Sheltering African First Ladies

By Josef Omorotiomwan
THIS writer has been caught severally on the soft side of providing
the good life for past leaders. During the debate at the Constituent
Assembly on the pension scheme for past Presidents and Governors, I
made this demand: "Hands up, all those who will be happy to see their
former President driving a taxi or moonlighting as a charge-hand in a
factory, trying to make ends meet". There was not a single hand up.
I proceeded from there to posit to the Assembly that the only way to
obviate that ugly situation is to devise a robustpension scheme for
past Presidents and Governors.
We were travelling to the East to take a wife for my son (name
withheld). On the way, I kicked off a discussion: "Suppose we get
there to find that the head of the household, your prospective
father-in law, is the one pounding the yam that we would eat, what
would your reaction be?" He retorted: "I will not continue with the
marriage.
I will just go home." When I asked why he would react that way, he
quipped rather angrily: "Is it not clear that the only alternative to
that would be to patiently enter into the marriage and gear up to be
pounding for my wife when we are married? Why would I stay in a
household that has no head?"
It gets even messier if you come into a village and you are told to
wait a little because the Odionwere (village head) will soon return
from where he went to tap rubber. What type of village will not cater
for its head?
All the same, none of these flourishing arguments will sway even the
most patriotic citizen to support the plan of the country's First Lady
apparently to build a hotel complex for herself with public funds.
Suddenly, Nigeria's First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, is asking for
a whopping sum of N13 billion for the building of the headquarters of
the African First Ladies Peace Centre, AFLPC.
Funny enough, the piece of land on which the edifice is to be sited
had earlier been allocated to Hajia Turai Yar'Adua, Dame Patience
Jonathan's predecessor in office. It is now a subject of litigation
between the two First Ladies. Hajia cannot see why land allocated to
her should now be reallocated to Dame. Each of them asked for the land
for a pet project. One thing is clear from this: First Ladiesalso cry.
Hajia has approached the courts for interpretation.
Dame Patience Jonathan (2nd-l), African First Ladies and Heads of
Delegation, Admiring the Model of the Permanent Secretariat of African
First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM) in Abuja on Thursday (26/7/12). NAN
Photo
This was the ground on which the Senate Committee on FCT rejected an
initial N4 billion draw-down on the project from the office of the
First Lady.Hear the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the FCT,
Senator Smart Adeyemi: "Due to the litigation in respect of the
proposed plot of land, money cannot be accessed this year".
This project has a number of question marks around it. One, it has no
parallel anywhere in the world that government builds a hostel for
conference participants. When countries, states or municipalities
struggle for hosting rights of events, they do so for the business
opportunities inherent therein – during the events, social, commercial
and all forms of activities come alive; and you find citizens smiling
to the banks.
Two, and perhaps more importantly, these First Ladies are playing
smart. Hajia got the allocation on the pretext of using it for a pet
project but today, the story has changed. She is now claiming the land
as her personal property.
Is this not enough reason for us to be scared of the intentions of the
incumbent First Lady? Hajia's posturingsimply succeeds in blowing the
lid off Dame's cover, which makes Dame looklike a person providing for
her post-retirement years.
Are these African First Ladies refugees in their home countries? If
not, there isa subtle suggestion that the Inn will have no permanent
residents. And when the inmates are not meeting, to what use do you
put this white elephant project?
Again, the office of First Lady is an anomaly, totally alien to the
country's Constitution or any law of the land for that matter. It
would have been a neater innovation if the"Oga at the top" was the one
asking for a hostel forhis foreign colleagues.
Meanwhile, Nigerians are angry with the Senate Committee on FCT. They
think the Committee's rejection of the initial draw-down request of N4
billionwas not only far-reaching enough, but it was also lousy. They
reckon that the Committee should have used the opportunity of the
request to throw the entire project out of the window. People not
tutored in the art of legislation are wont to think this way.
Knowing how legislators everywhere work, I can bet my December salary
that the AFLPC Project is dead; in fact, itis deader than dead!The
business of legislation is different from journalism where you say it
like itis. What the FCT Committee has just started is the Dance of
Legislation, which in the words of Woodrow Wilson(1856–1924): "Once
you begin the dance of legislation and you must struggle through its
mazes as best you can to its breathless end, if any end there be".
The National Assembly also has a responsibility to produce the
greatest happiness to the greatest number. Without cutting off the
major arteries of the project, Dame for now remains happy that she has
a project in the works. That project will remain in the legislative
maze until it will be quarterto Madam's departure from Aso Rock.
At the committee level, the lawmakersretain the option of loving the
proposal to death. Legislatively speaking, this means that the
measurecould be amended even beyond Madam's recognition by the time it
limps out of the committee room.
For now, we must allow the National Assembly and its committees to do
their best, hoping that their best will be enough for all of us.