What The Papers Say
National Concord, Nigeria, February 8, 1986
Abuja and accountability
Abuja, the nation's federal capital, was conceived as a symbol of the oneness and unity of Nigeria. The new city, carved out of the country's heartland, now presents a desolate picture of contracts, with empty highways and a deserted presidential palace.Abuja, which was to be a means of spreading out Nigeria's economic development and more importantly consolidating its unity, was indeed something of a national pride in its inception. Today, like many Nigerian projects, its initially narrow chances of viability have been dashed by the high rates of corruption that characterised the Second Republic. In short, Abuja between 1980 and 1983, became synonymous with fraud. The cumulative economic and effect of the economic disaster which Abuja constituted, is still very much with us
Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief, however, on the assumption of power by the military, hoping that the massive national drift would be brought to book. To further convince Nigerians of the importance it attached to public accountability, the military embarked on numerous probes and panels and various fraudulent people were convicted.
But the nation got a rude shock recently with the statement credited to the new minister for the Federal Capital Territory to the effect that he would have no time to probe anybody over Abuja frauds. The minister noted that his priority was to get the city off the ground and that no time would be wasted on probes.
We are alarmed and ashamed, to say the least, at the off- handed manner in which the minister dismissed calls for probity in Abuja. Are we to take it that all past frauds perpetrated in the new capital would be swept under the carpet? That piece of news must have gladdened the hearts of the numerous nouveau-riche and the mandarin millionaires who benefited from the Abuja pie.
The Concord hopes that the minister's utterance does not in any way represent the present administration's policy on Abuja and other projects that had served as conduit pipes through which our wealth was drained.
If this government wants to be taken seriously, Abuja frauds should not be covered up under any guise whatsoever. The former Abuja minister Major-General Vatsa, had cause to order the arrests of many contractors for abandoning projects on the new capital or for absconding with mobilisation fees. Apart from this, there is the grave issue of ghost workers in Abuja which does not seem to ever have been properly addressed.
The half-hearted performances of past governments in relation to probes notwithstanding, it is a veritable scandal that this nonchalant attitude reminiscent of Shagari's sloppy era should still persist under an administration that has placed public accountability on its priority list. The point must also be emphasised that the notion of probes and panels is not just to provide circus shows. The aim is to investigate issues or institutions of public interest and make findings known so that future public action can be informed and past mistakes avoided, in the interest of the common good.
If the new minister is not interested in opening the Abuja can of worms, the tax-payers whose toil and sweat were frittered away demand accountability. To give the impression that Abuja misdeeds are past and therefore better-forgotten events, is to say that all our efforts at evolving a system of public accountability have been fruitless, unnecessary and a waste of time. We certainly do not think so!
People's Daily Graphic, Ghana, February 3, 1986
Making a choice
Elsewhere in this issue, we carry the full text of an address delivered by Captain (rtd.) Kojo Tsikata, a PNDC member, at the 25th Graduation Day Ceremony of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), held on the Institute's premises last Saturday. The subject of his address was "The Press As An Instrument of Socio-Economic Transformation"..It was so incisive, profound and yet precise that it left no room for any additions.
However, it invoked, we are sure, the kind of concept, thought and political action which true nationalists and patriots of African liberation hold dear, a sinecure for total liberation in the true sense of the expression. A liberation of the political, above all, of the mind.
Very pertinent to the issues raised is the question of making a choice between identifying with the aspirations, needs and hopes of the down-trodden or just settling for the inimical, self- deluding and selfish motive of trumpeting the wishes of outside imperialistic powers for a pittance at the expense of the vast majority of the world's poor.
Also very vital to the whole question of liberation is the often blindfolding ruse of press freedom which some would have us believe is only made conspicuously functional when the mass media is invariably opposed to governments over every trivia. As the PNDC member noted, such a stand only tends to serve the interests of a few who would like to uphold the status quo for their own selfish benefits whilst leaving the majority of the people to wallow in poverty, ignorance, degradation and disease -the wretched of the earth, so to speak.
Attempts at arresting this situation and reversing it for the benefit of all always come up against stiff opposition both covert and overt. So much so that proponents of the new world economic and information orders have not made a dent on the global welter of events. And leaders of the oppressed people of the world are constantly heckled, maligned and castigated for daring to fight for these same goals.
Whilst urging African journalists to take up the matter of true liberation and strive for its achievement, Captain Tsikata also remarked that it would be naive to think that only Third World journalists can eliminate the distortions and save the world. Indeed, journalists have a front role to play in this but it should take all knowledgeable men in various fields to bring this about - academicians, doctors, lawyers, engineers and all.
The PNDC member made the other pertinent remark that there are two options open though for all of these people. They have either to join the fight for liberation as militants or outside imperialistic interests which work against the interests of the people.
To us on this paper, we vouch that the sensible choice is to continue to be or become militant believers and fighters for the cause of true liberation which is the only way to bring us into our own.
"A TOUCH OF NOKOKO"
IN NEXT WEEK'S ISSUE "HELLO ALI BABA, GOOD BYE AREBELLA"
Reminiscences of a cinema-goer in the village mobile cinema circuit in the fifties.
