If I Were Nigerian Leaders

2007 is a heart-beat away. I mean, the 2007 General Elections. From all indications, none of our political leaders, especially in the elected Executive Branch, have enough confidence in their deputies to succeed them! And that is from president to governors!! Food for thought, isn't it?

We don't know if this is deliberate or coincidental. But, hey, this is bad bad news. It makes a full mockery of pupillage and mentorship. It means that we have little regard for orderly succession. Is this politics, or politricks? No matter.

In trying to remove the vice president from office for decamping from the ruling party, the PDP and their leaders must follow due process. That is, through and only at the National Assembly. Period. Not otherwise. The president and his political party simply do not have such powers as they now arrogate to themselves: to declare the post vacant or to sack the veepee. No!

If I were Nigerian leaders - political, spiritual, temporal, business, diplomatic, traditional, civil society - I will rise up to the challenge. This is the time to be real and robust. The PDP has itself not always played by the rules; it has benefited from decamping, defections, cross-carpeting, and anti-party activities at all levels since1999. Despite Supreme Court judgments, it has sought political solutions to several constitutional fiascos when it suited its leaders. Hey, they should come to equity with clean hands!

Am I suggesting political immorality, rascality or shenanigans? Hell, no! The many hell-holes and loop-holes and inconsistencies in the grundnorm must be addressed. The majority PDP-led administration had all of EIGHT years to do so, but chose not to. It suited them to exploit the huge weaknesses in the current constitution. Now, the chickens are coming home to roost!!!

Nigerian leaders need to act right away, to stop this brewing and avoidable crisis. We sure do not need it at all. Let everyone be patient and tolerant until April 2007, when we vote in new political leaders, and then we will make amends. If we didn't correct these ills since 1999 and the heavens didn't fall, we can surely wait a few months! Leave Atiku alone, please.

Let's face it: a PDP that could not muster the needed votes for the botched Third Term Agenda will never be able to do so now. It is therefore incumbent on its leaders, especially the president, to stand back from this fancy flight and simply concentrate on a successful free and fair elections in the few months ahead. President Obasanjo should throw his considerable official weight and boundless energy behind the wobbling/faltering voters registration exercise - which is now running Nigerians really mad, and smelling like a huge political catastrophe-in-the-making!

If I were Nigerian leaders, I will work with our president, and help the PDP, make our civilian to civilian political transition a huge success. Let's leave Vice President Atiku Abubakar alone. We have had, and have tolerated, so many constitutional breaches in this dispensation. Let's learn from the Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, whose deputy is also contesting on a rival party's ticket. He says let it be! The same is happening in Jigawa State, where both the ruling PDP and the opposition are mutually benefiting! So, why not at the presidency? Simply ignore it, or use the proverbial political. It's only a few months! Hey, aren't we living with worse things in other spheres right now??? We called them "the learning process"!!! No matter.

Closing advice for the ruling party: Be careful what you wish. It may happen! If the veepee wins in this avoidable battle, many of your hurt and disgruntled aspirants from the recent primaries will jump ship - unless you do have some special (EFCC?) hold on them!! So, folks, be very very careful.

Pray, President Olusegun Obasanjo and PDP Chairman Ahmadu Ali have to save us all any further heating up of our polity.

Let our leaders join the duo, TODAY, to bring us peace.

Yes, PEACE.

If I Were Niger Delta Leaders (1)

As we move inexorably towards the 2007 Elections, all bets are now off. The politics of issues and ideas must be forced to the fore. The best way to prosecute this is through special interest groups and pragmatic negotiations. It will be rough and tough, because our politicians are quite crafty and shifty. Many are corrupt, many corruptible. But this is the golden opportunity, now that we know them and their antics, their weaknesses.

First, is to ascertain and aggregate the power of your block-votes as well as the field of political parties. Second, is to survey the sea of contestants/aspirants as well as their temperament for social and economic justice - a thorough review of their pedigree/antecedence. Then, you invite them for dialogue....and a deal. Do so openly, transparently...and a touch of ceremony!

Leaders of our region must rise up to the challenge this time. If I were them, I will draw up a "Contract with the Niger Delta People" which will contain the needs and aspirations of the zone, and demand specific acts and actions across the board. This will be multi-tiered and multiplex, disaggregated/delineated according to office sought, and timelined. It will be heavily canvassed to individuals and parties alike. "If you want our vote, no matter your party, sign on"! The people of the region deserve to get fair-minded and empathetic politicians on their side. So, we must help install them in office...and hold them accountable thereafter.

If and when this is done, the scramble will be instant and contagious. It is a strategic medicine for an old and neglected ill.

Embrace.

If I Were President (The Madiba) Nelson Mandela

Africa is now at a cross-roads! We can make a complete and confounding positive turnaround or head totally in the opposite direction - depending on what the current crop of leaders choose to do and/or not do. It is that simple, and that tricky! If I were Nelson Mandela, retired president of South Africa, elder statesman, crusading icon, moral barometer and African legend, I will now step in because I do KNOW the dangers, and have always embraced the golden duty to do good.

And here is why: The creeping intolerance, sit-tight tendencies, merciless looting, hounding of all and any opponents, the crude use of power and debasement of democracy make the story of our political leadership and national development on this continent a sorry tale indeed. And we must worry. The statistics and indicators are not good at all. We must all worry. If I were President Mandela, I will be "The Chief of all Worriers"!

Not total woes, though. Two recent meetings on the continent's future give us great hope: The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing and the Africa-South America Summit in Abuja are very promising. They can help us achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, faster. They can also move us into solid sustainable development realms within a decade. And that is both the real promise and the lurking problem! Which is why we need Madiba...now. We must use WHO we have to get and gain WHAT we need/want!

Pa Mandela should summon ALL African leaders to Pretoria immediately, and help us BEG them to give our continent and race the right leadership, the undiluted loyal service, the honour of creation by which we be the "Cradle of Humanity/Humankind", the glory of our rich heritage, and the beauty of our deserved destiny...so that the African Renaissance may become the solid reality we have been yearning and striving for. Papa should also BEG/ASK all our long-serving leaders to kindly step down through immediate systematic and credible democratic transition.

They should all be gunning for world acclaim and our gratitudes, including honours like that of the recently-endowed Mo Ibrahim African Leadership Prize plus the verdict of posterity.

Why Mandela? Because he has done exactly what I ask him to extract from our leaders. Hey, why not Mandela? Is it for nothing that Time Magazine honoured him among the 60 Heroes of our time, in its 60th Anniversary Issue (November 13, 2006).......saying, "with Mandela, and because of Mandela, no noble cause is unachievable"! The tribute was penned, for Time, by Gordon Brown, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer - the man who helped persuade G8 countries to increase debt relief and aid for Africa, and the Prime Minister-in-waiting!!

Papa, I beg o....ACT fast!

If I Were President (Papa) Jacques Chirac

Papa is our endearing title for ELDERS here in my part of the world. For President Jacques Chirac of France, it is time to serve our recommendations...on his future role(s) as an elder statesman. If I were Papa Chirac, I would ensure that I help France to elect the best leader to succeed me. One who will best heal the nation and lead the country into the 21st century, as a key EU player and a responsible and proud world power. Nothing will better serve the land that gave him ...so much! That done, he can retire in deserved honour.

To achieve this feat calls for a level-playing field for all contestants in the next elections. He must play the role of "Father of the Nation" in this regard. He should not contest as is being speculated. This is the right time to bow out in humility and good grace. 2007 is it.

In retirement, Monsieur Chirac should take up the leadership mantle of "Chief Crusader for Organic Foods & Drinks". He is eminently qualified and suited to succeed.

My recommendations are based on his global stature plus the French legendary taste for good food and excellent wine. He has lived across many decades, has a great spouse and can guide us all on this issue. To do so now will truly help our world. We need to retreat from junk foods and unhealthy drinks. He should teach us some elegance-in-wellness. The world must return to nature, and natural ways. We need to do so TODAY!

Let President Chirac look forward to an exciting future in this area, and join the same global stage where upon President Bill Clinton serves now ...in glory, and to warm acclaim.

If I were Papa Jacques Chirac, I will use the fertile lands of Africa to jump-start the crusade. This will be a well-deserved payback to the ever-loyal and long-suffering FRANCOPHONIE. And it will be so very sweet indeed!

If I Were Nigeria's Judiciary

The future of our democracy and true federalism is entwined with the integrity, courage and justness of the judiciary - as a key pillar of the "checks and balances" provided for by the 1999 Constitution. Happenings in the polity since 1999 have been worrisome, sometimes despicable. And the judiciary has been at the centre of some really ugly smears, and rightly at the receiving end of public opprobrium. Pretty messy and sad.

From excessive delays in resolving the 2003 elections' petitions, to corruption-induced and curious impeachment meddlesomeness, to other judgements that demean the temple of justice, several judges have muddied the waters. Media reports and editorials have been scathing and relentless, yet things are slow to change.

Now, the golden opportunity has finally been offered by the Oyo State impeachment saga, ruled on by the Appeal Court and appealed to the Supreme Court. All eyes are now on their lordships!

If I were the apex court, I will act on behalf of the JUDICIARY, and save Nigerians from all vestiges of miscarriage of justice and contempt of court judgements. I will use the case to reset the past, cast the present and protect the future of Nigeria's democracy. Our pronouncements will be comprehensive, decisive, deep and robust. No question.

The icing on the cake? This will be a befitting tribute and worthy legacy to the Chief Justice, Alfa Belgore, who retires at year's end. What a chance!

If I Were World Leaders at UN General Assembly 2006

There is no better moment or platform for world leaders to show leadership than this year's United Nations General Assembly (GA). Their job is cut out for them: World Peace and Ending Poverty. The absence of these is tearing the world apart. It is their lot to sort things out, today.

To achieve these goals, we must stop all crises, conflicts and wars - wherever they may be - and put more resources into welfare, new jobs, better technologies and shared prosperity.

The world is one Global Village now, and world leaders must stop deluding themselves about both this reality and its imperative for mutuality in all its ramifications. That old song about national security, exclusivity-in-sovereignty, zero-game trade and the impunity of power can no longer sell. Multilateralism is it.

And that is what the UN is about, isn't it?

So, why would world leaders not seize the moment...and give us real stuff? Why should we be left wondering why they bother to come to the GA ritualistically, if all we hear are same of the same - with nothing new, nothing profound, nothing uplifting? We must say, "no more!".

If I were these world leaders, I will pursue things and thoughts that will truly develop the world and edify our common humanity. I will be fresh, ambitious, inspiring and ....concrete.

If I were a member of this powerful, but so far unaccountable club, I will openly and proudly challenge my colleagues to ACT in the world's interest NOW. I will stand to be counted on the side of justice, truth, and...honour.

GA 2006 will be my podium, and my pact, with the peoples of the world. Yes, of our common heritage; and, yes, our only Global Village!

If I Were The UN Security Council....On Darfur, Sudan

Even before the latest bomb-shell from Khartoun, asking the AU peace-keeping mission to leave by end-September when their current mandate expires, it was always going to be quite tricky tackling the long-running Darfur problem. The world waited for too long before its half-hearted response, and very weak intervention.

Despite the Abuja Accord, and the recent Security Council approval for a robust international force to go secure the peace, new impetus was already imperative - for a lasting solution.

As things stand now, confidence must be rebuilt. If I were the UN Security Council, I will set up a Special Commission headed by former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, with the following eminent members: former UN secretary general Boutrous Boutrous-Ghali, former British prime minister John Major, former US secretary of state Colin Powell, Nigeria's former foreign affairs minister Olu Adeniji, and Nobel peace laureates Wangari Maathai (Kenyan) and Shirin Ebadi (Iranian).

Abuja should continue to provide the secretariat, with backstopping by Beijing and New York.

The Jiang Commission should help tidy up the crisis, and oversea the implementation of all UN resolutions in this regard. It will then draw on the critical strengths of the UN, AU, the US, UK and the Arab League, as well the special leverage of China, Nigeria and Egypt. The women will help balance the critical gender and peace elements, bringing the considerable moral weight of the NOBEL mystique as well as the voice of motherhood to the bargain.

If I were the UN Security Council, I will act in this manner within a WEEK. The African Union's mission expires on September 30, remember?

Peace.

If I Were Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany

Not many are lucky enough to start their new jobs the "gift-of-celebrations" way the German Chancellor, Mrs Angela Merkel, got to do recently. Many world leaders must be green with envy!!! And they should.

Okay, here is the gist (as if you don't already know!). She came to office, as Germany's first-ever woman leader, with a confusing and convulsing post-unification electoral indecision by the voting public. They wanted change but didn't want the change to be real change! They wanted Mr Gerhard Schroeder out but wanted his policies in...or something to that effect! Anyway, we now have a Grand Coalition, so-called because it allows Germans to eat both their political cake and sausage, and still have their economic sandwich. Confused? So are many. But it's a clever dice, I admit.

And then the World Cup! What a blast!! Ms Merkel's Germany rode the beast of failure, and so roundly defeated the skeptics' grand scenarios of ultimate regrets, that the 4-yearly soccer fiesta will never be the same again. All its future will be bench marked by Germany 2006. Period.

If I were the German Chancellor, I will build so strongly, proudly and securely on the massive possibilities that this opportunity beams. I will beam more German Love to the world, in a new and ambitious fashion. I will aim higher and bigger for the German Voice in world development
and spend this new soccer-spurned capital absolutely creatively, and courageously - the true attributes of the Beautiful Game!

How? There are no fixed rules, just some sensible routes. Here:

1) Intensify Germany's positive role in helping to secure the long-elusive Middle East peace
2) Continue the country's special relationships with Russia, China and France
3) Rebuild US-German relations, post-Iraq squabbles
4) Tackle the rising race and creed problems in Germany, and help Europe do same
5) Help FIFA use "soccer-power" to fight poverty and hopelessness in the developing world
6) Invest 100 Billion Euros of German capital/business funds in Africa's microfinance industry
7) Lead the "Global Gender Crusade" from January 2007, as the world's leading woman today
8) Get Germany's immigration right, including an innovative work/study visa regime
9) Visit Cuba and Venezuela for strategic talks, and to help "new-friend" George W Bush
10) Pay an urgent Solidarity Working Visit to Nigeria, in support of "Elections 2007"
11) Help Italy's Romano Prodi get his country's economy back on the "Club Big 4" track
12) Convoke an independent Germany-NEPAD Youth Dynamics Forum for biennial actions
13) Help Third World Writers bond and benefit from the legendary German Publishing world, including state-supported significant participation at the Frankfurt Book Fair & Berlin Festivals
14) Help developing countries recover looted funds residing & hiding in Europe, and elsewhere
15) Be so wonderfully German, and make unification work better by revamping East Germany
16) Export East German "expertise and ruggedness" to the Third World, especially Africa, for agricultural, housing and rural development. Get some innovative "twinning schemes" on board.

For these to work successfully, the German economy must grow. If I were Angela Merkel, this is the time to tackle the tough issues. Just make business work! Don't demur, don't dodge, don't fudge. Germany is important to Europe, and to our world. It is tough to be her chancellor, but it will be rough if the tough tasks are left to politics and tricks. When we get things right, the whole world celebrates.

That is the greatest lesson of the World Cup this summer. As German Chancellor, I will take the lesson and run!

If I Were Nigeria's Parliaments and Legislators

In the remaining months of their current tenure, parliamentarians at all levels have a duty to both self and country. They need to search their conscience, and answer the following questions:

1) Have we served with equity and justice?
2) Have we kept to our oath of office?
3) Have the nation, and our constituencies, had the deserved benefits/dividends of democracy?4) Can I face my God and say I did my absolute best....and have earned my pay/privileges?
5) Am I a worthy and visible example of parliamentarians of honour and dignity?
6) If we did our job, why are the anti-corruption agencies screaming blue murder?
7) Why is Nigeria's corruption and development rating so abysmal?
8) Why are politicians protesting the new regime of scrutiny of their integrity and assets?
9) Why is the Freedom Of Information bill still languishing in the Senate?
10) Why, after 11Trillion Naira of federally-distributed revenue, not to mention internal and other external revenue/resources, in 7 YEARS, is our country still in this socio-economic mess?

If I were a legislator, I will wonder and worry about history. Can I be a healthy part of it, or just a pathetic footnote, as things stand today in this country? I will ask my colleagues and preacher and compatriots for help....to make amends. And here is a key hint:

a) Let's ask the anti-corruption agencies for all dossiers on the executive branch, and ACT now
b) Let's probe our principal officers of ALL the parliaments in the country, and punish the guilty
c) Let's work with the National Judicial Council to sanitize the judiciary before May 2007
d) Let's remove all taxes on education, IT and media materials, to boost public information
e) Let's tackle the worsening state of insecurity in the land
f) Let's pass the law on "Social Security and Welfare Scheme" this year
g) Let's increase the "Derivation Percentage" in our revenue allocation regime
h) Let's roll out Internet Broadband nationwide....before May 2007, and localise home traffic
i) Let's roll out massively on Cassava, Yam, Maize and Aquaculture between now and May '07
j) Let's act with the FEAR of God Almighty.

If I were Nigeria's Parliamentarians, we should be bonding together to tackle these matters, the results of which can be amazingly dramatic, and which fallout will empower our poor voters to be better able to resist money politics and shame electoral charlatans next year!

Because it will be magic, I will act NOW.

If I Were Chinese, Indian and Russian Leaders (1)

I believe the world has now settled and reconciled with the hard facts of our future world, that China and India are the next economic superpowers, and Russia the energy superpower. Don't mind all the rabble-rousing WTO tiffs - it's mere shuffling. The facts are hard and fast. Simple.

If I were the leaders of these leading countries, I will immediately embark on the most effective cultural human relations of all: Export My Language.

I will launch a 25-year plan with only one official agenda: Promote Peace through our official and some local shades of our Language. Each and every of our diplomatic mission will oversee very extensive and intensive collaborations in this regard. We will bring world citizens home for high quality train-the-trainers and teachers programmes, and also send loads of our brightest bi/multilingual nationals on rotational services abroad. I will start by 1 January 2007. I will do so massively.

The Asian Tigers, including Japan, missed that lesson during their boom years. It was costly. Very much so. No rising power should miss the chance again. Not China, not India, Not Russia!

On this language train, three other countries will need to catch the bug also: Brazil, Nigeria and South Africa. They have to build their own response over the next 3-5 years, and act.

And the best part is its purpose for a truly globalising world - a true Global Village.

For it, I speak.

If I Were Nigeria's Inspector General of Police

Things are getting tougher and rougher in the area of crimes, criminality, security and law and order in Nigeria. Whether in urban or rural parts, there is palpable anxiety. It is getting even so in politics. Frauds, assassinations, kidnappings, cultism & ritual killing, rape, arson, and drugs. Of course there are more!

Only half-hearted analysts will fail to locate this upsurge, like its root causes, in the full bosom of POVERTY and the feeling of HOPELESSNESS across the land. The culture of violence has been badly accentuated by the "winner takes all" culture that intruded into our polity and policies over the last three decades. Neither military nor civilian governments can be absolved of the full responsibility for this scourge. It is now both a national dilemma, and a global embarrassment. Drastic courageous and creative action is now needed. We be all concerned. Big problem. Ha!

The bulk of the burden for its resolution is dumped, expectedly in a democracy, on the POLICE. If I were the Inspector General of Police, IGP, I will accept the burden without any question at all. Then I will make my demands in a world press conference. It will be personal, and public! Here are the highlights:

a) Bombast Boost of Total Personnel Mix ................... One Million

*** Grassroots Policing------ 400,000
*** Cyber Policing----------- 100,000
*** Anti-Terrorism---------- 100,000
*** Mobile Squad------------ 100,000
*** Marine Organisation----- 100,000
*** Air Command------------- 50,000
*** Special Group------------- 50,000
*** Protection Team---------- 40,000
*** Nuclear Threats----------- 10,000
*** Gender Special------------ 10,000
*** Youth Special-------------- 10,000
*** Juveniles Special-----------10,000
*** Mining Marshalls-----------10,000
*** Campus Connect----------- 10,000

b) Full and Complete National Police Infrastructure

c) Absolutely Modern and Adequate Equipment

d) Total Restructuring and Repositioning

e) New Recruitment and Advancement Policy

f) Millennium Budgetting and Funding

g) Police Multimedia Agency (Radio/TV/Internet/Paper)

h) Police University with Geo-Political (Zonal) and Special Academies

i) Badly-Needed Cooperation: Traditional & Faith Institutions; Students & Labour Unions

j) Strongly-Needed Liaison: Market & Trade Associations; Transporters & Drivers Groups


The bottom line is to create a NEW police service in FIVE years. Minimum qualification will be a university/polytechnic degree. Those in service will be encouraged to upgrade themselves with generous support/incentives, so as to retain institutional memory, and reward long service by the present personnel. All others will be humanely phased out under a special scheme...into neighbourhood protection & information, corporate guards and private/domestic security, etc. or a happy retirement.

We will sign a 10-year unique capacity building and impact-special MOU with the world's best police services, in their areas of specialisation, and tying these up with our technical and general operations.

Once things normalise in the land, technology and other factors will lead to reduced manpower and better citizen-participation in crime management, prevention and control.

If I were IG Sunday Ehindero, I will help Nigeria install the best officer for the above agenda as the next Inspector General of Police, when I bow out in 2007.

If I Were Nuhu Ribadu (Nigeria's Financial Crimes Czar)-2

The electoral field is wide and open...for the 2007 general elections. Nuhu Ribadu and his commission must be neck-deep in tough, knotty and tricky cases on multifarious financial crimes. Expected. Their plate must necessarily be full....even over-flowing. Expected.

But the guy has also been serving notice of the impending release of earth-shaking revelations vis-a-vis the political class. We wait. And we've been waiting. We must wait.

If I were the anti-corruption czar, this is the time to do so....in style. Do it.

Leaving it too late will be misconstrued, and may be abused. We must give the "indicted" and the courts ENOUGH time to fulfil all righteousness. The law should take its course, while justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.

If I were Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, I shall delay no more!

If I Were Nigeria's Electoral Commission

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is not being seen or regarded as truly "independent" or "nationalistic" by many in our country! This is a serious matter indeed.

Almost all the opposition parties plus the "fringe" factions of the ruling PDP are complaining. So is the crusading community. Watch and read the independent media, same doubts. And the donor agencies are equally worried about the level of preparedness for the arduous task of the 2007 Elections. Just recently, in far away London, the senate president wondered aloud.

Before these people and bodies, the INEC chairman had severally raised justifiable alarm on the commission's plight. One would have thought finding wholesome solutions by all stakeholders should be paramount right now. INEC needs friends, not more enemies and fifth columnists. It should be tooling and toiling so very hard, and reaching out to all and sundry. There's so much to do....right and rightly. So much!

Alas, what do we have? Instead of concentrating on its job, INEC has been busy tackling all its critics, and abusing Nigeria's sitting vice president! Haba! We must wonder, and we must worry.

The National Assembly must make a parliamentary intervention immediately....especially now that there are raging speculations of some hidden agenda towards a so-called "Interim National Government" (INC), post-May 2007. This devilish orgre must be crushed forthwith. Promptly. Remember the "Third Term" monster? This was how it all started! This time, let's take no chances o!

Prudently, and rightly so, most players - including the PDP and the Presidency - have, so far, distanced themselves from the dastardly idea. Even Dr Ezeife, former governor and Harvard-trained economist, who had unwisely "addressed" a pro-INC press conference on the subject, has also "backed down", by means of a "clarification" statement! Belatedly, but certainly!!

If I were the INEC people, I would retract the "attack" on Mr Vice President, and apologise to the nation. Professor Maurice Iwu, as chairman, should lead an INEC peace mission to media houses, convene a political peace summit and employ these powerful allies to promptly pressure parliament for positive action.....to secure a legitimate, free and fair 2007 General Elections.

History beckons.

If I Were Minister Fani-Kayode

Nigeria goes to the polls in 2007. A new government takes over on 29 May. Commonsense suggests that this is house-keeping time for our political leaders at all levels. That means president, governors, LG chairmen and our legislatures.

If I were the new minister of culture and tourism, youthful Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, I will give verve and soul to the Culture Aspect of my portfolio, in the few months I have to serve.

Reason? Hey, let's be fair: How many tourists will troop to Nigeria now? Where are the real tourist attractions, ready for business, in the midst of all the handicaps and dilapidations? Who is going to turn tourism around in SIX MONTHS - about the active span of his tenure, before the election fever grips us all?!

But he can do things in the area of culture because that is about US - who we are, what we are, and how we are.

If I were the new minister, I will spend every light of the next nine months giving my country's culture the shine.

Goodluck, brother!

If I Were Bill Gates (1)

Following the unprecedented success of the Microsoft franchise, if I were its founder, Bill Gates, I will place all its offerings on two pedestals: Popular Brand and Premium Brand. I will give the popular(basic) products and services pro bono (free of charge), then we will charge for the premium grade.

This makes business and charity sense. Thank goodness, he is good at both.

If I Were President Obasanjo (4)

The human rights and civil liberties campaign has become reminiscent of the full-blown military days of dictatorship! No democratic polity nor its president should permit this state of affairs. It is undermining our national cohesion and its global image. It suggests the absence of the rule of law. It is worrisome. And to imagine that we are in an Election Year, it should be double worry.

If I were President Olusegun Obasanjo, I will stop this ugly development TODAY. And make it a point of personal agenda to protect our freedoms under the 1999 Constitution. Doing otherwise diminishes us all.

If I Were The English FA

Football has become as multicultural as nations. European countries have recognised it for long, but not all have embraced that reality in composing their national teams. The farthest behind? England.

If I were the football authorities, it is now time to be realistic. Recruit young vibrant players, and reflect the true colours and nature of both England's population....and Sports in England. Also, grant young successful/promising footballers a fast-track to citizenship. I will Learn from Germany 2006!

If I were running football in England, this will be the key, my joker, for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

If I Were Prime Minister Romano Prodi

As the new leader of the Italian government, if I were Prime Minister Romano Prodi, I will put premium on a special relationship with AFRICA. It will be creative, ambitious and futuristic. And it will be massively-mutually-beneficial (mmb) and proactively-people-based (ppb).

First and foremost, everyone else is looking or heading there now, why not Italy? Next, we do know that the continent is immensely resource-endowed. It is a traditional European (hate the term, if you like!) colony and ally/trading bloc. Then, as EU President, he dealt with African leaders under the (yes, very unsuccessful!) ACP-EU Cotonou Agreement and the (very slowly emerging!) New Partnership for Africa's Development, NEPAD. Besides, he was prime minister before!

But now the stakes are higher. Italy's economy is in dire straits. It needs an overhaul. It needs to be competitive again. It needs new deals, and thus new partners. Not on previous terms, nor by those measures. Italy needs a new destination of two-way bonds, and bonding. It can find some windows elsewhere; but it will find a gateway in Africa - if it tries anew, and hard enough.

If I were Prime Minister Prodi, I will humbly and boldly engage Africa. I will proudly enlist the leverage of the Vatican in particular, and the Catholic Church in general. I will do so for my new deal with Africa in particular, and for all other outreach zones in general. Know ye that Faith is very potent, and the Church be its vehicle. So are mosques, temples and synagogues - all faith movements around the world. Shy not away.

What's on offer? A million chips and zillion gems. Look hard, my friend....and you'll be dazed! As an economics professor and practised politician, it's hard not to see!! Indeed, it's impossible!!!

For Italy's sake, I will SEE...if I were Romano Prodi.

If I Were Former President Charles Taylor (War Crimes Indictee)

You know, life is sweet and strange! One day, you're victor; another day you're villain!! Tough and rough. High and low. No matter. But you can choose what to be, even for all time. Yes. In the tops of victory, you can be humble and magnanimous. In the throes of villainy, you can be contrite and cooperative. That is why there's plea-bargain in law, and amnesty in practice.

If I were Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, now standing trial for war crimes at the UN Sierra Leonean War Crimes Tribunal sitting at The Hague, I will repent and cooperate with the prosecution. Then proceed to plea-bargain on very creative and earth-shattering basis. Here are the gems:

a) Tell all
b) Help expose all others
c) Show the way to stop guerrilla war fares in Africa
d) Point to the hidden vaults in illegal trades of diamonds, lumber, arms, etc
e) Expose hypocrites in the Western bloc and collaborators in the Eastern bloc
f) Serve some prison period for penitence, and serve the UN as honorary consultant later
g) Write my "Truth Commission" expose as a purgative memoirs, passing all proceeds to war victims and kid soldiers rehabilitation/restitution.

If I were Mr Taylor, I will tell the lawyers that it will be wrong to feast on my case. Let's use it as a chance to heal wounds, to heal the world. We all make mistakes, even gruesome ones. And we can all change for the better, and the betterment of the world. And then, our soul.

Ultimately, it is a personal cross, a personal choice. If I were the one, I'll choose as said.

If I Were The Nigerian Media (1)

It is clear now that the political class would do anything to hold on to their undue advantages gained from the much-maligned 1999 Constitution, which, let's never forget, they helped the military to install.

It is also clear that the ruling People's Democratic Party is not a garrison after the likeness of its now-embattled hierarchs. Much to their utter chargrin and unmitigated humiliation, the good forces within the party helped to kill the Third Term monster. So, if you like, there are good and there are bad people in all the political parties in the land.

How the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill can still be languishing in the Senate, after being passed by the House of Representatives, is surprising. We must now assume that the Senate Leadership, having found its manhood in its defeat of the tenure elongation evil, will proceed to pass the bill forthwith. If not, then we hand the case over to the 2007 Movement - that patriotic group which sowed the seed of our current victory over the dark forces of Third Term Agenda.

If I were the Nigerian Media, however, I would take absolutely no chances. The media should go out on a now-or-never campaign for the success of the bill. Wait no minute!

Just one week of listing all members of the National Assembly, starting with the Senators, on how they voted or now stand on the matter. Every single member should be asked the simple question, and given the space to post their quoted/quotable response. The broadcast media should host live FOI Programmes for the same purpose. Just ONE week, folks....ONE week.

Need I say more!