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A prayer at ‘Xmas

DOES Christmas still have its charm?

Despite the huge security blanket thrown around the country, gunmen stormed a church in Yobe State on Christmas Eve, killing the pastor and five others. Christmas Day was bloody in Maiduguri where six Christians were killed at the First Baptist Church. So sad.

The Pope, in his Urbi et Orbi (to the city and to the world) homily, referred to savage acts of terrorism in Nigeria. Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) President Ayo Oritsejafor described it all as bestial.

Every Yuletide brings back memories of those good old days of innocence when one trudged on to church on Sundays, a routine enforced – or encouraged- by some relations who saw it all as a way of instilling some moral lessons in us.

The church in Ado-Ekiti, capital of Ekiti State, was a special structure sitting majestically on a large expanse of land, with its rocky walls and alluring landscape of flourishing green grass and teak trees. The surreal mix of facts and fantasy vividly portrayed by the murals; the quiet ambience of the big hall and the sober demeanour of the Reverend and his assistants all combined to give us the feeling that our prayers would surely reach God.

For me, it was one of those small serendipities; mum was a practising Moslem. But, it was an opportunity to pray for those little things ever craved by a kid – toys, a bicycle and a nice dress at Yuletide.

There is no gainsaying that the tone and pattern of my prayers have since changed. I no longer ask God to give dad some cash so that I could have a bicycle or a new dress. I now pray for peace in Nigeria, for wisdom for our leaders and, above all, for justice. Isn’t injustice at the root of almost all the problems terrorising Nigeria?

As usual, our leaders have made all the admonitions, preaching love and asking Nigerians to embrace unity, shun all acts that oil our engine of ethnicism and embrace the virtues that our Saviour died – and rose – for. Good. But I often wonder why the responsibility is all ours; never theirs, even as they get all the benefits.

President Goodluck Jonathan has said the government has the capacity to effect changes – many doubt this – and that despite the security challenges, the administration remains focused in its battle to improve the economy. Should Nigerians believe this?

A few days to the end of the year, the subsidy palaver remains as strong as it was last January. The government is asking for N161billion more for sacrifice to the god of subsidy – a development that many see as prodigal. Why don’t you just recover the illegal payments to all those dubious companies before asking for more cash? Why have filling stations been allowed a strange laissez- fare to sell petrol at whatever price that catches their fancy? How much will petrol cost next year, if this trend continues, unchecked? These are some of the questions that are being asked by Nigerians.

The President explained at the Christmas Day service that his administration seems to be slow because it needs “to think through things properly, if we are to make a lasting impact”. Is this the case on the Boko Haram front? For how long are Nigerians going to be patient for the government to stop kidnappers who are reaping bountiful harvests, snatching the rich and the poor with the same velocity?

The Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, spoke for many Nigerians when he urged the President to find a permanent solution to terrorism and kidnapping, which the man of God ascribed to greed and love of money. Rev Okoh, in my view, should have added that the seemingly debilitated situation of the security agencies is a tonic for those in the devilish trade.

My prayer for our leaders is that they should have a sense of justice. Boko Haram says its fury stems from the fact that its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was murdered and that his killers are yet to be punished. In other words, they took up arms against the state because they had the feeling that there were plans to exterminate them. If there had been justice, would Boko Haram have gone berserk? Would it have become a lethal tool – as it is believed in some circles – in the hands of politicians? How much blood will be washed down the river of anger before the sect stops its killing spree?

Except for a few cases of kidnapping and piracy, which are pure criminal enterprises, it’s been a bit quiet in the Niger Delta – thanks to the amnesty programme. There seems to be a sense of some justice – no matter how little – which has seen the militants dropping their guns for training at home and abroad. Imagine if the militancy had been allowed to go on? Just imagine.

If there had been justice, the Niger Delta, being the goose that is laying the golden egg, wouldn’t have needed to agitate for more in the revenue allocation scheme. If there had been good schools, hospitals, roads and houses, there would have been peace. If there had been no oil spill to destroy aquatic life and farmlands on which the majority pin their hope of survival, there would have been no trouble, most likely not on the huge scale that we experienced.

In Jos, Plateau State, people get killed as if a war is going on. Why do people who have lived together for so many years suddenly become enemies, hacking one another down like animals? I really don’t know, but I’m sure the answer lies somewhere between pure injustice and the gradual descent to the jungle that has been noticed in many places, including the so-called developed world.

Only last week, a young man walked quietly into a school in Connecticut, United States, to shoot dead 26 people, including 20 kids, before turning the gun on himself. Adam Lanza, who was wearing black battle fatigues and a military vest, had earlier killed his own mother. It was the United States’ second deadliest school shooting.

The Jos template is replicated in many places, such as Umuneri and Aguleri, Ezillo and Ezza Ezillo, the Tiv/Idoma clashes in Benue and many others that never hit the headlines.

There are so many issues that make us to ask the question: why God? Is this a fair query? Have we examined our ways? Do our leaders at all levels feel a sense of justice after taking those crucial decisions?

I spent Christmas Day praying not for a dress or a bicycle, as I used to do; I spent the day praying for our leaders. I said: “O Lord, our Saviour, grant our leaders the truth to know:

That the positions they occupy are at the behest of the people; that they do us no favour by sitting (or sleeping, as the case may be) in their cozy offices and taking the wrong steps in the right direction; that they may know that the treasury is not theirs to loot; that any illness of theirs should make them spare a thought for our hospitals and not to fly off to Germany; and that they should stop paying lip service to the battle against corruption.

Father in heaven, grant our leaders the truth to know that politics is no do-or-die affair; that they promised to serve and not be served, as the case is now; that they should be modest in their taste, not seeking to live in Buckingham Palace- like mansions when the majority are homeless; that they should not plan to spend billions on food and refreshments in just one year when many go to bed hungry; that leadership demands a high level of sobriety and not revelry; that all men were born equal and are so before the Almighty. Amen!

And wishing all Editorial Notebook fans a great year ahead.

December 27, 2012
Muhammadu Buhari at 70

Penultimate Monday, i.e. December 17, General Muhammadu Buhari, former military head of state and perennial presidential contender since 2003, turned 70.

An austere person, his birthday celebration was to have been low key to begin with. However, in apparent deference to the national mourning over the tragic death in a helicopter crash the weekend before of Sir Patrick Yakowa, governor of Kaduna State where he is resident, along with former National Security Adviser, General Andrew Azazi, and four others, the general virtually cancelled the celebration.

That virtual cancellation of his birthday bash on account of the previous weekend’s national tragedy spoke volumes about the man’s essential humanity, something Nigeria’s dominant southern media, his nemesis, had done, and continues to do, almost everything it can to tear into shreds.

This media has done virtually all it can to portray the general as a stone-hearted, tyrannical, parochial and religious bigot, unfit for election as a civilian leader. In truth he is anything but.

Instead he has been a victim – along with each and every Northerner, with the possible exception of General Murtala Mohammed, who has held power in the country, from the Northern premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and the country’s first and only prime minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, through President Shehu Shagari to Generals Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and Abdulsalami Abubakar – of a sustained media propaganda which has succeeded in creating the popular impression that the Northern elites believe Nigeria is exclusively theirs to rule and ruin.

As with all successful propaganda, this negative portrayal by the dominant Nigerian media of the Northern political elite, in mufti or khaki, is not entirely without basis; Northerners have ruled this country much longer than those from the other regions and their record in government, generally speaking is, to put it mildly, difficult, if not impossible, to defend.

However, again as with all successful propaganda, the kernel of substance has been mixed and padded again and again with lots of half-truths and even barefaced lies.

Take the case of General Buhari as an example. As I said, the man, like all Northern leaders of the country, has suffered more than his fair share of malicious propaganda. There is, however, a major difference between his case and the rest; he never really enjoyed any honeymoon with the media from the time he emerged onto the national arena as minister of petroleum in 1976 up to the time he became head of state in 1983 – and even well beyond.

Dr. Aliyu Tilde, one time Friday columnist with the Weekly Trust and now a co-publisher of the online newspaper, The Premium Times, accurately captured the general’s hate-hate relationship with the Nigerian media in his rested column in the Trust of July 6, 2001, which he entitled “The Seven Sins of Buhari.”

Tilde’s piece was in apparent response to my earlier article in the Daily Trust which was critical of the general’s controversial remarks in Sokoto ahead of the elections in 2003 about how Muslims should vote.

For that article, Tilde lumped me along with others who he said disliked Buhari for no worse crime than committing “seven unforgivable sins” in their eyes. These sins, he said, were that the general was a northerner, a Muslim, honest and transparent to a fault, popular with the masses, apparently disliked General Babangida (his army chief who overthrew him in a palace coup in 1985), enacted Decree No 4 which criminalised embarrassing any government official, and served under the much condemned General Abacha.

“Briefly,” Tilde said, “these are some of the sins that Buhari committed and for which he is too arrogant to repent. If he could change his habits and become deceitful and corrupt, he cannot change his birth, his history and his faith. After all he is not a politician and does not need our votes.”

Obviously Tilde was speaking tongue-in-cheek. Buhari, as he said, could hardly change his birth and history and, like most adults, was unlikely to change his faith. And with the exception of the general’s well-known grouse against his former army chief and his enactment of Decree 4, his other “sins” were really universal virtues. Again even his worst enemies could not but acknowledge that he served as executive chairman of the Petroleum Task Force under the much-condemned Abacha with distinction and transparency.

Even then his virtues never endeared him to the rump of the Nigerian media and by extension much of the Nigerian public. The source of this bad blood between the two dates back to his job as minister of petroleum. Under his charge the media circulated a story that 2.8 billion Naira of our oil revenue had gone missing. A judicial panel that looked into the case concluded that it was all rumour. In the end otherwise respectable Nigerians like the late Tai Solarin and Chief Gani Fawehinmi that had claimed Buhari was culpable could not prove their claims. Instead Solarin, for one, had to admit that it was a piece of gossip he picked up on a bus!

That, apparently, did not stop the media from continuing to peddle the falsehood as fact right up to the moment.

Predictably when the man became head of state in December 1983, following the overthrow of the Second Republic under Shagari, he enacted Decree 4 under which two reporters of The Guardian, Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor, were jailed for a leaked story on the appointment of a new high commissioner to the UK which the government found embarrassing.

As if the N2.8 billion false story was not bad enough, the media went to town with another one about the Emir of Gwandu and father of his aide camp as head of state, Major Mustapha Jokolo, going to Murtala Muhammed international airport to clear 53 suitcases for the emir at a time the general had closed our borders with other countries to stem the smuggling of currencies and other contrabands.

That, like the so-called missing oil money, also turned out to have been blatant falsehood. The general’s ADC was at the airport alright to receive his dad who was returning from a trip abroad, but the suitcases belonged to the large family of a former ambassador who was coming home to serve as the general’s chief of protocol.

Obviously this fact was poor copy for a story so the media decided to spruce it up a bit in order obviously to sell well. To date the lie, like so many distortions that have caught the imagination of the public, has simply refused to go away.

At the time Tilde wrote about the general’s “seven sins,” the man had repeatedly said he hated politics and politicians with a passion. As head of state he had certainly left no one in doubt as to what he thought of them from the way his regime tried and jailed virtually all of them, many of them many life times over.

The general must have therefore surprised even himself when in 2002, he announced to an astounded public that he was joining politics. Since then he has become a perennial presidential candidate; three times in 2003, 2007 and 2011 he ran for the job and three times he lost in elections that got progressively worse.

The last one triggered one of the worst political violence in the North – except for the 1966/67 riots – especially in Kaduna his state of residence, a violence which the authorities naturally blamed on the general’s pre-election warnings that any attempt to rig the election will be resisted by the masses.

As with the elections themselves he also lost his cases against the ruling party in the courts. After losing his case last year an apparently frustrated Buhari told the world that it would be the last time he will stand for election. It was all reminiscent of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the other perennial loser of elections for the leadership of this country, when he told The Guardian in one of his most exhaustive interviews shortly after losing the massively rigged 1983 elections to President Shehu Shagari, that he was done with politics in Nigeria because he was convinced the country would never experience genuine democracy in generations to come.

Unlike the late venerated chief, however, the general seems to have changed his mind about not ever offering himself to serve as leader; in an interview in the Saturday Sun (December 22), he said in effect that he would if given the chance.

His party, he said, has been in serious talks with the two leading opposition parties for merger. At the same time he has, he said, been under tremendous pressure from his huge following to rethink his stand. “If,” he said, “they give me the ticket or recommend me, I will consider it.”

The general at 70 is obviously now a different man from the one who, until barely 10 years ago, was absolutely sure he will never want to be a politician. It will be a miracle if, as a politician, he ever gets a fair shake from a media that has harboured deep prejudice against him essentially because, like Awolowo whose mirror image he is, he is given to speaking bluntly.

It is a measure of his dislike by the rump of the Nigerian media that the same quality they had seen as virtue in the late chief they have treated as a vice in the general.

December 26, 2012
MEXAHNYIA; VIP or RIP? Nigeria is trillions rich; Resolutions Oteh Vs NASS: Who Wins the Moral War?

Suddenly it is Christmas and a Merry Christmas And Happy New Year in advance-MEXAHNYIA to you. It has been some year. The recognition of the VIP dead should not be so blatantly to the exclusion of the ‘equally dead’ as we are all equal before God. The VIP dead do not jump Heaven’s Gate queue. They have to line up for judgement in exactly the order in which they died, interspersed with the thousands of RIPs who died ‘unknown’ in that timeframe –nanosecond by nanosecond. A thousand years is like a second and a second is like a thousand years. Remember that all the victims in the helicopter crash, VIP and RIP are all equally dead and the families are equally bereaved and half-orphaned. We know the future differential difficulty of the widows in receiving benefits. So please remember all of them in your prayers. It is better to die alone or else you be forever among the ‘and 4 or 340 others’. But there is no choice.

Nigeria is really, really rich as can be seen by the probably trillion naira corruption and the budget of N4,987,000,000,000 which is N 41,553/Nigerian. It is now clear that if we can kill, dehumanise and vilify corruption and corrupt acts and corrupt people in an acute, decisive manner, Nigeria will save trillions. You can take a New Year’s Resolution Oath that from Jan 1 2013 you and Nigeria will start ‘An Anticorruption Year’ we may jump further down the Most Corrupt Transparency International List and also up the Amnesty International List-since corruption is not just about money but how we treat or ill-treat or mistreat our fellow Nigerians through bad decisions, no decisions, delayed decisions etc.

Can resolutions replace revolutions?

Why can NASS members not see the opprobrium with which they are viewed by the massed poor people? There is very little that NASS membership can do that will increase the individual members and collective NASS reputation. Shouting and screaming at ‘witnesses’ and warrants of arrest are seen as mere playing to the gallery. NASS’s excessive acquisition of the nation’s funds for ‘personnel’ comfort, work and even self-imposed and undeserved disengagement, ‘soft landing’ pension schemes, kick-started the recent ‘salary grab’. At this time, NASS members should make a sacrificial 2013 New Year’s Resolution. Since they set their own funds, they should do the right thing and take a big pay-cut in SAP –‘Salaries and Perks’ which are now sapping Nigeria dry. It was this ‘self-imposed political office-holders greed’ that caused salary inflation nationwide. This politicians’ salary cut, if it comes, will help reverse inflation. NASS and the government political classes must know that corruption, political salaries and excesses are glaring abuses while over 100m live in poverty without housing, water, power, health or education or even adequate nutrition.

After the cutting of political salaries and allowances it will be the turn of the CBN to deliberately improve the naira exchange rate as this will drag many Nigerians above the poverty line. If the value of the naira to the dollar improves by just N1 per month we will lift 10-20m out of poverty per annum. If we add to that a sincere effort to reduce bank lending rates from 20+% to a single digit and get 24 hour power, Nigeria could become heaven-on-earth provided we tackle the crime situation. The abysmal lack of police empowerment from the federal government and a culture of judicial tardiness are noted as major problems. These are not stupid dreams but today’s norms in normal countries.

Is the NASS onslaught against Oteh a rear-guard action instigated by wounded NASS forces because she, in self-defence at being publicly tongue-lashed and ‘abused’, exposed the soft underbelly of NASS ‘corruption’ in ‘funded trips without travel’ and dared to confront NASS? Is this a genuine campaign against a bad Oteh based on facts? No doubt she will relocate and find herself in a cushy job abroad. Let this be a warning to foreign based ‘industry players’ seeking to ‘save Nigeria’. Nigeria wants people who will play ball. The home players do not like to be exposed and react with protective herd mentality.

The attempt to starve Oteh out by starving SEC of funds for salaries etc is a typically Machiavellian move used by all dictators – collective punishment. It is sinister and evil. We may later use it on NASS to weed out those who ‘chop our money’ and SAP us dry from fat and indecent SAP- Salaries and Perks. No matter the victory of NASS it is a Pyrrhic victory, won at huge cost to a badly battered NASS reputation from allegations of payments for oversight, gifts, double payments at every point during tours and oversight functions. It is not so long ago that Ghana Must Go accompanied budgetary meetings and Bill approvals. We hope these have stopped but they are still part of NASS history and well documented thanks among others to the Oteh episode. Oteh has thus prevented much corruption in 2013. Does she deserve a National Honour? So what did Oteh do to make them unite against one woman? In America, Susan Rice fell before the Republican backlash against Obama. Oteh lost the battle but she has unwittingly led and won the moral war. No NASS member can ever again demand tickets and freebies during oversight without fearing exposure. The fear of Oteh may sanitise NASS.

December 26, 2012
Obi, Kwankwaso and knot of state creation

Those who scoff at former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s increasing warnings about an impending revolution in Nigeria are probably caught in the complex of confusing the message with the messenger. Yes, Obasanjo’s privileged presence in the portals of power since 1967 make him an integral part of Nigeria’s leadership failure. But while the retired general’s share of the blame for Nigeria’s misfortunes cannot be downplayed, his expressed concerns are nonetheless not misplaced. The issue is not about his assumed self – righteousness but about the state of the nation. And one of the sore points of our narrative is that of an imbalanced federation. With states and local governments forming the basis of revenue sharing, allocation of infrastructure and high profile appointments, the relevance of states in the nation’s political economy cannot be overemphasized.

For good reasons, attention has tended to converge on the South –east’s quest for the creation of at least one new state in the region. With the least number of states, the South – east assumes conspicuous minority status among the nation’s six geo – political zones. As such matters go in the context of Nigerian government and politics, some of the state creation demands in the South – east are among the oldest in the country and so comparatively elicit greater consideration.

Seizing the moment, the South – east has given vent to as many as six new states agitations in the zone recently. However, rising to the responsibility of leadership, Anambra State Governor and chairman, South – east Governors’ Forum, Peter Obi, has moved to get the zone speak with one voice and in such a way to achieve satisfactory results at the end of the day. Between November and December alone, South – east political leaders have met twice in Enugu on the subject. Underscoring the resolve of the zone’s leadership to achieve result, efforts are on to streamline the different requests and come up with just one or two applications for state creation.

Disturbing questions arise from the skewed regional distribution of these entities in the country. The north’s 19 states to the south’s 17 states obviously confers it with political and economic superiority; a scenario amplified by the contrast between the South – east’s five states and 95 local governments and the North – west’s seven states and 180 local governments. In terms of revenue profile alone, the sharp contrast in the fortunes of the South-east and other zones is glaring. Statistics from the Federation Account show that in the period January to June 2010, the South-east received the least allocation of approximately N99 billion; South-west N166 billion; North-west N168 billion; North-central N116 billion; North-east 119 billion and South-south N386 billion. Following a consistent pattern, the February 2012 allocations display a gnawing disparity between the South-east’s approximate N10 billion and the North-west’s N15 billion.

Analysts believe Obi’s submissions were an indirect response to the stance of his Kano State counterpart Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso who has demonstrated little restraint in opposing the proposal for a sixth state in the South-east. Kwankwaso was widely reported by the media in late September to have dismissed the calls for creating a sixth state in the South – east in favour of his own Kano State.

While Kwankwaso is entitled to his views, it is however necessary to situate the discussion in its proper perspective. The Kano State Governor’s obsession with population and geographical size as the qualifications for state creation are misplaced.

The composition of the United States of America, the country from which our federal and presidential systems is crudely derived, reveals a more egalitarian approach to state creation. Consider that the state of California has a population of 37 million with 570,374 square miles while the state of Delaware has a population of 897,000 and 1,955 square miles in size. Consider also that Texas with 25 million population and of 261,914 square miles is not any more greater than Rhode Island which has one million population and 1,045 squares miles. Similarly, Michigan, 23rd in size among America’s 50 states co-exists with Alaska, the biggest state in size but with just a population of 710,000.

In the modern world, states are founded on the quest for self – determination. States provide the administrative platform for pursuit of development for groups with a shared sense of socio – cultural affinity. And especially in a diverse polity, as we have in Nigeria, states play a mediating role in the tensions arising from majority – minority relations.

It is instructive to note that the Gowon junta created an equal number of six states in both the north and south. Apologists of the present lopsidedness in the structure of the country conveniently forget that this equilibrium endured for nearly 10 years before it was disrupted by the insensitivity of the Murtala Muhammed regime. A sober Yakubu Gowon who appreciated the dangers posed by sectional domination acted fairly on state creation but an over-confident Muhammed could afford to act irrationally believing that nothing would happen. Subsequent military rulers who created states, all from the north, progressively maintained the imbalance, deepened further in the distribution of local governments.

It is hard to believe that these allocations of states and local governments decreed by military dictators without regard to the wishes of ordinary Nigerians can be seized upon by any enlightened person as the precedent that will guide future state creation exercises.

As the leader of the South – east geo – political zone, Governor Peter Obi’s strong advocacy for empowering the zone with a new state should be viewed both against its benefits to the region and the national distress a continued denial will provoke. When the Ibrahim Babangida junta created Akwa Ibom and Katsina states in 1987, it belittled the well – reasoned recommendation of the Cookey – led Political Bureau for the creation of at least one state in the South-east to the chagrin of the people. Continued disadvantage of the South-east again compelled the National Political Reform Conference in 2005 to resolve on the desirability of an additional state for the zone.

Obi has placed a core demand of the south-east on the table. Let the other zones do the same. With the recognition of the interdependence of the units of a whole, every group should accommodate the legitimate needs of others. This spirit will suffice to overcome the stringent constitutional requirements on state creation and other exigencies and move the country forward.

• Afuba wrote from Nimo, Anambra State.

December 26, 2012
Christmas, the morning after

The celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the progenitor of the Christian faith, was held worldwide yesterday. Christian faithful, in their millions, trooped to various worship centres to commemorate the day, which is obviously the biggest festival in Christendom.

But there was a build-up to the day. All over the place, the streets were jam-packed with people – old and young – all engaged in one thing or another in preparation for the day. In Britain, not even the ravaging flood that has changed the landscape for several weeks could dissuade people from going out for the usual Christmas shopping. Elsewhere in Europe, the chilling winter was no obstacle to people who braved the odds and moved round in their winter jackets. With some of the temperature falling below 4 degree Celsius, this year’s Christmas will surely go down as one of the coldest ever.

In Nigeria, it was celebration galore. Street carnivals were held everywhere. The popular Calabar Street Carnival midwifed by Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River State, has assumed a life of its own. So also is the Port Harcourt Carnival introduced by Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

In many homes, churches, corporate organisations and some government houses, Christmas carols were held in anticipation of the Christmas Day celebration. In Akwa Ibom State, a 9,999-man orchestra was put together to celebrate the state’s Christmas Carol. In attendance were dignitaries, including religious leaders, foreign envoys and a host of other very important personalities.

The period also witnessed a regime of bonanzas unleashed on the populace by various corporate bodies and other manufacturing companies who enticed their customers with mouth-watering promos. Market men and women were not left out. They all made brisk business and smiled to the banks as Christmas presented an opportunity for them to do good business and make huge profit. And the governors were not left out in all of these. Though there were no salary increases, many palliatives were approved for state government workers to celebrate the Christmas.

In Imo State, a two-week holiday was declared for the state government workers in addition to some stipends approved for them to enable them celebrate Christmas with their families. The governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha, known widely for his unconventional style of leadership and, sometimes, erratic decisions, also approved money running into millions of naira for the security agencies in the state. His calculation was that the least paid security agent in the state would go home with at least N10,000 for Christmas. This gesture was replicated in other states of the federation in one form or another. It all borders on merriment during the Christmas as if all Christmas stands for is eating and drinking.

Notwithstanding the avalanche of mouth-watering offers and merriment associated with the festival, various religious leaders across the country, political leaders and public office holders were quick to remind the populace of the need to embrace peace in the country. The appeals come on the heels of threat of violence which have characterised the season in the past. Last year, on Christmas Day, worshippers at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, on the outskirts of Suleja, Niger State, were callously mowed down by a suicide bomber who had targeted the worshippers as they closed from church. It was a horrible sight as many of the worshippers died in the blast while others lost their limbs and sustained varying degree of injuries. The church building and other adjoining buildings were not spared in the orgy of destruction. The attack drew wide condemnation from people all over the world. But such condemnations were not enough to deter the bombers who still exploded their lethal wares in other parts of the country, especially in the crisis-ridden northern part of Nigeria.

As Christmas drew near this year, residents of Madalla were gripped with fear and trepidation. Last year’s incident was obviously still fresh in their memories. This resulted in many people moving out of the area to avoid any unpleasant situation. This is the extent of the psychological torture and trauma terrorism has inflicted on the people.

The thought of a re-enactment of the Madalla episode elsewhere in the country had stretched the security agencies in Nigeria to the limit this year. To avoid a repeat occurrence, security, therefore, took centre-stage in the affairs of the nation during the Christmas festivities. While the focus of the agencies in the North was to avert any strike by misguided extremists masquerading under the veil of religion, those in other parts of the country were battling kidnappers and armed robbers who have been on the prowl for some time now. The roads, too, were heavily monitored by officers and men of the Federal Road Safety Commission. But because of the generally deplorable situation of the roads, many people either stayed back or risked travelling on the roads. I am quite sure that the increase in traffic during this period must have also recorded its own fatalities. This is because of the nightmare travelling on Nigerian roads has become. It is no longer a pleasure but a horrendous experience moving from one part of the country to another.

On Friday, December 21, Chukwuemeka Ekweremadu, the elder brother to Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy President of the Senate, lost his life in a road crash on the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway. Until his death, Chukwuemeka, 52, was a Director in the Enugu State Civil Service and a member, Board of Trustees, Tertiary Education Trust Fund. His sudden death on one of the nation’s appalling roads has put an abrupt end to an otherwise glorious career.

Not even the alternative – air transportation – is safe in the country anymore. With far too many air crashes in the recent past, there is virtually no place to hide. The latest involved a naval helicopter that crashed in the mangrove forest of Bayelsa State on December 15. The crash claimed the lives of six Nigerians – former Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State and his friend, Dauda Tsoho; immediate past National Security Adviser, General Andrew Owoye Azazi (retd.) and his orderly, Warrant Officer Karmal; and the two pilots of the ill-fated aircraft, Commander Daba and Lieutenant Sowole. Daba’s wfe is said to have newly put to bed, while Sowole’s wife is pregnant. The Sowoles were married for less than two years before tragedy struck. This disaster took the shine off the Christmas celebration in the affected families.

By and large, this year’s Christmas festival has come and gone but what remains is the lessons to be learnt from it. One of these is that Christmas is not about merriment alone. It is about humility, which Jesus epitomised in his lifetime. It is about service. It is about love and care for the less privileged in the society. It should not be misconstrued to mean extravagance or ostentatious display of ill-gotten wealth.

And now that the carnivals and merriment are over, shall we have good governance and accountability in all facets of our national life? That is the only way this country can move forward. That is the only way we can make progress as a people. So, as we move ahead into another year, let us have a rethink. Let us devote our energy to those things that will make life meaningful to all of us. This should not be a one-sided sacrifice. It is for both the leaders and the led. Together, we must make the world worth living through our actions and utterances. Already, the Presidency is promising Nigerians an El Dorado come 2013. But that refrain is familiar. We have heard such promises over and over again, such that it has almost become meaningless to the average Nigerian. But who knows if God will hear Nigerians’ prayers for a better life in 2013? We are all waiting for that miracle.

December 26, 2012
Beyond that chopper crash

As we continue to dry the last drops of tears in our eyes following the death of Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa, former National Security Adviser Gen. Owoye Azazi and three others including the crew of a Nigerian Navy helicopter in a crash somewhere in the creeks in Bayelsa State penultimate Saturday, let us begin to ponder over how our rulers (as against leaders) abuse the resources and facilities of State put at their disposal.

Too often, we’ve seen and heard of cases of top public officers, especially politicians, top level civil servants and military officers extending the privileges of their office to their spouses, children, relations and friends and even aides to the detriment and at the expense of the State.

This malaise did not begin with this present crop of rulers but dates back to as long as one could remember and it’s about time we begin to take stock of the toll this abuse of office is taking on our resources and collective security and decide on what to do to either encourage or stop it.

The Navy helicopter that crashed was for the umpteenth time conveying guests that attended the burial ceremony that weekend in Bayelsa State of the father of an aide to President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr Oronto Douglas to Port Harcourt airport in nearby Rivers State, for their return flight back to base. While the earlier batches made it safely to the airport in the same ‘copter Yakowa, Azazi and the others weren’t lucky, they all perished; a big loss not only to their respective families but also the whole nation and particularly to the military.

There is no debating the fact that Oronto Douglas by virtue of the position he holds in Jonathan’s government is not entitled to assume the privileges he did by flying guests that came to commiserate with him on his father’s death and attend the burial (a private affair) in a military aircraft. We’ll come to that later, let’s look at similar instances in the past.

Recall the Abacha years when one of his sons, Ibrahim died in one of two HS 125 presidential jets then in the presidential fleet? Ibrahim, his girl friend, a couple of friends and I am sure some secret service agents were reportedly celebrating Ibrahim’s birthday in the air, in the presidential jet when it crashed somewhere around Kano. While the nation grieved and sympathized with the Abachas and the other bereaved families, the fact that could not be raised then, for obvious reasons, was that Ibrahim Abacha and his friends had no business flying that aircraft let alone partying inside it in the air.

That aircraft that cost Nigerian tax payers millions of dollars to acquire and meant to serve the interest of State was deployed on a frivolous assignment that had nothing to do with the interest of Nigeria, except as we often do here, we equate the personal interests of our leaders to that of the country. With all the monies his father had acquired over the years (the source notwithstanding) and his own vast business empire, Ibrahim could have hired a private jet for his birthday celebration and spared the nation the loss of millions of dollars in the crashed presidential jet. This is not without sympathy for the lives lost. I am sure the HS 125 series had been phased out of the presidential fleet and replaced with newer aircraft types, even when it still remains one of the best executive jets flying around the globe.

In Nigeria once an aircraft crashes and lives are lost, that aircraft type is no longer good and must be banned from our air space even if it is in service in other countries with better aviation facilities as well as better understanding of aircraft and aviation in general. And this is a nation that cannot even manufacture the tiniest and simplest part of an aircraft.

Recall the Nigeria Airways F27 crash at Emene in Enugu in 1983 killing, I think all on board, including a Senator and almost his entire family? In hysteria, Nigeria sold off the entire Fokker fleet in Nigeria Airways and I think Libya was a beneficiary. President Ibrahim Babangida was reportedly flown in one of those aircraft during a State visit to Libya years later. Meanwhile the Fokker series on which Nigeria Airways had built expertise up to D-check level was replaced by a more modern aircraft, Airbus A310-200 series on which we had none or few Nigerian engineers rated. No surprise then the A310s didn’t last for long in the airline’s fleet. Nigeria Airways, of course you know is dead, liquidated by Obasanjo and his Aviation Minister, Kema Chikwe.

The same fate befell the BAC 1-11 series in our commercial aviation fleet here and since that aircraft type was phased out of our air space following a fatal crash, commercial aviation in Nigeria has been flying from one crisis into another. Sorry for the digression and back to the issue at hand; abuse of office by our rulers.

I don’t know how you would classify this? I recall that the Nigerian Navy used to have a frigate named NNS Aradu as the nation’s flagship. I don’t know what has happened to Aradu now. It was reputed to be one of the best battleships of its era and used to carry three British made Lynx Helicopters. As a Defence Correspondent then, I, like my other colleagues was very proud of this and we were looking forward to not too distant a future when our Navy will acquire its own fleet of submarines. We are still waiting.

But unfortunately before our eyes (pardon the cliche) Aradu started deteriorating and one after the other the helicopters were crashing, not during combat missions or military exercises, mind you, but during frivolous assignments. I remember one crashed in Calabar when Babangida was there on a state visit. Pray why did we have to deploy this chopper there just because the president was visiting? Except we are told why, that deployment was uncalled for and a misuse or abuse of office, being the Commander-In-Chief notwithstanding. Of course, another millions of dollars down the drain.

There are instances as this in the past and not limited to aviation alone. Quite often we hear or even witness wives of State governors and even the President’s wife and their children driving around in long convoys of official vehicles as if they are officials of State. In the process some have been involved in accidents that even claimed the lives of innocent people. These are people that before their husbands or fathers got elected or appointed into public office could hardly afford more than a car let alone a fleet of luxury vehicles.

Before Oronto Douglas became an aide to President Jonathan could he afford to fly his friends or even think of flying them to attend a private ceremony he was holding? If he was not in office would he do that even if he has all the millions in this world? Who is Oronto Douglas to be flying his guests in military aircraft? What is this country turning into? One thinks State resources and facilities are meant to be deployed to State use/events. Is Oronto Douglas now part of the State or his father’s burial a State event?

I am not trying to make a scapegoat out of our friend Oronto Douglas, don’t forget he was in the trenches with others during the fight for this democracy, I am only trying to draw attention to the rot going on in high places under Jonathan’s watch, which though didn’t start with him, but must not be allowed to continue.

In probing the cause of the Navy helicopter crash, the political fall out of the unfortunate incident should also be looked into, may be by a judicial commission of enquiry which should among other things look at the entire gamut of how our rulers deploy State resources to check not only abuse of office, but also of power. The technical report of the investigation carried out should also be made public and not treated as secret because a military aircraft was involved; aviation is universal. May be its about time we are also told of what caused the presidential jet crash involving Ibrahim Abacha earlier mentioned and who authorized him to fly and party in ‘our aircraft’. Enough of these cover ups. Did I hear you mention the FOI Act?

December 25, 2012
”Benito Aderemi, Benito Aderemi …”

It is that time of year again, of peace on earth – as an aspiration, that is – and goodwill toward men or to us men.

Apparently, the precise rendering of that phrase is one of the overarching issues in Christian theology.

About 20 harmattans ago, I worshipped at a Christian service at an Anglican church during which the vicar, probably the most learned venerable gentleman in these parts never to have been translated to the episcopacy, discoursed at great length on the matter.

He had studied and no doubt perfectly understoodthe original Greek text, and was thoroughly dissatisfied that the conflict had not been resolved definitively. The way he proceeded, one was almost led to believe that the laws of gravitation would suddenly cease to operate, and the earth would be plucked from its orbit, depending on whether the phrase in question was translated as goodwill toward men or to us men.

That was many years before Gloria Steinem and the women’s liberation army launched themselves on the popular consciousness in America. And if there was a woman in that Christmas Day congregation who felt that her gender could do with some goodwill as well, she did what was then the proper Nigerian thing: She kept her views severely to herself.

That we are once again in the season of aspirational goodwill was brought home to me the other day by the familiar strains of O Come, All Ye Faithful, wafted across by the harmattan wind from one of the schools that dot our neighbourhood.

The children sang it with the kind of innocence that only the pure at heart can muster. There was not the slightest trace of anxiety about thefuture in their voices, about an economy that seems determined not to recover, despite what anyone may prescribe.

Few of them, I am sure, are aware that this may be the last Christmas at which they can have wheat bread for breakfast. In such an eventuality, history is unlikely to repeat itself. There will be nobody who, on being told that the children are grumbling because they have no bread, will retort: “Let them eat cake.”

For there may be no cake to cut on birthdays or to eat just for the fun of it. And there may be no biscuits or cookies. Those items may vanish from the supermarket shelves at the end of the year when the ban on wheat imports goes into effect.

Wheat imports are being stopped to conserve foreign exchange, and to encourage all of us to structurally adjust our tastes in line with contemporary reality. Besides, there are adequate local substitutes that are just as good as, if not actually better than wheat for making all those foods that children love for their taste and adults cherish because such foods keep them away from the kitchen.

The ban will create an opportunity to present the Nigerian people and indeed the entire world the unique, all-Nigerian bread, made entirely by Nigerians, from Nigerian raw materials, with machines fabricated or adapted entirely by Nigerians.

In the end, instead ofwasting billions of Naira every year importing wheat, the nation stands to generate a great deal of foreign exchange from the export of the all-Nigerian bread for which the entire world has been waiting. If the protagonists of the wheat ban have not put forth its advantages in exactly those terms, it is because they are exceedingly modest people, seldom given to stating the obvious.

Yet, if the nation’s experience in banning undesirable or unaffordable items is any indication, the wheat ban, if not deferred or rescinded, will in operation be a farce. That, at any rate, is what I hope will happen, indeed, what I am substantially sure will happen.

About this time last year, a ban on rice imports was announced, to much editorial and popular acclaim, as part of yet another new beginning, a determined effort to”look inwards” and”to use what we have to get what we need.” Barely five months later, rice imports worth an estimated N40 million surfaced at Lagos port. Who placed the order for it, when, and how, remain mysteries to this day.

It was speculated, when no one could claim ownership, that the rice was part of relief materials being sent to Chad. If so, why was the shipment not identified as such? Why had Chad not stepped forward to claim it?

Part of the shipment later turned up in Benin Republic from where, according to newspaper accounts, it found its way back to Nigeria overland, and in much less contentious circumstances. And so, despite the official ban on rice importation, there has never been so much foreign rice in Nigeria since Shehu Shagari and Umaru Dikko launched their rice armada about six years ago.

Allthis should bring some cheer to wheat bread addicts. There will be bread and cake and biscuits and cookies, for there will be wheat flour somehow. And only an insignificant fraction of it will be produced locally.

As for the all-Nigerian bread that is supposed to replace wheat bread, I frankly cannot vouch for its future, if I were to judge only from personal experience. I recently had the displeasure of having a bite of the stuff made from corn or cassava or a blend of the two. It looked like caked, high-grade animal feed and tasted like sawdust.

It cannot have been the same stuff that was served as lunch to members of the Armed Forces Ruling Council the other day and praised by some of them as being as finger-lickin’ good as the Colonel’s chicken, and just a shade less delicious than caviar.

The pupils in the neighbourhood preparatory school are still where we left them, singing. Had the tune not been so familiar, I would have had to wonder what was going on in there as Benito Aderemi, Benito Aderemi drifted through the harmattan haze. They had completed adoring Him in English and had switched to the Latin. In their charmingly Nigerian minds and mouths, Venite adoremus had become Benito Aderemi.

I wonder whether there was a pupil called Benito Aderemi in that school and what he thought of it all. I wonder what those innocent children would think of the all-Nigerian “bread” if and when it materializes. Who knows but that they may actually come to prefer it to cake, being the “new Nigerians” that members of my generationare not?

They may even come to prefer oil-and-wick lamps to light bulbs, and the town-crier to John Momoh and Hauwa Baba Ahmed on television.

*

The foregoing, slightly abridged, was my column for The Guardian during the week leading to Christmas, 1986.

Today, 26 years later, they are raising tariffs on wheat flour to discourage its importation, and planning ultimately to replace bread as we know it with “cassava bread.” But only Aso Rock has made that culinary transition, and President Goodluck Jonathan seems in no hurry to share its vaunted delights with his compatriots.

They are talking of raising tariffs on rice imports, and are already furiously installing the mills that will process the local crop that is yet to be produced to meet surging demand. Only last week, they added raw sugar to the list of products marked for banning, and vegetable oil is sure to follow soon.

And they are already touting as money in the bank the billions of Naira in foreign exchange they claim will be saved from banning wheat and rice and raw sugar imports.

Meanwhile, nary a thought has been given to fixing the nation’s epileptic petroleum refineries so as to end gasoline imports and the attendant, ever-growing, “subsidies”.

“Transformation” never came more cynically packaged.

December 25, 2012
Tertiary education in Yobe

If education is the locomotive of the modern society, higher education is the oil that propels and sustains that engine. Higher educational institutions produce the teachers that teach our kids at the lower levels of the educational ladder, the engineers that build our roads, the doctors and nurses that treat the sick, the architects that design our houses, the agricultural extension workers that teach us new ways to nourish and improve our crops, and so on. So a boost in tertiary education is sure to trigger multiplier effects in all facets of our lives.

Nations of the West and the so-called Asian Tigers were able to get to their present developmental stages because of their investment in mid-level, hands-on vocational and technical education. If history is any guide; that is the path we should tread in Nigeria as well.

But how much attention is tertiary education receiving in our states, especially in northern states that struggle against a historical disadvantage in western education? I have read many persuasive articles about the spectacular transformation of Yobe State University from the educational backwater to the fastest growing university in the north and one of the best equipped and best funded in the country. This fact piqued my curiosity about how other institutions of higher learning are faring in the state.

I am concerned because we have a tendency in Nigeria to give disproportionate attention to universities in our higher education policies. The elitism that such policies produce is responsible for the decline in enrolment in polytechnics, colleges of education, schools of health technology, schools of agriculture, etc. But we need these institutions not just to produce middle-level, hands-on technical manpower for our industries and civil service, but to take the pressure away from our already overpopulated universities.

I was pleasantly relieved to discover that Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State is acutely aware of this, and has devoted the same amount of attention to other institutions of higher learning in the state that he has devoted to raising Yobe State University to its current enviable status. There is probably no better evidence for this than the fact that Yobe State has gone on record as one of the first states in the country to approve and implement the new salary scale for lecturers of the State College of Education and State Polytechnic called CONPCASS.

This policy seeks to bridge the parity of esteem between university lecturers and their counterparts in polytechnics and colleges of education that has been the source of so much resentment and friction for years. If we claim to equally value other institutions of higher learning as we value universities, there is no better way to show that than to incentivize working in these other institutions. I am enormously impressed that Governor Gaidam has recognized this. The wild acclaim that his approval and implementation of the CONPCASS has provoked among the academic staff of state’s polytechnic and college of education is well-deserved.

It isn’t just in the welfare of staff of the state polytechnic and college of education that Governor Gaidam has demonstrated even-handedness in his higher education policies; he has shown commitment to the physical and intellectual uplift of all of the state’s tertiary educational institutions. For instance, through his policies, the Mai Idris Alooma Polytechnic, the state’s only polytechnic located in the governor’s hometown of Gaidam, has been accredited by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), a feat many older polytechnics are still struggling to achieve. Many of the school’s lecturers have also been sent to Malaysian and UK universities to acquire advanced degrees in their fields.

In his commitment to diversify higher education in the state, Governor Gaidam also upgraded the erstwhile School of Midwifery to a full-fledged college of nursing and midwifery, which he renamed the “Dr. Shehu Sule College of Nursing and Midwifery.” The upgrade is not just in name, it is also in substance and scope. Many Yobe indigenes, who cannot or did not wish, for various reasons, to find admission in university medical schools turn to this school, which has become a rich source of much-needed mid-level medical personnel for the state.

The Yobe State College of Agriculture in Gujba has also received focused attention from the Gaidam administration in recent time. For instance, the government not long ago constructed and equipped a veterinary clinic for the school to help facilitate cutting-edge agricultural research. The Chemistry and Biology laboratories of the school have also been furnished and equipped to enviable standards. So are the school’s metal and wood workshops. Similarly, machinery shades have been erected in the school, and the quarters where the school’s academic and non-academic staff lives have been tastefully renovated. Realizing that the comfort of students is central to the success of education, especially one as critical as agricultural education, the governor also constructed a well-conceived male hostel and equipped it with first-class bedding materials.

These and many other enviable strides that the college has recorded in the past few years have resulted in its getting accreditation for its programmes in Forestry Technology, Animal Health and Production, Agricultural Technology, and Fisheries Technology by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). In the light of the renewed confidence that the school has gathered consequent upon its improved infrastructure and the intellectual preparedness of its students and staff—which are attested to by its NBTE accreditation—it has applied to the Board to start HND programmes in six agriculture-related courses to commence next academic session. For a state that is defined by its heavy reliance on agriculture for daily sustenance, the attention the government has given to this college is worthy of praise. Of course, more needs to be done in the coming years to improve the standing of the school.

My research shows that other tertiary institutions in the state such asthe Umar Suleiman College of Education in Gashua, the School of Health Technology in Nuguru, the College of Administration and Basic Studies in Potiskum, and the Atiku Abubakar College of Legal and Islamic Studies in Nguru have received and continue to receive varying degrees of attention from the state government—with some more room for improvement.

In addition to improving the standards of its own tertiary educational institutions, the Yobe State government also sponsors indigenes of the state for a special one-year remedial studies program at the University of Maiduguri. The intent of the program is to groom the state’s ill-prepared indigenes for admission into universities in the country. The program has helped young Yobe State indigenes with a potential for success in university education but who do not have stellar “O” level qualification to get into universities.

It’s heartening that a state governor is bucking a general Nigerian trend: he is not paying exclusive attention to universities at the expense of other institutions of higher learning. That is reassuring. As the governor has said, education is the currency of today’s economy. With his commitment to continue to improve the sector and give the state’s children the best education possible, Yobe seems certain to rise and become the pride not just of its people but of all Nigerians as well.

• Isa writes from Gashu’a Yobe State

December 25, 2012
Ngozi! and Sege’s agony: a tale of two citizens

Sege’s agony (December 18)

In ‘Sege’s agony’, no mercy for Baba. – Ichie Emma Ezeh, Enugu +2348061149491

Re: ‘Sege’s agony’ – very informative and educative piece. Constantly being in the news is the tonic that keeps the “Ebora Owu” going! Chief James Ajibola Ige will forever be my hero for his humility, accessibility, simplicity and his principle of operating from a position of relative obscurity. Ogbeni Aregbesola is a man with sound intellect, sharp memory and organisational competence and I do not think he will fall so easy to the avuncular wisdom of Uncle Sege as did his seniors because his political associates have learnt from the benefit of hindsight, insight and foresight to deal with ‘Baba’ from a securely comfortable distance, a stand that pays off handsomely in the long run! Compliments of Yuletide to you. – Kayode A, Abeokuta, 2348073821313.

It is another embarrassment, affront, trauma and insult to Yoruba integrity that Gen. Obasanjo unveiled the statue of Uncle Bola Ige. Gen. Obasanjo conspired against the indomitable Awo’s presidential ambition in 1979. Bola Ige was rigged out of existence in 2001, under his presidency. Obasanjo’s chicanery also rigged out the the Alliance for Democracy (AD) progressive governments in the South West, except the no-nonsense Bola Tinubu of Lagos. The ACN governors must therefore be focused and implement their much touted regional integration without any delay. The ailing industries in the South West should be revived. They should stop chasing shadows, and avoid being distracted. – Ayodele Fagbohun, +2348169482226.

Read your sardonic piece, ‘Sege’s agony’ and it struck me that you are the one in concealed agony at the surreal spectacle of Gen. Obasanjo unveiling the statue of his friend, Chief Bola Ige, callously murdered under his watch as president. To imagine that an ACN putative political ideologue, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, was the host is the ultimate in political morbid humour. So, many improbable people seem to be dancing on Ige’s grave! And with Ige’s son as witness, it doesn’t get more weird! – Dr. Bisi Olawunmi, +2348033647571

Ripples: This is a completely different ‘doctoral dissertation’ of the event. But are you sure your ideological leaning is not playing a trick on you?

Does your warning against Aregbesola “getting too comfy with this man” not suggestive of your discomfort at this apparent rapprochement? You politicians are a different breed – no permanent friends or foes? Maybe Obasanjo will still laugh last. He is genius at capturing people. He is on repeat performance. – Dr. Bisi Olawunmi.

Ripples: ‘You politicians’ – who, me? A politician? Some laugh! Anyway, I concur: politicians cook up phony and unholy deals. That’s why the media must be alert to warn. But does that make the commentator a politician?

Some, if not all the time, I see you people as callous and wicked. You referred to a three-time president as irrelevant? Haba! Do you wish for such an opportunity? Then retrace your steps. Your comments are not ‘Omoluabi’ [Yoruba for well-bred] – +2347033045653.

Stop abusing an elderly man. You should know that whether people like it or not, Obasanjo is a human being and a great Yoruba man. Maybe if you had the opportunities God had given him, you probably would have been a worst person than him. – Segun, Orile-Iganmu, Lagos, +2348083556806.

Your article, ‘Sege’s agony’, is a timely warning to all ACN governors, particularly the Ogbeni governor of the State of Osun. He should watch his back, as Obj is capable of anything to ‘capture’ the South West back for PDP. A word is enough for the wise!!! – Chief Apelogun, Ilesa, Osun State, +2348188810889.

Obasanjo is not irrelevant. Everyone knows you can never see anything good in him. One time you will age and retire, and younger people will write about your own agony. – +2348098829997.

Ogbeni wasn’t comfy. He deliberately invited Sege to taunt him with Cicero’s greatness. But you’re right: Dictum sapient sat est (a word is good for the wise). – Leke Ikumapayi, +2348184972087.

Your piece, ‘Sege’s agony’ is good bordering on excellence. But you should have left out paragraghs 20 and 21. Ponder this and you would get the gist. – +2348055749747.

Ngozi! (December 11)

I thought the Nigerian youth had no place in the present Nigerian political dispensation until I read your piece on the late Mrs. Ngozi Agbo. Please keep it up. – Prince Illo, Abuja, +2348054566282.

Thank you. Reading your column, ‘Ngozi!’ wet my tear ducts again, six months after the death of the Campus Life Lady. She was the second woman whose demise melted my heart, like a crystal of shea butter in a furnace. Aunty Ngozi affected lives in the 37 years she lived. In fact, she was a mother and father to me! But you wrote that the award was held on November 24. It was actually held on November 30. – Wale Ajetunmobi, +2348035832227.

Ripples: The mix-up in date is regretted. Thank you.

To die completely is to be forgotten. He who dies and is not forgotten lives forever – Samuel Butler. Thanks so much for remembering an icon like Mrs Ngozi Agbo. She added so much value to me and my articles, during my days at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, despite the fact that she had never seen me before. Though the messenger is dead, her message lives on. May her gentle soul rest in peace. Long live the young Emmanuel Agbo [Ngozi’s son], Long live Mr. Agbo Agbo [her husband] and long live our country. – Seyi Babaeko, +2348030858606.

Believe you me, when I saw the headline of today’s Ripples, I thought it was referring to our ubiquitous ‘Aunty Ngoo’ whose performance has made the economy very attractive to kidnappers! For the Ngozi that rippled today, I can only say RIP and may God grant her loved ones the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss (Amen) – Kayode A, Abeokuta, +2348073821313.

Thank you for your beautiful write-up on my wife, Ngozi. God bless you. Agbo Agbo – +2348033778406.

December 25, 2012
A lawmaker’s passion for citizens’ empowerment

The major responsibility of the legislature in most democracies is to make laws for the good governance of the society. Accordingly, those elected into the legislature are usually immersed in law making process to justify their mandate. However, some legislators with vision and progressive ideas veer into other populist activities that have the potentials and capabilities to touch the lives of their people.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, representing Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency in the House, is one of the notable visionary legislators of the times. Ihedioha, who made his debut in the National Assembly in 2003 after leaving an indelible landmark as aide to several national flag officers including former (late) Senate President, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar has, apart from his legislative functions carved out a niche for himself as one with unassailable penchant for grassroots empowerment, wealth creation for citizens and attracting development projects to his area and beyond.

Conscious of the economic predicament of the vulnerable especially women and youths in the country and Imo State in particular, worsened by rising rate of unemployment and the resultant societal ills such as kidnapping and armed robbery, the Deputy Speaker has commenced in phases, the implementation of a comprehensive Youths/Women Empowerment Programme through skill acquisition training. The programmes which cut across the 27 local councils of the state have in no small way brought succour and relief to the numerous beneficiaries drawn from all walks of life including the physically challenged, road transport unions, religious bodies, media, farmers, market women, tricycle operators, political parties, Civil Society Organisations, e.t.c in the three senatorial zones of Imo State.

Working in collaboration with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Ihedioha flagged-off the empowerment programme which commenced on Tuesday, November 27 with hundreds of participants. According to him, the programme is geared towards providing an antidote to the embarrassing tide of unemployment and help to attain economic self-reliance for the beneficiaries. In many respects the training programme has been designed to ensure a high success level. For instance, it boasts of well-equipped workshops with tools and funds with highly experienced trainers who would take the participants through the programme for enhanced results. Hon. Ihedioha disclosed that a total of 20,000 Imo indigenes are targeted to be empowered through various training schemes in order to stimulate the economy, reduce poverty, unemployment and indeed crimes and other social vices.

This large number of prospective beneficiaries is indeed instructive of the broad scope, high impact pedestal and inimitable success level of the exercise. The pilot programme according to the Deputy Speaker has been packaged to accommodate all relevant stakeholders and interest groups with assurances that arrangements have been put in place for starting up and sustaining successful trainees in entrepreneurship.

It would be recalled that the Deputy Speaker recently facilitated an empowerment programme on Agro-Training Programme for 700 women and youths drawn from all over Imo State on improvement of root crops production and micro agricultural enterprise in collaboration with the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Abia State. The programme which held at Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri was indeed a huge success as participants were diligently trained on how to improve on root crop production and diversification for more productive use. Just two months after the programme, the state has started witnessing the benefits in the areas of food production and the concomitant effect of crime reduction, among others. During the grand finale of the agro-training programme, the Deputy Speaker promised to build three cassava processing plants in the three senatorial zones of Imo State to provide the needed mechanism for sustainability.

It is necessary to mention here that Hon. Ihedioha’s humility, compassion, loyalty and meticulous nature have so endeared him to his colleagues in the House of Representatives and indeed made way for him to record the kind of unprecedented achievements since being elected to the hallowed Green Chambers. Drawing on this goodwill, he has continued to facilitate several development projects and programmes to his constituency and Imo State in general. For Instance, he facilitated the on-going dualization of the important Owerri – Elele road put at a cost of N23billion. Construction of the jetty/mini-wharf at Imo River along Owerri-Aba road in Ngor Okpala LGA is attributed to him. This project is 95 per cent completed and which when commissioned will open up the water ways transportation between the entire regions, create over 500 jobs which will tremendously stimulate the economic activities of the state and the country in general.

Other projects facilitated by the Deputy Speaker include construction of several water schemes, primary health care centres, equipping of hospitals, building of school blocks, skill acquisition centres, ICT centres, among others. The 133kva/33mva electricity power substation sited at Ibeku, Aboh Mbaise LGA with over six injection stations is another project facilitated by him. This project which is 90 per cent completed, will boost electricity supply in Imo State and in indeed enhance the economic activities of all sectors in the state. It is noteworthy that in the past, he had self-financed the reconstruction of 14 schools in his constituency. Just recently, he facilitated the construction of Isinweke-Onicha Uboma-Imo River Boundary road in Ihitte Uboma LGA of Imo State. The construction which is being done by NDDC at the sum of N5.7billion has over four bridges and six culverts.

These efforts by Chief Ihedioha, a Knight of the Anglican Communion has greatly impacted Imo State immensely. He is one leader that is regularly in touch with the people. Apart from regular visits home to feel the pulse of his constituents, he set aside since 2003 a special day, known as Annual Accountability/Constituency Briefing Day, every December to account for his stewardship and also take their feelers back to Abuja for further intervention.

The passion and zeal which Ihedioha has applied in working for the development of Imo State since he was elected to the House has changed the face of representative democracy in the entire country.

• Onyeukwu is media aide to the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives.

December 25, 2012