The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Towards improving supply of power by PHCN

    Indeed, Nigeria, manacled in total darkness, ravaged by the cosmic power of this dark age, personifies all the poetry in noise-making, vanity, necromancy and mysticism.

    Is the PHCN epileptic power supply not enough challenge to elicit a brain storming that could end the nightmare of inefficiency in the power sector? Many challenges besetting this country ought to pre-occupy the attention of our engineers, individually and collectively. Had this been the case, Nigeria won’t be swimming in darkness of underdevelopment up untill now. Our engineers are not sleeping on how to swim out of the quagmire, instead they are throwing unprofitable challenges to their innovative rivals. Hear Thomas Edison, a renowned American Electrical scientist: “Everybody steals in commerce and industries, I have stolen a lot myself, but I know how to steal.” (Thomas Edison, 1847 -1931). Many Nigerian scientists trained abroad through government and community scholarships. What did they bring back to Nigeria, either by way of transfer of technology, copying or even stealing, as Thomas Edison averred? There is even an Edison Medal of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers for outstanding scientists. Nigerians are dying and falling sick due to emission from generator fumes and noise. Let our engineers sleep on this challenge and come up with a solution once and for all. The ASUU should please end their strike now as our children are suffering. Some legendary inventors died in penury without any government assistance in funding their research work. Self-sacrifice is the key to solving most of the challenges in Nigeria today.

    John Jimoh

    Ijebu-Ode

    Ogun State

  • Sit tight syndrome and mandatory retirement age

    SIR: From the days of missionary public servants, who served Nigeria in  words and deeds, before independence and about three decades after, the civil service has witnessed its high and low periods.

    The worst era in the history of the service was the military years, when professionalism, integrity and accountability, was depleted to zero level. In fact, it was under the military that the seed of flagrant disregard for rules and regulations which created the room for manipulation and wanton corruption that is commonplace in the civil service today was sown.

    Even when efforts have been made to professionalise the service since the return of civil rule in 1999, such moves have not recorded appreciable success due to entrenched perverted value system that was inherited from the military command structure and jackboot mentality.

    An online news medium recently, to the utter shock and disbelief of many Nigerians, broke a story on the refusal of an acting director general of a federal parastatal, to proceed on retirement, even after he had attained the mandatory retirement age of 60.

    The extant rule of career progression in the Federal Civil Service on retirement of public officers clearly stipulates that all officers in the public service of the federal government must compulsorily proceed on retirement consequent upon the attainment of 60 years or after putting in 35 years of service. The exception to this rule, are academic staff of universities and judicial officers, whose retirement age has been fixed at 70 and 65 years respectively.

    As self-explanatory as this rule is, some career officers in the civil service with the active collaboration of their minister and board members, plot tenure elongation schemes by deliberately looking the other side in flagrant disregard of the rules to keep their cronies in office.

    For the civil service to discharge its duty as the engine room of growth and development, the political heads of ministries must run away from interference on matters of rules and regulations of the civil service. Also, career officers who have reached the peak of their careers should refrain from stunting the growth of their colleagues by scheming to stay beyond the statutory retirement age.

     • Olufemi Fafore,

    Mowe Ogun State

  • IGP and the Sgt. Omeleze case

    IGP and the Sgt. Omeleze case

    SIR: The news was hot as television stations aired the video of a police sergeant in uniform soliciting through mobile phone, for a bribe of N25,000 from an alleged suspect. As expected Nigerians did not withhold their indignation and disgust at the despicable scenario.

    Every institution is infested with bad-eggs; these Judases have chronic ailment that only flushing them out of the system is the only remedy before prosecuting them. No right-thinking Nigerian would not thumb-up for the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar in his determination to combat the odious problem of corruption in the police. When the news of Sergeant Omeleze got to him, he immediately ordered for his arrest and after investigation approved of his sack.

    The amount of clean-up exercise being conducted by the Inspector General of police is a clear indication that with time, the desired police force would be attained. Was it not just last month of July that over 193 police officers including an Assistant Inspector General of Police(AIG)were arraigned to face the police high command disciplinary committee in Abuja?

    We have we suddenly forgotten how on his assumption, he stopped the nagging corruption at road-blocks, a feat that was near impossible with previous IGPs. It is on record and heart-warming to note that promotion and posting which hitherto were clouded with corrupt practices are now based on ability and records of officers. It is only a corrupt leader that would turn the other eye when issues of corruption is alleged, not MD Abubakar that many of us know.

    The Nigeria Police predates many other security institutions in the country. If the truth must be told, there is no personnel of the police that is a foreigner neither were they imported from the Mars and so, it can be argued that every one of them is a true reflection of the corrupt society in which they operate. Nevertheless, majority of the personnel have high integrity and like their civilian counterparts are not tainted with the virus of corruption.

    It is not a sound argument to classify all security personnel as corrupt and bad. This is why the government of Nigeria frowns at the label foreign countries place on every Nigerian traveller as corrupt and bad. A reference point is the police contingents annually sent on foreign mission abroad, you hardly hear or receive any evil report about any of them.

    What the Police need is cooperation, not condemnation

    • Ben Okezie

    Lagos

  • FRSC and Aregbesola’s score-card 

    SIR: I was very happy when I read an online report by hotnewsnaija.com that the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) lauded the governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, for giving priority to safety and security of motorists through construction of roads and stationing of ambulances on major roads across the State for emergency purposes. That the governor was scored high on road safety and security by a federal agency further adds credence to our conviction as citizens of the state that the choice we made in electing him in 2007 was the best thing to do.

    According to the report, the high-rating of Osun as a state whose government demonstrates great efforts in reducing carnages on roads in 2012 was done recently by the Chairman of the FRSC Technical Committee in the state, Prof. Joseph Fawole, when FRSC officials from Abuja visited the governor. Undeniably, anyone who visits any part of Osun will be first welcomed by ongoing massive road construction projects there. It appears no area in the state is left unattended to and there seems to be no discrimination as to whether a particular road is state or federal.

    Thus, Prof. Fawole gets it very right when, as the report says, he flintily posits that ‘What we are currently seeing in Osun is that you (Aregbesola) have brought safety into the lives of all and sundry. It is no gainsaying that you have exemplarily demonstrated the serious role of being your brother’s keeper. You made us proud some time ago when we heard in the news that you personally engaged in the rescue operation of accident victims. The number of ambulances, which you stationed at different locations of the state and the road network in all the six zones of the state, place you above other governors in prudent spending and love for your citizens’.

    Road construction is one of the ways through which the administration of Aregbesola is modernising Osun. I am yet to read or hear about any modern state that does not place high premium on building of road infrastructure. Provision of quality road infrastructure is very critical to achieving socio-economic development. And where roads are in good condition, it will greatly help in checking the rate at which lives are lost through road accidents. Nigerians know too well that one of the leading causes of avoidable deaths in the country is road accidents, facilitated by bad roads that exist in many parts of the country. These death traps, as many would describe them, often rob the country of many human resources.

    But the government in Osun is already addressing the scourge of road accidents with provision of good roads within its borders. The intensive assault declared against bad roads in Osun is now resulting in the enrichment of human resources and economic prosperity. With new roads springing up in the state, the unsightliness that horrible roads bear is disappearing. And where for whatever reason accident occurs on any of its roads, there are ambulances on hand to attend to the victims and in the process save lives for, as we do know, many accident victims always die as a result of absence of quick rescue intervention.

    Aregbesola leaves no one in doubt of his understanding that the main responsibility of any responsible government is the development of human capacity and good life. This is what we experience in the state. The FRSC is right – human beings are the focus of the actions of the present government in Osun.

    • Ebenezer Farinde,

    Ikire, Osun State

  • When Akpabio came under fire

    When Akpabio came under fire

    SIR: Gov. Godswill Akpabio has done creditably well in his six years in office, and this is recognised nationwide with accolades and awards from different institutions, groups, traditional and political leaders.

    But his power of hiring and equally firing is taking the shine off him of late. With the recent sack of his former Secretary to the State Government Obong Umana Okon Umana and last year’s sacking of his former Deputy Governor Nsima Ekere, all for allegedly nursing ambitions to inherit his hot seat. This has seen the Governor being criticised at various fronts. That reminds us of the proverbial saying that life is like a goalkeeper, people will hail and cherish you for the tremendous saves you have made, but the one silly mistake you make will be forever remembered and reference.

    • Diana-Abasi Alphonsus Udoh

    Copenhagen, Denmark

  • Wike: Minister or militant?

    Wike: Minister or militant?

    SIR: “So far in the history of the world, there have never been enough mature people in the right places’’ George Chrisholm

    It is side-splitting and devastating, how Nyesom Wike, Minister of State for Education has brought opprobrium on the enviable position he is occupying. The blooper he exhibited recently at Obio/Akpo Local Government Area, where he said he will make life miserable and dangerous for the government and people of Rivers State was reprehensible and lugubrious. His boasting that “we will make sure they will not sleep again, as they are sleeping now. They will not sleep with their two eyes closed. One eye will be open because they know there is danger” was not expected from a responsible public officer of this great nation, which prides itself as the giant of Africa and pride of black race on earth. It is propagation and exposition of nuisance value and precarious liability, which is not marketable in this present dispensation.

    Politics apart, there is an acceptable conduct and code of ethics expected from a minister of this great nation for that matter.

    I wonder what other evidence the Inspector General of Police, Muhammad Abubakar needs to invite him for interrogation on the security risk and the danger his utterance portend to national peace and unity.

    No matter the level of political differences and disagreements between him and the state government, he should be reminded that he is a public servant; for him to desecrate public office and sink into political frivolities is not acceptable.

    Why is it that President Jonathan has not taken any drastic step to stem the negative tides in Rivers State if not that he that pays the piper and hence dictating the tunes of this minister appointed by him? If the President wants to convince the Nigerian public of his non-culpability in this case of absurdity, he should sanction his erring minister.

    I had followed his works as minister of state for education responsible for Federal Unity Schools. I enjoyed how he had been on the necks of the unity school principals to get them to be above the board, and to be financially responsible and accountable. Events unfolding in recent times show that the minister has since kicked off the 2015 rat race.

    If the ambition of Wike is to set Rivers State on fire and make life unbearable by mobilizing ex-militants to unleash mayhem on the people, then good luck to him. But he should by now tender his letter of resignation honourably before the President wakes up from his slumber and spit him out of his cabinet unceremoniously. His shift of attention from his primary assignment has rubbed off on the masses negatively by allowing the predators among the Unity School Principals to cheat on the poor masses.

    The educational sector needs an indomitable, committed, socially responsible and emotionally intelligent officer to take charge; not an individual encumbered with other things.

    • Pastor Mark Debo Taiwo [JP],

    Takie, Ogbomoso.

  • Kudos to Fayemi on rural development

    SIR: I write to commend Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, for putting rural communities on the track of development since his coming to office in October 2010.

    On Thursday, July 4, the heaven opened up in Oye-Ekiti in a downpour that lasted for two hours. It was the day Fayemi presented cheques totaling 300million naira to 82 communities in the state to carry out various projects that would make life easier and better for them.

     Earlier, the Governor had brainstormed with chairmen and secretaries of Community Development Associations (CDA’s) in the state along the line of the eight points agenda of his administration. Little did I know that the decision made at that meeting will have far-reaching benefits on the lives of the citizens as the governor would later hand over the cheques totaling N300 million to execute several developmental projects.

    After presenting the cheques to the benefiting communities, the governor admonished them to make judicious use of the funds to fast-track the development of rural areas and prevent undue migration to the urban areas of the state. This was not the case in the past, particularly before Fayemi’s administration where the rural dwellers found it difficult to execute projects that would benefit them and make them less dependent on the state capital.

    Some might ask: what is the big deal about the cheque presentation to the rural communities? The answer is – it will enhance their rapid development. And if it is that simple, why did it not occur to the previous administration? Moreover, Fayemi’s 5km road projects in every local government have been completed all in the bid to encourage aggressive rural development in Ekiti.

     Certainly, rural areas in Ekiti state have never had it so good and this giant step to improve standard of living of the people in the grassroots must be lauded by lovers of development. When these projects like civic centres, modern markets, palaces, drainages, cottage hospitals etc are completed, value is being added to rural populace who should also enjoy dividends of democracy.

    • Odewale Sina,

    Ido-Ile, Ekiti

  • Ayo Daramola: Seven years on

    SIR: On August 14, 2006, Dr. Ayo Daramola, Chairman of Ekiti State Poverty Reduction Agency (EKPRA) was murdered in cold blood in his Ijan-Ekiti country home.

    Brilliant, intelligent, well-versed, well-connected, well-loved, he was just the perfect person for the job, but some entrenched forces in government at the time didn’t really like his meteoric rise which, if not felled, could have seen him to the Ekiti Government House.

    Arrests were made. Then, they were released. The then Governor Ayo Fayose did everything, including allegedly swearing with the Bible, to convince everyone that he had no hand in it, but with the deaths of Tunde Omojola, attempted deaths of Taye Fasuba, Femi Falana and the many death threats to Chief Afe Babalola (all these people had one problem or the other with then Governor Fayose) at this time, the governor’s oath did nothing to convince the masses and the Ekiti elites who seemed to have already drawn their conclusion.

    Seven years down the line, no one has been brought to book for the murder of Daramola. The worst nightmare is that some of the characters who were fingered as culpable in the murder of Daramola are still around, some of them trying to make their way back to the Ekiti Government House and have already started re-opening their pandora box as typified by the violence that recently broke out at the PDP secretariat in Ado-Ekiti.

    As we mark the seven years anniversary of the cold-blooded murder of Ayo Daramola – yet again with elusive justice, I sympathise again with the Daramola family of Ijan-Ekiti and with the wife and the kids. I commend also the Government of Dr. Kayode Fayemi which, unlike previous administrations in Ekiti, has been supportive to the family and in fact appointed wife of the late Daramola, Mrs. Kehinde Ayo-Daramola as Special Adviser, Government House and Protocol.

    • ‘Dimeji Daniels

    Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State

     

     

     

  • “Deportation” saga: Anambra’s to blame

    SIR: I had cause to speak on the vexed issue of the relocation of some indigenes of Anambra State from Lagos to Onitsha at a private forum in Lagos last weekend.  Based on the facts then available to me, I condemned the action of the Lagos State government (LASG) and also blamed Anambra State government (ANSG) for resorting to letter writing to President Jonathan each time the issue arose instead of confronting the problem frontally. I had also argued that Anambra State government should have screened the alleged 72 returnees, identify those from Anambra State and rehabilitate them while returning the non-Anambrarians back to the sender.

    Most unfortunately but not unexpectedly, my views  were  maliciously and mischievously distorted by the media aides of the Anambra State governor and planted in some national dailies and on the internet. The sole intention was to pitch me against my elder brother, Senator Chris Ngige who had criticized the handling of the matter by the Anambra State government  and sow discord between me and my brother silk, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN.

    Let me make it clear that the wicked plot of the Anambra State government has failed abysmally.  Nigerians and Anambrarians can no longer be fooled.

    It is noteworthy that at the time I made the said remarks at the private forum, I was not privy to the exchange of correspondences between the Lagos State government and its Anambra State counterpart.  However, after the event, I read the  emerging  correspondences  and reports on the strong defence mounted by the LASG.  It then became obvious to me that the documents showed clearly that LASG had by March 2013 intimated ANSG on the planned transfer of the destitute. It is equally apparent from the documents that it was a clear case of dereliction of duty by the ANSG. The Anambra State government has no excuse whatsoever not to follow through on the transfer after acknowledging letters from LASG and agreeing on the exchange date. Further reading the letters, I have no doubt whatsoever that the blame for the current debacle rests squarely with ANSG despite its desperation to politicize the matter with the unholy aim of gaining votes from the crisis during the forthcoming  Anambra State governorship election in November.

    It is apparent that the  controversy would have been averted had the ANSG played its part as agreed. What is clearly in issue is that ANSG wrote to LASG requesting ‘urgently’ for particulars of the destitute claiming to be indigenes of Anambra State so as to “facilitate their integration with their families if they are from Anambra”.  LASG responded with a list of 14 names including their particulars and requested the presence of ANSG officials for a screening exercise at  the Ikorodu Rehabilitation Centre. Anambra State Government  never got back to LASG!   Anambra governor now alleges that 72 persons were repatriated instead of  only  14.  Where is the honour? Where is the integrity?  This is obviously a very sad reminder of the Nigerian Governors Forum election where 16 became a majority against 19 and the Anambra governor was in the fore-front of this show of shame.

    The Anambra State government  should simply apologise to the Fashola administration for maligning  the administration and  misinforming Nigerians on the issue and stop this unethical and ungodly ethnic politics. LASG remains the most friendly government to Anambrarians and Ndigbo in general more than any other state in Nigeria.

     

     

    • Emeka Ngige, SAN

    Lagos

     

  • Why Nigerians should embrace APC

    SIR: It is high time Nigerians decide what they want for themselves if they really want the country to change for good. We have been roaming about for over 14 years and yet we have not been able to ascertain the right route to take.

    Our failures have been a subject of contest since we transited to democracy after many years of military rule. We thought the emergence of democracy was the beginning of uplift for Nigeria and its populace until now that we have realised that people begin to contemplate if really democracy is good for Nigeria.

    We struggle everyday before we could settle for at least a meal in spite of the numerous resources that the country is endowed with. Over the years, the country has witnessed serious mismanagement and expropriation of public funds by the ruling PDP and yet have refused to accept its failure.

    For how long are we going to continue wandering in the hands of the PDP? We are denied of everything, there is incessant power outage, lack of free and fair election, lack of good drinking water and most importantly qualitative education.

    For more than five weeks now, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on industrial action over the insincerity of the government and unwillingness to fulfil the agreement it entered into with ASUU in 2009. They keep telling us that what they are demanding for can not be met by any government in the world but somebody can steal billions of naira from the country’s treasury at the expense of millions of people.

    Since 1999, we have been promised so many things by the PDP-led administration and none of it has been fulfilled yet. When Jonathan came into power, despite his campaign promises and the struggles that trailed his emergence, everybody tended to believe and trust him until he ruined our New Year celebration with fuel price hike!

    Nigerians are dying everyday as a result of insecurity, we have military men who can secure our pipelines but now we have a group of erstwhile bandits given contracts to secure the pipelines. This is a job military men could do have done without our having to pay them huge amount of money aside their salaries and allowances.

    It is against this backdrop that All Progressives Alliance emerged (APC). I am not saying that APC is 100 percent perfect but if something does not favour someone, you try an alternative. Consequently, Nigerians should join the fight to wrestle power away from a party that cannot settle the crises within it let alone solve the problems of millions of people.

    • Waziri Mohammed

    Mokola, Ibadan