The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Bayelsa, Kogi and “Hurricane Oshiomhole”

    By Patrick Obahiagbon

    In meteorological lore, hurricanes – cyclone-strength winds – are usually named after females. But an exception was seemingly made on Saturday, when “Hurricane Oshiomhole” that sacked the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the maritime state of Bayelsa made landfall. This time round, elated locals gave it a man’s name, in sheer awe of the comprehensiveness and clinical finish of the change it wrought.

    Further inland in Kogi State, both friends and foes who felt the hurricane’s strength would have waned discovered they misread the stern resolve of the diminutive dynamite from Edo State, in charge of proceedings. Oshiomhole’s retention of Kogi and comprehensive sacking of the PDP in Bayelsa both speak to the man’s sagacity and leadership vision. It also sends a clear message to some uppity and megalomaniacal greenhorns in his home state of Edo and elsewhere within the party who are nursing uncouth agenda – to back-off.

    Perhaps, more importantly, Adams Oshiomhole’s recent authoritative delivery of Bayelsa and Kogi States in “bruising” electoral contests would ultimately force recalculation of the national political equation ahead of the 2023 general election. Further, the revamping of the APC vanguard will compel an increasingly disorderly PDP to revise its gratuitous assumptions and ponder its future, a hitherto unaccustomed footing. What’s more, Oshiomhole has now been transformed into a genuine national political figure and equally morphed into the de-facto leader of the governing party, comparable to the tradition of national party chairmen in the Second Republic.

    It’s worth recalling that on Saturday, November 16, governorship polls were conducted in both Bayelsa and Kogi States with two key contestants – APC and PDP – squaring off. Early on Monday, the APC governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, David Lyon, was declared winner of the Bayelsa State 2019 governorship election. The declaration was made by Faraday Orumwese, vice chancellor of the University of Benin and the returning officer in the election. He announced that Lyon polled 352,552 votes to defeat Duoye Diri of the PDP who polled 143, 172 votes.

    The total number of registered voters was announced as 922, 562 and the number of accredited voters put at 517,883. Lyon’s victory makes it the first time an opposition party would win the state since the return of democracy in 1999. The state, created in 1996, has always been governed by the PDP.

    Fittingly, President Muhammadu Buhari who recently returned from a private visit to the UK has commended APC supporters and other Nigerians in the state who exercised their civic rights in a peaceful manner, “notwithstanding the pockets of unrest recorded in some locations.” He condemned the loss of lives and commiserated with the families of the victims, his spokesperson Femi Adesina said in a statement. According to him, the president said, ‘’Violence during elections vitiates our commitment to demonstrate to the world and upcoming generation that we are a people capable of electing leaders in a peaceful and orderly manner.’’

    The president also urged “Governor-elect Lyon to carry other divergent interests along in the next phase of governance, imploring those not satisfied with the outcome of the poll to seek redress through the constitutionally-established channels,” while looking forward “to working with the incoming government to improve the lives of the people in Bayelsa State, while ensuring the security of life and property of all citizens.”

    Meanwhile, according to the Returning Officer for the election, Ibrahim Garba, the governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, was declared winner of the Saturday, November 16, governorship election in the state, polling 406,222 votes to defeat the PDP’s Musa Wada who scored 189,704 votes. Natasha Akpoti of the Social Democratic Party came a distant third with a score of 9,482 votes.

    Bello won in 12 of the 21 local governments namely Lokoja, Ibaji, Adavi, Okehi, Okene, Kabba Bunu, Ogori Magongo, Koton Karfi , Mopa Muro, Ajaokuta, and Olamaboro. Wada won in Omala, Igalamela, Yagba East, Yagba West, Idah, Dekina, Bassa, Ofu, and Ankpa local governments. While the PDP campaign had expectedly rejected the outcome of the election, APC has commended the polls’ conduct, saying it was a fair outing.

    Recall that shortly after Oshiomhole formally took over the baton of leadership of the APC from Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, his approach to leadership had come under serious public scrutiny, especially because of what pundits described as a belligerent style he was perceived to have adopted. But much of this scrutiny has been ungoverned by good faith.

    Read Also: Saraki, others punished by Nigerians, says Oshiomhole

     

    Significantly, a common thread undergirding all these scenarios leans heavily on personal interest. They have pretty little connection to party interest or ultimately national interest. These primordial agenda unfortunately form the key conceptual planks of politicking in Nigeria.  Oshiomhole’s choice to lead the ruling party by its top echelon was not accidental. It is essentially to change that old, unseemly narrative, and revamp the progressives’ vanguard.

    Oshiomhole has indeed taken this responsibility very seriously. The position of national chairmanship of a political party carries considerable weight, especially in charting the course of progressive engagement with the critical elements in a democratic mix. That the inherent power of the office of the national chairman, its responsibility and authority have been watered down and often caged by forces out of sync with transformative politics doesn’t mean that its occupant must jettison principled and disciplined conduct.  The days of Chief Meredith Adisa Akinloye, national chairman of the National Party of Nigeria, NPN, of the Second Republic come to mind here.

    In the evolution of the Nigerian state, it cannot be denied that Oshiomhole has played his own role and, in the process, honed administrative, governance and political skills that help him to leverage the lot of the ruling party, especially as it has entered its second tenure of governance at the centre.

    In the shark-infested waters of Nigeria’s politics, the former Edo State governor represents a powerful force feared by the opposition and false friends as well. Many of the allegations against his style fly in the face of objective analysis of the multi-hued challenges his party has successfully navigated.

    This is why the current and curious concerted efforts of Governor Obaseki of Edo State to paint Oshiomhole black and undermine his authority will ultimately become a frankeinstous fiasco because of its specious premise standing on spaghetti legs.  What’s more – Oshiomhole’s choice as party leader tacitly acknowledges the capacity of focused individuals to change their society for the better. For decades, he has provided clear, pragmatic leadership during periods of self-doubt by a citizenry under siege by patiently deploying the instrumentality of law to achieve what many thought were lost causes.

    Today, Oshiomhole who has now been deservedly transformed into an active, circumspect and intellectually-focused national political figure can do no less. The irrepressible politician of the very progressive hue has stepped on to the momentous big stage to hug the limelight of an unprecedented historical victory in the governorship election in Bayelsa State. And, when the Kogi scenario is added, then the outcome is celebratory of the political high octane and utilitarian legerdemain cum electoral savoir faire of “Hurricane Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole”.

     

    • Hon. Obahiagbon contributed this piece from Benin City.

  • Anti-corruption war and gale of irregular recruitments

    By Ladesope Ladelokun

    It is no fairy tale that when President Muhammadu Buhari assumed Nigeria’s highest office in the 2015 presidential election after three unsuccessful attempts, hope was birthed among millions of his supporters who liberally blessed him with their votes. It was  hope anchored on the believe that the one who will take Nigeria to the Promised Land like the biblical Moses after our long sojourn in the wilderness had come.

    While some of us, though erroneously, believed his emergence would bring about a period  of moral renaissance that would redefine how we are perceived as a country among the comity of nations still have disappointment boldly etched on our faces, there are  Nigerians who strongly believe that we expected too much from the Daura- born Nigerian leader, likening our expectations to wanting him to turn stone to bread and water to wine. They argue that the damage of 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) misrule cannot be reversed in four years.

    Much as one would agree that it is in fact easy to destroy than repair, Nigerians are not asking for a Peller-like magic from their leader. He was sold to Nigerians as an upright Nigerian with rock-solid integrity; a no-nonsense General whose golden voice would make sleazebags shiver. The one who would make corrupt people develop apoplexy in a fair war against scourge of corruption

     

    ‘The unceasing recruitment scandals tell a sad story about the failure of institutions and why development may continue to elude us when merit and due process are thrown overboard’

     

    No doubt, Nigerians did not vote for a magician. So, it will be out of place to expect magic. We voted for a leader who is expected to provide leadership when it matters the most and truly be for everybody and not for anyone, especially when he rode on the crest of integrity to power.

    But, truth be told, there are a thousand and one reasons to wonder if the man who occupies Nigeria’s highest office is the same retired General with the sobriquet Mai gaskiya (purveyor of truth). Apart from hounding and jailing journalists and anyone perceived be too critical of the present government to kill dissent, nothing else casts Buhari as a no-nonsense General despite the claim of being a converted democrat.

    When he said corruption would kill Nigeria if Nigeria does not kill corruption, many had expected a total war to crush the monster. Today, one of the many ways the Nigerian leader has failed Nigerians in his graft war is his failure of the present government to stamp out corruption in the public service hiring processes.

    Over four years after Buhari assumed office, recruitment scandals that advertise how corruption and manipulation have destroyed the public service have remained unceasing, especially when there are no consequences.

    For instance, in 2016, in spite of the hue and cry that greeted the illegal recruitment at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) when sons, daughters and relatives of the rich and mighty, including the president’s friends got engaged without due process, that questionable recruitment has been allowed to stand.

    Read Also: Reappoint Magu as EFCC chairman, Anti-corruption group tells Buhari

     

    The dust raised by the nepotistic CBN recruitment had not settled when the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) secretly employed 350 new staff. And, just like the CBN, it was neither advertised nor approved by the Federal Character Commission as stipulated by service rules. In defence of its action, the CBN argued that they were ‘targeted recruitments’, leaving one to wonder why ordinary Nigerians were not targeted for the same plum positions. It is instructive to note that the same ordinary Nigerians are not forgotten during electioneering. They are shepherded to polling booths to fulfill the aspirations of their oppressors.

    Or who will forget the nepotistic recruitment into the Department of State Services, in which Katsina State alone, which happens to be the home state of the president and then Director-General of the agency, Lawal Daura, reportedly got the lion’s share with 51 recruits out of a total of 479 recruits. While the entire South-south got 42, Lagos and Kano got seven and 25 slots respectively. Is someone feigning ignorance of the fact that nepotism is in fact corruption?

    In 2019, nothing appears to have changed in the fraud associated with recruitment processes in the public service. But it is not unexpected especially when previous questionable recruitments were allowed to stand. Only recently, the Inspector General of Police and the Police Service Commission (PSC) were locked in a battle over the recruitment of 10000 cops. The IG had awarded 528 slots to his Nasarawa State with 13 Local Governments when it was actually meant to have 156 slots based on the statutory 12 candidates per Local Government.

    The PSC had revealed that, of the 528 recruited from Nasarawa, 372 candidates did not apply for the job but were allegedly included in the job list. Interestingly, even after court orders that nullified the recruitment, they were disregarded by the IG – something the present government has gained notoriety for.

    More ridiculous are the pesky tales of how some government agencies sell employment slots at humongous prices and how lawmakers are pained that their leaders allegedly shared slots given them by the FIRS among themselves.

    But, in all of these, ordinary Nigerians who are only seen as instruments of fulfilling the aspirations of heartless politicians are the losers.” The chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Character, Danjuma Laa’h, hit the bull’s eye when he said: “Some have become bandits and terrorists because the jobs meant for them have been cornered by some greedy people. Young educated Nigerians are joining Boko Haram because of a lack of jobs.”

    With the gale of illegal recruitments sweeping through the public service with no consequence, it is not unexpected that more would still happen on the watch of Buhari. The unceasing recruitment scandals tell a sad story about the failure of institutions and why development may continue to elude us when merit and due process are thrown overboard. It is time the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC)  and other relevant agencies beamed their searchlight on the decay that mocks Buhari’s fight against corruption in Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

     

    • Ladelokun sent this piece via ladesopeladelokun@gmail.com

  • UNILAG and the crises within

    Sir: In recent times, the prestigious University of Lagos (UNILAG) has been in the news for many reasons – some pleasant, others unpleasant notable of which is the crisis between the university governing council and the management.

    It is quite disheartening that for the first time in a very long time, the 57-year-old institution that many struggle to gain admission into partly because of its cosmopolitan nature, but more importantly because of its academic excellence, has been enmeshed in crises that may make its management lose focus, if not quickly resolved. In fact, from the way things are going, this current Governing Council, which was inaugurated on May 9, 2017, may run its full tenure in avoidable crises because the interventions of the Federal Ministry of Education and the House of Representatives have failed to resolve the issues at stake, as both parties in the crises have stuck to their guns. This, to me, is totally unacceptable because it will have a bandwagon effect on scholarship in the University of First Choice.

    What are the issues that have turned hitherto friends and colleagues in UNILAG against themselves, which many believe was escalated by the leadership of the Governing Council? What are the problems that have turned the hitherto peaceful atmosphere in the university to crises mode to the extent that armed bouncers, for the first time in its history, invaded the Senate Building as if it was one club house where fraudsters meet, in a Gestapo manner?

    Financial recklessness, shoddy construction works, lose internal control system, insubordination, witch-hunting, usurpation of power, arrogance and more were alleged by both parties in a spree of accusations and counter-accusation that mediators have been unable to resolve.

    The crises escalated after a committee set up to probe the finances of the institution submitted its report to the governing council chairman, Wale Babalakin in which it accused the Vice Chancellor, Toyin Ogundipe and his management of financial  recklessness. It was headed by Dr. Saminu Dagari, a member of the governing council and lecturer in the University of Gashua.

    Thereafter, Babalakin was accused of instructing the registrar, Mr. Oladejo Azeez, to issue queries to the vice-chancellor and other indicted officers of the university, who incidentally are Oladejo’s seniors. As a stakeholder in UNILAG, this is unacceptable and no superior officer anywhere in the corporate world would accept this kind of aberration, where a very junior officer will issue queries to his superiors. This is a big misstep on the part of the governing council, where Oladejo is the secretary. This has actually blown up the crises because the queried officers, including the vice-chancellor and a former vice-chancellor, would certainly consider it as an affront and an insult for the registrar to query them.

    Read Also: UNILAG gets sexual harassment task force

     

    While this has been going on, some sponsored characters who called themselves Concerned Stakeholders have, unfortunately, been pouring petrol on the fire by consistently attacking the vice chancellor and the entire management, instead of intervening to resolve all the issues at stake. They do this because of the wicked gains they make from the crises. Their silent prayer is that this problem should not go away! This, indeed, is very disheartening.

    The short and long-term effect of this is that academic and administrative works would be adversely affected. When the immediate past governing council, led by the erudite lawyer and philanthropist, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) and the council before him, led by boardroom guru, the late Dr. Gamaliel Onosode, and other past councils were in-charge, they brought unprecedented academic and physical development to UNILAG. A situation where the current governing council cannot sit because it does not usually form a quorum due to the crises, or a situation where such council meetings are tension-soaked is totally unacceptable.

    Babalakin, who incidentally is the first alumnus of the university to be its pro-chancellor and chairman of its governing council, should, with other members of the council resolve all the issues at stake amicably and support the vice chancellor to take the university to greater heights, instead of this ceaseless fight over issues that could be resolved procedurally and administratively. This is a golden opportunity for all of them to write their names in gold in UNILAG, like the previous governing councils before them did.

     

    • Chukwuka Igwe,

    Abuja.

  • Minister and his love of social media regulation

    Sir: From a recent study carried out at the Civil Empowerment & Rule of Law Support Initiative, CERLSI, it found out that there are about 160 social media cites in operation today. The trendiest are Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

    Even though the others perform relatively the same role as Facebook and twitter, they are not as popular because some are language and region specific. In non-English speaking countries like Russia, China, Belgium, Norway and Germany and France, some social media sites focus on using the medium to promote aspects of the language and culture and traditions of their peoples.

    Some region specific social media sites often have an English translation, and they try to entice you into signing up with them by generally doing everything that the more popular ones like Facebook and twitter do: some are for business, networking and academic incentives.

    The others, also in English, are different from Facebook and twitter and Instagram, in that they cater to the needs of a professional group, like LinkedIn. Others are date sites, race-specific sites and age specific sites.

    Generally speaking, these sites perform one of the most significant roles of the digital age – they provide an opportunity to connect to the commonality of humanity in a way that convention or orthodoxy does not allow.

    Because of this, repressive and intolerant governments are often afraid of this ‘soft power’, and do everything to shut it down, ‘regulate’ or ‘sanitize’ it.

    In the present circumstance in Nigeria, powerful people who often maintain their hold on power by keeping people in the dark suddenly feel threatened at the vista which social media give Nigerians to abuse their representatives not delivering on their election promises.

    We are not sure how the Honourable Minister for Information and Culture Mr Lai Mohammed would set about ‘sanitizing’ and ‘regulating’ over 100 social media sites if Nigerians eventually take to some of them.

    As response to the position being canvassed by Nigerians on Mr Lai Mohammed’s proposed social media law, there have been uncoordinated tunes in and out of government.

    While there are news reports indicating that government is not going to go ahead with the social media law because aspects of what the proposed social media law seeks to achieve were already being taken care of with the law on cybercrime, others, ascribed to the vice president indicate that the proposed media law is really unnecessary. Coming the way it is, there is an air of bewilderment that only an outright abdication of the plan to ‘sanitize’ social media.

    Read Also: ‘Why we’ll regulate social media’

     

    But no – there’s a defiant Lai Mohammed insisting that the law on social media ‘regulation’ and ‘sanitization’ must pass. Hear him: Finally, and for the avoidance of doubt, while we welcome robust debate on this issue, the criticisms in certain quarters will not stop us from going ahead with our efforts to sanitize the social media space. It is the right thing to do in the circumstances.”

    Nigerians do not want this ‘regulation’, nor are they interested in the ‘sanitization’. What Nigerians want is for government to attend to the circumstances at home and abroad that promote hate speech, fake news and irresponsible journalism. Would Nigerians be peddling ‘hate speech’ if they have food on their tables and jobs that keep them engaged?

    Would Nigerians be writing ‘fake news’ if there are good roads, potable water and electricity? What would be wrong with developing a social media site of our own, wholly Nigerian, and catering to the development of our culture? What is Mr Lai Mohammed doing to resuscitate our dead and dying libraries nationwide, our dying traditional institutions or sell our image through our cultural potentials abroad? All these are very serious issues that the minister should focus on instead of trying to force a law down our necks.

     

    • Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku, 

    CERLSI, Benin City

  • Rail; NGO, Hate Bills

    Weep Nigeria, well and long. You have been forced to operate at 10% capacity, a failure but alive. But your future was decimated, miniaturized by our leaders who have led us to loss. Blame nobody else, no war or enemy action. While Nigeria wobbled, our sister and senior independent country, Ghana@57, has done it again. Congratulations for signing a ‘High Speed’ train contract for $2.6b with the African Development Bank.

    I asked why Nigeria was not signing high speed railway contracts. I was told Africa is not ‘ripe or ready’ for ‘150-400km high speed’ trains yet. They said that about the cell phone remember? We have the cellphones but no cell phone factory in Africa. But Ethiopia, Kenya and Morocco have active ‘High Speed Railway’ Programmes! Apparently Ghana and the ADB’s Akinwumi Adesina, are following suit. Nigeria ignores its injuries, and loss of trillions of hours of Lagos travel time inflicted upon us in 1983/4 by unitary government’s Buhari’s action cancelling the visionary Lagos State’s local Jakande Metrorail Project. Buhari’s action negatively impacted Nigerians till today. We are stuck in Lagos traffic and Apapa gridlock from persistent government policy myopia. In fact, Nigeria@60 paid a contract cancellation fine of $84m- 184m. The citizens received no apology. Belatedly a second term Governor Fashola rekindled the Lagos railway to partial fruition through the ‘Lagos Light Rail Project’. Stuck in traffic, we stare at the stalled constructed concrete beams hanging over us like a burial tomb. How dare a then serving Lagos State governor, Ambode, repeat painful history and ‘re-cancel’ the light rail perhaps due to differences in contract sums or policy? Instead, gridlock reigns as Lagosians suffer where there should be no suffering -like on the Lagos-Ibadan ‘Expressway’ at the hands of Eighth National Assembly – NASS-8.

     

    ‘How dare a then serving Lagos State governor, Ambode, repeat painful history and ‘re-cancel’ the light rail perhaps due to differences in contract sums or policy? Instead, gridlock reigns as Lagosians suffer where there should be no suffering …’

     

    Even with Obasanjo’s opposition to Lagos and Tinubu, why did Fashola not restart the Lagos city railway back in 2007 with Lagos State’s megabucks Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). But that was not the only ‘failures to grasp future’. Obasanjo recruited late Chief CSO Akande to redraw a national rail master plan. From 1999, Obasanjo had the US, Canadians, Chinese, Indians and Germans begging to support him with railways.  Little or nothing happened and we suffered on.

    Read Also: Hate Speech Bill, a bad law

     

    Nigeria has the disease ‘Developmental Myopia’ plaguing many Nigerian leaders who are technically blind when they attend forward-looking international conferences. They utilise international standards only for self-interest and not spirit and practical people-development. Ride on Ghana. One day, perhaps, Nigeria will be led by ‘Great thinkers and doers’, not those who will execute another ‘Death Sentence’ – willing to kill to ‘win’ state elections. If not, we will remain in this misery in gridlock at roundabouts and on roads formerly called expressways. Even our current 2019 upgrading of railways will need an immediate re-upgrade to the 21st Century. What warped logic says that in 2019 a Lagos Ibadan-Express train has to run just once a day or through Abeokuta instead of a new railway parallel to the existing expressway and run hourly back and forth and side by side on two tracks?

    We must identify several components of the current NASS-9 rush to enact ‘strange fruit’ as new bills- particularly as relates to hate speech and NGO Bills in particular and the much advertised ‘DEATH SENTENCE FOR NEARLY ALL’. Professor Soyinka has spoken against the death penalty. Listen to him. Strangely NASS 1- 9 have never recommended the death sentence for any corruption crime even in billions and costing citizens’ lives. In regard to NGOs, first Nigerians know that government has failed to deliver in spite of trillions, mostly stolen, misappropriated and mis-acquired by all arms of government. In addition, our poor showing on all international positive indices and accompanying actions, including abolishing history, that have caused many NGOs to step up with kobo-kobo private and international resources to cover government failures and fill the gaping hole created mostly by theft and corruption. Poverty and social problems from schools still exist worldwide and need solutions.  Although ‘political and good governance and human rights NGOs’ will be first targets by the ‘full force of law’, old students associations social care-givers and their supporters will follow. After six months in office, nobody will be free.

    The NGO Bill is an all-encompassing draconic Unitarian piece of ‘illegal’ legislation breaching human rights which if passed will cause many to stop involvement as advocates of the needy, back-away from being philanthropists, withdraw volunteer time and reduce money available to be spent often substituting for the failure of governments to provide adequately for the down trodden citizenry. And this as the NASS basks in the stupendous ‘legitimately’ acquired  luxuries of office which would probably be considered before God if not the judge as ‘illegally legal’ or illegitimately or immorally acquired when placed on a scale of every other UN government political structures worldwide and Nigeria’s ‘enforced’ corruption-driven poverty.

    Another NASS-9 Law – ‘Hate Speech’ Law with a Death Sentence. This must go along with ‘Hate Action’ Analysis. You cannot take a comment on a mass murder calling for the prosecution of perpetrators of a particular group as hate speech without full appreciation of the horror of the ‘Hate Action’. Ignoring hate speech in our history which has laid the mistrust of today will merely create government backed illegitimisation of genuine expressed concerns and internationally accepted legitimate responses to Hate Actions today. Nigeria is plagued with more hate action than hate speech.

  • Save us from Ikeja Electric

    Sir: The last time residents of Igbe-Kapo, under Ijede LCDA, Ikorodu Lagos State had stable electricity supply was in July 2018. In August 2018, the transformer serving the community developed fault which took about two weeks before the workers of Ikeja Electric Company came to make repairs, and only after members of the community had contributed to buy and replace the damaged G&P of the transformer. Similar incident occurred in September 2018 and the community was asked to contribute money once again for the repairs. Electricity was restored for barely two weeks!! Again, in November 2018, it worsened.

    The community was later told to raise the total sum of N1.5 million while each house was to pay N4000 for the transformer to be repaired, which lasted up to seven months (around May, 2019) before the  money was put together by the community and the transformer repaired.

    Afterwards, Ikeja Electric was contacted to reconnect electrical power but then stories began to fly around – that residents needed to pay N3000 naira each into Ikeja Electric account. This, the community grudgingly paid after we realized that Ikeja Electric were not ready to reconnect us (this took another four months i.e. September, 2019). This last time, the community raised N600,000 plus.

    Read Also: Ikeja Electric’s unlawful disconnection of Ifesowapo

     

    After we have raised the amount, Ikeja Electric again said that we have to pay another #2000 naira each because the Disco wants N2.4million from the community!

    I pay my electricity bills regularly and so consider 15 months black out as unacceptable.

    It is with great pain and sadness that I am sending this mail. It is we, the residents that purchase poles, wires and contribute money always to repair the transformer. Ikeja Electric never gave us any refund on our money.

    We feel that our right has been infringed upon. We want Ikeja Electric to pay for the damages they have inflicted on us. The current situation has increased the level of insecurity in the community.

    The only and major source of water is borehole and non-availability of electricity has cut this off, leading residents to alternative sources which exposes us to water borne diseases such as the ongoing gastro-enteritis that has killed people in Lagos.

    Not that before the breakdown of the transformer, we were always contributing money for its repair. The low capacity of the transformer makes it unable to carry the load of the community. We need another transformer.

     

    • Imam Habeebullah Mogaji,

    Igbe-Kapo, Ijede LCDA, Lagos State.

  • Still on unemployment

    Perhaps Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps’ (NSCDC) spokesperson, Emmanuel Okeh, correctly analysed the huge number of applicants jostling for the few jobs in the establishment when he attributed the development to two factors: the large number of unemployed persons in the country, and the fact that many youths are interested in joining the corps because of what he called its remarkable and excellent outings over the years. While the latter factor might be contested, no one can dispute the former. That is, the high unemployment rate in the country. Or, how else can one explain the situation where about 1.4million persons have applied for the 5,000 vacancies in the NSCDC: A case of too many applicants chasing too few jobs?

    The NSCDC opened its online portals for filing of applications by prospective applicants on August 9. By the deadline of September 7, a period of about one month, more than 1.4 million had applied for the various posts advertised by the board.

     

    ‘There is the need for ingenious ways to ameliorate the situation. Power supply has to be fixed and access to credit should be facilitated. A country whose youths are roaming the streets when they should be productive is not only stunting its development; it is also sitting on a keg of gunpowder’

     

    NSCDC was formed in May 1967 during the Nigerian Civil War to sensitise and protect the civil populace in the then Federal Capital Territory of Lagos. It was then known as Lagos Civil Defence Committee. Its activities have since been expanded to cover all parts of the country, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The primary function of the NSCDC is to protect lives and properties in conjunction with the Nigeria Police. Its other crucial function is to protect pipelines from vandalism; it also engages in crisis resolutions. These are, no doubt, important security matters. In other words, the corps is adding value to society because without security, there cannot be peace, even as there will be a dearth of investors since business owners want security for their investments, too.

    Read Also: 1. 4m Nigerians jostle for 5,000 vacancies in NSCDC

     

    Of course, as with most job advertisements, the NSCDC also listed criteria to be met by the prospective applicants. These include those who have passed the requisite age who need not apply; or those who engaged in multiple registration, as well as applicants with inconsistent academic qualifications which the corps said would be deleted from prospective candidates for recruitment. The truth of the matter is that the unemployment queues in the country have been growing exponentially. The few spaces that are being opened cannot suck the huge number of graduates that the higher institutions are churning out yearly.

    These notwithstanding, one would have been glad if the corps had the courage to stick to its criteria for employment and disqualification, and ultimately make merit its watchword, at least given the security implications of its functions. We are afraid though that this might not be the case. We can only imagine the number of notes, personal visits and telephone calls to the agency’s leadership by very important personalities seeking preferential treatment for their own candidates. We saw that in the latest recruitment for jobs in the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) where some 100 job slots were reserved for some senators. The secret leaked because the slots did not go round, even as the leadership was accused of cornering the job slots for their favoured candidates. Yet, the jobs were supposed to have been advertised.

    It is not only in the NSCDC that we saw evidence of the chronic unemployment situation in the country. The same scenario played itself out in the recent controversial police recruitment; it was the same situation that made about125,000 applicants in Abuja and Lagos to be chasing 4,500 National Immigration Service (NIS) jobs in 2014! No fewer than 16 died in the scramble for the jobs while many others fainted from stampede and exhaustion.

    What all these imply is that governments’ efforts are yet to have a dent on the unemployment situation. This is not surprising though. Power supply which is key to job creation is still a far  cry from what it should be; other infrastructure are similarly in a shambles. There is the need for ingenious ways to ameliorate the situation. Power supply has to be fixed and access to credit should be facilitated. A country whose youths are roaming the streets when they should be productive is not only stunting its development; it is also sitting on a keg of gunpowder.

     

     

     

  • Dismal statistics

    The United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has announced that Nigerian children made up the highest number of global child deaths from pneumonia, with an estimate of 162,000 deaths in 2018. The country is followed by five countries: India (127,000), Pakistan (58,000), Democratic Republic of Congo (40,000), and Ethiopia (32,000).

    It is worrisome that this statistic about Nigeria is in tune with similar health-related statistics. Currently in Nigeria, mortality of children under five is still about 100-150 deaths per 1,000. In the northern part of the country, especially in Zamfara State, the rate is about 200-250 per 1,000 children. Neonatal mortality in Nigeria is still more than 35 per 1,000 live births.

    Further, more than 40% of one-year-olds in Nigeria are unvaccinated,while three in four children suffering from pneumonia symptoms do not get access to medical treatment. Also, Save the Children UK Ambassador, Florence Otedola, confirmed that Nigeria spent just $10 per person on health care in 2015, in contrast to the $86 minimum level recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The budget allocation to health even in 2020 does not suggest the likelihood of radical difference in terms of staffing of primary health centres.

    Read Also: Nigeria has second-largest number of child brides, says UNICEF

     

    Pneumonia is a respiratory-track disease that is caused by bacterial, viral infections or fungi; it is most fatal to children under two years. But it is treatable with antibiotics and preventable with vaccine. Many of the risk factors for this disease abound in Nigeria: outdoor and indoor pollution, unsanitary environment, malnutrition, poverty and poor access to health facilities soon after infection, for quick diagnosis and treatment, etc.

    Unfortunately, most of the things needed for prevention or cure seem to be hardly available to children of the poor in the country. For example, the vaccine to prevent this disease is not available to over 40% of children that need it, and most hospitals do not provide oxygen supplement that children with infection require for survival. What is most troubling is that child mortality from pneumonia in Nigeria is getting worse. For example, in 2016, pneumonia killed 140,500 children, 20,000 less than the disease killed in 2018. And this is despite several assurances that all tiers of government claimed to be doing better than in 2015 when they first came to power.

    But the reasons for this failure are not hard to identify. The primary health care (PHC) system started about 30 years ago is still not functioning as it should. Many communities do not have PHC facility. Only 25 per cent of the 30,000 PHC centres is adjudged by experts to be fully functional. The Federal Government’s effort to revive 1,000 of nominal facilities in 2017 is still unfolding. Existing PHC centres lack proper infrastructure, have inadequate  medical supplies, lack adequate staff, and lack electricity supply. Many, if not most of the infants with the highest risk factors for pneumonia are born into communities that depend solely on such PHC facilities. Any surprise that parents of such children resort to unorthodox treatment for such a deadly disease?

    It is sad when a country loses its future to preventable diseases such as pneumonia. It shows that our governments at all levels don’t have a good mechanism in place to combat infant mortality. It is, therefore, important that the governments take advantage of the development of the National Integrated Pneumonia Control Strategy being offered by health development partners. Appeals by UNICEF, Save the Children, Every Breath Counts Coalition are wake-up calls on governments at all levels to be alive to their responsibilities to stem the tide of preventable deaths of the country’s most innocent and vulnerable demographic group.

    The advice of the Acting UNICEF representative in Nigeria, Pernille Ironside: “Increased investment is critical to the fight against this disease. Only through cost-effective protective, preventative and treatment interventions delivered to where children are – including especially the most vulnerable and hardest-to-reach – will we be able to save hundreds of thousands of lives in Nigeria” is apt for amplification in all tiers of government.

     

    ‘It is sad when a country loses its future to preventable diseases such as pneumonia… It is, therefore, important that the governments take advantage of the development of the National Integrated Pneumonia Control Strategy being offered by health development partners’

     

  • Ex-commissioner urges support for Sanwo-Olu

    By Emmanuel Oladesu

    Former Lagos State Housing Commissioner Bosun Jeje yesterday urged Lagosians to support Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in his effort to reposition the state for excellence.

    He noted that the governor inherited the burden of governance, stressing that many sectors were on their knees when he came on board.

    Jeje told reporters in Lagos that while Sanwo-Olu wanted to hit the ground runing by fighting the infrastructure battle, the heavy downpour became an obstacle.

    The former commissioner described the governor as a very competent and visionary technocrat, who will fulfil his campaign promises.

    Jeje urged Lagosians to support the governor as he lays a firm foundation for his administration, assuring that Lagosians have not voted for him in vain.

    Read Also: Sanwo-Olu pledges support for scientific endeavours

     

    He said: “We must be patient with our dynamic, visionary and goal-oriented governor, who has been a tested and trusted servant of the state in many capacities before he became governor.

    “He has submitted a budget to the House of Assembly. I know that next year, Lagos will become a huge construction site. The rain damaged his plans to start road construction on a large scale. He has said when the rain is over, the situation will change. I believe him.”

    Jeje lamented that the previous administration compounded the challenge of refuse disposal in the state, thereby creating problem for the current government.

    He observed that development projects stopped one year ago in the state, stressing that the new government had nothing to build on.

    Jeje said Lagosians made a good choice by voting for Sanwo-Olu on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    He hailed the government’s positive intervention, which has reduced the chaotic traffic situation and problem of environmental sanitation.

  • Women face hurdles in politics, says Alli-Macaulay

    Mojisola Alli-Macaulay, lawyer and journalist, is a member of the  Lagos State House of Assembly representing Amuwo Odofin Constituency I. In this interview, she speaks with Oziegbe Okoeki on women in politics, and why death penalty is good for corrupt officials and not hate speech offenders.

     

    You have spent five months as a first termer in the Lagos State House of Assembly. What is your experience as a lawmaker?

    Firstly, I thank God for everything. The experience I have been having here is life changing. Its been a joyous experience so far, although it has not been easy. You know, the task is enormous. I am trying to gasp as much information as well as to delegates and  to carry out my obligations as efficient as possible.

    Its been eye opening. It has made me more mature, more open. Its really bringing me out of my shell, because you have to attend as much function, you know it is teaching me time management because you have to carry out a lot of tasks at the same time.

    Then, in the part of learning the job itself, the business of lawmaking is exposing me to the down stream of government, the nitty-gritty of how Lagos state as a whole works, especially being a member of two ad-hoc committees.

    So, I am really enjoying the experience, very knowledgeable for me because I have been forced to peruse a lot of things I do not know, to research and to know. So, it has become a habit for me. And also its been able to help me create a nexus between myself and my community, Amuwo Odofin, and getting me to understand the people. It is even making me more compassionate. I want to share in their joy, pain and laughter. I have received invitations from them to many functions. Everybody wants to identify with me.

    I have also become like a role model for the young people, especially for the girl child. I have been like an Ambassador for them; a lot of things that actually touch my life. I am actually getting to connect by this whole phase.

    So, this is an institution. Its no gain saying that this is actually a life in itself. It is definitely another life from what I am used to and I am grateful for it. And I also want to give assurance to Lagosians that the 9th Assembly is ready to serve to the best of our capability, and to the good people of Amuwo Odofin that I am here to represent them.

    No doubt you had some expectations when you were coming here, like work schedule, relations with other colleagues. Have these expectations been met?

    Firstly, you must know that this is not my first time of engaging in legislative business. I was a councillor of my Ward in Amuwo-Odofin and also at that time in 2011 deputy leader of the legislative house of my local government. So, I am not completely a greenhorn in the business of legislature. Its just that I am now operating at a higher pedestal.

    As a lawmaker, you are not expected to be rich. You are supposed to be engaged in the business of making laws to affect lives positively, perform oversight functions, listen basically to the problems and demands of your people. That is your primary obligation as a lawmaker. So, I never nursed, even as a councillor I never looked forward to making money. It is not a money spinning venture, it is close to saying it is service to humanity, because once you are a lawmaker, it is actually the other way round. You are just here to serve and represent the people not to make money, to serve as a feedback mechanism between your people and the state and putting laws in place to make life better for them.

    There is no way you can make money being a lawmaker. What you earn here are your salaries and imprest. Nothing like constituency allowance here. We don’t get that here.

    I am looking forward to seeing a system that works more than as I met it, to see people live a better life, see our economy booming, seeing my young people and women in Amuwo Odofin being empowered and self-sufficient, self-reliant, seeing the girl-child safe on Lagos streets. That is what I stand for and want to see happen. I want to see things evolve for good for the better. I was never looking forward to coming here to make money because I already knew as a former councillor that lawmakers are not rich people.

    You are just three female lawmakers in the Lagos Assembly now. Are you satisfied with women representation?

    You see, women have a lot of challenges becoming whatever they want to be. You will see that women involvement in politics is really not favourable in this part of the world, Africa. But, when it comes to Nigeria, we are not doing good in terms of putting women forward in politics. Its been branded as men’s club and that is totally not acceptable.

    Women naturally are divine creatures created by God to be multipliers. We are supposed to be God’s perfection after man. Women are strong and well put together by God and nature. We are naturally given God’s talent and we have the power to multi-task, we have the ability to think on our feet. The woman never gives up easily. She is never deterred by whatever she believes in, she is also an institution, she is everything that everyman needs.

    If you look around the world today, there are so many women in politics in places where they understand these things. And any country that does not give women the chance to serve is actually short changing itself. Any country looking down on its women at this stage of human civilisation is actually not doing its economy any good.

    Women face a lot of challenges. They have been subdued, suppressed and sidelined. When critical political decisions are being made, women are kept in the kitchen and the other room, so to speak. And for me this not fair. A woman has a lot to give and do for our societies. We know where the shoe pinches and we know how to tackle problems. All we need is just the opportunity to serve.

    Politics is in two dimensions. I faced a lot of antagonism, especially from the society. Once you step out as a woman, you are given names. It is stereotype. We need to break all this barriers and go beyond it. Women need to break through this ice to the other side. A lot of women don’t have the power and guts to do all these things, to face it to the very end. Gone were the days when women used to be their own worse enemies. Now, the narrative is changing, a lot of women now form groups, societies, even the UN have their own charter for women to encourage them to come out, to vote and also to be voted for. Coming from the time of the Beijin conference nothing much has changed concerning women especially in Nigeria. So we need to actually look inwards, push our best women out to support in the business of nation building and we would get there.

    How would you describe your relationship with other members, considering the fact that there are ranking members amongst you?

    The best set of friends I have had for a long time I can tell you emanated from this  9th Assembly. All the ranking members are very open to us the new ones, the rookies. They are very open and friendly. I have a good relationship with virtually everybody in this House and they call me all sorts of beautiful names to show that we actually go together.

    There is no gender disparity or sentiments. We are treated equally, equal respect. Every thing we do here is on equal basis. We relate with each other very well, we work together, stick together, do every thing together even though we have our differences.

    As a female lawmaker, have you experienced any form of pressure from your constituents as regards demands and how have you been able to cope?

    The pressure actually starts from when you paste your poster to contest for election. That is when the demands start. I don’t know how we got to that level, but it is really very bad. Our people should understand that there is a thin line from being generous and you demanding as of right from your representatives.

    When you have such orientation or societal paradigm, then, you may not have the authority or mandate to hold your representative responsible for whatever you get. The people deserve the kind of leaders they get. When you put your demand or request making it a right to your representative, then, you are telling him that you’ve gotten your fair share and you can not hold them responsible for anything. You can not recall them when they misbehave.

    Read Also: Interview with Award-winning Shoe Designer, Emmanuel Faleti

     

    I don’t see that as a way forward. What I believe most representatives should do is to have a means of providing, if they have within their capacity, for their people to provide succour in their own little way and be able to facilitate majorly democratic goodies for their people. Not when people now push us out of our way and expect us to turn water to wine. Then, it becomes something else. Our people should understand, we are not here minting money. We are just here to serve.

    What are your plans on empowerment for your constituents?

    My cardinal focus for my constituents have always been the women, empower a woman you empower the whole world. Why, because I see women controlling the world, women are everywhere moving the world forward. Once you can give adequate opportunity to women you have a relief.

    The young people are the future leaders, no matter what or who we are and what we do today, some day sooner or later we will definitely step aside for these young blood to come. So we need to actually give them what they need to prepare for the future. So I see the youths of my constituency being empowered, being supported. By extension the younger ones who are in school, that is why I have my education and social support programme initiative.

    Recently I inducted some young girls from all schools in in Amuwo Odofin, made them my Ambassadors, I call them Mama Ambassadors. Its a way of giving them a sense of belonging and responsibility at a very young age. Make them understand that being a girl does not limit you to any kind of lifestyle, you need to become and get what belongs to you for the future.

    Also I want to take care of the widows, give them widows mite from time to time and so many other things.

    What are your views on corruption?

    Corruption is like cancer, it is everywhere in this country, it has become the dictate of the day. That is why we have the economy dwindling, it is really becoming a menace, we need to actually address it. I want to join voice with President Muhamnadu Buhari to say enough of corruption, we are actually shooting ourselves in the foot if we do not put an end to this terrible cancerous phenomenon and just change our orientation towards it.

    You are a politician, lawyer and journalist, what is your take on death sentence being proposed for offenders of the proposed hate speech law currently under works at the National Assembly?

    I have mixed feelings concerning it, it is okay to make it a felony, not death sentence, that will be too grievious a penalty. We have to also respect the human rights law on persons. This is not to say it is a good thing to encourage hate speech. Hate speech also can be a misdemeanour, it can be character killing, it can destroy, it can pull down anything. So this is not to say it should be encouraged, of course it should be discouraged, but not to say that people found culpable should be given death sentence. I think that, for me, it is too ambiguous a law. It should be made a felony with stiff punishment, the penalty should be given but not to the extent of saying death penalty, that is my opinion.

    If you say that about hate speech, will you support the idea of death sentence for those convicted of corruption especially looting the treasury?

    Yes, any day, any time. Whatever punishment the lawmakers can come up with for people found to be corrupt, no matter how grievious and ambiguous it is, i will go for it, i will buy it, i will support it.

     

    ‘Women have a lot of challenges becoming whatever they want to be. You will see that women involvement in politics is really not favourable in this part of the world, Africa. But, when it comes to Nigeria, we are not doing good in terms of putting women forward in politics. Its been branded as men’s club and that is totally not acceptable’