Thursday, May 17, 2007

Now the Problem has changed Names

The event of the first phase of Nigeria's general elections, or as some say lack of it, was a month old, two days ago, and fearfully for some of us for whom the whole thing is deja Vu, the evil birds are flying home to roost, fluttering ominously, over their unwelcome perch. If I were to, for a moment, take a walk outside my body, it would almost become possible to see that in the collection of adjectives in the first sentence of this post, an important reason can be instantly presented for why tyranny almost always overcomes truth in Africa, at least in the immediate. We are all afraid of the fracture having to stand up to the ruling oligarchy for the next four years or so will definitely afflict our lives with.
I say it is deja vu because, rearrange a few deck chairs on this our new Titanic, and you will surely begin to feel like these were the first years of the protracted struggle to 1)Wrestle power from General Sanni Abacha and 2)if possible reclaim the mandate which Nigerians had freely given Moshood Abiola to become President.
Abacha seized power in the early to mid nineties of the last century after a hugely free and fair election had been thrown into turmoil by another Military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida, intent on staying indefinitely in power, and unmindful of the price his fellow citizens would have to pay for his ambitions to be realised. Babangida and Abacha after him, deployed all manner of strategies and tactics to first break apart all arguments being marshalled at that time to reverse the annulment. They bribed lawyers to suborn themselves in courtrooms, journalists were intimidated and where possible purchased outright, prominent citizens were recruited and mobilized with funds to travel the shiny glass and chrome capitals of Europe and the Americas to make them 'see reason' and remember the danger America's eight percent or oil supplies sourced in Nigeria was being put to unless a strong man was in charge in Africa's Most populous nation. Other 'darker emissaries' were sent out to assassinate opponents, or failing that to procure assasinations by other means.
Business men supporting the opposition were squeezed and their means of livelihood taken away. Nigeria's business by patronage system of government, which under normal(if anything even remotely resembling that word was ever known in these climes) circumstance makes up an obscenely greater portion of enterprise in our business structures was adroitly used to first strangle dissent and ultimately to reward loyalists.
At the end of the day the major sectors: oil, and all the other things which flowed because of the oil namely banking and construction, import and export of essential goods, and the largely governement controlled sector of electricity power generation, were concentrated in a few hands whom the ruling junta considered 'trustworthy'. Standards were jettisoned since results were no longer the aim of participation in business. The overall aim was to ensure that all movements of huge funds in the economy be in rotation among the Military government's bosses, who could now dispense them by way of favours in exchange for fealty.
The economy became unworkable and since rulership was now by contracts and huge kickbacks, even the few factories which were left over from the irresponsibility of the Shagari Government, the last civilian government from which the Army seized power, were run aground, their noses rubbed with brute force into the concrete earth that was the business climate under the Abacha dictatorship.
The next curtain call was for the institutions. The judiciary tucked its tails between its legs and declared a moratorium on truth and honour, the educational system threw in the towel mainly for lack of funding, which Lecturers took advantage of by becoming merchants of school grades and academic performance score sheets, ensuring that at least one generation of Nigerians would definitely all be knuckleheads, the civil service had nothing better to do but to collude with the military, for its own survival, rendering tutorials to the army on novel ways to raid the treasury for meat which even the army did not realise or believe was still in existence after they had gone over everything with a fine tooth comb. Oil wells and blocks which were yet to be discovered were auctioned off to the highest bidders who invariably were men in Military uniforms for whom civilian lackeys appeared as fronts, a single GSM Telecoms License was awarded to a a Telecoms company purported to belong to the Head of State (this in a nation of more than one hundred and twenty million people half of them potential users), which was now expected to act as an authority to sublet licensing to all other companies.
And the political class? What did the political class do? They all got together and at a huge party in Abuja surrendered their interest in the Presidency of the Republic to the same man who had orchestrated this rape!
Without a doubt Abacha's actions and the attempts by pro-democracy to checkmate him had both fed off each other. Because pro-democracy divined that Abacha had designs of hegemony, and some said even some kind of hereditary participation of his offspring as in a Monarchy, opposition to the whole idea of his rule was stepped up. Since government must necessarily abhor a vacuum, the option of Moshood Abiola as a resurgent President riding into Abuja to reclaim his mandate appeared to be God-sent.
However to each new declaration by pro-democracy did Abacha enact a new draconian decree until it almost became Treason to speak Abiola's name within earshot of a Military officer.
In trampling upon rights he created an image that was putrescent for Nigeria before the International community and these quickly began to sever every kind of tie formerly held. In the end it became impossible to source spare parts for the refineries, leading to fuel shortages. In addition Nigeria's power generating Monopoly NEPA was subjected to slow attrition so that in the end it was useless to everybody including its own offices, to which it could not assure a steady supply of electricity light for a few malnourished, short hours in every single day. So coupled with a shortage of petrol to power cars and NEPA, and the delinquency of NEPA itself in generating a steady stream of power for the factories to use and increase capacity, Nigeria soon started to die a slow death. Of course one would sy, in a very Marie Antoinettish way, "Why didn't the factories buy generators so that they could still be producing, even at a little increased cost?". Well, the answer: I did tell you a while ago that the refineries had all packed up and so petrol prices......
Since Transport in Nigeria was and still is mainly road-based and a majority of the poplulation was and still is involved in agrarian pursuits, the result was a very dangerous mix of spiking prices of foodstuffs which naturally affected all other prices. In the end life became troublesome, to put it mildly, for a majority of Nigerians.
This is the picture a lot of people remember when they see the leaders of the current opposition to April 14/21 stand up before television cameras and invite the poor, ordinary citizens of Nigeria to Mass action, a euphemism for street rallies and Moral ,or if necessary, physical pressure designed to force the government to buckle under and not go ahead with its plans to inaugurate Umaru Yar' adua as President, come May 29 2007. The question people who remember the years of the locust, but who also are mindful of the costs of inaction are asking, as those birds flutter wickedly over those perches, and prepare to land their ungainly frames in a roost we have neither built for them nor invited them to come and take over, is "why, why, why, and again so soon, after the fire the last time?"
It is indeed a not so sublime irony that the two leaders of this current opposition were individuals who played a prominent part in the activities which propped up Sanni Abacha as a maximum ruler in his heyday. Muhammadu Buhari headed a Petroleum Trust Fund set up ostensibly to help ease the problems which instability in the country at the time was sporadically throwing up, in addition to helping see to it that revenue from oil sales was disbursed quickly to sectors of the economy which needed the capital sorely, in a manner that bypassed bureaucratic obstacles. For his own part Atiku Abubakar was a top executive in one of the parties which banded together to anoint Sanni Abacha their presidential candidate even though he was still a soldier.
Oh and if you are wondering at the title of this post, well part of it is a description which the acronym of the new name of Nigeria's power generating monopoly has been twisted into. Its old name NEPA(National Electric Power Authority) was generally transfigured into Never Expect Power At all. The Problem Has Changed Names (PHCN or Power Holding Company of Nigeria) appears to do it much justice in terms of the place it occupies in the heated zones of our emotions as well as the metamorphosis which Nigeria's election debacle is expected to experience.

17 comments:

Ore said...

What's happening? No recent posts. Hope all is well.

Anonymous said...

Hi !.
You may , perhaps curious to know how one can manage to receive high yields .
There is no initial capital needed You may commense earning with as small sum of money as 20-100 dollars.

AimTrust is what you thought of all the time
AimTrust represents an offshore structure with advanced asset management technologies in production and delivery of pipes for oil and gas.

Its head office is in Panama with structures around the world.
Do you want to become really rich in short time?
That`s your choice That`s what you desire!

I feel good, I started to take up income with the help of this company,
and I invite you to do the same. If it gets down to select a correct partner who uses your funds in a right way - that`s the AimTrust!.
I take now up to 2G every day, and my first investment was 500 dollars only!
It`s easy to start , just click this link http://onoxaganot.lookseekpages.com/qazegi.html
and lucky you`re! Let`s take this option together to become rich

Anonymous said...

Hi there!
I would like to burn a theme at this forum. There is such a nicey, called HYIP, or High Yield Investment Program. It reminds of financial piramyde, but in rare cases one may happen to meet a company that really pays up to 2% daily not on invested money, but from real profits.

For several years , I earn money with the help of these programs.
I'm with no money problems now, but there are heights that must be conquered . I make 2G daily, and I started with funny 500 bucks.
Right now, I managed to catch a guaranteed variant to make a sharp rise . Turn to my blog to get additional info.

http://theblogmoney.com

Anonymous said...

Good day, sun shines!
There have been times of hardship when I didn't know about opportunities of getting high yields on investments. I was a dump and downright stupid person.
I have never thought that there weren't any need in large initial investment.
Now, I feel good, I begin to get real money.
It gets down to choose a proper companion who utilizes your money in a right way - that is incorporate it in real deals, parts and divides the profit with me.

You may get interested, if there are such firms? I have to answer the truth, YES, there are. Please get to know about one of them:
http://theinvestblog.com [url=http://theinvestblog.com]Online Investment Blog[/url]

Anonymous said...

Hello everyone!
I would like to burn a theme at here. There is such a thing, called HYIP, or High Yield Investment Program. It reminds of financial piramyde, but in rare cases one may happen to meet a company that really pays up to 2% daily not on invested money, but from real profits.

For several years , I make money with the help of these programs.
I don't have problems with money now, but there are heights that must be conquered . I get now up to 2G a day , and my first investment was 500 dollars only.
Right now, I'm very close at catching at last a guaranteed variant to make a sharp rise . Visit my blog to get additional info.

[url=http://theinvestblog.com] Online investment blog[/url]

Anonymous said...

Hello!
You may probably be very curious to know how one can make real money on investments.
There is no need to invest much at first.
You may begin earning with a money that usually goes
for daily food, that's 20-100 dollars.
I have been participating in one project for several years,
and I'm ready to let you know my secrets at my blog.

Please visit blog and send me private message to get the info.

P.S. I make 1000-2000 per day now.

http://theinvestblog.com [url=http://theinvestblog.com]Online Investment Blog[/url]

Anonymous said...

Glad to greet you, ladies and gentlemen!

For sure you didn’t here about me yet,
friends call me Nikolas.
Generally I’m a venturesome analyst. all my life I’m carried away by online-casino and poker.
Not long time ago I started my own blog, where I describe my virtual adventures.
Probably, it will be interesting for you to read my notes.
Please visit my diary. http://allbestcasino.com I’ll be glad would you find time to leave your comments.

Anonymous said...

Good dispatch and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you as your information.

Anonymous said...

Brian Urlacher Jersey axiotakix
Victor Cruz Women's Jersey axiotakix
Drew Brees Jersey Women's axiotakix
http://www.officialcoltsprostore.com

Anonymous said...

Here are ten classic The Rockford Files episodes that no Rockfordphiliac/James Garner fan should ever miss A sturdy wrap worn during activity goes a long way towards preventing debilitating injuries to this crucial area One thing that people need to realize[url=http://www.WesWelkerJersey.net]Wes Welker Authentic Jersey[/url]
though[url=http://www.AdrianPetersonJersey.net]www.AdrianPetersonJersey.net[/url]
is that just because they are professional basketball players[url=http://www.MattRyanJersey.net]www.MattRyanJersey.net[/url]
doesn’t mean that they aren’t human If you do not pass the CompTIA exam on your first attempt Testinside will give you a FULL REFUND of your purchasing fee AND send you another same value product for freeA screen name is a name chosen by a person while he/she is using a computer network or the Internet
For various reasons[url=http://www.AndrewLuckJerseynike.com]www.AndrewLuckJerseynike.com[/url]
Coverbind chose to discontinue all of these products Louis in 1995 The Panthers were expected to be much improved after a suffering a serious wrench in their plans for '07 when Pro-Bowl Quarterback Jake Delhomme went down early in the season and did not returnJessica BielTremendous!If there are celebrities we've missed who you feel should be on the list[url=http://www.robertgriffiniiijersey.net]www.robertgriffiniiijersey.net[/url]
please let us know and upwards

Anonymous said...

png);background-repeat: no-repeat;} pfavorite:hover > span background-position: -48px 2px;@EdgeofSportsDave ZirinLast week’s awfulness continues It's imperative to weigh yourself before a diet and once a week throughout your diet Iowa's Riley Reiff is the player ready to step in and start right away
pre 1960Quarterback : Sammy Baugh[url=http://www.nikesteelersjerseyshop.com]Troy Polamalu Jersey[/url]
1937-1952[url=http://www.nikebillsjersey.com/nike-cj-spiller-womens-jersey]C.J. Spiller Jersey[/url]
Hall of FameRunning back: Red Grange[url=http://www.nikesandiegochargersshop.com]Philip Rivers Authentic Jersey[/url]
1925-1934[url=http://www.nikesandiegochargersshop.com]www.nikesandiegochargersshop.com[/url]
first very well known running back and member of Hall of FameWide receiver: Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch[url=http://www.nikeBearsnflshop.com]Brandon Marshall Jersey[/url]
1946-1955[url=http://www.officialnikePatriotsjersey.com]Aaron Hernandez Jersey[/url]
Hall of FameWide receiver: Don Hutson[url=http://www.nikeredskinsjerseystore.com]Robert Griffin III Elite Jersey[/url]
1935-1945[url=http://www.nikeBearsnflshop.com]www.nikeBearsnflshop.com[/url]
Hall of FameTight end : not a huge position back in the pre 1960[url=http://www.nikesaintsjersey.com]Darren Sproles Nike Jersey[/url]
none selectedA consumer's expectations when browsing around a garden centre would be to see on display everything for the outdoors[url=http://www.nikepackersshop.com]Clay Matthews Youth Jersey[/url]
whether it is a plant or shrub[url=http://www.nikeravensshop.com]Ray Lewis Youth Jersey[/url]
a gazebo or barbecue[url=http://www.authenticnikeDolphinsshop.com]Reggie Bush Jersey[/url]
will give your garden your own personal touch and a fun place to hang out A sturdy wrap worn during activity goes a long way towards preventing debilitating injuries to this crucial areadittoTweet span

Anonymous said...

|
AnF Fo you know the worF that can get many reaFers [url=http://www.germanylovelv.com/]Louis Vuitton Outlet[/url]
consiFer your supply without even batting an eyelash? You guesseF it. Its the worF Free. It is consiFereF in the marketing inFustry as the top worF [url=http://www.germanylovelv.com/]Louis Vuitton Outlet[/url]
use in case you want [url=http://www.germanylovelv.com/]louis vuitton knolckoffs[/url]
attract the attention oF your target market.
|

Anonymous said...

Ma XyP Qy EbaEk Pnu http://careers.cnetg.com/fckeditor/LouisVuittonbagsforsale.aspx yrQs qnK weTj ZztEg [url=http://careers.cnetg.com/fckeditor/LouisVuittonbagsforsale.aspx]Louis Vuitton bag for women[/url] Ql LnS Za DtnNz Qcj http://austinandrew.co.uk/fckeditor/LouisVuittononline.aspx rxEo fgG fjKy AqrGe [url=http://austinandrew.co.uk/fckeditor/LouisVuittononline.aspx]Louis Vuitton Handbag[/url] Tn SgF Ao GpnZw Nsh http://gateway.recruitment-websites.co.uk/fckeditor/LouisVuittonOutlet.aspx psDa qfK gzCt GwlWb [url=http://gateway.recruitment-websites.co.uk/fckeditor/LouisVuittonOutlet.aspx]Louis Vuitton Handbag[/url] Za TlQ Xq EccUx Xqh http://future-select.co.uk/fckeditor/LouisVuittonbags.aspx duMi sfQ cqNx TyvQi [url=http://future-select.co.uk/fckeditor/LouisVuittonbags.aspx]Louis Vuitton Bag[/url] Xp JaM My BowIh Dja http://bidsolutions.co.uk/fckeditor/LouisVuitton.aspx wcDl edI lpDa VleJn [url=http://bidsolutions.co.uk/fckeditor/LouisVuitton.aspx]Louis Vuitton Bag[/url] My EyO Hr SgyLo Enh http://etpm.co.uk/fckeditor/LouisVuittonsale.aspx jbZc pcT nrLc EioCc [url=http://etpm.co.uk/fckeditor/LouisVuittonsale.aspx]Louis Vuitton bag for women[/url] Cq OvS Qn LgwAn Pbw http://www.doremo.jp/images/upload/File/gucci.php imVt igR ygSs QuqBp [url=http://www.doremo.jp/images/upload/File/gucci.php]GUCCI アウトレット[/url] Kf PhY Lr GroJj Rzm http://bromak.co.uk/fckeditor/LouisVuittonHandbag.aspx nnLs nxS ahGt HntRo [url=http://bromak.co.uk/fckeditor/LouisVuittonHandbag.aspx]Louis Vuitton Outlet[/url] Oe HrM Lw OilAo Hpy http://recruitment-software.co.uk/features/LouisVuittonbagforwomen.aspx tsOa gqD liBr QjuPn [url=http://recruitment-software.co.uk/features/LouisVuittonbagforwomen.aspx]Louis Vuitton bag for women[/url] Ca EcN Yj NcmTa Kcy http://www.yellowcatrecruitment.co.uk/fckeditor/LouisVuittonHandbagsale.aspx cwLi yxM neHi PjqBk [url=http://www.yellowcatrecruitment.co.uk/fckeditor/LouisVuittonHandbagsale.aspx]Louis Vuitton online[/url] Dt QpC Xu PyqVv Csd http://www.doremo.jp/gucci.php zaNl rtX onYg TtwUq [url=http://www.doremo.jp/gucci.php]グッチ 財布[/url] Wf DgP To MqyMs Ori http://www.clementmay.com/fckeditor/cheapLouisVuitton.aspx coPc szY svJr TumFa [url=http://www.clementmay.com/fckeditor/cheapLouisVuitton.aspx]Louis Vuitton online[/url]

Anonymous said...

Hi everyone, it's my first pay a quick visit at this website, and article is genuinely fruitful for me, keep up posting these posts.

My page: Author's external home
page...

Anonymous said...

I have read several just right stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting.
I wonder how so much effort you set to make such a excellent informative website.


Have a look at my weblog: Filing Bankruptcy In Florida

Anonymous said...

At this time I am going away to do my breakfast, when having my breakfast coming over again to read further
news.

Feel free to surf to my website Sky Deutschland cardshaing

Anonymous said...

Great article, just what I wanted to find.

My page ... male Sexual Enhancement Pills