The minister spoke yesterday on a Radio Nigeria current affairs programme  on Jobs, Infrastructure, Health...

In her opening remarks, she said the petrol subsidy removal was to safeguard the future of Nigeria and her children. According to her, if Nigeria did not take the measures, the country would be forced to experience such hardship “that would frustrate the future of our children and we will be like some countries like Greece which kept on borrowing until they got to the crisis situation that they have found themselves”.

Okonjo-Iweala said that if Nigeria continued to borrow to run government, then crisis was imminent and the best thing was to begin to arrest the situation. The minister asked Nigerians to understand that withdrawal of oil subsidy was just one aspect of deregulation of the industry.

Two or three callers centred their questions on the misdeeds of the past and how it will be difficult to believe that there would be genuine changes this time. The minister assured that the Jonathan government would be transparent. She spoke on other aspects of the nation’s

economy.

ON JOBS

This exercise (fuel subsidy removal) will help in creating about 370,000 jobs and this will help the problem of unemployment.

ON INFRASTRUCTURE

Increase in fuel prices is not the only cause of increase in transportation costs. Bad roads are part of the problem because vehicles get easily damaged on bad roads and the costs are forced down on commuters. This withdrawal will help government source more money

to put our roads in better shape and therefore reduce transport fares.

The railways will also benefit and this will further reduce costs. The trains are generally cheaper means of transportation and something will be done in this respect.

ON HEALTH

Nigeria is one of the worst cases in maternal health care. Nigerian women record deaths in maternal cases more than many other countries and this sector will benefit from the money that will accrue from this withdrawal.

ON MISTRUST

I understand the pains Nigerians are going through. I personally do and so do other colleagues of mine. We plead for patience. The impact of this will begin to show soon. We intend to start publishing the amount we are saving from this withdrawal of oil subsidy monthly and also where we are directing them. Nigerians will be participants in this process. In few months prices will begin to come down depending on market forces.

Okonjo-Iweala, who is also the Coordinating Minister on the Economy, added: “It was never to my knowledge that the president gave such a date (April 2012). There is no particular time one could say was best suited for the withdrawal. It is the prerogative of the president. The important thing is that we cannot carry on the way we did in the past. It would be plunging our future into crisis.” With these words, Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, dismissed the claim that the Federal Government reneged on the promise to remove the subsidy on petrol in April 2012 as against January 1 when it did.

THE PRESIDENT IN GOODLUCK JONATHAN

"President Goodluck Jonathan going tough," was how the Sun's newspaper described the president's declaration of state of emergency in 15 local governments of four states namely, Borno, Gombe , Niger and Platue states There were also follow up articles from many Nigeria's newspapers of president Jonathan summoning security chiefs including the police IG. Something I have read for more than 20 times each time boko haram, the well organized, sponsored and supported Islamic terrorists by the north struck.

My questions; why is the state of emergency so selective? What sense does it make to declare state of emergency in few towns and call it state of emergency? Why did it take so many deaths of innocent Nigerians who worked hard, lived right and had right to be protected by the national security operators, for the president to partially did what he ought to have done long time ago?

Borno , Gombe and Platue states have witnessed too many destruction of lives and properties, the president would only whine and summon his security chiefs. The terrorists reigned havoc at the police head quarters in Abuja nothing happened to them. Instead some police officers were arrested and put on trial for killing a terrorist. The same terrorists extended their deadly destruction at the UN Building in Abuja. Again they were treated with impunity. Then here comes the December 25, 2011 suicide bombing of four churches killing people who went to worship at those churches. A challenge and an affront to God Almighty, the only solution for the president was again summon his security chiefs and introduced partial action in 15 local governments, an action too small and too late. You cannot just raise the carpet and sweep the dirt under the carpet and path your self on the chest that you have swept the floor clean.

This man has been a president since May of 2010 at the death of Yar'Dua, there has not been a single thing in the name of national development that could be attributed to him. In April 2011, he stood for an election, the entire south of the country proudly and massively voted for him with great hope of rewriting Obasanjo's wrongs against the south. He was sworn in to office May 29, 2011. His first act was to elongate the president and governors term of office for seven years. The second act was to northernize the police force, the judiciary, the custom service and the financial sector of the national economy.

The police IG, the minister of justice, the chief justice of the federation, the president of the federal court of appeal, the director general of the Nigerian custom service, the governor of central bank of Nigeria whose aim and aspiration is to introduce Islamic banking in Nigeria are all northerners. I have no problem with the appointment of the northerners as long as their appointment was based on merit , but look at the decay in the Nigerian police, the judiciary, the ministry of justice, the Nigerian custom service, the status of national currency, the naira, the level of the national reserve which I understood to be in 50s at 2006. Well, Mr. President has just confirmed that he is a very weak man incapable of presiding over the national affairs of Nigeria to provide the nation with proper and adequate protection through his recent utterances and his appointments. His recent confirmation was a statement credited to him that he is slow to avoid mistakes. I wonder who are advising him.

There has been mixed reaction towards the petroleum subsidy removal. What Nigerians need is the corrupt subsidy removal and corrupt-fraudulent officials removal. He can start by removing the police IG, the corrupt judicial officers, all the security chiefs including the so called SSS, the governor of central bank and retinue of his idle advisers.

Peter Eze is a Space Aviation Consultant

The whole world is watching as Nigeria descended into chaos and uncertainty due to the removal of fuel subsidy.

The social fabric of the society appears to be shifting and things are no longer at ease as protesters gathered steam and momentum. The brinkmanship between the presidency and labour is something to be given the deserving attention. Was the subsidy removal justified or ill-timed compounded with poor strategizing? It depends on who was answering the question, the government and the poor masses have different perspectives and justifications.

Financial Times of London reported that, “Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s president, faces a growing backlash to his sudden removal of a fuel subsidy programme, seen as one of the few contributions the government of Africa’s biggest oil and gas producer makes to its people’s wellbeing. Amid a chorus of criticism from opposition leaders, thousands of protesters staged a second day of demonstrations across Africa’s most populous nation after petrol prices more than doubled overnight."

No matter how wonderful things the removal of fuel subsidy will bring to the people as President Jonathan and his economic team promised, Nigerians are not buying it.   People are protesting and refuse to settle for the subsidy removal. The Nigerian leadership we can see by now did not sell it well to the people nor convince them of the incoming goodies that will supposedly follow through. It will not take a rocket scientist to figure out why the people do not accept the fuel subsidy removal but rejected the offer of empty appeasement.

First and foremost, it is difficult to hold an abiding conversation and agreement with a hungry person. The reality is that seventy percent of Nigerians live in poverty and etched a miserable living with less than $2 a day. With hyper unemployment and ravaging poverty, the nominal benefit that Nigerians can point to coming from the huge petroleum deposit as an oil producing country is the fuel subsidy.

"In a New Year's Day announcement, Nigeria's government said it would scrap a 38-year-old subsidy that had kept motor fuel priced at just 65 naira a liter, or $1.55 a gallon. Gas prices more than doubled throughout the country on Monday and continued to inch up to about 140 naira a liter in Lagos, the commercial capital, on Wednesday. Economists warn that the jump in fuel prices is almost certain to push up prices for food and household items in the country of 167 million people, 70% of whom live on $2 a day or less. Inflation has topped 10% in all but two of the past 40 months," Wall Street Journal reported.

From any angle one chooses to look at it, most Nigerians do not trust their government. Their lack of trust and disappointment with Nigerian government was not developed on a hallow ground. Prior to this many Nigerian governments have disappointed their citizens for a long time. Therefore it will be difficult for any administration no matter how honest or sincere it maybe to convince Nigerians otherwise. President Jonathan and his economic team did not lay down the necessary steps to carry their people with them. To tell Nigerian people the importance of the removal of fuel subsidy will not compel them to accept the short-time suffering and discomfort that will come from the subsidy removal.

The economic wellbeing of the country at the moment is neither encouraging nor warrant such a new hike in petrol price. The majority of the people in the country is relatively poor and desperately relies on the affordable petrol and kerosene. The moderately decent transport fare for survival is going up tremendously. When the people survived with less than $2 daily and a gallon of petrol stood at $4 and rising; how is it possible for the poor to survive together with higher food prices and transportation?

Poor strategizing was a major problem to Jonathan Administration and his economic team. The was paucity of strategic planning without soft cushion for the public. There was no trust between the people and the ruling class, for the administration foremost pre-subsidy removal goal would be to establish a comfort level and rapport with the Nigeria people. The government could not actualize a quantifiable trust that it can count on before it the desired action.

Nigeria may need to remove fuel subsidies inorder to deregulate upstream drilling. By so doing  will result in the attraction of deep-pocket investors into upstream drilling and that will subsequently lower the price of petroleum products including petrol and kerosene. The problem is that it will take a reasonable long time for all these undertakings and Nigerian public may not have the stomach to wait for such an extended time.  Nigerians do not buy into the process that they promised that the outcome will be favourable to them due to lack of confidence they have for the government. The government does not have a good track on keeping its promise; therefore there is nothing for the people to build upon. The house of Nigeria has fallen and the people are not ready to pickup the rabbles.

The timing for the government’s action maybe its greatest vulnerability; while the government is already battling the major headache coming from Boko Haram, now it will compound the challenges coming from the country's Labour Union and other restless organizations together with the hyper-energetic youths. That is too much load to be carried by this administration that has not strengthen its feet on the ground.

Speaking to CNN, Feyi Fawehinmi, an accountant and analyst, said "When you have so much poverty, a lot of business and lives have been built on petrol being at N65, which is not exactly cheap, even at subsidized rates. People are just not moving out of poverty quickly in Nigeria. There is an economic case but this is not something that can be quantified economically, the government cannot tell how many businesses will be ruined or even how many people will die," Fawehinmi continued. "The impact will be so wide-ranging. There should have been a plan to remove this in a sensible way, not in this crude manner."

Wall Street Journal stated that "President Goodluck Jonathan is unlikely to yield. Nigeria had been spending about 1.2 trillion naira ($7.5 billion) a year to maintain the price—money that came directly from its oil earnings, never entered the federal budget and could have been better used, his aides have argued, for infrastructure improvements on roads and power plants."

That is not good news for although the subsidy has been expensive but at same time the people needs the subsidies to make their lives little less depressing. There is no way out of this one for it looks like the administration is not going to back down nor is the people willing to let go.

Nigeria needs peace and stability to continue with its economic growth and implementation of other less troubling economic reforms including restricting of the surging inflation and provision of infrastructures. But when everything comes to a halt because of fuel subsidy removal everybody will be a loser. The economic growth will stop, inflation will soar and investors will recall their capitals.  There is still time to find solution in the light before it turns to corpulent darkness.

Chinua Achebe's Nigerian Award debacle: A learning experience and teachable moment

Professor Chinua Achebe, the most influential African writer, a citizen of the world and a respected voice in the world, rejected an award from Nigeria. The issue is not so much that he turns down the national award but on how Nigerian government handled the whole issue. First and foremost, Professor Chinua Achebe is entitle to turn down any award whether from Nigeria or from Nobel Prize committee. That is ‘no-brainer' as Americans like to say but crust of the matter was in the handling of the said award. The Federal government of Nigeria principally the minister of foreign affairs in consultation with the presidency would have dispatched the Nigerian Ambassador to United States and he would have visited Honorable Achebe at his residence in America and talk to him about Nigeria's intention of honoring him.

In the private session Professor Achebe will be diligently explained on how far the country has improved since the last time he rejected the national award. At the moment the country with a new leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan and many world respected technocrats including Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Lamido Sanusi and Professor Nnaji are steering the country in a new and affirmative direction. If he insisted that he must not accept the award then it will all end there and no another ear will hear it, in that case the government will not put his name out there and be embarrassed.

It will be a good thing and strategic victory for the government of President Jonathan to convince Professor Achebe to accept a national award for it will give credibility and restores integrity to the national award which in the eyes of many Nigerians has become an unmerited award for well connected contractors, politicians and elites. On the international scene the voice and the prestige of Chinua Achebe is simply big, his acceptance of the Nigerian Award will return a level of goodwill that it is badly needed by the country. At the moment the administration and country are confronted with myriad of challenges including internal insecurity and poor image; it needs any encourage it can garnish from anywhere especially from this son of Africa Professor Achebe. The assurance and support from Achebe can assure some quarters in the global community.

Even when the federal government did not do its homework and things went the way it did and Professor Chinua Achebe rejected the national award. The handlers of public relation and communication in Aso Rock would have geared into more sophisticated mode of repairing damage and damage control not sending out  brainy Dr. Reuben Abati to sound defensive. The more effective defense to the debacle is to go into more humble communication and acknowledged that Chinua Achebe is right on his assertion but the new assertive government of President Goodluck Jonathan is on top of it. More to it the handlers should have communicate more effective how passionate the current administration is on solving the gigantic problems of the country by giving example with the most viable and free election that was conducted by the administration. The handlers must emphasis that the election was accepted by both local and international observers as the freest election ever conducted in the country. Federal government of Nigeria should have said that the administration may have been slipped-off in effective communication of their actions, agenda and achievements but there was no laxity in their actions to right the wrongs of the country.

In future Nigerian government should not be intimidated in trying again to honour one of the greatest writers of all time, a world citizen and a Nigerian native but it should do the necessary arrangement to avoid the pitfalls and mistakes. Nigeria needs Chinua Achebe as a source and beckon of goodwill that convey to whole wide world that Nigeria is ready to do business with the rest of the world.

Emeka Chiakwelu is the Principal Policy Strategist at Afripol Organization. Africa Political and Economic Strategic Center (Afripol) is foremost a public policy center whose fundamental objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable green environment, human rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa. http://afripol.org

The removal of petrol subsidy is one area that has exposed our government’s characteristic indecision and prevarication.

Government’s claim to subsidy value of over N600bn per annum is considered outrageous and unsustainable as these expenses subhead alone usually exceed the consolidated capital votes for health, education and transport each year. Meanwhile, Nigerians continue to bemoan the huge infrastructural deficits in these critical areas of social welfare, but still rigidly insist on the maintenance of this oppressive expenditure pattern. Indeed, the Peoples Democratic Party led-government has continued to threaten Nigerians with petroleum subsidy withdrawal for over six years, with renewed calls and affirmation by government officials every month or so. The bombshell was finally thrown on New Year Day when the government announced the removal of the subsidy on petrol.

Nonetheless, subsidy has increased from just over N100bn in year 2000 to its current value of over N600bn, while government continues to make feeble noise on the end of subsidy. The truth, of course, is well recognised by government that removal of subsidy will bring untold hardship to all Nigerians (especially those who do not have easy access to government treasury). But there is the possibility that subsidy could exceed over 70 per cent of our capital budget, if oil prices rise fortuitously to above $100/barrel in the next 12 months. If this happens, any hope that we will make any serious impact on our infrastructural deficit may well be a pipe dream together with the porous Vision 2020 strategy.

I have maintained without equivocation in the last six years that it will be impossible for government to cancel subsidy (i.e. dismantle the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s current petrol import monopoly) without first dismantling the monopoly of our Central Bank in the foreign exchange market, where the CBN controls over 80 per cent of all dollars traded in the market while it maintains its constitutional monopoly of all naira issuance concurrently. Needless to say that government’s dilemma on fuel pricing firmly corroborates our observation.

However, we have noted how the adoption of the instruments of dollar certificates (strictly not cash) for disbursement of dollar derived revenue to constitutional beneficiaries would immediately lead to steady decline in local fuel prices such that ‘subsidy’ will become unnecessary while government will be repositioned to actually derive substantial revenue from a sales tax which can be levied without any opposition from labour.

In other words, the adoption of dollar certificates will make available over N600bn for capital and social welfare enhancement in addition to a sales tax revenue of up to N10/litre on the estimated 30 million litres of fuel consumed daily. If the situation can be turned around so simply and beneficently, why is the government pussyfooting on this vital issue? The only obvious reason for government’s lack of enthusiasm to embrace this reality is that its adoption would quickly reduce the space for corruption and self-enrichment, particularly in the CBN, the commercial banks, the executive arms of government and in the bureau de change, who now serve as a collaborative conduit with treasury looters to facilitate money laundering.

A national newspaper’s editorial on June 17, 2010, entitled, “CBN and Petroleum Subsidy”, aptly captures the issues. It is axiomatic that the same CBN which is primarily the promoter and the villain in the scourge of subsidy is also shouting the loudest for its removal. Some analysts observe that it is a case of propaganda and an attempt to distract attention and divert recognition of the apex bank as the engine of our problem. The editorial under reference noted among others that:

“The problem of petroleum subsidy has lingered for several decades and it is therefore regrettable that the CBN failed to look inward for alternative options for resolving the matter, a sine qua non – confirmed by the following cursory historical review. Petroleum products have not always been subsidised nor did the outset of subsidy result from lagging petroleum product prices relative to changes in the international price of crude oil. From its stable price of 8.8 kobo per litre in 1966-78 when there was no subsidy, petrol price rocketed by 73,700 per cent to N65 per litre today.

“Also diesel which retailed at 11 kobo per litre in 1985 zoomed to 99,900 per cent or N110 per litre currently. But crude oil, even at the peak price of US$147 per barrel in 2008, rose by only 880 per cent over the 1978 level of $15 per barrel. Hence nominally, with domestic petrol and diesel prices outpacing crude oil prices by 84 fold and 114-fold respectively during the period, the culprit in the vexed subsidy is the precipitous depreciation of the naira by over 99.6 per cent since 1980 with its attendant high inflation. Doubtless, the monetary and fiscal authorities culpably left their job undone.

“Accordingly, until the CBN begins to correctly infuse federation account dollar proceeds into the system so as to halt the slide of the naira and stem high inflation, removal or reduction in petrol subsidy would leave the masses worse off. On the contrary, when government flushes out (as it should) the oil sector cabal currently cornering substantial part of the subsidy, the lot of the masses would improve. Poised against the masses, Sanusi further sought to justify his position by claiming falsely that government was borrowing to pay petrol subsidy debts. The truth is that proceeds (local or external) from any volume of crude oil allocated for domestic consumption more than cover whatever shortfall that might arise because of the controlled pump price of petrol.

“For now, as the CBN searches for excuses for its unending failures, Nigerians should be spared the distraction and economic pain that the removal of the remaining petroleum subsidy could cause.”

However, how do Nigerians see government’s argument and propaganda for rationalising subsidy removal? To answer this question, we will conclude this week’s piece with excerpts from a rejoinder entitled, “The Arithmetic of Subsidy, the ‘Isiro’ of Deceit” (isiro in Yoruba translates to calculation) by Oyewale Tomori, a Professor of Virology on page 64 edition of the same newspaper on June 24, 2010. It reads as follows:

“The campaign, or rather the war to remove subsidy has been going on now for some time; the losers will be the ordinary abandoned, deserted, discarded, forsaken, neglected and done for citizens of Nigeria… They have employed tactics bordering on deceit, trickery, duplicity, deception and guile. It is either somebody is trying to fool us, or the secret of how much we really need to develop this country has been inadvertently released to us.”

•Boyo, an economist and entrepreneur, wrote in from Abel Sell Limited, Lagos via This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

ANC  Centenary Celebrations

Against all odds, the party of  Nelson Mandela has transformed a nation where just 20 years ago black South Africans could not vote, and beaches and restaurants were reserved for whites only. The venerated party once banned for decades under apartheid has won every national election since racist white rule ended in 1994, and President Jacob Zuma vows the party "will rule until Jesus comes."

Yet as the African National Congress marks its 100th anniversary this weekend with fanfare and dozens of visiting presidents, critics say the ANC has failed to unchain an impoverished majority still shackled by a white-dominated economy. Unemployment hovers around 36 percent and soars to 70 percent among young people. Half the country's population lives on just 8 percent of the national income, according to the Congress of South African Trade Unions.

South African political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi praises the ANC for developmental achievements "unprecedented anywhere in the world" in its 17 years of governing the country. But he noted that many at the ANC festivities will have their joy marred by "a tinge of disappointment and even sadness" about weaknesses and failures. The ANC's reputation is being tarnished by a never-ending deluge of corruption scandals, some involving politicians who sacrificed during the fight against apartheid and now feel entitled to luxury cars and financial payback. It's created disillusionment, especially for those who volunteered to serve as freedom fighters at a time when many of the ANC's leaders were imprisoned for their activism.Serame Mogale, who was only 14 when he became a guerrilla fighter for the ANC, recalled that the slogan in one Angolan training camp was "the pace of the slowest."

"We would run six hours nonstop with female comrades in front, from whom the whole company or platoon will take the pace," he recalls. "But today, the weakest is overtaken and left behind to tire and die." Africa's oldest liberation movement is kicking off the festivities with a golf tournament -- an event critics say shows how the grassroots-based movement has morphed into an elitist-run political party. More than 100,000 people are expected for the ANC centenary festivities, including 46 heads of state and a dozen former presidents, the party says. Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu is coming, though it's unclear whether Mandela will make an appearance.

South African President Jacob Zuma presents former President Nelson Mandela with a gift - an architect's rendering of the Nelson Mandela Legacy Bridge - Reuters

The political party representing South Africa's impoverished majority already has drawn criticism for spending 10 million rand (nearly $1.5 million) of public money to buy the church where it all began. The Wesleyan church is the focus of this weekend's centenary celebrations in Bloemfontein, a city in the heart of the country. It was here that black activists and intellectuals founded the liberation movement that would help lead the decades-long struggle against racist rule.

Until just 20 years ago, blacks were evicted from their homes and herded into separate suburbs, forced to work under slave-like conditions on mines and farms. Families were separated under legalized race discrimination so that white entrepreneurs could take advantage of poorly paid black laborers. The best parks, beaches and restaurants were reserved for the white minority, with signs in Afrikaans saying "Net Blankes" -- Whites Only. Some shops would only serve blacks through a hole in the wall.

Black nannies cared for white children and prepared elaborate meals for white families, then went to hovels in the backyards of mansions to feed their own children "ration meat" -- bones and fat less nutritious than the meals served to white families' dogs. A turning point came in 1960 when police turned their guns on about 300 people peacefully protesting "pass laws" restricting them to certain areas and requiring them to leave white areas where they worked by nightfall.

At least 69 people were killed and scores wounded in the Sharpeville massacre. The unprovoked slaughter attracted international condemnation that formed the roots of the global anti-apartheid movement. The government declared a state of emergency and banned South Africa's two liberation movements -- the Pan Africanist Congress, which had organized the Sharpeville protest, and the ANC.

ANC leaders declared there was no longer any space to organize nonviolent resistance and formed Umkhonto we Sizwe, Zulu for "Spear of the Nation," an army that would wage a guerrilla war for liberation. "The time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices: submit or fight. That time has now come to South Africa. We shall not submit, but we shall fight back by all our means within our power for the liberation of our motherland," said the guerrilla army manifesto.

After Mandela's 1990 release from prison, he was elected president of ANC and went on to become South Africa's first black president after the historic 1994 election. While the ANC confronted a common enemy in apartheid, it became a catchall for people of many different ideological persuasions. Once the enemy was defeated, it is not surprising that differences have arisen. "We would like to think it (the ANC) has teething problems, but it's not really only teething problems," said Amina Cachalia, a political activist who joined the ANC in the 1940s. "I think suddenly it's become a different platform for different ideologies and for different people with different agendas, and that's a pity, a great pity."

The party also has struggled to find a leader as charismatic as the beloved anti-apartheid icon. Thabo Mbeki, the president who succeeded Mandela, was unceremoniously booted out of office by an ANC congress that deemed him too cerebral and out of touch with the people. Today the ANC is led by Zuma, a guerrilla fighter who was imprisoned at Robben Island alongside Mandela but whose polygamous lifestyle and extramarital affairs have scandalized South Africans.

Zuma's leadership is being challenged by Julius Malema, the very same fiery youth leader credited with ousting Mbeki and helping bring Zuma to power in 2007. Late last year, an ANC disciplinary committee fired Malema and suspended him from the party for five years.Malema, who is awaiting the result of an appeal and is under police investigation for corruption and tax evasion, has been denied the opportunity to address the centenary celebrants. But he will speak at smaller rallies near Bloemfontein, the party said of the young firebrand who draws support from young adults.

Sifiso Mkwanazi, a 26-year-old self-employed businessman, complains about the government's lack of investment to create jobs and better education opportunities."For the generation of my parents, I think it (the ANC) has done a lot, but with our generation, I don't think they are contributing as much as they should be," he says. Still, he said his vote would go to the ANC unless a viable opposition party devoted to the people's interest springs up. Cachalia, who has been a friend of Mandela for 60 years, says she wonders what he would make of the ANC's evolution. "I sometimes feel very disillusioned these days, but I suppose we live in hope," she says.

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Associated Press writers Ed Brown and Krista Larson contributed to this report from Johannesburg.

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PHOTO NEWS - fuel subsidy removal protests

"On January 1 2012, Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, ended oil subsidies that had kept gasoline prices artificially low. The cost of a liter of gasoline shot up from 65 naira (40 cents) to at least 141 naira (86 cents) virtually overnight.Furious Nigerians have since taken to the streets, staging 'Occupy Nigeria' protests and mass demonstrations across the country. Police have responded forcefully with many arrests. At least one person has died amid the unrest: 23-year-old student Muyideen Mustafa was allegedly hit by a police bullet in Ilorin, Kwara State."  - CNN

Benin City Protesters have taken to the streets across Nigeria in recent days after gas prices more than doubled following the government's decision to take away fuel subsidies.

Adjarho David Obaro, who is currently in Nigeria for the holidays, took photos of the protests near King's Square in Benin City on Thursday, January 5. He said there were thousands of protesters there from different backgrounds.

"I saw raw anger in the eyes of the protesters with regards to the increase in prices of good (and) services as a result of the subsidy removal," said Obaro.

iReporter Victor Iyamu took this photo at the protest in Benin City, the capital of Edo State, on Thursday, January 5. Iyamu says he is not participating in the protest but that he does support the protesters and their cause.

The Nigeria Labour Congress and Trades Union Congress urged the government to immediately restore the subsidies -- or see the country grind to a halt starting January

After learning about the fuel subsidy protests from Twitter on Tuesday, iReporter Kfire decided to join the crowds in Lagos. "The aim of the protest was to disrupt vehicular movement, shut down gas stations and ask people to go back home," he said.

"The mood was one of anger and frustration towards the government for doing this on New Year's Day," Kfire said.

Freelance journalist Mohammed Bashir observed the large protest in his town of Lokoja, Nigeria, on Tuesday, January 3. He snapped this photo with his BlackBerry as hundreds gathered in the street.

Obi Akwukwuma, 47, observed the demonstrations at King's Square in Benin City on Thursday, January 5. Akwukwuma, who works on an engineering project nearby, took this photo with his BlackBerry as demonstrators protested the removal of fuel subsidy.

John Abayomi/Vanguard

ELON MUSK: AFRIPOL PERSON OF THE YEAR

Elon Musk is the co-founder and CEO of Pay Pal, SpaceX, Tesla Motors and Chairman of SolarCity. Elon Musk, a South African immigrant to United States is an African success story. Born and grew up in South Africa during days of Apartheid. Musk, a young man of great vision  and emerging intellectual rejected the Apartheid system and migrated to North America to pursue his dreams and visions.

"Musk was born and raised in South Africa, the son of a South African engineer and a Canadian mother who worked as a nutritionist and model. Musk bought his first computer at age 10 and taught himself how to program; by the age of 12 he sold his first commercial software for about $500, a space game called Blastar. After matriculating at Pretoria Boys High School he left home in 1988 at the age of 17, without his parents' support and in part because of the prospect of compulsory service in the South African military: "I don't have an issue with serving in the military per se, but serving in the South African army suppressing black people just didn't seem like a really good way to spend time." He wanted to move to the US, saying: "It is where great things are possible," stated by Wikipedia.

Furthermore "His mother was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and many of his relatives reside in western Canada, so Musk immigrated there in June 1989. He left Canada in 1992 after getting a scholarship to study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. From the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, he received an undergraduate degree, and stayed on another year to finish a second bachelor's degree in physics. His undergraduate degrees behind him, and drawing inspiration from innovators such as Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla,Musk then considered three areas he wanted to get into that were "important problems", as he said later, "One was the Internet, one was clean energy, and one was space." (Wikipedia)

Elon Musk's mind can be liken to a composite of Edison, Newton and Einstein sensibilities and brilliance , which powered great and innovative scientific projects and breakthroughs. Musk had made great advances in the science of solar and electric car technology. Musk has made the possibilities and innovations of 21st century vision within our reach.

Elon Musk can be correctly called the father of modern space technology because of immense contribution he made to space industry. His vision of commercializing space technology by making space travelling available to the public will revolutionize space industry.

For his immense contribution to 21st century space technology and his rent-less energy to make a change the way we look at our world; Afripol Organization therefore chose ELON MUSK The 2011 AFRIPOL PERSON OF THE YEAR.

Africa Political and Economic Strategic Center (Afripol) is foremost a public policy center whose fundamental objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable green environment, human rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa. http://afripol.org

President Jonathan  needs more sophisticated handlers and advisers

Presidents of nations by the nature of their jobs are busy and overloaded therefore cannot be everywhere at every issue. That is why they have ministers, advisers and handlers that help them to bring their visions, dreams to fruition and reality. President Goodluck Jonathan without exception needs sophisticated men and women especially at Aso Rock that can play vital and concerted roles in managing crisis and formulating strategic blueprints; a powerful public relation team that can avert any unseen circumstance including unexpected crisis, thereby keep the affairs of the presidency floating.

President Jonathan needs visionary team in Aso Rock that can aid the presidency to convey his vision of Nigeria to the global village. The presidency has a number of good spokespersons and public relation practitioners at Aso but more must be done to bring in more handlers that have global outlook. Global citizens of Nigerian heritage that can speak the international language of diplomacy that can be easily be comprehended by the entire world. Needed are those with touch of local inputs and trappings; simultaneously transmitting global significance.

As an emerging and a frontline African nation, Nigeria has become an active part of the economic-scio global village. The strategic importance of Nigeria has grown tremendously that she must be prepared and become seasoned on how she go about doing her business; especially on how she reacts to events and the mechanism on the effective communication to the rest of the world. The presidency is the mouthpiece of the country and any utterances coming from Aso Rock are analyzed by the rest of the world especially investors and diplomats. It is important that the spokesperson and those in the affairs of communication in the presidency understand crystal clear that the rest of the world hangs to every inch and breath of words they said and every press release they issued. The consequences of the words and press releases are numerous; they have monetary and quantifiable ramifications. These can radically affect the image of nation, the strength of naira in the exchange market and determine the rate of influx of foreign investors. The bottom line is that words and press releases have great meanings and cannot be taken lightly. The process and procedure, the method and mechanism that a nation handles events show how sophisticated and grown a nation has become. That in turn will determine on how much trust that other nations and investors repose on the nation. Take for instance the issue of Chinua Achebe rejection of the national award was not properly handled. And that was a big talk that needed to be given the highest priority.

Chinua Achebe's Award debacle: A learning experience and teachable moment

Professor Chinua Achebe, the most influential African writer, a citizen of the world and a respected voice in the world, rejected an award from Nigeria. The issue is not so much that he turns down the national award but on how Nigerian government handled the whole issue. First and foremost, Professor Chinua Achebe is entitle to turn down any award whether from Nigeria or from Nobel Prize committee. That is ‘no-brainer' as Americans like to say but crust of the matter was in the handling of the said award. The Federal government of Nigeria principally the minister of foreign affairs in consultation with the presidency would have dispatched the Nigerian Ambassador to United States and he would have visited Honorable Achebe at his residence in America and talk to him about Nigeria's intention of honoring him.

In the private session Professor Achebe will be diligently explained on how far the country has improved since the last time he rejected the national award. At the moment the country with a new leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan and many world respected technocrats including Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Lamido Sanusi and Professor Nnaji are steering the country in a new and affirmative direction. If he insisted that he must not accept the award then it will all end there and no another ear will hear it, in that case the government will not put his name out there and be embarrassed.

It will be a good thing and strategic victory for the government of President Jonathan to convinced Professor Achebe to accept a national award for it will give credibility and restores integrity to the national award which in the eyes of many Nigerians has become an unmerited award for well connected contractors, politicians and elites. On the international scene the voice and the prestige of Chinua Achebe is simply big, his acceptance of the Nigerian Award will return a level of goodwill that it is badly needed by the country. At the moment the administration and country are confronted with myriad of challenges including internal insecurity and poor image; it needs any encourage it can garnish from anywhere especially from this son of Africa Professor Achebe. The assurance and support from Achebe can assure some quarters in the global community.

Even when the federal government did not do its homework and things went the way it did and Professor Chinua Achebe rejected the national award. The handlers of public relation and communication in Aso Rock would have geared into more sophisticated mode of repairing damage and damage control not sending out brainy Dr. Ruben Abati to sound defensive. The more effective defense to the debacle is to go into more humble communication and acknowledged that Chinua Achebe is right on his assertion but the new assertive government of President Goodluck Jonathan is on top of it. More to it the handlers should have communicate more effective how passionate the current administration is on solving the gigantic problems of the country by giving example with the most viable and free election that was conducted by the administration. The handlers must emphasis that the election was accepted by both local and international observers as the freest election ever conducted in the country.

Federal government of Nigeria should have said that the administration may have been slipped-off in effective communication of their actions, agenda and achievements but there was no laxity in their actions to right the wrongs of the country.

Handling the threat of Boko Haram via effective communication

Apart from the security infrastructures set up by the administration to defeat and bring to an end to this ugly situation (DESTRUCTION OF LIFE AND PROPERTY)  spurred by Boko Haram, effective communication and public relation are quite essential condiments in victory over Boko-Haram-ism. It is important that the government should effectively convey to the citizens what the administration is doing inorder to arrest the ugly situation of bombing that cheapen lives and destroy properties. When the people becomes more confident on the apparatus and methodology employed by the government they become co-partners in the battle by projecting confidence and lowering the fear of the Boko Haram, which is the main intention of the group in the first place. The most aggressive tool employed by Boko Haram is fear and which impel the citizens to lose confidence in the government to protect them.

The global community particularly the trading partners, diplomats and investors must be reassured by the government that Nigeria is safe for investment by constantly communicating to them through media and other outlets . The economic growth of the country can be hampered when investors are shaded from the progress made by the government and they might recall back capital and investments. Therefore the government spokesperson will constantly if not daily engaged in the business of confidence-building and assurance.

The handlers and spokespersons at Aso Rock must be willing at all time to reassure Nigerians and the world that Nigerian government is on top of the situation. The more the people hear it, the more it boosts their trust in the government. That in turn will stimulate the government's sensibility and the leadership becomes more encouraged that the people is behind them and Boko Haram days will be numbered.  Handling and managing crisis commenced with effective communication by keeping people in the light and never allow the opposing force to win the battle of instilling fear to the masses.

Emeka Chiakwelu is the Principal Policy Strategist at Afripol Organization. Africa Political and Economic Strategic Center (Afripol) is foremost a public policy center whose fundamental objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable green environment, human rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa. http://afripol.org

A state of emergency will do nothing unless Goodluck Jonathan faces up to the political backers of Boko Haram's terrorists

Faced with mounting pressure following the Christmas Day bombings of churches by the Islamist group Boko Haram, which killed at least 40 people, Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan imposed a state of emergency in certain parts of the country on 31 December.

The measure is in force in some local councils of Yobe and Borno states in the north-east of Nigeria, Plateau state in central Nigeria and Niger state in the north-west – areas where the government says the Islamists have their strongholds.

Some Nigerians welcomed the decision, saying the only language terrorist groups like Boko Haram understand is force and that Jonathan is right to say they need to be "crushed". Others voiced concern that the Nigerian military, not known for its sterling human rights record, will abuse the blank cheque it has been given in the affected states and innocent citizens are bound to suffer.

There were also questions raised as to the wisdom of sending the military only to certain areas of the four states, as all the Islamists had to do was relocate to other local councils and continue their activities from there, rendering the state of emergency ineffective. But a decision has been made, now the question is can it work? Is the Nigerian military capable of crushing the Islamist group, or at least crippling its operational capacity significantly?

Boko Haram, which says it wants to impose nationwide sharia law on a country where roughly half of the 160 million citizens are Christians, is believed to have been responsible for over 500 deaths in Nigeria in 2011 alone, with churches, police stations and the UN headquarters in the country among the targets of its bombings.

Hundreds of its members have been arrested and killed by Nigerian security forces in the past few years and the group's original leader died in police custody in 2009; but that hasn't stopped them from carrying out ever-more daring attacks. A military officer involved in the current operation against Boko Haram told me under the condition of anonymity that the state of emergency would not solve the problem. The group is backed by powerful northern politicians who use the organisation as political muscle, he said.

"We know who they are but the government is not ready to go after them and until those people stop supporting the group with funds, weapons and protection, we cannot defeat Boko Haram," he admitted.

When a spokesman for the Islamists, Ali Sanda Umar Konduga, was arrested in November 2011, he fingered a deceased ambassador and a serving senator as sponsors of the group. Both of these individuals belonged to Jonathan's ruling People's Democratic party (PDP). But my source says the two are "small boys" compared with the real powerbrokers behind Boko Haram. He also admitted that innocent civilians get killed in the hunt for the Islamists.

"When we receive intelligence that Boko Haram members are in a particular location, we usually arrive on the scene spraying bullets. Innocent people die but that happens all the time in Nigeria and we are under a lot of pressure from our superiors to deliver results," he said.

Boko Haram seems intent on starting a Muslim-Christian conflict in Africa's most populous country and so far, things are going according to script for them. When innocent Muslims are killed in the hunt for terrorists, even moderates can be easily persuaded that all Muslims are under attack from the government.

Christian leaders are also starting to lose their nerve.

After the Christmas Day bombings, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), a major group, released a statement warning that if the attacks continued in 2012 and "Christians remain unprotected by the security agencies, then we will have no choice but to … take our own steps to ensure our safety and security".

What do they plan to do, arm Christians with AK-47s?

Meanwhile, on 2 January, a spokesman for Boko Haram issued an ultimatum to southern Christians residing in the country's north giving them three days to leave. He also said Muslims living in the south should come back to the north as there was "evidence they would be attacked by Christians".

Boko Haram and their backers are bent on causing chaos and spreading sectarian fear in the country. That is the real aim, not the establishment of nation-wide sharia law, which they must know Nigeria's 80 million Christians will never accept.

Northern secession in order to form a religiously pure Muslim nation is also not an option for the north's elites as the country's wealth lies in other regions and they show scant inclination of being willing to give up their access to all that oil cash.

For the political backers of Boko Haram, religion is merely a convenient cloak with which to disguise their true intentions: a tool to bamboozle the naive, often poor and homeless illiterates who are Boko Haram's soldiers into doing their dirty work for them.

Their motives go no further than increasing their wealth and power by cowering a southern Christian president they regard as weak into believing they can make Nigeria ungovernable unless he plays by their rules. As long as Jonathan remains unable or unwilling to face down the real powers behind the Islamists, there is no hope of defeating Boko Haram. No state of emergency will change that.

Remi Adekoya was born and raised in Nigeria. He is the politics editor of Warsaw Business Journal, an English-language weekly in Poland. He has also worked for the Polish weekly Wprost and has had his articles published in the daily Gazeta Wyborcza and Foreign Policy. Adekoya articles are publishes in The Guardian UK