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PAGE 28—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 27, 2022
Questions for Peter Obi
THE current "currency
redesign" move by the
Central Bank of Nigeria, under
this gasping Buhari
administration of the APC was
clearly aimed to flush out
currency warehoused by
Nigerians, which is creating
scarcity, and depressing the
circulation of the Naira in the
exchange system; and possibly
bloating the Naira reserve and
reducing its long term value,
with a possible glut when it
recirculates. Those are real
dangers to the Money Market.
Of course, what the
administration did was not to
redesign the notes, but to
change their colours. The
intention was nevertheless, the
same. But it was also one of
those aspects of the fascist
model of governance, which
imposed the will of the state and
its ruling oligarchy in order to
annihilate its adversaries.
The policy which aimed to
force out small cash holders,
who have hidden their Naira
under their beds, as well as
traders, who have stocks of
Naira kept outside of the formal
banking systems indeed
threatens the workers and the
middle income folks.
In 1984, when Buhari, as
military Head of State changed
the currencies, the real victims
were not the "big men" who had
humongous cash squirreled
inside bags and boxes in their
wardrobes, it was the little Joe,
who kept emergency family
savings in the till beneath his
bed. Indeed, a certain Emir close
to Buhari was allowed to bring
in the famous 21 suitcases in
the heat of that operations.
Those will not suffer. His kind
will survive. But why have
Nigerians stockpiled or
warehoused so much cash? There
are of course, the politicians, who
have stockpiled cash from their
gypping the entire system for so
long, and who have warehoused
so much raw currency notes
because they have no way of
sending these billions.
They cannot place them in
traceable accounts in local
banks, else they will have
questions from the EFCC. They
cannot launder these cash caches
quickly into Foreign currency
either, because it would trigger
an international crime alert.
They do often buy up the dollars,
and like the drug merchants of
South America, build climate
controlled barns for money that
is difficult to spend.
There are many business men
who have, because of the loss of
investor's confidence in the
Nigerian economy, as a result of
the Buhari administrations
incompetent management of the
Nigerian economy, have been
forced to keep their reserves in
foreign currency, which are also
warehoused. I mean both the
local and the international
investor has lost confidence in
the Nigerian economy, and
investing in Nigeria is like a
game of chance.
There are no guarantees. No
security. Some of the direct
impact of this large scale
withdrawal of money from the
system, has been in the
warehousing of inert currency
which has no investible outlet or
dynamic value. It is the capital
trap. Between the large scale
evacuation of Nigeria's resources
I frankly think that Mr.
Obi should be able at
this point, to have
thought through the
implications, and
provide the wellthought,
very clear
alternatives
overseas with the resulting
impoverishment of Nigerians,
and the warehousing of money,
often stolen from the Nigerian
public treasury, the Nigerian
economy experiences the lack
of Capital flow that could
energize its local economy;
create fluid funds for large scale
and middle scale borrowing
that could stimulate new
industries and production hubs.
But the useful policy might not
in the end be to prevent these
funds trapped in private
garages, and sink holes and
wardrobes, and even suckaways,
from re-entering the
National exchange circuit,
because the new currency design
might make it difficult to mop
nearly 70% of these warehoused
currencies back into circulation,
and even if it does get mopped,
it might lead to a collapse of
value of the Naira as a result of
currency glut.
But the best policy might be to
design some mechanism to get
the warehoused money,
originally stolen from Nigerians,
to re-enter the Nigerian
economy as investible funds.
Money is warehoused because
it has no place to go.
This is the challenge which I
was hoping that Peter Obi might
want to address as part of his
monetary policy. I speak
particularly about Peter Obi
because I think he has
momentum. I watched his
town-hall event alongside his
vice-presidential candidate, Dr.
Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, on the
Kadaria Ahmed Show on NTA.
The first thing that struck me
was that Peter Obi has not yet
clearly, fully, and
unambiguously established
what he would provide as
alternatives to the withdrawal
of the Petroleum subsidy, which
he has rightly committed to
ending, because as he equally
rightly noted, the current regime
of subsidy is a "criminal
enterprise."
There is no question about
that. But I frankly think that Mr.
Obi should be able at this point,
to have thought through the
implications, and provide the
well-thought, very clear
alternatives, particularly given
the long term position of the
Labour Party on which he is
running about these subsidies.
Clearly with Peter Obi, Labour
has shifted from its long held
policy on subsidy. To that effect,
the leadership of the Labour
Party must now present the
Nigerian workers and peoples,
the clear picture of their current
party policy. It feels dodgy.
What will money saved from
the ending of subsidy be directed
towards? Since Petroleum
subsidy was originally aimed at
alleviating the conditions of the
workers and middle class
Nigerians, would Peter Obi'
administration consider
developing a modern, clean,
efficient, properly run National
Transport system using the
multi-modal platform: clean
and efficient city and rural bus
services; an efficient well-run,
well-designed National
Railways grid; an Inland
Waterways system, and a
properly run National Airways?
Sixty percent of the income of
the average Nigerian is
expended on transportation.
An efficient, publicly run
National transportation system,
could be an alternative
program that might justify the
removal of direct subsidy. A
federal-state-and local
government partnership, that
could also pull in private
investors might be the way to
go. I was equally startled by
Yusuf Baba-Ahmed's response to
two critical questions: one, is on
the ownership of a "Private
University" and the potential
conflict of Interest that might
arise with his position as Vice-
President, and the second is on
the ideological position of the
Labour Party as a Socialist Party.
What are two market-oriented
candidates doing at the helm of
the Labour Party? Yusuf Baba-
Ahmed's position was puzzling,
at best.
Yusuf Baba-Ahmed has been
described as an Economist. I
must confess that I have not read
any papers on the Economy that
he has published, either in an
academic journal, distinguished
or not, or even in the popular
public media. So, I'm not able
yet to read the tea leaves on him.
But I do know that he is
associated, as President of the
Private Baze University, with
some level of education
administration.
If he is to be taken seriously,
and the laws might have said so
already, he must resign and
dispense with all his interests in
this private institution because
it will have serious conflict of
interest dimensions if he
becomes Vice-President.
Besides, the Obi Campaign
must come up with exactly how
they intend to reform, reposition,
and restore the Nigerian public
university system beyond
making it just a "wish list."
One of the greatest policy
errors of the Obasanjo regime,
in my view, was to license the
"private Universities" in Nigeria,
without strategic impact
assessment, and without serious
ethical, organizational and
procedural considerations. No
individual should "own" a
"Private University." The Private
University must be managed by
a non-profit Trust, and not by an
individual. An individual may
endow the university, but may
not "own" it.
This is how "private"
Universities like Harvard or
Stanford, etc. are organized.
They are not "private"
Universities because they are
owned by individuals, but by
established non-profit trusts and
corporations that do not depend
on public funding. The next
National Assembly must correct
the conditions for the charter of
these "private" universities,
because funded publicly or
privately, universities must still
operate within the laws of
Nigeria, and within its highest
national interest. Universities
are not just where you train
highly skilled manpower.
But because of their status as
centers for conducting complex,
and sometimes even secret and
possibly dangerous research,
they are inexorably linked to the
National Security system of a
nation. How does a Peter Obi
administration intend to fund
Nigeria's public universities to
make them become first class,
productive places of learning
and research that could help
reposition Nigeria as a highly
productive nation; and attract
international attention and
regard.
How will Obi's
administration rebuild these
once highly valued National
universities to educate a new
generation of Nigerians, to begin
to reimagine Nigeria as a great
possibility, and who should no
longer need to seek education
in "foreign Universities"? What
is to be done? How much is the
cost projection? And what is the
projected funding source? These
have to be made clear, with clearcut
numbers, by the Peter Obi
Campaign.
Peter Obi's deputy says
Labour is not a "Socialist
party" but a "Welfarist Party."
Fair enough. But I would like
to complicate this issue a bit,
of the current Labour Party's
position on Welfarism, and the
ideological conflicts that are
likely to ensue if Center right
conservatives like Peter Obi,
and Dr. Yusuf Baba-Ahmed
form the next government.
To be continued
Damn it!
EVERY year, we
commemorate the global
16 Days of Activism against
Gender based Violence from
November 25th-December 10th.
Each year policy makers,
politicians, civil society
organisations, women’s rights
activists, community leaders and
many stakeholders raise their
voices and pledge to do what they
can. Till the next year. This is an
article I wrote in June 2020. Even
though there has been some
progress since then mostly in
terms of legislative frameworks,
awareness raising, support for
survivors and community
engagement, the sexual and
gender-based violence pandemic
in Nigeria continues. I am sharing
this as we mark another global
campaign, as a reminder of how
things need to move a lot quicker.
Last week Vera Uwaila
Omozuwa, a 22-year-old
Microbiology student at the
University of Benin, went to study
in an empty church. From reports,
it was not her first time of taking
advantage of the peace and quiet
to study there. She was found
raped and murdered hours later
in the one place that was meant
to be a safe haven. One of my
young Tweeter followers said, ‘I
am sure Mrs Fayemi is going to
speak out and write a Loud
Whispers opinion on this’. Perhaps
it would never have occurred to
the young man that after following
the terrible news about the case,
and reading the reactions of some
obviously unstable characters
online, I had no intention of
writing yet another article. I was
too numb, and I still am. I sent out
a Tweet demanding that the
Federal Government should
declare a State of Emergency on
Sexual Violence against Women,
but I initially I did not want to write
about the case this week. Why? Like
many of my activist sisters and
brothers, I am tired. Exhausted.
Weary. Wary.
We were trying to understand
what had happened with poor Uwa
when we heard of an 11-year-old
in Jigawa State who was raped by
eleven men. At the same time, a
fifteen-year-old boy in Ekiti State
was in detention for raping a threeyear
old and two monsters were
also in detention for raping a 17-
year-old hawker. Then we heard
of Barakat Bello who was raped
and stabbed to death in Ibadan,
Oyo State.
For those who remember what
it was like when we had records
and record players, think back to
what happened when there was a
scratch on the record, and the player
would get stuck and till we could
find our way to where the player
was, we would hear the same
sound over and over and over.
During my Youth Service year,
there was this man in the building
I lived in, a former Flight
Attendant called James, who
seemed to be a few cents short of a
dollar. He loved to play Bob
Marley music. There was a
scratch on the part of the record
that had the track ‘I wanna jam it
with you’. James would tune up
the player so the sounds could be
heard all over the compound,
leave the house, and the record
would get stuck on ‘Jam it, Jam it,
Jam it, Jam it, Jam it’, till whenever
James got back from wherever
he had wandered off to, and it
could be hours. We never figured
out if he was doing it deliberately
to torture all of us or if he was
blissfully unaware because of his
diminished thinking capacity.
I have never forgotten those
sounds, over and over and over. I
hear them again now, and I have
simply replaced ‘Jam it’ with
‘Damn It’. Damn it, Damn it,
Damn it, Damn it. Saying, talking
and writing about the same thing
over and over and over like
eccentric James’s broken record
player. What more is to be said
about the abuse of women and
children? How many more cases
need to happen? How many more
marches? Petitions? Training
programs? Dialogues with the
Police, Political leaders, Religious
leaders, Traditional Rulers,
Teachers, Radio programs,
Nollywood, Yollywood and
Kannywood dramas? The list is
endless. How many more broken
souls and bodies can our handful
of government shelters and
dedicated Women’s Rights
Organisations manage?
I keep thinking about all the
essays I have written on this subject
from different angles. Patriarchal
norms and values, Legislation,
Implementation, State
accountability, justice for
survivors, sensitization,
socialization, treatment and care,
masculinity, shaming and
stigmatization of survivors,
impunity, lack of political will and
on and on and on. Damn it, Damn
it, Damn it.
I don’t know how or when it
happened, but we now find
ourselves in a world perilously
unsafe for women and girls. Stay
at home, we get raped there. Go
to school and get an education,
we get raped and abused there.
Get a job, we get raped by our
bosses. Set up a business, we get
raped on our way to, at, or from
How many more
broken souls and
bodies can our handful
of government shelters
and dedicated Women’s
Rights Organisations
manage?
business transactions. Go to
Church, we get raped there by our
Pastors. Go to learn how to read
the Quoran, we get raped there
too. Get married, we get raped,
beaten and abused there. Have
children, if they are female, they
get raped too. It is always our fault.
The way we dress. The make-up
we wear, our hair. I ask (Damn it)
for the umpteenth time, the 3-year
old who was raped, what was she
wearing? Sexy diapers? The
Seventy-year old who was raped,
perhaps her wrinkled thighs held
a special attraction? Barakat
Bello who wore a Hijab, perhaps
her attackers found the Hijab
enticing?
We need to ask ourselves the
question, is this who we are?
Predators and abusers of women
and girls? A place where a fouryear
old gets blamed for being
raped? A society where someone
can say some female children
have the ‘spirit of seduction’ right
from the womb? The optimist in
me thinks that we are slowly
descending into a culture of
tolerance of sexual violence as a
way of life. The pessimist in me
argues that we are not on our way,
we have arrived at the bottom of
the pit.
Going back to playing broken
records. In November 2019, I
wrote, ‘We need a State of
Emergency declared on sexual
violence in Nigeria. We want
accountability. We want justice
and severe punishments. We need
systems that work not the kinds of
chronic dysfunctions we have in
most of our institutions now,
rendering them virtually useless.
We deserve trained and sensitive
police officers, skilled medical
professionals, well-resourced and
committed front line service
providers and a judiciary that is
fair and sticks to the rule of law
and not personal prejudice. We
need functional Sexual Assault
Referral Centers in every State of
the country, and every woman and
child who needs help must be able
to call someone who can respond.
We would like to see law
enforcement officers who will fight
for justice for every victim and not
be the ones enabling a culture of
impunity to thrive. We require
skilled professionals to provide
psycho-social support to survivors
and not freelancers trying to fill in
the gaps. We need shelters to keep
vulnerable women and their
children safe’.
After I wrote Damn It! In June
2020, I worked with my former
colleagues, Wives of Governors,
to advocate for a State of
Emergency against Gender Based
Violence, which the Nigeria
Governors Forum declared on
June 10th 2020. From thirteen
States in Nigeria who had passed
the Violence Against Persons
Prohibition Law as of June 2020,
by September 2022 there are 32
States who have passed the law,
thanks to the efforts of Governors’
Wives, concerned policy-makers,
Women’s organisations, the
Federal Ministry of Women
Affairs, donor partners and other
concerned parties. The number
of Sexual Assault Referral Centers
across the country has gone up, as
well as the availability of shelters
and safe spaces. More work is
being done with men and boys,
legislators, traditional rulers,
religious leaders, media, medical
practitioners and schools, any and
everyone who can help stop the
culture of abuse from becoming
normal. Gains have been made,
but every day we wake up to more
bad news. We all need to do better
and work faster. It is not about the
16 Days global campaign. It is
about a 365-day commitment to
zero tolerance for all forms of
sexual and gender-based violence.
It is about all of us taking
responsibility to stop the broken
record from playing over and over.
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn
it!
•Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is a
Gender Specialist, Social
Entrepreneur and Writer. She is
the Founder of
Abovewhispers.com, an online
community for women. She
can be reached at
BAF@abovewhispers.com