RCCG "COVENANT PRAYER POINTS" FOR FEBRUARY 2012

"Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord; Thus saith the LORD, Tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria." 2 Kings 7:1

The sounds of abundance of rain were echoed at the very beginning when this year was just about an hour old. These words of gladness, spoken and sent to us from our Father in Heaven through his anointed, daddy E.A. Adeboye, have created a kind of hope for "NEW THINGS" that this very year 2012 is known for. We believe that like the days of Elisha, the prophecies for this year will experience a very rapid fulfillment in Jesus Name.

THE PRAYER POINTS

Prayers of THANKSGIVING will be our focus in the first week this February.

Each day of Second, third and last week would be dedicated to special prayers for Daddy E.A. Adeboye as Daddy clocks 70 in March.

Also in the last three weeks, we shall pray this year's prophecies into fulfillment. Each week contains the one for the week.

As we pray this month, we strongly believe that our God will make us "...to hear joy and gladness..."Psalms 51:8. He would rebuke the wind and there will be"... a great calm" Mark4:39

WEEK ONE FEBRAURY 1-5

THANKSGIVING

RCCG
1. Thank God for His mercy on RCCG. Rom. 9: 15-16
2. Thank God for not allowing the enemy to have none of his ways on RCCG Ps. 124
3. Thank God for His awesome moves in RCCG. Ps 136
4. Thank God for what He has done for you and every individual in RCCG. Ps 138
5. Thank God for Daddy and Mummy G.O and for His mercy on them Exod. 33:19.

NIGERIA
1. Let us thank God for what He is doing in Nigeria
2. Let us thank God for not allowing perpetual civil war to exist in Nigeria
3. Let us bless the name of our Lord Jesus Christ for the growth of Christianity in Nigeria
4. Let us thank God for helping Nigeria to remain a United Nation

DADDY G. O
1. Thank God for calling and backing up Daddy and Mummy GO in the ministry.
2. Let us thank God for mercy on the family of Daddy GO.
3. Let us thank God for divine health in the family of Daddy G.O
4. Let us bless the name of the Lord for backing Daddy G. O up in the ministry
5. Let us thank God for all the souls won through Daddy G.O's ministry.

PERSONAL
1. Thank God for not allowing the enemy to cage you and yours.
2. Thank God for providing for you
3. Thank God for you are still alive to praise, His Holy name
4. Bless the name of the Lord for His mercies over your life.

WEEK TWO FEBRUARY 6-12

Year 2012 prophecy for Individuals:

Pray fervently for the fulfillment of these prophecies

1. He said many considered to be absolutely barren will be fruitful.

2. He said family histories will be rewritten, including an end to premature death.

3. He said desperate prayers will get quick reply this year.

4. He said some will experience massive transfer of wealth from the wicked to the just.

PRAYER FOR DADDY G.O
1. Pray for more physical and spiritual strength for Daddy GO as he
clocks 70
2. Let us pray that the hand of the lord will be upon Daddy G.O as he celebrates his 70th birthday.
3. Let us pray that every cloud of darkness that may be gathering around the ministerial assignment of Daddy and Mummy G.O should disappear for the light to prevail.
4. Let us pray that God will surround Daddy G.O with His special grace as mountains surround Jerusalem. Ps.125:2
5. Let's pray that all the great visions and promises from God be fulfilled without delay in daddy G.O's life rime.
6. Pray that God would raise additional great men and women who will continually lift up daddy G.O's hands in every aspect of his ministerial pursuit.
7. Pray for the entire biological family of Daddy for God's special grace upon their lives.

PRAYER FOR NIGERIA

1. Let us ask God to be merciful to us in Nigeria especially the children of God Exod. 20:6
2. Let us ask God to visit Nigeria with mercy Romans 9:16
3. Let us use the blood of Jesus to cancel the covenant of death and destruction of lives in Nigeria.
4. Let us send the spirit of confusion of language into camps of the enemy of the enemies of Nigeria, where intimidations, killings, burning down of churches and destructions of properties that belong to children of God is originating from. Gen.11:1-9
5. Let us decree that every gathering to kill and destroy be frustrated by the Blood of Jesus. Isa. 54:15
6. Let us pray against civil war
7. Let us pray that the terrorists and all other related sect from today should begin to attack and destroy each other continually forever. Isa 49:24-26, Gen.11:1-9

WEEK THREE FEBRUARY 13-19

PRAYER FOR DADDY G.O (see week two)

Make use of these prophecies to pray for Nigeria:

1. God says He has surprises both for His own and for the enemies of the church.

2. He said before this year ends, it will be said of Nigeria; all is well that ends well.

3, He said we are to pray more for prominent Nigerians, so that those who see this year may see the next.

PRAYER FOR THE FORTH COMING SPECIAL HOLY GHOST SERVICE IN MARCH

1. Let us ask God to deliver every captive of the mighty.Isa.49:24-26.
2. Let us pray for full restoration of His people Ps.126:1-6.
3. Let us thank God for all the past Special Holy Ghost Services. Ps. 127:1-3
4. Let us pray that God will confirm the word of Daddy G.O concerning his request for seventy thousand children to mark his 70th birthday this year
5. Let us thank God for all the unusual miracles He is going to do this time around Deut. 11:3; Jn.6:2
6. Let us pray that God will be merciful and remember the barren and those suffering from secondary infertility in this program as Daddy has asked God for seventy thousand children from God. 1Sam. 1:16-20.
7. Let us plead the Blood of Jesus to frustrate every programme of evil causing accidents and traffic jam on Lagos - Ibadan express way and other highways every in Nigeria that weekend.
8. Let us pray that God will use Daddy G.O like never before during the programme, to use the word of God to reshape every altered Destiny in the life of the children of God.
9. Let us pray that God will anoint all the participants to fulfill their destinies.
10. Pray for more strength for Daddy G O and all the Pastors, Ministers and workers, that God will use them mightily during this special Holy Ghost service Deut.33:25; Josh.14:11; 1Chron.29:12; Josh. 14:9.

WEEK FOUR FEBRUARY 20-26

PRAYER FOR DADDY G.O. (see week two and three)

Make use of these prophecies to pray for the world at large

International:
1. Daddy says there will be a lot of power transfer.

2. He said new phenomenon will startle scientists.

3. He said we are to pray against earth quakes of record magnitude, tsunamis of record proportion and massive hurricanes. if we pray they will be subdued.

4. The civil unrest that started last year will begin to end this year.

SOME OTHER STRATEGIC PRAYERS
Pray specially and specifically for theEngineering department, Choir, Ushers, Prayer Warriors and other workers that will work during the special Holy Ghost service.
Pray against terrorists, kidnappers, ritual killers and robbers during the programme. Ps.124:6 Prov. 15:30.

THE LAST THREE DAYS (Feb. 27-28)

PERSONAL RETREAT, WAITING, DEDICATION AND WORSHIP

"He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isa. 40:29-31

1. Confession of sin. Zech.3:1, 3. Ex. 20:1-5
2. Repentance. Zech.3.7
3. Pleading for mercy. Ex. 20:6, Rom. 9:15-16
4. Ask God to rebuke Satan on your behalf. Zech. 3:2.
5. Ask God to remove every filthy garment, you may be wearing. Zech. 3:4
6. Ask God for a new garment. Zech. 3:5

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When You’re in Deep

“They saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep”
(Psalm 107:24, NIV)


The scripture says is Psalm 107:23, “They that go down to the sea and do business in deep waters, they will see the wonders of God.” Friend, you and I were created to do business in deep waters. In other words, we’re not supposed to have little dreams or little plans. We are supposed to have big dreams. We are supposed to go out into the deep things God has for us.

But understand, when you’re out there in the deep waters, you can’t touch the ground. You can’t see the shoreline, and at times, it can get a little rocky. You may not always see how things are going to work out. But, the scripture tells us that deep calls to deep. In other words, God is the one who has called you to the deep waters. He is with you, and He knows there are deep things on the inside of you. Remember, in deep waters, you are not alone. God is with you, and He’s causing those deep things inside of you to come forth.

If you feel like you are out in the deep today, if you feel like you are overwhelmed, remember, you are in the right place and God is with you. You will see His wonderful deeds in the deep, and you will fulfill the plan He has in store for you.



A PRAYER FOR YOU

Father in heaven, I surrender every area of my life to You. I hunger for every single thing You have in store for me. I choose to trust You out in the deep waters knowing that You have good things in store for me in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Never forget - Never surrender (9/11/01)

The Sept 11 lesson.One of the major lessons from Sept 11 attack is this, never go to sleep after a major victory and that weakness is provocative. After the collapse of communism America went to sleep, in terms of its emphasis on defense and intelligence.. They cut their budgets thinking all threats had disappeared. When you have just won a great victory never give up the life style and discipline that produced it. Don't win your wars and loose the peace.

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"To Succeed"

To succeed in life you have to at a point, have The momentum. Things just have to fall in place for you and then you seize the moment without looking back. Getting that momentum, which really is like having the winds in your sails is the issue. To do that you must know the importance of learning. Seize every teachable moment. When people say things you don't understand ask, don't play "i know it all". What you know is what is showing in your life. If you can learn the power of self education as you go through life making the adjustments you will succeed. Poju Oyemade

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Evolution of true democracy in Nigeria

The traditions of democratic culture and its institutions must evolve naturally. Today, the Supreme Court of Nigeria made a major input to the evolution of the institution of democracy in Nigeria by removing the obtuse structure of judicial elongation of tenure. It is my hope and prayer that this is just one installment in bringing real democracy to Nigeria where many unsuitable people have taken ...advantage of an unenlightened electorate and the fact that many decent patriots did not trust that the military were really going in 1999 to institute a political culture that has not served the Nigerian people well. There may well be hope that these kinds of decisions will result in a democracy in which the will of the people is sovereign and power serves the people rather than the people serving power and the love of power is replaced by the power of love. It should also signal that impunity may not last forever. Pat Utomi

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Mastermind of Madalla Christmas Day Bombing Arrested in Borno State Govt Lodge Abuja

Written by Alaba Johnson (Reporter for NaijaPundit) on 15 January 2012.

The Nigerian Police arrested yesterday the alleged mastermind of the St. Theresa's Church , Madalla, Christmas Day Bombing attack in which over 40 people died. The suspect, believed to be a member of the dreaded Islamic terrorist sect, Boko Haram, was arrested at the Borno
State's Governor's lodge in the posh Asokoro district of Abuja.

The suspect, Kabir Sokoto, was picked up in the company of a serving military officer whose name was not immediately disclosed. The two suspects were being interrogated by the police as at the time if filing thus report.

It could be recalled that President Jonathan had alerted the ation to the fact that Boko Haram had infiltrated all arms of government including the security services.

Said the President exactly a week ago "“Some of them (Boko Haram) are in the executive arm of government, some of them are in the parliamentary/legislative arm of government while some of them are even in the judiciary. Some are also in the armed forces, the police and other security agencies. Some continue to dip their hands and eat with you and you won’t even know the person who will point a gun at you or plant a bomb behind your house."

Nigeria had her blackest Christmas ever when terrorist from the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, exploded a bomb on Christmas day at St. Theresa's church Madalla, Niger state which killed over 40 people with many still in hospital.


The events leading up to the arrest of Kabir Sokoto was described by a source thus “Following a tip-off, the suspect was arrested early on Saturday morning while in hiding at the Liaison Office in Abuja . He was said to be in transit to London .

“For weeks, we have been working on clues that the suspect was one of the masterminds of the Christmas Day bombing.

“He is being interrogated by a special team of senior officers on how St. Theresa’s Catholic Church bombing was perpetrated.

“The interrogation may also involve other security agencies since a serving military officer was with him when he was picked up.

“The IGP has submitted a preliminary brief to President Goodluck Jonathan on the latest arrest. The suspects are being kept in a police detention facility.

“The suspect left Maiduguri on Friday via Kaduna . On getting to Kaduna , he sought the assistance of a military officer to provide him escort to Abuja to catch a flight to London . Aware that the security agencies had been on his trail, he could not get a safe place to sleep. He decided to go to Borno Governor’s Lodge to seek assistance to sleep overnight as an indigene of the state.

Oblivious to the fact that he was a Boko Haram member, the Permanent Secretary in charge of the lodge decided to be magnanimous to give him free accommodation for a night. But intelligence agents trailing the suspect on the phone succeeded in tracing him to the lodge through a GPRS device.

This led to the storming of the Lodge in the early hours of Saturday leading to the arrest of the serving military officer and some staff on duty. “But after interaction with the staff of the Lodge, they were released by the police on bail pending the conclusion of a comprehensive investigation.


In addition to this, a serving governor in one of the northern states is being investigated over his alleged sponsorship of Boko Haram and only his immunity has orevented his arrest as a Special Investigation Panel (SIP) has been convened to confront him with the facts about his activities.

Several other top politicians from the north are also said to be under security watch over their relationship with the group.

Some of them have reportedly fled to Niger Republic. Curiously, when the Federal Government announced a closure of the border with Niger Republic, Malam Bashir Yusuf, a member of the Northern Elders Political Forum took to publicly condemning the government while indicating that that action was unfair to Niger Republic leading to many Nigerians asking where his loyalties lay.

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Deregulation: Ben Murray-Bruce Seeks $2bn for Transport Sector

Mr. Ben Murray-Bruce


By Ejiofor Alike


Chairman of Silverbird Television, Mr. Ben Murray-Bruce has called on the federal government to plough $2 billion yearly for the next five years from the money it would save from the withdrawal of fuel subsidies to the transport sector, as a condition for the full deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil industry.


Having started out by playing a medley of songs, ‘Shuffering and Shmiling’ and ‘Practise What You Preach’ by Fela and Barry White, respectively, to drive home his message, Murray-Bruce, in his contribution at a town hall meeting in Lagos organised by the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, said the money should be used to subsidise transportation for the masses.
The funds, he advised, would also enable transporters to buy energy-efficient buses and taxis.


“The Standards Organisation of Nigeria should make it a policy that only vehicles that are energy-efficient can come into Nigeria. We also ask that energy-efficient vehicles should be brought into Nigeria duty-free, so that the average person can buy these vehicles,” he said.


According to him, the federal government should also develop a transport policy to check the use of unsafe and unhealthy vehicles.
He also condemned the practice whereby the government brings in tricycles for the masses “while ministers use N20 million worth of SUVs.


“Now, if you bring those tricycles to Nigeria, a minister or a commissioner must ride it himself. You cannot bring it to us to ride. You must ride it yourself. Do not use N20million SUVs and provide tricycles for the rest of us. You can’t do that,” he said.
He estimated that Nigerians spend between N30 billion and N50 billion yearly on transportation and called on the federal government to provide $500 million yearly to subsidise it, as part of the $2 billion intervention.


Giving a breakdown, Murray-Bruce said, “The government must give us hope by providing a $500 million intervention fund for the transport sector. We want another $500 million to subsidise those going by bus.


“We want another $500 million for infrastructure, such as bus stops. Then, finally, we want another $500 million for the trucks, instead of these broken down trucks that destroy all our roads, making it impossible for us to get to places we want to be.
“In all, we want $2 billion every year for the next five years. Now, we make a deal; if you want to remove subsidy, go ahead and remove it but this is what you must do. You must subsidise the transport sector 100 per cent.”

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Economic Forecasting

What Does it Mean?

The process of attempting to predict the future condition of the economy. This involves the use of statistical models utilizing variables sometimes called indicators. Some of the most well-known economic indicators include inflation and interest rates, GDP growth/decline, retail sales and unemployment rates.

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Fuel Subsidy!

Should the Federal Government of Nigeria re-instate the removed fuel subsidy? YES/NO

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Nigerians React to Atiku's Political Adviser's Character Assassination of CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor

It did not come as a shock, the ridiculousness of the Twitter messages Bashir Yusuf, senior political adviser to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, that is. After all, Yusuf is not known for candor nor decency. What was shocking was his ill-advised decision to pick as a target for his latest character assassination a Christian religious leader, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

Mr. Bashir Yusuf, reeling in the bitterness of having run a failed campaign which ended in the humiliating defeat of his political principal at the PDP presidential primaries last year, has chosen to adopt the destructive pattern of using the combined tools of slander and falsehood. Yusuf decided to use the words of Oritsejafor where he spoke of redemption and the power of God to reach even the most lost and use them for His work. In his testimony, Oritsejafor had confessed of a living a life saddled with bitterness of a neglected childhood and the hellish road it took him down, where he experimented with drugs and was on the verge of self-destructing when God's mercy reached him and he was set free from addiction and bitterness and began the path to service to God.

Bashir Yusuf, in seeking to discredit this revered Christian leader extracted bits of this inspiring testimony of redemption and cast them as the current position or disposition of Oritsejafor.

Yusuf's latest diversionary and defamatory tactic has attracted widespread condemnation from prominent Nigerians. Commenting on Yusuf's latest diatribe, Professor Pat Utomi said, "I deeply regret that at a time when serious statesmen have a duty to contain the forces of anarchy we are using the assassination of characters of religious leaders to score cheap political points. While I respect the right of people to express themselves, I think that impugning the reputation of the CAN President is unwise and not very thoughtful."

Commenting specifically on the content of Oritsejafor's testimony which Yusuf mischievously attempted to ridicule, Utomi said, "The point to make here is that at the heart of the Christian message is God's mercy and His constantly calling people back to himself. Any knowledgeable person in Christian tradition will therefore realize that conversion is a strength rather than a weakness." He went futher to say, "I will like to urge all of us to see the challenges in the northern part of Nigeria more as a failure of economic and political policies which have left so many people poor and therefore amenable to be recruited for anti social causes rather than religious insurrection. As leaders we all have a duty to focus on correcting that problem rather than inflaming passions that can do damage. Such comments tend to feed the ideology behind groups like Boko Haram and the ignorance many."

A Christian cleric who chooses to remain anonymous also weighed in on Yusuf's distasteful and dishonest display, "While I agree with what Utomi has said, I have to add that the problem itself is religious at heart before it is political and economic. For instance, Bin Laden did not become a terrorist because he was poor. No! He was rich. He was radicalized by other means." He adds, "So I think people are being diplomatic when they say that the problem is economic or political. They know that the problem is religious and religion is being used against to further political interests."

"Now look at this fellow Mallam Bashir Yusuf publicly insulting the person of the President of CAN. Thank God Pastor Ayo is a man of God. He has not retaliated and I am sure wherever he is, he is praying for Malam Bashir," the Cleric adds. "But ask yourself what would have been the consequence if a prominent South Christian political figure like Bashir insulted the Sultan of Sokoto. Do you think someone like Bashir and his ilk would have taken it lying low?"

"I give you another example. Somewhere I read where Malam Elrufai public broadcasted a curse on supporters of President Jonathan. Now reverse this and say that someone like Donald Duke cursed or broadcast a curse on supporters of General Buhari, what do you think would be the consequence?" the Cleric continues with disbelief. "This is getting to an intolerable state where there are two laws for two types of Nigerians. In 1995 for instance, Sani Abacha ordered the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa after he was convicted by the Auta led tribunal for the criminal offense of incitement to murder for allegedly saying "deal with them", yet in this country we have people who came out openly to say they would make Nigeria ungovernable for Jonathan if he should win the election. Yet those men and their partners like Malam Bashir Yusif are still stoking the flames of discord. Why?"

When I asked Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor for his reaction to Mallam Bashir Yusuf's statement he simply referred to Proverbs 26:4 "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself"

Another cleric, Pastor Nosa Olotu opined on the matter thus "I do not think the reaction of certain persons to this escalation of attacks on Christians by Boko Haram is helpful. How can you leave off condemning Boko Haram and then attack the man who leads the Christian body in Nigeria for merely saying that Christians may be forced to defend themselves? So Chrisyians should just be sitting ducks because we want to make Malam Bashir and his likes happy? The other time, the Secretary General of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Buba Galadima, came out unashamedly to tell the BBC that Boko Haram enjoys more support than the government thinks. (click here for Buba Galadima's BBC comments). Who says that type of thing after people have been killed in church on Christmas day by Boko Haram? You do not condemn their activities and you are telling a foreign news service that Boko Haram are popular! Yet Buba Galadima said it and there are no consequences because there are two classes of Nigerians?"

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STATE OF THE NATION

by Pat Utomi on Friday, 16 September 2011 at 13:34

The signals about the state of our nation are pervasive and palpable. In my church “The prayer for Nigeria in Distress” has returned. The newspaper before me as I reflect, has a piece, wondering if Dr. Goodluck Jonathan will be the last President of Nigeria, and small pub talk seems to have reach a consensus that the first 100 days of the current administration has been, to put it charitably, anything but what people had hoped for.


Still this reflection has been particularly challenging for me. It has been so for a variety of reasons. First I took the view that if our democracy is to mature, we have to cultivate what is “practiced restraint” to allow a new government a honeymoon to implement their promise so that share partisan bickering from day one, when what they are trying to do is not even clearly articulated in a legislative agenda, and the unfolding of certain policy initiatives, do not frustrate governance.


Secondly, the states of things are so fragile that a responsible statesman must be on guard, lest a statement not too well considered, produce an outcome more damaging to our collective desire for peace and progress.


Thirdly, this is a time of rapid change in the global arena making a certain delicacy in how we position, see ourselves, and project into that arena, critical for the legacy we bequeath to our children. It was important to make haste slowly at times like this in terms of rush to judgement in public comments.


All things considered, however, the grave nature of the current condition is such that failure to alert the simple, the ordinary, and the mighty and powerful about our country’s sad race towards anarchy may be a betrayal of the mission of my generation, in the Franz Fanon sense. Perhaps patriotic counsel can cause a reflection and review that may yet save us all unwarranted agony.


In this review, which is by no means exhaustive we consider security the Governors and the sovereign wealth fund, we also reflect on failing institutions from the Judiciary to the Central Bank, the healthcare system, infrastructure in a rapidly urbanizing situation, the deepening electric power crisis and labour tensions.


Then we shall speak to the issue of constitutional reform, fiscal federalism and the competitiveness of the Nigerian economy as well as challenges with agriculture corruption and the cost of governing.


ON SECURITY

The first demand of modern man on the Leviathan is security. Escape from the philosophical “state of nature” is pointless if the state cannot provide security. Yet to read our newspapers is to read a “manifesto” on insecurity. Kidnappings are now daily routine that attract little coverage unless high profile targets like Mikel Obi’s father and Dr. Kusamotu’s daughter are involved. Armed robbery reigns in many parts and big target hits like banks are not rare anymore.



Then there is terror. I do not have the statistics of exodus from Maiduguri but most admit that it is headed to “ghost town” status. The suicide bombing of the UN Building in Abuja, finally brought to the World, after the Police Force Headquarters bombings the phenomenon of Nigeria’s journey to Pakistan, which has already paralyzed several states in the North East of Nigeria.


To this alarming situation can be added saber rattling in the traditional Niger Delta battleground, and Plateau State’s travel on the road to Somalia.


Sadly, this has been tragedy foretold. The book by the American writer Robert Kaplan, The Coming Anarchy, in which West Africa’s descent into wantom criminality, ethnic and religious conflict and the revenge of the poor, pointed to Jos going this way 15 years ago. But we did nothing. I was recently in Jos to speak at the National Institute in Kuru. To encourage responsible Youth, I spent hours in Radio interviews, and in meetings to motivate Youth to consider the dignity of the human person cardinal, and human life sacrosanct. I was sad that a day after my visit one of those youth listening to me died a torturous death in these ethnic and religious orgies that have stripped beauty from once serene Jos.


In the face of all this the reaction of government has been pathetic. Every new event shows that intelligence, instead of improving, is caving in. The desperate need to rethink the structure of the police force is apparently ignored even as experience around the World suggest the imperative of decentralization and review of command structure. I have always favoured community policing and the need for state and regional police force but the fact that no serious discussion seems to be going on about this makes one wonder what the purpose of the Federal Executive Council is. Evidence suggests that the FEC has become a Tenders board rather than the national operating committee engaging on our key challenges.


FAILING INSTITUTIONS

Central to my model for reviewing state performance for years are six critical variables. Among them, the state of Institutions, the Value System (Culture) and Leadership. The state of institutions is a veritable barometer for the health of a nation. Weak institutions have been the bane of progress in Nigeria for a long time. In the last 100 days they just got much worse.


Particularly traumatized and traumatizing for Nigeria are the immobilizing punches to the midsection of the last frontier institution, the Judiciary.


It is considered the hope of the Common Man, and the final bastion for expectation that all will get a fair, if not perfect chance to actualize in Civil Community.


The issues around the controversy over allegations by the lead judge of the Court of Appeals, Justice Salami, and the handling of the matter by the government left a sour taste about the possibilities of Justice in Nigeria. This is the dominant reason why many investors skip over Nigeria in spite of alluring market possibilities. As author of the 1998 book: Managing Uncertainty. I have evidence based reasons to be frightened about a future in which the judiciary declines so badly in the estimation of fair minded people.


Institutions are so central to progress that in dealing with them state actors must be focused on the long term good of society rather than small time transaction partisanship. Nigeria is hemmoraghlying badly from the many errors of judgement of Justice Kastina-Alu and the Presidency. I recall that in my response when the story first broke I had suggested that both Kastina-Alu and Salami resign graciously, not because they were right or wrong but because the responsibility of high office which they had attained, made saving the institution more important than establishing who was right or wrong.


Just as troubling is the case of the Central Bank stumbling from one set of questionable decisions to another. I have to confess that each time I think of the actions of the CBN in the last two and half years the metaphors that strike me are Adolph Hitler in Germany and Juan Peron in Argentina. Both men enjoyed public acclaim in populist jingoism of their style but the effort in the end was the near destruction of their countries. Argentina went from being more or less at par with the United States in 1939, as Allan Beattie lucidly shows in his surprising Economic history of the World, False Economy, to West Africa level GDP by the 1990s, thanks to Peron’s nationalism. Hitler brought utter devastation to the Third Reich.


The description by someone of the CBN functioning like an Animal farm of mental asylum run by raving lunatics, is an extreme parody of George Orwell. What I am more saddened by is that we will wake up ten years from now and realize this CBN has done more damage to the Nigerian Economy than all the corrupt Bank Executives removed and left behind through some of the most arbitrary choices I have ever encountered as a student of the public policy process around the World, put together.


Even more ridiculous than the disruption of the financial system is the Islamic Banking matter that could result in the breakup of Nigeria. There is nothing peculiar about non-interest banking of even one of an Islamic flavour. I had collaborated with Alhaji Umaru Muttalab and others in trying to explain it, several years ago, including featuring the subject on Patito’s Gang. But this CBN, staying in character, to score cheap points has made it polarizing.


What is troubling is not that CBN is the way it is, the matter is that the administration has watched unconcerned as it is dealing death blows to the economy. A sick and enfeebled Umaru Yaradua could stop the Decimalization programme of CBN so why is autonomy an excuse to hand out blank cheques to people working at dismantling the economy.


The National Assembly is quick to claim the powers of appropriation, so how much have they done to check tax payer’s monies being recklessly disbursed in the name of banking reform. One illegality after the other has gone on and the Attorney – General’s office has pursued shadows elsewhere.


If government is serious it should invite independent international analysts to review every decision of CBN from the stress test to Nationalization to establish if the greatest travesty has not been inflicted on investors and citizens. What seems sure is a decline of the sector and the economy for whose sake SAP sought financial deepening and the banking sector liberalization that was to be its precursor.


Suddenly we are back to those times when people bribed to be appointed bank executives by a public sector in which we have a “tragedy of the commons” writ large.


In one year before better connected people replace the successful bribers from one round of executive changes the appointed would have done maximum damage. I still clearly remember a few people who went through that between 1990 and 1994. The CBN error unchecked will surely add to the unemployment time bomb.


THE UNEMPLOYMENT TIME

We have a young population. Every year they reach working age in their millions but an economy in which government action has stifled private initiative and growth appropriate to our “demographic dividend” has been unable to provide the required jobs.


In 100 days we have seen no bold initiative articulated or the implementation of our effort at putting idle hands to work and stimulants the private sector to hire many more. This is a time bomb receiving platitudes rather than action.


Rapid job creation will have to come from creative initiatives in agriculture, manufacturing resuscitation, and infrastructure development.


COLLAPSING INFRASTRUCTURE


Do we have to see a good part of our population due between Lokoja and Abuja and the Lagos – Ibadan “not so”. Expressway to realize this is a brutal way to control the population if that is the objective. After trillions of Naira not one single interstate highway has been completed since 1999. Enugu – Onitsha and the roads of the North East show we have an infrastructure emergency.


The power situation is even more pathetic besides daily promises. Where I live the power situation is much worse today than in seven years ago. At a recent meeting other Africans joked that if the power situation in Nigeria where to come to Senegal there would be riots until it was rectified.


THE SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUND AND GOVERNORS AMNESIA


In recent weeks governors have carried on an assault on a law so recently passed to enable us save a little for the benefit of the next generation. The excuse they offer for recovering from amnesia suffered when the issue became law is the grand norm, the law.


This idea is not new. It was raised when the excess crude account was first suggested and later implemented. I recall saying to Lagos State Finance Commissioner, Wale Edun who worried that I supported the “illegality” of states funds being held back that I think we should quickly change that grand law rather than fail to save.


My take is that the Governors perceive a weekend presidency and are deepening the politics of power erosion to take more resources to consume now. This is inspite of a “lottery effect” that has been evident with the states being less effective in serving the needs of the people with more money that comes as wind fall, relative to the wealth creating regional governments of the times of true federalism in the 1960s.


In some ways this anti savings disposition of governors already seen as reckless spenders by the people seems so impolitic. It leaves the impression of a perverse generation of politician that has raided the barn stored up by their fathers, are various consuming what today has brought by accidents that include little of their effort and a reaching-in to devour the patrimony of their grand children.


I have for years advocated constitutional reform that would allow a fiscal regime in which a percentage of revenues go to the distributable pool, the federation account, the next traunche of revenues from mineral income go to stabilization fund and the balance to a future fund. The last two revenue stores would be managed like mutual funds where the holding of each state is as per their constitutionally prescribed share.


Citizenship behaviour needs to be exercised in the direction of putting pressure on the Governors to back off the track they are travelling.


HEALTH CARE


A relation was recently in India for medical reasons. The hospitals were packed full of Nigerians. Add the cost of daily air ambulance flights and you cannot be puzzled by why government cannot create incentives to facilitate private or PPP initiatives for at least one world class hospital in every geopolitical zone.


FORGING CONSENSUS

Leading Nigeria out of its current state of self double, when the prospects of rapid economic growth and prosperity have never been more self evident require visionary effort to forge elite consensus. Phenomenal opportunity for that in the last 12 years has been squandered by leaders too limited to see the value of playing statesman and bringing all the valuable human assets of our country under one roof especially in a time of crisis as we have today. With so many embittered that their country is in the firm grip of those who do not lead it well in the direction other nations are going and experiencing progress. It is no surprise that Nigeria’s core is being rocked, both violently and in terms of a sense of despair from its intellectual elite who have moral authority, if not power. If those who are perceived to know and are committed, “pissing in” in progress will be hard. Mahathir Mohammed discovered this in Malaysia and worked to get all into the house, pissing out.


Pat Utomi. Professor, Political Economist and Entrepreneur is an opposition leader.

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