Today’s women and men and their poor moral judgment, By Adeolu Ademoyo

Oby Ezekwesili’s allegation that General
Obasanjo’s administration left $67 billion
savings in the country’s treasury in 2007
and that President Jonathan’ s
administration has nothing to show for it
has produced furious denials and counter
denials across the aisle between members
of Nigerian ruling elites. Both yesterday’s
and today’s members of the ruling elites
ought to know the truth because Mrs.
Ezekwesili is a prominent member of the
governing elites. She left General
Obasanjo’s administration as the minister
for education. Also, members of today’s
governing elites which include Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, coordinating minister for
our economy; Diezani Alison-Madueke,
minister for petroleum; Mohammed
Adoke, minister for Justice; Lamido
Sanusi, Governor, Central Bank; Labaran
Maku, minister for information; Doyin
Okupe, senior assistant on public affairs;
and Reuben Abati, special adviser to the
president on the media, ought to know
Looking at the issue and those involved, it
shows that contrary to those who argue
that the problems in our country is
ethnic, the Oby Ezekwesili $67billion
Obasanjo administration savings
controversy happily puts a stop to that. It
shows that our problem is not ethnic but
that of social class that lacks basic ethics.
Whoever wants to advance the ethnic as
our main problem should please re-think
and go for more serious argument. I
maintain this position for the following
reasons.
In the midst of the controversy, truth,
ethics and arithmetic are the first line of
casualties. So it is important to restate
exactly what Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili said.
She said “The present cycle of boom of
the 2010s is however much more vexing
than the other four that happened in the
70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s…It is happening
back to back with the squandering of the
significant sum of $45 Billion in foreign
reserve account and another $22Billion in
the Excess Crude Account being direct
savings from increased earnings from oil
that the Obasanjo administration handed
over to the successor government in 2007.
One cannot but ask, what exactly does
Nigeria seek to symbolize and convey
with this level of brazen misappropriation
of public resources? Where did all that
money go? Where is the accountability
for the use of both these resources plus
the additional several billions of dollars
realized from oil sale by the two
administrations that have governed our
nation in the last six years? How were
these resources applied or more
appropriately, misapplied?” (Premium
Times, January 25, 2013).
In her submission, Mrs. Ezekwesili
mentioned two figures-$45 billion in
foreign reserve account, and $22 billion in
Excess Crude Account. These are years,
figures and subheads in basic accounting
which are crucial to simple arithmetic as
source of truth. Ordinarily, they ought not
to be too difficult to understand.
But unfortunately, and sadly, the first
thing members of the present governing
elite led by President Jonathan needed to
do but which they did not do is to deny
(i) the year(s), (ii) the figures, (iii) the
exact name of the subheads. Such denial
or confirmation will be helpful for
common folks who have to engage
challenges of daily living and on whose
behalf these monies were purportedly
spent. But President Jonathan’s team has
not given any rational rebuttal of these
basic and simple elementary school
arithmetic issue. It may be because they
fail to properly conceptualize the issue,
which they have wrongly engaged as the
“president- image- in- the- media issue”.
It is very strange and therefore
unacceptable that the attempted rebuttals
are coming from the wrong quarters in
the presidency- Labaran Maku, the
tweets of Mr. Omokri, Mr. Okupe, and Mr.
Abati who have jobs to launder the
image of the present governing elite
under President Jonathan. It has been a
poor explanation and poor laundering
from a poor and irrelevant team to a
serious moral and truth issue. Thus,
based on Abuja’s response, it seems
President Jonathan is seeing the Mrs
Ezekwesili’s assertion as a mere “image-
in-the -media issue” that only needs to
be managed in the media. This
conception of the issue by the Presidency
–whereby you deploy media men to
manage a serious moral and truth issue—
is a moral failure and failure of basic
intellection in our presidency in Abuja. It
is a shame-both intellectual and moral.
It is a shame precisely because contrary
to the presidency’s conception of the
challenge, Mrs Ezekwesili’s assertion is
not an image-in-the-media issue even
when the media is the public square
where it was raised. It is a more serious
truth and moral issue about our condition
as a people. Even in modern civilized and
inclusive society, which we aspire to
become, the media is one important unit
of the public square where we as citizens
and tax payers can engage all the deals
done by members of the ruling elite
behind our backs and at close doors,
serious issues of ethics and truth should
not immediately be classified as the usual
run of the mill and pedestrian “president-
image-in-the-media issue”. When that is
wrongly done, there is a moral deficit. We
shortchange our moral and social vision
and therefore a serious issue.
Thus Mrs. Ezekwesili’s assertion on the
$67 billion savings at the hallowed
ground of a respectable university’s
convocation, which is part of our public
square, is moral, legitimate, and sound.
Her assertion reminds me of the sundry
serious intellectual acts in Nigeria’s
highly robust and healthy intellectual age
in 1970s and 1980s in our dear country
when Obafemi Awolowo would use his
convocation address at the then
University of Ife to deliver what usually
passed as the address on state of the
Nigerian union. It was an address every
Nigerian expected annually. It was always
breathtaking intellectually and morally.
This is the way modern, civilized and
democratic societies work. This is why
Mrs. Ezekwesili should and must be
saluted for using a legitimate Nigerian
platform, the intellectual ground of a
Nigerian institution-the 42 nd
Convocation of the University of Nigeria,
Nsukka- to deliver what we ought to see
as a state-of-the-union address on our
condition. We must therefore encourage
her example for this is the only tool of a
modern, civilized, open and inclusive
society. And we must adopt and laud this
social instrument of a civil society.
But what has the presidency done? Rather
than see a moral and intellectual
challenge, the presidency again collapsed
intellectually and morally. The presidency
wrongly sees an “image and a media”
issue rather than a moral and truth
issue. Though, the presidency may be
right for the wrong reason, but the Oby
Ezekwesili’s assertion is not a pedestrian
and silly (as it is being conceptualised in
the presidency and the president’s today’s
men), rather it is a moral and truth issue
about our honour and dignity as a nation.
To respond appropriately the following
persons in the administration ought to
have come out openly to inform Nigerian
taxpayers and we Nigerians. We expect to
have seen a publicly visible team led by
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, Mr. Sanusi, Mrs
Alison-Madueke, and Mohammed Adoke,
Minister for Justice and Attorney General
of the Federation(for questions of law and
legality are involved) out in the open to
respectfully offer we Nigerians
explanation about a serious issue of
ethics, law and truth.
These ministers know that this is how
serious ethical and truth issues are
handled in civilized societies. It is sad
that they have not done this. Also, that
President Jonathan has not seen this as an
ethical issue and therefore has not put
forward the relevant members in his
administration to come forward and
explain to we Nigerians what the issues
are show that something is missing
morally in this administration and about
this issue. And this is morally
unacceptable. The Presidency can go
ahead and engage in the usual name-
calling and call we Nigerians, who they
purportedly serve, all kinds of names.
That is fine. We Nigerians are used to our
rulers abusing us. It is wrong but
expected.
Until the presidency brings out the
relevant ministerial team to inform
Nigerians on this issue we are inclined to
appreciate and believe Mrs. Ezekwesili.
And that is morally in order in an open,
inclusive, civilized and democratic
society we aspire to be.
Adeolu Ademoyo ( aaa54@cornell.edu )
is of Africana Studies and Research
Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.