The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Audu should forget about Lugard House

    SIR: When Prince Abubakar Audu governed Kogi State between the years 1991 and 2003, he left an enduring legacy in all facet of human endeavour and other critical infrastructure which is seen in the entire Kogi State, especially Lokoja the state capital.

    When Audu came back for second term in 2003, it was glaring to the people of Kogi State that the magic wand he displayed in his first tenure which benefited  the entire people was lacking. Presently he has been a guest of EFCC.

    The people of Kogi State look up to a vibrant, youthful and energetic candidate that would ensure that the state realize all its full potentials .

    Kogi has been ruled by a section of the state hence the clamour that power should be moved to another section of the state. The last election which was conducted in a transparent and credible way has rekindled the hope of other parts of the state to occupy the Lugard House in the governorship election later in the year.

    The people of Kogi State are yearning for change, to ensure their state that has not seen physical, economic and social development in the past eight years see a new dawn.  This time, the people will use their PVC with the aid of card reader to ensure that a transparent leader assumes the leadership of the state in the next political dispensation.

    We call on Prince Abubakar  Audu to remain a stateman, a leader that would groom young and visionary candidates that would be sources of pride to the him and the state in general.

     

    •  Bala Nayashi,

      Lokoja, Kogi State

     

  • Gbajabiamila deserves the Speaker’s job

    SIR: That Femi Gbajabiamila carries himself like a true leader, is not new. That he acts and talks the part is also not new. That he is a nationalist is not new as well because his antecedent speaks volume but what is new is that he’s never been the leader of the ruling party in the House of Representatives.

    As the House’s ‘Minority Whip’ leader, Gbajabiamila was many things. He was the voice of the House as well as the enforcer. He pushed that democracy be practiced in Nigeria like in developed countries.

    For starters, lets refresh on the role of a ‘Whip’ and how Gbajabiamila played the part. “A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party’s “enforcers,” who typically offer inducements and threaten party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy. A whip’s role is also to ensure that the elected representatives of their party are in attendance when important votes are taken.”

    In the House Gbajabiamila held sway because of his stance against mismanagement, poor leadership and political immaturity. He vehemently kicked against the defection from one party to another, hammering on the need for Nigerian politicians to have and hold onto a set of political beliefs, ideology and philosophy.

    Gbajabiamila pretty much summed himself up in his  book: “Fearless: the Emergence Of A Virile And Formidable Opposition Leader (Political Memoirs of Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila) preparing himself for the big stage, only that, this time he will go from opposition leader to the leader of the ruling party, a position he has prepared himself for and one that has waited for him.

    His panache and zest as Minority Whip leader was contagious and staggering. His colleagues always listened when he spoke. His oratorial prowess and his ability to convey his messages in the best possible fashion made him an item in every gathering.

    As Minority Whip leader, he pushed Nigeria and Nigerians. He pushed the ruling party, he pushed his colleagues in the opposition but above all he pushed himself even beyond his own comprehension.

    Why should he be the eighth Speaker of the House of Representative?  As head of the ad hoc committee investigating claims by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON that N140.9 billion, which was owed by Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited and Forte Oil Plc, has been paid, Gbajabiamila did a thorough job ensuring that the House also passed Money Laundering and Terrorism Amendment Bills.

    That’s why Asiwaju BolaTinubu, a national leader of the All Progressives Congress described Gbajabiamila as “an inspiration to many of the members of the House of Representatives today  who are working tirelessly to see Nigeria chart a new course and  are very so committed to changes,  content of the character of the country, adding  a great value and commitment to national development and progress of this country”.

    Gbajabiamila is not one who shies away from his responsibilities and actions as a leader. To preserve the democracy of Nigeria, he was once forced to scale the gate of the House of Representatives. On his Facebook page, he wrote of his action: “What happened in the National Assembly yesterday will forever live in infamy. Never thought I would see the day when I would be forced to go over the assembly gates where I work to gain access into the chambers.”

     

    • Seun Bisuga,

    Lagos

     

     

  • Re: Our agenda for Buhari by doctors, others

    SIR: The pharmaceutical society of Nigeria wishes to express its gratitude to your publication for your exclusive on the above subject matter.

    We however wish to draw your attention to the caption – Our agenda for Buhari by doctors, others… While conceding that editors have a liberty to decide the captions that suits them best, it is imperative to point out that the aforementioned caption assaults sensibilities and deals fatal blows on the pride of health professionals especially pharmacists.

    It is painful that at a time we continue to seek mutual respect for all concerned in the health sector, this type of caption encourage the conqueror mentality doctors in collaboration with some biased stakeholders continue to impose on our perennially volatile health sector.

     

    • Gbalagade Iyiola, MAW

    Mushin, Lagos.

     

  • Still on the xenophobic attacks

    SIR: South Africans have been up in arms against foreigners, mostly black immigrants since 2008. If care is not taken, such hostility could become the defining feature of the relationship between Africa’s most industrialised nation and the rest of the sub-Saharan Africa. The series of violent attacks have resulted in the death of about 10 people who were either stabbed, lynched, wounded or set ablaze right in their places of abode while many others, who were lucky to survive have been displaced and rendered homeless. The world also watched in horror, as gangs of weapon-wielding youth descended on hapless people by killing, maiming and destroying their property. Shops and restaurants were reportedly looted with the law enforcement agents accused of looking the other way.

    We recall that such hostility played out some years back when some South Africa-bound Nigerians were turned back at the Oliver Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg for allegedly attempting to enter the country without the possession of valid yellow fever vaccination cards. At that time, the measure attracted a retaliatory action, as Nigeria turned back about 130 South Africans after their plane had touched down at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos. Not only that, the humiliation Nigerians face when applying for South African visas is unbearable, particularly when nationals of similar countries that supported apartheid are allowed to enter into South Africa without entry visas.

    The South Africans are said to be irked by the business competition offered by foreigners and Africans who seem to be more successful than them. Due to South Africa’s culture of entitlement, the entrepreneurial spirit and hardwork so evident in immigrant communities has become a source of resentment for them. The culture of entitlement that tends to propel South African natives to become lazy and complacent, believing that many of their unemployed township dwellers cannot do much on their own to improve their situation without state assistance. Not only that, immigrants from Somalia and Ethiopia are also feared and hated because they do much better than their South African counterparts. These immigrants – out of sheer business ingenuity – co-operate with each other by forming business networks to buy goods together in bulk and undercut competition by excelling as entrepreneurs.

    King Zwelithini’s provocative utterances undoubtedly fuelled the latest impasse and as such, his reprimand and the call by many, including the Nigerian government for his prosecution at the International Criminal Court are not out of place. There can be no valid excuse for or defence of the horrors playing out. It is shameful for a big country like South Africa to behave like the former apartheid state where rights violations were rampant. The patience of Nigerians who rather opted for protest – rather than resorting into violence in the face of provocation – is highly commendable.

    The Nigerian government should rise up to its obligation of protecting its people in South Africa and elsewhere. Necessary legal actions should therefore be initiated to ensure that South Africa pays adequate compensations for the losses incurred by the immigrants. If the South African government cannot guarantee the safety of Nigerians in their country, the Federal Government should put the necessary logistics in place to evacuate its citizens.

    Finally, it is time we looked inward and reflect deeply on how to discourage Nigerians from fleeing their country for greener pasture. The perennial problems of unemployment, insecurity, harsh business climate, epileptic power supply and bureaucratic corruption should be seriously addressed. The incoming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari should ensure that Nigeria regains its pride of place among comity of nations and to become a true home for all its citizens.

     

    • Adewale Kupoluyi

    Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

  • Counting the cost of xenophobia

    SIR: South Africa is in the eye of the storm again as xenophobic onslaught against fellow immigrant Africans sweeps across that land. The repeat of this deep rooted irrational hatred for fellow human beings which took place seven years ago, claiming over 60 lives was cruelty taken to another ugly dimension. Take it or leave it, xenophobic attacks in Africa have unfortunately lived with us and gone unnoticed for years. When it is over we forget to properly identify its recipe to forestall future occurrence.

    Killing and maiming of brothers has become the bane of a well celebrated continent of loving and caring people. The world was largely miffed in this South African Xenophobic attack because this is happening in a multi-cultural society known to have garnered immense African solidarity and support against serial injustices done to their nation during apartheid regime. This is the nation of Nelson Mandela: the epitome of the struggle for South African freedom who once said, “for to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chain but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

    Unfortunately, this barbarism contradicts the South African ideal for democracy, freedom, justice and what they portend. The brazenly rascality turned into broad day armed robbery where looting of shops and properties of immigrants by the young and old South African in the full glare of local and international media was the order of the day.  The South African police and other civil security establishments should be investigated for their unenthusiastic approach to the crisis. They did not seem in my estimation to have risen up to this occasion.

    Xenophobia and other crisis in Africa cannot be divorced from economic struggle for livelihood and the quest for survival among the masses amidst affluent few, corruption, unemployment, poor healthcare facilities, lack of good education and paucity of the needed resources or denial therein. The lack of purposeful leadership and good governance in Africa has thrown up all sorts of confusions and crises. Both the hungry and the unemployed take to anger and since anger emotionally overpowers reason; the least provocation is a misdirected violence waiting to happen on the society which are manifested in the forms of riots and civil wars.

    Ralph Ellison posited that, “when I discover who I am, I will be free.” South Africans were freed from apartheid regime 21 years ago but they have failed to emerge from their cocooned slave-mindset and discover themselves; and if they do, they will be free indeed. Africans are weary of and can no longer tolerate governments devoid of good governance. The earlier African states and governments begin to see positions of authority as one of trust, service to humanity and a social contact which must be sacrosanct, Africa will arise, be well and better for it.

    • Sunday Onyemaechi Eze,

    Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, Kaduna

  • How to defeat malaria

    SIR: With more than 90 percent of Nigeria’s population at risk of malaria infection, it seems we all have a story to tell about the disease. When I was younger, my sister had a close shave with malaria. She developed a high fever and received several antimalarial ‘treatments’ from unlicensed chemists, which did not help. Her case became quite severe before she finally received proper treatment just in time to fully recover.

    As a physician, I am all too aware that her story is sadly not unusual. Malaria is preventable and treatable, yet millions of Nigerians suffer from it every year – and far too many die from the disease. Tragically, many of these deaths are due to incorrect diagnoses and use of poor quality drugs. These failures do not merely prevent patients like my sister from recovering. They also challenge the world’s ability to fight malaria.

    Counterfeit and substandard drugs are a bigger problem than many realize. A review by the Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network – based at the University of Oxford, where I studied as an ExxonMobil Global Health Scholar last year – found that almost one-third of all malaria drugs tested globally failed quality tests, and nearly 40 percent of those were entirely fake. A person who takes fake drugs will not be cured from malaria. In some cases, those drugs may even make the person sicker, since they can contain toxic chemical compounds.

    The issue does not end there. A person who takes substandard drugs, which contain insufficient doses of antimalarial compounds, may begin to recover. However, the parasite will not be completely eliminated from the blood and the patient may relapse. What’s more, over time, the use of poor quality medicines can decrease the effectiveness of our best drugs. If the malaria parasite survives treatment, it can adapt and build resistance to future drug interventions.

    Resistance to artemisinin, the current preferred malaria treatment, has already emerged in Southeast Asia – in part due to improper diagnoses and misuse of drugs. Scientists monitoring drug resistance fear that it could soon spread to South Asia and then to Africa. Allowing substandard drugs to flood our markets could hasten the rise of drug resistance within our own borders and cause malaria deaths to surge.

    This does not have to be our future. Ending malaria is complex and will involve solving many challenges, but we have tools that are proven to stop the disease – including bed nets, insecticide spraying, and diagnostics, as well as medications. If we use these tools the right way, we could eventually reduce the burden of malaria to zero.

    Adequate drug regulation must be central to the fight against malaria in Nigeria and we’ve taken important steps forward. For example, the Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has deployed several technologies to fight fake and substandard malaria drugs, including an SMS system to verify the serial numbers on malaria drug packets. We now need to reach more of our population with systems to remove poor quality drugs from the market, as well as improve screening at our ports and borders to prevent the importation of fake medicines.

    We also need better data on the prevalence of substandard and counterfeit drugs, and systems to monitor the quality of diagnosis and treatment our citizens receive. We can take inspiration from groups like the Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network, which provides a platform to share expertise and coordinate detection of poor quality drugs around the world. This is especially critical in Nigeria, where the lack of quality data makes it difficult to deploy the right interventions and develop effective strategies to combat the disease.

    Finally, we need to generate public awareness about the dangers of poor quality malaria drugs. Education campaigns have been successful in helping our citizens make more informed choices about preventive measures like insecticide-treated bed nets and residual indoor spraying. We need similar programs to help at-risk populations understand the threat of substandard medicines and the need for better care.

     •Dr. Tochukwu Abadom

    St George’s Hospital in London, United Kingdom.

     

  • Senate Presidency cap fits Saraki

    SIR: As the lobby for the president of the eighth National Assembly hots up we must look at some qualities in order not to put a round peg in a square hole. If the in-coming government zones same to the North Central geo-political zone, then the lot favours Dr Bukola Saraki. He has been one of the major achievers of success for the coalition called All Progressives Congress(APC). He almost single-handedly delivered his Kwara State in the presidential, national and states assemblies as well as governorship elections to APC. He is not a green-horn in the Red Chamber. Neither is he a novice in politics; he was Kwara State governor for eight years. He was the heir to the late Senate Leader Dr Olusola Saraki. If the story that Benue state is equally lobbying for same is true, moral justice demands that as Benue state’s man is the out-going Senate President, it should allow another state to occupy the seat. The cap fits Bukola Saraki.

     

    • Adelani Olawuyi,

    Odooba-Ogbomoso

  • Agenda for the President-elect

    SIR: have always asserted that there is more than enough to meet the needs of us all Nigerians,but never enough to satisfy the greed of our rulers! Now that the greed drivers have been sent packing, we now have more money available to spend on our needs. In this regard, I offer my suggestions of a way forward for our newly elected leader,General Muhammadu Buhari.

    For starters, that asinine provision in our Constitution, requiring that at least a minister must come from each state should be jettisoned right away. Rather, we should have a provision that there should be a number of ministers to run the affairs of the nation efficiently,effectively and prudently. Ministers will then be picked from the six zones instead of ministers from each town! In actual fact, we should graduate to a stage whereby if the best hands are from a single family, we should pick them.

    Ministers are not appointed to represent their places of origin but Nigeria. In the same vein, the North-South dichotomy should give way when we have a truly nationalistic leader who will ensure our resources are deployed to meet the needs of us all in a truly fair and just manner.

    My next agenda for the incoming President is for him to bring the cost of fuel down,at least petrol should not cost more than N50 if we are to go by Prof Tam David-West’s analysis.

    Let us make do with three planes in our Presidential fleet.

    Still talking of ministers, we must also limit the number of aides both the President and his ministers can have!A situation where either the President or a minister or a governor will just wake up and pick an assistant is unacceptable.

    While the above suggestions will reduce the cost of governance in the short run,there are long term ones that need to be put in place.

    There is need to review the budget, after all, there are so many expenditure heads that will no longer be needed. There is need to bring WAI(War Against Indiscipline)back into our system. There is need to drastically reduce the humongous and sinful pay and allowances that attach to public offices, more especially, the legislature who work part time anyway.

    The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) should be scrapped while the Salary And Wages Commission should fix the pay for every public officer from the President to the messenger having regard to what the economy of the nation can sustain.

    If anyone finds he cannot accept what is on offer, he is free to stay away, after all this is supposed to be an opportunity to serve not to amass wealth.

    It is funny that there is a conspiracy of silence among all now both “progressives” and not so progressive over this scandalous pay that they collect. We need to put an end to all this.

    That way, there will be so much money available to fund all the promised goodies by APC. It is even possible to provide free qualitative education up to tertiary level.

    I implore President Buhari to do a Mandela, but before leaving office, he should initiate a National Conference that will fashion out a people’s constitution that will ensure devolution of power from the centre so that the do or die contest for the Presidency will be moderated.

    Above all, it is good governance that will make the citizenry enjoy to the fullest, the huge resources that God has graciously endowed this nation with.

    I pray God to grant the President and his team the wisdom, knowledge and understanding to lead Nigeria from the the state of potentiality to the area of fulfillment.

     

    • Abiodun Sopitan,

    Oregun, Ikeja -Lagos

  • Morning in a new Nigeria

    I here have been three unmistakable landmark moments in the annals of national elections, when the electorate almost unanimously opted for presidential candidates they deemed ‘game changers.’ The first was June 12, 1993. That particular election won by the business mogul and philanthropist extraordinaire, MKO Abiola. It recorded several ‘firsts.’

    It was the first time northerners preferred a southern candidate in their numbers over a northern candidate. It was the first time a major presidential candidate lost his ward, local government council and state to his opponent, and the first time a winning ticket comprised a presidential candidate and a running mate of the same religion.

    It was the first time a Yoruba man won a state in Igbo land and equally shared honours in the remaining state where the vice-presidential candidate of the other party hailed from. But, unfortunately and tragically, the military powers-that-be annulled the poll and rubbished the tremendous march towards building a nation-state Nigerians had freely and collectively undertaken

    Almost 18 years later, a political Cinderella, who had wowed his audiences with touching tales of his shoe-less beginnings, was handed another pan-Nigeria mandate. Great things were expected of him because he was the first graduate (and a PhD holder at that) to become president. But the hopes and expectations of Nigerians were dashed yet again and he was made to pay a hefty price for his acts of commission and omission when he sought a second term in office.

    The crushing electoral defeat recently inflicted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) marks the third time Nigerians are breaching tribal and religious defensive fortifications. Rather paradoxically and ironically, considering his contentious anti-democratic image back then, when he was an autocratic military head of state, expectations are already running high that Muhammadu Buhari’s electoral victory will permanently change the nation’s democratic ethos for the better.

    With a combination of uncommon charisma, courage, self-discipline, integrity, doggedness and incorrigibility rolled into one, Buhari is indeed very suitably qualified to lead this nation at its most critical time in history. What, with deepening and widespread poverty in the midst of plenty, general insecurity, burgeoning youth and graduate unemployment, corrosive corruption and a comatose domestic currency.

    Buhari isn’t an ‘accidental’ president. His rugged determination to contest again after three unsuccessful attempts must have been driven by a deep-seated passion for the positive contributions he wants to make. The sweet smell of a fresh start is already in the air.

    Quite surprisingly, many people have failed to notice that new political alignments were forged in the same crucible that old animosities and mutual suspicions were crushed. The 2015 elections witnessed two erstwhile sworn political enemies, the core North and the South-West, successfully aligning forces for the very first time in the nation’s history to synthesise a winning presidential candidate on a progressives platform.

    The late Ikenne sage, Obafemi Awolowo, must be beaming a smile of satisfaction in his resting place because what played out was exactly ‘prophesied’ by him at the last congress of the now-rested Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in Abeokuta, where he said: “…we shall meet…at a time the best of the opposition will meet to form a government.”

    There’s also the not-too-obvious but still very significant alignment of forces by two old political enemies, the South-East and the South-South. Forgotten and forgiven (?) were the vexatious issue of “abandoned property” that has been sticking out like a sore thumb and cries of “Igbo irredentism and hegemony.”

    There is indeed no reason why an Igbo man shouldn’t win a local government council or state or national election outside his South-East enclave and why the Hausa or Yoruba or Urhobo, among others, cannot do the same. It happened in the once-upon-a-time good old Nigeria and certainly seems set to happen again in the happening new Nigeria.

    In a way, June 12 marked the 40 days it would have taken the Israelites to travel from Egypt to the Promised Land as the crow flies, but Buhari’s March 28 is symptomatic of the tortuous 40 years it ultimately took them after maturation through diverse experiences in the wilderness. It is indeed morning in a new Nigeria.

    By Ichie Tiko Okoye

    Lagos

     

  • A word for Sani Bello, Niger’s Governor-elect

    SIR: I welcome your promise for change. Certainly we need a lot of changes and development. Congratulations on having been elected the fifth governor of our state. I think you and your team deserve a lot of credit for a landslide victory that surpassed all expectations and gave you an unquestioned mandate. The total vote cast that brought you to power wasn’t even close. Your party, All Progressive Congress (APC) routed the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in what looked like a game between the varsity team and the junior high kids who had just picked up a football for the first time. In your race against Umar Nasko; you ran a careful, well-scripted campaign.

    The state has waited too long for leaders who know that quid pro quo should not be the status quo. The state’s graceful decline can be arrested if you can run a clean, focused, accountable and transparent government. The proverbial dog has caught the car, and now everyone is wondering if you and your team can govern. Or if it even wants to.

    Complicating matters for you will be the countless phone calls, lobbying, e-mails and texts from campaign supporters and those looking for that invite or job-appointment or favour. What to do with those who spent the past years but now scramble to cover their tracks. They, too, now want to be “in” with the new administration. But be warned: The short-term rentals, new best friends and sycophants will return to form at some point over the next four years. So, deal with these obstacles as required, and always remember that your real friends and supporters will be there regardless of circumstances. This knowledge will keep you going through the roughest of patches. We want to see our state under your leadership with measures that will help root out corruption and waste from government agencies. The state has had enough of elected and appointed officers who have turned its agencies and programmes into personal piggy banks, granting favours to their family, friends, God-fathers, thugs, ballot-box snatchers, election riggers, mistresses, rewarding donors, and furthering their own interests. The Governor’s job is too important and demanding to be left to incompetent and untrustworthy staff.

    You must seek, recruit, and empower men and women who are professional, trustworthy, experienced and loyal to the institution of governorship. We’ve got to be true to ourselves: public service should be about serving the public, not setting up a future payday. Learn the rules, master the rules and play by the rules. You have to like people and let them know that you remember them and like them.

    There is this fear that our best years are behind us, but we want you to prove to us that our state’s best is still ahead. It is now a time for healing. We want to have faith again, we want to be proud again, we want the truth again, it is time for the people to run their government and it is time for us to take a new look at our own way of governance to strip away the secrecy of governance. We want you to work day and night to ensure our children’s have access to a great and better education, affordable college, and a good paying job after graduation, to work day and night to see that farmers have enough fertilizers, seedlings, tractors, pesticides and insecticides to boost their agricultural activities, to work day and night to see that our hospitals are renovated and equipped so that it does not continue to wear the look of abattoirs, to work day and night to see that our schools do not look like abandoned farm houses.

     

    • Ibrahim Muye Yahaya

    Jagbele Quarters, Muye, Niger State.