The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Govt should end ASUU, ASUP strike

    Govt should end ASUU, ASUP strike

    SIR: The essence of education to the growth and development of any nation cannot be over emphasized. Education is so crucial to economic growth that any nation that genuinely hopes to develop must vehemently andconsistently appropriate a large chunk of its budget to developing its educational sector. Without education, no nation would attain meaningful economic and socio-political development.

    Two months into the nationwide strike embarked upon by the Academic Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) the Academic Union of Universities (ASUU) has now embarked on an indefinite strike over the failure of the Federal Government to implement a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on ‘‘EARN’’ allowance of N12,500 per month.

    The issue here is why would government enter into agreements and renege on such agreements? It beats one’s imagination that matters regarding education are handled with utmost levity by the government. There is no equality in a system where a local government councilor earns three or four times the salary of a university lecturer. Any system that relegates teachers’ welfare to the background will definitely produce half-baked graduates and graduates who cannot prove their mettle in the labour market. Why would government wait until lecturers embark on strike before taking action? Does it mean that strike action is the only language the Nigerian government understands? When are we going to get to a time when lecturers will no longer embark on strikes in Nigeria?

    With the current insecurity in Nigeria, why would government allow our tertiary institution students to waste their talents at home or roam the streets when they can be meaningfully engaged in the classrooms? Some of these students who are now idle hands could be tempted to engage in nefarious activities or join criminal gangs to perpetrate crimes. An idle mind is definitely the devil’s workshop so the government must as a matter of urgency act to ensure it resolves the issues with the polytechnic and university lecturers so that these students can go back to school. The strike actions will not do anyone any good; it will only end up crippling an already ailing education sector.

    We were recently told by the Federal Ministry of Education that only about 500,000 applicants will eventually get admission into our tertiary institutions in 2013 out of about 1.7 million that sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in April. Many eligible applicants are denied admission placement due to shortage of space in our institutions due to the fact that these institutions lack the requisite facilities to accommodate them.

    One of the reasons why the education sector has degenerated to this sorry state is that the government keeps paying lip service to issues concerning education without taking proactive steps to forestall crises. I think declaring a state of emergency in the education sector is long overdue and this should be done to forestall total collapse of the sector. A lot of reforms are urgently required in the educational sector and I believe that the government can do this if it is serious about addressing the problems in the sector. We are a country where so many talented people abound. But one sure way to discover and tap these talents for the benefit of the nation is through sound education for the people.

    The Federal Government should urgently call ASUP and ASUU to a roundtable to iron out the issues with them so that they can call off the strike as soon as possible.It is high time we discouraged strike action as the only tool that can coerce government into action on matters of public concern.

    • Tayo Demola

    Lagos.

  • In support of Judicial Reform Bill 2012

    In support of Judicial Reform Bill 2012

    SIR: I read the commentary by Mr Femi Falana, SAN in The Nation of Friday June 28, in which, in his usual manner, he enunciated important features of the Judicial Reform Bill 2012 and strategies to be adopted in ensuring speedy passage of the Bill. That commentary ignited this piece.

    The learned silk rightly harped on the need for the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to embark on a powerful enlightenment and mobilisation of judges and lawyers on the essence of the Bill and to support its speedy passage into law. The view of Mr. Falana on this point cannot be faulted at all; the NBA leadership is therefore urged to do all it legitimately can to ensure that the Bill is passed into law by the National Assembly.

    The provision in that Bill seeking to abolish the need to apply for the leave of the Court of Appeal before an appeal could be filed against its decision to the Supreme Court is commendable and should be extended to other courts. In other words, the practice by which the leave of a court is to be sought before an appeal could lie against its decision is most laughable and should be abolished. I have tried to find a justification for the practice and have been unable to find one. The only conclusion that I have been able to reach is that it is superfluous and time-wasting.

    The situation becomes more ludicrous in that where such leave is refused by the trial court, the applicant has more time to approach the Court of Appeal with the same application- see Order 7 Rule 3 of the Court of Appeal Rules 2011.This is a most unproductive practice which may unnecessarily delay and hinder the dispensation of justice especially where the appeal is a frivolous one aimed only at depriving the winning party from enjoying the fruits of his judgment.

    The question is, if an appellate court can grant leave to an aggrieved party to file an appeal against the decision of a lower court, why on earth then is the leave of the lower court necessary? Why not file the application for leave directly to the higher court? If truly a court becomes functous officio when it delivers judgment on a matter, I think such a court should not even have the power to grant a party leave to appeal against the decision.

    Where there is need to seek leave to appeal against a decision, it is proposed that such leave should be sought from only the court to which the appeal is to lie. This is more time-compliant and cost effective on the part of the litigant who would have to bear the financial brunt in case the application for leave is refused by the lower court.

    It is also important to cater comprehensively for the financial welfare of the judiciary in this Bill. There should be expressly indicated therein a certain percentage of the annual budget that should be allocated to the judiciary. The current practice where the executive arm allocates a paltry percent of the annual budget to the NJC while allocating even a greater percent to some of its parastatals is unacceptable and inimical to the sustenance of our democracy. The much desired judicial reforms can only yield fruits when the judiciary is financially independent and would not have to go cap in hand to politicians for funds.

    Finally, the Bill should make a provision clothing every legal practitioner with locus standi to challenge its violation by any individual or group of persons or government. It is only by this that any serious headway could be made in the quest for judicial reforms.

     

    • Vincent Adodo, Esq.

    Ilorin, Kwara State.

     

  • Re: Obi’s presumptuous search for successor

    Re: Obi’s presumptuous search for successor

    SIR: Hard ball, an opinion column of The Nation of Friday May 17, took a swipe on Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State over alleged comments on succession to the office of the governor of the state. The governor was said to have communicated his aversion to being succeeded by a professional politician to a group of religious leaders when they paid him a visit at the Governor’s Lodge at Amawbia. His words: “He (the next governor) must not be a professional politician that sees politics not as a vocation to advance the progress of civilization, but as an avenue to steal the people’s money”.

    The piece was prefaced with a review of past presumptuous talk on succession and its negative impacts on the practice of democracy. It expressed concern over the fate of democracy should voters cede the right of king-making to an individual. But more than that, the paper seemed scandalized by the governor’s unpretentious acknowledgement of a search for his successor. It wrote inter alia “…he still owed his state and the country as a whole the obligation to talk diplomatically, disguise his intentions, or pretend he thought it objectionable for the electorate to have such unpalatable view of the Nigerian electoral process”.

    The fear expressed over Governor Obi’s alleged choice of a successor is understandable given that his choice may turn out to be wrong. But again he should have a choice. Obi’s choice and or its expression should not be caused to assume the toga of imposition. As the chief executive of the state for two terms, he is in a position to understand first-hand the varied shades of interest of those eager to succeed him. Lest we forget, he is still answerable to the people of Anambra, whichever way the cookie crumbles. It will be wrong to impute imposition over a mere expression of an opinion. Except perhaps Hardball is saying, because of his status, he should flinch from expressing a choice, or become deaf mute.

    By its own account, the paper admitted that only about three or four out of more than 20 of such impositions in Nigeria turned out right. It is common knowledge that five governors out of the six Yoruba states were aided to power by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Today Tinubu is celebrated as an icon of democracy even by the paper. He may have been spared the Hardball treatment because, unlike Obi, he was discreet about those impositions.

    The paper was right to observe that it took the effort of Ngige to free the state from the claws of Chris Ubah, and that of Obi to prise her loose from the jaws of Andy, whom it erroneously referred to as the younger of the Ubah brothers. Beyond this, Obi has successfully tucked the state away from further despoliation. To suggest he will be returning the state whence he labored hard alongside Ngige to extricate from the jaws of profiteers is hard to believe. Worst scenario, he will only attempt the Tinubu magic in just one state – four still short of Asiwaju’s feat.

    Hardball should spare itself the splitting of hair on the issue of succession to the governorship of the state. At the appointed time the flock will search out the shepherd.

    • Louis Ejikeme

    Lagos.

     

  • Appeal to Uduaghan on Olota/Alagbabri road

    Appeal to Uduaghan on Olota/Alagbabri road

    SIR: I wish to appeal to the Delta State government and other stake holders like NDDC DESOPADEC and SPDC to help fix the Olota/Alagbabri Road.

    I have written several letters of appeal to the government and the various agencies named above to no avail.

    These are two oil-rich communities have passed through hell over the years, under the PDP controlled government in Delta State.

    They are both in Ughelli South Local Government Area.

    The only government presence in these two communities are the two primary schools constructed and furnished by NNPC/SPDC joint venture years ago and which were badly damaged as a result of communal fighting between Olota community in Ughelli South LGA and Oboro Community in Burutu LGA which also affected Alagbabri community.

    I am pleading with the state government to come to our aid by constructing this 11km road, that links Bomadi.

    We are sure Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan will give us a listening ear this time around so as to alleviate our plight.

    • Denis Tuedor

    Ughelli Delta State.

     

  • Nigeria and same-sex marriage

    SIR: It was soothing news on Tuesday June 4, that Nigerian House of Representatives had finally criminalized the same-sex marriage in Nigeria, with punishment of 14 years behind the bar without option of fine for the offender.

    It takes patriotism, courage and integrity on the part of the legislators to stand up and be counted in this crucial and dawning challenges; to be noted among those that stood to protect our core values and tell the depraved western world that we still have our own culture, norms societal ethnics and values as a leading light on the African continent, and that we can decide what we think is best for us as a people.

    It is a giant stride on the part of our democracy, it will send strong signals to the international community that we are maturing and coming up by taking our destinies into our hands.

    It is the time for the President to tell the world that he also is a man that fears God and place premium on our core value and esteemed culture.

    Why were America and Britain so particular that the bill should not be passed and signed into law? If they have failed morally, is it binding on us to fail also? Let them go with their aids as Senate President, David Mark had brilliantly responded to their threat in the past.

    It is high time we started taking legitimate and bold decisions to tell them that without their meddling in our internal affairs we can sort things out maturely by ourselves. It is obvious that the same white people are major players in our economic woes. Let us stop taking loans from them and frontally reject their domineering spirit and superiority complex over us as a people.

    Let us provide a conductive environment for our children to develop their potentials and reach their inimitable heights on our soil, instead of wasting away in white-man’s land. Let’s encourage the farmers to go back to the farm and produce more food to feed the nation, instead of importing food from them. If the manufacturing sector is genuinely focused, it will create mass employment for the army of jobless youths and stabilize our national security.

    Let make living and working in Nigeria more pleasant and attractive and less stressful, protecting the rights of everybody. Our leaders can domesticate what good things they can learn about western democracy and throw away their illicit culture, as in the case of legislation against same marriage, Like the word of Barrack Obama on Jan 12, at his second inaugural speech that ‘’we do not believe that in this country freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few”. We can make Justice accessible and available to the people. The government should walk the talk by fulfilling their electoral promises and make politics a level playing field for everybody to participate without intimidation from anybody in authority.

    • Pastor Mark Debo Taiwo [JP],

    Ogbomoso

     

  • Power supply: Not yet uhuru

    SIR: Let me start by accepting that the level of power supply in Nigeria by the present administration is better than what obtained in previous administrations. Nonetheless, one cannot say it is yet uhuru in the sector given the level of power supply in the country.

    Right from Nigeria’s independence, power supply has been a major problem. It has been tales of woes in the sector. All the  past and present leaders keep promising Nigerians  stable power supply but the more they talk, the less  Nigerians enjoy power supply.

    In his inaugural speech President Goodluck Jonathan noted that “the era of lamentation in the power sector is over”. This was widely reported in the print and electronic media. Since then however, it has been lamentation upon lamentation in the sector. If all  the talk about the  amount of megawatts being put into the national grid  is matched  with action, epileptic power supply in the country  would have been a  thing of the past by now. One is not saying that the president is not keeping his promise, but simply put, there is too much talking without corresponding results and that is not what Nigerians want.

    Nigerians are paying for electricity not consumed as PHCN officials these days have adopted the estimated billing system for consumers. It is no longer news that for a whole month one pays for light, the consumer enjoys power supply for only one or two days.

    Recently, it was reported in most newspapers that there was going to be power outage  in Abuja  on a particular Saturday as  PHCN officials were to work on one of  the  transmission stations in Katampe.

    The question that readily came to mind was: what of other days that residents of the Federal Capital Territory don’t enjoy power supply? Do the PHCN officials work on the transmission station on such days?  On that particular Saturday, there was no light in most parts of Abuja.  Was it to imply that work was still on-going or what has PHCN got to offer? In Abuja, most   residents use alternative sources to powers their homes because of epileptic power supply.

    My humble appeal is that the present administration should talk less and ensure steady power supply to citizenry because power is the bedrock of national development. The time for action is now.

    • Awunah Pius Terwase

    Abuja.

     

  • FG should pay my 25 years pension

    SIR: The civil servant is at it again in their drift. He does great harm in the subterranean and come to the market place wearing the holy but deceptive look. He wears the teeth that is whiter than snow and spit out white saliva but inside him is the venom that is the killer more venomous than the venomous snakes of Mexico. This time the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and his director of human-resources refused to pay my 25 years of pension since the approval was given to me by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation by his Letter Ref: No. PNB. 1662 fo 19th July, 2012.

    Gleefully and in a well-merited triumph, I wrote my first letter of demand dated 6th August, 2012, to the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, floating on the wings of victory but I soon realized that I was in a utopia. Let me remind or rejuvenate the minds of my readers that I have used the words “triumph” and “victory” because it took me six agonizing years before the Head of Civil Service of the Federation approved my application for pension. I was already a victim of obsession in my thought for litigation by the time I received the approval. Coming from my cognitive powers I indulge in systematic economy of words and energy because they may be in greater use in future. Now is another time! My second letter of demand was dated 20th September, 2012 and the third was 6th March, 2013. None was replied and this dangerous and unethical silence explains to any rational being the type of beings in our state bureaucracy: the civil service: I have been mentioning the words “Civil Servant” which can be defined to mean whole but in this sense I do not mean to condemn across board because nature is not monolithic. Like one cannot say that a whole tribe is evil. However, the deaf hears the blind sees that civil servant has facilitated the death by hunger of number less pensioners who were denied their pensions. Let the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development pay my pension.

    • Oladele Osunbote

    Ibadan, Oyo State

     

  • Salisu Buhari’s UNN appointment

    SIR: In April, the Goodluck Jonathan-led Federal Government, in exercise of its executive powers, reconstituted the governing councils of federal universities and made elaborate appointments therein including, the appointment of Salisu Buhari into the Governing Council of the University of Nigeria, (UNN).

    As a proud alumnus of that great institution, I feel thoroughly scandalized by the thoughts and decision of the Jonathan administration to embarrass the entire university community and her alumni with such unmeritorious appointment. This particular appointment, like the Alamieyeseigha’s pardon, sends a very clear signal that crimes and criminal activities are not only condoned but rewarded, under the present administration.

    It would be recalled that the beneficiary of the present appointment, Alhaji Salisu Buhari, was the first elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1999 upon the return of civil rule in Nigeria. He was tried and convicted for forging a certificate purportedly obtained from a Canadian University which subsequently enjoyed the infamous notoriety otherwise known as the “Toronto Certificate saga” . He was accordingly removed as Speaker on account of the forgery. Although he was allegedly pardoned by the Obasanjo administration, yet such alleged pardon does not detract from the fact that he was once convicted for a criminal offence of forgery and misconduct. The integrity of the University of Nigeria conceived by visionary leader Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and founded on high academic and moral grounds with a distinctive mission statement and motto: To Restore the Dignity of Man cannot afford to parade men and women of questionable characters in her Governing Council. Such would be antithetical to the objectives and the high moral pedestal on which the institution is founded.

    As an institution that is resolute on the quality and content of its grandaunts particularly in Learning and Character, this development constitutes a dangerous set back as the signal already created is one that justifies moral transgressions and misrepresent the values for which the institution is known and associated.

    Mr. President, as the Visitor of the University is enjoined to invoke his powers under Sections 14 and 15 of the University of Nigeria Act Laws of the Federation and remove or drop Buhari from the Governing Council of the university.

    To be sure, the appointment of Salisu Buhari, is ill-advised, Unmeritorious, totally completely condemnable and accordingly rejected.

    • Malachy Ugwummadu

    Legal Adviser, University of Nigeria Alumni Association

    Lagos Branch.

  • Re: Haba, Labaran!

    SIR: Olatunji Dare’s column “At Home Abroad” in The Nation, June 25 on the above subject matter refers.

    Much as I admire Dr. Dare’s nimble wits and his artful writing, – being a fervid follower of his column – every statement of his must still be placed against the mirror of truth. I feel obliged to correct his attempt to cripple the feet of truth and efface evident facts as contained in his article.

    Having participated in the National Good Governance Tour in Kebbi, Zamfara, and Katsina States, I sure stand a better chance than Dare to educate the public on the activities of the NGGT Team. First, let the notion be corrected that the NGGT travel by Executive jets; contrariwise the entirety of the NGGT Team – including the Minister of Information – always travel by road in regular buses. It is equally noteworthy that the team does not restrict its project inspection activities to state capitals, but traverses a vast majority of Local Governments distant from the state capital visited. Contrary to Dare’s perception, the NGGT Team sparsely had any time for leisure and in most instances skipped meals as projects were inspected from dawn till dusk.

    Contrary to the perceived suspicion of certain governors from opposition political parties, the NGGT did not set out to deride or disparage their efforts. This much was attested to by the Governor of Zamfara State (ANPP), Dr. Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari when he applauded the NGGT Team for being fair and dispassionate in its assessment of governance in the state. He went further to state that he had equally nursed his own reservations about the NGGT, but that his doubts had cleared by the strict adherence of the NGGT Team to purely developmental issues rather than political witch-hunting.

    On the whole, the NGGT has recorded novel achievements and stirred up an active consciousness in the hearts of the Nigerian public to hold government at all levels accountable. On the wings of its accomplishments is a renewed debate on the role of the Local Governments in the quest for autonomy. The NGGT is a very welcome initiative by the government and independent media and Civil Society Organizations which has helped to ventilate the reportage and focus on developmental attainments in our dear nation.

    • Solomon Adodo

    National Coordinator,

    Empowerment for Unemployed Youths Initiative,

    Abuja

  • One nation bound in corruption

    SIR: Everybody talks about corruption. Everybody laments the level of corruption

    in the country. One way or the other — consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly — everybody fuels corruption. We pretend to fight corruption. Sadly, everybody is in trouble.

    One doesn’t have to be a pessimist to realize that we’re all in big trouble. Even though corruption hurts the poor disproportionately, the rich are not immune to the pains and sorrows that accompany endemic corruption.

    Corruption is a virus eating away at the very fabric of society. By subterfuge, it destroys institutions and values that contradict its nature. Corruption ruins families and communities. Corruption pollutes religions of love and peace with greed and violence. Corruption turns centres of learning into epicentres of decadence. Corruption converts the judiciary from the temple of justice into a fortress for corruption itself. Corruption substitutes the virtue of honesty with the culture of impunity. Corruption prefers the cacophony of sycophancy to the strength of moral character. Corruption jettisons the tradition of meritocracy but embraces the celebration of mediocrity. Corruption turns the world upside down, for instance, by associating celebrity with indecency; and so on.

    But who is really fighting the monster that is threatening our existence? Is it the political class that the revered Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka aptly summed up as “The very quagmire of corruption, nurtured on corruption, sustained by corruption and dependent on corruption for its very survival”? Or, the public-private partners that occupy strategic positions in the web of corruption! Could it be the impoverished citizens who have common enemies to fight against, but are being knocked down by ignorance and deeply divided by forces stronger than the bonds of brotherhood? Maybe, the endangered species in our midst whose wisdom and genuine voices are eternally being despised!

    Corruption! We have gone abysmally down this perilous way. But why has it become so difficult to halt the country’s slide into destruction? Are we hopeless as a people?

    Whereas most of our woes are attributable to corruption, bad leadership — corruption’s closest ally — is the main culprit. Bad leadership fuels corruption, and every attempt to confront corruption is neutralized by bad leadership, and vice versa.

    At the centre of corruption is the system that breeds bad leaders. This notorious system in the remote past had irreversibly set in motion a chain reaction leading to a self-propagating, self-amplifying and self-sustaining series of crises. That explains why we have been busy all along chasing shadows and hopelessly treating mere symptoms of an ailment whose root is continuously been nourished by a pool of structural defects.

    The episodes in our “fight” against corruption in the last one year—let’s pretend we have short memories—including the presidential pardon for Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, a former Bayelsa State governor—more and more people, even born optimists, are beginning to doubt the possibility of Nigeria ever winning this battle.

    Corruption in Nigeria is like a cancer in its advanced stage. And as we watch the disease run its course, may God have mercy on our souls.

     

    • John Adebisi

    Abuja, FCT