The Man in the Blackmaria

It was the morning of December the 6th 2009; one of those Saturdays that staying indoors makes more sense than keeping the time on the streets of Lagos. My feelings were right, but the week was tactful, having stretched my vehicle to its limit covering hundreds of kilo-meters in the week, the mechanical stress was evident, it shows in its performance. I needed to change the shaft, I said to myself, before it gives way in the middle of nowhere; given to this fear, I hit the road in the hope to find my mechanic so as to have it repaired. My schedule was set and I felt at most before dusk I’d return home, at first I got to a spare-parts store along the way, fixed my headlamps  before getting to the mechanic workshop.  It went well, with money in my pockets getting the car fixed should not be problem, I knew money speaks and getting some good hands fix-up the ailing mechanical fault requires the right expertise. I had a list of mechanics around my area to do just that, yet within the profile I needed the very meticulous one, immediately my mind went to Lucky...Lucky will do the job well, I mused. To get Lucky, I negotiated my way to Olowu in Ikeja, a suburb of Lagos known for its parade of auto spare parts; quick service auto-mechanics and a beehive of activities were predominantly the business-centered easterners had their footing. Lucky, is in 30s, about 6ft 1inches tall, very well built, soft-spoken and a very detailed man; I was convinced that getting him to do the job will save me the committed cash I had to put into it. He, having discovered a malignant problem in my car at some time, of which up on till that time I have been  swindled by the 'trial-by-error' auto-mechanics whose competencies are updated by creating more problems. I felt in my guts, my choice was right to come this way.

The sun was at its zenith, to get myself cool, I hid under the umbrella while the Lucky sweat himself out to get the car repaired. The first phase was fast, it took about an hour, I felt  at this speed the possibility of finishing at the most  2pm is most likely and for me to be back at am back home will be much more sooner (or so I thought). In the midst of the business frenzy at Olowu, my attention was drawn to two men who walked past my vehicle, their faces where fierce; but from their dressing they looked respectable, one was dark in complexion, perhaps in is 40s, the second fair in complexion about the same age range; they both shared the same pot-belly size - one of the signatures of a government official. My mind quickly opened to my immediate environment and a mile way a view of four trucks heavily loaded with men (some women) in green tops with black pants looking determined and ferocious, (for sure they represented the subjects of the pot-bellied men I saw earlier). They were KAI (Kick  Against Indiscipline) people, they are here to raid the market! Suddenly in a flash, the once peaceful market place turned into a myriad of complete disorder. From all angles everyone started scrambling for safety and shielding away their trade from the KAI men as the whole place resulted into more confusion. Catch him! Put him in the Black Maria! Take them to Alausa! Raid them! Don't let them go! You go there I go here! Rented the atmosphere, as though it there was war. There I was standing by my car, with the umbrella clenched in my fist, I see Lucky rise to is feet in a jiffy, in my unconscious state still trying to figure out what is happening, I call to him pick his tools! Pick your tools! Put it in the trunk!

I heard all manner of noise and shouting aroud me, as the KAI men advance their way into the fabric of the business area vehemently, they were coming my way. In their advance, I see the pot-bellied men call to his subjects, “Who is that man over there? Take him! Take him into the truck! Then, I spoke aloud against  the offensive and the fierce command, and I retorted-“I am not a mechanic, I came here to repair my car, I don’t sell anything! I don’t have any business here! I thought, the raid was only for the market people, but in this raid everyone is a culprit, an offender and a victim.  One of the men in a defiant tone shouted-“Take him! Take him to Alausa!” Before the order, hit my thoughts, three men swarmed on me like bees, grabbing and forcefully dragging towards their truck. “Move!” they shouted. Calmly I said “you don't need to man-handle me, I will move in your direction”. With my umbrella still in my hands, I was pushed into the back of a van amidst a lot of men packed on another. One of them at the entrance (a woman) shouted on one of the victims –“Lap him! Sit on him!” - With a push we all immediately got compressed in the van like sardines.

While still in the van, I spoke with the woman, “I am not a mechanic, or market person what’s all this about?”  She asked and queried sharply, “where is your ID Card?” “It’s in my car”, I replied. Then she let me down to get it, in the company of two of her colleagues, both holding on to me tightly, (as though to prevent any thought that may crop-up in my mind to run or escape). I opened my car, got my ID card, with the thought that at least this will get these men of my back and let me off, but that would not happen. As I waved it high for them to see, the dark complexioned man (whom they call the Director), sighted me again in the presence of the fair-complexioned man, and I Said – “I am not  a mechanic , this is my ID Card, I am staff of ---- and I pay my taxes”.  Then he said: “this no tax issue!” and the director gave a shout; “I thought I said you should take that man! Take Him! Put him in the Black Maria! blackmaria!” Then, I froze. “Move, I say!”  With my umbrella still in my hands, the gate keeper shouted: “you cannot go in with that!” Suddenly the gate of the blackmaria flung open and into its mouth I found myself- shut-out of the world, shut-out of life. At that very instant I lost my power, I lost my freedom.

Have been held against my will, with no charge, in a democratic country, I have been overwhelmed by the odds, banged up in a vehicle for criminals, my soul could not but race faster. To my amazement I discovered I still had my life-line with me - my phone.  Make calls out to my family cycles. Then the motion began, at every stop, I could hear shouts and tumultuous fights of resistance taking place outside. In the narrow way of the blackmaria, I see men been pushed and beaten into submission to enter into the vehicle. The blackmaria as it is famously known is a two-compartment, all-round metal frame truck, fitted with about a square-feet opening for ventilation and sunlight, with a metallic seat and a latrine. It is a make-shift vehicle for the purpose of conveying convicted criminals to and out of any location.  As more people were bundled in, the temperature in the vehicle rose very fast, the confinement was horrendous, visibility was poor and the stench from latrine doused the air space. In frantic effort, everyone began to make a phone call to all they knew, while looking through the tiny openings to a life they have just been yanked away from. As I cluster into my space, my attention was drawn to a man shouting to anyone who cares to listen that he is a police man saying he definitely would not take this nonsense from a KAI official. "I just came to repair my vehicle, why are mine in this place?!...I am the one that fix my bosses vehicle" He shouted aloud. No sooner I stood to my feet, I could see we are heading to Alausa in a convoy, and some mixed feeling shrouded my mind.

We had arrived the KAI yard in less than 30 minutes (The KAI yard is just overlooking the Lagos state government secretariat), as we came down one after the other from the blackmaria, I could sense a wild jubilation among the KAI soldiers and their other compatriots ravaging the spoils of their outing. As I made my way down from the truck, my eyes caught a man in the other adjoining section of the vehicle, his pant was by his knees, revealing is underwear, being half torn, I could see is genitals, he appeared fagged out and without strength (apparently a struggle must have ensued between him and the KAI soldiers till he surrendered), as he hit the floor he collapsed. While on the last step the fair-complexioned man beckoned at me to move aside while the others numbering over 20 moved the other way. Been alone I could see the entire section of the yard and immediately I sense the hierarchy, knowing full well those who are at the highest echelons of command. I had called my wife to intimate her of where I was, she was already on her way and I felt the story would change when she comes in. While still basking in my thought I heard a faint cry: “my phone, my money.” It was the collapsed man crying out. He still had is genital exposed and no one cared to find out what the problem was with him, but to my dismay  I saw one of the KAI officials go towards him,  grabbed is genital and made a joke. I was furious, and I rebuked him vehemently “why will you do such a thing, can’t you see the man is down, this inhuman!  This is not right, this is wrong!”  Immediately, I could feel the chill and quietness envelope the yard as they officials wondered who was speaking. In the bid to quickly dismiss, and cover up the KAI official actions, one of the officer approached me and said: “you do not need fight for the man on the floor, fight for yourself and how you will get out of here, that should be your concern, not the man on the floor, we see this type of things every day, he is a second-offender, don’t mind him he is pretending, he will be on his feet in no time.”

Things did not just feel right about this place; people were paraded and threats of ending up in the gulags of Kikikiri Maximum Prison kept them in check and submission to the givings of the officials. With all manner of wares and consumer goods confiscated, littering the entire place, (perhaps it stands as an evidence), there is no sign that the people caught would have theirs properties returned to them if and whenever they leave the yard. With so much force and intimidation employed all the in name of maintaining discipline in the society, it appears there is no end in sight to the extent with which these men would result into physical assault in the aim to meet their goals . In the midst of all this, two of the officials approached me, they spoke into letting me go, but my eyes and thoughts did not leave the man who lied naked on the floor and the others who did not have as much privilege of education like I do or connection like the police man who was let go as soon as we arrived the yard. Definitely things may get much more messier for them.

As I walked out of the yard, my mind juggled many questions:  who regulates and checks the excesses of these KAI officials? Who set the limits of their high-handedness and their barbaric style of apprehension?  Do they have any medical team just in case someone slumps from their raid and physical assault? At what point is carrying out orders becoming a free access to dehumanization, public disorder, oppression and suppression? As the saying goes, "you probably would not feel pain as much as the person who is wallowing in that pain". But, whenever you have the chance to take stand for someone else who is pain or in precarious situation, do the best to make your voice heard, that action would probably save a life and set an alert to the consciousness of those who in the process of discharging their duties also demean the essence of freedom, and human right.

Association of Conscious Nigerian Children (ACNC) Write to Jonathan on Blasts

Dear Mr. President,
We should say Merry Christmas but we are not your goverment, we are not in the business of deception. After almost ten hours of gathering your thoughts to speak on the bomb blasts that rocked the nation yesterday, you still fell short of your own very low standards. What did you intend to say when you said Bomb Blasts are a burden we must live with? Why do you bother to budget over a trillion for security if we must live the burden of insecurity? How come you are still a president? We do not blame you, we blame our older ones who were stupid enough to think that where you come from and your religion was all you needed to be a competent president.
They are crying now. We all cried yesterday on the darkest Christmas day of our short lives. While we cried and left Christmas postponed for another year, we watched as you danced your life away like there was no tomorrow. Is it true that all you care about is the fact that you are the president so whatever can happen should happen. Last night we prayed for you. We prayed that the white men should be able to make common sense so that we can budget for it and then you will have it in abundance. As it is, it is obvious sir that you are grossly lacking in common sense. If you weren't, you would never come out to tell a mourning nation that it should get ready to live with the burden of destruction and insecurity. That was utterly insensitive and even the dumbest of our mates, fellow Nigerian children would never descend that low to an unprecedented level of cluelessness.
We understand this is not a sane country, if this was a sane country, your ilk will not be in a job. Your security chiefs, yourself and your cabinet would have been throwing resignation letters left right and centre. But then, here is a place where people are satisfied with just being in positions, that they are clueless about what to do in such positions does not matter.
Mr. President, Boko Haram defeated you in 2011. What plans are you making for 2012? Do you realise they have since improved while your security tactics remain stop and search? Do you realise they are far more coordinated than ever before? Have you thought of engaging more intelligence in curbing this menace instead of just mere brute? Yes, you have issues with concentrating for long, why not budget for a concentrator? That way you are conditioned to at least focus on being the president of Nigeria instead of our national chief chef? You are wondering where that came from? It came from cassava bread sir. You chose the menu for 2012 but we hope you realise that Boko Haram certainly has a menu.
Please Mr. President, they will look to attack again in the New Year, do what you have never done before, get your security chiefs to prevent that by all means. Contrary to your assertion, we are not prepared to live with the burden of bomb blasts. Get yourself to work and stop excusing your inability to deal with Boko Haram on the premise that they are a necessity. What is that? If you cannot lead and be a president, help yourself and resign. Please take your vice-president along. You are a twin set of incompetence.
This letter has been written with kind words, not because we are in the mood to be nice to you but because we are children and respect is a value we want to live with but our lack of it sometimes is a burden you must live with as long as you force us to live with your Boko Haram burden.
We wrote you a letter on subsidy yesterday but we figured it would be better to send this before you get our other letter. As long as your cluelessness reigns supreme in this country, we will always remind you of our angst and stake in this nation. It is not by force to live in Aso Rock. So if you must, do the right things, say the right things and learn to get the basic things right.
The Bomb Blasts darkened our Christmas but your response dampened our mood even further. This is not the way to lead a people. If you need help, we will nominate one of us to offer you words of wisdom for free. As it is, you look overwhelmed by the mere job of providing security for Nigeria let alone the other duties you swore to carry out for Nigeria.
Action point: Sack yourself sir, and take Arc. Namadi Sambo along. It is a good place to start.
Signed:
Association of Conscious Nigerian Children (ACNC)

Theater of Absurdities ~ Kingsley Omose

The last two or more months since President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan threw up to the Nigeria public the issue of removal or retention of petrol subsidy for debate has brought out the good and bad in Nigerian debating skills similar to what we witnessed when Ibrahim Babangida raised the issue of whether take up the IMF loan in the 1980s.

But it has been in the public hearings conducted by the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) and the debate in the House of Representatives, both on the issue of removal or retention of petrol subsidy that we have seen and heard things on the issue that are ridiculously unreasonable, unsound, or incongruous.

That these utterly or obviously senseless, illogical, or untrue; contrary to all reason or common sense; laughably foolish or false: absurd explanations that are associated with extremely poor reasoning, the ridiculous, or nonsense have come from individuals and institutions that should know better is all the more laughable.

In the midst of these things on the removal or retention of fuel subsidies that are extremely unreasonable, so as  to be foolish or not taken seriously, or the state of being so, have however come some glimmer of light that properly examined point the way to putting an end to this debate and taking needful action.

The first absurdity is the motion by the House of Representatives calling on President Goodluck Jonathan to  retain the petrol subsidy because of the hardship increase in the pump price of petrol will bring on ordinary Nigerians, and to source funds from other sources to finance other items in the 2012 budget other than from subsidy savings.

This statement is absurd not only because the House of Representatives is calling on the Federal Government to continue borrow money to finance its budget deficit, but also because the House of Representatives are pretending not to know that the budget deficit has technically been removed based on the demands made by  State Governors.

In the months of September and October 2011, State Governors have refused NNPC and PPPRA from making deductions for fuel subsidy from the Federation Account, a fact admitted by Governor Sule Lamido who said: Officially as a matter of the law, the subsidy is gone. If you look at our budget, the subsidy is gone but then the capacity to actually say it is what is lacking.

The second absurdity occurred when Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela, the Minister of Finance appeared before the Senate Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) and was asked to explain the difference between the amount earmarked for petrol subsidy in 2011 (N245.9billion) and the amount spent so far (N1.34billion), and she said that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources would be In a better position to explain that. 

What our own Chancellor of the Exchequer or Secretary of the Treasury is technically saying is that she is not in a position to explain how over N1.1 trillion of unbudgeted expenses has been incurred by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, and the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency.

The third absurdity comes from Diezani Alison-Madueke, the Minister of Petroleum Resources when she told the Senate committee that NNPC is too big for Federal Government, is not subjected to the consolidated fund of FG, and cannot depend on federal budgets because it runs very capital intensive operations beyond what government can finance.

This mother of all absurdities has so many grave implications that the mildest way I can put it is that the tail  (NNPC) is the one wagging the dog (Nigeria) inspite of the fact that NNPC is a statutory creation that is subject to the Nigerian constitution, and inspite of Dezani Alison-Madueke saying that NNPC functions largely like a private (secret?) commercial enterprise.

The forth absurdity comes from Austin Oniwon, the managing director of NNPC who could not supply ready answers to two questions by Senator. Bukola Saraki: What is the average capacity utilization of the refineries and what amount of PMS would the refineries give us for the months of October, November and December?

My take on this is that when the managing director of NNPC does not know the average capacity production of petrol by refineries under his control or the quantity of petrol NNPC will produce between now and December, how can he know what quantity of imported petrol is required to augment local production?

When NNPC is supposedly the one taking 445, 000 barrels of crude oil a day for local refining and no one knowing the exact quantity that is refined while the remaining is supposedly exported and sold, how can PPPRA, the agency that gives out petrol importation licenses to the 77 companies on its approved list know what quantity of petrol to import?

The fifth absurdity will have to be the release of the names of the 77 companies that are on the list of those given licenses by PPPRA to import petroleum products in 2011, with the added revelation that the number of companies involved in this milking of the cow has grown from 3 in 2006 to 77 in 2011. That is why I am not amused by the Senate Joint Committee's surprise that N600 billion was spent on petrol subsidy in 2010 with the amount almost tripling to N1.5 trillion by the end of December 2011, as if they are not aware that it will take more allocation of import licenses to satisfy 77 companies. 

Now that we know the companies benefiting from the monkey-de-work, baboon-de-chop business called petrol subsidy, are we to continue with fuel importation and enriching these companies or do we deregulate and allow market forces to sanitize the business of fuel importation and ultimately building of new refineries in Nigeria?

In the midst of all these absurdities, the most enlightening issue that is indicative of what is to come when we finally come to terms with the need to move beyond petrol subsidy removal is the statement by Austin Oniwon that it cost between $4 and $5 to, depending on the exchange rate, to locally refine a barrel of oil, which is equivalent to 159 litres. Now that we know it costs NNPC, according to its managing director, N5 to produce a litre of petrol, it is clear that even when petrol is sold at N65 per litre Nigerians are the ones subsidizing government inefficiencies and that the additional N70 per litre being allegedly spent by the Federal Government on imported petrol is subsidy for the importers.

But as long as the local refineries are owned by Federal Government, they will remain dysfunctional and we will continue importing petrol and allegedly subsidizing it, and no private investor will build refineries in such a regulated environment as they will not be able to compete with NNPC and PPPRA. MTN, AIRTEL, ETISALAT, GLO, Starcoms, Visaphone, Multilinks, MainOne, Mobitel, and others would not be active players in the telecommunications sector today but for the deregulation in that sector, and neither will any private refinery be built in Nigeria as long as Federal Government is the dominant player As call rates have moved from per minute to per second billing, and continue to fall drastically due to competition giving Nigerians a wide range of options, so also the pump price of petrol will eventually fall as competition and the wide range of options available to Nigerians kick in. 

The issue is not really the removal or retention of subsidy, but the disengagement of Federal Government, NNPC and PPPRA from the petroleum products sector and the elevation of the Department of Petroleum

Resources to the role of regulator like National Broadcasting Commission and the National Communications Commission.