The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Re: National Youth Service Corps posting

    SIR: Permit me to commend Professor Jide Osuntokun, an intellectual and erudite scholar per excellence over his wonderful article in his weekly publication (comment) on page 19 of Thursday July 31. If common sense is indeed common, the Directorate of NYSC does not need to be told not to post corps members to the volatile regions in the North-east. The wanton killings on daily basis in this region clearly show to us that all is not well.

    The Directorate of the NYSC published an advertorial in The Nation newspaper on July 11, warning corps members against the presentation of fake medical reports for redeployment. But why should they post them to these volatile regions in the first place? This to me portends a very great insensitivity, lack of respect for the dignity of human being, and the rot in the NYSC scheme. I guess something is wrong with the NYSC officials and the Directorate.

    Many vibrant Nigerians youth are still suffering from life threatening disabilities due to their posting to the Northern part of the country. In my own case I was posted to Sokoto State after graduating from the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State in year 2011. I had close shave with death when our vehicle was robbed in Kebbi State by some heavily armed Fulani herdsmen. This resulted into a ghastly accident in which I had multiple fractures and a damaged hip which needs an urgent replacement.

    It’s sad to tell Nigerians that after two years, I have been completely neglected. In fact, no staff of NYSC was ever sent to check on me throughout my six months stay in the hospital. It took the intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan before my medical expenses was refunded a year after. I still bear the brunt and horror of the unpleasant incident for obeying the NYSC ‘clarion call’. As it is today, I may never be able to walk again except I get further medical attention for a hip replacement. I do pray that my request for further medical treatment to make me walk again will be revisited and granted by the president.

    The case of the missing female corps member a few years ago in Ekiti State is still fresh in our memory. Nothing was done as regard the missing lady and as usual the family was neglected. This finally led to the untimely death of the father after he developed stroke.

    The scheme must be repositioned for better service delivery so that the labour of our heroes past will not be in vain. There is indeed no better time to reposition the NYSC from its present moribund, mechanistic and corrupt state, than now.

     

    • Babaeko Oluwaloseyi.

    Kabba -Kogi State.

     

  • Benefits of new auto policy

    SIR: No matter the amount of destructive criticisms of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, the good intentions of the administration is beginning to manifest in all spheres of the country’s economy as well as the well-being of the electorate.  The administration has not stopped churning out well-thought-out policies that are pro-people despite attacks by the combination of Boko Haram and the opposition party.

    When the Federal Government rolled out the new auto policy, arm-chair critics went to work to reduce the policy to a mere propaganda tool to garner support of Nigerians ahead of 2015 general elections.  To their disappointment, the policy has started yielding positive and practical results. Stallion Group, parent company of Hyundai Motors Nigeria has since fixed its locally assembled 1.1 liter engine Hyundai 110 car at N1.5m and the 1.2 litre engine Grand at N1.9m.

    Before now, the imported version of the above cars was priced at N2.7m. Other automobile industries in the country have put finishing touches to assembling their brand of cars locally thereby making the products affordable to many Nigerians.

    With this, the era of importing used cars known in the local parlance as “Tokunbo” is over.

    There is enormous capability of the new policy to create jobs for our teeming youths and adults alike.  Imagine the large workforce that these automobile industries would accommodate in the course of assembling cars locally in the country.

    Moribund automobile industries are rapidly being revived since this new policy took effect. Recently, Peugeot Automobile Nigeria revived its moribund assembly plant in the country with the inauguration of Peugeot 301 production line in its Kaduna factory.  Imagine the number of Nigerian unemployed youths that this company will engage in the course of its production.

    It will do Nigerians a whole lot of good if this and other achievements are allowed to endure.  This can be done by supporting the administration beyond 2015.  The administration has shown that the good things we see in other climes could be replicated here in our country.

    For once, let the opposition accept that this administration has tried in the face of the myriad challenges that it faces on daily basis. In months to come the supply of electricity will improve to enable artisans and self-employed Nigerians engage others to expand whatever businesses they are doing.

     

    • Chika Onuora

    Asokoro, Abuja

  • Let’s elbow the Ebola virus

    SIR: With the confirmed symptoms in a female doctor and other three health workers who treated late Patrick Sawyer of Ebola virus, Africa’s most dreaded disease is finally here with us. Now that the disease is here with us, what are the ways out?

    First, government should provide well-equipped screening centres at our airports, sea ports and other border posts for testing and quarantine of people intending to enter Nigeria. Those whose duties are to screen them should be well equipped with appropriate tools for the job and to avoid possible contact with in coming carriers.

    Second, federal, states and local governments should adopt proactive enlightenment initiative on dos and don’ts of contracting the disease. Jingles and flyers detailing these preventive measures should be out as quickly as possible and made available to the rural areas. The enlightenment initiative of Lagos State government and the Federal Ministry of Health targeted at churches with worshipers all over the world especially from nations with cases of the virus is a right step in the right direction. Other states should take a cue.

    Third, as individuals, we should improve on our personal hygiene and be cautious of what we consume and touch. Consumption of bush meats of bats and primates (monkeys, apes, gorillas and chimpanzees) known to be primary sources of the disease should be put on hold for now. It could be contracted through body fluids from an infected person. So, it is no longer a must to have handshakes with friends or anyone who stretches his hand for a shake in the public. If you must do, wash your hands properly afterwards.

    Fourth, Ebola for now is an African disease and Africa should take bold steps aimed at finding a cure for it. It cannot be an oversight of the West that the first case of a disease was recorded in 1976 and in 2014 it has no cure. Investment in curative research on Ebola virus should commence immediately.

    Fifth, good hospitals with laboratory capacity of detecting the disease should be established. The nation needs to be grateful to God and First Consultant Medical Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos for having what it takes to detect the disease without which the nation would have been endangered.

    Ebola has for now defied medical cure, therefore acquiring knowledge on how one could prevent the disease, application of caution and common sense in our day to day activities will assist the nation to elbow the Ebola out of Nigeria.

    • Sunday Onyemaechi Eze

    Samaru, Zaria

     

  • Now that Osun election is over

    SIR: Now that Osun State election is over, what next for the Peoples Democratic Pary which deployed the army, state security service, police and other personnel all to intimidate the people of the state for their candidate to carry the day?

    There is nothing surprising in the wide gap between the incumbent and the PDP challenger. Governor Rauf Aregbosola has lived up to his promises to the electorate. Today, in Osun State, education at the basic level is free and the administation provides freee books to the students. There is also something that is not obtainable in virtually  all the states of the federation: free meals for its pupils.

    No wonder analysts predicted a sweeping victory for the incumbent; and little wonder the PDP’s resort to the militarisation of election to guarantee them success.

    This attitude portend grave danger for the survival of democracy in this country.

    As 2015 approaches, the PDP needs to be able to convince Nigerians of what it has achieved in the

    last 12 years as the party at the helms of affairs in this country. Surpressing the opposition  through the use of security agencies cannot lead to success at the polls in 2015. With what has happened in Osun State, the people of this country have got their eyes opened and are ready to vote and protect the votes.

    President Jonathan need not live under the illusion that he can intimidate the people by

    militarisation more especially in the northern axis. The people of Kano, Sokoto, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Zamfara and Kebbi are not ready to give the President Goodluck and the Peoples Democratic Party their votes.

    It will be a miracle if the ruling party and the President can even scale through. The PDP should stop deceiving themselves that they can use the army and related security organs to win as the people are no longer afraid and can stand to defend the votes they cast. By now, it ought to be clear that the primitive method of deploying security agencies in elections as was done in Ekiti and Osun states won’t work.

    • Usman Santuraki,

    Jimeta-Yola, Adamawa

     

  • Ebola: Social media and gullible citizenry

    SIR: There is no doubt that the presence of Ebola virus disease in the West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Ghana is reaching a pandemic dimension. The panic among Nigerians explains the zeal and enthusiasm with which we embraced the rumour of a preventive therapy in a warm-salt- water bath last Friday. It is difficult to pin-point the exact source of the rumour but the substance of it was so pungent that it was difficult not to give it a thought in practice.

    It is not difficult to fathom why Nigerians fell for the Ebola prevention rumour. In a country where health care delivery system is very poor, where doctors are on strike for months on end and the sick are left to die, where drugs, medical supplies and other medicaments and facilities are in short supply and not affordable where they exist, the thought of a ravaging disease with no sure cure is debilitating and shocking. How ready is Nigeria to deal with the disease should it surface, say in Auchi, Orlu or Gusau?

    It is not enough to seek to quarantine a known Ebola virus disease victim. Such victims, even if we know they would surely die, must be fed, comforted and given a semblance of good treatment by health workers. Which health workers are ready to risk their lives in the face of the rampaging disease?

    It is commendable that some effort is being made in this direction with the new life insurance policy for medical care-givers engaged in the Ebola containment effort. The Edo State government, for example, has already designated medical personnel and facilities for handling Ebola cases should any be found in the state.

    The warm salt water bath hoax not only displayed the gullibility of the citizenry but shows how vulnerable the social media can be in the hands of those who have manipulative tendencies. For example, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media applications and platforms have become tools for blackmail, fraud and the spread of outright lies and falsehood, sometimes against political opponents and competitors.  Some Nigerians, out of frustration, see and use social media only as a platform to hurl insults and abuses at others. This incident has brought to the front burner, the need to regulate the use of social media in Nigeria. Users must take full moral and legal responsibility for what they post particularly with respect to matters concerning the security of lives and property.

    Facebook particularly has become a platform for mudslinging, smear campaign and spread of libellous innuendoes against innocent persons, some of them holding high political, business, traditional or religious positions in the society.  It is a general belief that anything or whatever libellous material that is posted (or published) on Facebook or Twitter is not actionable. It is not so. Such posts may not have been tested in court here yet, but I hold the view that such a test may, as has happened elsewhere

  • Aregbesola and the cost of victory

    SIR: Notwithstanding Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s victory on Saturday, the governorship poll in the State of Osun was not free and fair.

    Election is not just about casting of votes but the process, a level-playing field for all candidates being the most critical factor for the success of any poll.

    We all knew Aregbesola would win if the election was free and fair. This is because he has an almost fanatical following in Osun, being a man of the grassroots par excellence.

    It is not because PDP did not do everything possible to rig the poll in favour of its candidate, Iyiola Omisore; it is because of the doggedness and courage of the APC, Aregbesola and Osun electorate on the one hand and on the other the fear of the possibility of the imminent reversal of democracy in the crises that might erupt should the PDP stick to its agenda of conquest of Osun at all costs.

     

    Indeed, many APC supporters were still scared from coming out to vote as news of arrest of their leaders rented the air. So, through intimidation of APC supporters, the PDP still rigged the poll. It’s just that unlike Ekiti, where the majority of party supporters were caught unawares, the majority of the APC supporters in Osun had been sensitised and were ready to defy the intimidation of the PDP-controlled security agents.

    Is the cost of Osun poll in terms of the hype, tension, intimidation, misuse of the law enforcement agencies – the police, SSS, soldiers – unlawful arrest of APC candidates worth it? It’s almost a pyrrhic victory for Aregbesola, APC and the people of the State of Osun.

    Aregbesola performed extraordinarily well such that he did not need to go through such soul-corroding, excruciating and energy-sapping campaign that kept the whole nation on tenterhooks. Well, it was not a campaign to win a re-election but to stop the rigging machinery of the Federal Government-controlled PDP.

    Rather than think of better democratic strategy to defeat Aregbesola, the PDP and Iyiola Omisore relied solely on the might of the federal government to use the security agents to cow the APC supporters as it did in the recent Ekiti poll.

    I commend the role of the media in the prohibitive success of the APC and triumph of performance over mediocrity. I laud the APC governors for standing by their brother-governor through thick and thin; kudos to the APC national leadership.

     

    • Patrick James,

    Kaduna

     

     

     

  • Israel on yet another destructive way

    Israel on yet another destructive way

    SIR: The state of Israel in the last two months has come alive again with its glittering weaponry and destruction of innocent lives in some parts of Palestinian state. Gaza and other parts of the state of Palestine have been under constant assault, demolition and unmitigated destruction since 1948. With the muted backing of American Jews and benign neglect of the rest of humanity, the Jewish state has consistently led its own version of jihad into other peoples land and home.

    Israeli soldiers and commanders have no qualms shooting down, with the most sophisticated weaponry, Palestinian lads armed only with stones, pebbles and sticks. This is their own version of ‘appropriate’ or ‘heavy response’ to provocation. For how long will the world connive at criminal acts of the Jewish state? In other climes Israeli government would have been charged with committing genocide or ethnic cleansing or both. America’s double standard, plus the tepid, timid stance of some powerful European countries have continued to encourage the Israelis to commit modern day holocaust.

    Seeing whole cities, some with highrise buildings reduced to mere rubble and observing toddlers, women and the aged being picked up dead under the rubble does not offend the conscience of our contemporary leaders. For how long will this be? Must Israel live only by the dagger? It is true historically the Jews had perceived itself as a persecuted and harassed nation. But haven’t they engaged in barbaric and unrestrained retaliation, if one were to call these actions that name?

    It is my belief that the physical and forceful occupation of parts of Palestinian land will engender no peace in that region whatever the toll that comes with it. In the last three decades the Israeli political leadership has devoted much of their time and resources to the suppression of their more volatile but ill-equip antagonists. More than ever before, the present leadership is engaged in this destructive and thoughtless campaign. The question continues to stare us in the face, will this continue forever?

    • ‘Deji Fasuan, JP

    Ekiti State.

     

  • Panel’s verdict and Nasarawa Assembly

    SIR: There is no way to describe the outcome of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly’s unsuccessful impeachment move against Governor Tanko Al-Makura than to say that it is a boost to our constitutional democracy much as it will, in the meantime, reduce such sinister ambition being nursed by other states Houses of Assembly. From all indication, the peevish lawmakers went to equity with soiled hands. And it follows naturally that they got what they bargained for. Others should draw a lesson from this.

    To be sure, the lawmakers had instituted an impeachment procedure against the governor few days ago, apparently drawing inspiration from the Adamawa’s imbroglio wherein Governor Murtala Murtala Nyako was kicked out of office by their Yola counterparts. Surely, the so-called gross misconduct levelled against Al-Makura was nothing but a smokescreen by the lawmakers who had set out ab initio to see the exit of the governor at all cost. The motive was as selfish as it was victimising. Like the Adamawa’s case, the said offences were not committed recently; they are as old as the present House and yet they wanted the public to believe that what appeared like their sudden wake from a long slumber was done in the best interest of the state. They merely took the advantage of the porous nature of our impeachment law to settle a political score with the governor, the same way and manner the Ebonyi state House of Assembly recently squared up with its speaker and the ongoing charade in Enugu state. All these are 2015 general election manoeuvring and nothing more!

    Clearly, the lawmakers allowed their personal ego to diminish the interest of the poor majority of the state on whose back they rode to prominence. This was eloquently evident in the manner they attempted to usurp the powers of the panel and the Chief Judge. By asking the latter to “reconstitute” the panel, the lawmakers demonstrated their poor understanding of Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended) on which they relied to initiate the now infamous proceeding. Perhaps, they failed to realise that the Chief Judge of a state, as far as impeachment procedure is concerned, becomes functus officio the moment he constitutes the panel as required by Section 188 (5) of the same law, implying that he (the CJ) cannot interfere with panel’s affairs and proceedings thereafter. The House cannot be a judge in its own case. This is the rational behind the above provision.

    The insistence of the lawmakers to carry on with the impeachment of the governor, notwithstanding the dismissal of the charge against him on the issue by the panel, is a clear indication that they are fully determined to plunge the state into political unrest. The threat is misconceived, unnecessary and unfounded. The Musa Ahmed-led house needs to take another closer look (assuming they did that before) of Section 188 (8) of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended) with a particular attention to the phrase “No further proceeding shall be taken in respect of the matter” in that provision. In case they are still confused after perusing that Section they should see the case of Dapianlong v Dariye (2007) 8 NWLR (PT. 1036) 332, Per Ogbuagu JSC (as he then was) where he stated explicitly that “The impeachment or removal of a Governor is a serious business or matter and therefore, the provisions of Section 188 of the Constitution must be strictly complied with”.

    Similarly, the House’s contention that Subsection (7) of the said Constitution was not complied with by the panel, in my own view, is hollow. The said provision does not give the lawmakers exclusive power to prescribe the procedure(s) for the panel. The fact that the provision uses the word “may” clearly suggest that either the house or the panel could set the procedure. The panel’s finding cannot be defeated only on the ground that it did not wait for the non cooperative House to set a guideline for her sitting. Equity regards substance rather than form. The House has two options in the ensuing farce; challenge the report of the panel in a court of competent jurisdiction or eat the humble pie and allow the electorates to decide the fate of the governor through the next year’s election.

     

    • Barrister Okoro Gabriel,

     

  • Living in the throes of Ebola

    SIR: Nigerians are living in troubled times now. It is not the best of time to be a Nigerian. Has death not been let loose from the pit of Hades, and sent to Nigeria? Death is stalking all of us in Nigeria. In the north-east, members of the Boko Haram have embarked on a killing spree there, turning the area into a river of blood. The South-east and South-south states are reeling under the strangle-hold of armed robbers and kidnappers. There is blood everywhere. To compound our national woes, the Ebola virus disease has crept into our midst; brought into our country by one Patrick Sawyer, a citizen of Liberia. Sadly, the Ebola disease has started claiming lives of Nigerians. We are afraid of the disease because its lethality is swift and fast.

    But, what is Ebola disease? Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever. One can contract it when one’s bodily fluids come into contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. It can be contracted by eating bats, too. It is not an air-borne disease. Relatives and care-givers of people suffering it are at a great risk of contracting it. The symptoms of the disease are high fever, bleeding and central nervous system break-down.

    In 1976, the Ebola disease first afflicted people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is formerly called Zaire. It was contained there, then. Now, the disease has re-appeared on the African continent with ferocity, starting from Guinea, and sweeping through Liberia, Sierra-Leone and Nigeria like whirl-wind.

    Over 950 people have died of the disease since its latest outbreak occurred in Guinea. Superstition as well as myth woven around it has increased its momentum. People in some countries affected by the disease believe that it is introduced into their countries by white people to decimate their population. More so, in some countries, the practice of washing corpses before burying them has increased the spread of the disease.

    With the death of a Liberian in Lagos, Nigeria, the disease has entered the shores of Nigeria. Only one of the nurses who attended to the Liberian had died of the Ebola disease. Others tested positive to it. Air travel which is the fastest means of transportation has made many countries susceptible and prone to experiencing the outbreak of Ebola disease in their countries. It has become a global health scourge and menace.

    Sadly, health infrastructure and facilities in West African countries are pathetic and dysfunctional. Liberia, Sierra-Leone, and Guinea that are being ravaged by the disease are poor and underdeveloped countries. They need monetary aid as well as medical assistance from the Europe and America in order to curtail the spread of the disease in their countries. In Nigeria, the health care delivery system leaves much to be desired, with doctors in the government’s employ always embarking on perennial industrial action. Here, in Nigeria, well-heeled Nigerians travel to India and South-Africa to seek cures for minor ailments. That is a testimony of the state of our hospitals.

    Nigeria has the financial capacity to develop its health institutions, and transform the government-owned hospitals to centres of medical excellence. More so, thousands of Nigerian-born medical doctors are excelling in the medical profession in the Diaspora. They rub shoulders with the white people in their medical endeavours. If our leaders are visionary and competent, they can lure back those health professionals and entrust them with the task of re-building our health sector. But, leadership is myopic and inept here. Consequently, government hospitals are criminally neglected.

    The fact is that a paralytic and bumbling government begets universities where lecturers do not engage in scientist researches. Have our virologists and epidemiologists come up with learned works on the Ebola disease? No, we are always waiting for the white people to save us from danger. Now, information about the efficacy of bitter kola as a cure for Ebola disease is making the rounds in our country with a vengeance. Some people are dipping themselves in salty warm water and drinking the same in order that they will not contract the disease. We are in the twenty first century, but our country has been transported back to the medieval period.

    We have a health emergency on our hands. Happily President Goodluck Jonathan has declared the outbreak of Ebola ‘a national emergency’ and approved more than $11 million to help contain it.

    In the past, humanity suffered swine flu and bubonic fever diseases; yet, those diseases were contained. We can stop the deathly march of Ebola disease in its track in our country if we show the will and do the right things.

    • Chiedu Uche Okoye

    Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra State

     

  • IG Abba can make a difference

    SIR: The coming of Suleiman Abba, as acting Inspector-General of Police may herald the desired change if he chooses to render unblemished service to his fatherland. Abba was the AIG in charge of Zone 7, comprising the Federal Capital Territory, Kaduna and Niger States. His appointment could not have been on account of seniority – because he was not the most senior – but perhaps, based on the conviction that he possesses the wherewithal in terms of experience, dedication, skill, antecedent and professional ethics needed to drive the Nigeria Police Force to excellence. No doubt, Abba is mounting the saddle of responsibility when the nation is facing its most worrisome national security challenge where there is pervasive sense of fear such that the people can no longer sleep with their two eyes closed, precipitated by armed robberies, murders, rape, kidnappings and other allied crimes that have painted a picture of a nation that is practically at war with itself. The Boko Haram menace seems to have overstretched the capacity of the state to deal with the problem of terrorism that has taken a frightening dimension.

    The new police boss should to hit the ground running by picking up from where his predecessor stopped. To start with, serious attention should be paid to the recruitment process that will ensure that only qualified candidates with sound moral consciousness and public spiritedness are employed. Many people seem to join the police out of frustration. Not a few police personnel would prefer to hide their uniforms from members of the public. In other climes where things work normally, police officers are neatly and confidently dressed in their uniforms and accorded due respect. This is possible here too.

    The eyesore called check-points still dot our roads even though the former IGP dismantled the roadblocks and replaced them with the highway patrol to fight crime. Against pessimisms and outcry that trailed that action, it paid off in terms of enhanced security surveillance. Now, the roadblocks are back defeating the initial aim of reducing corrupt practices through illegal ‘toll’ collection.

    The image of the police appears to have plummeted due to unprofessional activities of some of its officers. The Acting IGP should move in this direction by being courageous enough to uproot bad eggs that are giving the police a bad name. This  calls for proper restructuring of the police, to free the institution from being used merely as a social engineering agency to serve the rich, privileged and the political class as presently obtained – where a third of police personnel are attached to individuals and organisations that could afford to pay for such service – at the expense of the security of the greater number of Nigerians.

    Digitalisation of the personnel and operation should be carried out. This would involve the computerisation of the various activities, machineries and training in ICT programmes. All these cannot be achieved without adequate funding.

    Most importantly, there is much to be done as the nation moves closer to the next year’s general elections. The police should not give the impression that they are out to protect the interest of the ruling government alone. They should be made to realize that they are paid to protect lives and property of all, irrespective of political lineage, religious affiliation, tribe or social status. At least, that is what the constitution says.

    And more importantly, as a lawyer, he should not forget to carry out his duties with respect for the dignity of persons and human rights of the citizenry.

    • Adewale Kupoluyi

    Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State