You are imagining the expectations of a President in an ideal world during a time of crisis, but not one who or whose speechwriters evince a sense of conquest and of victory. You lamented an unfulfilled hope, of a dream, derailed for lack of organization and a figurehead. But the architects of the invasion saw it differently. Wrongly, they fathomed clear and present danger to the throne that must be neutralized by any means necessary. And that explains the absence of empathy or compassion you anticipated in the speech.

This is only where I disagree with you: "When the snake of hoodlums came in, the #EndSARS euphoria came to an end." No, sir. I beg to differ. The "snake of hoodlums" did not end the euphoria, bullets did. Okay, the bullets did. The invasion of Lekki Toll-gate did. Turning off the screen and light at the Toll-gate did. The timeline of events speaks volumes. Looting began post-invasion and disruption of the peaceful protesters at the Toll-gate, not before it. Also, in Benin City, there was jail-break, but no looting pre-Lekki invasion.

Moving Forward

Towards the end of your essay, you wrote: "We saw also the north-south divide? North says it wants SARS, the south says no. Both have failed to listen to each other. It calls for dialogue, not mutual condemnation." And the answer is in your work.

Later in that same paragraph, you stated, "It brings up the north-south debate over state police. The state of police will make us rethink this matter. If the police were a state matter, each state will decide whether or not and how they want it." I share your views.

Here are my Recommendations.

For a start. let have (1) fully armed Federal Highway Patrol on all Federal Roads, equipped with modern telecommunication gadgets to, among other functions, ensure security, safety, and the speed limit on our interstate highways. If we have to merge or convert the Federal Road Safety Corp into that unit, fine. In addition, stations should be built for them by the highways, where those who are not on duty can unwind and change clothes, but NOT checkpoints on the highways as we have presently. (2) The old Mobile Police Force (Mopol) and the disbanded SARS should form the new SWAT Team under the control of the Federal Govt and must only be seen in public to restore peace during the time of crisis. Not the Military. (3) The entire Police Force should be localized - become State Police. (4) the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense should be upgraded to carry weapons and to guide all Federal Institutions nationwide and Foreign Missions in Nigeria. And (5) members of Nigeria Customs should be taken off our highways and cities. They should be at the borders, international airports, and seaports. Period. Roaming the highways or invading private warehouses is uncalled for.

I apologize for invading your space. Thank you.

 The Boko Haram Culture and the Genesis of the Nigerian Educational Crisis. 

“In the Universities themselves, the Federal Government is now contemplating introducing free education. Whatever may be the merits of this considered step, its likely effect on the University population must be mentioned. It is going to result in an even greater imbalance in enrollment for the simple reason that at the moment, there are a fair number of highly eligible candidates for University education, mainly from the educationally advanced states, who unfortunately cannot enter University simply on financial grounds.” That was Professor Aminu in his memo, titled “Educational Imbalance: Its Extent, History, Dangers and Correction in Nigeria” when he was the Executive Secretary of the National University Commission. Obasanjo was the Military President at the time.

Please, permit me to break his argument for you in plain English. Why is this essay necessary? Because of the attack unleashed on peaceful protesters at Abuja and Lagos by Northern youths under the supervision of government agents 

Dr. Aminu's ethnic-influenced logic was that a nationwide free education program implemented at the national level has the potential to balloon the already existing educational gap between north and south. His reason is that candidates from the "educationally advanced states, who unfortunately cannot enter University simply on financial grounds", will eventually be able to do so if free education is introduced. 

He was not interested in the likely benefits of the program to Northern children. But was unduly concerned that Southern children will benefit more. It was his view that poor families in the north will not embrace the free education program at the same level as their poor southern colleagues. His reason was: the aversion of western culture and values by northerners. That was. So, the theory that Boko is Haram in the North did not start with us today. Dr. Aminu and some of his fellow Northern intellectuals used it to kill the Nigerian education system.   

Based on that understanding (Northerners do not like western education), he concludes that the idea of free education being contemplated by the government is not a national priority. And our federal military government bought and swallowed his retrogressive arguments hook, line, and sinker.  In other words, if free education policy is not good for the north that, unfortunately, needed it more than the south, it is considered not good enough for Nigeria at large. And that was how Schools of Basic Studies funded by the Federal Government became a culture in the North, but foreign in the South. 

And it was the same period that the Ali Must Go students riot took place. They removed subsidies on student feeding because it was too expensive for the government to fund. But what they didn't tell Obasanjo was that there are more Southern children in the University and they are benefiting more from the feeding program.

The truth is that the educational gap between the north and the south that people like Dr. Aminu wanted to bridge, by all means necessary, did not happen overnight in the south. It was made possible by the embrace of the teaching of the Christian Missionaries in the South - the integration of religious studies with the scholarly pursuit of Western education by the Ndigbo. And the free education program of Action Group in the western region, as well as, the acceptance and embrace of Western culture and values side by side with the Yoruba creeds by the people of the old western region of Nigeria.

Dr. Aminu acknowledged these facts in his 53-page memo, rather than strive to give it a nationwide experiment, he demanded that the rest of the country stands still for the north to catch up, whether or not the northern political leaders were willing to embrace the same values and cultures that made educational advancement possible in the geographical south. And that is the tragedy of the Nigerian educational system, evading abatement or total elimination. 

So, when you see videos of Hausa speaking youths on the attack in the past few days, out to kill and sabotage the peaceful protesters, you don't need to be reminded about the essence of the celebration of the culture of illiteracy by some Northern political leaders whose children are not only educated the Western ways but actually acquired them in the Western Countries. 

You are reading this and you are saying "this Alex guy hate the North, only a few of the Northern intellectuals espouse the views of Dr. Aminu." Yes, indeed; these few are the brain behind (authors) of some of our major public policy documents. For instance, the 1999 Constitution was written by the Legal Adviser to President Abach, now Professor Yadudu. What about the last creation of new states and local government councils? The same thing. In other words, these extreme few, well versed in feudalism and oligarchy obsessed, are managing our public affairs. 

I am not against any tribe. I am only stating how the policies that they openly pursued over the years undermined our unity and set us back economically. You should be worried about them and not me. I am a patriot. They are the bigot because they champion our divide and espouse a narrative of race and religion. And as long as they exercise control over the proceeds of our crude oil and customs and immigration, and at the same time, corner enough public wealth to send their children to school abroad and enough to share to the grown-up almajiris to do their bidding, Nigeria will not know peace and real progress will continue to elude us. 

 Sunset at Bourdillon: Asiwaju Tinubu and the Epistles of Misadventure in Power.

"They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the Lord, but he answered them not. Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets." Psalm 18: 41-42

'But his hope of ever ruling this country was buried at the toll gate on Tuesday at 20: 10: 2020.' Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi.

In addition to the Toll-Gate massacre and the imposition of his daughter on the Lagos Market Women Association, he engineered the false surrender of Chief Tom Ikimin as the Chairman of APC as well as the removal of Chief Odigie Oyegun as the Chairman of the same party. Colossal errors in leverage consolidation, you may add.

Here is supposedly a first-class political strategist, unwittingly corroding his Southern power-base with expulsion, and scheming to become the only viable man standing. But in the process, he corroded his own relevance and cast asunder his inordinate ambition nurtured over the years.

Today, he is like the dust before the wind and the mire on the street. Like the wind, his enemies are legion and they blow from every direction.

I love this man. How I wish he loves and embraces the incredibly smart, savvy, and independently-minded thinkers, and not the willing stooges, the greedy, and the born opportunists of egbe omo oduduwa. Rather than champion team-building - a formidable team of true Progressives within the APC patchwork, especially the old PDP rebels - he went about dismantling the block. His major failing was undermining the relevance of the stubborn, but urbane academia (Dr. Saraki, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, Kayode Fayemi, etc.) of the fragile coalition.

It came to a point, I cried out loud on Facebook, asking, who is advising this man? He just didn't get it. Governor El'Rufai came to Lagos to lecture Lagosians on how to overthrown a Godfather and went away scot-free. There was no counter-attack from Bourdillon. The Nation newspaper went to bed. Ambode is exiled. A Fashola enthusiastically took the 5th. And a Veepee is adrift in a storm where even a compass knows no route.

A few months earlier, the same El'Rufai stated unequivocally that the 2023 APC Presidential ticket is not zoned to any region. In other words, Tinubu should stop salivating for a 2023 automatic Presidential ticket. And there was no Asiwaju Apostle to dare the Kaduna Strong Man to verbal combat.

Yet again, the irrepressible Mallam, told whoever cares to listen that Asiwaju did not deliver the West for President Buhari in the 2019 Presidential election. Much as I waited for a rebuttal from the great one's media arsenal, none came. Even the foremost wordsmith of the Editorial Board of the Nation newspaper was nowhere to be found.

A Disturbing Truth He Couldn't Confront or Manage.

The moment President Buhari was declared the winner of the 2015 Presidential election, his office came out with a line that remains memorable - "I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody." Whether or not Chief Asiwaju accepted it as a statement fact that he is not wanted in Aso Rock or that unknown soldiers who didn't participate in the sacking of President Jonathan have hijacked Aso Rock, remains a mystery to me.

But the first Lady, in her Majestic Graceness, cried out loud, lamenting that those who are holding court at Aso Rock were not part of the making of the mandate. But the major victim, the architect of the victory, continues to be in denial, playing a docile conformist to the discomfort of average thinking Nigerian.

A few years ago, Asiwaju's wife reveals how her husband was pushed under the bus after the inauguration ceremony and the anguish they were subjected to. Meaning that Asiwaju was quite aware as the President's wife declared, that indeed, a cabal has hijacked activities at Aso Rock and took over the government that Chief Asiwaju incubated. What did Asiwaju do? Nothing, if at all, it was the opposite.

Why is this story necessary? Simple.

Seeing the handwriting on the wall, Asiwaju should have rallied around himself, the big guys of the West, South East, and Middle Belt whom he assembled to topple President Jonathan in 2015. In that case, develop firm support on the ground within the South ahead of 2023. He did not do that. He continues to be anti-Southern interest and most often, remains quiet when he is expected to take a stand and speak out on national issues. And he became an Emperor without a kingdom.

With the disappearance of Chief Tom Ikimin and Chief Odigie Oyegun, and knowing that Mr. Rotimi Amaechi resent him with passion, Asiwaju should have cozied towards the strongman of Imo State. He never did. His beloved Comrade Adam went on a killing mission to disrobe Owelle Rochas Okorocha and his budding empire. Instead of building a formidable ground troupe, they went about consolidating impregnable adversarial forces. Today, Comrade is down, though not out. And Asiwaju is on vacation, by himself. 

How Southerner or Westerner is Asiwaju?

More than 99% of Oduduwa descendants want Restructuring and the Oduduwa Republic. Asiwaju did not participate at President Jonathan convened National Conference and prevented the APC Governors in the West to participate. So, it begs to ask, what is Asiwaju's position on "Killer Herders?" No opinion. On "Cattle Colony?" No opinion on record. On "Bandit?". Complete silence. On "killing in Southern Kaduna and the Middle Belt"? No comment. On Chadian Military Invasion and the expose' of the fraud of President Buhari's war against the Boko Haram sect?" None. What about the "deplorable Lagos/Badagry Expressway?" Nothing. The truth is that Asiwaju doesn't want to offend the powerful outside influence that is intent on underdeveloping Lagos.

On a closing note, I want to express my heartfelt sympathy to Chief Asiwaju. What has befallen him and his media empire in the last few days remains a bitter lesson in political miscalculation. He is a victim of a power play gone mad. His Newspaper is gone. His TV Station is gone. By whom? We may never know. He courted acceptance from his worst enemies. He is a King. And MKO Abiola was. Papa Awo was. Odili is. Amaechi is not. And Jonathan is not. If they can't dominate you, if you are prepared, you become a threat to the caliphate.

When President Buhari and the cabal hijacked the mandate of 2015, I remember stating in one of my essays: 'if you undermine Asiwaju, you do so at your own peril.' I was NOT wrong. Asiwaju wasn't reading me. His friends or advisers do not even know my name or care about my works. But the people I was threatening, are my major fans and followers on social media. They took my words and went to work - we will disarm him and destroy him before 2023 and before dislodging turn perilous. And El'Rufai went to work - discrediting the target. While the remnants of Asiwaju's interest went on an extended vacation, too timid to fight back.

The old adage, which says: Good Name is Better Than Riches, is as valid today as it was when it was first phrased. The people come first. And the governed come first. In spite of everything, I pray for his protection wherever he is. Granted the death at Lekki Toll Gate did not catapult the nation into a bloody revolution or change of Government, it has, nevertheless, rewritten the relevance of the Tinubu bloodline in the politics of the Western region. Above all, it has reminded a lot of us writers and commentators, that whenever push comes to shove, the Almajiris, the Abokis, and the convicted, but released Boko Haram sect will ever remain ready tools in the hands of all the Feudalist Buhari's of Nigerian politics to subvert popular change.

To be continued.

In addition to the Toll-Gate massacre and the imposition of his daughter on the Lagos Market Women Association, he engineered the false surrender of Chief Tom Ikimin as the Chairman of APC as well as the removal of Chief Odigie Oyegun as the Chairman of the same party. Colossal errors in leverage consolidation.

Here is supposedly a first-class strategist, unwittingly corroding his Southern power-base with expulsion, and scheming to become the only man standing, but in the process, he corroded his own relevance and cast asunder his inordinate ambition nurtured over the years.

Today, he is like the dust before the wind and the mire on the street. Like the wind, his enemies are legion and they blow from every direction. And like the dirt on the street, it is a no use - susceptible to being swept off the ground.

It came to a point, I cried out loud here on Facebook, asking, who is advising this man? He just didn't get it. Governor El'Rufai came to Lagos to lecture Lagosians on how to overthrown a Godfather. There was no counter-attack from Bourdillon. And the Nation newspaper went to bed.

A few months earlier, the same El'Rufai stated unequivocally that the 2023 APC Presidential ticket, is not zoned to any region. In other words, Tinubu should stop salivating for the 2023 automatic Presidential ticket. And there was no Asiwaju Apostle to dare the Kaduna Strong Man to a fight.

Yet, the same Mallam the irrepressible Governor, told whoever cares to listen that Asiwaju did not deliver the West for President Buhari in the 2019 Presidential election. And yet again, no one pen an opinion piece to rebut or challenge Governor El'Rufai. And the wordsmith of the Nation newspaper was nowhere - not exactly his brief.

A Truth He Couldn't Manage.

The moment President Buhari was declared the winner of the 2015 Presidential election, his office came out with a line that remains memorable - "I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody." Whether or not he accepted it as a statement that he is not wanted in Aso Rock or that unknown soldiers who didn't participate in the sacking of President Jonathan are now in charge, remains a mystery. But the first Lady said so and cried out loud. But the major victim, the architect of the victory, continues to play the docile stooge.

Asiwaju's wife cried out loud many years later that his husband was pushed under the bus after the inauguration ceremony. Meaning that Asiwaju was quite aware as the President's wife declared, that indeed, a cabal has hijacked activities at Aso Rock and supplanted her husband. What did Asiwaju do? Nothing, if at all, it was the opposite.

Why is this story necessary? Simple.

Seeing the emerging picture, Asiwaju should have rallied around himself, the big guys of the West, South East, and Middle Belt whom he assembled to topple President Jonathan in 2015. In that case, develop firm support on the ground within the South ahead of 2023. He did not do that. He continues to be anti-Southern interest and most often, remains quiet when he is expected to take a stand and speak out on national issues. And he became a leader without a fan.

What is Asiwaju's position on "Killer Herders?" On "Cattle Colony?" On "Bandit?" On "killing in Southern Kaduna and the Middle Belt"? On Chadian Military Invasion and the fraud of the war against the Boko Haram sect?" The perpetuation of the Service Chiefs in office?" And on the "deplorable Lagos/Badagry Expressway?" Nothing. He doesn't want to offend the North.

Have you ever see Northern political leaders and religious leaders quiet on national issues? No. They always take a stand, no matter whose ox is being gored. One of them threatened us a few years ago that he will mobilize his own people and move to Cameroon. And you think he was joking. No. That's the difference between them and us. They are never afraid to take a stand.

This is a lesson for all: Know your friends. Know where you are coming from. Value your Homefront. Honor and cherish your base. When all else fails, you must have friends and tribesmen willing and ready to die for you. Papa Awo was one. Sir Ahmadu Bello was one. And Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was another.

It's not all about the money all the time; the old adage, which says: Good Name is Better Than Riches, is as potent today as it was when it was first phrased. I pray for Asiwaju, God's protection wherever he is.

Today, granted the death at Lekki Toll Gate did not catapult the nation into a bloody revolution or change of Government, it has rewritten the relevance of the Tinubu bloodline in the police of the Western region. Above all, it has reminded a lot of us writers and commentators, that whenever push comes to shove, the Almajiris, the Abokis, and the convicted, but released Boko Haram sect will ever remain ready tools in the hands of all the Feudalist Buhari's of Nigerian politics to subvert popular change. To be continued.

I WANT MY MIDWEST REGION.

A government that armed and sponsored hoodlums to embark on a killing mission against lawful and peaceful protesters should not be appalled by the videos and pictures of gruesome death that came out of their sponsored mission. Period.

Life has no duplicate; those you killed in cold blood will not go unsung. To those who participated in the massacre at Lekki Toll-Gate as well as those who gave the order, the blood of the victims is on your head and their spirit will continue to hunt you every day of your life. We are better than this.

You cannot have all the wealth of the nation within your control and all the architects of peace and security under your command and still be flatfooted in the face of clear and present danger. You are either dead or infirm of purpose. Either way, it's not in our best interest.

It's time we speak and take a stand - waiting for 2023 for President Buhari to leave office is replete with calamity. The age-old argument that it's the turn of the North to have one of their own as President, strengthens the narrative that indeed Nigeria is not one country.

So, if we have to perpetuate in the Presidency, someone whose identity, physical, or mental state no one can vouchsafe; someone who has demonstrated beyond every stretch of reasonable doubt that he is incapable of performing the acts of the state; and someone whose religious bigotry and espousal of irredentism knows no bounds so that we can meet the demands of a bogus power sharing equation, is the quickest route to unmaking the amalgamation the wrong way.

As we are right now, the Hausa/Fulani of Nigeria would rather choose the path of mass suicide than to entertain the call for the resignation of President Buhari. And why is that so? Because all the major elements of one nation-state are missing in the geographical expression called Nigeria. And those deficits and sense of inequality always manifest whenever someone from the North is in power, with the exception of President Musa Yar'Adua.

So, let's stop beating about the bush; we had enough. We are done with your leadership. If the corruption in the system is endemic, it is so because Aso Rock is endemic with emptiness. If you want to continue with a President Buhari who couldn't manage the conflict between his immediate family and the wife and kids of his cousin's, good for you. We know who we are; we are the apostles of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. And it's about the people.

You remain in your zone, under your Sharia law, and let me be in my region where Boko is not Haram. As to the oil wealth, you have had enough for yourselves and for your region in the past 50 years. It's time for those who own the land to have a feel of their God-given wealth. I love Nigeria, but I chose a CONFEDERAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT where no region will continue to lie about population and about everything to continue to perpetuate their way of life on the larger population.

Therefore, let the process of DECENTRALIZATION begin - West, Mid-West, South-South, South-East, Middle-Belt, North-East, and North West. That's seven regions. If the North-West and North-East believe it is in their best interest to remain as one region, that's fine. Also, the people of Southern Kaduna should have the option to chose whether to remain part of the North-West or merge with the Middle-Belt region.

There should be a Unicameral Legislature where each region will send one or two representatives every four years. The position of the Prime Minister will be rotated among the six or seven regions after every four years, who will, in turn, have a regional Premier just the way it was before the civil war. This is not about who wants to go to war. War is out of the question.

To be continued.

“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

DEBATING PASTOR YEMI OSINBAJO'S IMMINENT CASH HAUL

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7: 24-27.

As you must have heard, the Vice President is about embarking on another cash disbursement all over again. What the Professor of Law is about to do again is mere cosmetic, a  lazy man's approach to an economic bailout that doesn't address the basic problems besetting our real growth. That cash disbursement is the easiest thing to do doesn't make it economically prudent. Think about the long-run effect. The fact that it is working in Europe and North America doesn't mean it is going to be positively impactful in Nigeria. Those countries have a stable power supply and good roads. We don't have those in Nigeria. First, take care of the infrastructural facilities, and watch the Nigerian economic blossom exponentially. I know your penchant for cash disbursement has no limit. And I did expect that you will embark on it again and that was why I wrote this short essay a few days ago, which I have attached below. 

DISCUSSING ECONOMIC SOLUTION IN THE MIDST OF A POLITICAL STORM: A COMMONSENSE ANALYSIS. 

A SYNOPSIS

There is something repugnant about the Nigerian economy and its leadership that defies commonsense. In Nigeria, there are certain known peculiarities that make popular economic theories about spending and investment, as well as the creation of new markets and expansion of existing ones, unfit for our situation.

The truth is that when all the Adam Smith, Jeffrey Sachs, Marxists, Regulated, and Free Market activists of our world were writing or postulating their economic and public policy theories, they do so under certain irrefutable assumptions. Unfortunately, those assumptions do not apply to Nigeria. Nigerians, are by nature, entrepreneurial. They don't need your handouts. With basic infrastructural facilities on the ground, they will turn the Nigerian economy around in no time.

So, before we start regurgitating or copying Western Influenced Economic packages or Palliative measures, we must first look inward to see if the fundamentals and some assumptions underlying those theories and blueprints suit our realities. And that what this essay is about.

ANALYSIS

ONE. To the IMF/World Bank Economists, the fact that electricity/power supply is constant is irrefutable - more than assumption. In other words, when these foreign intellectuals and financial institutions were formulating their economic theories and bailout solutions, they didn't suffer any mental constraint about "NEPA don take light" or the occurrence of erratic power supply as the situation is in Nigeria.

You can't formulate investment mechanisms when entrepreneurs can't light up their offices and manufacturers do not have stable electricity to power their plants. Our youths, investors, and entrepreneurs are trooping to Nairobi and Accra because of the availability of basic infrastructural facilities. These cities boast of a regular power supply.

TWO. These Western intellectuals and theoreticians believe beyond every reasonable doubt that job opportunities must go to the best-qualified candidates or those with relevant work experience. They didn't anticipate nepotism, cronyism, federal character, quota system, or religious factors as it is the case in Nigeria.

THREE. The possibility or likelihood of Bandits or Kidnappers overpowering and replacing State-Troopers (Highway Patrol Officers) on our roads and subjecting commuters to indecent assaults, killing, kidnapping for ransom are hardly factored into their deliberations and prognosis. In Nigeria, we have lost count of the casualties of Nigerians in the hands of bandits and kidnappers.

And FOUR. In the Western world, there is an accepted maxim that goods and services must be delivered when and where due. In other words, the availability of high-speed rail and motorable interstate highways that will expedite the movement of goods and services is assumed. But every one of us knows that judicial notice cannot be taken of unhindered movement and delivery of goods and services in Nigeria when and where due. Think about Apapa Wharf road. The Lagos/Badagry Expressway and the Abuja/Lokoja/Auchi/Benin road.

Adam Smith didn't know that. Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University in New York, though very knowledgeable about the global economic situation, doesn't know that about Nigeria.

It is the same story with the World Bank and IMF Economists as well as all the Free Marketers of Nigerian intelligentsia. They never stoop to consider the peculiarity of Nigerian infrastructural facilities whenever they are in conferences and seminars discussion Nigerian economic wahala.

When last have you traveled by road between Benin City and Port-Harcourt, or between Benin City and Abuja, or between Badagry, Mile2, Apapa, and Obalende in Lagos State? And can you possibly count the number of Police Checkpoints between Lokoja/Okenne/Auchi/Benin Highway? Can you possibly put a price on the number of our loss due to incessant stop and go and delay due to bad roads?

CONCLUSION

These are some of our peculiarities that are not taught in Business School or in Economics Class or covered in most of the recommended Economic and Management textbooks. So, before you start proposing or embarking on bailout funds for small businesses, think again. There are underlying issues that you must address before their recommended solutions can work the anticipated magic. So, when next you read about how a certain Nigerian went to a certain country in South East Asia or Ruanda on behalf of the IMF and successfully resuscitated a near-comatose economy, ask yourself if the Nigerian Economist, encounter in those countries some of the Nigerian peculiarities enumerated in this piece. Until we are comfortable or bold enough or sincere enough to answer the question, rest assured that no amount of blueprints or solutions will make Nigeria experience real growth.

EDO STATE PROTESTERS: A TICKING TIME BOMB WAITING TO EXPLODE. 

That very day, I intend to hike a ride at the front of Alele Williams International Airport to Lagos as I always do. After waiting for about thirty minutes, this clean vehicle pulled over by the sidewalk (a brand new 505). The moment we saw him parked his vehicle, about ten of us rushed towards him, each trying to gain entrance from both sides of the vehicle. But the door wouldn't open. As all of us pulled back, he rolled down the glass on the front passenger side and said, the gentleman with a briefcase. And I jumped in. After securing my seat at the front seat, I pointed at one of the girls who was also traveling to Lagos and pleaded with the driver to pick her. He declined, saying that he just needs someone to chat with on the way. 

The moment I sat down, he asked if I am a student and I told him yes, sir. Which university, I told him. What are you studying? I told him. What year are you now? I told him.  Where are you from? I told him. Then, he asked, how come you didn't travel abroad like most Bendel guys like you. I told him, I had a visa to travel to London, England, at the same time that my admission came, but I decided to go for my degree first before traveling out of the country. He said that's not bad. 

As the journey continues, I asked why he was comfortable to stop at the Alele William International Airport to pick up, knowing the hostility of the Agberos who police the gate, extorting money from drivers who dare to stop to pick up passengers. He said, without hesitation that "they (the Agberos) are no longer in the country." What do you mean by they are no longer in the country? I asked him. He said they have all gone to Europe. How did you know that? I asked. That was when he disclosed his identity to me. 

That year, there was a newspaper report that about 75% of the Nigerian International Passports that were either confiscated or allowed into Germany, were issued in one passport center - Benin City. And at the same time, about 80% of Nigerians crossing the Sahara Desert through Algeria via the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, grew up in Benin City and its environs. 

Then, I asked the gentleman, given that you know so much about Bendelites and their frolicking to Europe, how come the government has not stopped the issuance of passports in that location? He said it is not a crime for the government to issue a passport. What you do with it is outside of the control of the government and the issuing authority.  Then, he asked, where were you during the SAP riot. And I told him I was on campus, but traveled to Lagos when the school was closed down. He added, what took place in Benin City was the worst in the whole country in the history of students riot. And he continued, this is a gateway state, populated by very enlightened citizens, if there is a breakdown of law and order in Benin City, the federal government is worried. 

Therefore, the more of Bendelites that are leaving the country - by any means necessary - the better it is for the stability of this country, the government, and the security agencies. So, the federal government is very much aware of the exodus, I asked? Yes, absolutely, he replied. And he added, don't forget, this is the city that produced Lawrence Aninin who terrorized Benin City and Warri for years before he was captured and executed. Hearing that, I didn't have much to say gain. IBB was the Military President at the time.

This discussion took place about 30 years ago. In the past 20 years, crossing the Sahara Desert to a point of no return is no longer feasible. Besides, those that were stranded in Algeria and Libya for many years have started coming back home. One would have thought that President Buhari and his security networks, manned by his trusted tribesmen would be smart enough to take due notice of the volatility of the Benin City rioters. Bendel or Mid West is a nation within a nation. They are very much aware of their minority status and marginalization. You are dealing with a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.

So, they are unconventional in every respect imaginable. Who would have thought that protesters would resort to self-help by cooking their own meals in the public space? While the celebrities and the Ajeburta protestors in Lagos were having a field day enjoying sumptuous meals provided by philanthropists, the Benin City protesters were on their own, cooking their own meals. That's how they survive in Europe and North America. As for the runner away prisoners, that's an eye-opener for Abuja - it is a message to you, to wit, given the opportunity, we will not wait for a minute to vanquish every one of you, because you don't have what it takes to govern. 

And to the Benin City protesters, I condemn every form of vandalism, raping, kidnapping, invasion of Police Stations, and the destruction of Public and Private properties. What you are doing in Benin City is a replication of the barbarism of SARS and you don't want to be mention in the same sentence as them. 

By the way, Alele William International Airport is actually Uniben Gate. And that was where most Bendelites hang around to hike a discounted fare to Lagos those days.     

NIGERIAN ECONOMIC CRISIS AND THE FUTILITY OF FOREIGN GROWN REMEDIES.

A SYNOPSIS.

There is something repugnant about the Nigerian economy and its leadership that defies commonsense - certain known peculiarities that make popular economic theories about spending, investment, and creation/expansion of market unfit for our situation. The truth is that when all the Adam Smith, Jeffrey Sachs, Marxists, Regulated Market, or Free Market Activists of our world were writing or postulating their economic and public policy theories, they do so under certain irrefutable assumptions. Unfortunately, those assumptions do not apply to Nigerian. So, before we start regurgitating or copying Western Influenced Economic Magic or IMF Sponsored solutions, we must first look inward to see if the fundamentals suit our realities. Those undermined assumptions are what this essay is about.

WHAT THEY DON'T TELL YOU IN BUSINESS SCHOOL.

One, that electricity is constant, to them, is irrefutable. In other words, there is nothing like NEPA or erratic power supply as the situation is in Nigeria when these foreign intellectuals and financial institutions were formulating their economic theories and bailout policies.

Two, though Old Boys Network is acceptable, however, 99% of the time, the job or appointment must go to the best-qualified candidate or those with relevant experience. They didn't anticipate nepotism, cronyism, federal character, quota system, or religious factors as it is the case in Nigeria.

Three, judicial notice is given to the fact that the movement of goods and services will not suffer avoidable delay. In other words, the availability of high-speed rail and motorable local and interstate highways that would facilitate commerce or the movement of goods and services is assumed correct.

But judicial notice cannot be taken of such in Nigeria. Adam Smith didn't know that. Professor Jeffrey Sachs, though very knowledgeable about the global economic situation doesn't know that about Nigeria. It is the same with the World Bank and IMF Economists as well as all the Marxists of Nigerian intelligentsia.

When last have you traveled by road between Benin City and Port-Harcourt, or between Benin City and Abuja, or between Badagry, Mile2, Apapa, and Obalende in Lagos State? And can you possibly count the number of Police Checkpoints between Lokoja/Okenne/Auchi/Benin Highway? Can you possibly put a price on the number of our loss due to incessant stop and go?

And four, the possibility or likelihood of Bandits or Kidnappers displacing State-Troopers on their Highways subjecting commuters to indecent assaults, killing, kidnapping for ransom was not part of their prognosis. But we can not enumerate the number of Nigerians who have died or lost millions of Naira in the hands of bandits and Fulani kidnappers.

These are some of our peculiarities that are not in Business School or in Economics Class or covered in most of the recommended textbooks in Business School. So, before you start proposing or embarking on bailout funds for small business, think again. There are underlying issues you must address and they've been addressed here.

SUMMARY

Nigerians, are by nature, entrepreneurial. They don't need your handouts. With basic infrastructural facilities on the ground, they will turn Nigeria around in no time. You can't formulate investment mechanisms when entrepreneurs and manufacturers cannot power their factory plants. Our youths, investors, and entrepreneurs are trooping to Nairobi and Accra because of the availability of basic infrastructural facilities. These cities have a stable power supply. In a similar vein, when farmers cannot move their harvested produce out of their farms to the nearest market or ready retailers, that doesn't augur well for purposeful investment. The result is a wastage of bankable time and the invested funds. It is the same story when the wholesalers cannot reach their distributors with their goods and services. In the end, the funds are never repaid, leading to massive indebtedness and economic stagnation.

 Constitutional Amendment and Presidential Qualification.

This abridged essay by Professor Ben Nwabueze is about how the amended section 131 (d) of the 1999 constitution that would have made it mandatory for a Presidential candidate to have a post-Grammar School qualification (HND and above) was surreptitiously reamended to perpetuate illiteracy on Nigerians. Who did it and how it was done, remains a mystery. I know a lot of you don't read long essays or do not have data to read long essays, so I had to publish only the relevant section.

Intellectual poverty and educational inadequacy of the qualifications prescribed by the Constitution (1999) for the President  

The political process in Nigeria does not entirely account for the intellectual poverty and educational inadequacy of presidential leadership. Part of the blame lies with the Constitution, section 131 of which provides:

  “A person shall be qualified for election to the office of President if –

(a) he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth; 

(b) he has attained the age of forty years;

(c) he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party; and

(d) he has been educated up to at least the School Certificate level or its equivalent.”

As if the school certificate prescribed in section 131(d) is not inadequate already, “school certificate or its equivalent” is defined in section 318(1) to mean:

“(a) a Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent, or Grade II Teacher’s Certificate, the City and Guilds Certificate; or

(b) education up to Secondary School Certificate level (i.e. without the certificate); or 

(c) Primary Six School Leaving Certificate or it's equivalent and -

(i) service in the public or private sector in the Federation in any capacity acceptable to the Independent National Electoral Commission for a minimum of ten years, and

(ii) attendance at courses and training in such institutions as may be acceptable to the Independent National Electoral Commission for periods totaling up to a minimum of one year; and 

(iii) the ability to read, write, understand and communicate in the English language to the satisfaction of the Independent National Electoral Commission; and 

(d) any other qualification acceptable by the Independent National Electoral Commission.”

The provision says nothing about the person’s background, antecedents, experience, character, including qualities like integrity (the third Schedule, for example, provides that a person to be appointed a member of the Independent National Electoral Commission shall be of “unquestionable integrity”), sense of fairness, justice and impartiality, and of loyalty to the Constitution in terms of the Oaths in The Seventh Schedule, and his psychological or mental state.

In these days of widespread “expo”, certificate faking, and general degeneration in the standards of education in our schools and colleges, primary six schools leaving certificate is really next door to illiteracy. A semi-literate President is what the prescription in sections 131(d) and 318(1) tantamount to. 

No one with this kind of thoroughly inadequate educational background can be expected to read, with understanding, the Constitution of Nigeria, laden, as it is, with difficult and perplexing concepts, or the books on constitutional law, political science, and sociology where the knowledge of these concepts can be found. And knowing that he cannot understand them, he would have no inclination or disposition to buy the books or to read them.

The desire to accommodate educationally backward areas, which no doubt is the reason underlying the provision, is no justification for prescribing such a low level of educational qualification for election to the office of President or the National Assembly. There is no state in the country today that does not have a fair number of university graduates. 

The effect of these provisions is, lamentably, to entrench in the Constitution the intellectual poverty and educational inadequacy, which has characterized leadership at the level of the presidency since Independence in 1960 right up to the election of President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007 (the first university graduate to hold the office of President (discounting the interim arrangement under which Chief Ernest Shonekan, a graduate, ruled for some months) and the accession to the presidential office by the Vice-President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan on 5 May 2010 after the death of Umaru Yar’Adua. 

In my view, the Constitution should prescribe a university degree or its equivalent as the minimum educational qualification for election to the offices of President and Vice-President.

Whatever happened to the amendments to sections 131(d) and 318(1) passed by the National Assembly in 2010 at the early stage of the amendment process 

The amendment deletes the words “school certificate level or its equivalent” in section 131(d), and substitutes therefor “tertiary level and obtained the relevant certificates” (italicized to emphasize that the certificate is thereby made a constitutional requirement, thus changing the Supreme Court decision in Suswam’s Case.) 

  It then goes on to define in section 318(1), as amended, the term to mean: 

 “(a) Ordinary National Diploma or its equivalent; or

(b)Nigerian Certificate in Education or its equivalent; or

(c)Higher School Certificate or its equivalent; or

(d)Advanced School Certificate or its equivalent; or 

(e) Higher National Diploma or it's equivalent.”

  Each of the five qualifications is prescribed as an alternative minimum qualification on its own, e.g. higher school certificate or advanced school certificate, and is not made any the less acceptable because of the inclusion of higher qualifications in (a), (b) or (e) above. 

  For this reason, although the higher national diploma is now generally regarded as equivalent to a university degree, the amendment falls short of prescribing a university degree as a minimum educational qualification.

  Significantly, however, the deletion of section 131(d) has the effect of also deleting the definition of “School Certificate or its equivalent” in section 318(1).

  I have not been able to find out how the amendment was lost at some stage in the amendment process, and never became law. This is, indeed, regrettable, since the country needs it.

• Professor Nwabueze, a constitutional lawyer and former education minister, is President of The Patriots.