The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Thank you, Tony Nyiam!

    SIR: When President Goodluck Jonathan announced the constitution of a Presidential Advisory Committee on National Conference and Dialogue in his independence anniversary message, many Nigerians saw it as an opportunity to discuss and renegotiate the basis of our existence as one united and indivisible nation built on principles which give and confer equality, respect and dignity on all. Many also saw it as an opportunity to ventilate their disappointment at the way they and their ethnic groups, particularly the so-called minorities, have suffered neglect, marginalisation, oppression and suppression over the years. They believed that given an opportunity to be heard would put their case on the front burner of national discuss with the hope that a lasting solution would be found to their case. To some southern minorities, this may well be a last chance to right the wrongs of the past and put a stop to further agitations for fair treatment.

    The ugly incident on Monday October 28, during the meeting of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Conference and Dialogue in Benin City, Edo State, may have surprised not a few Nigerians both in the country and in Diaspora including foreigners. It was expected that the committee would listen to all Nigerians who have something to say irrespective of age, gender, level of education, social status, or ethnic origin as promised by conference committee chairman, Senator Okorounmu. The incident in which a state governor like Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, could be shouted down by even a conference committee member, Col. Tony Nyiam (rtd), for making contributions not agreeable to him, reinforces the stand of those who say the conference has a hidden agenda behind it and, therefore, unnecessary at this point in time.

    If the conference committee would not listen to all persons no matter what they have to say and no matter how bitter, unreasonable and idiotic such contributions may appear to be, then there is a pre-conceived, pre-arranged and pre-determined end which the committee is working towards. Is it a situation of working from the unknown views of Nigerians to the known outcome by the Jonathan administration? What interest or agenda was Tony Nyiam executing in Benin City when he so violently, along with hirelings from Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers states, shouted down Governor Oshiomhole, a situation which put an abrupt end to the meeting? Is this a tip of what to expect when the conference eventually gets under way?

    Governor Oshiomhole’s views which, he pointed out, were “my personal views’’ may well represent the views of discerning Nigerians who believe there are more pressing issues to be addressed by the government. True, patriotic Nigerians must appreciate where Tony Nyiam comes from, and, is coming from to situate his “command’’ outburst in Benin City last Monday. He was appointed into the conference committee to execute and defend an agenda which he inadvertently revealed that Monday. Rather than condemn him, Nigerians must thank Tony Nyiam for exposing unto us the “Conference Book of Revelations.”

     

    • Blessing Yakubu,

    Yenagoa, Bayelsa State

  • High cost of running for public office

    SIR: The cost of running for a political office in Nigeria makes the race unwinnable to a candidate with good intentions. Many are liquidated from pursuing their chance of a moment in the sun. At the end of the day, they become cynical. The physical, ethical and financial cost of running for a political office will make a wise man ask, what is the trouble? Politics should be a game of wits and not a battle with the beast.

    Power is intoxicating and many people are willing to get drunk on the juice of politics. A candidate squanders all of his or her wealth, and goes borrowing to finance his campaign. He hopes to buy people’s loyalty. He is praised and assured direct access to the office of his aspiration by his purchased audience. He rambles on day in and day out like a wino on his promises of a better time to the suffering citizens. The wind of reality becomes toxic to his or her skin and a honest opinion is repelled like a plague. The shout of sycophants turns to a sweet melody in his ears.

    It will not be scandalous to compare politicians to prostitutes. They both clamour for public attention. Excessive desire for entertainment and sexual looseness appear to be the stimulants propelling their ambition. Politicians seem to have the stamina of a thorough-bred horse when it comes to gallivanting to showcase themselves as champions of the masses. Give them a crowd, turn on the microphone and they will shine their winning smile. Just to please an audience, they will kiss a clown. Dining with a monster becomes a part of the protocol.

    The willingness of politicians to expend so much energy, money and morals is motivated by their vision of unlimited celebration when they get into office. They spend so much money to buy peoples conscience. They habitually lie to win ones intelligence. It is like tango with a monkey holding down a politician to his words. Every other value they have is lavished on reckless wantonness. They close their eyes on the groovy ride. They are convinced all the way that the hand of God is manifest in their mandate.

    Politicians are like every one of us except one is inclined to believe they are made of a different breed. The marginal pulse that creates political visionaries, when it is off, produces imbeciles. If one is not made of steel or money, one should not aspire to a successful political career in Nigeria. Leave the bone in the paws of dogs and watch their encounter with the evil spirit. The high cost of politics makes a good man shy away.

     

    • Pius Okaneme

    Umuoji, Anambra State.

  • National dialogue: Give FG the benefit of doubt

    SIR: It is no more news that the prolonged issue of national conference which was adamantly opposed by the President some months ago has now received endorsement with his Independence Day broadcast. To crown it, he inaugurated the 13-member conference advisory committee on Oct. 7. Whatever may have induced his change of mind is welcome and should set the pace for frank, rigorous and constructive discourse among Nigerians.

    Some have said that it was a move to divert attention from his administration’s incompetence as the 2015 elections draws nears; some even termed a ‘Greek Gift’, while some have opposed it vehemently because it doesn’t have the term ‘Sovereign’.

    Like late Chief Bola Ige once said, we need to ask whether we will remain as a country and under what conditions. Though the conference can never and will never be panacea to all our problems (political, economical and social), still we need to talk. And talk we must. I think those who are in support of the national conference are right. Unless we sit down to have sincere and meaningful national dialogue, this country will disintegrate. The national conference is imperative to rescue the nation especially now that the nation is faced with intractable crises. The topmost agenda for the conference must be how to restructure Nigeria and make it work.

    As for those who accuse the President of insincerity over the issue of national conference, I think they also have a point. Here one easily recalls the previous conferences called by the late Gen. Sani Abacha and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. What came out of them?

    For those who oppose the planned conference because it is not “Sovereign”, I would say it is our duty to determine the nature and structure of the proposed dialogue. We should make the conference to go beyond the President’s expectation and make him understand that if he had announced the national conference to suit his personal interest, he has committed the greatest mistake as Nigerians will not allow him to tamper with the outcome for partisan political reasons.

    To the President, I have an urgent message: if the motive for convening the national conference is for the purpose of using it as an organ of distraction and tool for manipulative political shenanigans, then it is better to swallow the idea. It is either we have a conference that is free and unfettered or we have nothing. This government should perform on critical sectors of the country rather than seek to lean on the conference as an alibi.

    My position is that we give President Jonathan the benefit of the doubt and wait to see what he and his conference actually offers. Let’s embrace it and not ruin our future with the pain of the past. It is never too late. Today is our day of salvation, tomorrow may be too late!

     

    • Ogundimu Babatunde Solomon

    Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

  • Stellagate and ethnic warriors

    Stellagate and ethnic warriors

    SIR: The raging kerfuffle precipitated by the purchase of two BMW armoured cars by Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah at N255 million has revealed the canyon of divergences of Nigerians as regards their thinking, biases, dispositions, views and opinions on tenuous issues of national reckoning . To a large extent, the discordant tunes have exposed the inability of the so-called oppressed class to unite in a noble cause of condemning and bringing pressure on the government for condign actions to be taken against the minister. The disunity among the common people has its provenance in tribalism. Nigerians are torn by tribal sentiments and considerations.

    The unfortunate dimension is an unsavoury commentary on the national conscience against corruption. If all Nigerians cannot forge a common front against evil as vile as corruption, then the vaunted fight against it is a mere fluke. Nigeria will remain in the thrall of corruption as long as ethnic bias takes precedence over corruption pronged issues that are as putrid as vivified national corruption itself.

    Again, the case has shown that when it comes to corruption, there is selectivity of ethnicity. In that, Nigerians are wont to condemn corrupt people when such people are not of their extraction, and they defend them if they are of their extraction. Ethnic attachments always suffuse the thinking in corruption categorisations in Nigeria; a situation that has effectuated Stella Oduah to be seen as a victim of tribal antagonism and prejudice by some Igbo persons.

    As a matter of fact, Stella Oduah’s vulgar purchases smack of corruption, insensitivity, profligacy and extravagance. Her actions should be seen as such. Nigeria’s ethnic warriors should sheathe their drawn swords and confront the issue for what it is- gross insensitivity, corruption and profligacy of a government official. The outpouring of accumulated vitriol from crimson bile will not bring a lasting solution to the problem of corruption, careless and senseless spending. It will only divide us more for the vicious rape of the government as a divided people are a conquered people. The barter of ethnic vitriol should cease for a dawning of untainted reason to break down Stellagate.

     

    • Fredrick Nwabufo.

    Abuja

  • A charade of a pilgrimage

    SIR: Religion is supposed to be a private affair between man and his creator. In Nigeria, it has assumed a dimension that will rattle the German Philosopher Karl Marx. A pilgrimage in a decent clime is supposed to be a private affair at the expense of whosoever can afford it.

    The pilgrimage led by President Goodluck Jonathan with an entourage of seven governors, eight ministers including the embattled Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah, three members of the National Assembly and some presidential aides all at taxpayers’ expense, is obscenity at its apogee.

    Must the name of God be so mocked! I was even surprised that the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)’s President, Ayo Oritsejafor was also in the presidential entourage.

    The GEJ government will probably go down in history as one of the most profligate in history. It has failed so many moral tests and has lost its nexus with the citizenry. The zenith of the insult to the collective intelligence of Nigerians was the presence of Princess Stella Oduah in the delegation. The propaganda being peddled in the press that GEJ snubbed her in Israel is most laughable! This is worse than the falsehood which Squealer peddled in the classic ‘Animal Farm.’

    The practice of squandering scarce public funds by public office holders in the name of pilgrimages should be totally condemned by well meaning Nigerians. GEJ should concentrate on tackling the hydra headed monster of corruption. It is not about seeking Jesus Christ in the Upper Room and where his body was buried. Jesus Christ is in every Nigerian and the President is supposed to inspire hope and not worsen their problems. God will not come down from the sky to solve problems. He uses people to accomplish his purposes. GEJ has the responsibility to salvage whatever is remaining of his administration’s credibility.

    By the way, wouldn’t the officials be entitled to estacode for this trip that has no direct impact in the lives of the common man? Isn’t this an indirect way of perpetrating corruption? What then is the use of extolling the external aspect of religion while neglecting the inside which is core?

    • Sola Ademiluyi

    Lagos

  • Hubris among medical profesionals

    SIR: Have you noticed that American doctor’s append only MD as their titles? Indeed, to practice in the United States require that a doctor specialize in at least one of the many areas of medicine after the basic qualification. Therefore, as a specialist, the only insignia is the MD, though a description as a fellow may follow to show the specialty. Other appendages may include PhD, MPH and a few others. The reason is simple: A medical doctor (MD) is a medical doctor. The difference lies in the area of practice and expertise- psychiatry, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology etc.

    To become a specialist therefore is a necessity expected of every doctor. It is because of this that a national matching system for residential programme exists in the US. It is equally because of this that the emphasis is on the quality and standard of each residential programme and its director rather than examinations.

    Finally, it is basically because of this that the speciality board examinations at the end of the residency programme is optional, or voluntary, taken only to satisfy members of the public or, if the individual is desirous of practice across state lines(a different state from which he trained).

    Specialization in medicine therefore, must never be a privilege; for what is the aim of specialization? To break down medical knowledge into discrete and manageable entities and enable an increasing depth of learning and skill acquisition therein. A division of labor of sorts.

    In contrast, specialists in Nigeria readily flaunt their titles,FWACP, FWACS, FMCP etc. These are well earned /deserved titles no doubt. Problem, however is the attempt to make specialization an elitist enclave.

    Elitism seems to be native to Nigeria. It is almost a cultural thing. Everyone wants to show the other how much worthier he is above his fellow. There is a subtle but fierce battle to be the first always, primus inter pares! Competition, whilst not necessarily bad, but competition for her own sake, and in an unbridled manner is a death march! It breeds excessive rivalry and a penchant for ruthless despicable acts in order to suppress.It is therefore of little wonder that even within medical circles this culture festers.

    To specialize in an area of medicine has become an elitist venture. The process is brutal, dehumanizing and deliberately so. The specialists who are also meant to train others are the ones who make it so by not being responsible or accountable in any guise for the resident doctors under them; by the desire for elitism and exclusivity, and through the proliferation of multiple landmines called examinations at every corner and stage.

    The more vexatious of these issues is tying career advancement and promotions of the resident doctor to these centralized examinations without recourse to the sensitivities and peculiarities of the individual residential programmes! These exams are landmines designed to frustrate and eliminate anyone but the best of the best-hubris!

    Candidates are pitted against candidates and you have results like only seven out almost 300 hundred candidates passed and exam nationwide( family medicine)!

    Since knowledge in medicine is so deep and wide, there has to be, of necessity, specialization where a doctor further undergoes a residency programme. A residential programme affords the doctor the opportunity to focus on an area of medicine, work with specialists in their day to day care of patients, witness, participate and ultimately become a specialist himself. That is the concept of specialization and this should be our minimum requirement too. Some of our people are wont us to believe it is the preserve of some special of privileged few.

    Why is elitism and hubris so rife?

     

    Timi Babatunde MD

    Lagos

  • Stellagate: It’s a familiar tale

    SIR: Like previous high profile corruption cases, the raging scandal involving Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah and officials of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) would go the way of others. It will fizzle out pretty soon and life will go on smoothly as if nothing happened.

    Yes, this is Nigeria, where we are good at barking at every evil act, but lack the guts to attempt a bite.

    Hardly does a day pass that the world is not dished a portion of Nigeria’s abursidity, courtesy of the funny characters masquerading as leaders. No-one, including our so-called elder statesmen and clergymen seems bothered by Nigeria’s fast drift to anarchy and failure. Amidst allegations of rising malfeasance, which now define our system, we are so relaxed with an affirmation that all is well. We are at a crossroad. We continue to delude ourselves that the myriad of human-induced challenges staring would fizzle out pretty soon.

    Princess Stella Oduah’s show of obscene taste and display of extravagance as revealed in the purchase of armoured BMW cars valued at N255 Million provides an insight into the reckless manner our collective resources are being plundered by the elites.This is a sin against God and crime against humanity. This is the height of wickedness and irresponsibility. It beats one’s imagination to discover that a serving public official sees nothing morally or legally wrong in acquiring cars with such a huge amount in a country where thousands go to bed daily on flat empty stomachs.

    This amount is enough to pay the annual salaries of 50 professors in our beleagured public universities. The humongous sum is enough to build 100 healthcare centres across villages in Nigeria.

    Without pre-empting the outcome, this abuse of office will no doubt go the way of others. Frankly speaking, the panels amounts to huge waste of time and resources. Such time and resources should be channeled into productive ventures.

    Where is the report of the oil subsidy probe panel that indicted some lawmakers? What about the Malabo Oil deal involving the top echelon of the justice ministry? What about the corruption case against former House of Representatives Speaker, Dimeji Bankole and his deputy, Usman Bayero Nafada? Undoubtedly, this particular high profile corruption case will go the way of others.

     

    Abdullahi Yunusa

  • Power Minister, call Abule Egba PHCN to order

    SIR: I am a law-abiding citizen and feel it is a duty to pay my electricity bills and by God’s grace this I have never failed to do. And at all time my account with the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN reads credit. I understand the times in the land and do not expect that even with that I should get constant power supply, but this has never discouraged me knowing that in the foreseeable future and as the Jonathan power sector reform agenda starts to yield fruit, I and many others will see that it is always better to be on the right side of the law.

    But alas, for all this, PHCN at the Abule Egba area in Lagos has been crazy enough to cut off the light supply of a wide area in Abule Egba ensuring that I and many others do not get even the little light that usually comes to us after their load shedding.

    Reason? To punish those who are owing them. I now ask: should those who are paying PHCN suffer because of those who are not paying? Why throw out the baby with the bathwater? Where is justice? Would this type of action not discourage those who are paying? The right thing is for them to go after those who owe them and cut their light. If they are scared of going to their houses to do that they could go with the police. I do not encourage impunity. But even God himself would not have destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah if he had found one just man in those cities.

    I and other law-abiding people should not suffer for the crime of others. Or does PHCN’s mandate include denying those who are paying light supply?

    The power sector reform has made PHCN staff to carry on like those with a chip on their shoulder. Never mind the payoff. Not all have even gotten it with the handover date close. So they are like angry wild animals. And they will not leave without biting off the flesh of the people.

    Dr Cosmas Odoemena,

    Lagos

  • Imperative of national conference

    SIR: Nigeria, as a nation, has not achieved its potentialities. Our country is neither technologically advanced nor economically prosperous. Nigerians call Nigeria the giant of Africa, but the fact is that it is an under-sized-giant that basks in self-adulation and deludes itself as a great country. South Africa is head and shoulders over Nigeria, technologically and economically. Years of bad political leaderships have left Nigeria prostrate. Nigeria is a metaphor for dysfunctionality.

    Our leaders’ inability to curb the menace of corruption in our polity has led to our economic and technological stagnation. Political leaders are on thieving spree while governance is abandoned. That is why our roads are death-traps. As the Ore-Lagos road is still in a state of disrepair, so are other federal roads in the country. Money set aside for road repairs and other infrastructural development is diverted into private accounts. Our leaders travel abroad to treat minor ailments because hospitals in Nigeria are ill-equipped and their personnel not motivated to perform at their optimal capacity. Public universities have been shut down for months because of disagreements between university teachers and the federal government.

    Our government has failed us on all fronts. It cannot diversify the economy to provide job opportunities for millions of university graduates that roam our streets daily. Some of these frustrated and disillusioned youths have taken to criminal activities to earn their livelihoods. Now, a state of insecurity of lives and property pervades the country.

    Against the background of the forces pulling the country apart, the convocation of national conference has become a compelling imperative. Thankfully, President Goodluck Jonathan has acceded to the yearnings and calls of millions of Nigerians by setting up an advisory committee to work out modalities and framework for the convening of the conference.

    Nigerians from diverse ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds should use the opportunity of the round-table to state their grievances and reach a binding consensus on how we shall continue to live as one indivisible country. Nigeria, as it is constituted now, is a forced marriage of ethnic nationalities contrived and midwifed by the British.

    In many countries around the world, ethnic nationalities are asserting their right to self-determination or self-rule. It is better for us to disintegrate peacefully rather than descend into a fratricidal civil war that will claim millions of human lives and destroy people’s properties.

    And, if we choose to live as one country, Nigerians should be given a new constitution, as the current one is not a people’s constitution. Issues of fiscal federalism, indigene-ship and citizen’s rights should be unambiguously spelt out and incorporated into the new constitution.

     

    • Chiedu Uche Okoye,

    Uruowulu-Obosi,

    Anambra State.

  • Stellagate: What’s the President waiting for?

    SIR: The problem with Stellagate is not just the level of impunity exhibited, but the brazen stupidity of the bureaucrats we employed to man the gate. The defence of indefensible is laughable. The denial of the obvious is ludicrous. The cover up is criminal. We are at a point in our democracy where corrupt politicians need to know that the people of Nigeria may not have power to remove them through the ballot box due to the corruption of the electoral process, but we do have power to embarrass and shame them.

    The fact that the mainstream press initially shied away from the story is in itself telling of the complicity of the press in Nigeria. Without the ever present vigilance of the burgeoning blogosphere in Nigeria, we may as well give up on our democracy. The valiant work of the likes of Saharareporters and others should be commended. Sometimes they get it wrong and we rightly excoriate them, but in the long run the internet self-publishing journalism has saved us more than our mainstream press have done. This is not however to say that we do not need the mainstream press. Their reach cannot be understated. It is heartwarming that they immediately jumped on board as soon as it was apparent that the scandal of overpriced bullet proof car for the aviation minister who celebrate deaths on our airways is for real.

    The question is what is next. Many have asked that the president should suspend the minister, Stella Oduah. I concur. You don’t allow a suspect to guard the crime scene. There is prima facie evidence that a crime was committed. Every day the minister spends in that position gives her the opportunity to tamper with evidence, intimidate witnesses and interfere with investigation.

    This scandal is a big test on President Goodluck Jonathan’s readiness to defend the integrity of our democracy and fidelity to our constitution. If he fails to dispense justice in the bid to protect his hirelings, we should be ready to expose his regime for what it is: corruption-ridden, malfeasance-driven gulags!

    We need to continue to put pressure on the president and the National Assembly to expose every facet of corruption in Nigeria. Our future and the future of democracy depends on it.

     

    • Francis Adewale

    Spokane, WA, USA