Of snooping and Snowden

US was snooping
And Snowden was noting
Snowden went squealing
And US got shivering
Then US went searching
And Snowden went hiding
Now Snowden 'bin' hiding
And US been finding
Yet Snowden is missing
And US been fuming
All because of a silly snooping act.

Amnesty from our tax burdens

Each time I receive my pay advice and go through the mathematical details that define the deep crevice between my ‘gross’ and ‘net’ salary, I am always annoyed by how much is taken up by one item called ‘tax’. That is the amount the government takes from me willy-nilly.  It is an amount I am obliged by law to lose to government for its supposed duty of guaranteeing my security and welfare. Now, I shouldn’t really complain if I am taxed to ensure that government takes care of our security and welfare. But the question is, “does the government really guarantee our welfare and security?” Let us think it through.
Guaranteeing security means that government is truly ‘on top of the security situation’, not just mouthing it every time there is a breach of security. To be on top of the situation means that government can see the situation coming and speedily move to nip it. And where for any reason the incident happens on us all, a government on top of the situation should truly ‘leave no stone unturned’ (as they love to mouth it) to unravel the situation by picking up the perpetrators and bringing them to justice or bringing justice to them. That was the example the American government showed the whole world in unravelling the bombings at the Boston Marathon. When government shows such efficiency in taking care of our security, citizens will feel at ease to move about, visit, live and carry out their livelihood in any location in the country. Guaranteeing security means that no part of the country is seen as no-go areas whereby their control is ceded by government to terrorists and militants who owe us citizens no duty of care.
Guaranteeing our security means that the leadership would ‘give a damn’ about what happens to us wherever we are. It means that whenever citizens and ordinary people get attacked unlawfully by those who use violence (be they terrorists, militants, cultists, politicians and their thugs or even security personnel), such would elicit appropriate reaction from government. And talking about reaction by government, we expect it to show as much interest in the life of ‘unknown’, ‘unidentified’ and ‘unidentifiable’ victims of terror attacks and counter attacks in Borno, Yobe, Kaduna, Kano, Plateau as the ones that suffer same fate in highbrow Abuja.
And you wonder where all the huge amounts budgeted for ‘security’ by all the tiers of government go to at the end of the year while our country continues to have what government conveniently euphemises as ‘security challenge’ and dismisses as a global issue that we must brace up to and live with. After the exacerbation of the reign of terror in the public space in 2011, our governments began to install security gadgets such as surveillance cameras on our streets. Soon it became ubiquitous in the Federal Capital Territory. Less than three years down the line, many of those structures have been destroyed through accidents (and not replaced) and don’t seem to serve any particular security purpose. We are yet to see how those equipments have been used to track criminal activities or even minor infractions of the law such as road traffic offences. They stand however as monuments of our enduring security-challenges.
And what about our welfare? There is little to show that this is high on the priority of government. Initially, government used to issue statements condemning or regretting the occurrence of calamities in the land, even when we joked that such was all they were capable of doing in such situation. Today, even the statements have ceased coming, apparently indicating that the occurrence of calamity is the new ‘normal’ we must live with. Or how come government remained quiet when more than 100 poor citizens drowned while travelling by boat on the high seas between Nigeria and Gabon and another 50 plus were roasted in a bus crash with a petrol tanker along a highway in Edo State? Those lives are as important as those of a deputy governor and a retired army general who died in a helicopter crash, not on any official assignment but while on a purely private social engagement and immediately elicited state-promoted ‘national mourning’.
Because government sucks up our taxes without providing commensurate services, we Nigerians, have learned to be ‘a government unto ourselves’. We sink our own boreholes because public water supply is inadequate, epileptic, unreliable or not even available where we live (and that includes within many parts of the federal capital). For electricity supply, it is almost a given that we should ‘never expect power always’ (NEPA) because the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) would always (in keeping with its name) hold back the power. We even have to construct our own roads or fix the pothole-ridden public roads that lead to our homes. For healthcare and education, those ones had since been outsourced and surrendered to private businesses (individual entrepreneurs and religious institutions) that milk us steadily while government stands idly by. On top of all these, we cannot rely on the state alone to provide or guarantee us security, so we hire private security guards and employ vigilante groups to do the jobs.
So I ask again, what is my tax meant for anyway? And since I am not getting value for my money, may I ask government to please grant me an amnesty or presidential pardon (whatever they choose to call it) from the burden of tax payment? I know I am not asking for too much. After all, how much is the amount of revenue they will lose from my tax monthly, compared to how much government pays to the so-called ‘reformed militants’ to secure oil pipelines, a duty that our security personnel are statutorily meant to do? Such pipelines protection contracts to (ex-)militants is akin to the payment of ‘protection fees’ by weak citizens to mafia groups. But here we are seeing government pay ‘protection fees’ to militants. And while we are still chewing on that, government again is proposing another ‘amnesty’, willy-nilly (that word again) for another killer group, even when the group says it is not interested.
Since our government is in a go-happy mood to dispense ‘amnesty’ and ‘pardon’, I again appeal, on behalf of those of us non-violent, unprotected and ‘un-welfared’, yet tax-paying citizens that we be exempted from paying taxes. Let this benevolence of government be democratised.

• Effanga, an attorney and human rights activist writes from Abuja. (obobef@yahoo.com)
First published in http://premiumtimesng.com/opinion/131244-amnesty-from-our-tax-burdens-by-obo-effanga.html

Parliamentary arbitrariness and tyranny of majority

By Article 21 paragraph (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives”. This right finds expression in the practice of democracy.
To be sure, democracy is a government that promotes popular participation by all citizens. But because every citizen cannot sit together to take decisions, they do so through the representatives they freely choose in an election.
 The elected representatives make up the parliament whose primary responsibility is to make laws, appropriate resources and mandate the executive arm to carry out routine activities of state administration. The parliament is composed of elected members who represent defined constituencies, often geographical in nature. To the extent that every constituency has the same number of representatives, usually one, every constituency is therefore equal. It is important therefore for the representatives to avail themselves of opportunity to represent the interest of their constituency and they should not be unduly prevented from doing so. No constituency should be without a representative. That is why the electoral body is obliged to speedily conduct an election to fill any vacant seat occurring through death or other constitutional means. By so doing, the members of the affected constituency are still guaranteed their rights to participation in government.
However, there is a worrisome trend in Nigeria, whereby some legislators purport to suspend fellow members as a punitive measure. This practice, even if provided for under the rules of such parliament is a clear breach of the human rights of the members of the constituency the legislator represents. This is because the constituents are during that period denied their right to representation.
A recent case in point is that of Mrs Rifikatu Samson Dana, the only female member of the Bauchi State House of Assembly who has been suspended from the legislature since last year. Her suspension followed the finding of the committee on anti corruption, ethics and privileges that her contribution to a debate was ‘repugnant and derogatory’.
Dana’s suspension follows a long list of irresponsibility by many legislatures, beginning with the Senate which suspended Arthur Nzeribe indefinitely in 2002. Interestingly, the suspended members in many cases are only barred from the sittings but still draw salaries, while their constituencies remain unrepresented. In the case of Nzeribe, it took the judgment of Justice Stephen Adah of the Federal High Court, Abuja to set aside his suspension. The judge rightly described the action of the senators as “arbitrary show of power and tyranny of the majority”.
In many of the instances the abusive acts of the parliamentarians were aimed at short-circuiting the process for the passage of unpopular decisions without the strict process of getting a high majority. We saw such shenanigans as the first act to the purported impeachment of state governors in Plateau and Oyo, even though the court again came in to ensure sanity.
With the suspension of Dana, not only is her state constituency being excluded from government but indirectly, the women. Such action of the legislature is in breach of the letters of the Constitution. And since the Bauchi House of Assembly has refused to do the right by reversing its illegality and tyranny, the only option left is for the suspended lawmaker to challenge this in court.

Judgment beckons

(Written on March 21, 2013 in celebration of the World Poetry Day)

To the thieving politician who pinches the cake
And the supporting cast who share the loot
To the leader who is clueless
And the follower who cares less
To the crooked officials who break the rules
And their kin who defend their every act

I tell you what dear compatriots
When judgment comes, of citizens, nature or of God
Many who create the rot or sit and watch
And those who benefit and condone today’s rot
Will also gnash their teeth that time
For their damage direct and collateral

They include the worshippers in the corridors of power
And the priests in places of worship
Who hobnob power rather than romance the poor
And thus help fritter our common wealth
For unto them were given the choice life or death
And death they chose and that they’ll get

World Day of Happiness and Us

(First published in PremiumTimes on March 20, 2013. http://premiumtimesng.com/opinion/125955-world-day-of-happiness-and-us-by-obo-effanga.html )

Yes, you read that correctly. Today (March 20) marks the maiden edition of the International Day of Happiness or World Happy Day, declared by the United Nations, at the prompting of the tiny nation of Bhutan.

It recognizes that happiness is a fundamental human goal, and calls upon countries to approach public policies in ways that improve the well being of ALL peoples.

For us in Nigeria, it is an opportunity to remind our governments that the Federation “shall be a state based on the principles of democracy and social justice”, section 14(1) of the Nigerian Constitution and that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”, section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution.

These guiding principles should be reflected in every action, policy, laws and conduct of governments and their officials in order to guarantee the happiness of ALL citizens, women, men, girls, boys, persons with disability, PLWHA, destitute, literate, illiterate, celebrities and non-celebrities, privileged convicts/common criminals and ordinary ones etc.

The thousands of citizens who get forcefully ejected from their homes, which various governments declare uninhabitable, without providing alternatives are entitled to be protected and made happy.

Those destitute who get evacuated from our cosmetically beautiful cities and are ‘deported’ to their state or local government or village of ‘origin’ are clearly denied the social justice that our constitution provides for.

The hundreds of citizens who get killed by acts of terror and counter-terror as well as their surviving relations have been let down by a country that ought to protect them.

The change needed to ensure that social justice exists in our country lies with the proverbial person we see in the mirror each day to speak up against all acts of injustice. We can do this even when for now, it is the ‘jews’ they are coming for and we are no ‘jews’, because eventually, they will come for us when we may have no one to speak up on our behalf.

This would require each one of us to speak truth to power whenever the opportunity presents itself. And those opportunities abound in every station of life we find ourselves. It includes the pulpits where many of our preachers often balk the opportunity to call government officials to order. It includes our traditional leadership and the so-called party elders or ‘elder statesmen’ who continue to cheer lead government officials for their selfish ends. It includes those who could influence opinions in the traditional and now popular social media. Very importantly, it is you the reader.

We cannot really claim happiness where social justice is absent.

Human Rights Day 2012: For an inclusive and participatory governance

Today (December 10, 2012), the world marks the Human Rights Day, commemorating the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Very importantly, this year’s theme is “Inclusion and the right to participate in public life.”
The theme brings to focus an aspect of human rights often taken for granted. Under Article 21(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.” Simply put, we are talking about democracy as human right.
What is more, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, guarantees every person the right to vote and be elected, and to have access to public service, as well as to free expression, assembly and association.
In Nigeria, we have since May 1999 embraced democracy, even if nominally or superficially. To the extent that every four years, we conduct elections into federal and state government positions (presidency, governorship, national and state legislatures), we can lay claim to compliance with these human rights. But Nigeria’s democracy is yet to fully trickle to the local government level.
A recent newspaper investigation indicates that only the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and 17 out of 36 states have democratically-elected local government councils. The remaining 19 states are operating non-democratically elected local government administrations in breach of the provisions of the Constitution. This effectively denies about half of the country’s citizens the right to participate in their governments directly or through freely chosen representatives. It is totally unacceptable!
It must be stressed further that inclusion and right to participate in public life go beyond simply conducting elections, especially when the elections are more often than not described as ‘flawed’.
Public officials (whether elected or appointed) must recognise that citizens still reserve the right (and do legitimately demand) to be consulted in decision making, policy formulation and law making. To that extent, citizens must be consulted in the making and review of laws including the two most important laws, the Constitution and the budget.
While we are in the season of budget presentation, consideration and passage at federal and state levels, we are seeing very little involvement of citizens in the process. Many government officials involved in the process still suffer the hangover of the military era where laws (including budgets) were made by government officials, whimsically, for the people, irrespective of what the needs of the citizens were. This has to change by getting citizens involved right from the introduction and passage of the medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) and the budget itself.
But while there is limited involvement by citizens groups and civil society in law, budget and policy making at the federal level, the same cannot be said about the state level while it is nearly totally absent at the local government level.
Inclusion in decision making (including elections) must also recognise all the component groups in the society and provide them equal and equitable access. For instance, even though women make up half the population, they still form a small minority in government, both elected and appointed officers. It is even worse for persons with disability. The time is ripe now to take specific steps to provide such access, including reservation of positions for women and other excluded groups.
As we seek citizens’ participation, we must commend the resilience of the Nigerian citizens who have kept pushing for better involvement in decision making against all odds. In her statement to mark this year’s event, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay saluted the world citizens who in the last few years (this year especially), have stood up against their exclusionary governments through popular protests on streets and squares. We cannot but salute the ordinary Nigerians who began the year, standing up against government’s insensitive governance actions and still do so in many ways. While government’s responses have been marginally positive, it is evident that people-driven change is still possible. And this we must continue to push and support.

Watch your drugs prescription very well

I have long ago learnt to 'shine my eyes' when dealing with professionals. Because they are all humans, they all make mistakes, with consequences. Today I focus on the pharmacist. The one I met recently misread the duration my girl was asked to take her antibiotics and wrote seven days instead of five. I had to point it out and he agreed and corrected it.

I shared the above information with some friends on a social media chat and soon we got talking. One person had this to say:

"My dear Obo, you are right. On getting to the pharmacy (on lst Sept) after my grand-daughter and her mum saw the doctor, the pharmacist put the baby's label on the mum's drug and the mum's label on the baby's drug. I administered the syrups and said I would read the leaflet for the tablet (because I have never heard of baby drugs in tablet form). Although I thought it might dissolve in water. Days later, my daughter asked me if I saw her contraceptives and I said NO. It just occurred to me then that the baby drugs I was gonna read before administering was for mum. Thank God for me O. Surely, we must be careful because professionals are HUMAN."

I responded as follows: Aahhh! I once got infant syrup for myself because the pharmacist apparently saw me with my daughter and thought it was for her. Imagine how our illiterate compatriots suffer then. One day in the National Hospital the pharmacist packaged the drugs meant for my wife and mistakenly added another person's own which was forgotten at the counter. What saved us was that I knew the number of drugs written on the prescription and what I was given was over so we had to do a manual recount like Florida in 2000 elections to be able to identify the 'excess matter'.

Yet another person said "Thank God @Obo that you are literate enough to read the hand written prescription which many of us can't even decode. It's a lesson now. I must learn and look. Nobody or any professional should be taken granted again."

But I have since learned to decipher even the medical doctor's coded writings. Lol! If they write 5 over 7 it means 5 days in a week (of seven days) and 1 over 52 is one week in a year (or 52 weeks).