The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Who’s to blame for WAEC failure rate?

    SIR: It is either our leaders and stakeholders are ignorant of certain issues or they deliberately shy away from the truth. How on earth could one blame a standard exam body like West African Examination Council (WAEC) for mass failure?

    Do the education minister and the National Assembly want WAEC to bend their marking scheme or lower the standard of questions?

    To pass exams depends largely on the candidate. How many of our students will leave the search for pleasure and entertainment from internet, films, professional league matches, Satellite TVs, Ozonto dance to embark on the tedious job of reading for exams?

    How many parents nowadays even want and encourage their wads to work hard to pass exams?

    I pity the poor set of people called teachers who have suffered so much to teach at a time when pleasure, entertainment, sports, quick wealth have taken roots in our society.

    When football coaches are dismissing N5 million monthly pay as slavery pay, we expect students to read for examinations when they see and know how poor their teachers are.

    I bet the 32% pass that is causing uproar is largely a product of exams malpractices. Develop a way of stopping malpractices and you will see the real failure rate.

    • Idongesit Inyang,

     

  • 2015 Elections and the rest of us

    SIR: I watched with nostalgia how the elections of Ekiti and Osun were fought and lost, the accusations and counter accusations that characterized the elections. It was also very exciting reading the myriad of analysis on what transpired during the election and of course, several words were added to our political lexicon particularly the word  stomachstructure which can been defined as the art of seducing voters with consumables particularly food items in order to secure their votes and support.

    The elections have been fought and won but there are vital lessons we must extract from our recent democratic experience so that we can progress as a nation. I will try to extract a few lessons I want Nigerians to reflect on as we approach the 2015 general elections.

    Electorates have tremendous power to determine who leads them. This ordinary should be a no-brainer but our collective psyche had been bastardised in recent times by ballot box snatching, multiple thumb printing and other electoral malpractices by politicians and their cronies. The people of Ekiti and Osun states voted differently based on their perception of the candidates in the face of intimidation, harassments and high level politicking.

    The elections in Ekiti and Osun also taught us a critical lesson that politicians should bond with their people and listen to their aspirations and yearnings. I believe that politicians should listen to the voice of their people all the time and act accordingly based on the feedback from the people except on rare occasions when leaders have to take some decisive actions which may not be popular with their people but will be in the best interest of the country and their people in the long run.

    For instance, I believe that the now aborted competency test in Ekiti and Edo state was a step in the right direction by the two chief executives of the two states; it is unfortunate that they had to cancel the test for political expediency. On a cursory appraisal of the suspension of the test by the governors, one may be tempted to say that they were correct to have bowed to the wishes of their people. However, deep thinkers will agree with me that we missed a chance to have an improved educational sector. If the governors had been allowed to carry out the test, such tests would probably have been extended to the health sector and other critical sectors of the economy.

    We missed a rare privilege of long term progress by stampeding those leaders! The public outcry and public pressure on well thought out policies and subsequent reversals by successive government will do us more harm than good in the long run. That is not to say that all the actions of governments at all levels are to be accepted. For instance, I threw my weight behind the clamour for the reduction of LASU fees and I was extremely happy when the new fee regime was cancelled .This is because I believe that university education should not be the exclusive preserve of a privileged few since governments at various levels have not been able to provide enough safety nets to protect the weak and vulnerable in our society. What the Lagos state government needs to do is to fund its institutions more and ensure a more judicious use of the resources allocated to the educational sector.

    • Ireti Ishola,

    Lagos

     

  • Who will speak for the Igbo?

    SIR: True democracy buoys up independence and discourages thralldom. I love the Igbo for they are ingenious and believe in the unity of Nigeria if not it would have been difficult for them to have huge investment all around the country and even in inhospitable areas. Some commentators have even equated them with the Israelis but unlike the Israelis the Igbo have not made democracy lively in spite of being reputed to be republicans – have not improved on science, technology and the quality of life of the average Igbo.

    Unlike the Israeli political leaders, yet again, who love to promote Israeli causes by calling on other nation-states to invest in her (even recently at the world economic forum in Davos Switzerland), assemblages like APGA, Ohaneze Ndigbo, MASSOB in contrast do not agree on a common objective that will take the Igbo to dreamland- is it surprising that Israel stands out in military competency, technological proficiency and a with a buoyant economy, while the south-eastern economy is still in stagnation.

    Unlike the Israeli that are united not heeding to the geographical space they occupy within Israel, the Anambra Igbo see themselves as more Igbo than others, while the Imo Igbo see themselves as more educated and the Enugu Igbo.

    APGA no doubt has the right to endorse any party it likes for elections but is such co-operation entrenched in their party laws? Shouldn’t that party be worried about deliberating on issues that are correct and throw candidates for national elections instead of settling down as a tribal party without plans to take their place in the National political landscape?

    How come that a region that is touted to have a strong political force is satisfied with being loyal to a ruling party and of what political benefit is the liaison to the entire Igbo?

    Wouldn’t that party’s independence in years to come be subject to the consent of the PDP?

    It is time that APGA rightly take on its responsibility to lead and shape the widely held support rather than simply follow a herd instinct.

    The South-east needs a Winston Churchill and other grandees to help shape their political future beyond drama. But who will speak for the Igbo people in Nigeria?

    I am knocked for six to see how easy it is for the Igbo politician to compromise.

    • Simon Abah,

    Port-Harcourt, Rivers State

     

  • Oyo pay increase, welcome development

    SIR: The announcement of an increase in workers’ salary by Oyo State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi few days ago elicited joy not only among the workforce but generality of the people of the state. The gesture is commendable given the lean purse of the state. The action is equally remarkable because it is about the first time in recent history of the state, when a government is increasing workers’ salary without agitation or industrial action.

    The tradition in the past was for an outgoing government to set a bobby trap for the incoming administration by increasing workers’ salary. I have no doubt that, Senator Ajimobi understands that success or failure of any administration depends largely on the support or lack of it from its workforce. This is because they are the mirror through which the masses view the government and any comment from them about the government goes a long way to determine their support for or opposition against the government. Therefore, a very important way to attract their favour is to make their welfare a priority. The state government’s policy of payment of workers’ salary on the 25th of every month and payment of 13th month salary are some of the pragmatic steps to boost the morale of the work force and encourage same to be more proactive and result oriented.  I have no doubt that the present gesture of the government will go a long way to promote workers’efficiency.

    Beyond this however, the multiplier effect of the increment on the economy of the state cannot be quantified; this is because the enhanced purchasing power of the workforce whose impact will be felt by all sectors in the state. It is hoped that the workers will reciprocate this unprecedented action from the government by continuing to give its unalloyed support for the government in its bid to improve the lots of the state and give the citizenry a new lease of life.

     

    •Adewuyi Adegbite

    Apake, Ogbomoso.

  • Priests or politicians?

    An Igbo traditional parlance, there is saying that when an elder shows bad example, children don’t just copy it, they also modify it. The recent acts of   priests of Ahiara Catholic diocese of Imo State   aptly illustrated this truism. The priests have by their morbid recalcitrance to obey the order of the Holy See swept under the carpet all that Christianity stood and stands for, as well as their priestly vows.

    One thing that separated Church of England from that of Roman Catholic Church is the latter’s strict adherence to principle of Hierarchism – which denotes that power flows from top to down. In the Church of England, dioceses enjoys a lot of autonomy from Lambeth Palace but its not so with Catholic Church where Order from Vatican is final. But the Catholic faithful of Ahiara diocese disregarded this tradition and have uncompromisingly stated their rejection of Bishop Ebele Okpaleke, former auxiliary Bishop of Awka diocese. They regarded the posting of Okpaleke to their diocese as an imposition.

    But be it as it may, the arguments of Ahiara Catholic faithful should be considered. They argued that since the inception of the diocese that no Mbaise priest has made it to a bishop. They questioned whether Mbaise priests were second class citizens in the said diocese. Inasmuch as their arguments appear sound, they should have handled the issue in the spirit of Christianity and Catholicism. They shouldn’t have gone to the extent of politicizing the whole issue and forcing out of their faithful a Catholic of thugs.

    What I usually ask since the politicisation of this issue is what these priests preach to their congregants? For I wonder how priests that ignited their congregants to wage war against a posted bishop will advice the latter to refrain from doing bad things.

    The unmannered  response of Mbaise faithful to cardinal Filoni’s  fatherly letter and rejection of mediation of Cardinal Onaiyekan  is utterly unchristian  and publishing it in a national daily awkward. It is expected that they should have done that through right means.

    No doubt, this issue is so complex and ought to be treated with care and fear of setting a bad precedence. The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Nigeria should in concert with the Holy See evolve a powerful mechanism for negotiation with Catholic Faithful of Ahiara diocese. Any agreement must see to retention -and reaffirmation of Bishop Okpalaeke as their local ordinary!

    The Catholic faithful of Ahiara should know that they can’t be judge in their own case.  It seems to me that they’ve quickly forgotten the famous papal saying that he who hiss at the Pope dies like a beast.

    •Asikason Jonathan,

     Awka, Anambra State

  • In times like this

    Nigeria, our beloved country, is facing a lot of challenges that will certainly be overwhelmed with time. That much is what we optimist and believers in the future of the country are holding on to.

    With refreshing interviews such as the one granted by the former military president at 73, it is quite reassuring that some of our influential elder statesmen are on the side of good history. Thus with the ravaging challenges of our fatherland at the moment, this calls for reflections in times like these. Talking about the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) challenge, isn’t it shameful enough to look up to other countries that take public health issues more seriously for an ‘‘experimental drug’’ and any other available options? Certainly someone who is sinking can cling even unto scum in order to stay afloat.

    This is appalling because Ebola has been known on the continent as far back as 1976.So the question is: what have we been doing ever since that time to the current outbreak? Absolutely nothing. It is quite embarrassing that an ill-motivated Sawyer would choose Nigeria as a destination to punish us for whatever reason he had in mind after we committed so much resources to save his country from a self-inflicted implosion that resulted in a civil war. Be that as it may, that ugly incidence serves as a sad reminder that regional integration and globalisation have turned the world into a global village with accessibility having a great impact on health and all that we do .Therefore, a disease outbreak in the remotest part of Africa and indeed the world should be of great concern to all and sundry.

    In a layman’s language, we now know that fruit bats and wildlife are reservoirs of the virus without being affected, so those substances in them that prevent the virulence can be isolated to develop vaccines and drug candidates. Fruit bats and wildlife abound in Nigeria for the purpose, it cannot be imported.

    While growing up, we were fond of eating fruits like mango that were bitten by bats, simply scraping the affected area away or even wiping it off. Certainly, not these days again or maybe children or people from such areas had a natural immunity against the disease or zoonoses. Local zoologists are therefore part of the team in unravelling knowledge of the animal reservoirs.

    These are questions that even local research can address with the right equipment and motivation. Those interested in the fight against Ebola disease should be highly motivated and not be shrouded in secrecy. At the last encounter as a student adviser, one of my students was not happy with me when I suggested virology (study of viruses) as a career field. Who do you blame? Well, the student managed to smile but I knew he was aware of the challenging level of concern in the country on viral diseases? Our Nigerian version of Centre for Disease Control (CDC) is well heard, but without a website, one wonders whether the American version which is the global standard bearer also operates that way.

    How do institutions and researchers begin to collaborate with the centre without adequate information? In times like these, Nigerian researchers must avoid the do-it-alone syndrome but go into productive collaborations with one another. N1.9 billion is a lot of money that cannot be channelled to only one research institute, laboratory, pharmaceutical industry or other associated institutions.

    It must be equitably made available to deserving outlets in order to bring the dreaded Ebola virus under control.

    Now we are in an emergency situation and counting the losses in human and material resources. If you or your loved ones have been cured of an ailment through admission into a hospital or attended to by health workers, you will begin to appreciate what it means to lose health workers and doctors, nay consultants, through Ebola disease. Some, if not all of these health workers, are specialists in their own fields and it takes time and resources to train them.

    But to lose a consultant is an immeasurable cost and bereavement. However, on the economic side, some are already smiling to the banks having won huge contracts to install hand washers and sanitizers in strategic public facilities. But that is life; there must be winners and some losers. These winners must do well to put back into the community, especially in the Ebola effort.              Certainly worrisome is the fact that this epidemic is facing us during a doctors’ strike. Doctors in UCH saved my life when I had nose bleeding as an adult during the dry season, did a caesarean on my wife to give us a lovely daughter and many other countless health interventions in the lives of other families and loved ones. If doctors were on strike during those times, one wonders what would have happened.

    So I deeply feel for countless families that need these services at this time. It bothers everyone seriously should a health challenge or emergency arise at this time especially if you cannot afford private hospitals. It is therefore a big joke to sack resident doctors and suspend residency programmes. Government must, therefore, stop playing with the lives of Nigerians and ask itself if our friends like Ghana and South Africa dilly-dally with such issues. Doctors too must remain humane in their negotiations towards coming back to the patients who are in dire need of them. For human lives are invaluable even though insurgents are attempting to change our African value for life.

    Although insurgency is usually contrived to attain certain undefined motives, our government must not rest on its oars in checkmating and annihilating the scourge. Terrorism is not an African way of life. Our Chibok girls must be brought back alive. Nigerians and indeed Africans must rise up to reject and isolate terror agents and their activities. People with a grievance must be ready to come out and air their cause of distress. This will facilitate peaceful coexistence and a strong sense of nationalism. For we must continue to count on government to stimulate and bring about the development that we need in all facets of human endeavour. Government has a contract to fulfil with the people as a responsibility and from the campaign promises of times past.

    Emmanuel Tyokumbur.

    Department of Zoology,

    University of Ibadan

  • Deadly diseases and neo-liberalism

    Sir,

    I strongly believe that there is a strong correlation between the emergence and spread of deadly diseases in developing and developed countries and the promotion and imposition of neo-liberal policies by international economic organisations like the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which are funded and controlled by the capitalists in poor and backward nations.

    The neo-liberalists are the ones that are concocting diseases in their laboratories in western world and spreading them around the globe so that they can create markets for the medicines, or drugs their pharmaceutical companies are producing for abnormal profit making.

    When diseases became deadly, rulers in under developed countries will seek the financial and humanitarian assistance from the capitalists. The profiteers will ask them to buy drugs and injections from their companies, collect loans from their financial institutions etc. These will increase their profits and make them richer at the expense of underdeveloped economies.

     

    Gazali Ibrahim, Kano

    08035053899

  • Idachaba: A sage has left the stage

    SIR: Professor Francis Suleiman Idachaba recently passed on at the age of 71. Should we be mourning or celebrating Professor Idachaba’s transition? Going by our cultural and religious proclivities, we are expected to mourn and not celebrate the dead. I think we should both mourn as well as celebrate his transition.

    Here was a man who hardly settled for anything less than the best. His knack for excellence, both in private and public engagements, is a fact that cannot be debated. Little wonder he achieved unparalleled and matchless results in virtually all the projects he undertook during his earthly sojourn. Professor Idachaba exemplified hard work, honesty, transparency, accountability and discipline. He brought these priceless virtues to bear in every of his assignments, even in unofficial dealings.

    This was a man who, against seen and unseen odds, midwifed the setting up, running and sustenance of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State. As pioneer Vice Chancellor, Idachaba didn’t only focus on physical development, he rolled out a number of beautiful academic programmes to meet the intellectual demands of students and lecturers as well. He fought hard to make the school a centre of academic excellence. Discipline and transparency formed part of his cardinal objectives. The system he operated gave no room for laziness, truancy, corruption, examination malpractice and cultism. He did his very best to fight and banish these vices, especially cultism. It is indeed to his eternal credit that the university still remains one of Nigeria’s best tertiary institutions years after its establishment.

    His track-records while at the famous Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), DFRRI, NALDA, WHO, WORLD BANK, amongst others are eloquent testimonies of the very stuff deposited in him. He was exceptionally good at breathing life into seemingly dead projects. This probably accounted for why authorities at different levels always ran to him when in troubled waters. He had the proverbial magic wand.

    As a beneficiary of his good and enduring modest efforts during his brief but achievement-laden years as vice chancellor of Kogi State University, (KSU), Anyigba, it is important that I celebrate and mourn this transformative leader. Like a messiah, he came and rescued what was left of KSU after it fell under the sledge-hammer of the National Universities Commission (NUC) in 2005 following the school’s dismal performance when it submitted her programmes for accreditation. The opprobrium that followed NUC’s action was so serious that parents threatened to withdraw their wards from the institution. It was a dicey situation. The situation appeared complicated, hydra-headed and foggy. The then state governor’s resolve to trace the late professor to his ‘hiding’ place remained Governor Idris Ibrahim’s topmost achievement in office.

    When the Idachaba train finally landed in KSU, things changed for the better. A situation formerly termed irredeemably pathetic and hopelessly configured improved considerably. The rapid transformation that KSU witnessed just within the first year of his assumption of office is a testament to his avowed commitment to excellence and competence in managing both human and material resources. He was a good leader by all standards. He paid regular and unscheduled visits to students’ halls of residence just to see things for himself. That was the extent to which he demystified his office and personality.

    As a resourceful, revered and renowned teacher, his hands were all over the place. He was a pioneer in many respects, an advocate, facilitator and mentor; a professors professor.  In death, Africa has lost a fine scholar, cerebral strategist, articulate thinker, astute administrator, unrivalled researcher and outstanding intellectual asset.

     

    • Abdullahi Yunusa,

    Imane, Kogi State

     

  • 2015: APC should try Saraki

    SIR: For anyone to win Presidential election in Nigeria, such person must have high votes from both the north and south. A replica of this can be seen in the last general elections. President Goodluck Jonathan won the election not because he had huge votes from the south but because he got the number of votes that are enough to complement his impressive outing in the south, from the north. Also, Gen. Buhari lost the election not because he did have huge votes from the north, but because he did not have a number of votes that are enough to complement his impressive outing in the north from the south.

    What this implies is that whoever will emerge as Nigerian President must get support both from the north and south. Meanwhile, the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan had support both from the north and south in 2011 does not automatically mean that he will get such in 2015 and the fact that General Buhari does not have enough support in the south in 2011 did not mean he will suffer the same fate in 2015 if any or both of them have the opportunity to bear the flag of their parties. After all, the only thing that is constant is change.

    The 2015 elections is knocking door and expectedly, political parties have started making their permutations and combinations in order to emerge victorious.

    From all indications, Jonathan seems to have scaled through in the PDP. As for APC, the water is not yet clear but some say it’s between Buhari, Kwankwaso, Saraki and Atiku.

    The question that everyone is curious to get answer to is; who among these quartet, will be the best candidate for the APC?

    Who among the four, can give Jonathan a good challenge? Who among the four has enough support from both the north and south?

    In my own perspective, I see the best candidacy in Saraki. Is it a support from the north, he will get more than enough. The only thing he now needs is some votes from the south to complement his forecast good outing in the north. Can he get it? Yes, he can. This is based on the fact that he is a Yoruba man. The South-west is the second region with highest number of registered voters after north-west. This region has 99 if not 100 Yoruba which Saraki belongs. So, the south-westerners will give a good support to Saraki, more so that the Jonathan-led government has been viewed to have marginalized the Yorubas.

    However, Saraki will record a very poor outing in the South-east and South-south. But his likely impressive outing in the North-west and South-west which have the highest number of registered voters may pave way for him. If APC gets it right, the winner of the coming 2015 presidential elections may be their candidate.

     

    • Jamiu Idowu Esho

    Eruwa, Oyo State.

  • Colonisation: Time to demand compensation 

    SIR: When Libya demanded compensation from Italy for its colonization, the world thought it a joke. But before our very eyes, Libya got Italy to accept the fact that it owed compensation to the Libyan people.

    Italy admitted that its colonization of Libya was wrong and will never be repeated, and it promised not to attack the Libyan territory by land, air or sea. Italy also agreed to provide Libya with $250 million a year in compensation over a period of 20 years and to build hospitals for the Libyan people.

    More than 50 years have passed since Britain returned sovereignty to the people of Nigeria. Yet, the federal government has not deemed it fit to demand compensation from the country which invaded our territory, stole about 90 percent of our artefacts, expropriated a significant part of our mineral resources, forced our men and women into labour and slavery, humiliated us by subjecting and reducing us into mere second class citizens in our own lands and polluting and relegating our cultural values to the background.

    The time is ripe for Nigeria to take advantage of Libya’s achievement and as a matter of utmost national importance, seek compensation from the British government.

    Colonization should be punished; the countries that harmed other peoples during the colonial era should pay compensation for the damages and sufferings they inflicted. What Africa needs is compensation, not aids. We should not be seen as poor and beggars. No we aren’t poor, the colonial authorities made us poor. They should compensate us for all the atrocities committed against our peoples, the unlawful encroachment into our lands, desecration of our shrines, and our African values.

    Now is time for us to ask and demand that all that was stolen and unlawfully taken from us be returned without further delay.

    • Hussain Obaro,

    Ilorin, Kwara State.