SAM OHUABUNWA'S PARADIGM

SAM OHUABUNWA'S PARADIGM : You all have waited for this, Now you have it! : Mazi Sam  Ohuabunwa's two latest books are now available on e-copy. You can download them from any of these platforms; Amazon, Apple iB...

  I have done my best to refrain from commenting on Senator Olusola Saraki's travails since he became the Senate President. In the first place I support every genuine effort to bring our political leaders to account and to fight the endemic corruption that has held Nigeria down in its 56 years of independence from Great Britain( Great?). Secondly,though I believe that the current anti-corruption campaign by the government has been one-sided , I have resolved this by saying that only the guilty will go to jail or be so declared. Those who have been wrongly accused or embarrassed by the accusations could always approach the Court to seek compensation. Thirdly, I have been angry with politicians who jump from one party to the other. My position has always been that Politicians elected on one political platform can not change their party without returning to their constituents to seek re-election on their new platform. Seeing Saraki being harassed and charged to court by his new found...

Over many years, the Scottish people were unhappy to belong to the United Kingdom( UK) and there were agitations to break up the union so that the Scots could go their own way as a separate and independent Nation. A couple of Parties emerged calling for what I may call Scottexit from the Uk. There were heated and rancorous debates all over the UK which tended to divide the Nation. To determine if this was truly the desire of the majority of the Scottish people or just the opinion of some of the the Politicians or a minority vocal protesters, a referendum was  conducted last year in Scotland. The Majority of the scots voted against living the Uk, preferring the semi autonomous status that gave them opportunity to have greater say in how they were governed. The agitation ended, at least for now. No bullets were fired and The Uk avoided reliving the experience of the violence that engulfed the Nation for several years as Irish People  of Northern Island sought self determination ...

I was shocked to read the statement credited to the Minister of Labour & Employment where he was quoted as follows" The Federal Government gave licenses to the banks to operate and if its directives are not adhered to, their licenses will be withdrawn if the need arises. We will go a step further if they continue. We know what to do. They need to comply..." This threat was made as a reaction to the failure of Banks to stop laying off their staff as directed by the Minister. To be true, this is a very troubling development which makes me really sad. In the first place, what is the locus of the Minister to issue orders to Banks? Even the CBN which supervises banks can not issue that type of order to Banks. Banks are private companies owned by private investors and managed by their Boards of Directors and the Executive Management Teams. They owe allegiance to their shareholders. They are not owned by the government, and are certainly not parastatals of the Ministry of Labou...

Last week end I was in the Niger Delta. As I drove up from the PH International Airport airport, Omagwa, towards Elele in my attempt to connect the East -West Road to head on to Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa State, I was startled. First there was this long traffic back up and I was wondering what the matter was. Then I noticed that People were getting down from their buses and cars and moving forward with with their two hands raised. What was the matter? We inched on and I looked on the other side of the Road and saw a sea of people walking down towards where we were also with their hands raised, and then a picture flashed through my mind. The picture of the civil war when people walked through several check points with their hands raised up along this same axis. Is there another war? We kept moving gradually until we could see the police and military barricades on the highway made with drums and sandbags. I then confirmed that it was indeed the checkpoint on the highway that was causi...

 After one year of economic nightmare, Nigeria seems about to take a turn for the better. A couple of positive policy shifts and some development in the global oil market give indication of hope that the intense suffering of Nigerians in the last year may begin to ameliorate. The first indication was the guided deregulation of the downstream Petroleum sector. Almost instantly, the fuel queues disappeared and Nigerians'  double jeopardy retreated. For several years, Nigerians' common wealth was used to subsidize the price of fuel and yet many of us paid the market price. For many years especially in the last one year, Nigerians lost many valuable man-hours sleeping in filling stations and fighting for fuel. Those who could not endure this, patronized the parallel market- young men & women hawking fuel in Jerry cans and criss-crossing the highways. Very pitiable and demeaning experience. Those who do not understand how free market promotes efficiency, should learn lessons f...

The Federal Government surprised most Nigerians last week, with the sudden deregulation of the down stream petroleum sector. After preaching, cajoling, persuading and even begging President Muhammadu Buhari to deregulate the downstream since the day he came to office, many of us- diehard proponents of deregulation were beginning to give up hope. I almost gave up hope after the global oil price came below 30 dollars per barrel, extinguishing all forms of subsidy and nothing happened. That was a perfect time to deregulate and yet government stubbornly stuck to its position. Instead it took the ill-advised cosmetic step to reduce the price of PMS from 87 to 86.50 Naira per liter.                                                                                          ...

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SAM OHUABUNWA'S PARADIGM : FANTASTICALLY CORRUPT?...Probably an Understatemen... : Last week the British Prime Minister, David Cameron,described Nigeria as one of the most fantastically corrupt Nations in the World, sharing...

Last week the British Prime Minister, David Cameron,described Nigeria as one of the most fantastically corrupt Nations in the World, sharing honours with Afganistan, and some Nigerians, including the President's spokesman, Garba Shehu went up in arms. And I am wondering why? Are we quarreling with being called one of the most corrupt Nations in the World or is it the 'fantastic' that we are unhappy about? Indeed, if you ask me, David Cameron was being very 'kind' to us and I have not seen any one as 'kind 'to us when it comes to stereotyping Nigeria with corruption. 'Fantastic' is ordinarily a very positive word or adjective which confers exceptional ability or exceptional performance to any noun to which it is attached. I ask, is it not more distinguishing to be called a fantastically corrupt Nigeria than just a corrupt country? We must be exceptional in something. One of my late uncles, Mazi SOK used to respond to greetings as follows" Minu...

 In 1998, thirty four distinguished  Nigerians (politicians, Businessmen and retired soldiers) gathered to lay the foundation for the party that latter emerged to be called the Peoples Democratic Party( PDP). This group known as G-34 metamorphosed from an original G-18 which was formed to oppose General Sanni Abacha's move to succeed himself, pushing for a return to true civilian democratic rule. Among these men were Alex Ekwueme, Bola Ige, Jerry Gana, Adamu Ciroma, Abubakar Rimi, Solomon Lar, Sule Lamido and Elder Awoniyi and others, some of whom are late now. They were soon to be joined by men from other political groups, such as Atiku Abubakar who came from the Peoples Democratic Movement( PDM). Subsequently they were joined by a number of retired Military Generals including Ibrahim Babangida who succeeded in attracting General Olusegun Obasanjo to join them, whom they eventually elected as their presidential Candidate for the 1999 elections.   The PDP enjoyed a lot...