To Build A Nation, United States of America Chapter (TBANUSA) and 5050 Initiative have merged to advance good governance in Nigeria. This was made known in a press statement jointly signed by TBAN USA INC and 5050 Nigeria. TBANUSA is a non-partisan citizens movement focused on promoting the structural, political and electoral reforms that are necessary for fostering a united, peaceful and prosperous Nigeria. TBAN was initially convened by Professor Kingsley Moghalu after his run for the presidency of Nigeria in 2019. Prof Moghalu has since late 2022 formally withdrawn from partisan politics. TBAN USA INC which is a 501c4 entity, is a diaspora chapter of TBAN, focused on cultural, civic, diversity education, and awareness training of Nigerians. Over the past several years, TBAN has participated in Citizens-focused initiatives including the highly celebrated Amendment to the Electoral Act Reforms of 2020. Working with Ready To Lead Africa and other Diaspora groups, TBANUSA co-sponsored the awareness training of Nigerian citizens to understand their roles and the power of their vote in a Democracy. Furthermore, TBANUSA participated in the 2020 Nigeria Constitution review by submitting amendments for review. On the other hand, the concept of the 50-50 Initiative started in November 2021 as the brainchild of a US-based Pharmacist, Dr Izunwanne Kagha. 5050 is now a registered Non-Governmental organization with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) of Nigeria in Abuja with the vision to promote health education, community outreach, and good governance. With this merger, TBANUSA is expected to represent the combined Vision of TBAN and 5050 in the Diaspora while 5050 will represent the interest of the TBAN and 5050 in Nigeria. They noted that details of the organizational structure and operations of the new merger will be available within the next 30 days, adding that members of the public can write to info@tbanusa.org or visit the website at https://tbanusa.org for additional information.
Prof Kingsley Moghalu Statement on the COVID-19 Crisis
The Coronavirus Disease-2019 (Covid-19) epidemic presents a difficult and challenging time for the world and our country Nigeria. This crisis has security, social and economic dimensions, and we must now and in its aftermath fundamentally re-examine our patterns of thinking, acting, citizenship and leadership, and how this all translates into governance. I commend the Federal Government of Nigeria and State Governments, as well as the Nigerian private sector, for their progressively gallant efforts to protect our citizens from the ravages of Covid-19. Much more, however, remains to be done, and we must recognize the underlying prior failures of leadership, governance and citizenship that have left us uniquely vulnerable. Apart from the absence of healthcare infrastructure to handle large numbers of coronavirus patients should this become the case –as is likely – there is the unique challenge posed by widespread poverty. This is reflected in the large crowds of the urban poor in commercial cities such as Lagos, Kano, Onitsha and Aba, congested into tight spaces and seemingly oblivious to the requirement for social distance as they engage in their daily “hustle” for subsistence. This imperative of poverty is the greatest immediate threat to curtailing the spread of Covid-19 in Nigeria. First, in addition to measures already taken, the Federal Government of Nigeria should shut down the whole country for one month, barring only existentially essential services. This is necessary in order to give more time for contact tracing, to reduce community spread of the disease, especially in urban slums and rural areas, import and deploy testing kits, and to deal with emergency treatments while it can still conceivably be handled. The Nigerian police and, if necessary, the Nigerian Army, should enforce this measure across the country. Even in several economically advanced nations, compliance with shut-downs is a huge challenge, let alone in a country in which literacy and education levels are not what they should be. There also has to be much stronger communication about the coronavirus pandemic, and what citizens need to do, in local languages. Another reason for a complete, enforced shut-down is the failure of Nigerian citizens inherent in overzealous religion, where citizens continue to insist on gathering in large crowds in churches and mosques against public health advice. This tendency flies in the face of the World Health Organization’s recent confirmation that Covid-19 is not only spread by physical contact through our hands touching our mouths, noses and eyes, but is also airborne for limited periods. Second, what should we do about the loss of livelihood for our already poor and vulnerable people? Here is where our lack of fiscal savings and a real fund for the rainy day become truly painful. The budgets of federal and state governments must now be COMPLETELY re-programmed to focus on Covid-19 in 2020. With the exception of security and the payment of salaries, not much else should really matter now. We are at war with an invisible enemy. The N50 billion fund established by the Central Bank of Nigeria for families and small businesses will not be adequate to address the crisis if and when it escalates. The fiscal authorities must plan and make provision for the subsistence funding of all extremely poor Nigerians and individual citizens, numbering approximately 100 million, for 30 days in this scenario. In a back-of-the-envelope calculation, if a sum of N20,000 were to be made available for every impoverished family to stock on food and supplies for a month in a Covid-19 total shutdown scenario, this would require an intervention of N2 trillion! Even the N10-trillion federal government budget for 2020 may not be able to carry this burden, since it is based on projections have turned out (as usual) to be unrealistic because of reliance on crude oil revenue and the absence of a broad base of domestic taxation. This would be possible, however, if the burden were to be split with state governments. Additionally, members of the National Assembly should donate 50% of their emoluments to this effort. Third, as I have emphasized in recent interviews, the Covid-19 crisis has graphically exposed the failure of the federal and state governments to invest adequately in human capital – healthcare and education – as a priority. This is incompetent governance, pure and simple. Nothing is more fundamental than the health of Nigerians, which gets too little a portion of government budgets. Bearing in mind that Nigerian households in an already-impoverished population bear 70% of healthcare expenses out of pocket, the federal government must now urgently commence funding of the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund with 1% of the Consolidated Revenue Fund as provided in the Nigerian Health Act (2014). Fourth, our economy appears headed for a second recession in four years. The Covid-19 crisis further demonstrates the ludicrousness of the now-suspended plan to borrow $22.7 from foreign countries (mainly China) for “infrastructure”. That plan should be cancelled completely. The Nigerian government will likely not be able to service (let alone repay) such debt in the next few years. We need urgent fiscal reforms immediately after the coronavirus crisis. Our economy must become truly diversified away from crude oil. The petrol subsidy needs to be removed and the fuel pump price deregulated, with savings from subsidy removal invested urgently in the health and education sectors. Foreign exchange reforms that truly incentivize a shift away from oil-dependency through increased manufacturing and export trade remain urgently needed. The naira should be strategically and proactively devalued, and then align this move with appropriate fiscal and trade policy rather than, as is often the case, having devaluations forced on Nigerians with no accompanying policy reforms. The CBN should scrap its forex-access restrictions on the importation of over 40 items. Our fiscal authorities should instead impose high tariffs on items perceived as “luxury” or non-essential (and generate revenues from such tariffs), while industrial and trade policy should establish subsidies and other incentives for domestic manufacturers, especially those that can provide proof of export orders that will bring in hard currency
TBAN Call to Nigerian Diaspora by Prof. Kingsley Moghalu
Dear Compatriot, As one who has been a member of the Nigerian Diaspora, I write to seek your partnership in our work at To Build a Nation (TBAN) www.tobuildanation.org , a non-partisan citizens movement convened to advocate and mobilize for fundamental political reforms in our beloved country. Without these reforms — primarily a reform of the electoral system (including diaspora voting), constitutional restructuring that returns Nigeria to real federalism with devolution of powers, social justice, and cutting the waste and corruption in our governments — Nigeria cannot become a stable, prosperous and modern nation. But, first, let me introduce myself. My name is Kingsley Moghalu. www.kingsleycmoghalu.com After a successful 17-year career and leadership appointments in the United Nations, founding a global strategy and risk consultancy based in Geneva, Switzerland and Washington DC, USA, serving as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2009-2014 and leading the execution of far-reaching reforms that stabilized and modernized Nigeria’s banking sector after the global financial crisis, and subsequently serving on the faculty of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts, USA as Professor of Practice in Public Policy, I was a competitive presidential candidate in our country’s general elections in February/March 2019 on the party platform of the Young Progressives Party (YPP). Although the incumbent, H.E. President Muhammadu Buhari ultimately was returned by INEC as the winner of the election, we ran a strong campaign that offered a new vision for Nigeria. That vision, different from that of the old, traditional political class, was one of a real nation unified by a shared sense of purpose and destiny rather than one of a mere “geographical-expression” country of ethnic and sectarian hostilities and competition for political power with no real purpose other than corrupt enrichment. A nation based on equity, justice, and equality of opportunity for all its citizens. It was a vision of an innovation-driven, productive economy that was based on knowledge, competence and experience in transformative economic management. And it was a vision of the restoration of Nigeria’s rightful leadership role as the most populous and powerful country of the black race. My vision for our country is laid out in my book Build, Innovate and Grow, published in February 2018 and available on www.amazon.com What I learned from my presidential campaign was that Nigeria is not yet a real democracy, one in which votes count and are accurately counted, and voters make real choices as an informed electorate. My dear brother/sister, without a fundamental reform of our electoral system and effective civic education of Nigerian voters, our “(s)electocracy” cannot produce the kind of leadership that can make Nigeria a welcome home for you and your family – secure, with adequate infrastructure, and institutions that work and are independent. This is why, in October 2019, I resigned my membership of the YPP, and instead convened TBAN with like-minded compatriots, on a non-partisan basis, to focus on advocacy for the fundamental issues that will determine whether we can build a democracy and a nation that works for us all. TBAN has commenced a campaign for a signature-petition campaign calling on the National Assembly to pass a fundamentally reformed electoral law and framework based on electronic and digital voter registration, collation and transmission of results, as well as enabling voting by eligible Nigerians resident abroad through digital voting. Global contemporary history teaches us that their citizens in diaspora played key roles in the rise of powerful nations such as China, India and Israel. Similarly, the Nigerian diaspora has a date with Nigeria’s destiny. We ask you to join us in this campaign. To do so, please visit www.tobuildanation.org/100000letters and follow the steps indicated. I ask you to also join TBAN as a member and support the movement financially and in other ways so we can become a strong, non-partisan voice for all Nigerians of every tribe, tongue and creed. Thank you for the opportunity to introduce TBAN to you. To become a TBAN member please visit www.tobuildanation.org/become-a-member Only us Nigerians can save and build our country. Let’s get to work! Kingsley Moghalu Convener, To Build A Nation
How Can We Make Votes Count in Nigeria ?
We will like you to know how we are going about our one singular purpose as of this moment in the history of our nation – making our votes count and how you can join us too. 1. Engage: Citizens are engaging the government on electoral reforms, you too can joinThe time to start is finally here, we can now proudly say that we have started building our nation as last week, we started officially the #100000Letters campaign where each and every one of us signs a letter about electoral reforms and ToBuildANation gathers them all and present them before the National Assembly. This is historical for us as an organisation and for Nigeria as it marks the first time in history that many of us will be writing the government about the changes we voted them to bring about. For you to carry out this civic duty of yours,Go to www.tobuildanation.org/100000lettersDownload the documents and fill in the appropriate spacesScan and send to citizens@tobuildanation.orgGet at least 9 or more of your friends to do the same 2. Organise: On the issue of state meetings This week, the Federal Capital Territory will be the second state to have her state meeting and we will be having that in the city of Abuja. The date is the 25th of January 2020. To follow suit will be Ogun and Kwara states having theirs in Sagamu and Ilorin respectively on the 1st of February. Rivers State will be having hers in Port Harcourt on the 9th of February 2020. If you are in any of these locations, please make a date with us. For other states, we are working hard to make sure meetings are started there and will inform you as we are about to start. For getting more information about ToBuildANationWe would love to encourage our members to join us or follow us on our various social media platforms so as to get up to date information about TBAN – Facebook;Twitter;Instagram; You can also join our telegram group via https://t.me/joinchat/Io9w-kqZUo8at870LBCt7w According to Ray Milliband, you can choose to not be interested in politics and governance but you can not choose not to be affected by its policies. We at TBAN believe that, if everyone takes a little time out of their busy schedule to be concerned about the government and its activities, the government will, in turn, hearken to the voice of the people. Don’t be left out. For Country,From All of us at TBAN
DOWNLOAD: #100000Letters on Electoral Reforms
At To Build A Nation, we believe that there is a need to emphasize to the legislature and show that there is a consensus of citizens on electoral reforms and provide hard evidence of this consensus. DOWNLOAD PETITION LETTER TO SIGN While online petition signatures have helped to easily organize, they have not been able to replace the hard evidence of massive support that the national assembly needs to see. The process of obtaining online signatures for a petition has also not replaced the on-the-ground engagement that citizens want to engage in for taking a step towards reform. Our goal is to mobilise 250 volunteers per state to visit public places in at least 20 states and persuade at least 40 fellow citizens to sign a hard copy letter to the President of the National Assembly to amend the electoral act for much needed reforms to make a total of 200,000 letters to be targeted. In instances where citizens cannot join us to reach people and persuade them to join, what we are asking is that you download the letter, print the letter, sign it and send us a copy through NIPOST with a N50 stamp to 3 Chari Close, Off Bobo Street, Maitama, Abuja. If you are not able to send to our office address, kindly scan your letter and send to the email citizens@tobuildanation.org DOWNLOAD PETITION LETTER TO NASS TO SIGN Once you have signed your letter, take a picture and share with us on social media with the hashtag #MakeVotesCount and tag us at @TBAN_NGR. No Lawmaker can refute the hard evidence that 100,000 physical letters submitted and showcased on the floor of the parliament on electoral reforms. We will be able to show that Nigerians want this done and immediately too. We look forward to receiving your letters. For the love of country,
NDIGBO IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN POLITICS: PROBLEMS, PROSPECTS, AND THE WAY FORWARD
The 2nd Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Annual Lecture Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (Anambra State University), Igbariam Campus. November 4, 2019. By Professor Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, PhD, OON, FCIB, LLD Former Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Convener, To Build a Nation (TBAN) Protocols. I thank the Vice, Chancellor, Senate and Council of the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University for the honor of inviting me to deliver the 2nd Chuwkuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Memorial Lecture, a lecture series established in a fitting tribute to the legend after whom this great university is named. This is the second honor that this university is giving me. I recall that, in April 2017, at your 8th Convocation Ceremony, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University conferred on me the degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) Honoris Causa. Thank you, Ojukwu University. Introduction: Ojukwu in Nigerian History Today is the posthumous birthday of the Late General (Dim) Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Ikemba Nnewi, who passed on in 2011 at the age of 78. We celebrate a great man. Emeka was a great son of a great father, Sir Louis-Phillip Odumegwu Ojukwu who was the wealthiest Nigerian of his era in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. We celebrate a man who, though born into wealth and privilege, educated at Kings College, Lagos, Epsom College in Surrey, UK, and the University of Oxford where he obtained a M.A. in History, went on to chart his own independent path in life, and in the process attained greatness in his own right. We celebrate a legend, a visionary African of courage who took an indelible place in history with his leadership of Eastern Nigeria as Military Governor at a time of grave national crisis, and in the shortlived Republic of Biafra. Ojukwu the legend was the product of an historical accident that met a man of courage. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. He was thus a product of his times, just like all the major actors in the Nigerian civil war. We must therefore judge him in history strictly in that context, for without the large-scale massacres (pogrom) of Igbos in the Northern region of Nigeria after the July 1966 counter-coup (Crimes against Humanity under international humanitarian law), there would have been no Biafra. Without the controversial failure of the Aburi Accord in early 1967, there also likely would have been no Biafra. These two factual points are important because Nigeria continues to wrongly hold Ndigbo as a people collectively guilty of the secession attempt, as if Igbos woke up one bright morning and decided to leave Nigeria. As the Igbo proverb says, nwata na ebe akwa, onwere ihe na eti ya (a child does not cry without a reason). Clearly, then, those who blame Ojukwu for the effort by Igbos, under his leadership, to break away from Nigeria at that particular time and in the prevailing circumstances, are those who thrive in self-serving historical narratives. The reality of the time was that, owing to an unfortunate set of circumstances, the security of the lives and property of Igbos in Nigeria could no longer be guaranteed. Ojukwu simply answered the call of duty. He rose to the occasion as a result of the weight and burden of historical responsibility upon his soldiers. The real and relevant question, looking back now, is: could the war have ended earlier in a negotiated settlement rather than the military collapse of Biafra and the short-lived republic’s ultimate surrender? At any event, we must recognize that President Shehu Shagari’s noble decision to officially pardon Ojukwu — even if there were clear domestic political calculations embedded in it — and the former Biafran leader’s return to Nigeria in 1982, 12 years after the civil war ended, was one of the most remarkable attempts at nation building in Nigeria. While this lecture is in honor of Emeka Ojukwu, he is not the topic, however, but only a part of it. I have begun with this brief discourse on him because it is a lecture in his memory, and because his decisions and actions have had a strong impact on the place of Ndigbo in contemporary Nigerian politics. It is to that larger subject, therefore, that we must now turn. Ndigbo in Contemporary Nigerian Politics Who are the Igbo? History traces settlement in Igbo land back to 4500BC, but more recent history goes back to the founding of the Kingdom of Nri in the 10th century. The Nri Kingdom is credited with the foundation of the culture, customs and traditional religious practices of the Igbo, and is the oldest existing monarchy in Nigeria today. Igbo land officially became a British Colony in 1902 and part of the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914. Occupying an area of 40,000 square kilometers, Igbo land has an estimated population of 40 million people (excluding its Diaspora), making the Igbo one of the largest single ethnic groups in Africa. The contemporary political history of the Igbo in Nigeria is marked by certain milestones, and is also defined by certain characteristics of both the Igbo and other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. These events include: the massacres of Igbos in Jos in 1945 in which thousands of ethnic Igbo were killed by the Hausa, Fulani and Birom, with their property destroyed or looted. The next was the incident in 1951 in which the popular and the charismatic Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik), later to become Nigeria’s first ceremonial Governor-General and President after independence in 1960, and his party the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) lost the battle to form a government after the Western Region elections in 1951 (with Zik as the Premier of Western Nigeria) when politicians of the Ibadan Peoples Party cross-carpeted to support the Action Group to form a government with Chief Obafemi Awolowo as Premier. This loss ultimately forced Zik, whose party the NCNC previously dominated politics in both Eastern and Western Nigeria , to return to the Eastern Region in 1953 after a couple of frustrating years as Leader of the Opposition in
What Nigeria Should Do To South Africa -Moghalu Reacts To Latest Xenophobic Attacks
Kingsley Moghalu, a 2019 presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) has reacted to the attack on Nigerians in South Africa. The widespread attack, which occurred late on Sunday, saw a group of violent locals suspected to be Zulu hostel dwellers besiege Jules Street in Malvern, Johannesburg, and looting and burning businesses. Speaking with SaharaReporters on Monday, a handful of Nigerians in South Africa revealed how they now live in fear. According to them, some victims of the attack, who visited the Nigerian Embassy for help and protection were denied entry into the place. Former president of Nigerian Union South Africa, Iyke Anyene, told SaharaReporters that Nigerians had remained in the houses, afraid for their lives and unsure if they would be the next victims. Reacting to the incident, Moghalu in a tweet (@MoghaluKingsley) on Monday, urged Nigerians to fight back. “It’s time for serious reprisal by Nigeria over the killing of our nationals in South Africa. That’s the national interest that should guide all our foreign relations! Some strategic interests of South Africa in Nigeria should be squeezed,” he tweeted.
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Ministerial List: We’re Facing Past Not Future
President Muhammadu Buhari released the list of his ministerial nominees. There has been debate on whether the list was worth delay for two months? No, I certainly don’t think the list was worth waiting for two months. I also asked this question on social media. The overwhelming response of Nigerians who responded was negative. There are just seven women and no young person on the list of 43 ministerial nominees. Would you say the list is fair to women and young Nigerians? It is completely unfair to women and young people in this country. The list demonstrates a tendency to face the past and not the future. Women and young people are the vast majority of Nigeria’s population and should have been better represented. I think its clear most Nigerians don’t have confidence in the competence of many of the nominees to manage Nigeria’s affairs with great competence Should the past records of some ex-governors in the list give Nigerians hope that they are competent hands to manage the country’s affairs as ministers? I don’t want to comment on individuals on the list, but as a collective, I think its clear most Nigerians don’t have confidence in the competence of many of the nominees to manage Nigeria’s affairs with great competence. It was completely a political-settlement oriented list, not a policy-oriented one. There wasn’t even any attempt to create a balance between the two tensions of politics and policy that challenge any leader in Nigeria trying to compose a cabinet. Does the screening exercise suggest Buhari has the game changers in his cabinet? No. The screening exercise was not remarkable, what with the “bow and go” phenomenon. Our Senators should drop that tradition or rule if we want to create competent, modern and accountable government. Looking at the list, what do you think Nigerians should expect from this administration?Looking at the cabinet list I don’t expect a radical change from the way things have been done by this government. One of the big disappointments with the cabinet list was the absence of any notable technical, development or political economists. This indicates that the economy is not really a priority You have shown much interest in growing the economy of the country. Do you see any of the nominees as a competent and trusted hand to spearhead radical change in our budgeting system? One of the big disappointments with the cabinet list was the absence of any notable technical, development or political economists. This indicates that the economy is not really a priority. What do you think those who will be appointed to man the economy – budget and planning/ Finance – should prioritise as soon as they assume duty? I think they should focus on improving fiscal revenues and savings. They should increase capital expenditure and reduce recurrent. We need to create more resources to invest in healthcare, education and security. We need to drastically reduce Nigeria’s debt burden.
