The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Now that the FG/ASUU imbroglio is over

    SIR: It is unfortunate that some people in our society did not and still some do not understand why ASUU went on strike. I must make bold to say that it is not for pecuniary benefits. Some people are thinking of material/financial gains instead of the victory this strike has won for the education sector.

    I think that the more sobering and engaging concern should be what happens now that the strike is over? How do we consolidate on the gains of the strike? It is a many pronged expectations. From ASUU members the public expectations are very high. With the money that will be pumped into our public universities, the question is, how do we shore up the standards in teaching, research and community service? How do we ensure that our students graduate as well rounded educated people capable of holding their own anywhere in the world? How do we deal with the monster of examination malpractice, sorting, sexual harassment and moral declension in our tertiary institutions, etc?

    On the part of government, how do they insist that money released for the development of infrastructure and equipment are not mismanaged, siphoned or shared? The government needs committed involvement in how the money released is spent by the benefiting universities. There is need for a fool –proof monitoring mechanism to ensure proper utilization of funds.

    On the part of the students, they must make up their minds to work hard to earn their degrees. The era of sorting, sex-for-marks, examination malpractice should be over as we enter into 2014 which should mark a glorious phase of higher education in Nigeria. Students must insist that they get their best from the lecturers and the university authorities. They must resist truancy, unseriousness from lecturers and non-committal attitude from the university authorities on issues pertaining to their general welfare.

    It is therefore of far lesser consequence to be talking about paying lecturers their arrears of salaries. Most lecturers were engaged in their research, community service and academic consultations during the period, lecturers have borrowed so much money to remain alive in order to sustain the battle. Many have died in the process – notable among them is Prof. Iyayi. What ASUU members have lost cannot be quantified. The five months salary arrears is in fact the minimum sacrifice the government is making to assuage the loss incurred by battered academics to encourage them to go back to work.

    Strike is like a civil war that does no side of the war any good. The government and ASUU must do all that is in their power to make this the last strike in the history of university education in Nigeria. The verdict is that ASUU, federal government, students, Nigerians and parents are the vanquished in this titanic battle. Education sector will only be the victor if the outcome of the strike helps to reposition the education sector for better productivity and efficiency.

    • Prof. G. O. Ozumba

    University of Calabar

  • Anambra governorship poll in retrospect

    SIR: In retrospect, the governorship election held on November 16 in Anambra State is a miscarriage in the electoral system. A disgrace to electioneering, a calamity for those who were directly involved, and by extension, a setback for this country.

    How long do we have to wait for our leaders to create a Nigeria of our dream? I mean, the type they go promising around each time they come begging for our votes?

    The momentousness of an event is lost in the welter of a thousand details. In my judgment, that election was an outrageously, manually and scientifically rigged process. Honestly, the fact that we have become a people without one voice against wrong doings due to lack of commitment towards national issues has become our undoing. If we cannot collectively and vocally reject wrong practices and say enough is enough, while putting our differences aside, our electoral system will never be beacon of hope. INEC alone is not to be blamed.

    Leaving voters disenfranchised as we saw in Anambra is a template of the big picture of what to expect in 2015 and truthfully, we are not shouting out loud enough against this sort of manipulative games. It is the cry of the Anambra people today; tomorrow it might just be anyone. We must learn to reject fraudulent election processes and results that negate the principles of democracy.

    If voters register displayed across a state for verification can be mutilated in less than two weeks to an election as we saw, Prof Jega honestly needs a lot of explaining to do.

    From INEC’s own admission, it is clear that they were unable to take charge in the state where registered voters are less than two million. This categorically shows that this present INEC is not ready to conduct the 2015 election where political parties in almost 30 states will be involved in scrambling for seats. As a matter of national emergency, Prof Attahiru Jega’s time as INEC boss I think should be up! A welcome overstayed is a common attribute with some of our leaders saddled with responsibilities and this has never been healthy for our democracy if history is anything to go by. But before he quits, he should unveil the unseen grandmaster, the manipulative finger that Nigerians are suspecting in the Anambra electoral game of Chess.

     

    • Ogbhemhe R. Iluogwikphe

    Warri, Delta State.

  • SOS to Governor Amosun

    SIR: In September, promotion examinations were conducted for Primary school teachers across board and throughout the length and breadth of Ogun State. Interviews followed subsequently. Promptly, results of the promotion exercise came out last month. And to the amazement of some of us, our results were not released. We thought it was an oversight.

    Later, what came to light was that the mass of the non promoted teachers were those of us who are non-indigenes with majority from the contiguous states of Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo and Edo. This has never happened before now and it is our belief and hope that it would not happen during this present dispensation whose creed has been JUSTICE to all without discrimination.

    We hear from the grapevine that the governor was unhappy with the development and has ordered the rectification of this anomaly. What baffles us is that some officials whose duty it is to carry out this simple task seem to be dragging their feet. We feel very concerned because some of us are married to Ogun indigenes and besides, we are people of the same race who have been contributing to the sociological growth of Ogun State.

    That’s why we are pleading once again with our father, the governor of Ogun State to see through his directive for the release of our promotion. May God continue to bless the governor in particular and Ogun State in general.

    • Aderibigbe Adedoyin

    Abeokuta

  • Africa’s plague of superstition

    SIR: One can count every African as a heathen.  The soul of the continent emanated from an Afro-centric mysticism.  It appears no other spiritual force has supplanted this core belief.  Above statement may sound preposterous in the face of a multiplicity of foreign religions spreading over the African sky.  Dig deep into the soul of many Africans and you will find that superstition may be buried but it is not dead.

    Be he a pastor or an imam, an intellectual or a layman at the essence of his humanness is reverence for the deities of his ancestors.  One will struggle to find the basis to dispute this assumption.  Enlightenment in modern civilization has not dispelled the fear of voodoo forces among our people.  It is a common reproach that one should not dabble into what one does not know.  One can hear this aphorism in every stratum of the society.

    The gods of the Africans is not inherently bad irrespective of the negative image that foreign invaders like to cast over the pagans.  The fundamental precepts of morality bound the worshippers just like in any other religion.  The form of worship may differ according to the customs of the people, the doctrine is adaptable to the changing time.  Human sacrifice is today an abomination while in the past it was a ritual for atonement.

    A look into the classic books may discover that Europe in the time of William Shakespeare was not different from Africa in their belief in witches and wizards.  The turning point for them to modernization must have been orchestrated by the industrial revolution.  Perhaps one can make the conclusion that the pervasive impact of superstition is fuelled by extreme deprivation.  Folks have to abandon the gods of their ancestors to embrace the gods of materialism.

    One has to be daring and say that in a developing society certain aspects of African mysticism are retrogressive. The overarching mindset in the continent, regardless of one’s religion, could be depressing.  A situation where priests and their congregation went to a road intersection to pray to subdue the evil spirit is primitive.  It is believed that there is an oracle that feeds on blood that dwells at the intersection and causes motorists to have fatal accidents.  One wonders if a simple traffic light could not control vehicular movements and minimize the rate of accidents.

    Superstition is intrinsic in human nature.  To the extent that enlightenment can be viewed as advancement into another form of superstition.  What is religion but, summarily, belief in what one cannot understand.  Dismissing African mysticism will create a spiritual conflict for an African.  One cannot run away from one’s shadow.  As the world evolves through human development, one should be bold to dump the relics from the past that are dragging progress down.  Challenge the gods when reason compels for the betterment of society.  Like Europe, one hopes improvement in the standard of living in Africa will elevate spiritual consciousness.  Africa must conquer the plague of superstition.

     

    • Pius Okaneme

    Umuoji, Anambra State.

  • After ASUU, don’t forget ASUP

    After ASUU, don’t forget ASUP

    SIR: The long waited suspension of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has finally come. Students of federal and state owned universities can now go back to school after 170 days of strike by their teachers. But still, it is not yet over.

    Our brothers, sisters, friends and colleagues in the polytechnics are still at home. They have not been in class since October 4. This is as a result of the resolve of Academic Staff Union of the Polytechnics (ASUP) not to return to class until the constitution of governing councils for the polytechnics, release of white paper on the visitation panels to federal government and the commencement of NEEDS assessment of the polytechnics.

    Other demands/grouses of the polytechnic teachers are the halting the appointment of unqualified persons as rectors and provost by some state government, failure of government to implement the approved salary package(CONPCASS), 65-year retirement age for the members, the worrisome state of state owned polytechnics, the continued recognition of the National Board of Technical Education as the regulatory body of the Nigerian polytechnics as against the unions’ repeated call for the establishment of National Polytechnic Commission(NPC), the non commencement of the re-negotiation of the FGN/ASUP agreement as contained in the signed agreement, the snail speed on works on the amendment of the federal polytechnic Act/scheme of service and migration of the lower cadre to CONTISS salary scale.

    Indeed, these issues need not shoved aside nor left unattended. The continuous stay of students at home is uncalled for. These young minds are delayed from progressing.

    It will be recalled that ASUP embarked on strike on April 29. The strike lasted for 81 days before the intervention of the joint committees on education in the National Assembly. The strike was suspended for one month in order to address the issues.

    As a result of the failure to address the issues, the strike resumed on October 4. Till date, nothing has been heard on the strike.

    Education at whatever level is pertinent to society development. No level need receive attention more than the other. If it happens, the result would be an unbalanced scale in our hands. A scale where graduates of universities are perceived to perform better than their polytechnic counterparts. A scale where there is segregation and discrimination; a scale where polytechnic graduates are treated as second-hand citizens. Are these meant to be so?

    Over N400 billion was allocated to the entire education sector in 2012. Out of these, federal polytechnics got N63.7 billion, representing 15.92 percent, while federal colleges of education got N42.5 billion which represented 10.62 percent. But federal universities got N188.4 billion representing 47.10 percent – in other words, the university sector alone received twice of what was allocated to the polytechnics and colleges of education.

    Even as the needful has been done for the universities, same hand needed to be extended to the polytechnics. Government, do the needful; the students are anxious to resume their studies.

    • Kelechi Amakoh

    University of Lagos

  • PDP’s litany of double standards

    PDP’s litany of double standards

    SIR: Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi state defected from ANPP to PDP as a sitting governor, the PDP accepted him, while the ANPP did not go to court. Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia defected from PPA to PDP as a sitting governor,

    PDP accepted him while PPA didn’t go to court. Former Governor of Imo state Ikedi Ohakim decamped from PPA to PDP in 2009 as a sitting governor, no issue was raised.

    Former Governor Saminu Turaki of Jigawa left ANPP to PDP as a sitting governor, nothing was said. It’s a similar story with ex-governor Mahmuda Aliyu Shinkafi of Zamfara state who left ANPP for the PDP as sitting governor.

    Many more Senators and members of federal and states house of assembly left the parties they were voted on to join the PDP, these parties didn’t make a case. Now the dying PDP is asking the court to declare the seats of Governors Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers, Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa, Aliyu Wammako of Sokoto and Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara who recently decamped from the PDP to the opposition APC. Not only that, indications are on that the PDP with the assistance with the powers-that-be plans to use some state assembly members to impeach some of these governors; this may happen in Rivers in which plans are on to use five against 26 to carry out this special assignment.

    Why is the PDP so greedy? If they are against this practice of serving officials elected on their platform switching to other parties, they would

    have set a good precedence in the past by advising all the above mentioned governors who at one time or the other left their parties to join the PDP to resign from their positions before joining the party or better still, refuse to admit them into the party at the various time they sought to join.

    • Halilu Hassan.

    Kaduna.

  • Like Oloibiri, don’t forget Bomu

    SIR: Bomu is a community where oil was discovered in commercial quantity, quality in 1958 by the Dutch oil giant, Shell, two years after oil was first discovered in Oloibiri. Oloibiri is now synonymous with oil. The Federal Government through its interventionist agencies approved the proposal for the construction of an oil and gas museum in Oloibiri, Bayelsa State at the cost of N33,945 billion. The museum, according to reports, will house a Research Centre and an InternationalConference Centre.

    NDDC has also constructed and commissioned concrete internal road for the Oloibiri Community and other social amenities like, water project, link bridge, landing jetty and electrification respectively.

    One is indeed thankful to the federal government and its interventionist agencies for these laudable insight and initiative for the goose that laid the golden egg for the nation while I rejoice with the recipient community, Oloibiri.

    However, apart from an empty glorification in the historical documentation, there is absolutely nothing concrete to signify that oil was discovered in Bomu in 1958. May I therefore appeal to the federal government and the various agencies to act like true sportsmen because, in a field of play, the runner up in a competition always goes home with a prize. The plight of Bomu Community in terms of oil exploration, exploitation, destruction of our aquatic life, environmental degradation and total abandonment from oil companies and government agencies is detrimental and call for a grave concern.

    It is my appeal that Bomu as the second runner up as well as the most promising community in Oil and Gas discovery in Nigeria be rewarded with project(s) as a replication of what is applicable or obtainable in Oloibiri Community in Bayelsa State.

    What is good for the goose should also good for the gander.

     

    •Tanifo, Bethel N.

    Bomu Community, Rivers State

  • World Bank on Nigeria’s poverty

    World Bank on Nigeria’s poverty

    SIR: I was amused reading the response of the Chief Economic Adviser to President Jonathan, Nwanze Okidegbe, in The Nation November 18, page 6, refuting the submission of World Bank’s Country Director, Marie-Francoise Marie-Nelly that 100 million Nigerians are living below $1.25/N200 per day and under acute destitution.

    It is unfortunate that our political appointees hardly ever tell their principals the truth about the state of the nation. How could the Chief Economic Adviser to the President deny the prevailing harsh economic realities? Is it a case of being disconnected from the underclass which they have helped ruin their potentials and destinies through bad economic policies?

    How many Nigerians have access to regular potable water supply on daily basis? Minister of Water and Natural Resources sometime ago accepted that about 80 million Nigerians still lack access to potable water. How many Nigerians have decent shelters to lodge, even with the claims by the Minister of Housing that 6,100 housing are being built in the six geographical zones of the federation?

    No nation can get out of poverty without stable and regular power supply to generate energy to power the economy and create jobs for the teeming youths. Recently, Brazil embarked on Operation Electricity For All project to bring power supply to all nooks and crannies of their country.

    The federal government has been telling the whole world about millions of jobs they have created for Nigerians. Shouldn’t the public be allowed to verify the authenticity of these claims after a record expenditure of N50billion on job creation?

    How many Nigerians have access to health care? Many of our hospitals are mere clinics with obsolete equipments and creaky infrastructures.

    Over 10.5million Nigerians children are out of school, according to UNICEF. This poses a serious threat to our future leadership position on the continent. Kerosene is now out of reach of common man as a result of its high price at the filling stations. Many Nigerians now resort to the use of charcoal and firewood as a result.

    Despite the huge petro-dollars revenues accruing to the government yearly, Nigerian workers are still among the poorest paid in the world just as basic amenities that could enhance living conditions are still lacking. Corruption and insecurity are the order of the day.

    Retirement is like death warrants; millions of pensioners are not being paid their allowances as at when due because the billions of naira meant for their payment are being embezzled. Okada has become the major means of transportation with many of our young graduates and engineers turning Keke NAPEP riders, while their counterparts in serious societies are great inventors and space engineers.

    Somebody should please tell Okidegbe to advise the President on issues of poverty and its attendant evils with all seriousness before dissipating energies on 2015 which is still in the hands of God to give to any deserving one.

     

    •Pastor Mark Debo Taiwo [JP],

    Takie, Ogbomoso.

  • OBJ: Frustration of failed godfather

    OBJ: Frustration of failed godfather

    SIR: Seriously, one would have taken General Obasanjo’s letter to President Jonathan seriously but for the last paragraph of the 18-page letter.

    Please hear General Obasanjo out: “I crave your indulgence to share the contents of this letter, in the first instance, with General Ibrahim Babangida and General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who, on a number of occasions in recent times, have shared with me their agonising thoughts, concerns and expressions on most of the issues I have raised in this letter concerning the situation and future of our country. I also crave your indulgence to share the contents with General Yakubu Danjuma and Dr. Alex Ekwueme, whose concerns for and commitments to the good of Nigeria have been known to be strong.”

    It is true that the letter is petty and boring. But all the same I managed to read some part of it.Not only has General Obasanjo passed his shelf life in Nigerian politics, all his antics of instigating the rebel PDP governors again President Jonathan and Alhaji Bamanga Tukur has failed woefully. Therefore he decided to play his last card which is his nauseating and irritating letter to the President of the Federal Republic.

    If Jonathan should take my advice, he should not waste his valuable and precious time replying Obasanjo’s letter. He should just continue with his transformation agenda. Jonathan should remember that Obasanjo has been the hidden hand behind the rebel governors rebellious and unruly behaviors right from May 2013 up till date. The high point being the walk out staged during the PDP convention. Jonathan is a lucky man indeed. By the special Grace of God, he will be the longest serving President by the time he finishes his second tenure in 2019. That is what is annoying General Obasanjo as it is.

    No sound-minded and serious person not the least a Nigerian will take you serious when you talk of democracy and corruption yet you mention General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida as a person whose advise should be sought. By that singular act of mentioning Babangida, Obasanjo has spoilt his case.

    It is on record that both Generals Obasanjo and Babangida tried third term and failed. The architect of the problems bedeviling Nigeria is Babangida later exacerbated by Obasanjo and Abdulsalam Abubukar. What moral right does Obasanjo has to advise Jonathan. Talk less of Babangida and Abubukar?

    Obasanjo is frustrated. He is finished politically. He has tried all tricks to cause confusion in PDP using the rebel governors. It failed woefully. He decided to bear his pangs openly at last.

     

    • Ndiameeh Babangida Babreek,

    Minna

  • Jonathan, product of Obasanjo School

    SIR: I am not holding brief for President Goodluck Jonathan, but the truth must be told. Even though most of the observations made by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in his 18 page letter may be true, it doesn’t exonerate him for his own actions while he was in power. He is also guilty of most of the acts he accused the Goodluck administration of. History will not forget how he chased d founding fathers away from PDP and hijacked the party structures and machineries.

    In 2007 election, Obasanjo also supported the opposition candidate of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) Ikedi Ohakim in the Imo gubernatorial election against Ifeanyi Araraume of his own PDP – the same thing he claimed Jonathan did. History will not forget his proposed constitutional amendment mission which he embarked upon solely to realise his third term agenda.

    History will not forget how 16 billion US dollars was spent cumulatively on power throughout his eight years rule with no result achieved. The EFCC was used as an attack dog to go after perceived enemies who refuse to dance to the tune of the government while other corrupt officials who were in good books were allowed to walk free.

    Court judgments were influenced by the powers that be. Human Rights were violated; worthy of note is the Odi and Zaki Biam saga. Corruption also existed.

    In summary, most of what he pointed out also existed in his government only that it is in an improved form in this present government. Besides Jonathan has always referred to Obasanjo as his mentor. This may have prompted him to act like his master.

    •Halilu Hassan,

    haliluhassan@yahoo.com