sea, the White House has appeared to its critics and
even some of its friends, to be just treading water.

Our
legislators are in an uproar. The event that has led to this
pandemonium is not the abuse of an innocent 13-year-old child by a
member of their ‘hallowed’ chambers. It is also not the fact that women
regularly die at childbirth, as do babies because basic healthcare
facilities are not available. The death of thousands annually on
yawning craters that pass as our roads is also not the source of their
headache. Neither is it the fact that everyday small and medium scale
businesses are shutting down because they cannot afford the cost of
diesel to power their premises, thus leading to an increase in the army
of the unemployed and criminal. That our name has become synonymous
with everything bad, from corruption to fraud, is also not the source
of grief for lawmakers.

Our legislator’s
angst is not because thousands of our graduates come out of university
mostly uneducated without the knowledge and skills to better their
lives and contribute to nation building. The fact that the country is
insolvent – our expenditure is more than our income – is also not the
source of their ire.

There is something
much more important pre-occupying the mind of our lawmakers: a problem
so momentous, that if it is not resolved, things will fall apart and
the centre will no longer hold. Our legislators think they are grossly
underpaid and are therefore seeking an increase in their quarterly
allowance.

You cannot blame
them. Their allowances are a meagre N27.2 million each, hardly
commensurate with all the sterling contributions the ‘Honourable’
members have made to nation building. Think all the laws they have
passed that have made life better for the average Nigerian, enshrined
democracy and ensured that we have a functional society. Think all of
the good businesses they have attracted to their constituencies to
ensure rapid development. Think all the time they have spent on their
home ground listening to the grievances of their constituencies and the
alacrity with which they have jumped back into their jeeps and raced
back to ensure those opinions are heard and respected at the centre of
power.

Our legislators
indeed deserve kudos. An analysis of their achievements in the last two
and a half years in office leaves one totally in awe. They are so
efficient at their job that all appropriation bills that have been put
before them have received prompt attention. In a few cases they have
even showed initiative by increasing the amount of money to be
‘appropriated’.

Why should a group
of people with this enviable record be denied an increase in
emoluments? After all it is not as if they recorded this dazzling list
of achievements while safely cushioned in the lap of luxury. You have
to admit, that their residences in Apo quarters are not comparable at
all to the home of an average Nigeria.

Have we all
forgotten so soon the N628 million that had to be spent on the
renovations of the last Speaker’s residence and that of her deputy,
just to make the homes habitable? You also have to pity our lawmakers
for the many other hardships they have to endure. While many of us have
the luxury of getting our water from the ever-efficient government run
water boards and power from the ever-faithful PHCN, we have forced them
to dig boreholes and rely on generators.

As if that is not
bad enough, they are made to travel, elevated above the ground. What
fun is there to be had from driving in a jeep? The value of each
journey should surely be measured by the experience itself. No jolts
and no bumps. How does one even begin to believe that a journey has
taken place?

Imagine also their
trauma at having to take themselves and their loved ones to foreign
lands at the first inkling of an illness. These sorts of trips are just
so exhausting. The rest of us of course have the privilege of been
treated in Nigerian hospitals and luxuriating in that peculiarly local
brand of hospitality known as ‘dismal health care ‘safe in the
knowledge that money for drugs, needles and other medical sundries will
be footed by relatives who are just a bike ride away and can be relied
upon to provide assistance, no matter their own personal circumstances.

Let us also
remember that our oil wells are in full production and gushing. Plus,
the price of black gold is on the up and up. The country is awash with
petrol dollars and what to do, if not spend them. We have also
diversified our economy and so have multiple sources of income. Foreign
direct investment is on the increase and the Nigerian economy, in total
contrast to that of the rest of the world, is booming.

Nigerians can
afford to be magnanimous. We are lucky to have such a dedicated and
honest bunch as our ‘Legislooters’. After all what is another N540
million quarterly, to a nation that has plenty?