THE COST OF PEACE IN KADUNA STATE

            When some members of the  Nigeria Union of Journalists in Kaduna State paid him a courtesy call last week, Alhaji Saidu Adamu, the Commissioner for Information in Kaduna State lamented the high cost of maintaining the current levels of security in the State, and drew attention to the fact that the funds which go to support the current peace and security infrastructure in the State could be used to develop it instead. The Commissioner was reported to have said that the State Government spends millions of Naira to pay for allowances of security personnel and other sundry security expenses. A few days ago, the State Government also undertook to repair the vehicles of the special security outfit called Operation Yaki which were destroyed or damaged during the April post-election violence.

            The Commissioner’s comment on the very high cost of maintaining the current levels of peace and security in Kaduna State is a revealing and disturbing reminder of the current situation in Kaduna State. It is no secret that the State, particularly its large towns and highway is dotted by hundreds of checkpoints manned by soldiers and policemen. There are also many mobile and surveillance teams on constant patrol. There must also security personnel who are not visible to the public, and possibly quite a few other behind-the-scene efforts to reduce tension and build sustainable levels of peace and security in the State. All these cost a lot of money. This is money which belongs to the public, and cannot be said to be wasted, because it gives citizens some measure of security and assurance. Security is valued most in its absence; and no sane citizen of the State will quarrel with reasonable efforts to secure lives and property, and the cost of these efforts will obviously be contingent on the nature and dimension of the threats to security.

            But all responsible citizens would also ask how long it will take, and ultimately how much it will cost, for the State to achieve a level of security which will relieve the people and the government of this huge cost of security paraphernalia. This is a reasonable question for the Government particularly, because while security is the responsibility of every citizen, it is the government which is primarily responsible for it. Funds expended towards maintaining security are difficult to verify, and are therefore prime suspects in the minds of a sceptical citizenry. If government says it spends N300 million monthly to pay for allowances, fuel vehicles and other expenses, and it does not make these expenses available for scrutiny because this is a sensitive issue, many section of the public many not believe government. Yet, the expenditure may be genuine. The problem for the government therefore is compounded: it is battling to secure a State, while dealing with a sceptical citizenry. Its credibility is therefore at risk, at precisely the moment when it should generate the highest levels of trust and support from the public.

            A similarly worrying dimension to the current situation is the seeming absence of concrete efforts to begin the real work of reconstruction towards long-term, sustainable security and peace among in all the communities. The hugely expensive security apparatus which the public pays for from resources which can build schools, hospitals and roads is only to ensure that fighting does not break out again; or people do not go around planting bombs. The citizens of Kaduna State cannot live with this apparatus as a permanent feature of their lives. Indeed, the more it stays within the community, the more it will induce the sense of insecurity, and the fear that danger lurks at every corner in the State. This is why it is imperative that the government and the communities begin the hard task of exploring avenues for sustainable security and peace.

            The government of Kaduna State must be more active and visible in pursuit of strategies to get citizens and communities involved in the search for genuine peace. The huge controversies which had trailed the proceedings of the Panel of Enquiry set up by the State Government on the April crisis are enough evidence that there are still alarming levels of anger and bitterness in many communities, and that faith and tribe will continue to divide the citizens of this State. There are still visible and pathetic reminders of conflicts in refugee camps; in daily rumours of impending attacks, in palpable fear and inflammatory comments by religious leaders; and in the visible absence of entire ethnic groups from areas where they had lived for decades. These problems will not be solved by checkpoints manned by soldiers or by policemen driving around in Operation Yaki vehicles. They can only be solved by the communities who have to be encouraged by the government and by their desire to live less under a garrisoned existence, and more as a free people who cherish their freedom from fear and violence.

            The State Government should tap into the existing goodwill and high levels of responsibility of many community and religious leaders and engineer some form of engagement which will facilitate the building of critical bridges. Too much of the terrain is being left to mischief makers and people who seek personal benefits by fanning the embers of hatred and fear. Many of these people wear religious garbs. Government needs to limit their damage and space by encouraging responsible engagement involving citizens and groups that can participate in genuine and constructive dialogue.

            There are serious challenges facing the government and the communities of Kaduna State in terms of their security and long term, sustainable peace. The current appearance of peace in the State is peace of the graveyard. It is costly and wasteful, because while it stops wanton violence and destruction of property, it does little to ensure that security and peace can be guaranteed without the intimidating presence of soldiers and policemen. Security is expensive, and peace is more than just the security of lives and property. Peace involves guaranteed security and assurances that people will assume responsibility to relate to each other in such as way as to mitigate the dangers of endemic insecurity. If the government and the community will not work for sustainable peace, they will have to pay dearly for temporary security. This is what the government and people of Kaduna State are doing, and they cannot afford it is. It ultimately self-defeating, and is too expensive for a State desperately in need of resources to fight poverty and other social problems.

THE U.K RIOTS: THE RICH ALSO CRY

          For the fourth day running, streets in major cities of the United Kingdom such as London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and even in middle class suburbs have been over-run by rioters and looters, most of them young men and women. Quite a few are mere children as young as 12 or 13 years old. The orgy of violence being witnessed by the British public and the world is unprecedented, even for a country which has a rich history of endemic racial tension and inner-city riots. The sheer scale and effrontery of the rioters and looters, as well as the initial inability or reluctance of the Police to interfere with their activities has shocked the world. Even at this moment there are indications that other towns and cities will catch this fire of defiance and criminality by thousands of young people, in spite of the tough talk by the Prime Minister, and the Police. Britain, one of the richest nations on earth, has been shaken to its foundations by the activities of its young people, and by all indications, has been caught entirely off-guard.

          The current spate of rioting and shameless looting and arson in the United Kingdom was triggered by the fatal shooting of a black man in North London by the Police. A protest by the family and members of his community against the shooting, in an area with a history of riots and a record of economic deprivation, degenerated into riots. Areas in the south of London soon took over, and thousands of young people, using communication technology popularly called social networking, quickly mobilized, wearing hoods and masks, and began breaking into shops and looting them dry. They then set buildings and vehicles on fire, while other citizens came out to watch, or ran for safely. By the third day of the riots, many parts of London were burning; tens of millions of pounds worth of property had been looted in broad daylight by young persons and children, and the Police appeared totally helpless to stem the tide.

          Other towns and cities with large inner city populations and large black and other non-white racial groups took over. The looting of shops and attacks on policemen became more pronounced and widespread, and the British public watched in shock or in amusement as hooded criminals took over city centres for hours on end; or engaged the police in running battles. The Prime Minister cut short his holiday abroad to put together a response that hopefully will bring the riots, arson and looting to an end. In London alone, the police deployed 16,000 policemen who threatened to use rubber bullets to shoot at rioters and looters. As some calm returned to London by Tuesday evening, other cities like Liverpool were taking over. There is, at the moment, no evidence that the riots and looting will stop across the entire country, as young people and criminals have discovered how easy it has been to break into shops and loot and burn. These looters are not stealing food to feed hunger. They steal cell phones and shoes and other luxury items. They are not rioting over disputed elections, or rising up against dictators. They are Britain’s leaders of tomorrow, a generation brought up in one of the oldest democracies.

          The events of the last few days in Britain are reminders that many of the developed industrialized nations are sitting on massive social and economic problems, such that a small trigger is all it takes to cause the type of conflagration which the world is watching in shock or in amusement, depending on where you stand in terms of current global conflicts in which Britain and the US are involved. The United Kingdom, and many nations in Europe and North America have suffered massive damage from the setbacks in the global economy in the last few years. Britain’s new government has pursued a policy of deep cuts in social spending and a policy of rigid economic management that have affected the poor very badly. The country has one out of every five young person out of job, and has the highest number of young people in prison in Western Europe. Its inner cities are breeding grounds for criminality, with very few opportunities for most young people. Nearly half of its children are born of a single parent, and grow up without the influence of a father, or a father figure. Poor young people live in a society that beams the affluence of a small but very rich minority to millions of poor people; and creates bitterness and resentment which keeps a class society permanently on edge. The British economy is not recovering at the rate required to limit and reverse emulative damaging effects on a declining industrialized nation, which has been unable to resolve deep racial and economic problems, and an emerging culture which induces massive alienation among the young. Other nations in Europe and North America must be watching events in Britain with considerable concern. In many ways, Britain’s problems are mirrored in France. Germany has its own brand of the mix of racial and economic problems, and virtually the entire southern European nations are living on the edge of an economic system which is capable of triggering massive social problems at any time.

          There is nothing for developing countries, including many nations currently on the receiving end of the British military such as Libya, Iraq or Afghanistan to gloat over. The lessons from the streets of London, Manchester, Liverpool and many other British towns and cities is that all governments must remain sensitive to fundamental changes in their communities, including the existence of extremes of poverty and wealth. People who have little stake in an economic system because they are too poor or cannot even be employed will loot other’s property with little qualm. People brought up to resent authority as the cause of their low social and economic status will challenge that authority when they have the opportunity by engaging in mass criminal activities. Majority of law abiding citizens watch with amusement, or run for cover when the authority of the State is challenged by underprivileged groups, because they believe it is not their fight.

          Nigerian leaders should watch developments in Britain very carefully, and draw the appropriate lessons. One of these lessons is that wrong economic policies and an unjust political system provide a dangerous mix that blows up sooner or later. If it can happen in an apparently affluent country such as Britain, its effect in our country will be catastrophic.  

THE INSIDIOUS CORRUPTION CALLED BIG BROTHER

         Last week, the South African-owned DSTV cable satellite television brought to an end another season of its programme called Big Brother. This year’s edition involved more young African men and women, and larger prize money reward, and was therefore called Big Brother Amplified. The programme is very popular with middle class young people, and some adults with lots of idle time, television sets, power sources and money to subscribe, as well as questionable moral standards. The prize money for both male and female winners was huge with each of them taking home about 30 million naira. The two winners are also guaranteed a life of glitter in a media which operates by the values of an African middle class that emulates the Western world. The female winner was a Nigerian, voted by many Nigerians and other Africans. Another Nigerian had also won the contest a few years back.

          The programme, BIG BROTHER brings together young African men and women into a household to indulge in immoral and anti-social acts that challenge the lowest standards of African morality. The programme is so offensive to mainstream moral standards that the sponsors themselves insist that subscribers have to specifically ask for it. Two years ago, the National Assembly rose up against the unrestricted access to the programme, and were only persuaded against banning it altogether in Nigeria by the impracticality of the decision, and the immense clout of DSTV and MTN in Nigerian business and political circles. The legislature succeeded in drawing attention to the noticeable moral perversion of the programme, and the impotence of the Nigerian middle class when it comes to protecting even the lowest levels of an African value system. The Nigerian market for DSTV and MTN is so huge, that it only made a concession that the programme will be available only to those who ask for it, after paying huge sums of money.

          The BIG BROTHER Televisions concept, a British and European one, was centered around stripping contestants of all privacy, by televising even the most intimidate of their activities live, and encouraging them to excite viewers and win their votes so that they can move nearer to victory. Contestants are serially eliminated over a period spanning weeks, by fellow contestants called housemates, and by members of the public who vote using costly telecommunication channels. The contestants are carefully chosen to ensure a right combination of young men and women who will live together for about 3 months, and who have little qualms about nudity, drunkenness and disorder, taking bath in full view of millions of viewers, or engaging in activities of which by any standards of judgement win be condemned by a civilized society. Cameras follow them everywhere, and show their activities 24 hours a day, while they fight, play, connive against one another, put on deceitful faces, lie, cheat and cry, all to entertain the viewers.

          When the BIG BROTHER programme first came to Africa, many Africans were horrified that it could be as successful as it turned out to be. It showed that Western media, particularly television, has indeed created a global culture, and the Africa middle class is quite vulnerable to it. Young men and women participating openly in activities which would normally be frowned at kept other young Africans glued to T.V sets. Subsequent editions became more daring, and resistance from conservative circles began to build, but had little impact.

            The BIG BROTHER programme which has just been concluded was the biggest of them all. While it lasted, it took the attention of many of our young people away from the real world. It provided a diversion from the challenges and limitations of daily life, even among the fortunate middle class which can afford a television set and the high cost of subscribing to DSTV. But it also pushed the young people particularly further into a culture which will alienate them from their social context. It made billions for the producers of the television programme and mobile telephone companies and COCA COLA, as well as the participants and winners, but it has left Nigerians poorer. The programme is a monumental indictment of Africa parents and guardians who cannot even muster the strength to caution  their young against the insidious corruption of programmes such as BIG BROTHER. When young people are televised to tens of millions of viewers engaging in social vices, and they get fame and wealth for it, they serve as role models for others. The winners who emerge from the BIG BROTHER House would have been stripped of all dignity and decency, yet they come out rich and famous. The programme adds nothing to our daily struggle to bring up a generation of Africans who should value and cherish personal decency, handwork and self-respect. It champions the lowest forms of personal and social conduct, and merely makes money for South African companies. It destroys the elements of our African identity, and destroys the boundaries between our cultural values and those of a western system which openly admits that it has lost the battle to preserve a civilized value system.

          Those Nigerians who are celebrating the victory of Karen Igho who eventually emerged the winner are in the same pit as the young lady. The have been lured to play a game which panders to their lowest levels of humanity, so that foreigners can make money from our huge population and our propensity to swallow everything from the western world. The young lady should not be held up as heroin to other young Nigerians. She did nothing to earn the millions she was given in the end, other than participate in an activity which is of questionable value to her dignity as a Nigeria woman. She is no heroin

OBASANJO LAMENTS MUBARAK’S FATE

          While attending an African Leadership Conference in Mombasa, Kenya, former President Olusegun Obasanjo expressed anger at the treatment meted to the former Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak at the commencement of his trial. Mubarak and his two sons were brought to the court in a cage, and the former President was himself lying on bed even while caged. The entire court appearance was televised to an international audience, obviously in an effort to cause further humiliation to the man who ruled Egypt for decades. While he was President of Egypt, Mubarak himself had arraigned some suspected members of the Muslim Brotherhood in cages.

          Former President Obasanjo insists that President Mubarak deserves a better treatment and that his arraignment in a cage is not good for the image of Africa. Obasanjo said that as a former Head of State, Mubarak is entitled to be treated with a level of dignity befitting his status. He also indicted the African media for failing to police good governance because corruption had eaten too deeply into its ranks.

          The image of an obviously sick and frail Hosni Mubarak on a bed in a cage with his two sons who themselves wore prison uniforms being arraigned in a court would obviously have been designed to shock the Egyptian and international viewers, and humiliate the former leader. An act of this nature, calculated to exact maximum media coverage and to demystify the once all-powerful Mubarak family can only be the result of intense bitterness around the record of the former President and the current manoeuvres for supremacy going on in Egypt. Even as a caged Mubarak was being arraigned, clashes between his supporters and opponents were taking place outside the court. Beyond the court cases, there are intense struggles between the military administration and the rump of the protesters who brought the Mubarak regime crashing down so spectacularly. Egypt is indeed at a crossroad, and the fight for supremacy between those who feel that the gains of the successful protests are being frustrated by the post-Mubarak regime on the one hand, and those who worry that Egypt is headed towards anarchy on the other will take time and many casualties.

          It is difficult not to feel some disgust at the sight of anyone who is brought into a courtroom in a cage, on a sick bed, and in full view of cameras beaming the image to an international audience. Security considerations may explain the extreme circumstances in which suspects are brought to a court in cages necessary. President Mubarak while in power himself had tried caged suspected members of the Muslim Brotherhood, using security as an excuse. But the trial of Hosni Mubarak in a cage and the manner his humiliation was publicised has only one clear motive, and this is to dehumanize and demystify him. In the manner the authorities are trying Mubarak, they have also destroyed their claim to a higher moral ground. They cannot claim to be better than him, and this is saying a lot for a man whose record of ruthless response to opposition knew no boundaries.

          The pathetic image of Hosni Mubarak beamed across the globe may give some Egyptians some pleasure, or satisfaction but it is likely to offend the rest of the civilized world which still holds firmly to the values of respect for human dignity. The treatment of Mubarak is also providing people like former President Obasanjo an opportunity and a platform to claim some moral high ground for himself. When the rest of Africa has turned its back on events in Libya and Egypt, leaders with a nose for opportunities like former President Obasanjo will easily find them occasions to draw attention to themselves.

          President Obasanjo governed Nigeria for eight years, and would have secured more for himself if the third-term project had not been scuttled. Who can tell what would have happened if Nigerians had conceded to the falsehood that only Obasanjo could have ensured the unity and progress of Nigeria beyond 2007? This was the falsehood perfected and foisted on Egyptians by Hosni Mubarak, and today they are parading him before the whole world on a sick bed, caged in a court. Obasanjo enjoyed a close personal relationship with Hosni Mubarak, and had even floated the idea that Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa together were to spearhead a programme for Africa’s Renaissance. Perhaps Obasanjo was too blind to the fact that Mubarak ruled his nation with an iron fist, and Egypt was not, by any yardstick, a good example of a democratic African nation. Even out of office as president, Obasanjo is still battling to maintain his grip on Nigeria’s  politics, and only a few days ago, he decreed that the speaker of the House of Representatives, who was validly elected by legislators, must give way in the near future over a party arrangement which President Obasanjo himself had helped to discredit.

          Many African leaders have treated their people with contempt and disdain, perhaps in the vain and dangerous belief that they can stay in power for ever. President Mubarak is paying the price for his decades of defiance of the will of the Egyptian people to live under legitimate leaders, but the authorities who are parading him in a cage are no better than him. The world should tell them that, and not allow people like former President Obasanjo, whose record in office and outside it will not stand rigorous scrutiny, to make capital out of a nation’s misfortune.

POLICE AND THIEVES

            Two days ago, on Tuesday 2^nd of August 2011, armed robbers reportedly stopped a half-full luxury bus on the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja road in the middle of the night. They forced all the passengers and the driver to alight and lie face down on the road, and then commenced robbing them. Midway through the operation, a bus, similar to the one being robbed, came upon the scene, and in an effort to avoid the robbers, ran right over the robbery victims. Another large truck following the bus also run over them. The robbers fled, leaving behind many dead bodies, some badly mangled, and many injured. The Police arrived later to move the dead and injured away from the scene. There are unconfirmed figures of the dead put anywhere between 16 and 40. One of the dead was a small child.

            The misfortune of the victims of the armed robbery who were killed by another vehicle while being robbed will touch even the hardest hearts in a nation almost desensitized by the daily occurrence of the most horrific crimes on our highways and in our homes. The incidents of robbery on Okene-Lokoja-Abuja road in particular have become almost routine, yet this road represents one of the major north-south arteries of the nation. If people are not being mangled in accidents, they are robbed almost at will by heavily-armed highway robbers. Elsewhere, travelling by night has become a very hazardous venture, with the probability being very high that you will either be involved in a serious fatal accident, or fall victim of robbers. 

            Obviously, the police cannot cover every inch of our highways, and it will be wrong to stop commercial vehicles from travelling by night. But these are not reasons why the nation should resign itself to living with mass slaughter called road accidents, or rampant criminal activities on our highways. The challenge before the government, the police and security agencies is to raise their levels of performance and restore some confidence of the public that we still live in a civilized country where citizens can expect protection as a matter of right.

            The practice of robbing luxury buses which had been almost eliminated a few years ago appears to be resurfacing. This threat had almost killed the business of night travelling, a popular choice of many people, and a useful measure which reduced traffic on our highways in the day. The relative success recorded a while back in reducing the incidents of luxury bus robberies was the product of better intelligence, greater presence of the police on highways, and quite possibly the result of conscious efforts to flush out bad eggs within the force. Now the police has to go back to the drawing board, and re-examine its strategy to deal with this serious problem, particularly on highways such as the Okene-Abuja road.

            There is no doubt that the challenges which all security agencies face in Nigeria today are very serious indeed. The police in particular are involved in internal security, as well as policing many more flashpoints than had existed in the past in many parts of the country. They are still under-manned, under-equipped and under-funded. Many policemen justifiably worry about the fate of their families if they are killed by heavily-armed criminals, or if they are badly injured in the line of duty. There is therefore the need to improve the logistics and equipment of the police to deal with new and old challenges. Its intelligence gathering must also be radically enhanced. Many communities which dot our highways are very good sources of intelligence. They can identify suspicious movements of strangers, who may be highway robbers, or locate their abodes in or near villages. The Federal and State Government must also improve the security situation in many sensitive areas and flashpoints in the nation, so that thousands of men and women who are deployed there can be assigned other responsibilities. The funding for highway patrols vehicles and improved communication should be improved. Similarly, the Police should improve its liaison and cooperation with road transport owners and workers unions to examine how our highways can be made safer.

            The killings on our highways, either through accidents or robberies make our country appear extremely unsafe. The world uses our highways as an index of our security and safety, and our image as an unsafe nation is largely the product of what happens on our roads. No foreigner will be encouraged to invest in a nation this unsafe. Nigerians now travel with their hearts in their mouths. Day or night, you are grateful if you get to your destination in one piece. This is not a way for a people to live, and those with responsibility to make us more secure should sit up and do something about it.          

SINGLE TERM CONTROVERSY: BEATING A DEAD HORSE

Prominent politicians, eminent lawyers and other leaders appear to be spoiling for a bruising fight with President Goodluck Jonathan over his reported plan to push through a constitutional amendment which will give elected persons a single term. It is being reported that across the length and breadth of the land, meetings and consultations are being held, as many groups, particularly in the opposition, appear to have smelt some blood, and are preparing to take the President to the cleaners over the issue. Some of the groups being reported to be mobilizing against the planned amendment include the Northern Political Leaders Forum which was involved in the ill-fated PDP consensus project; a Lagos-based group made up of lawyers and politicians called the National Consensus Group; and a host of other Civil Society Groups and Non-Governmental Organizations. It is not unreasonable to assume that many more groups will also the resistance to the idea, even before it becomes real. It is also to be expected that others sympathetic to the President’s initiative will galvanize support for him and the idea.

            After Mr. President’s lengthy exposition on the genesis of the single-term idea before his Party’s National Executive Committee meeting last week, during which he appeared to say that he is still at the early stage of consultations on the idea, and that the idea was the product of some earlier work involving other political Parties more than two years ago, it would have been expected that some of the sting in the attacks would have been taken out. Alas, all Mr President’s  explanation appear to have done are to confuse the situation even more and raise the levels of suspicion and cynicism of many Nigerians on the issue. In the first place, the President’s explanation were grossly at variance with the statement of his spokesman, Mr Reuben Abati, which explicitly stated that the President is about to send a bill to amend provisions on tenure and even giving details and justifications. The President did not distance himself from Abati’s rather categorical statement, or even refer to it before his party’s National  Executive Committee. Then some of the parties and persons involved in the inter-party committee which the President says contemplated and recommended the single – term idea denied that they did so. Thirdly, the media reported such a deluge of criticisms against the idea that many people would have bet the shirts on their backs that the idea would be denounced by the President himself.

All these apparent setbacks ought to have made a difference either in the manner the opposition is assessing its strategy, or in the manner the President plans to proceed. They apparently have not. On the contrary, the opposition is becoming move active and organized around challenging the plan, while the President’s people are examining better options to spin the idea and whittle down the resistance. There are a number of possible explanations for this.

One explanation is to do with the very low levels of trust and faith of many Nigerians in President Jonathan. Obviously, much of this has to do with the circumstances under which he contested for the Presidency against his Party’s zoning policy. There is also a strong residue of resentment in some parts of the country over the perception that the elections were not credible. And they have therefore bought for President Jonathan a permanent army of hostile citizens on every issue. Then there are also endemic inconsistencies of quite a few of the people around President Jonathan, such as former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who only last week said that the zoning principle of the PDP which he denounced earlier is so sacrosanct and that the Speaker of the House of Representatives must step down for someone from the Southwest. Former President Obasanjo himself had failed in his bid to secure a constitutional amendment for a third term, so his relationship with President Jonathan will not exactly be a plus when credibility and political integrity are at stake.

A second explanation for the increasing resistance against the tenure proposals is related to the sheer irrelevance of the issue under our circumstances, and the suspicion that it has a major, sinister motive. When people cannot understand why a President, fresh into his mandate is seeking to affect a change in the constitution to prolong the life of elected leaders, and he says he is only interested in improving the quality of our political process because he will not be a beneficiary, they are not likely to believe him.  The more sinister they suspect the motives to be, the more they will resist the President.

The danger with the manner this controversy is being handled is that it is capable of making both sides more desperate to win in the end. President Jonathan and his supporters may see a loss over the single tenure issue as a do-or-die affair, and his opponents may also will see it in the same light. An issue which has no relevance to the current challenges which Nigerians face, at least on face value, is therefore capable of becoming a major source of political friction and much energy and attention will be diverted from the real issue.

It will be difficult to see how President Jonathan will sell the single term idea to Nigerians without polarizing the nation completely. Late Sani Abacha and former President Obasanjo attempted to tinker with the constitution around issues related to their persons and ambition. They failed. Nigerians do not trust their leaders enough to believe that this issue has no hidden agenda. It was dead on arrival, and the nation should not be made to expend energy and attention beating a dead horse.

THE MORAL BURDEN OF PRIVILEGE

This occasion provides a very good background to discuss the problem of the widening gap between social and economic groups, and the dangers which this poses for social cohesion, security and development in Nigeria. An elite institution such the Zaria Academy represents a symbol of privilege, and it is fitting that it should also provide a setting for discussing the irrevocable linkages between wealth and poverty, power and weakness, privilege and its responsibilities. It is also vital that the students and products of this great institution understand that the privilege they enjoy in their association with this College is linked with the conditions which make it difficult for their peers in different social and economic conditions to achieve quality education and some assurances of a good future.

         I am aware that the moving sprit behind the establishment of this College was the desire by its founder and proprietor to establish an institution which is both affordable and capable of providing world-class education to young Nigerians. It is also a fact, however, that quality is expensive; and like everything else in life, either you or someone else will pay for something you enjoy. As Karl

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*Text of a Lecture delivered at the Graduation and Prize Giving Day Ceremony of Zaria Academy on 3oth July 2011.

** Visiting Reader in Political Science, Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto and Executive Chairman, D.I.T.V/Alheri Radio, Kaduna.

Marx once said, there is no such thing as a free meal. Ideally, the Nigerian society should provide for every young boy or girl the type of education enjoyed by the students of Zaria Academy. In reality, this is not too idealistic; and it is even necessary to make the case that every Nigerian child should receive the type of education which Zaria Academy provides as a matter of right.

The provision of quality education to its young citizens, to the limits of their capabilities, is the irreduceable minimal obligation of the Nigerian State. Where the State fails to do this, it must be held accountable for its wrong priorities and failure in its responsibilities to citizens. The failure or unwillingness of the Nigeria State (defined broadly as all governments and agencies which collect and expend public resources) is itself a function of the nature and disposition of leadership; and the capacities of groups or classes to compel changes in the manner leaders behave in relation to allocation of resources. Leaders whose positions are not contingent on public support, such as those who rule without popular mandate, or treat such mandates as commodities which they purchased through fraudulent elections, are not likely to show profound sympathies towards allocating resources around the provision of the basic necessities of life and the preconditions of social and economic progress of  the people. These leaders are more likely to use their positions to reinforce their control over the political process, and to limit the economic empowerment of poor citizens. The use of state resources therefore serves the purpose of reinforcing class divisions, even if these are not the intended outcomes by the leadership. In developing societies such as ours, access to good education and skills is the most decisive instrument for reducing or expanding the gap between social and economic groups.

         The failure of the State to provide fair access to quality education served as an impetus for privileged groups to secure it for their own young people outside the framework of the State education system. The nation then witnessed a massive expansion of private schools for the week-to-do which are characterized principally by relatively high cost and better quality than public-sector education. The divisions in society between wealth and poverty are then reproduced and reinforced, and the gaps between groups become wider and more pronounced.

         Under colonialism, policy towards education served the purpose of producing the basic indigenous skills and competencies which were necessary for control and management of the colonized territory and people. In parts of Nigerian where there were pronounced existing cleavages around wealth, power and prestige, such as Northern Nigeria, colonial Policy on education sought to both protect existing power structures as well as facilitate the emergence of a new elite. The development of western education in Northern Nigeria was therefore a highly controlled process, and was informed by multiple concerns, one of which was that it targetted the creation of a new elite which however was to exist with the new elite in such a manner as to create a largely conservative society. Free and high quality public funded education bridged the distances between social groups, provided the fastest mode for upward mobility and created the nucleus of a middle class. Colonial society was extremely fluid, in spite of the deliberate efforts to shield the old privileged groups from being entirely subordinated by new groups; especially in the north. Given the many advantages which earlier commercial contact made with the south of Nigeria and their impact on economic progress and the rate of spread of western-style education, western education in the north also reduced the damage which could have been caused by amalgamation and secured a federal system which brought groups together with widely differing cultures, and at different stages of development.

         Post colonial Society built up on the dynamic foundations of education, and in northern Nigeria in particular, the new elite adopted an aggressive expansion of public-funded education. The new post-colonial society expanded opportunities for disadvantaged groups and communities, and privileged groups also recognized that the preservation of their privilege was largely a function of the degree to which they responded to the new education system which alone appeared to define group and class distinctions.

         The liberalization of education policy coincided with a massive expansion of the new middle class in. Nigeria. The State ceased to have sole responsibility for providing education to all the classes, and private education spread quickly, taking along with it a substantial portion of faith-based education that also played a critical role in the emergence of new groups for particularly-disadvantaged communities. The new ruling elite was distinguishable by its wealth, power, and its capacity to bestow advantage on its own younger generation by the manner it gave them quality and expensive education. State-funded education became progressively poorer in quality as leaders educated their own children in private schools. In spite of the appearance of increased funding, public sector educational standards collapsed completely. Children of the upper classes received quality and expensive education, which further reinforced the distance between them and children of the economically disadvantaged. Government schools witnessed a massive expansion in enrollment by children of the poor, but gave as education, skills or hope to their products.

         Our society therefore became more and more polarized between those who received quality education, acquired skills and competences at great cost, and whose future was relatively assured; and those who received no training or skills, and who are consigned from childhood to a marginal existence. Those whose parents bought them very expensive education grow up feeling that they owe society nothing. Those who are also abandoned by a leadership and society which appeared less able and willing to change their lives also grow up with no sense of obligation to the society or the nation. The nation today has no central unifying values, institutions or processes. The well-to-do are daily moving away from the poor. The gulf between the two groups is fertile ground for individual and collective insecurity. It makes everyone less secure, and deprives society of the critical stability which only a middle class can provide. And, of course, the first casualty of the failure of high-quality, state-funded education was the middle class, which was further decimated by wrong economic policies.   

         Our young people, even those who receive quality education such as our children at Zaria Academy today grow up without vital sentiments of patriotism and pride in their nation. They feel that the nation has let them down, and even the good education they receive has to be paid for in full by parents or guardians. Their poorer counterparts think even worse: they, are bitter, disillusioned and desperate to fight a society to which they owe nothing.

         Today, our Nation is reaping the dangerous harvest of five decades of lack of vision from our leadership; of unspeakable corruption which has turned public assets that could otherwise provide good education for all young citizens into virtual private assets of leaders; and the failure of a political system to re-invent our nation and place it along a constructive path. Our cities and towns are bursting with young people who have no faith in the government, and no hope for a decent future. Our rural areas are fast depleting, or are struck in timeless poverty and drudgery. The rich live behind high walls and tinted glasses, and run for cover every time the multitudes are aroused to action by a political and electoral system which progressively delivers less and less.

         This downward spiral into disaster for all can and must be stopped. It can be stopped through the adoption of an enlightened policy of self preservation by the rich and the wealthy, who need to recognize that their privileges are build upon the squalor and hopelessness of the vast majority of their fellow citizens. It can be stopped by a political system which draws into it better quality leaders who will not plunder public assets as the sole purpose for acquiring public offices. It can be stopped by each citizen, particularly those who are privileged, acknowledging and taking steps towards mitigating the dangerous chasm which exist between power and impotence; between wealth and poverty, and between hope and hopelessness.

         Nigerians are still attempting to come to terms with the genesis and sheer depth of feeling and intense violence which characterized the post-election violence last April. It is important that we understand exactly what created both the remote and immediate causes of the violence. But even at this stage,, it is clear that many of our young people are intensely disillusioned with a political system which promises them major changes in their lives, but fails to deliver. They are angry at a leadership which seems bent on preserving its firm control over our resources, while the population wallows in poverty. Power and privilege which cannot handle their opposites risk extinction. Our nation is at that point where history will record us as having taken the right strategic turn away from unending strife; or failing to avert a total collapse. The moral burden of privilege is to reduce itself, and if all we do is to teach the young in this Hall that rich and poor; the weak and the powerful; the privileged and the pauperized are inextricably linked, we would have made a good beginning.