The Aftermath: An Elder Speaks

"Good evening sir"
"Good evening. Do you remember me?"
"Yes."

"Sir, you will surely deny that you had sexual
relations with your own son's wife, for however
possible it is, given some of your known proclivities,
such an abomination is not something this judicial
exercise is willing to consider. We leave that
to customary courts."

"I am glad we will not be discussing that. But, then,
what am I charged with?"

"Mr. President, will you deny knowledge that money
laundering was being attempted with your consent?"

"If any laundering was occurring I cannot have known
about it."

"Sir, how many years have we been friends?"
"Several"
"Then, these are my recommendations. Seeing as you
are the father of modern Nigeria your life would have
been wasted if you do not attend to these"
"I'm listening"

On Corruption
Money laundering and contract inflation are the primary
ways through which the Nigerian economy is decimated
by graft. The EFCC should devise static, meaning
preventative, means by which attempts at money laundering
and contract inflation are identified before it becomes
impossible to recover whatever is stolen. The EFCC
has demonstrated, in managing a modicum of integrity
by targeting looters of the treasury, that we do not
need military intervention in order to restore sanity
to the political domain, and certainly the military
are not welcome as governors. But if we do not make
headway soon in cleansing our government and ridding it
of the small-minded then the there are several options
for "saving" Nigeria in its free fall, one or two of
which DO involve the military.

On Electricity
All the promises you made since 1999 concerning electricity
have yielded no returns. The current president is on the same
track. With the help of 1 Alifa Daniels and his excellent
investigative work, people such as myself have analyzed the
Nigerian Power Grid. Your inability to restore electrical
power is not your fault, but you do not have the technical
capacity to be the presence of oversight for such projects.
In the long run the only feasible solution is to replace
elements of the transmission and distribution grids with
Nigeria-made parts, for these parts have begun to fail or
be vandalized at a rate which Nigeria cannot sustain to replace
by IMPORTING them and the technical expertize needed. To this
end, of the technical expertize that is, Nigeria has demonstrated
in this current administration the indigenous, thus less expensive,
capacity to fix problems related to the grid. Now we need
the assistance of the manufacturing sector. This situation,
then, shall only start to be remedied, in any real sense, when
Ajaokuta is up and running at above 70%. Alas, just recently
more than half the staff of that entity was laid off. This
delays Nigeria's progress. The contract you gave to Solgas
is the sort of evidence that many use to demonstrate Nigeria's
lack of seriousness in tackling serious problems. The subsequent
transfer to Mital/GS demonstrates that those steering the ship of
state lack the interests of the populace and polity at heart. As
such the contract was revoked, since, according to the current
administration, it too heavily favored one party--alluding, without
accusation, to a less-than-honest brokerage of the deal. We are
thus to assume that ONE MORE TIME Nigeria shall attempt to
get Ajaokuta functional. If, as Representative Shagari says,
we DO get Ajaokuta back online soon and have liquid steel flowing,
then you will not have failed Nigeria. If not, the failure
began with Solgas.

On The Economy
Manufacturing, manufacturing, manufacturing. The Peugeot
Assemblies were closed because those who followed your first
administration did not follow-up in moving Nigeria from
being an assembly depot to being a full scale manufacturer
of cars. And yet, Nigeria has become one of the world's
largest importers of manufactured goods. Are we... stupid?
We can manufacture in Aba pretty much anything we purchase
from abroad, but we do not have the rolled steel, ingots
and other base components. One wonders what you did all
the years you claimed to preside over a country that must
now wear diapers!

On Politics
The 2011 elections seem certain to be rigged, given
that the current administration does not seem content
to provide the means for a transparent elections--something
if they were serious about they would have begun already.
So, we expect some turmoil after those elections. This
is further exacerbated by the jailing of certain political
chieftains. It is not feasible to expect, given the current
situation, a smooth transition or re-election. On the matter
of the jailed politicians, it would be wise to grant leniency
in a major SHOW to the people of mercy, suggesting it be true
that going forward leniency and mercy shall be the prerogative
of the presiding officers in the context of judicial balance:
In other words, though mercy is not warranted, not at least
in the cases I am looking at, it is politically wise to
grant it now. In the future, perhaps not, for who steals
in the future is doing so after a show of mercy. I have
dialoged with some of those who routinely still. "Is di
nigerian way" they say, "naija now" discounting that
this same exact attitude is the reason why Nigeria, today,
is the only nation in the world where the government has
to import its own electric generation! No, Nigeria must
change, and it must change with you, sir.

Sir, you have failed Nigeria once. But to the extent that
your current studies, such as with General Jack, and
your total view of the situation grants you any power, please
be sure to use it to redress the imbalance caused by the rot
that was your administration. I have heard that you
are concerned, a la Ogedengbe. As I said, I do not vote
here for any such prosecution. But it would be wise for
us to notarize this conversation, sir, with action. It would
go a long way in demonstrating, to those who are important
in the regards important to you, that you remain serious
about giving Nigeria your best effort... whatever your
previous failings have been.

Good day sir, and God Bless the Federal Republic.