Democracy Day in
Nigeria is held annually on May 29th, to celebrate the country’s
return to Democracy on this day in 1999, when former Military ruler (1976-1979)
Olusegun Obasanjo was elected as a civilian head of state after 16 years of
military rule. Obasanjo’s second stint lasted from 1999 – 2007. He must have
really enjoyed it, because he tried to change the constitution to let him rule
for a third term (which would have ended last year) but thankfully, his efforts
were thwarted. Moving on.
I
just read the transcript of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s “Democracy
Day” address to the nation. Click HERE to read it from the
Vanguard. In the address, the President went down the to-do list of the Federal
Government and stated what measures were being taken, in different sectors of
the economy including Agriculture, Education, and Power generation, to improve
said sectors and therefore the overall quality of life for Nigerians.
For instance, on
fertilizers, the President said the following:
“We have
ended the practice of Federal Government procurement and distribution of
fertilizers. This we did because only 11% of farmers get the fertilizers that
are bought and distributed by government. The old system encouraged rent
seekers to collude and deprive farmers of access to fertilizers, while some of
the fertilizers ended up with political farmers and in neighbouring countries.”
Here is a March 29th article from the Daily
Independent titled: “Federal Govt approves N27b for fertilizer, cancels
distribution by government” Read it HERE
On education, the President said the following:
“The Federal
Government has launched a Special Presidential Scholarship Scheme for our best
and brightest brains. We are selecting the best out of our First Class
graduates in various disciplines, especially engineering and science. They will
be sent for post-graduate studies in the best universities in the world, with
the expectation that this will lay the foundation for a desirable scientific
and technological revolution that will take Nigeria into Space in the not too
distant future.”
Blogger Dabesaki Ikemenjima (@dabesaki) analyzed the president’s plan
three days ago on the 26th in a blog post. “On President Jonathan’s
new PhD Scholarship Scheme.” Read
it HERE
But steps taken by the government towards improvements in agriculture,
education and other areas articulated by President Jonathan today weren’t what
clogged by Twitter timeline when I woke up this morning. The hullabaloo was
over this in the President’s speech:
“After very
careful consideration, and in honour of Chief M.K.O. Abiola’s accomplishments
and heroism, on this Democracy Day, the University of Lagos, is renamed by the
Federal Government of Nigeria, Moshood Abiola University, Lagos. The Federal
Government will also establish an Institute of Democratic Studies and
Governance in the University.”
Chief M.K.O. Abiola was a
successful and popular Nigerian businessman who ran for president in 1993 in
elections widely considered to be free and fair, only to have the results
annulled by then military ruler Ibrahim Babangida. June 12, 1993, the date of
the presidential election, is now a public holiday observed in some Southern
states of Nigeria including Lagos and Abiola’s home state of Ogun.
So,
considering how revered Abiola is here in Lagos, with folks like Ovation
magazine owner Dele Momodo frequently tweeting about him as if he were a god, it
was a quite a surprise to me to learn that some students of the
soon-to-be-formerly-named University of Lagos (UNILAG) were protesting the
President’s decision, as reported HERE by BusinessDay and other media outlets.
In the blogosphere, I read a sarcasm-laden post (HERE) from a Tolu Orekoya,
who’s central theme was focused on a Nigerian “space race.” Reading his post
without reading the President’s transcript would lead one to believe that space
travel was the crux of GEJ’s speech. Considering we already have a very
frustrated polity who believe the government isn’t prioritizing issues
important to them, stuff like this would only bolster this misguided sentiment.
Another
individual by the name of Kayode Ogundamisi, a former Secretary General
of the Oduduwa People’s Congress, posted the following in his blog (HERE)
“I view President Ebele
Jonathan’s gesture to rename University of Lagos after Moshood Abiola as an
insult to the nationalistic caliber of the 1993 democratically elected
president of Nigeria who gave his life for the mandate given to him by the
people of Nigeria. It is an attempt to denigrate such a unanimously elected
leader to a regional head. This is unacceptable. We look to this government to
rename a more representative edifice, in Abuja something nationalistic e.g. the
current Abuja National Stadium. Abiola was well known for his contribution to
sports in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.”
Considering the importance of education in this
country, one would think that naming a University after a man who worked there
as a Senior Accountant in its Teaching Hospital would not be an insult to his
legacy via denigration. Speaking of insults, exactly what is Mr Ogundamisi trying
to insinuate when he says that a University that has been in existence for five
decades isn’t high enough on the representative edifice scale to be considered?
But
here’s the kicker from Mr Ogundamisi:
“We implore this
government to stop majoring on the minor and start focusing on its primary
responsibilities”
Oh
the irony. Furthermore, I looked up the website for the Oduduwa People’s
Congress and on its “About” page it says the following which you can
read HERE
“OPC is a
non-political, non-partisan group”
As a former representative of said group, Mr
Ogundamisi’s post is anything but.
Moving on, check out this
tweet:
RT @DemolaSadiq:
Notice how the issues of bombing and power have been avoided on democracy day
:) RT @iamTFlava: Its funny how Entertaining the Nigeria Government is. I
mean.....this a classic case of hmmm "Let's give them something to talk
about"
Let’s refer to the transcript
on bombing:
“Terrorism, a new menace, totally alien to our
way of life and culture,has reared its head and is posing a serious
challenge. My thoughts and prayers go to the victims of the
terrorist attacks, and their families. we are determined to review some
of the existing laws, to further strengthen the national counter-terrorism
strategy. Coordinated joint action among our security agencies has now assumed
greater importance.” – President Jonathan
Let’s refer to the transcript
on power:
“The commitment of this Administration to the
provision of regular and uninterrupted power supply remains strong and
unwavering. We all agree that adequate and regular power supply will be
the significant trigger to enhance this nation’s productive capacity and
accelerate growth.” – President Jonathan
So clearly, some of us skipped
the details and instead chose to focus on a University being renamed after a
Nigerian icon. Last I checked, UNILAG is a Federal University, meaning it’s
owned by the Federal Government so they are well within their rights to call it
“The University of Crocodiles Eating Cornflakes” if they choose to. We have
much more important issues to focus on. The President laid it all out in his speech today. I would have expected that more would have been made of other more pressing issues of substance rather than this. Let's focus.
