THE ANTITHESIS OF INVESTMENT IN POWER GENERATION

I begin this article by bringing to your notice that this piece is largely a speculation on relevant facts available to everyone to verify. I prefer to toe the speculative, because philosophic analysis has influenced me greatly.

The very concept of investment necessarily implies profit, though not without some avoidable/unavoidable risks.

You may have raised questions on the deplorable state of the power sector, coupled with the fact that, the more the investment in that sector, the weaker its efficiency has been over the years. But you need to understand that for many years, the government has trivialized the problems inherent in the power sector to the extent that the citizens undermine the weight of damage it has done to us as a nation. Well, I am not a statistician, but elementary knowledge in mathematics leads me to this analysis.

We are not ignorant of the fact that between the regimes of Generals Yakubu Gowon and Ibrahim Babangida (that is, before Nigeria’s Fourth Democratic Republic), electricity generation stood at approximately 1500 megawatts. Although, various regimes in the fourth republic have claimed increment in the generation of electricity; but as it stands in May 2015, it fluctuates between 1327 and 1900 megawatts respectively. Yet we are also aware that the fourth democratic republic has invested over 16 trillion naira, all to no avail.

Now my take; If 16 trillion naira has been spent in the power sector in the fourth republic, yet giving us the same megawatts or even less, than was obtainable before the investment, the question is: where did they invest the 16 trillion naira? Or put differently; in whose account was the money lodged?

From 1999 to 2015 will give us 16 years. Surely, the interest rate of banks differ, fluctuating overtime. However, for the purpose of our analysis, we use a bench mark, leaving the interest rate at 7%. Let’s therefore do a bit of elementary analysis. It may not have occurred to you that if you deposit the sum of 16 trillion naira in a fixed account at the interest rate of 7%, it gives us N1,120,000,000,000 (one trillion, one hundred and twenty billion naira annually).

N1,120,000,000,000*16 years=N17,920,000,000,000 (seventeen trillion, nine hundred and twenty billion naira).

Knowing that the interest of one trillion, one hundred and twenty billion naira adds to the original amount of 16 trillion naira annually, we also need to add the interest that accrue from N17,920,000,000,000.

7% of N17,920,000,000,000=N1,254,400,000,000 (one trillion, two hundred and fifty four billion, four hundred million naira). When we add both figures (N17,920,000,000,000+N1,254,400,000,000), it gives us N19,174,400,000,000 (nineteen trillion, one hundred and seventy four billion, four hundred million naira).

From my analysis, the sum of N19,174,400,000,000 (nineteen trillion, one hundred and seventy four billion, four hundred million naira) would have been the profit that stems from 16 trillion naira. That is not even the end of the damage. When we add up the interest with the original money that was supposedly invested, we get a total of N35,174,400,000,000. Fellow Nigerians, please check out the estimate of the budget of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for 15 years and tell us your figures. It isn’t 16 trillion naira that was invested in the power sector, in the fourth republic, it’s actually above 35 trillion naira that has gone into the power sector; because anywhere that money had gone to, that is the least sum it should have generated. The budget of Nigeria from 1999-2014 is approximately 35 trillion naira. It implies that even if we devote 15 years budget of the country solely on the power sector, we couldn’t have derived any benefit? “You wicked and reckless leaders! Who reap where you do not sow and gather where you do not scatter, you ought to have invested our money in the bank, leaving us to dwindle in the power generation of 1500 megawatts that was handed over to you by the military regime. On the return of the incoming administration, we would have received our money with interest. Instead, you decided to squander our funds, taking us back to a stone age and still summon the courage to call it an investment.” Indeed, it was an investment without benefit; that is exactly the paradox of investment in Nigerian conceptual scheme.       

  

FIND YOUR CHARACTERS IN THIS FOURTH REPUBLIC OF DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA

While preparing an article on Plea Bargaining, I came across an article, which I have slightly edited and you may find this piece very interesting. In the novel, Animal Farm, Old Major, calls the animals on the farm for a meeting, and highlights their oppression and subjugation by human beings he refers to as parasites, who feed fat on the animals. He sensitizes them on their deplorable condition of existence and the need for a revolution by teaching them a revolutionary song, “Beast of England”. He dies later, and two young pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, assume leadership, lead the animals in a revolution that overthrows the drunken and irresponsible Mr. Jones, the owner of the farm and Manor Farm is renamed Animal Farm. They write their seven commandments on the wall of a barn giving prominence to the seventh, “All animals are equal” and in the spirit of the revolution, Boxer (a workaholic), adopts the maxim, “I will work harder”. Food becomes plentiful and there seems to be an element of tranquility. However, within a short time, the pigs elevate themselves to positions of leadership and set aside special food items for themselves while Napoleon trains some puppies from the farm dogs secretly. In the “Battle of the Cowshed”, Mr. Jones’ attempt to retake the farm eludes him as the animals defeat him. Unfortunately, the two pigs, Napoleon and Snowball struggle for leadership. Napoleon wins and chases Snowball away with the dogs he trained secretly. Napoleon assumes full leadership, uses the dogs as bodyguards to blackmail, terrorize or exterminate his perceived opponents and institutes a committee of pigs to run the farm with a young pig, Squealer, as his mouthpiece. Ironically, the animals work harder with the promise of a brighter future, but starve and grow thinner instead, while the pigs and dogs become more comfortable and fatter because all rations are reduced except those of the pigs and dogs. Squealer rewrites the history of the farm in which he presents Snowball as villain and Napoleon a hero and Boxer takes up a second maxim: “Napoleon is always right”. Meanwhile, Napoleon emasculate opposition by killing all perceived opponents, accusing them of conniving with Snowball to sabotage the activities of the Animal Farm. Life becomes more difficult for the animals as the Committee of Pigs imposes stiffer measures for the animals, while reserving privileges for the pigs. For instance, “apples were collected and brought to the harness-room for the use of the pigs” and when the other animals murmured, Squealer explains that that the pigs dislike apples, but are constrained to eat them to preserve their health. He concludes “We pigs are brain workers… it is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples”. Other delicacies like sugar, beer and eventually whisky, are reserved for the pigs; each pig gets a pint of beer daily, while Napoleon gets a gallon. Pigs get up an hour later than others. A school is established for the young pigs who “took exercise in the garden, and were discouraged from playing with other young animals. It became a rule that when “a pig and any other animal meet on the path, the other animals must step aside for the pigs”. Eventually the pigs move into the farm house that hitherto housed Mr. Jones and his family and started enjoying all human privileges, like sleeping on bed and eating meals in human fashion. Squealer justifies every Napoleon’s actions and the commandment is modified to suit their purpose. For instance, “No animal shall sleep in beds” becomes; “No animal shall sleep in beds with sheets”; “No animal shall drink alcohol” is changed to; “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess”. The original anthem is replaced by another one that glorifies Napoleon, who gradually adopts the lifestyle of man. Other animals, groan under the burden of hardship, cold, starving, and overworked, but dare not complain openly for fear. Meanwhile they are reminded constantly that they are better off than when they were under Mr. Jones. Gradually, the pigs walk, act and dress like human beings and the Seven Commandments are reduced to a single phrase: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Napoleon starts fraternizing with humans and reverts the name to Manor Farm. The animals could not tell the difference between Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington when both of them engage in an argument during a poker match.

The overthrow of Mr. Jones and Napoleon’s take-over bears semblance to the rejection of Military rule and enthronement of democracy in Nigeria. Seven Commandments in Animal Farm like the Nigerian constitution are laws designed to keep order, unite the people and prevent the politicians from following the Military’s dictatorial tendencies. Democracy in Nigeria is expected to provide better living conditions for the citizens and help them forget the evils of “Military dictatorship”. Like in Animal Farm, Nigerians cannot tell the difference between the military and civilian leadership. Unfortunately, the uniform in whatever guise has continued to be an instrument of brutalism and oppression as the “democratically elected” governors and local government chairmen and like Napoleon’s dogs, use men in uniform to extort money, terrorize and annihilate defenseless citizens. The Military rulers like Mr, Jones merely changed dress with the politicians and Napoleon respectively, but are same in substance. Nigerian leaders and their aides, like Napoleon and his pigs, are corrupt and the Minister of Information like Squealer is paid to launder their images and lie to the public. Other animals step aside for the pigs to pass just like ordinary Nigerians step aside for the politicians to pass with the sirens assaulting the ear drums of all. They invoke laws like plea bargaining to evade conviction while millions of ordinary Nigerians languish in jails. This is the end of the story by George Orwell. However, it seems we have entered another phase of the political drama, as other animals have decided to gang up against Napoleon and the other pigs, since it is the surest way to revert the name of the farm back to Animal Farm, which was the name agreed by all animals when it was taken over from the hands of Mr. Jones.   

THE ERROR CALLED IGALA AGENDA

As you take a tour from one end of Kogi state to another, you are greeted with a perception that speaks ill of the people ranging from a docile citizenry to an indolent leadership. What does a people need from a democracy, but for the fact that it gives them opportunity to be individuals and is able to translate governance cum leadership in its minutest form for the benefit of the least persons in any society! We have preoccupied ourselves with governance in Nigeria to the extent that we need to take a journey inward, since even the presence of good governance at the federal level may not necessarily guarantee a better standard of living for citizens at the local level, if leadership at such level is faulty. I’ve always asked myself why the little efforts made by the federal government has consistently failed to yield economic progress that would metamorphose into better standard of life for Kogites. One of the major reasons I’ve advanced to this question is ethnic sentiment. In all states of the federation, we have people from different ethnic/tribal groupings, with national representations at the senatorial level cutting across districts. Like every other state, Kogi has three senatorial districts, which cut across various major ethic groups in the state, with the Igala race being the largest. Thus, like Benue state that has the Tiv race in the majority, the Igala people of Kogi state have always been in control of political machinery of the state. It is on this note that the first error, which is the idea of creation of a state for the Igala kingdom stems from. Surely, many Igala sons and daughters would have made a frail comparison with the Idoma race of Benue state, as a basis for the argument that there is need for a state solely for the Igala nation. As a trained philosopher, I’ve learnt not just to look at immediate and peripheral causes, but also to look at the substance in issues.

In all the states of the federation where you have major and minor ethnic groups, those in the minority always yearn for independence as a result of marginalization from major ethnic groups in such states. That has been the cry of people who have not had the privilege to control the machinery of governance. Let’s take Benue state as a case study, where the Igala Kingdom once belonged. It is well known that the Idoma and Igede race are in the minority (in terms of numerical strength) in the state. Hence, the craving for a state that primarily takes into cognizance the welfare of the people and makes them more democratically engaged. On the other hand, in Kogi state, we have three senatorial districts, which cut across the three major ethnic groups (Ibira, Okun, Igala) in the state, of which the Igala race are in the majority. Like the Tiv of Benue state, the Igala race primarily takes charge of governance. But the irony of the Igala race stems from the fact that they conceive the idea of having a state that takes into cognizance the welfare of the people and democratically engage the people in governance. However, there is a dialectic of marginalization, in the sense that it is unending. Give a state to the Idoma race and the Igede people would begin a craving for a nation, since they would necessarily become minority in the midst of the Idoma race; so do we have it in every society in Nigeria.

With the above in mind, let us come to the crux of our discussion: since the Igala race as the majority ethnic group in Kogi state, crave for a state as a result of marginalization and a desire to get the people democratically engaged, then who marginalizes the Igala people of Kogi state? Surely, we can’t suggest that we are being marginalized by a minority race, since that would be laughable. It means that nature has not always favoured numbers, but history has always aligned with people who have leveraged on their numerical strength to their advantage. If we cannot rely on factors from “with-out” as a justification of our debased condition, then we could possibly locate causes from “within”. Looking at the wind of politics as it blows daily, we know that as a country, we may not have the kind of government we want to have, but the political dialectics in recent time has shown that, though we may not be where we would have desired, we would certainly not be where we had been; we are moving towards perfection. It is however unfortunate that this feeling of optimism necessarily eludes you if you are a Kogite, particularly of the Igala origin. This is made possible by the fact that we have for a long time, run a system of government manned by the most unscrupulous or unsuitable people, who have seen politics as a quick means to a sharp end of amassing wealth, while at the same time, giving stipends to those who dare to associate with them. The immediate reason for an average youth who ventures into politics is extractive in nature; this is exactly the idea that has been transmitted to them from an older generation that has mentored them in the art of deviance. History has largely shown that a politician of the Igala descent who assumes the role of governance, keeps his position primarily for two reasons: repatrimonization (recycling goods and services among family and friends) and extraction. Governance is the second agenda. State creation would therefore fail the Igala race, since repatrimonization and extraction couched in marginalization, are really the substance.

What do we stand to lose if an opportunity is given to a man outside the Igala race to govern the state? Economic prosperity? Certainly not! Because you have not been motivated by such factor in the first place. Pride? Certainly yes! But of what relevance is our pride without dignity, which we have been denied for some time? In the final analysis, there is pride in dignity, there is however no dignity in pride. It is on this note that this experiment called Igala agenda should be rectified momentarily at the state level, since it has proven to be a deceptive phrase put on the lips of the masses by the elite group, for the furtherance of the agenda of the Igala political elites and not for the enhancement of the Igala kingdom.

Secondly, at the national level, if you have tried particular leaders at the state, or National Assembly and it has yielded no positive result for the people, it is simple wisdom to try others. The reason for this is that even if the new hands to be tried are not predictable in terms of their success rate, it is better to have them to lead for a while, since you have nothing to lose, because in the first place you never even had any gain. In such a situation, change is what you need, even if the change is not a reasonable choice for the moment. At least, let it be penned down in history that for a moment, we had a consistent anthology of failed leaders. We cannot keep doing things the same way, while at the same time expecting different results.

Long live the Igala kingdom! Long live Kogi state!! Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!