Category Archives: Public Commentary

National Issues, etc

No Going Back

by oafak

OA Fakinlede

“Yes sometimes government decisions get reactions from the populace, we do not as an administration see this as a disapproval.” Labaran Maku, Minister of Information

If the present government ends its life as the best government Nigeria has ever seen, all the praises would go to President Goodluck Jonathan. And behind every successful president, there are several loyal officers whose untiring efforts assisted in achieving that success. If, on the other hand, this government, as I fear, ends up to be one of the most effete that Nigeria has produced, the first blame will be for the president of Nigeria while lesser blames will be for the officers. It is no use blaming people for not giving the president good advice. In a presidential system, the incumbent has the power to select his advisers from among the 150 million Nigerians. If he selected those who have a flawed sense of history and therefore give wrong advice, he better changed them, else, whatever faults they have, the bucks stop on only one table.

With the background in the above observation, the pronouncement of the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, reported in the media yesterday is quite noteworthy. Before looking at Maku’s statement, let us observe that he is a product of the Nigerian University system. He is expected not only to have the amount of history dictated by his age, but beyond that as a university graduate capable of reading about events that took place long before he was born. There is therefore no hiding place for Mr Maku. The press reported that there is “no going back” on the decision of Government to change the name of the University of Lagos to Moshood Abiola University. What reasons is Maku giving for this obduracy? Is there no going back because Abiola is deserving of honour? Is it because the president has the power to name and (un)name? Is it because due process has been followed? Is it because people are happy with the decision? Is it because there are no viable options to achieve the same objective in a non-controversial way?

Of these pertinent questions, Mr Maku addressed only the first. He even went on to picture Chief Abiola “turning in his grave” with approval. This statement may not have been intended by Maku as the signal point in his argument, however, on a closer look, it seems consistent with the whole mindset and understanding of this government. We shall now examine this in a little more detail.

To the Minister of Information of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the spontaneous demonstration and protest of the students of the University of Lagos is NOT viewed by the Jonathan Government as a sign of disapproval! Ladies and gentlemen, did you hear that! And, coming from Labaran Maku, you should please believe it! Remember that Labaran Maku is from Plateau State. He attended university in Jos. Over there, when you disagree about something – especially in recent times, you do not just protest. You set markets on fire, you throw bombs at people, you massacre villagers by setting their huts on fire. Is that what Mr Maku will want to see before understanding that the people are voicing out their disapproval? Now that the authorities of the university have decided to close it down in order to avoid a breakdown of law and order, how can Mr Maku be convinced that people are not happy with the illegal renmaming of their university? Or is it the Boko Haram paradigm that is defining for the Minister what true dissent is and how to express dissent? Is it not allowable in this present government’s eyes that dissent can be expressed in a peaceful and orderly manner? If those who make peaceful change impossible can be blamed for the inevitability of violent change, what can be said about those who find it difficult to understand peaceful dissent?

The most damaging conclusion we can draw from Maku’s announcement is that this Government is happier with the approval of dead people. Late Chief Abiola, according to Maku is approving from the grave; the protest of living university of Lagos students, which everbody can see does not constitute disapproval! Such convoluted logic in leadership may well explain why Nigeria is not getting it right! Are there more people like Maku in this administration? That will be a great pity! It is time for us to look for governments that will take the protest of living people seriously. Governments that will not wait for people to first die before hearing what they are saying!

Mr Maku is sure of Abiola’s worth to be honored. On that, we agree fully. We even think it’s a honour that should have been more thoughtfully considered earlier. There is no need to belabor that issue. This appears the only point in favour of the government and it even appears that the decision was taken with good intentions. Yet, as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The fact therefore you have good intentions does not secure your destination. It will therefore be necessary, for the sake of Nigeria, its future and the life of its teeming young adults that Officers of government be such people who allow their minds to engage reality. It is pertinent therefore to note that neither the president of Nigeria nor its council can legally change the name of any university that was given by an act of parliament. The due process has not been followed and hence this present act is not only reversible but is a nullity as it stands.

The violation of the process is beyond the arbitrary naming ceremony of May 29. The president went further that there will be a Center for Democratic Studies at the University of Lagos in Honour of Abiola. Commendable! But still a nonstarter so long as it has not been examined and approved by the Senate of the University of Lagos. I am sure this is a large pill to swallow for people who have been brought up in the party with a culture of “capturing power”. The essence of a democratic setting is that of separation of powers. The president of Nigeria has tremendous powers to have things done in the way he wants at any Federal University. Dictating by military fiat is NOT one way of getting this done! The Government has the power to dissolve the governing council and appoint a new one. The most powerful positions in this body are selected by Government in a way that nobody can legally challenge. That is tremendous power but can only be exercised with patience. President Goodluck has Patience! He should exercise patience and use his power appropriately. A council can approach senate and convince it of the need for a new Centre that will be well funded by the Federal Government. With patience, it should have little problems. Setting it up “with immediate effect” on a radio announcement will not fly. This is beyond President Jonathan’s powers!

The present controversy over university renaming may still end well. Government officials such as Labaran Maku will need to get some more education on democratic processes or be shown the way out. The government will find that it is much more pleasant to eat the humble pie and follow due process than face the snowballing of opposition he will inadvertently create by the obduracy announced by Labaran Maku.

Moshood Abiola University

by oafak

The Government of President Goodluck Jonathan has done it again! Act first, Think later. This is the burden Nigeria continues to bear as it has been saddled with this present iteration of PDP in government. By what looks like a Babangida masterstroke, at the end of a better-forgotten alibi of a “Democracy Day speech” he announced that the “Federal Government of Nigeria has decided to rename the University of Lagos, Moshood Abiola University”. And so it is, I am now a professor at the MAUL – the Moshood Abiola University, Lagos.

I live in close proximity to the students at the university of Lagos. My present accommodation not so far from one of the residences I called home since my days as a student at the University of Lagos  nearly forty years ago. It is natural that an old hand like myself immediately reacted with disbelief as I heard the president’s statement. What I did not prepare for was the spontaneous action from the student’s hostel across the road. They were even more vehement than I and would have nothing to do with the purported name change. This article examines the issues around this new name. Does it benefit anyone? What is gained, and what is lost? What is the best way forward to save our university and our nation unnecessary chasing of shadows when there are real problems on the ground to solve? I hope there will be sufficient room for the government to work with in getting out of this self-immolation.

First, the government wants to honour Chief MKO Abiola. He extolled the sacrifice of the late winner of June 12 1998 elections. He was therefore trying to find a worthy National monument to immortalize him. This is the good intention of the President. On that score, even those of us that may not agree with his decisions must at least give him credit for the good intention that must have motivated this move.

Second. Looking over the entire Nigerian Landscape, President Goodluck Jonathan could not find a monument big enough to honour Abiola than Unilag! What is that so? There are airports, stadia, edifices all under the control of this government. Why does the President need the University of Lagos? Even if a university must be offered for this noble cause, it is a reduction in the status of Chief Abiola to seek a University located in the SouthWest. The University of Abuja looks better than Lagos in finding something national on a neutral ground to fully carry the import of Abiola’s national effort and appeal. There are also several newly-created Federal Government Universities looking for identity that Abiola’s name would have conferred on them immediately. There are the National stadia – notable national edifices and which, considering Chief Abiola’s support for sports throughout Nigeria, would have been befitting. The Airport in Port Harcourt is another cognate edifice. It is a no-brainer to find up to twenty suitable things to name after Abiola that would likely attract the support of most Nigerians and create little controversy. In the midst of these, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan chose Unilag!

There are two immediate reasons why Unilag is an inappropriate choice. First, this university is presently mourning the loss of a well loved Vice Chancellor. This is certainly not the kind of distraction required by anyone in Unilag at this time. The advisers of the president are probably too far removed from the reality on the ground, else such an obvious fact ought not to have eluded them.

The second immediate problem is that the University of Lagos is celebrating the fiftieth year of its founding. Who did President Jonathan consult? Did he talk to the council – a place where the president selects the chairman and where several important representatives of his government sit. What did they tell him if he did consult them? I know for certain that the Senate of the University of Lagos was NOT consulted. I am a member of that body and there is no record of such a move by the government. Did the Government consult the staff bodies? Neither ASUU nor the other staff organizations were consulted. What about the students? These went on instantaneous demonstration at the announcement! In a democracy, the government is supposed to be of the people, by the people and for the people. It appears to me that the present government is not consulting far enough. Its understanding of democracy seems to have a typographical abbreviation: Government of the Pdp, by the Pdp and for the Pdp! It will be difficult for him to make this decision of a military fiat stand. At least I am certain that several interested parties at Unilag will challenge this action in the court of law. That is a distraction that even this president and his government do not really need.

The above are facts that ought to be obvious to President Jonathan. They are easy facts that a working government ought to have considered before making an announcement. Yet these are NOT my reasons for not supporting the idea. Against the action of President Jonathan, I have three reasons to object:

  1. The name of a University is part of its branding. This is the first time that a 50 year old brand that is doing very well will be jettisoned like a worthless dross. People argue that the University of Ife was changed to OAU without any fuss. The University of Ife was 28 years old when its name was changed to honour the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. There is the inevitable comparison. This may be the basis and encouragement that President Jonathan is relying on. However, there are three differences we should bear in mind: The late sage occupied a place in the hearts and souls of the Yoruba people that they may not even mind if the Oodua nation were to be named for Awolowo. Apart from being the chief architect for the University that now bears his name, the free education he pioneered in the West remained the biggest reason people remember him. #We must not also forget that this was done under the military usurpers who are a law unto themselves and are both legislature and executive combined so their decrees can override acts of previous assemblies. Even in that case, we had twenty eight years of a brand now we are talking about fifty. It is not too late in the day to revert OAU back to University of Ife and find better things to name rather than well supported brands. President Jonathan is dreaming of life as a Military dictator who can issue decrees! No sir, you are claiming to be an elected president! No decrees from you!
  2. It will cost no less than two to five hundred million Naira just to give effect to this purported name change. This is coming at a time when the infrastructure at the University of Lagos is crying for renewal. That money, spent on revamping the Coastal modeling laboratory, replacing the obsolete equipment in most engineering labs and purchasing new equipment will give more hope to hapless Nigerian students. This is the time when students are likely to be told to pay fees; This is at a time where parents are out of employment and we have a government that has little more than promises and platitudes to give them. What is the madness of an unnecessary name change going to add to these miseries? More pain! Who needs that?
  3. The name change creates a disconnect between the alumni and the University at a critical time in the life of Unilag. Here we are celebrating our fiftieth year. Change the name now, old students will never accept they attended MAUL. This new entity will need to build its own brand and that unnecessary burden by a university that does not need it. Instead, it needs all the goodwill its brand can give it to get the funding the neglectful government cannot give to reestablish its position as a university that can be reckoned with in Nigeria and beyond.

Mr President, we thank you very much for your “Democracy Day” gift. There are no takers at the University of Lagos. See you in Court!