The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • 2015 elections: Words of caution!

    SIR: Politics is a game that is played and enjoyed by the wise. Take it or leave it, politics is part of our everyday affairs. If you have a doctorate in anything or a Master’s degree in wisdom, without contributing to the political process in your nation, you are considered as ignorant. The worst illiterate is the political illiterate. He hears nothing, sees nothing, and takes no part in political events around him.

    The game of politics suits only the wise that is politically and democratically inclined by showing interest in how he is being governed. Notwithstanding, respect must be accorded those who fear politics and always want to abstain from its dirty ways. Nevertheless, cap should be doffed for those that have been playing it without bitterness.

    In view of this, there is the need to appeal to all citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, home and abroad not to fold their arms and stand akimbo. We all have a duty to uphold peaceful coexistence of Nigeria as a unified state.

    The existence, continuity and maturity of our great nation will be on litmus test as Nigeria decides the future of generation to come with their power of vote in the course of on-going general elections. Nigeria is too big for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of People’s Democratic Party to put in turmoil. The Nigerian state is too big for anyone to consume and destroy while we must not let our hero’s past regret laying down their lives for the nation in vein.

    Let us shun political and election violence because Nigeria beyond 2015 and should be our paramount and collective concern. God bless Federal Republic of Nigeria

     

    • Niyi Rufai

    NYC, USA

  • Nigeria is almost there

    SIR: It is with great joy that I write and the reason for this new found joy is the fact that I know the new dispensation will provide Nigerians with a new lease of life. The fact is that in the next general election in Nigeria coming up in 2019, Nigerians should not have to pick between the devil and the deep blue sea. The country and her elections will definitely continue to improve.

    The publicity and the high interest of Nigerians in the 2015 Presidential election has given me hope of a better Nigeria and one is happy to share with you this hope of a recovering Nigeria. And the new lease of hope that Nigeria can work and must work is exhilarating. The onus is now on the people to make the right decisions by subsequently in future elections vote for the right candidate they believe can make Nigeria the country we all wish and pray for. GOD bless NIGERIA.

     

    • Joshua Awolowo” awolowojoshua@gmail.com

     

  • The imperative of change

    SIR: For Nigeria to start afresh on a path of sustainable development, the kleptocatic regime of Jonathan must be constitutionally and electorally dislodged in earnest, otherwise, Nigeria and Nigerians are in hot soup. Jonathan has succeeded in wasting six precious years in the life of Nigeria, instituting and foisting on the nation a regime of propaganda, abandoned governance and established politics of division based on sentiments and propped up criminals as regional leaders.

    In terms of corruption, Jonathan gets gold medal in Africa and his spouse becomes the most vulgar, obscene and un-dignifying in the annals of first lady position in Nigeria. There are more than one thousand and one reasons why Nigerians trooped out last Saturday, not minding the intimidation from compromised security agencies,

    especially, the SSS, to vote for change and not the sustenance of clueless, integrity-deficient and deeply corrupt government of Jonathan, that has reduced Nigeria to a laughing stock in the comity of civilised nations.

    To end insecurity, eliminate corruption, revamp the economy, rebuild infrastructure, strengthen the naira against dollar and pound sterling, our generation, people born after the end of the civil war, our people have done well by voting against Jonathan.

     

    • Akinrolabu Babatunde Omonitan,

    Ikeji-Ile Ijesha,

    State of Osun.

  • Celebrating Jonathan’s exit

    SIR: By last Monday – to be precise, it was obvious that the son of canoe-carver-born former university teacher have lost his re-election bid. Results of the presidential election humbled him. It seems to be the heaviest political fall from grace to grass. The relief of President Goodluck Ebele “Azikiwe” Jonathan’s exit from the nation’s top job would be profound in many ways. If he loses, it would mean that the nation’s participatory democracy has attained some appreciable level of liberal maturation. It will explain that the country’s democratic experiment has taken the will of the electorate into account. It will also give credence to the fact that the era of deploying dollars to buy people’s votes is over. It would again means that no criminally corrupt government, as Jonathan will ever force itself on the nation, indefinitely.

    However, there are no indications Jonathan wouldn’t be tempted to use the military to its ultimate destruction, given the thickheaded and irresponsible egoism of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, with their politics of cattle trading where national interest is utterly subordinated. This still cannot deters a people’s resolve that the highest and truest expression of human spirit lies in the volition to determine their existence. It could come by blood and iron.

    Another issue is the deceptive propaganda, which soiled whatever reputation President has mustered. The president expects Nigerians to watch the minimal dents his administration made on airports renovations, road rehabilitation in televised advertorials in a country where power stability is less than an hour per day after trillions of naira was looted in the name of power generation! He even swore to go on self exile if he failed to complete the Second Niger Bridge by 2015.

    It’s now the butt of joke on ‘Instant Media’ and elsewhere, where the president’s minders regularly ask those against him to go and hug transformer. The responses of those against the president now come with pictures of young boys and girls hugging transformer with the saying: “I been hugging this transformer in the last twenty hours without electricity”. That is how deep the abyss of national wreckage the nation has sunk.

    We are in this horrible state because from the beginning, Jonathan has confused himself with the role propaganda can play in modern days society. He seems to believe propaganda creates leaders! Such terrible assumption has robbed him of the earlier empathy, which was wrongly ascribed to him by Nigerians who were deceived by the most ordinary of his simple appearance, but coated in slyness, spinelessness, infinite shrewdness, serpentine slush and gross deception.

    Nigerians can now know where Jonathan is coming from and the composite ruin his administration visited on the people. Any gain saying it’s unknown to him that corruption is the greatest problem confronting the powerfully endowed nation and that frontally combating the hydra-headed monster is the CHANGE Nigerians need? How else can Nigerians celebrate themselves than Jonathan’s rustication? It will be a celebration of an end to his inept government.

    • Erasmus, A Public Affairs Analyst writes in from Lagos.

  • My first voting experience

    SIR: One of the many teachings that I got from my late father is never to come home until what I sought to accomplish on a specific day within the bounds of human efforts is achieved. Saturday March 28, 2015 therefore saw me woke up on a high spirit and left the house at past seven in the morning for my balloting booth in Port-Harcourt for accreditation, preparatory to casting my vote in the presidential elections. Even when INEC officials allocated to our unit kept us waiting by not resuming for work until at past 10 am, I still could not leave for home because of my daddy’s advise and also since I did not want to miss the opportunity of my first voting experience.

    You would have expected that I was the only person – who was there to vote for the first time, but so were many others – but I was enthralled by the presence of elderly persons, old enough to be my grandparents. They not only came out early but, stood and waited patiently to exercise their franchise.

    The awareness for this election was extraordinary. No one wanted to sit on the fence and this was visibly demonstrated at my polling station where voters expressed their reservations against individuals and support for their preferred candidates, against the electoral law. For me, the major downsides were the presence of some rabble-rousers who wished the card readers should not work so that, our plans, will reach the summit. But they were reasonably asked by some voters to stop such perverse thinking that could be an incitement for trouble.

    Contrary to the thoughts of these enemies of democracy, the card reader deployed to my booth was picture-perfectas it did not record breakdown on any occasion and was so seamless that I imagined why it could have failed in other places within and outside Port-Harcourt as reported in the media.

    I was also taken aback at the goings-on at the booth next to mine. This booth, long after we had been accredited did not start theirs because the INEC official and Youth Corp member sent there brought the wrong machine and upon discovery, the party agents thereafter protested and it took the INEC official forever to replace. My next displeasure was in the way the party agents in the booth next to mine conducted themselves. They never worked in sync to ensure a unified election.

    For instance, when the card reader was not brought on time, all but one of the party agents recommended to the youth corp member-in-charge that they should go ahead with manual accreditations. He amazingly assented to the idea but the agent of a party that is not a major contending party in our national politics stood up to fight for ‘the rule of right’.

    He advocated, even though in a hostile way, that the right thing must be done and the right thing would be that a card reader must first malfunction before manual accreditation could be done. He was spot on.

    In this instance, the functional card reader had not arrived and yet manual accreditation was suggested. In the end, the lone star had his way for the general good. It taught me a lesson: stand for what is right always. My polling unit fortunately, did not witness any misfortune and I was more contented for it – being my first voting experience.

    Was it worth it? I think it did and wished everyone had this unruffled experience all over the state like I did but unfortunately the report of ballot snatching,

    Youth corp members beaten, some statesmen not being able to do accreditation because of the absence of result sheets, with REC joining issues instead of educating such statesmen, elections cancelled and postponed in some wards, voting beginning at six pm in some places gave me a cause to worry.

    Will Rivers State ever get its acts right democratically? One can assume how hot-blooded the gubernatorial election in this state will be on April 11th, 2015. Whatever happens, it is hoped that the outcome of these elections will usher in a type of democracy not witnessed before to lift us from the burden of privation and make life bearable.

    Even if my preferred candidate loses, I will stand tall, beat my chest and say, “well done Simon, for you are a man who did not behave like others to build bulwark of ethnic, religious, and regional mawkishness around themselves in the choice of candidates but settled for one solely on principle and national interests, only the deep can call the deep.”

     

    • Simon abah,

    Port Harcourt

  • Ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic

    SIR: Across all indices, the incidence of Human Immuno- Deficiency Virus (HIV), the precursor of the deadly Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS, has drastically noose dived. Not only has the prevalence rate of HIV dropped to a commendable 3.1 percent from the about 3.8 percent it peaked between 2004-2005, the amount of new HIV infection has also dropped significantly to less than 0.22 percent, about 220,394 cases of infection, from a worrying peak of 0.49 per cent, about 348, 564 cases, in 2003.

    Now consider this: independent surveys conducted variously by the United Nations Agency on AIDS, UNAIDS, the Federal Ministry of Health in Nigeria, Health Systems Strengthening, all indicated that HIV prevalence among pregnant women of ages 15-25 years have dropped by 33%- from 6% in 2001 to 4.10% in 2010, with “remarkable progress in the intervening period between 2010 and 2014,” according to the Health Systems Strengthening report.

    These feats were not reached in sudden flight. Concerted efforts by agencies such as the UNAIDS, the US President’s Emergency Funds for AIDS in Africa, PERPFAR, The Global Funds (for AIDS), to mention a few, have seen multidimensional approaches to the struggle to end HIV. These approaches have strengthened prevention and control mechanisms like HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) and provision of treatment through Anti Retroviral Treatments (ARTs), thus, stemming the tides of the infection. Since testing to know an individual’s status is the most crucial point in dealing with the menace of HIV, these efforts have seen a rise in the number of people tested with known results enlarging from 605,364 in 2006 to about 4 million in 2013, corresponding to a remarkable increase in HCT sites across Nigeria from 206 in 2006 to 7,075 in 2013.

    Equally remarkable is the increase in ART sites from 107 places in 2006 to 820 in 2013, which places more than 639,397 people living with HIV on treatment from a far lower 132,438 in 2006. Suffice to mention that provision of ART services have been the major preoccupation of PERPFAR and the Global Fund.

    As Nigeria marches towards the finish -line on AIDS, the effort of the National Control of AIDS, the government body responsible for harnessing all efforts towards fighting HIV/AIDS needs to do more to complement the current efforts.

    Government commitment towards ending the pandemic in Nigeria, though not entirely impactful, has yielded considerable result. In 2013, President Jonathan launched the Presidents Comprehensive Response Plan (PCRP) to accelerate achievement of key interventions like PMTCT and HCT. Recently, too, the Subsidy Reinvestment Program (SURE-P) of government dedicated up to eight billion naira towards Elimination of Mother- to- Child Transmission of HIV (EMTC) and provision of treatments for those in need. This fund has seen the PMTCT coverage rose modestly from 17% in 2010 to 30% in 2014. Then there is the important issue of policy that attempts to streamline HIV-related issues like discrimination and stigmatization, which are hurdles to implementation of policies.

    In a landmark legislation that shows government’s preparedness to end HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, President Jonathan recently signed into law the Anti Stigma Law passed by the National Assembly. This legislation, which provides for prevention of discrimination against those living with HIV and make access to healthcare a human rights issue is a welcomed development as Nigeria aspires to end AIDS.

    Assuredly, Nigeria will be able to end the pandemic by the projected year 2030 if the current tempo is consolidated. A HIV-free generation is within sight already, kudos to the collaboration of all stakeholders in the fight.

     

    • Abonu, a development journalist,

    Yakubu Gowon Crescent, Asokoro, Abuja.

  • An encounter with a dentist

    SIR: I have always had ‘delicate’ teeth. As a kid, my mum always taunted me with “you don’t have teeth.” Now, my wife has taken over the taunt. Tough meat? Spare me.

    If you lost your first tooth just tearing off the nylon covering a loaf of bread, then you would understand.

    I became afraid of anything related to the teeth, including of course a dentist. I never knew I would ever go to the dentist, until I broke one of my molars while eating bone.

    No pain can be compared to a toothache. Not even labour pain. At least, with that, women get moments of respite.

    I had no choice. I had to visit a dentist. I was just 15. I thought it was my head the female dentist wanted to yank off and not my tooth.

    After the procedure, I was filled with a lot of admiration for female dentists. But I told myself I could never study dentistry. After many years, my phobia for dentists won’t just go away.

    Then a couple of weeks ago, to my surprise, I found myself booking an appointment with the dentist. I could not believe I was going to see the dentist without a painful tooth to push me.

    Dr Edema, the dentist, as part of the checkup told me I’m required to do what is called scaling and polishing. The dental therapist, Mrs. Oyebade, did a good job of reassuring me.

    It was over in no time. Not only were my teeth squeaky clean, I also felt a weight off my teeth. I was happy to be told I had good oral hygiene compared to many other people. After the procedure I was given oral hygiene instruction.

    I was told the proper way to brush my teeth. I also knew that there were hundreds of dormant bacteria in my mouth. In the night, these bacteria feed on food debris. And if you don’t brush at night, you can develop dental caries.

    I had always thought that love birds who do breakfast in bed were harming their teeth, until I got to know that when you wake up you could rinse your mouth first with water or mouth wash solution. But remember, you must have brushed your teeth last thing at night. Then you can have your breakfast. After that, you can brush your teeth. I had secretly done this, more out of laziness, not knowing it was okay. After lunch you can just gargle.

    You should not wet the toothbrush before brushing, as you need friction to brush well. You don’t need much toothpaste, just the size of a pea will do. You should brush for at least two minutes. It is recommended that you brush twice a day. Not more than three times a day.

    Brushing more than three times a day might not be ideal because too much brushing can wear out tooth enamel and damage your gums.

    You should not also forget to brush the tongue. Cells of the tongue die daily. And accumulation of dead cells can cover the taste buds and cause mouth odour. It is advised to change your toothbrush after about three months, because the bristles often get scattered at about that time and will no longer work effectively.

    Dentists also say that no matter how well you brush, if you don’t floss you are not doing it right. Unfortunately, most of us don’t floss. Flossing is as important as brushing, if not more important, they say. This is because it gets food caught between your teeth that you can’t get with a toothbrush and helps protect your gums better. When you ask dentists if you really have to floss your teeth, most of them will reply “only the ones you want to keep.”

    As those who own cars know, if you don’t service your car every three months, it can break down, so it is with your teeth. For the teeth, servicing is every six months. We are also advised to eat fruits and vegetables. Fruits generally help strengthen our teeth and are good cleansers, as they help saliva flow. Veggies like carrots and garden eggs are good because they have fiber.

    Be careful with candies and chocolates. And when you do you must rinse your mouth immediately. Also, be careful with diet sodas, energy drinks, and sour candies, and even healthy things like orange juice and apple juice because of the acid they have that can soften tooth enamel and make it to wear. So, make sure you wait about half an hour before you brush. That allows your saliva time to restore tooth enamel.

    March 23 was World Oral Health Day. And this year’s theme was ‘Smile for life’. But China, on its own, observes September 20 as national “Love your teeth day” to increase awareness of the importance of dental care. Medical conditions like diabetes can be detected early from a visit to the dentist.

    Oral health may affect, or be affected by, or even help worsen cardiovascular diseases like endocarditic. Some researchers suggest that heart disease, blocked arteries and stroke might be related to the inflammation and infections that oral bacteria can cause. Periodontitis has also been linked to premature birth and low birth weight.

    Some researchers also believe that tooth loss before age 35 could be a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.

    It is hoped that this serves as a wake-up call for us to care more for our pearly whites. I can’t wait for my next visit.

    • Cosmas Odoemena,

    a medical practitioner, Lagos.

  • Police and communion of silence

    SIR: NKEMDI is an IT professional and anything he does not know in that sector is not worth knowing. Despite his proficiency, he is still battling with the prospect of getting a mouth-watering break because our country painfully is becoming an anti-intellectual one where professionals are not head hunted and, you need to know ‘someone,’ who knows ‘somebody,’ to win lucrative jobs.

    Fortunately, ‘someone,’ referred a ‘somebody,’ who chose to call him to “come immediately,” for an impromptu IT consultancy job at night caused by a sudden difficulty.

    Nkemdi could not miss this opportunity and, he went with a lightning-speed, resolved the task at past 11pm.

    On his way back after this assignment, he crossed a route to get a chartered taxi home but saw from a distance what looked like a four wheel drive parked right on the middle of the road. He panicked. Who wouldn’t be in Port Harcourt where crime is quickly becoming a criminal flux? To confirm his reservation, he heard a gunshot precisely coming from where the vehicle on the road was.

    He scampered for safety and unfortunately because Port Harcourt has too many uncovered manholes, many other man made mines on its road, his leg got stuck in one and he broke his ankle. It took the combined efforts of some ladies who heard the gunshots, and also took to their heels; lift him to a safe location where they all hid until the bedlam had presumably quieted.

    These guardian angels (ladies) helped him to the road moments later to flag a taxi because he couldn’t walk but it seemed the drama was only just starting. A four-wheel vehicle drove towards them, stopped suddenly and “stop there or I will shoot,” came a barking voice.

    Three men in civilian clothes came out of the vehicle brandishing guns with a girl.

    “Is he the one?” one of the men asked.

    “He looks like one of them?” She said.

    Spurious accusations by a group – that had not bothered to identify themselves by showing an identity card. The ladies who helped the consultant to the road tried to no avail to explain what happened earlier and why they were at that spot in search of a taxi but they were shouted down by these men and asked to leave.

    “Please show me your identity cards,” he queried but they shoved him inside the vehicle instead. What can a man with a broken ankle do but to obey armed men with guns?

    Despite suffering terrible pain on his ankle, he managed to ask the lady in the vehicle, “Please how much is the value of the phone that you were robbed of?”

    “N3, 000,” she said.

    He offered to give her the money so his captors could set him free even though it was morally wrong but police officers refused.

    ”Please I have a broken leg, take me to the station if truly you are police officers, or take me to a hospital so I can seek medical help,” he begged.

    At this point, he was positive that they were not agents of government. Surprisingly, they drove into a police station, which confirmed that they were really agents of government but they drove out again with him moments later so you can, “take us to the rest of your gangs.”

    Despite providing an alibi and even asked that they call the influential person he went to work for that night, they refused. Luck plays out to one’s advantage sometimes. They decided, finally, to drop the girl off at a bus stop after a long unnecessary rigmarole that wore on into the next day, they also asked him to “get out.”

    There was a challenge, he couldn’t walk and he asked that they drop him off at home but they refused. He even promised to pay for the help but they didn’t oblige him.

    Though Nigeria is battling with high level of delinquency, which needs law enforcement agencies to handle, it is outrageous and infuriating to have these operatives deal awfully with ordinary citizens.

    Who, should police officers protect, citizens of Nigeria – without prejudice, or only the rich? What happens to the browbeaten people?

    It is despicable that officers can treat a citizen with so much impertinence and abandon him on the streets even when it is obvious that such a citizen needs help.

    It is equally vexing, when such a citizen is law-abiding, and puts efforts legally to eke out a living in a country that fails to notice resourcefulness and reward same.

    Aren’t officers supposed to cross check facts, show identification especially if they are in mufti and on assignments?

    I wish they knew that he had to crawl and beg people coming from vigil to help stop a cab for him. But like the Pharisees, they refused to be good Samaritans, looked at him, hissed and moved on.

    I wish they knew that he crawled to a church but the security man didn’t trust him enough to let him in or make attempt to stop a cab for him which made him to sleep out on the street like a destitute.

    I wish they knew that he called his flat mate but trust our telecommunication network; he couldn’t get through to him all night.

    Help came for him at 5am. If he had had, an internal bleeding injury, he might have bled to death before dawn.

    • Simon Abah,

     Port-Harcourt 

  • Still on Agric production and cooperatives

    SIR: The agricultural sector is one of the most important components of the economy. Its importance cannot be over-emphasised as productive agriculture offers many benefits: food for domestic consumption; raw materials for agro – allied industries; employment that generates income, which in turn encourages other industrial, commercial and service activities and export markets for foreign exchange earning.

    Indeed, agriculture has made significant impacts on Gross Domestic output until the oil boom era of the 1970s and early 1980s, when there was change in emphasis away from agriculture.

    The production of agricultural crops and livestock has not kept pace with population growth and rising demand. Thus, there is the need to prioritise rapid agricultural production to achieve national food security, especially as the country is endowed with immense human, natural and agricultural resources.

    • Abolarin Tayo

     Kwara state university      

  • Who set INEC’s office on fire?

    SIR: There is certainly more than meets the eye about the fire outbreak at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja. It is either somebody deliberately set the office on fire or there was negligence on the part of INEC and its staff. This fire is certainly connected with the forthcoming elections.

    I imagine agents of destabilization are working towards forcing another postponement or tampering with electoral materials. But I am glad they failed.

    INEC and Nigerians are ready to go to the polls come March 28 and April 11. Nigerians should be patient and pray to Almighty Allah to give us good leaders. I pray that we have peaceful, free, fair and credible elections this year.

     

    • Comrade Abdulbaqia Aliyu Jari, Abuja.