The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • 2015: Atiku needs good luck!

    SIR: Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar says he is the most investigated Nigerian.  Why not?  It is either because he is the most tainted Nigerian or he is the most victimised Nigerian under the sun.  But, of course, he cannot be denied the cap of being the most dogged fighter in the political arena since 1999, having, as it were, fought his former boss, now friend, Olusegun Obasanjo, to a standstill and still lives to tell the story.  Atiku is not only a giant killer, he is also one that knows how to kill generals politically. He did it to Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida; and Minister of Defence, General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau.

    One was a former Head of State and former President; another, a former military President; and the other, a security chief of immense connections.  Who says Atiku has not got financial and political clout? But he may soon add another General to the feathers in his cap when he rubbishes former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, if he makes the mistake of running in a primary with the tested politician.  And that is it!  None of these men is politically wily enough to beat this politician who is playing on a turf he knows better than them.  They are soldiers, trained in the art of violence, but Atiku is a kettle of fish they cannot contend with.

    Only fellow politicians can neutralise Atiku in a political game. Ask Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and he will tell you how he neutralised the former Vice President in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).  Atiku ran away from the ACN, politically bruised and bloodied.  Ask Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the sitting president who made political mincemeat of Atiku.  Atiku may have political brains and brawns, he lacks the humility and the cunningness of the zoologist with a truck load of good luck from on high.

    Atiku says he has what it takes to bring people together and turn things around for better, adding that his decision to run for President was borne out of the need for good governance; but the question remains, what did he do with the four years he ran the country while his former boss was gallivanting round the world seeking to impress the international community rather than build a nation?  It is no longer news that it was his activities in those four years that had made him the most investigated Nigerian. And that is when he was number two; what will happen if he has four years as the country’s chief executive and commander-in-chief?

    Other than his fellow political traveler, Buhari, Atiku stands out as the only one who has contested the nation’s highest political office the most since 1999.  But if he is not careful as before, he will have his nose rubbed in the mud again because he has no good luck.  Good luck, for now, resides elsewhere in Asokoro District of Abuja.

    • Chika Onuora

    Asokoro, Abuja

  • Why T.B. Joshua should be prosecuted

    SIR: It is time the authorities in Nigeria did the right thing and arrest Temitope Balogun Joshua, General Overseer of The Synagogue, Church of All Nations (SCOAN). Here is why:

    On Friday, September 12, a guest hostel located within the premises of Joshua’s sprawling church at Ikotun-Egbe, Lagos, collapsed. The most recent media reports put the death toll from the calamity at 115. So far, rescuers have pulled out more than a hundred survivors from the rubble.  Because Joshua’s church has always drawn an international audience, the continental profile of the list of victims is hardly surprising. For instance, at least 84 South Africans have been confirmed dead. There are also Nigerians and citizens of other African (and possible non-African) countries among the dead.

    The church has done everything humanly possible to cover up the truth about this tragedy. First, in the first three days after the incident, members illegally barred officials of the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) from accessing the site and rescuing survivors. Second, while this illegal interdiction was in effect, the leadership of the church attempted to dictate the narrative and deflect possible culpability by blaming the incident on a mysterious ‘small plane’ which had purportedly hovered above the church complex moments before the collapse. The church leadership even released an ‘exclusive’ footage of the ‘strange’ plane. Third, as public anger mounted in South Africa, the pastor, TB Joshua declared the dead ‘martyrs of faith’ and sought to change the subject by promising to ‘take his teachings’ to the country every month for the foreseeable future.

    Joshua’s entire conduct since the tragic news broke has been that of a man who feels that he is accountable to no one, and who is too preoccupied with his image as a ‘man of God’ to worry about the many victims of this tragic incident, whether injured or dead. His attempts to somehow portray a collapse that most probably has to do with failure to comply with building regulations as a personal attack is an example of his self-promotion and is nothing short of callous.

    Yet, if he has comported himself as one above the law, it is precisely because the Nigerian state has offered him every license. In this wise, neither President Goodluck Jonathan nor Governor Babatunde Fashola has covered himself in glory. The president’s visit to the scene of the collapse in which he commiserated with him was painful to watch. Why would the Nigerian president visit and express solidarity with the leader of a church who should be a person of interest in an ongoing police investigation? And is this the same president who does not know the way to Chibok? Whatever his motive, President Jonathan strengthened Joshua’s arm, gave him the assurance of presidential protection, and threw police investigations in jeopardy. In the same vein, the cloak and dagger nature of the meeting between Governor Fashola and Joshua can only have comforted the latter. Nigerians deserve to know what transpired during their meeting, and whatever assurances, if any, Fashola gave Joshua. That said, Fashola is putting at risk his own hard-earned reputation for transparency and legality.  Simply put, should visits have taken place, they should have been to the hospitals where the injured are being treated and the homes of the deceased.  The site should have been barricaded by the relevant authorities—the police, town planning, etc.— to secure evidence, given that the presumption ought to be that even if it is not immediately clear that a crime has been committed, something definitely has been remiss in the entire tragedy.  Getting to the root of the matter should be the only concern next to solicitations for the welfare of the survivors.

    We cannot resurrect the dead; but it is a duty we owe to their memory that the truth of this matter is not buried with them. Therefore, it is important that the police and other investigative agencies be given the necessary backing (both financial and moral) in order to carry out their duties. Joshua is a person of interest, not for his callousness, but for his cynical and persistent attempts to obliterate the truth and pervert the course of justice.

    • SGD

    Olufemi Taiwo,

    Cornell University,

    Ithaca, New York

    Ebenezer Obadare,

    University of Kansas, Lawrence

    Akin Adesokan,

     Indiana University, Bloomington

    Wale Adebanwi,

     University of California, Davis

    Tejumola Olaniyan,

    University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison

  • A well deserved honour for Onolememen

    The world is full of aspiring political leaders but, sadly, very few live up to leadership ideals. In fact, many political leaders seem to severely lack some of the most important leadership qualities, such as integrity and accountability. However, history has shown us that there are still a few who possess the leadership ideals and are good examples of an effective political leader.

    Easily, one of the nation’s ingenious political players, the Minister of Works, Architect Mike Onolememen, is, no doubt, a testimony of good leadership quality. He is one man who is not just a public officer with authority, but, also, with the requisite required knowledge in redeeming the ministry under his watch.

    Therefore, it gives me great pleasure to join his family, friends, and colleagues in congratulating him on being named a recipient of the 2014 Commander of The Order of Niger (CON) national award. The national award is meant to appreciate his ingenuity in the service of the nation and appreciation for his commitment and dedication to the people of our country.

    To those of us who have been following his steady achievements in public service, this CON Award from his motherland excites us, being the principal and most prestigious means of recognising his outstanding contributions both at the grassroots and at national level. It has now dawned on all that, indeed, recognition at the highest echelon of power is not just for long service but basically a credit for outstanding service. We thank President Goodluck Jonathan for recognising and rewarding diligence and hard work.

    At a time the society is fast becoming regressive and mediocrity is being encouraged, and even rewarded, Architect Onolememen is standing tall among his peers.

    A great philosopher of old, Napoleon Hill, said: “When your desires are strong enough, you will appear to possess superhuman powers to achieve.”

    For those who might not have known, Onolememen’s amazing turnaround of the Works Ministry with the effervescence that is needed, gives away his messianic feature of purpose as well as real leadership in public life. Indeed, he is expressly becoming a giant figure beyond local politics. It is, therefore, appropriate identifying with the success of a man who is less glowing but is presently moving the centre ground of politics of positive change. His rare entrepreneurial revolution is not concentrated on the elite alone; the common man is also affected positively.

    A loyal associate of the PDP patriarch, Chief Tony Anenih, Onolememen took a deep plunge into the PDP politics and put his heart and soul into the party, with his stamina and capacity for service very phenomenal. It is therefore not surprising that, when the president set a performance standard for his ministers, Onolomemen made remarkable marks; a feat that has become regular with him.

    Outside politics, the scholar and teacher has always proved to be a man of unusual knowledge with the ability to relate well with people of different callings and cultures.

    This high honour recognises his tremendous contribution to improving lives, hopes and dreams of Nigeria. And by freely giving his attention, leadership and compassion, he is rewarded for making a tremendous impact in the lives of Nigerians through his colossal achievements in little time.

    Ironically, those who make good political leaders are often those who least want the position in the first place. These are individuals who do not seek power but who have authority conferred upon them by others who value their judgment.

    Lest I forget, it was also another golden year for the Minister on September 4th, 2014.  At this moment of your life, you have written your name in gold.

    You brought smiles on the faces of Nigerians through your able support in the transformation train of Mr. President. Your achievements, within the short period you served as Minister of State for Defence and now Works Minister, are too numerous to mention.

    Your political integrity has remained unquestionable. I want to tell you that, with the degree you are going about serving humanity, whenever the names of leaders who do the nation proud are mentioned, yours shall not be missing.

    May I end this with the quote from the famous author, Jarod Kintz, who states that, “The year you were born marks only your entry into the world. Other years where you prove your worth, are the ones worth celebrating.”

    And this is the basis for celebrating you as a C.O.N. recipient. For that reason, I want to ask God to keep decorating each golden ray of the sun reaching you with more wisdom and sound health and long life.

     

    By Prince Odi Okojie,

  • So what if PDP adopted President Jonathan?

    The National Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party’s adoption of President Goodluck Jonathan as its sole candidate for the 2015 election did not come as a surprise. This is because from the outset, it has become obvious that the party would not field any candidate than the president.  It has become quite obvious that the PDP does not believe in playing real politics. What the PDP believes in was adoption and consensus in fielding its candidates for elective offices. How could one comprehend his sense to see how the party could not give other eminent Nigerians in the party to compete with President Jonathan a free and fair primaries rather than taking short cut to make him the sole candidate?

    The PDP, right from its formation, does not believe in internal democracy as most of its candidates for elective offices are either imposed or adopted without the inputs of the delegates, who are supposed to elect the candidates for elective offices especially governors and the president.

    What assurance did the party get, that with his adoption as the sole candidate he would coast home victorious this time around? Let it be known to the party that it would not be an easy ride for the president, especially in most of the states in the north. Therefore, the party is just deceiving itself with the adoption of the president.

    He is a hard material to be sold, especially in the northern states, and his adoption can be challenged by concerned party stake holders as Dr. Umar Ardo has clearly made it known to the world, that he would challenge the president over his ambition.                            The sycophants in the PDP and those enjoying the crumbs are the ones behind the adoption.

    The PDP is the laughing stock of the political parties in this country. No any serious politician is now in the PDP and that was why the NEC of the party tackled the decision to make him the sole candidate of the party. The party is heading for the rocks by this action taken by the NEC of the party.

     

    By Usman Santuraki,

    Jambutu Ward,

    Jimeta-Yola.

  • FERMA, please rehabilitate Ikole-Omuooke Road

    sIR:  I want to call the attention of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to the deplorable state of the federal road linking Ikole Ekiti with Omuooke Ekiti. As it is, the road has become a death trap.

    I believe the mandate of FERMA is to ensure that all federal roads are in good condition at all times. The agency should not pretend it does not know that the Ikole-Omuooke road is gradually scraping and wearing away.

    I want to use this medium to urge FERMA to rise to the challenge of putting the road in order so as to save the lives of the good citizens of this nation.

     

    • Adewumi Tope Humble

    Omuooke Ekiti,  Ekiti State.

  • Who says youths are leaders of tomorrow?

    SIR: Young people are part of the bouquet of a society. They are an integral and essential part of a society; they offer that specific aroma of theirs which complements the societal wholeness. Young people cannot survive without a society, and a society in turn is incomplete without their belligerence. That informs the cliché, “Nigerian youths are the leaders of tomorrow”.

    I wonder why the term has become so unrealistic and impossible to attain. Today, unemployment has not only ravaged our young minds, the future is particularly bleak.

    I hear stentorian activists make speeches about on how women can serve if given 35 percent opportunity. What about the youths?

    Being a leader tomorrow requires a vision today, and this vision today must be put to work for full actualization. This used to be the case until tomorrow turned to horror. When the vision of being a leader seems to have completely dwindled yesterday and now today – we are left like sheep without shepherd. It seems everything we had envisaged have fizzled.

    In 1985, IBB was the president and our teachers told us that Buhari was the former Head of state. Then, our teacher also called us “the leaders of tomorrow”. Twenty-seven years later, IBB and Buhari are still around the scene. Its either our teacher lied to us about being the leaders of tomorrow, or that tomorrow is yet to come. Who’s fooling who?

    In a country like ours, it is dispiriting to think what the future holds, when as blessed as we are, what has befallen us is regression.

    Imagine; in 1983, Bamanga Tukur was Governor of the defunct Gongola State (now Adamawa and Taraba). Thirty years later, he would emerge as chairman of the ruling party, PDP. Dr. Bello Halliru was commissioner in the Old Sokoto State (now Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara) only to become Minister of Defence 33 years after. Major General David Mark (rtd) was military governor of Niger State in 1984 and now he is Senate President more than 28 years after. The same goes for ex-Governor Murtala Nyako, who was governor of Niger State in 1976.  Until his impeachment recently, he was Governor of Adamawa State – 36 years after.

    What then can we do? Recently some states are passing bills against peaceful demonstrations – their trick to bamboozle the many for their pound of flesh. These peter pans would employ many ways to make sure the youths peter out, if their egregious activities keep being challenged as mascots.

    Only in Nigeria is this possible. A place where the youth have no hope of the future, where the health sector, labour, judiciary and education are perennially on strike.

    The question is – if youths have not prepared themselves sufficiently today, how can anyone say that the future will be bright?

    Let all hands be on deck, if we must escape these shackles and wade into the future as leaders.

     

    •Onwa Franklin Chukwuemeka,

    Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State.

  • Trouble with our educational system

    SIR: The hullabaloo that attended the poor scores recorded in the recently concluded West African School Certificate (WASC) examinations has been so deafening that stakeholders have more or less resorted to the blame game. Parents blame teachers (their eternal whipping boys) and teachers, in turn, blame en bloc, government, students and their parents. And government silently absorbs the knocks apparently because it knows that it holds the ace, the panacea to the continuous slide in the educational fortunes of this country.

    Honestly speaking, is it only government that is to be held responsible for the dismal results posted in this year’s WASC examinations? Hardly.

    The first stakeholders to blame in students’ poor and uninspiring performance at examinations are their teachers who also take the glory when they perform well. The blame for the teacher in the current academic mess derives from his non-committal approach to the job of teaching. This ugly development came into the system when government interfered in education through forceful takeover of schools immediately after the Civil War.

    The takeover was one of the greatest tragedies which the military inflicted on this nation.

    Educationists, the world over, stress inspection and supervision as very essential components of the system. Employers supervise and inspect to maintain standards in schools. Since it ceased in the system, irresponsible and undisciplined teachers have continued to cheat rather than teach the children entrusted to their care.

    The failure of teachers to apply themselves diligently to their jobs and their undue desire to post good results in public examinations prod them to lead in the corrupt option of exam malpractices. And because many of them at all levels of the education process, university inclusive, are products of examination malpractice, they deploy their energies more faithfully to examination paper leakages than to the job they were employed to do. This, simply, is the reason it might take long to kill exam malpractice in this country, the planned extinction of pencil-to-paper examination by WAEC notwithstanding.

    Parents also share in the blame. Parents who take up arms against teachers for punishing their erring children unwittingly plant seeds of indiscipline in such wards. When the seeds begin maturing into plants, they produce sour fruits. Parents who have scant time to inspect their children’s school work at home thereby failing to complement the teacher’s work contribute in no small measure to the poor results in WAEC examinations.

    Many of today’s students are only so, in name. These days one hardly sees pupils and students studying at home. Nobody burns the midnight oil anymore, the practice by which hardworking and serious students were known. Is it not saddening that a student goes through six years of secondary school and four or five of university education without reading a single novel except those prescribed for his school work? Any wonder that they vomit an admixture of tenses and mess up with prepositions in their everyday English language usage, spoken or written.

    The advent of the television, mobile telephone, the computer and allied facilities has claimed their toll on Nigeria’s student population. Regrettably, today’s students and pupils have made the television their number one curriculum. They ironically desert the television when an educational programme is introduced.

    Nigeria’s education system calls for declaration of a state of emergency because the worm that is eating into the system if not stemmed is bound to bring it down. The present situation worries all who passed through the old order because what obtains is a near fairy tale in true education.

     

    • Vincent Ekwurumadu

    Owerri

  • Kudos to FCT minister on land swap policy

    SIR: Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed has continued in his trend of developing Abuja through private initiatives with the recent signing of land swap agreement between the FCTA and four Land Swap investors – System Properties Development Consortium Limited, Urban Shelters Infrastructure Limited, AMPM Limited and BGD Properties Limited.

    According to the agreement signed on September 22, these investors are to provide some N170 billion worth of infrastructure in some Land Swap districts in the Phase IV of the southern part of the Federal Capital City, Abuja.

    As the Minister noted while signing the agreement, the deal which was achieved through intense negotiations and hard work between the FCTA and the land swap investors, has the multiplier effects of creating about 500,000 new jobs in the Federal Capital Territory. It would also fetch the FCT administration about N170 billion – being the total money paid by the investors – while additional N600 to N700 billion will be recouped when 11 other investors who bid for the contract are brought on board.

    It is noteworthy that when Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed came on board as Minister in April 2010, plots in such popular districts as Durumi, Wuye, Jahi, Katampe Gwarinpa and so on had been delineated and fully allocated without caring a hoot about their infrastructure. The result was that individuals and corporate institutions had land titles but could not develop them, not necessarily because they didn’t have money but due to the absence of infrastructure in these districts. To reverse the unsavory trend of allocation of plots without consideration for infrastructure and up the momentum for standard engineering infrastructure provision in the nation’s capital, the Mohammed administration was compelled to introduce land swap as a policy which entails granting agreed percentage of land in a greenfield district to a developer for real property development under a special contract envisaged by the Land Use Act. In exchange for the grant, the developer is to provide primary infrastructure in the agreed district without any financial, technical or demand risk on the part of the FCTA or the Federal Government.

    Land swap was therefore devised to catalyze the development of districts within Phase IV of the Federal Capital Territory and open more doors and windows for all interested Nigerians and non-Nigerians to live, work, relax and do business in the territory. The idea is to open up more areas of the Federal Capital City (FCC) via accelerated infrastructure provision in new districts because in Abuja, infrastructure development must necessarily precede construction of residential, commercial, institutional and office buildings.

    The minister really deserves kudos for these innovations that have been commended by both the World Bank and the Nigerians in Diaspora as a policy that actually has the key to unlock Abuja’s huge development potentials.

    • Ibrahim Serki-Yaki,

    Gadowa District, Abuja

  • APC: Buhari is the man to beat

    SIR: With the endorsement of the president Goodluck Jonathan by the People Democratic Party (PDP) for the next year presidential election, Nigerians are eagerly awaiting the opposition All Progressives Congress to choose its presidential standard bearer, who will slug it out with the president under the emerging two-party structures.

    To say that the PDP has done its best to move the nation forward is to say the obvious. However, its best is not enough to harness the potential of this greatly endowed nation for the good of the citizenry. The party has been in government since 1999 till date, yet, the reality of our development is just like taking one step forward and two backward. Insecurity, corruption, unemployment, poverty in the midst of plenty, epileptic power supply, poor roads and prostrate economy are the lots of our nation. Although voodoo economists are telling us contrary story about the reality of our development, however, some of us know that they are just pooling wool over our eyes to cover their inefficiency.

    If there is any auspicious time for the opposition to wrestle power from the PDP, the time is now. However, APC has a great task at hand if she is to accomplish this task. Enemies of progress of this nation are already waiting for the time when the party will conduct its national congress to choose its presidential standard bearer, what they believe will lead to the implosion of the party. True to the permutation of the detractors, the number of those jostling for the presidential ticket of the party is rising by the day and this is giving the lovers of the party a concern about how the party will come out of the congress unscratched.

    To be candid, there is nothing bad in aspiring for the highest office in the land. However, if APC really meant to wrestle power from the PDP, stalwarts should be honest with one another and must be prepared to sacrifice. The situation at hand does not call for experimentation. Nigerian presidency is not just for anybody. It is a complex position which needs complex and tested people, not parvenu, who are just out to give the leadership of the party a jungle to clear. The sacrifice made by the leaders of various legacy parties that merged together to form the APC was highly acknowledged by Nigerians because they saw it as the signal that the liberation of the nation was nigh.

    In view of the enormity of the task ahead, if the party is to achieve its aim of winning the power at the federal level in the next election. I am appealing to the leadership of the party to rally round the former head of state, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to fly the party’s flag in the next year presidential election.

    My reasons for arriving at this position are simple. Firstly, Buhari is a household name in Nigeria, and has his followership cutting across geopolitical zones. Secondly, he is a tested hand and his qualities as disciplined, upright, incorruptible individual with tenacity of purpose are all added advantages.  Thirdly, the fact that he had about 12million votes against 22million votes of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last presidential election shows that with support from the leadership of the party from other zones, he could easily make up the lost votes and emerge the winner. This cannot be said of any other aspirant.

    • Adewuyi Adegbite

    Apake, Ogbomoso.

  • Jonathan as sole PDP candidate?

    SIR: The presentation of Goodluck Jonathan as Peoples Democratic Party candidate for the 2015 presidential election fulfils the desire of few groups and individuals. The adoption of Jonathan is not a surprise as it has been something long expected; rather what came as the surprise is the “sole candidate” which is Jonathan.

    Having a sole candidate for the most coveted political position in a political party like the Peoples Democratic Party tells of the hidden rancor and disintegration going on within the party. After the dissolution of a faction of the party which called themselves New PDP, many had thought that the party has come together in unison but this act of adopting Jonathan as the sole presidential candidate makes it crystal clear that there is still division within the party.

    The automatic cancellation of the presidential primary which was scheduled for December 6 means that Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido and Speaker of the house of Representative, Honourable Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, both nursing ambition on the party ticket, have to look elsewhere if they are still interested in the position or settle for less. It is quite evident that Hon. Tambuwal will defect to All Progressives Congress (APC) to compete with General Muhammadu Buhari, Atiku Abubakar and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso for the ticket of the party.

    With the defection of Aliyu Wamakko and impending defection of Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, it tells of the looming division in the house of PDP.

     

    • Oyetunji Oluwatobi,

     University of Ibadan