The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Akhigbe and Omoruyi: Two deaths too many

    SIR: The month of October will certainly go down in the annals of history as when heaven gained at the expense of Edo State.

    First, it was Nigeria’s foremost Professor of Political Science; someone who combined the finest principles of politics with its volatile practices in the management of Nigeria’s public affairs.

    Prof. Omo Omoruyi as a scholar sympathized with late Mallam Aminu Kano’s NEPU and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s NCNC in the first republic.

    As a politician in the second republic, he pitched his tent with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s Nigerian People Party (NPP) and became its gubernatorial candidate for Bendel State in 1983. NPP was a welfarist party, which was in line with Prof. Omoruyi’s inclinations.

    Thereafter, Prof. Omoruyi did not fully return to partisan politics as he was appointed Director of the Centre for Democratic Studies (CDS) under the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida’s Transition Programme, in the build-up to the 1993 presidential elections.

    In the twilight of this national assignment, Prof. Omoruyi suffered a ghastly and near fatal attack which, on hindsight, can be said to be the remote cause of the ailment that crept into his ebullient and buoyant health, which eventually led to his death.

    Even with his ill health, Prof. Omoruyi continued to bother about his Edo people and the Nigerians state. In his many publications, writings and interviews, he pre-occupied himself with the progress and stability of Nigeria, and the advancement of democracy. He was a consistent advocate and two-party system as a vehicle for national unity. Yet he remained an unrepentant Bini man, carrying aloft our revered tradition and culture together with his academic scholarship and political activism.

    He will be missed by everyone especially his elitist club of Nigerian Political Science Association, his populist class of Nigerian politicians, his enviable group of prolific writers, his respected Bini people and his beloved family.

    The dust raised by the death of Prof. Omoruyi had not settled when the news of the passage of Admiral Mike Okhai Akhigbe reached me. I have followed Mike’s career both in the military where he rose to become an Admiral and Chief of Naval Staff, as well as in public office where he served not only as military governor but also as number two citizen of our country. But perhaps we became much closer after he left office and joined politics. As a member and leader of the People Democratic Party, he was a trusted ally, dependable friend and worthy compatriot.

    Although he was a key player in the volatile field of politics, his Spartan military training and discipline defined his thoughts and patterned his actions. Thus, it was not difficult for me to tell where Akhigbe’s loyalty mostly lied between his earlier military profession and his latter political vocation. However, his loyalty to his profession did not subtract from him, the love for his people of Etsako and Edo State, for whom he was very passionate.

    That Admiral Akhigbe believed much in the rule of law, civility and democratic ethics was underscored not just by his conduct in office but also by his decision to study law after leaving office. His desire to further exercise this belief as a civilian and extend it to the larger society led to his aspiration to lead Nigeria as a civilian President, which office he vied for. It must be recalled that he was the second in command in Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar’s regime that gave birth to the current civilian government. Therefore, the success of our present democratic dispensation will be to the eternal glory of his memory.

    At 68, Mike died two years shy of the biblical three scores and 10. But his activities within those speedy years are worth many generations. When combined with the enormous accomplishments of Prof. Omoruyi, the contributions of these two foremost Edo sons become legendary. That is why I agree with the English man, James Bailey, when he wrote in 1902 that:

    “We live in deeds, not in years;

    In thoughts, not in breaths;

    In feelings, not in figures…

    He most lives who thinks most,

    Feels the noblest and acts the best”

    Prof. Omoruyi, the great patriot and nationalist, and Admiral Akhigbe, GCON, mni, our gentle General and leader, will in death continue to think, feel and act for their people, state, country and humanity, through the legacies they left behind.

    I send my heartfelt condolence to their immediate families, to the Bini and Etsako communities, to the Government and good people of Edo State and Nigeria, and to all persons who their selfless services touched in diverse ways.

     

    •Dr. S.O. Ogbemudia.

    Benin City

  • It’s World Toilet Day

    SIR: Today is World Toilet Day, a day set aside by the World Toilet Organization in response to the struggle of billions of people face every day without access to proper, clean sanitation, and to bring to the forefront the health, emotional and psychological consequences the poor endure as result of inadequate sanitation.

    Of the world’s seven billion people, six billion have mobile phones; however, only 4.5 billion have access to toilets or latrines-meaning that the 2.5 billion people, mostly in rural areas, do not have access to toilet and proper sanitation. Indeed, 1.1 billion people still defecate in the open.

    The countries where open defecation is most widely practiced are same countries with the highest number of under-five child deaths, high level of malnutrition and poverty, and large wealth disparity.

    World Toilet Day seeks to raise global awareness to the daily struggle for proper sanitation that a staggering 2.5 billion people face.

    Since its inception in 2001, it has become an important platform to demand action from government and to reach out to wider audiences by showing that toilet can be fun and attractive as well as vital to life.

    The United Nation General Assembly on July 24, officially approved, endorsed and designated the day to spotlight the plight of 2.5 billion people who do not have basic toilet. The assembly resolution approved by consensus urged all its 193 members to promote behavioural changes and adopt policies to increase access to sanitation and end open defecation, a key cause of diarrhoea.

    The state of toilet in Nigeria leaves much to be desired. In the National Policy on Excreta and Sewage Management, 2005, it was observed that in some urban centres, some households with water carriage system, pipe the raw sewage into the public drains. Also, according to 1999 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey [NDHS], 12% of the urban population has no toilet facilities of any kind whilst, 55% use pit latrines and 31% use flush toilets. Rural areas are even less served.

    These figures are especially sobering as that a large number of people urinate in open spaces, with serious health implications in densely populated urban and peri-urban settlements.

    Since human faeces contain a wider range of disease-causing organisms including viruses, bacteria, and eggs of human parasite, and that many of these organisms are transmissible to people through houseflies, contaminated hands, food, water, eating and cooking utensils, and by direct contact with contaminated object, the importance of toilets cannot be overemphasized.

    It can be seen that cholera and poliomyelitis are most common infections that keeps recurring in Nigeria, which their principal source of transmission directly linked to excreta. Instead of spending so much to fight the cholera epidemic with limited impact, a better strategy should be to invest in the environment, making sure that each house has a hygienic and proper toilet, and clean and healthy environment.

    More awareness is needed for Nigerians to appreciate the relevance of the day, and to inculcate the importance of toilet in their lives.

     

    •Sani Garba Mohammed,

    Fed. University of Technology, Owerri.

     

  • Abia: How not to empower youths

    SIR: The recent donation of about 200 vehicles to the youths in Abia State, by the Governor, Chief TA Orji, in the 4th phase of the Youth Empowerment and Poverty Alleviation Scheme is not the right way to go in the alleviation of poverty and empowering the army of unemployed youths in the state. The governor has merely window dressed youth empowerment and ignored tackling poverty alleviation with all the necessary attention it deserves.

    Vehicles are very important tools in assisting individuals and running the economy but, are not basics to creating employment and reducing poverty. The popular Chinese proverb of teaching a man how to fish rather than giving him fish is, usually not adapted in Nigeria in the fight against poverty. The federal and state governments are involved in different programmes meant to alleviate poverty and empower the youths with billions of naira every year yet, we record very disappointing results.

    Abia State, to those who know it very well, is both a commercial and industrial state. It would have made much sense to the people if the state government had invested in Aba, which stands as the commercial centre where millions of people visit to transact business daily. I have always argued about the importance of this city to the people of Abia State, Nigeria and Africa, hence the requirement for intensive investment by the government to attract both local and foreign investors. No genuine poverty alleviation or empowerment of youths can take place here until the government decides to invest in the economic transformation, infrastructural development of Aba.

    Aba holds the magic wand for transformation, youth employment and poverty alleviation in Abia State should the government decide to take advantage of such. In Aba, it is both a market and factory. We have factories for shoes and clothes, plastics and others here, but they are speedily dying because of lack of amenities/infrastructures to support and encourage the young men and women in business. Many of these manufacturers are closing shops and relocating or abandoning the business for other things. Almost all the industries in Aba and Umuahia are moribund. Since 1999, no government in the state has thought it wise that revamping and sustaining the economy of the state lies in this direction.

    Like our late sage Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe said, show the light and the people would find their way. There is no where in the world where buying and sharing vehicles to people had advanced the economy of the state.

    Abia State government should take advantage of the ingenuity, industry, the enterprising skills of the people, coupled with the blessing of having Aba located in the state and think deeply on how best to harness these for development. We cannot continue in the practice of settling and buying cars for few of our friends in the name of poverty alleviation and empowerment. It does no one any good; rather, it further leaves the state unorganized, undeveloped and, the people ever impoverished.

     

    • Uzodinma Nwaogbe

    Lagos, Nigeria.

  • To Wole Olanipekun at 63

    SIR: I am of the school of thought that all men are born equal; after all the sun will not refuse to shine neither will the day turn to night because a purportedly great child is born. Different circumstances may be prevalent during individual child’s birth though. More so, various but different environmental factors also play important role. It is seemingly becoming a culture in our clime to sing the praises of the rich and powerful into the high heavens, even though they mean little or nothing to the people around them or the average person on the street in terms of impact. Eulogies, sycophancies and ‘flatteries’ are the definitions of the way we celebrate the rich in our society especially on a day of birth like this, all because of the crumbs that may fall from their table may be.

    All you need to do to become an object of worship overnight in my country is to be rich either by hook or by crook, nobody cares. You can even rob Peter and Paul to pay John a token; it is allowed in our unfortunate society and; you can be sure your name and pictures will grace the pages of the dailies. In essence, celebrating people has been propagandised and bastardised. We do not know who is who, save the Holy Scripture’s admonition of ‘You shall know them by their fruit’

    That Wole Olanipekun is an impeccable legal jurist, philanthropist of high profile integrity and a God-fearing man is no news; neither will such eulogies from a young Nigerian like me count as much as that of the crème de la crème of the society whose praises carry heavier weights and lend credence to the personality in question. His contemporaries and other well-meaning Nigerians are adequately engaged in the business of acknowledging and giving voice to his giant strides in national development through his relentless commitment to the legal profession, education, philanthropy and other social engineering activities.

    The print media has also brilliantly played its role in giving due recognition to the sacrifices of this selfless legal avatar in securing an educated and a prosperous posterity for our beloved nation. I have no doubt that only eternity can justly account for, and reward the selfless sacrifices of Olanipekun especially in a country like ours where greed has overtaken the people

    In the last 10 months of being privileged to work in his Lagos chambers, I have taken instructions from him, sat to hear him speak about the state of the nation. I have read news of his good works and interviews of him on the pages of different newspapers in his chambers’ library and some I have seen by myself. It has all inspired me and engraved a very strong message of living an impactful life. Space will fail me to highlight his philanthropic gestures to indigent students from his home town, Ikere-Ekiti and across Nigerian university campuses since 1997.

    Olanipekun is a life worth celebrating on this day, November 18, not just because of his monumental and intimidating success as a lawyer or the blessing of God upon him that makes rich, but rather, his selfless life of blessing and philanthropy that is touching lives and raising a dependable and self-sufficient generation. One can only pray that God grant him long life in sound health, peace and eternity after his terrestrial sojourn.

    • Abiola Olarinde,

    Lagos

  • Iyayi: Death most unfortunate, avoidable

    SIR: On Tuesday, November 12, our collective psyche was further attacked by the circumstances leading to the very unfortunate but clearly avoidable death of the erudite, selfless and patriotic intellectual giant Professor Festus Iyayi. Thus far, the undisputed account is that the vehicle in which the Professor was travelling to Kano for a crucial ASUU leadership meeting was hit by one of the escort vehicles in Governor Idris Wada’s convoy leading to his instant death.

    Granted that this could be an accident as investigation many reveal, but the incidence and frequency of this category of avoidable disasters by which innocent Nigerians are recklessly cut short by over-zealous drivers in the usually-long convoys of our respective state chief executives have become completely unacceptable. Recall that about the same time last year, the same Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State was involved in a ghastly road accident in which his former Aid de Camp died while he sustained serious leg injuries that kept him out of office for a considerable period of time.

    How they (governors, executives) remain comfortably in those recklessly-piloted motorcades to the detriments of pedestrians and other road users whose lives amount to nothing continue to baffle me. All over the world, the primary purpose of government is the security, sanctity of life as well as welfare of citizens. Our constitution in Section 14(2) (b) is clear on this, yet by the policies, actions and inactions of our governments, her citizen are being killed on regular basis.

    The deplorable state of our road infrastructure nationwide can hardly be discountenanced as a major contributory factor to this inglorious level of road mishaps. The entire academic unions in Nigeria particularly the ASUU which Iyayi led as the president between 1986-1988 as well as the Human Rights/Pro democracy community particularly the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) which he led as the National President from 1995-1997 must rise to the occasion on this score and ensure that this reckless killings stop. The fact remains that there is no correlation between the whooping and successive budgetary allocations to road infrastructural development and the conditions of our road networks which re-introduces the nagging question of severe corruption in our body politic.

    I join millions of aggrieved Nigerians and associates of Professor Iyayi all over the world to commiserate with his immediate family on this unfortunate but avoidable development.

    • Malachy Ugwummadu Esq.

    Lagos

  • Please, construct the Obajana-Kabba road early

    The federal government recently awarded a contract for the construction of Obajana- Oshokosho-Kabba roads in Kogi State.

    The roads, which have been in deplorable condition for the past twentyfive years, have made it difficult for travellers going to Kabba from either Lokoja or Abuja to access the road to Ilorin and Lagos, thus one needs to travel through Okene, making the journey of a half hour to last for two hours.

    The tireless efforts of Senator Smart Adeyemi, who represent the area in the national assembly, must be commended for ensuring that the construction of the roads becomes a reality.

    The importance of these roads to the socio-economy of not only Kogi State but the whole country can’t be over-emphasised, taking into consideration the Obajana Cement Factory situated in the area.

    We call on the federal government to ensure the early construction of the roads to bring relief to the entire people of not only Kogi State, but commuters who ply the roads from Abuja to the southern part of this country.

    Also with commitment of President Jonathan’s administration in reviving the steel industry at Ajaoukuta Steel Industry, the movement of the steel product to areas like Lagos, Enugu and other parts of the country would bring much economic activities to the development of the entire country.

    We are of the view that the early commencement of the construction of the road should be a source of pride to the people in Kogi State, and ameliorating the

    Bala Nayashi

    Lokoja

  • Nigeria: The quintessence of double standard

    As widely reported in various newspapers, the Edo State government has recently approved the death penalty for kidnapping. Fine, I am not opposed to the death penalty for kidnapping; indeed I support it.

    My support for the death penalty for kidnapping notwithstanding, I have a moral question I wish to pose to the conscience of Nigeria: Why the death penalty for kidnapping and not also for corruption? Which of kidnapping or corruption poses the greater threat to the existential continuity of Nigeria? I am firmly convinced it is corruption. As heinous as kidnapping is, it usually affects one, two or a few individuals. In contradistinction to kidnapping, corruption, in the form of looting of public treasury, embezzlement of funds, constitutes what I may term “arsenal of national destruction”. Hundreds of thousands and indeed millions of Nigeria’s denizens are sent to their untimely graves as a result of unconscionable and insensate looting of public treasury without the gravity of punishment commensurate with such a crime.

    The lawyers who defend such unpatriotic treasury looters always laugh their way to the banks after having collected their share of the loot by way of the so-called professional legal fees, which are unregulated. The lawyers are always up in arms whenever the issue of the death penalty is raised for corruption because they are beneficiaries of the proceeds of treasury looting through their thieving clients.

    Why have the lawyers not risen in opposition to the death penalty for kidnapping? The axiomatic reason for their silence is this: kidnapping is usually carried out by the less-privileged against the rich elites whilst corruption is carried out by the rich but corrupt elites (the clients of lawyers) against the poor.

    Apart from willful murder for which even the Lord God Almighty approves the death penalty, if we must approve the death penalty for any other crimes, they should not just be for crimes committed by the poor and down-trodden of the society against the corrupt and thieving elites, it should also reciprocally be for crimes usually committed by rich, corrupt and thieving elites against the poor.

    If the death penalty were not operational in China to deal with corruption (as is the case in Nigeria), would she have become the second biggest economy in the world today? Or would China have been in the position to lend Nigeria a billion dollars recently?

    In conclusion, I am an avowed believer in the fact that unless corruption is tackled with the severest retributive judgment it deserves, the existential continuity of Nigeria beyond the foreseeable future will remain in the realm of probabilistic conjecture.

  • Lessons from Golden Eaglets’ victory

    SIR: The victory of the national U17 side, the Golden Eaglets, at the UAE tournament, is quite instructive in many ways. For one, the Golden Eaglets won the tournament for a record fourth time. Second, the Eaglets created a new tournament record of scoring a total of 26 goals in the competition. Third, the team’s goal -tender, Dele Alapamsu, emerged as the tournament’s best goal keeper while the team’s play-maker, Kelechi Ihenacho, was chosen as the Most Valuable Player of the competition in addition to his winning the bronze boot as the second highest scorer of the tournament.

    The Golden Eaglets equally won the tournament’s Fair Play award. Indeed, the UAE soccer event  was a glorious moment in the annals of the country’s sporting attainments.

    There are so many lessons for us as a nation to draw from the victory of the Golden Eaglets at the UAE. For one, the victory further underscores the abundant of sporting talents in the country. Since  Nigeria won the first FIFA U17 World Cup which took place in China in 1985, we have gone ahead to win it on three other occasions – 1993, 2007 and 2013. This is aside emerging runners up twice at the tournament. Through the tournament, players such as Nduka Ubgade, Kanu Nwankwo, Victor Ikpeba, Wilson Oruma, Emmanual Babayaro, John Mikel Obi, Celestine Babayaro, Godwin Opkara, to mention but a few, have emerged at the centre stage of the soccer world.

    This, of course, takes us to the all important issue: We have just unleashed 22 sporting teenagers on the soccer world. But, what happens to the millions of other undiscovered sporting talents languishing in different parts of the country?

    The Eaglets success story at Abu Dhabi equally has vital implications for the Nigerian youth, and indeed the nation at large. It is important for the youth to imbibe the spirit of self-belief by rising above every limiting environmental factor to achieve set-goals. The inherent difficulties of living in Nigeria or being a Nigerian should not provide stereo-typed excuses for failure. All our youths need to do get to the promise land is to keep believing and keep focusing.

    Today, individuals such as Segun Odegbami, Chidi Imoh, Mary Onyali, Chioma Ajunwa, Jerry Okorodudu, Stephen Keshi, to mention just a few, command great respect across and beyond the country for their selfless services to their fatherland.

    However, it is imperative to dwell on the need for sports administrators across the country to turn a new leaf. It is rather sad that as much as our compatriots in the sporting fields would want to give their all in the service of their fatherland, they are often frustrated by the selfish and unpatriotic attitudes of our so-called sports administrators. Take for instance the Nigerian Football Federation, NFF, which over the years have appeared to act in manners that impede the development of soccer in the country. Is it not particularly embarrassing  that the NFF is reportedly owing Stephen Keshi, the Super Eagles chief coach seven months’ salary?

    It took the coach’s lamentation on the pages of newspapers before the NFF reportedly agreed to pay him two months’ wages out of the outstanding seven being owed.  To think that this is the same coach that has returned the Super Eagles to winning ways!

    The NFF needs to come up with creative marketing strategies that would enable it  catch-up on the recent successes of the various national teams for financial gains. This is the way it is done all over the world. Going cup in hands, all the time, to beg state governors for fund each time our national teams are on assignment is, to say the least, unprofessional and demeaning.

    • Tayo Ogunbiyi

    Ministry of Information and Strategy,

    Alausa, Ikeja.

  • Savannah Bank Plc

    SIR: It is now five years that the licence of Savannah Bank was returned to her. Since then the bank has not been able to operate. No information from the bank as to the position of things since they used the Nigerian judiciary to take back their licence thereby sitting on depositors money. The court gave the Bank 18 months to recapitalize and consolidate. Since then, it has broken all the banking rules and regulations and yet the court, Central Bank of Nigeria and the NDIC are looking the other way.

    Depositors money has been ‘judicially’ held since February, 2002 and no newspaper is writing or probing what is happening. It is part of your social services to the people to periodically probe and publish the position of things to keep the bank on its toes on its responsibility to the Nigeria citizens.

    The Societe General Bank of Nigeria which was closed five years after Savannah Bank has since reopened and paid depositors their money.

    • S. O. Balogun Akure.

  • Tribute to Solomon Lar

    SIR: I can rightly claim that late Chief Solomon Lar and I were political associates, he being the senior and I, junior. When the second republic beckoned, we were bonded by the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) – the platform on which the late Lar was elected governor of Plateau State and I, member of the National Assembly.

    As the chairman of the House of Representatives Finance Committee, I had to caucus with him on the party’s national issues which provided me the opportunity to observe him close-up. I make no further claim to any other special intimacy other than to say that I took personal interest on the modus operandi of this highly respected statesman on political matters concerning Nigeria.

    As an American statesman once wrote…..”Man can weather adversities with stony calm, but the true test of a man is when you give him power”. The late Lar went through both with same equanimity. He was heavily persecuted for his stout defence of his minority people in the North, treated leadership as a sacrifice and never flinched in pursuit of his peoples’ emancipation. When the opportunity came, his people demonstrated their implicit confidence in electing him their governor. At both ends, he demonstrated a unique disposition that marked him out as a true leader and statesman. The axis of three wise men- Sam Mbakwe, Jim Nwobodo and Lar stabilized the second republic by the wisdom they exhibited to enter the accord with NPN to form the government of Shehu Shagari.

    During that second republic, he demonstrated beyond doubt his love for Nigeria. As crisis erupted in the marriage between NPN and NPP, it was the late chief’s wise counsel that helped NPP navigate the troubled waters. When issues seem intractable, it was the late Lar who will most likely bring forth the solution. He made himself so reachable and accessible that most of NPP National Assembly members adopted him as their reference. At meetings, he hardly raised his voice no matter how contentious the issue or matter was.

    His progressive credentials manifested at each turn of our march to democracy. He was solidly behind SDP and ensured the delivery of late Chief M.K.O Abiola’s massive votes in the middle belt region known today as the North Central Zone. One incident I recall was the day SDP leaders gathered at the late Chief Abiola’s Ikeja residence to agree on the submission of eight names to Abacha for ministerial appointments. Just about the moment the list was to be dispatched, in walked the late Chief Lar, and moved by his awesome contributions, the late Chief M.K.O Abiola advised that his name be included following which he was eventually appointed the Police Affairs Minister, a position he discharged with distinction.

    In 1998, Lar, accompanied by Senator Aniete Okon visited me in United States to review the works of NADECO in his unquenchable thirst for democracy. He emerged the first chairman of PDP and midwifed its first National Convention that nominated Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as the party’s presidential candidate. At the convention grounds, I approached him to make a last bid request to convince him that Alex Ekwueme rather than Obasanjo should be the man to lead Nigeria’s return to democracy. He pulled me aside and uttered these words…. “Ralph the tiger has not been caged yet”. I looked confused and in utter bewilderment I realized that the late chief was captive to some forces. Looking at Nigeria during and after Obasanjo, I know that the late Chief Solomon Lar must have had his regrets.

    His life calls for celebration. His passage on earth was full of accomplishments and he attained an enviable old age of 80 plus. Plateau State lost an illustrious son and leader but Nigeria lost a compass.

    • Chief Ralph Obioha.

    Abuja.