The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Why Nigerian physicians can’t heal themselves

    SIR: About three or four years ago, the British Royal College of Physicians was involved in a peer review process with one of her Nigerian counterparts, the West Africa College of Physicians. The objective was to assess areas of collaboration in medical education, evaluation and practice. The intent was also to evolve a new paradigm and approach to the training of doctors generally, bringing things to par with international best practices.

    The success of that mission would have meant that physicians trained and accredited here as specialists could simply pack their belongings and move to the United kingdom, Australia, Singapore or Ireland for practice and vice versa. It would have meant our qualifications are unquestioned and at par with other ones out there. It would have facilitated practice across borders, greater international recognition and acceptance, a fluidity of processes and perhaps a restoration of confidence in a sector since relegated to the fringes.

    It would have been an elixir of life in a sector bedeviled by all manner of ills, a lack of leadership (conceptual, managerial and innovative), loss of confidence by the populace, an obsolete approach to medical education, lack of general and human management approaches, inter and intra professional squabbles, this initiative would have done a lot to assuage some of these ailments.

    Unfortunately, as is typical for brilliant, well intentioned and novel ideas which go against well entrenched vested interests, the initiative came dead on arrival!

    A cabal that eschews public scrutiny and accountability presided over the death of the initiative.

    A few of us continue to aver that too much power, is vested in the post graduate Medical Colleges which remains both the judge and prosecutor in her own cases! It determines the standards of graduate medical education, determines the standards for residency programmes, determines the standards and formats for the examinations, administers these examinations and determines individuals it deems fit to qualify as specialists!

    She will also adjudicate in any appeals against it – an exercise in futility.

    The colleges are a law unto themselves with no external checks and balances. They are not accountable to the public. They carry on as though not answerable to anyone.

    The federal government which underwrites the salaries of these resource persons has never demanded results. No one has ever challenged their methods. They resist oversight from the National Universities Commission in a battle of egos and continue to inflict unimaginable pain on multitudes of wannabe specialists through their non evidence based methods. The tragedy is that no one is asking questions!

    Indeed, the thrust of the recommendations by the Royal College was precisely in the areas of planning, resource allocation, objectivity, standardization, transparency, accountability and international best practices. These recommendations were roundly dismissed by some of the faculties (Psychiatry) and selectively adopted by others.

    The developed countries adopt a process which matches supply of specialists with demand, which ensure outcomes for resource allocation and which lends little opportunity for manipulations, ensuring accountability from top to bottom.

    Transparency and accountability is often achieved by a process of quality assurance which articulates what the definitions, standards or measures of quality are, what needs to be done to achieve this quality and spells out the steps to achieve this end- in a dispassionate manner.

    Quality assurance in graduate medical education should begin with the separation of the bodies responsible for setting and upholding the standards for graduate medical education and the body that implements these standards. As in other spheres of the Nigerian existence, the tendency to resist change remains significant in the healthcare sector. The sector is arguably the most troubled, partly because of the conspiracy of its elites, its highly professional nature which renders it impervious to public scrutiny, failure of her utilisers to demand change and a government lacking in will to place demands.

    The sector will remain in its current sorry state unless the conceptual underpinnings of healthcare delivery is revisited, new mechanisms and processes engaged, accountability and transparency to the public made its cornerstone, and a more appropriate model for its delivery employed.

     

    • Timi Babatunde MD

    Lagos

  • Oluwole Akanni Awolowo: One year after

    SIR: About 50 years ago, when Segun Awolowo, the scion and a most precious jewel of the Awolowo family died, the pang of that tragic occurrence was such that devastated the mind as one death too many.

    As a Cambridge educated lawyer, Segun with a naturally endowed intellect, and a striking physical similitude of his illustrious father, was every inch, a chip off the old block.

    While Papa, enamoured in the manly steel of philosophical equanimity, was wont to take things in their stride,– it was not so for the mother – whose emotional defences could not but succumb to an unfettered cascade of invading tears.

    But Mama’s Niravana of peace, was to suffer a severe set back when eight years ago, his only surviving son, Chief Oluwole Awolowo was involved in a ghastly motor accident. So terrible was the accident, that those who had the first hand opportunity of beholding it; couldn’t have given him any chance of survival. That Wole survived the accident at all, was a qualification that all hopes were not lost for Wole to spend not only more days, but even much on earth.

    Mama had every cause to hope. Not only that. She had cause to hope even against hope. Now come to think of it, no mother on earth no matter how unkind would gladly have suffered her dear children to die before her – more-so a child who was so special as Wole was to Mama.

    Moreover, Wole was the only male child, whom you could describe as the Arole or Dawodu or Aremo – which translate in literal sense to the scion or heir apparent of the Awolowo family.

    It is against this background, and the fact that Mama saw in Wole being the only surviving son – the image and symbolic representation of her departed beloved husband, that she (Mama), will be ready to give all it takes for her beloved and only surviving male son, to not only live, but outlive her.

    It was this traumatizing suspense of Wole’s fate, that Mama was contending with, when the sardonic messenger of death, announced like a thunder bolt from a most unlikely quarters, to claim a most precious jewel of the Awolowo biological family, in the person of Mrs Ayo Soyode.

    If before now, Mama had managed with bathed breadth equanimity, over Wole’s fate, one required no pre-science or extra sensory clairvoyance to comprehend the paranoia of heightened anxiety assailing Mama’s spirit over Wole – immediately following the death four years ago, of Mrs. Soyode.

    And today four years after, the rest is history. Mama’s worst fears is confirmed. I join the millions of Awo’s larger ideological family all over the world, to admonish Mama and members of the Awo biological family, to weep no more.

    There is certainly no doubt that Wole has in his own right, registered an indelible footprint in the sand of time. His religious piety, which was a theme of popular public knowledge – was also such that equally staggered the imagination.

    There is no doubt that Wole lived an exemplarily inspiring life. He gave his all materially, financially and spiritually, to humanity on whom he impacted, even through his illuminating discourse on the path to good living – and in particular to his maker, to whom he devoted himself in unalloyed love and service.

    It’s a thing of celebration, that Wole did not disappoint the family and the teeming number of Awo’s ideological family scattered all over the world. There is no doubt that his legendary father, the immortal Awo, would be proud of him.

    •Kola Johnson,

    Lagos

  • Nigerian media and Boko Haram

    SIR: Boko Haram insurgency which emerged from an unnoticed, negligible and quiet beginning under the leadership of late Mohammed Yusuf has turned out daring, monstrous and unstoppable. These days the fear of Boko Haram is the beginning of wisdom.The ruthless attacks, audacity, sophistication and dexterity with which they operate has shamed government measures and eroded the ability of the state to secure and care for its citizens. People are killed, maimed, kidnapped, displaced and facilities wrecked or plundered. Boko Haram has exacerbated poverty, brought massive human suffering, destroyed the environment, and created enormous problems. The society has lost confidence in the system and relies only on God for His mercy and protection.However, policy makers have been slow to understand the importance of media in shaping modern conflict or how, with proper support, it could help create the conditions for peace.

    The mass media was a force to reckon with in the struggle for the attainment of independence in 1960. It was in Nigerian’s pre and post-independence era that the media cut its teeth in purposeful, zealous, vocal, dogged and professional journalism. Since then, the Nigerian media has carved a niche for itself in performing its traditional role of education, information, entertainment, shaping of opinions and swinging of the views of the society on knotty national issues. What is the place of the Nigerian media in the reportage of Boko Haram insurgency? The imposing challenges of this group and the precarious security situation the nation finds itself leaves one to wonder whether the media has indeed fulfilled these responsibilities.

    These traditional responsibilities of the mass media in conscientising the society at every circumstance and situation are enormous, vital and have far reaching implications. Any organised society, government or institution which takes the media for granted does so at its own peril.The mass media often plays a key role in today’s insurgency all over the world. The media has enough potential and can contribute effectively to conflict resolution and reconciliation. One cannot say that these purposeful and zealous roles are lost entirely on the media reportage of Boko Haram insurgence in the North Eastern part of Nigeria.

    Basically, the media role can take two different and opposed forms. It is either the media takes an active part in the conflict and hence responsibility for increased violence, or stays independent and out of the conflict, thereby contributing to the resolution and alleviation of violence.

    The Nigerian media needs to be commended for not wavering in this role since the inception of Boko Haram onslaught in 2009. But concerns are raised that only horrible statistics of the dead, injured, attacked, kidnapped or houses burnt are reeled out often for public consumption.The media is therefore charged to up genuine sensitisation effort on safety precautions to apply in this perilous time. It should be able to swaythe society to give undiluted support and reliable information to the government and security agencies in this fight. The advocacy role of the media in speaking out against societal ills and vices and recommending practical solutions to problems should be maintained. The media does this better and the answer is found on the pages of the newspapers, magazines, television and radio programmes and other social media networks.What would the world have been without the mass media?

    • Sunday Onyemaechi Eze

    Zaria

  • Addressing the scourge of Fulani herdsmen

    SIR: Apart from Boko Haram, one recurrent security challenge that confronts many states in the country is the scourge of Fulani herdsmen. The attacks by the herdsmen on the sedentary communities have been

    increasing with each passing day. The magnitude of such attacks are often associated with terrorist aggression and have been experienced in states like Benue, Nassarawa, Plateau, Taraba, Kaduna, Adamawa, Zamfara, Oyo, Imo, Cross-River, Enugu among others. It is important to observe that the experience of these states with acts being perpetrated by the nomadic herdsmen will only

    heighten insecurity and tension but will never resolved the grievances that stimulated them.

    In Benue State, the scourge of Fulani herdsmen that bear the imprints of terrorist incursions indicates the dawn of a new regime of security concern in the state. Such attacks have in the recent past been

    experienced in places like Agatu, Guma, Gwer west, Makurdi, Kwande, Katsina-Ala and Loggo Local government areas. The consequences include the loss of lives and property of innocent citizens and increase in apprehension on the questions of security in Nigeria. They also pose threats to government’s commitments to peace-building, sustainable democracy and political instability in the state.

    It should be realized that whatever their motivations, these dastardly acts constitute set back to the pursuit of unity, peace and development and should be condemned in entirety.

    Benue State is presently at a dawn of a new beginning which requires investments in infrastructural development, environmental governance and re branding of her image. Benue State is in an era where government should be encouraged to foster unity and integration, stimulate economic development and enhance the standard of living of her citizens. These goals cannot be attained in a security vacuum characterized by constant attacks and other acts reminiscent of terrorism.

    It is in line with this that the following recommendations are proffered as recipe to halt the scourge of killings in the state. The state and National Assembly should enact relevant legislations that address the scourge of the Fulani herdsmen and related security challenges in the state. The security agencies should intensify inter-agency cooperation to combat the menace. .The general public should make vigilance their watch word since the task of security is a collective responsibility. Grazing reserves and dams should be established in the northern states like Sokoto, Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Zamfara, Bauchi, Borno and Yobe to restrict the activities of the Fulani herdsmen who are mainly foreigners from Chad, Mali, Senegal, Guinea and Niger.

    • John Akevi,

    Bauchi

  • Oyo: What manner of politics?

    SIR: Few weeks ago, the city of Ibadan and indeed the world, quaked at the revelation that a den of kidnappers had been discovered in the Soka area of the city. The world was terrified and bothered that, right in its very before, some traffickers and merchants were trading in the entrails and other body parts of its people.

    While the state government, which rose to the occasion immediately, intensified efforts to arrest the situation, in conjunction with the state police command, politics, that ubiquitous vocation that is the preoccupation of the high and mighty, crept into the tragic discovery. First was a young lady who was said to have been hit by a vehicle at the Mobil area of the state capital, which dragged her remains down to the Adeoyo area of the city. Promptly, not one to be caught napping, Oyo politicians leapt on the scene and began to spin a yarn: she was a victim of ritual murder, a story primed to up sow the seed of fear in a state where the most essential win for the government in power is the peace and tranquility it brought after eight years of brigandage and thuggery.

    Then what was alien to Ibadan became the norm: mad men became recipients of people’s anger. One was apprehended at the Ring Road area, reportedly with human tongues. Before the drop of a hat, a cabal of political merchants went to town to spin the ridiculous: since the apprehended mad man was apprehended close to Oluyole, the home of the governor, he must be working for him! The mad man was promptly lynched by a wrathful mob. Two others were lynched within a week. I saw one beside Genesis area being rescued by police, his face bloodied. The police PPRO confirmed this animal sausage story.

    This revelation by the police confirms one thing: that animal sausage was planted by a God-knows-who on the mad men, with an intention that is clear: play politics, tar-brush the government in power, reverse the peace of Oyo State and make it ungovernable. Not long after, some politicians began an Albert Camus absurdity: government and not kidnappers, was responsible for Soka.

    Some years ago, the Bayo Akala government was also tar-brushed by ostensibly this same set of politicians as giving pupils poisoned Indomie. The questions to ask are, why would politicians be this desperate for power? Why package animal sausage to look like human tongues? What is their intention? Is the blood of these madmen lynched by the provoked mob not crying for vengeance? Will police reveal the masterminds of this callous politicking? Are Oyo people so unsophisticated as to be arrested by these politicians’ kind of politics? May God help the people of Oyo in the hands of these evil politicians.

    • Bilikisu Mumuni,

    Opo Yeosa, Ibadan.

  • Usurping local councils‘ roles

    SIR: The eternal beauty and alluring attraction of democracy is that periodically the electorate are given the opportunity to choose their leaders. Curiously at the local council level of governance, this role to choose chairmen and councillors are usurped by some state governors with the state legislators highly impotent to call the erring governors to order.

    The 1999 constitution, the fundamental law that guides the operation of our representative government, clearly states that local council chairmen and councillors should be periodically elected as enacted by the State House of Assembly. Unfortunately in most states of the federation, the legislators have failed in this direction. Therefore the presence of unelected caretaker committee or the head of personnel management running the affairs of the council is strange to the letters and spirit of the constitution.

    These disturbing trends must have agitated the minds of the Independent National Electoral Commission. Arising from a two day conference on best practices in election management in Kaduna, INEC warned eleven states over the non conduct of council elections, adding that the ugly scenario contradicts the 1999 constitution. The affected states are Abia, Bauchi, Borno, Delta, Ekiti, Imo, Kano, Katsina, Ondo, Osun and Oyo.

    For too long Nigerians have been treated with disdain by those who are supposed to be our servants. What is going on at the local council level is just intolerable. The state government should hand off the affairs of the councils and the way to begin is to regularly conduct council polls. If the tenure of the councillors and council chairmen are two years, it should be well spelt out. The danger in usurping the functions of the local council is that progress and growth are denied the people of grassroots administration. Today local councils cannot take care of markets, primary health centres, motor parks and the clearing of refuse. The pillaging of the councils must stop and that we as Nigerians owe it as civic duty to insist those councils‘ elections are regularly conducted. This is not the best testimony of our democracy and that state legislators should be ashamed of themselves by failing in their duties.

    • Akpoyibo Unutemeta,

    Asaba.

  • Nigerians must unite to fight terror

    SIR: Nigeria is at the most sober moments of her socio-political history. Thousands of lives of our people are continuously wasted to terrorism of different modes, kidnapping, armed robbery, militancy and other criminal activities. Security agents are killed at will. Innocent lives are lost regularly. Our children, the future leaders of our nation are not spared. Orphans, widows, and the disabled are created at a terrifying rate. Family and community are broken at will. The heart and souls of our nation are being destroyed. The socio-economic consequences are innumerable. We are faced with real poverty and infrastructural deficiencies across the land.

    This is a war we must work together to win. All of us: young and old, boys and girls, men and women, partisan and non-partisan, Christians and Muslims, traditional worshippers, religious and irreligious must creatively come up with solutions. We must bring peace back to our nation, ‘’for without victory, there is no survival’’.

    During and after 9/11, all Americans irrespective of political, ideological and religious affiliations became united. Americans rose up as one and stood firmly behind President George Bush and later President Obama to defeat terrorism – Al-Qaeda and allies. No one engaged in any form of blame game. For us to achieve victory, the blame game must stop. When we engage ourselves in the blame game; we help the terrorists and their sponsors to achieve their goals – the destruction of Nigeria. Neither Christianity nor Islam supports the killings of innocent citizens. No matter the claims of some devilish individuals, terrorists neither represent nor speak for any faith. Similarly, no socio-political region in Nigeria or any part of the world will plan the killings of its own people. No region will plan the direct destruction of its economic strengths.

    The current challenges of insecurity, poverty and infrastructural deficiencies must bring out the best in all of us. We must never be divided. We must rise up as one against the challenges. We must never accept defeat. We must win the wars against poverty, terrorism and all forms of insecurity. Our collective creativity towards solving our problems must be brought to the fore. Our commitment must be unquestionable. Our passion for a greater, prosperous and united Nigeria must be unquenchable. Our goals to bring back Nigeria to peace, freedom, unity and prosperity must be absolute. Victory is inevitable.

    • Akinlolu, Abdulazeez Adelaja,

    University of Ilorin.

  • Bomb blast and blabbers

    SIR: The gory sights of hapless victims of the Nyanya bomb blast, including children, would make even a heart of steel melt. Such was the crude nature of the bomb blast of Monday April 14, that has shattered dreams, aborted hopes and forever murdered sleep. One thing that cannot, however, be disputed is that these are tough times for motherland. What obtains presently is akin to happenings in a state of war. No one knows when and where the next tragedy would happen. No one knows who the next victims would be. The bottom line is that no one, perhaps with the exception of the lucky few who have the luxury of military and police protection, is safe again in the country.

    Sadly but typically, in the midst of the chaos and sorrow that characterized the Nyanya bomb blast, our leaders have continued in their usual style of trivializing serious national issues. While the American Ambassador to Nigeria James F. Entwistle and other concerned individuals were offering to donate blood for surviving victims of the blast, our leaders were busy making unguarded and infuriating statements that gave them away as opportunists and self-centred characters. It is amazing how our leaders have become so obsessed with power that human lives no longer mean anything to them. It is no longer news that we have become accustomed to politicizing sensitive national issues in this clime. But how does one rationalize the politicization of human lives?

    In our customary penchant for cheap talks, everyone has been talking about nothing. The airwaves are being bombarded with all manners of talks. Our elders at the ongoing National Conference in Abuja are equally not left out in this national past time of unfruitful blabbing. Everyone wants to be seen to be saying something, no matter how insignificant.

    Sadly, despite our penchant for idle talks, we can’t fix elementary challenges such as making our roads safer, making our hospitals work, safeguarding lives and property, ensuring regular power supply, protecting investments among others. Hypocrisy and deception have become a national past time. Can there really be any meaningful progress in a society where falsehood has relegated truth to the back seat?

    We have become a people without conscience to whom all that now matters is power, wealth and fame. That is why we brazenly dance naked at the graveyards of our compatriots whose lives were cut off in avoidable manners and circumstances.

    Irrespective of our predilection for superfluous talks, if we refuse to learn our lessons and act decisively, nothing will change. We need to stand up together and act decisively against terror. Those who are waging war against our nation have demonstrated that they care less about mundane dividing factors such as ethnicity, religion and politics. Religion, ethnic and political affiliations simply means nothing to these agents of death.

    The various security agencies in the country need to do more than they are presently doing in the management of the country’s security situation. Inasmuch as it is true that terrorism is becoming a global challenge, our security bodies need to exhibit more decisiveness and professionalism in their handling of the situation. One primary duty of governments, all over the world, is the protection of the citizenry. The present trend that exposes Nigerians to unhindered horrid attacks and premature deaths, is, to say the least, intolerable

    It is rather distasteful that a few days after the horrific Nyanya incident, about 100 girls at the Girls Senior Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, were kidnapped by men of the Boko Haram sect. Without doubt, we need a new approach in our fight against terror. But, perhaps, more crucially, we need to unite as a people against terror. We need to rise above divisive selfish and parochial dynamics in order to confront terror as one strong united people.

    • Tayo Ogunbiyi

    Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa-Ikeja

  • The Nyayan rush hour bomb blasts

    The recent bomb blast that occurred at Nyanya during rush hours when many Nigerian are eager to reach their various destination for the day’s work,

    It’s clear indication that Nigerian are not safe anywhere in this country.

    The gory picture display in many newspapers across the country a day after the ugly incident left many Nigerian asking maybe the country is at war with any other country, to warrant such dastardly act of inhuman, ungodly and spill of innocent human blood and loss of lives. Nigeria of recent has been ranked as the most unsafe country after countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and other war-torn countries in the world, that are bedevilled with such attacks.

    Those who carried out this mayhem at heart of the nation the capital, Abuja. And coming barely some months to the country’s crucial election are sending a wrong signal to the entire world on the unpreparedness of Nigeria in conducting credible, free and fair election acceptable by all Nigerian and the world in general

    The Nyanya bomb blast is another dimension by those unpatriotic set of people to send fear in the minds of ordinary Nigerians that they can strike anywhere at any time and any place they so desire.

    Its unfortunate the terrorist have to target such places at these odd period, when Nigerian who are considered as low and middle class were set to go out for their means of live hood to meet with such agonising end.

    Also some Nigerian newspapers did not help matter by carrying some gory sights that would have made ordinary people question their journalistic ethics.

    Many Nigeria are expressing fear of moving around the country, because nobody knows where the next bomb would explode

    As many are advocating, the government should call for stakeholder meeting to tackle the security situation in the country before the next election, because Nigerian are fed up with insistent bomb blast with the government promise of nipping the problems in the bud, not making any headway.

    Bala Nayashi

    Lokoja, Kogi State.

  • Thank you Governor Amosun

    Sir permit me space to commend the efforts of the state government in the recent approval of the promotion of not less than 2,141 officers in the state civil service.

    It gladdens the heart to know that the promotion exercise conducted all over the state affected not less than 1,249 senior officers on GL. 07-GL.17, and 717 Junior Officers on GL.01-06 while the remaining officers were given appropriate upgrade and it also affected those who had inter-cadre transfers.

    This step is noteworthy as the Amosun led administration has since been demonstrating that workers welfare is of topmost importance. Not only does the government ensure promotions of workers as at when due but his administration has been constant with payment of workers’ salaries and leave bonuses, as I am a witness.

    It is therefore imperative that the newly promoted officers reciprocate governments gesture by also contributing their own quota to the development of the state at large as a joint effort to the “Mission to Rebuild Agenda”

    Taiyese Ebunlomo Boluwatife.

    ebunlomo.okuwa@gmail.com

    Abeokuta, Ogun State.