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A study by Ruth Uwaifo Oyelere, dated December
2007 examines gender disparities in income in Nigeria and takes a look
at education benefits from democracy against this background. Titled,
Within and Between Gender Disparities in Income and Education Benefits
From Democracy, its conclusions mirror what one would expect, even
without the benefit of the close analysis it offers.

Oyelere concludes, “these results imply a growing
gap in mean income and returns to education across gender”. However she
finds that “within “ these disparities the advent of democracy has
produced benefits. Oyelere also discovered that the income gap between
men and women has grown on average and this growth gap is restricted to
the lower levels of education.

One of the significant implications of her study
was that, “inequality in the benefits of democracy are real and could
keep growing without government intervention.” So now there is a an
intelligent explanation for what has largely been anecdotal evidence of
an increase in the ferocity, as men claim, of the pressure from young
Nigerian females on the prowl for hollas, as in hol am well, aristos as
in cooler sugar daddies, boxed as in ready with the bucks, multis as in
six zero units, and Big Boys as in you know where. But then there was
always cause.

Back in the day, when every speech from OBJ was
premised on the future achievements of a strong and virile nation under
the military, anybody who expected a different outcome from what we
have now surely had to have been very short sighted. There is only one
obvious way to prove virility is there not?

The men in khaki conceived the country, (there is
no point in trying to avoid this pun) in their own image. Contracting
and supplying became instant careers for young women, just as clearing
and forwarding (aka backwarding and forwarding) from grid locked ports
was a direct path to financial liquidity for young men. When the
politicians in agbada came back the benefits of democracy flowed from
the houses, apartments and offices and hotels that had to be built and
furnished to accommodate the multiple realms of government, and so the
largesse was spread a little wider.

It was also orchestrated in accords and preludes
of the Honda variety that became the vehicles of choice. Each
generation has its brand symbols.

The gender disparities in who held the reins of
power and was therefore was in a position to allocate, were glaring and
for the most part went unquestioned. There has not been that much of a
shift today where Nigeria lags behind other smaller and less wealthy
African countries, like Rwanda for example, in breaking down gender
barriers and in legislating for the inclusion of women in governance
and politics.

In a society with large disparities in income
between men and women it should not be surprising that finding a rich
boyfriend or husband would be seen a path to financial security, or at
least as a means to an end.Between the young women and the rich men
there is a group that is left high and dry to seek self validation
wherever they can- young men who have not yet made their mark and can
be uncharitable and harsh judges of their female contemporaries.

This is often most obvious in movie depictions of
student life in our universities and in a number of ‘investigative’
journalism forays into the so called sexual depravity of female
undergrads that just stop short of branding them as prostitutes. What
is surprising is the venom sometimes directed against such women, given
that the whole situation is essentially one that operates on the basis
of supply and demand. There are two sides in this game: the procurers
who ‘charter’ the entertainment for the big men parties, corporate,
business and political and the well heeled clients, pillars of society,
corporate, business and political who demand the titillation.

As a society though we tend to be pretty prosaic
about the nitty gritty of life. Call it a kind of hard nosed realism if
you like, but when it is conveyed in traditional terms it sounds much
more romantic; it is not really. When earnest parents name their
daughter Ogbeiyalu, a poor man will not marry you, they are praying for
the best for her aren’t they? Granted there may be a concept of wealth
that encompasses the abundance of values that make you rich in personal
attributes and lead to success in spiritual as well as material terms,
but there is link between the two.

Maybe part of the problem today is that we have
lost that link. We do not question whether Chief and Madam Bigs
acquired their wealth by fair means or foul.

Going back to Oyelere’s study it showed that
within gender,women with tertiary education are the obvious winners in
a post democratic Nigeria with much higher increase in income and
returns to their education than their counterparts.

Education and wider access to it, is the path to improvement in all things.

Recently, state governors and key members of the
political elite stormed the National Assembly to demand legislation
imposing a two-party system in Nigeria. They decried the proliferation
of parties in the country and asserted that the current 57 registered
parties is an unworkable system.

The Nigerian ruling class has always dreamed of
the desirability of a two-party system that divides the political class
into a simple equation of a ruling class and an opposition that will
remain out of power. The high point in this regard was the 1964
elections when the Northern Peoples’ Congress brought in the Yoruba
elite of the Nigerian National Democratic Party and the Niger Deltans
of the Midwest Democratic Front and the Niger Democratic Congress into
the Nigerian National Alliance (NNA).

Obafemi Awolowo then took on the mantle of
organizing the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA) into a
formidable opposition front with the Action Group, the National Council
of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), the United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) and
the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU. It was a coalition that
could have won if free and fair elections. Premier Ahmadu Bello and
Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa were frightened, they rigged the 1964 and
1965 elections and the result was coup d’état, civil war and the
militarization of Nigeria.

We returned to politics in 1978. In that year, the
barons of the defunct Northern Peoples’ Congress, repeated their act.
The former secretary of the National Party of Nigeria, Uba Ahmed,
recounts in his thesis on the history of the party defended in the
University of Birmingham how they got A. M. Akinloye with his Oyo
Parapo group, T. O. S. Benson and K; O. Mbadiwe of the NCNC group and
Akanu Ibiam of the Igbo Forum to join them in forming the winning
coalition that was to be the National Party of Nigeria.

By incorporating Joseph Tarka of the UMBC, Aminu
Kano of NEPU, the Igbo elite split between K. O. Mbadiwe and Akanu
Ibiam, Awolowo was to be denied the capacity to lead a viable
opposition. The late Ibrahim Tahir boasted in the New Nigerian
(27/10/1978) that they have now achieved what De Gaulle did for France
by uniting all the political elite into one unbeatable political
formation.

The late political scientist, Billy Dudley
described the great joy of the Northern elite when they assembled in
Sokoto in 1978 for the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the late
Sultan of Sokoto, Sir Abubakar where the final deal on establishing the
NPN was sealed.

It did not work out that way. Nnamdi Azikiwe
repositioned the Igbo elite into the Nigerian Peoples Party, Aminu Kano
was humiliated out of the NPN and was successful in delivering Kano and
Kaduna states to the Peoples Redemption Party and of course Pa Awolowo
demonstrated he still controlled his turf. The NPN was shocked to
discover in the 1979 elections that it controlled only seven of the
nineteen states and needed legal chicanery in the Supreme Court to
pronounce Shehu Shagari as President.

The NPN went back to the drawing board. They
actively organized factions in all the other parties, got the Federal
Electoral Commission (FEDECO) to recognize the pro-NPN factions and
rigged the 1984 elections. On the last night of 1984, a certain General
Muhammadu Buhari, took over power on the grounds that Nigerian
democracy had been violated.

Then came the PDP, the current ruling party. Last
year, Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State visited a certain Ogbulafor
who held sway in the PDP to proclaim that he had no regrets about the
statement that his party intended to rule the country for the next
sixty years. He asserted that no party in the world would willingly
give out power to another. He concluded on the note that “my duty in
PDP is to go and destroy our opponents”.

What our history teaches us however is that
destroying political opponents is a sure route to dismantling our
democracy. The irony in Nigeria is that as the number of political
parties in the country increases, the movement towards a one-party
regime accelerates. The fear of one party rule has however consistently
destabilized our democracy.

As we think about political parties for the
future, we should remember that what Nigerians are crying for are
parties that are concerned about their welfare and the provision of
public goods. Parties that they can remove from power when they are not
satisfied with their performance. In essence, what Nigerian democracy
requires is a new type of party that believes in and respects
democratic values.

As the present
Nigerian government is focused on ensuring that the relevant
infrastructure for stable power supply is in place, since stable and
affordable power supply effectively is the bedrock of the society, let
us this week analyse the role that private business, public sector and
information technology as an enabler need to play in achieving this
objective.

Stable and
affordable electricity which we crave for as a nation can be discussed
under the broad headings: generation of adequate power capacity,
effective distribution/maintenance of the infrastructure, marketing and
sales, and implementing accurate billing/payments mechanism or process.

So in ensuring that
we have stable power supply, it makes sense to rely heavily on the
private sector, since it is a proven fact that when a service is based
on competition, profit making, and investors monies are at stake, the
likelihood of maintaining continuity, reliability and efficiency in the
service provision is more likely to be achieved and the consumer is
better served.

In more advanced
countries, particularly in the United Kingdom, every stage of power
supply is privatised and I accept that this model has inherent
disadvantages, as there is clearly a junior role for the state to play
not only as a regulator but in the crucial role of power generation,
distribution, and maintenance of the underlying transmission
infrastructure.

Generation of adequate power capacity

Since we don’t have
an efficient power infrastructure base in Nigeria it makes sense that
both the state and the private sector are involved as partners in
ensuring the establishment of such infrastructure.

The state or its
agencies steer this partnership in ensuring that the objective is
achieved from a holistic point of view whilst the private sector
organisation whose primary objective is to provide an efficient service
and return profit to its shareholders has no choice than to deliver.

In such an
arrangement, even if it is just one company providing this service such
as is obtained in the UK where the National Grid performs this role, it
is must be target driven and based on clear, enforceable service level
agreements with built in severe monetary penalties.

Distribution and maintenance of the power transmission infrastructure

Again the relevant
infrastructure needs to be implemented and maintained to ensure power
is effectively distributed and clearly managed as a part, private and
public initiative (PPP) for the same reasons highlighted earlier.

The electricity
transmission network which includes cables and poles that ensure that
power is transmitted from where it is generated into our homes,
offices, shops must be maintained and looked after.

Marketing and sale

To ensure that a
competitive service is provided to the consumer, the actual sale of
power to the end user ought to be fully privatised and there should be
a minimum of five companies providing this service, just like in other
developing nations.

The consumer can
decide to choose any supplier based on price, quality of service,
customer service and responsiveness among others. If necessary it may
be best to invite foreign based electricity supply companies to get
involved but with a strict requirement to ensure that Nigerians over a
defined period of time dominate the management cadre and work force of
their organisations.

Implementing accurate billing/payments mechanism

The consumer must
be provided with the confidence that whatever billing process is
implemented is accurate and based on his consumption which will
encourage prompt payment. You are more likely to pay for a service
promptly when you are confident that you are paying the correct amount
for what you have used. The billing process must be transparent to the
consumer (available online) and should be able to withstand any manner
of scrutiny or audit.

Information Technology role

From the power
generation stage, to distribution and sale, accurate computerised meter
reading records need to be maintained, accurate computerised records of
wholesale purchase of power from the generating company by electricity
suppliers, consumer details and monitoring application systems need to
be implemented.

Online billing
systems and connectivity between systems used by competing electricity
supply companies must also be maintained so that a consumer can
seamlessly move over to another supplier based on their preference. All
the mentioned systems need to be in place to ensure that every stage in
the power supply chain is effective, accurate and auditable which will
provide all round confidence on all sides.

Competent IT
literate administrative staff and IT professionals will all be required
to enhance the application systems. For example, Centrica PLC, an
electricity supplier in the UK requires over 500 IT professionals to
support and maintain all the relevant electricity application systems
that automate every stage of the electricity supply process from
purchasing bulk electricity from the National Grid to supplying it to a
consumer, through to billing and receiving payments.

As Information Technology is the enabler of all sectors in our
society, not just the power sector, the better the IT infrastructure in
place and the more computer literate our society becomes, the more
efficient all other sectors can become, certainly in my view.

One of the major challenges
confronting us as a people today is the “copy-cat syndrome” which in pidgin
parlance is referred to as “kopi kopi”. It is about our knack for imitating
foreign styles and mannerisms that fail to gel with our unique socio-cultural
makeup.

Despite being aware of this, most of
us still go on pretending about it. Laik say notin de hapun. Time without
number, I had reason to ponder over the mannerisms of supposed “trained”
receptionists and telephone operators who in replying visitors either in person
or via the phone, would say “how may I help you? “- a new way of receiving guests
since the advent of GSM. In the old days, it was “Can I help you?”

My grouse actually is with the
oyi-boik manner in which they speak. Receptionists have had to repeat
themselves with attendant man-hour losses. Situations like these have resulted
in quarrels with pipul wey no get taim fo nonsense. Why not just say “abeg, e
get wetin ah fit du fo yu?” Meaning, “please, can I be of help to you?” Pilots and
crewmembers sometimes spoil the day for passengers in their “spree spree spree” (blabbing) because they hardly communicate.

Passengers have to strain to make
out what they are saying about flight time and general safety tips. After
delaying our flight departure time from 3.20 to 8.30pm, the annoyance of
passengers was set to blow. It was an Abuja – Sokoto flight by one of these new
generation airlines. As preparation for landing at Sultan Abubakar III
International Airport, Sokoto began a member of the cabin crew started
announcing in “spree spree spree” which stoked the anger even more.

You could hear loud hisses and comments like, “abeg mek una drop os”, “wich kain tin bi dis?” “Dis won na big nonsens”. And
there was no apology whatsoever to passengers. To my mind, and just like the
earlier scenario painted in the case of the receptionists, a smart cabin crew
would have doused the tension on board dat aftanun to nait flait by saying, “wi de beg una wel wel. Wi don fol awa han. Wi no go du so egen lai lai. Mek una
fogiv os”.

Translation: We seriously plead for forgiveness. We are clearly at fault. We have
disappointed you all. We will never do so again. Please, forgive us.

In
situations like that, only the use of the language of the people would help. No
bi big big grama wey pesin no go hia wel. Don’t tell that us there may be other
nationalities on board the flight. Oyibo na awa languej? How about pilots
learning Naija Pidgin?

Nigeria’s No.1 rap artist, RUGGEDMAN
once accused his fellow musician Idris Abdulkareem of “kopi kopi” meaning that
his work was “not original”. The accusation led to a thaw in their
relationship. However, they later made up and even did a musical “kolabo” as a
proof of their peaceful reconciliation and resolve to move the music industry
forward.

Previously in this column, I
recounted how a Nigerian broadcaster lost the golden opportunity of working
with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) because, at the interview
session, he was said to have indulged in “tok tok fo noz” like “spree spree
spree”, “kopi kopi” and all that jazz. He was imitating the oyibos, trying to
be more British than the British. He lost the job. Of kos na!

If you have seen Hamisu Rogo
reporting on NTA, you can differentiate between genuine reporting and kopi kopi
reporting; he is a true Nigerian. No kopi kopi! At the National Assembly, one
Hon Alias “Igodomigodo” from Edo State does a lot of kopi kopi that reminds one
of the late Sam Mbakwe of “timba & kaliba” fame.

Whether he is actually helping his
people get the dividends of democracy by his verbosity or effectively
communicating with his colleagues in the hallowed chambers is none of my
business. Mai oun bi se, dis kain tok tok wit big big grama no dey fo maket
egen. (e no de ren).

After taking a second look at the “copy cat syndrome”, it needs to be repeatedly said that, in these times of
re-branding, kopi kopi de fol awa han. It is doing a lot of damage to our true
identity as a nation, as Nigerians in all ramifications. A re-orientation is
urgently required. Hau pesin go jos de tok wit noz. Blo oyibo we no get hed, no
get tel. Haba!

The National
Assembly doesn’t seem to be able to decide whether to make even more of
a hash of the Uwais Panel’s electoral reform recommendations than the
deadly combination of the White Paper Committee, the Aondoakaa-led
White Paper Review committee and the Council of State with its coterie
of self-serving governors.

This is
understandable: like governors and presidents, most legislators know
that they didn’t get where they are by transparently free, fair or
credible elections. But they also know that to become their party’s
candidates they survived a cutthroat process over which we had better
draw the veil of political discretion and spare ‘honourable’ and
‘distinguished’ blushes. They don’t want to go through that again,
especially if they’ve fallen out with whichever political godfather it
was who secured their nomination. So they exhibit conflicting desires
for elections that are free, but fixed in such a way that they will win.

Still, with their
refusal to sanction queue voting, and early reports that the two-party
system had been rejected, one began to hope that even if they wouldn’t
improve the electoral system, legislators would at least avoid doing
major damage to what is already in place.

But reports can be
misleading. For example, although a lot of nonsense was written about
‘Option A4’ being rejected, all the House of Representatives in fact
did was maintain the existing ‘Open Secret’ system. There will be no
queue voting for the public in national, state or local government
elections. Of course, political parties are free to stipulate whatever
candidate selection method they like, but for the general public, the
secrecy of the ballot to which Nigeria is committed by both local and
international undertakings, remains intact.

Despite the
romantic haze through which so many look back at queue voting, the
election that the same people insist was “the freest and fairest in
Nigeria’s history”, the presidential election of June 12th 1993,
actually used the Open Secret system of voting; with ballot boxes and
ballot papers: Not queue voting. However much former governors may
obfuscate about the “Open Ballot system”, with queue voting there is no
ballot. (Since only 14 million Nigerians voted in that election, which
is now almost 17 years behind us, the sad reality is that many of those
pontificating about the beauties of queue voting probably didn’t
actually vote on June 12th and quite frankly haven’t the faintest idea
what they are talking about.) Now, because the Humphrey Nwosu-led
National Electoral Commission of the 1992/1993 Babangida Transition was
better at logistics than the Maurice Iwu-led Independent National
Electoral Commission (and because Nwosu was operating under a military
dictatorship and had only two parties to contend with) we should hope
that the incoming INEC will learn from Nwosu rather than Iwu. The
decision to require all voters to be present at the same time across
the country and cast their votes within the space of the same hour
nationwide may have been born of necessity (after the illegality of
queue voting had been pointed out) but it was a stroke of genius.

Iwu was not the
only electoral chief to reject the June 12th method of Open Secret
voting and it has not been used since. But for now, the National
Assembly has left the decision about how Open Secret voting should be
organised where it properly belongs. With INEC.

Although the House
avoided another blunder by refusing to limit the number of political
parties to just two, it is a gross delusion to imagine that the
self-serving vote, fixing a limit of five, preserves political
pluralism. One recognises that our ideology-free legislators may have
difficulty grasping this concept, but perhaps they should imagine
limiting religious expression in this way, and dictating that everybody
should be able to find a faith to suit them in one of five
state-sanctioned religions.

It’s always amusing
to hear those who already occupy it complaining that the political
terrain is “too crowded” or that the number of parties is unwieldy.
That theory may wash in one-party dictatorships, but no other country
that claims to be a democracy imposes such restrictions, which risk
delivering the political space, bound hand and foot to moneybags and
incumbents. Unfortunately, like queue voting, the bitter experience of
intra-party dictatorship under Babangida’s two-party regime is
forgotten, remembered through a romantic haze, or simply unknown.

To quote another
dictator, China’s Chairman Mao said: Let a thousand flowers bloom! The
United States has 25 national parties ranging from the American
Conservative Party through the Pansexual Peace Party to the U.S.
Taxpayers Party, with hundreds more at local level.

Leaving aside the
nightmare of implementation for this and independent candidates (as the
House seems to have done, since the Political Parties Commission
recommended by Uwais has already been rejected), Deputy Senate
President Ike Ekweremadu correctly observed that limiting the number of
parties conflicts with the Constitution’s guarantees of freedom of
association and its liberal party registration system.

So it can only take
effect if the Constitution is amended, concerning which, perhaps our
lawmakers should take advice from Britain’s Monster Raving Loony Party
(one of that country’s 25 parties). Britain itself doesn’t have a
written constitution, but item 3 on the MRLP manifesto proposes that
the European [read ‘Nigerian’] Constitution “will be sorted out by
going for a long Walk. As everyone knows that walking is good for the
Constitution.” But what if ‘We the People’ decide that it is costly,
unproductive and uninformed lawmakers who need reforming? Maybe we will
be the ones telling them to … take a hike.

On paper, the 2010 Electoral Act is an ambitious piece of draft
legislation. The Act seeks to repeal the 2006 Electoral Act, under which the
disgraceful 2007 general elections were conducted, and to introduce
unprecedented changes to the electoral process. One striking example is the
independent candidature model.

The Act also seeks to end the idea of state funding of political
parties. In addition, it seeks to confine election petition adjudications to a
sensible time frame, a departure from the current situation where cases are
still being decided by the courts three years after the elections that gave
rise to them.

The bill has its failings. In not seeking to alter the current
mechanism by which the Chairperson of INEC is appointed – the powers of appointment
and sack are currently vested in the President – it falls short of being truly
revolutionary.

There are those who will argue that the conferment of these
powers on the President is the principal defect of our current electoral
set-up. Indeed, speaking at the presentation of the Electoral Reform panel
report to former President Umar Yar’Adua at the Aso Villa in 2008, the Chair of
the panel Mr. Uwais said: “The independent national electoral commission and
the state independent electoral commission lack the requisite independence.
This is a key deficiency of our electoral process.”

To remedy this the Uwais-led panel recommended that the Head of
the Electoral Commission should be appointed by the National Judicial Council,
subject to the confirmation of the National Assembly.

It is indeed absurd to grant that power of appointment to the
President, a patently partisan individual, who clearly has vested interests in
the election process. Take the current scenario as an example: very soon
President Jonathan will appoint a substantive head for INEC. This appointee
will be the person who will oversee the conduct of the 2011 presidential
elections, in which, from all appearances, Mr. Jonathan will be not only a
contender, but also the candidate with the overwhelming advantages of
incumbency.

The failure of the 2010 Electoral Act to adopt the Uwais panel
recommendation on the appointment of an INEC chairman is its “key deficiency”.
As the 2011 elections approach, there are therefore no guarantees of the
autonomy of the electoral commission. We hope that as the draft bill undergoes
further deliberations in both chambers of the National Assembly, and as
Nigerians get a chance to make an input through public sittings of the
Assembly, the Act will be rendered free of glaring loopholes and deficiencies.

It must also be noted, however, that until the new Act is
signed into law by the President, it is merely a commendable listing of hopes
and aspirations, of no value to Nigerians and to the electoral process. As
things stand, the significantly flawed 2006 Act is still the final word on
elections in Nigeria. There is no guarantee that will change in time for next
year’s elections.

That 2006 Act, in the light of the massive changes that its
successor seeks to bring to it, represents the dark ages of the Nigerian
electoral process. It leaves INEC at the mercy of the Executive arm of
government, in terms of funding. It makes no provision for expeditious
adjudication of election petition cases. At the moment, Alphonsus Igbeke, a
member of the National Assembly – the arm of government in whose hands a speedy
overhaul of the Electoral Act lies – is still unsuccessfully trying to claim
his seat, three years after he was elected. Joy Emordi, who fraudulently
usurped his seat, has managed to hold on all the while by exploiting the
snail-like progress of the petition process. Unfortunately, Mrs. Emordi’s
antics are the rule, not an exception.

Instances like this hurriedly dispel whatever meager hopes
Nigerians have that the National Assembly is ready to ensure that 2011 does not
end up being a repeat of 2007.

Nigeria’s
preparation for the FIFA World Cup has never been anything to rave
about. From beginning to end it was characterised by lapses, which for
the most part were avoidable.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), the
country’s football governing body, which normally ought to drive the
process to ensure that Nigeria puts up a decent showing at the global
tournament, somehow manages to make simple things like appointing a
coach for the squad and organising friendly matches to enable the
technical crew assess the form and fitness of players, look incredibly
difficult.

While the build-up to our three previous
appearances in 1994, 1998 and 2002 were chaotic to say the least, they
appear hi-tech and extremely organised compared to what we are
witnessing now with regard to our preparations for this year’s World
Cup in South Africa, which begins in exactly one month’s time.

The 2002 edition of the Mundial, which is on
record as being the shoddiest in terms of organisation, has come out
smelling like roses. When then Eagles coach Amodu Shuaibu was fired
with five months to the tournament and Adegboye Onigbinde was handed
the reins and Nigerians despaired, the leadership of the NFF (then NFA)
managed to arrange a number of friendly matches before the squad
departed for the tournament, which was held in Korea/Japan.

A similar scenario plays out today. By a quirk of
fate Amodu, who returned as coach of the squad in 2008 following the
exit of German Bert Vogts, was relieved of his appointment after
guiding the team to qualify for the World Cup. Former Sweden coach,
Lars Lagerback was appointed in his stead.

The process that threw up the Swede was
exasperatingly convoluting to the football faithful who wanted the
process speeded up to afford the new coach time to shake up the squad,
which many Nigerians agree appeared listless during both the qualifiers
for the World Cup and the 2010 Nation Cup in Angola in January.

As it turns out, we are paying for that delay. The
time wasted in naming the new coach and the seeming inability of the
leadership of the football federation to arrange even one quality
friendly match for the Eagles mean that with thirty days to the World
Cup, Nigerians do not believe that their national team can square up to
their opponents.

And they can hardly be blamed. While Nigeria’s
group opponents, Argentina, Greece and South Korea, named their
provisional squads weeks ago, Nigeria’s tentative squad for the
tournament was released only last night.

How Lagerback arrived at the list will continue to
exercise the imagination of football fans who know that unlike other
coaches going to the World Cup, the Swede has not had any personal or
professional interaction with the players since he took on the job in
late February.

Now, that this list is out and the major football
leagues where our players ply their trade in Europe have either ended
or will end this weekend, Lagerback needs to force the issue of
friendly matches with the NFF. He must extract a commitment from them
to keep faith with already proposed friendly games with Saudi Arabia,
North Korea and Colombia to enable him get a feel of his squad or watch
them get battered in South Africa.

When last week I was confronted with a litany of deaths – the
death of a brother-in-law, the death of a friend 12 days after his wedding, the
death of a poet-friend Esiaba Irobi, and then the death of a president – I
thought of the myth of how death entered the world and became “homeless.” Amos
Tutuola’s version of the myth in The Palm-wine Drinkard tells us that the
palm-wine drinkard went to Death’s house, captured and brought him to the
world, an assignment he had to carry out in order to get information from an
old man (also identified as a “god”) concerning the whereabouts of his dead
tapster.

If one were as adventurous as Tutuola’s palm-wine drinkard, one
would have set out for “Dead’s town” in search of these dead Nigerians,
especially the poet, Esiaba Irobi, whose friendship and professional
interaction one had enjoyed over many years. Searching for a dead poet in
“Dead’s town” may appear the craziest of all expeditions but perhaps it would
help one to be cured of the fear of being called upon suddenly to remove the
garment of flesh and move into another realm of intelligence.

Searching for the dead, one must acknowledge, is indeed part of
the traditional Igbo performance at funerals. Usually, it is the peers of the
deceased, or more specifically members of the deceased’s age-group, that lead
the search team to locations such as the marketplace, the village square, or
the stream. These are considered the most likely places where the spirits of
the dead also visit to conduct their business.

The ritual performance of looking for the dead relative or
friend is merely a way of demonstrating to the dead how much they are missed.
Certainly those looking for their deceased relatives in the market place,
chanting “Iwe, Iwe di anyi n’obi,” would break into a run if they should catch
a glimpse of the spiritual or physical forms of those they are searching for
buying and selling.

I should think that it is in our hearts that we have to search
for and talk with our dead relatives and friends, to deal with the
“homelessness” of death, instead of running away from “him” like the old man
who set the palm-wine drunkard on the difficult task of binding and bringing
death to him.

Culturally, not many people would want to discuss their own
impending deaths, or their desire to interact with the dead. We normally
postpone such thoughts, or banish them from our minds entirely. Many of us
believe that it is better for our death to just happen. There is no need to
think about it or prepare for it.

Tell members of your family that you will die next year and some
break into tears, others filled with rage scold you and warn you to stop
thinking such an “evil” thought. Some may also try to exorcise the devil that
is making such “evil” suggestions to you, introducing the power of logos: “I
reject it in Jesus’ name!” Such expressions of anger and fear are perfectly in
line with the discovery by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (in her On Death and Dying)
that individuals facing death (their relatives inclusive) normally exhibit five
phases of reconciliation with their circumstances, in the following order:

(1) The stage of DENIAL and ISOLATION, as demonstrated in the
expression “No, it cannot be true,” or “it cannot be me!” (2) The stage of
ANGER, as manifested in “Why me?” responses; (3) The stage of BARGAINING, in
which we try to see if death could be postponed, at least on the basis of good
behaviour, or for some unfinished business; (4) The stage of DEPRESSION, for
instance for impending losses; and (5) The stage of ACCEPTANCE, the stage of
resignation, often expressed in “I cannot fight it any longer” or when the
dying person calls a friend or relative to whisper, “This body is no longer
mine; I have to go.” The search for a dead friend or peer, as performed in
traditional Igbo funerals, is perhaps a manifestation of that human resistance
to the reality of death and dying. We, as searchers, are angry that such a
death should occur, angry that we should be the ones affected and not other
people.

Along with John Donne the poet we proclaim, “Death, thou shall
die,” as part of the expression of anger and depression. It appears we find it
difficult to reconcile with our reality that we must move on. I suspect that if
I should meet the deceased that I am searching for, he would likely laugh and
point out to me that he is free now, and that the real tragedy is that of my
forgetting that I would, one day, and at any time, continue the journey out of
the flesh.

Death, indeed, is a lonely business. One dies alone, even in the
midst of a multitude.

One goes with nothing, not even one’s skin. One does not even
remember one’s name, I guess. So, that means that one does not even go with
one’s name. Esiaba has just beaten me to it. Someday, it will be my turn and I
will go alone.

Recently
I travelled through a state capital and found in the middle of the
city, a huge wide billboard, which towered high above with the image of
one person sprawled across it. It was the picture of the state governor
so thickly decked in traditional attire, complete with a walking stick.
He looked more like a character out of a Nollywood movie, smiling down
at onlookers in that I have arrived manner of Nigerian big men, with a
bold inscription “Imagine another four years” taking up the remaining
space on the board.

Four years of what I asked myself?

I took a look
around me, at the people who daily walked past this giant billboard,
who without options look up at the smiling face on the billboard as
they walk past, the people whose imaginations the governor is so bent
on tickling.

The people didn’t
seem to be smiling back. Not the little girl of school age with a bowl
of pure water on her head who was timing the flow of traffic in order
to cross over to the other side of the road in good time to appeal to
the people getting off the bus:

Not the young lady
holding out a long strip of yellow, green and blue cards from under an
umbrella few yards away beckoning me to recharge my phone. All I could
see was a struggling young girl trying to pinch out a living, her
beauty concealed by years of sitting out at the mercy of the elements:

Not the lady
traffic warden who was having a tough time directing the traffic. Her
face showed tiredness, her shoes too. Her yellow uniform was now
tending towards pale. She was cursing and showing her five fingers to
the bus drivers who showed her theirs too as they sped away, coughing
out thick black smoke, like chimneys:

Not the two boys,
no more than thirteen who were exchanging punches right under the
billboard of the smiling governor. All that clawing and bickering meant
some issue of survival had led to the fight.

I looked back at the huge billboard and I asked my self again, another four years of what?

Perhaps if the
governor had spent the last four years doing his best to translate the
billions accruing to the state into schools to take the children off
the streets; into jobs that ensured their parents wouldn’t have to send
them out to the streets; into traffic lights to ease the work of the
lady warden; into well tarred roads that wouldn’t create such herd of
noisy smoky cars and impatient uncultured drivers. Perhaps if the
governor had done all this already, the next four years wouldn’t have
been so difficult to imagine.

But he didn’t. He
spends more time in Abuja than in the state capital. He goes off to the
ends of the earth, flying first class with a large delegation, which
includes his girlfriends, chasing what he calls foreign investment.
When he is around, he speeds past in his noisy convoy. When the workers
ask for more pay, he complains about dwindling fortunes and the global
economic melt down.

And while we
seemingly recline and resign to fate, with the opposition joining him
in Government House to drink sparkling wine in fine glasses, he doesn’t
leave us alone in peace. He follows us around, right to the streets to
rob pepper into the festering injury, to mock us and tickle our
imagination, requesting of us the use for his own benefit the very last
article we own, our thought.

“Imagine another four years!” I refuse to imagine sir.

These are the kind
of billboards, such damning symbols of government, erected from our
common wealth that I believe Wole Soyinka once called on us to throw
food morsels at every morning religiously before going out to find a
living. Perhaps it is apt to resound that call today. A call to act out
our denouncement of non performing governments, to voice out our
frustrations which we’ve held up for too long in our hearts, to reject
the perpetuation of our misery, to say no to another four years: to say
enough is enough.

We have today, a
window of opportunity to decide what happens in the next four years.
Maurice Iwu who superintended the last electoral hoax that gave us the
likes of the governor on the billboard has been removed. The electoral
reforms or at least some of what is left of the Uwais panel report
seems to be heading into our law books and most importantly the new
President Goodluck Jonathan has promised on more than one occasion to
organise an election in which votes will count and will be counted. Its
now up to us to take the right decisions the very first of which is to
ensure we are registered to vote. INEC says it’s an ongoing process at
every Local Government office nationwide.

Let’s equip ourselves to rephrase the line on the billboard. Let’s
ask the governor and his like across the country “Imagine life outside
Government House”. Yes we can.

Let me be candid. As much as I admire you, Mr.
President, for your good fortune, and statesmanlike mien, and as much
as I am intrigued by the remarkable nature of your rise to the
Presidency, I am sometimes tempted to think the worst – that you don’t
have much to offer Nigeria. That nagging voice of doubt tells me that
you are only more of the same.

Struggling to be heard amidst the din of that
negative voice is another; a smaller, but more reasonable voice,
insisting that you can make a huge difference; that you can be to
Nigerians what Barack Obama was (and I daresay still is) to millions of
Americans: one more reason to believe in our country, at a time when
cynicism is the new enthusiasm.

I have made a decision to listen to the smaller voice, and am therefore more than willing to give you the benefit of doubt.

Tied to that ‘benefit’, however, are words of
advice, obviously unsolicited, but wholeheartedly and genuinely offered
– a ‘7-point agenda’ for you to aspire to live by:

1. Vacancy: Radical reformers! – One thing former
President Obasanjo will always be credited for is the vibrancy of
government agencies under his watch – NAFDAC, EFCC, NCC, BPE, CBN, etc.
Baba sought the finest talent, wherever they existed, employed them,
empowered them, and allowed them to shine. That’s how we came to know
of Dora Akunyili and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Oby Ezekwesili and Nuhu
Ribadu.

Stick to that winning formula. It paid off handsomely for Obasanjo; sadly,Yar’Adua somehow never quite managed to pull it off.

2. Surprise, surprise. The greatest failing of our
leaders is that they have lost the capacity to surprise us. They are so
damn predictable – throwing sirens and pot-bellies around, closing down
airports because they are VIPs, generally acting like they are doing
the electorate a favour, spending all their time fighting real and
imagined opponents, Surprise us Mr. Prez. Don’t take yourself too
seriously. Life is short. Power is transient. Transparency and
accessibility are key. How about a weekly unscripted 30-minute
television and radio address to Nigerians,to establish a visceral
connection between the governer and the governed. Every week tell us in
unambiguous, cliché-free English what concrete steps you have taken
over previous week to make Nigeria a better place. For our self-esteem
and our morale Nigerians need a President who’s not only performing,
but also seen to be performing.

3. Tame the Dame. Let your wife know that it’ll no
longer be business as usual. We don’t need another Turai or Maryam (or
‘Mariam’,for that matter!) in this country. Tell Patience not to bother
calling any meetings of Nigerian, or African, first ladies. Tell her to
jettison any plans to launch a pet project. We’ve had enough. Let her
use her clout to support already existing projects, especially private
sector ones. There are orphanages and women shelters and cancer
foundations all over the country. Let the first lady support them
wholeheartedly, not compete with them for attention!

4. And those gallivanting Governors. Politely but
very firmly put them in their place. It’s very annoying to see a bunch
of governors – emblems of unadulterated mediocrity – strutting the land
in the name of a ‘Governors’ Forum’ and portraying themselves as ‘power
brokers’. Let them know that their constitutional and moral
responsibility is to provide good governance in their states, not run a
purposeless Governors Forum or turn Abuja into a holiday resort. And
while you’re at it kindly put an end to those jamborees a.k.a ‘state
visits’ on which those same governors squander public funds to take you
on painstakingly packaged ‘sightseeing’ trips around their capitals,
and make you commission white elephant projects. Step away from the
sanitised, festooned paths. Pay unscheduled visits. Allow yourself to
come face to face with the poverty and want that have blighted the land.

5. Click ‘n flip. Obasanjo boasted that he never
did it (which is probably why he had not the slightest idea how much
his 3rd term agenda riled Nigerians). Yar’Adua may have had no energy
to do it (and Turai evidently didn’t). But you must. It is imperative
that you pay attention to what Nigerians are saying – online and in the
newspapers. We are a garrulous lot, in love with the sound of our own
voices, but you can’t afford to not listen to us. Never depend on aides
to feed you second-hand. (Need I ask you to make www.234next.com the
default homepage on the presidential Blackberry’s browser?)

6. Show us your friends…: the legacies of
Obasanjo and Yar’Adua will forever be tainted by the transparently
shady characters they surrounded themselves with – the Andy Ubas and
James Iboris and Michael Aondoakaas to name a few. Keeping those kind
of people around you is the fastest and surest way to self-destruct.

7. Tune the talk. I listened to your inaugural address as President, and was disappointed by the surfeit of platitudes therein.

I desperately hoped to see you break free from the prepared speech
and speak to Nigerians, ‘man to man and woman’. I want you to look us
in the face as a nation and tell us something inspiring. True, you are
no Obama,and will never be, but I think you can learn a lot from paying
attention to the American. Tired speeches are a hallmark of tired
thinking. Hire new speechwriters, try out a teleprompter; and endeavour
to speak more from the heart.