The Nation Newspaper

Category: Emeka Omeihe

  • Gorilla, snake allegory

    Belief systems and practices define the culture of a people and their very essence. Countries where superstition and all manners of attachment to weird beliefs and the mundane constitute predominant ways of viewing life, rank low within the development matrix.

    So it is with Nigeria. Our attachment to superstition, occultism and all manner of belief systems has become somehow, a thing of immense concern. We are regularly regaled with news of killings and reprisal attacks by students of our higher educational institutions in the name of cultism. The carnage arising from such killings has become as embarrassing as they appear to have defied solutions.

    But behind all this, is the notion that those involved in such cult activities derive some supernatural powers from it. Little wonder the army of our youths that are increasingly lured to them. Opinions will continue to be divided regarding the benefits that accrue from such weird engagements.

    But the same malady has also permeated the lower rungs of the educational ladder and the larger society. The increasing subscription to such weird belief systems raises questions as to how far-reaching our claims to religiosity and modernity have been. Even with increasing level of education and the quantum of exposure and rationality that go with it, the reality is that many of our people are still embarrassingly attached to these inexplicable and bizarre belief systems. The signs are easily perceptible in our daily lives; in our dealings with others and the ease to rationalize our failings on some unseen forces.

    Read Also: Zoo Gorilla ‘swallows’ N7m; Ajudua ‘swallows’ Bamaiyi’s $8m + Your Responses

    That is why a staff of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board JAMB in Makurdi, Benue State, Philomena Chieshe had the comfort of mind to come up with the claim that a huge snake swallowed a whooping N36 million kept in the vault of that agency. The JAMB sales clerk had told the JAMB registrar and his team on investigations that a sum of N36 million generated from the sale of recharge cards some time ago was swallowed by a huge snake.

    When prodded further, she claimed her housemaid connived with another JAMB staff to ‘spiritually’ through a snake steal the money from the vault in the accounts office. She was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, just last May after about one year and three months she made the stunning claim.

    But as the EFCC is still battling to unravel the mystery surrounding the rogue snake, another curious story evolved from Kano. This time, it is the narrative of a rogue gorilla. Reports quoting officials of the Kano zoological gardens went viral last week with the startling account of a gorilla that allegedly swallowed N6.8 million belonging to that zoo. According to reports, one huge gorilla sneaked into the office, carried away the money and swallowed it.

    Apparently worried by the uncommon narrative, Governor Abdullahi Gunduje ordered a probe into the claims. But the police suspect theft and have arrested 10 staff including the accounting officer. The position of the police seems amplified by the managing director of the zoo who disclosed though belatedly, that the zoo does not have a gorilla within it. So the story goes. If this later account is true, it is either the gorilla came from somewhere else or those who told the story could not differentiate between that animal species and humans.

    In the days ahead, we expect the police to conclude their findings and possibly have some of the suspects arraigned. But we may not get the full gist of events until the legal process runs its full course. Then and only then shall we get to know whether the stories of the gorilla and the snake were real or figments of the imagination of some rogue officials. Then also shall we begin to construct a positive correlation between our attachments to the normative as opposed to the empirical.

    The fact that such stories are easily peddled presupposes that their purveyors do so in the hope they could be believed. Those who told the story believe in the possibility of snakes and gorillas invading the vaults and swallowing the monies possibly as food. They believed in the persuasive powers of such stories and that it made sense to go that way. This angle was given added fillip by Philomena who claimed her housemaid connived with another JAMB staff to spiritually steal the money through a snake.

    For her, this is quite possible. And she would want us to believe her story. Why not? After all, we are regularly treated with all manner of such stories from sundry predators in the garb of religious, occultist and traditional seers. Last December, the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, had to mount sensitization seminars to disabuse the minds of drivers and road users that there are blood- sucking demons causing accidents on the roads. In a clime replete with all manner of miracle workers laying claims to converting impossibility to possibility; a clime the supernatural is constantly held responsible even for acts of omission and commission of ours, it is not surprising that such fables will continue to trend.

    And as long as you can find those who believe such stories (they are many), so long will they continue to find sympathizers. That is the level at which our society still finds itself. It is telling of our level of attachment to superstition, ignorance and nature and how far removed we are from the path of modernity.

    But we risk glossing over the real import of the narratives on the snake and gorilla if we seek to reason them out in a rational sense. My reading of the matter is that the purveyors of such stories were not talking of the real gorilla and snake. They were merely deploying hyperboles to give effect to the disappearance of the monies. Philomena spoke of the spiritual snake. She said her maid connived with another JAMB staff to spiritually steal the money through a snake. Her maid and the unnamed JAMB staff are mere metaphors for the snake.

    It would appear we all erred in taking her statement in its literal sense. So also was the case of the gorilla that swallowed N6.9 million kept in the vault of the Kano zoological garden. If the allegory of the snake is difficult to appreciate, that of the gorilla should easily strike the right chord. They spoke of a huge gorilla. Incidentally, gorillas look like human beings except for their exceptional ugliness that will be difficult to decipher during the night the animal struck. Because the gorilla has the shape of humans, it is possible the narrator mistook a human being for a gorilla. The only snag there is that gorillas do not feed on pieces of paper and are not also capable of converting the money to buy their choice food.

    So it is not the physical gorilla. It was the human gorilla that was possibly misread as a real gorilla. The gorilla denotes a metaphor for the thief. This characterization was given more credence by the zoo management when they said they do not have any gorilla in that zoo. So we are inexorably left with the human gorilla. That is why perhaps, the police has made arrests of some prime suspects. That also accounted for the setting up of an investigative panel by the Kano State government to unravel who the thief gorillas are. It is hoped they will unmask the characters behind the snake and the gorilla allegory.

    Read Also: Ganduje orders probe of Kano Zoo’s ‘Gorilla swallowed N6.8m’

    More fundamentally, these stories have wider repercussions for us as a country. They demonstrate very unmistakably, the very dangerous dimension corruption has taken on these shores. The two fables have to do with the stealing of monies belonging to the government or its agencies. We need to get at the root of the relative ease with which unscrupulous officials dip their hands into governments till.

    We need to get at the root of the ease with which such infractions are rationalized on some weird and supernatural forces. President Buhari’s government has the fight against corruption as one of its cardinal programmes. It must figure out why the same individual that finds no wrong in looting government money meticulously preserves monies entrusted to his care by his ethnic unions or village meetings.

    The level of progress in this regard will make the difference. But one thing that stands out is that manifestations of corruption are both complex and complicated. Beaming the searchlight just on political enemies will be of little value in the overall success of the fight. We must work to re-direct the psyche of our people against such malfeasance to get a more enduring result.

  • Democracy Day: matters arising

    The week just passed was replete with a flurry of activities of some symbolism for this country. Within that week, the ninth National Assembly was inaugurated and its leadership subsequently elected. It was preceded by similar inaugurations and election of principal officers of states Houses of Assembly.

    It also witnessed for the very first time, the official national celebration of June 12, as Nigeria’s Democracy Day. Hitherto, May 29, was marked as Democracy Day because it was on that day the military handed over power to a democratically elected government in 1999. Before now, some states in the Southwest marked that date with public holidays to keep the annulment of the June 12, election alive.

    With the elevation of that event to a national day and its subsequent celebration, those states that kept the spirit of June 12 alive all these years have been vindicated and their yearnings and aspirations seemingly met. It would appear a befitting reward for their resilience and doggedness in ensuring that events of the June 12 elections are not consigned to the dust bin of history. They must also have had a good sense of fulfillment when President Buhari announced the renaming of the Abuja National Stadium to Moshood Abiola National Stadium.

    The echoes of hilarity that deafened the Eagle Square venue as Buhari announced the renaming of the stadium, says all about how apparently satisfied those who had championed the immortalization of the event felt. But that was not the first time a president of the country attempted to immortalize Abiola. Similar decision by the Jonathan regime to rename the University of Lagos to Moshood Abiola University met strident opposition such that he had to rest the idea. Why that idea met brick wall is a matter for another day.

    Beyond the euphoria of the measures to immortalize Abiola, the real concerns should be what prospects if any, they hold for the country. Of prime interest is the heuristic value of the recognitions and their prospects for Nigeria’s democracy. It is not enough to declare June 12 as democracy day. Neither would the renaming of the Abuja National Stadium provide solutions to the contradiction the June 12, election annulment denotes. The real thing should be in the measures the government takes thereon to ensure that the conditions that gave rise to that annulment and the injustice on which it was erected are systematically and substantially exorcised from the nation’s governance process.

    It would appear President Buhari thought along this line when he said “as part of the process of healing and reconciliation, I approved the recognition of June 12 as Democracy Day and invested the late Chief Abiola and Babagana Kingibe with national honors as I did with the late Gani Fawehinmi. The purpose was to partially atone for the previous damage done in annulling the presidential election of that year”.

    If the above represented a partial atonement for the damage done by the annulment of that election, it would seem the renaming of the Abuja National Stadium to Moshood Abiola National Stadium stood for full atonement. That would amount to an over simplification of the matter. June 12 is neither about the conferment of honors and awards nor renaming national edifices as a mark of recognition of the sacrifices of its principal actors. It is all about systemic and contrived injustice, the sanctity of the electoral process and its capacity to approximate the collective will of the people as expressed at the ballot box.

    June 12 is all about the recognition of the inalienable rights of the consisting units to have unhindered access to the highest political offices in the country. It is a protest against domination and the oligarchy of a section of the country against others. June 12 is all about equity, fairness and inclusiveness in the governance process irrespective of the party in power. It is all about the ascendancy of plurality of interests and views without which it will be nigh impossible to construct an enduring political order.

    It is about nation building; the inculcation of a common sense of national belonging among the disparate and distinct groups that make up this country. It was therefore somewhat disappointing that though President Buhari recognized the imperative of nation building in his address, he appeared noncommittal to its pursuit when the only thing he had to say there was that it takes a long process.

    One had expected the president given the occasion to have unfolded foolproof policies and strategies to fast-track the process of nation building. This is especially so given that the issues surrounding the annulment of the June 12 elections are largely part of the reasons we have failed to record substantial progress in erecting a Nigerian psyche out of the distinct and disparate nationalities in the union.

    It is an irony of sorts that after 59 years of independence we are still rationalizing our inability to make substantial progress on the purported long time it takes to achieve nation building. Curiously, those who constantly seek escapism on time to rationalize the obvious lack of progress in this direction have not been able to tell us how much time we still require to get at that destination.

    Beneath this rationalization is a conspiracy in some quarters to oppose and obstruct the necessary and sufficient conditions that will accelerate the pace of nation building.  The unfortunate situation today is that whatever progress that seemed to have been made in this regard, has in the last few years been reversed as primordial and sectarian cleavages are now at an all time high.

    Schism, rancor and insecurity of all hue have eaten deep into our societal fabric so much so that even ardent apologists of the status quo have openly admitted that Nigeria is today more divided along ethnic and religious lines than any other period in its history. The facts are there. Primordial units have been in a ferocious battle with the central authority for the loyalty of the citizens. It is difficult to expect the dispositions and attitudinal change necessary for nation building to germinate and flourish under the prevailing circumstance.

    President Buhari talked about healing process, reconciliation and righting the wrongs of the past as the raison d’être for immortalizing June 12 and honoring its principal actors. It is no doubt, a right step forward. It is hard to record substantial progress in a milieu infested by widespread discontent among the constituents. And as the president apparently admitted in his speech, injustice is at the very root of all the problems buffeting this country.

    But it remains a thing of immense worry that even as we recognize the desideratum of justice for progress, the actions of the government have failed to give sufficient attention to other manifest and debilitating wrongs. There are wrongs associated with the last general elections that failed to make an improvement on that of 2015. Yet, we pontificate over the celebration of Democracy Day. The standard of conduct of the last elections in keeping with democratic norms should have been the gauge for that atonement.

    You cannot be atoning for an ill committed by another regime only for the same cankerworm to infest the one conducted during your regime. There are also wrongs against some other sections of the country that are easily swept under the carpet. We equally have wrongs arising from the very structure of the Nigerian state.

    These have been manifest in the pattern of appointments into the commanding heights of the military and paramilitary institutions where the Southeast has been serially denied representation ostensibly because they did not cast a majority of their votes for the ruling party. It has again manifested in the sharing of the principal offices of the National Assembly. Yet we talk of justice and the righting of the wrongs of the past.

    It is a verity of the Thrasymacus notion of justice- the interest of the stronger. This concept of ‘justice’ is an antithesis of democratic engagement and therefore of questionable value in ushering in real progress.

  • Reversals galore

    What could have informed the floodgate of policy reversals since the swearing-in of newly elected governors? Could it be an act of vendetta, or a manifestation of all that went wrong with the outgoing administrations in the affected states?

    These are some of the searing questions agitating the minds of not a few discerning Nigerians. The nation has been awash with a surfeit of policy reversals by some outgoing state assemblies and the just sworn-in governors. From Imo to Ogun state, Gombe to Oyo state, the story has remained largely the same.

    Ogun state assembly set the ball rolling when in one singular sitting; it passed a bill (Nullification of Irregularities (amendment) Law, 2019) and three resolutions reversing all appointments, employments and financial agreements made by the former regime of Ibikunle Amosun between Feb. 9, and May 28, 2019.  The bill is an amendment to the one passed at the inception of Amosun’s regime reversing all irregularities by his predecessor. The legislators argued that the last minute appointments, upgrading and employment by the last administration did not follow due process, lacked merit and were lopsided.

    Apparently following the same trend, Imo State House of Assembly passed a motion directing the state governor, Emeka Ihedioha to suspend all board appointments including the promotion of permanent secretaries made by the last regime from March 2019. The assembly also suspended indefinitely, the 27 local government council chairmen and their councilors.

    Events followed the same predictable pattern in Gombe, Adamawa and Oyo states. Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state reversed the promotion of all the new permanent secretaries in the state’s civil service. All transactions either contractual or in terms of promotions done between March 11, and May 28 would be properly scrutinized because of the “obvious mischief that had been introduced into governance within that period”.

    Governor Inuwa Yahaya also suspended all appointments, contracts and all allocations by the Gombe state government and local government councils made as from March 10, 2019. He said there were lots of irregularities perpetrated by the last administration and he would take steps to redress them and hold culprits and illegal beneficiaries accountable.

    There is a common thread running through all the reasons proffered by the Imo and Ogun assemblies and the governors of Oyo, Adamawa and Gombe states for these reversals. They all spoke of non adherence to due process, irregularities, lopsidedness and outright mischief. If there are elements of truth in these claims, then it will be uncharitable to accuse these state assemblies and the governors of a hidden agenda to get even with their opponents. Then also, the suggestion that the measures were acts of vendetta against the former governors would have collapsed irretrievably.

    This is especially so when it is realized that both the Imo assembly and its Ogun counterpart had worked very harmoniously with the former governors. The speaker of the Ogun state house of assembly is a known loyalist of the former governor and it is inconceivable that his action could stem from vendetta or an attempt to curry favor with the new administration. This point gains further traction given that such reversals are not entirely novel in the annals of Ogun state legislative business.

    The former governor was a beneficiary of similar reversals at the inception of his regime. What should rather be of concern is the inability of leaders to learn from history.  It is an uncanny irony that the bill reversing Amosun’s contentious promotions, appointments and upgrading was only an amendment of the earlier one with which some of the policies of his predecessor were reversed.

    Being a beneficiary of such reversals, he lost the moral right to input sinister motives into the action of the assembly. Even then, the assembly contends that the processes leading to such promotions, appointments and upgrading of traditional rulers were not in conformity with due process, balance and extant regulations. Why outgoing governors would relish in laying landmines for their successors is at the root of governance failures on these shores.

    If the former governors are accused of sowing thorns for their successors, it will be very difficult to fault. If they are accused of favoring cronies, relations and supporters by those appointments, it would also stand. Since government is a continuum, the right thing is to allow the new governors make such promotions and appointments if they deem them necessary? The mad rush to have such appointments take effect before the incoming governors settle exposes the duplicity in the entire exercise.

    The case of Imo state presents very startling revelations. After the defeat of his preferred candidate in the governorship election, the former governor, Rochas Okorocha went into frenzy, initiating actions in several fronts culminating in a bazaar of all manner of appointments, promotions and transactions.

    Not only did he hurriedly constitute the boards of some statutory commissions, agencies and parastatals, he appointed many permanent secretaries and had them sworn-in. Not done, he shocked many when he woke up one morning to announce the establishment of six new universities, four polytechnics and two colleges of education. He did not stop there but moved ferociously to have the state polytechnic relocated so as to pave way for one of his touted universities.

    But for the stiff opposition mounted by the host community, he would have succeeded in disorganizing academic activities in that institution given the absence of supportive infrastructure in the site it was being relocated. Okorocha made a public show of a certificate of approval for one of the universities and made so much noise about the new universities’ readiness to takeoff in the coming academic session. Surprisingly however, it did not take long before he reversed himself on those phony projects.

    It should not come as a surprise that some of the state assemblies have taken the lead to have such infractions reversed. Not only were such appointments motivated by outright mischief, they lacked any modicum of altruism given that they were designed to undo the new administrations. It is refreshing the affected state assemblies have been so sufficiently challenged by the anomalies that they took proactive measures to have them reversed. They stand to be commended for placing the overall interests of their constituents over and above self-serving predilections of the former governors.

    There has been an attempt in some quarters to impute ulterior motives into the actions of the assemblies. This is especially so given their apparent inability to rein in the former governors through their oversight functions. Even then, the assemblies in Ogun and Imo were not known to have asserted their independence from the executive in the last four years or so.

    Allegations of betrayal against the two state assemblies arose in the main from their inability to act as an effective check against executive excesses in consonance with the principles of separation of powers, checks and balances. It is little surprising that in the absence of the assemblies living up to their statutory duties, the governors had an unhindered latitude to a voyage on illegalities. The assemblies are therefore vicariously liable for not challenging those measures as they unfolded. Why await the exit of the governors before doing the needful?

    It is symptomatic of the level of decay and wrong perception of governance process that you find elected leaders transmuting to a verity of an army of occupation as they prepare to leave office. The new governors must seize the initiative by empanelling commissions of inquiry to redress all illegalities in appointments, promotions and financial transactions entered into by their predecessors after the last elections. It is refreshing governor Emeka Ihedioha has taken the lead by setting up a panel to restore sanity and order to statecraft.

  • Singapore’s court verdict

    Nigeria High Commission in Singapore came into public focus last week. Its leadership has been celebrating the verdict of that country’s Supreme Court that freed a Nigerian who had been facing death sentence for drug related offence.

    The Nigerian Head of Mission in Singapore, High Commissioner Akinremi Bolaji was hilarious that, Adili Chibuike Ejike sentenced to death for importing nearly two kilograms of methamphetamine was granted an acquittal by Singapore’s Supreme Court and released with no outstanding charges. Ejike was arrested in November 2011 and had a death sentences passed on him by that country’s lower and appellate courts.

    But in what Bolaji described as a landmark judgment and miracle form God, the Singaporean Supreme Court while agreeing that the banned substance was found in Ejike’s luggage, ruled that the prosecution failed to establish that he knew that the drug bundles in his suitcase were in his possession. “In other words, Ejike was not guilty of willful blindness or deliberately shutting his eyes to the truth of his possession of the drugs” an elated High Commissioner asserted.

    The ruling centered on the claim by the accused during trials that a childhood friend of his in Nigeria gave him the bag that contained the drugs to be delivered to an unspecified person in Singapore. So the trial by that country’s apex court hinged on whether he had knowledge that the banned substances were in his luggage with the court ruling to the contrary even after agreeing that the drugs were indeed found in his suitcase.

    The singular fact that the Supreme Court agreed that the drugs were found in his luggage were enough to confirm the death sentence by hanging passed on him at the other levels of his trial. But surprisingly, he was discharged and acquitted. The High Commissioner was therefore right to have described the verdict as a miracle from God. It is indeed a big miracle that saved him from the hangman’s noose.

    But the trial raised a serious issue that requires serious awareness campaigns and sensitization of our people travelling abroad. They need sensitization on the dangers of accepting to travel with any bag or container they neither personally packaged nor subjected to thorough scrutiny. It also exposes the perilous level drug peddlers can go using unsuspecting people as conduits to transport their consignments at the risk of the lives of the possessor of such substances.

    Ejike should thank his God for that uncommon ruling. He may have had no knowledge of the banned substances found in his luggage. But the fact that the dangerous drugs were in his luggage made him liable for whatever consequences arising from it. Given the number of Nigerians regularly arrested for drug related offences around the world, there is everything to expect that many would have been victims of the circumstance Ejike found himself.

    Many may have also paid the supreme prize or suffered grave harm for offences they were roped in but for which they know nothing about. The issue is damn serious especially when we recall the recent cases of two Nigerians that were release by the Saudi authorities for drugs planted in their bags by criminals working in concert with some unscrupulous officials at the airport.

    About two months ago, there arose the case of a Nigerian student Zainab Aliyu and one Ibrahim Abubakar who were released by the Saudi authorities for alleged offences that bore some similarity with that of Ejike. In the case of Zainab, she had travelled to Saudi Arabia for the Lesser Hajj with her mother and sister. On arrival and after clearance by the immigration authorities of that country, they collected their luggage and proceeded to their hotel. But she was later arrested because a luggage tagged in her name contained banned substances.

    The young lady was subsequently hauled into incarceration for months awaiting trial for an offence that carries capital punishment in that country.  Following strident protests by her parents, the authorities in Nigeria mounted serious investigations at her point of departure, the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano. This led to the arrest of a sophisticated syndicate that specialized in injecting drug substances into the travelling suitcases of unsuspecting travelers only to have them collected by their accomplices at the arrival point. But in the case of Zainab, the bag did not belong to her but was tagged in her name by the syndicate. Due to the apparent inability of the syndicate to collect the bag at the arrival point, officials of that country became apprehensive and on close scrutiny it was found to contain banned drug substances.

    With the help of the name tag, Zainab was traced to her hotel and arrested. Her father cried out dissociating her daughter for the alleged offence. Those arrested were later to confirm that they were responsible for the drug substances that were found in that bag. Armed with these findings, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on the Diaspora mounted serious diplomatic negotiations with the Saudi authorities leading to the release of the innocent lady. And one Abubakar who was said to be facing similar predicament also got the same reprieve.

    Writing in this column then and while welcoming the release of the innocent lady, I had argued that many innocent Nigerians would have fallen victim of the unscrupulous activities of the syndicate at the nation’s airports. The issue raised then which remains germane is that but for serious campaigns mounted by the Aliyu family, their daughter may have been killed for an offence she knew nothing about. Because there is everything to indicate that the syndicate has been operating before they were exposed by the Zainab case, many innocent people would have fallen victims of their devilish enterprise.

    It is therefore not sufficient to arrest the syndicate. Diligent prosecution and tracing of their accomplices in Saudi Arabia is all that is required to bring a closure to the matter. It remains a thing of grave concern that after the dramatization of the arrest of the Kano syndicate, nothing has again been heard of that case. There is no reason for that case to suffer the usual delay that characterizes our judicial process. Nigerians are eager to know its outcome especially because of the high level of interest it generated.

    We are eager to follow the trials from the beginning to the end as it will open the eyes of the public to some of the criminal activities of some of those who provide official services to passengers at our airports. It is of immense public interest to understand how the syndicate really operates, those into it and for how long they have been in that lethal business. These disclosures which are expected to come public during the trials form part of the information travelers need to guard themselves. Moreover, they will go at length to disabuse skepticisms in some quarters on the propriety of some of the claims made in the instant case.

    Being about the first time Nigerian authorities acted swiftly and successfully to free two of its citizens facing capital punishment in a foreign land, the handling of the case will go at lengths to reassure our citizens that it is not an isolated case. It is also vital to avail the public of full disclosure on how the drug substances planted in the suitcases of unsuspecting travelers are collected at the entry points. This can only be carried out in liaison with the countries of destination.

    Before that incident, a Nigerian lady was executed in Saudi Arabia for drug peddling while more than 25 others are held for similar offences. Who knows how many of them were implicated by the activities of syndicates? It is good a thing that the activities and modus operandi of these merchants of death are increasingly being unmasked. These cases expose the dangers passengers pass through in the hands of officials at the airports and some other unscrupulous persons.

    Ironically, even with the Kano airport incident, we are yet to hear of measures taken by the government to rid our airports of officials who put travelers in harms’ way in a bid to satisfy their self-serving predilections. A serious government would have capitalized on that singular incident to overhaul operations in our airport system. That such has not happened says a lot about the kind of system we operate. It is hoped our government will not find itself making excuses should the type of incident in Kano airport repeat.

  • Regime change

    WITH the exception of the president and some governors who will be entering their second terms in office, a set of new governors will in the next 48 hours; May 29, assume the mantle of leadership in the various states.

    Before the current efforts to institute June 12, as democracy day, May 29, is celebrated to mark the eventual disengagement of the military from the political process after years of incursion in governance. On that date every four years, newly elected presidents and governors are sworn-in to commence a four-year term of office. This is in tandem with democratic norms of keeping elected representatives accountable through periodic renewal of their mandates at elections.

    Through periodic elections, the electorate is given the choice to select candidates who will serve their collective interests better. And having expressed their collective will at the ballot box, they wait eagerly for that day set out for them to assume the mantle of leadership.

    That date therefore denotes so many things to so many people. It is not going to be any different this year as a new set of leaders take their oath of offices at both the federal and states levels. May 29 this year, is even more symbolic because it marks the very last time it will be celebrated as the nation’s democracy day given current efforts to give legal effect to the proclamation by President Buhari making June 12, the nation’s democracy day.

    If everything goes on well, that date will lose significance as soon as it is deleted from the calendar of the nation’s major events. But that reality does not in any way, whittle down the import of the coming swearing-in and handover ceremonies in many states. Rather, the significance of this year’s exercise is given further fillip by the fact that it will be the last time it will serve that purpose. Nigerians are anxiously waiting for that date to usher in a new set of leaders. They yearn for new leaders in the hope that they will begin to savor the numerous promises in-coming political office holders made to them during their electioneering campaigns. That is to be expected.

    For a country a majority of its people wallow in abject poverty while few swim in scandalous affluence, slightest sign of leadership change instantly rekindles hopes that things may turn out for the better. That perhaps, accounts for the enthusiasm and celebrations that mark the coming into being of new governments in this country. Whether these expectations are usually met is another kettle of fish altogether.

    Perhaps, the yawning gap between expectations and their fulfillment is the reason for the palpable excitement each time there is a change of baton. The feeling is that with successive changes in leadership, prospects of the emergence of good and quality people are enhanced. This may be correct. But it has remained an irony of sorts that governments come and go with little impact on the standard of living of the ordinary people.  Our people have at best, remained hewers of wood and fetchers of water.

    The country still ranks very high in the poverty index. Yet, this is a nation Mother Nature has endowed bountifully. The inability of the country to take its rightful position within the comity of nations is easily traced to incompetent and self-serving leadership; rship that is propelled by greed rather than the greatest good of the greatest number of citizens.

    We are a home of leaders whose prime motivation in offering themselves for political offices is propelled by prebendal considerations. It is little wonder not much has changed in the overall living conditions of the common man. Unemployment soars by the day as our schools continue to churn out graduates in geometric progression while available avenues to employ them only grow in arithmetic progression.

    This has resulted in lethal consequences for the society with all manner of social vices having a field day. The nation is contending with armed robbery, kidnapping, terrorism of all hue, and of late what has been termed banditry. Different theories have at different times been propounded to account for the prevalence of these social maladies. They range from the economic to the sociological, religious to ethnic and failure of leadership or a combination of these.

    Failure of leadership is largely responsible for the sorry state in which this country finds itself. For, the primary duty of the government; any government is to address the objective conditions that fertilize and accentuate societal ills. It is the duty of the government to create conditions that will substantially obviate social the vices that are increasing holding this country to the ground through good governance.

    It is the duty of governments (state and federal) to create jobs, promote the right orientations, attitudes and dispositions that conduce for the making of Nigerians from the disparate groups in the country. It is the duty of the government to inculcate a common sense of belonging in all citizens so that they can begin to see themselves as Nigerians and not members of their ethnic groups in constant competition with the central authority for the loyalty of the citizens. Gaps in these areas have been the greatest undoing of this country.

    Ironically, the right ideas on things to do to reposition the country and place it on the right path to steady growth and development are not in short supply. Many of them are well documented in the various reports of the national conferences of Nigerian leaders. Despite the wide gamut of national consensus on these measures, some segments of the Nigerian population appear to have vowed not to allow them see the light of the day.

    With such opposition, our march to progress and accelerated development has remained a similitude of motion without movement. As the various newly elected leaders and the president take their oaths of office, they must resolve anew to place the overall public good over and above personal predilections. It is sad that leaders especially at the national level have not been able to detach themselves from their primordial cleavages.

    These negative dispositions have been a huge disincentive to the germination and growth of a common sense of belonging without which nation building will always remain a pipe dream. Even as our laws made copious provisions for equity, balance and the federal character principles as effective tools for stabilizing the system, complaints of alienation and marginalization have reigned supreme despite pretences and double speak from those in authority.

    Competition for power especially at the federal level has been colored by ethnic and religious sentiments even as leaders fail to show detachment from these destabilizing tendencies. Skewing of our collective patrimony disproportionately to ethnic and religious cleavages has remained our albatross. And we have seen these manifestations play out in appointments, location of projects and dispensation of favors.

    These systemic deficits are responsible for the bitter competition and do or die attitude that characterize our electoral process. We must therefore part ways with this ruinous past if we must make real progress as a nation. It is not enough to parrot platitudes and grandstand on the unity, progress and indivisibility of the country when our dispositions do not offer much help.

    It is not sufficient to lay claims to patriotism when the system favors your interest only to fan the embers division, hate or outright calamity when others seem to have some edge. That is not in the nature of patriotism. It is more of self-serving and parochial interests masquerading and finding expression through other means. We have not fared well with such stereotypes.

    As new leaders take their oats of office, they must resolve to do away with our ruinous pasts. The times require new ways of doing old things; old dispositions must give way to new orientations to fast-track balanced development and substantial improvement in the lives of our people. This country must be built on equity, fairness and equal opportunities for all, if it must make real progress.

  • Another season of blames

    The times are indeed hard. And it would seem we have inevitably been boxed to a corner by the challenging times. The dire straits the country finds itself, may account for the avalanche of allegations and recriminations that have of recent, assailed the political space with no visible signs of abating.

    In the last couple of days or so, officials of the government including top ranking security personnel have found themselves raising alarm and accusing individuals, faceless groups and unnamed politicians of fanning the embers of the escalating insecurity in the country.

    In one instance, a phoney group was alleged to have circulated a document calling on the military to overthrow the democratically elected government in the country. The dust raised by the purported circulation of that illegal document was such that the military high command had to issue a statement, condemning the act with a promise to fish out the culprits to face the raw teeth of our laws. For the military to come public and deprecate the said illegally circulated document, underscores the weight they attached to the matter even as the source of that document and how it was circulated remain largely cloudy.

    Before the dust raised by that action could settle down, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed came up again to accuse the Peoples Democratic Party PDP and its candidate in the last elections, Atiku Abubakar of desperation for power as exemplified by what he called “unpatriotic” utterances with a warning that “such dead-end opposition could be toxic for the nation’s democracy, if left unchecked”.

    Mohammed went further to remind Nigerians of a pre-election statement credited to the former vice president in which he allegedly said if Nigerians did not vote out the APC administration, “killings by herdsmen would continue and ultimately spark off a series of ethno-religious crises that would be irreversible”.

    Atiku has denied all these allegations describing them as tissues of lies. But the PDP saw the statement as the hauling of insults, misplaced accusations and threats against their party and presidential candidate. The party urged the government to tackle the security challenges confronting it instead of taking shelter in shifting blames.

    The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai appeared to have upped the ante when he also alleged that the army has strong evidence against politicians sponsoring bandits, kidnapping and other forms of criminality in the country. According to him,” the myriad of security challenges we are facing right now in the northwest, north central and other parts of the country, I want to believe and rightly so, that it is a fallout of the just concluded general elections”.

    Buratai claimed that politicians who saw their defeat as a way of trying to revenge were sponsoring these criminal activities including banditry, herders and farmers clashes. The issues raised here are very weighty though this is not the first time officials of the government and the military have accused unnamed individuals, groups and international organizations of sabotage in their war to rid the country of all forms of criminality.

    Yet, that cannot diminish the gravity of the issues traded by Mohammed and Buratai. Given their positions within the scheme of our national affairs, it would amount to a grave risk to suggest that the allegations are mere cover-ups targeted to get even with foes. They may have their facts especially as the authors of the alleged criminal document are yet to be unmasked.

    But a critical appraisal of the statement which Mohammed claimed Atiku made during the last electioneering campaigns may not readily lend it to the exact interpretation he (Mohammed) wants to ascribe to it now. By reminding us of that statement, Mohammed would want us to believe there is a positive correlation between the rising insecurity in parts of the country and the statement ascribed to Atiku.

    By extrapolation, he is implying that Atiku should know something about the rising insecurity in the country having warned that if Nigerians did not vote out the APC, Killings by herdsmen will continue and spiral to a series of ethno-religious crises. And with the rising insecurity after the elections, Mohammed wants us to believe that Atiku may actually have some information on it given that his warning has come through. It could be a possible dimension to the statement, its remoteness notwithstanding.

    But that is not the only angle to the statement as there are other equally persuasive interpretations. And since insecurity was very palpable before and during the election campaigns with the government seemingly helpless in taming the monster, Atiku could have been saying that such a government cannot be trusted to secure the lives of Nigerians and therefore should not be voted into power. Its corollary is that insecurity is likely to increase if a government that has not shown capacity to tame the scourge is returned to power. That is the nature of campaign rhetoric and it is difficult to fault.

    This angle seems a more rational interpretation of the warning especially given that the worsening security situation was a major campaign issue during that election. It was a major rhetoric in the campaigns of both the government and the opposition. Even then, both former President Obasanjo and former Chief of Army staff Lt Gen. Theophilus Danjuma had at various times before that election, accused the government and the military of complicity in herders-farmers crisis. The grave issues they raised cannot be glossed over in contextualizing the statement credited to Atiku.

    Emerging events would rather appear an actual confirmation of the warning by Atiku. The attempt to confer other colorations to it would seem patently diversionary. Yes, there has been an upsurge in insecurity in parts of the country since after the election with no visible signs of abating. From Kaduna to Katsina, Borno to Benue and Zamfara, the story is the same. It has been a sad tale of insurgency, armed robbery, kidnappings and banditry even as reports are rife that indigenes of Katsina State are now taking up residency in neighbouring Niger Republic for fear of their lives.

    The issue to contend with is not as much with the opinions people express on the worsening insecurity as the therapeutic responses of the government to that social malady. It is not enough to finger politicians who lost elections as the brains behind herders-farmers clashes and resurging banditry. These malfeasances had long been with us before the elections.

    If politicians who lost elections are behind all these because they want to get even with their opponents, on whose door steps do we lay the blame for all the killings and destruction of property that reduced life in parts of the country to a verity of the Hobbesian state of nature before the elections? The way this poser is answered will be a litmus test for the level of credibility to be accorded some of the emerging theories on the escalating insecurity in the country.

    But we run the risk of reductionism by attempting to give a mono causal explanation for the complex sociological and economic issues that give rise to crimes and criminal activities. In attempting to make political capital of the matter, we wittingly or unwittingly gloss over the right things to do to put the spectre of insecurity behind us. Dispositions bordering on buck-passing and outright shadow chasing may explain why we have been serially unable to find a lasting handle to the cankerworm.

    More seriously, it is the prime duty of government to maintain law and order. A government; any government loses legitimacy if it is unable to live up to the raison d’être for its existence. It is somewhat discouraging each time the government or its functionaries come up to blame their inability to maintain law and order on phoney enemies.

    If the government is really privy to the activities of politicians behind the insecurity, they should arrest them provided it is not another subterfuge to get even with and hound political foes. Overall, the solution lies in effective therapeutic responses rather than tiring voyage in mutual recrimination.

  • Citizen Zainab Aliyu

    Ecstasy that trailed the release of Nigerian student, Zainab Aliyu, arrested for drug related offence in Saudi Arabia, is perhaps, a mark of satisfaction with the responsiveness of the government to the plight of its citizen. This conclusion is given fillip by the additional disclosure that one Ibrahim Abubakar, arrested for similar drug-related offence was also given the nod to be released.

    It seems the first time in recent memory the government successfully got involved in high wire diplomacy that culminated in the freeing of two of its citizens facing capital punishment in foreign lands. The heightened euphoria over this seeming feat is to be understood irrespective of the attempt to trivialize it by some officials of the government scrambling to appropriate responsibility and credit for the release.

    The wrangling between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora over which of them should take responsibility for the freeing of Zainab, depicts all that is wrong with the way governmental affairs are conducted in this country . What makes sense is that the government acted swiftly to save two of its citizens that stood to be executed for offences they are innocent of. That is something to cheer especially given the tepid manner governments on these shores hitherto attended to issues of this nature.

    The successful outcome of diplomatic negotiations that saw to the freeing of the suspects is what should be of interest and not which agency of the government to take credit. But even as we concede credit to the government for the intervention, there are other equally potent issues thrown up by the circumstance of the two cases. We shall return to these shortly.

    What are the issues?  Zainab, a student of Maitama Sule University, Kano had travelled for the Lesser-Hajj in December 2018 in company of her mother and sister but was arrested in Saudi Arabia on arrival for drug-related offence. Story had it that a bag bearing her name tag was discovered to contain a banned drug even when she knew nothing about the illicit substance in it. The case of Ibrahim is still somewhat cloudy. When he travelled, how long he has been in detention and the circumstances of his arrest are not very clear. But we are told they bear similarities with that of Zainab.

    Rattled by the strange development, the father of Zainab was said to have petitioned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs protesting that his daughter knew nothing about the illicit drug. Based on the protest, investigations were conducted at the point of departure- Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano where it was discovered that a cartel that specialized in planting illegal drugs in the bags of unsuspecting travelers was behind it all.

    According to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mustapha Sulaiman, Investigations by the Nigerian authorities revealed that a “drug cartel in Nigeria packaged drugs in her baggage, which led to her arrest The culprits have since been arrested and will be facing the raw teeth of the law”.

    It was based on the circumstantial evidence exonerating Zainab that the matter was brought to the attention of President Buhari who promptly directed the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami to intervene in the case and similar ones. And in less than 48 hours of the president’s directive, Zainab and Ibrahim regained their freedom. The development is heart-warming even as it highlights the deft diplomatic efforts that had been on by the relevant ministry and agencies to secure the release of the innocent girl.

    From all indications, all the relevant paper works and consultations had been at advanced stage before the intervention of the president. That accounts for why just a few hours after the president’s directive to Malami to intervene, the effort yielded very quick results. This point is being stretched to underscore the needless efforts some officials have been making to appropriate credit for the release of the suspects. Curiously those striving to take credit for Zainab’s release have not been forthcoming on what and what they also did that saw to the freedom of Ibrahim. We are yet to be told whether drugs were also smuggled into his luggage and under what circumstance.

    All the same, it is heart-refreshing that the two have regained their freedom and saved from the hangman’s noose.  But for the intervention of the government, the story would have been quite different given that such infractions attract death penalty in that country. More seriously, their release has rekindled hope that the government is taking more than a passing interest in cases of its citizens incarcerated in foreign lands for one alleged offence or the other.

    A couple of weeks ago, about 25 Nigerians were listed to be facing drug related offences in the Saudi Arabia even as many others are serving jails terms in their prisons. Before that publication, a Nigerian lady was executed in that country in circumstances that nearly trigged off diplomatic row between the two countries. The circumstance of that killing prompted authorities of that country explaining that due process was followed before conviction and eventual execution. However, records have it that incident brought to eight the number of Nigerians executed in Saudi Arabia in the last three years.

    Both Zainab and Ibrahim may have suffered the same fate but for the intervention of the Nigerian government. If the government had not wadded in, the Saudi authorities would not have been availed of the entire circumstances of the cases. Thus, they would have been at liberty to apply the laws of their country as they relate to drug trafficking. And if that happened, it would have been wrong to blame them for having the laws of their country run their full course irrespective of our views on capital punishment.

    Even as we applaud the government for the quick intervention that saw to the release of the two suspects, it would appear the main focus was on Zainab probably because of the pressure mounted by her family. This writer has no idea of the family background of Zainab. But since we have been told she travelled with her mother and sister for the Lesser-Hajj, the very least we can make of it is that she is from a well placed family.

    A Nigerian family that could afford to sponsor three of their members to that religious obligation should be placed above average within the income ladder. That could perhaps, account for why the voice of Zainab’s father was heard. That could also be the reason the president’s attention was drawn to it and he acted very promptly.

    Had the reverse been the case, the little girl may have gone the way of those who have nobody to speak on their behalf. That is the uncanny irony. And there is everything to suspect that many innocent people may have been killed in that country and others for drug related offences they knew nothing about. It is hoped the government will henceforth begin to take more interest in such cases irrespective of whom the suspects are and where they come from.

    Many of us are hearing for the first time that there is a drug syndicate at airports that specializes in incriminating innocent travelers by inserting banned substances into their travelling bags. Why that piece of information is being brought to the public domain because of the instant case, remains largely curious. All the same, it is good a thing that they are coming up now. Who knows how many people have gone to jail or killed because of the devious activities of these criminals at the airports?

    But we need to go beyond that disclosure to explore the motive for the action of the cartel. There are two possibilities: they do so just to incriminate and punish innocent travelers. In this case, the cartel is portrayed as a bunch of sadists and evil men who derive pleasure by putting innocent people in harm’s way. That theory looks unbelievable. The other is that they export such substances for monetary gains. This appears more plausible. Then, it raises the issue of accomplices. There must be somebody there at the arrival point to collect the banned substance.

    So if members of the cartel have been arrested, their interrogators should go the whole hog and have them reveal their collaborators in Saudi Arabia. That is the way to prove very conclusively that the cartel exists and their motive is pecuniary gain. Such disclosures and subsequent arrests will give credibility to the existence of such cartels at our airports. They will make for better understanding of government’s position in instant case.

  • Legislating on burials

    Anambra State was in the news a couple of days back, but for a good reason. The state House of Assembly, worried by the high cost of burials and sundry cultural practices that impose serious financial hardship on the bereaved, just passed a bill to control expensive burial and funeral ceremonies.

    Titled: Anambra State Burial and Funeral Ceremony Activities Bill, the piece of legislation seeks to peg the cost of burials in the state by curtailing some of the practices that escalate financial burden on the bereaved. It also provides for monitoring and punishment of offenders.

    The new legislation which is said to be awaiting the assent of the state governor, pegged the duration of burials to one day. It stipulates that during burial ceremony, the family of the deceased shall provide entertainment to their kindred, relatives and other sympathizers at their own discretion, while banning the destruction of property, gunshots, praise singing, blocking of roads and streets.

    Other provisions of the law are that no person shall subject any relation of the deceased person to a mourning period more than one week from the date of the burial and that depositing of corpses in the morgue shall not exceed two months.

    The legislation, though well intended, is bound to be received with mixed feelings. Even as it seeks to tackle some of our cultural practices (both old and new) that have rendered the burial of the dead especially in the southern parts of the country a nightmare to many a family, it is still bound to be received with some reservations in some quarters. This is especially so given that aspects of what that piece of legislation seeks to regulate, hinges on our cultural practices and values.

    There is therefore bound to be issues on the extent the government can really go in making laws that impinge on some of our traditions and cultural practices without eroding the norms and precepts on which the foundation of our society was erected. Such a conflict of interest is bound to surface in the instant case. But that clash cannot substantially whittle down the overriding objective or the propelling factors that gave rise to that legislation.

    No doubt, the cost of burial ceremonies and associated activities especially in the south-eastern part of the country has for some time now, become a major issue of serious concern. Not only have such expenses become too prohibitive for people to bear, some of the cultural practices have also come into serious conflict with the realities of modern day life. In most cases, the bereaved have had to even sell landed properties or even borrow huge sums of money to meet up the huge expenses involved.

    Given the increasing conflict of these practices with the realities of life, it is little wonder that those who have had to bury their loved ones, have most often come out with sordid tales of the unbearable demands they faced in the hands of relatives, friends, religious and cultural organizations and motley of sympathizers. Definitely something would have to give way at some point, given the increasing inability of the bereaved to cope with the rising demands of burial ceremonies.

    Matters are not remedied by artificial display of affluence coloration which burials in that part of the country have come to assume. Sometimes, one begins to wonder what point is meant to be achieved by families and relations who roll out elaborate and expensive burial programs for people who could hardly afford two square meals a day while they lived. Yet, there abound other instances children and relatives of the dead who could ill afford to send them to good hospitals while they were sick, are compelled to borrow huge sums of money to satisfy the yawning and showy appetite of our people during burial ceremonies.

    It is good a thing Anambra State House of Assembly has been sufficiently worried by the increasing hardship and incontinences suffered by the bereaved that it is seeking a way out through the new legislation. That is the way it should be. In the view of the state House of Assembly, the new legislation will substantially reduce burial costs and other ancillary practices that impose serious inconveniences, some with life threatening consequences.

    That is the rationale behind confining all burial activities to one day, putting seal of two months for the deposition of corpses at the morgue and making it mandatory for bereaved families to entertain and serve their guests according to their capabilities. These will undoubtedly save cost and free the bereaved from menacing demands and manipulations of sundry groups and organizations that see burials as avenues to feed fat at the expense of the bereaved.

    The law is futuristic and visionary in banning the destruction of properties during burials as well as the blocking of roads and streets. But these are not the only cost components of burials which relatives of the deceased have to contend with. There are sundry fees, levies and demands emanating from social groups, cultural and religious associations that contribute to the high cost of the burials. There are also issues with the sewing of sundry uniforms by family members and groups, printing of brochures and other customized gift items.

    The inability of the new legislation to target these areas, expose the limits of such legislations in providing wholesale solutions to the complex issues involved in legislating on cultural matters. And that is where the new legislation is bound to run into troubled waters. The law went too far in banning all manner of gunshots and praise singing. While firing of symbolic gunshots can be regulated to avoid the dangers associated with it, outright ban encroaches substantially on some of our cultural practices.

    Utmost discretion ought to have been called into action in these areas. It also remains to be conjectured, what the law is meant to achieve by banning praise singing. Though some of these praise singers could constitute some nuisance to visitors, their nuisance value constitutes some of the attractions without which burial ceremonies will become dull and boring. There is no need banning them since patronage remains at the discretion of the individual.

    There is ample justification for restricting mourners especially widows and widowers to a mourning period of not more than one week. The old practice which entailed months or weeks of confinement and inactivity has become obsolete in the face of modern realities. Many of the bereaved are bread winners of their families. They have to go back to their places of work or businesses for them to take care of their immediate responsibilities. Confining them too long will amount to further punishment. Even then, those in gainful employment will not have the luxury of time for such confinements as they risk loss of their jobs. So it makes ample sense to do away with such confinements. Nothing bars those who wish to stay longer from doing so as it within their individual rights.

    More fundamentally, these measures will pale into insignificance if we do not address the attitudinal issues and dispositions of our people that propel and sustain ostentation both in our normal lives and at burials. That is the real challenge to contend with and the success of any legislation will bear very positive correlation with our ability and willingness to imbibe attitudes that conduce for modest living.

    Most of the ills of our society today including the complex web of insecurity that now hold the nation on the throat, stem in the main from wrong societal values that promote get-rich-quick and ostentatious living. Ironically, lavish burial rites and expensive spending during such events contribute to and reinforce such unwholesome societal tendencies.

    It will therefore entail serious and well thought out general reorientation programs to change the general attitude of our people to life generally. So much has gone wrong with the psyche of our people that legislation without moral suasion and positive attitudinal change may prove ineffectual in addressing some of these ills. The government, churches, traditional institutions and all socialization agencies have serious roles to play here. Overall, it is a contradiction of sorts to retain burial practices that tend to suffocate the living to death.

  • Okorocha’s litany of universities

    Given the outcome of the last elections in Imo State, one would have been hesitant to interrogate so soon after, the outgoing administration of Governor Rochas Okorocha. Not because there are no issues deserving of such grill.

    It does appear however, he would not allow the ruffled political atmosphere peter out. He seems to have found his voice once again, stirring so much controversy. Last Wednesday, he organized a media briefing in which he dwelt extensively on the giant strides he claimed to have recorded in the education sector. He told his audience with much confidence that he has established six new universities, four new polytechnics and two colleges of education fully ready to resume academic activities.

    Okorocha sought justification for the litany of his new tertiary institutions with statistics of students of Imo State origin who enlisted for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination UTME from 2012 to 2018. According to the figures, Imo had 183, 865 applicants in 2012 representing the highest number of applicants followed by Delta State with 88, 876. In 2013, it recorded 134, 610 again followed by Delta with 101, 610. Also in 2017, the figure was 101, 868 and 92, 890 in 2018.

    Barely 10 per cent of this population got admission in the nation’s tertiary institutions, hence the imperative for these new institutions to take care of the burgeoning student population, he told his audience. The new universities which he claimed the state House of Assembly has made necessary laws for their establishment are: University of Agriculture and Environmental Services Aboh/ Ngor-Okpala and Umuagwo where the state polytechnic is currently located, University of Science and Technology Onuimo and University of Creative Technology Omuma Isiaku/ Nkwerre.

    There is also the University of Medical Sciences at Ogboko and Marine University, Oguta which he said is still under construction. Okorocha further justified the University of Medical Sciences on the ground that his regime built new ultra-modern 200 bed hospitals in each of the 27 local government areas of the state that will provide outreach services to it. A day after the press conference, he was sighted displaying a certificate said to be operating license issued by the NUC for one of the universities.

    Those conversant with events in Imo State especially as they relate to the education sector must have received these disclosures with mixed feelings. There is first, the temptation to be swayed by the news. This is especially so given the limited admission spaces hitherto available to indigenes of the state in existing higher institutions.

    There is thus, the temptation to jump at the seeming rosy picture painted by Okorocha on which basis he seeks to justify the replication of universities and polytechnics in a manner that suggests he lacks proper understanding of the difference between universities and glorified secondary schools. A cursory appraisal will expose the inherent contradictions in some of the issues that have been traded.

    And as can be gleaned from statistics of UTME applicants within the timeframe, there have been a steady and sharp drop in the number of applicants from the state, dropping to an all time low of about 50 per cent in 2018 from the 2012 position. We needed to be told the factors responsible for the huge drop in the number of UTME applicants from the state.

    It is vital to account for this drop given fears that the trend could continue. If the trend continues, the very reasons on which he rationalized the establishment of the new institutions would have become demonstrably superfluous. He may as well discover that he has no need for the many universities and polytechnics he claimed to have established.

    Had his government subjected these figures to some form of rudimentary analysis, they may have discovered to their chagrin that the figures have been on a steady decline. The next thing is find out why it is so. With such inquisition they may discover that low standard of the much dramatized free education programme may have been largely contributory to the drop. It also bears positive correlation with the level of success recorded by its students in the relevant qualifying examinations for UTME applicants.

    And as can be seen from WAEC results, Imo has lost its position as leading overall performer. In 2016, the state came fifth after Abia, Anambra, Edo and Rivers states and fourth in 2017. Again, in 2018, Imo placed fifth coming after Abia, Anambra, Edo and Rivers states.

    When this is paired with the drop in the number of applicants for the UTME, the figures point to clear signs that something has gone awry with the overall standard of education in the state. Then, the real issue to address should be quality and not quantity.

    As if these contradictions are not worrisome enough, Okorocha shocked many when he claimed his new university of medical sciences at Ogboko will be served by the outreach facilities of 200-bed modern hospitals he built in each of the 27 local governments of the state.

    For all one may care to know, there are no such hospitals existing in the state now. So, their prospects of providing outreach services remain the figment of the imagination of the outgoing governor. We know as a matter of fact that some buildings were set up in 27 local governments, ostensibly as hospitals. These uncompleted buildings have since been overtaken by weeds and rodents in many parts of the state.

    While uncompleted buildings without any medical facilities and human capital do not constitute hospitals, it is no less correct that the one in Okorocha’s local government is now adorning the signpost of the Nigerian police as their office. Another somewhere around Owerri has been donated to the Nigerian Air Force. How these security posts will now serve as hospitals, betrays the hypocrisy and deceit in the claims.

    Again, he said the new universities will be funded under Public Private Partnership, PPP arrangement and that students will pay fees. How that will address the interests of indigent Imo students, remains largely illusory. At best, they will serve the interests of the elite who can easily find admission spaces for their children in existing private universities that are currently undersubscribed.

    There is the need for full disclosure on what this arrangement really entails; the overall financial commitment of the government to the projects, the identities of the private sector participants and their financial contributions. It is hoped nobody is using state funds to set up these institutions using surrogates as private sector participants. It is also curious how Imo State University of Agriculture and Environmental Studies which operating license the NUC was said to have issued, can fit into the PPP arrangement given its current status as a state university.

    He claims the state assembly has made the necessary laws to back the setting up of the institutions. But details of such laws remain the exclusive preserve of the government. No one will be surprised if a compromised and comatose assembly comes up today to cover up what seems an obvious attempt to shortchange and compromise procedures for setting up of such institutions.

    More seriously, why would a government with barely one month to go, embark on bogus projects that are yet to come before the table of the approving federal agencies? Why would Okorocha overburden the incoming administration of Emeka Ihedioha by inaugurating an implementation committee for ill-conceived projects; projects that only exist on imposing billboards?

    Or is it part of the subterfuge to continue to massage his ego (as is the case with his 27 hospitals) that he set up so, so and so universities but his successor abolished them? Why would he be inaugurating implementation committee for the institutions; boards of parastatals et al, a couple of days to his exit? They betray his ambition to hang on to his current office through other means. He had no plans to leave office so soon. So sad!

  • Zamfara banditry et al

    Two closely related events last week, brought to the public domain the inherent complications in the insecurity that had reduced Zamfara State to a verity of the state of nature in the last couple of years.

    Before these developments, the real texture and character of the security challenge in that state had remained largely cloudy even as thousands of lives were lost and properties of inestimable value destroyed. Initially, we heard of cattle rustling as the main challenge.  But later, kidnapping for ransom crept in.

    This was followed in quick sequence by the more devastating phase of armed banditry that manifested in constant attacks and burning down of markets and villages for reasons that remained largely inexplicable. These combined to cast an air of confusion on the background; character and motivation of those who constantly levy unmitigated violence on that state.

    It was thus not surprising that the apparent inability of our security agencies to decode and understand the real nature and dimension of the insecurity in that state had largely accounted for its degeneration. That is perhaps why the criminality has festered with our security agencies unable to figure out effective therapeutic responses.

    When therefore, the acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammad Adamu announced the banning of all mining activities in that state as one of the measures to curb the rising spate of armed banditry, insurgency and general insecurity which had reached a boiling point in the gold-rich hinterlands of the state, many were pleasantly surprised.

    For the police chief, the measure was to “bring an end to the wave of bandits’ attacks and kidnappings as the miners are accessories to the crimes and to cut off the collaboration between the miners, the bandits and the kidnappers”.

    Minister of Defence Mansur Dan-Ali was also handy to issue a strong statement in which he accused some highly placed traditional rulers in the state of aiding and abetting the bandits to perpetuate criminal activities and of “compromising military operations”.  The minister while announcing comprehensive plans to smoke out the bandits from the state warned any person or group of persons who choose to connive or sympathize with the bandits of dire repercussions.Early January this year, the same minister had while on a fact-finding tour of the state said the possibility of links between bandits wreaking havoc in rural communities and Boko Haram could not be ruled out. This came even as the Miners Association of Nigeria had lamented the frustrations of its members who hold legitimate mining titles with huge investments in the affected areas but had been chased out by fully armed bandits.

    The association said, the bandits turned illegal miners, were mostly from Burkina-Faso, Chad, Niger and even Ghana and their efforts to draw federal government’s attention to the nefarious activities of the bandits in the past did not yield any fruitful results. That perhaps, explains why the bandits had operated without let or hindrance.

    It is good a thing the government appears to be coming to terms with the complications posed by banditry, kidnapping and insurgency in the northwest zone of the country. This is more so given the prevalence of the same cankerworm in Katsina, Kaduna and Sokoto states among many other parts of the country that are regularly under the siege of one form of marauders or the other.

    By far, Zamfara has suffered more than its counterparts in the northwest region in the hands of all manner of demented serial killers. According to the state government, 3,526 persons have been killed by the bandits in the last five years with nearly 500 villages devastated and 8,219 injured. This is in addition to unrecorded crimes and criminal activities regularly committed by the marauding bandits.

    The matter was even such that President Buhari had at the heat of the killings arising from clashes between herders and farmers especially in the north-central zone, drawn parallels between them and those arising from the activities of bandits in Zamfara State. Though his intention then may have been to debunk allegations of government’s complicity in herders-farmers clashes together with all colorations associated with them, the comparison was seen as insensitive since it remains the prime responsibility of the government to protect all lives and properties.

    It was unexpected of a president to seek to whittle down the gravity of the killings arising from the insurgency of the herdsmen by comparing the casualty figures with the killings perpetrated by armed bandits whose real motivation had before now, remained largely inexplicable. Now, we have been told that it is all about illegal mining of gold in the hinterlands of that state. We are also being made to realize that some highly placed traditional rulers have been collaborating with the bandits to the extent of compromising military operations. It is surprising that the government is coming to terms with these realities very belatedly.

    These are very startling revelations that may have been responsible for the relative ease with which the bandits operate, kill and main defenceless people forcing them to flee their ancestral homes. Many have since been displaced and deprived of their livelihood with villages remaining ghosts of what they used be.

    What has emerged from the measures taken by the federal government is that all this while it lacked proper understanding of the real causes and motivation of those who have over these years sworn that Zamfara will know no peace. And that is a sad commentary on the professional competences of those charged with the management of the nation’s security affairs. Since the diagnosis of an ailment is half way to its cure, it is little surprising that in the absence of clinical understanding of what the security profile of the state entailed, the situation had remained largely hopeless.

    If the actions of the federal government and the reasons adduced to justify them are anything to repose confidence on, a dramatic improvement in the security situation of that state will soon begin to emerge. But traditional rulers from the state have picked holes with the claims that some of them are supporting the bandits. They have tasked the minister of defence to name the suspects or take responsibility for failure to get a handle to the degenerate situation in the state.

    One other thing that emerged from the disclosures is the existence of large quantity of gold deposits in that state which in turn, brought about illegal mining activities and banditry. It also came with the revelation that some companies were licensed by the government to mine gold in that state. This should come as a surprise to many. Before now, the overall contribution of gold to the nation’s revenue base has largely remained unknown to many.

    It is clear that the insecurity that has left Zamfara a ghost of its former self; bears the same imprimatur with what has overtime been known in the oil bearing states as militancy. Yet, those in authorities were unable to understand that banditry in that part of the country was essentially, economic deterministic. It is really surprising that the same government that has been waging relentless battles against oil bunkerers and militants that sabotage oil production could not understand the incalculable harm the activities of illegal miners and sundry criminals have wrought to the national revenue base.

    Beyond all this, the security situation in the country is really something to worry about. President Buhari must demonstrate through foolproof measures that he has what it takes to secure lives and property in this country. It is not enough to dish out orders to security chiefs to take drastic measures to tame the scourge. We have seen these orders time without number without solution at sight. A government is challenged by crisis of relevance and legitimacy when it fails to live up to the very reason for its existence.