The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • In support of stomach infrastructure

    SIR: The so-called concept of the stomach infrastructure has gradually crept into the Nigerian political lexicon, especially after the shock victory of PDP’s Ayodele Peter Fayose over the then-incumbent APC’s Kayode Fayemi in the 2014 Ekiti state gubernatorial elections. He was accused of utilizing the “stomach infrastructure” to entice the electorate. This, to me, is highly misplaced.

    The concept of the stomach infrastructure might be new in Nigeria’s political lexicon, but it’s not an entirely new phenomenon. It has always been there with us, dating back to the days of the pre-independence regional elections across the country. Politicians who appealed to the conscience of the masses via their stomach always had the upper hand against those who tried to use other measures. From then till now, almost all the elections that have been conducted in the country irrespective of the level have been won and lost courtesy of the stomach infrastructure.

    Nutrition is a priority. It is indubitably sine qua non. It is the fundamental responsibility of the government of a country to ensure that the physiological and safety needs of its citizens are met. Food, as part of the physiological needs, is the most basic in man’s hierarchy of needs, according to psychologist Abraham Maslow. It is only a well-fed man that makes use of the physical and social infrastructures that are built for him. Before one is able to work, he must first of all eat. A hungry farmer cannot muster the strength to till the ground. A hungry father cannot send his wards and children to school – except when the education is free, which is not the case in most parts of Nigeria. Only a well-fed voter will be able to withstand the torture of queuing up under the scorching African sun for several hours at a polling unit in a bid to exercise his constitutional right. A hungry voter will either collapse or go home to eat.

    All over the world, food is deemed more important than everything else. It is a precursor to good health. You’ll recall that when giving prescriptions, the doctor always tells you to “take this drug three times a day after food” or something similar. Food is good and so is investment into the stomach infrastructure. Anyone that thinks or says otherwise should go hungry for sometime and pass through what millions of poor Nigerians go through on a daily basis. The reality remains that many Nigerians are hungry with little or nothing to eat and any politician that looks after their nutritional well-being is an astute statesman, a humanitarian and a shrewd politician.

    However, in the midst of it all, we should not be carried away and turn a blind eye to other things that really matter. Investment in stomach infrastructure, however good, must be a short-term measure and not a long term policy. It should be in pari passu with strategic investments in physical and social infrastructures. Food only meets an immediate, basic and pressing need, while adequate physical and social infrastructures as well as stable institutions increase the possibility that those pressing needs will always be met in the future. Neither of these measures should be neglected, ridiculed, castigated or cast aside. One way or the other, they contribute to the sustained improved well-being and upliftment of the masses.

     

    • Oscar Chinedu George,

    oscargeorgechinedu@gmail.com

     

  • Pay public office holders like civil servants

    SIR: Many Nigerians, if asked, about their view on the current cost of governance in their country, will quickly, without batting an eye, lampoon political office holders for taking home “jumbo pay” in the name of salaries and allowances at the end of the month while millions of Nigerians over the month, couldn’t avoid sleeping on empty stomach, at least for a day.

    This jumbo pay of political office holders is the big reason for dichotomy between the fatness of public office holders’ bank accounts before and after getting to office. This issue naturally, irate the average Nigerians and understandably makes them result to generalisations about public office holders being self-centered and corrupt.

    The cost of governance in Nigeria wouldn’t have been much debated had governments in the federation expended more on capital than on recurrent. But alas, a survey recently carried out by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics showed that like the federal government, nearly all the 776 local governments and a few states are expending more on recurrent than on capital. When recurrent expenditure is more or less seen as a negative or stagnating expenditure, the frustrations of average Nigerians on these issues are, therefore, conceivable.

    The solution to this is simple but demands an unabated will. Let’s extend the civil service salary scale to political offices. Let the political office holders, appointed or elected be paid like civil servants.

    If a permanent secretary, who is a just a level less in grade to a commissioner and recognised by the civil service law to be in level 17 or thereabout takes salaries and allowances of a level 17 civil servant, let a commissioner be placed on a level 18 civil servant salary scale. And let this be applicable to every political office holders. Most ministers or commissioners cannot beat their chest, that they are more experienced on the job than most senior civil servants in their respective ministries, so why do they take home pays that are geometrically higher than those of the civil servants?

    Once this salary scale is effected, across all political offices from federal to local government levels, sanity would be restored to political offices. And then, just then would the circus of distrusts and aspersions of political office holders by average Nigerians be put to a final rest.

    • Olaifa Waliu O.

    Alagbado, Lagos.

     

     

  • Asiabaka and FUTO’s transformation

    SIR: Since the creation of Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), apart from the tenure of its first Vice-Chancellor, Prof. U.D. Gomwalk, I have closely monitored activities of the institution and my verdict is that the current vice chancellor of the university, Professor Chigozie Cyril Asiabaka, is not only in a hurry to redevelop and recapitalize the school but also determinedly leaving no stone unturned in the process of upgrading the educational and infrastructural standards. As an indigene and one of the leaders of the host community, I am concerned mostly with the promotion and sustenance of peaceful co-existence as much as I am particular about the development of the environment such that the lives of the neighbouring communities could be positively and effectively affected.

    I am mostly endeared by his enactment of a culture of due process without which no institution can survive. The method of engagements with the host communities by the administration of Professor Asiabaka has given me the courage to write this piece because in as much as he is inhibited by the previous terms of land acquisition, he has resorted to peaceful resolution of inherent problems emanating from existing agreements in the process of land acquisition, by demonstrating a genuine sense of mutual engagement on both sides bearing in mind that as a citizen of Imo State, he will be happier if peace is achieved.

    I am particularly attracted by his sense of equity and fairness in conflict resolution and willingness to convince every listener that he is on a mission to revolutionalise the standard of education and to engender growth in the economy and infrastructure of the neighbouring communities. Today the institution is a sight to behold as he has embarked on a wholesome environmental sanitization by exposing the allure of natural endowments in the vicinity of the university.

    The repair and re-asphalting of the major road into the institution from the front gate is a major testimony of his sincerity of purpose; it speaks volumes of his roadmap for development. I am also aware that there is an imminent plan to equally repair and re-asphalt the institution’s back gate road which links the school with the immediate communities. I have no doubt in my mind that the misgivings between the university and the neighbouring communities will be resolved amicably because what he is doing is to reawaken the consciousness of the communities by re-establishing the existing borderlines and as such re-engaging the communities in dialogue for a permanent and enduring settlement.

    It is heart warming that since the inception of his administration, the students and staff have co-habited with the host communities in a peaceful manner, which he has engendered through his amiable disposition and poverty alleviation schemes as well as his medical and health outreaches to communities.

    Therefore I am optimistic that if he builds on the foundation he has already laid, there will be mutual growth of standards that will benefit both the institution and the neighbouring community.

    • Ben Onyechere,

    Owerri, Imo State

     

     

  • PDP and BBOG campaigners

    SIR: Recently, the Peoples Democratic Party (P.D.P) tried to make political gain out of a statement credited to Chief Audu Ogbeh that some members of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaigners are members of All Progressive Congress (APC). Further, the PDP claimed that the presence of Hadiza Bala Usman one of the coordinators of BBOG campaigners at the presidential election declaration of Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja finally put a seal to that assertion.

    The above and other similar attempts to vilify the BBOG campaigners are not only bizarre but ridiculous. First, it must be made crystal clear that the 1999 constitution of Nigeria guarantees every citizen the right to freedom of association. The fact that a person belongs to an association that is urging the Federal Government to take steps to rescue innocent and defenceless citizens abducted by militant insurgents does not in anyway preclude them from belonging to a political party of their choice.

    An adjunct to this is to point out that there is nothing also wrong for a citizen to belong to an opposition party. In civilized countries like America and Britain both the ruling parties now and the opposition parties have at one time or the other reversed their roles either as the government in power or the opposition party. Indeed the PDP is one of the opposition parties in Lagos, Ogun, Edo, Oyo, Anambra, Imo, Rivers, Kwara, Osun and  Kano to mention but a few.

    Another important point to note is that the 1999 constitution guarantees every citizen the right to freedom of speech. The BBOG campaigners have not done anything wrong by exercising this right when they continually ask the federal authorities to act and rescue these girls. Drawing from the above, the laughable attempt by some spin-doctors to castigate the campaigners clearly stands reason and logic on its head.

    Since the PDP government was elected to protect the citizens of Nigeria and provide for their welfare, it is wrong for anybody to criticize them for urging the federal government to carry out its constitutional duties. While the federal government sees the action of these campaigners as an irritant, the campaign has brought many advantages with it. Since the campaign, no major abduction like those of Chibok girls has taken place again. Also major super powers like America, Britain and France and indeed the entire world’s attention has been drawn to the Nigerian insurgency. The safe school initiative championed by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is another gain from the campaign.

    The PDP federal government should stop engaging in empty propaganda and discharge its constitutional duties to the citizens accordingly. They would have achieved so much in bringing the insurgency to an end if they had used the energy, time and resources channeled towards fighting the peaceful BBOG campaigners who are mainly mothers and women in addressing the menace of insurgency. As they continue to throw brick – bats at these campaigners, Nigerians are keenly watching and would not be taken for a ride. As a former American President once said, “You can fool some of the people all the time, all the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time.”

     

    • Barrister Aham Njoku,

    Lagos

     

  • Can Buhari change Nigeria?

    SIR: One of the presidential aspirants under APC is the General of the Masses, Muhammadu Buhari also known as GMB. But my worry is this; can the near-saint man (as being projected) change Nigeria? Unlike some of his followers who are wont to say yes he can, I will beg to differ and say that he can best put in place the mechanism that will change Nigeria.  We as a nation didn’t get here overnight and hence should not expect to get out of the mess overnight, but we can get out of it provided we have someone who is leading us. GMB need not perform any miracle but he can show us the way to follow.

    Some critics will say, we are tired of soldiers; we don’t want to be ruled by ex-Generals again…but come to think of it, Generals with the help of some civilians brought us here, so I guess it is right for a General to save us from them, to lead us out.

    Some would want to know why after past failed attempts, he has not given up. To that I will say one does not give up on something one believes in without a fight. Times without number, we are faced with challenges but that does not deter us from keeping at it.  Like the Yoruba folklore, if you see an elderly man running helter-skelter in the forest, if he is not after something, something is definitely after him.

    I have also heard that he should have anointed a young blood and rally support behind him. Maybe; but the GMB I read about wouldn’t want to be among many other things, a godfather.

    And again, how many of our young men are ready to live his kind of life? Instead of anointing anyone, the best thing is for him to help rid the system of the pythons and cobras, to equip the youth with antidote of the pythons’ venom, after which he can sit back and watch, smile and relax and rest in peace.

    So, if  we believe that in a four-year term or eight years of two terms, GMB can really not do any magic, why are we expecting magic from President Jonathan; why are we not giving him benefit of the doubt?

    Truth is, if the head is bad, the tail cannot be good. The corrupt nature of a leader will surely affect his followers. President Jonathan has been given series of benefit of the doubts and he betrayed them all. His true nature is evident by those who surround him.

    Buhari is however different; here is a man who even Generals and ex-Generals are scared of. Here is a man who has zero tolerance for corruption. He is not a magician hence magic is not expected of him to transform Nigeria.  He will do total overhauling of the system and put our destiny in our hands because a man cannot change a nation without the consent of the people.

    Who can ever think that Lagosians with their aggressive nature can queue for public transport? Today, we have a governor who says and believes it can be done hence the emergence of Bus Rapid Transport (BRT). Fashola is not a magician; he only knew what to be done and when to do it.

    Put the necessary mechanism in place, set the system aright and the system will not only set the people right, it will guide and change the people. That is the mission of General Muhammed Buhari and that is what Nigerians should expect of him.

    • Olusola Farouq,

    Warri, Delta State.

  • We need laws on pet bottles recycling

    SIR: The governments should enact laws on pet bottles recycling because it is seriously affecting our aquatic life. A visit to our waters will show that the rate of pollution and the volume of pet bottles and water sachets polluting our sea are alarming. In Nigeria, with a population of about 160 million people according to the 2006 population census, over 20,000 metric tones of pet bottles and sachets are discarded daily. Most of the discarded pet bottles and water sachets stray into our marine and water course and endanger aquatic life.

    In Lagos State alone, over 2,000 metric tones of these wastes are recorded daily. In Ogun State, the waste is more than 1,000 tonnes generated daily because water is an essential need of man. The pet bottles and sachets choke aquatic inhabitants thereby reducing their population. They also contaminate the water and poison the living things. In developed countries, these wastes are being recycled into synthetic clothes, imitation leather, timber, building materials and furniture. The pet bottles and sachets can also be recycled into pet bottles and water sachets like newsprint.

    These wastes are dumped at the official surface refuse grounds at Igando in Egbe-Idimu Local Council Development Area, Abule-Egba in Agbado-Okeodo Local Council Development Area. There is also a land-fill at Ojota in Ikeja Local Government (Soulous). Other unofficial waste dumps litter the surface of Lagos State and are at Pako Bus Stop in Isolo Local Government, Odo-Alaro in Onigbongbo Local Council Development Area, Lawanson in Surulere Local Government; Celestial Bus Stop in Isolo Local Government, Wilmer Street in Ajeromi Ifelodun, Lawanson spare parts market and so on.

    Proper coordination of these wastes will garner income for the nation and put a lot of people in work. Scavengers scamper to pick these bottles for re-use as containers for locally prepared drinks and local liquid medications without taking hygiene into consideration. This practice can escalate tooth decay and other mouth infectious diseases. The pet bottles and nylon sachets can be recycled into roofing sheets and walling materials. Victor Moore built The “Junk Castle” completely out of scraps and salvaged materials he found on a nearby junkyard. The artist and high school teacher started building the place in 1970 at a total cost of only $500.

     

    • Adeniyi O. Oyedele,

    Lagos

     

  • Abia govt and workers’ welfare

    SIR: I refer to an article on page 20 of The Nation, Friday October 17,  authored by one Ibe A Uche titled Abia government and workers’ salaries. In the article, the author maliciously tried to portray the Abia government in bad light in the area of workers’ welfare. Even though, he acknowledged the decline in the monthly federation allocation to the states in recent times which is affecting governance one way or other, he turned the logic upside down on the true situation in Abia State.

    Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State before joining partisan politics was a renowned public servant who spent greater part of his youthful life in the civil service of Old Imo State and Abia State. On assumption office in 2007, his administration inherited N29billion debt from his predecessor which included 10 months salary owed local government workers and others.

    His administration liquidated the unpaid salaries.

    The government moved quickly to promote workers whose promotions have been stunted over the years following the politicization of the service by the previous administration. For the workers, it was a dream come true as some of them got triple promotions with their entitlements and other perks paid without delay. Those who were due for retirement, but decided to sit tight were retired and settled. The government commenced the construction of workers’ secretariat, first of its kind in the whole of South-east zone. Today the secretariat has been completed and occupied by the workers just as the Old secretariat has been renovated to international standard and is operational now.

    It is pertinent to know that since the present government assumed office, workers have not embarked on strike because the government has been living up to its expectations. That is why the workers on two different fora conferred award on governor Orji as workers’ friendly governor.  While other state governors foot-dragged and are still foot-dragging on the payment of N18,000 minimum, Governor Orji’s government was the first to pay. Instead of the N18,000 approved minimum wage, Governor Orji’s government is paying workers N21,000.

    For the tertiary institutions in the state namely Abia State Polytechnic Aba, Abia State University Uturu and others, the present administration increased their subventions astronomically from N29 million to N95 million monthly.

    Towards the end of last year, government released the sum of N5.4 billion to the management of the state university, ABSU to tackle infrastructure projects in the school. The government also restored peace and harmony between the University and its host community, complete liquidation of the arrears of six month salaries of staff, which gulped a whopping sum of N960 million. The government had also redeemed her promise to implement the 2009 FGN/University Staff union’s package in the University from January 2011 which cost the Government an additional N528 million. This is apart from their monthly subvention and Internally Generated Revenue from tuition fees and others.

    As it is today workers in the State are not at loggerhead with the state governor neither are they on strike. If they have grudges against the government, they know the appropriate channels to take, not pages of newspaper.

    • Dr. Romanus Uwa,

    Aba Abia State.

  • Re: Fayose grieves the heart

    SIR: I find Idowu Akinlotan’s above captioned write-up in The Nation of Sunday October 19, quite interesting.  I wonder how Akinlotan came away with the impression that Ekiti people hate Dr Fayemi and that what he described as his insufferable urbaneness alienated him from the people.

    Akinlotan obviously accepted all the banal and jejune analysis that blamed Fayemi’s ‘defeat’ on this self-same aloofness and disconnect from the populace and attributed Fayose’s victory to his providing ‘stomach infrastructure’ – that insult to the Ekiti people!

    Akinlotan made so much of the fact that the stadium erupted each time Fayose spoke. For Akinlotan’s information, that crowd was not the ordinary Ekiti people as he made, but was made up largely of PDP supporters mobilized from all over the country, who were doing the job for which they were paid!

    Every discerning person knows that Fayose’s ‘victory’ was orchestrated from Abuja and that he also owes his swearing in to the same federal might which ensured Ekiti courts were locked up for a whole week, thus denying several innocent litigants, access to justice, just to ensure the case regarding his ineligibility was not heard. That, after he led thugs to assault judges in the court premises!

    The only redemption left for Ekiti would be if the APC legislators would be resolute enough to resist the lure of lucre and refuse to defect to the PDP so they can keep  Fayose in check. But I am not so naive as not to know that is a tall order indeed!

    Incidentally, there are already talks of impeaching the Speaker, even though there are only six PDP members.

    But then the Jonathan Presidency has its own mathematical  interpretations as we saw in the governors forum election where 16 won a majority over 19. Also in Rivers and Edo states where a handful  of  House Of Assembly members, with the backing of the Police have been threatening to impeach both the speakers and the governors!

    One can only appeal to the President to please back off from the road to anarchy that he is treading all over the place. As he himself declared in the past, no position is worth the bloodshed that may ensue.

    As for the Ekiti APC legislators, they have a chance of writing their names in gold if they remain steadfast and refuse to fall for the lure of lucre. A good name is better than silver and gold. They should strive to make Ekiti remain the land of honour.

    • Abiodun Sopitan

    Oregun, Lagos

     

     

  • Imo ‘guber’ and charter of equity

    SIR: No one needs to be perplexed at the controversy that has continued to dog the fluid subject known in the political circle as Imo Charter of Equity.  Indeed, the unwritten charter has become a bible of sorts as politicians interpret its contents in the light of their various whims.

    Precisely, the charter is an arrangement that is meant to bring about a rotation of power among the three zones constituting Imo, viz Okigwe, Orlu and Owerri, with regard to the governorship seat.

    The charter presupposes that the exalted position of governor and indeed all political offices are mainly an invitation to dinner.

    To a large extent, enormous abuse of political power has characterized the nation’s political landscape such that it has become a tradition for one in power to deny those who do not fall into his zone of affinity the much needed amenities. Unfortunately, this attitude is the origin of cries of marginalization and allegations of high handedness against incumbents.  Viewed from this side of the spectrum, the charter appears justifiable even though hard to respect.

    Our politicians cannot deny the existence of the charter as it produced Governor Achike Udenwa in 1999. Humphrey Anumudu, who was said to have emerged first in the primaries conducted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) then was prevailed upon, even by his Owerri zone brothers, to step down for Udenwa who hails from Orlu zone, so that Orlu would take its turn in Douglas House.

    They had considered that Okigwe did its term through the late Chief Sam Mbakwe while the late Chief Evan Enwerem did that of Owerri with his less than two years reign.

    By passing up a golden opportunity to become the state’s number one citizen in 1999, Anumudu went into record as the first hero (if not a martyr) of the charter. Udenwa ended up doing two terms, opening another vista in the debate as to whether the equity lies in consideration of the number of years spent in the Government House or whose turn it was.

    However, the pendulum was to swing to Okigwe in 2007 when Ikedi Ohakim, emerged as governor to the chagrin of Imo electorate. Ohakim could not do much during his first and only term, perhaps relying on the charter to sail through to second term, but oblivious that his performance and arrogance was going to shatter the charter.

    As Ohakim’s ouster became obvious, elders of the state scampered to save the charter, with Chief Bob Njemanze coming up with a formula that proposed for Senator Ifeanyi Araraume to be allowed to complete the Okigwe slot to make way for Owerri in 2015.

    It was, however, too late as strident voices, bitter with Ohakim, damned the charter to bring in another Orlu man in the person of the present governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha.

    As 2015 races to meet us at the polling booths, where would equity lie in the entire arrangement?  On the side of Okigwe, Orlu or Owerri?

    Whichever way the arrangement goes, one thing is certain: Imo State cannot afford to pass through more years of despotic ruler-ship and profligacy.  Any zone who presents a candidate that promises to ensure even development of the state should be ready to embrace equity, as Imo voters are poised to thumbprint for such a candidate in 2015.

    • Richard Dirim Odu,

    Owerri, Imo State

     

  • Rescuing Nigerian migrants

    SIR: One of the outcomes of the recent Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja was the confirmation that a new labour migration policy would be implemented in the country. I was indeed elated by the policy which the minister of labour extolled as very crucial to protecting Nigerians travelling or working abroad.

    The vision of the policy document which had been waiting since 2010 is to build an effective, responsive and dynamic labour migration governance system in Nigeria. Its three pronged mission is to provide an appropriate framework at national level to regulate labour migration; ensuring benefits to Nigeria as a country of origin, transit and destination; and ensuring decent treatment of migrants and their families and contributing to development and national welfare.

    Migration, a reality of globalization, is a historical and natural necessity driven by the quest for self-preservation and actualization or economic emancipation. However, a huge industry of human exploitation has grown around it.

    Child labour, sex-slavery, human drug trafficking are mostly the ills that signpost migration where victims gain little while the cartels behind it distort the values of the society with their obnoxious wealth. The various aspects of the new labour migration policy are of cause essential to regulate those recruitment agents operating as modern day slave dealers not interested in the plight of the migrants, but in what they could make from them.

    In the last seven or eight years that I was opportune to travel to a number of Asian countries on academic and professional missions, I have been exposed to different cases and fortunes of many Nigerians who sojourn in such countries. Although, I met many who are credible ambassadors of Nigeria working as expatriates and professionals and who I am always proud, the situation of many others is of grave concern.

    In the oil-rich sultanate of Brunei Darussalam, there is a small but vibrant community of Nigerians, mostly engineers and geologists, working in Brunei-Shell Petroleum Corporation. In that country’s main referral hospital, RIPPAS, a Nigerian is a consultant physiotherapist. At the country’s premier university, I met another group of Nigerian scholars engaged in teaching and research at the university. A few of them, on completing their contract, returned to either Australia or UK. An exception is Dr. Ibrahim Abikan who graduated with a Ph.D in law from a top Malaysian University, taught at UBD briefly and returned to the University of Ilorin from where he took a study leave.

    In Malaysia, I encountered hordes of young Nigerians pursuing graduate study programmes. Many have completed and are retained as lecturers, but the story I heard of many Nigerians in that Asian country is not palatable. I met some of them working as waiters in some hotels in Kuala Lumpur. I witnessed a meeting between the Nigeria High Commissioner (with concurrent accreditation to Brunei) and members of Nigeria in Diaspora Organization, NIDO (Malaysia) in 2008 where the high commissioner practically lampooned them.

    When some of them alleged that the high commission was not protecting their interest, he declared, ‘I was not sent here to come and be hobnobbing with fraudsters and 419’. Sometimes in 2009 while attending an international conference organized by the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre in New Delhi, India, I visited the Nigerian High Commission to interview its senior officials; one consular officer gave depressing reports of Nigerians languishing in various Indian jails for a range of offences.

    From these experiences, I concluded that majority of Nigerians in search of greener pasture abroad were not prepared for their journeys nor did they have the requisite qualifications and means to sustain them as migrants. The question I always raise is how they find it easy to leave Nigeria and become a nuisance abroad.  It is on this account that I heaved a sigh of relief when the Federal Government announced that a labour migration policy would come in force in the country. Indeed, it is a long overdue policy given what many Nigerians endure living abroad and the image they presented of the country.

     

    •  Abdulwarees Solanke,

    Voice of Nigeria, Lagos