By Tony Marinho
COVID-19 records deaths approaching 790,000, infections 22,000,000, with around 50,000 recognised cases and 1,000 deaths in Nigeria. Stay safe!!
Hurray, Lagos-Ibadan rail to ‘resurrect’ service mid Sept 2020!! It requires rail-line and onboard security! What is the journey time? Congratulations. There was mass suffering from road crashes during 40+years of federal political policy of railway abandonment, even refusing state intervention or new rail services. Federal government was ‘possessed’ by the inherited military unitary government ‘Exclusive List’ right over railways. The Lagos-Ibadan railway ran from colonial times into early civilian rule before being killed in the 1970s under military unitary rule. In 1970, I was in the University of Ibadan Team on a one-and-a-half-day train-trip to the ABU, Zaria, NUGA Games. Begun in 1896, the train ran from 1901/2 to mid-1970s with increasing dilapidation as trailer transport ‘private business’ political pressure won over ‘not my father’s business’, ‘public’ run railways. There is a bitter ‘ruin the rail for road transportation business to grow policy.
As we make a descent into the abyss of fear and a N5,000,000 business killer-fine enforces financially driven terrified silence, we must work to restore the free speech that existed since 1999. It was abused by most parties including those in ‘Permanent Opposition’. All their political words are in the news headlines in public record. Who censored them? Caution in speaking is good-for-all but unsupervised censorship is bad. Who will save Nigeria from more Un-excellent kleptomaniacal presidents and governors, un-distinguished senators, dishonourable representatives and assemblymen?? The people speaking out, of course!
And if fines are important, what is done with the money, honey? And why not ‘a fine of up to N500,000’ and not ‘a fine of N500,000’? Citizens must not be at the mercy of officials’ mischief-making wrong-into-right. Nigeria needs Ombudsmen especially as LGAs flex unbridled muscles to bleed their citizens dry with disgracefully creative new market and gutter taxes. Will there be ‘A Tax on The Air You Breathe’. Millions of Nigerians are facing the George Floyd ‘I can’t breathe’, oppressed by government and its agents and the corruption of the uniform placing a ‘Knee of Necks’ on the road.
Why is the ‘Hate Speech Fine’ so high and why is one body, the NBC the accuser, judge and executioner? Did the minister unilaterally hike the fine from N500,000 to N5,0000,000, a 900% increase even as media Covid-era revenues fall? What are the fines for perpetrators of ‘Hate actions’ like assault, rape, kidnapping, killings of human beings and election stealing? Did he override NBC members and concerned-citizen groups? If government officials perform according to the oath and pledge of Nigeria ‘TO BE FAITHFUL, LOYAL AND HONEST’, most complaints will die down.
Do Nigerians count for nothing with this fast becoming ‘Un-progressive and even Retrogressive government’? This fine is a massive insult and injustice inflicted on the rights of the voting supporters of the party and citizens in general. The president should reverse it. The declaration of ‘Guilty’ on the media must urgently be taken away from NBC which should report such cases, including fee hike disputes, for neutral adjudication to a third non-political, nonpartisan Media Arbitration Group, including distinguished members of the media, past or serving.
The government is using the distinguished Justice Ayo Salami in the EFCC Magu enquiry. Similarly, Ombudspersons must become acceptable honest brokers nationwide in tax and fines and other matters between citizens and the often-unsupervised godlike government officials. Enough of elected and appointed politicians and civil servants exceeding their authority. Reprimand is insufficient. These strange taxes, including 5% content tax by the Lagos State Film and Video Censors Board, LSFVCB, bring hard-working ‘Governments into Disrepute’. The perpetrators may require to be examined to exclude abuse of office, lacking empathy and when found normal then should be censored, demoted and sign clearly an apology for wrongful tax and apparently lying that they talked to the stakeholders. In Ibadan we have a new ‘Generator Emissions Tax’. Can anyone run a generator-free Nigerian business due to failure of government and mostly retired General-headed DISCO/GENCOs proxies to provide power. Is running a generator now a crime??
Nigeria should not retrogress, but progress beyond being a ravaged war trophy land for every microscopic authority with its citizens like akara or smallchop -medimedi food for unsupervised arrogant impunity.
Nigeria needs ‘Ombudspersons’, of integrity, saving officials from ‘Bringing Government into Disrepute’ and saving Nigerians from wicked taxes, wicked laws and ‘Demand Notices’ calculated beyond reality. These misguided or mischievous unsupervised ‘imported and innovative’ taxes are accompanied by Gestapo-style terrorist, destabilising ’30 Day Demand Notices’ with penalties of double-fine and/or jailtime. They flood Nigeria’s Covid-lockdown cash-strapped homes and four-month shut offices. Why such taxes and paid in just ‘30 days’ or face Armageddon? Why are fines low N50-200,000 or nothing in rich/expensive election-fraud guilty political cases requiring expensive reruns but high in ‘accused-only’ traffic offences of N50-200,000 or 1.6 – 6.4 times monthly minimum wage?
Oxford Street fines are 2-3days minimum wage -affordable to deter citizens, increase state income to help run governance, but not extortionist to bankrupt pensioners or kill citizen-victims’ business. The advertised traffic and ground rent fines in Lagos, are extortionist and though, thankfully reduced recently, are a heavy burden on the citizenry suffering 60-100% unrecoverable loss. Punish officials exceeding authority. Nigeria needs 1,000 Ombudsmen saving citizens from government excesses! And O Yes 1,000 ‘Forensic Accountants’ for university and MDAs to root out evolving corruption.
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