The Nation Newspaper

Category: Lekan Otufodunrin

  • Attention: Interior Minister

    A recent investigative report titled Agony, despair: Many tales of Nigerian child prisoners by a journalist, Ameh Elekwonyilo, should be of interest to the Minister of Interior, Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola, and other concerned organisations.

    The report, which was supported by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) Abuja, is a harrowing account of why the recent name change by the Nigerian Prisons Service to the Nigerian Correctional Service should be matched with concrete action to ensure that prisons in the country don’t remain overcrowded with long list of awaiting trial inmates, particularly child prisoners languishing in detention.

    Following the visits to prisons/remand homes in Minna, Kaduna, Markurdi and Port Harcourt, the reporter gave a heart rending account of children in chains and all manner of deprivations contrary to the child rights act.

    What the 2003 Child’s Rights Act of Nigeria provides for children offenders in Part Two Section 11 of the law is that “Every child is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person and accordingly, no child shall be subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treating or punishment, held in slavery or servitude, while in care of a parent, legal guardian or school authority or any other person or authority having the care of the child.”

    What the reporter found was a total disregard for the above provision.

    “Since I came to this prison in February 2018, my education came to an end. You can see that my mother and little sibling who is just twelve months old are also being held here for the same alleged offences. Our condition here is unbearable. The most painful part of our situation at the Suleja prison is the fact that I cannot go to school. Does that mean our lives are over?” Happiness, one of the children interviewed, wondered.

    As much as the prison officials, the courts and others would want to abide by the provisions of the act, the report confirmed that they are overwhelmed by lack of necessary resources and personnel.

    “We are overwhelmed by the challenges of difficulty of conveying the children to court during the hearing of their suits. Most of these inmates have not been to court for trial for the past two years. Also, the approved school which is supposed to provide education and skills for the children has since closed down due to lack of resources to run the school.

    “Our mandate is hampered by the lack of resources like mobility to convey the inmates to court for trial. We lack water and electricity here as you can see. Our school lacks teachers, and therefore, it’s not functioning. So, how do we cater for the needs of transforming these inmates into better citizens?” two officials asked.

    According to the trial magistrate at the Rivers State Juvenile Court, Mrs. Ibiere Foby, an ideal family court should have a magistrate and two assessors to hear and determine suits concerning children who come in conflict with the law, but that is not the case.

    Instead of allowing the present deplorable situation to persist, there is an urgent need to heed the call of the Executive Director of PRAWA, Dr. Uju Agomoh, for sustainable intervention by both the government and private individuals to reposition these homes for better service delivery.

    Adequate facilities must be provided while the child rights act is applied for child offenders. The cases of those being currently held should be urgently reviewed and not allowed to suffer unnecessarily.

    We cannot afford to allow our reform and correctional services centres become places for raising hardened criminals, some of whom are innocent of the offences for which they are held.

  • Arise O Compatriots

    Seeing the Nigerian returnees from South Africa singing our national anthem last Thursday must indeed have been an emotional moment for the Chairman of Air Peace, Mr. Allen Onyema.

    That the sight made him shed tears is understandable; considering the circumstances that led to their unplanned return to the country. Without a war situation or any major crisis in the South Africa, no one expected that the affected persons would be forced to literally flee the country to avoid any possible further attacks. It would be recalled that many Nigerians have repeatedly been subjected to several attacks along with other foreigners in the past.

    But the recent incident in which some Nigerians lost their properties and businesses and the continuing threats by some groups in the country makes it necessary for the unprecedented offer of flying willing Nigerians back home by the Air Peace Chairman. His gesture deserves not just a commendation, but a national honour by the federal government.

    But for his benevolence, those who returned home last Thursday may have remained trapped in South Africa. It was obvious their safety was no longer guaranteed even while they awaited the decision of the federal government on the matter.

    While we await how this unfortunate development may be resolved, especially because of other Nigerians who will remain in South Africa, the words of our national anthem requires deep meditation over by every Nigerian.

    It is not enough for us all to just sing the anthem like the returnees did, we need to internalize and practice what it says.

    The anthem is supposed to motivate, inspire, challenge and do much more for Nigerians to make our country one we can be very proud of.

    It is a call to duty to rise and for us to obey the call to serve our fatherland with love strength and faith.

    Serving our country in whatever capacity we find ourselves in government or out of government requires that we contribute our quota to making our country greater and more desirable as South Africa is for our citizens who flock in there in search of better lives and opportunities.

    Whatever role we played or contributions we made in ending apartheid in South Africa is history and we need to prove that we are indeed a giant in the continent by the way we run and develop our country.

    If we had so much as we did to support South Africa in their moments of need, why are we not able to develop our country better than South Africa then and in subsequent years?

    While the attacks on Nigerians is condemnable and demonstrate lack of appreciation for the sacrifice we made for their liberation, what are we doing to ensure that we don’t leave some of our very desperate citizens with no other choice but to go to South Africa or some other countries, which do not have comparable resources as we have?

    It’s sad listening to some of the returnees, including children recounting their ordeals in South Africa. But then, the best way to retaliate the humiliation meted to our people like someone said is to develop our country better than South Africa so that our citizens will be proud and satisfied with living here. We should also work towards making Nigeria attractive to other nationals, including South Africans.

    The kind of environment that makes Nigerians thrive in South Africa and in other nations need to be available in our country.

    If the labours of our past heroes who fought for our independence will not be in vain and our country remain a laughing stock as a giant with a feet of clay, we have to arise from our years of slumber, misrule and waste of our resources.

  • Beyond Xenophobia

    If you call the recent attacks on Nigerian businesses in South Africa xenophobia, it is understandable. Repeated attacks on Nigerians and other nationals in South Africa suggest that they are usually targeted due to dislike for them for whatever reason.

    However, beyond whatever misgivings some South Africans might have about immigrants, what is happening is criminality which must be understood and addressed as such.

    My South African journalist colleague, Mapie Mhlangu, made this valid point in her response to my facebook post titled Say NO to Xenophobia.

    In my post with the picture of both of us, I had stated that “Mhlangu is my colleague and friend from South Africa. I had a good time with her and other colleagues in Cape Town for a week years ago and she also did during her recent visit to Lagos.”

    Like in the supposed reprisal attacks on South African companies in Nigeria, how do we justify the looting by miscreants and attacks on some motorists?

    It is necessary for the South African and Nigerian authorities to take necessary action to stop the criminals from taking advantage of the situation in the countries.

    While legitimate concerns in South Africa need to be addressed, the Nigerian government should do some soul searching on the situation in the country that makes living more attractive to Nigerians.

    Mhalangu’s response is reproduced below:

    “The SAHRC describes xenophobia as “a deep dislike for non-nationals and by nationals of a recipient state”. If this is an accepted definition then there is something spine chilling about the coverage of the mayhem that erupted in parts of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Of greater concern are comments of radio hosts in music stations. When would deejays learn that they cannot treat their platform as balcony conversations where everything goes without any fact checks?

    “We are witnessing black South Africans turning against their fellow black Africans, be it immigrants or locals. Looting spaza shops of black-owned supermarkets is not a new phenomenon reserved only for immigrants. As a child I witnessed the looting of local spaza shops long before foreigners ‘flooded’ townships. We argue that stores owned by foreign nationals have taken township business away from locals, yet all those mega-retailers that have opened big supermarket are spared. Thus, I have a fundamental difficulty with calling these latest acts of criminality xenophobia. The link between hostel dwellers and taxi operators deserve a separate post. But one might recall that when ‘xenophobia’ first occurred in the country, other local ethnic groups were attacked.

    “South Africans have lost thousands of jobs in the textile industry because of the influx of fake goods from China and it’s a matter of time before we lost lives through fake consumables. But there is no deep hate for the Chinese.

    “European and Asian countries are deporting Africans everyday yet we have not seen any retaliation from Africans. News of the arrest of dozens of African scammers in the US have been met with silence.

    “The reality is that there are legitimate concerns but criminal elements often exploit the situation to drive their agenda. Simply saying this is xenophobia is legitimate yet simplistic and lazy. As journalists, ours is to investigate and go beyond the hysteria. We are not influencers, we are professionals ethically bound to tell the story from all angles. Many South Africans are putting themselves in the line of fire to defend honest working immigrants but there are deep law enforcement issues and societal issues that cannot be ignored. All residents are expected to abide by rules; the drug issue is really and fuelled by some police, locals and foreigners.

    “Anarchist behaviour will continue because of poor conviction rate. The perpetrators spent few days in jail and we unleash them back to society where they wait for the next opportunity to pounce on vulnerable Africans be it locals, foreigners , women and children.”

     

  • Avoidable Nigeria/US Visa matter

    Barely 24 hours after the United States of America imposed a new visa fee on Nigerians seeking its visa, the federal government last Thursday reduced visa fee of US citizens seeking Nigerian visa.

    In the statement announcing the reduction, the  Ministry of Interior acknowledged as claimed by the US government that there have been engagements with the United States Embassy on the issue and in the aftermath, a committee was set up to conduct due diligence in line with the ministry’s extant policy on reciprocity of Visa fees.

    Although the committee had concluded its assignment and submitted a report recommending the reduction sought by the US government, the issuance of authorisation for its recommendations was delayed, according to the statement, due to transition processes in the ministry at the policy level.

    It is unfortunate that it took the announcement of the new fees by the US government for the federal government to respond to the demand for the long overdue reduction.

    Since early 2018, the U.S. government in its statement said it has engaged the Nigerian government to change the fees charged to U.S. citizens for certain visa categories.

    “After eighteen months of review and consultations, the government of Nigeria has not changed its fee structure for U.S. citizen visa applicants, requiring the U.S. Department of State to enact new reciprocity fees in accordance with our visa laws,” the embassy stated.

    In announcing the new fee, the US government was only acting as a responsible administration which cares about enforcing its law which requires that U.S. visa fees and validity periods to be based on the treatment afforded to U.S. citizens by foreign governments, insofar as possible.

    Ordinarily the federal government should have been aware of the ministry’s extant policy on reciprocity of visa fees and there should not have been much delay in making necessary adjustments. Nigerians who do not understand what informed the US action had typically felt that the increase was unjustified until the federal government owned up.

    The delay in implementing the committee recommendations is yet another confirmation of the nature of this administration which takes more than the time required to take necessary decisions on crucial issues.

    The transition process in the ministry at policy level mentioned in the statement by the Interior Ministry refers to the appointment of the new minister to give the necessary directive. Even before the dissolution of the last cabinet in May this year, there was enough time for the federal government to have acted on the US request which is a clear violation of the reciprocity policy, but the matter was not given the urgent attention it deserved.

    When the report of the committee set up on the matter came up with its recommendations, there was no minister to implement the decision. It’s a shame that the government allowed itself to be called out on an issue that it should have acted on and be exposed for its slow motion approach to implementing crucial policies.

    Even as I write this piece, the US embassy was quoted as saying that its new fees will remain in force as the federal government’s reduction has not been communicated to it. Hopefully someone will realise early enough that issuance of a press statement is not the same as officially communicating with the right authorities concerned on any matter.

    But for the clamour for the president to name his ministers earlier than six months like he did in his first tenure, we probably may not have new ministers in office now to act on issues that require their attention like the one raised by the US embassy.

  • Students of a kind

    One Facebook post and a news item on Friday got me further worried about the state of education in the country. The decline in our education standard is well known to all but the extent of decay gets alarming by the day.

    The post was this question by a university professor: “Why should a 400 level class be permanently noisy while a professor is giving a lecture? Poor techniques? Difficult subject?” while the news was the statement by the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim, that some graduates cannot recite the English alphabet and do not know bank statement.

    The post is obviously an expression of the frustration of the professor who can’t understand why students at such level should not have the presence of mind in a lecture room to maintain absolute silence. If the students were really serious about learning they didn’t need to be asked to be quiet.

    They need to be all ears to learn from the professor but many who usually behave as if they are forced to be in such higher institutions have absolute disregard for scholarship that they don’t know that they are distracting the lecturers and some of their serious colleagues.

    The students being taught by the lecturer should count themselves lucky as some other teachers will simply walk out of the class and refuse to teach until he has firm assurance that he will be accorded the respect he deserves. Others will walk out the noise makers and further penalise the students, but the situation doesn’t have to degenerate to such level if the students are in school to learn.

    I teach part-time myself and can imagine the situation the complaining lecturer found himself. I remember how worried I was about the poor level of concentration in a class I once taught that I had to spend time to counsel the students on why they should take their studies serious.

    It is this abysmal level of indiscipline among youths that is responsible for some universities, especially privately owned ones, to have some regulations considered too regimental for academic environment.

    Except students behave themselves properly, as basic as keeping quiet in class, they will have themselves to blame for not being able to learn as much as they know. As much as the lecturers want to impact knowledge as a duty for which they are paid, they need the right kind of attention to do so.

    It’s really sad that the professor concerned was forced to express his worry online, but it is an indication of how students themselves are not helping to ensure that they get the kind of impactful teaching they should get.

    If students can’t keep quiet in class, how will some of them not be unable to recite the English alphabet as claimed by the NYSC Director General?

    This revelation is really shocking and sounds unbelievable but the DG must know what he is talking about. Even if the corps members are fake ones who did not graduate as they claimed, why should they not be able to recite the alphabet known by kindergarten pupils?

    If the corps members are found to be unqualified for youth service they should be handed over to the police for prosecution in accordance with the NYSC Act and be liable for two years jail term.

    If, however, they have the required certificate, their institutions should be contacted to investigate how they passed their exams up till graduation. Shame on them, shame on their institutions.

  • Taraba killing: Mba’s frank questions

    The killing of three police intelligence officers by solders at a checkpoint in Ibi, Taraba State, last Tuesday, is indeed unfortunate and puts a big question mark on the sincerity of some members of our security forces to curb indiscriminate cases of kidnapping and other crimes in the country.

    How can three of some of the best hands in the county’s Intelligence Response Team, reputed to have successfully carried out similar operations, be shot in daylight under the guise that they were suspected kidnappers?

    Contrary to the claim by the Army, the police have insisted that the state police command was aware of the presence of the slain officers in the state. The Force Public Relations Officer, Mr Frank Mba, in a statement, said the soldiers shot the policemen despite sufficient proof that they were on legitimate duty and released the suspected kidnap kingpin, Alhaji Hamisu, being taken to the police state headquarters.

    If the amateur video released on the incident is anything to go by, the soldiers apparently did not exercise enough caution in handling the situation to ascertain the identity of the detectives.

    Even when one of them who did not immediately die from the gun shot tried to get the attention of the soldiers and the people around, nobody cared until he slumped and died.

    For security forces that are supposed to be working as a team to checkmate the kidnapping menace to be engaged in claims and counter claims over an avoidable incident, there is a major security loophole which the National Security Council has to carefully investigate and come up with how to fish out those who may be colluding with criminal elements among men and officers of the various security forces.

    No substantial progress can be made in all the conflict areas as claimed by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, as long as there is no proper coordination between the various security forces.

    The committee to be set up under the Defence Headquarters to investigate the circumstances that led to the killing has ready questions to answer as rightly stated by the police spokesman.

    • Where is the notorious kidnapper, Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume ‘rescued’ by the soldiers?
    • How and why was Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume released by the soldiers?
    • How could a kidnap suspect properly restrained with handcuffs by the police escape from the hands of his military rescuers?
    • If Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume is a ‘‘victim of kidnap’’ as claimed, and properly rescued by soldiers, why was he not taken to the Army base for documentation purposes and debriefing in line with the Standard Operating Procedure in the Nigerian Army?
    • Why were the police operatives shot at close range even after they had identified themselves as police officers on legitimate duty as evident in the video now in circulation?

    Unless the above questions are honestly answered in the report of the committee and necessary recommendations are made and actions taken, the supposed battle against kidnapping in the country will be a huge joke.

    There is an urgent need to check the high rate of kidnapping across the country which has become very worrisome. Kidnapping has suddenly become a profitable business for criminals with many gangs operating wherever they choose to and collecting ransom.

    The Taraba incident is an indication of how the kidnappers might have infiltrated our security forces and we can’t wait till a very top executive is kidnapped before a state of emergency is declared on the matter.

  • IDPs muffled voices

    On Monday, a report on media reportage and portrayal of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria titled Muffled Voices will be launched in Lagos.

    The survey conducted by Journalists for Christ, a faith based media group, with the support of World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), Bread for the World, and Waldensian Church’s Otto Per Mille (OPM), is based on two-month survey of six newspapers and two online platforms.

    The report was informed by the need to have empirical evidence on the pattern of coverage of the plight of thousands of Nigerians who have over the years been displaced from their homes due to continued conflict situations in the country, especially due to insurgency and terrorists attacks and ensure the required response from government and other stakeholders.

    Reports have indicated that those displaced, mostly women and children, have resorted to refuge in concentrated camps which are mainly un-used/abandoned school facilities or on open grounds with tents as shelter. There are usually few basic amenities in such camps, resulting in severe social and health related issues. Welfare; food, proper shelter and health needs are a significant concern. Sanitary conditions are generally poor. Close to 60 per cent of these IDPs are children.

    Despite the various challenges they have to cope with, media coverage and reportage of IDPs revealed that information on the welfare and living conditions of the IDPs are usually restricted and not adequately reported. Institutional and humanitarian agencies to addressing the needs of IDPs are also inadequate.

    This survey is therefore a needed resource to help the media play its expected role to give a voice to the displaced persons who are victims of the circumstances they found themselves.

    Expectedly, the summary of the findings of the survey confirmed that the Nigerian media need to do more of ‘beyond the surface’ reporting of IDP issues as news items which are often ‘fluid’ in nature.”

    “Reporting issues of IDPs require in-depth, incisive and more detailed reporting beyond events or statements from government officials.  Conclusively, from both the print and online media monitored, it is clear that there is little attention to the real issues affecting internally displaced persons in the country, and it can be deduced that the voices of IDPs would certainly not be captured in news stories, based on exiting journalism pattern that news stories are often around the influential personalities as the “news maker”,” the report stated.

    In line with the recommendations of the report, the Nigerian media as an agent for setting the development agenda should continue to highlight issues and bring to the fore, concerns of persons affected by hostilities and conflicts, especially on the provision of welfare amenities, facilities and safe shelter, as part of the media’s social obligations.

    Media reports should be more incisive, especially in investigating allegations of corruption in the management of resources for IDPs by government, non-governmental organisations and security officials.

    More women and children who are the most vulnerable should be given space to air their concerns in media reportage, in fulfilment of media’s obligation as a voice to the voiceless.

    Media organisations should endeavour to fund journalists to independently visit IDP camps to be able to publish incisive features articles, including objective reports on the management of the situation of life of IPDs in the camp instead of relying on press statements of agencies.

    The National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons should utilise this report to work with journalists on how to get the true picture of the state of IDP camps in the country and make necessary recommendation to the government at all levels.

  • Not in my country

    Last Thursday’s 10 o’clock evening news bulletin on Channels television really left my numb as I probably has never been about the state of insecurity in our country.

    First was the video of six kidnapped workers of Action Against Hunger with the only Christian lady among them, Grace dressed up in hijab recounting how they were abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents while returning from a community in Borno state.

    She pleaded with the federal government, their organization and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to urgently ensure their release before it is too late.

    “Please do something and don’t let us be killed like those abducted before us,” she said as her male colleagues looked on in the apparent staged managed video by their captors to force the government and others mentioned by the lady to negotiate with them.

    In response to the video, Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari was quoted as saying the incident will hasten efforts being made ensure the release of the new captives and others still being held.

    The sobering video of the helpless situation of the aid workers was followed by that of the kidnapped of officials of a Sharia Court of Appeal in Kaduna.

    Just before watching the news, I had read about the security men said to be closing in on the kidnappers of three others along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway earlier in the week.

    If anyone needed proof that, suddenly, nowhere seems to be no-go area for kidnappers, here was one. Even the busy Lagos-Ibadan expressway, like the Benin-Ore route, far away from the terrorist enclave of Borno, rampaging killers in Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara and others has join the list of kidnappers route.

    Months ago, the wife of a lecturer in a University along Otta-Idi Iroko road in Ogun State was kidnapped when she took a supposed commercial vehicle after parking her car in a bank along the road to withdraw money from another bank’s ATM.

    She was released a week later after the kidnappers got over a million naira ransom from the husband and family of the woman.

    As I tried to process the news broadcast and the other incidents, I couldn’t but wonder how we got to this stage where kidnapping and indiscriminate killings have become the order of the day. The thought of No, this cannot be my dear country Nigeria occurred to me, but sadly it is.

    How do I explain to non-Nigerians who I used to tell that terrorist activities are mainly confined to a few locations in just about three states in my country? The terrorists may still be mainly operating in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, but how do we explain the killings by the bandits who have been on the rampage as if competing to know which group can kill more people in Sokoto, Zamfara and Kaduna?

    There seems to be a lull for now in the audacious kidnapping spree on the Abuja-Kaduna expressway that forced many to opt for the train ride usually overbooked when operating, but while it lasted, no one is sure how many persons were kidnapped and are still been held.

    What about the infamous herdsmen who have literally taken over almost any farmland they wanted and do not hesitate to kill anyone that tries to stop them?

    Can this be my country Nigeria? No it should not.

  • Rethinking internship

    Internship is one of the basic requirements for students of tertiary institutions to graduate in their course of study. The duration of the internship which varies depending on course of study and institutions is expected to afford the students the opportunity to have practical knowledge and experience in the industry they will move on to after graduation.

    For polytechnic graduates, the internship is a whole year for holders of Ordinary National Diploma as a condition for admission for Higher National Diploma studies.

    As their contribution to the training of future workers in their sector, companies and organisations are supposed to accept the students and prepare them for the career ahead of them.

    Like many other good concepts which have been eroded over the years, internship has become problematic for both the students and companies. The increasing number of students seeking internship has made it difficult for many to find placements. The companies that are battling to survive the economic downturn can’t simply cope with the upsurge and have no choice but to turn the students back.

    Unfortunately, many of the students don’t fully understand and appreciate how to maximise internship opportunities and end up not being useful to those who accept them. Without an allowance, some will prefer to find unrelated options to their field of study instead of gaining the experience they need.

    Some employers too don’t know what to do with the interns and only take them on compassionate grounds without any clear outline about how to make their stay worthwhile.

    Last week, I organised a training during which I shared some thoughts about how to rethink the concept of internship and even volunteering which is one of the ways for graduates to work in their preferred industry before securing employment.

    Read Also: Shell inducts 30 graduates for internship

    One basic thing which students need to know is that internship is a learning opportunity which they are not paying for. It is not too different from someone seeking to learn a trade and has to pay for the learning period.

    While organisations can be magnanimous to offer allowance to offset transport costs, students should not make payment a determinant for where they want to intern. They and their parents should regard the internship as part of the learning experience which they may need to pay for like their school fees.

    Fresh from school with no skills to offer, the interns have not much value to add to their workplace but a lot to learn for which they must be grateful for and not take for granted.

    Institutions sending the students on internship need to give them proper orientation about what they need to learn and the workplace culture. This will necessitate that the lecturers are abreast of latest developments in the industry through regular interactions with managements and officials who the students will work with.

    It’s not good enough that students are sent to companies and organisations institutions don’t relate with or give feedback on the impact of past internship on their students. Additionally, institutions should develop updated database of diverse options for their students to choose from instead of focusing on few organisations that cannot accommodate them.

    Students should understand that they don’t have to intern with only major organisations. If they get one, good, but if not, they should make do with some unpopular ones and start-ups where they will get the opportunity to be fully engaged.

    The stress many students go through and the abuses some of them, particularly female, are subjected to while seeking internship is unnecessary if the right thing is done by all concerned.

    There should be rules of engagements by both the institutions and companies which must be respected by both sides.

  • Ministerial list: No more ‘go slow’

    I am trying hard to understand the point President Muhammadu Buhari wants to make with the statement credited to him that he is under tremendous pressure to release the names of his ministerial nominees.

    According to him, he didn’t know majority of his last cabinet members as they were recommended for him by the party and other individuals and therefore this time around, he will pick people he knows personally.

    No matter the pressure he is getting from whatever quarters, one would have thought that President Buhari would not make a statement like this, which is capable of bringing him under more pressure he can’t cope with and expose him to more criticisms about his style of government.

    It would have been enough for him to promise to release the list soon as expected and spare us the details of his reasons for the unnecessary delay in naming his cabinet.

    For a second-term president and almost five months after winning the election, there is really no justification for another round of delay like in his first tenure when it took him almost four months after inauguration to announce his cabinet.

    By now, the list should have been ready for approval to ensure that the appointees can continue early enough from where their predecessors stopped when they handed over. The usual thing is that the tempo of activities in many sectors is usually halted awaiting who will be named to man whichever ministries.

    There is a limit to which permanent secretaries currently in charge of ministries can take decisions on major projects without the approval of the Federal Executive Council yet to be constituted.

    This is why it is necessary that the president shed the toga of ‘Baba go slow’ which he promised to do during the campaign for the second term. Delay in approving necessary decisions just seems to be his style, which should not be the case considering the state of the country where many things are begging for concrete actions to be taken.

    Despite the outcry that it was wrong for him to continue to run his second tenure with former appointees not yet officially re-appointed, it took him almost two months to announce the re-appointments of his Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Government of the Federation and backdate their appointment to May.

    Curiously, the appointees were not new. If the president knew all along that he was going to re-appoint them, why did he wait for that long and allow all the speculations about the offices. Up till now, some of his close aides have not been re-appointed, but they are performing official duties and the president cannot be bothered by whatever the public think.

    Since the president was not elected by only those he knew, it is wrong to state that only those he knows will make his ministerial list. His cabinet is supposed to be made up of the brightest and the best we can get and not his cronies or only those within his limited circle of influence.

    It is a standard practice for his party and other interest groups to nominate persons for his consideration and the choice can be his. To the extent that the nominees must come from the 36 states of the federation and reflect other considerations, including gender, President Buhari needs a list to shop from.

    The earlier he releases the list, the earlier he can save himself from whatever pressure he is being subjected to. We can’t afford another four months like he did the last time.