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A Nation Besieged by Articulated Vehicles

The transport sector is often regarded as a vital sector in the economy of any nation. This is often as a result of the indispensable role that transport or transportation plays in the geographical movement of people, goods and services from one point to another. In effect it bridges the gap between the demand for and supply of goods and services. The role that transport plays in the economy of any nation is akin to the role of the blood in the circulatory system.

This is why serious countries in most parts of the world have evolved an enduring inter-modal transport system; a system that seamlessly integrates all modes of transport be it Land, [Rail &Road] Air and Water in a perfect and effective manner. The reasoning that each mode of transport is best suited for conveying or transporting certain types of goods and services informs the development and complementary roles that each mode of transport enjoys. This is the kernel or theory that underpins the idea behind an “inter-modal” or efficient transport system.

However, as it is not to be completely unexpected, which is attributable to the manner we do things in this clime, the reverse seem to be the case in Nigeria as the transport sector in Nigeria is bedeviled by chaos and a seeming incoherent and inchoate policy characterized by many policy somersaults, so to speak. It is trite to say that of all modes of transport recognized and in operation the world over, it is only the road transport sub sector that seems functional in Nigeria. This has led to an unprecedented level of congestion on Nigerian roads especially by articulated or heavy duty trucks carrying all manner of things and traversing the entire country. The ubiquity of these articulated vehicles on Nigerian roads have become a menace that both inter city and intra city travels on Nigerian roads have become not only a nightmare but a risky venture. The deliberate neglect of the rail sector and cosmetic efforts and approaches aimed at its revitalization by government has made the articulated vehicle the only viable option for conveying bulky goods across the vast lands of Nigeria. This has led to the “invasion” of every stretch of road by these articulated vehicles. This situation is clearly depicted in the way and manner these articulated vehicles park on major highways causing untoward and avoidable traffic hold ups. At times these articulated vehicles break down in the middle of roads in heavily populated cities thereby complicating the already complex traffic situation in such cities, at times also resulting into fatal accidents with heavy casualties.

In view of the inherent disadvantages which outweighs the advantages that over reliance on articulated vehicles as a means of conveying bulky goods over long distances has caused the country, it becomes imperative for those in charge of the transport sub sector of the Nigerian economy to begin to put on their “thinking caps” and begin to fashion out an enduring transport policy for the country.

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TASK BEFORE A JONATHAN PRESIDENCY

 As Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan is inaugurated on the 29th of May 2011, for a fresh tenure of office, it may not be presumptuous to declare that the task ahead of him is an onerous one. Starting with the pre-election politics and even the elections that brought him in as President, the cumulative events that produced him as Nigeria’s President brought out the entrenched cleavages and fissures that have held down the progress and development of the most populous black nation on earth. And this is where President Jonathan has his job cut out for him. He has to make concerted efforts to heal the wounds and unite a divided nation. The poignant lessons of the election results that declared him as President, shows that Nigeria is still very much divided along the primordial sentiment of religion and ethnicity. With the south voting overwhelmingly for him and the north voting overwhelmingly for his closest rival Muhammadu Buhari. Hence his actions in the next 4 years should be geared at making his mandate a Pan Nigerian mandate.

The general high rate of insecurity in the country characterized by sporadic bomb blasts across the country, kidnapping and armed robbery in the south, violent ethno –religious conflicts in the north and the recently unresolved cold blooded murder of 10 youth corps service members who were unjustly killed during the presidential elections should also engage his utmost attention. He must resolve to do everything his powers to solve these problems.

The rabid and massive unemployment particularly among young school leavers should also constitute a major fulcrum of his agenda for Nigeria in the next 4years. The imperatives of providing jobs for every willing Nigeria who is able to work cannot be underemphasized as the country is currently sitting on a “keg of gunpowder” with the high rate of unemployment and it shouldn’t be surprising if the doomsday prognostications of experts of an imminent demographic disaster implosion is not going to start before the end of his tenure.

The epileptic power supply in Nigeria, which has constituted serious embarrassments to all and sundry making the country a choice destination for all brands of power generators manufactured from all parts of the world including obscure locations should be addressed with the utmost seriousness and sense of urgency and responsibility it deserves. The President should realize that at the point we have reached with this intractable power problem in Nigeria, he may need to step on powerful toes and make out scapegoats if necessary. He also needs to realize that he needs a lot of political will to do what is necessary as far as the power sector in Nigeria is concerned.

The incoming administration of President Jonathan, should also take a holistic look and assessment of the three vital sectors of Agriculture, Education and Health of the Nigerian economy. He may want to know why these sectors and particularly their supervising ministries have turned into a cesspool of graft, massive corruption, nepotism, indolence, mediocrity and ineptitude. He should also be interested on why these important service ministries have nothing or little to show in terms of measurable service delivery in spite of the quantum of resources that have been sunk into them over the years. The President may need to enact a “broom revolution” so to speak in order to sweep out all the corrupt elements and tendencies that have made these ministries large “empires” and “dynasties” of corruption and nepotism. Even if the President is constrained in appointing technocrats into his cabinet, he should at least see to it that these 3 ministries are over seen by tested technocrats in the mould of the Oby Ezekwesili’s, Nuhu Ribadu’s Okonjo Iweala’s Pat Utomi’s El Rufai’s Lamido Sanusi’s and so on.

A Jonathan Presidency should also begin to set in motion modalities for the practice of true federalism in Nigeria, starting with fiscal federalism as the present unwieldy structure of the country continues to threaten good governance and cannot be sustainable in the long run.

In conclusion, it is hoped that President Jonathan availed himself the opportunity the ambience the Obudu Cattle Ranch in Calabar provided during his retreat, to read valuable books on the History of Nigeria. As a firm grasp of the history of Nigeria will help him navigate the intricate web of complexities that is associated with governing Nigeria, in the next 4years.

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Climate Change and its Implications for Africa

The gradual and deliberate change of the climate occasioned by humans’ quest for a more pleasurable and modern way of life devoid of the sedentary and drudgery that characterized the type of life their ancestors lived has begun to take its toll on all corners of the globe.

Climate change is actually a change in the general atmospheric and weather conditions of a place that may bring about a deleterious effect on the environment. Over the years, particularly beginning from the 19th century , humans’ activities in the environment have been having  a negative  consequence on the climate and environment, such that experts have argued that there is in fact a positive correlation between harmful environmental practices and climate change. Human’s quest for the good life has led to massive deforestation, dredging and silting up of rivers, emission of industrial effluents which cause air pollution, mass manufacture of automobiles with internal combustion engines which emits harmful carbon monoxide amongst several other practices have grossly distorted the natural cycle, such that in many parts of the globe several natural hazards have become a regular occurrence.

In Africa, for instance one imminent threat is the geographical advancement of the Sahara desert leading to desertification in most parts of sub Saharan Africa. The irregularity of the rains in most parts of sub Saharan Africa is also a looming threat which has been linked to climate change. For instance in Northern Nigeria, the possibility that this year is going to be one of drought looks certain as the rains have refused to start  as at march when  it is due, forcing farmers to delay their planting season which will inadvertently affect harvests. This is also likely to be the situation in most parts of Africa, as agriculture is still “rain fed” in most parts of the continent. The intense heating and high rate of evaporation in most parts of the continent also calls for concern as it has resulted in the shrinking some say disappearance of the Lake Chad, a major inland drainage basin with serious consequence for the water cycle.

Unless a concerted effort is made by all stakeholders, on this topical issue of climate change especially in Africa, it is feared that in the not too distant future, the continent may face serious environmental challenges as a result of climate change.

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The Role of the Informal Sector in African Economy

The informal sector of the economy often refers to the unregulated and mostly unregistered sector of the economy, put simply it refers to the numerous petty or small scale businesses operated by artisans, peasants and other micro entrepreneurs, within the economy.

Experts have argued that in most African economies, the informal sector is often the driving force of the economy and that as a matter of fact it is opined that the reason why most Western originated economic recovery prescriptions channeled through the World Bank, IMF and so on to Africa have often failed is because of the inability of such prescriptions to take the informal sector in most of these African economies into consideration.

The prominence of the informal sector in most African economies cannot really be underemphasized as almost all persons who cannot find placements within the formal sector of the economy finds solace in the informal sector of the economy. In as much as the informal sector, drives most African economies, it is a very much neglected sector as it seldom accounts for a pride of place in government planning for the overall economy. This may be due to a myriad of factors such as the unregistered and unregulated nature of most businesses in the informal sector, poor work ethics of most micro entrepreneurs, which often leads to mismanagement of such businesses, tax evasion and illiteracy on the part of most operators in the informal sector.

Giving the role of the informal sector, in the economies of most African nations, governments in African countries should begin to take more than a simple look at the informal sector with a view of enacting policies that will synergize the informal and formal sectors in order to unleash the vast potentials of the African economy since activities in both sectors of the economy are not mutually exclusive. A massive drive to register and have a data base of all businesses in the informal sector can also be carried out to ascertain the number and needs of the operators in the informal sector.

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The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Nigeria: A Threatened Scheme

The National Youth Service Corps [NYSC] was a scheme set up almost immediately after the end of the Nigerian Civil War. In 1973 to be precise, to help heal the wounds of the civil war and particularly help foster national integration amongst young Nigerian school graduates.

That the NYSC scheme was a novel one was not in doubt, as it provided an avenue for young graduates to be posted or deployed to states or regions different from their indigenous or native regions/states. This enabled such youth corps members to become acquainted with the norms, values and culture of other Nigerians who were not from the same region as them.

The NYSC scheme has sought to do this since its inception in 1973, as thousands of Nigerian graduates including the current Nigerian President and his Vice have partook in the scheme. The prestige and importance which partaking in the scheme confers on Nigerian graduates was further reinforced by the legislation enacted that for any graduate to gain employment anywhere in Nigeria either in the private or public sectors, such persons must have completed the mandatory 1 year NYSC scheme.

However, recent untoward events in Nigeria have begun to threaten the existence of this once noble scheme. One of such is that the multitude of graduates which Nigerian universities churn out cannot find placement or accommodation within the scheme. Such that participation in the scheme has become compartmentalized into batches and streams within batches. This has led to a situation whereby graduates were left to languish for years before they could secure placements in the scheme to serve their fatherland.

Another issue which threatens to eclipse the survival of the scheme and which many observers feels portends a grave danger to it, is the killing and maiming of youth corps members across the country mostly during political and ethnic upheavals. The recent being the slaying of a couple of youth corps members in the recent post election violence that engulfed some parts of Nigeria. The sexual harassment of female youth corps members by “respectable” members of the community in places where such youth corps members are posted for national service is another serious factor hampering the survival of the scheme.

The NYSC has indeed come of age, and there is no doubt that in a diverse and plural country like Nigeria, it is a scheme capable of pulling the fabrics of the disparate tendencies in Nigeria together. But unfortunately, it seems like everything “Nigerian” the scheme seem to be tottering towards a collapse.

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Congress for Progressive Change (CPC): The Rise and Fall of a Nigerian Political Party

The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) seems to have reached its final political denouement in its short period of existence in the political history of Nigeria. For sometime to come, scholars and political analysts would continue to ponder on what went wrong, with the political party that swept across the Nigerian nation particularly the northern part like a blitzkrieg. This was a party that menacingly threatened to take over the government of Nigeria at the federal and local levels.

However the “cookie appears to have crumbled” for this once promising political party which many thought was a viable alternative to the ruling political party in Nigeria, the People’s Democratic Party [PDP]. As at the time of writing this, the CPC appears to have been able to win only one [1] state in the gubernatorial elections in an election held in more than 25 states of the federation, and few federal and local parliamentary seats even in its so called strong holds. It was shellacked in the presidential polls by the ruling party. It is instructive to note that the CPC posted such a dismal outing, in spite of the fact that the 2011 general elections in Nigeria was adjudged by both international and local observers as relatively free and fair. But what could have led to such a dismal outing at the polls which is now threatening to eclipse the existence of a once promising political party?

Many informed observers may tend to situate the failure of the CPC and its imminent extinction within the realm of a multivariate analysis, that is, preponderance of factors. Hence it may only be possible to highlight just a few of such factors.

It may be recalled that the CPC was a break away faction of another opposition party, the All Nigerian People’s Party [ANPP]. The prime mover behind the CPC was Muhammadu Buhari  a former Nigerian Head Of State who had run for the presidency on the platform of the ANPP twice in 2003 and 2007 and lost. Hence as a result of his dissatisfaction with events within the ANPP then, he and his supporters decided to form a new political party not tainted and not burdened with the problems and poor public perception of the ANPP.

This decision instantly won the support of many people particularly the common man on the streets especially in most parts of northern Nigerian. The seeming honesty, integrity, sound principles and iron-cast discipline of Muhammadu Buhari  became something which the common man particularly in the northern parts of Nigeria could identify with. This looked logical given the severe neglect and disappointment the common man in the north had suffered in the hands of the mainstream traditional/business/political elites in the north who incidentally have been in charge of governance in Nigeria as a whole over the years.

This led to frenzy particularly in the north, as support for the party in the north spread like wild fire particularly amongst dregs, miscreants, urchins and barely literate members of the society, most of whom did not even have voter’s cards! This proved to be one of the greatest undoing of the party, as the party either deliberately or due to an oversight or a combination of both could NOT organize its exultant, delirious and wild crowd which some people prefer to identify as a mob into an effective, cohesive and articulate group that understands the issues at stake and knows how to achieve its objectives and can generally help the party to achieve political success. Hence it was not so surprising that the “CPC mob” went for anything in sight when it became obvious it has lost the presidential elections. Or how do we explain the burning of churches, torching of houses of innocent Nigerians, killing and maiming of perceived opponents particularly in the Northern parts of Nigeria. This singular action may have further alienated the party and its torch bearer Muhammadu Buhari from most people and even would be supporters in a country as diverse as Nigeria. The pitiable state to which the CPC appears to have driven itself, could be gleaned from the restriction order slammed on Muhammadu Buhari a former Head Of State from entering some states of the federation to campaign for his party in the just concluded gubernatorial elections on security grounds.

The other major costly mistake which the CPC appeared to have made was the inability or refusal of the party to reach out to or ally with other opposition parties especially in the southern part of Nigeria, particularly the equally popular and more successful Action Congress Of Nigeria [ACN] which was brimming with a lot of “Young Turks” and politically savvy strategists and apparently better organized both politically and financially. In as much as Nigerians were disenchanted with the status quo as exemplified by the PDP, they could not fully trust a political party who although was led by someone who is honest, and has integrity yet could not remove the misconstrued Toga of a religious and ethnic irredentist no matter how hard he sought to remove it. The inability of Buhari and his CPC to dissolve itself into a Pan Nigerian coalition of progressive forces seriously imperiled its ability to gain national prominence in the elections. The insistence of the CPC to go into the elections particularly the presidential elections alone is akin to someone who wants to travel to Manhattan from The Bronx but insists on going through London or in local parlance wants to make a journey to Lagos from Kaduna but insists on going through the Republic of Chad.

In conclusion, it’s quite obvious that it is sunset for the CPC but only time can tell if the party can bounce back fro its present self-contrived situation.

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The Menace of Child Street Begging in Northern Nigeria

The geographical region referred to as northern Nigeria covers more than half of the total land area of Nigeria. It is also a region with vast agricultural potentials as a variety of tropical agricultural systems is widely practiced there leading to the mass cultivation of food and cash crops. As a matter of fact, the popular and defunct groundnut pyramid was one of the regular features and symbols of this region during the heydays of agriculture in Nigeria.

This is also a region where a lot of mineral resources such as limestone, bauxite, kaolin, phosphate, tin and columbite are found in substantial commercial quantities.

However a puzzling feature of this region is the menace of child street begging which is pervasive especially in the core northern areas or states of Nigeria. [ie spatial units of administration] Such areas include Kano, Bauchi, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Jigawa, Borno, Katsina, Gombe, Yobe and parts of Nassarawa, Niger and Kaduna.

That a region which is so much endowed potentially and actually is riddled with this social malaise is confounding. These child street beggars mostly between the ages of [3-17] years are a regular feature of most of these areas mentioned. They regularly move about in groups of 5-20 with plates or bowls in hand soliciting for stipends, food, or anything edible from people or passers by. Some commentators have argued that this societal ill has a cultural/religious dimension to it, while others argue that it has more of the political dimension to it. As those who believe in this particular mantra have argued that the present volatile nature and persistent violence in northern Nigeria can be traced to the activities of these child street beggars.

Whichever school of thought one belongs to, it is pertinent to draw the attention of political, traditional/cultural and religious leaders in Northern Nigeria to this untoward social behavior, on the need to put a stop to this practice. It is unfathomable that in this age and time when kids who should be in school or doing something positive with their lives are left to roam about the streets, all in the name of whatever social/cultural/religious or political nuances. As the future of any society can only be guaranteed if it takes adequate care of its youthful population or future generations.

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Imperatives for the Survival of Democracy in Africa

The nearly universal acceptance of democracy as a perfect organizing principle of government among nation states across the world has led to the embrace of this concept both in theory and practice by all and sundry.

History has it that democracy originated in ancient Greece and since then, it has undergone several modifications, from “direct” democracy, where the people directly involved with governance to “indirect” democracy where people elect those to govern on their behalf. The centrality and importance which democracy places on the ordinary people, as reflected in the freedom of the people to freely choose those to govern them either through direct voting or indirect voting  has further led to the popularity of democracy particularly since the end of the cold war which led to the balkanization of the former soviet union.

Much as democracy has continued to triumph in different parts of the globe, the history of democracy in the African continent right from the 1960’s when most African nations gained independence till this present moment leaves much to be desired. It may be an understatement to say that democracy in Africa has witnessed much travail. Except for a few exceptional cases, the story in most parts of Africa has been similar. Is it the Zimbabwean experience, or the Ivorian case, or the recent post election violence in Nigeria, the Libyan debacle, the Somalian state of anomie, the Ugandan saga and so on. The list seem quit endless.

The question to be asked is why does democracy flourish in other parts of the world but doesn’t in Africa? A cursory look at the places where democracy is fully operational in the real sense of the word particularly in Europe, America and parts of Asia reveals that the critical “middle class” [ie a class of people with adequate education, and sufficient economic power] exists. In most of these places, it is the middle class that sets the tone for political activities as they are fully aware of their rights, obligations, problems and limitations. They are also fully aware and conscious of ways in which these micro problems [personal] and macro [national] problems could be solved. Hence this critical mass of people provides an essential bulwark between the minority upper class people and majority lower class people.

It is this essential economic group of middle class citizens that have been wiped out of most countries in Africa where democracy has been transmogrified or stifled. If democracy in its true form is to thrive in Africa, it is essential that the middle class is brought back. It is also noteworthy to point out that the extinction of the middle class in most parts of Africa has been a deliberate effort by most leaders in Africa who got to power through the democratic process, and thereafter proceeded to destroy the foundations of the democratic lever through which they came to power in order to tighten their grip on power.

A second imperative for the survival of democracy in Africa is for African scholars and political theorists to begin to develop indigenous political thoughts and theories that will seek to integrate traditional African leadership systems and norms with popular democratic culture. As we cannot continue to deny that democracy still remains essentially a Western concept and not an indigenous system. This has been successfully done in most parts of Asia; hence it is not surprising that some countries in that part of the world continue to bask in the euphoria as the “largest democracies in the world”.

In conclusion, for democracy to survive in Africa, there must be a concerted effort on the part of its intelligentsia, political elites, intellectuals, traditional institutions and masses to work selflessly together in order to enthrone an enduring democratic culture upon which democracy can grow.

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