The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Tinted glass dramas and police extortions

    A coin normally has two faces. However, in some climes and under certain circumstances, it may appear that the coin may be multifaceted. Therein lays the paradox of the faces of a coin. Or is that why we find it difficult to accept the coin as a currency denomination? Otherwise, the note too has two faces. Encounters with some members of the security forces that are the true faces of these agencies or may not be reveal that indeed we are faced with many faces of the same coin. Whether good, bad or ugly, an experience with them reveals the level of professionalism and indeed the rot that many systems in the country have had to contend with. The purported saying that the police is your friend or not is best captured in the experience I had while travelling from Ibadan to Benue during the last yuletide. It is a well known occurrence during festive seasons that all manner of personnel dot the roads in search of prey whom they will devour or exploit, as there is always a fault to be found on the vehicle or particulars. On this fateful day, at the exit from the expressway from Ojoo into the state roads at Iwo Road we were flagged down by an armed policeman. Our papers were okay, but one of them took me on since I was wearing my ID tag. Having asserted that we were driving in a factory-fitted tinted glass vehicle, he went on to inform us that we had broken the law which was a high court offence and therefore we must follow him to the station or settle him with N10,000 cash. We pleaded to no avail. As if we were the cause of the rot in the force, he vituperated further that we lecturers fail students unjustly and massively. I thought maybe he must have failed woefully in one of those institutions, so I told him that it was not in the character of a lecturer to fail a student and that the University of Ibadan where I come from is above board and that is why we don’t even sell handouts and force students to buy our books. Not satisfied, he went on, pontificating that the chaplet in our car was attacking him spiritually and he was not himself again. But who can argue with an armed robber, certainly only one out of his/her mind would argue with someone with a gun. For many have been allegedly gunned down by these friends of the public and proclaimed as robbers or much less victims of robbery attacks for failing to accede to their demands. Previously, he had played the ethnic card by speaking with my wife in his language so as to gauge the lever of extortion. We had no choice but to part with our hard-earned money to an armed man using the powers of his gun to preach to us on every subject that presented it directly or indirectly. We had broken the extant rule on tinted vehicular glass long outlawed during the military era, but a product of intensive research from the developed world to protect passengers from harmful solar radiation and for purposes of right of privacy even on the road. No wonder since we have a paucity of research products, our very agencies are destroying the products of hard-won research gotten from other lands for health benefits as factory-fitted tinted glass are meant to protect from harmful solar radiation while on the road.

    Like most draconian legislations that do not consider the sensibilities and responsiveness of the hapless citizenry, vehicle owners of factory-fitted tinted glasses have been on the receiving end through police extortions and intimidations on the highways. A market has been created for the extorting police to rake in between 10-15K from their victims.

    However, on the same fateful day, there was an exception in Ondo State at the boundary with Edo towards Okene. This particular police officer on seeing that all our papers were right with the exception of the permit on vehicular tinted glasses, having identified ourselves, cautioned us to make use of the next opportunity to obtain the permit without us begging him. This was no doubt a hard reminder that good men are still in the police having been extorted by the same force member with abusive statements on the same day in Ibadan. It is quite possible that the sensible police man in Ondo thought about the cumbersome nature of obtaining the permit, the unnecessary cost of replacing the factory-fitted glasses, the recklessness of the resurrected extant rule and the rightness in all our other papers in deciding to wave us through without demanding a bribe. This showed how sensible the rank and file of the force can be.

    Nigerians and other vehicle owners with tinted glasses need to be treated with dignity and respect. The force should stop treating everyone as a suspect and criminal. Give the citizenry the time to do the ‘’new’’ right thing on vehicle tinted glass.

    By Emmanuel Tyokumbur,

    Department of Zoology,

    University of Ibadan

  • Still on APC’s directives to NASS members

    SIR: Democracy is no doubt the best form of government because’’ it is a government of the people for the people and by the people’’ But given the human nature, there is always this tendency by those in the driving seat to take the people for granted and behave as if they are there for their selfish interest and the people matter less.

    The tendency to take the people for granted thrives more under a one party system or a near one party situation, the type Nigeria has been through under PDP until the emergence of the All Progressive Congress (APC) recently. The high commendation the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) received from patriotic Nigerians over the registration of APC was predicated on fact that, at least a vibrant opposition party emerged to put the ruling party in check and also provide a credible alternative for those who yearn for true democracy based on respect for the fundamental rights of the citizens, the rule of law, fairness, accountability and above all their freedom of choice.

    The call by APC to its members in the National Assembly to block the 2014 Budget and other executive bills until, the impunity being committed against the people of Rivers state stop should be seen from this perspective.

    One of the reasons given by APC is that, if the situation in River State is not arrested on time, it is capable of being replicated in other states which may eventually engulf the whole country. Nothing can be more true than this. The first military intervention in Nigeria in 1966 was not unconnected with the crisis in Western Region and the Tiv Riots, 1963-1964.

    So, it beats imagination that the P.D.P through its spokes person, Metuh Olisa and other paid agents of the ruling party should call APC’s directives anti-people. It clearly shows that either the PDP lack intellectual depth to understand what democracy is all about, what the people need and should enjoy under a democracy, or have deliberately chosen to hide under democracy to pauperize and dehumanize Nigerians using state apparatus that should be used to enhance their security and the general well being. Come to think of it: between security and peace of the citizens and the budget, which one precede the other? Any discerning mind should know that without life, what are you budgeting for? Without peace, how can you carry out economic activities that generate funds for the budget? So between the person who is advocating for peace and stability in the land and the one causing insecurity and the breach of peace in the land, who is anti-people?

    All the APC is saying is: end the impurity in Rivers state or face the consequence from our members in the National Assembly. We all owe this country a duty to fight for the enthronement of true democracy. All patriotic citizens of this country should rise and join forces with APC to end the tyranny and corruption-ridden rule of the PDP that has brought misery, poverty, disease and hunger in the midst of abundance. The time to act is now.

    Jimmy Adams

    Garki Abuja.

  • Stop hide-and-seek on Lagos-Ibadan expressway

    SIR: Much like other Nigerians, whose livelihood makes it inevitable for them to commute frequently on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, I have always followed with keen interest every bit of news and reports on this road, which President Goodluck Jonathan once, correctly, described as “an important economic artery”.

    It is, indeed, for this reason that I have become extremely worried since news of plans by the federal government to re-concession the road broke out about two weeks ago.

    Besides, there have been reports of government’s insincerity in handling issues relating to the road. These range from accusations that some powerful forces within the current administration deliberately sabotaged Messrs Bi-Courtney Highway Services Limited, which won the initial concession agreement for reconstruction of the expressway, to provide a seemingly valid ground for hijacking the project, while pretending to be serving our common interest.

    And the facts adduced by the proponents of this argument eminently justify the notion. They have observed that since November 19, 2012, when the 25-year Design-Build-Operate-Transfer concession agreement, won by Bi-Courtney, was unilaterally revoked by the federal government, the company had consistently maintained that it was as much a victim in the shenanigans surrounding the concession as fellow Nigerians, who are being made to suffer severe hardship on the road.

    And Bi-Courtney’s stand seemed to have found support from no other than the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the government’s most authoritative voice on concession matters, when it reportedly said in a 2011 report that the approval for a final design was granted Bi-Courtney on May 10, 2011, “two years after the concession agreement was signed”.

    Some commentators have also queried the government’s failure to offer Bi-Courtney the kind of confidence building support it is now offering the present arrangement, vis-à-vis the pledge of an irrevocable payment guarantee, which would have enabled the company raise the required capital.

    Other issues raised by the plethora of commentators, include the unexplained jerk up in the value of the contract by almost 100 per cent, from the N89.53 billion, which Bi-Courtney was to spend on the project, to the current N167 billion, as well as the desperate attempt by government officials to deny the planned re-concession of the road, a fact that had become very obvious to the public.

    I have no doubt that more issues will come to light over the coming weeks, until the government comes clean with its real intentions for the much abused expressway.

    As for me, the summary of all these is that President Jonathan and his lieutenants knew exactly what they wanted with the expressway all along and were merely taking Nigerians for a ride. Or what could explain the kind of false hope the government gave, on July 5, last year, when the president bragged that arrangement had been put in place to mobilise the funds needed to deliver the road in 48 months?

    It will now seem like the entire flagging-off ceremony, with the needless pomp that accompanied it, and the current flurry of activities on the road, were all part of a grand design or smokescreen to shield government’s ultimate intentions from the populace, which is the backdoor re-concession of the expressway to a favoured bidder.

    It is most disconcerting to me that any government could take the citizens so much for granted, as to subject their welfare, indeed their very lives, to the whims of some vested interests. It is even more painful to realise that the road may not be completed in several years to come, no thanks to the government’s seeming determination to make as much money as possible for some private pockets from the contract.

    That aside, there is also the imaginable legal challenges that could dog this clearly illegal and surreptitious approach being adopted by the government.

    • Andrew Kuku,

    Abuja.

  • On INEC’s 2015 election timetable

    SIR: The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) commends the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the timely and early release of the 2015 electoral time table. We particularly welcome the gaps provided in between each strand of elections which we believe will offer the commission ample space to make necessary adjustments in the event of any unforeseen developments.

    While we commend INEC for this feat, we hereby remind politicians that the early release of the timetable is not aimed at tempting them to embark on premature campaign activities but to guarantee the commission more time to address all cases of litigation that may arise from the electoral exercise in a timely fashion before the swearing in of the potential winners. This is in the spirit of the Uwais panel recommendations which envisages that all cases relating to election tribunal matters should be concluded in good time ahead of swearing in exercise.

    On the sequencing of election time tables, TMG is aware that the INEC has the constitutional powers to fix election dates as well as determine when and how elections are to be phased. Thus we urge Nigerians to be concerned about the preparedness and capacity of INEC to deliver on the over-flogged promises of credible elections across the country rather than dissipating energy on the sequencing of elections.

    We do not believe that the conduct of the 2015 general elections has anything to do with the proposed national conference. If anything, TMG is aware that both exercises are crucial in the life and existence of Nigeria. While the constitution has stipulated that regular elections must be conducted every four years, the same constitution has empowered the president to make pronouncements or proclamations in the interest of the Nigerian people.

    Finally, we urge all stakeholders to bother more about cogent issues that will enhance the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in 2015 General Elections

     

    • Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi (Chairman)

    Eddy Ezurike (Publicity Secretary)

    Transition Monitoring Group

    Abuja – Nigeria

     

  • The snake on the roof!

    SIR: Many consider the lion as the most powerful animal because of its fearlessness and aggressiveness; this probably explains why it’s mythically tagged the king among other animals. But I consider snakes as probably the most dangerous animal in the world. It slides and creeps unannounced and attacks its prey without notice. Nobody leaves a snake on his roof and go into sleep. It is suicidal.

    The house, Nigeria, left a rattle-snake on its roof in the 1960s and went to sleep completely. The politicians ignored the snake balanced delicately on the roof watching all events, calculating and waiting for the best time to strike. The political spectators were aware of how precarious the situation was and therefore were not surprised when the snake finally crept in and struck in the wee hours of January 15, 1960. The landlord and tenants of the house were not to be seen again until October 1, 1979.

    The same mistakes made in the First Republic were repeated in the second Republic in 1979. The politicians neglected the agricultural sector, bastardised the economy, and ruined our education sector. They forgot completely about the snake until the snake came in again, pretending to be working towards the interests of the spectators and refused to vacate the house until 1999 when the house became democratized again.

    However, 14 years of uninterrupted civil rule, Nigeria has not shown that we’ve learnt any lesson from the mistakes of the past. In fact, the situation in the 1960s was not as bad as they are now. The 1999 general election that brought in Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the rest was neither free nor fair. That of 2003 was globally condemned. The election that brought in Umaru Yar’dua was worse. In spite of Prof. Maurice Iwu’s abracadabra and claims that the election was free and fair, the chief benefactor of the poll (Yar’adua) himself rubbished the exercise.

    President Goodluck Jonathan brought in Professor Attahiru Jega to bring some level of sanity to INEC. Virtually all Nigerians applauded Jega’s appointment as INEC boss because he was well known for his principles and uncompromising stand, especially with the reputation he earned during his term as ASUU chairman in the early nineties. Nigerians were at least hopeful that Nigeria would have a change of scene in 2011 general election. He conducted the election and the rest is history.

    As 2015 approaches, we are all aware of all the present political shenanigans and the “roof-rofo” fights characterizing the political landscape. Politicians had better beware! The snake on the roof is still alive.

     

    • Comrade Abdullateef Ishowo

    Ilorin.

  • Keshi is the best coach Nigeria ever had!

    SIR: We were three goals down; hope was already lost. Our chance of winning was slim. Many even thought that a defeat was inevitable for us.

    But here comes the equation changer, a coach with a high intellectual ability. Despite the poor performance of his team in the first half, he took the bull by the horn and incredibly, the Super Eagles displayed their dexterity and showed to the whole world that they are round pegs in round holes.

    The Super Eagles came from behind to equalize and eventually win the match. The Moroccans couldn’t believe what happened. Had someone told them during the half time that they will lose the match when they were already leading by three goals to nil, they would have dismissed the person as a joker.

    Honestly, Stephen Keshi has done it again; let’s give kudos to him for he has put smile on our face. He made his team do the unthinkable. What can I say about the fantastic Ejike Uzoenyi? In my opinion, the wonderful lad has already booked a place in the World Cup.

    Now, Nigeria is on the verge of winning the third trophy on South African soil within one year. This includes the AFCON cup, Mandela challenge cup and hopefully the CHAN cup.

    Even though impunity and corruption rules and rot permeates every sector of the economy, this is still one of the best times for Nigeria’s sports.

    • Jamiu Idowu Esho,

    Eruwa, Oyo State.

  • A different view on gay marriage

    SIR: President Jonathan’s recent signing of the law making gay marriage illegal in Nigeria and the general glee that greeted this unconscionable legislation are as sad as they are an expression of a nation’s lack of defining character and values. Apart from an unfounded fear that gay practice will signal a decline in procreation, the defenders of the legislation against gay marriage have touted arguments on a practice that they feel is immoral, bestial and unnatural. They go even further to label gay practice a Western culture that must never be permitted in Nigeria. On this subject, old political and religious enemies have united and the inefficient government of Goodluck Jonathan has succeeded in throwing an uncouth red herring to divert attention away from its corrupt and incompetent handling of the country’s resources. This is a country which has remained silent over the legislation of child marriage, yet it finds it ethically unjustifiable to have homosexual people realise their own sexual fulfilment.

    What is wrong with gay marriage? We must recognise first that all marriages are basically products of social constructs and a contractual agreement between consenting people who want to live together towards certain ends. And marriage is not destined for procreation. Otherwise, human sexual organs should have remained deactivated until a priest decides to activate them by joining qualified persons in marriage. That way, we would all understand that marriage was primarily destined for the production of children. But we recognise that not all married people (homosexual or heterosexual) wish to produce children. That choice does not make their contractual union any less of a marriage from those who produce children.

    Importantly, to encourage some forms of marriage and outlaw other forms will not make people who prefer the outlawed forms to follow the legalised forms. Rather, it defeats even the very purpose of the marriage institution, which is to create a socially recognisable means of relating and regulating human contractual relationships. Outlawing gay marriage is a way of endorsing its covert practice. I am yet to hear how gay marriage harms Nigeria or how it harms what Nigeria represents. If we find the need to condemn autocracy in favour of democracy, then democracy has to be made to count by tolerating, not coercing people who want to do things differently for themselves. Societies with character and vision make laws that liberate, not laws that polarise, restrict and exclude some of its component groups.

    To further show how counter-effective this law is, it is common knowledge that homosexual practice is pervasive in prison yards. Assuming many people fall victim to this unjust law and get sent to prison to spend 14 years there, they will ultimately come out perhaps better gay people than they have been before they are thrown into the prisons. How corrective is this law then when it will in the long run imbue gay people with stronger homosexual experience?

    Obviously, this law is an expression of national folly. But I am not really surprised. A country whose president was as witless as to tell the American president that the problem of the world is Nigeria and that to fix the world will be to fix Nigeria. What do you expect, if not legislations that will perpetually send its populations to live elsewhere because the government lacks the competence to govern? And to imagine that this same government has been grandstanding that America should not impose its principles on Nigeria, even when Nigeria’s president wants America to fix Nigeria.

    What this laughable legislation will end up doing is to open new doors to many Nigerian émigrés to flee the country. Now, more Nigerians will have to declare themselves gay and run to the American embassy to seek asylum. So, the legislation is not entirely out of place. Since the US has decided to exclude Nigeria in its annual immigration visa programme, Nigeria has decided to open another door for its citizens to flee to the West. President Jonathan may be right after all: Nigeria needs serious fixing and fixing by the West.

    • Arthur Anyaduba,

    University of Manitoba, Canada.

  • APC’s directive on executive bills in order

    APC’s directive on executive bills in order

    SIR: I am amused by the rash of reactions that have greeted the decision of the National Executive Committee of the APC directing its members in the National Assembly to block Executive Bills or the confirmation of presidential appointees if the impunity in Rivers State is not addressed by the President.

    I am particularly miffed at the emotional outbursts of some politicians and social activists who are carrying on as if the APC had committed blasphemy against the gods. No doubt, most of these negative comments came from PDP members and other apologists of President Jonathan, who are uncomfortable that for the first time since 1999, we have a political party that can be genuinely referred to as a government-in-waiting and one that is strong enough to challenge the dying behemoth called the PDP.

    How else can one explain the attempt of these critics to equate a simple, routine, and universally-accepted legislative tactic to sedition or a call to arms? It appears the PDP and the President’s men

    have concluded that the only way to keep the APC at bay is by demonizing it either as a religious or a separatist party or portraying it as anti-people, even when these are not the case.

    They probably think that by doing so, they will succeed in swaying some voters from a particular section of the country to their side. Similarly unfortunate is the decision of these critics to take the APC statement out of context.

    The impression being created is that APC has chosen to stall the wheel of governance by abusing its numerical strength in the House of Representatives to fight the PDP-led Executive.

    This cannot be farther from the truth. The party clearly established a basis for its decision, which is that after exhausting all avenues to make the President do the right thing in Rivers State without success, it has no other option than to ask its members in the National Assembly to use legitimate and democratic means to force the Executive to do the right thing.

    To the enlightened and objective mind, what APC has done is perfectly in line with legislative practice. In the United States of America, it is common place for either the Republicans or the Democrats to oppose Executive Bills including budgets and appointments of key officers of

    State, including military chiefs. Recent examples are the Obamacare and the shutdown of government for weeks last October over spending limits by the Federal Government.

    Political parties are expected to take a position on any matter that is before the legislature for consideration. That is why there are party caucuses in the legislature. APC could have given the directive to its caucuses in both Chambers of the National Assembly if it had any ulterior motives. By making the directive public, the surprise element has been removed.

    Therefore, the only reasonable conclusion is to see the directive as a means of getting the President to see the danger in allowing the Rivers debacle to fester. Already, this directive has started to yield results. I watched, with satisfaction, on Channel Television on Saturday night how members of the Save Rivers Movement were able to stage a peaceful rally, after the Inspector General of

    Police apparently directed the police in the state to provide protection for the rally.

    A similar rally by the SRM in the past would have been broken up by hired goons armed with guns and machetes, and protected by Mbu’s police. Who says the APC’s tactic has not worked?

    What I expect now is for the friends of President Jonathan to advise him to call Messrs. Mbu and Wike to order and restore normalcy to Rivers State. I don’t see what is difficult in doing so.

    •Williams Adeleye

    Ikeja, Lagos

  • The anomie in Rivers State

    The anomie in Rivers State

    SIR: The once flourishing Rivers State, known as the ‘Treasure Base of the Nation’ has suddenly become the ‘Violence Base of the Nation’. Regrettably, a state that breathes life into most states and Aso Rock is currently bruised, battered, shattered, and suffocated, waiting for its obituary announcement to be published.

    While trouble drizzles in other states, it pours in Rivers. Rivers State has lost its relative calmness, charm, serenity and allure to bad and uncouth politics. Everything with the semblance of governance has fallen apart in the state. The thread of unity that once bound the people of Rivers has since been severed by petty politics, greed and narrow interest

    Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi’s beautiful dreams, people-based economic blueprint and hope of a better Rivers have all gone with the winds. His transformation train code named ‘The New Rivers State’ has joined the list of halted or failed projects. Not for Governor Amaechi’s incompetence, but for the evil machinations of a higher authority and personalities.

    Peace departed Rivers ever since the self-acclaimed Mama Peace Patience Jonathan swore never to allow it a place in the state. True to her words, hardly a day passes that both local and international media are not awash with unpalatable occurrences spewing out of the state. Tension has become a permanent feature of the state.

    Having lost Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states to Boko Haram insurgency, Rivers is undoubtedly gearing hard to increase the number of states taken over by troublemakers. What we read about in the papers on the happenings in Rivers state is not any different from what is obtained in the north east. The Rivers state legislature is more or less on break. No serious legislative activity has been reported in recent times. The House, mainly of legislators loyal to Amaechi had to convene within the Rivers state Government House to enable the Amaechi led government present the state’s 2014 budget estimate.

    While the anti-Amaechi camp gets its backing, funding and support from Aso Rock, its foot soldiers, led by President Goodluck Jonathan’s political godson, who doubles as the Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike have vowed to make Rivers State ungovernable. On the security front, Commissioner of Police Joseph Mbu is doing more harm to the already battered image of the Nigerian Police Force through his brazen unprofessional conducts.

    We have lost Rivers state to troublemakers. It appears those responsible for the raging political crisis in the state are not bothered. President Jonathan, the number one Chief Security Officer of the nation, on whose shoulders the security of lives and property of all Nigerians rest is busy globe-trotting, junketing, oiling his political machinery ahead of 2015 and fiddling while Rivers burns. All that matters to him and his foot soldiers is for Amaechi to be completely out of the way. Thanks to the media, civil rights groups and other respected opinion leaders who have constantly opposed plans to bundle Amaechi out of power, either by hook or by crook.

    It seems the Jonathan government isn’t aware of the negative impression the war in Rivers state could have on the nation and his government. I know he’s a man who hardly gives a ‘damn’ or attach seriousness to germane issues. Why is he so interested in seeing the premature end of Amaechi’s political career? Is Amaechi the political Wall of Jericho he has to pull down to return to Aso Rock in 2015?

    • Abdullahi Yunusa

    Imane, Kogi State

     

  • From Nollywood to Nollynude?

    From Nollywood to Nollynude?

    SIR: Mark Twain, in his famous quote, submitted that “twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by those you did.”

    It is sad enough that some members of the international community have been bickering over the recent signing into law of the anti-gay law by the President Goodluck Jonathan. There have even been some obfuscating threats from shrouded quarters that foreign aids to this country will cease.

    I will like to ask the pro-gay-rights in Nigeria and Africa if they have really thought through the repercussions of letting every tide from these Western rascals get the best of us. Soon enough, every conceivable evil might become enshrined within our laws as rights if we keep canvassing against the very basic laws that have held the larger majority of humanity together for thousands of years. In essence, robbery, assault and rape might, before long, become permitted by law.

    Where were these western reprobates when Nigerians were locking heads over child marriage bill a few months ago?

    If this multiplicity of licentiousness is anything to reckon with, then we are, indeed, at the threshold of human destruction.

    From music tracks, to music videos and then to movie production, there has been a steady increase in the faith that Nigerians now have in our local entertainment economy. More so, it is a delight to see our own Nollywood stars rubbing shoulders with their Hollywood counterparts in various movie classics. However, while it is good development that we are making this progress and gaining global recognition, it appears we have rubbed shoulders too far! A comical south-western dictum has it that when courtesy and social interaction is done to an unprincipled extreme, they breed problems. With the recent dive into music videos and movies with highly offensive cum explicit images, we are in for some troublous times. If none or a very few people are talking, then our children and the coming generations will curse us for the calamities that will befall their days.

    While walking through a major street in Gwagwalada, FCT Abuja, I stumbled upon a movie poster outside a sales outlet and was baffled. Staring me in the face was the picture of a scantily clad young lady with virtually every element that makes her a woman starkly exposed to the world. The producers gave the movie a caption that ridiculously depicted females from a particular region of the country as sex objects. That there is a market for soft porn (I can find no better name for such explicit movies) is no reason enough to throw caution into the air and expose our minors to such obscenities. Even many young adults barely have the moral strength to resist the amoral suggestions that trail the thoughts after seeing such pictures, how much more the movies. It is high time our movie producers began putting the entire viewing audience into consideration when they go to set and stopped thinking only about their pockets. There is no worse definition for wickedness.

    I mourn at the gross irresponsibility of whoever or whatever board approves such movies and music videos for public consumption (Do we still have a films and video censor board?). Little wonder our newspapers are regularly flooded with rape stories of worrying dimensions with an all-time high incidence record. Our society is constipating with moral filth and the way out has become, seemingly, the unleashing of moral crimes on fellow humans. Now is the time to call our entertainment industry to order. Even in the United States, Hollywood does not recognize adult movie stars in its awards ceremonies. We must separate adult movies from nominal home videos and not create an evil confusion by intertwining both. Nollywood must cease from releasing Nollynude motion pictures and our music video producers must apply caution to the images they let out to our public space. Let’s preserve the little sanity we still enjoy in our society.

     

    • Joshua Oyeniyi,

    Lagos