Cherry Picking On Democracy Day

Democracy Day in Nigeria is held annually on May 29^th, 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 29^th 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 26^th 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.