The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Obasanjo: Not exactly a hero

    SIR: My prayers are that may Nigerian political witches and wizards not succeed in marring the successful conduct of 2015 elections. They exist and I believe they are ready to deny us our rights the way they have done in the previous elections. We need to get it right this time around hence our own will be described as a nation without a future. Nigeria needs to progress; what can make that possible is honest, responsible and committed leaders.

    For the past few months, I have followed the social media and I saw how some Nigerians have resorted to praising the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who has engaged himself in a fight with President Goodluck Jonathan. Some have gone extra step to tag him as a hero or saint.

    I don’t like the manner in which the former leader has resorted to exchanging bitter words with President Jonathan.  I don’t see the former President as a saint or hero and I will not take him to be. Let all us face the reality and analyse issues with critical minds. That is the only thing that can save Nigeria from its present dilemma. We should remember that he, Obasanjo made Jonathan vice-president against the interest of his party. It baffles me with way Nigerians get carried away with mere comments that come from some elders and even begin to sing praise songs for them. Let us be careful before our poor senses of thinking consume us all.

    I am not advocating that President Jonathan continues beyond May 29, as Nigeria’s president. We have seen where his administration has taken us. Nigeria is in dire need of vibrant leaders who have the zeal to work genuinely to solve Nigeria problems and create a vibrant socio-political and economic nation. Jonathan is not the type we need in 2015.  We need leaders with an analytical mind to come up with vibrant economic policies. We need leaders that would deal decisively with critical issues and address the Nigeria’s socio-political problems.

    At this crucial time, we should not be deceived with lip promises of our politicians; neither should we be interested in exchange of words of elders. That is not what Nigeria needs at this sober situation. We can’t deny the fact that all the political problems we faced today ranging from election rigging to abuse of office started from Obasanjo’s regime.

     

    • Hannah Hassan Goje,

    IBB University,

    Lapai-Niger State.

  • The world is watching Jega

    IR: Numerous reactions, domestic and foreign, have trailed the monumental event of Saturday, February 7, when Professor Attahiru Jega, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), announced the postponement of the general elections from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11.

    Numerous questions have also been asked, including the following:

    • Was INEC truly ready to conduct the general elections from February 14 as previously scheduled?

    • Why had over 700,000 ad hoc INEC staff not been fully mobilized and trained for the elections, prior to the postponement?

    • Why had the card readers not been fully procured, pre-tested and made ready for the elections, a few days to the e-day?

    • What accounts for the obvious lopsided distribution and collection of the Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) as have been widely reported in the media – with a mega-state like Lagos recording barely 38% while Kaduna State recorded 87%, and strife-torn Borno State, with thousands of internally displaced persons, achieved 80%?

    These questions – and many more like them – cannot simply be swept under the carpet. Indeed, getting the elections right on March 28 and April 11 will depend a great deal on how these critical questions are addressed by all concerned persons, agencies and institutions.

    The reactions of the international community have also been varied – and should also be evaluated dispassionately.

    Apart from the United States which expressed its deep disappointment over the decision to postpone the general elections due to security concerns, and condemned what it called political interference with INEC, other major countries, global organizations and regional blocs showed more understanding of the circumstances surrounding the postponement of the elections.

    To underscore the strategic importance of Nigeria – and of happenings in Nigeria – in the comity of nations, the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, reportedly telephoned both President Jonathan and General Buhari after the rescheduling of the Nigerian general elections. The Secretary General noted the decision of the Nigerian Independent Electoral Commission to postpone the general elections and urged the electoral authorities to take all necessary measures, such as the rapid distribution of the remaining Permanent Voter Cards, to enable all eligible citizens, including those displaced, to exercise their right to vote in a timely manner.

    The Secretary General hoped that the elections would meet the high expectations of the Nigerian people and the international community.

    These reactions of the international community have been generally positive – underscoring the need for all stakeholders to accept the postponement in good faith and use the intervening period to ensure the conduct of a free, fair and credible general election, while maintaining fidelity to the presidential inauguration date of May 29.

    Overall, apart from the serious security concerns in the North-east, it is obvious that INEC was ill-prepared to conduct the elections on February 14 because over a third (34%) of all registered voters were yet to get their permanent voters cards prior to the postponement.

    In addition, as widely reported in the media, the training and simulation exercises for INEC officials and thousands of ad hoc staff on how to use the card readers for the permanent voters’ cards during the polls had not been conducted. The training manuals were not ready while simulations for the card readers had not been conducted.

    Professor Jega has built a solid reputation for integrity over the years, especially with the widely acclaimed successful conduct of the 2011 general elections. Jega should not allow himself – and his previous achievements and reputation – to be rubbished by the obviously shoddy preparations for the 2015 general elections.

     

    •  Kelechi Onyemaobi

  • Buhari: Facts and fallacies

    SIR: Of all the lies being peddled by the PDP to blotch the personality of General Muhammadu Buhari, labelling him a religious bigot is most particularly damning and fraudulent. At the slightest opportunity, the PDP and its cronies resort to the religious card as part of the ploy to present him in bad light. What the PDP promoter of the lies are yet to tell Nigerians is how a man who ruled the nation as a military dictator and didn’t Islamize the country would do same as a civilian president, with all the democratic checks and balances in place.

    The truth of the matter is that Gen Buhari is a practicing Muslim and there is actually nothing wrong with this. The Nigerian constitution permits every Nigerian to practice the religion that he/she believes in and in the way he chooses to. President Jonathan has been hopping from one church to the other across the country. He was once in Jerusalem with some Christian leaders and a few Christian members of his cabinet and party. He is actually free to do this as guaranteed by the constitution of the country. But then, why is General Buhari being unnecessarily vilified for his faith?

    Till date, no one could actually lay claim to any instance when the General has acted in ways that hinder others from practicing their religion. As it is often said, opinions are free but facts are sacred. When General Buhari took over as the military Head of State in 1984, out of the 19 military governors, he appointed, 11 of them were Christians. The record is there for whoever cares to corroborate.

    The fear of the PDP as expressed by President Jonathan that Buhari would send some Nigerians to jail for corruption as soon as he becomes the president is no surprise. His government courts corruption, and deserve nobody’s sympathy. Corrupt public officers and their accomplices belong nowhere but jail houses. However, the truth is that under democracy, and the rule of law, due-process will be guiding principle. If the General, like any rational leader, is going to fight corruption, he would have to do that within the confines of the law. Nigeria is not a banana republic. The constitution remains the guiding document of faith in the country. It is true Dr. Jonathan has been treating this sacred document with impunity, and believes this would be the same under Buhari.

    What the country needs presently is a leader with the anti-corruption stance of General Buhari. Our major problem has been the mismanagement of our resources by a crop of visionless and selfish leaders. At the last count, the Jonathan administration could not account for over $100bn! Corruption remains the bane of the country and any leader who can tackle corruption headlong could actually move the nation to the Promised Land. What we have now is a government that has turned corruption and deception into instruments of governance. The end results are the several woes that have befallen the country. When sane and patriotic economic analysts in the country were cautioning our leaders about an impending economic woe, the all-knowing economic managers in Abuja simply shrugged it off as the ranting of ants. However, Nigerians now know better as a regime of austerity measures have been forced down our throats.

    For the PDP, corruption is a way of life. Fuel subsidy rip-off linking sons of ex-PDP  chairmen, the Halliburton scam, the pension scam, the national identity card scam, the electricity scam, the NPA corruption scandal, to mention just a few are some of the complex corruption cases through which the PDP has thrown the country into a mess.

    What stands Buhari apart is the very element that is lacking in the current crop of leadership we have in this nation today – INTEGRITY!

     

    • Lateef Raji

    Lagos

     

  • Our foxy president

    SIR: Nigerians will recall that barely six months into his first term, President Goodluck Jonathan broached the idea of a seven-year single term for president and governors in office. Thank God, Nigerians quickly saw through the bait and vehemently rejected the idea.

    Then came the second brain-child of the president: the National Conference that he set up early last year, ostensibly to fashion out a better constitution for this nation, but was actually one of those tricks from the president’s bag to pave way for his treasured hope of selling another tenure elongation dummy to the nation for himself. Again Nigerians raised their voice vehemently against the proposal. Mercifully for Nigerians, the National Conference overwhelmingly voted against it, and as Nigerians would say, “they died the matter”!

    Not yet done with his obsession to stay in power forever, two weeks to the general elections, the president through his acolytes, started flying the kite of elections postponement when the National Council of State failed him in the quest for election postponement. He then called on his military chiefs to subtly muscle the INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to announce that the elections could not go on as scheduled because of the Boko Haram war that the military has suddenly woken up to realize that elections were very very near and has to fight and win! Six weeks to do what they have failed to do in a long period of almost six years!

    Fellow Nigerians, if the president truly has a clean and clear heart for this elections, is it not now that our forces with those of Chad, Niger and Cameroon should rain bullets and bombs on the insurgents and finish them off once and for all? The Chadian forces alone as reported in the papers drove the insurgents from the border town of Gamboru recently. So why can’t one half of our military stave off the rebels for two weeks while Nigerians perform their constitution duties of casting their votes to elect their president, governors and representatives?

    The answer very clearly, lies in the heart of the president. On Wednesday February 11, it was announced in the media that Femi Fani-Kayode, the president’s campaign media chief, revealed the real reason Prof. Jega asked for the extra six weeks to hold the elections: purported INEC’s inability  to be ready for the February elections. Has the military not stated earlier on that it was not ready to provide security during the February elections now rescheduled? All this means that the military doesn’t want to seen as the agency responsible for stalling our democracy. Somebody has to be blamed for it, hence, Fani-Kayode has shifted the burden from the military and heaped it all on INEC chairman, Jega. Poor Jega! The PDP is doing everything possible to make a jest of him in a matter that has dire consequences for the nation if not properly handled.

    But nobody can be fooled. President Jonathan’s antecedents and body language have shown clearly that he is acting a Maradonic script. He should be reminded however about the fate of all those who travelled this way before. They have all come to grieve! A word they say is enough for the wise!

    It is really sad to hear our president say that Jega did not consult him before announcing the elections postponement. It is baffling. Was it Jega that convened the National Council of State meeting to deliberate on elections postponement? Is Jega in charge of the military and the security forces that said they were not available for the election on February 14 and 28? The tail sadly, is now certainly waging the dog!

    Our foxy president. He came in like a lamb. He soon turned a lion. And now, he has become a law unto himself! God have mercy!

    • Olu Ajayi

    Ibadan

     

  • Before another NIS recruitment

    IR: March 15, 2014 will forever remain indelible in the history of Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment exercise which resulted in the death of 19 Nigerian youths while several were seriously injured.

    It is very disheartening and regretful that despite the payment of N1,000 from about 520,000 applicants who applied for the job last year, preparation for the exercise was shoddy.

    Meanwhile, in a desperate move to placate the affected victims, federal government promised each family of the dead victims three automatic jobs but the promise is yet to be fulfilled.

    Now, the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has rolled out another recruitment exercise to be assisted by the presidential committee but the question is, how fully prepared is the coordinating body in order to avert loss of lives and casualties on the part of the applicants? With 520,000 applicants at the last exercise, it is a clear sign that government needs to take pivotal steps towards reducing the level of unemployment to barest minimum. It needs to do more empowerment programme for the less privileged youths who do not have access to higher education.

    We expect that the government should make adequate preparation this time around, put all logistics in order and provide a convivial atmosphere for the applicants to write interview exams instead of placing them under the hot sun.

     

    • Temitayo Taylor,

    Abeokuta, Ogun State

     

  • Okonjo-Iweala Vs  Soludo: Debate aborted?

    IR: In a robust and vibrant democracy, debate should not be feared; rather it should be welcomed as a way to sharpen our democratic values as a nation. What former Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Governor, Charles Soludo wrote about the state of the Nigerian nation was not to cast an aspersion on the person of the Minister of Finance and the coordinator of the economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as some people claimed.

    I want to say that this is not a political zinger on the person of the Minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the economy. As a person she is likeable and beautiful. Rather, I want to draw a parallel between the World Bank and the Minister, for Nigerians to know their pedigrees. It was an illusion to think that the World Bank as an institution is a place where any country can depend on for any sound economic philosophy: also to think that just because someone had worked at the World Bank would automatically be a superior mind as far economic matters are concerned. The World Bank is a money making machine for the United States and other advanced economies. The bank makes roughly over $500 billion yearly from poor borrowers, and in the process plummets these countries into debt and poverty!

    The World Bank is responsible for 90 per cent of the world’s poverty; a fact that is lost on most people. Any country that adheres to the economic prescription of the World Bank will fail. During the regime of Obasanjo, a former President of Brazil told him to ignore the World Bank if Nigeria was to succeed. The only country in Asia that stood the South East Asian crisis was Malaysia during the Asian crisis caused by the World Bank. Malaysia was the only country that did not take the bait of the World Bank and that was the only country that survived in South East Asia. When President Jonathan said on the campaign trail that there is no one who knows about the economy better than the World Bank, what came to mind is that he is ignorant. No doubt, the President has a good intention to salvage the economy of Nigeria but he has asked the wrong person to do that.

    Nigeria is in a deep depression and the only thing that the government of Nigeria can do is what Franklin D. Roosevelt did as president at the time. Jonathan should have looked at  Okonjo-Iweala’s resume under Obasanjo. That was something that should not have been too hard to do given that she was the person in charge of the economy few years before the President came into office. It is clear that President Obasanjo’s government did not record any economic growth.

    Today Brazil is an emerging economy with a promising future because they chose to jettison the advice of the World Bank. Until Nigeria does that, we would remain in the wood for a long time. Any country, like Nigeria that depends on the economic expertise of the World Bank would suffer the consequences. Some countries in South America left the World Bank to form what is called the Bank of the South knowing what the World Bank is up to. It’s time to let Okonjo-Iweala go. When she leaves she would look over her shoulder and say that was a shock therapy to Nigeria economy.

     

    •Pastor Toate Ganago,

    jos777@rocketmail.com

  • Oil revenue and Nigeria’s economy

    IR: The current fall in global prices of crude oil, a major source of revenue for the country, has serious implications for the country’s economy. Presently, the economic situation is biting so hard in some states in the federation as monthly receipt from the federal purse has sharply declined. Consequently, some of the states could no longer meet up with their financial obligations. Thus, only few states’ governments are able to pay their workers as and when due, while many others are unable to meet their obligations to their workers. Some federal government agencies are equally not faring better in this respect. The private sector is also not totally immune from the gloomy economic reality in the country as it has impacted negatively on the value of naira. With the diminishing fortune of the naira, local industries are facing serious challenges that could actually lead to downsizing of workers if the situation is not quickly redressed. These are, indeed, trying times for the country.

    One way of addressing the situation is to revamp the country’s ailing agriculture sector. Over the years, as a result of the neglect suffered by the sector, the export potential of cash crops such as cocoa, groundnuts, cashew among others, has seriously diminished. It is sad today that Nigeria is no longer a major exporter of cocoa, groundnuts, rubber, and palm oil.

    Government needs to really appreciate the potentials of the sector as a catalyst for economic and industrial transformation.  To encourage the teeming army of un-employed youths in the country to take to agriculture, government should make access to loans meant for agriculture much easier while large scale farming powered by mechanized infrastructures should be the central goal.

    Aside revamping agriculture, the tourism sector could also be a boost to the country’s economy. Tourism is a veritable instrument for socio-economic development. It impacts directly on the economy through the provision of resources and income that could be deployed to enhance economic growth, accelerate development and reduce poverty. With its numerous attractive and historical tourist centers, the Nigerian economy certainly stands to gain a lot if efforts are renewed to explore the tourism potentials of the country.

    However, it needs to be emphasised that the power situation in the country has to improve considerably before significant improvement can be experienced in the economy. For instance, regular and stable power supply will enable small scale businesses to thrive better if more creative schemes are put in place to guarantee unhindered power supply. Equally, multi-national firms that have closed shop in the country because of the epileptic nature of power could be lured back if the power situation improves. This would not only bring back lost jobs, but will certainly restore lost ones.

    • Tayo Ogunbiyi,

    Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa Ikeja.

  • Crucial change of guard needed

    IR: Another four years for President Goodluck Jonathan is not a game-changer but a high risk choice.   The issue in our political firmament today is starkly a question of moral and political courage.  Jonathan who has showed a flair for a finicky, unglamorous side of governance does not have political and moral courage. His is an amorphous, compromise-orientated administration that has no definition of long range goals and no delineation of tactics and strategy for reaching those goals. We really need a change that will end many years of economic underperformance, stop the terrifying accumulation of debt and re-establish a secure fiscal foundation for Nigeria.

    The threat posed by corruption in Nigeria is alarming.  The human capital index in the country at the moment is at its lowest ebb. President Jonathan has failed to take effective measures that will reduce corruption. All we get from his administration is a rambling and solipsistic narrative. About 112 million Nigerians are currently living in poverty.  Unemployment is at a record 34 percent and the poverty level stands at 71 percent. According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), poverty incidence moved from 69 percent in 2010 to 71 percent in 2011. This is a sad commentary on the state of our economy.

    The government of Jonathan has been characterized by low growth, high unemployment and high debt profile. The president has done absolutely nothing to close the gap between spending and revenue. According to the NBS, the combined domestic and external debt of the Federal government is well over $40 billion. The fall in the oil revenue has exposed the government as incompetent and lacking in planning. Despite the unprecedented boom in oil sales, this administration instead of adding to the external reserves ended up depleting it. As of today, the naira has crashed against the United States dollar from 191 to 208 at the parallel market. The dollar is currently selling between N208 and N210 in the black market. This is partly due to the fall in oil revenue and partly due to sheer incompetence of the present government.

    Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo, recently admitted that oil theft has reached an alarming proportion. She said it has reduced oil output from the average 2.3-2.4 million barrels per day to 1.95mpd. This means that at least 350,000 to 450,000 barrels per day are stolen and it translates to about $60 billion in the past four years.

    It is obvious we need a better manager of our economy. Let us not be carried away by the fawning praises of the president’s men who are only interested in piling up a considerable personal fortune. We have to blame Jonathan for the political and economic mistakes of the past six years. He is wholly unable to manage the mighty egos he has assembled. At the moment, there is no adult in charge in Nigeria. The president has a problem in decision-making. He is making too much mistakes on key economic issues and we need to halt this decline. Under Jonathan, Nigeria is no longer a super-power.  It is rather a super-power in retreat.

    We need someone who will bring back innovative spark in the economic affairs of the nation. We need someone who will bring us out of this death spiral. Someone who will help create plans to generate more income because great opportunities abound in Nigeria.  Some people are always pointing at Jonathan meek and gentle nature as an evidence of his capability to lead Nigeria.  That is standing logic on its head.   That he acts with courtly solicitousness does not translate to competence.

    Jonathan has met his nemesis in General Muhammadu Buhari.   The retired General is a politician who believes more in content than in form, more in reform than in rhetoric. He will ride the economy in the direction that will be advantageous to the Nigerian interest. The man is simply sincere about addressing our economic woes. As president, he will assembly a credible management team that will produce stunning performance. Buhari only wants a political system that is more vigorous and more capable of mobilizing national resources for specific political ends. His path to prosperity is our only hope.

     

    • Ikechukwu Orji

    Lagos

  • Abuja Disco and Mpape residents

    SIR: I must begin by appreciating the efforts made so far by the federal government to ensure constant power supply in the country and at the same time be honest to say that the power supply in most parts of the country remains the same while some places even prefer what was obtainable before the privatization of the power sector.

    Permit me to use Mpape, one of the communities in Abuja as a case study.  Power supply in Mpape, Abuja is getting worse day by day most especially at the Mashafa Community by Okada Junction. If what residents of Mpape are experiencing now is worse than what we experienced when PHCN was yet to be privatized, then, what is the essence of privatization?

    For example, some residents of Mpape, get one day of power supply, two days off. That should not have been a serious issue except that we are always having power supply when people are already asleep on the only one day that we are supposed to have light.

    To be clear, whenever it is a day for us to get power supply, we do not have it until past midnight.  How can anyone wake up at that late hour of the night to watch television, iron clothes and so on? Would they ever leave the light till daybreak so that we can make use of it? It seems Abuja Distribution Company (Disco) would never allow that.

    I have been living in Mpape all my life and so can confidently say that what we use to get from the PHCN when it was not privatized is better than what the Abuja Disco is offering us now. When we heard of PHCN privatization as proposed by the federal government, we were very happy thinking that privatization is going to wipe away our tears of epileptic power supply.  Now we are wrong. The privatization of PHCN is now giving us double tears. We are still paying for what we haven’t gotten. We are yet to get something new, something different, something better, something befitting even though we were told that privatization of the PHCN would give us stable power supply.

    Time to tell ourselves the truth is now. We can’t continue living in darkness. We need light; we need stable power supply. Enough is enough.

     

    • Awunah Pius Terwase,

    Makurdi, Benue State

  • Poll shift, a setback to democracy

    SIR: There is no doubt that the recent postponement of the forthcoming elections by the Independent Nation Electoral Commission (INEC), through the manipulation of the Presidency and the PDP, constitute a serious setback to democracy. It is an embarrassment of an immense proportion that an election packaged many years ago could be shifted through the manipulation of President Goodluck

    Jonathan and the PDP. It is a greater embarrassment that the security agencies that did not oppose the conduct of elections all along were suddenly alleged to have renounced their constitutional and statutory duties to provide security for the nation, its inhabitants and their activities including the pending elections.

    The postponement of the election is an affront on Nigerians and a threat to democracy, infact it is a coup against democracy and the constitution of Nigeria. The postponement is not only provocative but extremely disappointing. Fearing that the PDP and its Presidential Candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan may not survive the Feb 14 polls, INEC was cleverly manipulated to shift the polls through the alleged memorandum from security chiefs that they could not guarantee the  protection of the election process. The elections have therefore been moved six weeks forward from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11.

    Majority of Nigerians clamouring for change with the hope of replacing the under-performing PDP government with that manned by the APC under the Buhari Presidency are disappointed. If President Jonathan was hopeful of winning the elections, he would not have done sabotaged it. Let it be known that the PDP has only postponed the evil day, as nothing can change the peoples perspective about the lack-lustre performance of President Jonathan for the past six years and that of the PDP for the past 16 years. Six weeks will not therefore rub-off all the evidences of bad governance ravaging the land such as insecurity, corruption, acute poverty and decay of all essential infrastructures.

    Never has a properly scheduled election been postponed in its journey of over 100 years. Nigeria has worked hard to rescue Liberia, Congo and Sierra Leone from the quagmire of destruction in the past, but the same country is now being rescued by a landlocked Chad. What a greater irony that the same security agents that could not muster forces to quell the insurgents in the North-east is now battle ready in six weeks to restore Nigerians hopes and aspirations.

    We must also appeal to INEC to take all necessary measures such as the total distribution of the

    permanent voter’s cards to enable all eligible citizens including those displaced to exercise their civil right to vote in the elections.

     

    •Sen. Olorunnimbe Farukanmi,

     Iju, Ondo State