The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Omatseye and “uncommon” Asiwaju

    IR: You always make an interesting and exciting read.

    Your piece on B.A.T is the most convincing advocacy yet that I have come across on a man many choose to hate and misunderstand.

    He is in truth a gift to these times and the generations to come will be glad that at this time,  a man  who could at once “descend from the sky  and erupt from the earth”  trudged these land and made bold to be different; for which the nation and themselves  are the better.

    If they read your piece they may in fact ascribe him a deity status  of some sort.

    I  hope to meet with him someday.

    •Austin Edoja-Peters

    Communications Adviser

    Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, Abuja.

  • Big country, big economy, big cynics

    SIR: “How does this affect the price of fish?”, was the cynical rider to a newspaper report early in the week that Nigeria has overtaken South Africa as Africa’s leading economy. This followed the cheery news coming from the National Bureau of Statistics, which confirmed, of course, what many had long believed- that the Nigerian economy has been understated.

    From the rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures, our country’s GDP has catapulted from $262 billion to $510 billion representing an increase of 94.6%. The new figures firmly put Nigeria ahead of South Africa with a GDP of $370.3, as the king of African economy.

    Not only that, the newly rebased figures confirm Nigeria as the 26th largest economy in the world.  By rebasing the country’s GDP figures, what NBS has just done is to recalculate our GDP to more accurately reflect the nation’s changing economic configuration over the last 24 years.  To be sure, the last time this rebasing took place was in 1990.

    What the newly rebased GDP figures simply do is to present the truest picture of the size of the Nigerian economy by including sectors like the film and video industries, telecoms, as well as information technology, hitherto not considered in the last rebasing exercise.

    Given some of the knee-jerk and overly jaundiced criticism of the rebasing coming from some quarters, one is tempted to ask: Was rebasing the GDP figures necessary? Is the outcome correct and dependable?  Are there benefits derivable from the rebasing?

    From different accounts of experts and economy watchers the world over, there is nothing controversial about the rebasing of the GDP figures, which the government has just done.  If anything, the exercise ought to have been carried out many years ago and even on a more regular basis.  Rebasing the GDP figures is a global best practice that affords countries the opportunity to update their templates for measuring growth in the economy more accurately.

    It is interesting to note that cynics are not quarrelling with the newly rebased GDP figures for Nigeria.  Instead, they are raising the issue of its utility.  Yet, there are many who still believe that the size of Nigerian economy is larger than the picture painted by the new figures.  And this group points to the fact that the value of the volume of trade and transactions that goes on daily in the effervescent informal sector is never tracked and consequently not captured by the rebased GDP figures. The daily activities of that seemingly poor food vendor at every motor park, street corners and even beside public buildings are never taken into considerations.  The value of goods in the spare parts markets at Ladipo and other markets in Lagos did not contribute to the rebased figures.  What about the roadside mechanics, carpenters and other artisans?

    There is no doubt that if an accurate tab is kept on the value of the volume of goods and services in the informal sector, the newly rebased Nigerian GDP will outstrip that of South Africa by miles.

    Yes, the rebasing does not automatically translate to increased purchasing power for citizens yet it carries the potential of attracting more investments into the country, which will eventually improve living standards.  And this is the challenge that rebasing poses to the government.

    •Hamisu Abubakar,

    Abuja.

  • Insecurity: Remembering Rwanda

    SIR: It started suddenly in April of 1994 in the beautiful city of Kigali the capital city of Rwanda. The day took off like every other and families woke up without any premonition of what the day would bring. Kids prepared for school and parents preparing for work all oblivious of how the day would turn out. The sun was bright and it the day was full of promises but no-one was to know the day would turn into night and before it was over one million Hutu’s were dead, the world especially the United Nations had turned a deaf ear to the cries and pleas from these people when they needed help urgently. The day lay wasted with corpses thrown everywhere as the perpetrators marched on the streets chanting war songs and brandishing dangerous weapons as they went, entering homes forcefully pulling people out into the streets and killing them simultaneously. The earth experienced a river of blood unlike any other in the history of the world.

    Here in Nigeria, extremists called “Boko Haram” which means “Western Education is prohibited” came into the country under the disguise of fighting for the “Sharia law”. They came like a mist and suddenly became powerful yet invincible that people still think they are a myth. They have overtaken the North-eastern part of the country comprising Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states unlashing terror and mayhem on its communities. Communities across lay in waste and in ruin across these states as they terrorize, maim and kill innocent civilians who are unfortunate to be on their path of terror and violent destruction. Women and children in most cases are the victims of these wanton destruction of lives and properties with little regard for the children and the psychological effect this experience would have on them and on their future.

    Despite the state of emergency in these states, violent and coordinated attacks on innocent citizens persist almost on a daily basis and one is left to wonder at this riddle. These men display such fine prowess using sophisticated weapons and machinery at their disposal, they seem to be highly trained for combat and to survive the jungle and harsh weather conditions adapting so perfectly like they are “ghosts” but the trail of wanton destruction of lives and properties is a rude wake-up call.

    The battle between Fulani herdsmen and farmers at first started in Benue State and then spread to Kaduna and Nasarawa states with severe and often violent clashes and attendant loss of lives and properties and yet no lasting solution has been proffered from either the federal government or the stakeholders and everyone is watching as this is becoming a “Horror Movie” right in our faces. The dust is yet to settle down and again the storm blows and this time its Taraba State and in each clash “Death walks away with its victims who are speechless not realizing that they have a new home now” and the casualty keeps rising as more and more villages are attacked and innocent lives lost.

    Whether we choose to acknowledge the truth staring at us in the face, or continue ignoring it even with the mounting facts and evidence that assail our eyes and ears on a daily basis, the ominous signs are on us and we have to find lasting solution to these incessant attacks and devastating loss of lives and properties before genocide stares at us right back in the face. It was once upon a time in April that the Rwanda Genocide occurred and took everyone’s breathe away.

    As Africa and indeed the world reminisce and marks of the 20th Anniversary of Rwanda’s genocide, there is urgent need for us to reflect on the lessons from the April 1994 massacre, in order to re-evaluate Nigeria’s security challenge.

     

    • George Olalekan Jimoh,

    Ilorin

  • Works, environment and investment ministers must hear this

    SIR: Foodstuff traders in Ogun State under the umbrella of Isokan Foodstuff and Yam Dealers Association of Nigeria are compelled to openly demand explanation from the honourable ministers in the following ministries: Federal Ministry of Works, Federal Ministry of

    Environment and Federal Ministry of Trade and Investments to please clarify the issue of revenue tickets been issued to our members plying Igbo Ora – Abeokuta Road in Ogun State.

    We have noticed that some touts bearing daily tickets of N200 denomination for each of the federal ministries mentioned have been compelling our members to pay for the ticket or have their wares either seized or damaged.

    In our efforts at confirming the authenticity of these tickets, we have met officials of the ministries involved at the Federal Secretariat, Abeokuta but mum was the response. We were directed to make our findings  at Abuja.

    Our resolve to make these enquiry stems from the fact that no where in the entire country is such ticket being issued to traders except here in Ogun State. It is on this ground that we are asking if the tickets is specifically for only traders  and motorists in Ogun State.

    We want to crave the indulgence of our honourable ministers in the affected ministries to please urgent reply to this demand of ours as we cannot continue to be subjected to illegal revenue collections by any group under the guise that 90% of traders are unlettered.

    The various collections on the roads are part of the reasons why there is always hike in food prices as it is the general public that eventually bear the brunt.

     

    • Abiodun Taiwo & Chief Jimoh Ilo, Sango Otta, Ogun State.

     

     

  • Africa’s biggest economy, world’s poorest people

    SIR: President Jonathan and his cronies never miss an opportunity to show just how completely detached they are from the real concerns of ordinary people. They have never fallen short of celebrating mediocrity; sacrificing achievement for a transient insignificant claim. Once again, we have demonstrated our national foolishness in the name of a rating that Nigeria cannot show its proofs.  In sharp contrast however, successful countries would not accept a rating that has no bearing on the living standard of their people. It is only here that the machinery of government would be deployed to all media to celebrate paper tiger accolade.

    Who else would, in the face of a collapsing economy, catastrophic economic mismanagement, educational misfortunes, unabated corruption, inaccessible health care programmes, political hypocrisy and youth abandonment policy, be carried away with empty achievement?  It is unthinkable that the government could be bold to accept that Nigeria economy is the biggest in Africa. Of what benefit is an economy that does not in any way translate into job and food security, improved health conditions and robust educational system. While families across the country are struggling daily to make ends meet, worried about jobs; security of lives and property, the government is celebrating emptiness, an economy powered by generators. What a shame!

    The founding fathers of Nigeria did not contemplate such a slow motion growth that we are celebrating. They envisioned a virile nation that was endowed with all it needed for a catalytic growth in all aspects of life. They sacrificed their future and well being to jumpstart a country that was designed to bring succour to the suffering people of Nigeria. Fifty-three years on, we are still confronted with hunger, bad roads, epileptic electricity, deadly hospitals, malaria, substandard educational system, corrupt leadership, ill-equipped police, aggressive armed forces, battered retirees, tribalism, favouritism, nonexistent water supply, political thuggery, government induced violence, religious intolerance, avoidable road accidents, environmental degradation, youth restlessness, armed banditry and every other vice. What, then, is the basis of our celebration?

    For the government to accept such a rating with no corresponding effect on the citizenry shows that our leaders are parochial, ideological obsessive, lacking the maturity, courage and vision of other countries that have given their people hope and reason to believe in continued existence of their nations. Our leaders’ smugness and disconnection is personified in the government and its ragbag of officers. At the moment, Nigeria, for certainty, is plagued with avalanche of problems that cripple us as a nation and our common priority should be how to fix some of these avoidable and self inflicted problems.  A good manager would not fantasise a rating that has no bearing on the people.

    Instead of celebrating, we should be cataloguing our failures and begin to fix them. We should look back and see where and how we derailed. We should take stock of our woes and bring to book those who took us to this point. We have no basis to roll out the drums if many of us could not afford average and decent living, when our young men and women are jobless, when both old and young are sickly and malnourished.  What is the basis of the celebration when the government lacks the will to turn things around for better?

    • Tola Osunnuga,

    Dublin, Ireland

  • SOS to Ajimobi on Iresa-Gambari-Tewure Road

    SOS to Ajimobi on Iresa-Gambari-Tewure Road

    SIR: The attention of the able governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi is being drawn to the deplorable condition of the above mentioned road which transverses Surulere and Orire Local Government Areas. The road which started from Iresaadu, the headquarters of Surulere Local Government links two very important regional markets – Gambari and Tewure. It equally serves many communities as a means of transporting farm products to these markets. However, lack of maintenance has made the road nearly impassable at the moment, consequent upon which many farm products lie waste in the farms. The most deplorable section of the road is at Ajinapa village in Orire local government. Absence of drainage in that village contributed to the collapse of that section of the road. It is obvious that local governments in the area are incapable of fixing this road due to their lean purse as they made us to know. This makes the intervention of Oyo State government imperative. The on-going work on the expansion of Ikoyi road and Ikirun road sections of Ikirun-Igbeti highway in Ogbomoso township, embarked upon by the Oyo State government is highly commendable. No doubt, the project is money consuming. However, fixing the above mentioned road will make these local government feel the impact of the state government and grateful for it. Government is advised to give the road urgent attention it demands before the advent of rain which may cut of the villages from the outside world.

     

    • Adewuyi Adegbite

    Apake, Ogbomoso.

  • Rebasing the GDP: The missing link

    SIR: As a well-groomed in the field of Statistics. I took my time to do my research on what led to the sudden growth of our GPD which portrays us as the Africa’s largest economy and the 26th world’s largest economy.

    According to the Statistician-General of the Federation, Dr. Kunle Kalejaiye our GDP was improved due to the upgrading of our base year from 1990 to 2010. He further backed his analysis on theground that some certain sectors of the economy like Telecommunications, ICT and others made them to upgrade the base year because of the non-existence of the sectors in 1990.

    As far as I agreed with the data but one can only deduce that the growth in the GDP is on nominal growth not real GDP. The GDP is the market value of the good and services produced in a country within a given period of time. It is an important indicator to measure the growth of the economy. While there is a difference between growth and development in an economy, it will be very important to note that we are only experiencing growth in the figures without substantial improvement in the key-sectors that reflect in the standard of living of the entire populace.

    Why are we seeing figures on papers everyday without physical reflection in our economy? If adequate steps can be taken to gear up the recent growth of GDP by providing adequate infrastructures, employment opportunities, stable power supply and security of lives and property, the common man will begin to smell the improvement in the economy. I want Nigerians to know without being misinformed that we only supercede South-Africa in terms of nominal GDP growth as

    a result of the current base year we are adopting but South-Africa is not our match when we are talking on real GDP and the level of standard of living/per capital income which the common man on the street can feel.

    Nigerians are tired of hearing figures that don’t impact positively in their lives. Rather, there is a need for the economic team to design a robust policy that will better the lives of Nigerians rather than mere figures without development.

     

    • Ismael Taiwo A.

    Ibadan.

     

  • Still on Polytechnic teachers strike

    Still on Polytechnic teachers strike

    SIR: It is almost a year now that academic activities in federal polytechnics across the country has been halted as a result of the prolonged strike action by the Academic Staff of Union of Polytechnics (ASUP).The most pathetic of all in the unfolding tragedy is the media blackout for the first four months of the strike.

    The major part of ASUP demands is the repeal of the Polytechnic Act and also the implementation of the White Paper of Federal Government Polytechnic Visitation Committee. These two demands are very germane if truly we really need polytechnics that will play a vital role in the educational, scientific and technological progress of Nigeria. Polytechnics are established to train and produce the technical manpower necessary for execution of the nation’s development plans, goals and strategies.

    One other demand of the striking polytechnic lecturers is the establishment of National Polytechnic Commission (NPC). This is because the National Board for Technical Education Act 9 of January 1977, which places Polytechnics under the purview of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), has outlived its usefulness. Current demands on polytechnic education require an abrogation of the law.

    But then, the core of the demands of the striking polytechnic teachers is the issue of underfunding. The results of manifest under-funding of our Polytechnics are to be found in the poor maintenance of existing facilities and infrastructures, of crammed spaces and unwholesome learning environment. Today, students contribute money to buy markers, white board, board, chalk and practical materials in their various campuses just as campus hostels are noting to write about.

    Now that the strike is nearing a whole year, Academic Staff of Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) needs to step up the struggle with mass protests to draw attention to the issues; the National Association of Nigeria Polytechnic (NAPS) must be ready to mobilize Nigerian Polytechnic students to compel the government to meet the demands of lecturers. It is only through this we can fight and win the struggle for revitalization of Nigeria Polytechnics.

    • Dimeji Macaulay

    Minna, Niger State.

     

  • Esele spoke the truth

    SIR: When we revolt it’s not for a particular culture. We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe” ¯ Frantz Fanon

    Peter Esele was in order, when he lambasted the generation of elders who had the rare privilege to remedy the Nigerian state when they held sway to power but did nothing. The young man took on a former governor and ex-minister for education in the on-going national conference. The former minister forgot his legacies in office and took to the path of sanctimonious hypocrisy in a bit to bamboozle his audience. Unknown to him the man who knew him more than he knew himself was there. After his sheer display of grandstanding, Esele, the former Trade Union Congress leaders armed with fearless audacity and   courage took him back memory lane. While he was yet done, a few gang of yesterday’s men chorused in acerbic tone “point of order”. I do not know the rules of the conference but I do know that the rules cannot obviate the power of truth.

    Like Esele, I want to remind the former education minister that my brother was in school when the school went on strike while he was wasting away in limitless pleasure abroad. The resultant effect was that my brother could not graduate at the stipulated time. You think if my brother was there, he would not have toed the path of Esele?

    Sincerely, I believe in the conference but it hurts to see some of the very people who are indeed our problem seated there to discuss the future.  I think the likes of Esele who represent the silent majority needs our prayer and support. As a Christian, I will never cease to ask God to continue to grant him more wisdom, power and courage to speak truth to power.

    I urge delegates of the on-going conference to make good use of this presidential opportunity to right the wrongs of our nation. We cannot afford to waste this rare project. It is in our hands to make or break.

     

    • Ehimare G.

    Benin-City

  • Return of notorious Apapa gridlock

    SIR: Once again, pandemonium has returned to the roads in Apapa. Currently, gaining access to Apapa is fasting turning into a horrendous experience. The recent return of fuel scarcity in various parts of the country is not helping maters as major roads leading to Apapa have become inaccessible largely due to queues of petroleum tankers and articulated trucks making their way to Apapa to lift petroleum products. The situation has been further aggravated by the construction work by Julius Berger Plc as well as the early rain being witnessed across the metropolis this year.

    Apapa is a very strategic gateway to the country’s sea ports. The major share of government’s revenues comes from both the Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports. More than 75 per cent of the goods that are imported into the country come through the ports in Lagos and the major ports in the country are based in Apapa. Neglecting Apapa, despite the trillions of naira accruing to the Federal Government from its ports, further reinforces the sad culture of neglect and rot in the country.

    The issues involved with regards to the current situation in Apapa are many-sided. First, the whole axis, being a busy industrial outlay with constant economic activities, is in need of pressing infrastructure development. Also, the haphazard parking of trailers and articulated tankers on the road constitute a major nuisance on the axis. Although the Lagos State Government built a tanker terminal with a capacity to take between 500 and 2000 trucks along the axis, tanker drivers don’t patronize the park. Furthermore, the continuous importation of locally consumed fuel in the country, arising from the inability of the federal government to fix local refineries, places serious burden on the Apapa axis. With more than 50 depots in Lagos, at least over 3,000 trucks travel to Apapa on a daily basis with the intention of lifting petroleum products.

    The chaotic situation at Apapa, undoubtedly, has grave implication for the country’s economy. The traumatic experience in accessing the ports leads to avoidable delay in the clearance of goods from the ports. It is exactly this situation that makes the Apapa port one of the costliest in the world.

    It takes about two to five days for empty containers to be returned to the port and yet the importers and their agents are made to pay demurrage and levies for a fault that is not theirs.

    To redress the current trend, therefore, the Federal Government would need to urgently resolve the issues of the failed refineries. Continuous importation of fuel, no doubt, will undoubtedly exacerbate the pressure on Lagos and its infrastructure. Patently, what is happening at Apapa mirrors the systemic failure in the country. Various stakeholders in the oil sector need to ingeniously look into the petroleum distributive arrangement to evolve a more scientific and less cumbersome order of distribution.

    More appreciably, the federal government needs to invest massively in the infrastructure development of Apapa. The dearth of needed infrastructure places serious limitation on human capital development.  It is in view of this that the Lagos State Government is planning a regeneration of the Apapa Central Business District, CBD, after several years of neglect by federal authorities. The mainstay of this plan is to restore business activities in the area as well as address environmental degradation caused by illegal activities of oil companies and trailer drivers.

    • Tayo Ogunbiyi

    Ministry of Information & Strategy

    Alausa-Ikeja