Achike Udenwa Emerges Minister of Commerce

 

Last night the Yar;Adua’s administration put all doubts about her unseriousness to rest when the Ministry of Commerce portfolio was Chief Achike Udenwa the immediate pass governor of Imo State, South East Nigeria.

Throughout his stint in Imo State, there was no industrial chimney belching smoke. As recent as yesterday, the Chief Press Secretary to his successor Ikedi Ohakim, stated that there was infrastructural decay under the tenure of Chief Udenwa, although the CPS was responding to the story of a High Court Uruall Judge sitting under a mango tree. If this is the true position of things in Imo State, what is the evidence of achievement that made this administration to nominate and insist that Udenwa be made minister?

It will be recalled that there was protest at the gate of the National Assembly Complex on the day the Senate was screening Udenwa. This protest if nothing shows that Udenwa does not have the support and loyalty of the state he ruled for 8 years. Forget his answer to the effect that all politicians have enemies. But what Udenwa failed to tell us is that no ministerial nominee had his enemies marching down the gate of the Assembly on the day of their screening.

Another thing we should not lose sight of is that Udenwa whose name was among the first batch of nominees was delayed at the SSS, implying that his credentials may not be as starling as some of his paid loyalists are making out. At this juncture, I cannot help but imagine what it was that delayed his security clearance. Nigerians should now understand why some politicians are hell bent on frustrating the passing of Freedom on Information Bill (FoIB)

The immediate past Minister of Commerce was Charles Ugwu, the PDP flag bearer in Imo State during the April 14^th guber election. Udenwa against party primary result that favoured Senator Ifeanyi Ararume aided Charles Ugwu despite a Supreme Court ruling declaring Ararume as the rightful flag bearer of PDP. Consequently, a new election was conducted on the 28^th of April and PPA led by Ikedi Ohakim became governor.

With this history fresh on our minds, one cannot help query the rational behind the compensation with a ministerial appointment to a sitting governor who could not deliver his state for his party.

If Charles Ugwu could not deliver will his godfather deliver? Their inability to deliver is plainly because there is no functional industry or mega commercial activity going on in Imo State. The Industrial Estate on Owerri-Onitsha road, is a grave yard with only NBC and a handful of pure water companies working.

Ugwu who was the head of Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN), could not stem the tide of Chinese importations of substandard goods, especially textile.

Another draw back in this ministerial appointment is the generational question. Are there no able young men in Imo State that can fill the Imo State Ministerial slot? Why bring back an ex-governor? And an ex-governor that has nothing in terms of improved commercial activity during his ruin of the state to justify foisting him on the nation.

On a general scale, President Yar’Adua should quickly reshuffle his new lack luster cabinet as it is obvious that the present constituent of his cabinet will not move this nation anywhere near his 7 Point Agenda.

You need to see Dora Akunyili battling to keep a straight face while trying to spin out an image for the government.

How about the 72 year old Lukman? This administration is fast becoming a dump ground for recycled dead woods.

What are these ex-governors doing in the cabinet? Are they not tired that after 8 years they could not radically improve their states?

What new vigor will Ufot Ekaette bring to Niger Delta that he forgot to tell Obasanjo and other Heads of state he served that will warrant his appointment as Minister in charge of the virgin Niger Delta Affairs Ministry?

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SHOE

The character of a man/woman can be deciphered by the type of shoes he/she wears. More also the mood can be known by the manner the shoe is shined. The attention given to a shoe can tell a lot about the wearer; if he is wearing the shoe or the shoe is wearing him. The guys who want to feel among wear Sanchos cow boy boots as official shoe to convey the impression of a ruthless uprising executive. The humble ones, mind you, not the poverty induced humility, wear flat laced shoes to show that they prefer the quiet side of life with little complications.

Another interesting side of the shoe is that it affects the manner a person moves. I am yet to understand why ladies wear high heel that are most uncomfortable that they have to carry around bathroom slippers to ease the discomfort. Between the bus stop and the office table where they will hide the ill fitting shoes, you can tell a lot about a lady. If you are wearing a high heel shoe, the power to propel the body moves to the thigh and the lady gallops on as though the waist is going to break and instead of the bakassi dancing makosa which is the beauty of African woman’s rhythmical movement, she drags herself like a shapeless Mannequin. If you don’t believe me, check out any girl on a stiletto pointed 7 inches shoe.

   On a flat soled shoe, the weight is balanced, shoulder relaxed and the elegance of movement evenly distributed. The waist and hip are not over laboured in movement. You can also tell by the dragging, slapping or careful marching of the shoe, who is wearing a borrowed shoe. Just look at your son/daughter dragging your shoe as if he is navigating a canoe. Some adults also cruise through life wearing a borrowed shoe or merely bought it because others are buying it.

As the Nigerian media is awash with swipes at the judgment of the Supreme Court, my mind drifts to the big shoes left by Pa Obafemi Awolowo and the nagging question of who has inherited it. In the early hours of the departure of Pa Awo, every Yoruba politician climbs to power by claiming to be awoist. This thinking continued till the uninformed merger between AD and PDP in 2003 an action that saw the political gains of AD in the Ooduwa states (South West Nigeria in 1999 election were under the firm grip of AD but come 2003 they lost all except Lagos State which tilted and finally collapsed into AC)

In Nigeria, the current political lexicon is to address any candidate that lost election as opposition not putting into account how alike or radically different the parties’ manifestos are. Hence ANPP is opposition, PPA is opposition, AC is opposition. No observer asks have any of the Federal Legislators who contested on the platform of the se parties any way different from PDP legislators? Each time I hear them talk or see the Senators on TV I cannot help but think of the last page of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, where the animals observing through the window could not see any difference between the Pigs who overthrew the Human and the human they overthrew.

So Atiku, who was accused by other parties that lost 2003 election as being the brain behind the rigging, is now opposition? Is Atiku any shed different from PDP? Take a look at Lagos State, where AC holds sway, are they implementing any policy that is different from that of PDP? Has the AC State House of Assemblies passed the Freedom of Information Bill (FOI Bill) in their state to show that they are radically different from PDP government at the centre?

Same applies to Imo State, where PPA is in control. Isn’t the governor demolishing houses that was the clarion call against PDP when Nasiru el Rufai was the terror of Abuja? Is there any difference between Ohakim’s junketing around the world in search of investors and that of PDP governors?

Has PPA that is in charge of Abia wherein the Aba the technological nerve of the South East rests done anything to improve the local fabrication industries? There was a time, made in Aba goods, especially shoes, competed favourably with those made in Italy.

Same applies to APGA in Anambra. There is Nnewi, where with nothing; Nigerians are manufacturing any spare part of an automobile.

What paid columnist who are claiming that Atiku represents the opposition in Nigerian politics is that the parliamentary system of government that threw up Awo as opposition leader is no longer operational and in this context he left a shoe nobody can fit into.

Those masquerading as opposition in Nigerian political sphere, should start marshalling out counter policies to the 7 Point Agenda of President Yar’Adua . They should revive their dead wood members of National Assembly to vigorously oppose and add life to the drab debate at the floors of the two chambers of the house.

As it stands, Nigerians have nothing to choose in 2011 and there is no clear cut ideological divide between PDP, ANPP, AC and PPA.

Which of these parties have a blue print on how to run Nigeria on a crude oil free economy? How many of them has a workable policy on free education? At this, I am honestly following Adams Oshiomole to see how he will implement all those issues he waged war against government during his tenure as Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president.

Nigerians should stop debating the split decision in Buhari Vs Yar’Adua or the woeful defeat of Atiku in 6-1 opinion of the Justices of the Supreme Court and start setting agendas for 2011 election.

 

 

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Biogas- for a sustainable society!

The saying that traveling is part of education cannot be less true in all ramifications. I say so because my recent visit and tours of Sweden as a part of the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) sponsored Ecological Sanitation Resource class 2008.

I was among fifteen other top sustainable development professionals invited to Stockholm to undergo three weeks Ecological Sanitation Resource training. As part of the training we had schedules of visits to very interesting places in Stockholm such as the Natur Centrum, the Skansen Centre, as well as the Skarpnack and Listudden neighborhoods. What I saw in these sites made me ‘dumb’. They were great places to visit by anyone who is really interested in the preservation of nature/ecology.

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Sinner Among Saints

By Ashimole Felix/Abuja.   

The on-going Senate Committee on FCT public hearing has thrown up a fresh can of worms. The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Danso Sodangi was yesterday indicted as a beneficiary of the land grab in the FCT. The Acting General Manager of Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS), Mr. Yahaya Yusuf said that the Committee Chairman has 14 residential plots and six commercial plots scattered around Abuja. He went further to list their names and location but was stopped by a member of the Committee, Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw who asked the AG to reappear on Monday 21^st April with certified true copies of the content of the file from where he was reading the plot allocations and numbers.

In a swift reaction, the Committee Chairman, Senator Yusuf said that he has only three plots in Abuja. Nigerians are keeping vigil to see what will be the outcome of this counter claim, insist that nothing should be covered. Further reactions say that the Obasanjo faction is fighting back to expose that those casting aspersions and throwing stones, also live in a glass house of corruption and not fit to adjudicate over their perceived corrupt practises of Obasanjo and his anointed foot-soldiers.

el-Ruffai who was the past minister of FCT and currently in the energy committee of President Yar’Adua is Obasanjo’s die hard loyalist and will stop at nothing to expose those involved in the land grab.

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The 7 Point Agenda Of The Yar’Adua Administration

Now that the semi-final stage of the Presidential election tribunal have passed, I think it is time we remind ourselves and President Yar’Adua that there is a country (Nigeria) to run and he has an agenda to implement.

For Starters, the Agenda herewith:

1. Energy: We need to solve the problem of power and energy – National Council on Energy to drive the energy policy and advice on power, energy and gas… energy emergency to be declared.

2. Security: Treating security as a critical Infrastructure.

3. Wealth Creation: 70% of all revenue comes from oil; need to keep this focused and extended to other areas.

4. Education: Need to address the various problems in the education sector.

5. Land Reform: To provide proper ownership and give a chance to take the land to capital market.

6. Mass Transit: To develop capacity for mass movement of goods and people.

7. Niger Delta: To implement the master plan already developed.

Conditions Precedent:

a. The Issue of Law: “We need to become a nation that respects law, order, established regulations and procedure”.

b. The Issue of Planning: “We must have a plan that is clear, unambiguous, sincerely and genuinely drawn up and that has the real potential of taking us to the objective”.

c. The Issue of leadership and hard-work: “We must have the commitment to work hard and provide leadership”.

What is needed?

“We need to provide the correct leadership and we need to ensure the correct conduct and the correct attitude and we need to plan well towards our objectives … to lay a solid foundation for building a modern industrialized nation that will meet the developmental needs of our people, their educational needs, their health needs and their psychological needs … and develop the environment for them to grow and develop their potentials”.

The urgency of the time demands that President Yar’Adua should settle down to pilot the affairs of this country (Nigeria); despite our collective acknowledgment including his that the process that entrusted him on all of us cannot pass the ‘FAIR’ test. We expect him not to give up on finding ways to help our electoral democracy through guided reforms. This is not a case of winner takes all nor enough justification to be callous; for we all know the law to be an ‘ass’ and it reliance on the ‘burden of proof’ that lies with the appellants.Thus, the question of ‘proof beyond reasonable doubt’ that killed the petition.

Mr President, herewith your Agenda in case you have forgotten.

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