By Chuks Oluigbo
In Igboland today, everybody is a chief. This disturbing trend is partly traceable to the early 1990s when a group of nouveaux riches made up of largely very young people emerged in Igboland, no thanks to the 419 era ushered in by the excessive ‘liberalism’ of the then military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. Ever since then, there has been a proliferation of chiefs in the land. Every young man who thinks he has arrived wants his name to sound beyond the frontiers of his father’s compound; he wants to be addressed as Igwekala I, Ebubedike II, Ugwuanariatuegwu III, Ikukuebumkpu Okaomee IV, and so on. And so he goes to the traditional ruler of his community with some money and comes out of the palace bearing a chieftaincy title, irrespective of his source of wealth, whether he has contributed anything to the development of his community or not, or whether he is of a questionable character, or even whether or not he constitutes a social nuisance. The more daring ones even go a step further to usurp the throne from sitting traditional rulers, thereby throwing hitherto peaceful communities into fratricidal wars.
On their part, some so-called traditional rulers (who, by the way, know nothing about tradition) now see chieftaincy conferment as a lifetime opportunity to squeeze out a few naira notes from title-hungry boys; after all, what really does it cost a traditional ruler to confer a chieftaincy title on an individual if not the simple act of placing a cap on his head, handing him a staff, and pronouncing a title on him? And it is the conferee that provides those items, mind you, not the palace. Sometimes some traditional rulers have been known to approach some of these wealthy young men to beg them to come and take chieftaincy titles. They have even extended their hands of fellowship (for want of a better word) to women who now bear Chief (Mrs), a hitherto-unheard-of phenomenon in Igboland. Do you blame them? They are hungry. What do they do if not to go from one political function to the other while waiting for the federal allocation to the local government so that they can go and receive their monthly peanut from the local government chairman?
In yonder years, people who were conferred with chieftaincy title worked hard for it and earned it; they knew the value of what they had; they respected themselves and people also revered them. And for God’s sake, chieftaincy ceremonies were not regular occurrences. But not anymore. Today, the so-called chiefs live in hotels and mess around with little girls young enough to be their granddaughters; some engage in streets fights and other juvenile vices. Moreover, all anyone needs to become a chief now is to give the Eze some cash or write a cheque tonight, and by tomorrow morning he is already a chief. If care is not taken, the traditional ruler might even take the title to the young man’s house and give it to him there. Home service, you may call it.
This is not a joke. I know of one community in Imo State where the traditional ruler went from house to house in the dead of the night conferring chieftaincy titles on people because members of his cabinet were opposed to the proposed chieftaincy installation. He was less than 6 months on the throne then. There is another community where it is said that the traditional ruler is on 24-hour service once the issue concerns chieftaincy conferment. Call him up in the middle of the night and request to be made a chief; all he asks is: Are your cap and staff ready? If the answer is yes, he will tell you to light a candle and get ready to receive your title. Some time ago, one community in Mbaise, Imo State, invited a former Inspector General of Police to give him a chieftaincy title, and the IG sent someone to pick the title for him. Yes, because he attached no value to it; because he counted it as nothing but an avenue for generating money for the traditional ruler. That is how badly it has degenerated, and that is the extent to which our hard-earned cultural values have been bastardised.
And this has worsened since virtually every kindred in Igboland became an autonomous community with an autonomous traditional ruler, a development which has littered many parts of Igboland with the gunpowder of kingship tussle. In the absence of what to do, and with little or no known source of livelihood except the monthly handouts from the local government, these featherweight traditional rulers resort to dispensing chieftaincy titles like akara balls,
Today in many communities, chieftaincy award has become an annual event. The way it is going, in the next couple of years, every adult male in Igboland (or even adults, because it is not beyond them to design chieftaincy titles for children of the wealthy) would be a chief, even those who don’t want it. Already, some individuals boast of over ten chieftaincy titles given to them by different traditional rulers in different communities, and many more communities are ever willing to add more to them so long as they are ready to part with some cash. It is indeed worrisome.
Some time in 2009, Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State admonished traditional rulers and community leaders in the state to quit inviting him to receive chieftaincy titles in their communities but to channel the money they would have wasted on such frivolous ceremonies towards community development. Shortly after, he followed it up by proposing a bill which would ensure that all chieftaincy title certificates are endorsed by the relevant government agency and that all recipients of chieftaincy titles pay tax to government on such titles. The initiative was a way of checking the indiscriminate award of chieftaincy titles and the proliferation of chiefs in the state. However, that proposal ended up a stillbirth as nothing was heard about it thereafter.
My thinking is that beyond pious pronouncements, state governments in Igboland should take proactive measures to check this ugly trend if this vital aspect of our cultural heritage is to preserved and safeguarded. For instance, they can enact a law stipulating the number of years’ interval between one conferment and another (say, 5 years) in every community and instituting a process of checking the records of those being conferred with titles to ensure that those with questionable characters do not benefit, as well as stipulating stiff punishment for erring traditional rulers. But before the law can work, the governors themselves should start by relinquishing some of their numerous titles and desist from accepting more. Perhaps outside Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State who still bears the title Mr, every other governor in Igboland is a multiple chief. I stand to be corrected.
Title taking is one of the core elements of the Igbo traditional society. Its preservation is not only necessary but also imperative.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
W’omoko: The Journey of Life
By Chuks Oluigbo
The Road to W’omoko, by Steve Osuji; Owerri: Edu-Edy Publications, 2007
The Road to W'omoko is like a journey through the tortuous path of life. It reflects the central motif that runs through most of Soyinka's works, especially The Road. The road is fraught with danger, and sometimes death. Such is the road to W'omoko. In “Road to W'omoko”, for instance, the persona encounters “the gap-toothed masquerade/dancing to the beat of the forest”; “the drums chant about munitions and ruinations”, and “the ekwe of swords and skulls”. He also sees “a vast field of dry bones”, all images of death, just like “the path to the ancient grove” in “Footprints” is lined with the footprints of animals, winged and wingless, of good and bad omen , dangerous as well as friendly. But again, “Road to W'omoko” recounts the persona's encounters at different times of the day on the road to the stream, from the first stanza where the persona breaks his earthenware pot to the last stanza where he dives into W'omoko, “making a rousing splash across seven hamlets”.
The Road to W'omoko is also a passage, of time and people. There is a visible transition from point A to point B until the final moment with W'omoko. As such, all that happens between the first poem “Road to W'omoko” and the last “Oh W'omoko” can be seen as various stages within this movement. For instance, in “W'omoko Still”, the persona has left W'omoko stream and now trudges uphill, homeward bound, bearing “a jerrycan of W'omoko” and “a mouthful of W'omoko”. But it is not the persona alone who has travelled through this road. It is a road through which generations on end have journeyed. As we read in “W'omoko Still”, “I plonk still in W'omoko/ like my father and his father...” Only W'omoko is eternal. People come and go, but W'omoko remains. W'omoko is a deity whose presence and existence defy temporal and spatial distances. This much is reflected in “Behold W'omoko” where W'omoko is the “stream without origin bathing/ seven villages over the ages'. W'omoko is also a cleanser. It is the “ageless stream on a cleansing trip”. It is also the stream which “has cleansed dank/ under-scrotums for generations”. In “W'omoko Dawn”, the persona goes to W'omoko to “do seven dips/ and seek cleansing”.
In-between the first and the last poem, there are poems that comment on the polity, like “Plaything of the gods” where the rulers are “deaf, dumb/ and distant from people”. There are poems that cry out against oppression. These are represented by such poems as “When a Hawk Preys” where the hawk becomes symbolic of all oppressors of humanity. In “Scorched”, we are confronted with images of dryness and infertility; “scorched land”, “blistered bottom”, “arid stream”, “parched tongues”, “withered souls”, “defoliated tree”, “barren wind”, and so on. “The Last Balladeer” is a tribute to the dead. It is elegiac, but it does not necessarily mourn; it celebrates the continued presence of the dead among the living.
Like Keats, Wordsworth, Lawrence, and other Romantic poets, the poet celebrates the beauty of nature. This admiration runs through many of the poems in the collection, but particularly in all the poems on W'omoko as well as in “Water Maiden”, “Hurricane”, and “Akpaka”. However, this admiration tends towards the mysterious. In many instances, the poems evoke eerie feelings. See, for instance, “No Answer”, “Forest Gnome”, and “Darkness Stands”.
There are thematic and stylistic semblances between the poems of Osuji and the works of Soyinka and Okigbo. Reference has already been made to Soyinka's The Road. W'omoko the stream can be seen as the alter ego of Okigbo's Idoto, a river and a god. Thus, in W'omoko still”, the persona wants W'omoko to “stem this wind” and “stave this drought”. Only a god with supernatural powers can do this. Again, the persona asks: “If I inter in W'omoko/ would I do for atonement?” Atonement for what? And to who? There is also a close connection between Okigbo's “Watermaid” and Osuji's “Water Maiden” and Lenrie Peters' “She Came in Silken Drapes”. The water maiden is the poet's version of the Muse.
But again, The Road to W'omoko is a search, perhaps for the essence of things. Having journeyed through the tortuous path to the stream, the persona finally comes to that august moment when time stands still. He comes face to face with W'omoko, the stream of his dream, and exclaims in the wild excitement: “Behold W'omoko!” Coming face to face with W'omoko is like homecoming too, the final homecoming. This is evident in the last poem, “Oh W'omoko”, where W'omoko becomes the final resting place where the persona yearns to return. The same nostalgia that draws home Okara's poetic voice in” The Call of the River Nun” possesses the persona in “Oh W'omoko”. Just like the speaker in “The Call of the River Nun” longs to unite with the river in that “final call”, so does the poetic voice in “Oh W'omoko” long to “return home/ to your bosom”. In the bosom of W'omoko, there is eternal happiness. W'omoko is a place of bliss. It is “the place of atonement”, paradise “where the sun smiles still”.
One striking feature of all the poems in The Road to W'omoko is their musicality. This is enhanced through the ample use of repetition, the conspicuous absence of punctuation markers and the attendant use of run-on lines. The poems read like Lenrie Peters' “The Fence”. The use of repetition creates emphasis, while the absence of punctuation markers enhances the free flow of the poems, and therefore, their rhythm. The flow is also the endless flow of W'omoko. It is also the flow of the journey to W'omoko, the journey through life.
The number seven is repeatedly used in many of the poems. We read “seven dips”, “seven villages”, “seven hamlets”, “seven forests”, and so on in some of the poems. The number seven is symbolic of completeness. It alludes to the Bible where God the creator made the world in six days and rested on the seventh day; the Prophet Elisha ordered Naaman the leper to dip himself seven times in the Pool of Siloam; and Jesus told a leper to dip himself seven times in the Pool of Bethsaida. We also recall the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine in Pharaoh's dream. Thus, The Road to W'omoko is a complete book and all the poems collectively cohere and make a complete sense so long as we can see the persona journeying on the road to W'omoko and longing nostalgically for its embrace and, finding it in the end, plunges into it and it becomes for him “the pond of life”. Having drunk of it, he is then able to “defy the clouds”, a feat that was hitherto impossible.
The Road to W’omoko, by Steve Osuji; Owerri: Edu-Edy Publications, 2007
The Road to W'omoko is like a journey through the tortuous path of life. It reflects the central motif that runs through most of Soyinka's works, especially The Road. The road is fraught with danger, and sometimes death. Such is the road to W'omoko. In “Road to W'omoko”, for instance, the persona encounters “the gap-toothed masquerade/dancing to the beat of the forest”; “the drums chant about munitions and ruinations”, and “the ekwe of swords and skulls”. He also sees “a vast field of dry bones”, all images of death, just like “the path to the ancient grove” in “Footprints” is lined with the footprints of animals, winged and wingless, of good and bad omen , dangerous as well as friendly. But again, “Road to W'omoko” recounts the persona's encounters at different times of the day on the road to the stream, from the first stanza where the persona breaks his earthenware pot to the last stanza where he dives into W'omoko, “making a rousing splash across seven hamlets”.
The Road to W'omoko is also a passage, of time and people. There is a visible transition from point A to point B until the final moment with W'omoko. As such, all that happens between the first poem “Road to W'omoko” and the last “Oh W'omoko” can be seen as various stages within this movement. For instance, in “W'omoko Still”, the persona has left W'omoko stream and now trudges uphill, homeward bound, bearing “a jerrycan of W'omoko” and “a mouthful of W'omoko”. But it is not the persona alone who has travelled through this road. It is a road through which generations on end have journeyed. As we read in “W'omoko Still”, “I plonk still in W'omoko/ like my father and his father...” Only W'omoko is eternal. People come and go, but W'omoko remains. W'omoko is a deity whose presence and existence defy temporal and spatial distances. This much is reflected in “Behold W'omoko” where W'omoko is the “stream without origin bathing/ seven villages over the ages'. W'omoko is also a cleanser. It is the “ageless stream on a cleansing trip”. It is also the stream which “has cleansed dank/ under-scrotums for generations”. In “W'omoko Dawn”, the persona goes to W'omoko to “do seven dips/ and seek cleansing”.
In-between the first and the last poem, there are poems that comment on the polity, like “Plaything of the gods” where the rulers are “deaf, dumb/ and distant from people”. There are poems that cry out against oppression. These are represented by such poems as “When a Hawk Preys” where the hawk becomes symbolic of all oppressors of humanity. In “Scorched”, we are confronted with images of dryness and infertility; “scorched land”, “blistered bottom”, “arid stream”, “parched tongues”, “withered souls”, “defoliated tree”, “barren wind”, and so on. “The Last Balladeer” is a tribute to the dead. It is elegiac, but it does not necessarily mourn; it celebrates the continued presence of the dead among the living.
Like Keats, Wordsworth, Lawrence, and other Romantic poets, the poet celebrates the beauty of nature. This admiration runs through many of the poems in the collection, but particularly in all the poems on W'omoko as well as in “Water Maiden”, “Hurricane”, and “Akpaka”. However, this admiration tends towards the mysterious. In many instances, the poems evoke eerie feelings. See, for instance, “No Answer”, “Forest Gnome”, and “Darkness Stands”.
There are thematic and stylistic semblances between the poems of Osuji and the works of Soyinka and Okigbo. Reference has already been made to Soyinka's The Road. W'omoko the stream can be seen as the alter ego of Okigbo's Idoto, a river and a god. Thus, in W'omoko still”, the persona wants W'omoko to “stem this wind” and “stave this drought”. Only a god with supernatural powers can do this. Again, the persona asks: “If I inter in W'omoko/ would I do for atonement?” Atonement for what? And to who? There is also a close connection between Okigbo's “Watermaid” and Osuji's “Water Maiden” and Lenrie Peters' “She Came in Silken Drapes”. The water maiden is the poet's version of the Muse.
But again, The Road to W'omoko is a search, perhaps for the essence of things. Having journeyed through the tortuous path to the stream, the persona finally comes to that august moment when time stands still. He comes face to face with W'omoko, the stream of his dream, and exclaims in the wild excitement: “Behold W'omoko!” Coming face to face with W'omoko is like homecoming too, the final homecoming. This is evident in the last poem, “Oh W'omoko”, where W'omoko becomes the final resting place where the persona yearns to return. The same nostalgia that draws home Okara's poetic voice in” The Call of the River Nun” possesses the persona in “Oh W'omoko”. Just like the speaker in “The Call of the River Nun” longs to unite with the river in that “final call”, so does the poetic voice in “Oh W'omoko” long to “return home/ to your bosom”. In the bosom of W'omoko, there is eternal happiness. W'omoko is a place of bliss. It is “the place of atonement”, paradise “where the sun smiles still”.
One striking feature of all the poems in The Road to W'omoko is their musicality. This is enhanced through the ample use of repetition, the conspicuous absence of punctuation markers and the attendant use of run-on lines. The poems read like Lenrie Peters' “The Fence”. The use of repetition creates emphasis, while the absence of punctuation markers enhances the free flow of the poems, and therefore, their rhythm. The flow is also the endless flow of W'omoko. It is also the flow of the journey to W'omoko, the journey through life.
The number seven is repeatedly used in many of the poems. We read “seven dips”, “seven villages”, “seven hamlets”, “seven forests”, and so on in some of the poems. The number seven is symbolic of completeness. It alludes to the Bible where God the creator made the world in six days and rested on the seventh day; the Prophet Elisha ordered Naaman the leper to dip himself seven times in the Pool of Siloam; and Jesus told a leper to dip himself seven times in the Pool of Bethsaida. We also recall the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine in Pharaoh's dream. Thus, The Road to W'omoko is a complete book and all the poems collectively cohere and make a complete sense so long as we can see the persona journeying on the road to W'omoko and longing nostalgically for its embrace and, finding it in the end, plunges into it and it becomes for him “the pond of life”. Having drunk of it, he is then able to “defy the clouds”, a feat that was hitherto impossible.
Nigeria's Banking Industry Under Sanusi
By Chuks Oluigbo
Apart from the consolidation era that ended on December 31, 2005, no other period has brought Nigeria’s banking industry to the front burner of economic permutations than the present era of Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who became the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in June 2009, following the expiration of the tenure of his predecessor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo. To start with, Sanusi was apparently not the preferred choice of his banker colleagues who felt that his specialisation in risk management made him privy to behind-the-scene happenings, and therefore the rot, in the banking sector. Allegedly, over N300 million was mobilized by interest groups to scuttle Sanusi’s choice. However, as they say, while the people had their say, government had its way.
As at June 2009 when Sanusi came on board, the Nigerian banking industry was already in a wobbly shape. Many factors were responsible for this. One was significant exposure to the capital market in the form of margin loans. By the end of December 2008, the industry’s exposure to the capital market stood at about N900 billion, representing about 12 percent of aggregate credit or 31.9 percent of shareholders funds. This precipitated a liquid crisis for banks. Also, in the wake of high oil prices, the banks took advantage and lent heavily to the oil and gas sector. By the end of December 2008, bank’s total exposure to the oil industry stood at over N754 billion, representing over 10 percent of aggregate credit and over 27 percent of shareholders’ funds. Thus, by the end of July 2009, the banking sector was already saturated with huge non-performing loans, which aggregate stood at N2, 508 billion, that is, 32.69 percent of total loan portfolio. This development already had an adverse effect on many banks and many of the banks had become a threat to the entire stability of the banking system. There were palpable fears as rating agencies raised alarm that all was not well with a good number of the nation’s banks.
As soon as he assumed office, Sanusi, who came from the top management of First Bank Nigeria Plc, did an overview of the entire industry and identified eight factors that, in his considered opinion, “created an extremely fragile financial system that was tipped into crisis by the global financial recession.” These were macro-economic instability caused by large and sudden capital inflows; major failures in corporate governance at banks; lack of investor and consumer sophistication; inadequate disclosure and transparency about financial position of banks; critical gaps in regulatory frameworks and regulations; uneven supervision and enforcement; unstructured governance and management processes at the Central Bank; and weaknesses within the apex bank itself and in the business environment.
Sanusi promptly compelled banks to open up and explain their toxic assets which were in excess of N1.2 trillion. By the time the CBN and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation had completed their examination of eight banks, their managing directors and other executive directors were found to be shoddy in their management. Erastus Akingbola, Okey Nwosu, Sebastine Adigwe, Cecilia Ibru and Bartholomew Ebong of Intercontinental, Finbank, Afribank, Oceanic and Union Bank, respectively, were all removed in one fell swoop. Francis Atuche of Bank PHB, Ike Oraekwuotu of Equitorial Trust Bank, and Mike Chukwu of Spring Bank followed in the second phase. They were immediately replaced. That move changed fundamentally corporate governance in banks. It also revealed that the era of paper profits, which almost ruined the industry in the 1980’s and 90’s, were not over; that our respected billionaires were merely surviving on bank facilities; and that what banks recorded as capital base were actually depositors’ funds.
To check abuses in the banking sector and entrench transparency in the system, and to ensure a complete departure from status quo ante, Sanusi initiated a tenured system for CEOs and Directors while the issue of corporate governance is also on the front burner. Non-executive directors of banks are to be scrutinized to determine their competence.
Intervention funds followed quickly to bail out the troubled banks and restore the economy to good health. N600 billion was approved for the banks, followed by N200 billion credit guarantee scheme for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and N300 billion for the real sector to unlock the credit market. The N500 billion came via a Debenture Stock to be issued by the Bank of Industry (BOI).
The second phase of Sanusi’s banking reforms hinged on four pillars: strengthening the quality of banks through industrial remedial programmes to fix key causes of the crisis, establishing financial sector stability, which centres around strengthening the financial stability committee within the CBN by establishing a hybrid monetary policy and macro prudential rules; enabling healthy financial sector evolution, with emphasis on banking industry structure, banking infrastructure such as credit bureaux, registrars, cost structure of banks and the role of the informal economy; and ensuring that the financial sector contributes to the real economy. These, he believed, were inevitable in the drive to restore the sector to good health and for it to play its assigned role as the engine room of economic growth and development.
In his opinion, rapid financialization did not benefit the real economy as much as had been anticipated. To change this, he adopted six measures: (a) Leveraging the CBN governor’s role as adviser to the president on economic matters; (b) Taking the lead in measuring more accurately the relationship between the real economy and financial sector and the transmission mechanism; (c) Evaluating continuously the effectiveness of existing development finance initiatives, such as agricultural credits as well as import and export guarantees; (d) Taking the public lead in encouraging examination of critical issues for economic development; (e) Leading further studies on the potential of venture capital and private public partnership initiatives for Nigeria; and (f) Cooperating with state governments to run a pilot programme in directing the financial sector’s contribution to the states’ socio-economic development.
By the turn of 2010, Sanusi unbundled his plans for universal banking, insisting that banks must remain banks. If they must go into other areas, then they have to do that through an omnibus entity in the form of a holding company. Before now, banks were known to own subsidiaries in sectors considered to be outside their areas of core competence, with the attendant risks such ventures brought on depositors’ funds. The new banking model will be expected to correct the mistakes of the past, where banks used their financial leverage to crowd out competition, including by those who have the expertise but lacked the financial resources. Under the new rules, financial institutions will need to obtain separate licenses from the central bank for their core lending business, stock broking, and other non-banking divisions. Financial institutions will be categorised into monoline and specialised banks. Under the monoline banking, banks will have the option to play regional, national or international. Regional banks would require N15 billion, national banks N25 billion and international banks N100 billion as capital base. Regional banks will operate in a minimum of five and a maximum of 10 contiguous states, in addition to having the word "Regional" in their name. The national will have a branch network restricted to Nigeria while the international bank is allowed to operate offshore branches and subsidiaries. Banks must hold a minimum of 10 percent capital against their risk assets. Mortgage banks must possess a minimum capital of N5 billion and a minimum of 50 percent of mortgage assets to total assets.
The CBN governor also unfolded the planned introduction of Islamic banking, a non-interest banking system. Islamic banks would transact banking business, engage in trading, investment and commercial activities, as well as provide financial products and services in accordance with Islamic commercial jurisprudence, and their services would be available to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
One other innovation of Sansui’s reform is the creation of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). When fully operational, AMCON is expected to be a resolution vehicle which will soak the toxic assets of the CBN-intervened banks and provide liquidity to them as well as assist in their recapitalization. It will also offer a window through which the banks can discount voluntarily any non-performing loan that is above 10 per cent of their total share capital. In the words of the CBN governor, “the creation of AMCON will provide the first step towards resolution of the non-performing loan problem in banks and eventually facilitate further consolidation. This process is on-going and we expect all banks to be totally weaned off CBN support by end of the third quarter of 2010. That also explains why we have started a process of mergers and acquisition discussions to encourage the banks to look for partners who will bring in the capital to strengthen the bank balance sheet. Once that is done, the banks will have the capital and the liquidity to lend.”
For all these achievements, Sanusi has received commendations from both individuals and institutions. Some Nigerians have compared his decisiveness to that of Mallam El-Rufai who, as FCT Minister, transformed Abuja through his radical reforms. Members of the Federal Executive Council chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan gave kudos to the CBN governor for a reform that has returned confidence to the banking sector. Minister of State for Finance, Remi Babalola, at a conference organised by Business Day Media Limited in Lagos conveyed government’s total support for the reform. Bisi Onasanya, Managing Director, First Bank of Nigeria (FBN), also extolled the reforms, saying they have facilitated the repositioning of the banking system to serve as an effective intermediary to the real sector.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have also endorsed Sanusi’s ongoing banking reforms. A World Bank research finding indicated that Nigeria’s financial sector has fared better than prior to last year’s intervention by the CBN. At a top level dialogue in Abuja on performance of Nigeria’s financial sector with Goodluck Jonathan, Isma’il Rodwan, President of World Bank Nigeria Country Mission, who described the CBN reforms in the banking sector as both necessary and timely, noted that “contrary to the perception in certain quarters, research has shown that Nigerian banks, before the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), were not lending significantly to the economy, instead lending was concentrated on margin loans to the capital market and oil and gas sector.”
In a related development, IMF's country chief and representative in Nigeria, David Nellor, said the reforms were “essential to building a sound financial sector that can promote long term growth and development consistent with the goals being set for the Vision 20-2020." And we have no option but to also say “Kudos, Sanusi, but…”
In spite of Sanusi’s apparent lofty intentions, there are indications that unintended negative effects of the CBN action have been taking their toll on the banks, the real sector, Nigerians and the entire economy. The first immediate fallout of the CBN hammer on the chieftains of some banks was a rundown on the affected banks. The unprecedented panic withdrawals by customers of the respective banks defied the CBN’s bailout funds and the assurance that it would guarantee the liabilities of the affected banks. The capital market was also deeply affected because the banking sub-sector accounts for 60 percent of the market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. With the clampdown on the five banks and the auditing of 14 others, equity investors became wary of investing in bank stocks. This, according to findings, has inhibited stocks from appreciating. Retrenchment hit the banking sector. While some of the banks retrenched their staff, others slashed salaries and allowances in a bid to cut cost amidst the existing tight fiscal policies. An estimated 30,000 bank workers have lost their jobs since August 2009 when the new banking reforms commenced. Lending has ceased. Even businesses that legitimately obtained loans from banks have been hounded to repay them, and projects banks were financing remain on hold.
Again, experts have condemned Sanusi’s ‘reckless’ public utterances on the health of the banking sector. In Iceland, where the banking system collapsed; the United Kingdom, where some banks ran into a troubled weather; and the United States, where some 120 banks have collapsed in the last two years, the central bank governors of those nations did not call a press conference to announce that the banks were in deep trouble, as that would have meant sheer Armageddon. Some also say that Sanusi has been running in circles, a perfect case of motion without progress, and has failed to offer an alternative vision to Soludo’s Financial Services Strategy 2020, which seeks to make Nigeria’s financial services the most competitive in Africa by 2020.
But Sanusi has also replied his critics. Speaking with African Confidential magazine, he challenged critics of his banking reforms to point out exactly which of the policies has harmed the economy. Marshalling out some of the achievements of his reforms in the past one year, Sanusi stated that when he became governor of the central bank, the rate of inflation was 15 percent; as at March 2010, it was 11.8 percent. The differential between the official rate and the parallel market rate was about 25 percent; it is now less than 10 percent. The naira was trading at 189/190 in the black market; it has been down to about 150/152. Inter-bank rates were at 22 percent and have now been down to about 2 percent. The stock market has gone up 30 percent since January 2010. All the indicators of market confidence have gone up. Also, the lending of foreign banks to Nigerian banks that had been disappearing has now come back up. US EXIM and the European Investment Bank have come to give credit lines to Nigerian banks; the AFC which used to restrict itself to trade finance is now giving long term loans to Nigerian banks.
All said and done, there is no doubt that Sanusi has done well in many respects. However, he should check the remarks he makes about the banks. Tim Congdom of Daily Telegraph once said that “If you are in a system prone to panics, the last thing you want is to advertise that an institution is in trouble”. So, Sanusi should stop making comments that are likely to excite panic in the sector, especially among depositors. There are also palpable fears in many quarters that the introduction of Islamic banking is a subtle move to Islamise Nigeria. The CBN governor should do more in the coming months to allay these fears. Again, it is advised that Sanusi should allow the banks’ shareholders to recapitalise them and not sell any bank the shareholders are able to re-finance. He also needs a quick plan to return the banks to private ownership and stop the haemorrhage on public funds.
Apart from the consolidation era that ended on December 31, 2005, no other period has brought Nigeria’s banking industry to the front burner of economic permutations than the present era of Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who became the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in June 2009, following the expiration of the tenure of his predecessor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo. To start with, Sanusi was apparently not the preferred choice of his banker colleagues who felt that his specialisation in risk management made him privy to behind-the-scene happenings, and therefore the rot, in the banking sector. Allegedly, over N300 million was mobilized by interest groups to scuttle Sanusi’s choice. However, as they say, while the people had their say, government had its way.
As at June 2009 when Sanusi came on board, the Nigerian banking industry was already in a wobbly shape. Many factors were responsible for this. One was significant exposure to the capital market in the form of margin loans. By the end of December 2008, the industry’s exposure to the capital market stood at about N900 billion, representing about 12 percent of aggregate credit or 31.9 percent of shareholders funds. This precipitated a liquid crisis for banks. Also, in the wake of high oil prices, the banks took advantage and lent heavily to the oil and gas sector. By the end of December 2008, bank’s total exposure to the oil industry stood at over N754 billion, representing over 10 percent of aggregate credit and over 27 percent of shareholders’ funds. Thus, by the end of July 2009, the banking sector was already saturated with huge non-performing loans, which aggregate stood at N2, 508 billion, that is, 32.69 percent of total loan portfolio. This development already had an adverse effect on many banks and many of the banks had become a threat to the entire stability of the banking system. There were palpable fears as rating agencies raised alarm that all was not well with a good number of the nation’s banks.
As soon as he assumed office, Sanusi, who came from the top management of First Bank Nigeria Plc, did an overview of the entire industry and identified eight factors that, in his considered opinion, “created an extremely fragile financial system that was tipped into crisis by the global financial recession.” These were macro-economic instability caused by large and sudden capital inflows; major failures in corporate governance at banks; lack of investor and consumer sophistication; inadequate disclosure and transparency about financial position of banks; critical gaps in regulatory frameworks and regulations; uneven supervision and enforcement; unstructured governance and management processes at the Central Bank; and weaknesses within the apex bank itself and in the business environment.
Sanusi promptly compelled banks to open up and explain their toxic assets which were in excess of N1.2 trillion. By the time the CBN and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation had completed their examination of eight banks, their managing directors and other executive directors were found to be shoddy in their management. Erastus Akingbola, Okey Nwosu, Sebastine Adigwe, Cecilia Ibru and Bartholomew Ebong of Intercontinental, Finbank, Afribank, Oceanic and Union Bank, respectively, were all removed in one fell swoop. Francis Atuche of Bank PHB, Ike Oraekwuotu of Equitorial Trust Bank, and Mike Chukwu of Spring Bank followed in the second phase. They were immediately replaced. That move changed fundamentally corporate governance in banks. It also revealed that the era of paper profits, which almost ruined the industry in the 1980’s and 90’s, were not over; that our respected billionaires were merely surviving on bank facilities; and that what banks recorded as capital base were actually depositors’ funds.
To check abuses in the banking sector and entrench transparency in the system, and to ensure a complete departure from status quo ante, Sanusi initiated a tenured system for CEOs and Directors while the issue of corporate governance is also on the front burner. Non-executive directors of banks are to be scrutinized to determine their competence.
Intervention funds followed quickly to bail out the troubled banks and restore the economy to good health. N600 billion was approved for the banks, followed by N200 billion credit guarantee scheme for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and N300 billion for the real sector to unlock the credit market. The N500 billion came via a Debenture Stock to be issued by the Bank of Industry (BOI).
The second phase of Sanusi’s banking reforms hinged on four pillars: strengthening the quality of banks through industrial remedial programmes to fix key causes of the crisis, establishing financial sector stability, which centres around strengthening the financial stability committee within the CBN by establishing a hybrid monetary policy and macro prudential rules; enabling healthy financial sector evolution, with emphasis on banking industry structure, banking infrastructure such as credit bureaux, registrars, cost structure of banks and the role of the informal economy; and ensuring that the financial sector contributes to the real economy. These, he believed, were inevitable in the drive to restore the sector to good health and for it to play its assigned role as the engine room of economic growth and development.
In his opinion, rapid financialization did not benefit the real economy as much as had been anticipated. To change this, he adopted six measures: (a) Leveraging the CBN governor’s role as adviser to the president on economic matters; (b) Taking the lead in measuring more accurately the relationship between the real economy and financial sector and the transmission mechanism; (c) Evaluating continuously the effectiveness of existing development finance initiatives, such as agricultural credits as well as import and export guarantees; (d) Taking the public lead in encouraging examination of critical issues for economic development; (e) Leading further studies on the potential of venture capital and private public partnership initiatives for Nigeria; and (f) Cooperating with state governments to run a pilot programme in directing the financial sector’s contribution to the states’ socio-economic development.
By the turn of 2010, Sanusi unbundled his plans for universal banking, insisting that banks must remain banks. If they must go into other areas, then they have to do that through an omnibus entity in the form of a holding company. Before now, banks were known to own subsidiaries in sectors considered to be outside their areas of core competence, with the attendant risks such ventures brought on depositors’ funds. The new banking model will be expected to correct the mistakes of the past, where banks used their financial leverage to crowd out competition, including by those who have the expertise but lacked the financial resources. Under the new rules, financial institutions will need to obtain separate licenses from the central bank for their core lending business, stock broking, and other non-banking divisions. Financial institutions will be categorised into monoline and specialised banks. Under the monoline banking, banks will have the option to play regional, national or international. Regional banks would require N15 billion, national banks N25 billion and international banks N100 billion as capital base. Regional banks will operate in a minimum of five and a maximum of 10 contiguous states, in addition to having the word "Regional" in their name. The national will have a branch network restricted to Nigeria while the international bank is allowed to operate offshore branches and subsidiaries. Banks must hold a minimum of 10 percent capital against their risk assets. Mortgage banks must possess a minimum capital of N5 billion and a minimum of 50 percent of mortgage assets to total assets.
The CBN governor also unfolded the planned introduction of Islamic banking, a non-interest banking system. Islamic banks would transact banking business, engage in trading, investment and commercial activities, as well as provide financial products and services in accordance with Islamic commercial jurisprudence, and their services would be available to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
One other innovation of Sansui’s reform is the creation of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). When fully operational, AMCON is expected to be a resolution vehicle which will soak the toxic assets of the CBN-intervened banks and provide liquidity to them as well as assist in their recapitalization. It will also offer a window through which the banks can discount voluntarily any non-performing loan that is above 10 per cent of their total share capital. In the words of the CBN governor, “the creation of AMCON will provide the first step towards resolution of the non-performing loan problem in banks and eventually facilitate further consolidation. This process is on-going and we expect all banks to be totally weaned off CBN support by end of the third quarter of 2010. That also explains why we have started a process of mergers and acquisition discussions to encourage the banks to look for partners who will bring in the capital to strengthen the bank balance sheet. Once that is done, the banks will have the capital and the liquidity to lend.”
For all these achievements, Sanusi has received commendations from both individuals and institutions. Some Nigerians have compared his decisiveness to that of Mallam El-Rufai who, as FCT Minister, transformed Abuja through his radical reforms. Members of the Federal Executive Council chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan gave kudos to the CBN governor for a reform that has returned confidence to the banking sector. Minister of State for Finance, Remi Babalola, at a conference organised by Business Day Media Limited in Lagos conveyed government’s total support for the reform. Bisi Onasanya, Managing Director, First Bank of Nigeria (FBN), also extolled the reforms, saying they have facilitated the repositioning of the banking system to serve as an effective intermediary to the real sector.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have also endorsed Sanusi’s ongoing banking reforms. A World Bank research finding indicated that Nigeria’s financial sector has fared better than prior to last year’s intervention by the CBN. At a top level dialogue in Abuja on performance of Nigeria’s financial sector with Goodluck Jonathan, Isma’il Rodwan, President of World Bank Nigeria Country Mission, who described the CBN reforms in the banking sector as both necessary and timely, noted that “contrary to the perception in certain quarters, research has shown that Nigerian banks, before the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), were not lending significantly to the economy, instead lending was concentrated on margin loans to the capital market and oil and gas sector.”
In a related development, IMF's country chief and representative in Nigeria, David Nellor, said the reforms were “essential to building a sound financial sector that can promote long term growth and development consistent with the goals being set for the Vision 20-2020." And we have no option but to also say “Kudos, Sanusi, but…”
In spite of Sanusi’s apparent lofty intentions, there are indications that unintended negative effects of the CBN action have been taking their toll on the banks, the real sector, Nigerians and the entire economy. The first immediate fallout of the CBN hammer on the chieftains of some banks was a rundown on the affected banks. The unprecedented panic withdrawals by customers of the respective banks defied the CBN’s bailout funds and the assurance that it would guarantee the liabilities of the affected banks. The capital market was also deeply affected because the banking sub-sector accounts for 60 percent of the market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. With the clampdown on the five banks and the auditing of 14 others, equity investors became wary of investing in bank stocks. This, according to findings, has inhibited stocks from appreciating. Retrenchment hit the banking sector. While some of the banks retrenched their staff, others slashed salaries and allowances in a bid to cut cost amidst the existing tight fiscal policies. An estimated 30,000 bank workers have lost their jobs since August 2009 when the new banking reforms commenced. Lending has ceased. Even businesses that legitimately obtained loans from banks have been hounded to repay them, and projects banks were financing remain on hold.
Again, experts have condemned Sanusi’s ‘reckless’ public utterances on the health of the banking sector. In Iceland, where the banking system collapsed; the United Kingdom, where some banks ran into a troubled weather; and the United States, where some 120 banks have collapsed in the last two years, the central bank governors of those nations did not call a press conference to announce that the banks were in deep trouble, as that would have meant sheer Armageddon. Some also say that Sanusi has been running in circles, a perfect case of motion without progress, and has failed to offer an alternative vision to Soludo’s Financial Services Strategy 2020, which seeks to make Nigeria’s financial services the most competitive in Africa by 2020.
But Sanusi has also replied his critics. Speaking with African Confidential magazine, he challenged critics of his banking reforms to point out exactly which of the policies has harmed the economy. Marshalling out some of the achievements of his reforms in the past one year, Sanusi stated that when he became governor of the central bank, the rate of inflation was 15 percent; as at March 2010, it was 11.8 percent. The differential between the official rate and the parallel market rate was about 25 percent; it is now less than 10 percent. The naira was trading at 189/190 in the black market; it has been down to about 150/152. Inter-bank rates were at 22 percent and have now been down to about 2 percent. The stock market has gone up 30 percent since January 2010. All the indicators of market confidence have gone up. Also, the lending of foreign banks to Nigerian banks that had been disappearing has now come back up. US EXIM and the European Investment Bank have come to give credit lines to Nigerian banks; the AFC which used to restrict itself to trade finance is now giving long term loans to Nigerian banks.
All said and done, there is no doubt that Sanusi has done well in many respects. However, he should check the remarks he makes about the banks. Tim Congdom of Daily Telegraph once said that “If you are in a system prone to panics, the last thing you want is to advertise that an institution is in trouble”. So, Sanusi should stop making comments that are likely to excite panic in the sector, especially among depositors. There are also palpable fears in many quarters that the introduction of Islamic banking is a subtle move to Islamise Nigeria. The CBN governor should do more in the coming months to allay these fears. Again, it is advised that Sanusi should allow the banks’ shareholders to recapitalise them and not sell any bank the shareholders are able to re-finance. He also needs a quick plan to return the banks to private ownership and stop the haemorrhage on public funds.
The Third World and the Gains of Globalisation
By Chuks Oluigbo
The term globalization became popular in the 1980s. However, when its underlying objective is properly considered, it becomes clear that it is nothing but old wine in new skin. Globalization has really been around for more than five centuries. It is the consummation of the internationalization of capitalism and its associated institutions and the subjugation of the people of the globe which began several centuries ago. It could be said, and with justification too, that slave trade, colonialism and globalization are stages within the same process – that of Third World underdevelopment. Slave trade sowed the seed, colonialism nurtured and perfected it, and globalization is now reaping the fruit.
Globalization ideally should imply global interconnectedness and interdependence, but what obtains in reality is the dependence of the imperialized Third World on the industrial capitalist nations. In the present global village, information, goods, capital, people, knowledge, images, communication, crime, culture, pollutants, drugs, fashions, entertainment, beliefs, among others, all quickly move across territorial boundaries. True, but the question to be asked is: how much of these items move from the Third World to the industrial West? None, except for cheap raw materials. Global interdependence and interconnectedness presuppose that the movement of these items should be mutually equal and symbiotic so that each participant would derive maximum benefit from the association while equally contributing to the overall benefit of other actors. It has become evident, however, that globalization in the present world economic order works to the advantage of the domineering industrial nations while dislocating, plundering, devastating, impoverishing, and further under-developing the economies of the already imperialized Third World. For the one thousand and one foreign owned multinational corporations in Nigeria, for instance, how many Nigerian-owned corporations can be found in New York, Paris, London or Moscow? Clearly, the Third World countries are unequal partners in the global system with only their cheap raw materials and their age-long dependence on industrial goods and aid from the West. This perpetuates an asymmetrical, super-ordinate-subordinate relationship in which the loser Third World countries merely dance to the tune of economic music played by the IMF and the World Bank – financial agents of the West.
In order to participate as equal partners in the globalization process and reap fully the fruits of globalization, Nigeria and the rest of the Third World must, as a matter of urgency, aspire towards self-sustenance and –sufficiency by developing indigenous technology, diversifying their economies, reducing importation and conversely encouraging the emergence of local industries, limiting the activities of the multinationals through strict regulations, searching for alternative roads to development where the capitalist mode of production has failed to produce results, developing independently strong nuclear power to match the threat of the US and its Western allies, and most importantly, producing fearless and truly nationalist leaders propelled by genuine desires to lead their people on the path of true freedom. Unless and until this is done, globalization will continue to hurt rather than heal our economies, and instead of reaping the fruits of the global village, we will continue to experience the brutal pillaging of our economies by the imperialistic capitalism of the West. Former President Bush’s comment on his last visit to Nigeria that in a unipolar world there can be no symbiotic relationship should warn the Third World economies of the true intent of globalization and the urgent need for a radical reordering of the present global system.
The term globalization became popular in the 1980s. However, when its underlying objective is properly considered, it becomes clear that it is nothing but old wine in new skin. Globalization has really been around for more than five centuries. It is the consummation of the internationalization of capitalism and its associated institutions and the subjugation of the people of the globe which began several centuries ago. It could be said, and with justification too, that slave trade, colonialism and globalization are stages within the same process – that of Third World underdevelopment. Slave trade sowed the seed, colonialism nurtured and perfected it, and globalization is now reaping the fruit.
Globalization ideally should imply global interconnectedness and interdependence, but what obtains in reality is the dependence of the imperialized Third World on the industrial capitalist nations. In the present global village, information, goods, capital, people, knowledge, images, communication, crime, culture, pollutants, drugs, fashions, entertainment, beliefs, among others, all quickly move across territorial boundaries. True, but the question to be asked is: how much of these items move from the Third World to the industrial West? None, except for cheap raw materials. Global interdependence and interconnectedness presuppose that the movement of these items should be mutually equal and symbiotic so that each participant would derive maximum benefit from the association while equally contributing to the overall benefit of other actors. It has become evident, however, that globalization in the present world economic order works to the advantage of the domineering industrial nations while dislocating, plundering, devastating, impoverishing, and further under-developing the economies of the already imperialized Third World. For the one thousand and one foreign owned multinational corporations in Nigeria, for instance, how many Nigerian-owned corporations can be found in New York, Paris, London or Moscow? Clearly, the Third World countries are unequal partners in the global system with only their cheap raw materials and their age-long dependence on industrial goods and aid from the West. This perpetuates an asymmetrical, super-ordinate-subordinate relationship in which the loser Third World countries merely dance to the tune of economic music played by the IMF and the World Bank – financial agents of the West.
In order to participate as equal partners in the globalization process and reap fully the fruits of globalization, Nigeria and the rest of the Third World must, as a matter of urgency, aspire towards self-sustenance and –sufficiency by developing indigenous technology, diversifying their economies, reducing importation and conversely encouraging the emergence of local industries, limiting the activities of the multinationals through strict regulations, searching for alternative roads to development where the capitalist mode of production has failed to produce results, developing independently strong nuclear power to match the threat of the US and its Western allies, and most importantly, producing fearless and truly nationalist leaders propelled by genuine desires to lead their people on the path of true freedom. Unless and until this is done, globalization will continue to hurt rather than heal our economies, and instead of reaping the fruits of the global village, we will continue to experience the brutal pillaging of our economies by the imperialistic capitalism of the West. Former President Bush’s comment on his last visit to Nigeria that in a unipolar world there can be no symbiotic relationship should warn the Third World economies of the true intent of globalization and the urgent need for a radical reordering of the present global system.
Stop Blaming the West
Stop Blaming the West
By Chuks Oluigbo
IT was Martin Luther King Jnr. who once asserted that the level of oppression does not depend on the oppressor but on the oppressed. In other words, until the one under oppression rises to say no, enough is enough, oppression is wont to continue because freedom is not given; it is taken. The late Reggae maestro, Bob Marley re-echoed this same point in his 'Redemption Song' when he sang that 'none but ourselves can free our minds'. Regrettably, many Nigerians seem not to have internalised the message contained in these axioms.
Fifty years after the end of colonialism, fifty good years since the British left us to our own devices, many Nigerians still blame Europe and America for everything that is wrong with our system politically, socially, and more especially economically, particularly with the present state of economic recession in the country. They quickly cite slave trade and colonialism, and when you remind them that the former ended over 200 years ago, and the latter close to half a century ago, they quickly tell you again that colonialism has survived in the form of neo-colonialism, which is simply old wine in new wine skin. But again, the question is: can neo-colonialism work without the involvement of insiders? Political economy experts and analysts have explained, having studied the internal dynamics of neo-colonialism, that neo-colonialism cannot exist or survive without the active participation of internal collaborators, the so-called bourgeoisie class.
But again, if one takes the argument from another angle, assuming we decide to blame colonialism for Nigeria's plight, many questions readily come to mind. Importantly, was it only Nigeria that was colonised? It is on record that only two African countries escaped colonisation: Ethiopia and Liberia. Every other part of Africa was colonised, and yet they have forged ahead. Look at Ghana, Nigeria's next door neighbour. What about South Africa where the white man built a home and refused to leave, and even segregated against the true owners of the land through that obnoxious policy called Apartheid? Yet South Africa has grown to become the biggest economy in Black Africa. America too was colonised. Americans fought and regained freedom in 1776, just like Nigeria did in 1960. The American dream was their propelling force and continues to urge them on. But could we really talk about a Nigerian dream? I doubt.
In the present circumstances, the argument that the West is responsible for Nigeria's, and by extension, Africa's inability to break through the perpetual cycle of poverty can no longer be sustained. We agree that colonialism put paid to an ongoing process, that of Africa's development. As many scholars have argued, if the slave trade had not happened, and if Africa had not been colonised but left alone to develop at its own pace, then things would have been different. Sound logic, one would say. But that is just an opinion. On the other hand, others too have called for re-colonisation, if that is possible, basing their argument on the assumption that we were better off in the colonial days than we are now. That is another opinion too. And opinions are free.
In truth, the slave trade and colonialism affected Africa negatively, but we have wept enough. From Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth to Kwame Nkrumah's Neo-colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism to Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa; from Chinweizu's The West and the Rest of Us to Daniel Offiong's Imperialism and Dependency and Globalisation: Post Neo-dependency and Poverty in Africa down to our own dear Claude Ake's Political Economy of Africa, I think we have really lamented enough. This is time for action, time to take the bull by the horn. It is time to evolve new approaches to solving social, political and economic problems of this country. It is time to evolve leaders who have the will to take us out of the present economic quagmire and lead us to the Promised Land, leaders who are altruistic and who are ready to make sacrifices for the betterment of this nation. One million years of tears cannot and will not solve our problems.
Good a thing 2011 is around the corner. We need leaders who can, like Stalin did in the defunct Soviet Union, tell us the bold truth about our situation: 'We are one hundred years behind the rest of the world. We have ten years to catch up. We either do this or they will exterminate us', not leaders who keep reminding us of our position as the giant of Africa when we well know that we are a mere giant with feet of clay.
In concluding this, I would like to quote elaborately, as food for thought, from R.C. Eze's International Law and Political Realism, where he urges Nigeria, and indeed the rest of the Third World thus: 'Instead of sitting down and blaming European countries for their predicaments, preaching morality in world politics... orally condemning the USA or other powerful states for lording it over one weaker country or the other... crying against imperialism and the like, seeking membership of UN Security Council (without the economic-techno-military capability), etc, the leaders of Third World countries should as a matter of urgency embark on nationalistic programmes directed towards genuine socio-economic, political and military advancement that will enable them participate as relatively equal actors in global politics devoid of being pawns in the chessboard of the prevailing political realism in international relations.'This is what we must do, and the time to do it is now. To continue to lament about how the West has continued to plunder us is analogous to a child who killed both parents only to later plead for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan.
By Chuks Oluigbo
IT was Martin Luther King Jnr. who once asserted that the level of oppression does not depend on the oppressor but on the oppressed. In other words, until the one under oppression rises to say no, enough is enough, oppression is wont to continue because freedom is not given; it is taken. The late Reggae maestro, Bob Marley re-echoed this same point in his 'Redemption Song' when he sang that 'none but ourselves can free our minds'. Regrettably, many Nigerians seem not to have internalised the message contained in these axioms.
Fifty years after the end of colonialism, fifty good years since the British left us to our own devices, many Nigerians still blame Europe and America for everything that is wrong with our system politically, socially, and more especially economically, particularly with the present state of economic recession in the country. They quickly cite slave trade and colonialism, and when you remind them that the former ended over 200 years ago, and the latter close to half a century ago, they quickly tell you again that colonialism has survived in the form of neo-colonialism, which is simply old wine in new wine skin. But again, the question is: can neo-colonialism work without the involvement of insiders? Political economy experts and analysts have explained, having studied the internal dynamics of neo-colonialism, that neo-colonialism cannot exist or survive without the active participation of internal collaborators, the so-called bourgeoisie class.
But again, if one takes the argument from another angle, assuming we decide to blame colonialism for Nigeria's plight, many questions readily come to mind. Importantly, was it only Nigeria that was colonised? It is on record that only two African countries escaped colonisation: Ethiopia and Liberia. Every other part of Africa was colonised, and yet they have forged ahead. Look at Ghana, Nigeria's next door neighbour. What about South Africa where the white man built a home and refused to leave, and even segregated against the true owners of the land through that obnoxious policy called Apartheid? Yet South Africa has grown to become the biggest economy in Black Africa. America too was colonised. Americans fought and regained freedom in 1776, just like Nigeria did in 1960. The American dream was their propelling force and continues to urge them on. But could we really talk about a Nigerian dream? I doubt.
In the present circumstances, the argument that the West is responsible for Nigeria's, and by extension, Africa's inability to break through the perpetual cycle of poverty can no longer be sustained. We agree that colonialism put paid to an ongoing process, that of Africa's development. As many scholars have argued, if the slave trade had not happened, and if Africa had not been colonised but left alone to develop at its own pace, then things would have been different. Sound logic, one would say. But that is just an opinion. On the other hand, others too have called for re-colonisation, if that is possible, basing their argument on the assumption that we were better off in the colonial days than we are now. That is another opinion too. And opinions are free.
In truth, the slave trade and colonialism affected Africa negatively, but we have wept enough. From Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth to Kwame Nkrumah's Neo-colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism to Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa; from Chinweizu's The West and the Rest of Us to Daniel Offiong's Imperialism and Dependency and Globalisation: Post Neo-dependency and Poverty in Africa down to our own dear Claude Ake's Political Economy of Africa, I think we have really lamented enough. This is time for action, time to take the bull by the horn. It is time to evolve new approaches to solving social, political and economic problems of this country. It is time to evolve leaders who have the will to take us out of the present economic quagmire and lead us to the Promised Land, leaders who are altruistic and who are ready to make sacrifices for the betterment of this nation. One million years of tears cannot and will not solve our problems.
Good a thing 2011 is around the corner. We need leaders who can, like Stalin did in the defunct Soviet Union, tell us the bold truth about our situation: 'We are one hundred years behind the rest of the world. We have ten years to catch up. We either do this or they will exterminate us', not leaders who keep reminding us of our position as the giant of Africa when we well know that we are a mere giant with feet of clay.
In concluding this, I would like to quote elaborately, as food for thought, from R.C. Eze's International Law and Political Realism, where he urges Nigeria, and indeed the rest of the Third World thus: 'Instead of sitting down and blaming European countries for their predicaments, preaching morality in world politics... orally condemning the USA or other powerful states for lording it over one weaker country or the other... crying against imperialism and the like, seeking membership of UN Security Council (without the economic-techno-military capability), etc, the leaders of Third World countries should as a matter of urgency embark on nationalistic programmes directed towards genuine socio-economic, political and military advancement that will enable them participate as relatively equal actors in global politics devoid of being pawns in the chessboard of the prevailing political realism in international relations.'This is what we must do, and the time to do it is now. To continue to lament about how the West has continued to plunder us is analogous to a child who killed both parents only to later plead for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Nigerian Youths, Charting a New Nigeria
By Chuks OLUIGBO
The role of the youths in the process of building a politically and economically viable nation cannot be overstressed. The youths are, so to speak, the strength-base, the cream, and the future of any society. They constitute the major work force. The role of the youths in the development of a nation can be better appreciated when one takes a trip to rural communities in Nigeria where the bulk of the youths have migrated to the urban centres in search of sustainable means of livelihood. Such communities often appear deserted, ghost-haunted, and consequently wallow in underdevelopment because the youths who should be in the fore-front and champion development efforts have fled to the cities in search of greener pastures.
What this means is that any society without youths has absolutely nothing to look forward to, has no future. For, who will sustain such a society when the elders are dead and gone? It is perhaps in recognition of this pivotal role of the youths in nation-building that many organisations in Nigeria establish youth wings. For instance, there is hardly any political party in Nigeria that does not have a youth wing.
All through Nigeria’s history, Nigerian youths have played a great role in nation building. When Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, and the other nationalists won independence for Nigeria in 1960, they were mere youths in their prime. Most of them were just fresh out of school. When Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu staged the first ever military coup in Nigeria on 15 January, 1966, along with four other Majors in the Nigerian Army, he was less than thirty years old. General Aguiyi Ironsi became the first military Head of State of Nigeria at a very youthful age. General Gowon, General Murtala Mohammed, General Obasanjo, and the rest of the military rulers were youths when they assumed office. Chinua Achebe, foremost African novelist, was 28 years old when he published his classic, Things Fall Apart, which has been translated in over 50 world languages.
But today, many youths have taken to gangsterism, cultism, armed robbery, prostitution, thuggery, sexual violence, and all sorts of social vices because they feel that the older people have schemed them out. There are, however, a handful of young Nigerians who are doing Nigeria proud in their various chosen professions (writing, music, etc) both in Nigeria and across the world. Prominent among them is Chimamanda Adichie, author of Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, and The Thing Around Your Neck. Many more Nigerian youths are ready to contribute positively if only they are given the right atmosphere and support. Needless to stress, no nation can make any headway where the youths are excluded from the scheme of things.
For the youths to effectively play the roles expected of them in the process of nation building, therefore, they need the right education. They also need the right examples from the elders. If the youths are not properly tutored, if they don’t get the right orientation, then the nation is automatically heading for doom. Whatever the youths learn as they grow up, they tend to live with them for the rest of their lives. Old habits die hard. No one learns to use the left hand in old age. It is for this reason that the Bible admonishes parents to “train a child in the way he should grow, he will not depart from it when he grows up”. In other words, whatever role the youths will play in nation-building will depend largely on the kind of morals inculcated in them by the parents and the elders of society.
As Nigeria marks the 50th anniversary of its Independence from British colonial rule, there is need for all stakeholders to sit down and critically reassess the role this country has assigned to its youths. It is very painful when the older generation of Nigerians mouth the slogan: “The youths are the leaders of tomorrow”. The youths keep asking: “When will tomorrow come?”
But again, the youths should realise that freedom is never given; it is taken. They should rise up to the challenge and take the bull by the horns if the dream of a new Nigeria is to be realised. Ghana remained in the doldrums until Jerry Rawlings stood on his feet and said enough was enough. In the same vein, Nigeria will not make any headway until Nigerian youths decide to take their destiny in their hands. Until this is done, and until the youths begin to assume their rightful place in the scheme of things in Nigeria, the country will continue to drag its feet lazily behind other nations of the world, and we all will be the worse for it.
The role of the youths in the process of building a politically and economically viable nation cannot be overstressed. The youths are, so to speak, the strength-base, the cream, and the future of any society. They constitute the major work force. The role of the youths in the development of a nation can be better appreciated when one takes a trip to rural communities in Nigeria where the bulk of the youths have migrated to the urban centres in search of sustainable means of livelihood. Such communities often appear deserted, ghost-haunted, and consequently wallow in underdevelopment because the youths who should be in the fore-front and champion development efforts have fled to the cities in search of greener pastures.
What this means is that any society without youths has absolutely nothing to look forward to, has no future. For, who will sustain such a society when the elders are dead and gone? It is perhaps in recognition of this pivotal role of the youths in nation-building that many organisations in Nigeria establish youth wings. For instance, there is hardly any political party in Nigeria that does not have a youth wing.
All through Nigeria’s history, Nigerian youths have played a great role in nation building. When Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, and the other nationalists won independence for Nigeria in 1960, they were mere youths in their prime. Most of them were just fresh out of school. When Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu staged the first ever military coup in Nigeria on 15 January, 1966, along with four other Majors in the Nigerian Army, he was less than thirty years old. General Aguiyi Ironsi became the first military Head of State of Nigeria at a very youthful age. General Gowon, General Murtala Mohammed, General Obasanjo, and the rest of the military rulers were youths when they assumed office. Chinua Achebe, foremost African novelist, was 28 years old when he published his classic, Things Fall Apart, which has been translated in over 50 world languages.
But today, many youths have taken to gangsterism, cultism, armed robbery, prostitution, thuggery, sexual violence, and all sorts of social vices because they feel that the older people have schemed them out. There are, however, a handful of young Nigerians who are doing Nigeria proud in their various chosen professions (writing, music, etc) both in Nigeria and across the world. Prominent among them is Chimamanda Adichie, author of Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, and The Thing Around Your Neck. Many more Nigerian youths are ready to contribute positively if only they are given the right atmosphere and support. Needless to stress, no nation can make any headway where the youths are excluded from the scheme of things.
For the youths to effectively play the roles expected of them in the process of nation building, therefore, they need the right education. They also need the right examples from the elders. If the youths are not properly tutored, if they don’t get the right orientation, then the nation is automatically heading for doom. Whatever the youths learn as they grow up, they tend to live with them for the rest of their lives. Old habits die hard. No one learns to use the left hand in old age. It is for this reason that the Bible admonishes parents to “train a child in the way he should grow, he will not depart from it when he grows up”. In other words, whatever role the youths will play in nation-building will depend largely on the kind of morals inculcated in them by the parents and the elders of society.
As Nigeria marks the 50th anniversary of its Independence from British colonial rule, there is need for all stakeholders to sit down and critically reassess the role this country has assigned to its youths. It is very painful when the older generation of Nigerians mouth the slogan: “The youths are the leaders of tomorrow”. The youths keep asking: “When will tomorrow come?”
But again, the youths should realise that freedom is never given; it is taken. They should rise up to the challenge and take the bull by the horns if the dream of a new Nigeria is to be realised. Ghana remained in the doldrums until Jerry Rawlings stood on his feet and said enough was enough. In the same vein, Nigeria will not make any headway until Nigerian youths decide to take their destiny in their hands. Until this is done, and until the youths begin to assume their rightful place in the scheme of things in Nigeria, the country will continue to drag its feet lazily behind other nations of the world, and we all will be the worse for it.
Chasing After Shadows: A Review of Maik Nwosu’s Alpha Song
By Chuks Oluigbo
IMPRINT: LAGOS: HOUSE OF MALAIKA & BEACON BOOKS, 2001
The opening of Maik Nwosu’s Alpha Song reads like Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter. But unlike So Long a Letter, it is not just a letter; it is a dying father’s “last will and testament” to his five-year old son. As the book progresses, however, the “will and testament” turns out to be just memories. The protagonist, Taneba, says at the beginning: “And what more precious legacy can I leave you, my son, than my most prized possession? My secrets: my memory.” (p.1). The book begins in the present where Taneba, forty-five years old, and at the point of death, delves into the deep past to unburden his heart of memories that go beyond two decades: the life he had lived, the people he had met and the places he had been.
Like Christopher Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus, Alpha Song re-enacts the motif of the knowledge-seeker. It is a story of insatiable quest, of man’s endless search for meaning, for the true essence of life. But it is a futile search. No one ever finds it. Everything ends in disillusionment. Reading through the pages, one could clearly hear echoes of the voice of the Preacher saying: “Vanity upon vanity, all is vanity.” Taneba confesses in his letter to Toshiba: “All my life, I have been searching for something just beyond the edge of my consciousness, just a little above my comprehension. I doubt if I will ever find it…” (p.95)
Man is an insatiable being, ever searching. Taneba’s flight from his village to Lagos is a search for meaning. So is his romance with the night. His ultimate aim, he says, was “to catch up with the night”. But it was impossible because the night was always “one step ahead” of him. (p.3) As he would later confess: “I had lived through several ages of the night…wandering and wondering, seeking for a great indefinable essence but finding only small definable pleasures.” (p.212) In the end, he is “rather tired of seeking and not finding.” (p.228) Realising the futility of his search, he traces his way to his roots in Kaiama Creek.
The above then underlines man’s search for meaning as a pursuit after shadows. Yet, man cannot stop searching because he is insatiable; because “life is something we go through searching for meaning,” (p.2).
Just like Taneba, virtually every other character in Alpha Song goes in search of meaning, his or her own way. Bantus’s wanderings are also a search. He has been to New York and to almost all the islands in the world: Montego Bay, Tahiti, Zanzibar – yet his appetite for adventure is not whetted. He still goes off to Monrovia, to the desert, again to New York, and back to Lagos, all in search of what he does not even know. At one point he tells Taneba that he has been “to find the heart of the ocean.” (p.122) He too soon realises the futility of his search. “Life is a myth,” he says:
…the myth of existence, of living. We don’t live, man; we only go through the motions. Everyman’s life is a myth he tries to retell, to personalise; he doesn’t own it, he doesn’t even understand it. (p.78)
But does he stop searching? He sets off again, and rather than find meaning, he gets lost himself. After many years of living in illusion, Faith goes to church in search of God. Yellow’s movement from Papa Real’s house to Mama Zi’s Beach Kingdom is also a search. Taneba also goes to Mama Zi, to Abedie, and finally joins Faith’s church in New York. Man is in constant search, ever trying to know more.
Alpha Song is also a story of progression, of endless movement, of passage (of time and people) and of transformation and change. Nature is in a constant state of flux. Nothing remains the same. “Everything passes, except perhaps the essence of things.” (p.2) Thus, Taneba progresses from being the disinherited son of Elias Brass in the little village of Kaiama Creek to working in the sorting department of the general post office in Lagos. Then he begins to hang around the joints in his neighbourhood. When he meets Tamuno again and is introduced into night life, he becomes an incurable night-crawler. He gradually transforms from a celibate dying from the burden of chastity to a chronic patron of prostitutes. He moves from being a stranded fellow at the coast of Monrovia to being the assistant manager in the express mail section of the post office, with an official car; from a fraudulent staff on the verge of imprisonment to the manager of Stephen Speed; from the international manager of Stephen Holdings to a prisoner in New York. When he returns to Lagos finally, he discovers that everything has changed. “Time had not stood still,” (p196), and everything he had been or done in the preceding decade suddenly seemed of no consequence in that “motion of time”.
Tamuno’s Heaven had become an embassy; Sundown! a restaurant; 24 a brothel. Only the Red Hat remained a club, although the name had changed to Lingo! The most amazing of the transformations was Music Temple. It had become a church: the Cathedral of St. Toshiba…. How everything changes. (p.227)
Col. Briggs transforms from an incurable patron of the night to its most outspoken antagonist. When he is made Minister for Youth and Social Development, he warns young people to “beware of the night for the night is evil.” (p.197) How people change! Bantu deserts his family, reunites with them, renames his wife La Mundo, deserts them again, and then vanishes. In the nightclubs too, there is constant motion of people, staff as well as patrons.
In another way, Alpha Song also treats the theme of the inevitability of death. Every man moves ultimately to his death. Taneba’s mother’s mother dies; his mother too dies; and so does his father. Tamuno dies, even though Chief Stephen describes him as a strong breed; Mama Rekia dies; the seemingly ageless Papa Real dies; and Chief Stephen dies, even though he “always seemed strong enough to outlive eternity.” (p.226) Finally, Faith dies. The disappearance of Bantu is also inevitable. In Naomi’s final letter to Bantu, she writes: “Dear Bantu: It is my fate then to bear this terrible guilt….”
Man is a fated being. He cannot run away from his fate, how ever much he tries. Taneba flees from his village in order to obliterate the memory of his father; in order to escape, so to say, from the ghost of his father and his entire past. But like King Odewale in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame, the farther he runs, the closer he draws to his fate. His escape route leads him inevitably into the arms of Eve, the proposed fourth wife of his father before his father’s sudden death. The “Alpha Song” he so much enjoys turns out to be his father’s own composition. He literally comes face to face with the ghost of his father. In his consternation, he asks:
So, what all my life had amounted to – after almost two decades of rejecting and forgetting – was the completion of my father’s marriage programme? What sort of terrible ghost had that terrible man become that he would not let me be? (p.220)
He then realises the futility of his flight. He goes home thereafter to perform a symbolic personal burial for his father who died over two decades before. Man is but a pawn in the hands of the supernatural forces.
Alpha Song is again a quest into the night and its impregnable “soda ash fountain of mysteries”. “The night is like a spirit and usually possesses different people in different ways”. (p.12) It is also “a time for deaths…” (p.13). Virtually all the evil things in the book are done at night: prostitution, drug business, the attack on Taneba, the attack on St. Notorious and his group, the murder of Tamuno, and so on. This is so because the night frees people “from their daytime inhibitions” (p.13).
The book is also a story of depravity, of moral decadence, and of man’s unquenchable crave for pleasure. Taneba moves insatiably from girl to girl and from one nightclub to the other, until he gets into trouble in New York where he is accused of attempted rape. This earns him a two-year jail term, thus fulfilling Mama Zi’s prophecy. The level of decadence is evident in the recklessness with which some families encourage their daughters to sell their bodies for money. Mairo’s mother encourages her to go to Europe for prostitution so as to support the family. Angel’s brother also comes to Lagos to ask her for money, and she tells Taneba, “They think because I’m living with a white man I must be rich.” (p.191)
Some of the stories in Alpha Song remind one of Macbeth’s encounter with the three weird sisters in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The image of the supernatural looms very large in the characters of Mama Rekia, who allegedly buys other people’s dreams for a fee so that she can dream them, until one day she buys a dream about her own death and dies subsequently; Ada Eke, the daughter of the stream, who is said to disappear into the depths of the stream on the night before the Eke market, thus causing the stream to rise, and her re-emergence afterwards causes the stream to thin out; Mairo, who is married to a jealous deity who detests her association with mortal men; Mama Zi, who prophesies Taneba’s troubles with women; the ageless Papa Real, who sells reality and who allegedly sacrifices other people to prolong his own life; Yellow who is always up and about on the streets every night and day and never goes to sleep; Eve, who predicts with horrifying precision in her diary recordings Taneba’s future actions in their relationship; the stone boulder in the middle of the road at midnight which disappears at daybreak; the silence, the mounted heads of ram and the smell of blood in Abedie’s house; and Taneba’s dreams about masquerades and his loss of hair. These stories evoke eerie feelings. So do Bantu’s revelations. But these stories should be seen, not as mere superstition, but as an insight into some beliefs and practices of traditional African peoples. They could also be viewed from the psychoanalytical perspective as embodying the different workings of the human mind. Alpha Song is after all a probe into the inner recesses of the human mind.
The greater part of the action in Alpha Song takes place in Lagos. However, through flashback, the setting shifts to Kaiama Creek, to Uzi Quarters, the orphanage of Tamuno’s childhood, and so on. One must also commend the author’s use of the first person narrator. Given the nature of the events, no other character could have told Taneba’s story better than Taneba himself. The author’s manner of introducing the characters is also commendable.
Other techniques effectively employed by the author are letters and dreams. Many of the characters communicate by means of letter writing: Mairo to Taneba, Taneba to Toshiba, Toshiba to Taneba, Bantu’s wife to Taneba, and so on. These letters serve to reveal the thought patterns of the characters concerned. At other times, they tell the reader about some earlier events not directly related in simple narrative. The author seems to question the difference between dream and reality. If Mama Rekia buys a dream about her death and dies subsequently, Yellow suffers insomnia because Papa Real tells him in his dream that his eyes will never know sleep, and Taneba sees himself losing a grey hair each day in his dream and actually loses the hair in real life, then where is the demarcating line between dream and reality?
Alpha Song reads like a song, with many of the characters quoting lines from songs. Tamuno sees life itself as a song. His refrain: The robins will sing. Bantu’s revelations embody three songs: alpha song, meridian song, and omega song. Eve enjoys classical songs which she says “speak to the soul” (p.215), and from which she derives inspiration.
In many instances the book reads like poetry. Part of Taneba’s letter to Toshiba reads:
I have turned in four directions, into alphabet streets filled with smoke and alabaster, but you are an experience above experiences. You have given me memories, by simple signs of affection and paradisial conjugations, that spiral me into giddy heights…. You have made me, wearied by a million journeys into myself, feel the sacramental power of love… (p.96)
All said and done, it must be said that the author has succeeded in shaking the foundations of many of man’s actions without being excessively moralistic. In the end, man has only one person to confront: himself. Alpha Song then is a successful novel in as much as every reader is able to see in Taneba an image of himself or herself. Taneba is like every man, with all the basic human vices.
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