The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • What manner of National Conference?

    SIR: President Jonathan has said his administration will forward the deliberations of the proposed National Conference to the National Assembly for ratification. The National Assembly promptly supported his stand arguing that there can be no two sovereigns at the same time, but we want to believe that the President and the National Assembly either do not know what they are saying or they simply misfired because the National Assembly or even the government of Nigeria itself is not really the sovereign. The true sovereign is the Nigerian people, for as the constitution says in section 14, subsection 2a; “Sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this constitution derives all its powers and authority.” It did not say that sovereignty belongs to the government of Nigeria. As a result, we would have the President and the National Assembly know that they are only first among equals and that they hold power only in trust for the people; for without the Nigerian people, they are nothing.

    The Nigerian people do not need a National Conference whose work must be vetted and validated by any part of the moribund status quo. To that extent, whatever comes out of the proposed conference, if it did eventually hold must only be ratified by a referendum of the Nigerian people. Anything short of that will be unacceptable, and we might just as well forget it.

    The President and the National Assembly must be reminded that if the structure of Nigeria as presently constituted is that good, and if they who are in government have been governing functionally, there would be no need for a National Conference, and the Nigerian people perhaps won’t be calling for one.

    Therefore, we the people do not need a National Conference if its deliberations will have to be subjected to an unhelpful National Assembly that is part of a stagnant status quo.

     

    • Conscience Reports,

    Onikan, Lagos

     

  • Anambra 2013: You have not been fair to us

    SIR: I want to register my objection right away that your titles’ have shut out 20-odd INEC-approved candidates for the November 16, gubernatorial election in Anambra State (my good self-included). Like in the Olympic Games, candidacy in electoral contests is not a guarantee for victory, and needn’t be. Also considering the several extraneous factors that bridle fair electoral contests and the many inauspicious environmental factors honest men rather than being so coldly ruled out should be encouraged for braving the odds.

    Speaking for myself, I was primarily driven to compete in order to have a chance to raise the intellectual bar in the race; to offer something different from the pedestrian presentations candidates are wont to make in staking a claim for the Anambra State Government House. If you have been following political events in the state you will have realized the intonation of exclusivity that is often brought to bear on the race for political offices on account of cronyism aka ‘god-fatherism’; or the normal process monetization that consigns the core issues of governance to the rear.

    People like me are out to challenge any and every candidate to a programme-driven debate; to show a developmental blueprint for the high office they aspire to; to canvass for support with a convincing grasp of society’s needs; or even to make a thought-provoking analysis of the failings of past administrations. To deny us the chance to express enlightened opinions on how to move our dear state forward is unfair, almost tending towards incriminating negligence. Besides, it is not in your place to play Nostradamus; or impersonate Professor Jega of INEC. I thought there was no objectivity about news!

    For the avoidance of doubt, the due diligence process preceding successful gubernatorial candidature is no stroll in the park. Anyone who has scaled the many hurdles en route: packaging oneself; surviving intraparty intrigues, funding self-projection with so much to dust up; winning primaries; passing fastidious INEC and security scrutiny, deserves respect and should be accorded recognition. Every candidate, therefore, should have his day with the public, with unfettered journalistic access.

    I am appealing to you not to trivialize the efforts of respected and respectable citizens who have weighed in with so much self-sacrifice to deepen democracy. Should you continue to ignore me and the 19 others, then you will have a lot to explain to our teeming supporters, nay posterity. Nigeria will not improve when even journalists have a jaundiced view of fair competition or disregard for competitiveness.

    • Mazi Austin Nwangwu.

    Governorship candidate,

    Citizens Popular Party (CPP)

     

  • Nigeria’s ‘Wicked Problem’

    SIR: In 2007, the Australian Public Service Commission published a report titled, “Tackling Wicked Problems: A Public Policy Perspective”. The report delineated problems that are complex and tasking to solve. Such high demanding problems was what they referred to as ‘Wicked Problems’. They enumerated climate change, obesity, indigenous disadvantage and land degradation. These problems are opinion-dividing and do not have absolute answers and thus they are called wicked problems.

    The concept of wicked problems was formulated by Horst Rittel in the 1960s. According to Rittel, Wicked Problems are “class of social system problems which are ill-formulated, where the information is confusing, where there are many clients and decision makers with conflicting values, and where the ramifications in the whole system are thoroughly confusing”.

    The term ‘wicked’ in this context is used, not in the sense of evil, but rather as an issue highly resistant to resolution.

    Wicked problems are difficult to clearly define-we know that we are dealing with a wicked problem when an issue is twisted and incredibly complex; wicked problems have many interdependencies and are often multi-causal; attempts to solve wicked problems often lead to unforeseen consequences-the result may come good or it may well be deleterious. Furthermore, wicked problems hardly sit conveniently within the responsibility of anyone organization and wicked problems involve changing of behavior. So, how is Nigeria’s under-development a wicked problem?

    A developed Nigeria will have constant power supply, good road network, safe living and safe business environment for her citizens and their properties. It also entails having peace, good education system, social security for her citizenry and will be corruption free or at least have a system of punishment for offenders. The movement from an under-developed country to a developed Nigeria is one nightmare that is bothering the rich and the poor, the leaders and the lead, and the knowledgeable and the not so knowledgeable. We have more problems than the available solutions.

    The lack of development in Nigeria is difficult to define. A country that is blessed with human and material resources is still wallowing in under-development. How can we define a situation whereby Nigeria export crude oil and import gas (fuel) and other by-products of crude oil? How can we comprehend the epileptic education system that we have? How can we define a system where teachers are on strike and all we hear is where power should go in 2015? This point to the fact that we have a wicked problem before us

    Wicked problems have many interdependencies and are often multi-causal. There are other stems to our under-development. Insecurity is one of them. Poverty has raised street urchins to become deadly armed gangs. Armed robbers together with kidnappers have made life a living hell for the citizens. There seems to be a causal relationship between poverty and Boko Haram just as there was a causal relationship between Militancy and poverty.

    The under-development of Nigeria has seen the military and the civilian add to it. It does not also lie with any individual. We might have one President, but those who under-develop Nigeria are far too many. Directors, Permanent Secretaries, Ministers, Senators, House of Representative Members, CBN Officials, Governors, House of Assembly Members, Local Government Chairmen and Councilors, The Private Sector, Traditional Rulers just mention them. Even the ‘common man’ is not left out!

    Solving Wicked Problems involve changing of behavior. For a change in fortune in Nigeria, there must be change of attitude and behaviour from both the leadership and the lead. A lot has to change in Nigeria for us to overcome this problem

    • Uwalaka, Temple

    University of Canberra, Australia

  • ASUU strike and FG’s transformation agenda

    SIR: In 2011, When President Goodluck Jonathan contested for the presidency, the bait he brandished was the transformation agenda- a delusional promise to transform all sectors in the country. Close to three years after, Jonathan has not been able to transform Nigeria as it continues to wallow in socio-economic backwardness, with the spate of degeneration in the country reaching an alarming rate.

    The latest casualty of Jonathan’s regressive leadership is the close-to-four months strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over unpaid allowances and unfulfilled agreement the federal government reached with it in 2009.

    A perusal of the treatment of the strike by the federal government shows that the Jonathan administration does not see education as priority. While the president is busy with his ambition and party business, the educational sector is in shambles. He has planned personal meetings with the so-called aggrieved governors but has not deemed it fit to show commitment to the future of the country by having a meeting with ASUU leadership. This underscores the level of recognition accorded education by our President.

    ASUU’s demands are not selfish or are they political as insinuated by some mischief makers in the presidency. ASUU is campaigning against the high level infrastructural decadence of Nigerian universities. This stance is the reality as most universities in our country are not better than prison yards.

    What of the 87 billion naira unpaid allowances owed ASUU? Is it not a show of inhumanity and irresponsibility for a government to owe its workers such amount of money? It is noteworthy that amidst these and other reasonable demands by ASUU, the federal government tends to be unmoved. Rather than display maturity which is a requisite virtue of competent leaders, the presidency adopted childish approach making outrageous statements. One of such is the platitudinous statement credited to the Minister of Finance and the Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that the federal government cannot meet ASUU’s unpaid allowances demands. It is understood that she may want to please her boss; however, doing that at the detriment of the future of the country is grossly unfortunate.

    The latest stoppage of lecturers’ salary attests to the notion that the President has not gotten it right. That is a demonstration of immaturity in handling avoidable crisis.

    It is worthy of note that the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) is also on strike while the National Union of Teachers (NUT) is ready to join ASUU as a means of solidarity. Yet, the presidency has not done enough to convince Nigerians of its concern.

    A president who is not alarmed at the suspension of academic activities in virtually all tertiary institutions in his country cannot be said to be transformational. I fear if the articulated but passive transformation agenda is not deformation agenda in disguise. It is pathetic that this situation tends to replicate in virtually all sectors- not education only. The status quo in the country is a celebration of beautified deformation with no transformation history to tell.

    The government should address ASUU’s demands soonest and wake up from its slumber concerning other sectors. Personal ambitions should be shelved and the future of the country prioritised. A country cannot attain the height of glory in a garment of shame and indirection. Else, a massive alignment with the emerged viable progressives won’t be a bad idea.

    • Simon Godwin

    University of Lagos

  • President Jonathan and corruption

    SIR recently, President Goodluck Jonathan remarked that corruption is not Nigeria’s worst problem. But Nigerians know better. Corruption is the reason why the refineries in Nigeria are not working and Nigeria imports fuel and inadvertently exports jobs. It is the reason why Nigeria spent so much money on power supply yet Nigerians are in darkness, with every family that can afford it owning one or more generators. Even Aso Rock has a monumental budget for generators, its maintenance and fuel.

    It is unbelievable that the history of electricity in Nigeria is over 100 years! Corruption is the reason why planes crash in Nigeria frequently. There was one last year, another this year. Aren’t Nigerians silently asking themselves when the next one will occur?

    Corruption is the reason why the roads in Nigeria are death traps. Corruption is the reason why the banks failed in Nigeria, the thieves walk free and government paid over N5 trillion to recapitalize the banks. Corruption is the reason why the government doled out over N1 trillion to its friends for fuel not imported –sabotaging the Nigerian people and the economy!

    Corruption is the reason why about 70% of the population live on less than $2 a day. It is the reason why water is not running in our taps and we are forced to sink wells or boreholes. Corruption is the reason why billions of naira in pensions fund was stolen and the thieves walk free. It is at the heart of Nigeria’s security challenges –Boko Haram, kidnapping, armed robbery, militancy etc -with trillions of naira paid to warlords that have been engaged as security consultants (militancy pays in Nigeria!). Corruption is manufactured in the National Assembly where lawmakers use oversight functions to demand for bribe (they are all rich and majority of Nigerians are poor!). Corruption is the reason why pupils do not have good classrooms. Corruption is the reason why the universities in Nigeria have been shut for the fourth month running (and the government has not been sacked).

    Now, this is how. Every naira stolen has an opportunity cost – the best schools we should have had, water running in our taps, uninterrupted electricity supply, universities that rank among the best in the world, safe country, smooth roads, safe skies, high per capita income, good hospitals, industrial growth, employment for the populace etc.

    Corruption is the reason why Nigeria is what it is today –the shame of the black race. President Jonathan knows why he has chosen to make light the issue of corruption in Nigeria. Yes, the president and his finance minister were right that corruption in Nigeria is across the value chain. But they were so very wrong to advance that as reason for the government’s helplessness. The anti-corruption agencies have become hopelessly inefficient and as compromised as the people who run Nigeria. Only a clean government can square up to corruption. The government remains our problem on corruption. Next time when Nigerians go to the polls, we must not be swayed by rhetoric, religion or tribe. We must elect a president that has the moral authority to fight corruption.

     

    •Olami Akanni

    Abuja

  • Victor Moses and team spirit in Super Eagles

    SIR: With the recent display by Victor Moses especially at the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa, many Nigerian including this writer have come to love Victor Moses and his style of play. But the pre-match comment by the player in the match against the Antelope of Ethiopia where Moses was quoted to have said “I will score against Ethiopia” showed clearly that he is gradually forgetting that football is a team game unlike table tennis.

    My advice to Moses is that he should learn from the likes of Emmanuel Emenike who after delivering a brace at the match returned all the glory to God. No doubt Moses is a good player; with team wor,; the sky is the limit for him.

     

    • Adewumi ‘Tope Humble

    Federal University, Oye Ekiti

  • On reclassification of Osun’s schools

    SIR: Since the government in Osun State announced its reclassification and school-merging policy with the commissioning of Salvation Army Middle School at Osogbo, different shades of opinion have been served through varied portals of information. While few are constructive and instructive, a few others are disappointingly banal and incredibly superficial.

    It grieves the heart that religious bodies like Baptist and the Christian Association of Nigeria (both the state and national executives) are the ones leading the pack of those cutting their noses to spite their face with regard to the school reclassification in Osun. From what I gather, the tuneless refrain in their worrisomely insular rhyme is that Christian schools are more (and should be) preferable to public schools. As if that is not enough a reprehensible stance, the Church and its colluding partners still go about claiming that schools staffed and maintained by public funds is theirs.

    In case they have forgotten, the Baptist people and CAN must be reminded that the schools they are now claiming ownership of ceased to be theirs from the time government took them over in 1975 and duly compensated the church. It smacks of irresponsibility to hear that a body which does not own public schools is putting up all kinds of reproachable and un-Christian histrionics in a bid to strictly determine how they are administered It is objectionable that the leaderships of the Baptist Church and CAN are zealously crusading for Christian schools in Osun. Where the people of Osun are happy that public schools are now becoming effective and well-structured, the Baptist leaders are bitterly mourning the loss of moribund Christian schools.

    I think the larger Christian community in Nigeria would be more grateful to CAN and the Baptist Church if they can channel their mounting energies into the rising killing of Christians by dangerous Islamic sect, Boko Haram, in the North-eastern region of the country. I am convinced that these bodies are largely mistaken, hence the wrong campaign they are putting up. Their claim of ‘Islamization agenda’ appears to me to be the waffle of a person who has no point worth anybody’s attention to make. Certainly, these bodies by their claims continue to convince the searching mind that the school reclassification policy in Osun is not inimical to the development of public education.

    The impression of crisis in Osun that the leaders of these Christian bodies give in the media exists primarily only in their imagination. For instance, the pupils of the merged schools relate robustly well with one another. If ever they are worried, it is simply on why the Baptist Church and CAN are whooping so abysmally on a policy that enriches the fortunes of public education.

    • Gbenga Iluyomade,

    Ede, Osun State.

  • Leadership, reflection of followership

    SIR: Nigeria’s problems are legion. Almost everyone can name a couple so it would be trite attempting to enumerate them. What has continued to confound observers, however, is how a country can be so richly blessed and at the same time abundantly cursed. Why has the country with all its endowments so criminally failed to live up to its much-touted potentials? Every citizen who still has the capacity to reflect and even foreigners who have dealings with the country ponder over the Nigerian paradox.  Great mental effort is made to uncover the most crucial reason(s) why this giant has continued to wallow in the mud. This is no easy task for in fact one could lose his senses trying to make sense of the senselessness here. In the end, the blame is laid at the doorstep of bad leadership and everyone goes home. But is this the entire picture? I don’t think so.

    ‘Nigeria’s problem is that of bad leadership’ is a popular refrain; even those that were in leadership positions just yesterday utter it. But there’s something sanctimonious about this statement, it smacks of the all-too-human trait of seeing every other person but oneself as the problem. There exists a sort of the ‘chicken and egg paradox’ when it comes to leadership and followership. Does the leadership make the followership or the followership the leadership? I think it can flow in either direction.

    I recognize two main kinds of leaders: the illumined and the regular leaders. The illumined leaders are those rare personalities that nations are once in a while blessed with. They have god-like aura, towering above the rest of the citizenry and standing largely above the prejudices, faults and weaknesses of their societies. They are philosopher-kings who guide their people like good parents guide their children. Any nation fortunate to have one of these leaders inevitably witnesses remarkable transformation. Moses, Mahatma Gandhi, Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and Nelson Mandela are some examples that readily come to mind.  The regular leaders on the other hand are the everyday leaders that occupy most state houses across the globe. They are not so above ordinary citizens; they come from among the people and are largely products of their societies. They mostly exhibit the virtues and vices of their societies.

    We have always had regular leaders who manifest the bad in our society. If Nigerian leaders are materialistic, it’s because we live in a materialistic society, if they are greedy it’s because greed thrives in our society, if they are ostentatious, it’s because ours is an ostentatious society, if they are heartless, it’s because our society is mean, if they are unimaginative, it’s because ours is a shallow society etc.

    Whatever negative traits a leadership exhibits is often only too abundant among the followership. A good society will most likely produce good leaders and a bad one, bad leaders. It is almost impossible for a bad leader to emerge in a society where the average citizen is good.

    When I criticize the leadership, it’s because their privileged status naturally comes with greater responsibility and not that the followership is innocent. Change can come from either the leadership or the followership. Where the leadership seems incapable of bringing about the change, then the followership might as well consider doing so, after all, it’s they who need it most.  As the popular saying goes, let’s be the change we desire.

    • Nnoli Chidiebere

    Aba, Abia State.

  • Why corps members can’t write good application

    SIR: An NYSC coordinator was recently quoted as saying that 89% of corps members cannot write good application, and lack good communication skills. What should we expect when WAEC and JAMB has special and magic centres and JAMB answers come out two days before the exam takes place?

    Hat should we expect when lecturers collect money ‘sorting’ from students for high grades, when final year students are always looking for where to buy project topics and materials, and one keep on wondering, what has these students been doing in school for the 4-6 years in school that they are still looking for project topic?

    When some lecturers will ask female students to use their money to book a hotel room in other to earn high grades; when for a four-year course, students spend seven years with 20 months of strike?

    When some lecturers hardly come to class, meanwhile some lecturers themselves are more corrupt than politicians.

    When lecturers photocopy their colleagues literary work and call it ‘handout’ then tell students to buy it for 5-7 thousand naira failure of which earn the student an F grade?

    When the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU has been politicized and the Federal Government does not give a damn about the deteriorating nature of the education sector.

    When children to our politicians and other highly placed Nigerians are all schooling in expensive and highly sophisticated schools abroad, where there is no strike.

    The way forward in my own opinion, the government, lecturers, parents, students and all agencies under the Ministry of Education needs re-orientation; the whole system needs overhaul.

    We need a bottom-top approach, if we must resuscitate the Nigerian education sector.

    Both students and lecturers must sit up. State of emergency should be declared in the education sector. Sorting in cash or in kind must end, harassing of female students by male lecturers too must end.

    Students must only be graded based on what they wrote starting from secondary schools, WAEC, JAMB and every other examination as well as admission into any higher institution must be based on merit.

    Hard work must be appreciated and encouraged. Every politician, political leader, and all public office holder’s child(ren) must study in public schools here, yes, so the government will have the public schools at heart.

    School system and learning environment must be made conducive and appealing.

     

    • Favour Mkpo Udoma,

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State

  • Government and ASUU strike

    SIR: If anyone is still wondering why Nigeria is not working, then the person must read Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai’s book titled ‘The Accidental Public Servant’. The quality of leadership is poor and this is traceable to the process through which these people evolve as leaders. If not, why would leaders supposedly elected allow Nigerian universities to be on strike for more than 100 days?

    The people who run government in Nigeria do not understand that the buck stops at their desk. Nigerians did not vote for them to keep our universities shut. These people, especially President Goodluck Jonathan, simply do not have what it takes to run a country. All that they concern themselves with is how to retain their positions for their personal benefit. Very soon, these same people will be campaigning, asking that we vote for them again. In other countries, the President and a number of people would have been sacked by now.

    To anyone who thinks President Jonathan’s recent remark that he would do everything possible to resolve all issues responsible for the strike by ASUU and National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) offers a ray of hope, El Rufai (Page 441, Lines 19 & 20) has this to say in his book ‘ …-never expect Jonathan to keep a promise, never expect him to reciprocate a kind gesture’. Isn’t that what is responsible for this strike in the first place? This government lacks integrity and depth. If not, why would it not implement an agreement that it signed on how to improve Nigerian universities. El-Rufai was right! His book is a collector’s item.

     

    • Olami Akanni

    Abuja, Nigeria