As Amaechi Restores The Garden City’s Lost Glory

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Published: June 6, 2009

 

On May 29, Nigerians marked ten years of unbroken civilian rule. It is the first time since Nigeria became independent 49 years ago that civilians would superintend over the affairs of the country for so long without the uncouth and self-serving intrusion of the military. That in itself is a significant development that calls for celebration. But not many are in celebrative mood. And the reason is simple.

Expectation was quite high in 1999 that Nigeria, having once again joined the League of Nations where the people, through the power of the ballot box, determine who governs them will also reap the dividends of democracy. This has not happened. Instead, the reverse is the case. Despite the unprecedented revenue that accrued from the sale of crude oil in the last ten years, the woes of the people and the country itself have never been more pronounced. Life in Nigeria in the last ten years has become insufferable and beyond the pale.

In the circumstance, it is easy to give in to despair and remain forlorn.

But in this darkened political firmament, there are still a few bright stars whose achievements tend to remind us that all hope is not lost. Through their achievements, they are radiating positive aura, sending out a strong message that at the other end of this darkened tunnel of gloom and despondency, there is indeed the chance that we may encounter the glowing light of triumph.

One of such rays of hope is Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, the Governor of Rivers State. When his colleagues were celebrating their second year in office on May 29, he didn’t join them because he is yet to spend two years. A victim of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s “jackboot democracy,” Amaechi won the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) gubernatorial primary election in Rivers State where he was Speaker of the House of Assembly for eight years but was unilaterally disqualified by Obasanjo.

He was only sworn in on October 26, 2007 when the Supreme Court, in a bold affirmation of the essence of internal democracy, ruled that as the winner of the primary election, he, rather than Celestine Omehia (the man who was given the ticket), ought to have contested the April 14, 2007 governorship election. Therefore, if the PDP won the election, Amaechi, who the people elected as their candidate, should be the rightful occupant of the Brick House (Rivers State Government House) rather than Omehia, who was whimsically imposed on a hapless party by a man who was playing God.

For a man who has a four-year term, 19 months may not be enough time to come to a definite conclusion on his ability to deliver. But it is time enough to determine where he is headed. When Amaechi took over the reins of power from Omehia, Rivers, technically speaking, was in a state of war. Gunmen and cultists, who became Lords of the Manor between 2003 and 2007, held the state hostage, almost making it ungovernable. Amaechi had two options – pacify them at the expense of the common good as his predecessors did or call their bluff. He chose to do the latter. But that was after the militants spurned all effort to make them realize that peace and development are two sides of the same coin. Amaechi believes that there must be a dividing line between criminality and genuine agitation for the improvement of the awful lot of the people of Niger Delta. That decision has paid off. Today, any visitor to Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s famed Garden City, in the past one year will attest that the once seedy capital is gradually reclaiming its lost glory.

Just like Governor Babatunde Fashola in Lagos, Amaechi’s administration is investing massively in infrastructure. One of the greatest problems of the city is lack of good road networks. Amaechi is tackling this problem headlong with the construction of new roads and expansion and dualisation of old ones. Literally, he has turned the state into a massive construction yard.

The Rumuola/Rumuokwuta road which links Aba and Ikwerre roads is being dualised in a bid to ease the flow of traffic in Port Harcourt. There are also the Ada-George/Airport Road that runs from Agip Junction on Ikwerre Road to the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, which will connect the old Port Harcourt city with a new one – Greater Port Harcourt city. These roads and many more are not only dual carriage ways but come with covered drainages, paved walkways, median, trees and flowers and street lights. 

Flyovers are also being constructed to ease the grueling traffic situation in the city. But these roads are not limited to Port Harcout as the rural areas have their fair share. But the most fascinating aspects of this urban renewal project are the Greater Port Harcourt City and the public, private partnership-funded Rainbow Town Estate. Lack of visionary leadership has left Port Harcourt one of the most congested and seedy cities in Nigeria. These two projects will reverse the situation. When completed, the Rainbow Town Estate is expected to have 1000 housing units and the state government’s contribution is only the land. The entire project will be funded by the First Bank. The idea behind the new Greater Port Harcourt city is the decongestion of the old city which is being restored to its old glory with the demolition of illegal structures particularly along the waterfronts, planting of trees for greenery and building of recreation parks.

The first thing he did when he assumed office was to return mission schools to their owners and thereafter declared a state of emergency in the education sector. His firm belief that a country can only toy with the primary education of its citizenry at its own peril convinced him to take over the funding of primary education from the local governments. That move has proved strategic. Today the government is building 250 new primary schools spread across all the 23 local governments of the state and ultra modern secondary schools that will have state-of-the-art facilities.

He is a student of the school of integrated development that strives not to leave out any sector; which explains why his health programmes are as grandiose as education and urban renewal.

David Iyofor, his media aide says the Governor is driven by the passion to rebuild the state and the zeal to leave enduring legacies of development and prosperity. There is no doubt that he is on the right track.

But the undeniable success of the few oases of competence, like Fashola and Amaechi, in the desert of leadership ineptitude called Nigeria raises a fundamentally question. Why are they succeeding where others only see failure? Why were the governors who ruled these states for eight years, at the peak of the oil boom, not able to achieve in those years what these governors have achieved in less than two years?

The answer lies in the vision and sincerity of purpose of the leadership.

But there is another issue. Imagine what the long suffering indigenes of Rivers State would have lost if the Justices of the Supreme Court hadn’t the presence of mind to affirm the supremacy of the people by insisting that the man who won a primary election should be the candidate at the general election? As I stated last week, we play the ostrich when we divorce our problematic general elections from the injustice at the primaries. When only one man takes it upon himself to decide who contests elections, no-matter what the people say, then the general election has been rigged even before the first ballot is cast. To pretend otherwise is the height of hypocrisy and chicanery.

War Against Corruption: Tales From Other Lands

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Published: May 16, 2009

 

Most Nigerian leaders on assumption of office make the fight against corruption the “epicentre” of their regimes. The incumbent President, Umaru Yar’Adua, is not left out.

When his predecessor Olusegun Obasanjo was first sworn in on May 29, 1999, he also made such a great fuss of his “determination” to fight corruption. Many who had come to see the cankerworm of sleaze as the bane of Nigeria’s socio-economic and political development heaved a sigh of relief. As a battle tested soldier, who loves flaunting his war exploits, it was taken for granted that he would triumph. Ten years after that solemn promise, the jury is still out as to whether he conquered corruption or indeed the reverse was the case. President Yar’Adua, wittingly or unwittingly, is sailing in the same self-deception boat.

Why do Nigerian leaders fail woefully in this self-assigned job? The simple answer is that it takes more than rhetoric to fight graft. They fail because they have no sense of shame. A man with neither sense of shame nor remorse cannot wage a successful war against corruption.

Recent events in two countries will illustrate this point.

On Saturday, former South Korean President, Roh Moo-hyun, hurled himself off a 100-foot high cliff. He died instantly, aged 62. In a country where life expectancy for men is 75, the former President cut his own life short by at least 13 years.

Why?

Because the man who occupied Seoul’s Presidential Blue House for five years was embroiled in a corruption scandal and was horror stricken that his hard-won reputation was about to be thrown to the dogs. His family was alleged to have taken $6 million in bribes from a wealthy businessman, Park Yeon-cha, who was earlier indicted on separate bribery and tax evasion charges.

The former President denied the allegations. Though he admitted his wife and relative received the money in question from the disgraced businessman, he did not see it as bribe. His wife, he said, was given $1 million to help her settle a debt, while the $5 million to a relative was an investment. None of the money came to him directly. It was not proved that he used his family members as fronts in illicit deals.

Nevertheless, he apologized. “I feel ashamed before my fellow citizens. I am sorry for disappointing you,” he told his supporters on April 30.

For a man who came to power in 2003 promising to make a clean break from his country’s graft-ridden political past, he could not bear the emotional burden of having his reputation tainted. For him, death was preferred to a soiled name.

He said that much in his suicide note. “Too many people are suffering because of me … What is left for me for the rest of my life is just to be a burden to others. Don’t be too sad. Aren’t life and death both part of nature? Don’t feel sorry. Don’t blame anybody. It is destiny,” he wrote.

Can anybody imagine a Nigerian President’s wife owing $1 million? Impossible! Not even his mistress would suffer the “indignity” of owing such a paltry sum. Yet, here is the wife of South Korean President, a country with the third largest economy in Asia and 13^th in the world, being in debt with the husband not being able to help. Can anybody imagine a former Nigerian President turning himself in for interrogation over money loaned his wife by a businessman? Impossible!

Lawmakers in the British House of Commons have been in the news in the past couple of weeks over a damning expenses scandal.  And what is it about? In a country where lawmakers must religiously keep in touch with their constituents, most have to live in two places – in their constituencies and in London where they attend Parliament. They are, therefore, allowed to claim expenses to cover the cost of running a second home in London. Details of these claims were leaked to the media and Britons are mad that their representatives in Parliament have not only been making outrageous claims but also avoiding tax on home sales. This has led to the charge of extravagance and heads are rolling politically.

Many of the Parliamentarians are aborting their political careers. The House of Commons Speaker, Michael Martin, whose crime is the perception by some that he was the driving force behind efforts to stop details of the scandal coming out, has resigned.

Justice Minister, Shahid Malik, has stepped down pending an inquiry into whether his failure to declare a preferential rent deal on his constituency home broke the ministerial code. Former Agriculture Minister, Elliot Morley, and backbencher, David Chaytor, have been suspended by their party – Labour Party. Both of them reportedly claimed for mortgage interest months after the mortgages had been paid off.  Mr. Morley also lost his job as Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s climate change envoy.

Andrew MacKay, a Parliamentary aide to Conservative leader, David Cameron, has also quit his post after the party ruled his second home claims were “unacceptable”. He has also decided not to seek re-election. “I understand why people are angry. I hope my decision to step down goes some way to showing my constituents how sorry I am about my own situation,” he said while announcing his decision.

He is not alone. The former Conservative Minister, Douglas Hogg, has said he will not seek re-election; Sir Peter Viggers is also to retire “at the direct request of David Cameron;” another lawmaker, Anthony Steen, said to have claimed more than £87,000 over four years for his country home, is also standing down at the next election. Most of them have paid back the money.

British media report that “there is genuine concern among members of Parliament that the legislature has never been held in lower regard by members of the public. Even MPs who have done nothing wrong are reported to be considering quitting as they are considered “crooks” by the public. Some fear Parliament may take years to recover from the furore.”

Gordon Brown has warned that any “Labour MP who ‘defied’ the rules will not be able to stand again.” Cameron has set up his own scrutiny panel and warned that any Tory lawmaker refusing to return money excessively claimed could be sacked. The Liberal Democrats say no lawmaker should be able to make a profit on the sale of a home which was subsidised by the taxpayer.

Cast your mind back home. Two weeks ago, President Umaru Yar’Adua’s Adviser on Petroleum, Emmanuel Egbogah, alleged that Federal Lawmakers were colluding with oil companies to work against the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) pending in the National Assembly. The multinational oil companies they were supposed to checkmate ferried them to Ghana for a retreat which sole aim was to devise means of shooting down the Bill. Senate President, David mark, said it was a blackmail from the Presidency, even when the members of the Senate Committees on Gas, Environment, Petroleum Resources and Finance have owned up to the trip.

There is no outrage. Nobody feels it is morally reprehensible to collude with foreigners to work against the interest of fellow citizens in exchange for filthy lucre. None of the legislators has returned the estacode. None of the political parties has sanctioned its members that went on the trip.

The leadership of the House of Representatives survived the car purchase scandal even when there was glaring evidence that Nigerians were shortchanged in the deal.

 

The N6 billion rural electricity scam currently rocking the National Assembly will soon be forgotten. The accused lawmakers will return to their seats as soon as they are granted bail as if nothing happened. There is no sense of shame and the people have the capacity for outrage.

Little wonder corruption easily wins the war against Nigeria and its leaders.