On Aburi we Stand : A review of Sam Ohuabunwa’s Paradigm – Thoughts on Contemporary National Issues

AUTHOR: MAZI SAM OHUABUNWA OFR

PUBLISHER: REAL VALUE TRUST LIMITED
PAGES: 463

REVIEWER: J CHIDOZIE CHUKWUOKOLO, Ph.D, FRHD.

Sam in the first chapter of the work entitled “Reforming the Practice of Politics in Nigeria” avers that political parties all over “developed” societies are hinged on ideologies but same cannot be said to be the practice in Nigeria. Except in the First and Second Republics when NCNC, AG or NPN, UPN had some distinguishable differences, respectively, he argued that such can no longer be obtainable in our polity thereby limiting the possibilities of making choices on political parties by the citizenry. Sam advocates the scanning of the past characters of office seekers as we could know who they are by their past deeds.
In Chapter 2 entitled “Nigerian’s Genre of Democracy: A very costly proposition,” Sam argues that it is hyper expensive to secure one’s party’s ticket as the cost of “lobbying, convincing and convicting” and when necessary outrightly bribing the delegates are overwhelming. The cities where electoral activities are held and the ordinary citizens living therein are rendered unproductive for the period of electoral activities while their taxes are used to carter for these delegates. The number of public holidays that electioneering activities throw up in Nigeria are enormously wasteful.
The impunity of the gale of defection, and impeachment that almost marred the 7th National Assembly was discussed in chapter three. He entitles this chapter “Defection, Impeachments, Hypocrisy and Political Instability” and argues that every impunity has a Karma attendant to it which is evident in the gales of impeachments and the threats of impeachments that pervaded the last tenure (2011-2015). He summed that the trouble with our current situation is that we have too much hypocrisy in our polity; principles and values are lacking.
In this chapter 4 entitled “Ekiti Elections: INEC Raises its Game as Governor Fayemi Redeems the Political Class,” Sam presents what he calls the unusuals in Nigeria politics: INEC being alert to their duties, security agents working with minimal interferences with the process and the incumbent governor accepting defeat is a demonstration of a genre of politics without bitterness. “Sam calls this rare attitude the redemption of the Nigerian Political class.”
Sam argues that since the occupation of political office is supposed to be an opportunity to serve the nation for a given time, it is an unconscionable idea to turn it into a pensionable venture. At the best office holders should receive gratuity; the honour of service and the gratitude of satisfied constituents should be the reward and nothing else. Chapter 5 entitled ’’Pension for Politicians: Unconscionable and Abuse of Privilege,” embodies this discussion.
Chapter 6 which has the title “On Aburi We Stand,” is where Sam argues that “the spirit of the cure of Nigeria’s lingering problems is encapsulated in that historical document drafted at a time like this when our country was in die distress.” This he sees in the re- regionalization of the Nigerian Polity to enable governments to exploit their comparative advantages in driving their economies. He surmises that the death of the Nigerian Federal came with the Military takeover of 1966 and its attendant centralization- a Federation without federating units. In restructuring Nigeria, Sam advocates a unicameral parliamentary system as he argues that it is “more participatory, more accountable and less expensive” with a part-time legislature.
In chapter 7entitled “2015 Elections: Critical Competencies for Political Leadership,” Sam reiterates that there are 22 leadership competences that anyone aspiring to political offices must possess. He contends that to enable the electorates make valid choices against competing candidates, the candidates must be weighed against these competences in order to select the one that approximates best to the ideal political leader.

Sam savours some ominous contradictions in the body-politic namely terrorism, economic hardship as the nose diving of the cost of crude oil, continuous devaluation of the naira, political rumblings in Ekiti etc. In this Chapter 8 with the title, “The signs are ominous: Nigerians Prepare for a Rough Ride” Sam contends that it is the abysmal attitudes of politicians that want to burn down the nation without minding all the negative predictions about 2015. He insists that we must exert caution if we must survive.
Chapter 9 has the title” Ten things to keep in mind as Nigeria votes” and in it Sam advocates that for Nigeria to survive this intense 2015 electioneering, it must bear the following things in mind; election is not warfare, that it is about democratic choice, election is not a magic wand, liberty and freedom are the key issues, economy and society are the next issues, talking is cheap but action is better, be rational not emotional, only the living vote and enjoy democratic dividend, four years is not eternity and let the perfect will of God be done. For him, if we follow the attendant didactic messages therein, the 2015 elections will advance us as a nation.
In chapter 10 with the title, “Many Blessings from the 2015 Elections,” Sam prophesizes that Nigeria will come out of the election better than all expectations. He enumerates those anticipated blessings as increased citizen awareness, holding of our leaders accountable to their deeds, challenging our leadership to pragmatic action and not endless planning, hence making them to realize that hard work does not kill etc.
In Chapter 11entitled, “Presidential Polls: How Nigeria Disappointed the World,” Sam espouses the disappointing shock that Nigeria gave to the world contrary to the “Sordid doom” that they had expected from it as a result of the cataclysmic predictions that Nigeria must disintegrate within the matrix of the 2015 election. He calls this democratic maturity.
Sam argues in this chapter that most of those who predicted change had a narrow perspective for what they thought amounted to change but that the sort of change that is sweeping across the nation is gone beyond party affiliation and enthrones certain sense of responsibility on the part of the god fathers, the kabiyesis whose immunity the election has destroyed. Sam advises that all those who never expected this sweeping nature of change should adjust. Chapter 12 with the title, “Let those Who Voted for Change, Please not Fight Change” embodies this discussion.
The burden of Chapter 13: Why would anybody go to bed hungry in Nigeria is the averment that apart from certain categories of citizens namely; victims of war, natural disasters, IDP, and aged persons, any other category of persons that could not find food in Nigeria is lazy.
In chapter 14: The entrepreneurial Paradigm: Dealing a Death Blow on Unemployment and poverty, Sam, traces the root of unemployment in Nigeria to the educational curriculum in place in our universities where graduates have the wrong orientation of looking for employment elsewhere; what he calls ‘entitlement syndrome’. His paradigm shift is that this trend has to be reversed such that we can have graduates who can employ themselves.
In Chapter 15: “Let Job Creation be at the Centre of our Economic Policies”, he carries further his outright condemnation of the entitlement syndrome, he insists that though government cannot employ everybody, yet it should create enabling atmosphere for those who can create employments for themselves. This way government can generate revenues from the employed for even development of the polity.
The burden of Chapter 16: “How to heal ailing businesses” is to offer a prolegomena to the healing of any ailing business in the following concepts: migrate to the formal sector, stick to the business plan, focus on cash flow management and build on the right foundation and right conduct. He avers that following these business principles religiously will heal any ailing business in Nigeria.
Sam explores all the gains of the rebased GDP in chapter 17: “Nigerian’s Rebased GDP: Too good to be True?” and chides Nigerians who are skeptical of this trend as harbingers of bad news for Nigeria who are so glued to negative news about our country. He therefore lists about seven reasons why the rebased GDP should be seen in a positive light.
In chapter 18 entitled “Nigeria’s 2004 economy: Debottling the bottlenecks” Sam delves into the economic analysis of the performance of the Nigerian economy in 2013. This analysis in early 2014 is in terms of FDI, de-acceleration of inflation, stability of the banks. His contention is that even though the revenue was nose-diving, it was needful to augment revenue from ECA and a special kind of taxation being proposed by the Finance Minister. Sam appears to see plausibility in the argument of the government.

He contends in chapter 19 that for enterprises to flourish and create jobs in Nigeria, government must create enabling and competitive environment by consciously attracting investors. He titles it “Turning Nigeria into an investors Haven.”
The burden heaved in chapter 20: “Nigeria: From Consumption to a Production – Oriented Economy” is that Nigeria needs to refocus on production and value addition in our areas of comparative advantages in order to propel upwards our GDP.
Chapter 21: “This Christmas I Traveled by Road and by Train: Can you Believe it?” is a piece of appreciation of what a positive will-to-do could be when a president is determined. The transformation of road and rail infrastructure to a quantum leap by President Jonathan made Sam’s Christmas journey a delight.
In chapter 22: “Assessing Jonathan’s Performance in the Economy” Sam states that having been schooled by the professors, the practitioners and economic agents on what shows good and bad economic management from the private sector perspective, Jonathan has done well better than many.
Chapter 23: “Fuel scarcity again?… Nigerians, let’s be wise”! contains Sam’s prognosis to the incessant fuel scarcity in Nigeria-full deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector and the passage into law of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB)
Sam’s prognosis for oil theft (oil bunkering) consumed him in Chapter 24 with the title;“The Lamentations of the Escalating Theft of Nigeria’s Oil.” Accordingly Nigeria should protect its sovereignty and its borders and that there must be in place the will to terminate corruption by those whose duties are to do same.
Sam’s prognostication for more entrepreneurial approach to managing our football and sports in general is contained in chapter 25: AFCON 2013 and Super Eagles: Time to turn Football into Real Business in Nigeria. Rather than the perfunctory and adhoc nature of preparations, the private sector should be encouraged to see sports as business in Nigeria.
Sam’s utter disgust with the attitude of Nigerians with the rise and fall in oil price in the international oil market was barred in Chapter 26: Declining oil prices: Good news, bad or no News? He alerted us that since the world is turning to a more environment friendly source of energy, Nigeria is approaching a future where oil may no longer be source of wealth. He thus calls for alternative source of funds for the country.
Sam avers that money could be made in Nigeria from any legitimate sources other than oil as the example of Dangote has shown. These wealthy people who made the Forbes list of wealthiest Africans should help others pull out of poverty is what Chapter 27: Pulling Nigeria out of poverty! Lessons from Forbes list of richest Africans discussed.
In chapter 28: “Trade Missions, Investment Conferences and Economic Growth;” Sam avers that trade missions, fairs and investment fora are veritable opportunities to sell Nigeria as an investment country to the international community as writing letters and proposals will not suffice. He surmises that post-conference and post-fair behaviours could impede the realization of the incipient benefits of these contacts. There should be follow-ups amongst participants.
Sam thinks that if Africa firms up a technology driven, pharmaceutical industrial sector it could provide a ripe opportunity for taking the lead globally in this sector and this is the burden of Chapter 29: “Pharmaceutical Industry and Economic Health: Opportunities for Developing countries.”
In chapter 30:“The Place of Corporate Culture in the Sustainable Performance of Business” Sam admonishes every corporate venture to evolve a virile and veritable corporate culture that drives their collective behaviour and pulls them towards their corporate visions. This culture could have such values as integrity, honesty, hard-work, customer focus and diligence.
In Chapter 31with the title, “Take away Politics and this Country can do much, much better”, Sam blames Nigeria’s woes be it in sports, administration, academics at the local level on prebendalism. The same people when seen at the international level are delights to meet with. The success key is to remove politics from sensitive national issues.
Sam’s harrowing description of the boko haram insurgency is contained in Chapter 32: “Stop this Carnage now… before it gets too late”. Though he sympathized with the authorities but he insists that they needed to double their efforts in order to stop the cataclysm; this insurgency should go beyond politics.
Chapter 33: Al-Qaida, Isis Al-shabab and Boko Harm: Different Manifestations of Satan set loose is where Sam’s random thoughts pondering around the activities of all these terrorists, is summarily described as Satan on offensive: satan has been set loose on earth.
In this chapter Sam x-rays the “needless and incessant” strikes pervading all the sectors of the economy in health, education, journalism etc. Sam recommends as a permanent solution a complete de-regulation of the economy transferring much of the economic powers to the private sector and the consumer. This is the burden of chapter 34:”Incessant Strikes and Disruptions of the Economy: Time to Halt this Growing, Malady”.
Sam came hard on Nigerians and their proclivity for impunity in Chapter 35: Nigerians Lets be the Change We Want to See!. He avered that the truth if it must be told is that many of us want change but do not want to change or do not know how to change. Giving the vehemence with which Nigerians repugnate crimes, corrupt or antisocial behaviours, it looks that we want change but are only expecting the change for others and not from us.
In chapter 36: Racism, Ethnicity and tribalism…. What’s the difference?, Sam could not trace any difference amongst the concepts of racism, ethnicity and tribalism- each an emotional categorization of persons on the basis of their colour, ethnic group or tribe. He prescribes a sort of agape love where we perceive our fellow humans as created by God and should be loved.
Greed they say is an anathema to man’s progression; this is what Sam discussed in Chapter 37: “Meningitis, Ebola virus, Experimental Drugs and the Threat of History”. He reveals why USA refused to help Nigeria fight ebola virus with zmapp as earlier assistance with Trovan to cure meningitis, met some kind of ingratitude in the past.
In Chapter 38: “Life Lessons from the Demystification of the Brazilian Football Team”, Sam surmises that fundamental lessons of life both for a nation and the individual was learnt by the demolition of Brazil by Germany in the 2014 World cup semi-finals. For him, life is not all about name, pride or low opinion of oneself; but is all about doing ones best and trusting in God.
Chapter 39: Mandela Nelson Madiba (1918-2013): A Metaphor for true Leadership
Is where Sam x-rays Mandela’s life as a case study in true leadership. He enumerates all the qualities in him worthy of emulation by other world leaders.
Sam posits in this chapter that since it is evident that Nigerians emigrate in their droves in search of opportunities, to halt this unsavory phenomenon, we must focus on creating and expanding opportunities for Nigerians at home. Chapter 40: “Halting the Unwholesome Migration and the Wanton Emigration” bears this burden.
In chapter 41: “Celebrating a Centenary of Failed Promises and Missed Targets?” Sam states simply that since the 100 years of our amalgamation, Nigeria has not truly become a united nation devoid of tribal consciousness. As a result, he avers that celebrating its centenary amounts to celebrating failed promises and missed targets namely welding Nigeria into a truly united Nation.
In Chapter 42: “The Paradox that is My Country,” while reflecting on the bad image Nigeria has internationally especially in insecurity, corruption, etc, Sam describes Nigeria as a true paradox where the best has failed to happen and the worst does not seen to happen either.
Sam argues that the trend where only the Federal Government is held accountable for not providing basic amenities should be reversed. States and local governments should also be held accountable to create a holistic provision of basic amenities. This is the burden of chapter 43: “Providing Nigerians with the Basic Necessities of Life”.
In chapter 44: “Marketing the Forth-coming National Conference Productive and Cost Effective”, Sam advocates that Nigeria must determine the deliverables before the startment of the National Conference in order that its product could be marketed and adjudged cost effective.
He states unequivocally in chapter 45: “The Destabilized Federation: Leaving the Central Issues Unresolved” that though the national conference has made certain recommendations, it seems to have failed to resolve the key problems confronting the nation namely a destabilized federalism.
In chapter 46: “Nigeria: Democracy, Politics and Economy”, Sam argues that our democracy should set targets, measuring successes or accomplishments; there must be consequences for missing the targets and rewards for exceeding the targets. These motive the players and alert them on the punishment for not doing their work appropriately.
In chapter 47: “Nigeria: Military, Security and Politics” Sam seems to be admonishing that before we criticize, we should be ceased of the facts of any matter. Just like him, he underestimated the capacity of the boko haram insurgents and chided our soldiers for their “gross” incapability until he realized that they are of international stock and capacity.
Sam discusses the challenges and difficulties of Nigeria’s improvement on the global competitiveness indexes in Chapter 48 entitled” Global competitiveness: Can Nigeria ever win?”. He surmises that we must continue to improve in the areas where we have high competitive advantages and not become jack of all trade; master of none.
Sam appears to make Moghalu’s views that the global concept of liberalization and globalization have helped to de-industrialize Africa his central thesis in this chapter. In chapter 49: “Nigeria, Emerging Africa and the Development Paradigm” he concludes that unless Africa wants to develop by itself, no one else would do same for him.
In chapter 50: The SURE-P Model: A Unique Developmental Interventionist Paradigm
Sam dedicates it to the wonderful transformation of the Sure-P development model. He assesses the extent of works done on various infrastructural rehabilitations as roads etc and unequivocally passed Sure-P off as a model worthy of emulation as a developmental paradigm for Nigeria.
Chapter 51 is captioned “Dealing with the Deficit of Leadership Capital in the Nigerian Economy.” Herein, Sam contends that although Nigerians heap the blames of all their woes on poor political leadership and governance yet there is short fall of quality leadership supply in all the spheres of the Nigerian nation. He surmises that leadership is a product of followership; unless there is a virile followership, there can never be quality leadership.
Sam’s effort in this chapter is a modern attempt to proffer adjustment technique on how to survive the austere times both as private individuals and business entities in order to survive the current and developing challenges in the Nigerian polity. Chapter 52 with the title; “How and How not to Survive these Austere times” bears this burden.
In Chapter 53: “IGP Arase, Please Cause Change in the Nigeria Police”, Sam contends that though almost all spheres of the Nigeria polity deserve urgent and revolutionary change, the Nigeria police is the area of most emergency needs. Accordingly, he argues that the Police Force is fully symptomatic of the ailment of Nigeria. Thus if we get the police right, many other matters will fall in place.
Sam contends in Chapter 54: entitled“Reducing Size of Government Without Worsening Unemployment” that in lieu of the recommendation of the Orosanye Panel, he acquiesces with the position that the hype in the increment of the recurrent expenditure does not augur well for the Nigerian economy. He admonishes that efforts be made to reduce the cost of maintaining of political office holders in such a way that unemployment will not skyrocket.
Chapter 55 which is the last chapter of this compendium goes with the title “Memo to Muhammadu Buhari, President, C-in-C”. In it, Sam ends this work by submitting a three -part memo to president Buhari on all those revolutionary exigencies that worry Nigeria as a nation. In a no hold bar, Sam opened up in an emotion laden manner and evocatively prayed for a Solomon’s wisdom for Buhari to lead Nigeria successfully.
At this juncture, it is worthy of note to observe that Sam’s writing style is an embodiment of remarkable clarity of mind, effective and simplicity devoid of pomposity and pomp. Indeed, he exhibits courage per excellence. However, in page 7 Sam misuses the word amoral while discussing the need for morality in politics. The concept of amorality applies to beings that have no moral considerations associated to them as animals, infants etc., whereas immorality is a negation of morality.
I have read books albeit very little but never have I ever seen any single piece that has the promises that this book has: in one piece, it discusses all the problems of Nigeria and solutions in a way that if we follow it religiously, Nigeria will become transformed from third world to the first World. I therefore recommend this book to every Nigerian who can read.

This book review was presented during THE SAM OHUABUNWA @ 65 LITERARY OUTREACH by J. CHIDOZIE CHUKWUOKOLO Ph.D, FRHD.