On Soludo, Buhari, Jonathan And The Elections – Professor Pat Utomi

The firestorm generated by Chukwuma Soludo’s well reasoned commentary on the place of issues in the 2015 electioneering campaign has somehow become the core of the campaign. What a way to come from outside and define agenda.
Of course I do not agree with all the points marshaled by the erstwhile CBN Governor and Patito’s Gang member, but not to commend his citizen duty of engagement or indicate as reprehensible the resort to ad hominen bashing of the former Economic Adviser instead of providing Facts to counter the views he had raised. That is issues based campaign. I will myself raise logic to support and dispute some of the points in the Soludo intervention.
I do agree with Soludo that issues matter. I also think that those who turn to divisive emotion-laden typecasting of others rather than issues pertaining to the well being of the Nigerian people do a grave disservice not only to democracy but to the long term common Good of all.
The Soludo thrust of criticism sounds like an attack on the statist perspective that intervention can generate jobs and economic growth. Even as one who likes to see government out of the way, I find the approach worrying because beyond the Keynesian logic that brought the ultimate capitalist state, the US, out of the Great Depression with initiatives like the Tennessee Valley Authority in Infrastructure, there is more recent example of post 2008 global financial crisis and the stimulus packages of the Obama Administration, and now Europe turning to Quantitative Easing, not to knock the wall street / Main street tag team approach to ensuring prosperity. Soludo’s solutions sometimes sounded like Deepak Lal on the poverty of Development Economics. I think that if we see current oil price slum as an opportunity rather than a threat then we have to see a role for government in the way Lee Kuan Yew used state intervention when Singapore was prostrate in 1965, as Nigeria is today.
This leads to another point I am not in agreement with Soludo on. He talks about cost of programmes and the fact that low oil prices mean you cannot finance a big idea. In 1965 Singapore’s main revenues came from rent for the British Naval Base and the British had decided to shut all bases east of Eden. The decision of leaders of the United Malay, National Organisational (UMNO) to eject Singapore from the Federation that was thought to be the only hope left. Singapore, out of pocket, and all dressed up with nowhere to go. Then they rolled up their sleeves, got creative, transmitted the right values and found leadership that inspired and had integrity. Today the small country probably has the largest concentration of billionaires per capital on earth.
Here in Nigeria, shortly after self government, in the 1950’s, Nnamdi Azikiwe as Premier of Eastern Region was anxious to match the free education policy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Palm Produce did not fetch as much as Cocoa in the Market. The civil servants led by the new Permanent Secretary in Finance, Chief Jerome Udoji thought it could not be done because of limitations of money. Zik insisted and accused Udoji, in Parliament, of trying to sabotage his government. After 40 percent of the Eastern Nigeria budget of 1957 had gone to education and was still inadequate, the Ugoji team suggested the introduction of fees for Primary 1 and Primary 5. But leadership kicked in. A philosophy called “Ibu anyi danda” raised a formula that created a partnership between government, the communities and missionaries that enabled the East leapfrog the gap in education between the East and West.
In both cases the difference was leadership. At the centre in Abuja for some reason that may be from exposure, or whatever, does not inspire as Lee Kuan Yew, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Michael Okpara did. Money is not everything in making dreams come through.
Among the many lessons we will learn, if we begin to operationalize the cash transfers initiative of APC, a concept that helped Inatio Da Silva pull Brazil out of ‘potential’ into a global economic powerhouse, is that we may not need as much cash as Soludo projects and that corruption and goal displacement is so high in a bloated public service that the savings will more than be adequate. Besides from Kayode Fayemi and Rauf Aregbesola we learn that with such programmes in Ekiti and Osun that the numbers projected are often exaggerated. Given our abuse of census we are likely to find much fewer people in those brackets. Check with the Bill Gates Foundation on satellite imagery studies of target population groups.
Having stated my major point of disagreement, it is useful to reflect on some other points raised by Soludo.
His broadside on austerity measures pronouncement and the road to austerity is a true, fair and proper read. No question that we walked with our eyes open into a repeat of 1982. In many of my speeches and my 2006 book WHY NATIONS Are Poor, I recall how the Iranian revolution pushed oil prices into the stratosphere of USD 40 a barrel. We went reckless with champagne and even importing sand and big men bought Rolls Royces. We managed to borrow ourselves into a dept trap. On this round we moved up private jets and buying up Dubai.
When this current boom started with India Rising and China producing I recall on several occasions calling for fiscal responsibility compact in which flows into the distributable pool, the FAC account, not go above $40 a barrel, with additional revenues up to $70 a barrel price going to a stabilization fund. This fund would be available were prices to drop below $40 to be used to ensure a constant budget funding up $40 in lean times. Beyond $70 it should flow into a future fund. I have been singing this song for several years but the technocrats say the politicians insist on sharing the whole money and say of talk about saving for a rainy day that it is pointless planning for the rain when it was already pouring torrents. My retort was what is so wrong in resigning to make a point and force public conversation to educate the people because these politicians may be greedy but they surely do not hate their children. They have only acted in ignorance. I point them to young Mahathir Mohammed in Malaysia who disagreed with the position of the then Prime Minister and spoke up. He was dropped from the government where he was a junior minister, and expelled from The United Malay National Organization (UMNO) the dominant party at that time. Out of government he wrote a book: The Malay Dilemma. That triggered soul searching that finished with the resignation of the Prime Minister. He was brought back into the Party. Not long after Dr Mahathir Ibn Mohammed became Prime Minister and the history of Malaysia changed for good.
What does it take to lead such change- Genius? No. I draw from the Ronald Reagan experience in the US. President Reagan was not a genius. Some think he probably already had Alzheimer disease when he entered the White house. But his values were clear as was his vision. He found the right people and an America, in retreat, was revitalized, opening the way for teen and twenty American young stars to create a new industry with the .com revolution. Ironically, I have said elsewhere that the Buhari movement somehow reminds me of the coming of Ronald Reagan.
Let me close with a caveat. My response is a citizen response. My prism on this is not partisan. But I am a card carrying member of the APC. The emergence of the APC is a culmination of my life’s quest as an institutionalist to see the dynamic of two balanced political parties. I was sure that without competition between parties that are equals progress would continue to elude Nigeria So I longed for and worked for the scenario we have today. But I see in the torrent of abuse on Chukwumah Soludo for speaking truth to power and worry this thing we have worked hard for, not in any pursuit of any self interest, but for the advance of the common good, could be threatened by those who fail to understand the very idea of the public squares and the triumph of the ideas rather than emotional outbursts that result in tension and violence. I have read unprintable things on line and in so many e-groups, some more offensive than Charlie Hebdo cartoons from both sides. This is poison we must curb. It is a double blow when those who follow this track are well educated. So let us leave this business of certificates and uncompleted PHDs and hateful portrayals of opponents in caricature from the cross to throw backs of earlier life of candidates that seem like Hitler’s Goebbels at work let’s examine vision of society of challenges and the record of incumbents. Lets ask people, regarding incumbents, is your life better today than it was four years ago and to the challengers how can you make these same lives much better four years from now. To win elections from intimidation, a shower of insults and trying to diminish opponents rather than engage their minds can only produce pyrrhic victory. The worst such “victory” would be to win an election and lose a nation through bitterness that makes it difficult to get people to work together to advance the shared good of the people. For people like me the public sphere is about the pursuit of the elevated immortality. This comes when you do what is right and if providence beckons, as it did for Mahathir Mohammed, lee Kuan Yew and Ronald Reagan then you live a name that time cannot find an eraser to rub off. Those who negate the opportunity for progress to blossom and the triumph of the human spirit to bring progress deserved die a thousand times while they still inhale and exhale no matter the title they get for their place is in infamy.
Prof. Pat Utomi

Nollywood actor Muna Obiekwe is dead.

Posted by: Mercy Michael in Entertainment 15 hours ago

Talented Nollywood actor, Muna Obiekwe is dead. The actor, whose demise hit the movie industry like a shock wave yesterday, was said to have died of kidney failure in an undisclosed hospital in Lagos.
According to a source close to the actor, Muna has been battling renal related ailment but has kept it secret for a long time before informing the president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Ibinabo Fiberesima who has since been in touch with him. The source further stated that that actor’s drinking habit may not be unconnected to his death.
Until his death, the Enugu based actor was one of the controversial actors in the Nigerian movie industry dubbed Nollywood. Muna, who has a knack for acting romantic scenes, once came under attack for grabbing fellow actor, Biola Ige’s breast, in the movie, Pregnant Hawker. However, the actress later denied the story, claiming that the picture which went viral was doctored and that there was no such scene in the movie.
Muna on his own part was quoted to have said, “…I don’t remember the movie. I also don’t remember sucking Biola’s breasts. If the movie exists, that scene never took place.
“Like I told you, I don’t recall the movie. I do a lot of movies and I can’t remember what happens in all of them. The fact that I don’t recall means that the movie was shot a long time ago. Probably three or more years back. When love scene was in vogue with producers. I’m still searching for the movie to acquaint myself with the story.
“There has never been anything between myself and any actress that I’ve made a movie with. My romantic relationships have always been outside the movie industry. I don’t take my work home”.

Religion and it's negative impact on the 21st Century...

‘If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.’ ~Albert Einstein

Religion is like slow poison, and just as poison is killing your body, in the same way religion is killing your soul. There is only one difference: religion is masquerading as medicine, and while you think it is there for your own benefit, it is secretly killing you. And before you become aware of it, religion has turned you into a lifeless being.

The negative effects of religion on society are tremendous. Here are the main ways religion is destroying people’s life:

Religion is filling people with fear

Religion is one of the main reasons why people are afraid of living. And when I say ‘living’ I don’t mean just surviving. To survive is one thing, even stones do that, but to live is a completely different thing. To live means to be sensitive, it means to feel, to grow, to discover your potential and achieve to higher states of being each and every moment.

The starting point of religion is fear. Religion is based on the idea of sin: all people are born sinners, impure souls, and if they don’t purify themselves they will soon be condemned to hell by God, where they will have to experience eternal suffering.

In order to avoid hell, religion demands that people prove to God that they are worthy of heaven. How? By following the dogma of religion. Naturally, when people are put in such a situation, they find themselves in a continuous state of fear. They are always afraid whether their actions are right according to religion or not.

When you believe that you are being continuously watched by an all-seeing eye of God, you will have to act in certain ways to please God. The fear of hell is continuously in your mind, filling you with worry and anxiety, and this does not allow you to live spontaneously. As a result, most so-called religious people become neurotic and in some cases even schizophrenic.

Religion is turning people against themselves

The demands that religion places on people are unrealistic. Religion, on the one hand, teaches that people are born sinners. Sin is what we are made of, and whatever we humans are doing is bound to be corrupted in one way or another. On the other hand, however, religion is teaching people to behave in the best ways possible – in a few words, to be perfect, just like angels. But unfortunately, people are not angels, so how can they act in such an unnatural way?

But this has many serious consequences. When you fail to do what God has ordered, you start hating yourself. You begin to accept the idea that you are indeed a bad person, corrupted, and not worthy as a human being. And once you do so, your life becomes filled with anger, bitterness and resentment — a true hell on earth.

Religion is turning people against each other

The other is just a projection of yourself, a mirror, on whom you can see your own reflection.

Once you start hating yourself you are bound to start hating others too. When you accept the idea that you are a sinner, you start seeing those around you as sinners. And when believe that others are sinners, there is always a deep-rooted fear within you that the other wants to harm you–the other is corrupted, ill-willed, an enemy of yours.

In addition, you will not tolerate religious ideologies that are different from the one you follow. This is why you can see religions fighting against each other. Similarly, religious people are fighting nonreligious ones. To identify with a religious ideology, and call it the only truth and way, leads to tremendously negative consequences – hatred, racism, and all kinds of violence. Just think of how many wars have been carried out throughout history in the name of God and religion.

Religion is keeping people in ignorance

To live means to learn, and life is a continuous lesson. When, however, you have grown up conditioned to believe what is right and wrong according to religion, and told that to doubt religion means to go to hell, naturally you become afraid of seeking true knowledge. You stop searching to find the truth, to learn, and hence to grow as a human being.

Conclusion

As you can see, the negative effects of religion on society are tremendous. To blindly follow a religion, or any other ideology, simply means to restrict your perception, suppress yourself, and live in hypocrisy — in other words, to live in suffering and misery.

Many people choose to follow religion, even though they suffer from this choice, simply because religion frees them from personal responsibility. To live spontaneously one has to take responsibility for oneself, and this is certainly painful. Life is made of choices, and to make the right choices is not always easy. So people prefer not to chose for themselves, but to have others chose for them. They prefer to walk on paths made by others, instead of creating their on path. But unless we stop having an authority to tell us what to do or what not to do, will never be free. 

And unless we are free, we will never be happy and peaceful.

- See more at: http://theunboundedspirit.com/the-negative-effects-of-religion-on-society/#sthash.ySvUirJp.dpuf

‘Only sheep need a shepherd.’ ~Voltaire