Is this the Nigeria Story?

Law and Order Public Notice Lagos State (A response to its criticism)

The recent Law and Order notice from the Lagos State Government has become the kind of discourse that the Nigerian chattering classes love. A seeming intellectual attempt to selflessly protect the ‘common man’ from a rampant state whose unbridled exercise of power threatens to destroy democracy as we know it and return us to the Militaristic dark ages. Never mind that all these comments only thinly disguises their own interest in the impunity that masquerades as driving on the roads of Lagos. How else would anyone in their right minds hold brief for such egregious and dangerous acts like driving against the flow of traffic? Recently a friend of mine driving along Obalende landed herself in the trap that the status quo currently lays for the law abiding. Two Okadas vying for primacy driving against a one way system collided spilling one of them into the path of her oncoming car. The inevitable consequence was a fatal accident in which one of the riders died. She has not only spent far in excess of the N250,000 that is the penalty of the offence that the Okada riders committed. In fact she has spent double aside from having to sleep in a police cell and still going through a court case in spite of being entirely faultless in the case.

Our elite and their chattering, nattering , negativity are the bane of responsible governance. The target in this case the Fashola government which came to power with a clear agenda and mantra of “Eko O ni baje” and pursues it with the vigour we have all desired and dreamed. They won the election on this mandate and have through the peoples representatives in the House of assembly prioritised rescuing the public spaces from all the uncontrolled excesses of the past which has made the city of Lagos and its surburbs into a far more dangerous sight that it is in reality. I often joke that in Lagos you either do business or become the business and for many years we Nigerians have reduced the City and by implication the state to a byword for chaos. This government in line with its goals and priorities has decided to reclaim the public space from shameless acts that threaten life and limb on a daily basis and not a day too soon.

The most quoted critic of the new Law is the Assizes law firm’s long and legalistic argument . It is at the very least a great positioning or excellent PR tactic for the firm however through their widely circulated article by design or otherwise they are doing a public service. A discussion of the merits of a law is an end in itself but it is a shame this was not done when it was still a bill in the Lagos State house of Assembly. Nevertheless we are where we find ourselves with debating after the fact. This is itself a very good reason for active citizenry and proper accountability of constituency representatives during their tenure not after the four year term . The Law firm through Chinua Asuzu’s much publicised article must congratulate itself on incredible publicity it is getting. Unfortunately the dubious populism that it uses does not mask the failure to truly consider the issues that the Notice seeks to address. The article reeks of myopic self interest without any comment or concern about the many thousands that die on our roads everyday.

The first problem is that the writer admits that he has neither seen or read the legislation he is challenging. The risks of distorting the facts through the lens of his own perception was not caution enough more disturbingly he refuses to address the public policy imperative that makes such a law desirous. I actually think the failure to enact such a law is a severe dereliction on the part of any government that is worth that name. The FRSC recently released the figure of 60,000 for Okada related deaths and serious injuries which in my opinion is a gross undercount. One of the greatest causes of death in the African continent and Nigeria specifically is road accident. It takes the numbers of people off the streets in line with a low intensity war. I could set out the toll on my family and others of untimely deaths on our roads. Many promising and talented people lost to excesses and self indulgent drivers with no recourse. It surprises me, in fact I am totally flabbergasted that the Government is being criticised in this area where it should have given number one priority, the protection of life and safety of its citizens.

It would seem the Assizes firm is more concerned about the people who are made responsible under the Order and the level of penalty imposed. About this people the writer makes the point about vicarious liability claiming an unfairness or injustice for the Employer who would be liable for the misdeeds of his or her driver. This argument is not only disingenuous but it suggests that the writer is motivated by other subjective interest rather than serious public concern. In fact Vicarious liability is a staple of strict liability traffic offences across many jurisdictions. The principle that acts committed during the legitimate discharge of employment that would invariably benefit the employer should be also be the liability of this benefactor. Most drivers exercise haste and recklessness to deliver their employers in a timely manner through the crazy Lagos hold ups. It cannot be effective to punish the driver whilst the employer who benefits goes off free. In public policy terms the intention is to make these acts so prohibitive that not only is the driver deterred , no one (not even Oga) contemplates them. Also those that commit the offences are isolated and lose the outlets and comfort that their networks especially employers can give them. It should be the employers obligation to recruit those with the knowledge , skills and attitude necessary to be good drivers on the roads. Quite simply they are responsible and accountable for those they unleash on other road users.

It is the same principle that applies to the passengers. They are active participants in the actions of the driver. Their passivity is no excuse, most passengers are active by either raising objection or egging on the drivers intransigence. Unlike the obvious case of the employer their role as benefactor is probably case specific however the Nigerian public space is so fraught with permissiveness and impunity that the initial interventions will have to be a bit oppressive to disrupt the culture that has evolved. The law makes sure all the direct contacts and beneficiaries of the drivers actions are themselves at risk leaving no outlet for anyone to accommodate or encourage such behaviour. The benefit of such an approach and the level of punishment are quite perceptive of how deeply ingrained the malaise is on our roads. I would rather lives are saved than protect people from the economic pain and inconvenience of paying large fines when they do what is obviously destructive. I would go as far as to treat such cars going against traffic with the legal assumption that it is prima facie evidence of intention to kill others. It is quite similar to someone packing a gun along to an argument or fight the likelihood of use makes it beyond recklessness. There should be a presumption of intent. Tough and aggressive?This is exactly what is needed.

The writer makes a key point abut the lack of officially sanctioned driving tests and I think this is a critical area for government to set standards and ensure only mentally, physically fit people with acceptable competencies drive on the road. I believe that plans are afoot for this incredibly important issue. The same applies to traffic signs which there is already the first step of new street signs implemented. In the meantime we need to avert the everyday carnage that occurs because the worst excesses of road users are not curtailed. Instead of using this Public notice as a basis for hyperventilating the Assizes firm and similar newspaper pundits should spearhead education about the dangers of certain behaviours in the public space. We are all partners and benefactors in a better public space. Now that would be newsworthy. The elite truly involved in transformative activities that matters rather than being armchair criticism. That will be without doubt a turn for the books worth

The Media Spin

The post on the Mianstream media spin on the US general elections . There is a perspectiveis that they want a close race to sell their spaces and get ratings but it is up to you. Here is Media matters take on the same thing your humle correspondent picked up on The Washington Post? ABC polls.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200807170011

Then there is the point of what is being ignored as the Bush and Mccain move towards Obamas Foreign Policy as covered by Talking Points Memo in the link below.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204646.php

Then today the Iraqi PM just endorsed the 'Rookie" Senators withdrawal plans guess what that means. Soon it will all have been Bush? Mccain's idea all along.

DARC gene and the politicisation of HIV/AIDS

Apparently there is something called the DARC gene which is allegedly carried by 90% of Africans South of the Sahara which makes us more susceptible to HIV infections and also helps us to survive it a little longer. The gene is supposedly a genetic mutation or response to Malaria. It supposedly leads to an 11% more HIV infections in Africans. There is a book called Survival of the Sickest one of the best books on Epigenetics and complexity as well as a brilliant read, it lays down some of the most lucid thinking in this area.

I have always posited that we are yet to truly discover the story of HIV/AIDS that most of the thinking here is of the Laboratory technician variation rather than true science. As Gary Zukav suggests in his book the Dancing Wu Li Masters true science is about revelation of emergent aspects of the natural world not its reduction into parts that are captured in smaller parts within the abstractions of a laboratory test tube.

Anyway this news was accompanied by spin on both sides of the Atlantic with BBC pushing it as UCL discovery and in reality it was led by University of Texas. More importantly it was based on an American sample without any from Africa itself included. It becomes once again the story of the Kenya prostitutes who were apparently immune to the virus then we were led to believe the solution from this was coming out of efforts in the university city of Oxford ignoring the African scientists whose work it is primarily . This is no accident, there is a lot of money involved, prestige and national credibility but more importantly it is the that powerful narrative that those of European descent are superior in areas of intellectual and scientific pursuit. So long everyone buys into this narrative then the hegemony will continue and they set the rules. We will see if it can continue. By the way the lead Author is a Professor Sunil Ahuja,

What is the media role in this election?

Quick post! It has been sometime since I commented on the US elections, the primaries was delightfully exhausting and I am still processing the dynamics.

I watched my usual battery of News Channels yesterday and came away with an impression that the new narrative is that Senator Obama is an innocent abroad and naive on foreign policy. This even though quite openly Senator McCain was at the same bulletin stealing his opponents policy clothing by prioritising Afghanistan as security focus and increasing troops there. None in the media pointed out that if the candidates were political pundits, Obama had called Iraq right, his point on attacking Al Qeida in Pakistan and challenging President Musharraf efforts as an ally that Mccain called naive also turned quite right, his call on making Afghanistan the real war of National Security also turning out to be quite accurate. On the other hand McCain appears right on the surge in Iraq working because it has reduced but not eliminated violence. Looking at this record how can anyone be the more savvy of the two. Even though i do not agree with Senator Obama on Zimbabwe it is his voice that is on record, the same applies on his view of America budget deficit and its security implications. Is it that the media cannot actually analyse fine points of policy or it chooses no too? For me racism as an explanation is to easy , a low hanging fruit .

In fact CNN and BBC perhaps the more worldly news networks actually locate Obama as struggling to define his Foreign policy pitch even though his major speech was given a subsidiary tag to Senator Mccain's speech in response. I thought this was itself just an issue of my timing in watching the bulletin until this morning. My usual quick check of the polls in http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/ showed the ABCnews/ Washington Post polls as Obama up 3% points on Mccain. If you do read the Washington Post today you will see it as a 8% lead. Which is true?

The reality is that they are both true but Real Clear Politics a blog in Time magazine always chooses the most negative spin on any Obama situation since the primaries. 8% is the gap when looking at all registered voters but 3% is the difference on likely voters ( a more subjective test). In the same vein CNN reported that Mccain does better with voters 47% to Obama's 45% on Iraq in another poll without saying that this is actually within the 3% point margin of error. Add this to the so called satire in the New Yorker you start seeing that the corporate media has an angle it is playing and it is not 'fair and balanced' although they are all yet to go as far as Fox News in being totally without credibility where Obama is concerned.

My warning to you all before Senator Obama morphs into Robert Mugabe choose your media poison with the garden variety scepticism fully at touching distance. It is not the broader reporting but the sting is the spin.

Niger Delta ' check yourselves before you wreck yourself"

Once again Oga Tunji 'the famous' making a guest posting. Since you people gave him so much love the last time sending the number of hits on this blog out into Orbit well we will have him here weekly. This post or article might have had showing on some Nigerian dailies but still worth your serious reflection. He actually says he his not a Latte Liberal but a Star beer guzzling progressive. Go figure!


The Niger Delta: Crisis or Opportunity
By Tunji Lardner

The “Niger Delta Crisis” always so simplistically framed in our national political debate is much more complicated than the present brouhaha over the selection of the Chairmanship of the proposed Presidential summit on the same issue might suggest. To be swayed by the frothiness of the advertorials in our newspapers masquerading as informed and enlightened commentary on the issue is to entirely miss the point.

The point is not whether a Gambari, Kukah, Clinton, Carter or Mickey Mouse chairs the summit, but whether a new way can be found to begin to address an old and pernicious Nigerian problem. A Nigerian problem that now has far reaching international complicity and implications, and so to restate the blithering obvious here, “the Niger Delta Crisis” is NOT just a Nigeria Delta problem, but is in fact a National Niger Delta Crisis, key word, “National as in Nigeria” with growing National Security implications that can if inadequately addressed unravel our fledgling democracy.

The extrapolation of this crisis however does not in anyway diminish the geographical ownership of the problem after all most Nigerians are cynically indifferent or benignly ignorant of the environmental and ecological damage wrought upon the good people of the delta by fifty years of rampant, corrupt and under-regulated oil drilling. (More on this point later.)

It is clearly with this understanding of the complexity of the Niger Delta crisis that Mr. President last year approached the United Nations for assistance with this issue as well as the other hobgoblin of our political life, electoral reform. That direct request for assistance to the United Nations Secretary, Ban Ki-Moon is the reason a year later after many bureaucratic hoops, that Ibrahim Gambari has been seconded to help the Presidency provide a new direction and engagement with this issue.

In the intervening year, the crisis has not abated and indeed it has worsen punctuated last month by the spectacular attack by so called “militants” on the Shell Off-shore Bonga facility, cutting Nigeria’s daily oil output by a further ten percent and bringing the country closer to a possible civil war.

Again from his vantage point possibly looking at the enormity of the challenges before him, President Umaru Yar'Adua has again reached out to the international community for help. According to a BBC report “Speaking at the G8 summit in Japan, President Umaru Yar'Adua drew comparisons between oil "bunkering" and the trade in "blood diamonds".
He said an international effort must be made to stop the trade, which fuelled unrest in the Niger Delta.
The smuggling cartel includes officials at the Nigerian state oil company, government, and the military and international oil companies, according to Delta activists. Trying to stop the trade must be an international effort, the president says, because the people driving the market are companies looking for cheap crude to feed international markets "Stolen crude should be treated like stolen diamonds because they both generate blood money," President Yar'Adua said. "Like what is now known as 'blood diamonds', stolen crude also aids corruption, violence and can provoke war."

An international smuggling cartel, a corrupt systemic and institutional cabal of government, military and oil industry officials, a growing restive, armed and sometimes criminal gangs of ex-political thugs, all in the business of “bunkering” adds up to a recipe for war… if left unchecked. Hmmm… sounds suspiciously familiar.
Mr. President’s insightful comparison to “blood diamonds” immediately throws up the harrowing memories of Sierra Leone and Liberia not too long ago, and Nigerians had better remove their collective ostrich heads from deep in the sands of denial and fully understand that we are not exempt from the horrific logic of war spawned by the Dutch disease.
If there was any doubt as to the underlying reason why some people DO NOT want any solution to the Niger Delta Crisis, Mr. President’s statements on “Blood Oil” provides impeccable proof that there are powerful forces in and out of the government and in collusion with international carpetbaggers determined to stop any open, transparent, and accountable process that could lead to a peaceful resolution of the Niger Delta crisis. Indeed one can logically argue that their strategic intent is for Nigeria to actually go to war over “ blood oil.” Why? Sky high oil prices means more “bunkering” profits, diminished ability of the Nigerian State to receive oil payments and rent, as well as brand new opportunities for selling arms to all sides of the conflict.
In my opinion, Nigeria today is the Niger Delta writ large, complete with the perils and promise of a potentially great nation unfortunately saddled with historically bad, no, really spectacularly bad leadership and a disengaged, cynical and frightful citizenry with no concept of or collective will to fight for their own enlightened interests.
I believe we cannot solve the many problems of Nigeria without first addressing the problems of the Niger Delta in an open, transparent, accountable and compassionate manner. For just as crude oil is the “blood,” (with apologies to Mr. President) that energizes and animates the Nigerian body politic, so the Nigeria delta can be compared to the heart that pumps that life giving blood, and to think that both entities are separate and can exist one without the other is to imagine a heart without a body or a body without a heart, without each other, both would die.
And so we are confronted with yet another national opportunity to mend our heart (absolutely no pun intended) and heal our body politic. The historic significance of our fiftieth anniversary in 2010 only adds to the urgency of a collective commitment to charting a new and positive direction for Nigeria. While to be sure it will require bold, visionary and even risk taking leadership in both our public and private lives, and most especially from the Presidency, it is a challenge for all Nigerians everywhere.
The easy route is to trot out the “Niger Delta Crisis” trope, as if it is something happening elsewhere, far, far away from our own respective daily grind. Well at this point that will not suffice; the Niger delta is part of us and its so-called “crisis” is actually a national catastrophe that has and continues to plunge Nigeria into deepening darkness, quite literally and figuratively. It might not immediately occur to the reader that one of the reasons why we have such a dismal power supply problem is simply the mechanical challenge of piping natural gas to various gas powered stations, especially when those pipes are routinely blown up by so called militants. So every time we are mired in darkness we have all those people, Mr. President alluded to in his statement to the G8 to thank.
So do we continue to curse the darkness or light a candle, see the Niger Delta situation as an intractable Gordian knot that can never be unraveled, or see through the current fog of confusion, fear, revenge, greed and deception a new and possible golden opportunity to sincerely tackle this “Niger Delta” crisis? The choice is ours to make. History cynically suggests that we will chose the path of least resistance and self righteously curse the darkness, but if we chose the latter, then I humbly suggest that we reflect on the following points:

1)
The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.
Attributed to Albert Einstein,
There is a thoroughly misguided tendency among Nigerians to reduce the complexities of their private, public and national lives into simplistic nostrums that they believe - in spite of strong empirical proof to the contrary - will solve their many problems. This abject surrender to faith over and above reason in every instance is a peculiar feature in our intellectual lives, but it does not always solve our problems. The prevalent sense among some members of the political elite that all the problems of the Niger Delta have been duly identified and that the solution is the immediate development of the blighted areas, preferably by throwing money at the problems in that venal Nigerian way that we are all so familiar with. At his point it is pertinent to ask when throwing money at our problems have actually solved them on the long term? If so the billions of dollars spent by the Obasanjo regime over eight years on the power sector would surely have guaranteed that Nigeria would not be in perpetually darkness. The only beneficiaries of this approach are the legions of thieving rent-seekers extracting filthy lucre at every link of the value chain, or “licking oil” as the practice is informally called. While there is a genuine and urgent need to fix the infrastructural and ecological problems in the Niger Delta, through initiatives like the much touted “Marshall Plan,” we must understand that even that will take time, planning and meticulous and accountable execution. The original Marshall Plan was an ambitious post –war initiative to rebuild a destroyed Europe as well as create a bulwark against creeping Soviet communism. It took the entire financial, intellectual, administrative and industrial resources of the victorious Allied forces lead by America to rebuild Europe. Simply touting a Marshall Plan as is being blithely suggested does not make it happen. Or as my niece would say “no be yam” We must manage the expectations of a quick makeover for the Niger Delta and be truly honest with the people about what the real challenges are and what is expected collectively of all of us to right this historic wrong.
The Niger Delta crisis has been festering over the last fifty years stoked by greedy, visionless and predatory leaders of all stripes, it will take a new kind of leadership to even begin to address the fundamental issues and root causes of the problem. To begin to address the problems will necessarily require a much higher quotient of intellectual, moral and competent leadership that have historically set the agenda of the Niger Delta and for Nigeria for that matter. I this vein I think it is important to note that this is the first time in Nigeria’s history that we are being governed or ruled by University graduates and not artillery officers with a penchant for shooting first and asking questions later.

2)
Again, it must be said that the Niger Delta Crisis is a Nigerian problem. While as stated earlier that unfortunately the geographic ownership and therefore the ecological brunt is limited to that space, the responsibility of resolving it must necessarily be shared with the rest of Nigeria. In the same vein some of the historical responsibility for the crisis must be placed squarely at the doors of some of their political elite who have connived to further impoverish their own people. Many of them are still deeply involved in supporting the predatory and dysfunctional culture of victimization that has evolved over the last fifty years of oppression. There are no angels here. Very few if any of the so-called political leaders or “Elders” can claim any higher moral authority or even have the political will or aptitude to begin to address the problem. They know it and the people know it and yet… And yet they are allowed the fig leaf of quasi-legitimacy by their own people. Why? Simple human psychology, when facing off a larger and external threat, in this case federal government, people will reflexively band together to fend off the enemy. With the searing experience of decades of brutal military hegemony, whatever trust might have existed between the people of the Niger Delta and the Federal government has all but eroded. Given that Nigeria has evolved to become a cynical low trust culture, the challenge now in moving the Niger Delta agenda forward is largely about establishing a new basis of trust between the people and those who govern or rule them. Compounding this is the absence of the rule of law as a dispassionate arbiter people’s legitimate grievances. The clamor for an “international figure” to mediate this new attempt is really an expression of mistrust of government’s intentions, and deeper than that, a deep and abiding mistrust of ourselves as Nigerians. If we cannot trust ourselves, even for a moment to put aside our cynicism and look at this problem anew, then we cannot and will not progress. Ironically this missing ingredient is the most important aspect of resolving this issue. The government both federal and state must begin to earn the trust of the people of the Niger Delta, and they in turn must lift the shroud of victim-hood and begin to engage the rest of Nigeria with self-reflective honesty as well as a shared sense of destiny, purpose, and resolution.

3)
Mirror, mirror on the wall…
Honestly. We have to stop and simultaneously take a collective and individual look at ourselves in the mirror. Who are we really deceiving? The world? Our neighbors? Our selves? This lack of introspection and reflection of our true condition is as disingenuous as it is dangerous. It is disingenuous because deep down we know that we are all culpable in varying degrees for this mess that is Nigeria, and dangerous because our sanctimonious religiousness prevents us from looking at our many challenges squarely in the face, rolling up our sleeves and getting straight to work at solving the problems. Instead we prefer to outsource all our problems and challenges to God. I have often wondered aloud why one of the most avowedly religious countries in the world is also one of the most corrupt. And contrary to what many people believe, God is NOT a Nigerian, and I seriously doubt if he or she loves Nigeria more than any other country on this God given earth. After gazing long and hard into the mirrored reflection of our true selves and the refracted image we prefer to show the world, we all must ask ourselves this one question; do we really want a solution to the Niger Delta crisis?


Tunji Lardner is a budding writer and can be reached at agenda@aol.com

Ajegunle ' We full ground'

My Country or bust!

There is nothing basically wrong with Nigeria
By Our Reader
Published: Sunday, 6 Jul 2008
On the morning after Murtala Muhammed seized power in July 1975, public servants in Lagos were found “on seat” at 7.30 in the morning. Even the ”go-slow” (traffic) that has defied every regime vanished overnight from the streets!

The new ruler‘s reputation for ruthlessness, discipline and hard work was sufficient to transform the style and habit of Nigerians in the course of only one night in the then unruly capital. That the character of one man could establish that quantum change in a people‘s social behaviour was nothing less than miraculous. But it shows that social miracles can happen.

There is nothing basically wrong with Nigeria‘s character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land, climate, water, air or anything else. Nigeria’s problems is the unwillingness and the inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility and challenge posed by personal examples, which are hallmarks of true leadership.

Nigeria has many thoughtful men and women of conscience, a large number of talented people. Why is it then that all these patriots make so little impact in the life of our nation? Why is it that corruption, gross inequities, noisy vulgarity, selfishness and ineptitude seem so much stronger than the good influences at work in our society?

Why do the good ones among us seem so helpless, while the bad ones are full of vile energy? Nigeria needs patriotism this time around. What is your own contribution? Are you a caterpillar or a builder?

Patriotism is an emotion of love directed by critical intelligence. A true patriot will always demand the highest standards of his country and accept nothing, but the best for and from his people. He will be outspoken in the condemnation of their shortcomings without giving way to their despair or cynicism. That is my idea of patriotism.

The government cannot do everything. Nigeria as a country needs more of this gesture from philanthropists and patriots.

Akin Agunbiade,

P.O. Box 2265, Dugbe Post Office, Ibadan,

Oyo State.

Mr Agunbiade is part of a minority of Nigerians who do not use the excuses of past failure and present inadequacies to excuse their failure to see the possibility , probability and capacity for a great nation that is in the Nigerian soul and reflected in its characteristics. We often hide behind the hideous simplicity that stereotypes the country as a 'failed state' . The people who specialise in this kind of comment are the people who have benefited the most and enjoyed its best. Their expectations so out of all order to its true starting point. Their comments often shaped by their own disappointment with where they are and where expect to be virtue of their positioning. They hide behind what they regard as a good old days when things worked. The fact that this is mostly fantasy and that the demographics of the nation has most of its population in non economic active age is actually not factored into the debate. Of course one agrees that there is a lot to challenge a saint about present day Nigeria but what are we going to do about it? In fact what are you doing about it.

I read about a Tanzanian police chief responding to the killing of albinos for a form of ritual medicine. He blames these acts on Nigerian home movies. The New York Times in its coverage does nothing to challenge what is obviously a disgusting excuse for nothing short of the most extreme criminal behaviour. Nigeria and Nigerians have never learned the power of a brand and how it shapes motivation, attitude and behaviour. Everyone and anyone can expresses the most vicious indictment of the country. We participate, often in legitimising these views whether it is accurate or not.

Nigeria is not a failed state or even a failing state , it is an emerging state. It has been phenomenally slow to evolve to a level where it can use the productive energy of its people to power itself to the elevated status it should rightfully have as the largest population of Africans and black people in the world. Surely it is in the interest of every African and in fact every black person that the extraordinary experiment that is Nigeria succeeds. Its success is the ultimate nail in the coffin of inferiority complex, stereotypes of disease, destitution, destruction. It is the confirmation of the promise of the 21st century becoming the African Century.

With all these in mind the f**k**g b***s*** in Niger Delta must stop at all cost. There is no excuse for allowing the extreme behaviours of some to define the destiny of the many. If these guys kidnapping and killing can show how they add value to the oil then by all means give them what they want. This is not their argument , their shtick is this comes out of our peoples land. The question is whether their people are not Nigerians? So it is now legitimate to take up arms against your country because you feel resource allocation is unjust. It is time to straighten this s*** out. For those of us who are down for the future of a Nigeria undivided and working together for greater good it is time to stand up and start a movement that reflects our ideas, ideals and ideology. It is time to get in print against an elite intelligensia whose negativity and nagging, paralyse good faith public officials trying against the odds. It is time to attack the zero defect merchants against the constant probe the last man/woman mentality and impeach at first disagreement behaviour. It is time to hold people to account without kidnapping the future of the country in the populist and pandering politics of gestures. It is time for relentless efforts at transformation driven by intelligent, practical and sustained actions of people of goodwill. It is time for my country or bust where are you in this?.