FRANK UKONGA LECTURE SERIES 8 THE IMPERATIVES OF INFRASTRUCTURAL AND REAL SECTOR DEVELOPMENTS TO THE GREATNESS OF NATIONS: FOCUS ON PPP, IGR AND HOW TO RAISE INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENTAL FINANCE BY PRINCE FRANK UKONGA

FRANK UKONGA LECTURE SERIES 8

THE IMPERATIVES OF INFRASTRUCTURAL AND REAL SECTOR DEVELOPMENTS TO THE GREATNESS OF NATIONS: FOCUS ON PPP, IGR AND HOW TO RAISE INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENTAL FINANCE

BY PRINCE FRANK UKONGA

Civilizations the world over are rated by the levels of their infrastructural development which becomes part of real history and their cultural glories to be mentioned and credited to them as epitome of their greatness. We need to recognize the Egyptian pyramids as part of the Seven Wonders of the World. These gigantic tombs, of Ancient Egyptian kings, has become the symbol of Egypt today. Likewise the old beautiful and exquisite monastery architecture of Russian orthodoxy and their characteristic aesthetic beauty has become the symbol of Russia and even the then soviet Union and will continue to be for a long time to come. The London Bridge that opens up and closes is a great master piece of architecture that was displayed in the recent Olympics and quoted in poetry, songs etal as symbol of the Elizabethan industrial Britain when England ruled the entire world.

 “See Paris and die” was a popular slogan in the sixties and seventies of the previous century and it was due to the spectacular infrastructural facilities they presented to the world as symbol of re awakening and glory of the French civilization. The sky scrappers of New York, Tokyo, Hong kong and that of emerging Beijing the Chinese capital are all symbols of emerging post industrial man with great wealth and glories. The great network of roads well adorned with working street lights, well cut lawns, flowers , trees , attractive billboards etc , bridges , fly overs, rail system of top quality standard , electricity generation and no power failure nor black out 24/7 , the great and beautiful tunnels systems of metro lines, trams, city busses, airports, restaurants, clubs,, hotels and museums, amusement parks, exhibition centers, stadiums, radio , television stations, newspaper publishing, decent roads with side walks, neat, well behaved citizenry and bustling and bobbling avangard of community all total up to make for a great civilization.

In the case of the African continent save for a few cities like Johannesburg, Cairo, Abidjan and perhaps Abuja there is scarcity of modern towns in the entire continent in the context of depicting the emergence of African Tigers due mainly to the poverty of infrastructures most of which are in many cases sub standard, weak and epileptic.

In Nigeria the current condition of infrastructure nationwide is in ruins and decay from roads, to electricity generation, to supply of water, to rail and transportation systems, bridges, airports, parks, museums, hotels, rail system is colonial, no metro system in any city of Nigeria, no tram systems, most gutters are open and with characteristic smell, many parts of our cities are dirty and littered with filth and garbage, road are dark without street lights and many un motor able. The highways are a death trap killing people on daily hourly basis. And the Nigerian case is similar to most African Nation States.

Infrastructural developments are capital intensive projects which need to be planned and financed. Of course virtually all African Nations including Nigeria are in short supply of developmental finance to fund these capital projects of Marshal Plan of Nationwide infrastructural development. And the fiscal budgeting based largely on receipt from most monoculture export of primordial commodities of African Nations cannot finance these projects. How other Nations went about it could be very interesting to study for the purpose of enlightenment and perhaps learning from them. There are two ways of raising developmental finance the world over. Either you use your money or you use somebody else’ money.

1.       Mobilization of Internal Developmental Finance: One either use one’s money to fund infrastructural glories through savings of certain percentage of the GNP for many years set aside for industrial and infrastructural developmental  purposes as in United Kingdom save 15% of their GNP for many years which funded the Industrial revolution. The German, Japanese glories saved up to 22% and even in Japan House wives, and all citizen and students were made to cultivate the saving culture addressed to mobilized developmental finance for the take off of the Japanese industrial and infrastructural glories that we admire today. The Soviet Union saved 25 % of their GNP for the take off of the glories of Russian and the Eastern Europe we admire today. All these were Nations that used their own resources by tasking themselves to harness all the resources available in their countries to fund their real sector as well as their infrastructural development through cultivating a sound saving culture and prudent management of resources across a long period of time. We must realize in Africa that every greatness demand some sort of sacrifice from both the citizens and the leaders. We cannot eat our cake today and have it tomorrow.

2.       Internally Generated Revenue: IGR: The issue of IGR comes in forms of taxes, levies, Tenement rates, water rates, Antennas, radio, masts, TV, bill boards charges, traffic and sundry offences taxes, levis from wood falling etc and these are monies that can accrue to large sums of money if properly harnessed could be used as infrastructural developmental finance both on National and state basis. But then there is the urgent need of adequate legislations from the various Assemblies and National assembly on the issues of IGR as it could be mismanaged by the states and federal levels as well as in the Local Government level. Nigeria and most African Nations are mainly Rental states that earn the bulk of their resources from exports of primary raw materials to the advanced worlds so we have not really become a Taxed state. And for a transition into a Taxed state there must be enabling laws as to how to collect taxes, assessments of properties to be standardized as in some Governors are using it as a means to extort the states and its peoples by slamming arbitrary taxes and levies and tenement rates on the peoples with questionable assessment portfolio. And how these colossal monies collected are spent is still a great point of concern and what legislation on accountability, verifications of how much collected and how it is spent and punitive measures to be in place for executives who mismanage earnings from taxes.

3.       Mobilization of External developmental Finance: External developmental finance can be in form of equity participation from a donor country, FDI-Foreign Direct Investment and lastly by Loan syndications. In the case of equity financing participations many foreign countries are less attracted to that options because of the fragile Nature of African economies and the unstable political climates and the emerging African democracies are weak institutions. So they tend to shy away from investing in infrastructural development that has a longer and indirect way of repaying back. They will rather invest in petroleum explorations, gas explorations, Iron and steel plants, electricity generation and some other public utilities. Highway Airports, city roads, stadia, rail ways, etc cannot attract much of equity financing because of the fact that some of these capital intensive projects fall within the ambit of social spending in strict budgeting and are less profitable.

4.       Similarly the aspects of FDI are in a similar category as some of the investors of FDI category targets investment in the stock Exchange Markets and many have obfuscating agenda. Some FDI investors like George Soros, the founder of the philosophical concept of Reflexivility invest majorly in Hedge funds, is alleged to invest in anticipation of a rise in prices of stocks acquired at normal rates and later starts selling to create panic in the exchange and stock prices begin to fall, just for him to buy more stocks from panic sellers at low prices and hold on for a little while and stocks prices begins to rise again, and he begins to sell at higher rates and sell off all the stocks making a huge profit and he jets out of that economy , destroying it and moving on to another country. So African Nations have to be careful of some FDI investors.

5.       LOANS FROM FINANCIAL SYNDICATIONS/IMF INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENTAL FINANCE LOAN: Another category of raising developmental finance is by taking outright loans from a Bank abroad or going to take the world bank/ IMF infrastructural developmental loan and some Nations like Great Britain has made available this year the sum of 100 billion pound to assist developing Nations including Nigeria as an avenue to raising developmental finance for infrastructural purposes through bilateral relations. This is a giant stride for developing countries to make a good use of such facilities but the fear of most citizen and even the donor countries is that experience has shown time and again that such developmental finance loans obtained by African countries develops legs and ends up in private accounts of leaders of these countries or at best mismanaged, thereby putting these countries into great burden of debt trap, slavery, poverty, ruins and decay.

6.       TREASURY BILLS, BONDS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS: A similar type of loan but this could be called soft loan is to raise Treasury bills, bonds and other financial instruments from local or foreign Exchange Markets for a specific date of maturation. And a number of state governments in Nigeria have harnessed this avenue to good use while some only plunge their state and peoples into another burden of indebtedness as in mismanagement of such facilities.

7.       PPP- PRIVATE PUBLIC PARTNERSHIP: Under  the sponsorship of the Military Government, myself Prince Frank Ukonga worked as a consultant to the Director of Logistics and Command of the Air force  Air Commodore Ajibulu Suleimon ,in the 90s to evolve plans of bringing in the private sectors of the Nigerian Federation into the aspects of –PPP-Public Private Partnership and the concept of  build, maintain and turn back public utilities, as the burden was becoming very heavy on the then governments to adequately maintain infrastructural facilities Nationwide due to low prices of Oil that was less than 12 dollars per barrel. It was then we invented the PPP in the context of infrastructural development and maintenances nationwide-i.e roads, Airports, Stadiums, exhibition centers, Highways etc;, which the civilian democracy inherited from the Military. So it must be said clearly that the PPP was invented by the Military government of which I was supportive as a consultant to invent the concepts with top Military brass of the Nigerian federation. So let’s give them the credit. But the present democratic dispensation can re invent the PPP and make it workable for a nationwide infrastructural development. But this will need another round of consultations and fine tuning of the entire programs. In fact most of our assumption then has been overtaken by a down turn in world economy and the resilient economic crisis has affected the premises on which some of the theories could work out for investors in PPP. And that is why Dr Wale Babalakin who is one of the biggest investor in PPP as in MM2- Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 and the Lagos Ibadan Highway concessionaries ceded to his company will continue to have problems as to why it doesn’t seem to tally towards standard profit making concepts.

8.       Yes we are cognizance of the reasons why it will be difficult for Dr Wale Babalakin to succeed in the concessionary and any body that goes in to it, like Lagos State Govenor Raji Fashola as in the Lekkki -Mile 2 road etal may not necessary make the invested money back. And when the then Oceanic Bank was investing and financing infrastructural developments, I Prince Frank Ukonga warned them but they refused to listen to me:, as I have knowledge that the invested funds could be trapped. It is neither the fault of Dr Wale Babalakin nor the fault of Celilia Ibru of Oceanic Bank but the fault came from the theoretical aspects of the enabling R and D that evolved into PPP-which we (i.e. the R & D Team) calculated on over optimistic expectations of global and national economic performances. I must point out quickly that toll gate takings on roads and highways, or Airport levies or gate takings will not be able to bring the investment back so before you go into the PPP you need a sound consultation. And I need to warn the Nigerian Banks to be very careful in giving out loans to infrastructural developments projects except securitized by earnings from taxes or statutory allocations, as it has the potency of ruining them not until more R and D is done as to reflecting the new realities.

9.       THE NEED FOR A NEW R & D: As soon as I can make out some time I will commence another round of R and D to re invent the concept anew addressed to assist all those who may want to invest in PPP as to transforming it into a huge profit making enterprise which will assist the Nigerian Nation to killing so many birds with one stone as in the creation of many million of jobs via PPP, Having state of art infrastructures, improved GDP through great infrastructural facilities built and operated and maintained by the private sectors… in fact the gains to a Nation are endless as it will free up monies being spent on infrastructural development by the government to be channeled to other pressing areas of National and state development etc… I hope to begin the research again very soon for the benefit of the Nigerian state, Nigerian peoples and other African states and the world in generality.

LONG LIVE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.

Sign: Prince Frank Ukonga

Governorship Candidate of Edo State 2012 polls

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PRINCE FRANK UKONGA LECTURE SERIES 7 MACRO ECONOMY, BUDGETING AND IMPLIMENTATION IN THE NIGERIAN FEDERATION. BY PRINCE FRANK UKONGA

PRINCE FRANK UKONGA LECTURE SERIES 7

MACRO ECONOMY, BUDGETING AND IMPLIMENTATION IN THE NIGERIAN FEDERATION.

BY PRINCE FRANK UKONGA.

The year has entered the last quarter of 2012 and it is time to prepare and present the Budget for the year 2013 by the Ruling Cabinet. The President of the Nigerian Federation his Excellency Goodluck Jonathan has presented a budget estimate of 4.6 Trillion Naira to the National Assembly waiting for discussions and ratification. A true democratic dispensation is beginning to forge out as the House through the speaker Hon. Tambuwal insisted on the estimate of $90 per barrel benchmark and the presidency insisting on $75 as benchmark, somehow it will be resolved, but the point here is that the excess revenue proceeds that accrue to the federation are always share between the three tie of Government and till today there has not been an enabling legislation on accountability , probing and subsequent punitive measures in place that will guard this excess revenue acreage outside the Budget from been looted or mismanaged by the recipients of the money. At the end the masses are shortchanged. As in the way Ex Governor Alao Akala of Oyo State and some other Governors allegedly spent the excess crude oil revenue which generated lots of public concern in the 6 th Republic. The seventh Republic has began in earnest and though the fiscal year of 2012 was the first budget of the 7 th Republic which many analysts have started to question the budget implementations as to what percentage has really been implemented. For Example INEC’s Chairman Prof, Atahiru Jega cried out last week that out of the 35 billion Naira budgeted to INEC in the 2012 budget only 10 billion Naira has been released to them at the end of the 3 quarter and he said this has crumbled INEC activities and many things they wanted to do like the permanent voters card project and upgrading the voters register Nationwide as well as paying of staff salary. If INEC can be so staved of funds which are one of the most important Institution of Democracy and it’s the only symbol that differentiates it from Military rule can be so staved of funds then you can imagine other departments and Ministries who by oat of governmental secrecy cannot cry out.

Discipline, Accountability and Transparency: The point here is not to question the rational of Government but at least we should Endeavour to do things timely by releasing budgetary allocations to various segments of the economy at the right time. We cognitize that a budget is a proposal of institutional spending as against projected targeted income and there are avenues to either scale up or prune down the budget depending on income. Whence, we should Endeavour to practice fiscal and budgetary discipline, transparency, openness and timeliness in order to move the country out the woods, and to lay a formidable foundation for our fragile democratic dispensation.

Vision 20:2020: Secondly we have to look at our philosophy and ideological focus when making a budget addressed to achieve certain goals as we jockey towards a larger goal of the future. And to my understanding Vision 20: 2020 is the only visible larger goal that the Nigerian federation is committed to, and the year 2020 is only 7 years away from the proposed budget of 2013, and by the end of 2015 which will be the end of this present mandate, year 2020 will only be 5 years yonder and this is the time to begin to focus all our energies toward achieving the vision 20; 2020. Though all departments need money to operate but then we should endeavor to focus on some certain issues that will bring the Nation closer to achieving a target closer to what is expected in that department and continue to grow it till 2020. Vision 202020 was invented by Prince Frank Ukonga for the Military government in the year 1990 when I was approached by their consultants to the Banking Industry to generate a big concept as title of a compilation of the Lectures and dissertation of the shakers and movers of the Nigerian vibrant intellectual community in the Babangida era, Currently intellectualism is virtually dead in Nigeria. I invented it as Vision 2000. And IBB institutionalized it. then President Shonekan added ten years to the Vision and mad it Vision 2010 , General Abacha retained it as Vision 2010, Genral Abdulsalami Abubakar retained it as Vision 2010 while when Obasanjo added another 10 years to the vision to make for Vision 20, 2020. President Yar Adua retained it as Vision 2020 and mapped out a blue print to achieving that Vision, which President Goodluck Jonathan inherited and we are hopeful that he is going to make a difference in actualizing the great ideals of the Vision. Other Nations like Russia, Georgia, Ukraine etc have joined in the Vision 2020 and have adopted the Vision as well so we are not alone in the race virtually the whole world is in the race for 2020.

Security: For example security has taken the lion share of 2013 proposed budget which is in order, as it is imperative to provide security and other enabling environment for business and enterprise to thrive. While education trailed behind and works came third, in that order.

Infrastructural Development: It is no gain saying that the Nation needs as a matter of urgency a Marshal plan of infrastructural development, which perhaps should take second position in the 2013 budget proposal. When we educate peoples and cannot gainfully employ them due to infrastructural decay as in electricity generation, roads and other public utilities, it’s as good as wasting the finance used to educate them. So we should endeavor to prioritize our spending in order of dialectics based on serious research and development.

The Real Sector Economy: Industry and Manufacturing: Industry and manufacturing should take the third position as it had really trialed behind due to epileptic power /electricity generation and they are a large employer of labor force. Many of our manufacturers have relocated their plants to neighboring countries of Ghana etc because of electricity and this is the time to recall and attract them back by proposing a manufacturing friendly budget. The real sector of the economy provides less than 5% of our GDP which is exceeding low. And the twin ship of getting that segment of the economy up is electricity and the manufacturing of Liquid steel as in Ajaokuta Iron and steel complex and rejiging all the rolling mills which will provide more than one million jobs and five million jobs in its down stream sectors. It will also attract Foreign Direct Investments into the country.

Education, Empowerment of youth and women: Youth and women development is very important as in being able to tap the large percentage of this people that constitute more than 70% of our demography. We should avoid the instance that this large army of youth will have to grow old of above 60 years and not gainfully tapping their great potentials in providing technical education to them and assisting most of them to set up via provision of seed capital for them. Otherwise in 3 decades from now Nigeria will enter into another demographic category where we shall begin to evince a large population of poor, old people with a small population of youth to fend for them as in many European societies of today. This is another time bomb.

Health: Whence Nigeria is at a cross road  with many booty traps in the context of security, job creation, demography, infrastructural development health care of malaria, typhoid and AID/HIV pandemic. In some African countries more than 30% of the production force is HIV/AID positive and this is also a big time bomb as in 2 decades more than 30% of the population of such country will be wiped away due to AID/HIV related death. So we should do more in AID/HIV prevention through enlightenment and preventive health care system which should reflect in our fiscal budgeting..

Agriculture: We should begin to look at the issue of ecological changes and environmental degradation and make provisions for the hazards that could come up as in flooding which will affect agriculture and harvest. We should engage in Agricultural R and D as to begin to invent flood resistant seedlings otherwise we shall become a net importer of food very soon and it may eat up a large chunk of receipts from monoculture oil export industry of the Nigeria state.

Ecological changes and force Majore: We should also endeavor to dredge the river Niger and build more dams and reservoirs on its course so as to secure rain water and flood preventing it from overflowing its banks during raining season. Canalization of the cities and embankments and wind / storms breakers as in the coastline should also be looked in to. We should also begin a massive re a forestation of Nigeria and the National Assembly is to put up new legislations against tree falling, poaching of forest for wood and animals etc. The more trees we have the more we shall be able to divert the adverse effects of rainfall, drought, overheating of the planet due to the emission of carbon monoxide by factories of Northern hemispheres away from our atmosphere. We cannot do all at the same time due to lack of developmental finance on a global basis, but we can begin to plan for some of them.

International Relations: We need to rejig our foreign policy thrust and to invest in our embassies worldwide both in the provisions of good environment to project Nigeria outside of Nigeria as well as invigorate our relations with other Nations based on diplomatic reciprocity and detente. Many Nigerians are languishing in foreign cells and prison for sundry offenses of passport or vaccination yellow card etc and some countries are unnecessary hostile to Nigerians if their expectations of what they expects from Nigeria comes short in the aspects of patronage, so we have to rejig our foreign ministry with new vigor, new focus and new empowerment to reduce the sufferings of Nigerians in other countries.

CBN, Banking and Mobilization of Developmental Finance: What should concentrate the mind of Malam Sanusi Lamido is how to mobilize developmental finance both intrinsic and extrinsic to compliment the actualization of the 2013 fiscal Budget by putting in place functional revenue mobilization instruments that will aid the government of President Goodluck Jonathan to achieving set down goals while carrying other Bankers of the Mega Banks along. According to Dr Mohammed Abdullah, former Director of the IMF, and also of the World Bank. He theorized that in the Schumpeterian sense the duties of Central Banking in Africa will include effective mobilization of developmental finance via enabling instruments to compliment the earnings of African states if they are to become relent in the 21 century and avoid the debt traps of the 1980 and 1990s of the previous century. The erudite intelligentsia noticed that the mobilization of rural and near urban settlements of African countries for developmental finance will play a big role in budgetary financing of African governments if functional instruments’ are invented by the Central Banks of African Nations and he said that more than 70% of the total money in circulation in many African countries never pass through the organized banking systems, He also advocated saving on a National basis as the savings/ GDP ratio of most African countries is low Nigeria is below 2.5% and the lowest in sub Saharan Africa. While other Francophone counties of Sub Saharan Africa has Savings /GDP ratio of above 12 % and in the United State about 55% and in Germany, Japan, Russia its above 60%. While on the extrinsic side mobilization of developmental finance via equity participation, FDI- Foreign Direct Investments and other forms of bilateral relationships with other Nations will help. And to achieve these new post industrial Central Banking stratagems, we need really sound and articulate, brilliant Governors of Central Banks for African Nations and not the arm chair bankers or half backed bankers. The world is becoming more and more competitive as the resources available are declining on daily basis. So 2013 budget has to bring on board brilliant people with great ideas to navigate Nigeria out of the clumsy stormy seas of international pluralism.

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FRANK UKONGA LECTURE SERIES 6 THE NIGERIAN BIAFRA WAR, CHINUA ACHEBE’S MEMOIRS, & MATTERS ARISING.

FRANK UKONGA LECTURE SERIES 6

THE NIGERIAN BIAFRA WAR, CHINUA ACHEBE’S MEMOIRS, & MATTERS ARISING.

PREAMBLES: In January 1966 Major Sochukwuma Nzeogu a military officer of the Nigeria Army in company of company of five others of Major Banjo, Major Ifiajuna, Major Ademilegun and co truncated the democratic government of the Nigerian Federation through a bloody military coup de Etat which many historians view as a lopsided coup in its planning and execution in favor of a particular geo political and ethnic region of the polity. Despite this the rein of leadership fell on the hands of Major General Aguyi Ironsi who quickly unified the various colligating nations of Nigeria by introducing a unitary system of military government and ruled for some months until he was ousted by another coup de Etat that brought in General Yakubu Gowon as the new leader of the Nigerian Federation.

Colonel Odumegu Ojukwu was then the commandant of the Eastern flank of the Nigerian Army and to cut the long story short he opted out of Nigeria seceding the Eastern Region into what became popularly called the Biafra Nation through the infamous Ahiara declaration.

This affrontation against constituted authority of the federal Government was not acceptable to other colligating members of the polity and it led to a 3 year civil war in the Nigeria federation. On the Nigerian frontiers Gen. Murtala Mohammed led the Ist division that moved in to Biafra through the Mid West region, Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle , the black scorpion,led the infamous 3 ed Marine commando that closed in from the South -South flank, while Major Gen Mohammadu Shua led the last flank that closed in from the Benue Enugu axis. Other gallant military officers that participated actively from the Nigeria frontiers includes Major General Hassan Utsman Katsina, Major General Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo, Major General Maimaliari, Major General Abba Kyari, Major General Alao Akinrinade, Brigadier General Adekunle Shotomi, Major General Shehu Musa Yar Adua, Col Shitu Alao, Brigadier General Samuel Ogbemudia, Major General David Ejoor, etc

On the Biafra side we had Major General Achuzia, Major General Philip Effiong, Col Banjo, Major Sochukuma Uzeogu, Major General Alexander Madiebo, and Major Ifiajuna etal

In the war administrative set up of General Yakubu Gowon, he released chief Obafemi Awolowo from prison and appointed him Vice Chairman of the Supreme Military Council which translate to the post of Deputy Head of State/Prime Minister and he also made him the Minister of finance of the Federation and a special adviser and partner in keeping Nigeria one. Major General Yakubu Gowon exercised great wisdom in his great respect for Chief Obafemi Awolowo ,a great Social Democrats and this in return Chief Awolowo gave him General Yakubu Gowon his maximum cooperation to make him succeed in his noble ideals in keeping Nigeria one as he inherited it from his predecessors and handing it over as one Nation with one destiny to other generations of Nigerians. And of course these are the higher achievements in terms of leadership assessments in being able to keep the sovereignty you inherited in its geopolitical size, in its territorial integrity as one or perhaps expanding it. All other category of measure as economic prosperity, infrastructural development, education etal is subjective to the primacy and supremacy of the category of keeping the territorial integrity you inherited intact.

THE MEMOIRS OF CHINUA ACHEBE AND OTHER MATTERS ARISING

We must cognitize that war is war; be it civil, cold or international warfare and the end objective is for your side to win the battle. Of course there will be lots of alliances and horse trading addressed to same point of wining. And occasionally we must understand particularly esoteric minds that the question of war and winning successfully warfare be it civil arms struggle, secessionist wars, or political struggle is not a tea party. Whence warfare has become on a global basis a school of thought and there are various philosophical precepts and departments. Most Successful war Generals are those that study deeply the terrain of the war and map out stratagems of wining. But a rigorous research into all the various stratagems be it that of General Shaka De Zulu, that of General Sun Tsu, that of General Patton, that of Almilca Cabra of Cottage, Gbenkis Khan and all the Mongol  generals or even the methods of Alexandra the great as polished and guided by Aristotle, or that of General Napoleon Bonaparte or that of Pompey, or Octavus Caesar, or that of Queen Amina of Zaria, that of Shehu Idris Aloma of Bornu, Fulani Samanguru of Mali and Futa Toro  or that of Salim Salim, or Sulaimon the Magnificent of Byzantine and Ottoman civilizations or that of Winston Churchill, Stalin or Roosevelt, or that of the post modern strategists of Robert Green they all have a similar undertone of common underlying reality of the Machiavellian philosophy addressed to win at what ever cost. Though, this may be disguised in various shades and camouflages.

In the Chinua Achebe Memoirs it is alleged he blamed the duo of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and General Yakubu Gowon of leading a war strategy that staved Biafra of necessary essential supplies that lead to the death of many. Though this is not the first time that such a criticism has been raised but in this crucial stage of Nigerian nascent democratic dispensation and seething milieu it began to generate great controversies as to whether it was a willful intension or a brilliant strategy to win the war quickly and bring Nigeria together as one again. Of course many peoples involve in this diatribe will view it various ways depending on the side of the divide you are crested but objectively it would be important to study the general milieu of that era before a rational inference can be arrived at, as to whether to apportion blame or not to the stratagems employed by General Yakubu Gowon and Chief Awolowo  in the Biafra war..

And in the context of the aforementioned it is ingenious to posit the following observations:

1.       War lords and war Generalissimos are not from the same mould of the civilian stocks, in esoteric cases they are from the mould of Chiron the Centurion and most of them are well schooled in the methods of Chiron de Centurion and most of such teachings are mostly unsafe to be exposed to the ordinary civilian populace of a civil society and for that reason we shall not duel on them in this lecture series nor in any of my lecture series..But the philosophy is addressed to win in whatever thing you do.

2.       Applying the Socratic and Aristotelian methods of philosophical Reducio de Absurdum, a question will be posed to Prof. Chinua Achebe and all those in support of his dissertations and memoirs: “if you were in a position as head of state or adviser to a war lord and a strategy to quickly win a civil war and bring back your citizens back again as brothers and sisters in the no victor, no vanquished victory pops up, would you employ the stratagems or not.”

3.       The answer to the afformention question is obvious to even the mundane, so blaming General Yakubu Gowon or blaming His Excellency Plenipotentiary extra ordinary Chief Obafemi  Awolowo, in philosophical instances, of the applications of certain stratagems through commissions or omissions may have no basis in objective reality, save for chauvinistic irredentist sentimentality; which is an aphorism of wallowing in autokiness illusion of self pity and deep sense of guilt as in the simile of the Lilliputian delusion of grandiose.

4.       Haven answered the Achebe question there is the need to probe further and for once put the other questions on the table for rigorous discussions; often ascribed to Chief Obafemi Awolowo is the aspects of blaming him for inactions due to a statement credited to him as saying that : “ If by commission or omission the East is allowed to secede the West will follow suit”- This is a deep esoteric philosophical  normatic statement only discernable to esoteric minds and men of deep understanding and wisdom. Though I quit agree that it could be obfuscating to the uninitiated minds and could be sort of temptation to an over ambitious mind that may want to miss interpret the great philosophical statement as a subtle comradeship in conspiracy of secession. This obviously was not the true and real meaning of the words of the great sage… Just as Jesus Christ said in the lords Prayers that forgive us our sins as we forgive others… this is the core of the golden rules of philosophy but many peoples miss interpret this great conditional words of Jesus Christ… what the s simply means is that we shall be judged in accordance to how we judge others.. the precondition for forgiveness of sins is that you forgive others… the precondition to receive from God is that you give to others… you will receive back in tenfold what you do to others.. That is the meaning.. So like wise what Chief Obafemi Awolowo was saying is that on no condition must the Eat be allowed to secede as it will be disastrous to the making of a greater Nigeria. As the East and her great peoples are important to the continuous greatness and leadership of Sub Saharan Africa and the African continent… and the human race in generality… As the  great peoples of the East are imperative to the emergence of a greater Nigeria as a world supper power because of their industry and technology it will be suicidal to allow them to go… these are the logical interpretations of that great worlds of Chief Obafemi Awolowo… but the mundane minds interprets it conversely and begin to blame Chief Awolowo for not welcoming the impudence of Colonel Banjo who was sent to the West by General Ojukwu leading a trop to liberate the western Region … and Chief Obafemi Awolowo was instrumental to stopping Col Banjo at Ore and finally was returned back to the east and General Ojukwu executed him on trump up charges of planning coup d etat against him

5.       WHAT RIUNED BIAFRA AND WHAT SHOULD CONCENTRATE THE MINDS OF PROF. ACHEBE

6.       What ruined Biafra was the disunity among the Igbo people which they still continue to exhibit till today…  the peoples of Igbo can never be able to speak with one voice… subsequently Biafra failed out of implosion due to the politics of sabotage and self destructs played by some elite igbo peoples against the success of Biafra…and what should concentrate the minds of Prof Chinua Achebe is how to unite the Igbo peoples world wide under a new paradigm shift of becoming more relevant to the Nigerian Federation and Africa rather than waking up mundane sentiments of bygone realms

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FRANK UKONGA LECTURE SERIES 5 CLIMATIC CHANGES & ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION: NEW THREAT TO HUMANITY. FOCUS ON RIVER NIGER FLOOD & SURGING ATLANTIC OCEAN.

FRANK UKONGA LECTURE SERIES 5

CLIMATIC CHANGES & ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION: NEW THREAT TO HUMANITY.

FOCUS ON RIVER NIGER FLOOD & SURGING ATLANTIC OCEAN.

The Human Race on a global basis is facing a new challenge that is fast destroying lives and properties far more than other causes of wars, AID pandemic and other deaths caused by accidents and natural attritions. The emerging new threats of force majore of environmental disasters demand urgent attention on National, Regional and global basis that all shareholders in local and international affairs should begin to focus seriously on how to solve the emerging challenges to mankind.

It has taken an alarming proportion that no continent is safe from the damages of rain, volcanic eruptions of land slide, storms, surging ocean, scourging heat, overflowing of river banks, winds, droughts, etc with its antecedent colossal devastating effects on communities destroying lives and properties and causing untold hardship to  human , animals and plants lives on a global basis.

These impacts negatively on agriculture as farmlands are washed away into the sea, the alluvia covering and the richness and fertility of the soil is also grossly affected which also affect the average yield of farmlands. In some cases of adverse drought the rain will just refuse to fall for decades which have afflicted Somalia and many Nations of central African Sub region for decades leading to death, ruins and grief of civilizations.

This aphorism of declining habitat of the world could be man made as in the emission of carbon monoxide by many factories of the advance industrial hemisphere which deplete the Ozone protecting layers of the atmosphere creating large holes into the usually uniform protective spread of this layer and exposing many regions to direct rays of the sun. This begin to generate secondary effects of overheating of the globe, orographic regional and local rainfall and storms, hurricanes and surging seas due to the melting of the glacial polar regions of the world caused by the overheating. With the above explanation it is obvious that the bulk of the problem was man made and could also be solved by man made solutions.

Urgently needed is a world conference on Environment and how to protect it from further degradations which should centre on how to limit or perhaps ban the emission of carbon monoxide in to the atmosphere and seek for alternatives for the factories that are responsible for this emission so that it can be a win- win solution. Here we need a new impetus in the aspects of Research and Development as well as in Research and innovation to be able to swim out of this albatross with our heads and dignity up as human beings. How do we explain to ourselves and future generations of human beings that we who inherited a safe, clean environment from our ancestors are leaving a dangerous unsafe world to the future generations of mankind due to our inability to tackle the problems we created?

Mankind have devastated the forest reserves of the world on a global basis because of our dependent on trees, shrubs, plants and animals that inhibits this large forest reserves for meat, pulp and paper, medicine, furniture and creating new cities and expanding old ones where forest are cleared to make way for human civilization and to retain that civilization to grater heights it is imperative we begin safe guarding the near extinction of wild life and animals, and begin to re afforest the world on a global scale.

This annihilating aphorism of global warming and its antecedent genocidal backlashes, since it is a man made problem can also be solved by a man induced solution. This will interpret to a global reforestation agenda to be declared by the United Nations and assisted in funding. The chemistry here is that plants takes in carbon dioxide through photosynthesis while they discharge oxygen into the atmosphere addressed to complete and secure the earth ecosystem. Global reforestations will translate to having more trees which will release more oxygen into the atmosphere that will combine with carbon monoxide that currently saturate the upper lithosphere and form carbon dioxide for plant consumption in that separate carbon circle and will decrease the volume of carbon monoxide and perhaps through complex chemical reactions the remaining oxygen can combine to form O3- ozone and increase back the ozone protective security of the planet earth. We must emphasize that despite the billions of dollars mankind has sunk into discovering any other forms of life and intelligence on a planetary basis has yielded no positive proof that aside from the Human Race and the planet earth no other planet, nor star is suitable for human habitation, so we have only this planet to call our own, and we must protect it by what ever means possible.

The Christian and theological doctrines of going to Heaven where there are many mansions will not hold water in this context because even the Gods will blame the Human Race for wasting away the earth planet  and want to people and dominate the Heavens. We must be cognizance that some civilization like that of the Atlantis and many others did submerged under water and were completely destroyed from creation, and as history repeats itself if mankind does not sit  up properly to address this issue of ecological and environmental degradation we will wake up one day and our civilization will be washed away by flood on a global basis as such the volume of water and spread of the seas surrounding the earth land mass is more than the entire land mass available to the Human Race and indeed in the schemes of things, safe for our intelligence, we are really minuscule.

On National and local Government scales we could alleviate some of the problems by pursuing an environmentally friendly policy thrust by the planting of trees policy, putting  up legislations on protecting forests and animals, curbing illegal poaching of the forests etc while on the sufficiency basis we could embark on dredging , widening the exiting water ways and building dams , embankments, reservoirs and underground water tanks to hold back the rivers from invading towns and river rhine civilizations. This will demand gigantic investment in canalization, re planning of cities to modern standard with drainage facilities to empty rain water, flood, ocean surges, and etc back into the canals for return to the oceans.

In the case of Nigeria where the River Niger overflowed its banks in 2012 destroying all the cities adjoining its banks the major opposition party of the Nigerian Federation Action Congress of Nigeria through its National Legal Adviser Dr Muiz Banire blasted the Ruling government of the PDP of President Goodluck Jonathan and all other PDP governments that have being ruling for the past 13 years of our democratic dispensation that they are partially to blame for this crisis as he alleged that the government of PDP did not do what should have been done in terns of building more dams on the river Niger and dredging it to hold more volume of water. And indeed water hycines and all forms of degradation have taken over the great River Niger in recent times.

While Prince Frank Ukonga a Presidential Aspirant of Social Democratic Mega Party /National Reformation Party,  major progressive political parties of the Nigerian Federation donated funds to alleviate the sufferings of the flood victims of the River Niger through two Associations of Ebira Voyan International and Ohiku Ebira  addressed to provide clothing, food and essential materials to the afflicted peoples. The President of the Nigeria Federation H.E. Goodluck Jonathan has also announced a donation of 17 billion Naira to assist the affected peoples. Also Governor Adams Oshiomhole and other Governors have also coughed out various sums of money to assist the people.

The consequences of this may impact negatively on farming and food harvest of 2012 of the Nigerian Federation and there is likely to be shortage of food products to the market as many farmlands have been washed away .Subsequently we need to invest in research and development in the agricultural segment to invent flood resistant seedlings as against the future. This flood will also affect industrial productivity, cause homelessness and redundancies of the production forces and affect the overall GDP of the Nigeria Federation in the 2013 fiscal year and ever in the next decade.

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