The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Nigerians: A sweet people

    SIR: The sun shines in Nigeria to bring out the glistening beauty of the people, one will think.  The sheer energy of youths that exudes scintillating sexuality puts a smile across a face tired from life’s trivialities.  The potpourri of cultures throws a spicy element in the mix of happiness the people share.  The fashion, the arts, the music, the food and the long list of other wonderful things that elevate life flourish like a bouquet of exotic flowers.  The amazing magic of nature turns everything around for the pleasure of the people.

    Nothing unites Nigerians like a party.  This is one function where cultural distinctiveness collapses into a joyful extravaganza.  Colorful attires represent the sensibility of the various regions.  Creativity in style and fashion remains steps ahead of the imagination.  Music flows with the heartbeat of the nation leading dancers to sensational moves that electrifies the universe.  Assorted indigenous dishes that have crossed the boundaries and blend into the national banquet table will make an ascetic salivate.  Nigerians go to a party dressed as if it is a fashion parade.  And the best prize is a first class entertainment.

    Social media recently had the news flash that Nigerians consume the most champagne, and costly ones for that matter.  It is a common expression in some circles for folks to talk about drinks flowing like water in a party that guests were washing their hands with it.  Make what you want of this extravagance.  However, whether it is with champagne or palm wine, every Nigerian practically owes it to society to throw, at least, a party in his or her lifetime.  The line-up of ceremonies and celebrations that appropriates one’s social legitimacy is long and winding.  If one elects not to participate in the Western ones, one is bound by the traditional.  This underscores the tendency for Nigerians to have many titles before their name such as chief, doctor, mister, missus, reverend and many others.

    The most glaring example of Nigerians’ sweetness is their kindness.  Be it as a result of culture or religion, Nigerians have a very generous heart.  They are always ready to embrace strangers for example.  Notwithstanding the complexities of modern living, they still have the good nature to welcome others that desire their acquaintance.  They also have the willingness to show tremendous assistance to all.  Especially in the case of an accident, everybody rallies to lend their support selflessly. This seems a rare attribute in this era of self-centeredness and everybody rushing to mind their business.

    The negativities about Nigeria, unfortunately, bubble so broad on the surface that the immense spread of her goodness is overshadowed by the surf.  One needs to see the joy of the people.  Young and old dancing energetically in a state of abandonment at various occasions taking place all the time.  If America is the land of opportunity, Nigeria must be paradise on earth.  The people love life and like to flaunt it.  One prays the sun will shine all over the country and brighten the dark places.  The swagger must never die.

    • Pius Okaneme,

    Umuoji, Anambra State.

  • So, who ordered Wabara’s arrest?

    With the emerging denials here are there by the Abia State Government of not being responsible for the unlawful arrest and illegitimate detention of the Associate Editor of The Sun, Mr. Ebere Wabara, last weekend, the question is on whose order was he repugnantly arrested and who is the plaintiff on the suit charging him for sedition.

    While in the hospital after he was released from the gulag at Umuahia on Saturday night on the said orders of the Inspector General of Police, IGP, it was learnt that Wabara was on Monday charged to court by an Umuahia Magistrate Court in Abia State. There was also an order to arrest Chuks Onuoha, the Abia State correspondent of The Sun newspaper and others the suit described as “at large.”

    The “sedition” noise clamped on Wabara was that he authored certain articles which those charging him for “sedition” did not found favourable. But without mincing words, who is the plaintiff in this matter in which Wabara is being charged to court for sedition in absentia, where he is also brazened-out with 10-count charge that the court said bordered on sedition, defamation of character and intention to cause dilemma in the state?

    The court was not seeing that it was a sheer anarchy on the side of the police who acted to effect the arrest of Wabara simply because there was a rumour that someone wrote a petition and without verifying the foolhardiness of the petition, the mesmerized police swooped into action which some Nigerians who are lawyers are saying would cost the police and whoever that instigated them to act unlawfully, dearly at last.

    As it could be deduced, the Abia State Government is playing hide and seek game in the matter of the criminally arrest of Wabara as it vehemently denied being part of the arrest on Sunday, after Wabara was arrested and released, saying in press statement by Mr. Charles Ajunwa, the Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia, that the state government was not aware of the arrest of Wabara.

    Does this not go a long way to tell the world of the government of pretenders that we have come to endure in Abia State?

    Does it mean that the said “seditious” articles that Wabara wrote were against the police or the court? If no, why are they so inquisitive to defend truth with mendacity?

    Who is the prosecution counsel Chief Chukwunyere Nwabuko representing in this matter since the Abia State Government had denied knowledge of Wabara’s arrest?

    Without hiding their faces in shame and apologise to Wabara and Nigerians of good will for their unpleasant abuse of human rights and abuse of Wabara, the sources that are bent on dehumanising him made their blundering claims (very bogus) in the newspapers that Wabara has “jumped bail”. This is just that he was unable to report at the police in Umuahia on that Monday, being the dictate of the police, when he was released from police cell that Saturday night.

    By Odimegwu Onwumere

    Port Harcourt

  • The Isoko ethnic nationality

    One issue that keeps borthering my mind as an Isoko indigene is the worrisome organization called Isoko Development Union (IDU) formed over sixty years ago. The purpose of creating the union which was formerly known as Isoko Union has been grossly defeated and hijacked. The name Isoko Development Union does not represent the interest of Isoko nation but its objectives focus on socio-cultural organization and nothing else.

    Few weeks ago, I received a call from one of the Isoko students in Delta State University, Abraka writing his project on Isoko political development using IDU as a case study where he enquired from me whether IDU has made any Isoko person to hold any political office in Nigeria since its creation, as a student of history, I told him straight that IDU is not a recognized organization in Nigeria because the name does not represent Isoko entity than some voracious persons that want to bring Isoko nation down by all means. One great Isoko Archbishop granted an interview in one of the Isoko community newspapers where he said that IDU many a time invited him to see how the union can move forward but unity is the bane of progress since then. Even when some Isoko group of intellectuals agitated for the late Chief Abel Ubeku to be nominated as Isoko political father after the demise of Chief Otobo, some desperate people rebutted that ideal due to leadership inferiority complex in the land. Isoko is blessed with agricultural produces like cassava, yam, palm oil and others. IDU has not addressed the issues of unemployment of Isoko youths, one united front, mechanized agricultural system, political recognition, infrastructural developments, cottage industries, education, oil marginalization and excesses of over-used politicians in Isoko. I doubt if Governor Uduaghan nominated anybody from Isoko to represent the ongoing National Confab which Urhobo and Itsekeri people were delisted and they fought immediately to see they were in the list of delegates across Nigeria. But IDU is only interested on political consulting than fighting for their rights. In 2011 precisely the former President- General IDU, Elder Peter Ovie Erebi called for a mini-conference on the need to put the union in order only for some disgruntled elements to disrupt the meeting. To God be the glory, a handful members of the union that believed on the oneness of Isoko nation attended the conference to chart a new course for development.

    It is very sad that IDU that started its operation for over sixty years ago does not have an ultra-modern civic hall for their meetings than using a public hall for their regular meetings and elections which indicated that IDU still operating on community leadership system than Isoko ethnicity. If unity can take a centre stage of the Union, then IDU will remain a formidable socio-cultural organization in Nigeria. Though IDU is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) but not politically organized. That is why some learned Lagos- based indigenes are fronting for Isoko nation to join Urhobo but that is unconstitutional. If Isoko Ethnic Nationality (IEN) replaces Isoko Development Union (IDU), then the interest of Isoko will be projected nationally and internationally.

    Today, Isoko nation has not got a political father since the demise of Chief Otobo because everybody in Isoko wants to be a father due to their political positions in the land. Everybody wants to be a leader without a mentorial father.

    By Godday Odidi

    Lagos

  • Thinking with Osun pensioners

    SIR: Nigeria is not in a war situation. Yet, the present condition of its economy as evident in the continuously dwindling allocations to states since last August suggests otherwise. Well, where incompetent persons are saddled with responsibilities larger than their natural endowments, avoidable social and economic crises akin to those feasible in war situations will always atrociously make living a lot more hellish for the people. This is a fact that media reports from across the states of the federation prominently highlight.

    It is against this backdrop that one must really sympathise with the pensioners in Osun State, who media reports in the last few weeks capture their ringing laments, poignant frustration and freezing angst in their protests against the state government over unpaid pensions. These are people who had given their all in service to the state. They had laboured in the morning of their lives so that at twilight they would not be sorely buffeted by the fatal blows of privations. These elderly citizens deserve their pensions without any excuse. And every reasonable person with the ounce of human feeling will agree that no effort must be spared in ensuring that these people collect their dues.

    But all that people of understanding need to have laden in their minds are the actions the state government had taken in the recent past for the benefit of the pensioners. The automation payment system which ensures that each pensioner captured in the system gets their money directly could not have been introduced by a government willing to subject retired persons to hardship. If anything, that arrangement frees the retirees from the insufferable burden of having to go from one office to another in search of their entitlements. Some even yield up the ghost in the process while a number of them ended up without any dime for years. With the automation payment order, transparency, efficiency and orderliness have replaced bureaucratic holdups, fraud, delays, and leakages.

    The protesting Osun pensioners also seem not to understand that the 40% shortfall in the monthly allocations to all states is one excruciating burden that weakens the financial strengths of the states. While some of the states have cut salaries and many more now owe their workers many months’ salaries, Osun is among the very few states that still manage to meet their statutory obligations and keep projects going. One is of the opinion that the justly cross Osun pensioners need to reason with government on how to solve this unpleasant event. Surely, if the government meets certain obligations in spite of the heavy cut in allocation, it will soon fulfil its responsibility to the pensioners. Abuses, insults and all forms of embarrassment are not the appropriate response to this present ache.

    The appeal to the state government is to do all within its powers to make these retirees happy again – yes, in spite of the financial trouble the incapable Jonathan administration is subjecting Nigerians to. But the Osun pensioners must not forget that they also have the responsibility to show understanding. As that profoundly deep mind, Thomas Paine, once said, these are the times that try citizens’ souls. They call for understanding, reason, and patience. May the present adversity bring sweetness in the end.

    • Daniel Akinkunmi,

    Odeomu, Osun State.

  • Lopsidedness in electricity distribution

    SIR: As kids in the late 70s and early 80s, we were made to understand whenever there’s power outage that must have been a major technical fault occasioned either by an environmental interference or weather induced. I still remembered vividly that whenever there was a prolonged power outage, announcement would be made on radio and television with apologies rendered to the public with assurances to rectify the hitches which were usually done within the shortest possible time.

    The reverse is now sadly and unfortunately the case. “Crazy bills” has now become the order of the day as the public are made to pay as high as N10,000 to N15,000 per month for electricity bills for a two or three bedroom apartment. Nigerians are often harassed into paying bills for electricity they never used. Threats of disconnection have often coerced many into paying for what they didn’t use just to save face and maintain their pride in their communities. “Inherited bills” now seems to have come to stay, as new tenants of a particular apartment are forced and harassed into clearing any outstanding bills been owed by the former tenant.

    The introduction of prepaid meters few years ago came as a relief to many; but hopes were dashed when many were made to understand that those meters were actually meant for VIP Customers. Some Nigerians had to pay through their nose just to get a prepaid meter but after paying as high as between N50,000 to N100,000 some have waited endlessly with no hope of getting it.

    The electricity transmission companies often shy away from taken responsibilities or measures at restoring or repairing power installations whenever occasion arises, either due to a natural disaster or activities of vandals. The affected communities are usually made to bear the brunt of such; oftentimes, electricity consumers are made to contribute certain amounts of money to fix even the minutest faults even though they still have to settle their bills at the end of every month.

    The fact that some parts of the country enjoy almost an uninterrupted power supply daily while majority hardly enjoy a four – hours electricity supply per day clearly shows that a lot needs to be done as regards to power distribution in Nigeria. With particular reference to the Kwara State capital, Ilorin where I live, communities like Airport, Asa-dam/Dangote, Agbo-oba, Ganmo, Ita-alamu, Olunlade and some parts of Osere and GRA usually have almost 24 hours uninterrupted power supply at the expense of all other communities which constitute almost 70% of the state capital, even though the billings doesn’t reflect this disparity and lopsidedness.

    It doesn’t really matter the quantity of electricity Nigeria generates; what matters is how much of electricity a household enjoys. Even if the country generates one million megawatts of electricity, it wouldn’t make any sense to the average Nigerian if at the end of the day he/she doesn’t get to enjoy it. Hence, the need for the power transmission companies to look urgently into their modus operandi to resolve and rectify the anomalies and lopsidedness in electricity distribution.

    Electricity consumers should have value for their money. Some people shouldn’t be enjoying electricity for almost 24 hours daily while others would only be paying for bills for electricity they didn’t use. Nigerians are calling on the relevant agencies like the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and indeed all other major stakeholders in power transmission and distribution sectors to come to the aid of the common man with the aim of addressing the issues and to ensure that the right things are done to move this country forward

    • Hussain Obaro,

    Ilorin – Kwara State.

  • SSS, polygraph and moles

    SIR: The recent incident of  attempted jail-break by Boko Haram members at the State Security Service (SSS) headquarters detention facility  should  be blamed  not only on  professional lapses of the operatives but also a weak crackdown on mole and secrecy leaks.

    It is a signal that, there is possibilty of presence of agents like CIA officer Aldrich Ames, who beat polygraph  on two occasions while spying for the Soviet Union and Russia but later caught in 1994, after his betrayal had  resulted in the deaths of a number of CIA assets and compromised more than a hundred Western intelligence operations.

    The awkward truth is: what  prompted the Boko Haram suspects to plan such moves and to believe that they can escape successfully from the envirnment in a broad daylight?

    To forestall further incidents and damage to national intelligence, it is high time for SSS and other intelligence agencies  to re-emphasize a culutre of lie-detector tests.

    • Ayodele Paul,

    Ikire, Osun state,

  • Re: Nnamani’s futile re-entry into PDP

    SIR: On Wednesday March 19, I received a text message from a phone caller ID – SAVE ENUGU. The message read: President says that sovereignty belongs to the people and PDP says that power belongs to ther people. But in Enugu State, Sullivan Chime and Ifeoma Nwobodo are the people.

    After reading the article in The Nation  titled Nnamani’s futile re-entry into PDP, it dawned on me that there is serious trouble with my state.

    The issue is that Chimaroke Nnamani having left the PDP for whatever reasons had also for whatever reasons chosen to come back. Whether it is for realization of political ambition or in acceptance of the olive branch being extended by the national chairman of the party is immaterial to me for now. I learnt that there were series of organized moves to stop him. The state chairman of the party, Vita Abba had described Nnamani as a liability on the party and that his planned return would not be feasible. Another report had it that Nnamani had actually returned having been issued with a valid membership card in his ward. Subsequently, the state government allegedly directed, through the party hierarchy, the suspension of the ward chairman, Monday Ngene, who re-registered Nnamani.

    Based on reports, I sought out most of the characters for their opinions on raging controversy. First was Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu who frowned at the actions aimed at preventing Nnamani from re-joining the party.

    So also was Senator Gilbert Nnaji. He described Chimaroke’s re-entry as an asset to the party because as a former governor and a former senator, he has a lot to offer in ensuring that PDP is victorious come 2015.

    From the foregoing, one does not need to wonder why the newspaper publication which was obviously sponsored by the state government would conclude that “ the alliance of Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Gil Nnaji and Nnamani was not only a conspiracy against the interest of the people, it is also selfish and a self-serving move aimed at taking the state back to dark days of political insecurity and crisis……

    What business does Ekweremadu who is from Enugu-West have with who represents Enugu-East.? Also to what extent would the return of Chimaroke to the party alter the “adoption by the people” of the zone, and not even the party?

    Again, why should Gilbert Nnaji still be a factor since it is a peculiar tradition to Enugu-East that nobody should represent them at the senate twice, despite performance?

    What is the essence of calling democracy the government of the people by the people whereas it is only one person or a few individuals that determine the fate of the people? For instance, if such an agreement exists, then once an individual is elected he or she should not even bother to deliver since he or she must vacate office whether or not he or she performs.

    Besides, has actual politicking begun? Otherwise, why this adoption brouhaha? Or, is PDP not concerned about the implication of premature campaign? And, have politics and governance become inseparable?

    My inference as such is that Enugu State is in bondage crying for salvation all round. The manner the governor parted ways with his wife, the manner Deputy Governor Sunday Onyebuchi’s poultry was invaded and demolished, the manner the state boards of parastatals were dissolved and lopsidedly reconstituted in favour of perceived die-hards as well as the indecent manner the health condition of Governor Chime is being managed all allegedly revolve around Ifeoma Nwobodo.

     

    • Frank Ene,

    FESTAC Town Lagos

  • BAT @ 62: Leadership paragon trudges on

    SIR: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader”- John Quincy Adams

    I read a book by Dottie Billington with the title: Life Is an Attitude. The great book teaches how to become a better you by cultivating winning attitudes. It teaches that life is an attitude, that you have the power to grow forever better.

    Putting together what I learnt from the book and interfacing it with what I have known about Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the past 21 years, I have come to realize that being a potential and consummate leader is no tea party. It is an attitude. It is in the system, inside the blood and it is a character. It needs time, perseverance, patience and grit to cultivate.

    I have come to believe Ralph Waldo Emerson’s postulation that: “It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can seriously help another without helping himself”.

    Can anybody remember Asiwaju’s strong commitment to the struggle for democracy in this country in the 90s? Can anybody remember that he and his wife were chased into exile to London throughout the time Abacha was in power? Did anybody know his personal commitment to the struggle? Did anybody know that he sold his personal belongings to continue to support the struggle for democracy during the dark days of militarism? Did anybody know that BAT and his family suffered monumental discomfort while in exile?

    Asiwaju returned from exile to become the elected Governor of Lagos State for eight years. That he became the Governor of Lagos was not by happenstance. It was a reward for his efforts to liberate this country from its darkest chapters. He laid the foundation and kick-started the transformation of Lagos State for eight years. In 2007 he got a worthy successor, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola against all odds, against all protests, against all calculations, against all permutations and as a consequence of this Lagos has become a beauty to behold in Africa. Today Lagos has become investors’ destination and the most secured state in Nigeria. It has become Nigeria’s number one destination of choice for educated Nigerians seeking succor from economic hardship. It has opened its arms very wide and welcomed everybody.

    The biggest struggle in Nigeria today is how to free Nigeria from the choking grips of PDP and its minions; to turn Nigeria’s worsening fortune under the PDP around to make Nigerians feel the benefits of democracy. Again Asiwaju Tinubu has been in the forefront of this war. Today courtesy of BAT and his team in APC, PDP is facing the greatest challenge in history since 1999, the type never seen or known in the history of Nigeria.

    In his own words BAT says “APC will alter Nigeria’s political landscape and balance of power” BAT as the opposition leader knows when to speak, he chooses his words carefully, and he chooses the time to drop it, the venue to deliver it and the audience to pick the punch line. When he described President Jonathan’s National Conference as a wingless eagle many never clearly understood him but time will tell. Except those without deep sense of history in Nigeria, BAT understands clearly that bringing the explosive issues of a National Conference very close to 2015 Presidential elections and granting 12 million naira each to 492 delegates is a kite that cannot fly. Or did you not hear Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife asking for the 2015 Presidential elections to be shifted forward? Did you see how religious politics is creeping into the landscape? Have you seen how President Jonathan has continued to balkanize and divide the country along religious lines when he chose to visit churches only leaving out the burning Northern part of Nigeria?

    Asiwaju Tinubu’s best is yet to be in Nigeria. He has given all back to humanity. He has great generosity of spirit, BAT can always be attractive. BAT goes with the flow all the time. BAT knows always that Growing meaning Risking. Happy Birthday!

     

    • Joe Igbokwe

    Lagos.

  • Wasted and wretched generations

    SIR: The illustrious Professor Wole Soyinka once referred to Nigerians of his time as the wasted generation. Not given to careless talk, the old wordsmith must have arrived at the conclusion after a rigorous and perhaps depressing analysis of his generation’s wasted opportunities, of what could have been but is not.

    Actually, pre- and immediate post independence generation of Nigerians could also be referred to as the lucky generation. Considering what used to obtain, one would not be wrong to say they had it so good. Even amidst their exploitation, the colonialists also endeavoured to build infrastructure. So this generation of Nigerians enjoyed relatively sound amenities. Our education system was sound and many obtained qualitative education at home, abroad or even both often at state or community expense. Even before graduation, students had well-paying jobs awaiting them. The country teemed with opportunities and possibilities.

    The pre and immediate post independence generation of Nigerians failed to take the country to the next level; they squandered opportunity to establish a world power on the African continent, to emphatically demonstrate that the African is not inferior. They to whom much was given, so woefully failed to extend similar gesture to those coming after them. They burned the bridge after crossing. Why? The answer is loosely captured by the word: irresponsibility. Of course the irresponsible man bequeaths not wealth but wretchedness to his offspring. The wasted generation begot the present wretched generation.

    Over time, the country has so degenerated that the youth now has to labour several times as hard to succeed. The education sector is in tatters. The youth goes to school only to come out hardly educated, rarely skilled. On graduation, he is never sure of securing a job. In fact he often has to wallow in unemployment for years. And when eventually he finds one, the take-home may not really take him home. Those who take the path of entrepreneurship also have to contend with decayed or non-existent infrastructure. With little or nothing to build on, the Nigerian youth could be described as most unlucky; his is the wretched generation. His plight was aptly captured by the pictures that streamed out of the various Nigerian Immigration Service examination centers on March 15.

    But is the youth condemned to wretchedness? No! No matter how unfavourable ones background is, one can still rewrite ones history. Notwithstanding the errors of past generation, the youth can still make things right by taking the right steps. But is he doing that? Unfortunately, no. Is he likely to do so in the near future? I’m not confident.

    The youth is imbued with a devastating combination. To his terrible wretchedness is added an incredible fecklessness. He seems bereft of ideals, incapable of standing up for anything. The wretched youth sings praises of his despoiler in hope of crumbs. Social media which offers an invaluable platform for constructive networking has been debased to a tool for either frivolous engagements or trading of vile abuses. The youth rarely sees beyond his nose, beyond tribe and religion. Like the slave who loves his chain, he is so much in love with these tools with which the elites divide and enslave him. Yet many were united at the various NIS examination centers by unemployment. When the man in the long dark coat visited, he neither considered religion nor ethnicity while picking his victims.

    The Nigerian youth cannot be exonerated from complicity in his woes. And judging from what is on ground, the situation seems more likely to endure and even worsen; that is unless he begins to ask relevant questions, resolves to stand up for what is right, to take his destiny in his own hands.

    •Nnoli Chidiebere

    Aba, Abia State.

     

  • A country battling for breath

    SIR: Has the fear of death not gripped Nigerians, especially those living in the north-eastern parts of our country? Are the killings being executed by the Fulani herdsmen and the Boko Haram group not portents of doom for Nigeria? Nigeria has not descended into war; however, people are being needlessly killed in many states of the federation.

    Insecurity of lives and property is the major problem in the country. The murderous bloody campaign of the Boko Haram has led to the deaths of thousands of Nigerians. Many have fled the troubled states. And, those displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency are begging for financial help and shelter.

    But, it is not only the Boko Haram group that is causing problem in Nigeria. The nomadic Fulani herdsmen do raid villages in Benue, Nassarawa and Taraba States on the grounds that animal rustlers are poaching their cattle. So, the Fulani cattle rearers often clash with native farm owners in the north central states of Benue, Nassarawa and Plateau. Human lives, farm produce and properties have been lost to their fights.

    What we have is an anarchic situation on our hands. Now, armed robbers and kidnappers are having a field’s day in Nigeria. They terrorize people in broad day-light, unchallenged. The rich live behind fortresses and drive in bullet-proof cars for fear of being kidnapped. Daily, we hear news of the abduction of prominent Nigerians by kidnappers.

    Lawlessness precedes war and the disintegration of a country. Do our leaders think that what happened in some Arab countries cannot be re-enacted here? Are they not aware that the huge army of the unemployed youths is a time-bomb waiting to explode? The unemployed youths can cash in on the chaotic situation in some states of the federation to cause revolution in Nigeria. Some weeks ago, about 20 young Nigerians died trying to enter the venues for the Nigerian immigration service recruitment test. It is said that over five hundred thousand people were vying for five thousand vacancies in the Nigerian Immigration Service. People with post- graduate degrees are doing menial jobs not befitting them in order to earn a living. Where is the dignity of labour? And, millions of young Nigerians are without jobs after they had completed their mandatory NYSC programmes.

    Nigeria’s myriad problems are not intractable; and, Nigeria is not irredeemable. We can still reclaim Nigeria from the jaws of ruination and disintegration, and set it on the path of political renaissance, economic prosperity, and technological advancement. The on-going national conference offers us another golden opportunity to reach consensus on many issues, which have been hindering our national development and dividing us. These agreements will serve our national interests. But, delegates to the national conference should subsume their selfish and ethnic interests under the national interests when they’re discussing national issues.

    But, can our leaders muster the political will to implement and abide by the decisions and resolutions reached at the on-going national conference?

    • Chiedu Uche Okoye

    Urouwulu-Obosi,Anambra State.