The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

UCH: Soldering on amidst challenges

By Tajudeen Kareem

The story is told that six decades ago, the Saudi monarch came to Nigeria seeking medical care. Even so, presently Nigerians in diaspora are coming back home for surgery and treatment of difficult ailments.

Indeed, respectable Nigerians living abroad attest to the fact that despite all the seeming challenges buffeting the health sector here, Nigerian hospitals, indeed medical professionals are no push overs.

The following submissions on X (formerly twitter) are sobering. Dr Simi Official on @ simisola10 said people now leave the UK to get medical care in Nigeria. In reaction, Bashorun Oduduwa @ AEAdeola said: “Because there is no waiting time in Nigeria and Nigeria’s healthcare professionals are well trained. We need to amplify the good things about Nigeria more than the bad ones.” Abimbola King @ Harbimborlar gave his verdict: “This is 100 percent true. I knew a doctor who went to Nigeria for his surgery cos he cannot wait for 12 months. Nigeria will be better.”

No one will rightly say the health care sector in Nigeria has attained the ideal status. However, there is no denying the fact that there are genuine efforts to improve on the system and respond to emergent challenges, including inadequate funding, poor infrastructure, and a shortage of skilled healthcare professionals. Above all there are competing demands from no less critical sectors namely education, defence, social infrastructure, among others.

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In the 2024 budget, the federal government allocated N1.33 trillion or 4.8 per cent to the health sector, up from N1.17 trillion budgeted last year. This gesture must be complimented by sub-national governments to keep Nigerians healthier.

More so, the federal government has rolled out the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative described by Minister of Health and Social Development, Prof. Mohammed Ali Pate as “a comprehensive plan to revitalise the country’s healthcare sector.”

This is in recognition of the urgent need to invest in healthcare infrastructure, human resources and technology to provide accessible, affordable and quality healthcare services to all Nigerians. This initiative aims to address the existing gaps in the healthcare system and improve the overall health outcomes for Nigerians.

The key objectives of the initiative are to improve the physical infrastructure of healthcare facilities across the country, including renovating existing healthcare centres, building new hospitals and equipping them with modern equipment.

The shortage of skilled healthcare professionals has also been a significant challenge in the country.

“The initiative plans to address this issue by investing in the training and recruitment of healthcare workers. This includes providing scholarships and incentives for medical students, improving the working conditions for healthcare professionals, and attracting Nigerian diaspora healthcare workers to return to the country,” said the minister.

Recognizing the importance of primary healthcare in preventing and managing diseases, the initiative would focus on strengthening primary healthcare centres across the country. Top on the list is improving the availability of essential drugs, expanding immunization coverage, and implementing community health programs to promote preventive healthcare practices.

To sustain the improvements in the healthcare sector, the initiative will place emphasis on sustainable financing, by exploring innovative financing mechanisms, improving budget allocation to healthcare, and encouraging private sector participation in healthcare investments.

Indeed, experts and critics have agreed that Nigeria cannot continue to run a health sector system where patients have to look for cash when they fall sick or have to attend a health facility. On the reverse plane is the fact that government cannot provide free health care services! Indeed, the most pragmatic approach is to fast-track the coverage of health insurance in the country where population has peaked at 250 million.

While scaling up health insurance cover, government must also examine the need for Public-Private-Partnerships in running all tertiary and general hospitals nationwide.

For example, Garki Hospital, Abuja, is owned by the FCT administration but run by Nisa Premier Hospital under a PPP arrangement. It was accredited by the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, in 2008 and currently has one of the largest number of enrolees in the FCT and the only PPP that accepts secondary referrals from other health facilities.

The hospital is also the only facility that carries out specialized surgery under the NHIS scheme. The hospital has over 187,000 patients registered on Electronic Medical Record application, 33,906 NHIS enrolees spread across 55 Health Maintenance Organizations, HMO. Under the FCT Health Service Scheme, the hospital attends to 8139 enrolees from three HMOs, its Private Health Insurance Scheme has 1831 enrolees spread across 35 organizations and it offers corporate services to 10,502 persons from 16 registered organizations.

A few months ago, the federal government announced the expansion of the health insurance system with the launch of a new health insurance package, Group Individual and Family Social Health Insurance Programme, GIFSHIP.

Former Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire had stated on the occasion that the new insurance product is the outcome of wide-ranging and far-reaching reforms within NHIS to significantly increase the fiscal space for healthcare services. “GIFSHIP offers Nigerians opportunity to participate and benefit from the health insurance system. There’s opportunity for affordable individual enrolment, family unit or a group of people. Any of the enrolments can also be sponsored by well-meaning individuals, Trusts or organizations,” said Ehanire.

To return to the story of Nigeria’s premier teaching hospital – the UCH, its Chief Medical Director, Prof Abiodun Otegbayo said the hospital requires massive funding, from government and the private sector to enable it cope with the ever-increasing population of patients who throng the facility daily.

“In a year we welcome about 250,000 patients to UCH, including accident victims, people seeking to treat malaria and diarrhoea as well as sundry referrals from across the country and from outside Nigeria. Our average monthly bill for public power supply is N57m but to provide for interruptions we buy diesel worth N20m monthly,” he said. Indeed, these are daunting tasks for an institution that serves as a “college” and a “hospital” in a sprawling city as Ibadan.

But there are several other headaches as shortage of water, ageing equipment and facilities and most alarming, the inability to meet rising costs because many patients cannot or are unwilling to pay for health care services!

Despite these unsavoury environmental and peculiar factors, Nigeria’s tertiary health institutions are striving hard to discharge their mandates. They certainly can do better with drastic improvement in funding, more infrastructures and a highly motivated workforce.

Over the years, the infrastructures of UCH had dilapidated and were falling below the standard of when it was constructed. There is an urgent need to embark on massive rehabilitation, renovation and remodelling of the ageing structures. Even when physical structures had dilapidated, the tripod of Clinical Service, Research and Training waxed stronger,” said Otegbayo.

It is an open secret that government cannot adequately fund healthcare, so the hospital has counted on immense material and financial support from individuals, corporate bodies and agencies to add to what the government is providing.

To demonstrate the enormity of challenges faced by the hospital, between January 2019 till date, no fewer than 630 clinical staffs made up of 299 doctors, 265 nurses and other 66 comprising of radiographers, pharmacists, medical laboratory scientists and radiologists resigned their appointments, no thanks to the Japa syndrome.

Undaunted, management and staff have remained focused and committed to earn the hospital the award from the Presidency as the Best Public Hospital in the 2021.

For the Nigerian health sector, glorious days are around the corner, considering the zeal of practitioners and renewed attention by the government and sundry stakeholders.

• Kareem is a public policy analyst. He writes from Abuja.

January 26, 2024
Why Nigeria should not be importing syringes

By Damola Niyi

SIR: Nigeria’s large population, which is estimated at over 250 million people currently, makes the demand for syringes in the country significant.

This demand is driven by healthcare needs ranging from vaccinations, daily medical procedures and other healthcare services rendered.

Before the establishment and growth of locally-based syringe manufacturing companies, Nigeria relied solely on the importation of syringes from countries such as China, India and others. This reliance, although, temporarily filled the supply gap experienced by the country, it came with a lot of risks which raised concerns as to the manufacturing processes, quality, cost and ready availability of these imported syringes.

The risk associated with importing un-sterilised syringes has serious health implications, causing infections such as hepatitis, abscess, HIV infections to mention but a few. It poses danger to the public, instead of helping to save lives.

Ensuring the quality and safety of imported syringes can be challenging, as it often involves reliance on the quality control measures of foreign manufacturers.

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In addition to these health concerns, economic implications such as relying on foreign suppliers for essential medical equipment leaves Nigeria vulnerable to disruptions in the global supply chain, like those seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Currency fluctuations when importing syringes requires dealing with fluctuating exchange rates, which can lead to cost uncertainties and budgetary constraints for healthcare facilities.

Also, importing syringes reduces opportunities for local job creation and economic growth, which can be addressed by supporting domestic manufacturing.

In recent years, the establishment of some local manufacturing companies has given a boost to local production of syringes. This has reduced the country’s reliance on importation and enhanced the availability of high quality, sterile hypodermic syringes.

In the heart of Nigeria’s burgeoning healthcare industry, these companies stand as a beacon of innovation and reliability. Operating in a dynamic way, they have emerged as a leading force in the domestic production of syringes, leveraging cutting-edge technology, while committing to quality.

• Damola Niyi, Lagos.

January 26, 2024
Those who have murdered sleep

By Kene Obiezu

SIR: It has become so difficult to sleep in Nigeria. A country that was once an oasis of peace has morphed into a hotbed of sleeplessness. If you stay in Abuja, especially on the outskirts – Apo, Bwari, Lokogoma, Kubwa, Lugbe – basically satellite towns, you must now be getting used to what has long been a tradition in other parts of the country. You must have stayed up a few nights already this year, straining for strange sounds, your heart pounding wildly as you prepare for the coming of the true owners of Abuja, its latest landlords.

When in 2022, terrorists tore down the medium security correctional facility in Kuje and sprung some of Nigeria’s most dangerous criminals, didn’t the government spit fire, vowing that ‘Never again’?

Today, ‘never ’ has slackened into every now and then. If gold rusts, what will iron do? If the seat of the Nigerian government is being overrun by kidnappers, what is the date of other parts of the country?

That fate is not far-fetched. It is a notorious fact that terrorists control entire villages in some Nigerian states.

If you are in Barkin-Ladi or Bokkos in Plateau State, you may have an inkling of what could happen. Maybe, you knew one or two of the two hundred people slaughtered just before Christmas last year.

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Depending on where you sit in the Nigerian food chain, there is a good chance that you no longer eat what you crave or spend your money on what you want. Austerity has become your new anxiety. As inflation has stripped your plates of all protein, your pockets of cash, and your bank account of all savings, Nigeria has also unfortunately stripped your eyes of all sleep.

A new year has set off a string of slaughter and abductions. A business that is making improbable millionaires out of otherwise venomous vagrants has become Nigeria’s new reality.

Insecurity has reduced the welfare of people to dust and there are many smiling at the banks because others are in pain.

If the uncertainty, anxiety and insecurity in Nigeria are stoking your efforts to leave Nigeria, your feelings are perfectly rational. Even rats scamper off a sinking ship. For whatever it is worth, I am asking the government to secure lives and property in Nigeria.

To secure the lives of three-year olds and five-year olds and prevent their slaughter as happened in Plateau State. It is callous and calamitous to add insecurity to the poverty already grinding down Nigerians.

If you suspect that those that have murdered sleep in Nigeria are spread across the country including in Abuja, you may just be right. And until sleep returns, you will do well to keep your eyes open for Nigeria’s new rulers, whose ruthlessness is a rod for Nigerians’ backs.

• Kene Obiezu, keneobiezu@gmail.com

January 26, 2024
Of responsible leadership, god-fatherism

By Dr Goodluck F.T. Uguoji

SIR: It is a challenging time even to be in government. But real leaders are made for tough times like this, and they determine the legacies of leaders who can ride the storm creditably.

How did Franklin Roosevelt become a reference point in the democratic history of the United States of America? The only man elected for a record fourth term in the history of the US, he was responsible for taking the country through the Great Depression and the Second World War with commendable gusto. The valiant display of leaders in moments like this is an indication that they have proved their mettle and will leave indelible footprints after they leave power.

The problem is that in Nigeria, many leaders are often not prepared for the rigours of the offices they asked for. For most of them, leadership is a celebratory calling; they expect unlimited access to public resources. This is a significant problem this country faces. The truth is that many governors particularly, past and present, are corrupt. That is why, there is an urgent need for the current governors to change the narrative, by assembling teams of seasoned, incorruptible technocrats that would help them map out comprehensive economic and social programmes and exploit all resources in their states to reverse the country’s poverty trajectory.

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The times call for sacrifice by the leadership, vision and a culture of selfless service. The governors should work independently and rise to the challenge of the times we currently live in. One of the vital factors for the success or failure of an administration is mostly determined by the set of people that surround those in the corridors of power. Invariably, appointees are like the eyes with which leaders see the world around them. They also indicate how their principals react to developments in the society.

The truth is that some make it impossible for such leaders to hear the bell tolling. They live under the delusion that the sycophants around them represent the voice of the masses; they forget that the time that they are entitled to would not stretch beyond the tip of the second hand of the clock. This, they and their band of sycophants would not want to recognise.

Given the futility of power, one wonders why some men who wield it never want to let go in grace; they continue to delude themselves into believing that, they remain the absolute rulers of the states they have plundered so heartlessly. They attempt to buy themselves time when they have used up their shares of that precious commodity. When you think of this, you wonder what makes men who love power deaf to the entreaties of fate.

Even though politics is not a crime and ambitions for political office are also not a crime, some former governors and politicians betray their desperation for power at the tail end of their administration when they impose their successor on the people and want to remain in charge even after they have officially vacated office.

It is therefore no surprise that they take elections as a do-or-die affair; to entrench their parties in the states and to impress their party chiefs that they are hardworking party men. But, today, resentment against the administration of some of them is gaining ground as they are criticised for their political intolerance and their despotic tendencies. Some of them were so powerful that the actions they took while in the saddle amounted to a betrayal of responsibility.

• Dr Goodluck F.T. Uguoji, Akute, Ogun State.

January 26, 2024
Nwabueze: A short tribute

By Charles Uwensuyi-Edosomwan

SIR: Prof Ben Nwabueze, SAN was one who achieved such very high standing as Africa’s foremost law scholar which earned him the privilege of being known by the mononym surname of just NWABUEZE. Any mention of the name Nwabueze in intellectual circles could only mean reference to Prof Ben Nwabueze, SAN.

The world rightly respected him for his legal theoretical prowess and hailed him as a foremost lawyer and academic citing his works liberally with veneration in scholarly works of law, government and politics. Aside this, Nwabueze is one of the few I know whose LL.D wasn’t Honoris Causa but an earned one awarded by the University of London where he schooled and taught on the basis of the oeuvre of his expansive scholarly works.

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I have personally drawn from his deep well in forming whatever lawyer’s skills and learning that I have acquired in the short time that I have been a lawyer. His thoughts against Austinian excessive formalism in judicial hermeneutics is one of the things that made me a disciple of his on the constitution.

I’m glad he lived to a ripe old age and was lucid intellectually till his end. I was full of admiration when even where we were on different sides in the Atiku vs. Buhari case in 2019 at 87 years, he showed up in court in his senior barrister’s finery and addressed court on the matter.

We owe his memory a lot for there is no lawyer of my generation that cut his/her teeth on constitutional law and government that didn’t plough through his tomes on the constitution – that is constitutionalism, judicialism and presidentialism.

From the records, Nwabueze heralded the fortunes of academic SANs when he became the first of that category to be so conferred and was in the company of the elite first five that were conferred in 1978 after the original two of Dr Graham-Douglas and Chief Williams.

Sad to see him go eventually for death is the way of all mortals.

• Charles Uwensuyi-Edosomwan, SAN, Ph.D. Lagos.

January 26, 2024
Akande’s leadership burden

By Ademola Adebisi

In the past few days, the Nigerian public domain has been awash with the celebrations of the 85th birthday of a pan-Nigerian progressive, a Yoruba nationalist and an epitome of selfless leadership, Chief Adebisi Akande. In his country home Ila-Orangun, Ila Local Government Area of Osun State; in Ibadan, the capital city of the new and old Oyo State where his political career had blossomed and glowed; and in Abuja where he had in exemplification presided over the affairs of Africa’s largest ruling political party, the All Progressive Congress, he was celebrated the same day by a wide spectrum of his political followers, friends, allies and even the political foes he had attracted to himself over the years.

It was indeed a honour well deserved by a man who has, through loyalty to his leaders, party discipline, transparency and accountability in governance, selflessness, and mastery over mundane desires, emerged very immaculate and firm in the murky and slippery water of Nigerian politics. As an incorruptible and truthful leader, he remains the brand and face of the leader the Nigerian state ought to have in all the facets of its life but which most Nigerians seem not to appreciate.

His commitment to the above adumbrated leadership virtues, personal discipline and mystical conduct in politics and governance has not only drawn fierce criticism from his political foes and the confused and undiscerning masses, but has also become undeserved burden on this great political hard thinker.

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In this first example, during his time in government, he found out that the Nigerian public service has not only often been outsized and indolent, but has also been grossly ineffective and inefficient. For avowedly saying this truth most times, he is vilified and his leadership is feared. What a burden!

Second, in his public life, he has not only spoken against corruption, he has also fought it. Under his leadership in Osun State, kickback on contracts was not tolerated. For this, some of his followers who have fallen out with him have accused him of not empowering them. Akande prefers the good of the public, but they prefer the good of “selves”. Sad still, the ignorant masses are made to believe this. What a dilemma! What another burden!

Third, in his personal life also, Akande has proved that hard work and frugality equal prosperity. He doesn’t waste his financial resources. He saves and invests his dough. He prefers to teach you how to fish rather than giving you fish to wallop. He operates “sleep well account” that has enabled him to give the best of all things in life to his family. He lives a simple life. For this, he is seen as a stingy leader by some of his prodigal fair weather followers. Instead of following in the footsteps of the leader and bringing order into their own personal finances, they in propaganda, vicariously hold him responsible for their profligacy and lack of foresight.

Fourth, in his public life still, Akande believes in fairness. He always wants to act like nature that rains on the farms of foes and friends alike. Hence, he often acts in altruistic manner. Yet, he has not lost sight of the need to lend a helping hand to the development of his country home, in a country where prebendalism is the rule rather than the exception. Today, the history of the development of Ila community has no root without the prominent and fundamental roles Chief Adebisi Akande has played. This has of course earned him the chieftaincy title of Asiwaju of Ila- Orangun. This could not but attract the envy of some of his kinsmen. Thus, in the last couple of years, the agenda to discredit and demolish his political edifice has been on. Violence, vote buying and propaganda have been deployed to achieve this. In 2021, Ila community lost the location of a Federal College of Education to Iwo in Osun State. Then in Ila, some youths launched fierce and virulent physical attack on Akande’s home. Yet at the peak of the crisis, Akande assured his people that something bigger was coming to Ila. Soon after, the then president, Muhammadu Buhari, a friend of Akande, who had publicly declared that, he could go to the trenches with Bisi Akande, approved a Federal University for Ila -Orangun. While it is an open secret that Akande’s influence attracted this public good to the town, yet like the Jews of the old, his detractors continue to chorus :”crucify him”.

What a burden!

In his political career also, Akande abhors carpet crossers and money bags. They often end up betraying their party and their leaders he has consistently maintained. Contrarily however, the affected political neophytes often misunderstand this and often describe Akande as an old cock that doesn’t want the young ones to crow. Amidst this wrong notion, Akande has mentored the patient ones and has let go those in a hurry.

For a very long time, Akande has stood by Bola Tinubu. This is born out of Akande’s belief that Tinubu would lead Nigeria and should therefore be helped by a pathfinder from homeland in order to succeed. This is exactly the motive of his closeness to Tinubu and why Tinubu has made him his confidant and pathfinder which Dare Babarinsa has captured very well in Yoruba as” Baba Isale”. But for his loyalty and as pathfinder for Tinubu, some of his detractors have unfortunately and wrongly seen him as Bola’s lapdog. But like all Baba Isale in Yoruba political process and governance, Akande is certainly on top.

One good news that has attended the birthday celebrations is the establishment of Adebisi Akande Foundation. While we await the details of the foundation, it is my hope that interrogating the Nigerian leadership and followership question and their ecology will form part of its mission.

• Dr. Adebisi writes from Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State.

January 26, 2024
Ibadan explosion: A wake-up call on Makinde

SIR: Ibadan, the third largest city in Africa after Cairo and Johannesburg, on Tuesday January 16, witnessed a calamitous but uncommon disaster which many believe was a-typical in the history of the city. Like the Ogunpa flood disaster of the 80s, the Bodija explosion will not be forgotten anytime soon.

One thing however distinguishes the Bodija cataclysm from the one that happened decades ago. The tragedy could have been avoided and averted unlike the Ogunpa flood catastrophe which was a natural disaster.

Sadly, it was Governor Seyi Makinde who made the first public announcement of what precisely caused the explosion that shook almost the entire city. According to the governor, the explosion occurred via the explosive devices kept in one of the buildings at old Bodija area by illegal miners.

Illegal miners? How come illegal miners, in the first instance, reside in the state without the governor’s knowledge? Are there no details on the Ibadan-based miners; where they live and the nature of their operations on the governor’s table?

The calamity that befell part of Bodija is what is expected in a state where there is hardly a specific rule that regulate the activities of foreigners in its domain. It’s unimaginable that foreigners who do illegal businesses would be allowed to operate without any effort to check their activities. These foreigners, who engage in illegal businesses, will never care to handle things accordingly since they have nothing to lose even if the whole state burns.

Much as this isn’t the time to apportion blames, nevertheless, this must be presented for discussion to avoid future occurrence. Those who lost their loved ones and their property to the explosion will definitely understand how important it is to address the issue once and for all. It is imperative to find a lasting solution to the illegal activities of some foreigners who only come here to milk and make capital out of our land without offering commensurate returns for the benefit of the indigenes.

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No doubt, some are wont to argue that Governor Makinde has nothing to do with mining: the extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the earth. Mining is in the exclusive list and the parastatal is under the supervision of federal government.

Agreed, the argument is very sound, but I don’t think this absolves the state government. Before a miner could operate in Oyo State, he must have, at first, been a resident of a particular area in the state. So the questions are: what measures did the state government put in place before foreigners are accommodated and are allowed to settle? What specifically is the procedure designed by the state government to guide the business activities of foreigners? Does the state have bio-data of the expatriates who reside in the state? These are the pertinent questions.

Governor Seyi Makinde must henceforth ensure that the bio-data of all foreigners are accumulated and documented for proper record and adequate monitoring. Those who do not have legitimate businesses in the state should be flushed out and deported without delay. And those who do legitimate businesses must be closely monitored by the appropriate agencies.

Again, there must be collaboration between the state government and residents/community leaders through local government across the state. Heads of each community and local security groups must be saddled with the responsibility of reporting suspicious movements of these foreigners.

The state government will need to liaise and communicate with the estate agents/agencies through whom these foreigners secure accommodation in the state. There must be a law that will make these estate agents to be legally answerable for any misdeed or illegal activity of their clients (the foreigners).

If government is truly responsible for the protection of lives and property of the citizens, I believe there must be no huge a price to pay to make life comfortable for them, the citizens.

•Ademola ‘Bablow’ Babalola,

babalolaademola39@gmail.com

January 25, 2024
On the worsening insecurity
SIR: Any honest review of contemporary security situations, value for human life and dignity of human person in Nigeria, would reveal the reality that life in Nigeria is brutally solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short, reflecting the human condition that social contract philosophers referred to as “living in a state of nature”.

As was the case in Hobbes’s state of nature, Nigerians live and suffer from constant fear of violent death, helplessness. Might has become right; even with Nigerians surrendering their full freedom to the government in exchange for protection and security, which in most cases never happens, it is simply the case of “woe to the conquered”.

According to Beacon Report, 4,067 persons were abducted and 9,734 killed by gun men in 2023. In some communities, bandit now invade villages in broad daylight, demanding levies, kidnapping, killing, destroying homes, properties and farms. To the lucky victims of our security crisis, who are alive to tell their terrifying stories in the cold hands of the criminal elements, they simply ”do not pray that Nigeria happens to you”, as there is usually no indemnity to those shattered by our broken social and physical security systems.

The problem is not just about the failure of the state to secure the life and property of the people, it is the sustained culture of lack of responsibility and impactful results from those entrusted with the mandate to provide public services for public good. Hence, from the nights of April 14 – 15, 2014, when 276 Chibok girls were kidnapped in Chibok community, to the horrify killing of Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar on Friday, January 12, amongst other millions of Nigerians that have lost their lives to various forms of violence and insecurity, the government for over a decade has failed to secure any serious conviction against any serious suspect connected to the lingering security crisis. No government official has ever resigned for the failure of the state on security, no official of the government has ever been sacked as a result of inability to secure the lives of the people, nor has the devastating spate of insecurity abated.

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Perhaps, our predication is worsened by the fact that governments at all levels have failed in their approach and commitment to solving the root causes of the insecurity. Insecurity enablers such as unemployment which is currently at 4.2% as at the Q2 of 2023, with 133 Nigerians that are multi-dimensionally poor, inflation expected to peak at 29% in the Q1 of 2024, lack of basic infrastructure and enabling environment for small and medium enterprises to thrive, have only further deepened our security crisis.

To summarise our situation is to understand that Nigeria currently faces two epidemics – corruption and insecurity. These two factors are intertwined, as corruption undermines the capability of public officials and public institutions to discharge their duties in securing the life and property of the people.

Policing in Nigeria has become but an institution in need, as the police force itself is in need of security in some cases, while some divisional stations close every evening. Officers of the Nigerian Police Force seems to be a police service institution for the elite alone – out of 400,000 police officers, more than 150,000 of them are attached to VIPs and unauthorized persons.

For the avoidance of doubt, Nigeria is not isolated from the current global landscape of complex crisis and conflicts. The difference, however, is the grace and dignity in government response, responsibility and sincere commitment to public safety. In our clime, it is almost like Nigerians are existing without an overseeing authority.

If you measure how many kilometres that have functional presence of government, you will be disturbed by the fact that nearly 60% of the Nigerian territory is ungoverned and only witnesses the presence of government during elections.

President Bola Tinubu as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces must give definitive order to the Service Chiefs, with timeline on when to end this widening level of insecurity. Governors as members of the Nigeria Police Council must understand their role in ensuring that the police force works for all Nigerians. Subnational governments must ensure that security votes are productively utilized for non-kinetic measures of social security, as a system for empowering citizens against insecurity.

We must further empower and strengthen our local government system for efficient public service delivery at the grassroots.
- Ekpa Stanley Ekpa, Kaduna.
January 25, 2024
Amaechi’s empty homily
- By Ike Willie-Nwobu
Sir: Rotimi Amaechi, the former minister of transportation wants young Nigerians to ignore the siren calls of greener pastures and instead hope for the lottery of political office.

Amaechi may have been speaking from a place of genuine alarm at the number of young Nigerians pouring out of the country. But it did not stop him from betraying the mind-set that has enabled himself and others of his ilk to hold Nigeria to ransom.

Political careerism is all they know. It is what they do. From being Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly to governor and minister, he is still on the lookout for a new political position. He committed at least N100 million to be president and lost. Politics for people like Amaechi is all about power and relevance; nothing about service or development.

Where are the jobs? What of infrastructure? Nigerians fleeing the country go to other countries searching for the fundaments of human survival and happiness.

Amaechi does not understand this. A firm fixture in Nigeria’s privileged political class from whose ostentatious tables others must scramble for crumbs; he wants Nigeria’s young, who envision better lives elsewhere, to remain here.

Media houses which invite these expired politicians to air their egregious views should know that they have nothing important to say. The noise they make only serves to drown out important voices and drain the media houses of credibility.

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Amaechi clearly thinks that Nigeria is an accident. To him, Nigeria is a happy coincidence where someone can sleep jobless and wake up a minister or a governor.

He has no explanation for the chaos here. He does not think there is anything wrong with those who occupy political offices here. He prescribes political office as the highest ambition, the panacea to the perpetual problem of unemployment and despair.

It is wrong for the entire aspirations of a Nigerian to centre on leaving the country. But it is also faulty to ask Nigerians who stay back to aspire only to political office.

Nigerians deserve a strong economy, quality infrastructure and security. Nigerians are not averse to a country where things work. Children in Nigeria deserve quality education and fair employment when they are done. Not the joblessness and despair that is pushing the best of them to all manner of foreign countries.

The young people Amaechi supposedly advised must ignore him. They must push for a better country. Failing that, they must push their way out of a country where the odds are stacked against them.

•Ike Willie-Nwobu,

Ikewilly9@gmail.com
January 24, 2024
For the attention of Mr. President
- By Barbara Modupe Adenuga
Sir: I want to bring to your notice some important goings-on in our country that you may not be aware of. This is because of your position, which does not allow you to mix freely and regularly with the people, especially poor Nigerians, to enable you feel their pains and hear what the people you have delegated powers to, are doing with their positions.

I want to thank you for paying half of the transportation fares of almost 200,000 Nigerians and the free train ride to any part of the country. The free transportation programme was far bigger than the shallow publicity it got. A lot of people did not know it happened. What a pity!

About the palliatives, I don’t know about any other state, but Lagos is lagging behind. In Alimosho, for example, nothing happened except for some selected few, mostly party chiefs who got what they did not deserve. About four or six people shared a small bag of rice without vegetable oil and other supplements. There were several complaints in Ikotun, Abaranje, Okerube, Igando, and Ijegun because no grain of rice was dropped in those places.

The Lagos situation contrasts sharply with that of Borno. I give it to Governor Babagana Umaru Zulum. He has shown that he cares and loves his people. Governor Zulum would give a bag of rice, millet, vegetable oil, Indomie noodles, and clothes to a family on a weekly and monthly basis.

May I suggest that the monetary aspect of the palliatives should be accorded a priority? Those handling it should ask the banks to disburse the appropriate amounts of money to the accounts of the residents with BVN so that the money could get to everyone; it should not be given to a politician who cares only for his purse.

We want the palliatives to go around. It should not be restricted to a particular geopolitical zone of the country.

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We know you as a performer, an action man. But Nigerians are not happy that your ministers always tell you only what they want you to hear, not the reality on the ground. For instance, the minister of power, Adebayo Adelabu, has been making a lot of noise on the pages of newspapers.

Before he became a minister –that is immediately you were sworn in – the management of electricity companies feared that you would not take any nonsense from them. So, they ensured constant power supply. We had electricity to power our electronics. Artisans were happy doing their jobs without fear of power failure. But as soon Adelabu assumed office, there was a relapse to the dark days of outages. Throughout the Yuletide period, we could not enjoy any moment of power supply in Ikotun, Abaranje, Okerube, and the environs.

Another issue is the hospital Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu built in the Abaranje/Okerube community. The hospital was contracted out to doctors who charge patients like they do in a private hospital. If you go there for treatment, you will get a long bill. An eye treatment alone costs a fortune.

We ask: who contracted the hospital to doctors who now inflict so much suffering on the residents? The hospital does not serve the poor; it just masquerades as a government hospital.

Mr. President, you need to delegate a trusted and honest aide to go around our communities. Let the person mix with the people to see and feel what the masses go through. It should not be the people living in Lekki or Victoria Island alone that should be well represented in government.

Mr. President, kindly do something about these important issues.

• Barbara Modupe Adenuga (Mrs.)

Lagos.
January 24, 2024