Sunday, December 30, 2018

MONEY & ACCOUNTABILITY‹Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Prof Olukotun's Column




My friends,   I have been following this correspondence. It has covered a wide range of important matters. 

It is not so different from correspondence and conversation I engaged on these same issues with equally informed—often equally bemused and anguished—persons in the 1960s; albeit in much smaller numbers. The difference? Today we have e-mails and the Internet. Hence we can have immediate contact; and these immediate conversations. And these conversations are very important. Not only do they help to inform/ remind/ correct/ and update us on many important matters; they cause us to think and re-think; theory and practice are often given a stimulating nudge. 

I shan't repeat what individuals have covered. Only to say, collectively they have reminded me of the considerable task that confronts any person/ collectivity/ body seeking to effect the updates/ alterations/ remedies required.

MONEY & PROPER ACCOUNTABILITY

If I may put it simply, 
—The key issue is MONEY—when is it not? 
—The key question is HOW TO EFFECT PROPER ACCOUNTABILITY? 

Sounds simple. But after nearly 60 years of seeking ways to achieve this, one might say that effecting Proper Accountability in relation to Nigerian Governance has proved elusive. 

For persons who may have any doubts about emergence/ swift rise to prominence of these issues, let me refer to the very first steps afforded Nigerians to undertake full responsibility for conducting their own governmental lives—WITHOUT paternal/ over-reaching Brit Authority to make final decisions. This happened in the early 1950s in the then-East Region, and their Local Govt Authorities. And this was the result: 


" …By 1955 a large number of local authorities had created adequate mischief for Dr. AzikIwe, premier of the Eastern Region, to declare that 'it does no credit . . . to fill Local Government bodies . . . with crooks. . . .'  His comments were based partially on the findings of governmental inquiries which had uncovered very serious mis-conduct by elected councillors in three of the Region's principal cities.  The evidence indicated graphically that many of the members of the councils in question had moved quickly and boldly to manipulate the organs of government now in their control to generate substantial benefits for themselves, …their supporters, [friends and family]. As rapid and bold as these actions had been, they were also excessive and indiscreetly executed." (Vickers, Bright Beams in Dark Shadow, pp.736-37)


The experience of the East was duly replicated by Local Councils in the other Regions of Nigeria as each acquired its autonomy. Briefly, the foundations for what was to spread to the Regional Govts and to the Central Govt—what became known as the "Nigerian Political Game"—evolved from this base of mis-behaviour. It is the root of what has resulted in massive wastage/ leakage/ by State and Central Govts of Nigeria up to the present. (See, Funmi Odusolu, https://www.tribuneonlineng.com/179290/ passim)  


When one reads EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) / and other astonishing reports of inquiries investigating such mis-behaviour, it often seems that funds in a Governor's/ minister's departmental treasury, are regarded by that person as his personal property and that he is entitled to do with it as he likes. Indeed, after the 2007 elections, it was reported that "Most of the governors who left Office …have either been tried and convicted or are still undergoing judicial trials on corruption charges." (Vickers, On Wings of Light, p. 132, n.14 ) Jail or voluntary exile seems merely an "occupational hazard" for most Governors/Leading Politicians who fail to secure re-election. Little shame is attached. And when they re-appear on their "home patch" as most duly do, they are greatly welcomed by their supporters. There often is bounty to be shared. 


Thus, at this late point, with the February elections closing fast, there is no chance that major issues requiring Government decisions—particularly issues which could diminish the envisaged "pot of gold" of involved/ concerned ministers/ politicians—will come forward. There may be talk, but no action. Political contenders will be focused on what they hope will be "winning tactics;" and gaining/ retaining control of that "pot of gold"/ and perhaps a share of others.  


But for post-election, tis important to have key issues set up and ready to go. 


Arguably, issues of MONEY and  ACCOUNTABILITY need first to be addressed and advanced. 


Key Questions: 


—HOW TO EFFECT PROPER ACCOUNTABILITY?


—Can this Accountability be achieved BY INTERNAL GOVT--STATE & FEDERAL OFFICES, AND THEIR OFFICIALS?  


—Can this Accountability best be achieved by EXTERNAL/ INDEPENDENT MODERATORS/ REGULATORS; APPOINTED UNDER THE UN; AND WORKING IN CONSULTATION/ GUIDANCE OF SELECTED BODIES AND INDIVIDUALS PROVIDING OBSERVERS FOR THE 2019 ELECTIONS? 

Key Specialists in these Lists, with vital information and experience in these sectors/ matters, can help much in shaping whatever initiatives may emerge. Such discussions/ with Action Trajectories will be of great value. 

Let them be our New Year's Challenges, leading duly to Major Resolutions achieved in 2019. 

All best,  Baba m




AFRICA—DOING VERY WELL

Finally, let me put to one side these "all-in-wrestling" issues/ challenges that face us for the immediate future. Let me put in context Africa of yesterday, today and tomorrow. 

Africa and its folk are not doing badly at all. In fact they are doing very well—despite many handicaps, and the longstanding negative agenda the meedja prefers/ strengthened by the guidance of our oligarchs. 

"Rome was not built in a day." 
Neither is Modern Africa. 
In the huge hustle of this our Modern Age, 
We sometimes forget this. 

" …The Euro/ Developed world used its massive material and technological capacity, its overwhelming power thus produced, to access Africa lands, to plunder and to divide. Africa folk were confronted with an alien mind-set, and of course no evolved technology and associated materiel through which successfully to resist. The Euro-invaders, though in most instances operating at full throttle for less than a century before being driven out, left a heavy imprint:  a heritage of deep social and cultural dysfunction; profound damage that has ensured parallel dysfunction in the governance and economies of all new Africa states. Indeed, with many Euro and other states now active in new colonial acquisitive ventures, Africa still has a distance to travel before it may once again secure effective guardianship and control over its own lands and resources.

"In the past fifty years, however, Africa has been working hard, and moving fast—though from modern media coverage one could be forgiven for believing the reverse. Natural gifts and talents in growing numbers have been realized and actuated. In all areas of business and commerce, in the many branches of the academy, in science and technology; Africa folk have joined specialists from the Western and developed world at the very pinnacle of brilliance, invention and accomplishment. It is a fantastic record of achievement. And it continues at ever growing pace.

"Thus the 'Engine Room' of Africa is only just starting to produce serious thrust. It is a thrust rooted in great reservoirs of energy and ravenous hunger for all things. And while “primitive accumulation” by most Africa oligarchs is the current norm—a practice that has turned many of its most brilliant and productive citizens into exiles; and that also is holding back a massive range of vitally important development throughout the continent—release and actuation will come. There is a limit to the time that growing multitudes of Africa folk of high talent, energy and intelligence can be ignored/ excluded/ suppressed. The huge and ever-growing force, the thrust from below grows daily. Eventually it will become too much. It will breach the “oligarchical dam.” There will be a huge release. Folk from distant diasporic lands, and from all levels in Africa society, will flood forward. Africa will come into its own." (Vickers, On Wings of Light, pp.23-4)  



AND LEST WE FORGET …

While our Africa oligarchs, and indeed others in much of the less-materially developed world, are passing through this immensely damaging phase of "primitive accumulation"; there are some who seek to live up to their public responsibility; one of care and support for their peoples. 

This was the Address given by Imran Khan, when elected President of Pakistan, in July 2018.  Nothing like it has ever been heard from any leading Nigeria ruler. Of course, there is post-election rhetoric, and post-election acts. Nigeria is not the only country where words and acts greatly differ. All will duly be revealed. ) 

(Note:  It might be added that PM Khan had a very short Political Honeymoon. With more than a touch of Westernism in his values and life experience, the Oxford-educated and brilliant International cricketer of earlier years, is being tested on issues deep-rooted in the Faith and culture of many Islamic Pakistan folk. There have been riots and deaths. Pakistan folk, it has been regularly demonstrated, have no hesitation about engaging in Direct Action. They speak up/ and often take action when they wish to make a point. They take casualties, as do the subjects of their wrath). 


NEW PM, PAKISTAN’S IMRAN KHAN, DELIVERS HIS MESSAGE

 

29 July, 2018

 

 

My effort will be that we try our best to raise these people up, that all of our policies be focused on human development. I want the whole country to think like this.

No country can prosper when there is a small island of rich people, and a sea of poor.

I want all of Pakistan to unite. I want to make it clear that anyone who was against us, who voted against us, I think the kind of personal attacks that I have seen, no one has seen those, but I have forgotten all of those, they are behind me. ... my cause is far bigger than me.

We will not do any kind of political victimising. We will establish supremacy of the law ... whoever violates the law, we will act against them.

Our state institutions will be so strong that they will stop corruption. Accountability will start with me, then my ministers, and then it will go from there.

We will set an example of how the law is the same for everyone. If the West is ahead of us today, it is because their laws are not discriminatory .... this will be our biggest guiding principle.

The biggest challenge we are facing is the economic crisis ... we have never had such a huge fiscal deficit. All of this is because our economy is going down because of dysfunctional institutions. 

PTI chief Imran Khan: "We will uplift the poor people, we will uplift the labourers"#ElectionPakistan2018pic.twitter.com/Js8HneBcvd

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) July 26, 2018

We need to make an atmosphere for doing business.

I think our greatest asset is our overseas Pakistanis ... we will fix governance and invite them to invest here.

Our second problem is unemployment. We have the second youngest population in the world ... they need jobs.

Where Pakistan is standing right now, I am telling you that we will run Pakistan like it has never been run before ... and we will start with ourselves.

All rulers who have come so far, they spend money on themselves .... the way our ruling elite spends money, how will anyone pay tax?

People don't pay taxes, because they see how our ruling elite spends that money [on themselves].

I promise that I will protect the people's tax money. We will cut all of our expenses. I am telling you here that the PM House, this huge mansion ... in a country where there are so many poor people, I would be embarrassed to live there.

We will use as an educational institute ... all governor houses will be used for the public. We might convert some of them into hotels, as we did in Nathia Gali.

My point is that what we have seen in Pakistan so far, the way the ruling elite has lived off the country's taxes, I will end this.

We have to escape this economic crisis. No one is coming to save us.

We will strengthen the anti-corruption institutions ... and hopefully, our farmers, the whole government will work to make sure the farmers make money somehow.

We will help small businesses. We will bring in new things to bring in employment for young people.

The next thing I want to talk about is that we face a very big foreign policy challenge ... if any country needs peace right now, then it is Pakistan.

Our economic crisis is such that we want to have good relations with all our neighbours ... China gives us a huge opportunity through CPEC, to use it and drive investment into Pakistan.

We want to learn from China how they brought 700 million people out of poverty ... The other thing we can learn from China is ... the measures they have taken against corruption, how they have arrested more than 400 ministers there.

Then there is Afghanistan, a country that has suffered the most in the war on terror. Afghanistan's people need peace. We want peace there. If there is peace in Afghanistan, there will be peace in Pakistan. We will make every effort to achieve peace there.

We want to have open borders with Afghanistan one day

With the US, we want to have a mutually beneficial relationship ... up until now, that has been one way, the US thinks it gives us aid to fight their war ... we want both countries to benefit, we want a balanced relationship.

We want to improve ties with Iran. Saudi Arabia is a friend who has always stood by us in difficult times. Our aim will be that whatever we can do for conciliation in the Middle East, we want to play that role. Those tensions, that fight, between neighbours, we will try to bring them together.

On India: I was saddened in the last few days, how the media in India portrayed me as a Bollywood film villain. It seemed like India feared everything bad would happen if Imran Khan came into power. I am the Pakistani who has the most familiarity with India, I have been all over that country.

I think it will be very good for all of us if we have good relations with India. We need to have trade ties, and the more we will trade, both countries will benefit. The unfortunate truth is that Kashmir is a core issue, and the situation in Kashmir, and what the people of Kashmir have seen in the last 30 years .... they have really suffered.

Pakistan and India's leadership should sit at a table and try to fix this problem. It's not going anywhere.

We are at square one right now [with India]. If India's leadership is ready, we are ready to improve ties with India. If you step forward one step, we will take two steps forward.

I say this with conviction, this will be the most important thing for the subcontinent, for both countries to have friendship.

To end, I pledge to my Pakistani nation that I will prove that we can fix our governance system in this country, we can also bring a governance system that can make the people's lives easier.

I pledge this to you today, it will be my foremost aim to remain as simple as possible ... in this poor country, these huge symbols, these mansions and protocols, on public's money, I pledge that there will be a different kind of governance in Pakistan. 

I am saying to you today, that for the first time, Pakistan's policies won't be for the few rich people, it will be for the poor, for our women, for our minorities, whose rights are not respected. My whole aim will be to protect our lower classes and to bring them up.

Finally, on rigging. Today political parties claim there was rigging. The first thing I will say is that this election commission was formed by the two main political parties, the PPP and PML-N. This was not a PTI election commission. I say to you today, if you say there was rigging in any one constituency, we will stand with you and aid in its investigation.

Today I say, in any constituency you want to investigate, we are ready to stand with you and investigate it. This is the cleanest election in Pakistan's history." 

 ————————————————







From: Prof Richard JOSEPH <r-joseph@northwestern.edu>
Date: Sunday, 30 December 2018 12:15
To: "Harrow, Kenneth" <harrow@msu.edu>
Cc: USA-AFRICA dialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>, "okinbalaunko@yahoo.com" <okinbalaunko@yahoo.com>, "hassansaliu2003@gmail.com" <hassansaliu2003@gmail.com>, dare oyetunde <talk2oyetunde@gmail.com>, Prof Ayo OLUKOTUN <ayo_olukotun@yahoo.com>, "Prof Eghosa E. OSAGHAE" <osaghaeeghosa@yahoo.co.uk>, Willy Fawole <fawolew@yahoo.com>, Grace Omoshaba <gmso2002@yahoo.com>, "eyitayolambo@yahoo.com" <eyitayolambo@yahoo.com>, Orogun Olanike <dam_nik@yahoo.com>, "ibrahim.gambari@gmail.com" <ibrahim.gambari@gmail.com>, InnocentChukwuma <i.chukwuma@fordfoundation.org>, "Nwulu, Paul" <P.Nwulu@fordfoundation.org>, Prof Akin Mabogunje <akinmabo@gmail.com>, Prof Bayo ADEKANYE <profbayo_adekanye@yahoo.com>, InnocentChukwuma <innocent.chukwuma@fordfoundation.org>, Prof Tunde BABAWALE <tunde_babawale@yahoo.com>, Prof Jide Owoeye <babsowoeye@gmail.com>, "felixadenaike@yahoo.com" <felixadenaike@yahoo.com>, Prof Wale ADEBANWI <waleadebanwi@gmail.com>, Ayobami Salami <ayobasalami@yahoo.com>, AdebayoOlukoshi <olukoshi@gmail.com>, "niyi.tlc@gmail.com" <niyi.tlc@gmail.com>, Niyi Osundare <oosunda1@uno.edu>, Kayode Soremekun <paddykay2002@yahoo.com>, Rotimi Suberu <rotimisuberu@yahoo.com>, OlatunjiAyanlaja <t.ayanlaja@gmail.com>, "ebunoduwole2k2@yahoo.com" <ebunoduwole2k2@yahoo.com>, "tolaopa2003@gmail.com" <tolaopa2003@gmail.com>, "abashafa@gmail.com" <abashafa@gmail.com>, Mohammed Haruna <ndajika01@gmail.com>, "rotaben@gmail.com" <rotaben@gmail.com>, AnthonyAsiwaju <tonyasiwaju@gmail.com>, Odia OFEIMUN <odia55@yahoo.com>, "dr_golat@yahoo.com" <dr_golat@yahoo.com>, "charlieedema@yahoo.co.uk" <charlieedema@yahoo.co.uk>, Ashobanjo <ashobanjo@aol.com>, "yemiogunbiyi@gmail.com" <yemiogunbiyi@gmail.com>, Christina Olaoluwa <tinabola@yahoo.com>, Dr Banji OYEYINKA <boyeyinka@hotmail.com>, "Dr O.A. DOSUMU" <toksx@yahoo.com>, Oluwayomi D ATTE <david_atte@yahoo.com>, "tsombe98@yahoo.com" <tsombe98@yahoo.com>, "femiotubanjo@gmail.com" <femiotubanjo@gmail.com>, "twasaolu@yahoo.co.uk" <twasaolu@yahoo.co.uk>, "DrAkinwumi A. Adesina" <adesina1234@gmail.com>, Attahiru Jega <attahirujega@yahoo.com>, "oibidapoobe@gmail.com" <oibidapoobe@gmail.com>, Hafsat Abiola <hafsatabiola@hotmail.com>, Prof Taiwo OWOEYE <sistertees@hotmail.com>, F&CSecurities Limited <fc@hyperia.com>, "Prof. W.O. Alli" <alliwo@yahoo.co.uk>, Yomi Layinka <yourme5@yahoo.co.uk>, "aiolayinka@yahoo.com" <aiolayinka@yahoo.com>, "cyrilobi@hotmail.com" <cyrilobi@hotmail.com>, Abimbola Asojo <aasojo@umn.edu>, "tadeakinaina@yahoo.com" <tadeakinaina@yahoo.com>, AdetounAdetona <adetounadetona@googlemail.com>, Ariyo Andrew Tobi <tobaaan@yahoo.co.uk>, Friday Okonofua <feokonofua@yahoo.co.uk>, Tunde Rahman <tunderahmanu@yahoo.com>, dhikru adewale yagboyaju <aswaj2003@yahoo.com>, DeleAshiru <ashirudele@yahoo.co.uk>, Akinjide OSUNTOKUN <josuntokun@yahoo.com>, Bunmi Makinwa <bunmimakinwa@hotmail.com>, Prof YACOB-HALISO <jumoyin@yahoo.co.uk>, Bolaji Ogunseye <erinje@yahoo.com>, Prof YACOB-HALISO <jumoyin@gmail.com>, "ofemibabatunde@yahoo.com" <ofemibabatunde@yahoo.com>, Prof Osinbajo <yemiosinbajo@yahoo.com>, "bankole.omotoso@gmail.com" <bankole.omotoso@gmail.com>, Segun Awonusi <segunawo@yahoo.com>, Abigail Ogwezzy <abigaily2k@yahoo.com>, "adebayow@hotmail.com" <adebayow@hotmail.com>, "asoiaelkenany2007@yahoo.com" <asoiaelkenany2007@yahoo.com>, May <mayortk@yahoo.com>, Olufunke Adeboye <funks29adeboye@yahoo.co.uk>, ToksOlaoluwa <olaoluwatokunboh@gmail.com>, TopeOlaiya <estyyolly@yahoo.com>, Tale Omole <taleomole@yahoo.com>, Assisi Asobie <assisiasobie@gmail.com>, "obmailafia@gmail.com" <obmailafia@gmail.com>, RemiAnifowose <francoremy@yahoo.com>, "jadesany@yahoo.co.uk" <jadesany@yahoo.co.uk>, OLAYODE OLUSOLA <kennyode@yahoo.com>, Toyosi Ogunseye <toyosi_ogunseye@yahoo.com>, "stelbeyke@yahoo.com" <stelbeyke@yahoo.com>, "S.O. UWAIFO" <so_uwaifo@yahoo.co.uk>, Royal Gardens <royalgardensnet@gmail.com>, Michael VICKERS <mvickers@mvickers.plus.com>, Ayo Banjo <profayobanjo@yahoo.com>, "yomotoso@gmail.com" <yomotoso@gmail.com>, Adigun Agbaje <adigunagbaje@yahoo.com>, EstherOluwaseunIdowu <bethelidowu@gmail.com>, "Dr.Remi SONAIYA" <remisonaiya@yahoo.com>, Noel Ihebuzor <noel.ihebuzor@gmail.com>, "tundeoseni@gmail.com" <tundeoseni@gmail.com>, "ozoesonpi@yahoo.com" <ozoesonpi@yahoo.com>, Emmanuel Remi Aiyede <eaiyede@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Prof Olukotun's Column

Ken, I believe this is a good response. We can’t just speculate about causes and solutions. 

We had high hopes for South Africa when the political chains of apartheid were removed a quarter-century ago. They have been replaced by the chains of a “predatory republic” all-too-familiar (Jeyifo) in the rest of “independent” Africa.

It doesn’t help folks who do not have access to basic services - clean water, adequate health care, effective schools, safe public transport, reliable electricity, sanitation, disposal of household trash, etc. - to tell them that pernicious forms of misgovernance can be found elsewhere. 

Ethiopia used to be paired with Rwanda as models of authoritarian development suitable for the continent. The Ethiopian people are casting off that system after years of arduous struggle. A glittering prison can always be constructed. Is that the answer?

Out of this dialogue, and others being conducted, plausible steps forward can be identified. 

This hope and commitment can be taken into 2019 despite the barriers and traps.

Richard 

  
On Dec 29, 2018, at 9:17 PM, Harrow, Kenneth <harrow@msu.edu> wrote:

who polices the police, like who would educate the educators, is the question

we used to have corruption of the people who oversaw collection of taxes for imported goods, in the u.s., in the 19th c.

i don't know precisely why that ended. i don't know what stopped corruption of police in boston; in new york it was a reformist mayor.

for africa, i have heard maybe one talk on the topic by an economist, who had opinions on different classes of countries. i know too little to pass judgment on causes or cures. if i really wanted to know, i'd ask which countries seem to have best adddressed the issue, and ask what has worked best to end it. i've heard there is little corruption in rwanda, but the reasons linked to a police state run by kagame might be a bad model for other countries.


i'd like to hear from those whose know more about the topic than what i know, to learn better what works and what fails.

ken


kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu

From:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2018 1:37:46 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com; okinbalaunko@yahoo.com; hassansaliu2003@gmail.com; r-joseph@northwestern.edu; dare oyetunde; ayo_olukotun-yahoo. com
Cc: osaghaeeghosa@yahoo.co.uk; Willy Fawole; Grace Omoshaba; eyitayolambo@yahoo.com; Orogun Olanike; ibrahim.gambari@gmail.com; InnocentChukwuma; Paul Nwulu; Prof Akin Mabogunje; profbayo_adekanye@yahoo.com; InnocentChukwuma; Tunde_babawale-yahoo. Com; babsowoeye@gmail.com; felixadenaike@yahoo.com; waleadebanwi@gmail.com; Ayobami Salami; AdebayoOlukoshi; niyi.tlc@gmail.com; Oluwaniyi Osundare; Kayode Soremekun; Rotimi Suberu; OlatunjiAyanlaja; ebunoduwole2k2@yahoo.com; tolaopa2003@gmail.com; abashafa@gmail.com; Mohammed Haruna; rotaben@gmail.com; AnthonyAsiwaju; odia55@yahoo.com; dr_golat@yahoo.com; charlieedema@yahoo.co.uk; Ashobanjo; yemiogunbiyi@gmail.com; Christina Olaoluwa; boyeyinka@hotmail.com; toksx@yahoo.com; David Atte; tsombe98@yahoo.com; femiotubanjo@gmail.com; twasaolu@yahoo.co.uk; DrAkinwumi A. Adesina; Attahiru Jega; oibidapoobe@gmail.com; hafsatabiola@hotmail.com; sistertees@hotmail.com; F&CSecurities Limited; Prof. W.O. Alli; Yomi LAYIINKA; aiolayinka@yahoo.com; cyrilobi@hotmail.com; Abimbola Asojo; tadeakinaina@yahoo.com; AdetounAdetona; Ariyo Andrew Tobi; Friday Okonofua; Tunde Rahman; DhikruAdewale Yagboyaju; DeleAshiru; josuntokun@yahoo.com; bunmimakinwa@hotmail.com; jumoyin@yahoo.co.uk; Bolaji Ogunseye; OlajumokeYacob-Haliso; ofemibabatunde@yahoo.com; Prof Osinbajo; bankole.omotoso@gmail.com; Prof. Segun Awonusi; Abigail Ogwezzy; adebayow@hotmail.com; asoiaelkenany2007@yahoo.com; May; Olufunke Adeboye; ToksOlaoluwa; TopeOlaiya; Tale Omole; Assisi Asobie; obmailafia@gmail.com; RemiAnifowose; jadesany@yahoo.co.uk; OLAYODE OLUSOLA; Toyosi Ogunseye; stelbeyke@yahoo.com; Solomon Uwaifo; RoyalGardens; Michael Vickers; Ayo Banjo; yomotoso@gmail.com; Adigun Agbaje; EstherOluwaseunIdowu; remisonaiya@yahoo.com; Noel Ihebuzor; tundeoseni@gmail.com; ozoesonpi@yahoo.com; eaiyede@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Prof Olukotun's Column (Pleasegive Professor Biodun Jeyifo's solution a try
 
Ken. 

I don't think the wealth or class system in a society adequately accounts for the corruption index. In the Nigeria police system the fact that it cuts across ranks means pay gap is no valid quantum either.  Politicians in Nigeria are not the least paid yet many if them are corrupt.  The same us the case for the US.  I witnessed operation  Tennessee Waltz in 2006.

The system if collation of the corruption index may be problematic as HE rightly suggests.  The involvement Cheyne in Iraq's oil sector and the drive for the invasion is another case in point.

It seems to me that as BJ suggested the revamping of the value system is key and the restoration of the value system prior to the abuse of the adopted western governance system is germane The reinstatement of the value of sense of shame over valorization of questionable wealth is the goal to be pursued.

Increasing the pay of police is not really the main goal to be pursued but the infusion of the higher cadre with a different set of ideologically indoctrinated officers who would feel insulted when junior cadres pass up their share of corrupt enrichment.  Senior officers may only be promoted to ranks of Inspectors and above if they possess higher degrees in sociology and the specializations in the effect of corrupt policing on society at large.  A large percentage of this officer corps should be put in the section of intelligence officers to pklice the police.


OAA



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.


-------- Original message --------
From: "Harrow, Kenneth" <harrow@msu.edu>
Date: 28/12/2018 00:58 (GMT+00:00)
Cc: osaghaeeghosa@yahoo.co.uk, Willy Fawole <fawolew@yahoo.com>, Grace Omoshaba <gmso2002@yahoo.com>, eyitayolambo@yahoo.com, Orogun Olanike <dam_nik@yahoo.com>, ibrahim.gambari@gmail.com, InnocentChukwuma <i.chukwuma@fordfoundation.org>, Paul Nwulu <p.nwulu@fordfoundation.org>, Prof Akin Mabogunje <akinmabo@gmail.com>, profbayo_adekanye@yahoo.com, InnocentChukwuma <innocent.chukwuma@fordfoundation.org>, "Tunde_babawale-yahoo. Com" <tunde_babawale@yahoo.com>, babsowoeye@gmail.com, felixadenaike@yahoo.com, waleadebanwi@gmail.com, Ayobami Salami <ayobasalami@yahoo.com>, AdebayoOlukoshi <olukoshi@gmail.com>, niyi.tlc@gmail.com, Oluwaniyi Osundare <oosunda1@uno.edu>, Kayode Soremekun <paddykay2002@yahoo.com>, Rotimi Suberu <rotimisuberu@yahoo.com>, OlatunjiAyanlaja <t.ayanlaja@gmail.com>, ebunoduwole2k2@yahoo.com, tolaopa2003@gmail.com, abashafa@gmail.com, Mohammed Haruna <ndajika01@gmail.com>, rotaben@gmail.com, AnthonyAsiwaju <tonyasiwaju@gmail.com>, odia55@yahoo.com, dr_golat@yahoo.com, charlieedema@yahoo.co.uk, Ashobanjo <ashobanjo@aol.com>, yemiogunbiyi@gmail.com, Christina Olaoluwa <tinabola@yahoo.com>, boyeyinka@hotmail.com, toksx@yahoo.com, David Atte <david_atte@yahoo.com>, tsombe98@yahoo.com, femiotubanjo@gmail.com, twasaolu@yahoo.co.uk, "DrAkinwumi A. Adesina" <adesina1234@gmail.com>, Attahiru Jega <attahirujega@yahoo.com>, oibidapoobe@gmail.com, hafsatabiola@hotmail.com, sistertees@hotmail.com, F&CSecurities Limited <fc@hyperia.com>, "Prof. W.O. Alli" <alliwo@yahoo.co.uk>, Yomi LAYIINKA <yourme5@yahoo.co.uk>, aiolayinka@yahoo.com, cyrilobi@hotmail.com, Abimbola Asojo <aasojo@umn.edu>, tadeakinaina@yahoo.com, AdetounAdetona <adetounadetona@googlemail.com>, Ariyo Andrew Tobi <tobaaan@yahoo.co.uk>, Friday Okonofua <feokonofua@yahoo.co.uk>, Tunde Rahman <tunderahmanu@yahoo.com>, DhikruAdewale Yagboyaju <aswaj2003@yahoo.com>, DeleAshiru <ashirudele@yahoo.co.uk>, josuntokun@yahoo.com, bunmimakinwa@hotmail.com, jumoyin@yahoo.co.uk, Bolaji Ogunseye <erinje@yahoo.com>, OlajumokeYacob-Haliso <jumoyin@gmail.com>, ofemibabatunde@yahoo.com, Prof Osinbajo <yemiosinbajo@yahoo.com>, bankole.omotoso@gmail.com, "Prof. Segun Awonusi" <segunawo@yahoo.com>, Abigail Ogwezzy <abigaily2k@yahoo.com>, adebayow@hotmail.com, asoiaelkenany2007@yahoo.com, May <mayortk@yahoo.com>, Olufunke Adeboye <funks29adeboye@yahoo.co.uk>, ToksOlaoluwa <olaoluwatokunboh@gmail.com>, TopeOlaiya <estyyolly@yahoo.com>, Tale Omole <taleomole@yahoo.com>, Assisi Asobie <assisiasobie@gmail.com>, obmailafia@gmail.com, RemiAnifowose <francoremy@yahoo.com>, jadesany@yahoo.co.uk, OLAYODE OLUSOLA <kennyode@yahoo.com>, Toyosi Ogunseye <toyosi_ogunseye@yahoo.com>, stelbeyke@yahoo.com, Solomon Uwaifo <so_uwaifo@yahoo.co.uk>, RoyalGardens <royalgardensnet@gmail.com>, Michael Vickers <mvickers@mvickers.plus.com>, Ayo Banjo <profayobanjo@yahoo.com>, yomotoso@gmail.com, Adigun Agbaje <adigunagbaje@yahoo.com>, EstherOluwaseunIdowu <bethelidowu@gmail.com>, remisonaiya@yahoo.com, Noel Ihebuzor <noel.ihebuzor@gmail.com>, tundeoseni@gmail.com, ozoesonpi@yahoo.com, eaiyede@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Prof Olukotun's Column (Pleasegive   Professor Biodun Jeyifo's solution a try

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dear olayinka

your ideas are good, and i think are similar to legal practices in europe where wealthy people have to give some accounting to their spending or income. the problem is, if there are corrupt practices, that the person assigned the job of checking on the wealth of a given stateholder will need, also, to be honest. honesty for a policeman, for instance, might be bought by the state by giving decent salaries. i believe bribery in the united states was reduced, ultimately, that way.


i read somewhere of an enormously wealthy foreign woman in london spending enormously, and being checked up on by the police and charged with some corruption.


but in the case of nigeria, which i know about only superficially, it seems to me that well-paid civil servants are less likely to be corrupt than those who are not. the same for teachers and professors.


i would love to know what practices, historically, have worked to end corruption--and not just in africa, but anywhere. perhaps some of the historians on our list can help answer that question. i am sure that political scientists on our great list can tell us how various states measure up.


a quick google search--very unprofessional, i know, gave this response for the 10 most corrupt. there is certainly a correspondence between wealth and stability. starting with the most corrupt:

1.somalia

2.sudan

3.burundi

4.chad

5.zimbabwe

6.equatorial guinea

7.drc

8.libya

9.angola

10.guinea


interesting that we have two oil states with immense wealth. we have among the other 8 almost all in or close enough to states of conflict.


when i went to transparency international, a reliable source i think, here were the bottom countires. nigeria isn't so hot, but it is not the bottom of the list:

143Kenya282625252727Sub Saharan Africa

143Lebanon282828272830Middle East and North Africa

143Mauritania282731303031Middle East and North Africa

148Comoros272426262828Sub Saharan Africa

148Guinea272725252424Sub Saharan Africa

148Nigeria272826272527Sub Saharan Africa

151Nicaragua262627282829Americas

151Uganda262525262629Sub Saharan Africa

153Cameroon252627272526Sub Saharan Africa

153Mozambique252731313031Sub Saharan Africa

155Madagascar242628282832Sub Saharan Africa

156Central African Republic232024242526Sub Saharan Africa

157Burundi222021202119Sub Saharan Africa

157Haiti222017191919Americas

157Uzbekistan222119181717Europe and Central Asia

157Zimbabwe222221212120Sub Saharan Africa

161Cambodia212121212022Asia Pacific

161Democratic Republic of the Congo212122222221Sub Saharan Africa

161Republic of Congo212023232226Sub Saharan Africa

161Tajikistan212526232222Europe and Central Asia

165Chad202022221919Sub Saharan Africa

165Eritrea201818182025Sub Saharan Africa

167Angola191815192322Sub Saharan Africa

167Turkmenistan192218171717Europe and Central Asia

169Iraq181716161618Middle East and North Africa

169Venezuela181717192019Americas

171Equatorial Guinea17N/AN/AN/AN/AN/ASub Saharan Africa

171Guinea-Bissau171617191925Sub Saharan Africa

171Korea, North17128888Asia Pacific17

1Libya171416181521Middle East and North Africa

175Sudan161412111113Middle East and North Africa

175Yemen161418191823Middle East and North Africa

177Afghanistan1515111288Asia Pacific

178Syria141318201726Middle East and North Africa

179South Sudan1211151514N/ASub Saharan Africa

180Somalia9108888Sub Saharan Africa

2017 RankCountry2017 Score2016 Score2015 Score2014 Score2013 Score2012 ScoreRegion
Visit www.transparency.org/cpi for more information

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu

From:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com>
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Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Prof Olukotun's Column ( Pleasegive Professor Biodun Jeyifo's solution a try
 
Ken: 

Agreed fear of witch hunts is a legitimate apprehension but it ought not be allowed to stuktify action.  Corruption thrives in the context of defamilirization of the modern state. Communities know the corrupt lords in their environment.  Even a modern western nation like the UK often threatens the name and shame solution to compel those wilfully corrupt the common weak to behave.  

Doing nothing as far as Nigeria in particular and other African nations are concerned will only leave the problem perennially unresolved. Apart from defamilirization of the modern state culprits take ' working the western due process for granted so that a felon knows so long as his tracks are well covered unless it is fully proven even if everinecsuspects (and he kniws) that he is corrupt it matters not.

I have suggested before that all public servants ( including elected officials) must submit a declaration of assets before assuming office and periodically through office and expiration of office.  An oath must be signed that anything found in excess of their legitimate earnings and employment be automatically confiscated by the state.  This simple audit system will check corruption to a large extent in the public service and leaves room for no witch hunt.  The multiplier effect will in turn percolate the private sector in symbiotuc effect ( we usually did something similar at the end if each semester at a college where I taught in the US otherwise things would progressively go missing in the office with no one to be held accountable.  

The UK Parliament did something similar in 2010 when doctoring the expenses sheet which hitherto was a rare infraction showed signs of becoming an epidemicand  was nipped in the bud.  This is all to demonstrate that what may be views as an African problem only appears as such because if the lack of the political will to do the right thing in Africa;  Africa has refused to manage its corruption problem as others did and that is why it has grown  to an epidemic.

The measures above can be put in place with the Jeyifo initiatives to promote an anti corruption ethos in the communities.  The problem with the civil society groups of recent is that think once the problem of restoration of democracy is secured the hidden hand of democracy will guide itself a right.  Nothing can be further from the truth.


As they say eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.



OAA



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.


-------- Original message --------
From: "Harrow, Kenneth" <harrow@msu.edu>
Date: 26/12/2018 19:34 (GMT+00:00)
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Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Prof Olukotun's Column ( Pleasegive  Professor Biodun Jeyifo's solution a try

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toyin

consider whether the person bringing charges of corruption might be making false charges. it isn't enough to call for a purge of corruption without decent legal protections.

furthermore, even trump calls attacks against him a witch-hunt. well, there are such things of witch hunts. the attacks against so-called witches in zambia, as well as attacks on albinos...or attacks on muslims or christians, here and there, are clothed in the language of purification. consider mao's Cultural Revolution, the attacks on people often motivated by horrible personal reasons. in mao's case the presumed bourgeois tendencies were to be wiped out.

the desire to clean-up society, from the early jihads in west africa, and in nigeria, could be seen as part of that same attack on corruption--in the eyes of the jihadists.


what to do? mobilize, perhaps, but with built-in protections against lynching parades. not so easy to do without a civil society where mechanisms of justice are in place and protected from the abuse of power.


not impossible. i am thinking about the trial of diane rwigara in rwanda, which recently resulted in her being found innocent--the first i can think of where kagame's power did not pervert justice. a start? we'll see after the prosecutor's appeal is finished.

ken


kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu

From: 'Oluwatoyin Ade-Odutola' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2018 11:55:36 AM
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Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Prof Olukotun's Column ( Please give Professor Biodun Jeyifo's solution a try
 

If you are as frustrated at the rate of corruption on the continent as I am can we all take a look at these words and share with our friends.
Do you think what he professor Jeyifo says is possible?

Please do something and let us all wake up to own this fight against corruption


Professor Biodun Jeyifo points out that, ‘For at least two decades now, we, the columnists, have been railing ceaselessly against corruption…It is time for us to come to the realization that the war against corruption will not be won in the pages of newspapers and magazines’ (date of publication 6/3/16) He advocates instead drawing on the collective memory of elders for previous forms of agitation, and eventually makes his own suggestion of how to mobilize the masses in the places where they are to be found, proposing that those lawyers willing to pursue corruption in the courts mount ‘a series of well publicized public forums or “town hall” discussions with diverse segments of the Nigerian society: workers on the shop or factory floor; university students in their dining halls or soccer stadiums; congregations of faith communities of Moslems and Christians in their places of worship; market women and male and female petty traders in the capacious spaces of our volatile open-air markets; even primary school pupils in their playing grounds.’ (6/3/16) -Jane Bryce



On Wednesday, December 26, 2018, 9:02:45 AM EST, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:


Great ones, left, right and center:

 

This is the third of Prof. Olukotun’s column in 2018 that has generated many responses. I have asked him to put many of the essays together in one or two volumes so that an important document on the era can be on the table.  

 

He actually does what Prof. Osofisan has mentioned, so he may be off the hook on this.

 

When we shift narrative politics to the communities---families, where we all live, religious organizations, clubs—we see all the positive elements on display—celebrations and affections, etc. These communities must be empowered, to reorganize themselves to what produced Christ School, Molusi College, etc. Thus, my first suggestion is always community empowerment. Here, I am not reviving Ekeh’s “two public” argument, but the organic.

 

Second, and I have met with serious disagreement on this—remoralizing those communities with indigenous cultural ethics. There is no space here for me to elaborate upon this, but its advantages are so many in terms of the survival of languages, literature, behavior, civic responsibilities. I hate to interject myself as an example here—by the age of 15, my cultural resources were so many that I could sing, act, write short plays, fight on the streets, make jokes without end, etc. Pentecostalism has taken over this “remoralization” but it brings out more of capitalist ethos than the cultural ones.

 

The third is how to recapitalize the poor, reconnecting them back to agro-business, rural places. Here is the center of hope, of imaginations, of motherhood and fatherhood, of the connections between small resources and big dreams.

 

I call all of you the Ayo Olukotun family. Happy holidays to Professor Olukotun, our progenitor, and to all of his fictional family members.  I wish you all the gifts of the season:

 

the peace that makes us all live together;

the joy that the world gives to you and I; and

the hope that forms the core of our destinies. 

 

As we look forward to 2019, may bad health not damage our good fortunes. May God show us mercy, and always overlook both our sins and faults. And as God dismisses our faults and sins, may we, as humans, also dismiss the sins and faults of fellow humans.

 

Stay well.

TF

 

Toyin Falola

Department of History

The University of Texas at Austin

104 Inner Campus Drive

Austin, TX 78712-0220

USA

512 475 7224

512 475 7222 (fax)

http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue   

 

From: Femi_Osofisan Osofisan <okinbalaunko@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Femi_Osofisan Osofisan <okinbalaunko@yahoo.com>
Date: Wednesday, December 26, 2018 at 2:11 AM
To: "hassansaliu2003@gmail.com" <hassansaliu2003@gmail.com>, Richard Joseph <r-joseph@northwestern.edu>, dare oyetunde <talk2oyetunde@gmail.com>
Cc: "Prof Eghosa E. OSAGHAE" <osaghaeeghosa@yahoo.co.uk>, Willy Fawole <fawolew@yahoo.com>, Grace Omoshaba <gmso2002@yahoo.com>, "eyitayolambo@yahoo.com" <eyitayolambo@yahoo.com>, "ayo_olukotun-yahoo.com" <ayo_olukotun@yahoo.com>, Orogun Olanike <dam_nik@yahoo.com>, IbrahimGambari <ibrahim.gambari@gmail.com>, Innocent Chukwuma <i.chukwuma@fordfoundation.org>, Paul Nwulu <p.nwulu@fordfoundation.org>, Prof Akin Mabogunje <akinmabo@gmail.com>, Prof Bayo Adekanye <profbayo_adekanye@yahoo.com>, Innocent Chukwuma <innocent.chukwuma@fordfoundation.org>, "tunde_babawale-yahoo.com" <tunde_babawale@yahoo.com>, Jide Owoeye <babsowoeye@gmail.com>, Mr Felix Adenaike <felixadenaike@yahoo.com>, Wale Adebanwi <waleadebanwi@gmail.com>, Ayobami Salami <ayobasalami@yahoo.com>, Adebayo Olukoshi <olukoshi@gmail.com>, Niyi Akinnaso <niyi.tlc@gmail.com>, Oluwaniyi Osundare <oosunda1@uno.edu>, Kayode Soremekun <paddykay2002@yahoo.com>, Rotimi Suberu <rotimisuberu@yahoo.com>, Olatunji Ayanlaja <t.ayanlaja@gmail.com>, Ebunoluwa Oduwole <ebunoduwole2k2@yahoo.com>, dialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>, Tunji Olaopa <tolaopa2003@gmail.com>, Ashafa Abdullahi <abashafa@gmail.com>, Mohammed Haruna <ndajika01@gmail.com>, Bolaji Akinyemi <rotaben@gmail.com>, Anthony Asiwaju <tonyasiwaju@gmail.com>, Odia Ofeimun <odia55@yahoo.com>, Ganiyu Go <dr_golat@yahoo.com>, Omatsola Edema <charlieedema@yahoo.co.uk>, Ashobanjo <ashobanjo@aol.com>, Yemi Ogunbiyi <yemiogunbiyi@gmail.com>, Christina Olaoluwa <tinabola@yahoo.com>, Banji Oyeyinka <boyeyinka@hotmail.com>, "Toks X." <toksx@yahoo.com>, David Atte <david_atte@yahoo.com>, "Prof. Tonia Simbine" <tsombe98@yahoo.com>, Femi Otubanjo <femiotubanjo@gmail.com>, Taiwo Asaolu <twasaolu@yahoo.co.uk>, "Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina" <adesina1234@gmail.com>, Attahiru Jega <attahirujega@yahoo.com>, Oye Ibidapo-Obe <oibidapoobe@gmail.com>, Hafsat Abiola <hafsatabiola@hotmail.com>, Taiwo Owoeye <sistertees@hotmail.com>, F&C Securities Limited <fc@hyperia.com>, "Prof. W.O. Alli" <alliwo@yahoo.co.uk>, Yomi LAYIINKA <yourme5@yahoo.co.uk>, Idowu Olayinka <aiolayinka@yahoo.com>, Cyril Obi <cyrilobi@hotmail.com>, Abimbola Asojo <aasojo@umn.edu>, Tade Aina <tadeakinaina@yahoo.com>, Adetoun Adetona <adetounadetona@googlemail.com>, Ariyo Andrew Tobi <tobaaan@yahoo.co.uk>, Friday Okonofua <feokonofua@yahoo.co.uk>, Tunde Rahman <tunderahmanu@yahoo.com>, Dhikru Adewale Yagboyaju <aswaj2003@yahoo.com>, dele Ashiru <ashirudele@yahoo.co.uk>, Akinjide Osuntokun <josuntokun@yahoo.com>, Bunmi Makinwa <bunmimakinwa@hotmail.com>, Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso <jumoyin@yahoo.co.uk>, Bolaji Ogunseye <erinje@yahoo.com>, Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso <jumoyin@gmail.com>, Femi Babatunde <ofemibabatunde@yahoo.com>, Prof Osinbajo <yemiosinbajo@yahoo.com>, Bankole Omotoso <bankole.omotoso@gmail.com>, "Prof. Segun Awonusi" <segunawo@yahoo.com>, Abigail Ogwezzy <abigaily2k@yahoo.com>, Adebayo <adebayow@hotmail.com>, "asoiaelkenany2007@yahoo.com" <asoiaelkenany2007@yahoo.com>, May <mayortk@yahoo.com>, adeboye Adeboye <funks29adeboye@yahoo.co.uk>, Toks Olaoluwa <olaoluwatokunboh@gmail.com>, Tope Olaiya <estyyolly@yahoo.com>, Tale Omole <taleomole@yahoo.com>, Assisi Asobie <assisiasobie@gmail.com>, Obadiah Mailafia <obmailafia@gmail.com>, Remi Anifowose <francoremy@yahoo.com>, Jadesany <jadesany@yahoo.co.uk>, OLAYODE OLUSOLA <kennyode@yahoo.com>, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu>, Toyosi Ogunseye <toyosi_ogunseye@yahoo.com>, Stella Olukotun <stelbeyke@yahoo.com>, Solomon Uwaifo <so_uwaifo@yahoo.co.uk>, Royal Gardens <royalgardensnet@gmail.com>, Vickers Vickers <mvickers@mvickers.plus.com>, Ayo Banjo <profayobanjo@yahoo.com>, Yewande Omotoso <yomotoso@gmail.com>, Adigun Agbaje <adigunagbaje@yahoo.com>, Esther Oluwaseun Idowu <bethelidowu@gmail.com>, Remi Sonaiya <remisonaiya@yahoo.com>, Noel Ihebuzor <noel.ihebuzor@gmail.com>, Tunde Oseni <tundeoseni@gmail.com>, Peter Ozo-Eson <ozoesonpi@yahoo.com>, Emmanuel Remi Aiyede <eaiyede@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Prof Olukotun's Column

 

Sometimes I wonder: is the solution perhaps to just concentrate on building up some centres of excellence- you know, a few model schools, hospitals that work, etc.- rather than spreading ourselves out fruitlessly to correct everything? Or, secondly, don't we have some of these already - I mean, dedicated leaders, exemplary workers, commited teachers, truly outstanding figures among us - whose contributions we rarely celebrate, but choose instead to whip ourselves endlessly with our failures? How can we inspire our citizenry to needful action, to resistance, to hope in struggle, if all we offer repeatedly are these narratives of failure and corruption and despair? Is something missing tragically in the vision we offer to our people, these baleful lessons we present to our readers and our children? Aren't we, inadvertently and carelessly, promoting an image of bleak fatality, of inevitable dystopia, that ironically vitiates our ambitions for change? Why do we so customarily ignore or obscure the heroic moments? Why is negativity so salaciously pervasive? I wonder,  I wonder...
May the season bring joy to all of us. 

FO.

 

 

On Tue, 25 Dec 2018 at 21:17, Hassan Saliu

My stake on the piece and others before it is that our country has been unfortunate with its governance system to the extent that the most basic issues such as rendering of efficient services and catering for the welfare of citizens generally are not being experienced. This may have to do with what an author has called unwisdom in governance. Or what else can be responsible for the high level of insensitivity that our governance environment has repeatedly displayed over time? I consider the electoral process that has produced unmerited electoral victories and docility of the citizens as causative factors. On the pathways, we need to get more involved in the political process by throwing up issues that border on accoutability that our political elite may not be too comfortable with. There is too much irresponsibility around the corridors of power that we need  to pay attention to. This has inevitably been breeding the regime of cabals that is causing motion without movement in the land.

On Dec 25, 2018 18:02, "Richard A Joseph" <r-joseph@northwestern.edu> wrote:

Dear Noel:

 

What you say about the health sector applies to other basic services, as Prof Olukotun has emphasized repeatedly.

 

How to advance?

 

I’m in Canada for the holidays. As usual, I marvel and enjoy facilities and services that work. We’ve talked and theorized about “governance decay” under different rubrics. Collaboratively, we can identify sustainable pathways from the predicament.

 

Best wishes to All for 2019.

 

Richard

 


On Dec 25, 2018, at 10:07 AM, Noel Ihebuzor <noel.ihebuzor@gmail.com> wrote:

Ayo, 

 

I kept nursing the hope that I would come to a section of your write up where you would propose solutions and list some possible steps to arrest the decay that gave rise to the sad picture and tragedy you painted with such poignancy. I read to the end and did not see any such section. 

What  can account for such an omission? I guess that one reasonmust be because your writeupfocused too much on shocking the reader and less on analyzing the factors that produced and produce the decay. 

 

In situations of stark and startling failures in basic services delivery, descriptions of incidents unaccompanied by any causality analysis can produce very limited results. Solutions, no matter, hazy, need to be proffered. and to reach forward even to begin the first sketches of  such a solution, we need to do some causality analysis guided at least by the two questions below - 

 

What accounts for the comatose condition of our health delivery system? What are the immediate, structural and underlying causes of this perfection in dysfunction? 

 

Answers to these questions that a sensitive and evidence-based causality analysis of the rot of our health system can throw up will certainly help us go beyond describing and pointing fingers to pointing out possible solutions! 

 

We are all stakeholders and also, and sadly, unwitting victims of this decay. The honorable minister for health may not have all the solutions to the myriad of problems in this field. If he did, do you think he would  turn a blind eye to the frequent exercises in health tourism by his principal and his associates? an be provided? Would he not deployed all his professional energy to make such trip unnecessary by working to set up centres in Nigeria where such services The problem must be beyond him....he may thus need help, and your write up stinted him of suggestions on how to deliver health results on the basis of sound problem analysis and strategic health sector reform/health systems strengthening. .

 

A very happy Xmas to you and all.

 

 

Noel

 

On Thu, 20 Dec 2018 at 4:58 PM, Ayo Olukotun <ayo_olukotun@yahoo.com> wrote:

 

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

 

On Wed, 19 Dec 2018 at 15:26, Ayo Olukotun

OLANIYI ASHIMI. THE FATAL COST OF GOVERNANCE DECAY.

"After payment for Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta ambulance, I was told that the ambulance that had fuel had no oxygen, and the one that had oxygen had no fuel. I paid for extra oxygen, yet my brother died of lack of oxygen". Ajoke Ashimi, sister of Olaniyi Ashimi, final year undergraduate who died recently of health service decay. The Punch, Sunday, December 16, 2018.

 This columnist's heart goes  out this day to the Ashimis,  who lost a family member, Niyi, a final year student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta,  in circumstances that reek of  astonishing shortage of essential services, gaping incompetence and crass disorder. The  decay of governance, let us note, is not an idle academic concept or a writer's indulgent construction; no, it is the reason for the untimely death of an increasing toll of Nigerians, high and low, including, as announced earlier this week, a former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, who was murdered by yet unidentified gunmen. My focus, illustratively, in this piece, is on the hapless Niyi Ashimi, who in all probability would have survived an accident he and other students of his university sustained, had he received timely and reasonably efficient medical attention at two of the nation's apex medical institutions, namely, Federal Medical Centre,  Abeokuta and the University College Hospital, Ibadan. Before giving snap shots of the alarming medical decay, that resulted in the death of Niyi, some of which is anticipated in the opening paragraph, it is interesting to note that almost a week after the Punch published the story, there has been no statement from medical authorities, as far as I am aware, on this tragic and heart rending loss of life.

   In another clime, the top officials of the institutions concerned, or the Minister of Health would have been stirred enough to call for an investigation. Here, characteristically, there is no such luck. One of the most outrageous pieces of information supplied by both Niyi's sister and his  friends, concerned the initial, so called treatment that he received, when he was  rushed to the FMC with a broken leg. Niyi's friends, told Punch reporter, Tope Omogbolagun that "When he and others were rushed to the FMC, there was no test or observation conducted on them, the medical personnel on the ground just treated them without x-tray, medical evaluation and the rest, they only treated their injury". This, hard- to-believe perfunctory service was the beginning of Niyi's travail, who was writhing in pain from internal bleeding. It was not until nearly 48hours later, that it became clear that the late undergraduate had been bleeding internally.

  That is not all, when the decision was made to transfer Niyi to the UCH, Ibadan, they could not find an ambulance that both had fuel and oxygen. The oxygen in the vehicle that had fuel was not enough to last the one-hour journey from Abeokuta to Ibadan, so an emergency condition made worse by initial negligence and incompetence, was further complicated by the shortage of essential items.

   By the time the ambulance ambled its away to UCH, the oxygen had been exhausted and the patient's condition had sharply deteriorated. Matters became worse when reportedly, the authorities of UCH, failed to attend to the patient in good time, but rather dissipated, by seeking to verify the authenticity of the referral letter. In essence, too much precious time, was lost in the search for basic items and in waiting to get attention at one of the hospitals. It is interesting to mention that the late undergraduate, along with 12 other students, were not on a frolic, but were returning from an academic conference held in Ibadan, when the accident which needlessly claimed Niyi's life occurred.

The point however, is that too many Nigerians, have had their lives rudely terminated because of all too familiar stories of medical negligence and decay. Last year, to give an example, the family of Sandra David, sued the Nigerian government and the Federal Medical Centre, Abuja, concerning the death of the  29 year old woman, because of a ghastly mismanagement of the deceased's health condition. Earlier this year, an online journal, reported how several Nigerian have lost lives, body parts and loved ones, because of medical negligence. The problem is that those who are supposed to make comments  or take action on these rising cases, usually keep mum whenever this depressing tragic stories hit the headlines.

Our politicians, when they reach the campaign ground, credit themselves and their administration with bogus achievements and fictional progress reports which have no bearing whatsoever on the daily woes of Nigerian citizens. If it does not shock the Federal Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, or President Muhammadu Buhari, that one of our Federal Medical Centres is in dire short supply of fuel and oxygen, leading to the death of Nigerians, whose lives could have been saved, then I don't know what can shock them. If governance is not about the distribution of resources and crafting of policies, to save and improve lives, then what is it? It is possible to see Niyi's death as a personal and family tragedy, but every one ought to know, that what is on our hands is a confounding national tragedy, in which our hospitals, even the best of them, are  becoming little more than undertakers in which innocent Nigerians are despatched to their graves before their time.

 Equally galling, is that, when the hard facts of this unfolding tragedy are published, our politicians pretend that those sobering facts, amount to nothing. This may be because they have enough resources to escape the medical bedlam at home, by jetting abroad now and then for treatment, or because they don't "give a damn" about the fact that too many Nigerians are dying from governance decay. Who knows which Nigerian will be the next victim of the ubiquitous medical dishevelment that one finds in our medical centres and hospitals. Niyi is gone but it is for a humanity stranded by the indifference, incompetence and gimmickry of its leaders that the bell tolls.

    Unfortunately, it is doubtful, whether the forthcoming elections, will be about the issues that really count. Political rhetoric has found a way of evading or avoiding major governance issues that relate to those factors that make life longer, more liveable and more enjoyed. These include health, education, decent employment, housing and social infrastructure. The current disconnect between the political class and the people, will only be closed as they bring these issues into the front burner. If they refuse to do so, the people should organise themselves within and without elections to bring these neglected issues to the attention of those who claim to govern us.   To the extent that the forthcoming elections will decide some issues of governance, it is important to take them seriously, so that we do not complain after the harm would have been done. 

   Even after the elections are over, civil society should ensure that we do not fall to the fate once predicted for docile citizens by an European philosopher that "In between elections, the British people are slaves".

Professor Olukotun is the Oba(Dr) Sikiru Adetona Professorial Chair of Governance, Department of Political Science, Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye.

 

 

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

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