The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  •  Ekiti’s model of brain drain reversal

    SIR: The recently concluded Ikogosi Graduate Summer School (IGSS) held at the famous Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort in Ekiti State was another attempt by the administration of Governor Kayode Fayemi to the restore the state to its rightful position as the nation’s intellectual powerhouse. Fifty postgraduate students of Ekiti origin made up of 15 doctoral students and 35 Master’s students drank from the intellectual fountain provided by Nigerian academics drawn from various parts of the world.

    The IGSS scholars enjoyed free tuition and accommodation at the Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort which provided the best environment conducive for learning away from the hustling and bustling of the city centre. The programme exposed the participants to modern methods in research, theory, methodology, issues relating to civil society, culture, literature, culture and society, politics, economy, among others.

    The governor, in mooting the idea of IGSS believed that relocating the Nigerian-born foreign-based university teachers to the country in one fell swoop won’t be possible, conceived a programme to bring them home in the summer to share knowledge and experience with young Ekiti intellectuals in the summer.

    Although the IGSS has come and gone, its impact would continue to be felt in Ekiti and other parts of the country where the beneficiaries would find themselves in the nearest future. The forum has offered the participants an opportunity to create and nurture relationships with scholars abroad and also enriched and expanded the training of postgraduate students in Nigeria. It has provided external mentoring to the participants and provided the best traditions of scholarship and networking and has brought back the universe to the university in Nigeria.

    The IGSS has helped to reinvent the image of Ekiti from a state that was in recent past associated with brigandage, violence, electoral malfeasance and impunity to a state renowned for peace, development, academic excellence and enthronement of accountability and good governance.

    What is happening in the state should not surprise other Nigerians as it is only leaders who value education that can formulate policies which can make the sector a catalyst of development.

    It is worthy of note that the governor himself is a doctorate degree holder, his deputy a professor, the House of Assembly speaker a medical doctor, the governor’s wife holder of two Master’s degrees and a cabinet that is made up of achieves in various fields.

    I hereby urge other governors in the country to copy the IGSS initiative in their respective states to prepare the young ones for the future and this will help address the critical problem of leadership that is currently plaguing our country.

    One of the major problems of the contemporary youths is dearth of role models among the present generation of leaders and one if the best ways to mentor the young ones is through quality investment in education as being done by Governor Fayemi in Ekiti.

     

    • Odunayo Ogunmola

    Ado-Ekiti

  • Kudos to the President on Abuja/Kaduna fast rail

    SIR: There are three phenomenal factors that are indispensable for quick recovery of   the country’s ailing economy. And if the president sticks to his decision to take them on board, as he is just doing now, Nigeria would,  in no distant future regain its lost glory. These factors are: steady fuel supply, constant power supply and rail transportation. As soon as this goal is achieved, other trailing sectors of the economy would stabilize.

    Constant fuel supply and at a moderate price would contribute in no small measure in harmonizing the cost and standard of living in the country as fuel is one of the indices that determines the price of goods and services. So if the price of these items becomes cheap, stable and affordable as a result of constant fuel supply, people’s confidence would be restored and life would become easy going.

    The need to have steady power supply in the country cannot be over emphasized as this is in fact the pillar of any country’s development.  Without steady light industries cannot work at full capacity, artisans and numerous other users of power would be stranded and consequent upon that they cannot break even

    Finally, when the rail transport becomes functional, apart from making it possible for prices of foodstuff and other goods to reduce, people will be able to travel to distant places without incurring much cost and our roads would be sustained as heavy commodities like steel, cement and other goods whose weight impact negatively our roads can be easily transported to their various destinations by rail.

    From the look of things, Jonathan’s administration is leaving no stone unturned in their pursuit of these virtues. Last December the Lagos/Kano rail line was commissioned, six months later another track, Abuja/Kaduna fast train track has been flagged off by Vice President Architect Namadi Sambo. This scenario underscores the importance this administration attaches to the welfare of her citizenry.

    Possibly, the Port Harcourt/Maiduguri rail line would take the next turn and that could be made functional by the end of this year. I therefore urge Mr.  President not to rest on his oars but continue with that tempo so as to attain the 20:2020 target.

    • Nkemakolam Gabriel

    Port Harcourt

  • The truth of the matter

    For some time now, the media has been awash with the news and analysis of Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s clash with not only President Jonathan but the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) .

     What was worrisome in the whole brouhaha was that no commentator was reflective enough to question the relevance of the so-called Governors Forum and the much ado about its election. Taxpayers’ money is wasted each time state chief executives hop into the plane with their army of aides to Abuja for a meeting of NGF, which was neither provided for nor envisaged in the constitution.

    Instead of focusing on the enormous problems of their respective states, they are driven almost insane by an inordinate desire for power and influence – so much so that they have lost touch with reality. The forum is unwisely being allowed to become too powerful that it has become a blackmail organisation, whose bidding the president can only ignore at his peril.

    Let Nigerians not forget in a hurry that it was under the leadership of Governor Rotimi Ameachi that the Governors Forum was branded as the greatest constituent of corruption in this country! Firstly, the Governors Forum was forcing every succeeding government, starting from Obasanjo, to be performing illegal acts by asking the Presidency to remove money from the excess crude fund and give to state governments at their whims and caprices.

    There is nowhere in the constitution where anybody – either government or any agency – can spend any money of Nigeria without appropriation. Now, the governors will sit down, shout on the president because he has no political base and tell him that if he does not dip his hands into the excess crude funds and allocate money to them, heaven will fall. Without appropriation, without legislative approval. All thanks to our intelligent President Ebele Jonathan who refused to dance to their evil plan, this is being resisted.

    If Governor Ameachi has problems with his party, a party that brought him to the current position that he found himself in, why will he be so rude. His actions are nothing far from being that of a back stabber. It is clear that one cannot eat his cake and have it. Ameachi should know that he is just a governor of a state not a governor of the 36 states of Nigeria; that his jurisdiction powers should remain in Rivers State and Rivers only.

    Mahmud Bello

    Mungani A Kasa Initiative,

    Kaduna.

  • Please, pay our gratuities

    After years of meritorious service and resignation since 2009 from the employ of Pharma Deco Plc, Agbara Ogun State, contrary to labour laws, we have not been paid our gratuities despite the fact that we were all cleared of all wrongdoings after rigorous screening.

    Our families have been suffering many financial handicaps as a result of the company’s failure to pay our gratuities.

    All efforts, till date, have not yielded any positive result.

    We seize this medium to appeal to the management of Pharma Deco to act swiftly and save our souls.

    Abiola Ogunbewon

    Agege, Lagos

  • We must fight corruption

    Nigeria needs a strong pressure group with a large broadly based nationwide membership that will link up with the civil society groups, the labour unions, and other anti-corruption groups that will coordinate a mass action against evil and corruption in high and low places.

    Using the Dan Etete, a former minister of petroleum and other accomplices in the Malabu oil deal as the focal point that will unearth other buried deals, the street will be occupied until those indicted are speedily brought to book.

    Simultaneous action in all the 36 states will produce the desired result that has eluded the nation since independence. The telephone numbers of all groups published in the dailies will assist the joint effort and the mass action such that the acquiescence or betrayal of one section cannot upset the action of the whole.

    If the current rumour making the rounds is anything to go by, then such a group with a large membership made up of top veterans that are capable of strategizing and coordinating the mass action are already spoiling for action.

    Research is still on-going for an alternative apolitical force that is capable of checking tyranny and despotism and third –rate governance through the barrel of street protests.

    Enough of the rubbish going-on in this vastly endowed country with enough human and material resources to make it become a world-beater in every facet of human endeavour but for the two- faced Nigerian politicians whose values and methods are totally at variance with generally accepted principles and practice of democratic governance.

    John Jimoh

    Molina, Ijebu-Ode

    Ogun State

  • Mr. President, military pensioners are starving

    SIR: Only an individual burning with patriotic fervour would readily lay down his life for fellow countrymen and indeed fatherland.

    But the irony, however, is that in Nigeria, patriots, who have devoted the better part of their lives in defence of their country have either died unsung, and for the lucky few still alive, pine under the yoke of poverty simply because they just can’t afford the basic necessities of life, no thanks to an uncaring but spineless system!

    The foregoing anecdote, if you may, becomes apposite in describing the plights of Nigerian military pensioners, who for over three years, are still waiting to get the much promised enhanced allowances by the Federal Government.

    In 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan had approved the upward review of salaries of federal civil servants including pensioners. In fact, while flagging off the payment of outstanding arrears, the president had directed the Minister of Defence to ensure that military pensioners be included in any future review.

    Expectedly, federal public servants including serving military personnel have been receiving this new remuneration since July 1, 2010. The sad thing however, is that majority of us, including retired Army, Navy and Air force personnel, who have paid their dues for the country, have been left in the lurch.

    To say the least, we are seriously agonizing over the non-payment of our accumulated pension arrears three years after it was approved for payment by the Federal Government. But we are however at a quandary as to why the Federal Government is behaving like the proverbial ostrich and pretending as if everything is on the mend, when trouble is indeed brewing.

    At different interface and discussion sessions with fellow service men under the aegis of Retired Army, Navy and Air Force Officers Association of Nigeria (RANAO), we are usually regaled with sad tales of our men who have fallen on evil days and can’t find peace at home as they grapple with one intractable problem or the other in their daily lives.

    As we ponder over the problem of unpaid arrears, here are some posers for the authority to peruse carefully. Does the Federal Government want us to take up arms against the state as some aggrieved individuals are wont to do before they will accede to our request? Are we being plain silly for asking for our rights and seeking for what to my mind, are our dues? Is it a crime to have served our fatherland at the time we did?

    As a government which prides itself as an apostle of the rule of law, the time to act is now to prevent any untoward happening.

    • Major Yusuf Abdulkadri (rtd.)

    Lagos

  • On Senate committee’s report on constitutional review

    SIR: The recent report that the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution had completed its assignment and released its long awaited recommendations is a welcome development

    Some of the highlights of the committee’s recommendations are bound to elicit even more serious debates on the entire process of constitutional amendments.

    Some of the committee’s recommendations include: The separation of the office of the Federal Attorney General from that of the Minister of Justice; abolition of joint account of the states with the local governments; creation of the office of Mayor for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The committee also rejected requests for creation of new states on the ground that none of the numerous requests met the constitutional requirements for their creation. It also rejected the idea of state police among others.

    The committee’s most controversial recommendation in its report was on the issue of a single six year term of office for the President and Governors. This most unpopular recommendation is to say the least, ill-conceived, retrogressive and self-serving.

    It is regrettable that after expending valuable time and enormous resources, the Senate Committee failed to address the fundamental issues that had greatly impeded the socio-economic cum political development of the nation since independence. It deliberately shied away or ignored to address the endemic problems currently confronting the nation such as: perennial political instability occasioned by lack of adequate constitutional framework for the operation of true fiscal federalism as obtainable in advanced democracies of the world. The committee seems to have ignored the popular agitations for urgent restructuring of the country as already demanded by majority Nigerians during its public hearings held across the country as well as numerous memoranda submitted to the committee by patriotic Nigerians. It is instructive to observe also that some of the so-called amendments as recommended by the committee were purely administrative in nature and as such ought not to have been made constitutional issues in the first place.

    The distinguished members of the National Assembly should not miss this golden opportunity to write their names in gold by urgently and decisively effecting radical changes in the 1999 constitution which was never approved by the people but simply the product of the despotic and authoritarian military regime that was totally ill-equipped in constitution making process. The National Assembly therefore, should as a matter of national priority embark on some radical and far reaching changes in the country’s constitution which will surely promote the spirit of true nationalism as well as the socio-economic cum political transformation of the country as a potential economic power house within the African continent and beyond.

    It is needless to emphasize the point here that for the country to take her rightful place as a major player in world affairs, certain bold and courageous actions must be taken urgently to restructure the country.

    • Nze Nwabueze Akabogu (JP)

    Enugwu-Ukwu, Anambra State.

  • When NECO came short in integrity test

    SIR: Examination bodies of worth always contract a group of seasoned teachers, and, or subject specialists within the academic or educational sectors to write items for immediate or future use for the examinations that they (the bodies) organise and administer. By extension, they are obligated to draft (with reference to our national and sub-regional scopes and with the highest regard for confidentiality) the questions for prospective examination candidates. This rigorous academic and professional activity is expected to pass through a quality control process of phrasing, editing, vetting, re-drafting, approval, and archiving. Somehow, a pre-testing of the items might be required for the purpose of standardisation. This process serves an important purpose: errors are detected and corrected before the administration of the said items.

    In Section IV, the NECO June 2013 Literature in English Paper II booklet contained this as its 11th question: Explain the use of repetition as it is used to build the theme of John Donne’s ‘The Soul’s Errand’.

    To the reader who might not be a literary person or might not be familiar with the pattern of examining, the literature papers have I, II, and III respectively. Paper I tests the literary skills, unseen texts, and Shakespeare using the multiple choice objective pattern. Paper II tests drama and poetry, and paper III tests the prose titles. The ‘question’ above was set in paper II and it carried a misleading referencing: the quoted poet did NOT write that poem! (The subtle tautology in the structure of the said question is even more worrisome: …the use of repetition as it is used…)

    John Donne, the English 16th century metaphysical poet, wrote ‘The Sun Rising’ and not ‘The Soul’s Errand’!

    Obviously the item writers and whosoever has the statutory responsibility within NECO to oversee the vetting of (Literature in English) questions have done a ‘good’ job of overlooking two vital elements: the referencing and the structure. Could the number of candidates who got confused in the examination be quantified?

    Could the question of the NECO corporate image be rectified? Would the confused candidate be liable for this error? Could a poor grade or outright ‘failure’ in that paper be modified? (That question alone carried 30 marks!) Within academia, could the embarrassment this misadventure might cause be measured? Are these items standardised or worthy of being re-tested by teachers across the nation, and beyond the Nigerian waters? Won’t many other prospective candidates be further misled because it is the practice in many schools that teachers rely on ‘past questions’ for their internal assessments? This calls for a re-think.

    The other matters centre on NECO and public (dis)trust, depending on the perception one takes. If we limit ourselves to item writing for examinations alone, the language and literature backgrounds of any seasoned teachers would have given them the opportunity to compare the phrasing and content (task achievement and response) of test items prepared by similar bodies across the world. It is in the interest of the NECO’s corporate governance and image to attain this level of social service and public trust. It is also in their interest that experienced item writers, examiners, and sundry employees involved with examinations are recruited and remunerated well and promptly.

    • Adeodu Aanuoluwapo

    Abuja.

  • Obama’s Nigeria wake-up call

    Obama’s Nigeria wake-up call

    SIR: The dumping of Nigeria by United States President Barack Obama in his recent visit to Africa does not mean that Obama does not know the strength of Nigeria. It is not to undermine the vantage position of Nigeria in Africa and the world. Visiting South Africa, Senegal and Tanzania, and leaving out a promising country like Nigeria is not a way of saying that Nigeria does not matter in the black world.

    What the flamboyant President of the United States is trying to do is to help us to do some growing up and pay attention. The leader of the world’s largest economy is sending a powerful signal that our leaders are not getting it right. He came short of saying that despite our huge potentials, given our human and material resources, Nigeria cannot take the lead in Africa. Obama is indirectly indicting Nigeria to rise to the occasion and be responsible and responsive. He is advising Nigerian leaders that size is no guarantee to strength; that if leadership is measured by might, giants would have been ruling the world.

    It’s a clarion call for Nigerian leaders to show some respect to 150 million Nigerians and do things right.

     We do not need to reinvent the wheel but just do what other countries are doing to attract attention. We can go back to the drawing board to reassess how we handle matters of wealth distribution in Nigeria. We must change the ways we deal with the matters of justice and rule of law. We must pay attention to things that unite us and discard things that tend to divide us. Let the real men in Nigeria pick up this challenge. Societies have always been moved forward by the unique discoveries of few great men throughout history.

     Nigeria has the potential of leading, feeding and policing Africa if we discard primordial sentiments and invest in all Nigerians irrespective of tongue, tribe, culture, religion or tradition. If the rapacious greedy lots in Nigeria can say enough is enough and that they have stolen enough, this country can be great again. Let us begin by making 2015 elections free and fair. This is the first step. Once Nigerians can elect leaders of their choice in a free and fair process, the journey to greatness can start from there. Let no one be deceived; we cannot be great without electing great leaders. We cannot achieve great things by deploying little-minded persons to do the job of great men.

    President Obama looked down on Nigeria in 2013. Perhaps in the next 10 years things will be different and the world will pay attention to Nigeria. This I believe!

    • Joe Igbokwe,

    Lagos

  • Open letter to Governor Jang

    Open letter to Governor Jang

    SIR: Since your assumption of office, Plateau State has witnessed a lot of infrastructural development; you have changed the face of Jos town with the road networks and have brought back the cleanness it has always been known with.

    However, I am highly disappointed the way things are presently happening around you.

    My main concern is the controversy surrounding the leadership of Nigeria Governors Forum which you are deeply involved; the forum’s election was done openly and witnessed by every Nigerian where you scored 16 votes against the 19 by your colleague and Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Ameachi. As someone who once proclaimed publicly that he is a born again Christian and Pastor, how do you justify your claim of being the authentic chairman of the forum? How are 16 votes above 19 in your own arithmetic?

    I am writing these words to you as someone I have always held in high esteem. What shall it profit you if some people who by all standard, are even supposed to be your children use you to cause confusion in Nigeria? Will you be happy to be penciled down by history as someone that was used by his younger ones to subvert democracy in Nigeria?

    You are supposed to be a role model amongst the governors and doing the contrary will tarnish the reputation you have built for yourself for the past years.

    You are not ignorant of the security threats election rigging poses in Nigeria; you suffered it in 2003 in your first attempt to rule Plateau State. We all believed you were rigged in favour of the then incumbent Governor Joshua Dariye, but to the glory of God, you came back in 2007. Such characters you and some of your colleagues are exhibiting will make Nigerians believe that credible election in Nigeria is not possible and therefore, loose hope in the system.

    The truth is that some of your colleagues who do not have the integrity that you have are just using you to gain themselves the status of “Good Boys” in the villa. The earlier you realize this, the better for you and democracy.

    • Comrade Richard Tersoo Mnenga

    University of Basel

    Switzerland.