Editorial: #OccupyNigeria for reforming our democracy

Personal Goodluck, Nigeria’s bad luck

Nigeria has been caught in the wave of revolutionary fervour as some might suggest and this has all been triggered by the amazing deftness of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Like King Midas of old his wish to have everything he touched turn to gold had been granted only that what has gained affinity to his touch is the Nigerian coffers. As the proverbial 1^st Lord of the Treasury he has presided over a profligate and wasteful consumption of resources all to maintain a life of unseemly opulence along with his cohorts rather than address the matter of progressive leadership of Nigeria - He is both prodigal and a spendthrift.

An overly costly government

The expansion of government that allows for three-quarters of revenue to go into recurrent expenditure is untenable, unsustainable and unconscionable but his government fattened on the largesse of Nigeria’s good have neither the discipline nor restraint for a diet that will cut government excess, government waste and corrupt expense.

For the past few months, they had set their eyes on fuel subsidy with the view to completely removing it and promising to invest those proceeds in public infrastructure, primary health and social development schemes.

The fact is the government has no track record in concluding any of those schemes in Nigeria, in most cases the government has majored in vacuous good intentions offered as promises, none of which ever get to see the light of day. Goodluck Jonathan sadly leads a hopeless and hapless clinging to forlorn hope; there is no reason or basis to find any iota of optimism in anything he has to say to the Nigerian people.

Guessing and paying off the charts

Three months ago, I wrote Editorial: Nigerian Government Dishonesty About Fuel Subsidy in which I noted the discrepancies between the estimated cost of the subsidy and the actual cost that was inflated 5 times more than the budgeted cost.

Besides, it appears no one is sure of what the cost of subsidising fuel is, the Central Bank in its MPC Meeting minutes suggested that the cost was about $6 billion, the on-going debate in the Nigerian Senate suggests the Federal Government budgeted NGN 240 billion ($1.54 billion) for subsidies in 2011 but have found that cost inflated to NGN 1.5 trillion ($9.6 billion) in what is a looking like a typical Nigerian scam. [CBN (PDF) Page 3][All Africa]

What is amazing is how the legislature or any vested party is not in apoplectic rage at this malfeasance in the executive by carpeting those involved and prosecuting the principals for the fraudulent misuse of Nigerian funds – the idea that the executive could overspend by 500% and no one be called to account beggars belief but also shows how complicit the whole democratic system is in the endemic corruption that makes the cost of this Nigerian democracy unsustainable.

Incubating #OccupyNigeria

I feared that the government might expect the so-called “resilience” of Nigerians to allow them implement this blatant corrupt enterprise to feather their over-pampered nests on the premise that they were doing Nigerians some great good that I did suggest that if the people will not take to the streets the army should come out of the barracks and reset this brigandage of wanton debauchery masquerading as the government of the people.

Goodluck Jonathan however forced his hand just like King Midas of old when he touched his beloved daughter and she turned to gold. He announced that he was removing fuel subsidy on New Years Day and that set in motion the movement called #OccupyNigeria.

Nigerians came out to protest against their government that the usually indolent and overpaid legislature came out of recess to discuss the matter.

Meanwhile ministers and stooges of the government took on the airwaves to threaten the people and make pronouncements that could only sound acceptable in Nigeria, because most of those pronouncements if spoken by Western politicians who are regularly our examples of convenience would have those politician blabbermouths out of a job before sundown.

Stop the killing

However, other knowledgeable and articulate Nigerians countered each and every claim the government put forward, as they set their dogs (security personnel) upon the people killing some by reason of the savage and barbaric Force Order 237 which according to the Amnesty International report “instructs police officers in “riot” situations to “single out” and fire at “ring-leaders in the forefront of the mob” ”and “directs officers to fire “at the knees of the rioters” and explicitly prohibits firing in the air.” [Amnesty]

It makes you wonder how policing has been allowed to thrive in Victorian impunity for the convenience of presumably 21^st Century politicians, it is shocking and a shame that we have policing standards that make the Apartheid massacres look tame.

Global Nigerian unrest

With Nigerians in civil unrest that has taken on a global significance with demonstrations in Europe and America as well and the labour unions acquiescing by ordering indefinite strikes one can only hope that the people who matter are not enticed by unscrupulous means that the government has adopted in bribing the hungry and the unprincipled to speak up for the atrociously untenable.

There is no doubt that the fuel subsidy should go but only after we have achieved local sufficiency of the refined product; the government should address the real problem of the corrupt nexus of officials and companies robbing us blind whilst facilitating the development and effective functioning of our local refineries working to capacity.

Beyond fuel subsidies

#OccupyNigeria is however now beyond the matter of fuel subsidies, it has to go the heart of the cost of our democracy that demands swingeing cuts to not just basic salaries but to allowances and perks that are beyond belief. All allowances should be cut to a fraction of the basic salaries of politicians which are in any case already excessively huge.

Going into politics in Nigeria should lose the allure of untold riches paid for sanctioned indolence, politics should be about selfless service with Nigerians only meeting basic middle-class needs of our politicians – if these people need more they should go get a job elsewhere, Nigeria’s udders have been milked to incurable sourness by political jobbers at all levels of government.

Sadly, the government of Goodluck Jonathan with the once excellent but now terribly disappointing Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala are incapable of implementing reform but one hopes that after they have been stunned by the forceful and determined reaction of Nigerians they will move to cut costs, cut waste, prosecute the frauds, restore the subsidy, lay off the majority of advisers, cut unnecessary ministries and ministerial posts, impose economy on the legislature, partner in building working refineries that will obviate the need for the subsidy and dare to earn our trust.

We could not have imagined a Nigerian version of the Arab Spring but today we have a Nigeria of all tribes and persuasion united as one for that entity called Nigeria and the identity that is Nigerian - #OccupyNigeria is our Nigerian Harmattan of Discontent and long may it continue until our democracy begins to represent its people, our aspirations and our hopes and the people we have elected to lead us begin to serve.

Tweets of interest

RT @resourcedat: DOWNLOAD KPMG REPORT ON NNPC: http://is.gd/JkOXaw Need to read this - Favourite it. An embarrassing catalogue of corruption, ineptitude and waste that should have had ministers, officials and company executives shot in a former time.

@ElRufai Interview on AIT on Fuel Subsidy – YouTube bit.ly/ye1xWz He takes it all apart and the government has no comeback. Someone to be credited for knowing the workings of the Nigerian government and exposing its failings.

RT @disgeneration: Fuel subsidy removal: Nigeria’s Finance Minister speaks to Al Jazeera http://bit.ly/yTxaBZ I could not help but notice her fluency in the parseltongue.

BBC News - Nigeria fuel protests: Union threatens oil shutdown http://bbc.in/w2sITG The government is far from embracing humility.

RT @OKShorty1: @BukkieSho Oil production will be shut in. Nigeria will lose $200m/N33b everyday. < Brought on by government incompetence.

#OccupyNigeria is no more just about reversion of subsidies, it demands a root and branch reform of our government & governance.

Yes, let us end the #OccupyNigeria strikes by getting the government to cut spending, cut waste and restore subsidies.

#OccupyNigeria has gone global - We, the people of Nigeria are out to take our representative democracy back from hoodlums.

…as AGF reads riot act to protesters http://is.gd/pIr8F2 No, we are reading the Riot Act to the Nigerian Government.

The end of paternalism in Nigeria, we'll not be threatened by the people we have elected to serve us, they're accountable to us.

OPS decries effects of strike, urges NLC, TUC to call it off http://is.gd/loz9hA Address the problem head-on, it's the government.

Incredible India - Improving Your Koenig Solutions Experience - Part II

Incubating Part II

Two weeks ago, I wrote a blog titled Incredible India: Improving the Koenig Solutions Brand – Part I, since then, I have thought about what to include in what would become Part II and I have decided it should be about improving your Koenig Solutions experience.

After all that I have written about my experiences in India, I believe given the opportunity again, I would avail myself of Koenig Solutions services if their repertoire of courses extends to include Enterprise Architecture though that would also require getting trainers out of industry rather than just having people with book knowledge of seriously impacting concepts.

Besides, there are other courses that might be of interest too as one tries to keep in line with market developments and establish a niche area of expertise.

Very useful advice

There are however a few key things that will make your experience worthwhile one that I share here comes from someone who is quite conversant with the system and the way things get done in India.

This is what he had to say, “This is India. However much we strive to root out this sort of stuff, ubiquitous chaos, poor English and even carelessness on behalf of some of the lower staff has always been and will always be intrinsically part of the India experience of most of our students.

It takes a while to get used to and find the right mental disposition to tackle. As a rule of thumb, do not take sloppiness from anyone but under all circumstances remain calm and firm about stuff that is not to your liking. Call in the center manager if necessary.

Do not depend on no one. Most staff will never take any initiative whatsoever and will expect you to do so. If people don't understand you, they won't admit to it, thus adding to confusion. When in doubt or unhappy about the answer given or services provided - especially about issues pertaining to hygiene and health, ask to talk to someone else or take it to the reception desk or center manager directly.

Adjust your notion of time. Whereas most of us are punctual on time related issues, the majority of Indian folks are on IFT (Indian Flexible Time) which tends to drive us totally mad on our first India visit.  Never wait till the last minute to make arrangements for something. Anything asked for less than 24 hours before deadline will most probably fail as most people are unfamiliar with concepts like timely resolution or urgency.

These days, I've gotten used to all things you describe and by finding ways to work around them by adjusting my mindset to how things work in India.”

I think this should be on the front page of every tour guide or brochure you get concerning India, it will go a long way to helping you adjust to the severe culture shock you might experience on your visit to India.

Your preparations

In terms of preparations to go to India, these are the things you probably need to note. Whilst most people using Koenig Solutions get a Tourist Visa, be prepared to consider getting a Business Visa and if your stay will be more than 30 days you might have to get an Entry Visa.

If based in Europe obtain information about Koenig Solutions’ bank account in Belgium rather than travelling with thousands of Euros, Pounds or Dollars of Traveller’s cheques.

On arrival in India, if you are unsatisfied with anything, let the management know. Do not be fobbed off with excuses or apologies if you are not satisfied with the proposed resolution. At times, you might be offered compensation which in Indian terms might be huge but in general terms, is paltry if not insulting, be ready to stand your ground and escalate – you paid for a service, get the service you paid for.

Insist on these, all the time

Regarding course material, your books should be shrink-wrapped, if not, they are second-hand books, do not sign the receipts until you have been provided with new books.

For the curriculum delivered from PowerPoint slides, I have found it is quite difficult to take useful and relevant notes – insist on having those PowerPoint slides printed out at no extra cost for you to annotate throughout your training. You cannot annotate electronic copies and to be honest any decent PowerPoint-based training material provides hard copies.

For each test-based curriculum that you take, allow for at least 2 days after the course for study and preparation for the tests. Whilst some might be able to walk into tests and pass immediately after the training, others trying that might find that they will be repeating tests before scoring a pass.

If you have non-lecture days and need to study, the provided accommodations can be quite Spartan; I have however not found out if public libraries are better equipped for this.

Other useful tips

For the cost, I will advise that you hire the mobile Internet dongle because Internet connectivity at both the training centre and the accommodations can be patchy at times.

If you obtain an Indian SIM Card ask that mobile data be enabled as part of the package if you need to use your smartphone to surf the Internet.

Get a TravelCard if you use the New Delhi metro, it means you do not have to join interminably long queues for tokens to travel.

New Delhi of all the Koenig Solutions Training Centres is nearest to Agra some 200 kilometres south this is where the Taj Mahal is located but the road to Agra has Mathura – the birthplace of Krishna with the great statue of goddess Durga, Sikandra where the Tomb of Akbar the Great is – the grandfather of Shah Jahan who built the Taj Mahal, a good deal of the Agra Fort and the Red Fort back in New Delhi.

It is better to get Koenig Solutions to book a train to Agra or arrange with other colleagues to book a more comfortable bus than the Koenig city transit buses which will also allow you to stop at these other places than just the journey to the Taj Mahal where you are also put in the hands of unscrupulous restaurants or persons ready to fleece you. If you have amongst you someone who speaks Hindi you can get much done and if you have to be really assertive, have one amongst you who is articulate, forceful and insistent on getting the results without backing down.

Be streetwise

When it comes to food, be careful, circumspect and wise. Cooked and cooked well is important, keep off cold vegetarian dishes if you have no resistance to the local bugs. Most visitors pick up Traveller’s Diarrhoea, so pack your Imodium take lots of yoghurt/curd and eat lots of bananas. Lassi is a yoghurt drink that can settle your tummy quite well but don’t even venture Bhang Lassi – it contains cannabis, but you might get more than a high, you could end up in hospital paying bills as part of a medical scam.

For lunch you usually have the choice of McDonald's, Subway, Dominoes or Hakka, then you have to decide between vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes – I stuck with rice in most cases. Haldirams which is a purely vegetarian chain has many choices but be careful what you choose and be sure you have the stomach for that choice.

When shopping, only use reputable shops, it is better to see the price tags up front than attempt to haggle and then realise you have just become a victim of daylight robbery. If you don’t know cashmere you might end up with a fine hybrid of polyester and nylon, the real factory markings are not on the edges of the cloth, if the bales were taken off the shelf, that chalk-like factory marking with the true composition of cloth would have been cut off.

Always negotiate up front for services that do not have a clear price tag – in the end, India can be fun, but you have to be aware, smart and really streetwise with a presence, so you do not get taken for granted and end up the worse for it. Be aggressive if you must and walk away if you can. Click on the Koenig Solutions label below this post to see my other related posts.

Thought Picnic: Some Unsolicited Advice

Enduring hope

I sit here almost exhausted of too many things I could care about with only one thing that keeps me going, I have life and I have hope no matter how remote that seems.

I woke up very early to make my home of 10 years presentable, we are having a photo-shoot of sorts because I have had to put it on the market and the first set of pictures were somewhat unsatisfactory.

Observing and reserving

This rough journey started a few years ago, benign and almost unconcerned a brownish blotch appeared on my left foot and once I noticed it was quick to research it and came down on the view that it was just athlete’s foot, so to the chemist I went can got Mycota cream in what had become a regime of self-medication for decades of my life.

Until then, I probably had only been to see a doctor 5 or 6 times in more than 15 years and I only did because I was in serious pain or needed emergency treatment by reason of a mugging that happened some 8 years ago.

Besides, I was on vitamins and other kinds of supplements, all with the view to keep me healthy and with a mind that seemed to defy all semblances of frailty.

Don’t leave it too late

This time, I was wrong. In the weekend, I finished reading the biography of Steve Jobs and also saw that he was so right and determined in many things but when it came to his health, he was very wrong and by the time he joined up with his doctors to ameliorate the situation, he was already too late in spite of and despite the resources he could call upon to address the situation, the 9 months of folly between discovery and effective professional medical intervention, he was already in terminal decline.

I have been fortunate and lucky, I never had any of the resources he had but in the Netherlands where I moved to over 11 years ago to start a new life we have a medical system and social medicine scheme that can provide the best medical treatment available and I have some of the foremost medical brains on my case.

What looked like athlete’s foot some 9 months before was worse, what I put down to tiredness by reason of a somewhat sedentary life was in fact my life ebbing away, I was at a point where without intervention I would have been dead within 5 weeks – I had skin cancer.

Restarting is tough

It took a hospital bed to ground me to that stark reality, a life almost at zero and the struggle to rebuild my life again and there is much that remains uncertain 27 months after that diagnosis – I have seen plenty and I have seen penury, I have hoped against all hope to do amazing things I could never have done when I seemed to have it all, I have lived a wonderful life.

Despair has probably been kept at bay, depression I have had to contend with and humiliation constantly rams my portals oblivious of the things I have borne, felt or feared – but each day comes and each day goes of what is left of this life and what one must do to make it even more significant if one has that time.

Much of this could have been prevented in terms of immediate medical attention and even before that making certain career choices that might have provided a more secure income stream but like I have written before; if you have your health you dare to think yourself invincible, couple that with youth and you almost think you are immortal – Nothing, my friends could be further from the truth, we are neither invincible nor immortal.

Use doctors well

There is one piece of unsolicited advice I have to give and it pertains to your health. Your health is not a plaything, it is critical to every facet of your wellbeing and without it you only have your hopes to live for if the pain lets up for just a moment.

Medicine is there for a reason and doctors have a function and purpose we will do well to engage. We can if unsatisfied obtain a second, third or fourth opinion but those opinions are not to be trifled with – some things require immediate action despite our foolhardiness or fears; our bodies are not inanimate.

If you have adopted a lifestyle of self-medication and Internet-researched medicine, you need to err on the side of caution. Without the requisite medical knowledge what your research should do is equip you with questions to ask the professionals and ensure you get satisfactory answers but do not ever pretend to become your own doctor – even doctors know to see other doctors for impartial advice and help.

Now for a bit more house-cleaning to do – I used to get someone to do all this for me.

My friend, a man, a brother and much more - Happy Birthday

This friend is different

No story told of me will ever be complete without including him. Any life story without friends is a story that has not even begun.

Then amongst friends there is one; different, separate, unusual – holding a place that words have yet to be found to describe, it is more than sight, more than hearing, it is of hearts that people wonder why and can never understand.

It is not for others to understand, but it is for us to cherish and for me to celebrate, honour and declare – my secrets; he knows, my fears; he shares, he stands tall amongst all men and with him we know we have each other’s ears and minds.

Nature would not have allowed him to be my big-brother, by happenstance he could have been my half-brother, by the wonders of science today, maybe even my twin-brother but any which way he sticks closer than a brother in a covenant of a life of shared and varied experiences.

Adventurous at heart, daring at times that I am just blown away, caring that even with the distance his voice is like a hug in times when one is needed – and those times have been many over a period of almost 28 years.

Today marks another milestone, another one of my birthday card blogs to those who matter too much to me to ever be silent about it.

Once again – Happy Birthday, my dearest friend – may wonderful amazing things fill your days with beauty that makes you gasp, freshness that makes you smile and a naughty tickling that makes you laugh that your ribs almost ache. You are loved beyond what I can dare to express.

Happy Birthday and many happy returns.

Thought Picnic: Gentle on my mind

Adjustments

It has been a week since I returned from India in what for me has been a life-changing experience. In that week, much has happened some of which is interestingly significant because managing my health is critical to my survival.

I cannot tell if it was the weather, the change of diet, the ground to the issues and problems I left behind or other things that meant that I have had to fight off severe diarrhoea again with the popping of Imodium pills, then a cold accompanied with cough that had a German pharmacist prescribing a diurnal and nocturnal expectorant strictly advising me not to confuse the two.

However, I have never followed the prescriptions for expectorants as I have done for other kinds of medication, the nocturnal one even came with a precision measuring syringe but true to form after the first act of conformance, it was the bottle to the lips and a gulp for accuracy.

Hamburg

Yes, indeed, the return from India required a short break, one that I planned by the time I was 10 days into my sojourn and it was to Hamburg.

Before my loyalty points lapsed for my Carlson card, I posted the points towards a stay on the 23^rd floor of the Radisson Blu Hotel and found that my outward journey had to be done by train because the weather was just too bad to put a small plane in the air.

I was last in Hamburg some 9 years ago and though it was winter it still had all the excitement and not so decent sides of a sea-port city, it is the 3^rd largest port in Europe after Rotterdam and Antwerp.

Life ahead

There are other things to do too, tests to pass before the month runs out means a lot of study, my apartment is on the market as a result of fundamental changes that followed long-term sickness and well I need to repackage myself for the market being more confident of using the new knowledge I have gained and being able to leverage the wealth of my experience once again.

Usually, I do not leave it this long to write blogs and there is at least a blog or two to write to sum up my Incredible India experience. Besides, the old home of my blog at http://akin.blog-city.com has now closed after 8 years, it is sad to see that era end but the guys at Blog-City got bored with that venture and it probably is a good lesson about going for the established over the small startup.

In all, here’s to new beginnings, 2012, here we come. As haunting as this song has always been since I played it on my father’s stereo system in the 1970’s, it is still one that remains etched in memory and of all the covers, the one by Dean Martin is most remembered – Gentle on my mind – the things of life, the past, the present and the future, written by John Hartford it is all summed up in this line, “That keeps you in the back roads, by the rivers of my mem'ry, that keeps you ever gentle on my mind.”

Back roads, rivers, memory and mind – to reminisce, to meditate, to conquer all.

Thought Picnic: Seeking other travel companions

So not I

I cannot say where he came from but I immediately took a dislike to him. There was much to dislike like poking me so he could get through to use the toilet like his bladder was weak, the word please had not visited his vocabulary, if ever.

I did not touch the vegetarian dish I was offered, I had had enough from a month in India, he was soon pointing a finger expectantly at it, presciently I thought he eventually would so I obliged.

I could only remember Janis Joplin's song and sing my own lyrics, O Lord, don't ever let me travel coach class again - the next line will however not be written yet.

Am I to endure another 5 hours of this?

Lord have mercy.

So strange me

Then he gave me an apple, literally thrust it at me, I could not refuse even with my remonstration that I took it.

Taking apples from strangers forced together by the improbability of aircraft seating plans is just not safe for all sorts of reasons.

With my thinking in overdrive after the second bite I was in bulimia extremis as I mustered all emetic strength I never knew I had to put whatever I had bitten of the apple in the embrace of blue ice.

It soon dawned on me the accident of fate that put a Spaniard and an Englishman together, the barrier of language exacerbated by the lack of social graces of the former.

So naughty us

Dear Lord help my lack of humility and forgive the snobbishness that so easily befalls me.

A vegetarian Spaniard? Wonders shall never cease, at which point, nothing more can shock me, maybe I have spoken to soon, we are 8 hours into the flight by Indian time.

Aren't we there yet? Says the little boy in me.

There are better ways to travel than this, I know.

Ah! The captain speaks, Paris in 25 minutes, hoping to land at 5:50AM.

I was asked to fill in a survey, like the receptionist at the training centre in India opined when I was filling in that amateur final feedback form they offered me - it is my favourite hobby.

Well, ask for my opinion and you will get an honest and frank expression of views; surely, that is what they want. I hope so.

Come think of it; are the couples on the plane in Paris for a romantic holiday?

I hear the sound of landing gear being deployed, so there.

Incredible India: No task like a job

How many men do it take …?

I think I have to conclude, it is an Indian thing, passing through customs was a breeze of handlers. In fact, my passport was first touched at the entrance to the terminal and that was two checkers just 3 metres apart to ascertain the first had not been derelict in his duty of observance.

Then I am approached at ask was flight I would be on, that was by a lady, she gave me a form to fill in – yes, we have to fill in a departure form that includes the address of where we stayed in India amongst other unnecessary bureaucratic information.

Then I checked in my baggage with the privilege accorded a frequent flyer to add one more, airline loyalty and airmiles accumulation does pay. I paid for my return trip to India with my airmiles and got to travel in style too. Two men at check-in, though in this case, one did help with my baggage.

Form filling is form

After filling in the form and cabin luggage tags, one was issued for my cane but there was no way of attaching it to my cane, I did not bother; I gave my passport, boarding pass and departure form to the immigration officer who squinted and bent my passport every which way, took advice off his colleague then passed it through the electronic verification system before stamping it and handing it back.

Then I was at security where everything was put in trays and I was handed identifiers for the trays going through the X-ray system, at the point my boarding pass was checked and stamped, and that was a lady at work. When my goods eventually emerged from the X-ray system, eventually, because they chose to change positions after I stepped through the metal detector, the identifiers were matched and once again my boarding pass was stamped – another lady at work.

I had to smile as I watched the lady try to attach a hand baggage tag to my cane, a really stupid exercise that someone by law had to do – Shaking my head, vigorously.

All busy very slowly

I am surprised at my somewhat apt observation from when I arrived in India that there was indeed a man per task rather than a person doing a job that consists of tasks – this supposed division of labour keeps everyone busy and props up a bureaucratic system that is unwieldy at best.

Just when I thought I have seen the last of checks before the boarding gate was another man checking if my hand luggage had the correct tagging as well as ensuring I had a boarding pass – as if everyone else was sleeping on duty.

I suppose everyone is busy doing something in India, to what end escapes me apart from it keeping unemployment figures low, not helping people assume responsibility or take initiative and worst of all, it means very few will know how to multitask because it takes that to do a job and do it well.