The Nation Newspaper

Category: Lekan Otufodunrin

  • ‘Ebola: God is our only hope in Liberia’

    For Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, these are not the best of times, considering the impact of the Ebola disease on the countries which are the hardest hit.

    I got an idea of how an average citizen of one of the countries feels about the situation when my colleague, George Sarwah Stewart Jr Coordinator, Media Development Group, Path and Chair of the Liberia Christian Journalists Network, sent me a facebook message saying “we are living in fear and worry in Monrovia.

    “God is our only hope right now. Government can’t stand anyone,” he stated.

    To get the full picture of the situation back in Liberia and his views on the issue, I sent him some questions which he promptly responded to.

    Excerpts from the interview are as follows:

    How will you describe the situation in Liberia and other parts of the country since the outbreak of Ebola disease, especially the death of Mr Patrick Sawyer from Liberia in Nigeria?

    The situation of Ebola in Liberia and three other countries including Nigeria is troubling and threatening to the whole of West Africa.  Specifically for Liberia, the virus has killed farmers, rural community dwellers and health workers.  It has shot down villages and instilled fear in ordinary and impoverished Liberians.

    The virus has disintegrated the Mano River Union Basin and West Africa. There are restrictions and blockage on cross-board travels.  Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea share common borders such as river, parcels of land that allows cross-borderline farming. Along the Mano River, there are same tribal groups, intermarriages and similar cultural practices. These cross-border values and way-of-life are being hampered and cut off to some extent because of the Ebola outbreak.

    West African citizens enjoy free movement with minimum immigration control within the region. Unfortunately, the Ebola virus has extended its wicked hands against the smooth movement of West Africans within their own region.

    What has been the reaction of the people to the declaration of state of emergency in your country and how is it affecting life generally?

    There are mixed reactions.  Some think it’s appropriate, others think it’s belated, while another set wants to wait to see the impact of the State of Emergency on curbing Ebola.  Already, the State of Emergency has taken hold of the country for fact that movement of people from Western Liberia connecting Sierra Leone are prevented from coming to Monrovia by Liberian soldiers. The army has set roadblocks and checkpoints preventing free movement.   Business women are spending their second day at one of the checkpoints 3 miles from Monrovia.

    What are your personal concerns about this issue and what do you think should be done to prevent spread of the disease?

    I am concerned about the late response of our governments against Ebola when the virus could have been contained earlier.  When the virus showed signs in Guinea-Liberia border sometimes in February, it was the most appropriate time for containment, but little was done until the virus killed medical doctors and other health workers as well as poor community dwellers.

    I’m also concerned about the closure of health facilities in Liberia.  This is leading to the death of others outside of Ebola.  There are curable sicknesses taking the lives of Liberians simply because no health facilities.

    Are you hopeful that the problem will be solved soon?

    This is where my faith as a Christian comes in.  Our government is quite confused and has shown no real strength. Only God is able to cleanse our nation and the rest of West Africa of this disease.

    Full text of interview online www.staging.thenationonlineng.net

  • Boko Haram: Time is running out

    I don’t envy President Goodluck Jonathan and his officials when they have to respond to the continuous attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents and other terrorist groups in the country.  Their reactions have become so predictable that there seems to be a template for such statements that what is required is for the name of the state where the latest incident is recorded to be inserted and some paragraphs moved around.

    I imagine that if the presidency has its way, it would prefer not to keep issuing the embarrassing statements which contain promises it has found hard to fulfill. If the promises so far made by the federal government of being on top of the security problems in the country are anything to go by, terrorist attacks should at least have subsided by now.

    Unfortunately instead of being checkmated, the terrorists from all indications are gaining more grounds by killing so many people that it is hard to compute how many innocent Nigerians have died in suicide bomb blasts.

    Despite the joint security cover provided by the military and the police, the terrorists have become so sophisticated that they have recently unleashed female suicide bombers on some states. No one is sure when the next suicide bomber will strike.

    Last week, some graduates checking their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) postings in Kano were killed when a female suicide bomber ran into their midst and diffused the bomb on her. That is how bad the security situation in the country has degenerated that it is difficult to believe that the federal government knows what next to do.

    Like the president noted in one of his anti-Boko Haram pronouncements last week, years ago, it is difficult to imagine that any Nigerian will agree to be a suicide bomber like we used to read about. However, this is the sordid situation we have found ourselves and there is an urgent need to do everything possible to stop the terrorists from further endangering the fragile peace and stability in the country.

    The president said the country would have been in turmoil if former Head of State, General Muhamad Buhari, had been killed in the recent attack in Kaduna. He was right as it would have been difficult to stop the spontaneous reaction by Buhari’s supporters who despite all denials still believe that the attack was sponsored.

    At the launching of the Victims Support Fund in Abuja last week, President Jonathan made a firm promise that he will lead the battle to defeat Boko Haram.  He has no choice but to fulfill this promise in accordance with the oath of office he swore to.

    More than ever before, Nigerians are worried about their safety in various parts of the country and the needed confidence has to be restored as quickly as possible.

    It used to be that graduates were usually excited about being posted to any part of the country, but that is no longer the case. To be posted to some states now is almost equated to a death sentence.

    Nigerians are tired of reading condolence messages from Aso Rock.  They want permanent solutions to the security challenges in the country and federal government cannot afford to fail in this matter if it wants to be taken seriously.

  • Curbing indiscipline in schools

    Whether in public or private schools, cases of indiscipline abound. It is not unusual these days to hear of students engaging in some unimaginable misconduct or the other.

    Indiscipline means lack of discipline, lack of control, lack of proper training; it means unruly behaviour, disobedience and disorder.

    I was not surprised that I was asked to speak on this issue that has become a matter of great concern to all at the recent end of year ceremony of a school. My brief was however on the roles parents should play in curbing indiscipline in private schools.

    We now live in a world where indiscipline reigns supreme in virtually every aspect of our life. It is however not limited to students.

    All of us are in one way or the other guilty and there is an urgent need to return to the good old days when discipline was the order of the day. The situation was so bad at one point in our history that a military government had to declare War Against Indiscipline called WAI.

    Even now we have various paramilitary organisations charged with enforcing discipline in various sectors but unfortunately we are not making much progress.

    There is urgent need to address this issue to ensure that students are as disciplined as much as possible if they are to be good leaders of tomorrow.

    The indiscipline we hear  of in public schools include students not abiding with instructions outlined for them, indulging in social vices, disrespect for teachers, unruly parents who don’t want their children to be disciplined for wrong doings and many others.

    Parents have a major role to play to curb indiscipline in our private schools which are subject to government guidelines on how such institutions are to be run.

    The first point to be made is that parents must be disciplined. They cannot give what they don’t have. They are supposed to be role models for the children who normally have no choice but to be disciplined if parents show them good examples.

    Secondly, parents must give their children the necessary home training for them to appreciate the need to be disciplined in schools. No doubt schools are supposed to train the students, but without proper home training not much can be accomplished by teachers.

    Parents need to spend more time to train their children despite the hectic schedules they now have to cope with. Parents  run the risk of having to pay dearly in future  for not investing enough time to ensure proper training of their children if they don’t do so when their children are still young and amenable to instructions.

    Parents must be aware of the rules and regulations of the schools they enroll their children and not attempting to circumvent them their status not withstanding.

    Where they have cause to disagree with some regulations or disciplinary measure they should seek appropriate channels to seek redress instead of taking the laws into our hands like some parents do.

    There have been instances where parents go to schools to beat up teachers for daring to discipline their children. This is very unfortunate. While teachers should be moderate in enforcing discipline, parents should not give their children the impression that they are above the law.

    Parents of children in every school need to work with the authorities to enforce discipline both for the teachers and students through forums like the Parents Teachers Association.

    Parents should take seriously reports of misdemeanours by their children before the situation is beyond their control.

  • Lecturer, journalist par excellence

    When in my final year at the University of Lagos I had to write my project, I instinctively chose one of the popular Mass Communication research topics.

    I opted for topics similar to projects I had read in the department’s library. I proposed using questionnaire to be filled by students since I wanted to write on newspaper readership in Unilag on an issue I can’t remember now. .

    My supervisor had no problem with my topic but was not sure if the data gathering would be thoroughly done in a way to justify whatever findings I would come up with.

    He suggested an historical research on a media-related issue on which not much has been written on which could be a rich source of information. For him, students should not write projects only for fulfilling the graduation requirement, but attempt to make a contribution to advancing the body of knowledge required in Mass Communication study and practice.

    His counsel has since proved true with the continuous citing of my project titled ‘30 Years of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ): Achievements, Problems and Prospects in researches and publications on the history of the union.’

    My mystery supervisor who I owe a debt of gratitude not only for supervising my project but for the thorough training I got in news and feature writing is Professor Olatunji Dare.

    Last Thursday he turned 70 and his birthday was marked with a lecture and book launch in Lagos.

    Like many who spoke at the occasion and in other tributes, I testify that Professor Dare belongs to the class of few communication scholars who combines first class academic with contemporary practical knowledge of media practice.

    That he has been teaching journalism in the United States for some years now and remains one of Nigeria’s leading newspaper columnists attest to the stuff he is made of and why he deserves all the accolades he has been getting at 70.

    Our university system needs lecturers like Professor Dare who are interested in giving students the required supervision and support to write projects they and their departments can be proud of years after graduation.

    We need more projects that can come up with findings to enhance productivity in the industry fresh graduates are supposed to work in. Student projects up to the doctorate level will not be worth the trouble and expense if they only gather dust in Libraries of higher institutions.

    We need more lecturers who are masters of the theoretical and practical knowledge of the subjects they teach. Many recent graduates are victims of the present system which allows some lecturers who have not practiced some profession to teach the qualifying course of study. University lecturers should regularly update their knowledge of the industry they are producing students for if the degree the institutions offer is to be worth the paper on which they are printed.

    Lecturers should always remember that whether they will be celebrated or not by their former students and colleagues like Professor Dare will depend on the quality of their performance in their various academic and professional assignments.

    They don’t have to wait to get to heaven ( if they make it there)  to get the reward of service, they can get rewarded while alive if they do what they are paid to do.

    Congratulations my dear  Professor  Dare. You are indeed a teacher and journalist par excellence.

  • Amala, rice, corn politics

    Following the surprise victory of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the Ekiti State governorship election,  Ayodele Fayose, it is understandable why supporters  and sympathisers of the All Progressive Congress (APC) are worried about the fate of the party in the forth coming Osun State gubernatorial election and future elections in the South West.

    There are those who fear that the APC may lose its dominant status in the region if the party’s governors do not take necessary measures to prevent a repeat of the Ekiti experience. There have been claims that one of the major reasons Fayose won the election was because he was able to ‘connect’ with the majority of the citizens of the state by providing  ‘stomach infrastructure’  instead of propounding some grandiose policies  of what he hopes to accomplish if he is elected.

    Abimbola Adelakun, a columnist in The Punch captured the joke which the Ekiti election has been reduced to with a facebook post in which she wrote: The lesson of Ekiti Election, serve your rice raw.

    Consequently, APC governors and candidates of other parties have been bombarded with unsolicited advice about the need to adopt what they termed the Fayose’s populist political campaign style to ensure victory.

    Apparently irked by this line of thought, which he said has even been suggested to him by some members of his cabinet, the Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun, has said he will not reduce governance in his state to ‘Amala’ politics of  sharing rice and money instead of neglecting infrastructural development.

    I agree with Amosun that this advice, informed by those who want the governors to win at all cost is not only an insult on the intelligence of the people but a disservice to the electorate who elected them based on various electoral promises the governors made.

    While there may be lessons for the governors to learn from the Ekiti about matching polices with politics, it will be unfortunate if genuine developmental policies will have to be sacrificed to satisfy momentary needs and selfish political interests.

    Governors and other elected political office holders should strive to meet the expectations of those who elected them and improve on their standard of living, but this should not be done at the expense of the introduction of policies needed to raise the standard of productivity and service in the states.

    If some teachers voted against Fayemi in protest against the introduction of competency test as alleged, Ekiti State is the ultimate loser as it will have to continue to have teachers who are not competent to raise the standard of education as required to meet new realities.

    Edo State governor has reportedly backed down on the sack of teachers who failed the competency test for fear of the political backlash. I would rather have governors who would do what is right and in the best interest of the state now and in the future, instead of those who are so desperate to do anything to remain in office.

    The picture of a governorship candidate of a party holding roasted corn he bought on the roadside has gone viral on facebook. Obviously, the picture is meant to be a publicity stunt to portray him as a  ‘man of the people’ life Fayose,  but the real implication is how cheap the basis for getting elected into political office  has become.

  • Who is afraid of the media?

    If you get to read this column, you are probably one of the lucky Nigerians who have not been denied access to newspapers following the shocking crack down on media houses by the military.

    Since Friday, nationwide distribution of newspapers has been disrupted by armed soldiers and other security men who claimed to be acting on instruction to search for explosives in circulation vehicles.

    In enforcing the directive, newspaper distribution centres have been raided, vendors harassed, vehicles impounded and media houses’ vehicles seized.

    True to the soldiers claim, the defence headquarters has confirmed that its men were acting on an intelligence report which indicated that dangerous materials were being moved through circulation vans.

    “The general public and affected organizations in particular are assured that the exercise was a routine security action and should not be misconstrued for any other motive,” Director of Defence Information Major General Chris Olukolade said in his statement on Friday.

    Considering the state of insecurity in the country, it is understandable why the security forces should be at alert and take every intelligence report seriously. They have come under a lot of criticisms for not being able to contain the sporadic attacks across the country by terrorists and other criminal gangs and should be seen to be doing  everything possible to live up to the expectations of the people.

    It is the duty of the government through the security agencies to ensure the security of lives and property and any step in this direction should be commended.

    However, if for any reason there are indeed  intelligence reports about use of newspaper distribution vans for moving explosives  around the country, the searches could have been better done without leaving room for the motive of the military to be misconstrued.

    Except the military believes that the managements of the media organizations could be party to the use of their vehicles for carrying the dangerous weapons, one would expected that the owners and managers of the affected organizations would have been contacted on the intelligence reports to seek their support to arrest anyone who may be using their vehicle without their knowledge.

    Since the exercise has nothing to do with the content, operations and personnel of the media organizations as the defence spokesman said, there was no need to have stormed the distribution centres and stopped the distribution of the papers even after searching and finding nothing incriminating in the vehicles.

    If the Friday seizures were the handiwork of overzealous soldiers acting beyond their brief as Major General Olukolade’s press statement suggested, why did the crackdown continue on Saturday and affected more newspapers.

    Now that no dangerous materials have been found in the vehicles of the affected newspapers,  who pays for the losses the media house have to incurred due to the inability to sell the seized copies.

    The media and Nigerians deserve more explanation on what is really happening to warrant the undue assault on the freedom of the press under a democratic government.

    Anyone or organisation , with enough evidence found liable of colluding with terrorists should not be spared.  However, a situation where the media is being given a bad name for no justifiable reason to hang it is rather unfortunate.

    For all the media has done, still doing and will do, in the efforts to end the reign of terror in the country, it should be regarded as a partner and not an enemy.

  • No to Jungle justice

    With the high level of crime in the country, including armed robbery, kidnapping, ritual murders and others, it is understandable why Nigerians are not pleased that many criminals escape justice.

    Instead of ensuring that the criminals are penalized in accordance with the law of the land to serve as a deterrent to others, the police have in some cases not been able to diligently prosecute matters referred to them.

    Many criminals have been able to bribe their way out of detention and it is not unusual to hear people say the best way to allow a criminal go scot free is to hand him or her to the police.

    While the accusation against the police may not be entirely true, there have been proven cases where the law enforcement agents have been found guilty of compromise and endangering the lives of informants and complainants.

    It is against this background that the public have become impatient about long and winding prosecution process sometimes exploited by those who are supposed to enforce them and resorted to taking the laws into their hands.

    The jungle justice by the mobs on the streets across the country these, days is a fall out of the lack of trust in the ability of the police to stem the wave of criminal activities which have become the order of the day.

    Criminals now seem to have a free reign and appear unstoppable by security agents who are sometimes ill equipped and not sufficiently motivated to perform their duties.

    However, notwithstanding the situation, jungle justice which has become rampant at the slightest accusation against anyone cannot be justified. Particularly worrisome is emerging evidence that some of the victims of instance justice may not be guilty of the offenses for which they were being punished.

    All what is require these days for one to be beaten up on the streets and set ablaze is to be accused of being a kidnapper by some faceless persons based on unsubstantiated accusations.

    A woman who was recently accused of attempting to kidnap some kids in Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos was mercilessly beaten, stripped naked and set ablaze turned out to be a mentally challenged graduate. Her accusers had claimed that she came to the area in a Jeep to abduct some school children.

    Now that the mob have had their way, the question to ask is where is the Jeep she allegedly drove to the area? and who are the children she attempted to kidnap?

    An old woman would have been killed in a similar way in Ajegunle recently but for the intervention of the police. Some miscreants who saw her with a new baby who they said she could not have delivered were not persuaded by her explanation that she was coming from the hospital where her daughter had just given birth.

    The old woman was carrying the baby home on the instruction of the doctor due to the state of health of the baby’s mother who needed medical attention and could not take care of the baby.

    If the mob had gotten away with their usual jungle justice, they would have sold another lie to the public about an old woman who had kidnapped a day-old baby.

    The claim of a bird which dropped from the sky and transformed into an old woman also turned out to be a false allegation which would have been the basis for the killing of another innocent woman.

    Much as we all have to be vigilant and assist law enforcement agencies in apprehending criminals of all kinds, it is necessary to ensure that innocent persons are not falsely accused and punished for offenses they did not commit.

    I would rather prefer that a criminal escape justice than an innocent person being a victim of jungle justice.

    The Lagos State Government should enforce its warning against this worrisome trend before more innocent victims are killed and penalise ring leaders who are usually responsible for the false allegations.

    The police and other security agencies working with the judiciary will also do well to live up to their responsibility of ensuring that criminals are not allowed to.

  • Reinventing Journalism in Nigeria

    In 1984, I was an intern in the defunct National Concord newspapers.

    The three -months plus experience in many ways prepared me for what has turned out to be my long sojourn in journalism which from every indication will not end soon.

    However, one aspect of my journalism career which  I intend to give more attention is media career development.

    Over the years, I have benefitted from one form of media career  initiative or the other and  I feel a compelling need to scale up my work in this area.

    While many other professional groups are making conscious efforts to develop the capacity of their members with organised structures for continuos education on the job  and career support, not enough is being done in the media.

    Right from media training institutions for those who have the opportunity to attend one,  to the various media houses there is a yearning gap for the implementation of well articulated media industry relevant training and career support for journalists.

    I acknowledge that there are indeed some efforts being made but what we need is a coordinated approach to ensuring that journalists are well trained in media training institutions. That some Mass Communication students graduate these days don’t have what it takes to work in a media house is a reflection of the quality of training they are getting and how obsolete the curriculum is.

    There is need for a well defined working relationship between media training institutions and media organisations. If the graduates are being produced to work in media organisations, the training institutions should work with the employers to produce the right quality of graduates.

    This will be possible if the lecturers regularly upgrade their knowledge and also observe part of their sabbatical in media houses. Journalism is a practical job and only those who have practiced the art can effectively teach and inspire young graduates to become outstanding journalists.

    Media organisations and individuals should show more than passing interest in helping to train up-coming journalists. We should volunteer to teach some courses.

    Won’t it be nice if during the Nigerian Union of Journalists, week observed annually members visit media training institutions and teach for some hours on various courses and give the students the benefit of their experience.

    Nigeria media training instructions should also learn from the model in many developed countries where they have Media Career Services department manned by professionals who guide and mentor the students throughout their course and stay in touch with them after graduation.

    Beyond the initial certification, the dynamic nature of media work requires that there should be regular on -the- job – training for journalists based on need assessment of the various category of staff.

    I dare say that regular training is not a top agenda, if it is at all, of most media organisations in the country. We are so focused on the daily round of production that we think that regular training is a distraction. It is said that insanity is doing the same thing the same way and expecting a change. It is no surprise that in some instances we can’t claim to be making much progress beyond the technology.

    I don’t know how many media houses budget or training of their staff. Some media houses have training managers, but in some instances such positions are ‘Siberia’ postings, if you know what I mean.

    My experience is that we have largely abandoned training of journalists to Media Non Governmental Organisations, who understandably have their own agenda and focus. NGO trainings unfortunately do not cover many area of media coverage. Most times, they are in the areas of health, human rights and a few others.

    Surprisingly,  even when free trainings are organised for journalists, some managers are either not interested in allowing their staff to attend or the journalists themselves don’t take maximum advantage of the opportunities.

    One possible excuse which is even not tenable is lack of funds since many media organisations are finding it difficult to pay salaries, but how do we explain that we employ young journalists and don’t give them basic orientation like it’s done in other sectors.

    The defunct Daily Times had a training School for new and old staff. Radio Nigeria still has a training school in Lagos which I am not sure has the capacity to meet the demands of modern broadcasting. There is also the old TV College in Jos.

    By now we should have had more training schools better equipped, better staff to cater for the boom in the media industry.

    While media organisations have the obligations to train their staff, individual journalists as professionals should also invest in their own career. Our career is about our life and the progress we make should not be limited by only the support we get from our media houses.

    Journalists should like other professionals take personal responsibility for to become better on their job. If artisans buy their tools, I don’t know why some journalists will refuse to buy simple gadgets to improve on their productivity and wait for their employers to buy for them.,

    I am not aware that employers pay for most ICAN, NIPR,APCON courses that that staff are supposed to acquire, yet the concern staff dutifully enroll for the courses.

    Using  the popular definition of Public Relations,  journalists should have a deliberate planned and sustained career plan. We should have a mission statement and goal.

    A career is like a journey and unless it is planned it will be an aimless one than will amount to nothing no matter how long we are on the job. Like someone said, if you don’t know where you are going, everywhere you get to we look like your destination.

    For too long many of us have carried on as if we are engaged in a lesser profession or even a trade which some claim journalism is. Journalism and other media work is too important for any professional to be a mediocre.

    It is not difficult to have structured programmes for continuos education for as many journalists as possible. What the industry leaders need is the will and the commitment to provide an enabling environment to improve the cavity of journalists.

    The task to reinvent journalism practice in Nigeria is a task that must be urgently done and we all have individual and collective roles to play.

    Excepts from my 50th Birthday lecture on May 9, 2014

  • Questions for President Jonathan

    Despite the criticisms of the quarterly Presidential Media Chat with President Goodluck Jonathan by some media executives, I am one of those who think the interviewers usually try their best to cover the various critical issues in the country for the president to respond.

    I watched the last one and was particularly impressed by the way the interviewers asked follow up questions to get the president to declare his stand on the 2015 presidential elections. Expectedly the president chose to answer the questions the way he deemed fit and still left the question of his presidential ambition still hanging.

    I expect the question of President Jonathan’s ambition and many other urgent issues of national importance to come up tomorrow when the seventh edition of the chat holds. With the situation in the country, Nigerians are itching for answers to many questions bogging their minds.

    Yesterday afternoon, I asked The Nation’s followers on Twitter and friends of facebook what they think should be the most important question President Jonathan should answer during the media chat.

    I was not surprised by the numerous responses I got.  Even though many were not enthusiastic about the outcome of the chat, indications are that Nigerians are particularly worried about the endless killings by the Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the country.

    More than ever before, Nigerians are worried about the future of the country and need a firm assurance from the president that he is still really in charge and not the terrorists who seem unstoppable for now.

    If some Nigerians were to be on the panel of interviewers, here are some of the questions they would have wanted President Jonathan to provide exhaustive answers to:

    Who should take responsibility for the continuous loss of lives and properties in the country?

    What is your greatest fear for the country?

    Where are our kidnapped school girls?

    Why don’t you allow the North their independence, so they can rule themselves and stop blaming you?

    What is preventing you from exposing Boko Haram sponsors?

    Why has this administration paid deaf ears to the plight of over two million polytechnic students whose campuses have been shut for 10months following FG/ASUP face-off?

    Where is the missing $20m which was not remitted to the federal account by NNPC?

    Who ordered the withdrawal of army from the various check points before  the  attacks abduction of the girls in Chibok?

    Mr President, tell me what will make me believe that you deserve my vote if you contest for 2015 election.

    Sir, we would like you to tell us why you should continue to sit as the president even when almost everything is falling apart? We observed that heads of governments of other countries of the world do not wait to have one-tenth of the crises bedevilling us before throwing in the towel.

    Why did you dance at a PDP rally barely 24 hours after the first Nyanya bombing?

    Why are the youths not employed?  How many times are we going to have fuel and cement scarcity?

    With the issues on ground about the bombing and gunmen killing innocent Nigerians, what hope does the (let me use the word “ordinary” Nigerians) have in GEJ’s tenure as president for four to five years now?

     Do you think you are trying your best in terms of security in the country?

    Where are our kidnapped school girls?

     Are the Nigerian Armed Forces not well-trained and paid to secure the nation?

    If corruption and poverty are not our problems, then what is it?

  • Rescue Chibok girls

    The capacity of the Boko Haram insurgents for evil  is indeed legendary. Not satisfied with the endless killings of people through its various attacks like the recent one in Abuja when scores of persons were killed and many others injured, the group recently abducted over 200 secondary school girls in Chibok, Borno State.

    The abduction of the girls whom they have refused to release despite all appeals has damaged whatever is left of our image in the international community.

    The ability of the terrorist group to beat the military security network despite the partial state of emergency in force in Borno State and ferry away the girls into the forest has again confirmed its near invincibility despite claims by the federal government that it is on top of the situation.

    The abduction of the girls is a litmus test for the federal government to prove that it has the capacity to checkmate the insurgents, now or in the future. The military unfortunately started the rescue efforts on a wrong note by claiming to have rescued the girls when then they had no clue of their whereabouts.

    The initial controversy over the actual number of students abducted and those who have escaped is also not good enough as it gives room for doubts on who to believe.

    Except the girls are rescued alive and not allowed to be abused as sex slaves or used as human shield, the federal government should consider the battle a lost one.

    We cannot afford to allow the reign of terror being unleashed presently in the north east part of the country to continue. The terrorists have become a law to themselves and except they are permanently curtailed, they will do more damage and seize control of some more states.

    Much as the military must exercise caution because of the civilian population trapped in the battle zone, no effort must be spared in regaining the areas the terrorists are based.

    From all indications, the insurgents are well-equipped and can only be defeated with superior intelligence and weapons. The welfare of the  soldiers serving in anti-Boko Haram operation must be catered for and they should not be dispirited in anyway.

    Where we need foreign support, we should not hesitate to ask, considering the international network of terrorists.

    This is a battle that must be won to save our country from the looming danger where the onslaught of the insurgents will spill over to other parts of the country.

    The confusion along the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway last week over the false alarm of Boko Haram members attacking motorists should serve as a warning why security should be firmed up nationwide, instead of pretending that the problem is limited to the northeast and Abuja.

    It is bad that our leaders have allowed the situation in the country to degenerate to where Nigeria is being named along with Somalia and Afghanistan as terrorists enclaves, but there is still time to stop our dangerous slide to anarchy.