TIME TO MOVE ON

It is good to see that the PDP have licked their wounds and are now strategizing. They are silent, very silent as we witness the preparation work that the new government is beginning to put in place, to get us to the destination that we Nigerians all desire. It is very worrying though that all hope is pinned on just one man, President Buhari. It is clear that we have no faith in the national assembly and to buttress my point, the allowances that they have just approved for themselves, show how insensitive they are to the plight of the average civil servant, some of whom have not been paid their paltry salaries in the last 7 months. Our leaders all believe that they are oligarchs and once they get to the mantle of leadership are there to clean up. It is their turn now. Unless there is a change is this psyche, then we are doomed.

The infighting in APC over the leadership is like a merger or takeover on Wall Street, where companies with very different market philosophies and approaches to profitability come together to become the newest giant. It might initially be greeted with pessimism, grudges and even anger by staff and stakeholders, but in the end if they are to survive, they must meet themselves halfway to move the company forward. The question we need to ask is if this takeover has been occasioned to asset strip or whether a true partnership has been formed to take the company to the next level.

Do you remember Standard Trust bank? It introduced instant cash transfer into the Nigerian financial market. It was a highly innovative bank patronized by the upwardly mobile. When a larger but less innovative UBA opened talks for a possible merger, it was because UBA was interested in Standard Trust’s innovation and energy, while the latter could do with UBA’s reach. Today, UBA is one of the biggest banks in Nigeria.  The APC is pretty much formed on a similar principle.

They should remember why they decided to come together. They should remember how they all made sacrifices, so that united they would all be able to overcome a common enemy. In fact, if Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, Bukola Saraki, Aminu Tambuwal, Rotimi Amaechi and the rest want to be honest, they did not feel at the beginning that they would be able to defeat the Goodluck Jonathan-led government in 2015. The G-7 governors who began the PDP rebellion reduced to G-5 because Babangida Aliyu and Sule Lamido of Niger and Jigawa states respectively doubted the cause. The party should remember that it rode on the goodwill of the people to power. Its political officeholders should also not forget that the Nigerian electorate is more politically aware now than ever before. If they don’t show maturity and sort out their differences, they will be perceived as the same old PDP and we will sweep them out.

Division is a disaster, it is a home wrecker, all you do is assist you enemies or your detractors with your own misguided energy. Basically, you are helping them to destroy you. There is a job of work to do and the earlier the APC rolls up its sleeves and gets to work in unison, the better its future chances of winning our hearts.  Boko Haram needs serious attention, the stinking petroleum sector needs to be flushed and scrubbed clean. The power sector, transportation both needs serious attention!  The incompetence of the last six years simply means that this government has more to do in less time, so we need to get cracking.

We should remember that a partnership is about give and take. Ideas and personalities will always clash. Relations will not always be rosy. There are flaws in character and there are checks and controls that must be put in place to ensure discipline and strict adherence to the ideology of the entity. It is very important that the APC remember always why ACN, CPC, APGA and the New PDP members decided to come together in the first place. Remember!

As for President Muhammadu Buhari, he is just an individual but he is part and parcel of this party. He cannot remain detached and must put energy into molding it into the image that we all have of his character. The responsibility of the success or failure of this government lies squarely on his shoulders and the foot soldiers that he engages with him to steer us to the Promised Land will have everything to do with his tenures success. Any discipline he needs to mete out should be based an empowered judiciary, such that interpretation and breaches of the law are justly and expeditiously dealt with. We are holding our breath.

The National Assembly Show…

“I am for everybody and for nobody” – President Muhammadu Buhari, in his inauguration speech on May 29, 2015.

There is a Yoruba proverb which roughly translates thus: The younger wife, who rejoices at the assault on the older wife by their husband, fails to understand the transiency of her position. Four years ago, when Aminu Tambuwal rebelled against his ruling party’s high-handedness and authoritarian tendencies to emerge the “democratically” elected speaker of the House of Representatives, it was hailed by the then opposition as a victory for democracy. In fact, it was the opposition which helped him smoothen the rebellious operation.

Now, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Party (APC) have switched role; the latter now the ruling party, when another Tambuwal/ Saraki rebellion was re-enacted earlier this week, guess who was crying foul…the new ruling party!     

The word ‘nascent’ is overused in our polity, this underscores the fact that we are building a democracy, and in a democracy, what has just played out at the National Assembly is a step in the right direction. Although many might argue that a politician’s first commitment is to the people, and their first loyalty to their party, the polity should at all times be ready and willing to challenge dogmatic status quos without violating the law. 

In Company Law, there is something called "lifting the corporate veil". This is the investigative means exposing those who run or own a company, so that in the event that there is a challenge, shareholders or affected parties are not disenfranchised and can seek justice. People who follow politics closely may be aware of what happened last Tuesday, but for the layman, I think it is important to break it down.

The APC is made up of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Political Change (CPC), a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and NPDP, a break-off faction of the Peoples Democratic Party. President Buhari, riding on the sheer political goodwill of the masses, had over 12 million votes during the 2011 presidential election. He constituted huge political currency because he was regarded as an outstanding, truly patriotic fellow.

     

The ACN, under the command of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, saw an opportunity. The cracks on the PDP walls were getting wider and wider, so much so that they became a den for various species of worm. At the party’s congress in Abuja in 2014, the walls finally gave way when the New PDP (or NPDP), led by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, held a parallel congress at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre. Having divided the once powerful Governors’ Forum.

It was this rainbow coalition that constituted the APC that worked to defeat former president Goodluck Jonathan and his warped PDP.    

Tinubu’s antecedence is not a secret. His quest for power has seriously stalled the aspirations of many on a merit basis as he has demanded loyalty to the Jagaban. The man has power and wealth, and, until Tuesday, an uncanny kind of cult loyalty. Tuesday’s event was a break from godfatherism but highlights to all of us what strange bedfellows the APC are. There are clearly various blocks with their individual aspirations. The President's very delicate job is to now ensure that what their unity has brought to pass will not now fall apart in sharing the spoils.

As it is, the leaderships of the National Assembly, Governors’ Forum, Presidency and even some states in his South West power base, are longer under the control of the ACN block. Groomed by the politically savvy late “Oloye”, his father, Bukola Saraki has succeeded in outfoxing the Jagaban himself. He has demonstrated that it is not business as usual and the party cannot just present a consensus or consensus candidates. I will not address any moral issues that may arise in this discussion. What is clear however is that democracy has won. Bukola Saraki clearly won the election and it seems to me that even if the missing APC senators were in that chamber, Saraki would still have won. After all, the party preferred candidates in the House of Representatives also lost.

It is great to have an independent legislature, which will not just do the bidding of the executive or the party. What is clear, from the perspective of a citizen, is that these guys are all co-conspirators.

The straw poll that the APC pretended to have and the fact that they called a meeting on the morning of the inauguration is very suspect of foul play. The comments of the president are very mature but he needs to understand that this is politics and he must call his “troops” to order if he is going to deliver on the promises he has made to us. I do not envy him.

OIL AND POWER

Immediate-past President Goodluck Jonathan said during the valedictory Federal Executive Council session, last Wednesday that the record protests and strikes witnessed during his tenure as president was politically motivated! This clearly shows that the man truly did not understand the pain and frustrations that his administration was visiting on us.  Quite honestly, the past six years’ experience is what no Nigerian should ever have to experience again. His comments about not being singled out for probe as it would amount to a witch-hunt, is in itself, well, self-indicting!

      

Let us not dwell on corruption itself, as enough has been said about this ill already. What we have to do now is to start putting those checks and balances in place. We should start with our current petrol crisis. The scarcity which all but shut down the entire nation last week has shown that the petroleum industry is by far the most critical factor that is stifling our development. In 2011, Jonathan promised the overhaul of the industry. He promised us massive infrastructural development and availability of petroleum products; all we had to do was agree to his plan to remove subsidy and the development of our gas resources to boost our energy needs would be a priority. Erratic power supply would thereby become a thing of the past. SURE-P became a policy mantra upon which they sold us lies. Four years after the removal of subsidy (and even when oil prices crashed on the international market) we are still paying billions of naira to petrol importers who, wielding their powers and influence, are able to bring us to our knees in a matter of days. Yet, Jonathan’s thunderous silence offers us no answers. “We are on our own!”

  

We have never experienced a situation whereby there was a vacuum in governance simply because the incumbent’s tenure was winding down. Jonathan was simply not interested in being president until the expiration of his term on the morning of May 29. He had been on hibernation and plunged the nation into further degeneration either as a punishment for not returning him or as the height of the incompetence and impunity that marked his six-year reign. It is almost as if all the ills that have been perpetrated, all the issues that have been neglected, all the corners that have been cut, are eventually now coming to the fore and there are too many holes to stop the many leaks. What happened under Jonathan’s watch should be treated as a warning to the incoming government as to how vulnerable we are as a nation. Until we take what belongs to us from a few powerful overlords.

For fear of sounding like a broken record, I will repeat again what the subsidy means to me. Importing finished petroleum product is akin to having a natural mango orchard and what we do is only harvest the fruit. Without adding any value, we export the natural God-given bounty where foreigners process it. They squeeze and package it and import it back here to Nigeria as a finished product. Packaged mango juice! This process is what is now supposedly too expensive for we the nationals to consume, so the government pays the importer a further fee, so that we can afford it! This has to be more than ridiculous! We give all the refining capacity to foreign states creating employment and profit for them, whilst we deal with pipeline vandalism, armed militancy, a lack of education and development and erratic supply here. We also create the oligarchs who strangle the lifeblood of the nation.

Our lives revolve around petroleum. Provision of water, electricity and other social services simply diminish drastically due to the unavailability of oil. The importation of generators is licensed to a monopoly. And, evidently, it is the same cabal who has made sure that despite spending $35b on improving our power generation has ensured that we are down to less than 2500mw in the whole country. At the peak of the shortage last week, Kano got 2mw of electricity from the national grid. This is less than what powers one celebrity’s house in Beverly Hills! What is the knock-on effect? Everything shuts down, we suffer then people like Mr. Uba of the Capital Oil fame can become our local champion and decide to have pity on us as we scramble to buy what charity he magnanimously decides to allow us?

Our vulnerability as a nation is rooted in the impunity going on in this sector. We cannot create jobs, alleviate poverty, generate electricity or boost the economy without attending to the challenges at the NNPC Towers. Creating an enabling environment for the welfare and security of Nigerians depends strongly on committing to genuinely reforming the energy sector.

 Welcome President Buhari, we await these sweeping changes and pray for God’s guidance.

PDP'S ROLE AFTER MAY 29

President Goodluck Jonathan may have been a good loser but his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is definitely not. Ever since the PDP lost the presidential election to the All Progressives Party (APC), there hasn’t been anything but finger pointing and infighting among the party’s leadership. I appreciate the shock, such was the arrogance of the ruling party but they must stop, take a deep breath and learn something from what has happened. The president’s silence also speaks volumes. This poor behavior is what cost them the elections in the first place.

Let me take you back to the PDP convention where critical decisions were to be made to safeguard the future of the party and lead them to victory in the elections. I make bold to say that if at that time, they had done the right thing and looked critically at what was wrong in the party, they would still be the ruling party today. This was the parties chance to democratically agree on the way forward. The convention, much like the just concluded botched NLC convention was marred with rigging and the abuse of state power. Stalwarts of the party such as Atiku Abubakar, Rotimi Amaechi, and Rabiu Kwankwaso amongst others pulled out of convention and organized a parallel one. This was the beginning of the end for the PDP. Jonathan was preselected and the rest is history.     

As the opposition, the PDP has no time. They need to lick their wounds and take on the new responsibility of being our look out. To assist us in ensuring that the governing APC does not enjoy the kind of arbitrary abuse of power which they practiced for 16 years. Instead of pointing fingers, they should solidify our democracy by looking inwards at all the excesses that were occasioned by poor drafting of our constitution. That sacred document that is supposed to act as a guide book for us to keep on track in our dealings with each other. They need to very quickly organise themselves, so as to stop the country from going from a nascent democracy to an autocracy, a dictatorship of only one party, who can do as they please. We have been there before. This time we need balance if our democracy is to have even a little chance of success. They must participate in ensuring that politics is not bigger than the law and that the supremacy of the law is displayed in all sectors of our national life.

There is pressing work to do. Grey areas in the criminal code, which are exploited to allow for impunity. Cross carpeting and abuse of the laws of the national assembly and the decrepit delivery of justice as well as the complete lack of independence of this arm of our government. What we seek from the PDP is for its members to come together on the basis of ideology and and prevent both themselves and the APC from exploiting the same impunity we have just rejected.

We should remember when talks were in progress to form the APC. Many PDP members laughed it off, saying, like previous attempts, the coalition couldn’t survive. It was an amalgamation of too many parties with diverse interests and egos. However, it was a marriage, albeit a difficult one, with everything stacked against it but they all had one goal, so sacrifices were made to hold the fabric of the union together. Uneasy bedfellows spent the night together and still do. If ever there was an example of what unity can do, then this is it.

Where is Doyin Okupe? He promised to go on self-imposed exile should the opposition win the election.

Members of the party should look back at all their collective mistakes rather than tear their party apart and pretend to have genuine reasons to cross carpet to the APC. They should learn from the just-concluded UK elections, where three party leaders resigned within an hour following disappointing outings at the polls. The Immediate-past Labour leader, Ed Miliband, led his party to its worst outing since 1987. He simply took responsibility and bowed out. Already, the party has commenced necessary reforms that will reposition it for the next election. The dissection has commenced, the lesson learnt. This is what the PDP should aspire to achieve.

PDP, please send the right message to APC that either they work for the welfare of we the masses. Give us as a minimum, security and power, so we can industrialize, or the PDP will do on a second run, what it failed woefully to achieve on its first outing. If the APC-led government does not channel its energy into becoming the super efficient machine for making our lives better, a strong PDP could then offer us a choice in 2019; as the right to choose is the main ingredient in a democracy. 

THE DEEP STRUCTURE OF XENOPHOBIA

Before I begin with the main theme of this article, I’d like to comment briefly on a related subject. In the wake of the execution of 8 drug traffickers in Indonesia, a friend sought my take on how the Australian and Brazilian governments tried to appeal to the Indonesian government to temper justice with mercy while their Nigerian counterpart was silent for too long. Out of the 8 convicts, two were Australians, one Brazilian and an Indonesian. The remaining four were Nigerians! In Indonesian law, drug trafficking is punishable by death; so if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime. Our government should understand however that they must be there for us. That is my response.

It is also very inaccurate to conclude that the majority of Nigerians doing business in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia are drug traffickers. Our sheer population makes us visible in whatever we do – good or bad. And, that is why there is this myth around the success rate of Nigerians in Diaspora that makes them easy targets for racists and nativists. The situation in South Africa is just one of many.

Despite the atrocities that some in Kwazulu Natal have committed against their fellow Africans, any socio-psychologist who knows his/her onions would have some feeling of sympathy towards black South Africans. All they have ever known is exploitation – political, historical, economic, psychological and cultural exploitation. First they were victims of a land grab. Then they were made to till their previously owned farmlands for the benefit of others, with little access to education. This was necessary for the settlers to create a working class. The blacks were not allowed to compete with them. They were put in mines and made to work for just enough to keep themselves alive. The men were separated from their wives and families and plied with alcohol. They were also segregated and abused by the White supremacists who came to settle on their land. This is the recent history of the South African black man.

After the end of Apartheid, there have been attempts at socio-political reconciliation and integration. But the government and people of South Africa have not paid enough attention to the fact that social and political reconciliation and integration are nothing without psychological and economic emancipation.  South Africans have had Black presidents for over two decades now, yet they continue to be haunted by the fear of domination because they mostly lack the self confidence, knowhow and economic empowerment to compete. They are a scarred and angry.

It is for these reasons that there are so many opportunities in South Africa for immigrants in general. It is Africa’s most sophisticated economy, so immigration is expected, especially from fellow Africans who compete for many of the opportunities in the predominantly black areas. The black South African is again bottom of the food pile in his own land because Africans from other parts of the continent, better suited and more motivated, easily “steal” their opportunities. A people who haven’t recovered from Apartheid suddenly find themselves “serving” yet another set of masters, shows that they still haven’t been properly integrated in the post-apartheid South Africa. It is the same with African Americans in the United States where, despite the recent spate of killings by white policemen, he kills his fellow blacks daily instead of wanting to see his fellow blacks do well. Other blacks kill 93% of blacks killed in America.                      

                    

Hardworking migrants living in parts of South Africa do not deserve the kind of ill treatment their hosts have subjected them to, especially after all the assistance governments of these countries gave to the apartheid struggle, especially Nigeria. This is why the ANC-led government must be indicted. Have their history books been adjusted to reflect the roles that various parties have played in their recent history? How much resource have they put towards the de-radicalisation and education of their masses? The unascertained rationale for the quick glide from love and respect to aching hatred should not be underestimated.

Furthermore, the response of Jacob Zuma to utterances from the Zulu King and his son go a long way in highlighting how important it is to have the right leadership guiding a land to security, prosperity and harmony.  The “Apartheid disease” has eaten deep into the soul of even some of its victims. They should be quickly fished out and made an example of. As Robespierre once said, there should be “no freedom for enemies of freedom”.

South Africans should direct their anger to the government and not against their African brothers and sisters who are only foreigners because of borders drawn by imperialists. Our government’s response here is weak as expected. Meanwhile, Madiba turns in his grave. 

WE MUST TAKE THAT BOLD STEP

Why should laws be applied equally to all? If a small cabal has political power and the rest don’t, it is only natural that whatever is fair game for the cabal should be banned and punishable for the rest. It is only when many individuals and groups have a say in decisions and the political power to have a seat at the table that the idea that they should all be treated fairly starts making sense.  – Why Nations Fail

The difference between prosperous and failing countries is that the former, through creative imagination, justice, education and collectivism – builds strong institutions, which in turn stimulate growth and development. The latter, like us over here, use corruption, self-serving elitism, illiteracy, injustice and impunity to create an exclusive club of monstrously powerful individuals who weaken social institutions in order to exploit them. At present, we clearly exhibit traits of swine fever. We should ensure that by May 30, 2015, we begin to take the necessary steps that lead a country from failing to prosperous. We should all get ready to face those growing pains.

Whilst I personally do not expect miracles in the next four years, there is something called “a leap of faith” in Christendom. It means that giant, bold and irreversible step taken towards achieving a goal.  We cannot undo the mess of decades in just 100 days, a year or one four year term. But we can start the journey. Through just a few simple actions we can lay the foundation for a better Nigeria. We can change our direction for the better, to the new road to our bright future. For instance, we had been clamouring for free, fair, credible elections to be held since June 12, 1993. It seemed like a pipe dream, a mirage. But it has been done.

This has been achieved because the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), under the leadership of Prof Attahiru Jega, decided to transform itself into a credible institution that would deliver. It is a live example of how easily we can achieve. That self-image of success, of the yes-we-can attitude, shows that we can win those battles and ultimately the war. We should focus now on further improving on the process. This is the only way that strong institutions are built and once this is achieved, the individuals manning them will comport themselves within the framework of the rules, lest they face the music.

 

For the incoming government, the mantra of change can only produce tangible success if General Mohammadu Buhari and his team begin by acquiring Nigerians’ buy-in to the change process. It is important for the president-elect not to waste energy on the political jobbers spending hugely on airtime and press page advertorials to “congratulate” him. The more propitious path to tread for Buhari is to start thinking about competent and motivated individuals who would help him build and entrench viable institutions for the common good. We do not want to see a government overpopulated with appointments based on party patronage.  If Buhari truly desires to fix Nigeria fast, we must grow beyond party lines and toe the line of technocrats and men and women of excellence. De-emphasising politics in the appointment of key technocrats who will work towards fixing the energy sector and provision of basic infrastructure as well as tackling corruption will help the president more than aligning with politicians who brought the nation to its knees in the first place.

Against the background of compelling deficits in almost all sectors of our national life, notwithstanding the princely sums reportedly being pumped into them, Buhari’s task is already cut out. None of the challenges we have as a nation today can be solved without a new vision and resolute leadership to provide a definitive direction. And it is not too late to start.

It is clear that our leaders are more susceptible to human frailties and errors of judgment than their counterparts in the developed world. This is not biological. It is for this reason that the other two arms of government – legislature and judiciary – have to be “reformed”.  Presently, the Nigerian judicial system is on life support and as a result cannot contribute to strengthening relevant institutions for utmost performance.  If I were the president-elect, that would be my starting point because a strong and truly independent Judiciary is the backbone of a prosperous political system. 

Nigerians have risen up against absolutism and impunity. Therefore, the rule of law, in its true sense, should emerge strongly as a by-product of our newfound political enthusiasm and people power. However, the yet-to-be-sworn-in governing party (the All Progressives Party, APC) must never allow the enthusiasm of its actors to contravene the very rules which it swore to protect. Creating and strengthening inclusive social institutions is the only way Nigeria will march towards inclusive economic development that will empower a broad segment of society and turn citizens’ expectations to collective prosperity.

AGENDA FOR THE GENERAL

That phone call between President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari could go down as the most important telephone conversation between two individuals in the recent history of Nigeria. President Goodluck saved 170 million people from witnessing the fragmentation of the country as predicted by the US, in what could have been the most violent election aftermath. We thank God!

We had all prepared for the worst: stocking up on food and water, servicing cars, and piling up fuel. Many travelled to their villages, and many more jetted out of the country. Although some have downplayed the significance of that phone call, I for one know that the most severe affliction of African leaders is their unwillingness to relinquish power, even when they have obviously overstayed their welcome at the helm. Without making excuses for them, this may be connected to the culturally embedded perennial absolutism of the African ruler.

Our genes may have evolved into believing in the divinity of our kings and queens and to accept them and their excesses until the expiration of their tenure at death. Hence, when the system of governance was hijacked and reformed by our colonial masters, the mindset of our leaders was still stuck in the monarchical system. This may, for instance, inform why former president Olusegun Obasanjo desired a third-term. Same explanation goes for other African leaders, such as Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Paul Biya of Cameroon.

It is difficult for me to use the word “change” without sounding partisan but like the word or not, a change has come, a tremendous change for that matter. We the people are now more than ever aware of the degree of power in our individual votes. The last elections may have had their flaws, but they also marked a rebirth and the kind of political consciousness never experienced in the 54 years of Nigeria’s existence as a country. Suddenly, people power has assumed its rightful place in our polity!

A new president is  set  to  assume  the  leadership  of  this  country  on  May  29. General Buhari’s first task will be how to manage the legitimately high expectations of Nigerians, all of us. Sample opinions anywhere and you will find that we want change primarily in the power sector. This sector’s perennial failure has been central to all the under developmental problems this country is facing.  If there is one campaign promise which Nigerians want the president-elect to fulfill in the shortest possible time, it is the provision of electricity. All  the  industrial  roadmaps,  including  Vision 20:20:20, will  remain  a  pipe  dream  if  the  nation’s  power  generation  level  remains  as  it  is  presently.

The provision of infrastructure is a matter of necessity, yet we need peace first. The security challenges which all but held us to our knees prior to the general elections have to be addressed expressly. The onus is on the incoming government to ensure that  every  Nigerian,  irrespective  of  tribe  or  religion,  is  safe  wherever they reside. No  doubt,  the  just  concluded  general  elections  left  many  scars  in  its  wake.  Sentiments still came to play in some areas, and some of us may be feeling alienated.  Buhari has to play the role of a statesman. The whole country is his constituency.  Processes should be set in motion for national reconciliation.

Prior to the elections, not since the civil war has the nation been so divided. Politicians were whipping up old sentiments, alluding to differences in religion, tribe, culture and political leanings. Our indigent masses visit the source of our problems to these sentiments. This has led to violence as these primitive sentiments have unearthed ancient prejudices and hatreds that had been lying below the surface in the various communities affected.

The president-elect will do well by building strong institutions and taking a stand against corruption. He has promised that; he should match it with action. A greater responsibility of Buhari’s government shall be the pursuit of people-oriented policies that will mop up the idle and angry youths from the streets.  Crime will thereby be reduced and electoral violence eradicated when food and jobs become available for young people irrespective of their states of origin or educational credentials. The trouble with Nigeria has always been a failure of leadership. We must succeed this time. Good governance will heal any wound faster than goodwill. 

  

You and I must work for a better Nigeria. I wish Buhari good luck and patience but not too much patience, for we know where that has gotten us before (pun unintended). He must balance the high expectations of the people with the delicate task of rebuilding a new nation. Above all, I pray for God’s guidance for him.