The Nation Newspaper

Category: Lekan Otufodunrin

  • Social media and good governance

    What has social media got to do with good governance and sustainable democratic culture in the country?

    This was the question I spoke on at a seminar organised by some former student union leaders in University of Lagos last Thursday.

    At a time the social media is increasingly coming under attacks due to abuse of the use of the platforms, its role can easily be dismissed.

    However, if carefully examined, social media has undoubtedly become a major tool for sourcing and sharing information. The excesses by some users notwithstanding, Facebook, Twitter and others have, indeed, been and will continue to be useful in ensuring good governance and sustainable democratic cultures globally.

    In the last sixteen years since the return to civil rule, the need for good governance and sustainable democratic culture has continued to be an issue of concern to ensure that the people get the dividends of democracy.

    There has been the cry for good governance in view of the inability of governments at various levels to meet the expectations of the people and wanton abuses of the rule of law.

    I need to state that good governance should be enacted at the level of student unions, campus associations and university administration. While some of us are very good at making demands on political office holders to live up to expectations, we are not able to show that we can do same in the groups we lead.

    I am always ashamed when I see some Aluta branded vehicles driving against traffic or when I read reports of corruption in union activities.

    Hitherto, the traditional media had been saddled with the responsibility of holding the government accountable to the people. The print and broadcast media as gatekeepers of information had been playing this crucial role.

    However, the coming of the new media has made it possible for not only the traditional media to be the main source of information exchange.

    With social media, which according to wikipedia are computer-mediated tools, everybody, including those in government and the citizens are now able to create, share or exchange information, ideas, and pictures/videos in virtual communities and networks.

    Unlike before when the government had a major control on information dissemination through ownership of some media organisations and was subjected to monitoring by only few traditional media, it is now virtually answerable to every citizen that has one social media account or another.

    Through major social media accounts, government activities are now subjected to more intense scrutiny with instant feedbacks from the people.

    It is not unusual these days for the traditional media to be forced to report issues it had earlier ignored when the social media continue to focus on them.

    For youths who make more use of the social media, they need to realise that the platforms are no longer useful for only social interaction, but for engaging governments and officials in the quest for good governance.

    Social media is power in their hands which they must not fail to use, but must do responsibly. The platforms make it possible to hold the government accountable in many ways and not allow the officials get away with false claims.

    Government agencies and officials who have social media account must realise that social media is a two-way communication and not only a channel for sending out information.

    They must be ready to respond to comments directed at them as promptly as possible through trained staff who should have access to up-to-date information.

  • Abati: Burden of public office

    Abati: Burden of public office

    I have not been opportune to hold a public office, but I know a number of people who have and whose experience has not been as pleasant as imagined.

    There is a lot of assumption about public office that makes many to do anything possible to get political appointments. President Muhammadu Buhari and many state governors who are yet to appoint their commissioners will currently have more than enough curriculum vitae for consideration.

    The delay in making appointments by Buhari must be giving many sleepless nights as they had expected by now that they would have been rewarded with appointments for their contributions to the president’s election victory.

    While not many easily admit that they want public office to enrich themselves, it is the main attraction for most and not service as claimed.

    There are, indeed, legitimate and illegitimate money to be made in government. Beyond the normal salaries, there are numerous allowances and other pecuniary benefits which make political appointments attractive.

    However, beyond the financial gains, there are a lot of other hassles associated with government appointments which need to be understood by not only those who crave for appointments but members of the public who subject the appointees to what I regard as unfair criticisms.

    This piece is informed by the recent article by a former presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, titled: The phones no longer ring.

    “As spokesman to President Goodluck Jonathan, my phones rang endlessly and became more than personal navigators within the social space. They defined my entire life; dusk to dawn, all year-round. The phones buzzed non-stop, my email was permanently active; my twitter account received tons of messages per second.   The worst moments were those days when there was a Boko Haram attack virtually every Sunday.

    “The intrusion into my private life was total as my wife complained about her sleep being disrupted by phones that never seemed to stop ringing,” Abati wrote.

    Expectedly, his piece attracted some negative comments from those who felt that Abati does not deserve any pity or understanding based on the role he played in the Jonathan’s presidency. Abati was definitely not seeking any pity. All he sought to do as far as I am concerned was to give an insight about the life of a typical top government official occupying some sensitive positions.

    Despite his hectic schedule, his greatest crime for which some journalists who should sympathise with him but rather crucify him is that he didn’t pick their calls while he was in office. Yes, he should pick their calls since his job was that of a spokesperson for the government, but the truth is that there is a limit to how many he can, given the various assignments he had to juggle.

    I am not aware of any spokesperson, either at federal or state level, who has not been accused of not responding to calls as much as their former colleagues expect them. A former Press Secretary to a former Deputy Governor told me how difficult it was for her to cope with numerous calls because of meetings she had to attend, travels and other assignments.

    Much as spokesmen and other public office holders should try to maintain their pre-appointment relationships, they should not be expected to meet every demand that require their attention.

    Their stay in government office should not be regarded as an opportunity for them to meet some difficult expectations beyond their capacity. The inner workings of government can be very complicated and unless one is in, it may be difficult to appreciate what it takes to be a government official.

  • Celebrating Uncle Daddy Sam

    If he had his way, he would not have agreed to any form of celebration for his 80th birthday which was marked with a lecture and book launch last Thursday in Lagos. Apart from his normal very reserved nature which explains why he is not fond of any loud celebration, the publisher of Vanguard newspapers, Sam Amuka, popularly known as Uncle Sam, according to the organisers of the Thursday programme, did not want to appear insensitive about the distressed state of the media.

    Amuka did not see any justification for any celebration when media organisations, like some state governments, were owing workers salaries for months.

    He was said to have agreed that the modest celebration hold on the condition that it would focus on how to enhance the media industry in the country which he has been part of for several decades.

    The highlight of the occasion was, therefore, the launching of Voices from Within: Essays on Nigerian Journalism in honour of Sam Amuka and a lecture titled Today’s Newsroom, Tomorrow’s Newspaper: How to survive and thrive in the Internet Age.

    I join in congratulating Uncle Sam, who the representative of the presenter of the book deservedly renamed Daddy Sam, happy birthday.

    Notwithstanding the distress in the media industry and the country, he deserved to be celebrated while alive for his immense contribution to journalism and other walks of life.

    He has, indeed, paid his dues through his career from the old Daily Times to The Punch and Vanguard newspapers where he has helped raise and continued to mentor a generation of journalists who will forever be grateful for his impact in their private and professional lives.

    I don’t have the privilege of any close contact with the famed Sad Sam columnist of the defunct Sunday Times that reportedly sold in excess of 250,000 copies in its heyday, but what I have heard about him and read confirm he is, indeed, a rare gift to the media industry.

    I really appreciate his concern for the industry that necessitated the publication of the invaluable book which the present generation of journalists will learn a lot from – about the past, present and future of the media in the country.

    The excellent lecture by the Managing Director of Daily Independent newspaper, Mr Ted Iwere, is a timely wake-up call for media managers in Nigeria. At a time many traditional journalists still prefer to live in denial of the reality of the new media which will define the future of our industry, Iwere was able to carefully examine the present state of our newspapers and proffer solutions on what needs to be done to prevent the doomsday prediction about print publications.

    As Iwere rightly noted, Nigerian newspapers have no option but to adapt or face the danger of imminent death.

    “I am optimistic that Nigerian newspapers are not going to die. But if my optimism becomes unfounded and our newspapers die, my hunch is that the coroner’s report will not be that they were killed by the Internet. The cause of the death will most likely be suicide. It will be that, like the dinosaur, our newspapers failed to adapt to the demands of our time,” Iwere stated.

    A word is enough for the wise. Happy birthday, Uncle Daddy Sam.

  • How not to get UNILAG’s admission

    How not to get UNILAG’s admission

    I really sympathise with parents and applicants who staged a peaceful protest last Wednesday at the University of Lagos over what they considered the outrageous higher cut off mark for the post Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination ( UTME)  by the institution.

    Following the earlier announcement by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board ( JAMB)  that 180 was the general cut off mark for the post-UTME, the protesters must have been aggrieved that the University authorities and the examination board allegedly denied them the opportunity of competing for admission in the institution.

    I understand the shock that the hope of getting admitted into UNILAG, acclaimed to be the university of first choice by most admission seekers  was suddenly dashed based on a decision which they claimed they were not aware of.

    Notwithstanding their grievances, the protest was uncalled for given the history of admission in the university and other higher institutions in the country. Raising of the cut off marks  above the general one at various stages of admission is not new.

    Depending on the performance of candidates in university entrance examinations, JAMB had always fixed the general minimum cut off mark, while institutions set theirs based on what was scored by candidates who chose them as first choice.

    Having known the numbers of students they can accommodate, some institutions like UNILAG which normally have high number of applicants, usually limit the number of those who write the post UTME by setting higher cut off marks.

    If the general cut off mark was 180 and UNILAG decides to raise its own to 250 based on the performance of its applicants, so be it. As long as the cut off mark is applied to all the applicants who wrote the UTME examination, there should be not any need for any protest.

    Even with the 250 cut off mark, not all those who will write the post UTME will get admitted. The final admission list will still be based on the aggregate score of the UME and post UTME marks.

    There is no justification for universities to base their post-UTME test on low scores when even before writing the test, many will not scale through considering what they scored in the UTME.

    UNILAG and others who set higher cut off marks based on performance in UTME should be commended for not exploiting the applicants who have no chance of getting admitted since there are fees to be paid.

    According to UNILAG’s Registrar, Dr Taiwo Ipaye only 9,000 of the 32, 000 applicants were eligible for the post UTME screening. The institution will definitely make a lot of money if it decides to accommodate the protesting applicants whose chances of making the final list are very slim.

    The real problem with admission into UNILAG is not the cut off mark. It is the fact that as it claims, it is the university of first choice by applicants  for various reasons, including its location.

    While UNILAG and some top federal universities have too many applicants to select from, there are others who don’t have enough.

    Applicants who have been reassigned to other universities with lower number of candidates than their capacities based on a new decision by JAMB should be grateful instead of embarking on any futile protest.

    But for the new decision, what usually happens is that those who don’t get admission into their university of first choice, don’t have the opportunity of being considered for admission into other universities.

    Those reassigned to other universities have the option of rejecting the offers and can chose to wait for another year to try their luck in UNILAG and other institutions they prefer.

    My advice to admission seekers has always been that they should as much as possible, score very high. For those who score high marks, they can always be guaranteed admission no matter what cut off mark institutions set.

  • Visa processing hassles

    Getting visas to travel to many countries for Nigerians can be very tough. Even when some applicants have necessary papers and meet all requirements, some embassies for reasons best known to them deny legitimate requests.

    Some countries which ordinarily should allow Nigerians get visas at points of entry to travel to their countries come up with various reasons to deny our citizens visas, while some have some requirements which are hard to meet except one has no choice but to make the trip.

    I remember having to abandon a trip to Thailand when I realised I have to get a Nigerian Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) clearance and a letter from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, among other documents.

    I am not unaware of false claims by some applicants and visa rackets which have made foreign embassies to be suspicious of every application by Nigerians.

    I know people who were granted visas for the right reasons, but did not return home after the expiration of their permit.

    Notwithstanding the bad name some applicants have given the country, I think Nigerians still deserve better treatment than what some applicants are made to go through.

    However, while Nigerians have cause to complain about how we are treated, our embassies also have to improve on processing of applications for other nationals.

    Two cases have shown that the attitude to work by some of our embassy staff and other government officials involved in issuing visas and other accreditations leave much to be desired.

    In the first case, two journalists from Kenya and South Africa working for an American media organisation applied for visas to cover the presidential inauguration of May 29. Though their applications were made months ahead of the event, non-issuance of media accreditation as at when required prevented them from getting the visa for the trip.

    The media accreditation arrived few days to the inauguration and to the shock of the applicants, the one for Kenya was sent to South Africa, while the South African one was sent to Kenya.

    Efforts to get the embassy officials to correct the error were rebuffed on the ground that the fault was from Abuja and not theirs. Expectedly, the journalists were enraged and found it difficult to understand why key officers in charge of such sensitive process could be lousy in the way they handle their assignments.

    The second case is yet another instance of officials who should be responsible for sending documents from one of our consulate to Abuja for approval not sending them.

    The mix up was also discovered late because those who should have noted it failed to do so until the last minute.

    While we should subject every foreign application for visa or accreditation to thorough scrutiny as it is done to our citizens in other countries, the process should not be unnecessarily long.

    We cannot afford to allow sloppy civil service approach which many government workers are used to, to further damage our already dented image in international circles.

    Applications should either be granted or denied as promptly as possible.

    The various arms of government involved in issuing any international approval document should give the process the due attention required like in other countries.

    I once applied for a visa to France and was initially told that it would take some weeks to process. When I made a case for expeditious processing due to the date of the programme I was attending which was about three weeks from when I applied, my request was granted and I got the visa.

    My recent visa application to South Africa was granted within a week.

    The kind of complaint I have heard from some international journalists who have applied for Nigerian visa is not complimentary. There is a lot of room for improvement in our procedure.

  • Media: The log in our eyes

    Following widespread media reports about state governments owing civil servants’ salaries for months, especially in Osun State, I remember seeing a Facebook page post meant to justifiably mock some  media organisations.

    The post read: Hypocrisy is when a media house is owing staff salaries and is writing an editorial criticising state government defaulting in payment of salaries.

    Whoever came up with the post has good reasons to do so, considering the shocking salary debt profile of some media organisations in the country.

    Some broadcast and print media organisations in the country are as guilty as some state governments  for  failing to meet their obligations to their workers. A report by the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) shows that the salary debt ranged from five months to 18 months.

    Despite all efforts to get the concerned media organisations to pay up, they have refused to pay and continued to publish and broadcast as if the welfare of the journalists does not matter.

    The NUJ and the workers have been forced to resort to picketing some of the organisations in the hope that the managements will pay. Most times, the media owners have not been able to fulfil the terms of agreements reached with protesting workers.

    It is very ironic that some media houses in the forefront of campaigning for the payment of salaries and allowances of civil servants are not paying their workers. How can the concerned media organisations be taken seriously by defaulting governments and private organisations when they preach what they don’t practice themselves?

    If they knew better, they would have implemented their suggestions in their media organisations and shown other employers how to treat their workers better.

    What some media houses pay as salaries and allowances is poor enough compared to other sectors. Their inability to pay is a major indictment which they should be ashamed of instead of carrying on as if they are above the law.

    While media houses like others can complain about the down turn of the economy which has negatively impacted on their operations, there is no justification to subject affected journalists to the kind of hardship they have had to cope with due to non-payment of their salaries.

    What is apparent in some cases is that lack of proper management of human and financial resources is responsible for the sorry state the debtor media houses have found themselves. It is not that some of them are not making money that is enough to pay their staff and for operations, the problem is that they are not operating the proper corporate governance principles required for growing the business.

    I remember joining The Punch newspaper in May 1987, when the company was battling to survive. That the newspaper has grown to become the leading newspaper in the industry is a testimony to the efficient management which the company has become known for.

    If only some of the owners and management of some of the defaulting media houses can be more disciplined and subject their operations to due diligence, they will not find themselves in the mess they are today.

    The media houses are lucky that they are operating in a country like Nigeria where the labour law is not strong enough to penalise employers who don’t pay their staff. One of them who tried to publish in South Africa folded up in less than a year due to the stringent law that protects the interest of the workers.

    It is high time media houses which cannot pay their staff were shut down and stop pretending to be what they are not. Media organisations cannot continue to point out the speck in others’ eyes when we have logs in ours.

  • Youth-bashing

    Laide, not her real name, must have been fed up with hearing complaints from many that the youths of today are not as ‘serious’ as they should be.

    When the same complaint came up last Tuesday at a seminar, she could barely wait to grab the microphone and as politely as possible respond to the unending youth bashing which she said was not fair to her generation.

    “Someone said the youths of today don’t read newspapers, they don’t want to read any serious thing, they are glued to their phones. I don’t think you should blame us for being born in this technology age. The fact that we don’t read print editions of newspapers as much as the older people does not mean we don’t read news. We do but maybe not like you people do.

    “It is not our fault that we are different and you have to understand us for what we are,” Laide stated.

    The young lady made a point which I agree with. As much as the old generation may have reasons to complain about the youths, we need to avoid blanket condemnation which sometimes gives the wrong impression that all the youths are the same.

    While many may not meet the high standards we are used to, there are others who have proved that the new generation holds a lot of promise even when their ways of doing things are different from ours.

    Like Laide rightly stated, we need to appreciate that we live in a new world where technology and many other factors have altered what we are used to. We can no longer insist on having things done exactly the ways they were done in our days.

    What the young ones of today are exposed to is in no way comparable with ours. I grew up like most people of my generation without having access to telephones. Not many had television to watch in their homes.  We had limited or no access to computers and the Internet which are today available to even toddlers.

    While not compromising on the right principles, we need to give the youths the benefit of the doubt, instead of having a fixed mindset about how they behave and what they are capable of doing. Sometimes we need to try hard to make them understand why we want things done in a particular way and not assume they should know.

    There will always be many reasons for the old generation to complain about the youths and they must not shy away from doing so when there are good reasons to do so.

    What Laide and her generation, however, need to know is that what is regarded as youth-bashing is not new. Every generation always thinks the younger ones are not meeting up with the high standard it was subjected to. The complaints are usually borne out of love and what is required is mutual understanding by the young and old.

    If the youths know what their elders know, they will understand why they usually warn them about the consequences of their actions and inactions.

    The youths must learn to take criticisms in good faith and make necessary amends based on wise counsel of elders.

  • Much ado about spokesmen

    Simeon Ateba, the irrepressible journalist, blogger and advocate, sure knows how to stir the Facebook community with his provocative postings. When he wrote that he was hearing speculations that I may be named as the media spokesperson for President Muhammed Buhari, I had a good laugh.

    I didn’t have to worry why he took the speculations seriously to write about it. I took the posting as his own way of stirring up a discussion on the kind of person that should be appointed to replace the former spokesperson, Dr Reuben Abati.

    I remember thanking Ateba for thinking highly of me being qualified to be named for the media aide job but noted that I am in no way close to President Buhari and his associates to be considered for the job. More so, I added that I do not desire the position for any reason.

    By then, I was myself aware of speculations that the president would either retain Malam Garba Shehu the spokesperson of his campaign organisation or name the Managing Director of Sun Newspapers and President of the Guild of Editors, Mr Femi Adesina.

    For reasons best known to the president, he decided to name the two experienced journalists and triggered off a controversy over his decision. Although they both have different designations and one is senior to the other, not many were persuaded of the need for two spokespersons. There were those who felt there was bound to be a clash between the two appointees except there is a clear delineation of duties.

    I wasn’t initially convinced myself that Adesina should quit his Sun Newspapers’ position for the Special Adviser’s post until I read his valedictory column in which he noted that he was ready to make a sacrifice to serve the nation.

    The appointment of Pastor Laolu Akande as spokesperson for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo also attracted reactions over his choice, considering that he has been based in the United States for years. Why not appoint one of the many capable media hands in the country? Some have wondered.

    I am sure anyone who takes time to read Akande’s profile will have no doubt about his suitability given his local and international media experience.

    Much as the choice of who is named spokesperson is important, their ability to perform their tasks will depend on how well the presidency lives up to the expectations of the public.

    It is not enough that President Buhari has chosen one of the best journalists in the country to be the head of his media team as he stated during his meeting with State House Correspondents, it is up to him to make it easy for Adesina and others to defend the government’s policies.

    The media team should be involved in policy decision-making as much as possible and carried along at every stage of implementation instead of making them to defend policies they don’t know much about.

    I have no doubt that the spokespersons will do their best to justify their appointments, but the president and vice president should not expect that they will be able to ward off every negative publicity.

    What is important is that the spokespersons have necessary information to provide government’s reaction on any subject of interest to the media instead of having to decline to comment when they are contacted.

  • Shame of our nation

    It’s always hard to resist the temptation of lamenting the sorry state of our development each time one travels out the country. I usually try not to get despondent about our situation believing that as Christians usually say, all will be well sooner or later, but the rate of progress is not as encouraging as it should be.

    Too many things are just not right in the country and one is not sure how soon we can recover from years of missed opportunities for the overall development of the country.

    A trip to South Africa penultimate week once again got me thinking about how much we need to do to catch up and take our rightful place in the comity of nations, at least in the continent.

    Right from the road leading to what we call our  international airport in Lagos, one is confronted with the shameful decay of our infrastructural facilities. Potholes and overgrown weeds dot portions of the road)

    A foreigner who drives along the airport road on his first ever visit to the country is immediately confronted with the image of a country in a state of disrepair.

    I remember that former president Goodluck Jonathan was alarmed by the poor state of the road during a visit to Lagos and he promised to direct immediate repairs. As usual, nothing happened till his tenure ended.

    Reconstruction of the car park has remained uncompleted for years and has resulted in indiscriminate parking and inconvenience for passengers.

    Inside the airport, the air-conditioners were on holiday due to ongoing repairs, while the conveyor (+belt) managed to work with some parts falling off.

    The toilet facilities were also below the standard of an international airport. I tried to use the electric hand dryer and it didn’t work.

    There is simply no basis for comparing our airport with that of Johannesburg and Cape town which I passed through during my recent visit.

    The trip also reminded me of the shame that while other African countries like South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and others still had their national airlines, the Nigerian Airways is no more. Some of our private airlines which fly international routes unfortunately do not have good reputation.

    With all the money allocated to the aviation sector by successive governments, the state of our airports is nothing to be proud of. It is not unusual to hear foreign passengers loudly complain about the poor state of our facilities and wonder why we have remained a giant with a feet of clay.

    With the change promised by the new government, one can only hope that the aviation sector and others in the country will witness real transformation as quickly as possible. For too long, our governments have paid lip service to implementing the right policies needed to turn the situation around for good.

    We cannot afford to continue to be the laughing stock among other nations, some of which do not have the kind of resources we have to provide adequate infrastructures. President Muhammadu Buhari must make good his promise of ensuring that the right persons are appointed as Ministers and heads of  other agencies. There is a lot that needs to be done to redeem the image of the country. It is better late than never.

  • Fuel subsidy for whom?

    How much is the official cost of a litre of fuel? I am forced to ask this question which every Nigerian knows the answer to because my experience in the last two weeks has left me wondering if there is still a basis to claim there is an official price for the prized commodity.

    Instead of the official price of N87 per liter, the cheapest I have bought a litre in recent weeks is N100 a few times, while I have most times paid N120-N140. At the height of my desperation to avoid being stranded in the office, I bought a litre for N500. I am told some paid more than this unbelievable amount when they had no other option.

    I guess I and others who have been buying fuel at the exorbitant cost should be blamed like a petrol attendant told me. If we don’t buy the expensive fuel, the attendant said his manager will not be encouraged to ask him to sell at the price he admitted is too high for a litre of fuel.

    The attendant is right. If we don’t buy the expensive fuel, marketers would not drink it as I argued at a station where an attendant claimed he was doing us a favour by selling fuel when other stations were closed.

    I told other motorists who were prevailing on me to pay the extra N100 charge by the attendant for selling into a keg that it was wrong to do so since the oil marketers will still claim the subsidy for the fuel being sold to us at more than the official price.

    But who is to blame? I and others who need fuel to go to work, our business and other important appointments and can’t afford to stay for hours on long queues at petrol stations that have fuel to sell at relatively cheaper rate or successive governments in the country which have mismanaged the oil sector?

    How do we justify that we are an oil producing country yet we don’t have any functioning refinery and we have to import fuel at rates which have to be subsidized by the government?

    Despite report s of agreement reached with oil marketers to begin lifting of fuel from major depots while the disagreement over the actual amount being owed is resolved, each fuel station has been selling at their preferred rate instead of the official price.

    Not even threats by the Directorates of Petroleum Resources to clamp down on stations that sell beyond the official price has stopped many oil marketers from exploiting the scarcity to milk desperate fuel seekers like me.

    Black market fuel sellers and other individuals have also taken advantage of the situation to sell at incredible prices while law enforcement agencies watch helplessly or as alleged in some quarters connive with them to get their own cut of the profit.

    In the desperation to buy fuel, some have bought adulterated ones which have damaged car engines.

    As it is, there seem to be no indication when the scarcity will be over. The government has lost control over enforcement of sale of fuel at official price and the oil marketers are determined to keep selling at the price that suits them.

    Instead of subjecting Nigerians to endless hardship of the scarcity, the government should once and for all remove the so called subsidy on fuel and allow market forces determine how much to sell.

    We are already getting used to buying at different rates from various stations. For those outside Lagos and major capital cities, buying fuel at more than the official price is not new.

    The controversial amount being paid to oil marketers can be channeled to improving on many other infrastructural facilities which will reduce cost of transportation and reduce the need for everybody to keep their cars on the road.

    As soon as possible the new federal government will have to give priority to reviving the old refineries and possibly build a new one but for now we have to do away with the so-called subsidy.